text:
Have you ever accidentally pressed the eject button on your instant-back adapter before taking a photo? If so, you have likely been crushed thinking about what an incredible waste it is to have to discard these instant “blanks”. Well you no longer have to let them go to waste. You can re-purpose these blanks to create cool photo collages.
Be sure to hold on to any “waste” or “blank” Instax film, as there are many possible uses for them in the future. I recently realized that I had a very large stack of blanks and wanted to do something creative with them. One of the best things about these blanks is that they are black and white, so I decided to apply the principle of using dark space to optimize double exposures.
Next, I loaded some film into my camera, and captured this image on each frame. I altered the angle and distance for each shot so that they would all be slightly different. Then I rewound the film, reloaded it, and shot various images (i.e. portraits, landscapes, randoms, etc.). The results are almost exactly what I pictured in my head when I came up with this idea.
It’s a photo-collage without actually being a collage.
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Fantastic technique! Will definitely try this on my blanks!
awesome idea, it's simple and effective!
very interesting tipster! do you shot the blank instax with or without flash?
Awesome! I love the idea.
Nice tip! I should try it!
Wow!! You are a genius - that is such an incredible idea!!!!!
How could I miss this!? It's wonderful!
Super cool effect! Love the technique!
So cool! I'll try that!


text:
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Finally I get this ebook, thanks for all these Ducati 900 Sd Darmah Workshop Service Repair Manual Download can get now!

industry_corpus2: Automobiles


text: Aspada performs Osam Ezzeldin’s composition “Now I See You”. With Sevaganesh Vinayakram – percussion, Kai Eckhardt – bass, George Brooks – soprano sax and Osam Ezzeldin – keyboards. Recorded by Dave Luke at Opus Berkeley, Celso Alberti dp.

industry_corpus2: Film & Entertainment


text: I just read an intriguing post on Dan Schawbel's blog. It was titled The Excellence Equation: Passion and Commitment. For several years, I’ve been promoting a similar “success” equation. The only component not listed in his blog post was skill. I think ANYTHING is possible if you have passion, commitment, and skill. If you’re short in one area, you can make up for it in another. I’ve worked with people that lacked a specific skill, but were so passionate and so committed, there was no way they were not going to succeed. When building teams for a project, I like to find individuals who excel in each area. I don’t want an overly-skilled team as much as I don’t want an overly-passionate team. But, when there is balance in all three areas, I’ve seen magic happen.

industry_corpus2: Others


text:
Leitrim County Council has agreed to carry out minor drainage works and maintenance works to the L13441 at Corraleehan, Co Leitrim.
In a detailed response to a query by Cllr Caillian Ellis, South Leitrim District Engineer, Darragh O'Boyle, said that the Council was unable to carry out major road improvement works at this location as there is no available specific grant on this section of public road.
"We are, however, able to dispatch our maintenance crew to repair any potholes which may occur," he told Cllr Ellis.
"In time a Road Improvement Grant would benefit this local road and the elected members, along with Leitrim County Council technical staff, should put this road forward for inclusion in the next Road Works Programme."
In order to alleviate local flooding issues the Council also plans to carry out minor drainage works on some of the acute corners of this public road.

industry_corpus2: Real Estate & Construction


text:
Hawk and Blades 2009 - Page 16- BLOOD FOR THE BARON!!!
Well, as only a handful of us have the opportunity I'd say the more pics the merrier!
The Baron wrote: Well, as only a handful of us have the opportunity I'd say the more pics the merrier!
Just seen Mark's thread, so I'll post some pics at the w/e!
big thank you AIRDEVON love blades his helicopter the Argen 7 guys the comics and the card art.
Parcels are all now despatched to you lads (other than those who asked me to hold back a week or so). Please let me know once they arrive, and I'd like to pass on once more my thanks to Aire - your kindness in looking after us all is much appreciated and I'm sure I speak for us all when I say if ever we can return the favour - please just let me know!
"Put your hands where I can see them!!!!
"Our work is done - the HAWKS are on to their new owners. Muton - fire up the BiPlane! Lets fly!!
You have a Biplane? Wow. Any pics of your opened one, Steve?
Chopper wrote: :shock: You have a Biplane? Wow. Any pics of your opened one, Steve?
Doing some pics of the 4 Copter line up at the weekend hopefully mate.
Chopper wrote: Any pics of your opened one, Steve?
my Blades is currently locked away in the local post office.
missed the delivery and had it arranged to be collected today but the nice lady at the po wouldnt give me it as i didnt have any id, even tho i had the redelivery letter.
So there will be a weekend of grand openings? Cool.


text:
You may have noticed a few changes on the website that affects users outside of the US, specifically the checkout process! We now have an internationalized checkout that allows customers to select from four currencies eliminating currency exchange costs for paying in Euros, Great British Pounds, Australian Dollars and US Dollars. Business customers now have the ability to input their VAT number. Currently you must choose standard shipping and pay via credit card to take advantage of the new checkout, but we're working on more updates to make this accessible to everyone!
So what's next?! We're working on further internationalization of the site. This means more currencies, ways to pay, and languages. The plan is to continue to roll out new features to the site over the next few months. When you're ready to check out, you'll have the option to select from a few payment methods other than credit. So stay tuned for more exciting changes coming your way.
We're also finishing up the office here in Berlin-Neukölln and are starting to give tours. Interested in coming by? Shoot an email to help@spoonflower.com to schedule a tour. And keep an eye out for events held in our snazzy new space. We will be inviting our community in to see how their fabric gets printed and get to know the Berlin team. We'll also be hosting charity sew ins, workshops and meet-ups in the future! You can stay up to date on upcoming event info here.
Do you speak German and want to stay in touch? Follow our new German social accounts. We're on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Do you speak German and design fabric or run a crafty business? Let's collaborate! Take a few minutes to share your idea with us by completing this form.
Finally, if you're interested in joining the Spoonflower Berlin team, take a peek at our job openings! We're currently on the lookout for a full-time accountant as a parental leave replacement until September 2017, with the possibility of extending into a broader role.
We look forward to continuing our journey in making Spoonflower more accessible to our global community and will be sure to share along the way!

industry_corpus2: Computing & Telecommunications


text:
The popular g'day kangaroo design on a pink t-shirt. An Australian design on an Australian made t-shirt.
Lovely bright T Shirt !


text:
Palm Beach County students had the opportunity to talk with astronauts at the International Space Station on Monday.
An astronaut aboard the International Space Station captivated a group of Palm Beach County students on Monday — talking with them live via ham radio.
Christopher Andersson, 7, of Boca Raton, was nervous as the static from the ham radio crackled.
He was among 11 students who participated Monday at the South Florida Science Center in West Palm Beach, communicating with Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli.
Christopher asked the astronaut what his most unexpected science experiment discovery had been. Nespoli recalled how one of the experiments in particular surprised him, where a flame kept burning at a low temperature.
Broward’s most gifted students may get a school designed only for them if the school board approves a proposal presented Tuesday.
Some parents praised the plan for filling a void but others criticized it for promoting segregation.
— How does it feel to move in zero gravity? Nespoli replied it makes him feel like he can move like Spider-Man.
Monday’s event was aimed at promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
The students who spoke to the astronaut, ranging in age from 7 to 12, were selected from among more than 100 across the county. They were picked after writing an essay on what one question they would ask and were judged on their writing, creativity and enthusiasm.
Plantation Middle School wants to provide students with more than meals — it wants them to grow their own food and then profit from it.
They only had eight minutes to ask their questions before the space station, which goes about 17,600 mph, moved out of the radio’s range.
Tension had mounted at the start of Monday’s event.
Jim Nagle, president of the West Palm Beach Amateur Radio Group, gave his call sign over the radio trying to reach the space station.
At first, nothing but static.
On the third try, as the students leaned forward from their seats, the astronaut’s voice broke through the static.
Christopher, a second-grader at St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, performs his own experiments at home with his dad, Leif Andersson.
Palm Beach County parents will have nine more school options next year, including an internationally renowned academic center at Lantana Middle School and a performing arts academy at Loggers’ Run Middle School in West Boca.
Nagle said he hopes that having the kids talk with astronauts can help students see them as everyday people.
Nicholas Cruz, a second-grader at Calusa Elementary in Boca Raton, said it felt amazing to talk with a real astronaut.
He had asked which in-space experiment best helped us live better on Earth. He had a hard time hearing the astronaut’s answer through the static. Still, he had an amazing time, he said.
The event coincided with “Astronauts,” the science center’s 5,000-square-foot exhibit that opened two weeks ago.
Kate Arrizza, chief operating officer at the science center, said the exhibit gives visitors a chance to see what life is like on the International Space Station and a chance to see if you can make it up there.
“It’s a full body experience. You get to go into a G-force simulator and you get to see how fast you can go and if your stomach can handle it,” she said.
The exhibit runs until April with a general admission of $16.95 for adults, $12.95 for kids, and it’s free for those under age 3.

industry_corpus2: Subject Education


text:
Jennifer Obado Joel, Research Associate, Centre for Public Policy Alternatives, Lagos Nigeria, currently a student in the MA Public Policy program at the Central European University, Budapest Hungary.
After reading Alex’s post ‘Is it a needs assessment if you have already decided on your intervention?’, I would like to give my comments on questions raised by him. In my response, I write as a policy research analyst in the global south and also as a former applicant to one of the INASP grant programs.
While musing on how to respond to Alex, I asked myself why I included a needs assessment program within a grant application for an intervention project. The answer was quite jarring and humbling. I thought I knew what the answers were. My knowledge of the subject matter, the policy environment, constraints and opportunities faced by my target audience gives me an omniscient capacity to infer a solution. Right? Wrong! With the benefit of hindsight, it is with all sense of responsibility that I admit how teleological and short-sighted it all seems now. I will begin by giving my opinion on questions addressed by Alex in his blog-post and conclude by sharing my experience with incentives for adequate investigation of causal factors before intervention programs design.
The first question posted by Alex was ‘Is the needs assessment considered a box-ticking exercise to make an application better?’ The answer to this is not clear cut, while interventions projects might be designed from local knowledge, how else to make it ‘scientific’, if not through the conduct of a needs assessment? The underlying assumption is that the findings are a given. While this raises ethical questions, another point of discussion should be the pressure placed on applicants to validate the empiricism of their chosen intervention methodology. However, suffice to say, this conduct restricts inclusion of nuances that could have been discovered during an unbiased pilot study.
I am with Alex on his concern with objectivity of needs assessments for a premeditated intervention. This usually ends up exposing grave methodological flaws within the project design. Usually, the wrong variables and population are targeted, which often reduces or totally eliminates any impact such projects could have achieved. However, the funding challenges facing non-governmental organisations are real — there seems to be a battle between efficiency and equity. The opportunity cost is enormous in a battle between professional reputation and organisational survival. Would the tension be less if grant organisations were willing to commit to a project preceded by a needs assessment? Usually, there is a certain fear that if the findings of the pilot studies falsify underlying assumptions of the project design, the grant will be lost. Thus, faced with this dilemma, the inclusion of needs assessment within a project grant application ensures there is a guarantee that the funding agency will not renege on its commitment, whatever the findings are. If learning becomes a central objective of a grant, I can unequivocally state there will be an higher likelihood that grant applicants would focus more on conducting pilot studies to gain better understanding of the problem.
I am aware there is a parallel ethical discourse on normative project design, but I am stating the reality about the perplexity faced by large numbers of grant applicants, especially small sized organisations that survive from one grant to the other. My best experience in conduct of needs assessment was probably for a youth employability project funded by a local grant organisation in Nigeria. The organisation specified the dedication of the first quarter of the one year project for a background research on causes of high rate of graduate unemployment in Nigeria. Furthermore, the organisation provided adequate funding for a parallel monitoring and evaluation project, which led to several modifications of the program design within the year. The commitment of the grant organisation to understand causal factors contributed to the overall success of the project. The result of this extensive engagement was an overhaul of the implementing organisation intervention methodology, a win-win situation.
From personal experience, there is no motivation for a grant applicant to include a needs assessment in a program grant application, if the funding for both items can be treated as independent but symbiotic. However, this does not imply that this is just a question of availability of funding, there are cases in which certain organisations with years of experience on a given field exhibit intellectual arrogance. This is expressed by vigorous defence of the intervention and reluctance to commit to rigorous background research. However, this is quite rare. The spate of change in knowledge and experience around the world, demands that NGOs retain a fresh perspective on issues, else they run the risk of becoming obsolete.

industry_corpus2: Politics & Administration


text:
Scald the milk in a saucepan in medium heat – do not boil it, add in the cardamom pods and give them a chance to steep and infuse their flavors into the milk. While that is going, beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick and well mixed. Once the milk is done warming up, temper the yolks with one spoonful of hot milk and keep whisking the yolks.
Transfer the yolk mixture into the hot milk saucepan. Put this back on the heat ( no warmer than medium heat and do not stop stirring. Once the mixture thickens up a little bit and bubbles start to form around the edges, get this off the heat. Set a strainer over the cold whipping cream and pour the hot mixture through the strainer ( to catch any scrambled yolks). Stir this all together well. Pour the mango puree into the custard batter and stir it together to get a homogenous creamy mixture.
Fish out the cardamom pods from the strainer and put them into the custard mixture. Seal this ( the cling wrap will do ) and let it sit in the fridge for about 6 hours so all of the flavors can get to know one another well. Take out the cardamom pods. They are good for flavor but not for chewing straight up. Pour the custard mixture into a plastic container and leave in it in the freezer for 3 hours.
Meanwhile prepare the caramelized mango. Peel the remaining mango, pit it and slice clean, long, somewhat thick strips of flesh. Cut these in half so you have good-sized , but still easily bite-sized chunks. In a saucepan, caramelize ¼ cup of sugar on high heat. Once the sugar has melted , carefully place the mango pieces into the caramel ( don’t get burned) and lower the heat to medium. Take this off the heat within five minutes – the idea is to just soften the mango slices up a bit and to infuse a more complex mango flavor on top of the mango flavor that will be so prevalent in the custard.
Blitz the roasted pistachios in a food processor to chop them up a little finer, but not down to powder. Mix the caramelized mango and pistachios together and set this aside in the fridge.

industry_corpus2: Hospitality & Catering


text:
Current Position:Home > Why I cannot read my file???
Why I cannot read my file???
But every time I run the applet, it gives me this exception..
Wat did I went wrong??


text:
About a dozen Lake County women with children with Down syndrome met regularly when Debbie Picker first attended daytime get-togethers in the mid-1980s. Back then, the group was called Mothers Who Care and the ladies discussed the challenges they and their children faced.
Eventually, the group dubbed itself The Up Side of Downs (USOD), became a nonprofit organization, and expanded its mission to provide support, education and advocacy for individuals with Down syndrome, their families and communities throughout northeast Ohio.
Today, The Up Side of Downs offers support groups, education, conferences and social opportunities. Based in Independence, it employs 11 people and serves more than 1,000 families in 16 counties. Funding comes from private donations and two annual fundraisers; the upcoming 2nd Annual Sunburst Gala (March 16) and the Northeast Ohio Buddy Walk (August 24), which attracted more than 4,500 participants last summer. There is no membership fee.
The organization’s community outreach includes sharing information about programming with area boards of developmental disabilities and offering DS 101, a workshop for educators covering how to teach students with Down syndrome. USOD is also a member of the Employment Collaborative of Cuyahoga County, a network of organizations dedicated to helping individuals with Down syndrome learn job skills and gain employment.
USOD often begins working with families before birth. When desired they partner expectant and new parents with other parents of children with Down syndrome, who are trained as mentors. They also host a parent and toddler group, which meets regularly in Mayfield Village and attracts families from all over Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula counties. As children grow, USOD offers educational opportunities, such as The Learning Program®, a research-based program specially designed to help children with Down syndrome learn, for preschoolers through seventh-graders.
An annual Strider Bike Camp hosted by USOD allows children with Down syndrome to learn how to ride a bicycle. Practicing on pedal-free balance bikes instills confidence.
New in February 2019, USOD is launching TEEN (Teen Educational Empowerment Network). In addition to some academic pursuits, the program focuses on life, job and functional-living skills for children ages 13-18.
Family Grants, which may be used for anything from adaptive dance classes or swim lessons, to speech therapy or medical bills, are offered twice yearly. (Families may only apply once a year.) In 2018, USOD offered 71 grants valued at more than $30,000.
As medical care has advanced, the life expectancy of an individual with Down syndrome has risen on average to 60 years, so USOD has added services and programming for adults. These include the Steps to Independence weekend retreat, held in conjunction with Cleveland State University’s Master of Occupational Therapy program, and Mind Body Soul, which provides life-skills training and social opportunities for those age 18 and older.
Additionally, USOD operates the Artful 21 Gift Shop at their Independence office, which features products made by artisans with Down syndrome, and hosts a monthly dinner and karaoke night for adults with Down syndrome at Toth’s Place in Mentor.
For more information, visit www.theupsideofdowns.org or call 216-447-8763.


text:
Hello there! I'm Emma, mama to one little boy and big fan of vegan food, coffee, long train journeys and slow afternoons wandering in the woods. I love travelling the world, I'm passionate about sustainable living and I'm currently trying to figure out how I can simultaneously please both the adventurer and environmental activist in me. Basically, my dream is to one day see the whole world via bicycle, with stop offs to refill my ecoffee cup and wash the cloth nappies of course.
Welcome to Exploring wih Mama Bea, a space where I talk about slow parenthood, sustainable living, my love of being outdoors and our backpacking adventures around the world.
Feel free to drop by and say hello at exploringwithmamabea@gmail.com.


text:
Benoît Battistelli, Director General of the French National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), has been elected by the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation to succeed Alison Brimelow as President of the EPO. His five-year presidency will begin on 1. July 2010.
As reported by both the IPKat and IPjur, his predecessor Alison Brimelow gave an interesting speech on "keping the patent system fit for future" in Melbourne, Australia, on the day of his election, in which she drafted her visions for the future development of the international IP scenery. As a contrast or supplementary to that, Mr Battistelli answered questions in the same political field, as posed by the European Patent Institute (epi) shorlty before his election. Below please find a summary of the essential issues of Ms Brimelow and Mr Battistelli in order to facilitate comparing their respective thoughs.
Ms Brimlows ideas. As a core message, she demanded that "greater integration and the creation of a truly global, sustainable patent system" are needed to keep the patent system fit for purpose in the future and explained that the IP5 initiative between the five largest patent offices in the world (US, JP, CN, KR, EP) may be a basis on which such a system may be built.
Invited by the Melbourne Law School to hold the 2010 Francis Gurry Intellectual Property Lecture, in a speech entitled "Not seeing the wood for the trees: Is the patent system still fit for purpose ?", the former EPO President reflected upon the challenges that patent systems are facing worldwide. "The R&D paradigms have changed, the function of IP is shifting, but patent systems have failed to adapt and develop in consequence". Moreover, she stated, the patent system is "far too complex, and this complexity increases exponentially in the international arena".
Substantive patent law harmonization: While industrialised countries call for a global patent system based on an international infrastructure operating under a harmonized body of laws, regulation and practices, international normative initiatives are currently at a standstill. There is a gap between what people say and what people are prepared to do. Inherent in the concept of harmonization is change. If we are not prepared to change, we cannot possibly pretend to be serious about harmonization.
Global backlogs as driver for change: There is a powerful impetus for reducing unnecessary duplication of work in patent systems world-wide. The existing PCT framework should this be improved since it bears the greatest potential for a global work-sharing scheme due to the high volume of applications filed, the existing legal framework and infrastructure, established procedures and also its acceptance by the users.
Recent developments in Europe: The work-sharing scheme of the EPO will apply to work results not just from the national patent offices of member states, but from any office of first filing in the world. Timeliness, high quality of work, confidence-building and coordination between offices are essential ingredients of this scheme, in order to elliminate unnecessary duplication of work and equally enhancing both quality and efficiency, whereas utilisation remains at the discretion of the EPO examiner.
The international level: The EPO is cooperating with the patent offices of Japan, Korea, China and the US within the IP5 initiative to achieve a sound, viable, sustainable global patent system, focused on work-sharing. The IP5 will enable efficient work-sharing which will deliver long term and sustainable benefits for all, even without any substantive harmonisation breakthroughs. However, the IP5 projects are ambitious, require a considerable investment of scarce resources and are politically attractive because the IP5 projects will deliver productive results and momentum beyond electoral periods, which is why it was vitally important to enhance IP5 visibility and keep the pressure on.
Mr Battistelli's plans. While the former EPO President articulated political and more abstract ideas, Mr Battistelli's plans appear EPO-centered and more pragnatical.
EPO as part of the EU: As regards the possibility of a Community patent, it could be explored again the possibility of a Technical Agreement between the EPO and the European Union, which latter would delegate to the EPO the granting procedure. There would therefore be little change in the present system, the innovation being that applicants would have the possibility of obtaining a European patent as now, or a Community patent. Market forces will decide which is preferred. There would be a review after say 10 years from any Community Patent Regulation.
The global role of the EPO: The EPO does have a global role to play in IP, firstly because it essentially represents all of Europe in these matters, and secondly because it has a high degree of technical and legal expertise in patents. Individual countries cannot go it alone, but the EPO can and should play a lead part in developing IP in partnership with member states and other extra-European Patent Offices. Developing a model for providing a balance between holders of patent rights, and third parties is a main issue.
Partnership between EPO and member states: The European Patent Network (EPN, see also here) will play an important role. Therefore there are in practice two levels, the EPO level and the national level. These must work in a complementary way. It is important that the National Patent Offices (NPOs) do not reduce the role, capacity and authority of the EPO, but at the same time the role of the NPOs should be strengthened. The EPN should not be reduced to simple work sharing. The EPO Examiners in their different groups should act as a cluster of competence which would have the overall say in the granting procedure. So it is not a question of sharing files, but of providing a network of competencies between the EPO and the NPO examiners, so-called “virtual clusters of Examiners could be created, to enhance the examination procedure. As regards the future, the operational capacity of the EPO and its budget (1.4 Bn € at present) would need to be looked at from the point of view of the IFRS norms which may not be suitable for an International non-profit organisation. The IFRS spirit may be right, but perhaps not the letter.
Patent granting under the PCT: The improvement of the PCT should be a priority. With the new US Commissioner, Mr David Kappos, there may be scope for movement forward. The EPO fully support Francis Gurry's (President of the WIPO) initiatives. As to the PPH, some EPO member states have gone down the PPH route (whereas others, e.g. France, are not convinced on the appropriateness of the PPH) and it should not be denied that a pilot scheme might be looked at. However, resources should not be taken from the PCT, which is the only truly multi-lateral option.
Ways of operation of the Administrative Council: The Administrative Council (AC) has its own Chairman, whereas the President of the EPO has a different role, but the two need to work together. The main role of the AC is to vote the office budget, elect the President and Vice Presidents and to control the activity of the Office. The AC should concentrate on these main tasks, must stick to important questions, try to reduce time and to encourage colleagues from the MS to take decisions.
Social partnership of EPO with the staff: The staff is greatly dissatisfied with the management of the Office, and with the AC. This mostly stems from a lack of understanding as to their role, the future of the EPO and thus their future, including pensions. Transparency should be provided for the staff and meetings should be convened to explain what is going on in the EPO. It is a difficult but not impossible task to get everyone in the Office pulling in the same direction.
Relationship of EPOrg and epi: The EPO must not be isolationist, and must not ignore the users. The epi is one of the main partners of the EPO. As such the Office should look to cooperate with the epi and whilst the EPO would not always be able to take the same position as the users, openess towards and interactions with the epi in order to enhance the patent system in Europe is essential, since the EPO and epi could cooperate too within the framework of the EPN, e.g. like in France, where the Office and the IP attorneys are associated, working together to enhance SME’s IP awareness.
Conclusion: Mr Battistelli appears not to be so much focussed on the international level and high politics (int'l harmonisation, IP5, etc.) but emphesises more the European IP structure and the well-functioning of the EPO itself. This attitude is in fact much appreciated by the EPO's staff, which hopes that in the future the EPO's public service mission that has been accorded to the EPO and allow the EPO to concentrate on its raison d'être, namely the search, examination and granting of high quality patents, will be much more considered on the political level than under the former President.
From a patent attorney's point of view I would principally agree to the attitude of the staff union, since in recent years the impression has grown among professional representatives that during all that procedural streamlining and raising of bars the EPO has lost sight of the legitimate interests of the system users. In fact, some colleagues and applicants just started to consider more direct national filings instead of going through the streamlined but more and more inflexible and expensive EP system.
in case that the operating system (17) permits only short filenames and said information (42) is set to make said second directory entry (20) invisible to the operating system (17), locating the file by accessing said first directory entry (18) or, in case that the operating system (17) permits long filenames and said information (42) is set to make said second directory entry (20) visible to the operating system (17), locating the file by accessing said second directory entry (20).
By the claimed subject-matter, the patent solves the problem that the length of file names in older MS-DOS versions is limited to only eight characters in that a second directory entry holding a long file name for the file is associated with a first directory entry representing the short file name, such that the first or second entry can be activated depending on the operation system.
In the first-instance nullity proceedings, the Federal Patent Court has decided on October 26, 2006 that the claims granted by the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) are not based on an inventive step over the Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol (RRIP) for reading files on CD-ROMs, since RRIP extends the ISO 9660 standard towards CD-ROM contents access via the POSIX file system by exactly utilising the claimed method.
In the appeal instance, however, the BGH did not agree with that ruling of the BPatG and interpreted the claimed subject-matter differently. According to the BGH's interpretation, the claimed teaching enables concuerrently using short and long file names (as enabled e.g. by the VFAT format used in Windows 95) in a way compatible with the older FAT file system, which is achieved by a file attribute (the claimed "information (42)") stored in the second file entry with the help of which the second file entry (representing the long file name) can be made visible or invisible depending on whether the underlying operating system supports long or short file names.
The BGH thus concluded that the patent invention suggests, for solving the compatibility problem, to store two file entries separately comprising the short and long file name, while RPIR teaches to store both file names in the same file entry, for other reasons.
Analogously, also US couterpart patent US 5,579,517 has been finally upheld in early 2006 by the USPTO in a re-examination, after the patent has been revoked before.
Young judges at the Karlsruhe-based Federal Court of Justice considered it a progressive move to fit in with European Patent Office case law and to interpret the non-patentability of computer programs "as such" accordingly.
In the earlier decision X ZB 22/07, the BGH explained under which circumstances a software that is embedded in a larger technical system may represent statutory subject-matter, whereas commentators assume that this decision may represent a turnaround of the BGH’s approach to assess technical character of an invention towards the more liberal attitude of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office, as e.g. presented in the decision “Auction Method/Hitachi” (see also my related earlier post).
May software patenting and open source go together?
In this post published in a Sydney based IP firm's IP blog, the author(s) speculate(s) whether it makes sense to consider patenting of open source software, which would of course require a certain degree of mental liberty to overcome the common view that patenting totally contradicts to the idea of open source and is, at best, only an option for big business.
The idea is that the underlying rationale of patent protection and open source is to publish the invention/source code to be used and further developed by others. However, while open source can be freely used within the provisions of an open source license, a patented software-related invention may only be used if a patent license (or cross-license) is obtained that usually is liable to pay license fees. From that point of view, the two models for "explointig" software appear fairly similar, since the world's patent databases may be seen as large free-access prior art libraries, even though an invention disclosed in a patent and an open source library provide very different levels of detail and opportunities to use the disclosed knowledge.
However, when considering the aspect that a patent owner has a monopoly, while the open source programmer contributes his developments to the community, the two models appear rather far apart. If the latter perspective is adopted, it doesn't help very much that patents only grant monopolies for a limited period of time (20 years from the patent filing date), since software life cycles usually are much shorter than a patent's lifetime.
A group of open source collaborators could secure a patent and grant a royalty-free licences to (only?) the open source community in much the same way as open source software is licensed. This would secure the invention for public use and prevent other parties from patenting that invention and exclusively exploiting it for commercial gain.
A patent would secure the open source community the right to freely use the invention subject to the terms of the licence, which may comprise a provision according to which any modifications, enhancements or improvements are owned by the (open source) patent owner in order to retain all enhancements for public use.
Open source patented innovations reside on patent databases and thus form part of the same public record, which makes the public record more comprehensive and useful to the community at large.
This argumentation, is base on the finding that such kinds of "open source patents" and subsequent zero licensing (to the community) would provide the legal certainty that no one else can obtain a patent for exactly that subject-matter and thus usage under the freely available zero license is not threatenend by patent infringement suits as it is today. Such a "run-with-the-pack" strategy according to which you apply for patents to be protected yourself from patents is in fact a legitmate strategy, whose further advantage (besides legal certainty) over the intrinsic open source disclosure strategy may be the official prior art search and examination, e.g. during the international phase of PCT proceedings or the like.
As open source today is a successful business model (see e.g. Novell, RedHat, Oracle) and not so much (only) an attitude of software developers that refrain from considering legal aspects of their work, the money needed for such a defensive patent strategy may exist (even without the chance to earn substantial license fees). In fact, some well known names in the open source market have plenty of experiences with patents (e.g. IBM, Novell and others). But there remains a risk that the community, whose contribution is needed for any successful open source business, will turn against an open source firm that is sympathising to patents, as Novell had to experience (see e.g. the Boycott Novell blog).
The authors of the referenced post see two main issues to be solved within the suggested open source patent framework, namely ensuring novelty of open source projects in the legal sense of the term as well as patent costs. One might add further important issues, e.g. that patent examiners should have the required expertise and ability to properly search and examine software patents and that sufficient prior art has to be available in the patent databases for conducting meaningful searches in that particular field. The latter two issue have not been overly pronounced some years ago but both are rapidly improving.
Novelty: To be patentable, a subject-matter has to be novel, i.e. not being publicly disclosed in any form before the filig (priority) date of the respective patent application, which appears hard to be achieved in an tedious collaborate open source development process.
One option may be that countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, the USA and others have a grace period of six or twelve months from the first public disclosure of an invention by the inventor (depending on the country) whithin which inventors may still apply for a patent without drawbacks as to the required novelty. Apart from the fact that this is not an option in Europe where a patent grace period is unknown, six or twelve months may seldomly be sufficient to bring an open source project to a stable patent-worthy state.
At an adaquate (preferably early) point of the development process, a set of patent claims is drafted (supported by a patent attorney, if required) based on the specification and the state of the developing process, such that the patent application can be filed to obtain preliminary protection.
Costs: According to the author's conception, setting up a community of particular skills in order to draft the patent specification would reduce the costs for patent attorneys, due to contributions of the community in an open source manner. If the patent is commercially successful (e.g. by donation), any funds received can be made available to the contributors/inventors, or the community to promote further open source patent opportunities or as contribution for payment of official fees according to the various jurisdictions.
Conclusion: The authors see their sketched approach as an open source solution to promote access and availability to the excellent resources available both in the community and in the patent offices around the world.
However, even though the approach sounds interesting and may have a certain potential for utilise the best of both worlds in a software development process, it currently resides on a rather theoretical level, especially with respect to the patent specification process, the role of patent attorneys and the idea to collect fees for commercial uses and granting a free license for open source developers, whatever the differences between theses two groups may be today. Also a fairly strong opposition of anti-patent campaigners is to be expected if this or a similar appoach schould be implemented for a concrete project one day.
Especially, if an open source community really should decide to secure patent rights for their project, they should better consult a patent attorney or other legal advisor and not solely rely on community contributions (except some members are at least experienced patent practitioners) when it comes to legal issues with respect to worldwide patent procesution, licensing, infringement or the like.

industry_corpus2: Law & Justice


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City officials are currently working on a plan to mentor owners of small business and minority-owned businesses that want to do business with the city.
Charles Price, former Montgomery County circuit judge and independent contractor for the city of Montgomery, is currently hammering out details for a business program to reach out to small businesses and minority-owned businesses to help them do work for the city. The program, known as Small and Minority Business Support Initiative Program, is scheduled to go to Mayor Todd Strange by the middle of next week.
The goal of the program is to help businesses who would like to do work with the city, but are unable to bid for work due to bond or financing issues. Businesses applicable for the program include any business that could provide a service to the city, such as construction or maintenance.
“Basically, what you want to look at is get with general contractors, put them with businesses in a mentor-mentee type of relationship, and bring these minorities with the trades into the fold and they can start bidding on these contracts,” Price said.
Strange said that although the scope of the program reaches to a variety of businesses, he is focused on trying to improve minority-owned businesses.
“The thought is it would apply to business across the board, but I’m more interested in the minority side of the equation because of the population of Montgomery,” Strange said.
Recently, the website Nerdwallet conducted a report that placed the Montgomery area as the second-best place in the nation for black-owned businesses, coming behind Columbus, Georgia. District 3 Councilman Tracy Larkin said that in the years he has lived in Montgomery, he has seen a deficit regarding major economic impact for black-owned businesses and that he is glad a program is being created to meet that need.
According the 2010 U.S. Census, black-owned business firms made up 36.9 percent of the city’s 19,208 business firms, which was reported as of 2007. African-Americans make up 56.6 percent of the city’s population.
Price said he is committed to increasing employment opportunities in the city and so is Strange, who he said came to him to start the program.
“He has impressed me with how interested and sincere he is about this approach, so I think we can get something going,” Price said.
Price said he has spoken with stakeholders in city departments that would be affected by the program and said they approve of its goals.


text:
We are proud to have worked with Young Upstarts to rebrand and launch their new site and initiative.
They help young people to start their own businesses, with accredited course and the like, that has lead to 35 solid, new business in Yorkshire in the past 12 month alone.
It was great working with them, and we look forward to working on an exciting new project this summer.
No, really we do. Not on ourselves, of course, but on our new business cards.
A MASSIVE thanks to John Masons printers in nearby Skipton for making sure these cards meets some exacting standards in UV spot and good, solid tones on alabaster.


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The expert view: Recovery and resilience – is your organisation really prepared?
Any number of scenarios could have a disruptive effect on your business, Tom Holloway, of Sungard Availability Services, told an audience of senior executives at a Business Reporter breakfast briefing at London’s Savoy Hotel. Unpredictable events, from a cyber-attack by a foreign state, to GDPR or Brexit can all have an impact on a business’s daily functions and end up affecting the bottom line.
He asked attendees how they were ensuring that their business is resilient in an environment of broadening threats and an ever-present need to cut costs.
Most attendees agreed that they have a multi-layered plan in place to ensure recovery and resilience. From staff training and simulations, through to thorough business impact analyses and detailed procurement processes.
However, unexpected threats still emerge, regardless of planning. One attendee, from a law firm, said that the snowstorm in early 2018 left many employees unable to get to work. When they tried to log on to the company VPN, they found that it could not support all the people who were trying to access it.
The company resolved to tackle this by looking again at VPN capacity and ensuring that staff, are told whether they should expect to be able to use the VPN in an emergency. Some staff will simply be told not to try.
Another attendee, from the financial services sector, said that during risk assessments the company had decided that its Ukraine-based developers were not critical personnel and business could continue without them in the event of an emergency. However, when Russia invaded the Ukraine, and these developers were unable to work, the business soon realized that they were engaged in important tasks and it needed to find a way to keep them working.
Third party risks are harder to control, particularly since many cloud suppliers are reluctant to allow customers to audit their operations. Nevertheless, attendees argued, businesses must have a robust procurement process in place. At the least, it is important to understand how the cloud service is structured and where your data is being stored.
A more complicated problem that those present said they were just beginning to explore is the issue of fourth party suppliers. A company might feel that they have spread their risk sensibly by using 10 different third parties for various aspects of the business but if all 10 of them outsource to the same supplier (the fourth party company) then the company actually faces a very concentrated risk. Untangling this can take a lot of time.
Those present suggested that businesses were not yet able to fully grasp the risks of the Internet of Things, which continues to spread across organisations. One delegate, from the mining sector, pointed out that his company now uses driverless trains to transport iron ore. These trains, when travelling at full speed, need seven miles of track on which to stop. He said that his company has had to consider very careful how those trains are secured because a cyber-attack or a malfunction could have grave consequences.
Even more trivial technologies can cause problems. One attendee said that smart lights, had been a target for hackers and simply being able to turn a company’s lights off remotely could be enough to disrupt operations.
What should the board do about these problems? An attendee from the public sector said that he only discussed recovery and resilience with his board when things go wrong. This meant that they were in an “emotional” state, making constructive dialogue difficult. The result is that it is hard to call the organization “prepared” because its default position is always reactive.
For some, though, the issue is not one for the board at all. One attendee said that the reason it is hard to interest the board in resilience is that it isn’t really their job. Resilience is a function of resistance and adaptability and ensuring that it is in place is the responsibility of the executive committee.
However, most of those present agreed that the board still needs to know enough to ask the right questions about what is being done and how. One way to do that, some attendees suggested, is to have a resistance committee that is chaired by a member of the board – ideally a non-executive director. This means that resilience is not something the board has to monitor too closely but when it is discussed there will be someone present who has a good grasp of the issues and challenges.
Resilience comes at a cost and it is not possible to offset every risk. Instead, the company needs to put in place the systems necessary to survive a variety of risks and give the organization the flexibility needed to react to them.

industry_corpus2: Finance & Economics


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Skiing holidays, skiing areas and skiing in the Alps!
Where can we enjoy skiing to the full? Where do we find well groomed ski runs and much fresh snow? What’s the weather like and which accommodation should I choose for my skiing holiday in the Alps?
A perfect skiing holiday needs a good planning. Here you will find all information about skiing, cross-country skiing and snowboarding, daily current weather reports and news the ski regions, as well as many other useful recommendations for your skiing holiday in the Alps!

industry_corpus2: Travel & Geography


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This quaint spot offers a unique experience to locals of and visitors to the Collingwood area, with fine dining options made from the freshest ingredients.
Whether you’re looking to impress a date or give your sweetheart a break from the routine job of preparing daily meals, Mylar & Loreta’s Restaurant is the perfect setting for your next fine dining experience. This quaint spot offers a unique experience to locals of and visitors to the Collingwood, Ontario area, with fine dining options made from the freshest ingredients.
If you’re visiting the restaurant for dinner, we highly recommend our house specialty, roasted pork. This slow-roasted meat is tender and juicy, served with homemade stuffing; your choice of potato, veggies, fresh bread, a cup of soup or side salad; and dessert. The traditional roast turkey dinner is another top choice, bringing the beloved flavours of Thanksgiving throughout the year. The turkey is oven roasted for flavour, served with mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and veggies. You can also sample international flavours when you order the Schnitzel Parmesan, a fried pork cutlet topped with vegetable sauce and cheese, served alongside veggies and your choice of pasta or a potato.
Our gluten-free guests can also enjoy a meal at Mylar & Loreta’s Restaurant, since our menu includes several options that are prepared without gluten. The grilled chicken breast comes with your choice of sides, and the fresh grilled salmon, topped with a gourmet apple-infused maple reduction, is a tasty gluten-free choice. There is no other restaurant in the area quite like Mylar & Loreta’s for a fine dining experience, so come in today to sample our specialties and enjoy the ambience we’re so proud of.


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I. Objective The AGCW-DL invites all radio amateurs to participate in the annual QRP CONTEST. The QRP CONTEST is to arouse and to promote the interest in all aspects of low power amateur radio communication. QRO stations who want to learn about these activities by contacting QRP stations are therefore also invited. They will be counted in a separate category.
II. Dates Annually on the second Saturday in March from 1400 to 2000 UTC.
III. Bands 80m (3510-3560kHz), 40m, 20m (14000-14060kHz), 15m, 10m. The IARU Region 1 band plan must be adhered to!
Only CW (A1A). Only single OP. Only one TX and RX or TRX is allowed to be operated simultaneously. Each station may be worked once per band. The use of decoders or reader software is not allowed.
The slashes are part of the exchange and must be sent.
MULTIPLIERS: Each contact with a member of AGCW is worth one multiplier per band.
TOTAL SCORE: Sum of the QSO points of all bands multiplied with the sum of all multiplier points of all bands.
Dupes must be labeled. Dupes count 0 points.
All participants can print their certificate bicolor in A4 format as PDFdownloaden.
The link for downloading will be announced in the results.
VIII. LOG-Submission Even small logs are welcome! The results will be published in the AGCW-INFO, in the YL-Info and in the CQ-DL.
DEADLINE: Arrived at the manager until 31 March.
Checklogs are welcome, also comments of the participants.
Publication of the Contest results will be announced promptly after the deadline.


text:
In Ava Little’s second installment, she gets the next stage of the Reporter treatment and ends up a naked prisoner rather than getting her interview. Alex seems to particularly enjoy getting her hands on her for this, especially when Ava is handcuffed or just assuming the position.
And of course, as with all Reporter series, there is often more to come. In the meanwhile, enjoy. As always, feedback welcome!


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Lembah Temir Resort (LTR) is a hidden treasure located in Raub, Pahang waiting to be explored. What initially started off as a ''durian plantation project'' in 2009, turned into an escapade project as the owner loves to host families and friends at the orchard. Now, LTR is slowly growing into a resort in an orchard. It is set in 75 acres of stunning orchard landscape and is located just less than 2 hours drive away from Kuala Lumpur city centre.
This charming family run resort, was designed in complete harmony to the natural terrain/landscape and has 30 rooms scattered around the orchard. Each room is equipped with an en-suite bathroom, air condition, fan and water heater.
The orchard produces the all-time favorite tropical fruits such as Durian (Musang King) alongside other tropical fruits such as the Rambutan, Mangosteen, Duku, Jackfruit and many more.
Lembah Temir Resort is perfect for a family (or office) getaway!
A HAPPY PLACE TO BE!!!
The information contained in this video is for general information purposes only. While we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in the video for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.


text: By accessing the website at www.vcps.com, you are agreeing to be bound by these terms of service, all applicable laws and regulations, and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws. If you do not agree with any of these terms, you are prohibited from using or accessing this site. The materials contained in this website are protected by applicable copyright and trademark law. The following clauses all pertain and refer to this website: www.vcps.com and the proprietors of this website, including Eric Desman, M.D., and any authorized third party website manager, agency or in-house personnel to manage the website – in whole or in part.


text:
Boost Happiness, Productivity and Creativity.
An open source markdown editor for Mac, Windows and Linux app.
The intuitive and stylish note taking tool for developers.
"Your markdown notes are saved automatically as you write and various formatting options have semi-live previews so you can double check what you’re writing. Text is formatted as you type.
Boostnote is backed by a community of programmers. It has gained a lot of attention on GitHub and is supported by many contributors.
Trusted by programmers from over 200 countries and regions.
Our community always welcomes you!
Easy to write notes from anywhere, even if you're offline. When you update notes on your laptop, they are also reflected on your mobile devices.
There are a lot of code block, editor and UI themes. You can also set hotkeys as you like.
You can download the Desktop app.
Your email will be used for Boostnote News and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.


text: White Wolf is a Techno/tech house Dj/Producer residing in Orlando Florida. White wolf has seen releases on Del Sol, VFTR, Phunk Traxx, Frequenza Black, SMR Underground, and Safir Muzik. He has been apart of many showcases in the Orlando area and in Tampa/st Petersburg, which include these parties in multiple night clubs and warehouses across Florida. He derives his style from the thumping underground sounds of atroxxx, dense & pika, steve Mulder, and Under Black Helmet. His passion for the scene has landed him support from some notable underground artists such as Cyberx, Oller, Abemat, and Dubsy.


text:
Who made the Fertility Wizard?
I did. Im Sean Gleeson, a designer living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
My wife asked me to. She wanted a simple web page that would keep track of her fertility. I made it for her, but anyone who wants to use it is welcome. Its free.
Just tell the wizard when your most recent (or current) period started. It will tell you what day of your cycle youre on, and whether youre fertile that day.
You can visit the site every day (you may wish to bookmark it) and it will remember you, because it saves a cookie to your computer. So you dont have to input your start date every time, just once a month.
When your period starts again, reset your cycle with the reset button.
How does it know if Im fertile?
The wizard doesnt really do anything you couldnt do with a pencil and a calendar. It counts the days since your menstrual cycle started. If you are on day 8 through day 19 of your cycle, it says youre fertile. If youre on any other day, it says youre infertile.
Is there some way I could keep track of my fertility using the same method, but instead of a free web page, Id buy a necklace with a tiny rubber band that Id have to remember to advance to the next bead every day?
In fact, I believe there is such a necklace on offer through the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University. I am not affiliated in any way with the IRH; I get no money or compensation from them. But since their necklace was what inspired my wife to ask me to make the Fertility Wizard, Im happy to link to their site. Its a lot more informative than this one, but not as pretty.
Im told this method is 95% accurate. That means, if 100 women use it for a year, engaging in the procreative act only on the infertile days, five lucky ones will still get pregnant. If youre interested, there are far more accurate ways of gauging your fertility than simply counting days, but they involve taking your temperature and analyzing your mucus and whatnot.
Nope. It works for women whose menstrual cycles are between 26 and 32 days long. Most women fit this description, but some dont.
Is it guaranteed in any way?
Absolutely not! While I hope you find this information useful, I assume no responsibilty for any results. Unless youre my wife, in which case Ill assume some responsibility.

industry_corpus2: Health & Medicine


text: This classification is the most common type of pump, including radial-flow centrifugals and axial- and mixed-flow centrifugals. In the form of tall, slender, deep-well submersibles, they pump clear water from depths greater than 2000 ft. Horizontal centrifugals with volutes almost the size of a man can pump 9000 gpm of raw sewage through municipal treatment plants. Few applications are beyond their range, including flow rates of 1 to 100,000 gpm and process fluids from clear water to the densest sludge.

industry_corpus2: Water Resources & Marine


text:
A quiet man of honour.
This blog is dedicated to Geoff de Burca. In fact he paid for it. Let me explain.
One week after the amazing Channel 4 Stand up to Cancer night, MediaCom ran its own version in the bar in Holborn.
Compered for the evening by the inimitable Jem Lloyd-Williams (McIntyre eat your heart out) the evening comprised entertainment from a selection of MediaCom comedians (you can do your own jokes here but the stand ups included COO Josh, joint strategy head Steve, head of press Adam and joint head of trading Phil and also featured global head of art, Sam’s “dark satanic interpretation of a popular quiz show”). Proceeds from the bar obviously went to CRUK but there was also an auction of services and that’s where this blog comes in. For one night and one night only the content of this blog was for sale and went to the highest bidder. Step forward Geoff who acquired the blog after a tough tussle with our head of Create and our head of Finance EMEA.
I’ve known Geoff now for a couple of years. He works as a director in our CiD team (that’s the Challenge and Innovation team here at MediaCom.) He would describe himself as a generalist. I would describe him as one of the most curious and interested strategists I’ve met. In fact he’s so known across the planning floor for his almost obsessive search for knowledge and experiences that they call him “one step ahead of Google”.
He’s one of life’s natural explorers both intellectually and literally – he uses every day off to go somewhere – in the last 12 months he’s been to Vietnam, Barcelona, France, Malta and Porto, and his next trip is to Iceland. On recently acquiring a Kindle, he has downloaded all the classics and is working his way through all of them.
One of the most obvious things about Geoff as you come to know him is his sense of honour. He will never give anything or anyone less attention than they require. He will always treat people and projects with respect and empathy. And he will always give the right and proper advice (even if that means tough love sometimes).
Recently Geoff and I worked on a pitch together. His skill at the dark art of behavioural economics is second to none, and it was on the basis of this that we effectively tore up the expected response to the brief and sold in a startlingly innovative and yet pragmatic suggestion. This took guts and conviction. Not just to sell the idea internally but to sell it to the potential client. Not only was the pitch successful but you should see the evidence of the thinking creating impact and real change as the ideas in the pitch become real before the year turns.
I’m glad Geoff bought this blog, because it gives me the chance to tell him how his colleagues feel about him. Geoff is one of those people with whom it is a privilege to share an office. He and his work continue to grow. The best is yet to come.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2012 at 2:04 pm	and is filed under MediaComment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

industry_corpus2: Technology & Research


text:
This entry was posted in Air Conditioning on November 22, 2017 by CoolBlew.
Temperatures in the Valley of the Sun have finally dipped into the comfortable zone. During the fall and winter, Arizona homeowners rejoice in switching off their air conditioners for at least a couple of months. While it’s easy to turn your attention away from your air conditioner when you don’t need it, it may be the ideal time to consider replacement. If you’ve already identified that you will soon need a new unit because it’s old and beginning to malfunction, there are significant benefits to replacing it now, rather than waiting until the spring or summer.
Most HVAC experts will tell you that mid-October through April is the right time to replace your air conditioner for several important reasons. First, fewer homeowners and business owners are replacing units during these months. This means that you won’t have an extended wait for an estimate or for installation. Replacing your unit while you’re not reliant on it also means that you won’t be caught unexpectedly with a system failure. As anyone who has survived the heat of an Arizona summer knows, an air conditioner failure can be very disruptive.
Of course, it’s important to know when it’s time to invest in a new air conditioner. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to predict exactly when your air conditioner will stop functioning. However, there are some indicators that signal that you should consider a replacement.
Although some air conditioners will function seamlessly for decades, others don’t. A good rule of thumb is to begin considering the possibility of replacement when your unit hits 10 years in service.
Have your utility bills increased considerably despite no change in your usage pattern? Has your unit always underperformed or cycled excessively? It may be time to call out an expert for a load calculation. An HVAC professional can help you understand what size unit you need, based on your square footage, insulation, windows and other factors.
You may also be struggling with an older air conditioner with a low Seasonal Energy Efficiency (SEER) ratio. Today’s air conditioners must have a rating of at least 13, and many quality units will have ratings well above 14. A higher SEER rating means greater efficiency and a lower monthly utility bill.
While a new air conditioner can ensure you’re cool for many years to come, you may still have plenty of years of life left in your existing unit. If so, the best way to maximize its lifespan is to get it serviced regularly. Air conditioners in the hot temperatures of the greater Phoenix area work hard to keep your home cool. By keeping your HVAC system well-maintained, you can extend its usability dramatically.
Want to learn more? Call your cooling experts, Cool Blew, for a home energy evaluation.

industry_corpus2: Power & Energy


text:
MailChimp helps companies and organisations send over 95 Million emails every day! Use MailChimp to easily create great looking marketing emails, send them to list members, and see who opens and clicks. MailChimp is one of the leading Email Service Providers and their offering is seamlessly integrated with Administrate to help you market your course offerings!
Mailchimp is built to make it easier than ever to send newsletters, and our integration with MailChimp means you can use their awesome, easy to use email builder, themes, and other tools to easily send out newsletters that look great!
By integrating MailChimp with Administrate, you can save time preparing your marketing campaigns, lists, and tracking how your email newsletters perform. Administrate’s MailChimp integration helps you export contacts from Administrate to MailChimp with just a couple of clicks, and when you setup a marketing campaign within Administrate, we’ll automatically pull your email stats back so you’ve got everything in one spot!
Reliably sending email is a very hard problem and one we’re happy to be able to partner with companies like MailChimp. They’ll make sure that your emails get through, aren’t treated as spam, and provide a host of great resources to help you build and send email campaigns that make a difference!


text:
We have extensive and diverse experience in medical devices including FDA Class I, II, and III products as well as CMS reimbursement. We are well versed in the details of new medical device product roll-outs including 510 (k) submissions and full regulatory compliance.
Many of the challenges that medical device manufacturers face are well known to us. Altemir Consulting is familiar with operating within ISO 13485 and FDA cGMP frameworks while managing complex bills of materials (BOMs), engineering changes, and production requirements in the context of a highly loaded manufacturing environment.
Look to Altemir Consulting to help achieve your goals anywhere within the manufacturing supply chain or product development lifecycle.

industry_corpus2: Biopharmaceuticals


text:
After tipping 25 tokens in a day, you'll be able to vote regarding your satisfaction with Japan__Devil.
You have tipped Japan__Devil over 25 tokens today. Please share your feedback regarding your satisfaction with this broadcaster.
Your confidential vote regarding Japan__Devil has been recorded. You may change your vote at any time today. Thank you for your feedback.

industry_corpus2: Gaming


text:
We hung mandavilla from the arbor at the front steps. I think I would love the flower even if it never bloomed. Mandavilla. It's one of those words. Like Savannah. Don't you love Savannah. I've never been there but I somehow know I'd love it.
.....Now where was I. Oh yes, mandavilla. We were at our favorite produce stand last spring (2011) and out in front of the walkway he had two hanging baskets bleeding with red mandavilla blooms.
I NEVER buy anything on impulse, but I bought these two basket.
They bloomed into the fall and as cold weather approached, we brought them inside to winter in the great room.
It can be a bit of a pain bringing the plants you love inside, because the great room gets really cozy, but I'm so glad we did.
We had a hard rain with wind yesterday which blew off a lot of the blooms, but our little mandavillas are back hard at work.
I shot this picture this morning. Of course I used the Photoshop filter I'm learning how to use.
Lovely flowers. You are inspiring me to take pictures now. There are so many beautiful landscapes around. Rick I tagged you on my blog because I would like to learn about your book "Remembering Big". Come and take a look. Ciao.
I had to enlarge that pic to see what you did...very cool! My Mom always brings in her plants. They all survive and save her money plus they look great year after year.

industry_corpus2: Agriculture & Fisheries


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5) Bring a side dish of your own! Offer to your host that you bring a side dish to accompany their meal. Not only are you helping them out with less to cook, but you are offering your family and friends a delicious and nutritious recipe!
4) Use a smaller plate. Sometimes, we do not have choice of what will be served, and we do not have a way to bring our own healthy recipe. By choosing to use a smaller plate, you will eat less and still enjoy all of the delicious food provided for you!
3) Sample, do not indulge. Around the holidays, we are surrounded by cookies, cakes, and all types of delicious treats. So, instead of indulging and regretting those excess calories later on, sample what you would like your taste buds to try! Eating you treat-sample slowly will allow you to fully enjoy its flavors!
2) Wait 10-15 minutes before going up for seconds. Enjoy conversation with family and friends while you allow your first serving digest. If, after this time, there are still a few items you would like to try, or have some more, then go ahead. This way your tummy will feel more full and prevent you from becoming stuffed with extra calories!
1) Bring your workout with you! There is never an excuse for not working out over the holidays. With a variety of workouts and exercises to do with little or no equipment, an intense 20-minute workout should never be forgotten! OR even better, grab your family and friends for some outdoor activities: skating, walking, and making snowmen are all great ways to have fun and burn some calories!
* Keep an eye out for my next post - a quick, intense, no equipment workout that will have you sweating!
I hope these tips help you keep up with your fitness goals and being a healthy role model for all those around you! Please post your tips and tricks below!!
You rock Kellie! Thanks for the tips!


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This is the real Taiwanese anthem. This will be our anthem.
I kept my silence, not because I would mind offending anyone. I knew I could not finish singing this song without burst into tears. The Chinese rebels brain washed Taiwanese people so well that most people do not even know they are still slaves.
That is NOT the anthem of Taiwan, neither so called Republic of China.
The following song is the real anthem of Republic of China.
The so called Nationalist party rebelled against the rightful government, and used their party anthem to replace the national anthem. Later, due to corruption, Chiang Kai-shek had to step down because of communist rebellion. He "reclaim" his "leadership" in Taiwan without any legal ground.


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Successfully Added Car DVD Player - Detachable Panel, AV output, CD, DVD, USB, SD card playback to your Shopping Cart.
High quality 1 DIN Car Audio System with anti-theft detachable panel to bring you ultimate audio entertainment on the road.
With this 1 DIN Car Audio Entertainment System, you will be getting great music from your CD collections and FM/AM radio. Furthermore, you can copy your favorite music to a USB drive or SD card and play on this audio system. Even better, with AV OUT, you can connect this 1 DIN Player to any size LCD Screen for playing DVD's. It is an easier and less expensive way to enjoy movies than buying a Car DVD Player with a screen pre-installed.
This Car Audio System comes with a sleek stylish design and can be easily installed in any car with a standard one DIN slot. Plus, it comes with a detachable front panel which offers the best protection against car break-ins. When you leave your car, just eject the front panel and take it with you. In a nutshell, this is a fast and easy alternative for expensive Car DVDs to offer you equal amount of in-car entertainment.
With a really affordable wholesale price, this is the perfect upgrade to any personal or company vehicles. Order one for yourself and when you find out how good it is, you can re-order more for the resale market. This model is available exclusively to our customer base, only from the leader in direct wholesale electronics, Chinavasion.
AV OUT for connecting with standalone displays for viewing movies.

industry_corpus2: Automobiles


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Are you ready to take photography classes in Lackey KY? Whether you are a beginner, hobbyist, or professional, the best way to improve your photography abilities is through hands-on training with skilled instructors.
Kentucky features many accredited and recognized photography schools. Photography classes cover topics such as lighting techniques, digital capture, outdoor photography, exposure, composition, and many other basic and advanced camera techniques. Maturing into an experienced photographer can lead to a prosperous professional career or lifelong hobby.


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I’m happy to announce that Shion 2.0b5 is available for download.
1. The reliability enhancements should help Shion work better on Smarthome PowerLinc USB V2 (2414) devices. I identified a number of situations that caused the software to hang and these are now being dealt with in the software. I also included a fix that should solve the flickering lights problem.
the level of device named "Overhead Light"
deactivate the device named "Overhead Light"
activate the device named "Overhead Light"
activate the snapshot named "Corner On"
Information is logged to a folder on your Desktop called Shion Log in plain text files organized by date. Use any text editor to inspect the files’ contents.
Note: The in-application update is currently not working, so you’ll need to download the software directly from the link above. I should have this fixed in the next release.


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The Department is responsible for the administration of the Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989 and its Regulations and Determinations.
The Australian Design Rules (ADRs) are national standards determined under the Motor Vehicle Standards Act and are available on CD-ROM.
They can be obtained by emailing standards@infrastructure.gov.au, telephoning 02 6274 7684 or following the steps outlined under the subscription/purchase information page. Previously published interpretations of ADRs still stand.


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Add support for read/write offsets.
It would be nice if read/write/send/recv/etc methods could accept an offset argument.
The same for write, e.g.
Could also include "size:" so that we can selectively write parts of the buffer.
I can imagine it is useful for TCPSocket#write to accept only a part of a buffer crafted by somebody else. But I cannot think of any actual use case when #read is useful with that extension. Do you have one?
It is useful for read when user wants to read some data, and it wasn't enough (e.g. implementing gets) so you need to read some more at the end of what you already have.
Also, rather than using a keyword argument, it could be a 3rd argument after buffer, since buffer must be supplied in order for this to work.


text: Public health science has documented that most (50-80%) of what impacts individual health and illness is non-medical in nature, including environmental conditions, behavioral factors and social factors. This is referred to as the social determinants of health (SDOH). As the health care system moves to value based payments, it is becoming increasingly important that these social determinants of health are addressed to improve health outcomes for individuals, families and communities. Nursing has always seen a role for itself in addressing the patient holistically, including the social determinants of health, but it is not clear how nurses are being prepared to do this effectively. What knowledge and skills do nurses need to address the SDOH? How can this knowledge and skill set be taught-and relevant competencies assessed- within and across the nursing curriculum? Nursing educators are critical in ensuring that the nursing workforce of the future can demonstrate effective nursing practice, including working with patients/clients to address the SDOH.


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Looking at mobile homes for sale in 93263? Look no further!
Welcome to the Mobile Homes in 93263 Real Estate Portal! Here you can view Mobile Homes for Sale in 93263 and search other available properties for sale in 93263.


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Interest rates have been zero for 90 months.
This is not normal. Something fundamental has changed.
It’s fascinating how rarely we discuss the root cause of zero interest rates.
David Stockman is one of the financial commentators I occasionally read because he has a good understanding of the widespread and un-prosecuted fraud that took place leading up to the 2008 crisis, and because he understands the dangers of excessive debt.
Today Stockman wrote an article on zero interest rates.
There is a structural growth problem, of course. But it has absolutely nothing to do with monetary policy; and it can’t be fixed with cheap money and more debt, anyway.
Since the year 2000 when monetary repression began in earnest, the balance sheet of the Fed has risen by 800%, while the amount of labor hours used in the US economy has increased by 2%.
At a ratio of 400:1 you can’t even try to argue the counterfactual. That is, there is no amount of money printing that could have ameliorated the “no growth” economy symbolized by flat-lining labor hours.
Indeed, as we demonstrated in a post earlier this week—–precisely 100% of the entire increase in corporate borrowing since the turn of the century has been pumped back into the casino in the form of stock repurchases.
The world is drowning in excess production capacity owing to the massive worldwide credit inflation and repression of capital costs during the last two decades. That was the effect of total global credit growth from $40 trillion in the mid-1990s to upwards of $225 trillion today—-an $185 trillion expansion that exceeded the growth of global GDP by nearly 4X during the same period.
In fact, tepid growth of labor hours, productivity and output is a supply side problem. In that respect, replacing the current burdensome 16% payroll tax on America’s high cost labor with a consumption tax on the nation’s heavily imported goods would do more for supply side growth than central bankers could ever accomplish in a month of Sundays.
Stockman’s diagnosis is that growth is stalled because US labor costs are not competitive. His solution is to stimulate growth by shifting taxation from payroll to import duties.
His logic is obviously flawed. If uncompetitive labor costs are the cause of low growth, why is the entire world struggling to grow?
… work, exertion, sweat, discipline, enterprise, innovation, invention, sacrifice and savings.
He completely misses the vital role of energy in our economy.
A growing economy means that total income is increasing. Income equals productivity (what is produced) plus the change in debt.
Productivity results from combining effort (labor), capital (machines and credit), knowledge (technology), raw materials (stuff), and energy (90+% non-renewable fossil) in an efficient manner (efficiency).
We have no shortage of labor (plenty of unemployed), no shortage of capital (plenty of idle machines and low-cost credit), no shortage of knowledge (plenty of new graduates), and no shortage of raw materials (yet). Our efficiency is pretty good and is approaching engineering limits for improvement.
Our productivity growth has stalled because our energy use growth has stalled because the cost of extracting fossil energy now exceeds what we can afford to pay while growing.
The cost of extracting fossil energy has been increasing at a compounded rate of about 17% per year because it is a finite resource and we chose for obvious reasons to burn the easy to get and inexpensive energy first. What remains is expensive and will get progressively more expensive to extract.
The trick we have used since about 1980 to hide this inconvenient energy reality is to increase our debt faster than our productivity.
When we borrow more money than we repay in a given year, the difference (credit) looks and behaves like earned income (productivity). It makes no difference to our lifestyle if we pay with a $20 bill or our MasterCard.
Eventually we reach a limit to the amount of debt we can service with our income. This limit can be extended by reducing interest rates, which we’ve done, but even at extremely low rates there is still a maximum amount of debt that can be supported by a given income.
Citizens reached their debt limit in 2007 which precipitated the 2008 crisis.
Since 2008 we have been masking our energy reality by increasing public debt which, unlike private debt, is not limited in the short-term by income because governments can print money to service their debt.
There are several ways to print money. The method we have used so far is called quantitative easing (QE) which is the government borrowing money from itself and us winking at each other and telling ourselves that we intend to repay the debt someday. Any honest assessment of our ability to repay our government debt from taxes would show that the debt cannot and will not be repaid.
Another type of money printing, which we may soon try, is to print and hand out money directly to citizens. The main difference from QE is that we will stop winking at each other.
The implication of printing money is that we have chosen to reduce the value of future money to maintain our current lifestyle. Put another way, we are living beyond our means and the difference between what we are spending and what we are earning will be subtracted from our future standard of living. This means we are making the future much worse than it needs to be.
The thing that’s sustaining our standard of living (public debt) is growing faster than the thing needed to sustain the public debt (our productivity). This is one definition of a bubble.
We are living in a giant, global, and unprecedented debt bubble.
All bubbles, by definition, must burst.
When bubbles burst they always revert through their mean. The bigger the bubble, the greater the unnecessary future pain we create.
When bubbles burst they never deflate slowing in a controlled manner. We will not experience a smooth transition from our current standard of living to a new lower standard of living. It will be a bumpy and probably unfair process where those least deserving of pain are hit the hardest.
When our bubble bursts it will create real hardship with little or no time to adjust, and will create the conditions necessary for social unrest, crime, despots, and war. The worst of history will likely repeat but on a much larger scale because our situation is unprecedented.
The relationship between the economy and energy is clear yet even the better commentators, like Stockman, are in denial and choose not to look.
Growth is over. De-growth is coming soon.
Most will say “no one could have seen this coming”.
The facts are clear for anyone that chooses to look.
We could have reduced our population and lifestyles in a safe, civil, and fair manner, with the added benefit of less damage to the environment, which we’ll desperately need when the oil is gone, but chose not to because of evolved denial.


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Together, OMIC, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology (PAAO), provide the following Informed Consent documents in Spanish with support from the Bruce E. Spivey Fund for Risk Management Studies.
Questions? Suggestions? Contact us: riskmanagement@omic.com.
For consent forms in English, please visit the Consent Forms page.


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One of our FAVS!!! Estee' Lauder's Resilience Lift (lift of radiance), the glow of youth. As soon as it touches your skin, this nourishing, silky-light oil delivers a restorative surge of replenishment with its fatigue-fighting blend with nutrient-rich phyto-lipids. Instantly, skin comes alive with a healthy, youthful glow. This intensely replenishing blend absorbs immediately, leaving skin smooth, cushioned, comfortable. Fortifies the protective moisture barrier so skin looks younger and stays resilient. Use it with Resilience Lift Day and Resilience Lift Night for 24-hour firming, sculpting power. Log onto Estee' Lauder for more details!!
One of our FAVS!!! Estee' Lauder's Resilience Lift (lift of radiance), the glow of youth. As soon as it touches your skin, this nourishing, silky-light oil delivers a restorative surge of replenishment with its fatigue-fighting blend with nutrient-rich phyto-lipids. Instantly, skin comes alive with a healthy, youthful glow. This intensely replenishing blend absorbs immediately, leaving skin smooth, cushioned, comfortable. Fortifies the protective moisture barrier so skin looks younger and stays resilient. Use it with Resilience Lift Day and Resilience Lift Night for 24-hour firming, sculpting power. Log onto Estee' Lauder for more details!!.


text: The Strike King KVD Finesse Colorado Willow Spinnerbait was designed by 7-Time Angler of the Year, Kevin VanDam, and the specialists at Strike King in a joint effort to create the greatest all-around spinnerbait that catches bass in all conditions. The smaller, re-designed Perfect Skirt comes in natural color presentations and povides a pulsing action that tempts bass to bite. Made with the high-quality components, the Strike King KVD Finesse Colorado Willow Spinnerbait is assembled with premium blades bearing the official KVD logo, a choice ball bearing swivel, and a masterfully painted head.


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When you think of a string trio, you anticipate chamber jazz, likely on the quiet side, with lots of air between the instruments and come-hither sonorities like ear candy.
There is evidence that a violin renaissance is underway in jazz. Left of center is Billy Bang, whose Vietnam: The Aftermath was one of last year’s strongest albums. Right of center is Regina Carter. Her record label, Verve, clearly hopes to make her a star. Roving the wide-open spaces between them is Rob Thomas, who can do anything they can do, better.

industry_corpus2: Film & Entertainment


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new turn signal glass to glue in place using the orignal chrome holder (not included). This one is for the front left side.
Give your car that "as new" look with these bright orange glasses.


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Long ago in distant land.
A truck carrying piglets overturned last week in Ohio. Someone constructed this over the weekend near where it happened.

industry_corpus2: Others


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Like the countryside oddities its main characters take in while on vacation, Sightseers is a fun little curiosity that's definitely not for everyone. Director Ben Wheatley's bizarre Britcom/horror hybrid works more as a fascination than as a recommendable good time at the movies, but some who seek it out will likely find a new favorite cult-film-of-the-moment.
Co-writers Alice Lowe and Steve Oram star in their own story, as Tina and Chris, a newly dating, blue-collar couple. As performers and creators, they really sell the dull-eyed boredom of people who seem to have just figured out that dream-fulfillment is no longer on their road map. They're content to be mediocre and happy with each other, embarking on a tired sightseeing trip, even as the wider world charges ahead in full-on Party Mode.
Sure, Chris has vague plans of becoming a writer, but he's blocked at every turn by an utter lack of inspiration and original thought--until one afternoon, when his mobile home backs over an obnoxious tourist. Neither Tina nor the audience is sure how "accidental" the fatal incident was, but it gives Chris a thrill that soon becomes addictive. In short order, Sightseers becomes a laid-back version of Natural Born Killers, where only one of the perps is fully on board: Tina wades into their new life of crime, at first domineered by Chris's big personality, then consumed by the power she now has over unsuspecting people's lives.
As with most movies of this kind (and there are just enough to warrant a bona fide sub-genre, complete with its own tropes), our protagonists discover that the damage they do to others infects their souls, and eventually their once-kind-of-strong relationship. At first, Chris and Tina are able to rationalize their crimes as vigilante justice against litterers, snobs, and idiots unappreciative of historical landmarks. But as their brief journey wears on, a "punishable offense" becomes as innocuous as attending a bachelorette party or insisting that Chris and Tina pick up after a dog they've kidnapped.
The murders are played for laughs here, but the filmmakers revel in the ghoulishness of these characters' actions. It's not enough to see Chris repeatedly bash a snotty tourist's head in with a rock; we must also see the mushy aftermath in all its crime-scene-photo realism. These moments are disturbing, and add a nice punctuation to the dryly offbeat road trip of two otherwise boring people. Like the TV series Doc Martin, the dialogue is authentically working-class and alternately grumpy and sweet (often very funny, too), but those who can't stand the sight of blood will likely get whiplash from looking away so sharply and so often.
There's a lot to like here, particularly in the performances. At times, Sightseers doesn't seem so much like a well-observed comedy-of-the-uncomfortable as it does a docudrama about low-rent human train-wrecks. The filmmakers ease us into their ridiculous nightmare by setting up Chris and Tina as actual, average-looking people. They don't have movie-star looks or dispositions, and my sympathy ebbed and flowed with their adventures. Sure, they're dimwitted losers, I thought, but at least they're working together on a goal--sort of. Wheatley, Lowe, and Oram present one of the trickiest anti-hero couples I've seen in a long time.
Sightseers is a strange one to recommend. There's very little about the movie that's "cinematic", but I loved the intimacy and unexpectedness of the story. If you're looking for a quirky, conventional romance (or even a safe, unconventional one), move along. But as far as homicidal-black-comedy/dysfunctional-relationship films go, this one's tough to beat.
Feeling adventurous? Sightseers is now playing at Chicago's Music Box Theatre. Get showtimes and theatre information here.


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The Obama Administration announced yesterday and this morning additional Iran sanctions pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-172) (50 U.S.C. 1701 note) (ISA), as amended by, inter alia, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-195), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, with respect to the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12957 of March 15, 1995 against the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Executive Order is available here.
In related news, the Obama Administration will also be imposing sanctions on Venezuela's state-owned oil company, PDVSA, for its dealings with Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism. Additional details to follow.