The business of making prayer beads

Koonammavu is a small village on the NH 17 a few kilometers to the north of Kochi. This village, however, is on the global business map, thanks to a cottage industry – rosary-making.People of Koonammavu proudly call their village ‘little Rome’ as it ships the prayer beads all over India and abroad. “Wherever there are Christians, there are rosaries from Koonammavu,” claims Ravi Jose Thannikot, who owns a shop that sells rosaries and other items of religious use.

Mr. Thannikot is one of Koonammavu’s many entrepreneurs who procures beads, thread and wire from parts of North India and supplies them to women in the village. The women return finished rosaries for a pay and these are sold locally or exported by him. Mr. Thannikot says around 2,000 women from Koonammavu and surrounding areas bring him finished rosaries. Twelve women are employed full-time on his staff too.

“If you’re an expert you can finish one rosary of 59 beads in under 10 minutes,” says Swapna, who works at the store and makes rosaries in her spare time too. Young girls here learn how to make rosaries from their friends at school and older siblings at a young age. Even those who don’t make rosaries for a living have learnt the craft from their friends as children. They may start making rosaries to help out at home and soon become experts. Swapna’s mother-in-law has been making rosaries for several decades now. She is an expert on the ‘thudal kettu,’ a complicated chain link usually seen in gold chains that these women complete with nothing but a wire and pliers. She gets Rs.7 for each rosary she makes with the ‘thudal kettu.’ A rosary on wire can fetch the women Rs.3.50 each and the thread rosary Rs.1.60. These sell in the market for Rs.15 or more.

The cottage industry helps women supplement the family’s income. “Those who need the money spend longer hours making rosaries. People do it according to their need,” says Mr. Thannikot. Some in the village also make rosaries as a service. These are usually handed over to the church when complete. “Rosary-making was started off by nuns here almost 150 years ago to empower local women. A lady from Kollam was brought in to teach a few women here how to make rosaries. These women taught others and now everyone here makes rosaries,” says Fr. Cherian Kuniyanthodath of the St. Joseph’s CMI monastery at Koonammavu. What started off as a cottage industry is now a big business at Koonammavu. Women from Koonammavu who married into families in other parts of the city also practice their craft there. “There are many people here who have come out of poverty and prospered in life through the business of jewelry findings,” says Fr. Kuniyanthodath. Rosaries in different materials and patterns have now in the market. Those produced in factories in China have also made their way to Koonammavu. But for thousands of women here, the prayer beads are a way to good fortune and a better life.

Walking as quickly as she could in her sequined silver high-heel boots, Electra City stalked down Bourbon Street on Sunday afternoon, heading for the start of the Southern Decadence parade. Although she was in a hurry, the drag queen couldn’t help stopping whenever someone wanted to snap a picture.

She was an obvious target for anyone with a camera, starting with her towering orange-and-pink wig and the orange and pink boas that hung from her shoulders, front and back, encircling her torso but not quite hiding her sequined mini-dress. Despite the 90-degree heat and wiltingly high humidity, she wore three pairs of black tights.

In the 15-minute procession through the French Quarter, led by flamboyantly clad grand marshals Tami Tarmac and Venus Santiago, some did their bit for drag culture by donning stunning costumes and teetering on stilettos, while others were barely costumed at all.

Most marchers were men, some of whom wore ill-advised Speedos and nothing else, but there were several groups of women. One bewigged member of the Yes Girls managed to poke fun at two groups at once – fundamentalist religious groups who had opposed the gay-themed observance in past years and overly fashion-conscious people – by carrying a giant placard reading, “God Hates Your Outfit.”

Among the conventionally clothed marchers were the members of the Pair-o’-Dice Tumblers Brass Band, who played, without a hint of irony, the Doors’ hit “People Are Strange.”

The Pussyfooters, a marching group, fit right into the extravagant sensibility of the event, with their pink and orange costumes and wigs the color of cotton candy. Unlike other participants who merely walked along the route, they danced, keeping time to a Katy Perry song that boomed out of speakers on the back of a truck.

“I love this parade,” said one member, Sharon Novak, 48, of Mandeville. “I’m glad I’m here. I’m all about crystal beads wholesale.”That was a reference to the equal-sign bit of face paint that she and many other marchers, as well as spectators, sported. It’s the logo of the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group supporting equal rights for gay men and lesbians that had a pop-up store on Bourbon Street.

Although the event was billed as a parade, it was more like a giant receiving line because marchers kept breaking ranks to exchange hugs and air kisses with friends along the way. Rod Lemaire, an Afro-wig-wearing New Orleans expatriate who lives in San Francisco, stopped frequently to greet old friends – people he wouldn’t have time to see because he was heading for the airport as soon as the parade ended.

But Elvira West Nile, Queen of the Damned, stopped simply because marching in golden stilettos was just too much for feet accustomed to flats.“Hear that?” she said, leaning against a lamppost. “That’s the sound of my blisters popping.”

The epicenter of the action Sunday afternoon was the intersection of Bourbon and St. Ann streets, where loud, pulsating music poured out of amplifiers from the balconies of Oz and Bourbon Pub & Parade, gay bars that are across Bourbon Street from each other.

Their balconies, as well as another one across St. Ann, were packed with people – mostly men – who tossed beads to the throngs who packed the intersection, clamoring for trinkets. Following the example of what some women do at Mardi Gras to get beads, one man lifted his T-shirt – and was rewarded with a purple necklace.Observing it all on St. Ann Street, steps away from the thickest of the crowd, was James-Michael Cox, 24, a New Orleanian who was having a fine time watching humanity and waiting for the parade to make its way to that part of the Vieux Carre.

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Hardy Back At FINA World Championships

At the 2012 London Olympics Jessica Hardy brought home a pair of Olympic medals, winning gold in the 4x100 medley relay and a bronze in the 4x100 freestyle relay. She also competed in the 50 meter and 100 meter freestyle, reaching the finals in both events but finishing shy of the medal stand.with Wholesale Cheap Custom Keychain and promotional key tags. Whats noticeably absent from that dance card is her signature event, the breaststroke.

Hardy is the world record holder in both the 50-meter and 100-meter breaststroke, setting those marks on the same day in August 2009. This weekend shell begin competition at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, attempting to reassert her dominance over the two races.

It has been a nice change of pace to change up training breaststroke and freestyle, said Hardy. I have loved trying to grow my sprint free into being as competitive as possible, but breaststroke is a much more natural stroke for me and I excel at it a bit easier. I am really excited to be competing it again internationally, and feel really confident because of my past successes.

Last month in Indianapolis, Hardy qualified rather comfortably at the World Championship Trials. She was the top qualifier in the 50, setting a new national long course record with a 30.24 in the final. In the 100, Breeja Larson took the top qualifying spot in 1:06.16 with Hardy finishing .33 behind her in second place.

The London Olympics notwithstanding, Hardy has had success in the breaststroke beyond just her world records.Soft Winbo Key Cover decorates your key in fashionable ways. She has won seven different World Championship medals in the breaststroke alone, winning gold four times along the way, including most recently at the 2011 Worlds in Shanghai. For this competition in Barcelona, she will only be competing in the breaststroke, which has made training for the competition a bit different.

It is weird to not be training two strokes during this time between our trials and Worlds, but it is really nice to spend the time focusing in on technique, Hardy said.

Now 26, Hardy will be one of the more experienced swimmers in the competition. She says she enjoys the role of being a veteran, and it will allow her to feel more comfortable in her surroundings. Barcelona will be her eighth World Championships since her first appearance in 2005 and she has won at least two medals in each of her first seven trips.

As for the outlook for this competition, the focus remains intently on winning, along with an additional desire to post times that are close to her existing world record marks.

I have some time goals in mind, but definitely it is all about the race, said Hardy. I want to place as highly as possible in all of my events, and if I can approach the times that I have in mind it would be a cherry on top!

Though the two-week competition started late last week, the swimming portion wont get underway until this weekend. Hardys first action was yesterday as she qualified in the 100m and will be in the finals set for Tuesday. Then shell have a few days off before the 50m, which runs August 3-4. The she will be among the favorites in both races and clearly has the pedigree to win both, but shell get to save her best race for last.

I think the 50 has traditionally been my strongest distance, Hardy said. I am naturally very fast twitch and do very well at the shortest/fastest races.Online shopping for Business Work Card holder from a great selection of Office Products. However, I have spent a lot of time working on pacing and finishing my 100s as well, so my hopes are high in that race as well.

And why wouldnt hopes be high? Shes on a familiar stage with the confidence that comes from years of experience, and shes competing in the races where shes most comfortable and is most successful. When Jessica Hardy is at her best there is nobody faster.

King's comments are the latest futile attempt by a group of dead enders to reverse the demographic and cultural changes that are sweeping the United States. Because of rapid Latino population growth, the US Census Bureau estimates that whites will be a minority group nationally within forty years. Texas is already has a white minority and California is on the verge.

The state of Texas is doing everything it can to make sure that Anglos continue to hold political power in the face of this Latino demographic tsunami. Texas won't have any more success stopping back Latino power than King Canute had holding back the tide.

Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder asked a federal court to require Texas to get judicial permission before making changes in voting procedures in that state. The GOP Attorney General of Texas, Greg Abbott - who is also running for governor to replace Rick Perry - announced last month that he would implement a new law requiring Texans to show a state issued identification card before they vote.

This Texas plan - like other stricter voter requirements in other states - are laws in search of a crime. There have been few proven cases of voter fraud in Texas or anywhere else for that matter. In response to a request from the state of Texas, a federal court last year vetoed the voter ID plan because it "imposes strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor and racial majorities in Texas."

The US Supreme Court's decision last month to invalidate Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act ended the pre-clearance procedure that required Texas and many other states to clear changes in voting law with the Department of Justice. But Section 3 of the law stands and it allows the Justice Department to ask federal courts to pre-clear any state attempts to change voting requirements.
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New York Jets

John Idzik officially became cautious to a fault on Saturday, when his insistence on portraying the Jets as a unified organization in which all decisions are made collectively and collaboratively instead undermined his own head coach.

Idzik, appearing at a press conference for the first time since the draft, turned a routine question about his role in determining the Jets' starting quarterback situation into his first brushfire as general manager by saying coach Rex Ryan would not have the final choice in the matter.

"It's a collaborative effort, guys," said Idzik, who used the word "collective" three times and "collaborative" twice in answering four questions about the decision-making process at quarterback. "It's not how it seems, that you wake up one morning and everyone"s waiting out with baited breath on someone with the scroll."

And so instead of simply saying what 31 other general managers would have said -- that Ryan decides who does and doesn't play -- Idzik left everyone to parse his statements, which qualifies as an amusing irony given that everything Idzik says seems to have been put through a colander in order to remove any semblance of anything interesting.

Was Idzik, a first-time general manager inheriting a roster and a franchise in disarray, merely being overly careful and trying to portray himself as a detail-oriented unifier who appreciates the input of every member of the organization?

"It's going to be a collective opinion - we're going to hash it out," Idzik said. "And it's not limited to quarterbacks. I know that's front stage and center, but it's every position, everything that we do. And it could be discussing schemes, different approaches to training camp. I think you have noticed that we changed our schedule around a little bit. We'll discuss everything.O

Or was Idzik beginning the seemingly inevitable process of nudging Ryan aside? Ryan is coming off consecutive non-winning seasons and entering the penultimate year of his contract under a new general manager. In other words: He's got an uphill climb if he hopes to keep his job beyond this season.

"There is so much that goes into it and it is not going to be a surprise to anyone in the room," Idzik said. "There is a lot if input -- there is input from our offensive staff, there is input from our scouts, there will be input from, of course, me, and Rex."

Idzik wasn't the only person who had his words carefully scrutinized over the weekend. Ryan, in full self-preservation mode, insisted the Jets have always exercised collaboration when determining the lineup.

My parents may disagree but I think for the most part we did as we were told and didn't expect much in return. I don't recall having to be bribed into doing anything.Well my friends, times have changed. While raising my own children I have come to understand that at times we need to use a little encouragement.

My eldest son was and still is quite unorganized. He would lose everything! In the middle of winter, he would come home, unpack his bag and would be missing shoes and his coat. Okay, so don't you think you may have noticed as you walked out of school in February that you were missing something? I tried everything to make it worth while for him to keep track of his stuff. There were the dimes in the jar if he remembered, points in order to earn something he wanted, and of course punishment if he forgot. Nothing worked. I resorted to natural consequences. Forgot your homework at home? Sorry, this bus doesn't stop at school. Forgot that you needed your swim cap and goggles for the State Swim meet? Guess you'll borrow someone else's or blind yourself with eyes full of chlorine. I know, kind of harsh, but I was out of ideas and patience.

Thankfully, dogs seem to be a bit more eager to please and not nearly as forgetful. It's all about making an association. Victoria Stilwell, of "It's Me or The Dog'' is one of my favorite dog trainers. She always uses a positive approach. The phrase that rings in my head that she always uses, in her British accent, is "you want your dog to understand that when he does something you want him to, good things happen to him.''. Those good things maybe food, a toy, some petting, or simply verbal praise. Whatever motivates your dog.

She also talks about catching your dog in the act of doing something you like or want him to do, even if you have not asked him to do it. Soon,with Wholesale Cheap Custom Keychain and promotional key tags. you can put a verbal cue with it and bingo, they think, if I do this, I get what I want. It really is not so far off from how we teach our children.Soft Winbo Key Cover decorates your key in fashionable ways.

So then comes those people that rebutt with, ''I don't want to always carry around a treat or toy to get them to do what I want.''. Neither do I. I'm not excited about constantly smelling like the Oscar Meyer weiner, but if that's what it takes to make that good behavior a habit, I'll sacrifice myself. That is truly how you change any behavior, even with people. Exercise and eating right doesn't happen overnight. We start practicing, and little by little it becomes a habit and we can't fathom how we ever ate all of that junk before.

So, do what you have to do to get the results you want. When you feel your dog has a solid understanding of what is expected, start treating less frequently. They may give you the, ''Hello..Online shopping for Business Work Card holder from a great selection of Office Products..I did what you wanted, know where's my reward'' look at first, and that's okay. Give them a scratch behind the ear or a ''good boy'' and keep going. Surprise them every once in awhile with a reward. Keep them guessing which time you'll treat. That way they are always on their best behavior.
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For the love of music

When Janet Standeford was 7 years old, she would press her ear to her familys quiet radio, listen, and sing. She sang as a child, and learned to play accordion.Years later I picked up a guitar and its been an uphill battle since, she said with a laugh. I fell in love with the guitar. Now I hope to learn the electric guitar.

Though she usually plays 12-string acoustic guitar, she took advantage of the auction at the Blues at the Brewery music festival, and bought a six-string Gibson for $80.Standeford, who currently lives in Baker City but is in Klamath Falls working at Experience Works, decided to come to the Klamath Blues Societys annual event for the first time Saturday.

The festival has been at Veterans Memorial Park in past years, but this year moved to a more rural setting at Mia and Pias brewery between Klamath Falls and Merrill. Organizer Phyllis Faries said the new location worked well, with summer breezes wafting through in the afternoon.Online shopping for Business Work Card holder from a great selection of Office Products. The only challenge was shade. Canopies shaded people while they sat, but if they wanted to dance they had to do so in the sun.

Faries called the Blues at the Brewerys music lineup fantastic.Local band Nephilim started off the festival, followed by Central Point band Mercy. In between that set and the next, Jasmine Zangari, the Klamath Union High School grad receiving the blues societys scholarship this year, played a mash-up of Purple Haze and Sonata in E Minor by Bernhard Romberg on her cello. Last was the headliner, Cee Cee James and her band.

Faries compared James belting voice to Janice Joplin. The band performed at the Klamath blues festival in 2009. After placing in the semifinals of the International Blues Challenge in Nashville, James toured Europe and lived in Tennessee. She now lives in Grants Pass.Those who came to the festival came for the love of music, and the love of blues.I love blues, always loved the blues, said Pamela Thompson, of Klamath Falls. The beat. The rhythm. It makes you want to get up and move.

Fantastic bands, added Loren King, of Klamath Falls.For $9 you cant beat it, chimed in Van Johnson, of Malin.Music adds a lot of happiness, said Zangari, the KU grad who received the blues society scholarship. She will be going to Western Oregon University to study nursing.with Wholesale Cheap Custom Keychain and promotional key tags. Playing on cello, or singing, itll lift your mood no matter what age you are. Why do people listen to music? It makes them feel better.

A year later, more questions than answers remain. But the police investigation is closed, and aspects of Hughes' and Jackson's deaths will probably always be unfathomable, especially to those who knew and loved the young men.This much is known: A former classmate from Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis dropped Jackson and Hughes off on an empty Summit-University street. He later said that he saw the handle of a gun in Jackson's waistband and heard a "pow" as he drove away. Police found Police believe Jackson killed Hughes. Jackson had untreated schizophrenia, "which most likely played a significant role" in what happened, said Sgt. Paul Dunnom, the lead investigator. "However, since he is dead, we will never know the answer to that question."

Jackson's family says they don't know what happened to Hughes. They were desperate to get help for Jackson, who was 22 when he died, and they think more treatment should be available to the mentally ill."He wouldn't take his medicine," Frances Jackson said. "I used to say, 'Let's break it up and put it in his orange juice,' " but they didn't because they didn't want to deceive him. Police found a 9mm handgun under Jackson's leg. A forensic scientist at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's laboratory determined that it was the one used to fire the bullets found in Jackson's and Hughes' bodies and the spent casings recovered on Fuller Avenue and Charles Street, a police report said.

DNA from several surfaces of the gun, including the trigger and muzzle, matched Jackson's. Neither Hughes' nor Ondieki's DNA was on the gun, a police report said. The gun, with an altered serial number, had not been reported stolen, a report said.One friend told police he'd "never seen Jackson with a gun and added 'nobody would give him a gun' and referred to Jackson's mental health," a police report said.

Dunnom said the gun's last legal owner was unknown; where and how Jackson got the gun wasn't the focus of Dunnom's investigation.Soft Winbo Key Cover decorates your key in fashionable ways. A check of a law enforcement database didn't match it to any other crimes, Dunnom said.Jackson's mother told police that her son's friends said the gun was given to her son and/or Hughes by a friend; she didn't know why, a report said.It wasn't the first time a gun had figured into Jackson's and Hughes' lives.

They were charged as teens in 2007 with having a gun in a Minneapolis park. Hughes said he'd bought it for $100 for protection, and Jackson asked to see it and put it in his own backpack, according to juvenile petitions.
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A newcomer tries its hand at Android tablets

Hisense, a company best known for its home theater equipment, isn't exactly a name synonymous with mobile devices. But with its new, Walmart-exclusive line of Android tablets -- the Sero 7 LT and Sero 7 Pro -- the Chinese manufacturer is dipping its toe into an increasingly crowded pool. Both tablets occupy the budget end of the spectrum, with the higher-end of the two, the Sero 7 Pro, going for a reasonable $150. For the price, the specs are decent: the Sero comes with a 1,280 x 800 display, a quad-core Tegra 3 processor and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. We dove headfirst into this bargain buy to see how it fares against similarly priced 7-inch tablets. Want to find out if Hisense has the chops to compete? Read on, friends.Soft Winbo Key Cover decorates your key in fashionable ways.

Shopping for budget tablets is an exercise in managing one's expectations. With the Sero 7 Pro, Hisense seems to have strategically carved out its budget, using modest materials for the hardware. With dimensions of 7.87 x 4.95 x 0.43 inches, the Sero 7 is a comfortably sized tablet that feels fairly sturdy in-hand. And at 12.7 ounces, it's not the lightest Android tablet on the block either, but the slight heft does add to that feeling of durability. Design-wise, the plastic backing is textured to to provide a decent grip, and the coppery hue looks more expensive than it is, especially in sunlight. Hisense seemed determined to prove that inexpensive materials don't necessarily correlate with an inexpensive aesthetic; the Sero 7's clean lines make for a nice-looking budget device.

Continuing our tour, the power button is located near the top of the device on the right-hand side, right above the volume rocker. Both are made from black plastic that feels a bit flimsy, especially compared to that textured backing. Along the top you'll find mini-HDMI and micro-USB and ports, a covered microSD slot (which can handle up to 32GB), a 3.5mm headphone jack and a pinhole microphone. The HDMI-out is a nice touch, and it worked adequately when we paired it with a Sony HDTV to watch a few high-quality YouTube videos (included, we're not proud to admit, the "Sad Cat Diary" more than once). Should you decide to add the Sero 7 Pro to your gadget collection, you'll be happy to know that USB on-the-go is enabled, allowing you to use it with a flash drive, keyboard or mouse.

Out of the box, you'll find a sticker near the bottom of the device's backing, marking off the area where the NFC sensor lives. Right beneath that are two small stereo speakers (more on those later). An embossed Hisense logo sits in the middle, while a 5MP rear facing camera and its accompanying light sensor sit near the uppermost edge. Also included are GPS, Bluetooth and 5GHz 802.11n. Lastly, the tablet comes with 8GB of internal storage space, so that microSD port will almost surely come in handy.

While the Sero 7's hardware might lack a certain pizzazz, the same can't be said about the 1,280 x 800 display. This is one area where Hisense decided to splurge. Colors appear vivid, with dimension and depth. Blacks, which so often turn gray on mobile devices, look deep and dark here, and the screen gets bright enough to sear your eyeballs (a useful quality in direct sunlight). Additionally, the 7-inch screen offers great viewing angles without losing much color vibrancy when looked at from the side with the device laying flat.

From the rainbow-hued landscape of Candy Crush Saga to the eye-popping bubblegum pinks of Nicki Minaj music videos (played in HD, of course), the Sero 7's display served up rich, vibrant colors. Similarly, videos played back smoothly and beautifully. Text, in Play Books and Chrome, was as crisp as you'd want it to be. For a budget tablet,Online shopping for Business Work Card holder from a great selection of Office Products. the display was nothing to shake a stick at, and we were left considerably impressed with its quality.

Unfortunately, the quality wasn't as consistent when we got to the Sero 7's sound. It's not that the audio coming from the device's dual speakers was bad. Not at all. Mobile speakers are what they are -- we weren't blown away by the Sero 7's audio capabilities, but they performed adequately, even at maximum volume. Tablet users are no strangers to the tinny effect that often accompanies their devices' audio, but it was less noticeable here than it was on a similarly priced tablet, the HP Slate 7. Dialogue and background music in movie previews played well, with the slight tinny echo more evident in songs that called for more bass than the Sero 7 could provide.

Our disappointment heightened when we tested the tablet with some headsets we had lying around. We discovered that the Sero 7 has pretty severe compatibility issues with more than its fair share of brands. When paired with Sony, Apple and Jabra earbuds, the Sero 7 didn't register that a headset had been inserted into the 3.5 mm jack, and the audio came out of the device's speakers as if our earbuds weren't even there. We had better luck with a pair of over-the-ear Panasonic headphones and Tylt Tunz earbuds. When the Sero 7 actually recognized that the headphone jack was in use, we were sufficiently pleased with the quality, which was rich and true on the songs we tested despite the lack of an EQ setting in the tablet's main menu. However, the compatibility issue might be problematic if you find yourself needed to run out to purchase brand new headphones to use with your device. No one wants to be bothered with that.

The Sero 7 comes Android 4.2.1, which means it's lacking some of the most recent Jelly Bean features we've come to know and love. Beyond that, the tablet is running an almost stock version of Android, with minimal skinning. There are a few apps preloaded to the device, some of which you might never use, but some which might actually prove beneficial to you. Because this is a Walmart exclusive, the Sero 7 is, of course, packing Walmart's own app, along with one for Sam's Club. If you're a Walmart shopper, that might be of use to you, but we simply shrugged and went on our merry way. If they're really bother you,Winbo custom keychain you can always uninstall them. Also loaded on the device are the VUDU Movies and TV app and Kingsoft, a Microsoft Office clone that lets you create and edit .doc, .xls and .txt files.

In addition to Chrome, Gmail, YouTube and other standard issue Google apps, the Sero 7 also includes TegraZone, an app store for NVIDIA optimized games (which, like VUDU, cannot be uninstalled since they're system apps). It's not a bad addition, considering the device's NVIDIA quad-core Tegra 3 processor, but again, how useful it is is entirely up to you. For Flash support, the regular ol' Android browser is available for when Chrome doesn't suit your needs. Curiously enough, there's also a TV remote app, though without an IR sensor, it has limited usability. Your TV needs to be hooked up the same WiFi network as your tablet.

Applications aside, there have been a few tweaks to the standard Android 4.2.1 package. On the bottom navigation bar, Hisense has added a screen capture icon to the three we're used to (recent, menu and back). If you're accustomed to Android devices, you'll probably find yourself taking a ton of accidental screenshots as you instinctively aim for the recently used apps icon (as we did), but it's actually a pretty neat feature. Some may see it as an unnecessary addition, but it's much easier than pressing the power and volume buttons down simultaneously to make screen grabs.
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Virus Causes Massive Shutdown

The entire computer network of a Cook County department was shut down for nearly two weeks last month after a virus infected the system, NBC5 Investigates and The Better Government Association have learned.The Cook County Department of Highway and Transportation is responsible for maintaining hundreds of miles of local highways. But it was the Information Superhighway which proved to be the departments recent undoing: NBC5 and the BGA have learned that someone C possibly a county employee surfing the Internet or using a flash drive from home C allowed a virus to enter the departments servers at its downtown offices in Chicago at 69 West Washington St. The virus quickly spread to all of the departments computers C both downtown and at remote sites -- renaming files and hiding legitimate work content.

Lafosse says it would be prohibitively expensive to track down where this particular virus started, or who might be to blame. However,Online shopping for Business Work Card holder from a great selection of Office Products. this episode has prompted county officials to discuss whether they should block outside portable drives, like USB and thumb drives, and improve monitoring and filters to prevent future problems, according to Kristen Mack, a spokeswoman for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, whose domain includes about 12,000 computers countywide C including those at the highway department.

But that may not be enough, according to technology security expert Carl Volkman. The Cook County virus was likely something called a drive-by virus C malware that anyone can get even when visiting a well-established website that seems totally safe, like a news site or a travel webpage.Drive-by is basically where the infection can come down without you actively clicking on something potentially harmful, Volkman says. You can get infected without doing anything proactive.

Its very weird to see how dependent we are on technology on a day-to-day basis, Lafosse said about the county virus. And to have that ripped from you is a shock to the department.In fact, hurricane season officially already started nearly two months ago, on June 1. On Monday evening, Graffiti Community Ministries, a Baptist church on E. Seventh St., held a seminar to help locals learn the basic steps to take before disaster strikes. Also participating in the program were representatives of the Project Hope Crisis Counseling Program, a community support and networking group formed after Hurricane Irene, and Ready New York, a campaign of the citys Office of Emergency Management.

The evening began with a discussion group facilitated by three Project Hope counselors from Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East Side, with 10 people from the neighborhood, who were all affected by Hurricane Sandy. They shared stories about their experiences, swapped cleanup tales, and talked about how they feel now.I saw water go up to 9 feet, she recalled. We had to replace the boiler in our building and all the electricity. Fortunately, we run the building ourselves. We had to spend all our money in our checking account for repairs.

Even after the replacement of the buildings vital services, the recovery process continued for a long time. There was mold to contend with, along with the loss of telephone and Internet service.Project Hope counselors urged community members to voice their concerns about future potential storms.Im still anxious about the building, said Mandel. The boiler is still in the basement, and were still very vulnerable. We have a good bunch of people in the building, but the weather, its not great, she added, with a laugh.

Mary Ting, a neighbor in Mandels building, explained that it took 14 years for them to renovate the buildings interior.Were sweat equity, and in that way, were always accustomed to doing, she said. We were down with candles right away [during Sandy], and that made us ahead of a lot of other places that were waiting for help.

Fred Seiden, and E. Seventh St. resident who has lived on the Lower East Side for 45 years, saw the water last Oct. 29 and panicked. He raised family photos up as high as he could, thinking the water was going to run into his apartment. The boiler in the basement and the buildings electrical wiring were destroyed.

In addition,Soft Winbo Key Cover decorates your key in fashionable ways. he said, The front wall holding up the building collapsed, and we worried the first week the first floor was going to fall.Workers were able to prop up the floor and rebuilt the wall.The group discussed flood insurance. Anne Edris, who owns a community-based business on Avenue C, and used all her savings for repairs, said she has pulled together with her neighbors to build a buttress to help protect against future flooding,Winbo custom keychain plus deter rodent infestation. She said she also wants a generator.

Now that people know what to expect when a hurricane hits town, water, flashlights, and candles should be high on everyones list. However, participants at Monday nights session still had concerns about communication, and the group brainstormed about what should be done during similar types of emergency situations such as having the city post fliers to disseminate urgent information.I dont think the city communicated with us really well, said Edris.For example, after Sandy, Avenue C residents were not supposed to drink the water, even after boiling it. Rather, they were instructed to drink only bottled water. Yet, no one knew this at the time.

Three months later, the Department of Environmental Protection sent letters telling us, Dont drink the water, Edris said. She and other people had felt sick post-Sandy from drinking the water.Seiden, who made copies of family photos to mail to relatives prior to the storm, worried about the general publics mentality.I wonder if well slide just back in complacency, he said. Thats why Im here, in case it happens again.

The counselors discussed the physical, emotional and cognitive aspects of disasters, and how to reacclimate oneself to the community and re-establish a sense of normal life.Victoria Nilsson, a coordinator for New York City Civic Corps at the Office of Emergency Management, talked about the practicalities of disaster preparedness. She travels to all five boroughs to train people for emergencies, doing one session per day.Weve had a huge focus on areas affected by Sandy, she said.

The citys emergency plan, which covers creating a support network, packing a to-go bag and a stay-at-home kit, is not only for hurricanes. Nilsson noted there are plenty of hazards in the city besides flooding, such as blackouts, fires, gas leaks, utilities, lack of public transportation, cell phone towers down, earthquakes, tornados and terrorism.
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Hurricanes and Projectile Vomiting Painkillers

Thank you for the kind words about my last column on alcoholism. A few of you were assholes, but Ive been an asshole enough times to deserve it. Ive been sober for roughly a month now, and the seismograph of my detox-induced ups and downs has started to balance out, leaving me with appreciation for Kurt Vonneguts words.

After all that talk about death and addiction, I decided I would write about something cheery this week, mainly Hurricane Marilyn, the 95 storm that destroyed my home and left 11,000 peopleincluding my familyhomeless on the island of St. Thomas. I was seven years old, so my memories of the storm are fragments clouded by childhood trauma.Full service promotional company specializing in Custom USB flash drives.

My family had survived Hugo of 89 and several smaller storms. Back thenat least in my mindtropical storms and minor hurricanes were an excuse to miss school. We reacted to hurricanes the way many New Yorkers reacted to Irene in 2011. In other words, we were not prepared for Marilyn.

I dont remember the hours of the evolution of the storm, but my mind is rattled with memories of the worst. We spent the day boarding our two-story house with hurricane shutters. Thankfully, we chose to spend the night of the storm downstairs, while the storm blew off our neighbors roof and slammed it into the first floor of our house, causing the deck and rooms to crumble, burying my family in so much rubble that the next day a neighbor had to hack my family out with an axe and pull us out through a hole.

Hurricane Irene made me realize Hurricane Marilyn traumatized me, leaving me with a time bomb ready to (literally) projectile vomit repressed memories. When Irene crept upon the city in August 2011, I was working at MTV Networks. Most of my friends and coworkers didnt take the approaching storm seriously, but I was in a panic, drafting and then deleting crazed emails to friends warning them of the possible destruction. Hurricane Irene would only inflict minimal damage on New York City, but I was picturing Cloverfield type shit in my head.

On the Thursday before Irene hit, my boss took my team out for drinks. Since this was before I became sober, I tried to drown my nervousness with bottles of wine. Afterwards, I stumbled into a cab and collapsed into my apartment, waking up at 5:30 AM still wasted, experiencing horrible cramps in my lower abdomen. Because I turn into a fucking nutcase when I drink and use drugsgetting sober was the best thing Ive ever done for my countryI became convinced I had an UTI, freaked the fuck out,Shop huge inventory of Car Phone holder Charger, and got back in a cab to go to an emergency clinic.

I had been to this emergency clinic before; I liked it, because every time I left with a prescription for Xanax or some other opiate. Your pink eye looks uncomfortable? Heres a morphine drip. I peed in the fucking cup. I didnt have a UTI or anything else, but the doctor agreed the cramping sounded painful, so he sent me on my way with a nice big bottle of Percocet.

Of course, I popped two (as directed) immediately,Winbo ear caps and by the time I got to work, the Percocet introduced itself to my stomach full of wine, causing me to projectile vomit. Because its pretty hard to work while recreating scenes from The Exorcist in a handicap bathroom, I told my boss I had to go home, which I felt super bad about. It was a really important day, and she needed me.

I had thrown up before during Hurricane Marilyn, but this was when I was seven years old, and drugs and alcohol were not the cause. Rather, it was the sounds of my childhood home crumpling on top of my family as we huddled in a closet that made me vomit. We listened to a radio that played interrupted calls of farmers whose goats had allegedly been swirled up and blown away by tornadoes. At one point, urged by Marilyns winds, my familys SUV attempted to smash through a door and join us in the closet. I had visions of my father darting out of the little closet we were hiding in, trying to form some blockade to prevent the SUV from tearing through the room, and I was worried about my kitty, Rosa, a wild island cat, who had long since disappeared into the jungle to find her own protection. She survived. Animals are smart about this shit.

The freakiest part about a hurricane isnt the noise of the storm: winds so loud you cant hear yourself cry, bangs and booms of destruction that may be a landslide or your parents bed being ripped out by a small tornado. It is the bone-chilling silence of the eye of the storm, a brief intermission before the various sounds of death resume.

Compared to victims of natural disasters in Haiti or New Orleans, Hurricane Marilyn was just an annoying summer drizzle ruining my hair in New York City. We lost a lot, but we survived, and as mentioned in my previous column, thanks to Eddie, we found a new home. Months after Marilyn, my father found my mothers favorite belt made of concha shells on a tree by our old house, dangling like a snake.

After losing most of your material wealth you learn how unimportant things like accessories are, but every now and then little tangible presents from the universe work miracles. The other day at work, I received some rather personally unsettling news and was unable to breathe. To gather myself, I stepped outside and took a walk. Old coping mechanisms entered my brain; I thought about chomping pills or having wine for lunch. Then I noticed a little gold peace bracelet on the ground. It was just a cheap bracelet that likely slipped off someones wrist, but it made me smile, so I picked it up and put it on. I walked some more and the thoughts about chemicals began to slip away. I didnt stop in a bar, but went back into the office and kicked some ass, thinking to myself, If this isnt nice, then I dont know what is
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Books We Know As Old Friends

Reprinted in new editions, several books by authors we loved in our youth came back into our reading focus. It was great to make their re-acquaintance.The reissue of the great (mostly) underappreciated gay author James Purdys 1964 novel "Cabot Wright Begins" reminded us of why we loved Purdy novels like "Malcolm," "The Nephew" and "Eustace Chisholm and the Works" in the first place. Simply put, no one else writes quite like JP. 

"Mrs. Bickle had arrived in New York during the big drought, the revival of the wig and white-lead lip makeup, fellatio as the favorite subject in bestselling fiction, the campaign by the Commissioner of Markets to put palm-readers, fortune-tellers. and purveyors of the occult out of business, and world sugar irregular." 

This is pure Purdy, like the setting of so many small jewels, one by one, in a bracelet of a sentence. Despite the preciousness of the prose, and the soapiness of the plot, the story always barrels right along. Cabot Wright is a satire of the New York literary world, with trenchant portrayals of writers, editors, and publishers. It involves a rapist as a commodity. Out There very much got a chuckle out of it. 

The paperback reissue comes on the heels of the first publication of "The Complete Short Stories of James Purdy" (Liveright, in hardback), all 56 of them, including seven previously unpublished tales. In his introduction, filmmaker John Waters suggests, "Randomly select a perfectly perverted Purdy story and read it before you go to sleep, and savor the hilarious moral damage and beautiful decay that will certainly follow in your dreams." 

It wasnt chosen at random, but we started dipping into the volume with a midcareer story, "Some of These Days,Winbo ear caps" in which a young hustler, released from jail, looks for his beloved benefactor in every porno theater in New York. "And so there in my cell I had to confess what did I have for him if it was not love, and yet I had treated him meaner than anybody I had ever knowed in my life, and once come close to killing him." Violence, destitution, amnesia, sordid sex: to use Waters metaphor, these are the bon bons in Purdys chocolate box. If you read for natural settings, well-rounded characters or verisimilitude, go elsewhere. But if you love a writer who plays with words in impish fashion, Purdy could be for you. 

Meanwhile, Farrar, Straus & Giroux has re-published three classic novels by the celebrated late gay author Christopher Isherwood: "A Single Man," "Down There on a Visit," and "The Memorial." Theyre reissued in handsome little paperbacks newly redesigned by graphic artist Charlotte Strick. 

"A Single Man," published in 1964 and regarded as one of the first modern gay novels, follows gay middle-aged college professor George through a typical day in his Southern California life. You may remember the recent excellent film adaptation starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode, but the book is worth its own read. Its short and sweet. Heres George observing his young male college students: 

"Most of these wore sneakers and garterless white wool socks, jeans in cold weather, and in warm weather shorts (the thigh-clinging Bermuda type - the more becoming short ones arent considered quite decent.) If it is really warm, theyll roll up their sleeves and sometimes leave their shirts provocatively unbuttoned to show curly chest hair and a St. Christopher medal." Garterless, how shocking! 

"Down There on a Visit" is generally considered Isherwoods most fully realized novel. It brings together four times and settings: Bremen, 1928; the Greek Islands, 1932; London, 1938; and California, 1940. They parallel four periods in the authors life, and profile four individuals who were influential to him. The prose is all Isherwoodian titillation. 

"We passed a fountain - a sculptured group of Laocoon and his sons writhing in the grip of the snakes. In this sunshine you could almost envy them. For the snakes were vomiting cool water over the hot,Full service promotional company specializing in Custom USB flash drives.Shop huge inventory of Car Phone holder Charger, naked bodies of the men, and their deadly wrestling match appeared lazy and sensual." 

The band, a green colored wrist band with INLD party symbol affixed on it was launched by Dushyant from Jind city on Saturday evening. Giving details about party's special campaign, Dushyant told that youth band is like friendship bracelet, which would remind its bearer about his commitment to party. 

It would make their bond with the party stronger. Dushyant, who did his bachelors from California state university Bakersfield and schooling Lawrence School Sanawar, further stated that all the new members of the party have been asked to open their accounts on social networking websites to spread out the party's message immediately and instantly and also to expose the evil design of ruling party. 

"Favoritism, nepotism in the selection of government job, arbitrariness in distribution of money for development of areas in Haryana is all time, which even congress's own leaders has been alleging against the ruling Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, " said Dushyant. He further added that with the association of youth of the state, they would be able to spread out the scams committed by the ruling congress government at the state as well as central level. 

According to Dushyant, they have ordered for two lakh such 'youth bands' with the target of attaching two lakh youths of the state with the party. He further stated that through this campaign, school/college going students will not be disturbed and only those working or gainfully employed would be asked and attached with the party. For this a target of two thousand youth from each constituency has been targeted to be attached with the party's youth wing. Dushyant , who is the fourth generation of "Tau" of Indian politics and former deputy prime minister, Devi Lal is leading the party cadre along with his younger brother, Digvijay---a law student in UK, following the conviction of his father Ajay Chautala and grandfather, former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala in JBT recruitment scam.

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Who will win the Port War?

The Thunderbolt interface takes the cake when it comes to raw power. It boasts 10Gbps of bi-directional transfer rate,Shop huge inventory of Car Phone holder Charger, meaning it can essentially send and receive files at 10Gbps each. USB 3.0 pales in comparison thanks to its 5Gbps bi-directional transfer rate. However, it is worth noting that very few people would actually find the extra 5Gbps useful outside of the professional space.

USB 3.0 also has more utility in general; apart from transfering files, it can also act as a power supply. This essentially lets the port act as a charging hub for a smartphone or any other similar device. It also helps that USB 3.0 is backwards compatible, which means you can plug in your USB 1.0 or USB 2.1 devices into the port without having to worry about whether or not your computer will be able to read the device.

Thunderbolt, not to be outdone, has the ability to daisy chain several devices into one port—up to six devices can be daisy chained on to one Thunderbolt port. For example, this can be used to hook up your mobile storage, video capture box and raid storage into one port. Thunderbolt can also be used to plug in a display device, such as a monitor—assuming, of course, that you have the right cable.

USB 3.0 wins here. As stated by Acer when it rationalised its decision to opt for USB 3.0 over Thunderbolt, "It's less expensive, offers comparable bandwidth, charging for devices such as mobile phones,with Wholesale Cheap Custom Keychain and promotional key tags. and has a large installed base of accessories and peripherals including external hard drives, flash drives, keyboards, mice, and gamepads."

Thunderbolt, on the other hand, is quite a bit more expensive to manufacture. Currently, Intel's third-generation Thunderbolt controller will set you back $10 (Rs 593 approx) and can power two ports. Intel has previously been on record stating that Thunderbolt is a premium interface and is meant for premium devices. As noble as the goal may be, it’s still not very good for adaptation rates, since the small subset of “premium devices” among countless regular devices actually has the interface.

However, all of that power and utility means nothing if no one is using, which is currently the problem that Thunderbolt is facing. The interface’s biggest supporter right now is Apple, which, despite its massive success in the mobile industry, has only seen a limited amount of success in the PC space. Acer, the fourth largest PC manufacturer on the planet, pulled out of using Thunderbolt, citing that USB 3.0 is a better alternative.

Very few devices actually come with Thunderbolt ports on them. Apple is the most prominent backer of the technology. In contrast, almost every mid-to-high end computer now comes with USB 3.0 ports right out of the box. This is, in no small part, thanks to the backwards compatibility afforded by the port with devices that use USB 2 or older.

The future is quite bright for both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt. USB 3.0 will be able to catch up to Thunderbolt in terms of transfer rates when USB 3.5 is released. This will bring up the interface’s transfer rates up to 10Gbps. It also helps that the next iteration of USB 3.0 will be able to completely remove the need for an extra power supply on HDDs.

Thunderbolt 2, on the other hand, will be going even further with the speed by adding channel aggregation.Winbo silicone bracelets While on the outside it may look like the same 10Gbps transfer rates, at the logical level,Winbo USB flash drives wholesale this means that the previously separate 10Gbps channels can be combined into a single logical 20Gbps channel. Thanks to this, Intel claims that Thunderbolt 2 will be able to transfer 4K videos while simultaneously displaying it on a discrete monitor. Intel is hoping that this catches the attention of professionals who work on large files such as movies and professional-grade photographs.

There is no definitive winner here. Both the interfaces have their own unique uses. Sure, USB 3.0 can charge a smartphone, but a laptop with a USB 2.0 and a Thunderbolt port can do the same without compromising on the transfer rates from the Thunderbolt interface.Winbo ear caps However, Thunderbolt is also much more expensive to make, which inadvertently adds to the price of the computer.

It all comes down to taste. Most consumers will be fine with a USB 3.0 interface thanks to its versatility. Media professionals, however, will undoubtedly opt for a Thunderbolt interface because of its better transfer rates, and given enough cables, daisy chaining abilities.

As it stands today, Samsung is the only major SSD vendor that has commercialized TLC NAND, though others have talked about it with varrying degrees of committment to commercializing a consumer-grade product. TLC has long been viewed with some degree of anxiety in the SSD space, as it's known to be of lesser quality and is typically found in less demanding applications like low-cost USB thumb drives and memory cards. If we know anything about consumers though, it's that they often think they need more endurance out of an SSD than they really do, and they love a lower price point. The Samsung SSD 840 that's in the market today in capacities up to 500GB has done a lovely job of delivering a quality product with sufficient performance and endurance to win over a large segment of the value market.

At the same time as cost and performance wage battle, capacity is another looming concern. Largely thanks to 4TB hard drives, many consumers either need or think they need large capacity SSDs; but to this point they've been unwilling to make the investment required for a 1TB SSD. Micron in fact is the only mainstream SSD vendor to even offer a 1TB consumer SSD with their Crucial M500 in 960GB capacity. While we don't yet have market pricing on the 1TB Samsung SSD 840 EVO, giving consumers more large capacity SSD offerings in the value segment should improve overall SSD technology adoption. OEMs will also certainly take note as they're perpetually looking for ways to drive system adoption in the highly competitive PC and portable computing markets.
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Agua Caliente Water Rights Lawsuit Puts Agencies in Hot Water

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has launched a legal battle, based on its aboriginal water rights, for clean water and plenty of it for its citizens and neighboring communities in the Coachella Valley.The Band filed a federal lawsuit in May asking the court to declare that the tribe has prior and paramount rights to ground and surface water in the Coachella Valley, to quantify those rights, and stop the local water authorities from further degrading the quantity and quality of water in the aquifer. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and names the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) and Desert Water Agency (DWA) as defendants.

Robocat successfully funded Thermodo on Kickstarter, surpassing its initial goal of US$35,Choose from a large selection of Customized Silicone Bracelets to raise awareness.000 with more than $330,000 in pledges. Prices start at $19 for the Black Edition all the way up to $2,999, which nets you a personalized Anodized Aluminum Edition (multiple colors will be available) with your name engraved on it, as well as becoming a consultant of sorts for the Robocat team in refining the Thermodo. At that price level,Winbo photo frames backers also receive a tour of Copenhagen (where the Robocat office is located), ending with dinner with the design team. The estimated release date for those who have backed the project is sometime in August of this year, with no word yet when it will become available to the public.

Based on the peer-to-peer bittorrent protocol, it consisted of a Firefox browser plugin that offered a dead-simple way for users to share files on their computer with anybody else in their AllPeers buddy list. Sadly, however, the startup was arguably ahead of its time and deadpooled in 2008.

The lawsuit says the two water agencies have adversely affected the quantity and quality of the Valleys groundwater for decades by overdrafting the groundwater while importing Colorado River water with higher levels of salinity and dissolved solids. A water quality study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey found higher levels of contaminants in Coachella Valley aquifers compared to the rest of the state.

"Since at least the 1990s, the Agua Caliente and others have aggressively urged the CVWD and DWA to take action to end the mismanagement, overdrafting and polluting of the aquifer underlying the Coachella Valley," Grubbe said. "The tribe has patiently attempted to work with CVWD and DWA to address these long standing concerns but to no avail. This precious resource is crucial to the future of this region and we must take action now."

The tribe cites long settled federal law to support its senior water rights claim, including a precedent-setting Supreme Court decision in 1908, Winters v. United States, which set the standard for tribal water rights on reservations. The high court concluded, among other things, that when the U.S. government created Indian reservations, it intended that the people on the reservations would become self-reliant and self-sufficient. Since water is needed to achieve self-sufficiency, for example, in agriculture, water rights were implicitly reserved for tribes in establishing reservations, the court said.

The Cahuilla Indians, ancestors of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, have lived in the Coachella Valley since time immemorial and the reservation was established in 1876, therefore, the Band argues, the tribe's surface and groundwater rights are the most senior in the Coachella Valley, predating all water rights decreed or otherwise claimed under California State law.

It was the right call, and there was reason to believe that trading away players like Sundin, Tomas Kaberle, Bryan McCabe, and Darcy Tucker could land the team the sort of blue-chip building blocks it would need to someday reemerge as a contender. In Toronto,Handy Pocket Mirror with hinged lid that doubles as a stand. that mere possibility was enough to create some long-absent optimism.

The two agencies filed separate but similar responses to the lawsuit on July 8, denying that the tribe has aboriginal title to the surface and ground waters of the valley. Their responses say that the groundwater they supply to customers meets federal and state water quality standards, and that the tribe does not have ownership of pore space in any aquifer underlying the Coachella Valley. They also argue that the water storage space provided by the aquifer is a public resource. And they ask the court to dismiss the lawsuit.

Grubbe issued a statement saying the tribe would review the CVWD/DWA responses, but emphasized that the tribes lawsuit is about the future of Coachella Valleys water supply. What is most astonishing is the water agencies continue to deny there is any issue with the water. Independent investigations and their own documents attest to the fact that the local water is being depleted and polluted, Grubbe said. We are asking the federal court to declare our senior water rights so we can be proactive in partnership with Coachella Valley residents and prevent the Desert Water Agency and the Coachella Valley Water District from continuing to overdraft the aquifer and degrade the quality of existing groundwater.

The water agencies have warned there will be a hike in water bills if the tribe wins in court, a claim Grubbe called a deceptive attempt. to frighten the public and mislead the community. He pointed out that the water agencies have regularly increased rates over the past 10 years sometimes as much as 394 percent. This is not about rates, Grubbe said, it is about ending the mismanagement of our water resources and protecting it for generations of Coachella Valley residents to come.

The High River Hospital is currently only operating at half capacity. They have two physicians, three nurses and clerical staff on-site from both the regular staff and physicians displaced from the Charles Clark Medical Centre and Highwood Health Centre in High River. The hospital took on a few inches of water in the flood, damaging some of their medical records, the physiotherapy area, cancer clinic and back hallway. Brisebois Blouin said from the time they knew flooding could occur, they moved equipment up to the third floor and sandbagged the generator in the back hallway.

The hospitals urgent care is open 24-hours a day. Urgent care is for non-life threatening health issues that require same-day treatment, such as broken bones, sprains, lacerations, asthma, dehydration, pain and infections. For life-threatening emergency situations, Alberta Health Services urges people to call 911. There are other nearby health centres fully operational including the Okotoks Health and Wellness Centre, Oilfields General Hospital in Black Diamond and the South Health Campus in Calgary.

While the High River Hospital was closed, the Okotoks Health and Wellness Centre operated 24-hours a day with displaced staff from the hospital. They saw an increase of people, about 150 patients a day as opposed to their regular 75 patients a day, said James Finstad, communications for Alberta Health Services. However,Molded Soft PVC coaster with your custom design and colors. he said the Health and Wellness Centre was never close to capacity, with the average wait time being a standard two hours.

While the Health and Wellness Centre has now returned to regular operating hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., the High River low-risk obstetrics clinic is still operating in Okotoks because it is usually held in the cancer clinic at the High River Hospital that is now being repaired after water damage.

Finstad said part of the clean-up process is ensuring infection prevention is controlled and everything meets standard. Crews are currently running dehumidifiers and disinfecting walls, floors and various surfaces.

With the opening of urgent care at the High River Hospital, residents still need to be careful cleaning up their homes. Brisebois Blouin said she has seen an increase of wounds needing tetanus shots. Alberta Health is urging people cleaning their homes to wear puncture-proof boots, gloves and facemasks. If there are no open wounds, chief medical officer Dr. James Talbot said the bacteria in the silt isnt too much of an issue.
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Walking on clouds in Turf Valley

An all-brick Colonial-style home nestled in the golf course setting of Turf Valley in Howard County sold at the end of May for close to the sellers' asking price of $915,000.Just 14 years old and sitting on almost a half-acre of impeccable landscaping, the 4,340-square-foot home in the subdivision of Turf Valley Vistas spent just five days on the market, according to listing agent Bob Lucido of the Bob Lucido Team of RE/MAX Advantage Realty. And while its location spoke for itself, Lucido notes that the main reason for the quick sale was the right price.

"The house was spotlessly clean better than a model home," Lucido said. "It was perfectly staged, [and] the sellers did not cut corners. They priced it right and made it look like the best house on the block. The people who bought it were so impressed."

Little wonder. With its two-story entrance hall and a winding staircase rising to the open second-floor hallway, the flowing interior is the essence of elegance. The interior features a formal living room, dining room with tray ceiling, office and den, state-of-the-art kitchen, five bedrooms, four full bathrooms and a powder room. Other amenities include hardwood flooring and three gas fireplaces. The exterior, with a deck, patio and flood lights, backs to trees.
Im kind of sick of having to do this, but once again, theres a scolding, anxiety-producing article about how young women these days are doing sex wrong (which of course means too much with too many guys, always,Full service promotional company specializing in Custom USB flash drives. always, always) out there, and of course, its producing a massive amount of discourse based on a fundamental premise that no one questions but is just straight up wrong. That presumption is that womens choices exist in a vacuum, and that the only real factor of any importance in their lives is their choices. I complained about this yesterday at XX Factor: Men are erased from trend stories about women, because the fact that women are often reacting to mens choices makes everyone all uncomfortable, so must be ignored. So, for instance, the womans decision to opt out or lean out is portrayed as just one in a lovely buffet of choices, simply the result of an inherent female lack of ambition. The possibility that its because her husband either made it clear through his actions or outright told her that she will be responsible for the majority of domestic chores is ignored, even though in most cases thats exactly what happened.

The home at 2712 Heaven Wood Court also features a sunroom and an in-law or au pair suite. Accent moldings and bay windows are found throughout. The kitchen showcases a center island with granite countertop, breakfast bar and butler's pantry, six-burner stove and wine storage. The recreation room includes a wet bar. The interior rooms also have chair railings, crown molding, drapery rods and custom drapes. The basement is fully finished with a rear entrance to the outdoors. Security includes an electric alarm system.

When city council changed the zoning bylaws this past March, so that single-family homes can be built on 25-foot-wide lots in older neighbourhoods, concerns were voiced by the public and by community leagues.Anyone struggling to imagine the esthetics and feasibility of building a comfortable family home on such a narrow spot should see the house Louis Pereira designed and had built in 2010.

For me: I want to use writing and comedy to express truths about the human condition and to live a life filled with joy, passion, kindness, abundance,Winbo Luggage Tags humor, honesty and love. That's my actual mission statement. That is what I want. So when someone pisses me off, when I am tempted to go down a K-hole of distraction, I can ask myself: Will this benefit what I actually want? Usually, no. That short-term reactivity often derails you from the bigger goal at hand.

The home, with its two-storey facade in glass, was inspired by a number of Louis favourite design philosophies, including urban activist Jane Jacobs creed of eyes on the street. The couple admits this means the home can sometimes feel a bit exposed, but Louis has prepared for that. Dark but translucent manual roller shades are built into discrete pockets above every floor-to-ceiling window and door, so the family can escape the sun or enjoy instant privacy with the flick of a wrist.

The living areas seating looks modern, but was designed by some of Louis favourite Modernist architects long ago. Two black leather and chrome Barcelona chairs (a style introduced at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition) are placed parlour-style, opposite a French Corbusier-style couch. A large, one-armed Arco-style light from Henrys Purveyor of Fine Things on nearby 124th Street hangs above the intimate setting.The rooms high-efficiency, wood-burning fireplace surround is a wall of walnut-stained maple panelling, and provides a warm contrast to the minimalist look. With one touch, Louis reveals hidden cupboards that line the seamless-looking wall and provide copious storage, including a large cubby for firewood.

The galley-style kitchen was designed to Giselles specifications. A white and charcoal Thermafoil material was used on all door fronts, drawers and side panels in reflective, high-gloss finish. The material was also applied as backsplashes, a less-expensive alternative to glass.Molded Soft PVC coaster with your custom design and colors. The couple chose subtle white, quartz countertops rather than busy granite. The cabinets are white Ikea Akurum, and are one of many flexible, organizational units Louis has included in the home. They complement the black-and-white Bosch double-wall oven, and the neutral grey, plank-like laminate flooring, which, with its reflective quality, could pass for ceramic tile. The couple says that the appliances easy-care high-gloss surfaces require less maintenance to keep clean than did their previous fingerprint-catching stainless-steel models. Since the home has few partitions, Louis used dropped ceilings over both the living room and kitchen areas to create a feeling of intimacy. The heating system is conventional, high-efficient forced air, so ducts had to be furred into ceilings and even the back portion of cabinets to accommodate the homes narrow figure.

Other than the small rear and front courtyards, there is no yard. How close this puts the home to the street reflects Louis idea that a neighbourhood can be a shared living space.Throughout the home, natural lighting is provided by high, long, transom-style windows. On the main floor, a hallway leads to the mud room and attached double garage, which Louis jokes could hold four Smart cars. For now, the new location with work and the childrens school a 10-minute walk or short drive away has enabled the busy family to downsize to a one-car lifestyle.

Upstairs, the same narrow strip houses the central laundry room and leads to the well-insulated, multi-purpose living space above the garage.Louis doesnt believe in outgrowing a home. Everything, including the large, shared childrens play space and bedroom, is designed for flexibility. Curtains serve as walls in the childrens space, which is designed to morph into two rooms at a later date.

Another hallway leads to the ensuite and master bedroom, where a 180-degree view of the streetscape reveals mature trees swaying outside the windows on all sides.This home functions much better for the family than their previous raised bungalow, says Louis, who jokes that its design description, the LG house (derived from a combination of the couples first initials), also stands for lifes good.
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Learn How To Budget On A Roller Coaster Income

My husband has two jobs — he is an artist and a salesman. He earns commissions from both jobs, so we never know what our income will be. I work part-time and am paid hourly. How can we possibly live on a budget? — Jenn P., Texas he mistake many people who live with an uncertain income (or what I call “mystery means”) make is they spend whatever amount of money they earn as it comes in.

They multiply a good month’s income by 12 and figure that’s about what their annual income should be and then set their lifestyles accordingly. Then they starve during the lean months, allowing all the bills to go past due hoping that a good month will follow soon.

The secret to living on an uncertain income is to determine the very minimum you need to live each month. What dollar figure must your husband’s commissioned jobs produce so that when added to your part-time paychecks will allow you to pay all of your bills? Whatever that number is, let that become his new salary.

Next, open another checking account and designate it as his holding account. Instead of putting his commission checks into your regular household account, from now deposit them to this holding account. Once a month, write out one check from this account to pay him his salary. This is going to require a great deal of discipline because some months he will bring in more than the amount you’ve determined to be his plastic card. That’s good because you will have lean months ahead. Allowing money to build up in that separate account will become the reserve you need to pay him even during those slow months.

Being self-employed (or commission-based, which to me is about the same thing) can be either rewarding or horribly debilitating. It all depends on your willingness to be disciplined and to exercise great restraint during that occasional month when it feels like your ship has come in. Don’t believe it. Next month could produce little, if any, income at all. You have to learn to handle both.I am opposed to any kind of plastic for kids of any age. Honestly, age 18 is about the right time to introduce credit and debit cards. Plastic is a privilege for financially mature adults.

Plastic confuses and skews children’s thinking processes. Cash, on the other hand, works like a dream. It’s real, and you cannot spend more than you have. Teach your kids how to earn, save, give and manage cash. Those are the skills they need to learn now so that they will be able to understand and manage plastic in the future.

I have written extensively about this in my book, “Raising Financially Confident Kids,” which also includes a foolproof, step-by-step plan that will help you to produce financially confident adults. I hope you will read it soon, before you hand your child an American Express card. Keep an eye on your mailbox. I’m sending you a copy of the book. Enjoy!

To that end, I usually head straight for the self-service checkouts. It is not perfect – “unexpected item in bagging area” has become a familiar element of the experience – but it is fast and I don’t have to worry about offending a checkout worker by talking on a mobile phone.

So I was excited to hear about a scheme in France where shoppers were able to pay for their goods with a flick of their finger.In a six-month trial, customers of supermarket chain Auchan and DIY store Leroy Merlin were able to pay for their goods by placing a fingertip on a scanner.The participants carried a payment card holding their biometric data and a case that allowed the card to communicate with the till. All the customer had to do was present a finger and the payment was processed.

The customers certainly seemed to like it. Around 900 people took part in the trial and 94pc said they would be willing to use fingerprint payment for all their in-store purchases.Mr Delaforge said the technology could also be developed to add loyalty points and discounts automatically when a customer scans their fingerprint, helping consumers save both time and money.

It could be the influence of Minority Report, but there seems to be an interest in biometric payments on this side of the Channel as well.A recent study of more than 2,000 shoppers by payment processing group WorldPay found 49pc would use biometric payments, such as fingerprint or iris scanners – far outweighing the popularity of smartphone payments, which won 30pc of the vote.

Ron Kalifa, deputy chairman of WorldPay, said: “It’s interesting to see the public considering biometric payments, a science that they may have seen in films or on television, which suggests familiarity and visibility of new payment technologies is crucial in moving usage from tech-savvy enthusiasts to the wider public.”Biometric payment might be a few years away from supermarkets in Britain. But in the meantime, a number of developments are under way to change the way we shop.

The idea was to take the self-scan checkouts and redesign them for bigger shop loads. A shopper places their items on a conveyor belt which passes through a 360-degree scanner, able to identify bar codes from every angle. There are two bagging areas so as soon as the first shopper’s goods have passed through the scanner, a second shopper can begin sending their items through.It is also a cashless process, as the system only accepts payment from a plastic card.

Sainsbury’s, meanwhile, is currently piloting a mobile app which allows customers to scan their shopping using their smartphone as they walk around the aisles. The app tracks their spending, so customers can pay for their shopping at the till without having to unload their goods. The service is currently available in three stores – Clerkenwell and Bethnal Green in London and Tadley in Hampshire – ahead of a wider rollout next year. A Sainsbury’s spokesman said in future the app could act as a mobile wallet, allowing customers to pay with their smartphone and avoid the till altogether. A slightly more Big Brother-esque possibility is that the app could remind customers if they forget to buy a regular item.

I hope that checkout staff remain part of the supermarket shop. It is helpful – sometimes essential – to have a human dispensing some common sense behind the till. But if anything can get me out of the door faster while keeping my personal data safe, I’m all for exploring the possibilities.

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With Apple's iWatch on the horizon

Were on the cusp of an explosion of wearables,The smart card has a memory chip embedded in it that, and the smartwatch will be one of the first styles to go big. By all appearances, the iWatch is happening. And even if it doesnt happen, the Google watch will, or perhaps the Galaxy watch. Where does that leave the little guys, the Pebbles and the MetaWatches of the world? Are they primed to compete? 

Dipping your toe in the primordial ooze of the smartwatch industry isnt easy. Ive had various MetaWatches for a year and a half now; Pebble, though, is a different story. Having stayed on the sidelines for Pebble's Kickstarter last year, I only just now managed to get one over the weekend by walking into a Best Buy. I really wanted the white model, not the black-on-black that Best Buy is carrying, but beggars can't be choosers. 

The watches are remarkably different for having basically the same goal: turning your wrist into a primary destination for notifications from your iPhone or Android device. In most ways, that diversity is a great thing. I've long maintained that watches are fashion accessories and extensions of the wearer's personality, and sameness is the sworn enemy of that philosophy. But these products still make it crystal clear that we're still very early in the smartwatchs formative years. Some might even argue theyre betas. Were still at the point where everyone can learn something from everyone else. 

I have limited latitude to criticize a watchs aesthetics different strokes for different folks but theres an exception: when a manufacturer only offers one design, its got to be universally appealing and universally good. In that regard, Pebble delivers a mixed report card. 

Where Pebbles design succeeds is in its no-frills simplicity; a watch that isnt overwrought is less likely to offend, and the glossy, curved face and plain black wristband are about as simple as they come.Transportation China IC card Applications Ceremony. There are no bells or whistles, no extraneous flourishes. People who steer clear of the giant, chunky watches that have been trendy as of late wont be bothered by the relatively lithe Pebble. (I actually think its too small, but I love a really big watch.) 

But the Pebbles cheap materials betray the designs true intentions: the watch looks simple not because its elegant, but because there simply wasnt much thought put into it. The entire thing is glossy, Samsung-esque plastic (not a compliment) paired with a low-grade rubber watchband, physical evidence that engineers poured resources into circuitry and software while racing against the clock. Its 90 percent technology, 10 percent aesthetic. Its clear it was produced by a technology startup, not a watchmaker. 

The buttons are no better. These are some of the worst-feeling buttons Ive ever experienced on any product, ever theyre wobbly hunks of plastic that offer no tactile confirmation that youve actuated a command. I actually dread pressing them. They feel like they could break at any moment. 

But then theres the display. A smartwatchs prime directive is to be "glanceable," meaning you can spend no more than a couple seconds looking at it and get all the information you need without needing to interact. It needs to be able to serve that need 24 hours a day for several days at a time, bare minimum, between charges. To pull that off, Pebble uses a monochrome e-paper display that delivers a really reasonable level of contrast. 

The MetaWatch, meanwhile, uses one of the most objectively awful, exceedingly low-res displays Ive ever seen on a consumer device. It's called a "polymer network LCD," chosen for its low power drain. The tradeoff, though, is that it has an extremely low contrast-ratio, which means you simply can't see it in many lighting conditions. The problem is compounded when it's dark by a crappy single-bulb sidelight, reminiscent of digital watches from the 1980s. I have very vivid memories of owning a sweet Timex Ironman before the advent of electroluminescent lighting; this is a lot like that,where cards are embedded with chip card and a cardholder. and not in a good way. 

MetaWatch treats its devices as slaves to the phones that theyre connected to there are no "watch apps," per se. Instead, third-party apps on the phone can use MetaWatchs SDK to push pixels directly to the watch and receive button and sensor input back from it over the ever-present Bluetooth connection (fortunately, the watch can still keep time if the connection is lost). Pebble, meanwhile, is very actively promoting the development of apps that run directly on its watches games, for instance. 

In these early days, theres another philosophical difference between these products that has a much greater impact on the users experience: the "watch face," the home screen, whatever you want to call it. MetaWatch divides its square screen into four slots of equal size; using the MetaWatch app on iOS or Android, you can select various first- and third-party widgets to occupy one, two, or all four slots. For instance, you could have the time in the upper right, the weather in the upper left, and upcoming calendar events occupying both of the bottom two slots. Its versatile and user-friendly. Pebble, meanwhile, requires that the user select a single watch face. 

Out of the box, none of the watch faces include any information other than time and date, nor do any of the extra faces that can be installed through the official Pebble phone app its far less flexible. Granted, there are some pretty watch faces available, but if all Im going to see is the time when I glance down at my wrist, Id just as soon wear a traditional watch that looks and feels a lot better. Third-party faces with more functionality can be installed from other sources, but that adds a layer of complexity that an average watch-wearer shouldnt have to deal with.On balance, Id like MetaWatchs four-slot widget concept paired with Pebbles superior UI and a better database of watch face designs (in fact, MetaWatch really only offers one design). And Id like it on a MetaWatch Frame with the higher-resolution, higher-contrast display of the Pebble. Id also like inductive charging while were at it at present, both devices require proprietary charging accessories that are just begging to be lost.