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*this post contains PR samples and/or Affiliate Links unless indicated otherwise - you can learn more on my Disclaimer page here
Monday, 9 October 2017
Merci Handy team up with CoppaFeel
*this post contains PR samples and/or Affiliate Links unless indicated otherwise - you can learn more on my Disclaimer page here
29 comments:
100% of the proceeds?! That's amazing. What a fab collaboration. I need to keep my eye out for this brand.ReplyDelete
Amazing cause and it's so great that all proceeds to go charity and not just a percentage!xReplyDelete
That's amazing that they are donating 100% to such an important charity xxReplyDelete
I love it when brands collaborate with charities xReplyDelete
- Anonymous9 October 2017 at 12:38:00 BST
What a generous donation from Merci Handy - I love a handgel I had from them in the past!ReplyDelete
The Hand Santising Gel from Merci Handy looks fab and what a great charity to supportReplyDelete
That is so handy and so affordable!ReplyDelete
That is amazing that 100% of the proceeds are going to the charity! xReplyDelete
Hahah I love it! What a cool idea for an incredible cause! :)ReplyDelete
Erin || MakeErinOver
I definitely need to pick one of these up! XxReplyDelete
That's amazing that they're donating 100% of the proceeds!!! Definitely need to pick one up 💗💗ReplyDelete
Chantelle x
The Girl In The Tartan Scarf
I need to but this! So good all the profits go direct xReplyDelete
I adore their hand sanitisers and this is just brilliant!!ReplyDelete
Thank you for giving them this great knowledge, really thank you for sharing, hope you will have such great posts as this more.ReplyDelete
What a fab cause and collab! They are so handy and I love the size xReplyDelete
So fun and for such a great cause too!ReplyDelete
Cass | CassandraMyee
I like it when brands collab to try and raise awareness or money for a good cause xReplyDelete
What a brilliant collab, merci handy make great products, glad they give all the money to the charityReplyDelete
Hahaha the packaging is brilliant! Such a worthy cause too!ReplyDelete
Love this! It's so cute ha ha and such a good cause xxxReplyDelete
This is amazing! 100%!! Wow go Merci! XxReplyDelete
I love this! It's great that 100% of the proceeds are going to the charity too. I'm a huge fan of Coppafeel, it's such an important message and something all women should be doing regularly.ReplyDelete
How generous of Merci Handy! I think I will have to pick one upReplyDelete
This is an amazing collab. I'm loving how Merci Handy aims to help Coppafeel on their project. I would love to get one. The packaging had me interested.ReplyDelete
What a great cause! I had no idea breast cancer was the #2 cancer of under 30s!ReplyDelete
Very cute package and indeed an important cause to be part ofReplyDelete
Oh wow that is amazing! I adore the packaging too xReplyDelete
Ceativity and the post clarity is awesome! I believe there are many who feel the same satisfaction as I read this article! I hope you will continue to have such articles to share with everyone!ReplyDelete
vex 3
The packaging alone is brilliant. In addition to that, 100% of the proceeds will go to the charity. Wow. I love this post.ReplyDelete

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The low-profile Flip-Flop blocks are lightweight and can be used for various leads on your boat including halyard leads, mainsheet leads and spinnaker sheet leads.
DO NOT use Harken equipment for human suspension unless product is specifically certified and labeled for such use.
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Pewaukee, WI 53072, USAMailing & Delivery InformationTel: 262.691.3320 | Fax: 262.701.5780 Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Technical Service: email@example.com our other locations


text:
TRUSTe and Promontory Launch Joint BCR Management Program
11 Feb, 2013, 08:00 GMT
LONDON, February 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
TRUSTe and Promontory today launched a joint BCR Management Program designed to make it quicker, simpler and cheaper for businesses to prepare for compliance with the Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs) regime, apply for authorisation from their Data Protection Authority to use BCRs for international data transfers within their organisation, and self-certify their ongoing BCRs compliance through the Program.
BCRs are designed to allow multinational companies to transfer personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA) to their affiliates located outside of the EEA in compliance with Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. The most utilised current alternative to BCRs is the use of the model contractual clauses approved by the European Commission. However, in multinational companies with complex structures, there are drawbacks where hundreds of contracts may be required to cover transfers between all affiliates, and keeping those contracts up to date can be difficult and time consuming.
The new TRUSTe-Promontory BCR Management Program will be delivered and managed by TRUSTe, the leading global provider of data privacy management solutions, based on a framework developed by Promontory, a global regulatory compliance consulting firm. The framework will help companies build their BCR application in a streamlined and consistent manner. Once the application is approved by the relevant Data Protection Authorities, the company will remain a member of the TRUSTe-Promontory BCR Management Program to evidence and certify their ongoing compliance with BCR standards. This new program is designed to offer organisations the combination of TRUSTe's credibility and experience in developing privacy certification programs and Promontory's experience of European data protection regulation and addressing corporate compliance around international data transfers.
"As the challenges of ensuring both regulatory compliance and good privacy practices increase, BCRs are an ideal way for organisations to demonstrate compliance with European data privacy standards when transferring and using customer and employee personal information overseas. This new program we are launching with Promontory today should encourage more organisations to take advantage of the benefits of BCRs and demonstrate that they have good privacy practices at their heart of their business," said Danilo Labovic, EMEA Managing Director for TRUSTe.
Simon McDougall, Managing Director and Head of Promontory's Privacy Practice said: "I am delighted to be working with TRUSTe, who are global leaders in privacy self-regulation. In an ideal world, all international firms would use Binding Corporate Rules when moving personal data around their corporate group. However, many organisations currently see the application process as complicated and expensive. The TRUSTe-Promontory BCR Management Program will help make demonstrating BCR readiness cheaper, simpler and quicker. Members of the program will able to demonstrate their commitment to good privacy governance, as well as make their international data transfers easier."
Notes to Editors
1 TRUSTe is the leading global provider of data privacy management solutions, offering a broad suite of technologies and certifications to help companies build trust and increase engagement across their online channels, including websites, mobile apps, advertising, and cloud services. More than 5,000 companies, including top international brands like Apple, eBay, LinkedIn and Microsoft, rely on TRUSTe to build trust and address evolving and complex privacy challenges. TRUSTe® Certified Privacy Seal is widely recognised and trusted by millions of consumers worldwide as a sign of responsible privacy practices. For more information, please visit http://www.truste.co.uk
2 Promontory Financial Group, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a global consulting firm for regulated companies. The firm specializes in solving regulatory, risk, controls, compliance, governance, capital, and liquidity issues. Promontory has offices in London, Atlanta, Brussels, Denver, Dubai, Hong Kong, Milan, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, and Toronto. Eugene A. Ludwig, who served as U.S. Comptroller of the Currency under President Clinton, founded Promontory in 2001. Visit us at http://www.promontory.com and follow us on Twitter @PromontoryFG.
3 Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs) are designed to allow multinational companies to transfer personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA) to their affiliates located outside of the EEA in compliance with Directive 95/46/EC.
Applicants must demonstrate that their BCRs put in place adequate safeguards for protecting personal data throughout the organisation in line with the requirements of the Article 29 Working Party papers on Binding Corporate Rules.
Applicants apply to a Data Protection Authority (DPA) (decided by criteria related to their location and business) who acts as their 'lead authority'. If the lead authority is satisfied, it then circulates the draft BCRs to other European DPAs, where those countries are in scope of the application.
4 For TRUSTe EU media enquiries and interview requests please contact Eleanor Treharne-Jones at The Conversation Co. on +44(0)7811-093648 or +44(0)20-7812-0664 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com
5 For Promontory EU Media Enquiries please contact Alex Brown at Weber Shandwick Worldwide on +44(0)20-7067-0732 or email@example.com
SOURCE TRUSTe


text:
It is important to know what things make your asthma worse. These are called asthma "triggers." Avoiding them is your first step toward feeling better.
Our homes can be filled with asthma triggers. Some of these are in the air we breathe, some are in our furniture and carpets, and some are on our pets.
If you smoke, ask your doctor or nurse to help you quit. No one should smoke in your house. This includes you, your visitors, your child's babysitters, and anyone else who comes to your house.
Smokers should smoke outside and wear a coat. The coat will keep smoke particles from sticking to their clothes. They should leave the coat outside, or away from the child.
Ask people who work at your child's day care, preschool, school, and anyone else who takes care of your child, if they smoke. If they do, make sure they smoke away from your child. Stay away from restaurants and bars that allow smoking. Or, ask for a table as far away from smokers as possible.
When pollen levels are high:
You can take several steps to limit exposure to dust mites.
Keeping indoor humidity at less than 50% will keep mold spores down. Keep sinks and tubs dry and clean, and fix leaky pipes. Empty and wash the refrigerator tray that collects water from the freezer defroster often.
Use an exhaust fan in the bathroom when you are showering. Do not let damp clothes sit in a basket or hamper.
Clean or replace shower curtains when you see mold on them. Check your basement for moisture and mold. Use a dehumidifier to keep the air dryer.
Keep pets outside, if possible. If pets stay inside, keep them:
Wash your pet once a week.
If you have a central air conditioning system, use a HEPA filter to remove pet allergens from indoor air. Use a vacuum cleaner with HEPA filters.
Wash your hands and change your clothes after playing with your pet.
Keep kitchen counters clean and free of food crumbs. Do not leave dirty dishes in the sink. Keep food in closed containers.
Do not let trash pile up inside. This includes bags, newspapers, and cardboard boxes.
Use roach traps. Wear a dust mask and gloves if you touch or are near rodents.
Do not use wood-burning fireplaces. If you need to burn wood, use an air-tight wood-burning stove.
Do not use perfumes or scented cleaning sprays. Use trigger sprays instead of aerosols.


text:
Front - Brembo dual semi-floating 330 mm discs with dual radial mounted monobloc 4-piston calipers
Rear - Single 220 mm disc with aluminum single-piston caliper
Front - 120/70 ZR17
Rear - 190/55 ZR17
Front - 43 mm inverted Balance Free Fork, adjustable stepless rebound and compression damping, spring preload adjustability; 4.7 in. travel
Rear - Horizontal back-link with Balance Free gas-charged shock, stepless, dual-range (low-/high-speed) compression damping, stepless rebound damping, fully adjustable spring preload; 4.5 in. travel


text:
[Verse 1]
I'm at the house 'bout to roll this kush up
I can get a call at any minute, so I'm just doing push-ups
Waiting on what seems to be forever
I burned a hole in my Polo sweater cause I was nervous
But that's how crazy birth is, loading up this Beretta
Cause this time I'm having a baby girl
So it's whatever, whenever.. whatever
You my willow and it's my will to make this last forever
First thing I'mma tell her, daddy's your umbrella
Get with a glass slipper Cali, you my Cinderella
Gotta be a dream, hold up, that's your middle name
Both your brothers big now, so baby you my little Game
Who gon be the Godfather? Swizz? Lil Wayne?
AR smoke too much but got Cali tatted on his veins
And I just got a text from your mama
Saying the water burst, I guess it's time for my karma
[Verse 2]
Walk through the door, she on the ground crying
She don't wanna get up, you had a baby right here
I ain't cleaning that shit up!
I finally got her out the house, now we on the elevator
She screaming, I left the car seat
But I'mma tell her later
Aww forget the car seat, man I'm hella-faded
She like "I know you ain't high" shit, I celebrated
Now we in the car, she won't put on her seatbelt
Screaming at the top of her lungs, "God, I need help"!
Weaving through traffic, minutes between contractions
Close your eyes right now, and you can see it happening
Imagine, she pulling on me "stop I'm about to crash, shit!"
Butterflies in my stomach, heart beating fast as shit
Every time I have a kid, it's like the first time
Kids the best, but they be coming at the worst times
Now we here, Tiff get in the wheelchair
Them butterflies still here. Am I happy? Hell yeah!
[Verse 3]
I parked the car, now I'm running through the halls lost
Trying to figure out which one of these rooms is ours
Think, think damn, one of the nurses stuck they head out
They gave her an epideral so I pulled the couch bed out
Took a nap, woke up, they almost got the head out
She grabbing on the rails, looking like she 'bout to pass out
Told her to breathe, grab my phone and hit record
"Breathe! 1, 2, 3, 4 - one more - 2, 3, 4"
Push! C'mon Tig, push! God damn it, just push!"
Nurse Linda coaching her, doctor arm a pulling on shoulders
Giving me the notion to cut the umbilical cord
She out, 8 pounds 4 ounces, sayin' stop the beat
Hold up, I'm about to make a announcement
See, every time a child is born somebody leave the world
So I thank the woman that gave her life for my baby girl
Game's ode to his newborn daughter, named "California Dream Taylor". This song is very similar to "Like Father, Like Son".


text:
Antitrust Case Filings
Antitrust Case Filings
To filter the list of cases, select desired options from the left navigation pane.
View the list of NAICS and SIC industry codes used by the Division. To view all industry codes, visit Census.gov.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1
|Case Open Date
|Incident Date
|Case Type
|Federal Court
|Industry Code
|U.S. v. Massachusetts Allergy Society, Inc.
|February 3, 1992
|Civil Non-Merger
|Massachusetts, District of
|HMO Medical Centers, Offices & Clinics of Medical Doctors


text:
Be the first to review this product
Availability: In stock
Use spaces to separate tags. Use single quotes (') for phrases.
Just Wales Ltd is a well established delivery and distribution of all incontinent products company that has built up an enviable reputation over the last 13 years.
Unit 4, Llandudno Junction Industrial Estate, Llandudno, LL31 9SX
Tel: 01269 832722
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Services on Demand
Related links
- Cited by Google
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South African Journal of Science
On-line version ISSN 1996-7489
Print version ISSN 0038-2353
S. Afr. j. sci. vol.108 n.1-2 Pretoria Jan. 2012
The South African National Vegetation Database: history, development, applications, problems and future
Michael C. RutherfordI,II; Ladislav MucinaIII; W. PowrieI
IApplied Biodiversity Research Division, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Claremont, South Africa
IIDepartment of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
IIICurtin Institute for Biodiversity and Climate, Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Southern Africa has been recognised as one of the most interesting and important areas of the world from an ecological and evolutionary point of view. The establishment and development of the National Vegetation Database (NVD) of South Africa enabled South Africa to contribute to environmental planning and conservation management in this floristically unique region. In this paper, we aim to provide an update on the development of the NVD since it was last described, near its inception, more than a decade ago. The NVD was developed using the Turboveg software environment, and currently comprises 46 697 vegetation plots (relevés) sharing 11 690 plant taxa and containing 968 943 species occurrence records. The NVD was primarily founded to serve vegetation classification and mapping goals but soon became recognised as an important tool in conservation assessment and target setting. The NVD has directly helped produce the National Vegetation Map, National Forest Type Classification, South African National Biodiversity Assessment and Forest Type Conservation Assessment. With further development of the NVD and more consistent handling of the legacy data (old data sets), the current limitations regarding certain types of application of the data should be significantly reduced. However, the use of the current NVD in multidisciplinary research has certainly not been fully explored. With the availability of new pools of well-trained vegetation surveyors, the NVD will continue to be purpose driven and serve the needs of biological survey in pursuit of sustainable use of the vegetation and flora resources of the southern African subcontinent.
It is particularly important for management and conservation in regions with exceptional floristic diversity that databases are developed that are designed to store information on occurrence and co-occurrence of plant taxa, and on vegetation characteristics of the region. Such databases serve not only as storage sites of relevant information, but also allow effective and fast data mining1,2 for purposes of scientific enquiry and discovery.3,4,5,6 These databases are a vital source of information for wide-ranging practical applications in many fields of national significance. For instance, sufficiently comprehensive vegetation databases allow identification of ecological indicator species7 or species groups to assist in environmental assessment and monitoring, and extraction of species-diversity patterns for developing conservation targets.8,9,10
Southern Africa has one of the richest floras in the world, showing very high levels of local and regional endemism and unprecedented regional beta diversity.11 Southern Africa is the home of the renowned Capensis (the smallest floristic kingdom of the world) as well as global flora hotspots12 and is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and important areas of the world from ecological and evolutionary points of view. Knowing and managing the floristic richness of southern Africa requires serious engagement in recovering and storing available information about its variability and distribution.
This paper provides an update on the development of the National Vegetation Database (NVD) of South Africa since it was last described a decade ago.13 We briefly review its history as well as the current status of the NVD, its structure and associated problems. We consider the NVD to be an important scientific and natural resource management tool and therefore we investigated (using several examples) strengths and weaknesses of the NVD for application in important current issues such as conservation targeting.
Vegetation databases differ fundamentally from taxonomic databases, such as the South African National Herbarium Pretoria Computerised Information System (PRECIS) database,14 which are based on plant specimens. In contrast to independent occurrences of individual species in taxonomic databases, vegetation sample plot data (also called relevés by European phytosociologists) of vegetation databases provide combinations of species at community level.
Historical highlights of national vegetation databasing in South Africa
The first nationwide vegetation database was created by digital capture of the life's sampling work of John Acocks(ACKDAT15,16) and was aimed at producing a vegetation map of the country.17 Almost all of these mostly comprehensive records of species and estimated abundances at over 3000 sites were sampled between 1945 and 1975. The database was launched in 1994.16 Although it has good coverage in many areas (including the arid areas), ACKDAT is biased by poor sampling coverage in regions of the present-day Limpopo Province as well as in the, then less accessible, Kalahari, Maputaland, Richtersveld and high altitudes of the Cape Fold Mountains. Taxonomy of several critical groups is problematic and the database also suffers from the 'plotless' sampling design: the sampled areas are of variable and uncertain size. There are no precise georeferencing data of the sites; however, the positions of the sampled areas were identified with a precision of 1 km - 3 km. There are currently 289 414 floristic records in the database. ACKDAT played an important part in preliminary classifications precedingvegetation mapping in the Nama-Karoo18 and assisted descriptions of vegetation types of the National Vegetation Map.19
The NVD was conceived during the visiting fellowship period of L. Mucina in the research group of G.J. Bredenkamp at the Department of Botany, University of Pretoria in late 1996. The original intention was to collate numerous vegetation plot data sets (published mainly in the South African Journal of Botany) and those in phytosociological masters and doctoral degree theses, primarily covering vegetation of the Grassland and Savanna Biomes20 into a format readily amenable to large-scale syntaxonomic revisions. Turboveg21 (http://www.synbiosys.alterra.nl/turboveg), currently version 2.85, was chosen as the software platform. The unprecedented success of Turboveg in unifying the phytosociological data storage and handling in Europe (and later in some other parts of the world) followed cooperative initiatives developed in the European Vegetation Survey - a working group of the International Association for Vegetation Science.22,23
In early 1997, the budding vegetation database was recognised as a potentially useful tool for supporting the National Vegetation Map project initiated in 199524 and was referred to as the VEGMAP Database.25 Since September 2000 the NVD was jointly curated by the National Botanical Institute and Stellenbosch University. It was also in this year13 when the database received its current name - the National Vegetation Database. It subsequently fell under private curation by L. Mucina (then associated with the Universities of the North, Free State and Stellenbosch) during an unfunded period until mid-2009 when it was placed under the corporate governance of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
Coincidentally, this decade which saw the successful completion of the major collaborative project on the national vegetation map19,26,27 was also a decade that witnessed a major slump in new vegetation survey projects (Figure 1). In late 2009 and early 2010, SANBI undertook an assessment of the NVD, during which metadata were expanded, duplications identified and removed, and several issues were flagged for future attention. The NVD is now registered with the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases28 which shows it to be one of the largest vegetation databases in Africa.
The earliest known systematic botanical surveys were conducted in Robertson Karoo vegetation29 and Fynbos vegetation at the Cape of Good Hope.30 The 1970s experienced a surge in plot-based vegetation sampling (Figure 1), supported by the Botanical Survey Section of the Botanical Research Institute, encouraged by visiting phytosociologists from Europe (M.J.A. Werger and F. van der Meulen). This effort was soon joined by several universities and nature conservation agencies which increasingly made contributions to the systematic vegetation knowledge base. The carry-over of results from fieldwork from the 1980s for publication in the 1990s, together with the notable sterling efforts by certain universities and the Agricultural Research Council, led to the 1990s becoming the golden decade of vegetation survey studies in South Africa. We believe that the publication of the National Vegetation Map (and accompanying products) as well as the new consolidated National Vegetation Databaseand only recently (2008) established National Vegetation Map Committee should provide a new impetus to recognise the need for deepening of vegetation survey work in South Africa.
National Vegetation Database: Current problems and challenges
Data availability and geographical coverage
The NVD currently comprises 46 697 vegetation plots sharing 11 690 vascular plant taxa, and has 968 943 species occurrences. A few plots from the 'embedded' country of Lesotho are included in the NVD. The current geographica coverage of the NVD is highly skewed with a number of major mismatches between the georeferenced plot data and taxon density at biome level (Figure 2). Georeferenced plots are relatively well represented in Kalahari savanna areas and in the high-lying grassland areas of South Africa. Fynbos and Indian Ocean Coastal Belt are very poorly represented. Succulent Karoo is hardly represented at all even though there are many non-georeferenced plots for some regions of this biome. Many existing (unpublished) data sets from the Succulent Karoo and Desert Biomes have not yet been captured for various reasons. We realise, for example, that a wealth of vegetation plot data has been collected for western parts of the Succulent Karoo and Fynbos Biomes on BIOTA Observatories.31 These data form part of a separate database - BIOTABase. Funding of future vegetation survey projects should take into account the need to specifically cover very poorly represented areas of the country. We hope that as NVD becomes more established, people with vegetation survey data in South Africa will see the value of contributing their data to the NVD.
Data quality control
A significant proportion of the data in the NVD are so called 'legacy data', that is, the very old data sets, usually collected using outdated sampling schemes and often not accompanied by important metadata that allows for judgement on the quality of the sampling. Central to the problem of legacy data is often the lack of a clear audit trail, which in turn results in data quality concerns and uncertainty regarding the degree of confidence in the data.32
Three additional data fields were added to the NVD in late 2009: species bias, locality confidence and climatic uniformity. These additional fields were needed to qualify data instead of rejecting outright incomplete or imprecise data and therefore had a fundamental bearing on the quality control, and hence the usefulness, of the data.
The first additional field was 'species bias'. This field indicates plots where lists of recorded species were incomplete or very likely to be incomplete. Various types of species absences exist. In some forest projects only woody species were recorded and often only plants above a certain size (e.g. 10 cm diameter at breast height) were included. Absences of all species of a growth form known to be in a sample area were flagged. Some studies do not list rare species in their final phytosociological table. Other studies were flagged where the expected relatively long list of rare species seems unusually short compared to the expected species distributions.33 Some data sets are marked as probably incomplete based on their unusually low mean species richness compared to others using the same plot size in the same region.
The second additional field was 'locality confidence'. Retrospective georeferencing, which is commonly needed with legacy data, showed a wide range of spatial precision, specified in terms of a radius in metres, of sample plots. A coordinate with decimal degrees to four decimal places has an apparent accuracy of 7 m. The centroid of a reserve or farm is represented by an approximate radius commonly between 3 km and 10 km. A distance greater than 10 km was regarded as indicating a non-georeferenced plot.
The last additional field was 'climatic uniformity' around a sample plot. This field was mainly required to indicate the suitability of the plot for climate change modelling. Suitability was flagged where modelled climate data34 on a 1 x 1 minute grid around the plot was sufficiently uniform for unambiguously linking the plot data to climate data. Plots on steep climatic gradients (e.g. in topographically diverse habitats) and plots known to occur in climatically unique microhabitats (e.g. small forest patches on the escarpment) were marked as unsuitable.
Various types of information were recorded for curatorial control purposes. For example, if the plot area can be captured or if it is simply not available. A number of data sets in the NVD omit the area of the plot. It should also be noted that there is considerable variation in plot size within the NVD (Figure 3).
There are 36 fields to capture so called 'header data' in Turboveg. The 'header data' describe the plot and include data fields containing geographical position, literature source (if relevant), size of plot, basic characteristics of the sampled vegetation (such as the percentage cover-abundance of various layers and the height of vegetation), and date of sampling.35 The header data set can be extended, and was extended for the NVD by data fields specific to South Africa with related pop-up lists (e.g. veld types and biomes). Because data were captured at various locations (by various working groups), new fields of the header data were added. In fact, there are 268 new columns in the header data table since the approximately 310 Turboveg data sets have been merged. Many different fields store the same kind of data. These fields could not be automatically combined in merging the databases, had no specifications for the data stored in them, no pop-up lists and no limits. We hope that these drawbacks will be overcome by central NVD management and adherence to standards which still have to be formulated and implemented.
Experience gained in populating the NVD has led to the development of a workflow procedure for treating potential data for incorporation in the NVD. The many detailed criteria include screening for errors of commission - when a species is mistakenly thought to be present36 - by using databases such as PRECIS in parallel.
Problem of the standard species checklist
The use of a static species list was an important limitation in South Africa, where taxonomy of many plant taxa is not yet stable and where many taxa are awaiting formal recognition (description and assignment of scientific name). Species names were subsequently carefully matched during the assessment in 2010 to the flora database, PRECIS14, and a tight link was created to enable using PRECIS as the standard.
The update of taxonomy and nomenclature in a database is not a trivial matter as witnessed by the complexity of the structure to address this issue by the team developing the United States VegBank (http://www.vegbank.org). The current rigid structure of NVD with a standard checklist is being remedied with an improved link between Turboveg and the central taxon database to enable ongoing taxonomic updates. Solutions to the problems caused by dynamic plant taxonomy (especially in developing countries) in vegetation databases are not easily applied.37
Applications using the National Vegetation Database
Applications and available data combinations
Data from the database have been used for vegetation classification and conservation targets. Data can also be used to explore projected impacts of climate change on species, species diversity patterns, abundance gradients and species co-occurrences and non co-occurrences. For a number of these applications it is currently inappropriate to attempt formal national analyses given the highly geographically skewed representation of the data. Data requirements for most of these applications are unique and, as a result of an unevenly populated database, the number of available plots per application can differ greatly (Table 1).
Formal classification of vegetation usually expects plots with full floristic lists and relative abundances of species. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the main initial purpose of the NVD was for classification of vegetation, is that 85% of plots complied with these requirements. More recently it has been shown that vegetation classification can be distorted by plot size.38 Inclusion of the criterion of plot size would reduce the proportion of compliant plots to 44%. Either way, the strong geographical bias of the NVD limits its usefulness for classification to specific regions. Setting conservation targets for vegetation types requires that all species are recorded and that plots are georeferenced. Although the species-area relationships are fundamental to setting these conservation targets, it has been claimed that the power exponent (z) of the commonly used power relationship is remarkably insensitive to plot size. This finding was derived from an independent study across vegetation types of the Succulent Karoo.8 However, other studies that included Succulent Karoo have indicated a greater dependence of the z-value on plot size.39 The inclusion of plot size as a criterion for setting conservation targets would result in the proportion of available plots declining from 33% to 21%.
Estimating the impact of climate change on species requires georeferenced plots that are unambiguously linked to available modelled climate data, which would limit this analysis to 32% of plots. Species diversity (richness and evenness) is highly scale dependent and requires known plot size as well as a record of all species. Spatial species diversity also requires georeferenced plots, which, when taken together, would result in only 21% of plots of the database satisfying these requirements. About 35% of plots are potentially suitable for exploring cover-abundance gradients, that is, changes in cover-abundance across the landscape. Analysis of potential species co-occurrences in terms of positively and negatively associated species in smaller plot sizes (< 400 m2) would allow 44% of the plots to be used. We limit further discussion to the first two applications mentioned.
Classification of vegetation
Review of the use of databases for vegetation classification purposes is beyond the purpose of this paper; however, it is obvious that the European Turboveg databases, in particular, were primarily designed to serve this purpose. It is also not surprising that these databases have served this purpose convincingly well (for example see Schaminée et al.40).
In South Africa, the NVD has served as a source of data for preliminary vegetation classification using data subsets from the Fynbos Biome. Data from ACKDAT were added to Turboveg for classification of vegetation in the NamaKaroo.41 Use of the NVD for deriving vegetation types of much of the Fynbos and Succulent Karoo Biomes was limited by the patchy geographical coverage of georeferenced plot data (Figure 2). Capture of about 5000 forest vegetation plots and their classification leading to the National Forest Type Classification42,43,44 was undoubtedly the most extensive and useful classification project assisted by Turboveg in South Africa to date.
An earlier alternative system of vegetation classification, which used plant structural characteristics and higher taxa (such as Families), has been applied by Campbell45 within the Fynbos Biome. This system was derived specifically for Fynbos vegetation, to, amongst other reasons, avoid the difficulty of identifying the large number of species typically encountered in Fynbos.46 Campbell46 contends, for theoretical reasons, that floristic classification will answer biogeographical rather than ecological questions and that a structural classification would differ in this respect. This theoretical basis is contentious, especially because vegetation structure is convergent in nature - that is, the same structural phenomena can be encountered under very different habitat conditions.47 We agree with the view that after the completion of a sufficient number of phytosociological surveys in Fynbos, a formal taxonomic synthesis of the entire Fynbos Biome will be feasible.48
Conservation targets
One of the characteristics of systematic conservation planning is its use of explicit targets for biodiversity features.49 Targets provide a defensible basis for conservation decisions and also provide a benchmark against which to measure the success of conservation action.8 The NVD was used to establish targets for the several hundred vegetation types of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland19 and was first achieved for the South African National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment (NSBA) of 2004.9 The NSBA was the first ever comprehensive spatial assessment of biodiversity throughout South Africa. This assessment provided spatial priorities for conservation action. The conservation targets were derived using cumulative species numbers for increasing areas based on plot data that led to a power curve relationship.8 This relationship was used to determine the areal land extent required to be set aside to conserve at least 75% of species that occur in each vegetation type. Resulting targets, except for forests, ranged between 16% and 36% of the original extent of vegetation types.9 The targets were published in hardcopy form; the highest average conservation targets per vegetation type for these biomes were 32% for Desert and 28% for Fynbos.10 A similar approach was used to set conservation targets for the national forest types50 where Scarp forests were found to have the highest target, in excess of 25%. By contrast, national animal databases of species occurrence data, such as the bird atlas51 and frog atlas,52 were not suitable for calculating targets for habitat conservation in the NSBA.9 These atlases were used, as was PRECIS, for spatial analyses of species of special concern in determining regions of high species irreplaceability and areas containing critically endangered species.
A number of lessons were learned in the development of the NVD. The most important was probably to ensure that management of the development of the database was adequately funded. Adequate funding would help to ensure greater consistency and adherence to standards. More comprehensive planning and a clearer implementation strategy with more regular external review would also have been advantageous.
We suggest that the further development of the NVD should be purpose driven and should serve current needs of biological survey and sustainable use of the vegetation and flora resources of the subcontinent. The NVD should establish a reputation not only as a source of data for purposes of basic research, but also as an important tool to assist with making informed managerial and political decisions in the fields of environmental planning and management, land use, sustainable use of biological resources and global change scenarios, amongst others. Use of the NVD in multidisciplinary research has been little explored.
The NVD should develop to serve diverse needs and therefore its structures should be more flexible up to a point, possibly allowing the storage of vegetation data such as plotless samples, demographic measurements and permanent-plot data series in addition to the classical plot species and environmental data. In addition, the NVD needs to ensure that it abides by exchange standards between vegetation databases such as that for plot-based vegetation data.53
Besides the flexible internal structure, major attention should be paid to improving the procedures for updating the species list, which requires adaptation of the current Turboveg model involving stable, yet editable species, but which does not allow for controlled cross-referencing of various taxonomic concepts. In this respect, the US VegBank project should be consulted for a possible solution.
Outside the control of the NVD is the creation of new data. The large current imbalance in geographical coverage needs to be addressed. Development of reliable, robust ecological indicators needs much wider sampling than is available in the current NVD. For example, analysis of the rate of floristic change at vegetation ecotones also requires much more intensive sampling than has been done.
Control of data quality remains a challenge. Improvements here should include the checking of species identity by cross-referencing with existing flora databases (such as PRECIS). The entry of voucher specimens into the NVD accompanying the plot data should be enabled, thereby allowing more intensive involvement of taxonomic experts. Metadata should include information about the conditions relevant to the sample(s) (e.g. sampling in an abnormally dry year54).
As in the case of other, well-established vegetation databases, the NVD should seek to build interfaces with ecologically and economically important data sets on climate, geology, landscape history and ecological traits of species. The Dutch examples - SynBioSys Netherlands55 and SynBioSys Europe (http://www.synbiosys.alterra.nl/synbiosyseu/) - should serve as inspiration. In fact, several local initiatives have emerged through cooperation of South African ecologists and botanists leading to SynBioSys Kruger (http://www.alterra.wur.nl/UK/newsagenda/archive/news/2006/SynBioSys_Kruger.htm) and SynBioSys Fynbos (http://www.synbiosysfynbos.org/home.html).
Each database serves its purpose only when populated with high-quality and a large quantity of data. Collecting new data sets is always very costly and always involves one indispensable ingredient - a well-trained vegetation surveyor. A revitalisation of local training in systematic vegetation survey is required, without which there will be far-reaching negative consequences for science as well as for the sustainable utilisation of natural resources within South Africa. The shortage of sufficient local talent and the lack of a sustained tradition of vegetation survey call for a new approach. Expertise should be imported in order to encourage the acquisition of information about one of South Africa's most unique national assets - its highly diverse vegetation.
We thank all those who contributed data to the National Vegetation Database of South Africa. L.M. acknowledges the long-term support of SANBI, the Universities of Pretoria, the North, the Free State and Stellenbosch, and the National Department of Water Affairs and Tourism over the years of the development and curation of the NVD.
Competing interests
The corresponding author confirms that there are no personal, employment or commercial affiliations, stock or equity interests or patent-licensing arrangements that could be considered to pose a financial conflict of interest regarding the submitted manuscript (which may potentially prevent them from executing and publishing unbiased research).
Authors' contributions
M.C.R. wrote the first draft for circulation to co-authors; subsequently, L.M. wrote the 'Introduction' with contributions from M.C.R.; M.C.R. and L.M. wrote 'Historical highlights of national vegetation databasing in South Africa'; M.C.R., L.W.P. and L.M. wrote 'Data availability and geographical coverage' and 'Data quality control'; L.M. wrote 'Problem of the standard species checklist' with input from L.W.P.; M.C.R. wrote 'Applications and available data combinations' with input from L.W.P.; L.M. wrote 'Classification of vegetation'; M.C.R. wrote 'Conservation targets'; and L.M. wrote the 'Conclusions' with contributions by M.C.R. All statistics, calculations and extractions from the NVD were done by L.W.P. and checked by M.C.R.; M.C.R. devised Table 1; and L.W.P. prepared Figures 1 to 3.
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28. Dengler J, Jansen F, Glöckler F, et al. The Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases 1 (GIVD): A new resource for vegetation science. J Veg Sci. 2011;22:582-597. [ Links ]
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Correspondence to:
Michael Rutherford
Postal address: Private Bag X7
Claremont 7735, South Africa
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Received: 14 Feb. 2011
Accepted: 29 July 2011
Published: 17 Jan. 2012
© 2012. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.


text:
So you're a swallow just flying along and *BAM* a fish jumps out and snatches you from the air. Scientists have been hearing rumors about this bird-eating-tigerfish for years but never put much stock in the rumors. At a lake in South Africa's Mapungubwe National Park, however, they saw this happen twenty times.
"[T]he first reaction was one of pure joy, because we realized that we were spectators to something really incredible and unique," one of the scientists told Nature. And now you can see for yourself in the video.


text:
Export 10 results:Author Title [ Type] Year
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Voluntary agreements in the industrial sector in China. Vol. 2. 2003. LBNL-52715..
Voluntary Agreements for Increasing Energy-Efficiency in Industry: Case Study of a Pilot Project with the Steel Industry in Shandong Province, China. Vol. 28. 2003. LBNL-52714..
Tax and Fiscal Policies for Promotion of Industrial Energy Efficiency: A Survey of International Experience. 2005. LBNL-58128..
Sectoral trends in global energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. 2006. LBNL-56144..
Development of an energy conservation voluntary agreement pilot project in the steel sector in Shandong. Vol. 28. 2004. LBNL-51608 Chinese..
Development of an Energy Conservation Voluntary Agreement: Pilot Project in the Steel Sector in Shandong Province. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; China Energy Conservation Association, 2003. LBNL-51608..
China's industrial sector in an international context. Vol. 29. 2000. LBNL-46273..
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"Large historical changes of fossil-fuel black carbon aerosols." Geophysical Research Letters 30.6 (2002). LBNL-50881..
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"Industrial energy efficiency policy in China." 2001 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Industry, 5/1/2001. Vol. 2. 2001. LBNL-50452..


text:
This awesomeness—captured by photographer Stefan Marjoram—is the cockpit of the Bloodhound Supersonic Car, designed to set a new world land speed record of—at least!—1,000 miles per hour (1,609.34 km/h) in South Africa. Its pilot, Andy Green, explains how the instruments work in this video tour.
An amazing machine. Can't wait to see it in action in 2015.


text:
Jordi Savall
Born on the 1st August 1941 in Igualada (Barcelona province, Spain), Jordi Savall i Bernadet is a cellist, violist, choir director, orchestra leader, and composer. His repertoire spans music dating from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and from the Baroque period until the nineteenth century. Savall was married to the Spanish soprano Montserrat Figueras from 1968 until her death in November 2011, and is the father of Arianna and Ferran Savall; both singers and musicians.
After studying the cello at Barcelona Conservatory (where he first met Montserrat, his future wife), Jordi Savall took up the viola da gamba during a visit to Paris, during which he discovered the Marin Marais manuscripts at the National Library. From this point on, he never ceased in working to revive an instrument that had fallen into great disrepute. Savall soon met the great Belgian violinist Wieland Kuijken, a supreme reference point in the field. From there, further studies followed at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland, where he received instruction from Professor August Wenzinger, another titan of the cello and the viola da gamba, whom he would go on to succeed.
Working notably with the lutenist Hopkinson Smith, he formed the Hespèrion XX ensemble that later became Hespèrion XXI; a formation which would work to revive forgotten and poorly documented scores. In 1991 the violist revealed himself to a wider audience, and in doing so showcased the viola da gamba on his film soundtrack for 'Tous Les Matins du Monde' by Alain Corneau. In 1994, he also participated with his two ensembles (the Hespèrion XX and the Capella Reial de Catalunya) in the development of medieval music for the film 'Jeanne la Pucelle' by Jacques Rivette.
Since 1968, Jordi Savall has made more than 120 records, as a soloist, and in his various capacities with the Schola Cantorum, the Ensemble Ricercare, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, and the Hespèrion XX & XXI, often working in collaboration with his wife and their children. Savall remains dedicated to studies of early Spanish music, through which he has tried to revive the arts of improvisation and authentic instrumentation. He formed his own record label, Alia Voxen, in 1997. In the course of his career, Savall has received many distinctions, including Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters (1988), Creu de Saint Jordi (1990), Musician of the Year from the 'World of Music' organisation (1992), the Grammy award for Soloist of the Year (1993), the Médaille d'or des Beaux-Arts (1998), Member of Honour from the Vienna Konzerthaus (1999), an Honorary Doctorate from the Catholic University of Louvain (2002), a 'Victory Music' for his entire career (2002), the Médaille d'or from the Parliament of Catalunya (2003), the Medal of Honour from the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik (2003), a European Ambassadorship for Intercultural Dialogue (2007), and the Léonie Sonning Music Award (2012).
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text:
|Institution Type:
|Campus Setting:
|Plains Town, remote from an urban area
|Highest Degree Offered:
|Associate's degree
|Level of Institution:
|At least 2 but less than 4 years
Classes are ridiculously easy and class sizes are small. Teachers will invest time into you very similar to in high school. Little to do for fun in the area.…
The mission of the Mid-Plains Community College
(MPCC) is to provide educational opportunities
for lifelong student learning.
I have made quite a few friends. Everyone has that small town attitude.Read More
I like the NPCC south campus, the MPCC is okay too. The people are over all just people, some are nice and some are mean. You can usually tell when someone isn't friendly. Personally, I stay to myself but there's always two people you can talk with in class when you want.Read More


text:
Behind dominant Oberholtzer, Astros blank Red Sox
Lefty scatters four hits over seven scoreless frames to net second win
HOUSTON -- Forget a spot in the starting rotation. Rookie Brett Oberholtzer might be angling for the title of Astros ace.
Five days removed from shutting down the Orioles and making his first start at home, Oberholtzer was again brilliant against an American League East powerhouse, this time setting down the Red Sox over seven spectacular innings as the Astros posted a 2-0 win Monday night at Minute Maid Park.
"Obie was tremendous," said beaming manager Bo Porter. "Back to the start against Baltimore, he did a great job of mixing his pitches and getting early contact.
"Today, against a really good lineup, he did a tremendous job of pitching to the inner third of the plate and really attacking from a standpoint where he didn't put himself too deep into counts where he was forced to throw fastballs."
With the performance, Oberholtzer became the first player since Phillies pitcher Marty Bystrom in 1980 to open his career with two straight starts of seven or more shutout innings. He's the first Astros player to accomplish the feat.
The lefty outdueled Sox starter John Lackey, who nearly matched Oberholtzer with six-plus innings of two-run ball while striking out 10.
"John had very good stuff, got some key strikeouts when he needed to," said Boston manager John Farrell.
Houston got to Lackey first in the fifth, as L.J. Hoes -- making his Minute Maid Park debut -- scored on Robbie Grossman's one-out single.
Hoes had swiped second moments earlier, part of a season-high six stolen bases for the Astros. It was the most steals for Houston since April 25, 2010, when it stole six against the Pirates.
"We have some guys who can create problems," Porter said. "You add Hoes to the lineup, Grossman's back up, [Jonathan] Villar's at short and Jose Altuve's up near 30 stolen bases. We have some guys that can push the envelope in certain situations."
Those four players accounted for all six free bases, with Villar tallying three alone.
In the seventh, Hoes doubled and Villar moved him to third with a bunt single, driving Lackey from the game. Brandon Barnes perfectly executed a squeeze bunt to plate Hoes and give Houston an insurance run.
Hoes was acquired last week when Bud Norris was shipped to Baltimore -- which also opened up a rotation spot for Oberholtzer -- and the outfielder wasted no time settling in to his new park. He went 2-for-3 with a double and scored both of Houston's runs.
"It was exciting, playing in a great ballpark with this city and these fans," Hoes said. "Not a bad way to start, either."
It all began with Oberholtzer, who was a last-minute replacement for the traded Norris last week and scattered three hits in an 11-0 win at Baltimore.
Surely he couldn't be better than that? He might have been Monday, considering the Red Sox entered the game having plated 568 runs, the most in the Majors.
Oberholtzer settled in immediately, needing only 68 pitches through five innings and allowing just one runner past second base.
"My mindset is to attack and throw strikes," said Oberholtzer, who threw 64 of his 101 pitches for strikes. "I told myself today, 'They're either going to get me early or not at all.' So I just came out, made sure I hit the plate, mixed it up and had faith in our catcher [Jason] Castro. He called a great game and kept me going."
Whether it was Barnes running down a ball deep in the gap, Altuve diving for a catch behind second base or Matt Dominguez snagging a sharp liner, the Astros' defense made sure Oberholtzer's outing wasn't wasted.
"They played hard for me and bodied up some balls," Oberholtzer said. "We were feeling good vibes and on point everywhere."
Though he only struck out two batters, he saved those punchouts for a crucial moment.
With one out and a runner on second in the seventh and the game still perilously in the balance at 1-0, Oberholtzer fired an outside fastball past Stephen Drew for the second out.
With righty Brandon Snyder stepping up, it looked like his night may have been finished. Porter visited the mound, and Oberholtzer vigorously shook his head.
"I didn't want to come out of the game," he said. "He didn't reach for the ball right away, so I got a second wind. Bo told me, 'This is your game, but I got the righty ready. What do you want to do?' Jason and I looked at each other and said, 'No, we're going to get through this.'"
Moments later, Snyder was down on strikes, wrapping up Oberholtzer's night and turning the game over to Houston's Achilles' heel of late: the bullpen.
Josh Fields made sure that wasn't the case Monday night, earning his first career save by fanning all four batters he faced.
"I knew I had a one-run cushion being up two, so I was pitching and letting them get themselves out, just not backing down," Fields said.
The Red Sox certainly didn't make it easy, putting runners on first and third in the eighth before Fields -- on to clean up after Wesley Wright -- struck out Mike Napoli with a high heater to escape the threat.
That elicited an animated fist pump from Porter, who has been openly frustrated with the bullpen's mishaps lately.
"It's one of those things where we've played a lot of close games, and we've had our heartache," he said. "Our bullpen has given up some leads. A lot of that emotion was more so about those guys coming in the crucial situation they were put in today and being successful.
"You want to show them, 'Look, we believe in you.' For them to come through on that stage, with a great crowd out there, in our home ballpark, it's one of those things where you want to capitalize on that kind of energy."
The win snapped the Astros' four-game losing skid and gave them a win to open a series for the first time since beating Tampa Bay on July 12.


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If your family includes an estate agent, a second-hand car dealer and a lawyer, it is easy to believe that you have seen it all.
But having run a consumer investigation over the last nine months at the request of Labour Shadow Business Secretary, Chuka Ummuna, I have now seen a lot more.
There are holes in our pockets as consumers and few of us are aware of how much we lose out.
So here are five conclusions from the investigation, set out in my report Confidence and Competitiveness:
1. Hidden losses can represent up to three times the amounts that you may be aware of.
2. The great majority of financial loss comes from a small percentage of problems. In financial terms, 2% of problems account for three quarters of all consumer losses.
3. The annual consumer detriment in financial services alone stands at around £11 billion pa.
4. The worst performing goods or services from a consumer perspective, measured by the level of complaints, are internet service providers, followed by Pay-TV and then bank accounts.
5. It matters where you live. Bradford is the number one complaints hotspot of Great Britain, followed by Manchester. The place with the least complaints per head across Britain is Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands.
In terms of what we know works, where consumers have confidence that the rules protect them, then things work well. People buy more. They are more open to innovation. They are more likely to switch when they need to. So confidence and competitiveness have to come together.
The good news is that we don't need new rules to protect consumers. We just need to enforce the ones that we do have and make it easier for people to come together to defend their existing rights.
I therefore end with five recommendations. It is an independent report, but I was pleased to hear that these will all now be fed into the Labour Party Review – with a call to:
A. Set consumer confidence in the market as a policy and regulatory objective
B. Introduce Portuguese-style class actions, so that people with the same problems can come together more easily to get things put right
C. Establish a Fighting Fund for Consumer Enforcement, financed by half of all regulatory fines levied on companies for malpractice going to the fund
D. Set an Open Access Obligation, to encourage access to lifeline services based on a principle of inclusion – services which are essential for people to operate in a modern market economy and could include broadband and banking services
E. Set a consumer lead that works across government and which could include helping amplify the voices of consumers more effectively through civil society organizations.


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GrandBox is the gift that keeps giving throughout the year. That means I can choose to give grandpa a gift one time or up to once a month. This month grandpa will get some chocolate, hard candy lotion, tissues, and a cool picture that turns into a towel. Grandpa's next box will contain similar items along with photos that I will take of the grandkids along with a letter. This box is a great way to show him that we care. Everyone loves receiving packages so I know that this box will brighten his day.
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The short answer to this question is that it doesn't affect them that much. If the Cardinals were willing to spend $22.5 million on Pujols (10 year, $225 million offer) they still have that $22.5 million available to spend on free agent talent. If a win costs $5 million in 2012, that buys 4.5 wins. Pujols was projected to be worth about 5.5 wins. The Brewers would also have the same amount of money they're offering Fielder available to spend elsewhere should Fielder leave Milwaukee.
While there's plenty reason to be excited if you're a Cubs fan, the reality is that if the Cardinals and Brewers are willing to invest the same amount of money elsewhere that it has little to no affect whatsoever. It could have tremendous affect long-term for both teams. Instead of paying Pujols $22.5 million 8 years from now when he's a league average player, they'll have that money to spend on someone better than Pujols would be. The same is obviously true for the Brewers.
While it could cost the Cardinals a win, it's quite possible that they could come out ahead. $22.5 million is a lot of money. If the Cardinals can identify a couple of players who are undervalued they can buy more than 4.5 wins with that $22.5 million. Imagine that the Cardinals find their version of Mark DeRosa or Marlon Byrd. Both of them were undervalued and the Cubs purchased more wins than they paid for.
The Cardinals, or Brewers, might also look to make a trade and perhaps acquire a cost-controlled player with tremendous potential. In this situation they would once again be buying more wins than they're paying for. Neither route will be easy, but those players exist and if the Cardinals can find them then they can easily spend that $22.5 million better than they would have if their star player returned.
Marlon Byrd and Mark DeRosa were paid $5.75 million in their first years with the Cubs. Combined, they produced 5.2 rWAR. Throw in Ted Lilly's $6 million salary in 2007 and his 3.2 WAR and you've now spent $11.75 million and acquired 8.5 rWAR. For exactly half the money they'd have spent on Pujols 3 additional wins have been added.
This is where scouting is going to play a huge role. The scouting department would have to spot the undervalued players, or maybe the statistical analysis department spots them. I suspect that both teams will be searching for undervalued players rather than stars to replace their own stars.
While that's possible, it's also possible whoever they sign doesn't pan out. Pujols and Fielder were more known quantities and could be counted on to produce at a certain level. The teams could also refuse to re-invest the amount they had set aside for their own players. The Cardinals and Brewers may have had the plan to re-sign their star players, but after doing so would have to trade a certain amount to make ends meet. We can't know that.
If the Cardinals were forced to sell $5 million in value after re-signing Pujols, they essentially added only 4.5 wins next year. It's difficult to know exactly how this will affect each team in the short-term. There are ways in which one or both teams would be better off having failed to re-sign their star. There are ways in which it would break even and that is probably what is most likely. Right now the Cardinals are worse and the Brewers would be if they lost Fielder, but there's no reason to think the owner is going to pocket all the money and move on. Some, most, all or perhaps even more money than what was set aside for Pujols/Fielder will be re-invested into the team.
The Cubs won't be facing Albert Pujols when they play the Cardinals and may not face Prince Fielder either, but the reality is that neither team is going to be worse off short-term than they would have been if they brought the player back. At most they'd be a win worse, but it's entirely possible they're better off by 2 or 3 wins if they find the right guys.


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Front seat covers, saddle blanket
Reviewed By Don E (Shreveport, LA) Reviewed for a 2019 Nissan Frontier —4/17/2020 3:00 PM
great looking seat covers. Exactly what I expected!
There are no customer reviews for this product
Reviewed By Zac L (SEATTLE, WA) Reviewed for a 2017 Jeep Wrangler —6/5/2019 5:50 PM
I was initially frustrated with the amount of material the two front covers had, but quickly realized I just wasn't installing correctly. Use the tool provided to tuck the excess in your seat, ensure your fasteners are attached and tight below the seat, and it will slowly come together. This didn't get 5 stars for me b/c 1) price is a bit high imo & 2) material isn't as thick as other saddlebag covers I've had/seen. Otherwise I love the look and feel so far (only 3 days post install)


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Got2Lindy Calendar & Registration Page
Please click on classes or events for more details and to register. This calendar is always being updated. Refresh your screen to make sure you are seeing the latest updates.
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BEGINNER SWING: Send Outs & Sweethearts (4WK Series Begins $85, Newburgh)
May 17, 2019 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm$85
Level 1:
Send Outs & Sweethearts series introduces triple step six-count footwork, leading and following moves in closed and open positions including the send out, inside turn, free side pass, and more.
This is a FOUR-WEEK SERIES. Learn and review each week. No prerequisites. Each of our three Level 1 series can be taken in any order. Once you have completed all three Level 1 series you will know Triple step, single step and eight-count basics.
Students may start up to the second week of each new series. Students may mix and match the same class in different locations (Kingston, Highland, Newburgh) as needed and/or make up any missed class hours by taking the same class at any of our other locations during the four-week period. Just consult the online calendar and discuss your needs with the instructor.
Scroll down to register now and reserve your spot.


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Tseng hopes slump is now behind her
Top-ranked Yani Tseng is counting on a hometown advantage in the Taiwan Championship this week to get her first tournament title since March.
Tseng's success, including two majors each in 2010 and 2011, helped Taiwan land its first LPGA Tour event, and she won the inaugural event last year by five strokes. She wouldn't mind if the second tournament starting Thursday at Sunrise Golf and Country Club near the island's northwest coast comes with more than a breeze.
''The stronger the wind, the better I play,'' she said Tuesday. Tseng grew up in the area.
Tseng has struggled since winning three of her first five tournaments this year, but the LPGA Tour's return to Asia this month has seen a lift in her confidence and results.
In the Sime Darby Malaysia two weeks ago, she was eased by the appearance of her coach Gary Gilchrist, and felt positive about a tie for 49th. Her mother and sister were on hand in South Korea last week to provide more good vibes as she finished third, one stroke out of a playoff in the HanaBank Championship. It was her first top-10 in 12 starts since June.
''She went through a summer where she didn't win every tournament, which was sort of strange,'' LPGA commissioner Michael Whan said.
Last year, Tseng fed off the support of 67,000 mainly Taiwanese fans at Sunrise, and another big crowd is expected to follow one of the island's few sports superstars.
''I don't think Yani's game is declining as much as there's so much robust competition and rising young stars,'' said Larry DeGaris, the sports marketing program director at the University of Indianapolis.


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Taco Thursdays: La Canasta Bakery Grocery, Staten Island
Searching for great tacos around the five boroughs with Sara Markel-Gonzalez.
It's perfect beach weather again—and a perfect week to again combine two of my favorite summer activities: going to the beach and looking for great tacos. (Although that last is a year-round activity). I took the ferry out to Staten Island in search of this combo and found more than I imagined.
South Beach on Staten Island is an amazing place. I admit that I was surprised to find such a nice boardwalk, clear water, and fine sand in view of the Verrazano Bridge, but I've barely spent any time in Staten Island. That's definitely going to change, though, since there are lots of taco-eating opportunities to be had in this borough.
After getting my feet wet, I walked a few short blocks from the beach down Sand Lane to La Canasta Bakery Grocery, a small shop that sells Mexican products, bread, and food to order. (It was featured in Serious Eats this year in a Staten Island Eats post, but I wanted to go back for a closer look at the tacos.)
I got a good feeling as soon as I walked in the door. The place just felt right, and I could tell I was going to get some great eats.
The three salsas were all outstanding. A simple and particularly spicy salsa verde, a creamier, milder avocado salsa, and the red sauce, just chiles, toasted and ground, full of seeds.
Tacos come three to an order here for $6.00, or $1.00 extra for tacos with carnitas—which I ended up getting, since it was highly recommended by the very friendly owner. Along with the carnitas, I chose longaniza (sausage, similar to chorizo) and lengua (tongue).
I'm glad that I spent the extra dollar, since the carnitas were worth it. Really tender pork with just enough fat to keep the meat moist and flavorful. Served on a double layer of tortillas, heated with a bit of oil, a sprinkling of chopped onions and cilantro, and a lime wedge. Just right.
The longaniza was delicious; spiced with cumin and cinnamon, the pork sausage had almost a Middle Eastern flavor to it. The onions gave it bite, and the salsa verde added tang and heat. I added a bit of the avocado salsa to cool it down a little, but that spice was a good pain.
Every time I eat tacos de lengua, I am amazed at the flavor. Tongue tastes meatier than steak to me, and these tacos were no exception—chopped bits of tender meat, some with a crispy outer layer. It was a good taco, and the meat was cooked well, but compared to the first two, nothing extraordinary. I ate this one with the red sauce, for variety.
I walked out full, completely satisfied, and with a huge smile on my face. On Staten Island there's a beautiful beach and amazing tacos. I'd call that a successful summer day.
La Canasta Bakery Grocery Inc.
272 Sand Lane, Staten Island NY 10305 (map) 718-442-1633


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Why do you Carrotmob? Australian edition with Helen Barclay
Helen Barclay co-founded Carrotmob Melbourne with Ying Hu in 2010 and has been Carrotmobbing ever since. Her hope is to inspire others to make Carrotmobs happen all over Australia! We asked Helen about what she loves about Carrotmobbing.
Q: Why do you Carrotmob?
A: I Carrotmob because it brings together my interest for business and the environment. I was first inspired by the win-win situation that Carrotmob creates. Having studied business and with a keen interest to do something good for the world, it was something I wanted to make happen in my community.
Q: What's your favorite part of a campaign?
A: I love meeting new people and Carrotmob has got me out there mingling with some really interesting and inspiring people - it's probably one of my favorite parts of a Carrotmob campaign.


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Hello guys,
I would like to know if it's possible to integrate a NAS Synology with Netwrix ?
Thank you.
Best regards,
Jump to content
Posted 27 February 2018 - 04:50 PM
Hello guys,
I would like to know if it's possible to integrate a NAS Synology with Netwrix ?
Thank you.
Best regards,
Posted 02 March 2018 - 05:39 PM
There is no native support for Synology in Netwrix at the moment but there can be workarounds.
What type of events you'd like to collect from that device? Please clarify.
Posted 19 April 2018 - 08:25 AM
@AndreyK: I am interested in this topic. Can you please describe possible workarounds?
I would like to track/collect events like create/modify/delete files on Synology (Synology device will be configured for integration with Active Directory)
Thanks and regards,
Posted 19 April 2018 - 10:35 AM
Hello Jorge,
The first workaround presumes using Netwrix API for collecting and processing events from Synology devices.
If it is possible to make the device send events to the Netwrix host in a syslog-compatible format (and I believe that Log Center can do that), it should be possible to configure parsing rules and save those events to the Netwrix database.
The second workaround is using Event Log Management if Synology device can save events on a Windows host in .evtx format.
Hope this answer helps.
Posted 19 April 2018 - 02:23 PM
Hi Andrey,
it helps a lot.
Thanks for the advice, I will give it a try.


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Best of New York Empanadas
In 2006, I was fortunate enough to study abroad in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Between Spanish classes and group excursions, I found myself filling the hours lying on the beach, eating and drinking wine. Not one of these things has left my mind and the craving to go back to this magical place filled with jamon de queso, Malbec, and sunshine has never subsided. But of all the memories that haunt me, it's the empanadas that I miss the most.
Around the corner from the hotel, a small deli-like shop served an array of tasty treats. I loved stopping in on the way to beach. Towel in hand and a small paper bag filled with beef or chicken empanadas, swimming, eating and napping was the perfect way to spend the siesta hours.
Now, in the throws of winter in New York, I crave that sunshine and bit of warmth from this pocketed treat. Hence, empanada round-up begins.
Empanada Joe's
A new empanada joint in the city, Empanada Joe's opened their first store about two months ago. Though the Argentinean chef claims to use all natural ingredients, you wouldn't guess this by the taste. Each of the 11 empanada flavors costs $2.98, but there are meal deals. In order to keep the empanada hunt simple, I mostly stuck to the basic ingredients found in the Argentinean dish: chicken, tuna, beef, or pork, and no cheese. So at Empanada Joe's I tasted the Argentine beef, and rojo pulled pork.
While the beef was tasty, the shell proved too flaky, and it's buttery-ness overpowered the meat innards. The pork was better, stuffed full of shredded meat, making it a hardier meal, though the meat was a little dry, and lacked the classic spices found in my beloved empanadas in Mar del Plata.
Empanada Joe's
683 8th Avenue (at 43rd Street; map)
Ruben's Empanadas
Established in 1975, Ruben's Empanadas claims to be the first commercial specialty shop in New York to focus on the hand-held pastry. The dozen-plus flavors (from $3.75 to $4.75 each) get pumped into thick wheat crusts. The choice was hard but in lieu of trying to stick to the Argentinean style, I sampled the classic tuna and Argentine sausage. Despite the over abundance of calzone-like bread, both the fillings came out delicious.
The sausage was spicy and moist, completely satisfying in the meat category. The tuna also boasted a hearty flavor and the combination of onions, hard-boiled egg, pimentos and capers, made it resemble the empanadas of my memory. However, because the crust was so thick, the flavor of the meat didn't soak into the inner part of the bread, the way a traditional Argentinean empanada does.
Ruben's Empanadas
122 1st Avenue (b/n St. Marks and 7th Street; map) 212-979-0172
At Luz in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood, empanadas are an appetizer. The Dos Empanadas, $10 for an order, feature two kinds: a sun-shaped empanada filled with spinach, cranberries, and pine nuts, with an outside garnish of sun-dried tomatoes, and another in a classic half-moon shape made with Manchego cheese, goat cheese, and thyme.
The latter tasted like a perfectly toasted cheese sandwich, minus the melty factor. The spinach was also flavorful and yummy, though in the end, not something I will crave in the future. While both empanadas lack the common pork or beef of traditional empanadas, they were still savory and the spices, well-balanced.
177 Vanderbilt Avenue (b/n Myrtle and Willoughby Avenues; map)
Empanada Mama
The Colombian-inspired Empanada Mama was the only place I visited that offered both fried and baked, as well as corn and wheat empanadas. The dozens of choices range from $2.50 to $2.75. Beyond the more traditional flavors, some options would never be found in Argentina, or anywhere in South America for that matter—cheeseburger, Polish sausage, and one called "Viagra," which is made with seafood.
With restraint, I stuck to my goal and ordered shredded chicken with a baked corn flour shell and a shredded beef in a fried wheat flour casing. Even though the beef one was fried, it didn't taste oily like many other fried empanadas. It remained flaky, and absorbed the marinated beef's spices. The chicken one was enhanced by the sweet corn casing that brought out the flavor of the chicken, peas, and carrots, which filled the pastry to the maximum. Both had a nice balance of spice and texture, though I found the chicken a bit dry. Quick fix: dunking it into the complementary spicy jalapeño sauce.
Empanada Mama
763 Ninth Avenue (b/n 51st and 52nd Street; map)
Buenos Aires
With a name like Buenos Aires, you'd hope this would be the best place to get an accurate Argentinean snack—and it was. Like Luz, you order them as an appetizer for $5.95 and choose two among four options (vegetarians rejoice, you're well taken care of here). When they came out, the empanadas were crispy but not buttery. The dough was thick, but not overpowering, and they were baked. Ingredients included hard-boiled egg, olive, and a little onion. That being said, the two ordered, spicy beef and chicken, didn't taste very distinct from each other, meat-wise. But both tasted good and triggered the most nostalgia for me.
Of course, while you are there, make sure to order one of their prime steaks. Beef is another staple from this gaucho country.
Buenos Aires
513 East 6th Street (b/n Avenue A and Avenue B; map) 212-228-2775 buenosairesnyc.com
Street Cart Empanadas
Empanadas are sold on the streets of Argentina, and apparently, in some parts of New York too. I couldn't find the Williamsburg empanada man who sells his late-night munchie at bars or the popular woman in Park Slope on 5th Avenue. But, I did sample Argentinean-style empanadas from a street cart across from the MoMA, along with their not-so-Spanish-influenced crepes.
Only three flavors are offered: chicken, beef and veggie ($2 each). The veggie's crust is bland, much like the spinach cheese mess inside, which tastes like a microwavable spinach pie dish that used to haunt the back of the freezer. Yet the beef was surprisingly good: hearty, rich in flavor, and not too oily. The chicken was almost exactly the same. Both had whole green olives, bits of egg, and onion mixed in with the meat. The bread around the filling wasn't great, but at least I didn't feel the need to chuck dough pieces at pigeons.
The problem with eating food from a street cart is usually heat, and these empanadas could have been hotter. To be fair, it would have been sunny and warm (not cold and cloudy) in Mar del Plata. All in all, the street meat pockets were a decent tribute to Argentinean empanadas.
Though I never found the perfect empanada there were some winners. The best thing about these succulent hand-held meals is their diversity, something New York proves to offer.
Empanada Street Cart
Usually across from the Museum of Modern Art 11 West 53 Street (b/n Fifth and Sixth Avenues; map)
Meat Lite: Leftovers Empanadas
Chicken Empanada with Chorizo and Olives
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