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By Willow Belden, Wyoming Public Radio
Every year, the Bureau of Land Management removes thousands of horses from public land in Wyoming. They ship most of the horses to long-term holding facilities in the Midwest. But that's expensive … and they're running out of space. So now the BLM has partnered with ranchers to create a so-called horse "ecosanctuary" right here in the Cowboy State. It's the first of its kind in the nation. Wyoming Public Radio's Willow Belden reports.
AMBI: Ecosanctuary
WILLOW BELDEN: The ecosanctuary is located on a private ranch in southeast Wyoming. Open fields give way to wooded hills. A branch of the Little Laramie River trickles through, flanked by bushy foliage. And everywhere you look, there are horses, grazing calmly. Black horses, and gray ones, chestnuts, and paints.
AMBI: truck
BELDEN: Rich and Jana Wilson run the ranch. As they drive me around, the horses lift their heads curiously. When we stop, several come over and sniff our hands through the open truck windows. Jana Wilson says they're prettier than she expected wild horses to be.
JANA WILSON: I guess I was expecting them to be kind of dirty-looking and wild, and just wild manes with stuff hanging out of them or whatever, and that just wasn't the case. They are pretty.
BELDEN: Rich Wilson says the 228 horses here are all geldings, and were all removed from public lands within Wyoming. The BLM routinely removes horses too keep herd sizes manageable. They try to find homes for them, but it doesn't always work.
RICH WILSON: If those horses aren't adopted, then this is where they come and will live out the rest of their life.
BELDEN: The Wilsons won't train or domesticate the horses; they're supposed to stay as wild as possible. But they couldn't help naming a few, even though one of their contacts at the BLM said not to get too attached – after all, they're wild animals.
JANA WILSON: She kept saying, 'No, you can't get attached to these horses and make pets out of all of them.' And there's just some that … they'll just walk up to you, and how can you not pet them and love them?
BELDEN: The Wilsons say turning their ranch into an ecosanctuary isn't actually that big a change. Traditionally, other ranchers have paid to graze cattle on the Wilsons' ranch. Now, the BLM is paying to graze horses there.
JANA WILSON: Whether we graze cattle or graze horses, it's just part of the business, and that's what we're doing.
BELDEN: And in fact, grazing horses is financially less risky than grazing cows, because the BLM has promised to keep boarding the animals for life. That means the Wilsons won't need to negotiate new contracts each year. Plus, they're planning to start offering tours of the ecosanctuary this spring … and they're hoping that will bring in some extra money.
Diane Shober with the Wyoming Office of Tourism says it's a good plan.
DIANE SHOBER: One of the things that visitors do that rates high on the list is the authentic western experience. And when we say western, that doesn't mean necessarily just what you would think of in the traditional sense of cowboys. … It's about wide open spaces; it's about wildlife. … And it's great when you have ways that you can really deliver on that promise to visitors.
BELDEN: Shober says having additional attractions like the horse sanctuary in southeast Wyoming could prompt visitors to stay longer, on their way to the national parks … which in turn could boost the tourism economy.
The BLM says the ecosanctuary will be good for other reasons too … most notably, because they need more space to keep horses. The agency's June Wendlandt says the BLM removes thousands of horses from the range each year … but at most a few HUNDRED get adopted. As a result, 49-THOUSAND horses are currently in long-term holding facilities.
JUNE WENDLANDT: Nationally, we are running out of space in the horse and burro program altogether, in our short-term holding facilities and our long-term holding facilities.
BELDEN: To be clear, the new ecosanctuary can only accommodate a few hundred horses … so it won't solve the overcrowding problem. But Wendlandt says it's a start – AND it'll be good for the BLM's bottom line. The agency pays the Wilsons the same amount they'd pay to keep the horses in long-term holding facilities in the Midwest. But the agency will get some of the money that comes in from tourists who visit the ecosanctuary. AND they don't have to pay to transport the horses to the Midwest.
Not everyone is thrilled with the ecosanctuary model, though.
SUZANNE ROY: To call it an ecosanctuary, I think, is really a misrepresentation.
BELDEN: That's Suzanne Roy, with the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.
ROY: These are wild horses who have been taken from their natural environment. The stallions have been castrated; the families have been separated. … They're no longer able to engage in the type of natural behaviors that wild horses have evolved to engage in.
BELDEN: She says instead of removing so many horses, the BLM should administer birth control to more mares and leave them on the range. It would take years for the BLM to reach its population objectives just through birth control, though. So in the meantime, the agency is hoping to open several more ecosanctuaries across the west. For Wyoming Public Radio, I'm Willow Belden.
Originally Posted By WyomingPublic Radio. Click Here For Full Audio


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It was 2010 the last time that the USMjParty.Com had Forum's on it's website. They attracted a lot of attention and there were many people signed onto them. Then Facebook and other social networking gradually took over and we let the forum's go.
With the onslaught of social network censorship we felt that the time was right to bring this avenue of communication between our followers/members back into operation!
We are a group of people who believe in human rights for everyone which includes the right to make our own choices in life and as such we are anti-prohibitionists.
We are a small political party started in 2002 by Loretta Nall solely for the purpose of ending Cannabis prohibition. While it remains true that the war on drugs has done more damage than the drugs themselves could do, it is also true that a political party cannot stand on just one solitary issue – There are too many issues that must be addressed in Our Country, and "it's not just about Marijuana anymore".
It is our hope that the Forums will allow those that are truly interested in furthering the outreach of the USMjParty will join us in debating issues and give thoughtful ideas as to how we can further a humanitarian agenda for all.
The primary issue shall remain:
"No one should ever go to prison because of ANY PLANT"…
This includes, but not limited to, Cannabis, Hemp, Salvia, Papaver somniferum, and Psilocybin's and Kratom.
We have a basic Platform outlined at this LINK. It is always open for discussion on the Forum at this LINK.
We are looking forward to seeing our members grow and share their ideas and hope for the future.
It is time to take a stand, time to lead the way, time for all people to live freely but responsibly, and not be held hostage by an out of control and corrupt system of government. Our Country was not intended to be an Oligarchy or a Corpocracy. It remains a Democracy! We have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights!
The link is also located in the menu of the usmjparty.com website.
"One Nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for All"

subset: commoncrawl


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POLYEDITOR – Multi-function Polyline EditorCAD Design Software
Digitally signed app
POLYEDITOR from CAD Design Software is, as the name suggests, your one stop app for polyline editing. Everything from displaying length and length reports to changing width, normalizing width and fixing changes, this app does it all. Check it out for free today!
This application will start in Trial-Mode and allow 10 trial runs or 1 day, whichever comes first.
$20.00 to purchase from within the app using a Paypal account or make a one-time purchase with a Debit or Credit Card on Paypal
Note: This app uses a custom installer (and not the standard App Store installer).
1. Display Polyline Lengths - Places the numerical length of selected polyline segment(s) in text alongside the Polyline using user-defined text Height, Angle and offset.
2. Break Vertices at Intersections - Breaks selected polylines wherever they intersect on the same layer or different layers.
3. Fix Mixed Polyline Widths - Changes polylines with multiple widths and abrupt width changes into polylines with single widths or into multiple polylines.
4. Change Polyline Widths - Changes polyline widths globally, by layer or by creating a selection set.
5. Create Text Reports of Polyline Lengths - Reports the lengths of polylines on a selected layer.
6. Check Polyline Width - Checks polyline widths in a drawing and compares them to a user defined polyline width if meet minimum or maximum widths.
Also See: TUNESTUDIO | DISPLAYLEN | POWERJOIN


text:
The document attached below is a guide designed to help you if you wish to edit or customize your own post processor.
Or if the model of your particular machine control is not one supported by the standard post processors that ship with the software.
Please note:
This manual is suitable for Cut2D, Cut3D, PhotoVCarve, Aspire 2.0 or less, VCarve Pro 5.0 or less.
With Aspire V2.5 and VCarve Pro V5.5, the correct manual is shipped with those products and is located in the:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\VCarve Pro V5.5\Help\Docs" or "C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspire V2.5\Help\Docs"folder
(assuming 64 bit Windows).
With Aspire V3.0 and VCarve Pro V6.0 and greater,(including trial editions) the correct manual is shipped with those products and is
available from a link within the "Help" menu of the programs.
(Help > Post Processor Editing Guide).
Safety First.
Please take all necessary precautions when running the output
from a modified post processor for the first time.
Always check the output in a text editor before running
for the first time.
Guide to editing a Vectric Post Processor
This forum is for requests and queries about machine tool support for Vectric Products
1 post • Page 1 of 1
1 post • Page 1 of 1


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Adobe Photoshop CC - Level 2 LoanNew
The skills and knowledge acquired in Adobe Photoshop CC - Level 2 are sufficient to be able to work with various advanced aspects of Photoshop CC including working with the Creative Cloud, applying layer effects, creating and modifying 3D content and much more.
Adobe Photoshop CC is designed for users who are keen to extend their knowledge to use Photoshop CC.
Adobe Photoshop CC - Level 2 assumes some knowledge of the software. Also, it would be beneficial to have a general understanding of personal computers and the Windows operating system environment.
The Adobe Account
- The Adobe Website
- Signing in to Your Adobe Account
- The Creative Profile Home Page
- Managing Your Adobe Account
- Adobe Creative Cloud Application Manager
- Working With Apps
- Understanding Assets
- Understanding TypeKit
- Add Fonts in Typekit
- Understanding Adobe Colour CC
- Understanding Behance
Creative Cloud Libraries
- The Libraries Panel
- Adding Assets to the Libraries Panel
- Accessing the Contents of Your Library Online
- Sorting the Contents of the Library
- Sharing Libraries
- Working With Libraries
Layer Effects
- Applying a Drop Shadow Effect
- Applying a Glow Effect
- Adding a Border
- Copying Effects to Other Layers
- Saving Layer Effects as a Style
- Understanding Layer Comps
Smart Objects
- Understanding Smart Objects
- Understanding Editing Smart Objects
- Create an Embedded Smart Object
- Editing an Embedded Smart Object
- Creating a Linked Smart Object
- Modifying a Linked Smart Object
- Editing a Smart Object in Illustrator
Transforming Images
- Flipping and Rotating Images
- Straightening Images Using the Ruler Tool
- Straightening Images Using the Crop Tool
- Straightening Scanned Images
- Correcting Perspective With Perspective Crop
- Correcting Perspective With Puppet Warp
- Changing Perspective With Perspective Warp
- Scaling, Skewing and Freeform Rotating Images
- Warping Images
- Creating a Panorama
Tonal and Colour Corrections
- Understanding Tone Colour and Channels
- Understanding Adjustment Layers
- Creating an Adjustment Layer
- Using Adjustment Presets
- Understanding Tone and Histograms
- Using Levels to Improve Contrast
- Using Curves to Improve Contrast
- Opening Up Shadows
- Repairing Photos That Needed Fill Flash
- Correcting a Colour Cast Automatically
- Correcting a Colour Cast Manually
- Adjusting Colour Temperature
- Adjusting Colour Saturation Selectively
- Converting Colour Images to Greyscale
- Brightening Washed Out Colours
- Adjustment Layers in a Multi-Layered Image
Masks Filters and Blending
- Understanding Layer Masks
- Understanding Filters
- Understanding Blending Modes
- Applying a Vignette
- Applying a Soft Focus Effect
- Applying a Blurred Lighting Vignette
- Applying a Focus Vignette Effect
- Blending Images
- Sharpening Images With the Unsharp Mask
- Sharpening Images With Smart Sharpen
- Adding Grain With the Add Noise Filter
- Applying a Creative Filter
- Smoothing Skin Using the High Pass Filter
- Dodging and Burning
- Adding Motion With Path Blur
- Adding Elliptical Motion With Spin Blur
- Reducing Camera Shake
Introduction to 3D
- Understanding 3D in Photoshop
- Understanding the 3D Panel
- Understanding the Properties Panel
- Understanding 3D Concepts
- Creating Preset 3D Shapes
- Working With Camera Views
- Working With the Light Source
- Add Colour to 3D Objects
- Creating 3D Text
- Applying Colour to 3D Text
- Rendering
- Saving and Exporting 3D Objects
- Importing a 3D Image Into an Image
- Using Adobe Bridge
- Installing Adobe Bridge
- Understanding the Bridge Workspace
- The Bridge Menu and Tool Bar
- Opening an Image in Bridge
- Working With Thumbnails
- Working With Views in Bridge
- Organising Images in Bridge
- Sorting and Filtering
- Embedding Metadata in Your Image Files
Introduction to Camera Raw
- Understanding Camera Raw
- The Camera Raw Screen
- Understanding Camera Raw Panels
- Understanding the Raw Tool Bar
- Making Basic Changes in Camera Raw
- Opening Images in Camera Raw
- Preferences Dialog Box
Adobe Mobile Apps
- Adobe Creative Cloud Mobile Apps
- The Adobe Capture Apps
- Adobe Photoshop Mobile Applications
- The Creative Cloud Library and Mobile Apps
- Mobile Application Help and Support
- Creating a Contact Sheet
- Creating a PDF Presentation
- Creating a Web Photo Gallery
At the completion of this course you should be able to:
- understand and work with your Adobe account
- understand, modify and create Creative Cloud libraries
- apply layer effects to an image
- understand and work with smart objects
- transform images, including flipping, rotating and skewing
- correct the tone and colour of photos using adjustment layers
- understand and use masks, filters and blending modes
- understand the 3D tools and settings in Photoshop
- manage your digital images and other assets using Adobe Bridge
- understand and work with Camera Raw
- understand how Adobe mobile apps work
- share documents in Photoshop
Watsonia workbook with 122 topics.
Files for the exercises are also provided on a CD at the back of the book or can be downloaded here
Adobe Photoshop CC
Approximately 6 - 8 hours
- Adobe Illustrator CC: Introduction
- Adobe Illustrator CC - Level 1
- Adobe Illustrator CC - Level 2
- Adobe Illustrator CS6
- Adobe InDesign CC: Introduction to Desktop Publishing
- Adobe InDesign CC - Level 1
- Adobe InDesign CC - Level 2
- Adobe InDesign CS6
- Adobe Photoshop CC: Advanced (Level 2)
- Adobe Photoshop CC: Introduction (Level 1)
- Adobe Photoshop CC - Level 1
- Adobe Photoshop CS6
- Microsoft Publisher 2013 (with Challenge Exercises)
- Microsoft Visio 2013 (with Challenge Exercises)
- Microsoft Visio 2016 (with Challenge Exercises)
- Publisher 2016: Creating Professional Publications
- Visio 2016: Organisational, Gantt and Flowcharts
Booking / availability


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Sebastian Vettel secured pole position for the U.S. Grand Prix, putting the German in the perfect spot to chase his third consecutive Formula One championship.
Vettel is on the brink of history with two races left on the calendar. He would be just the third driver — and youngest — to win three consecutive championships, joining Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher.
Dubbed the "Boy Wonder," Vettel made his F1 debut at the U.S. Grand Prix in 2007 as a 19-year-old. At the ripe old age of 25, the Red Bull driver appears ready to join the series' elite.
Vettel leads Ferrari's Fernando Alonso of Spain, a savvy veteran and two-time world champion himself, by 10 points.
Vettel avoided saying anything that would sound overconfident about winning another title. Two weeks ago, a penalty forced him to start in last place at Abu Dhabi before he finished third in the crash-filled race.
"I'm very happy with the (qualifying) result, but nobody has scored any points yet," Vettel said. "We saw in the last race how quickly things can change. It's the best strategy to keep your head down and try to get the best."
But the smiling Vettel clearly feels at ease in America and had no trouble navigating the new Circuit of the Americas built specifically for F1's return to the U.S. after a five-year absence.
Vettel posted the fastest times in the three practice sessions before his qualifying time of 1 minute, 35.657 seconds edged McLaren's Lewis Hamilton for pole position. Vettel's Red Bull teammate Mark Webber was third.
"The asphalt is brand new and it takes a while for the track to come in, but it's also quite a lot of fun to slide around a couple of corners, and it just got better throughout," Vettel said.
His ability to start up front puts more pressure on Alonso, who was 1.643 seconds slower. Alonso finished ninth in qualifying but will start No. 8 after Lotus' Romain Grosjean was penalized for changing his gearbox after the third practice session.
If Vettel wins on Sunday, Alonso must finish no worse than fourth to force the title race to the series finale next week in Sao Paulo. Alonso appeared unfazed by Saturday's result.
"On Sunday, we are still sure that we can score more points than Vettel. I don't know how, but I have this feeling," Alonso said. "Sundays are normally our best part of the weekend."
Hamilton, who won pole position in Abu Dhabi, pushed Vettel hard for another.
"I was giving it everything. I had nothing really to lose. The car seemed to handle it quite well," said Hamilton, who will be racing one of his last grand prix for McLaren before moving to Mercedes in 2013.
Sunday will be Vettel's 100th career grand prix start. Along the way, he's picked up 26 career victories and learned how to close out a tight championship race.
Vettel won the 2010 title with a victory from the pole in the final race at Abu Dhabi, making him the youngest F1 world champion in history. He came back to dominate the circuit in 2011 with 11 victories and won the championship by 122 points.
This season has been much tighter, but a surge of four consecutive victories and a third-place finish two weeks ago put Vettel in position to claim another title.
Alonso has acknowledged Vettel has the faster car but insists he can push the championship to Brazil. Alonso started in a similar position in Abu Dhabi before finishing second.
"It's still possible," Alonso said. "Tomorrow I will try to do better and recover some places. We will push to the limit, as have done since the start of every year and every race weekend."


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There are a lot of weird and wonderful creatures served with wine as a "tonic" in China. I had the chance to sample snake head wine in Guilin. It costs RMB 30 (which works out to about RM 15) per glass.
It is not "wine" in the classic sense of the word. There is no fermentation here. The Chinese word "jiu" means alcoholic beverage. These snake heads are actually preserved in some sort of liquid. The snake head is taken out, along with a tablespoon of the liquid inside those jars to produce:
Snake head wine!
It's topped up with the legendary "kao liang jiu" – very high proof alcohol (in excess of 57% alcohol) and downed in a single shot. You're not supposed to eat the snake head though – I enquired about the reason behind that and it seems that it's quite poisonous.
This is the first of many snake posts from Guilin. 😉


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so the picture above was taken by a very nice photographer at Dustin's Christmas party (Sylvart Studios). Our free 5 x 7 is going in Brenna's room - I think it is a nice picture of Dustin and I :-) I wanted to post it to show off the pretty dress that I made to attend the party in - I think this pattern is a winner :-) (too bad you couldn't see my awesome boots - I may have to take a picture of just them to put on the blog - I think they are great (and they were my treat instead of buying a dress - I bought shoes). (and another winning feature of this pattern is that it was quick and easy - Dustin didn't tell me we were going to a semi-formal party for Saturday until Wednesday - so I think I managed to pull together a pretty nice look).
Hope all is well out there! I am still very busy with my holiday crafting - I think I got a little carried away this year!


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52 members21 Comments 3 Likes
217 members8 Likes
Got your message looking to play. Its been a while for me and Im probably pretty rusty but interested in getting back out. Evenings are best for me. My schedule is a bit unpredictable but these upcoming days would work for me: 6/4, 6/8, 6/11, 6/13. Im willing to play any location.
hey zak
I had acl surgery a couple months ago, so i'll be ready to play again not until september or so...
© 2020 Created by Mark / The Mayor. Powered by


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Sterling Sofas
1 Size
2 Fabric
3 Leg Finish:
Current Selections
We designed our Sterling sofa with a casual modern look in mind. Eye-catching legs and a striking combination of angular and contoured lines give this sofa an inviting silhouette. Down toss pillows invite you to relax in this European-inspired design. Streamlined but not overly formal, Sterling is the perfect foundation for a sophisticated living space.
Details of Sterling 86" Sofa
Material Details
- Dimensions: 86"w 34"d 29"h
- Inside Width: 74"w
- Arm Height: 29"h
- Seat Height: 18"h
- Seat Depth: 23"d
- Leg Height: 6"h
- Leg Thickness: .75"w
- Legs: all are removable
- Construction: benchmade hardwood frame with sinuous coil suspension Construction details
- Seat Cushion: wrapped foam
- Back Cushion: foam and fiber
- Cushion Care: foam cushion
- Cushion Style: 2 seat, loose; tight back
- Accent Pillows Included: 2
- Consideration: accent pillows are feather/down blend
- Certification: meets or exceeds ANSI/BIFMA X5.1-2012 standards for commercial use
- Warning: California residents Proposition 65
- Product Origin: made in Virginia
- Material Origin: United States and imported
- Item Number: 260745
Material Details
- Fabric: Banks mink
- Fabric Content: 82% polyester, 18% cotton
- Fabric Description: Made from a blend of polyester and cotton, Banks offers both luxury and practicality. Resistant to stains and fading, this family-friendly velvet has a rich appearance and soft texture. Banks delivers comfort and performance for any room in your home.
- Fabric: Banks mink
- Fabric Content: 82% polyester, 18% cotton
- Leg Finish: stainless steel
- Material Description: Our stainless steel has an upgraded metal composition to better resist corrosion and wear and tear. A brushed texture ensures wear marks will blend in over time and when cared for properly, stainless steel will last a lifetime.
- Leg Finish: stainless steel
Discover if this seating will be comfortable for you.
Seat ComfortFor a scale of soft to firm, this product rates as medium firm seat comfort level.
Seat DepthFor a scale of shallow to deep, this product rates as medium depth seat depth level.
Seat HeightFor a scale of low to high, this product rates as medium height seat height level.
Cushion Details
Wrapped foam
- Eco-friendly, high-resiliency foam core wrapped in fiber padding, encased in ticking
- Offers a structured, supportive sit
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Made to the same high standards as all of our furniture, each one of our upholstery frames is built to last.
Kiln-dried, engineered hardwood
We use kiln-dried, engineered hardwood in all of our upholstery frames. Often used for structural beams, engineered hardwood is made by pressing thin layers of solid wood together. Kiln-drying removes moisture, minimizing seasonal expansion and contraction. This stable hardwood material resists warping and cracking for lasting durability.
Reinforced joinery
We reinforce every joint in our frames for added stability. Precision-cut parts interlock like puzzle pieces and are reinforced with eco-friendly glues, screws or staples and corner blocks. Reinforced joinery ensures your seating holds together, even with years of frequent use.
Sinuous coil
A sinuous coil suspension consists of s-shaped metal springs that are stretched across the frame. The coils are securely attached with clips that allow the metal to flex while still remaining supportive. Because each coil is independently attached to the frame, you'll barely feel it when someone sits down next to you.


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By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Craig Harris, The Arizona Republic
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, the state's top law-enforcement official, deliberately broke campaign-finance laws during his 2010 bid for office by coordinating with an independent expenditure committee, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery concluded after a 14-month investigation. At a news conference Monday, Montgomery said investigators found e-mails and phone records showing Horne, a Republican, was intimately involved with Business Leaders for Arizona, which raised and spent more than $500,000 to run TV ads blasting Horne's Democratic opponent, Felecia Rotellini, in the closing days of the tight race.
"There were contemporaneous e-mails and telephone conversations on how much money was expected from this particular source of funds, and what ... needed to be the message, concerns over the content of the commercial in production, and active communications about why maybe some of the messaging needed to be changed," Montgomery said.
Such committees, which unlike candidates can accept unlimited donations, are supposed to operate independently of candidates and their campaigns.
Montgomery, whose office worked with the FBI, said he will not pursue criminal charges because a civil statute was more applicable.
Montgomery, a Republican, said the investigation also uncovered evidence of a misdemeanor vehicular hit-and-run involving Horne. Records obtained by The Republic show Horne was under FBI surveillance at the time of the accident, which occurred as he drove an employee, Carmen Chenal, to her residence in downtown Phoenix. That case has been referred to the Phoenix Police Department for review.
Horne said Monday that he is not guilty and that investigators got the timing and the facts wrong. He said he has no plans to resign, noting many national politicians have paid fines for civil campaign-finance violations.
"The evidence will show that we did not coordinate (campaign-finance activities)," Horne said.
The political implications for Horne, considered a 2014 gubernatorial contender, remain unclear. Some political observers said Montgomery's findings could damage Horne's aspirations for higher office -- particularly if he does not disprove them.
Horne and Kathleen Winn, a top Attorney General's Office employee who ran the independent campaign, could face civil penalties under that statute. However, Montgomery said he believes the civil sanctions allowed by the law are inadequate. He plans to lobby state lawmakers in the next session to strengthen campaign-finance laws.
Horne and Winn first will be allowed to return to donors the amount of money that exceeded campaign-contribution limits. If they refuse, they could face up to $1.5 million in civil penalties -- three times the amount spent by the independent expenditure committee on ads blasting Rotellini.
Montgomery first said Horne and Winn would not be held personally liable but later changed his position, saying the law allows individuals to be held liable. Montgomery also theorized the independent expenditure committee could be responsible for repaying the money. That committee as of last month had $8.18, according to public records filed with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.
FBI Agent James Turgal, whose office initiated the investigation, would not talk in detail about his agency's role. He said investigators conducted the inquiry and turned the file over to the U.S. Attorney's Office. A spokesman for that agency said it is not investigating Horne.
Independent committee
Independent campaigns are created to bypass donor-contribution caps imposed on candidate campaigns. In the attorney general's race, for example, donors to the Horne or Rotellini campaigns could contribute only $840 each.
In December 2009, Winn created Business Leaders for Arizona to raise money to oppose former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, a Republican who opposed Horne in the 2010 primary. Horne has said that although Winn filed paperwork, there was no independent expenditure during that primary.
Winn volunteered for Horne's campaign in the primary. When it was over, Horne has said, Winn told him she was withdrawing from his campaign to conduct an independent campaign "on her own initiative" in the general election.
State campaign-finance records show her committee raised large contributions in late October 2010 as Horne and Rotellini were running neck and neck. The committee, headquartered at Winn's Mesa address, raised $512,500 in nine days to fund anti-Rotellini TV ads through Tempe-based Lincoln Strategy Group, a political-consulting firm.
Contributions included a $115,000 donation from Horne's brother-in-law in California and $350,000 from the Republican State Leadership Committee, a Virginia-based organization whose goal is to elect Republicans to statewide office. Montgomery said Horne may not be required to repay the donation from his brother-in-law.
Horne beat Rotellini by 3 percentage points. Following his victory, Horne hired Winn as his director of community and outreach.
In July 2011, Horne assigned Margaret "Meg" Hinchey, supervising special agent in the attorney general's criminal division, to internally investigate whether an employee was leaking information about his agency to the media. During that probe, Hinchey uncovered allegations that Horne and Winn coordinated campaign activities. The next month, the information was turned over to the FBI, which started an investigation and asked the County Attorney's Office to assist with interviews and obtain subpoenas.
E-mail evidence
Typically, Secretary of State Ken Bennett's office investigates campaign-finance violations and recommends to the Attorney General's Office whether to pursue charges. That recommendation is needed for a prosecutor to take action, according to Bennett.
However, because the FBI's long involvement in Horne's case, it wasn't until last month that federal agents and the County Attorney's Office met with Bennett's staff to discuss why action should be taken against Horne.
Bennett provided Montgomery with an official letter Sept. 20, recommending that Montgomery pursue civil charges against Horne, Business Leaders for Arizona and Winn. The letter states that e-mails that are part of the evidence "unquestionably demonstrate Attorney General Horne actively seeking funds for the IE committee." An Oct. 27, 2010, e-mail from Horne to Winn says: "Try again for the hundred k (sic)."
Winn two days later raised $100,000 from Horne's brother-in-law, Richard G. Newman, a California businessman.
Bennett's office on Monday released an Oct. 20, 2010, e-mail exchange between Winn and Brian Murray, a consultant to Winn's committee. The records note that while Winn was discussing strategy with Murray via e-mail, she also was on the phone with Horne. That same day, Winn began raising money for the committee, campaign-finance records show.
Murray confirmed he cooperated with the FBI inquiry but had no comment on the allegations.
Winn said Monday that law enforcement treated her unfairly. She said thatinvestigators did not interview her for her side of the story and that she "never coordinated" with Horne. "It just never happened," she said.
Investigators are misreading her communications with Horne , she added. She was advising him on a complicated real-estate transaction, not details of the independent expenditure committee, she said.
"The people that conducted the investigation have phone logs and several e-mails that are disconnected," she said. "I'm glad I'm not in Salem, and I'm glad I'm not in the witch trials, because that's what it feels like today."
Political reactions
Political reaction was swift. Though Republicans generally would not comment on the record about a fellow Republican, the Democratic Party and its elected officials called on Horne to resign.
Rotellini called the charges a stain on the Attorney General's Office, noting the race was decided "by precious few votes."
"The attorney general will have his day in court, as he should," Rotellini said. "But the fact that Tom Horne needs to have a day in court is shameful. This goes well beyond politics. It goes to the core of the meaning of the office."
John J. "Jack" Pitney Jr., a government professor at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California, said any allegation against a law-enforcement official undermines public trust.
"A conviction is far more damaging," Pitney said. "But even an accusation like this could give rise to future attacks, so it's very damaging. ... The personal and political image is very difficult to undo."
The original article can be viewed here.


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Ok first off....
I know alot of you my want to spma this post bad-mouthing on dazzel and I just wanna tell ya this aint that kinda post.
Ok I got a dazzel and a ATI all-in-wonder 128 16meg internal Capture card.Some would ask me why dont I use the ATI and my answer to that is.It cant Capture certain footage like Manga Dvd's and Urban Dvd's (Cant capture the Akira dvd either).Well anyway I got a question (the one at the top)Now iv had my dazzel for a long time....It never captured perfect but it always looked better than what its doing now.Its like the damn thing Captures the footage but there is Green and orange like pixels everywhere!And that sux!So I was wondering if they all ware out sooner or later.Cuz Im thinking about doing a Switch-er-roo at Bestbuy
Do Dazzel Cards Ware out?and produce horrid quality??
6 posts • Page 1 of 1
- leathelanime
- Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2001 12:52 am
- Location: Da Mitton
- Contact:
- The Wired Knight
- Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2001 3:22 pm
- Status: Attorney At Law
- Location: Right next door to you
- Contact:
I don't know about it wearing out but I asked about this system a while back to the list when I was upgrading my own hardware and software. General consensus states that the system is old and outdated, overall it's not that great and rather clunky. Worst of all is that it is expensive for what it is. Purchase something else.
- dokidoki
- c0d3 m0nk3y
- Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2000 7:42 pm
- Status: BLEEP BLOOP!
- Location: doki doki space
- Contact:
The ATI AIW can't capture from certain sources due to Macrovision.
See this page: http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/artic ... phics.html
See this page: http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/artic ... phics.html
- Waldo
- Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2000 1:29 pm
- Location: Baltimore
- Contact:
As far as I know Dazzel's shouldn't wear out over time. I have a three year old Dazzle DVC and it still works fine for the occasional long capture(40+ minutes). I assuming that you'd already gone to the Dazzle site and downloaded the lastest drivers. I find that sometimes I have to force the Dazzle to reinitialize its firmware in order to get it to capture correctly. This can be done by loading up the Dazzle software, changing one of the capture quality setting, then hitting OK. When a quality setting is changed, it reloads the firmware into the Dazzle DVC device. Your problem might be related to your USB connection however.
- leathelanime
- Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2001 12:52 am
- Location: Da Mitton
- Contact:
- Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2001 12:20 pm
- Location: Toronto Ontario
- Contact:
6 posts • Page 1 of 1


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FRISCO – FC Dallas shored up its backline this week, signing London Woodberry to a Homegrown deal and agreeing to terms with re-entry draft pick Stephen Keel. Per team and league policy, terms of the deals will not be disclosed.
The McKinney, Texas, native, Woodberry earned Third Team NSCAA All-American honors as a senior for the Maryland Terrapins in 2012, helping his squad to eight shutouts over the course of the season. Woodberry appeared in 77 games during his collegiate career, notching four goals and four assists.
Woodberry is the ninth Homegrown signing for FC Dallas, joining Bradlee Baladez and Kellyn Acosta as the most recent additions to the professional team.
FC Dallas also agreed to terms with former Red Bull New York defender Stephen Keel this week. The Dallas side selected the 29-year-old's rights in December's re-entry draft.
Keel logged 501 minutes in nine appearances for New York last season after racking up career highs in games played (16), starts (13) and assists (2) with the Red Bulls during the 2011 season. He spent the 2009 and 2010 season with the Portland Timbers in the USL First Division. Keel originally signed a developmental contract with the Colorado Rapids in 2005 where he helped the Rapids to MLS Reserve Division titles in 2006 and 2007. In 2007, he was named MLS Magazine's Reserve Player of the Year.
London Woodberry
Position: Defender
Hometown: McKinney, Texas
College: University of Maryland
Date of Birth: May 28, 1991
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 160
How Acquired: Homegrown signing, Jan. 9, 2012
Stephen Keel
Position: Defender
Hometown: Littleton, Colo.
Previous Club: Red Bull New York
Date of Birth: April 11, 1983
Height: 6'
Weight: 185
How Acquired: Selected in Stage 2 of the 2012 MLS Re-Entry draft on Dec. 14, 2012.


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New Nepali serial – Parichaya 2 | Nepali Teleserial by Sarita Lamichhane | Episode 33 | 22nd April 2018 | This serial was previously aired as a Parichaya as well and long time back and this serial was a superhit serial. Therefore, they started this serial with the same name. Let's enjoy and see what's the difference in old and new parichaya
Click Below Image to Play
Tv Serial: Parichaya
Presentation of Acepro Media Pvt. Ltd.
Digital Content Partner: RamSar Media Pvt. Ltd.


text:
You are here
"I Did It!" Best Before and After Weight-Loss Stories
Before: Our Contest Winner: "It Feels Amazing to Be Healthy!"
"I was always saying I would get the weight off 'someday,'" Diana Huffman said. A mom of four kids, Diana reached 220 pounds after the birth of her daughter. She had been putting herself last, which she realized was not fair to her or her children. Just before her 40th birthday, Diana decided "enough was enough."
Diana started hiking again at Squaw Peak, a local mountain she used to hike in her 20s, and vowed to make it to the top "no matter what," she said. "Since then I have been hiking that mountain every week along with running, swimming, biking, aerobics, and eating clean 95 percent of the time."
After: Our Contest Winner: "It Feels Amazing to Be Healthy!"
This is Diana after 10 months of hard work. "I feel like I am 25 again!" she said. Diana went from weighing 220 pounds and wearing a size 16 to weighing 144 and wearing a size 4 to 6.
"Anyone can do this," she said. "You just have to want it badly enough."
What's her secret? It's not magic, "just hard work, a commitment to exercise (anywhere and everywhere you can), and eating right."
Before: "I Can Fit My Wedding Dress Again!"
Kim Barrows decided to make 2007 the year to be healthy. She used NutriSystem to kick off her new diet and workout plan. By doing cardio for 45 minutes and strength training for 30 minutes 5 days a week with three of her best friends, Kim lost 65 pounds in 10 months. Kim went from a size 16/18 to a 4/6 and maintains her current weight by sticking to her workout schedule and exercising portion control.
After: "I Can Fit My Wedding Dress Again!"
Now she can fit into her wedding dress, 24 years after her wedding day and looking as great as ever!
Before: "My Vacation Photos Gave Me Motivation"
When Tania Hotmer returned from her Mexico beach vacation and saw pictures, she wasn't happy with what she saw. "I didn't realize how big I truly was," Tania said. She decided it was time to make a change in her lifestyle. She started keeping track of her eating habits through a calorie diary and began exercising regularly.
After: "My Vacation Photos Gave Me Motivation"
With her new healthy lifestyle, Tania lost 61 pounds and went from 173 pounds to 112 pounds in 15 months. "I feel great! All the hard work paid off!"
Before: "I Stopped Emotional Eating and Made the Decision to Change My Life"
"I was chubby all my life," Cortney Casey said. "Instead of taking productive action, I attempted to soothe my feelings of inadequacy by emotional eating."
Three months before her wedding, Cortney decided to change her life. "I embraced the South Beach lifestyle, which involves eating lean meats, veggies, fruit, and whole grains." She also began exercising regularly.
After: "I Stopped Emotional Eating and Made the Decision to Change My Life"
Cortney went from weighing 229 pounds and straining into a size 20 to weighing 151 pounds and fitting into a size 4 to 6.
She works out six days a week, doing aerobics, weight training, jogging, and biking. She's gone a long way for someone who used to get breathless climbing the stairs. "I'm thrilled with my progress!" Cortney said.
Her advice? "The key is embracing healthy eating and exercising as a lifestyle, not a temporary change."
Before: "I Have a Brand-New Life!"
Tiffany Spencer weighed 215 pounds and when she decided to make a change and stop hiding in big T-shirts and baggy jeans.
After: "I Have a Brand-New Life!"
After 18 months and 60 pounds lost, Tiffany is happy to show off her new self. She's motivating other readers too. "Your abs and waistline look great!" said reader barbaraisrealrich. "Thanks for the visual inspiration!"
Before: "I Approached Weight-Loss with a Go-Getter Attitude"
Alethea Wair couldn't recognize herself when she saw her Disney World vacation photos. She weighed 225 pounds and still had the baby weight after having her second child three and a half years before. "I had to make a change," she said. "I always went after whatever I wanted and never let anything get in my way personally and professionally. Why not approach weight loss with the same 'Go-Getter' attitude?"
After: "I Approached Weight-Loss with a Go-Getter Attitude"
Alethea joined LA Weight Loss and lost 80 pounds in 11 months. She lost the first 35 pounds just from eating right, watching her sodium and calorie content, controlling portions, and eating lots of fruit and vegetables. She joined a gym in her neighborhood and calls herself "a total gym rat."
She never thought she could go from a size 16/18 to a size 4/6. "I feel great!" She's stuck to her goal weight of 155 pounds by doing regular cardio and weight workouts at the gym three to four times a week and eating fresh food and drinking lots of water.
"Everything in moderation!" is Alethea's advice.
Before: "No More Half-Hearted Efforts at Fitness"
Kelley Suchman was unaware of how healthy she was until she found herself at the hospital with septic pneumonia at age 32 and 196 pounds. That's when she decided to make a real change her life — by changing her eating habits and doing yoga.
After: "No More Half-Hearted Efforts at Fitness"
fter reducing her calorie intake and practicing yoga, Kelley has lost 40 pounds. "I am amazed at the differences in my life," she said. "I get giddy every time I grow smaller than my 'transition clothes.'"
Before: "My MS Diagnosis Made Me Change My Life"
In 2005, Nancie Wise was 33, recently married, and weighed 240 pounds. One day she woke up and was blind in one eye. Her legs failed her. Her diagnosis: Multiple sclerosis. This shocking diagnosis gave her the push to stop ignoring her health and change her life.
After: "My MS Diagnosis Made Me Change My Life"
Once her MS went into remission, Nancie did yoga and Pilates twice a week at her local YMCA and did low-impact cardio when she felt stronger. Three years later, she weight trains, runs, and does high-impact classes 5 to 6 days a week and has lost 110 pounds! Our readers were surprised at how different she looks from her "Before" photo and praise her work ethic and determination to be healthy.
Her advice: "You have to make exercise a habit and break a sweat to get results! I don't believe in strict diets, so I eat everything in moderation. Knowing correct portion size is the key to success. I try to keep negative and judgmental people from bringing me down by having a smile on my face whenever I can. Losing weight is hard, but it can be done. Keep a positive outlook and you WILL achieve your goal!"
Before: "From Obese to Triathlete!"
For 17 years, Karina Chapman had tried to lose weight, but "nothing ever worked." At 259 pounds and a size 20, she felt miserable. So what did she do? She took walks, just to get out of the house. Then instead of walking, she started jogging, which later turned to running, until she found herself entered in a half-marathon and then a triathlon. She also wrote down what she ate in a journal, but ate whatever she wanted, in moderation.
After: "From Obese to Triathlete!"
In less than a year, Karina lost more than 100 pounds and has kept it off since. She is athletic and happy at a size 8. In February 2008, she ran a half-marathon in the freezing rain and finished in 2 hours and 21 minutes. "Not bad for a former fat girl!" she said. "I'm proud to be fit, healthy, and a good role model for my two girls!"
Before: "I Now Weigh Less Than I Did in 7th Grade"
"Eating healthy was not something I thought about," said Bethany Smith. "Imagine my surprise when my mom called me to ask if I would join Weight Watchers with her. Memories of shopping with friends and watching them try on cute clothes flooded over me and I knew I did not want to be standing on the sidelines anymore."
Bethany's first weigh-in was on May 2007. She was stunned that she weighed 270 pounds. "I could not believe I had become so complacent with the weight gain."
After: "I Now Weigh Less Than I Did in 7th Grade"
Bethany started with small goals and as the weeks passed, "the pounds seemed to melt away," she said. "I hardly recognized the reflection staring back at me in the mirror."
After one year, Bethany lost 116 pounds and has become healthier. A self-proclaimed "anti-gym" person, she exercises regularly and finished her first 10K race in May 2008, crossing the finish line in tears.
What's next? Running a marathon and wearing a size 4 wedding dress. "I went from being tired all the time to waking up each day ready to live life to the fullest!"
Before: "I Wanted to Be My Own Biggest Loser!"
When she wasn't chosen by NBC to star in The Biggest Loser after waiting in line for more than 8 hours, Jennifer Fox decided to take weight loss into her own hands and vowed to be her own biggest loser!
So what big change did she make? She started running. She went from barely able to run for three minutes to finishing a half-marathon and losing 125 pounds.
After: "I Wanted to Be My Own Biggest Loser!"
Next on Jennifer's to-do list: running a full marathon!
Before: "I Love My Newfound Confidence!"
A 26-year-old newlywed, Kelly Ruch had the body confidence to wear a bikini, but she knew she was no fitness guru.
After having two kids, Kelly decided to join a health club in 2005 to be more active. She now exercises six days a week and avoids snacking too often. In three years, she maintained her weight loss of 50 pounds and went from a size 12/14 to a size 0/2.
After: "I Love My Newfound Confidence!"
Now, Kelly wears her bikini with extra confidence. "I love life now and even my children love to exercise with me!" said Kelly.
Before: "I Lost 122 Pounds Without Surgery or Crazy Diets!"
At her heaviest, Caroline Jhingory carried 272 pounds on her 5'2" frame. How did she lose 122 pounds without any surgery or extreme diet plans? "Lots of prayer and patience!" said Caroline. She also limited her carb intake and walked every day.
After: "I Lost 122 Pounds Without Surgery or Crazy Diets!"
Here, 122 pounds lighter and much happier with her body, Caroline provides an inspiration to everyone, receiving standing ovations and lots of proud congratulations from our readers. A fellow contestant, Asombrosa2, was so impressed that she said she may just be voting for Caroline instead of voting for herself!


text:
Important: You should not click Uninstall. If this driver is uninstalled, all external keyboards, mice, and trackpads connected to a USB 3 port become inoperative in Windows 8.
For OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.3 or later
- Click the Back button.
- Cancel the upgrade.
- Open Boot Camp Assistant in the Utilities folder (in the Finder, choose Go > Utilities).
- Use Boot Camp Assistant to download the latest Windows Support Software from Apple.
- Restart your Mac and start up in Windows 7.
- Install the support software in Windows 7, then try the Windows 8 upgrade again.
For OS X Lion or earlier
- Click the Back button.
- Cancel the upgrade.
- Download and install the Windows Support Software here.
Learn more
Uninstalling this driver will not disable the keyboard and trackpad on a MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro. However, external USB devices cannot be used if the driver is Uninstalled.
If you already clicked Uninstall and your external keyboard, mouse, or trackpad is inoperative in Windows 8, you'll have to delete your Windows partition using the Boot Camp Assistant, and start over. If you are doing an upgrade install, you will have to install Windows 7, install the Boot Camp Support Software, then upgrade to Windows 8. For more information on Windows 8 installation, see the Boot Camp Installation & Setup Guide.


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Findory pages us if she's feeling unhappy. This happens surprisingly infrequently, every 2-3 months or so, which I think is pretty remarkable for a website this complex.
But it does happen. Unfortunately, last night the alarm bells went off.
When the website is ill, the cause isn't always immediately obvious. Sometimes, you have to play detective, gather clues, find evidence, and build a case that fits all the facts.
Last night was one of those times. Findory was intermittently responsive. Some requests would hang until they timed out, others would get a web page back.
Huh. What's going on? The first step is to find a reproducible test case, something that reliably hangs and can be debugged. I found one, a page that, at the time, seemed to hang every time I loaded it.
This first piece of evidence would seem to point to a problem with our web servers. If other pages load but this page does not, something that happens in the act of generating this page must be responsible.
But what is it? At this point, I pulled out the debugger and walked through what Findory does when it generates that particular page. After a while, I isolated the problem to a line where Findory connects to a remote database.
Now, this is a little strange. We have two pieces of evidence that are somewhat contradictory. Hanging on a specific page would seem to indicate a problem with something particular to that page. But debugging the issue seems to point to the database connection, something that happens on most or all pages. Hmm...
Still suspicious that the problem had something to do with that page and the data on that page, I started looking at the data used on that page. Any errors in the database logs? No. Any evidence of database corruption? No, the tables and files checked fine.
Could it be network trouble? Ping times were good, no packet loss. DNS lookups seemed to be succeeding just fine in a couple quick tests. Hmm...
I need more clues. I look in the error logs for the website. Are the errors occurring just on some pages or across many pages? The errors seem to be happening on many pages, more than I realized at first. This piece of evidence combined with the debugging trace would seem to point firmly at the database.
Now, I try connecting to the database from several remote boxes that have access. Huh, they're hanging. This is completely outside of Findory code now, just database client to database server, and the connection is hanging. It is definitely the connection to the database.
So, not Findory code, not database corruption, but new connections to the database are hanging. Why?
Could it be running out of connections? No, changing that didn't help and, I realized belatedly, running out of connections would return an error, not hang.
What could it be? Maybe I should check network and DNS again. Network checks out. DNS... oh wait! The first DNS server in /etc/resolv.conf is unpingable! I didn't notice that during my first quick check of DNS since dig lookups worked.
So, we have another clue. Could a bad DNS server cause our database to hang? Where and why is our database doing DNS lookups?
Turns out that our database does reverse DNS lookups for access control. While we weren't using this feature, we also neglected to disable it.
So, the solution turned out to be to remove the ill-behaved DNS server from /etc/resolv.conf, disable reverse DNS lookups in our database, and add some additional error handling to the Findory database layer to make any similar problem easier to debug in the future. An hour of downtime, but we're back.
In retrospect, there were a couple things I could have done to debug this faster. First, I should have suspected network and DNS earlier; 4 of the 6 outages we've ever had have been due to network or DNS problems in our datacenter, not a problem isolated to our code. Second, a netstat on the database server might have shown hanging DNS connections, pointing to the problem much earlier.
Good to have the problem resolved. Frankly, if we didn't feel such pressure to get Findory back up for our readers quickly, this kind of detective work almost would be fun. But that's just the inner geek talking.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Findory and the geek detective
Posted by Greg Linden at 1:12 PM
2 comments:
- Jeff said...
MySQL handles DNS problems very poorly. Turn it off and don't use any wildcard host restrictions if you want to sleep at night.
- August 28, 2005 at 10:45 PM
- Robert Cottrell said...
Greg, great post on troubleshooting the website difficulties. I aggree that this kind of detective work can be a lot of fun, especially after the problem has been solved and your nerves have had a chance to calm down.
I'm surprised by how many times DNS issues have bitten the sites that I've worked on. And no matter how many times we have had to deal with it, looking for DNS failures is usually one of the last things we think of trying.
- August 29, 2005 at 9:29 AM
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text:
- Order Publications From MDOT View a list of publications offered for purchase by MDOT.
- Ordering Instructions
Manuals & Guides
Plans & Specifications
- Traffic Standards and Typicals
- Previously Approved Special Provisions
- Supplemental Specs/Special Provisions
The SS/SP packet generator is to be used by MDOT Design Consultants only for proposal submissions.
- Standard Plans
- Special Details
- 2003 Standard Specs for Construction
- Standard Specification for Construction 2012
- Standard Specifications for Construction 2012
Summary of significant changes from the 2003 version -


text:
Thankfully, Andrew Bailey is no longer our closer. He is now some sort of setup man whose prominence in the bullpen has yet to be determined. We completed a six-player trade with the Pirates in order to land Joel Hanrahan. They're getting Mark Melancon and three prospects (Stolmy Pimentel, Ivan De Jesus, and Jerry Sands), and in addition to Hanrahan we're getting Brock Holt, an infielder. Hanrahan is a righty whose ERA last season was 2.72; his WHIP was 1.27, and he recorded sixty-seven strikeouts and a total of thirty-six saves with four blown. His lifetime strikeout rate per nine innings is about ten, and he's been an All-Star more than once. I am absolutely not happy about his walks, which is obviously a significant downside for a closer of all pitchers. He's also never pitched in Fenway ever, and he's only been to Boston once. So we've got a National League closer who walks and has never pitched in Boston. Still, though, he's obviously a significant improvement over the alternative. Technically that doesn't say much, but I have to believe that his stuff will shine through.
In other news, the Pats closed out the season with back-to-back wins over the Jaguars, 23-16, and Dolphins, twenty-eight-zip. It's playoff time! We've got a first-round bye, which should provide some extra rest.


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In late 2010, digital activists on Twitter began experimenting with a new form of protest, the "TweetStorm." I updated this from my old post because there have been a few changes to Twitter, and both Facebook and Google+ have now adopted hashtags, making this an even more attractive concept. Where you read "tweet" below, take that to include status updates on FaceBook, Twitter, and elsewhere.
What is a TweetStorm?
It's a coordinated action by many users to tweet about a single issue at the same time, generating a "storm" of tweets.
How does it work?
Anyone can call for a TweetStorm, you just need to decide:
- What will be in the tweet[s] (the text and what hashtags, any special user to target, eg @whitehouse – but use extreme restraint, or risk alienating* a user who can help!
TIP: Choose a new, unique hashtag, but everyone has to keep it secret until right before the event
- What time it has to be sent (essential to choose a time you know lots of supporters are usually online)
TIP: Create an online event that people can sign up for, or make a one-off campaign on thunderclap.it
What next?
- You have to tell people about the TweetStorm, and ask them to get involved by supporting it by sending out a tweet or setting up a scheduled tweet (see below) and by spreading the idea to their followers!
TIP: Contact your most active followers privately, to ask if they will take part and help to recruit others
- Then, you all either keep the TweetStorm text somewhere handy (Facebook event, blog post, pastebin, etc) and tweet at the appointed time, or schedule the tweets to go out at the set time.
How do I schedule a tweet?
TweetDeck includes a schedule tweet feature, and there are some scheduling services available through mobile or online applications, such as Buffer or Hootsuite.
How do I know what time to send the tweet if I am in a different time zone?
Check times in various time zones here: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/ or here: http://www.worldtimezones.com/
And that is about all there is to it.
TIP: If you plan to use TweetStorms as an ongoing tactic, keep some stats, give people feedback, and THANK THEM for taking part
- Write the tweet(s) and/or choose a unique hashtag and pick some optional @username(s) to target
- Recruit your friends using DM, email, FaceBook, Twitter, Google+ etc. Coach them if necessary
- Remember to set up your schedule if you need to
- Pass the information along – you may want to warn your followers
- Post increasingly frequent reminders as the time approaches, but keep the new hashtag secret
Are TweetStorms Effective?
Early analysis indicated that TweetStorms were highly effective. Whether that was the result of serendipity or serious effort remained to be proven in those early days. With the benefit of hindsight we can see that Twitter changed their Terms of Service so that sending "unsolicited" tweets, or using certain hashtags, could get your account suspended. Added to that, as Twitter grew and the user interface changed, many people found it increasingly difficult to maintain the level of close, co-operative contact with their network, which a TweetStorm depends on to be successful.
However, we can say:
- TweetStorms do work, and only thanks to the coordinated actions of concerned individuals.
- TweetStorms are not necessarily successful in isolation; they are an important adjunct to the conversations, petitions, emails, letters and postcards and other campaign actions.
- On Twitter, it is now very difficult to target Trending Topics, so targeted TweetStorms are a good alternative to trending.
- They the draw attention of other users, which can help strengthen a cause.
- TweetStorms are NOT spam. Spam is useless or irrelevant information sent to random or unrelated targets.
- TweetStorms are not meant as entertainment, rather as serious activism for spreading awareness, but you can make them fun, too. They are designed to attract attention from all corners, not only "@UN" or "@StateDept" for example.
- TweetStorms show allies the cause remains strong.
- They also show potential enemies that supporters of the cause are united. Maintaining secrecy of the tag and targets to the last minute also catches opponents by surprise, robbing them of the chance to spoil your plan.
- TweetStorms are democratic in nature: anyone can choose the message, who it targets, and when.
- TweetStorms are relatively easy – with potential high returns for minimal effort and zero outlay
Last Word
As activists, it is important to not only take part in TweetStorms, but to actively encourage others to join. Activism doesn't stop at the 'send' button.
* Aside: When I started TweetStorms, to draw attention to human rights issues in Iran, Amnesty International was a target for more than one campaign. They were not at all happy to see their timeline flooded with our messages (there was no "mentions" column on Twitter back then) and blocked my account. Later, they began using the TweetStorm tactic themselves! And no, they didn't unblock my account.
The original guides to the TweetStorm idea in several languages are available on these links:
Related articles
- Online Activism is Growing in Popularity
- Digital Activism Tactics: TweetStorms
- You Know Twitter?
- Schedule Twitter Updates Using TweetDeck (techmadly.com)
- New Yorker Releasing Story in Tweets (newser.com)
- Target your Twitter messages with these activist hashtags (allthingsreform.org)
- DemystifyingTwitter. (trendingover40.com)
- Hashtag basics: Why they work, and why they fail (prdaily.com)
- Tweet sparks a storm over SNP policy on Nato (express.co.uk)
- Iranian blogger made Twitter trend after imprisonment


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Victorian 14kt Gold Quartz Double Sided Locket
Gold-in-quartz was formed while the earth was still in its molten state. During the cooling and solidification process, veins of gold became trapped with the crystals of quartz in the mine. This created a very dramatic contrast between the white quartz and the yellow of the gold. Jewelry made from gold quartz became quite a fashion statement of the 1880's. During the Gold Rush era in the American West, most of the gold quartz was mined in California around the San Francisco area.
This beautiful and unusual gold quartz locket from the Victorian (ca1880) era is absolutely fabulous! Made of 14kt rosy yellow gold, the locket is rectangular in shape and has a stunning gold quartz and agate surface on the front and back. The 4 pieces of gold quartz frame the face of the locket, each beautifully rich in color, displaying a range of colors including white, grey, brown, and gold. In the center is a gold outline which has an agate stone plaque set in the middle, resting slightly higher than the gold quartz. The locket is hinged at the top and opens from the bottom, revealing 2 spaces for your favorite photographs. The piece hangs from a simple gold bail. This beautiful piece has a simply wonderful look that is both fashionable and timeless!
Measurements: The locket hangs 1 5/8" long, is approximately 7/8" wide and 1/4" thick.
Condition: The overall condition of the locket is excellent. Besides normal surface wear, there is no apparent damage to the gold setting or to the gold quartz designand the locket opens easily and closes securely.
**Paired with Item #34175 Victorian Long 10kt Textured Gold Link Chain Necklace 54"