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Thursday, 16 September 2010
Getting Closer
21 comments:
Nice one Frank.ReplyDelete
i cant get anywhere near the Herons that visit my patch !!
It was getting closer, Frank.ReplyDelete
You made the old common Grey Heron look like a super star.ReplyDelete
Well done,lovely photography.
Proper job Frank.
Very nice shots of the heron they can be difficult to get close toReplyDelete
Lovely shots Frank. Sometimes they let you get close, and other times they're off like a shot lolReplyDelete
WOW - it's a great bird this Heron, and you've captured it perfectly.ReplyDelete
The food he was watching was much more intresting Frank. :) Reallt excellent shots you got here. I love the herons.ReplyDelete
Wow Frank! You were lucky. I can't get within 200 yards of these guys. Great photos. CarolReplyDelete
Hi Frank....I imagine if we couldn't just pop of to a store for lunch and we where hungry we would patiently wait for somthing to eat!!ReplyDelete
It seem they can stand in one spot for a very long time if undisturbed!!
Nice photos...I like the feathers an it chest ..pretty pattern!!
Still thinking about you and praying !!
Have a comfortable weekend!!
What a great encounter Frank. Fabulous shots.ReplyDelete
Wow - Lucky you! I can't get even remotely this close to any Herons I've spotted in this area. They are very spooky.ReplyDelete
Maybe it thought it would remain invisible to you too. Great shots!ReplyDelete
Frank this is fantastic. When I met up with a Great Blue, it stayed still like a statue as well, and I got pretty close before it took off. So neat that you got several of them. Their colouring is certainly a lovely shade~ReplyDelete
A very magical moment, being able to take heron shots like this! It looks very similar to the US's great blue heron. And they're very tricky to shoot here too. Nice!ReplyDelete
Some brilliant photos Frank! The Heron seemed oblivous to your presence.ReplyDelete
Hi Frank, we have been lucky to see many sightings of this colorful bird at Chincoteague NWR. It's always amazing to watch its powers of concentration and ability to sense (and see) where their next meal will be found. One day soon, I'll post some photos of great blues here on the eastern shore. Thanks for sharing yours!ReplyDelete
Nice series on the Grey Heron - so similar to NA's Great Blue - I am sure they must have a fairly recent common ancestor.ReplyDelete
What wonderful portraits of a fantastic "individual!" ;)ReplyDelete
Amazing! Well done Frank. I just cannot get anywhere near the two that frequent my local nature reserve. I'll have to try some of your tactics! (-:ReplyDelete
Hi Everyone. Sorry for the delay in responding to all your lovely comments on the close encounter with the 'static. Grey Heron. These opportunities don't occur too often so delighted to share them with you. FAB.ReplyDelete
Great shots! I'd say it is really concentrating on whatever it sees in the water waiting to strike.ReplyDelete


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subset: commoncrawl


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City Manager Steve Mermell said he wants Pasadena police officers to start collecting information on the race, gender and age of people pulled over in traffic stops at the start of the next fiscal year.
"I'd like to start it July1, 2019," Mermell told the Pasadena Weekly. "I have to look at to see how it impacts the workload."
Assembly Bill 953 — also known as the Race and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) — requires California police departments to start collecting that information and disclose whether they received consent to search the vehicle and details on the seizure of property.
Every police department in the state is mandated to begin collecting that data by 2023. However, local activists and elected officials have called for implementation to begin now.
The RIPA advisory board released its first report on Jan. 4, which only included complaints filed against police officers.
According to that report, 451 agencies reported a total of 9,625 complaints, 90.1 percent for non-criminal actions. A total of 625 were for conduct that would qualify as misdemeanor offenses, and 330 were for conduct that would constitute felony offenses.
The 451 agencies that submitted data to the state DOJ reported a total of 514 complaints that alleged racial or identity profiling in 2016. There were 388 complaints that included allegations of racial profiling, 28 complaints involving mental disability profiling, 32 based on profiling people with physical disabilities, 22 based on sexual orientation, 41 based on gender profiling, 12 complaints involving age-related profiling, eight complaints of profiling based on gender and identity expression, and six complaints of profiling based on religion.
In 2017, 44 complaints were filed against Pasadena police officers, according to local police. Thirteen of those were filed by officers against the department and 15 were filed by civilians against officers. An additional 16 were filed as a result of traffic collisions, according to statistics released on Monday.
Use of force complaints were counted in their own category with force being used by officers 44 times — or less than 1 percent — during the 6,408 arrests made last year. The numbers almost mirror 2016 data, which shows force was used in .63 percent of all arrests.
A recent city survey revealed that 72 percent of African American residents polled and 46 percent of Latino residents reported being racially profiled by Pasadena police, which critics of police say points to the need for reform and additional information gathering.


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Finally, a cure for all that holiday travel trauma.
Okay "cure" might be a strong word, but San Francisco is at least offering something that will alleviate all that anxiety you will definitely experience from cancelled flights, lost luggage, unruly travelers, and don't forget all those gifts you will have to unwrap at security.
That's right, the San Francisco SPCA is staging therapy dogs at San Francisco International Airport starting today as a way to try to relax hurried travelers at the peak of their holiday tension.
The super chill pups currently work with volunteers as part of the SPCA's Animal Assisted Therapy Program, which visits hospitals, nursing homes, senior centers, psychiatric facilities, developmentally disabled centers, convalescent homes and youth facilities to help heal patients and residents.
But this group of certified therapy dogs stationed at the airport were handpicked to be part of the new Wag Brigade Program specifically with the goal to soothe travelers and remedy their stress and worry. At the very least, seeing an adorable super chill dog at the airport will make flying a little more bearable.
"The eight therapy dogs that will initiate this program have been carefully selected for their temperament and airport suitability," said Krista Maloney, spokeswoman for the SPCA. "The dogs will wear personalized vests that read "Pet Me!" and identify them as Wag Brigade volunteers."
No need to pop that holiday Valium before you board your plane this year.


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Hi! Welcome to EM Weekly, this is your host, Todd DeVoe. Today, we have Bill Cunningham, and we're going to be talking about BERT, and the business recovery team here. Bill, tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got involved with BERT, and what exactly BERT is?
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] Well, thanks, much appreciated, Todd. I appreciate being here. You know, I'm a Midwestern guy. I grew up in Tornado Alley outside of Kansas, and there were, obviously, by its name, we lived with tornados. So, one night I remember being in the backyard with my dad, I was probably 12 or 14 years old, and we counted six tornados around us, up in the sky. And you could see them trailing, and coming up and down, and you realize the helplessness of that kind of situation. And there was a town just south of where we lived that was literally wiped off the map by a tornado back in the late 60's, which is when I was there. And they came up with a system, a telephone system – it was rather unique for that time -, and that was, each town or city had their own phone company. And they would send out a respond broken signal, in other words, your phone would just start ringing without the typical break we hear periodically. And that was a signal that meant: get to safety now. And that usually meant getting to an inside part of the house, get to your roof cellar, get to the basement, get to it now! And it actually was very effective. So, I kind of grew up in that kind of world. Went from there… you know, I was in the Coast Guard, kind of like, yeah, let's help people, you know, help people in emergency situations. You know, I was on several calls, I was in San Diego through the Air Station, I was a (inaudible) ship sailor for some time, which is kind of a fun thing, on the side.
[TODD DEVOE] Cool.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] It was kind of in my blood, to be helping people in a large-scale emergency, or whatever. Just wanted to be that person. Didn't really have an interesting, per say, in firefighting or police work or anything like that, but just kind of wanted to be the regular guy that was helping. So, that's kind of how I got started. I had a good buddy of mine, about maybe 10 years ago, a real good friend of mine, who suggested that I volunteer in Homeland Security here. And I did! I took it up, and the job I had was coordinating businesses in the event of a large-scale emergency. And what they were thinking was, this was around 2005, 2006, you know? It was a whole lot closer to 2001, to 9/11, than we are today. So, everyone was still hyper focused. So, they identified about 50 businesses in that area, and said: what could you do to help our community? And so, I started meeting with these people. I started gathering businesses together, we started having meetings, we started having group meetings, and we started saying: ok, what can we do? What's out there? What's available to us? And we didn't find much available. There really… there's a lot of stuff for cities, municipalities, small, large; there are a lot of things for mega companies, that have insurance companies that put in their own emergency teams inside the business. But just for the regular-type businesses, there's just not. So, we said: we got to do something. So, we started just jelling around the idea of: what do we do? So, that's kind of how I got started.
[TODD DEVOE] So, Bill, what exactly does BERT stand for again?
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] BERT is Business Emergency Recovery Training.
[TODD DEVOE] Ok. How does your program work, and how did you get involved in that?
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] Well, the program works… it's basically, what we did, when we weren't able to find anything, is that we were able to get a hold of CERT, which, we all know is Community Emergency Response Team, maybe we don't all know that, but in the emergency world is a pretty common acronym. And so, we went through that program, and then decided that CERT is kind of a… I mean, it's a great acronym, it's a great program, it really does powerful work inside the community, it makes people that go through it really understand how they can support first responders. That didn't quite meet our need, though. So, we came up with BERT. And the way we work, we started doing something similar to CERT, which was a live training program. It was similar in the hours, but we would just take business people and tweak it. And I'll give you an example. CERT will spend a fair amount of time, rightfully so, explaining the placard you'll see on the outside of buildings of trucks. You know, what the different letters and numbers mean. And we realized, these business people… we had to pair this time down. We can't let people go for 30 hours off-site. So, what are the different places that we can pair it down? So, we would just ask the question: is there any situation in that where you see one of those, and it's safe to go near? And the answer will be: no. So, we kind of paired it down, and said: ok, if you see one of those, your job is to keep people away from it. Doesn't matter what numbers they are, or letters, or colors, or anything. Just get away from it, and keep everybody around away from it. So, that's how it kind of took for there. So then, we took that CERT course and then just narrowed it, and narrowed it, and narrowed it, and made it very focused on business, and how do you take this inside your business, rather than individual learning information. How do you take the information and actually apply it inside your business? So, how do you build your own ICS team? How do you set up an inside commander ahead of time? That's not the ICS system, pure, the pure ICS system is the first person on scene becomes the instant commander, etc. Well, we can build it ahead of time, and build some redundancies, because you're going to be a close group of people, you can deal with it. So, build your teams! Take your safety team, build it together, so that your people know what to do, they can actually shift gears. And after having gone through the training, they can shift gears and be able to manage any kind of situation. And so, it's about a 6-hour program, online and live. We do the hybrid program, or we'll do some teaching by first responders. We'll teach some of the key elements. But then, we will have people do… take testing and do courses on their own between. We integrate… which is pretty important; we integrated an app, that actually helps to manage a situation. So that you get instant… the ICS system, as we all know, is key and predicated upon taking good notes, knowing who is where. The app actually integrates all of that to it. So, we have the similar modules to CERT, we have the ICS system, and so, there's a whole module describing what the ICS system is, so that people can understand it. If they had to work with first responders, they would at least be able to know the vernacular. But then, in the app, we download the app, we teach people how to download the app. The next module is emergency planning. So, how do you actually start to build your business, an emergency plan around your business? And then, through the app, we'll start sending and receiving broadcasts. So, how do you broadcast out to your people so you can instantly communicate with everyone that's out there, if there's something big that happened? There's a medical triage portion. And that, we then have emergency documents inside the app, which you can see how to do CPR, how to do first aids. You can access instantly, in this one place, all of those different aspects. If there's a fire safety module, so then, if someone needs to send an alert, we'll teach it from the… you know, fire stage. You can send also through the app. "I need to send an alert. I've got an issue with a medical emergency, or there's a fire here." By hitting one button on the app, it triggers… there's no tracking, beforehand, but it triggers… tells your managers exactly where you're standing and what your emergency is. So, just by hitting the one button, you can deal with the situation and help can be coming to you with nothing more than just hitting the single button. We have…
[TODD DEVOE] Well, that's a pretty powerful tool right there.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] It's an amazing tool! And what it does, further than that, is that… you know, once you've got people that are trained, so they understand how to use the information and how to use these tools. If, for instance, there is an injury at a machine, where somebody has collapsed; you can send the app, send the alert to your managers… they can be in Georgia. Tell them, they can just respond to you, know exactly where you are. You open a video, and they can see exactly where you are, what's going on, what's happening real-time, right now, and be advising you exactly how to handle things. And it's amazingly powerful. So, you're now getting… you're having resources instantly. You know, CPR. And if CPR hasn't started within minutes, there's virtually no chance of someone surviving. And so, if you're having to run off, to find, get help, and come back, all that time is wasted. You're immediately able to go to work and people can start coming to you.
[TODD DEVOE] How big can you scale this thing?
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] There's no limit to it. As a matter of fact, we are right now, as a matter of fact, the next week, we are training… started the training in the island of Anguilla, in the British Virgin Islands.
[TODD DEVOE] Wow!
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] It's an entire island.
[TODD DEVOE] Wow, that's great.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] So, the scalability… yeah! The scalability goes from, you know, if you have two or three people in your operation, to an island. To a city. We're working with the (Irvine) chamber of commerce, you know? With an entire city, with a region. Right now, we're talking also with volunteer firefighters up in the Northwest. So, the scale is unlimited. And the beauty of it, the beauty of it, is… and the really powerful thing that's coming up, and we're probably most excited about is, we train all of the drivers in (Irvine) for risk management. All of the waste drivers. So, they have, and they've all become certified. So, they have 125 certified emergency managers driving around the city of Irvine, all day, every day. But bigger than that… they don't have the app yet, they've been trained a couple of years ago, we're just now rolling out the app with them. But bigger than that is if a driver comes across an issue, and he may be Spanish-speaking, he can actually type in to the app, send the alert, people know where he is, and they could start sending resources. He can actually type in, in Spanish, what the issue is, and the receiving telephone will translate it into whatever language they are.
[TODD DEVOE] Wow, that's cool right there. Wow! I know that average emergency response calls, our language barrier is a big deal. And something like that would be really…
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] Sure, sure.
[TODD DEVOE] Really kind of cool. What is your reach right now?
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] Right now, well, we're trained actually almost 50 businesses. There are one to two people from about 50 different businesses here in Southern California. They're at all different levels of embrace, bringing in to their company and out. We're actually getting a little more traction outside of southern California. I think we're… one thing is we were (inaudible) at Irvine, when they did an analysis of what's going on. It's like, we have a complacency here, you know? In Southern California, we're in a pretty unusual situation with wonderful mutual aid, you know, things just happen. People don't think about any kind of large scale emergency. So, outside of Southern California we're having much more success than we are here, locally, at home.
[TODD DEVOE] I kind of see your app also being used for businesses that have large campuses, such as like, Google, or Toyota used to have here in Torrance, where there's people all over the place, and there needs to be 24h contact with that. But I do see some really useful areas for your app. So, have you reached out to larger companies, like… I mean, I don't want you to tell me exactly who you're doing business with, but have you reached out to companies like Google, and stuff like that?
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] What we're doing is, we're right now in discussions with several companies. OSHA has a program called VPP, which is Volunteer Protection Program, and it's for the largest corporations. I mean, their industrial facilities. And we're in discussion with several of them throughout the state of California, for doing just that. I'm not free to, as you said, to have that discussion. But that's what we're talking about. One is a large, to be generic enough, is a uniform delivery company. And one of their challenges is drivers at 2 in the morning, or when they do a challenge, and how do you get resources to them? So, we're talking to them about that aspect. We're working with some of the refineries, because they have issues with having iPhones or cell phones inside facilities, so we're working with other vendors to be able to get secure devices so that things can be handled instantly inside a refinery. So, in that world, there's a thing called a near-mess, that's very critical. So, near-messes can be documented instantly. So, that's our focus. Large industrial companies actually is our focus right now, here in the state of California.
[TODD DEVOE] Do you see an access, with your BERT program, into, say, schools and universities?
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] I think probably. What we're finding, so far, is an access to the private schools and universities. Part of the issue is budgeting, but the other is, the public schools have, the teachers and the staff have a fair amount of management training. The app more or less rolls right in very seamlessly to them, and so, that works very well. As a matter of fact, we're working with a local school district right here, right now. Actually, my BERT is working right now at my daughter's high school, and we're rolling it out. So, that works as well. The BERT aspect, which is the training aspect to it, more works for companies and corporations, because you have… in a school, you have pretty much a kind of a standard. Everybody has got a certain level of training and understanding in management of people, whereas businesses, it's all over the place. Our access, we believe, it's more going to be industrial business, chambers of commerce, bringing all their businesses together, etc.
[TODD DEVOE] Is there a violent person or active shooter type of response for your app as well? Or is that something outside of that?
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] We have a pretty comprehensive action of the app, that does have active shooter in it. We talked pretty quickly about… well, there's an app where you can lock down a facility, for sure. You can just hit a button and lock down your entire facility. So, that works. But the training aspect is understanding the mindset of an active shooter. And then, we encourage virtually everyone, and I'll suggest this to… I'll even go out on a limb and suggest it to your listeners and the readers of this, to search online for something totally outside of ours, is called "Run, Hide, Fight", and I would say, look for that video. If you have any concern whatsoever about active shooter, for yourself or your family, look for that video and watch it. It is probably one of the most powerful things I've ever seen, it's part of the Department of Homeland Security, it's (inaudible), it's English and Spanish, and other languages. It's a super powerful thing. And that is the buzz word of the day, is active shooter. That will help. We get into more the mindset, so then the preparation, a company can understand why the active shooter might find their place appealing, and then they can start thinking about why… not to do that. What can they do?
[TODD DEVOE] Let's take a quick break here, and we'll come right back after we hear a word from our sponsors. And welcome back from that break. Thank you so much for listening, and again, I'm here with Bill Cunningham, and we're talking about his program and his app, the BERT, the Business Emergency Recovery Training, and the app that goes along with that, with keeping your businesses, and the businesses within your community prepared for any kind of emergency. And also, a great communications tool so people can reach out, in that time of crisis, to get the proper authorities and help that they need at that place of the crisis. So Bill, just kind of going back to what we were talking about the break. So, with the active shooter thing going on, this app has the ability to… with a one-push button. How does that work? Does it contact the authorities within the business, or does it contact… it doesn't have to be the active shooter, but anything as far as that goes. Does that one-button push, does it contact the people in the business, or does that go right to 911, what exactly does that portion of the app do for you?
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] Wow, that is a phenomenally great question, and I really appreciate that. This app, and our training, in no way replaces any aspect whatsoever on 911. So, if anyone finds themselves in any kind of situation, and they need to dial 911, if they ever have a thought: "should I do the app first or 991 first?", bum! 911 first, all the time. I can't stress that enough. This is not a replacement in any way for 911. So then, to get to your question, the idea is to get… the whole concept of BERT is take care of ourselves until first responders arrive. And sometimes, that arrival could be minutes – if it's a large-scale emergency, it could be an extended period. If you've got a large campus, they could be bouncing around, trying to find out. So, the idea is until first responders arrive, how do we take care of ourselves? How do we react to situations? So, that's the main aspect. First responders are… if the company has, we do have companies that have BERT, and have the app, they will… first responders are welcome to, we could give them access, a company could give them access to it, so they can be notified. We find that perhaps it doesn't necessarily work as well, because there could be a minor thing, you know, it doesn't rise to level, it could be just a cut or something that somebody is going to go to urgent care. So, the managers can make the decision. So, that's where, if one sends an alert, it typically goes to their management, and whoever their safety management is, their senior management. And they can make the instant decision of: has it reached the level of dialing 911? And then they would do it themselves. Or is it something we can handle internally? Or, is 911 overwhelmed? You know, any kind of large scale situation, reaching 911. And the reality is, there's no magic list. But if there's a large-scale emergency, you know, if you were to think about where 911, the first responders, where they're going to respond. If you think about a list and you put businesses on that list, in our thought, every single other entity is going to be above us. Schools, and hospitals, and nursing homes, and facilities and government agencies. And no matter what you keep adding, businesses just keep moving down to the bottom. And the reason is, it makes sense. Businesses are typically adults, they can take care of themselves, they can work together. Whereas virtually everyone else has a wider scope when they're dealing with other people in camp. So, the concept is, if BERT is needed, if the training is needed, you can get to 911. That's where the key is. But there is no replacement whatsoever to it. Now, back all the way to your question about the lockdown, there is a button inside the app with a lockdown. And it's intended to be a, through training, a super last resort. I am literally on a lockdown, this is not a situation, I see somebody with an AK-47 or something, and you hit that button and it goes 3, 2, 1, boom! And every single person in your circle gets a notice that this facility is on lockdown.
[TODD DEVOE] That's great, actually.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] The manager will then take over communicating. Right, right.
[TODD DEVOE] I mean, that takes that delay on that decision of whether we're going to lock down or not away. Because if a guy who is on the factory floor can push that button and say: yep, I see somebody dangerous, I'm going to push the lockdown down on it, and everybody is alerted on that, that's great. Because I mean, sometimes, the first time we're going to hear anything about it is when we hear that gunshot.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] Exactly.
[TODD DEVOE] Yeah. And you know, I mean, one of the things, and I don't know how it is for that particular business. But I'm telling people out there right now, that if you guys have that ability to do that, that's powerful. And two, if somebody does it by mistake; and when I say mistake, they saw something and they thought it was it, you got to make sure that they don't get in trouble for that, because you don't want to take that power away from them.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] Exactly. Exactly.
[TODD DEVOE] Man, that's some good stuff right there.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] Let me just speak one more point, and that is, there is… to keep a prankster away, it is not anonymous. So, if somebody hits that button, you know the person who did it, and exactly where they're standing in your facility.
[TODD DEVOE] That's great, yeah.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] So, it's not… there's always… I always get the push back. "Oh, we just have somebody who wants to pull a prank?" Fine, you will know who it is! It's not like when we were in high school and the kids would walk by and pull the fire alarm, and then run. You know?
[TODD DEVOE] What's the difference between somebody went and say, took a community emergency response training out in their community, and then somebody who is taking a BERT training inside the business? Is there a focus difference?
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] Absolutely. There's a lot of similarity between the two. The FEMA program is excellent, we use a lot of the slides, we use a lot of the verbiage, we use a lot of the training. However, the focus with CERT is to take the lead person inside your community, in your cul-de-sac, take care of your people that are inside your cul-de-sac. Do you have enough water? Is there a neighbor next door, an elderly neighbor, ok? These are all phenomenally wonderful type things. BERT moves into the business world because a business is unable to take a certain number of people and take them away from the business for 30-some hours of training off-site. And then, at the end, have just kind of a core amount of training. BERT takes all the training, and then implements it to a – we call it compliance book, where you're actually filling out questions and building an emergency action plan, section by section, throughout the book. So, at the end, you have all of the elements for your business on exactly how you're going to handle an emergency. You're going to know who is the safety team? Who is the company's emergency manager? Or the team leader that's going to keep track of the scope of the incident? Or the medical team leader? You're going to know, when you get through the training, you're going to know every single thing that's happening, and you're going to be able to bring it back to your safety committee to tweak it, and: "ok, let's implement this inside the company." So, it gives a full workbook of how to implement these things inside your safety team and inside your company.
[TODD DEVOE] That's great. I mean, when you have a takeaway like that, and that's something that a lot of businesses struggle with, you know? Sometimes, they hire business consultants to come and write an emergency action plan or an emergency response plan, and it's a spoiled plate and it doesn't really fit that company. This way, you're building the stuff from the ground up, that fits that company. That's some really cool stuff there.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] I appreciate that. One of the things that we often say is: how many binders are on the shelf behind the safety manager? You know.
[TODD DEVOE] So true! So true.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] So…
[TODD DEVOE] All right. Well, speaking of binders, I'll kind of switch questions around here for a little bit. And one of the things that I like to do for all my guests, those of you who have been listening to this podcast for a while will get this question coming up. So, what book do you recommend to somebody who wants to be involved in something like BERT, or emergency response, or emergency management, for their business?
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] There's a couple of things, you know, there's one book that I want to get to, but there's a couple of other things that I'm going to encourage. One is, there's… the American Red Cross has done some amazing studies of where America is in readiness for any kind of disaster. Where the country is, and where each municipality is. And it's pretty sobering as to where things are. There's one that said, (inaudible) for the American Red Cross Preparedness Survey in 2006, only one in ten American households had taken the appropriate preparedness steps: emergency plan, emergency supply kit, and training in first aid and CPR. Those kinds of facts from these kinds of articles, that preparedness survey from the aftershock of Katrina, you study any of these documents and learn about the actual preparedness of our communities, and it's easy to see where we need, where we must, step up. And we can't count on our first responders. And I'm not saying it from a negative perspective. Is that they are going to be taxed, that the ratio of first responders to our people are just, it's astronomical. And so, we have to rely on ourselves to step up and take care of ourselves and others inside our businesses, and to recover as quickly as possible. But I'm going to say, the book that I come back to all the time, is The Servant Leader. I mean, Servant Leadership. There's actually several different versions of the book. And what I found inside there, is there's a whole discussion about how people react to situations. And what I love about the BERT training, and I'm very passionate about it, you can hear it in my voice, and my family and friends, everyone knows – they call be me Bert. Is that there's a need to understand where people are, and how can you meet them where they are and guide them to where you think they need to be. And that's what's so important in the BERT training. Is how do you handle a room full of people who are panicking? How do you guide them where you need to be? And if you've got that mindset that comes out of that Servant Leader and Servant Leadership, you can instantly react to how people are looking at you and how they're reacting. Because you can see exactly where they're coming from. So, that's one that I just think is an immensely powerful one that I re-read, I have notes and tabs, and when I'm sitting on hold, waiting for someone, I'll just pick it up and just look at a section and kind of reinforce.
[TODD DEVOE] Books like that, that's exactly what we're looking for. Those that you re-read, and those are the ones you're going to give to somebody someday if you have a new employee who is getting to leadership. Thank you so much for that. Hey Bill, so before we let you go, how do we get in touch with you? And if somebody wants to implement the BERT program in their business, how can they find you?
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] Let me mention one other thing, and then I'll answer your question.
[TODD DEVOE] Oh sure, go ahead.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] And that is, from our servant leadership and our focus on moving the BERT training out, is that we believe it's important that every family member of every person who is trained, has this training. And so, we offer it for free to all of their family members.
[TODD DEVOE] Wow, that's great.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] So, a person who goes to the training and says, you know: "If I'm going to be at work, what's going to happen? I can't get home!" They know their families are taken care of, that just relieves one aspect of it. And so, that's our push out to the families, and that happens! We actually get that, people re-taking the course again and again. And so, to shout out to us, the website is bertinc.org, www.bertinc.org. And our telephone number is 714-838-2923, we're here in Southern California, and you can reach me at email@example.com.
[TODD DEVOE] Well, Bill, thank you so much. And for everybody, if you guys didn't write that down, I'll definitely put that information down in our show notes at the bottom of the podcast here. And again, Bill, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for taking your time. I really look forward to seeing the BERT program grow, and I'd like to have you back on sometime, to see your progression.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] Well, thanks much, Todd, and you're doing great work over there as well, at EM Weekly.
[TODD DEVOE] Thank you very much.
[BILL CUNNINGHAM] Thank you.
[TODD DEVOE] All right.


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Reference: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2018/12/aws-service-catalog-announces-integration-with-aws-organizations/


text:
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BOSTON (CBS) — Wednesday is a big day for the New England Patriots. Most of them, at least.
It's the day when the Super Bowl LI champions will be honored at the White House, the first professional sports team to do so under President Donald Trump.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady announced early Wednesday that he would not be attending the ceremony, citing family reasons. But head coach Bill Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft are expected to be front and center, as their personal connections to President Trump have been well documented over the past year.
Brady joins a list of at least six members of the defending champs won't be attending New England's visit to the White House, with many of the other players citing political reasons for skipping the ceremonies.
[graphiq id="9EICsFEXHF3″ title="New England Patriots Players Skipping 2017 White House Visit" width="600″ height="343″ url="https://w.graphiq.com/w/9EICsFEXHF3″ ]
A pair of former Patriots in Martellus Bennett (now a member of the Green Bay Packers) and Chris Long (who signed with the Philadelphia Eagles) will also not be joining their former teammates on Wednesday.
For the Patriots organization, a trip to the Rose Garden is nothing new. It will be Belichick and Kraft's fifth visit with the Patriots, and the fourth for Brady, who skipped New England's 2015 visit when President Barack Obama was in office, citing a family commitment.
The Pats were honored by President George W. Bush on three different occasions during his eight years in office, giving him a jersey each time. They also gave President Bush a hoodie sweatshirt following during their visit in 2005.
It'll be interesting to see what President Trump has to say about the Super Bowl Champs on Wednesday.
The Patriots will not be visiting the Walter Reed Military Medical Center during their time in Washington D.C., but will instead welcome a group of patients to lunch and have them join them on their trip to the White House.
Stick with CBSBoston.com all day for updates from the visit, as well as WBZ-TV's Dan Roche and 98.5 The Sports Hub's Jim Murray on Twitter..
The problem as a I see it is Trump. Did you hear his talk with (some of) the Patriots standing behind him? Donald talks about himself, his "victory" in a "great state" and the wonderful letters of political support he got from Belichick, etc. Doesn't he know anything? The nation is divided. Hell, the PATRIOTS are divided! And he has to stroke himself in front of a sports team!? I am unfair? Please, please go back and find Obama, W., Clinton, H.W., Reagan, ANY other President talking about his own election victory in front of Super Bowl champs! Go! Look! You won't find it!! The man does not even understand the most basic principles of decorum. He takes a moment that really should be apolitical, but NO, it's about him, about Trump. You hate Obama? Please go review his speech with the Super Bowl Champs! You will not find a scintilla of politics. That's understanding decorum and respecting the feelings of all Americans. That's being decent. That's, well, presidential. There is a time for it to NOT be all about you. When is that time for Trump? Answer in Trump's mind?: never. It's all about Trump all the time, no room for others.


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Chapter 22 – O
Day 1 after splitting up with Viola's group…
It is night time at a traveler's inn yet my eyes still won't let me sleep. There are a lot of things going on in my head right now and most of them are related to Ophiucus. I would be lying if I said that I was never concerned about the relationship between my Connection Pendant and Ophiucus's power. In fact, ever since Viola's report about Fiore, it has been the only thing on my mind, along with the Ophiucus servants' mysterious words
You do not understand my master.
I'm glad a number of us decide to follow me on this journey to find the truth. But I still do not feel good letting Viola and the others charge on ahead while we waltz around like this. In a way, I feel like I am running away from the actual battle in front of me.
"Ugh! Screw this. I'm gonna go take a walk!" I grumbled and get down from the bed. Maybe my mind would be a little more at ease if I get some cool fresh night air.
The rooms in this traveler's inn are very small; the room has a single bed and that's it. There isn't even a private bathroom in each room, and the public bath costs you to enter. All in all, this inn is a very cheap place, intended only for travelers to take a night rest. Due to low room rates, mom got us six rooms – one for each of us. Lin and Len insisted on sharing the same room. Mom said she could get a separate room for both of them, but they said:
"We feel safer when the two of us are together!"
"If anything happens, the two of us can handle it right away!"
I guess having two bodies isn't really that great. The two of them feel extremely insecure when separated from one another.
In any case, I walk out of my room and head for the guest lobby, only to be surprised to see someone else already sitting on a couch there before me.
"……… Auria?"
The caramel haired girl gave a slight jump and turned around to me when I called her.
"Oh… Sophia?" she replied with a surprised look.
"Hey… um…"
How should I start talking to her?
Does she still want to be alone?
Would it be a bad time to talk to her now?
Last night at the campfire, she said she wanted to be alone and chased everyone who tried to talk to her away – even Orica couldn't talk to her. Then again, I can't blame her for feeling depressed right now.
"You couldn't sleep either?"
Before I could say anything, she took the initiative and asked me first.
"Uh… Yeah. Sort of. I just thought I'd come to get some fresh air," I said, scratching my cheek, "…… Say… Would it be okay if I sit with you?"
She tilts her head in surprise at my question. Maybe she's wondering why I'm asking for a permission from her?
"Uh… Well, if you still have something to think about, then it's okay. I won't bother you…"
"Oh…? No no no! It's fine. Please, have a seat," she said, tapping the couch to invite me to sit.
"Okay. Thanks." I smile and sit next to her.
After that, there is an awkward silence between us. I really don't know how to start talking to her.
Is she really in the mood for a random talk right now?
What should I say that wouldn't make her depressed?
… Heck, why am I thinking this hard?
"Hey, Sophia…"
She took the initiative again.
"What are you going to do after this battle is over?"
"Over as in the Nebula Corp stops hunting for us and Ophiucus stops wanting to destroy Athenia?" I asked back. Well, I need the scope of her question.
She giggles. "Yeah. When you get back your old life as a university student back, what are you going to do?"
"Eh… I dunno. First of all, I'll probably go pick up my little kitten that I left with my neighbor. I left the house with mom in such a hurry, so I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to him."
I really miss Roro actually. He normally sleeps on his personal cushion in the living room down stairs. But there are a few nights where he'll scratch my bedroom door, asking to get inside and sleep on the pillow next to mine.
"I see. That's so sad," she replied with a sad face, "Well, what about after that?"
"Hmmm… Maybe I'll join the Dummy Company project," I said.
"Oh. That famous student project… If I remember correctly, you're from Galaxia, right?"
"Yeah. You've probably watched that drama series before, right? I really want to join that project someday," I said.
"That really sounds interesting. But from what I saw in the drama, the work seems pretty tough?"
"Well, yeah. You have to work with a bunch of people with different background after all." I shrug. "But I like meeting with lots of new people. Oh. Oh. Oh!! And this time, I'll probably stop being picky and get a cute boyfrien—-!?"
Oh crap!!!!
I quickly cup my mouth with both of my hands.
Oh my god, I'm so stupid!! I'm so stupid!! I'm so stupid!!
Why do I have to bring up the forbidden topic!?
"…So, you don't have a boyfriend yet?" she asked and giggled, "That's a surprise. I thought you're pretty cute."
… Oh… She's… not sensitive about this topic anymore?
"Uh… Well, I haven't really met a great guy yet," I replied.
…Actually, on a second thought, I probably should change the topic. If I were Auria, I really wouldn't want to talk about things like this right now.
Come on, Sophia! Use your brain! Think of a new topic! Think of a new topic!
… But about what!? Ophiucus? The Nebula Corp!?
Why discuss a serious topic!?!?!?
Brain!!! Cooperate with me please!!!!!
"So, what's your type?" she asked.
She's… not gonna change a topic?
"Huh? Uh… Well… He has to be kind and gentle and he has to love me."
…Ugh… I'm supposed to change a topic…
I can't help but cry inside right now.
"…Perhaps a little imaginative would be good? You know? Those romantic dreamy types?" I said.
"Hm… Sounds like a writer or a poet to me?" she said.
"Hmmm…? A writer, huh?"
Well, when she put it that way, I do think writers are pretty awesome after all…
… Wait. Why am I still going along with her?
"Well, if he creates a story with me as the heroine, that'll be pretty romantic, don't you think?" I asked.
"Yeah. I thought so too." Auria nodded and giggled.
She's giggling…
Maybe this is just another random topic for her?
I guess I'll just go along with the flow for now…
"……What about your type, Auria?"
… Ugh. That must have been a bad idea…
"Well… Dreamy writers really sound nice," she said and looked up at the sky, "But with my current life, I really prefer someone who can understand me and accept me for who I am… Also he has to be someone who can support me when I need him… I don't really want to be dependent on a guy. But I just want to know that there'll always be someone behind my back to help me when I'm in trouble…"
"… So Lynus… is that kind of guy?"
I'm so pathetic.
What am I asking her?
"He was always there for me ever since my parents died in a car accident," she explained. Somehow, I could see tears building up in her eyes again. "He arranged for the funerals. He sent Orica and me off to the university every morning and pick us up every evening. He even offered to pay my rent for me…"
…Wow… He really sounds like an incredible guy. And he's not asking his parents for the money to support his girl either… unlike someone I know at the university…
"… I still can't believe that he betrayed us," Auria continued.
Well, after she told me all of that, how would one expect her to buy into that?
He's a very good guy after all…
"But everything was so clear… There's no denying that fact… I just don't want to accept the truth… Miki was right…"
She's… finally succumbing to Miki's comments?
…No. I can't let her do that…!
"… Well then, trust in him!" I said.
"Huh…?" Auria gave a slight jump.
"If you really love him, then believe in him! Believe that he didn't betray you!" I said.
"It's okay, Sophia… There's no point lying to myself anymore." She shakes her head and wipes her teary eyes.
"No no no!!! You can't do that!" I cried, "There's no way a good person like that would lie to the girl he's been supporting this whole time! After all, you didn't see him come out and said 'hahaha I don't love you anymore!! Imma sell you to Nebula Corp!! L-O-L' right?"
The caramel haired girl giggled at the way I said it. "Y… Yeah… But…"
"…You know, when I was a little girl, I prayed to the stars every night to become a Zodiac Angel," I said, looking up at the sky, "Before I went to sleep, I would look outside of my bedroom's window to the starry sky and told the stars, 'I wish to be a Zodiac Angel.' every night."
"Oh? Really? Why did you want to be a Zodiac Angel?" she tilted her head curiously.
"That's a secret!" I giggled. "But my point is if you keep on believing and praying, then the stars will definitely answer your call! …Well, although in my case, it wasn't a very beautiful scenario when I discovered that I'm an angel, but all that matters are the end results, right? I still get to be a Zodiac Angel!"
… Even though I'm being hunted down by the world's filthiest organization…
Yeah. It was probably a good idea I left that last part out…
"… Well, I guess you have a point." She curls her hair with a thoughtful look.
"Come on! Give it a try!"
"Huh? What?"
"Pray to the stars! Pray with all your heart that you will get to be with him again, and it'll surely happen! Trust me!" I said, "But you'll have to pray REALLY hard though! Or it won't come true!"
"…Okay, I'll try," she said with a smile. After that, Auria closes her eyes and folds her hands together. She sits there quietly and prays. Although she's not whispering out her prayers, I could tell that she is pouring all of her heart into it. Her prayer lasts a couple of minutes before she opens her eyes again.
"You think it'll work?" She turns to ask me with a doubtful voice.
"No no no! If you doubt the stars, then it won't come true!" I said, "Believe in it. Believe in the stars… Believe in Lynus…"
Auria remains quiet for a while. But after that, she smiles again and looks up at the sky. "Yeah… I trust him… and the stars…"
"Good! Then you'll definitely get to see him… again…?"
All of the sudden, the caramel haired girl quietly leans onto my right shoulder before I could finish talking to her.
"Hey… Can you sit with me for a little while longer?" she asked.
"H… Huh? Why?"
"Just… let me lean on to you for a while," she pleaded and leans on my shoulder, hiding her face from me. Her arms hug on to my right arm even tighter than before…
After that, we didn't say anything to each other for a while.
But I don't mind…
If I can emotionally support her just by simply being with her, then I'm more than happy to do so…
Day 3 after splitting up with Viola's group…
The trek was long, but all of us finally ended up at the Arian Village – where mom and I first met Lin and Len – again. This village was really a detour. If we head straight to the Marfik Village, there would be no more check points for us to take a break and we'll have to sleep in the open. As a result, we decide to take it easy and drop by this village again.
We paid a visit to the Wu Residence right after we got to the village. Lin and Len sure miss their parents because the two of them ran into them the moment they reunited.
Such a heartwarming scene…
"I'm glad you all paid us a visit," Professor Huan spoke to us after we settled down in his living room. All of us are present in the room, except for Lin and Len who went to help Professor Qing make some tea.
"We won't be here for long though. The Nebula Corp will definitely come here if we stay for too long. After we get a rest tonight, we'll continue our way to the Marfik Village," mom explained to Professor Huan.
"I see. Things have really been rough. To be honest, I came to accept that anything could happen to Lin and Len the moment I found out that they are Zodiac Angels. I'm really glad I left them in your care, Myria, Sophia," said Professor Huan.
"Oh, it's really the other way around. They've been a huge help to us," I said, "Because of them, we were able to take down one of the Star Generals without casualties."
"… The two of them fought a Star General!?" Professor Huan cried with his jaws dropped down to the ground.
"Yes, they did. Although they didn't defeat the general, the two of them weakened him down enough for us to defeat him in a hit," mom replied.
"Is that so? Well, maybe that was to be expected? They're Zodiac Angels, and they trained under you after all?" Professor Huan mumbled thoughtfully then chuckled.
He seems to respect mom a lot. Then again, I also think mom is extremely skilled.
"Tea is ready." Professor Qing brings in a tray with several cups of hot tea, then Lin and Len serve it to everyone in the room.
"Thank you." I accept a cup from Lin.
"…So, I heard that you all are going to the Marfik Village?" Professor Qing asked after she settled down.
"Yes. The Ophiucus servants told us to go to where we got this pendant so we can learn more about Ophiucus," I replied.
"Haha… It's funny to hear that. 'Learn about Ophiucus', huh?" Professor Huan muttered.
"Yes. I know it's ridiculous, but I just thought that there might be something more than what we know about Ophiucus from the Tales of Star Ocean. If we can understand her, then perhaps we might have more chance at ending this struggle," I replied.
"Just like Myria said… You really haven't changed from when you were a little girl, Sophia." Professor Qing giggles.
"… Huh?"
I made a puzzled look.
…What does she mean by that?
"Well, Sophia. I told them that back when you were young, you prayed to the stars every night that you want to become a Zodiac Angel and go play with Ophiucus who is sealed in the Celestial Hall," mom explained and looks at everyone else, "Back then, she only understood that Ophiucus was grounded in the 'Celly Hall' and no one wanted to be with her though."
"W… Why would you tell them something that embarrassing!?" I cover my cheeks with both of my hands.
"Wow, really, Sophia? So that's why you wanted to be a Zodiac Angel?" Auria asked, giggling, "You're so cute."
Aw, come on, Auria! Don't laugh!!
"Ah haha! I agree with sis!" Orica added.
"I thought so too," said Lauress.
"Sis Sophia is so adorable!"
Lin and Len agreed.
"A… Aaah! Stop teasing me!!!"
Oh my, I don't want to look at a mirror right now… My cheeks feel so hot…
"… By the way, Huan. Qing. Do you know anything about the Marfik Village? Anything at all?" mom asked the two professors.
"Hm… Well, not much, actually," Professor Huan replied, "I do know that the folks in the villages of this region are extreme worshipers of Zodiac Angels. There are even some records that claim that the 'Tales of Star Ocean' originated around here."
"For real?!" Orica cried.
"Nothing solid though. After all, the version that was accepted internationally was Angelo Dehl Falka's version because he was a man obsessed with Zodiac Angels even though he doesn't have any proof that they existed," Professor Huan replied.
"… Hm… If that is the case, then maybe we really should look into these older folklores. Perhaps we'll find more interesting information?" mom muttered.
"Don't expect much though… Some of these folklores are plain baseless," Professor Huan said.
"It's okay. The most important thing now is getting to the Marfik Village. We have to dig into the truth behind this pendant first," I said.
"In that case, please get a good night rest. You still have a long way after this," Professor Qing suggested.
We continue chatting together for a while. After that, all of us split up with each other and went to relax.
"Sis Sophia?" Len called to me while I was looking outside the window of the living room. Lin is also standing right next to her.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Can you tell us more about when you were younger?" Lin asked.
"…… Huh? Why?"
… Are they still thinking about my nightly prayers?
"Why did you want to play with Ophiucus?" Lin asked.
I knew it…
Grrr… Mom…!!
"Well, it's just a kiddy thought." I laugh nervously. "Just don't laugh, okay?"
"Okay!" The two of them replied with a cheeky smile.
… I really wonder…
"You see… there was one time mom grounded me inside my room for the whole week."
Oh, this is a different time from the fight I had with mom about the pendant though. That one happened when I was a little older.
"I had nothing to do and I was bored out of my mind. That was when I realize how bad it feels to be alone without someone to talk to," I explained, "So later on when mom told me that bedtime story, she said that being 'sealed' is similar to being 'grounded'. That's why I felt bad for Ophiucus because she has to be alone in her room for so many years… I mean, think about it, I was already bored out of my mind for just a week. More than a year is simply a torture."
"I see!" Lin said giggling.
"I thought I told you not to laugh." I narrow my eyes at her.
"Sorry, sis! You're just so adorable!" Len said.
Ugh… I can't believe them.
"……There's another reason though," I said.
"Oh?" The twins tilt their head at the same time.
"You see, Ophiucus wanted to destroy the world because no one understood her, right?" I asked, "So I thought that if I can befriend with her, then maybe she will be happy and don't want to destroy the world anymore…"
"Wow. Sis, you're amazing!" Len said.
"Really?" I scratch my cheek in embarrassment.
"Yeah! If you get to tell that to Ophiucus Angel, then maybe she will really understand!" Lin said.
"Yeah! If it's you, she'll surely understand!" Len added.
Haha… Well, it's been a while since I had these 'childish' thoughts. Maybe that's just how the society is.
Little by little, we forgot about our innocent younger selves…
But perhaps… These optimistic 'childish' feelings might just be what we really need right now…
Day 5 after splitting up with Viola's group…
The distance from the Arian Village and the Marfik Village is farther than we expected. In the end, we still had to sleep in the open for one night.
But I guess it's better than two nights?
Anyway, the Marfik Village is a small village hidden in the valley further to the west. There is really no legitimate road for cars here, but that doesn't matter since we don't have cars with us anyway. Thinking about the landmark, you can say that it's right across the Plain of Pride where Miss Frey was sleeping. However, the Plain of Pride is on a high plateau, so we can't just cut through it to get there; we have to take a detour in the lower land pass marshes and swamps. After that, it's a simple straight path through the thick forest.
After the trek, we finally came across the village in the valley. Although it's called a 'village', it looks a lot more like a nomadic settlement. There is not even a single permanent shelter there. Most of the residences are leather tents and poorly constructed shacks, made from branches and animal skin. There is a well with a pulley located in the center of the settlement, but it seems to have been dried up for ages now. The folks also seem to raise cattle and other livestock in the pasture behind the settlement as well.
"… Is this really the place, mom?" I asked just to be sure.
"Yeah… Last time I came here from the other side," mom explained, pointing to the other side of the village, "I still remember the entrance…"
The moment we step into the settlement area, the villagers' attentions are quickly drawn to us. All of them make a surprised look and move away when we get into their territory.
"I feel unwelcomed…," Orica muttered.
"They were like this last time I was here too," mom said, "Until today, I still don't understand why…"
"Well… They seem like a tribe that lives quietly in the mountains. They are probably frightened or anxious to see outsiders like us," Auria said.
Auria's use of the word 'outsider' suddenly made me feel super unwelcomed for some reason…
"Welcome to the Marfik Village…"
Suddenly, a frail voice spoke up from our right. Turning towards the owner of the voice, we see an elderly man in a white cloak standing no more than 10 steps away from us.
"My name is Shikoba. I am the chief of this village. We've been expecting you all, your highnesses – Zodiac Angels."
This man…
Who is he!?
How did he know that we're Zodiac Angels!?


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The kitchen out of your dreams doesn't have to be large, nor does it have to be fully equipped with the latest state-of-the-art appliances and utensils, but it is important that it feels like home to you. A way in which you can create a sense of homeliness is by applying simple, practical and inexpensive ideas to create the kitchen of your dreams. Today we will show you 8 marvelous ideas for small kitchens so that you can make your kitchen better and make it represent your individual style.
Let's take a look!
If you are looking for ways to spice up your kitchen but don't feel like spending a fortune, all you need is a patch of wall. You can select your favorite tiles and make them stand out in your kitchen. Rather than covering everything in tiles, make the wall into a feature wall—and paint the rest of the kitchen in a color that suits your choice of tiles. It won't cost you a fortune to solicit the help of a tiler for a few hours, or you can go for a tile mosaic which has already been pieced together and only requires installation.
If you have a small kitchen and especially if it is rather plain, you can select a few simple pieces of furniture to bring some life into the area. In this example, a simple table and two aqua colored chairs, along with the industrial-style light bulbs above the dining table are all that you really need to make a room feel special.
If your kitchen is dim and if there is not much natural light seeping in, you might like to invest in some light sources to bring the best out of your furniture. In this instance, the simple ceiling lamps and the LED lights under the kitchen cabinets are all that is needed to illuminate this chic kitchen.
If you want ideas on how to make your kitchen more fashionable, check this selection out!
Small kitchens tend to feel congested but if you are a fan of rustic displays or you simply love your cups and bowls, why not choose some simple shelving on which to place your favorite items. The shelves help to free up the drawers, while the decorative items give your kitchen a warm rustic feel.
Another way to free up your kitchen cabinets is by creating hanging space for your pots and pans. In this example, the wood on the back wall makes the kitchen warm and country-like while helping to order some of the chaos that resides in even the most organized kitchens. The kitchen has become orderly and simple—and on the plus side you will never have to go looking for that particular pan again.
No matter how big or small your kitchen is, making the best of what you have is important so that you don't feel overwhelmed when you are preparing your favorite meals. This kitchen is superb, not only because of its eclectic taste and decorative elements, but also because it is bursting with color and taking full advantage of the wall space. The result is clearly organized and very stylish.
These high yet transparent shelves create the illusion of space in this small kitchen. Rather than having closed units which tend to sometimes create more clutter—these shelves are fully aligned with the rest of the decor and visually create an air of grandeur. You also see everything you have before you get the ladder!
We don't sit at the dining table the whole time we are in our kitchens, and this innovative design has enabled us to have a choice between having the table out or folding it away for later. This retro kitchen shows us that space-saving ideas are constantly evolving to keep up with our budgets and lifestyles.


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26 's
Multicolored earrings Pennies From Heaven earrings by Catbangles.ArtFire.com
Don't these look like Christmas ornaments? I get many compliments on this set of jewelry.
I wear these multicolored earrings, bracelet, and necklace with many outfits. I always get compliments.
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Windsor officials on Wednesday formally launched YourGOV, the town's new platform for residents to submit service requests, compliments and concerns.
The system soft launched last month. Windsor residents can go to http://windsorgov.com/YourGOV and submit general comments – compliments, questions or concerns through an online form – or drop a pin on the service map for infrastructure-related items on town-owned property, like potholes or graffiti at a local park, according to a news release from the town of Windsor.
All infrastructure-related requests are visible on a public map, enabling community members to view requests and related status updates.
Once submitted, town staff will aim to respond within two business days during normal hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. If contact information is provided with the request, community members will receive updates throughout the solution process.
For more information, go to http://windsorgov.com/YourGOV or call (970) 674-2400.


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|1.1 kg
Geen producten in je winkelmand.
Stopt piepen en kraken. Verdrijft vocht. Reinigt en beschermt. Maakt los wat vast zit. Maakt stroef lopende hersenen weer gangbaar. Maakt de tong los. Kuur afmaken!
Heerlijke zachte likeur met de smaak van Honingdrop
|1.1 kg
Er zijn nog geen beoordelingen.
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[Alternative title: or, Why People in Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones (Unless They Intend to Build A New House With Those Stones) ]
Zain Baharuddin replies to Clarissa Lee's "Is Malaysia a Nation of Cowards?". By drawing parallels between these nations, is she suggesting that the people of Malaysia storm the streets of KL in unified protest?
"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men"
Abraham Lincoln
"A coward is a hero with a wife, kids, and a mortgage."
Marvin Kitman
Clarissa Lee's "Is Malaysia a Nation of Cowards?" muses almost enviously upon the recent upheaval in Egypt. In her article, idealist notions of "a fresh new start" and "epistemic shifts and changes" are bandied about like propaganda pamphlets for Your Friendly Neighborhood Socialist Party convention. Admittedly, her stand is (perhaps by intention) not explicitly stated, but by drawing parallels between these nations is she seriously suggesting that the people of Malaysia storm the streets of KL in unified protest? Would you, dear reader, swallow that last delicious spoonful of nasi lemak, grab your Blackberries and your iPhones and sprint from the gerai? Would you put that RM50 Padini shirt back on the rack and rush out the nearest exit to the One Utama parking lot and drive to Dataran Merdeka in the Proton Satria that you are still paying off for?
This essay is by no means a personal jab at the author's ostensibly well-meaning rhetoric, but it is naive to expect the "educated class" of Malaysia to stir up revolution on the scale of that which is currently affecting our Middle Eastern brethren. Doing so would place into jeopardy the socioeconomic support structure (what Ms. Lee perceptively refers to as a quasi welfare state) that the government has, rightly or wrongly, mollycoddled us with for the past 54 years. Our fair nation has grown from tiny acorn to sturdy oak under the care of some visionary leadership, but progress has been halting as of late. Increasingly, mismanagement and money politics have weighed heavy on our shoulders, and some of the more inquisitive ones among us have dug at the roots and found evidence of termites. However, the majority is quite content to accept the status quo, even if (or because?) it means a patient plod down the steps into social instability and economic ruin.
So the question is: what exactly makes us a "nation of cowards"? Despite the earlier allusions to our established dependence on a reliable supply of roti canai and weekly English Premier League broadcasts, it is not this false sense of security that is the main obstacle to full-blooded revolution. Nor is the perfectly reasonable desire to avoid being shot,drenched in tear gas, lightly tickled by high pressure water cannons or run over by wayward security vehicles. What keeps Malaysians indoors is the absence of a truly viable alternative to our current situation.
The comparison I like to bring up whenever I think about our political predicament is Mexico circa the late 1800s. Several decades after Mexican independence, President Porfirio Díaz brought about a golden age of progress by centralizing government and fostering foreign investment. Domestic trade flourished with emphasis on the mining centers of the north and an increasingly mechanized agricultural sector. He almost single-handedly dragged a fractured and torn Mexico by the scruff of the neck out of anarchy into 30 years of peace, stability, and growth. Unfortunately, thirty years with absolute power is thirty years too long, and an undercurrent of corruption, nepotism and blatant violation of civil rights pervaded Díaz's rule (starting to sound familiar?). The unequal distribution of wealth among the Mexican people became the basis of what would eventually lead to the Mexican Revolution in 1910.
Young Francisco Madero, of the liberal intellectual class that Ms. Lee refers to in her article, was the figurehead for the uprising, voicing what so many had left unsaid in during Díaz's reign (the Porfiriato). Despite being thrown into jail, among other trials and tribulations (though I don't think he was ever accused of sodomy), Madero rallied the nation by collaborating with and unifying the key opposition lobbies: the hardline conservative but influential National Islamic Party, long time populist masthead DAP, and … ooer, sorry, what I meant was Madero unified the powerful military lobby, the middle-class farmers in the north (led by Pancho Villa), and the poor Southern peasants who were called the Zapatistas, named after the famous revolutionary who fought for their rights – Emiliano Zapata.
With the full force of the nation behind them, these brave and idealistic men overthrew the dictator and worked together to form a fair and balanced administrative committee to oversee what would prove to be the perfect manifestation of democratic ethos and liberty for all. Except that didn't really happen. What did happen after the violent dethroning of Díaz's was the inevitable reneging between comrades. The radical agrarian reforms promised to the Zapatistas never materialized. Others among the top brass harbored secret desires to usurp Madero, who had been elected President. Each of the entities represented a specific portion of Mexican society and each had their own agenda. Despite being united in their hatred of Díaz's autocratic regime, the very foundations of their separate movements were irreconcilably different.
What's worse is that neither the initial uprising nor the ensuing anarchy was by any means bloodless. The people of Mexico took up arms against government forces. Countless died and countless more were displaced. Madero was eventually assassinated. Zapata was assassinated. Villa was assassinated. Unrest and bloodshed continued, and the successive (and short-lived) presidencies went on, only to be replaced by another dictator later in the century. It would be many years before the violence would die down.
The point of this history lesson, abstruse as it may seem, is, to quote the renowned philosopher Kermit the Frog: "Look before you leap!". Before we even entertain the idea of collectively revolting against the current administration, it is imperative that we pay heed to what comes next. An uprising that leaves a vacuum of leadership will lead to chaos, but one which places power in the hands of those who cannot wield it properly is just as bad. I am not saying a coalition of opposition forces is doomed to failure. Despite, understandably, having disparate (and often conflicting) underlying objectives and manifestoes, a measure of success may be achieved if they can set aside differences and agree to focus on a common aim that benefits the people. A conglomeration (or a Pakatan, if you will) must be able to viably represent the varying wants and needs of the separate constituencies but it must not place those needs before the overarching ideal, whatever that may be.
Before replacing the existing socioeconomic structure, the people must have assurances as to what will replace it. Clarissa Lee may yet be underestimating the Malaysian people when she labels them "spineless", "bebal" and "cowardly". Truth of the matter is, if change is to be had, we want to know who will be the ones to make it. The American colonials had their Founding Fathers, even the Russian proletariat had their Bolsheviks. If we revolt, who do the children of Malaysia have today?
Zain Baharuddin likes crocheting, antique furniture, collecting bottle caps, and watching the footy. He is also a Funkasaurus Rex.
Read this first: LB Terms of Use
I agree with msbery.
msbery on 11 February, 2011 at 9:22 am
Petronas still have enough money to feed the Malays for another 20 years or so, so no revolt for now
The rate of poverty in Egypt is so much higher than in Msia.
baDboyzzs – "So who in Malaysia will take part in this so called coming "Egypt styled revolution" against the Rosmah Regime? Your guess is as good as mine"
Zain Baharuddin – "Would you, dear reader, swallow that last delicious spoonful of nasi lemak, grab your Blackberries and your iPhones and sprint from the gerai? Would you put that RM50 Padini shirt back on the rack and rush out the nearest exit to the One Utama parking lot and drive to Dataran Merdeka in the Proton Satria that you are still paying off for?"
Sarcasm? I hope you're being ironic because there's nothing to be proud about in being ignorant or lazy or both.
Malaysia – three words: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Now, where's a human rights lawyer when you need one…
For your artwork, maybe changing the compression format may help?
Yes I do agree with him (as in S.H. Alatas) and never once did I not, because he has some pretty valid points to say as to why he even coined the term. What I did not do as well is to provide a nuanced reading of his arguments, which were a lot more nuanced and complex than the way I had appropriated it in my piece. Also, probably not a good idea to respond immediately upon waking before breakfast since, in reading back, I found I lack a measure of coherence. :)
Hello all: great replies, and thanks for the warm welcome!
I had to sift through your reply a bit, but I would like to apologize about the "bebal" part. However, even if Alatas did originally "coin" the term, you must admit that you seemed to agree with him as evidenced by the paragraph immediately following whence you brought it up.
I did enjoy the anecdotes you provided in your comment, though, and you do yourself a disservice by saying nothing in your article was original! Piecing together "unoriginal" fragments to form your own picture (whether the picture is right, wrong, skewed or centered) serves its purpose to get other people thinking and writing (like it did for me!).
I know this is me being OCD again but
a)some of the "Diaz"s are still showing as "Daz"
b)some of the links are not working
c)my David Villa picture is still gone! I spent a good FIVE minutes on that using MS Paint… please save my beautiful work of art
I will send you an email as well, not sure if you get comment notifications
Petronas still have enough money to feed the Malays for another 20 years or so, so no revolt for now
To compare Egypt to Malaysia at this point in time shows an awful lack of common sense & general knowledge
Basking on the euphoria of docile people suddenly springing to life in Egypt, some people here have compared the situation to 1Malaysia, under Rosmah and her band of merry men such as Perkasa Ibrahim, Khir Toyo, HishaKeris, Muh-Brutusdin & nice man Najib.
Malaysia is of course as different as night & day. 60% of the divided population ( or thereabouts ) have been raised by the paternal Gomen on a diet of soft smelly rice vis a vis powerful smart "enemy" of rich Asian immigrants of more than 54 years crouched at their doorstep.
So who in Malaysia will take part in this so called coming "Egypt styled revolution" against the Rosmah Regime?
Your guess is as good as mine
I forget to attach the link below
Last Sunday, a group of friends and I gathered together to skype in with someone who had recently arrived in the UK from Egypt, where she had lived for the past 1.5 years. More importantly, she speaks the local language and has Egyptian journalists for room-mates. I made some notes of that which I haven't yet gotten around to typing up. I have also suggested to a humanities institute that I work with over here to begin putting up informed views by people who really have a better clue than what the media is feeding the public on what is going on in these two countries.
Then, we had a full scale lecture given by a graduate student specializing in Middle Eastern history in order to contextualize the entire Tunisian and Egyptian affair for us. You can see the links from the lecture up there.
We have been oblivious to the fact that there has been tonnes of revolutions going on in the past 3 decades because the media did not focus any attention on them (ideology is important and extremely important in what sort of information you get fed) and also because there was no social media. Also, most countries in the developing world have inadequate access to the internet, a far cry from our Blackberry touting Malaysians.
I once spoke to a civilization essay contest participant from Nigeria* who told me he had to be very frugal with the way he ration his use of the internet because it's a luxury item over there. This was in the early part of the 21st century. Incidentally, an American who was of Cuban descent was talking about how Cuba had a revolution that few paid attention to because it's leftist and there was always a red scare among the media.
If you really want to know what goes on in the wider world, I believe it is time to learn to read in other languages. French media has pretty interesting coverage and POVs that you won't get from the Anglo-American media. Inspite of what the Malaysian government says about English, it does not give you access to a lot of important picture about the world. Even the mainly monolingual Americans (though this is changing with a fast-growing chicano/chicana/latino/latina community) have realized that, and their governments spend billions of dollars in training their selected people in critical languages.
*I, then a physics major, was UM's sole representative because no other students in the humanities/social science either knew about the contest or was interested, even though I did not win.
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hello Zain and all,
I find what you write interesting and I will like to give a considered reply later, as I promise myself to spend the rest of the week catching up with my reading and sleep. :) So what I give here is more of a stream-of-consciousness free-writing that in some ways answer but in other ways do not quite reply to Mr Zain's piece.
But it is interesting you brought up Mexico as point of analysis, as I've been thinking a lot about the country, living as I do only a short plane-ride away and I hope to visit that country sometime this year if all goes well. It is a complex country and much of the violence it is facing now has less to do with politics but more to do with backlash from the crime-lords who are being turfed out in the drug wars. Such violence is more obvious in some parts of its towns and less so in others. The existence of the country and hoards of those who try to run across the US-Mexican border has also become the reason why an equivalent of the long wall of China has been erected between that country and all the states bordering the latter.
Interestingly, three years ago, when I was lamenting how Malaysia was becoming gradually despoiled of its rich culture and also about the lack of appreciation of the arts there, my Mexican friend said the exact same thing about his country. He said that Mexico has become a country of bureaucrats, not of the revolutionaries that outsiders like to equate it with. They are aware of their rich past but that heritage is gradually being stripped away from them. But they have a much richer heritage at this point in time than Malaysians do, unfortunately. We only have, as Mr Zain so aptly pointed out, our roti canais, Padinis, and Proton Satrias. I am not part of the BB or Iphone owning crowd since it costs a lot in bills here and I would rather contribute the extra money saved to my travel fund.
Has it ever occur to us as to why so many scholars, in wanting to study the Malay world, flock to Indonesia rather than Malaysia, even though Malaysia is all so much more peaceful, has definitely way better physical infrastructure (having been to Indonesia, I can attest to that), and probably 'less' corruption? Malaysia is also way easier to maneuver around than Indonesia for foreigners. I was told that the National Library has a good collection of Malay classical texts, so why aren't foreign scholars flocking there to look at these mainly neglected texts?
There are still small pockets of revolutionaries underground all around Mexico. But most have turned to other means of political communication – through art, film and literature.
I'll like to say more about Mexico but I will leave that for now. I am no expert on the history of this country other than the bits and pieces I have read of its history in relation to the US and much of the most interesting materials (including literatures) of the country are not yet translated from Spanish (a language I tell myself I will learn to understand beyond the Spanish soap opera subtitles for the deaf). Much I know of what goes on right now comes from my interaction with its people and people who are studying the country, so my knowledge is still pretty sketchy. But I do have a big enough picture of different forms of revolutions that had taken place in the past that, while there are many similarities between some of them, each also have their differences and particularities marked by the specificities of their condition. Many revolutions begin with idealism which are led by the intellectual class but many, unfortunately, degenerated, because revolutions, just like any politicsl situation, will also attract those with agenda of their own. Some of course were more capable of dealing with the void left behind because they made sure that they built a strong constitution and strong institutions that will continue on beyond the lifespan of many a strong leader. If we want to pick Mexico, a country that has little historical similarity with Malaysia as a point of comparison, we can also pick France, and of course, the US (though the last country was more of a revolt against a colonizing power). Of course, we can also pick the revolt against the apartheid regime (albeit not in the same level) and also the Algerian uprising that even got turned into a film.
When Marx wanted to start a revolution for the workers, he did not ask them to start hacking at the factory owners. He wanted them instead to understand the reality of the situation that they are occupying and their place in relation to the larger economics. He obviously did not anticipate the creation of the iron wall of communism many decades later. The reason is because that it is easy to take on the physical aspect of revolution while completely ignoring the mental aspect of it. After all, it's MUCH easier to yell into the loudspeaker demanding for change than to actually change the way you think, you see things, your view life, or even to examine your own values.
When I ask people to look into the revolution going on in Egypt and Tunisia, all they see is the violence. They did not see the history that had been coming for more than 30 years, before even Mubarak came to power. They did not look into its history of colonization under the British. I recommend reading stories by Nawal El Saadawi if you really wish to understand the politicsl and cultural conditions of Egypt under the current regime's predecessors. By all accounts, Tunisia was a very mild country with minimal (and mostly quiet and underground) activism going on prior to its revolution because it is an even more repressive police state than Malaysia or Singapore.
In all the revolting that has taken place in Egypt, and DESPITE the looters Egyptian people, especially the young, had tried their best to protect their centuries old heritage, especially their intellectual heritage. I wish people would pay as much attention to the side things going on a they would to all the political 'excitement.'
I'll write more later, but I need to inform Mr Zain and all his readers that the term 'bebal' was NOT coined by me. It was a term used by Syed Hussein Alatas to talk about the state of Malaysia in the 1970s (mind you, this was at the time when all those plans are being developed to aid the bumiputera poor) under the thumbs of the bureaucrats. I hear that the "Intellectuals in the Developing Societies" or "Intelektual Dalam Masyarakat Membangun" has been republished, so I urged you all to read it, if you have not done so. Nothing I said in that article is theoretically original, as much as I would like it to be. Maybe one day, I'll do a review of that book in relation to more recent relevant works.
I'll stop here for now as it's time to get up proper.
A great balanced analysis. Attempts at humour are perhaps a little droll but otherwise, a really good read. Title a bit long though.


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This one: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
The wife wasn't well this morning so sent me off on my own with instructions not to come back with anything she doesn't like. No pressure there then. She still hasn't seen it inside but the trailer and cover have been approved.
It's got the perfect mix of accessories for us. PVC sun canopy, underbed skirt, gas struts, shelf unit, 3 way fridge and a cut out seat so there's some where to put it, removable carpet with vinyl floor. Even got the zip for an acrylic awning if we want to buy one.
I can't believe how easy it is to tow with the TDCI Mondeo compared with the caravan. 51 mpg going there solo and 43.5 coming back with Dandy. 174 miles each way and had 20miles through lanes following the sat nav due to a motorway accident. Can't believe you can take them through narrow lanes and pass cars the other way but I did.
It's taken me a while but we got there in the end thanks to all the wonderful help and encouragement on this site.
Last edited by navver on Sat 27 Apr 2013, 11:38 pm; edited 2 times in total


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Arab singles today have more options than ever when looking an Arab Meet. Technology has opened another avenue to Meet Arab Singles. In addition to relying on traditional ways of meeting each other through friends and family, Arab men and women are using the Internet to aid their search and are signing up for an Arab dating site to increase their chances of meeting the right person.
While it is still very common for Arab men and women to meet in their communities, many singles today are choosing to take advantage of the Internet when searching for love. There are many benefits to choosing this option, including:
Using a reputable Arab dating site has become popular partly because of the increased chance of a meeting single Arab men and women and partly for the time-saving features. When single Arab men and women use a dating site, they can meet other Arab Singles faster, and they can learn about them before meeting for the first time.
Using an Arab dating site is becoming more and more common for Arab men and women who want to save time in their search for love. An Arab dating site allows users to learn about a potential match before meeting in person. An Arab Lounge site offers the chance to find out if someone is interested in traditional Arab Dating, Arab Marriage, raising children and building a life in the community.
Many Arab Singles are taking advantage of the benefits of an Arab dating site. Signing up at ArabMatchmaking.com is quick and simple, so Arab singles are easily able to access technology that helps increase their chances of finding the right person.


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Realize a true competitive advantage by maintaining up-to-the-second inventory with RFID readers.
Reduce safety stock for more accurate demand and improve data integrity and accuracy from the time inventory is received to the time it leaves the shipping dock.
This scenario is possible now and is becoming more commonplace with retail, manufacturers, wholesalers, and the 3PLs (third party logistics) that serve and replace point and read, labor-intensive operations with warehouse RFID systems that track RFID-tagged pallets, cases, cartons and individual items. The benefits include leaner inventories, increased automation and anywhere, anytime visibility.
Reduce labor costs
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Handheld Radio Frequency Scanner


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The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 14 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team
Hi guys! Are you participating in Bout of Books? I'm really enjoying the challenges and the excuse to read more books.
Today I'm participating in the Four Seasons Book Cover Challenge. It was very fun browsing pretty covers and hunting for the perfect ones to use in the challenge.
I picked books from different genres, from classics to contemporary. 😉
Reading Update (Wednesday + Thursday)
I wasn't able to post a Wednesday update but I finished reading The Murder Complex yesterday. I loved the start of the book but the ending left me hanging. I was kinda pissed that it ended that way. I want the sequel NOWWWW!!!
I started reading The Night We Said Yes right after finishing The Murder Complex. I'm not making as much progress as I hope I would but there are still lots of time before the week ends. *cross fingers*
Brb, reading again.


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4 Different Types of Attic Fans
Attic fans are a great way of cooling the attic. Having a fan installed enables you to spend time in the attic without suffering a stifling or stuffy atmosphere. Attic fans also help to reduce the heat in the rest of the house. This means less energy is used for cooling, which translates to reduced energy costs. The effectiveness of an attic fan depends a lot on its type. Below are 3 common types of attic fans.
Type 1—Solar Attic Fan
By using the sun to power your attic fan, you are spared from relying on gas or electricity to do so. This reduces your energy consumption and hence your bills. When there is plenty of sunlight, these fans will be quite efficient; when there is none, their efficiency declines. They won't work at all when the skies are overcast. Despite this, these fans can still work as a common ventilator during periods of reduced sunshine and cost less than the electric alternative.
Type 2—Electrical Attic Fans
These are powered by electricity and are capable of moving lots of air. Many powered attic fans use a thermostat that turns them off and on based on the temperature of the attic. This handy feature enables efficient energy consumption, however electrical fans will still cost more than any of the others to operate.
This is especially the case during the summer, when the fan is frequently in use. Also, as installation of electrical fans involves wiring, you will most likely need to hire and electrician, which will ratchet up your home-improvement budget even further.
Type 3—Wind-Powered Fan
Yet another type of fan that relies on natural energy, the wind-powered fan is a good choice for those who prefer to go easy on electric consumption. They suffer from the same lack of consistency and reliability as their solar-powered counterparts, though. When wind speed is high, these fans will exhaust much air, however low wind speed will reduce their effectiveness.


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The average coverage in m2 for CLM66 fine putty mortar / render @ 1 tonne?
Thanks for your enquiry. CLM66 should be applied between 2-3mm. Based on this we would expect that a tonne would cover approximately 100-120m2. If you needed any further information please don't hesitate to get in touch.


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