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WASHINGTON, DC - The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) welcomes the decision yesterday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C.) Circuit invalidating a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule requiring nearly six million employers to post an 11-by-17 inch notice regarding employee rights to unionize.
In its decision, the court held that the NLRB did not have the authority under the National Labor Relations Act to issue the poster rule.
Last spring the D.C. Circuit Court issued an injunction against the rule, two weeks before it was set to take effect, prohibiting the NLRB from requiring employers to comply with the regulation as the court considered an appeal of a lower court decision upholding the rule.
"NLBMDA agrees with the court's ruling that the NLRB does not have the authority to issue the poster requirement," said Michael O'Brien, NLBMDA President and CEO. "The decision by the D.C. Circuit Court is welcome news and hopefully will help the NLRB strike a better balance between the rights of employers and employees."
Source: National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association
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subset: commoncrawl


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Think you have to go out for bubble tea, mango lassis, and ultra-fancy cocktails? No way. Make your own with these recipes.
Skip the mouth-puckering, bottom-shelf stuff and enjoy your drinks (while saving money!) with these great, moderately priced spirits.
When summer is in full swing, cold drinks are in order. Don't waste your money on sugar-filled store-bought stuff; make your own delicious drinks for cheap.
Hosting a cocktail party can get expensive fast, especially if you want to throw a shindig with a lot of swank. Learn how you can be frugal AND elegant.
Next time you have a barbecue or birthday party, grab a case of PBR or another "cheap" beer. You're serving good beer and you're saving money, too.
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I recently started to play PoN for the first time and as the game is quite complex I have some newbie questions
Is there any way to see, in some kind of overview, which country produces what amount of goods? I am playing Prussia and one of my mission is to produce the most chemicals and dyer, but I have no clue how to evaluate my current production in comparison to other countries.
At the moment I am trying to build extraction sites wherever I can, to increase my output and strengthen my economy. Railroads and industries as well inbetween. Mostly checking the B and F4 screens for help. Somehow seems logical, but I have no clue if I am on the right track. Difficult to see.
Thanks in advance!


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Tonya Brown never used to mess much with coupons and in-store "10 for $10" sales. But over the weekend, this mom from Decatur, Ga., came armed to the Kroger grocery store with a fistful of store coupons and sent her kids, Jordan and Nia, out into the aisles in search of bargains.
"Just in the last week I've started paying attention," says Ms. Brown. "My main thing is to make sure we eat healthy foods, and those are the ones getting really expensive. It's becoming a real challenge. If we could save $200 a month on groceries, that's major for us right now."
Like tens of millions of Americans across the income spectrum, Brown's checkbook is feeling the vise grip of rising prices, tighter credit, and stagnant paychecks.
With food prices up 6 percent from last year – flour alone has gone up 87 percent – and gasoline prices up by more than a dollar since 2006, the receipts are adding up, causing a "dramatic" shift in kitchen-table decisions from Albuquerque to Atlanta, says Maura Daly, a spokeswoman for the charitable hunger-relief organization America's Second Harvest in Chicago.
The struggle to put healthy food on the table is tough enough as meat, egg, and veggie prices are rising fastest. But a 15 percent increase in soup-kitchen lines nationwide since last year indicates that many families are struggling to put any food at all on the table.
New evidence of the difficulty: 1.5 million more people use food stamps than a year ago, a 5.7 percent increase, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
At the same time, Americans are trying to stash more money away in savings – indicating a "scrounge" reaction as families dig deeper into their cupboards. Taking place over bins of oranges and stacks of canned soup, this may be the century's biggest test so far of America's consumer resiliency – and inventiveness.
"The American consumer is facing change, and that's always upsetting," says Herbert Rotfeld, editor of the Journal of Consumer Affairs in Auburn, Ala. "Change is confusion, but is it harmful? It's too early to tell."
Evidence of a grocery-aisle mind shift is clear. Coupon-clipping has reversed a 16-year-slide, driven by Internet "clipping" and sites devoted to spotting in-store sales. Americans clipped 100 million more coupons in 2007 than the previous year, a 6 percent increase, according to NCH Marketing.
"Grocery spending has the most wiggle room of any disposable expenditure, so if a family can save $400 a month, that's major in an average family's budget," says Atlanta shopping expert Stephanie Nelson, who has seen traffic on her couponmom.com website double in the last year.
Meanwhile, discount retailers are doing bang-up business. Wal-mart's stock price hit a four-year high last week on the heels of increased spending on, among other things, groceries. Costco's sales are up 9 percent from last year, and BJ's has reported a 13.4 percent sales increase in the last year, much of it attributable to food sales.
Local grocery stores are trying to undercut the big-box retailers as best they can. Both Publix and Kroger in Atlanta were offering penny rolls of toilet tissue this week to try to bring shoppers in. The stripped-down, cut-rate German grocery store Aldi, with about 850 outlets in the US, is moving rapidly to suck up sticker-shocked consumers. A May circular featured bacon-wrapped filet mignon for $1.99 apiece.
At the same time, the restaurant industry is seeing customer numbers drop even as some restaurants are raising menu prices or reducing portion sizes to balance their own inventories and cost. Sixty-one percent of restaurant owners in a recent survey say their sales numbers are sliding even as the industry faced flour costs going up by 78 percent, the cost of eggs up by 73, and cooking oil up 49 percent, according to Annika Stensson of the National Restaurant Association.
At a conference in Phoenix last week, the Nielsen marketing company told consumer packaged goods companies that recessionary spending habits by Americans are forcing producers and retailers to adjust their strategies on the fly as grocery store competition heats up.
"Consumers are feeling the squeeze as they are caught between rising costs and lower spending power," Eugene Roytburg, managing director of Nielsen, told the conference. "As a result, many consumers are reprioritizing or altogether changing their spending habits."
Kroger clerk Grady Thompson says prices are "the worst I've ever seen them," as usually choosy, upscale customers empty out the "10 for $10 bins" of canned foods in midtown Atlanta.
In Camden, Ala., where the median income is $16,646, Nelda Hunter is in full scrimp-and-scrounge mode. "It's very simple, just changing a few habits," says Ms. Hunter, a clerk at Loftin's Bait Shop, in a phone interview. "You don't go to the grocery store hungry to start with. And it's basically doing a menu situation about getting a list and buying nothing but what is on the list."
Just in the last month, Atlanta mom Tammy Heath started inspecting the Sunday circulars and shops accordingly. "These days, I go where the sales are at," says Ms. Heath.
Larger families may be feeling the pinch the most, says Maureen Doyle, executive director of Moms of Super Twins (MOST), an advocacy group in East Islip, N.Y. One family with triplets and both parents working lost their home to foreclosure and are now living in a national park in Georgia, she says.
"Milk, veggies, fruit, rice, all have gone through the roof," says Ms. Doyle. "No working mother should have to cook on Friday night, so we used to always order three pizzas for the household. That is out of our budget now."
"Families in crisis don't look toward tomorrow, they're just trying to get through today, and that's pretty much what I'm hearing," she adds.
One paradox is that poorer families in rural areas – who would seem most susceptible to higher gas prices – may in some cases feel the least pain in tight times.
"You'd be amazed how when you're so steeped in not having much already things haven't changed that much," says Delon Charley in Gee's Bend, Ala. "But everything is being affected to some extent. Instead of buying a big 10-pound block of ground beef, let's just go with five pounds and stretch the Hamburger Helper."
Globalization can complicate today's domestic supermarket situation. For example, booming overseas markets mean that US pork producers are seeing a windfall of exports – especially with a weak dollar – even as American consumers harumph at the meat counter.
"We're in a global environment, and you see more and different kinds of adjustments than if you just looked at the domestic market," says economist Helen Jensen, at Iowa State University in Ames.
Congress has boosted food subsidies to the poor from $140 million to $250 million as part of the 2008 farm bill. Those extra commodities soon will start hitting near-empty soup-kitchen cupboards.
But according to Ms. Nelson, the Atlanta shopping guru, a more immediate way most shoppers can save money is by being less wasteful. Depending on income class, American households throw away an average of 10 to 40 percent of the food they buy, according to a USDA study.
Are people changing their eating habits as a result? It's hard to know for sure, but there is anecdotal evidence.
"When you hit times of recession, people sometimes actually spend more money on food for home, including luxury food categories like ice cream," says Ron Wilcox, a business professor at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. "What happens is people substitute a little treat at home for going out to a movie or dinner."
Some experts see at least a bit of an upside to today's grocery struggles.
"Economizing often makes you healthier," says economist Peter Morici at the University of Maryland. "In a recession, for example, people tend to move from rich fatty breakfasts toward cereals."


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Coronavirus (COVID-19) updates for UC San Diego Health patients and visitors. Learn More
Shock Wave Lithotripsy (SWL) is a treatment for kidney stones that uses sound waves to break stones into smaller pieces. It is by far the least invasive surgical approach and can be the ideal approach, depending on stone size and location. It has traditionally carried lower stone free rates for larger stone, though. The procedure is typically an outpatient one.
The ideal SWL stone is less than 1.5 cm and located in either the kidney or upper ureter. The stone must be visible on a plain film xray (some stones can only be seen by CT imaging).
Certain medications that must be discontinued, since they increase the risk of internal bleeding. The procedure requires general anesthesia and takes approximately 1 hour with subsequent post-operative recovery. You will go home the same day and return to the clinic six weeks later. Post operative pain is variable and oral medications will be given prior to discharge. Some people don't experience any discomfort. Passage of sand-like particles is common as the minuscule stone fragments will pass over the 6 weeks of post-operative recovery. Typically, people can return to work in two days.
Stone free rates are quite variable and range from 67-86 percent. Although SWL is the least invasive procedure for treating kidney stones, it also has an accepted lower success rate. It is nevertheless a reasonably successful procedure with little side effects. The non-invasive nature of SWL makes it an attractive option for patients.
SWL is a very safe procedure. Nevertheless complications include but are not limited to infection, bleeding, need for transfusion (<1 percent) and the risk of additional procedures to completely remove kidney stones. There is some new medical literature that suggests that SWL may be a risk factor for either high blood pressure and/or diabetes mellitus, though there is also medical literature that does not support this theory. No definitive conclusions have been made regarding this particular risk.


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Good news, everyone. Diane Sawyer made it through election night and has come out the other side unscathed.
ABC's veteran and (save for last night) venerable news anchor took to Twitter this morning in the wake of her foray into online infamy, and, well, yes. She knows all about Buzzgate.
U.S. & World
Check out the best of the Obama reelection memes
And, we're happy to say, has taken it like the consummate professional she is.
"Awe for the @ABC powerhouse team," she tweeted this morning. "Hail the techs who kept us on air...during the 25 minute power outage."
Find out what Donald Trump had to say about Brian Williams' on-air diss
And then came the rub.
"Read your tweets the good, the bad, and the funny. See you on @ABCWorldNews."
Oh, we have a feeling there'll be plenty of people tuning in tonight.


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Bald Eagle Found Shot in Union Parish Louisiana
OutdoorHub 01.23.12
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Enforcement Division agents are seeking leads for information about the shooting of a bald eagle north of Farmerville in Union Parish.
On Jan. 13, LDWF agents were notified by a motorist traveling along Louisiana Hwy. 15 near Goose Elkins Road about a wounded eagle walking beside the road. Agents responded and found a bald eagle with an injury to its wing.
The eagle was recovered and transported to the Wildlife Hospital at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Veterinary School of Medicine in Baton Rouge where it was determined the eagle was shot in the wing. The eagle had to have the tip of its right wing amputated and thus will not be able to fly. After recovery, the eagle will be placed in a zoo or other wildlife sanctuary.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting of this eagle should call the Louisiana Operation Game Thief hotline at 1-800-442-2511 or use LDWF's tip411 program. To use the tip411 program, citizens can text LADWF and their tip to 847411 or download the "LADWF Tips" iPhone app from the Apple iTunes store free of charge.
The hotline and the tip411 program are monitored 24 hours a day. Cash rewards up to $2,000 are offered for information leading to the apprehension of individuals harming a bald eagle. Tipsters can also remain anonymous.
The bald eagle is protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The LSU Wildlife Hospital works largely off of donations to offer veterinarian care to this bald eagle and other wildlife in need of care. To make a donation to the Wildlife Hospital, please visit www.wildlife.lsu.edu/donations.shtml
For more information, contact Adam Einck at 225-765-2465 or [email protected]


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KH Nissan will keep your 370Z, Altima, Titan, or any other Nissan, running at peak performance. Factory-trained, ASE Certified Nissan technicians understand Nissan vehicles better than anyone else. They also use Genuine Nissan Parts and Accessories, which meet Nissan performance standards, won't adversely affect your vehicle's warranty or resale value, and help you avoid excess wear-and-use expenses with your lease by providing an ideal look and fit. Plus, they're all backed by a limited warranty.
At KH Nissan, our service department provides repairs and routine maintenance on all Nissan models and other vehicles we sell.


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(Pocket-lint) - Who cares about Blu-ray? Firmly ensconced in the PlayStation 3, standalone hi-def disc spinners regularly go for under £90 – small enough bean to set the alarm bells ringing in any gadget buyer's ears. The trick, thinks Samsung, is to up the price somewhat and add so many features as to render Blu-ray as just another logo on what the Korean brand is selling as a HD recorder extraordinaire.
The BD-D8900M is truly remarkable in its scope, so much so that it leaves the PlayStation 3 looking a little restrictive – and until the end of October Samsung is offering £50 cash back to sweeten the deal.
Generous storage capacity
Key to its success is a hard disk drive that can store a stunning 1TB of data. In conjunction with twin Freeview HD tuners the generous storage makes this as skilled as a Sky+HD box – though it's not quite up there with the trio of tuners found in Virgin Media's TiVo box. It's slightly frustrating that it's only actually capable of recording one channel at a time, which immediately puts it a step or two behind both Sky and Virgin boxes.
To add a bit more value, it also includes Samsung's Smart Hub, an online video platform found on Samsung's 'smart' TVs. Elsewhere, it easily matches a PS3, principally with its inclusion of Wi-FI and DLNA streaming as well as 3D Blu-ray capabilities – though it goes one better, with 2D-3D upscaling, for what that's worth.
It's well connected, with two HDMI v1.4 outputs, one of which is an audio return channel for 3D fans with HDMI v1.3 inputs on their AV receiver. There are also component video, composite video, optical and analogue audio, and a wired Ethernet LAN option. To get our box online, we chose Wi-Fi, which was easy to set-up and cable-free.
No Blu-ray recording or multiple tuners
At this point, it only seems fair to warn you that the BD-D8900M isn't a Blu-ray recorder. It can only record hi-def from BBC HD, ITV HD or 4 HD channels to the HDD – there are no archiving or exporting features.
What the Samsing lacks in multiple tuners the BD-D8900M makes up for it intelligence. As well as pause/rewind live TV goodies, there's the chance to set series links and get information on future broadcasts. The eight-day electronic programme guide is one of the best looking in the business, with a thumbnail of the live channel (including audio) up top beside a programme description. Below there's information for six channels over two hours. Navigating isn't always as quick as it should be, with some lag as we scrolled down through the schedules.
That aside, Samsung's EPG takes second place behind Humax, which we'd still rate at the best, fastest and clearest user interface among Freeview HD boxes.
The BD-D8900M demands a decent EPG; its whopping 1TB HDD can store an impressive 240/480 hours of HD/SD programmes, though a music CD can be easily ripped to the HDD for added jukebox goodness. A CD's tracklisting is found within seconds of inserting a disc, though actually importing it is too manual a process – the bitrate can't be changed from its default 192kbps either. Once ripped, the resulting MP3 files can be transferred to a docked USB thumb drive.
Smart hub is a bonus
The BD-8900M's Smart Hub adds yet another dimension to this 'Blu-ray' player. Apps like Acetrax Movies, Lovefilm, BBC News, tied-up nicely by Samsung's own Your Video interface, make it one of the most useful web TV platforms around.
It's generally fast and easy to operate using the remote (we had problems syncing the free Samsung Remote app for iPhone), though we did experience a complete freeze-up of the BD-D8900M on one occasion when starting the Smart Hub.
From the product's sole front-mounted USB slot we managed to play a selection of digital files, from a thumb drive, including AVI, MKV, WMV, MPEG, MOV and MP4, though not AVC HD, which is often produced by hi-def camcorders. The theoretically pretty thumbnail-driven interface doesn't work – images from the video files are only visible after a file has been watched – while some files take up to 10 seconds to load. The rules are different when streaming files across a network. The DLNA-powered AllShare feature sees key formats like AVI, MOV, MP4 and AVC HD files dealt with, but not MKV or WMV containers. More oddness is afoot; it's not possible to stream files over a network while the BD-D8900M is recording a TV show.
Recorded shows are pin-sharp and identical to broadcast, while Blu-ray playback – in both 2D and 3D – is as impressive, as it should be on a flagship deck like this. You can convert a 2D Blu-ray disc to 3D, but don't bother; the algorithm used assumes a flat picture and attempts to introduce depth in a uniform manner. The result is a picture that has some 3D-ness in one horizontal portion of the picture; it's largely unwatchable, and a box-ticking feature at best.
Whether this is a hi-def personal video recorder or a smart Blu-ray deck is irrelevant. Samsung's BD-D8900M is an AV all-rounder that's as advanced as it is good value. It lacks the option to record, or archive recordings, to a Blu-ray disc – but it's much more affordable because of that. It's also one tuner short of being totally flexible, and we did find one or two niggles, but this is as good as it gets in the world of Freeview HD.


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Silent Sunday
Author: Robin
Robin is a photographer, artist, writer, wife, sometime poet, mom, grandma, daughter, sister, friend, and occasional traveler currently living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. She finished a 365 commitment to get outside every day in 2011, and has turned it into a lifelong commitment taking one or more walks each day. Robin will continue to share her walks through her words and images on Breezes at Dawn. Older posts can be found at Life in the Bogs, her previous blog. Robin and her husband are in the midst of renovating the house and property they refer to as the Wabi-Sabi Ranch, 35 acres that include marsh, a dock on a tidal creek, meadows, and woodlands. Every day brings new discoveries. View All Posts


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It seems like everything horrible happens in America's wang—and this time it happened to a wang. Edgardo Toucet is suing a temp company that sent him to work at a manufacturing plant where his penis and testicles were severed by a factory machine.
Actually, it was called a peeler machine. PEELER MACHINE. Ugh! It's a spinning blade that does not have a brake, continues sharpening as it's used, and has a "rundown cycle" in which it takes 45 - 60 seconds to come to a stop. And it's at crotch-level. Toucet, who is from Puerto Rico and doesn't speak or read English, says in his complaint that he was given no "orientation or other formalized instruction or training in preparation for his temporary work assignment as a peeler machine helper" from the temp company. He is reportedly really embarrassed and is seeking damages in excess of $15,000.
Image via Trofimov Denis/Shutterstock
Florida Man Has Penis Sliced Off in Temp-Job Accident [Broward Palm Beach New Times]


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Plenty of prospects could be moved by Deadline
Here's a look at who contending teams could offer to swing a trade to get help now
As play resumes in Major League Baseball following the All-Star break, there were 16 teams at or above .500. All of them, if not more, are at least somewhat in contention for a postseason spot.
So any of a number of them could be looking to acquire big league talent before the July 31 non-waiver Trading Deadline. In order to do that, though, a team needs to have something to offer in return. That typically means prospects. Building a farm system is important for long-term success in terms of getting homegrown players to the big leagues, but it's also needed to provide potential trading chips to non-contenders seeking to swap veteran talent for prospects.
Some teams are better equipped than others to be active near the Deadline, as talent closer to being big league ready is the hotter commodity for teams looking toward 2014 and beyond. Here's a look at contending teams and what they might have to offer in terms of up-and-coming talent.
Arizona: The D-backs have four players among the Top 100 Prospects and one, left-hander Tyler Skaggs, who recently graduated off the list. Skaggs gets asked about quite a bit, but it's difficult to imagine the D-backs parting ways with him or their top prospect, right-hander Archie Bradley. Arizona has fielded calls about lefty David Holmberg, No. 6 on Arizona's Top 20, and shortstop Chris Owings (No. 4).
Atlanta: The Braves have used their pitching depth to make trades in the past, and it wouldn't be surprising if they did so again. They have three pitchers in their Top 10 -- J.R. Graham, Sean Gilmartin and Cody Martin -- who have received a good amount of attention, given their closeness to the big leagues.
Baltimore: Despite missing the entire season because of Tommy John surgery, there's still plenty of interest in right-hander Dylan Bundy. The Orioles also have been getting plenty of action on fellow righty Kevin Gausman and left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez. The trio ranks among the top four prospects in Baltimore's Top 20.
Boston: The Red Sox would likely rather not part with three of the top four prospects from their Top 20 -- Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Allen Webster -- but their overall depth could come in handy. Pitchers like Anthony Ranaudo or perhaps even Henry Owens could be in play, as could hitters like Garin Cecchini, Blake Swihart or Bryce Brentz.
Cincinnati: Robert Stephenson and Billy Hamilton may prompt the most calls, but it's hard to see a scenario in which the Reds trade either of the top two prospects on their Top 20. They might be more willing to entertain offers on hitters like Jesse Winkler, Neftali Soto and Yorman Rodriguez, or even perhaps a young pitcher like Nicholas Travieso.
Cleveland: Forget about top prospect Francisco Lindor. He's off the table. Most of the Indians' depth is in the lower levels, Class A and Class A Advanced, and that's where teams are poking around. There is some infield depth and a shortstop like Dorssys Paulino would likely garner some interest.
Detroit: While the Tigers might have to be overwhelmed to trade away a top prospect like Nick Castellanos or a young hitter like Avisail Garcia, they do show some corner outfield depth in the system. There are some power arms, too, and Drew VerHagen, now in Double-A, has been as good as any in the organization.
Los Angeles Dodgers: Most of the interest is likely around pitchers, especially because hitters like outfielder Joc Pederson and shortstop Corey Seager -- Nos. 2 and 3 on the Dodgers' Top 20 -- are likely close to being untouchable. Chris Withrow and Jose Dominguez, power relievers now in the big leagues, continue to draw attention. Zach Lee and Chris Reed also come up in conversations.
New York Yankees: The Yankees' system has had an up-and-down year because of injuries and some less-than-stellar performances. There's likely to still be interest in the top two in the organization, catcher Gary Sanchez and outfielder Mason Williams. Catcher J.R. Murphy, having reached Triple-A, could be a close-to-the-bigs option for a team looking for help behind the plate, and Jose Ramirez could provide the same on the mound.
Oakland: With top prospects like second baseman Grant Green and right-hander Sonny Gray getting a chance to help the cause lately, it's possible the A's will mostly look for help from within, perhaps with outfielder Michael Choice. Most of their talent, save a guy like outfielder Michael Taylor, is at the lower levels.
Philadelphia: The Phillies have some talent at the upper levels, with half of their Top 20 at Double-A or Triple-A. Many people have come calling about their Futures Gamers, left-hander Jesse Biddle and third baseman Maikel Franco, though to get them, it will likely take a large deal. Lefty Austin Wright, also at Double-A with those two, along with third baseman Cody Asche, second baseman Cesar Hernandez and right-hander Ethan Martin -- all of whom have seen considerable time at Triple-A -- might be more realistic targets.
Pittsburgh: The Pirates have attempted to improve themselves at the Deadline without raiding a farm system they've worked hard to cultivate. Will that happen again? Expect right-hander Jameson Taillon, their No. 2 prospect, to be untouchable, but it will be interesting to see if the Pirates would be willing to part with outfielder Gregory Polanco or shortstop Alen Hanson in the right deal.
St. Louis: Another strong system, one the Cardinals have used to bolster the big league roster quite a bit this season. With Matt Carpenter breaking out with an All-Star season, one can't help but wonder if second baseman Kolten Wong, No. 3 on their Top 20, could be available, while the Cardinals undoubtedly will continue to get calls about guys like outfielder Oscar Taveras and right-hander Carlos Martinez.
Tampa Bay: The Rays haven't been huge Deadline dealers, perhaps because they've been so reliant on their farm system to keep them competitive. There isn't a ton of upper-level talent among their Top 20 they'd part with, though pitchers Enny Romero, Mike Montgomery and Alex Colome (if healthy) surely would be of interest to other teams.
Texas: A number of teams still have interest in Martin Perez's left arm, but it doesn't appear the Rangers are eager to deal him. Mike Olt has had a rough year, but his power at the hot corner still has value. Other Top 20 prospects who could be on the market are shortstop Luis Sardinas and right-hander Neil Ramirez.
Washington: Infielder Anthony Rendon, hitting .301 in 43 games for the Nationals, is off the table. But there is some pitching on Washington's Top 20 list. A.J. Cole's power right arm is always of interest. Righty Nathan Karns has seen big league time, and lefty Robbie Ray is in Double-A, not too far away.


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It goes something like this: The American Dream itself depends on being able to deduct the interest you pay on your mortgage. Cutting, capping or dropping it altogether will -- take your pick: depress home values; make it harder for minority families to buy a house; lower the overall ownership rate, and destabilize society at large.
While it may be true that owning a home has tremendous social value, there's little proof that being able to deduct the interest payments on a mortgage is essential to fostering an ownership society. In fact, the plethora of tax incentives may have contributed to the financial mess many homeowners currently find themselves in.
In recent weeks, two bipartisan deficit panels have recommended eliminating mortgage interest deductibility or replacing it with a direct credit as part of a broader plan to reduce spending, raise taxes and lower the federal deficit.
These plans, which both include tax simplification and sharp reductions in income tax rates, are a long way from becoming law, but they have initiated much-needed conversations about a variety of sacrosanct special interests and tax incentives.
The chief argument against mortgage interest deductibility is that it is expensive and inefficient. It will cost the U.S. Treasury about $130 billion -- almost three times the annual budget of the Department of Housing and Urban Development -- in 2012 alone. While we're at it, let's tack on another $31 billion for the deductibility of property taxes, and about $50 billion for the exclusion of capital gains on the sale of residential property.
Most of these financial benefits accrue to people in the highest tax brackets -- the people who don't need a subsidy to buy a house in the first place. A 2008 study in one economics journal concludes that households with incomes exceeding $250,000 receive 10 times the tax savings from interest deductibility as households earning between $40,000 and $75,000.
The incentive also distorts choices, encouraging people who receive the smallest benefit to live in a more expensive home. Who hasn't had a real estate agent whisper in their ear that, "the more house you buy, the bigger your tax break"?
Worse, these tax incentives have not led to higher U.S. homeownership rates, which stood at just under 67 percent this past summer. Canada's homeownership rate is 68 percent despite never having allowed interest deductibility. Great Britain eliminated mortgage interest deductibility in 2000, and the homeownership rate climbed. It's about 68 percent.
Mortgage interest deductibility isn't the only proposal in the recent deficit reduction plans, but few have as many advocates. The housing industry represents about 16 percent of the United States' gross domestic product, and loud opposition to the proposal from Democrats, Republicans and industry interests illustrates why it's often called, along with Social Security, "the other third rail of American politics."
The National Association of Realtors weighed in immediately, with economist Lawrence Yun predicting that eliminating the deduction would reduce home values by an additional 15 percent and destroy family wealth.
"Since the inception of the tax code nearly 100 years ago this has been seen as an appropriate social deduction," said Christopher Galler, chief operating officer for the Minnesota Association of Realtors. "Why change the rules on people now?"
But rules change as society does, usually not with the devastating effects that industry groups often predict. Consumers didn't cut up their credit cards in 1986, for example, when the Tax Reform Act ended tax deductions for interest payments on credit card debt.
That legislation for the first time made a special carve-out for mortgage interest deductions. A year later, Congress enriched the benefit by allowing consumers to deduct interest payments on home equity loans. Presto! Interest payments on that LCD television or Mexican vacation became tax-deductible.
This is not the first time someone has suggested eliminating mortgage interest deductibility. The first failed effort was in 1963. Sen. Ted Kennedy tried in 1980, and a budget advisory panel convened by President George W. Bush in 2005 recommended replacing it with a smaller credit. The panel also recommended eliminating the deduction completely for second homes and home equity loans.
"There's a vast and powerful lobby behind that tax deduction, so I have a hard time seeing how it ever passes," said Alex Stenback, a Twin Cities area mortgage banker and author of a closely read industry blog, Behind the Mortgage.
George Karvel, a professor of real estate at the University of St. Thomas, believes that mortgage interest deductibility does provide a valuable incentive toward homeownership, and he cautions against doing anything drastic now, given the fragile state of the housing sector.
"For many people, being able to deduct their mortgage interest might be the only thing keeping their head above water at the moment," Karvel said.
Still, Karvel likes the idea of eliminating the deduction for interest paid on second home mortgages, and interest payments for newly issued home equity mortgages. And he thinks there might be support for limiting the deduction on primary residences to mortgages of $500,000 or less.
He thinks the odds of something happening this time around might be better than ever because of growing awareness of the financial challenges affecting the country's long-term prosperity.
"What is slowly being recognized by the public and politicians alike," Karvel said, "is that our governments have made promises to deliver future benefits, in Social Security, in Medicare, that they will not be able to deliver on unless we start acting now."


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# 202001750
4051 KINGSTON CT Jackson, MI 49203
- 4 Beds
- 3 Baths
- 2276 sq.ft.
- Single-Family
The data relating to real estate for sale on this web site comes in part from the Internet Data Exchange of the Jackson Area Association of Realtors®. Information being provided is for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing.


text:
Look out behind you! Welcome to Kotaku's official forum, known affectionately as Talk Amongst Yourselves. This is the place where we gather on a daily basis to discuss all things video game and existential. Want to talk about new games, old games, games that aren't even out yet? Knock yourselves out!
Here we have a TAYpic by The_Real_Pan1da7. Now I can understand why the Assassin's Order would be gunning for Smug, Well-Off Guy. He's rich, powerful and wears jaunty headgear. All of that means that he's probably a n evil Templar in need of immediate life removal services. But Angry Impoverished Dude? Why does he get a knife in the throat? Well, all that screaming must get annoying, I guess. "Requiescat in pace," guys.
You can do funny things with pictures, right? Want everyone on this fine web forum to see? Here's what you do. Post your masterpieces in the #TAYpics thread. Don't forget to keep your image in a 16x9 ratio if you want a slice of Talk Amongst Yourselves glory. Grab the base image here. Don't forget to keep your image in a 16x9 ratio if you want a slice of TAY glory. The best ones will be featured in future installments of Talk Amongst Yourselves.


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CRS: The World Trade Organization: The Hong Kong Ministerial, January 20, 2006
From WikiLeaks
About this CRS report
This document was obtained by Wikileaks from the United States Congressional Research Service.
The CRS is a Congressional "think tank" with a staff of around 700. Reports are commissioned by members of Congress on topics relevant to current political events. Despite CRS costs to the tax payer of over $100M a year, its electronic archives are, as a matter of policy, not made available to the public.
Individual members of Congress will release specific CRS reports if they believe it to assist them politically, but CRS archives as a whole are firewalled from public access.
This report was obtained by Wikileaks staff from CRS computers accessible only from Congressional offices.
For other CRS information see: Congressional Research Service.
For press enquiries, consult our media kit.
If you have other confidential material let us know!.
For previous editions of this report, try OpenCRS.
Wikileaks release: February 2, 2009
Publisher: United States Congressional Research Service
Title: The World Trade Organization: The Hong Kong Ministerial
CRS report number: RL33176
Author(s): Ian F. Fergusson, William H. Cooper, Vivian C. Jones, and Danielle J. Langton, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division; Charles E. Hanrahan and Susan R. Fletcher, Resources, Science, and Industry Division; and Jeanne J. Grimmett, American Law Divisio
Date: January 20, 2006
- Abstract
- This report describes the outcome of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations. Separate sections on Agriculture, Non-Agricultural Market Access, Services, Rules, Trade Facilitation, Special and Differential Treatment, Intellectual Property Issues, Dispute Settlement, and Trade and Environment provide background on the negotiations and details of the proposal.
- Download


text:
Travel through space and get rich with Star Shipping Inc. Visit the new frontier colonies and battle space monsters and pirates in your quest to be the number one space trader the galaxy have ever known.
Take the role of the captain of of a cargo ship traveling between star systems to trade goods and commodities in strive to become the richest star ship captain in the galaxy. Your weapon is a mighty cargo ship that has to defend itself against space pirates, monsters and other less-than-friendly encounters.
Star Shipping is a turn based, strategy game, where in each turn your choices and a number of events and encounters can happen, affecting the outcome of the entire game.
When you play, choose your strategy well, and think twice before every journey, your choice between playing with a ship that's fast, or one that is large, or strong makes the game totally different, and it's all your choice.
Play at your own pace, as unlike many other games today, this one offers the player a mental challenges that doesn't rely on the ability to hit stuff on the screen, and doesn't require you to be 100% focus on the game at all times, instead you can play at your own pace, and use your economical planning skills and your intellect to trade various commodities between stars, and climb up the score ladder as you accomplish your goal of becoming the richest space captain in the galaxy.
Quotes from players:
"It's like solitaire, in space."
"Totally addictive"
"Takes a few game sessions to fully realize the full potential of the game, but when you do, it's awesome!"
Star shipping features high resolution beautiful space backdrops, planets, aliens, nebulae, space ships, items, and characters.
Features Include:
- Beautiful graphic set in a space age universe.
- Clever economy system that keeps you from being too greedy.
- Mass amount of events to keep you sharp as you travel.
- Encounter space monsters, bandits, and pirates who will try to kill you.
- Choose from several types of ships to maximize your strategy.
- Visit the shop to upgrade your vessel, so you'll be the mightiest cruiser to have ever sail the frontiers.
- Defend yourself with battle drones or newly bought weapons.
- Tons of achievement and ranks to discover for high replay value.
- Random colonies and commodities that will sometimes make you laugh.
- Easter Eggs.
- Made by two guys, but not from Andromeda.
|English (United States)
|Corbomite LTD.
|Corbomite LTD.


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Things I won't miss about being fat!
Recommended Posts
Trending Topics
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By MaybeMeow2, in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
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10/26 Surgery! Anyone interested in a surgery buddy/support group?
By BypaSSSed, in Gastric Bypass Surgery Forums
- 52 replies
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Recent Status Updates
My surgery date got pushed up a week. I'm sprinting toward the finish line right now. Today is day 4 of my liquid diet. Telehealth appointments with the bariatric team and Dr. Azagury done yesterday, anesthesiology team this afternoon....additional blood work to be done and covid test this weekend. Post surgery meds on order with the pharmacy. Surgery on Tuesday! I have to say my Stanford bariatric team is amazing and so thorough. I feel a bit overwhelmed, but super excited to be on the other side of this!· 0 replies
- This update has no replies.
Having a hard time fighting head hunger. I would love to hear everyone's trick on how they fight it.· 2 replies
This may sound ridiculous but I just reach down and feel my hip bones or put my hands around my waist or look at myself sideways in a mirror and feel proud of the hard work I've done and then I'm able to say, "nope, don't need that...I'm not hungry!" Sometimes when I go grocery shopping and I see something that I would of bought pre Gastric bypass, I say to myself, "I choose not to buy that." I don't ever say, "I can't have that." I can have anything I want. I'm an adult and I make my own choices! I chose a new lifestyle and I love the choices I make now! It's all a head game isn't it?
I love that! I need to do that. Great idea. It really is all in my head. I will stop and ask myself if I'm really hungry a lot of time. Or I will try to convince myself that I am just thirsty. It's still a battle though. Thank you for those tips! I'm going to give it a try!


text:
Killer Looks
Item #: IE6212
All Products
(3 Total)
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Getting , please wait.
|Phil likes to watch his wife Diane seduce strangers. Then they meet Mickey, a charmer with ideas of his own. Soon Diane and Phil find their kinky world threatened. Unrated version contains 13 minutes of additional footage.
|Directed by:
|Toby Phillips.
|Michael Artura, Sara Suzanne Brown, Len Donato


text:
Executive Briefing Centers
Right time, right place, right people. In a memorable visit to one of our HPE Executive Briefing Centers, we'll help you uncover key opportunities that drive competitive advantages.
Accelerate Your Strategies
Engage in highly personalized discussions. Dive into proven use cases. Explore the most technologically advanced HPE solutions and interactive demonstrations. And collaborate to achieve a deeper understanding of key strategies and emerging technologies that can provide an entirely new way of thinking about the future of your business.
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Investment In Your Success
Our executive briefing centers are an investment to help your organization meet its real-world business challenges by partnering for your future.
Transform Your Perspective
Your visit to an EBC will be a transformative experience that leads to new thinking and actionable plans. It will connect you to HPE thought leaders in a customized program matched to your unique needs.
HPE experts will help you uncover new ways for your organization to meet realworld challenges head-on. And you'll leave with fresh and inventive solutions that help you expand your business capabilities, optimize your technology investments, and stay ahead of tomorrow's challenges—today.
Empower your business
Help your business expand its capabilities and achieve business outcomes
Optimize Technology
Optimize your technology investments and stay ahead in fast-changing industries
Plan the future
Plan for future technology innovations and economic shifts and disruptions
Plan the future
Plan for future technology innovations and economic shifts and disruptions
Meet with HPE senior executives, collaborate with industry experts to gain insights on HPE solutions and portfolio. Discover new technologies at Hewlett Packard Labs - right at HPE HQ.
Engage with HPE EMEA senior executives, take a deep dive into proven use cases, and meet with industry experts to gain insights into HPE solutions and portfolio.
Discuss HPE and industry solutions with senior leaders, participate in interactive discussions with industry experts on HPE technologies, use cases and portfolio.
Explore and deep dive into HPE server, storage and networking technologies, take product tours at R&D and Discovery Labs, and test-drive data center solutions.
Engage with HPE APJ senior executives and industry experts, take a deep dive into proven use cases and gain insights into HPE solutions, partners and services.
Around the world
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Engage with senior HPE executives and IT professionals at the HPE Customer Innovation Centre (CIC) in Bengaluru.
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Discover the latest HPE technologies and solutions for solving your business challenges at the CTC in Boeblingen.
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Collaborate and connect with HPE thought leaders at the Customer Experience Centre located in Gurgaon, India.
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Discover HPE latest technologies and solutions at the CTC in Las Rozas (Madrid) to help you solve your business challenges.
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Experience demonstrations with the help and guidance of SMEs, discuss your business needs, see how components integrate seemlessly.
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Meet HPE technology experts in an unique, interactive setting that facilitates deep-dive discussions and accelerates your digital transformation journey.
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Learn how HPE solutions and technologies can drive you faster in the idea economy; helping you start, discover, and enhance your business transformation.
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Learn about the humble beginnings of Hewlett Packard, where Bill and Dave formed the partnership that changed everything.
Hewlett Packard Labs
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text:
Holy geekgasmic! During the Xbox One unveiling, the amazing Steven Spielberg made a cameo to announce he would be working with 343 Industries to bring forth an all new Halo television series!
Spielberg's role in the project is still unknown, when the series will come out is unknown and even the scope of the series is unknown. So all we really know is that a Halo series is coming and Spielberg will somehow be involved, most likely as a producer.
When we know more, you geeks will know more.


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Difference between revisions of " Maven Notes"
Brad Bebee (Talk | contribs)
Brad Bebee (Talk | contribs)
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For release 1.5.3, the existing project is broken into the artifacts below. blazegraph-parent is the parent artifact that will build all of the dependencies and contains common configuration information.
For release 1.5.3, the existing project is broken into the artifacts below. blazegraph-parent is the parent artifact that will build all of the dependencies and contains common configuration information.
! style="
! style="-: "| Module
! Description
! Description
Revision as of 15:27, 8 August 2015
Here are a few notes on the ongoing effort to "Maven-ize" Bigdata. These notes apply to work currently being done in the maven_scaleout branch.
The main goal of the "mavenization" process is to separate "heavy-weight" tests from the standard unit tests that a developer would run during a typical development cycle. Also included are tests that require some external infrastructure to be set up and torn down(e.g. a lookup service) around the execution of the tests. The term "integration tests" is not particularly accurate and is really a catch-all for anything that we don't want to be part of the lighter-weight unit tests. As the componentization of Bigdata proceeds, we will see some of these integration tests move back into their respective components but still be separated from the light-weight unit tests. Of course, the unit tests themselves will become part of the components they are meant to test. Maven's separation of unit and integration tests into separate phases of the build lifecycle makes this fairly straightforward.
For release 1.5.3, the existing project is broken into the artifacts below. blazegraph-parent is the parent artifact that will build all of the dependencies and contains common configuration information.
|Blazegraph extentions for unit tests.
|Blazegraph CTC Striterators
|Blazegraph LGPL Utils extensions
|Blazegraph DSI Utils extensions
|RDF properties common to multiple Blazegraph artifacts
|Utilities common to multiple Blazegraph artifacts
|Classes necessary build a Blazegraph client.
|Blazegraph Ganglia package
|Blazegraph Gather Apply Scatter (GAS) package
|bigdata, bigdata-rdf, bigdata-sails, and bigdata-gom source code. Tests are in bigdata-core-test and bigdata-sails-test. Future work will split this into separate artifacts as required.
|Blazegraph HA and Scale-out packages requiring Apache River. Includes tests.
|This version of the bigdata.war without lib files.
|Blazegraph Embedded Server package
|Unit tests for bigdata, bigdata-rdf, and bigdata-gom
|Unit tests for bigdata-sails
|bigdata.war distribution
|Blazegraph executable jar for distribution.
Maven Background and Help
How to create a new maven project
mvn archetype:generate -DgroupId=com.blazegraph -DartifactId=new-artifact -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-quickstart -DinteractiveMode=false
Edit new-artifact/pom.xml and add the lines:
<parent> <groupId>com.blazegraph</groupId> <artifactId>blazegraph-parent</artifactId> <version>1.5.2-SNAPSHOT</version> <relativePath>../blazegraph-parent/pom.xml</relativePath> </parent>
Add the javadoc parameters and repositories:
<reporting> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId> <configuration>  <show>public</show> <maxmemory>1000m</maxmemory> <author>true</author> <version>true</version> <doctitle><![CDATA[
ctc-striterators
]]></doctitle> <bottom> <![CDATA[Copyright © 2006-2015 SYSTAP, LLC. All Rights Reserved.  ]]></bottom> </configuration> </plugin> </plugins> </reporting> <repositories> <repository> <id>bigdata.releases</id> <url>http://www.systap.com/maven/releases/</url> </repository> </repositories>
How to run the integration tests
The bigdata-integ module is now referenced in the bigdata parent POM. If you run a build from the parent project, you'll build bigdata-core, generate its artifacts including the deployment tarball, and run the integration tests. Note that the unit tests are currently not being run during the build, but this should change soon.
mvn clean install
If you've already built bigdata-core and just want to run the integration tests, you can run this from the bigdata-integ directory:
cd bigdata-integ mvn clean integration-test (mvn clean install will also work)
How to not run the integration tests
If you don't want to run the integration tests, it's easy. You can:
- Run the build from the bigdata-core project rather than the parent project.
- OR from the parent project, add the –DskipITs argument on the command-line (this skips integration tests just as –DskipTests skips unit tests)
- OR from the parent project, run mvn clean package instead of mvn clean install.
Since the integration-test build phase comes after the package build phase, the integration tests won't be executed.
Creating a new project with archetype
mvn -B archetype:generate \ -DarchetypeGroupId=org.apache.maven.archetypes \ -DgroupId=com.blazegraph.component \ -DartifactId=blazegraph-component


text: This site is not directly affiliated with FarStone Technology Inc.. At the time of downloading you accept the EULA and privacy policies stated by Secursoft. The download will be executed through a download manager. The mentioned download manager doesn't have any relationship with the author. DriveClone could also be available for download on the author's website.Secursoft aims to offer downloads free of viruses and malware. The download manager is part of our virus and malware filtering system and certifies the file's reliability. Additionally, the download manager may offer you optional utilities such as an online translator, online backup, search bar, pc health kit and an entertainment application. You can find more information on these optional offers in the dedicated page.


text:
What's Going On With Simon Cowell's Face?
We don't mean to be rude, but: who is this guy on The X Factor "world premiere screening" red carpet? And what has he done with Simon Cowell?
It's not just us, right? The notoriously vain former American Idol judge has almost certainly had botox injections—if not full-on surgery—before. But he seems to have gone, uh, a little over the top in anticipation of the new talent show and ended up with Kidman's Syndrome.
[all images via AP]


text:
Sunday Morning Bible Study 9:30am Worship Service 11:00am
Sunday Evening Bible Study 5:00pm
Did you know, in less than 20 minutes a day, you can read through the entire bible in just one year?
This year Alta Vista Church is doing just that! Each day of the week we set aside at least 20 minutes to read from the New Living Translation of the One Year Bible, published by Tyndale. And then every Sunday, in bible study, we discuss what we've read. We're having a great time on our journey through God's word and we invite you to join us.
May this be the year that you read the entire bible, because when you get into God's word, God's word gets into you.


text:
Irradiation with heavy ions is suitable in particular for patients suffering from cancer with tumours which are difficult to access, for example in the brain. These particles hardly damage the penetrated tissue, but can be used in such a way that they deliver their maximum energy only directly at the target: the tumour. Research in this relatively new therapy method is focussed again and again on the exact dosing: how must the radiation parameters be set in order to destroy the cancerous cells "on the spot" with as low a damage as possible to the surrounding tissue? The answer depends decisively on the extent to which the ions can be decelerated by body tissue on their way to the tumour. Scientists of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) have established an experiment for the more exact determination of the stopping power of tissue for carbon ions in the therapeutically relevant area which is so far unique worldwide. Although the measurement data so far available must still become more exact, the following can already be said: The method works and can, in future, contribute to clearly improving the dosing for cancer therapy with carbon ions. The first results have recently been published in the magazine "Physics in Medicine and Biology".
Human tissue mainly consists of water. It can, therefore, be simulated well in liquid water in which form accelerated ions can be stopped on their way and at which target they deliver their maximum energy quantity - at least theoretically, because up to now experimental data has existed only for water vapour. Scientists, however, assume: If the aggregate state is neglected, the data determined for the determination of the radiation dose become too imprecise.
Within the scope of the doctoral thesis of J. M. Rahm, PTB scientists have now succeeded for the first time in determining the stopping power of liquid water for carbon ions with kinetic energies in the range of the maximum energy dissipation by experiment. The first results actually indicate that carbon ions are less strongly stopped in liquid water, related per molecule, than in water vapour. As soon as more exact data are available, the findings will be included in the calibration of ionization chambers which are used to determine the dose in therapy planning. At present, the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT) is the only institution in Europe which irradiates patients with heavy ions.
The procedure applied by the researchers is based on a method which originates from nuclear physics: the Inverted Doppler Shift Attenuation Method. While the carbon ions excited by a nuclear reaction move through the water volume, they are stopped and fall back into their ground state. The energy distribution of the gamma quanta emitted thereby is recorded with the aid of an ultra-pure germanium detector. The Doppler effect, which leads to the displacement of the gamma energy, and the exponential-decay law allow the development of the velocity of the carbon ions with time to be pursued and, thus, conclusions on the stopping process to be drawn.


text:
With less than a year to go until the 2012 Olympic Games in London reach the starting line, the economy is looking ever gloomier.
Unemployment recently hit a 15-year high in the UK, inflation is hovering around 5 percent and economic growth is barely advancing, leaving many to wonder whether hosting such an expensive event with taxpayers' money will bring benefits for a nation already tightening its belt.
"The challenge is that you are trying to budget initially seven years in advance of the Games," Stephen Wenn, Professor of Kinesiology and Physical Education at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada and lead author of the soon-to-be released book "Tarnished Rings: The International Olympic Committee and the Salt Lake City Bid Scandal," told CNBC.com.
"When London got the Games in 2005, could anyone have reasonably predicted 2008/9, and the more recent and ongoing additional economic challenges centered in Europe, but with tentacles reaching to other regions?" he said.
The economic distress, which culminated in last summer's riots in London and more recently anti-capitalist protestors camped outside at St Paul's Cathedral , has also cast a shadow over the Olympics.
The tent camp outside one of London's biggest tourist attractions has been described as an embarrassment for the city's tourism industry, which is hoping for a significant boost from the Games.
"It is part of the risks one accepts in chasing the rings. Sometimes you get lucky, as did Calgary, when it benefitted from a massive explosion in the value of sports television properties in the early 1980s," Wenn said.
The UK economy grew by 0.5 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2011, according to the preliminary figures from the Office for National Statistics, but the recovery is slow and the government, focused on budget savings, is struggling to support it.
Impact on Jobs
A 2005 PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport study found that total UK GDP (gross domestic product) in the period from 2005 to 2016 would be increased by 1.9 billion pounds ($3.0 billion) as a result of the Olympics.
Since then, the economic downturn has put pressure on government spending and jobs, and the Olympics have been hailed as an opportunity to create much-needed employment.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is aiming to generate least 1 billion pounds for the UK economy by promoting everything that the country has to offer as a place to invest, do business with and visit.
Meanwhile the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), the public body responsible for developing and building the new venues and infrastructure for the Games, says over 40,000 people have worked on the Olympic Park.
It has awarded 1,500 contracts worth some 6.4 billion pounds, the vast majority of which it says have gone to UK businesses.
Many more, including substantial agreements such as Welsh company Rowecord's contract to build the wave-shaped steel roof for the Aquatics Centre, have been awarded indirectly to sub-contractors.
"Tens of thousands of companies are benefiting from the value being spread through the nation's supply chain," an ODA spokesman told CNBC.
Public sector funding made available for the Games stands at 9.298 billion pounds ($14.7 billion), with around 8.1 billion pounds made available to the ODA.
The body's latest figures show that the final cost for the construction phase is expected to amount to 7.25 billion pounds, representing savings of over 800 million.
Other costs include maintenance of the Olympic Park and security.
"As for costs, infrastructure heads the list, specifically venues and their operations, and naturally security is a significant investment, now, more than pre-9/11, even though it was an expanding file for a number of years prior to that point in the aftermath of the Munich Olympics," Wenn said.
But scholars point out that budget claims depend heavily on accounting methods, and that the short-term boost the Games can provide for the economy will only have lasting benefits if the organizers remain firmly focused on the legacy of the Games.
"Given the budget modifications that have already been made when combined with various comments…indicating they are 'ahead of time and under budget,' the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) will at the very minimum report a balanced budget," Scott Martyn, Associate Professor of Olympic and Sport History at Canada's University of Windsor said.
"However…such a claim is very dependant on what is and is not included as a LOCOG expense," Martyn, co-author of "Selling the Five Rings: The International Olympic Committee and the Rise of Olympic Commercialism" said.
Winners and Losers
Successful Games like those staged in Los Angeles in 1984 or Barcelona in 1992 can bring real benefits for the country. But the 2004 Athens Olympics showed they can also end in financial disaster, a legacy which some have argued eventually dragged the global economy down.
Heavily-indebted Greece has already been bailed out twice, and some of Europe's banks are greatly exposed to Greek debt which has caused fears in financial markets that other, much larger countries may need to be rescued as well.
Aside from an increase in the construction workforce, the Olympic Games in London are expected to boost the tourism industry, with more business for airlines and hotels, and present marketing opportunities.
Economic studies have also found that Olympic host countries' export trade generally rises after staging the Games and there is an increase in trade between the host and the rest of the world, with the Games in Sydney in Australia a case in point.
"They certainly have the capacity to provide short-term boosts to the local economy, but it can also go the other way," Wenn said.
"So many people weren't exactly sure what Athens would provide and international ticket sales lagged. If there ever was a city and nation that likely regretted its $14-$15 billion Olympic accrued debt, it's Athens and Greece," he added.
Beijing was keen to show the world it was an important global player, perfectly organized and demonstrating financial strength, and Brazil will want to do the same in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Meanwhile London is using the opportunity to remake the city's East End, one of the UK's most deprived areas, providing new houses, schools and sports facilities.
This will bring "massive regeneration and employment opportunities", the government says.
The prestige that comes with hosting the Olympics, as well as a greater take-up of sports among youngsters inspired by the Games are among other, less tangible benefits.
"The state of the art venues on the Olympic Park are a fantastic showcase for British construction and design and through agreements with future host cities, many British firms will export their expertise to forthcoming major sports events," a Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson said.
Will UK citizens truly benefit from hosting the Games during the worst economic downturn since World War II? As London will be staging the Games in a climate very different to the optimism that reigned in 2005, success, analysts and observers say, will ultimately be judged on the enduring legacy of the Games.


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To mark next May's 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, Road & Track arranged for past winners to take laps at the Brickyard in some historic machinery. Here's Dario Franchitti unleashing the 1965 Lotus of Jim Clark:
Other entries include Bobby Rahal in the 1912 National and Sam Posey piloting the 1962 Leader Card special of Rodger Ward. Nice.


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|Snakes are beautiful and will not harm if they don't feel threatened.
Please bring along insect repellent, torch, poncho, bottle of water. Optional items if you have them, do bring along your binoculars and a camera.
Two groups each maximum 20 persons, first-come-first-served.
Time: 6.30pm - 9.30pm, meet at 6.15pm
Meeting point: Assembly Area, 200m or a 6-min walk from Ubin Jetty (map).
Cost: $15 per participant, payment on the spot. Proceeds will be donated to the Herpetological Society of Singapore.
Website: http://www.subaraj.com/
No registration required! Just turn up at the meeting point by 6.15pm, payment on the spot.
Arrangements have been made for a bumboat (or two) to be available for your travel back to the mainland at $5/person. With only one or two bumboats, it may take a while to transport a large group back to the mainland. Thank you for your patience!
What happened...
Thanks to photos by Vilma D'Rozario


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skai® Paduna Stars NF powder rose
skai® Paduna Stars NF is a high-quality upholstery material with a delicate textile structure. The material looks elegant and classy in trendy metallic shades. skai® Paduna Stars NF meets the rigorous B1- flame resistance standard and is therefore ideal for use in the design-oriented contract area, in particular for decorative applications such as headboards and wall coverings.Order pattern directly


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You are here
The Effects of Climate Change in Zimbabwe
Climate change is affecting the most vulnerable in Zimbabwe. But while it's strong, there's something more powerful: the voices and the will of the people of Zimbabwe who want change and are working hard to make it, despite obstacles. This is their story.More


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Shimano held a special media presentation of some new products for this year. With the strong growth in XC racing and the influx of new, young riders and racers in the XC category, Shimano focused their development efforts on their XTR range of products. The Trek Factory XC Racing team is all on XTR and they helped test and develop several of the new products. Even though this was more of a "refinement" year for Shimano, there is still plenty of new changes and upgrades. XTR brakes, hubs, bottom brackets and chains all get improvements. By far, the most exciting new product is the all new carbon 29er tubular wheels.
Carbon wheels are a hot segment in mountain biking. Brands such as Enve, Easton, Roval and Reynolds all have popular carbon models that have been on the market for a while. So, it is not surprising to see Shimano producing an all new carbon fiber tubular wheel. In a strong support of the 29″ wheel, Shimano is only offering the XTR WH-M980 in a 29er version. Tubular wheels are not cheap and not easy to deal with, but for the ideal rider or racer, tubulars offer real world, tangible benefits. The way they ride (climb, accelerate, corner) are noticeably different from traditional wheels. With no bead, the tire profile becomes more round which really changes how the tire handles (a 2.0 tire feels like a 2.2 tire). Shimano intends the tubulars as XC oriented, so trail/all mountain riders should take note. There is also a considerable weight savings. The rim itself is 280 grams. The WH-M980 will be offered in 15mm front and 12mm rear E-thru axle options.
The XTR carbon fiber 29er wheels that we were shown were shod with Schwalbe Racing Ralph. Schwalbe is a brand that fully supports the mountain bike tubular technology.
Shimano XTR M980 series adds a new lighter weight hydraulic disc brake system that offers new advanced ICE Technology disc rotors and a refined caliper. The SM-RT99 "Freeza" rotor will now be available in smaller 180mm/160mm/140mm sizes. A new premium level mountain bike bottom bracket will be added that is lighter weight. A new super narrow HG-X chain will be introduced in the XTR line that is more durable.
Also new for this year is the M987 XTR disc brakes. Shimano concentrates on 3 main things with their brake development: power, stiffness, and heat dispersion.
Shimano uses an internal power level rating system and the new XTR maintains the Shimano tradition of a powerful, yet manageable brake engagement.
Maintaining stiffness is a key component of modulation. The new XTR has a magnesium caliper, magnesium master cyclinder, and a (first for Shimano) carbon fiber brake lever. These are all lightweight, but still perform well.
For heat requirements, Shimano uses their ICE technology of making a rotor that has 3 layers with the center layer being aluminum to draw heat. The new finned section comes from technology developed in the SAINT line of products. So now a 160mm rotor draws/disperses as much heat as a 180mm rotor use to. The new XTR brake also has a high powered hose, two piece caliper construction, banjo bolt that flows oil and keeps the two pieces together.
Also improved for this year are:
XTR hubs
-improved seals
-titanium freehub body
-QR or thru axle options
XTR press fit bottom bracket
-lighter, better
-improved sealing
-less rotational drag
XTR chain
-developed from Dura-Ace 9000 (11 speed) technology
-Siltech – nickel plating now has PTFE (flourine) particle wear longer, smoother and better for cross chaining (2×10)


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Terri Clark was arrested in Nashville shortly after midnight Wednesday (May 2) for allegedly driving under the influence. When Clark was pulled over, the officer reportedly said she was very talkative and unsteady on her feet. She refused a blood alcohol test. Clark has been charged with DUI and implied consent.
Through her record company publicist, Clark released a statement that reads: "While en route home from a business meeting last night, I was pulled over for going 45 mph in a 30 mph zone on West End Avenue in Nashville. I was five minutes from home, but the officer suspected I had consumed alcohol and wanted me to do a sobriety test. I refused a breathalyzer on the advice of a friend who is an attorney. While I had had some alcohol with dinner, I did not feel like I was impaired. I do not, nor have I ever condoned drinking and driving and know
that no matter how little alcohol one has, one should never drive after drinking. I apologize and deeply regret this incident."


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Proteus is a prototype human (beta release) living in Gondwanaland in the Jurassic era. Part one is here.
As it happened, Proteus could not speak with sounds:
when he opened his mouth and set his throat to vibrate,
glowing bubbles, leafy baubles, necklaced seeds,
a myriad of elemental protozoan shapes,
floated from his lips, sparking, drifting through the trees.
My return, he thought, the balance of me,
being made from nothing,
to which I must revert.
I might not sing the sweet love calls
of the gentle diplodocus, or, like the pterodactyl,
screech to my compadres to scatter
timid herds of mammals,
and yet I see no need for sounds of care or anger.
A couple of minutes later, Proteus changed his mind.
In a pool of faded lunar light,
he found a tiny mummified body,
neither reptile nor mammal.
He cupped it in his hand
and addressed it with cascading firefly points
and glow-worm dashes, a little like Morse code.
Oh curious creature, your tail was long
but your life was short,
and your genus and species are mysteries
that humans may never solve.
Like you, I have lived my life tenuously,
unable to ascertain who I am
or where I'm going.
I will wear your body on a necklace
against my heart, as soon as I determine
precisely where that is.
And I'll travel far and wide,
peddling my encyclopedia
across Gondwanaland,*
until I find a place where your
delicate bones may be preserved,
and some short-sighted paleontologist
will unearth them in the distant future.
In that way, I'll ensure your fame,
the recognition of your kind.
But the chameleon-like creature,
whose skin resembled powdery dust,
had merely been napping.
It awoke abruptly, bit off a sample
of Proteus' little finger,
scurried along his arm and fled.
to continue
*Although he could ride an encyclopedia at up to 20km/h, Proteus did not know the extent of Gondwanaland.
- vanitas in wikipedia , my thoughts , and an instagram vanitas I did once
- Hamlet, Yorick's skull
after the future, when there is nothing on television (part above). Evolved from clouds by VEE, the visual evolution engine.


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|Tom & Linda Jones Collection Online Only Auction
1966 Pontiac Catalina Convert., 50+ Art Prints, Saddles, Tools, Commercial Kitchen Equipment, Cowboy Antiques & more! Tom & Linda Jones of Viborg, SD--OwnersItems start closing: Monday, Jun. 17, 2019, 7:00PM CST
Location: 117 Kemper St, Viborg, South Dakota
|Search Catalog:
Catalog | Register for Auction | Terms | Download Catalog (PDF)
Track Item | Email to a friend | Ask Auctioneer a question


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BEE Abbott Drop Earrings - Ultra Brights (Yellow)
The BEE Ultra Brights collection is the perfect pop of colour this summer. Designed to compliment the vibrant Lordy Dordie Neon range (available at www.lordydordie.com) or your favourite summer outfits.
BEE Abbott Drop Earrings! Light weight, perfect for everyday wear.
Length: 7.5cm
Width: 6cm
Top Stud: 1.5cm
All pieces are hand painted, sustainably sourced light weight wood.
Each stud post or wire is surgical grade stainless steel.
Colours may vary in real life due to the settings of your device or monitor.
Shipping Info
All orders have flat shipping rates (one fixed price per order), they are:
Australia Standard: $8
Australia Express: $12
New Zealand Standard: $15
Rest of the World: $24
International orders are sent standard service with tracking.


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Notice of Privacy Practices
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Florida Hospital Medical Group believes your health information is personal and confidential. We are committed to keeping your health information private, and we are legally required to respect your confidentiality.
HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a Federal law that requires health providers to take certain steps to protect the privacy and security of patient health information. The privacy part of the law went into effect on April 14, 2003. HIPAA requires a health care provider to post the Notice of Patient Privacy Practices (NPPP) on its website.
The NPPP document describes how Florida Hospital Medical Group uses and protects your health information. To review the document in either english or spanish, click on the links below.
Notificación Sobre Prácticas De Privacidad De La Ley De Responsabilidad Y Portabilidad De Los Seguros De Salud
If you have any questions about the Notice of Patient Privacy Practices, please contact Florida Hospital Medical Group's Compliance & Privacy Officer at 407-200-2700.


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Play, make models, learn.
Fizika offers you an exciting user experience and the opportunity to play. You can learn while having fun and understand how the world around you works. You can also use the application on your smartphone or an interactive board in school.
Educational applications for tablet and phone
Make models and examine them
Watch a mechanical process, make its model with a few clicks and play it on your device as many times as you wish. This way you can examine it, analyse how it works and understand its physical background.
Would you change anything? No problem!
You can modify the parameters and properties of objects also during experiments, which would be impossible in reality. This enables you to observe what happens when you change the initial conditions.
Graphs with a click
The easiest way to understand processes is to use well-made graphs. You can create graphs for analysing virtual experiments with a click, and use them to understand the physical phenomena and motion of objects.
You can measure anything at any time
You can simulate real-time processes with accurate and scaled drawings. Thus, by performing the experiment, you can see how parameters of movement change.
Create an online curriculum collection
Whether you are a teacher or a student, the collection of spectacular animations that match the curriculum will help you.
Share it with others
It may be your homework, but you can also consider it a computer game. By performing virtual experiments, you can definitely learn and ask more questions based on your experiences. You can share your results and questions with your teacher or classmates.


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From Koei, creators of the acclaimed Dynasty Warriors saga, and EA comes Samurai Warriors, a strategic action title set during the Sengoku Jidai (Warring States Period) of 15th Century Feudal Japan.
As brave Sanada Yukimura or any one of his band of legendary samurai and ninja, you must battle against fearsome leaders on the hallowed battlefields of Okehazama and Kawanakajima, and inside the besieged walls of Osaka Castle. By facing off against hundreds of gun-wielding troops, ninja, and mighty generals you'll forge a new destiny for the proud nation of Japan.
The development of the action in Samurai Warriors is determined by your character's (and hence your) actions; the story will branch off in different directions based on how you choose to approach various scenarios that crop up throughout campaigns. These scenarios are triggered by the Active Mission System (AMS), which randomly throws up any one of 500 mission variations - your success or failure can have direct affect on the scenarios that crop up in later stages.
Depending on your choice of character, you'll be able to slaughter troops with katana blades, deadly shuriken, kunai (daggers), kuzarigama (sickle and chain) and other such lethal weapons. Power up sufficiently during a battle, and you'll have a chance to wipe out dozens of troops at once with devastating Musou attacks. It's also possible to level up weaponry and equip them with special elemental power in order to inflict further damage to your foes.
On occasion you'll also leave the field and enter into castle battles - circular blades, false staircases, floor pitfalls, and other booby traps are strewn around in an attempt to catch you unawares. Like the AMS, the floor plans for each castle level are randomly generated each time, so you'll always be kept on your toes.
1-2 Players
1-2 Player Types
See it in action


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Special Offer!
ADT®-Monitored Home Security in North Port
PLUS, get $850 in Security Equipment including:
*With $99 installation with purchase of 36/24 mo. monitoring contract. Termination fee applies. New customers only. See offer details below.
Special Offer!
ADT®-Monitored Home Security in North Port
PLUS, get $850 in Security Equipment including:
*With $99 installation with purchase of 36/24 mo. monitoring contract.
Termination fee applies. New customers only. See offer details below.
North Port, Call (844) 898-8900
Home Security in North Port, Florida
According to jsu.edu, each year there are over 2.2 million burglaries in the US, which means that every 15 seconds, a burglary is committed
Your Chances of Becoming a Victim of a Burglary in North Port, FL
No one likes thinking about potentially becoming a victim of crime in Florida, but every single day in the US a break-in happens every 4 seconds. It's easy to say "it won't happen to me" but 2.2 million families fall victim of burglaries each year in the US. Don't let your home in North Port become part of those statistics. Installing a new home security system and along with monitoring from ADT your home could be protected and your family safer.
Homeowners Insurance
Did you know that ADT Home Security monitoring is so effective that many homeowners insurance providers offer discounts to policyholders with their security systems. By having an ADT-monitored security system installed in your home, you may be able to save on your homeowners insurance premiums. That's money back in your wallet!
24 Hours a day monitoring
ADT monitoring is a leader in monitored home security, but it also offers important services such as Emergency Alert Monitoring, Flood Monitoring, and Fire and Smoke Monitoring.
ADT 6-Month Money Back Guarantee
ADT is so confident in the quality of their monitoring services, that if your home is broken into while your system is armed, ADT will pay up to $500 of your homeowners insurance deductible (certain restrictions may apply).
Burglaries Cost More than You Think
Being the victim of a home burglary can be a very distressing experience. Stress may become compounded once the financial impact of a burglary becomes apparent. According to the FBI, burglary victims in 2011 faced, on average, nearly $2,200 in property loss. This number doesn't take into consideration additional expenses in the form of lost wages, insurance deductibles, and various other costs. Residents of some cities were victims of as many as 109101 property crimes and 27459 burglaries in 2011. Several of these burglaries could have been prevented had homeowners installed home security systems, which can deter potential intruders from breaking into a residence.
Why Florida Homeowners Choose ADT Monitoring Systems
There are many different reasons Florida residents choose ADT Security Monitoring to help protect their home & family from burglary and other disasters. But we thought we'd list just a few reasons for choosing SafeStreets USA and ADT.
Multiple types of protection. ADT monitored security systems not only help protect against burglaries and home invasion, but also helps against fire and even carbon monoxide poisoning. An alarm can help wake your family in case of smoke and fire. A panic button can also help contact police or fire department during an emergency, perhaps even saving your life.
Security equipment that's easy to use. With just a push of a button you can easily arm and disarm your system. And with the panic button your family can quickly alert emergency response such as police or the need of an ambulance.
Dependable equipment and confident monitoring your home security system is monitored 24 hours a day and 365 days per year by trained staff at the ready. ADT provides great redundancy with 6 US monitoring centers your home is never unprotected. If one center is down then another automatically starts monitoring your home.
Quick deployment of first responders. At any time your alarm is triggered or you push the panic button, ADT's monitoring centers will quickly try and verify your situation. If you are having an actual emergency ADT will immediately notify police or fire responders with your exact location and details.
Safety Tip: Get to Know the Neighbors
Being an active member in your neighborhood requires you to really know the people who live near and next to you. Why is getting to know your neighbors so important? First, it gives you peace of mind to know your house and property are well looked after while you're away on vacation or for any other reason. Also, your children have an immediate point of contact should anything happen while you're gone. It also enables you to have a better grasp of who may be a suspicious character if you have an idea of who you see and speak to often.
Protect Your Property
Even if neighborhood safety isn't the highest priority, it is necessary that you have a robust security system installed. You never know who might come through your neighborhood and it is key to be prepared for the worst. Investing in a smart security system gives you the ultimate control and insight into your property. Companies such as ADT are at the forefront of home security with their offering of home automation products. Control your home's functions as if you were there at all times with automated lighting, smart locks, and thermostat features, just to name a few.
Educate the Whole Family
Another key to neighborhood safety is to educate the whole family about what to do on a daily basis and in the event of an emergency. Teach your kids what emergency contact numbers they should call, where they should go, how to use the security system, etc. Always be aware of where your family is in the neighborhood whether you are home or not as well—set perimeter limits on how far outside of your area they can go.
Report Suspicious Activity
A simple tip, but one that could make all the difference. The slogan for national security also holds true for your neighborhood—"If you see something, say something." If you see a car you don't recognize parked near your or your neighbor's, keep a watchful eye for a few minutes and contact authorities. Or if people appear to be walking back and forth in and out of the neighborhood, don't be afraid to pick up the phone and call 911. Always go with your gut when you feel something or someone looks off in your neighborhood. You might feel too cautious, but when you know something is off, you could make the difference between saving you or your neighbors a real headache. Teach your kids this same thing—their preparedness is just as important as yours.
Start a Neighborhood Watch
If you are committed to neighborhood safety ensuring crime stays clear from your home, there is no better way than to start a neighborhood watch. You can start it alone and build interest or begin with a few other neighbors. Make sure you gather enough interested households required by your local authorities. Think of a meeting place (someone's house or apartment, for example) and have an agenda of issues that you'd like to address, so the meeting stays on track. You can even invite a police officer from your neighborhood's jurisdiction.


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Thursday, June 2, 2016
EXTERMINATORS DIFFERENCES IN PRICES QUOTES FOR PEST CONTROL SERVICES - Docs.com
Quality Pest extermination service and customer satisfaction. As a family-owned-and-operated company, our responsibility is to provide you with the most efficient and effective pest control service in the safest possible manner; throughout our review process, application techniques and devices have made changes in certain pesticides, and application methods. services are available to residential including single family residences, apartments, commercial including hotels, restaurants, schools. Published by Ampm Exterminators. 26 Views, 0 Likes on Docs.com. #pest control companies #pest control seattle #pest control company #home pest control #best pest control
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|Member since:
|October 18, 2020
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No particular webzines
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I currently have nothing in my agenda.
I'm currently not following any other modelers, magazines or websites on this site
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You can change your Cookie settings at any time. (Essential cookies are for: preferences, security, performance analytics and contextual advertising)Privacy policy » Continue


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ShopRite Coupon Matchups and Deals
Here are the best ShopRite coupon matchups and deals that I see at Shop Rite this week.
Make sure that you check out Coupons.com, SmartSource and RedPlum for any printable coupons that you may need!!
New to using coupons or don't understand the lingo? Get all the information you need to rock the deals on my New? Start Here! page.
Shopping somewhere else this week? Check out the rest of the grocery deals that I have posted!


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Drought eases in Grand as rain keeps falling
Flash floods ripped through the Front Range on Wednesday night, Sept. 11, closing state parks, municipal buildings, and schools and claiming at least three lives.
Grand County didn't see the inches of rain the Front Range did, though the county could possibly move out of the D1 — moderate drought category — if precipitation continues, according to Treste Huse, a hydrologist with National Weather Service in Boulder.
Recent rain showers have brought most of Grand County to the average amount of precipitation in normal years and continued rains in the forecast could possibly bring portions of Grand County into a D0 classification, or abnormally dry.
Improvements in the lasting drought could come as early as next week for the county if precipitation continues, according to Zach Schwalbe, a research associate with the Colorado Climate Center.
The most recent release from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows an improvement from the beginning of the year, when all of the state was considered to be in a moderate drought and 95 percent of the state was considered to be in a severe drought. Currently, 1.97 percent of the state is considered to have no drought at all, 98.03 percent of the state is considered abnormally dry, and of that percentage, 93.08 percent of the state is still in a moderate drought.
Around this time last year, the percentage of the state considered to be in an "exceptional drought," or D4 classification, hit its highest point at 16.89 percent. Currently, only 3.01 percent of the state is considered to be in an exceptional drought.
The current forecast calls for rain through the weekend with the weather starting to dry up early next week.
Partly sunny skies will be accompanied by chances of rain showers and thunderstorms throughout the coming week, according to Kyle Fredin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder.
Getting close to normal
So far, Winter Park has received 6.69 inches of rain during the months of June, July, and August. The normal rainfall for Winter park during these three months is 5.93 inches, bringing the area to 113 percent of their average rainfall. In 2012, Winter Park received 6.28 inches, and in 2011 the area received 4.23 inches during these three months.
Grand Lake is currently at 94 percent of their normal rainfall for June, July, and August with 5.46 inches. The average rainfall during these three months for the Grand Lake area is 5.82 inches. In 2012, the area fell short of the average receiving 4.4 inches of rain, and in 2011 the area was above the average with 6.15 inches.
Kremmling has received the lowest amount of rainfall in the county by only receiving 2.66 inches of rain over the three-month period, 69 percent of the 3.86-inch average. Though the area has been above their average rainfall in the past two years with 4.04 inches falling in 2012 and 4.17 inches in 2011. The area still has a good chance to reach the average amount of rainfall with the current forecast and received 1.02 inches of rain between Sept. 1 and Sept. 10.
More rain, less water need
The increased amount of rain has also decreased the demand for water from reservoirs in the area, allowing the reservoir managers to slow down releases, which increases reservoir levels.
Denver Water has seen an overall increase in the storage of its reservoirs by 1 percentage point above the median storage amount for normal years.
"We are really grateful for the rain and the difference it has made in our water supply system," according to Denver Water spokesperson Stacy Chesney.
When heavy rains came, they lessened the demand for water from storage facilities as well as increased the amount of water coming into reservoirs, creating a win-win for water managers.
Despite the overall increases in Denver Water storage, Williams Fork and Wolford Mountain reservoirs have not seen an increase due to the area surrounding those reservoirs not receiving as much precipitation as other areas, according to Chesney.
Currently, 485 cubic-feet per second of water is being released form Green Mountain Reservoir, according to Kara Lamb, public information officer for the Bureau of Reclamation. Average release during this time of year is 528 cfs.
"We didn't have that much snow melt this year," Lamb said. "But despite that, we have gotten the reservoir pretty much filled."
Reid Tulley can be reached at 970-887-3334
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