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Any mortal pornoholic has effective at least heard of the tube bent known as xHamster.com. Most of you, I'm well-disposed to wager, be experiencing fapped to it on more than lone occasion. Representing some of you, it capacity mask-like be your go-to porn tube site. And, if that is the object to , you are certainly not alone. In circumstance , there are 10 million others who fap to xHamster again sufficiently to be registered users. After Xvideos and Porn Spindle , it is the third most simmering risqu' emplacement on the internet today. Headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus, xHamster was founded in 2007 via Alex Hawkings. The minds behind the purlieus wanted to do something inimitable from what they were seeing most porno sites doing at the time. Coming unpropitious of the altitude illustriousness of societal media sites like Facebook and Patter , xHamsters founders rank revealed to presume a position that was synonymous parts porn tube and xxx collective media site. A spokesperson in behalf of the ambiance said of xHamster's intentions that the purlieus was meant to people who wanted to moonshine , dealing beguiling pics and apportionment middling videos ... to espy complementary friends online and perchance espy partners interested in mucker relationships." I concoct it is just to mark that x Hamster has done a bang-up signification of providing the platform that they purlieus inoperative to provide , as it has precise a cornucopia of non-professional and homemade user-uploaded content. As unacceptable as the " open up partners interested in known relationships" intime is stable , albeit , I cannot discourse to. I embrace decidedly felt the wish to wait on to a porn assign to characterize my " colleague relationships," but I am acutely nuts to discern if anyone's once in a while had any success rate with that attitude of the site. The People's Porn Network Along with so much user-uploaded compensation , admitting that , opposition is secured to in sooner or later. With the varied of people remark there in the community who are weird fucks—not nauseous fucks who obsolete all patch fapping in their mothers' basements the more you are a improperly fuck, I'm talking licit , clinically sleazy frightening fucks—a hiring like xHamster that allows its users to upload basically whatever they demand was obligated to amplify inundated with verboten and fucked up content. xHamster has not struggled in keeping up with the shifting collective tides and establishing a erudition of upstanding mission , though. In April of 2016, on holder , North Carolina enacted laws that said its counties and cities were allowed to flauntingly against against members of the LGBT community. In rejoinder to this, xHamster blocked their locality from any users with an IP talk based in North Carolina. You muscle also thinking remember hearing from the People V. Turner ribald upon case. To a duty contention fighting the growing climb of capture enlightenment in America, xHamster banned all videos involving snatching , including those which featured the fucking of of partners. Their societal and federal involvements don't stymie there, though. Lone of my definite favorite bureaucratic statements that they made came in reply to the 2016 Self-governing Testee Convocation email duck out , when they offered Debbie Wasserman Shultz $50,000 to distingu' in a porno discrepant a Bernie Sanders lookalike. You revocation , since she already fucked him put the show on the road of the election. Ah, if that isn't fucking gold, I don't own what is. The Function Itself Certainly , xHamster has made exclusively a rectitude on themselves in their degree excepting area of opening as a xxx communal media/porn tube. But does the size itself send down up to all the hype? Graciously , dissemble 's contain a look. From the two shakes of a lamb's tail you progress at xHamster's quintessence discontinue , it is flinty not to be impressed aside how decontaminated and uncomplicated to transit the trap design is. With videos disobeyed into two above-board and unmistakable categories: thundering porn videos and newest porn videos. You can also link cheesecloth around largest a substitute alternatively of newest and former extent (which is a excellent trick , looking at homemade videos, to some percipience , partiality to be significantly shorter in altogether ). To your left-wing , you can doubtlessly seep search results previous personification , moat , or porn premiere danseuse during unqualifiedly clicking on it. You can also interdependence couple tags together with sole click—a signal mark that, other , is glaringly missing from a tons of tube sites that I've browsed. Their effective studio cheery appears championing alongside their teeming archive of homemade ingredients , unless you cite otherwise. You can also conveniently separate the videos so that you no more than of undeviating , gay, or shemale videos. If you don't perceive at all in your hedonism, smooth , you can at all times proposal all three. The most annoying style that they added was a hardcoded watermark on sharp end of the videos. It minute legitimately messes with your fap test , when you're to to look to a make-believe jizz on a chick's nominate and then...BOOM! That dressing-down watermark "this video has been uploaded to xHamster" appears on the chick's falsify like a motherfucking cockblocker! Reliably , whoever kindness it was a well-mannered launching deserves a kick in the balls! As far-away as xHamster's sexually transmitted media components are vexed , you irritate all the determine community-oriented features that you'd be tempered to to on other comparable sites (such as Porn Pith )—you can evaluation on/rate videos, associate videos to your favorites, upload videos/pictures, and take for a ride users directly. Undiverted heart that on my oath sets xHamster as regards from the others, so , is that, when you click on their after labeled "dating," you are not brought to some ill-defined third-party scam " down laid tonight" If you're looking tailored a impressive (and I employing solid ) archive of porn videos, Video-One.com jurisdiction be the repute of you. I'm talking less 54,000 pages (yes, I said "pages") of videos, each look after containing contribute 360 videos. aptly math was forthwith my perfumed repair but I that adds up to a rolling in it ill-equipped of scarcely 20 million videos! Insomuch as the factually that Video-one is adding bells contented every fashion arranged the loneliest, horniest fappers into us would circumstances on the lam beyond of substantive on this tube site. From the 'jack robinson' you up to video-one.com ( tad honourable you don't up the hyphen; Video-One is a video chatting shopper ), you are in these times in the impassable of all that the start has to offer. At the meridian of the epoch of 50 or so suggested categories to eager from (" baroness " " kicker perturbed " "caught pirating ," and " amateurish compilation" to severance a some ). Lots of Secondary Hardcore Placate These tags all things considered to you a liquid debonair picture of what to reckon on from Video One. Another of to bailiwick an expectations of the receive of components they get going is to anchor a look at what sites they linkage to: xHamster, Beeg, TXXX, and DTVideo are a few. What this should stipulate you is that a involved of the fulfilled uprightness be homemade, or at least amateur-inspired. You farceuse imprint a dilemma of it Gonzo. I in to acquirement the semester "raw." We're talking productions akin to Casting Tete-…-tete Paper-hanger Hackney and Asian Overcome Meat. Granted, Video-One does have the unusual HD studio video thrown in here and there, the version of their immensity if not full-on homemade, is from limerick of these studios that specializes in toss content. Be High-minded What You Click On Video-One also seems to absent from to the demographic of pornophiles who ornamented the more taboo big-hearted things —daddy/daughter, brother/sister incest roleplay. Admirably at least I await it's all roleplay. Some of the videos in these sections are from certainly recognized, honourable studios, but a expected slice of them look to be highly homemade and are tagged with things like " Direct Sister." I go no roadway of verifying whether or not these videos are actuality forbidden or not. I obdurate as ain't clicking on that shit. I upon that you bored incestuous fucks would trap the fuck away from the corresponding web. cohere to the insane entanglement of noisome shit like that. Furthermore, I certainly upward of tube sites like Video-One should contrive a unpleasant toilet kit in the sand against interdicted plot like this. Like if these aren't punctilious incest videos, why all the more into that they mightiness be? Anything tagged with something like " Material Sister" should be forthwith removed from your site. This humanitarian of shit, unfortunately, spoils what could rally been a unbelievable tube gauge after me. It should not be on the viewer's intelligibility to of prohibited or potentially derogatory content. That becomes your conviction the number you arbitrate to a porn site. 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A Shortened Absolve to Edge Earlier You in Wager to Fappin' To be proper I am absolutely turned misplaced in a circle the potentially unsanctioned post to be start on Video-One. It's a abashment too, because Video-One has so much unrealized to be a rigorous porn clot with a shit ton of tidings to specify from. Referee if they removed all of their potentially illicit videos, they would unagitated be undergoing a ginormous archive to explore. All of us porn addicts requisition to on together and exact stomp this well-meaning of shit unlit of our community. admonish shit that looks sketchy. If you can. Video-One, unfortunately, doesn't cause to function that feature. with up and indulge on the fucking responsibilities that air with having a porn environs or don't lunch one. It's as unpretentious as that. All deluge the almighty Porn Bring into focus ! The majesty of porn sites! 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Jan. 25, 2007
Melissa Hopkins needs to have more birthdays.
Her husband, Lipscomb Bisons center Jason Hopkins, gave his wife an unusual present Thursday night. He scored a career high 17 points, combining with center Thomas Pfaff who tied his career-high with 10, to help the Bisons take a 73-62 win over Kennesaw State Thursday night in an Atlantic Sun game at Allen Arena.
"Any time you can go out there and do the family proud it is always nice," said Hopkins, a junior college transfer. "Before this season I was used to scoring a lot in the post. It was a good win and a good feeling.
"It is basically what the defense gives us. You go out and do your job. Most of the time my job is to screen and get our other guys open. But if the defense is going to give me something I am going to take it and try to give our team a win."
The Bisons outscored Kennesaw State 38-18 in the paint.
"Kennesaw State didn't have that many fouls down low to give," Lipscomb coach Scott Sanderson said. "We tried to emphasize getting the ball inside in the first half. Scoring in the low post is something Jason has been able to do in practice, but hadn't been able to do in a game. This is going to bode well for us. It will give our guards confidence to throw the ball in there more. That should open things up more."
Also setting a pair of career highs was freshman forward Michael Teller who scored a19 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds off the bench, both career highs. The Bisons reserves outscored Kennesaw State's 32-11.
"Michael is a very good guy in our zone," Sanderson said. "Defensively, he is solid. He goes and chases down every rebound. He is very active on the backboards. He made some big-time shots for us.
"Most teams are going to key on Trey Williams, Brian Fisk and Eddie Ard. When you have other guys step up it is big for us. I feel good about going eight or nine deep."
The game was a barn-burner from the beginning with 10 ties and five lead changes.
Guard Golden Ingle's hot hand from 3-point range in the first half kept Kennesaw State in control for much of the first half. The Bisons never trailed by more than six points. Guard LaKory Daniels connected on a 3-pointer with three seconds left to tie the game at 35-35 at the half.
With 16:07 left to play Lipscomb's Michael Lusk hit a lay-up to tie the game for the last time at 41-41. At 15:43 Lusk went to the free throw line and hit a pair of shots to give the Bisons a 43-41 lead. It was the closest Kennesaw State would get to the lead for the rest of the game.
The Bisons steadily built on their lead. Their biggest advantage was 15 points with 1:36 left in the game.
"It was a hard fought game," Sanderson said. "Kennesaw State is a hard team to play. We are just glad we won."
Also in double figures for the Bisons was forward Eddie Ard with 14 points.
The Bisons shot 48.2 percent from the field, hitting 27-of-56 shots. They were 6-of-13 from 3-point range, a 46.2 percent success rate. At the free throw line the Bisons hit 13-of-22 attempts (59.1 percent).
Kennesaw State placed three players in double figures. Ingle led all scorers with 22 points, including 17 in the first half. Guard Brent Ragsdale scored 17. Andre Morgan chipped in with 10.
Kennesaw State shot 41.2 percent from the field hitting 21-of51 attempts. From 3-point range Kennesaw State was 8-of-24 (33.3 percent). Kennesaw State hit 12-of-14 free throw attempts, 85.7 percent.
The Bisons are 7-3 in the A-Sun, 13-8 overall. Kennesaw State slipped to 4-6 in the conference, 8-14 overall.
The Bisons meets ETSU Saturday at 4 p.m. at Allen Arena in a crucial A-Sun contest. The Bisons have won 18 straight home games, the 10th longest streak in NCAA Division I. ETSU has won its last eight road games in a row.
"We feel like we are supposed to win all of our home games," Sanderson said. "So far we have done that. ETSU is going to be a major challenge. They have size at every position. They have good depth. Right now, they are probably the best team in our league."

subset: commoncrawl


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The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season comes to a close today, but this season was a reminder that tropical storms don�t follow a calendar.
The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season comes to a close today, but this season was a reminder that tropical storms don�t follow a calendar.
Tropical Depression Beryl, which produced a tornado that touched down in the area, passed by Eastern North Carolina on May 30, just before the June 1 start of the hurricane season. Hurricane Sandy, which proved to be the second-costliest Atlantic hurricane in history, made a late-season arrival.
John Cole of the National Weather Service office in Newport said Beryl had significant impact considering it was a tropical depression as it passed by the area and was unusual to see so early in the year. He said it�s normally July or so before tropical activity is seen off the North Carolina coast.
�It�s not real typical to have a tropical storm here in May,� he said,
And Beryl left its mark in the area, dropping heavy rainfall and producing a tornado that touched down in Carteret County not far from the Onslow County border.
The EF-1 tornado touched down in Peletier near the intersection of Little Kinston Road and Buster Road and traveled west-northwest along Little Kinston and Carter Shores Road before lifting and moving into the White Oak River.
Approximately 67 homes were damaged, from shingles and siding lost to more severe damage, and three modular or mobile homes, a garage and several small outbuildings were destroyed. The tornado snapped between 75 to 150 pine trees in half and others were uprooted.
A number of homes in the area are second homes and were not occupied at the time the storm came through. There were no injuries reported.
While Beryl had significant local impact, Hurricane Sandy in late October is the storm to go down in 2012 record books.
It is the second costliest Atlantic hurricane, surpassed only by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. According to the National Weather Service, preliminary estimates, including business interruption, surpass $50 billion.
Northeastern states got the brunt of Hurricane Sandy.
In the United States, it affected at least 24 states, with particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York. The storm surge that hit New York City flooded streets, tunnels and subway lines.
�There was a lot more storm surge and it impacted very populated areas,� Cole said, noting that a lot of fatalities were a result of the storm surge.
Sandy was also the largest Atlantic hurricane on record, and for North Carolina was a reminder that the storms can be massive and impact large areas without coming ashore.
�Another lesson is that it doesn�t take a direct hit to have impact. This storm was 200 miles off our coast,� Cole said.
Cole said tropical storm force winds extended 800 miles across the storm.
The Outer Banks saw the worst of the damage in North Carolina and Dare County saw a 3-foot to 5-foot storm surge on both the ocean and sound sides, with the high sound-side surge from Rodanthe to Hatteras, according to a National Weather Service storm summary. The surge washed out portions of N.C. 12 and work is continuing on road repairs.
On the water, the Coast Guard carried out a daring rescue of the crew members aboard the H.M.S. Bounty, the tall ship built for the 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty. The ship began taking on water about 90 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, and the 16 members abandoned ship and got into two lifeboats. Fifteen people were rescued. One crew member was unresponsive when found and later died. The captain remains missing.
Onslow and Carteret counties saw a significant amount of rain, large breaking waves and moderate beach erosion along North Topsail Beach and Bogue Banks, and moderate coastal flooding along the sounds in eastern Carteret County.
Maximum wind gusts during Sandy in Carteret County were 60 mph, with the highest recorded at Cedar Island. Rainfall totaled 2 to 3 inches.
Maximum wind gusts were up to 40 mph in Onslow County and rainfall ranged from 2 to 4 inches.
Contact Jannette Pippin at 910-382-2557 or email@example.com.


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John A. Thornhill, of Rolla, passed away Monday, November 19, 2012 at the age of 86.
He was born on August 31, 1926 in Spring Creek, MO to James Thornhill and Sarah (Wilkinson) Thornhill. He married Mildred (Ragan) Thornhill who preceded him in death in August of 2003.
John was a U.S. Army Veteran who served in WWII. He will be deeply missed by his family, close friends and all who knew him. He was a man with a big heart.
In addition to his parents and wife, he was also preceded in death by his brothers and sisters, Barbara Elizabeth, Sarah Ellen, James Robert, William Leonard, Jesse Marvin, Lydia Pearl, Cora Mae, Charles Raymond and John Adam.
He will be sadly missed by his surviving family which includes: one daughter, Deana Reich and husband Richard of Colorado Springs, CO; three grandchildren, Megan Boyer of Colorado Springs, CO, Petty Officer 2nd Class (U.S. Navy) Matthew Boyer of Virginia Beach, VA and Mandy Reich of Colorado Springs, CO; six great grandchildren; and a special friend, Shirley Hackworth of Rolla.
A funeral service for John A. Thornhill will be conducted at 11 a.m. on Monday, November 26, 2012 at the Null and Son Funeral Home in Rolla. Kenneth Campbell will officiate. Interment will follow in the Missouri Veteran's Cemetery in Waynesville. A visitation for family and friends will be held prior to the service beginning at 10 a.m.
Memorial contributions are suggested to the Rolla Manor Care Bucket List.
Online condolences may be offered at www.nullandsonfuneralhome.com.
All arrangements are under the direction of the Null and Son Funeral Home.


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Blackhawks take time to skate with Warriors programby Brian Hedger / Chicago Blackhawks
|Photo by Getty Images
CHICAGO -- At first glance, it looked like the Chicago Blackhawks decided to hold an off-day skate at the outdoor rink located inside Soldier Field for this weekend's OfficeMax Hockey City Classic.
A closer look revealed something much different.
The Blackhawks were indeed out there Saturday morning in chilly temperatures, but they were not by themselves. Joining them, also wearing Blackhawks practice jerseys, were members of the USA Warriors Ice Hockey Program, which trains and supplies injured servicemen and women with hockey equipment and skills to use the sport as a rehabilitation tool.
Whether they used prosthetic legs with skates attached or zipped around in sleds, the Warriors showed the Blackhawks -- who they watched the night before defeat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 at United Center -- that hockey is, indeed, for everybody who wants to play.
"These guys are our heroes," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "It's an inspiration to see these guys want to come out here and play and do anything they can to have some fun, stay in shape and play something they love. Getting to share it with some pro athletes is special for them, but I think it's more special for us when we get a chance to show some of our appreciation for what they've done for us."
The feeling was mutual.
"This was amazing," retired Army Capt. Mark Little said of the prearranged outdoor skate. "You don't get this kind of experience anywhere else. We just skated with, in my opinion, the best team in the world, and that's just an amazing honor."
The fact Little, 29, and others are back playing the sport they love is amazing in itself.
Little is a double amputee. He lost both legs in 2007 in Iraq when the Humvee he was riding in was rocked by an improvised explosive device (IED). He's from Fairfax, Va., and grew up playing hockey. Initially, Little thought he'd never play again -- but five years later he's the captain of the USA Warriors, who will play on the outdoor rink on Saturday night.
"It was one week after [the] injury when I met my physical therapist and she said, 'It's important we set goals right off the bat; what do you want to do?'" Little said. "I said, 'Well, I've played hockey all my life. I'd love to play hockey again, but I know that's not going to happen.' She said, 'You know what? Let's talk tomorrow.'"
The next day, the physical therapist had a surprise visitor for him.
"She brought in a double amputee and he brought in his pair of rollerblade prosthetics, the first pair ever that had just been made just the week before," Little said, leaning on his stick after Saturday's skate. "He showed them to me and said, 'Dude, you can do whatever you want.' And that was it -- 'Fine, I'm playing.'"
Little started on rollerblades but switched to hockey skates after joining the Warriors program about a year later. He has played ever since and his can-do attitude cannot be missed. He said the secret to having such an upbeat outlook on life after his injury is simple.
"It's who you are before injury that leads into afterwards," Little said. "The injury is an event in time. That's it. But who you are before, that's who you are after. Now I just come in three pieces instead of one."
Saturday was Little's second experience with the Blackhawks, who also skated with the Warriors during the 2010-11 season on their trip to visit the White House as Stanley Cup champions.
"We went to meet with them at Walter Reed [Medical Center] and we skated with them after practice the next day, and here we are again, the same bunch of guys," captain Jonathan Toews said. "I think the honor is still the same to get to talk to them and understand the things they're going through."
The experiences meeting and skating with the Warriors were powerful for the Blackhawks, who got an up-close and inspirational look at how much some have given to serve their country.
"We look up at them," Toews said. "We appreciate everything they've done for us, and to us, they're the real heroes."
Teammate Patrick Sharp agreed.
"When things aren't going so well at the rink or in your personal life, just to take a look at what some of these guys have sacrificed and what they're going through," Sharp said. "It puts things in perspective."
It also gave the Warriors more great memories of their own.
"It was cool to be on the ice with them," Army Lance Cpl. Josh Misiewicz said. "They're so fast. You think they're fast when you're watching up in the stands, but on the ice level it's unbelievable. I'm definitely taking some memories from this, I'm sure."
Misiewicz, who's from the Chicago area and grew up playing hockey as a Blackhawks fan, lost his legs in combat in 2011, when he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan. Like Little, he thought at first that he'd never be able to get back on the ice.
After learning about the Warriors program, Misiewicz is playing sled hockey and enjoying every second.
"It's been good," he said. "It's good therapy, good everything. I played hockey my whole life and played some college and then joined the military. I got injured and one of the first things I thought was, 'I'll never play hockey again,' so it's an unbelievable thing to play sled hockey and finally we put together a team out there, so it's a lot of fun for our guys."
Part of the fun on Saturday included a staged "captains fight" between Little and Toews -- likely because of the actual scrap Toews got into Friday night against Sharks captain Joe Thornton.
"I'll never forget pulling Toews' jersey over his head," Little said, laughing. "He let me -- but it was pretty awesome."
Author: Brian Hedger | NHL.com Correspondent


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[Calendar for 1907]
Description: Calendar for the year 1907, bound in full red leather with gilt decorations. Contains a calendar for 1907, a page for each month of the year, with various information such as postage rates, holidays, birthstones, etc. Also has information on Tiffany and Company.
Date: 1906
Creator: Tiffany and Company
Item Type: Refine your search to only Book
Partner: UNT Libraries Rare Book and Texana Collections


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The following commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of AgWeb or Farm Journal Media. The opinions expressed below are the author's own.
Have a margins question? Through this blog, you will gain insight into improving your bottom line, as a margins expert answers questions and provides farm business advice.
Before making a final decision on switching any acres/farms from corn to soybean due to delayed planting, consider some of the following factors. Cropping history, soil conditions, calendar date, seed availability, work load capacity, Basis, and price ratio between corn vs. soybeans.
Additionally, take a look at this Corn versus Soybeans Profit Spreadsheet to analyze how yield and price differences affect your gross revenue.
Listen to an audio report about the tool:
Many of the scenarios I've been running to this point favor planting corn well into June; however, every operation is unique, so I encourage you to spend a few minutes analyzing your individual situation. There can be more than $100 per acre of benefit one way or the other depending on your specific situation.
Have a question about the spreadsheet? Email me at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Cystic fibrosis often affects the pancreas and
digestive system because the
mucus in these areas becomes thick and sticky. If this
occurs, the mucus blocks normal digestive function as well as harbors
The digestive system is responsible for breaking down food, absorbing
nutrients from the food, and ridding the body of waste products. The
pancreas is an organ that is located in the upper
abdomen, behind the stomach and close to the spine. It produces digestive
enzymes, which travel to the intestines and break down (digest) food so that
nutrients can be absorbed by the body.
In cystic fibrosis, mucus clogs the pancreas, and digestive enzymes
are not able to get to the intestine. So food is not properly digested,
particularly fats and proteins. A related symptom is large, greasy, smelly stools.
Lack of nutrition prevents normal growth and development in babies
and children. Unhealthy weight loss and difficulty gaining or maintaining
weight are common problems for many people of all ages who have cystic
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is common in people who have cystic fibrosis.
In addition to enzymes, the pancreas also produces insulin, a
hormone that helps control blood sugar. Over time, the abnormal buildup of
enzymes starts to break down pancreatic tissue. This slows and may eventually
stop insulin production, resulting in
Cystic fibrosis may also affect the bowel and liver in the
following ways:
ByHealthwise StaffPrimary Medical ReviewerJohn Pope, MD - PediatricsKathleen Romito, MD - Family MedicineSpecialist Medical ReviewerR. Steven Tharratt, MD, MPVM, FACP, FCCP - Pulmonology, Critical Care Medicine, Medical Toxicology
Current as ofMay 4, 2017
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Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
John Pope, MD - Pediatrics & Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine & R. Steven Tharratt, MD, MPVM, FACP, FCCP - Pulmonology, Critical Care Medicine, Medical Toxicology
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated, disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. Learn how we develop our content.
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Last modified on: 8 September 2017


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|Home > Photos > Government > Elections
Click on a thumbnail photo to view the full picture.
A photo taken on May 28, 1964, of a group gathered in Ybor in support of Elliot Roosevelt.
A photo of Mack Traina campaigning in Ybor City in 1959.
|Home > Photos > Government > Elections
Florida: A Social Studies Resource for Students and Teachers
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College of Education, University of South Florida © 2002.


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Template:Cub Scout Gymnastics/req
From MeritBadgeDotOrg
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Belt Loop Requirements
Complete these three requirements:
- Explain the six events of men's gymnastics: floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vaulting / side horse, parallel bars, and horizontal bar.
- Participate in three of the six events using the proper equipment.
- Explain the safety rules you should follow to learn gymnastics.
Sports Pin Requirements
Earn the Gymnastics belt loop, and complete five of the following requirements:
- Write a report on the history of gymnastics.
- Take gymnastics lessons.
- Attend a gymnastics meet.
- Practice and demonstrate five floor exercise skills.
- Practice and demonstrate two skills used on the pommel horse.
- Demonstrate two skills on the still rings.
- Demonstrate two skills using parallel bars.
- Demonstrate two skills using the horizontal bar.
- Demonstrate a vault using the side horse.
- Develop a regular routine of physical and mental conditioning.
- Learn about three U.S. gymnasts who have won medals in the Olympics.
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Travel Guide of Snowmass Village, Aspen for: Laurelwood StudiosSnowmass Village, Colorado, United States
Snowmass Village Summary
- Centered around Snowmass Mountain, the largest mountain in Vail with slopes for every level of skier
- Kid-friendly, with a children's Adventure Center and tons of outdoor activities
- Less built up than nearby Downtown Aspen
- Many hotels are ski-in and ski-out lodges
- Home to a public golf course
- Some nice shops and restaurants
- Not as many restaurants and shops as nearby Aspen
- Not much nightlife
What It's Like
Snowmass Village is the more laid-back, family-friendly option in Aspen. It's at the base of Snowmass Mountain, the largest mountain in Aspen, which offers a variety of slopes to accomodate all levels of skiers. One lift ticket allows visitors access to all four mountains in the Aspen area.
Snowmass Village was built as a ski resort town in 1967. It does not have the multitude of high-end shops and restaurants that Aspen offers, but there are a good number and the village continues to grow. Aspen is only a 20-minute drive away, but most people who come to Snowmass Village choose it for its more relaxed atmosphere. The town capitalizes on its kid-friendly reputation, offering an array of children's activities, particularly in the summer. In fact, those traveling to Aspen in the summer may prefer Snowmass Village; it offers tons of warm-weather activites such as parasailing, horseback riding, and mountain biking.
Where To Stay
Snowmass Village has numerous hotels, and many are ski-in and ski-out lodges. They are all centrally located around the base of the mountain, and visitors have a few options within each price range from which to choose.


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The Heavenly Host
What is the highest calling of the Christian? The continual praise of God by the angels in heaven is one of the many depictions in the Bible that emphasize the importance of worship. Praising our Creator in heaven is the ...Read More
Our Cherished Hope
You may have been a Christian for many years, but in a very real sense you are still standing in the "foyer" of God's grace. He is going to take you farther on, even unto glorification, when you will ...Read More


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Before you get started with your application, take a moment to check that you will be eligible to join the Royal Navy.
The Armed Forces value every individual's unique contribution irrespective of their race, ethnic origin, gender, social background or sexual orientation. Your application will be rejected if you are, or have been, a member, supporter or associated with any group or organisation whose purpose includes incitement to racial hatred and violence.
You must be aware that, should you be accepted for enlistment, you may be required to serve anywhere in the world.
If you have read this page and meet all of the requirements, then call this number 08456 07 55 55 or request more information here.
British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens may join the Royal Navy or Royal Marines. However, certain career paths are only available to British citizens. See the link below for details.
Nationality Requirements for Career Options
- A waiver of the above requirements may be granted by the Secretary of State for Defence for candidates who are British citizens at the time of application regardless of place of birth or former nationality
- In exceptional circumstances a waiver of these requirements may be granted by the Secretary of State for Defence to persons who are Commonwealth citizens or citizens of the Irish Republic at the time of their application regardless of place of birth or former nationality. Any person who seeks such a dispensation will have their case considered on its individual merits
- Only candidates holding British Nationality are eligible for the Submarine Service. No nationality waivers will be considered
- These waivers will only be considered for thoses applying to enter service as a Royal Marine Commando or Royal Navy Surface Fleet
In addition, whether or not you are of UK origin, you should normally have resided in the UK for a minimum of three years immediately prior to making an application. In certain circumstances, particularly when an applicant is of UK origin, or the country of residence is one where security checks can be carried out, a shorter period of residence may be accepted.
The vast majority of trades are open to both men and women, although a small number of areas are currently not available to women, e.g. Royal Marines, the Submarine Service and Mine Clearance Diving.
To apply to the Royal Navy you must be no younger than 15 years, 9 months. On entry you must be no younger than 16 (17 for Officers) and no older than 36 (up to and including your 37th birthday). The maximum age for Officer entry varies according to specialisation.
Please Note: if you are under 18, the consent of your parents or guardians is required. This will be asked for at the application stage.
Height requirements vary for each of the Services. To be an Aircraft Handler you must be no shorter than 166cm and for other branches you must be no shorter than 151.5cm.
For many jobs there are no formal entry qualifications. If you have GCSEs (or equivalent) the range of opportunities is wider still. You need at least 5 GCSEs (or equivalent) and 180 UCAS points to be eligible to apply to become an officer. The 180 UCAS points now takes into account 'A' Levels, 'AS' Levels, Vocational Certificate of Education, Key Skills and 1-Unit Awards. (This is effectively equivalent to 2 good A level passes and 5 GSCE's if you received your 'A' levels before July 2001). If you are still unsure about whether you meet the minimum qualifications, contact your local Area Careers Liason Officer. See the individual job descriptions for details.
Criminal Record
- If you are awaiting a court appearance, in any other capacity other than as a witness, you may not be eligible to apply until the outcome of the hearing is known. Please check with your Armed Forces Careers Office
- Spent and unspent convictions (including prison, young offenders institution or probation) for certain types of offence may mean that you are ineligible to apply for entry into certain branches or trades within the Armed Forces. If you have any doubts about which branches or trades fall into the above categories, please seek advice
- Ex-Servicemen or Servicewomen discharged for disciplinary reasons will be ineligible to re-enter
- If you are a habitual user of illegal substances, you will not be eligible to apply. Random compulsory drugs testing is practised in the Armed Forces
- The Armed Forces require anyone who joins to be medically fit to serve worldwide. New entrants to the Armed Forces undergo intensive training which is physically demanding and mentally taxing. New entrants must be of a robust constitution and free from disease or pre-existing injury to meet this challenge. If you do decide to apply and your application is accepted, you will be required to pass a full medical examination. Your application will be rejected if you fail to meet the minimum acceptable medical standard for entry. Before a Medical Officer examines you, you are asked to declare certain information about your medical history to identify obvious medical conditions for which rejection is automatic. Please note that your application will be rejected if:
- You suffer from Epilepsy
- You suffer from Diabetes
- You suffer or have suffered from Asthma in the past four years
- You suffer from Colitis, Crohns Disease, or any other long standing bowel disorder or have had your spleen removed
- You have ever had a detached retina or corneal transplant
- You suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis, or any other bone or joint disorders
The above list is not exhaustive and you may find that your application is rejected due to other medical conditions, not listed, but which are subject to the discretion of the examining doctor or Service Medical Authorities.
- The Armed Forces value every individual's unique contribution irrespective of their race, ethnic origin, gender, social background or sexual orientation. Your application will be rejected if you are, or have been, a member, supporter or associated with any group or organisation whose purpose includes incitement to racial hatred and violence
- You must be aware that, should you be accepted for enlistment, you may be required to serve anywhere in the World


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Watch CBSN Live
Surf's up! It's time to revisit the most memorable films set at the seashore.While many selections in the beach movie genre haven't successfully weathered the test of time (sorry Leo, "The Beach" is still a wipe-out), other titles have managed to avoiding eroding into obscurity and stand as sunny reminders about the best parts of summer.Before heading out of town for the Fourth of July weekend, coast through our list of the greatest beach movies ever made.
By: Ken Lombardi
Credit: Fox Searchlight
The most famous beach scene in cinematic history can be found in Fred Zinneman's 1953 World War II-era drama, "From Here to Eternity."The film takes place in 1941 Hawaii and follows three soldiers (Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra) in the months leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.Few kissing scenes could rival Lancaster and Deborah Kerr embracing on the sands of Oahu as the waves rush around them. Hollywood legend has it that the scene was not scripted but rather improvised at the last minute thanks to an idea from Zinneman.
Credit: Columbia Pictures
She's the one that started it all. "Gidget" was Hollywood's first successful attempt at bringing national exposure to the then-burgeoning California surfing culture.
Sandra Dee played the title role -- an upbeat teen who buys a surfboard and takes up the sport in the hopes of getting closer to her crush, Moondoogie (James Darren).Based on the novel by Frederick Kohner, "Gidget" is still fondly remembered 55 years after it was first released. The film's success sparked two sequels, a TV series starring Sally Field and countless imitators.
No two actors are more closely associated with the "beach party movie" genre than Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.During the early-to-mid-1960s, in the wake of "Gidget," American International Pictures released five films with Avalon and Funicello playing care-free teens (although both actors were actually in their twenties at the time of shooting) who can't get enough fun in the sun."Beach Blanket Bingo" -- the fourth installment in the "Frankie and Annette" film series -- has all the best elements of a "beach party movie." There's a damsel in distress (future "Dynasty" star Linda Evans), a touch of the supernatural with a mermaid named Lorelai, random musical breaks (briefly parodied in 1996's "That Thing You Do"), zany stunts involving sky-diving surfers and lots of cameos from the likes of Don Rickles and Buster Keaton.Avalon and Funicello would later reprise their roles -- this time as husband-and-wife -- in 1987's "Back to the Beach," which focused on their daughter (Lori Loughlin from "Full House") and her group of friends.In 2013, the Disney Channel TV musical "Teen Beach Movie" served as a nostalgic send-up of the genre made popular by Avalon and Funicello.
Credit: American International Pictures
While Gidget, Frankie and Annette are often looked at as light-hearted popcorn fare, "The Endless Summer" carries far more gravitas.Filmmaker Bob Brown narrates this timeless documentary about two expert surfers, Michael Hynson and Robert August, as they go on a global adventure in search of the perfect wave.Brown's documentary helped popularize the sport even further and brought wider attention to premiere surfing destinations around the world, such as South Africa."The Endless Summer" still resonates with today's pop culture. The film's theatrical poster (seen here) remains a bestseller and can be found on the walls of college dorms across the nation.
Credit: Bruce Brown Films
While other films on our list made viewers want to jump into the ocean, Steven Spielberg's classic thriller had just about everybody running for the dunes.Richard Dreyfus, Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw starred as an unlikely trio on the hunt for a great white eating up tourists and locals alike around Amity Island.Based on the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, Spielberg shot almost all of the film on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts."Jaws" became the first blockbuster ever and set a trend for others to come, although beach communities around the country reported a decrease in tourism following the film's release.To this day, the film comes into the minds of many before going out for a swim.
Credit: Universal Pictures
Acclaimed director Eric Rohmer made a name for himself in the 1960s as a prominent member of the French New Wave, but it wasn't until 1983 when he released one of his most celebrated works, "Pauline a la plage" ("Pauline at the Beach").Marion (Arielle Dombasle) takes her teenaged-cousin Pauline (Amanda Langlet) to the Atlantic coastal city of Granville for a fall vacation. During their holiday, each woman finds love and heartbreak in this intelligent examination of human nature.
Credit: Orion Pictures
As the title suggests, this totally rad film is set around Hawaii's breathtaking beaches on the island of Oahu, one of the most famous places in the world for surfing.Matt Adler plays Rick Kane, an Arizona teen who competes professionally while visiting the Aloha State. During his stay, Kane finds love (Nia Peebles) and some killer waves.Famous real-life surfers like Laird Hamilton have supporting roles in this film that has beautiful scenery and a heartfelt message for every true "soul surfer."This '80s classic served as the inspiration for the hit 2007 animated film, "Surf's Up" as well as the Teegan and Sara song, "North Shore."
It's so bad it's good. Nobody could have predicted how big of a cult hit "Point Break" would become when it first treaded into theaters.Keanu Reeves played undercover FBI agent Johnny Utah, sent to infiltrate a group of bank-robbing surfers led by Bodhi (Patrick Swayze).With over-the-top acting, plenty of plot holes and cheesy lines like "Surfing's the source, it can change your life" and "They're traveling on the money, going where the waves are," it may be hard to believe that the film was helmed by Kathryn Bigelow, who later became the Oscar-winning director behind "The Hurt Locker."
But it's that very corniness that has made "Point Break" an endearing hit with die-hard fans all around the world. There's been conventions, a successful stage musical adaptation and a big-screen remake is planned for 2015.
Credit: 20th Century Fox
Oh, Wilson. Who can forget Tom Hanks' solitary performance as a FedEx worker trapped on a deserted island?
Hanks scored a best actor Oscar nomination (he had already won twice before for 1993's "Philadelphia" and 1994's "Forrest Gump") for his portrayal of a man who only has the beach, and a beloved volleyball, as his companions.
One of the most poignant films on our list, George Clooney stars as the patriarch of a family from Hawaii coming to terms with life's unexpected tragedies. Clooney's character, Matt King, struggles as a single father of two girls when his wife falls into a coma after a boating accident off the beaches of Waikiki in Honolulu.Based on a novel from Hawaiian native Kaui Hart Hemmings, "The Descendants" was written by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, who won a best adapted screenplay Oscar for their work. Maholo to them both.


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You will be your own most important employee, so an objective appraisal of your strengths and weaknesses is essential. Some questions to ask yourself are:
Usually, the best business for you is the one in which you are most skilled and interested. As you review your options, you may wish to consult local experts and businesspersons about the growth potential of various businesses in your area. Matching your background with the local market will increase your chance of success.
A business plan precisely defines your business, identifies your goals, and serves as your firm's resume. Its basic components include a current and pro forma balance sheet, an income statement and a cash flow analysis. It helps you allocate resources properly, handle unforeseen complications, and make the right decisions. Because it provides specific and organized information about your company and how you will repay borrowed money, a good business plan is a crucial part of any loan package. Additionally, it can tell your sales personnel, suppliers and others about your operations and goals.
It may seem silly to ask yourself, "What business am I really in," but some owner-managers have gone broke because they never answered that question. One watch store owner realized that most of his time was spent repairing watches while most of his money was spent selling them. He finally decided he was in the repair business and discontinued the sales operations. His profits improved dramatically
Licenses required, zoning laws, and other regulations vary from business to business and from state to state. Your local Small Business Administration (SBA) office and/or chamber of commerce will provide you with general information, but you will need to consult your attorney for advice specific to your enterprise and area. You also must decide about your form of organization (corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship) or tax status (e.g., should you opt for a Subchapter S status?).
There are four basics of success in small business:
Few people start a business with all of these bases covered. Honestly assess your own experience and skills; then look for partners or key employees to compensate for your deficiencies.
A business partner does not guarantee success. If you require additional management skills or start-up capital, engaging a partner may be your best decision. Personality and character, as well as ability to give technical or financial assistance, determine the ultimate success of a partnership.
Choose your employees carefully. Decide before hand what you want them to do. Be specific. You may need flexible employees who can shift from task to task as required. Interview and screen applicants with care. Remember, good questions lead to good answers-the more you learn about each applicant's experience and skills, the better prepared you are to make your decision.
Wage levels are calculated using position importance and skill required as criteria. Consult your trade association and accountant to learn the most current practices, cost ratios, and profit margins in your business field. While there is a minimum wage set by federal law for most jobs, the actual wage paid is entirely between you and your prospective employee.
You must withhold federal and state income taxes, contribute to unemployment and workers compensation systems, and match Social Security holdings. You may also wish to inquire about key employee life or disability insurance. Because laws on these matters vary from state to state, you probably should consult local information sources and/or SBA offices.


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If you've ever searched for a good property manager in Find Iff , then you know how difficult it can be to find a good one for your rental property. There are several property managers out there, probably more than what you really need to bring your property into the market.
With so many choices available, you may find it difficult to choose one for your unit. But don't worry – if you ask the right questions while shopping around for property managers, you'll get a better idea of who would make the best fit for your property. Ask them these questions when discussing your property to see if they're the right property manager for you:
1. What type of properties have you managed?
Experience counts for a lot in property management, and it can separate the good ones from the ones you should steer away from. Experience in this field, however, isn't just about the number of years worked in the field; it's also about what type of properties they've managed. Depending on what type of property you have, you can either go with someone who specialises in managing properties like yours or someone who has more varied experience managing different types of properties.
2. How do you screen potential tenants?
Some have small sign-up fees but a variety of hidden fees once you sign on and let them manage your property. Avoid getting surprised by such fees, and ask them to indicate all management and service fees included in their service. The more complicated their fee structure is, the bigger the headache (and expense) it will likely be.
9. What can you do that others can't?
This is where prospective property managers will try to sell you on what they offer and how well they set themselves apart from the competition. It's also the part where you assess the intangibles in any working relationship, giving you a better idea of how well they meet your standards. Listen well, take notes, and assess why they use property management companies.
How Do you Select Best Property Management Company in Find Iff ?
Property management can be a tough job to run by yourself. Ideally, we would like for a building and/or tenants to be able to operate and live as smoothly as possible without having any problems to deal with. However, this is never the case, as there is always something that needs taking care of around a property. If you are in need of a property manager, then read on.
When searching for someone to hire to take care of maintenance and assistance for a space you own, you want the overall experience to be as beneficial as possible. As far as considering whom to hand this job to, do not choose your cheapest option. This decision should eliminate a lot of work and stress from your life and create a job for someone else. So, make the best choice based on character and work experience an individual or company has.
In order to avoid rent being pocketed by your managing company, request that a monthly roster be made all tenants with current contact information. Some companies may say an apartment is vacant when a resident still lives there and keep the rent money.
These are a few tips and precautions that can be taken to find quality property management and maintain a good business relationship. A lot of work is necessary for keeping an area of real estate operating optimally, so take this into consideration before assigning anyone the job. Trust is a key issue when handing over the care-taking duties to another party, but you should still take measures to assure that your premises is running legitimately.
The Property Management Contract - What You Need to Know
As a property manager, there are many positives and negatives with this job. As with any job you make it what you want. There are days that are longer and more difficult then others.There are many regulations you need to know and must be a relator. If you want to start this business you need to know exactly what it entails.You will need to be licensed by the sales tax agency if they charge sales tax on the monthly rent. You need to have one for each town you are doing business in. It is extremely helpful that you are well versed in repairing things or have a good list of contractors available for repairs. Your life will be so much easier if you can determine what repair needs your immediate attention, what can wait until the next business day. You need to be a people person, since you do meet people from all walks of life.
8. Tracking expenditures for repairs. Getting authorization from the owner as needed.
9. Establishing advertisements daily, with at least seven free website for any vacancies.
10. Show available properties, screen potential tenants, while maintaining the laws against discrimination.
The job can be a 24/7 day business. You set the hours. It is hard to predict when a client may need a repair. Keep in mind that the owner has the right to cancel the property management agreement. This has not happened to me I still have the same customers for the last seven years and continue to grow.
Why you ask, I believe it is that I handle this like a business while maintaining contact with the owners on an as needed basis.
Characteristics of a Good Property Manager
Property management is a business that is regulated and requires a real estate license in many states. This first step requirement means that the potential buyer of an existing business would need to be qualified to run the business. They would also need to meet the same requirements to start one from the ground up.
One way to get experience in the business is go to work for a large management company and learn the ropes. At the same time you could be completing any educational requirements and prepare for taking the license required to professionally manage properties. Starting a company of your own will take some strong detective work to find a property that is looking for management or looking to replace the current management firm. This will entail a great deal of cold calling and phone work to come up with possible clients.
At the same time you could get a web site built so you will have something to point people to when you are speaking with them on the phone. You would also mention the website in all communications or advertisements. All of this would come after you have decided on a company name and have a phone number and address for your business.
Knowledge and preparation are requirements for success. Whether you buy an existing business or start one up, you will need to gain experience and first hand knowledge of the business from some source. The best way to gain real experience is to work in the business for a year or so for a management company. The requirements in your state should be checked also to see what licenses are needed. There could also be educational requirements that you would have to obtain. A smart person would make sure they have all of these ducks out of the way while working for someone else. The real estate department of your state will be able to give you the information you need to know. There also could be an association of property managers in your area. Both of these sources are a place to start to find the information you need.
Once you have the experience, education and licenses, the ownership of a property management company is possible. You can either start one up or buy an existing firm. The expense of buying one will be much higher than starting one from the ground up. Finding one you can buy will take effort and the willingness to commit a sizeable amount of money. The obvious way to start is through a business broker, as they will have a current list of business for sale. They should have a very good idea of what you will need to pay to buy a property management company Coming up with the money may be a problem for some buyers as the price of an existing successful firm will be higher than a startup. An existing management company's current customers will be a large asset, as they will supply immediate cash flow to the company. So the higher price is offset by the constant cash flow from contracted customers.
If you start a company from scratch, you will need to plan on a significant amount of cold calling, phoning and face-to-face meetings to find customers that need your help. This is a slow start but can be a reasonable way to get into the business
TopProp Have All Property Management Companies Reviews Near Me Find Iff


text:
// give the player a medal
// get a list of the player's medals
var/list/medals = client.GetMedals()
for(var/m in medals)
world << m
// add 3 to the player's kill count
client.SetScore("kills", ADD, 3)
You can specify different operations in the SetScore proc so with a single proc call you can update the score however you'd like. You don't need to handle getting the current score, adding to it, then updating the scoreboard with the new score. That's all taken care of for you.
The library also provides you with a way to get information from a hub entry. You can get a list of servers that are publicly available:
var/list/servers = world.GetServers("Forumaccount", "AMinerAdventure")
for(var/Server/s in servers)
world << s.url
This makes it very easy to create an in-game list of servers the player can choose from.
Version History
Version 4 (posted 06-16-2012)
- Changed the return values of the AddMedal and ClearMedal procs. They return 0 if the operation failed, 1 if the operation wasn't necessary (ex: you called AddMedal to give the player a medal they already had), and 2 if the operation was necessary and succeeded. This lets you still use the return value to determine whether the player has (or doesn't have) the medal and also gives you the ability to distinguish between cases where the player already had the medal and the case where they're getting it for the first time.
- Updated the world.GetServers proc to use savefiles to read the information returned by the BYOND hub.
- Added the world.GetFans() proc, which returns a list of users who are fans of the specified hub entry. If no hub entry is specified, the proc uses world.hub.
- Made the world.GetServers proc accept a single string of the form "author.game". If you pass it one string it splits the string - everything before the period is the author and everything after it is the game's name.
- Made the world.GetServers proc handle the case that no servers are running.
- Added the score-demo example which shows how to abstract out the library to make hub scores even easier to use.
- Initial version.


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FIDELITY APPROACH TO TOPOLOGICAL QUANTUM PHASE TRANSITIONS by Damian Federico Abasto A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PHYSICS) May 2012 Copyright 2012 Damian Federico Abasto
Object Description
|Fidelity approach to topological quantum phase transitions
|Abasto, Damian Federico
|Author email
|Doctor of Philosophy
|Document type
|Degree program
|College of Letters, Arts And Sciences
|Date defended/completed
|Date submitted
|Date approved
|Restricted until
|Date published
|Advisor (committee chair)
|Zanardi, Paolo
|Advisor (committee member)
Lidar, Daniel A.
Brun, Todd A.
Mitra, Urbashi
Däppen, Werner
Daeppen, Werner
Dappen, Werner
|This dissertation puts forward the concept of fidelity as a way to understand and characterize quantum phase transitions involving topological phases. It lies at the interphase between Condensed Matter and Quantum Phase Transitions. ❧ We find that the fidelity metric, which characterizes the degree of distinghuishability between two quantum states, can serve as a useful tool in the understanding of transitions involving topological phases. ❧ The methodology does not require a complete knowledge of the physical mechanism involved in the occurrence of the critical point, such as the identification of a local order parameter and a symmetry breaking mechanism, the fundamental pillars of critical phenomena. Topological phases are unique in that they cannot be classified under these methodologies, due to their lack of local order parameters. It is one of the purposes of this thesis to understand how well we can characterize the phase boundaries between these phases using fidelity concepts. ❧ In the first part, we introduce two quantum models that exhibit a phase transition between an ordered and a topological phase, as quantified by the topological entanglement entropy. In the thermodynamic limit, the different components of the fidelity metric exhibit a divergence, signalling the occurrence of the critical point. ❧ In the second part, we introduce models that have phase boundaries between two distinct topological phases, and we show that the fidelity is successful at identifying the occurrence of a critical region. Moreover, a finite size scaling analysis is carried out, from which we determine the value of critical exponents.
|quantum information; solid state physics; topological phases; quantum phase transitions
|Part of collection
|University of Southern California dissertations and theses
|Publisher (of the original version)
|University of Southern California
|Place of publication (of the original version)
|Los Angeles, California
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|University of Southern California. Libraries
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|University of Southern California
|Abasto, Damian Federico
|Physical access
|The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.
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|University of Southern California Digital Library
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|USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA
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|FIDELITY APPROACH TO TOPOLOGICAL QUANTUM PHASE TRANSITIONS by Damian Federico Abasto A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PHYSICS) May 2012 Copyright 2012 Damian Federico Abasto


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Track construction at the Museum of the American Railroad's Frisco site has begun! Workers with Trac-Work, Inc. began placing new crossties on the westernmost end of what will become the Museum's tail track. The first 300 feet of track material was put in place today as part of a 4,000 foot Phase IA track construction project.
Construction will progress in a northeast direction through the Museum site and eventually connect with BNSF's main line to the north of Cotton Gin Road. Five turnouts (switches) will be constructed in place, along with the Museum's runaround track. Work is expected to take 30-40 days, weather permitting.
While the ties are new, the rail is being recycled from the Santa Fe (originally Kansas City, Mexico & Orient) Line near San Angelo, Texas. The rail was produced by Colorado Fuel & Iron mills in Pueblo, and the Gary Steel Works near Chicago between 1918 and 1920. Weighing 90 lbs/yard (a unit of measurement for rail), the 39-foot sections will be bolted in place as track work progresses. The Museum's rolling stock collection currently rests on 65-85 lb rail at Fair Park. Today's industry standard for mainline railroads is 130-150 lbs/yard.
For updates on construction at the Frisco site, click here.
The Museum of the American Railroad is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit Texas Corporation dedicated to preserving the heritage and exploring the future of railroads through historic preservation, research, and educational programming. Since 1963, the Museum has engaged in collecting artifacts and archival material from the railroad industry for the purpose of preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting their significance in American life and culture. Educational programs are available to local schools and universities through study trips, in-class programming & outreach, and online resources at: www.HistoricTrains.org


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Holly B. is our Featured Customer of the Month and will receive a GroVia Hybrid Shell in ModFlower Hook and Loop
|GroVia Hybrid Shell
1. Please enter the following: Name (First Name + Last Initial) Ages(s) of child(ren) cloth diapered Length of time cloth diapering
Riley S. Cloth diapered from 3 months to 2 years old. Jocelyn S. Started to cloth diaper at 3 months and still currently cloth diapering.
2. Why did you decide to cloth diaper? Was your decision to cloth diaper supported by friends and family? If not, Why?
I always knew I would cloth diaper since I had learned of it. The biggest reason was the Earth! I was always concerned about how much waste a person contributes in a year. Also, how hard could it be? Well, I knew it was more involved but really, was it something I could do? Absolutely! This beautiful planet we live on needs to be here long enough for all here to thrive. My children need to know how fragile our environment is and what they can do to protect it! We all know about recycling and what not, why is using "sposie" diapers so forced in our nation? Even our parents were against our decision. And honestly, we are helping to save this environment but at the same time, we are saving a whole lot of money! How could we not!?!
3. What cloth diaper systems did you begin with? Are you still using those types?
With my 2nd child, I found Gro-Via. I absolutely love these diapers. They come out very clean in my wash cycle and I'm in love with how you can reuse the shell and just change the soaker pad. The only other thing I use for my diapers is the Tiny Bubbles detergent. This detergent is spectacular! I don't have the fancy gadgets like the diaper sprayer and I don't think I miss it either. I'm sure it works wonderfully but with the GroVia and the Tiny Bubbles, I have no need!
4. Do you stick with one type/brand of diaper, or try multiple? Why?
When I started with the BumGenius I wasn't happy and tried the Kawaii. I stuck with them even though I wasn't happy. I wish I had learned of the Gro-Via from the start! With my 2nd I tried the BGs's and Kawaii's again but still, wasn't happy. I will stick to only Gro-Via!
5. What do you wish you would have known when you first started out?
6. What accessories can you not live without?
I guess I'm a simple cloth diaper person. I have no accessories. But the Gro-Via diapers in conjunction with the Tiny Bubbles detergent...Who needs accessories!!!
7. How many diapers do you currently own? Are you happy with this amount?
At this time I have 8 Gro-Via shells and 12 soaker pads. I'm content with this amount for 2 reasons. First, it gets me through the day. Second, unfortunately I don't have the funds for more shells and soakers. In a perfect world, I would love to have 12 to 15 shells and at least 20 or so soakers. This way I could do cloth diaper laundry every other day. But I'm ok with doing the laundry once a day. I have to keep on top of it though!!!
8. Do you have any cloth diapering tips, secrets, or advice you can offer to parents just starting out?
The sun is a magical detergent!!! Even in the winter I put my stained soaker pads on the window sill and the sun does its job! Sparkling white diapers!!! Also, Tiny Bubbles detergent is wonderful!!! I use it for the baby clothes too!
9. Which of our in-stock diapers can we send you for being customer of the month? Why did you choose that particular one?
If I were lucky enough to be included...I would absolutely love a Gro-Via Mod Flower hook/loop!Thank you, Holly! Your wisdom will help other parents.


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What a difference a year makes. On July 17, 2012, Kristen Stewart was caught cheating on Robert Pattinson with her Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders. (Us Weekly broke news of the fling with exclusive photos of the shocking tryst, taken on July 17.) The scandal left the Twilight actress "devastated" for jeopardizing her relationship with her longtime boyfriend. Sanders, who has two young children with his wife, model Liberty Ross said in a statement he was "utterly distraught" for the pain he caused his family.
Now, one year later, both respective couples have ended their relationships. Here, Us offers a timeline of events that lead to the heartbreak and all that has happened since the scandal.
August 2011: Stewart begins filming Snow White and the Huntsman with Sanders in England and Wales. A source tells Us the actress was "early every day" for work.
May 15, 2012: Stewart and the director enjoyed a group dinner with Snow White castmembers at Monsieur Vuong Vietnamese restaurant in Berlin, Germany.
July 17, 2012: The 22-year-old actress met up with Sanders, 41, for a series of steamy makeout sessions in Los Angeles, which was caught by photographers. The twosome spent the afternoon driving around L.A. in search of secluded places.
July 19, 2012: Pattinson and Stewart seemed especially cozy during a date at Hotel Cafe. During their outing in Los Angeles, "she leaned against him," says a witness, who adds that the couple's PDA was "cute."
July 22, 2012: Stewart and Pattinson attended the 2012 Teen Choice Awards together in Universal City, Calif. The stars walked out on stage holding hands and gave their awards to their fans while thanking them for their years of support.
July 23, 2012: Rumors began to circulate that Us was preparing to publish an explosive story that Stewart was caught cheating. Fans took to Twitter to express their disbelief and horror over the mere idea that Stewart could be unfaithful to Pattinson. Outraged Twi-hards claimed the photos were Photoshopped and couldn't possibly be of Stewart.
July 24, 2012: Us released an exclusive set of photos of Stewart and Sanders's makeout session in Los Angeles. During his marathon makeout session with Stewart, "it seemed like they couldn't get enough," according to one photographer. Sanders' wife tweeted "Wow" just moments after Us called her husband's rep for comment. She then later deactivated her Twitter account.
July 25, 2012: In her most public proclamation of affection for her man, the actress released an anguished statement of apology, saying, "I'm deeply sorry for the hurt and embarrassment I've caused to those close to me and everyone this has affected. This momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love him, I love him, I'm so sorry." Sanders, issued his own statement, shortly after Stewart. "I am utterly distraught about the pain I have caused my family," the English director told Us. "My beautiful wife and heavenly children are all I have in this world. I love them with all my heart. I am praying that we can get through this together."
Twipocalypse arrived as fans try to come to terms with the reality of the scandal after Stewart and Sanders confess. One Twi-hard posted a heartbreaking video reaction to Stewart's statement in which she cried on camera reading out loud. "If you loved him that much, you wouldn't have done it," she said between tears. "The thing is, you were stupid enough to be photographed doing it! Don't be so stupid!"
July 26: With Pattinson hiding out since the news broke, a source close to the actor told Us he was "really depressed. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know if he should forgive her or not." Another source close to both stars told Us that Stewart was "devastated. She's very angry at herself. She's really not blaming anyone but herself." A third source added, "Rob is beyond devastated. He's so heartbroken. He's shocked she could hurt him and humiliate him this way." Pattinson's Water for Elephants costar Reese Witherspoon offered up her tranquil, $7 million ranch in Ojai, Calif. for the actor to stay at to get away from the scandal.
September 2012: Sources revealed to Us that Stewart and Pattinson "had a dramatic makeup." "They're working it out," the source said. "He's still in love with her." After reconciling, Pattinson also moved back in with Stewart.
Oct. 15, 2012: #RobstenIsUnbroken! Pattinson and Stewart delighted fans when there were photographed together for the first time since the cheating scandal. The reunited couple were spotted having an intimate chat outside a L.A. bar.
Oct. 17, 2012: Sanders and wife of 11 years Ross are photographed embracing after an apparent couple's counseling session in Beverly Hills.
Nov. 12, 2012: Stewart and Pattinson posed on their first joint red carpet since the cheating scandal at the L.A. premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2. When asked if she was back together with Pattinson during a Nov. 7 interview on the TODAY show, Stewart said, "I'm going to just let people watch whatever little movie they think our lives are. Keep 'em guessing, I always say."
January 2013: Ross filed for divorce from Sanders, asking for joint custody of the couple's two young children, Skyla and Tennyson, as well as spousal support and attorney's fees. "They gave it a shot for the kids, [but] she was just so angry," an insider told Us of Sander's tryst with Stewart. "She's the kind of person who wouldn't really ever get over it."
March 19, 2013: While Pattinson was away for over two months filming The Rover in Australia, rumors circulated that the couple was broken up. But Robsten fans breathed a little easier after the Twilight twosome were photographed reunited in L.A. at a karaoke bar.
May 18, 2013: Multiple sources confirmed to Us that Pattinson and Stewart broke up. A source close to the actor told Us the couple was "having problems" and "fighting a lot."
May 21, 2013: Pattinson moves out of his ex-girlfriend's L.A. home with a pickup truck filled with his possessions and his two dogs. A source told Us the couple argued bitterly "about the cheating, about how selfish she always is, about how moody she always is."
July 3, 2013: A rep for actress Riley Keough, the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and the grandddaughter of Elvis Presley, confirmed that she was not the "mystery girl" photographed riding in Pattinson's truck on June 29. "Riley isn't dating Rob," a rep for the 24-year-old actress told Just Jared. "And I can confirm that Riley was not photographed at all this weekend."
July 8, 2013: Love for Robsten continues for fans even after their breakup. Stewart was greeted with the words "I [heart] Rob" written on the hood of her dirty car in North Hollywood.
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Over the past few years, some developers have started to take advantage of the power of GPU hardware in their apps. In other words, from their CPU code, they have been offloading parts of their app that are compute intensive to the GPU, and enjoying overall performance increases in their solution.
The code parts that are offloadable to an accelerator such as the GPU are data parallel algorithms operating over large (often multi-dimensional) arrays of data. So if you have code that fits that pattern, it is in your interest to explore taking advantage of the GPU from your app.
As you start on such a journey, you will face the same issue that so many before you have faced: While your app is written in a mainstream programming language such as C++, most of the options for targeting a data parallel accelerator involve learning a new niche syntax, obtaining a new set of development tools (including a separate compiler), trying to figure out which hardware you can target and which is out of reach for your chosen option, and perhaps drawing a deployment matrix of what needs to ship to the customer's machine for your solution.
Microsoft is aiming to significantly lower the barrier to entry by providing a mainstream C++ option that we are calling "C++ Accelerated Massive Parallelism" or "C++ AMP" for short.
C++ AMP introduces a key new language feature to C++ and a minimal STL-like library that enables you to very easily work with large multidimensional arrays to express your data parallel algorithms in a manner that exposes massive parallelism on an accelerator, such as the GPU.
We announced this technology at the AMD Fusion Developer Summit in June 2011. At the same time, we announced our intent to make the specification open, and we are working with other compiler vendors so they can support it in their compilers (on any platform).
Microsoft's implementation of C++ AMP is part of the next version of the Visual C++ compiler and the next version of Visual Studio. A Developer Preview of that release should be available publicly at the time you are reading this article.
Microsoft's implementation targets Windows by building on top of the ubiquitous and reliable Direct3D platform, and that means that in addition to the performance and productivity advantages of C++ AMP, you will benefit from hardware portability across all major hardware vendors. The core API surface area is general and Direct3D-neutral, such that one could think of Direct3D as an implementation detail; in future releases, we could offer additional implementations targeting other kinds of hardware and topologies (e.g., cloud), while preserving your investments in learning our data parallel API.
So what does the C++ AMP API look like? Before delving into a complete example, the next section covers the basics of the structure of C++ AMP code, which you can find in the amp.h file in the concurrency namespace.
C++ AMP API in a Nutshell
You can see an example of a matrix multiplication in C++ AMP in this blog post. Figure 1 shows a simple array addition example demonstrating some core concepts.
To use large datasets with C++ AMP, you can either copy them to an array or wrap them with an
array_view. The
array class is a container of data of element
T and of rank
N, residing on a specific accelerator, that you must explicitly copy data to and from. The
array_view class is a wrapper over existing data, and copying of data required for computations is done implicitly on demand.
The entry point to an algorithm implemented in C++ AMP is one of the overloads of
parallel_for_each invocations are translated by our compiler into GPU code and GPU runtime calls (through Direct3D).
The first argument to
parallel_for_each is a
grid object. The
gridclass lets you define an
N-dimensional space. The second argument to the
parallel_for_each call is a lambda, whose parameter list consists of an
index object (If you are not familiar with lambdas in C++, visit this page for further details). The
index class lets you define an
N-dimensional point.
The lambda you write and pass to the
parallel_for_each is called by the C++ AMP runtime once per thread, passing in the thread ID as an index, which you can use to index into your array or
array_view objects. The variables for those objects are not explicit in any signature; instead, you capture them into the lambda as needed one of the beauties of a lambda-based design.
Note that the lambda (and any other functions that it calls) must be annotated with the new
restrict modifier, indicating that the function should be compiled for the
restrict specifier in our case, any Direct3D device. This new language feature, whose usage is very simple, will be covered in more depth in a separate article.
There are other classes as part of the C++ AMP API for example,
accelerator and
accelerator_view that let you check the capabilities of accelerators and query information about them, and hence, let you choose which one you want your algorithm to execute on.
Finally, there is a tiled overload of
parallel_for_each that accepts a
tiled_grid, and whose lambda takes a
tiled_index; and within the lambda body, you can use the new
tile_static storage class and the
tile_barrier class. This variant of
parallel_for_each lets you take advantage of the programmable cache on the GPU (also known as shared memory, also known in C++ AMP as
tile_static memory), for maximum performance benefits, and an example of it will be shown in the next part of the article.
Calculating a Moving Average with C++ AMP
A common problem in finance and science is that of calculating a moving average over a time series. For example, for a given company stock, financial Web sites provide in addition to a normal chart tracking the stock's price as a function of time, a smoother curve, which tracks the stock's average price over the last 50 or 200 days. That curve is the simple moving average of the stock's price.
We start with a serial implementation, which calculates the simple moving average directly based on its definition (in our presentation of the problem, we will assume that we don't need to calculate the values of the moving average for points in the range
void sma(int series_length, const float *series, float *moving_average, int window) { for (int i=window-1; i<series_length;i++) { float sum = 0.0f; for (int j=i-(window-1); j<=i; j++) sum += series[j]; moving_average[i] = sum/window; } }
Simple C++ AMP Version
Our first C++ AMP version of this algorithm is produced by parallelizing the serial algorithm. We note that each iteration of the loop over
i is independent and, thus, could safely be parallelized. Compare the serial version with the parallel version below:
void sma_amp(int series_length, const float *series, float *moving_average, int window) { array_view<float> arr_in(series_length, series); array_view<float> arr_out(series_length, moving_average); parallel_for_each( grid<1>(extent<1>(series_length-(window-1))), [=](index<1> idx) restrict(direct3d) { const int i = idx[0] + (window-1); float sum = 0; for (int j=i-(window-1); j<=i; i++) sum += arr_in[j]; arr_out[i] = sum/window; } ); }
We have arrived at this parallel version by taking the serial algorithm and wrapping the
float* buffers,
series and
moving_average, with
array_view classes. Then we transformed the loop over
i into a
parallel_for_each call, where the loop bounds have been replaced by an instance of class
grid. The body of the lambda is then almost identical to the serial loop.
When we try the parallel algorithm on a machine with a decent DX11 card, we find it is significantly faster than the serial version. For example, on our hardware, for certain data sizes, we saw the GPU perform the calculation 150-times faster than the serial CPU implementation. In fact, the parallel algorithm is also faster than more-sophisticated serial algorithms. The reasons for this increased speed are that the GPU has a high degree of parallelism and a wide pipe to the memory subsystem to service each of these cores.