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Blogging is catching on: Photographer Rob Inglis has started his foodie blog ClikandEat!
Here's a snippet from his first blog post on Lemon Tart [Note: I had one of them, and it was amazing.]:
This was a new recipe for me to try so I wasn't sure what to expect. My wife makes a nice lemon desert as well so I thought maybe it would turn out like that, but it was definitely a lot different, which just goes to show, you shouldn't pre-judge a recipe before it's done and should keep an open mind when trying new things, or meeting new people. I won't go saying which I like better, hers or mine, I know better than that. The finished product turned out, well, in my opinion pretty good, but if you really want better proof, just ask my colleague Francis Scarcella who ate about 5 pieces of it when I brought it into work.
Know of any other cool Valley-based blogs? Send them my way!


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Briefcases & Catalog Cases
- SOLO Sterling Slim Brief - 15.6"(14)Average rating:4.6429out of5stars, based on14reviewsBest Sellercurrent price: $23.48$23.48Online only
- Stebco Tufide Wheeled Catalog Case, Vinyl, 22-1/4 x 13-1/2, Black(2)Average rating:4.5out of5stars, based on2reviewscurrent price: $144.98$144.98Online only
Briefcases, Catalog Cases & More
Briefcases and catalog cases can be a crucial element in your business. If your job ever requires you to carry important documents from place to place, you don't want to trust those documents to a backpack or duffel bag, or worse yet, carry them exposed in your hands. They can be lost, damaged or stolen, and even if they arrive safely at their destination, they may be so disorganized that you cannot produce the item you need when you need it. Great cases let you avoid all of these problems.
When you're shopping for catalog cases at Sam's Club, be sure to look carefully over your options, as you're sure to find a case that meets your specific needs. We offer catalog cases made of long wearing vinyl coated fabric, wheeled catalog cases and more, with twin locks to protect your vital documents.
Through Sam's Club, you'll also find beautiful attaché cases with expander capacity and plenty of storage space for folders, papers, even phones and compact discs. Again, these storage cases are attractive and lockable. Other briefcase related items you'll find at Sam's Club include a briefcase style day timer and stylish women's briefcase.
People often judge you by the type of briefcase or catalog case you carry. They notice not only its appearance, but how efficiently you can produce the necessary documents you need from it. With cases from Sam's Club, you'll always impress and always be ready. So set aside that old, worn out briefcase and order a great new case from Sam's Club at a great price today.

subset: commoncrawl


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Have you ever wanted to stay in an ancient palace and eat breakfast like the king or queen accompanied by the African sunrise and a side plate of live Berber music? You will find a truly royal bargain at Hostel Waka Waka – for the first time in Marrakech.
Everyone comes to Marrakech looking for a 'good price' and Waka Waka cuts out the haggling for you. For the first time in Marrakech. If you are on a shoe-string budget, but want to stay in an old palace of a hostel, come and enjoy the regally calm but highly entertaining Waka Waka's.


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Home > Glossary > Disciplines of Study [DoS] > Acoustics > Frequency > English definition
Sunday 2 January 2005, by
The rate of repetition of the cycles of a periodic quantity, such as a sound wave. Thus, frequency is the inverse of the period. More generally, frequency can be thought of as the rate of change of phase. Frequency is denoted by the symbol f, and is measured in hertz (Hz) - formerly called cycles per second (cps or c/s) - kilohertz (kHz), or megahertz (mHz). The only sound which consists of a single frequency is the pure sine tone. All other sounds are complex, consisting of a number of frequencies of greater or lesser intensity. The frequency content of a sound is its spectrum. The subjective sense of frequency is called pitch. That is, frequency is an acoustic variable, whereas pitch is a psychoacoustic one. (Source: Barry Truax - Handbook for Acoustic Ecology CD-ROM Edition. Cambridge Street Publishing, 1999 - CSR-CDR 9901)


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Table of Contents
How do I "uninstall" Citadel?
We will assume that you are very happy with the Citadel system, and installed it on a production server, and now you need to remove it from your test server. We cannot think of any other reason why you would want to uninstall Citadel. :)
Easy Install
If your installation was performed using Easy Install, then all you have to do is delete the following three directories:
- /usr/local/citadel
- /usr/local/webcit
- /usr/local/ctdlsupport
You will also need to remove the entries for "citadel" and "webcit" in your init scripts (/etc/init.d) directory.
Debian Packages
First, we need to remember which packages you installed:
dpkg --list |grep -i citadel
Remove these packages with
dpkg -r citadel-server citadel-webcit ...
Purge the configs:
dpkg --purge citadel-server citadel-webcit ...
The data-files go to /var/lib/citadel, if you like to get rid of them.


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Browsing by Subject "Electric anesthesia"
Now showing items 1-1 of 1
A Study of the Effects of Various Levels of Cranially Applied Electricity on Passage of Glucose from Cerebral Circulation into the Brain (Drake University, 1976-05)The problem. Electricity, as a controlled energy, has been utilized in many capacities with varying degrees of success. Among these applications is Electroanesthesia (EA). Much is known about the gross effects induced ...


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Technology and design don't always mesh well with the human body. You get earbuds that fall out of your ears, glasses that slip down the bridge of your nose, and keypads that leave our thumbs worn ragged. While designers try to create designs that better fit our bodies, photographer Marcia Nolte imagines a world where we instead alter our bodies to accommodate fashion and technology.Most of the photos in Nolte's series Corpus 2.0 display alterations that humans might employ to adapt to the current world and the experiences of our daily lives. For example, the above photo suggests placing an extra joint in your thumb for improved SMS messaging. The photos illustrate a possible form of elective evolution that, rather than ensuring our survival, is meant to increase our efficiency within the world as it exists and allow us to continue to modify ourselves as the world changes.
A hole in the lip for smokers.
An ear designed to fit a universal earbud.
A nose ridge to ensure that glasses stay put.
An elongated should for cradling a phone.
The above image in particular, which depicts a high-heeled foot, hits home the fact that many people already adapt their bodies to current fashion – through implants and tummy tucks – and cultural mores, as with circumcision. The next step in body modification could well be to change the structure of our bodies to better interface with the objects in our space. [Marcia Nolte via Dezeen]


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Software Map
Project Tree
Now limiting view to projects in the following categories:
Operating System :: POSIX :: GNU/Linux [Remove This Filter]
Kind :: Software [Remove This Filter]
Natural Language :: English [Remove This Filter]
Intended Audience :: End Users/Desktop [Remove This Filter]
Operating System :: MacOS [Remove This Filter]
Topic :: Software Development :: Code Generators [Remove This Filter]
Research center > Saclay - Ile de France
Browse By:
1 project in result set.
- GUIDE is a Library (and a Graphical User Interface) that allows the generation of evolutionary algorithms suited to the user's needs (even if the user is not an Evolutionary Computation specialist). Two libraries are supported, EO and ECJ.
However, GUIDE is now dead, and this project is used for various projects in TAO.
|Activity Percentile: 19.80
Registered: 2008-01-10 17:14


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Italian orange 100% leather low-profile sectional sofa in right-facing chaise shape is fashionable and stylish. It comes in few colors and all rotations, seats and backs have high density foam to give you extra comfort and support.
Top grain italian leather
Model: JM625 Pumpkin RF
SKU: 17544311Measurements:
No reviews for this model at this time. Be first to write one!
No questions for this model at this time. Be first to ask one!
Use 'Ask a Question' for general questions about this model, and we will reply to your request within 1 business day
For stock information please call/email or use check stock feature in a shopping cart since stock changes every day.
J&M is one of the new players on modern furniture market in NY-NJ area. They offer absolutely breathtaking bedroom sets with unique features like all-high-gloss finish or leather headboards. Stylish and long-lasting modern furniture.


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Most of you will have have heard of Fleet Foxes, if not actually heard them. To some, these Folkish-beardy-rockers were hyped to the hilt last year, leaving a sick taste in the mouth of those who believed the lavish praise to be unwarranted. Relevance? Josh Tillman is the drummer for Fleet Foxes, and Vacilando Territory Blues is actually his sixth release as a solo artist (though only his second in Europe). This is his first solo release since he upped sticks and took his place on the stool for Fleet Foxes early last year, so it'd be wrong to accuse him of attempting to ride high on the wave of their success.
It is a tired cliché in folk music that singer-songwriters often sound aged beyond their years, but this is a voice which is an oak-smoked, whisky drenched yet paper-thin husk. It's a voice which sounds so weary that he can barely muster the enthusiasm to finish his hushed words; likewise his softly strummed chords. In the way that England's Johnny Flynn somehow sounds akin to a 55 year old weather-beaten moccasin-wearing troubadour, Tillman is an American equivalent of this form of musical progeria.
Presented on Vacilando are thirteeen compositions of country-blues which are mostly melancholic, with moments tinged with optimism, most notably in 'New Imperial Grand Blue'. The sparse 'James Blues' could come direct from the Wild West; it's a lonesome lament is played out with the backing of slow hand-claps and some lethargic saloon stylings on the piano. The melodious moments are just as good as the melancholic ones, though, and 'Laborless Land' combines these both to anthemic effect as strings and a backing chorus carry the blues. The belting is on a level with the sorrowful mourning: the banjoed 'Bartez Blues' being as good an example of Tillman's talent as a songwriter as any here, with seven minutes of carefully constructed and contrasting tones.
The beauty of this record is undoubtedly in its ambience. Whereas contemporaries like Bon Iver manage to belie their rudimentary recording process, here it sounds at all times as though both singer and six-string are at least several feet away from any microphone, registering some early Oldham-esque qualities – background noise included.
Much like Fleet Foxes, the music contained within isn't particularly ground breaking, but what is done is done well. The same criticisms that could be levelled at Fleet Foxes could equally be levelled at Tillman - that it ticks all the right boxes, but that there's not enough which hits you in the heart. The former is certainly true for Vacilando, but the latter less so. This is a record as good as anything his day-job band have produced. The lyrics in 'Firstborn' sums things up almost perfectly: "If you have to speak, tell it like a condemned man".
7Luke Slater's Score


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'Why fish oils hold all-powerful key to healthy heart' is the headline in the Daily Express, which goes on to report, somewhat over-enthusiastically, that 'tens of thousands of lives a year could be saved if people ate more fish'.
These wildly optimistic claims are actually based on an small experimental study involving 59 people, looking whether our genetic makeup affects how dietary fats can influence the way in which our blood vessels constrict (narrow) and dilate (widen). The question of whether eating fish gives us a healthy heart, or saves lives, was not considered by the researchers.
On two separate occasions the participants were given either a drink high in saturated fats, or a drink with some saturated fats combined with fish oils.
The researchers then used ultrasound to look at how their subjects' blood vessels dilatated again after being briefly blocked by a blood pressure cuff.
In general, the researchers found that the response of the blood vessels varied:
- according to the drink given
- between men and women
- between people with the two different gene types known to affect blood vessel dilation
There was greater blood vessel dilatation after the drink that contained the fish oils was consumed, particularly in women with a gene type known as Asp298, which is thought to apply to around 10% of the population.
Very limited conclusions can be drawn from this study due to its size.
A healthy balanced diet and regular exercise are known to be key to good health. Whether fish oils have any particular effect on heart health cannot be answered by this study.
Where did the story come from?
Researchers from the University of Reading conducted this research which was published in the Journal of Lipid Research. Funding was provided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Unilever PLC, and FRST – Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (New Zealand). The saturated fat (palm stearin) used in the study was donated by Aarhuskarlshman, UK and the fish oil by Croda Healthcare, UK.
The media has greatly overestimated the implications of this small experimental study which did not specifically aim to assess whether fish oils affect heart or vascular health (the health of blood vessels). Instead, it aimed to look at whether a person's genetic makeup affects how their blood vessels respond to dietary fats.
It appears that the media's reporting of the story has been influenced by a number of quotes from one of the lead researchers, Professor Christine Williams, who made the case that fish oil could widen the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart. This in turn, could help prevent heart attacks (heart attacks are triggered when the muscles that make up the heart are starved of blood).
However, this is due to a process of atherosclerosis, where the blood vessels become clogged due to a build up cholesterol and other fatty deposits – it is not directly linked to the temporary constriction and dilation of blood vessels as this study observed.
It is a gross extrapolation of the data presented in the study to claim that 'tens of thousands of lives a year could be saved if people ate more fish'.
What kind of research was this?
The researchers describe that reduced blood vessel reactivity – how they constrict and dilate – is an early modifiable step in the development of atherosclerosis – the thickening of the arteries due to build-up of fatty deposits. They say that there is increasing evidence that dietary factors can have an effect on blood vessel reactivity, and that dietary fat in particular may be an important modulator. Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are particularly supposed to have beneficial effects. These fatty acids include omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish oils and some plant sources.
The fatty acids are believed to have a possible effect on the chemical nitrous oxide, which causes blood vessels to dilate. Nitrous oxide is produced by the cells lining the blood vessels using an enzyme called endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS).
This experimental study aimed to see whether variations in the eNOS gene have an effect on how blood vessels respond to fat in the diet. It did this by looking at what happened when people with different forms of the eNOS gene were given either saturated fats or PUFA. It did not aim to look at the long term effects of fatty acids on blood vessels or the heart.
What did the research involve?
The researchers recruited:
- 29 people who had two copies of the Asp298 variant (form) of the eNOS gene (each person carried two copies of each gene – one from each parent)
- 30 people who had two copies of the Glu298 variant of the eNOS gene (the more common type)
All the adults were healthy non-smokers, aged 18-65 with body mass index (BMI) from 18-32, and had no cardiovascular diseases or metabolic diseases and weren't taking medications that could affect blood clotting or blood pressure. All of their blood fats were in the normal range.
Participants attended the study centre on two separate occasions. On one occasion they received a test drink high in saturated fats (0.52g/kg body weight), and on the other they received a drink with the same total amount of fat, but made up of a combination of saturated fats (0.45g/kg body weight) and PUFA (0.07g/kg body weight).
As an example the researchers say:
"A 70kg individual would therefore receive 36.4g palm stearin; or 31.5g palm stearin and 4.9g of fish oil concentrate, which contained 3.8g docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and 0.4g eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (equivalent to 1.5 times a standard 140g portion of oily fish)."
The drinks were consumed over 240 minutes and were identical in protein and carbohydrate content.
Before and after taking the drinks, the participants had blood tests taken, and various measures of vascular reactivity were measured using ultrasound. This included measuring flow-mediated dilatation, where a blood pressure cuff was inflated to temporarily occlude (block) the blood vessels. The cuff was then rapidly released to see how fast the blood vessel responds by returning to its original shape.
What were the basic results?
Before the start of the experiment, the researchers found that the people with the two different forms of the eNOS gene in the study were fairly similar. An exception to this was women with two Asp298 gene variants (genetic variants are often referred to as alleles). In these women it was found that they had both higher blood levels of fatty acids and higher flow-mediated dilatation (their blood vessels responded more quickly in returning to normal and allowing blood to flow after the cuff was removed).
The researchers found that there were differences in flow-mediated dilatation in response to the two fat drinks, with responses differing according to gender, and according to gene type. Following the saturated fat drinks there was a decrease in flow-mediated dilatation, and this was similar in both men and women. Following the drink of saturated fat combined with PUFA, there was an increase in flow-mediated dilatation, with women having greater increases than men.
Generally, the response was fairly similar for the people with the two different eNOS gene types – those with two Asp298 alleles and those with two Glu298 alleles. However, those with the less common Asp298 alleles showed greater differences in their flow-mediated dilatation when given the two different drinks.
How did the researchers interpret the results?
The researchers conclude that dietary fatty acids have an effect on the dilation of blood vessels, and that the effects of eating different compositions of fats appears to be dependent on both the type of eNOS gene, and gender. The greatest difference in vascular response to two fat loads was in women with two Asp298 variants of the eNOS gene.
The media has taken the implications of this experimental study a little too far. The study found differences in the dilatation of the blood vessels depending on type of fatty acids consumed, the person's gender, and what form of the eNOS gene a person had. However, this was a very small study involving only 29 people with one form of the gene and 30 with another.
The study cannot tell us whether the changes seen would persist in the long term if a person followed a diet high in fish oils. Most importantly, it also doesn't tell us whether the small changes in blood vessel flow would have any effect at all on the cardiovascular health of the person.
A healthy balanced diet and regular exercise are known to be key to good health.
Whether fish oils have any particular effect on heart health cannot be answered by this study.
So despite any claims, taking fish oil supplements alone, without improving your diet or increasing your levels of exercise, is not going to give you a short-cut to a healthy heart.
Analysis by Bazian
Edited by NHS Website
Links to the headlines
Why fish oils hold all-powerful key to a healthy heart
Daily Express, 12 October 2012
Women's hearts 'get twice the benefit from fish oil than men's'
Daily Mail, 12 October 2012
Links to the science
Thompson AK, Newens KJ, Jackson KG, et al.
Glu298Asp polymorphism influences the beneficial effects of fish oil fatty acids on postprandial vascular function
Journal of Lipid Research. Published online 30 July 2012
Further reading
Hooper L, Harrison RA, Summerbell CD, et al.
Omega 3 fatty acids for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease
Cochrane Library. Published online January 21 2009


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Do You Live in One of America's Most 'Well-Read' Cities?
The people at Amazon have emerged yesterday with their annual list of the most well-read cities in America.
Surprisingly enough places like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles did not make the cut at all.
The DC suburb of Alexandria, Virginia swept in this year and claimed the top spot on the list. In fact, Alexandria was one of three cities in Virginia to make the list, followed by Arlington at number seven and Richmond at number 20. Washington, DC itself fell just in the middle at number nine.
Florida was also home to three cities making the list.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, home to a little college you may have heard of called Harvard, placed second in the rankings.
Amazon's list is comprised from data collected from more than 100,000 residents based on total book, magazine, and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format since June 1, 2011.
However, the data collected by Amazon does not accurately represent how many of those purchases were actually read by customers.
Amazons Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America:
1. Alexandria, VA
2. Cambridge, MA
3. Berkeley, CA
4. Ann Arbor, MI
5. Boulder, CO
6. Miami, FL
7. Arlington, VA
8. Gainesville, FL
9. Washington, DC
10. Salt Lake City, UT
11. Pittsburgh, PA
12. Knoxville, TN
13. Seattle, WA
14. Orlando, FL
15. Columbia, SC
16. Bellevue, WA
17. Cincinnati, OH
18. St. Louis, MO
19. Atlanta, GA
20. Richmond, VA


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As is often the case with legislation, big businesses enjoyed the biggest benefit from the state's 1997 electricity restructuring law. Suppliers are stepping over themselves to offer power to large commercial and industrial users. But Dominion remains the only major company to join the market for residential power in the state.
Dominion is flooding mailboxes across the region with a tempting pitch: Pick us as your electricity supplier and, for a limited time, we'll offer a lower price than your utility company.
A Dominion spokesman says the Virginia-based company is seeing strong results: Nearly 30,000 residential customers signed up in the past six weeks, bringing its customer base in this state to nearly 115,000.
So has the promise that electricity deregulation could bring competition finally been fulfilled? Not at all - at least not for the typical homeowner.
As is often the case with legislation, big businesses enjoyed the biggest benefit from the state's 1997 electricity restructuring law. Suppliers are stepping over themselves to offer power to large commercial and industrial users.
But Dominion remains the only major company to join the market for residential power in the state. That's one reason why the number of residential customers using a competitive supplier hit a plateau in the past year, at about 10 percent of all households in the state, after many years of growth.
Massachusetts isn't alone. Richard Levitan, an energy industry consultant in Boston, says some states have more choices than we do. But he knows of no state with vibrant competition.
There are many reasons why competition has been slow to arrive at the residential level. Marketers need to expend significantly more energy to sell power house-by-house than factory-by-factory. Many industrial customers have the expertise to take advantage of the changes in the cost of electricity in the spot market during peak and off-peak times.
Utilities such as National Grid and NStar also have a built-in marketing advantage. Their trucks roam our streets. Their crews are our friends and neighbors. Their names are on our electric bills, even if we pick Dominion to be our supplier, because we still need to pay for the distribution of the power over the utility's lines.
Utilities often had a purchasing advantage, as well. By locking in supply contracts six months ahead of time, a utility could stay ahead of rising wholesale prices and pass those savings on to consumers. However, that advantage has been somewhat short-circuited with the recent decline in natural gas prices in the past year.
Fortunately, other changes are on the way that could open the door a little bit more to competition, thanks to another state law - the Green Communities Act – that was signed by Gov. Deval Patrick last summer. Its main goal was to encourage renewable energy and conservation measures. But there are a few provisions that could also spark more competition.
Chris Kallaher, director of government affairs at Direct Energy, says two changes included in the law have put this state on his company's radar. One would standardize the way the utilities pass on the generation portion of the bills to competitive suppliers. The other is a requirement that utility customer service reps inform people that they have the option of buying power from an alternative supplier.
These provisions help level the playing field. Once they take effect, Kallaher says Direct Energy will strongly consider entering the Massachusetts retail market.
Philip Giudice, the state's energy resources commissioner, says he is hopeful about a different part of the new law - one that requires the state's four investor-owned electric utilities to craft "smart grid" pilot program proposals by next Wednesday.
For example, an NStar spokeswoman says her company will file plans next week to allow up to 2,800 customers with high-speed Internet connections to join NStar's effort. NStar will use a Web-based application to turn participants' electric meters into "smart meters" that will allow NStar to reward customers that shift electricity use to off-peak times.
Such a program would be a useful next step toward giving residential customers the flexibility enjoyed by big commercial users - the elusive goal of bringing "real-time pricing" to the people.
Electricity marketers that currently want to compete for residential customers can only offer better deals by the kilowatt-hour than the incumbents or more eco-friendly sources of power. However, if the price of electricity can vary throughout the day for homeowners, a number of new options could be created to entice consumers to make the switch.
While full competition has yet to arrive in the residential market, that doesn't mean that the 1997 deregulation law has been a failure.
The law has helped blunt the impact of New England's high energy prices on many of our major employers. It spurred a number of investors to pay for the construction of cleaner, natural gas-fired power plants. It also led to the creation of a regional program that helps homeowners on Cape Cod and the Islands get the best deals for their power.
And hopefully, with some of the changes under way, the law eventually could lead to numerous companies filling our mailboxes with promising options to reduce our electric bills.
Jon Chesto is the business editor of The Patriot Ledger. He may be reached at email@example.com or at massmarketblog.com.


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Take control of your home! Programmatically interact with indoor and outdoor lighting, remotely monitor and take charge of your home's security, react to changes in room lighting and temperature by autonomously opening and closing curtains, and much more. Learn how to program Android smartphones and Arduino microcontrollers to remotely manage your home's environment. Step-by-step instructions tell you all you need to know about how to obtain, build, program, use, and extend these innovative services.
Programming Your Home: Automate with Arduino, Android, and Your Computer
by Mike Riley
Programming Your Home
Automate with Arduino, Android, and Your Computer
by Mike Riley
Customer Reviews
f you're interested in Arduino projects but maybe are a bit nervous about taking the plunge, this is the book for you. It's a nice and clear introduction to creating cool projects with this software and you are hand held (but not in a bad way) through a variety of different builds.
- UFies.org
Mike has a broad technology experience base that puts all the pieces of some
remarkable projects together. It's amazing that he makes it all so easy and affordable.
Don't miss all that can be learned from this gem.
- Michael Bengtson
This is an outstanding reference that should be on the desk of every DIYer. In
much the same way that software engineers mention "The Gang of Four Patterns
Book," I predict this text will eventually be referred to as "The Riley Book of Home
- Jon Kurz
President, Dycet, LLC
With this book, Mike Riley celebrates the Arduino microcontroller in a way that
both beginning and advanced home automation hobbyists will enjoy.
- Sven Davies
Vice President of Applications
The Web-Enabled Light Switch project gave my family convenience and security
options and enhanced my knowledge of RS-232 communications. It is nice to be
able to switch on lights from my favorite chair. And the Tweeting Bird Feeder
project has opened my eyes to the uses of radio communications around the home
for things besides Wi-Fi, and it will help in my work to contribute to the preservation
of bird species that are struggling for food and habitat.
- Bob Cochran
Information Technology Specialist
I personally love the bird feeder that posts Twitter tweets to tell you when the birds are feeding or when bird seed runs low. They are just so many cool and great projects in here. I also love that the book is in plain English, so us lay people can understand most of it too!
- Lisa Reviews
About this Title
Pages: 242
Published: 2012-02-20
Release: P1.0 (2012-02-22)
In Programming Your Home, technology enthusiast Mike Riley walks you through a variety of custom home automation projects, ranging from a phone application that alerts you to package deliveries at your front door to an electronic guard dog that will prevent unwanted visitors.
Open locked doors using your smartphone. Assemble a bird feeder that posts Twitter tweets to tell you when the birds are feeding or when bird seed runs low. Have your home speak to you when you receive email, notify you when visitors arrive, and more.
You'll learn how to use Android smartphones, Arduinos, X10 controllers and a wide array of sensors, servos, programming languages, web frameworks, and mobile SDKs. Programming Your Home is written for smartphone programmers, web developers, technology tinkerers, and anyone who enjoys building cutting-edge, do-it-yourself electronic projects.
This book will give you the inspiration and understanding to construct amazing automation capabilities that will transform your residence into the smartest home in your neighborhood!
What You Need:
To get the most out of Programming Your Home, you should have some familiarity with the Arduino hardware platform along with a passion for tinkering. You should enjoy innovative thinking and learning exercises as well as have some practical application development experience. The projects use a variety of hardware components including sensors and actuators, mobile devices, and wireless radios, and we'll even tell you where you can get them.
Q&A with author Mike Riley
Q: Why did you write Programming Your Home?
A: I wanted to show people with little or no experience with programming micro controllers how to empower themselves with the ability to automate their own homes. Seeing the completed, working project brings a wonderful sense of accomplishment.
Q: How many home automation projects are featured in the book?
A: Programming Your Home features 8 unique projects, ranging from a water level alerting system to a voice synthesized interactive application to control and report on the variety of projects constructed throughout the book.
Q: Which is your favorite project from the book?
A: The Android Door Lock is a my personal favorite, but it's also one of the most complex in the book. I also enjoyed building and using the Tweeting Bird Feeder. It's a thrill to watch tweets appear in a Twitter feed when birds are perching on the feeder, or when the feeder bird seed needs to be refilled.
Q: Do the projects cost a lot of money to build?
A: Not at all. That's a big reason why home automation is so compelling today. Most of the projects cost less than sixty dollars to assemble, and much of the hardware is reusable in other projects, driving the material costs down even further.
Q: How long does it take to build a typical project from the book?
A: Most of the projects can be assembled and operational within an hour or two.
Q: What can I do with the projects after I finish building them?
A: Each chapter has a 'Next Steps' section that encourages you to extend each project in novel and highly customized ways. After reading the book, you will have the knowledge and experience necessary to build upon the projects or create your own that automate aspects of your home in your own unique way.
What You Need
The programs in Programming Your Home will run on Arduino 0.21 or higher.
Contents & Extracts
- Preparations
- Getting Started
- Requirements
- Projects
- Predictions
- Future Designs
- More Project Ideas
- Appendices
- Installing Arduino Libraries
- Bibliography
Top Five Home Automation Tips
- Start Small. While it would be cool for your home to behave like a scene out of a science fiction movie, building such an elaborate configuration will take a lot of time, effort and money. Try a couple small, easy projects first to get an idea of what to expect, how it behaves and what needs to be modified to work optimally for your needs.
- Search YouTube. Creating a nifty home automation project is a badge of honor, worthy of showing off to the world. And what better place to show off these accomplishments in action. Searching combined keywords like Arduino, Home and Automation will return a number of short videos demonstrating a variety of inspiring ideas.
- Ask an Engineer. DIY Electronics vendor Adafruit, along with a number of other DIY sites like Sparkfun and Element14 have experienced electronics engineers on staff and/or in the product forums ready to help. In the case of Adafruit, they even have a weekly live broadcast that gives customers a chance to freely ask Adafruit founder Limor 'LadyAda' Fried for her expert technical advice.
- Be Safe. While most home automation projects don't call upon radical amounts of electrical current to operate, electricity can still be very dangerous if not handled with respect and understanding the risks. When in doubt, call upon the expertise of an experienced electrician before manipulating anything having to do with home electrical wiring.
- Have Fun! In addition to capturing the obvious benefits of home automation aspects that will make your life easier, the other, larger reward is the actual building of the project itself. This is especially meaningful if you build it with your family, so that each time your project activates, you have the satisfaction of recalling the joy and wonder on the faces of your loved ones witnessing the working assembly for the first time.
Mike Riley has been a technology enthusiast, developer and writer for over 25 years and has written for Connected World, DevPro Connections, Dr Dobbs, iPhone Life, Make and Software Development magazines. For more information, visit his website at mikeriley.com.


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Availability: Manufactured on demand: supplied direct from the printer
- Format:Paperback
- Subject(s):English Literature
- Author(s):Geoffrey Chaucer, A. C. Spearing
- Available from: September 2016
The classic respected series in a stunning new design.
Availability: Manufactured on demand: supplied direct from the printer
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This edition of The Knight's Tale from the highly-respected Selected Tales series includes the full, complete text in the original Middle English, along with an in-depth introduction by A. C. Spearing, detailed notes and a comprehensive glossary.
- Contents
The complete text of The Knight's Tale in a stunning new design.
Complete with an in-depth introduction by A. C. Spearing providing historical context and aiding understanding of Chaucer's poetic devices and literary style.
Includes detailed notes and a comprehensive glossary.
- Preface
- Introduction
- Note on the text
- The Portrait of the Knight
- The Knight's Tale
- Notes
- Glossary.
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North Dakota
All Officers, Court Officials, DCFS Social Workers, Pretrial Reps, Judges and other Court Officials in the State of North Dakota may obtain a Supervisory or "Officer" Account to monitor those registrants that have been assigned to them from enrollment to completion of the program.
North Dakota Programs Provided - Additional Web-Casted Group Services
We are a Brick & Mortar Program Provider. A Certified and Accredited Program with Live, In-Person Classroom Style, Video Group Sessions. We are currently in our 13th year with now over 7,900 probationers/parolees in our database, 6800 of which who have successfully completed and satisfied their court orders through our program. The managing staff at Court Ordered Programs has developed exceptional and technologically advanced programs and "Advanced Learning System - Live WebCasted Classroom Groups" that they have implemented in their school side campus CourtOrderedClasses. This is not the make believe on-line program that others offer on CD's and word documents. These "live webcasted group meetings" adhere to and surpass all State standards and laws regarding Domestic Violence, Batterers Intervention, Anger Management, Child Endagerment / Abuse, Parenting, Drug & Alcohol Programs and Court Ordered Classes has since been put to use by many Children's, Family, Drug and Criminal Courts throughout the Nation.
All of our other provided programs from DV/BIP to DEJ and Anger Management or Criminal Behavior Modification, Shoplifting, High Conflict Parenting, Divorce, and our new Juvenile Betterment Program follow the same standards and video group participation requirements with material from this decade. We encourage you to take a closer look and explore our many programs and initiatives as a resource to you in your intervention and prevention efforts.
For More Information or Addition Questions Court Officials Only can reach us using our direct Officer/Court line at (916) 900-6166.
Many departments are trying to adjust to the changing times at hand and in many cases there are even less options today than ever before. We understand and that is why we are here.
- National Program Director, COP
There is a New Psychology and by immersing it in the technological advances of today the bar has been set so high the results being achieved are groundbreaking.
We look forward to speaking with you personally. Until then please look around and learn more about us and the work we do. Today like never before we can provide solutions that resolve many of the issues your department has had trouble with in the past, and this is why we are here.
Notice to defendants: Currently there many standards for domestic violence, batterers intervention and deferred entry of judgment program requirements; it is your responsibility to confirm with the judge, probation, or your attorney as to whether a distance-learning or "At-Home" court ordered program will meet your requirements. See if your Domestic Violence Program or Batterers' Intervention Program requires your judges consent under special circumstance.


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CAIRO, Egypt - Just days after foreign ministers from Arab nations sat down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Warsaw, the Arab League has slammeds the Jewish state, accusing it of "theft" and "piracy."
At issue is a decision by Israel to freeze more than $100 million in tax revenue that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians.
"This decision is a continuation of the Israeli piracy and theft of the Palestinian people's funds and resources," the Cairo-based league said in a statement released on Monday.
The body of Arab nations has called on United Nations agencies to "face this new Israeli aggression," describing the freeze as "a clear violation and flagrant breach of international commitments."
The Israeli government on Sunday announced it was deducting NIS 502 million ($138 million) from the funds that would normally be channelled to the Palestinian Authority.
Israel says it is imposing the ban in protest at the authority paying money to families of Palestinians that have carried out attacks on Israelis.
The Palestinians argue it is not Israel's money, it collects the taxes on Palestinian imports and exports on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, headed by Mahmoud Abbas.
The total sum collected each month and normally passed on is $175 million, representing the main source of revenue for the Palestinians.
On Thursday a one-day conference in Warsaw saw Mr Netanyahu and Arab ministers coming together on what was billed as a security conference on the Middle East, but in reality was a forum on how to combat Iran. Mr Netanyahu spoke freely about Arab cooperation and tweeted that secret meetings had been going on for years between Israel and Arab countries, and foreshadowed greater cooperation, and the normailzation of diplomatic relations in the near future.


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5-30-09 PNC Park
Today was the first of three Skyblast dates throughout the summer at PNC Park. Basically its an hour long concert/fireworks show. The bands are always "B" List bands, with past bands being Smash Mouth, Styx, Live, PovertyNeck Hill Billies, etc. The band tonight was the Zac Brown Band.
The stadium was sold out, so there would be some more competition than usual during batting practice. I attended this game with my wife. We were the 4th and 5th people in line. Unfortunately, by the time the gates opened, the 3 people ahead of us had swelled to 11 through the process of sparing/cutting. There went any chance for Easter Eggs out the window.
After about 5 minutes of batting practice, I got ball #1 from Ian Snell.
Ian gets a lot of crap for his inconsistencies, but he's one of my favorite Pirates. He's definitely not stingy when it comes to giving away baseballs, so you have to respect that.
One of the groups that came up was mostly lefties, so I abandoned left field and went into foul ball territory.
Game: 5 Balls (3 hit, 2 thrown)
Season: 135 Balls (60 hit, 58 thrown, 17 device)
Games: 27 Games (23 with BP, 4 without)
Average: 5.00 Balls Per Game
Career: 301 Balls
Attendance: 37,167 (sell-out)


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International beauty spot
South Tyroleans know it well, this picturesque lake 1500 meters up in the mountains of northern Italy. But now the wider world has discovered it, too. Pinterest users have selected Lake Braies, affectionately known as the Pearl of the Dolomites, as one of "101 places to see before you die".


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Quarterly Conversation #30 [The Reviews]
The reviews are one of the standard features in every issue of Quarterly Conversation. and there's a ton of great pieces in this new issue. These are just a few of the highlights.
Taylor Davis-Van Atta on Stig Sæterbakken's Siamese, translated from the Norwegian by Sean Kinsella and Self-Control, translated from the Norwegian by Stokes Schwartz:
Self-Control, Sæterbakken's follow-up to Siamese, centers around Andreas Feldt, a middle-aged man who, filled with an intense and unknowable sense of desperation, is driven to test the validity of his existence and its influence on others around him. The novel opens with Feldt sharing a meal with one of his two estranged daughters. During this encounter, without "the slightest notion of an appropriate thing to say," Feldt inexplicably claims that he is divorcing his wife. This lie seemingly has no effect upon the daughter, but it has a profound impact on Andreas. Confused and disoriented by his own lie, as well as by his daughter's indifference to the news, Feldt wanders back out into the world, engaging in a series of encounters with acquaintances, family members, and strangers in which he aggressively tries to exercise influence, if not control, over the lives of others—and over his own life.
At the heart of Self-Control is Feldt's pervasive repression. We never learn precisely what he is repressing, but its traumatic nature is betrayed by his preoccupation with a missing girl whose disappearance is continually mentioned in the headlines. Feldt clearly identifies with her disappearance—perhaps with her invisibility, perhaps merely with the tragedy of her likely fate—and in fact it is the only conduit through which he seems able to experience his world. Toward everything else he is stubbornly reticent.
Feldt's outbursts, then, are unpredictable, violent and ultimately impotent, serving only to make him increasingly aware of his own powerlessness. There are only two options Feldt seems to recognize: he can either fully identify with intolerable despair, the cause of which he refuses to locate, or he can resign himself to invisibility. The novel's big reveal—the only piece of information that matters, in a way, to the novel and its narrator—is withheld until its final words, but the revelation does not provide clarity or resolution; quite to the contrary, the book's ending complicates Feldt's choice, along with all that we have come to understand about him.
In stylistic counterpoint to Siamese, the prose in Self-Control is intentionally flat, featureless. The novel is essentially unquotable, its slow narrative an often painfully meticulous depiction of the very smallest operations of Feldt's consciousness, most of which he's unwilling to acknowledge, and of the suffering he experiences in avoiding pain. Like a Cassavetes film, Self-Control unfolds scene by scene with characters trying desperately to express forces inside them that they cannot account for, or, in Feldt's case, even acknowledge. Sæterbakken's ambiguous characters change with every page; they refuse easy patterns of behavior that would make them too recognizable, too untrue. They are often repugnant, but Sæterbakken saw such honesty as part of the duty of art and literature.
And one of my personal favorite reviews, Madeleine LaRue on Mikhail Shishkin's Maidenhair, translated from the Russian by Marian Schwartz:
Although Shishkin's prodigious talent has been recognized for many years in his native Russia, as well as in Germany and France, until now English readers have only had access to "The Half-Belt Overcoat." That story, translated by Leo Shtutin, appeared in the Read Russia! anthology published earlier this year, and was, to my mind, easily the best in the collection. Maidenhair more than lives up to its promise; beautifully translated by Marian Schwartz, it is a fierce book from a sharp and generous mind.
There are, roughly, three narrative lines which structure the novel: in one, a nameless interpreter (Shishkin's alter-ego), who works with asylum seekers in Switzerland, writes letters to his absent son, "Nebuchadnezzasaurus." In another, two voices of unknown or unstable identity engage in a series of questions and answers. In the last, a Russian singer named Bella Dmitrievna records her life, and most of the twentieth century, in diaries which the interpreter will eventually read when he attempts to write her biography. With these three strands, Maidenhair weaves its tangled braid, although contained within it are also a dizzying array of historical digressions, philosophical preoccupations, parables, letters, jokes, and literary allusions.
I hesitate to describe the book as "universal" lest this imply that its themes, or its treatment of them, are banal; they are not. On the contrary, they are wonderfully inventive. So when I say that Maidenhair is universal, I mean that it wants to constitute a universe — or perhaps a map of the universe that is the same size as the universe itself. [. . .]
Shishkin has been described as the heir apparent of the great Russian novelists, and indeed, there are times when he seems to have taken the best from each of them. From Tolstoy he has inherited a sense for the epic; from Dostoevsky, spiritual acuity and a social conscience. He takes Nabokov's remarkable linguistic flexibility but none of his arrogance; like Chekhov, he looks on humanity with humor and compassion. Shishkin's Baroque turns of phrases seem written out of necessity and joy rather than pretention; he respects his readers, he delights in language, and he does not need to show off.
Eleanor Goodman on Xi Chuan's Notes on the Mosquito, translated from the Chinese by Lucas Klein:
In the fourteen-page Author's Afterward to his Selected Poems, Xi Chuan references or quotes from Tolstoy, Yang Lian, the Zhuangzi, the Indian social theorist Ashis Nandy, Eileen Chang, Leo Strauss, C.T. Hsia, Jonathan Spence, Milan Kundera, Li Bai, Czeslaw Milosz, the 20th-century sociologist Fei Xiaotong, ancient philosopher Han Feizi, Mao Zedong, Foucault, Tang dynasty literati Han Yu, and Goethe. This is not a poet who can be accused of parochialism. Yet Xi Chuan wears his erudition lightly, at least in the context of his verse. This is not to say that the poems do not give a sense of a formidable intellect behind them—they do—but what is striking in the poems is less Xi Chuan's breadth of reference than his sense of humor, his humanity, and his attention to the smallest details of ordinary life, ranging from bodily functions to rats to the way drizzle soaks through socks.
Xi Chuan was born in 1963, just after the mass starvation of the Great Leap Forward, and was a small child during Mao's Cultural Revolution. Lucky and talented enough to be one of the few children able to go to school at the time, he later went on to major in English at Beijing University. As translator Lucas Klein explains in his exemplary Translator's Introduction, in the spring of 1989 Xi Chuan lost two close poet friends, Hai Zi and Luo Yihe, both of whom were also Beijing University students. Following on the heels of that trauma were the events in Tiananmen, which Xi Chuan participated in and suffered from. The pain of his friends' deaths and the disillusionment he experienced after the government crackdown discouraged him from writing for nearly two years. When he resumed, his style had changed considerably from the Imagist Western-influenced Obscure Poetry exemplified by poets such as Bei Dao, Duo Duo, and Yang Lian. He moved toward a more philosophical and less lyrical prose poetry that contrasts with his earlier shorter, often nature-inspired work. His most recent poems play with ideas of paradox, inheritance, and the past, present, and future of civilization.
These are large themes, and Xi Chuan knows how to write large poems to encompass them. [. . .]
But Klein's ear rarely fails him. He captures both the music and slightly anachronistic feel of the original Chinese in the early poem "In the Mountains": "Dusk congeals over the hungry cliff / excess dusk presses onto my tent / sunlight walks by on stones." Xi Chuan abandoned this youthful style, and Klein—a scholar of contemporary and Tang dynasty literature—not only keenly identifies this and other more subtle shifts, but also manages to convey the changes convincingly, allowing the reader to come away with a sense of the arc of Xi Chuan's artistic development. He comes up with lines that resound beautifully: "look to life's last station / when the long-deceased song passes on again and red Persian asters / assemble in the distance like a chorus of birds." The sound play of "life's last station" and "song passes on" moving to "Persian asters" to "birds" builds a lovely alliterative scene that in sheer beauty momentarily surpasses the music of the original. So much is sacrificed in translation that a translator must identify and seize these fortuities wherever he can, and time and again Klein does exactly that. Xi Chuan's verse could not have been better served in English.
Andrea Lingenfelter on Mo Yan's Pow!, translated from the Chinese by Howard Goldblatt:
The announcement on October 11 that Chinese writer Mo Yan had won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature was met with delight in some quarters and despair in others. The hand-wringers have focused on Mo Yan's politics—or rather their perception of Mo Yan's lack of political consciousness—and talk about this has dominated editorial pages in the West, rather than talk about his art. In recent weeks, the 2009 Nobel Literature Prize winner, Romanian author Herta Mueller, characterized Mo Yan as a Communist Party hack and called the award "a catastrophe."
Mo Yan's politics are somewhat oblique, by design, and a read of his most recently translated novel, Pow!, shows that comments like Mueller's are wide of the mark. Shot through with politics and history and translated by the masterful Howard Goldblatt, Pow! adds to the growing list of Mo Yan's rollicking and ribald novels available in English—all translated by Goldblatt, who has championed Mo Yan's work for decades and continues to do the author great justice in his earthy and vivid translations. [. . .]
Part fable, part fictionalized autobiography, Pow! is told from the point of view of the not altogether reliable Luo Xiaotong and hinges on the transformation of his home village from a farming community to Slaughterhouse Village. There's more money in meat than in crops, and the entire village has found new prosperity as a center for the killing and butchering of animals from the surrounding countryside. The narrator's father, Luo Tong, is as famed for his ability to judge the weight of livestock just by looking at them as he is for his incorruptibility—he refuses any and all gifts from livestock sellers, even something as trifling as a cigarette. He shows less self-control in sexual matters, however, and a good portion of the novel details the privations suffered by the narrator after his father runs off with another woman, the sexually supercharged Aunty Wild Mule, a favorite consort of village headman, Lao Lan. Luo Tong and Lao Lan's rivalry over Aunty Wild Mule is an ongoing source of conflict in the novel. [. . .]
If this book isn't a social and political critique, I don't know what is. The narrator is a child in a man's body, sexually frustrated, powerless, and poor. Who's on top in this society? Corrupt village heads and Party officials with their Audi A6s and Remy Martin cognac. The peasants get rich feeding the unseemly appetites of China's new urban bourgeoisie with bogus and sometimes toxic products, while the countryside itself turns into an abattoir. This is the Reform Era and these are the Party bosses who have guided it. In case we miss the point, the narrator states: "Ugly, snot-nosed, grime-covered children, who are kicked about like mangy dogs" are more likely than attractive and happy children to grow up to be "thugs, armed robbers, high officials or senior military officers." If China's leaders and low-lifes are drawn from the same pool, what hope is there?
And what of Xiaotong, the common man? He's impotent. Pow! reaches its climax in a fantasy act of vengeance in which Xiaotong fires 41 shells at Lao Lan. Xiaotong lays waste to the village and slaughterhouse, but after each salvo Lao Lan emerges, Rasputin-like, virtually unscathed, until the very end. Lao Lan is a scion of the gentry who ran the village in dynastic times, and the narrator stresses this continuity. If Lao Lan exemplifies official corruption (and hence much of what's wrong with the Chinese Communist Party), then official corruption will be hard to eradicate, at least not without destroying much of the country with it. It's not clear from this book whether Mo Yan thinks that would be such a great loss.
Brad Johnson on Sergio Chejfec's The Planets, translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary:
The books of the Argentine writer Sergio Chejfec defy easy classification, but we can say that he writes for walkers: those for whom each step signifies something both taken/found and lost/forgotten. He writes about wanderers: those for whom destinations are rarely known, where every recognized face and remembered story proves too heavy with significance, slipping the grip of its proper naming. This is especially true of his recently translated novel, The Planets. Originally published in Spanish in 1999, Chejfec's meditation on friendship, loss, and memory defies easy summation. This is fitting, for these also inform the fluid bounds of reality lived and described by his characters. Here, dreams are recited alongside the real events they anticipate and/or create; characters from dreams slide into the parables of protagonists; and iconic females blur within the slippages between vowels (e.g., Lesa/Sela) and consonants (e.g., Marta/Mirta). The Planets, in short, is a strange novel. It is made stranger still by the absence of its principle character, known only by the narrated memories of others, the enigmatic, nearly nameless M. This strangeness is fitting, then, for each story told about or by him is born of a gap—between dream and reality, past and present, cause and effect—and manifests the trauma of his absence.
To read The Planets is not so much to implant oneself within its narrated world as it is to discover oneself in this world's orbit. Whereas in Chejfec's English-language debut, My Two Worlds, the reader is invited into not merely the narrator's world but his very perception of it, The Planets is distinguished by the ambivalence of its intimacy—the holding of its reader at arm's length, in an abeyant proximity. The result is a work less immediately familiar than foreign. In a time where the pace of life has hastened to an informational blur—the world at our keyboarded fingertips and on our cable televisions, with so much available knowledge that we now question its purported power—it is precisely Chejfec's ability to inhabit the immediacy of both known and unknown, common and strange, that makes his work so timely.
The immediacy of the familiar and the foreign informs, as well, the friendship between the narrator and M, the ponderous duo at the core of The Planets. Remaining nameless—"M for Miguel, or Mauricio; it could also be M for Daniel since, as we know, any name at all can reside behind letters"—they navigate Buenos Aires as though on a dual trajectory. Not merely inseparable in the banal way many childhood friends are described, they considered themselves so linked that the identity of one was unthinkable without the other. In recognition of this they exchange photographs, whereupon "M's photo" accurately describes both the photo of himself and the one given to him by the narrator (and vice versa). Being and identity, they muse, are not steady-state givens, to hoard behind the closed doors of one's consciousness. They are, rather, intermittent occurrences, dependent on, if not wholly determined by, the perspective of those who bear witness.
There are also great pieces on Karl Knausgaar's _My Struggle, Gail Scott's The Obituary, and Amal Al-Jubouri's Hagar Before the Occupation/Hagar After the Occupation worth checking out, among many others. So be sure to read all of this issue and support QC however you can—it's one of the greatest literary resources out there.


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Assemblyman Steven McLaughlin could run against Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2014
ALBANY >> Assemblyman Steven McLaughlin (R-Rensselaer County) faces long odds if he seeks the GOP nomination to run against Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2014.
"He's gonna need a gazillion dollars and he's going need to build up name recognition," Siena Poll spokesman Steve Greenberg said Tuesday. "And he has a very steep uphill climb as virtually does every Republican."
Cuomo is on a glide path to re-election, with $22 million in his campaign treasury as of January and a 58 percent favorability rating. McLaughlin is a political unknown statewide, and is best known in the Albany area for saying "Hitler would be proud" of Cuomo and his SAFE Act gun law that passed in January.
McLaughlin has $4,400 in his campaign treasury, and had to make a Youtube video apologizing for being insensitive when Republicans, Democrats and the Anti-Defamation League condemned the Hitler remarks, which also compared Cuomo to Mussolini and a Russian dictator.
Despite all that, this week McLaughlin was deemed a 2014 contender by Fred Dicker, the retired New York Post reporter who is heard daily on AM Talk1300's "Live from the State Capitol."
"I do believe that this governor is vulnerable, can be defeated," McLaughlin told WNYT Channel 13 afterwards. "I think we need a new governor, somebody who's much more friendly to business. We are still number 49 on the list of business-friendly states."
McLaughlin was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
Greenberg said only a quarter of New York voters are Republicans, which makes it very difficult for a statewide candidate to be competitive. "When you add to that the $25 million in the bank, it's very hard to say there's imminent risk for (Cuomo) at the moment," he added.
Cuomo's 2010 opponent, Buffalo developer and landlord Carl Paladino, spent $4 million of his own money and only managed to win 1.5 million votes, half of what Cuomo polled. Republicans are likely to be looking for another self-financed candidate for 2014, since they have no virtually no money to spend.
The last Republican to be elected New York's governor was George Pataki, who rode the 1994 Republican wave and the public's rejection of Mario Cuomo's bid for a fourth four-year term as governor.
Next year, the state party's top priority is to maintain a grip on Senate majority rule as the GOP continues to shrink in New York, with just 2.8 million enrolled Republicans compared to 5.8 million Democrats. In January, the party reported having less than $100,000 in the bank.
By the numbers:
Assemblyman McLaughlin's campaign account: $4,396.35
Governor Cuomo's account: $22,469,637.37
Source: January 2013 filings at the NYS Board of Elections. Next filings due July 15.


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Divine Savior, Jesus Christ, who have entrusted your work of redemption to the priests, who take your place on earth, I offer you, through the hands of your most holy Mother, for the sanctification of your priests and future priests this whole day, all my prayers, works, joys, sacrifices and sufferings. Give us saintly priests. Grant to them apostolic hearts, filled with love for you and all the souls belonging to you, so that, being themselves sanctified in you, they may sanctify us who are entrusted to their care and bring us safely into Heaven. Loving Jesus, bless all their priestly work and sacrifice. Bless all their prayers and words at the altar and in the confessional, in the pulpit, in the school and at the sickbed. Call many young men to the priesthood and the monastic life. Protect and sanctify all who will become your priests. And grant to the souls of the priests who have departed this life, eternal rest. And do you, Mary, Mother of all priests, take them under your special protection and lead them ever to the highest priestly sanctity. Amen.
Return to The Catholic Conspiracy


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Impact compaction
Schematic illustration of the dynamic soil compaction:
1. Compaction crater
2. Fill (e.g. stable gravel)
3. Effective range of the compaction
4. Soil with insufficient load bearing capacity
5. Load-bearing layer
For impact compaction a heavy tamper weight is dropped from heights of up to 40 metres onto the ground to be compacted. This dynamic input of energy increases the density of the building ground. The craters created through impact compaction are refilled with suitable material and further compacted, if necessary. Duty cycle crawler cranes of the HS series carry out the compaction process efficiently and automatically with free-fall winches and crane control.


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June 2011 Custom Classic Truck Parts - Classic Marketplace
Shifty Linkage
Kugel Komponents now offers a very practical stainless steel shift arm kit that fits TH-200, TH-350, TH-400, 700-R4, 4L60, 4L60E, and 4L80E transmissions. It is the proper linkage kit to connect your floor or column shifter to the listed transmissions. The shift arm features 48-splines which allow for a full 360 degree rotation. Plus, the ball-pivot rod end can be locked into the slotted arm to adjust for a longer or shorter stroke. Each kit includes a billet aluminum splined button (which fits over the existing selector shaft), a mated splined stainless steel shift arm, column bushing, and two ball-pivot joints. Your choice of a 10- to 17-inchshort or 17- to 23-inchlong threaded stainless steel connecting rod and all necessary mounting hardware.
Kugel Komponents
(562) 691-7006
If Your Truck Could Dream
Two classic truck lovers have introduced a new line of art posters that pay tribute to both the wonderful old trucks and the classic racing posters of the same era. Of course, very few trucks were ever actually entered in the grand races of LeMans, Monaco, Grand Prix, Budapestbut every old truck is entitled to dream.
Classic Truck Posters is the brainchild of John and Susan Hansen who love old trucks and are in the process of restoring a 1953 International Harvester R-112 Series pickup.
The site offers an ever-expanding garage of classic trucks, starting with an exhaustive collection of Internationals and moving on to Fords, Chevys, Dodges, Studes, Willys, and more to come down the road.
All posters are printed 18 x 24 on quality poster stock with 80-year inks and can be shipped within the USA for a flat rate of $10 or worldwide for a slightly higher charge.
Classic Truck Posters
Locked Up!
Performance Automatic has developed a simple and easy way to control the lock up on your GM 200-4R or 700-R4 transmission.
The "Pro Shift E" is a completely solid state adjustable on-delay timer relay. Activated by either 12+ or ground this gives you a variable control when your torque converter locks up. With a single turn potentiometer, it is easy to adjust and gives you a time range from 0 to 10 seconds and comes complete with its own wiring harness.
The PA11400 "Pro Shift E" lockup delay box comes complete with its own wiring harness.
Performance Automatic
Brilliant Solutions
As every truck lover knows, improving a vehicle's appearance or curb appeal is the best way to maintain its value and appearance. That's why Meguiar's is introducing its new Brilliant Solutions Paint Restoration Kit. In this convenient new kit, Meguiar's has eliminated the guess work and confusion over which product or products are "right" to rejuvenate a neglected paint surface.
Designed specifically for the do-it-yourselfer, the Paint Restoration Kit contains enough product to restore one to two cars and includes Gold Class Wash, a Smooth Surface Clay Bar and Quik Detailer, Ultimate Compound, Soft Foam Applicator Pads and Supreme Shine Microfiber Towels. This combination of products and tools safely and effectively restores dull paint, producing maximum results, and a stunning new car shine every time.
(800) 647-5700
Creepy Crawly
One of the newest wheels to slide off The Wheelsmith's production line is the OEM Spider. Designed with the popular '60s Spider Caps in mind, the OEM Spider is an all-steel wheel with brilliant chrome trim rings accenting the center Spider Cap.
The Wheelsmith
(800) 854-8937
Against The Grain
There's something about a woodgrained dash that no other finish can match for sheer elegance and beauty. It traditionally required hours of tedious work, and you paid dearly for it.
Thankfully, it's the 21st century, and Juliano's offers woodgraining by a process known as hydographics—which translates to fast turnaround and lower prices. The process is a modern, state-of the-art technique that recreates the same old world finishes we love.
There is an infinite range of color possibilities in yellows, tans, reds, and brown wood tones, in every traditional woodgrain style such as oak, burlwood, birdseye maple, rosewood, walnut, cherry, etc. Turnaround time is days, not months, and large pieces such as outer station wagon trim are no problem. Juliano's can woodgrain virtually any kind of part made of any material, including steering wheels, and all types of large trim panels.
(860) 872-1932
Show Off
Race Ramps announces the Show Mirror: a self-contained mirror and travel case used to display the underside of a show vehicle. The large acrylic flex mirror is mounted in a patented, lightweight, durable frame that provides a rugged and stylish package that is easy to use, transport, and storewithout worrying about a broken mirror. A specially designed travel cover fits in place for safe transport. The Race Ramps Mirror provides a 48x20-inch footprint for a large under-vehicle viewing area.
Race Ramps
(866) 464-2788
New AP
We are pleased to announce John Barkley as the new Associate Publisher of Custom Classic Trucks magazine. John is a lifelong hot rod and drag racing enthusiast. In 1968 he won the NHRA Winter Nationals in Stock Eliminator. Many of his cars have been featured in magazine articles and on covers including Car Craft and Chevy High Performance. To date, John has owned 172 cars and trucks. He began his career in the automotive industry at Cyclone Headers in 1971, and then worked for Petersen Publishing for 12 years prior to joining the Street Rod Group in 2000. Congrats John!
Classic Instruments is proud to announce the recent unveiling of the V-8 Speedster Series instruments. This set, designed by renowned automotive designer Tom Gale, has a unique dial face executed with the perfect combination of aesthetics and techniques. The emblematic V-8 badge on the face of the gauge embraces the American Hot Rod Heritage. With the accentuating chrome pointers and etched indices, this gauge represents the timeless quality that Classic Instruments strives for and consistently achieves.
Classic Instruments
(800) 575-0461
A Cut Above
The exclusive Eastwood engineered Versa-Cut Plasma Cutter, a portable, affordable and easy-to-use DIY power tool, was launched recently by The Eastwood Company, innovators of automotive restoration tools.
The Eastwood Versa-Cut Plasma Cutter allows easy, clean cuts through steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. This Plasma Cutter features voltage-sensing technology, which allows the hobbyist to plug into either a 110V or 220V outlet with the included adaptor cord, while using a minimum 15-amp circuit at 50/60 hertz. The unit incorporates an internal moisture separator to ensure dry air is delivered to the torch. The torch hose measures 20 feet, while the ground clamp measures 10 feet.
The cutting abilities on this unit are endless," assured Mark Robidoux, creator of the Eastwood Versa-Cut Plasma Cutter and one of Eastwood's top restoration experts. "The at-home fabricator can make clean, fast cuts in metals as thin as 24 gauges and up to 3/8-inchthick material. The inverter technology offers superior arc stability and cutting power. The innovative Eastwood Versa-Cut Plasma Cutter uses any standard home- or shop-type air compressor within a range of 20-65 psi, at 3 cfm, depending on the metal thickness.
The Eastwood Company
(800) 343-9353
Jet Wash
AERO Products, one of the world's largest private aircraft detailing companies, has announced that its line of car care products has been endorsed as the official car care line of Edelbrock Performance. Previously only available to the most exclusive companies in the aerospace industry, the partnership opens the doors to provide thousands of private consumers a chance to use the AERO Product line on their custom trucks. CCT
AERO Products
(800) 337-9274


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PORTLAND, Ore. — A fight over an 83-year-old costume from Oregon"s biggest rodeo is headed to the state Supreme Court.
The fringed leather skirt and vest was worn by Pendleton Round-Up rodeo queen Lois McIntyre in 1930. She died in 1964.
Her family agreed to display the costume in the Pendleton Round-Up Hall of Fame. But in 2000, her family discovered the outfit was missing and in the possession of another former rodeo queen who refused to give it up.
The Oregonian reports (http://bit.ly/ZpKARw) the outfit is believed to be worth $25,000. The Oregon Supreme Court will hear the case in September.
The century-old Pendleton Round-Up draws an estimated 50,000 people to a town of about 17,000. It runs for four days in September and ends more than a week of celebrating and related events such as parades, a concert and professional bull riding.


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It is a surprise to many people to learn that in addition to changes in printing, spelling, and punctuation, a number of minor corrections and improvements have been made since 1611 in the wording of text itself. Obvious errors were soon corrected, and sometimes fresh mistakes were made, to be corrected in their turn. There were, in particular, four editions of the King James Bible which introduced most of the changes and improvements that have become established in our present text. Two of these were published at Cambridge University in 1629 and 1638, the third was edited by Dr. Thomas Paris, of Cambridge, and appeared in 1762, and the fourth by Dr. Benjamin Blayney, Oxford, in 1769.* Since that date, the text has been reprinted practically without change, aside from the omission of the Apocryphal Books, which were generally included between the Old and New testaments down to 1826.
*For the benefits of the curious, these specimens will show what kind of alterations were made in the text:
(1) In Romans (12:2) the edition of 1611 read: "what is that good, that acceptable and conflict will of God." "The edition of 1629 introduced the present reading, "what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.
(2) In I Corinthians (15:48) the original edition read: "As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy"; the edition of 1638 first gave the present reading, "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy."
(3) In I Corinthians (13:2) the 1611 version read: "and though I haue all faith, . . . and haue no charitie, I am nothing." In the edition of 1762, this was changed to read, "have not charity," etc.
Using the Parallel Bibles Feature
Suggestions and Ideas about new features
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Re: Using the Parallel Bibles Feature
The Literary Lineage of the King James Bible 1340-1611, by Charles Butterworth, Octagon Books, New York, 1941, reprinted 1971, page 10.
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Feetures! Therapeutic socks are specifically designed for active people who have special foot care needs. There are no irritating seams. The sock gently hugs the foot to provide added support. Plus, the sock features a comfortable non-binding top. Our special mesh construction keeps feet ventilated, our high performance wicking fibers keep feet dry and our super soft fibers keep feet comfortable all day long for improved foot health.
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Mystery Whisper finished a disappointing 23rd during this morning's show jumping finals. (And I guess the guy on his back did too, but it's sort of screwed up that the horses don't even receive medals, so we're going to start ignoring the riders.) It might have been a case of the nerves, as the 12-year-old dropped a series of loads before launching into the course.
SPOILER ALERT: The giant dookie the Russian girls laid in team gymnastics was only metaphorical.
For a handy master schedule of every Olympic event, click here.


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|PDF (Download Only)
|Dainty Designs
"This is super cute and easy to do"
Now you can make those darling "newsboy" and "cloche" hats! It's the "finishing touch" to any outfit. Full size patterns and photo illustrations will help you create that fun addition to your child's wardrobe.
Patterns include size from infant to 4T and up. Finished sizes are as follows:
Small = approximately a 17 inch hat
Medium = approximately a 19 inch hat
Large = approximately a 21 inch hat
X-Large = approximately a 23 inch hat
**When you go to print your pattern pages, be sure in the "print" menu that the box that says, "Shrink oversizes pages to paper size" is NOT checked. This box is found in your print menu. You want the p ages to print to full size and scale, so again, make sure this box is NOT checked. Also make sure the box that says "auto rotate and center pages" is also NOT checked.
If you have Adobe Reader 7.0, you will see a "page scaling" section in your print menu. When you print the PDF document you will need to select "None" under "Page Scaling" in printing preferences.
Note: www.YouCanMakeThis.com provides this copyright & terms of use policy review as a courtesy to our site users and eBook authors. The copyright policy applies to the associated eBook and is specified and owned by the individual eBook author.
This is super cute and easy to do
This hat makes the outfit! So Fun!
Easy and fun to make. My grand daughter loved her hat.
love it and easy to make
We love this hat! simple to make!
Love this pattern, so easy to follow!
LOVE this hat!!!!! May daughters LOVE them too!!!!! Easy to make, and adorable on!!
OMG! I have never seen anything so cute. It takes a bit of practice to work out the right size but it is more than worth it.
This hat turned out so cute and is the perfect complement to an outfit! Enjyed making it!
Such a cute pattern! I love it and so does my daughter!
Great pattern thanks so much
This hat is too cute!
My granddaughter is going to look ADORABLE in this hat.
Simply adore this pattern and make it all the time!!
good paqttern
Super cute! Now my girls are matchy-matchy to their dresses!
cute addition to any easy to put together
This hat is the perfect finishing touch!
I have made this hat so many times. Its fast easy and makes an adorable addition to an outfit. Detailed instructions make the process so much better. Thanks so much
Cute!Cute!Cute! I've enjoyed making matching outfits and cloche hats for my little girls. Thanks Dainty Designs!
I love love love this hat pattern!!!! so easy to make and so darn cute!!!!
Such a cute hat! Very easy to make. LOVE it! Fav hat pattern ever!!
Great pattern fun to make!!Thanks..
It was wonderful and so easy! The instructions are spot-on! Great job!
My daughters love these hats, Pattern was easy to put together and follow, Nice and quick to sew up and great for using up scraps of material :) I'd recommend this pattern, I have used it many times over :-)
Very simple instructions, great photos. Not a problem with the results, turned out perfect.
Love the hat. great pattern.
I adore this hat! I have made so many my daughter has an entire wardrobe! Very simple for the sewer with basic knowledge.
I had just finished my first hat when a friend came over and just had to have it for her granddaughter. Everyone loves this hat when I show them one. It's wonderful for shading the face. Of course if I don't have fun making something I never make it again and I've made lots of these.
Made the cutest Strawberry Shortcake hat for my daughter for Halloween this last year! It was so cute that I decided to be Blueberry Muffin and made one for myself!
I am new to sewing and found this pattern(s) very easy to use!! Thank you!!
5 STARS!! I love this pattern and how unique each hat can be!
Made this pattern in corduroy and it is the cutest hat!!
This is a great hat, so fun to use up scraps and make an adorable custom hat to match your childs outfits!
Love this hat!!!! Took me about 1.5 hours to make the first one, and will be quicker second time around, since I had to make adjustments to the first one. Great way to use up the scraps left over from other outfits!
I haven't yet tried this one, but can't wait to (printer is out of ink). It looks super easy.
I love these hats I'm now addicted to making them first a bunch in summer fabrics now I'm into fall ones. The amount of strangers that stop me with my little girls whose 8 months old is unreal, they just want to say how cute she is in her hat! It took a while to get the sizing figured out but well worth it. I make one in an hour or so after she goes to bed at night.
WOW! i LOVE LOVE LOVE this pattern.it was sooooo easy and turned out beautifully. and it took less than an hour from cutting to finish. Will definatly be making more. thank you so much.
I've never made a hat before and these instructions were so clear & simple to follow that I had no questions as I completed the project. My daughter loves it and I can't wait to make more! Thank you!
I absolutely love the cloche hat! So original and easy to make.
What a great pattern. I made a newsboy hat yesterday for my daughter and I will definitely try the cloche hat pattern today. My daughter´s friend has already asked whether I could make one for her too! I can see these becoming very popular (and I becoming very busy sewing!) among her friends.
This tutorial was extremely easy to follow! I loved this pattern and will make many more hats!
I loved the outfit shown by Dainty Designs. It consisted of 3 eBooks. Corset top, layered tulle skirt and cloche hat. The instructions were so easy with lots of pictures. It was like the designer was right there with you. No one in Canada had ever seen anything like that. The outfits turnout gorgeous.
This is a very easy and quick pattern. The instructions are very easy to follow and the resulting hat is just beautiful. Thank you so much!
What a quick and easy pattern. Cut and sewn in just over an hour and my daughter thinks she looks so special when she wears it. Every outfit I make will now include a hat.
The Cloche / Newsboy hat is just so cute. I purchased the pattern wondering if it was going to be tedious. It took less than an hour to cut and sew - and what a great accessory for any little girl.
Great pattern fun to make!!Had question for designer and got a reply within mintues. WONDERFUL
easy to make! so cute to wear!
I couldn't wait to make this hat. It turned out cute and was so fun to embellish. The directions were simple and the pattern was easy to cut and sew. Have fun!


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To celebrate and remember the Allied landings on the Normandy beaches, here are a few interesting facts about this most historic and heroic day.
- The codename given by the Allies for the overall invasion was 'Operation Overlord'.
- The invasion took place over 61miles of beaches. The beaches were split into 5 sectors and given the following code names: Omaha, Sword, Juno, Gold and Utah.
- In total 156,115 Allied troops landed in Normandy (83,115 of these were British and Canadian troops)
- Operation Neptune was the code name given to the channel crossing phase of the invasion. Operation Neptune consisted of 6939 vessels and 195,700 personnel.
- By the end of 11th June (D + 5), 326,547 troops, 54,186 vehicles and 104,428 tons of supplies had been landed on the beaches.
- It is estimated that about 17 million maps supported the mission.
- At 0537, a group of German E-boats made the only 'Kriegsmarine' attack on D-Day when they moved in as close to the allied convey as they dared and unleashed a volley of torpedoes. The only ship that was hit was a Norwegian Destroyer called Svenner, which sunk.
- When the D-Day forces landed, Hitler was asleep. None of his generals dared order re-enforcements without his permission, and no-one dared wake him. Crucial hours were lost in the battle to hold on to Normandy.
- Having been given his top-secret mission to attack the Merville battery on D-Day, Terence Otway had to be certain his men wouldn't spill the beans ahead of 6 June 1944. He sent 30 of the prettiest members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, in civilian clothes, into village pubs near where his soldiers were training. They were asked to do all they could to discover the men's mission. None of the men gave anything away.
- One of the greatest feats of military engineering was Operation PLUTO (Pipeline Under The Ocean) which was an ambitious joint project between British scientists, oil companies and the armed forces to lay an undersea oil pipeline from England to France to enable the invasion force to be fueled. It fed the force with over a million gallons oil daily.
These are just a few snippets, but there are hundreds of facts and interesting stories about D-Day and the Normandy invasion, if you have a factoid or story, why not add it here?


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Really Stern? really? First the new technical rules and now this?Grousbeck: NBA fines for Rondo headband
Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck, during a Monday morning appearance on WAAF's Hill-Man in the Morning Show, said that C's point guard Rajon Rondo has stopped wearing his headband this season after the NBA threatened to fine him for sporting the league's logo upside-down.
"Hes not going to have it on. He used to wear it upside-down, as a real connoisseur would know and Im sure you noticed, he had an upside-down logo, turning the NBA upside-down. And they wont let him do it anymore. They said they were going to fine him for that," said Grousbeck. "So he said, 'To heck with you, Im not going to fine it at all.' Thats the Rondo headband situation for you connoisseurs of mens accessories."
Grousbeck also discussed the state of the Celtics entering the season, as well as his feelings about the Heat, LeBron James and basketball commentator Jeff Van Gundy. To listen to the interview, click here. To read more of his comments, click here.


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The funeral rites always have an eye on the pastoral ministry to the mourners, and the occasion of a child's death is no exception.
238. In its pastoral ministry to the bereaved the Christian community is challenged in a particular way by the death of an infant or child. The bewilderment and pain that death causes can be overwhelming in this situation, especially for the parents and the brothers and sisters of the deceased child. The community seeks to offer support and consolation to the family during and after the time of the funeral rites.
239. Through prayer and words of comfort the minister and others can help the mourners to understand that their child has gone before them, into the kingdom of the Lord and that one day they will all be reunited there in joy. The participation of the community in the funeral rites is a sign of the compassionate presence of Christ, who embraced little children, wept at the death of a friend, and endured the pain and separation of death in order to render it powerless over those he loves. Christ still sorrows with those who sorrow and longs with them for the fulfillment of the Father's plan in a new creation where tears and death will have no place.
These principles allow a healthy integration of liturgy and pastoral ministry. I am sure that many pre-conciliar priests were deeply gifted in their compassionate presence with families of deceased children outside of liturgy. It is vital for the Church's many efforts in ministry: the worship of Christ, taking leave of the departed, the comfort of the mourners, and the opportunity for the faith community to express its support. OCF 239 is rather explicit: liturgical participation is a sign of Christ's presence. Christ also participates in human longing and sorrow. This is why participation is a liturgical virtue stressed as it is: God and people are drawn closer through this action of grace.


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Dressage Legal
About the SENSOGAN Mouthpiece
SENSOGAN® is a new bit material developed by SPRENGER and is the result of two years of research and development aiming to improve on the AURIGAN material which has made SPRENGER bits so popular with so many professional and amateur riders.
SENSOGAN® has improved properties but also a new appearance. The white-gold colour gives the bit a discreet and elegant look and due to the improved material mix, SENSOGAN® does not tarnish easily as the chewing activity of the horse is optimally supported. The bit will stay true to its white gold colour for much longer and can also be polished to a high shine at any point in its lifetime. The new SENSOGAN® range is identified by its unique stamped black ring on the cheeks of the mouthpieces.
The special challenge in developing SENSOGAN® was to maintain the positive features of Aurigan yet to intensify them, giving an even more delicate and sophisticated connection to the horse. In the twenty or so years that Aurigan has been available, many companies have copied its colour but never its properties. Sprenger knew the time was right to launch their new optimal bitting collection with an unmatched look anywhere else in the market.
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American Airlines, US Airways closer to deal?
- Merger would create world%27s biggest airline
- Some say another merger would drive up fares
A new, supersize airline may be on the horizon, with the potential to revitalize two iconic brands while creating an "East Coast fortress" for American and US Airways passengers.
The two airlines have been discussing a potential merger for weeks, and reports in The Wall Street Journal, Dallas Morning News and other media outlets indicate that the deal could be completed as soon as next week. A person familiar with the talks but not authorized to discuss them publicly told USA TODAY that a decision on a merger has not been made.
Yet if the deal is finalized — and many observers suspect that it will be — the newly merged carrier would edge out United to become the biggest carrier in the world by revenue, have an initial combined workforce of more than 113,000, and a loyalty program membership of at least 69 million fliers across the globe who would likely take a particular interest in how such a union plays out.
What such a marriage would mean for those consumers is less clear.
In an age when air travel has become a daunting escapade rather than an exciting escape, industry experts say that a merger could give the combined airlines a fresh start and the chance to create a better travel experience.
"Neither company has an industry-renowned service culture," says Henry Harteveldt, travel industry analyst for Hudson Crossing, a travel and hospitality industry consulting firm. "This is a wonderful opportunity for the leadership of American Airlines to say, 'We've got a green field. How do we serve people efficiently, professionally (and) courteously?' "
A US Airways spokeswoman, Liz Landau, says a non-disclosure agreement the airline entered with American to discuss a potential deal prevents it from commenting. Sean Collins, a spokesman for American Airlines, also declined to make a statement. The confidentiality agreement expires on Feb. 15, thus feeding speculation that a decision could arrive within the week.
A marriage has appeared to some industry observers to be all but inevitable — and necessary — for both carriers. American filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2011 and is looking to strengthen its brand to compete with the other behemoths. Likewise, smaller US Airways stands to gain from the partnership.
While American lost roughly $10 billion over a decade, US Airways has been more consistently profitable, hitting a record last year with a net profit of $537 million, not counting special items.
The deal is so appealing to American's employees that their unions have already forged tentative agreements with US Airways should a tie-up occur.
"The sooner they can get started the better," says Vicki Bryan, senior high-yield analyst at Gimme Credit, an independent research service on corporate bonds. "We need to look toward preserving and growing a world-class-caliber airline."
Price hikes in the wings?
The strength of a merger — in addition to the usual cost savings and other efficiencies — might be in the relatively light overlapping of routes. American and US Airways overlapped on only a dozen non-stop routes as of January, and hardly at all on routes linking the nation's busiest markets, such as New York's LaGuardia and Chicago's O'Hare.
But fares have been on the rise over the past two years, and some price-watchers say that yet another merger would give airlines even more leverage to bump up the price of tickets, particularly on routes where the newly joined carriers once competed.
"It does remove a future competitor from the mix ... which will ultimately drive prices up," says Rick Seaney of price-tracking site FareCompare.com, noting that a combined carrier would likely lead to a paring of seats and flights. "Bottom line is, prices will go up long range and capacity will be cut if it follows the lead of other megamergers."
An analysis of the industry shows otherwise. A report, released in December by professional services firm PwC US, found that while the average domestic ticket price increased slightly each year from 2004 through 2011 — a period when four major airline mergers occurred — consolidation did not cause a significant increase in fares across the board or dramatically winnow passengers' choices for flights.
A marriage of US Airways and American would be the U.S. airline industry's fourth megamerger in five years. Delta and Northwest linked up in 2008, United and Continental merged in 2010, and low-cost giant Southwest completed its purchase of AirTran in 2011.
Doug Parker, US Airways' chairman and CEO, said at the National Press Club in July that a merger shouldn't affect ticket prices because United, Delta and Southwest would remain competitors. Parker also said that there wouldn't be a need for a newly combined airline to cut service because their networks didn't mirror each other. US Airways has been focused on the East Coast, and American has a stronger presence in the Midwest and on international routes.
"Our networks are extremely complementary," Parker said at the time. "There's very little overlap and thus no need to scale back the service that either airline currently offers."
Instead, a merger would mean American and US Airways passengers would gain easier access to a larger network of destinations, particularly along the Eastern Seaboard, and in Europe and Latin America. American would be able to strengthen its footprint in New York while benefiting from US Airways strongholds in Charlotte and Philadelphia.
"That's quite an East Coast fortress for a combined American/US Airways," says Harteveldt, the travel analyst.
For instance, a flier on American who starts out in Buffalo would be able to get to Philadelphia, Washington or Charlotte directly, rather than having to fly through Chicago as passengers do now, Parker said in his presentation last summer.
Frequent fliers, don't fret
George Hobica of Airfarewatchdog.com says that fewer airline options for passengers give carriers the leeway to not only raise ticket prices, but to tack on additional fees and make other changes that fliers will have less power to challenge.
"There are fewer places to go," Hobica says. "There's less consumer choice, not just in airfares but in the whole fee structure."
After American parent company AMR filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011, Chairman and CEO Tom Horton said repeatedly that he wanted the company to continue to go it alone, emerging from the restructuring as an independent airline. Just last month, the carrier revealed a new logo and look for its fleet. It was the airline's first external redo in more than 40 years.
But American Airlines officials appeared to gradually become more open to the possibility of joining with another carrier, finally entering into the non-disclosure agreement to discuss a potential deal.
If a merger should occur, Parker has said that the company's headquarters would be in Fort Worth, American's current base, and the combined company's fleet would bear American's storied name.
"We are well aware of the fact that of the two airlines, the stronger brand is the American brand," Parker said last summer.
As with other high-profile mergers, frequent fliers shouldn't worry that their miles earned on one carrier would disappear if it merges with another. A newly merged airline would be loath to lose the most loyal customers. Accounts would be combined, likely under American's AAdvantage program.
Ultimately, says Hobica, US Airways and American would be stronger together than they are apart, and that could be good for passengers and the industry.
"When the airlines are stronger, they'll be able to provide better service," he says. "We could've lost some of these airlines anyway if they continued to bleed cash. What's better? They file (bankruptcy) or they merge?"
Contributing: Bart Jansen, Ben Mutzabaugh and the Associated Press