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Remember to let the GenCon folk know that you would like to do game check-in at 4pm Thursday and game start ~7pm. :)
Also, let mom know you'll be in town. (And calm her fears that I spent rent money on it....I didn't. Dan bought the tickets. He complained that I didn't have the money, so he up and bought them.)
Reminder #3...kick Dan when I get to Chicago for buying me tickets. Then hug him.
#4 Talk to Volt and a few people at MS about the 5000 new jobs they just opened up for direct hire....


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While Eskom sympathises with workers who will not get salary increases, they are not allowed to participate in strikes, the state power utility has said.
On Monday, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) said they would hold a hold a one-day shutdown at Eskom on Thursday to protest against 0% salary increases.
Eskom said that, should the industrial action take place, it would activate contingency measures to ensure security of power supply. It did not say what these measures were.
"Eskom sympathises with its over 47 000 employees who have worked very hard to help keep the lights on during the past financial year. However, due to the difficult financial situation that the company currently faces, Eskom has decided to offer no salary increases this year," it said in a statement on Tuesday morning.
The two unions are demanding 15% increases across the board, a housing allowance increase of R2 000, the banning of labour brokers and the insourcing of workers such as cleaners and security guards.
They also want paid maternity leave for six months and paid paternity leave for one month.
"Eskom has noted the statements made by the trade unions about their intentions to embark on an industrial action this Thursday. Eskom has been designated as an essential service provider, and therefore our employees are reminded that they are not allowed to participate in strike actions," the power utility said.
The unions are set to hold a media briefing in Johannesburg on Tuesday to give more information about their planned one-day strike.
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subset: commoncrawl


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According to an indictment, the defendants are associated with a relatively new gang formed in 2008 called "Tycoons," which, until this morning, operated a nationwide prostitution enterprise primarily from Lemon Grove and Spring Valley.
"These gangsters pursued a very lucrative commodity -- unfortunately, this commodity is our young girls," said Joe Garcia of the Department of Homeland Security.
Over the course of a two-year investigation, law enforcement identified about 100 girls and women -- ranging in age from 12 to their mid-20s – who were manipulated with promises of a lavish lifestyle or were forced through threats or actual violence to work as prostitutes for the enterprise.
"Victims of sex trafficking are young, just getting started in life," said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. "They have hopes and dreams of being loved and having beautiful lives ahead of them. Gang members are exploiting these dreams and stealing the souls of children. They are crushing them with false promises that lead to physical and emotional abuse and sexual slavery.''
Many of the victims were recruited on East County school campuses by pimps and experienced, high-ranking prostitutes, according to a search warrant filing. In some cases, the suspects would enroll girls from out of the area into locals schools to recruit new prospects. During the course of the conspiracy, the girls and women were transported from San Diego County to service customers in California and beyond -- including Texas, Arizona, Kansas, Michigan and Nevada, according to the indictment.


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These simple but beautiful thank you tags are the perfect attachment to a wee gift to thank your guests for attending your wedding. These tags measure 25mm x 70mm and include a hole punched in one end, so you can string the tag onto a jar. Jar, Jellybeans and Twine pictured not included.
This particular tag is bound to a charming little jar of red coloured jelly beans in which the colours of the beans can be a great way to tie in with your wedding theme.
Be My Guest Wedding Accessories include:
- All wedding stationery is professionally printed on a high quality commercial digital press and trimmed to size with a commercial grade guillotine – no home printers used.
- A minimum order of 40 pieces is required


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When you make a choice to use Eco friendly cleaning products, you are making a choice to preserve our environment. Most proper Eco friendly cleaning products are made using acceptable production methods that are naturally produced, are safe, don't use toxins, and only use biodegradable products. American HouseCleaning, a San Francisco Maid Service, helps save our environment by only using these eco friendly products. Chemical cleaning products, or cleaning products that are not eco friendly, contain ingredients that are toxic, non-biodegradable, and originate from non-renewable sources like petroleum. Chemical cleaning products badly affect our environment and everyone living in it.
Because chemical cleaning substances are not biodegradable they end up accumulating causing a lot of harm to our planet. This accumulation of toxic waste can also bring deadly diseases to both plants and animals.
American HouseCleaning chooses to only use eco friendly cleaning products, because they don't harm our environment, they don't harm our respiratory systems when using them or being around them, and they even smell better that chemical cleaning substances! We want to ensure the wellbeing of our employees, our clients, and their pets.
So, vow to protect your family, friends, pets, and our environment at large by choosing our San Francisco Maid Service. Our Eco friendly cleaning products will make your home or office safe and clean, as they should always be.


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The students in Five White are learning about 'chance' in Mathematics. Chance can be defined as the likelihood or probability that a particular outcome will occur.
Probability can be recorded on a scale of 0 to 1. Click here, then click on 'c', then 'chance' to see the scale.
The scale includes the following.
Impossible – There is no chance. It will not happen. E.g. It is impossible for pigs to fly.
Unlikely – It will probably not happen. There is a small chance it will happen. E.g Five White are unlikely to skip their Friday spelling test.
Even Chance – There is an equal chance. Each event is equally likely to happen. E.g When a coin is tossed, there is an even chance that it will land heads up.
Likely – It will probably happen. There is a small chance it won't happen. E.g. You will likely go to school on Monday.
Certain – It will definitely happen. E.g. The sun will rise in the morning.
Leave a comment with more examples of events that are impossible, unlikely, likely, certain and that have an even chance of occurring.
Imagine that you are reaching into the jar above. Leave a comment with a sentence using a chance term about the probability of picking out a counter.
For example:
- I am likely to pick out a …..
- I am unlikely to pick out a …
- It is impossible to pick out a …
- I have an even chance of picking out a …
- It is certain that I will pick out a …
Sign into Studyladder for activities related to chance. Click here and here for games related to chance. Leave a comment about what you thought about the game(s).


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I hesitate to say this since—according to The Lego Batman Movie—his head is already pretty swollen, but this spin-off in the Lego movie franchise only confirms my contention that Batman is the most compelling of all superhero characters.
The Lego Batman Movie takes the basics of the Batman legend—the death of his parents; the fame and fortune he inherits; the vigilante alter ego he adopts—and imagines that they've added up to a pompous crime-fighter whose obsession with justice purposefully leaves no room for human connection. Superman has Lois Lane. Spider-Man has Mary Jane. The Avengers have each other. This Batman has his cavernous underground lair and a plate of lobster thermidor left for him by Alfred, his butler. Coming home after a long night of Joker-battling, he pops the lobster in the microwave and watches the plate spin, twiddling his bat thumbs.
That bit is one of the funniest moments in The Lego Batman Movie because it does something few portrayals of this iconic character have managed: it portrays Batman as human. Save for Michael Keaton, our movie Batmen have been pretty boring. Not here. Voiced by Will Arnett, reprising his performance in 2014's The Lego Movie, this is a boorish Batman obsessed with his abs (he claims he has a "nine-pack"), his vast array of bat vehicles, and defeating the endless stream of super villains threatening Gotham City. (How had I not heard of the Gentlemen Ghost before?) All is good in Batman's world until two people force their way into his solitary life: new police commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson), who wants to rein in Batman's vigilante ways; and orphan Dick Grayson (Michael Cera), whom Bruce Wayne inadvertently adopts in a moment of distraction.
If the jokes don't do it for you, you can always get lost in the dazzlingly intricate production design.
The team-written screenplay is packed with gags at the front (I love the merch gun Batman uses to outfit a crowd of adoring orphans in logo wear), but gets bogged down with Batman's personal growth by the end. We get it: by learning to work together with Barbara and Dick, Batman will learn to open his heart. Thankfully, while these lessons are being laboriously learned, director Chris McKay and his team of animators are stuffing the film with visual treats and pop-culture asides. (There's a particularly amusing dig at Doctor Who). And if the jokes don't do it for you, you can always get lost in the dazzlingly intricate production design, which uses the familiar block shapes of Legos to construct vast variations on the Bat Cave, Arkham Asylum, and Wayne Manor, the latter of which boasts fireplaces holding individual Lego flames. Like The Lego Movie, this film finds invention by embracing the rigid Lego aesthetic. (Another hilarious moment relies on the various painted expressions used to register Joker's increasing sadness.)
The Lego Movie was my favorite film of 2014 both for this visual ingenuity and for the way it served as a social experiment: how we play with toys, the movie argued, can serve as a stand-in for how we want to run the world. The Lego Batman Movie doesn't have that sort of depth, but neither is it a quick cash-in on its predecessor's success. He'll probably let this go to his head, but I have to give Batman credit: once again, he's managed to beat the odds.


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The Georgia-based garage-pop trio didn't break any new ground with its 2012 album Enjoy the Company.
The Georgia-based garage-pop trio didn�t break any new ground with its 2012 album Enjoy the Company.
Still, as the record title suggests, the tunes were generally pleasant, built on an array of sturdy rock riffs and frontman Parker Gispert�s workmanlike songwriting.
While early albums were often seedier affairs, these days the musicians sound content to keep on the sunny side � a shift reflected in upbeat pop gems like �Tiny Treasures� and the celebratory �Staying Alive,� which slow burns for more than six minutes before arriving at its glorious, feedback-laden climax.
It�s a song that should sound fantastic live when the band hits the stage at The Basement this weekend.


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Brew Methods Compared: How Should You Make Cold Brew Coffee?
Sweet and refreshing cold brew coffee is a great option for summer or in hotter climates. But how do you make cold brew? What do immersion, drip, and Japanese iced coffee involve?
And which brew method should you use for your perfect coffee – whether you're craving a sweet, mild cup or a complex, fruity single origin?
Take a look at the different methods in this quick-and-easy guide, and learn how you can improve and adapt your cold brew for a delicious result every time.
You may also like How to Spice Up Your Cold Brew Coffee
Cold brew with ice from Toma Café in Madrid, Spain. Credit: Julio Guevara
Choosing a Method of Cold Brew Coffee
Just as in conventional coffee brewing, there are many ways of creating cold brew and there are many ways to tweak it to your taste.
Cold brew has a reputation for being sweet, mellow, and lacking in acidity, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. Before you choose a method, consider what profile you like your coffee to have. This will allow you to choose an extraction method that accentuates the elements you enjoy.
Heat speeds up extraction and some compounds, such as acids, are only extracted with heat. This means that cold brewing requires some different considerations from conventional coffee.
You should also think about the practicalities. How much time and effort are you willing to invest in your cold brew? Do you drink it often enough to buy specialty equipment or is it something you only choose occasionally? Let's take a look at the pros and cons of the different methods.
Iced cold brew coffee. Credit: Matt Hoffman
Immersion Brewing
This is probably the technique most people think of when they imagine cold brewing. Combine cold water and ground coffee and let it sit for a few hours. After straining, you have a mellow cup of coffee with minimal effort.
Immersion cold brews are typically very balanced with low acidity. This is because acidic compounds are only extracted with heat. If you like a mellow, sweet coffee, this can be good technique. Try it with a natural processed Burundian or Bourbon to really emphasise the sweetness of the beans.
But some people dismiss cold brew for a perceived lack of complexity and nuances. Along with those acid compounds come fruity notes and liveliness.
Dylan Thome, roaster and quality control manager for Café Registrado in Buenos Aires, highlights how important the right extraction method can be. "Cold brew coffee gets a bad rap from specialty coffee folks because it lacks some of the most prized attributes: acidity and complexity. I found a way to bring out those attributes by tweaking the normal Toddy procedures a bit."
Discover more: Why Are Some Coffees More Acidic Than Others?
Bottles of cold brew made a Toddy. Credit: Cappuccino Man
Toddy is a cold brew system that uses filter or felt filters to make the immersion method even easier. Dylan outlines his preferred method. "Our recipe uses a 1:8 coffee to water recipe but starts out with a hot bloom for the first minute, followed by an ice bath. After 16 hours we start doing taste tests and measuring TDS until we've reached our target and have a balanced beverage."
Ivan Totti Heyden works in quality control at Academia do Café in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has also fine-tuned his immersion method.
"I've been working and exploring the cold brewed coffee since 2013," he says. "At first, I was making it in a bottle and brewer with paper filters, I didn't like it so I dedicated myself to making it good. I did some experiments with different times, ground size, concentrations, time, and roasts.
"After I found my recipe, I got the Toddy to start making bigger volumes and bottling it. I still use the small Toddy every day to make fresh cold brew to serve in the café and I think it's very useful."
So don't dismiss immersion cold brew as flat and lacking fruitiness. With a little experimentation, you can make it your own.
Learn more! Immersion Cold Brew Recipes: 4 Things You Need to Consider
A glass of cold brew at The Fix in Madrid, Spain. Credit: Fernando Pocasangre
Japanese Iced Coffee Method
This is not technically cold brewed coffee because the coffee is brewed hot. But it's not iced coffee either. This method involves brewing hot coffee directly on to ice. Think a pour-over device with the body filled with ice.
Japanese iced coffee has a distinctive taste for cold brew coffee. Because the hot water extracts acids, it has a bright, crisp, and refreshing finish. If you enjoy this profile, try it with coffees from origins like Ethiopia, which tend to be high in acidity.
The Japanese ice method has the advantages of being quick, easy, and affordable. If you spontaneously want a cup of cold brew, this is the easy way to do it. You probably already have the equipment to make a pot – just use your Chemex or V60.
Learn more in How To Make Japanese Iced Coffee
Japanese iced coffee method. Credit: Sebastian Franzén
Ice Drip Brewing
This technique is also called Kyoto ice drip or Dutch ice drip, and it is for only for those willing to dedicate both time and effort. Ice drip brewing involves cold water slowly dripping on to coffee. Think of it as an extremely slow pour-over – it can take over 24 hours.
The result is clean coffee that has some body and a wide range of nuanced flavours. The technique emphasizes any floral or fruity notes because the sugars from the coffee are extracted but not muddled by a long immersion. Lipids are also extracted, giving the final coffee more viscosity than Japanese iced coffee.
The downside here is the investment in both time and equipment. With a drip per second or even slower, it can take a whole day to produce a pot of coffee. And unlike immersion cold brewing, this is not necessarily passive. Ice drip brewing requires you to monitor and adjust the drip rate as needed.
It also requires some expensive tools. Glass slow-drip towers look impressively scientific, but they don't come cheap. They also take up a lot of room and are fairly delicate equipment. If you have a small apartment, active family, or busy coffee shop, this may not be the best method for you.
Hario cold brew tower. Credit: Hario Peru
Cold brew coffee can be a great option in warm weather or as a change from your go-to hot drink. As you can see, its reputation as one-dimensional isn't necessarily accurate. Why not play around with some techniques and different beans to find a recipe that works for you?
Enjoyed this? Check out Immersion Cold Brew Recipes: 4 Things You Need to Consider
Perfect Daily Grind
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Subjective Values Foundation (Szubjektív Értékek Alapítvány)
We founded Subjective Values Foundation in 2002. Our main goal is to provide opportunities for young people to realize their creative ideas, and to implement projects emphasizing cultural diversity with them.
We also aim to support the education of young people from underprivileged backgrounds, to promote their social inclusion, to address conflicts arising from social inequalities, to create a sustainable society, and to promote the European ideals in Hungary.
If you want to know more about our ongoing projects, please visit our website.
Last modified: Wednesday, 10 October 2018, 1:51 PM


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If you shop at the Willy Street Co-op, you're probably familiar with the Community CHIP program. Community CHIP is a fundraising partnership between Willy Street Co-op and Community Shares of Wisconsin, allowing co-op shoppers to "chip" in 1% of their total purchase to be donated to the nonprofit member organizations of Community Shares of Wisconsin.
Common Wealth is lucky enough to be a member of Community Shares of Wisconsin, meaning that every time you say "Yes!" when asked to chip at the Co-op, your donation is supporting our award-winning Youth Programs!
At the Willy Street Co-op's Annual Meeting and Party on July 10, 2014 – and the kickoff to La Fete de Marquette – Common Wealth's Youth Programs helped represent the Community CHIP program to educate owners about what their gracious donations support. We were also able to spread the word about our upcoming Youth-Business Mentoring Program trainings to teens (and their parents) interested in getting a part-time job!


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Aquaculture has only recently been adopted as an assured way of meeting the deficit in Ghana's fish requirements. Thus, there has been no appreciable increase in annual fish production over the years. In 2003, Ghana produced only 51.7 percent of its requirements from its domestic sources and in 2004, achieved 68.1 percent of its fish requirement through domestic production and imports. Tilapia is the major species farmed and constitutes over 80 percent of aquaculture production. The catfishes (Clarias sp., Heterobranchus sp.) and Heterotis niloticus account for the remaining 20 percent.
Fisheries constitutes an important sector in national economic development, and is estimated to contribute 3 percent of the total GDP and 5 percent of the GDP in agriculture. Fish production from aquaculture has been estimated at 950 tonnes for 2004. The contribution of aquaculture to the national economy has, however, not been disaggregated, so its importance is not fully recognized. There is a lack of data and general information relating to aquaculture. For instance, information and data are not available on the exact contribution of aquaculture to food security, employment and poverty alleviation. It has been estimated that the production from ponds and culture-based fisheries is worth about US$ 1.5 million a year.
The aquaculture sub sector comprises largely small-scale subsistence farmers who practice extensive aquaculture in earthen ponds in contrast to the intensive practices of commercial farmers. The sector therefore lacks the organization to take up the challenges of providing inputs such as fish seed and feed as viable commercial activities to support the development of the industry.
Commercial fish farming as a major farming activity is a recent development and has opened up avenues for employment. Most of the commercial establishments produce fish from earthen ponds. There is one cage facility which produces 200 tonnes or 21.1 percent of the total output.
There are several laws to regulate and govern the sector and the government has set up institutions that are responsible for developing fisheries and aquaculture policy and directing and establishing research priorities. The Directorate of Fisheries (DoF) is the lead government agency for aquaculture development and the Water Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is mandated to carry out aquaculture research. To promote fish farming, imports of farm fish are not allowed.
Fish farming started when fishponds were built in 1953 by the former Department of Fisheries in the northern part of Ghana. These were to serve as hatcheries to support the culture-based reservoir fishery development programme of the colonial administration and as a way of supplementing the national demand for fish and increasing livelihood opportunities. Thus fishing skills were taught in communities living near small reservoirs, which were not traditionally used for fishing. After gaining independence in 1957 the national government adopted a policy to develop fishponds within all irrigation schemes in the country. State-owned irrigation facilities were to be developed, as far as it was technically possible, under a policy of converting 5 percent of the scheme into fish farms.
In the period between 1990 and 2004, the technology of fingerling production improved tremendously. Fingerlings have been produced from concrete tanks and hapas in addition to earthen ponds, as was the practice in the previous years. Although fish seed is still being obtained from the rivers and reservoirs in the remote areas, private commercial entities produce fingerlings of tilapia far in excess of their requirements and are willing to sell the surplus. All-male tilapia culture is becoming widespread.
Fish is produced mainly from earthen ponds and one cage culture establishment in the Volta Lake. There are no marine or brackishwater aquaculture establishments in the country. All the commercial operators grow Oreochromis niloticus . The small-scale operators produce various species in addition to the major species of O. niloticus , Clarias gariepinus and Heterotis niloticus .
The majority of farmers are small-scale operators using extensive fish farming practices. The five commercial operators, two of whom are women, entered the arena in the last five years. They undertake intensive fish farming practices and feed their fish with balanced diets which they prepare themselves. No commercially compounded fish feeds are available for sale due mainly to the lack of patronage.
In 2004 total production from fish farming was 950 tonnes, valued at ¢14.25 billion (US$ 1.5 million) . Average production from culture-based fisheries in the reservoirs is 150 kg/ha/yr. Average production from the ponds of small-scale operators is estimated at 2.5 tonnes/ha/yr and the total value of production by small-scale operators is US$ 0.463 million. The estimated production from the commercial cage culture facility is 200 tonnes/ha/yr valued at US$ 0.316 million. The production from a commercial fish farm of 8.7 hectares was 85 tonnes valued at US$ 0.134 million.
There are 46 professional officers with basic university qualifications (B.Sc.) in the fisheries sub sector of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 29 of whom have specialist postgraduate training in aquaculture and are dedicated to aquaculture duties. Of these 29, ten have B.Scs. and eight have M.Scs. in various aspects of aquaculture including shrimp culture and hatchery management. The rest of the staff dedicated to aquaculture are high school graduates, four of whom have obtained diplomas in aquaculture from the universities.A survey carried out in 2003 by the Directorate of Fisheries and which covered 77 out of the then 110 administrative districts in Ghana identified a total of 709 small-scale fish farmers. They operated 1 380 ponds with a total area of 112.28 hectares and an abandoned pond area of 42.02 hectares. This national census did not collect information on other details such as ownership or whether the fish farmers were in full- or part-time employment. However, in another study of 161 out of a total of 324 fish farmers in four districts of Ghana, (FAO, 2005), the following observations were made: females constituted about 5 percent of the fish farmers and in three of the four districts, less than 40 percent of the farmers considered aquaculture as a principal activity.
There are five full-time commercial fish farmers, four of whom have earthen pond farms of 10.0, 8.8, 8.7 and 3.1 hectares respectively. The fifth has eight cages, each with a diameter of 15 metres and depth of 4 metres. The fish cage establishment and the 3.1 hectares earthen pond farm are owned and managed by women. The cage facility and one of the commercial earthen pond farms have employed a full-time technician each to manage their technical operations. The technician on the earthen pond facility is a German.
In the same study it was found that about 9 percent of farmers had 1-6 years of education, 10 percent had completed secondary school and 8 percent had been to university, while 10 percent of respondents had no formal education. Male fish farmers were generally better educated than the women. These results could be a reflection of the situation and characteristics of fish farmers in the whole country.
Ghana is an African country delineated by latitudes 4°12' N and 11°7' N and longitude 1°12' E and 3°14' W. On the northern border is Burkina Faso, on the east is Togo, on the west is Cote d'Ivoire and to the south is the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean. There are ten administrative regions and each comprises several districts. The surface area of Ghana is 236 539 km2 . It is 500 km along the widest stretch and 715 km along the north-south axis. The coastline is 536 km long with a narrow continental shelf.
The upper east and western regions are dry (Vanden Bossche et al ., 1990), as is the northern region. Fish farming is only possible at irrigation sites in these three regions. Culture based fisheries is, however, possible in the numerous reservoirs in the three regions. In 1991 a district-wise assessment by FAO of the availability of land, water and rice bran and the economics of organic manure (cattle, pig, poultry) as criteria for the viability of fish farming development found that parts of the Brong Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern, Western, Central and Volta regions were suitable. The farming units are very small and highly dispersed. Pond sizes vary from 15 m2 to about 0.48 hectares.
Suitable aquaculture sites are not concentrated but dispersed throughout the southern and middle belts of the country. Most of them depend on seepage of water from the pond bottom to fill the ponds. As a result the pond bottom cannot be dried fully before the next culture of fish, which adversely affects production.
The only cage culture facility in the country has 8 cages, each with a diameter of 15 m, and depth of 4 m. Each cage is stocked with 50 000 fingerlings of O. niloticus at 30 g which are cultured for six months. No production figures are available to the public.
The O. niloticus is endemic and is the only species of tilapia being supplied by hatcheries. The transferred GIFT (Genetically Improved farmed Tilapia) fish that was imported from Thailand is restricted to one commercial farm and the owner is not allowed to supply others.
Small-scale farmers commonly produce various species. These include several species of tilapia such as Oreochromis niloticus , Tilapia zillii , Sarotherodon galilaeus and Hemichromis fasciatus , Heterotis niloticus and the catfishes (Clarias gariepinus and Heterobranchus bidorsalis ). No figures exist on their relative importance, but the tilapias are the most dominant of all the species in aquaculture and the O. niloticus is the most predominant single species; production has been estimated by this author to be about 80 percent of total aquaculture production (760 tonnes), while the other species contribute about 20 percent (190 tonnes).
Genetically improved species are only important on commercial farms. Private small-scale farmers are not appreciative of improved breeds. The case of Lates niloticus as a species for regular culture is under investigation by the Water Research Institute (WRI). Observations indicate that the Lates niloticus responds to routine feeding and can be cultured in captivity. There is a project aimed at breeding and selecting genetically improved strains of the Nile tilapia (O. niloticus ) for enhanced culture and higher productivity. The polyculture of tilapia and prawns, and grey mullets and the North African catfish are some of the current research interests of WRI (CSIR/ WRI 2003).
One commercial fish farmer was permitted to import the gift fish (O. niloticus ). There were two imports of red and black swim up fries from Thailand, each a consignment of 108 000. This farm produces about 70 tonnes of tilapia a year.
Molluscs, crustaceans and plants are not cultured in Ghana.
Tilapia fish seed is often obtained from less desirable sources such as fish production ponds of colleague farmers that have not been drained for several years; other common sources are reservoirs and rivers. These fingerlings are of very poor quality. The tilapia in production ponds which could not be caught in the net during harvesting because of their stunted growth are used as fingerlings. Fish caught as fingerlings from rivers and reservoirs are either mature or of poor genetic quality and health or are undesirable species.
However, there are now a few up and coming small-scale seed producers who are turning out good quality seeds of both tilapia and the North African catfish from hatcheries.Many of the small-scale farmers use organic manure to fertilize their ponds. Poultry droppings are the most typical organic manure used. Some farmers have integrated pig rearing into their operations. Such integrated fish and animal rearing techniques are yet to gain popularity in the country. The use of artificial fertilizers is quite minimal due to its high cost. For instance, 50 kg bags of NPK and urea cost ¢185 000 (US$ 20.11) and ¢215 000 (US$ 23.37) respectively.
Commercial fish farmers only produce tilapia and use their own fingerlings. In three cases, the fingerlings are produced as a result of crosses in concrete tanks. The fries are recovered from the tanks and reared to 10 g for stocking. In the fourth case, the parent tilapias are held in hapas in earthen ponds. The fertilized eggs are recovered from the mouth of the female and incubated in re-circulating troughs. In the cage culture facility, the fingerlings are produced in on-shore concrete tanks and reared on-shore until they reach a weight of 10 g before they are stocked in the cages. They use very balanced feeds and follow excellent management practices. However they refused to disclose their feed composition when approached for information. The cage facility is the largest production unit in the country and has an annual yield (production) of about 200 tonnes. The second largest production unit is a pond facility which produces about 70 tonnes per annum.
In 2004, a DoF survey estimated aquaculture fish production at 950 tonnes. Although production has not been disaggregated by species, it is known that O. niloticus is the dominant species. Both tilapia and North African catfish sell at ¢15 000 (US$ 1.63)/kg in Kumasi, Ghana's second largest city. In Accra, the largest city and the capital of Ghana, the cage culture farm sells tilapia at ¢35 000 (US$ 3.80)/kg at its sales outlets, while Clarias spp. sells for ¢50 000 (US$ 5.44)/kg. Farmed fish is cheaper in the villages than in the towns. Given the estimated production of 950 tonnes, sold at an average price of ¢15 000 (US$ 1.63)/kg at the farm gate, the estimated income generated by aquaculture is about ¢14.250 billion (US$ 1.5 million). It is estimated that tilapia comprises about 80 percent of total production with other species such as C. gariepinus and H. niloticus forming about 20 percent.
The graph below shows total aquaculture production in Ghana according to FAO statistics:
Fish is recognized as the most important source of animal protein in Ghana (Aggrey-Fynn, 2001). Of the various sources of protein, fish stands out as the most important in terms of food security because its price, relative to the price of other high quality protein sources such as milk, meat and eggs is very competitive and it is the only source of high quality protein whose shelf life can be readily enhanced through low-cost sustainable technologies such as smoking, drying and salting. It is not uncommon to encounter smoked fish which has been stored for 3-6 months in the rural markets in Ghana. Average per capita consumption in 2004 was 27.2 kg.
The most important domestic market and consumption centre is Accra, the capital of Ghana. Other important centres are Kumasi, Tarkwa, Tema and Sekondi-Takoradi. Neither farmed fish products nor fish seed are exported from Ghana because production is low.
The main species cultivated are the Oreochromis niloticus and Clarias gariepinus . Other species of tilapia are also harvested since some of the ponds are stocked with species of fish found in rivers and reservoirs, such as Heterotis niloticus . Fish are sold fresh at the farms, and any unsold stocks are fried or salted and dried and sold later. Fish 'mammies' may also buy the fish in bulk from the farms and retail it in the towns. Data on quantities that are sold as fried or salted and dried fish is not available.
In one fish farming community called Kadjebi, the fish farmers association (FFA) began by opening a sales outlet in the town and employed a sales assistant to run it. The fish was kept in a deep freezer in the shop. Each fish farmer paid a fee for this service. Another FFA at Tarkwa is replicating this service by embarking on the construction of an EU funded cold store for the sale of fish to the public. These direct sales of fish by the associations are attempts to cut out the fish 'mammies' who make a large profit by buying the fish very cheaply from the farmer, and selling at a high mark up to the public. Tilapia, for instance, costs about ¢15 000 (US$ 1.63)/kg in the rural areas compared to the ¢35 000 (US$ 3.800)/kg in Accra. The fish is sold fresh and as a whole product to the public. It is put on ice if it has to be carried from one town to the other provided ice is available.
At present, farmed fish is neither labelled nor certified, but live ornamental fish exports require a health certificate. Live fish imports must be labelled and accompanied by a health certificate from a competent officer of the government in the country of origin and are quarantined on arrival. In Ghana a DoF veterinary surgeon, also trained in fish health, is in charge of this function. These measures are aimed at preventing the import or export of diseases.
The overall contribution of aquaculture to the economy of Ghana has not been separated from the contribution of fisheries. Livelihood opportunities identified are usually those related to marine and inland capture fisheries. Ten percent of the population is involved in the fishing industry from both urban and rural areas and women are key players in post harvest activities (IMM, 2004a; 2004b).
Although the majority of farmers are small-scale operators several fish farmers consider fish farming as a source of income and fish produced are sold as opposed to being consumed by the fish farmer's family. Aquaculture also provides labour for family members and neighbours (FAO, 2005). Other opportunities for value-addition that have been identified include fish processing, such as frying, salting and smoking, which is done in the villages. The DoF has also trained 17 pond construction gangs across the country, each consisting of ten members, to construct ponds for a fee. Each gang was provided with a set of hand tools (such as pick axe, spade, mattock, measuring tape and spirit level) to facilitate its work.
The DoF is the lead agency vested with the administrative control of aquaculture. It is also the main institution responsible for planning and development in the aquaculture sub-sector whilst the WRI of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is mandated to carry out aquaculture research. Both institutions are funded by the Government. The CSIR is an umbrella organization that supervises all research organizations in Ghana.
The DoF is responsible for the implementation of fisheries policies and programmes. It is responsible for facilitating increased fish production from both marine and inland waters and from aquaculture for domestic consumption, promoting export of fish and reducing the current dependence on fish imports.
Until January 2005, the DoF was part of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, as one of several Directorates under the Minister. It was part of a unified agricultural extension system. In this system, all sectors of agriculture (Crop Services, Veterinary Services, Animal Production, Plant Protection and Regulatory Services) including the Fisheries Services, were represented at the farmer contact level by a single person known as the agricultural extension agent (AEA). This AEA was expected to have the technical proficiency to direct all types of farmers on how to find solutions to their problems. Fisheries extension was very weak because training in aquaculture and fisheries was not part of the curriculum of the agricultural colleges. The structure of the new MOF has not yet been worked out in detail.
However, the Government has taken several steps to support and accelerate aquaculture development. The measures which are directed at fish farmers in general include:
The MOF does not offer credit to fish farmers. However, credit is available at the commercial banks for those they consider credit worthy. The MOF promoted the formation of fish farmers associations (FFAs) with the aim of making them service providers to fish farmers in general. The FFAs are expected to play an advocacy role for the farmers, organize inputs such as seeds, procure credit and make arrangements to market their produce at advantageous prices. To support the growth of the FFAs, the Government gave them each a D6 bulldozer on hire purchase basis for the construction of ponds. This is to be repaid over a period of seven years. The purchase of the bulldozers was the result of the strong lobbying of Government by the executives of the FFAs. Although the Fifes have not yet developed to the extent of demonstrating sufficient self-regulatory characteristics, one of them has been able to organize elections in which the executives were re-elected according to the provisions of their constitution.
The Fisheries Act of 2002 (Act 625) is the main legislative instrument that governs the practice of aquaculture in Ghana. The relevant sections are:
In exercise of the powers conferred on the Minister responsible for the environment under section 28 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1994 (Act 490) i.e. L.I. 1652, and on the advice of the Environmental Protection Agency Board, regulations were made for the conduct and submission of environmental reports and impact statements. Schedule 2, regulation 3 of the Environmental Assessment Regulations, 1999, prescribes land-based aquaculture as one of the undertakings for which an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is mandatory. In the same legislative instrument, schedule 5, regulation 30(2) contains the provisions to regulate the activities associated with fish cage culture. It characterizes water trapped for domestic purposes, water within controlled and/or protected areas and that water which supports wildlife and fishery activities as environmentally sensitive areas the use of which is governed by EIAs.
The Food and Drugs Law, 1992, prohibits the sale of unwholesome, poisonous or adulterated and unnatural substances and lays down penalties for breaching the law.
Research priorities are set by the WRI through consultations conducted internally as well as with other stakeholders while keeping in mind issues such as problems faced by fish farmers, inputs from the Research Extension Linkage Committee (RELC), international obligations, directives of the management board of the WRI and areas of benefit to the nation.
A major role of the Government is policy development for setting research priorities and allocating funds. International donors provide funds for certain research activities and farmers give their suggestions through the research extension linkage committees. A private commercial fish farmer even serves on the WRI management board. On-farm participatory research in Integrated Agriculture Aquaculture (IAA) is in vogue. Current on-farm trials are on feed.
The results from research activities are verified through field trials in collaboration with the DoF, and transmitted through the DoF at meetings and workshops where farmers and representatives from the WRI are also present.
The WRI is the only aquaculture research institution in the country, although the universities also carry out some research into aquaculture. There are no private research institutions. Training in aquaculture is available at three universities and an agricultural college (see Table 1). None of the technical schools in the country offers aquaculture training.
Table 1. Government institutions associated with aquaculture research and training.
For the past ten years, aquaculture policy has been part of the fisheries sub sector to produce fish to meet the shortfall in the country's need for domestic consumption and for export. The developmental objective has been to produce enough fish so as to constitute 60 percent of the protein intake of Ghanaians (Aggrey-Fynn, 2001).
The Directorate of Fisheries was a division of MOFA, and part of the former Department of Fisheries. It is now located in the MOF and has been the technical department in charge of aquaculture planning. Aquaculture plans have therefore been initiated and finalized by DoF in consultation with stakeholders and other aquaculture related institutions.
Until 1997, aquaculture extension was the responsibility of the Directorate of Fisheries. Later it was assigned to the generalist AEAs as a result of the political decentralization of government machinery including MOFA. Because the AEAs had no training in aquaculture, several aquaculture-related activities such as data collection and collation, site selection and supervision of pond construction deteriorated in quality.
Until 2000, aquaculture administration, planning and development was overseen by a deputy minister of MOFA who worked under the Minister of Food and Agriculture. Between 2000 and 2005, a minister of state for fisheries within MOFA was in charge of aquaculture. In January 2005, a full minister of cabinet status and within a new Ministry of Fisheries took charge of fisheries and of aquaculture development.
These sectoral changes in the structure of the administration of fisheries and aquaculture came together with the increasing importance of fish to the economy of Ghana. Fish is classified as a non-traditional export (NTE) commodity of Ghana. It is the second most important NTE after horticultural products and makes up 5 percent of total NTEs. The share of fish and seafoods within non-traditional agricultural export products increased from 25 percent in 2000 to 33 percent in 2001 (ISSER, 2003). With respect to national economic development, increasing trends in fish exports reflect a major advance in the pursuit of national non-traditional export policy objectives (Mensah et al ., 2003).
World Bank funding from 1997 to 2003 for the fisheries sector brought about a strong emphasis on the development of FFAs so that they could provide certain services to their members. Stronger support came in the form of the purchase of D6 Bulldozers on hire purchase to the FFAs, which are ahead of schedule in paying back the loan. The FAO/TCP/2904(T) carried this further by strengthening the organizational capacity of the FFAs. The FFAs were trained in how to keep records of their technical and financial operations, group dynamics and the requirements for preparing business plans as well as in aquaculture techniques. Eight members of the FFAs were trained as hatchery operators. Two of them are doing well and are producing fingerlings of the North African catfish. These initiatives have had a positive influence on aquaculture development. They are reducing the dependence of the small-scale farmer on the Government for services and inputs.
Gangs of youth are being trained to construct ponds for farmers in order to reduce the cost of pond construction. Hitherto the ponds were constructed without drainage outlets which led to lower yields. It is significant to note that drainable ponds are the main products of the gangs. Seventeen gangs have been trained so far.
Fish farmers are responsible for marketing their produce. There are no price control restrictions. All harvests are sold locally.
The national fish requirement has grown from 676 000 tonnes in 1995 to 840 000 tonnes in 2004, but production has not increased appreciably during the same period. The deficit between fish requirement and production – it was 400 000 tonnes in 2004 – has been the main driving force for pushing the agenda of developing aquaculture.
The reasons for developing aquaculture have remained the same. Aquaculture was promoted to produce fish for human consumption, industrial use and for export. A strong emphasis has been placed on fish culture and culture based fisheries in reservoirs. Imports of farmed fish have been prohibited. Imports and exports of fish are regulated and require a permit. Importers pay a fish importation levy of ¢20 000 (US$ 2.17) per tonne. This goes into the Fisheries Development Fund and is used solely for the development of fisheries, including aquaculture.
Small-scale operators have not gone through any environmental impact assessment (EIA), but all commercial operators have, reflecting the strong sector influence of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Ghana. Research on several aspects of aquaculture is being undertaken. For instance, the health status of the ponds of some small-scale operators is being analysed and the results are being communicated to the farmers. Disease causing organisms found in some of them include Myxosporidia (Boil disease), Piscicola sp. (Leech), Trichodina sp. (Trichodiiasis) and Ichthyophthirius sp. (White spot). Research and documentation of the genetic characteristics of O. niloticus from the Volta Lake are also being carried out with a view to selecting fast growing strains for aquaculture.
FAO . 2005 . Aquaculture production, 2004. Year book of Fishery Statistics - Vol.96/2. Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.
Aggrey-Fynn, E.2001 . The contribution of the fisheries sector to Ghana's economy. A paper prepared on behalf of the FAO as an input into the Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods Study. April 2001.
Balarin, J.D. 1988 . National Reviews of Aquaculture in Africa. FAO Fish Circ. (770. 18).
FAO . 1991 . Where are the best opportunities for fish farming development in Ghana? The GIS as a decision making tool for farming development. Field Technical Report. FI/TCP/GHA/0051. FAO, Rome.
Fisheries Department, FAO . 1997 . Aquaculture Development. FAO Technical Guidelines for Responsible Fisheries No. 5. FAO, Rome pp. 40.
FAO . 2003 . Technical Cooperation Programme project. "Strengthening the Organizational Capacity of Fish Farmer Groups" (TCP/GHA/2904). FAO, Rome.
FAO . 2004 . Aquaculture extension in sub-Saharan Africa. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 1002 FAO, Rome pp. 55.
FAO . 2005 . Results of the 2003-2004 Baseline Survey of Ghanaian Fish Farmers. FAO Regional Office for Africa. Accra pp. 77.
GSS . 2001 . Quarterly digest of statistics. Ghana Statistical Service, Vol. XIX, No. 4, Dec. 2001.
Government of Ghana . Environmental Assessment Regulations.1999 . L.I. 1652.
Government of Ghana . Environmental Protection Agency Act. 1994 . Act 490.
Government of Ghana . Fisheries Act. 2005. (Act 625). Government printer, Assembly Press. Accra.
IMM . 2004 a. Post-harvest fisheries and poverty in Ghana. IMM Ltd Exeter, UK.
IMM . 2004 b. Poverty, the poor and post-harvest fisheries in Ghana. IMM Ltd Exeter, UK.
ISSER . 2003 . The state of the Ghanaian economy in 2001. Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana, Legon.
Mensah, M.A. , Koranteng, K.A. , Yeboah. D. & Bortey, A. 2003 . Study of the impact of international trade in fishery products on food security – the case of Ghana.
Owusu Frimpong, M. , Attipoe, F.Y.K. & Padi, J.N. 1991 , 1992 , 1993 . Development of improved cultural systems for increased pond production. IA/IDRC Report.
Vander Bossche, J.P. &, Bernaeaek, G.M. 1990 . Source book for the inland fishery resources of Africa, Vol. 2. CIFA Technical Paper No 18.2. FAO Rome.
Water Research Institute . 2003 . Annual Report. WRI, CSIR. Accra. pp. 68.


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Wich one is the one for me?
Hello dears!
Welcome back to the blog! for today I am putting together some coffee places in Geneva I really like and some new ones that opened recently in here.
We all have our one Café we love to hang and meet friends there. But just to give you some additional inspiration here are a few I have really enjoyed recently and throughout my years in Geneva.
11 Coffee places in Geneva, according to your personality
1.- Les Filles Indignes – For the cool-hip women
Neighbourhood: Plainpalais
I have been here tons of times, just for a warm drink or even an apero after work. This place is trendy & cozy all at once!
I love the selection of Herbal teas they have such as Rooibos & more. They also sell many things and have once a month a Sunday Brunch.
Why we ♥ : The trendy & they sell unique products
We love less Ø: The brunch is not every Sunday I am never here on the good days… sniff
Useful Information:
Facebook: Les Filles Indignes
Instagram: Les Filles Indignes
Telephone: +41 22 320 96 60
Address: Rue de l'arquebuse, 10, Geneva, Switzerland 1204
Les Filles Indignes
2.- Remor – For the intelectual that wishes to be in Paris
Neighbourhood: Plainpalais
This is an OLD time favorite of mine! I just love the atmosphere in here, people that are there seem to come here every day! You know that feeling? Great also for their hamburgers & quiches … and the lemon tart a MUST HAVE!
Why we ♥ : The fact that it has been there since 1921 and that it will stay there for another 100 years
Useful Information:
Schedules: Tue- Sat 12:00 – 14:15 & 19:00 – 22:15
Website: Cafe Remor (it is epic… need to check-out)
Instagram: Facebook
Telephone: +41 (0)22 328 12 70
Address: 3 place du Cirque, Geneva, Switzerland 1204
Cafe Remor
3.- CHOU – for the Romantic souls
Neighbourhood: Eaux-Vives
A lovely cafe that has been around for a little while. I went there one afternoon to work on the blog and just sip a almond milk capu & taste the chou! What is CHOU? It is the rounded pastries they sell that are filled with tons of different flavours. My fave? The Salty Caramel one! … in L-O-V-E
Why we ♥ : The minimalist deco & the chou of course!
We love less Ø: … let me think… nothing really, I enjoyed it a lot!
Useful Information:
Schedules: Tue – Sat 7h30 – 18h00 / Sun 9h00 – 13h00
Website: CHOU
Instagram: CHOU
Telephone: +41 (0) 22 535 79 66$
Address: Rue des Eaux-Vives 79 , 1207 Geneve
4.- La Durée – for the Girly-girls out there
Neighbourhood: Rive-Droite (next to Four Seasons)
Gorgeous Coffee & Restaurant by La Durée, extraordinarily decorated by India Mahdavi it is a dream for that little girl living inside you. The mets and beverages are good, it is expensive for what it is (I have to warn you) but just been surrounded by such a nice decor is worth the detour (& the Swiss Francs haha).
Why we ♥ : The minimalist deco, just kidding 🙂 The maximilatistic colors & decor, & that wall at the entrance is … #purelove
We love less Ø: Aside from the macarons that we have all tried, the food and all it is not out of this world. We go there for the place.
Complete Article: Here
Useful Information:
Schedules :
-Mon- Sat: Boutique from 7:30 – 22:30 & Restaurant from 8:00 – 23:30
-Sun: Boutique & Restaurant from 9:00 – 22:00
Website: Ladurée.com
Telephone for reservations:+41 (0) 022 716 06 06
Address: Ladurée Quai des Bergues, rue du Mont-Blanc 1, 1201 Genève
La Durée
5.- Swissbox – For the ones looking for a tiny cute place
Neighbourhood: Eaux-Vives
This place is so cute & tiny, it is so adorable to just pass by and have a coffee. The decoration is pure and very simple, I loves how they used this space to make the most of it! I tried their pumpkin latte and was so so delicious!
Why we ♥ : The cuteness & coffee offerings
We love less Ø: It is small, so you might not find a place to sit
Useful Information:
Schedules: Mon-Fri 7h00 – 19h00 Sat 8h00 – 19h00
Website: Swissbox
Instagram: Swissbox Coffee
Telephone: +41 (0)22 736 36 70
Address: Rue des Eaux-Vives 20,Geneva, Switzerland
6.- Birdie – for the hipster coffee lovers (& non-hipster too)
Neighbourhood: Bains
This place stole Geneva since day 1 of it's opening. I am happy they have stuck around, because it is such a fresh place. Always with a huge smile, you can feel the love for coffee on their way of preparing everything, and they were one of the first ones to bring the latte art to Geneva. Thanks guys!!
Why we ♥ : The simple yet delicious menu for lunch. We love their brunch too!
We love less Ø: It is not open on evenings 🙁
Useful Information:
Schedules: Tue – Fri: 8h to 17h / Sat & Sun 10h to 17h
Website: Birdie
Address: Rue des bains 40, 1205 Genève. Suisse
7.- PARADISO – for the #fakehealthy that eats and avo-toast but also a cinnamon roll
Neighbourhood: Bains
This place could be my office, I love the minimalist decor, I am FAN of their cinnamon roll & obsessed with their AVO toast. They always have a nice soup & salad & it is just cool to hang there … I love this place. It kind of suits me, you know? LOL
Why we ♥ : Todo todo, ah and the staff is always polite & nice. I would not say friendly, which is perfect in this kind of place you know? You do not want the waiter to chitchat with you, they just let you hang with your capu… merci ♥
We love less Ø: They are also closed early 🙁 , but hey they open on Sundays!
Useful Information:
Schedules: Mon – Fri : 08:00 – 16:00/ Sat – Sun : 10:00 – 18:00
Website: Paradiso
Instagram: Paradiso
Telephone: +41 (0) 22 800 00 22
Address: 21 rue des Bains – Genève, 1205 Genève, Switzerland
8.- CAFE ARTS – for the artistic souls or wannabe artistic (like me)
Neighbourhood: Paquis
Uff, I do not go there as much as I used to. In a previous life I lived in Paquis 8, so I used to go there ALL THE TIME , on my days off, when I had cupure (I was a trainee in service and your have like a massive break in the middle of the day). So I am pretty nostalgic about this place. They have like 234873420 types of teas.
Why we ♥ : The vibe, the tribe & the original style
We love less Ø: It is a little further for me now
Useful Information:
Schedules: Lu-Je: 11h-2h, Ve: 11-4h, Sa: 8h-4h, Di: 8h-2h
Website: Cafe Arts
Address: 17 rue des pâquis, 1201 Genève
9.- CAFÉ SLATKINE – for the book worms
Neighbourhood: Vieille-Ville (Old Town)
I went there like the first week they opened and immediately thought it was a super cute place. Just nice to hang there when the weather is disastrous outside (this almost never happens), in the room in the back they have a full wall of books and also plenty everywhere. You feel smart just to be there (emoji with glasses)
Why we ♥ : The coziness & the location, in the heart of the old town
We love less Ø: They can be soooooo slow
Useful Information:
Schedules: Mon-Fri: 7h00 – 21h00 / Sat : 11h00 – 21h00
Website: Cafe Slatkine
Instagram: Cafe Slatkine
Telephone: +41 (0)22 310 04 76
Address: 5 rue des Chaudronniers, 1204 Genève
10.- LUMA COFFEE – for the real coffee lovers that hate their office coffee and can take-away
Neighbourhood: Eaux-Vives
This place is ONLY for real coffee lovers, they barely sell anything else. They do a lot of take-away & I have even seen people queue for their coffee. On the back they have the coolest backdrop & that's pretty much it 🙂
Why we ♥ : The coffee & the wall paper
We love less Ø: They really only sell coffee, not even tea. They do have iced-tea tho
Useful Information:
Schedules: Tue-Fri:07h30-18h /Sat: 10h-17h
Instagram: LUMA COFFE
Address: Rue des Eaux-Vives 8,1207 Genève
Luma Coffee
11.- La Sixième Heure – For the Vintage & big teapot lovers
Neighbourhood: Plainpalais
I always forget I love this place, mostly because last year I probably has 30sec to sit on a coffee place. I was running everywhere, but on the old days (I love saying this) I enjoyed this place so much!
The decor is plenty of vintage and brocante pieces that give it an unpredictable charm.
Why we ♥ : The feel-at-home vibe & the massive teapots
We love less Ø: … nothing
Useful Information:
Schedules: Monday to Sat (I could not find more info)
Address: 6, place des Philosophes 1205 Genève
La Sixième Heure
That's it for today! I hope you liked this funny and practical list of coffee places & my history with them. There are many more in Geneva to warm up & have good coffee, but these make the cut for their original decor & special personality.
Which ones are your favorite cafes in Geneva?
See you soon on the blog!!
*** Do not forget to share this on Social Media!***
Diana Casalis
Diana was born and raised in Mexico and considers Geneva her second home. She studied Hospitality at Les Roches School of Hotel Management in Switzerland and loves to share everything regarding food, travel, hotels and special spots. She hold several collaborations including Kempinski Hotels, Dorchester Collection Hotels, Forbes Travel Guide, Caviar House & Prunier and many more.
She writes at livingeneva.com, dianacasalis.com regularly and has occasional collaborations with: EasyJet magazine, Forbes & other blogs.
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Political Science II
Political Science II uses a variety of learning methods and approaches to examine the processes, systems, and political dynamics of the United States and other nations. The dynamic component of this course includes current U.S. and world events.This binder does not...
- Grade Range: 9, 10, 11, 12, Postsecondary
Scope and Sequence: Political Science II
CTE TEKS - Implemented 2017-2018, adopted in 2015Political Science II course scope and sequence within the Government and Public Administration Career Cluster® summarizes the content to be taught, and one possible order for teaching the units of instruction. A brief description of...
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text:
WASHINGTON — President Trump's deregulation push got a boost after a federal judge denied an emergency request on behalf of an Obama-era holdover who disputed Mr. Trump's decision to appoint a new acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, delivering a legal victory to the White House, which argued that the president had the authority to install a new leader.
The ruling addressed a partisan legal spat at an agency thrown into chaos as two acting directors publicly laid claim to the title of rightful, if temporary, leadership. Both used every tool at their disposal, including baked goods and multiple all-staff emails. But the ruling effectively installed Mick Mulvaney, Mr. Trump's pick and the current director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, as the acting leader of the bureau.
On Tuesday afternoon at a hearing, where attendees lined up behind a velvet rope and an overflow room had been set up, Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the Federal District Court in Washington jokingly remarked that there had "been some interest in our proceedings."
In his ruling, Judge Kelly sided with lawyers for Mr. Trump and Mr. Mulvaney on the grounds that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, signed into law in 1998, gives the White House the authority to appoint a replacement.
Legal experts and consumer advocates say the decision will most likely continue a protracted legal battle first initiated by Leandra English, who was elevated Friday to acting deputy director and presumed acting director when Richard Cordray, an Obama appointee, resigned a week earlier than expected. The dispute over who would lead the bureau intensified Sunday night, when Ms. English asked the court to provide an emergency restraining order to block Mr. Trump from appointing Mr. Mulvaney.
Deepak Gupta, a lawyer for Ms. English and a former senior counsel for the consumer bureau, said after the hearing that his legal team would be examining options going forward. One option, he said, would be to seek a preliminary injunction, a move similar in nature to Ms. English's earlier restraining order request, but which would take longer to decide.
"Everyone understands this court is not the final stop," Mr. Gupta said. "This judge does not have the final word in what happens in this controversy, and I think he understands that."
The legal skirmish had pinned the language in two federal laws against each other. Ms. English and her lawyers argued that the Dodd-Frank Act, the 2010 law that established the bureau after a financial crisis, had made a succession plan clear: The deputy director was to serve as acting director in the absence of a permanent leader. Mr. Trump is able to appoint his own director, but confirmation could take months and slow Republican efforts to defang the agency. Mr. Cordray's effort to appoint Ms. English was seen as an effort to extend this process.
In a court filing delivered late Monday, lawyers for Mr. Trump and Mr. Mulvaney had said that the confusion surrounding the bureau's leadership stems from Ms. English's "meritless claims" because the president, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel and the agency's general counsel all agreed that Mr. Mulvaney was the acting director.
After Judge Kelly's ruling, the White House applauded the decision.
"It's time for the Democrats to stop enabling this brazen political stunt by a rogue employee," Raj Shah, a White House spokesman, said in a statement, "and allow Acting Director Mulvaney to continue the bureau's smooth transition into an agency that truly serves to help consumers."
Judge Kelly, who was nominated by Mr. Trump and confirmed in September, said that he had not been convinced by the argument that the language in the Dodd-Frank Act superseded that in the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
"On its face," he said, "V.R.A. does appear to apply in this situation."
The judge was also not swayed by the argument that Ms. English was at risk for irreparable harm, in this case losing her job as deputy director. But lawyers observing the case said that the decision on Tuesday still could keep day-to-day operations — and Ms. English's job — at the bureau in limbo.
"This decision still leaves a lot of unanswered questions since Mulvaney will reportedly only spend three days of the week at the C.F.P.B.," Dalié Jiménez, an associate professor of law at the University of Connecticut School of Law who spent roughly a year as a member of the founding staff at the bureau, said in an interview. "Does that mean that Leandra English as deputy director would be 'in charge' for the two days he's not around? Mulvaney might move to demote or fire her at this point."
The ruling also raises questions about the long-term path for the bureau. In a brief filed with the court, more than two dozen members of Congress — as well as former Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts — argued that the law clearly established Ms. English as the bureau's acting director under Dodd-Frank, which was written to protect the agency from political influence.
Allowing the president to choose a successor under a different law would "mean that the bureau could be headed — potentially for many months — by an acting director handpicked by the president without the check of Senate confirmation, thus depriving the Bureau of the independence that was central to Congress's plan in establishing it," the brief said.
Edmund Mierzwinski, the consumer program director for the advocacy group U.S. PIRG, said that the group took issue with attempts by Mr. Trump to take a shortcut in installing an appointee.
"Nobody denies him that right" to appoint a nominee for director, Mr. Mierzwinski said, "but we do deny him the right to take over an independent agency without the advice and consent of the Senate."
At the heart of the problem with Mr. Trump's appointment, he said, is "how can you run the political Office of Management and Budget at the same time you run the independent consumer bureau?"
He paused.
"That doesn't compute."
The bureau, which has helped nearly 30 million American consumers collect almost $12 billion in refunds and canceled debts, has been under assault by Republicans since it was formed. Mr. Trump has called the consumer bureau a "total disaster" that needed new leadership to "bring it back to life." Mr. Mulvaney has been openly hostile to the bureau, calling it a "sad, sick" joke and supporting legislation to eliminate it.
Earlier Tuesday, Ms. English made it clear that she would fight to continue working at the bureau after Mr. Mulvaney's tumultuous first day on the job.
"Yesterday, I spent time at the C.F.P.B., I reviewed transition materials, and I met with members of Congress to lay out my plans for ensuring that the consumer bureau continues to fight for working families," Ms. English said in a statement relayed through Mr. Gupta. "Today, I plan on spending the day at C.F.P.B. headquarters taking calls and meetings with external stakeholders and bureau staff."
Mr. Mulvaney sent his own message to staff members, reiterating an earlier directive to disregard messages from Ms. English in which she "purports" to be the acting director.
"I apologize for having to send this instruction again," Mr. Mulvaney wrote to the staff. "And I feel terrible about you folks being put in this position, as I understand it can be both confusing and disruptive."
By Tuesday evening, Mr. Mulvaney's name and photo were listed under the "Director" section of the agency's website. And he had already taken steps to shape regulatory activity inside the bureau, including a freeze on any significant actions, his lawyers said in court.


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Stephen Crane (I) (1871–1900)
Stephen Crane was the 14th child of parents who were both writers. Descended from a line of soldiers and clergymen (his father, Rev. Jonathan T. Crane, was a Methodist minister), Crane inherited from his forebearers the obsessive subject of war, stoical compassion and, particularly in his poetry, a Biblical style. His short, phenomenal literary ... See full bio »
Born:in Newark, New Jersey, USA
Died:(age 28) in Badenweiler, Baden-Württemberg, Germany


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Facebook's insights for business pages is not a new thing, but they've redone it and now it's better than ever! It can actually teach you how to engage your specific audience better. On October 8th, it will be released for everyone, but for now you can check out my results from two tests I recently ran on my page.
A while ago, Staff writer Trevor Dayley made a great post about the new insights that have been rolling out to Facebook business pages, you can read it here. They are getting ready to release it to everyone now, so I thought I would do another post about a few changes that have been made since Trevor's last post.
Firstly, here are a few screen captures to get you acquainted with the new look and some of the key features that I think will be most important to you.
The nice thing about this view is that you can arrange the posts by clicking on either the "Reach" or "Engagement" tabs so that you can really see what's working and why. If you don't click on these then the screen defaults to organizing by date. You can also click on the small arrows next to the items in the legend above to show more specific information.
You'll notice that these two charts show very different results as to what type of post is best, as the numbers are completely different when you select the drop-down menu for excluding targeted posts or showing all posts. The one limitation I see with this view is that it takes in to account every post you've ever made on your Facebook page, and does not give you the option to select a date range. I hope in the future they will allow you to set the date range so that you can really do some testing as to what types of posts engage your audience.
In this chart, you'll see that when all posts are included, my page shows that the best type of post is Video, and by a large margin. The problem with this data is that I pretty much only ever promote video posts, so my page's data is skewed a bit in these general charts. Still, this is very useful data, and with a date range function it will be even more useable.
Here is an example of the date range tool that Facebook has used for the "Page" insights that I would hope to see them use in the "Posts" insights window.
This is an area that is a little less stat filled at first, but definitely important to keep in mind when you're thinking about posting your content. As I've shared in other articles, there are some times of the day that are better for posting to your page than others. This just re-emphasizes the fact that if you post your content late at night, you're posting to a much smaller audience. Facebook then judges your post by engagement over time and your posts will likely have less engagement, as there are less people online.
There is a very easy remedy for this which is scheduling your posts to be automatically posted during peak times. The only issue with doing this is that you will no longer be able to be there when it's a Hot Thread, so you may be sacrificing some engagement this way as well. The most important thing to realize is that if you want more people to see your posts, then you want to post it when the most people are online to see it, and when you're there to help engage with your audience.
I spent some time looking around the insights for my business page and found that there are some key takeaways.
- Shareable content is the most important thing to gaining interaction. It doesn't really matter if it's a text post, photo, video or link. Posting quality content is paramount, and posting it in a way that encourages social interaction is the best way to get more action on your page.
- Boosting posts really does reach a lot more non-fans, but you have to really figure out how to grab their attention. Getting your current fans' attention is easy because they already want to see your content. Non-fans, or as I like to call them "Not-yet-fans" need something to grab their attention. Some of my boosted posts were not very affective, but that was mostly my fault as Facebook did it's job by sharing my post with non-fans, but I wasn't very successful in getting them to interact with my page most of the time. I would love to see some average stats on boosted posts from various businesses out there.
- Targeting your posts will greatly increase your chances of engagement, if you take the time to direct your tone of voice and call-to-action directly to that target demographic. Most people I've talked to avoid targeting because of the possible "missed opportunities" of other fans that are not in that specific demographic. My take on this is that we should be taking time to create content for each of our main targets individually in order to get the most response in total. Yes, it's more work, but it's worth it.
I recently tested out a few strategies of Facebook posting and was quite happy with the results, especially because they were very much what I expected. I used three different engagement sessions and used the same Facebook posting strategy with them. I posted them all within a one hour window and saw great success with each of them.
Each image was posted to my Facebook page, the couple was tagged, and I replied to every comment within a 20 minute window two separate times.
Here are the insights for those posts after the first hour of them being live.
I then checked back with the posts about 10 hours later to see how they were doing. All of the posts were at a similar like count and a similar comments count.
Here are the insights after about 10 hours of the posts being live.
I then posted a preview screen capture of each online gallery and had the link in the description so that viewers could link directly to all of their images on PASS instead of Facebook.
Because PASS has stats built in, I was able to view their view count before posting this and their view count after posting this. Each gallery had 4-5 viewers and 0-15 photo views simply because the images were online and I was looking at them online to make sure everything was good to go. Also, the Google robots count as a few viewers when they are indexing pages on the internet, nothing to be worried about.
After posting the preview images on Facebook I waited one week before checking the stats and here is what I found for each gallery when they still had only 10 images in them.
To me this shows that my strategy is giving consistent results, and I'm happy with that. The next step is really stepping up your game and doing things out of the box in order to get some of the results you may be wanting.
What are you doing that is giving you great results on Facebook? Share it in the comments below, and hit me up on my Facebook page if you want to write a guest post about your strategies.
12 Comments
good stuff here...
I really sort of suspicious of what Facebook is doing in regards to sending out updates to friends and fans. I've seen some dramatic drops in engagement lately that really can't be explained and I've had friends complaining that no one interacts with their posts the way they used to. I've even noticed there's a lot less activity in my timeline than used to be. Something under the hood of Facebook has changed not too long ago...
When they went public they curtailed page posts and only showed them to some people. To rub it in they show you how many people they are showing it to. It's all to make us pay to promote the posts. They just care about the stockholders now.
Oh yes
Yup! I noticed a serious drop in interaction over the past few months. But a very good article :)
i don't know what they did different in the last several months but i noticed that when i did a page ad i got a significantly higher amount of new "likes" than i had before (just doing the bare minimum of $5 a day). i'm getting MORE engagement but my follower count was low (until recently) after ignoring the page for quite a while.
Somethig has changed in the Matrix.
Could it be that people are leery of liking, sharing, and commenting in general these days? I know I personally do not engage with a lot of the things I find entertaining, because a) I don't want to be super annoying to my friends' newsfeeds (the friends that don't know how to filter these sorts of things) and b) I don't want my OTHER FB friends stalking my every move on facebook. I've found some FB friends liking comments I've left on pages they don't follow, and it just weirds me out a little :)
And yes, I realize facebook has moved to a more stockholder-friendly environment with their ads. Just trying to shed some light on other possibilities...
But that wouldn't explain the recent drop off. I really think they're trying to get pages to cough up money for sponsored content.
FB is dead to me now. I refuse to pay them to interact with the fans I worked so hard to gain. Nothing they do matters anymore.
I'm personally torn. I've always liked Facebook for personal use and I'm still learning the ins and outs of using company profiles, but with Facebook's tight control over image copywrite, image quality, and other things in the TOS, makes keeping accounts something you really have to think of. While I'm not a big fan of everything they are doing, I still believe having the social connection is very important. It not only allows you to reach out and communicate to other photographers on Facebook, but you can really build a great reputation for your services in a spot a lot of people can see.
Thanks for the great article! I am trying to figure out how to change the date range for the Posts section of Insights. For example, it says "All Posts Published September 05, 2013 to December 03, 2013" Can I increase or change that date range? - Kristina


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Important Current Affairs 17th June 2015 with PDF
Testbook | Updated: Jun 18, 2015 13:51 IST 1 Views
Studying Current Affairs is a must while you preparing for various Government Recruitment Exams. Find the detailed update of all the Important Current Affairs 17th June 2015. You can now download the PDF for the daily Current Affairs capsule as well,download the free android app from here: Testbook App
Person in News
- Chhagan Bhujbal
- In mounting trouble for NCP leader and former Maharashtra Public Works minister Chhagan Bhujbal, the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday registered two Economic Case Information Reports (ECIR) against him and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
National Affairs
- Stepping up his digital presence, the Prime Minister today launched 'Narendra Modi Mobile App' to provide instant updates and an opportunity to receive messages and emails directly from him.
- The Android-based application is also aimed at giving a chance to people to interact with him and share ideas and suggestions.
- The application description said, "download the app and get the latest updates anywhere, anytime! Highlights of the Narendra Modi app include receiving the latest news and updates, exclusive opportunity to receive E-Mails & Messages directly from the PM and 'Mann Ki Baat' with the PM."
- Apart from providing a chance to interact with the Prime Minister and share ideas and suggestions, it will also give latest thoughts from Modi and his blogs.
- Amid opposition in some quarters, a Muslim group on Wednesday came out with a book seeking to allay apprehensions of the community about the International Yoga Day.
- Titled 'Yoga and Islam', the booklet is compiled by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), a wing of RSS. The book was launched by AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik.
International Affairs
- Pakistan has approved a 1,400 MW coal-fired power plant to be set up by China"s Shanghai Electric Group, a media report said today.
- The US manufacturing industry today said it is ready to invest in India but for this it needs Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enact "serious policy reforms" that level the playing field for all and encourage and protect collaboration and innovation.
- Australia today signed a landmark Free Trade Agreement with China after more than a decade of negotiations, providing a boon for jobs and growth in the country in coming years.
- Japan's parliament passed a bill to lower the voting age to 18 from 20, adding 2.4 million new potential voters to the nation's current voting population of 104 million.
- The legislation will come into effect in time for next year's upper house election.
- The last time Japan's voting age was revised was in 1945, when the voting age was lowered to 20 from 25, and women were given the right to vote.
- The new law puts Japan in line with nearly 90% of the world's countries in setting the minimum voting age at 18.
- The government today approved a new bill to replace the 29 year-old Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act with an aim to bring in more products under the mandatory standard regime and end the "inspector raj".
- To ensure quality products to consumers, the new bill proposes to bring in more items under the mandatory system. Currently, 92 items are under mandatory standards.
- The mandatory certification will help consumers receive ISI certified products and will also help in prevention of import of sub-standard products, it added.
- The bill also provides for compulsory hallmarking of precious metal articles, widening the scope of conformity assessment, to enhance penalties, to make offences compoundable and to simplify certain provisions in the Act.
- The new bill also envisages setting up of the Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) as the National Standards Body of India, which will perform its functions through a governing council consisting of a President and other members.
- The proposed provisions in the new BIS Bill will empower the Centre and BIS to promote a culture of quality of products and services through mandatory or voluntary compliance with Indian standards.
- Social media users in the country reached 143 million by April with rapid uptake seen in rural India where user base grew by 100 per cent in last one year to 25 million.
- The revelations come in a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and IMRB International.
- The report said that usage of social media in rural India has grown by 100 per cent during the last one year to 25 million users while urban India registered a relatively lower growth of 35 per cent with the total number of users at 118 million as on April 2015.
- The report said that 61 per cent of these users access social media on their mobile devices.
- The Centre on Wednesday sharply hiked the minimum support price (MSP) for pulses by up to Rs 275 per quintal for this year to boost domestic output and check price rise, while making a modest increase of Rs 50 in paddy MSP to INR 1,410 per quintal.
Banking & Finance
- An ordinance that will allow filing of cheque bounce case at the place where the cheque was presented for clearance has been promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee.
- The President has promulgated the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015, on Monday that will help lakhs of persons battling cheque bounce cases far away from their places, official sources said.
- It is the 14th ordinance by the Modi government in a little over a year time.
- The ordinance will enable filing of cheque bounce cases in the place where the cheque was presented for clearance or payment and not the place of issue.
- There are an estimated 18 lakh people facing cheque bounce cases across the country.
- The Union Cabinet had on June 10 approved the ordinance.
- Micro lender Bandhan today said it has received licence from RBI to start a full-fledged bank and will debut in August with up to 600 branches focusing on retail and small businesses segments.
- Bandhan, which along with infra lender IDFC was given in-principle nod last year to enter universal banking.
- Making a strong case for reduction of policy rates by the Reserve Bank, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian has said the real interest rates are "whoppingly" very high and have made it difficult for corporate to deal with the problem of high debt.
Top 25 Self-Made Billionaires In the World
- Bill Gates, the legendary founder of tech giant Microsoft, is the wealthiest of the elite self-made billionaires club, with an estimated net worth of $85.7 billion, according to a list released today by Wealth-X, a Singapore-based firm that compiles research on the ultra wealthy.
- Second to Gates is Warren Buffett, the guru-investor with a net worth just north of $70 billion. And rounding out the top three positions is Amancio Ortega, the Spanish founder of the fast-fashion dynasty Zara, who has a net worth of $65 billion.
- American entrepreneurs like Gates dominate the Wealth-X list, claiming 14 of the 25 spots. The list features numerous notable American billionaires who are responsible for building some of the most successful companies in the world including Berkshire Hathaway, Oracle, and Google.
Top Ten in List:
|Estimated Net Worth*
|William Gates III
|United States
|Warren Buffett
|United States
|Amancio Ortega
|Lawrence Ellison
|United States
|Ingvar Kamprad
|Jeffrey Bezos
|United States
|Carlos Slim
|Mark Zuckerberg
|United States
|Wang Jianlin
|Michael Bloomberg
|United States


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I went to Brinkley's last Sunday for an early lunch after spending the day before outside, drinking Jaegermeister and dancing to pounding pounding techno music. Well not quite techno, but as close as I'll get to it.
On Saturday I went to the Electric Daisy Carnival at the Olympic Park in East London, and spent 8 solid hours drinking, dancing and fist pumping, so it's no surprise that by Sunday morning, I was absolutely famished.
We (my boyfriend and some friends who'd been at the carnival with me), grabbed a table in the "garden" – essentially a room with a rolled back roof – and felt slightly out of place in a restaurant with white table cloths and napkins, as we tried to piece together the night (or rather, day) before.
Whilst the boys had their head in the hands and felt a little worse for wear, I cracked on and put them to shame by ordering a Bloody Mary to prove my 'I-know-how-to-handle-my-booze-better-than-you' smugness. My smug smiled was soon wiped off with the first sip of The Bloody Mezza. Not because I couldn't handle the vodka, but because their recipe for what constitutes a Bloody Mary was incredibly disappointing. Aside from the spice, it lacked any really oomph (not enough Worcestershire sauce) and no veg (see the image below for the lack of celery!) Seriously, who doesn't add celery?!
Moving onto the food menu quickly, the moment I saw 'Brinkley's burger rossini with chips, rocket, crispy onions and foie gras' I thought, I've hit the the jackpot. And in reality, I had.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the burger had no top bun (see my post on the Jam Tree for my rant about bread vs. burger), and instead it was topped with shavings of crispy, fried onion. A light and complimentary alternative. The bottom-heavy bun was the perfect amount to make up for the fact it was missing a lid. It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
The fois gras was perfectly blended with the cheese and not at all over-powering, which can sometimes happen with such a rich taste. It was delectable.
The lack of top bun also, I realised, allowed me to savour every moment that bit longer, because it forced me to eat the burger with a knife and fork, which took up much more time than it would had I been wolfing it down single-handedly!
I have to admit, I wasn't expecting anything particularly special from this place, but Brinkley's burger is top notch. Especially when you know, after hours of dancing the night before, that you totally deserve it!
Burger rating: 4/5
47 Hollywood Rd
London SW10 9HX


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One of the reasons some blog's take a long time to load, is either a huge photograph at the top of it or a particular post is photo heavy and the images have been loaded in the size they were taken, which can be very large. My camera for instance produces photographs around 45cm x 25cm, way to big for a blog. Another problem with adding them so large is that it eats up your free storage space.
If possible try to adjust your photographs to about 15cm x 10cm (landscape) or the other way around if portrait. If you don't have a programme such as Photoshop Elements, Photoshop or other such software that came with your computer, don't despair, there are free sites on the web for you to try, such as these:
one here
or here
plus many more. I haven't tried them out but have tried to chose ones where you don't, at first glance, have to register or give out your email!
Anyhow, onto the tutorial, putting your photograph into your blog header.
First of all, go to your home page, the one where you can read new posts by those you follow etc. Towards the top you will find this box, click on the little downward facing arrow:
It will bring you to a new screen, on the left of which is this area. Now click Layout:
then go and find the picture you want. Click on it then at the bottom right of your screen, click open. This screen appears, which is very similar to the flower one before but now your new image is showing
I always have the top button pressed which is show and says "Behind title and description", but you could click either of the other two:
This will bring you back to your blog layout screen, the top right of which is this:
I hope this all makes sense to you and that the photo resizing sites I have given, will be useful!