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The Movies.com Review: '12 Years a Slave' is a Cronenberg-esque Body-Horror Film about One Man's Agonizing Struggle for Survival
Steve McQueen's clinical, beautifully composed fascination with the body is on a roll. After establishing himself as a significant presence in the art world, winning the U.K.'s Turner Prize in 1999 and making short films that signaled what would become his ongoing interest in the voluntary (and involuntary) uses of the body, his first feature, Hunger, rigorously observed the 1981 prison hunger strike of IRA member Bobby Sands. It was painfully detailed and harrowing to watch as Michael Fassbender's Sands wasted away to skin and bone, McQueen's tendency toward the long, longer, longest take burrowing into issues of morality and self-mortification.
In Shame, Fassbender returned as a compulsive urbanite wearing himself down to a state of sexual and emotional fatigue through constant hookups and masturbation. Much less successful than Hunger, it dispensed with most of the long, studious shots and presumed to preach about the toll that sex without love takes on the human soul.
And now McQueen's art-gaze extends to 19th century American slavery, or at least to one man's horrifying ordeal in the "peculiar institution." In 1841 New York freeman Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor, stoic and muted) was kidnapped and sold to a Southern plantation, then to another, where he endured a dozen years of back-shredding abuse and labor but never lost focus of his identity or his need to get back to his family in the North. After Northup's release -- a rare occurrence for any African American kidnapped and sold at the time -- he wrote a memoir, Twelve Years A Slave, and became part of the Abolitionist movement.
But through McQueen's lens, slavery isn't the point, really. Instead, slavery becomes a brutal abstraction in the service of a Cronenberg-esque body-horror film about one man's agonizing struggle for survival. That's not to say the film's not affecting; the director returns to his former love of the long take during the story's most difficult-to-watch scenes, daring you to look away from the screen as Ejiofor is pushed to the brink of death by hanging. And the other depictions of the routine humiliation and nightmarish conditions suffered by American slaves provide a fresh reminder of this country's monstrous, murderous cruelty of human beings toward other human beings a mere 150 years ago. Meanwhile, the boldest performances, from Adepero Oduye as a mother forcibly separated from her children to Lupita Nyong'o as a suicidal woman whose field work only serves to put her into sexual contact with the psychotic plantation owner (Fassbender), to a jaw-dropping cameo from Alfre Woodard as a slave mistress with a hard-smiling survivalist's core, are emotionally wrenching, overwhelming even, in ways the film otherwise tries hard to restrain itself from becoming. In the context of McQueen's ongoing work, these otherwise whole lives feel like a secondary consideration to documenting the processes by which human bodies are destroyed and identities drowned by external suffering. He's an observer -- if not cynical then at least detached.
All of which makes it hard to know, at this point in McQueen's career, if 12 Years A Slave is meant to be read as a hard, distanced history lesson taught by a British filmmaker or just one more installment in an art practice that wants to leave the tiny, hermetic art world even further behind to explore personal obsessions in the much broader context of popcorn culture. Right now it feels like a little of the former, more of the latter, and it'll only be properly read when he lets us all in on what he finds at the end of his pain-filled trip.
Movies.com, the ultimate source for everything movies, is your destination for new movie trailers, reviews, photos, times, tickets + more! Stay in the know with the latest movie news and cast interviews at Movies.com.
Copyright © 2020 FANDANGO MOVIES.


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Posts Tagged 'levels of radon'
Effects of High Radon Levels
You may have heard of radon, but not really understand what it is or how it can impact your family. Radon is simply a radioactive noble gas. It is quite dense and has no taste and no odor. When elements like uranium and thorium decays, they create radon gas as a byproduct. When the radon gas itself begins to decay, radioactive elements called radon daughters start to emerge. These daughters are not gaseous, but tiny solid particles. They can cling to dust in the air and travel into your lungs when you breathe. Afterwards, they can stick to the walls of your airways, causing a variety of health problems.
Buildings can fill with radon gas that is emitted naturally from the soil and rock beneath the foundation. Poorly ventilated rooms, of course, fill with radon gas the most quickly, but any building can be vulnerable to radon contamination. Basements are often the most common location for elevated radon levels. Breathing elevated radon levels has been directly linked to lung cancer. With the exception of smoking cigarettes, radon is the most common cause of lung cancer, resulting in over 20,000 deaths a year in North America. Many of the people who die this way have never smoked a cigarette in their lives, making radon the top cause of lung cancer in non-smokers.
Detecting High Radon Levels in Your Home
Radon levels cannot be detected by your senses since the gas is odorless and colorless. However, there are other ways to measure radon levels. For example, you can purchase personal use home radon test kits. Many of these kits use charcoal or foam to collect radioactive particles that may be floating in the air. Other test options are more long term, and may take up to three months to complete. The best option is to have experts from SWAT Environmental professionally test your home. The results of a professional test are both much faster and much more accurate than those from a typical home test.
New homes can be designed to prevent elevated radon levels in the first place. However, if your home did not have this type of system installed during its construction, you should have your home's radon levels tested regularly. If these levels ever become dangerously elevated, you can have SWAT Environmental's specialists analyze your home to determine how best to expel the radon gas from your house, as well as how to prevent it from returning. This process is known as radon mitigation. Different homes can require significantly different radon mitigation techniques and systems to most effectively handle their radon levels.
Elevated radon levels are a threat that you should take very seriously. That being said, testing your home for radon is affordable and easy. If your home does contain higher radon levels than what is considered safe for human exposure, eliminating it could potentially save your life.

subset: commoncrawl


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26 Comments on "Of the Treatment of Women in WoW, Part 1"
December 30, 2009 at 6:21 am
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by jan zuppinger, jan zuppinger. jan zuppinger said: i enjoyed reading her thoughts http://icio.us/r4fvmo […]
December 30, 2009 at 7:26 am
Funny fact with flirting & wow : playing a few female characters, I received kinky flirty tells several times. The funny part is that I'm not a woman IRL. People are usually disappointed and, surprisingly, don't talk much when I tell them I'm not what they think I am.
Anyway, very good post. There's been a couple of posts about that subject on world of matticus, by Lodur and Sydera, which are interesting. I feel concerned by the way women are treated in WoW, because while the "drama-queen attention whore" is the usual (and unfortunately sometimes real) stereotype, most female gamers suffer from it. If my english was better, I could tell you 'bout a few things that happened in my former guild alliance with ONE female gamer who loved being the center of attention … and how much the 5 or 6 other female suffered from it.
December 30, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I think I can get behind this. Certainly the main points. Obviously, gender relations in Wow are a spicy topic, and everyone comes to the discussion with a whole closet full of baggage, and I find that most people (including myself) have a hard time fully and articulately unpacking their views. Hence the tentative endorsement.
For example, I didn't jive as much with the flirting section as I did with the rest of the article. I have found that I'm naturally pretty flirty (which was a big surprise to me, to be honest), and a lot of what I consider "normal conversation" is apparently "flirting" to a non-insignificant segment of the population. So while I know it can't be helped, I'm always unhappy that people are judgmental about what is and what is not "appropriate flirting." To be fair, this is the case even outside of video games.
That said, I totally rocked out to a lot of the other stuff, especially lines like "I grew up surrounded by women who [were totally successful], yet who were also beautiful and elegant," and "While I find it silly to flaunt being a woman, it's nothing to be ashamed of either." I have never really understood the attraction to the Submissive Female thing. I don't see it as fun, I don't see it as sexy, and I don't see it as net-beneficial. Obviously my view is not the only one in the world.
There isn't much of an answer to the problem, save lots of time and natural social change (or a program of mass extermination and artficially-chosen reproduction patterns, and I'm working on writing up that proposal, honest!). The best I can say is that I am totally respectful and supportive of the Powerful & Feminine Woman. As I try to be supportive of all women & men, and as I hope others are as supportive of me.
Which is admittedly a really lame conclusion to have to end on. Needs more huge explosions & cute flowers, IMO.
December 30, 2009 at 2:33 pm
When I get my Lightsworn Legguards, I'll make a post about how pretty my new dress is, mark my words.
I'm interested in seeing what your next post says; finish it soon, I'm leaving the country on Friday!
December 30, 2009 at 4:11 pm
[…] Bossy Pally has an interesting post about being a female player in WoW, which is an interesting read, seeing as I -am- a female WoW player. (Shock! Gasp!) Most of the post had me nodding in agreement, despite the fact that I hate talking about shoes or clothing. I am incredibly exuberant, however, with many "<3″s and pet names flooding my text in-game. Well, in between the all caps shouting and my "/brofist" usage. However, I'm also spoiled. I've been hanging out on WoW with the same basic group of people for years; when I'm flirty with them, they know it's just me being me. (Truthfully, I'm more likely to flirt with our many female raiders than the boys!) And frankly, I don't care what people I don't know think of me. If someone outside my circle of friends considers me a "raiding princess gamer girl" because I'm chatty, it's their loss. […]
December 30, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Great post! (I can't believe I haven't posted mine yet…!)
You took a different tack than I had originally had in mind, but it's great you addressed these issues – they all play into the whole, and let's face it: the gender issue in WoW is a big sticky mess.
I'm not at all surprised that you needed to split everything into two posts – just reading yours made me think of so much more I wanted to say than I originally had in mind. After I saw you had posted this one, I was going to hurry and write mine, but I think I'm curious about your second post and might just wait for that one 😉
December 30, 2009 at 6:13 pm
I have to admit I am a male chauvanist and I feel emasculated quite a bit being in guild with woman because I can't really be who I want to be
I come from the competitive sports world into competitive online gaming and then finally here to Wow. It is very difficult to be anything other than aggressive when you come from those types of situations. I have to admit I have to tone it down somewhat to be an effective leader but I find it hard to some nights.
December 31, 2009 at 12:57 am
Oh boy, here I was going to comment all silly and playfully, and all your other readers go and give insightful and constructive discussion. But for such a good post, I can play that game!
Backing what Shubb-Niggurath discussed, and reiterating some past knowledge for the adoring public, I was once an administrator for a roleplay server on another game. When I played, my primary character was female, and so for a few years, common belief was I was too. I was never dishonest or with-holding about the fact. My personal life just wasn't a preferred topic of discussion, or any of their business, for that matter.
Not only that, but I was a "female" in power! On a roleplay server, catching the eye of someone with world-controlling power had its benefits, and so the results were… hilarious. I'm sure you had similar stories in your guild offy days.
Most people were subtle. The most brash memory I have is a new guy asking me where I lived, because he wanted to meet me. Others were timid with me, expecting I was overly sensitive or some such. Come to think of it, it was usually new guys. In many cases, gender seemed more of a base guideline of how to act around me. After getting a taste of my personality, people sensed my nature and boundaries and usually seemed to settle into a comfortable behavior, regardless of my gender.
December 31, 2009 at 2:09 pm
[…] is writing a series about the treatment of women in WoW. In Part I of her series, she comments that women can be good gamers and be feminine all at once. I approve of this message. I think far too often, folks expect that us women gamers are just […]
December 31, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Wait…girls play WOW?
Oh come on, it had to be said.
My guild is full of girls. And almost all of them are married or in a serious relationship. We just don't tolerate behaving badly toward women. That doesn't mean we don't joke around, but we just tend to be nice to one another. Oh we tease the heck out of people, all in good fun. In fact, all of the guilds I've been in since I started raiding at 70 have had women in them. You just set the ground rule early and it's good. We are family guild so we don't allow a ton of bad language. Doesn't mean the F-bomb doesn't drop once in a while, usually when one of us forgets we have the PtT button on.
December 31, 2009 at 8:24 pm
[…] is an interesting pair of posts over at The Bossy Pally and the Giant Spoon about women in WoW (part 1 & part 2). I'm not a woman but I cringe when I hear some of the behaviour in our guild […]


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As you scan Steve Mayes' honey-making operation in Mackinaw, with its large industrial pot and plastic teddy bear containers ready to be filled, you wouldn't know his industry was in trouble.
As you scan Steve Mayes' honey-making operation in Mackinaw, with its large industrial pot and plastic teddy bear containers ready to be filled, you wouldn't know his industry was in trouble.
"Today we are in crisis with honeybees," said Mayes, who cites a host of problems that plague the bees. It includes pesticides, mites, genetic problems, bacterial diseases and viruses and other insects like small hive beetles and Australian bees.
But one problem stands out over all others, one that continues to mystify scientists around the world. So many honeybees have disappeared in recent years - literally left the hive without a trace - that researchers have coined a name for the phenomenon: Colony collapse disorder.
Agreeing with Mayes is Gene Robinson, an entomologist at the University of Illinois who has studied bees for 30 years and is considered one of the world's leading authorities on the honeybee.
"We are in crisis. Losses (among honeybees) for the past two years are in the 25 to 40 percent range. That's much higher than previous years," he said.
The decline of the honeybee threatens more than the production of honey, said Robinson.
"The world could survive without honey but when bees visit plants (to pollinate), that allows plants to do what they do," he said. "In agriculture, we're used to a simple relationship. If you don't have cows, you won't have milk. Without apple trees, you won't have apples. In the case of pollen gathering, no bees means no apples and a lot more."
Bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion in added crop value every year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "While there are native pollinators, honeybees are the most prolific and the easiest to manage for the large-scale pollination that U.S. agriculture requires," said a report by the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.
The USDA is doing research at four facilities round the country to find an answer to the disappearing honeybees, said Kim Kaplan, a spokeswoman from USDA offices in Beltsville, Md.
"It's hard to tell whether (the problem) is getting better or worse. Numbers (of bees) are extremely soft. We'll conduct another survey this spring," she said.
Losing bees is nothing new to beekeepers like Mayes, who waits out the winter while bees "cluster" in their hives. Bees form a winter cluster by swarming around the queen, he said. "If you check the hive during the winter, you can physically feel the heat coming off the bees," said Mayes.
Since most of the 400 hives Mayes has scattered across Tazewell County are in isolated locations, he won't get to check on all his bees until spring. "If I only lose 30 percent, that's a good winter," he said.
Last year was not a good winter as Mayes lost almost 80 percent of his bees. "I had to spend $12,000 to replace bees in the spring. When I complained to my in-laws about that, they just said those are the input costs in agriculture," he said.
But while Mayes and his wife Jill, who is equally skilled as a beekeeper, maintain a profitable business, supplying his Mackinaw Valley Apiaries honey to 32 area stores, the prognosis for his industry isn't sweet.
Some reports are downright chilling. "The honey industry in the United States and Canada is as good as dead," writes Rowan Jacobsen, whose book, "Fruitless Fall," paints a grim picture of the honeybee's future.
In his book, Jacobsen details the problems of large beekeepers who truck thousands of hives to large farms each year to satisfy frantic growers in need of the pollination services the bees provide.
The USDA said the number of managed honeybee colonies has dropped from 5 million in the 1940s to 2.5 million today while agricultural demand continues to increase.
The single largest user of honeybees is California's almond industry, which supplies over 80 percent of the world's almonds. "Early each year, (almond growers) look for 1.5 million hives to pollinate the blossoms," wrote Jabobsen in "Fruitless Fall."
"Without bees, all those almond trees are worthless," he said. "Had almond growers not suddenly had lots of money to pay beekeepers (for hive rentals) at exactly the time they did, the U.S. beekeeping industry would already be a corpse," said Jacobsen.
CCD - the phenomenon that describes the disappearance of vast numbers of bees around the globe - has given rise to numerous theories on the cause of the problem, from interference created by cell phone towers to UFOs.
"You wouldn't believe the e-mails I get," said the USDA's Kaplan. "I've had people attribute disappearing bees to the rapture, the ozone hole and because of genetically engineered plants, just to name a few."
The problem may be a combination of factors that puts too much stress on honeybees to do the amazing job they do, said Mayes.
"Bees are part of the system because man works them. We're all too happy to sterilize our fields (with chemicals) and say we don't have any problems but we do have problems," he said.
"I know chemical companies say that tests show that pesticides don't harm the bees but I'm just not sure. Pesticide is just one problem," said Mayes, who routinely uses pesticides to fend off mites - tiny creatures that feed on a bee's blood - that have been a big problem for almost two decades, virtually wiping out wild bees, he said.
"I got into beekeeping in 1997. Mites had been a problem for a number of years. At that time a lot of longtime beekeepers were dropping out of the business because they didn't want to spray anything in their hives," said Mayes, 60, a former technician at the Peoria Ag Lab.
One beekeeper in Gridley lost 1,500 hives when he failed to account for the mite problem, he said.
Now the small hive beetle has become a combatant in the war against the bees, said Mayes. "The beetles are usually found in more tropical locations but we're starting to see them in McLean County," he said.
"The beetle is one-third the size of a bee. It sniffs out honey and lays its eggs in the beehive. When those eggs hatch, the maggots eat everything and destroy the hive," said Mayes.
Beset by all these problems, the bee remains a marvel, said Robinson at the University of Illinois, the institution that took the lead in sequencing the honeybee genome.
"There's really nothing that compares with the bee dance language. It stands as one of the seven wonders of the animal behavior world," he said.
That language is a product of what Jacobsen calls "the hive mind."
"In a healthy colony, intelligence flashes between individual bees like electrical signals between neurons. Every bee is on task. The impression is not of thousands of individuals but of one fluid intelligence," he said.
While the mystery of disappearing bees remains unsolved, there are signs of hope, say researchers. "We know more today than we've ever known before about the diet of the bee," said USDA's Kaplan.
"Progress is being made," said Robinson, focusing on the root cause of CCD. "Information continues to implicate viruses. If it is a virus, why is it so potent? It appears that some bees handle viruses better than others. It's complicated."
Rona Sharp, a writer in Ipswich, England, operates an environmental Web site, www.greenfootsteps.com, that recently offered tips that might help the bees. "Farmers are encouraged to plant wildflower strips along field verges. Organic farming methods are generally a lot more bee-friendly," she said.
"Gardeners can plant plenty of nectar-giving flowers such as rosemary and foxgloves. The bees in my garden absolutely love the lavender and marjoram. Rosemary is also a favorite," said Sharp.
Steve Tarter can be reached at (309) 686-3260 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Bee facts
Pollination: Agriculture depends on the honeybee for pollination. Honeybees account for 80 percent of all insect pollination. Without pollination, we would see a significant decrease in the yield of fruits and vegetables.
Pollen: Bees collect 66 pounds of pollen a year, per hive. Pollen is the male germ cells produced by all flowering plants for fertilization and plant embryo formation.
Honey: Honey is used by bees for food all year round. There are many types, colors and flavors of honey, depending upon its nectar source. The bees make honey from the nectar they collect from flowering trees and plants.
Beeswax: Secreted from glands, beeswax is used by the honeybee to build honey comb. It is used by humans in drugs, cosmetics, artists' materials, furniture polish and candles.
Royal Jelly: The powerful, milky substance that turns an ordinary bee into a Queen Bee. It is made of digested pollen and honey or nectar mixed with a chemical secreted from a gland in a nursing bee's head. It commands premium prices rivaling imported caviar, and is used by some as a dietary supplement and fertility stimulant. It is loaded with all of the B vitamins.
Queen Bee: There is only one queen per hive. A queen bee can live three to five years. The queen mates only once with several male (drone) bees, and will remain fertile for life. She lays up to 2000 eggs a day. Fertilized eggs become female (worker bees) and unfertilized eggs become male (drone bees). When she dies or becomes unproductive, the other bees will "make" a new queen by selecting a young larva and feeding it a diet of "royal jelly".
Worker Bee: All worker bees are female, but they are not able to reproduce. Worker bees live four to nine months during the winter season, but only six weeks during the busy summer months (they literally work themselves to death). Nearly all bees in a hive are worker bees. A hive consists of 20,000 to 30,000 bees in the winter, and 60,000 to 80,000 bees in the summer.
Drone Bee: These male bees are kept on standby during the summer for mating with a virgin queen. Because the drone has a barbed sex organ, mating is followed by the death of the drone. There are only 300 to 3,000 drones in a hive. The drone does not have a stinger. Because they are of no use in the winter, drones are expelled from the hive in the autumn.
Source: The 2 Cs and a Bee Association, Pennsylvania


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Pink Jumbo Dot Nut Cups
Sold Out - Notify me when available
- Sweet pink jumbo dotted nut cups. The cutest container for nut or candy party favors, little snacks, ice cream, and even baking.
- To bake cupcakes arrange cups on a cookie sheet and fill 2/3 full with cake batter.
- Made from a very sturdy pleated paper and feature a greaseproof interior.
- 2-1/2(6cm) wide x 1-1/2"(4cm) tall
- Package of 20


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Community: Fletcher in Henderson County
With just 34 exclusive homesites, Couch Mountain is a sustainable community that puts a focus on wellness for our residents and our environment. Here, you'll find beautiful community gardens, miles of wooded trails, scenic mountain views, bees, chickens, and more. We know that we are building for the future. With that in mind, we encourage you to add to our local pollinator population with your own bees or commit to sustainability by keeping your own chickens and contributing to our community gardens. At Couch Mountain, wellness and sustainability are our focus, now and for the future. ... see more property features
The data relating to real estate on this Web site derive in part from the Carolina Multiple Listing Services, Inc. IDX program. Brokers make an effort to deliver accurate information, but buyers should independently verify any information on which they will rely in a transaction. All properties are subject to prior sale, change or withdrawal. Neither nor any listing broker shall be responsible for any typographical errors, misinformation, or misprints, and they shall be held totally harmless from any damages arising from reliance upon this data. This data is provided exclusively for consumer -- personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties they may be interested in purchasing. © 2020 Carolina Multiple Listing Services, Inc. Data updated Jun 03, 2020.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved.
North Henderson High35 Fruitland Road, Hendersonville, NC 28792
© GreatSchools.org 2020. Use is subject to terms of service.
Apple Valley Middle43 Fruitland Road, Hendersonville, NC 28792
© GreatSchools.org 2020. Use is subject to terms of service.
Fletcher Elementary500 Howard Gap Road, Fletcher, NC 28732
© GreatSchools.org 2020. Use is subject to terms of service.
Directions: From Downtown Asheville: Travel I-26 Southeast toward Hendersonville. Take exit 44 for Asheville Highway (US-25). Turn right off the ramp onto Asheville Highway. Travel .3 miles on Asheville Highway, then turn left onto Naples Road. Travel 1.3 miles on Naples Road then turn left onto Howard Gap Road. Travel .5 miles on Howard Gap Road then turn right onto Hutch Mountain Road. Travel 2.1 miles on Hutch Mountain Road then turn right onto Clark Gap Drive. The sales office is located 300 feet up Clark Gap Drive on the left-hand side
Disclaimer: The map service includes search results such as listings and related information provided by third parties. Beverly-Hanks makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of the information provided by these third parties.
Listed by TFM Carolina, Inc.
Fletcher, NC is a small town centrally located between Asheville and Hendersonville. Fletcher is growing at a steady and smooth pace thanks to lower housing costs and its convenient location.
Quick Link: Fletcher Homes and Land for Sale
Fletcher is uniquely positioned for national and international travelers, and a great spot to host from a...Read More
Fletcher, NC is a small town centrally located between Asheville and Hendersonville. Fletcher is growing at a steady and smooth pace thanks to lower housing costs and its convenient location.
Quick Link: Fletcher Homes and Land for Sale
Fletcher is uniquely positioned for national and international travelers, and a great spot to host visitors from near and far. In addition to ready access to nearby Interstate 26, residents are just minutes away from Asheville Regional Airport, which offers nonstop flights to almost all major U.S. cities. The airport is going through a growth spurt of its own, adding new routes on a regular basis.
Fletcher includes the community of Cane Creek Valley, with many luxury homes and ranches. Fletcher also features many entry-level homes and communities under $250,000.
Quick Link: Find a Fletcher Real Estate Professional
Beverly-Hanks has an office conveniently located in Biltmore Park in South Asheville/Arden. If you're searching for homes and land in Fletcher, our expert real estate agents are available to help. Your Beverly-Hanks & Associates REALTOR® is backed by an outstanding support staff and committed to the highest standards of customer service.
Find the homes in Fletcher that allow you to Live the Life You Choose. Click below to search Fletcher real estate for your ideal listings.
Quick Link: Fletcher Market Information
For home mortgage services through Beverly-Hanks & Associates, visit our Mortgage Services office in downtown Asheville, NC.
Fletcher is centrally located 20 minutes south of Asheville and 15 minutes north of Hendersonville, NC, adjacent to Interstate 26 (running from Kingsport, TN to Charleston, SC). Fletcher offers many amenities within minutes of the town's center, including a county library branch, Henderson County schools (elementary, middle, and high school), and a growing number of shopping, entertainment, and dining options. Several branches of Park Ridge Health are nearby, and Fletcher is only 20 minutes away from Mission Hospital, the largest hospital in the region. Fletcher is also conveniently located near the Pisgah National Forest and Blue Ridge Parkway, a sightseer's and cyclist's haven.
Arden: 5 minutes
Asheville Regional Airport: 5 minutes
Mills River: 10 minutes
Downtown Hendersonville: 16 minutes
Downtown Asheville: 22 minutes
Brevard: 29 minutes
With a diverse population of people of all ages and from all walks of life, Henderson County (pop. 106,000) is the perfect location for enjoying life. Henderson County is a county in North Carolina's mountain region, but is characterized by an extensive plateau along the French Broad and Mills River valleys. Henderson County currently has five incorporated towns/cities: Flat Rock, Fletcher, Hendersonville, Laurel Park, and Mills River. Of these, only Hendersonville, the county seat, possesses the typical characteristics of a dense urban center with significant population.
Fletcher is in Henderson County, NC. Fletcher residents pay both town and county property taxes, as totaled below. Tax rates are per $100 of assessed valuation.
Henderson County: $ 0.5136
Fletcher: $ 0.34
Fletcher Fire District: $ 0.115
Fletcher is an active, growing community. Read about recent news, events, and real estate market updates for the area on the Beverly-Hanks blog.


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The Mother Daughter Show is the story of three women and their daughters--the good one, the unresponsive one and the rebellious one--and their journey to a new and profound understanding for everyone. The exploration of their hopes and dreams reveals some unexpected and sometimes humorous results, but not before some serious issues are brought to light.
The daughters all attend the private and exclusive school, Barton's Friends School. It is a tradition for all the mothers of senior girls to put on a musical revue, one that they write, produce and all participate in. We are introduced to Amanda, the stay-at-home mom with her unresponsive daughter, Kate; Susan, the successful businesswoman and her too-good-to-be-true daughter, Allie; and Barb, the Parents Association volunteer and her out-right rebellious daughter, Grace. The author takes you on a wonderful journey full of well fleshed-out characters and real problems all told with some fun and witty dialogue. There are some serious issues that high school girls face and it is these problems that the Ms. Wexler brings some much-needed attention to.
As it turns out, the girls are not the only ones with attitudes. As Barb, the perennial people-pleaser, tries to corral all the mothers to work together on the show, tempers flair, egos are bruised and a number of walk-outs threaten to derail the show before it ever begins. Following the lives of the three moms and their issues as they deal with the pressure of their careers, their daughters and spouses will strike a chord of understanding for almost every woman who has tried to juggle her own needs and the responsibilities to everyone else in her life.
Whether married or single, a stay-at-home mom or career woman, the book explores the intricate and sometimes complicated issues and rewards women face with their female friendships. Add into the mix, the relationships these women have (or think they have) with their daughters and their own mothers, the Mother Daughter Show is a must read. Recommended.
Interview with Natalie Wexler (provided by Fuze Publishing LLC)
What inspired you to write the Mother Daughter Show?
I wrote the "Mother Daughter Show" partly to try to maintain a sense of humor about a situation I found myself in—the real Mother Daughter Show, a longstanding tradition at Sidwell Friends School, where my daughter was a senior. It seems like almost every year peculiar things happen between the mothers. I wanted to understand why—what was it about this situation that made people act in ways they usually don't?
I wanted to explore the stressful senior year, but I also saw the novel as an opportunity to write more broadly about the mother-daughter relationship. I gave each of my three main characters a mother of her own as well as a teenage daughter, to allow for a multi-generational aspect to the book.
What turned out to be your greatest challenge in writing the Mother Daughter Show?
Coming up with a plot that worked. My first several drafts hewed much more closely to the show itself and several readers told me that I needed more dramatic action. I wanted to keep the show as the background that framed the story, though, so the challenge was to come up with another plot that I could somehow shoehorn into the one I had.
Your own children attended an elite private school in D.C. How much of your story was drawn from real life?
In terms of details, not that much. … What I did borrow from real life about that situation is the excitement surrounding the presence of the First Family at the school, at least when they first got there. In the book, tickets to the annual school play sell at an unprecedented rate because think the President and First Lady might show up.
You're an accomplished writer—the award winning historical novel, "A More Obedient Wife" and now "The Mother Daughter Show. Can you speak to the differences to your approach to each project?
The two novels are quite different and the creative process was different in many ways as well. To write a historical novel, you have to immerse yourself in the priod you're writing about. That requires lots of research. So it was a nice change not to have to grapple with that for "The Mother Daughter Show." Instead of burying myself in the library, I could just use my observations about the world around me.
Author bio:
Natalie Wexler is the author of The Mother Daughter Show, to be published in December 2011, and an award-winning historical novel, A More Obedient Wife. She is a journalist and essayist whose work has appeared in the Washington Post Magazine, the American Scholar, the Gettysburg Review, and other publications, and she is a reviewer for the Washington Independent Review of Books. She has also worked as a temporary secretary, a newspaper reporter, a Supreme Court law clerk, a legal historian, and (briefly) an actual lawyer. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband.


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Jody Crothers
TI-Nspire™TI-Nspire™ CAS
Electronic, auto correcting assessment for the Australian Mathematics Curriculum standard ACMSP248 using the TI-Navigator system including a companion PDF of the same for teachers that do not have access to the TI-Navigator System.
The purpose of this material is to provide immediate feedback for teachers and students using the TI-Navigator system. The questions are automatically corrected and summarized using the TI-Navigator software providing teachers with the opportunity to respond to student needs. A PDF copy of the assessment is provided for schools that do not have TI-Nspire and TI-Navigator.
© Copyright 1995-2020 Texas Instruments Incorporated. All rights reserved.


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Re: Playstation or Xbox.
No, the PS3 against the Xbox 360!!
Message Boards - Boba Fett Fan Club → Fans → Playstation or Xbox.
No, the PS3 against the Xbox 360!!
Hey,Hey,Hey! Remember,we're talking about PS and Xbox.
Yeah, oh yeah, I just fixed that thing!!
Hey,Hey,Hey! Remember,we're talking about PS and Xbox.
Their still playstation and Xbox, just new and ridiculously expensive (In the PS3's case.....damn you sony....) versions
There are some pretty small X-Box controllers. I hated Xbox controllers at first because I have very small hands. But once the mini ones came out I was fine.
lol, sorry. Love my xbox, though. Had a PS2, and its was great, no Live though. Yes PS3 does have it, just no Halo (though I play COD4), and I just like Live better than whatever PS3 has.
PS2 did indeed have online multiplayer, just didn't go by the name of "live"
as to which one I like, PS3 since its got a crap load of games from the previous playstations.
But I would buy a Wii b4 I'd get an xbox or ps3
I would like PS3 or Xbox 360.But actually,I don't need them.
I wouldn't like to take PS3 or Xbox 360, cause there are more games to PS2 and Xbox....
Well that's true.
But technically there are more games for the PS3 and the 360 because you can play all PSone and PS2 games on the PS3 and some of the Xbox games on the 360.
So basically in all aspects the PS2 and the Xbox are obselete. At least for the PS2 they still make some games. But the Xbox is like completely dead.
And the 360 came out before the PS3, so before too long, there will be no more PS2 games, it'll happen in more or less the same amount of time.
and I know PS2 had online, it just was harder to set up, and I heard it sucked. So....
i am with Xbox
i don't realy like play station much with its lower graphics and all(no offense to playstation suporters)
I agree completely, But keep in mind that ps2 still has more games that are on it, and more to come.
Message Boards - Boba Fett Fan Club → Fans → Playstation or Xbox.
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367,794 profile views *
357 profile follows ** Newer community features circa 2019–Present


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A parasite lives on or in another organism and feeds off that organism. Pets often become the host body for parasites, both external and internal. To protect your pet from parasites, you need to be proactive. Learning to recognize symptoms of parasites and take steps to prevent them. Check with your veterinarian for advice on treatment and preventive measures.
External. External parasites live outside the host's body and include fleas, mites and ticks. These parasites can cause skin irritation, itching and rashes and affect both cats and dogs.
• Fleas. Fleas may go unnoticed until your pet begins scratching excessively. Treatments are available through your veterinarian and vary depending on the animal and the severity of the problem.
• Mites. There are mites that affect the skin and mites that are found in the ears of both cats and dogs. Sarcoptic mange mites or scabies are very contagious from dog to dog, while demodectic mange mites are not. Both cause scaly skin patches, but a dog infected with demodectic mange mites usually will not itch, while one with scabies will. Both conditions are treatable, but a dog with suspected demodectic mange mites should be examined by a veterinarian. Ear mites will make your dog or cat scratch their ears, and a brown or black discharge may be present. These mites can be treated with medication and cleaning of the ears.
• Ticks. Any animal playing outdoors in wooded areas may pick up a tick. The little bloodsuckers need to be removed promptly. Ticks can spread Lyme disease and other infectious diseases. When removing a tick from your pet, never crush it or yank it from the skin. Use tweezers to remove the entire tick. Consult your veterinarian if you're unable to remove the entire tick
Internal. Internal parasites live inside your pet's body, usually within the gastrointestinal, respiratory or urinary tracts. Most worm infections can be prevented with a monthly deworming medication. If a pet does become infected, your veterinarian can prescribe the proper treatment.
• Roundworms. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), roundworms are the most common internal parasite found in dogs and cats. Infection occurs when your pet eats something contaminated with the parasite's eggs or larvae, usually found in dirt, bugs, birds and feces. For canines, roundworms are more common in puppies; the infection occurs before birth. This parasite can affect both the lungs and the intestines.
• Hookworms. Hookworms affect both dogs and cats, infecting the animals through ingestion the same as roundworms, or they can enter through the animal's skin. Hookworms can be passed to puppies through a mother's milk as well. Symptoms include diarrhea, lack of appetite and bloody stools.
• Tapeworms. The tapeworm is ingested when your cat or dog eats an infected flea or rodent. Symptoms may include mild stomach upset and soft stools, but this parasite is usually not lethal.


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Out-of-roundness must be less than 0,005 mm (0.0002 in.) at a maximum of 2 lobes or less than 0,0025 mm (0.0001 in.) at a maximum of 7 lobes.
If components with an interference fit will pass over the counterface during installation, the shaft diameter should be reduced by 0,2 mm (0.008 in.). The seal that was originally chosen can still be used without adversely affecting seal performance.


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Fear, misconceptions about screenings keep many African-Americans from getting mammograms
Training physicians and caregivers to improve cultural sensitivity and communication with economically disadvantaged African-American patients could influence these women to get mammograms that could save their lives, according to a new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
The study found that many African-American women perceive they are being treated with disrespect and receive inadequate explanations about screenings when they go to health care facilities. These experiences influenced their decisions to skip mammograms. They also fear they won't receive correct treatment so they avoid mammograms altogether, the study adds.
"The issue here is not whether these feelings are founded or unfounded," said study author Monica Peek, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at the Medical Center. "The study gives more direction to health professionals on how they can adapt their treatment styles to encourage this high-risk group of women to get screened."
The findings may help account for the huge disparity between death rates from breast cancer in white versus African-American women. Nationally, African-American women have a 35 percent higher mortality rate from breast cancer than white women, according to the National Cancer Institute. In Chicago, the mortality rate for African-American women is dramatically higher than for white women -- 73 percent -- according to the Sinai Urban Health Institute.
The findings are based on feedback gathered during focus groups that included 29 low-income African-American women who were at least 40 years old. The women were asked about their perception of mammograms, whether they would undergo one to screen for breast cancer, and other related questions.
Despite recommendations for women 40 and older to have annual mammograms, only 55 percent of the women reported having a mammogram within the last two years. One woman in the study had a history of breast cancer.
Participants in the study were low-income, medically underserved African-American women who lived in urban, economically challenged neighborhoods throughout Chicago. Participants received a $15 gift certificate to a grocery store in exchange for their participation.
Asked why they did not go for regular mammograms, women in the study gave several reasons. Some felt they had not been treated with respect or not received adequate information from clinical teams during prior visits to health care facilities.
One woman recounted feeling uncomfortable when she was left alone while her images were being developed and read by a radiologist.
"You see, when they left me, there wasn't nobody with me to talk to me," she said.
Other study participants said they thought anyone with breast cancer would inevitably die from the disease, so there was no use getting a mammogram.
"I didn't know that it was a possibility to live after you had breast cancer or had been found having breast cancer," one woman said.
"Everybody I know who had breast cancer [has] died. I [wasn't aware] of anything different," another woman said.
Women also said that stories circulate of patients who had bad experiences undergoing mammograms and received incorrect cancer treatments, such as an unnecessary mastectomy. Those tales are all spun into the urban folklore about mammograms and impact women's decisions not to get screened. The study adds that because of their fears, some women delay getting screened, which leads to worse health outcomes such as late-stage cancer diagnosis and higher mortality rates.
The study points to the need for physicians to be trained in cultural sensitivity. If health care providers tailored their care appropriately for this population, these patients may be more likely to return for repeat mammograms. The study also suggests the need for more community-based health educators to work within underserved communities, explaining the breast cancer screening process, addressing misperceptions, and reinforcing the health messages women receive from their physicians.
"African-American women have a high need for comprehensive information and better communication from their health care providers on breast cancer prevention and treatment. Sadly, we heard none of the women in our study were aware of early diagnosis or positive breast cancer outcomes," Peek said.
Source: University of Chicago Medical Center
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Saigon - Strength
The official video Saigon's "Strength". Also look out for the upcoming album The Greatest Story Never Told due out February 15th 2011!
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
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Student Stories: Forest Science major helps with forest fire, carbon research
Student Stories: Forest Science major helps with forest fire, carbon research
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State student Celine Colbert spent last summer in the West assisting with research that may help to prevent severe wildfires.
Wildfires are a major worry these days after a recent series of vast fires in Yosemite, Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain national parks. Colbert, a senior majoring in forest science (management option), has been learning about the devastating effects of these disasters and ways to prevent them.
Colbert's passion for making a difference in the environment led her to work with a professor of forest resources in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences on projects that dealt with fire management impacts on carbon storage.
"Carbon levels in the atmosphere are reaching all time highs," the Pittsburgh native said. "We're looking at ways to sustainably manage them." Many scientists blame atmospheric carbon for global climate change.
Last summer, Colbert was assigned a project that involved using a computer model called the Forest Vegetation Simulator that allowed her to show what would happen if she thinned, control-burned or combined both treatments in a ponderosa pine forest outside of Camp Navajo, Ariz.
"The forests surrounding Camp Navajo are fire-dependent ecosystems that have been fire-suppressed through management technique for the past 100 years," she explained. "I simulated different management prescriptions to see the results on carbon storage and predicted out 100 years what would happen to the carbon in the forest."
In addition to her lab work, she also spent two weeks in California sampling soils for macroparticles of charcoal following a prescribed fire. According to Colbert, charcoal is a long-term way to store carbon, so these samples were crucial to the research.
"We were looking at the charcoal in soils surrounding burned logs compared to logs lying on the ground that had not been burned in prescribed fires," she said. "The soil samples we collected are now in the lab, and we are picking out the charcoal to measure it and analyze how much carbon is present."
Colbert's role in the research has inspired her to move her career in the direction of studying wildfires. She hopes to continue to learn how to prevent them and contribute to future research.
Learn about the Forest Ecosystem Management major at Penn State.


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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'San Ramon' tag.
I know – this is a shameless plug for our BBQ shop. But, sometimes the information being delivered demands some attention – even if it is from within!
Our BBQ Shop is located at: 21 South Livermore Ave. Livermore, CA in the Historic Blacksmith Square. We regularly have Big Green Eggs on sale and offer prices significantly under retail. Please visit our website for more information at: www.greenleafbbq.com – We can drop ship special orders as well!
Here are 10 of the best reasons ever to invest in a Big Green Egg…
1. They can hover at the magic 250 degree mark for almost 24 hours with a good lump charcoal fire – making the "Low & Slow" style a reality.
2. They are supremely efficient users of fuel – Good charcoal is expensive and getting more so.
3. They can really do a great job as a grill – those temps can easily get to 500 – 700 degrees and stay there for over an hour – if you have a "steak night" for 15 folks, this will come in handy.
4. They look cool.
5. They make you cooler!
6. They will last forever & include a limited LIFETIME warranty – Parts are commonly available and easily replaceable.
7. The array of ceramic accessories will allow perfect indirect heating & a wonderful brick over flavored pizza on a Big Green Egg Pizza Stone.
8. There is nothing that cannot be cooked to perfection with a little practice of fire management & technique – a VERY forgiving BBQ.
9. Air flow is managed at both ends and the adjustments actually work, unlike junk grills that have air flow vents more for cosmetic reasons.
10. Cooking technique that is learned in a kitchen can easily be applied to this charcoal fired porcelain oven – learn fire technique & the world will be your oyster.
I don't really need to go on any more – "Backyard Nirvana" is possible and now within reach.
Seriously, these are wonderful BBQ units that will be enjoyed for years…a true investment. Consider renting one from us for $50 a day – we'll take the rental expense off of your bill should you decide to buy.


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"When the moon hits you eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore.†–Dean Martin
I could be the last person in America to read Eat, Pray, Love, but there is a segment in the book that keeps running through my mind.
The author, Elizabeth Gilbert, references Luigi Barzini's book The Italians when explaining why a country that has "produced the greatest artistic, political and scientific minds of the ages†has not become a world power.
Barzini's conclusion is that after hundreds of years of corruption and exploitation by foreign domination, Italians don't trust political leaders or big institutions.
Gilbert said the prevailing thought is that "because the world is so corrupted, misspoken, unstable, exaggerated and unfair, one should only trust what one can experience with one's own senses.â€
She added, "In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, only artistic excellence is incorruptible. Pleasure cannot be bargained down.â€
I have pondered Gilbert's insight for weeks. I keep asking myself the essential question.
Is the United States headed the way of Italy?
Survey after survey shows that Americans do not trust their elected officials and don't trust the people on Wall Street.
My parents grew up in a society where people trusted big companies to provide secure, long term jobs, excellent benefits and solid retirement plans.
They trusted Wall Street to invest in those big companies and fuel America's economy growth.
They trusted political leaders to pass legislation that made the nation better, like the Civil Rights Act, even when the vote wasn't politically expedient.
We trusted our leaders to do the right thing.
My children are growing up in a society where none of that is happening. Corporations dump loyal employees, cut benefits and wiggle out of paying for pensions. Wall Street rewards them for it.
Wall Street has been based on a system of paying employees huge bonuses for gambling in silly trading games, rather than helping the economy produce growth.
Washington seems more focused on the latest opinion poll or their lobbyist buddies than what is good for the average citizen.
Long term thinking seems to occur around the "24-hour news cycle.â€
If the American people are following the path of the Italians, you can't really blame them.
On the other hand, I don't want to see the United States become the next Italy.
I want to trust big institutions, but that trust has to be earned.
I trust many life insurance companies because they are heavily regulated and oriented towards safety. I've been in an associated industry for all my adult life, know the people who run the companies and believe in the concepts they sell. The culture is very different from Goldman Sachs.
I want to trust government. I voted for President Obama in 2008 because I thought he would bring change to the economic system. Instead he gave us Geithner, Bernanke, Dr. Lawrence Summers and all the people who got us in this mess to begin with. Having said that, there is a good chance I'll vote for Obama again as I am not impressed with the competition.
There is a way to turn things around but the window is short. I'd like to see economic incentives for people who save and invest as opposed to bailouts for those who lack self control.
America could completely become the Italian model, where we retreat to our own worlds and focus on immediate pleasure.
Although there are a lot of downfalls, as Gilbert notes, the Italians can make one heck of a pizza.
In the big scheme of life, that's amore.
Don McNay, who lives in Richmond, Ky., is an award-winning financial columnist for Huffington Post Contributor. You can learn more about him at www.donmcnay.com.


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Amy necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 351 diseños de 82 diseñadores freelance.
The Gavel Pit
The Gavel Pit is a new site I am setting up to provide news and analysis for legal trials of interest. Though news will be provided, the site's emphasis is more on analyzing the strategy of the attorneys/parties in a case and discussing the relevant law in a non-legalese, flavorful manner.
Courtroom groupies, trial followers, newshounds, stalkers.
You are the professional, I'm just an attorney, so feel free to ignore absolutely everything I suggest and do what you think is best; however, my thoughts for the logo are:
1. I would like the word "The" in the logo, but it certainly doesn't require equal treatment with the words "Gavel Pit".
2. As I'm looking for a more modern, contemporary-looking logo, if a gavel is included in the logo, my thoughts would be that it not look like an old-time gavel, but one with straight, smooth lines.
3. The site is minimalist in black and white. I was thinking the logo would be black and white also. maybe assisted with some greys, but I am definitely open to other colors. You can find the site at http://www.gavelpit.com.
4. I was thinking something professional, but with a definite edge. No interested in anything cartoonish.
I desire a logo and a favicon: the logo in a high resolution (transparent background,black and white background) that it can be used for printouts, papers, etc and in a lower resolution optimized for web (also transparent background,black and white background).
I provide prompt feedback and will gladly answer any questions. In a rush, so I will pick the winner soon after the contest ends.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Bobbi Brown
Luxe Lip Colour
- bvseo_sdk, dw_cartridge, 17.1.0, p_sdk_3.2.0
- CLOUD, getAggregateRating, 11ms
- reviews, product
- bvseo-msg: Unsuccessful GET. status = '{0}', msg = {1};
Product Actions
- Sign in to add to Wish List
This item is worth 140 loyalty pointsSign up to Liberty Loyalty to see your purchases converted into vouchers you can spend in-store or online.
- Product features
- Editor's notes
- About
- Delivery
Product features
- 3.8g
- Bold, saturated colour
- Satin finish
- Maximum coverage in a single layer
- Nourishing, hydrating formula
- Glossy gold-tone retractable tube
Apply directly onto lips, or use a lip brush for more precise application.
Editor's notes
In a single sweep, Bobbi Brown's Luxe Lip Colour delivers bold, vibrant colour and supreme hydration, with a conditioning effect that lasts long after the shade is removed.
Let drying, fading, bleeding and smudging be problems of the past – this high-performance formula blends the best of colour and conditioning lip care in an unbeatable retractable lipstick. Intensive moisturisers rejuvenate lips for long-lasting, conditioned comfort, while colour is ultra-saturated for a statement satin finish.
- bvseo_sdk, dw_cartridge, 17.1.0, p_sdk_3.2.0
- CLOUD, getContent, 8ms
- reviews, product
- bvseo-msg: Unsuccessful GET. status = '{0}', msg = {1};


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Monthly data released last week were sparse, but included a substantial increase in December factory orders, Productivity in the 4th quarter decreased, and unit labour costs increased. Consumer credit increased, and wholesale inventories decreased.
This week continued to give some indications that tax increases may be affecting the economy. So Let's start this look at the high frequency weekly indicators by checking what is happening with tax withholding:
Employment metrics
Daily Treasury Statement tax withholding
- $137.6 B (adjusted -13.1% for 2013 payroll tax withholding changes) vs. $146.5 B, -6.2% YoY last 20 days. The unadjusted result was $158.1 B for a 7.9% increase.
Initial jobless claims
- 366,000 down 2,000
- 366,000 down 2,000
- 4 week average 350,500 down 1,500
American Staffing Association Index
- unchanged at 89 w/w up 2.5% YoY
Employment metrics were again weak this week. Initial claims remained in their 2012 range this week. In the second half of 2012 the ASA index's performance compared with 2011 declined significantly, although the absolute index was higher. In the last two weeks, however, the Index declined below its 2007 values and has lessened its increase over last year at this time.
I am adjusting my YoY tax withholding figures to reflect the increase in personal withholding taxes. While the YoY collections are up substantially, they should be up over 15% to compesnate for the tax increase. Since I can think of no reason why employment itself should have fallen off a cliff in January, it is very possible that there is a lag in the payment of withholding taxes with the new increase. In fact, the rolling 20 day average this week is much better than the average was last week compared YoY. If this hypothesis is correct, I would expect tax withholding to be much more reliable by the end of February.
Consumer spending
- ICSC +2.4%%% w/w +2..6% YoY
- ICSC +2.4%%% w/w +2..6% YoY
- Johnson Redbook +1.5% YoY
- Johnson Redbook +1.5% YoY
- Gallup daily consumer spending 14 day average at $80 up nearly $20 YoY
Gallup remains significantly positive. The ICSC varied between +1.5% and +4.5% YoY in 2012. This week was again close to the bottom end of that range. Johnson Redbook is also in the lower part of its YoY growth range from 2012. Even in the worst case, it still looks like consumer spending has not collapsed due to the tax withholding increase.
Housing metrics
Housing prices
- YoY this week. +2.6%
Housing prices bottomed at the end of November 2011 on Housing Tracker, and have averaged an increase of +2.0% to +2.5% YoY for the last year.
Real estate loans, from the FRB H8 report:
- 0.3% w.w
- 0.3% w.w
- +1.3% YoY
- +1.3% YoY
- +2.9% from its bottom
Loans turned up at the end of 2011 and averaged about 1% gains YoY through most of 2012, and have recently shown somewhat more YoY strength. This week remained was closer to the bottom of its recent YoY range.
Mortgage applications
- +2% w/w purchase applications
- +2% w/w purchase applications
- +16% YoY purchase applications
- +16% YoY purchase applications
- +4% w/w refinance applications
Purchase applications had been going sideways for 2 years,, but in recent weeks have finally looked like they may be breaking out of that range to the upside, but the move is not decisive yet. Refinancing applications were very high for most of last year with record low mortgage rates, which have recently increased.
Interest rates and credit spreads
- +0.13% to 4.85% BAA corporate bonds
- +0.13% to 4.85% BAA corporate bonds
- +0.12% to 2.02% 10 year treasury bonds
- +0.12% to 2.02% 10 year treasury bonds
- +0.01% change at 2.83% credit spread between corporates and treasuries
Interest rates for corporate bonds have generally been falling since being just above 6% two years ago in January 2011, hitting a low of 4.46% in November 2012. Treasuries have fallen from about 2% in late 2011 to a low of 1.47% in July 2012. Spreads have varied between a high over 3.4% in June 2011 to a low under 2.75% in October 2012. The last several weeks have seen a marked increase in rates, although the YoY changes remain positive.
Money supply
- +0.4% w/w
- +0.4% w/w
- +1.1% m/m
- +1.1% m/m
- +10.5% YoY Real M1
- +0.1% w/w
- +0.1% w/w
- -0.4% m/m
- -0.4% m/m
- +5.3% YoY Real M2
Real M1 made a YoY high of about 20% in January 2012 and has generally been easing off since. This week's YoY reading remained above a new low set several weeks ago. Real M2 also made a YoY high of about 10.5% in January 2012. Its subsequent low was 4.5% in August 2012. It weakened once again this week. Both are still quite positive in absolute terms.
Oil prices and usage
- Oil $95.72 down $2.05 w/w
- Oil $95.72 down $2.05 w/w
- gas $3.54 up $.18 w/w
- gas $3.54 up $.18 w/w
- Usage 4 week average YoY +4.7%
Gas prices are increasing seasonally, although markedly so in the last week. Unusually for the last year plus, the 4 week average for the third week in a row was positive YoY.
Railroad transport
- -9800 or -3.4% carloads YoY
- -9800 or -3.4% carloads YoY
- +1800 or +0.6%% carloads ex-coal
- +1800 or +0.6%% carloads ex-coal
- +16,600 or +7.2% intermodal units
- +16,600 or +7.2% intermodal units
- +6,800 or +1.3% YoY total loads
- +6,800 or +1.3% YoY total loads
- 9 of 20 types of carloads up YoY, a decrease of 1 from last week
Shipping transport
- Harpex up 7 at 366
- Harpex up 7 at 366
- Baltic Dry Index down 10 to 748
Rail transport has been whipsawing between very positive and very negative readings over the last 2 months. This may well be the aftermath of the dock strikes. Traffic ex-coal returned to being positive this week. The Harpex index is still near its 3 year low of 352, and the Baltic Dry Index is still generally declining towards its 52 week low from last February.
Bank lending rates
- 0.225 TED spread down -0.015 w/w
- 0.225 TED spread down -0.015 w/w
- 0.2000 LIBOR down -0.006 w/w
The TED spread is barely above its 52 week low. LIBOR is again at a new 52 week low and is close to a 3 year low.
JoC ECRI Commodity prices
- up 0.02 to 129.91 w/w
- up 0.02 to 129.91 w/w
- +2.15% YoY
The most important issue at the moment is whether the 2% increase in withholding tax rates is having an effect on consumers. We can add to that the issues of the impending austerity of the budget sequestration, and the potential consequences of moving income and spending forward into 2012 from 2013 due to tax increases. This week and last week it looks like we got evidence for the first time that there has been an effect.
By far the most negative data was tax withholdings, although these were not so bad as last week. Temporary jobs also stalled, and initial claims are back in their 2012 range. Bond interest rates and spreads are also increasing. Money supply, while positive, is near the lower end of its range.
Continuing positives include the housing market, money supply, consumer spedning, bank lending rates, and commodity prices. Gas prices, while rising, haven't turned constrictive yet. Gas usage has turned positive. Rail traffic is also positive again.
If austerity measures emanating from Washington are enough to tip the economy into contraction, the evidence should accumulate in the next few weeks. While there is some evidence of a consumer and employment slowdown, most of the high frequency data continues to support economic expansion.
Have a nice weekend.
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text: sixsecondsleft Posted July 6, 2012 I often get other managers commenting "It's hard to really understand [my team], they tend to get good results but often give the impression that they're over-achieving", but I'm not sure that if its a compliment or a knock. I'm guessing it's the latter, but how do we give the impression of overachieving? Does it mean that in spite of our good results, we don't play well? My guys have great ratings though. Is it playing down to competition? Or is it that our rep doesn't match our success yet? 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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What is often referred to as the "Old Dubai", is by far my favourite place to shoot Street Photography in Dubai! Along the Creek (inlet of the Arabian Gulf), Old Dubai is made of two parts; Deira on the East and Bur Dubai on the Westbank of the Creek.
While one finds several souqs (open markets) along both sides of the Creek, the Textile souq in Bur Dubai is probably the most busy one! I combine both areas together in a large gallery called, "Life at the Creek".
On my last visit to the area, I spotted this Pakistani shoe seller and was attracted by his reflection in a mirror. When I showed him the image afterwards, he was so excited, he immediately wanted a copy of the image. Using the Fujifilm Wifi remote app combined with the Wifi capability of the camera, I was able to email him the image straight away!
Image details:
Fujifilm X-T10 with the XF 35mm f2 Fujinon lens
ISO 320, f6.4, 1/60s
RAW Black and White conversion in Lightroom CC
For the ones that missed it, last week I was the guest speaker in the hugely popular "Street Focus" podcast, part of the TWiP (This Week in Photo) network and run by French Street Photographer Valérie Jardin. I was invited for her "Streets of the World" series, where I discuss the Street Photography scene in Dubai in a one hour interview.
A direct link to the podcast page can be found here.
"When people ask me what equipment I use, I tell them by eyes"


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I am very excited to attend the NGS Family History Conference in Cincinnati this week! I am also excited about presentations by some of the ProGen Study Group mentors and alumni. [The ProGen Study Program is designed for professional and aspiring genealogists to put into practice the principles found in Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers and Librarians, edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills. See the website for details.]
This is the first time that many of the ProGen alumni will be speaking at a national conference and I would like to encourage my blog readers to support them. (Disclaimer: I am one of those speaking).
Here is the schedule of mentors and alumni speaking in Cincinnati this week:
ProGen Study Group Mentors:
Claire Bettag, CG, CGL (ProGen 11)
10 May 2012 4:00 p.m. Assumptions: A Genealogical Slippery Slope
Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL (ProGen 1)
11 May 2012 9:30 a.m. They Went West on the O-HI-O: Using the GPS to Follow a Family's Trail
12 May 2012 2:30 p.m. The Mighty Ohio: Migration West From Pennsylvania
Craig Roberts Scott, CG (ProGen 3 & 12)
09 May 2012 11:00 a.m. Researching Your War of 1812 Ancestor
10 May 2012 2:30 p.m. Pension Research: You Stopped Too Soon
11 May 2012 9:30 a.m. Known Dead of the War of 1812
11 May 2012 4:00 p.m. Union Provost Marshal Records
Stefani Evans, CG (ProGen 2)
10 May 2012 2:30 p.m. Red Herrings and a Stroke of the Dead Palsy: Analyzing and Correlating Evidence
J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGA (ProGen 5)
09 May 2012 11:00 a.m. Focusing on Pathways 'cross the Ohio River
10 May 2012 8:00 a.m. Understanding Court Records: Hands on Workshop
ProGen Study Group Alumni:
Angela Packer McGhie (ProGen 1)
11 May 2012 8:00 a.m. Read All About Your Ancestors by Locating Historic Newspapers
Michael Hait, CG (ProGen 5)
12 May 2012 8:00 a.m. African American Genealogy: Tearing Down the Brickwalls
12 May 2012 2:30 p.m. Online State Resources for Genealogy: Beyond Ancestry(TM) and FamilySearch(TM)
Harold Henderson (ProGen 1)
11 May 2012 9:30 a.m. Orphans No More: Records of the Indianapolis Orphan Asylum 1851-1941
12 May 2012 9:30 a.m. Indirect Evidence: What To Do When Perry Mason Isn't on Your Side
Stephen J. Buffat (ProGen 9)
11 May 2012 11:00 a.m. In Search of your Civil War Ancestry
Thomas MacEntee (ProGen 4)
10 May 2012 9:30 a.m. Utilizing Social Networks for Genealogy Research


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Wood under water
Friday morning on the lake: Ironildo Gomes da Silva and his three workmates chug across the water in a steel boat that has clearly seen better days. The boat stops beside one of the branches protruding from the water, and da Silva, 29, pulls on his goggles and jumps in. He vanishes briefly, surfaces again and signals to a workmate, who picks up a motor saw and throws it into the water, close enough for da Silva to grab it. The tree is securely attached to the boat with a steel cable before da Silva, an underwater lumberjack for the past ten years, dives to the lake bed.
In the early 1960s, the Brokopondo Reservoir in eastern Suriname was still a broad valley at the heart of the jungle through which the Suriname River flowed toward the Atlantic Ocean. Not any waterway, no, it was the most important waterway in the country, and so it was fitting that the country should share the river's name. Located in the northeast of South America, between Guyana, French Guiana and Brazil, Suriname is the smallest country on the continent. The Suriname river is used to transport the country's natural commodities – bauxite, timber and aluminum – in the direction of the capital, Paramaribo. There, by now brown and brackish, the river flows sluggishly into the ocean, past the Goslar, a freighter that was scuppered by its German crew in 1940 to prevent the Dutch colonial power from seizing it.
The ship still lies at the bottom of Paramaribo harbor today, a heap of rust in the Suriname River and a sign that things do not disappear, that they remain even when water engulfs them. And that's how it is with the lake, which is actually not a lake at all, but an area of flooded jungle cut off by a dam.
At some point, the water level stopped rising, far later than expected, and the reservoir had ultimately become one of the largest reservoirs in South America and three times larger than Europe's Lake Constance. A much smaller reservoir was the original plan, when they first dammed up the river in the jungle and started up a hydroelectric power station to supply a couple of aluminum plants with energy. Aluminum is one of Suriname's most important exports, besides other natural resources, such as gold and oil.
Suriname is a former Dutch colony, which only gained independence in 1975. The descendants of slaves account for a good 35 percent of the population, while those of Indian and Indonesian contract workers who came into the country after slavery ended make up 40 percent. The rest are Europeans, indigenous people, Chinese and Arabs. Suriname's good 500 000 inhabitants live chiefly on the coast, most of them in Paramaribo. Rainforest covers some 80 percent of the country. From the coastal strip, there are really only two ways into the country's interior: You can either take a plane or a boat. Inroads are also being made into nature in Suriname, of course, and that includes the reservoir. But compared with the destruction caused by slash-and-burn cultivation and clearcutting in other South American countries, the jungle in Suriname is intact.
When the water came to Brokopondo, the forest and the villages in the valley were inundated. Ten thousand people lost their homes, and were resettled on the banks of the lake. And because the water moved in faster than expected, it also opened up fresh graves, the waters washing caskets out of the ground to float on the lake, and that could be the end of the story of the stronger destroys the weaker until nothing is left.
But that's not the way it is. The trees at least remain, hundreds of thousands of them, their branches reaching out of the water to this day. So the story can go on because the wood brings money and work. The teams processing the timber from the lake are as mixed as the population of Suriname itself. There's a Chinese manager in charge of a sawmill, an ethnic Indian steering a motor dugout across the lake. A man with Indonesian roots is standing by a band saw, where the descendants of the people who used to live here when the lake was still a valley are turning the logs into planks.
And there's da Silva, the Brazilian underwater forestry worker. The timber in the sea has amazing qualities, he says. Even after around 50 years in the water, this tropical wood is still serviceable. Hardwood, top quality, naturally impregnated to withstand all manner of damage, it's the ideal material for European terraces. Seven of the couple of hundred varieties of timber found here are interesting to the industry, including robust Guyana teak, walaba and the wood of the fava tree.
A German ships these treasures to Europe. Every six weeks or so, 42-year-old Marco Schulze travels to Suriname for Barth & Co., an import company headquartered in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He estimates that the lake still contains a good 14 million cubic meters of roundwood with a market value of approximately four billion euros. Schulze sends the timber all over Europe, but especially to his own country. The total value of all of the timber he procured from Suriname for Barth & Co. in 2015 amounted to some four million euros. That figure is set to rise, the company indicates.
Tropical wood's reputation is not so good because it's seen as being the product of over-exploitation, clearcutting, the destruction of nature. But there's a great advantage to this wood from the reservoir: When it is felled, it leaves no gaps in the jungle, either from harvesting, as the forestry industry calls the felling of valuable individual specimens, or from the great swaths cut through the forest to make them accessible. Importer Schulze takes the argument one step further: If the trees were left in the lake, hardwood or no, they would eventually rot. Their decomposition, Schulze explains, releases methane into the atmosphere, a greenhouse gas that is at least as harmful as carbon dioxide. In other words, by building a terrace in our back yard with timber from the reservoir, we actually protect the climate twice over, he says.
Alternatively, it can be seen from a profit perspective: There are no restrictions on trade with timber from reservoirs. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), bans, or at least greatly restricts, the export of many varieties of tropical wood. However, its provisions do not apply to underwater timber.
That's why da Silva keeps on diving there. He feels his way down the trunk to a depth of around 30 meters. As he moves down, he can tell whether the tree is worth logging, he says, because he can feel the differences. If he notices unnatural dents in the surface, or if the trunk does not grow continuously thicker on the way down, it's a sign that the wood is rotten. He "sees" all of this with his hands; eyes can make out very little here. The water is cloudy, even if it is doesn't look like it on the surface. And plus, the lake is inhabited, even if you wouldn't think so at first glance. Dangle a piece of bloody meat into the water, though, and before long, there would be piranhas on the scene. Those hungry river dwellers were always here, and as the river grew wider, so, too, their habitat expanded.
Jungle is when life simply takes over – now there are piranhas and anacondas swimming through the forest
Now fish swim through the forest alongside anacondas and caiman alligators. Jungle is when life takes over, whatever niche it fills. Luckily for da Silva, piranhas don't like the noise the logging team sends reverberating through the water. Nevertheless, they would soon overcome their aversion if the thing that must never happen ever did happen, namely that a worker was injured underwater. Not a scratch can the divers afford, and certainly no accidental clash with a chainsaw, that pneumatically driven tool driven by two hoses connected to a compressor on board the boat. One hose pumps oil into the saw to power the chain, and the other pumps the oil back up again. So it's vital not to risk being injured underwater – or being knocked out by a tree. Saturated with water, the tree trunks weigh tons. Once sawn through, the wood does not rise to the surface. In fact, it would sink if it were not held fast by the steel cable. A winch is used to haul the logs to the surface.
These are the conditions in which the loggers labor, and while this kind of work may seem strange to some, for da Silva, the job he does is more than anything a good one, and one he enjoys because it makes him proud and brings in the equivalent of around 1500 dollars a month that he can send home to his family in Brazil.
Twenty trees felled; enough for one day. The workers' boat pulls a pontoon along behind trailing the day's harvest. We tie up at the houseboat. There's a small island beside it in the reservoir, where the logs are stored, presorted, until at some point they are taken to the sawmill at the other end of the lake. Rifles are retrieved from the houseboat, the crew crosses to the mainland and heads into the jungle to shoot dinner. The leftovers will go to the piranhas.
From the frequent traveller magazine Lufthansa Exclusive. For more information about Lufthansa Miles & More offers, please click here.


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Dining Tips
Dine at QTS restaurants
You can trust restaurants displaying the QTS sign because they must pass stringent annual quality assessments showing that they:
- Provide quality food in clean and hygienic premises;
- Provide clear and precise menus with prices for food and beverages; and
- Ensure superb customer service.
The Quality Tourism Services (QTS) Scheme is organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, which also provides assistance for enquiries about purchases from shops, restaurants and accommodation accredited by the QTS Scheme.
Find QTS-accredited restaurants.
Popular restaurants are often busy during lunchtime (1pm – 2pm), at night and on weekends, so it is a good idea to make a reservation.
Dress Code
Casual wear is acceptable in most restaurants. Some high-end restaurants have dress codes, so please check upon reservation. As most premises are air-conditioned, you might need a light sweater or jacket.
Additional Charges
In some restaurants, it is common for waiters to automatically bring tea, condiments and non-ordered snacks that will be charged to your bill. Please check with the waiter about such additional charges before being seated.
Prices of seafood items are often charged by weight and can vary by season. Different restaurants use different systems to weigh the food, so be sure to confirm the price before ordering. Also, in situations where the fish is purchased outside the restaurant, such as in Lei Yue Mun, cooking charges are added to the price.
Service Charge
Most restaurants add 10 per cent to the bill. However, some tea cafes do not impose service charges. Please check with the waiter about the charges before being seated.
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Most Hong Kong restaurants accept credit cards. Check the credit card slip before signing it and remember to take your receipt. Credit card companies and/or banks issuing the cards may charge a currency-exchange fee on overseas purchases. Please check with your credit card issuer for further details.
Hawkers (food carts)
Occasionally, you may see someone selling food from a street cart. Please note that many of these street carts are not licensed and the food is often unhygienic.
Smoking Ban
Smoking is prohibited in all indoor public places, including restaurants, karaoke venues, malls and bars. The smoking ban is also implemented on public transport carriers, public transport facilities and in both indoor and outdoor areas of some premises such as public beaches and swimming pools, escalators and the Hong Kong Wetland Park. Any person who smokes or carries a lighted cigarette, cigar, or pipe in designated no-smoking areas will be liable to a fixed penalty of HK$1,500. Please click here for details.
Plastic Shopping Bag Charge
From 1 April 2015, all retail businesses in Hong Kong are required to charge a minimum levy of HK$0.50 for each plastic shopping bag provided to customers. It also applies to the airtight foodstuff packaging provided by restaurants. Avoid the levy and be environmentally responsible by bringing your own bag. See here for details.
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During non-office hours, leave a message at the above hotline number, and the Consumer Council will revert within three working days.
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Walsh named Men's Hockey Assistant Coach
May 9, 2013 Leave a comment
MADISON, Wis. –– Matt Walsh casually left a "For Sale" sign on the kitchen counter Tuesday night when he got home from his day at the Kohl Center. It was a place he knew his wife Ann would see it. Not surprisingly, the sign piqued her interest and she asked Matt what was going on. He mentioned to her that he was thinking about selling something and after tossing around a few things, like his rarely-used bicycle and the family van, he made his way to the basement to continue unwinding for the day.
From what Matt says, it took Ann about seven minutes, not that he was counting, to come running down the stairs and exclaim, "You got the job!?"
The Walsh family had talked about what would happen if the day came when Walsh could take off the interim label from his title and become a full-time assistant coach for his alma mater. Currently living in Janesville, one of those discussions centered on whether a move closer to Madison would make sense, which is why Matt used the "For Sale" sign as the hint.
The family's living arrangements may now be in question, but they know where Matt will spend much of his time next hockey season.
It now becomes a seamless transition for the Badger men's hockey program as it moves towards its first season in the Big Ten Conference.
"I think having Matt with us since November, we were able to see first-hand how he interacts with college students and the work that he does on the ice," said Head Coach Mike Eaves. "It became clear as time went on, that he was very capable of doing the job here.
"We also got to know him as a man, we got to know his family and it all matches up really well.
"We went through due diligence in the process," explained Eaves. "We had many people apply. I talked to a handful of people who I thought might be serious candidates and chatted with them, but in the end it all came back to Matt and what he did for us this year."
Walsh will continue his duties coaching the defensemen, while also getting more involved in recruiting.
"Since the end of the season, this has been a question mark," explained Walsh. "I felt like I could do this and I wanted to do this. The interim position was good for me. It was like an internship where I got to really know what the job is like.
"Hockey has been a passion of mine for a long, long time and now I get to continue to help the program like I felt I did throughout the course of the year. I think going forward, the details I can work on with the players, especially the defenseman, and building on the relationships we've built to get what we need done will help make the players successful, the team successful and the program successful."
Walsh's Badger coaching career began last Nov. 23, the day after Thanksgiving and the day of the start of a Kohl Center series against Minnesota State. Following the weekend, the Badgers owned a 1-7-2 record.
After a full week in his role as interim assistant coach, Walsh and the Badgers skated 11 consecutive games without a loss and the squad began a four-month surge that culminated in a WCHA playoff crown and an NCAA tournament bid.
There were various factors that combined to fuel the turnaround, but as the coach of Wisconsin's defensemen, the Badgers went on to lead all WCHA teams in league games with a 2.29 goals-against-per-game average. The team's 2.12 goals-against-per-game average in all contests was good enough to rank sixth in the nation.
A member of Wisconsin's 1983 NCAA championship team as a freshman defenseman, Walsh played for the Badgers from 1982-86, winning the WHA-TV Jim Santulli Seventh-Man Award his senior season.
As Coach-in-Chief for USA Hockey's Central District since 1995, Walsh had been responsible for coordinating seminars for USA Hockey's Coaching Education Program over a six-state area. In 2003, Walsh represented USA Hockey's Coaching Education Program at an International Ice Hockey Federation World Development Camp, where he presented to coaches from around the world.
"From being entrenched in the Central District for USA Hockey, there are a lot of people you get to know here," said Walsh. "And from working on a national level, whether it is with the coaching program, or the select festivals, you get to know people all across the nation. If I can add a few different areas and contacts for recruiting that maybe we haven't been involved with before and that helps the program, which is a benefit."
Throughout his time with USA Hockey, he has served as an evaluator for various USA Hockey Select 15, 16 and 17 teams. He also co-coached Select 15 and 16 district teams.
Head coach of Team Wisconsin from 1991-96 and again in 1998 and 1999, the Madison, Wis., native was also an assistant coach for the team from 1988-90. The team is made up of the top 20 seniors from Wisconsin.
From 1994-96, Walsh was head coach of the Stoughton High School squad.
"Wisconsin hockey is something I've been a part of since going to hockey games when I was eight years old," Walsh concluded. "Now to actually come full circle as a coach here and try to improve the program and make it the best in the nation — that is the goal."


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Juan Pablo Galavis is causing controversy yet again.
"The Bachelor" star retweeted a fan Thursday who shared an insensitive joke that made fun of people with mental handicaps. It read: "Not every flower can save love, but a rose can. Not every plant survives thirst, but a cactus can. Not every r-----d can read, but look at you go, little buddy! Today you should take a moment and send an encouraging message to a f--ked up friend, just as I've done. I don't care if you lick windows, or interfere with farm animals. You hang in there cup cake, you're f--king special to me, you're my friend, look at you smiling at your phone! You crayon eating bastard you!"
When he retweeted the user, he added, "JAJAJAJAJA LOVED IT..." His comment has since been deleted.
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PHOTOS: See who's still together from The Bachelor and Bachelorette
Galavis went on to defend himself, tweeting, "I'm BLESSED to speak SPANISH, an OK english and a LITTLE bit of portuguese... For those who DON'T I recommend to LEARN... #Culture." He continued, "Yeap, an OK english, my WRITING is HORRIBLE but some of you already UNDESTAND me with all my MISTAKES... People, try to be HAPPY and enjoy JOKES and SARCASM... In Venezuela the R word is USED commonly and by NO means is to OFFEND anyone... #Relax #DifferentCulture #Respect."
The reality star and single dad then told his followers, "Some people need to TRAVEL and get around the WORLD... The US is a GREAT country but there is a LOT out there... #openyourmind #learnculture."
NEWS: Why Dancing WIth the Stars didn't want Juan Pablo Galavis
In January, the soccer player came under fire after he said there shouldn't be a gay Bachelor because homosexuals are more "pervert in a sense." Galavis later apologized for his interview quotes and blamed his word choice on a language barrier. ABC, Warner Horizon Television and the show's producers didn't defend Galavis, telling E! News, "Juan Pablo's comments were careless, thoughtless and insensitive, and in no way reflect the views of the network, the show's producers or studio."


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App-DNA has introduced AppTitude 4.0, an upgrade to the company's application compatibility testing tool that helps organizations learn where is the best place to run an application and why.
AppTitude 4.0 adds over 15 new and updated features, including a new reporting capability for Windows 7 application compatibility, extended support for Microsoft .NET Framework-based applications, and new support for using VMware to capture installation snapshots. AppTitude assists organizations by eliminating much of the manual testing involved in application assessments and OS migrations, such as Windows 7.
AppTitude 4.0 includes enhancements to several existing features plus newly-added functionality, including:
- A new Windows 7 Report for AppTitude's Desktop Compatibility Manager module;
- Extension of AppTitude's Production Manager to now support VMWare images. This means users can capture install snapshots using VMWare, in addition to the previously supported Virtual Server 2005.
- Integration of AppTitude with the Windows PCA internal database that ships with Windows 7 and Windows Vista for improved reporting accuracy. AppTitude 4.0 recognizes the three PCA states within the OS: "automatic shim," in which the OS automatically configures the application to run; "soft block," in which the OS warns that the application may have minor problems but allows it to run; and "hard block," in which the OS prevents the application from running under it at all.
- Newly-improved manifestations and remediations across all reports provide better documentation and detail on algorithms, offering improved usability;
- New extended attribute import for .NET Framework-based applications provides the ability to determine .NET Framework dependencies in much greater detail. Now .NET Framework-based applications receive the same low-level analysis in AppTitude reports as Win32 apps.
"When testers can get the answers they need, it vastly reduces the time, cost and risks associated with deployment of OS migrations, software upgrades, virtualization and other changes. AppTitude 4.0 provides an even more powerful analytic dashboard for improving application management and supporting long-term planning," said App-DNA's Mike Welling.


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National Fishing in Schools Program
"Fishing in Schools"
The National Fishing in Schools Program is a nationwide, in school program, that teaches the positive lifetime activity of fishing to students in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. NFSP educates students about fish, insects, aquatic environment, resource stewardship and conservation using fishing, and learning the skill of casting, as the instructional tool.
FishTargets? - What...
NFSP works in cooperation with state education and fish and wildlife agencies and a network of groups interested in teaching our youth how to fish in schools. The NFSP current curriculum, "Cast A Fly, Catch A Student", using fly rods, was specifically created to address a broad and inclusive framework of National Academic Standards. Its sequel, "Cast A Lure, Catch A Student", using spincast rods, will do the same. The foundation lesson plans are designed to be taught over 10 days and meet 4 standards: Language Arts, Physical Education, Science and Technology.
One ingredient that makes the program successful is the unique CasTarget teaching aids. These photorealistic targets provide teachers with educational tools that make the curriculum effective, fun and engaging. NFSP provides all the necessary ingredients to empower the teacher/school/district to implement "Fishing in Schools": curriculum, equipment, training and support.
NFSP makes gaining the skills of fishing easy-to-learn, easy-to-administer, easy-to-teach. The curriculum creates positive results for both student and teacher and it also leads to:
moderate to vigorous physical activity
better understanding & respect for the outdoors
increased awareness of our environment & natural resources
To view a video describing the structure, goals and objectives of NFSP, click here. For further information or to talk about your specific needs, please contact us. To download the "Cast A Fly, Catch A Student" app...