text:
MPs on the Public Accounts Committee have accused the BBC, without laughing, of wasting tax payers' money on paying those in charge too much.
The PAC, led by MPs looking forward to a 11% pay rise and with an expense and pension package that would make even a banker blush, said the BBC senior management 'allowed for the liberal use of other people's money for unjustifiable payments.' The committee then urged each other to stop giggling, maintain decorum and remember to keep up the 'serious' face.
The BBC trust accepted it had "let down licence fee payers" but was keen to point out that such criticism about frivolous spending coming from MPs was like being told you can't sing by Jedward.
PAC chairwoman Margaret Hodge said; 'We have listed some improvements that the BBC needs to implement including better scrutiny of the spending of public money and restraint on the levels of pay…' The interview then ended abruptly as Ms Hodge needed assistance to go to a quiet room to recover from a bout of acute hysterics.
James Pluside


text: 'Mad Max: Fury Road,' 'Interstellar,' 'Virunga' Among Environmental Media Awards Nominees 6:03 PM PDT 9/2/2015 by Natalie Stone FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Jasin Boland Mad Max Cars Still - H 2015 Awards recognize productions, content and individuals whose contributions increase public awareness of environmental issues and inspire green conscious responsibility. The Environmental Media Association (EMA) announced Wednesday the 2015 nominees for its upcoming 25th anniversary Environmental Media Awards, with Mad Max: Fury Road, Interstellar and Virunga each earning a nod. EMA's awards annually honor and recognize film and TV productions, individuals and content that increase public awareness of environmental issues and inspire green conscious responsibility. "Over the past 25 years of this award show, it never ceases to amaze us of all the great work that has been done to further highlight the achievements of those who lead by example through environmentally conscious programing, filmmaking and production," EMA president Debbie Levin said in a statement. This year's awards, jointly presented by Lexus and Toyota, will be held Oct. 24 at the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank. See the full list of nominees below. Feature Film Interstellar (Paramount) Credits: Christopher Nolan: Director, Writer, Producer Jonathan Nolan: Writer Lynda Obst: Producer Emma Thomas: Producer Mad Max: Fury Road (Warner Bros.) Credits: George Miller: Director, Writer, Producer Brendan McCarthy: Writer Nick Lathouris: Writer Doug Mitchell: Producer P.J. Voeten: Producer Disneynature Monkey Kingdom (Disney) Credits: Mark Linfield: Producer, Writer, Director Alastair Fothergill: Producer, Co-Director Kristina Reed: Producer Documentary Film Gardeners of Eden Credits: Jeff Skoll: Executive Producer Kristin Davis: Executive Producer Bryn Mooser: Producer Austin Peck: Producer, Director Molly Swenson: Producer Anneliese Vandenberg: Producer, Director Slingshot (White Dwarf Productions) Credits: Paul Lazarus: Director, Producer Evan Williams: Executive Producer Sara Williams: Executive Producer Eric Aroesty: Executive Producer Ronald Aroesty: Executive Producer Lewis Katz: Executive Producer Catherine Adler: Executive Producer Frederick R. Adler: Executive Producer The True Cost (Untold LA) Credits: Andrew Morgan: Director, Executive Producer Livia Firth: Executive Producer Michael Ross: Producer Lucy Siegle: Executive Producer Vincent Vittorio: Executive Producer Christopher L. Harvey: Executive Producer Julie Morgan: Executive Producer Virunga (Netflix) Credits: Orlando von Einsiedel: Director, Producer Leonardo Dicaprio: Executive Producer Jon Drever: Executive Producer Maxyne Franklin: Executive Producer Jess Search: Executive Producer Adam Del Deo: Executive Producer Lisa Nishimura: Executive Producer Howard G. Buffett: Executive Producer Television Episodic Drama The Newsroom (HBO) Credits: Aaron Sorkin: Executive Producer, Writer Alan Poul: Executive Producer Scott Rudin: Executive Producer Denis Biggs: Executive Producer Paul Lieberstein: Executive Producer Anthony Hemingway: Co-Executive Producer Jon Lovett: Producer, Writer The Blacklist (Sony- NBC) Credits: Jon Bokenkamp: Executive Producer John Eisendrath: Executive Producer Jonathan Filley: Co- Executive Producer David Platt: Director Television Episodic Comedy Bob's Burgers: Late Afternoon in the Garden of Bob and Louise (Fox) Credits: Boo Hwan Lim: Director Kyoung Hee Lim: Director Jon Schroeder: Writer Loren Bouchard: Executive Producer Jim Dauterive: Executive Producer Jon Schroeder: Co-Executive Producer Cristela: Last Goose Standing (ABC) Credits: Ted Wass: Director D.J. Ryan: Writer Aaron Serna: Writer Cristela Alonzo: Executive Producer Karen Kirchner: Co-Producer The Simpson's: Opposites-A-Frack (Fox) Credits: Al Jean: Executive Producer James L. Brooks: Executive Producer Matt Groening: Executive Producer Sam Simon: Executive Producer Matt Selman: Executive Producer John Frink: Executive Producer Kevin Curran: Co-Executive Producer J. Stewart Burns: Co-Executive Producer Michael Price: Co-Executive Producer Bill Odenkirk: Co-Executive Producer Marc Wilmore: Co-Executive Producer Joel H. Cohen: Co-Executive Producer Rob Lazebnik: Co-Executive Producer Jeff Westbrook: Co-Executive Producer Brian Kelley: Co-Executive Producer Reality Television Biggest and Baddest: Man-Eating Tiger (NatGeo) Credits: Peter von Puttkamer: Director, Writer, Producer Sandy Black: Producer Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Season 2 Episode 10 (HBO) Credits: John Oliver: Executive Producer Tim Carvell: Executive Producer Jon Thoday: Executive Producer James Taylor: Executive Producer Liz Stanton: Co- Executive Producer Diane Fitzgerald: Producer Vice: Our Rising Oceans (HBO) Credits: Bill Maher: Executive Producer Shane Smith: Executive Producer Eddy Moretti: Executive Producer BJ Levin: Executive Producer Jonah Kaplin: Co- Executive Producer Tim Clancy: Supervising Producer Erik Osterholm: Producer Alex Braverman: Producer Mandana Mofidi: Additional Producer David Laven: Additional Producer Abazar Khayami: Additional Producer Children's Television Clangers: "Space Tangle" (Sprout-NBCUni) Credits: Zoe Bamsey: Executive Producer Daniel Postgate: Executive Producer Dan Maddicott: Supervising Producer Phil Chalk: Producer Dave Ingham: Writer Mole Hill: Director Chris Tichborne: Director Dora and Friends in the City: Magical Mermaid Adventure (Nickelodeon) Credits: Jorge Aguirre: Writer Chris Gifford: Executive Producer Valerie Walsh Valdes: Executive Producer Henry Lenardin-Madden: Supervising Producer Miken Wong: Supervising Producer Marc Amiel: Producer Miles From Tomorrowland: Junked (Disney) Credits: John Eng: Director Kelly James: Director Sascha Paladino: Executive Producer Richard Marlis: Executive Producer Carmen Italia: Executive Producer Participant Media Presents Best Digital Short The Soil Story (Kiss The Ground) Credits: Louis Fox – Director Calla Ostrander - Co-writer & Producer Dear Future Generations: Sorry Credits: Richard Williams (Prince EA) – Executive Producer Climate Change Denial Disorder (Funny or Die) Credits: Brianne Trosie - Producer FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Natalie Stone firstname.lastname@example.com @thr

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Police found a suspected methamphetamine lab after they seized drugs and $25,000 in cash, along with a money-counting machine, during a raid in Warnbro on Tuesday.
A 39-year-old man from Warnbro has been charged with drug offences, including intent to sell.
Police spokeswoman Ros Weatherall said police seized 24 grams of cocaine, 33 grams of methamphetamine, 64 grams of MDMA, cannabis and cannabis seeds and an allegedly stolen firearm, in addition to the cash and counting machine.
"Further inquiries led police to a storage unit in Port Kennedy, where items believed to be used in the manufacture of methamphetamine were located," she said.
"These have been seized to undergo further testing. Also located was another firearm and ammunition."
A 20-year-old man, from Rockingham, who was in a car at the Warnbro address, during the raid was also charged after officers located a quantity of MDMA capsules allegedly hidden in the vehicle.


text:
From Twitter:
Tim Pool wrote:The words "mansplain" and "manspread" are hate speech yet I see so many people who oppose hate speech using these words.
Dictionary.com wrote:Well, actually, mansplaining refers to the practice of a man explaining something to a woman in a condescending, overconfident, and often inaccurate or oversimplified manner. #ItsNotVeryNice
No interest in discussing this, actually. Just wanted to mention, since Dictionary.com came up elsewhere, why I think it's run by idiots and should not be trusted as an authority on language or anything.Tim Pool wrote:Thank you Dictionary.com for explaining what mansplain means. Its language that is meant to deride the behavior of men. Please see the definition of hate speech on your own website.


text:
Voorheesville Library Notes for Friday, May 23, 2014
Why is summer reading important? Studies show that elementary aged children who don't read regularly over the summer vacation lose a portion of their learned skills. This is called the summer slide. Here are some ideas to keep your kids reading once summer starts. 1) Match activities with books. If you're going to the zoo, find some interesting animal books beforehand. Have tickets to a ballgame? Find some books on a favorite player or team. 2) Show them it's fun to read. Bring a paperback to the beach or read the paper each morning. Talk about what you're reading and why you find it interesting. 3) Visit the library. Most libraries have fun and educational summer reading programs. All libraries have staff to help you find appropriate titles for any age. 4) Boredom often sets in once the glitter of vacation wears off. Books that teach kids how to make or do something are a great way to occupy them for hours, or even days. Check out what your Voorheesville Public Library has to offer.
Friends meet
The next friends meeting will be held at the library on May 30, at 10 a.m. Joining the friends is just one way to support the library and all of the important programming that is made available throughout the year.
Summer reading program
The Voorheesville library will once again host a summer reading program. Beginning June 2, you can register online for our Fizz, Boom, Read program. Let your mind bubble over this summer with new ideas and great adventures. You can keep track of your reading choices, write reviews, play games, and keep abreast of upcoming programs.
Library closed
The library will be closed from Saturday, May 24 through Monday, May 26 for the Memorial Day weekend. If you would like to renew an item, you may do so using our online catalogue at www.voorheesvillelibrary.org. You will need your library card number to access your account. From your smart phone you can find the link at m.voorheesvillelibrary.org.
Bookworm news
The Bookworm and V-mail will be combined into one e-mail newsletter beginning June 1. If you would like to receive this e-newsletter, you can sign up on the library website. Go to www.voorheesvillelibrary.org and click on the small box labeled library email newsletter. In June, the library will be giving away a donated 7-inch Kindle Fire HD tablet to one lucky winner. To enter the drawing, look for the link in our e-newsletter and fill out the entry form. If you do not wish to subscribe to the e-newsletter, you can enter the contest by filling out an entry form at the library. All rules and drawing date can be viewed on the library website.
May artist of the month
The next time you are visiting the library, please be sure to enjoy the gallery display by Anthony Giminiani. He has shared some wonderful photographs with us and we have been hearing some great comments from patrons. Thanks so much, A!


text:
Brad Magnant
It is my personal goal to become your Realtor for life.
In Real Estate
Brad Magnant is a lifelong Chicago area resident where he attended Loyola University in pursuit of a degree in Education.
In 2009 he started his Real Estate career and his background in both the hospitality and education industries have been paramount to his success because of his commitment to service and ability to educate and guide his clients throughout the real estate buying/selling process.
Today, he resides in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood of Chicago and when he's not hard at work you can find him out and about on Division St.


text:
Job Description
Development contributions planner
This local council is one of the fastest growing council in Australia. They are well known for their significant development areas, currently serving a population just above 80,000 people this is expected to triple in the next 15 years. Being part of this team will present exciting opportunities for both personal and professional development.
The Role
Your role will primarily focus on providing expert advice in relation to planning, economics or engineering and participating in the process of planning and delivering local government infrastructure. Additional responsibilities include:
- Develop, monitor and review contribution plans
- Manage existing data in relation to development contributions and oversee financial management
- Report on development contributions matters and specific planning issues related to development contributions
- Undertake research on development contributions matters
- Coordinate and chair the development contributions management committee
- Attend council, committee and public meetings as required and represent council in negotiation with stakeholders
To be successful in this role you will need to show proven experience in or to an Australian local government agency with demonstrated experience in contributions planning.
This organisation actively works towards a flexible working environment and a dynamic workforce. We inspire and like to see people from all backgrounds to apply and we do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
Not quite right? We also have opportunities available from mid-level up to director level. Whether your expertise lies in road, rail, transport, development, design, maintenance or asset management we have a selection of roles in both public and private sector available for you.
To apply, click the link and upload your current resume in Microsoft Word format only (.doc or .docx). If you would like to have a confidential discussion, please contact Liisa Olsson on 02 8093 0617, quoting ref no. JO-1907-96592. Want to know more about Davidson? Visit us at www.davidsonwp.com


text:
Suddenly nothing felt right.
It was a cool morning in March 2012, and I had clearly woken before my alarm. It was still dark outside, the birds not yet chirping, the roads not yet full. In fact, I remember there being no sound at all. It felt chilling, like one of those B-grade horror movies, everyone sitting at the edge of their seat wondering what came next. My eyes were open, but I just lay there in bed for a moment feeling like something was wrong. I couldn't explain it. Just suddenly, nothing felt right.
I sat up in bed. There it was.
Excruciating pain.
My right arm was broken. How had that happened? I went to sleep feeling fine, so how had my arm broken in the night? I laid back down and felt my shoulder with my left hand. It wasn't swollen, and the bones didn't feel out of place. How had I done this? Had I rolled out of bed and hit my arm on my bedside table? Had the impact on the cold tile floor caused a break? Nothing made sense.
I lay there for what seemed like hours, but was likely only a few minutes. I was willing myself to wake from the nightmare, but to no avail. At 7:30 my alarm sounded, and I knew I was in real trouble. I reached over with my left hand to turn the alarm off on my phone and nearly screamed in agony at the pain that this small physical exercise had wrought. I didn't know anything for sure but I knew I wasn't moving anytime soon. My left arm felt like the bone had shattered.
I started to cry in frustration. A phone call needed to be made, and I really dreaded making it. I had a new job and I suspected that calling in to say I'd broken my arm in my sleep was going to be frowned upon. But I made it all the same. I didn't have health insurance yet so a trip to urgent care seemed likely, though I hadn't thought how I would pay, especially since I would need an X-ray. I thought about all these things as I lay motionless in bed, dozing on and off as needed.
Eventually I got myself up, clutching my right arm like I was willing the bones to stay together. I took a handful of ibuprofen and went back to bed hoping somehow it would feel better soon, wondering how it was possible to feel that much pain out of nowhere.
Several hours later, I woke up to the afternoon sun streaming through my window. Without thinking about it, I got up and went to use the bathroom. It wasn't until I was washing my hands did it occur to me that I had been miraculously cured! I moved my right arm and it no longer felt like the bones were jostling together under my skin. There was a slight ache but not nearly as bad as the pain I'd experienced that morning. I was so relieved! I went back to work the next day with the only logical explanation I could think of, it had been a fluke.
In fact the whole experience slipped my mind until a few weeks later when I was at work, getting up from my desk to go to the fax machine. My right hand was hurting and I looked down to see the skin around my knuckles was shiny and an ugly shade of purple. I flexed my hand, moving my fingers, and the whole experience was very painful, and felt very familiar. It was then that I decided to go see a Rheumatologist. And the rest of that tale became my history.
Over the last two years I have experienced many types of pain. Not often, though, the type of pain I was first faced with when I learned of my disease. Usually it's a dull ache throughout my body, or a searing hot pain around the flesh on my knuckles, and hands. Gone are the days of feeling "broken".
Until two days ago that is.
My type of Chemotherapy is a drug called Remicade. This is the third infusion type drug we have tried. My Rheumatologist believes this is "the one". While it has been working a bit, my flares lasting not as long, and are more spread out, it's still not strong enough. This coming Wednesday, we are "upping the ante", or in other words increasing my dose. It's supposed to help. But "supposed" isn't a word I have faith in. I want it to work. I don't want to be in pain anymore.
I've been taking an awful steroid called Prednisone for two and a half years. It has caused me to gain 65 pounds, distorting my body and face to something I no longer recognize. I look in the mirror at this person who isn't me, this body that isn't mine. Moonfaced, puffy cheeks, double chin, with a paleness that no amount of sun will tan. My stomach has grown round, making it seem like I'm carrying a child, when in reality it's mostly water weight from Prednisone bloating. Do you think I like looking like this? People look at me thinking I'm fat, that I have no restraint when eating, when in actuality, I barely eat anything at all. My appetite having dwindled to nothing now that my stomach has shrunk because of medications. I look disgusting. I keep buying flowy dresses that hide my size, because anything else feels hot and uncomfortable on this awful body.
Two days ago I woke in the middle of the night and all I could say was "No". My right arm felt broken from elbow to shoulder. The pain was so quick, so excruciating. I struggled to sit up, crying out at every unwanted movement. It was hard. Because at that moment my body was also dealing with cold chills. My skin was slick with sweat from a hot flash only moments before, and now it worked against me as I shivered, attempting to pull the covers around me with my left hand, wincing at the pain surrounding my right.
And there was nothing I could take. Long ago I had become allergic to ibuprofen after using it too much. My Remicade infusion isn't for another few days, and we've been tapering my prednisone. It's so important to get me off it, while it's likely the pain is the result of the tapering. My body is not happy at the lessening of its beloved steroid. And I'm already at the max of my pain medication.
So this time… When my body feels broken… Well too bad for me. There's NOTHING I can do about it. Sure I can go back to homeopathic remedies. I can attempt a hot shower to loosen my joints (it would have to be a couple of hours under the hot water to work that particular miracle), I could take some herbal supplements, like Turmeric, I could do some breathing exercises (though likely it will be swearing under my breath because it's hurts so God damned much).
I lay here wanting it to end. Not getting any sleep, because how do you sleep when every tiny muscle movement makes you cry. Everything feels broken. I hurt everywhere.
Everything is broken.
I feel broken.
I am broken.
To help my struggle with medical bills and housing please visit my donation campaign at GoFundMe. The link is on my home page.


text:
Gibraltar is a peninsular with approximately 3 square miles situated at the southernmost tip of Spain. It is poised between two continents guarding the gateway to the Mediterranean and is one of the legendary Pillars of Hercules. Its population is approximately 30,000 enjoying a typically warm Mediterranean climate. Most inhabitants are bilingual in English and Spanish although the official language is English.
Gibraltar has achieved political stability and a solidarity with Britain which has been growing since its capture in 1704. The Rock of Gibraltar was formerly ceded, in perpetuity, to Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713.
European Union
Gibraltar enjoys a special relationship with the European Union. Whilst Gibraltar under Article 227(4) of the EEC Treaty is within the European Union by virtue of being a European territory for whose external relations Britain is responsible, Article 28 of the 1971 UK Assession Treaty relieves Gibraltar from the common customs tariff, the common agricultural policy and the harmonisation of turnover taxes, in particular VAT.
European Economic Area
Gibraltar is within the European Economic Area. There is no doubt that it forms part of the Single European Market for services, including financial services. That is accepted by the Commission in Brussels and by all member States. In order to reap the economic benefits which that can bring, it is important for Gibraltar to be in a position whereby it can take full advantage of its position and for its financial institutions to be able to passport their services throughout the European Economic Area.
A considerable amount of time and effort has been, and is being, expended on the difficult task of transposing into Gibraltar law all European Union Directives that relate to financial services. The assistance and co-operation of the UK has been plentiful and its substantial experience is helpful in ensuring that the required standards are achieved in Gibraltar's legislation.
It is hoped that all the necessary legislation will be in place, and other obstacles cleared, in the not too distant future so that minds can focus on the future development of the finance centre and the Government of the United Kingdom can be in a position to promote and defend Gibraltar's interests within the European Economic Area, as it has undertaken to do when the legislative and supervisory requirements are satisfied.
The Treaty of Rome applies to the European Territories for whose external relations a Member State is responsible, unless such a territory is specifically excluded. Hence Gibraltar's inclusion in the European Union and the European Economic Area. Although Gibraltar is a separate jurisdiction from the United Kingdom, in the eyes of other Member States, the United Kingdom and Gibraltar are one and the same Member State.
Currency and Exchange Control
Gibraltar's currency is the Gibraltar pound. The sterling pound is also accepted in Gibraltar on a one to one basis with the Gibraltar pound. There are no exchange controls in Gibraltar.
Gibraltar enjoys a sophisticated communications system boasting the most up to date telephone and satellite communication systems as well as regular air services to London.
Political and Legal System
Britain is responsible for Gibraltar's defence and foreign policy. Britain appoints the Governor who is a representative of the Crown in Gibraltar. However Gibraltar is self governing and its democratically elected House of Assembly enables Gibraltar to maintain its independent tax status and enact laws independently of Britain thereby ensuring the development of Gibraltar as a finance centre. The legal system is based on the common law and statute law of England and therefore embodies the advantage and security of British company and trust law.
Gibraltar's Sovereignty is assured by the preamble to the Gibraltar Constitution Order 1969 in which Britain assures the people of Gibraltar that Britain will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes.
The Constitution
The Constitution governs the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual including freedom of conscience and expression. It also governs the appointment of the Governor and the Deputy Governor, the legislature, the executive, the judicature, finance and the public service.
The Legislature
The Legislature of Gibraltar consists of the Governor and the Gibraltar House of Assembly. The Assembly consists of the speaker, the Attorney General and the Financial and Development Secretary as ex-officio members, and 15 democratically elected members.
The power of the legislature to make laws is exercisable by bills passed by the assembly and assented to by the Governor on behalf of Her Majesty. Whilst the executive authority vests in the Governor it is the Chief Minister and usually 7 Ministers which constitute the Government of Gibraltar with the remaining 7 elected members constituting the opposition. The present Government of Gibraltar, unlike previous Governments, consists of 8 full time Ministers responsible for defined domestic matters.
The Court System
The Supreme Court of Gibraltar has unlimited jurisdiction to hear and determine any civil or criminal proceedings under any law. It presently consists of two Judges, namely the Chief Justice and an additional Judge appointed by the Governor.
The Court of Appeal consists of a President and a number of Justices of Appeal. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is an ex-officio member of the Court of Appeal for all purposes except for the purpose of constituting the Court of Appeal for the hearing and determination of an appeal from his own decision. For the purpose of any determination of the Court of Appeal an uneven number of Judges shall sit which shall not be less than three.
The constitution governs the instances where, as of right, an appeal shall lie from decisions of the Supreme Court to the Court of Appeal and thence to Her Majesty in Council and the instances where the leave of the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal is required.
The lower courts of Gibraltar consist of the Court of First Instance, which is similar to the County court in the United Kingdom, the Coroner's Court and the Magistrates' Court.
Common Law and Statute Law
The legal system of Gibraltar is based on the common law and statute law of England. In 1962 the English Law (Application) Ordinance was passed declaring the extent to which English law is in force in Gibraltar. The common law and the rules of equity from time to time in force in England apply to Gibraltar subject to any modifications or exclusions made by Her Majesty in Council, an act of Parliament or an Ordinance passed by the House of Assembly of Gibraltar.
In all causes or matters in which there is any conflict or variance between the common law and the rules of equity with reference to the same subject, the rules of equity prevail. The Ordinance further lists in it schedule the statute law of England which applies to Gibraltar.
Whilst the legal system is based on that of England the statute law has developed differently insofar as the House of Assembly has enacted and amended laws to suit Gibraltar's own particular requirements. This can be seen in particular areas such as landlord and tenant law as regards the protection of the right of all Gibraltarians to a secure home balanced against the need for the development of Gibraltar as an offshore finance centre. As well as the security of a legal system based on the common law and statute law in England, Gibraltar's lawyers and accountants are trained in the United Kingdom.
Legal Profession
Gibraltar enjoys the benefits of a fused legal profession so that barristers and solicitors enjoy the same rights and privileges as regards appearances in court and direct contact with clients. The Chief Justice may approve admit and enrol as barristers any persons who have been admitted as barristers in England or Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland or as advocates in the Court of session in Scotland. Likewise in the case of solicitors any persons who have been admitted as solicitors of the Supreme Court of Judicature in England or any Court of Record in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland or a solicitor in administrative practice in Scotland and all such persons shall be at liberty to act also as barristers.
Financial Services Commission
With the passing of the Financial Services Ordinance and the appointment of a Financial Services Commission dedicated to regulating investment business in Gibraltar people should be confident that Gibraltar has the necessary expertise, regulation and supervision to ensure the maximum protection for the investor or client whilst at the same time ensuring the development of Gibraltar as an offshore finance centre.
Anthony Fisher Finance Centre Development Director Department of Trade & Industry Government of Gibraltar Suite 771, Europort Gibraltar Tel No: + 350 50011 Fax No: + 350 47677 E-mail: Click Contact Link Website: Click Contact Link
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.


text:
Visit by Christoph Eschenbrenner
This week we have a visitor. Christoph Eschenbrenner from Eva Stukenbrock's lab at the University of Kiel joined us to learn about PacBio for a joint project on fungal genome assembly.
Simone will participate this summer in the La Guarda Evolutionary Biology workshop. The students will spend a week in a picturesque mountain village in the Grisons and elaborate a research project. With the help of faculty members, the students thoroughly discuss their research plan and finally defend it in a plenary.
This year's faculty includes Hopi Hoekstra, Spencer Barrett, Sebastian Bonhoeffer and Dieter Ebert (the organizer). The first La Guarda workshop was organized by John Maynard Smith, George Williams and Stephen C. Stearns.
The application for this year's workshop has passed, but keep an eye out for next year.


text:
An old residence that has been dismantled, moved and rebuilt in the countryside surrounded by fields. Gaze out from the large hearth of the lobby at the mountain scenery of the past. The lodging only accommodates 2 groups of guests per day, and the guestroom has no TV or radio. The bathrooms with lacquer wooden baths are allocated to each room, so guests can use them any time during their stay. The private rooms used for dinner are furnished with household shrines and fittings that date back over 100 years, creating a space that you could only find in an old residence. Enjoy the Furusato Kaiseki, a course consisting of kaiseki and regional cuisines and handmade soba made by a specialist. With relaxing meals and stay, enjoy the calm and the experience that brings you back in time.
- Rooms (-)
- Plan (-)
Accommodations that have achieved high customer satisfaction and that can be enjoyed casually.
Customer Ratings
Other Facilities-
There are no reviews yet.
374-1 Yoshikawa Aza-Hiderihata, Kamisanmiya-machi, Kitakata-shi, Fukushima-ken [View map]
check-in / check-out time
15:00 / 11:00
CI/CO time may be different depending on plan.
Credit card
Number of guest rooms
2 room(s)
The lodging operates as a restaurant. Course meals are available for dinner, and requires reservation. You can be seated with guests who are not staying at the lodging. If traveling with more people than the maximum capacity of the lodging, guests can have dinner together at Shiguretei, and stay in different lodgings.Read moreClose
Each room is allocated with a private bathroom, which can be used by the guests freely during their stay. The bathtub is a lacquered cypress tub. It is not hot spring water, but the bath tub softens the water, and many guests have said that it feels like hot spring water.Read moreClose
Other facility information
Just inside the entrance is the lobby that is a large hearth where you can relax any time. It can also be used as a place to have breakfast. For dinner, guests will be shown to private Japanese style rooms typical of an old residence. The lodging houses cultural properties such as a household shrine, sliding screens, and wooden doors with over 100 years of history. There are also simple walking trails (40 minutes) around the farming village. Indulge in the experience of staying in an old time mountain village.Read moreClose
There is a transfer service to and from Kitakata Station and various sightseeing spots during the hours of 15:15 - 17:45. Please inquire about transfer service after check-out. Transfer service is usually available, but guests may be asked to take a taxi depending on the time. Breakfast is served at 8:00, but can be served as early as 7:00 if required. Please note that breakfast cannot be served any earlier, and packed meals are not available.Read moreClose
Cancellation Fee 4 to 7 days before arrival: 10% of accommodation price 1 to 3 days before arrival: 50% of accommodation price Cancellation on the day of arrival: 100% of accommodation price No show: 100% of accommodation priceRead moreClose
- Bath tax
- Children allowed
- Room service
- Transportation service
- Parking area
- Hot spring
- Fresh hot spring
- Room with outdoor spa
- Public spa
- Private spa
- Indoor pool
- Outdoor pool
- Esthe/Spa facility
- Fitness facility
- Barrier free
- 5 min walk from station
- Pets allowed
- Breakfast in room
- Dinner in room
- Open air bath
- Night view
- Ocean view
- Cottage
- Coupon
The accommodation features are general descriptions of the facility. The amenities and breadth of service will differ between each accommodation. For details, please confirm directly with the accommodation.
Access by public transportation.
By Train From Asakusa: Tobu Kinugawa → Yagan Railway Aizu Kinugawa Line → Aizu Railway Aizu Line → Aizu-Wakamatsu → Banetsu West Line bound for Kitakata, Niigata, Yanaizu → Alight at JR Kitakata Station, then a 10-minute drive Tohoku Shinkansen: Transfer at Koriyama Station → Banetsu West Line → Alight at JR Kitakata Station, then a 10-minute drive From Niigata: Banetsu West Line bound for Aizu, Koriyama → Alight at JR Kitakata Station, then a 10-minute drive Transfer service available from JR Kitakata Station or Kitakata City (15:15 - 17:45, reservation required) By Highway Bus From Tokyo: Bus departing from South Exit of Shinjuku Station, Ikebukuro Station, Oji Station. *Bus operated by JR Kanto Bus and Aizu Bus *Approximately 1 bus per hour *Two direct buses to Kitakata per day, one in the morning and one in the evening (other buses stop at Aizu-Wakamatsu)
374-1 Yoshikawa Aza-Hiderihata, Kamisanmiya-machi, Kitakata-shi, Fukushima-ken


text:
Suicide -- An Inside View
Suicide: A final plan out of the darkest of places
By Phylis Dryden
Updated: 08/21/2014 08:15:22 PM EDT, published on Wed., 8/20/14 in The
Lebanon Daily News, page a-5, as "Suicide a desperate path out of darkness."
You are in a black hole of the mind -- a place so bleak, so devoid of hope that not even the tiniest flicker of light can reach you. There is no dimly lit "Exit" sign to guide you out of this primordial darkness. You are in the deepest, most abysmal cavern of the soul.
You have lost touch with the outside world. All that surrounds you is an abiding darkness, a shroud of pure despondency. You are depressed. Your mind is wracked with pain, a depth of pain beyond hurting, beyond numbers, beyond measurement. A pain that blocks out feeling, caring, reasoning. So profound is your despair, you become incapable of rational thought.
And then it happens: your mind (what little is left of it) concocts a plan, a way out of the darkness. Nothingness becomes your new destination point. Perhaps then the pain will stop. Zero feeling, zero pain.
You make up your troubled mind. Tomorrow morning, when your husband and son leave for church, you will lock the dog in her cage. Then you will do one final thing.
You don't want to make a mess, so the carpeted bathroom will not be the chosen scene for this final act. It will be easier for them to clean the blood off a linoleum floor, you figure, so instead of the bathroom, you'll go to the kitchen, take a couple of pain pills and some Benadryl, then fetch the hundred-dollar knife out of it sheath, lie down on the floor and ...
Rather than slice across your wrists, you'll pull the knife quickly up and down. It will hurt momentarily, you know, but that will do it. That will end the pain. You will drop off the edge of the earth into sheer oblivion.
At last you have a plan, and with that plan comes a sense of contentment.
You do not think -- you cannot think -- of how horrible it will be for the person who will discover you. Like the speaker in the Dickinson poem, you "cannot see to see." You cannot think to think.
But a psychologist, years ago, has warned you of something. You remember his words: "You never know what will happen. If you take pills, they may make you sick. You may think you have the perfect plan, but you don't know. Realizing something is wrong, someone may come back and find you, just when you're ready to end it all."
You realize that attempted suicide is a one-way ticket to the mental hospital -- a place you really don't want to go. So in the morning, instead of following through with your plan, you gather your family together and tell them, "I'm in trouble. I want to kill myself."
They take you seriously. The next day, they transport you to your therapist, who gives you three choices: You can go to a mental hospital; you can enroll in a day program there; or you can sign a "contract for safety" and agree to see your therapist every other day until you are no longer in danger of doing away with yourself.
But this you must promise: you must solemnly swear that you will not do anything to harm yourself without first talking to someone else about it. You choose option three, but you squirm at agreeing to that most important part of the contract. Still, this is better for you than going to a mental hospital or being in a day program, so you consent.
It has been 11 years since you signed that contract for safety. You have learned what triggers suicidal thoughts in you. You understand that you are mentally ill and that your inherited depressive disease could end in tragedy for you, your family and friends.
You know that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Most of all, because you have seen an "Exit" sign out of the black hole, you will never again let the let darkness overpower you.
You have chosen to live for as long as you live. You have chosen not to die by your own hand. You have survived.
Dryden of West Lebanon is among the six percent of Americans who lives with a serious mental illness. Her LDN blog is called "Phylis with One L."
Comments by the author:
Please share with anyone you feel may be helped by this essay. I wrote it to show that when a person is in a black hole of the mind, rational thought is impossible; to tell people help is available; and to prove one can "survive and thrive," even when living with mental illness.


text:
|Refresh the image
Highlights: Visit Key West with the added bonus of a ticket for the hop-on, hop-off, fully narrated, Old Town Trolley Tour. Enjoy a beautiful ride to Key West's sights.
You can use this tour reference to customize you vacation
|Child (5-12 yrs)
We're constantly adding new departures dates and times, as they're made available to TakeTours by our local suppliers.
In some cases our suppliers have not yet confirmed their future schedules. So bookmark this page and keep checking back with us if you don't see the dates you're looking for.
We also recommend you sign up for TakeTours's monthly email newsletter, in order to stay on top of the latest deals & travel news.
Key West is an island in the Florida Keys that is the southernmost city in the continental United States. It is loved by tourists internationally for its idyllic Caribbean waters, warm and cozy weather, and stretches of white beaches.
At the end of the day, we will board the bus and return to the departure points. See "Departure and Return Details" for more information.


text:
Opening positions
|Deskripsi Pekerjaan :
|Melakukan kegiatan administrasi keuangan perusahaan
|Kualifikasi :
|Usia maks. 27 tahun
|S1 Akuntansi dengan IPK Minimal 3.00
|Pengalaman dibidang Fin & Acc Min. 1-2 tahun
|Mampu mengoperasikan sistem akuntansi (Accurate)
|Menguasai internet dan Ms. Office (terutama Excel)
|Menguasai akuntansi dan perpajakan
|Memiliki loyalitas tinggi terhadap pekerjaan
|Disiplin, bertanggung jawab, teliti, dan dapat bekerja sesuai target dan dibawah tekanan
|Mampu bekerja dalam team ataupun perorangan
- Candidate must possess at least Bachelor's Degree in Marketing or equivalent.
- At least 3 Year(s) of working experience in the related field is required for this position.
- Required Skill(s): Promoting our products and services during events Coordinating the design of promotional material and distributing in online and offline channels Advertising our company and products/services on various media Craft and send regular newsletters with company updates Track ROI for marketing campaigns Monitor corporate website and social media pages and address clients' queries
- Preferably Manager/Assistant Manager specialized in Digital Marketing or equivalent.
Jobs Description
1. Develop customer service team SOP
2. Act as major contact point with customers support functions to ensure smooth account operations
3. Liaise with internal departements and provide instructions to concerned parties on a account maintenance tasks
4. Prepare monthly performance reports for management
5. Defining policies to manage performance of the related teams with the aim to maximise customer experience.
6. Introducing improvements through customers' feedback in order to drive the profitability of the company.
To seize the opportunitty you should have
a. Minimum working experience of 3 years running a customer service team.
b. Good leadership skill, be a team player and is able to work under pressure with minimal supervision.
c. University graduate major.
d. Complete fluency in both English and Indonesian, spoken and written.
e. Industry background: call centre experience, customer operations within fin-tech company.
Kualifikasi :
1. Lulusan S1 dengan IPK min 2,75
2. Berpengalaman dibidang IT Developer min 3 tahun
3. Menguasai Web Progamming (HTML, PHP, Java, Javascript,CSS,Boothstrap)
4. Menguasai Database (Postgre)
5. Pria/Wanita


text:
Agriculture Research (including Rural Environment)
DAFM funds agriculture research that is innovative and progressive, forming the corner stone for sustainable and competitive agricultural production practices and policies in Ireland. Through the Research Stimulus Fund, DAFM contributes to building and maintaining a knowledge economy in the agriculture sector, spanning production agriculture, animal and plant health, agri-environment and rural economy.
DAFM funded research tackles many rural environment issues including nutrient management, mitigation strategies for green house gas emissions and renewable energy. Details of relevant projects are below
Projects that have been funded by DAFM via the Research Stimulus Fund (RSF).
- All RSF funded Projects
- Rural Environment Projects
- Plant Production & Health Projects
- Animal Production & Health Projects
- Rural Economy Projects
For more information on the RSF programme and other programmes run by DAFM click here


text:
The circuit in the picture is a sound sensor that measures both the overall strength of sound and the amount of audio energy in a specific frequency of up to 4kHz. This allows it to detect whether a tone of a particular frequency is played: it compares the audio energy in that frequency to the total amount of energy, and if the ratio is high enough, say above 1/8, it concludes that somebody is playing the tone.
The device can also produce a fairly strong tone at a 2048Hz using a small electromagnetic sounder (the kind that's used in alarm clocks, ovens, etc.). That way, several robots each equiped with such devices can communicate audibly: when one produces a tone, the others can detect it. This should allow them to communicate via Morse code, for example (and would allow people to hear this communication).
Almost all the processing in the device is done digitally. This includes both the detection of the tone and the generation of an frequency-accurate tone. The analog sections are very simple.
The device communicates with a master (a NXT) via I2C. The master can tell it to start and stop producing sound, it can tell what frequency to detect. The device can report to the master the total amount of sound energy in the last period of sampling (right now about 1/40 of a second) and the amount of energy in the frequency it is tuned to.
Warning: connecting your NXT to any home-made gizmo (like the one described here) can damage it. Beware.
The overall structure of the system is shown in the figure below. The sound is picked up by a microphone and amplified (the right-pointing triangle). It is then passed through a low-pass filter that serves as a simple anti-aliasing filter. This signal is sampled by the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) of the microcontroller, an MSP430F2012 from Texas Instruments. The signal is sampled at 32768 samples per second. These sampled are passed through a digital low-pass filter that produces 8192 samples per second at its ouput.
These 8ks/s samples are processed by an algorithm called the Goertzel algorithm (the box marked G in the figure). This algorithm computes a single Fourier coefficient. This coefficient tells us how much energy the input signal had at a particular frequency. The main useful feature of this algorithm is that it does not need to store the samples; it processes them one at a time. This allowed me to implement the algorithm on a processor with only 128 bytes of memory. A full FFT would have required the storage of all the samples, which is impossible on this processor (and might have been too slow to process the samples in real time). Only two numbers which can be stored in RAM, determine the center frequency of the Goertzel algorithm, which allows the I2C. master to send the numbers for arbitrary frequencies.
The samples are also integrated in order to measure the total sound energy in the signal. This allows us to compare the sound energy at a particular frequency to the total amount of energy in the signal.
To generate a tone, we use a pulse-width modulation (PWM) output of the processor. The PWM peripheral is programmed to generate a 2048Hz square wave with a 50% duty cycle (high for 50% of the cycle). This signal is fed to a switching transistor (shown as an amplifying triangle in the figure) that turns an electro-magnetic on and off.
The F2012 communicates with the NXT through an I2C interface. To program the chip (and to debug the program running on it), the circuit is connected to an ez430 USB programmer though a home-made extension cord.
The system also contains a few more components not shown in the block diagram. A Maxim MAX604 produces 3.3V regulated power from the NXT's 4.3V supply line. A 32kHz crystal is used by the F2012 for accurate timing of the PWM signal and of the ADC sampling. Two LED's provide visual feedback of tone detection and program failure, and a push switch also helped in the development of the program. The LED's and the switch are connected to the F2012; the LED's through 560Ω resistors and the switch directly.
The key element in the design is the Goertzel algorithm, which computes a single Fourier coefficient.
Periodic signals can be described as a time series of amplitudes, but also as a linear combination of sines and cosines. for example, the figure below shows a periodic signal. We can represent it as a time series x(t), where t is time, or as a sum of two sines, x(t)=sin(3t)+sin(10t).
A Fourier transform is a mathematical operation that takes a signal (continuous or sampled) as a time series and represents it as a linear combination of sines and cosines at particular frequencies. The fast Fourier transform (FFT) is a family of particularly efficeint algorithms that computes all the Fourier coefficients of a sampled signal. The FFT is not appropriate for our purposes. First, although it is efficient, it requires more work (arithmetic operations) than computing a single Fourier coefficient. Second, it requires us to store all the samples; the F2012 does not have enough RAM to store tham. Third, it works particularly well on sample sizes that are powers of two and it produces Fourier coefficients for equidistant frequencies (0, 1, 2, 3, and so on). This reduces its flexibility: if we want the Fourier coefficient of 1532Hz from 197 samples of a signal, the FFT is not a good computational tool.
The Goertzel algorithm is a clever way to compute a single Fourier coefficient. It can compute the coefficient of any frequency from a sample size of any size. It uses only two multiplication per sample, and it only needs one sample at a time. Because it only uses one sample at a time, in sequence, it can process the samples as they come. Once a sample has been processed, we don't need to store it any more. The algorithm uses only a few variables. Some of them carry information from one sample to the next, and two of them are fixed numbers (a sine and a cosine) that determine the frequency of the coefficient that is computed.
To use the Goertzel algorithm, or most other signal processing algorithms, we chop the infinite stream of samples into fixed sized windows and run the algorithm on each window. In Fourier transforms, the size of the window determines the frequency range of the response. In the figure below, we show the magnitude of the Fourier coefficient of 2048Hz for pure-sine signals of frequencies ranging from 0 to 4kHz. The window size is 50 samples.
If we process the same signals using a window of 200 samples, the response becomes much more localized.
This is better if we want to detect a very specific tone. The main down side of using more samples is that it will take us longer to detect the tone.
Both of these response curves show that the Fourier coefficient responds not only to the frequency it is tuned for, but to many other frequencies as well, even very far from the tuned frequency. The response weakens as we get further away from the tuned frequency, but it does not decay quickly. The reason for this is that most of the signals that we tested are not periodic when chopped into a window of 200 samples. To get a fast decay, we need to coerce the signal that we have in the window into a periodic one. This is done by scaling down all the samples. The samples at the endpoints of the window are scaled almost to zero. There are several formulas for such scalings; I used a formula called a Hamming window. Here are the scaling values for a window of 50 samples.
If we apply the Hamming scaling window to our signals and then compute the Fourier coefficient of 2048Hz, we can the following response curve.
You can see that the decay to zero away from the center frequency is much stronger, but on the other hand the coefficient responds to more frequencies near the center. This is the price for the decay to zero further away.
Using the Hamming window requires storing its coefficients. They are stored in a constant array, so they reside in flash, not in RAM. Flash is much larger than RAM on the F2012 (and on most other microcontrollers), so we can store the coefficients for a large window. The window coefficients depend only on the window size, not on the frequency that we want to detect. Therefore, the same window coefficients are used even if we change the center frequency dynamically.
The computation cost of using a Hamming window is one multiplication per sample.
The amount of energy in the input signal is the square root of the sum of squares of the samples. This is also called the two-norm of the signal. But computing it requires one multiplication per sample, and if we accumulate the squares, the numbers involved are large. Therefore, I approximated the energy by the sum of squares of the samples. This is less accurate, but should usually be good enough.
Similarly, the energy represented by a Fourier coefficient is the absolute value of the coefficient, which is a complex number. I again approximated this by the sum of squares. This introduces some artifacts in the response curve, but it is good enough for us, and it is faster. Here is the response curve.
The response curves that we have seen up to now computed the
Fourier coefficient using floating-point arithmetic on a PC.
Microcontrollers do not support floating-point in hardware, so if you
implement the algorithm using floating point (
double in C), it will either not compile,
or it will compile but run very slowly. So we need to use integer
arithmetic. Fourier analysis requires fractional numbers, so we will
represent them using integers by imagining that the binary point is in
the middle of the number, not to the right of the rightmost digit. This
is called fixed point arithmetic.
The registers of the MSP430 processors are 16-bit wide, so arithmetic on 16-bit integers runs much faster than on 32-bit integers. Nonetheless, it is hard to implement algorithms with small word sizes. If you place the binary point too much to the right, you loose accuracy. If you place it too much to the left, you get overflows, which are really catastrophic. When an overflow occurs in a fixed-point algorithm, the results are usually completely wrong. In Fourier algorithms, one of the things that determine the largest numbers that show up in the algorithm is the length of the window. As the window grows larger, the Fourier coefficients (and intermediate results) get larger. The other thing that determines the range of numbers is the accuracy of the ADC; the more bits it provides in each sample, the larger the integers in the implementation of the signal-processing algorithm.
It is probably possible to implement the Goertzel algorithm on the F2012 on useful window lengths in 16 bits, but it is hard. I did a few experiments and decided that it was really on the border of what you can do with 16 bits. On small window sizes I got good results, but on longer the algorithm overflowed and produced junk. Therefore, I decided to use 32-bit integers. This really slowed down the algorithm, but it can stil handle more than 8000 samples per second. With 32-bit arithmetic, you can safely use large windows (I use 200).
The arithmetic unit on the MSP430 processors is pretty weak. It only operates on 16-bit numbers, so operations on 32-bit integers require several instructions (the C compiler generate them automatically). Some of the high-end MSP430's have a hardware multiplier, but the F2012 does not. Therefore, multiplication is performed using a library function that uses repeated addition. This is really slow. I used the simulator that comes with one of the free development environments (IAR Embedded Workbench) to see how long 32-bit multiplications take. I observed running times between 100 and 300 cycles. The running time depends on the number of leading zeros in the first multiplicand, so it helps to try to get the first multiplicand to be positive and smaller. For example, to multiply a sample by a Hamming coefficient, you should place the Hamming coefficient first in the multiplication.
The algorithm performs 3 multiplications per sample and a few other operations (mainly additions and shifts). It can keep up with 8000 or 8192 samples per second, but just barely. I run the processor at 16MHz, which means that the algorithm has a bit less than 2000 cycles to process each sample. I added to the code a conditional that lights a red LED if it fails to keep up with the incoming cycles. If I order multiplications so that the smaller number is the first multiplicand, the processor can keep up. But if I flip the order of multiplications by the Hamming window, it fails to process the samples on time.
Digital signal processing (DSP) provides correct results only if the highest frequency component of the signal is at most half the sampling frequency. Higher frequencies in the analog signal look like lower-frequency components that are not really present in the signal. This phenomenon is called aliasing and you need to minimize it in order to get useful results from a digitized signal.
To avoid aliasing, you need to filter high-frequencies from the signal. This filtering is called anti-aliasing. Some of this filtering must be done in an analog circuit, because one you sample the signal, you cannot remove antialiasing that has already occured.
Ideally, we would use a filter that does not attenuate or distort frequencies below half the sampling frequency fs, but that completely cuts out frequencies just above fs/2. Unfortunately, there are no such filters. The attenuation of simple low-pass filters increases with frequency only mildly, so to avoid antialising, you need to start filtering at a frequency much smaller than fs/2. More sophisticated analog filters have a more steep dropoff, but they are harder to design and build. The most common filters, called active filters, require a lot of accurate and stable resistors and capacitors if you want to get a steep drop off. Another kind, called a switched-capacitor filter is much easier to use, but requires a clock that must be synchronized with the clock of the analog-to-digital converer. Therefore, it is somewhat challenging to interface.
I decided to use an anti-aliasing approach that is partially analog and partially digital and easy in both domains. It was suggested in two application notes from Texas Instruments that show how to sample audio on the MSP430.
It works like this. The analog part of the system only includes a simple low-pass filter (I used just a single stage RC filter; you can use more stages and/or some other filtering scheme). The goal of this antialiasing is to pass signals below 4kHz (the pass-band) and to filter signals above 16kHz (the stop-band). We don't care about signals between 4kHz and 16kHz, as long as they are not amplified. This lax specification of the filter is what allows us to use a simple filter.
We sample the signal at 32768 samples per second. This is why we need to filter well anything above 16kHz. There is no point in running the Goertzel algorithm at this rate (even if the processor could do it, which it cannot, at least not in 32-bit fixed point), because we do not care about very high frequencies. What we will do is to sum every sequence of 4 samples and treat the sum as a single sample. We have 8192 such sums per second, which is the rate at which we want to run the Goertzel algorithm. The summation is a form of low-pass filtering. You can think about it as computing averages, but without dividing by 4. We avoid the division by 4 to increase the effective resolution of the ADC.
The reason that the digital low-pass filter can handle 32ks/s whereas the Goertzel algorithm cannot is that the low-pass filter is much simpler. It only involves one 16-bit addition, so it takes only a few cycles. My program performs this summation in the interrupt routine that the ADC invokes. Every 4 samples the interrupt routine puts the sum in a buffer (and lights the red LED if the buffer is not empty) and wakes up the processor from sleep, which causes it to process the sample.
The analog input section is built around a quad opamp, OPA4344. This is a low-voltage rail-to-rail opamp. The exact specifications are not critical in this circuit, but the ability to swing the output all the way at low supply voltages is useful, because it allows the ADC to use its full range.
I used all the 4 opamps in the package, but the circuit is really almost as simple as it gets. I used three opamps in identical inverting-amplifier configurations, each with a gain of 10. The fourth was used to generate the mid-supply bias voltage for the other three. The RC low-pass filter sits between the output of the last amplifier and the ADC input pin of the MSP430. The only other components are an electret microphone connected by a 1.5k resistor to the 3.3V supply and by a blocking capacitor to the input of the first amplifier.
It should be possible to feed the ADC using one or two opamps, but I had a quad package so I used all the opamps in it. I also wanted to keep the circuit simple enough that I would understand it completely. I am sure that it is possible to build much better analog sections from the 4 opamps in the OPA4344.
The device can also produce sound. My objectives were to produce a strong sound with most of the energy at a fixed precise frequency that other similar devices would be able to detect. Although there are pretty small speakers, a speaker is not a good choice for such a device. A speaker is designed for fidelity. Therefore, to get most of the energy at a single frequency you need to feed the speaker with a sine wave. A microcontroller is not good at producing sine waves; it is good at producing square waves.
There are several ways to produce sine waves. One is with a separate oscillator. It would require tuning to get the correct frequency. Another option is to let the processor produce a square wave and to pass the signal through a low-pass filter (a sqaure wave is a sum of sines in the fundamental frequecy and its harmonics; we need to filter the harmonics). In either case the sine would require amplification to produce a strong sound from a spkeaker.
A better option is to use a device called a sounder. There are two kinds: piezo sounders and electro-magnetic ones. I used an electro-magnetic sounder. These are basically tiny speakers. They have a response curve with high peaks, so they do not reproduce sound accurately. Instead, they tend to resonate mechanically when excited. You can excite them with a square wave and still get a very clean sine-wave audio output.
The sounder I used is called QMB111PX from Star Micronics. It is designed to resonate at 2048Hz, but tends to resonate at 4096Hz. When I drive it with a 4096Hz square wave, it produces a very clean sine output. But I do not want a 4096Hz output because it is at exactly half the sampling frequency. I want a 2048Hz sound. When I drive it with a 2048Hz it produces a combination of 2048Hz and 4096Hz. How much of each depends mostly on how the sounder is mounted. The volume of sound also depends on the mounting.
The MSP430 cannot drive the sounder directly. I used a MOSFET transistor (BS170) to switch the sounder. You also need a reverse-biased diode across the sounder, to protect the transistor from the inductive load of the sounder. The sounder that I used is designed for 15-2V, so I used 3 diodes in series to drop about 1.8 of the 3.3v supply voltage before it hits the sounder.
It is possible to replace the MOSFET transistor by an NPN transistor. It would draw some base current from the MSP430, but it works. (You need a current-limiting resistor between the pin of the MSP430 and the base of the transistor.)
I am hoping to find better sounders. There are 3 ways to do better than the QMB111PX: (1) a sounder that does not produce a strong harmonic at 4kHz, (2) a sounder that runs directly on 3.3V without the need to drop down the voltage to 2V, and (3) a sounder that uses less power, perhaps a piezo one. I'm investigating.
I constructed the circuit on a Radio Shack prototyping board. The sides of the board are multiple of 8mm, but the mounting holes are too small for Technic axles/pins, and their centers are a bit too far apart. I enlarged the mounting holes (very carefully); they still don't fit Technic axles, but at least they fit Technic pins, and at the right center-to-center distances.
The chip on the right is the MSP430F2012, the one on the left is the quad opamp, and the one near the NXT socket is the MAX604 voltage regulator. The small silver cylinder is the microphone and the larger black one is the sounder. I fit a NXT socket on the board. I had to bend the pins a bit, but it worked. I drilled holes (with a manual drill) for the mounting studs of the socket, so it is really secure. You can see them at the top center of the next figure.
The processor that I used is in a DIP package, not on a daughter board of the ez430. To program and debug it, I constructed an extension cord for the ez430. I removed all the components from one daughter board (including the processor) and soldered instead a 4-wire flat cable. It connects to 3 of the ez430's terminals directly, but to the 3.6V power connector through a jumper. This allows me to connect the ez430 to a circuit that runs on its own power.
I initially left the ez430 and the daughter board with the extension cord exposed, without the plastic cover. At some point, my ez430 died completely. I am not sure why, but perhaps it was damaged by static electricity or by a metal object that caused a short. I bought another and decided to keep it enclosed. I modifed the plastic enslosure to allow the extension cable out and to allow accesss to the jumper pins. So far it works.
This contraption allows me to build circuits with an MSP430 and to program and debug them in the circuit. The 4 wires from the ez430 connect directly to the chip. A pull-up resistor on the reset pin ensures that the chip boots once power is applied when the ez430 is not connected (when it is, it prevents the chip from booting).
A MAX604 produces 3.3V from the NXT's 4.3V. To allow the circuit to run with power from the ez430 (or from a pair of AA batteries; it still detects the tone and lights a green LED when it does!), I connected the output pin of the MAX604 to the rest of the circuit through a jumper.
In the pictures below you can see the extension cord that I built for the ez430, an F2012 in a breadboard ready to be connected to the ez430, and the F2012 connected to the ez430.
The algorithm that the MSP430 runs is not trivial to get right, especially when fixed-point arithmetic is used. I didn't try to develop the algorithm directly on the MSP430. Istead, I first developed a version in Matlab (a numerical computing environment). The graphs that appeared above were produced by this prototype. I first developed the algorithm in floating point. When it was working, I created a fixed-point version and explored its behavior. I first tested the codes on synthetic sine waves produced in Matlab, and then on recordings of actual sounds from a buzzer (similar to a sounder, but with an internal circuit, so it produces sound when connected to DC).
When the Matlab program was working properly, I converted it to a C program for the MSP430. Every time I optimized the MSP430 program, I made a similar change in the Matlab program to ensure that I still get correct results.
I also used Matlab to analyze the audio from the sounder and from other devices that I tried, to assess whether they produce the right frequency and to assess how clean the sound is. To do that, I wrote a little Matlab program that recorded a bit of audio from the laptop's microphone, then computed the FFT of the result and presented it graphically, then repeating.
The F2012 has several oscillators. They are used for clocking both the processor and the peripherals, including the timers. One is a digitally-controlled oscillator (DCO) that can be set to 1, 8, 12, or 16MHz, the second is a 32kHz crystal oscillator, and the third is a very low-frequency oscillator that is irrelevant for this design.
I clocked the timer from the 32kHz (more precisely, 32,768Hz) oscillator, which requires an external crystal. This allows the system to sample at an accurate rate, so its center detection frequency is both stable and accurate, and the tone that it produces is at an accurate frequency.
The main disadvantage of this setup is that the 32kHz does not allow you to sample at a rate higher than 32kHz and does give much flexibility in the tone that it generates. Even sampling at 32kHz is hard; I had to use two different interrupt routines to wake up the ADC (sampling at 8 or 16kHz is easy).
If you connect the timer to the DCO, which I run at 16MHz to do the signal processing fast enough, you have a much more flexibility in choosing the sampling rate and in terms of generating tones. In particular, it should be possible to sample at 64 or even 128ks per second, which would improve anti-aliasing even further. The disadvantage of using the DCO is accuracy; its frequency is only accurate to within 6%, if you take into consideration calibration errors and frequency dependence on temperature and supply voltage. This is a pretty wide range of possible clock frequencies, which would make reliable tone detection difficult.
Perhaps the best design is to use the DCO to clock the timer, but to calibrate the timer using a crystal oscillator. The F2012 has two timers; a general-purpose timer and an interval/watchdog timer. You would use the DCO to clock one and the 32768Hz crystal oscillator to clock the other. This would allow you to use the crystal oscillator to determine the exact rate at which the DCO oscillates. It might work, but it's a pretty complicated approach.
Many other MCU's in the MSP430 family (as well as in other MCU families) can be clocked by a high-frequency (several MHz) crystal oscillator, which would eliminate this tradeoff altogether.
Here is the software that I wrote for the device:
When I first thought of building an audio two-way signaling device for the NXT, I thought of using mostly analog devices, not digital signal processing.
The LM567 is a single-purpose chip that detects whether a single frequency is presentin the signal that you feed it. It runs on 5V, and there is a 3.3V version called the LMC567. You program the frequency that you want to detect using resistors and capacitors. It should be fairly easy to build a device similar to mine around this chip. You would still need a microphone amplifier, but that's pretty much it. The LM567 produces a digital output present/not-present signal that you can communicate to the NXT using an I2C interface chip, or simply through the analog sense line. To produce the tone, you could use any oscillator circuit. This analog device would not be as accurate as my device (my devices accurate depends on that of a crystal oscillator, which is good), and it would not be easy to change the tuned frequency. You could change it with a trimmer, of course, but it would be hard to change it from the program. One way to detect multiple frequencies with the LM567 is to use several of them, each tuned to a different frequency. Another way is to use an I2C potentiometer to adjust the center frequency.
The cost of this solution is a little lower than that of mine, but not by much: Digikey charges $1.80 for the LM567 ($1.89 for the LMC567) and $2.70 for the MSP430F2012. So the versatile MCU is more expensive than the special-purpose analog chip, but not by much.
The main advantage of the analog solution is that it is probably a lot easier to develop and to debug, because there is no software involved.
If you build something like this, you may be able to use parts salvaged from broken or obsolete circuits. Electromagnetic sounders are fairly common. In my home we had 6 or 7 dead analog alarm clocks, and all of them had sounders similar to the one I used. PC motherboards also use these devies. If you use a salvaged sounder, check whether it indeed produces the tone that you need. 32768Hz crystals are also common in battery-operated alarm clocks and in motherboards. The crystal the I used is from a dead motherboard.
The opamp that I used (OPA4344) is a pretty expensive one, at more than $4 at Digikey, but you can build a similar circuit from cheap opamps like the LM324.
Finally, I used a 3.3V regulator in the circuit, but neither the MSP430 nor the opamp need a regulated supply. The MSP430 needs a supply voltage of at most 3.6V, so you can't power it directly from the 4.3V supply of the NXT. But you can use a Zenner diode or a few common silicon ones in series to get the voltage to the correct range. If you use a higher supply voltage for the opamp than for the MSP430, make sure that the analog input to the MSP430's ADC does not exceed the supply voltage of the MSP430.
© 2007, Sivan Toledo


text:
Arab or Palestinian?
Do the Palestinians exist? I say, yes. Sometimes
We all seen it. The battle lines are drawn. The Destroy Israel Lobby claims that the the Palestinians have been around for ever. They have to say that, to trump three thousand years of Jewish claims. They present the Palestinians as the indigenous inhabitants, as if the world is so kind to the genuine indigenous. We know the groups preceding them – their names; when they came and when they disappeared from history. Some put out that Palestinians are descendants of the Philistines even though the Sea Invaders of the Iron Age were almost certainly not Semitic but Aegean and have disappeared from history a minimum of 1,400 years before the Arabs invaded. Most preposterously, Mahmud Abbas even invented a stone-age place for them in human prehistory at around 7,000 BC. Suffice it to say that except for the Palestinians not one historian or ancient written source agrees.
On the other side are the deniers of Palestinian identity. Some of them are friends of mine. They provide evidence that the Palestinians are an invented people and even point to a date in the 1960s when it became useful to create them. Some Palestinians slip up and agree. They point to the impossibility of even defining the Palestinians other that those who, two years before Israel's War of Independence, resided in the British Mandate of Palestine. That BTW included Jews until 1952 when Israel requested to have them removed from the lists.
Deniers, as these, refuse to even use the word Palestinian.
IMHO the 'never-use-the-word-Palestinian' crowd live in almost as much a dream world as the Palestinians themselves. That horse bolted on Sept. 13, 1993 when the Israeli government recognised the Palestinian people. Each of the 35 instances of use of the word Palestinian in the Declaration of Principles On Interim Self-Government Arrangements AKA the Oslo Accords made sure that particular gate can never be bolted. What we need is some guide for when to use 'Palestinian'and when to use 'Arab' so as not to present the Destroy Israel Lobby with a semantic victory each time we speak or write. We need to recognise historical accuracy and at the same time accept today's realities.
My personal rules of thumb
- Arab residents/citizens of the State of Israel are 'Israeli Arabs'.
- That is how they are described in all official Israeli docs.
- It distinguishes them from Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza.
- Arabs before the 1960s are 'Arabs'.
- That is how they described themselves not as Palestinians.
- Some thought of themselves as Southern Syrians.
- When they are refugees they are 'Arab refugees' in 1948 and 'Palestinian refugees' today.
- UNWRA only described them as displaced people without dividing them into ethnic groups.
- Today UNWRA calls them 'Palestine refugees'.
- Residents of the Palestinian Authority are 'Palestinian'.
- However dubious that might be by historical standards, Israel's representatives accepted that in the Oslo Accords.
- Residents of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, etc. are 'Jordanians', 'Syrians' or 'Lebanese' or simply 'Arabs'.
- Unless there is a need to distinguish them from other groups in those countries, such as Bedouin, Allawites, Shiites, etc.
- All Palestinians are Arabs but not all Arabs are Palestinians.
The Government of the State of Israel and the P.L.O. team (in the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation to the Middle East Peace Conference) (the "Palestinian Delegation"), representing the Palestinian people, agree that it is time to put an end to decades of confrontation and conflict, recognize their mutual legitimate and political rights, and strive to live in peaceful coexistence and mutual dignity and security and achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement and historic reconciliation through the agreed political process. Accordingly, the, two sides agree to the following principles:Oslo Accords 1993
These 'rules' are flexible. I am not always consistent. This isn't technical writing and I like to vary my prose. I don't get upset if someone breaks the rules. They are, after all, only guidelines.
About the 5-in-a-star
Is it possible for a nation or an ethnic group to be simultaneously defenseless, innocent victims and irresistible, Jihadi, Arab warriors? The Palestinians and their supporters seem to manage this dichotomy. Check out any page dedicated to Israel/Palestine in Facebook and you'll find they-killed-Kenny illustrations of injured children accompanied by the inevitable 'evil Zionists commit genocide' labels. That the photographs of the atrocities are frequently archival, not what they say it is, photoshopped or staged is standard operating procedure. Those same Palestinians then have no problems making the most bloodthirsty threats about what millions of Arabs will do to destroy the Jews. As the Hamas Covenant says, even the trees and stones will call on the Muslims to kill the Jews hiding, presumably petrified with fear, behind them.
I chose the curved sword as the symbol of the Arab warrior and the baby bottle with teat as the symbol of the innocent child victim. Let's ignore for a moment, the so-called demographic threat. Yassar The womb of the Arab woman is my best weapon Arafat didn't practise what he preached in his personal life, anyway. The Palestinian flag is self explanatory, although I see this cognitive dissonance of refusing to accept that casualties, even collateral casualties are an inevitable result of making war, as as much an Arab quality.
Palestinians make war, lose wars and then complain about the consequences.


text:
What to Expect in Your 3-year BSN Program
Our accredited nursing program combines classroom and hands-on learning.
Hands-on learning is essential for a well-rounded, career-focused nursing education.
You'll apply concepts from your foundational courses to real-world scenarios, all while developing the professionalism and soft skills demanded of today's employers:
- Leadership and ethics
- Communication and critical thinking
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Responsibility and dependability
Hands-on. High-tech.
Real-life Scenarios & Simulations
Participate in high-tech health simulations in state-of-the-art labs that replicate today's exam rooms, ER bays, and delivery suites.
Practical Patient Care
Immerse yourself in a variety of healthcare settings during multiple clinical experiences.
Case Studies & Discussion
Join your classmates and instructors in engaging conversations while examining and reimagining actual medical cases.
Field Trips & Guest Speakers
Go into the field to see experts in action, and enjoy on-campus talks from a variety of guest speakers.
Your Program, At a Glance
While every student's schedule and academic experience may vary, here's a look at a typical three-year progression:
You'll start your BSN degree program with general education courses spread out over three terms. These classes might include:
- Fundamentals of Biology
- Introduction to Psychology
- Human Development
- Cultural Diversity & Global Health
During your second year, you'll wrap up your general and healthcare foundational courses and begin your nursing core. You'll also embark on your first clinical experience. Courses may include:
- Human Nutrition
- Ethical & Legal Standards in Nursing Practice
- Interprofessional Communication
- Mental Health Theory & Application
Your nursing core continues into your third year, which also entails specialty and advanced classes. You'll also work alongside medical professionals and gain caregiving experience during clinical rotations. Courses could include:
- Community Health Nursing
- Maternal Health Theory & Application
- Pediatric Health Theory & Application
- Leadership for Quality & Patient Safety (II, III and IV)
- Transition to the Profession
Nationally Accredited
1 All Arizona College campuses are institutionally accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES), a U.S. Department of Education-recognized national accrediting agency.
2 The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree program at Arizona College of Nursing is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (http://www.ccneaccreditation.org).
Get Started on Your Future
Take the first step toward a new nursing career.
Contact us to learn more about the Arizona College BSN program.


text:
Penta in the Community
Since we launched Penta in the Community as part of our CSR strategy, we have established links with a number of different charities and not for profit groups. Not only do we offer financial support but we encourage and give time off to our staff to volunteer which we believe is an important part of their personal development. This community programme was rated number one in its category in The 2012 Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work for awards and remains a showcase programme.
Our national charity Debra, (www.debra.org.uk), which provides help for sufferers from EB, a life threatening condition which causes spontaneous blistering, has been our company charity for the past six years and during that time we have raised over £65K. Penta in the Community, (our CSR programme) supports and encourages staff to get involved with a wide range of local charities and organisations including:
- Career Academies UK – Mentoring programme for 16-18 year olds with Greenshaw School in Sutton.
- Orchard Hill College in Wallington
- Woodmansterne Hyde FC – under 10s
- Wallington Little Football League for the under 14s
- Carshalton Football Academy for 16-18 year olds
- Beddington & Wallington Senior Citizen's Club
- Wallington May Queen
- 1st North Wallington Scout Group
- 15th Wallington Scout Group – Special Needs
- Wandle Trust – Trout in the Classroom
- Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton
- South London Community Drug Service – Back to work programme


text:
About The Hague Security Delta
What's happening in the
Dutch Security Domain?
Access to
Tedas is a leading technology partner in the development and exploitation of complex video distribution and data services in the Netherlands. Our main strength is continuous innovation of the conventional security processes. Tedas' mission is to make a significant contribution towards a safe and just society using the camera and observation process of Watching, Detecting, Distributing, alarming and escalating.
Tedas develops, manufactures and supplies products and services related to the:
- establishing of facts and circumstances
- advancing of investigational purposes
- observing of areas and buildings
The Hague Security Delta is required by law to ask permission for using cookies. We use functional cookies, and cookies for managing website statistics.
The cookies are processed anonimously. By continuing on our website, you accept the use of cookies.
Read our privacy and cookie policy for more information.


text:
With another week drawing to a close, it's time for a rundown of some of the best articles we've read this week. Today's edition includes a killer breakdown of conversion rate studies, everything you could ever want to know about affiliate marketing (well, almost), and an article specifically geared toward bloggers.
As bonus reading, check out a couple pieces on Twitter: this one about the e-commerce potential on the platform and this one about the mobile monetization "problem" at the soon-to-be-public microblogging company.
If you haven't yet checked out our forums, here's a sneak peek from the last week:
Our Web monetization forum has a new feature — the weekly poll question, wherein we will survey MonetizePros members (click here to sign up for membership if you haven't already!) with a different monetization-related question every Friday.
This week's forum poll: When should credit card information be collected?
Click here to vote now.
That's all for this week; head on over to the forums for more Web monetization chatter, or check out our two e-books for more weekend reading (free registration required).
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.


text:
There are numerous approaches for designing blended learning units. Here are some approaches that are commonly used at ACU.
There are numerous approaches for designing blended learning units. Here are some approaches that are commonly used at ACU.
These are not mutually exclusive, that is, an intensive unit could also apply a flipped classroom approach, and be delivered across multiple campuses.
The Flipped classroom model is a pedagogical approach that involves students working through preparatory self-paced online material prior to face-to-face sessions. Students complete the online learning component so they are familiar with important concepts and can explore and consolidate these in a more applied way within class time. This maximises face-to-face time, which can be spent applying active learning strategies for deeper learning. There are commonly consolidation activities after the face-to-face sessions.
The University of Massachusetts compared a chemistry class taught for 3 years in traditional ways, followed by a flipped classroom approach for 2 years. "The study found that the blended structure led to increased engagement with course material, which promoted more active learning during class meetings and ultimately improved student success" (Johnson et al., 2016, p.18).
Flipping the classroom...forces the student to engage with the content. To actually make them responsible for their own learning.
Professor Romina Jamieson-Proctor - State Head of Education (QLD). Watch Romina's full case study.
We do a weekly flipped classroom, which is 1 hour and the students can take their own time. We then follow that up with a face-to-face video conference lecture, where we encourage interaction across three (3) states of students and we take a case-based approach….Then in the weekly face-to-face tutorials we take an active learning approach with lots of group work,… discussion and…. exploration of their own past experiences.
Dr Leigha Dark - Lecturer in Speech Pathology. Watch Leigha's full case study.
The following may be useful if you would like to explore the flipped classroom model.
Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Estrada, V., Freeman, A., and Hall, C. (2016). NMC Horizon Report: 2016 Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.
Intensives are also referred to as 'block mode'. An intensive unit is a course taught predominantly online, with the addition of a face-to-face block ("an intensive"). The face-to-face component may be at the start or end of a semester, or take place several times across a semester. The online material is often complemented by weekly synchronous webinars.
See Dr Steve Guinea's case study for an example of a unit built to this structure.
Weekly online sychronous lectures held over semester.
Intensive face-to-face block held at least once over semester.
Blended learning approaches are often applied in the creation of multi-campus ('national') units. There is no one way of designing these units, differences in enrollment, lecturer specialisation and discipline needs will all affect what will work for your unit.
Here are two examples of methods used at ACU:
To view further information about this unit's structure, see Dr Leigha Dark's case study.
Weekly national lectures held concurrently across three campuses. A staff member from one site is the main presenter each week, with local lecturers facilitating discussions with students at designated points in the lecture. The lecturers rotate so that each state receives a lecture 'live'. Videoconferencing facilities used and each lecture is recorded for the students to review.
Weekly tutorials are held locally in each campus. These are not recorded. Tutors in each state deliver the same materials. The lecturer who developed the lecture for that week also develops the tutorial materials and shares them on the students' LEO site.
To view further information about this unit's structure, see Professor Tim McKenry's case study.
Weekly national lectures were pre-recorded and hosted on LEO.
Weekly tutorials are held locally in each campus. These are not recorded. Tutors in each state deliver the same materials.
Please contact the Learning and Teaching Centre for professional development, resources and advice for your learning and teaching needs at ACU.
Available 8am-10pm Sydney time, Mon to Fri,
9am-5pm Weekends and public holidays
Closed Good Friday and Christmas


text:
Festival of Fostering Trees starts Thursday
Festival of Fostering Trees starts Thursday
The trees will be aglow at the eighth annual Festival of Fostering Trees is beginning Thursday at Foster's Clambake in York. Entry is free with a donation of a non-perishable food item or money donation that will go towards the York Food Pantry.
Foster's will be filled with decorated trees able to be won by raffle. Tickets are $5 for 25 tickets. All proceeds help youth involved in the Maine Foster Care system.
The hours for the festival are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, Friday, Dec. 6 and Saturday, Dec. 7 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 8. Call 351-1988 for more information.
Don't miss the Festival of Lights this weekend
The Festival of Lights parade begins at 4:30 p.m. and will run along York Street from Foster's Clambake through Village Elementary School. Numerous events are taking place all weekend during the festival (please see related story), including a York Festival of Lights holiday craft fair featuring local crafters from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Village Elementary School. Proceeds benefit the school and community.
Christmas Tea at Jefferds Tavern
The Museums of Old York will hold its popular Christmas Tea at Jefferds Tavern from noon to 4 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 7, at Jefferds Tavern, 3 Lindsay Road, York. The event coincides with the town of York's Festival of Lights.
This year's fund-raising event will feature a traditional English-style tea including fresh-baked scones, served with jam and clotted cream, assorted shortbreads, and a variety of homemade sweets.
Silhouette artist Leona Hosack will be on hand from noon to 3 p.m. to cut a paper likeness of you, a friend or family member, for $10 per person (cash only).
Tickets for the tea will be available at the door: $10 for adults and $5 for children between ages 5-14 and free for children under age 5. FMI call 363-4974 or e-mail email@example.com. Scones are being baked and donated by St. Joe's Coffee of York.
Art, pottery and wool spinning at Holiday Extravangza this weekend
Try your hand at the pottery or spinning wheel, and find handmade gifts at the fifth annual Ocean Fire Pottery Holiday Extravaganza from noon to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday Dec. 7 and 8, at the studio and gallery, 23 Woodbridge Road, York.
Local artists will be demonstrating their crafts and the public is invited to participate. Potter and owner Amy Clark will be offering mini-lessons on the pottery wheel.
York artist Laurie Wallace will be demonstrating spinning alpaca wool on a spinning wheel and giving free lessons. Other artists include Sam Goodall of Cape Neddick, with expressive mixed media jewelry creations; Erin Donovan of Saco, with her hand-poured scented candles, note cards and glass luminaries; Marilyn Robertson of York, with mittens, hats, scarves and accessories made from recycled sweaters; Glynis Dixon of York, with handcrafted jewelry of mixed metal, seaglass, beachstones and more; and Martha Fenn King of York, with copper trays, garden themed cards and wooden gift boxes.
For more information, call 361-3131 or visit oceanfirepottery.com.


text:
Happy Hump day, stampin' friends! This morning I have a card to share with you for our new challenge this week at Simon Says Stamp Challenge! But first, I want to say what gorgeous creations you all made last week for our fun recipe challenge! This week the challenge is Anything Goes...whoo hoo...love an easy challenge now and then and the Simon Says Stamp DT are also featuring the Unity Stamp Company! If you would like to share your Unity Stamp creations with us, we sure would love to see them but you can use any stamp that you like if you don't have any Unity stamps!
We also have a new teamie on the Simon Says Stamp Challenge DT...please welcome Melissa to the design team. We are so looking forward to seeing her gorgeous creations each week!


text:
Hitler Didi 26th March 2013 Written Episode Update
Hitler Didi 26th March 2013 Written Episode, Hitler Didi 26th March 2013 Written Update
Episode starts with Rishi hugging Indira. Indira in her Hitler avatar tells her kiraydarji that she doesn't like public display of affection. She asks him what they are doing there. She holds his ear to get the truth out. Rishi moans, she apologizes. Indu.comes there with the band company and tells everyone to dance. Indira points towards Indu and asks Rishi who she is. Indu in her Hitler style introduces herself.
In SN, Munna is trying to call Rishi. Inder asks everyone that how did Kabir come out of the room when he was locked inside. Sunaina tells him that Kutumb helped Kabir. Kutumb denies. Inder swirls her about and money falls down.
Indira says , " its been 8 years "
Indira says Indu looks so innocent while sleeping. Rishi deliberately coughs and says she is chhoti hitler. indira tells him to stop laughing. she adds that she is a very unfortunate mother who couldn't see Indu's childhood. Rishi shows her indu's childhood pictures on his mobile phone. Rishi says she shouldn't feel bad that she didn't love Indu enough, she is Indu's true mother who loves her truly.
Rishi goes to temple and the Lord. Indu asks Indira to go inside the temple but she denies to. Rishi comes out with vermilion powder and fills her hair part with it and takes the seventh vow abed hugs her. Indu.mocks at them and while doing so calls Rishi by his name. Indira tells her not to call her father by his name but papa. Indi disagrees. Rishi doesn't say a thing. (some OTT dreams, I couldn't understandlike Ishan saying something like such thing happens only when Hitler comes in and blah blah Sorry )
In short, Indira reaches SN.
Precap: Munna is wondering if its Zara or Husna and a chappal hits him out of the blue and he confirms that its his sister, the Hitler of CC ..
Update Credit to: saumya