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Source: The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.迷你倉Aug. 25--On Colton Price's first day as a full-time police officer, his field training sergeant tossed him the keys to the patrol car and told him to drive.It was a surprise for the 24-year-old newbie at the Vancouver Police Department, who expected to ride shotgun for a day or two to gather his bearings. But Sgt. Jim White, who's been training incoming officers for more than a decade, knew better."This isn't a spectator sport," White said. "You're up to your eyeballs from Day One."Price is one of nine new hires at the Vancouver Police Department. Some, like him, come straight out of the police academy in Burien, while others hail from law enforcement agencies around the U.S. The agency hasn't been fully staffed since 2002 due to Baby Boomer retirements, resignations and a couple of deaths. It has three more vacancies it plans to fill.The process is long, uncomfortable and selective. In 2012, Vancouver hired four entry-level officers from a pool of 400 applicants, and three experienced officers among 248 applicants, according to Sgt. Deb Libbey.Price, a Heritage High School graduate, "knew all along" he wanted to be a local police officer. The best man at his wedding was the son of Vancouver Police Officer Eddie Alba, who warned him that getting on the force wouldn't be an easy or short process.Price knew he couldn't get hired straight out of high school; applicants must be at least 21 years old. So he joined the U.S. Army, and stayed for 5 1/2 years. He applied to the Vancouver and Battle Ground police departments as early as he could as his military contract ended, hoping to minimize his potential period of unemployment. The hiring process, after all, takes anywhere from six to eight months. He and his wife planned financially and emotionally for what would happen -- the lack of income and the time he would spend away at the academy.Steps of recruitingIt starts with taking a written and physical ability test through Public Safety Testing, a testing agency for public safety employers in Washington, Alaska, California and Idaho. The physical measures the endurance and strength cops may need in an instant -- while chasing a suspect, rescuing someone, remaining vigilant during a stakeout or in self defense.Those who apply to work at the city agency are screened for what Libbey calls "automatic disqualifiers." Candidates who have recently done drugs or have a slew of traffic violations on their record are cut from the pool, eliminating about 20 to 25 percent. An officer can't very well enforce the law if they don't follow it, she said.As the supervisor of the department's backgrounds investigation unit, Libbey performs thorough background investigations on candidates who score 70 or higher on the safety test. Then begins the "invasive and not very comfortable" in-depth interview, followed by a polygraph exam."They dig pretty deep," Price said of the experience.Steps of trainingA panel decides whether to extend a conditional offer of employment. If it's offered and accepted, the prospective police officer submits to a medical and psychological screening.Then there's 5 1/2 months in the academy, after which they end up where Price is, in field training. As a trainee, Price works alongside White to learn ... what, exactly?"I would say, how to be a cop," Price said with a laugh. "If you mess up, it counts.""It's going from a video game to reality," White added.The reality is, Vancouver has its自存倉own policies and procedures he has to get used to, and the city itself has its quirks.When Price incorrectly calls out his location on the radio, White corrects him and explains the directions of streets and avenues in the city. White said new officers get a lot of criticism and corrections in the first couple of days.Toward the end of the first phase of field training, the pair wind up at Walmart -- where Price has been more than a dozen times already -- to interview a theft suspect. She allegedly stole a pair of shorts priced at $12.88.Price asks her why she stole the shorts, then explains her court date and what can happen if she doesn't show up. The interview differs from those he conducted in the Army, where he was an interrogator and trained spies in east Afghanistan. It's a new skill that gets better only with practice and exposure.Down the road, Price hopes to be a hostage negotiator or work on the Clark-Vancouver Regional Drug Task Force. For now, he's still gaining all of the experiences it takes to be a police officer. He experiences different calls by rotating through the day, swing and graveyard shifts, and switches precincts to learn the city's geography. He also rides with other training officers to get different perspectives and methods. Officers say it takes five years before they've seen everything, and 10 to 15 years before they're really good at what they do.It's rare, but some officers find during field training that police work isn't for them and they quit, White said. They could drop out or be eliminated at any point in the hiring process. Someone may, for instance, be extended an employment offer and then fail the psychological screening.The $65,000 and more that it costs to train a new police officer doesn't include the background investigation, interviews, testing or salaries of those in the Backgrounds Investigation Unit.Candy Arata, human resources manager for the Clark County Sheriff's Office, takes those recruiting expenses into account, and estimates that the total cost for hiring a new deputy is more than $98,000. While both agencies pool resources and employees from various units to help with the hiring process, their practices of tallying the cost differ.Risk of lossAfter all the investment, some officers leave for another agency soon after they're hired."You can't force them to stay," said Carrie Greene, Ridgefield police chief. "It occurs all the time around the state."Smaller agencies, like hers, are typical targets. Bigger agencies offer more pay, exposure, room for advancement and the opportunity to take part in specialty units. Greene spent 25 years with the Washington State Patrol, another agency that loses young recruits to agencies that offer more flexibility in terms of where they get to live and what they get to do.When Greene attended the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs annual conference in May, there was talk about forming contracts. Agencies, she said, wouldn't hire somebody if they knew that officer would only stay for a few months. The contract would require that officers stay with the agency for a certain period or pay back the cost of training.------Patty Hastings: 360-735-4513; twitter.com/col_cops; patty.hastings@columbian.com.GoogleVPD Equipment CostsTableauEquipping the VPDLearn About TableauCopyright: ___ (c)2013 The Columbian (Vancouver, Wash.) Visit The Columbian (Vancouver, Wash.) at .columbian.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉新蒲崗

趙楠Win-tel（微軟和英特爾）聯盟的兩位元老級CEO相繼宣告退休，迷你倉傳遞出一種信號：在不同的時代浪潮下，IT巨頭該怎樣自我革新。近日，微軟全球CEO鮑爾默對外宣佈將在未來一年內退休，在此期間，微軟將考慮新的CEO人選。鮑爾默的退休宣言立刻引起了資本波動，微軟當日股價上漲7%，資本市場似乎早已期待微軟有新的領軍者出現。現年57歲的鮑爾默，是微軟的聯合創始人，與微軟創始人比爾·蓋茨是哈佛大學的同班同學。2000年，鮑爾默接替比爾·蓋茨成為微軟CEO，目前已在微軟供職33年。去年年底，英特爾原CEO歐德寧宣佈於今年5月退休。在此之前，歐德寧已在英特爾近40年，並擔任過8年的CEO職務。鮑爾默的功與過個性鮮明、大嗓門以及身形剽悍的光頭形象，沒有讓鮑爾默收穫一個有魅力品格的評價。而善於經營，卻不懂技術，也時常成為鮑爾默的負面標簽。在鮑爾默主政微軟13年來，微軟業績一路上升，年營收從253億美元一路高歌至743億美元，營業利潤從117億美元攀升至253億美元，並給股東帶來了高達1800億美元的投資回報。2008年，鮑爾默主導了與雅虎的收購。微軟以此獲得了雅虎在網絡搜索、互聯網廣告交易的技術和收入，為微軟在後10年的互聯網轉型中帶來基礎。今年5月，微軟Bing在北美的搜索市場份額已達17.4%，僅次于穀歌。2011年2月，微軟與諾基亞達成戰略合作伙伴，微軟的Windows Phone系統將成為諾基亞主要的智能手機平台。以此，微軟在未來的移動互聯時代，擁有了一個用戶基礎較廣的移動設備商的緊密支持。但盡管如此，鮑爾默卻仍然未能帶領微軟在移動互聯時代搶得先機，在穀歌與蘋果的競爭之下，微軟與它曾最親密的盟友英特爾一樣，表現得糾結而迷茫。Windows Vista和Windows 8兩代產品，被視為鮑爾默的兩大敗筆。Windows 8的首月銷量僅為4000萬份。在微軟向移動互聯轉移的戰略中，Surface RT所扮演的角色，也模糊不定。一名設備廠商對《第一財經日報》記者表示，他不確定Surface只是微軟為推行Windows 8的指導性硬件，還是微軟要在硬件領域與其他硬件廠商展開競爭。IDC數據自存倉計，Surface RT和Pro設備在今年第一季度的全球銷量僅為90萬台，市場份額為1.8%。“在移動互聯的衝擊下，微軟並沒有一個明確、果斷的戰略方向，這是鮑爾默必須承擔的責任。”上述人士稱，從Surface的定價反複調整來看，微軟並沒有一個如蘋果那樣走“軟硬一體化”的決心和準備。而使微軟糾結的因素包括，微軟並不願得罪它在PC上的硬件合作者，這會使得它在系統授權費用上的收入損失很多。誰是拯救者？即使鮑爾默離去，也暫時看不到誰更適合這個職位。IT觀察人士王豔輝對記者表示，如今的微軟不僅是業務調整那麼簡單，由於其軟件銷售式的商業模式已根深蒂固，在轉型當中，更需要一個精神上的鼓舞者和凝聚者。在目前業界熱議的候選人當中，包括比爾·蓋茨、諾基亞CEO埃洛普以及一些曾經在微軟工作過的技術派掌門人。有分析認為，如果比爾·蓋茨回歸，能給微軟帶來很大的精神鼓舞，但微軟也十分需要一個善於技術、產品並懂得移動領域的人來擔任CEO。目前，穀歌、Facebook這些新興科技企業的掌門人都是技術派，而雅虎、英特爾也更換了技術派人士作為公司的CEO。在移動互聯時代，更多創新產品的孵出，需要一個敢於在創新上投入的技術派CEO做出決策。埃洛普此前也曾是微軟最賺錢業務Office部門的掌門人，被視為最懂微軟的手機移動設備商掌門人。鮑爾默的退休也給業界帶來關於微軟與諾基亞合併的遐想。近日，也有關於埃洛普將電信設備作為諾基亞主業、邊緣化手機業務的消息。無論如何，微軟都需要在兩種不同的商業思維上做出選擇。王豔輝認為，在過去10年來，微軟引領的軟件銷售模式正在與現在穀歌引領的服務模式以及蘋果引領的軟硬一體化模式發生碰撞。在原有商業思維中，圍繞系統軟件銷售的生態正在被免費的軟件、增值服務、軟硬一體化體驗所取代。這股浪潮影響的不僅是微軟，也包括英特爾等盟友。那個曾經英特爾升級了芯片、微軟就出一款滿足芯片服務需要的操作系統的時代已經不在。IT的浪潮正在圍繞免費、開放、服務的生態中發展。微軟需要做出的決策，還有很多。在移動互聯時代，誰是微軟新的盟友？還是Win-tel+OEM廠商（硬件代工商）麼？這是下一任CEO急需弄清的問題。迷你倉新蒲崗

Source: The Wisconsin State JournalAug.自存倉 25--Fifty years ago, Milele Chikasa Anana boarded a bus full of strangers in Boston with no real certainty she'd see her husband and two young children again.She was headed to the nation's capital for the March on Washington, a massive civil rights demonstration that many feared would end in violence, as had other events pushing for racial integration. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. would give his now-famous "I Have a Dream" speech there, but at the time, Anana said her motivation to attend was exasperation.She and others on the bus couldn't eat at restaurants along the route -- just one example of the discrimination blacks faced. Black churches fed them for free on the trip."I wasn't trying to make history, I was just tired of being a second-class citizen," said Anana, 79, who has lived in Madison for most of the past 45 years and publishes Umoja magazine, a monthly journal that focuses on positive news in the black community.The 50th anniversary of the march this Wednesday will be marked with a ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial. President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak. Anana plans to be there, too."What that march did for me was show me that democracy could work, because I'd just about lost faith," she said.Organizers of the Aug. 28, 1963, march initially predicted a turnout of about 100,000 people, a number that swelled to an estimated 250,000."It was more than double what was expected, and I think that surprised even those closely connected to the march," said UW-Madison history professor William P. Jones, author of "The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights," published in July.Local marchersMany traveled hundreds of miles, including a contingent from Madison. Thirty-eight people boarded a bus at Memorial Union the day before the march, each paying $26.90 for a round-trip ticket, according to a report at the time in The Capital Times newspaper.The march was such big news that the 38 travelers were listed by name on the newspaper's front page. Two-thirds were white, the newspaper reported. The Rev. George W. Vann, pastor of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, led the delegation, which included members of First Baptist Church and the Madison branch of the NAACP.Other Madison residents arrived at the march by other means. George Allez was a 27-year-old Madison filmmaker working for the summer in D.C. for U.S. Rep. Robert Kastenmeier, a Wisconsin Democrat. Allez remembers the intense chatter about the event in the weeks preceding the march."There was a great deal of opinion being expressed around water coolers and in the press about what kind of event it would be -- would it be a success, would people show up, would there be violence?" said Allez, 77, of Middleton, who took time off from his job to join the protest.The pervasive fear that something bad could happen contrasted sharply with the march's peacefulness, he said."Because of all of the talk of the potential for violence, people were extraordinarily polite and deferential toward each other," said Allez, who is white. "That atmosphere pervaded the entire gathering."Jane Collins, 58, of Madison, a UW-Madison sociology professor, was 8 and living in suburban D.C. when her mom and some of her mom's friends, out of curiosity, loaded all of their children in a car and drove to the march to view it from their vehicle. Her mom made her promise she would not tell her father, now deceased, which she never did."The thought was that it maybe would turn into a race riot," said Collins, who is white. "When we got there, people were dressed like they were going to church. Children wore patent-leather shoes. I think in my own mind, I had thought it could be a little dangerous, so I remember thinking it just didn't compute."Forgotten historyThe intensity of the civil rights movement at the time was such that people迷你倉新蒲崗who were politically aware at all knew the importance of the march and how much was at stake, said David Newby, 71, of Madison, the retired president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, who attended the march as a 21-year-old Ohio college student."You really could feel the joy, hope and optimism and the sense that we were all in this together and that we were going to win," Newby said.The strong union presence was apparent and led to Newby's efforts throughout his life to put the labor movement at the center of the struggle for equal rights, he said."The demands of the march were, in part, for the full employment of blacks and whites. That's what made the march so powerful, this alliance between these two movements -- civil rights and economic justice," said Newby, who is white. "Since that time, everything else has been forgotten except King's speech, and that's tragic, because the importance of that march was broader and deeper than just one speech."The book by Jones seeks to restore that forgotten history."In the popular memory, the march was completely focused on racial integration and voting rights in the South, but that wasn't the initial thrust," Jones said. "It actually started out as a march on Washington for jobs, especially given the rising rates of unemployment among minorities and the racial discrimination they faced in employment."An estimated 10 percent to 20 percent of the crowd was white, many of them union members -- teachers, auto workers, garment workers -- from large cities in the Northeast, Jones said.The march would achieve many of its main goals, including passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, perhaps the march's greatest legacy, Jones said. The legislation outlawed major forms of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender or religious beliefs."The march was such an enormous statement of the direction the country needed to go -- that we had to stop discriminating due to race," said former Madison Mayor Sue Bauman, 68, who is white and attended the march before traveling to Madison to attend college.Dr. Gene Farley, 86, retired chairman of the department of family medicine at UW-Madison, still chokes up when recalling the sight of a young African-American boy running through the crowd at the end of the march, waving to people as they boarded buses and yelling, "Today we got our freedom!" Farley was a physician near Ithaca, N.Y., at the time and attended the march with his wife, Linda, now deceased."It had meaning all throughout our lives," said Farley, who is white and executive director of the Farley Center for Peace, Justice and Sustainability in Verona. "It was such a revolutionary day because it awakened so many people."Dr. King's speechKing was the last of 10 speakers that day. While his remarks weren't ignored by the press, he initially was not seen as the most prominent speaker, Jones said. Life magazine put labor leader A. Philip Randolph, considered the dean of black leadership at the time, on its post-march cover, with King getting a relatively small photo inside, Jones said."It doesn't become an iconic speech until after his assassination and into the mid-70s, when efforts to create a national King holiday took off," Jones said.Anana remembers being impressed with King's speech, "but I had no idea he was going to become a world hero," she said. "I don't think any of us did."The march lit a flame in Anana that has kept her fighting for social justice ever since, she said."It is an honor for me to have lived this long and to be physically able and mentally alert enough to return to the very spot that changed my life and the lives of so many others," she said.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.) Visit The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.) at .wisconsinstatejournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉出租

Source: Odessa American, TexasAug.文件倉 25--The grass has been mowed and manicured, pencils are sharpened, iPads are charged and everyone is awaiting the first day of the 2013-14 school year.Perhaps the grass portion is a stretch, but like it or not, school is back in session Monday morning for the 36-campus Ector County Independent School District.For all, it's a new school year full of opportunity just ahead -- a time to wipe the slate clean and buckle down and a moment, now, to wave good-bye to summer and smile (or force it if you have to) for the first day.Take in the changes at ECISD as well, from getting to know your child's new teacher, staff or the school's new principal and assistant principals. Consider volunteering at the school or joining the Parent Teacher Association to get more connected with the campus. Attend board of trustees meetings to stay plugged into the wide-reaching decisions and discussion had by the district's elected officials.A new superintendent is planned to be hired this school year, which will play out as an exciting opportunity for the community and the district. Welcome interim superintendent Thomas Crowe, 62, of Bandera who has 38 years experience from being a superintendent in McKinney to teaching and coaching around Texas. He will be in charge of ECISD until the new superintendent is chosen.And all of us, including those who may not have children in school or work at ECISD, should be certain to slow down when driving. Be hyper-aware around schools and where children are walking. Beyond chancing a ticket from police, it's unsafe to drive in those school zones texting or talking on your cell phone.Welcome back!MOM KNOWS BESTThe network of Parent Teacher Associations in Ector County is growing and the president of the council of PTAs is encouraging parents to participate. Right now, there are 19 active PTAs mostly at the elementary school level, President Malcolm Tyree said. Tyree is working with other parent leaders to grow that number. The school-level clubs represent 2,400 members and tens of thousands of dollars, Tyree said at the Aug. 22 board meeting, when the board approved to streamline paperwork for PTAs.Former interim superintendent H.T. Sanchez worked on increasing parent involvement, Tyree said, and he said the council is planning to provide more training and nail down the financial recording so it's clearer. Three schools are working to add PTAs to their campuses this year, he added.Tyree said that not everyone will have time to donate to their child's school activities or fundraisers, but if parents can partner financially, it's just another way to show support. The next goal is to get more junior high school plugged into PTAs, which typically have booster clubs, but a PTA can focus on the whole campus and all students."I strongly encourage every parent to be part of their local PTA and board members, too," Tyree said.In January, Tyree gave a presentation to the district's principals where PTA area president Keran Phipps attended and shared how she believed as a parent she could be influential in her child's education -- at the state level. She said that PTA meetings are where parents can get an education on what is affecting their school. Phipps encouraged parents to reach out to elected officials about issues affecting their child's school.More information: Contact your child's school to find out how to get involved.BEEP BEEP, BEEP BEEP YEAHWith 910 square miles to cover each morning and afternoon, the transportation department at ECISD is ready to put tires to the pavement with school back in session Monday -- even if they are down 30 drivers."We're pretty deep in the hole," Transportation Director David Morris said.This summer, the department lost 11 employees and hired 12 new drivers. The competition is high in the Permian Basin for those with commercial driver's licenses (CDL) and is pulling away drivers from ECISD. A full staff is closer to 150 drivers, Morris said. By the first day, office staff and mechanics will drive buses."It's the only way we can make it," Morris said.The buses -- that travel as far as Andrews to Crane, and Goldsmith to Gardendale -- are capped at carrying 72 children for the elementary level and about 55 students at the secondary level. Morris said his staffers are trained in defensive driving to traverse the mean streets of Odessa. He instructs them to learn from other people's mistakes and to always be aware of what's going on around them.The shop at the bus barn on West 10th Street is staffed to its capacity, which is a great sign Morris said, despite the same demand from the oil field. Employees are drawn to working in the ECISD transportation department for the ideal work hours."They're on the same schedule as their children. They get all the holidays and summer months off," Morris said, naming off nearly a dozen holidays. "It's a good job."In April, nearly 20 bus drivers stayed at an ECISD board meeting when the trustees approved 7-0 to increase the starting pay for new bus drivers from $12.09 an hour to $13.75 an hour, a $500 sign-on bonus that started immediately, and a $2,000 stipend for office and shop personnel who are driving buses each day. All but the sign-on bonus are effective May 1 at a cost of $34,500 to the district.More information: 432-456-9869FOOD FOR THOUGHTBreakfast is on ECISD, this week. In fact, a balanced breakfast is free to any student, in any school in ECISD, Katy Taylor said, the first-year food service director."It's good to remind people that breakfast is free regardless of eligibility status. It's served in the classroom so you don't have to go to the cafeteria," Taylor said. She previously was the district's dietician before longtime director Terry Gooch retired in the spring. Taylor grew up in the Midland/Odessa area and is returning to the Permian Basin after living and working in Lubbock.This school year, the basics of breakfast and lunch service will remain the same with ECISD still outpacing the federal standards. Every fryer in the kitchens was removed in 2005; they took out candy bars and fried potato chips and provide more fruit and vegetables than are required as well, Taylor said.Each day, employees will produce and serve 15,500 breakfasts, 16,000 lunches, several hundred extended-day snacks and thousands of a la carte meals at 36 campuses.Currently, the department is fully staffed (300 employees) and has a full substitute pool as well, but Taylor said the department is always hiring.Prices for meals are increasing, as appro存倉ed by the board in the spring, up 10 cents for students. Lunches at the elementary schools are now $2.10, up from $2 each; lunch at the secondary campus are $2.35 up from $2.25 and adult meals are $3.25, up from $3.20 each. That's based on reimbursements from the government; because it operates as a nonprofit, the department cannot turn a profit.A change to policy on paying for meals will be in place this school year: students can only charge for three meals until they're offered an alternate meal. This doesn't apply to students who are provided feel meals; rather, it's aimed at paying and reduced priced students. Taylor reminds parents that they can send a check or cash to the school or pay at the cashier at the school's front office.More information: 432-456-9869.IN HIRE STRAITSIt's been said in the Permian Basin that if you can't find a job, you're working hard not to. For a teacher, there's no shortage of opportunity at ECISD. The list of job openings remains long with as many as 35 certified teaching positions are on the school district's website. The list is every-changing because those jobs may be in various stages of the hiring process, according to the district.A starting teaching salary in ECISD is $45,000 annually with a $2,000 incentive if the teacher remains in the job through the school year. Retaining employees has been often discussed by staff and the school board, with the most recent major decision leading to a $3.25 million investment into a $27 million apartment building in downtown Odessa. ECISD anticipated reserving 75 apartments in the building that has a planned opening by 2015 to help in recruiting and retaining employees to the area."We always need more subs and more bus drivers," Director of Communications Mike Adkins said.The district passed a balanced $211 million budget on June 18 that added 28 new positions atop the nearly 4,000 within ECISD: 60 teachers, 14 administrators, four police officers, four support staff and six administrative professionals/special teaching staff.More information: .ector-county.k12.tx.us/Page/930.NEW FACESWith 11 principals making themselves comfortable at new schools this year, ECISD is full of fresh faces this school year. In a competitive run for the next leader of Permian High School, James Ramage previously of Bonham was awarded the position, though finalists Mauricio Marquez, Robin Fawcett and David Steele are all set to lead their own ECISD campuses. Bonham Junior High is welcoming Steele, who is the former principal at Dalhart High School, a town northwest of Amarillo.New Tech Odessa has a new dean in Betsabe Salcido after Adrian Vega left for Tucson, Ariz.; Marquez returns to Crockett and Fawcett to Nimitz.Here's the new line-ups for ECISD's schools. Get to know your child's principal and staff as they get to know your child. New administrators are listed in bold.ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS--Carver: Principal Sherry Palmer.--Lamar: Principal Martha Mitchell.--Austin Montessori: Principal Crystal Castillo (previously assistant principal at Travis); assistant principal Lauren Crane.--Blackshear: Principal Marcos Lopez; assistant principals Becky Phillips and Marilee Holmes.--Blanton: Principal Marlyn Young (previously assistant principal at Hood); assistant principal Erin Reddell.--Burleson: Principal Lisa Hernandez; assistant principal Susan Shelton.--Burnet: Principal Tristan Specter; assistant principal Holly Cannon.--Cameron: Principal Alicia Syverson; assistant principal David Bargas.>>Cavazos: Principal Maribel Aranda (previously assistant principal at Johnson); assistant principal Sandy Arneson.--Dowling: Principal Valeria Rivera; assistant principal Gisela Davila.--Murry/Fly: Principal Yolanda Hernandez; assistant principal Monica Sarabia.--Gale Pond/Alamo: Principal Regina Lee (previously assistant principal of Sam Houston); assistant principal Alisha Jutras.--Gonzales: Principal Alicia Press; assistant principal Linda Subia.--Goliad: Principal Annette Macias; assistant principal Martha Overby.--Hays: Principal Amy Anderson; assistant principal Dawndy Zinnert.--Ireland: Principal Pam Walker; assistant principal Staci Molyneaux.--Johnson: Principal Scott Houston (previously assistant principal at Alamo); assistant principal Alisha Holguin.--Jordan: Principal Linda Voss (previously principal at Blanton); assistant principal Jaime Miller and Sunny Rodriguez.--Milam: Principal Natalie Fitzgerald (previously assistant principal at Milam); assistant principal Kristen Roe.--Noel: Principal Tammie White; assistant principal Charles O'Connor.--Pease: Principal Stacy Johnson; assistant principal Benjamin Villareal.--Reagan: Principal Andrea Martin; assistant principal Tisa Hawkins.--Ross: Principal Lety Amalla; assistant principal Katherine Reddick.--Sam Houston: Principal Sandra Banda; assistant principal Carla Crissinger.--San Jacinto: Principal Lina Perez; assistant principal Marissa King.--Travis: Principal Tanya Galindo (previously assistant principal at Burnet); assistant principal Amanda Duncan.JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS--Bonham: Principal David Steele (previously principal of Dalhart High School); assistant principals Bobby Rush, Megan Chapman and Robert Whatley.--Bowie: Principal Sheila Stevenson; assistant principals Dora Martinez, Katie Nisbet and Neal Raphael.--Crockett: Principal Mauricio Marquez; assistant principals Vicki Beets, Oscar Guzman and Tonya Houston.--Ector: Principal Val Hernandez; assistant principals Rosalinda Acosta, Kelly Brinlee, Cody Griffin, Tabatha Young and Leon Gomez.--Hood: Principal Wayne Squires; assistant principals Kevin Adams and Eric Dobey.--Nimitz: Principal Robin Fawcett; assistant principals Rene Barrientes, Debra Byrd and Teresa Willison.HIGH SCHOOLS--New Tech Odessa: Principal Betsabe Salcido (previously NTO dean of students).--Permian: Principal Greg Nelson; assistant principals Ramon Berzoza, Kendra Herrera, Mark Crissinger, Daniel Fuller, Efrain Moreno and Christine Mullis.--Odessa: Principal James Ramage (previously principal at Bonham); assistant principals Ysmael Lujan, Vanessa Carr, Rachel Baxter, Mitch Gerig, Lisa Duncan and Richard Ontiveroz.--Alternative Center: Principal Charles Quintela; assistant principals Bivian Hermosillo and Lori Schulze.More information: 432-456-9019.--Contact Lindsay Weaver on twitter at @OAschools, on Facebook at OA Lindsay Weaver or call 432-333-7781.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Odessa American (Odessa, Texas) Visit the Odessa American (Odessa, Texas) at .oaoa.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉

曾蔭權「我搭私人遊艇就畀人質到暈，迷你倉沙田佢�免費去巴黎考察又得，其實我當日都係去澳門考察，考察一下香港特首同澳門特首�富商心目中�民望，睇�可唔可以尋求�第二度連任。」環保團體「我支持國泰請議員去巴黎觀光，不過就第三條跑道考察，係咪都要請我�出埠考察一下？事關佢��立法會內投票，我��立法會外抗議，都係有聲音參與啦。」黃錦星「嘩，好彩國泰無叫埋我去考察，你話我如果�飛機上面，有申報都一身蟻。我即刻要條第三條跑道畀自已，立即走佬。」盛品儒「話我同王征唔適合繼續管理亞視，要我離職，其實同你�特首管治香港差唔多�。天祐亞視，天祐香港。迷你倉價錢王維基「你唔使發新牌畀我，將亞視個免費牌畀我咪得，雖然話係執二攤，話晒我都係��一度出�，有份感情。」TVB 「亞視呢幾年�努力，節目質素有目共睹，王征�離開，我�好遺憾，佢係我�一個好對手，搞到我�可以繞埋對手，慳�好多力水。」特首「舉報張生同林生�人，應該要向佢兩人道歉，至於夢熊兄……查明清白�話，舉報佢�人都要道歉。」夢熊「歷史係由人寫成�，至於求情信，最好係由特首�寫啦。」志雲大師「高調舉報又唔得，廉署成日高調拉人、高調查人，都累死人啦。」英女王「廉記怕乜�政治化，佢�前身就係政治部，佢本質就好政治化啦。」策劃林超榮迷你倉

digitalpaper.stdaily.com/http_.kjrb.com/kjrb/html/2013-08/25/content_220606.htm?div=-1...科技日報訊 （記者王冠）上完廁所，迷你倉按下按鈕，人體排泄物被引排至化糞池，廢水經過處理產生出燃料電池所需的氫氣，來源於食鹽的氯...

英國調查機構OnePoll最近訪問二千名英國人，自存倉了解他們日常生活中最常見的五十件煩惱，其中包括「戶外太熱、室內太凍」、「袋中的耳筒纏在一起」、「錢太多，銀包合不上」等。相比於第三世界國家的人每天需面對生命威脅，這些生活於第一世界的發達國家民眾，可謂身在福中不知福。難怪調查機構發言人亦稱：「我們有時候忘記了自己擁有的東西有多好。當我們享受比世上其他地方更好的生活時，仍會不時花時間找些瑣事來無病呻吟。」有人為芝士太硬煩惱有關調查公布後，引起網民強烈反應。有網民感同身受，亦列舉出他們的煩惱，例如超市付款處有顧客找不到錢包，讓後面的人大排長龍。但不少人認為對那些瑣事感煩惱，不過是在庸人自擾。另外，有人揶揄：「芝士太硬？把它從雪櫃�拿出來。皮姆酒太暖？把它放進雪櫃吧。家務助理請假？那就安坐梳化上，享受一點皮姆酒及芝士吧。」但有網民表示，假如那些真是足以令人煩惱的事，那應該為�他們是生於這些富裕國家而感恩；亦有人同意，指這些人能花時間去煩惱一些瑣事，應明白這是多麼幸運的事。富國民眾的50種「煩惱」1.戶外太熱，而室內卻太凍2.私人教練放假一周，惟有一個人做運動3.因為錢太多，所以銀包合不上4.買了一個洗碗機，但拆包裝的時間比洗碗時間要長5.布利芝士太硬6.超市已沒有低脂牛奶賣，只餘全脂的7.袋中的耳筒纏在一起8.指甲油脫落9.皮姆酒唔夠凍10.家務助理請了一天假11.曬太陽時想辦法避免陽光直射電子產品12.在手上戴首迷你倉新蒲崗等，回家後發現皮膚被曬出一條印13.在街上發現跟別人撞衫14.穿新鞋時被鞋子刮傷腳15.弄壞名牌服裝16.泡茶時間過長或太短17.電視遙控器沒電18.空氣清新機性能差19.被風吹起裙子20.穿上襪後意外踩進一些濕濕的地方21.塗唇膏時一陣風將頭髮吹向唇膏上22.更新手機後發現失去所有人的電話23.意外坐在名牌太陽眼鏡上24.魚骨骾喉25.一個圓形碗不足以整齊放上兩個早餐穀物，再加奶後其中一個太腍，另一個太硬26.因為平板電腦沒電，要用螢幕較小的手機看電影27.想買多一輛車，但私人車道沒足夠空間28.想將手提電腦帶出室外，但電線不夠長29.客廳太小，放不下咖啡桌與梳化30.太陽油意外濺進眼睛31.爆谷卡在牙縫32.忘記帶手機充電器33.冬天期間汽車皮椅太冷34.汽車的音響裝置不支援MP3格式35.只能在個別電視台收看足球比賽36.平時光顧的髮型師轉了髮型屋37.要自行到郵局收取包裹38.包裹送抵家中時不在家39.超市職員讀取條碼的速度，比你將物品放進袋的速度快40.錄節目時失敗41.在晴朗的日子外出用餐時，獲安排坐於室內42.指甲油顏色與唇膏顏色相撞43.遙控器趕不及換電，要重新設定觀看紀錄44.提款機提供一張五十鎊大鈔45.商店沒有售賣寫有你的名字的汽水46.鞋�卡在船的甲板47.豪華住宅區有街頭小店48.趕�買最新型號iPhone49.被iPad等板腦反射的陽光刺眼50.發現跟鄰居用同一種牆紙本報綜合報道迷你倉出租

南國早報南寧訊 （記者王春楠）“白沙大道、星光大道一帶的住戶請注意，自存倉你們暫時不需要翻出家中瓶瓶罐罐囤水了。”8月24日下午，廣西綠城水務股份有限公司（以下簡稱綠城水務）緊急發佈公告，原定25日、26日白沙星光立交橋供水管道遷改施工停水因故取消，新的施工日期尚未確定。不少市民都有同樣的感覺：今年以來，停水次數明顯增加。有時已經通知停水，又因為種種原因更改計劃，難免讓人有些被動。對此，綠城水務中心調度室主任李萬琳解釋說，近年來，隨著南寧城建速度加快，水務公司因配合地鐵、人防工程迷你倉新蒲崗設進行供水管道遷移造成的停水現象也隨之增多，今年以來已有70多次計劃性停水。公司盡力將停水時間避開用水高峰期，並採取提前通知、停水期間不間斷送水等方式，將對用戶的影響降到最低。“有時，已經確定的停水計劃會再度改期。”李萬琳舉例說，不久前，颱風“尤特”曾一度“吹停”地鐵白蒼嶺站改管工程。此次暫時 叫停白沙星光立交橋供水管道遷改施工，也是因為受到一些外在因素影響。他提醒，近期南寧市因為各方面原因可能還會出現計劃性停水，希望市民及時關注公司網站及媒體發佈的停水信息，做好應急準備工作。迷你倉出租

Source: The Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionAug.迷你倉價錢 24--Amanda Kyle Williams put the North Georgia mountains in her rearview mirror and pointed her banged-up Dodge Neon toward the lights of Atlanta. It was Thanksgiving, 2004, and her heart was joyful from a sumptuous turkey dinner with older brother Scott and his family.As she chugged south on I-75, the tiny Neon's engine coughing like a lawnmower, she thought about her niece Anna, Scott's 4-year-old daughter, who'd been adopted from China. The girl looked Chinese but already drawled like Elly May Clampett of the "The Beverly Hillbillies."Appearances, the 47-year-old aspiring writer knew, were deceiving.Soon, the words started dancing around her head and, in a moment of unexplained clarity, crystallized into a sentence. She pulled off the highway and wrote it down: "I have the distinction of looking like what they still call a damn foreigner in most parts of Georgia and sounding like a hick everywhere else in the world."The words breathed life into a character that she knew she could write, a woman who physically clashed with her surroundings but thought, felt and acted Southern.She'd name her Keye Street, a ballsy private investigator from Atlanta. She'd make her a recovering alcoholic and former FBI profiler who hunted serial killers for a living and battled the demons of addiction and self-loathing to stay alive; a character who lived on the margins, "outside the circle," as she'd write.In short, a character not unlike herself.But there would be one big difference between Keye Street and the future author. Keye Street would be a voracious reader who discovered the world through books.Amanda Kyle Williams never learned to read as a child, or as a student, for that matter, dropping out of school in Gwinnett County at age 16. In her young mind, books were the enemy. Words, they were weapons of humiliation.2DisabilityAmanda Williams walked gingerly to the reference desk at the Gwinnett County Library. She was 23, a tall, slender woman with brown hair. Nervously, she asked the older woman behind the desk what she might recommend for someone who wasn't much of a reader.She was prepared for raised eyebrows, a question perhaps, but instead the librarian didn't hesitate: Jane Austen, "Pride and Prejudice."She found the thick, 19th century volume of social class and aristocratic love and looked for a quiet corner where she wouldn't be seen. She was used to hiding.In school, libraries knotted her stomach and filled her with dread. Reading and most aspects of learning were just war, there was no other way to describe it; and the battles started from the moment she entered kindergarten.She lived with her parents and older siblings on a ranch outside Denver, where her father, Fred, was a national sales executive for a Georgia carpet company. In kindergarten, she sensed something was wrong with her from the get go. She just didn't seem to pick up things the way other kids did, and she felt immediately out of place.That first year, her most vivid memory was busting out of the school building after her mother dropped her off and racing down the street after her, screaming at the top of her lungs. She can still remember the taillights of the car pulling away, leaving her there, crying and alone.When she moved to a 160-acre farm outside Snellville with her family at the age of 7 and enrolled in elementary school there in the mid-1960s, her struggles only got worse.She couldn't complete assignments or follow written instructions. Haltingly, she learned to recognize individual words and could even make sense of them in a short sentence. But put those sentences into paragraphs and she was lost. The words and their meaning just seemed to bounce off her brain.In middle school, she played the guitar, sang Melanie songs and scribbled song lyrics in notebooks. But her handwriting was inscrutable and writing music was impossible.Her mother, a beauty who grew up poor in rural Virginia, tried helping her daughter decipher assignments at home. Her sister, Ginger, stayed up late helping her memorize passages that she could deliver rote in class.Her brother Scott just thought she was dumb. And her father was largely ignorant of his daughter's travails, having separated from her mother when Amanda was 11.Teachers told her mother she seemed smart, but just didn't want to learn. A long line of counselors concluded Amanda was an anxious child and prescribed anti-anxiety drugs. They didn't help her read.She didn't win many allies with her attitude, either. She acted out in class, talked back to teachers and drew blood with a biting tongue and sassy demeanor.The last psychologist she saw in middle school examined her record and diagnosed her with "school phobia." He got that right. Amanda dropped out after ninth grade at South Gwinnett High.Seven years later, she opened "Pride and Prejudice." She held the book in her hands, felt the weight of it.The year before she'd concluded that she couldn't run from her disability any longer. One job after another ended when she faced tasks that demanded reading or record keeping.Desperate, she called a psychologist she knew. Amanda had always treated the shrinks and counselors who came into her life as enemies to be parried. This time was different.She told the psychologist about her life-long battle with learning, the humiliation she'd felt most of her life, how stupid she felt compared to peers and siblings.Help me, she said.On her next visit, the psychologist asked her to read something. Then she had her look at a board with round and square holes and asked her to find the shapes that matched.After she was finished, the psychologist looked at Amanda and uttered a word she'd never heard before: dyslexia.You can learn to read, she told her. It may take you longer, but dyslexics can learn to read.Amanda called her mother and father the same day. Dad, I'm not stupid! she practically shouted. There's a reason why I couldn't learn! There's a reason I was such a screw up in school!Over the next six months, the psychologist played word games with Amanda and showed her how to sound words out. Reading comprehension had always been a giant jigsaw puzzle. The psychologist helped her learn how to put the puzzle pieces together.She began reading "Pride and Prejudice," using the technique she'd practiced. She put a finger on each word, pausing long enough to sound each one out before moving on to the next. Line after line after line.In an hour, she'd read two, maybe three pages. She began thinking that the reference librarian was playing a cruel joke. The book and its contents seemed impenetrable.But Amanda returned to the library each afternoon, when she was supposed to be on calls with a sales job. Soon, she was transported to a world of English manors and horse-drawn carriages. She felt the longing of young Elizabeth Bennett and the tension of class in British society.It was exhilarating. Previously, she'd found escape in television, watching old movies and courtroom dramas like "Perry Mason," a favorite. Now, she saw the worlds that could open to her in novels and stories. She might not have considered that she could one day write a book, but she knew going forward that books and stories and narrative and characters were going to be a part of her life.Dyslexia: It was the most beautiful word she'd ever heard.3AddictionAmanda wandered around the parking lot in Atlanta, stoned. She was 12 or 13 and she'd just smoked pot for the first time at a Melanie concert with some older teens.On the ride home, the older kids told her how to act in front of her parents. Be cool. Just be cool.It wasn't her first deception. After a half dozen years bluffing her way through school, she'd learned how to keep secrets. Not even her friends knew she couldn't read.Drugs were both a way out and a way in. She wanted to be accepted, to be liked. So she hung with the cool kids who did drugs and inhaled the exhaust of the hippie culture that was sweeping the country in the early 1970s.By 14, she'd already experimented with LSD. Drugs more or less became the center of her life after she quit school and returned to Colorado with her mother and sister. To brother Scott, she seemed stoned just about all the time.By 18, she'd snorted her first cocaine. It was love at first sight. Soon, she learned she could support the expense of drugs if she also sold some on the side. She became her own best customer.One night, she met a guy in a suburban Denver park who wanted a pound of pot. She got in his car and went somewhere to do the deal. Suddenly, they were surrounded: flashing lights, bullhorns, cops everywhere.Her buyer was an undercover narcotics agent. She was arrested, fingerprinted and thrown in the local jail.Fred Williams, Amanda's father, was back in Atlanta working for the carpet company when he got the call his daughter was in trouble. He dropped his work and boarded a plane for Denver.Fred Williams always had a soft spot for his youngest child. As a little girl at the ranch she made him laugh when she pulled on his cowboy hat, the wide brim covering her eyes so she'd have to cock her head back to see.He bought her a pony and held her while she rode. She was Daddy's little girl. The only problem was daddy wasn't around that much. At one time, his job required traveling the entire Rocky Mountain territory from Canada to New Mexico. Amanda hardly saw him.Privately, he felt guiltiest about Amanda when he divorced her mother. Even though the separation was amicable, she seemed the most vulnerable.I want my Daddy! That's all I've ever wanted! Amanda once blurted out when she was having so many problems in school. It cut him to the quick.Dressed in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffed to other inmates, Amanda was led into the courtroom for her bond hearing.Fred Williams looked at his daughter, cuffed like a common criminal. Somehow, all he could think about was that little girl peering out from underneath his cowboy hat. Where did she go? He put his head in his hands and cried.Amanda read the disappointment in his face, saw it in his blue eyes. She'd never felt so worthless in all her life.Williams bailed his daughter out of jail and the lawyer he hired got her a probated sentence that required her to leave Colorado and return to Georgia.It wasn't the last time he bailed her out of personal problems. He used his connections in the carpet industry to land her jobs. When he went into business for himself in 1980, opening a carpet distribution business in Norcross, he hired her to run the store. Then he put her to work at a mill he owned in Resaca, near Dalton.But Williams knew there was something terribly wrong with his daughter when he took a call from a man at the carpet store in Norcross. In a menacing voice, the caller said Amanda owed him money. It was a warning sign. But Amanda was a sweet talker and she could convince her father of anything.Especially when she needed money. She always had a reason why she needed some: car trouble, repairs, a new business venture. But Williams drew the line when he found out Amanda took a payroll check for the Resaca carpet mill and cashed it.No more, he told her. You can go to jail. You can go to prison. You'll get nothing more from me. He hoped it would lead her to come clean, remove the crutch that would force her to face her addiction.It didn't. In truth, no one in her family knew the extent of the double life she was leading. Her addiction ebbed and flowed, and there were years when she was mostly clean. But cocaine had a hold on her life and she always came back to it.Williams' tough talk did have one consequence. Cut off from her father's aid, the 28-year-old announced to her family a new career for herself. She planned to pen a spy novel and become a writer.To her brother Scott, Amanda the writer was as likely as Amanda the songwriter, or Amanda the photographer, two other career paths she'd enthusiastically announced only to abandon later.The novel grew out of her infatuation with spy fiction -- John Le Carre was a favorite author -- and satisfied the creative itch she'd first felt as a teenager trying to scratch out song lyrics.She wrote the slender novel on a manual typewriter and mailed it to every publisher she could find. The rejection letters piled up. But then a small feminist press told her they'd publish the book if she made the lead character a lesbian.So she did and wrote three more books with the same character for the same publisher.The writing was shallow and not very good. It didn't pay her bills, and it didn't lead to an offer to write anymore. So, like so many other things she tried, writing, too, went by the wayside.The emptiness she felt after the effort sent her back to the only constant in her life: cocaine.Her dealer had a wife and kids and lived in a large house in metro Atlanta. She visited him regularly. By her late 30s, she was putting three and a half grams a day up her nose and was selling small quantities to friends to support her $250 a day habit.The end came over a weekend in 1995. She was living in Decatur in a small duplex. She and three friends binged for 48 hours straight. They snorted to get high, and then drank to come down, with heavy doses of Xanax in between. Up and down. Up and down.Down.By Sunday morning, she lay in bed empty and alone. I'm going to die, she thought to herself. If I keep going like this, I'm going to die.Then another thought came into her head more strongly than the first: I don't want to die. I want to live.4ReckoningThat afternoon, Amanda rode an elevator to the sixth floor of a medical office tower in Decatur and presented herself to the intake desk. I'm an addict, she said, and if I don't get help I'm going to kill myself.She wen迷你倉 downstairs with the orderly for one last cigarette before starting the painful process of detox. They gave her drugs to ease her cravings. She felt like a caged animal.She skipped out twice, but came back. A nurse rode with her in the elevator after her second escape. Well, if ain't Steve McQueen, she said, smiling.The first weeks were the hardest. A friend had given her a silver and turquoise cross before she went in. Amanda wasn't religious. But she kept the talisman close to her, rubbing it in her hands when she felt weak.After four weeks, the hospital sent her home. She was clean, but anxious. She'd never really faced life without drugs or mood stabilizers or anti-anxiety pills. She'd even given up cigarettes. She was terrified.Slowly, she noticed changes. She had more energy. She woke up in the morning with a clear head. She took joy in simple pleasures, like the morning breeze on her skin. For the first time, perhaps, she began to feel things.But she also faced some harsh realities. She was thousands of dollars in debt and her credit was in tatters. She'd sold everything she owned to support her drug habit, her cameras and photography equipment, guitars and jewelry. She didn't have enough money to eat.Some accountant friends helped her establish payment plans for her debts and gave her food. Another friend put her to work in her small embroidery business. Her confidence grew.She began thinking about running her own dog walking and pet sitting business. She'd grown up with horses, dogs and cats on her father's ranch in Colorado and had always connected with animals in a way that sometimes eluded her with people.She asked her father for $10,000 to start a dog-walking business in Decatur, where intown bungalows were suddenly filled with young singles and working couples with dogs at home. He gave her $3,000. She put fliers up in her neighborhood and handed out business cards to strangers.Hi, I'm Amanda. I'm great with animals. I'm someone you can trust in your home.Her business expanded to over 100 clients and she was walking 15 miles a day on her routes.To supplement her income, she managed the apartment complex where she lived. The owner allowed her to feed and water more than 60 feral cats that lived in the woods behind the units, provided Amanda arranged for them to be sterilized.In 2002, she helped found LifeLine Animal Project and ran its feral cat program, spaying and neutering stray cats.The animals gave her something to care for and became an important part of her recovery. She felt joyful with the animals, an emotion she realized she had rarely experienced when she was numb on cocaine.Slowly, she climbed out from her hole. Still, some days she felt she was chipping away at a plaster wall with a tooth pick.She took a job as a courier for a private investigator and learned how to serve subpoenas and lawsuits. Process serving came naturally; she understood people who hid -- and knew where to find them.She snared subpoena dodgers by planting the documents in pizza boxes, flower arrangements -- even sweepstakes prize packages.But process serving wore her down. The people she served were targets, not human, and she didn't like how that felt.Yet almost without realizing it, her work was providing inspiration for crime fiction. She learned about people who ran from the law. She traveled Atlanta's worst neighborhoods and saw quirky places that could become backdrops for her characters. And dog walking gave her plenty of time to think.She started writing her first crime novel, literally, in her head, as she walked Decatur neighborhoods with her pets, turning over the plot, characters and action in her mind. She took a course in criminology to supplement her knowledge of crime scenes and forensic evidence.The turning point came that Thanksgiving Day in 2004 when she could suddenly see, hear and feel Keye Street, her central character. She wrote the novel a scene at a time.When she was done, she researched literary agents who'd had success with crime writers and found Victoria Sanders in New York, who represented Karin Slaughter, another Atlanta crime writer.Sanders liked the book and told Amanda she thought it would sell. But did she want to write just one book, or did she want to make a living at it? With a little more work, Sanders said, she could help Amanda turn the book into a work that might fetch a six-figure contract.The proposition was a no-brainer. She already had six years in the book. What was a few more?In fall 2009, her agent sent the finished manuscript to a half a dozen publishers in New York City.Back in Decatur one afternoon in November, Amanda was just outside her house, preparing to walk her own dogs, when her agent called. Kate Miciak, the doyenne of crime fiction at Random House, loved the book and wanted to know: Would Amanda give up her dog-walking business and develop Keye Street into three books of crime fiction? The contract promised more than $1 million if she hit sales targets.Amanda hung up the phone and crumpled onto her front porch, sobbing. A neighbor saw her and called out, Are you all right?She looked up, the tears washing down her face. Yes, she said, yes, I'm fine.5HomeAmanda opens the door to her home in Decatur amid a cacophony of barking dogs. She has an open face and warm eyes. The long brown hair of her youth has been replaced by salt and pepper gray.There is a weathered quality to her bronze skin that suggests a woman who'd be at home on a ranch surrounded by cattle and horses.The brown dog barking at her feet was a puppy chained to a stake in a muddy backyard when she spotted him on one of her dog-walking routes five years ago."The next thing I knew I was at the hardware store buying bolt cutters," she says, smiling. She named him Brando for his big brown Marlon Brando eyes.Amanda lives alone in a rented two-bedroom, one-bathroom home on a quiet street. At one end of the street are two little libraries she erected for the neighborhood and filled with books free for the taking; at the other is the low-slung apartment complex where she once lived and where she now tends to a stable population of feral cats.Amanda doesn't like clutter and her living room is sparse. Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway peer into the room from an old "Chinatown" poster.There is a leather sofa and an armchair, the latter given to her by a friend who insisted she simply had to have another piece of furniture to fill the room.Bookshelves take up one corner and include hardcovers of some of her favorite authors: John Le Carre, Pat Conroy, Flannery O'Conner and Pat Cornwell.In the dining room, the manuscript for her third Keye Street novel, "Don't Talk to Strangers," due out in February, lies neatly on the dining room table. Amanda's first novel, "The Stranger You Seek," was published in 2011 and received critical acclaim, with subsequent translations in seven languages. "Stranger in the Room" followed in 2012 and solidified Amanda's stature as bona fide crime fiction writer.A tiny kitchen opens off the dining room, made tighter by the washer and dryer in the corner. There is a calendar of daily affirmations above the sink. "When you lose yourself in negative thoughts, you begin to identify with them," reads the day's maxim.Amanda writes in a converted sunroom in the back of her house, with a view of the garden and woods behind. Spartan like everything else, there's a tall filing cabinet, a simple desk and beds for her three dogs. Five cats join the pack, and come and go through the pet gate in the door leading to the back yard.A bulletin board holds several crime stories torn from the newspaper, and a copy of "Medicolegal Death Investigator Training Manual" sits on the desk. A large target silhouette hangs on the wall -- a keepsake from her 55th birthday party at a shooting range where she unloaded a 10 mm Glock (Keye Street's weapon of choice)."Most awesome birthday ever!" gushes Amanda, now 56.Amanda writes in the mornings after her second or third cup of French roast and has learned to be disciplined about her craft. After her first book came out to glowing reviews, she spent six months doing everything but writing. She cleaned her house, washed the windows, worked in the yard. Her home was spotless, but she'd barely written a word.She learned that she had to force herself to sit down at the keyboard, that she couldn't wait for inspiration. She'd have to dig to find it.She regularly joins metro Atlanta book clubs reading her novels to talk about her work, and she tests Keye Street's tart dialogue on Twitter.Speaking openly and honestly about the trials of her life was part of the bargain she made with herself when she went into drug rehabilitation. If the powers of the universe helped her get through it, she vowed to lead her life differently.No more lies. No more bluffing. No more deception. She promised that the words that came out of her mouth would match what she felt in her heart.In the last year or two, she has also been speaking more publicly about her battles with dyslexia and the havoc it wrecked on her life. Still, she carries the burden of shame, and she peers into the dark corners of her life reluctantly."Addicts like being in pain. That's all you talk about. You are naturally self absorbed," she says. "Drugs were a bad thing for me. I just went more inside me."Her life changed utterly when she became clean 18 years ago."Rehabilitation was kind of a spiritual awakening," she says. "It was the first time I felt I needed to answer for some things I'd done, that I needed to be a part of a larger plan, that my life wasn't just about waking up and getting through the day."In a surprising way, getting clean also made her a better writer. A muscular, evocative voice replaced the shallow one that made her spy fiction feel inauthentic."I was able to dig down a little bit -- there was something to dig down to and feel," she says.So, too, did her experience as a dyslexic help her writing."I came to reading as a study, not a pleasure," she says. "I learned to write from reading and studying other writers."She pulls a dog-eared copy of Pat Conroy's "Prince of Tides" from the bookshelf. "I can open that book to any page and find something beautiful, and it reminds me why I like to write," she says.Amanda's novels are also characterized by strong and frequent use of dialogue. This, too, she credits to her disability. Because she couldn't read, she listened closely to what people said, and learned to copy speech patterns."I hear the tone and rhythm of language," she says. "It's a kind of music. That's a direct result of the way I grew up."Still, the disability hovers in the background. A skilled cook, Amanda cannot read cookbook instructions if she is tired or stressed.She always reads from lecterns when she speaks in public so that listeners won't notice that she uses her finger to follow the words. If she's anxious or upset, the words "literally start jumping off the page."I absolutely go back to that terrified kid in school," she says.There was a time when that terror would send Amanda into the arms of her dealer and down the hole of her addiction.She smiles. "I get out all my evil thoughts writing crime fiction."------HOW WE GOT THE STORYI met Amanda Kyle Williams last year at a warm-up event for the AJC Decatur Book Festival. She was sweating a Random House deadline on her third "Stranger" novel and looked utterly panicked. I'd seen that look before and knew how she felt. She spoke to the crowd of authors about what the book festival had done for her career, then gathered herself to make a startling revelation: Because of a learning disability she had not read her first book until age 23. She agreed to tell her story after she'd finished writing "Don't Talk to Strangers," due out in February. I spent about six hours with her, in and around Decatur and in her home. I interviewed her father and stepmother in North Carolina, and her brother and family in Dalton. She also put me in touch with classmates from South Gwinnett High. I like stories about people who write their own ending or, like Amanda, write themselves a new beginning. Enjoy this one.Ken FoskettAssistant Managing Editorpersonaljourneys@ajc.com------About the reporterKen Foskett is an assistant managing editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the author of "Judging Thomas: The Life and Times of Clarence Thomas" (William Morrow, 2004). He joined the AJC in 1989 as a reporter in Gwinnett County and served as the newspaper's Washington correspondent from 1996 to 2001. He was named Cox Writer of the Year in 2002 for his profile of Justice Thomas, which became the basis for his full-length biography. In his current role, he supervises the newspaper's business and features coverage, including Personal Journeys.About the photographerHyosub Shin was born and raised in Korea. Inspired by the work of National Geographic photographers, he came to the United States about 10 years ago to study photography. Past assignments include the Georgia Legislative session, Atlanta Dream's Eastern Conference title game, the Atlanta Air Show and the Atlanta Braves' National League Division Series.Next week: Becky Dowling devotes herself to enriching the lives of disabled adults.------EVENT PREVIEWAmanda Kyle Williams at the AJC Decatur Book FestivalWriters Conference, 4 p.m. Aug. 30 at Agnes Scott College. Book signing 3 p.m. Aug. 31 at AJC Tent. "Crime After Crime" panel with with Philip DePoy and Peter Farris, 1:15 p.m. Sept. 1 at Old Courthouse Stage. All events free. .decaturbookfestival.com.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.) Visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.) at .ajc.com Distributed by MCT Information Services新蒲崗迷你倉

楚天都市報訊 圖為：憑複印件就行，迷你倉還可當天開通。此為記者昨日向廣東某代理商申辦400電話的部分聊天記錄截屏。本報記者胡勇謀 實習生張伊妮家中的空調壞了，上網求助售後，撥打看似正規的“400”電話，沒想到遭遇山寨維修。結果不僅電器故障沒有修好，反倒還被騙走500元。昨日，記者調查發現，類似的山寨家電維修網點，頻頻在網上坑人，我省工商等部門已接到相關投訴數十起。維修空調索高價7月底，家住漢口的楊女士家中空調不製冷，於是，她在網上搜索售後維修電話。當她看到一條自家品牌空調的維修商信息時，直接撥通了頁面上顯示的“400”開頭客服熱線，與對方約好上門維修服務。維修人員上門後，檢查了空調，稱楊女士家的空調需要加氟，還有交換器和電容壞了，需要更換，一共要500元。維修完後，楊女士調試了空調，要求對方開了維修單，並支付了500元。可是，空調經過幾天的製冷後，又不工作了。楊女士找出維修單，按照維修單上留下的手機號碼打過去，對方卻矢口否認，稱沒有去過楊女士家修空調。楊女士再次聯繫“400”開頭的客服熱線，客服人員也否認去楊女士家中修過空調。楊女士問他們公司的地址，居然被拒絕告知，楊女士一氣之下說：“你們就是騙子公司”，哪知對方態度非常惡劣地稱“我們就是騙子”。網上維修“李鬼”多隨後，楊女士找了一家實體維修點，對空調進行維修。維修師傅告訴她，空調只是電容壞了，而上次更換的電容是2006年的，顯然是個二手貨。花費60元再次更換配件後，空調又能正常製冷了。記者發現，楊女士第一次維修時對方提供的收據上，根本沒有印公司名稱。記者按照收據上所蓋的公司章名稱，查詢了企業工商註冊信息後發現，該公司未有任何工商註冊記錄。記者嘗試在網上搜索“空調維修”、“家電維修”等字樣，發現這些公司使用的多是400開頭的電話，但是一些網站製作得非常粗糙，以克隆品牌電器售後網頁為主，真偽難辨。有業內人士介紹，開通一部以“400”開頭文件倉電話，其年費最低僅需要數百元，門檻其實並不高。省工商相關人士稱，由於廠家指定服務商數量較少，充斥大街小巷的很多是無資質企業。大量的“李鬼”服務企業，冒用特約維修的名義坑害消費者，消費者應認真識別，避免上當。售後最好找原廠我省2012年消費維權藍皮書統計顯示，家用電子電器修理的投訴量，高居服務類第四位。統計稱，一些無良維修人員，為追求維修利潤增長點，對一些家電的小毛病，都是不進行維修，而是直接採取更換配件來“宰人”，更有甚者，為貪圖利益，故意誇大問題來蒙騙。這些“騙子”維修點，很多都竄到了網上，披著400或品牌產品克隆網頁的面具騙人。我省消委維權律師稱，消費者易因為輕信搜索結果而被騙，冒牌的電器維修企業固然可惡，但搜索引擎也應當承擔一定責任。在出現欺詐糾紛等情況時，消費者在區分具體情形後，可以與搜索引擎企業、商家協商解決，也可以向工商及消協、武漢市家電維修辦投訴。鏈接網搜維修網點九成授權為假中國家用電器服務維修協會對搜索引擎中的“李鬼”維修點數量進行了調查，僅檢索海爾空調、格力空調、三星冰箱、LG冰箱、西門子洗衣機和創維電視的服務電話，就得到超過900萬個“400”開頭的聯繫方式。但與企業提供的授權信息比對後，發現其中90%所謂的“特約授權”、“指定維修”網點是假冒的。查看售後手冊登錄企業官網不要輕易相信網絡上的家電維修信息，維修家電首選品牌售後服務部門，這些家電維修網點可以通過家電的售後維修手冊查詢到，或登錄該品牌家電企業官方網站查詢。然後撥打該家電企業官方網站上公告的“400”或“800”電話，也可登錄中國家用電器服務維修協會網站.cheasa.org或致電010-66019741咨詢。此外，如果需要通過互聯網查找維修企業，應提前核實企業名稱並詢問收費標準。當維修人員上門時，消費者可要求查看維修人員胸卡等證件，從明碼標價、統一著裝、實行“三包”等方面對維修公司的服務進行比較鑑別。存倉

To make commuting convenient and comfortable for people in cities, authorities have to develop an intelligent transport system The average time people in Beijing take to commute to work is 52 minutes.迷你倉庫 In Guangzhou, they take 48 minutes and in Shanghai, 47 minutes. These are the findings of a recent Chinese Academy of Sciences survey. However, there are people who spend more than an hour to get to work. For example, Zhang Gong, who works for a commercial bank in Beijing, spends three hours a day to commute to and from work. Little wonder, he dreams of a public transport system that would shorten his commute time. Commuters like Zhang may have some relief, because Beijing is set to get a customized shuttle service from September for which people can make reservations and pay online. The service is aimed at promoting the use of public transport and reducing the number of private cars on Beijing’s roads. Commuters can now log on to .bjbus.com, the service operators’ website, to fill out a survey questionnaire about their travel needs, including their home and office addresses and the time of their commute. More than 14,400 residents have taken part in the survey since July 14, and the operators have set up a fare chart based on the response to the survey, with the cost of using the shuttle bus being no more than 30 percent of the cost of driving a car and about 15 percent of taxi fare. If the service proves successful, it could set an example for other Chinese metropolises to follow for the efficient use of public transport, instead of continuing to build and modernize infrastructure. There are, however, fears among potential shuttle service users because a similar idea failed to take off earlier. Potential service users, according to a recent survey covering more than 100 communities, are also worried whether they would be able to reach their destinations in time, although the operators have promised to draw up the best possible timetable and said the buses would be air conditioned and have WiFi facilities and a guaranteed seat for every passenger. China’s large cities face a daunting challenge in terms of public transport because of their large populations. And only an intelligent use of the public transport system can help them meet this challenge. An intelligent transport system (ITS) would make commuting easier and more convenient for people. The intelligent use of the transport system would make it more efficient and optimize traffic flows by using electronic systems to monitor citywide traffic and provide real-time commuter information. More importantly, it would reduce pollution that plagues so many cities and help build green cities the government is striving for. But 儲存marter planning will be needed to make it work, because building more subways and introducing more buses and taxis will not necessarily improve the situation, especially in large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Smarter planning means developing a smart public transportation system that would not only take commuters and goods to their destinations in time, but also ease congestion and reduce air and noise pollution. Many industrialized countries have developed large-scale ITS. In the United Kingdom, for example, drivers get incentives for driving in the city center during the day and displays at bus stops tell commuters how long they would have to wait for the next bus on a particular route. Chinese cities are learning from such successful experiments. Beijing’s buses are likely to be equipped with GPS this year and commuters would be able to know when to expect the next bus on a route just by scanning the code at a bus stop with their smartphones. Moreover, “flux guides” will be put up at some subway stations to inform commuters how crowded trains are, because the average passenger count in a subway train is 1,400 people and could increase to almost 2,000 during peak time. Surveys show that people feel suffocated when the commuter count in a train goes up to 1,680. Human-oriented design should help shape an ITS. The expectations of commuters using public transport are increasing, so authorities have to develop an ITS to achieve enhanced mobility and improve services. But transport officials have to interact closely with commuters to better understand and meet their needs. Many commuters have ingrained behavior patterns based on their perceptions of convenience, reliability and cost of transport. To optimize the use of the public transport system and encourage people to shift away from private vehicles, cities need to change commuters’ perceptions of the cost, value and use of various modes of public transport. There is no alternative to an ITS for a modern city. Local governments need to devise passenger-oriented transport strategies that improve the commuting experience of people and influence their behavior patterns in a more environmentally and socially friendly way. Smart planning should be based on data analyses, because cities already have a multitude of vehicles that are not being efficiently used. It is impossible for commuters in most cities to find a mode of public transport that is comfortable, convenient and affordable during rush hours. That is why Beijing Public Transport Holdings is cooperating with several large communities in the city to provide customized shuttle bus services. The author is a writer with China Daily. zhujin@chinadaily.com.cn 新蒲崗迷你倉

　　再過幾天，儲存倉2000年出生的孩子就將進入中學，開始全新的初中生活。1995年出生的孩子將踏進夢想中的大學，體驗與之前12年完全不同的學習生活方式。90後、00後開始有消費能力，開始發出自己的聲音。對他們的瞭解，事關對今後三十年社會走向的預判。　　讓我們從瞭解孩子們的偶像開始做起。　　這一次調查，我們選取了三個地點：西湖邊的少年宮、萬象城邊的市民中心以及小吃遍佈的湖濱銀泰。包括學軍小學、采荷二小、長青小學、杭州二中、浙大附中、杭州九中、西湖高級中學等學校的50位學生，都參與了本次調查。相比于80後在十多歲時的內斂，90後和00後們顯然更願意直接說出自己的想法。　　九成學生哈韓　　EXO、EXO，還是EXO　　雖然在調查前，80後的記者已經通過度娘、貼吧、微博做了一些功課，然而在面對面採訪這些學生時，依然發現自己進去的是一個完全不了解的偶像世界。　　11歲的張晨怡是南肖埠小學六年級的學生，“大家都喜歡一起聊EXO，尤其是女同學，比誰最帥，誰的歌最好聽，誰的舞跳得最好。不過，我最喜歡的是TIMEZ，因為唱歌好聽。”　　“名字怎麼寫？”記者有些茫然。　　小姑娘很利落地寫上“TIMEZ”。這是一個由4名中國成員和2名韓國成員組成的韓國團體，推出了一張專輯《偶像萬萬歲》。　　16歲的楊曉悅讀高一，她說班里同學中談的最多就是EXO。她最喜歡的是鹿�，“他個性堅強，我很佩服他獨立自主的國外生活能力”。鹿�就是EXO的成員之一。這位1990年出生的中國男孩目前在韓國發展。前段時間有一個關於他的傳奇：他的微博賬號“M鹿M”，僅僅發了五條微博，就收穫了將近十萬個贊，其中一條沒有實質內容的微博，創下了單條被評論125萬的紀錄。　　50位受訪學生中，有45位告訴記者，同學們課餘時間都會討論韓國明星，都會唱幾首偶像的歌，雖然壓根不會韓文，不過並不影響“鸚鵡學舌”。其中被提及頻率最高的就是EXO，吸引學生們的原因大多集中在“視覺”上：帥酷有型；跳得好。　　其餘5位同學，讀小學三年級的張喧小朋友還沉浸在動漫世界里，最愛的是《巴拉拉小魔仙》裡面的女王，還有四位同學喜歡的是歐美和日本明星，比如賈斯汀·比伯和井上真央。最特別的是在浙大附中讀書的樓宇航，“這些明星都太幼稚了，我喜歡綠灣隊Brett Faver(美式橄欖球大聯盟的參賽隊伍之一，Brett Faver是其中的隊員)，拿過各種MVP，才是英雄。”　　趙麗穎風頭很勁　　同迷你倉沙田們聊什麼很重要　　在熱情洋溢、滔滔不絕聊完喜歡的韓國明星後，有41位學生還提及了本土偶像。這不得不歸功于湖南衛視，《快樂大本營》和以播出雷劇聞名的獨播劇場，貢獻了不少新偶像。　　芒果台把那些本土偶像打造得很有韓國範兒，但同時又有本土味，比如，男偶像沒有滿頭黃發、眼線濃厚，女明星沒有變成假娃娃、嗲聲嗲氣。他們唱著中文歌，演著偶像劇，詮釋當下青少年最感興趣的話題：小情小愛、宮鬥穿越。　　受訪的20位高中生中有7位提到了楊冪；在30位小學生和初中生看來，趙麗穎更符合他們的偶像標準：漂亮、可愛、年輕。　　有一點無論年紀大小都是共通的，每個人都希望可以參與焦點話題討論，所以身邊同學大多喜歡什麼明星，往往自己也會跟風選擇。11歲的張米是采荷二小三年級的學生，同學中討論最多的是趙麗穎，所以她也會去看《陸貞傳奇》。　　不過學生們都不太和父母們談論自己的偶像，因為覺得沒啥好說的。杭州九中的翁雨逍告訴記者，老媽是幼兒園老師，最喜歡唱鄧麗君和孫燕姿的歌。上周末，母子兩人去K歌，他點了EXO、Bigbang和2PM的歌，結果“她根本沒聽過這些人，又聽不懂，而且也不喜歡這些歌，所以我們各唱各的，很早就回家了，還是和同學們一起唱歌，最開心。”　　編者按：昨天，電影《小時代2》已經在杭城很多影院陸續下片，全國累計票房突破2.87億元。這部在微博上掀起罵戰，引發種種爭議的電影，幾乎成了這個暑假最大的娛樂話題，更進而引起了人們思想上的振蕩和交鋒。《人民日報》、《大西洋》月刊這兩家中美兩國影響力巨大和深遠的報刊，都不約而同地對《小時代》表達了深切的關注，並進行了深度評論。《人民日報》連發三篇立場不同的文章，對“小時代”現象進行辨析；《大西洋》月刊則嘲諷《小時代》具有自戀、低俗和偏見三宗罪。　　對此，導演郭敬明說，這是一部拍給90後看的電影。從本質上說，《小時代》是一部90後的偶像電影。　　喜歡張國榮、鄧麗君或者那英這類明星的人，組成了這個社會的主流人群，但暗地里，另一個時代——屬於他們的00後、90後孩子的時代——正在生成。孩子們到底喜歡什麼？偶像是誰？所以，我們採訪了50位00後、90學生，做了這樣一份調查。結果，可能很出你意料。　　這組調查報道的本質，不是讓你瞭解《小時代》，而是讓你瞭解喜愛《小時代》的人，他們，是我們的孩子。-本報記者 姜贇 通訊員 焦子宇 付玉婷 實習生 王金丹 孟悅標簽：EXO 長青小學 楊冪 孩子 小時代迷你倉價錢