Embodiments of the present invention are directed to interactively displaying account activity. An analysis of financial transactions associated with a financial unit can be performed by a spending analysis tool, which can display the analysis via a website. The analysis can include, for example, a spending analysis and a budget analysis. The financial transactions are associated with merchants. At least one of the financial transactions is associated with first merchant, a first merchant category, and a member of the financial unit. The spending analysis tool changes the merchant category associated with the at least one of the financial transactions to another merchant category based on a selection of a user.
Conventionally, credit card and debit card holders receive paper account statements via the mail. In recent years, account statements have become available on the Internet, allowing card holders to access their account statements online. Under this approach, card holders are able to access their account statements at anytime and from any location having a computing terminal and an Internet connection. Typically, account websites provide the card holder with an account summary that display purchases "to date" and allows card holders to view their purchase history. Card holders can also pay for credit card purchases through these account websites and can, in some instances initiate, an automatic payment of the amount owed. However, these account websites are limited in functionality and typically do not provide the card holder with flexibility to manage their accounts and purchases.
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method, system including one or more servers, and medium comprising instructions for interactively displaying account activity. Embodiments of the present invention display an analysis of financial transactions associated with a financial unit via a website. The financial transactions are associated with merchants, and at least one of the financial transactions is associated with a first merchant, a first merchant category, and a member of the financial unit. The financial transactions are at least one of a signature transaction and a pin transaction.
Embodiments of the present invention also facilitate changing the first merchant category associated with the at least a first one of the financial transactions to a second merchant category based on a selection by a user. The first merchant can be associated with the second merchant category for subsequent financial transactions involving the first merchant. In some embodiments, a member associated with the at least a second one of the financial transactions can be changed so that a different member of the financial unit is associated with the financial transaction based on a selection of the user.
Embodiments of the present invention can include a filter to filter to the financial transactions. The filter can limit the financial transactions being used in the analysis to a subset of the financial transactions that are associated with at least one of a member of the financial unit, a selected merchant, a period of time, a card number associated with the account, and the like.
Budget information can be received from the user, where the budget information can identify a desired amount of spending by at least one of the financial unit, at least one member of the financial unit, and categories of merchants and the embodiments of the present invention can determine whether spending is over or under a budget defined by the budget information.
The financial transactions can be exported to at least one of a financial management application, spread sheet application, word processor application, document viewer application, and the like.
The preferred embodiments of the present invention, as well as other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, which is to be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the claims.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary interactive spending analysis tool.
FIGS. 2-18 are illustrative Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for implementing embodiments of the present invention.
FIG. 19 is a distributed system for implementing embodiments of the present invention.
FIG. 20 is a computing device suitable for practicing embodiments of the present invention.
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to spending analysis tool for debit and/or credit card holders to provide added value to the credit and/or debit card (hereinafter collectively referred to a "card" unless explicitly stated), such as for example, features that assist the users with controlling their spending. The spending analysis tool can enable users to view signature and pin transaction details and summaries by, for example, week, month, month-to-date, year, year-to-date, merchant category, and the like. The tool can allow a user to enter budget information and compare their budget to actual expenditures. Information accessed using the spending analysis tool can be exported from the spending analysis tool to a data processing application, such as financial management applications, spread sheet applications, and the like, and/or to other applications, such as word processor applications, document viewer applications, and the like.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a spending analysis tool 100 (hereinafter "tool 100") that provides an online, interactive financial management application for card transaction details. The tool 100 can include a financial unit 110, financial transaction information 120, participating merchants 130, merchant categories 140, budgeting unit 150, mapping unit 160, analysis unit 170, and one or more graphical user interfaces 180 (hereinafter "GUIs 180").
The financial unit 110 can be formed of one or more members 112, such as members of a household, employees of a business, and the like. In some embodiments, a member can be an entity, such as a side business so that the financial unit 110 can include both people and businesses or other entities. The members 112 of the financial unit 110 can be added to, or deleted from, the financial unit 110, as desired. Some or all of the members can have a card from an issuer such that the members can be associated with their credit card and/or debit card, for example, by using a number on the card. In some embodiments, members can be added to the financial unit without associating them with card number. In some embodiments, members 112 of the financial unit 110 can access the tool 100. In other embodiments, one or more of the members 112 can control access such that only selected members 112 can access the tool 100. Members 112 that have access to the tool are referred to herein as users. Access to the tool 100 can require users to login using a user name and password, or other suitable security features can prevent unauthorized access to the tool 100.
Financial transaction information 120 can be made available by the tool 100 to users. Financial transaction information 120 can include purchases, withdrawals (e.g., ATM withdrawals), or other account activities associated with one or more of the member's card use including signature and pin transactions (hereinafter collectively referred to as "financial transactions"). The tool 100 can maintain a financial transaction history of the financial transactions for a specified time frame. For example, the tool can maintain a financial transaction history for the last month, year, two years, five years, etc. The financial transaction can be attributed to the member of the financial unit 110 that facilitated the financial transaction.
The financial transactions can include participating merchants 130. Participating merchants 130 (hereinafter "merchants 130") refer to merchants that accept the card issued by the issuer as a payment method. The merchants can have one or more locations including physical locations (e.g., Street, City, State) and/or Internet locations (e.g., Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)).
The merchants 130 can be associated with merchant categories 140. The merchant categories 140 can provide a description about the goods or services the merchants 130 offers. Some examples, of merchant categories include merchandise, restaurant, grocery, travel, cash, services, gas/automotive, health care, entertainment, utilities, and the like, as well as custom user defined categories. When one of the members 112 of the financial unit 110, for example, purchases an item from one of the merchants 130, the tool can associate a merchant and a merchant category 140 with the financial transaction so that users can have a general description about purchases made by the members 112. In some embodiments, the merchant categories 140 can be modified by the users such that merchant categories 140 can be dynamically assigned to the merchants 130. In other embodiments, some of the merchant categories 140 can be statically assigned to the merchants 130 so that no changes can be made. In yet other embodiments, the user can modify the assignment of merchant categories 140 to merchants based on a limited subset of merchant categories 140 provided by the tool 100.
The budgeting unit 150 of the tool 100 can maintain a budget based on budget information input by the users. The budget can be specified for one or more of the individual members 112 of the financial unit 110, for the entire financial unit 110, a group of the members 112 of the financial unit 110, and the like. The budget can be defined by the user to estimate spending associated with a time period, such as a week, month, year, etc., and/or can be specific to one or more merchant categories 140.
The mapping unit 160 can be used to form associations of information. For example, the mapping unit can be used to associate a member 112 of the unit with a card number so that when the member uses the card the tool 100 identifies the member as a party in the financial transaction. Likewise, the mapping unit 160 can associate a merchant category 140 with one or more merchants 130 to identify the merchant category 140 for a financial transaction involving the one or more merchants 130. The mapping unit 160 can also be used to associate members 112 with the financial unit 110. Mappings formed using the mapping unit 160 can be performed by the tool 100 and/or by users of the tool 100. As such, the tool 100 provides an interactive environment in which users can customize the relationship of information with other information to flexibly accommodate the users.
The analysis unit 170 can perform an analysis of the information maintained by the tool 100. For example, the analysis unit 170 can be used to format the information in different ways. A filter 172 can be applied to the information so that the financial transactions used by the analysis unit 170 are limited to a subset of the financial transactions. For example, the analysis unit 170 can generate a list of financial transactions according to the date and time the financial transactions occurred and can provide a sum of the financial transactions by category, member, financial unit 110, or can compute an overall some for all financial transactions occurring in a selected time frame, such as a week, month, year, etc. The analysis unit 170 can generate various graphs, such as line graphs, bar graphs, pie charts, and the like, which can be used to depict information to the users.
In some embodiments, the analysis unit 170 can generate a projected sum to predict an amount of spending that may occur in a selected time frame. For example, the analysis unit 170 can use information associated with financial transactions for one or more months and can generate a projected yearly spending based on the financial transactions of the one or more months. The projected spending can be computed for one or more merchant categories 140, one or more members 112, and/or for the entire financial unit 110.
The analysis unit 170 can analyze the financial transactions to generate a spending analysis, which can be presented to the user in various formats. The analysis unit 170 can analyze the financial transaction and the budget to determine whether the budget is being met and can identify an amount spending over or under the budget 150. The analysis unit 170 can parse the spending analysis and budget analysis based on the merchant categories 140 and/or one or more members 112 of the financial unit 110. This allows the user to customize the analysis so that the user can identify issues, such as fraud, overcharges, and the like; spending habits of the financial unit 110, or members 112 thereof; budget adjustments; and the like.
The GUIs 180 can provide an interactive display for users accessing the tool 100. GUIs 180 can be used to depict financial transaction information to users and allow user to control various mappings. For example, once a user has logged into the tool 100 one of the GUIs 180 can provide an interface for managing which members 112 are included in the financial unit 110, and other GUIs 180 can display an analysis to the user to allow the user to view financial transactions and the members 112, merchants 130, merchant categories 140, and the like, associated with the financial transactions. The GUIs 180 can provide an interface to allow a user to change the mapping between merchants, merchant categories, and/or member 112, and to generate an analysis of the budget. The GUIs provide a visual context for the user, while other components of the tool 100 can operate in the background based on selection made in the GUIs 180.
The usage unit 190 can track information about the usage of the tool 100 and can generate reports. The reports can be viewed by the users and/or the issuer of the cards providing tool 100. The reports can include information, such as how often the tool 100 has been accessed, when the tool has been accessed, which user accessed the tool, what mapping changes have been entered, and the like. The reports can be used as a security feature so that the users and/or the issuer can be alerted of any suspicious behavior.
The administrative unit 195 allows the issuer of the cards to access the tool 100 to provide support and customer service to the users. The administrative unit can allow the issuer to reset user names, passwords, and mapping, and can allow the issuer to update information in the tool, such as new replacement card numbers.
FIGS. 2 and 3 show an exemplary web-based GUI 200 and web-based GUI 300, respectively, for illustrating a registration process of the tool 100. A user can register with the tool 100 to gain access to account information maintained, and analysis performed, by the tool 100. The GUI 200 (FIG. 2) includes data entry fields 210 for receiving information from the user and can include, for example, the user's first name, last name, address, e-mail address, card number, and the like. After the user enters this information, the user can select the next button 220 to proceed with the registration process. The GUI 300 (FIG. 3) allows the user to set up a security profile to prevent unauthorized access of the user's account information. The GUI 300 can include data entry fields 310 for receiving security information from the user including, for example, a user ID field, a password field, a password verification field, security question and answer fields, and the like.
The user can manage the financial unit by adding, deleting, or editing member information of the financial unit. FIG. 4 is an exemplary web-based GUI 400 that shows a financial unit management interface during registration. In some embodiments, the tool 100 can identify members that are added to the financial unit by default based on the account information entered by the user during the registration process. The GUI 400 can allow user to map card numbers to members so that financial transactions involving the card numbers are associated with specified members. In the present example, the financial unit includes two members "Amy" and "John", where Amy is associated with a card number having the last four digits of "1234" and John is associated with a card number having the last four digits of "5678".
FIG. 5 is an exemplary web-based GUI 500 that shows a main interface having options 502, 510, and 550. The option 502 allows the user to export a spending analysis, a budget analysis, and/or raw financial transaction data to other applications, such as third party applications include financial management applications; spreadsheet applications; word processor application; document viewer application using, for example, portable document format (PDF) files, postscript format (PS) files, or other suitable formats; and the like. The options 510 can include a "spending analysis" option 512, a "budgeting" option 514, a "budget analysis" option 516, and a "my account" option 518. The options 550 can include a "review spending history" option 552, a "create budget" option 554, and an "account settings" option 556.
The spending analysis option 512 and the review spending history option 552 allow users to view financial transaction information. When a user selects the spending analysis option 512, a group of sub-options can be presented to the user to allow the user to select how financial transaction information is displayed by the tool 100. FIGS. 6-10 are GUIs that show different formats that the financial transaction information can be displayed to the user. The sub-options available to the user can include a "By Category" option 602, an "Over Time" option 604, a "By Month" option 606, a "Transaction Detail" option 608. The GUI 600 (FIG. 6) depicts a spending analysis based on a selection of the "By Category" option 602. The tool 100 can display a pie chart 610 of financial transactions based on the merchant category associated with the merchants involved in the financial transactions. The pie chart 610 can break the financial transactions into pie wedges that represent a cumulative amount for financial transactions by the merchant category.
For example, the pie chart can include a pie wedge 612 representing financial transactions involving merchants associated with a "merchandise" merchant category, a pie wedge 614 representing financial transactions involving merchants associated with a "groceries" merchant category, a pie wedge 616 representing financial transactions involving merchants associated with a "travel" merchant category, and the like.
The wedges (e.g., pie wedges 612, 614, 616) of the pie chart 610 can included embedded links to allow a user to select the a wedge of the pie chart using a data entry device, such as a mouse, to navigate to another view. For example, the user can select the pie wedge 612 and the transaction details of financial transaction associated with the merchant category "merchandise" can be displayed to the user.
The user can specify a time frame for which financial transaction information is to be displayed and can select members for which the financial transaction information can be displayed. For example, the GUI 600 can include a "From" selector 630, a "To" selector 632, a "Name" selector 634, and a "Card" selector 636. The "From" selector 630 can identifies a point in time after which financial transactions can be included in the spending analysis and the "To" selector can allow the user to choose a point in time before which financial transactions can be included. As a result, only financial transactions within the range specified by the "Form" and "To" selectors 630 and 632, respectively, are included in the pie chart 610. The "Card" selector 636 allows the user to choose which of the card numbers are included in the spending analysis. The "Name" selector 634 allows the user to choose which of the members of the financial unit are included in the spending analysis. For example, the user can choose to include some or all of the members of the financial unit in the spending analysis. Selectable links 650 can be provide to allow the user to navigate to other GUIs without requiring the user to click through the link structure provided by the options 512, 514, 516, 518.
Other views can be generated for the "By Category" view. For example, the GUI 600 can include graphing options 640. The graphing options 640 can include a "pie chart" option 642, a "column graph" option 644, a "bar graph" option 646, and the like. FIG. 7 depicts the GUI 600 when the "column graph" option 642 is selected by the user. A horizontal axis 700 represents merchant categories and a vertical axis 702 represents an amount of spending. FIG. 8 depicts the GUI 600 when the "bar graph" option 646 is selected by the user. A horizontal axis 800 represents an amount of spending and a vertical axis 802 represents merchant categories.
The "By category" view allows to the user to readily discern how each merchant category contributes to the overall spending within a specified time period and for specified members. In the present example, the user can readily discern that the "Healthcare" merchant category contributed to most of the spending when all members of the financial unit are considered, while the "Custom2" merchant category, a user defined category, contributed the least to the spending when all the members of the financial unit are considered during the specified time frame.
FIG. 9 is an exemplary web-based GUI 900 for illustrating the financial transaction information based on a selection of the "Over Time" option 604. The tool 100 can display a graph 910 of financial transactions, which can be a line graph, based on the financial transactions over a period of time. The graph 910 can break the financial transactions into different lines, where each line can represent a merchant category associated with the financial transactions. The GUI 900 can provide selectors 920 to allow users to control which categories are shown on the graph 900. For example, the user can select to graph the total spending, spending associated with the entertainment merchant category, healthcare merchant category, and the like.
The GUI 900 can include the "From" selector 630, the "To" selector 632, the "Name" selector 634, and the "Card" selector 636 to adjust the time period, the members, and/or the card numbers included in the spending analysis. Data points of the graph can be based on a cumulative amount of spending for each merchant category for a given day, week, month, year, etc. In some embodiments, the user can select to break the financial transaction into lines that represent the members of the financial unit associated with the financial transactions, rather than the category associated with the financial transaction. This can allow the user to identify which members are spending the most on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc., basis.
FIG. 10 is an exemplary web-based GUI 1000 that shows a spending analysis of the financial transactions when the "By Month" option 606 is selected. The spending by month spending analysis can include a graph 1010, which in the present example is a column graph that includes the amount of spending on a y-axis and the month of the year on the x-axis. The user can limit the transaction being displayed to transactions between specified dates and can choose which of the members of the financial unit can be included in the analysis using the "From" selector 630, the "To" selector 632, the "Name" selector 634, and the "Card" selector 636 discussed above. In some embodiments, the graph 1010 can identify the contribution of the individual members of the financial unit to the overall spending for each month.
FIG. 11 is an exemplary web-based GUI 1100 for illustrating the financial transaction information based on a selection of the "Transaction Detail" option 608. The tool 100 can display a list 1105 of financial transactions based on the financial transactions in an order that can be based on the date of the financial transaction, the merchant involved in the financial transaction, the location of the financial transaction, the category of the financial transaction, a member associated with the financial transaction, and the like. The user can select the order of the financial transactions by selecting headings 1110.
For example, the user can select the "date" heading 1112 to arrange the financial transactions according to the date the financial transactions occurred and can choose to list them in ascending or descending order. The list 1105 can include the date, the merchant name, the merchant location, the merchant category, the amount, and the card holder associated with the financial transaction.
The financial transactions included in the Transaction Detail can be filtered using the selectors 630-636 so that only financial transactions satisfying the parameters of the selectors 630-636 are displayed to the user. The GUI 1100 can include a total spend field 1114 that displays the cumulative amount spent for the financial transactions within a range specified using selectors 630 and 632, and for a member and/or card number specified using selectors 634 and 636. The GUI 1100 can also include a category selector 1160 that allows the user to control which categories are included in the list 1105. In the present example, all of the categories are included in the list.
The merchant category and the member associated with the financial transactions can be modified by the user so that a different merchant category or a different member can be associated with the financial transaction. For example, selectable fields 1120 can be used for the merchant categories and members and the user can select these selectable fields 1120 to change the associations of the financial transaction. In one example, the user can select a selectable field 1130 corresponding to a merchant category assigned to a financial transaction. The tool can list the merchant categories that can replace the merchant category and the user can select the desired merchant category from the list to replace the existing merchant category. Upon selection of the desired merchant category, the desired merchant category is associated with the merchant of the financial transaction.
In another example, the user can select a selectable field 1140 associated with a member assigned to another financial transaction. Upon selection of the selectable field 1140 a list of possible members can be displayed to the user and the user can select a different member to associate with the financial transaction. When the user selects the different member, the different member is assigned to the financial transaction.
To save the modifications, the user can select a "Save" option 1150, which saves the modifications. Thereafter, when the user views the financial transactions with modified associations, the modifications are displayed. In some embodiments, the user can receive a paper statement in the mail summarizing account activity and the statement can include the modifications. The paper statement can note what modifications were made. In some embodiments, modifications made to the associations can become permanent after a specified time period, such as a number of months (e.g., 3 months) after the modification has been made.
The modification can be applied prospectively to subsequent financial transactions or can be applied only for the modified financial transactions. In some embodiments, the modification of a merchant category can be specified for a specific merchant location such that subsequent financial transactions at the specified merchant location are associated with a modified category, such as health care, and financial transactions at other locations of the merchant remain associated with a previously associated category, such as merchandise.
The budgeting option 514 (FIG. 5) allows users to view generate and manage a budget for members of the financial unit as well as for the financial unit as a whole. When a user selects the budgeting option 514, a group of sub-options can be presented to the user to allow the user to select how financial transaction information is displayed by the tool 100. FIG. 12 is an exemplary web-based GUI 1200 for illustrating the budgeting based on a selection of a budget option 1202. The budget can be divided by merchant categories such that the user can define a budget for the merchant categories by entering an amount for a list 1204 of individual merchant categories in designated fields 1210. The budget can be specified for a selected time period, such as daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and the like. In the present invention, the budget is specified for a monthly budget and the budget is defined for each merchant category. The budget can compute an overall budget 1220 based on the amounts entered for the merchant categories. In some embodiments, the user can specify the overall budget without specifying a budget for individual categories.
The budget analysis option 516 (FIG. 5) provides an analysis of the budget for members of the financial unit as well as for the financial unit as a whole. When a user selects the budget analysis option 516, a group of sub-options can be presented to the user to allow the user to select how the budget analysis is displayed by the tool 100. FIG. 13 is an exemplary web-based GUI 1300 for illustrating the budget analysis based on a selection of a "By Category" budget analysis option 1302. The budget analysis can be depicted using a graph 1305, such as a bar graph, column graph, or other suitable graph, and can show analysis results for a specified time frame and member. For example, the GUI 1200 can include a "From" selector 630, a "To" selector 632, the "Name" selector 634, and "Card Holder" selector 636. The "From" selector 630 can identify a point in time after which financial transactions can be included in the budget analysis and the "To" selector 632 can allow the user to choose a point in time before which financial transactions can be included in the budget analysis. As a result, only financial transactions within the range specified by the "Form" and "To" selectors 630 and 632, respectively, are included in the graph 1305. The "Name" selector 634 and/or the "Card" selector 636 allow the user to choose which of the members and/or card numbers associated with the financial unit are included in the budget analysis. For example, the user can choose to include some or all of the members of the financial unit in the budget analysis.
In the present example, the graph 1305 includes merchant categories along the horizontal axis and an amount along the vertical axis. The budget analysis can identify what was budgeted for each category, and the actual spending associated with each category to identify when the spending was over or under budget. In some embodiments, the budget analysis can be displayed in a list form that includes a merchant category, a budgeted amount, an actual spend amount, and a percentage of over or under budget.
FIG. 14 is an exemplary web-based GUI 1400 for illustrating the budget analysis based on a selection of a "Budget Analysis (MTD)" option 1402. This option provides the user with a budget analysis for the month-to-date in a display section 1404 and the year-to-date (YTD) in a display section 1406. The GUI 1400 can display, for example, the budget by-category, spending by-category, and difference between the spending and budget by-category for the month-to-date, as well as, the overall budget, spending and difference between the budget and spending for each month. For example, the GUI 1400 can include a column 1410 of categories, a column 1420 corresponding to the budget for each category in the month-to-date, a column 1430 corresponding to the spending for each category in the month-to-date, a column 1440 corresponding to the difference between the budget and spending for each category in the month-to-date, and a column 1450 corresponding to the percent difference between the budget and spending for each category in the month-to-date. The user can perform the month-to-date budget analysis for the financial unit or members thereof using the selector 636. FIG. 15 shows a GUI 1500 illustrating a budget analysis when a "Budget Analysis (Quarterly)" option 1502 is selected. The GUI 1500 presents budget analysis results according to the quarter (i.e., three month intervals) in which the financial transactions occur and having a similar general form to the budget analysis for the month-to-date.
The user can manage the account features by selecting the "My Account" option 518 which once selected displays sub-options including a "Profile Setup" option 1602, a "General Preferences" option 1604, and a Rules Management" option 1606. FIG. 16 shows a GUI 1610 when the Profile Setup option 1602 is selected, FIG. 17 shows a GUI 1700 when the General Preferences option 1604 is selected, and FIG. 18 shows a GUI 1800 when the Rules Management option 1606 is selected.
Referring to FIG. 16, the GUI 1610 can provide an interface that allows the user to manage the financial unit. For example, the GUI 1610 can allow the user to input additional names or entities via an interface 1612, which in the present example is a data entry field. The GUI 1610 can display the names of the individual members of the financial unit in a display field 1614 to allow the user to see which members are included in the financial unit. The GUI 1610 can also include selectors 1616 for assigning members to card numbers that the tool 100 can track spending of individual members. The selectors 1616 can be drop down lists that include the members of the financial unit so that the use can select the member to be associated with a given card number.
Referring to FIG. 17, the GUI 1700 allows users to manage their preferences. The GUI 1700 can include a layout interface 1702, a budget presentation interface 1704, a spending analysis interface 1706, and a custom categories interface 1708. The layout interface 1702 that allows the user to control the way in which information is arranged in the GUIs. The budget presentation interface 1704, which in the present example can be radial buttons selectable by the user, can allow the user to specify how the budget analysis is presented. For example, the user can specify whether the budget analysis is performed for individual members of the financial unit and/or for the entire financial unit. The spending presentation interface 1706 allows the user to specify a default view to be depicted when the spending analysis is viewed. In the present example, the interface 1706 includes radial buttons for selecting whether the spending analysis is presented in a pie chart, a horizontal bar graph, or a vertical bar graph. The custom category interface 1708 can allow the user to define custom categories for financial transactions. The custom categories interface 1708 can include data entry fields for entering the custom category information. By allowing the customer to define custom categories, the tool 100 can provide the user with the flexibility of identify member specific or financial unit specific financial transaction using their own category.
Referring to FIG. 18, the GUI 1800 can display rules implemented by the tool 100. For example, rules can be specified by the tool 100 and/or the user to control the associations between members of the financial unit, merchants, categories, and the like. In one example, when the user changes the associations, as discussed above, a rule can be generated to govern the operation of the tool 100 so that the tool 100 functions in accordance with the rule. The rules can be deleted using the "Delete" selector 1810. When a rule is deleted, the tool 100 can implement default rules.
In the present example, category rules 1802 and 1804 have been created to govern associations between a merchant "SHOPOK" and the categories to which the merchant is assigned and user rules 1806 and 1808 have been created to govern associations between the merchants and members of the financial unit. The rules 1802 and 1804 can be implemented for specific locations of the merchant such that different merchant locations can be assigned to different categories. The rules 1806 and 1808 can associate financial transactions that occur at a merchant location with a specified member of the financial unit so that financial transactions occurring at the specified merchant locations are assigned to the specified member.
FIG. 19 depicts a distributed system 1900 for implementing some embodiments of the tool 100. The distributed system 1900 includes one or more servers 1910 and 1920 coupled to clients 1930 and 1940 via a communication network 1950. The servers 1910/1920 and/or the clients 1930/1940 can be computing devices. The distributed system 1900 preferably includes one or more repositories or database 1960, which can be in communication with each other, as well as with the servers 1910 and 1920 and the clients 1930 and 1940, via a communications network 1950.
The servers 1910/1920, clients 1930/1940, and/or databases 1960 can store information, such as components of the tool 100 and/or can store information generated by the tool 100. The tool 100 can be distributed among the servers 1910/1920, clients 1930/1940, and/or databases 1960 such that one or more components of the tool 100 can be located at different devices (e.g. clients, servers, databases) in the communication network 1950. For example, the mapping unit 160 and analysis unit 170 can be implemented by the server 1910, the GUIs can be implemented by the server 1920, and the financial transaction information, budget, and financial unit 110 can be stored and maintained in the database 1960. The client 1930 can include an application for accessing the tool 100 via the GUIs 180.
FIG. 20 depicts an exemplary computing device 2000 suitable for practicing the embodiments of the present invention and can be used to implement the servers 1910/1920, the clients 1930/1940, and/or the databases 1960. The computing device 2000 can be a mainframe, personal computer (PC), laptop computer, workstation, handheld device, such as a PDA, a cell phone, or the like. In the illustrated embodiment, the computing device 2000 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 2002 and a display device 2004. The CPU 2002 controls each component of the computing device 2000 to provide components of the tool 100. The display device 2004 enables the computing device 2000 to communicate directly with a user through a visual display and can graphically the GUIs 180. The computing device 2000 can further include data entry device(s) 2006, such as a keyboard, touch screen, mouse, and the like, to allow the user to interact with the tool 100. The computing device 2000 can include storage 2008 for storing information, such as financial transaction information, budget, financial unit 110, and the like. The storage 2008 can include such technologies as a floppy drive, hard drive, tape drive, Flash drive, optical drive, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), and the like.
The storage 2008 can be local to the computing device 2000 and/or can be implemented remotely as, for example, the databases 1960 accessible by one or more computing devices. The computing device 2000 can also include a network interface 2014 for communicating with a network and can be used for a distributed implementation. The CPU 2002 operates to run the applications, such as the tool 100, in storage 2008 by performing instructions therein and storing information resulting from the performed instructions, which may be graphically depicted via the display 2004.
While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described herein, it is expressly noted that the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, but rather the intention is that additions and modifications to what is expressly described herein also are included within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it is to be understood that the features of the various embodiments described herein are not mutually exclusive and can exist in various combinations and permutations, even if such combinations or permutations are not made express herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
changing the first member associated with the first one of the past financial transactions to a second member of the financial unit so that the first one of the financial transactions performed by the first member is attributed to the second member of the financial unit in the history.
associating the first merchant with the second merchant category for a subsequent financial transaction involving the first merchant.
3. The method of claim 2 further comprising associating the second merchant category with a specific location of the first merchant so that other locations of the first merchant remain associated with the first merchant category.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial transactions are at least one of a signature transaction and a pin transaction.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising applying a filter to the financial transactions, the filter limits the financial transactions being used in the analysis to a subset of the financial transactions that are associated with at least one of a member of the financial unit, a selected merchant, and a card number associated with the account.
receiving budget information from the user, the budget information identifying a desired amount of spending by at least one of the financial unit, at least one member of the financial unit, and categories of merchants.
7. The method of claim 5 further comprising determining whether spending is over or under a budget.
exporting the financial transactions to at least one of a financial management application, spread sheet application, word processor application, and document viewer application.
11. The medium of claim 10, wherein execution of the instructions facilitates interactively displaying account activity by associating the second merchant category with a specific location of the first merchant so that other locations of the first merchant remain associated with the first merchant category.
12. The medium of claim 9, wherein execution of the instructions facilitates interactively displaying account activity by applying a filter to the financial transactions, the filter limits the financial transactions being used in the analysis to a subset of the financial transactions that are associated with at least one of a member of the financial unit, a selected merchant, and a card number associated with the account.
13. The medium of claim 9, wherein execution of the instructions facilitates interactively displaying account activity by receiving budget information from the user, the budget information identifying a desired amount of spending by at least one of the financial unit, at least one member of the financial unit, and categories of merchants.
wherein the one or more graphical user interfaces display the change to the user.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the mapping unit is configured to change the first merchant category associated with the at least one of the financial transactions in the history to a second merchant category based on a selection of a user and to associate the first merchant with the second merchant category for a subsequent financial transaction involving the first merchant.
16. The system of claim 14 further comprising an analysis unit for performing a spending analysis and a budget analysis, the analysis unit configured to apply a filter to the financial transactions, the filter limiting the financial transactions being used in the analysis to a subset of the financial transactions that are associated with at least one of a member of the financial unit, a selected merchant, and a card number associated with the account.
17. The system of claim 14 further comprising a budgeting unit configured to receive budget information from the user and to generate a budget based on the budget information, the budget information identifying a desired amount of spending by at least one of the financial unit, at least one member of the financial unit, and categories of merchants.


Prices from £35 - Enquire for a fast quote from Rejuvadent - Hull. 1 verified patient review.
I telephoned on a Saturday morning after 2 months of pain with a fractured tooth, the hospital were to remove it because of my health but my appointment was not until January 2017. In complete agony I rang and got an appointment the same day, when I arrived it was full, but I was called in on time.The dentist was professional and polite, not much small talk but I was beyond that anyway, as my gums had become infected and that tooth needed to be out. After a bit of a tussle it was cleanly removed and the pain subsided. I have nothing but praise for this practice, they even called my home today to check how I was. The dentist and his nurse were brilliant and I was most grateful.
Very painful but also very good.


Dr. Curry and his staff are accommodating, encouraging, and kind, and I have already started to see steady improvement in my health and in my stamina.
After attending meetings at four locations, I decided that Journey Lite was the best fit for me. Having Lap Band surgery at Journey Lite was the best decision that I ever made. Dr. Curry and his staff are accommodating, encouraging, and kind, and I have already started to see steady improvement in my health and in my stamina. In the first eight weeks, I have lost 22 pounds and 21 1/2 inches, and I am excited to see the changes the new year will bring! Thanks Dr. Curry and thanks to each of the staff members in all three offices. Support is essential to the success of this program, and you have all been wonderfully supportive! Sincerely, Brenda Barrett PS Come over to Fast Track and meet us! You won't believe the success stories you will hear or the support you will get in YOUR weight loss journey!
← Dr Curry did my surgery. He saved my life!


text:
<?php

namespace Application\Migrations;

use Doctrine\DBAL\Schema\Schema;
use Wallabag\CoreBundle\Doctrine\WallabagMigration;

/**
 * Added foreign keys for account resetting.
 */
class Version20160410190541 extends WallabagMigration
{
    public function up(Schema $schema)
    {
        $entryTable = $schema->getTable($this->getTable('entry'));

        $this->skipIf($entryTable->hasColumn('uid') || $entryTable->hasColumn('uuid'), 'It seems that you already played this migration.');

        $entryTable->addColumn('uid', 'string', [
            'notnull' => false,
            'length' => 23,
        ]);

        $sharePublic = $this->container
            ->get('doctrine.orm.default_entity_manager')
            ->getConnection()
            ->fetchArray('SELECT * FROM ' . $this->getTable('craue_config_setting') . " WHERE name = 'share_public'");

        if (false === $sharePublic) {
            $this->addSql('INSERT INTO ' . $this->getTable('craue_config_setting') . " (name, value, section) VALUES ('share_public', '1', 'entry')");
        }
    }

    public function down(Schema $schema)
    {
        $entryTable = $schema->getTable($this->getTable('entry'));
        $entryTable->dropColumn('uid');

        $this->addSql('DELETE FROM ' . $this->getTable('craue_config_setting') . " WHERE name = 'share_public'");
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Set your DVRs for January 10.
On January 10, Adult Swim cartoon Black Dynamite will air a musical special tackling police brutality, featuring cameos from recent FADER cover star Tyler, the Creator and Erykah Badu, along with actors Tim Blake Nelson and J.B. Smoke. During the hour-long episode, the show's hero Black Dynamite gets knocked out by a brick thrown by a rioter and catapulted into an alternate reality wherein he's called on to defend the community against the police. It's on at 10:30 p.m. EST, so set your DVRs now.


text:
Q: Duplicate rows in a Pyspark Dataframe Let's say I have a dataframe:
df = sqlContext.createDataFrame(
    [(1, 10, 21.0, 0), (3, 14, -23.0, 1)], ("x1", "x2", "x3", "x4"))

df.show()

## +---+---+-----+---+
## | x1| x2|   x3| x4|
## +---+---+-----+---+
## |  1| 10| 23.0|  5|
## |  3| 14|-23.0|  0|
## +---+---+-----+---+

What would be an efficient way to "duplicate" rows and setting x4=1 in those duplicates and have:
## +---+---+-----+---+
## | x1| x2|   x3| x4|
## +---+---+-----+---+
## |  1| 10| 23.0|  5|
## |  1| 10| 23.0|  1|
## |  3| 14|-23.0|  0|
## |  3| 14|-23.0|  1|
## +---+---+-----+---+

In Apache PIG the analog would be simple: do a foreach and generate:
FLATTEN(TOBAG(1, x4)) AS x4

Thank you all

A: Import required functions from pyspark.sql.functions:
from pyspark.sql.functions import array, explode, lit

and replace existing column:
df.withColumn("x4", explode(array(lit(1), df["x4"])))

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Doolittle recaps the hard work that is put in on and off the field and the influence of the squad around her, including Liberty Field Hockey Head Coach Jodi Murphy.
Liberty field hockey senior Helen Doolittle has been named to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-District III At-Large Team.
Cox was one of six seniors this year on the field hockey squad, starting in 20 of the 22 contests this season.


Charges against me laughable, malicious — Ekweremadu - News of the People http://www.newsofthepeople-ng.com covers every facet of Nigerian Entertainment industry and the world. From News, Gossip, Comedy, Videos, Blogs, Events, Weddings, Nollywood, Celebs, Scoops and Games, we serve our readers up-to-date information on showbiz personalities, profiling celebrities and news around them.
The Federal Government has filed fresh criminal charges against Deputy Senate President, Dr. Ike Ekweremadu, and the Senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East, Chief Albert Akpan, following alleged failure to declare their assets.
In the two sets of charges it lodged before Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, the Federal Government alleged that the two lawmakers refused to declare their assets in a manner prescribed by Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property.
Both Ekweremadu and Akpan were slammed with two-count criminal allegations in separate charges marked FHC/ABJ/CR/62/2018 and FHC/ABJ/CR/88/2018, which were okayed by Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN.
Meanwhile, trial Justice John Tsoho, yesterday, gave Federal Government the nod to serve the charge on the defendants through substituted means.
Justice Tsoho made the order after he heard an ex-parte motion moved by government lawyer, Dr. Celsus Ukpong.
The court directed that copies of the two charges be served on Ekweremadu and Akpan through the Clerk of the National Assembly.
While it fixed October 22 for Ekweremadu to enter his plea to the charge against him, dated May 10, 2018, government was permitted to dock Senator Akpan on November 7.
Meanwhile, Senator Ekweremadu has described the suit as laughable and malicious.
He said: "Let me re-affirm to Nigerians and my supporters that I have no assets declaration case to answer. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria requires pubic office holders to declare their assets every four years, a requirement which I fulfilled.
"The panel requested and obtained copies of my Assets Declaration Form from the Code of Conduct Bureau where everything is stated in black and white.
"I am aware that the Chairman of that panel wrote the same letter to some judges of the Federal High Court, who also declined to fill them. One of such letters to a serving judge dated October 9, 2017 was signed by Mr. M. Sulaiman, on behalf of Obono-Obla, Chairman of the Panel.
"I am also aware that the affected judges petitioned the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mallam Abubakar Malami, who immediately withdrew the provocative letters and fresh asset declaration forms with apologies vide a letter dated November 1, 2017 and signed by the Solicitor-General of the Federation.


Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan was rushed to the hospital in Athens today (May 12) after reportedly falling ill just before a concert scheduled to take place there.
The band were forced to cancel tonight's performance in the Greek capital as a result.
"We regret today's performance has to be canceled… David Gahan fell ill in his dressing room," a concert organiser told the audience of about 20,000, reports Reuters.
The frontman was suffering from suspected gastroenteritis, with the band's spokesperson saying that the illness is likely to be short-lived and shouldn't affect further tour dates.
The band kicked off their world tour last week (May 6) in Luxembourg.


text:
OFFICIAL: Sweeney named Head Basketball Coach at Connecticut College
Katherine Wenk Christoffers '45 Director of Athletics Fran Shields has announced Tim Sweeney as the new head men's basketball coach at Connecticut College. He was most recently the head coach at Hobart College.
Sweeney piloted the Statesmen to an 84-48 overall ledger in five seasons at the helm and led the team to the championship game of the Liberty League Tournament for the second time in the last three seasons this past winter. The 2017-18 season was his most successful, as the Statesmen registered its best winning percentage in the 108-season in the history of the program (.808). The team broke into the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll at No. 19 and also won a school-record 15 consecutive games during the hot stretch, which led to the Statesmen winning the conference's regular season title.
"We are very excited to welcome Tim Sweeney into our community," said Shields. "We are confident that he can move our program in a positive direction with the goal of competing for NESCAC championships and NCAA berths. It was evident through our process that Tim's work ethic, competition level, and proven leadership of student-athletes will improve our program and provide an outstanding experience for our student-athletes."
Sweeney has a deep basketball coaching background that began as an assistant at the University of Rochester, where he lettered as a point guard and led the Yellow Jackets to the Division III Final Four in 2002. He then became an assistant coach at Davidson College from 2006-08 under legendary mentor Bob McKillop, where he also worked directly with Stephen Curry in his first two years as a Wildcat which included a magical run to the Elite Eight in 2008.
After spending a year as an assistant coach at Bucknell, a perennial contender in the Patriot League, Sweeney moved on to work as an assistant at Elon University from 2009-13 and was promoted to associate head coach after playing a large role in the program's first Division I postseason appearance in 2012-13. As the recruiting coordinator at Elon, he helped the Phoenix sign and develop 11 All-Southern Conference selections and six 1,000-point scorers. The program also posted its best two-year record in program history with 39 wins before Sweeney would leave to take over at Hobart beginning in August of 2014.
"I am energized to join the Connecticut College community as its men's basketball coach and help the Camels compete for championships," stated Sweeney. "I would like to thank the collective leadership of President Katherine Bergeron, Dean of Students Victor Arcelus, and Athletic Director Fran Shields for both their confidence in me and their vision of a bright future for Connecticut College men's basketball. My family and I are excited to join the community and get to work!"
A native of Dumont, New Jersey, Sweeney graduated cum laude from Rochester in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in political science. The four-year starting point guard earned All-UAA honors four times as well as three UAA All-Academic awards. He served as a team captain during his junior and senior seasons, guiding the program to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, and the 2001-02 squad most notably finished the year with a 24-6 mark and advanced to the NCAA semifinals. Off the court, Sweeney was also the Vice President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and a team representative for three years. He will begin his duties at Connecticut College on June 1.
http://www.camelathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/releases/20190509g9tzvm
Tagged with: DIII NESCAC
Weber resigns as Head Basketball Coach at Rockford University
Geleski Named Interim Men's Basketball Head Coach at Centenary University
O'Keefe Hired as Assistant Men's Basketball Coach at Albright

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Just after the middle of last year, Target expanded beyond its on-prem infrastructure and began deploying portions of target.com to the cloud. The deployment platform was homegrown (codename Houston), and was backed wholly by our public cloud provider. While in some aspects that platform was on par with other prominent continuous deployment offerings, the actual method of deploying code was cumbersome and not adherent to cloud best practices. These shortcomings led to a brief internal evaluation of various CI/CD platforms, which in turn led us to Spinnaker.
We chose Spinnaker because it integrates with CI tools we already use at scale (Jenkins), supports deploying to all major public cloud providers, and compels software deployment best practices – all deployments are performed via immutable images, a snapshot of config + code.
The primary goal of Target's cloud platform is to enable product teams to deploy and manage their applications across multiple cloud providers. We provide CI/CD, monitoring, and service discovery as services, and any application deployed via our platform gets those capabilities via a base image that is pre-configured for connectivity to each service's respective endpoint.
Since these components are essentially products we provide to internal customers, we had to ensure the new CD platform was operationally supportable and highly-available. So, as soon as we decided on Spinnaker, a handful of engineers from the Cloud Platform group set about making this happen.
Default Spinnaker scripts make it easy to standup a single self-contained server with the microservices and persistence layer all together, but that wasn't conducive to doing blue-green deployments – allowing updates of Spinnaker without downtime to our internal customers.
We built jobs for building packages based off the master branch of each Spinnaker component's upstream git repository, and wrote Terraform plans to manage the deployment of each stack. We set about making each component as resilient as possible. Front50, the Spinnaker component responsible for data persistence, uses Cassandra by default. Managing a Cassandra ring added too much overhead just to maintain configuration of Spinnaker, so we borrowed a play from Netflix and configured it to persist configuration in cloud storage instead. We're also using the cloud provider's cache option instead of having to manage our own highly-available Redis cluster.
We had our fair share of challenges along the way. We were running into various rate-limiting and throttling issues when hitting the cloud provider APIs. Spinnaker makes a lot of API calls in order to have a responsive user experience, but the cloud provider will only allow a small number of API calls per minute. Fortunately, Netflix also wrote a tool, Edda, to cache cloud resources. We configured Spinnaker to use that instead of a direct connection to the cloud provider's API, which seems to be scaling much better.
The other major challenge we faced was how to handle baking images for multiple regions. Originally we had configured Spinnaker to bake in our western region and then copy to east. That was SLOW. It would bake the image in about 5 minutes, but it would take 20-40 minutes to copy it. Fortunately, Spinnaker supports parallel multi-region baking – taking the same base OS image in each region and installing the same packages on them, which in theory should result in the same config+code. Unfortunately, the way Netflix implemented it would work if we had multiple regions in the same account, but not if we had separate accounts per region, which is how Target operates. One of our engineers found a work around, and ultimately worked with an engineer at Netflix to get a more elegant solution incorporated upstream. Now, because we can bake the images in parallel, baking images takes 5 minutes instead of 25-45 minutes. A big improvement.
One of the reasons we chose Spinnaker was its pluggable architecture, and we knew early on that we would put that to good use. Target has a considerably sized internal OpenStack environment and we wanted to be able to leverage Spinnaker to deploy there, so we started the development of a native OpenStack clouddriver.
The process worked exactly how contributing to an open source project should work. We asked the community if anyone else was interested in collaborating on Spinnaker Openstack support. Veritas Corporation replied and we set to work with several of their engineers. We met with core Spinnaker engineers from Netflix and Google, and they asked us to submit pull requests directly against the master branch in the public github repository in order to get rapid feedback on the changes we were making.
A small group of engineers began to spec out the work and begin development in late May, and at the end of September the driver reached what we would call a stable state.
During development of the OpenStack driver, we ran into an issue with the way autoscaling is implemented in Heat (an OpenStack orchestration engine to launch multiple composite cloud applications based on templates in the form of text files that can be treated like code).
First, the APIs for load balancers didn't support automatically adding instances to a member pool until the Mitaka release of OpenStack. We were running an earlier version, so our private cloud engineers swarmed and quickly upgraded our environment to Mitaka.
Second, and more troublesome, Heat doesn't track disparity between the desired instance count in a scaling group, and the actual count. As a result, autoscaling in OpenStack isn't really auto; it requires some kind of intervention. To work around this, we updated the driver to mark the server group unhealthy in Heat when it detects a discrepancy between desired and actual.
We're extremely proud to share the OpenStack driver in Spinnaker with the community, and we hope that any organization that is using OpenStack will leverage the new driver to enable immutable deployments and autoscaling in that environment.
We're currently growing our use of container-based deployments via Kubernetes, both internally, as well as on public cloud providers. The presence of a driver for Kubernetes in Spinnaker will enable us to facilitate deployments to any or all of the k8s clusters we're running. Look forward to learning more about our Kubernetes deployment and consumption in a future techblog post.


I think that is caused by the change in crankshaft speed. Monday I will talk with the vehicle owner and get authorization to pull two injectors and measure the piston height through the injector hole. I'm quite sure this engine has the #3 connecting rod bent a... Login to read more.


text:
Ambrysus mormon, the creeping water bug, is a species of creeping water bug in the family Naucoridae. It is found in Central America and North America.

Subspecies
These three subspecies belong to the species Ambrysus mormon:
 Ambrysus mormon heidemanni Montandon, 1910
 Ambrysus mormon minor La Rivers, 1963
 Ambrysus mormon mormon Montandon, 1909

References

Further reading

Articles created by Qbugbot
Insects described in 1909
Naucoridae

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Why use rejection sampling in Monte Carlo simulations? I've noticed that a lot of physics Monte Carlo simulations make extensive use of rejection sampling, rather than inverse transform sampling. In my research, I'm sampling random energy transfers from energy loss distributions, ie: f(E) represents the relative probability of losing E energy in a collision between two particles. So I need to be able to generate random energy transfers such that the distribution of said transfers will converge to f(E).
I personally use inverse transform sampling all the time, and I'm wondering why people use rejection sampling.
Rejection sampling requires that you generate potentially many random numbers, whereas inverse transform sampling gives you a random variate from the desired distribution every time you generate your uniform variate. Rejection sampling also requires that you can test your variate selection using the original f(E), which could be a complicated function or a large numerical dataset in its own right.
For inverse transform sampling, I generate lookup tables: if I generate a uniform random variate R, I find the closest value in my lookup table and select my non-uniform random variate, which is a O(1) operation, since it's just indexing into an array, so run-time speed is not an issue.
Wikipedia mentions that generating those lookup tables may be computationally difficult, but the example they give of selecting from a random normal distribution is pretty trivial to numerically integrate, so I could generate the probability distribution quite readily. And if something has discontinuities that make it hard to integrate, it may not be any easier to generate a bounding box that's suitable for rejection sampling.
Are there any concrete examples of where this won't work? I suppose for many-dimensional large datasets, the lookup table might become prohibitively large, although I've happily used it with 3D probability distributions with no problems. And if you were generating a new probability distribution on the fly, so that you had to regenerate the lookup tables, then rejection sampling would be the way to go, but that's not the case in most of the papers I've been reading.

A: If your function is simple then you can use the  "inverse transform sampling".
But if your function is complicated - it is very difficult to calculate it's inverse transform of your function then you should consider using the rejection sampling algorithm or other alternatives.


Best Buy customers often prefer the following products when searching for Stainless-Steel Whistling Tea Kettles.
Browse the top-ranked list of Stainless-Steel Whistling Tea Kettles below along with associated reviews and opinions.
"Nice for tea lover...It worked great but...I like the tea kettle, it's easy use just put a water, put on top of the burner and go hot tea...THIS STAINLESS STEEL KETTLE WORKS FINE, THE WHISTLE IS LOUD AND IT HEATS THE WATER FAST"
"Nice for tea lover...It worked great but...THIS STAINLESS STEEL KETTLE WORKS FINE, THE WHISTLE IS LOUD AND IT HEATS THE WATER FAST...I like the tea kettle, it's easy use just put a water, put on top of the burner and go hot tea"
"I like the color...Very easy to use...It works great but the only downside is if they use the center piece to put tea in it then it needs at least 4 cups worth of tea and water as the center piece is much less in depth than the kettle itself...Also I'd defiantly recommend this to a tea love, the tea holder in middle of kettle brings out a strong taste for your tea and more cups for one kettle use"
"Very good so far...A pleasure to use...Choose this kettle because it is made of stainless steel and the small plastic is also BPA free...I can't say enough about this tea kettle....Breville also makes a more expensive version you can make tea IN but it was like 2x the price and has an irreplaceable glass carafe"
"I love to have it...Best I have owned...The only caveat is that it is helpful to have at least one person in the household with small enough hands to clean out the inside once in a while...I decided to purchase this one since it has a selection of temperatures and is in the price range I wanted to spend"
"Tea is ready fast...Love this tea pot...Great machine you can use tea bags or loose tea to make a great glass of fresh brewed iced tea...I have had a number tea makers and this is the best yet"
"It is great tea kettle...Great for boiling water...Chefman - 1.7L Electric Kettle - Stainless Steel Heat drinking water fast with this 1.7L Chefman electric kettle...This stainless steel kettle perfect for making tea or any kind of hot drinks I even use it for my coffee"
"It's blow me away...I love this kettle...The cool blue illumination it gives off while in the boiling cycle is a lot of fun to watch, especially once the water is boiling...This kettle is great heats up really quick and the water temperature is perfect for steeping tea"
"You will love it...Very happy with it...I often make myself a hot cup of something on the way to work at 4am and this is quiet, quick and quite a help...Its nice but I had to return it because its heavy and plus I had it in the counter and its easy to break"
Related to "Stainless-Steel Whistling Tea Kettles"


D'Angelo makes his return with a surprising album "Black Messiah".
D'Angelo is known for his impactful album "Voodoo" in 2001. He comes back with a twelve track album that can be streamed below. Go check it out, he still has it!


text:
2012 Dodge Journey Reviews
2012 Journey New Car Test Drive
The following review is for a 2011 Model Year. There may be minor changes to current model you are looking at.
The 2011 Dodge Journey benefits from significant upgrades. The Journey is a midsize sport-utility that offers the smoother ride and better fuel economy of a car with the cargo space and roominess of an SUV. It seats five or seven, depending on model.
The 2011 Dodge Journey features a new V6 engine, a much more upscale interior, added sound deadener, and revised suspension tuning. Inside, the 2011 Journey gets Dodge's latest infotainment system, which is called UConnect Touch. Exterior styling is tweaked for 2011 as well, with new front and rear fascias, a revised grille, and LED taillights.
The Dodge Journey uses a lightweight unitbody structure similar to that used by cars instead of a body-on-frame truck chassis. It's considered a crossover vehicle because it straddles the line between car and SUV. The Journey is available with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive for superior traction and confidence in bad weather.
The new V6 for the 2011 Dodge Journey is a modern 3.6-liter engine that replaces an older 3.5-liter engine. The new 3.6-liter engine has plenty of power but is ill-matched to the 6-speed automatic transmission, making it feel less powerful than it actually is.
The 2011 Journey comes standard with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine of 173 horsepower. We found the four-cylinder engine is rough and noisy and offers too little power for a vehicle of this size.
Inside is where the Journey shines. The new interior design and materials give it one of the nicest cockpits in the class. It comes standard with seating for five, with a two-passenger third row optional. Either way it has useful, though not class leading, cargo space. Filling the Journey with adults won't make all your passengers happy, but the rear seat should work well for children. Seats flip and fold to provide a wide range of versatility in hauling people, cargo, or both. The Journey offers a fold-flat front passenger seat that will allow loading items up to nine feet long. It features some unique storage solutions owners will find useful. Among them: a bin under the front passenger seat, storage under the floor in the second row and behind the last row of seats, a dual glove box with Dodge's Chill Zone that cools soda cans, and all the usual cubbies up front, including a fairly deep center console. Entertainment options are plentiful, as the Journey has a six-disc CD changer standard and offers a rear DVD entertainment system and a hard-drive radio.
With prices starting around $22,000, the Journey offers affordable utility. We recommend the V6 engine, which provides that extra margin of power that many buyers will want, as well as much more refinement. Be careful when it comes to options, though, as it is easy to get the Journey over $30,000, money that can buy larger and/or more premium SUVs.
The 2011 Dodge Journey is offered in five trim levels: Express, Mainstreet, R/T, Crew, and Lux. The Express is only available with front-wheel drive and the 173-horsepower 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission with Dodge's AutoStick manual shiftgate. The other 2011 Journey models have a new 3.6-liter V6 with 283 horsepower, fitted to a 6-speed automatic transmission with AutoStick and are offered with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive (AWD).
Journey Express ($22,245) comes with cloth upholstery, cruise control, air conditioning with dual-zone manual climate control, Chill Zone beverage storage bin, AM/FM/CD/MP3 stereo with six speakers, 4.3-inch touchscreen, auxiliary input jack, USB port, power windows, power heated exterior mirrors, power door locks, remote keyless entry, tilt/telescoping steering wheel with audio controls, driver's seat height adjustment, 60/40-split-folding second-row seat, automatic-off headlights, theft-deterrent system, roof rails, and P225/70R16 all season tires on steel wheels.
Journey Mainstreet ($24,245) and Mainstreet AWD ($25,945) add leather-wrapped steering wheel, Sirius satellite radio, floor mats, rear cargo cover, and P225/65R17 tires on aluminum wheels.
Journey R/T ($28,245) and R/T AWD ($29,945) upgrade to dual-zone automatic climate control, 6-way power driver's seat, 4-way power fold-flat front passenger seat, 8.4-inch touchscreen, SD card slot, UConnect Phone wireless cell-phone link, voice recognition, outside-temperature indicator, automatic day/night rearview mirror, compass, illuminated visor mirrors, 115-volt power outlet, conversation mirror, automatic headlights, fog lights, removable/rechargeable LED flashlight, and P225/55R19 tires on aluminum wheels. It deletes the roof rails.
Journey Crew ($29,240) and Crew AWD ($30,940) add three-zone automatic climate control with rear controls, second-row 60/40 Tilt 'n Slide reclining seat, third-row 50/50 split-folding seat, and remote engine starting.
Journey Lux ($32,740) and Lux AWD ($34,440) get leather upholstery, heated front seats, rearview camera, rear park assist, Bluetooth streaming audio, pre-programmed hands-free texting, and chrome alloy wheels.
Options include the Flexible Seating Group ($995) with a third-row 50/50 folding/reclining seat, second-row 60/40 Tilt 'n Slide seat, and three-zone temperature control (including the rear). A Navigation and Sound Group ($1,695) includes six premium Infinity speakers with subwoofer and 368-watt amplifier, Garmin navigation, 30-gigabyte hard-drive, rear park assist, rearview camera, UConnect Phone, six premium Infinity speakers with subwoofer and 368-watt amplifier, and voice command. Rear DVD entertainment comes with the Infinity sound system ($845) and Sirius Backseat TV can be added ($525). Stand-alone options consist of an engine block heater ($95), sunroof ($845), heated front seats ($250), integrated second-row child safety seats ($225), and a Trailer Tow Group ($145) with an engine oil cooler and a four-pin connector.
Safety features on all Journey models include advanced multistage front airbags; torso-protecting, seat-mounted front side air bags; head-protecting curtain side airbags that cover all seating rows; front-seat active head restraints; a tire-pressure monitor; traction control; electronic stability control with rollover mitigation; ABS with brake assist; and Dodge's trailer sway control. Available all-wheel drive improves stability in slippery conditions.
More Journey Information
Journey News
Dodge Dealers
2012 Dodge Journey trims (7)
Trim Family Crew R/T SE/AVP SXT
(SE/AVP) 4dr Front-wheel Drive
(SXT) 4dr Front-wheel Drive
(SXT) 4dr All-wheel Drive
(Crew) 4dr Front-wheel Drive
(R/T) 4dr Front-wheel Drive
(Crew) 4dr All-wheel Drive
(R/T) 4dr All-wheel Drive


text:
Podcast of the Technology Policy Institute of Washington, D.C.
The Technology Policy Institute is a think tank that focuses on the economics of innovation, technological change, and related regulation in the United States and around the world. Our mission is to advance knowledge and inform policymakers by producing independent, rigorous research and by sponsoring educational programs and conferences on major issues affecting information technology and communications policy.
Two Think Minimum Technology Policy Institute
Diane Coyle on How Economics Can Evolve with a Changing World
Professor Diane Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. Professor Coyle co-directs the Bennett Institute where she heads research under the themes of progress and productivity. She is also a Director of the Productivity Institute, a Fellow of the Office for National Statistics, an expert adviser to the National Infrastructure Commission, and Senior Independent Member of the ESRC Council. She has served in public service roles including as Vice Chair of the BBC Trust, member of the Competition Commission, of the Migration Advisory Committee and of the Natural Capital Committee. Professor Coyle was awarded a CBE for her contribution to the public understanding of economics in the 2018 New Year Honours. Her new book, "Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be," is available now.
Catherine Tucker on Algorithmic Bias
Catherine Tucker is the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management Science, Professor of Marketing, Chair of the MIT Sloan Ph.D. Program, a co-founder of the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab, which studies the applications of blockchain, and also a co-organizer of the Economics of Artificial Intelligence Initiatives sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Her research interests lie in how technology allows firms to use digital data and machine learning to improve performance, and in the challenges this poses for regulation. Professor Tucker has particular expertise in online advertising, digital health, social media, and electronic privacy. Her research studies the interface between marketing and the economics of technology and law. She holds a BA from the University of Oxford and a PhD in economics from Stanford University.
Adam White on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Adam White is the Co-Executive Director of the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. Adam is also a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. Adam has served on the Leadership Councils for the Administrative Law Sections of both the ABA and the Federalist Society. After clerking for Judge David B. Sentelle of the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, Adam practiced constitutional and regulatory law in Washington with special focus on energy infrastructure regulation, financial regulation, administrative law, and constitutional separation of powers.
Larry White on Antitrust & Market Delineation of Monopolization Cases
Dr. Larry White is the Robert Kavesh Professor of Economics at the NYU Stern School. He's also General Editor of the Review of Industrial Organization and the author of numerous articles and books on industrial organization, antitrust, general regulation, and financial & bank regulation. He has also held a number of senior government positions: Senior Staff Member of the Council of Economic Advisors, Member of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, and Chief Economist at the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice.
Clifford Winston on Markets Helping Government
Dr. Clifford Winston is a senior fellow in the Brookings Institution's Economic Studies Program. He joined TPI Distinguished Senior Fellow Bob Hahn to discuss his book, "Gaining Ground: Markets Helping Government," which was published earlier this year by Brookings. This podcast is part of our special series on evidence-based policy.
Xiaomeng Lu on China's Tech Crackdown
Xiaomeng Lu is a Director in the Eurasia Group's Geotechnology Practice, where she focuses on the interactions of emerging technologies with geopolitics, market dynamics, and regulatory norms. Before joining the Eurasia Group, she was the China Practice Lead at the consulting firm, Access Partnership, where she helped top US financial and cloud service providers enter China's market.
brenna6872 , 12/21/2020
Really interesting topic! Using to supplement my own research in tech policy.
lacroixwtr , 03/09/2018
Wash DC, tech economics politics
Smart tech policy talk, this is a great podcast!
Into the Metaverse
Bloomberg Intelligence
Conversations with Tyler
Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Russ Roberts
The Privacy Advisor Podcast
Jedidiah Bracy, IAPP Editorial Director
WSJ Tech News Briefing


To foster and encourage thriving communities where all children and families can live healthy, safe, and poroductive lives.
Our work focuses on policy and systems change at the local level. We work to influence decisions at the city council, board of supervisors and school district board of trustees level.
We have 4 working groups we call action teams: Neighborhoods Action Team, Schools Action Team, Prevention Action Team, and Youth Action Team. Each action team focuses on specific areas to improve health and increase opportunities for residents in southeast, central, and southwest Fresno.


disorders of the body little by little.
for there is a great intention in the mind of God.
I am making a distinction in each of your minds.
from those which are self centered.
God will at this time make the distinction clear.
and will at this time make the distinction clear (illness as guidance).
God looks for the sincerity of the mind.
various talks, the real truth has not been seen (guidance not seen).
I shall never tell you anything that will become false.
will never become false through time.
think my words to be worldly common.
be convinced, you and all minds.
but there must be pondering (understanding) in everyone's mind.
God will assuredly certainly save her.
What do you think of this salvation?
She will be able to go outside in three days or God will go out in three days (related to Kokan's illness).
still perhaps you cannot understand concerning the Original mind's location (we direct our prayer there).
At this time, I shall reveal all things (bring upon guidance).
you might take them as being from a human being.
I shall give my talks at a different place at this time (where Kokan is being taken care of).
unlimited workings of God always work in this way (see next verse).
but perhaps there is no pondering.
as I am able to. I shall begin (Guiding early followers by Kokan's illness).
it is only after giving every notice (thru Ofudesaki) of it step by step.
but the thought is wrong.
for you to know the free and unlimited workings of God (God's guidance).
In the future, there is an expectation (purpose for her).
In the future, God will take charge of everything.
because there is a causality of origin. (Kokan was one of the instruments at creation).
To explain what the causality is about.
She is an instrument of at the origin in the beginning of human beings.
and bring about marvelous salvation (when all mankind purified).
This will become the divine record of nihon.
returned home to be saved completely.
but tried to care for her there.
there would have been no suffering or anxiety.
you did not heed the words of God.
lean on God in all matters whatever.
You should never go against what God says.
The heart of the one selected to become the Shrine of God is blocked.
The mind of God is truly worried.
are doing your own work only with self centered thoughts.
Ponder over this path, all my children.
There is no knowing what kind of path this is.
I shall inform you of everything in advance.
All of you may be wondering why I say such things.
It is from my love for my children.
make you understand the innermost heart (pure mind)?
because I fear the path you are taking (fear of path of bad causality).
From now on, I shall tell you about everything.
Never think of it as being false.
Hear me clearly on the present work of God.
I shall do nothing evil.
marvelous salvation by all means.
and become the mind filled with joy.
You may be wondering how one becomes such a mind.
If only God enters the body (gives us blessings/ guidance).
and become the mind filled with joy (only if we ponder over guidance).
God will work to make the world be filled with joy.
Whatever I say, you must all ponder.
for seventy more years, neither falling ill nor weakening.
existed before at any place. Listen with this and ponder.
watch the future, everything is the truth.
whatever I say is about things that do not yet exist.
but watch the future, the miracles (guidance) you shall see.
but the future will bring delight to your mind.
because they are to be the divine record for eternity.
I shall make all of the divine record of nihon.
Kunisazuchi (Kokan), and tsukiyomi (Shuji).
and began preparation to train them in all matters.
Whatever I say, it is all by God.
You who are close to me, imitate me if you can.
I have not yet told the real truth.
when I must tell you the truth of all matters.
Whatever is said to you, do not wonder.
It is said just as God intends to say.
never think that it is caused by your individual minds.
and will return. Wait and see.
no one can rival (match) the mind of God.
If tightness comes upon your chest, God is hastening you to purify one's mind. God will start working step by step. This is God's guidance.
God telling people that there is only one location where the prayers are directed toward, which is the location of the original mind. God wants the people who are taking care of Kokan (shrine of God) to return her to the residence of God (Jiba). There can not be any other location where our prayers can be directed towards.
God saying that the suffering must be great at this place, but these are God' guidance. God is warning the people taking care of Kokan. God warns them to ponder what is happening to her. God assures that she will become healthy if they listen to God.
God promises Kokan will be healthy in 3 days, but no one understands. The people did not return her, and Kokan passes away for rebirth.
God tells the people that her suffering was in vain, and she could have been saved if they listened to God. They need to purify their minds, and lean on God. God never tells anything that is not true.
God says that he sees the mind of the world, and he sees their future; but people do not understand causality, and only have self centered minds.
God explains that Kokan was one of the instrument at creation, and God will continue to train her, and bring upon world salvation.
God telling people that God warns the early followers by the Ofudesaki, and enters their bodies to provide guidance in the form of illness to purify their minds.
God says one can purify his or her mind by God entering the body, and provide guidance in the form of illness. When one ponders over the illness, and removes evil from the mind, the body heals, and one becomes spirited.


text:
G-Class G 550 4x4 Squared SUV
2017 Mercedes-Benz G-Class G 550 4x4 Squared SUV
2017 G550 4x4 Squared, Low Miles, Clean Carfax, Under Factory Warranty, Rare!!!
This 4x4 Squared is beautifully finished in Silver with subtle accents in matte black. With just over 5,300 Miles, this Carfax Certified 2 Owner Squared will not disappoint.
Complete with both Keys and Owner's Manuals, the 4x4 retains 14 months of its factory warranty. With an estimated 500 units made for the world and only 300 for the US Market, this is one incredible value.
About the G Wagon
The G-wagon is characterized by its boxy styling and body-on-frame construction. It uses three fully locking differentials, one of the few vehicles to have such a feature. The G-Class is one of the longest produced Mercedes-Benz in Daimler's history, with a span of 35 years.
Development started in 1972, focusing on off-road abilities and maximum safety and comfort; with a cooperative agreement between Daimler-Benz and Steyr-Daimler-Puch in Graz, Austria. Mercedes-Benz engineers in Stuttgart were in charge of design and testing, while the team in Graz developed the production plans. The first wooden model was presented to Daimler-Benz management in 1973, with the first drivable prototype beginning various testing including German coalfields, the Sahara Desert, and the Arctic Circle in 1974.
Construction commenced on a new production facility in Graz, where the new cross-country vehicle would be assembled nearly entirely by hand in 1975, with production of the "G Model" beginning in Graz in 1979. In 1980, the Vatican took delivery of a specially made G-Wagon outfitted with a clear thermoplastic top which served as the Popemobile. The "Papa G" later took up permanent residence at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.
The G-class was developed as a military vehicle from a suggestion by the Shah of Iran to Mercedes and offered as a civilian version in 1979. In this role it is sometimes referred to as the "Wolf". The Peugeot P4 was a variant made under license in France with a Peugeot engine. The first military in the world to use it was the Argentine Army beginning in 1981 with the military model 461.
It was not available from Mercedes-Benz in the United States until 2002, although this was preceded by a grey-market where even basic models commanded six-figure prices in the 1990s.
It was launched in 2002 as the Mercedes-Benz G500 with a V-8 petrol engine and achieved 3,114 sales that year. This eventually tapered down to less than 1,000 models sold in some years.
However, in the 2010s, sales began to increase again surpassing the 3,000 mark in 2014 and in 2015, it sold more than during its launch year; with 3,616 sold that year. In 2016 this increased to 3950 in the United States.
Many iterations of the G-Wagon have been produced, most recently the G550 4X4 Squared.
4×4² was an earlier concept vehicle brought into production in 2015. The vehicle was fitted with 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 petrol engine delivering 416 bhp and 450 lb ft of torque. The model combines the body of a regular long-wheelbase Mercedes G-wagon with the portal gear axles of the much larger Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6. This version also has a wider track compared to regular model.
G500 4×4² has three differentials and seven-speed automatic gear box with a ground clearance of 410mm. The car was launched at the Geneva motor show 2015. The name of the show car G 500 4×4² version was Extreme-G, and the positive response to this concept helped endorse the development of the production version.
Although exact production numbers have not been officially released, it is estimated that 500 units were produced world wide with approximately 300 units coming to the US, making this an extremely rare vehicle.
WDCYC5FF3HX279024


text:
Celebrate Innovation LIVE! 12
| Ankeny, IA
Presented By: Des Moines Area Community College
Dates: March 10, 2021 - March 11, 2021
Location: Virtual - online
Price: Free & Open to Public
The Celebrate! Innovation (ciLive! 12) annual speaker series at Des Moines Area Community College will be held virtually March 10-11 and will livestream all speaker presentations via e360tv, YouTube and Facebook Live, DMACC announced this week. This year's presenters include a NASA analog astronaut, a leading oceanographer, a top wilderness survivalist, a classical violinist and composer, a world-renowned primatologist and wildlife correspondent for the National Geographic Channel, and Discovery Channel ghost hunters, DMACC said in a statement. The full list of speakers and more information is available online.


2019-20 Grad Course Schedule will be posted shortly.
Note: Course listings are tentative. Specific course offerings are subject to change.
(**) in front of the course title indicates course satisfies the pre-1900 requirement.


text:
@implementation SelectLevelScene

@synthesize stage;

+ (id) scene {
	CCScene* scene = [CCScene node];
	SelectLevelScene* layer = [SelectLevelScene node];
	[scene addChild:layer];
	return scene;
}

- (id) init {
	if((self=[super init])) {
		NSLog(@"SelectLevelScene init");

		self.isTouchEnabled = YES;
		levelToLoad = -1;
		levelLoading = FALSE;
		sound = ((SkeletonKeyAppDelegate*)([UIApplication sharedApplication].delegate)).sound;
		levels = ((SkeletonKeyAppDelegate*)([UIApplication sharedApplication].delegate)).levels;
		gameData = ((SkeletonKeyAppDelegate*)([UIApplication sharedApplication].delegate)).gameData;
		options = ((SkeletonKeyAppDelegate*)([UIApplication sharedApplication].delegate)).options;

		// background
		CCSprite* background;
		switch(gameData.stage) {
			case GameStageForest:
				background = [CCSprite spriteWithFile:@"select_level_background_forest.png"];
				break;
			case GameStageCaves:
				background = [CCSprite spriteWithFile:@"select_level_background_caves.png"];
				break;
			case GameStageBeach:
				background = [CCSprite spriteWithFile:@"select_level_background_beach.png"];
				break;
			case GameStageShip:
				background = [CCSprite spriteWithFile:@"select_level_background_ship.png"];
				break;
		}
		background.position = ccp(160, 240);
		[self addChild:background];

		// header
		CCSprite* header = [CCSprite spriteWithFile:@"select_level_header.png"];
		header.position = ccp(191.5, 445);
		[self addChild:header z:2];

		// back menu
		CCMenuItemImage* backItem = [CCMenuItemImage itemFromNormalImage:@"select_level_back.png"
														   selectedImage:@"select_level_back2.png"
																  target:self selector:@selector(onBack:)];
		CCMenu* backMenu = [CCMenu menuWithItems:backItem, nil];
		[backMenu alignItemsHorizontallyWithPadding:0];
		backMenu.position = ccp(31.5, 445);
		[self addChild:backMenu z:2];

		// easy, medium, hard buttons
		easy = [CCSprite spriteWithFile:@"select_level_easy.png"];
		easy.position = ccp(52.5, 25);
		[self addChild:easy z:2];
		medium = [CCSprite spriteWithFile:@"select_level_medium.png"];
		medium.position = ccp(160, 25);
		[self addChild:medium z:2];
		hard = [CCSprite spriteWithFile:@"select_level_hard.png"];
		hard.position = ccp(267.5, 25);
		[self addChild:hard z:2];

		// display the level numbers
		startingLevel = 0;
		switch(gameData.stage) {
			case GameStageForest: startingLevel = 1; break;
			case GameStageCaves: startingLevel = 31; break;
			case GameStageBeach: startingLevel = 61; break;
			case GameStageShip: startingLevel = 91; break;
		}
		float x = 32, y = 380;
		for(int i=startingLevel; i<startingLevel+30; i++) {
			Level* level = [levels.levels objectAtIndex:i-1];
			CCLabelTTF* num = [CCLabelTTF labelWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%i",i]
												 fontName:@"deutsch.ttf" fontSize:30];
			num.position = ccp(x, y);
			[self addChild:num z:2 tag:SelectLevelTagNums+i];

			// display stars for perfect levels
			if(level.perfect) {
				CCSprite* perfect = [CCSprite spriteWithFile:@"select_level_perfect.png"];
				perfect.position = ccp(x+22, y-20);
				[self addChild:perfect z:3];
			}

			// update coordinates
			x += 64;
			if(x > 288) {
				x = 32;
				y -= 60;
			}
		}
		[self updateDifficulty];
	}
	return self;
}

- (void) onBack:(id)sender {
	NSLog(@"SelectLevelScene onBack");
	[sound playClick];
    if(gameData.returnToGame) {
        [gameData loadGame];
        [[CCDirector sharedDirector] replaceScene:[CCTransitionPageTurn transitionWithDuration:0.3 scene:[GameScene scene] backwards:YES]];
    } else {
        [[CCDirector sharedDirector] replaceScene:[CCTransitionPageTurn transitionWithDuration:0.3 scene:[MenuScene scene] backwards:YES]];
    }
}

- (void) updateDifficulty {
	switch(options.difficulty) {
		case GameDifficultyEasy:
			easy.opacity = 255;
			medium.opacity = 64;
			hard.opacity = 64;
			break;
		case GameDifficultyMedium:
			easy.opacity = 64;
			medium.opacity = 255;
			hard.opacity = 64;
			break;
		case GameDifficultyHard:
			easy.opacity = 64;
			medium.opacity = 64;
			hard.opacity = 255;
			break;
	}

	for(int i=startingLevel; i<startingLevel+30; i++) {
		Level* level = (Level*)[levels.levels objectAtIndex:i-1];
		CCLabelTTF* num = (CCLabelTTF*)[self getChildByTag:SelectLevelTagNums+i];

		BOOL dimm = TRUE;
		switch(options.difficulty) {
			case GameDifficultyEasy:
				if(level.complete_easy) dimm = FALSE;
				break;
			case GameDifficultyMedium:
				if(level.complete_medium) dimm = FALSE;
				break;
			case GameDifficultyHard:
				if(level.complete_hard) dimm = FALSE;
				break;
		}
		if(dimm) {
			num.opacity = 64;
		} else {
            num.opacity = 255;
        }
	}
}

- (void) registerWithTouchDispatcher {
	[[CCTouchDispatcher sharedDispatcher] addTargetedDelegate:self priority:0 swallowsTouches:YES];
}

- (BOOL)ccTouchBegan:(UITouch *)touch withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
	touchStart = [self convertTouchToNodeSpace:touch];
    return YES;
}

- (void)ccTouchEnded:(UITouch *)touch withEvent:(UIEvent *)event {
	CGPoint touchEnd = [self convertTouchToNodeSpace:touch];
	float x = touchEnd.x;
	float y = touchEnd.y;

	// check difficulty
	if(y < 50) {
		// easy
		if(x < 105) {
			options.difficulty = GameDifficultyEasy;
			NSLog(@"SelectLevelScene changed difficulty to easy");
		}
		// medium
		else if(x >= 105 && x < 215) {
			options.difficulty = GameDifficultyMedium;
			NSLog(@"SelectLevelScene changed difficulty to medium");
		}
		// hard
		else {
			options.difficulty = GameDifficultyHard;
			NSLog(@"SelectLevelScene changed difficulty to hard");
		}

		// save settings
		[sound playClick];
		[options save];
		[self updateDifficulty];
		return;
	}

	// check levels
	if(y >= 50 && y < 410) {
		// see which level is selected
		int levelX = (int)(x/64);
		int levelY = (int)((y-50)/60);
		int level = (5*(5-levelY))+levelX+startingLevel;
		NSLog(@"SelectLevelScene touched level %i (%ix%i)", level, levelX, levelY);

		// highlight the label
		CCLabelTTF* num = (CCLabelTTF*)[self getChildByTag:50+level];
		num.color = ccc3(255, 196, 0);
		num.opacity = 255;

		// trigger the load level event
		[sound playClick];
		levelToLoad = level;
		[self runAction:[CCSequence actions:
						 [CCDelayTime actionWithDuration:0.2f],
						 [CCCallFunc actionWithTarget:self selector:@selector(loadLevel:)],
						 nil]];

        return;
	}
}

- (void) loadLevel:(id)sender {
	if(levelLoading) return;
	levelLoading = TRUE;

	// change music
	[sound startMusicGameplay];

	// load level, start game
	gameData.level = levelToLoad;
	[gameData loadLevel];
	[[CCDirector sharedDirector] replaceScene:[CCTransitionFade transitionWithDuration:0.5 scene:[GameScene scene]]];
}

- (void) dealloc {
	NSLog(@"SelectLevelScene dealloc");
	[super dealloc];
}

@end


description Advertising yo-yo for the band, Blink 182. Only 182 of these advertising yoyos were made exclusively for the I Am Broke Sale 2011. Sold for $9.90 on the website and three times that price on eBay.