text:
By viewing our content, you are accepting the use of cookies. Please contact
us with any queries on information privacy.
More information
SMP » Press Releases
SAN FRANCISCO/PRNewswire/ -- TripIt, the leading mobile trip organizer from Concur(Nasdaq: CNQR), today announced an update to the TripIt app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, giving travelers an easy way to find nearby restaurants and shops, upload photos and make changes to their itinerary from anywhere.
Gone are the days of searching aimlessly for a parked car at the airport. Now, travelers can simply snap a photo using their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and attach it directly to the flight information in their TripIt itinerary before it becomes a distant memory upon their return. Photos can also be helpful for capturing baggage claim tickets, receipts, hotel room numbers or items to remember later.
In addition, trip plans are now automatically displayed on a map, making it easy for travelers to find a restaurant, print shop or pharmacy near their hotel while on the road. With the click of a button, new discoveries from the traveler's map search can be added to their itinerary, or they can get point-by-point directions.
"We're always looking for new ways to provide a helping hand on the road," says Nancy Ramamurthi, VP of Product Management and Marketing for TripIt. "Now, it's much easier for travelers with an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to easily find places to go near their hotel or a meeting, and keep them organized alongside all their other trip plans."
Travelers already familiar with the TripIt app will also recognize a new, improved way to add, edit or delete trip plans right from the app.
TripIt instantly organizes all travel reservations and activities no matter where they're booked into one helpful itinerary, which can easily be shared with others.
The TripIt app is available for free from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or atwww.itunes.com/appstore. An ad-free version is also available for $3.99.
About TripIt
TripIt®, the leading mobile travel organizer from Concur® (Nasdaq: CNQR), makes it easy for millions of travelers to organize and share their trips. Simply forward confirmation emails from anywhere you book to email@example.com and TripIt automagically creates one simple, smart itinerary to access on a smartphone, calendar, or anywhere online. For even greater peace of mind while traveling, TripIt Pro acts like a personal travel assistant that keeps travelers in the know regarding flight status, alternate flights, and more; tracks all frequent traveler points in one place; and monitors eligible flights for fare refunds. TripIt for Business is an easier way for companies to organize office travel; keep track of who's traveling when and where, and whether travel dollars are being spent wisely. For more information, please visitwww.tripit.com and follow @TripIt at http://twitter.com/tripit.
About Concur
Concur® is a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions for companies of all sizes. Concur's easy-to-use web-based and mobile solutions help companies and their employees control costs and save time. Learn more at www.concur.com.
SOURCE TripIt
Social Media Portal - Mapping global social media, social networks and user generated content (UGC)
© Elemental Communications Ltd. All rights reserved |
Terms |
Privacy |
Accessibility |
FAQs |
Your Account |
Search |


text:
This article will be permanently flagged as inappropriate and made unaccessible to everyone.
Are you certain this article is inappropriate?
Excessive Violence
Sexual Content
Political / Social
Email Address:
Article Id:
Reproduction Date:
Tulip mania or tulipomania (Dutch names include: tulpenmanie, tulpomanie, tulpenwoede, tulpengekte and bollengekte) was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed.[2]
At the peak of tulip mania, in March 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble (or economic bubble),[3] although some researchers have noted that the Kipper- und Wipperzeit episode in 1619–22, a Europe-wide chain of debasement of the metal content of coins to fund warfare, featured mania-like similarities to a bubble.[4] The term "tulip mania" is now often used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble (when asset prices deviate from intrinsic values).[5]
The 1637 event was popularized in 1841 by the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, written by British journalist Charles Mackay. According to Mackay, at one point 12 acres (5 ha) of land were offered for a Semper augustus bulb.[6] Mackay claims that many such investors were ruined by the fall in prices, and Dutch commerce suffered a severe shock. Although Mackay's book is a classic, his account is contested. Many modern scholars feel that the mania was not as extraordinary as Mackay described and argue that not enough price data are available to prove that a tulip bulb bubble actually occurred.[7][8]
Research is difficult because of the limited economic data from the 1630s—much of which come from biased and very speculative sources.[9][10] Some modern economists have proposed rational explanations, rather than a speculative mania, for the rise and fall in prices. For example, other flowers, such as the hyacinth, also had high initial prices at the time of their introduction, which immediately fell. The high asset prices may also have been driven by expectations of a parliamentary decree that contracts could be voided for a small cost—thus lowering the risk to buyers.
The introduction of the tulip to Europe is usually attributed to Ogier de Busbecq, the ambassador of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor to the Sultan of Turkey, who sent the first tulip bulbs and seeds to Vienna in 1554 from the Ottoman Empire.[11] Tulip bulbs were soon distributed from Vienna to Augsburg, Antwerp and Amsterdam.[12] Its popularity and cultivation in the United Provinces (now the Netherlands)[13] is generally thought to have started in earnest around 1593 after the Flemish botanist Carolus Clusius had taken up a post at the University of Leiden and established the hortus academicus.[14] He planted his collection of tulip bulbs and found they were able to tolerate the harsher conditions of the Low Countries;[15] shortly thereafter the tulip began to grow in popularity.[16]
The tulip was different from every other flower known to Europe at that time, with a saturated intense petal color that no other plant had. The appearance of the non pareil tulip as a status symbol at this time coincides with the rise of newly independent Holland's trade fortunes. No longer the Spanish Netherlands, its economic resources could now be channeled into commerce and the country embarked on its Golden Age. Amsterdam merchants were at the center of the lucrative East Indies trade, where one voyage could yield profits of 400%.[17] The new merchant class displayed and validated its success, primarily by setting up grand estates surrounded by flower gardens, and the plant that had pride of place was the sensational tulip.
As a result, tulips rapidly became a coveted luxury item, and a profusion of varieties followed. They were classified in groups: the single-hued tulips of red, yellow, or white were known as Couleren; the multicolored Rosen (white streaks on a red or pink background), Violetten (white streaks on a purple or lilac background), and the rarest of all, the Bizarden (Bizarres), (yellow or white streaks on a red, brown or purple background).[18] The multicolor effects of intricate lines and flame-like streaks on the petals were vivid and spectacular and made the bulbs that produced these even more exotic-looking plants highly sought-after. It is now known that this effect is due to the bulbs being infected with a type of tulip-specific mosaic virus, known as the "Tulip breaking virus", so called because it "breaks" the one petal color into two or more.[19][20]
The tulip was itself a conspirator in the supply-squeeze that fueled the speculation, in that it is grown from a bulb that cannot be produced quickly. Normally it takes 7–12 years to grow a flowering bulb from seed; bulbs can produce both seeds and two or three bud clones, or offsets, annually, but the "mother bulb" lasts only a few years. Properly cultivated, the "daughter offsets" will become flowering bulbs after one to three years. Before the demand for the "broken" tulips, virus-free bulbs producing ordinary single-color varieties were sold by the pound. Once affected by the virus, the "broken" exotics were an extremely limited commodity because the sought-after "breaking pattern" can only be reproduced through offsets, not seeds, as only the bulb is affected by the mosaic virus. Unfortunately, the virus that produced the sought-after effects also acted adversely on the bulb, weakening it and retarding propagation of offsets, so cultivating the most appealing varieties now took even longer. Taking this into account, quite probably from the time the speculation started until its collapse, the number of rare bulbs that changed hands so feverishly never increased beyond the original number.
The beautiful effects of the virus made the flamboyant and extravagant plants highly coveted, and because they were rare and desirable, they were expensive. Given that, it is not surprising growers named their new varieties with exalted titles. Many early forms were prefixed Admirael ("admiral"), often combined with the growers' names: Admirael van der Eijck for example, was perhaps the most highly regarded of about fifty so named. Generael ("general") was another prefix used for around thirty varieties. Later varieties were given even more extravagant names, derived from Alexander the Great or Scipio, or even "Admiral of Admirals" and "General of Generals". However, naming could be haphazard and varieties highly variable in quality.[21] Most of these varieties have now died out,[22] though virus-free variegated-bred tulips continue in the trade.
In the Northern Hemisphere, tulips bloom in April and May for about one week. During the plant's dormant phase from (Northern Hemisphere) June to September, bulbs can be uprooted and moved about, so actual purchases (in the spot market) occurred during these months.[23] During the rest of the year, florists, or tulip traders, signed contracts before a notary to buy tulips at the end of the season (effectively futures contracts).[23] Thus the Dutch, who developed many of the techniques of modern finance, created a market for tulip bulbs, which were durable goods.[13] Short selling was banned by an edict of 1610, which was reiterated or strengthened in 1621 and 1630, and again in 1636. Short sellers were not prosecuted under these edicts, but their contracts were deemed unenforceable.[24]
As the flowers grew in popularity, professional growers paid higher and higher prices for bulbs with the virus, and prices rose steadily. By 1634, in part as a result of demand from the French, speculators began to enter the market.[26] The contract price of rare bulbs continued to rise throughout 1636, but by November, the price of common, "unbroken" bulbs also began to increase, so that soon any tulip bulb could fetch hundreds of guilders. That year the Dutch created a type of formal futures markets where contracts to buy bulbs at the end of the season were bought and sold. Traders met in "colleges" at taverns and buyers were required to pay a 2.5% "wine money" fee, up to a maximum of three guilders per trade. Neither party paid an initial margin nor a mark-to-market margin, and all contracts were with the individual counter-parties rather than with the Exchange. The Dutch described tulip contract trading as windhandel (literally "wind trade"), because no bulbs were actually changing hands. The entire business was accomplished on the margins of Dutch economic life, not in the Exchange itself.[27]
By 1636 the tulip bulb became the fourth leading export product of the Netherlands, after gin, herring and cheese. The price of tulips skyrocketed because of speculation in tulip futures among people who never saw the bulbs. Many men made and lost fortunes overnight.[28]
Tulip mania reached its peak during the winter of 1636–37, when some bulbs were reportedly changing hands ten times in a day. No deliveries were ever made to fulfil any of these contracts, because in February 1637, tulip bulb contract prices collapsed abruptly and the trade of tulips ground to a halt.[29] The collapse began in Haarlem, when, for the first time, buyers apparently refused to show up at a routine bulb auction. This may have been because Haarlem was then at the height of an outbreak of bubonic plague. While the existence of the plague may have helped create a culture of fatalistic risk-taking that allowed the speculation to skyrocket in the first place, this outbreak might also have helped to burst the bubble.[30]
The lack of consistently recorded price data from the 1630s makes the extent of the tulip mania difficult to estimate. The bulk of available data comes from anti-speculative pamphlets by "Gaergoedt and Warmondt" (GW) written just after the bubble. Economist Peter Garber collected data on the sales of 161 bulbs of 39 varieties between 1633 and 1637, with 53 being recorded by GW. Ninety-eight sales were recorded for the last date of the bubble, 5 February 1637, at wildly varying prices. The sales were made using several market mechanisms: futures trading at the colleges, spot sales by growers, notarized futures sales by growers, and estate sales. "To a great extent, the available price data are a blend of apples and oranges", according to Garber.[31]
The modern discussion of tulip mania began with the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, published in 1841 by the Scottish journalist Charles Mackay; he proposed that crowds of people often behave irrationally, and tulip mania was, along with the South Sea Bubble and the Mississippi Company scheme, one of his primary examples. His account was largely sourced to a 1797 work by Johann Beckmann titled A History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins. In fact, Beckmann's account, and thus Mackay's by association, was primarily sourced to three anonymous pamphlets published in 1637 with an anti-speculative agenda.[33] Mackay's vivid book was popular among generations of economists and stock market participants. His popular but flawed description of tulip mania as a speculative bubble remains prominent, even though since the 1980s economists have debunked many aspects of his account.[33]
According to Mackay, the growing popularity of tulips in the early 17th century caught the attention of the entire nation; "the population, even to its lowest dregs, embarked in the tulip trade".[6] By 1635, a sale of 40 bulbs for 100,000 florins (also known as Dutch guilders) was recorded. By way of comparison, a ton of butter cost around 100 florins, a skilled laborer might earn 150 florins a year, and "eight fat swine" cost 240 florins.[6] (According to the International Institute of Social History, one florin had the purchasing power of €10.28 in 2002.[34])
By 1636 tulips were traded on the exchanges of numerous Dutch towns and cities. This encouraged trading in tulips by all members of society; Mackay recounted people selling or trading their other possessions in order to speculate in the tulip market, such as an offer of 12 acres (49,000 m2) of land for one of two existing Semper augustus bulbs, or a single bulb of the Viceroy that was purchased for a basket of goods (shown in table) worth 2,500 florins.[32]
Many individuals grew suddenly rich. A golden bait hung temptingly out before the people, and, one after the other, they rushed to the tulip marts, like flies around a honey-pot. Every one imagined that the passion for tulips would last for ever, and that the wealthy from every part of the world would send to Holland, and pay whatever prices were asked for them. The riches of Europe would be concentrated on the shores of the Zuyder Zee, and poverty banished from the favoured clime of Holland. Nobles, citizens, farmers, mechanics, seamen, footmen, maidservants, even chimney sweeps and old clotheswomen, dabbled in tulips.[6]
The increasing mania contributed several amusing, but unlikely, anecdotes that Mackay recounted, such as a sailor who mistook the valuable tulip bulb of a merchant for an onion and grabbed it to eat. The merchant and his family chased the sailor to find him "eating a breakfast whose cost might have regaled a whole ship's crew for a twelvemonth". The sailor was jailed for eating the bulb.[6] Tulips are poisonous if prepared incorrectly, taste bad, and are considered to be only marginally edible even during famines.[35]
People were purchasing bulbs at higher and higher prices, intending to re-sell them for a profit. However, such a scheme could not last unless someone was ultimately willing to pay such high prices and take possession of the bulbs. In February 1637, tulip traders could no longer find new buyers willing to pay increasingly inflated prices for their bulbs. As this realization set in, the demand for tulips collapsed, and prices plummeted—the speculative bubble burst. Some were left holding contracts to purchase tulips at prices now ten times greater than those on the open market, while others found themselves in possession of bulbs now worth a fraction of the price they had paid. Mackay claims the Dutch devolved into distressed accusations and recriminations against others in the trade.[6]
In Mackay's account, the panicked tulip speculators sought help from the government of the Netherlands, which responded by declaring that anyone who had bought contracts to purchase bulbs in the future could void their contract by payment of a 10 percent fee. Attempts were made to resolve the situation to the satisfaction of all parties, but these were unsuccessful. The mania finally ended, Mackay says, with individuals stuck with the bulbs they held at the end of the crash—no court would enforce payment of a contract, since judges regarded the debts as contracted through gambling, and thus not enforceable by law.[6]
According to Mackay, lesser tulip manias also occurred in other parts of Europe, although matters never reached the state they had in the Netherlands. He also claimed that the aftermath of the tulip price deflation led to a widespread economic chill throughout the Netherlands for many years afterwards.[6]
Mackay's account of inexplicable mania was unchallenged, and mostly unexamined, until the 1980s.[36] However, research into tulip mania since then, especially by proponents of the efficient-market hypothesis,[8] suggests that his story was incomplete and inaccurate. In her 2007 scholarly analysis Tulipmania, Anne Goldgar states that the phenomenon was limited to "a fairly small group", and that most accounts from the period "are based on one or two contemporary pieces of propaganda and a prodigious amount of plagiarism".[9] Peter Garber argues that the bubble "was no more than a meaningless winter drinking game, played by a plague-ridden population that made use of the vibrant tulip market."[37]
While Mackay's account held that a wide array of society was involved in the tulip trade, Goldgar's study of archived contracts found that even at its peak the trade in tulips was conducted almost exclusively by merchants and skilled craftsmen who were wealthy, but not members of the nobility.[38] Any economic fallout from the bubble was very limited. Goldgar, who identified many prominent buyers and sellers in the market, found fewer than half a dozen who experienced financial troubles in the time period, and even of these cases it is not clear that tulips were to blame.[39] This is not altogether surprising. Although prices had risen, money had not changed hands between buyers and sellers. Thus profits were never realized for sellers; unless sellers had made other purchases on credit in expectation of the profits, the collapse in prices did not cause anyone to lose money.[40]
There is no dispute that prices for tulip bulb contracts rose and then fell in 1636–37, but even a dramatic rise and fall in prices does not necessarily mean that an economic or speculative bubble developed and then burst. For tulip mania to have qualified as an economic bubble, the price of tulip bulbs would need to have become unhinged from the intrinsic value of the bulbs. Modern economists have advanced several possible reasons for why the rise and fall in prices may not have constituted a bubble.[41]
The increases of the 1630s corresponded with a lull in the Thirty Years' War.[42] Hence market prices (at least initially) were responding rationally to a rise in demand. However, the fall in prices was faster and more dramatic than the rise. Data on sales largely disappeared after the February 1637 collapse in prices, but a few other data points on bulb prices after tulip mania show that bulbs continued to lose value for decades thereafter.
Garber compared the available price data on tulips to hyacinth prices at the beginning of the 19th century—when the hyacinth replaced the tulip as the fashionable flower—and found a similar pattern. When hyacinths were introduced florists strove with one another to grow beautiful hyacinth flowers, as demand was strong. However, as people became more accustomed to hyacinths the prices began to fall. The most expensive bulbs fell to 1 to 2 percent of their peak value within 30 years.[43] Garber also notes that, "a small quantity of prototype lily bulbs recently was sold for 1 million guilders ($US480,000 at 1987 exchange rates)", demonstrating that even in the modern world, flowers can command extremely high prices.[44] Additionally, because the rise in prices occurred after bulbs were planted for the year, growers would not have had an opportunity to increase production in response to price.[45]
UCLA economics professor Earl A. Thompson argues in a 2007 paper that Garber's explanation cannot account for the extremely swift drop in tulip bulb contract prices. The annualized rate of price decline was 99.999%, instead of the average 40% for other flowers.[41] He provides another explanation for Dutch tulip mania. The Dutch parliament was considering a decree (originally sponsored by Dutch tulip investors who had lost money because of a German setback in the Thirty Years' War[46]) that changed the way tulip contracts functioned:
On February 24, 1637, the self-regulating guild of Dutch florists, in a decision that was later ratified by the Dutch Parliament, announced that all futures contracts written after November 30, 1636 and before the re-opening of the cash market in the early Spring, were to be interpreted as option contracts. They did this by simply relieving the futures buyers of the obligation to buy the future tulips, forcing them merely to compensate the sellers with a small fixed percentage of the contract price.[47]
Before this parliamentary decree, the purchaser of a tulip contract—known in modern finance as a options contracts. This proposal began to be debated in the fall of 1636, and if it became clear to investors that the decree was likely to be enacted, prices probably would have risen.[47]
This decree allowed someone who purchased a contract to void the contract with a payment of only 3.5 percent of the contract price (or about 1/30th the contract).[47] Thus, investors bought increasingly expensive contracts. A speculator could sign a contract to purchase a tulip for 100 guilders. If the price rose above 100 guilders, the speculator would pocket the difference as profit. If the price remained low, the speculator could void the contract for only 3½ guilders. Thus, a contract nominally for 100 guilders, would actually cost an investor no more than 3½ guilders. In early February, as contract prices reached a peak, Dutch authorities stepped in and halted the trading of these contracts.[47]
Thompson states that actual sales of tulip bulbs remained at ordinary levels throughout the period. Thus, Thompson concludes that the "mania" was a rational response to changes in contractual obligations.[48] Using data about the specific payoffs present in the futures and option contracts, Thompson argues that tulip bulb contract prices hewed closely to what a rational economic model would dictate, "Tulip contract prices before, during, and after the 'tulipmania' appear to provide a remarkable illustration of 'market efficiency'."[49]
Other economists believe that these elements cannot completely explain the dramatic rise and fall in tulip prices.[50] Garber's theory has also been challenged for failing to explain a similar dramatic rise and fall in prices for regular tulip bulb contracts.[5] Some economists also point to other factors associated with speculative bubbles, such as a growth in the supply of money, demonstrated by an increase in deposits at the Bank of Amsterdam during that period.[51]
The popularity of Mackay's tale has continued to this day, with new editions of Extraordinary Popular Delusions appearing regularly, with introductions by writers such as financier Bernard Baruch (1932), financial writers Andrew Tobias (1980),[52] psychologist David J. Schneider (1993), and Michael Lewis (2008). At least six editions are currently in print.
Goldgar argues that although tulip mania may not have constituted an economic or speculative bubble, it was nonetheless traumatic to the Dutch for other reasons. "Even though the financial crisis affected very few, the shock of tulipmania was considerable. A whole network of values was thrown into doubt."[53] In the 17th century, it was unimaginable to most people that something as common as a flower could be worth so much more money than most people earned in a year. The idea that the prices of flowers that grow only in the summer could fluctuate so wildly in the winter, threw into chaos the very understanding of "value".[54]
Many of the sources telling of the woes of tulip mania, such as the anti-speculative pamphlets that were later reported by Beckmann and Mackay, have been cited as evidence of the extent of the economic damage. These pamphlets, however, were not written by victims of a bubble, but were primarily religiously motivated. The upheaval was viewed as a perversion of the moral order—proof that "concentration on the earthly, rather than the heavenly flower could have dire consequences".[55] Thus, it is possible that a relatively minor economic event took on a life of its own as a morality tale.
Nearly a century later, during the crash of the Mississippi Company and the South Sea Company in about 1720, tulip mania appeared in satires of these manias.[56] When Johann Beckmann first described tulip mania in the 1780s, he compared it to the failing lotteries of the time.[57] In Goldgar's view, even many modern popular works about financial markets, such as Burton Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street (1973) and John Kenneth Galbraith's A Short History of Financial Euphoria (1990; written soon after the crash of 1987), used the tulip mania as a lesson in morality.[58][59][60] Tulip mania again became a popular reference during the dot-com bubble of 1995–2001.[58]
In this century, journalists have compared it to failure of the speculative dot-com bubble [61] and the subprime mortgage crisis.[62][63] In November 2013 Nout Wellink, former president of the Dutch Central Bank, described Bitcoin as "worse than the tulip mania," adding, "At least then you got a tulip, now you get nothing."[64]
Despite the mania's enduring popularity, Daniel Gross of Slate has said of economists offering efficient-market explanations for the mania, that "If they're correct ... then business writers will have to delete Tulipmania from their handy-pack of bubble analogies."[65]
Netherlands, Belgium, Euro, Compact disc, Luxembourg
Turkey, Byzantine Empire, World War I, Turkish language, Sultanate of Rum
Amsterdam, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, European Union
Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Eighty Years' War, Dutch Republic
Google, Amazon.com, Ebay, Internet, United Kingdom
Great Depression, Dot-com bubble, Speculation, United States housing bubble, Chaos theory
Netherlands, Franks, Holy Roman Empire, Rhine, Flanders
Amsterdam, Netherlands, Dutch East India Company, Dutch Republic, Computer science
France, Venice, Scotland, Amsterdam, Joseph Dominique, baron Louis
Real estate, Dot-com bubble, Japan, United States, Nobel Prize

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Mgahinga Gorilla National park
Mgahinga Gorilla National park is a well known park for gorilla safaris. At just 33.7km2, Mgahinga Gorilla is Uganda's smallest national park. However, it is also one of the most dramatic for the park lies on the northern slopes of Mts. Muhabura, Mgahinga and Sabyinyo, three volcanoes that create an unforgettable regional backdrop. These peaks are three of the six Virunga volcanoes that mark the southern limit of the Albertine Rift Valley and are divided between Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo. The Virungas are home to more than half of the world's population of the endangered mountain gorilla. 380 individuals roam the slopes of the volcanoes while the remaining 340 live nearby in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Fortunately for the gorillas, Mgahinga small area is supplemented by those of two larger, adjoining parks in Rwanda (Volcanoes NP) and DR Congo (Virunga NP).
Gorilla Tracking
Mgahinga's most exciting and memorable activity is tracking the mountain gorilla in thick jungle. The park has one habituated gorilla group (Nyakagyezi) which is visited by tourists. This consists of 11 members; 2 silverbacks, 3 adult females, 4 juveniles and 2 infants. This group is mobile and sometimes crosses into Rwanda and DRC, so check for updates from Uganda Wildlife Authority (see contacts). Registration and briefing for gorilla tracking commences at Ntebeko at 07.45hrs. Tracking starts immediately thereafter and can take three to eight hours.
Sample itinerary for Mgahinga National Park
3 Days 2 Nights Mgahinga Gorilla tour
This 3 Days Gorilla Tour takes you to Mgahinga National Park, located in South Western Uganda. Mgahinga National Park from Kisoro town is 14km covering 33 sq km in the district of Kisoro which is occupied by the Bafumbira. The park is habituated by the rare mountain gorillas giving room for Gorilla tours. This gorilla tour is carried out in Kisoro.
Day 1: Kampala to Kisoro
Set off from Kampala to Kisoro which is about 540 km from Uganda's Capital city after safari briefing. Overnight at Mgahinga Safari Lodge and Travelers' rest.
Day 2: Gorilla trekking in Mgahinga
An early morning breakfast and later the guide leads you through the gorilla's world, clearing up aspects of their ecosystem and behavior. Gorilla trekking is the most exciting and unforgettable experience, which might take one through a thick jungle for the whole of the day. The tourists group (The Nyakagezi group) consists of 9 members; 3 adult females, 2 silver backs, 2 juveniles and 2 infants. (Tracking can take three to eight hours). This activity can be tiring walk so one has to go geared up. It is prudent that you to wear good toehold shoes suitable for muddy places and binoculars for easy vision. Overnight at Mgahinga Safari Lodge and Travellers' rest.
Day 3: Departure
After a morning breakfast, head back to Kampala and wait for your departure flights.
Cost: $ 3500
Package Includes:
- All park entrance fees
- Full board accommodation while on this safari
- Service of an English speaking driver/guide
- Transport based on a safari minibus with pop up roof for game viewing
- Driver allowances and park fees for vehicle and driver
- Game drives as per the Itinerary
- Government taxes
-Personal Insurance
Package Excludes:
-Gorilla tracking permit at US$ 500
- Extras at the camps i.e. drinks, telephone, laundry etc.
- International flight fees
- Departure tax
- Tips to porters and drivers


text:
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe compared current tensions between Japan and China to rivalry between Britain and Germany on the eve of World War One, but his top spokesman denied the Japanese leader meant war between Asia's two big powers was possible.
Sino-Japanese ties, long plagued by what Beijing sees as Japan's failure to atone for its occupation of parts of China in the 1930s and 1940s, have worsened recently due to a territorial row, Tokyo's mistrust of Beijing's military buildup and Abe's December visit to a shrine that critics say glorifies Japan's wartime past.
Abe, speaking to international journalists at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said on Wednesday that China and Japan were in a "similar situation" to that of Britain and Germany before World War One, the Financial Times and BBC reported.
Although the rivals then had strong trade ties, that did not prevent the outbreak of war in 1914, Abe said, adding that China's steady increase in military spending was a major source of instability in the region, the reports said.
He also repeated Japan's call for a military hotline to avert an accidental conflict.
China and Japan, the world's second- and third-largest economies respectively, have deep business ties and bilateral trade that was worth nearly $334 billion in 2012, according to Japanese figures.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that Abe had by no means meant that war between the two Asian giants was possible.
"I don't know the specifics of the prime minister's comment," Suga told a regular news conference in Tokyo on Thursday. But he noted that Abe, in a keynote speech at the forum, said dialogue and the rule of law, not armed forces and threats, were needed for peace and prosperity in Asia.
"He clearly stated that endless military expansion in Asia must be curbed. I believe, in these words, he underscored the importance of peace and stability in Asia," Suga said.
In a message on Thursday to local Chinese-language papers ahead of the lunar new year, Abe said Japan had "built a free and democratic country and taken the path of peace" since the end of World War Two.
"Nothing has been changed in the policy of continuing to uphold this position," he said, according to a Japanese version provided by the prime minister's office. "I believe you, who live in Japan, can understand this fundamental stance of ours."
In his keynote address at the Davos forum, Abe called for military restraint in the region and took a veiled swipe at China's military buildup.
"We must…restrain military expansion in Asia, which could otherwise go unchecked," Abe said.
"Military budgets should be made completely transparent and there should be public disclosure in a form that can be verified," Abe said, adding disputes should be resolved through dialogue and the rule of law, and not through force and coercion. He did not single out China by name.
He also defended his visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which is seen by critics as a symbol of Japan's past militarism because it honors leaders convicted as war criminals along with those killed in battle.
China's state Xinhua news agency blasted the Yasukuni visit again on Thursday, saying it was "taken by all peace-loving nations as a despicable kowtow to Fascism" and accusing Abe of pushing "regional tensions precariously close to boiling."
Xinhua added: "While frozen ties with neighboring countries can never make Japan a reliable and constructive player in regional and global issues, sincere repentance over its war past can."
Abe's December 26 pilgrimage prompted a rare statement of disappointment from Tokyo's ally Washington, which is worried about rising regional tensions and fears entanglement in any conflict over tiny, uninhabited isles in the East China Sea that are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy weighed in on the touchy topic of wartime history in an interview published by the Asahi newspaper on Thursday.
Kennedy, who arrived in Japan last year to a fanfare of attention, said that the people of the world should cheer on leaders who try to overcome history to build a peaceful future, the newspaper said.
She also said Japan had made an extremely constructive contribution to the region and world and by building trust with its neighbors, Japan could carry out that role with more confidence, the newspaper said.
Source : Reuters


text:
The Role: Based from head office you will work alongside the Sales Director learning all aspects of the sales and manufacturing business. From a sales perspective you will contact existing accounts to ensure customer satisfaction as well look for upcoming projects. You will be responsible for developing relationships to increase revenue. You will also be tasked with identifying new business opportunities and will be given monthly targets to achieve. Prospects to move into senior commercial are available to applicants that have a proactive and down to earth attitude.
The Company: Recognised as a market leading company in their field, the board of directors have a real commitment in recruiting some of the brightest graduate for their commercial teams. Candidates will need to be down to earth graduates that can work as part of a team.
Responsibilities as a Graduate Sales Executive will include:
For this Graduate Sales position, we are looking for individuals who meet the following criteria:
The Package for this Graduate sales role:


text:
Please think of me on Sunday morning, when I'm hauling my sleepy ass from my cozy bed at 4am. Why would I wake up at o-dark-GIVEMECOFFEE-thirty? Oh, just to go run a half marathon. Voluntarily, mind you.
Damn, I've come a long way in a year. This used to be my attitude towards running:
And then, I had to go and get all motivated to get healthy. Silly me.
This whole running thing started when my big brother convinced me to run a 5K in April of last year. That was my first 5K since ohhhhh, 1997. I'd just started working with a trainer and was maybe 3 weeks smoke-free. Yay me, but my lungs and my body were still
utterly shit a far cry from healthy.
I was SO SLOW. Hated every second of it. I was exhausted after 2 miles. At 2.5 I remember that my face was on fire and just wanted it to be OVER already. I mean, my linebacker-sized brother and my 8 year old nephew were both WAY far ahead of me if not already done. And it was starting to rain, and WHAT THE FUCK is this hill doing right before the finish line? It sucked. My time was something embarrassing… my brother finished in 32, my nephew in 34 and me? 38 something. Or more. I don't know, I blocked it out.
But since then, I ditched the trainer and the globo-gym, started and stuck with CrossFit, kept my diet clean and healthy and Paleo-ish. I've put on muscle, remained a non-smoker, and have tackled a few other runs since then. They got better. I got better. So I did a few more 5Ks, a 10K in July, a relay in a tutu!, a 15K in January, and now… a half marathon.
Yep, this weekend I'll be tromping through Atlanta for 13.1 miles until I either a) reach the finish line or b) have to be scraped off the pavement with a pooper-scooper. Hopefully not c) both.
Is this ambitious progress in under a year? Uhhhhh… I'm either the most motivated amateur runner ever or I'm just flat-out DUMB. But I really think I can do it. My body is in the best shape of my life, thanks to CrossFit, yoga and running. But my concern with the half is my endurance. I've never run that far or that long at once and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. I thought about joining one of the free pacing groups they offer, but I think I'll do better going at my own speed with my running playlist blasting in my ears.
I have my trusty Brooks Ghosts that I wore for the 15K, so they're broken in. I'll be hydrated and fueled beforehand. I'll get enough sleep the night before. It will be warm but not hot: high 50s are the low that morning, creeping up to 70 by mid-day, so extra layers won't be needed.
As for the run, all I can think to do is adopt my approach to the 15K – running an easy pace for 2 miles, have a few sips of water and 1-2 energy beans, then repeat until done. That plan kept my pace steady and the 9.something miles were very doable. I didn't feel like I ran out of gas anywhere along the route. I was a little stiff for a day afterward, but it really wasn't awful. Why wouldn't 13.1 be as doable? At least… that's the theory.
Hopefully I'll run with grace and elegance, and not like this:
But even if I finish dead last, there will be none of this.
Because you best believe that afterward there will be piles upon piles of pancakes and pints and pints of BEER for St.Patty's! Pancakes make me sooooo happy.
Finally, I'm way grateful that I'll have excellent company for the race in the lovely Bertie: a gorgeous Crossfit badass, running inspiration, yoga buddy, brunch/coffee partner and fashion advisor. That last one? Seriously, she should have a fashion blog. Like, yesterday. 🙂 But on race days, her self-proclaimed propensity to run like her favorite hashtag cracks me up: #wilddogontheloose.
As if keeping me motivated to run and preventing me from dressing like a homeless person wasn't enough, Bertie gave me the coolest good luck gift for the half. My very own Lululemon Bang Buster in a gorgeous reversible minty-polka-dot/kelly green! Check out the awesome card she gave me, too… snifffff…. she is the most thoughtful, sweetest friend ever.
That minty fresh baby will be worn on race day as my good luck charm, my green for St. Patty's, and to keep my *#)&%#@*ing bangs off my face while I run. Not that I'm salty about the bangs… Wait. I am. Don't get bangs, people. Not if you work out all the time. Better choices have been made, Peach.
But can y'all help a girl out?!
What say you, fellow runners and athletes? Do you have any advice for me, the half-newbie? (Newbie-halfer? Newfer? Halfbie? What do you call me?) Am I crazy?
…don't answer that last one.


text:
Arbor Energy is proud to serve the great town of North Haven, CT. As a family-owned and operated business since 1994, we have been providing HVAC services such as heating oil delivery, oil equipment maintenance and service, propane delivery, propane equipment service, AC services, and more that so many families have come to trust.
As a New England town, you know what it's like to deal with seasonal extremes in temperature. Hot summers and cold winters make for serious HVAC requirements.
You can trust your home's heating and cooling systems to the professional team at Arbor Energy.
Choose our home heating oil delivery options as a way to alleviate the need to constantly check fuel levels and remember to call for oil delivery. We use a combination of recent weather and past usage and predict when you'll need your oil tank refilled with amazing accuracy so you don't ever have to worry about your tank running dry.
We don't just deliver oil to your home, but we also provide a host of services to keep your equipment running properly. Everything from furnace repair to boiler repair, oil tank replacement, new equipment installations, and so much more is offered.
With so many people making the switch to clean-burning propane fuel to heat their homes, cook and even provide electricity, we also offer propane delivery and equipment services that can't be beat. Choose from our Silver, Gold, and Platinum plans which provide North Haven customers security knowing they're in good hands.
Take advantage of Arbor Energy's annual AC service plan which is only $12.50/month or $150/year + tax, and includes:
Don't leave your North Haven home sticky and warm on those muggy summer days. Get your AC system in top shape!
Interested in learning more about Arbor Energy's North Haven, CT HVAC services? Give us a call or fill out the form below to become a customer!


text:
It's an old story that I have, I'm sure, already posted somewhere on this Blog. In the Australian Parliament, the yarn goes, a member trotted out pages of statistics about something. A member of the Opposition congratulated him on his research but added that statistics are like bikinis : what they reveal is interesting; what they conceal is vital.
The French magazine "Challenges", of February 18, 2016, reports the following stats : 15% of French people think that one must believe in God to be moral. In Italy it's 27%, in Germany 33% and in the U.S. a whopping 53%. You can draw your own conclusions, but these figures reveal a pretty disturbing illusion, and no doubt conceal others even more disturbing.


text:
is best suited for the latest generation of DirectX9.0 graphics cards. It is the
first benchmark to require a DirectX9.0 compliant hardware with support for
Pixel Shaders 2.0 or higher! By combining high quality 3D tests, CPU tests,
feature tests, image quality tools, and much more, 3DMark05 is a premium
benchmark for evaluating the latest generation of gaming hardware.
3DMark05's overall score is not affected by the lower
operating memory, however the CPU score definitely is.
is the worldwide standard in advanced 3D game performance benchmarking. A
fundamental tool for every company in the PC industry as well as PC users and
gamers, 3DMark06 uses advanced real-time 3D game workloads to measure PC
performance using a suite of DirectX 9 3D graphics tests, CPU tests, and 3D
feature tests. 3DMark06 tests include all new HDR/SM3.0 graphics tests, SM2.0
graphics tests, AI and physics driven single and multiple cores or processor CPU
tests and a collection of comprehensive feature tests to reliably measure next
generation gaming performance today.
Things are much closer overall here in 3DMark06 and
memory bandwidth plays less of a role. Let's see what happens to real


text:
Ohio's own guide to great gardening and landscaping. A State-by-State Gardening Publication
The newest featured hotplant was written by:
Christopher Starbuck
Recent Hot Plants
Apr 02
Cantankerous Cankers
May 19
The Trouble With Honey Bees
Apr 19
What? Me Worry?
Jun 21
Deadly Rose Rosette Disease Moves Across the Country
May 21
Impatiens Disease Spurs A Hunt For Shady Alternatives
Oct 30
10 Most (Un)Wanted Pests and What to Do about Them
Nov 30
Common Diseases of Landscape Trees & Shrubs
Nov 16
The Gall of it All
by Peggy Hill - posted 09/19/16
Parsley Hawthorne
Crataegus marshallii
by Yvonne L. Bordelon - posted 08/23/16
by Denise Pugh - posted 07/08/16
Invincibelle Spirit II Hydrangea
Hydrangea arborescens 'NCHA2'
by Susan Martin - posted 06/03/16
Perpetua Blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum
by Clara A. Curtis - posted 05/05/16


text:
IQDEMY external manufacturing system – Evolution of your business
Manufacture the equipment for supplying images on almost any materials without any investment
Manufacturing stages:
IQDEMY's area:
1. You chose the machine enclosure, component parts, printheads and control electronics at wholesale for large-scale producers.
2. Our engineers assemble a printing machine from chosen component parts and test it at one of our manufacturing areas.
3. We brand the machine (applying the name plate with your brand) and dye it on demand.
Your area:
4. We reassemble the printing machine and send you the assemblу kit from our manufacturing area. Control electronics and printheads are sent separately from Switzerland.
5. Your engineers, trained by IQDEMY specialists, assemble the machine: put in the control electronics and printheads.
Your printer is ready!
There is no need to:
- have a warehouse with a stock of spare parts,
- buy an expensive production line,
- have large qualified technical staff.
Get all the advantages:
- earn more decreasing costs,
- own your brand,
- minimize import duties and taxes,
- get an opportunity to qualify for government financing given to local manufacturers,
- improve the quality of your products.
NO entrance duties / NO manufacturing facility's extra charges
Manufacturing in common sense
It is easy to be a manufacturer with IQDEMY! Working with us by IQEM scheme you become a manufacturer of the equipment for supplying images on almost any materials under your own brand.
You will either earn more, decrease costs and minimize import duties, or promote in the international market your own brand of printing equipment.


text:
The effort of MKX, which runs a four to five hrs that are fairly slim, leaps back and forth between occasions place during the two decades right after Mortal Kombat, through different aspects and across its factions.
Mortal Kombat x Characters
Luckily, the narrative of Mortal Kombat X is quite amazing, in a foolish, sci fi kungfu film manner. NetherRealm nods for gamers who caught after the game in the franchise with Mortal Kombat and throws in a few meeting cameos, and there are several minutes where things get severe. Kinship are touched on through the entire effort, and it is interesting to see the dynamics of the mothers of Mortal Kombat X, dads, sons and daughters investigated. The storyline is not simple, full of playable and non-playable combatants from through the entire franchise, but these figures deftly are juggled by NetherRealm.
The roll that is playable boasts about two dozen combatants, including veterans Scorpion, Sub-Zero Kitana, Mileena, and Sonya Blade. MKX also investigates the next generation of combatants in a way that is literal; sons and the daughters of Johnny Cage. Jax and Kenshi are released, as are some of All New creations, including 2 especially interesting Outworld-produced characters, the insectlike D'Vorah and 2-in-one combatant Ferra/Torr.


text:
This brief post covers getting DELL DSM Client running on OSX High Sierra.
Dell DSM itself can be deployed using the DSM Virtual appliance within VMware. If you're reading this I'm guessing you already know that DSM Client is used to assist in configuring and administering DELL Storage Array Environments.
I found that the client itself on OSX seemed to lack any downloadable resource, with just options for Windows or a Linux RPM.
I span up a Linux VM in VirtualBox and found that all the installation process of the RPM appeared to do was unpack a load of files onto the VM, so I did the RPM installation into the VirtualBox instance using "rpm -U SmClient.rpm".
Once I identified which files were needed I scp'd the files over to my Mac from the Virtualbox VM, and copied them from /var/lib/dell/bin on the VM into a folder called DSM_Test in my home directory on my Mac .
By default this isnt enough on the Mac to enable the program to run, so I needed to edit the "Client" script inside /Users/myuser/DSM_Test/dell/bin and change the following entries at the top of the file to set JAVA_HOME and LD_LIBRARY_PATH:
#export JAVA_HOME=/var/lib/dell/Java
#export JAVA_HOME=/Users/myuser/DSM_TEST/dell/Java
export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home
#export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/var/lib/dell/lib
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/Users/myuser/DSM_TEST/dell/lib
Now I'm ready to run this on my Mac and make use of the features within DSM Client, by running:
"/Users/myuser/DSM_TEST/dell/./Client" using Terminal in OSX.
(c) Matt Palmer – 18 April 2019


text:
Astrology and Hobbies: Find a New Pastime, Sagittarius
We have inside of us natural talents, ambitions and characteristics and we tend to gravitate towards hobbies or activities directed by our astrological sign. Find out more about what's a good fit for your sign.
Sagittarius with its boundless energy is ready for almost any activity, they like them all. As a Mutable Air sign ruled by Jupiter, a Sagittarius has a riverboat gamblers luck which they see as a skill. Skydiving or scuba diving, it's hard to find a challenge they won't accept, except perhaps, doing it all over again next week. Travel beckons to them, as do solo sports, which they can play when they feel like it. Golf, tennis or paintball so be very aware when a Sagittarius asks, "Hey, you want to try something new?" Brad Pitt, Tyra Banks, Taylor Swift and Bruce Lee were all Sagittarians so be aware.


text: CCAN just had its 10th Anniversary fighting global warming, mountaintop removal, coal plants and fracking, and fighting for solar and wind power, energy efficiency. We have a terrific board of activists, hosts of volunteers who are willing to do whatever it takes to win for the earth. Polar bear plunges to raise money. Getting arrested in front of the White House. Our Executive Director, Mike Tidwell, has inspired lots of other global warming activists to join the movement, improve their game and win major legislative victories, if only on the state and local level, as CCAN has.


text:
There are a couple of reasons I read this book. The first was that Ed Williams; although no relation to me; used to stop by my house every morning. He's the former editor of the Charlotte Observer, which is the only daily newspaper in Charlotte, and so the one which I have had delivered for the past 16 years. Secondly; and of no less importance; is that Mr. Williams has been writing about the south, and its politics, for the Observer since 1973. And lastly, as a newcomer to this city in 1998, his writings have kept me informed as to new changes, as well as some of the history of the not so old south. To a newcomer this was an invaluable service.
The author spent some time as the editor of the student newspaper at Ole Miss, before serving in the army for 2 years in the mid 1960's. By 1967 he was ready to begin his journalistic career. And that career led him to a home in Charlotte.
Mr. Williams' columns are insightful and cover everything from foreign policy and Civil Rights to Senator Jesse Helms and Barack Obama. He has presided over a newsroom which produced Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonists, and a Letters to the Editors page which manages to represent all sides of the divergent views which make us who we are.
He frequently reaches back into local politics and history, seeking to find some consistency in the inconsistent world of politics that will explain how things got to where they are. These columns have been more than helpful to a Northern transplant like me. And I know I'm not alone in that.
Gay Rights, Unions, Boy Scouts, Religion; it's all here. The stories of the old cotton mills; once the staple of economy in our region; are moving and speak to the demise of the industry. The pieces about WBT – the Colossus of the South – are informative and entertaining. There are so many subjects covered in this book that it will be hard for the average reader to become bored.
This is a perfect book for summer reading. You can pick it up on any page and be entertained and informed all at once. And isn't that what a good newspaper columnist does? It's just that most don't do it as well as Ed Williams.


text:
Related Posts
Share This
Q&A with Melodie Johnson Howe
Melodie Johnson Howe's latest book, CITY OF MIRRORS, intertwines a murder mystery surrounded by the Hollywood mystique. The reader gets a two in one, a fast paced thriller along with an understanding of what Hollywood is really like. That is because Howe is a former actress who played roles in Love American Style and Clint Eastwood's Coogan's Bluff. She decided the Hollywood scene was no longer what she desired and concentrated on her life long ambition of becoming a mystery writer. Recently, she was kind enough to answer some questions.
Elise Cooper: Since you were a Hollywood actress why did you decide to write mysteries?
Melodie Johnson Howe: I always liked reading crime novels. My husband told me to write what I love, mysteries. I decided to incorporate Hollywood because it is a mystery onto itself. I enjoyed writing about characters that lie, including to themselves. I decided to write a novel surrounding my short story character, Diana Poole. As a writer Raymond Chandler, Michael Connelly, and F. Scott Fitzgerald influenced me. Chandler and Connelly on how they wrote mysteries and Fitzgerald for his short stories about a screenwriter who is fired and is constantly looking for work.
EC: You have a number of themes in this book. Can you talk about the Hollywood theme?
MJH: I have a love hate with Hollywood. I have taken parts of my life and fictionalized it. It's filled with creative people, but on the other hand it's one of the toughest businesses you will ever find. I wanted to show what Hollywood is like from a working actress' point of view and not a Red Carpet actress. Because people in this business have giant egos it creates an atmosphere that has a lot of mayhem.
EC: What about the mother-daughter theme?
MJH: If you are a creative and driven person as my character Nora Poole was you find that there is a stronger need to be that red carpet actress than to be a loving mother. I think this happens a lot in Hollywood. I want to explore more, probably in the next book, how it is that Hollywood children have no sense of home. Throughout my novels I write about the mother-daughter relationship. Even though Diana was ill-treated she is attempting to respect her mother. Her relationship with her dead mother is something many readers can identify with, including the competition that can happen between a mother and daughter, and the different forms it can take.
EC: Diana seems grounded. Was that your intention?
MJH: I wanted to make Diana's voice real and balance that off with involving her in that part of Hollywood. I wanted to show how these people live in a bubble and reflect the other bubbles that surround them. They are herded like sheep and are very cliquish. That is why in the dedication I put this quote in from Nora, 'If you want a friend in Hollywood, get a mirror.' It is a cut throat business. You have a very intimate relationship with people for a short period of time and then you don't see them again. It's all about getting work, gaining fame, and getting your name out there. There are the constant emotions of fear and anger. The fear is rejection that you will never get work. The anger comes from how you are assessed and treated. I had Diana elicit these emotions when trying to find a role and after she became endangered.
EC: The Heath character was very interesting. Are you going to explore his character more in future books?
MJH: Yes. I made Heath a former soldier. I wanted a man who had discipline and seriousness about him. Because his former job was a soldier who spied on other soldiers I thought he would have that ambivalence. Diana and Heath are a reflection of one another. They both have a love/hate relationship with Hollywood and have moved around so much of their lives. They have chemistry because they are both grounded, can see what Hollywood is really like, and will not allow themselves to be pulled in to the Hollywood lies.
EC: Can you give a heads up about your next book?
MJH: The working title is After The Fade. Diana witnesses a horrific auto accident where her world gets completely turned around. She has to solve the mystery as to why this woman ran into the street and how the Malibu rehab centers are involved. As with City of Mirrors she is once again forced into a situation. Of course Heath will be back and they will have an on/off again relationship. There will be the theme of how love is turned into betrayal, and why celebrities are so important to us.