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People liked the comic book pinbacks and record bowls again this month. Yay money and accolades (in that order).
My veggie breakfast burrito from the Bakehouse had an odd mint aftertaste, but their coffee, drunk in between making sales and chatting with passers-by, was delicious.
My dear friend Betsy kept me company and crocheted plastic bags into purses and dish scrubbers. She was there to help me put the side panels up on my booth just before the passing thunderstorm hit, and we were able to do it in time even though we're the two shortest people you could ever ask to do such a job, because we are tool users (I try not to think again about Betsy reaching up, on tiptoes, standing on the narrow end of a cinderblock placed on uneven ground, in the wind).
Lots of vendors left right before the thunderstorm, which made the craft fair look a little sucky but just meant more customers for me.
Two hours after the craft fair closed, we were on our way to Indianapolis.
The girls, having gotten up at 6:00 am for the craft fair, both fell asleep in the car, and Matt and I got to actually, you know, talk.
Our hotel was crazy-awesome! Big fluffy comfy beds, big TV with all the good cable channels, a bowl in the workout room full of complementary oranges and apples for Matt to swipe, etc. I blow-dried my hair. I made Matt go down to the front desk and say I'd forgotten my toothbrush so they'd give me another one. I had the concierge give me brochures for stuff. When Matt caught me putting the packages of pretty leaf-shaped soap from the bathroom in my bag and I told him I was going to save them to put in the girls' stockings at Christmas, he tried to cut me off and I just had to tell him, listen, I am from Arkansas and he knew that when he married me.
I had to drag the family out the door to go to Walking with Dinosaurs because they wanted to see the end of Horton Hears a Who on HBO. I was all, "Everything works out in the end! We'll read the book again when we get home! Can we go make use of our $60 tickets to see giant animatronic dinosaurs now?"
Our seats were really, really good.
The dinosaurs were freaking amazing:
If you looked at a close-up shot on the big screen, at, say, the ankylosaur's face or something, you could tell it wasn't real, but we sat so close that if we'd sat any closer the brachiosaurus would have whapped us with its tail as it made the corner, and they. Looked. REAL! Before the show, we were doing our run-down again of the whole "the dinosaurs will look really real but they're not real, they're robots, and they'll be really big and stomp and roar but they won't leave the stage and they're just robots," etc., and the lady who was sitting with her husband and kid just one row in front of us, right at the front of the arena, keeps turning and giving us these looks and we're all, whatever. Her kid is, I don't know, six? I'm thinking, "She has a problem with us talking about the dinosaurs not being real? It's not like we're here to see Santa Claus or something." Anyway, the show starts, and the first scene is some dino eggs hatching into baby dinosaurs, and then the liliensternus sneaks up and snatches a baby out of the nest, and the kid in front of us jumps out of her seat and screams, "He killed it! He killed the baby! SHRIEEEEEEEK!!!" and is utterly hysterical. Yeah, they totally told that kid the dinosaurs were real.
I didn't take my camera because I didn't want to be distracted, but I probably should have anyway because you know I'm not completely happy unless I can take photographs of stuff. And that's why whenever I couldn't stand it any longer I took a shot or two with Matt's lousy cell phone camera: Lousy camera or not, however, I think you can probably still get the idea from this photo that a certain little girl really liked her birthday present:
Monday, July 13, 2009
How was My Weekend? Ummm.....AWESOME!
3 comments:
We loved it too! I'm glad the girls liked it :-)
My fave part? When mama T-Rex came out. Her roars were DEAFENING!
- July 14, 2009 at 8:19 AM
- cake said...
loved seeing you at the craft fair. sounds like a fabulous weekend.
we still need to come by for tadpole food...ours are still alive though, and getting a fresh supply of rain water at the moment.
- July 15, 2009 at 10:09 AM
- Lisa said...
That's great that you did so well at the craft fair! My mom used to make the vinyl bowls for our parties when we were kids....thanks for the memories. She'll get a kick out of the fact that you do so well at the fair with them!
Lisa ;)
- July 15, 2009 at 10:15 PM
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200g soft brown sugar
200g butter, plus extra for greasing
2 tbsp golden syrup
350g whole oats
397g can caramel (I used Carnation Caramel)
200g plain chocolate
1 tbsp unflavoured oil, like sunflower
Heat the oven to 150oC/130oC fan/gas 2. Place the sugar, butter and golden syrup together in a saucepan and gently heat until butter is melted, stirring occasionally. Take the saucepan off the heat and stir in the oats, mixing thoroughly. Pour the mixture into a line and lightly greased 22cm square tin, pressing it out evenly using the back of a wooden spoon. Bake in the centre of the oven for 40-45 mins.
Allow the mixture to cool in the tin for 10 min (or best results, leave to cool completely overnight), then evenly spread over the caramel. Chill until firm.
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, then stir in the oil and pour over the chilled caramel flapjack base. Let the chocolate set, then cut into squares.

subset: commoncrawl


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In Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married Too?," Janet Jackson said she drew inspiration from her brother Michael's death for the movie's emotional scenes.
"You have to dig deep, but there was some stuff that was right there for me," Janet said during an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on Thursday.
In one scene, Janet's character unleashes and smashes a table, something she said she was able to do by using her real world pain.
"Stuff that had just happened with my brother passing and also relationships," she continued. "Experiencing… exactly that."
As for opening herself up so emotionally and committing to the role, Janet said she threw caution into the wind and put her trust in director and writer Tyler Perry.
"You just have to trust and give it up, just let go and be very, very open," she told Jay.
"Why Did I Get Married Too?" opens in theaters on April 2.
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Michael Jackson's Funeral
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Janet Jackson
PLAY IT NOW: Music Video: Janet Jackson - 'Make Me'
PLAY IT NOW: Tyler Perry's 'I Can Do Bad All By Myself,' NYC Premiere (September 8, 2009)
MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: Janet Jackson - Michael Jackson - Jay Leno - Tyler Perry - Tonight Show


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The DH IG Policy team is currently carrying out development and testing work
on version 10 of the Toolkit, for which the scheduled release date is end May 2012.
Version 10 will contain two organisational views for 'Any Qualified Providers' (AQPs)
- one for AQPs providing clinical assessments and the other view for those not
doing so (the latter view is relevant to those AQPs that are providing services,
wheelchair or appliance based on another service's clinical assessment).
This briefing note informs AQPs about Information Governance and the role of the
Toolkit; and provides guidance on the steps that AQPs should take to enable registration
against the appropriate version 10 AQP view.
Your IG Toolkit session will automatically timeout in 5 minutes
Please press Ok within 5 minutes of this message appearing to stop your session
timing out


text: I love reading the Upstate Link. I reminds me alot of creative Loafing or "The Loaf" in Charlotte. creative, informative, fun. Especially, the annual spring edition that boast the Upstate's most "fashionable". It's little funny but some of the folks actually got a little steelo. My favs are Jennifer Greasham of Greenville with those funky yellow pumps and Link readers Liz Taylor with sweet Chanel frames and necklace-esque tattoo and Laurie Weaver with fun camo espadrilles, and Chris Slatton with that great heart necklace. Check out more pics @http://www.upstatelink.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070320/LINK/703200351/1142


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Crank and camshafts
In today's car engines hydro-dynamic bearings are almost ubiquitous. However it was not always so. In the 1920's and 30's rolling element bearings were the preferred technology to support crankshafts and for conrod bearings. Today rolling element bearings are usually only found in two stroke engines.
For the ultimate in friction reduction, especially at high rotational speeds, rolling element bearings do offer a direct advantage over hydro-dynamic bearings. Based on the design constraints these bearings can have solid or split rings and cages. This technology can also be applied to balancing shafts for further friction gains.


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One year, eight months and 25 days.
That's how much time separated the Sounders FC's 3-1 win over Marathon of Honduras on Wednesday night and Marcus Hahnemann's last start, a 1-0 loss to Stoke City in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
In between, he played in several reserve league games for Everton while backing up Tim Howard, but Wednesday marked his return to competitive action and his return to Seattle, where his pro career started back in 1994.
Long wanting a homecoming to Seattle, the opportunity finally arose this summer and against Marathon he made his return.
"To really get back out there, and the training has been great and I've been getting sharper every day but to actually get out there on the field, it was awesome," he smiled after Seattle clinched the No. 3 seed in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League with their fourth straight win in the group stage.
While he admits to some rust in front of net, he did handle four saves while just letting in one goal. His critiques were not in his shot-stopping, though, but rather in his distribution.
"I'm not used to giving the ball out. I'm used to pumping it as far as I can in England," he said. "Everybody has got a learning curve, but I thought today was pretty good."
With the first in-game test now behind him, Hahnemann is set to provide the Sounders the best depth in the league at the goalkeeper position. Already very strong with the league's top statistical goalkeeper in Michael Gspurning, they now have a veteran backup that has a tremendous amount of experience behind him.
That realization hit Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid late in the match when he turned to goalkeeper coach and said, "That's not a bad backup goalkeeper. That's pretty good."
Schmid added in his post-game press conference, "You could see his experience, you could see him talking to the players in front of him. Those are things that you only get through years of playing and the confidence that he has in himself. Certainly, I don't think, with Marcus now in shape, there's a team in the league with two better goalkeepers than Gspurning and Hahnemann. That's something that makes you feel really good as a coach and I know the team has a lot of confidence in them."
With one more match on the league calendar, the Sounders are preparing to face Real Salt Lake in the MLS Cup playoffs for the second straight season. They will put the wraps on the regular season on Sunday with a road match against the LA Galaxy.


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We didn't want for the demo to be heavy and boring, that's why we share the first and most essential feature of the theme – the way it's built.
WordPress is a platform, with thich we've been working for years and we've used tens of premium themes. We've been impressed by all of them with their incredible design. The troubles always tend to come once we deep into the administration and setup. The heavy and confusing design and functionality of the admin have always left us with bitter sweet taste.
We know that with Roki we managed to change precisely this. All the content and elements are manipulated in an extremely easy, simple and fast. We tried to cut down the time of going from one tab to another, in order to change the simplest of settings. We've put much thought in all the main components of work with the admin. People love WordPress because it saves time.
That's why we gave our best – to make Roki a super easy to use theme.
- Multi-Purpose
- Page Builder
- Responsive Design
- Revolution Slider
- Mobile-First
- Liquid Layout
- Built on Bootstrap
- Retina Ready
- Unlimited Color Options
- Adaptive Images
- Skin Manager
- Shortcode Editor
- Font Manager
- Unlimited Sidebars
Page Builder
The Page Builder makes it a one-click job to configure your layout structure, and page content.
With an easy-to-use drag and drop interface you can add unlimited number of layout elements, configure their presentation – as each element comes with its specific options to play with.
Resize each element to make it display as a single to four columned element on the layout.
You can configure a more generalized look of your website from the Theme Options panel. This will affect all pages on your website. If you want dig deeper into customization – no problem. You can define the layout structure for your Portfolio and Blog pages from the Theme Options panel as well.
But if you want to be really specific – the page builder is available while editing each single page – you can create a unique look of your website and pages.
Responsive Design
Roki is an ultra responsive theme – we've put a lot of time and effort to make sure that regardless of their screen size each one of your visitors will be able to easily reach the information on your website.
Roki "magically" adjusts its layout and elements, depending on your visitors' screen size – from mobile to desktop devices. Not only the layout is perfectly adjust for the appropriate environment, but the user interface makes it easy and intuitive for users with multi-touch devices to use native gestures they've grown so used to – swipe or touch.
Wide Layout
By changing a single option, you can totally change the look of your web site with a wide layout. If you don't want to restrain your content and burden your users with information and various graphic details surrounding the content, you can easily setup your page, without affecting the clear and minimalistic design.
Boxed Layout
You might need your content to be centered – it's an easy thing to set up with rocky – just modifying a single option. With the boxed layout you have an option to choose a background image, giving a new detail in freshness and clean design, suiting your business.
The powerful admin panel gives you the opportunity to tweak some fine settings, so the look of your site can reflect your corporate identity to its fullest.
For example with two simple sliding panels you can adjust the maximum width of your layout (the box) as well as the maximum width of your content, without the need to worry about the graphic elements and clean design.
Fluid Layout
Thanks to the powerful bootstrap front-end framework, roki is not simply a responsive theme, rendering natively on all devices – mobile, tablets or desktop, but features a fluid layout. You can adjust your content to always take up 100% of your visitor's screen and each detail or box will "fluidly" adjust inside its context.
This is a solution, solving a lot of the problems with the screen of the device your users reach the information on your website.
Mobile-first Design
On a daily basis, the number of mobile devices increases, and therefore, the number of users who surf the web through them.
Your website needs to behave adequately in 100% of the times its requested – regardless of the device that renders your layout. In order to achieve maximum level of satisfaction from the usage of mobile devices, companies invest millions in developing mobile user interfaces and the majority of users get used to these interfaces in days, hence the mobile first design should be as much as possible these functionalities.
While developing Roki, we've invested a lot of time and effort, to get as close as possible to the intuition that users have developed from work with mobile operating systems.
Built on Bootstrap
Roki is built on Bootstrap – sleek, intuitive, and powerful front-end framework for faster and easier web development. Bootstrap is a renowned framework that features all major design elements. The whole Roki design is built on top of this framework and this gives you the possibility to use all of their elements, when publishing your posts or pages, and you will be certain that they won't be in conflict with the initial Roki design. Bootstrap is packed with features, but more importantly – really easy to use from everyone! This gives you the power for quick and sleek design of your layouts.
Retina Ready
Roki looks as awesome on wide screens as on mobile devices. There is no need to install additional plugins to display cristal clear images on the new retina displays. All graphical elements, fonts, icons and textures that form the clean and beautiful design of Roki are optimized. Oh yes, we've added the feature to upload retina logo as well, so not a single component is left out, making everything look crisp and more lifelike. Text is razor sharp. Colors are vibrant. Photos and video are rich with detail.
Fontawesome Icons
Roki includes the packet of svg icons – Font Awesome – looking razor sharp on any screen and device.
Thanks to this package, we've made it possible to easily format the contents of your website, so that it is accessible, intuitive and understandable for all of your visitors.
At the same time, thanks to these over 200 svg icons, you keep the retina design of your theme and don't overload your server with unnecessary images.
Unlimited Color Options
We understand the importance of your business identity. That's why we've put a whole lot of time and energy, so that Roki can impose no limitations on colors of any graphical element, that build the fresh, clean and fine design of the theme.
You have the absolute freedom to choose the most-appropriate color scheme, while, regardless of your choice, the whole website will keep its characteristic clear and pure looks of the Roki template. Of course, this can be achieved in the simplest possible way – we realize how important it is for you to be able to manipulate theme options intuitively, without posing any trouble.
Roki gives you the possibility to adjust the color scheme, by modifying 4 main options, and if you feel the need for even finer touch – you have access to 2 additional options for the color palette of your main layout, and the container holding the content. Couple of selections and you have a brand new look of your website, as simple as that.
Revolution Slider
Roki includes a great premium plugin – Revolution Slider, $15 worth, and gives you the opportunity to benefit from tons of unique transition effects, an image preloader, video embedding, autoplay that stops on user interaction and lots of easy to set options to create your own effects.
With Revolution Slider you can create a responsive (mobile friendly) or full width slider with must-see-effects and meanwhile keep or build your SEO optimization (all content always readable for search engines). Thanks to ThemePunch.
Adaptive Images
Adaptive Images detects your visitor's screen size and automatically creates, caches, and delivers device appropriate re-scaled versions of your web page's embedded HTML images. No mark-up changes needed. It is intended for use with Responsive Designs and to be combined with Fluid Image Techniques.
Why? Because your site is being increasingly viewed on smaller, slower, low bandwidth devices. On those devices your desktop-centric images load slowly, cause UI lag, and cost you and your visitors unnecessary bandwidth and money. Adaptive Images fixes that.
Shortcode Editor
It's a common situation to see a web page that looks simply awesome, but once we try to recreate it in our theme installation – we realize this is close to impossible.
The search through the demo content commences, support from authors etc … Even with top-notch customer support, large amount of time is lost, which costs us, and ruins the beforehand good impression of the front-end design.
With the Roki Shortcode Manager, we've tried to bring down to minimum the confusion and unclarity while using it. Nothing new and revolutionary, no, we simply wrapped it up in a clean, simple design, which all mobile users are used to.
Font Manager
Roki includes ultimately simple and intuitive font manager. We understand the importance of typography in your corporate identity, that's why we did our best to give you as simple as possible way to choose the most suitable font. Getting feedback from users, we've narrowed down the most important parts of such a manger:
- Simple
- Easy-to-use
- live preview
not a simple dropdown, where you cannot get a glimpse of what the font family looks like
Sidebar Manager
With the Layout Manager incorporated with the Page Builder you can easily change the layout structure of any single page – choose between one sidebar – left or right or no sidebars at all.
You can set general layout structure from the advanced Theme Options page within the admin panel. This will affect the whole look of your site without you having to bother about per-page modifications if you don't want to.
The advanced Page Builder gives you the power to create unlimited sidebars and assign them to any single page. Again – if you do not want to bother customizing every page – the generalized hierarchy structure of layout loading will ensure that pages inherit parent structures if none is specified.
You can easily assign the sidebars dragging them to the specific positions in the builder (left or right) – and they will appear in the Widgets Admin area. Include various widgets to that suit the needs of the particular page.
Skin Manager
Play with the styling options. Save them. This affects the current skin you're working on only. Not happy with the results? Not a problem create a new skin and test there. Revert to the previous skin, create a new one modify again and save – the options are endless!
Update History
Version 1.1.1 – June 29th 2015
- fixed prettyPhoto XSS - WordPress 4.2.2 compatibility - fixed password protected pages - updated Revolution Slider - v 4.6.93 - updated Layer Slider - v 5.4.0 - added TGM Plugin integration
Version 1.1.0 – May 7th 2014
- fixed admin columns editor - fixed tinyMCE editor added via ajax calls (WP 3.9 bug) - fixed page builder resizing option (WP 3.9 bug) - fixed media cropping bug
Version 1.0.9 – Apr 23rd 2014
- fixed admin shortcodes editor bug in WordPress 3.9 - fixed media dimensions bug, calculating user device pixel ratio - fixed Google Maps icons dimensions
Version 1.0.8 – Apr 15th 2014
- fixed strict standards warnings - fixed wpadminbar fonts color - fixed loading of external font families over ssl - updated Revolution Slider and Layer Slider plugins
Version 1.0.7 – June 19th 2013
bug-fix - Twitter widget and layout element api 1.1 support added - choice for social networks links action - share vs go-to-account added - target _blank choice on partners, text_box elements and social networks added - footer columns selection added - choice for image alignment on single staff pages added - when selected magnify icon only - do not link to post page, just prettyPhoto lightbox added - YouTube icon support bug-fix - home and blog pages header options bug-fix - single portfolio pages share box setting picked up from them options bug-fix - conflict with RevSlider autocomplete field bug-fix - text box icon link bug-fix - wp rich text editor bug fixes
Version 1.0.6 – March 22nd 2013
added - navigation styles options added - target=_blank choice for social links added - shortcodes support in fancy text element bug-fix - events calendar next month dates fix
Version 1.0.5 – March 20th 2013
added - portfolio medium image & columned layouts added - blog medium image & columned layouts added - slider media aspect ratio selection added - hide footer if no widgets added added - featured image display/hide single posts choice bug fix - twitter single staff member settings display bug fix - custom skin style display bug fix bug fix - events calendar events not showing php <= 2.17 bug bug fix - contact form mail recipient address bug fix - arrows youtube single do not alter play button bug fix - revolution slider arrows style
Version 1.0.4 – March 14th, 2013
added - Layer Slider WordPress Plugin added - Drop down menu in layered PSD changed - page heading and fancy text now bound to color option 1
Version 1.0.3 – March 13th, 2013
added - custom timezones picker for the theme added - option to display/disable events ratings added - option for footer custom copyrights text added - page builder rich text elements add media upload wp button bug fix - responsive pricing tables bug fix - blog layout element prettyPhoto rendering bug fix - events date bug fix bug fix - builder live click event on add media button
Version 1.0.2 – March 11th, 2013
added - Social networks selection for the footer added - Page header background images and color selection added - Hover icons selection bug fix - Videos in prettyPhoto bug fix bug fix - Text Box page builder element utf-8 characters bug in title
Version 1.0.1 – March 8th, 2013
added - Single page demo importer (paste a demo page url and import it) added - Custom Backgrounds on each page bug fix - admin logo bug fix bug fix - time picker admin style fix bug fix - admin menus style fix


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Gossamer Forum
Download it now
Get the full version of Gossamer Forum. It's free!
Let's make it easy
We offer hosted options with full Gossamer support.
Manage your forums
with the powerful and robust Gossamer Forum.
Gossamer Forum is the ideal software solution to create, or enhance, any online community. Great features including a WYSIWYG Editor and powerful search makes Gossamer Forum one of the most fully featured forum scripts out there.
A robust security system helps administrators easily moderate and control user actions so maintaining your community has never been easier.
Already have another forum installed? Gossamer Forum includes import scripts for many major forum programs, such as IkonBoard, WWWThreads (now UBBThreads), UBB5/6 and WWWBoard.
Key Features
WYSIWYG Editor
Make your posts stand out. Gossamer Forum's HTML editor makes it easy for you to create visually effective posts without having to know HTML coding. Change fonts, add color, bold phrases, or format your posts anyway you want, all with a click of a button.
Buddy List
Keep your friends close. Gossamer Forum features a buddy list so you can conveniently access your contacts. Send PMs, retrieve profile information, and view their most recent posts at the click of a button.
Robust Security System
Safeguard your forum. Gossamer Forum includes many features that allow you to maintain your installation and provide your users with secure and safe forums. Bans can be performed on user accounts, IPs, and even email addresses used to sign up. Wildcard support makes banning a range of values easy.
See the complete feature list for Gossamer Forum »
Use Cases
Consisting of a huge community of rock-climbing enthusiasts, Rockingclimbing.com features a highly customized suite of Gossamer Products. Gossamer Forum provides the community a full-featured forum service including their own rock-climbing log, in which they record and document their descents from various climbing routes.
One of Gossamer Threads' premier clients, Dropzone.com has fostered an enormous following for those interested in the sport of skydiving. With some threads containing approximately 1.6 million posts, Dropzone demonstrates Gossamer Forum's ability to handle massive archives of message data with lightning fast efficiency.
Competitive upgrade offer
We offer 50% off if you are already a licensed user of a commercial forum package.
What others say
"The reader forum is my web portal's hub of activity. After outgrowing a previous forum software and two web hosts I landed at Gossamer Threads, which serves as both my web host and the producer of my forum software. My forum handles 1600 daily posts, 3.5 million page views, along with queries that quickly search over one million archived posts. The forum handles rotating banner ads, along with whatever customizations I throw at it (I use the Gossamer Threads staff to write my custom code and scripts)."
– Dan Empfield
Slow Twitch Forums
Gossamer Forum comes with a very versatile plugin system that allows our growing user community to add new functionality without altering Gossamer Forum's core code.
The plugins can be downloaded and installed directly from your Gossamer Forum admin panel.
We're trusted with complex challenges because we stay up to date on web technologies. We and our community share knowledge in our Developers Area where we offer Mailing Lists, a Resource Centre, Discussion Forum and Developer Tools.


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text:
Kubota M6S-111SHDC
Double tap to zoom
Technoloy Driven Engine Features
The M6S has a V-3800-TierIV final engine which has a common rail fuel system, intercooler, exhaust gas recirculation. Employment of a diesel particulate filter and a selective catalytic reduction for minimized emissions. Additionally, it has Constant RPM management memory to minimize repetitive actions.
Ergonomic Operator Station
To increase operator efficiency the design of the main shift lever provides a comfortable, easy-to-use feel and better visibility of the lever's shift stages, Hi-Lo, etc. Furthermore, the loader joystick operates with exceptional smoothness and responsiveness.
F16/R16 Transmission
Kubota "Swing Shift" provides you access to 16 speeds. The synchronized main shift "H" pattern puts four speeds immediately at your disposal. The Swing Shift adds to that by actuating the electricover - hydraulic high/low synchronized range shift for a total of eight speeds - all controlled by a single lever. If a task requires more than eight speeds, simply move the auxiliary range lever left of the seat for eight more to equal 16F/16R. An optional creep provides eight additional slower speeds. That's 24 speed enough for the most demanding and precise work.
F32/R32 Transmission (Factory option)
Swing Shift Plus models give you 32F/32R speeds, and allow you to operate the Swing Shift as well as the Dual speed with just one lever. Put this feature to best use when taking large load increases, working in mixed soil or during hay tool applications. An optional creep provides 16 additional slower speeds – a total of 48F/48R– for specialty applications.
De-clutch Button On Main Shift Lever
The de-clutch button is available on all CAB models. This feature allows you to shift a gear without using the clutch pedal. While pressing the de-clutch button, the clutch is disengaged. When the de-clutch button is released, the clutch is engaged.
High Performance Hydraulics
The M6S CAB now has two standard rear remote valves. It offers one self-cancelling detent valve and one floating detent valve. With 17.2 GPM flow and an optional third remote valve, this tractor is ready to accept implements requiring multiple valves.
Other Features
- Electro Hydraulic Shuttle
- Steering tilt angle up to 41 degrees


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Notes from the designers themselves...
"Like all of our products these Boots are handmade in Bristol U.K. by Ollie and Lucy, we make everything to order so we never over produce and waste precious materials like leather which we source along with all of our components ourselves from the U.K.
Here in the Ottowin Studio we take every step to ensure we're having fun while making your shoes because we believe that if we're working in a fulfilling environment then your shoe will better fulfill the demands of everyday wear.
This means we don't batch produce or work in a production line but as a singular maker (either me or Lucy) will see your pair of shoes from beginning to end from pattern cutting, sewing and riveting to packaging and sending this means that we get a great sense of satisfaction from every order which we hope we pass on to you our customers.
This means there is a 2-3 Week lead time on delivery of all orders.
Though this process of creation we enrich our lives with creativity and hopefully this shows through our shoes which will in turn bring joy and forge a better consumer relationship between wearer and the product. These are shoes to be worn and loved and cherished.
Every pair can be resoled & repaired by us so please get in touch when you have been down many a path and walked and walked, don't them away, lets see if we can keep you on the road for more adventures
We use the highest quality leather from Industry samples; normally multiple hides which have been dyed and coloured for larger companies who will make a single sample and then return the rest if they don't to use it. There are thousands of hides every year which will be produced but not used.
We use this waste. Hand selecting every piece of leather, we know the colour, feel, and texture before we buy. This process means that we create relationship with the leather and we never return any, reducing our waste and the waste of the industry as a whole. It also means that our leathers are finite, all of our colour ways are Limited Editions, and once there gone there gone."


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Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Oakland, California, the fifth-most crime ridden city in America, faced a $32 million budget deficit last year. It closed the gap by dismissing a fourth of its police force, more than 200 officers.
Untouched was the $17.3 million that the city pays to stage 10 games a season for the National Football League's Oakland Raiders and to host Major League Baseball's Athletics in the O.co Coliseum. The funds cover debt financing and operations and are supplemented by $13.3 million from surrounding Alameda County, based on data compiled by Bloomberg from public records.
"If someone calls 911, you're looking at an indeterminate amount of time before an officer can respond," says Barry Donelan, 40, a sergeant who is president of the Oakland police union. "Citizens are suffering." Reversing a renewed rise in violent crime is out of the question, he says.
Now the city is under pressure to replace the 46-year-old structure to keep the Raiders. The team's owners may move to nearby Santa Clara and share an under-construction, $1.2 billion venue with the San Francisco 49ers, or to Los Angeles, where the City Council has backed a $1.5 billion stadium hoping to lure the NFL. Losing the Raiders would leave Oakland with about $145 million in debt, which originated 17 years ago in part to bring the team back from Los Angeles.
Didn't Work'
"The 1995 deal didn't work from a financial perspective for any party to the deal -- city, county or Raiders," says Amy Trask, chief executive officer of the Raiders. "That shouldn't stop us from trying to reach a deal that works for everyone."
Oakland mirrors dozens of other U.S. cities and states whose taxpayers provide publicly owned facilities and financial subsidies to teams in the NFL, the most popular U.S. sports league with more than $9 billion in annual revenue. Jacksonville, Florida, also fired police officers and cut services while lowering the Jaguars' rent 11 times since 1993 and deferring $12.3 million in rent payments.
Taxpayers have committed $18.6 billion since 1992 to subsidies for the NFL's 32 teams, counting the expense of building stadiums, forgone real estate taxes, land and infrastructure improvements, and interest costs on public bonds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Eighteen of the teams are owned by billionaires.
Even clubs using privately financed buildings such as New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, where the New York Giants and Jets play, receive tens of millions of dollars in subsidies in the form of land and infrastructure spending.
$10 Billion
Publicly financed stadiums for all U.S. major-league sports, including soccer, cost taxpayers about $10 billion more than forecast when accounting for the costs of land, infrastructure, operations and lost property taxes, according to a study of all 121 facilities in use during 2010 by Judith Grant Long, who teaches urban planning at Harvard University. The NFL has the highest public price tag, with taxpayers putting up about 87 percent of the expenses for NFL stadiums, she writes in her 2012 book, "Public/Private Partnerships for Major League Sports Facilities."
Competition among cities for a limited supply of teams will probably mean even more sacrifice by taxpayers, she writes. Cities including Atlanta, San Diego and St. Louis -- in addition to Oakland -- are considering replacing their football stadiums.
Relocation Threats
"News that Los Angeles is building a stadium with no team in place is providing the straw man for a new round of relocation threats," Long writes. "The midnight move of the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1995 was ground zero for the effective use of relocation threats based on stadium woes, and started a relocation-threat frenzy that infected all of the major leagues for the years to come."
Public officials across the country regularly support stadiums by drawing on sales and property taxes and by imposing levies on hotels and rental cars. In Indiana, subsidies for a stadium and a convention center account for a third of state debt, according to a Fitch Ratings report. Officials raised hotel taxes to 9 percent from 6 percent and doubled rental-car levies to 4 percent and food and beverage taxes to 2 percent to pay for the Indianapolis Colts' building.
Hamilton County, Ohio, sold Drake Hospital to the University of Cincinnati this year for $15 million to cover a deficit related to the Cincinnati Bengals' football stadium. Bengals spokesman Jack Brennan didn't respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Taxpayer Subsidies
The $18.6 billion of taxpayer subsidies to the NFL reflect costs and investments since 1986, when a new era of publicly funded stadium construction began in response to new laws on the use of municipal bonds for professional sports. The data were compiled from thousands of pages of documents related to bonds, financial disclosures and other public records.
The total includes $7.1 billion for stadium construction, $6.5 billion in forgone property taxes and $4.3 billion for interest costs. Land acquisition and infrastructure expenses beyond those wrapped up in the stadiums account for the rest. The data don't account for revenue that flows back to cities or states from the buildings, covering some costs. Long estimates the average state or city receives net payments after expenses of about $9 million over a 30-year lease for all stadiums and arenas -- or about $300,000 a year.
"There is never a good reason for taxpayer monies to subsidize for-profit entertainment businesses, especially extremely high-profit entertainment or sports businesses that are largely unaffordable to the vast majority of citizens," said Leo Hindery Jr., managing partner of InterMedia Partners LP and founder of the YES Network, a regional sports cable television channel in New York controlled by the Yankees. "I don't believe in state-sponsored finance of private enterprise at all."
Al Davis
NFL clubs have invested $6 billion in stadiums since 1992, said Brian McCarthy, a spokesman for the NFL.
"We understand that every community carefully weighs its financing options," McCarthy said. "It is up to these communities to make their own best decisions on which projects to finance and how."
Oakland's history with the Raiders goes back to 1960, when the team was set up in an expansion of the American Football League, now part of the NFL. Al Davis, originally head coach and general manager at the age of 33, became the team's majority owner in the 1970s. The Raiders routinely sold out during that decade and won two Super Bowl championships.
After Davis couldn't persuade the city and county to make revenue-enhancing improvements to the stadium, he moved the team in 1982 to the Los Angeles Coliseum. The team won another Super Bowl in 1984. That arrangement lasted until 1995, when Davis announced that the Raiders were going back to Oakland. The Los Angeles structure wasn't generating enough income, he said.
Moving Costs
Oakland and Alameda County loaned $63.9 million to the Raiders as part of the move, to cover relocation and operating costs and a training facility. The money was part of $197.7 million that the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority borrowed, including some for changes sought by the Athletics and the city.
"The bonds cover far, far more than the improvements just for the Raiders," said Trask, the team's CEO.
Seventeen years later, that deal is sapping the finances of the city of 390,724, across the bay from San Francisco. The city and county have limited options to recover the loan because mandatory payments are limited to amounts received from parking, concessions and rent, according to stadium authority documents.
With interest, the amount owed by the Raiders on its loans now totals $124.8 million, according to a financial statement for the coliseum authority, as revenue from the stadium hasn't generated enough to cover all costs. Taxpayers must continue repaying the original debt, which with refinancings now totals about $145 million, according to financial records.
Team's Payments
The team pays $525,000 a year, along with 50 percent of the take from concessions and parking, for interest on the loan, Trask said. The outstanding principal is secured by the Raiders' 20-acre headquarters and training facility near Oakland International Airport. The property would revert to public ownership if the team left town. The Raiders also will pay about $1.5 million in 2012 in rent and other revenue unrelated to the loan. Since 1995, the team has paid "hundreds of millions" from seat-license fees, premium seating and other building revenue, she said.
"Every year we pay a tremendous amount of money, some of which is deemed repayment, some of which is revenue they receive as a result of us playing in the facility," Trask said. "When you add together everything the city and county received pursuant to our agreement and through the past 17 years, it's literally hundreds of millions."
New Stadium
When Davis died last year, ownership of the team went to his widow, Carol, and son, Mark, who became the general manager. Mark Davis told the NFL Network in October that the coliseum is beyond repair and the Raiders' best option would involve staying in Oakland and building a new stadium at the present site. While the team has talked with the 49ers, it has no plans to share a venue, he said.
"I think there's a very strong recognition that they need a new stadium," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in October. "They are complicated projects. They have not only financing challenges, but how you do it in the context of the overall development and priorities of the community."
In 1998, the city entered a separate interest-rate swap, tied to the coliseum debt, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. It generated an upfront payment of $15 million that was used to help fund stadium improvements, said Rebecca Kaplan, a member of the city council who was elected in 2008, long after the financial arrangement to bring the Raiders back. Swaps are contractual exchanges of interest payments designed to insulate a borrower against surges in yields that rise and fall with market rates.
Goldman Swap
In this case, Oakland left the swap in place in 2008 when it converted underlying variable-rate debt to fixed-rate, even though it no longer needed the arrangement to lock in borrowing costs. While the swap has generated $37 million of present-value savings, yields have fallen, forcing Oakland to pay $4 million a year to Goldman Sachs. The agreement doesn't end until July 2021, even if the team moves away. Getting out of the deal would cost $16 million that the city doesn't have.
"Oakland got sold a bill of goods," Kaplan says. "The deal with the Raiders turned out to be a bad deal because it didn't bring in sufficient revenue for the city."
Craig Kocian, the city manager at the time who has since retired, didn't respond to a telephone call seeking comment on the arrangement. Tiffany Galvin, spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs, declined to comment.
Judgment Error'
"The interest-rate swap seems to me to have been just another judgment error," said Roger Noll, a professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University. The loan to the team was mainly a subsidy, he said by e-mail. "The authority seems to have done pretty well at making the coliseum subsidy to the Raiders very complex in order to minimize political resistance to the deal when it was made."
Oakland and Alameda County over the past five years split $132.5 million of operating costs and debt service related to the stadium, according to financial reports. Stadium revenue doesn't cover that amount, according to city disclosures.
Oakland, an industrial port city, has long been known for its gang violence and other crime. Last year it became the base for long-running protests by the Occupy movement, putting increased demands on police. Oakland was fifth among U.S. cities in crime last year, behind Flint, Michigan; Detroit; Camden, New Jersey; and St. Louis, according to the 2011 Crime Rankings based on FBI data, published by Congressional Quarterly.
200 Cops
By 2011, Oakland had already trimmed spending over three years by $170 million, cutting 150 city workers to cope with revenue curbed by lingering effects of the recession. The subsequent budget cuts reduced the police force to 630 officers from 837 in 2009, according Donelan, the union president. The cops also took pay cuts, he said.
This year, the number of murders in Oakland has risen 16 percent; rapes, 24 percent; and burglaries, 43 percent, according to a city crime report. The average response time to emergency calls in Oakland has slowed to 17 minutes this year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported in August.
Budget Limited
Public officials who do deals to subsidize pro football "don't understand that government budgets are limited, so that if you say the government is going to do this activity with its funds, it necessarily has to not do something else," said Dennis Coates, an economics professor at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.
When forgone property taxes, interest and other expenses are included, Oakland's total subsidy comes to $343.3 million over 30 years.
As in other cities, the costs of Oakland's stadium debt spread beyond the community, affecting taxpayers across the U.S. Holders of municipal bonds such as those sold for the coliseum aren't taxed on the interest income they receive. That means the Treasury will forgo about $41 million in tax revenue through 2025 on Oakland stadium debt, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Nationwide, $17 billion of debt issued to build stadiums since 1986 will cost the federal government about $146 million this year and $4 billion by the time all the issues mature in 2047, based on data compiled by Bloomberg for 2,700 securities.
Less Wealthy
In Jacksonville, where the Jaguars have deferred rent and negotiated lower payments, the city sold naming rights to the municipal stadium in 2010 to EverBank Financial Corp. The team's owner at the time, Wayne Weaver, demanded and got the city's $4 million share of the transaction, according to city documents. Jaguars spokesman Dan Edwards declined to comment.
While the residents of cities such as Oakland may derive some benefit from having an NFL team, poorer taxpayers end up shouldering a disproportionate share of the subsidies, according to the University of Maryland's Coates.
"Using lottery funds means taxing the poor to entertain people who can pay for $80 seats," Coates says. "A sales tax is predominantly paid by less wealthy people. A hotel tax, or rental-car tax, all that does is make you less competitive in drawing out-of-town visitors."
Meanwhile, the argument that taxpayer subsidies for NFL owners help create jobs doesn't hold up, according to studies by Coates, Harvard's Long and Stanford's Noll. Rather, the presence of stadiums leads to a shift in spending away from other activities, their research shows. Residents are hurt as cities steer funds away from health, safety and other forms of entertainment, according to Coates.
Four Wins
In Oakland, fans have been disappointed by a decade of losing, even with the financial support from the city and the county. The Raiders haven't been to the playoffs since the 2002 season and this year have won just four games while losing 10. Last week's home finale against the Kansas City Chiefs narrowly avoided a local TV blackout because of low ticket sales.
The city is developing proposals aimed at keeping the Raiders, as well as the A's and the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association. Although the Warriors announced plans to move to a new arena in San Francisco, Oakland's idea is to develop a coliseum district that would include new structures for each team as well as hotels, housing and restaurants, according to city records.
Oakland needs to limit the cost and liability for taxpayers while ensuring the development will increase sales tax and other revenue, said Kaplan, the city councilwoman. She has been active in the discussions as a member of the public works committee. The city already has the land for the sports venues and other facilities in the area of the coliseum, she says.
"We have a good playbook of what not to do," said Kaplan. "Our goal the next time is to do it right."
--Editors: Robert L. Simison, Ted Bunker
To contact the reporters on this story: Darrell Preston in Dallas at email@example.com; Aaron Kuriloff in New York at email@example.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at firstname.lastname@example.com; Michael Sillup at email@example.com 12-20-12 1048EST


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15 July 2020
Page URL:
More and more people in Norfolk and surrounding areas are living with long term conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease. You may have just been diagnosed with a long term condition and want to read some information about what that means for you or you may want some quick information to manage a short term health issue. Either way you will find the information that you need here.
You can search for a range of health conditions in the A-Z listing below. The conditions pages will also link you to the services that NCH&C provide that are related to that condition.


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Forensic meteorological information such as the effects of storms and hurricanes, wind speeds, precipitation type and amount, and temperatures are available to recreate weather conditions during a specific event.
Detailed forecasts targeted specifically to individual filming or outdoor event locations are produced, down to the half-hour.
A better understanding of meteorological phenomena can facilitate well-informed decisions that save lives and property.
Copyright © 2009 CLIMADATA. All Rights Reserved.


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Elk Grove VillageHOME Menu
Business Licenses
Every business engaged in retail sales of any product is required to be licensed per the Elk Grove Municipal Code. Additionally, certain other businesses including day care centers, food caterers and retail establishments require a license. All food, beverage and cigarette vending machines as well as coin-operated amusement/musical devices must also display a valid license. The annual fee for a business license covers the cost of making inspections necessary to safeguard public safety, health and welfare. Business licenses are valid for a period of one-year and are due annually no later than June 1.
Pre-printed renewal forms are mailed in mid-April to businesses registered during the previous year. Alternatively, businesses may download and complete the business license application, print and submit via mail or in person at the Municipal Building. Please note that a business may require more than one type of business license. A complete list of business types, codes and fees is available through the Business License Fee Schedule. Companies are responsible for obtaining all necessary licenses. For more information, or to determine if your business requires a license(s), please contact the Finance Department at (847) 357-4062 or visit the Finance Counter in the Municipal Building.
Supplemental Business License Applications and Forms
- Massage Establishments: Massage establishments are subject to a background check and need to complete the Massage Establishment Background Check Form.
- Pawnbrokers License Application
- Collection Box Application


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WitOut: How did Til Death Do Us Part form, and how long have you and Steve been performing together as a duo?
Mary Carpenter: I guess we started about 3 years ago. We've been in ComedySportz together for over 10 years. I just always loved watching and performing with Steve. He's incredibly selfless and brilliantly funny. He is always 100% present and working with him is effortless. We often talked about working on something outside of ComedySportz, and we realized that we often wound up playing couples on stage. So, we decided to take our improv relationship to the next level. I got down on one knee, and the rest is history.
WO: Your show is described as "an improvised take on wedded bliss." Is it always "bliss," or do you also explore other states of marriage—like unhappy, stressed, etc.?
MC: Oh, we explore all the fun, stress, awkwardness. Those are the juicy nougat-y parts of marriage. And we don't always play a couple, we try and hit it from all angles.
WO: Can you describe the format for your show? Do you play two-person scenes as a couple, or create a wider cast of characters?
MC: We use this brilliant book that Steve's in-laws gave him: How to Start Your Marriage from the Catholic Church. We give it to a member of the audience and have them skim through it until we say stop. They then read a few sentences from the page they're on and we use that to inspire our scene. We have them read 3-5 times during a typical show. Sometimes we revisit characters if the opportunity arises.
MC: It informs everything. Between the two of us, there's years of marriage to draw on. The good, the bad, the surprising, the weird. It's not a conscious choice to include what we know, but what comes out in the moment is inevitably filtered through the experiences we've had. And since we're not married to each other, there's no fear of potentially offending the other person and ultimately sleeping on the couch that night.
Catch Til Death Do Us Part at ComedySportz (2030 Sansom Street) this Friday, March 29th at 8pm. Tickets are $12; $5 for improvisers who use the password "I Do."


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Online Drug Class offers the most comprehensive online drug awareness course available to residents of Greenville Mississippi. We offer 8 hour (level 1), 12 hour (level 2), 16 hour (level 2) and 24 hour (level 3) online Drug Awareness and Education Courses.
Our Greenville Mississippi drug awareness classes are ideal to meet your drug court drug class requirement or just for personal growth. Our courses are 100% self-paced and can be taken from any PC, Mac, iPad or smartphone.
A completion certificate is sent to you upon completion of the program. This certificate can be used to prove that you completed our drug education class.
Our drug courses have been developed and written by experts. We created our programs to be both easy to use and educational. The lessons contain the course materials that are nationally accepted and meet or exceed Greenville Mississippi requirements. Users will find a variety of different content in the drug class including pictures, illustrations and videos.
Get started right away! Click here to enroll.
We accept most major credit cards including MasterCard, Visa and Amex. You must pay for the Greenville Mississippi online drug education course before you can access to the class content. All student information is processed using SSL-encryption technology, and all credit card and online check information is processed via our secure payment processing company.
Prices vary by length of the Greenville Mississippi drug class. If you want to take a class which is 8 hour long or a Level 1 class, the cost is $149. For a 12 hour long or a Level 2 class, the cost is $199. For a 16 hour long or a Level 2 class, the cost is $249. For a 24 hour long or a Level 3 class, the cost is $319.
You will choose your personal user name and password at registration for the Greenville Mississippi drug education class. You must use this information to sign in to your account at Online Drug Class.
Yes. Online Drug Class has designed this course to give you the maximum flexibility to take this Greenville Mississippi drug education class. You create a log in user name and password when you begin and you can use this password from any computer. Remember, this course is available to you 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
Yes! If you want to take a break, it is not a problem! You do not have to complete the Greenville Mississippi drug awareness class in one sitting and can start and stop as frequently as necessary. Our Online Drug Class program will continue exactly where you left off!
Your Certificate of Completion for the drug class will be sent to you by first class U.S. mail. Complete the course by 1pm Mountain Time (Mon-Fri) and your Greenville Mississippi Certificate will be processed that same day! Fast overnight delivery is also available.
The amount of instruction for the Greenville Mississippi drug education class depends on which version of the class your purchased. The class comes in eight hour, twelve hour, sixteen hour and twenty-four hour lengths. This is a self-paced course, and can easily fit into your schedule!
No. The Online Drug Class Greenville Mississippi drug education quizzes are meant to prepare you for the Greenville Mississippi final exam, and they do not count against your overall score. You must score 80% on the Greenville Mississippi exam in order to pass. However, you may re-take the Greenville Mississippi exam as many times as necessary in order to pass, at no additional charge.
Our Greenville Mississippi drug course is compatible with iPads and iPhones. It also works on other mobile devices such as Android smart phones and tablets. Essentially any device with a web browser should be able to access Online Drug Class.
Your Greenville Mississippi drug class has been designed to work on all major web browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari. There are no downloads required.


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Three Additions in One Week
Baseball's winter meetings are next week in Indianapolis. Trades and agents peddling their free agents will dominate the news. This Indiana city will need to change its name to "Rumor City" for a few days.
Ruben Amaro Jr., for the second year in a row, has gotten a jump on his shopping list before the meetings. Last year, he signed Raul Ibanez early. Today, Juan Castro and Placido Polanco joined Brian Schneider (Tuesday) as new Phillies. Three key additions in one week.
Well, Polly isn't totally a new Phillie as he wore Phillies pinstripes from 2002 into 2005. "I'm coming back home, where I wanted to be," he beamed at the afternoon media conference. "My family and I had a great time here the first time. We love Philly."
Why didn't you wait until next week? "The Phillies were my first choice. They are committed to winning."
Schneider grew up in the Lehigh Valley and was a Phillies fan as a kid. He, too, came back home because he wanted to play for a winner. Castro had other opportunities but again, being on a winning team was the deciding factor.
Polanco will move from second base to third. "I played there in college, in St. Louis and here. It's not a new position for me."
Phillies Wall of Famer Juan Samuel coached both Polanco and Castro. "I tell you what, they are real professional people who will be great fits in your clubhouse," Samuel said from his Florida home.
"Castro can play anywhere in the infield. Polly, the only time I saw him at third was when he was with you. But, he's played there before, has good hands ane enough arm strength. He just needs to play there every day. He'll get used to it.
"He won't give you much power at third. He's a contact hitter, who can give you some extra base hits but not big home run numbers. He's a solid, professional hitter. One of the best two-hole hitters in the game."
Now, Ruben's focus shifts on adding bullpen depth and possibly a starter. Todd Zolecki will bring you all the winter meeting news on this site. Stay tuned.
Hard to Believe, Harry
Ten weeks from today, the Phillies equipment truck will be loaded at Citizens Bank Park for a journey south to Clearwater.
Phillies Insider is on twitter as philaphillies.
1 Comment
I am very happy to see Polly back! Of course, I thought back in 2005 he should have been put at third…so, a few years late, but better late than never :O) Can't wait until Spring Training!


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Alex Jones is just 200ft (61m) from completing her rockface challenge for Sport Relief after a gruelling climb which has left her fighting tears while inching up a sheer cliff.
The One Show host has slowly hauled herself 1,000ft (305m) up the rock in Utah over the space of two days and is close to finishing – although she has the toughest section to go.
The presenter has been seen struggling with her emotions during her uphill battle, which has already raised more than £300,000 for the charity.
She had just three months of training for the tough task, which would challenge many experienced climbers, and has had to sleep harnessed to a portable suspended ledge, although she has found it difficult to rest with so little room.
Alex will have climbed a height greater than London's Shard building if she manages to scale the Moonlight Buttress in Zion National Park, Utah.
And she has been enjoying the views from her commanding position, observing: "The upside of this challenge is that there's probably no better place to have a cup of tea in the morning."
Her climb will feature in a documentary to be screened on BBC One at 3.15pm on March 23.
The money she raises will be spent to help families affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, as well as other projects.


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We're replacing siding on our two-story house currently. We can do most of it okay, but our two-car garage has a slanted roof, which mean you can't just put a ladder up there. We're thinking about just hiring it done, but it'd be a lot nicer it we could do it ourselves somehow. How could you do this? Could you maybe make some kind of scaffolding? How would you do that? Would buying some step ladder with different length legs work? Here's a pic:
2Roofers use temporary cleats to give themselves a secure support. I'm not sure how they work (nailed under the shingles?) but that, plus building up under one leg of the ladder, might be secure enough. Or go pro; this is dangerous stuff. – Alex Feinman Dec 2 '10 at 18:47
We ended up hiring it done. – Ullallulloo Jan 27 '11 at 16:23
Werner makes ladder leg levelers (say that 5 times fast) that fit their ladders. I'm not sure if it's the safest solution for a pitched roof though. If you did decide to do this, I'd really consider having a temporary stop beneath the bottom foot of the ladder and possibly on the wall you're leaning it against as well.
Another solution would be an articulating ladder that you can set up as a step ladder with two different length sides. I have the Werner 17 ft aluminum ladder, and it's awesome. It does weigh 40 lbs though, so my wife doesn't like to use it very much.
They would probably use some kind of scaffolding. For example, they make arms that attach to an extension ladder for holding scaffolding. You could put the ladder against the side of the house to support one end of the scaffolding, and have the other end sit on the roof.
If the roof material is strong enough (like roofing slate) and the framework beneath it is strong enough to support extra load you can just put a ladder onto the roof (ladder parallel to the roof surface) - it will distribute load and safely transfer it to the roof framework.
The ladder has to be rigid and extra care needs to be taken to avoid stepping or putting concentrated load directly onto the roof. The ladder will need wide hooks to hook it up to the top of the roof.
use a ladder with a ladder jack on the one side and on the other place a plank scaffold or walkboard 24 footer or so...to span the distance between the ladder jack and the peak or the roof on the other and bungie the plank to the ladder and ya can go up higher to reach the peek if needed..but mostly keep it level..this way you can safely do it..
Build a temporary scaffold using well braced 2X4s and thick cross beams spanning the garage roof. You may need a support somewhere in the middle, on the garage roof. Or you may rent scaffolding.
1A little more detail about how to build the scaffolding would be helpful. – Tester101 Nov 13 '12 at 17:26
I'm sure you have found a solution by now but for anyone else searching for the answer to this problem, I have much simpler and safer idea. First you need a step ladder, extension ladder, a walk board, and a ladder jack. You should be able to rent what you don't have locally for a small amount.
To set up, once you have put the siding on as far as you can reach from the roof, put the extension ladder with the ladder jack on the ground and run the walk board from the roof peak to the ladder jack making it level. Once you run that as far as you can reach, raise your extension ladder (you will probably need to move it over) and straddle the ridge with the step ladder and run the walk board between the two.


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|portable to platforms with POSIX process\/signal tools
|John Goerzen <email@example.com>
|Safe Haskell
Tools for writing daemons/server processes
Written by John Goerzen, firstname.lastname@example.com
Please note: Most of this module is not compatible with Hugs.
Messages from this module are logged under
System.Daemon. See
Logger for details.
Based on background from http://www.erlenstar.demon.co.uk/unix/faq_2.html#SEC16 and http://www.haskell.org/hawiki/HaskellUnixDaemon.
This module is not available on Windows.
- detachDaemon :: IO ()
Detach the process from a controlling terminal and run it in the background, handling it with standard Unix deamon semantics.
After running this, please note the following side-effects:
- The PID of the running process will change
- stdin, stdout, and stderr will not work (they'll be set to /dev/null)
- CWD will be changed to /
I highly suggest running this function before starting any threads.
Note that this is not intended for a daemon invoked from inetd(1).


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OCEAN CITY – Fed chairman Ben Bernanke predicted in May that the recession could end by the close of 2009, citing encouraging signs that distressed markets may finally have reached their bottom. Although stabilization will come at some point, it's equally clear that recovery from the most severe economic crisis since the 1930s will take time and carry its share of challenges. One of the most important assessments for investors — especially those nearing retirement — will be choosing which assets to tap to meet living expenses, and in what order, says Tom Latta, Director of Investment Management and Guidance for Merrill Lynch. Despite hopeful signs, assets' values remain depressed, and lines of credit are still tight, which means that ensuring cash flow requires careful planning.
"In this environment, there are two primary concerns," Latta says. "First, is your portfolio at an appropriate level of risk? Going through this crisis has caused many people to alter their views fundamentally. Second, what is your planning period, what are you planning for, and how much does your portfolio have to appreciate to make that plan happen?"
The outcome of this analysis might mean a shift from aggressive, small-cap equities toward fixed income investments and dividend-paying stocks, Latta says. This approach can help generate regular income while still leaving you invested in the market. But no matter what decisions you make, Latta advises that a gradual approach to rebalancing is preferable to wholesale changes.
Another point to consider: Although a fear of turbulence is normal, it's important not to abandon growth. "Harvesting your assets too early or devoting too much of your portfolio to simply preserving capital can be counterproductive," says Aimee DeCamillo, Managing Director, Head of Personal Retirement for Merrill Lynch. Given that Americans on average are living longer, you may have to finance a retirement lasting decades. Equities that seem like a drag on your portfolio in a depressed market may in fact provide a foundation for relatively stable income long after this recession has taken its place in the history books.
After you rebalance, it may be best to draw on taxable portfolios for income first, DeCamillo advises. "That way, tax-advantaged plans such as 401(k)s and IRAs have an opportunity to recover along with the economy and retain the potential to grow tax-deferred," she says. "People may also want to think about making asset allocation adjustments in their tax-deferred plans to avoid further erosion from current income taxes."
This year it became easier for retirees to keep the same amount of money saved in these tax-advantaged plans. Investors are normally required to begin taking regular withdrawals starting at age 70½, but in response to the financial crisis, Congress suspended those requirements for 2009.
Once you have decided which portfolios to tap, it's vital to seek out advice on which assets within those portfolios to hold and which to sell. "If you own high-quality stocks that have dropped mainly because everything else has, they could rebound right along with the economy and provide healthy growth," Latta says. But you might consider selling out-of-favor equities — such as small-cap growth stocks — even if the price isn't as high as you would like. A final consideration, of course, is factoring in which investments carry the lowest cost to convert to cash. Taking income from a bond that has reached maturity is preferable to selling before it matures, since selling early may include penalties.
Decisions to hold or sell assets inevitably require you to balance your immediate cash requirements with the need to avoid outliving your investments. A total assessment of your retirement picture can position you for the short term as well as for the recovery ahead.
All sector and asset allocation recommendations must be considered in the context of an individual investor's goals, time horizon and risk tolerance. Not all recommendations will be suitable for all investors.
(A Merrill Lynch Senior Financial Advisor. She can be reached at 410-213-8520.)


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Another restoration project from December 10, 2010
This week's show details the role of the false flag operation from 911 to Mumbai. Learn what happens behind the scenes so you don't fall for the next war between India & Pakistan. Billionaire's Club goes bankrupt. Amero, Amero where for art thou Amero. Common words removed from the lexicon. Pooh can't find 'piglet'. No 'dukes' or 'duchesses'. No 'sin' must mean anti-Christ is in.
CONSTELLATION was owned by a victim of the Mumbai massacre.
Well Folks I've had a flashback regarding Mumbai and the secret covert wars we are plagued with. A British millionaire was centered out for execution. His name was Andreas Liveras. He was the 255th richest man in the world. He was a builder of yachts for the elite rich. One inparticular was the Lauren L which was formerly the Constellation. The Constellation was the yacht that delivered Russian sailors from Panama to Ecuador in a recent covert operation. Luxury yachts have always been used for such operations. One of the most famous was the Southern Cross in WWII days. It was sold from Howard Hughes to Axel Wenner-Gren. His mistress Inga Arvad was Hitler's companion at the 1936 Olympics and had an affair with young Ens. John F. Kennedy of the Office of Naval Intelligence. He was transfered to the South Pacific and combat duty but survived. Never underestimate the role of yachts on the Grand Chessboard.
Electrolux Tycoon Axel Wenner-Gren, whose yacht Southern Cross rescued 399 Athenians (TIME, Sept. 11), added to the picture in his story for a Swedish newspaper: "The rooms, hallways and decks were crowded with hundreds of half-naked people. Many had been lying in bed, seasick . . . had to rush out on deck undressed. Many of the survivors were drenched with oil from the Athenians oil tanks which were shattered by the explosion."
Howard Hughes Howard Hughes' Yacht The Southern Cross Archive of Typed Letters Signed, handwritten telegrams, and other related items, 22 pieces in all.
Not content to only own airplanes, Howard Hughes purchased, in the early 1930s, a huge yacht of 425feet and named it The Southern Cross. It is known that Katharine Hepburn painted her first picture while cruising through the Bahamas with Hughes on this yacht in 1937. Carl B. Flynn was the captain of the ship and he accumulated this vast archive of interesting material. Included are approximately 19 telegrams, some in manuscript, as well as two Typed Letters Signed "Howard" by Hughes and an extremely detailed letter giving communications instructions to Flynn. The first letter is dated December 23, 1933 to Flynn and reads (in part): "I don't want you to waste any money in the operation and maintenance of the boat. I don't want you to let anyone overcharge you for any work or material. However, regardless of what it costs, I want you to do everything that is necessary or adviseable [sic] to insure that there is no deterioration of the boat, outside or inside. I expect this boat to last a lifetime, and saving a few dollars now at the expense of allowing the boat to deteriorate may cost more in the long run. I think it is cheaper to keep a boat in first class condition than to let it go to hell and then try to repair it."Hughes didn't keep it a lifetime- he sold it within six years of writing this letter. The most interesting of the items in this archive are the three pages of special instructions to Flynn and his assistant, showing more than just a hint of paranoia on Hughes' part. We'll mention a few: "All correspondence must be sent thru Cox and Stevens. Never Direct", "Never mention H.R.H's name", "Never mention the Boats name", "Pay cash", "When telegraph operator or clerk asks name, give name 'Jones' or none", "Sign all wires: 'C'", "Never phone from a placewhere anyone could overhear you", "Never use a phone that goes through a switchboard". Well, you get the picture. A fabulous archive of material and a rare opportunity for the collector. All items are in fine condition.
On Sunday 3rd September 1939, within a few hours of war being declared the Donaldson Liner Athenia, bound for Montreal with passengers of many nationalities who had boarded at Glasgow, Belfast and Liverpool, was torpedoed by German submarine U30 about 200 miles into the Atlantic. She was the first target, and many of those on board the first casualties, of World War II. I personally was not involved when the Athenia was torpedoed as I was only six years old but it is a time I have never forgotten as my father, Jimmy Mitchell, was the Athenia's carpenter. Thankfully he was one of the survivors. My mother and I spent several frantic days checking survivor lists at Donaldson's Offices, hotels and shops where lists were displayed.
Ninety three passengers including 69 women and 16 children were killed in the explosion and in accidents when lifeboats capsized, along with 19 of the Athenia crew. With 1101 passengers and 315 crew on board it was a miracle that so many survived. This was due entirely to the efforts, skills and courage of the crew.


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Via Zoe
New "modern" route first ascended by untiring Massimo Da Pozzo on the Lastoni di Formin. Due to the poor weather conditions the route was ascended in three pushes with three different partners, namely Romanin Ivan, Serafini Danilo and Bruno Sartorelli.
The eight pitches climb up solid rock and the crux pitches are pure stamina testpieces. The route is dedicated to Massimo's daughter Zoe and starts a few meters to the right of his other creation, Spiderman.
Passo Giau is reached easily either from Cortina via the SS48 and SS638, or from Caprile for those coming from the Agordino.
Approach this climb by driving down from Passo Giau towards Cortina, parking the car after some hairpin bends and following the obvious path no. 436 towards the Forcella Giau. After the forest the path steepens; continue left along a trail past large boulders to the scree slopes that come down from the Lastoni di Formin. Traverse high to reach the base of the wall. Allow about an hour for the walk-in.
P1: 6b - 35m
P2: 7b - 50m
P3: 6b - 35m
P4: III - 15m
P5: 7b - 35m
P6: 7a - 40m
P7: 6b - 50m
P8: 7a - 40m
Either abseil down the route or reach the Formin col on foot from Croda da Lago then follow the path south and traverse right beneath the walls to Forcella Giau to join up with the access path.
The route is protected by bolts byt a set of mid-size camming devices may be found useful.
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The most recent agency reports are located at the ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION tab.
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The Idaho Rural Partnership (IRP) joins diverse public and private resources in innovative collaborations to strengthen communities and improve life in rural Idaho.
The IRP Board is established by state statue and is made up of 36 individuals who work together to improve economic and social conditions in rural Idaho. Some Board members are appointed by the Governor and others include representatives from federal and state agencies, and for-profit and non-profit entities.


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Tom Foley wins GOP nomination for governor
Win over McKinney in Republican primary sets up rematch of 2010 race for governor
WATERBURY -- Republican primary voters in Connecticut doubled down on Tom Foley to be their nominee for governor Tuesday, setting up a rematch with Democratic incumbent Dannel P. Malloy.
Despite anemic turnout, Foley, 62, fended off a late charge by state Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, who conceded the race to the former diplomat and Greenwich private equity manager shortly before 9:30 p.m.
The beneficiary of wider name recognition outside Fairfield County and the GOP's endorsement, Foley celebrated his decisive victory with supporters at Waterbury's Pontelandolfo Community Club, an Italian-American social club and banquet hall.
The smell of victory blended in with the smell of garlic from an election party spread of sauteed escarole, fried calamari, broccoli rabe and mortadella.
Foley assailed his longtime adversary, Malloy, over his stewardship of Connecticut's economic recovery, which he said has been stunted by onerous taxes, runaway spending and a tangle of red tape that has antagonized job creators.
"Change is on the way. Change is coming to Connecticut," said Foley, whose victory rally was devoid of theme music and political theater.
Foley's running mate is still unknown, with the results of the GOP primary for lieutenant governor between state Rep. Penny Bacchiochi, former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker and former Groton Mayor Heather Bond Somers hanging in the balance as of 11 p.m.
Sharon McLaughlin defeated Angel Cadena in the GOP primary for state comptroller.
Cuts ahead
Before the final ballots were even counted Tuesday, Malloy warned that Foley or McKinney would roll back minimum wage and paid sick leave reforms championed by his administration.
"To the best of my knowledge, these things would be at risk," Malloy said during a White House conference call.
Foley is now eligible to receive $6 million in taxpayer funding for his campaign under Connecticut's so-called clean elections program, which he opted out of in 2010 when he spent $11 million of his self-made fortune.
"Dan Malloy has had four years to fix things," said Foley, the U.S. ambassador to Ireland under President George W. Bush. "Most of things under his leadership have actually gotten worse."
Malloy, 59, is hoping to avoid becoming the first sitting governor since John Davis Lodge, who served from 1951 to 1955, to be ousted after one term.
Democrats immediately derided Foley's victory as hollow because of the light turnout, which unofficial estimates showed as struggling to reach 20 percent statewide.
"With extraordinarily low turnout, today Republicans showed their lack of enthusiasm for the candidates running," Nancy DiNardo, the state Democratic chairwoman, said in a statement. "For the few Republicans who did show up, they selected Tom Foley, who has run a campaign avoiding the tough questions and totally devoid of specifics and details."
Gun advocates' role
McKinney, 50, the highest-ranking member of the GOP minority in the Legislature and son of the late U.S. Rep. Stewart B. McKinney, narrowly qualified for the primary in the waning moments of balloting during the state party convention in May.
"We fought hard. We came close, but, at the end of the day, Tom Foley ran a better race," McKinney, said in his concession speech.
McKinney, unable to turn his full attention to the race because of his legislative duties and the death of his mother in the spring, promised to cooperate with Foley.
"The goal was to make Dan Malloy a one-term governor and get a fiscally responsible governor," McKinney told supporters at a local restaurant in his hometown of Fairfield.
McKinney's role as the lead Republican negotiator of Connecticut's 2013 crackdown on guns, prompted by the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, alienated an untold number of primary voters.
"Quite frankly, I didn't want to reward McKinney," said Matthew Bilotta, 37, a registered Republican from Waterbury and diesel mechanic who voted for Foley. "He voted against my gun rights in 2013."
State GOP Chairman Jerry Labriola Jr. downplayed the sluggish showing, suggesting that Republicans were satisfied with the party's endorsements.
"I have no doubt that our base will turn out in big numbers this November to overturn Malloy and his failed economic policies," Labriola said.
Foley will try to do what Linda McMahon could not -- win statewide office on his second try.
Often compared to Mitt Romney because of his management background and staid demeanor, Foley waged a general election campaign that focused on Malloy throughout the primary race.
Foley paid little attention to the rest of the GOP field, which contracted from five other competitors that included Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton to just McKinney.
Knocked by his political foes for providing scant details about how he would govern, Foley dismissed his critics in an interview with Hearst.
"I certainly think I've been specific enough for voters to understand the difference between a Gov. Foley and Gov. Malloy going forward," he said.
Staff writer Ken Dixon contributed to this report


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Post date: August 12 2013
A.G. Schneiderman Sues Western Sky Financial And Cashcall For Illegal Loans Over Internet
Company Charged Usurious Rates On Short-Term Loans
Schneiderman: My Office Will Fight To Protect Consumers From Predatory Lending
NEW YORK - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that his office has filed a lawsuit against Western Sky Financial, LLC, CashCall, Inc., WS Funding, LLC, and their owners, Martin Webb and J. Paul Reddam, for violations of New York's usury and licensed lender laws in connection with their issuing of personal loans over the Internet. The companies charged annual rates of interest from 89% to more than 355% to thousands of New York consumers. These interest rates far exceed the maximum rate allowed under New York law, which is limited to 16% for most lenders not licensed by the state. None of the companies sued are licensed in New York.
"Western Sky and CashCall charged exorbitant interest rates on their loans to scam New Yorkers out of millions of dollars," said Attorney General Schneiderman. "With this case and others, my office will continue to fight to protect New Yorkers from illegal business practices and stop companies that seek to prey upon consumers facing tough economic times."
The companies, located in South Dakota and California, targeted vulnerable New York consumers through television and internet advertising that promised "fast cash" to consumers in urgent need of money. The companies took advantage of these consumers by charging extremely high rates of interest that were above New York State's usury caps. For example, consumers that received loans of $1,000 were charged an interest rate of more than 234%, and had to repay as much as $4,942 in interest and principal over just two years.
New York borrowers who questioned the legality of these loans were falsely told by the companies that New York law did not apply. Some consumers were also targeted with deceptive debt collection calls in further violation of New York law.
Since 2010, the companies have made at least 17,970 loans to New York consumers, lending more than $38 million in principal. New York consumers owed more than $185 million on these loans in finance charges alone.
Many who fall victim to short-term, high interest rate loans are individuals with rising debt and few financial alternatives. These individuals are least able to secure traditional forms of credit. New York State has some of the toughest lending laws in the nation. New York's civil usury law prohibits most non-bank lenders that are not licensed by New York State from charging more than 16% interest on small unsecured loans. Lenders that are licensed by New York cannot charge more than 25% under New York's criminal usury laws. Lenders that set up shop out of state, overseas, or on tribal lands in an attempt to evade state regulation are still subject to New York laws when lending to New York consumers.
The Attorney General's lawsuit - which is based on an investigation that began last fall - seeks a court order prohibiting the companies and individuals from engaging in further illegal lending or enforcing existing usurious loan contracts, cancellation of all outstanding loans, restitution for New Yorker borrowers of all interest collected above the legal limit of 16% interest, and disgorgement of profits. The lenders also face penalties of up to $5,000 per violation for deceptive acts and practices.
Assistant Attorneys General Jordan Adler and Clark Russell are prosecuting the case, under the supervision of the Bureau of Consumer Frauds and Protection Chief Jane M. Azia and Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Karla G. Sanchez.


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Mountain biking is a growing sport in Pembrokeshire where there are several trails, some of them challenging, others making for easy riding.
The 16-mile Canaston Trail takes the rider from the quaint little market town of Narberth, which in recent years has carved a special niche for itself as a unique boutique town of specialised gift shops, restaurants and art galleries.
The bikers meet at the Townsmoor carpark and head west down steep Carding Mill Lane to the largest ancient woodland in Pembrokeshire, 500-acre Canaston Wood, where the A40 trunk road crosses the Eastern Cleddau river at Canaston Bridge.
The route's popularity has led to improved track surface and drainage in the lower boggy areas, which are now usable all year round and visitors have described it as an exhilarating ride with plenty of ups and downs, steep hills and a few water splashes.
It is currently being advertised by Mountain Bikes Pembrokeshire as an ideal ride for families with children celebrating birthdays or for hen or stag parties. Pre-ride instruction includes an introduction to the finer points of mountain bike control such as front wheel lift, power front wheel lift, rear wheel lift, parallel wheel lift and the rather more difficult bunny hop, all of which are designed to improve effective control.
For those who want to enjoy an elevated ride with all the views that go with it, the 14 mile Preseli Trail is an excellent option. It takes the rider on some lung-busting climbs up to the summit of the Preseli Hills at Foelcwmcerwyn (1,760-feet) - that's a third of a mile - and the views from the top are stunning. Its a ride through prehistory, for the bikers pass close to ancient burial mounds, standing stones and hut circles.
Not far away is the Newport Trail which starts in that picturesque seaside town and follows a route past the prehistoric burial chamber or Cromlech at Pentre Ifan.
Also in North Pembrokeshire is the 7.5-mile long trail around the Llysyfran reservoir, with its imposing 110-foot high dam holding back millions of tons of water to form a lake providing facilities for fishing, sailing and boating. This is the Llysyfran Reservoir and Country Park owned by Dwr Cymru (Welsh Water) who provide the necessary facilities for mountain bike rides: the bicycles, the headgear and a track with challenging steeps, beautiful scenery and rich willdlife.
There is more history along the 14-mile Last Invasion Trail at Fishguard, which visits the site of the last invasion of Britain by French mercenaries in 1797. A commemorative stone on the clifftop at Carreg Wastad, near Strumble Head, marks the spot where the abortive attack began and the riders see some of the homes which fell victim to the drunken ravages of the indisciplined raiders.
The Brunel Trail, a 14-mile circuit along the Sus-Trans track between Haverfordwest and Neyland Marina, has the luxury of a tarmacadam surface following Brunel's South Wales railway track.


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Earn 100K Hilton Honors Points with Surpass Card
Hilton & Amex are getting into the 100,000 welcome offer game to compete with the Marriott & Chase.
From now through May 31, 2016, American Express is offering 100,000 Hilton Honors Points when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months after opening a new Hilton Honors Surpass® Card.
Here are all the details for this card:
- Limited Time Bonus Offer: Earn 100,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 3 months. Offer ends 5/31/17
- The annual fee for the Hilton Honors Surpass® Card is $75. Each Additional Hilton Honors Surpass® Card is $0.
- Earn a free weekend night on your anniversary date of Card approval. Some hotels may have mandatory services and resort charges.
- Earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a participating hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio.
- Earn 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your Card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations.
- Earn 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
- Spend $40,000 on eligible purchases on your Card in a calendar year and you can earn Hilton Honors Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year.
My opinion is that Hilton Honors points are worth about $0.005 per point - making the bonus offer worth approx. $500. But you can accelerate points pretty quickly with this card. And these are only my estimations.
So you may want to check the terms and conditions, etc., and do your own research before pulling the trigger on this one.
Also, Amex is pretty stingy about giving out bonus offers, if you've had this card before.
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I'm passing on this.
I used to use Hilton a lot more. Since 2013 they've devalued points. Take a look for yourself. To stay at a 3-star hotel takes 70,000 points per night. And that is before any of the resort fees etc.


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In video games there is always a clear route to take it to the next level, all you have to do is find a special item, like a mushroom (a la Mario), or gain enough experience points to super charge your performance. In our careers the path to success can be a lot less clear cut, and in some cases downright overgrown to the point it is hard to tell which way is forward. The path to success in any engineering career is very much like a video game that has more Koopas than Power-Ups…but there is way to find the Princess…even if she is in the other castle.
At conferences there are always talks covering technical strategies, new tools and software, but this talk will aim to cover something completely different – the soft skills needed to be the very best at any job in operations or engineering. Most organizations are moving into a DevOps culture where the line between system administrators, operators, and developers is much more blurry, and to be great in these environments it is no longer enough to be technically knowledgeable in your specialty, it's also necessary that you have great interpersonal skills including strong communication and emotional intelligence.
This talk will go over strategies to help you set goals for your career, identify ways you can improve your performance and relationships in the work place, communicate your ideas effectively, and other strategies to help us geeky people relate to our peers almost as well as we relate to our computers.
Kate has spent her entire career working on amazing products with brilliant people. She has worked as the VP Engineering/CTO at several Seattle startups – including Decide, SEOmoz and Delve Networks (acquired by Limelight). Prior to joining the startup world she spent time as a software engineer, tech lead, and manager at Amazon and Microsoft.
Kate has hands-on knowledge and experience with building large scale distributed web systems, big data, cloud computing and technical leadership.
Kate has a B.S. in Computer Science from Harvey Mudd College, and has completed graduate work at the University of Washington in both Business and Computer Science (M.S.).
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I would as well love to show it to my team. Thanks
Will of a video of this session be posted? It was very good and would like to have my team watch it.
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Updated : More analysis added.
As reports started coming out on Wednesday on the search for White House shooting suspect Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, one common detail was mentioned, including in The New York Times: "Late on Friday, the police searched the Occupy DC protest camp...after reports that the suspect might have spent time there." NBC, ABC, and CBS left that fact out of their evening and morning coverage of his arrest.
All three network evening news programs made the Wednesday afternoon arrest of Ortega-Hernandez their lead story. NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams proclaimed: "Shots fired at the White House, prompting an urgent manhunt for the gunman, now under arrest amid questions about his motive." ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer declared: "Caught. The man accused of tiring an AK-47 at the White House, apprehended." On CBS's Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley reported: "Bullets strike the White House. Bob Orr on the man in custody."
On Wednesday's Special Report on Fox News, anchor Bret Baier took note of the shooter's reported connection to the Washington D.C. Occupy protest: "Hernandez reportedly spent time with the Occupy D.C. protesters and may be mentally ill, according to officials."
CNN on Tuesday was thrilled with the idea that Occupy D.C. had "rules and regulations," including registration of all protesters. Anchor Brooke Baldwin excitedly proclaimed: "This is what you actually have to fill out if you want to occupy D.C....you have your name, you have your emergency contact information...you have to sign 'I won't carry weapons, I won't vandalize property, and I'll respect quiet hours between 11 at night and 7 in the morning.'"
One wonders if Ortega-Hernandez filled out such a document if he did spend time in the encampment.
On Thursday, the network morning shows began to delve deeper into Ortega-Hernadez's background, but still avoided his possible time spent at Occupy D.C. On CBS's The Early Show, correspondent Bob Orr reported:
Investigators looking into his background say that it appears that Ortega-Hernandez is a bit mentally unstable. Now, he's been telling friends of a deep dislike for President Obama. Sources say he often refers to the President as the antichrist. So the theory is, he may have targeted the White House as a way of acting out on that anger.
On NBC's Today, correspondent Pete Williams similarly informed viewers:
His father told NBC's Spanish language network Telemundo that Ortega had recently become obsessed with the date 11-11-11, the day of last Friday's shooting, and worried that's when the world would end. Investigators are also checking into reports that Ortega made threatening and bizarre comments about President Obama.
In a news brief on ABC's Good Morning America, Josh Elliot simply noted: "Police say he is mentally ill and obsessed with President Obama."


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First of all I would like to thank you for an amazing reading you gave me yesterday! I was truly shocked and very much surprised of accuracy and especially when you told me the name of my long lost friend from old country! I couldn't believe it! Thank you once again!
A.W., Michigan


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Snowfall expected in region starting midday.
Federal offices in the Washington, D.C. area are closed Tuesday, the Office of Personnel Management announced.
The move came as a snowstorm moved in to the Washington area. Forecasts predicted five to eight inches of snow would fall during the day.
Non-emergency employees would be granted excused absence for the day, OPM announced, unless they were required to telework, on official travel outside the Washington area, on leave without pay status, or on an alternative work schedule day off.
"Emergency and telework-ready employees required to work must follow their agency's policies, including written telework agreements," OPM said..
Correction: The original version of this article said agencies woud be closed Monday.
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