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Other Names: None
Location: Smyth County
Campaign: Stoneman's Raid into Southwest Virginia (December 1864)
Date(s): December 17-18, 1864
Principal Commanders: Col. Maj. Gen. George Stoneman [US]; Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge [CS]
Forces Engaged: Divisions
Estimated Casualties: 274 total
Description: Riding through the Cumberland Gap, Stoneman's expedition advanced on the important lead mines and salt ponds around Marion and Saltville. On December 17, Stoneman defeated a makeshift force of Confederate defenders. On the 18th, the Federals destroyed the leadworks and mines. On the 20th, they captured and destroyed the salt works at Saltville.
Result(s): Union victory
CWSAC Reference #: VA081
Preservation Priority: IV.1 (Class D)
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text:
Weintraut and Ziebelman
Fund: Palo Alto Venture Partners
Posted by Anonymous on 2007-08-30
Ziebelman and Weintraut do a good job of quickly deciding whether or not to invest and they deliver very clear rationale whatever their decision. Ziebelman fits the profile of an "active" investor which can be a pro or a con depending on what you're looking for. In general, I believe in a less active board/investor profile, but that's a matter of preference.PRIVATE: Members Only (400 Characters)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Boiling the quantum vacuum
Ultra-strong electric fields can induce a decay of the quantum vacuum by means of the production of electrons and positrons. This phenomenon — predicted since the 1930s but still to be discovered in the laboratory — illustrates the complex many-body nature of the quantum vacuum and has often been compared to boiling water. In fact, this analogy turns out to be much closer than previously anticipated. In a Physical Review Letter, Holger Gies (TPI) and Greger Torgrimsson (Chalmers U.) show that this vacuum decay can exhibit quantitatively similar critical behavior as is known from Water at the critical point, or many other systems such as ferromagnets, turbulence or even gravitational collapse to black holes. This research work predicts universal scaling laws for the onset of pair production in ultra-strong fields, such that the vacuum decay rate depends only on a set of global properties of the field but not on its microscopic details.
Critical Schwinger Pair Production
Open Access: http://arxiv.org/abs/arXiv:1507.07802
Holger Gies
Theoretisch-Physikalisches Institut, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany
Greger Torgrimsson
Department of Applied Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden


text:
This movie begins with a visible-light zoom into the Horsehead Nebula and a cross-fade to an infrared-light view. The sequence starts with a wide-field, ground-based view of the Orion constellation along with the bright stars Sirius (lower center) and Procyon (upper center). The view zooms into the Horsehead region on the left side of Orion's belt. A cross-fade to infrared light reveals the new Hubble view. To fill out the widescreen frame, the central Hubble image has been augmented by ground-based observations from the European Southern Observatory's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA).
The video continues with a scientific visualization of a flight into the infrared Horsehead. The three-dimensional interpretation has been sculpted to create a wispy and mountainous environment, with stars distributed in an approximate and statistical manner. The computer graphics model is intended to be scientifically reasonable, but not fully accurate. This imaginative traverse of the glowing gaseous landscape provides an inspiring spaceflight experience that brings the celestial scene to life.
NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon, T. Borders, L. Frattare, Z. Levay, and F. Summers (Viz 3D Team, STScI);
Horsehead image: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), J. Emerson (ESO, VISTA), and Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit
Night sky image: A. Fujii;
Survey image: Digitized Sky Survey (DSS), STScI/AURA, Palomar/Caltech, and UKSTU/AAO;
IR image: J. Emerson (ESO, VISTA), and Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit
Publication: April 19, 2013


text:
AccessibilityPrint Close
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text:
Falco Lombardi, Fox McCloud, Gamecube, Krystal, Namco, Nintendo, Slippy Toad, Starfox, Starfox Assault
Replaying Starfox Adventures recently inspired me to give the other Gamecube Starfox title another go. The game, developed by Tekken creators Namco returns to a structure more like the series high point Lylat Wars, but was it better than Rare's ground-bound adventure?
The game begins with a pretty spectacular sequence that sees the Starfox team, Fox, Falco, Slippy and Krystal backing up the Cornerian Army in their campaign against Andross' remaining forces led by his nephew Andrew Oikonney. The team track the crazy ape to Fortuna but its not the anthropomorphic heroes that finish him. A biomechanical alien creature called an Aparoid turns up, kills Oikonney, and turns a crisis into a catastrophe. The life destroying Aparoids quickly start causing havoc in the Lylat System and the team desperately try to track down an Aparoid Core Memory which will help them defeat the invading army, a journey that takes them to many familiar locations. It's definitely a better story than Starfox Adventures, the Aparoids are threatening enemies and there are some real surprises and twists along the way. Sadly its pretty short lived with only ten missions and no branching paths. The writing is nothing spectacular and the voice acting is a bit hit and miss but it's clearly better than the voicework in Starfox Adventures.
There are three main types of level, the classic on-rails Arwing levels, the dogfighting Lylat Wars called all-range mode and ground-bound missions that are basically third-person shooter levels. There's also a fourth mode that sees Fox balancing on the wing of an Arwing or Wolfen blasting everything he sees with a plasma canon, essentially another kind of on-rails level but it only happens a couple of times. It feels much more like a Starfox game and missions often see a combination of level types. One minute you might be running around an enemy base and the next you'll be needed in the air so you'll have to return to your Arwing to help out. It's nice to see plenty of variety in the gameplay which makes it a bigger shame that the missions are so underwhelming.
We'll start with the worst. It's becoming increasingly clear that Fox should stay in the cockpit as the on-foot missions are rubbish. The controls are fiddly and unrefined even when you jump into a Lanmaster tank, it's so bad that it more or less cripples the whole game given how many levels put you on the ground. You're given an arsenal of weapons such including the basic blaster, machine-gun, grenades, homing missiles and sniper rifle. and invited to blast everything you see but the levels are of very mediocre design. The environments are bland and generic, as are the enemies and you're never required to anything other than trash a number of targets, dull. Better are the missions that play like classic Starfox. The all-range levels are pretty good fun on the whole but nowhere near as engaging as those in Lylat Wars. As you'd expect it's the on-rails levels that fare best with hundreds of enemies, scripted events and thrilling moments. The clear highlight then but annoyingly there are only three such levels. The Arwing controls pretty much like it did in Lylat Wars but for some reason Namco have tweaked the controls making strafing and barrel-rolls a bit awkward.
The graphics vary in quality. The on-rails Arwing missions look great, especially the Asteroid Belt mission which is genuinely stunning to look at. The ground-based bits on the other hand are weak. Overall it's nowhere near as pretty as Starfox Adventures. The sound isn't bad. Music is rousing and recalls some of the stirring themes of the series best moments but the sound effects are a bit tinny, so is some of the voicework.
Overall Starfox Assault is a disappointment. It certainly feels closer to a classic Starfox experience but the execution on some frints is poor. It definitely has its moments and fans will appreciate the good bits but it's a forgetable experience. A short one too taking a handful of hours to complete although there are a few difficulty levels to try and medals to win as well as a multiplayer mode but none of these things really prolong the experience much. Replay value is extremely low too.
Presentation – 7
A more Starfox-like design and a good story don't quite disguise the roughness of the menus and visual design.
Gameplay – 6
The familiarity of the Arwing levels saves the game from utter mediocrity but there's no ignoring the terrible on-foot levels.
Graphics – 7
Varying inconsistently from gorgeous to downright ugly.
Sound – 7
Some nice, stirring tunes but everything else sounds a bit grainy.
Difficulty – 7
A challenge certainly but that's partly down to poor controls.
Longevity – 5
It's a short game to say the least. Beating it on harder difficulties might extend its life a bit though.
It's a real shame that one of Nintendo's coolest franchises is getting such mediocre treatment from third parties. There are some bright moments that make it worth playing and it can be plenty of fun but don't base your opinion of Starfox on this game.
out of 10


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UnNews:USA Men's Olympic Fencing Team Disqualified
This article is part of UnNews, your source for up-to-the-microsecond misinformation.
12 August 2012
LONDON, England --- All members of the USA Olympic Fencing Team have been disqualified from participating in the 2012 London Olympics for being stupid.
In a swift and stunning move, Olympic Authorities ejected the entire team from the Beijing Olympic Training Center earlier today. The American team is the first entire team to ever be dismissed from participating in any Olympic Game, ever. Outraged American Olympic Committee Officials Tweeted an immediate petition with the Olympic Grievence Committee, but things are not looking too good for the USA.
Athletes were visibly upset upon hearing the news; "Why?" "We don't understand!" You SAID 'Fencing'!"
The six members of the United States Fencing Team stem from many backgrounds. Co-joined Fencing Twins Danielle and Tom from Southern California quit competitive surfing when the opportunity to fence came their way. "We were just a couple of surfer dudes who basically hung out at the beach." said Tom. "Bro." said Danielle, "I'm a girl". "Shush. Then our Mother gave us a gift certificate for fencing lessons at a fencing school in Rancho Santa Margarita". "Named after Saint Margaret" Danielle added. "The patron Saint of all things which cause the elderly to act nutty in the wee hours of the night!" "Shush!" Tom continued. "And here we are, shovel ready!"
London Olympic Officials had little to say as they listened to the pleas of the obviously retarded Americans. Officials showed no signs for tolerance or sympathy, only amazement and disappointment at the outright stupidity of the Americans. "You people are IDIOTS! Take this up with your American President and your team's Coach! You have completely missed the point! Are you MORONS?! Remove yourselves by noon from the Olympic Village! Take your tools!"
England is an emerging superpower and these Olympic Games could serve as a springboard for their effectiveness at global bargaining tables. A medal sweep for the British could give the British leverage-be it for a country's energy reserves, America's untapped natural mineral resources, or Britians' ability to use their accents to get at our hot chicks. Outrageous indeed!
- Louie Carbunkle, Field Reporter "USA Fencing Team; "Uber Stupid".". Sports Illustrated, August 11, 2012


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Kinston library iPad sponsors; Michael Cable visit; Grandparent's Day
Library�s iPad drawing receives corporate sponsors
The Kinston-Lenoir County Friends of the Library is sponsoring a drawing to give library patrons the chance to win an iPad. Self-Help Credit Union and Affordable Care, Inc. have agreed to be the corporate sponsors.
�Self-Help Credit Union is happy to support this project because it directly benefits all children throughout the community,� said Ashley Pierce, branch manager.
The contest will take place during September, with the drawing taking place at 3 p.m. Sept. 30 in the library�s Brody Conference Room. It will be open to the public.
�The Neuse Regional Library plays a vital role in helping our area children stay excited about reading and learning. Because literacy is the foundation to any successful career, we hope that our sponsorship provides a special opportunity that will change a life forever," said Shannon Foscue of Affordable Care, Inc.
Tickets -- $2 each or $10 for six -- are available at the Circulation Desk of the Kinston, Pink Hill or Greene County libraries, and from Friends of the Library Board members. All proceeds will go to the Kinston-Lenoir County Friends of the Library to support children�s programming and literacy.
"The Kinston-Lenoir County Friends of the Library are always grateful for our corporate sponsors, and we are also grateful for the support of the rank-and-file citizens of our community," said Mike Parker, president of Friends of the Library.
Wilma Boldt, Friends of the Library vice president and chairwoman of the Corporate Sponsorship Committee, added: �Our motto for this project is, if you get children interested in reading books, they will be reading for a lifetime.�
Family fun to celebrate grandparents
Grandparent�s Day will be celebrated at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library�s Schechter Auditorium. Bring loved ones and enjoy the afternoon.
The event will include sharing stories and decorating cupcakes. Children will have an opportunity to make a photo frame along with a book about themselves to give to their grandparents.
Space is limited, so make a reservation by calling 252-527-7066, ext. 133.
Antiques dealer to return to library
The Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library will host a program featuring renowned Farmville antiques dealer and appraiser Michael Cable at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 24. The program will be held in the Schechter Auditorium of the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library, 510 N. Queen St.
Audience members are invited to bring up to two items to be discussed and appraised.
This program is sponsored by Friends of the Library. For more information, or to make reservations, call 252-527-7066, ext. 120. Since space is limited, advance reservations are requested and encouraged.


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Issue Type: Bug Created: 2013-01-03T02:22:03.000+0000 Last Updated: 2013-04-05T16:07:04.000+0000 Status: Closed Fix version(s): Reporter: Claude Duvergier (cduv) Assignee: None Tags: - Zend_Session
Related issues: Attachments:
Somewhere in my code I'm storing a Zend_Ldap_Node into Session. I've just upgraded this application from ZF 1.10 to ZF 1.12 and since then I'm getting bq. Uncaught exception 'Zend_Session_Exception' with message 'session has already been started by session.auto-start or session_start()'"
h3. Errors
Call stack is complaining about an already started Session: ||#||Time||Memory||Function||Location|| |1|0.0061|343536|{main}( )|..\index.php:0| |2|0.2549|11626392|Zend_Application->run( )|..\index.php:38| |3|0.2549|11626392|Zend_Application_Bootstrap_Bootstrap->run( )|..\Application.php:366| |4|0.2552|11626448|Zend_Controller_Front->dispatch( ???, ??? )|..\Bootstrap.php:97| |5|0.4126|15116600|Zend_Controller_Plugin_Broker->preDispatch( ??? )|..\Front.php:941| |6|0.4162|15164720|Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler->preDispatch( ??? )|..\Broker.php:309| |7|0.4163|15164720|Zend_Controller_Plugin_ErrorHandler->_handleError( ??? )|..\ErrorHandler.php:212|
But variables in local scope (#7) (xDebug infos) shows a Zend_Session_Exception with a message related to unserialize() and Zend_Ldap_Converter::fromLdapUnserialize(): {quote} Zend_Session::start() - D:_ Libraries\Zend Framework 1.12.1\library\Zend\Ldap\Converter.php(Line:395): Error #8 unserialize() <function.unserialize>]: Error at offset 0 of 174474 bytes D:_ Libraries\Zend Framework 1.12.1\library\Zend\Ldap\Converter.php(Line:395): Error #8 unserialize() [<function.unserialize>]: Error at offset 0 of 174474 bytes D:_ Libraries\Zend Framework 1.12.1\library\Z'... {quote}
h3. Code analysis
After some deep tests I've determined that the error handlers that Zend_Session::start() uses (namely Zend_Session_Exception::handleSessionStartError() are fired when Zend_Ldap_Converter::fromLdapUnserialize() tries to unserialize a value despite the whole unserialize-failure management in place (id. ignoring unserialize() error messages with the @ error control operator). Then a Zend_Session_Exception is thrown by Zend_Session::start() with the Zend_Session_Exception::$sessionStartError message that unserialize() sent.
h3. Reproduction code
With LDAP involved, I thought it would be hard to reproduce, but the problem would occurs anytime a @-silenced function/method called during Zend_Session is in error. I've set up a whole new ZF project with ZF CLI Tool and tried to reproduce the scenario as simply as possible using a model implementing __wakeup() and a Zend_Controller_Action to test it. See code on Gist: https://gist.github.com/4440257
h3. Fix proposal
According to [Error Control Operators PHP documentation, custom error handlers are expected to be called in such cases, but error_reporting() can be used to test if the error was supposed to be ignored (was preceded by @).
See patch proposal on Gist: https://gist.github.com/4440268
Posted by Claude Duvergier (cduv) on 2013-01-03T02:31:21.000+0000
Added gist link to reproduction code and fix proposal.
Posted by Claude Duvergier (cduv) on 2013-01-03T13:32:32.000+0000
As advised on IRC channel #zftalk.dev, a possible workaround is to silence the Zend_Session Exception itself by calling Zend_Session::setOptions(array('throw_startup_exceptions' => 0)) prior to any Zend_Session::start().
Posted by Ralph Schindler (ralph) on 2013-04-05T16:07:04.000+0000
This issue has been closed on Jira and moved to GitHub for issue tracking. To continue following the resolution of this issues, please visit: https://github.com/zendframework/zf1/issues/44
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What better timing than Valentine�s Day for an Associated Press story to delve deeper into the relationship between Sprint Cup drivers Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
What better timing than Valentine�s Day for an Associated Press story to delve deeper into the relationship between Sprint Cup drivers Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
This doesn�t qualify as breaking news, as the pair confirmed in January that they are dating. However, anything concerning NASCAR that filters into this corner has the impact of a bulletin. That says more about how much I pay attention to the asphalt alliance than its current state of affairs, so to speak.
While many of us have experienced or at least witnessed romance in the workplace, and certainly there would be various levels of hypocrisy to hurdle if this segued into a white paper denouncing those occurrences, the Patrick-Stenhouse relationship unveils a whole new landscape when it comes to commitment.
Where else in professional sports does mutual attraction between a man and a woman transcend head-to-head competition? Or can it?
Unless there have been homosexual lovers I�m unaware of vying for the same championships in tennis and golf, or perhaps boxing to name certain individual sports, competing for the same distinction in NASCAR would appear to be untraveled ground.
And how many relationships play out at or in excess of 200 mph?
Suddenly I�m leaning a little closer to the television when anything concerning auto racing is discussed. Nothing else during the past six decades has led me inside the tent. Why not give Patrick and Stenhouse a shot?
Much of that will depend on the amount of success either, or especially both achieve this season while contending for Sprint Cup rookie of the year. Odds are much greater for them struggling.
They competed the past two seasons on the Nationwide Series, and Patrick said she leaned on two-time Nationwide champion Stenhouse for �friendship and advice� after her move to NASCAR.
Evidently she leaned on Stenhouse for more than that, or possibly a relationship merely evolved. No conclusion forthcoming. That�s their business.
But this story has a different feel from almost every angle. One drives a Chevrolet, the other a Ford. They are under contract for competing race teams. Once behind the wheel both have their eyes on the same prize � the finish line, not eternal bliss.
Should both become viable contenders in certain races while continuing their romantic relationship, scrutiny of their on-track escapades could dominate broadcasts.
Patrick kidded that, �He better have a really good, �I�m sorry,� � when asked what would happen if Stenhouse wrecked her on the track.
Other drivers have gone as far to speculate on what could happen in the heat of battle should the couple break up.
Given any scenario, it�s almost impossible not to conceive of the human element infringing on professionalism once the flag drops, and in a sport where focus and split-second decision making are paramount.
For the time being, their story adds a personal element to sports, not just auto racing, that has been absent. And could provide just enough incentive for a racing interloper to look up on Sunday afternoons every now and then.


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Capitol Alert Breaking
Jerry Brown eyes cap-and-trade money for high-speed rail
Gov. Jerry Brown plans to propose spending millions of dollars in fees paid by carbon producers to aid the state's controversial high-speed rail project.
The proposal – and the prospect of additional funding from the state's cap-and-trade program in future years – could provide a significant lift to a $68 billion rail project beleaguered by uncertainty about long-term financing.
Brown plans to propose allocating several hundred million dollars this year, sources told The Sacramento Bee.
Though the state has acquired $3.4 billion in federal funding to start construction of the rail project in the Central Valley, legal challenges have left state bond funding in question.
Brown is expected to include the proposal in the annual budget plan he will release Friday. Brown has made high-speed rail a priority of his administration, and he suggested two years ago that cap-and-trade revenue, which is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, would be a future source of funding for the project.
But the use of cap-and-trade money for high-speed rail could be problematic. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said in 2012 that while the rail project could eventually help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, benefits would not be seen until after 2020, the year by which California is seeking to meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Moreover, the Democratic governor and lawmakers infuriated environmentalists last year by approving a $500 million loan from the cap-and-trade program to the state general fund.
Brown said at the time that the state was not "quite ready yet" to start allocating money. The administration said state agencies needed more time to develop greenhouse gas-reduction programs and that the loan would be repaid with interest when those programs needed the money.
Brown's budget plans also include using general fund money to pay back part, but not all, of the loan, a source said.
The rail project, which is proposed to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco through the Central Valley, has been beset by legal challenges and opposition from congressional Republicans. A Sacramento Superior Court judge in November ordered the California High-Speed Rail Authority to rescind its original funding plan, saying officials failed to comply with provisions of Proposition 1A, the initiative in which voters approved initial funding for the project in 2008.
Rail officials have been acquiring property in the Central Valley for the project. Construction, which was once expected to start last summer, is now expected to begin this year.
Brown's office declined to discuss the budget proposal ahead of its release.
Brown is also expected in his budget plan to support a proposal by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez to put a rainy-day fund constitutional amendment on the November ballot. The measure would restrict spending in good years and offset cuts in bad years, with a goal of building billions of dollars in reserve.
In advance of his budget release, Brown has urged the Legislature to bolster reserves, cautioning that the budget's reliance on capital gains leaves it vulnerable to large revenue peaks and valleys.
"The question is: When do we get the next valley?" he said at the Milken Institute California Summit in November. "And the only way to avoid that is to put it in a rainy-day fund, to say no when necessary, along with saying yes when that's appropriate."
Brown may face resistance to the creation of a rainy-day fund by labor unions and other allies of the governor and Democratic-controlled Legislature. Liberal groups already are calling for increased spending after years of budget cuts in the recession.
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office projected last fall that the state could post a $5.6 billion surplus by June 2015, with annual surpluses reaching $8.3 billion by the 2016-17 budget year.


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Debra Heins, 33, of Canyon, racked up more than $6,000 in fines and surcharges for driving without insurance and driving without a license. Some had been in default for more than three years.
But now the Texas Department of Public Safety has slashed her surcharges in a program aimed at reinstating driving privileges for some motorists.
The agency is offering one-time payment amnesty for eligible drivers until April 17, said spokeswoman Tela Mange. She said the Texas Legislature directed the DPS to find a way to help some drivers get their licenses back.
Amnesty is offered to drivers with surcharges assessed between Sept. 30, 2004, and Dec. 31, 2008, who were delinquent on those payments and had their licenses revoked. Mange said about 650,000 people with surcharges in that time frame made no payments.
Mange emphasized that the program is a limited-time offer.
She said 1.8 million drivers have been assessed surcharges totaling $1.2 billion. The state has collected $858 million in the program, but 1.1 million people still haven't paid.
"Will we collect $1.2 billion if every single person pays under the amnesty program? No," Mange said. "It will be significantly less than that. If people are eligible for the amnesty, they don't have to pay until April 17."
The Driver Responsibility Act of 2003 attached surcharges to traffic citations for violations such as driving without insurance, driving without a license and driving while intoxicated.
She said public safety collects the revenue, of which 49.5 percent goes to the Texas Trauma Fund, 49.5 goes to Texas General Fund and 1 percent to public safety.
"Instead of saying 'We made a mistake,' they create an amnesty program," said Amarillo attorney Walt Weaver, who has represented several drivers with surcharges. "They just need to reduce the amount of the surcharges."
Heins said when she applied for the program the agency reduced her surcharge drastically, but officials have told Heins she can't get her license back until March 21. Then Heins must prove she has "high-risk" insurance, often called SR-22, to regain her driving privileges.
Eligible amnesty applicants will pay 10 percent of the original amount owed for all surcharges combined, for a maximum of $250, Mange said. Service fees still must be paid, such as a $2.50 fee for making partial payments.
Any previous payments will be applied to the reduced amount, and if prior payments are more than the reduced amount due, no payment will be required. Prior payments totaling more than the reduced amount due will not be refunded, according to the DPS.
"It seems like they're rewarding people for having more problems," said Jessica Cazares, 34, of Amarillo.
Authorities suspended her 35-year-old husband Ramon's license after law enforcement ticketed him for driving without insurance. He got his license back last week.
"The amnesty program only takes off if your surcharge is $250," Jessica Cazares said. "His was only $235. If it was $600, they would have brought it down."
Elisha Hernandez, 22, of Amarillo, said she let insurance coverage on her car lapse for about a month, but was ticketed after the amnesty period.
Hernandez said she quickly reinstated her insurance after getting the citation, but it was too late. Since she received the ticket, Hernandez's license has been suspended and she's been saddled with fees.
"How am I going to afford the surcharge?" Hernandez asked. "I'm a mom of two. I go to school. I'm trying to be financially stable. It's hard whenever, all of a sudden out of nowhere, my license is suspended."
Weaver said the burden of paying the surcharges is too much for millions like Hernandez.
"The Legislature has got to balance a social need with punishment. The surcharges can be more than 10 percent of a person's annual income," Weaver said. "You're financially giving these people the death penalty."


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The Hobbit
Author: J.R.R. Tolkein
Narrator: Rob Inglis
Run Time: 11 hours and 8 minutes
Publisher: Recorded Books
Book Description:
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
So I am probably one of the few people who had never read or listened to the Hobbit prior to this audiobook. Growing up I was never really into fantasy books – that is something that I have only started getting into in the last year or so. Of course, during college, I did go and see all three of the Lord of the Rings movies when they came out – so when I heard that the Hobbit was going to be released in December, I thought that this was a perfect time to read/listen to it (since I have a personal rule to always read the book prior to seeing the movie). As a side-note, in college, it was funny, that my one room-mate and I had christened our room, the Hobbit hole…mostly because we were the two shortest people in our company (ROTC and all that jazz), and it gave us some laughs…
Upon finishing it, all I can say is, why the heck did no one force me to read/listen to this sooner. I laughed so much while I was driving and listening – I'm actually amazed I didn't have an accident or anything like that. I think that a lot of my enjoyment was tied up in the narration of the audiobook (but I will touch on that in a few moments). I do think that there was a lot of meandering, and times where chunks of words could have been cut out – but I also think that if that had happened, some of the magic might have been lost.
And on to the narration – I cannot imagine anyone better than Rob Inglis to narrate this book. As soon as I started, I was sucked into his narration. His singing of the various ditties through-out was perfect (I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out). And his Golem voice – I seriously felt like I was in the movie theater seeing Golem as he was in the Lord of the Rings movies (although, looking at the cast list, I can see that it wasn't him). My mind is still boggled at how he managed to make all of the dwarves sound different through-out – especially with how similar many of the names were – I know that I would have been likely befuddled.
This is an audiobook that can be enjoyed by all – lovers of Tolkein and newbies; young and old. Listen to it!


text:
In some cases the velcro which is meant for clipping together the SS rings of the power lines may not open.
There is a variety of possibilities to fix the velcro and at least one of them can set the safety system out of order. After pulling the safety release the velcro may get even tighter under load and therefore doesn`t release the safety line.
This happened some days ago under extreme load with a GAASTRA GXR 14 in 7bft on our local spot. Could have been any other type or brand with the mentioned velcro fixing. Only luck and immediate reaction of bystanders prevented an accident.
THIS FIXING IS NOT FOOLPROOF ! Use your brain when closing the velcro or better cut it off as it is not really necessary.
Fly safe,


text:
Building freestyle IoT application
You will learn
- How to build the freestyle IoT application using SAP Web IDE Full-Stack
SAP Web IDE Full-Stack is a powerful, extensible, web-based integrated development tool that simplifies end-to-end application development for SAP Cloud Platform.
Start SAP Web IDE in IoT Explore tenant using https://webidecp-a8a3863fc.dispatcher.hana.ondemand.com/
In SAP Web IDE go to Preferences, then Features. Find IoT Application Enablement feature and turn it on.
Make sure following features are turned on as well: Layout Editor and Storyboard.
Now go to Development. Right click on Workspace and choose the creation of a new project from a template.
Choose Freestyle IoT Application from the Internet of Things category. Click Next
computeriot as a project name and your user id as the namespace. Click Next
Leave everything as it is on the Template Customization step. Click Next
On Data Source step select:
Freestyle-IOTAS-ADVANCEDLIST-THING-ODATAas a service
- all property sets for
sap.iotaehandson2.computeriotdevice:generic_computer_3thing type
Click Next
Choose 2 Column Layout and click Finish
SAP Web IDE will generate the code and will open the new application in the Layout Editor.
Drag the
ThingList control to the left pane of the application's view. Drag
SensorChart control to the right pane.
Now you can hide the controls to increase the real estate of the workspace.
First bind the data. Click anywhere on the
ThingList Element to select it. Then go to Properties and open a Query Designer by clicking on cogs.
In the Query Designer select /Things entity set. Then expand associations to all displayed sets. Then click OK.
A dialog "A template will be created from selected control…" will be displayed. Click OK
Now bind columns to data values. Select the first thing list column element (with element id
__column0) and change its Text value from
Row 0 Column 1 to
{ThingId}. You can do it using a data binding dialog.
Repeat the same for the thing list column element from the second column (with element id
__column1). Change its Text value to
Repeat the same for the third column changing its Text to
{DYN_ENT_sap_iotaehandson2_computeriotdevice__Default/Default.common_name}. That's the common name property from the associated
Default properties set. The easiest is to do this using the dialog for the text's data binding.
Next change column names to
Name and
Common name.
Next define the action of the chart refresh when another thing is selected from the list. Click on the higher element
ThingList, then Events and open Action Configuration dialog by selecting Wire to Action for the Row Select event.
doReload action with the
thing context. Click OK
Now select
SensorChart element and change its properties:
No of Hoursto
Header Titleto
Resources usage
Subheader Titleto
in %
Run your developed application by clicking on the green Run button in the upper left corner of the SAP Web IDE.
Once the application starts, find and click on your computer in the list of things on the left (you can also look at other people's computers). The chart on the right will be refreshed with the collected measurements sent by the Python program from the physical computer.
Alert thresholds of
45% and
90%, which you defined in the Thing Modeler earlier, are displayed on the chart.
Congratulations! You built your IoT application using your computer as an IoT device and its CPU as a sensor.
You can play now with different parameters in the Layout Editor and see how it changes your application.
- Tutorials: Send the CPU usage data to SAP IoT Application Enablement (you can also use other people's data coming from this tutorial)
Step 1: Start SAP Web IDE Full-Stack
Step 2: Enable IoT Application Enable feature
Step 3: Start the new project from the template
Step 4: Create the app using wizard
Step 5: Place components on the layout
Step 6: Customize the list of things
Step 7: Customize sensors chart
Step 8: Run the application
Step 9: Play with other parameters
- Back to Top


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|Study sees no folic acid, asthma link (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Taking folic acid during pregnancy may not boost the risk of your child developing asthma or allergies later in life, according to a study adding to the mixed bag of research on the question.
Women of child-bearing age are told to get 400 micrograms of folic acid a day. The goal is to prevent neural tube defects -- severe birth defects of the brain and spine that include spina bifida (where the spine fails to close during fetal development) and anencephaly (a usually fatal defect where much of the brain never forms).
Experts say women should get that much folic acid even before becoming pregnant, since neural tube defects take shape very early in the fetus' development, before many women know they are pregnant.
A few studies, though, have linked folic acid during pregnancy to a heightened risk of asthma symptoms in young children.
Those studies only show a correlation, and don't prove cause and effect. But they have raised some concerns, especially since there is also animal research suggesting that folic acid could affect fetal immune system development.
But in this latest study, published in the European Respiratory Journal, Dutch researchers were unable to find a correlation between folic acid and asthma risk in children up to age eight.
Of more than 3,200 children in the study, 13 percent had asthma symptoms at that age. And there was no difference between children whose mothers had used folic acid during pregnancy and those whose mothers had not.
Mothers' folic acid use was linked to a small increase in the risk of wheezing in a baby's first year, but not with any respiratory symptoms after the age of 1.
"The benefits of folic acid supplementation for the prevention of neural tube defects are well established," lead researcher Marga Bekkers, of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, told Reuters Health in an email.
On the other hand, a link between folic acid and asthma is not well established. Bekkers pointed to another Dutch study published earlier this year that found no association.
But the story is not over, according to Dr. Michael Davies, an associate professor at the University of Adelaide in Australia.
In a study out last year, Davies and his colleagues found that folic acid late in pregnancy -- from the 30th week on -- was associated with an increased risk of asthma symptoms in three- to five-year-olds.
In an email to Reuters Health, Davies agreed that folic acid use in early pregnancy is important, and "there are no data contradicting" that advice.
"However," he added, "continued supplementation beyond week 8 cannot reduce the risk of neural tube defects. It's simply too late."
And there's recent evidence, Davies said, that folic acid may have "very complex modes of action," affecting gene expression and, possibly, immune system development. And since the fetal immune system develops later in pregnancy, folic acid at that point could -- in theory -- have some effect on later asthma risk.
Davies' study was, however, the first to link late-pregnancy folic acid to children's asthma. And more research is needed to back it up.
According to Davies, a limitation of the human studies so far is that none, to his knowledge, were specifically designed to find out whether folic acid during pregnancy is related to children's asthma risk.
Instead, they have looked back at data from older studies designed with other goals. Children in the current study were part of a project begun in 1996 looking at whether mattress and pillow covers helped cut the risk asthma and allergy in kids.
"There is now an imperative to design new studies to comprehensively examine the matter," Davies said.
In his team's study, there was no connection between foods rich in folate (the natural form of folic acid) and children's asthma risk. That, the researchers said, should encourage women to eat those foods throughout pregnancy.
High-folate foods include beans and lentils, orange juice and green vegetables like spinach and broccoli.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/uN1gqE European Respiratory Journal, online October 27, 2011.
Read more http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111109/hl_nm/us_folic_asthma


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Photo courtesy Jay Town, Herald Sun
Healesville Sanctuary has celebrated another world first breeding success with the arrival of twin Platypus known as puggles, the fourth set of twins to be born at the Sanctuary.
Although born in October, the first boy emerged from mum Binarri's burrow on 7 February, while his brother took his first swim three days later. The pair are now five months old.
Healesville Sanctuary is one of only two institutions to have recorded breeding success with Platypus. In 1943, the Sanctuary made international headlines hatching the first Platypus ever bred in captivity. It took 55 years to repeat that success with the birth of twin Platypus in 1998, and again in 2000, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
"Although Platypus are not a threatened species, breeding them in captivity is a rare event," Mr Glen Holland, Healesville Sanctuary Director said. "We have created history breeding Platypus seven times in the past 75 years of trying. The conservation value of the captive breeding gives us exclusive knowledge if we ever need to fight extinction with an insurance population for the future survival of this unique species."
Enter the competition to name the Platypus twins for your chance to win a behind the scenes to the Platypus breeding facility.
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text:
nanoHUB will be intermittently unavailable due to scheduled host maintenance on Sunday, June 30th, 2019 from 7:00 am ET through 12:00 pm ET. All tool sessions will be expired. We apologize for any inconvenience.
More tags
Progress in technology has brought microelectronics to the nanoscale, but nanoelectronics is not yet a well-defined engineering discipline with a coherent, experimentally verified, theoretical framework. The NCN has a vision for a new, 'bottom-up' approach to electronics, which involves: understanding electronic conduction at the atomistic level; formulating new simulation techniques; developing a new generation of software tools; and bringing this new understanding and perspective into the classroom. We address problems in atomistic phenomena, quantum transport, percolative transport in inhomogeneous media, reliability, and the connection of nanoelectronics to new problems such as biology, medicine, and energy. We work closely with experimentalists to understand nanoscale phenomena and to explore new device concepts. In the course of this work, we produce open source software tools and educational resources that we share with the community through the nanoHUB.
This page is a starting point for nanoHUB users interested in nanoelectronics. It lists key resources developed by the NCN Nanoelectronics team. The nanoHUB contains many more resources for nanoelectronics, and they can be located with the nanoHUB search function. To find all nanoelectronics resources, search for 'nanoelectronics.' To find those contributed by the NCN nanoelectronics team, search for 'NCNnanoelectronics.'
More information on Nanoelectronics can be found here.
Molecular Exploration Tool
01 Aug 2014 | | Contributor(s):: Xueying Wang, nicolas onofrio, Alejandro Strachan, David M Guzman
The tool can display the molecule structures and run Lammps simulations.
Amorphous Semiconductor Transport Simulator
08 Nov 2015 | | Contributor(s):: Kevin Stewart
Estimate the carrier mobility in an amorphous semiconductor for thin-film transistor applications.
Lorentzian fitting tool for phonon spectral energy density and general use
20 Oct 2015 | | Contributor(s):: Tianli Feng, Xiulin Ruan
Fit a general data set (or specially the phonon spectral energy density) as a Lorentzian function to obtain the peak position (or phonon frequency) and full width at half maximum (or relaxation time).
VALint: the NEEDS Verilog-A Checker (BETA)
21 Jan 2015 | | Contributor(s):: Xufeng Wang, Geoffrey Coram, Colin McAndrew
Verilog-A lint and pretty printer created by NEEDS
ab initio simulations with ORCA
28 Jul 2015 | | Contributor(s):: nicolas onofrio, Alejandro Strachan
ab initio and density functional theory calculations dedicated to molecular systems
DFT Material Properties Simulator
21 Jul 2015 | | Contributor(s):: Gustavo Javier, Usama Kamran, David M Guzman, Alejandro Strachan, Peilin Liao
Compute electronic and mechanical properties of materials from DFT calculations with 1-Click
μplasma for Modified Paschen Curve Calculator
23 Jun 2015 | | Contributor(s):: Kudzo Samuel Ahegbebu, Alina Alexeenko, Siva Sashank Tholeti
Computes breakdown voltage and ionization enhanced Fowler Nordheim current density in microgaps.
System of Systems Analytic Workbench Toolset
23 Mar 2015 | | Contributor(s):: Daniel A Delaurentis, Karen Marais, Navindran Davendralingam, Cesare Guariniello, Payuna Uday, Zhemei Fang, Demetrios Katsaduros, Rakshit Chandrahasa
This is a toolset including different methods to support system of systems development and analysis.
Combined Microstructure and Heat Transfer Modeling of Carbon Nanotube Thermal Interface Materials
22 Jul 2014 | | Contributor(s):: Yide Wang, Sridhar Sadasivam, Timothy S Fisher
Simulate mechanical and thermal performance of CNT thermal interface materials.
Multiscale Modeling of Thermoelectric Cooler
17 Dec 2014 | | Contributor(s):: Allison Anne Campbell, Mohammad Zunaidur Rashid, afsana sharmin, Shaikh S. Ahmed
This tool simulates a practical thermoelectric cooler unit with atomistic models
Nanoscale Solid-State Lighting Device Simulator
18 May 2012 | | Contributor(s):: Shaikh S. Ahmed, Vinay Uday Chimalgi, Katina Mattingly, krishna kumari Yalavarthi, Rezaul Karim Nishat
Simulates the electronic and optical properties of nanoscale solid-state lighting devices in III-N material systems
Quantum Point Contact
18 May 2006 | | Contributor(s):: Richard Akis, Shaikh S. Ahmed, Mohammad Zunaidur Rashid, Richard Akis
Simulates the conductance and associated wavefunctions of Quantum Point Contacts.
Creep deformation in RF-MEMS
15 Jan 2015 | | Contributor(s):: Marisol Koslowski, Alejandro Strachan, Gabriela Venturini, Diego Fernando Cifuentes Pardo, Guillermo Andres Roman
Simulates creep deformation in fixed - fixed beam MEMS model
Time-dependent gate oxide breakdown Lab
04 Mar 2014 | | Contributor(s):: Xin Jin, Muhammad Ashraful Alam, Muhammad Masuduzzaman, Sang Hoon Shin, Sambit Palit
Simulate Time-dependent gate oxide breakdown
A Blind Fish in a River with a Waterfall
23 Mar 2010 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad Alam, Sajia Sadeque
Prototype for a reliability problem defined as Stochastic Process with a Threshold
MEMS Piezoelectric Vibrational Energy Harvesting Lab
16 Jun 2014 | | Contributor(s):: Jorge Mario Monsalve, German Felipe Giraldo, Alba Graciela Avila, Gerhard Klimeck
Simulate the harvested electrical power from mechanical vibrations using a piezoelectric cantilevered beam
Bulk Heterojunction Morphology Generator
11 Feb 2013 | | Contributor(s):: Michael C. Heiber
This tool creates nanoscale bulk heterojunction morphologies for use with organic photovoltaics simulations
1-D Phonon BTE Solver
28 Jul 2014 | | Contributor(s):: Joseph Adrian Sudibyo, Amr Mohammed, Ali Shakouri
Simulate heat transport by solving one dimensional Boltzmann transport equation.
Bandgap Optimizer for Spectral Splitting PV Systems
23 Aug 2013 | | Contributor(s):: kevon clint charles, Jeff Gray
simulate the optimum performance of a multi-junction solar cell
Simulation and Admittance Analysis for Advanced Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor Characterization
23 Feb 2014 | | Contributor(s):: Alex Grede
Non-parabolic DOS simulation of III-V MISCAPs with impurity ionization effects and ability to view components of channel capacitance.


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Below is a request for proposal for U.S.-India Institutional Partnership Grants. Please contact USIEF directly with questions:
United States – India Educational Foundation
ANNOUNCEMENT: Request for Proposal
OBAMA – SINGH 21st CENTURY KNOWLEDGE INITIATIVE (OSI)
U.S. – India Institutional Partnership Grants
The United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) announces an open competition for the support of projects through the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative (OSI). Announced by the U.S. and Indian governments, OSI aims to strengthen collaboration and build partnerships between American and Indian institutions of higher education. Accredited U.S. post-secondary educational institutions meeting the provisions described in Internal Revenue Code section 26 U.S.C. 501c(3) may submit proposals to support the program's goals of encouraging mutual understanding, facilitating educational reform, fostering economic development, and engaging civil society through academic cooperation with Indian post-secondary educational institutions.
Exchange activities may include but are not limited to curriculum design, research collaboration, team teaching, focused series of exchanges, seminars, among other activities. Activities should be designed to develop expertise, advance scholarship and teaching, and promote long-term ties between partner institutions.
Proposals in the following fields are eligible: Energy, Climate Change and Environmental Studies; Education and Educational Reform; Public Health; and Community Development and Sustainable Development.
Deadline: November 1, 2013
Full application details can be found at: www.usief.org.in/osi


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Item 1 of 24
Jean-Baptiste Couture, LewistonItem 18880 info
Franco-American Collection
Jean-Baptiste Couture (1866-1943) was a leader in journalism, politics and theater in the Franco-American community of Lewiston-Auburn for more than half a century.
One of 18 children of a Québec school teacher, he left school at age 13 to become a typesetter for a Québec City newspaper.
Four years later, he immigrated to Lewiston where he found ready employment at Le Messager, Lewiston's French language newspaper.


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did they finally IR revis for the spot or did they cut somebody else?
ProFootballTalk @ProFootballTalk
Jets sign RB Lex Hilliard, per league source.
Who is going to get cut??? Connor?
Last edited by C Mart; 10-02-2012 at 05:26 PM.
did they finally IR revis for the spot or did they cut somebody else?
5' 11" 240 28 yrs old. last played with new england is he practice squad material? or is john conner done here?
I hope we now move McKnight back to CB. Just because that would be hilarious.
He was best known as the short yardage specialist for Sparano in Miami...converted at a really high rate.
That being said, I have no idea what this is supposed to accomplish unless we are cutting Conner or if Conner or another RB is hurt.
cut greene
Hilliard has been primarily a special teamer throughout his career. He's unlikely to be higher than fourth or fifth on the depth chart at running back.
super bowl.
Hilliard was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the sixth round (204th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft.[6] On May 19, he signed a four-year contract with the Dolphins.[7] Viewed as a fullback/tailback hybrid,[8] Hilliard stated he had no preference on where he played.[5]
In the 2008 preseason, Hilliard finished third on the team with 68 rushing yards on a 2.8-yard average.[9] He also caught three passes for 24 yards.[9] On August 30, the team waived Hilliard during final cuts.[10] He was re-signed to the practice squad the following day.[11]
After spending the entire 2008 season on the practice squad, Hilliard was re-signed on January 5, 2009. In week 11 of the 2009 season Hillard was given the backup running back role behind Ricky Williams due to the foot injury to Ronnie Brown.
Minnesota Vikings
Hilliard signed with the Minnesota Vikings on March 18, 2012. On August 31, 2012 as the Vikings reduced their roster down to league maximum of 53 players, he was released.[12]
New England Patriots
On September 4th, 2012, Hilliard signed with the New England Patriots. He was released on September 19, 2012. During his short tenure with the Patriots, Hilliard played in two games recording one rush attempt for two yards.
is john conner hurt?
tanny is really reaching isnt he? instead of a signing of at least a has been he signs a nobody thats never been.
BIOGRAPHY: Two-year starter and All-Conference selection who totaled 242/1132/16 last season. Missed the 2006 campaign with a torn Achilles.
Posted career-high numbers of 229/1322/12 as a junior in 2005.
POSITIVES: Strong interior ball-carrier who may be tried at fullback. Patient, waits for blocks to develop, and finds running lanes. Keeps his feet moving on contact, breaks several tackles during a single carry, and tough to bring down. Effectively picks up blocking assignments and will stop defenders on the blitz.
NEGATIVES: Possesses marginal speed and quickness. Loses momentum when he changes direction and more of a straight-line runner.
ANALYSIS: Hilliard is a nice-sized ball-carrier who competes hard and does the little things well. Strong at the point, he lacks the speed and creativity to be a feature runner, yet he offers possibilities as a short-yardage specialist and could develop into a lead blocker.
PROJECTION: Undrafted Free Agent
Manish Mehta @MMehtaNYDN
Source confirms @ProFootballTalk report that Jets have signed RB Lex Hilliard
This may be he most important thing - someone who is reliable in blitz pickup and doesn't leave gaping holes for defenders to charge through. Perhaps the Jets need some high effort reliable hungry players who give honest effort rather than the overpaid fat cats on the roster
See guys this will solve all of our problems...I knew the front office would come through!!!!!!


text: At Asher's Chocolate we want everyone to be able to enjoy a chocolate covered treat every once in a while. That's why we've created one of the country's largest lines of sugar free chocolate covered confections. You won't even be able to tell the difference! Our line of sugar free chocolates are highly recommended for those on a sugar restricted diet and include everything from Sugar Free Pretzel Bites to Sugar Free Dark Chocolate Bars!


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Minnesota Vikings Vice President Lester Bagley Says Vikings Will Open New Stadium With Game Against Green Bay Packers
The Minnesota Vikings first game in their new stadium is more than three years away, but we may already know who they'll play first in their new digs.
Vikings Vice President Lester Bagley told KARE 11 that the team's first game in its new stadium in 2016 will likely come against the Vikes biggest rival:
The way the league is structured, we'll probably — our very first regular-season game will likely be against the Green Bay Packers.
So it will be good to see Adrian Peterson break loose and score the first touchdown in the new stadium and run over Clay Matthews on his way to the end zone. We'll see. Hopefully we'll have the last word when we get to opening day in 2016.
Groundbreaking for the new 65,000-seat stadium will take place in October. The stadium is expected to cost $975 million.
Looking for some precedent? Ten years ago when the Packers opened remodeled Lambeau Field, their first opponent was the Vikings.
Oh by the way - the Vikings won that day 30-25. The Pack would love to return the favor in 2016.


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On my second day of mediation training (halfway done with the full training!), I received an awesome compliment from one of the facilitators. She said that I have a talent for open-ended questions.
I especially appreciated this compliment because I really like asking open-ended questions.
What is an open-ended question? (Yes, that was an example of one.) An open-ended question is any question that cannot be answered with a "yes", a "no" or another one word answer such as a number or color. An open-ended question provokes a meaningful response.
It reminds me of a management lesson I learned from the Interactive Institute for Social Change when I took their workshop, Managing with Impact, a few years ago.
The main thing I took from the management workshop is that it is important for a manager to balance inquiry with advocacy. When we advocate as managers, we give people advice, direction, instructions, or solutions to their problems. When we practice inquiry, we use open-ended questions to help the person being managed to find insights into their situation or problem or come to a solution.
My feedback from the management workshop leaders was that I could do more advocating, and a little less inquiry. I think I am still on the side of being more of an inquirer than an advocate, but I have become better at advocacy as my experience has grown. In some situations, I have been too far on the advocacy side of the balance. Advocating feels like a lot of pressure sometimes, because as a manager I don't usually have as much information to advocate for a solution or an approach, and I need to rely more on my intuition.
A mediator's job is only to reflect, reframe, and inquire. It is unlike a manager's job in that no advocacy is expected or desired. I am really enjoying the opportunity to practice open-ended questions and inquiry with mediation training. I recommend it for managers who want to become better at the inquiry side of the balance.


text: Are you interested in visiting our campus, but you're just not able to get here soon enough? Or perhaps you've already come for a visit and you just want to take another look. Either way, our virtual tour will give you a great idea of what our beautiful campus is like at Albion College.


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Nordic Sleigh Rides are fun—there's just no two ways about it. Family reunions, wedding rehearsal dinners, corporate retreats, you name it and we'll be happy to customize it for you.
We provide services for special events, weddings and all other happy occasions in Grand Junction area.
A horse-drawn carriage is an elegant way to depart from your wedding ceremony. Call Denver Carriage for more information.
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Make your day a Cinderella memory by arriving in one of our beautiful Victorian carriages drawn by a magnificent Clydesdale draft horse; your coachman dressed in formal attire.
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We are a locally owned business, insured, owner operated. We do any type of wagon ride that you choose.Please visit our website for more info. (www.happytrailsrus.com)Thank You and Happy Trails to You
JR's Carriage Service, it's not a marriage without a carriage. Variety of carriages to meet the venue of your special day. Our 15yr portfolio includes some of the most prestigious weddings within CO.
We specialize in anniversaries, engagements, weddings and much more! Our horses are gentle and will give you a great ride.
At Absolute Prestige Limousine we make any occasion a special occasion!
We take pride in providing quality products and service with integrity for your weddings and other special events.
Call us to arrive at your ceremony in a magical way with a horse drawn carriage, or go for a romantic ride to start your new life's together. Several horses and vehicles available to fit into your dream wedding.
Call for more information about Messenger Brothers Carriage.
Call for more information about horse drawn carriage rides from S & V Carriages.
Make your wedding night so much more magical with a beautiful sleigh ride in the snow covered mountains.
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Birmingham. the heart of England it s a city of style, culture and charm and The Spires puts you right at the heart of it all. You re only a stroll away from the designer shops in the prestigious Mailbox. Enjoy the ambience of canals lined with fashionable restaurants and bars yet you re still close to the financial heart of the city.
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These newly built luxury serviced apartments offer you the ultimate accommodation experience. R ecognised by Marketing Birmingham as gold standard due to its excellent customer service and first class accommodation and recently awarded the Very Quiet award from Venere.com, The Spires Birmingham offers you all the service you d expect from a 4* hotel .all the space you wouldn t.
Whether you are looking for short or long term accommodation in the West Midlands for business or leisure, with maid service, continental breakfast and no minimum stay period why would you ever choose to stay in a traditional hotel again?
The Spires, Viva, 10 Commercial Street, Birmingham B1 1RH


text:
Preview Of Beauty And The Senior!
Make your acquaintance with Dorothea, a girl who loves to laze around in the hay, playing with her pussy and dreaming of her horny prince on a white horse. We don't have any princes on our staff but we do have a pretty horny Leon...
Young Babes In Need Of An Experienced Cock!
Horny Old Men Doing Anything To Get Into The Girls Their Pants!
Watch The
Full Episode!
18 U.S.C. Section 2257 Compliance Notice - http://www.imco.nl/2257/


text:
Your go-to place for business news
No matter how you like your news – we've got you covered.
- Short and sweet? Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
- Hungry for a little more meat delivered directly? Sign up your entire office for our weekly e-newsletter.
- Have a need to dive into the details or see it in pictures and video? Our website has all the info.
The Chamber's website also plays host to our press releases, policy issues, city meetings notes, events and so much more. Want to find out what your fellow members are doing? We have that too.
Like what you see? Join the Chamber. Get up to date and check out our latest news below.


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Test 3: Utilizing a C++ Object on Both the Host and GPU
In this test (Listing Five), the entire
ParallelCounter object is copied to and from the host with
cudaMemcpy(). The object
foo is initialized on the host, incremented on the GPU with the
doPassedCounter() kernel, and copied back to the host, where the
getCount() method is used to check the result.
Notice that the ability to call
getCount() on both the GPU (in the previous example) and on the host (in this example) is enabled by annotating the
getCount() method in the
ParallelCounter class definition with
__host__ and
__device__ qualifiers.
{ // Instantiate an object on the CPU and copy it to the GPU ParallelCounter<SPREAD> foo, *d_foo; foo.set(0); cudaMalloc(&d_foo, sizeof(foo)); cudaMemcpy(d_foo, &foo, sizeof(foo), cudaMemcpyDefault); if(cudaPeekAtLastError() != cudaSuccess) throw "failed memcpy or cudaMalloc"; doPassedCounter<<<nBlocks, nThreadsPerBlock>>>(d_foo,nSamples); if(cudaPeekAtLastError() != cudaSuccess) throw "failed doPassedCounter"; cudaMemcpy(&foo, d_foo, sizeof(foo), cudaMemcpyDefault); if(cudaPeekAtLastError() != cudaSuccess) throw "failed memcpy"; uint32_t check = foo.getCount(); // read result on host cerr << nSamples << " " << check << endl; cudaFree(d_foo); if(cudaPeekAtLastError() != cudaSuccess) throw "failed free"; assert(check == nSamples); }
Listing Five: Utilize a C++ object on both the host and GPU.
Test 4: Map an Object into UVA Mapped Memory for Use by Both Devices
Clearly, NVIDIA is moving to a unified virtual architecture (UVA), where objects are transparently accessible from both the host and GPU devices. At the moment, the NVIDIA method
cudaMallocHost() must be called to map a region of memory into both devices.
Listing Six creates a
ParallelCounter object in mapped memory. The counter is set to zero on the host and then utilized in the
doPassedCounter() kernel. A
cudaDeviceSynchronize() call ensures that the kernel has completed; after which, the state of the counter is read on the host. Note that no explicit memory transfers are required!
#ifdef USE_MAPPED { // test 3: use mapped memory (simpler and cleaner but slow!) ParallelCounter<SPREAD> *ptCntr; // allocate in mapped memory cudaMallocHost(&ptCntr, sizeof(ParallelCounter<SPREAD>)); if(cudaPeekAtLastError() != cudaSuccess) throw "cudaHostMalloc failed"; ptCntr->set(0); // initialize on the host doMappedCounter<<<nBlocks, nThreadsPerBlock>>>(ptCntr,nSamples); cudaDeviceSynchronize(); uint32_t check = ptCntr->getCount(); // read result on host cerr << nSamples << " " << check << endl; cudaFreeHost(ptCntr); if(cudaPeekAtLastError() != cudaSuccess) throw "failed cudaFreeHost"; assert(check == nSamples); } #endif
Listing Six: Map an object into UVA memory.
While convenient for many problems, mapped memory is currently not cached on the GPU as of CUDA-5. This means that any computation that accesses any location in mapped memory many times will probably perform badly. A two order-of-magnitude performance decrease will be shown for this approach in the following performance analysis section.
Don't let the poor computational performance of mapped memory prevent you from using it. The performance analysis in this article merely highlights the need to use mapped memory appropriately. In particular, the ability to use one pointer to access data on both the host and device is essential to many code implementations. In short, enjoy the convenience of mapped memory, but just be aware that high performance requires a copy operation to/from global memory. As will be discussed in the next article, it is possible to implement a C++ base class that provides the convenience of mapped memory with high-performance C++ objects.
The NVIDIA
nvprof text-based profiler is used to provide the following performance data. This choice eliminates the need to manually instrument the example code, thus making it cleaner and simpler.
To build the the test code. save the source code in Listing Two to a file,
firstCounter.cu. This file can be compiled under Linux for sm 2.0 and later devices with the Nvidia compiler command in Listing Seven:
nvcc -O3 -DSPREAD=32 -arch=sm_20 firstCounter.cu -o first
Listing Seven: The nvcc command to build firstCounter.cu.
The test code is profiled while incrementing the counter 4 billion times with the
nvprof command-line shown in Listing Eight:
nvprof ./first 4000000000 0
Listing Eight: The nvprof command used to run the example.
Results 1 shows the output produced when running on a Kepler K20c installed as device 0:
======== NVPROF is profiling first... ======== Command: first 4000000000 0 device 0 nSamples 4000000000 spread 32 nBlocks 65535 threadsPerBlock 256 4000000000 4000000000 4000000000 4000000000 Checking if ParallelCounter is a POD: TRUE ***** Passed all sanity checks! ***** ======== Profiling result: Time(%) Time Calls Avg Min Max Name 50.05 711.98ms 1 711.98ms 711.98ms 711.98ms doPassedCounter(ParallelCounter<unsigned int=32>*, unsigned int) 49.95 710.55ms 1 710.55ms 710.55ms 710.55ms doCounter(unsigned int) 0.00 10.88us 1 10.88us 10.88us 10.88us finiCounter(unsigned int*) 0.00 6.37us 2 3.18us 3.01us 3.36us [CUDA memcpy DtoH] 0.00 3.07us 1 3.07us 3.07us 3.07us initCounter(void) 0.00 1.95us 1 1.95us 1.95us 1.95us [CUDA memcpy HtoD]
Results 1: Performance results on a Kepler K20c.
Notice that both the
doCounter() and
doPassedCounter() kernels take approximately 710 ms. Running the same executable with an NVIDIA C2070 on device 1 produces the output in Results 2:
$:~/articles_nvidia/nv025$ nvprof ./first 4000000000 1 ======== NVPROF is profiling first... ======== Command: first 4000000000 1 device 1 nSamples 4000000000 spread 32 nBlocks 65535 threadsPerBlock 256 Checking if ParallelCounter is a POD: TRUE 4000000000 4000000000 4000000000 4000000000 ***** Passed all sanity checks! ***** ======== Profiling result: Time(%) Time Calls Avg Min Max Name 50.00 1.85s 1 1.85s 1.85s 1.85s doCounter(unsigned int) 50.00 1.85s 1 1.85s 1.85s 1.85s doPassedCounter(ParallelCounter<unsigned int=32>*, unsigned int) 0.00 3.74us 2 1.87us 1.79us 1.95us [CUDA memcpy DtoH] 0.00 3.14us 1 3.14us 3.14us 3.14us initCounter(void) 0.00 2.39us 1 2.39us 2.39us 2.39us finiCounter(unsigned int*) 0.00 1.09us 1 1.09us 1.09us 1.09us [CUDA memcpy HtoD]
Results 2: Performance results on a Fermi C2050.
These results show that the Kepler card runs roughly 2x faster than the Fermi card when using the
ParallelCounter class (0.71 seconds vs. 1.85 seconds).
Profiling Atomic Add of a Single Memory Location
The simple source code in Listing Nine performs the same work as the
firstCounter.cu example. The two kernels
initCounter() and
doCounter() should be self-explanatory. The rest of the code follows the same logic as
#include <iostream> using namespace std; #include <cstdio> #include <stdint.h> #include <cassert> __global__ void initCounter(uint32_t *result) { *result = 0; } __global__ void doCounter(uint32_t *result, uint32_t nSamples) { uint32_t tid = threadIdx.x + blockIdx.x * blockDim.x; while(tid < nSamples) { atomicAdd(result, 1); tid += blockDim.x * gridDim.x; } } int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { try { if(argc < 3) { cerr << "Use: nSamples device" << endl; return -1; } uint32_t nSamples=atoi(argv[1]); int device=atoi(argv[2]); cudaSetDevice(device); if(cudaPeekAtLastError() != cudaSuccess) throw "failed to set device"; int nThreadsPerBlock=256; int nBlocks = nSamples/nThreadsPerBlock +((nSamples%nThreadsPerBlock)?1:0); if(nBlocks > 65535) nBlocks=65535; cout << "device " << device << " nSamples " << nSamples << " nBlocks " << nBlocks << " threadsPerBlock " << nThreadsPerBlock << endl; uint32_t *result; cudaMalloc(&result, sizeof(uint32_t)); if(cudaPeekAtLastError() != cudaSuccess) throw "cudaMalloc failed"; initCounter<<<1,1>>>(result); doCounter<<<nBlocks,nThreadsPerBlock>>>(result, nSamples); uint32_t check = 10; cudaMemcpy(&check, result, sizeof(uint32_t), cudaMemcpyDefault); if(cudaPeekAtLastError() != cudaSuccess) throw "memcpy failed"; cerr << nSamples << " " << check << endl; assert(check == nSamples); cudaFree(result); } catch (const char * e) { cerr << "caught exception: " << e << endl; cudaError err; if((err=cudaGetLastError()) != cudaSuccess) cerr << "CUDA reports: " << cudaGetErrorString(err) << endl; return -1; } }
Listing Nine: Source code for simpleCounter.cu.
The code
simpleCounter.cucode can be built with the
nvcc command in Listing Ten:
nvcc -O3 -arch=sm_20 singleCounter.cu –o singleCounter
Listing Ten: the nvcc compilation command for simpleCounter.cu.
Figure 1 shows the excellent performance that can be achieved with the
ParallelCounter class. Due to excessive runtime, the C2050
simpleCounter.cu runtimes are reported only up to
nSamples of 400 million. The speed of the Kepler
atomicAdd() is clearly shown by the green line as compared to a C2050. Still, a Fermi GPU using the
ParallelCounter class will run faster than a Kepler. The K20c is clearly the fastest when using the
ParallelCounter class. (Note that compiling the applications with
SM_35 for Kepler did not affect the reported runtimes.)
Figure 1: Observed performance of simpleCounter.cu and the ParallelCounter class on a K20c and C2050 GPU.
The profiling results reported by
nvprofafter compiling
firstCounter.cu with
USE_MAPPED defined (Results 2) show the dramatic impact that the lack of caching has on mapped memory. Note the runtime increased from 712ms to 182 seconds (first two lines), which is a 255x slowdown!
$ nvprof ./first 4000000000 0 ======== NVPROF is profiling first... ======== Command: first 4000000000 0 device 0 nSamples 4000000000 spread 32 nBlocks 65535 threadsPerBlock 256 4000000000 4000000000 4000000000 4000000000 4000000000 4000000000 Checking if ParallelCounter is a POD: TRUE ***** Passed all sanity checks! ***** ======== Profiling result: Time(%) Time Calls Avg Min Max Name 99.22 182.08s 1 182.08s 182.08s 182.08s doMappedCounter(ParallelCounter<unsigned int=32>*, unsigned int) 0.39 712.02ms 1 712.02ms 712.02ms 712.02ms doPassedCounter(ParallelCounter<unsigned int=32>*, unsigned int) 0.39 710.56ms 1 710.56ms 710.56ms 710.56ms doCounter(unsigned int) 0.00 10.85us 1 10.85us 10.85us 10.85us finiCounter(unsigned int*) 0.00 6.85us 2 3.42us 3.23us 3.62us [CUDA memcpy DtoH] 0.00 3.10us 1 3.10us 3.10us 3.10us initCounter(void) 0.00 2.05us 1 2.05us 2.05us 2.05us [CUDA memcpy HtoD]
Results 3: Performance results on Kepler including the use of mapped memory.
Even though currently restricted from a performance point of view, mapped memory is very useful for creating and moving complex objects between host and GPU memory — especially those that contain pointers. The keys to remember with mapped memory are: use layout and size compatible
POD_struct objects; and copy heavily utilized regions of mapped memory to faster global memory.
The performance graph in Figure 1 really tells the story of this article. The
ParallelCounter class is all about robust performance regardless of how it is used in a parallel environment. The ability to maintain high performance regardless of how it is used — including pathological cases where all the threads increment the counter at the same time — makes the
ParallelCounter class useful in applications ranging from histograms to parallel stacks and data allocators.
C++ developers should note the object layout and size compatibility between the host and device. This article discussed and used
POD_structs, which are the simplest and most restrictive form of C++ compatibility. Newer forms of C++ object compatibility exist, such as
is_standard_layout() and
In the future, it is likely that the need for transparent data movement will almost entirely be removed when NVIDIA enables a cached form of mapped memory. Perhaps some form of the Linux
madvise() API will be used. When writing the examples for this article, I observed that mapped memory ran as fast as global memory whenever all the data fit inside a single cache line. This indicates that cached mapped memory has the potential to become the de facto method of sharing memory between the host and device(s).
Rob Farber is a frequent contributor to Dr. Dobb's on CPU and GPGPU programming topics.


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Bob Newhart and Melissa Leo won Emmys on Sunday night. Jane Fonda and Michael J. Fox didn't.
Do the results from the Creative Arts Emmys offer any clues for this Sunday's Primetime Emmy Awards show?
Probably not. Or maybe they are remarkably revelatory. It depends on the angle of examination.
Leo's win for her brave comedic supporting spot on FX's "Louie" certainly indicates that voters were paying attention to the work and not the name behind it. Many pundits believed that Kristen Wiig or Melissa McCarthy would prevail in the category, though their nominated "Saturday Night Live" hosting turns were faint echoes of past glories. Leo's victory is richly deserved.
Likewise, Carrie Preston's prevailing over Fonda in the guest actress drama category was a case of the performance trumping the legend. Fonda's submitted episode from "The Newsroom" amounted to little more than an impeccably delivered speech. Preston's return to "The Good Wife" put her front and center, showcasing her oddball attorney. Again: An Emmy well-earned.
Newhart's turn on "The Big Bang Theory" came on one of the season's weaker episodes, though the beloved comedian did everything he could to save it. In fact, the half-hour played almost as a Newhart tribute and, as such, gave voters plenty to appreciate. It was another case of a veteran beating out a couple of bigger names (Justin Timberlake, Louis C.K.) nominated for hosting "Saturday Night Live."
Speaking of C.K., Leo's win does offer encouragement to those who believe it's high time "Louie" unseated "Modern Family" for best comedy series. "Modern Family" also came up empty in all four of its Creative Arts categories, though it went 0-4 in 2011 and still won the series Emmy and four other Primetime awards.
RELATED: Off the cuff with Emmy nominees
But Leo's Emmy might be a sign that C.K. can pull off a victory for acting. His submitted episode (voters are directed to judge just the one acting episode and nothing else), "Daddy's Girlfriend, Part 1," finds Louie looking for love and culminates with him fumbling to ask out a bookstore clerk played by Parker Posey. It's a charming performance, even if it's not his best acting work of the season. (For that, we'd look to any of the three "Late Show" episodes or the season finale, "New Year's Eve.")
Is it substantial enough to prevail over two-time winner Jim Parsons? On its own, perhaps not, since Parsons' submitted episode, "The Habitation Configuration," is one of "Big Bang's" best from the season and a brilliant display as to why people love the show so much in the first place.
Lead comedy actor remains one of the closest Emmy categories this year, and last night's results did little to offer clarity unless you really, really want them to do so. In that case, get those acceptance speeches prepared. We're not going to stop you.
'Gravity' just might exert its pull on Oscar voters
'12 Years a Slave' builds mojo at Toronto Film Festival
TIFF 2013: Ron Howard's curiosity leads to Jay Z, Formula One films
Countdown: Emmys 2013
TIMELINE: Emmy winners through the years Creative Arts Emmy winners PHOTOS: Top nominees
TIMELINE: Emmy winners through the years
Creative Arts Emmy winners
PHOTOS: Top nominees


text:
Reviewed by Emily (age 7)
I liked this book because I love penguins. They are my favorite animals in the world. They are really smart and they know what to do when they are in trouble and when they want to catch food. I liked the pictures of penguins. The baby penguins are small and cute.
I should give this book to Jesus because Jesus laughs a lot. He likes penguins too, especially the cute babies! Everyone should read this book because it can tell you all about penguins.


text:
The cotton market could take a bullish turn once the world recession starts to lift, and textile mills suddenly have to start refilling pipeline supplies of cotton, says Joe Nicosia, chief executive officer of Allenberg Cotton Co., speaking at the Mid-South Farm and Show's ag update session.
Nicosia also said the best way to describe the last three years in the cotton market is the movie Groundhog Day, in which a television news reporter keeps reliving the same day over and over, but still retaining the memory of what happened in previous days.
Cotton's recurring theme in the United States is that for several years in a row, cotton prices have usually looked good in the long term, but never could quite get over the short-term hump of large supplies.
"But over the long term, low prices cure low prices, and bad news cures itself too," Nicosia said.
For example, surveys point to a substantial decrease in acreage in China for next year, Nicosia says. "We've said that the key to cotton coming back in price is to stop the expansion of production in China and India. Those expansions have been so big that their increases in production were more than compensating for our decreases in production. For the first time, it looks like China's acreage is going to go down."
He added that the governments in India and China are holding 25 million bales priced at 16 cents to 27 cents over current New York futures prices.
How China and India resolve this problem and how much cotton acreage they plant "are going to be key factors for prices over the next four months. Are those stocks going to be brought to market at the world price, or held, so they can absorb the world price to satisfy their demand?"
Production for last year's U.S. cotton crop may come up short of USDA's estimates, according to Nicosia. "Our numbers are at 12.8 million to 12.9 million bales. Consumption at 3.8 million bales is probably a pretty good number. It would infer stabilization in the economy. It's not a recovery number."
U.S. exports for 2008-09 at 12.1 million bales "is not an easy number to come up with. We have some in our office who are projecting it could drop to 10.8 million bales. Where we are today actually points to about 13 million bales. We continue to sell a lot of cotton because India is out of the market. We believe that will change though. India will start to flow into the marketplace. But that's okay because the marketplace needs it."
Nicosia projects U.S. ending stocks for 2008-09 at 7 million bales.
For 2009-10, Nicosia projects a domestic crop of 14 million bales. "We don't see as much of a reduction in planted acreage as you've seen in other reports. But there will be a large uncertainty in this number, not because of planted acreage but because of conditions (including dryness in Texas).
"If you apply last year's harvested acreage and yields to this year's acreage, the crop comes out at 10.8 million bales. So if we plug 10.8 million into the balance sheet, it gets really scary."
Nicosia projects 2009-10 exports at 11.9 million bales and says domestic consumption will stabilize at 3.7 million bales. "That gives us a carryout of 5.4 million bales. So do we go back to Groundhog Day — ending stocks go back to 8 million because the crop comes in at 16 million bales and exports go to 10 million bales? It's possible."
On the other hand, "recession has contracted demand so greatly and emptied the pipeline so quickly that when this ends we are going to have a quick rebound. When the economy turns around, you not only have world consumption going from 110 million bales to 120 million bales, you have to throw 6 million bales on top of that for the pipeline. When that happens, a bullish outlook could unfold. We have to get past this recession first."
Nicosia believes that could start to happen as early as the fourth quarter of this year. "But whenever it happens, it's going to be rapid and drastic."
Nicosia noted that the last two years, the commodity markets have been defined somewhat by the ethanol boom. "We've build a huge infrastructure for it. Don't forget that story. Those plants have been built, and because of the energy mandates, we will continue to use massive amounts of corn to create fuel."
Nicosia said that while cotton prices have followed the world economic markets downward, "it doesn't mean that cotton consumption has dropped everywhere in the world. I really do think there is hope. That's not an 80-cent hope, but if the stock market stabilizes, cotton is going to quit going down too. Long-term, it's still cheap.
"The U.S. cotton program works," Nicosia said. "Farmers are very lucky to have it. Your equities may be smaller, but we're going to sell every bale you grow."
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