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All businesses need WAN resilience
WAN outages hit very hard, making WAN resilience vital for all types of companies, from large corporations to small companies.
Before WAN resilience was a service only for large corporations to cover the disaster recovery scenario. It was very expensive and only for mission critical data.
However, now failover of communications is required by virtually any company regardless of size or type of business, because we all need 24/7 connectivity.
The consequences of being without WAN resilience is that connections between own offices, clients and suppliers is lost. Not only data connection is lost, but also ToIP!
The options during many years had been the use of an alternative carrier with double fixed line as failover. However, this is expensive, due to wiring up the site with alternative land line cable, as well as the hiring costs of the double fixed line.
That's why the real alternative came with the introduction of cellular 3G and more so with 4G/LTE.
Teldat clearly has a long experience in working with cellular networks from when GPRS / EDGE was used. Since then Teldat has worked very closely with the largest multinational carriers. Especially those carriers which were the first to invest in 3G as back up for fixed lines.
Teldat has taken the huge advantages that 3G cellular networks brought to WAN resilience: total line independence and huge reduction of line hiring costs, to develop a totally independent device for line back up.
This product has now developed into the Teldat-4Ge. A device which connects to many fixed line routers, not only Teldat routers, but also to other manufacturers' routers, maintaining connectivity via 4G/LTE for clients when the fixed line crashes or simply the router loses fixed line connectivity.
- Many companies do not want to set up a second router for back up purposes. This can increase maintenance costs and it will definitely increase network management costs. Especially if a different operating system needs to be managed. However, installing a Teldat-4Ge means that there is only one router. The Teldat-4Ge is an external hardware device of the currently installed main line router. The Teldat-4Ge is used as a type of module installed within the current fixed line router, although it can be physically installed far away from the router.
- In many cases, fixed lines routers are installed in the back end of shops, offices or other sites. These sections tend to have low or scarce 4G/LTE coverage. However, the Teldat-4Ge device is independent and although it is an external device of the fixed main line router, connecting via Ethernet to the router and having PoE, the Teldat-4Ge can always be easily installed where coverage is best.
- A cellular 4G/LTE connection is a totally independent network from whatever fixed line is being used. This contrasts with double fixed line connectivity for resilience, which apart from other disadvantages, the last mile tends to be the same, whether the backup line is of a different network or even if different carriers are being used. Hence, if there is a breakage in the last mile, with double fixed line resilience, the fall back line would not work in most cases.
- Setting up a cellular 4G/LTE network as a failover network is fast and economical. Fast in that cellular devices can be installed very quickly and cabling of network lines is not a requirement. Moreover it is economical in that 4G / LTE connections are much more economical than fixed lines.
Only one router
Where coverage is best
Totally independent network
Fast and economical
Teldat's client, one of the largest carriers in Europe / the world, needed to move to a failover line that could support the amount of broadband main line traffic.
Moreover, they needed a unique and discreet device, easy to install, that could work on PoE and be compatible with other corporate routers. Teldat-4Ge was our client's choice.
- Incorporates mobile access to any existing set up
- Based on standards
- Powered over Ethernet
- Does not need management, as it is part of the main line router.
- One Ethernet cable is the only cable required for full installation.
- Desktop or wall mount installation.
- Specifically designed to be installed in offices or similar.
- Optionally, it can run as an independent router if needed.


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Health Foods and Consumer Products Distribution Division
The Health Foods and Consumer Products Distribution Division is a full service marketing and distribution partner to the health foods, vitamins, minerals and supplements, Pharmacy, Grocery and domestic consumer products sectors. It markets and distributes to retail and wholesale outlets in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Click on the logo's below to visit individual Consumer / Health websites.
Allegro Ltd
Allegro provides sales, marketing and distribution services to the Grocery, Pharmacy and Electrical sectors. Allegro is one of Ireland's leading sales, marketing and distribution agencies and has been providing solutions for local and international brands since 1949.
Wholefoods Wholesale
Wholefoods Wholesale is Ireland's largest and longest established wholesaler of natural products and healthcare. We distribute over 8,000 products nationwide from our distribution facility based in Dublin representing most the leading brands in the market.
Body Temple
Body Temple is one of the leading sports nutrition distributors in Europe supplying over 60 of the world's most popular brands to major stores, gyms and online retailers.
Skoulikas Bedford
Skoulikas Bedford is an importer and wholesaler of Mediterranean fine foods. We pride ourselves in producing high quality foods combining authenticity and a wide range of flavours with ingredients sourced personally by our staff from respected quality farms in the heart of Mediterranean: predominantly Greece, Italy, France and Spain. The business prides itself on sourcing authentic, high quality and great tasting products.

subset: commoncrawl


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I'm celebrating my successful art exhibit at Arden's gallery list night with a high tech treat, the Cupcake ATM!
But first a quick coffee at Rice University, a look at a piece of the Berlin wall, over to the Apple store and around the back - the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM!
3:48 min


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The flowers and décor are the art elements of your wedding pallet.
They are hugely important part of making the statement of who the two of you are as a couple. Their beauty and grace not only help to create the mood for the day, they are also a major background point for your photographs.
From glitz and glam, Texas chic, or traditional designs the award winning team at Goen South can do it all with a sense of style and grace that is unmatched both from a quality perspective as well as creative endeavor. I hope you feel the love and care we put into your flowers as you view our photo galleries.
I will listen closely to what you have to say and the photographs you show me to help you refine your color pallet as well as select blooms that will fit the ambiance for your church and reception location. Not only part of my job is making sure your ideas with mesh with your location but also choose blooms that will be in season. Most blooms are available year around with the expectation of a few that are brides favorites. You have to be careful in making your selection because as blooms enter and leave a particular season they can come in from our growers very small and are more expensive. It is very important to me to make sure you have all the facts before we start making decisions in order to get the best band for the buck with your flowers.
We design wedding floral based on three categories:
1. Your personal florals which will include your bouquet, your bridesmaids flowers and groom and groomsmen bounties as well as flowers for your family members that you want recognize and honor on your day. For me it is very important that your bouquet as a bride is bigger and stands out from your bridesmaids. It is of course your day and you need to shine. For the guys we want to make sure our bloom selection and design are masculine and will look great at the end of the night as well as the beginning of the day.
2. Your ceremony florals whether you are in a church or another location need to show respect and define your "alter" area. Normally we create two anchor arrangements that will serve as marker for everyone's placement during the ceremony. We also include what we call "pew ends" which will designate where the reserve seating is for family. Also we want to review with your facility rules and if allowed make sure to create an aisle of petals for you to walk down.
3. Finally your reception floral. We need to dress each table with a centerpiece and again this is where I will work with you in determine what will look best for your room. We want to take into consideration the height of the ceilings, how many tables we will be having for guest, what the lighting conditions will be like, (lighting your floral is key that is why I like for GoenSouth to take care of lighting for you. You can have beautiful table arrangements if they are not lit correctly you and your guest will not be able to view them at the most beautiful and it will not look as nice in your photos) We also need to determine with you cake floral and any other elements that you may need to dress the room.
As you can see from above you need and professional and expert designer to incarnate flowers and décor to help you create an art experience that truly will make your day unforgettable by all.
Morris Goen


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It believes that the past, present and the future lives of all humans were foreseen by Hindu sages in ancient times. Nadi astrology is based on this.
According to Hindu faith, thousands of years ago sages who had the power to look in the past and future of the entire universe recorded the future of people who were living and who are going to live, in the form of Tamil verses, as Palm Leaf Manuscripts. There are different schools of thought as to the author of these leaves. They were said to be written down by different Hindu sages, who had divine revelations. Some of the sages include Agasthiya, Brighu, Kaushika, Vyasa, Valmiki, and Vasishtha.
Usually, the Siva Nadi Jyothisham astrologer asks for the thumb impression (right hand for males and left hand for females). The Nadi Jyothisham astrologer then searches his repository of leaves for the seeker's classification of the thumbprint. Finally, the minimum possible set of matching leaves is brought. Every leaf corresponds to some individual and hence will bear the birth and kinship details of its seeker. Once the exact leaf is found, the Siva astrology tells the seeker's name, parents name, spouse name and many other details about his future, since they are all written in the leaf.
It is very powerful and accurate. There is no prediction involved - only translation/interpretation of what is written on the leaf.


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Call the Mental Health Information Service for assistance 1300 794 992.
If you are diagnosed with a particular anxiety disorder, learn as much as you can about it and ways to treat it. This helps to 'de-mystify' the illness, making it less scary or confusing as well as helping you to choose the best treatment. It is often helpful to read other people's stories about how they coped with the same problem.
Ask for help. Don't let misconceptions about anxiety disorders stop you from seeking help. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It demonstrates self respect and caring for your health.
Talk to Someone
Contact the Mental Health Information Service on 1300 794 991 or 1300 794 992 for information about services in your area.
Speak to your local doctor (GP)
Contact your local Community Health Centre (under 'Community Health' in the Business and Government White Pages)
Contact the relevant professional body to find a practitioner in your area.


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The appearance of your home or office reflects you as an owner. Although every part of it plays an important role, the walls and ceilings have a great purpose.
For this reason, paying attention to these parts of your place, especially when painting and decorating is done should never be overlooked. One way to decorate your home is by covering your wall with paint or attractive wallpapers. However, you often don't consider the plastered surface underneath as long as the paint or wallpaper is already there. So when some cracks happen to it, that's the time that you notice an important thing which you have forgotten.
Painting Contractors for Hire in London
Plastering Services in London
Giving enough attention to the plasterwork in decorating your home is always a must to consider. Just like any other aspect of your property, an excellent way of plastering will guarantee a perfect surface.
Why quality is important?
A quality plasterwork can improve the whole appearance of your area. So whether it's an entire structure/room, ceiling, wall or area, a professional way of plastering still stands out. Knowing how essential the quality is, plastering services London can give you a supreme form of plasterwork.
How to ensure a quality plasterwork?
Whatever plasterwork it is, painting contractors London is the right help for you. We take details of your ornamental decorative displays, fittings and walls. Our plastering services are flexible to whatever shape and size of the surface.
With Bigness Property Maintenance Limited, you will not encounter unevenness or even mask the flaws of plasterwork. This is because our plastering techniques are efficient and we always apply professionalism in what we do.
The best plastering service in London
All over the place of London, we are the one that can offer you the best plastering services such as skimming, wallpaper removal, plastering over Artex, re-plastering – waterproofing, exterior & interior rendering, plastering existing painted surfaces, damp proofing, etc.
Our painting and decorating services cover most industrial and commercial requirements, including:
- Interior Painting & Decorating
- Exterior Painting & Decorating
- Anti-Mould Coatings & Treatments
- Anti-Static Coatings & Treatments
- Anti-Graffiti Coatings & Treatments
- Hygienic Coatings & Treatments
- Fire-Retardant Coatings & Treatments
- Non-Slip Coatings & Treatments
- Organic Coatings & Treatments
- Commercial Paint Spraying
- Epoxy Paints
- Intumescent Coatings
- Metal Spraying
- Airless Spraying
- Paint Spraying
- Protective Paints
- Bridges
- Special Finishes
- Warehouse Painting
- Insurance Work
- Painting Woodwork
- Office Painting
- Floor Coatings
Our work comes with excellence and dedication. We are organized with our offered services and making you satisfied with our work is happiness to us. Additionally, you are guaranteed that both our materials and workmanship come with a complete package.
Free Quoting and Estimating
Simply fill out the form with a description of the work you require, your location and your contact details, and we will aim to contact you within 1 hour.
Request a Free Quote Now!
Call 0207 112 5356 or email us today!
We'll beat any written quote from any other property maintenance company in London that provides the same guarantees and insurance that we offer, please let us know as we want to be your one stop solution.
Call 0207 112 5356 For a Free Site Visit and Quote!
Get in touch today to discuss our range of building and construction services.
Our experienced team are always happy to help and give advice!


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The grip can also work as a portable power bank to charge external devices (e.g., mobile devices, tablets) connected to the adapter's USB-A port.
Input (USB-C port): 5 V/2 A, 12 V 2 A
Output (USB-A port): 5 V/2 A
Operation Temperature Range: 41° to 104° F (5° to 40° C)
Weight: Approx. 44 g


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Jump to [cameras we have used] [working in the field]
Time Lapse Digital Cameras We Have Used
The Kodak DC-290 digital camera with a 128 mb compact flash memory card has been a work horse for our project. Select a time interval of 1 minute or longer. If there is adequate memory available, 1000 pictures can be collected when the camera is plugged into an electrical outlet or a long-lasting lithium battery designed for digital cameras (see below). This camera has been discontinued by Kodak, but you can find used ones for sale on e-Bay. Consider buying the Kodak DC-260, which has the same time lapse features, but with lower resolution pictures.
The Pentax Optio 43WR camera is water resistant, which is ideal for taking time lapse movies in nature. The camera has a good macro lens for close ups of plants. The camera is very efficient in battery use, so you will not need to find an auxiliary power supply to make time lapse movies for 8 to 12 hours. The shortest time interval is 10 seconds. The only drawback is that only 99 frames may be taken at a time.
Pentax Optio W10: water and dust proof, light weight, and can take up to 324 pictures with a time interval as short as 10 seconds.
Keith Lightbody's website provides many useful tips on photography and equipment, plus resources and samples.
For working in the fieldFor work away from electrical outlets, consider purchasing rechargeable, portable lithium batteries designed for digital cameras. These will guarantee you won't miss part of your intended time lapse movie! Example 1 Example 2
We have created the PicturePost as a way to use any camera to take pictures on a daily, weekly, or monthly time interval.
Based on the mechanical time lapse devise designed by students at Parramatta High School, Parramatta, Australia, we are exploring how to create a simple mechanical lever to convert an electric motor and a gear box to turn any digital camera into a time lapse recording device. (Under Development)
For lab experiments, we are exploring the use of firewire web cams connected to a computer and controlled by the BTV Pro software. (Under Development)
Tools > Time Lapse Imagery >


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Our 2nd graders will receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time on Saturday 2/13/16 at 10:00 AM.
In this Sacrament, the faithful confess their sins to a legitimate confessor, express sorrow for those sins, and an intention to reform their lives. In return, God absolves them from their sins through the ministry of the priest. At the same time, the individuals are also reconciled to the Church community which has been wounded through sin (c. 959).
Confession is available each Saturday from 3:15 to 4:15 pm, before daily Masses, or by appointment.


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Slitter and Distributor of Specialty Metals
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Saturday, March 1, 2008
Almetals, Inc., with locations in Austell, GA, and Wixom, MI, is
a specialty slitter and distributor for industries such as stamping, rollforming and tube production. In addition to housing equipment that can process more than 200 million lb. of slit coil annually, the company offers cut-to-length sheet, toll processing, precision slitting, protective-film application and gamma-ray gauge monitoring.
The company provides products with bright finishes as well as exceptional surface quality, corrosion resistance and forming ability. Products include aluminum, brass, copper, clad metals, and coated, painted, cold-rolled and stainless steels.
See also: Almetals, Inc.
Related Enterprise Zones: Materials/Coatings
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Rustam Valeev street art
Motherland Russia has enormous quantity of creative gems spread over the land. Today we found Rustam Valeev's street artworks made with chalks. Speechless, just one white chalk 1% of awesome talent and 99% of painstaking perspiration. For now Rustam has no portfolio website but only a page on Russian social network that blocked in most of countries due to a good reason. Hope to see his personal playground one day.


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The Nutrition Services department in my school district has made great efforts over the past few years to increase the quality and variety of food being served in our school cafeterias. One aspect of this effort is something they call Harvest of the Month. Items in this program our locally sourced and are an attempt to expose students to fruits and vegetables that they might not normally eat. Our most recent Harvest of the Month involved the serving of parsnips.
Parsnips were offered twice in a one month period and this provided an opportunity for our 5th grade students to do to do a little parsnip marketing. Under the direction of our school support staff member, Kathleen Witter, our 5th grade students embarked on a marketing campaign. Students created posters advertising the virtues of parsnips and proceeded to post them around the school. This provided many opportunities for discussion and to generate interest in parsnips.
By the time the next parsnips serving day came around, we saw a larger interest in parsnips and more students willing to give them a try. All in all, a great way to increase the interest in our school lunch program and in the health benefits of parsnips, and also provide our fifth-grade students with an opportunity to help spread the word.


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I can't believe it! So excited and proud to wear 11 at this year's walk. I can't believe I was the 11th top fundraiser at the 2010 walk. I wonder what number I will get to wear next year? Maybe I'll get into the top 10!! Go here to see the other people who are in the Top 25.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! You know I can't say this enough! Thanks to all of YOU, my generous donors and supporters I'm the 11th top fundraiser for 2010 for all of the Boston Walkers. So cool. It would be possible without all of you so thank you again for supporting me. I really appreciate it.
So the Boston MS Walk is ONLY 16 days away so The Bean Team really needs to work hard to raise more money if we are going to reach our goal of raising $30,000 in 3 Years. So far we have raised just over $25,000 in the 3 years so we have a way to go but I REALLY think we can do it. So please help if you can. Your donation will not go unnoticed or unappreciated (and you will get a very special thank you note in the mail from me after the walk - who doesn't love getting mail?)


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Managed IT Services
Helping you to focus on your business.
Pure iTek offers a range of managed IT services to help you meet your business objectives. Our managed IT service contracts save your business money by providing preventative services to help you focus on what really matters - running your business.
- Proactively maintains your computers and network saving you time and money; reduces downtime by preventing failure
- After hours updates increases work-time operating efficiency
- Remote screen sharing support allows for real time troubleshooting support resulting in speedy solutions
As your managed IT service provider and working within our Apple Consultants Network, Pure iTek stays on top of the latest technologies to provide you with advice to develop and implement business strategies to keep your momentum future focused.


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People suffering from different types of hair issues may use Divya Tankan bhasm so as to get rid of their respective hair problems. Different types of herbal constituents present in this wonderful remedy help in promoting healthy hair growth and prevent numerous hair problems.
- Hair loss, hair fall and dandruff are prevented naturally.
- Premature greying of hairs is also prevented.
- Hairs are strengthened from their roots.
- Scalp is also nourished.
- It repairs damaged hairs.
- Hairs are also nourished so as to promote their good health naturally.
- It is suitable for men as well as women.
- Hairs are imparted a wonderful glow and shining so as to make them look beautiful.


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Easy Recipes for the Electric Pressure Cooker
Get your new pressure cooker out of the box and get cooking! In this post, I've compiled a list of easy-to-make pressure cooker recipes for the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, Crockpot Express, Power Pressure Cooker XL, or any other brand of electric pressure cooker!
Many of you got a beautiful, brand new electric pressure cooker for Christmas and you're wondering what to cook first. Today I'm highlighting a few of my favorite easy recipes for the electric pressure cooker that are super easy and super delicious.
Easy Recipes for the Electric Pressure Cooker and Instant Pot
The pressure cooker and soups are a perfect match. With many of these recipes, you just throw the ingredients into the pressure cooker and come back to a fabulous soup!
Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Spicy Chicken Soup
Lentil Orzo Soup
Pork and Hominy Stew
Pressure Cooker Creamy Enchilada Soup
Large cuts of meats that would cook all day long in the slow cooker are done in less than 90 minutes in the pressure cooker.
Pressure Cooker Shredded Beef Enchiladas
Pressure Cooker Kalua Pork
Classic Pot Roast and Potatoes
Easy Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork
30-Minute Meals
By cutting the meat into small pieces before cooking, you can have a great-tasting meal on the table quickly.
Pressure Cooker Mongolian Beef
Pressure Cooker Beef and Broccoli
Pressure Cooker Chicken Lazone
Easy Pork Chops and Mushroom Gravy
Greek Tacos
Pressure Cooker Stuffed Green Peppers Casserole
Pressure Cooker Chinese Lemon Chicken
Rice & Sides
When you have a pressure cooker you don't need a rice cooker! The pressure cooker makes perfect rice every time. Here's a couple of my favorite, easy-to-make rice recipes.
Quick Pressure Cooker Potato Salad (you cook the eggs and the potatoes at the same time!)
Saffron Almond Rice Pilaf
Lemon Rice in the Pressure Cooker
Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Rice in the Pressure Cooker
Creamy Pressure Cooker Mashed Potatoes
Desserts are my favorite part of the meal, and I have some fantastic dessert recipes for the pressure cooker. (I even made a book full of cheesecake, cake, pie, and other dessert recipes!)
The Best Pressure Cooker Rice Pudding
Pressure Cooker Applesauce
Steel Cut Oats are better tasting and easy to make in the pressure cooker. Or try an easy crustless quiche/frittata. And once you've cooked hard boiled eggs in the pressure cooker, you'll never want to cook them another way ever again!
Lemon Cranberry Breakfast Farro
Pressure Cooker Breakfast Quinoa
>> That's it! You've completed the Getting Started Guide!
Now that you're more comfortable using your pressure cooker, try adapting your favorite recipes for the pressure cooker.
Before long you'll be wondering how you ever cooked without your pressure cooker, and whipping up more sophisticated desserts like my Nutella Rolo Cheesecake.
The Getting Started Guide Series
- Pressure Cooker Parts Reference Guide
- Choosing a Pressure Release Method
- Water Test Run for the Instant Pot / Electric Pressure Cooker
- Make Your First Meal in Your Pressure Cooker
- Easy Recipes to Make in Your New Instant Pot / Electric Pressure Cooker
Other How To Guides
- How to Get a Pan Out of the Pressure Cooker / Instant Pot
- How to Know Which Instant Pot Button You Should Use?
- How to Use the Pot-in-Pot Method in Your Pressure Cooker / Instant Pot
- How to Convert a Recipe to a Pressure Cooker Recipe
- How to Pressure Cook Frozen Chicken Breasts
- How to Cook Pasta in the Instant Pot / Electric Pressure Cooker
- How to Make Perfect Pressure Cooker Cheesecake


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27 September 2010: It just makes sense....
Nothing new or revolutionary here....it just makes sense. But everyone should read this if you have not already. Take control of your own health and wellbeing. "From The New York Times:
Doctor's Orders: Eat Well to Be Well
A doctor believes that in health circles, the kitchen should become as crucial as the clinic."


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Paxico Sausage (Paxico, KS) – Logo & Packaging Design
Simple design never gets old.
We first designed these labels almost 15 years ago. The logo harkens back to the post-Civil War era yet manages a clean and modern feel. The label packs an abundance of information but doesn't feel like too much – a harmonious color scheme and well-structured typography for the win!
Learn about the process behind the results – Tallgrass Studios' Identity Strategy to Branding Success.
Keep your packaging looking fresh on the shelf for years to come. Call us at (785) 842-9696 to discuss your company's packaging needs.


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The city of Plymouth, MN is located 15 miles northwest of downtown Minneapolis. It comes as no surprise that homeowners in Plymouth tend to take pride in their home remodeling projects and home upkeep. Stinson Services wants to help maintain your home by offering you the highest quality gutter installation services you can find in the metropolitan area.
Plymouth's climate offers a great variety of weather throughout the year. Rain, snow, and wind can cause major damage to your home's gutter system. Over time, causing cracks, clogs, rust spots, and more. These problems may seem small but can lead to bigger issues in the future. Improper rain gutters can provoke damage to the foundation of your home, deck, sidewalk, and/or driveway, causing a bigger headache down the road.
Stinson Services team is ready to protect your home with the best gutter installation service in the Minneapolis/St.Paul area. Installations are performed in a short amount of time and to the highest quality. It's important that you protect your home from water and ice. Stinson Services uses only the best Minnesota gutter companies' products.
Gutters, Rain Gutters, Seamless Gutters- whatever you like to call them, we install them, service them and understand them better than any other Minneapolis / St. Paul contractor. Professional seamless gutter installations for Twin Cities property owners with a 20-Year "No-Leak Guarantee".


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Sadly, no one in the room is surprised that the California Legislature conveniently lost interest in enacting significant reforms that might impede its members' access to campaign money. No less an expert than former Golden State political powerhouse Jesse Unruh told us years ago that money was the "mother's milk of politics."
He certainly knew whereof he spoke.
One might have thought that three closely spaced scandals involving state senators would move lawmakers to take some reasonable action. That's especially so since the latest one was a few notches above your run-of-the-mill political scandal, with Sen. Leland Yee arrested in connection with an FBI sting involving international gunrunning.
When that happened, even Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg pretended to think the scandals would produce some tangible reforms. He took to the senate floor and said "sometimes it takes a crisis" to get proper reforms through the system.
To be sure, the Legislature has done some easy stuff. You know, the stuff you do when you want to make it look like you're doing something.
For example, there was strong support for legislation to ban fundraisers at lobbyists' homes. The Legislature also doubled the amount of campaign finance reporting required annually and limited the value of gifts lawmakers can receive from outside groups.
But other measures that might have had more substantial impact have been quietly killed, often with little or no explanation.
Sen Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, knows the sting of that silence. His excellent proposal to strengthen the state's Political Reform Act included barring lawmakers from taking expensive free trips and preventing indicted lawmakers from using their campaign accounts as legal defense funds.
All that seemed pretty reasonable to us, but the provisions were mysteriously removed in the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is led by Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles. Since de Leon is about to replace Steinberg as the Senate's leader, hope of future reforms doesn't look too bright.
The Senate did adopt a rule that imposes a fundraising ban on its members for the last four weeks of the legislative session, but it is toothless. There are no legal penalties for breaking the rule except being reprimanded by their colleagues.
To be fair, de Leon and Steinberg did push through new Senate rules that impose fundraising restrictions, offer whistle-blower protection to Senate staff and require the chamber to hire an ombudsman. But they are far short of the reforms that would convince us that lawmakers have broken their addiction to "mother's milk."


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[This post is part of "10 Ways to use Roasted Garlic"]
This recipe is for garlic lovers. It's one of those minimal ingredient dishes that takes only a few minutes to prepare. The key ingredient is whole roasted garlic. I wrote a post yesterday on how to roast garlic and showed 10 different ways to cook with it. Here's one…
As for most of my pasta recipes, I'm using whole wheat but feel free to substitute with regular white pasta. And if you don't have time to roast garlic ahead of time, just sauté garlic cloves a little longer until they become soft and aromatic. Serve with a nice glass of wine.
Roasted Garlic Pasta Recipe
Cook pasta to a nice al dente. Heat oil in a large saucepan on medium heat.
Stir in roasted garlic cloves for a few minutes until they begin to sizzle. Turn heat off and combine pasta, cheese and pepper. Mix well and plate. Top with more cheese, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil before serving.
Total Time: 20-25 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
[This post is part of "10 Ways to use Roasted Garlic"]
One Response to "Roasted Garlic Pasta – Minimal Ingredients for Maximum Flavor"
This sounds SUPER tasty! Must try it out! 🙂


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Grab Link Pump Lifting System
Fehr Bros. custom designed pump lifting assemblies allow you to replace all but a few feet of the stainless chain traditionally used to lower and raise pumps. In its place stainless aircraft cable acts as a guide allowing a grab link to be lowered for retrieval.
Additional Lengths Are Available: 20ft, 30ft , 35ft , 40ft , 50ft
Call for Pricing (800) 431-3095 x201


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Ballet has cemented itself in my mind as of late. I've made it no secret how much I truly admire Black Swan while The Red Shoes sits atop my top five all-time list. Although I wasn't anticipating a documentary on the subject, I was proven wrong, as First Position is a wondrous journey behind the scenes of the elite youth Grand Prix. The competition occurs every year and decides the fates of hundreds of ballet dancer hopefuls. First-time director Bess Kargman was gracious enough to sit down with me to discuss the film and we covered such topics as why the individual subjects never interact on camera, her efforts to show diversity in this sport of preconceived notions, what surprised her the most about the process as a newcomer, choosing the subjects, and much more. Check it out below.
The Film Stage: One thing I found fascinating about the film, and documentaries in general, is when you bring in all of these different characters, sometimes they allow things to happen that isn't part of the script. Yet all of your subjects make it into the Grand Prix, obviously. But you're following them up to that point. Did you have try-outs? How did you figure on these select people or were there other people that didn't make it into the Grand Prix?
Bess Kargman: Well, I would have loved to have had someone in the film not make it into the final round because that's true life. That's the drama. That's the reality of entering a competition. However, perhaps the one con to a director having danced her entire childhood and being able to spot talent, artistry, grace, maturity, and having that special something on stage that few young dancers have at that age. The one con to that is, well, that's what the judges spot.
You're saying, 'This person's good.'
I'm saying, 'I haven't seen anyone dance like that in a while. Whoa!' When I set out to make this film, I really didn't think to myself, 'Are they going to win? Are they going to win?' That's not what I thought about. I thought [about whether] they have something so special on stage that even non-dancers can appreciate it? Because sometimes people ask me [if] I made this film for ballet lovers. And the answer is no, not really. And I'll tell you why: I know I will get the ballet loving crowd on my side. It's the people who are dragged to the theater who I want to win over. And I want to surprise them. I want to make them laugh. I want to teach them about dance, and I want it to be dramatic. Those are the things I set out to do in my storytelling but also, other than talent and uniqueness on stage, I decided that the most difficult thing about doing a competition documentary is that if you're solely trying to predict who will win then you're risking the entire film's success on outcome. And that's something you have no control over.
How do you maintain more control as the storyteller? You cast young dancers whose personal stories, personalities, and offstage lives are so special, unique, and surprising that even if the last five minutes of the film bomb and no one does well, the first 85 minutes of the film people are going to enjoy. And they'll become invested in the dancers. But when it came to who I wanted, for example Jules, he's not so talented. And if I really only cared about results, I wouldn't have put him in the film. But far more interesting than having everyone be perfect is a brother/sister duo. It's fascinating to me. You have an older sister who's so determined and driven and then you see a boy who kind of would rather play video games.
Yeah, he's kind of dragged into the narrative in a way. And in the press notes you mentioned that you wanted to show that not everyone is this psycho mother, kind of living her fantasies through her children.
My advice to aspiring dancers who want to make it as professionals, is do not do it unless it is literally the only thing you can think of doing. If you are trying to decide between dance and a few other things, only do it for fun. Don't try and make it. Because it's too difficult. It's taxing on your body, it's taxing on your mind. You have to be so, so, so dedicated. Common perception is that young, very serious dancers, 'they give up their childhood and gah, that's so depressing. How could their parents allow them to do that?' And what you find in this film is that it's way more complex than that. None of them feel like they're giving up their childhoods. Even if they haven't been to a birthday party in three years. They wouldn't say that. Miko doesn't have any problem with the fact that she now does schooling at home online in order to spend six hours a day in the dance studio. She never complains about that. And I think the audience is very surprised by that. I think the audience usually goes into a film going, 'The parents are going to live their dream through their kid. The kid really, secretly hates this. And they're being denied all of these normal, childhood things.' Like going to normal school. Having recess. You know. But with Miko, if her mother said, 'tomorrow I'm not taking you to ballet,' Miko would say, 'fine, then I'll walk.'
She would find a way.
She would find a way. And that's the same thing with a lot of the other dancers in the film. It's just the only thing they've wanted since the age of four. And that's very inspiring, I have to say. I had a doctor come up to me and say, 'I don't even like ballet, but the reason why I love this film is because, A, the dancing is incredible. And you don't have to like ballet to appreciate the dancing, but B, most importantly, this has inspired me to go into an area of medicine that I've always wanted to go into but haven't had the courage to take that huge risk by veering away from the field of medicine that I'm comfortable with and know the best. If these kids can take such risks, work so hard, and give up so much for their dream, why can't I start taking some risks in my career as a doctor?' I thought that was so interesting that you really don't have to love ballet to have this film resonate with you.
Absolutely. You definitely draw in the audience. I don't have any kind of background in ballet. I wouldn't say I have a displeasure for the art, but I don't necessarily look at it as other people might. It's enrapturing to watch these people dance and their lines, it's just beautiful. One thing I found interesting is that you have this group. And they're all barreling towards this one competition. In the same place. And yet you don't have them interact. Was that a conscious decision? Was it just something that happened? And did they know about each other?
Interesting questions. So, one word of advice that I got from very experienced filmmakers when I was going into this project was exactly to do what I didn't want to do. They would say to me, 'You must pick one age division, kids who are all the same age, because you want to have them competing against each other. The drama. The tears. The backstabbing.' When you put them into the same age division, there's a tendency for things like that to happen. And I strongly felt that it would be far more interesting to chronicle the lives of young dancers who are anywhere from the ages of 10 to 17 to show how the stakes differed depending upon your age. To me, I really thought that I would be able to make the film dramatic even if Girl A wasn't an enemy or competing with Girl B. And the main reason you don't see them interact that much is because A, you're sort of in your own little world when you compete. You really are just focusing on yourself. And B, they canvased three different age divisions.
And gender as well.
And gender! I wanted this to be a very gender-neutral film. That's why I picked as many boys as girls. But if you have competitor number 400, and the next dancer in your film is competitor number 620, they don't overlap. You're filming them either on a different day or five hours apart. So, they all know each other. They like each other. They have become closer now because they are all in this film. So they've come to screenings together. But they're all pretty different and they all live in very disparate parts of the world. They won't see each other that often but they keep in touch.
You have a background in journalism. So I'm curious, from your perspective, coming to this from the outside looking in and then being on the inside, what kind of stood out that you didn't realize… I mean, this is your first film. What really surprised you?
Well, let me think because this is an interesting question and I don't ever recall being asked this. In retrospect since?
The production, really.
I didn't fully realize how dramatic the film would be, and I'll tell you why. When you are filming these things, and you're filming 12 hours of footage a day, you're not specifically focusing on 'What's going to be most dramatic.' Like, on the day where Miko fell, the reason that it wasn't all that dramatic for me was because she got up so quickly and she danced through it and then she changed and went and performed something else and then it was like, 'Yay, she did a good job.' But what's so interesting is that every time I watch the film now, as an audience member, not as a… I had a job. I was there to film. I wasn't there to assess the results, I was there to be a documentarian. And now as an audience member, I'm biting my nails, I'm so nervous for them. I'm rooting for them. I get verklempt when emotional things happen, and I didn't realize I would be affected as much as an audience member who's never seen it before. Now that I'm less of the filmmaker and not in production anymore, I get to be in the audience watching it, I'm like, 'Oh my gosh! This is so dramatic!' Even though I know what's going to happen to the kids, I'm still terrified for them. Even Michaela. She said that the first time she saw the film, 'I know what happened to me and yet I'm so nervous for myself right now.' So, that's exciting. Experiencing the film the way the audience does and not as the filmmaker.
I want to go back real quick. You mentioned that you go a lot of advice to get the backstabbing. And you went away from that. Were you nervous or did you just feel in your gut, 'No, that's not what I want'?
I attribute part of it to my background as a journalist but I really think that I would have been embarrassed by my work product if one of the kids came up to me after seeing the film and said, 'You know, I regret being in this. And not only could you affect my career in a negative way, but I wish I had never met you.' I just wouldn't be able to sleep at night if someone had come up to me [and said that]. What I think is so much more powerful is when a person comes up to you and says, 'You accurately portrayed me. Thank you.' They never said, 'How come you didn't only show the perfect parts of my…' Miko never said, 'Why did you show me fall?' Rebecca never said, 'Why did you show me upset in the dressing room?' Because they know that's real life. That's drama. It's got to be in there. But I would never just show the bad stuff or just show the times when a person's crying. You really have to accurately portray what's really going on. I think there were other ways to make it really dramatic and suspenseful and add tension without it being so-and-so talking badly about so-and-so.
I always had the intention of my audience being adults. But what I never expected was how many kids love it. My nephew, he's five years old, he sat through the entire thing without asking to go pee. That is a momentous event.
He can't sit for 12 minutes.
And that's an audience member that isn't going to lie.
Yea, totally.
He's going to fidget or…
It doesn't matter that I'm his aunt. He will leave when he wants to. And he enjoyed the whole film and one reason that I think a five-year-old can go to this film is because there isn't that backstabbing. No one's talking smack about someone else and you don't need it. But I know it exists in the ballet world. I know that it happens. Stereotypes exist for a reason, I just didn't want to put my name on that. So I figured out a way to work around that.
First Position is currently in limited release and expanding.
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text: Share: Comments Print March 24, 2014 at 6:48 AM Rescue officials working off a list of 108 unaccounted for Posted by Seattle Times staff Officials at the massive mudslide on SR 530 said this morning they have reports of 108 missing and unaccounted-for individuals as a result of the disaster. John Pennington, who heads the county's Department of Emergency Management, quickly added that the reports are vague and insists the number of victims will not be nearly that large. He called 108 a "soft number." Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots said "the situation is very grim." "We are still holding out hope we are going to find people alive. We are still in a rescue mode," Hots added. Today's operation at the site will include the use of aircraft, search dogs and technical teams to "probe the ground." The search has been difficult due to the consistency of the mud, which has caused rescuers to sink. Rescuers are digging through muddy debris that is 20 feet or more deep in some areas. Sen. Maria Cantwell, speaking at the same Arlington news conference as Hots and Pennington, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal agencies are ready to assist as well. Going into detail about the slide site, Pennington said there are 59 vacant lots in the slide area, and another 49 lots had some sort of structure — meaning a house, a cabin or some type of possible dwelling. Of all of the structures, 25 were likely occupied full-time. Pennington said that because the slide happened on a Saturday, more people likely were at home, not at work. Pennington asked anyone with information about possible victims to call 425-388-5088. The massive slide is now reported at 15 million cubic yards of of mud and debris, said Steve Thompson, the county's public works director. The mudslide came down from a hillside above the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, crossed over it, plowed through homes and other structures and onto SR 530 about 11 a.m. Saturday, flattening everything in its path. He said the county isn't moving any heavy equipment to the site at this point, not wanting to endanger the crews. Marcus Deyering, spokesman for the Northwest Management Incident Team, said that crews using heavy-duty lights spent the night searching the area where it was safe to search. The names of the confirmed dead or the missing have not been released by officials, although some survivors or the families of the missing have talked to the media and provided names. Officials at this morning's news conference looked tired and weary as they spoke to reporters outside the Arlington Police Department. "This is a large-scale disaster," said Pennington. A large section of the river, which was covered by the slide, is stabilizing, said Thompson, the county public works director. "Mother Nature is doing a good job of re-carving that (river) channel," he said, and downstream the river is getting back to "semi-normal levels." Some of the survivors of the disaster were taken to hospitals. Here are five who were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle:: — A woman, 25, is in satisfactory condition. — A 6-month-old boy remains in critical condition in intensive care. — A man 37, is in serious condition and is in the intensive care unit — A man, 58, is in serious condition and in the intensive care unit. — An 81-year-old man is in critical condition and in the intensive care unit. Read more information about the mudslide here. Comments | More in General news | Topics: Arlington, Darrington, dead


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Listing information last updated on November 13th, 2019 at 12:45pm MST.


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Justice not stupid just blind
To color, creed or race
All of us are combined
and are in this place.
Those who serve and protect
and those that commit the crime
Meet and do not neglect
To put in their time
Society is served
Humanity is restored
When justice is reserved
And criminality is moored.
For the justice of man
is slow but sure
Time ticks by
We still endure.


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Success recorded in TRCs realization-Prez Sirleaf
(elbcradio.com/Sept. 25, 2015)-President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says the Liberian Government has recorded notable achievements in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommendations' implementation.
President Johnson-Sirleaf named such achievements as building a new political culture of tolerance, integrity, accountability and respect for the rights of all persons.
According to her: "The Government has promoted tolerance at all levels, set up systems and institutions of integrity and accountability, and has observed and respected the fundamental human rights of all of its citizens and those within the borders of Liberia."
The Liberian Leader's comments were contained in a "Comprehensive Progress Report on the Implementation of the Recommendations of the June 30, 2009 Final Report of the TRC, submitted to the National Legislature on September 15, 2015.
"Moreover, Government continues to strengthen the rule of law, the Justice and Security Joint Program, being implemented with support from the United Nations Peace Building Fund (UNPBF) and other bilateral partners, with funding from our Government."
These achievements, among others, are clear manifestation of the Liberian Government's efforts to ensure holistic development to improve a conducive living standard of the citizenry," President Johnson-Sirleaf also stated.
Expanding on the Government's achievements regarding the REC's recommendations, she said: "The Government adopted the program, "strengthening the Rule of Law" as one of its three key peace-building priorities."


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Kingston 8GB micro SD card
Class 10 8GB microSD card, suitable for use in many cell phones.
- Comes with microSD to SD adapter (for use in cameras, etc.).
- Also comes with a microSD to USB adapter that you can put on your keychain and use to make your own micro thumb drive. The USB drive fits in a standard USB slot on your computer


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Google Inc. has opened Waze Rider, its formerly experimental carpooling service, to the San Francisco Bay Area.
The service, first rumored to be coming in August, works differently from alternatives offered by the likes of Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. Riders pay the Waze carpool driver 54 cents per mile, a number based on the cost per mile presumed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to cover the cost of the travel undertaken without any profit on top.
According to The Wall Street Journal, any attempts to game the system are controlled by Google limiting drivers and riders to only two rides a day, to and from work. That's to make sure drivers are not attempting to make a living on the app and to avoid any regulatory scrutiny, such as Uber has had when it comes to licensing and drivers requiring a background check, or even having to provide photo ID.
Interestingly, Google is subsidizing the service as a launch promotion, with a trip undertaken by a Journal writer only costing $3, with Google paying the remaining $3.30 on what should have been a $6.30 trip. By comparison, a trip with Uber or Lyft is said to be in the vicinity of $23 to $30.
Without doubt, the biggest selling point of Waze Rider is cost. But the service also promises a "non-stop ride with a driver along your route–no detours," versus competing services Uber Pool and Lyft Line, which look for several people going in the same direction to keep costs down.
That said, the attempts to get around regulations by keeping the service as a payment of the actual cost versus making a profit may still result in legal scrutiny, or as Macquarie Group analyst Ben Schachter said, "I don't think they've had any significant experience in a lot of the issues that will surely arise around starting a ride-sharing business."
Image credit: Waze/ Google


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Scientists use the term "boring billion" to describe when evolution stalled and life on Earth was basically slime. more...
November 12 , 1927 : Joseph Stalin became the leader of the Soviet Union. more...
Learn something new every day
More Info... by email
The most abundant organic polymers on Earth are cellulose (accounting for ~30% of non-fossil organic carbon), lignin (~30%), hemicellulose, pectin, chitin, and keratin. Cellulose is the most common of organic polymers in the cell walls of plants, which account for most of terrestrial biomass. Altogether, about 33% of plant matter is cellulose. Cotton is 90% cellulose, while wood is about 50%.
Cellulose is famous for being the most abundant of Earth's polymers. Used in every plant, it is excreted by some bacteria as a biofilm. Cellulose is the primary component of cardboard and paper. To produce paper, it is ground into a pulp, bleached, then formed into sheets. To most animals, such as humans, cellulose is indigestible, and is the "dietary fiber" that functions as a bulking agent for our feces. Certain animals, like ruminants and termites, have special bacteria living in their guts to assist in breaking down the cellulose and making it digestible.
Other organic polymers found in large quantities in plants include hemicellulose, lignin, and pectin. These form the bulk of vascular plants and serve different functions. For instance, hemicellulose is non-crystalline, unlike cellulose, consists of shorter molecular chains, and has a branching structure while cellulose doesn't. Lignin makes up a quarter to a third of wood's dry mass, making it the second abundant among the organic polymers.
Not counting plants, the most abundant organic polymers are chitin and keratin, in that order. Chitin forms most of the cell walls of fungi, and the exoskeletons of all arthropods, including insects and crustaceans, both of which are extremely numerous. The amount of chitin found in nature likely surpasses the dry weight of all vertebrate terrestrial biomass. Insects are constantly mass-producing and discarding it when they molt.
Keratin is one of the organic polymers that we are most familiar with, as they make up most of the hard but non-mineralized structures in reptiles, birds, amphibians and mammals. Notably, keratin is the main component of nails and hair in mammals, scales and claws in reptiles, many parts of birds including feathers, and make up arthropod exoskeletons along with chitin.
Post 1
Hello..Sir i want to know that which rubber used in school rubber eraser
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Findra's Caddon jersey is an all-British offering, designed in Scotland and manufactured in the UK (although the merino is New Zealand's finest). With a dropped back, thumbholes and a drawstring cowl neck, it's a stylish, lightweight and soft option for both on and off the bike.
- Pros: Lightweight, soft, seamless
- Cons: Expensive, limited colour options
The Caddon is Findra's mid-layer offering, although its lightweight weave means it would work equally well as a baselayer. Interestingly, it weighs a few grams less than the baselayer we have also reviewed. During the winter it was tested much more as a baselayer, but it looks good enough on its own during a cake stop in a warm cafe.
The fit is quite slim, with a decent drop at the back to keep out the chill and the sleeves with their thumbholes are more than adequate for riding in the drops.
The Caddon comes in a range of neutrals – three greys, an oatmeal and a dark navy; the slate grey review sample was easy to pair with blacks and colours alike. There is a discreet stripe at the wrist, and a subtle curve to the shape at the waist.
The cowl neck looks good worn loose, but you can use the accompanying drawstring to tighten it against the winter chills; to give you an idea, it reaches up to cover your nose, should you forget a neckwarmer on a cold day. The whole jersey is seamless, which makes it really comfortable to wear.
The New Zealand merino wool used for the jersey is deceptively light, and despite frequent washing over two months of almost daily wear, very few bobbles have developed. There are a few snags where the wool has caught, but nothing that significantly detracts from the look of the top. All in all, it's been more robust than expected from such a lightweight fibre.
> Buyer's Guide: The best casual cycling gear for commuting
Like all good merino, this jersey is great at both wicking moisture and keeping the smells at bay. Not being Lycra also makes it much less obvious that you've just stepped off a bike, if this is important at your destination.
Although expensive, the Caddon is a jersey that could see a lot of use, so the price per wear would be relatively low. It's certainly not the only fine merino with a near-£100 price tag on the market, and the British manufacture is notoriously expensive but should be celebrated.
Super-soft, lightweight jersey that works equally well as a base or mid-layer as the seasons change
If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website
road.cc test report
Make and model: Findra Caddon Merino Jersey
Size tested: XS
Tell us what the product is for
Findra says, "The women's Caddon merino jersey is made from New Zealand Merino resulting in both high-performance layering and stylish good looks. As with all of FINDRA's tops, the Caddon is designed in Scotland and made to exacting standards in the UK.
"The Caddon features a cowl neck and thumbholes to keep you warm when the wind blows while the superfine merino helps wick away sweat and keep you feeling fresh and comfortable when the pace and the heat pick up. Perfect for cycling, this jersey features a dropped back to ensure coverage when you lean over the handlebars and the thumbhole sleeves are long to make sure no gaps appear. Equally at home when cycling off-road, running, hiking or skiing, the style and good looks will also mean you don't feel out of place when you stop off for coffee or drinks mid or post ride.
"The range of colours means you'll be able to find one that pairs with just about anything."
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
From Findra:
Top quality New Zealand merino allows temperature regulation as sweat is wicked away from your skin
Seamless design means no irritation or rubbing and a fabulous aesthetic
Women's specific design with style and performance built in.
Drawstring cowl neck allows adjustability to suit the weather
Thumbholes and longer sleeves allow for hand and wrist coverage, perfect for wearing with your favourite gloves.
Dropped back hem increasing coverage and decreasing the chance of exposed skin
Stylish looks that will take you from mountain top to cafe or bar
Machine washable so you don't need to worry about getting muddy
Merino wool won't smell like synthetic layers allowing you to keep wearing it day after day on expeditions without it smelling
Lightweight, fast drying and extremely packable, this top gives you maximum warmth to weight making it the perfect option for multi day trips.
Perfect for cycling, running, skiing, canoeing, hiking, horse riding and any other sport you can throw at it.
The seamless construction achieves a very comfortable fit. The drawstring at the neck worked its way loose during a wash.
The wicking qualities of the merino worked as promised, and it was remarkably warm considering its light weight.
The merino wool is prone to nicks and pulls, and the drawstring came loose and fell out during a wash, so keep an eye on it.
The close fit means other garments can be worn to bulk up where necessary. The sleeves are a good length and the cuffs fit tight enough to help retain warmth. The drawstring on the cowl neck allows for this to be pulled closed in chilly conditions.
The XS fitted our tall (5' 9") size 8 tester. There are no size options for cyclists over a UK 14.
Barely-there feel to it.
The merino chosen for this top is very soft.
It's not cheap, but is designed and made in the UK with high-quality Italian-spun New Zealand merino wool, so I'd say it's worth the money.
How easy is the product to care for? How did it respond to being washed?
It needs to be washed at 30 degrees on a short cycle, and reshaped while damp, which is usual for wool and sportswear. Following those instructions, it washed well with only occasional bobbling over two months of regular wear.
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
The Caddon worked well as a light to mid-weight winter layer, and worked well for both upright and more stretched out riding positions.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
The super-soft merino and drawstring neck to keep out the chills.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
I'd like to see it available in a wider range of sizes.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your overall score
The Caddon is a beautifully made, UK designed and manufactured top which is very well suited as a winter baselayer or spring/autumn mid-layer top. It washed well despite the fineness of the merino, with minimal bobbling. It is pretty pricey, but is a flattering shape and fit.
About the tester
Age: 38
I usually ride: Trek 7.5 WSD My best bike is: Turquoise Cruiser
I've been riding for: Under 5 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Experienced
I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, general fitness riding, leisure


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Zimbabwe's newly-approved constitution curbs presidential powers and bolsters human rights, but will this really bring about change?
Last Saturday, Zimbabweans voted overwhelmingly in favour of the new draft constitution. All the main political parties had been urging the people to approve the draft, and of the three million who cast their ballots, 95% voted 'yes'.
But although it took years to write, Zimbabweans only had three weeks to get to terms with the 170-page document. Perhaps reflecting this fact, Precious Mukadenge, a mobile phone credit hawker in Harare, told a reporter, "I think it means that we can't have another president who will be in power for 33 years".
Indeed, as it goes through the process of being officially enshrined, a number of questions remain as to what is actually contained in the constitution and what effect it will have on Zimbabwe's political landscape.
A whole new world?
If fully implemented, there are a number of main measures that could have a significant effect on Zimbabwean politics.
One of these is the setting of a limit of two five-year terms on the presidency. This was one of the draft constitution's most prominent and popular provisions. School teacher Petronella Dzikiti commented as she queued to vote, "We don't want a situation like we have today, when some of us knew one leader as a child who remains there when we are grown-ups".
Crucially, however, this measure will not be applied retrospectively, meaning President Robert Mugabe - who has already been in power for 33 years - could in theory remain president until 2023 before he is forced to step down. In that sense, the importance of the new term limits might not be felt for a while yet.
The new constitution also reduces the power of the presidency in other ways. The president must, for example, obtain the support of two-thirds of lawmakers to declare public emergencies and dissolve parliament. The document also removes the president's right to veto legislation and devolves some power and political responsibility to provincial authorities.
The new charter further introduces a number of sweeping measures aimed at tackling a 'culture of impunity' in Zimbabwean politics.
As well as including a bill of rights which stipulates freedom of expression and a free media, the constitution also brings about an independent constitutional court and an anti-corruption commission to deal with governance abuses.
As Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), explained, "This is a new political dispensation, and I hope it sets in a new political culture - from the culture of impunity to a culture of constitutionalism".
Human rights have also been strengthened. New provisions offer greater protection against malicious arrests and prosecution, introduce new forms of redress for victims of violence and intimidation, and pave the way for the establishment of a human rights commission and peace and reconciliation commission.
In addition to this, significant moves have been made towards gender equality and the empowerment of women - such as through the reservation of 60 parliamentary seats for women and measures to empower women in employment. Zimbabwe's existing constitution had been labelled the worst in the world in terms of women's rights.
New constitution, same old abuses?
But while there are many areas in which the new constitution marks a notable shift from the old, some claim it doesn't go nearly far enough and fails to deal with a number of problems.
Critics of the draft, for example, are concerned that the president can still maintain a platform of patronage, impunity and a tight grip on all arms of the state.
Aside from the fact the president will be the head of state, head of government and commander-in-chief of the defence forces, the constitution allows the president to unilaterally appoint cabinet ministers, the attorney-general and ambassadors, and deploy the military within Zimbabwe before parliamentary oversight.
"Our major problem in Zimbabwe has been the concentration of power in the president...That problem has not been solved by the current constitutional draft", commented Lovemore Madhuku, leader of the National Constitutional Assembly, a coalition of pro-democracy groups.
Unfortunately, the lack of accountability that Tsvangirai wishes to eliminate has the potential to prevail under the new constitution.
Section 98 of the document protects a sitting president by stating, "The President enjoys immunity from civil or criminal proceedings for things done in his or her personal capacity until after he or she has ceased to be President". After office, "good faith" is cited as a legitimate defence for official acts.
Besides the sections regarding presidential powers, there are also concerns regarding human rights. While the new constitution does have greater protection of certain rights, the government's failures to amend repressive laws - such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), and the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act - complicates the picture.
These laws have previously been used to curtail basic rights and provisions in AIPPA and POSA that provide criminal penalties for undermining the authority of or insulting the president as well as organising public meetings without informing the police, have routinely been used to arrest and prosecute activists.
An imperfect document
In response to criticisms of the new constitution, politicians have generally reacted not so much by insisting the document is perfect, but rather by replying in fairly equivocal terms.
For example, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, a minister and secretary-general of MDC-M (a breakaway faction of the MDC), who helped write the constitution commented, "Because we had to negotiate, it can't be a 100% document but is it indeed so bad that you think that it has not moved us forward?"
This is an understandable attitude. Presidential term limits, the removal of presidential powers to veto legislation, improved human rights and bolstered women's rights are all to be celebrated.
But at the same time, we cannot ignore the many things on which constitution is silent.
Shamiso Lewis is a writer and editorial assistant at Think Africa Press. Her interests include African Feminism, human rights and Zimbabwean politics.


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I've previously complained about MATLAB, but continued to use it because I didn't have a better tool. After seeing so many engineers and scientists agree that Python is a superior tool compared to MATLAB, I finally decided to make the switch. In retrospect, it's one of the best tool decisions I've ever made. Here are some lovely things that I've gained from using a more general-purpose tool for algorithm development.
1. Memory management: it's super-effective
The recent MAC OSX versions of MATLAB (R2012 and beyond) have well-known memory management deficiencies. MATLAB fails to properly free memory when certain variables (particularly plot figures) are no longer needed, due primarily to the poor reimplementation of the MATLAB engine in a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Thus, even with a huge memory allocation (1GB+), MATLAB will eventually start using up swapdisk, slow down, and grind to a halt.
This garbage collection failure is especially true for plots. Even when figures are manually closed or closed using the
close all command, the memory is still allocated. Depending on MATLAB's memory allocation, creating too many plots (30-100) will eventually cause the engine to run out of memory and enter an infinite loop of
Not enough heap memory to complete operation messages. At that point, MATLAB must be restarted. For a tool whose primary use is the fast and efficient plotting of complex data, this is a serious drawback.
Meanwhile… Python is extremely stable. The most popular version of Python at this moment (2.7) is the backbone of many popular web services that require >99% uptime (Quora, LinkedIn, Amazon, Pinterest). All of Dropbox's infrastructure – including desktop clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux – are written in Python.
Plot-wise, Matplotlib (Python's MATLAB-like plotting library) isn't the most memory-efficient tool, but it certainly doesn't send Python into an infinite loop of useless error messages if it runs out of memory.
2. Error handling like a boss
MATLAB does not deal with errors well, neither at the user level nor the system level. At the user level, error types cannot be enumerated, so catching specific error types becomes a maze of bookkeeping about which types correspond to which errors. At the system level, major errors such as memory allocation failures do not trigger the correct operations.
For example, when the heap memory error mentioned above occurs, the virtual machine should catch the error, immediately stop all processing, and perform garbage cleanup. Instead, at least on my Macbook Pro, MATLAB sits there until the user manually discovers the hangup (typically by clicking in the window and seeing the eternally spinning Mac rainbow wheel).
Meanwhile… Python's error handling is terrific. The error handling system supports the creation of new error and exception classes that implement a base class. Specific error types can be caught, and the program will correctly terminate when an unhandled error is encountered.
3. Embarrassingly parallel processing, if you're into that sort of thing
MATLAB simply does not support multithreading. Each operation runs on its own, which is grossly inefficient for naturally parallelizable methods like running a test on many device datasets. The expensive Parallel Processing Toolbox is essentially an automated way to spawn multiple MATLAB instances, as opposed to a true multithreading solution.
Meanwhile… Python can be run with any number of threads and any level of memory allocation (although its garbage collection becomes problematic above ~1-2 GB). A single instance of Python could utilize all of the computing powerful available on a given machine to complete a processing operation, allowing the user to focus on improving code instead of babysitting large-scale computations.
Note: the speedup with Python would not necessarily be proportional to the number of threads in use, due to the Global Interpreter Lock. Still, having the possibility of multiple threads is better than being limited to one thread.
4. Lovely, lovely object-oriented design
MATLAB's support for typical abstraction forms is poor. MATLAB classes are needlessly complicated, can only be instantiated as static objects, and deliver slower performance than non-object implementations. In addition, class data is not cleared each time a given program is run, even if the scope of an instantiated class is within a function. This makes for strange bugs, and eliminates the ability to scope variables that is supposed to be hallmark of OOP.
These drawbacks incentivize developers to abandon object-oriented design in favor of procedural programming, which carries its own set of problems for large-scale applications. Procedural programming means every small change to a component requires considering every level of the application that depends on that component, instead of hiding the implementation behind a wall of abstraction. Thus, as MATLAB programs become larger, they become big balls of mud.
Meanwhile… Python supports objects every bit as powerful and fully-featured as C++ (although its support for inheritance is a bit iffy). Classes can be static, or shared, or synchronized between threads.
5. Package management like it's FedEx
MATLAB does not support packages or namespaces, opting instead for the path approach (which was abandoned decades ago by all modern languages including C). Since programs cannot explicitly declare which packages are required, MATLAB code running perfectly on one machine may deliver unexpected results on another. In addition, since resources cannot be placed within well-contained, organized, well-documented buckets, MATLAB code tends to end up as a sprawling mess of interconnected m-files.
Meanwhile… Python's package system is one of the best in the industry, and the entire package needs of a program can be determined using just the source code. A bunch of tools (easy_install, pip) are available for downloading and installing Python packages, all of which are available as open-source.
6. Data-centric resources that aren't Excel
MATLAB lacks the concept of a 'data table'. MATLAB's primary data structure is a two-dimensional array of double values which, although powerful for linear algebra-based operations, is unacceptable for the vast majority of the world's data, which usually has timestamps, string entries, and multiple types of tables.
Meanwhile… Python incorporates data-centric features from industry-standard tools like R and Ruby thanks to the popular Pandas package. The essential feature of this package is a single object (pandas.DataFrame) that allows any type of data to be organized into a single table.
7. A Swiss Army Knife of string processing resources
MATLAB uses an arcane C-style method of string processing. While fast and easily learned, it is not very flexible and leads to major issues parsing even the simplest text formats.
Meanwhile… Python is the most popular string processing tool in the world. A file parser that would have taken over an hour in MATLAB can be written in ten lines of Python in under ten minutes.
8. Cloud computing like it's 2013
MATLAB requires a license to run on a given machine, and thus can't be used natively in the Amazon Web Services Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), where machine instances are only temporary. To run cloud instances, you have to use the MATLAB Distributed Computing Server with special-purpose EC2 instances, and the whole thing gets really expensive really quick.
Meanwhile… Not only is Python easily installable on EC2 instances; Ubuntu instances have Python 2.6 and 2.7 pre-installed. Installing other necessary packages (NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, pandas) requires a single apt-get line:
$ sudo apt-get install python-numpy python-scipy python-matplotlib python-pandas.
MATLAB requires a rather expensive license per user that must be renewed yearly. Corporations spend $2000 per user per year on a program that provides subpar performance and little online support.
Meanwhile… Python is free. And open-source.
But what about linear algebra?
MATLAB's chief claim to fame is its efficient linear algebra capabilities, brought mostly through bindings to the famous Fortran-based LAPACK resource. However, Python's NumPy/SciPy packages not only recreate this capability – they are, in fact, also binded into LAPACK. Moreover, Scipy's commands are so similar to MATLAB that it's sometimes difficult to tell the difference.
It is important to note that Python's support for MATLAB-like arrays and matrices, along with its software-centric data structures (lists and dictionaries), make it a formidable data tool. Matrices can be placed into lists, which can be organized as dictionary entries, all within a single object. The flexibility of the language is extraordinarily empowering.
So do I give anything up by switching from MATLAB to Python?
Yes. The one MATLAB feature that Python does not support (yet) is an IDE that allows the user to graphically view code, variables, the console, and files in a single place. Developing in Python typically revolves around editing text in an editor of your choice (vim, emacs, Sublime, etc.) and then running it from the command line. However, one good option is Enthought Canopy, a Python distribution that comes bundled with a pretty nice interface. In addition, it installs Numpy, Scipy, and Matplotlib for you, so it's pretty much ready-to-go straight out of the box.
If you've got a lot of legacy code written in MATLAB, then it probably doesn't make sense for you to invest a lot of time rewriting everything in Python. But if you're starting out on a new project…give Python a chance. Chances are you'll be happy you did. Happy coding.


text:
In the not-too-distant future, NASA astronauts might conduct their video interviews from the International Space Station (ISS) while wearing Nike-supplied T-shirts, with a giant Toyota logo visible on the module wall behind them.
A former NASA astronaut says it wouldn't be so bad to transfer the space station to private management
(Mar 2018) 'Los Angeles Times
Trump's budget for NASA defunds the space station and includes vague plans for the Moon
(since Feb, 2018) 'The VergeThe Trump Administration Wants to Pull Federal Funding for the International Space Station'FortuneNASA Budgets for a Trip to the Moon, but Not While Trump Is President'New York TimesTrump's new NASA budget wants private companies to take the lead on space stations'CNBC
A former NASA astronaut says it wouldn't be so bad to transfer the space station to private management
When word got out that the Trump administration wanted to end government funding of the International Space Station by 2025, resistance to the idea was swift and forceful.
In a rare sign of just how unpopular it was, two senators from opposing parties — Democrat Bill Nelson of Florida and Republican Ted Cruz of Texas — immediately came out against the proposal, which was contained in the president's 2019 budget blueprint.
But former NASA astronaut Sandy Magnus said that stepping away from the space station could be seen as a sign of progress toward the eventual goal of sending humans out into the solar system. By transferring management of the ISS to private industry, she said, NASA still could lease space to continue its research in low Earth orbit while focusing more of its efforts on places like the moon and Mars.
"It's a question of, does NASA own the building or is it leasing the building?" said Magnus, who lived on the space station for 4 1/2 months in 2008 and 2009.
It's "neither a good or a bad thing. It is the next stage in the evolution," she added. "But we've got to do it well."
ReferenceQuite a lot has been going on:
Trump's budget for NASA defunds the space station and includes vague plans for the Moon
The Trump administration wants NASA to move away from doing business in low orbit around the Earth and instead focus on sending astronauts back to the Moon. That's according to President Donald Trump's new budget request, out today, which details how the White House wants to fund NASA in fiscal year 2019.
The request instructs NASA to end direct funding for the International Space Station by 2025, while pursuing a coordinated campaign to put humans on the Moon by the mid-2020s, according to a copy of the detailed budget request reviewed by The Verge. However, there aren't a lot of details for how the Moon plans will play out, and very little funding is allocated for developing all the hardware needed for putting people on the lunar surface again.
The budget confirms previous reporting from The Verge regarding the future of the space station. However, a new internal document from NASA, reported yesterday by The Washington Post, reveals that the space agency does not intend to get rid of the ISS once government funding ends, but instead turn it into something of a commercial real estate venture. The goal is for other countries and private space companies to pick up the slack and 'operate certain elements or capabilities' of the ISS, so that NASA still has a platform to conduct science experiments, according to the document. 'NASA will expand international and commercial partnerships over the next seven years in order to ensure continued human access to and presence in low Earth orbit,' the memo states.
That goal is reflected in the new presidential budget request, as well. The Trump administration wants to allocate an additional $150 million for NASA to start a new program that will help commercial companies expand their activities in lower Earth orbit ' where the space station resides. However, the specifics of that program and how the money will be used have yet to be defined.
The move to end direct funding for the ISS has already been met with sharp criticism from many in the space industry, as well as legislators from both political parties. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), the ranking member of the Senate committee that oversees NASA, said the administration would 'have a fight on their hands' if such a proposal was in the budget request. And in response to the budget's release, Nelson doubled down on his criticism, calling the request a nonstarter. 'Turning off the lights and walking away from our sole outpost in space at a time when we're pushing the frontiers of exploration makes no sense,' Nelson said in a statement. Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), chairman of the Senate's space subcommittee, said in a speech last week that he hoped that reports of ending funding for the ISS by 2025 'prove as unfounded as Bigfoot,' according to Space News.
The Trump Administration Wants to Pull Federal Funding for the International Space Station
Rather than dismantle the International Space Station (ISS) come 2024, President Donald Trump's administration is reportedly looking into privatizing the venture.
The administration is seeking to pull federal funding for the ISS in 2025'making way for commercial players to put the station to use. That's according to an internal NASA memo obtained by the Washington Post.
'NASA will expand international and commercial partnerships over the next seven years in order to ensure continued human access to and presence in low Earth orbit,' the note read.
The U.S. has spent some $100 billion building and maintaining its portion of the station thus far. But in recent years, NASA has been outsourcing more of its projects to commercial firms including Boeing and SpaceX. Boeing, for example, is expected to launch a crew to the space station this year using the CST-100 Starliner.
But if the U.S. does indeed pull federal funding from the ISS and seek commercial firms to fill in the blanks, it does stand to question: which companies would want to be involved? The ISS, after all, has largely been used for research purposes.
Watching: NASA Looking, International Space Station In, Los Angeles Times