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Michael Fowler10/11/07
Following Thales: recall Thales learned in
1. (a) Go to the point across Emmet from the Bookstore Parking Garage, where you'll see lamp posts like the one pictured below. Find the height of the lamp post by measuring the length of its shadow (pace it out) and comparing with your own shadow.
(b) Now look across the pond to the small archway structure (just visible in the picture above) beyond the pond near the left-hand side. Point a pencil at that arch from two different points on the Emmet sidewalk, measure the angles and the distance between the points, draw a scale diagram and deduce how far away the arch is from the Emmet sidewalk.
(c) Now go to the Lawn, the area on the same level as the Rotunda. The idea is to estimate the height of the Rotunda by drawing the right triangles. Notice from where I'm standing when I took this picture, some leaves are in line with the top of the Rotunda. I could find the
distance from where I'm standing to the base of the Rotunda (then I need to find what it is to the central point), then the distance from where I took the picture to the point directly under those leaves, and finally the height of the leaves. Or, I could look from ground level at a friend who walks to the point where the top of her head just blocks out the top of the Rotunda, and figure it from there.
2. Notice now that we could have found the height of the Rotunda even if we couldn't get to it: the distance to the Rotunda could have been determined by measuring angles to it from two different places, like the two ends of one of the paths going across the Lawn, just as the distance to the arch was found in the previous exercise. Could the Greeks have found the distance to the Moon in this way? Could we, with present-day technology?
3. How high does the
Sun get in the sky at midday? (The
Given that
4. Finding the angular size of the moon: choose some suitable round object, such as a dime, quarter, a tennis ball, ping pong ball or whatever, and while you are looking at the moon, have your partner hold the ping pong ball (say) at just the right distance that it looks to you exactly the same size as the moon. You could try it directly in front of the moon, to just block it, or side by side with the moon, whatever works best for you. Now, measure the distance from your eye to the ball, and measure the diameter of the ball. Given that the moon is 230,000 miles away, figure out the moon's diameter. What is the angular size of the moon? That is, if you take two pencils, point one at the bottom of the moon, and one at the top, as seen from here, what is the angle between them? You can answer in degrees or radians. (One radian is the angle of a piece of pie having the curved side the same length as the straight sides.)
5. Find the North Star (Polaris). Now, find how high Polaris is above the horizon by pointing a pencil directly at Polaris and having your partner measure the angle between the pencil and a horizontal line running directly beneath it.
Just after dark, find the Big Dipper, and sketch the Big Dipper together with Polaris. Three hours later, check them again. Has Polaris moved? Has the Big Dipper moved? Draw on your sketch how they have moved, if at all, in the sky.
6. Explain in a sentence or two, together with a simple diagram of the earth and the sun, why it is warmer in summer than in winter.
7. Some years ago, a very attractive photograph of the Rotunda viewed from the middle of the Lawn was on sale, it was night and the full Moon was visible quite close to the Rotunda, so the shape of the Rotunda echoed the Moon. How could you prove this photo was a fake?
8. You set up base camp on a bear hunting expedition. You travel exactly twenty miles south, rest for a meal, then go twenty miles east, where you shoot a bear. Now you go twenty miles north and you are back at your base camp. What color was the bear? Give your reasoning.
9. Plato defined a regular solid as one with every edge the same length, and the same number of edges meeting at each vertex. Explain in your own words (but with diagrams) why there can only be five such solids.
10. Prove that the square root of three cannot be expressed as a ratio of whole numbers. (Hint: remember that any whole number can be expressed as a product of prime factors. The proof of the square root of two was all about odd and even numbers, this time concentrate of factors of 3, not 2.)
11. The autumnal
equinox is on September 23 this year. Describe the path of the sun in the sky
on that day, as seen from
12. In a paragraph or so, summarize the differences between Plato and Aristotle in their approach to nature.
13. Explain briefly why there are seasons. Are there seasons on the equator? Explain. How much do you think the average high temperature each month varies on the equator? Which months would you expect to be warmest? Find some city near the equator and check out your answer.
14. These days, Mars is high in the sky at midnight. Could Venus ever be high in the sky at midnight? Explain your answer carefully.
15. On September 21, day and night will have equal length in
16. You are in a garden somewhere on earth and you come across a sundial. Can you tell by looking at the sundial which hemisphere you are in?
17. The moon goes round the earth once a month. Explain briefly why we don't see an eclipse of the sun every month.
18. Go to the solar system simulator at http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ Click the option to have the image take up 30% of the width.
Look at: Mars as seen from Earth, Earth as seen from Mars, Jupiter as seen from Earth, Earth as seen from Jupiter. Draw three concentric circles approximately representing Earth, Mars and Jupiter. Figure out, from the shadowing you see on the views you looked at, where the three planets must be in their orbits relative to each other, and indicate the positions, approximately, on your orbit diagram.
19. Does the Moon rotate? If yes, how often? Suppose you lived on the Moon, in a base in the middle of the Moon's face as seen from here. How would the Sun move through your sky? How long between sunrise and sunset? How would the Earth move through your sky? Would the appearance of the Earth change, that is, would it have phases?
20. Explain with a diagram the orbit of Venus in Ptolemy's model. If Ptolemy had had a telescope, and could see the phases (shadowing) of Venus, would that have given him any doubts about his model? Explain why or why not.
21. Mars in its path through the sky sometimes loops backwards.
Explain in your own words why this happens
(a) using Ptolemy's model, and
(b) with our present day picture of the Solar System.
22. Here is a picture of a sundial:
The rod is parallel to the Earth's axis. Describe carefully how the movement of the Sun through the sky shows the time on this sundial—in particular, it must read 12 one hour after it reads 11, right? Are you sure the sun's moving in the right direction for this thing to work?
As we went over in class, the chain of transmission of Greek knowledge
ultimately to
24. Recreate al-Khwarizmi's argument to solve x2 = 10x + 39, draw a diagram and explain your work.
25. (a) Standing on the beach, assume your eyes are 2 meters above sea level, and the sea is very calm. How far away is the horizon you see?
Hint: draw a circle, representing the surface of the curving earth, and your eyes are just above the circle—now draw a line from your eyes to the furthest point visible on the circle. How does that line relate to the circle? Draw lines from your eye to the center of the earth, and from the furthest point you can see to the center of the earth. Take it from there…
(b) How far away is it as seen from your hotel balcony, your eyes now being 18 meters above sea level?
(c) Suppose you watch the sunset, standing on the beach. As the last bit of the sun's disk just disappears, you race up to your room and look from the balcony. How fast did you have to get there to see any of the sun? (let's assume the hotel is on the equator.)
Hint: as the earth turns, seen from above the shadow line between night and day moves across the ground. How fast is it moving?
26. A simple sundial consists of a circular flat piece of white paper, and a vertical stick in the middle. Discuss the path traced by the shadow of the stick at four times in the year: the solstices and the equinoxes, do it for the equator and for the north pole.
27. Suppose you set up this sundial on the moon. What do you think the path of the shadow would be?
28. Look at this picture called Earthrise: http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGES/SMALL/GPN-2001-000009.jpg How do you think the earth moves through the sky as seen from the moon?
HINT for the last two questions: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/luna3_farside_big.gif is a picture of the far side of the moon, taken by a Russian spacecraft in 1959, and the first time anyone had seen that side.
29. There will be an eclipse of the Moon on the …. , at full Moon. Could there ever be an eclipse of the Moon when the Moon is only half full? Show the Earth, Moon and Sun on a diagram to support your argument.
30. (a) Explain, with a diagram, what is meant by the "Ecliptic". What is the "Zodiac"?
(b) Find from a calendar the dates of the Winter Solstice, the Summer Solstice, the Spring Equinox and the Autumn Equinox. Draw a sketch of the Earth's path around the Sun, showing where it is on these four days, including an indication of the angle between the North Pole-South Pole axis and the direction to the Sun.
(c) Count the days exactly in the four quarters of the year between solstices and equinoxes. Are these periods all the same length? Would you expect them to be? Explain.
31. In November 2006, there was a transit of Mercury, meaning that the planet Mercury went directly between the Earth and the Sun, looking like a small black dot on the Sun's surface. The next transit will be in 2009, then ten years after that.
(a) Since Mercury goes once around every 88 days, and its orbit is between us and the sun, can you explain why these transits are so infrequent? (Hint: recall our discussion of why eclipses of the Moon are fairly rare).
(b) Transits of Mercury have been observed for centuries: they are always in May or November. Can you suggest an explanation? What's wrong with the other months?
32. Check your understanding of Archimedes' calculation of pi by finding what lower bound on the value of pi you can discover by inscribing first a square, then a regular octagon, in a circle.
1. Why were Copernicus' ideas ultimately much more widely accepted than Aristarchus's very similar ideas?
2. Galileo's measurement of mountains on the Moon
Suppose that, when the moon is half full, a point of light can be seen in the dark half, a distance one-twentieth of the diameter of the moon away from the dark/light boundary. If it is a mountaintop, how high is the mountain?
3. Galileo showed off
his new telescope to the Doge from the Campanile in
From http://fsweb.berry.edu/academic/mans/pwallace/astronomy120.html
Estimate the distance to the horizon as seen from the observation point on the Campanile.
(How to do this: first, come up with some reasonable estimate of the height (clearly not the full height of the Campanile). Next, draw a diagram of the Earth, with the campanile and the horizon showing. This should remind you of the diagram for problem #2 above!)
4. State in your own words Galileo's anti-Aristotle argument involving uniting two bodies having different "natural speeds".
5. The text below is a direct copy from Galileo's own introduction to his work on acceleration, one of the most important concepts in physics. Read it carefully, and then write an explanation in your own words, including drawing a graph of speed as a function of time for an object falling from rest. Note: for the word "momenta" he uses, you can just substitute "speed".
The time in which any space is traversed by a body starting from rest and uniformly accelerated is equal to the time in which that same space would be traversed by the same body moving at a uniform speed whose value is the mean of the highest speed and the speed just before acceleration began.
Let us represent by the line AB (see figure below) the time in which the space CD is traversed by a body which starts from rest at C and is uniformly accelerated; let the final and highest value of the speed gained during the interval AB be represented by the line EB, drawn at right angles to AB; draw the line AE, then all lines drawn from equidistant points on AB and parallel to BE will represent the increasing values of the speed, beginning with the instant A. Let the point F bisect the line EB; draw FG parallel to BA, and GA parallel to FB, thus forming a parallelogram AGFB which will be equal in area to the triangle AEB, since the side GF bisects the side AE at the point I; for if the parallel lines in the triangle AEB are extended to GI, then the sum of all the parallels contained in the quadrilateral is equal to the sum of those contained in the triangle AEB; for those in the triangle IEF are equal to those contained in the triangle GIA, while those included in the trapezium AIFB are common. Since each and every instant of time in the time-interval AB has its corresponding point on the line AB, from which points parallels drawn in and limited by the triangle AEB represent the increasing values of the growing velocity, and since parallels contained within the rectangle represent the values of a speed which is not increasing, but constant, it appears, in like manner, that the momenta [momenta] assumed by the moving body may also be represented, in the case of the accelerated motion, by the increasing parallels of the triangle AEB, and, in the case of the uniform motion, by the parallels of the rectangle GB. For, what the momenta may lack in the first part of the accelerated motion (the deficiency of the momenta being represented by the parallels of the triangle AGI) is made up by the momenta represented by the parallels of the triangle IEF.
Hence it is clear that equal spaces will be traversed in equal times by two bodies, one of which, starting from rest, moves with a uniform acceleration, while the momentum of the other, moving with uniform speed, is one-half its maximum momentum under accelerated motion. Q.E.D.
6. Measure your reaction time using Galileo's concept of acceleration
If you hold a ruler against a wall, and let it fall, assuming it's not in contact with the wall, it will pick up speed at a rate of 10 meters per second per second.
(a) Write down how fast it's going after: 0.1 sec., 0.12 sec., 0.15 sec., 0.18 sec., 0.2 sec.
(b) Write down its average speed during the first 0.1 sec., the first 0.12 sec., …, 0.2 sec.
(c) Work out how far it fell after 0.1 sec., 0.12 sec., 0.15 sec., 0.18 sec., 0.2 sec.
(d) Use these results to plot a graph of distance as a function of time from time 0 to time 0.2 sec.
(Guess the first 0.1 sec.—remembering it always falls four times as far in twice the time!)
(e) Use your graph and a friend to find your reaction time, and state what it is. Have several tries and take the average.
7. Galileo's Analysis of Projectile Motion
The above picture represents the flight of a ball thrown into the air (although air resistance effects have been neglected). The background grid is in one-foot squares. The blobs represent the position of the ball at successive quarter-second intervals.
(a) By counting lines, find the average horizontal velocity of the ball, in feet per second, during the first quarter of a second. (Remember, each square is one foot across (from side to side or top to bottom), and average speed = distance/time.)
(b) By reviewing the whole picture, find how the horizontal velocity (in feet per second) varies throughout the flight.
(c) By counting squares, find the average vertical velocity of the ball during the first quarter of a second.
(d) Make a table of the ball's average vertical velocity for all eight quarter-second periods in the flight. Count velocity upwards as positive, downwards as negative.
(e) Use your results from part (d) to plot a graph of the ball's vertical velocity (on the y-axis) as a function of time (on the x-axis) for the whole flight.
(f) Acceleration is rate of change of velocity. It is measured here in feet per second per second. Use your graph from (e) to plot a graph of the vertical acceleration as a function of time for the whole flight.
(g)What can you conclude about the acceleration of the ball at the topmost point of the path?
(h)Suppose now instead that the ball had been thrown directly upwards. Would it be accelerating at the topmost point of its flight?
(i) Galileo states in Two New Sciences (page 153): "..so far as I know, no one has yet pointed out that the distances traversed, during equal intervals of time, by a body falling from rest, stand to one another in the same ratio as the odd numbers beginning with unity". (The odd numbers beginning with unity just means 1, 3, 5, 7, ...). Show how you can verify this assertion using the picture above. What are the total distances fallen at the end of each quarter second starting from rest (at the top)?
8. Galileo's Scaling: an Example
In an experiment on scaling carried out in 1883, a dog of mass 3 kg. and surface area 2500 sq. cm. was found to need 300 calories a day to stay alive and warm (no exercise or weight change). Another dog of mass 30 kg. and surface area 10,000 sq. cm. was found to need 1100 calories a day.
(a) Do the calorie requirements correlate better with mass or surface area? Explain what you would expect. How precise would you expect the correlation to be?
(b) Make an estimate of your own mass and surface area, and, assuming you are doglike for purposes of this question, how many calories do you need a day to stay alive, without exercise and at constant weight?
1. Use the Kepler's Laws flashlet to put a planet in an elliptical orbit.
(a) At the planet's nearest point to the sun, the speed reaches a maximum. Take two points close together on either side of this point, and draw the two velocity vectors for these points. By finding the change in velocity between the points, find the direction of the acceleration.
(b) Now do the same thing for the farthest point from the Sun. By watching the flashlet, how would you say the accelerations at these two points (nearest and farthest) compare?
(c) Now consider some point halfway or so between these points. Now speed as well as direction is changing! Try to see in what direction the acceleration is now.
2. (a) The satellites that transmit TV signals for home dish reception are all in what are called "geosynchronous" orbits, the satellites go once around the earth in 24 hours. Why were they placed in those particular orbits? In other words, how does that help reception of the TV signal?
(b) Use Kepler's Third Law and what you already know (or can look up) about the moon to predict the radius of the orbit of a geosynchronous satellite. Compare your result with the data given at the Kepler's Laws site, and explain any differences.
(c) To be precise, they actually go around once in 23 hours and 56 minutes. What's that about?
1. For
2. State
Suppose you are standing on a spring bathroom scale in an elevator which is at rest. What is your acceleration? What forces are acting on you? What is the reading on the bathroom scale?
Suppose now you push the button for a higher floor, and the elevator begins to move. After three seconds it is going up at a steady one meter per second. Did you accelerate? Are you still accelerating? How do you think the reading on the scale will vary as the elevator begins to move then settles to a steady speed? (Just answer qualitatively - no numbers expected.)
Now imagine disaster - the rope holding the elevator snaps,
there are no safety features, and the elevator plunges down the shaft in free
fall. You avail yourself of this golden opportunity to check
Read the second selection from Two New Sciences I've put on the Web until you find a sentence or two relevant to the above disaster scenario, and explain the connection.
3. If you are sitting at rest on a stool (so your legs are just hanging) what forces are acting on you? What are the corresponding Newtonian reaction forces to these forces, and what are they acting on?
4. A sky diver jumps out of a plane and is in free fall. Air resistance increases with speed, and her downward velocity approaches a limit of 80 meters per second (about 160 mph, terminal velocity). After falling at close to this speed for several seconds, she opens a parachute and her speed quickly drops to about 3 meters per second, and remains the same until she lands.
Plot a graph showing qualitatively her downward acceleration from the moment she leaves the plane until after she's landed on the ground. (Qualitatively means you should get the direction right, and some idea of where the acceleration is large, where it's very large, and where it's small).
State what forces were acting on her at each stage in the descent.
5.(a) The figure represents a pendulum (a bob-a small round weight, on a string) swinging back and forth, assume it is shown at the furthest point of its swing in each direction and in the middle of the swing. On the first set, show the velocity vector appropriate to these positions in the swing, on the lower set of pictures show the acceleration vectors for the three instants. Don't worry too much about representing the magnitudes, but think carefully about direction.
(b) Suppose the string is cut as the pendulum swings through the lowest point. Sketch the path of the pendulum from before the swing is cut until well after. How does the velocity of the pendulum the instant before the string is cut compare with that the instant after? How does the acceleration of the pendulum the instant before the string is cut compare with that the instant after?
(c) Now suppose instead the string is cut when the pendulum has reached its furthest point to the right in the swing. Sketch the path of the pendulum from before the string is cut until well after, and again compare the velocity and acceleration of the pendulum the instant before the string is cut with the instant after.
6. Using
We've weighed the earth, let's weigh the sun.
We know from Cavendish's experiment, and Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation, that the force of attraction between the earth and the sun is GMm/r2, where G is the gravitational constant, found by Cavendish to be 6.67 x 10-11, M is the mass of the sun, m the mass of the earth, and r the distance of the earth from the sun, which is 150,000,000 kilometers. (NOTE: in the formula for the force, r must be given in meters).
(This force causes the earth to accelerate towards the sun,
that is, it deviates from straight line motion into a circle, just like
Using the fact that the earth goes around its orbit completely in one year, find how far the earth travels in one second. Now, find how far it "falls" below straight line motion in that one second. (HINT: call the distance it falls x, then write down Pythagoras' theorem for the usual triangle, and argue that x2 can be safely neglected. Then it's easy to find x.)
Since the time interval we are taking is just one second, the distance the earth falls below the straight line in that period must be equal to its average velocity in that direction (that is, towards the sun) during the one second. So what is the earth's velocity in that direction at the end of the one second period?
So what is its acceleration?
Write down
7. The (almost) ultimate weighing job: estimating the mass of our galaxy.
The solar system is closer to the edge than the middle of our galaxy (the Milky Way), and is moving in an approximately circular path at about 250 kilometers per second. The radius of the circle—the distance to the center of the galaxy—is about 30,000 light years, where one light year is the distance light travels in one year.
Assume the solar system's circular motion about the center of the galaxy is caused by the gravitational attraction from the other stars in the galaxy. This attraction turns out to be not too different from what it would be if we lumped them all together in the middle in one huge mass M. Find this mass by the same method we used to find the earth's mass and the sun's mass, given G = 6.67 x 10-11.
Assuming the sun is a typical star, estimate how many stars there are in our galaxy.
(Footnote: it turns out that the gravitational attraction towards the center is greater than can be accounted for from the number of stars. There's something else there that we can't see! There is dark matter, and dark energy… . Nobody understands this very well.)
8. "When I throw a ball upwards, the force of my hand keeps it going for a while, but then that runs out, gravity takes over, and the ball begins to fall."
State in your own words what is wrong with the above statement.
Write a correct description of this sequence of events: in other words, from the instant your hand begins to move, until the ball is at rest on the ground, state what forces are acting on the ball, and qualitatively, what its acceleration is, during each part of the throw.
1. A quote from the
French poet Paul Valéry (1871-1945): "One had to be a
Write a half-page or so explanation of this apparent paradox
for a friend who knows very little science, including brief explanations of the
2. (a) Find out what Thomas Jefferson thought of Isaac Newton, and write a couple of sentences or so summarizing TJ's opinion.
(b) Write a few sentences on how the Scientific Revolution
(that is, mainly, the work of Galileo and
1. Draw a diagram showing the orbits of earth, Jupiter and Io and explain in your own words how Römer found the speed of light by observing eclipses of Io.
2. Imagine you are in a ship with a silent engine sailing on a perfectly smooth sea, you are in a closed room with no window.
(a) How can you tell if the ship, moving in a straight line, is slowing down? Draw a little diagram of you sitting on a chair, with the forces on you, and .
(b) How can you tell if the ship, moving at constant speed, is moving in a circle? Draw a similar diagram.
(c) Now imagine you don't know the direction of the front of the ship—you're just in a featureless cubical room, but you can have various physics-type toys. Do (a) and (b) feel different to you? Could you distinguish between them somehow? (Hint: Foucault's Pendulum!)
3. If Galileo's experiment with the two guys with lanterns were reenacted with lasers, and one person is on the Moon, the other on Earth, do you think a good estimate of the speed of light could be made?
4. After reading lecture 21, explain how much a clock is slowed down as seen by you if it's moving relative to you at 80% of the speed of light, that is at 0.8c, where c = 3x108 meters per second. How long would it take a spaceship moving at that speed to reach alpha Centauri, 4 light years from here? How much would the astronauts age on the trip?
5. Explain in your own words the Fitzgerald contraction, and how it follows from the slowing down of a moving clock.


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Halfbike II
We believe happiness has something to do with playing and having fun. And that includes going out and being active. So, we set out to create a new vehicle to awaken your natural instinct to move. A vehicle that trains your balance and reflexes in a completely new way. One that disconnects you for a moment from your daily routine and allows you to focus solely on your body and the ride itself.
We want to enable you to explore new horizons and have fun, and we truly believe that a Halfbike can get you there! But what exactly is a Halfbike?
We took the core driving mechanism of a classical bicycle (a wheel connected to a crankset) but redesigned pretty much everything else. The result - a vehicle that trains your balance and reflexes in a new way. Not only on a physical level but it also affects the way you perceive movement and enhances your senses. The standing rider position is essential for the Halfbike. It brings you closer to natural walking and it's the only way to control the vehicle with your whole body and not just your hands. Halfbike is a sort of an extension to the body that allows a smooth and intuitive ride.
Riding a Halfbike gives you a different perspective to the city. You can use it for commuting, exercise or recreation. Regardless of how or where you're going to ride it, the experience is what really counts. The Halfbike will not simply transport you from A to B. It will distract you for a moment from all your day to day worries allowing you to focus solely on your body and the ride itself. A kind of an urban teleport, if you like, that disconnects you for an instant from whatever is on your mind.
No matter where you are going to ride it, you'll attract people's attention and bring smiles. Halfbike is a real conversation starter. People will stop you in the street, curious about what it is, how it works, and some will even want to try it :)
Do you remember what it felt like the first time you rode a bicycle? All the excitement from trying something new? Learning from scratch how to ride a Halfbike and improving your skills would certainly be an amazing new experience. Just follow your body and the rest will come naturally. There will always be plenty of room to challenge yourself and explore new horizons. Riding a Halfbike delivers a one of a kind feeling no matter whether you're just starting or you're a pro. Just don't expect to master it overnight. Although it may look easy and seamless in the videos, have in mind that you'd need practice to be able to ride it with such an ease.
Halfbike is both compact and light, so you can take it practically everywhere with you. Since it's foldable, you'd be allowed to take it onboard most public transit systems. When folded, a Halfbike fits easily in the trunk of even a small car, under your desk at work or in an overcrowded closet. You can put it inside a lift and even easily carry it when you need to take the stairs, for it is under 18 pounds and quite small. Basically a Halfbike would fit into most spaces too small for a regular bike.
We're in no way trying to convince you that a Halfbike is better than a bicycle nor that you should get one and throw away your trusty old bike. The two are so different that they're actually hard to compare. The feeling of riding a Halfbike is really nothing like riding a bicycle. But believe us, you'll certainly enjoy exactly that difference. If we must point out just a few advantages we would probably go for the fun of riding, its lightness and compactness.
The retail price of a Halfbike after the campaign is set at $599.00.
Free delivery to the US and Europe with all taxes paid (VAT, import duties, etc.).
Which means you'll receive a Halfbike at your doorstep at no additional cost whatsoever.
There is a shipping and handling fee of $75.00 for all international orders. So if you're outside the US or Europe please add the corresponding amount to your pledge. Note that additional import duties or taxes depending on country may apply.
All rewards ship worldwide.
Halfbike fits best people up to 6'4 (190 cm) and up to 200 lbs (90 kg). This is just a rough guideline though since it's mostly a question of personal feel and comfort. You are the ones that know best how you feel and can decide whether it's for you or not. Think of it as being a little harder to ride than a bicycle. If you are fit and energetic chances are that you'll truly enjoy riding a Halfbike.
Thank you all for helping us reach our final stretch goal! With more than 1500 backers so far we feel a great community has been born around the project :)
We emphasize on the clear and minimalistic design and optimized details. All Halfbikes are hand made locally from high-quality materials and components. Most of our team members, from the designers to the ones that are going to build your halfbikes, are keen cyclists and use a Halfbike on a daily basis. We know what a good Halfbike is and how to build one. So, if you're imagining regular factory workers on an assembly line, think again. Our one man assembly process is key for the quality of each Halfbike. Every single bike is delivered completely tuned up and tested as all components are not just attached to the frame but assembled by a person who cares. So basically every mechanic guarantees with his name for the quality of his work. Although one man assembly is a time consuming process, we're proud we're building bikes this way. It's our way to ensure that you receive the best Halfbike possible.
Тhe majority of the components will be produced in our own workshop thus allowing us greater flexibility and control over the whole process. Furthermore this makes us less dependent on suppliers and subcontractors which is always welcome when it comes to quality control. The frames, handlebars and trucks will all be produced by skilled workers using high quality materials. The combination of CAD/CAM technology with hand craftsmanship ensures we have what it takes to make a great product.
The frame is made of aluminum and laser cut which makes it light and yet strong enough to endure years of riding. We've developed a special technology to impregnate all plywood pieces to ensure they stay intact rain or shine. As to the truck, we went to great lengths to design and test one that fits the Halfbike like a glove. At first we used a standard mountainboard truck for the job but despite choosing one of the best trucks available on the market its limitations soon become obvious. It wasn't as responsive as we'd like, the turning radius was large and it was not possible to fine tune the suspension. So now we have one of our own that functions better and is made locally.
The rest of the components are meticulously selected and tested high end bicycle parts which come from a range of well renowned manufacturers. We've went to great lengths to ensure that each one is the best possible match for a Halfbike.
We would like to bring the Halfbike experience to as many people as possible and for that we need your support. We believe in local manufacturing and the funds from the campaign will be used to expand our workshop, equip it properly and start the first production batch of the new Halfbike. We did a complete overhaul of the original one and went to great lengths to redesign and fine tune it. The result is an improved Halfbike that in the same time has kept all the best bits and pieces of his predecessor. With most of the components made locally by people who believe in the project and care for the bikes that they make. We are ready to bring Halfbike to the next level and would be extremely happy if you join us on this journey.
Thank you!
Kolelinia is founded by Martin Angelov and Mihail Klenov - two architects sharing a vision about urban mobility and how it can be applied to the contemporary city. It's been quite an year for us. After our first Kickstarter campaign we set out to deliver all rewards as promised and set up the initial production. With a bunch of new members joining the team along the way we're very glad that there's one thing that we all have in common. We are keen bikers and we all really care about the Halfbike. More than anything else it's our belief in what we are doing that has gathered us initially and still keeps us together.
Risks and challenges
We've already completed the design, prototyping and test phase of the project. Better yet we've had a successful Kickstarter campaign last spring so we've got a really good idea what it takes to produce and deliver all rewards. And we're fully confident that we can do it again this time!
Тhe majority of the components will be produced locally in our workshop thus allowing us greater flexibility and control over the whole process. Furthermore this makes us less dependent on suppliers and subcontractors. All frames, handlebars and trucks along with the final assembly and packaging will be all done in our workshop. We already have a solid experience in terms of the manufacturing process so we don't expect any major setbacks here.
The rest of the components are standard bicycle parts which we've meticulously selected. They come from several suppliers that we're already working with and all necessary arrangements are already made. Due to the drastic increase in the volume of the orders they may need extra time to supply all components but basically they're waiting for a green light. Nevertheless we can't plan everything ahead and working with a third party may result in unexpected delays.Learn about accountability on Kickstarter
Funding period
- (25 days)

subset: commoncrawl


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30 Oct 2006
Alexa Top Sites in Australia
Posted by kilbot | Filed under: News
Top 500 sites in Australia as reported by Alexa, take it with a grain of salt but it is handy for SEO to get an indication of which search engines Australians are using.
Google fills first and second places, which fits with data collected on my sites. Yahoo are next and then MSN.
Interesting to note Yahoo tops the rankings in the United States. I would suspect the figures are a little skewed to the type of web user would would install the Alexa tool bar.


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I found myself becoming curious regarding the email notification feature, provided by MT-Notifier. Who was subscribing to receive comment notifications? Was it working at all? Therefore, I made use of the MTSQL plugin to find out.
The first step was to create a subdirectory which I could use to hold the results, but which wasn't visible to the outside world. I created the directory, then used cpanel to password protect it. I could have also used .htaccess.
Then I installed the MTSQL plugin.
Finally I made a template within movable type. This is an index template, set to save into my password protected directory.
This template relies upon the MTSQL plugin.
It also assumes several other files, these are optional. I wanted to be able to 'filter' for certain types of email, i.e. confirmed email addresses and those still pending. These pending emails could be due to spam, or simply to folks who have not confirmed yet. The additional files are placed in the directory where the webpage will be generated.
Firstly there is the CSS chooser javascript, available here.
Then there are three stylesheets, subs.css, which contains these declarations:
li.showvalid {background-color: inherit; color:inherit;} li.showpending {background-color:inherit: color:inherit;} tr.PENDING {background-color: #ffbbbb; color: inherit;}
validonly.css has these: .PENDING {display:none} li.showvalid {background-color:#ffbbbb; color:inherit;} li.showpending {background-color: inherit; color:inherit;}
and pendingonly.css has these: li.showpending {background-color:#ffbbbb; color:inherit;} li.showvalid {background-color:inherit: color:inherit;} tr.PENDING {background-color:inherit; color: inherit;}
The effect of these is that when all the notifications are shown, the pending ones are highlighted red, and when only the valid or pending are shown, the choice is highlighted.
The template can now be built, and a list is made of people who have subscribed to be notified of comments made on various posts. It should be highlighted that this is created within a password protected folder (not linked to), so it should keep the email addresses safe - it's purely for my curiousity!
A future step is to try and work out how to purge the database, i.e. delete any pending notification which has been pending for, say, 7 days. That screams 'scary perl script' to me. Heck, I don't even know if the timestamp is stored along with the notify email! The ideal would be to be able to put a button onto the generated webpage which one could click to purge an email address (with a persistant checkbox which would override 'are you sure' messages if required). If anyone knows how this might be done, I'd love to know!


text: Blog Use Your Windows to Stay Comfortable This Winter November 1, 2016 When the cold weather comes in Wilmington, the last thing you need is drafty windows, windows that just aren't very good at storing the heat in your home. Replacement windows can make a world of difference when it comes to your comfort in your home this season. They may even provide aid when it comes to your energy bills too! One of the apparent benefits of replacement windows is their ability to help regulate the temperature inside your home. Skillfully installed replacement windows from Pella Windows and Doors are well-insulated and help lessen air seeping through the product and installation. Plus, fresher windows have more efficient glass options. Let's consider some of the options you have when pondering replacement windows for your Wilmington home. Replacement windows come in an assortment of materials, and all of them can deliver great insulation. When you're comparing replacement windows, you'll probably consider wood, fiberglass and vinyl options. All three types are available with energy-efficient options that meet or exceed ENERGY STAR® rules in all 50 states. Wood windows offer classic beauty and wood is a useful insulator. Fiberglass windows give comparable insulating qualities as wood and they're available with optional foam-insulated frames to further increase energy efficiency in intense climates. Vinyl windows can be the most energy-efficient of all. Air chambers inside the vinyl help decrease heat loss and sound transmission to maintain your home quieter and more cozy year round. Separate from frame material, glass is a big contributor to your windows' operation. You can purchase replacement windows with double- or triple-pane glass with insulating argon between the panes. Plus, Low-E insulating glass will help maintain the heat inside your home in the colder months, and outside in the summer, and we all know what winters and summers present in Wilmington. To find out more about replacement windows and how they can make your home to be more cozy and enhance the performance of it this winter, call us at 910-218-9596 or stop by the Pella Windows and Doors showroom in Wilmington. We look forward to assisting you! Schedule Now! Back to Blog


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Submission Steps
Paper Submission
1.Login to Member Center.
2.Click [New Submission] in My Papers page. (My Submission -> My Papers menu)
3.Fill in all required paper information then click Next.
4.Check paper information that previously entered then click Next.
5.Add author(s) information then the Next button will appear and you can go next step.
6.Choose your paper file to upload (pdf file only), wait for file upload complete then click Next.
7.The submitted paper will show in My Papers page. You can click at [click] under 'Manage' column to manage submitted paper.
You can view paper's submission detail and others here. Paper's pdf file appear in Paper Upload table. You can reuploads your paper file here.
You can edit paper information and authors information at the bottom of paper's submission detail page.


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2015 is coming to a close and we want to make sure you've gotten your fair share of fun in before the new year. Don't let the cold weather scare you away...bundle up and prepare yourself for some winter fun. Here's a couple of interesting events & dates:
Radio City Christmas Spectacular (Dec 1-Jan 3): Yes, there will be lots of tourists, children, and confused grandparents at this classic holiday show. But with 90 minutes of nonstop dancing, singing, and gravity-defying leg kicks, this sensory-stimulating performance is worth muddling through the riffraff for.
Nutcracker Rouge @ Minetta Lane Theater (Dec 1-Jan 17): This racy spin on the classic The Nutcracker is a sensual burlesque performance that incorporates elements of opera, ballet, and the circus all into one sexy, can't-miss show.
Trip of Love @ Stage 42 (Dec 1-Sept 4): This 1960s musical is straight-up groovy, with a potent mix of song, dance, and insane costumes and stage design that will transport you right back to the decade of love.
Bar Car Nights @ New York Botanical Gardens (Dec 4-Jan 16): See the famous holiday train display without all those noisy kids; Bar Car Nights is a 21 and over event with cocktails, ice sculptures, live jazz, and, obviously, lots of holiday trains. The event occurs select dates throughout December and January.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and have some fun this holiday season.
(via Thrillist)


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Teriyaki Salmon Recipe
recipe is not only delicious, it's packed full of healthy omega 3 fats and vitamin B12! It's easy to make and full of flavor. Try this awesome teriyaki salmon recipe!
Teriyaki Salmon Recipe
Total Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4
- 1/4 c. coconut oil
- 1/4 c. lemon juice
- 1/4 c. coconut aminos
- 1 tsp. stoneground mustard
- 1 tsp. Ginger
- 1/4 tsp. Garlic powder
- 4 Wild caught Alaskan Salmon
- In a storage bag, combine first 6 ingredients and mix well. Set aside 1/4 c. of marinade in the refrigerator for basting.
- Add salmon to the bag and place in refrigerator to marinate for 1 hour.
- Drain and discard marinade.
- Broil or grill salmon for 4-5 min. each side. Brush with reserved marinade.


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Miami City Commissioner Francis Suarez: I'm running for mayor
It's official: Miami City Commissioner Francis Suarez is running for mayor.
The 35-year-old son of former Mayor Xavier Suarez made the formal announcement Tuesday at a press conference at his Coral Gate home.
Suarez's candidacy has long been the subject of speculation around City Hall. The chatter intensified late last week, when campaign finance reports showed that in the last three months of 2012 he raised $460,000 through his "political communications organization."
Suarez, in an interview Monday with The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, outlined his vision for the city. It includes replenishing rainy-day funds, promoting small business, beefing up the police department and making the mayor a player on the national stage.
"It starts with having a stable government that is forward-thinking and innovative," he said.
Despite having flush campaign coffers and key allies, Suarez faces a tough road to the Nov. 5 election. Incumbent Mayor Tomás Regalado has already launched his bid for reelection, and observers say his popularity remains high among likely voters.
"It is going to be a competitive race," said Barry University political science professor Sean Foreman.
Suarez, a real estate attorney, first ran for the City Commission in 2009. He was elected to represent District 4, which includes Flagami and stretches to the city's western edge, and was previously held by Regalado.
Early on, Suarez and Regalado often appeared in public together. The two grew so close that the mayor asked Suarez to serve as City Commission chairman in late 2011.
But the relationship soured last summer, when Suarez grew increasingly critical of Regalado's administration. He voiced concerns about the high turnover among top staffers and questioned the finance department's ability to balance the $500 million budget on time.
Suarez said those frustrations prompted his decision to run for mayor.
"I fundamentally believe that the administration is not being run professionally," he said. "I have concerns about what will happen if nothing is done about it."
Suarez said he has already proven his leadership abilities. He points to a pair of controversial motions he made, both of which passed the commission: one to cut employee salaries and another to fire then-Police Chief Miguel Exposito, who was feuding with the mayor at the time.
"I've taken the lead on very difficult positions," he said.
During his three years in office, Suarez has had mixed results passing policy. In 2011, he championed changes to the city zoning code that made it easier to build affordable housing. But his biggest legislative push to date — an effort to create a strong-mayor form of government — failed to find support.
Suarez said he has a couple of new proposals to pitch, including a measure that would reduce permit fees for home repairs that cost less than $2,500. He also said he has ideas for using technology to make city departments run more smoothly.
If campaign contributions are any indication, Suarez will have the support of key business leaders, including Jackson Health System CEO and former city manager Carlos A. Migoya and former Mayor Manny Diaz.
Regalado, who has raised about $160,000 for his campaign and enjoys popularity in neighborhoods like Little Havana and Flagami, said he welcomed the competition.
"I think the voters will continue to support me because I have followed through on my promises," he said. He disagreed that the city has been poorly managed. "I have not increased taxes, and I have provided services to poor people."
Observers expect the race to be close.
Foreman, the Barry University professor, said Suarez's last name will be both an advantage and a liability.
"There's a big fan base for both Francis and his father," Foreman said. "But there are people who still remember the negative aspects of his dad's reign, and that could hurt him."
Xavier Suarez was elected to four terms as mayor, but was removed from office when a judge found evidence of voter fraud in the 1997 election. Suarez was not accused of wrongdoing, and now sits on the Miami-Dade County Commission.
Francis Suarez said he initially resisted the idea of running for elected office.
"I'm not one of those people who grew up thinking I want to be a politician," he said. "I've seen the ups and the downs. I felt it at a very personal level."
It was only after his house was burglarized that Suarez got involved in his local homeowners association, and eventually decided to run for City Commission. He knocked on more than 8,000 doors in that first election, he said, and included his cellphone number on his campaign mailers.
He plans to follow a similar grassroots strategy in the mayoral election, he said. This time, however, he will have a lot more money.
Suarez, who is 30 years younger than Regalado, is likely to face criticism that he is too young and inexperienced to run for mayor. But Suarez said he didn't see the need to "wait his turn."
"The time is now," he said. "I see this as an opportunity for our generation to take a leadership role in the community."
There are two other candidates in the race: Williams Armbrister and Jeffrey Anthony Benjamin. Neither has raised more than $1,000, according to campaign finance reports.
Emilio Gonzalez, former director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under President George W. Bush, said he is also considering running for mayor.
El Nuevo Herald Staff Writer Melissa Sanchez contributed to this report.


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Some areas received this little advertisement in the 1/23 Smart Source insert. I couldn't locate it in our local insert. If your store is trying to tell you that the monthly coupon book cannot be stacked with Manufacture coupons, this ad contradicts that policy. The playbook coupon is part of the January coupon book. This ad clearly confrims that Walgreens policy allows stacking the Walgreens coupon book with a manufacture coupon.
If you are a die-hard Walgreens shopper who is constantly fighting this in your store, you may want to try to get your hands on one of these advertisements via a clipping service.
Thanks WildforWags!
This post may contain affiliate links. See the disclosure policy for more information.


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Environmental Due Diligence
Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments
Mineral Lease Transfers
We help companies conduct due diligence to make informed business decisions about environmental risk in purchasing and selling real estate, businesses and mineral leases. In any given month we complete several Phase I Environmental Site Assessments in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and California. Depending on the location, site characteristics, and the client's schedule, we can complete a Phase I in less than three weeks. We give special attention to the past uses of properties with long histories of use. In instances where a Phase II intrusive investigation or ground water monitoring is necessary, we are experienced and capable with these procedures as well. We customize Phase II Environmental Site Assessments to specific site concerns and client goals.


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Towards the end of 2013, and increasingly in 2014, a massive shift has occurred in the world of Search Engine Optimisation. Instead of simply "getting more visitors" and "getting up the search engines", the focus has changed to conversion tracking to see which aspects of your marketing truly works, and to see what effect your page rankings have on the ability to see your product or service.
It is not possible for a promise to be made for you to appear on page one of Google unless you use paid for advertising (Google Adwords). This is because Search Engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and the page one listings of person A are more and more personalised, and therefore different to the Page one listings of Person B.
What is a conversion?
Google define it as:
"A customer action that has value to your business, such as purchase, downloading an app, visiting a website, filling out a form or signing a contract. Online and offline actions are called conversions because a customer's click translated – or converted – to business."
So what can you do to ensure you are moving with the times?
The first task is to spend time thinking about which customer actions (conversions) you require. Do you want a potential customer to:
• Visit a specific page on your website?
• Sign up for your newsletter?
• Buy your product there and then?
• Make an enquiry or request a quote?
• Access a discount code?
Whichever it is, careful thought is needed, and marketing can then be designed around this conversion.
Why measure?
Simply put, it gives you valuable information about which of your marketing campaigns gives you the best results for your specific business. A 'one size fits all' is no longer appropriate as no two businesses are the same, so your marketing (on and off line) must be specifically tailored.
So what can I do to make a difference?
1. ALWAYS ask people how they heard about you/your products. I'm constantly amazed by how many businesses fail to do this.
2. Where possible, use a trackable phone number on your website eg 0800 number to count phone enquiries from web or different campaigns.
3. Monitor the number and type of enquiries through enquiry forms.
4. Use Google campaign tracking links to see results of campaigns in Google analytics.


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I mentioned that last week I was in a Montana High School. This week I am in Perry County, Alabama and will share more on that tomorrow. I want to get back to something that happened in Montana that reminded me once again why hearing from students is vital. First, the Student Aspirations Team up there is working on improving the experience of transfer students in their school. In a district that has a fairly high amount of transience, it is interesting to note that the grown-ups to date had over looked this (though they noted it as a concern). After orienting the students to the 8 Conditions half way through last year, they decided that their first project would be to help transfer students acclimate to the school more smoothly. Their plans right now include a welcome basket with school t-shirts, gift certificates to the local hang outs, and various school related paraphernalia: pens, notebooks, etc. In addition, they will conduct tours, make introductions to teachers and co-curricular leaders, and have lunch with these students for at least the first week or two until they find their niche.
The day before working with these students, I met with the staff at that school and we reviewed the school's most recent My Voice data. In my blog of November 9th, I referenced some of the very positive improvements that seem to be the result of a new Academic Coaching system. They also had very positive improvements to their Fun & Excitement results. For example 22% more seniors reported that they enjoyed being at school than two years ago.
The funny thing is the teachers were at a loss to explain these improvements. They didn't think they were doing anything differently. They were inclined to attribute the change, especially among this year's seniors, to their being a particularly impressive group. That didn't really hold up in the data longitudinally, unless a lot of students had an academic conversion experience over the summer. When I asked the Student Aspirations team about it the next day, their answer was almost instantaneous. They related that more of their teachers were letting them know what the goals of the class were. Teachers were sharing the reasons they were reading this or that, studying this or that, experimenting on this or that, etc. One student said, "Knowing the goal makes it less tedious. You feel like it's not just busy work, but that what you are doing has a point." Bingo. Two lessons: One. Students notice when we are doing things differently sometimes more readily than we do. We should involve them as partners. Two. Goal setting--short, middle, and long term--makes school less boring.
Importance of Living a Healthy Lifestyle
1 year ago


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Take Burkfield As An Example: Pros and Cons Of Electric Fireplace
Imagine the front of your lawn shrouded by layers of snow; you can even see some of it in the window panes while you're inside, wrapped around in piles of sweaters, holding a cup of warm tea right in front of your wooden fireplace. Such blissful dream is hard to come true as we seldom find houses that come with such wooden or gas burned fireplaces nowadays. Moreover, the cost of putting up fireplaces with a chimney can be very costly.
But behold,the future of fireplaces is here. Thanks to companies like Burkfield and the advent of technology, we can now get our very own electric fireplaces that come with built-in features, serving the same purpose but easier to install and maintain.
Electric fireplaces might be a bit expensive but more hassle free and easier to operate than wooden fireplaces. They not only create a beautiful atmosphere but they can be customized according to customer's wishes. Electric fireplaces generally use mirrors, Mylar and LED lights to emulate the look of a flame. The log might be of metal, wood or rock coming in different styles and designs.
But for people who want to stick to the traditional atmosphere, you can always enjoy the digital flames by inserting electric fireplace in an existing brick fireplace opening just under the mantle to hang your candy canes!
But why should you consider getting it? Here, allow me to enlighten you on benefits of using an electric fireplace:
• They are less expensive than traditional wooden fireplaces, for which you need to make additional space along with building chimneys if the house doesn't have one. With next to no cost when it comes to maintenance and installation, it is perfect for small apartments and condominiums.
• Made in different shapes and sizes, electric fireplaces come in a myriad of designs. Due to their independent variety of sizes they can fit anywhere, corresponding with other furniture of the room. Matching your taste, you can get it installedor built-in anywhere in the room, hang them on the wall or get them in a cabinet to resemble a piece of furniture. You can also combine them with bookshelves, mantle and fireplace media centers. It will definitely add a classy touch to the décor of your entire house!
• They come in both modern and traditional designs to appease your taste, accentuating the ambience of your house. You can get long narrow ones rather than traditional square shaped ones. Especially if you're living in a small condo, it is the perfect way to create a more comfortable space.
• Installing an electric fireplace is much easier than installing a wooden or gas fireplace. Other than just unboxing it, you just have to mount it on the wall. One set of hands is enough for setting it up. You don't even have to bother with setting up unnecessary infrastructure like chimneys. All you need is a nearby power outlet.
• When using a wooden fireplace, it is seen that most heat is lost through the chimney but electric fireplace heat barely escapes, rather evenly dissipatesthroughout the entire room. Controlling temperature is in your hands as, with a gentle flip on the switch, you can either increase or decrease the temperate.
• Electric fireplacesdon't emit harmful carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide gas. Harmful toxins coming out of wooden fireplaces tend to aggravate conditions of asthma patients but using this prevents from happening so. As electric fireplaces don't have an option of open flames, and having cooler parts except for the heat discharge vent, children can be safe around it.
• In terms of efficiency, it shows the most magic. In wooden fireplaces, around 20-40 percent of heat is lost but using an electric fireplace is 99 percent effective. Except for the occasional change in bulb in 2 to 3 years, its maintenance isn't even that high.
Why should you rethink buying an electric fireplace?
• For people who want the natural experience, it is kind of a letdown as electric fireplaces offer artificial flame. Absence of real crackling sounds of the wood or smell of burning wood is a disappointment.
• Electric fireplaces are more for accentuating the ambience of a place than to serve as an actual heating source. Compared to small spaces, they don't heat large areas that much.Since it runs on electricity, for areas where electric outages occur often due to bad weather, using a gas or wooden fireplace is more effective. It will keep you warm even if the power goes off.
• Since electric appliances are designed to run from a standard 120v household outlet, they tend to draw maximum power. You need special wiring or a dedicated circuit to run an electric fireplace; if other appliances are put on the same circuit, it may easily fuse.
• Securely mounting the electric fireplaces is very important. A TV set should not be mounted on top of the discharge unit because if the heat blows at the bottom, the appliances with catch fire. You should be careful not to keep carpets; drapes anywhere near the fireplace as it might catch fire.
It seems that buying an electric fireplace has more pros to it than cons. But your decision should depend on your budget and the area that you live in.Ambience is nice to have, not nice if you don't really like it.


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Latest by Valley authors | Clovis man's autobiography, Fresno woman's posthumous essays
Soul Full of Heart
Author: Claude Ball, Clovis
Description: The 36-year-old Ball grew up on Eight Mile Road in Detroit poor, sexually molested by a relative and placed in foster care. But he joined the U.S. Navy, accepted Christ, married (with three daughters) and began helping others. Now he's written an autobiography that's available in both the "Rated Raw" and "PG-13" versions. (Amazon)
Ball says he has book signings scheduled including Sunday at Holy Family Church in Kingsburg, where he'll speak to confirmation students first. He's tentatively scheduled to appear at Kuppa Joy the next two Saturdays, Oct. 28 and Nov. 4 and a book signing at Papagni Winery during the Madera Wine Trail Nov. 11-12.
206 pages, $14.99 fblinks.com/ball
A Chinese American Childhood and more stories
Author: Margie Wong Moradian, Fresno
Description: Margie Wong Moradian, a former Fresno schoolteacher, died in March at age 67. She was born to immigrants in San Francisco and moved to Fresno at age 11. According to her family, her book of essays is centered around family and growing up in Fresno, love, writing, teaching and facing adversity with grace and courage. A portion of book sales is earmarked for a Fresno State scholarship fund honoring Mrs. Moradian and her husband, Tom.
218 pages, $14.88 fblinks.com/margie, also available at Petunia's Place
Share your news
Are you a recently published author who currently lives in the central San Joaquin Valley? Submit a synopsis of your book and a jpeg of the bookjacket by email to email@example.com (put "Valley author" in the subject field).


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Culver City Police DepartmentHome Police
Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
Culver City Mental Evaluation Team
The Culver City Mental Health Evaluation Team(CCMET) is comprised of one mental health trained police officer and one Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health Clinician. The mission of this team is to provide response, care, and treatment of individuals requiring mental health assistance.
For Non-Emergency Mental Health Related Assistance
or Information (Free of Charge) Please Call:
Daniel Richardson, Psy.D
Clinical Psychologist II
Culver City Mental Evaluation Team
LAC Department of Mental Health – Emergency Outreach Bureau
Desk: 310 253-6332
Or go to: http://dmh.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dmh
LA County Department of Mental Health Access Helpline:
For Emergency and Non-emergency Assistance
Request a field psychiatric evaluation, receive referrals, and locate mental health service providers within LA County.
Suicide Prevention Center Hotline:
24 HR within LA County
1-877-7-CRISIS or
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:
1-800-273-TALK or
Trevor Lifeline - LGBTQ:
Teen Line:
1-800-TLC-TEEN or
Toll free in CA only. 6 pm - 10 pm PT
Veterans & Military Families:
1-800-273-8255 Press 1
Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention:
24 HR hotline


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Failure is not an option.
Martine is a non-playable character in Final Fantasy VIII. He is Galbadia Garden's Headmaster and Master. Martine helps Galbadian Fury Caraway mastermind the plan to assassinate Sorceress Edea. He maintains a business relationship with Cid Kramer of Balamb Garden.
It is unknown when Martine became Galbadia Garden's Headmaster, though it can be assumed he has held the position since the Garden's construction. Galbadia Garden, though being a "Garden", is a separate entity from Balamb Garden and does not train SeeDs. Instead, Galbadia Garden's training program is based on the technological aspects of combat rather than magic, using firearms. Unlike the other Gardens, which have chosen to remain politically neutral, Galbadia Garden operates in close association with the Galbadian government and its military. Martine created an alumni program to help Garden graduates enlist in armies all over the world.
Although the relationship with the Galbadian government afforded Galbadia Garden a great deal of power and influence, it made it vulnerable to Galbadia's political leanings. When Galbadian President Vinzer Deling begins to fall under the enchanting Sorceress Ultimecia's influence (using Edea Kramer's body and name), Martine grows concerned, fearing the sorceress's growing power would spill over into his Garden.
Caraway shares Martine's fears and together they hatch a plot to assassinate her. He enlists the SeeDs Squall Leonhart, Quistis Trepe, Zell Dincht, and Selphie Tilmitt to carry out the plan, together with Galbadia Garden's best sharpshooter, Irvine Kinneas. The plan fails and Ultimecia seizes control of the nation by killing the president and assuming his position, and claims Galbadia Garden as her main base of operations. Although not legally connected to the assassination attempt, Martine is forced out and flees Galbadia Garden.
Exiled from Galbadia and banished from his beloved Garden, the disgraced Martine ends up in Fishermans Horizon. Martine, grateful for the locals' sympathy and support, remains. He can often be found sitting outside Mayor Dobe's house.
Triple TriadEdit
Martine is an accomplished Triple Triad player with a diverse card deck, having confiscated all of his students' cards before abandoning Galbadia Garden. He plays a small role in the card game side quest; players must lose the Ifrit card to Martine's friend General Caraway to force him into using his rare Rinoa Heartilly card. Once players have won the Rinoa card from Caraway, the General has already lost the Ifrit card to Martine before the player can get it back. This forces players to travel to Fishermans Horizon and challenge Martine to a game of cards in order to regain Ifrit. Any rare cards that were lost to Galbadia Garden students on disc 1 can also be won from Martine.
Dodonna in the Japanese, Spanish, and German versions, and in the Italian version he is called Dodonn. In Star Wars, Dodonna was one of the first generals in the Rebel Alliance, tying in with Square Enix's references to Star Wars throughout the series.Martine is a French feminine name derived from the male Latin "Martinus." He is named


text: Joy Sewing May 9, 2018 A weekend in Miami, beyond beaches and bikinis Joy Sewing May 9, 2018 Somewhere along the mile-long trail that encircles Brickell Key, a small gated island in downtown Miami, I realized the runners around me weren't rushing to bask in the sun or dance all night at a pulsating nightclub. Like me, they were enjoying the view: a glimmering bay accented with towering skyscrapers reflecting the sunset. The sweet scent of flowers filled the air.More


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Top 10 Self-Directed Education Resources
So i've just started Blake Boles online course, The Way of Adventure, and I wrote an introductory post over here if you'd like to learn more about it. I'm currently in the process of beta-testing the course, and as I don't have other examples to base my challenges off please bear with me as I muddle my way through.
As I'm doing various different projects during the week my challenges will be done slightly out of order, but I'll provide links at the bottom of each post so it makes a bit more sense if you're going through in order.
This challenge focused on the theme Create, which is an important skill in our society. The ability to add value to the organisations you're apart of, will really set you apart from others who just do what's required. This adds to your personal worth in the organisation, and makes you much more valuable to the company.
This challenge was to create a curated resource list about an area you had an interest in. I am currently learning a lot about self-directed education, economics and entrepreneurship. This list compiles the best 10 resources that have taught me a lot about self-directed learning.
Here are my current Top 10 Resources for people interested in a different approach to learning, and those wanting to take control of their own education.
Blake is an alternative education advocate, and offers trips for self-directed young adults through his company Unschool Adventures. He writes regularly on his website and social media platforms, and has written a host of other interesting articles which you can find on his website. I highly recommend reading his book Better Than College, which you can get for free if you are a teenager or student. Reading through the content Blake produces is a great introduction to self-directed education, and was definitely where I went at the start my journey last year.
The Foundation for Economic Education's mission is to educate young adults with the economic, ethical and legal principles of a free society. They promote personal growth, entrepreneurship and individual liberty. Reading even a few of their numerous in-depth articles will really force you to learn and think, and they offer a whole host of free resources and online courses to help you do just that.
Another prolific writer and the founder of Praxis, you'll learn a lot about alternative education from his website and eBooks. Try Forward Tilt, his new free eBook covering 52 weeks of personal development and growth, and the podcast that accompanies it. I've been listening to his recent podcasts, and they have definitely been opening my eyes to the different ways I can achieve the outcomes that i've set for myself.
This blog really has a bit of everything, and covers key topics like career advancement, value-creation and alternate ways to land your dream job. Trawl through the Praxis blog and you're sure to find a diamond that truly resonates and connects with you. I have gained a lot of insight and knowledge through the posts on this site.
Another great resource to look through for gems, certainly worth checking out. They also have a bank of free eBook resources here.
A large online global liberty community that involves people across the globe. Thousands of thought provoking posts, member library, discussion forums and interesting downloadable guides. It's worth checking out Rethinking Education by Isaac Morehouse, and having a look in their huge downloadable library.
If you you want to know exactly this alternative education concept is, look no further than this fantastic and informative website. It explains the what, how, why and when of self-directed education. The basics are clearly explained, and they have numerous informative articles to help you understand the principles of self-directed education.
Although not primarily focused on self-directed education, the message of this website is 'rebelling against low expectations'. It encourages, assists and showcases young people who are making their mark on the world, without waiting until they've reached certain milestones in life. I recommend reading Do Hard Things, written by the founder's of The Rebelution, Brett and Alex Harris.
This blog is written by an unschooler who has grown up with self-directed learning. Her website celebrates self-directed lifelong learning, and provides an introduction to those who are new to it. Check out her post Unschooling 101, it's a great place to start exploring the concepts of unschooling.
Before I finish up I have to mention these fantastic podcasts that relate to education and personal development, and you can download all of these on iTunes.
I hope you find some interesting content among these sites, and learn new things about self-directed education.
Best Wishes,


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Updated: Social Business Strategy Webinar Series
C7group is excited to launch the first webinar, Why the CEO Hates Facebook and What The Enterprise Must Learn from It, in our social business webinar series.
Why do bosses hate Facebook? What is there to be learned from Facebook as a social platform for better communication and collaboration within large and mid-sized companies?
This Webinar is a casual conversation with plenty of open Q&A.
- We'll discuss what is valuable from the Facebook experience.
- How can it be translated into business productivity?
- What are social platforms for business?
- What will it mean to business culture? Workflow?
- How much money can be saved?
- What if we decide not to pursue it? What is the Risk?
Please join the co-founders of the C7, CEO, Jeff Marmins and Chief Solutions Architect, Mark Bean, for an engaging, educational conversation where we can share how companies are already seeing results like:
- 33% Higher Customer Satisfaction
- 27% Reduction in Email
- 26% Less time spent in meetings
- 34% Less time to find information and experts
(Results from Jive Software Customer Survey)
Related Posts:


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The Sackler Insight newsletter/blog team consists of the following personnel –
Daniel Wong
Kofi Gyan
Kofi Gyan is a post-baccalaureate (PREP) scholar working in the laboratory of Daniel G. Jay, PhD. His research involves studying the role of extracellular Heat Shock Protein 90 in exosome transport and uptake in order to investigate mechanisms regulating cancer cell invasiveness.
Kayla Gross
Kayla Gross is a third-year CMDB graduate student in the Kuperwasser lab, and her research focuses on how aging impacts plasticity and neoplastic transformation in the breast. Improving communication within the scientific community and between scientists and the public is one of her greatest interests outside the lab, and she looks forward to exploring those goals through her writing for Insight.
Nafis is a third year CMDB student in the Soto/Sonnenschein laboratory. His research focuses on the role of vitamin D in mammary gland development in the context of hormonal action. He is interested in all things science, from theoretical to sociopolitical. Nafis is also interested in making "Science!" clearer to the general population through writing and outreach.
Sanna Herwald
Contributing writers
Laura Pavlech, Hirsch Health Sciences Library
Guest Writers
Ania Wronski, Post-doc, Kupperwasser lab
Jess Davis-Knowlton, CMDB, MMCRI, Liaw Lab
Brian Lin, CMDB, Schwob lab


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Caring Sharing Learning Together
You can REGISTER as a volunteer and then the school will email or contact you as programs are run throughout the year. You can also meet with staff to talk about our programs. The school's key contacts for volunteers are:
Management and Decision Making - Rob Van den Heuvel (Principal)
Fundraising and P and C Association - Teresa Patterson (P and C President)
Learning Support and Support A Reader - Nicky Letchford / Fiona Horne (STLN)
KidsMatters and Parent Information - Louise Blanche (GO and MYCP)
Chaplaincy and Social Support - Anthony Pulford (Chaplain)
Office and Grounds - Dot Boothby (BSM)
© The State of Queensland (Department of Education) 2019


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* Your list is public by default.
Alternative Titles
English: The Poem of Wind and Trees
Synonyms: The Song of the Wind and the Trees, Kaze To Ki No Uta: Sei Ni Naru Ka Na, KazeKi
Japanese: 風と木の詩 SANCTUS-聖なるかな-
Type: OVA
Episodes: 1
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Nov 6, 1987
Producers: Shogakukan Productions
Licensors: None found, add some
Studios: None found, add some
Source: Manga
Genres: Drama, Historical, Romance, Shoujo, Shounen Ai
Duration: 1 hr. 5 min.
Rating: R+ - Mild Nudity
Score: 6.951 (scored by 4,545 users)
1 indicates a weighted score. Please note that 'Not yet aired' titles are excluded.
Ranked: #39902
2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity: #4410
Members: 9,360
Favorites: 81


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Business Development Acumen for Online Community Managers
In a way, the online community manager is the most important person in the company. Without you and your input and data, the other teams don't know how to serve your customers and community members properly. Even though you're not officially part of the business development department, you're the one person that this department can't manage effectively without.
Because you're receiving feedback from your community on a regular basis, you're best equipped to tell the business development how the people who use your products and services feel about them. If any aspect of what your brand creates isn't working, you're the one who hears about it. Also, it's up to you to offer surveys to collect information from customers and community members.
Because you spend so much time talking to your members, you know things that the rest of your team may not:
The median age of your community: After conversing with members over time, you find out how old they are.
The location of your members: You find out where members live and whether more of them live in one area than in other areas.
Their hobbies and interests: Community chats often go off topic, and this is okay, because you want to find out about your members' interests — the things they like to do during their down time.
Careers: You know what some of your members do for a living.
Income: Unless you come out and ask, you won't know for sure, but some indicators let you know the income levels of your members. If they talk about their in-ground swimming pools and country-club memberships, it's a good guess that they're upper-income. If they talk about clipping coupons, saving money, and not being able to afford certain services, your members are in a lower- or middle-income bracket.
This information may seem to be unrelated to your brand, but it's really very important. Without knowing some of the deeper personal details about your community, you won't be able to reach them on a deeper level. Knowing how they roll means that your brand can create the products and services they'll respond to best at prices that they can afford.


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Spiritual Director: Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong
|Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong, the General Spiritual Director of IKBU and Principal Resident Teacher at Manjushri KMC, is a modern Buddhist nun dedicated to helping people from all walks of life attain lasting happiness through developing inner peace.
She has been a student of Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso for thirty years. While teaching internationally, she has inspired many thousands of people through her sincere reliance on her Spiritual Guide, her tireless dedication, and her clear and accessible teachings.
Deputy Spiritual Director: Gen-la Kelsang Jampa
|Gen-la Kelsang Jampa is an American Buddhist monk and the Elected Deputy Spiritual Director of the NKT-IKBU.
A long time disciple of the internationally renowned Buddhist Teacher and meditation master,Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Gen Jampa travels extensively giving the ancient wisdom of Buddha to people throughout the US and abroad, helping them to find happiness in their hearts.
Eastern US National Spiritual Director: Kadam Morten
Kadam Morten Clausen is the Eastern US National Spiritual Director of the New Kadampa Tradition and Resident Teacher at the Kadampa Meditation Center New York City.
Resident Teacher: Kelsang Jindak
|Kelsang Jindak is the Resident Teacher at Vajrapani Center. She is a western Buddhist nun and has years of experience practicing and teaching Kadampa Buddhism. Jindak has a clear teaching style and is a excellent teacher for both beginners and experienced meditators.


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Pastor Matt Miller's family started Grace Baptist Church in 1976 with just their family and a handful of tracts. Pastor served under his father as Youth Pastor as well as Associate Pastor until 1995, when he felt the call to take a church in Grand Junction, Colorado. He pastored there for 5 years where they took a church of 27 and led it to a weekly attendance of 200. Knowing his father was close to retirement, Pastor felt it was God's will to return to Colorado Springs and take over the ministry. He's been Pastor of Grace Baptist Church since July 4, 2006.
Our Pastor has a compassionate heart and a desire and zeal for reaching the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pastor Miller is a personal soul winner and often has a fresh testimony of winning a soul to Christ.
Our Pastor is a man of convictions and of following the doctrines of God's Word, holding it as a standard for godly living in an ungodly age.


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To say that Iron Man 3 will have plenty of cooks in the kitchen is an understatement. We get a darker, more serious Tony Stark recovering from a near-death experience; a mysterious villain bent on destroying the billionaire hero; and a bigger role for the Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle). Oh, and a few dozen suits of armor.
That many side characters might usually relegate the relatively well-established relationship between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) to comedic relief or classic 'damsel in distress' plot devices. But according to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, Pepper won't be getting less screen time at all; in many ways, Pepper Potts is who Iron Man 3 is all about.
A more important role for the scarlet-haired character is nothing new to fans of the comic books, as Pepper eventually received her own RESCUE armor with which to protect the innocent. Even if the movies have largely strayed from the source material in regards to Pepper and, say, Tony's bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), the die-hard fans know that the potential for more development has always been present.
When speaking with About.com, Feige opened up about what Iron Man 3 will bring for Potts and how the oft-used convention of a 'love triangle,' despite the added actresses to the cast, will have more to do with Tony's armor than his heart:
"The love triangle in this movie is really between Tony, Pepper and the suits. Tony, Pepper and his obsession with those suits, and the obsession with technology. And, it's sort of unique for a big superhero summer blockbuster franchise to have that kind of layers.
"Yes, there's a bad guy. Yes, the stakes are very, very high–the President of the United States is in danger. Air Force One is attacked. There are big stakes to this movie. But the real stakes are, is Tony going to be able to set aside the obsession to spend all day, every day in that workshop, tinkering with the suits in order to focus on, as he says in the trailer, the one thing that matters most – Pepper. And that actually is what the entire movie's about."
Feige's comments mirror those of Paltrow and director Shane Black, who previously explained that Tony's reliance on his armor would be a major point of contention in his and Pepper's relationship. It may not be the only one, either. The impact that Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) will have – beyond her knowledge of the Extremis virus – isn't clear just yet, but Feige has hinted that Tony may feel a kinship with her that he doesn't with Pepper.
All of that comes in addition to a telling shot from the very first Iron Man 3 footage, showing Stephanie Szostak's character seeming to force herself onto a surprised Stark. Now that Szostak's character has apparently been revealed, we only have more questions about what that scene might entail. We knew Tony would be dealing with a much larger number of armors this time around, and it's seeming more and more like the number of women in his life may increase to match.
New love interests may be coming into Tony's life, but the past films (and The Avengers) have shown that Pepper isn't the kind of girl to back down from a fight. That resolve and determination make her a poor fit for a 'damsel in distress,' even if the trailers have shown she may undergo one heck of a transformation. Feige explains what a female character that strong brings to the story:
"I will tell you this. In this movie we play with the convention of the damsel in distress. We are bored by the damsel in distress. But, sometimes we need our hero to be desperate enough in fighting for something other than just his own life. So, there is fun to be had with "Is Pepper in danger or is Pepper the savior?" over the course of this movie.
"In terms of where we go with future movies, we'll see. In the comic books she does get a taste for the suit and becomes her own hero named Rescue, who doesn't necessarily battle other people, but is on missions to help people and to save people. Will we do that down the line with Gwyneth Paltrow? Who knows. But her being in the suit is something we have been playing with since Iron Man 2, where we did some designs and it didn't end up fitting in that movie. But [the idea] is something that we're certainly interested in."We don't yet know how Pepper's relationship with Tony's armor will impact the series as a whole, but Marvel and Black have teased that a new story could begin with the third Iron Man movie. Nothing will be set in stone until fans see the movie for themselves, but it's obvious that plenty more stories could be written about Stark and his surrounding associates – both planetside and in space.
What do you think of the story arc being set up for Pepper Potts? Is this a twist you've been waiting to see since the beginning, or would Pepper suiting up feel more like a gimmick than a true evolution? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Andrew Dyce blogs at Screen Rant.


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Report by Rebecca Porter courtesy of the Skegness Standard.
The much anticipated third annual Skegness Coasters 10K was held at Southview Leisure Park last Sunday. The race was a huge success after months of planning and organising by the volunteer Skegness 10K committee.The race started at the rear of the Southview complex where runners completed a small loop of the caravan park before heading on to Everington's Lane. From there, participants raced along a big loop of country roads – Hide's Lane, Ingoldmells Road and Younger's Lane – before heading back to Southview Leisure Park to finish their run. Finishers were met by the infamous Jolly Fisherman and the Skegness Carnival Queen and Princesses, who happily handed over the well-earned medals.
Beci Goodrick, a non-affiliated runner from Spilsby, commented: "The event was so well organised, everything seemed so smoothly-run, and all the marshals were so lovely and incredibly supportive. I am looking forward to next year."Skegness Coaster Rebecca Porter added: "This annual event makes me proud to be part of the Skegness Coasters – such a friendly, supportive bunch of people and a truly inclusive running club.
Times: Ben Evison 34min 51sec, Robert Rennie 41:43 (PB), Martin Jessop 49:15, David Young 52:03 PB, Janet Harmston 52:06, Suzy Wain 53:01, Andy Wilkinson 53:34 (PB), Michael Hawkesford 53:41, Nathan Fisher 53:53, Paul Whitfield 56:15, Debbie Cussons 58:55 (CPB), Katie Moore 59:45 (CPB), Helen Kennedy 1:01:09 (PB), Sandra Colman 1:02:25 (PB), Rachel Shinn 1:02:33 (CPB), Linda Ingram 1:02:59, Elly Rutherford 1:03:00 (PB), Carole Tumber 1:03:01, Sally Higgins 1:06:53, Barbara Odling 1:09:15, Rebecca Sylvester 1:15:59 (CPB), Les Arrowsmith 1:17:19, Sarah Hawkins 1:17:30, Tracy Sands 1:17:32 (PB), Anita Ullyatt 1:19:34 (CPB), Kelly Galloway 1:22:13, Zara Stones 1:22:13 (PB), Joanne Perzhilla 1:22:15 (PB), Rebecca Porter 1:24:24 (CPB), Claire Parker 1:24:30 (CPB). PB: Personal Best; CPB: Course Personal Best
The Skegness Coasters 10K Committee would like to extend a big thank you to Skegness Town Council, The Lincolnshire Runner, Lincolnshire Co-op, the Mayor for his support, Southview Leisure Park for letting them host the event on their grounds, Chris Epton for use of his field for parking, to all the local running clubs who participated and made the event so successful, 159 Regiment Royal Logistics Corp, Air Cadets, Sea Scouts, the Jolly Fisherman and the Skegness Carnival Queen and Princesses, the County Lincs Bus, Barry Robinson, St John's Ambulance, volunteers who helped to set up on the day and last but by no means least, the encouraging marshals who gave up their time to cheer on, high-five and support the runners along the route; you were all superb!


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We have extended our productrange by purchasing equipment, machines and products from the company Glada Grodan!
There are a few techical things to set up before we can add the products in our e-store but we work on this as fast as we can and within short we will have everything in order and looking like it did at Glada Grodan.
The text, layouts, graphics, and logos at this site are protected by EU copyright, trademark, service mark or other proprietary rights and laws3exter is a registered company with a Swedish VAT number.


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3D Fans
Here at The 3D Factory we design our professionally made 3D Fans for various customers.
All of our 3D products are high quality and customisable for your specific needs.
All of our Fans are 160mm X 170mm with a 115mm handle, and the 3D effect is given by using lenticular technology.
- Sort by Default Order


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Good news! Today we've got Erica England, the marketing manager for GuildQuality, as a guest blogger! You can check out more advice from Erica over at the GuildQuality blog when you get a chance. Enjoy:
Service excellence leaders like Thompson Creek Windows aren't developed overnight. It takes dedication and an effective customer service plan to sustain longevity and a positive reputation in the residential construction industry. Strive for exceeding customer expectations in the new year at your company and create a strategy for service excellence.
Identify Your Company's Core Customer Service Values
The first step in developing a strategy for service excellence is identifying what your company's core values are when it comes to customers. Is always doing the right thing something that's important to your business? What about never sacrificing quality craftsmanship? Your company's core customer service values should serve as a road map to help your team work together and navigate through their decisions. Knowing what you value as a company ultimately helps everyone prioritize better. You'll be on the same page about what matters and what doesn't for your customers.
Measure Performance
Once you've identified what your company's core customer service values are, the next aspect of your service excellence strategy needs to be measuring how well you and your team are actually living up to them. Did you know that about one out of every five businesses that deliver a poor customer experience fail; whereas, only one out of 50 superior performers fail?
Use a third-party to gather an honest evaluation from your customers about your company's performance on their project. Surveying customers in this fashion allows them to be more comfortable sharing candid feedback, and gives you the opportunity to really know whether you're delivering outstanding service.
Leverage Your Raving Fans
Identifying performance trends for your business can be a powerful differentiator. You'll understand where your company stands with customers, how to make meaningful improvements, and what areas you're excelling in. With that knowledge, you and your team can successfully carryout another significant element of your service excellence strategy; promoting your company's quality.
There are two essentials every home builder, remodeler, and home services pro needs to have when marketing their business; happy customers and a forum for them to share about their experience.
Through identifying your company's core customer service values and how you're performing, you'll know which of your customers are raving fans of your business. From there you can ask them to provide a referral, and also a review online. This is where having a forum comes into play. Stake your company's claim on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Houzz and GuildQuality. Once you have a presence online, start sharing it with your raving fans and encourage them to post things like project photos and reviews there.
Customer service isn't always easy, but it's a challenge worth taking. By developing a strategy that helps your business identify its core customer service values, performance trends, who raving fans are and how to empower them to promote your quality, you'll be on your way to becoming a service excellence leader in 2014.
Erica England is the Marketing Manager for GuildQuality, the leading customer satisfaction surveying company for remodelers, home improvement contractors, and home builders. Supported by comprehensive reporting and marketing tools, GuildQuality helps its members promote their quality to stand out in a competitive market. For more information, visit www.guildquality.com.


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Family Rooms
Our Family Rooms were created in response to RMH of SNJ's commitment to enhance our services to families of seriously ill and injured children throughout the nine southern counties of New Jersey.
Family Rooms are a place for parents, siblings and extended family members to rest or relax while still remaining close to their hospitalized child.
Our goal is to provide an uplifting setting that offers comfort and support to families while their children are in a pediatric unit, PICU, NICU or emergency department receiving medical treatment.
Our Ronald McDonald House Family Room at Kennedy Hospital in Washington Township Celebrates its 10th Anniversary. READ MORE
Family Room Hospital Partners
Read below stories about our Volunteers and families who have used our Ronald McDonald Family Rooms


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The Paradise Airports Nationals is a flatlands hang gliding competition that will be held at Wilotree Park in Florida from 12 April 2020, a week before the Worlds.
Davis Straub is meet director. There will be practice tasks on 10 and 11 April, and Open, Sport, Swift, and Rigid wing classes.
It's an aerotow competition, and there is a $400 towing fee in addition to the competition entry fee.
Organisers say:
This is a CIVL category 2 competition set up for Class 1 Open pilots. Sport Class pilots who can't qualify for the Worlds can register also as well as any Sport Class pilots flying in the Worlds. Women, Rigid and Swift class pilots flying in the Worlds looking to practice in advance of the Worlds are also welcome.
Live tracking with Flymaster trackers provided.
The first FAI Pan-American Championships and 2020 Pan-Americans are to be held at Big Spring, Texas from 2-14 August 2020.
The site is renowned for big tasks, smooth thermals, unrestricted landing areas, easy retrieval on multiple roads and consistent cu's. The air-conditioned head quarters, hangar for setup, free water and ice cream will make life so much easier and more pleasant!
The comp will be live tracked, with Flymaster trackers provided.
The Championships are a USHPA and CIVL sanctioned Category 1 competition; USHPA NTSS and CIVL WPRS points will be awarded.
The Pan-Americans are Category 2 sanctioned; USHPA NTSS and CIVL WPRS points will be awarded.
More on Facebook and Airtribune
The Pan American Championships is an aerotow hang gliding competition set to take place in Big Spring, Texas – billed by organisers as "the finest cross-country hang gliding competition site in the World" – in August 2020.
Organisers say Big Spring is synonymous with big tasks, smooth thermals, unrestricted landing areas, easy retrieves, consistent 1pm cumulus development, air-conditioned HQ, a hangar for set-up and free water and ice cream. And records, of course.
Pilots must be at least temporary USHPA members to take part in the competition, and must hold the equivalent of IPPI5 rating, and be aerotow proficient.
Entry fees are $550 per pilot plus tow fees of $900 (for 11 – 12 days).
Check Airtribune.com for the full conditions.


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Recently SIP related activities are very visible; especially, with reSIProcate, Jain-SIP protocol stacks popularity and major Java EE Container vendors supporting SIP Servlets it is easily comprehensable that industry is expecting a increase in use of SIP in business applications, as more and more applications want to include web based voice/video chat.
Recently, GlassFish project has introduced the SailFin project, which is a SIP Servlet container. Hopefully, by the will of Almighty, it will also include support for easy portability for Jain-SIP based server applications into its container as well.
If I were to bet on a technology of next generation I would place my bet on SIP based applications. Hopefully, by the will of Almighty, I hope to bring more writeups about SIP applications - mostly server side.