October 2009

Vancouver unveils Olympic anti-doping lab

VANCOUVER – More than 2,000 urine and blood samples will be tested during the Vancouver Olympics as part of a $16.4 million effort to catch drug cheats.
A state-of-the-art doping lab for the Feb. 12-28 Games was unveiled Wednesday at the Olympic speedskating oval in Richmond.
The 14,530-square-feet facility is a replica of the World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited lab in Montreal. The building cost $8.9 million, with another $7.5 million for operations.
"This laboratory will utilize the finest techniques and methods available to detect the use of prohibited substances in blood and urine samples collected from athletes," lab director Dr. Christiane Ayotte said.
However, Ayotte acknowledged it will be impossible to catch all cheaters.
"We cannot say pure sport, pure games," she said. "We sure put in the best energy. I'm 100 percent confident that nobody can do better than what we are doing now, what we will be doing."
Besides standard testing, Vancouver anti-doping officials will conduct random and target testing based on intelligence.
Starting in January, 30 technicians will be working at the lab around the clock. Testing will begin on Feb. 4, when pre-competition urine and blood samples are taken.
Vancouver officials said it's likely the first time in Olympic history that a doping lab has been located within a secure sporting venue.
Nearly 500 trained volunteers will collect samples at the various sports venues in Vancouver and Whistler. Drivers will deliver the samples to the Richmond lab and deposit them through a slot, sending them directly into a refrigeration unit for processing.
Test results should be known within 72 hours.
About 2,000 samples will be taken from Olympic athletes, and 425 from athletes at the subsequent Paralympic Games. By comparison, 1,200 samples were tested during the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
After the games, the doping lab will be used to house a sports medicine center and sports science services.

Man pleads guilty to DWI in motorized La-Z-Boy

DULUTH, Minn. – A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his motorized La-Z-Boy chair while drunk.
A criminal complaint says 62-year-old Dennis LeRoy Anderson told police he left a bar in the northern Minnesota town of Proctor on his chair after drinking eight or nine beers.
Prosecutors say Anderson's blood alcohol content was 0.29, more than three times the legal limit, when he crashed into a parked vehicle in August 2008. He was not seriously injured.
Police said the chair was powered by a converted lawnmower and had a stereo and cup holders.
Sixth Judicial District Judge Heather Sweetland stayed 180 days of jail time Monday and ordered two years of probation for Anderson. His attorney, David Keegan, did not immediately return a call for comment.
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Information from: Duluth News Tribune, http://www.duluthsuperior.com

Sarkozy highlights problems in Blair EU candidacy

PARIS (AFP) –
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday that Britain's refusal to join the euro currency would be a "problem" for Tony Blair's chances of becoming the first European Union president.

Sarkozy was reportedly one of the first EU leaders to put Blair's name forward in 2007.

The former prime minister has never officially declared himself a candidate but there has been a mounting controversy in recent months over his name.

Sarkozy said in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper that "it is too early to say" whether Blair would be a good candidate for the EU presidency, one of the key posts set up by the EU's Lisbon reform treaty.

"There will be a debate," Sarkozy said. "There are two ideas: should the president be strong and charismatic, or a president who is good at finding consensus and who organises the work?

"Personally I believe in a Europe that is politically strong and has a figurehead. But the fact that Britain is not in the euro remains a problem."

The Financial Times reported in June 2007 that Sarkozy had discussed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders the prospect of Blair becoming the first EU president.

While the Lisbon struggles to complete its ratification in all 27 EU members, some -- led by Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands -- have already indicated that Blair does not have a sufficiently pro-European profile for the president's job.

Sexy Lingerie

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The lingerie industry has expanded in the 21st century with designs that double as outerwear. The French refer to this as 'dessous-dessus' which basically means innerwear as outerwear. The boutique Faire Frou Frou, which is an antiquated phrase meaning "show it off", heralds this philosophy by categorizing lingerie as an accessory with details such as straps and lace trim that should be layered and shown as part of one's outerwear.

Some modern day corset-wearers will testify that corsets can be comfortable, once one is accustomed to wearing them. A properly fitted corset should be comfortable. Women active in the historical reenactment groups (such as Society for Creative Anachronism) commonly wear corsets as part of period costume, without complaint.

Wood Benches

A bench is a piece of furniture, which mostly offers several persons seating. As a rule, benches are made of wood, but one can also find stone benches and benches made of synthetic materials. Many benches have arm rests. In public areas, benches are often donated by persons or associations, which may then be indicated on it, e.g. by a small copper plaque.

Various types of benches are specifically designed for and/or named after specific uses, such as a Bench (weight training) is used for fitness exercises, such as the bench press which is named after its use of a bench a Communion bench is not used as a seat Piano benches offer usually one person seating and are height adjustable. a spanking bench, such as a caning bench, is specifically designed for a spankee to lie upon, possibly strapped down, while submitting to paining of the posterior Swing seats are independently movable, suspended benches, used for play or as a relaxing porch swing. a courting bench (or kissing bench, or tête-à-tête): a two-seater with the seats pointing in opposite directions, thus almost facing each other. A friendship bench in a school playground is where a child can go when they want someone to talk to. The bench in a courtroom, behind which the judge is seated.

http://www.gardenbenches.net/

Feds: No death penalty for US embassy bomb suspect

NEW YORK – The U.S. government has decided not to seek the death penalty against a Guantanamo detainee charged in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.
A letter the government released Monday advised U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan that Attorney General Eric Holder had told prosecutors not to seek the death penalty in the September 2010 trial of Ahmed Ghailani. The letter was dated Friday.
Authorities allege Ghailani was a bomb maker, document forger and aide to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The attacks at embassies in Tanzania and Kenya killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
Ghailani was brought to the United States in June. The Tanzanian, captured in Pakistan in 2004, was held in Guantanamo since 2006. He is the first Guantanamo detainee to be brought to a U.S. civilian court for trial.
Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that other defendants in the embassy bombings case have received life prison sentences or will not be subject to the death penalty because the U.S. agreed not to seek it as a condition of their extradition.
"Given those circumstances and other factors in this case, the attorney general authorized the U.S. Attorney to seek a life sentence," Miller said.
However, the government did seek the death penalty against two of four defendants convicted in 2001 of conspiracy in the attacks. A jury declined to vote for death though, leaving the men with life prison sentences.
A message left with a lawyer for Ghailani was not immediately returned Monday.
Prosecutors have said the case against Ghailiani will be similar to the 2001 trial when evidence included extensive discussion about al-Qaida, bin Laden and techniques used by terrorists.
Bin Laden, who remains a fugitive, is a defendant in the case as well.
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Associated Press Writer Devlin Barrett contributed to this story from Washington.

Kate Gosselin: Jon cleaned out joint account

NEW YORK – Kate Gosselin says her estranged husband has withdrawn $230,000 from their joint bank account, leaving just $1,000 behind, and she can't pay her bills.
The reality TV personality appeared Monday on NBC's "Today" show and said she and her husband, Jon, did the show "Jon & Kate Plus Eight" as a way to pay the bills after their sextuplets were born. They already had twins.
She responded to her husband's allegations last week that their children wanted to stop filming for the show, which takes place mostly in their Pennsylvania home.
She said: "The things you hear him say on TV I have never heard from him. They don't even sound like his words."
Gosselin says she doesn't know what their children said to their father, but when she told them over the weekend that filming would stop, there was "wailing and sobbing."

American Samoa coastal park, artifacts damaged

TAFUNA, American Samoa – The tsunami that rushed ashore last week at the National Park of American Samoa damaged the visitors center, washed away some artifacts inside and forced workers to relocate to a two-bedroom apartment, authorities said Monday.
In neighboring Samoa, the U.N. children's fund was preparing to begin a mass measles vaccination program for 11,000 children later this week.
"Measles is always a threat to children in disaster situations ... because children die from measles," Dennis McKinlay, UNICEF's New Zealand executive director, said on Tuesday. Lack of safe water and the potential for disease to spread rapidly were "the main risk factors" for the Samoan community, he said.
Up to 4,000 children had been displaced from the tsunami zone "and that's quite a concern," he added. Children orphaned by the tsunami or who lost family are being targeted by the agency as part of a child protection program UNICEF has run in Samoa for some years, McKinlay noted.
Nearly a week after an 8.3-magnitude earthquake and the resulting tsunami killed 177 people in the Samoas and Tonga, officials in American Samoa were still trying to assess the damage to the 22-square-mile coastal park, the only U.S. park located south of the equator.
"We haven't been able to assess the actual condition of the park," National Park Service spokeswoman Patti Wold said Monday.
The park's personnel and volunteers were busy helping to remove debris in five villages, as well as from the park. The park has 13 workers and dozens of volunteers.
Waves swept through the park's two-story headquarters building. The visitors center and the artifacts held inside were damaged. "We had some tapas, or fine mats. Those were damaged. And we were able to get one of the local weavers to repair those, and she brought those back just now," she said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also helped restore water service to residents in the American territory and also coordinated the installation of more than 20 generators at shelters and sewer and water treatment plants.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency reported cleanup and recovery efforts were making significant progress following the Sept. 29 tsunami. American Samoa suffered 32 deaths, while 136 people were killed in Samoa and nine died in nearby Tonga.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy have supplied survivors with more than 26,000 meals, 14,000 liters of water, 1,800 blankets and more than 800 cots.
Two cruise ships, each carrying some 2,000 passengers and crew, are due to arrive in Pago Pago later this week on previously scheduled cruises, according to territorial officials who said the harbor suffered no major damage.
The Sun Princess will arrive Friday, with the Pacific Princess pulling in the following day. The visitors will be able to go ashore for eight hours.
Betty Cavanaugh, owner of Pago Pago Tradewinds Tour, said there are no changes to the regular ground tours the company provides. "There will be passengers taking the tours, while others will be walking around the town area, looking at the devastation," she said.

Club Membership Software

Club Membership Software

Computer software is so called to distinguish it from computer hardware, which encompasses the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software. At the lowest level, software consists of a machine language specific to an individual processor. A machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state. Software is an ordered sequence of instructions for changing the state of the computer hardware in a particular sequence. It is usually written in high-level programming languages that are easier and more efficient for humans to use (closer to natural language) than machine language. High-level languages are compiled or interpreted into machine language object code. Software may also be written in an assembly language, essentially, a mnemonic representation of a machine language using a natural language alphabet. Assembly language must be assembled into object code via an assembler.

The term "software" was first used in this sense by John W. Tukey in 1958. In computer science and software engineering, computer software is all computer programs. The theory that is the basis for most modern software was first proposed by Alan Turing in his 1935 essay Computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem.

Flower Girl Dresses

Flower Girl Dresses

A dress (also frock, gown) is a garment consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice or with a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment.

Dresses are, like other outer clothing, usually worn with underwear. A wearer of a dress is likely to wear a form of panties as innerwear, though depending on the occasion, type of material, and type of skirt for modesty one may wear a slip over the panties.