text:
While I did state that we were looking to lift this 32k limit, this has not yet made it in, i.e. the limit is still in place. However in my posting I was also saying that if the XML data is generated by some other way, and the PDF rendering is done using the print API, then the use of larger images would be possible. And that is certainly the case, so let's take a look at how this could be done.
The key piece is our Print API (apex_util.download_print_document and apex_util.get_print_document), with this API you can generate PDF and other documents through a simple PL/SQL API call. This API is taking care of all the communication with BI Publisher or FOP for you. The apex_util.get_print_document API can be called to generate and retrieve the print document as a BLOB in the database for further processing, like storing the document in tables, etc. The apex_util.download_print_document API can be called in an APEX page process to generate and download the print document straight to your client. Both APIs have three different signatures, they allow for programmatically downloading report queries while dynamically associating stored report layouts at runtime, downloading report queries with custom templates stored in your own tables, and generating PDF based on your own custom XML using your own custom templates.
This last scenario is what we want to use for our dynamic images sample, i.e. we're going to generate the report data in XML format ourselves, thus getting around that 32k limit and store the report data in a CLOB. We're then also going to store our report layouts in our own tables, and query them up dynamically at runtime. The API for this looks as follows (for further details, reference the Oracle Application Express API Reference):
-- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
procedure download_print_document (
-- This procedure initiates the download of a print document using XML based report data and RTF or XSL-FO based report layout.
-- Arguments:
-- p_file_name Defines the filename of the print document
-- p_content_disposition: Specifies whether to download the print document or display inline ("attachment", "inline")
-- p_report_data: XML based report data
-- p_report_layout: Report layout in XSL-FO or RTF format
-- p_report_layout_type: Defines the report layout type, that is "xsl-fo" or "rtf"
-- p_document_format: Defines the document format, that is "pdf", "rtf", "xls", "htm", or "xml"
-- p_print_server: URL of of the print server. If not specified, the print server will be derived from preferences
-- example: http://myserver.mydomain.com:8888/xmlpserver/convert
p_file_name in varchar,
p_content_disposition in varchar default 'attachment',
p_report_data in clob,
p_report_layout in clob,
p_report_layout_type in varchar2 default 'xsl-fo',
p_document_format in varchar2 default 'pdf',
p_print_server in varchar2 default null
Now of course the question is, how do we get our data into XML format, if we don't have APEX take care of that for us, and where do we get the images from and how to we include them in this API call? Getting our data into XML format is the easy part, let's say you want to generate XML data for this query:
select * from emp
You could simply call dbms_xmlgen.getxml, supply the query and retrieve the XML back as a CLOB:
select dbms_xmlgen.getxml('select * from emp') xml_data from dual
Now assuming you have your images stored in a BLOB column, you would need to convert the images into base64 encoded data in order to include them in your XML. I have a blob2clobase64 function included in my sample application, which basically does just that. It should be noted though, that ultimately our API call is going to reach out to BI Publisher via utl_http, meaning you're going to do send your XML data via http to another service, which requires certain characters to be encoded, you can find more information on this here:
APEX typically takes care of this for you, in our scenario though, you generate the XML yourself, so you need to encode the base64 data on your own. I have taken care of this in blob2clobase64 function that ships with my sample app.
create or replace function blob2clobase64 (
p_blob in blob,
p_escape in char default 'N'
) return clob is
l_pos pls_integer := 1;
l_buffer varchar2 (32767);
l_res clob;
l_lob_len integer := dbms_lob.getlength (p_blob);
dbms_lob.createtemporary (l_res, true);
dbms_lob.open (l_res, dbms_lob.lob_readwrite);
l_buffer := utl_raw.cast_to_varchar2 (
utl_encode.base64_encode (
dbms_lob.substr (p_blob, 48, l_pos)
if (p_escape = 'Y') then
l_buffer := replace(l_buffer,'+','%2B');
l_buffer := replace(l_buffer,'/','%2F');
l_buffer := replace(l_buffer,'=','%3D');
end if;
if length (l_buffer) > 0 then
dbms_lob.writeappend (l_res, length (l_buffer), l_buffer);
end if;
l_pos := l_pos + 48;
exit when l_pos > l_lob_len;
end loop;
return l_res;
end blob2clobase64;
So in my example, using a table called eba_pdfimg_images, that includes the data and images I want to print, the XML generation would look like this:
-- generate XML data
for c2 in (
select dbms_xmlgen.getxml('
blob2clobase64(image,''Y'') image
from eba_pdfimg_images
') xml_data from dual
) loop
l_xml_data := c2.xml_data;
end loop;
Once I query up my report layout, converted that to a CLOB, and generated my XML data with images as outlined above, I can simply call our API:
apex_util.download_print_document (This will generate a file called image_demo, and based on whether you choose to generate Word or PDF, you'll get '.rtf' or '.pdf' file back.
p_file_name => 'image_demo',
p_content_disposition => 'ATTACHMENT',
p_report_data => l_xml_data ,
p_report_layout => l_print_layout,
p_report_layout_type => 'rtf',
p_document_format => :P1_FORMAT
So that's it. You can generate your RTF templates with the BI Publisher Word Plug-In as you normally would. And you can take your report query SQL and wrap it into a dbms_xmlgen.getxml call, and then you'll be able to include much larger images in your PDF dynamically. Want to give it a try? Here's my update sample app (logon as demo/demo123):
Dynamic Images in PDF Reports
I uploaded three images, and two report layouts. If you're trying out your own images or templates, I ask that you please remove when done, and report back if you encounter any issues. Also, if you want to try this out locally, you can download the app (sample_pdf_with_images.sql) along with the RTF layouts and images here:
Download Sample App
Please note, this app requires BI Publisher to be configured as your print server, and the current release of APEX 4.1.1 (my sample is an APEX 4.1.1 export, but you should be able to use the same technique on APEX 4.0 and above).


text:
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Iran says it's discovered a big energy resource field, said to hold 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, in the disputed Caspian Sea but efforts to exploit it are likely to be undercut by international sanctions that will block needed foreign investment for its energy industry.
"It's predicted that after examination the gas in this field will add up to much more than this," Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi declared Monday.
Meantime, neighboring Russia, a major Caspian stakeholder and which has a fluctuating relationship with the Islamic Republic, is beefing up its naval forces in the largest landlocked sea to back up Moscow's claims to its treasures.
EU leaders have called for sanctions against Iraq's oil exports by the end of January to tighten pressure on Tehran to abandon its contentious nuclear program. The sanctions would strike at a vital source of Iranian revenue and intensify the impact of three earlier rounds of sanctions by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union since June 2010.
Iran has proven gas reserves of 1,045 tcf, the equivalent of 216 billion barrels of oil and the second largest after Russia. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated Iran has undiscovered gas reserves of 200-800 tcf.
Iran needs investment of $15 billion a year to expand its annual gas production to 11 tcf by 2014. It also wants to invest $50 billion in liquefied natural gas in the next decade on LNG projects to develop an export level of 8 million tons a year.
The proposed EU sanctions aimed at throttling Iranian oil exports could cause severe economic disruption on top of the damage done over the last 18 months.
The new sanctions have been blocked by differences among the 27 EU states, with Germany and France supporting the move and other states, such as Greece, blocking it.
Iran is the second ranking oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Counties, with 26 million barrels per day, after Saudi Arabia.
"Iran is a major oil producer, and any sanctions on our oil exports will harm the global market," Qassemi declared.
He said the new Caspian strike was made at 2,300 feet in Iranian waters in the southern end of the sea.
The Caspian Basin has been touted as a rival to the Persian Gulf as a source of oil after major new strikes were made two decades ago, mainly by Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic now increasingly aligned with the West.
The Caspian littoral includes Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and despite a decade of negotiations no formal agreement on how its energy wealth will be divided has been reached.
The Americans and their European allies have striven to ensure that the oil and gas pumped from the Caspian goes westward via the 1,200-mile Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline from Azerbaijan via Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean terminal at Ceyhan, and not to Russia or Iran.
Iran and Russia are the pivotal adversaries in the Caspian and both sides have been boosting military forces around the largest body of enclosed water in the world, all 143,200 square miles of it.
Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky, Russia's naval commander, has said that the Caspian Sea flotilla will receive up to 16 new ships over the next decade and added air assets deployed with Russia's southern command.
The Iranians' biggest concern is that Moscow will deploy shore-based Bastion anti-ship systems equipped with the supersonic P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles that are powerful enough to take out an aircraft carrier.
The Yakhont, known in the West as the SS-N-26, has a range of 190 miles, a maximum speed of 1,900 mph and carries a warhead of 440 pounds of high explosives. It can also wave-hop, making it extremely difficult to detect. The Iranians have nothing to match -- or counter -- it.
The most powerful warship cruising the Caspian is the Russian frigate Tatarstan, armed with Uran missiles with a range of 100 miles. It will soon be joined by a sister ship, the Dagestan.
The Iranian navy has around 100 small craft, an obsolete minesweeper and reportedly three Iranian-built midget submarines of North Korean design, useful for carrying frogmen on sabotage missions.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Rehab Following Knee Replacement Surgery
Good Shepherd Physical Therapy Helps Vicky Visit the Big Easy Just 16 Weeks Post-Surgery
Vicky Kistler of Allentown suffered a meniscus tear after a fall nearly eight years ago. Although she had arthroscopic surgery immediately following the injury, she never fully recovered.
The years following her surgery were painful – with multiple trips to her orthopedic surgeon and several invasive medical treatments. Her doctor told her that one day she would "wave the white flag" and agree to knee replacement surgery. It was an inevitable conclusion.
After her right knee replacement, Vicky chose Good Shepherd – CedarPointe for physical therapy and was thrilled with her decision. "CedarPointe is a hidden gem," says Vicky. "The facility is spotless. The staff is professional. I never dreaded or complained about going to therapy."
Every appointment at CedarPointe started and ended on time, which was important for Vicky, a busy professional. "Every visit focused on my goals, my pain level and my comfort level with the exercises," says Vicky. "The therapist was able to adjust and adapt to anything."
Vicky's goal was to be able to take a fun-filled trip to New Orleans, 16 weeks after surgery. By the time she arrived in the Big Easy, she was pain-free and able to enjoy all the city had to offer.
For more information on Good Shepherd's programs and services, call 1-888-44-REHAB (73422) or contact us.


text:
Achieve with us.®
Home ... Get Involved ... Ways to Give ... Thrift Stores
Several chapters of The Arc across the nation operate thrift stores, hold clothing drives, pick-up clothing or used furniture at your household or have locations for drop-off of donated items. These thrift stores, run by chapters of The Arc, raise funds through the sale of donated merchandise to help further our mission.
To find out if there is a thrift store, clothing pick-up, or drop-off location near you, contact your local chapter.
The Arc, 1825 K Street, NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20006(800) 433-5255, ©2018 All rights reserved.
View Larger Map
Want to donate physical items? Contact a local chapter.


text:
Back in 2010, the FTC conducted a probe revealing that a lot of sensitive customer data could be found on P2P networks, uploaded by companies that had pledged to safeguard that data. That led the FTC to investigate more specific impropriety, and today the Federal Trade Commission charged a debt collection agency in Provo, Utah and a car dealership in Statesboro, Georgia with illegally exposing the personal information of thousands of customers.
The FTC's 2010 probe originally led to an uncovering of "health-related information, financial records, and driver's license and social security numbers" on peer-to-peer networks that had been shared by a legitimate organization's computer network. As is the nature of P2P, that leaked data was available to any users of the P2P network, and exposed many unwitting citizens to fraud and harm.
Two years later, the FTC is doling out charges against two companies that were caught with computers that had connected to P2P networks and leaked sensitive data belonging to the companies' customers. In the settlement offer extended by the FTC, both companies would be required to disclose their privacy practices more clearly, and would undergo a security audit by the FTC every other year for the next 20 years to ensure compliance.
The first company, EPN, Inc. (otherwise known as Checknet) is a debt collection agency in Provo, Utah, whose clients are healthcare providers, commercial credit organizations, and retailers. The FTC alleges that the company allowed its chief operating officer "to install P2P file-sharing software on the EPN computer system, causing sensitive information including Social Security numbers, health insurance numbers, and medical diagnosis codes of 3,800 hospital patients to be made available to any computer connected to the P2P network."
The second company, Franklin's Budget Car Sales, Inc. of Statesboro, Georgia, which sells cars and provides financing options for buyers, released information belonging to 95,000 of its customers, including names, addresses, Social Security Numbers, dates of birth, and driver's license numbers. The company's vice president, Dan Cook, was out of the office and could not immediately be reached for comment.
Still, since 2001, the Franklin's Budget Car Sales (also known as Franklin Toyota) assured users in its privacy and data use policy statement that it maintains "physical, electronic, and procedural safe guards that comply with federal regulations to guard non public personal information." The FTC's charges stand in direct contradiction of that statement, and found that the auto dealer violated the commission's prohibition of "unfair or deceptive acts" in commerce.
Naivety about P2P networks led to leaks
What's startling about these cases is that they seem to have arisen out of pure naivety regarding how peer-to-peer networks work. Rather than some rogue hacker leaking information out of schadenfreude or an employee downloading questionable P2P software that contains detail-gathering spyware, these leaks appear to have come from an employee ignorantly but consciously uploading files to P2P networks, assuming they would be safe. "We have no evidence that there was malicious code in the P2P file sharing software. We also have no evidence that any employee uploaded the data maliciously," Jessica Lyon, attorney for the FTC's Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, told Ars regarding the EPN case.
For their part, the EPN is (naturally) very contrite about the issue. In a written statement, President and CEO Jessica Devenish noted that the incident occurred in 2008, writing, "This was an unfortunate incident that was immediately corrected. Since, we have learned considerably in terms of improving our security and infrastructure and stand behind our model today."
Over the phone, Devenish told Ars that the accessory P2P software on the employee's computer was taken down within 24 hours of it being discovered. "At the time, it was a misunderstanding of how P2P works. There was no malicious intent at all," Devenish said.
EPN said it realizes that files shared on a P2P network can be accessed by any other user on the network. It also asserted that "the incident that led to the FTC complaint was a one-time, isolated event that involved a limited number of records pertaining to one particular client. No identity theft, no material harm, and no fraud has occurred as a result of the incident." The company confirmed that the client in question was an entity, not an individual, which would explain the FTC's claim that the records of 3,800 hospital patients were released. Still, Devenish claimed that the FTC's assessment of the number of affected customers was incorrect. When we contacted her later to follow up on that claim, Devenish could not be reached to elaborate.
Ultimately, the message the FTC sends is that every company collecting data is obligated to take customer security seriously. While an auto dealer in Georgia and a debt collector in Utah may not seem like huge companies to call out among the dozens that the FTC discovered during and after its 2010 probe, the FTC's Lyon said that these two companies weren't picked out to act as examples. They simply were two companies with strong evidence of mismanagement of data. "Neither of these companies are terribly big," Lyon said, "but for both of these companies, it's important that they have reasonable security provisions considering the amount of data that they have" about their thousands of customers.
The FTC voted unanimously for the settlement agreements for the two companies. The commission will publish their agreements and allow 30 days for public comment before voting on the final settlements.


text:
Welcome to the AnimeMusicVideos.org version of "The Quickening."
Sign-ups will not be available until May 10th.
The Quickening is an Iron Chef style tournament where entrants compete to beat out all the rest to claim the #1 and a prize of $70 cold hard cash.
Interested? Here are the full rules:
Description of the competition
The Quickening Tournament is a contest for videos made using anime and music. This contest is free and non-profit. The Quickening Tournament was originally a contest created/hosted by AMV France but was sadly, left unfinished. This version is being hosted by AnimeMusicVideos.org and is open to all nationalities and skill levels.
There are 32 spots available. Spots are available on a first come, first serve basis.
The competition will start May 2013.
Deadline for submission of Videos:
The deadline for submitting videos is fixed depending on the tournament schedule and match.
(Deadlines will be specified in each round)
Contest organizer
The contest is organized by AnimeMusicVideos.org.
Coordinator: Radical_Yue
Contact information for Radical_Yue
Conditions of Registration
4.1 The competition is free and open to all but the contest organizers and judges (screening and final judgment). Members of AnimeMusicVideos.org staff are allowed to enter as long as they are not involved in either judging or coordination.
4.2 The closing of registration is set for May 13th, 2013 at 11:59PM CDT.
4.3 Only one entry per person will be accepted.
4.4 The video entries may only use Japanese anime and follow the rules of AnimeMusicVideos.org. You may use multiple sources if you desire to do so.
4.5 You may NOT use pre-prepared rotos, altered footage, etc... You may pre-prepare footage before your round begins but you may not alter it with effects. If it is discovered that have pre-prepared anything more than basic footage, you will be disqualified.
4.6 The final entry submitted by the participant must be a minimum of 2 minutes long.
4.7 Videos used for commercial or promotional purposes will not be accepted.
4.8 Participation in this competition implies full acceptance of this Regulation.
4.9 You MUST use the audio that is provided to you. You may alter it in any way you see fit as long as it still possible to tell what the original audio was.
4.10 You may add bumpers and title cards to your video. The bumpers/title card sections will not be factored into the judging/time limit rule.
Ex. 1 1/2 minutes of video + 30 seconds of bumper ≠ 2 minute requirement
4.11 You may use additional audio sources such as sound effects, voice overs, or original audio from the anime as long as the total length of additional audio does not exceed 30 seconds.
4.12 If you wish to join in the competition you must post in this thread on animemusicvideos.org and select one of the groups with time frames you'd like to edit with. If you post that you're interested but do not post a group, then you will not be counted as an entrant. Only exception to rule - See 4.13
4.13 If you would like to enter but remain anonymous you must contact the coordinator in private. Aliases or fake accounts are forbidden regardless of the circumstances. In order to signup anonymous, you basically have to follow the same rules as everyone else. I will not accept any private messages about signups until the official registration goes live. I will be checking time-stamps of the messages to make sure we follow the first come, first serve signup style. Anonymous entrants will be treated the exact same as any other entrant, their name will just not be released to the public while they are competing. And on the subject of names being released, if you enter anonymous you must release your name when you are either eliminated or if you make it to the final round.
4.14 While judging is not blind, please withhold on posting your entries on AnimeMusicVideos.org until the round has closed. You do not have to wait until the judging is completed, just for the submission deadline to be reached.
Sending Videos
The clips will be sent either via FTP (information will be provided to the entrants on the final day of their round) or personal hosting. You will be given information to upload your video onto a server but if you wish to use your own hosting or use a file transfer site such as mediafire, dropbox, etc... you can also do so.
If you encounter a problem while sending video clips, please contact Radical_Yue.
Technical Considerations for Videos
6.1 The videos will follow these formats:
Containers: AVI, MP4, MKV, MPEG, MPEG2, WMV
Video codecs: H.264, XviD, DivX (5, 6 and 7), MPEG, MPEG2, WMV9
Audio codecs: MP3, AAC, WMA
Framerate: Up to 29.97 frames per second
6.2 The size (in megabytes) of the video should not exceed 150 MB, unless an exception is requested and justified.
8.1 Each participant hereby agrees to that he/she is the sole and exclusive author and does not violate directly and / or indirectly any third party rights.
8.2 Each participants understands that if they violate any of the previously stated rules, they will be disqualified.
8.3 Also, by participating in this contest, you agree that the decisions of the contest organizers and the judges are FINAL.
Koopiskeva, Niotex, Kisanzi, ZephyrStar, and Centurione
Backup Judge: Animated
Criteria for Judging
The works presented will be scored and ranked according to the following....
Each entrant will be required to submit 3 songs that they wish to edit with. The audio must be uncompressed WAV format or mp3 (minimum) 320kbps.
After audio is collected from all of the entrants, it will be randomized and assigned to different brackets. This means that you may get audio that was sent in from someone else in a completely different bracket. You must send your audio selections in to the coordinator within 48 hours after your initial sign up.
Trolling/Overused Audio: Last year, as with this year, all audio viewed as "troll" audio will be removed from the list of possible songs. While we try to keep an open mind, the goal of this competition is to have fun and make great videos, not see who can edit with microphone feedback set to a beat and not smash their face into the keyboard in frustration. In addition to the troll songs, we are now requesting for entrants to avoid sending songs that have been used in popular AMVs. If you are unsure if the song you are planning to send qualifies as a song used in a popular AMV, feel free to contact Radical_Yue for clarification.
The entrants will be placed in brackets of 4 and will slowly move forward, reducing the number of entrants every round.
Entrants have 1 week to produce an AMV with the audio they have been provided with.
After the deadline has been reached, the videos will be sent to the judges for evaluation.
The judges will then submit votes based on the videos they have received, ranking them from first to last. The judges decision is non-negotiable and is not open for appeal. The top half will move on to the next round.
The Championship Round will pit the two best amv editors against each other, these two editors are the ones who have won all their previous matches.
The final winner will be presented with a $70 Amazon Giftcard. Second place will take home a $30 Amazon giftcard. Note: Winners now have the option of having the prize money sent to them via paypal as opposed to an Amazon Giftcard.
Non-Competing Prize
If we receive a minimum of 10 videos, submitted by 10 different editors over the course of the tournament we will hold a special judged round to determine the best non-competing entry. This entry will win $20.
Entrants that have been eliminated have the option to submit non-competing entries and then become eligible for the prize with any non-competing videos they make.
Grounds for disqualification
12.1 The disqualification of a participant is left entirely to the discretion of contest organizers.
12.2 Any use of moving works of pornographic, racist, defamatory content or likely to impair the physical or moral integrity will result in immediate disqualification of the participant.
12.3 Failure of one or more articles of this regulation will also be considered disqualifying.
Amendment or Cancellation of the Competition
The administrative staff of AnimeMusicVideos.Org reserves the right to modify, postpone, or cancel this contest without notice.
Non-competing Entries
Inspired by CodeZTM's Project Org Editor: The King of Spring, we will now be accepting non-competing entries. Non-competing entries will be expected to follow the same rules as competing entries. Anyone, including judges and AnimeMusicVideos.org administration, has the ability to send in a non-competing entry if they wish to do so.
Round 1 Non-Competing Entries: Round 1 Non-Competing Entries: For the first round of the tournament, all editors (with the exception of judges) who submit non-competing entries are given the option of being a backup. In the event of a drop, a non-competing entry will be given the option to take the place of the dropped entrant and be judged as an official entry with the chance to move on to the next round in the tournament.
In the event of a drop(s) in the first round in any group, all non-competing videos that are submitted for that group will be presented to the judges and depending on how many editors have dropped, the best ranked non-competing entries will be selected to take their places. An editor may submit multiple non-competing videos for multiple groups, but only 1 video per round for a specific group. So if you wish to make a video for every single Round 1 group, then do it. An editor submitting a non-competing entry in the first round is not required to be a backup if they so choose. The backup/non-competing first round option is simply the chance for editors who missed the initial sign up to have a chance at making it into the competition, but it is NOT a requirement. After an entrant is eliminated they are allowed to make non-competing videos and are eligible for the non-competing prize.
If you want the short but sweet version, this is how it works:
In a tournament style competition, editors are divided up into brackets depending on which group they've selected. The entire bracket is provided with a song. The editors in said bracket then have 1 week to make a video from scratch. The videos are then evaluated by our panel of judges with the winners moving on to the next round while the losers journey ends. Eliminations take place in a battle royale style where only the top editors/videos move on to the next round.
If you have read all the rules and wish to sign up, please proceed to this thread: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 0&t=113869
To sign up you must post that you wish to do so along with the group you want to join and at least 2 lines of lyrics from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" to show that you understand and have read all the rules.


text:
Not many people are lucky enough to know what they do with their lives by the time they reach important milestones like graduating from high school. So, I'm not sure if there's a name for how …
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Not many people are lucky enough to know what they do with their lives by the time they reach important milestones like graduating from high school. So, I'm not sure if there's a name for how lucky 10-year-old Arvadan Payton Maynard is — she's known she wanted to act since she was 2 years old.
"When I was 2, my mom started noticing I was really good at memorizing stuff, and could do it quickly," she said. "That was kind of the start, and by the time I was 6, we started looking for an agency."
In the ensuing years Maynard has worked in several independent films and was recently cast as one of the leads in a new mystery and science fiction TV series called "Frozen Dead" about cryogenics that is filming in Nederland. And she recently took to the stage for the first time in the role of the Young Queen Elizabeth II in Aurora's Vintage Theatre's production of "The Audience."
"What I like about the theater is you can react to the audience and they can react to you. When you're doing film or TV, you don't get that connection," she said. "It's been my favorite acting experience yet. I think it has so much potential to make me grow as actress and person."
As someone who has been acting locally for so much of her life, Maynard has seen more film and TV opportunities become available in the metro area, but still not as many as places like Los Angeles and New York City.
"Last summer got to be an extra in a feature film called 'Unmarked,' and now this TV series," she said. "We'll be continuing work on it through the summer and will start shopping it around in August. I do have a five-year commitment if it gets picked up."
As to what Maynard's future holds, in addition to acting she loves dance, so she wants to continue her studies in the fields of dance, drama and acting, and may even consider teaching at the Doral Academy in Westminster — the school she currently attends.
"When I get on the stage, I get to leave the past behind and make a new future for myself," she said. "I want the chance to inspire other kids to do what they love and be what they want to be."
Anticipation is one of the great pleasures in life if properly appreciated, and fans of theater and live music now have a several months of anticipation ahead of them with the announcement of Littleton's Town Hall Arts Center 37th season.
The 2018-2019 season offers up five musicals and a play — "American Idiot" runs from Sept. 7 through Oct. 7, "A Christmas Carol: The Musical" from Nov. 9 through Dec. 23, "Casa Valentina" from Jan. 11 through Feb. 3, "Dames at Sea" from Feb. 15 through March 17, "The World Goes 'Round" from March 29 through April 28, and the season closes with "Sister Act," which runs from May 17 to June 16.
For music lovers, the new season starts with the Littleton Jazz Festival at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 17, followed by Lannie Garrett's "Swing Sets" running at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11, 12, 13 and 2 p.m. on the 14th. The next performance is The Patsy Decline show, running at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 18, 19, 20 and 2 p.m. on Oct. 21, followed by Buckstein's performance at 7 p.m. on Jan. 13. The 17th Avenue Allstars Sunday, featuring the National Acappella Champions, is at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24, and The Nacho Men will be stopping by at 7 p.m. on March 3. Soul legend Hazel Miller is stopping by the center at 7 p.m. on April 7, followed by the Colorado Children's Chorale at 7 p.m. on April 28. The season ends with the Deranged Divas at 7 p.m. on June 9.
Season tickets are available now, and single tickets go on sale on July 24. For tickets and information on all the shows, visit www.TownHallArtsCenter.org.
Littleton's School of Rock specifically caters to those looking to master the vital rock components — guitar, bass, drums, piano and vocals — and take their talents to stages in Denver and beyond.
School of Rock students will get the chance to live the life of a bar band at Moe's Original BBQ, 3295 S. Broadway, at noon on Saturday, May 18, with their performance of The Doors vs. Jefferson Airplane.
A pair of 1960s psychedelic rock titans, both bands made an enormous impact on musicians of the time and those still following in their footsteps 50 years later.
Audiences will have the opportunity to decide which band is the better as students perform some of both bands' best.
For information and tickets, visit moesdenver.com/englewood-bbq-restaurant-sports-bar/events.
One of the great things about jazz is the diversity of musicians and styles that fit comfortably inside this dynamic and vital genre.
One of the best examples of this in the metro area is the annual Five Points Jazz Festival, which will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 19 and go to 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 20.
The free, family-friendly festival features more than 45 bands playing on 10 stages on Welton Street, between 26th and 29th streets. Musicians will be performing all kinds of subgenres, from jazz and bop to swing and funk. Other activities include an art and food marketplace, a musicians' jam session, film screenings, and a family zone featuring yoga, face painting, a giant slide, jumpy castle and more.
This year's grand marshals are Wende Harston and Jim "Daddio" Walker.
For more information and complete schedule. visit www.ArtsandVenues.com/FivePointsJazz.
Last year, Vancouver's Japandroids reaffirmed their status as one of the purest rock bands working in modern music with their third album, "Near to the Wild Heart of Life."
I saw them on their first tour in years that March and they completely blew me away.
Which means I can objectively say that nobody should miss Japandroids as they stop by the Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Avenue, at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22.
Not only will the show feature Japandroids but indie rock legends Wolf Parade. The group made some of the early 2000's catchiest rock records and went on indefinite hiatus in 2011. The group returned in January of last year and released a great album called "Cry Cry Cry" in October.
Together, Japandroids and Wolf Parade make up one of the best bills of the year, so tickets should be purchased posthaste. Visit www.ogdentheatre.com/events/detail/348589 for tickets and more.
Clarke Reader's column on culture appears on a weekly basis. A community editor with Colorado Community Media, he can be reached email@example.com.
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European and North American wind turbine manufacturers may not be entirely happy about Brazil's strict local-content requirements, but they recognise that it is the only way to gain access to one of the world's fastest-growing markets. From very small beginnings, Brazil has now developed a substantial manufacturing base that will increasingly serve as the production hub for the rest of Latin America, supplying the hardware for future wind projects in nascent markets such as Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela and Panama.
The biggest obstacle to wind power development in the region remains the relatively poor state of its transport infrastructure.
Brazil is building an increasing number of towers, nacelles and blades, and those core components are growing in size and weight with the trend towards larger, more powerful turbines. Moving them from the cluster of factories established in the eastern states of Bahia and Ceara to project sites in the under-developed north and inland areas of the country is a complex and time-consuming business. Better roads and more railways are badly needed for the country to fulfil its undoubted potential.


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I regularly do day hikes and plan to do at least one hike over several days a year, starting this September.
Now I'm looking for a backpack for the dog. My research so far showed that packs of ruff wear have good reviews, but a lot of people had difficulties with the sizes, especially those with pitbulls or boxers. I also liked the granite gear, but could only find very few reviews.
My dog's measurements: 52 cm / 20,5" , 31 kg / 68,4 US pounds
She will need to carry about 4 kg of food, her water and a blanket to sleep on.
What backpack do you recommend?
Who has experience/advise for the size?
Thanks in advance, Fuego


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From Personal Liberty Digest:
Responding To A Major Riot
March 5, 2012 by Bob Livingston
In August of 1965, a reported act of police brutality touched off riots that consumed the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts for five days. When it was over, more than 34 people were dead, at least 1,000 were wounded and $200 million in property was destroyed by looting and fire.
Twenty-seven years later, the acquittal of four officers in the beating of Rodney King sparked more rioting in Los Angeles that lasted three days and resulted in the death of 54 people and destruction of $1 billion in property.
This is what can happen when social order breaks down. The "riot beast," as some people call it, grows quickly and can suck in innocent bystanders as easily as it can the fringe criminal element just looking for an opportunity to strike.
Do you know what to do if a riot begins in your area? It's not always possible to avoid a riot, as most of those injured or killed are innocents caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. But there are a few things you can do to help protect yourself from getting caught up in the worst of it:
- Be prepared. If you know that tensions are brewing to such an extent that a riot is possible, but you can't avoid the area, try to be as inconspicuous as possible. Wear clothes that make you look like part of the crowd, but take care not to wear colors that could signal allegiance to one group or gang.
- Plan possible escape routes for the duration of your journey outside.
- Keep cash on hand to arrange for transportation or pay off looters.
- Remain calm. Riots bring intense emotions to the surface, and you have to keep your emotions in check. Think rationally at all times.
- Get inside and stay inside. Stay away from windows and doors, try to get into the middle of the structure to put as many walls as possible between yourself and any bullets fired from outside, and lock all entrances into the building. Keep in mind you need to have at least two escape routes. If rioters gain entry to your building, leave in a hurry and try to find law enforcement authorities.
- Stay on the sidelines.
- If you're caught up in a riot, don't take sides. Try to be inconspicuous and move slowly, but purposefully, to the outside of the mob.
- Move away from the riot. The longer you spend in it the greater the chance you will be injured or killed. But move out slowly. Think of it as escaping the undertow, and move toward the outside so you can find an alley, side street or doorway to get into.
- Avoid major roadways, as this is where the crowd is liable to be the greatest.
- Avoid public transportation. The stations may be particularly dangerous because of the chance of large crowds and difficult egress.
- Don't stop your car. Drive away from the riot and don't stop until you are in a safe place with no other people, except maybe law enforcement, nearby. If people try to block your course, honk your horn and continue driving carefully through them.
- If you're in the midst of a riot and police begin using chemicals, such as teargas, try to stay out of the line of fire. Try to stay away from the front lines, which will bear the brunt of a police action. If the air gets thick with chemicals, get low for fresh air.
- Do your best to stay on your feet. If you fall, you are likely to be trampled. If you do fall, curl into a ball and protect your face and vital organs.
Should you believe that riots or looters may soon affect your neighborhood, you may deem it prudent to leave your home until the situation stabilizes. Most people think that simply locking their doors and leaving is sufficient. But this won't keep out rioters who are not bound by the rule of law and certainly don't respect the locks on your doors and windows. So you need to prepare your home to make it as looter-proof as possible before you leave. To do it properly, you will have to have prepared in advance by purchasing and storing the needed materials.
You've probably seen video or photographs of homes along the coast being prepared for the onslaught of a hurricane. Keep this visual in mind as you begin to make your home looter-proof.
Plywood over the windows and doors will confound most looters because the riots that fuel the looting are generally somewhat spontaneous. It's difficult to remove plywood covers without the proper tools, and the odds are against looters carrying pry bars, hammers and screwdrivers when a riot breaks out. Don't forget to cover skylights and other soft points as well.
If you have a large screened or glassed-in porch, the best bet is to secure the small door that allows access to the home. Sacrifice the glass or screen on the porch.
Garage doors can be problematic to cover. If you have a metal garage door, you probably should just trust it to keep out looters. A wooden door can be breached with a swift kick to one of the panels. Cover each of the panels with plywood as if they were glass.
The plywood you use should be at least 3/8 inch thick. Any less and you may as well have no protection at all. Use screws to secure the wood. The screws should be 1½ to 2 inches in length.
If your home is boarded up and other homes in the neighborhood are not, yours will likely be spared in lieu of the easier pickings.
If your house is hooked to natural gas or a propane tank, turn off the gas at the gas meter and water at the main valve. Turn off the electricity at the breaker or fuse box.


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The improved remote I/O IS1+ will lead to higher availability of your business process and cost reduction since configuration. Maintenance and integration will become much easier.
For many years now, IS1 has been the system that is most often installed in explosive atmospheres all over the world. It is continuously improved and expanded by new functions, such as PROFIBUS redundancy, DTM support, integration of optical rings or modules with integrated solenoid valves.
With IS1 Ethernet, the first step towards the future was taken in 2009. The first Zone 1 Remote I/O with communication based on the Industrial Ethernet standards MODBUS TCP and Ethernet IP. Fieldbus Foundation™ as well as PROFIBUS International are currently working on specifications and solutions for the application of their Ethernet protocols FF HSE and PROFINET in connection with Remote I/O.
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Adapting to new postal realities
Living in a county divided into two area codes for phone service (785 and 620) is confusing enough. Having our county split up among three different postal sectional centers (668xx, 670xx and 674xx) has proved very problematic. Papers we dutifully mail each Wednesday sometimes don't arrive until Saturday or later.
Now, thanks to hard work by circulation manager Jean Stuchlik and excellent cooperation from local postmasters, we're finally able to offer some hope.
In recent months, because of increasing centralization of postal operations, a newspaper mailed from Marion to Tampa went first to Topeka, then to Kansas City, then to Wichita, then to Salina, then to Ramona and finally to Tampa. Instead of going 20 miles directly from Marion to Tampa, it took a leisurely 508-mile journey that frequently included a few overnight stops.
Several months back we began trying to accommodate readers by mailing each of our three newspapers in three different post offices. For readers of any of our papers, if they lived in Marion, Hillsboro or Peabody, regardless of which paper they were receiving, it was mailed at their home post office and stayed there until it was delivered. This eliminated delays getting the Marion County Record in Hillsboro and the Hillsboro Star-Journal in Marion. It wasn't until this week, and only thanks to intervention by local postal officials, that we were able to expand this to include other post offices in the county.
Now, regardless of which newspaper is involved, all newspapers destined for a 670xx, 671xx, 672xx, or 674xx ZIP code are being mailed in Hillsboro, and all newspapers destined for 668xx are being mailed in either Marion or Peabody with special tags on them, preventing them from having to go through the Kansas City sorting center, which seems to have been the source of most delays. They still may go to Emporia and back for 668xx papers outside of Marion and Peabody or to Wichita and/or Salina and back for papers in the 670xx, 671xx, 672xx, and 674xx ZIP codes, but they have cut several hundred miles and hopefully several days off their delivery time.
The system for separating all the papers into appropriate bundles — the postal service requires, for example, that we know the exact order in which each letter carrier walks or drives his or her route — is mindboggling and requires us to use an expensive computer system and access a costly proprietary Internet-based address verification system. However, absent human or machine screw-ups, there should no longer be any reason why papers mailed on Wednesday to Marion County addresses aren't in your mail promptly each Thursday.
Avoiding Kansas City appears to be the most important thing we can do. There, papers are allowed to sit while apparent preference is given to routing junk mail from large nationwide customers. Copies of the Record bound for Lost Springs, normally a reliable destination because it is within 668xx, this past week ended up vacationing there for a few days because a label postal workers usually put on each bundle was accidentally forgotten. Unless a similar mix-up happens in the future, mail bound for Tampa, Ramona and Durham will be likely to get the same expedited treatment Lost Springs mail normally receives.
We cannot overemphasize how much local postal officials helped with our new plan, which regional officials had initially turned down when we proposed it more than a year ago. It may not be perfect yet, but everyone involved is trying their best to make sure your newspapers are delivered as quickly as possible. If we have to, we'll make a 150-mile drive each week to deliver every paper directly to its destination post office so only local postal officials ever have to touch it. Currently, only junk mailers are allowed to do that without special permission, but if necessary, we believe we can obtain such permission. However, it would probably have to come with increased subscription costs, as we receive very little savings from the postal service for directly delivering mail to local post offices.
Meanwhile, if you live within Marion County, please let us know whether you notice any improvement in your mail service. We and your local postal officials are going the extra mile — literally and figuratively — to try to get you your papers on time.
Last modified March 13, 2013


text: Lighteens 0 Posted March 15, 2013 Hello! Area are has been activated by Latari elves, so the proper activaction token was placed via mobilize (order #2). Can then in the same season a human uses his conquest( order #3) card to activated the same area, that was previously activated by Latari elves. So two different activation tokens would be in the same are (Latari elves and human). Is this allowed by the rules. Because it only says that a palyer may not activate an area that already contains "friendly" activation token. When you win the battle and took over and area, you had 10 units so two of those units ahve to be reatreat due to are maximum 8 units. are those two units routed even though you won the battle? in the revised edtion errata it says that some changes are not applied if you play epic variant (8 years and seven runes) can you please tell me which changes. And i will play the basic game + expansiosn. It only says in the revised edtion gameplay changes that epic play variant from original edition of runewars is not compatible with these new changes, which? Thank you! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Toulouse - October 28th, 2005 – The IGE+XAO Group announces:
IGE+XAO shows increased growth of 10% during fiscal 2004/2005, when compared to the previous fiscal, with a turnover of € 19,010,851.
With regard to the profits forecast, the company's performance shows a remarkable increase of 10% to € 2,629,947 leading to consolidated results of € 1,762,331 , an increase of 16%. The consolidated net income increases by 12.3% to € 1,612,825 . Furthermore, the net margin has improved to reach 8.5% of turnover, thus exceeding the 8% objective announced by Group directors.
At the same time, the Group has strengthened its financial position with a net cash flow of
€ 9,672,416 (€ 7,740,084 in 2003/2004) and shareholders' equity of € 10,422,512 (€ 9,006,354 in 2003/2004). This financial strength enables the Group to achieve its objectives and make full use of both internal and external development opportunities.
Apart from the financial data, fiscal 2004/2005 has been particularly active with the signing of a contract for more than € 1.5 million over a two-year period with the Group Eurocopter. At the same time, IGE+XAO has entered into several major partnerships notably with Weidmüller and with Moeller Electric. The first aims to integrate Weidmüller's wiring materials in IGE+XAO software and to permit business synergies. The second is in the supplying by IXE+XAO of a software programme for the drawing of electrical circuits destined for the clients of Moeller Electric.
In line with the management of the Group, the Board of Directors will propose to the Annual General Meeting of shareholders a dividend distribution of € 315,720 against € 298,180 in 2003/2004.
2004/2005 consolidated accounts - Sustained growth and strong profitability
Toulouse - October 28th, 2005 – The IGE+XAO Group announces:


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COVER- First and long: As football kicks off, emotions run high at Virginia Tech
Normally, college students are not well acquainted with the hour of 7:30am. But this is not just any 7:30am. It's Saturday, September 1, the morning of the first Virginia Tech football game of 2007. ESPN has chosen the Blacksburg campus as the site for College GameDay, the network's weekly college football preview show. So hundreds of Hokies are up unusually early, lined up at the soccer field adjacent to Lane Stadium. They stand behind a chain link fence, peering in at the set they've seen on TV, waiting for a prime spot in front of the cameras.
At a glance, regular viewers would recognize the crowd as the typical GameDay backdrop: rowdy undergrads dressed (some of them painted) in school colors, shouting traditional school cheers, and carrying all manner of handmade signs. However, a closer look reveals that the majority of the signs are far from typical– they're thank-you cards to all of the schools who lent their support to the Hokies at their darkest hour.
"Thank you Syracuse!"
"Thank You Penn State"
"Thank you ODU"
"Because of you... we will prevail"
The homemade placards are just one reminder of why this Saturday in Blacksburg is unlike any other in the history of this university or even this sport. At this hour 138 days earlier, a disturbed young man had just shot and killed two of his fellow students, and would go on to take the lives of 29 others before taking his own life– the deadliest single incident of gun violence in American history.
At 8am the gates open, and the Tech faithful become a blur, rushing past the yellow-jacketed security guards to cover the green artificial turf in a flood of maroon and orange. A hearty few had camped out since 4:30 the previous afternoon, but Hokies everywhere have been waiting much longer for this moment. Though Hokie Nation has had other opportunities to gather since April 16, this is the first chance they've had to take this giant step toward normal, by showcasing what had been their previous claim to fame: one of the most vocal cheering sections in college football.
Kickoff isn't for another four hours, but in some ways Virginia Tech has already won.
These days, the grounds of Virginia Tech do not look like a place hallowed by tragedy. On a quick Friday afternoon tour before the big game, the signs of ordinary college life are everywhere: classroom auditoriums filled to the top row; students chatting on cell phones about weekend plans; groaning cadets enduring their drill instructors' not-so-subtle critiques during a marching exercise; empty cans of Natural Light tossed beside academic buildings (each complete with a "shotgun" hole in the side for quick consumption). Even by West Ambler Johnston, the dormitory where the first murderous shots rang out, students celebrate the sunny weather with a game of pickup volleyball.
This upbeat attitude is not just a brave front in the face of adversity. It's a direct response to university president Charles Steger's April 17 convocation address that asked students "to slowly and painfully, but inevitably, begin to heal and to again move forward."
"This campus was close already, but this has united everyone in a different way," says junior Jordan Endahl of Charlottesville. "I've noticed that now, nobody lets a door slam on anybody. No matter where you go, people hold doors for each other, and people say thank you."
Everywhere in Blacksburg are reminders of the horror that visited four-and-a-half months ago. Students wear maroon shirts emblazoned "Hokies United." Just across Main Street, Blacksburg Baptist Church flies a row of American flags occasionally broken by standards from India, Puerto Rico, and Egypt– a reminder of the diversity of the 32 victims.
The university has constructed an official memorial, prominently located on the north side of Tech's central green– known as the Drillfield– in front of Burruss Hall, the school's iconic administration building. The memorial is a simple two-tiered design. A first-level walkway leads visitors past 32 stones set in a semicircular rock garden, each engraved with a name. The walkway leads upward to the second level, where visitors find a single rectangular stone laid in the ground, bearing the refrain made famous by English professor Nikki Giovanni in her April 17 Convocation remarks: "We will prevail. We are Virginia Tech."
This weekend is the first time many alumni have returned to their alma mater since the tragedy. Though news coverage had burned into their consciousness images of bloodshed jarringly juxtaposed with familiar gray buildings, walking through the memorial makes the television images seem real.
"I walked this Drillfield so many times as a student," says Erin Stacy, a 2002 graduate who now lives in Richmond. "It's unbelievable that they would have to have a memorial here for this purpose. But here it is, and every stone has a name."
While thousands pass through the memorial over the course of the weekend, only a handful of them walk the few steps north to Norris Hall, where 30 students and faculty lived a nightmare and never woke up.
The area surrounding Norris retains the last remnant of the numbed silence that engulfed the entire campus in the immediate aftermath. Hardly anyone walks by, and nobody speaks above a whisper. After the building was closed following the massacre, officials began a phased reopening in June that will convert all the classrooms to offices and labs.
Yellow signs on the doors warn, "Valid Virginia Tech ID is required for entry." Sheets of plastic billow from an open window. A lone orange flower adorns the "Norris Hall" sign. Of all the scenes in Blacksburg, this is the one that most renders the previously unimaginable palpable.
"The memorial is the memory," says Matthew Ballengee, "but this is where the lives were lost." A 1998 East Carolina graduate, Ballengee is in town for the game. But like many, he felt drawn to the site of the catastrophe. "To stand in this spot," he says, "is a weird, emotional feeling."
Bob Hall, a member of the Virginia Tech class of 1969 (the same class as Steger and head football coach Frank Beamer), drove up from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. He and his wife, Betty, had to see Norris for themselves.
"You don't want to be leering, but we were here, so we walked over," he says. "It makes your heart hurt."
That hurt is an all-too-familiar feeling for students who witnessed the massacre. Despite Tech's population of 26,000 undergraduates, many students have a personal connection to the tragedy.
Senior Ryan Yanulites of Tallahassee, Florida spent that afternoon scrambling to account for fellow members of Pi Kappa Alpha.
"Three guys had class in Norris, and two of them didn't go," he says, "but one of them was in the class with the Romanian professor."
After finally tracking down his friend and finding him safe, Yanulites heard a startling account of how engineering professor and Holocaust survivor Liviu Librescu had truly been his brother's keeper.
"While [Librescu] was holding the door," says Yanulites, "my friend was one of the last people to get out. He said he could see him being shot as he was jumping out the window."
According to Yanulites, that memory is not often discussed.
"He doesn't really talk about it," he says of his fraternity brother. "We've always said we're here for him when he wants to."
Park Loyd, a junior from Lexington, Kentucky, knew something wasn't right when he returned to the Terrace View Apartments to find his upstairs neighbors in the parking lot crying, one of their roommates missing.
"I knew something had happened to Jarrett," he says.
Senior Jarrett Lane was one of nine students killed in G.V. Loganathan's Advanced Hydrology class in Norris 206. Though Loyd didn't know Lane well, he says he could hardly have asked for a better neighbor.
"Jarrett was a classy, outgoing, good-natured, good ol' boy," says Loyd. "He wanted to meet everybody, so he'd have people over. These were not college parties the way you normally think of them. They were always very chill, not in-your-face, relaxed. Kind of like he was."
One of the things Loyd remembers most about that spring was the fact that even though Lane was gone, his presence was still apparent.
"His Honda Civic was parked right in front of my window," he recalls. "I went home that weekend, and when I came back it was still there. I think it took about a week for them to take it away."
What's more, Loyd had noticed Lane's roommates' cars had also stayed put since that horrible Monday. So he reached out to them in the same spirit Lane demonstrated when he knocked on Loyd's door as a complete stranger at the beginning of the year.
"My mom lost her mom when she was in college, and she told me it was worst when people just didn't say anything because they didn't know what to say," he says. "So I left a note on one of their cars just saying that my roommates and I were sorry for their loss and to come talk if they felt like it."
Eventually, one of Jarrett's friends came downstairs to take Loyd up on his offer.
"It was awkward because we're all guys, and I don't think he wanted to show weakness," he says. "I remember he thanked us for the note, but we didn't talk much."
Junior Elizabeth Reeves, from the small Shenandoah Valley town of Broadway, lived the events of April 16 up close in more ways than one. She was walking to class in Dalton Brown Hall– just two buildings away from Norris– when she heard the now infamous "popping" noises from the guns of Cho Seung-Hui.
"They didn't register to me as gunshots," she says.
By the time she got to class, the campus was in lockdown, and Reeves sat in the classroom experiencing the surreal moment shared by so many Tech students: watching on television the events happening just outside the door and frantically phoning friends and family.
"I couldn't get hold of my parents or anyone else on my cell phone," she says. "You couldn't figure out who was safe and who wasn't."
Two-and-a-half hours later, Reeves returned to her dorm, still unable to account for one of her close friends. Soon, she learned the unthinkable: 19-year-old sophomore Caitlin Hammeren was among the 11 students who died in Jocelyn Couture-Nowak's Intermediate French class in Norris 211.
"We were talking about living together this year," says Reeves. "There's not a day that goes by when I don't think about what that would have been like."
Hammeren was also Reeves' resident advisor, a role she says her friend was born for.
"I would go into her room just to say hi, and we'd end up talking for 20 minutes about our lives," Reeves recalls. "Our classes– we took all our classes together– our problems, our lives, everything. She always took the time to listen to people."
Though Reeves was close to Hammeren, she says her friend shared that same warmth with just about everyone.
"Before Christmas break she made each of her residents– and there were about 60 of them– personalized Christmas cards," she recalls. "It was little things like this that made her such a unique and caring person."
Try as Reeves did to resume her everyday life as a student, the signs of Hammeren's life awaited her every time she returned to her dorm room.
"It was weird walking past her door everyday," she says, "but it reminded me that she's always watching over us."
So, instead of trying to wash away the anguish of losing a loved one, Reeves holds on to the remnants of her friend's life.
"I still can't delete her number from my phone," she says. "I can't erase her."
Raw as these feelings remain, one emotion that appears to be lacking around Blacksburg is anger, at least regarding placing blame. Friday is the day after Governor Tim Kaine's appointed Virginia Tech Review Panel issued its final report on ways the massacre could have been prevented, and media the world over have been abuzz about the panel's blunt call for reform– particularly regarding the university's mental health system and the killer's history of mental instability.
"The system failed for lack of resources, incorrect interpretation of privacy laws, and passivity," the report alleges. "No one knew all the information, and no one connected the dots."
Investigating how the killer illegally purchased his two guns when his mental illness should have turned up in a federal database, the panel said, "Virginia did not require that persons such as Cho– who had been ordered into out-patient treatment but not committed to an institution– be reported to the database."
And in their probe of why it took more than two hours to inform the campus about the two killings in West Ambler Johnston, the panel blasted Virginia Tech police for not acting sooner to request a campus-wide notification.
Following the panel's press conference, Steger held one of his own in which he flatly disagreed with the report, stating, "I believe, based on what we knew at the time, that we did the right thing, quite honestly."
Despite calls for Steger's resignation by the family of one murdered student, his sentiment resonates with many students.
"Nobody could have seen this coming," says Endahl. "Knowing what we know now, if you put yourself in Steger's shoes, I don't think anything more could have been done."
"It's easy to be critical when you're 1000 miles away," says fellow Charlottesvillian and junior Matt Durkin. "But when we got that e-mail, we knew something wasn't right. The people who are critical weren't here."
Even Steger's actions to commemorate the lost lives have come under scrutiny. On August 1, the president announced that a "Concert for Virginia Tech" would take place in Lane Stadium on Thursday, September 6, featuring Dave Matthews Band. Further down the bill was New York rapper Nas, whose history of lyrics about gun violence and murder raised more than a few eyebrows.
"Dr. Steger has to go," said Bill O'Reilly in a segment on his Fox News program, The O'Reilly Factor. "If one of my children had been killed at VT, I could not forgive Steger for this latest abomination." O'Reilly posted Steger's email address and phone number on the show's website and encouraged viewers to call and write Steger's office.
Tech's student newspaper, the Collegiate Times, also weighed in. Their editorial board wrote on August 9, "Songs that glorify murder do not belong at a concert for the friends and families of murder victims."
But some students stand by Steger.
"A lot of Nas' songs would be inappropriate," says Yanulites. "But a lot of them aren't, and I think as long as he sticks to those, I don't have a problem with him being there."
Not only are students standing behind their college president and administration, some even refuse to criticize one of the aftermath's most popular targets: the news media– NBC News in particular– for airing portions of the photographs and videos the killer sent to NBC's New York office during the lull between the shootings. Many have said the videos might glorify him to other deranged individuals. On the contrary, these students say, the unsettling images of the killer posing with guns and ranting into the camera helped make sense of an otherwise senseless act.
"It gave me an idea of how disturbed he was," says Durkin. "When I saw just the yearbook picture, I thought, 'This campus is such a happy place, and this looks like it could have been anyone.' But when I saw the tapes, it helped me to understand how screwed up he was and why he did what he did."
"If he had been an average student, it would have made it way more scary," agrees Endahl. "You can't blame NBC for what they did– any of the other news channels would have done the same thing– but it was good to see how crazy he was."
Unfortunately for Virginia Tech, the bad news did not end in the spring.
As the university began its first academic year since the tragedy, the community's morale has taken several more hits. On August 20, the day before classes began, 23 people– including 19 students– living in the Collegiate Suites apartment complex were overcome by carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty gas water-heater valve. Four 19-year-old women were hospitalized in critical condition. Though all four have recovered, the incident shook a community preparing to dedicate the university's new April 16 memorial just one hour later.
And then a week later, on August 27, Virginia Tech's most famous alum, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, walked into federal court in Richmond to plead guilty to charges that he financed and operated an illegal dogfighting ring. Over 200 miles away in Blacksburg, a maroon-and-orange banner with Vick's name and retired #7 flew over Lane Stadium– a reminder of how the Newport News native helped put the Hokies on the map by leading them to an undefeated regular season and an appearance in the national title game in 2000.
On that same day, at 5:59pm, the Virginia Tech community received a campus-wide e-mail with the subject line "Timely Warning."
"At approximately 1:00pm," it said, "a female student was approached by an older male subject in front of Newman Library. The man offered to give the student a ride to her next class. The student declined his offer and attempted to leave, but the man grabbed her by the arm. The student was able to break his grasp, then she went for assistance." At press time, Virginia Tech police were still looking for a black male approximately 40 years old, between 5' 8" and 5' 10" tall, who speaks with a Nigerian accent.
"With the last of couple weeks, it feels like we're cursed," says Jim Burkson, a professor of fisheries and wildlife sciences. "I know we're not, but it feels like we're getting slapped upside the head over and over again."
And so, by Saturday morning, Hokie Nation is hungering for the kickoff and all the fanfare leading up to it. The excitement has been building all night long. Into the dawn, the call-and-response cheer "Let's go!" "Hokies!" has echoed across the Drillfield. Morning light reveals that instead of considering the game an opportunity to vent aggression on fans of the visiting East Carolina Pirates, a spirit of camaraderie has pervaded Blacksburg, one that ECU fans say they've never seen at Virginia Tech– or anywhere else.
Kemp Edwards is a 1988 ECU graduate from Raleigh whose purple polo shirt stands out in the mass of maroon and orange. "We were downtown last night in a restaurant, and we were the only Pirates among about 100 Hokies," he says. "Before, we got catcalls and worse, but last night we were getting slaps on the back, and everyone thanked us just for being there."
Brett Anderson, a 1999 East Carolina graduate, has made the six-hour journey from the Pirates' home turf in Greenville, North Carolina with his father-in-law, Wayne Hanks, a member of the Virginia Tech class of 1963.
"Some places you have to worry about your safety," says Anderson. "Here, everyone has been top notch today. I fully expect to be in one piece when I get back."
Hanks says that's due in part to the goodwill shown to his alma mater.
"The entire nation is pulling for Virginia Tech, because today we're all Hokies," he says. "In all fairness to the football team, there's a tremendous amount of pressure on them because they know if they can be successful, they will help everyone move forward. But no matter what, Virginia Tech will prevail."
Even Tech's intrastate rival just 140 miles up the road in Charlottesville is getting some Hokie love today.
"There used to be such animosity between us and UVA," says Burkson. "But with all the ways UVA has been so kind to us, the rivalry is still there, but now there isn't anything I wouldn't do for UVA."
A 10-year veteran of the Hokie-Cavalier rivalry, Burkson flashes a smirk that belies a slight sense of amazement: "I can't believe I'm saying that," he says.
At high noon, the much-anticipated pre-game ceremony honoring the fallen begins. After a brief moment of silence, Governor Kaine and President Steger recognize the heads of the town's and the university's first responders. The Cadet Band and the Marching Virginians collaborate on a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as two F-15 fighter planes from Langley Air Force Base pass overhead. The jet engines' roar is followed by a quiet video tribute set to the tune of "Walk Humbly, Son" by the Commonwealth's own Eddie From Ohio. The tribute ends with a replay of Giovanni's rallying cry.
Just as it did at the April 17 convocation, the Lane Stadium crowd again spontaneously erupts into the "Let's go Hokies!" chant, as cheerleaders release 32 orange balloons toward the blue heavens.
It takes just eight notes to complete the conversion of mourners into fans, as the opening riff of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" comes over the PA, and 67,000 fans jump in unison to the bass drum din, just as they have before dozens of other games. The vibrations from so many feet stomping on the metal bleachers can be felt outside the stadium. As the Tech players sprint onto the field, the home fans and the visiting fans roar as one.
Normal hasn't sounded this loud for a long time.
2 comments
Why was this story necessary? Tons of media outlets have already done stories about the healing at Tech. How much football means to us. The unity of the school. Hokie nation. Blah blah blah blah blah. I recognize that it's necessary to do stories about whether the university was at fault, how much money the families are getting, etc, but please do not come back to my school. Please don't remind me of the shootings every time I pick up the paper. Please let Hokies get to a point where we can walk around the grocery store wearing a Tech shirt and not get asked "Did you know someone who died?" Leave. us. alone.
Very lame. What's the point? You presented nothing new to me except the incident on campus 8/27. I live near the sequestered campus of WFU where armed robberies occur. Again to echo VT Alum, find some news and leave.


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VIENNA — A once-promising U.N. attempt to probe suspicions that Tehran worked on atomic arms is faltering — and with it, hopes that Iran and six world powers can meet their July target date for an overarching nuclear deal.
With efforts to draft the text of an agreement starting in Vienna on Wednesday, both sides say that meeting the informal July 20 deadline remains possible. The U.S. administration gives it a 50-50 chance, and Iranian Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif recently said the talks are progressing at an "unexpectedly fast pace."
The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany want to reduce Iran's present nuclear weapons-making potential. Tehran has been engaging with them over the past six months in exchange for full sanctions relief, even though it insists it has no interest in such arms.
But the U.N's International Atomic Energy Agency is no nearer to closing the books on persistent allegations that Iran worked on nuclear arms in the past. While the IAEA's probe is formally separate from the talks, the U.S. and its allies insist that Tehran must provide satisfactory explanations to the U.N. agency as part of any overall deal.
Back in November, Tehran agreed to go into deeper explanations of its work on detonators that have a variety of uses, including sparking a nuclear explosion.
That has not happened. Three diplomats told The Associated Press Monday that in a recent formal response, Iran continues to insist that there is no nuclear link to the detonators. Tehran says they were developed only to set off conventional military blasts, and later for civilian uses.
The IAEA outlined its suspicions in a 2011 report on a wide range of suspected weapons experiments. It said then that Iran's work on the detonators is of concern, "given their possible application in a nuclear explosive device, and the fact that there are limited civilian and conventional military applications for such technology."
Signed soon after Iran's reformist government took office, the November Iran-IAEA deal as seen as important for testing Tehran's professed willingness to de-escalate tensions over its nuclear program.
The U.N. agency and its western members had hoped the agreement would finally mean Iran would crack open the door on what they say was secret nuclear weapons work.
But Tehran's latest response suggests it is not ready to change its stance.
The IAEA first approached Iran about the detonators six years ago. When told of their latest response, Olli Heinonen, who headed the agency's Iran investigation until 2010, said it was "pretty much how they explained it in 2008."
With the clock ticking down on the informal July comprehensive deal target, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano was pushing ahead on the probe nonetheless.
Two of the diplomats said senior agency officials met Monday with Iranian representatives in attempts to persuade Tehran to engage on three additional areas of suspected weapons work even as they sought more answers on the detonators.
The diplomats are involved with international efforts to track and curb Iran's nuclear program. They did not detail what those new areas could be and demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge confidential information.
Calls to the Iranian mission to the IAEA went to voicemail, while IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said the agency had no comment.
Gary Samore, who negotiated with Iran until last year as President Barack Obama's chief adviser on weapons of mass destruction, said he expects the talks to go past July as Iran and the IAEA wrestle over the nuclear arms allegations.
Ultimately, he said Iran may find some "useful fiction" — for instance, claiming that renegade scientists were behind the program or that research was done to understand the nuclear weapons technology possessed by Tehran's enemies.
"I think that if all the other issues are resolved this issue will be resolved," he said. "But it will be the last one to be resolved."


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|When memory is scattered
Portland, Oregon (CNN) -- There was cake at one of the last birthdays Robert John Kreitner Jr. would have at the nursing home in Pennsylvania, but the guest of honor didn't open his eyes to see it.
His wife propped him up at the end of the table. Their son Phil couldn't help thinking the scene macabre.
Phil Kreitner's father, a self-taught engineer, was firm-minded and hated to concede a point. Only once in the last 12 years of his life had Robert Kreitner admitted he had trouble remembering things. Now that his son is having memory problems of his own, he vows he'll never end up in a nursing home like his father, but won't deny what's happening to his brain.
"It's helpful to me that my father had Alzheimer's, because it makes it much easier for me to accept the existence of it, the reality of it, and the personalization of it, and the finality of it," says Kreitner, 71, of Portland, Oregon.
Kreitner has mild cognitive impairment, an early stage of dementia that researchers consider a prime window of opportunity to try potential treatments to stop the progression of memory loss and cognitive decline. A person with mild cognitive impairment has a measurable memory problem, but no language or general thinking difficulties and is still able to function, says Dr. Joseph Quinn, researcher at Oregon Health & Sciences University and Portland VA Medical Center.
Not everyone who has mild cognitive impairment will worsen and develop Alzheimer's disease, but there are certain signatures in the brain -- plaques formed from a protein called beta-amyloid -- that indicate a high likelihood of Alzheimer's in patients who are already having memory problems. The plaques can be identified through MRI and PET scans.
"My memory is a jigsaw puzzle and it's just been dumped out of the box," Kreitner says. "If I were to have to reconstruct that puzzle, I couldn't do it."
Insulin may help treat Alzheimer's disease
Kreitner believes it's his duty to humankind join the effort to fight Alzheimer's, the disease that ultimately took his father's life. The condition affects about 5.4 million people in the United States and is projected to affect 16 million by 2050.
That's why Kreitner is participating in a clinical trial that is investigating a drug in patients with mild cognitive impairment.
"My father was very militaristic, so I've had this stuff beat into my head my whole life: You have a responsibility to the collectivity, however the collectivity is defined. No man is an island," Kreitner says.
Getting patients into trials
Alzheimer's researchers wish they found more people with Kreitner's attitude, but in practice it's hard to get patients into clinical trials for Alzheimer's and dementia.
One problem is that some people want to join a trial only if they know for certain they will be trying an experimental drug. But scientifically valid medical studies are "double-blind," meaning neither the researchers nor the participants know who's getting real medicine or and who's getting a fake treatment called a placebo.
That is the strongest way to demonstrate that taking a drug works better than doing nothing. It also means that some participants will go through the entire trial process without trying the experimental treatment. Even some physicians try to get their patients in the drug treatment groups, but it goes against the standard method of trials for the experimenters to know who is getting what treatment, says William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer at the Alzheimer's Association.
There are also practical issues with elderly patients' participation, such as transportation and coordinating with caregivers. In the early stages of dementia, patients are still able to make decisions about joining trials. For later-stage patients, the caregiver has the burden of finding a study and taking the patient through the process.
It is especially challenging to recruit for mild cognitive impairment trials because people are more reluctant to come forward with mild problems, Quinn says. Also, some people don't want to take on the potential risks of an experimental drug.
The Alzheimer's Association's TrialMatch website, which launched last year, aims to help people find appropriate trials that are convenient to them. The website lists more than 120 trials. So far, almost 12,000 people have completed profiles on the website; the Alzheimer's Association is in the process of helping them find appropriate trials.
"Without trial volunteers, we actually won't have the next new medication. If everybody actually understood how critical their participation might be in making a better future, probably we'd have many more people volunteering for trials," Thies says.
An experimental drug
Kreitner is taking part in a phase II drug trial sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Quinn is the principal investigator for the portion of the trial at Oregon Health & Sciences University, one of dozens of sites across the country.
The drug in question is a gamma secretase inhibitor, a class of drug that is supposed to interfere with the formation of plaques of beta-amyloid proteins in the brain.
The news around gamma secretase inhibitors hasn't been good so far -- at least in patients with Alzheimer's. Last year, Eli Lilly announced it would halt the development of semagacestat, a gamma secretase inhibitor, because two ongoing long-term phase III studies indicated that it didn't slow the progression of Alzheimer's; researchers found an association with worsening of cognitive symptoms, too.
But Quinn and colleagues are hoping that a drug of the same type will work in patients with mild cognitive impairment, given that their brains have not built up as much pathology.
Documented risks of this drug include increased incidence of relatively benign skin cancer, gastrointestinal problems and brain swelling, he says.
So far, Kreitner says he has felt no side effects. Every two or three months, he gets brain scans and spinal taps so researchers can check for the biomarkers associated with dementia. He doesn't mind the process, not even when they stick a needle into his spinal column.
"It's my personal feeling that I'm making literally no sacrifice except to force myself to remember to take these capsules every day," he says.
Life in the shadow of Alzheimer's
Kreitner has had myriad careers: naval officer, adjunct professor, massage therapist, environmentalist and demographer, among other things. He's also a master at the rowing machine and logs 90 minutes a week. He snagged second place at the World Indoor Rowing Championship in Boston in his age group this year.
You can tell he has done a lot of thinking about society's failings, and admits he has always felt a general dissatisfaction with the world and himself. He's always been someone who self-assesses, striving to stay in good shape; these days, that includes monitoring his own mental functioning.
His wife, Sherril Gelmon, professor of public health at Portland State University, noticed Kreitner's forgetfulness about two years ago. Kreitner himself became aware of small lapses; he would find himself in a room and forget his purpose for being there, for example. The two began to get edgier with each other, which is uncommon in their 13 years of marriage.
She went with Kreitner to the Layton Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Center at Oregon Health & Sciences University. The couple wanted to know if Kreitner would be eligible for any treatments, and learned about the Bristol-Myers Squibb trial. Quinn told them Kreitner could be eligible, and after an official screening, Kreitner joined the study.
After Gelmon recounts this history, Kreitner smiles and says that he wouldn't have been able to give all those details himself.
"I'm at the stage where everything that Sherril just said rings a bell," he says. "If you were to ask me, 'What's happened in the past couple of years relating to this?' I couldn't have given you 10% of that."
Members of both sides of Gelmon's family have had dementia. Her father died in 2009 and her mother is in the advanced stages, so she's also familiar with the realities of the condition. She monitors her own mental state, but doesn't wake up afraid of it. She and Kreitner talk regularly about how they might need to adjust their lifestyle, if at all, if Phil's condition were to worsen.
"It's hard when you're not as good at what you're doing as you used to be. I wouldn't say we're depressed; I would say frustrated, upset. Since both of us have watched parents go through it, we've already done a certain level of coping," Gelmon says.
Toward the end
Before his death, Kreitner's current goal is to write a book -- and if he can't get there, a 1,500-word article -- about how he views the world. He says it's an "an adjuration to my fellow humans to start thinking like a species; my hypothesis is that we're on an individual, class, ethnic, national, racial self-destruction trip, and we're taking the planet down in the struggle."
Remembering how his mother suffered trying to take care of his father at home, and visiting him in the nursing home, Kreitner doesn't want to burden Gelmon in the same way, nor does he see himself in a nursing home.
But if he gets to a point that he deems too far along, he's resolved, even though it is not legal, to find a way to "check out" of life.
"I will give proper notice. It will not be specific but it will be implicit that I feel that the time is now or never. I will bear complete responsibility for any actions that result in my death. I will not make a mess," he says.
Gelmon shows no anguish when her husband speaks this way; she is calm and matter-of-fact when she says: "My expectation is that if and when we get to that point, we will have discussed it at length and it will not be a surprise. It will still make me very sad, but if we're communicating well and early, then it should not come as a surprise and it should be something I'm as informed about as he's willing to inform me."
In the meantime, Kreitner continues to follow the regimen of gray capsules prescribed by the clinical trial. He relies on notes, a lot of them, to remember to keep appointments, and often waits for memories to make their way up through the mud in his mind.
"We've got way more human beings on this planet than it could sustain, even if we were sane. Who the hell am I? When my effectiveness is gone, I'm gone," he says. "Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
Read more http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_health/~3/Y7vBB9QCqS0/index.html


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Even though we didn't hit very well this weekend things fell into place for us and like the saying goes, "good teams find ways to win." I know we were all glad we got another shot at Appalachian State because we all feel like they should not have beat us at the Georgia State tournament and we were looking for a little revenge. That game was insane. The dugout was out of control. It's when there is energy like that that makes you laugh and have fun because you just look in the dugout and no words come to mind, just chuckles.
Speaking of chuckles, our freshman made a little rap for our team. It's a remix, Lady Bison style, to the song "Black and Yellow." I feel like it would be unethical of me to not share it because they worked hard on it. Having Kristen rap it is something I think everyone should experience. She's not as shy as she comes off, maybe one day she'll have a record deal,
Yeah ah ha
you know what it is
purple and yellow, purple and yellow
purple and yellow, purple and yellow
Yeah ah ha, you know what it is
everything I do, I do it big
Yeah ah ha, screaming Bison
when we pull out a win, we praise him
reppin' my team when you see us you know everything
purple and yellow, purple and yellow
purple and yellow, purple and yellow
I put it down from my cleats to my ribbon
purple and yellow, purple and yellow
purple and yellow, purple and yellow
[Verse 1]
Uh, purple stripe, yellow ball
the Vols scared of it but who ain't
soon as I hit the ball look at the pitchers face
our spikes on the ground make the dirt shake
pitch inside, now its soaring
it's the POY POY you know she works for it
and I got the pedal to the metal
even watching film she got you striking out on every level
hear them haters talk but there's nothing you can tell em
just got a ring, got another bling on my schedule
no love for'em gotta break your heart
no time, study hall starts
[Verse 2]
Got a call from our coaches this just in
10:30 and I'm tarpin with my best friends
not a rich kid but he asleep though
got some smart kids, 4.0
I'm sippin water, liz says so
so many dings in my ear I know what the time is
progression's just startin'
stack it up cuz every player that I'm with is tired
Vanessa Medina is a first baseman for the Lady Bisons softball team and writes a weekly blog about the team.