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Bright and Practical Baby & Childrens Gifts from Around the World
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This colourful music box is a fun and thoughtful gift for new mums to share with their babies and toddlers. Featuring Paddington Bear and a pigeon and decorated on the sides with London buses and cars , this adorable music box is captivating and engaging for little ones.
Wind up the traditional clockwork mechanism (found underneath the box) and watch the figurines spin and dance in time to the music.
Product Features
Music: 'Lullaby from Brahms'
Measures approx' 11cm (w) x 10cm (d) x 12.5cm (h), Figurines 4cm
Important information on PERSONALISATION by engraving on a small metal plaque
Cost of personalisation is £4.99 including VAT (£4.16 excl. VAT). Please note we are unable to accept returns or replacements for any personalised item except in the case of a defect in the product itself.
Please enter the text to be personalised EXACTLY as you want it to appear. We are only able to accept a maximum of 20 characters (including spaces) per line. You do not need to use all four lines.
Please note: Images of personalised items are for illustrative purposes only. For technical reasons, the final position of the personalisation may vary slightly from what is shown.
Please allow 7 to 10 working days from date of order for personalised boxes.
Please note: This is not a toy and care should be taken when using the winding mechanism as over usage can cause damage. Keep out of reach of small children.
Non personalised orders placed before 3pm Monday to Friday will usually be dispatched the same day
Please allow up to 7 working days for delivery of personalised orders.
Please refer to the tables below for details of postage charges.
*Due to the cost, we are unfortunately not able to ship outside of Europe (Europe includes all EU and non EU countries)
Where a product is delivered in a damaged condition, you must notify us within 28 working days of receipt and return it within 14 working days. We are unable to accept claims for damaged goods after this time. On receipt of the damaged item we will confirm the damage. If we are in agreement that the item is in fact damaged, we will dispatch a replacement item along with a refund for the return postage. If we believe that the item is not damaged, we will return it to you at your expense.
Where you change your mind after dispatch, or on receipt, please notify us within 5 working days (or as soon as is practical) of receipt of your order. On receipt of your order back to our offices in perfect condition we will issue a full refund. Where you are not happy with an item, we will not meet the cost of return postage. Under the legislation relating to selling at distance we will however refund the initial postage. However where express delivery is requested, we are not able to refund the additional costs involved.
We are unable to accept notification of returns under this clause more than 10 working days after dispatch. We are unable to accept returns without prior notification. If we receive goods back without prior notification we will be obliged to send them back to you. All returned goods must be in their original packaging, undamaged, un-used and where appropriate un-assembled (eg flat packed furniture). We are unable to issue a refund or replacement for any items that have been personalised, unless they are defective.
Faulty Items
Please inform us of any fault within 28 days of receiving your item and return it within 14 working days for a full refund. For any faults after the 28 day period, we will offer a partial refund or discount on any future orders at our own discretion. This will be determined on an individual basis.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Golden Band Resources Inc. announces changes to the Board of Directors
Feb 22, 2013, 18:26 ET
SASKATOON, Feb. 22, 2013 /CNW/ - Golden Band Resources Inc. (Golden Band or Company) (TSXV: GBN) (OTCQX: GBRIF) reports the appointment of the following to the Board of Directors of the Company: Ed Yurkowski, Jim Dales and Paul Saxton. The following Directors have tendered their resignations, which the Company has accepted: Robson Garden, John Tosney, Klaus Lehnert-Thiel and Archie Nesbitt. We wish to acknowledge the services completed by these gentlemen to the Company and thank them for their efforts. We are especially appreciative of their willingness to continue offering their advice as requested.
A brief resume of the new directors follows:
Paul Saxton: Mr. Saxton is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Lincoln Mining Corporation, a junior gold exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. He possesses a degree in mining engineering and a Masters in Business Administration and sits on the board of five other publicly listed mining companies. Mr. Saxton brings over 35 years of experience in the mining industry including Cominco (now Teck Resources). Over the years, he has been involved with several mining companies in diverse positions including mining engineer, operations manager and president and has been instrumental in building four operating mines.
Edward Yurkowski: Edward Yurkowski is the Chief Executive Officer of Procon. As a founder of the Procon group of companies in 1992, Mr. Yurkowski guides the corporate governance and business development functions. Prior to that, he was President of Tonto Mining from 1981 - 1991. Mr. Yurkowski received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in 1971 from the University of Saskatchewan and he currently serves as a board member of Imperial Metals Corporation (a TSX-listed company) and Rainy Mountain Royalty Corp. (a TSXV-listed company) and serves on the advisory boards of Madison Minerals Inc., International Bethlehem Mining Corporation and Columbia Yukon Explorations Inc., all of which are TSXV-listed companies.
Jim Dales: James Dales completed his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in 1971 and a year later, earned his Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering, both from the University of Alberta. As a co-founder of the Procon group of companies, Mr. Dales is the President of Procon and is responsible for the management of all project contracts. Prior to that, he was Vice President, Operations of Tonto Mining from 1981 - 1991. Mr. Dales' previous experience includes working for a large civil contractor in various capacities up to project manager on large hydro and road tunnelling projects.
Ronald K Netolitzky and Robert G Ingram will remain on the Board. Ron will focus on establishing continuity on objectives and focus his attention towards the renewed exploration and development of the Company's extensive land holdings within the La Ronge gold belt.
About Golden Band
Golden Band Resources is a gold producer operating in the La Ronge gold belt in northern Saskatchewan and publicly listed on the TSX Venture exchange in Canada under the symbol GBN and is traded in the United States on the OTCQX under the symbol GBRIF. Commercial production was declared on April 1, 2011 and the Company has production from two mines, Roy Lloyd and Komis. Processing is at the centrally located Jolu mill, with a nominal capacity of 650 tonnes per day. The Company has been actively exploring the La Ronge Gold Belt since 1994 and has assembled a land package of 870 km2, including 13 known gold deposits and four former producing mines, being Jolu, Decade, Star Lake and Komis. The Company plans to undertake aggressive drill programs throughout the La Ronge Gold Project with the goal of significantly expanding the existing NI 43-101 gold resources that have been identified to date.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Golden Band Resources Inc.,
"Ronald K. Netolitzky"
Ronald K. Netolitzky, Chairman
Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements
This news release includes certain forward-looking statements or information. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements relating to the potential mineralization and geological merits of the mine properties, estimates of production, costs of production, the sufficiency and availability of capital and financing and other future plans, objectives or expectations of Golden Band Resources Inc. (Company) are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's plans or expectations include risks relating to the actual results of current exploration activities, fluctuating gold prices, possibility of equipment breakdowns and delays, cost overruns, availability of capital and financing, general economic, market or business conditions, regulatory changes, timeliness of government or regulatory approvals and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE: Golden Band Resources Inc.
For further information:
Mark J. Thiel, VP, Interim President and CEO
Golden Band Resources Inc.
Phone: 306 385 7128
Fax: 306 955 0788
Email: [email protected]
Investor Relations:
Raju Wani: 403 240 0555
Tony Perri: 604 682 6852
Email: [email protected]


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Announced within an official press release on the company site, Walgreens will soon be starting development on a "net zero energy" store that will produce enough energy to operate self-sufficiently. Located in Evanston, Illinois, the location of the store was chosen in order to allow Walgreens engineers easy access since the company headquarters is just a thirty minute drive away. According to the designs, the store will generate approximately 265,000 kilowatt hours per year. However, the retail store will only require 200,000 kilowatt hours per year to operate and all excess energy will be delivered back into the grid.
In order to generate such a large quantity of power over time, the store will be outfitted with a minimum of 800 roof-top solar panels on the roof and two wind turbines in front of the store. In addition, Walgreens engineers will be drilling approximately 550 feet into the ground beneath the store in order to utilize geothermal energy. This energy will be used to cool or heat the store based on the current season.
In order to conserve energy when operating the store, the Walgreens team will be installing energy efficient building materials in the structure, LED lighting and high-efficiency carbon dioxide refrigeration equipment for the grocery section of the store.
When asked about the net zero initiative, Walgreens vice president of facilities development Thomas Connolly said "We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and leading the retail industry in use of green technology. We are investing in developing a net-zero store so we can learn the best way to bring these features to our other stores." Since Walgreens operates approximately 8,000 stores within the United States, this self-powered store will likely serve as an experiment for the company. If successful, aspects of the design could potentially roll out at other Walgreens locations around the country in the future.
Editors' Recommendations
- Giant weights, liquid air, and beyond: How we'll store energy in the future
- Tesla Model 3 vs. Tesla Model Y
- Every upcoming electric car
- We could slow climate change by dimming the sun. But should we?
- Tesla unveils 'truly revolutionary' new battery


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Top Job Interview Questions
Successful interview is essential in order to grab an offer. Here are some top job interview questions those will help you to prepare for an effective interview through follow up. Before we discuss top job interview questions there are certain things for which you should get ready by your own like company research, memorize your resume, practice, behavior during interview, dress appropriately, and end the interview with thank you.
Top job interview questions are influential guide that will give a key of how to master job interview skills within a small period and introduce you with dominant question answering skills, carriage, confidence and cool calm that turns you look twice confident as any of the other job candidate. There are number of questions asked by interviewer so as to mystify you and to loose your confidence level but these questions will surely help you out to grow your confidence along with the behavior how to tackle with their attitude and disappointment when you give incorrect answer.
The top job interview questions are as bellow:
> What are your weaknesses?
> Why should I hire you among all others?
> Why you want to work in our company?
> What are your goals?
> Why did your leave your previous job?
> When were you most satisfied in your last job?
> What are the three positive things your last boss would say about you?
> What can you do for us that other candidates cannot?
> What are your salary expectations?
> If you were an animal, which one would you want to be?
Besides these questions there are few more important questions which are equally important.
> How long you plan to stay at our company?
> Where do you see yourself after five years?
> Why did you select this school and course of study?
> What do you do in your spare time?
> What are other types of job opportunity or companies are you considering?
The objective of the recruiters is to convince the employer that the interviewee has skills, background and ability to do the job and can comfortably fit to his or her organization. The output of interview can be strongly predisposed by realizing an interview is not an intentional process in which the employer offers the job to the best candidate based on merit only. Instead, it is a highly subjective encounter in which he/she selects the best. Things like personality, confidence, enthusiasm, a positive attitude and excellent interpersonal skill along with the good communication are the significant aspects in interview.
It is always better to prepare these questions but don't memorize their answers so that you sound like a robot. But all set for these questions and have a summarized script ready but no need to remember the answer like you learn them by heart. Questions are quite common and there is nothing to get stumble or scared, once you are ready with them. These questions will definitely guide you to give effective interview but only if you try and give your best.


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Authored by:
KRAY KIBLER, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Scrip Companies
CRAIG HOOD, Executive Vice President, Allegro Medical
The growth in the number and proportion of older adults in the United States has reached unprecedented levels, creating a number of issues for Baby Boomers, including a rise in chronic conditions, greater demand for pain relief, overuse of pharmaceuticals and high prescription expenditures. Combined with the looming physician shortage, the U.S. healthcare system faces the potential for longer waiting times and lower quality of medical care.
Seniors represent 13.7 percent of the United States population, about one in seven Americans.2 Almost 92 percent of older adults have at least one chronic condition, and 77 percent have at least two. Some type of disability, such as difficulty in hearing, vision, cognition and ambulation, was reported by 36 percent of adults aged 65 and over.
In the midst of these trends, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), the wide array of healthcare practices, products and therapies that are distinct from those used in conventional medicine, is expected to experience unprecedented popularity. CAM practices are diverse and include chiropractic, massage therapy, acupuncture, nutritional medicine, naturopathy, herbalism, Ayurveda, Reiki, laser therapy and electrotherapy.
CAM also includes a large and diverse group of orally or topically administered products such as herbal medicines, botanicals and probiotics that are widely marketed and readily available, often sold as dietary supplements.
CAM therapies emphasize the natural healing ability of the body and prevention versus the conventional approach of treating disease and its symptoms. A growing number of traditional healthcare professionals have begun to integrate CAM into their treatment programs for its proven benefits, including pain and injury prevention, post-surgical treatment and non-invasive pain relief. For instance, the Mayo Clinic has incorporated massage therapy into post-surgical treatment.
The Mayo Clinic has incorporated massage therapy into post-surgical treatment, and California now allows chiropractic services for reimbursement when they are provided in federally qualified health centers (FQHC) and rural health clinics (RHC) — further demonstrating the mainstream acceptance of chiropractic.
The purpose of CAM is to move patients toward complete wellness, helping them to discover and understand the hidden causes of health challenges, creating a customized and comprehensive treatment plan, and investing in healthy aging to achieve lower disability rates down the road.
Pain is the most frequent reason patients visit the emergency department (ED) — over 70 percent. A number of studies show that fewer than half of post-operative patients receive adequate pain relief, despite the fact that poor pain management puts patients at risk, creates needless suffering, and increases costs of care.
It is also well documented that certain populations, including seniors, bear the burden of chronic pain disproportionately. Given the high cost of pain in human lives, dollars, and social consequences, CAM presents an avenue for relieving pain across the healthcare continuum.
The goal of pain management is to improve a patient's quality of life. Paradoxically, advances in medicine that have led to greater survival rates among patients with cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, stroke, traumatic brain injury and many other diseases have increased the number of people living with chronic pain.
The physician shortage will aggravate the issue of pain management. Currently, there is a shortage of more than 13,000 physicians, with the expected shortfall to grow 10-fold within 12 years.
Licensed chiropractors, massage therapists, acupuncturists and naturopathic physicians continue to be sought after as accessible and cost-effective healthcare solutions. CAM providers are held to the same strict standards of quality as conventional providers including advanced education, licensure, credentialing, the delivery of evidence-based care, and accountability for outcomes.
CAM providers, especially chiropractors and naturopathic physicians, represent first-contact providers and maintain referral relationships with conventional medical providers when services beyond the CAM practice become necessary. Overall, the practice of CAM has risen dramatically in recent years. According to the National Institutes of Health, an estimated 18 million Americans receive massage therapy each year, while chiropractors treat more than 30 million people annually.
A National Institutes of Health study found that among insured patients with back pain, fibromyalgia, and menopause symptoms, those who use CAM have lower insurance expenditures than those who do not use CAM. The study noted that CAM therapies avoid high technology and offer inexpensive remedies. CAM providers in this study included chiropractors, licensed massage therapists, acupuncturists, and naturopathic physicians.
The results suggested that, because individuals with high disease burden typically drive the majority of claims expense, the potential for savings is much greater for CAM users. What's more, the trend toward the integration of CAM into standard care will improve access to care for many Baby Boomers.
Chiropractic: Chiropractic treatment of neck and back pain, which is common among aging Americans, provides more relief than over-the-counter drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen. In one
study, after 12 weeks of treatment more than half treated reported at least 75 percent reduction in pain compared with one-third in the drug group. A year later more than 50 percent of those treated with chiropractic reported significant decrease in pain. In contrast, the patients taking pain killers had upped their dosage during the same period.
Massage Therapy: Studies show that massage therapy increases endorphins and serotonin, chemicals that act as natural painkillers and mood regulators. Massage therapy also reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and turns off genes associated with inflammation and its associated pain, which in turn relieves muscle soreness. Moderate to deep pressure massage can activate the vagus nerve which regulates heartbeat, helping seniors experience pain relief for a number of conditions. Studies also show that massage helps reduce anxiety, pain and nausea in cancer patients by 44 percent, and also raises the level of cancer-fighting white blood cells.
Acupuncture: Acupuncture has been shown to relieve a wide range of pain conditions that impact seniors, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, headache, low back pain, myofascial pain and osteoarthritis. One study found that during acupuncture trials for patients with chronic low back pain, only 15 percent of subjects who received genuine acupuncture treatment needed extra pain medication, compared with 34 percent who were receiving placebo treatments, and 59 percent receiving conventional therapy. Furthermore, long-term pain reduction was achieved more effectively in subjects who received either real or placebo acupuncture versus those who received conventional therapy.
Population Boom
The population of Americans aged 65 years or older during the next 25 years is expected to reach about 72 million. By 2030, older adults will account for roughly 20 percent of the U.S. population.
During the past century, a major shift occurred in the leading causes of death for all age groups, including older adults, from infectious
diseases and acute illnesses to chronic diseases and degenerative illnesses. More than a quarter of all Americans and two out of every three older Americans have multiple chronic conditions, and treatment for this population accounts for 66 percent of the country's healthcare budget.
The cost of providing healthcare for one person aged 65 or older is three to five times higher than the cost for someone younger than 65. Although the risk of developing chronic diseases increases as a person ages, the root causes of many of these diseases often begin early in life. Practicing healthy behaviors from an early age and getting recommended screenings can substantially reduce a person's risk of developing chronic diseases and associated disabilities.
Overuse and abuse of pharmaceuticals
For decades, the most important tool in a health toolkit was the prescription pad, with an emphasis placed on treating an illness rather than focusing on prevention and treating the whole body. Hundreds of thousands of the nation's seniors misuse prescription drugs, including painkillers, anxiety medications and other pharmaceuticals for treating a number of conditions from joint pain to depression.
Doctors are prescribing highly addictive drugs to older patients at record levels, according to a USA TODAY examination of government data. The impact,as measured in overdose deaths, ED visits and admissions to treatment programs, is considerable. Studies project that the number of seniors misusing pharmaceuticals will keep growing, fueled by the aging Baby Boomer population. Among the most common prescriptions given to older patients are opioid pain relievers and benzodiazepines, the psychoactive medications, such as Xanax and Valium, often used for anxiety. According to data from IMS Health, which tracks drug dispensing for the government, the 55 million opioid prescriptions written in 2013 for people 65 and over marked a 20 percent increase over five years — nearly double the growth rate of the senior population.
The average number of seniors dependent on prescription pain relievers in the past year reached an estimated 336,000, up from 132,000 a decade earlier, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Annual ED visits by people 65 and over for pharmaceutical complications climbed more than 50 percent during that time, and the rate of overdose deaths among people 55 and older, regardless of drug type,
nearly tripled from 1999 to 2010, to 9.4 fatalities per 100,000 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The economic impact of medication-related problems in persons over the age of 65 is as much of an issue as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Medication-related problems are estimated to be one of the top five causes of death in that age group, and a major cause of confusion, depression, falls, disability and loss of independence.
Rising cost of pharmaceuticals/drugs
Fifty percent of seniors take eight or more prescriptions on average. Top contributors to the cost trend among Baby Boomers include diabetes (28.3 percent), rheumatological (14.6 percent), and asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) drugs (14.3 percent), according to the 2010 Medco Drug Trend Report. Medco also found that as many as 75 percent of insured Americans in the Baby Boomer group are currently taking at least one medication for a chronic condition, and more than half are regularly taking three or more drugs. A 30-day supply of six of the 11 name-brand drugs that Medicare beneficiaries use the most cost more than $250 each.
CAM's growing popularity highlights a path for improving conventional medicine and mitigating the three-pronged challenge of cost, access and quality. Fortunately,U.S.medical schools are developing CAM course work, and managed care organizations are providing some coverage for CAM therapies. A study by Harvard Medical School researchers, looking at trends over the past half-century, indicates that CAM will play a role in the U.S. healthcare system for the foreseeable future.
The study examined trends in the use of 20 different CAMs, covering everything from acupuncture to yoga, among representative socio-demographic groups across the continental U.S.
The findings show that:
- Most of CAM therapies have steadily increased in popularity since the 1960s
- Of those respondents who had tried an alternative therapy, almost 50 percent were still
using it 11 to 20 years later
- Most CAM therapies are used–at least in part–as preventative measures or as part of a regular fitness program
- Demand for CAM is likely to grow.
Baby Boomers' willingness to adopt innovative services is likely to hasten progress in patient- managed technology, such as mobile health, and reform in pain management approaches. The shift toward CAM will become exponential, especially given that many CAM approaches are no longer considered "alternative" for healthcare workers, the majority of whom use some form of CAM for themselves.
In fact, 76 percent of healthcare workers use CAM, compared to 63 percent of the general population. What's more, healthcare providers, including doctors and nurses, were more than twice as likely to have used practitioner-based CAM, and nearly three times as likely to use self-treatment with CAM, during the prior year than support workers.
An increase in the number of chiropractors, massage therapists and acupuncturists has sparked an industry focused on providing high quality CAM equipment, supplies, life-enhancing products and the latest technology for consumers and businesses. Such medical developments and techniques are poised to change the face of healthcare.
At the same time, Baby Boomers are re-examining their priorities and taking better care of themselves, following basic health principles, such as exercising, eating whole foods, getting plenty of sleep, avoiding tobacco, sun exposure and stress, and increasingly turning to CAM as an important part of their overall healthcare. This fundamental behavioral shift will help to curb reliance on costly conventional medical care and improve overall pain management. To meet this coming upsurge in demand for real healthcare value, fully integrated CAM providers and CAM insurance benefits will play a critical role.
Download the pdf version by Clicking Here.


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Prepare for IFRS 9 convergence with better IT and data practices
by Chrysostomos Kridiotis, SAS
One of the biggest changes in the financial industry in the last decade emerged from the financial crisis of 2007-2008: the International Financial Reporting Standards 9 (IFRS 9).
After the breadth and depth of the economic downturn was known, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published the IFRS 9 Financial Instruments in July 2014, which replaced the IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement. IFRS 9 covers three areas:
- Classification and measurement: how to account for financial assets and liabilities in financial statements and their ongoing measurement.
- Hedge accounting: a reformed model for hedge accounting, with enhanced disclosures about risk management activity.
- Impairment: a new expected loss impairment model that will require more timely recognition of expected credit losses (ECL), as opposed to the current "incurred loss" model.
The IFRS convergence is changing the way that firms account for their activities, manage risk and how they manage their data. For example, according to a Deloitte industry survey, the change in the impairment standard – from an incurred approach to a forward-looking approach – will significantly affect the majority of large banks.
Source: Fifth Global IFRS Banking Survey: Finding your way, Deloitte, 2015.
Many banks initially approached IFRS convergence as an accounting challenge first, then as a risk challenge. They did not consider the significant role played by IT systems, processes and infrastructure. In general, the impact on IT from IFRS conversions creates a need for additional data, revised calculation tables and a new governance framework.
To facilitate these challenges, IT will need to modify, remap, reconfigure or even start anew with different systems. Here are the four major IT challenges facing banks as they prepare for IFRS 9.
New "big" data and the IFRS convergence
Banks must collect and aggregate data from disparate sources within the organization when classifying their portfolio and determining ECL. Some of this data was not being collected in the past. An example would be macroeconomic data, such as GDP, house price index, interest rates, etc.
Firms will also need more internal data than before. For example, to calculate the ECL, they need historical information, dating back a number of years. Often, some of this data predates the information collected by the bank. This includes individual account data, which must be stored, managed and reconciled with the bank's general ledger at an aggregated level.
A proper governance structure is necessary around these information streams for traceability and auditability purposes. It is imperative for banks to revise their current infrastructure to manage the vast amount of granular data collected as well as the complex calculations performed.
New models
To address the forward-looking nature of IFRS 9, banks also need to create new models to cover macroeconomic parameters, prepayments, collateral values and other factors. This adds overhead for banks, as it increases the number of models to design, develop and deploy.
Here, banks need a robust framework, both from a business and technological point of view, to support the model development, validation and deployment processes. In addition, due to the large number of models, there needs to be some automation when it comes to managing these models. This could include the status of each model and the deployment level within the organization.
Integration of risk and finance
IFRS 9 is a great opportunity to improve the risk and finance integration process, which is also discussed in BCBS 239: Risk Data Aggregation and Reporting. This integration is only achievable if banks set up the right IT architecture which to support the integration between the risk model outputs with the accounting stream. Banks need to apply appropriate automation and controls, with clear data lineage and management oversight.
The first requirement is a data reconciliation between finance and risk systems at every step of the ECL measurement process. This reconciliation provides the confidence that there is consistent information flowing between the two functions. As the Deloitte survey showed, this is a prevalent concern for financial reporting.
Source: Fifth Global IFRS Banking Survey: Finding your way, Deloitte, 2015.
The technological infrastructure required to support IFRS 9 compliance needs to be fully auditable and flexible enough to adapt to any amendments to the current regulation. The internal processes designed and implemented for compliance with the new standard will be under severe scrutiny by the regulatory authorities and the auditors. Excel-based calculations and processes will no longer be acceptable without following a controlled process with a proper, documented justification.
As a result, banks will need to create a technological environment to provide efficient documentation, change controls, model management, traceability, workflow and audit trails to avoid manual processes.
Banks should see this challenge as a part of a larger set of regulatory requirements pressing them to re-engineer their technological and data infrastructures. As part of the IFRS convergence, banks can effectively address other regulatory requirements that include stress testing, BCBS 239, regulatory capital calculations and capital planning for ICAAP purposes. In the Deloitte survey, banks responded that the forecasting of economic conditions for IFRS 9 can be covered through existing stress testing models.
Source: Fifth Global IFRS Banking Survey: Finding your way, Deloitte, 2015.
Once banks create a more robust environment to meet their regulatory challenges, there's also then opportunity to upgrade finance and risk infrastructures along the way. This can provide even more integration and efficiency within the organization – based on a more comprehensive technical and business framework.
Chrysostomos Kridiotis is a SAS sales manager, managing the office of SAS in Cyprus and the banking industry clients of SAS in Bulgaria. He works closely with organizations, mostly in the financial sector, to identify business problems and needs and propose solutions that have to do with data management, analytics and business intelligence.
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by Chakravarthi Raghavan
Geneva, 17 Dec 99 -- The legitimacy of the WTO, as of any international organization, depends on the universality of membership, participatory decision-making and fair sharing of the benefits of the system.
In presenting this view at the Seattle Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero, called on the WTO to give effect to efforts of developing countries to become full-fledged, and not shadow, members of the system.
Following is the text of Ricupero's statement:
On the way to Seattle we have heard much talk about making these new trade negotiations into a Development Round. Our central objective must be to change that rhetoric into substance - in the agreements themselves. This is the way to give practical effect to the efforts by developing countries to become full-fledged - not shadow - members of the system.
UNCTAD is doing precisely this: encouraging developing countries to take a pro-active attitude in redressing the imbalances and shaping a better system through the "Positive Agenda Programme," whose impact can already be measured by the fact that half of the 250 proposals in the preparatory process came from those countries.
The developing countries in the past have been likened to the "free-riders" in the system. This was never true, and by their actions, the developing countries have shown just how wrong this view is. They have liberalized faster and further than any other countries. And in the preparatory process for Seattle, they have submitted more than 110 detailed and concrete proposals for dealing with the specific problems which they have identified as impeding their ability to participate fully and effectively in the multilateral trading system.
This is not only the best, but the only way to deal with the problem of legitimacy, which stands now at the very heart of the trade debate -- as anyone can see just by glancing through newspaper editorials or watching the street demonstrations.
At the root of the problem lies globalization and its disruptive effects: job insecurity, increasing inequality among nations and inside them, the pervasive fear that people are losing control over their own lives. The backlash against globalization finds expression in shifting targets. First, it was the NAFTA, then the investment negotiations in OECD. Now WTO's turn has come. In this sense, it is suggestive and perhaps ironic that the home town of Microsoft, the symbol of the globalized economy, should become the setting for demonstrations against global trade, even if most participants in the protests come from elsewhere. It would be a serious mistake to brush aside the significance of these demonstrations. They have to be taken seriously.
For any international organization, legitimacy depends on three main components: universal membership, participatory and effective decision-making, and fair sharing in the benefits of the system.
WTO's universality has just received a big boost from the breakthrough on China's accession, which will hopefully soon put an end to the long wait of one-fifth of humanity.
We are still a long way, however, from ensuring that the accession process will become fairer and quicker. This requires agreeing to a "fast track" for those 19 least developed countries who remain in the waiting room. It also means not making demands on acceding countries, beyond those requirements already imposed on the current members. Now that the US and China have agreed upon terms for China's accession, there is no more reason for a geostrategic game which has had serious knock-on effects for many acceding countries.
But as the organization grows more universal, it also gains in size, complexity and heterogeneity. The club-like decision-making process of the old GATT served well for an entity of a few like-minded countries, but it no longer fits one with 140 member nations, China among them, with different interests and development levels. As a former participant in the green-room system of the Uruguay Round, I have to admit that it was less than fair or transparent to the many excluded Contracting Parties. Since the end of that round, and because of the way it ended, complaints have been accumulating about the lack of participation and transparency in decisions. There has been a clear pattern of complaints leading to disappointment, and this in its turn is generating a sense of a "legitimacy deficit" for the whole system in the public eye. The net result has been a growing perception that the system could become more and more difficult to manage, as suggested by a series of painful episodes culminating in the inconclusive pre-Seattle preparatory process in Geneva.
A sure way of making things even worse would be to produce an artificial consensus on the basis of texts negotiated by a few key players. In due course, this will only turn disappointment into disaffection. In effect, it is not size that makes the process cumbersome, but the one-sided promotion of the interests of just one group of countries, and the persistent refusal to acknowledge the legitimate interests and well-founded concerns of developing nations. This is precisely what we have been seeing in relation to the genuine difficulties these countries have been facing with the implementation of some provisions in TRIPS and TRIMs, among others.
The implementation problem is but the last one in the long list of imbalances that have been distorting a system which was for many years aimed at the reduction of industrial tariffs among advanced economies. It was perhaps understandable, in that light, that agriculture would be kept largely outside the disciplines of a system that had to accommodate the construction of the European Common Market and its CAP, or Common Agricultural Policy. This was achieved, by the way, not through the official free trade philosophy of the multilateral system but very in spite of it. Massive subsidies and State intervention turned the market upside down, disproved all the predictions of the reputable economists of 80 years ago and made Europe into one of the largest agricultural exporters in the world. The first waiver in agriculture was granted to the US in the early 50s, while the first "short-term" arrangement for cotton textiles that would later develop into the Multifiber Arrangement occurred in the latter part of that decade: In one case, nearly half a century ago, and in the other, more than 40 years ago. And the nations which after all those years say they are not yet ready fully to liberalize agriculture or textiles trade are often the very same ones that feel it would be much too lenient to grant developing countries more than five years in which to adapt to the complex changes in intellectual protection.
In order to deserve to be called a "development round", future negotiations would have to redress those imbalances, as a bare minimum. More specifically, they would first have to eliminate the most glaring example of imbalance, the freedom of developed countries to subsidize massively their exports of agricultural products, and to place their industrial subsidies in the non-actionable category. Secondly, they should accelerate the dismantling of the Multifiber Arrangement, where only 6 per cent of the value of restricted items has been liberalized so far. Thirdly, it is time to get rid of tariff peaks and tariff escalation in a large array of products where developing countries are competitive, and to grant bounded free market access to LDCs exports.
There is no alternative to the multilateral trading system, but this does not mean we have to resign ourselves to its current imbalance. After the two decades of the Tokyo and Uruguay Rounds, the vast majority of developing countries have ended up with more trade deficits - 3 per cent more than in the 70s - and less economic growth - 2 per cent less than before. This is in part the result of inadequate domestic policies, although as I mentioned earlier, most of those nations carried out serious adjustment programmes and can no longer be called "free riders" after the rapid opening of these markets. There are other reasons: the sluggish growth of the economies and import demand of advanced countries, the fall in commodity prices and consequent deterioration in terms of trade. But a significant cause of this worrying state is certainly the asymmetries in the balance of mutual rights and obligations, including market access, that must finally be set right.
There are only two options before us. The first is to persist with the mercantilist approach of pressuring developing countries to further open markets that will soon become non-existent, as those nations will not be able to get through exports the resources they need to pay for their imports. The second is a "lift all boats strategy" that will allow developing economies to export their way out of poverty and underdevelopment, earning them the money to finance their imports of capital goods and technology from industrial countries, without increasing their debt. I hope that Seattle will choose the second road, the only one that can close the "legitimacy gap" and update the old UNCTAD slogan, "trade, not aid", with two new formulas: "market access, not speculative capital and debt; trade, not hot money". (SUNS4576)
The above article first appeared in the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS) of which Chakravarthi Raghavan is the Chief Editor.
[c] 1999, SUNS - All rights reserved. May not be reproduced, reprinted or posted to any system or service without specific permission from SUNS. This limitation includes incorporation into a database, distribution via Usenet News, bulletin board systems, mailing lists, print media or broadcast. For information about reproduction or multi-user subscriptions please contact < email@example.com >


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- Description
DetailsPour in some fashion and style in your accessories with these Intricately designed, customized Loot Bags and leave a mark on everyone. Collect all the goodies in this ''On The Go'' theme loot bag. A pack of 6 pieces, our coordinating Loot bags feature a handle for easy carrying and plenty of space for knick knacks and candy!Size : 24*16CM


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The Burley
We invite our clients to stray away from the conventional mono tones of black white and grey by offering accessories with colour and comfort. We have seen TV appearances of our products on Channel 4 News worn by Jon Snow and on Gogglebox with Dom sporting our socks.
Our Oxford based design team work closely with our manufacturing partners to ensure that we achieve the higest level of quality that our clients have come to expect.
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We are very excited about the future with a growing number of stockists coming on board and promoting our ranges. We currently have over 150 stores stocking us across the UK. With a steady flow of new designs being introuduced throughout the year we see more and more of our clients returning to us.
Using only the finest cotton yarns and quality materials our Long socks have been designed with the wearer in mind. Our long socks has cushioned heel and toes for maximum comfort.
88% Cotton, 11% Polymide, 1% Elastane


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You can get to your Workspace login page for webmail, by typing "email." followed by your domain (leave out the http and www). So, if my domain is secureserver.net, my webmail login page is:
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How to run a *.sql script (mysql)
24 comments. Current rating: (6 votes). Leave comments and/ or rate it.
Question:I am installing a .php based tool, and one of the final instructions is to "Run the mysql.sql script to create the necessary tables in the database.". How to I achieve this?
Answer:The *.sql file is a text file with SQL statements to be executed by the mysql server.
You can run it through a tool like phpMyAdmin - just open a query window there and copy and paste the content of that text file in there. phpMyAdmin and possibly other frontends will also allow to upload a *.sql file through the web browser. In phpMyAdmin click on the SQL tab.
If you don't have any such front end installed, you can also go to the shell (assuming you're on a Linux box here). If your site is hosted somewhere, you'll need putty (or a similar tool) to connect to the server.
Ftp your *.sql file to the (remote) machine if not done yet.
Execute this command and you'll be fine:
mysql <my_db_name> -u<user_name> -p<password> <mysql.sql
Content-type: text/html


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Accessibility Options
The historic ecosystems of Broward County have been shaped by minor changes in elevation, the presence – or more recently the absence – of fire; hydric factors which include the depth and length of inundation by water; as well as the salinity of the water present on or immediately under the native vegetative community. The major native vegetative communities identified in Broward County are:
1. Beach and dune community: A community composed of unconsolidated sand facing the ocean and shaped by the wind, waves, currents, and tides. Sand may be piled up by the wind forming dunes. Characteristic plant species include sea oats, sea grape, beach sunflower, beach star, beach creeper, Spanish bayonet, cocoplum, railroad vine, beach peanut, beach croton, beach bean, saw palmetto, prickly pear and nickerbean;
2. Coastal strand forest community: A community consisting of tropical hardwood hammock found just landward of the beach and dunes. Soils contain limestone substrate, sand and organic material. Characteristic plant species include sea grape, poisonwood, mastic, black ironwood, paradise tree, torchwood, Spanish stopper, silver palm, inkwood, gumbo limbo, sabal palm, live oak, strangler fig, marlberry, white stopper, wild coffee and snowberry;
3. Mangrove community (saltwater swamp): A community occurring primarily along saltwater shorelines. Soils are very poorly drained peat or fine sand underlaid by sands or clay. The most frequent tree species found in this community are red, black and white mangroves, buttonwood and pond apple. Plants found in mangrove swamp include leather fern, sea oxeye, coin vine and rubber vine;
4. Scrub community: An inland community that occurs on nearly level to sloping land. Soils are deep, acid, somewhat poorly to excessively-drained and coarse textured. Trees found in such communities include sand pine, Chapman oak, sand live oak and myrtle oak. Shrubs include saw palmetto, scrub palmetto, gopher apple, prickly pear, shiny blueberry, staggerbush, fetterbush and palafoxia. Ground cover is scattered and large areas of light-colored sand are often noticeable;
5. Pine flatwoods community: This community is identified by flat topography and pine and palmetto vegetation with an understory of grasses and herbs. Trees found in such communities include slash pine and occasional oaks. Shrubs include saw palmetto, shiny blueberry, gallberry, tarflower and wax myrtle. Flatwood communities have a high water table during the rainy season;
6. High hammock community: This community develops slowly as organic materials accumulate creating a favorable land elevation. The presence of a high hammock indicates that the site has been undisturbed for a period of time. High hammocks are among the most diverse systems in South Florida containing more than one hundred (100) species of trees and shrubs. Characteristic tree species include live oak, pigeon plum, paradise tree, gumbo limbo, willow bustic, lancewood, mastic, strangler fig, satinleaf, mulberry, Simpson stopper. Shrubs include marlberry and wild coffee and such communities include a variety of ferns;
7. Low hammock community: Low hammocks are areas of dense forest vegetation dominated by tree species, such as laurel oak, strangler fig, cabbage palm, dahoon holly, scattered cypress trees and wax myrtle. Low hammocks develop on land that is of sufficient elevation to be seldom flooded, but in close proximity to water environments, and protected from fire. They frequently occur in transitional areas between drier upland communities and lowland vegetation types, such as marsh, wet prairie, cypress swamp or mangrove;
8. Cypress wetland community (freshwater swamp): Cypress wetlands occupy some portions of the freshwater lowlands of the Atlantic Coastal Plain in Florida. Temperate deciduous trees dominate, and the areas are often seasonally flooded. Soils are nearly level or depressional, poorly drained and have a loamy top layer and sandy subsoils. Characteristic trees include bald cypress, red maple, cocoplum, dahoon holly, strangler fig and pond apple. Leather fern, royal fern and other fern species are found in cypress wetland communities;
9. Everglades community (freshwater marsh): The Everglades is a flat expanse of freshwater wetlands dominated by sawgrass and dotted with tree islands. The dominant plant species include sawgrass, coastal plain willow, wax myrtle, elderberry, cattail, spike-rush, pickerelweed, waterlily and periphyton. The vegetation found in the tree islands is determined by elevation, fire history and hydric factors, and varies from low willow heads to bay heads to tropical hardwood hammocks.


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Evaluating an opinion on a movie purely based on pre-release materials is tricky business.
Inevitably, one's decision making process ends up relying on one's knowledge of the various actors and director's track records, but at the end of the day; sometimes a really good (or really bad) preview can end up shaping one's opinion quite handily.
Take for instance Green Lantern.
I'm a big fan of the Green Lantern comic, however up until about last week; my opinion of the upcoming live-action film was largely negative.
Early pre-release footage for the movie had it seeming silly, narrow, and very hard to take seriously.
Truth be told, the one thing that kept me from turning my back on Green Lantern in the early goings, was the presence of director Martin Campbell.
Seriously man, the guy made Goldeneye, The Mask of Zorro, and Casino Royale.
Despite some spotty pieces in his filmography, the man has proven that he knows how to make awesome movies, and in that sense; I never completely lost confidence in the possibility of Green Lantern upsetting it's poor marketing campaign and turning out to be legitimately good.
In the case of Green Lantern, and as you'll later read, Donnie Yen's recently released film, Wu Xia; my apprehension about the film's integrity was culled through viewing a brief preview clip of the film in it's unedited state.
Though it's uncharacteristic of me, I sat down and watched a (publicly available HERE) 1 minute clip of Green Lantern in hopes of finding a reason to go see it.
Said clip involved Hal Jordan desperately attempting to fend off what I'm guessing is supposed to be Parallax (who doesn't seem nearly as "bug-like" as he did in the comics).
The action in this clip was nowhere near mindblowing, but unlike in the trailers; it at least seemed like how it plays out in the comics.
Green Lantern has always been a story about "space cops," though in recent years the scale and severity of the violence in the comic has evolved to something more along the lines of "space soldiers."
In short, sprawling splash pages of Lanterns hurling variously colored constructs at each other en masse are quite common in Green Lantern comics these days.
Green Lantern combat isn't about guys throwing progressively bigger and more elaborate constructs at each other; it's about speed, precision, and who gets their shit off first.
In other words, it's more like a hectic galactic gun fight as opposed to something overblown or drawn out like Dragonball fighting.
I saw a hint of this in the clip I watched, and as such; my opinion of Green Lantern has changed from "skeptical" to "somewhat optimistic."
Which brings me to the recently released Peter Chan directed Donnie Yen vehicle, Wu Xia.
Given that Wu Xia stars Donnie Yen and Takeshi Kaneshiro, one can assume I was psyched for this one from day 1, right?
When I first saw the teaser for Wu Xia, my initial reaction was basically to let out one big-ass, slightly pompous sigh.
Okay, maybe "slightly" pompous isn't the right word.
More like "IMMENSELY."
I'm not big on Mandarin films, and for whatever reason; the teaser for Wu Xia just didn't do it for me.
Then I watched an 8 minute clip of the movie that popped up on Twitchfilm.com, and suddenly I found myself intrigued.
By the way, if you go by Twitchfilm, and see all the Legend of the Fist ads; don't buy into the hype.
Aside from literally, a few good fights, Legend of the Fist sucked some serious balls.
Anyway, said clip of Wu Xia revealed it as being kind of like Rashomon or Hero in the sense that it's a story potentially told from an unreliable viewpoint.
Though I don't understand Mandarin, the visuals of the clip were very clear in establishing that Donnie Yen's character, while portrayed as feeble, but lucky; in one instance, may actually be a martial arts master hiding in plain sight.
While I didn't care much for this storytelling device in Hero, (nor did I care much for the movie itself) it's cleverness combined with Peter Chan's beautiful cinematography leads me to believe Wu Xia could be a lot of fun.
I don't expect Donnie Yen's "Donnie Yen-ness" to be front and center, but the story seems to have legs; and Takeshi Kaneshiro is pimp-as-fuck, so I'm fairly optimistic.
So there you have.
2 instances where an otherwise skeptical moviegoer had their opinion reshaped through spoiler clips.
I guess I've come a long way from being the fat little 10 year old that shunned all media outlets in hopes of seeing the American Godzilla movie in theaters before having the monster's appearance spoiled for him..
Yeah, that worked out jusssssssst fine….
Filed under: Comics, Kung Fu, Movies, anime, Casino Royale, Comics, DC, Donnie Yen, Dragonball, GoldenEye, Green Lantern, Hero, Ironhide, James Bond, Japanese, kung fu, Legend of the Fist, manga, martial arts, movie, Onimusha, Peter Chan, Rashomon, Return of Chen Zhen, Samanosuke Akechi, Takeshi Kaneshiro, The Legend of Zorro, The Mask of Zorro, Transformers, Twitchfilm.com, Vertical Limit, Wu Xia


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FX's 'Fargo' inspired by, but not beholden to, acclaimed Coen brothers film
"Fargo," the 10-part limited series coming to FX in April, is sort of like the acclaimed Coen brothers' film that inspired it, but also very different.
"It doesn't rely on the movie," explains Billy Joe Thornton, a member of the show's extraordinary cast. "While it pays great tribute and has the same tone it's its own fresh thing."
Thornton on Tuesday appeared at a panel session to promote the show during the Television Critics Association press tour. He told reporters that, four or five years ago, he wouldn't have committed himself to a TV series. But in the time since, he has witnessed the overall quality of big-screen films wane, while television has greatly improved.
"The entertainment business can pretend all they want but the movie world has changed drastically," he said. "It used to be that if you went to TV from film, something was wrong - like you might as well be on 'Hollywood Squares.' " But now, it's a feather in your cap to do a great television show."
Thornton plays "Lorne Malvo," a rootless, manipulative man who meets and forever changes the life of small-town insurance salesman "Lester Nygaard" (Martin Freeman). Colin Hanks plays Duluth Police Deputy "Gus Grimly," a single dad who must choose between his own personal safety and his duty as a policeman when he comes face-to-face with a killer. Allison Tolman also stars as "Molly Solverson," an ambitious Bemidji deputy.
The cast also includes Bob Odenkirk, Oliver Platt, Kate Walsh and Adam Goldberg.
An adaptation of the 1996 best-picture Oscar nominee from Joel and Ethan Coen, the TV version of "Fargo" features an all-new "true crime" and follows new characters, all entrenched in the trademark humor, murder and "Minnesota nice" featured in the film, though it was filmed in Calgary.
"I don't think you need to watch the movie (to understand) the TV series," said screenwriter Noah Hawley, who wrote all 10 episodes. "I think you should watch it because it's a great movie, but you don't need to."
The Coens are listed as executive producers, but haven't exerted a lot of influence on the project, according to Hawley.
"They read first script and liked it. Then they just told me to go and make your show," he said.
"Fargo" premieres April 15 at 10 p.m. on FX.


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Healing Through Discussion Support Group
December 24, 2019 @ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Trauma has affected many of our lives and the lives of those we care about. Each week we will gather to learn and share our experiences about how best to take care of ourselves and to be supportive.
Topics include:
Trauma: We are all affected
The difference between coping and healing
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Exploring grief, finding healing
Building healthy futures


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Part of the "Close-up: U.S.A." series, the North Central States map contains a wealth of notes about the national and state parks, festivals, events, and historic points of interest one can visit in the nation's heartland. Published in March 1974, this map is half of a two-map set, accompanying the travel poster entitled "North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri: Open Skies and Rolling Land."
Coverage Area: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri


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Murdoch's tank is a good egg
I KNOW we all feel the need to venerate people who have fought in wars, but my personal heroes are people like my sister, who have spent their adult lives teaching in the inner cities, or nurses in hospitals who endure all kinds of traumatic and disturbing situations all for the sake of caring for patients without any of the glory or status that doctors receive. I don't think killing people is that virtuous of a thing to devote yourself to.
In any case, this life-sized Challenger II tank made out of 5,016 egg cartons by artist Stuart Murdoch to benefit injured British soldiers is pretty cool, especially if you think about the soldiers being the eggs that need to be broken in order to make a geopolitical omelette. Something something.


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Andrew Crossley of bankrupt practice ACS:Law has received a two-year suspension from the Solicitors' Regulatory Tribunal over the techniques he used to pursue alleged file-sharers.
The business model followed by the now-defunct firm was to target individuals it accused of file sharing, sending them invoices payable to ACS:Law and threatening lawsuits if they did not pay.
ACS:Law went bankrupt in May 2011, following a data breach that followed an attack on his site and a botched and rushed attempt at restoration, with the personal details of thousands of his targets. Crossley's business model was criticized by consumer watchdog Which?, along with judges and the Solicitors' Regulator (which referred the matter to the tribunal).
Of the charges brought before the tribunal – that he allowed his independence to be compromised; that he acted contrary to the best interests of his clients; that he acted in a way "likely to diminish the trust the public places in him or in the legal profession"; that he breached English rules relating to contingency fees; that he had conflicts of interest; that he took unfair advantage of the people to whom he sent letters of claim; and finally, a charge relating to last year's data breach – only the last of these was contested.
The Tribunal also hit Crossley with costs of more than £76,000.
The Tribunal has taken a dim view of business models based on speculative invoicing. Last year, it fined and suspended two lawyers who pursued a similar strategy working for Davenport Lyons.
A hat-tip to ISP Review, which closely watched the tribunal proceedings. ®


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What to Wear for an Event? Ask a Costume Designer
People who like to wear vintage or vintage-style clothes know there's an art to incorporating enough touches from today's fashions to be chic and in style. Christina Binkley has details on Lunch Break.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... sticking to its ... board presentation the way family you would be appearing in a the Hollywood movie scene Chris Binkley ... has been talking to some costume designers about just that she rights on style ... calmness she's joined us right now take rest ... that that would be one of ... my favorite cons of years I have to say because I think this woman is on to something about saying you should dress for the moments in your life tells about her ... this is the costume design ... and thoroughly a costume designer this is a woman due to his name is Julie White she's been designing ... costumes for films I was more than sixty five films just of the costumes for Hitchcock ... interesting to talk with her about the way she chooses black actors are nowhere one screen ... and start comparing that I started to realize that she had all lot of knowledge and her approach to he can apply it to the way liao dress for ourselves ... and medications with garlic seems an alliance burn ... and you get to you when you're on the sacking of Hitchcock ... this this movie is coming you were talking that the actress Helen Mirren who was there ... get some lessons you picked up from them about the we can apply and our own daily life for service dating for board presentation ... night you know I make no big moment workplace or just an hour Pursell I ... to hell and we're really threw me she took one look at me and announced that the cardigan that I was wearing that Apple's to these are the very rich ... deep grey color ... um I'd love this cardigan she looked at me and she said that in certain circumstances that would be the wrong thing to wear purely because of a color you would steal the show and take away attention from me I immediately decided I need to wear that increase in places where I need to steal the show like the public speaking engagement ... on ... that site so Helen Mirren was that she says that she prefers ... pale color as for what she does on film because it allows ... her character to come through more ... racial lines of you I mean I'm sorry I whites ... as of the complaint about color she used of a red ... outfit on a red background for scene in which she wanted the character sensitive disappear a little bit ... to thinking about the colors that you wearing it with the background is for wear whatever your your senior year and his is an important thing to consider any unrealistic to think you're a neutral colors right now marketed by interview and now on this column in Personal section tomorrow thanks to give us a preview Chris ...


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Blake Shelton Talks 'The Voice,' Country Christmas Tunes on 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon'
It's no secret that Blake Shelton is one of country music's highest-profile stars. Following the premiere of the third season of NBC's 'The Voice' on Monday, Shelton made a pit stop by 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,' where the two guys shared plenty of laughs while getting a little bit of work done at the same time.
The first order of business was plugging Shelton's forthcoming, 'Cheers, It's Christmas' album (in stores on Oct. 2). When asked if the record was a traditional-sounding album or country holiday record, Shelton quipped, "Well have you heard me talk?!" Point made.
Shelton continued to explain that the album – which features guest vocals by Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert, Kelly Clarkson, Michael Buble and even his own mother — was meant to be in the Bing Crosby sense, but that is just not possible when he opens his mouth.
"I didn't mean for it to be [real country]," said the singer. "I tried not to be, actually. I wanted to do like a classic [album]. The instrumentation is like that. It's similar… but then I come in singing. It's so screwed up!"
It didn't take long for the topic to shift over to 'The Voice,' which Shelton won last season. Fallon set himself up for a wise crack when asking why the singer thinks it is the best singing show on television.
"I'm on it," Shelton said with a shrug and a smirk. "You know… it's those damn buttons. It's gotta be, don't you think? People like those blind auditions where it's the big red chairs, you don't know what's behind you, and there have been times — I'm not going to lie because we've been doing this long enough now — that I wish to God that after my chair turned around, that I could hit the button and go back around [laughs]! You can tell by the look on our faces sometimes."
Following a commercial break, Shelton and Fallon decided to have a little more fun before parting ways by having a motorized beer cooler race. With their beer helmets on for safety (and a refreshing cold one installed), the two had to zip through the studio, go down the hall and the circle the keg, then repeat the course one more time. Following their first lap, Shelton knocked over the keg and reversed his route, coming out the winner by just a hair.
Watch Blake Shelton on 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon'


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1887 Independence Street
Lakewood, CO 80215
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ONE TIME HOLIDAY SPECIAL ... FIRST MONTHS RENT FREE! This offer expires January 1st. ONE-OF-A-KIND APARTMENT WITH OVERSIZED 2 CAR GARAGE! PET FRIENDLY! IMMACULATELY REMODELED SPACIOUS HOME WITH LARGE PARK-LIKE YARD! Mowing Service provided by Landlord.CLOSE TO Downtown, Employment Centers, Nightlife, Restaurants, Light Rail, and RTD.QUIET & PRIVATE! New Paint, New Flooring, New Carpet, Updated Kitchen loaded with cabinets & countertop space, New Stove/Oven, New Dishwasher, Huge Refrigerator, 2 Updated Spacious Baths, 2 Updated Bedrooms with big double closets. Full Size WASHER & DRYER included. Great neighborhood featuring tree lined streets. Sloans Lake and Morse Park nearby. No Smoking. Security Deposit increased with pet.Take a Virtual Tour
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Morse Park (18)
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- Year of Construction 1962
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'Russian Girls' examines 2005 Moscow in surreal manner
Less than three years after she finished her graduate studies at the Yale School of Drama, Meg Miroshnik is back in New Haven to see her play "The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls" produced by the Yale Repertory Theatre.
"It's completely surreal. I never expected to see my work here, especially this soon," Miroshnik said in an interview before a rehearsal last week.
"It was an amazing surprise to get the call from (artistic director) James Bundy. They do take a lot of chances."
"The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls" is set in Moscow in 2005 and combines realistic elements with genuine Russian fairy tales to take audiences inside the radical changes since the former Soviet Union disappeared in favor of capitalism three decades ago.
The play is running through Saturday, Feb. 22, at Yale Rep.
Miroshnik credits her time at the Drama School for her first drafts of the play, which received its world premiere at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta last year.
The writer had worked in Moscow as a freelancer. "I wanted to find a way to process that experience as a play."
Reading the script, it is hard to imagine how so many fairy tale fantasy elements -- including a sinister basket of potatoes and a possible witch or two -- can be brought to life on the New Haven stage by director Rachel Chavkin and her company of actors and designers.
Miroshnik laughed when I asked her if she thought about the staging practicality of her play as she wrote it.
"I just kind of let all of that go," she said of worrying about how her vision could be realized. "I focused on the joy of producing it.
"But then I realized it had so many (difficult) moments. The bear. The fighting potatoes. I had no idea how to execute all of that on the stage."
In this interview before the first public performance, Miroshnik said she expected to be surprised by some of the stagecraft when "Russian Girls" came to life at the Rep.
The writer feels lucky to have a second full production so soon after the Atlanta premiere. It has given her time and space to refine the script and has allowed Chavkin to bring new staging ideas to the play.
"The first time you produce a play, it can feel like you're rushing around putting out fires," Miroshnik said, chuckling, of the first transition from page to stage. "It was so great to get that production, but you reach a point where you just run out of time."
The Yale Rep production is "radically different" in one major way. Chavkin has introduced musical backing in the form of a live rock band.
"We have an all-female punk band on the stage, which Rachel says is a combination of Pussy Riot and the Spice Girls. ... It will be a completely different experience," she said.
"It's another character in the play," the writer added of the band. "They bring something new and exciting to it."
Things have been changing so rapidly in Russia that Miroshnik set her play quite specifically in 2005 because the same stories might play out very differently now.
"Some of the play is about the ways that the country felt foreign though familiar to me," Miroshnik said of the huge impact of American and Hollywood pop culture and fashion on a country that had disdained those influences just a few decades ago.
We meet characters in the play who hate the power of money and fashion in the new Russia and who long for the days of government-imposed standards and government-sanctioned products. The nostalgia for a vanished communist era sometimes recalls the hit 2003 German comedy, "Good Bye Lenin!," about those in the former East Berlin missing the "good old days" of a divided city.
The writer saw a heavy influence of "Sex and the City" on young Russian women a decade ago -- the expensive shoe fetish, in particular -- but when she returned in 2011 there was a new, post-recession austerity.
"The women were wearing flats and Ugg boots -- it had all changed very quickly," she said.
Miroshnik will be heading back to Atlanta a few days after "Russian Girls" opens in New Haven to oversee the production of another play, "The Tall Girls."
"It's a little hectic to have it all happening at the same time, but I know that I am very lucky," she said.
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Yale Repertory Theatre, 1150 Chapel St., New Haven. Through Saturday, Feb. 22. $78-$20. 203-432-1234, www.yalerep.org.


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Earth Day at Lake Boren Park / April 21, 2012
May 3, 2012
By Greg Farrar
Other Stories of Interest: Newcastle Earth Day
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Last weekend, many of us here on the West Coast dabbled in a bit in astronomy during a partial eclipse of the sun. With the sun low on the horizon, I stole a quick glance to see if I could glimpse a shadow.
Yup, I did. And then I saw something else: stars. My eyes!
My advice: Do not try this at home. And definitely don't even think about it at around sunset ET on June 5, when the planet Venus will do something really unusual. It will dart across the sun, and much of the world will be able to watch it make its move with the right (and safe) equipment.
It's called the transit of Venus. The planet will appear as little dark circle on the sun as it zips between us and that big yellow ball.
If you want to catch it, hope for a clear sky because you won't see it again. About every 120 years or so, transits of Venus come in clusters – two in eight years. The last one was in 2004, and we won't see another until well into the 22nd century. Astronomers long ago figured out when the transit of Venus would occur, and they discovered that timing it down to the second would give them tremendous insight into the solar system.
When the event occurred on June 3, 1769, scientists – including the famous Captain James Cook – fanned around the globe in an attempt to uncover the secrets of the universe.
In his new book The Day the World Discovered the Sun: An Extraordinary Story of Scientific Adventure and the Race to Track the Transit of Venus, author Mark Anderson uncovers the tales of the men who literally went to the ends of the earth in search of discovery.
In an interview, Anderson talked about the goals of the missions, the way 18th-century scientists managed to measure time to the second (hint: not with an iPhone stopwatch), and how clouds on the big date may be more than just a mood-buster.
Q: What was the big mystery that all these scientists were trying to solve?
A: In two words, it was "how far."
How far is the most important thing in our universe, the sun? And how far would you go to find that answer? Would you be willing to lay down your life? A host of scientists and explorers at this time did just that.
The other question is essential to the story: How far is the shore? That's the other question, the one that ship navigators could not answer. As a result, thousands of people died gruesome deaths at sea by shipwreck or being lost at sea.
These astronomers had invented an 18th-century GPS system that opened up the entire planet to seafaring nations. The voyages were the perfect testing grounds for this new technology.
The cool thing for the story is that to find the answer to both questions, you have to go to the ends of the earth. That sets the stage for an amazing adventure.
Q: How did this one event in the skies provide so much information?
A: Once you got to these far-flung locations, you could time – down to the second – the duration of how long it takes for Venus to pass over the sun. It was about six hours, but it varied depending on where you were on earth. They had to send people to Arctic locations and tropical locations to get as different a set of answers as you could get.
When you measure it down to the second, then you can answer these sorts of astronomical, scientific, and even philosophical questions.
Q: How did the astronomers time the transit so efficiently before they had modern clocks?
A: They would take these big, hulking pendulum clocks with them. Once you landed and set up shop, one of the things you get set up is the pendulum clock. Then you can get a very accurate reading, down to fractions of a second.
Q: Were they like grandfather clocks?
A: Grandfather clocks are quaint versions of the precision clocks.
Q: What drew you to this story?
A: Books talk about the science and all these voyages, yet the thing that I found most wanting in all these stories was just a simple answer to the question why. Why did all of these people risk their lives, why did kings and emperors write checks for the equivalents of millions of dollars to send these voyages halfway across the planet?
The answer: The astronomers were providing the kings with the keys to the world, the solution to navigation. It wasn't just about the scientific question, although it motivated the scientists themselves. It was also about what you might call the founding-father era's military industrial complex.
It was so fundamentally tied into these matters of the utmost national interest and national security matters. To say it was about life and death on the high seas is no exaggeration. If you can't find the shore, then before morning is light, your ship could be dashed on the rocks.
Q: You had to see the sun to see Venus wander across it. If it was cloudy on that one day, were you doomed?
A: Yes, in so many words.
I don't really delve into those stories, as they don't provide a very satisfying resolution. But there was a Frenchman, this poor guy, who is the sad sack of these whole crazy, decade-long odysseys.
In 1761 (during another transit of Venus), he shipped off to India, but he discovered when he got there that his colony had been taken over by the Brits, and he had nowhere to land.
He stuck around for eight more years and finally found a satisfactory place to be on June 3, 1769. But he got nothing that time either. He'd spent a large chunk of his professional career chasing the transit of Venus, and he found nothing.
Q: What do the 1769 voyages mean in the big picture?
A: They really represent the first time that science has traversed national borders and has collaborated, not by a few here and there, but by the dozens and scores and all across the planet in the service of a singular set of goals.
For more about this year's transit of Venus, try NASA or Anderson's website.
Randy Dotinga is a Monitor contributor.