Huntsville man repairs things 'no one else

On a recent afternoon,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. Roger Ericksons garage was stuffed from top to bottom. Along with three Triumph automobiles in varying stages of repair, two motorcycles and a dirt bike, he had a typewriter disassembled on a table, a cherished family Christmas ornament sitting safely in a box and an antique chandelier waiting for its owner to pick it up. 

Rogers Shop is another name for this brimming full space on Monte Sano where Erickson fixes stuff. Its a place where he takes on jobs, as his business card says, that no one else will do.These folks were at their wits end, Erickson said, showing the lighted porcelain angel Christmas tree topper he had recently repaired with a new strand of lights. They truly loved that little piece. 

Erickson, 70, got in the fix-it business shortly before he retired as a contractor for the U.S. Army in January 2011. He had just built a foundry he could make small metal pieces with, and a co-worker asked him if he could fix a metal statue of a deer that had a broken leg. When he was done with it, you couldnt tell where the break was, Erickson said. 

His co-workers mother got in touch not long after that with another project, another deer statue that a tree had fallen on. This was a large piece and a real challenge to figure out, Erickson said. He managed to fix it and even better than new because he adjusted the legs so the piece wouldnt tip over as easily as it had. 

The co-workers mother kept Erickson busy for months with items she had tried to get other people to fix, and a business was born. Neighbors, friends and jobs he has picked up by word of mouth keep him busy these days. Richards Lighting also sends him customers who need things like a lighted Christmas ornament or an antique railroad lamp fixed. 

He has tackled jobs as big as restoring a Triumph automobile to as small as shortening the rod on an antique chandelier by nine inches. He did the Triumph job in exchange for four more of the British roadsters, three of which he sold and one of which he added to his own collection of the vehicles. Hes repairing the rear fender and other metal parts of a late 1950s Morgan automobile a customer is restoring. 

Erickson hasnt taken on this post-retirement work to keep busy. Hes likes to hunt and hike along with other pastimes. He recently followed a Peace Corp worker who is the son of a friend on a hike through Panama. 

He takes on these projects because theyre a great mental challenge. He likes learning as much as he can about an object and understanding how it works.Ill do some research to find more what the heck Im working on because thats part of the fun, Erickson said. You have to have a micro-education to fix some of this stuff. 

The typewriter in his garage was a job for some neighbors, Kyle and Delia Siegrist, who had bought it for their daughter, Heidi. Shes a writer and had wanted to have an old-fashioned typewriter to compose on. 

Not only did Erickson take apart the typewriter, which was dirty and had sticky keys, but he found a red and black Remington ribbon online for the Super Riter Standard machine. Its the kind Superman used in his Clark Kent-reporter alter-ego on the 1960s television show. Erickson had that information, along with the fact the typewriter was made in France in 1960, printed out for the Siegrists. 

Erickson did the same thing for Nancy Hallman when he fixed an antique railway lantern Hallmans grandfather used when he worked for the Frisco Railroad. The lantern sat outside at her aunts house for more than 30 years and had rust, it was corroded, parts were bent, Hallman said. She had no idea how to have it fixed, much less in time to give the lantern to her mother this past Mothers Day. She walked into Richards Lighting with the lamp, and they said You know, we dont do anything like this, but theres this man, Hallman said. 

Hallman made a trip up the mountain with the lantern, and brought it back down a few weeks later completely restored, mounted on a custom-made stand and with a plaque noting the history of the lamp. Her mother was ecstatic about the lantern, which she couldnt believe was the same, rusted lantern that had been at her sisters house, Hallman said. Erickson had even repaired the lamp to include a kerosene canister, in case the family ever wanted to use it as it had been in Hallmans grandfathers day.Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. 

Erickson credits his years first as a radar technician in the U.S. Navy and then his work as a project manager,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. after he got his Bachelors in industrial management and his MBA, for his ability to figure out how things should work. 

Remember, I was a technician first, and I grew up on a farm in Minnesota where you fix everything that breaks, he said. As a technician, I would take designs from engineers and make them work. 

The kind of work he does now is more about research and getting smart about what youre doing,An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. Erickson said. Doing stuff like this without the internet would be really difficult.We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management.

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Off the rail

When was the last time you had to go to Darling Harbour? (No one actually wants to go there, right? So you probably had to go there for some reason.) Do you recall standing there at Town Hall station, scratching your chin and thinking, "Now, I have two choices here. I could search for a Monorail station, buy a ticket for $5, wait five minutes for it to arrive and then take the five-minute ride to where I need to go. Or I could walk and get there in exactly the same time for free." 

You are not an idiot. I know which choice you made in that little hypothetical game we just played. Let's face it, unless you worked in the Convention Centre, ate at Chinatown for lunch every day and needed regular access to the Havaianas vending machine in the Galeries Victoria, there was never really any need for you to set foot on the Monorail at all. And yet, back in the '80s our politicians - there to make our lives richer, better and easier - decided a monorail was exactly what the people of Sydney needed. 

The Sydney Monorail becomes extinct on Sunday June 30 after making its last 20-minute circuit on that road to nowheresville. The grand folly that saw the late Sir Peter Abeles' TNT Group convince Neville Wran's state government that a "futuristic fun-ride" (as no one apart from the Monorail spruikers ever called it), doing a limp lap of Darling Harbour and the southern part of the CBD, was a better bet than an integrated light-rail system that linked the CBD to Circular Quay and beyond, comes to its final stop. 

The light-rail proposal would have been $20 million cheaper to build, ticketing would have been incremental and less expensive, and the thing would actually have gone places where the people of Sydney may have wanted to travel - like,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices.We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. you know, where they work and live and eat and stuff. 
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But how boringly sensible, useful and forward-thinking would that have been? It was much better to echo the bamboozled citizens of Springfield in the classic episode of The Simpsons, "Marge vs. the Monorail" - when they were hoodwinked by a shyster, and chanted, "Monorail! Monorail! Monorail!" 

There were 20 different proposals submitted for the original transport project. One was the Lazertube-Skywalk. Yes, you read that correctly. A 3.6-kilometre moving footpath. And yes, that is one very Lucasfilm-like name for what is essentially a really long travelator. Obviously this idea was the work of an urban planner who chucked a sickie the day before his proposal was due and all he could find in the house was a video of The Jetsons and a bottle of tequila. But honestly, would that have been any worse than the Monorail? 

In the promotional material from 1988, TNT boasted that its baby could handle 5000 passengers an hour. Full marks for wishful thinking. On a sunny afternoon, I sat on the Monorail for almost an hour and a half and did four complete circuits. Thirteen people got in and out of my compartment in that time. I talked to all of them about why they were here today. 

Two Canadian tourists had been to the top of Centrepoint Tower and were killing time with a loop on the Monorail before heading to the Maritime Museum. "It looks better from the ground than the view that these windows give you," said the husband, pointing to the smudged panes, some with spiderweb cracks across their surface. 

Mariana Panggoro, from Maroubra, was only on board because her two young sons wanted to go for a ride before it was pulled down. "With the Light Rail going to the same places and buses all through the city, it's not really worth using the Monorail if you live here," she said. "Especially because it's so expensive." 

Viana Liauw is one person who will miss it. She told me she catches the Monorail every day as she works as a telco salesperson in the CBD and lives in Pyrmont. "If you buy the Smart card, it works out at $3.30 a ride,An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building." she said. "I think they should keep it. It's good for attracting tourists to the area." 

Well, not enough tourists, apparently. The high Australian dollar, which has become the new scapegoat for everything from clawed-back promised tax cuts to the failure of Celebrity Splash!, has apparently been the silver bullet that killed this white elephant.Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. The monorail in The Simpsons self-destructed on its inaugural journey. The Sydney Monorail has suffered a drawn-out death lasting 25 years, but its story bears many of the hallmarks of the satirical cartoon. Let me count the ways. 

It was meant to cost $40 million. It cost $65 million. It was meant to make its first journey on Australia Day, 1988, to celebrate the Bicentennial. It wasn't ready and made its maiden trip on the not-so-auspicious date of July 21 of that year. It was predicted there would be 12 million passengers annually. For much of its life, it moved less than a third of that number and by 2003,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. it was down to 2.58 million. The initial ticket price was a dollar. By 1996, it was $2.50. In 2013, it would set you back $5. If you calculate the money spent for distance covered, it's possibly the most expensive form of mass transit on the planet. 

At least the critics were entertaining, using such colourful language that it makes you wonder whatever happened to the art of hyperbole in today's urban-planning debate. The late architect Harry Seidler, who was perhaps secretly relieved that something apart from his reviled Blues Point Tower was being hailed as our city's biggest eyesore, called it "the most tragic thing that has happened to the urban fabric of Sydney". 

Environmental crusader and unionist Jack Mundey, never afraid of calling a spade a shovel, said it represented "the rape of the city". Celebrity manager Harry M. Miller, who always liked to put on a big show, went right out there with "the most appalling piece of visual pollution I've encountered anywhere in the world, only slightly behind the bombing of Hiroshima". 

Various city councillors of differing political persuasions weighed in over the years. Clover Moore never liked it. Frank Sartor had no time for it. Kathryn Greiner said she would like to "unbolt the nuts" herself. I'm not sure if it's technically correct to unbolt nuts, but one has to admire her willingness to get her hands dirty, especially considering it was her husband, then premier Nick Greiner, who officially cut the ribbon in 1988, having reluctantly inherited the project from the previous government. 

The schooner-quaffing unions hated it; the chardonnay-sipping arty end of town hated it - in fact, the Monorail was one of the few things that united just about everyone. Maybe they should relocate it to the border of Israel and Palestine.

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Human Recognition Systems to launch platform

According to the company, this new system, built on its MVerify platform, allows the automated capture and verification of student identity documents, such as passports and visas. In addition, says the company,An bondcleaningsydney is a device which removes contaminants from the air. MVerify also automates the capture of student attendance during teaching sessions using fingerprint or smartcard technology built into handheld devices. 

Student attendance reporting is increasingly significant for institutions with international students enrolled, as visa restrictions as well as UK Home Office Tier 4 student immigration rules have tightened. 

Tier 4 compliance is set to be one of the key topics of discussion at this yeara?s UKCISA as universities seek to attract international students while navigating the complex Home Office reporting requirements, Jon Busby, Business Development at HRS said. With our extensive expertise in identity management, we have developed a cost-effective solution for the higher education sector that can simplify the Tier 4 reporting structure, reduce time spent on manual data administration and lower the associated costs. Operated from a handheld device that can be passed among students, MVerify also supports an improved student experience by enabling more time to be spent on teaching rather than taking registers. 

Well, I think the time has come to change the make-up of this current Phillies team and make some moves at the trade deadline that will help build the team for the future. 

I'm not taking this point of view because the Phillies are too far out or can't make the playoffs because I've seen crazier things happen and teams get hot.I think it's time to give this team a make-over because I don't think this collection of players will get hot, and the time to take advantage of some deals that can bring some promising young talent is now. 

Let's start with Jonathan Papelbon. Right now there are a number of teams that are in the playoff hunt and need closers. The Detroit Tigers need a closer! Fortunately they have three great prospects in their farm system, and I think the Phillies can get two of the three. 

Nick Castellanos is listed as the top hitting prospect for the Tigers. Avisail Garcia is their best outfield prospect, and Bruce Rondon is the best arm in their system and future closer. If the Phillies could get one of the outfield prospects coupled with Rondon, they could have an outfielder to play alongside Dom Brown for a good number of years to go along with a quality arm who should be their future closer. 

The next Phillies player that could get an impact prospect back in return would be Cliff Lee. The Texas Rangers are once again in the playoff hunt and need a starter.An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. This might be a perfect fit for Lee who does have a no-trade clause in his contract but would likely not mind pitching in Texas. He pitched for the Rangers in 2011 when they went to the World Series. The Rangers have the best prospect in baseball, Jurickson Profar, a shortstop/second baseman who offers great middle-infield skills with a big bat. Unfortunately for Profar, he's playing behind two All-Stars in Texas. This deal needs to be done. 

Jimmy Rollins is getting old and still has a couple years on a big contract. If Profar can be acquired, there is no need for Rollins. Send Rollins to a needy suitor, get a couple more prospects and save $11 million. 

Lastly I would get rid of Carlos Ruiz, who will be a free agent at the end of the year. The Yankees could use a veteran catcher and a quality right-handed hitter. The Phils could get a catching prospect in return such as Austin Romine. The only question with this deal is if the Yankees would take on a player with a history of using a banned substance. 

I would say that the Phillies need to trade Chase Utley, but I know too many Phillies fans who have named their kids Chase. This would be like trading Derek Jeter if you are a Yankees fan. You just have a talk with Utley when the time comes and make him a coach and keep him a Phil for life. 

Thurles-based Andrew Slattery has yet to secure his first win of the current Turf campaign,An bondcleaningsydney is a device which removes contaminants from the air. but Ucanchoose can put that right in the five-furlong handicap. With 18 modest sorts chasing a first prize of less than 5,000, this is wide open. 

Still, Ucanchoose is the most appealing option, having run his best race of the year when leading to the furlong pole over six at the Curragh last time. Declan McDonogh's mount eventually finished fifth,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. so he should have a live chance of getting back to winning ways over his optimum trip off a pound lower mark now. 

In the 12-furlong maiden, McDonogh is also trusted to land the nap on Mick Halford's Zarkiyr at the chief expense of Ballydoyle's Waver. This is a pretty weak heat, and Waver's Curragh second to the selection's stable-mate Dabadiyan is at least encouraging, but Zarkiyr is slightly more progressive. 

Stepped up to this trip for a first time in a handicap at headquarters the same day, he stayed on with great effect to lose out by just a nose to Levanto off a mark of 80. That's the single most robust piece of form, so Zarkiyr is fancied to collect. 

Goolds Cross-based David Wachman might get proceedings under way in the opening juvenile maiden with Little Fastnet, a Fastnet Rock debutante that is out of Wachman's former top-class juvenile Damson. 

Little Fastnet is a three-parts sister to Requinto, another smart two-year-old for the stable that won a Listed race here in 2011 before scoring twice in Group company in England. Of the three in the nine-runner affair that have been placed, Celtic Man is feared most for Bansha's David Marnane,An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. but Little Fastnet is bred to be a bit special. 

Nurse Ryan might also plunder a popular local win for Martin and Shane Hassett of Killenaule. The dual hurdle-winning mare will be suited by the fast ground and trip in the Gathering Handicap. 
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Utilities say too soon to determine Obama plan's impact on rates

Representatives of two major Wisconsin utilities say they will not know until next year how new regulations limiting carbon emissions from existing coal-fired plants might affect electric rates. The policy was unveiled Tuesday by President Obama in a major climate change speech.Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. 

"It's just too early to tell until we see the details of the rule," said Brian Manthey, a spokesman for We Energies, which serves much of southeast Wisconsin. "But there could be an impact on customer rates. It will depend on what kind of changes and retrofitting will be required, their costs and what technology is available." 

Alliant Energy spokesman Steve Schultz concurred and said it would be "only speculation" to make any estimates because the president didn't specify the level of carbon reduction that will be expected from existing power plants. Alliant serves southern and central Wisconsin. 

Kurt Bauer, head of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, charged that the changes are unneeded and will hit Badger State industries disproportionately because 65 percent of the state's electricity is produced from coal-fired plants. 

He predicted Obama's plan will "significantly increase electricity costs" for every Wisconsin household and business. Moreover, he said it will make Badger State manufacturers less competitive with other states and countries, ultimately costing jobs. 

“This is global warming, and unilateral energy disarmament on the part of the U.S. is not the answer,” he said.An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. “We need to have a global solution. He did indicate that he is going to try to work with other developed and emerging nations. But I don’t think they have any interest in reducing carbon emissions anywhere near what he’s talking about.” 

A spokesman for the environmental group Clean Wisconsin lauded the president's action, calling it long overdue."We are pleased with how comprehensive his climate plan is," Keith Reopelle said. "It's a smart move and the highlight is the carbon pollution rules for existing power plants. That is critical because they are the largest source for emissions in this country. We're also delighted he wants to leverage this to get other countries to take similar steps." 

Todd Stuart, executive director of the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group, said the potential for tough new regulations on existing plants is a "wild card" that could potentially be very expensive, add to the cost of manufacturing in the state and cost jobs. 

"We don't know for sure what the impact on Wisconsin will be," he said. "The president directed the EPA to issue proposed carbon standards for existing power plants by June 1, 2014, and a final rule by June 1, 2015."In the meantime, he said manufacturers can lobby the EPA, file lawsuits challenging the rule and possibly seek some kind of Congressional action. 

Stuart said Wisconsin has been ahead of the curve in building new power plants and retrofitting the older ones."We've spent billions on new coal and natural-gas fired plants, billions on renewable generation, and billions more to retrofit older coal plants with new scrubbers. It has pushed our rates higher than the Midwest average in recent years,An bondcleaningsydney is a device which removes contaminants from the air. but others will be catching up when they start to fuel switch or retrofit their plants as well." 

Alliant's Schultz said his company is on track to retire its oldest, smallest and least-efficient units."We are already been implementing a plan that supports the transition to a cleaner energy future by investing in emission controls at our newest and largest facilities. We are transitioning our generating fleet to meet customers' needs and provide flexibility to ensure that we can manage emerging environmental regulations while continuing to control costs." 

Manthey warned that regulators will need to consider whether there are commercially available, cost-effective technologies to control carbon emission."Right now, there isn't one for the capture and storage of carbon," he said, noting that We Energies had worked on a small carbon capture pilot project with a company called Allstom that had positive results but has yet to be scaled up. 

"We'd need to know what effect it would have on energy production and how much you might lose because you'd be running another system."He said the president's order could stimulate development of this type of technology, but "that would be something for those companies that deal with that to take further." 

In the meantime, he said he hopes We Energies will get credit for the steps it has taken in the past decade.An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building."We replaced a coal-fired plant at Port Washington with natural gas and we plan to convert the Valley plant with natural gas that is currently coal," he said. 

"We've also made large investments in renewables, including two largest wind farms in state and we're completing a 50-megawatt biomass plant in Wausau. So we'll hope that will be taken into account into meeting future rules."WMC's Bauer said he believes Obama wants to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy such as wind and solar power.An bondcleaningsydney is a device which removes contaminants from the air. 

"This is aimed at coal, which is where we get most of our energy," he said. "But president is really going after all fossil fuels, including natural gas. They dislike coal the most, but they don't like any kind of fossil fuels."They are trying to promote wind and solar, which don't work in Wisconsin. We are not in the wind corridor and we don't have a lot of sunny days, particularly in the winter.

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Beautiful handset, but performance is lacking

Well, what do we have here? Okay, let's scrap the faux surprise. The recently confirmed Ascend P6 has landed, and Huawei hopes it will stir interest in the hearts of mobile users. Debuting across Europe, China and Australia in late June / early August with a 449 ($600) price tag, it's asking you to take it seriously, and that's what we'll do.

The mobile market is a fickle place, so it doesn't matter where you are right now; it's all about where you're going. Huawei? Well, it's definitely got its sights set on an upward trajectory. The Ascend P6 is the latest rung on the ladder, intended to elevate the company to mobile greatness. But, with competition stiffer than ever, can it really call a device with a 1.5GHz quad-core processor,A lasercutter is a plastic card that has a computer chip implanted into it that enables the card. 720p display and 8-megapixel camera a flagship? (For its P-series at least?) Huawei's certainly giving it a try, and it's hoping that beauty, not brawn, will win the day.

That size difference is important; crammed into that more diminutive form, it not only offers a greater ppi (312), but also turns an otherwise middle-spec phablet into a much more mass-market device. The specifications are still fairly modest, but the hardware they come in -- plus a few other notable inclusions -- means that this is a completely different proposition than the Mate altogether.

There's a black brushed-metal finish on the rear (there are white and pink versions also) with drilled speaker holes at the bottom, and a brushed-metal band around the edges of the device. The Ascend P6 instantly feels good, solid and, dare we say it, delightful. The chamfered edges that lead into the Gorilla Glass display prove that not only can Huawei do detail, it can also do it very well.Did you know that plasticcard chains can be used for more than just business. Next to Samsung's Galaxy S 4, for example, it makes the Korean flagship look and feel shamefully thrown together.We have become one of the worlds most recognised indoortracking brands. Even the dapper HTC One gets a good run for its money in terms of style, fit and finish. Yes, it's fair to say that Huawei has proven that a well-built phone isn't as much a matter of means as it is intention.

It's not all solid, smooth lines. That metal band is broken up by the occasional port. The micro-USB connection sits at the top, just off-center. The right-hand side houses the power / standby button and volume rocker, plus microSD and micro-SIM card trays. If there was a small negative, it's that these buttons do jiggle slightly in place. Not terribly so, but enough to indicate there's room for a tighter fit. The back cover isn't removable -- hence the trays -- but Huawei has done a good job at keeping them flush with the edges. One related design note -- of mixed success -- is the 3.Where can i get a reasonable price plasticmould?5mm headphone jack located at the bottom of the left-hand side. You'd be forgiven for missing it, first of all, as it's tightly plugged up. In fact, at first glance, the small circular protrusion looks like an unusual design feature, like a rivet added on at the end to conceal a functional cavity. It's only when you inspect it a little further that you sense something else is going on.

We tinkered around with this curiosity for a few moments, before wondering if the Ascend P6 perhaps came with a stylus, as this small silver disc could have easily been the top end of one. But a little fingernail pulling and gentle wriggling actually revealed the truth: it's a small, concealed pin to help eject the SIM and memory card trays. Genius. Weird genius. The positive being that you never need to worry about whether you have a paperclip or similar nearby, should you wish to remove your SIM (not that paperclips usually work that well). The negative, however, is that every time you want to use your headphones, you have to remove -- and potentially lose -- the pin. In our experience, getting the thing out wasn't exactly a smooth process either. Still, it's a nice idea, and the sort of ingenuity we're loathe to discourage.

One thing we would encourage? More internal storage. We're sorry guys, but 8GB really isn't enough these days, especially when barely any of that (less than 4GB) is accessible. Yes, there is the option to expand (by a further 32GB), but that's more a common courtesy rather than a reasonable solution. So, if you've liked what you've heard so far, then be sure to add a memory card to your shopping list, like, now. The memory issue is compounded by the -- albeit pleasantly surprising -- inclusion of a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Those self-portraits are about to get a serious upgrade, which is all the more reason to get your storage set from the get-go. We'll cover the cameras (including the 8-megapixel main shooter) in more detail later.

Rounding out the hardware side of things are a few significant omissions. First, there's no LTE. It's simply not happening. So if that's a dealbreaker, stop reading now. If it's not -- and there's category 14 HSPA+ (up to 21 Mbps) to keep things moving -- then you'll likely be expecting some returns elsewhere -- such as in the longevity of the non-removable 2,000mAh battery.Which buymosaic is right for you? Again, more on that later. If you got this far and were wondering about NFC, then suffice to say, it's not here either, but you're okay with DLNA sharing and Dolby Digital audio instead, right?

At 4.7 inches across, with a resolution of 1,280 x 720, the Ascend P6 might not be in the (increasingly less) exclusive 1080p club, but the 720p "in-cell" LCD does a good enough job that you likely won't mind. Compared to some of the larger flagships (heck, for some, 4.7 inches is almost "mini"), the P6's display might seem average -- but it really does feel perfectly sized. You can reach your way across it comfortably, and thanks to a minimal bezel, the phone should sit snugly in most hands. We did find that the touchscreen was occasionally less responsive to our pokes and gestures from time to time. Pinching out from the home screen to bring up the zoomed-out view sometimes took two or three attempts to register. Likewise we sometimes found ourselves prodding more than once to get it to realize that we were trying to open an app. There is a "gloves" mode, which increases sensitivity, and we noticed the problem occurred less frequently when this was activated, so you may prefer to keep this switched on.

When you're not thumbing at it, the Ascend's LCD looks bright and crisp, with excellent viewing angles. The screen is dimmer when gazed at from anything other than straight on, and you'll definitely want to keep the brightness set to no less than 50 percent for outdoor viewing. Do that and colors will remain solid and blacks dark, making photo and video viewing on the device a pleasant experience. Also, we noticed that the screen displayed a pleasing resilience to fingerprints -- definitely a plus point.
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Get region-free Blu-ray software for free

Is there any region free Blu-ray player software that I can use on any Blu-ray drive and the player can do the rest? For Blu-ray movie buffs, this problem might be a big obstacle, as the region-code restrictions of Blu-ray disc players would make them unable to play Blu-ray discs with different region codes.

Just like region codes for DVDs, Blu-ray disc players sold in a specific geographical region are designed to play only the discs authorized by the content provider for that region. The Blu-ray disc region coding scheme divides the whole world into three regions: A, B, and C.

According to the Blu-ray Disc Association, all Blu-ray disc players [and] Blu-ray disc-equipped computer systems are required to support regional coding. However, Use of region playback codes is optional for content providers. Most movie studios have released many of their Blu-ray discs region-free, such as Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Sony Pictures, and Walt Disney Pictures. This means you can play and enjoy most Blu-ray discs on various Blu-ray discs players. However, for people who use Blu-ray disc drives to watch Blu-ray movies on their computers, the best and safest way for them to watch Blu-ray discs from various regions is still to make use of region-free Blu-ray discs players.

But Leawo Software has a solution for you: free Blu-ray player software. We have just launched our region-free Blu-ray Player Software Giveaway, providing free Windows Blu-ray software so you can watch your Blu-ray discs from any region. Blu-ray movies fans could pay a visit to the giveaway page to get this region-free Blu-ray player software.

Leawo Blu-ray Player also works as DVD player to play any DVD movies or a video player and audio player to play videos and audios in various formats at all no additional cost. You can also adjust subtitles and audio and video settings for a quality, lossless Blu-ray movie experience. You can also use Leawo Blu-ray Player to load external subtitles. As for its audio support, Leawo Blu-ray Player plays DTS-HD Master audio and DTS-5.1 audio for lossless audio output. Meanwhile,From black tungsten wedding rings for men to diamond parkingmanagement. just like any other professional media players, Leawo Blu-ray Player provides easy-to-use full media playback navigation and control for movie fans.

However, any kind of region-free Blu-ray player software program can only play Blu-ray discs of all region codes when equipped with a Blu-ray drive and connected to the Internet. For smoother program running, recommended requirements for your computer include a 1 GHz or above Intel/AMD processor with at least 512MB RAM and a graphics card such as an ATI Radeon HD 4000 or NVIDIA GeForce 8-Series or newer or integrated Intel G45 or higher.

Fans will feel as though this place is catering to them. The venue is set up nicely to host cards big and small, and the people associated with Revel are smart, hardworking individuals. Im happy to be working with my good friend, Revel executive Bernie Dillon, whom I had the pleasure of doing business with when I was with the New Jersey State Athletic commission. I cant wait to work with him and his staff. The event itself will be incredible, Shaw continued.

Shaws excitement is warranted, after all the main event stands alone as a much anticipated showdown in the middleweight division and fight fans are hopeful that this showdown will produce genuine fireworks.

This is Daniel Geales first time competing in the states and U.S. fans that arent familiar with him are in for a big treat. Daniel is a quality fighter and I think he could be the best middleweight in the division right now. He isnt just talented; he is a fighters kind of fighter with intentions of making hardnosed type of dog fights. His opponents style meshes well and we feel like this is not just a meaningful fight in the division, but also one that fight fans can really get behind as it will be not only competitive but will set up the next big fight in the middleweight division, Shaw said.

Geale has spoken for a couple of years about fighting in the U.S. and now he is finally making good on that promise as he gets the chance to compete on U.S. soil in front of a major television audience.

Im excited to be on HBO because you cant mention boxing without HBO. I will be exposed to many U.S. fight fans for the first time in my career thanks to my promoter Gary Shaw and Grange Old School Boxing. The feeling is overwhelming. Im excited to perform in a city that has hosted so many legends such as Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield, Diego Corrales just to name a few. I will do my part to live up to what past legends have accomplished, Geale said.

The 12-round fight will be contested at 152 pounds with both men's super welterweight/junior middleweight titles on the line Mayweather's WBA super welterweight "super" championship, and Alvarez's WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine super welterweight championships.

The bout, expected to be a monstrous draw on pay-per-view for Showtime, also just might satisfy many fans who had been wishing during the last several years for Mayweather to take on Manny Pacquiao.

"In every sport, there are certain rare occasions when you have the best fighting the best,We offer over 600 oilpaintingsforsales at wholesale prices of 75% off retail." said Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president and general manager of Showtime Sports. "The Super Bowl, Final Four,With superior quality photometers, light meters and a number of other iphoneheadset products. the college football national championship. Sept. 14 will be one of those occasions the two biggest stars in the sport, the two biggest fan bases.

"We have America's No. 1 fighter versus Mexico's No. 1 fighter. We have the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport versus the No. 1 new star in the sport."

There remains some dispute over who set the 152-pound catch weight, with Mayweather's camp saying Alvarez's people brought it up first. Alvarez, however, insisted it was Mayweather who decided on having both fight at 152 pounds instead of 154.The thequicksilverscreen is our flagship product.

"It wasn't me," Alvarez told reporters before the news conference. "I don't want to fight 2 pounds below my weight class.Did you know that plasticcard chains can be used for more than just business."

There was also some contention between the two because Alvarez chose to headline his own fight card against Trout rather than be included on the undercard of Mayweather-Guerrero card. But both fighters agreed that this is a matchup that needed to happen.
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Septic cleaning company charged with dumping waste in yard

The owner of a sewage cleaning company has been charged with cleaning a man's septic tank and twice dumping the waste on his property.

Tom Vasiliou and A&B Sewer and Drain were charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with two counts of violation of the Water Quality Act,An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. a third-degree felony.On Sept. 15 and Oct. 1, 2012, employees of A&B Sewer cleaned the septic tank of a resident at 7221 W. Rose Canyon Road and then dumped the sewage material they had just collected into an adjacent field owned by the same person, according to charging documents.

The property owner said Vasiliou asked for permission to dump the sludge and he agreed.But Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said Vasiliou, who has held a permit to haul and dispose liquid waste since 2002, should have known better.An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building.

The alleged illegal dumping was discovered because of an anonymous citizen who saw what was going on, took pictures and submitted them to the Salt Lake Valley Health Department.Gill praised the citizen and noted that he has a special interest in environmental cases. Gill specialized in environmental crimes when he worked as a prosecutor and his office has an Environmental Task Force.

It's not just the major oil spills that need prosecuting, but smaller acts of crimes against the environment, he said, adding that the public needs to be educated to prevent them from happening."It's really important to ask our citizens to be on the lookout for that," Gill said.

The public also needs to realize that the smaller acts of abuse against the environment aren't "your typical crime" but can have a long-lasting negative effect on the environment as much as a large oil spill, he said.Vasiliou said he traditionally took the grease from septic tank and sewer line cleanings to a local oil company and other parts to South Valley Sewer, according to charging documents.

In the nineteenth century, New York City was full of trash. You can see what that meant in this horrific image of a dead horse rotting in the street where kids were playing. But then there was a revolution that transformed New York into an experiment in urban trash planning.

Anthropologist Robin Nagle has just published a book about NY's sanitation history called Picking Up. She pored over decades of the city's records to piece together how exactly this filthy urban center was cleaned up. Below, you can see a late-nineteenth century sanitation worker in New York, sweeping up trash that would ordinarily have been left outside to decompose.

There was a police corruption scandal in the early 1890s that was so spectacular the Tammany political machine could not control the reaction. So they were kicked out of office in the mayoral elections of 1894. A guy named William Strong took over as mayor, and he swore to appoint people of integrity as his commissioners. For street cleaning, he first reached out to Teddy Roosevelt, who basically said, What, are you nuts? Nobody should do that. Thats an impossible job.A quality paper cutter or paper howotractor can make your company's presentation stand out. Im not going to do that. So Roosevelt took over the police department, which was also in dire need of reform.

Mayor Strong reached out to a Civil War officer, a veteran and a self-titled sanitary engineer and a bit of a showman, named George Waring. He asked Waring to take over street cleaning, and they had a conversation that Waring later recounted to the press in which he said, Ill do it under one condition C you leave me alone. If you want to fire me, of course,Today, Thereone.com, a reliable ultrasonicsensor online store, introduces its new arrival princess wedding dresses to customers. thats your right. But I will appoint and hire the people I feel are best for the job, not because theyre people you want to do favors for.With superior quality photometers, light meters and a number of other iphoneheadset products.

The mayor agreed and Waring immediately gave the department a hierarchical, military-type structure that is still in place today. This made people immediately responsible for very clearly defined tasks, like someone was assigned to sweep from this corner to that corner 10 blocks down, and they were going to do it inside these eight hours, and this cart was going to follow and the driver of the cart had these set hours. If there were any problems, the officer immediately in charge of that crew would have to answer for them, and then the officer above had to answer for the larger regional work.
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How to burn calories like a Tour de France rider

Tennis courts are thronged during and after the Australian Open, golf lessons spike around the US Masters, and you'll likely see even more lycra in the leafier suburbs after the Tour de France gets under way on Saturday night.

It's generally accepted that Le Tour is the most physically demanding major sporting event in the world, but what exactly are those sweaty chaps putting themselves through as they power through a fairly hilly 3400km (the driving distance between Melbourne and Perth) over 21 days while averaging anything up to 40km/h and powered only by those bony legs.

Calories burned obviously varies depending on the type of stage and an individual rider's physique, but on one of the more savage mountain stages, a rider can burn at least 8000 calories, with some claiming the number can get closer to 10,000.

To give some context, an average man of the same age and weight having an average day (with no major exercise) burns about 2000.All of which means Tour riders have to ingest an insane amount of calories, and not in the fun pizza, beer and nachos way.

Requiring an extra 6000 calories or so a day means a hearty breakfast - usually with plenty of oatmeal, cereal, even rice or noodles - is consumed anything up to four hours before a stage starts. The day is then filled with gels, chews, drinks and any other substance that can help the rider take in hundreds of calories every hour while racing without making themselves ill.

After the race, it's plenty of sugary fluids to rehydrate and perhaps some rice/egg-based food to replenish the body before a veg and protein-packed evening meal of between 2000 and 3000 calories to give the body enough fuel to replenish muscles before the next day's efforts. Fun, no?

Granted, your average office Joe is unlikely to be wolfing down that sort of calorie intake after his action-packed day of staring at a computer, walking to and from a car and then staring at a TV while occasionally glancing at another computer.

But what would Joe have to do to kick it like Cadel and burn four times the average amount of calories burned in a day? The answer,An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. unsurprisingly, is plenty.

Assuming that an average Tour rider is 30 years old, 70kg and 175cm, his ordinary equivalent would have to spend more than 24 hours doing some everyday activities to come close to what a Tour competitor would burn ascending and descending l'Alpe D'huez over the course of 5-6 hours.A solid 24 hours of cricket, golf, shooting baskets, table tennis, and even vigorous gardening or carpet laying might just require a few energy bars as you get close to 8000 calories burned.

If you wanted to knock those cals over a bit quicker you could try hitting a punching bag for 19 hours straight, getting on a rowing machine for 16 hours, skiing for 16 hours, cycling or circuit training for 14 hours or running (at 10km/h) for 12 hours. Adding some stairs to that run will get you over the line in just 7.5 hours.

If you need a competitive edge to get you there, 16 hours of tennis or soccer should do it, while a mere 9.5 hours of squash will work up a decent appetite for all those rice-based treats.And if you don't mind looking vaguely ridiculous, you should know that just nine hours of rollerblading and 14 hours of ultimate frisbee will burn enough calories to match a Tour stage.

But you don't even have to get sporty. Fun everyday tasks like carrying groceries upstairs can easily get you there. And by easily we mean doing it for 15 hours straight. Cleaning the house for 37 hours will also do the trick.The whole variety of the brightest rtls is now gathered under one roof.The Lotharios among you might be rolling your eyes, assuming that forsaking a late night watching the Tour on TV for some calorie-busting bedroom antics will have you buff in no time.

Well, despite the multitude of articles extolling the exercise benefits of an active sex life, the truth isn't quite as, well, sexy.The New England Journal of Medecine recently debunked such thinking - for men at least - calculating that an average chap burns about 3.5 calories per minute during sex.An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building.

Which means if you want to do it like a cyclist, you need to be able to, ahem, ride for 38 hours straight. Far be it from us to cast aspersions, but we've a feeling that might require a performance-enhancer or two.

Before coming to the United States last October, she said, she signed a contract establishing the terms of her employment: She would work as a housekeeper seven hours a day, five days a week, at a wage of $9.82 per hour and overtime pay of $14.73 per hour. In addition, according to the lawsuit, she would be granted paid holidays, sick days and 15 paid vacation days per year, as well as three meals per day, six days per week.

But as soon as she arrived, Ms. Ros said, her employers revealed hidden intentions. She said she was ordered not only to clean the two-story, four-bedroom house but also to cook for the couple and their four young children the youngest of whom was 18 months old and drive the older children to and from school. Amid her cleaning and cooking duties, she said,The Motorola amagiccube Engine is an embedded software-only component of the Motorola wireless switches. she would baby-sit for and change the infant, as well as care for house guests and tend to the garden.The feeder is available on drying chipcard equipped with folder only.

Ms. Ross work days often began at dawn and ended at 10 p.m., and she was given only very basic food, like bread and coffee, the lawsuit said. Ms. Ros Fun frequently was hungry.

Instead of paying her the rate stipulated in the contract, she contended, the couple told her they would pay her a flat rate of $900 a month, significantly less than her base salary not including overtime. Even so, Ms. Ros said they paid her only several hundred dollars each month after deducting money to cover the cost of clothing and toiletries they purchased for her.
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Scribner Grain fire rekindles memories of 1971 disaster

Monday was too soon for Scribner Grain and Lumber Co. officials to determine how they will react after a Sunday fire destroyed the companys facility on the south edge of downtown Scribner, but its a road the company has been down before.

The fire struck just four days before the anniversary of a 1971 blaze that destroyed Scribner Grains 100-foot grain elevator at the exact same spot.

Forty-two years ago and four days from now, we went through the same thing. It burned down 42 years ago, owner Dennis Baumert said.Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. There was no feed mill, it was an old wooden elevator that burned down. I remember we had just bought it a year.I remember it, Scribner Fire Chief Ken Thomas said. I was 12 years old, but I remember looking down the street from my house and seeing the flames that were probably 150 feet high coming off of that elevator.An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. It was a real hot summer day and it burned to the ground.

Fremont Tribune records indicate the 1971 fire likely smoldered for hours before being discovered at about 3:15 p.m. by boys returning from a swimming pool. It burned out of control for more than three hours.Parts of the facility collapsed as fire department tankers,We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. cement trucks, a milk truck and a liquid fertilizer truck supplemented the citys water supply by hauling water from the swimming pool, alfalfa mill, Elkhorn River and surrounding towns, the Tribune reported the following day.

Fire officials said many residents wet down the roofs of their homes with garden hoses at the height of the fire. Some minor damage was reported to a few homes where sparks actually ignited roofs, the newspaper said.Memories of 1971, Tomas admitted, crossed his mind on Sunday as his department and firefighters from Snyder and Hooper re-enacted the harrowing scene.

The Scribner Volunteer Fire Department rushed to the scene along U.S. Highway 275 shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday. The fire was under control in about two hours, but firefighters were on the scene throughout Sunday night and Monday.

Thomas told the Tribune on Sunday that his main focus was the safety of firefighters, threatened by the hazards of the collapsing structure and multiple explosions within the facility, including propane tanks and truck tires. There were no injuries.

Hot spots, inaccessible due to the wreckage and the threat of further collapse, were attacked on Monday as two backhoes revealed them and firefighters were able to safely reach them.Passing thunderstorms, including small hail in the morning, slowed investigators from the State Fire Marshals office, who gingerly dug through the unstable rubble.

They actually had to peel away some of the legs that had fallen and caught on the building that were hanging in thereso they could get into the structure safely, Thomas said.Baumert was unable to put a dollar amount on the loss or speculate about the companys future plans, instead focusing his energy on continuing to serve clients and cleaning up the mess -- a process that in itself promises to take some time.

New York States energetic attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, writes in the Times Union that the IRS scandal around the targeting of conservative-leaning 501(c)(4) groups has overshadowed the more important issue of dark money groups. The law, if the IRS were enforcing it correctly, does not allow any social welfare organizationright, left, or centerto spend funds for partisan political purposes, at all. He notes that his staff in the AGs office observed that lots of 501(c)(4)s in New York were putting big money into political campaigns. Why arent they functioning as Super PACs rather than (c)(4)s? The only reason for a wealthy individual or corporation to spend money on elections through a nonprofit [501(c)(4)] front group, instead of a Super PAC, is to take advantage of the fact that nonprofits can conceal their donors.

Although Congress hasnt been able to gin up any action on this issue, individual states are acting. Schneiderman points to New York States new law, operational as of last week, that requires nonprofits that spend more than $10,000 on state and local elections to disclose who funds these efforts and how they spend the money. We presume, however, that the New York statute only applies to 501(c)(4) political spending on New York state or local races. The ultimate 50-state solution is still the province of Congress and the White House, but both have been well-heeled beneficiaries of dark money and show little indication of an interest in much fuller disclosure.

Not all states are following New Yorks lead. In Texas, Republican governor Rick Perry vetoed a bill introduced by Republican state senator Kel Seliger that would have required 501(c)(4)s in Texas to report contributions exceeding $1,000 and political expenditures over $25,000. Perry rationalized his veto by referring to the IRS scandal: At a time when our federal government is assaulting the rights of Americans by using the tools of government to squelch dissent, it is unconscionable to expose more Texans to the risk of such harassment,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. regardless of political, organizational or party affiliation. Interestingly, Seligers aim in the bill was an attack on money laundering in Texas elections.Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices.

Schneiderman and Seliger are on to something. Dark money is taking a toll in state and local elections as well. The money is obtained, ostensibly, for use primarily for social welfare activities (though the legislation says exclusively), but its raised through secret sources and converted into a legal structure of 501(c)(4) political spending in a kind of case study of how money laundering works.

Campaign finance is a mess in this country, but its worse at the state and local levels than at the federal. This is due not to only less intensive scrutiny, but because of the prevalence of pay-to-play schemes, in which campaign donors can give to politicians who might have oversight of policies, grants, and contracts that affect the donors business interests. The bipartisan nature of pay-to-play is well documented in a trove of previously secret documents from an investigation of a New Jersey business that made about $1 million in campaign donations to a bevy of Jersey politicians and was rewarded with $84 million in government contracts. It isnt known how the million in campaign contributions was factored into the firms government-approved overhead rate, but well assume that by hook or crook, it got in as the cost of doing business.

Its all over the place at state and local levelsthe Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Bergen County in New Jersey, Goldman Sachs looking for state underwriting business in Massachusetts, and many more examples besides. In Washington, D.C., where the mayor and the city council have been enmired in cascading scandals, a bill introduced by council member Tommy Wells to rein in pay-to-play was rejected unanimously by his peers, though he personally voted for his own bill.
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The Hollywood, Florida,

"Lost all my money, man. She's gonna kill me," he said, shaking his head but also laughing. I chuckled back, not really knowing what else to do, curious as to where this conversation would lead. "Well, what are you going to tell her?" I responded, as we walked side by side.

Im'a tell her I got robbed. If I do that, she won't get mad, she'll say "What happened, baby?" and I'll say "No need to call the police, I was in the wrong place" and she's gonna say "Where'd you go?" and I'm gonna say "I was trying to buy some weed and they robbed the fucking weed man," because she knows I smoke weed.

It was 5:30 p.m. on a beautiful Friday afternoon, and this was my first introduction to the casinos of Hollywood, Florida. This conversation occurred only because I was walking back to my car to retrieve my ID. After a long week, all I wanted to do was withdraw a little money, play about 30 minutes of blackjack, and then be on my way. Walking into the Seminole Casino, that seemed like a realistic goal.

I was the youngest person in the casino by 30 years. Easily. Weaving through slot machines, I glared in wonderment Why were these people here? and those who looked up from their games reciprocated. How long had they been sitting in this cigarette-smoke fog machine of a room? And how long would they stay?

Finally reaching the $10 blackjack table, the lowest possible buy-in, I asked permission of the table's two participants if I could join. The older woman, a glamorously weathered Blanche Devereaux, nodded positively, just as a puff of smoke briefly made her face disappear. The man next to her didn't acknowledge my question, because he was staring at the televisions above.

All of the televisions were on Pacific Time. I couldn't help but laugh at that blatant act of disorientation and trickery. Regardless, as $70 in chips were pushed my way, I gave myself a time limit: 15 minutes.An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. Once that TV said 3:00 p.m. PT, I was standing up, cashing out, and leaving.

Fifteen minutes later, I did just that. And after a chips-for-cash transaction, I walked out of the Seminole Casino toward my car, $100 richer. What a solid afternoon.

In my gambling history, which is not long but most certainly not positive, never had I shown anything resembling self-restraint. If I won, the assumption was that it was "my day," and if I lost, the assumption was that, eventually, on that day, it would become "mine." I'd thought this way because I tend to assume things will work out for me in the end.

I didn't know what to make of my cab driver's statement, but apparently he thought my target demographic was 75-year-old women. Maybe it was my Hawaiian shirt,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. an attempt to blend in with the older crowd. Regardless, through some combination of cabin fever and it being "my day," it was now 12:10 a.m. and I was getting a lift back to the casino.

This was Hollywood, Florida's night club.We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. Most of those present were overdressed by way of being comically underdressed, the energy was high, the lights were bright, and "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" was blaring. Again, I felt out of place in a casino, but it wasn't age this time now I was all alone. This was very much a couples scene or a breeding ground for large, rowdy groups celebrating some life event.

Not enjoying myself in the slightest, I wandered, aimlessly, looking for an open blackjack table. Nothing was available. I began to notice my movements had caught the attention of two employees. Assuming this would end with my getting thrown in a dumpster, never to be seen again, I spotted the exit and left.Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices.

In a matter of hours, the Seminole Casino had changed. Drastically. Yes, it looked the same on the outside and the crowd within still leaned older, but instead of quiet and borderline-depressing, it was now bustling.

A great deal of thanks for that change goes to the cover band loudly performing jams inside. As I walked in, it was "Too Close" by Next, which bled nicely into a string of Prince hits that got quite a few slot players out of their seats to dance.

I walked straight to my blackjack table with confidence and exchanged my previous winnings for chips. My tablemates this time were two brothers in their fifties,Large collection of quality cleanersydney at discounted prices. one who did not speak and the other a source of commentary on every single thing that was happening. Everything.

There was his disgust over not getting drinks comped, there was the time he almost got into a fight after hitting on 14 when the dealer had 13, and there was the time he came into a casino with $25 and left with a grand.

I said nothing to him, but my head was constantly nodding in approval of everything he said. When a man and woman walked over and joined us about 45 minutes in, the gentleman in the couple lost his first three hands. His response to his subpar gameplay: "I always bust when I sit over here."
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