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هذه المقالة متاحة أيضًا بـ: English (الإنجليزية)
|Name of Publishing House
|sounds true
Sounds True was founded in 1985 by Tami Simon with a clear mission: to disseminate spiritual wisdom. Since starting out as a project with one woman and her tape recorder, we have grown into a multimedia publishing company with more than 80 employees, a library of more than 1500 titles featuring some of the leading teachers and visionaries of our time, and an ever-expanding family of customers from across the world. In more than three decades of growth, change, and evolution, Sounds True has maintained its focus on its overriding purpose, as summed up in our Vision Statement:
Sounds True exists to inspire, support, and serve personal transformation and spiritual awakening.
Sounds True is an independent multimedia publishing company that embraces the world's major spiritual traditions, as well as the arts and humanities, embodied by the leading authors, teachers, and visionary artists of our time. Our approach to publishing is not dependent on a single format or technology—rather, we strive with every title to preserve the essential "living wisdom" of the author, artist, or spiritual teacher. It is our goal to create products that not only provide information to a reader or listener, but that also embody the essential quality of a wisdom transmission between a teacher and a student.
Throughout the years, Sounds True has developed a guiding philosophy that we call "multiple bottom lines." Our dedication to this principle is embodied in our Mission Statement:
The mission of Sounds True is to find teachers and artists who serve as a gateway to spiritual awakening and to produce, publish, and distribute their work with beauty, intelligence, and integrity. We treat our authors, vendors, and partners in the same way we would want to be treated. We work flexibly and efficiently together to create a cooperative, loving environment that honors respectful authenticity and individual growth. We maintain a healthy level of profitability so that we are an independent and sustainable employee-owned organization.
The three essential bottom lines for Sounds True are the integrity of our purpose, the well-being of our people, and the maintaining of healthy profits. All three of these priorities are important in the decisions we make as a company. It is our conviction that each of these bottom lines must be healthy for the company to prosper as a whole.
In our history as a publisher, Sounds True has produced a wide variety of formats in order to fulfill our goal of disseminating spiritual wisdom.
Spoken Word Audio
Sounds True publishes more than 500 titles about the spiritual journey, meditation, psychology, creativity, health and healing, self-discovery, relationships, and more. These programs, ranging between one and five hours in length, are original recordings featuring teachers who present their own ideas, in their own words. Sounds True recordings are almost always unscripted—transcending the level of a normal audio reading to create a vibrant, living connection between the author and listener.
Audio Learning Courses
With running times between five and 18 hours, Sounds True's learning courses offer an experience approximate to a college course or continuing-education class.
Our book division features provocative wisdom from respected teachers who embody what they know and who have tested their work in the fire of their own experience. Additionally, Sounds True's Integrated Learning Series features books with CDs—interactive learning tools that accelerate personal and spiritual development by bringing together the written word with the direct audio instruction that Sounds True has pioneered for more than 20 years.
Interactive Learning Kits
For teaching that is best conveyed through a combination of formats, Sounds True creates our interactive learning kits, providing everything needed for comprehensive study in a single box—usually featuring a thorough study guide or work book, practices on CD and DVD, beautifully designed cards and charts for reference, and other support tools.
Some spiritual truths cannot be conveyed in words—but are carried instantly to the soul when experienced directly through music. Sounds True features inspirational sacred music gathered from many traditions. Each of our musical recordings is intended as a heartfelt offering of the spirit.
Instructional DVDs
Sounds True videos are content-driven works that embrace both bestselling authors and spiritual teachers. We also publish a line of DVDs for instruction in the physical disciplines of spiritual life.
Eckhart Tolle Now
Sounds True is a partner in Eckhart Tolle Now, an online television service that offers members new monthly video teachings from Eckhart Tolle, the author of The Power of Now and Creating a New Earth. Eckhart Tolle Now offers free teachings by Eckhart Tolle and his teaching partner Kim Eng, plus a premium service for members that includes monthly meditations with Eckhart Tolle that are broadcast live, question and answer sessions, special opportunities to purchase tickets to Eckhart Tolle Now filmings and retreats, and a chance to dialogue with other Eckhart Tolle Now members. To start your trial membership, please visit EckhartTolleNow.com.
To maintain our integrity as a business and a publishing company, we believe that Sounds True must embody the qualities of consciousness and compassion taught by our authors in the day-to-day practice of our business. We believe in creating a work environment that nurtures creativity, individual expression, and open communication. Sounds True pursues this goal by establishing policies for flexible work schedules, quality health and dental benefits, a relaxed (nonexistent) dress code, and compensation programs for helping employees pursue training, volunteer efforts, and spiritual interests outside of work. We also have a pet-friendly office space, so our people can share their workspace with their beloved animal companions.
At Sounds True, we are committed to honoring our relationship with the earth and our community. As part of our environmental commitment, we use 100% wind power in our offices, and use recycled paper for our books, catalogs, and marketing material. We also donate our programs to libraries and charities, and to prisoners through the Sounds True Prison Library Project.
To learn more about who we are, please see the Sounds True Core Values statement.
هذه المقالة متاحة أيضًا بـ: English (الإنجليزية)


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Latest News
New Tokyo Marui Products! COMING SOON (2007-10-16)
The MAC 10 has arrived! Click here!
|This has been added to your shoppping cart.
|Coming soon from Marui, is the Mac 10; it's due to come out as a complete gun, suppressor & hand strap package. The length is the same as on the real one, measuring 295mm/548mm (with stock extended), the weight is 1480g. Magazine capacity is 65 rounds, and seems to be based on Marui's tried & trusted AEP system.
|An interesting AEG, in the form of this Marui AK74MN, which boasts a "recoil engine" and an aluminum receiver. The magazines (capacity 74rds) are apparently new designs, as is the mechabox. The stock is foldable, and the length of the gun is 700mm/943mm (stock extended). Inner barrel length is 460mm. Bolt carrier movement of 5cm. Check out the videos below for a sneek peek.
|Marui carry on their tradition of "game guns" with this Biohazard Limited Edition Desert Eagle. Coming under the moniker of "Leon Custom", based on the in-game character's gun. It features the Chrome Stainless finish as seen on the P226 and has a Racoon Police emblem on the grip. Weight: 1277g, length: 370mm, capacity: 27+1.
|Quite an intriguing move for Marui, not that we're complaining! They are coming out with an Electric Blowback P99. It features authentic trademarks and measures the same length as the real steel one. It holds 16 rounds and is powered by battery, obviously. We're quite keen on seeing the electric blowback in action, rest assured we'll post more info as we find out more, so keep those eyes peeled!
|There are a lot of fans of the Hi-Capa out there, and for a very good reason too - they're solid, accurate, reliable guns, and even though there is no real steel equivilent as such, they are great airsoft guns. Marui will be bringing out a Dual Stainless version of their 4.3 Hi-Capa, which gives it a nice two-tone finish.

subset: commoncrawl


text: KVpnc is a KDE frontend for various VPN clients. It supports Cisco VPN (vpnc, vpnclient (a proprietary client from Cisco)), IPSec (FreeS/WAN, Openswan, strongSwan, racoon), PPTP (pptpclient), OpenVPN, L2TP over IPSec (l2tpd, xl2ltpd, openl2tp) (usable with FreeS/WAN, Openswan, strongSwan, and racoon), Vtun, and OpenSSH. Smartcards will be supported within OpenVPN and strongSwan. vpnc is a replacement for the Cisco VPN client, and is used as a client for the Cisco3000 VPN Concentrator. FreeS/WAN, Openswan, and strongSwan are IPSec clients for Linux 2.4.x/2.6.x, and racoon is an IPSec client for Linux 2.6.x and *BSD. l2tpd, xl2tpd, and openl2tp are Linux L2TP VPN clients/servers.


text:
ContractorsFor Contractors
HomeownersFor Homeowners
DesignersFor Designers
MembersFor Members
Join the association for the segmental concrete pavement industry. ICPI is your resource for emerging trends, technology and education. As the voice of the industry, we work to promote and keep you informed on the industry interests.
The Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute (ICPI), founded in 1993, is the North American trade association representing the segmental concrete paving industry.
Construction Tolerance and Recommendations for Interlocking Concrete Pavements


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Macular degeneration
Macular degeneration: An eye disease that progressively destroys the macula, the central portion of the retina, impairing central vision. Macular degeneration rarely causes total blindness because only the center of vision is affected. However, injury to the macula in the center of the retina can impair the ability to see straight ahead clearly and sometimes make it difficult to read, drive, or perform other daily activities that require fine central vision. The macula is in the center of the retina at the back of the eye. As we read, light is focused onto the macula where millions of cells change the light into nerve signals that travel to the brain and tell it what we are seeing. This is our central vision. With normal central vision, we are able to read, drive, and perform other activities that require fine, sharp, straight-ahead vision. There are a number of forms of macular degeneration that affect children and younger people, including congenital macular degeneration, central tapetal degeneration, Best's Disease, Stargardt's Disease and Juvenile Retinoschisis. However, the disease occurs most commonly in people over 60 years of age. Within this group, the disorder is termed age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD). There are two types of AMD — the wet type and the far more frequent dry type. Neither type causes pain. An early symptom of wet AMD is that straight lines appear wavy. This happens because newly formed abnormal blood vessels leak fluid under the macula. The fluid raises the macula from its normal place at the back of the eye and distorts vision. Another sign that a person may have wet AMD is rapid loss of central vision. This is different from dry AMD in which loss of central vision occurs slowly. In both dry and wet AMD, the person may also notice a blind or blurred area near the center of the vision. If any of these changes in vision is noticed, an ophthalmologist should be consulted without delay. Supplements of zinc together with the antioxidants vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene reportedly slow the progression of dry AMD. In people with intermediate-stage disease dry AMD, zinc reduced the risk of the disease progressing to the advanced stage by 11%, and the antioxidants reduced the risk by 10%. When the two were combined, the risk was reduced by 19%. The daily doses of the antioxidants used in this study were 500 milligrams of vitamin C, 400 milligrams of vitamin E and 15 milligrams of beta-carotene (a molecule the body converts to vitamin A). The daily dose of zinc was 80 milligrams with 2 milligrams of copper added to prevent copper deficiency sometimes associated with high zinc intake. These amounts are well above the usual levels recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
How to pronounce Macular degeneration
definition of Macular degeneration
audio dictionary
How to say Macular degeneration
What is the meaning of Macular degeneration
Pronounce Macular degeneration
Medical dictionary
Medical definition of Macular degeneration


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Aloha and welcome to Ace Beats Professional DJ Entertainment, one of Maui's leading mobile DJ entertainment companies! Entertaining the island of Maui at weddings, birthday parties, proms, banquets, corporate events, or any other occasion! From intimate settings of 15 to events as big as 500 partygoers, we have the experience to keep you dancing. Let us help and work with you to ensure your event is a memorable success!
Just an email or phone call away…
You may contact us here:
Or you can get social with us on:


text: Welcome to Pearson Geometry Common Core Edition. Content in this book has been developed to cover the High School Standards for Mathematical Content and the Standards for Mathematical Practice from the Common Core State Standards. Students have the chance to experience and interact with math in new and unique ways to support learning and understanding. Throughout this book students will learn strategies to develop important and meaningful mathematical reasoning habits.


text: There is hardly anyone hasn't played basketball in their lives. I mean this is the best game ver. When I was studying in high school, all I could think of playing basketball in our school's court. But when I moved to New York playing any outdoor game seemed quite impossible. https://mybasketballhoopsonline.page.tl/


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Tom K. Wong is an assistant professor of political science at University of California, San Diego and a postdoctoral fellow at John G. Tower Center for Political Studies. His column was recently published in the June 16, 2012, edition of The San Diego Union-Tribune
Last week, the Obama administration announced that approximately 800,000 undocumented youth will be eligible for relief from deportation and be given two-year work permits through an executive order. To be eligible, they must have been brought to the U.S. before the age of 16, be younger than 30, living in the U.S. continuously for five years, either in school or graduated from a U.S. high school, earned a GED, or served in the military, and have no serious criminal history.
It is undeniable that this development will have a positive and profound affect on the lives of not only the young people who are eligible under the executive order, but also their parents, relatives and friends who will no longer have to fear the removal of their loved ones. At the same time, this shift in deportation policy leaves many important issues unaddressed.
The executive order carries many of the hallmarks of the proposed DREAM Act, a bipartisan federal immigration bill that was first introduced in 2001 that would give undocumented youth a path to citizenship. However, it falls short of the DREAM Act in several respects.
Most importantly, as the Department of Homeland Security memo describing the executive order notes, "This memorandum confers no substantive right, immigration status or pathway to citizenship."
Moreover, the language of "deferred action" and the program of renewable work permits sidesteps one of the most important aspects of the DREAM Act: the certainty and security that comes with permanent legal status.
As a matter of politics, the executive order will undoubtedly factor heavily into President Obama's re-election campaign. Its timing will also likely take the wind out of the sails of Republican attempts to push a revised version of the DREAM Act through Congress – efforts that have thus far gained little traction among conservative Republicans.
However, a deeper subtext also exists. Immigrant advocacy groups have not been shy in criticizing the administration over the record numbers of deportations that have occurred under Obama's watch.
And earlier this month, the administration was sued by the American Immigration Council for what it described as unlawfully withholding records related to another form of removal known as voluntary return.
Pushing the administration further were the undocumented students themselves. Earlier this month, two students staged a sit-in at Obama's campaign office in Denver. Sit-ins, described by DREAMERS as "UndOccupy Obama," also took place at Obama re-election offices in Ohio, Michigan and California. These actions are part of a larger strategy that has emerged over the past couple of years of undocumented youth "coming out of the shadows" to contest their illegality, risking their own deportation and creating a meaningful social movement.
Read more http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jun/16/obamas-immigration-move-bold-but-not-enough/


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Radical Islamic fighters killed seven foreign hostages in Nigeria, European diplomats said Sunday, making it the worst such kidnapping violence in decades for a country beset by extremist guerrilla attacks.
Nigeria's police, military, domestic spy service and presidency remained silent over the killings of the construction company workers, kidnapped Feb. 16 from northern Bauchi state. The government's silence only led to more questions about the nation's continued inability to halt attacks that have seen hundreds killed in shootings, church bombings and an attack on the United Nations.
The latest victims were four Lebanese and one citizen apiece from Britain, Greece and Italy.
Britain and Italy said all seven of those taken from the Setraco construction company compound had died at the hands of Ansaru, a previously little-known splinter group of the Islamic sect Boko Haram. Greece also confirmed one of its citizens was killed, while Lebanese authorities didn't immediately comment.
"It's an atrocious act of terrorism, against which the Italian government expresses its firmest condemnation, and which has no explanation," a statement from Italy's foreign ministry read. Italy also denied a claim by Ansaru that the hostages were killed before or during a military operation by Nigerian and British forces, saying there was "no military intervention aimed at freeing the hostages."
Italian Premier Mario Monti identified the slain Italian hostage as Silvano Trevisan and promised Rome would use "every effort" to stop the killers. British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the killings "an act of cold-blooded murder" and identified the U.K. victim as Brendan Vaughan.
A statement from Greece's foreign ministry said authorities had already informed the hostage's family. "We note that the terrorists never communicated or formulated demands to release the hostages," the statement read, which also denied any military raid took place.
Ansaru issued a short statement Saturday saying its fighters kidnapped the foreigners from the construction company's camp at Jama'are, a town 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Bauchi, the capital of Bauchi state. In the attack, gunmen first assaulted a local prison and burned police trucks, authorities said. Then the attackers blew up a back fence at the construction company's compound and took over, killing a guard in the process, witnesses and police said.
Local officials in Nigeria initially identified one of the hostages as a Filipino, something the Philippines government later denied.
The gunmen appeared to be organized and knew who they wanted to target, leaving the Nigerian household staff at the residence unharmed, while quickly abducting the foreigners, a witness said.
In an online statement Saturday claiming the killings, Ansaru said it killed the hostages in part because of local Nigerian journalists reporting on the arrival of British military aircraft to Bauchi. However, Ansaru's statement cited local news articles that instead said the airplanes were spotted at the international airport in Abuja, the nation's central capital 180 miles (290 kilometers) southwest.
The U.K. Defense Ministry said Sunday the planes it flew to Abuja ferried Nigerian troops and equipment to Bamako, Mali. Nigerian soldiers have been sent to Mali to help French forces and Malian troops battle Islamic extremists there. The British military said it also transported Ghanaian soldiers to Mali the same way.
The ministry declined to comment further. Ansaru had said it believed the planes were part of a Nigerian and British rescue mission for the abducted hostages.
The U.K. has offered military support in the past in Nigeria to free hostages. In March 2012, its special forces backed a failed Nigerian military raid to free Christopher McManus, who had been abducted months earlier with Italian Franco Lamolinara from a home in Kebbi state. Both hostages were killed in that rescue attempt.
"I am grateful to the Nigerian government for their unstinting help and cooperation," Hague said in a statement, without addressing the claim that the U.K. had launched a rescue effort.
In its statement Saturday, Ansaru also blamed the killings on a pledge by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to do "everything possible" to free the hostages. Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati didn't respond to requests for comment Sunday.
While Nigerian authorities have yet to comment publicly about Ansaru's claim, it comes as the nation's security forces remain unable to stop the guerrilla campaign of bombings, shootings and kidnappings across the country's north. The majority of those attacks have been blamed on Boko Haram, an amorphous group that grew out of the remains of a sect that sparked a riot and a security crackdown in Nigeria in 2009 in which about 700 people were killed.
Boko Haram has hit international targets before, including an August 2011 car bombing of the U.N. office in Abuja that killed 25 people and wounded more than 100. An online video also purportedly claims that Boko Haram is currently holding hostage a family of seven French tourists who were abducted from neighboring Cameroon in late February. The group is blamed for killing at least 792 people last year alone, according to an Associated Press count.
Ansaru, which analysts believe split from Boko Haram in January 2012, seems to be focusing much more on Western targets. Analysts say it has closer links to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and cares more about international issues, as opposed to Boko Haram's largely local grievances. But much remains unknown about Ansaru, which has communicated through short, sometimes muddled online statements.
The hostage killings appear to be the worst in decades targeting foreigners working in Nigeria, an oil-rich nation that's a major crude supplier to the U.S. Most kidnappings in the country's southern oil delta see foreigners released after companies pay ransoms. The latest kidnappings in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north, however, have seen the hostages killed either by their captors or in military raids to free them, suggesting a new level of danger for expatriate workers there.
The worst violence targeting foreign workers previously in the country's history came during its 1960s civil war. In May 1969, forces with the breakaway Republic of Biafra raided a Nigerian oil field, killing 10 Italian oil workers and a Jordanian. Eighteen other foreign workers taken by Biafran soldiers faced the death penalty, but later were pardoned and released.
Associated Press writers Frances D'Emilio in Rome, Demetris Nellas in Athens, Greece, Sylvia Hui in London and Shehu Saulawa in Bauchi, Nigeria, contributed to this report.
Jon Gambrell can be reached at https://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .


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The Jack-O-Cheeze Ball is a salsa-filled Velveeta ball Halloween party appetizer that melts into yummy queso fondue dip! Your guests will be mesmerized.
Jack is the Halloween version of Frosty the Cheeseball Man. But this time with a twist — the Velveeta is filled with chunky salsa!
Velveeta is an incredible medium to work in and is very under-rated in the sculpture world. I prefer working with Velveeta more than clay and even more than Play-Doh. And when you're done playing with it, you can eat it too. Tastes just like liquid mac 'n' cheese.
What you'll need to create your own Jack-O-Cheeze Ball:
- retro electric skillet (that works)
- 3 Velveeta bricks
- jar of chunky salsa
- celery stalk
- black tortilla chips
Start by kneading Velveeta bricks into a ball. Carve salsa well in middle and freeze for 1 hour to firm. Remove and spoon out more of the well. Shape excess Velveeta into a Jack's lid. Place in cool electric skillet; pour in jar of chunky salsa place top and seal and seal. Smooth ball with wet fingers. Decorate with celery stalk starburst and give Jack his black tortilla chip face.
As soon as the party gets going, gather guests around Jack and toast him. Without skipping a beat, plug in the electric skillet on low. (This gives "toast" another whole meaning!)
When the celery wilts dead, Jack is too and it's time to dig in with chips, fruits, veggies, cookies, breadsticks, pretzels, Halloween candy…anything you want.
Shall we have a Velveeta sculpture contest? Yes! Have fun and send pix!
Here's to a cheezy Halloween and YOU!
Charles Phoenix
Los Angeles, CA


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Men's Morning Bible Study
June 10 @ 5:30 am - 7:00 am
|Recurring Event (See all)
Weekly / Wednesday Morning Men's Bible Study
Attention Men… This is for you early birds!
Join us for morning bible study.
Our morning Men's bible study is a great time of small group fellowship, worship and deeper learning of God's Word.
When: Wednesday | 5:30am
Where: Monroeville Assembly of God
Monroeville Assembly of God
Phone: (412) 856-7900 ext 23
Email: email@example.com


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Annual Fund Donors Recognized with Named Tuition Scholarships
POSTED ON: December 14, 2012
During this season of giving, The Cooper Union hosted a reception in late November to recognize and thank our generous donors who made leadership gifts of $10,000 or more to the Annual Fund in the 2011-2012 academic year. In appreciation for their support, the Office of Alumni Affairs and Development established current-use tuition scholarships named after each donor. Top first year students were selected by the Office of Admissions for the honor of receiving Annual Fund tuition scholarships for the 2012-2013 school year.
Conversations were spirited between donors and student awardees who attended the reception. Students talked about their Cooper experience, academic challenges and professional goals, providing the best perspective on how donor generosity directly impacts their work and college life. This scholarship program has also provided an important opportunity for students to learn about the role philanthropy plays in supporting their education at Cooper. Celine Park, ARC'17; Zeb Bennett, ART'16; and Amy Chambers, ENG'16 spoke about their time at Cooper so far and expressed their appreciation for the donors' contributions.
Our donors thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the students. Alfred Brand, CE'67, commented that he and his wife "…enjoyed the evening and were happy to meet Arven (Rulona, ENG'16) and the other students." Students also enjoyed meeting donors, hearing about their time at Cooper, and being able to personally express their gratitude. Andrew Rahayem wrote to Kenneth and Helene Mitchell, "Thank you again for your support in this uncertain time in Cooper's history, and please know that your impact on me personally and on academia at large is very real and very much appreciated."
Collectively, 53 alumni, parents, trustees, former trustees and widows of alums contributed close to $1 million during the last academic year for current-use scholarships. They represented all three schools and the class years spanned every decade from 1943 to 2001. In total, approximately 83 scholarships were named, many of which were represented by students at the reception.
This year, we hope to support even more students through Annual Fund tuition scholarships. If you would like to learn more about contributing, please contact Jeanne Lunin, Director of Development, at 212-353-4107 or email@example.com.
2011-12 Annual Fund Scholarship Donors
Sidney Joseph Altschuler
Howard B. Betts
Michael Borkowsky
Alfred Brand
Michael Francis Cannon
Bill Cordiano
Brian and Lynn Cusack
Francois de Menil
Deke and Roberta Dening
Vic DiFranco
Thomas Driscoll
Michael Vincent Duffy
Edward Durbin and Joan Morris
Benjamin and Susan Eisenberg
Mr. Mark L. Epstein
Eugene and Lauren Esnes
Audrey Flack
The Frezza Family Foundation
Angelica Garcia-Flagg
Joan E. Gertler
Jack D. Goodman
Jeffrey Gural
Douglas A. P. Hamilton
Isaac Heller
Paul Heller
William F. Hergenrother
Jeffrey and Ronny Hersch
John E. Huddy
Irwin N. Huppert
Ben and Susan Itri
Vikas Kapoor
Alan Kramer
Stanley Lapidus
Kenneth Mitchell
Edgar Mokuvos
Cynthia C. Weiler and E. Blake Moore, Jr.
Kenneth J. Nussbacher
Edward and Mary Ott
Peter Puglionesi
George A. Reeves
William H. Sandholm, Jr.
James and Shirley Suazo
Philip Trahanas
Ronald and Vicki Weiner
Philip Zev Weisberg, C. F. A.
Irma Giustino Weiss
Jeremy Wertheimer
Christos and Alexandra Yessios/p>


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This Thanksgiving, the New York Red Bulls are thankful for the dedicated supporters that make this club what it is. This series will call attention to three aspects in particular that help shape the unique identity of this fanbase.
There are homegrown players, and there are homegrown fans.
Kids and families make up a large portion of the New York Red Bulls fan base; 39,105 people with children bought tickets this year. Sometimes these families come dressed in AYSO rather than Red Bulls attire, so dedicated that they'll rush from all across New York and New Jersey to make kickoff after games of their own. And sometimes, it's the kids dragging mom or dad to get there.
A lot of this comes from the team's extensive youth development program. "What the Red Bulls are doing is remarkable," Peter Schwartz said. "Not only are they teaching the beautiful game of soccer to kids of all ages, but they are also building their supporters base one fan at a time." One of the goals of the program is in fact "developing lifelong passion for the sport of soccer and the New York Red Bulls."
Kids can join the youth program at 4, the Regional Development School after that, and the Academy team from the Under-12 through Under-23 level. The youth training programs serve the kids at a grassroots level and they advance from there, giving one of the best professional soccer environment to kids who develop their skill – and knowledge – about the game. The Red Bulls RDS Camp has a player pool of about 4,000 kids a year. The academy teams learn to not only love soccer but also, through opportunities with the Academy to watch the First Team training and coaching sessions, to love the Red Bulls themselves.
The stadium is filled every week with these kids, as well as kids from all over the tri-state area who have developed a love the Red Bulls for any number of other reasons from their youth.
"I was a fan from the MetroStars days," says Huan Nguyen. "I really remember sitting in the wind tunnel of Giants stadium. But I got really into the Red Bulls again once I was able to drive and go to the games myself."
"And it was really important to me to support local soccer, because MLS is our league and the Red Bulls/MetroStars [are our team]," he added.
Eric Friedlander, who is now in college, became a fan around 2001 when his parents started to bring him. "Back in the day they had a kids fanatics club and I was a part of that. [And] as I grew older, it was just natural to become a bigger and bigger fan. You don't give up when you follow from such a young age."
So thank you, for not only Running With Us, but growing with us, too.


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Via Dülfer
The cold West Face hosts the via Dülfer, a direct and elegant line, somewhat less popular than the other routes. It is relatively short, considering that it is on the Cima Grande, and is solid UIAA 6 with some slightly harder moves on the second pitch. The upper chimney provides the backdrop to an almost obligatory photo of climbers silhouetted against the sky and shadowy walls.
The ideal starting points are Cortina d'Ampezzo and Auronzo.
These can be reached from the north via the Pusteria Valley, or from the south by first taking the motorway (A27) to Longarone and then following the state road northwards. Both points of departure lead to Misurina, from where a private toll-road winds steeply almost to the base of the Tre Cime's south faces. Park the car at Rifugio Auronzo, situated at the end of the road and either sleep here or in Rifugio Lavaredo, reached by following the path for 15 minutes underneath the majestic South Faces which contain, amongst many other famous routes, the Spigolo Giallo.
From the rifugio Auronzo walk up the scree-filled gully which lies between the Cima Ovest and the Cima Grande. From the top of the saddle climb up the pedestal at the base of the wall to the long chimney/corner. The route starts beneath a yellow crack.
Walk right along the ledge to the normal route and then follow the instructions as for via Hasse.
Since this climbs the corner take plenty of wires and friends.


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S.W.O.G is a sobriety support group for atheists, agnostics, and free-thinkers. We reject faith healing and the religious dogma of the 12 step approach to treating addiction.
Website: http://secular-sobriety-chat.blogspot.com/
Location: http://host5.chatblazer.com/client.php?v=Y.29E-iHsl3tbpw
Members: 26
Latest Activity: Feb 25, 2017
The site S.W.O.G. is no more
Started by itsmerrydeath. Last reply by Joan Denoo Feb 25, 2017. 1 Reply 1 Like
I am coming up on 7 years sober this April. I remember when I first quit, the advice was immediately to start attending AA, and after a few months the response turned to shock that I never went to…Continue
Started by Azel Praer. Last reply by Azel Praer Jun 5, 2011. 2 Replies 0 Likes
so as someone who has issues with sobriety and wants to stay on track how do you cope when you fall off the wagon? and how do you process the guilt? and get back up again?
Ia a person addicted to alcohol.I have tapered down and am on the verge of quitting. Would love to talk with fellow athiests who are developing a good quality sober life. Thanks
Hi, just looking for fellow recovering alcoholics who are also atheists. I've been sober in AA for 23 years and over the past several years I have been questioning whether or not I really believe in a God. Recently, wthin the last couple of months I came to terms that I am in fact an atheist, and happily so. I have no desire to believe or to even pretend to believe in that crap again.
That being said, I still love AA, it's such a huge part of who I am. Almost half my life has been spent in AA and I do enjoy it.
I've reconciled my lack of belief in a deity or any supernatural beings for that matter with the program. I can work the steps with AA as my higher power. I can meditate but I don't pray. If I choose to recite the serenity prayer, it's nothing more than a poem I recite to calm myself.
There is only one other atheist who I know of at my home group and he's the only person with whom I've confided. I have not told my sponsor, my sponsee or anyone else in the group. I think I will need to do that, just to be honest with everyone, but for some reason I am reluctant to "come out" as it were.
This doesn't look like a very active group, but if I thought I would take a chance at connecting with a like-minded person.
© 2020 Atheist Nexus. All rights reserved. Admin: The Nexus Group. Powered by


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What I am trying to achieve is creating a C# application that wil run several Ruby scripts from a several locations.
In my C# project I have added references to several .dll files (e.g. IronRuby.dll, IronRuby.Libraries.dll, Microsoft.Scripting.dll, etc) in order to execute the ruby scripts.
Location scripts: D:\Projects\Ruby\Test
Location C# app: D:\Projects\VisualStudio\C#\Test
Example RubyScript.rb:
require 'Test'
aTest = Test.new
puts aTest.attr
Code used to call Ruby scripts:
var runtime = Ruby.CreateRunTime();
var engine = runtime.GetEngine();
Running the application results in the following error message:
- No such file or directory - Test
The application wil run without errors if:
- Ruby scripts do not use require
- The require is defined using absolute paths
- Application is in same directory as the Ruby scripts
I do not like any of these solutions very much. I would like the application to know where to look for the required ruby classes/scripts. Is this possible or do I need to find another solution for my application?
All information on this problem/subject/solution is welcome.
Thanks in advance


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The marvellous 2019 Lincoln MKT HD Pictures image below, is other parts of 2019 Lincoln MKT publishing which is listed within Lincoln, Lincoln MKT and published at September 26, 2018.
2019 Lincoln MKT : 2019 Lincoln MKT HD Pictures
Although there were reports that Lincoln is changing MKT with Aviator, both crossovers will appear next season. The new model is taking the position in the mid-size class. The 2019 Lincoln MKT is going to be slotted in between Aviator and the full-size Navigator. Nonetheless, eventually the MKT will need to change its name. Lincoln will do it with all vehicles beginning with MK. More identifiable names will make it clear to purchasers which class the vehicle comes from.
The essential thing for all fans of the crossover is that they will see it once again. Nevertheless, small changes are not making it so magnificent. Well, the company is providing a benefit to its new models, Nautilus and Aviator. All the attention is on these 2, so the 2019 Lincoln MKT will come quietly. For sure, it will debut at some huge program. Nevertheless, due to its little updates, we question the edition for 2019 will draw a lot of fans.
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Nov. 28, 2008—Last Friday, the New York Knicks made two trades, getting three journeymen players, forwards Al Harrington and Tim Thomas and guard Cuttino Mobley (whose health has kept the trades from being considered final). But to hear the locals tell it, the Knicks just acquired LeBron James.
The New York media and the local hoops fans are more prone than most to overheated fits of fancy (there is not much else to do when the Knicks are in the midst of a run where they have lost 59, 49 and 59 games in the past three seasons), but there is reason for all the heavy breathing. James will be a free agent in 2010, and with the trades the Knicks will now likely have salary-cap room to pursue him aggressively. By some reckonings, the Knicks will have enough cap room to sign James and another top free agent. So, it's not without reason that some outlets have taken to calling 2010 "The Summer of LeBron"
Get a grip, people. James isn't going anywhere.
Even though he loves a big stage and being at the center of attention, LeBron James needs one thing more than any other to complete his legacy—a dynasty. James is the best basketball player since Michael Jordan (Kobe Bryant fans, your guy isn't even close). James' 2007-2008 season will be marveled by historians in the same breathless way we look at Oscar Robertson's early seasons when he averaged a triple double (the only difference is that LeBron's teams played at a much slower pace, upwards of 10 fewer possessions per game). What's lacking to cement the James legacy on the very short list of greatest players in NBA history isn't a title—it's the run of titles he lacks. (Rasheed Wallace has a title and no one is putting him on any short list of greats.) You know, kinda like Mike had in the '90s or Magic and Bird in the '80s, or Bill Russell in the '60s.
That won't happen in New York. If James joined the Knicks in 2010, he would be on a team where Wilson Chandler and David Lee would be the next best players. Chandler and Lee are very good ball players, but neither is the go-to guy on a title team. And if the Knicks keep enough cap room to go after two members of the free-agent class of 2010, it will come at a cost of signing those two players for long-term contracts. In other words, most scenarios that involve James leaving Cleveland to join the Knicks mean that he would join a team about as good as the Cavaliers team he played on three seasons ago. It was good enough to reach Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals. You can't build a legacy on being a playoff also ran. Just ask Tracy McGrady.
The Cleveland brain trust includes GM Danny Ferry, a Duke grad who upon discovering that his game wasn't NBA caliber, joined the San Antonio front office and learned from the best in the business, and coach Mike Brown, who also spent time in San Antonio. He's one of the best coaches in the league. They have been planning for 2010 all along. That summer, the Cavs figure to have cap room to add another superstar, a Pippen to complement James's Jordan.
Meanwhile, the team they have assembled for this season is likely to go far. The Cavaliers rank in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency (points per 100 possessions, a stat that levels the hardwood between up-tempo squads like Golden State and slow-paced ones like Portland). They are clearly one of the top three teams in the league, and Cleveland could easily improve its title chances this year by swapping Wally Szczerbiak and his expiring contract for another key role player (Minnesota's Mike Miller, for instance, is a sharpshooter who would punish teams that double LeBron). So, by 2010, James might have a title or two to his credit as well as several others in the offing if he stays in Cleveland.
Or he could come to New York and be part of a mediocre team. It really isn't hard to hazard a guess as to which option James will choose. This doesn't mean that the Knicks' management duo, Team President Donnie Walsh and Coach Mike D'Antoni are taking the fans for a ride. They are using the prospect of competing for LeBron in 2010 as the carrot that will make enduring the stick of two more losing seasons more bearable. Walsh is a savvy team builder and while James is almost certainly his plan A, he likely has several alternatives. I think he will continue to rid the team of the shortsighted acquisitions of the Isiah Thomas era and acquire players suited to D'Antoni's up-tempo style. Then in 2010, he will pick up one of the other marquee free agents and put himself in position to vie for Carmelo Anthony in the summer of 2011, when he can opt out of his contract with the Denver Nuggets. Thus the 2012 Eastern Conference finals might well involve games at Madison Square Garden—with LeBron James as one of the future Hall of Famers—but he will be wearing a different jersey than fans in New York currently envision.
Martin Johnson is a regular contributor to The Root.
Martin Johnson writes about music for the Wall Street Journal, basketball for Slate and beer for Eater, and he blogs at both the Joy of Cheese and Rotations. Follow him on Twitter.


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fiber ∞-bundle, principal ∞-bundle, associated ∞-bundle,
group cohomology, nonabelian group cohomology, Lie group cohomology
cohomology with constant coefficients / with a local system of coefficients
differential cohomology
Simplicial groups model all ∞-groups in ∞Grpd. Accordingly principal ∞-bundles in ∞Grpd (a discrete -bundle) should be modeled by Kan complexes equipped with a principal action by a simplicial group. It is suficient to assume the action to be strict. This yields the notion of simplicial principal bundles .
(principal action)
Let be a simplicial group. For a Kan complex, an action of on
is called principal if it is degreewise principal, i.e. if for all the only elements that have any fixed point in that are the neutral elements.
The canonical action
of any simplicial group on itself is principal.
(simplicial principal bundle)
For a simplicial group, a morphism of Kan complexes equipped with a -action on is called a -simplicial principal bundle if
the action is principal;
the base is isomorphic to the quotient by the action:
A simplicial -principal bundle is necessarly a Kan fibration.
This appears as (May, Lemma 18.2).
Let be a twisted cartesian product of the simplicial set with a simplicial group . Then with respect to the canonical -action this is a simplicial principal bundle.
This is (May, prop. 18.4).
It is simplicial principal bundles of this form that one is mainly interested in. These are the objects that are classified by the evident classifying space . This is discussed below.
Recall from generalized universal bundle that a universal -principal simplicial bundle should be a principal bundle such that every other -principal simplicial bundle arises up to equivalence as the pullback of along a morphism .
A standard model for the delooping Kan complex for a simplicial group goes by the name
This is described at simplicial group - delooping. The following establishes a model for the universal simplicial bundle over this model of .
For a simplicial group, define the simplicial set to be the decalage of
By the discussion at homotopy pullback this means that for any Kan complex, an ordinary pullback diagram
in sSet exhibits as the homotopy pullback in / (∞,1)-pullback in ∞Grpd
i.e. as the homotopy fiber of the cocycle .
We call the simplicial -principal bundle corresponding to .
Let be the twisting function corresponding to by the above discussion.
Then the simplicial set is explicitly given by the formula called the twisted Cartesian product :
its cells are
with face and degeneracy maps
Here are some pointers on where precisely in the literature the above statements can be found.
One useful reference is
There the abbreviation PCTP ( principal twisted cartesian product ) is used for what above we called just twisted Cartesian products.
The fact that every PTCP defined by a twisting function arises as the pullback of along a morphism of simplicial sets can be found there by combining
the last sentence on p. 81 which asserts that pullbacks of PTCPs along morphisms of simplicial sets yield PTCPs corresponding to the composite of with ;
section 21 which establishes that is the PTCP for some universal twisting function .
lemma 21.9 states in the language of composites of twisting functions that every PTCP comes from composing a cocycle with the universal twisting function . In view of the relation to pullbacks in item 1, this yields the statement in the form we stated it above.
An explicit version of the statement that twisted Cartesian products are nothing but pullbacks of a generalized universal bundle is on page 148 of
On page 239 there it is mentioned that
is a model for the loop space object fiber sequence
One place in the literature where the observation that is the decalage of is mentioned fairly explicitly is page 85 of
Discussion of topological simplicial principal bundles is in
Last revised on December 28, 2012 at 11:25:38. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.


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Navarathri – 9 nights. It is the celebration of the Trinity Goddesses – Parvathy, Lakshmi and Saraswathi. It ends with Dusshera aka Saraswathi Puja and Vijayadasami. In the northern states of
When my mom started keeping Kolu when I was a kid we started with 3 steps, that too managed with trunk boxes and tables etc. Then we proceeded to 5 steps and then as we collected several dolls we bought the Kolu stand and here is our Kolu with 7 steps.
So lemme now show you it all step by step. Starting from the first step. The first step generally has figurines of Gods and Goddesses. At the centre is Lord Shiva holding Lord Ganesha aka Pillaiyaar and beside him is his consort Goddess Parwathi holding Lord Murugan aka Karthikeyan. A typical family picture! See the beaded flowers at their feet? Those were done by my mom when she was a school child in her 9th grade. Beside them is Lord Buddha. And next to Buddha is a mother feeding her child. According to me a Mother is the best creation of God and she is a creator herself. So I prefer keeping her equal or higher than Gods. To the other side are Gandhiji with his 3 monkeys and Lord Rama, Sita and Lakshmana. I consider Gandhiji as my leader and guide and so I keep him too there atop. The 3 monkeys denote see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil as Gandhiji instructs.
In the second step are Dakshinamurthy and Annamalaiyar and Unnamulaiyammai. Dakshinamurthy is Lord Shiva who is an ascetic. He sits south faced under a tree. South is Dakshin so Dakshinamurthy. He is flanked by 4 rishis – saints.
Beside Dakshinamurthy are Annamalaiyar and Unnamulaiyammai, yet other names of Lord Shiva and his consort Parwathi with the Saiva Nalvar. The little figurine beneath is Lakshmi Hayagreevar – the horse faced incarnation of Lord Vishnu who is a specialty God for knowledge and wisdom.
On the third step are 3 different scenes. The first one is a Krishna Leela.
The second scene is Lord Rama, with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmanan and the oarsman Gugan. It is the scene where the 3 are on their way into a forest for exile. In the front as you may see there are some little figurines. At the centre is the Pancha Mukha Ganapathy – the 5 faced Lord Ganasha. The beadwork of the Shivalinga with the snake and a Kuthuvilakku – traditional lamp between second and third scenes were again among my mom's 9th grade work!
The third scene is Kamakshi aka Parwathi hugging Siva Lingam. She had actually made this Lingam with sand beside a river in Kanchipuram and started praying him to accept her as his wife. When the river started bulging with overflowing water, the lingam was at the verge of dissolving when she just hugged it that it doesn't dissolve. With her love and warm hug, Lord Shiva accepted her and married her.
On the fourth step are 4 scenes. Wow! Just while writing this I noticed, I've arranged 2 scenes in 2nd step, 3 in 3rd, and 4 in 4th… Cool…!!!
Ok. The first scene is Lord Krishna with his wife Rukmini and childhood friend Kuchelan. Kuchelan aka Sudama is a father of 27 kids who is highly affected by poverty. Well, what would you expect out of a guy who has 27 kids.!!! Since
The second scene is Avvaiyum Navarkaniyum. Avvai is an old lady poet who was proud of her knowledge. So Lord Muruga in the form of a little cowboy sits atop a Naval Maram – Jamun tree. When Avvai asks this cowboy to pluck and put down some Jamun Fruits, he asks 'Sutta Pazham Venduma.? Sudadha Pazham Venduma.?' (Do you want cooked, hot Jamuns or normal Jamuns). She laughs and says, 'How do u cook Jamun'. He says, 'Its possible'. She says, 'Ok. Gimme Sutta Pazham. He plucks and throws the fruits down. She picks 'em up and blows the sand stuck onto it. On seeing this, he asks, 'Seems the Jamun really hot, you are blowing it.?'. Immediately she realized, this is God himself!!!
The Thulasi Maadam in the front is again Mom's talent! The little figurine beside is Veenadhara Anjaneyar – Hanuman with Veena, the musical instrument.
The third scene is Thirukazhukundram. It's a place where eagles take food from the hands of the temple priest like a pet animal. Eagles are Lord Vishnu's vahanam – mount. The little figurine is Lalithambal – an incarnation of Goddess Parwathi.
The fourth is Bharatha Pillayar. It is believed that Lord Ganesha aka Pillaiyar, wrote the Mahabaratha, one of the longest epics in
K for now. This is going really long. I'll get back with the last 3 rows and the side display soon.


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Client Details
PageGroup is formed of three leading global recruitment brands; Michael Page, Page Personnel and Page Executive. We're proud to be a Sunday Times Top 100 Company to work for, a Glassdoor Top 25 employer and a Top 100 Undergraduate employer, as well as a FTSE 250 listed business. Our 25 offices across the UK have the same 'work hard, play hard' mentality, made present by the strong work ethic and celebration of success our 1000+ consultants bring. We're looking for like-minded individuals, who are ambitious and determined to make a real career out of a sales role, to join us as we continue the growth in each of our 26 specialist disciplines.
Recruitment is a complex sales role, you will be responsible for developing business as well as sourcing potential candidates and managing the offer process based in our Liverpool office.
Job Offer
PageGroup is a focused sales environment and you will receive world renowned training when you start and throughout your career with us. You will begin on our Sales Academy programme and as your career progresses we will support you throughout to ensure you have all the information necessary to be highly successful.


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Many people not only know him, but love him. They refer to him as their friend first, and their business partner second. Richard "Dick" Hartford has a lot to celebrate this year — his 65th birthday, 37 years in the insurance industry, and 24 with Evergreen, a company insuring the campground industry, owned by campground owners.
President of Evergreen Indemnity and Evergreen USA, Hartford resides in Lewiston, Maine, and has two sons, Lucas and Justin. He is a man who has supported many causes within the Northeast Campground Association (NCA) and has gaveled many charity auctions. He has received both the "Stan Martin Award" and the "Curtis Fuller Award" from state campground associations.
Hartford began a program of insuring campgrounds and RV parks in 1973 and started Evergreen in 1986. That year many campgrounds and RV parks were seeing their insurance premiums double and triple and often they could not even find coverage. During the mid-1980s nearly all of the insurance companies were pulling out of the camping industry. That's when a group of people within the camping arena asked Hartford to find a long-term solution for insuring their industry. He set to work and found a group that was willing to invest to start Evergreen.
"It was exciting to put together a program when there was relatively no insurance available to campgrounds, and to get enough support from the camping industry from wonderful campgrounds that invested in the effort to start a new company like this one had never been done before," he explained.
Hartford describes campground owners as a hardworking, down-to-earth and a respectful group of people.
"Very seldom do you ever find a rude campground owner," he said. "You can't meet a nicer bunch of people than in the camping industry. They are willing to help their fellow mankind and are very generous. As I look back, I can't imagine that I could have ever picked an industry that would have suited me any better than the campground industry. I got to the point where I loved the camping industry more than the insurance industry."
Today, Hartford continues to manage the long-range interests of the Evergreen companies, while his son Lucas oversees the daily activities.
"My dad brought me into the business by teaching me how to do risk management inspections and policy reviews of campgrounds and RV parks," Lucas said. "But the biggest thing he taught me in this business is that Evergreen's success only comes with the success of the camping industry. He realizes that the long-term interests of Evergreen come with the long-term success of the camping industry.
"As his son and business partner, I am forever grateful for him trusting me to run the daily activities of Evergreen. He has played many roles in my life from father, ski coach, boss, co-worker and friend. And in all those things I have seen him commit himself 100% to every effort. He does nothing half way. It is all or nothing for him and that is a quality I fully admire."
In 2007 Dick and Lucas sold a local insurance agency in order to focus all of their efforts on Evergreen and the camping industry.
"My dad told me for years that the camping industry is the best group of people to deal with and he is 100% right – so that is what we focus on," Lucas said.
Dick enjoys fly fishing, carpentry and electrical work and flower gardening. But most of all he enjoys watching Lucas take Evergreen to new levels of success.
"What I love now is watching my son take the company to heights that I couldn't have," he said. "It deflates my ego a little bit to watch that, but that is the most wonderful part about it, seeing how much better he is at it than I was."
The future for Dick Hartford? He will remain the company's chairman of the board and president for around five more years and at that time he envisions handing over full reign to Lucas.
"Maybe I'll start an insurance company to compete with him, that will teach him a lesson," he joked. "I can't imagine myself not working and I will probably do carpentry and electrical work when I feel like doing it. I have gotten to a point where I can choose to do things when I want to which is kind of nice. Even if I give up the leadership of the company, I see myself being involved behind the scenes."
On the subject of fatherly advice, Dick says one thing he has never tried to do is give advice to either of his sons.
"If they come and ask a question, I usually try to refrain and say, 'What do you think you should do?' I encourage them to do what they believe they need to do. I will give Lucas the same advice I gave him 15 years ago when I turned over the daily activities to him. He asked me, 'But dad, what happens if I fail?' I said, 'If that happens, the only suggestion I have for you is to have another job lined up because you're going to need it.'"
Failure, according to Dick, is the best education there is.
"Every young person in this world under the age of 50 needs the opportunity to succeed and fail on their own," he said. "It makes you humble, teaches you a lesson and you move on. It wasn't what I learned in a classroom in college – it was what I learned outside of the classroom – how to get along with people, how to budget my time, etc."
It doesn't take a long conversation with Dick to pick up on his sharp wit and sense of humor. When told people have nothing but compliments for him, he quipped, "They must be lying."
"When I think of Dick Hartford I think about family and friends," said Rick Abare, president of Campground Association Management Professionals (CAMP) and executive director of the Maine Campground Owners Association. "The business of insurance I think of as a secondary item when I think of him. I think about that uncle that everyone has who is wise, fun-loving, and energetic all at the same time. The good uncle."
When Abare bought his campground in 1992 and went looking for insurance companies, he was thoroughly impressed with the concept behind Evergreen – that the campground owners are owners of the company.
"That kind of thing is what Dick Hartford would dream up," Abare said. "He is always there for you. He is one of the people I have always looked to when I have a question about what is right or wrong and I know I will get the truth. He is genuinely one of a kind. The 'what can I do for you, how can I help' attitude is a Hartford family trait. This is part of why so many people look up to Dick and all he has done for the camping industry. There probably is no one like him. When you think of family and camping and put it all together and ask yourself who is always there for you, that would be Dick Hartford."
Chip Menz, co-owner along with his brother Bruce, of Big Timber Lake Campground in Papemay Court House, N.J., met Dick in the early 1980s before he began Evergreen.
"When he decided to start Evergreen, we became invested in Evergreen," explained Menz. "Dick is a straight shooter, he stands by his word and he is just a lot of fun, and easygoing."
The Menz brothers are on the board of directors for Evergreen.
"Dick is good for the industry and I'm glad I met him," Menz said. "He has a world of knowledge about the insurance business and he does what he does well. He has helped a lot of campground owners."
April 26 was Dick's birthday and this year his family planned a surprise party to mark 65 years.
"There haven't been many chances to surprise my dad and he was completely surprised," Lucas said.
To Dick his 65th birthday was just another day. But to his family there was a lot to celebrate.
"He doesn't like parties or surprises," joked Lucas.
"I was momentarily (mad)," Dick said. "But I got over it."


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Louisa Revenue Commissioner wanted 28x
According to a front page story in today's Daily Progress, the Louisa County Commissioner of Revenue had the nerve to demand $1.6 million for land her own office had assessed for just $55,900.
According to the story, Commissioner Nancy Pleasants and her family argued that when VDOT seized part of her 9.17 acres along the Route 208 Bypass that they deserved compensation that valued the entire parcel at 28.6 times the amount her own office had assessed the land.
According to the Progress, the Commissioner's lawyer argued that the Commissioner's family deserved $350,000, including damages, for the .773 acres VDOT seized for the Bypass and that the value should be higher than the assessment because the property has significant building potential. According to the Progress, a five-member body under direction of circuit judge Timothy K. Sanner ruled that the compensation for the land seizure should be $240,000.


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As hundreds of homeowner meet at Sandestin this weekend, resort officials are rolling out the red carpet, and unveiling plans and improvements for 2013.
Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort manages more than 1,200 units for homeowners, bringing them a full menu of the top amenities and rental management services including reservations, marketing, housekeeping, engineering and 24/7 property services.
�We provide the best combination of benefits to people who rent their vacation unit and want to receive a good return on investment,� said Amanda Ferguson, director of Sandestin Property Management.
Sandestin Rental Management brings in a powerful arsenal of benefits, unmatched by any other company in the area.
In addition to 24/7 on property management services including front desk, accounting and housekeeping, Sandestin delivers important resources including revenue management, marketing and publicity to thousands of guests and prospective guests. Sandestin also brought more than 700 meetings and events to the area this year, an economic engine for resort rentals, and is the only authorized provider of group room nights.
�Because Sandestin brings in more business than any other rental management company in the area for one property, we can deliver homeowners higher nightly room revenue and greater opportunities for profitability,� added Ferguson.
As part of its partnership with people renting their vacation units, the resort also offers remodeling assistance, including lower costs on furniture, fixtures, appliances, equipment and renovations, due to the resort�s size and purchasing volume.
According to homeowner Jennifer Price, �Sandestin Rental Management provides the best service with the most profitable returns.�
Among many of the developments to be announced this weekend, Sandestin is officially introducing homeowners to a new team of experienced leadership with extensive experience including Sandestin�s new general manager, Mark Hodgdon; Ron Carnes, head of engineering and other expert staff.
Mark Hodgdon for example has more than 30 years of hospitality experience, including management of some of North America�s leading properties such as The Phoenician in Arizona, Ritz Carlton hotels in California and Georgia, Loews Ventana Canyon Resort and theGrand Wailea Resort in Hawaii. He has a strong commitment to operational excellence, customer service and to the staff who help achieve those important benchmarks.
Ron Carnes joined Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort as director of engineering with more than 18 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Carnes� impressive hospitality background includes management of operations and maintenance at ResortQuest by Wyndham Vacation Rentals, located in Northwest Florida. Carnes is also a licensed Community Association Manager (CAM) in the State of Florida.
These leaders combined with Ferguson�s team of eight expert rental managers and staff, plus the hundreds of Sandestin support employees, means significant bench strength and service to rental homeowners.
�Sandestin Rental Management is the best they�ve ever been. The team is fantastic � very responsive and attentive,� said Jean Ann and Pat Griffin. Nancy and Tom King of Alabama agree, �The experience is very convenient, thorough and worry free. �
In addition to the economic benefits of using Sandestin Rental Management, the company offers homeowners in its program the best package of amenities to enjoy the resort. These benefits include access to all Sandestin amenities such as tennis, bike rentals, children�s programs, fitness center, transportation, watersports and special pricing on golf, retail and services. One of the most popular features of the program is preferred beach services as well.
�Sandestin Rental Management is great. With their amenities and benefits, we have been able to create family memories and traditions,�said Tina Wong of Louisiana.
The resort has a long list of homeowners who have been with the rental management program because of all of its benefits. Steve and Shelda Heidecker, who have been with the program for 20 years, said �We appreciate all Sandestin has to offer. It allows us to have the lifestyle we enjoy.�
At this weekend�s meeting, Sandestin will also announce the many recognitions and achievements it has earned in recent weeks. Among Sandestin�s awards and honors are �Best Resort in Destin� by Emerald Coast Magazine, �Fodor�s Choice� by international travel publisher Fodor�s; Best of the South Award by Meeting South Magazine, Best Family Beach by iVillage.com; and Best of 2012 Weddings by The Knot.
Resort officials are optimistic about the months ahead.
�We have an excellent team in place, a great group of rental homeowners, positive forward momentum and a solid plan for the future,� said Sandestin General Manager Mark Hodgdon.


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In a desire to serve the denomination to better equip men to serve as deacons, the Committee on Diaconal Ministries is sponsoring an OPC Deacons' Summit. The dates are June 3-5, 2010, at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. The summit is open for all ordained men, but especially deacons and men who serve on presbytery diaconal committees.
For further information see the following: feature article, registration flyer, online registration form, Summit Questionaire cover letter (.doc), Deacon questionnaire (.doc).
Committee on Diaconal Ministries
Rev. Ronald Pearce, Secretary
Church of the Covenant
319 Blau Road
Hackettstown, NJ 07840-5227
Phone: 908-850-8910
Email: email@example.com
|© 2020 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Chaplains and Military Personnel


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Should you hire a payroll consultant?
Small Business Guides
7 min read
Payroll is part of doing business. But that doesn't mean you have to do it yourself. Hiring a payroll consultant can be a good way to get the work done efficiently. So is it the right decision for your business?
Not everyone enjoys doing payroll
Payroll is a necessity if you run a business that employs people. Even if you don't employ anyone, you may want – or need – to be on the payroll of your business. In some countries it's a legal requirement.
Modern accounting software makes the process of paying yourself and your staff quite straightforward. But it still may not be something you want to do in-house. If you're not an expert in this yourself, you might not want to invest time and effort in becoming one.
Business owners have all sorts of different skills. Sometimes it makes sense to concentrate on what you're good at, and leave the number crunching to the experts.
That's where payroll consultants come in. They can take over the work, help you maintain compliance and keep everything running smoothly.
There are pros and cons to hiring a consultant. In this guide we'll look at whether it's the right choice for your business. If it is, we'll give you tips on how to find the right consultant for you.
What are your payroll needs?
Before deciding what to do with your payroll, take the time to understand what it actually involves for your business. For example, your tasks will include some of the following:
- make regular salary payments to your staff
- handle new employees and leavers
- differentiate between employees and contractors
- keep all bank details up to date
- track hours, for full-time and part-time staff
- manage tax codes and payroll tax reporting
- handle holidays and sick leave
- update employee addresses and other personal details
- manage benefits and bonuses
- use payroll software that integrates with your accounting software
- track pension and healthcare contributions
Once you're up and running with the right software, payroll isn't usually too hard. But it is extra work, and someone has to do it.
If you're happy to manage this yourself, or if your accountant or bookkeeper can do it for you, that's great. But it might be more efficient – and cheaper – to hire someone to handle it for you.
The pros of hiring a payroll consultant
If you decide to outsource the work to a consultant, they could do more than just the tasks listed above. They could also:
- set up a new payroll system quickly
- prepare useful reports
- help you meet your tax obligations, since tax laws change frequently
- handle any staff changes as they happen
- advise you on ways of making your payroll more efficient
- let you focus more time and energy on your core business.
It's often useful to have someone else looking over parts of your accounts. That's especially true if they've worked for other clients, or perhaps for an agency. A consultant may save you enough money to cover their cost by finding mistakes and improving efficiency.
The cons of hiring a payroll consultant
There are some potential downsides to hiring a consultant. Here are three major ones:
- Loss of control
You will be handing over an important part of your business to someone who isn't an employee. That may reduce your direct control over the way the work is done.
- Expense
Hiring a consultant costs money. Probably not as much money as hiring someone full-time, but it still won't be cheap.
- Loss of skills
What if your business grows to the stage where you need an in-house payroll person? Then you'll have to start from scratch to build those skills.
You need to consider the pros and cons as they apply to your business. It might help to discuss this with a business advisor or your accountant.
Before deciding what to do with your payroll, take the time to understand what it actually involves for your business.
An insight into your business
The work that a payroll consultant would do varies from one business to another. You will have to discuss the details with whoever you hire. As mentioned earlier, there are plenty of 'needs' that have to be fulfilled.
But there's more to it than that. A good payroll consultant will give you an insight into your business. And it's an insight from an outside perspective.
That can be very useful. A consultant may work in several different companies part-time. They will come to your business with a critical eye and – hopefully – a broad experience of similar work.
That knowledge and perspective can be useful to you. It can help you identify areas where your own payroll processes can be improved. So if you do hire a consultant, don't just hire and forget. Be sure to talk to them regularly. Ask them for reports and advice on the way your payroll is being run. That way you're likely to get better value from them.
Finding the right consultant
If you've decided to hire a consultant, where and how do you find the right one for your business? A search for 'payroll consultant' online will return plenty of results, but that's not really what you want.
Your business needs someone who can be trusted with payroll. That's a serious responsibility. Here are some suggestions:
- Ask your accountant or financial advisor for recommendations.
- Find out if your business partners and customers use consultants. If so, would they recommend them?
- Talk to local chambers of commerce and other business advice institutions.
- Try to find people who know your area of business. Every sector is different.
That should give you a few contacts to start with. But you still need to make sure you find the right person.
Hiring a consultant is similar to hiring an employee in this respect. Even if the consultant will only be working for you part-time, they still need to fit into your organisation. They need the right work ethic and attitude.
So read our guide to hiring the right employees for useful information. That will help you choose someone who suits your business.
Sharing information makes payroll more efficient
Whoever you decide to hire to manage your payroll, it's important that they can use the same systems as you.
Ideally you'll be using cloud-based software. That will let you exchange data easily with the consultant and with your accountant. It will let the consultant do their work securely from anywhere, at any time.
Good payroll accounting software is easy to use. But it will save time if the consultant already has experience using the same software as you. That way they can be up and running straight away.
Ask them about their experience. Make sure they understand mobile and cloud-based accounting applications. This will help them do the work more efficiently.
Making it work
Outsourcing your payroll to a consultant is a big step. It's more likely to go well if you plan carefully. So before your consultant starts, you should:
- decide what you want them to do
- make a detailed list of their tasks on a weekly basis
- set them up with secure access to your accounts – limited to what they actually need
- be prepared to answer any questions they may have.
Take some time in the first week to help them integrate into your business. The more work you put in at this early stage, the more smoothly things should run later.
Monitor their performance
Just like any other employee, keep track of your new hire's performance and delivery of payroll tasks. They should be:
- making salary payments on time
- hitting all deadlines for reporting and filing
- keeping your payroll information up to date
- keeping you in the loop at all times.
If this doesn't happen, it pays to act sooner rather than later. Discuss the issue with the consultant and give them time to improve. The whole point of hiring a consultant is to save you time and effort. So if they cost you time and effort instead, that's not a good result for your business.
Make time for your business
Only you can decide whether it makes sense for your business to hand over payroll work to a consultant. For very small businesses and sole traders it might not. And for larger businesses, it may be better to have an employee do the work instead.
But for businesses of a certain size, it can be useful to have a consultant take over the work. As well as bringing their professional experience to the role, they may have a fresh take on business systems and processes.
This can help you consider new ways of doing things. That might mean paying your staff more efficiently or handling tax filing differently.
You may need more information before making your final decision. If so, you can read our other payroll guides.


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The Forex world is constantly evolving and during its weekly trading hours there is a wealth of news a trader must keep on top of if they want to make the most money possible. Indeed, because the market can be affected by a number of dynamics, it is essential they know exactly what's happening at all times in order to avoid any unprofitable deals.
For example, let's assume the US Dollar is trading well against the Great British Pound during the first half of the week. This would be a good time to invest some money and reap the benefits of a positive market condition. However, by Wednesday a series of negative news stories emerge from the UK and affect the country's economic performance. These dynamics then adversely affects how well the two currencies are trading. At this point it's important to know what's just happened because it will influence whether or not someone should cease trading this currency pair for a while or continue.
Knowing the value of each currency based on various internal and external factors is crucial and the reason why FXBrokerSearch.com's Forex news centre is a vital resource. Drawing on a number of resources, our information section provides the latest information and data from which users can refine their trading activity.
Beyond shifts in the currency market itself, FXBrokerSearch.com's new section has been designed to give traders an insight into the best offers and promotions. By monitoring each of our 200+ Forex brokers we're able to quickly tell users about the latest updates and bonuses.
By compiling all this current data into one portal we believe investors will be able to make even more money in the Forex market. Indeed, thanks to our dedicated team of analysts and experts, users can find out the latest market developments as well as the best deals in the industry. Putting all this together should help everyone gain a better understanding of the market, which in turn should give them the ability to make even more money.
Google is trying to make everything from your smart camera to your connected coffee pot more secure. ..
Shareholders questioned Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) executives at the company's annual meeting on Thursday, wanting to know why the company announced it will cut its North Am ..
Opening this morning at $46, CSCO stock is at its highest since those glory days of the dot-com boom, when Cisco was briefly the world's most-valuable company, above $68 a sha ..
Leading the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rumor mill today is news of design details for the iPhone SE 2. Plus, it would be a huge cost to Apple to include that part in its budget ..
The pipeline giant's financial results have improved dramatically over the past year. ..
Democrats are struggling to come up with an economic plan challenging the Trump tax cuts. ..
That $1.2 Million Payment to Trump's Lawyer Wasn't Even a Drop in the Bucket for Novartis ..
Bauzon Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BZUN) isn't the most well-known stock out there — particularly in a world dominated by names like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com, ..
Fox News Senior Judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano on New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signing a bill helping illegal immigrants get financial assistance at public colleges ..
Younger Chinese consumers don't appear to see products from Europe and the US to be superior to domestic brands the way that their parents did. The shift in perception has le ..
Risk Disclosure: fxBrokerSearch.com will not be held liable for any financial loss or damage caused by users acting upon any information contained within this website, not limited to and including: all numerical data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals. Moreover, please be advised that Forex trading is one of the most volatile investment forms in the world and all trades should be placed with full consideration of the risks and costs.
fxBrokerSearch.com does not support nor encourage the execution of any investments. Trading with a margin is high risk endeavour and not suitable for everyone, therefore, each investor should carefully consider all relevant trading conditions, such as experience, risk and cost, before taking part in any type of trading, including Forex.
While every effort has been made to ensure all our data is as accurate as possible, fxBrokerSearch.com cannot be held responsible for any prices that are not in line with real-time data. Indeed, the currency exchange market is constantly changing and all CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are set by market makers.
This means advertised prices may not be accurate and could differ from the actual market conditions. For this reason it is not appropriate to rely on any data presented by fxBrokerSearch.com for the purposes of trading.
Based on these conditions, fxBrokerSearch.com will not be held responsible for any losses incurred through trades conducted in light of data presented on this site.


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PANAMA CITY -- This holiday weekend, as even more people are out enjoying the warmer weather, it is important to remember to stay safe � and that goes for both on and in the water.
PANAMA CITY -- This holiday weekend, as even more people are out enjoying the warmer weather, it is important to remember to stay safe � and that goes for both on and in the water.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) reminds boaters and divers of the importance of using a divers-down flag.
�Divers-down flags are not only required by law, but they are necessary to stay safe, particularly in areas of high boat traffic,� said Maj. Bruce Cooper, commander for the FWC�s Northwest Region.
Divers-down flags help both divers and boaters. Divers use them to notify boaters that they are in the water. Boat operators see the flags and know to steer clear.
�The Emerald Coast is a beautiful spot to snorkel and dive to see dolphins and other marine life in their natural environment,� Cooper said. �Everyone just needs to remember what to do to keep themselves and others safe. Boaters should be particularly vigilant of swimmers and snorkelers in and around these dolphin-viewing areas.�
Divers must do their part by ensuring the flag is properly displayed when divers are in the water, and removed when they exit the water. Boaters need to be aware at all times, scanning the water for dive flags.
The specific regulations regarding divers-down flags are as follows:
-Divers-down flags displayed on vessels must be at least 20 inches by 24 inches, and a stiffener is required to keep the flag unfurled. Dive flags carried on floats must be at least 12 inches by 12 inches. Also, divers-down flags on vessels must be displayed above the vessel�s highest point so that the flag�s visibility is not obstructed in any direction.
-Divers must make reasonable efforts to stay within 300 feet of a divers-down flag on open waters and within 100 feet of a flag within rivers, inlets or navigation channels.
-Vessel operators must make a reasonable effort to maintain a distance of at least 300 feet from divers-down flags on open waters and at least 100 feet from flags on rivers, inlets or navigation channels. Vessels approaching divers-down flags closer than 300 feet in open water and 100 feet in rivers, inlets and navigation channels must slow to idle speed.
-When divers are out of the water, a dive flag must not be displayed.


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Cooperation Protocol between the Middle East Research Center and the Faculty of Education
The Research Center for Middle East and Future Studies at Ain Shams University signed a protocol of cooperation with the Faculty of Education in the university in order to enhance relations in the scientific, technical, educational and cultural fields and exchange experiences to benefit from the possibility of both parties and activate activities and scientific links and cultural dialogue.
This is the purpose of the protocol, which is the exchange of information, references, publications and periodicals allowed in subjects of mutual interest.
Dr. Ashraf Moanes added that the center will organize lectures, seminars, conferences, and workshops on issues of mutual interest between the two parties.
The director of the center said that the cooperation will be through research and cultural projects, as well as for discussion of scientific thesis (Master / PhD).
He also stressed the scientific and cultural communication in all fields and the dissemination of awareness among students, the target group, which is one of the objectives of the Center.


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TravellingDJ necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 73 diseños de 13 diseñadores freelance.
As a couple, we are a DJ duo from Vancouver, Canada.
We are on a 1-year trip on motorbikes, touring Central and Latin America.
We have all the DJ equipment with us: DJ mixer, etc...
According to our friends, we are a crazy bunch of music-and-travel-lovers.
We'd like to think so as well ;)
Our aim in life is to lift people off the dance-floor and take them to a magical place where the purest of musical forms gently cause orgasm to their ears !
Our videos show some of the high-energy involved in our frantic sets.
Vancouver Farewell Party
Balkan Beats Party @ Olympics Opening Night
The mayhem will continue...
Club owners, music enthusiasts, travel lovers, blog readers, regular people doing web surfing and looking for some fun pictures/articles/videos.
I am looking to re-design / update the existing home page of our website.
Our home page consists of 1 graphical image with multiple icons on it.
I am looking to update that image so that it is much more appealing than it currently is: enhance the colors, re-do the post-it sticky note icons, make them change their style/color when a user moves his mouse over them, etc...
Attached is the image (Main_Page.png), along with the logo and the "Latin America Tour" flag image that both need to be integrated with this image.
For a detailed description of the requirements, and my vision, please see the attached file: "BURiNATA_main_page_re-design_requirements.pdf".
Alternatively, you can download that file from:
Once again, thank you very much for your interest in this fast-paced and energetic project !
Travelling DJ duo BURiNATA
(this legacy site is currently being forwarded to our blog-only site)


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Rondon, Coke not expected to pitch in ALDS
Neither able to throw; Alvarez or Downs to give club second lefty in 'pen
DETROIT -- Bruce Rondon and his 101-mph fastball had the potential to be an X-factor in the Tigers' bullpen for their American League Division Series. Right now, though, he's not throwing at all, his elbow still bothered by inflammation.
Neither is Phil Coke, whose flexor forearm tendinitis continues to sideline him. As a result, both relievers have been all but ruled out for this series, leaving Detroit's bullpen short.
"They will not be ready for the first round," manager Jim Leyland said. Game 1 is Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET on TBS.
Rondon has pitched in only one game since Labor Day, so the Tigers know how to get by without him. Considering how well he pitched in that one game last week in Minnesota, they're missing out on something special.
Rondon missed three weeks with elbow discomfort before striking out the side in order on just 10 pitches last Tuesday against the Twins. He threw four fastballs at 100 or 101 mph, but it was his slider -- a pitch that normally puts more stress on the elbow -- that seemed to give Minnesota hitters fits.
"Rondon would've been a nice piece, no question about it," Leyland said. "The performance up there in Minnesota was lightning."
Rondon said after that game he felt fine, but came down with more soreness the next day.
"It was difficult for me," Rondon said through a translator, "because I thought I was going to feel good after it. It was a great outing, but I felt discomfort again. It's very disappointing."
The soreness isn't as intense now, but until it's gone, he won't be cleared to pitch.
"I feel bad," Rondon said, "because I wanted to help this team in the first round. Everybody dreams of going to the playoffs."
Coke, whose flexor issues have hampered him even when he has been able to pitch, was on track to have a chance at the postseason before continued soreness during a brief mound session Wednesday sidelined him again. He spent the weekend rehabbing back in Detroit.
Both injuries leave the Tigers with some decisions to make on their postseason roster. Leyland said he'd like to have two left-handers in his bullpen. If he sticks to that, he would have to choose between Jose Alvarez and Darin Downs to put alongside Drew Smyly.
Both injuries could put more responsibility on Al Alburquerque, whose slider makes him both a situational strikeout reliever and a weapon against left-handed hitters.
"The responsibility falls to a good situation if he's right," Leyland said of Alburquerque, "because left-handers hit about .195 off him for his career. That's almost like having another left-hander."
Another pitcher whose role could increase as a result could be Rick Porcello, who will pitch out of the bullpen for a second consecutive postseason. Normally, the fifth starter fills a long relief role in the playoffs, but Leyland isn't tagging any role to Porcello.
"I'm going to play it by ear," Leyland said, "particularly in the first series, because each game is so important."


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- Plugged In
Don't Be Tempted by SGI
- Order Reprints
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THE CHALLENGE OF BUILDING THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL computers has tantalized inventors and investors for more than a generation. Unfortunately for supercomputer builder Silicon Graphics, it doesn't look as if the latest go-around will be any more profitable than it was for the company and its peers in years gone by.
SGI started life in 1981 as a maker of powerful workstation computers. Declining sales forced it into bankruptcy proceedings in May 2006; it emerged in October of that year. The stock (ticker: SGIC) is down 59% this year, and its valuation -- it trades at less than one-third its trailing sales -- may tempt some investors. But the history of the business shows that sales of big, expensive supercomputers are rarely profitable.
With a net deficit of $56.4 million in shareholder equity, and principal payments due next year on a $132.5 million loan from Morgan Stanley, SGI will be challenged to stay the course in a credit crunch, much less turn a profit.
SGI builds really brawny computers; the biggest stand about six feet, five inches and weigh 1,450 pounds. But where SGI once made its own chips and software, it now uses more standard, economical computer parts. The problem is that PC makers also can play that game. Last year, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), once a much smaller player in high-performance computers, grabbed 36.5% of the $10 billion market with its cheaper products, according to research firm IDC. SGI had just a 2% share. The market "has become all about price for performance," says IDC analyst Jie Wu.
IN THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED IN JUNE, the company had a net loss of $153 million on sales of $354 million -- 50% deeper in the red than in the nine months after it emerged from bankruptcy. The reason is that not much has changed in the business of selling big-ticket computers in small volume.
SGI makes big investments to acquire necessary components upfront -- once a deal is signed, but before it has received payment from customers. This means that every time SGI and other supercomputer vendors see sales jump, they build inventory, and huge deficits invariably follow. SGI's biggest year by sales, 1997, at $3.66 billion, was followed the very next year by a $460 million net loss.
But every cycle of rising sales tempts some investors to get into the stocks. The latest example is hedge fund Lampe, Conway & Co., which announced last month that it holds a 12.3% stake in SGI. (Executives of Lampe Conway didn't return Barron's Online's calls for comment.)
The circumstances now are dire for SGI. It had just $40 million in cash, as of its most recent quarter, and it must begin principal payments on $12.75 million of the Morgan Stanley loan next year. It has incurred an operating cash loss of $65 million over the past four quarters. And on its most recent conference call, its chief financial officer warned of further indebtedness.
Sure, SGI's computers increasingly will find uses in solving highly complex, data-intensive problems -- things like geological surveying to find pockets of oil and gas. But the biggest challenge is figuring out how to make money while selling all this stuff. It's a problem fit for, well, a supercomputer.
A version of this article appeared Oct. 23 in Barron's Online.


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I wanted to cook some amaranth grains. The back of the package said to cook 1 part amaranth and 3 parts water until soft, then let them soak for another 30 minutes. I ended up with amaranth soup.
Let's say that I want a very basic preparation of amaranth. What is the correct way to cook it?
- what is a good ratio of amaranth to water?
- should I cook it with the lid on or without (don't laugh, I have found often enough that it affects both the water ratio and cooking time)?
- should I salt before or after cooking, and why?
- should I add fat before or after cooking, and why?
- is there a better way to recognize that it is done that "it is soft"?
- should I soak before cooking, after cooking, or not at all?
- is there something important about cooking amaranth I forgot to mention in the list?
I don't want a specific recipe, just a basic preparation which can be later extended to fit different recipes (savory or sweet). If you have specific recommendations for doing X, I'd love to hear why doing X is better than doing Y.