text:
DYING LIGHT – KEY GENERATOR is an activity diversion with open world survival frightfulness atmospheres created by Polish studio Techland. It is an unconventional blend of Dead Island, the generation of a similar group, and Mirror’s Edge from the makers of the Battlefield arrangement. Activity title was appeared from a first individual viewpoint.
Play as one of four characters, hitting the city displayed on Rio de Janeiro, and in this way – the appearance takes after a provincial favela neighborhoods. Metropolitan populace has been contaminated with a baffling infection that changed her into a zombie.

industry_corpus2: Gaming


text: Free Motion Quilting 101 is a relaxed approach to freehand quilting. Author Tracey Russell takes you through 100 designs that are perfect for any skill level. Videos accompany each lesson and can be viewed on the author's YouTube Channel as well as Facebook. Use the step-by-step instructions to familiarize yourself with the process of freehand quilting. Build confidence and skill by practicing. These attractive designs can be used as allovers, sashing, borders, and more on a variety of homemade projects. Use your new skills to add eye-catching designs to quilts, wall hangings, purses, and many other sewing projects. Free Motion Quilting 101 is spiral bound making it easy to lay flat.

industry_corpus2: Others


text:
E. Alpaydin, F. Gurgen " Comparison of Statistical and Neural Classifiers and Their Applications to Optical Character Recognition and Speech Classification,” Neural Network Systems Techniques and Applications vol.5, Image Processing and Pattern Recognition, C.T. Leondes (Ed.) Academic Press, pp.61-88, 1998.
F. Gunes, H. Torpi, F.S. Gurgen,”Multidimensional signal-noise neural network model,” IEEE Proc. Circuits, Devices and Systems, vol.145, no.2, pp.111-117, April 1998.
Berk Gökberk, M. Okan İrfanoğlu, Lale Akarun, Ethem Alpaydın, “Learning the best subset of local features for face recognition,” Pattern Recognition, Volume 40 , Issue 5 (May 2007), Pages: 1520-1532.
Salah, A.A., H. Cinar, L. Akarun, B. Sankur, “Robust Facial Landmarking for Registration”, Annals of Telecommunications, Special Issue on Multimodal Biometrics, vol.62, no.1-2, pp.1608-1633, 2007.
Salah, A.A., M. Bicego, L. Akarun, E. Grosso, M. Tistarelli, “Hidden Markov Model-based face recognition using selective attention”, in SPIE Conference on Human Vision and Electronic Imaging, 2007.
Salah, A.A., N. Alyuz, L. Akarun, “Alternative face models for 3D face registration”, in SPIE Conference on Electronic Imaging: Vision Geometry , 2007.
Berk Gökberk, M. Okan İrfanoğlu, Lale Akarun, “3D Shape-based Face Representation and Feature Extraction for Face Recognition,” Image and Vision Computing, Vol.24, Issue.8, pp 857-869, August 2006.
Salah, A.A., L. Akarun, “3D Facial Feature Localization for Registration”, in B. Gunsel et al. (eds.), LNCS, Volume 4105/2006, International Workshop on Multimedia Content Representation, Classification and Security , pp. 338- 345, 2006.
Cinar Akakin, H., A.A. Salah, L. Akarun, B. Sankur, “2D/3D facial feature extraction”, Proc. SPIE Vol. 6064, Image Processing: Algorithms and Systems, Neural Networks, and Machine Learning; Edward R. Dougherty, Jaakko T. Astola, Karen O. Egiazarian, Nasser M. Nasrabadi, Syed A. Rizvi; Eds., 2006.
Akarun, L., B. Gokberk, A.A. Salah, “3D Face Recognition for Biometric Applications,” in Proc. European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO), 2005.
Gokberk, B., A.A. Salah, L. Akarun, “Rank-based Decision Fusion for 3D Shape-based Face Recognition,” in T. Kanade, A. Jain, N. Ratha (eds.) LNCS, Volume 3546/2005 Audio- and Video-Based Biometric Person Authentication: 5th International Conference , pp.1019-1028, (AVBPA), 2005.
Berk Gökberk, Lale Akarun, “Selection and Extraction of Patch Descriptors for 3D Face Recognition”, ISCIS 2005, Turkey, October 26-28, 2005, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3733 Springer 2005, ISBN 3-540-29414-7 , pp. 718-727.
Berk Gökberk, M. Okan İrfanoğlu, Lale Akarun, Ethem Alpaydın, “Selection of Location, Frequency, and Orientation Parameters of 2D Gabor Wavelets for Face Recognition,” Advanced Studies in Biometrics, Summer School on Biometrics, Alghero, Italy, June 2-6, 2003. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol.3161 Springer 2005, ISBN 3-540-26204-0 , p. 138-146, 2005.
M. Okan İrfanoğlu, Berk Gökberk, Lale Akarun, “3D Shape-based Face Recognition using Automatically Registered Facial Surfaces,” International Conference on Pattern Recognition, 2004, pp.183-186, Cambridge, UK.
Berk Gökberk, M. Okan İrfanoğlu, Lale Akarun, Ethem Alpaydın, “Optimal Gabor Kernel Selection for Face Recognition,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, 2003, pp. 677-680, Barcelona, Spain.
Salah, A.A., E. Alpaydin, L. Akarun, “A Selective Attention Based Method for Visual Pattern Recognition with Application to Handwritten Digit Recognition and Face Recognition,” IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol.24, No.3, pp. 420-425, March 2002.
Gokberk, B., L. Akarun, E. Alpaydin, “Feature selection for pose invariant face recognition,” Proceedings ICPR 2002, Quebec City, Canada, August 2002.
B. Gokberk, L. Akarun, E. Alpaydin, “Gabor wavelet based pose estimation for face recognition”, Proc. ISCIS’01, Antalya,November 2001.
A.A. Salah, E. Alpaydin, L. Akarun, “A selective attention based method for visual pattern recognition”, Proc. 23rd Annual Conf. of the Cognitive science Society, p. 881-886, August 2001, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Z. Melek, L. Akarun, “Automated lip synchronized speech driven facial animation”, Proceedings IEEE Int. Conf. On Multimedia and Expo., July 2000, New York.
E. Demir, L. Akarun, E. Alpaydin, “Two-stage approach for pose-invariant face recognition”, Proceedings ICASSP 2000, June 2000, Istanbul, Turkey.
A.A. Salah, E. Alpaydin, L. Akarun, “Selective attention based optical recognition of handwritten digits”, Proceedings of the First Balkan Conference on signal processing, communications, circuits and systems, Istanbul, June 2000.
E. B. Abay, L. Akarun, and E. Alpaydin, “A comparative analysis of different feature sets for face recognition,” Proc. ISCIS’97, pp. 220-227, Antalya, 1997.
Oya Aran, Cem Keskin, Lale Akarun, “Sign Language Tutoring Tool”, EUSIPCO’05, Antalya, September 2005.
Cem Keskin, Oya Aran, Lale Akarun, “Real Time Gestural Interface For Generic Applications”, EUSIPCO’05, Antalya, September 2005.
“Gradient Based Fingerprint Verification Using Principal Components,” Ballan M., Gurgen F., pp.191-196, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computer Science, World Sci Eng. Soc. Press (ISBN: 960-8052-16-5), 1999.
Ballan M., Gurgen F.,” On the Principal Component Based Fingerprint Classification Using Directional Images,” 2nd Intl. Sym. Math. And Comp. Appl., Mathematical & Computational Applications, Vol. 4, No. 1-3, pp. 91-98, 1999.
Gurgen F.S., Guler N., Varol F., “Antenatal Fetal risk Assessment by Blood Velocity Waveforms Using Discriminant Functions: Umbilical Artery and Cerebral-Umbilical Ratio,” Vol 20, No 6, pp 165-169, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, Nov/Dec, 2001.
Gurgen F.S., Guler N., Varol F., “Antenatal Fetal risk Assessment by Blood Velocity Waveforms Using Discriminant Functions: Umbilical Artery and Cerebral-Umbilical Ratio,” Vol 19, No 6, pp 88-93, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, Nov/Dec, 2000.
Fikret Gurgen,”Decision Making with Neural Network Based Medical Diagnostic Applications,” Vol 18, No 4, pp 89-93, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, July-August, 1999.
“Decision Making using Statistical Decision Theory and Neural Networks in Medical Diagnostic Applications,” Chapter in Computer Techniques in Medical and Biotechnology Systems, for GORDON and BREACH International Series in Engineering, Technology and Applied Science Edited by Cornelius T. Leondes, 2000.
“Decision of Normal and Growth Retarded Pregnancies by Discriminant functions Using Umbilical Arterial Blood Flow Velocities,” Guler N., Gurgen F., Varol F., pp.186-191, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computer Science, World Sci Eng. Soc. Press (ISBN: 960-8052-16-5), 1999.
Gurgen F., Guler N., Varol F., “An Intelligent Medical Decision: Antenatal Fetal Risk Assessment by Neurofuzzy Technique Using Doppler Blood Flow Velocity Waveforms from Umbilical and Cerebral Artery,” Proc. of IJCNN, 2001.
Guler N., Yildiz O. T., Gurgen F., Varol F., Alpaydin E., “Discriminant Functions and Decision Tree Induction Techniques for Antanetal Fetal Risk Assessment,” Proc. of IJCNN, 2001.
Sibel Oge Merey, Fikret Gurgen, Nurgul Gurgen, “The Use of Major Risk Factors for Computer-based Distinction of Diabetic Patients with Ischemic Stroke and without Stroke,” Proc. of IEEE EMB Conf. (CD), 2001.
Guler N., Gurgen F., Arikan G., “Using Local Information for diagnosing Intranatal Adverse Conditions by Pulse Oximetry,” Proc. of IEEE EMB Conf. (CD), 2001.
Guler N., Yildiz O. T., Gurgen F., Varol F., Alpaydin E., “A Comparison of Discriminant Functions and Decision Tree Induction Techniques for Evaluation of Antenatal Fetal Risk Assessment”, in Proc. of ISCIS, 2000.
Ballan M., Gurgen F., “An Intelligent Fuzzy Data Driven System for Class Decision of Limited GPR Data,” in Proc. of ISCIS, 2000.
Guler N., Gurgen F., Varol F., " An Intelligent Medical Decision: Antepartum Fetal Evaluation,” in Proc. of IEEE EMB Workshop, Isik Univ. 2000.
Ballan M., Gurgen F.,” A Fuzzy K_Means Classification Method for Limited Number of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Data,” in Proc. of Eng. In Intelligent Systems (EIS), 2000.
Guler N., Gurgen F., Varol F., “An Evaluation of the Effects of Blood Flow Velocity Waveforms from Umbilical and Cerebral Artery for Antenatal Risk Assessment Decision, " in Proc. of Eng. In Intelligent Systems (EIS), 2000.
Guler N., Gurgen F., Varol F., “Diagnosis of Fetal Hypoxia by Discriminant Functions Using Umbilical Arterial Blood Flow Velocity Waveforms, " 2nd Intl. Sym. Math. And Comp. Appl. Proc., pp.372-378, 1999.
Salah, A.A., E. Alpaydin, “Incremental Mixtures of Factor Analyzers,” in Proc. International Conference on Pattern Recognition, vol.1, pp.276-279, (ICPR), 2004.
A. Baraldi, E. Alpaydin, “Constructive Feedforward ART Clustering Network - Part I” IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, 13(3), 645-661, 2002.
A. Baraldi, E. Alpaydin “Constructive Feedforward ART Clustering Network - Part II” IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, 13(3), 662-677, 2002.
A. A. Salah, E. Alpaydin, L. Akarun “A Selective Attention-Based Method for Visual Pattern Recognition with Application to Handwritten Digit Recognition and Face Recognition” IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 24(3), 420-425, 2002.
O. T. Yildiz, E. Alpaydin “Omnivariate Decision Trees” IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, 12(6), 1539-1546, 2001.
F. Alimoglu, E. Alpaydin “Combining Multiple Representations for Pen-based Handwritten Digit Recognition” ELEKTRIK: Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, 9(1), 1-12, 2001.
E. Alpaydin “Combined 5x2cv F Test for Comparing Supervised Classification Learning Algorithms,” Neural Computation, 11(8), 1885-1982, 1999.
I. Bayraktaroglu, A. S. Ogrenci, G. Dundar, S. Balkir, E. Alpaydin “ANNSyS: An Analog Neural Network Synthesis System,” Neural Networks, 12(2), 325-338, 1999.
E. Alpaydin, Ed. Special Issue on Engineering of Intelligent Systems, Artificial Intelligence in Engineering, “Guest Editorial,” 13(4), 1999.
E Alpaydin, C Kaynak “Cascading Classifiers,” Kybernetika, 34(4), 369-374, 1998.
E. Alpaydin “Soft Vector Quantization and the EM Algorithm,” Neural Networks, 11(3), 467-477, 1998.
F. Koksal, E. Alpaydin, G. Dundar “Weight Quantization for Multilayer Perceptrons using Soft Weight Sharing,” ICANN‘01, Vienna, Austria, August 2001.
E. Alpaydin “Assessing and Comparing Classification Algorithms,” ISAS2001, Havana, Cuba, March 2001.
E. Alpaydin, C. Kaynak, F. Alimoglu “Cascading Multiple Classifiers and Representations for Optical and Pen-Based Handwritten Digit Recognition,” IWFHR, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, September 2000.
C. Kaynak, E. Alpaydin “MultiStage Cascading of Multiple Classifiers: One Man’s Noise is Another Man’s Data,” ICML2K, Stanford Univ, USA, June 2000.
O.T. Yildiz, E. Alpaydin “Linear Discriminant Trees,” ICML2K, Stanford Univ, USA, June 2000.
E. Alpaydin, E. Mayoraz “Learning Error-Correcting Output Codes from Data,” ICANN‘99, Edinburgh, UK, September 1999.
E. Mayoraz, E. Alpaydin “Support Vector Machines for Multi-Class Classification,” IWANN’99, Alicante, Spain, June 1999.
E. Alpaydin " Techniques for Combining Multiple Learners,” Engineering of Intelligent Systems EIS’98, Teneriffe, Spain, February 1998.
Ballan M., Gurgen F.,” On the Relationship of Nearest Neighbor Concept and Fuzzy Membership,” ISCIS’1999 Proc., 1999.
D. Ozdemir and L. Akarun, “An algorithm for fuzzy color quantization of images”, Pattern Recognition (Special Issue on Color Imaging), vol 35, no. 8, pp. 1785-1791, August 2002.
D. Ozdemir and L. Akarun, “Fuzzy Algorithms for combined quantization and dithering”, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 10, no 6, pp. 923-931, June 2001.
D. Ozdemir and L. Akarun, “Fuzzy Error Diffusion”, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 9, no 4, pp. 683-690, April 2000.
L. Akarun, Y. Yardimci, and A.E. Cetin, “Adaptive Methods for Dithering of Color Images”, Selected Papers on Digital Halftoning, J. Allebach (Eds.), pp. 674-677, SPIE Press (1999).
L. Akarun, O. Yalcin, and D. Ozdemir, “Joint quantization and dithering of color images,” Selected Papers on Digital Halftoning, J. Allebach (Eds.), pp. 706-709, SPIE Press (1999).
D. Ozdemir and L. Akarun, “Fuzzy VQ algorithms for color quantization”, Proc. IEEE workshop on nonlinear signal and image processing (NSIP’99), vol. I, pp.249-253, Antalya, 1999.
T. Tasdizen, L. Akarun, and C. Ersoy, “Color Quantization with genetic algorithms,” Signal Processing: Image Communication, vol. 12, pp. 49-57, January 1998.
D. Ozdemir and L. Akarun, “Fuzzy approaches in error diffusion of color images”, Proc. ISCIS’98, pp. 214-221, Antalya, 1998.
L. Akarun, Y. Yardimci, and A.E. Cetin, “Adaptive Methods for Dithering of Color Images”, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 6, no.7, pp. 950-955, July 1997.
L. Akarun, D. Ozdemir and E. Alpaydin, “Fuzzy error diffusion of color images,” Proc. ICIP, vol 3, pp.46-49, Santa Barbara, USA, 1997.
L. Akarun, D. Ozdemir, and O. Yalcin, “A modified quantization algorithm for dithering of color images,” Electronics Letters, vol. 32, no. 13, pp. 1185-1186, June 1996.
L. Akarun, O. Yalcin, and D. Ozdemir, “Joint quantization and dithering of color images,” Proc. ICIP, vol 1, pp. 557-560, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1996.
L. Akarun, Y. Yardimci, and A.E. Cetin, “Adaptive Methods for Dithering of Color Images”, Proc. ICIP, vol. 3, pp. 125-128, Washington DC, 1995.
L. Akarun Y. Yardimci and A. E. Cetin, “New methods for the dithering of color images”, Proc. 1995 IEEE Workshop on Nonlinear Signal and Image Processing, vol 2, pp. 523-526, Greece, 1995.

industry_corpus2: Artificial Intelligence


text:
How would you describe Japanese? Humble. I would add they are disciplined but restrained, in both positive and negative way.
Too abstract? Here are a few examples. Japanese bow to you for almost every conversation; there is no ringtone in the country, everyone set their mobile to vibrate/silent mode, so they would not disturb others in public space; Japanese normally do not talk on public transportation, except kids and drunk people, who I found more ‘genuine’ in a way, they are just being themselves.
I was constantly wondering, what kind of people do the Japanese really want to be under the smiling and polite faces?


text:
Gateway Multifamily Group has acquired a mixed-use community near downtown St. Louis. The Westview Condos and Offices at the Collinsville Crossings, an 8.3-acre site with 18,000 square feet of office space, 16,000 square feet of multifamily space and five acres for future development, will be re-branded as The Westview.
The property is located at 1803 Ramada Blvd. in Collinsville, Ill. It is situated 15 minutes from downtown St. Louis and within 10 minutes of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Gateway Commerce Center.
The property and future developments at the site will be managed by Gateway’s in-house property management company Tut and Tut Properties. A BarberMurphy Group team arranged the transaction, with Paul Murphy representing the buyer and Cathy Hamilton working on behalf of the seller.
The property is not far from where Fireside Financial recently broke ground on a 153-unit community that is expected to be completed in 2020.

industry_corpus2: Real Estate & Construction


text: Tellington Method for Companion Animals at Alchemy Dog Training. This three-day hands-on workshop can apply to the requirements for certification as a Tellington TTouch Practitioner. Or attend only September 13-14.

industry_corpus2: Agriculture & Fisheries


text:
If there were two sound bytes that could perfectly encapsulate fan sentiments from the 2017 Tech football season, they would be “The triple option is the worst” and “Fire Ted Roof.” Ever since Miami lit up the Jackets for 45 in Roof’s fifth week as defensive coordinator back in 2013, Tech has struggled to find a way to limit opposing offenses. However, while one does not have to have an A in MATH 3215 to realize that allowing a career 25.1 points per game is far from a sustainable pace, identifying the causes of Tech’s struggles is in fact easier said than done.
In a previous article, the Technique reported that under Roof’s leadership, the Jackets ranked in the bottom of the ACC for tackles, sacks and preventing YPA against the run. This time, the goal is to break down the past defensive scheme and highlight the ways in which incoming DC Nate Woody hopes to improve upon them.
While defenses at the professional level have been slowly abandoning a “base” format in favor of the flexibility offered by having personnel for various looks, collegiate defenses are far less likely to rotate out the front seven as frequently. The reliance on starters and tendency to keep a consistent core throughout games makes it easier to operate out of the same formation on a weekly basis, using stunt packages to keep the offense on their toes. Roof implemented a 4-2-5 scheme that is a modified variation of the prototypical 4-3 defensive alignment.
In the 4-3, there are four down linemen (two ends, a tackle and a nose tackle) and three linebackers (a weak-side “Will,” strong-side “Sam” and middle “Mike”) that act as the “front seven;” they are generally used as the key playmakers against the run and for pressuring the quarterback. This formation relies on quicker linemen to penetrate and maintain the majority of the pressure in the backfield. The tackles penetrate and get downfield while the two ends set the edge and contain runs to the outside while bearing in on the primary ball carrier.
Because there is one extra lineman in this formation as opposed to the 3-4, which only has a front three, there is more room for creativity in the points of attack which can catch offensive lines off guard and allow for one of the linemen to make a play behind the line of scrimmage.
Tech’s front four did an admirable job this year in terms of making key third down stops in short yardage situations. In fact, Roof’s decision to convert one of the 4-3 linebackers into a more protective 4-2-5 prevented plenty of deep plays downfield; with two cornerbacks, a strong and free safety and an extra permanent “nickel” back, there was rarely a point in the field more than 15 yards out that was vulnerable to a deep attack thanks to a swarming double coverage that occupied key read areas.
The problem with adding a member of the secondary is that it takes away from the linebackers. In a 4-3 defense, the “Mike” linebacker acts as the de facto quarterback of the defense, as his primary responsibility is to read the opposing formation and make an instinctive call as to where the coverage should be concentrated — generally acting as the man in charge of corralling runs up the middle. In addition to this, linebackers in a four-man front have to be explosive and agile, able to converge on the run or drop into man pass coverage on any given play. By taking the position group responsible for adapting to the opponent and limiting their personnel size, Roof created a difficult situation.
Outside of the Georgia game, Tech was never really done in on one big play here or there. The extremely conservative Jackets limited the opponent’s big plays while failing to create many takeaways of their own thanks to a hyper-protective scheme that did not properly give the team’s many playmakers the opportunity to make big time plays.
Theoretically speaking, the perfect 4-2-5 defense would lock down opposing receivers with an amoebic man-zone hybrid in the secondary and create enough pressure with the front four to force quick pitches and other outside plays for minimal gain, taking the pressure off the linebackers.
Unfortunately, the harsh reality of Jackets football is that the team lacked a solid interior defense to prevent the run adequately with only two backers, and since Roof refused to ever let his corners play a proper press coverage, the Will and Sam were pulled in too many directions at the same time between slot receivers, pass-catching running backs and any no-name who felt like jamming the ball up the middle for a few yards a play.
Fortunately, with fresh blood comes fresh ideas, and Nate Woody has already made it crystal clear to the media that he will be bringing his aggressive 3-4 style to the ACC with him this fall. By moving both a lineman and secondary (most likely the nickel or free safety) to the linebackers consolidating the meat of the defense five yards back, the defensive identity for both position groups in the front seven has been completely configured to better hide Tech’s weaknesses and allow for more versatility.
With only three men acting as down linemen now against five on the offense, the ends and nose tackle will now be focused on winning the numbers game, trying to occupy as many opposing linemen possible with their three bodies. This shifts the focus from athleticism to sheer power and size, as there will be less of a need for the front three to make plays behind the line of scrimmage. Instead, the linebackers will be re-divided into the interior (Will and Mike) and exterior (Sam and LEO) designations, the former typically remaining in coverage or spy positions with the latter used as the main pass rushers and disruptors off the ball.
Generally speaking, the use of a 3-4 scheme simplifies the roles for a defense. Linemen control the trenches and plug up gaps against the run, forcing the ball into the clutches of the blitzing backers or stalling long enough for the penetration to generate a sack. Reducing the secondary from five to four will most likely mean that there will be less man coverage and more zone as the safety help can no longer be relied on as heavily if a corner is torched close, but Roof rarely ever took advantage of his ability to lock down the flats when he schemed for it in the first place, so the opportunity cost is certainly minimal.
All in all, the 4-3, 4-2-5 and 3-4 all have their individual merits and cannot be referred to as “superior” without taking personnel into context, but judging from the results generated over the past five years, there is really nothing to be lost by taking a more aggressive approach and attacking the enemy instead of letting them come to us. Expect more sacks and tackles (good), more passing from the opponent (bad) and exactly the same amount of QB keeps for a gain of 3 on third and 4 (ugly).

industry_corpus2: Sports


text:
Lynda Barnes Lovett’s romantic ballads include: never say goodbye , think of us, let me be close, someone who matters and opinions of others. these ballads have been called “new old standards” and have been compared to the great ballads and romantic broadway show tunes from the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s with arrangements of live instruments that make them timely today. their haunting melodies and poignant lyrics are expressed within story lines of universal appeal and evoke the listeners’ most tender emotions. if loving feelings appeal to you, then so will these memorable songs.
Her romantic ballads are here offered in a pop genre, in a caressing melange of muted strains; therein, her piano artistry predominates but is enriched by base, drums, strings and sometimes a guitar and a desultory background voices (sometimes hers) in soft harmony. while they are in a pop genre, they are clearly adaptable to any style which attempts to tell stories and share human emotions, such as those of country or blues.
If you want to pull your mind away from the violence in which the world is awash and simply reflect on “what life is really about”, then turn to the pop-classic, original music of lynda barnes lovett, and fill your mind with felicitous thoughts and loving feelings.

industry_corpus2: Film & Entertainment


text:
The obverse features a design by Joana Vasconcelos, whose three-dimensional crochet work, "Independent Red Heart", was incorporated onto the coin. The iconic piece, created in 2005, is inspired by the “Heart of Viana,” a traditional design from the northern Portuguese region of Viana do Castelo. It features five main geometric segments, with the largest heart-shaped element at the base and the upper portions of two hearts stacked on top.
Multiple curlicues, loosely resembling rings, evoke the familiar Olympic logo.
Vasconcelos’ Heart is contained within the borders of the nickel brass inner core, which also features several inscriptions. These include the artist’s name JOANA VASCONCELOS inscribed rather prominently along the left edge. To the right of the heart design are the words EQUIPA OLÍMPICA DE PORTUGAL 2016, which translates into “PORTUGAL’S 2016 OLYMPIC TEAM.” At the bottom center of the brass-nickel core segment is INCM, which is the mintmark of the Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda or National Mint (of Portugal).
On the outer copper-nickel ring are the 12 stars of the European Union.


text:
Founded on the conviction that design can help address some of society’s most pressing challenges, the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation at UC Berkeley, is devoted to introducing sustainable design innovation at the center of engineering education and university life. The project was conceived by the College of Engineering as an interdisciplinary hub for students and teachers from across the university who work at the intersection of design and technology. It is designed as both a collaborative, project-based educational space and a symbol to the region of the University’s commitment to sustainable innovation.
The tiny corner site, formerly a volleyball court, lies at the northern edge of campus within a dense, diverse context. Two 4-story engineering buildings border the site on the west and south. Single family residences and apartment buildings line the street to the north. An existing two-level basement lies directly beneath 35% of the site.
The program, intended to accommodate up to 2,000 students per semester, includes flexible design studios, project rooms, support spaces and fabrication equipment rooms containing a variety of rapid prototyping tools and equipment.
The Jacobs Institute’s mission is to expand the role of design in engineering education at all levels, empowering young engineers to create innovative solutions to society’s biggest problems. The architecture reflects this mission, modeling high-density / low-carbon living and learning in spaces that support project-based learning, rapid prototyping and fabrication.
• HIGH DENSITY URBAN INFILL: The project repurposes an underutilized 11,000 SF site, optimizing learning space within a compact 24,035 GSF building. The efficient design minimizes circulation/service space while maximizing flexible learning space. The structure cantilevers 12 feet southward over an existing basement to create sufficient space for the new building while retaining a south-facing courtyard.
• MODELING SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION: The project was envisioned as a striking new threshold to the campus - a “beacon of innovation” expressing the sustainable values of the Institute and the University. The architecture outwardly demonstrates sustainable design innovation, integrating economic strategies that foster practical and poetic connections between students and the natural world.
• ADVANCED ENERGY-EFFICIENCY: The project is designed to exceed the AIA 2030 Commitment target, using 90% less energy than the national median for university buildings. Integrated energy efficiency drives the overall building form and appearance, including simplified massing, high-performance skin and the cantilevered photovoltaic array.
The Institute fosters interdisciplinary engagement across the University, welcoming students from other departments, inventors, tinkerers and over thirty student clubs to an inspiring environment of creativity and innovation.
• THRESHOLD AND DESTINATION: Located at the northern edge of campus, the building serves as a new threshold to the University and a “beacon of innovation” attracting students at all hours. A cantilevered photovoltaic array ascends to the north, expressing the aspirational values of the Institute to the University and the public. Glassy stairs project outward, glowing after dark to welcome visitors.
• TRANSIT-ORIENTED: The new building provides no parking except for one wheel-chair accessible street parking space. Access to the building is by foot, bicycle and public transit. Walk Score Rating: 86.
• TRANSPARENCY: The design emphasizes transparency and overlooks to reveal the hum of creative activity to the University and the community. The south wall opens to the sun for daylighting and passive solar benefit while connecting to outdoor terraces.
• STABILITY: The seismic system exceeds the California Building Code for added resilience.
The new building is an urban infill project within a dense campus / community context. It repurposes previously developed land and enhances environmental quality on a constricted site.
• DENSIFYING DEVELOPED LAND: The project converts a tiny 11,000 SF site – formerly an underused volleyball court – that is partially underlain by an existing two-story basement. To maximize buildable area on the tight site, the structure cantilevers 12 FT over the existing two story basement. Remaining site resources are arranged efficiently to provide benefits to students and the environment.
• SOUTH COURT: The roof of the existing basement is reused as a south-facing courtyard that solves fire separation requirements, enhances solar and natural ventilation access, provides pedestrian access across the site, and creates a sunny outdoor space for classes to use in warm weather.
• SITE ECOLOGY: The 1,450 SF landscaped area along the north property line serves several purposes as well. It works with the new building to transition the institutional campus scale to the residential scale of the community. Planted with draught-tolerant landscaping and Incense Cedars, this area preserves habitat for native birds and other species. It also serves as a bio-swale / rain garden that filters all roof drainage before it enters the storm drainage system.
The site is located in the warm, marine climate of the Northern California inland coastal region. Adjacent Soda Hall steps up to the south away from the site, affording excellent solar access. Four story Etcheverry Hall to the west of the site partially shields the site from seasonal winds and the low western sun. The building fully engages this climate and site, benefitting from natural systems while connecting students to the daily rhythms of the sun and the changing seasons unique to their place.
• ORIENTATION: The building is oriented on an east-west axis for optimal solar benefit. This creates a wind-protected, sunny courtyard to the south while enhancing building access to passive solar heating, daylighting, natural ventilation and a continuum of indoor / outdoor spaces at the first floor.
• COMPACT MASS: A compact building mass with an efficient skin-to-floor area ratio helps to reduce thermal transfer. A narrow, 55 ft. deep floorplate and 14 ft. ceilings, promote excellent natural ventilation and daylight penetration.
• HIGH-PERFORMANCE ENVELOPE: A highly insulated envelope, with exterior insulation, rain screen cladding and integrated sun-shading on three exposures, manages external building loads. Energy Star-rated cool roofing and high-albedo paving help to further reduce cooling loads in warm weather.
The design emphasizes simple solutions that maximize energy efficiency, user comfort and biophilic connections to nature while reducing first cost and long-term maintenance.
• DAYLIGHT: The narrow building floorplate presents a shaded façade to the south for optimum daylight harvesting. Large north-facing windows and interior glazing help to reduce internal glare. 100% of instructional spaces above the basement and 85% of all regularly occupied spaces are day-lit.
• BIOPHILIC BENEFITS: The biophilic benefits of daylight were also considered in the design, ensuring that public spaces are enlivened throughout the day.
• VIEWS: Transparency is a key strategy used to promote a healthy learning community and individual well-being. 100% of instructional spaces above the basement and 85% of all regularly occupied spaces enjoy views to the outdoors.
• AIR: The building opens to the prevailing winds, allowing 100% of instructional spaces above the basement level and 85% of all regularly occupied spaces to be naturally ventilated. Mechanical ventilation provides added fresh air when windows are closed, providing 30% additional outside air above code requirements. Material selection, including no-VOC paints, adhesives and sealers, formaldehyde-free materials, etc., ensures healthy indoor air quality. IAQ Management Plans were implemented during the construction and pre-occupancy periods.
Located in a semi-arid climate that experiences periodic droughts, the project reduces total potable water use by 50% and treats 100% of roof drainage on the small, constricted site.
•	BUILDING WATER USE: Ultra-low flow fixtures reduce building water consumption by 50% from baseline.
•	LANDSCAPE WATER USE: Drought-tolerant landscaping, sub-surface drip irrigation systems and advanced, weather-based irrigation controllers combine to reduce landscape water use by 50% from baseline. The small size of the site’s landscaped area makes efficient use of available land while further reducing water consumption for landscaping.
•	STORM WATER MANAGEMENT: 100% of the project’s roof drainage is piped from the south to the small, 1,400 SF northern landscaped area, where it is delayed, absorbed and filtered by a bio-swale and rain garden. Excess filtered stormwater is delivered to the city storm sewer.
The project exceeds the AIA 2030 Commitment target, using 90% less energy than the national median for university buildings per EPA Target Finder.
• HIGH-PERFORMANCE ENVELOPE: The thermally-broken envelope integrates added insulation, sun shading, cool roof, high-performance glazing and daylighting to reduce heating, cooling, and lighting loads.
• VENTILATION: The building is naturally ventilated, augmented by code-required mechanical ventilation in internal areas and the basement. 30% more outdoor air than ASHRAE standards is provided to enhance indoor air quality when windows are closed.
• THERMAL COMFORT: Space heating is provided by hydronic radiators, augmented by tempered mechanical ventilation air. Cooling is provided by natural ventilation and ceiling fans, augmented by “bump cooling” delivered by the mechanical system.
• ENERGY PIGGYBACK: The building utilizes surplus hot and chilled water for space conditioning from adjacent Soda Hall, saving the cost, embodied energy and space required to generate these resources onsite.
• LIGHTING: Although the University required higher than normal interior light levels of 50 foot-candles due to the fine-scaled work occurring in the spaces, total lighting loads were managed through the use of efficient fixtures and controls.
• RENEWABLE ENERGY: A cantilevered 74kW photovoltaic array, celebrated as a signature architectural element, provides 58% of the building’s energy requirement.
Multiple design strategies model respect for natural resources.
• RESOURCE REDUCTION: The building and site work were “right-sized” to fit on the tight urban site. Material use was reduced through the design of simple forms using a straightforward structural system and conventional manufacturing dimensions.
• MATERIALS: Materials were selected for economy, durability, and resource efficiency. 17% of all building materials are recycled, including 50% fly ash content in foundation concrete and floor slabs, carpet, and steel. Aluminum was required to have 50% recycled content. 12% of all materials were regionally harvested and manufactured to reduce embodied energy and carbon footprint associated with shipping. 75% of all wood products are FSC-certified. Rapidly renewable materials include rubber flooring and base, linoleum flooring, and agrifiber door cores.
• HEALTH: Materials were researched and selected to ensure healthy indoor environments, including no-VOC, vinyl-free and formaldehyde-free products. IAQ Management Plans were implemented during the construction and pre-occupancy periods, including a two-week building flush-out.
• WASTE REDUCTION: 1,595 tons (97%) of site and construction debris was recycled and diverted from landfills. Recycling and composting stations throughout the building promote ongoing waste management.
The steel and concrete building was designed for a minimum useful life of 100 years.
• RESILIENCE: Located in a seismically active region, the building was designed to meet University seismic requirements that exceed the California Building Code in order to enhance life safety and minimize damage in a seismic event. Strategies included the use of simple, self-bracing building forms and high-efficiency seismic systems.
• DURABILITY: Major finishes were selected for durability, low maintenance and fire resistance. The primary exterior finishes are concrete and metal panels. Primary interior finishes - polished concrete floors and painted drywall - are easily maintained with light cleaning and paint.
• FLEXIBILITY: The building was designed to provide flexibility in both short and long terms. In the short term, teaching spaces are easily adaptable to evolving curricula and technologies. To the greatest extent possible given the specialized nature of the program, spaces were generalized to allow for future adaptation to unforeseen alternative uses in the long term.
• ADAPTABILITY: If the College of Engineering decides to relocate at some point in the future, the building could easily be converted to another use beneficial to the University. .
• DESIGN DIALOGUE: The Design Team engaged the College of Engineering and University representatives in focused workshops addressing sustainability, comfort, operability and maintenance throughout the design phases. This helped to solidify low-energy strategies early in design while also managing occupant expectations.
• ENERGY MODELING: A project goal of exceeding the AIA 2030 Commitment target was established at the first owner and consultant meetings. The energy model was updated frequently throughout the design phases to confirm compliance with this goal.
•	RENEWABLE ENERGY: Due to budget constraints, the renewable energy system was held out of the base project scope and funded late in construction solely due to the efforts of the Assistant Dean of the College of Engineering.
• ENERGY PERFORMANCE: Based upon the University’s online energy performance monitor, the building has performed consistently with predictions for the first 4 months of occupancy.
• POST-OCCUPANCY EVALUATION: The project has been operational for 4 months. A POE through UC Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment is planned for the near future.
• Committed individuals can have a profound impact on project success!
• Extended post-occupancy monitoring and system adjustment is critical to meeting advanced energy goals.
The Owner wished to maximize sustainable design benefits while using readily-available, simple and cost-effective methods. A cost and payback analysis was not required.
The project process comprehensively engaged all design team members and the community in all phases.
• The design team undertook a detailed analysis of the site micro-climate and historic ecologies prior to the start of design.
• Design workshops with school administration and user groups identified energy-efficiency, thermal comfort, resource-efficiency and building health goals.
• Focused student and faculty design discussions were held at key project milestones.
• A detailed Building Performance Narrative was prepared and presented to the Owner for approval early in the design phase. This document defined project energy and resource efficiency goals, as well as the anticipated thermal comfort ranges, helping to confirm user buy-in and future expectation.
• The project has been occupied for five months and Post Occupancy Evaluation is on-going. Thus far it has included interviews with faculty and facility staff, as well as preliminary review of initial energy use data.
A compact, elegant building with a clear point of view. Sustainable measures are well integrated into a holistic, high-quality design. Modest, beautifully detailed; the building really fits the context of the university.

industry_corpus2: Subject Education


text: Applications for the Academic Professional Development Fund are closed until the start of the next fiscal year. CAP is currently addressing future distribution ideas to ensure that funds are distributed equally throughout the year. Thank you for your continued interest in Academic Professional Development.


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I love celebrating Valentines with toddlers/preschoolers. When we lived in Cali we used to take the boys to a little kids Valentines exchange where the little ones got to make valentines for their friends and pass them out. I’d love to do something like that with Miss M this weekend. Just maybe invite over about 4 friends and make some cookies and give away cards. And the cards are fun but I’ve always been a big fan of the boxes that the Valentines go in (hence our mailbox from a few year ago). And like our mailbox, I love it when they can be used for pretend play or decorative storage later on. So this year we made a black swan from a tissue box. Turned out to be an easy project with a lovely result.
You swan box is now ready to take to a Valentines Day Party!
Miss M is learning how to cut and it’s fun to see her work. But mostly she loved being my assist make sure all the conversation hearts were facing the right and then gobbling them all up afterwards.
This is so cute – I may have to try it just to keep my tissues in it!


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Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC), a Canadian subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation (UTC) defense contractor, pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act by crafting false statements, and illegally exported U.S.-origin military software used for the development of China‘s Z-10 military attack helicopter to the Peoples Republic.
In addition, United and its U.S.-based subsidiary Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation (HSC) agreed to pay more than $75 million collectively as part of a global settlement with the Justice Department and State Department. Roughly $20.7 million will be paid to the Justice Department and $55 million is payable to the State Department as part of a separate consent export agreement issues, including those related to the Z-10. The DOJ said up to $20 million could be suspended if applied by UTC to remedial compliance measures. The intensive investigation was led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
During the development phases of China’s Z-10 program, PWC supplied the engines. PWC delivered 10 of the development engines to China in 2001 and 2002. Even though the Z-10 helicopter is identified as military equipment, PWC determined on its own that the Z-10 engines did not represent “defense articles,” requiring a U.S. export license.
Court documents also show that PWC’s illegal action was driven by profit. The DOJ contends that PWC anticipated its work on the Z-10 military attack helicopter would open the door to highly lucrative civilian helicopter contracts with China, which PWC estimates could be worth $2 billion.
Today, the Z-10 helicopter is in production and initial batches were delivered to the People’s Liberation Army of China in 2009 and 2010. The Z-10 mission is to provide anti-armor and battlefield interdiction by using weapons like 30 mm cannons, anti-tank guided missiles, air-to-air missiles and unguided rockets.
The Chinese arms trafficking plea also highlights the increasing reach of ICE as an international investigative agency.
ashington DC-In a stunning turn of events today, the President’s signature Obamacarelegislation was ruled Constitutional in a 5-4 decision with Chief Justice, John Roberts joining the liberal side of the Court. Politico watchers inside the beltway said this was a much-needed victory, and Obama’s healthcare reform act will now put the Republicans on defense in the neck-and-neck 2012 presidential race.
A stunned Republican party vowed to mount an aggressive fight to repeal the law. GOP nominee, Mitt Romney, responded briefly to the Supreme Court ruling: “I will repeal and replace Obamacare.” He also conceded that health care does need to be reformed and mentioned pre-existing conditions, affordability for all and removing limits as areas the Congress needed to address.
At the heart of the legislation, the mandate, five Justices ruled to let it stand, not under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause as the government originally sought, but as a tax, a power the Congress can regulate.
An example of the taxes Americans’ can expect to pay if they don’t have insurance look like this. Beginning in 2014, those earning $50,000 will pay approximately $500 or 1 percent, in 2015 it doubles to 2 percent and finally in 2016 the penalty tax reaches 2.5 percent. To enforce the new law the government will turn to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Additionally, Obamacare counts on approximately $500 billion in new taxes as a funding mechanism, as well as a $500 billion cut in Medicare spending by the government. Currently, nearly 50 million Americans rely on Medicare, more than 40 million of those are senior citizens.
Critics have argued that drastically cutting Medicare isn’t the way to reform health care, but haven’t revealed the best way to fix a broken health care system.
Nevertheless, the ruling was not a complete victory for Democrats, as Chief Justice Roberts protected the states through the Commerce Clause. The ruling now gives states more control to limit the reach of the federal government, according to the majority dissent. Here, the liberal Justices described their skepticism and said under the Commerce Clause Obamacare remains unconstitutional, explaining a states’ refusal to expand the federal-state Medicaid program could not threatened states’ existing funding. In essence, the Court said the federal government couldn’t penalize states if they forgo Medicaid expansion under Obamacare.
While the issue reclaims 2012 political implications, attendees in front of the Supreme Court were either fans of Obamacare or fans of repeal and replace.
San Diego Border Patrol took more than one million in illegal drugs off the streets. The two thwarted drug smuggling attempts netted methamphetamine (Crystal Meth) and cocaine with a street value of $1,093,000.
Border Patrol spotted a suspicious Black GMC Envoy driving along Interstate 8 just east of San Diego near the Pine Valley checkpoint. Once the SUV stopped agents approached and questioned the female driver. Agents said, the U.S. citizen was clearly nervous and they called in the K-9 team to inspect the SUV for illicit drugs. The K-9 team alerted agents to a positive scent and brought the vehicle to the checkpoint for a thorough inspection.
The suspected smugglers and illegal narcotics were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for further investigation. The U.S. Border Patrol seized both the vehicles.
Ardent Middle East War critic, Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) voiced his displeasure with the Obama Administration’s latest Afghanistan deal that calls for U.S. personnel and resources to be used to protect Chinese interests’ inside the war ravaged tribal nation. The discovery and confirmation of huge natural resources in Afghanistan has suddenly cast a new light on Obama’s Right War.
Last year it was discovered that Afghanistan was much more useful to western countries than previously thought. After a decade of war, the Department of Defense commissioned an examination for rare earth resources that could be used to support the tribal nation.
The U.S. Geological Survey uncovered $1 trillion of potential wealth in the form of minerals, copper, iron, gold, cobalt and most importantly, lithium. The Chinese recognized the mineral bonanza and immediately negotiated with the Afghan government to claim rights for precious resources that Americans use on a daily basis.
The research to uncover Afghanistan’s potential natural resources came from a 2009-2011 USGS study that was funded by the DOD Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO).
According to the surveys, Afghanistan’s lithium reserves may be the largest in the world. In fact, most U.S. citizens use lithium powered products everyday in the form of cell phones and laptop computers.
The New York Times, uncovered a Pentagon memo that said Afghanistan could be the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” rivaling Bolivia who currently holds the world’s largest lithium resources.
According to a story in the UK paper the Independent, American and European companies have complained about improprieties from the Afghanistan government allegedly evoking underhanded methods to ensure Beijing gets contracts.
Alas, corruption is nothing new in Afghanistan in fact the United States Congress commissioned a study, and the results concluded American troops pay warlords billions a year for protection money. Even Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, was a known heroin kingpin. Moving forward diplomats warn the newly discovered mineral jackpot will only lead to more unsavory activities between tribes in the war torn region.
Nevertheless American leadership will most likely take advice from Jawad Omar, a senior official at the ministry, who said, “The natural resources of Afghanistan will play a magnificent role in Afghanistan’s economic growth. The past five decades have shown that every time new research takes place, it shows our natural reserves are far more than what was previously found. This is a cause for rejoicing, nothing to worry about.” This of course is fantastic news for the corrupt government; unfortunately it’s just another lie in a long list of falsehoods about the tribal nation.
Which brings us back to Congressman Jones’ outrage that came after the Afghan government settled a deal with China’s National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) allowing China to be the first foreign country to access Afghanistan’s oil and natural gas reserves.
In a letter to President Obama, Rep. Jones demanded an explanation of U.S. military operations in the Chinese economic zones.
“It is completely unacceptable to send our young men and women to protect China’s interest in Afghanistan’s natural resources,” said Jones. “How many more of them have to die for a corrupt leader and a corrupt government?
So it was particularly disturbing to learn that the Afghan government had entered into its first oil contract, not with Americans, but rather with China’s National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). This is on top of ongoing reports of US military personnel effectively providing security for Chinese mining activities already ongoing in that county’s mineral-rich provinces. The United States is effectively borrowing money from the Chinese, and then spending that borrowed money to provide security to money making Chinese operations in Afghanistan. This is unacceptable.
I would like to request that you provide an accounting of dollars spent directly and indirectly providing security to Chinese mineral extraction activities in Afghanistan, as well as an accounting of Americans killed and wounded providing security to those same operations.
American lives are being lost, bodies wounded, and children’s futures mortgaged in order to prop up a profoundly corrupt and dysfunctional regime half a world away. Given that the Karzai government continues to make deals with the Taliban and to demonstrate a preference for our economic rivals, I would urge you to dramatically accelerate your projected time table for withdrawing our forces from that country. The projected 2014 withdrawal date means several more years of lives lost, and several hundred billion more borrowed dollars enabling interests that are at odds with the interests of American taxpayers,” the letter to President Obama said.
Rep Jones isn’t the only one who thinks the administration is lying to the American taxpayer. Army LTC Anthony Shaffer (ret), author of NYT bestseller “Operation Dark Heart,” says the Afghanistan War has been off-track for sometime. Shaffer spent a number of years in the Middle East and penned “Dark Heart” after his frustrations were not taken seriously.
More misguided U.S. priorities come from Global Times reporter Gao Lei, who recently talked to Jeffrey Reeves, a research fellow at Griffith University’s Asia Institute in Brisbane about the possibility that China presents a competing prospect for America in Afghanistan.
According to a newspaper report in The Telegraph, headquartered in Calcutta, India, China is trying to open its narrow border with Afghanistan building roads or possibly a tunnel under the Pamir mountain range. This development poses significant strategic implications for India, says General V.K. Singh, India’s former Chief of Army staff who retired a week ago.
The new passage between China and Afghanistan would mark the first border crossing since Mao Tse Tung’s communist forces took over China in 1949 and permanently closed inter-country travel.
It’s important to note the 16,000-foot Wakhji mountain pass remains closed half the year due to inclement weather. Singh contends the most reliable border crossing would be a tunnel, but admits designing a tunnel under the mountains would take a true engineering wherewithal. The Chinese certainly know something about building technically challenging infrastructure, they demonstrated that ability where they built its all-weather access railway line to Tibet.
Singh’s inkling that China is building a tunnel advances the “garland of pearls” strategy that surrounds India with military bases and logistics centers – stretching from naval outposts in countries like Sri Lanka and the Maldives, to ports in Pakistan and Myanmar completing the circle in the High Himalayas north of Kashmir. This strategy should alert American leaders to China’s true intentions of exploiting resources to gain the wealth required to become a super-power.
It’s also been reported that President Karzai had discussed a project with China’s President Hu Jinatao, however Outlook Afghanistan says the proposal has not moved forward. “A direct road connection between China and Afghanistan is important for the increasing Chinese investment and Afghanistan needs land access to Chinese goods. It would also allow us quick access to South East Asia through Chinese ports. There were also talks about construction of an electric plant and a railway system from Tajikistan to Pakistan as part of a $500 million investment from China.
Another point American’s may remember is that in December 2009, U.S. diplomats requested Beijing’s authorization to allow U.S. military supply lines to enter Afghanistan through the Wakhan Corridor. Apparently the U.S. wanted the route as an alternative supply line for NATO, however, China refused to grant permission.
American retaliation against Afghanistan’s Taliban for harboring Al Qaeda came full circle last year when the 9-11 mastermind, Osama bin Laden was killed. The issue for Americans, its allies, and American voters is what are our objectives now? Have we reduced our role to providing security for our major competitor (China) so it can prosper on American blood and ideals?
While the economy may be driving the 2012 election cycle, a couple of Congressmen have hit the campaign trail to raise the awareness about the impending half-a-trillion dollar cuts that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said would hinder America’s national security.
Congressmen Duncan Hunter Jr. (R-CA) and Randy Forbes (R-VA) both serve on the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee that is tackling the enormous defense spending cuts set for January 1, 2013.
“Defending Our Defenders,” town hall-style events embarked on a seven-city tour to military rich communities hoping residents will acknowledge the regional impact that $500,000 billion in cuts would bring to their cities.
In fact, Hunter stressed the U.S. will be forced to control the international waters with a much smaller Navy. And a smaller Navy adversely affects the Naval shipyards in San Diego that employs countless civilian workers.
Local San Diego statistics show there are approximately 300,000 jobs directly or indirectly tied to defense industry.
“If these cuts go through, we are going to be dangerously close to where we cannot guarantee our national security. An economic tidal wave will hit San Diego and the rest of the country and we could lose as many as one million jobs nationwide,” according to Rep. Forbes.
As for the Golden State, the massive military cuts are estimated to end 125,789 jobs and remove $10.79 billion in state revenues California desperately relies on to cover its bills.
“This is something that ought to be in every Congressional debate, as we go into the November election. I think it’s a fair thing to say, ‘Where do you stand on defense cuts, and what’s your proposal to stop them?’” said Rep. Forbes regarding the consequences from scaling back America’s national defense.
Hunter also lambasted local media for leaving early, and voiced his disappointment that neither San Diego mayoral candidates bothered to show up and learn more about the impending financial set back the city will face next year. One candidate Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) has served on numerous veteran committees in DC during his tenure as a Democrat.
Forbes told the roughly 100 attendees that he didn’t understand why Americans don’t care about the Middle East Wars and encouraged the audience to begin a dialog in their neighborhoods.
However, critics point to the size and scope of U.S. military compared to the rest of the world and told the Congressmen that America’s constant need to rule the world needs to come to an end.
• Outnumbered 2 to 1: By 2020 the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) will have 75 submarines, while our Pacific submarine force will number less than half that at 32.
• Outgunned by 50 percent: China’s anti-ship cruise missiles out-range us by nearly 50 percent, 185km to 124km. Meanwhile the PRC is developing an anti-ship ballistic missile that can strike our carriers far from the coast.
• Cuts set to take effect next January would force a reduction in the fleet to just 230 ships, according to Congressional testimony and public statements from Navy leadership.
• Last year, “the Navy was only able to source an average of 59 percent of the Combatant Commanders’ requirements. Without question, the Fleet is operating now at an unsustainable level,” according to Nov 2011 HASC Testimony of VADM Clingan, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy.
The Navy has proposed scrapping seven cruisers well before the end of their service lives. The battle force missile capacity of these ships is more than double that of the entire United Kingdom Royal Navy surface fleet.
Given its current commitments in Afghanistan, the Marine Corps would be unable to meet combatant commander timelines necessary for success in a second major contingency operation, according to 2011 testimony from the Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps GEN Dunford.
Roughly 200,000 active duty service members will have to leave service. This would be the equivalent of eliminating the entire Marine Corps.
80-100,000 of these cuts could come from the Army National Guard. This would cripple states’ ability to respond to a natural disaster or terrorist attack, and severely limit the Army and Marine Corps’ flexibility to respond to a major contingency overseas.
In just ten years, the United States has gone from a position of dominant air superiority over the Chinese in a conflict over the Taiwan Strait, according to a study by the RAND Corporation, to a place where the same organization says the United States ‘can no longer be confident in winning’ an air war against China. Over that same period, the Air Force cancelled the F-22, retired 235 legacy fighters early, and is now proposing retiring another 123 combat aircraft.
Today the President unleashed a fiery platform pitting unemployed Americans against a critically important voting block Mr. Obama needs to ensure reelection, Hispanics. With the swipe of his Presidential pen, Obama announced that “younger illegal immigrants” are eligible for deferment on deportation and will get work visas.
However, the defacto “amnesty” orders bypassed Congress, is effective immediately and will set up key immigration promises for the hotly contested presidential race.
Essentially, those who demonstrate they meet set criteria will be eligible to receive deferred action for a period of two years. The application will be subject to renewal every two years, and will allow applicants to apply for work authorization.
* Are not above the age of thirty.
While the Obama Administration plays the “fairness” card, those who can’t find a job are cringing at the prospect of competing with an additional 800,000 Hispanics under the age of 30.
“Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.8 percent) and Hispanics (11.0 percent) edged up in May, while the rates for adult women (7.4 percent), teenagers (24.6 percent), whites (7.4 percent), and blacks (13.6 percent) showed little or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 5.2 percent in May, down from 7.0 percent a year earlier. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose from 5.1 to 5.4 million in May. These individuals accounted for 42.8 percent of the unemployed,” the federal government reported.
The Executive Order takes effect immediately, and USCIS and ICE said they expect to begin implementation of the application processes within sixty days. For more information on the new policy www.uscis.gov, ICE www.ice.gov or DHS www.dhs.gov. Beginning Monday, individuals can also call USCIS’ hotline at 1-800-375-5283 or ICE’s hotline at 1-888-351-4024 during business hours.
Law enforcement officials disrupted three drug smuggling efforts in San Diego and Ventura Counties the past few days. Border Patrol agents apprehended a total of 22 suspects and confiscated approximately $2.4 million in marijuana and crystal methamphetamine.
The California National Guardsmen working with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) alerted area Border Patrol agents assigned along the state’s coastline to a suspicious panga-style boat coming ashore near Deer Creek beach in Ventura County. Working with several law enforcement agencies, U.S. Coast Guard, California National Guard, California State Parks and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, agents captured 20 suspected drug smugglers and seized marijuana with a reported street value of $2 million.
“Border Patrol agents responded to the scene and, through the collaborative efforts of several agencies, arrested 20 suspected smugglers and confiscated 4,087 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated $2,048,095,”according to the CBP. All the suspects, narcotics, and the panga-boat were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI) for further investigation.
In another incident Border Patrol agents assigned to the Interstate 5 checkpoint encountered two male American citizens driving a Mazda 626. The men’s nervous demeanor alerted agents who sent the vehicle to the secondary inspection area. After Border Patrol K-9 performed a cursory inspection, the dogs warned agents to a positive scent for illegal drugs.
“Agents searched the vehicle and discovered four bundles of methamphetamine inside the trunk in plastic grocery bags,” according to Michael Jimenez, a CBP supervisor in San Diego. “The methamphetamine weighed 12.02 pounds and had an estimated street value of $240,400.” Both the suspected smugglers and the illegal narcotics were taken into custody and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for further investigation.
Border Patrol encourages citizens to contact the San Diego U.S. Coast Guard Joint Harbor Operations Center at 800-854-9834 to report any suspicious maritime activity along Southern California’s coastline.
Afghan operative tied to Taliban gets life for heroin sales in U.S.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced that an Afghanistan national that has ties to the Taliban will spend the rest of his life in prison for conspiring to distribute heroin in the U.S. and using the drug proceeds to purchase arms and supplies for a known terrorist organization.
Haji Bagcho, a large scale drug trafficker, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle in the District of Columbia, according to Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Administrator Michele M. Leonhart of the (DEA). In addition to prison, Bagcho’s will forfeit the $254,203,032 in drug proceeds as well as his property in Afghanistan.
Heroin is one of Afghanistan’s most profitable crops and it’s a point of contention with American military forces that are not allowed to rid the tribal nation of the profits from poppies that are used to kill soldiers.
The Afghan national was convicted after a three-week trial. Bagcho was found guilty of “one count of conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, knowing and intending that it would be unlawfully imported into the United States; one count of distribution of one kilogram or more of heroin knowing and intending that it would be unlawfully imported into the United States; and one count of narco-terrorism,” the DEA said. In 2006, the U.S. implemented the narco-terrorism statute in an effort to crack down on international drug trafficking.
Bagcho was charged in 2010, after he was arrested and extradited to the United States from Afghanistan in May 2009. The DEA worked with their Afghan counterparts to conduct the investigation that uncovered Bagcho as one of the largest heroin traffickers in the world who manufactured the drug in clandestine laboratories along Afghanistan’s border region with Pakistan.
“With the help of cooperating witnesses, evidence showed that the DEA purchased heroin directly from Bagcho’s organization on two occasions, which Bagcho understood was destined for the United States,” a DEA statement read. The DEA also conducted several searches of Bagcho’s residences and his known associates that retrieved evidence consistent with drug trafficking.
During the trial, prosecutors presented ledgers recovered from Bagcho that catalogued his drug trafficking activities during 2006 alone. The ledger reflected heroin sales totaling more than 123,000 kilograms, with a street value of more than $250 million. Based on heroin production statistics compiled by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime for 2006, Bagcho’s heroin trafficking business accounted for 20 percent of the world’s heroin supply.
“Over several years, evidence at trial established that Bagcho used a portion of his drug proceeds to provide cash, weapons and other supplies to the former Taliban governor of Nangarhar Province and two Taliban commanders responsible for insurgent activity in eastern Afghanistan, so that they could continue their ‘jihad’ against western troops and the Afghan government,” court papers showed.
A bipartisan effort is currently underway to re-evaluate the effectiveness of the “war on drugs.” Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), co-chairs of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, released a bipartisan report entitled “Reducing the U.S. Demand for Illegal Drugs” that highlights education as a way to curtail drug use by Americans.
The report openly admits America’s insatiable demand for illicit drugs (the U.S. is the largest consumer) is destroying our youth and directly responsible for the Mexican drug cartel violence that has claimed more than 50,000 lives in the past few years.
According to the new report, drug abuse in the U.S. presents a major public health challenge and it also costs the country roughly $193 billion a year in health care, law enforcement and addiction expenses. Even with more drug enforcement resources along the U.S. southern border, approximately 22.6 million Americans over 12 were known illegal drug users. These numbers have consistently edged up during the last decade.
The bipartisan report discloses a number of causes for drug use and explores several different solutions to slow addict rates and prevent minors from experimenting with drugs.
Texas has already implemented one such program. “Operation Detour” offers insight into the entire cartel process currently in place to move drugs north of the border. The educational DVD takes the flashback approach to show the life of drugs. It’s not pretty, but children get a birds eye view of the death and destruction associated with illegal drugs.
“We appreciate the willingness of the schools to provide this opportunity and we certainly couldn’t get the message out without the assistance of our partners from the law enforcement and criminal justice agencies,” he said.
“For six years, I’ve been investigating the cartels. I went inside one of the cartels for about a year back in 2006-2007. I have worked around the border, particularly in Texas, for these six years, doing nothing but working border security issues and the cartels,” according to Rusty Fleming, Operation Detour filmmaker.
Once Fleming finished his narco-documentary, “Drug Wars; Silver or Lead,” Border Patrol agents sought his help.
“Shortly after I released ‘Drug Wars,’ the documentary, I got a phone call from the Border Patrol in Del Rio,” he said.
Operation Detour, as it was named, is different from past anti-drug abuse campaigns, Fleming said.
“Historically we’ve always warned kids about getting involved in drugs and using drugs,” he said. But Border Patrol has first hand knowledge of young people getting “busted” for drugs.
The first part of the Operation Detour program includes 12 minutes of excerpts from his graphic drug cartel documentary.
Fleming says Border Patrol agents are very serious about its effort to keep young people from the drug trade.
“Once Border Patrol put (Operation Detour) together, I have to tell you, I’ve never seen so many resources put together and thrown at a prevention program, an awareness program as I have in the Rio Grande Valley.
Some of the new tactics Mexican drug cartels practice is to lure local street gangs and other, gangs like the Latin Kings, Mexican Mafia or Texas Syndicate to distribute drugs in their Texas communities. Eventually, some American kids will move drugs to major markets, Fleming said.
However, the profits will go back to major trafficking organizations not the kids moving the drugs. Border Patrol Agent Jose G. Treviño said Operation Detour is effective and finds a receptive school audience.
On the flip side, there are other experts who believe America may be better served by decriminalizing drugs and ramp up rehabilitation centers to treat the real addiction problem.
Ryan Hoskins wrote a paper for George Mason University regarding this very issue (Mexico Drug Violence: Why the Merida Initiative, gun bans and border controls will fail and drug reform is the solution).
“It would be great if President Obama would reallocate the money currently set aside for drug interdiction and make an effort to fix the drug addiction problems American’s face each day,” Hoskins proposed.
Hoskins contends that drug usage didn’t increase in Portugal as many expected and police actually handed out more “fix-it” type tickets if you will. “By de-stigmatizing drugs, users were more likely to get treatment,” Hoskins explains.
While America may be a long way from decriminalizing drugs, states like New York, are moving forward by adding small amounts of marijuana to the “okay” list. Last year, the Golden State’s voters said “no” on proposition 19, a ballot initiative that would have legalized the Mexican drug cartel’s biggest money maker- pot. However, many say it’s only a matter of time before medical marijuana users gain acceptance and convince the voters the state can gain valuable tax revenues.
The latter, legalizing drugs would certainly bring an end to most black-market sales, but the notion drugs would be legalized in a country in which excess is the norm, may take a little getting used to.
If American’s saw the dramatic escalation of violence and the consequences in drug supplying countries, like Mexico, the senators think it could give some potential U.S. drug users some pause.
Another unsuspecting form of illegal drug use stems from the medicine cabinet located in most homes. “We have to reduce the demand fueled by easy access to drugs, such as the dramatic increase in the abuse of prescription pain killers that are readily available in medicine cabinets across the country,” Grassley said.
• Improved collection of data on U.S. drug use and treatment.
Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and John Cornyn (R-TX) endorse the illegal drug report. The entire report can be found here.
In April, President Obama released the 2012 National Drug Control Strategy, it is the Administration’s primary blueprint for drug policy in America. “The new Strategy supports a ‘third way’ approach to drug policy, proposing alternatives to a law enforcement centric ‘war on drugs.’ The new drug policy strategy outlines 113 specific actions to be undertaken throughout the Federal government to reform U.S. drug policy through innovative and evidence-based public health and safety approaches including reviewing laws and regulations that impede recovery from addiction, expanding access to drug treatment, and expanding community-based recovery support programs,” said Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
For more information about the Office of National Drug Control Policy, visit: www.WhiteHouse.gov/ONDCP.
But for now, law enforcement will continue to enforce the country’s drug laws and hope parents and schools are successful at keeping kids off drugs.

industry_corpus2: Law & Justice


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"The silent, snow-covered streets of Oslo are a perfect scene of Christmas tranquillity. But as the bells toll for the last Sunday of Advent, a boy's -body washes up near the shoreline of the city's Aker Bridge. His corpse is unrecognisable. Nobody has bothered to report him missing. One week later Eva Karin Lysgaard, the bishop of Bergen, is found stabbed to death on a deserted street. Eva is a popular public figure, a sixty-two year-old grandmother: why was she on a lone errand in the deserted city, on the night before Christmas? Johanne Vik, criminal researcher and police profiler, is called in to untangle the motivation behind the bishop's murder. But with her husband at the head of this increasingly high-profile investigation, Vik's association with the case is under intense scrutiny. And why does Lysgaard's shocking death lead her towards the sad death of an unknown boy?"
The book that inspired the brand new Swedish TV series Modus. Johanne Vik and Adam Stubo investigate a chilling murder case in Oslo.
ANNE HOLT is Norway's bestselling female crime writer. She spent two years working for the Oslo Police Department before founding her own law firm and serving as Norway's Minster for Justice between 1996 and 1997. She is published in 30 languages with over 7 million copies of her books sold.

industry_corpus2: Literature & Emotions


text: Order online for takeout: 82. Octopus Sashimi from Sushi Base - Chula Vista. Serving the best Japanese in Chula Vista, CA.

industry_corpus2: Hospitality & Catering


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Do you love creating art with your hands--melting glass, shaping wire, manipulating clay, painting or making jewelry?
You can learn to create beautiful art and jewelry for yourself, family or friends. Elsie Kaye Glassworks is currently offering classes for adults and teens as well as one-day workshops and school vacation camps. Classes include Flameworking, Glass Beadmaking for Teens, Metalsmithing, Encaustic Painting, Silver Metal Clay Workshops, Jewelry 101 and Metal Stamping Workshops.
Plus there are two special “bonding” classes: Mother/Daughter (or son!) Intro to Glass Beadmaking and Date Night- Rekindle Your Flame.
No art expertise is necessary (we’ll teach you!). You’ll learn how to create stunning work that will have everyone asking, "where did you learn to do that?!"


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All of the sites have thier own fire rings and picnic tables. Most of them are also right on the lake front, and have frees so you can ensure lovely views and beautiful shade if you need it! Tents are very welcome too, if you prefer that more primitive experience.
Fancy some fishing - no problem! You can fish right from your site, or you are more than welcome to bring your own boat (but note small motors only). You of course can rent your own fishing boat too, so don't worry if you have yet one! The paddle boat and canoe rental are also popular with the kids too.
Mini golf at a campsite? Why not! Lakeview Campground also have a fun mini-golf 18 hole course which is always great to spend some time on, and TWO playgrounds for those active kdis!
Just want to visit for the day? You got it! "Day Camping" is available which get you the picnic table, fire ring, playgroud, basketball, volleyball and swimming, so you don't even have to camp to enjoy these amazing faciilities.
The surrounding nature is prefect for hiking on their wooded trails too - it would be a shame to be out in this amazing nature and not really enjoy it all!
Fishing licenses are required if you want to fish.
In addition to the beautiful lake, on site they have RV sites and primitive tent sites - all with picnic tables and fire rings. They have seasonal winter storage, and clean restrooms/warm showers. Big rigs are welcome!
So much to do! Playgrounds, fishing, fishing boat rental, mini golf, hiking, sand pit volleyball...take your pick!

industry_corpus2: Travel & Geography


text:
A Dermatology consultation gives you the chance to address all of your dermatological concerns with a specialist consultant who will perform a full analysis of your skin and provide you with a bespoke treatment plan.
How long is a typical consultation?
You should allow 20 to 30 minutes for your appointment in order to address all of your dermatological concerns.
We examine your skin thoroughly in order to formulate a diagnosis and provide you with a personalised treatment plan.
What level of analysis are you able to provide?
We are able to biopsy skin lesions for pathological analysis. Samples will be sent off to our local partner laboratory where the team of experienced pathologists process and examine each and every specimen to produce a report for our dermatologists.
Do you have the facility to treat my skin concern at the clinic?
Our state of the art treatment Minor Operation suite enables our Dermatologists to regularly perform removal & biopsies of lesions such as moles, cysts & skin tags.
Dermatology Consultations require a £120 deposit which is redeemable only against treatments that are linked to the concern you have.

industry_corpus2: Health & Medicine


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There are plenty of companies in Oxford willing to provide you with the tiles you are looking for, either you want basic white tiles and black tiles or you’d rather choose beautiful mosaic tiles. The best tile stores in Oxford count with products of different materials, like clay tiles or brick tiles, as well as the best options for every room in the house such as bathroom tiles, kitchen floor tiles and more specific ones, backslash tiles.
There are many different types of tiles to choose from consisting of different materials, and your choice will depend on where they’re going to be placed or the design you are looking for.
Ceramic tiles: they are fireproof and resist high temperatures. You can find them in many different colours.
Concrete tiles: it provides great sound and temperature isolations, they are very resistant and strong.
Metal tiles: its best characteristic is that it can be used everywhere since it perfectly resists all climatic conditions.
Bituminous tiles: used for roofs which slope is less than 13 degrees, they are made of canvas or fiberglass.
Copper tiles: although they must be carefully installed, they are long lasting and they require little maintenance.
Ceramic tiles: they are the most economic ones.
Porcelain tiles: their surface has a glazed look.
Natural stone tiles: among these, the most common ones are granite, marble, limestone and travertine tiles.
At Infoisinfo we always work hard to be able to offer you some useful information so that you can easily find the best products and services for you and your company in Oxford. We know how important is for you to make your house feel home. It is important to count on quality materials that you like. For this reason, we have prepared a list of the best tiles manufacturers in Oxford for you to discover from beautiful kitchen and bathroom tile ideas to the best roofing tiles.
Get in touch thanks to the contact details provided such as phone numbers, websites, address and opening times. In addition, you can have a look at comments and valuations from other clients so you can get a better idea about these construction materials.


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People are often surprised by the name of the commoners voluntary association for the New Forest. But the secret of the survival of the New Forest landscape has been its fierce defence by commoners over centuries. Challenges have come from all directions, particularly from governments and their agencies, eyeing just another piece of southern heathland for whatever the latest “need” happens to be. Large areas of the New Forest were lost to development, but the fact that so much remains bears powerful testimony to the commoners’ willingness to speak truth to power and stand up for this special place. We think it fair to say that the New Forest of today simply would not exist had it not been for its robust defence by commoners. Commoning is the essential element that sustains not only its special cultural heritage, but also its landscape, biodiversity, and accessibility.
The Commoners Defence Association was established in 1909, at a time when threats to this traditional form of land management, were rising once again. As the number of agencies with a say over the Forest grew, not least the subsequent creation of the Forestry Commission, the commoners realised that the time had arrived that a more formal voice had become necessary.
The CDA is now over one hundred years old and continues to work in support of commoners and their animals grazing on the open Forest. It remains as important as ever, and does an extraordinary amount of work given that it is run by volunteers and funded by its members’ subscriptions.
Up to the mid nineteenth century the New Forest had been a neglected area of rough heathland and simple cottages, surrounded by large landed estates and tenanted farms. The development of the railway and extension of road network in the late nineteenth century saw increasing access deep into the Forest. It was also a period of romantic nostalgia for ‘wilderness’ and natural beauty which meant that new residents started to move into the area, buying up old lodges and service cottages advertised as ‘superior gentlemen’s residence in beautiful and romantic surroundings.’ The improvement of the road network also allowed the opening up of the area to residential development, spreading out from Southampton and Bournemouth.
At this time, the New Forest’s importance as a source of revenue from timber was replaced by its potential as an area of recreational and natural history importance. The new residents to the area – often urban born – frequently found the close proximity of the commoners’ animals a nuisance, and misunderstanding and mistrust grew over the years. Increasing numbers of animals strayed out of the were impounded causing conflict and mistrust which had become so serious by the early 20th century that the New Forest Commoners’ Defence Association was established in 1909.
The primary focus of the CDA is on safeguarding the interests of commoners, particularly around the welfare of animals turned out to graze the New Forest. Everything the Association does is in support of this core mission to sustain our landscape’s commoning system. The New Forest has survived because commoners have done this forcefully and successfully over centuries.
The CDA works very closely with the Verderers to help them fulfil their statutory duties to protect commoning, promote animal welfare, and maintain the grazed New Forest. The commoners are directly represented by the elected Verderers, and work closely with the Verderers throughout the year.
The legal situation of the New Forest is unusual: Grazing animals have a right of way on Forest roads; adjacent landowners should fence stock out of their property. Both are the opposite of what is normal. The CDA, therefore, has an important role in helping members handle any claims.


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How do you change the study mode of a unit on studentConnect?
Logon to studentConnect with your UWA Student ID Number and Pheme password.
Under the ENROLMENT menu select ‘Online Enrolment and Change of Enrolment’ then ‘Select your units’.
Under the ‘Modify’ column select ‘CHANGE’.
Tick the ‘Modify’ box next to the mode that you want to select.
Click the ‘Update Cart’ button.
The new study mode should be saved and visible under the ‘Class’ column.
The 'Change' option will only be available if your unit is offered in multiple teaching modes (e.g. Face-to-face, Online, Multi-mode).
Check the UWA Handbook for full details on units. If you need have further questions Email Us or contact your Student Advising Office.


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I want to thank you for taking the time this month to shine a light on Black History as we honor, celebrate and narrate the stories of African Americans.
When I think about the importance of Black History Month, I am reminded of something an African-American educator said years ago in a staff meeting when asked by a colleague why we needed to single out Black History as a special event. She replied that as a person who had lived through the civil rights movement, she believed that Black History Month provided a time for all educators and students to remember together the struggles of African Americans to obtain the basic civil rights afforded to other citizens of the United States, the challenges African Americans had faced together since the first slaves were brought to America, and the contributions of African Americans to this great nation.
I must admit that I feel the same way about Women’s History, given that my grandmothers were both adults with children before women received the right to vote in the third decade of the twentieth century. And, I know that others feel similarly about different days or weeks or months dedicated to honor, celebrate or educate.
We are a nation grounded in liberty and justice, not for some, but for all. We represent the greatest diversity of any nation in the world, and that has challenged us as wave after wave of immigrants have looked to America as a place with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. From veterans to presidents, we honor people for many reasons in this country with special times of remembrance. These annual events by themselves do not begin to tell the stories of our history and the people who helped write those stories. However, our events remind us to transmit the narrative of the United States from the best of who we are to when we have been at our worst to our learners.
Our historical narrative defines us and helps us remember important markers and milestones in our great American journey.
Along with similar events, Black History Month serves as such a marker—a time to pause and reflect. That’s why we take the time in our schools to educate our young people this month about the contributions of African Americans to stories of our nation and events that shaped who we are as a culture today.
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Watts Branch is a largely free-flowing tributary to the Anacostia River. Watts Branch enters the Anacostia River in the southeast portion of the District of Columbia. The subwatershed is generally bound by Deanwood Road/Eastern Avenue and Rollins Avenue to the north and east, Benning Road/East Capital Street to the south, and the Anacostia River to the west. Watts Branch is located within both Prince George's County and the District of Columbia, with the headwaters portion located in the former. The Capitol Heights tributary is the only major, open, Watts Branch tributary remaining.
Dominant Land Uses: Dominant land uses in the subwatershed include residential (70%), forest cover (12%), and parkland (8%).
Physical Characteristics: The Watts Branch subwatershed is approximately 2,463 acres (3.8 mi2) in size and approximately 31 percent impervious. This level of imperviousness is among the highest in the Anacostia watershed and is approximately 10 percent higher than the average for the 14 major subwatersheds. Watts Branch is located within the Coastal Plain physiographic province. Geologically, the Coastal Plain portion of the Anacostia watershed is characterized by largely unconsolidated sedimentary deposits of sands, gravels, silts and clays.
Biological Characteristics: Watts Branch is designated as a Use I stream (i.e., suitable for water recreation and support of aquatic life) by MDE and as a Class 'B','C', and 'D' ('B'=secondary contact and aesthetic enjoyment; 'C'=protection and propagation of fish, shellfish and wildlife; and 'D'=protection for human health related to consumption) by the District of Columbia Department of the Environment (DDOE). Seven (78 percent) out of the nine Watts Branch Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) main stem sampling stations were rated as having either non-supporting or partially supporting physical aquatic habitat conditions present. The condition of macroinvertebrate populations in the upper, middle and lower main stem is very poor. The lower Watts Branch main stem supports a modest fish community, comprised by approximately 15 species of which 13 are pollution tolerant. The main stem is open to both resident and migratory fishes up to 49th Street. Currently, there are no macroinvertebrate and/or fish community-related sampling data for the Capitol Heights tributary.
Several physical barriers to both resident and anadromous fish movement and migration are present within the Watts Branch system (e.g., concrete channelized stream sections, perched road culverts, enclosed stream sections, etc). These, as well as other barriers have been identified and remain as a restoration challenge for this subwatershed. It should be noted that the District of Columbia has made a concerted effort to reduce stormwater runoff impacts, restore main stem instream habitat, replace and or rehabilitate old leaking sewer lines, reforest riparian corridors, and reduce trash loads in the subwatershed.
Condition Summary: Watts Branch is an older, heavily developed subwatershed within the Maryland and District of Columbia portions of the Anacostia watershed. It was developed well before stormwater management controls became mandatory. The dozen or so existing stormwater BMPs collectively control only about 95 acres, total. They are largely represented by underground sand filters, small pond-type systems, infiltration trenches and water quality inlets. The small stormwater pond systems are found in the Prince George's County portion of the subwatershed. Approximately 22 percent of the total subwatershed area is forested, and roughly 20 percent of the stream miles have an adequate riparian forest buffer (i.e., 300-foot total width). Initial indications are that far more comprehensive stormwater retrofitting and stream restoration efforts in the upper, middle and lower main stem areas are needed to restore the aquatic ecosystem of the Watts Branch subwatershed. Planned future projects include, but are not limited to: stormwater management focusing on the employment of low impact development (LID) and environmentally sensitive design (ESD), aquatic and terrestrial habitat restoration, wetland creation, riparian reforestation, invasive plant management, and potentially additional fish reintroductions.
To get involved in protecting your Anacostia subwatershed contact The Watts Branch Watershed Alliance.

industry_corpus2: Water Resources & Marine


text:
Usually I don’t play ARUZE slot.
But I found New Aruze Slot at San Manuel Casino.
Let’s try it on $125 of Free Play !
That win music was terrible. Sounded like some rejected 8 bit Nintendo game music. Whoever approved this needs their ears checked.


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Baby llamas can flat-foot jump four-foot high fences. And it’s awesome. Meh, about five months old now, recently displayed a new talent. In order to reach Handsome on the other side of a four-foot predator fence, with no running start whatsoever, he just sprang vertically into the air and landed with aplomb on the earth not two feet away. Probably for a cookie. We were duly impressed. And now we have to keep the front gate shut at all times.
Crocheting scarves is a great way to pass some time while watching Dexter with Handsome. I’m getting pretty good less terrible at a single-double chain stitch. Very relaxing and somewhat productive.
Hens are vain creatures. We accidentally left the front door open a few days ago and turned around to see Red Nekkid Neck hen and this gorgeous black hen exploring the living room. Just, you know, pooping on the wood floors. No biggie. The nameless black hen was perched on my favorite green chair, staring with deep and fascinated longing at herself. Do you have name suggestions for such a vain creature?
Mixing both sides of our family at a tenuous, change-filled season for everyone was at once genius and insane. We hosted our two nuclear groups at the farm for Thanksgiving this year, and we made a thousand memories and had a great time, truly. But I learned that spreading myself too thinly among people who have to make a great effort to blend with each other, well, it kind of leaves everyone feeling awkward. It is wonderful too, don’t get me wrong! But it was a learning experience. If someone ever asks my advice on this issue, I would say that overextending yourself in grief-stricken times, with limited hours available to spend with your loved ones, can leave everyone feeling a bit shortchanged. Sometimes it’s better to really water your families’ roots deeply. One at a time.
Listening trumps talking. And believing the best in people and in uncertain situations makes a difference. You know, faith is a force to be reckoned with. This past month I have literally fallen asleep giving thanks so many times. And my waking hours have been blissfully free of worry. It’s the most amazing transformation ever. I am learning the fruition part of the power of imagination, the potential of faithful prayers. How are you doing with this?
Adult footie pajamas are the bomb-dot-com. Have you seen them in retail land yet? Super cute. And even moreso soft and comfy. I can’t even tell you how fast you should go out and buy some for immediate cuddling, pretend flying through the air, and extended air-ninja-battles with errant poultry. We recently rearranged the living room, allowing for a long, wide path in the wood floor. Wearing my cool footie pj’s I can slide right down that slick alleyway like Tom Cruise in Risky Business. Not much less awesome that a jumping llama.
And it’s December! I am two days deep in decorating, organizing, fitness, reading great books, and generally loving life. Now I’m off to see what the other guests at Emily’s link up have learned. Thanks so much for stopping by! What are you learning?
“I am learning all the time.
A. Thank you, it’s probably the only diploma I’ll ever have, ha!
B. Thank you! Maybe Santa will bring you some. SOOOO fun & comfy.
C. I love you more, RDK.
Love your llamas, footed pi’s, and laughed about the vain chicken! My daughter named our black chicken “Rosie.” Enjoyed your post.
As usual, loved the post. But, help! I need those pjs for my daughter. What size should I order. She’s 5’6″, long-waisted and thin — like you!
Reason I ask is that the size chart doesn’t deal with height, which I think might be critical for something that’s one piece and includes feet!
sweet animals … lovely post! so good to meet you this week via Emily’s place, Marie!
Hi Linda, thank you very much! It’s been great meeting all of you ladies. Merry Christmas!