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Tetrareal AD Chairman George Veltchev: Entry of Global Luxury Brands Is Stamp of Approval for Bulgarian TourismInterview |Author: Ivan Dikov | July 23, 2010, Friday // 13:43| views
Chairman of the Board of Tetrareal AD George Veltchev (left) is pictured here with the General Manager of the Doubletree by Hilton Varna hotel Claudio Sturm (right) at the presentation of the first Doubletree hotel in Bulgaria. Photo by Anettevents
Interview of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) Dr. George Veltchev, Chairman of the Board of Tetrareal AD.
As Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) has already reported, Tetrareal AD, a company dealing with tourist services, hotel management, and real estate, among others, recently announced that it had signed two franchise agreements with Hilton Worldwide for the opening of two Hilton-branded hotels in the Golden Sands resort – the Doubletree by Hilton Varna, which is in a pre-opening phase, and the Hilton Varna, which is to be opened in 2011.
The two new hotels are Hilton's first properties in Bulgaria outside of the capital Sofia, and the first properties of a global luxury hotel brand of such scope to enter Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, which is the country's major tourism hub.
Why do you think there has been little or no penetration of global hotel brands, such as Hilton, on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast?
Most global hotel brands have been looking for opportunities to enter the Bulgarian Black Sea coast with their brands in one way or another. Of course, it is faster and easier for a hotel owner to bring them to a property under a management agreement; however, franchise opportunities have also been available.
The problem usually lies with the long and detailed research that the global brands have to conduct on the likelihood of achieving a certain average daily rate. The second problem is the seasonal character of the Bulgarian seaside hotels. For example, most top international chains such as Starwood, Hilton, or Marriott, would rarely agree to provide their brand to a seasonal hotel unless it is a world-class resort destination.
Our combination here with the Doubletree by Hilton Varna and the future Hilton Varna is more interesting to them because the new hotel, which will be carrying Hilton's main brand, will be a year-round hotel, and that is why they probably decided that they can afford to sign up a second brand – Doubletree by Hilton – with another hotel which will not operate throughout the entire year.
The main factor that an international luxury hotel chain uses to decide whether to provide their brand has to do with how much profits they can generate, mostly on the basis of how much revenue per room a property can book.
Why did you choose Hilton as a brand for your hotels?
We have been talking to Hilton for almost 4 years. Why did we choose them? Well, we were in negotiations with both Hilton and Starwood. This might sound incredible – but, at the end of the day, it was the human factor which was decisive.
Starwood had expressed greater interest than Hilton in introducing two of their brands on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast but they constantly changed their respective managers in charge of expansion, so, naturally, much of the momentum of the negotiations was lost, whereas with Hilton, we had good communication at every level, including with the help of our general manager Claudio Sturm, who used to work for Hilton, and who has now managed for three years the group of hotels that we are now re-branding.
Helios Spa & Resort is a five-star hotel in its own right, and you still went for such a large-scale investment in order to re-brand it. What has led you to take this step?
The major factor for this decision was the large number of hotels in the Bulgarian Black Sea resorts, and the inability of a five-star hotel to stand out among others, particularly when it is located in a resort with 83 hotels.
Actually, the main thing preventing a five-star hotel that is not affiliated with a certain high-class international brand from becoming really successful is the fact that the requirements for a five-star hotel are not sufficient to make most tour operators, and even most travel agents believe that the quality is on the level that we all would like to see. So without world-class brands Bulgaria is doing away with the opportunity to attract wealthier tourists.
Building upon what you just mentioned – the Bulgarian tourist products have been viewed both positively and negatively. Is the arrival of the top international brands the major road to achieving a positive image and favorable branding for Bulgaria?
This is one of the ways, and maybe the major way to do that. This practically amounts to a stamp of approval for Bulgarian tourism. It is perceived as a significant problem when you have relatively large resorts with 80-150 hotels – as in the case of the large Bulgarian Black Sea resorts – and there are no well-known international brands.
I am not talking about tourist vacation brands such as Iberostar or RIU, which are completely unknown to the global hotel industry, I am talking about high-quality brands, and there aren't many of those on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. We have tried to introduce some of them, such as Kempinski. Practically, Sol Melia is currently the only global brand which is present here. It is clear that if large resorts do not feature any global brands, they will remain a marginal destination.
As soon as global brands, such as Kempinski, started entering the market, more international brands became interested in the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. When Kempinski entered Golden Sands, for better or worse, everybody started asking questions. Why did Kempinski enter the Golden Sands? Why did it get out subsequently? In order to restore the image and to be considered a world-class destination, we needed to have a brand such Hilton, Starwood, or Marriott, or, ideally, all of them.
How risky is the investment in the re-branding of your hotel complex? What do you expect will be the effect of having the Hilton brand?
Every investment is risky, this one no less than any other, but perhaps no more than any other either. Of course, I expect the new brand to have a substantial impact on the revenues, and, at some point on the profitability.
The entering of Hilton in Golden Sands should break the existing mould where tour operators dominate almost every tourist destination in Bulgaria. If we can reduce the hotels' reliance on tour operators for customers from the current 90% down to 25%-30%, the respective management or franchise agreement will always be worth going for.
What will be the specific features of the two Hilton-branded hotels?
Both hotels are going to apply for five-star category, and it is important to point out that the international chain has not expressed interest in the local categorization since both are world-famous brands (Hilton and Doubletree) and the customers' expectations for them are based on their name, and not on the decision of the local authorities in charge of the categorization of the tourist facilities in each country. Despite that, both hotels meet the highest requirements in Bulgaria, so our decision on the category has been based on the quality of the hotels.
When did you sign the franchise contracts, and when are the two hotels expected to open doors?
The contracts were signed in June 2010. Doubletree by Hilton Varna is in a pre-opening phase, which means that it is already welcoming guests but is still completing the training of the staff, and undergoing an inspection of the quality by Hilton, and the installation and synchronization of the management systems.
Hilton Varna is planned to be opened in June 2011, and the pre-opening phase there will be shorter since the training will be carried out with the help of Doubletree by Hilton Varna, and the systems will be put in place before the beginning of the pre-opening phase.
How many rooms do the hotels have, what sort of additional amenities do they include?
Doubletree by Hilton Varna has a total of 196 keys, including 17 suites and 28 junior suites, two restaurants, a bar and a night club, an indoor and outdoor pool. The rooms have been refurbished according to the most detailed standards, with 32-inch LCD HD TVs, the proprietary Doubletree mattresses, which are unique for Bulgaria in our property, Neutrogena Spa cosmetics, and many other specifics requirements for each room outlined as brand standards, such as the requirement for the equipment of the gym by Precor, among others.
Hilton Varna will have about 170 rooms, including one presidential suite with an area of 225 square meters, a terrace of 90 square meters with a frontal sea view; one VIP suite, and one maisonette suite. Not unlike all other Hilton hotels, the new facility will feature executive rooms, which, together with the suites, will be serviced by an executive lounge with a separate check-in and guest service.
The lobby of Hilton Varna will be 460 square meters in area and 10 meters in height. Its interior has been designed by Boutique Design, a London-based company whose professionals have produced the interior design of many of the hotels designed by WATG, the world's most famous brand in hotel design. Hilton Varna will feature five restaurants, conference halls with a total of 700 seats, galleries with boutique stores, a spa center with a fitness center and a boutique pool, and a night club.
What is the amount of investment in each of these new hotels?
The total investment in meeting all of Hilton's requirements is considerable since our goal has always been to create an unique product of world-class quality. These two hotels, together with the two most luxurious hotels owned by Sigma Capital, Melia Grand Hermitage and Sol Nessebar Palace, are among the few, if not the only ones on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, which have met, without exception, all international safety and fire-safety regulations, including fire sprinkler systems, which are not required by Bulgarian law.
Are the buildings of the two hotels brand new?
Doubletree by Hilton Varna is a fully refurbished building which previously used to be the luxury part of the Helios Spa & Resort, a hotel complex with five-star category. Hilton Varna is a brand new hotel which is being constructed on the location of the former Veliko Tarnovo hotel, built in 1970, and fully renovated 10 years ago. Its outdated construction and design necessitated its demolition and the construction of a new modern building.
How long did you negotiate with Hilton Worldwide for before you signed the franchise agreements with them?
We first established contact with Hilton Worldwide on September 19, 2006, so it took about 4 years. We probably are, I dare say, the most experienced hotel owners in Bulgaria in dealing with international hotel chains, in terms of completing successfully negotiations with a number of brands.
Our experience shows that a management agreement could be made considerably faster because the hotel chain does not require that much experience on part of the owner; rather, it wants to have clearly defined conditions and relations, and as little interference as possible during the duration of the contract.
The franchise contracts are rarely made in Bulgaria except in those cases when the brand is not much of an asset to its owner (and I do not intend to offend any of those), or in such cases where, after working for a few years with a certain owner under a management agreement, this is transformed in a franchise one as a final attempt to keep the brand on the market before a final decision to terminate it.
I think the successful signing of a franchise agreement with a brand and a hotel chain such as Hilton, which is the undisputed Number 1 globally, was an big challenge for a new partner such as Tetrareal AD in terms of brand awareness and brand recognition. We view this achievement as recognition of our more than 10 years' of experience in this sector in Bulgaria.
What exactly is the form of co-operation between the international chain and the investor under your franchise agreement, and what are the rights and responsibilities of the two parties?
If I have to summarize in a nutshell a contract of more than 60 pages of rights and responsibilities without violating its confidentiality, I will point out that the investor is required to maintain the brand standards, which are outlined in detail on about 240 pages. In exchange for that and for the payment of the stipulated license fees and the use of the management systems, the investor has the right to use the brand.
The brand approves the top management appointed to run the hotel under their brand, and carries out the training, monitoring, and regular inspections of the standards, and makes recommendations about observing them. Hilton has the right to withdraw its brand at any point if its standards are not upheld.
Why did Hilton decide to enter the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, and with two hotels, not just with one?
Hilton is the most popular and most widely recognized brand in the hotel business. It is not strange but rather natural that it will come to the top luxury Bulgarian resort now that it already has solid positions in Sofia, and is increasing its presence there. Of course, as in every other business, in order to achieve an agreement, you need at least two sides. We have experience, both in the tourism industry and in the fair and mutually beneficial cooperation with other, even though less known, brands and hotel chains.
In the case of Hilton, we had high ambitions to convince them that they should give the Bulgarian Black Sea coast a vote of confidence despite the fact that other luxury brands, such as Kempinski, discovered that mass tourism is different from the hotel business in the luxury palaces of Middle Eastern and Asian billionaires.
The power of the Hilton brands in the world of tourist hotel sales exceeds many times the power of almost all their competitors, with only Starwood, Marriott, and Hyatt being remotely close to them in terms of marketing power. Luxury and mass tourism are not mutually exclusive for Hilton the way they are for most other hotel chains.
What are the requirements that a seaside resort hotel has to meet in order to become a part of the Hilton Chain?
The requirements that a resort or urban hotel has to meet in order to deserve a top brand are outlined in detail on 300 pages. It is essential to point out that that it is a requirement to meet the standards, not just to cover some or most of them.
Hilton's requirements are the result of many years of optimization, research, and development of a first-class hotel product, which is why, even though the existing hotels with the Hilton brand are given an opportunity to introduce each new standard in the most economically sound way, each new hotel has to meet the latest requirements.
Thus, it is impossible for a new Hilton hotel not to provide its rooms with 32'' LCD HD TV sets even though many of the Hilton hotels are yet to be introducing those over the next few years. The same goes for the many other standards outlined in these 300 pages. Then, there come the additional requirements for the service, where the interpretation is reduced to a minimum, as each individual step of the hotel service is described in detail.
What share of the guests of the hotels is expected to be booked through Hilton's reservation system, compared to other channels?
All reservations will be made directly on Hilton's reservations system. It is no secret that the seaside resort tourism business in Bulgaria relies primarily on tour operators, probably for as much as 90% of the total business. Honestly, I can't think of a tour operator who would not want to have the Hilton brand as part of their portfolio on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. But there is also another set of statistical data.
After we put into operation the Kempinski Grand Hotel Hermitage in Golden Sands, already during the first full year of operations, 55% of the sales came from individual business, regardless of the fact that less than 10% of them were generated through the central marketing office of Kempinski.
With Hilton, we have different expectations in the very least because of their superior marketing power – over 30% of the guests are members of the Hilton HHonors program, i.e. guests who would always prefer to stay in a Hilton branded hotel, whenever such is available in a town or resort.
Over 1/3 of all bookings are made by global distribution systems, i.e. each online reservation will first offer a hotel with the Hilton, Starwood, Marriott or Hyatt brands if they are available. And over 10% of all reservations (this percentage is even higher for the resort hotels), come from using points from Hilton HHonors.
So, realistically speaking, under 50% of the entire business of a Hilton-branded hotel will rely on the channels that are traditional for the Bulgarian seaside resort tourism; if we take into account the statistics from running the Kempinski hotel in the Golden Sands, this is probably twice overstated.
How long do you expect it will take to return your investment?
This really depends on too many factors. If you had asked this question in 2006, I would probably have given a rather different answer. Currently, if we take the weighted average cost of capital of about 10%, with a loan-to-value ratio of 2/3, with cost of debt at 6%-7%, and the rest being invested as equity, such an investment is expected to exceed the weighted average cost of capital by no more than 5%, i.e. it will take a period of 7-10 years. If the demand goes back to the 2007 levels, this will change to 5-7 years.
Which are the main tourist markets from which the two new hotels will be drawing tourists?
These will be the traditional markets for Bulgaria – Germany and Benelux, the Scandinavian countries, Russia, Romania, and Bulgaria, as well as some Middle Eastern markets. It is no secret in the hotel business here that the most demanding and generous tourists in Bulgaria, if their requirements are met, are the Russians, Romanians, and Bulgarians, so it is only natural that we will invest additional efforts into attracting them to the best product on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.
How much higher can be the average room package price demanded by a hotel from an international luxury chain compared to a similar product which is not branded?
The "asking price" is a theoretical notion – the price depends on the elasticity of demand in every quality segment. Anyone can "ask" but the price is determined by what the customers are ready to pay for what is offered. The Bulgarian tourist product is too diverse and varied in order to have any reliable statistical data about the elasticity in any segment.
The estimate of global brands such as Marriott and Starwood are that the minimum increase of the price of their product compared with the non-branded products, if the price-quality ratio is kept constant, is 25%. But this is not a rule to which we intend to adhere. Our pricing policies are determined exclusively by the demand curve, and we will be simply be offering the best prices for the best product.
How does the operation of the high-class seaside resort hotel reconcile with Bulgaria's image as a mass tourism destination which is mostly attractive with its low prices?
The luxury segment on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, when offered without a global brand, cannot give the investor the financial results that can be generated by a mediocre four-star mass tourism hotel because of the former's inability to "shake off" the image and competition of the surrounding market.
It is very similar with vacation properties – the most luxury property on a golf course which is really worth a price of EUR 3000-5000 per square meter cannot be sold at this price at the moment because investors say that if you paid more than EUR 300 per square meter in Bulgaria, you have made the worst deal of your life.
This is not true, quite to the contrary – you probably made a mistake if you paid EUR 300 per square meter but the so called "herd instinct" is stronger than the economic logic. That is why we need one-time "game-changing events" such as the introduction of the Kempninski Grand Hotel Hermitage, or the Thracian Cliffs Golf & Spa Resort, and the introduction of the Hilton in Golden Sands, in order to create a new image, from which everybody will benefit in the future. But as I said earlier, especially for Hilton, the luxury and mass tourism are not mutually exclusive.
What makes Bulgaria's Northern Black Sea coast more attractive for a luxury brand in comparison with the Southern Black Sea coast?
It is more attractive at the very least because it has not been turned into a ghetto. Golden Sands has always been, and will remain the top luxury resort in Bulgaria, and on the Black Sea coast. Key factors are its proximity to Varna, which is a tourist phenomenon in itself (compare it with Burgas), as well as the successful preventing of the destruction of the Golden Sands National Park.
In addition, the competition among the hotels in the resort has led to the full renovation of most hotels, without the emergence of scary blocks of flats as it happened elsewhere where the appetite of the investors and municipal councils was the main driving force for resort development.
The summer of 2006 was the only time in the past 10 years when the price levels of the luxury hotels in Sunny Beach, for example, came close to those in Golden Sands. The reason for that is that in 2005-2006 a number of delayed construction permits in Golden Sands were granted, and the supply instantly surpassed the demand.
Two things have happened since then, which have established the Southern Black Sea coast as a "tour operator destination", and the Northern coast as the "more expensive" or "luxury" destination – call it as you wish.
First, a number of airlines started regular flights to Varna forcing out most of the opportunistic tour operators by making their charter business unprofitable, and, second, the over-development of the Southern Black Sea coast caused a price war among the hotels located beyond the beach-front line in Sunny Beach, which is the pole-bearer of the southern resorts. That is why Hilton, Sheraton or Hyatt first have to be convinced that they can achieve a sufficient ADR (average daily rate) before they can ever offer their brand there.
How did the economic crisis affect the Bulgarian tourism industry in the past two years, and what are your expectations about this and next year?
In Bulgaria, not unlike in Greece, the tourism sector suffered considerably more from the general economic situation than most other sectors. Unlike in Greece, Croatia, or Turkey, however, in Bulgaria there was no one to make a simple calculation on an A4 sheet of paper about which sector of the economy is the most flexible, and most capable of preventing the growth of unemployment, and of improving the balance of payments in the shortest period of time.
Every single euro that we invested this year in advertising has generated about 20 euro in revenue, of which 2 euro went to the treasury as VAT, 8 euro went to salaries and taxes, and 5 euro went to reinvestment, with a total of 15 out of every 20 euro coming from abroad.
If somebody in the Bulgarian Council of Ministers can explain everyone else there how the economic multiplier works, perhaps they will also manage to explain to them why in every corner of Europe there are billboards of Turkey the size of the Bulgarian Parliament building, and why they are not paid for by the Turkish hotel owners but by the taxpayers who are the greatest beneficiaries from the results of such advertising campaigns.
There are two main trends this year. First, the German tourists are coming back to Bulgaria, which is good news because Germany is one of the few places where the Bulgarian seaside tourism is successful without much advertising.
Second, the Bulgarians, being affected by the economic crisis, have rediscovered the simple truth that it is better to buy the same product in Bulgaria for 500 euro than to buy it in Turkey for 1,000 euro, or in Greece for 1,500 euro. Of course, I am not talking about services you can buy in Greece for 10,000 euro or in the Maldives for 15,000 euro, which are still impossible to buy in Bulgaria.
That is why, thanks to these two trends and to Bulgaria's growing popularity in Russia and Romania, the current expectations are that, in 2010, Bulgarian tourism will bounce back to the 2008 levels, which, on one hand, is not that great of an achievement, but on the other, it is good news for hotel owners, banks, the Minister of Finance, and the people who make a living in this sector.
What do you think is the current profile of the Bulgarian seaside resort tourism product, and what is its potential for development? Do you agree with the criticism of the so called mass tourism?
Its profile and trend is "All Inclusive", and its potential is "mass tourism". In the last 10 years it has become very trendy to talk about high value added tourist products such as hunting, golf, ski, rural, and cultural tourism. All this is very interesting, commendable, and important for the country's image.
However, alternative tourism faces severe limitations. First of all, the criticism of mass tourism is a neat way to put the blame for something that the state failed to do on somebody else. Mass tourism is not a problem, but quite to the contrary. Take Spain as an example where a lot of people – not just hotel owners but everybody involved in the tourism business, from the bell boy to the manager – made a fortune from mass tourism.
Everybody in Bulgaria loves to talk about the various kinds of alternative tourism but the truth is that there are fewer than 500 people who practice golf tourism; and fewer than 1,000 people practicing hunting tourism.
In order to develop its rural tourism, Bulgaria needs proper structures for the utilization of EU funds, such as Italy, for example. Because at present, a consultant for an EU-funded rural tourism project would take almost 50% of the money, and the so-called "investor" would look for ways to appropriate some of the rest, and to invest only whatever is left. Cultural tourism can be developed only if there are large numbers of tourists who come here with another purpose.
The winter tourism in Bulgaria is growing but the season there is very short, the prices are depressed, and, realistically speaking, today, as was the case 10 and 20 years ago, Bulgaria's summer tourism generates over 90% of the industry's revenue. So in order to develop any single one of the other types of tourism, we have to develop further the mass tourism.
I think that the seaside resort tourism in Bulgaria is going to continue to be structurally dominated by the mass segment, with the All Inclusive offering, unfortunately, continuing to increase its market share. The only thing we can hope for are some new game-changing events, such as the ones I described earlier, including the introduction of further luxury brands, which should increase the size of the infamous "pizza" of the Minister of Finance, or, as they choose to call it in the West, of the "economic pie".
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Fertility Drugs and Ovarian Cancer
Over the years, controversy has existed whether fertility drugs can predispose to ovarian cancer. Several small poorly designed studies published in the 1990s raised the concern that drugs used to stimulate the ovaries and induce ovulation increased the risk of later developing ovarian cancer. Most recent studies have tended to suggest otherwise and the largest […]
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text: There are two different Saints' Lives for a St Valentine on February 14, but they are probably the same man. Saint Valentine was a clergyman – either a priest or a bishop – in the Roman Empire who ministered to persecuted Christians. He was martyred and his body buried at a Christian cemetery on the Via Flaminia close to the Ponte Milvio to the north of Rome, on February 14, which has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine (Saint Valentine's Day) since 496 AD. Relics of him were kept in the Church and Catacombs of San Valentino in Rome, which "remained an important pilgrim site throughout the Middle Ages until the relics of St. Valentine were transferred to the church of Santa Prassede during the pontificate of Nicholas IV". His skull, crowned with flowers, is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome; other relics of him were taken to Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland, where they remain; this house of worship continues to be a popular place of pilgrimage, especially on Saint Valentine's Day, for those seeking love. For Saint Valentine of Rome, along with Saint Valentine of Terni, "abstracts of the acts of the two saints were in nearly every church and monastery of Europe", according to Professor Jack B. Oruch of the University of Kansas.


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I am stuck in bed since two days and according to the doctor it will take at least 2 more days. Yet, this gives me the chance to prepare some outfit post for you that I took last week. Last Saturday I went to Naschmarkt here in Vienna to have brunch with some very dear friends. On my way there I decided to picture my outfit next to one of the graffiti walls over there. I think that if I were to picture an outfit next to each graffiti wall there I would have posts for a whole month.
But coming to my outfit of choice for the lazy back Saturday morning, I did not put too much thought in it and took one of my favorite pair of jeans (which I got from my lovely Evelyn), combined with my daily boots, a silk blouse to have a great feeling on the skin and to keep me warm I took a simple black pullover.


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Munich Airport establishes center to fight cybercrime
Official opening of the Information Security Hub
Munich Airport has opened a new chapter in its IT security activities. At a special ceremony yesterday, the airport launched its Information Security Hub (ISH) – a competency center where IT specialists with the airport operating company (FMG) will work together with experts from the European aviation industry to develop strategies for defending against cyberattacks and new approaches to the fight a...
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A British pupil was reported to the anti-terror wing of the police by his school, for daring to play a historical war-game with his father in which fascists were a playable faction.
The father and son duo upload unboxing and gameplay videos to their YouTube channel, "Imperator Vespasian". After not posting anything for a period of six months, they revealed the reason for their absence in a video entitled "Unexpected side affects of Gaming!".
The pair had been building and expanding their models for the counter-historical game, "A Very British Civil War". Set in an alternate 1938 where Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists, has become Prime Minister after Edward VIII refused to abdicate, plunging the country into civil war. Various factions are playable, such as the BUF themselves, communists under the banner of the Labour Party, loyalists to the Crown backed by the US and Canada, and so on. The son mentioned to his classmates that he was buying a flag for the BUF models. He was quickly denounced as a fascist himself for daring to engage in such a hobby, and was reported by the school to the anti-terror wing of the police.
The son was interviewed under caution along with his father, despite protestations of innocence. Fortunately, the police "could not believe what the school had done", and took action against the school for wasting their time. The incident still affected the family, causing the mother to become ill, and both father and son to lose all interest in the hobby that allowed them to bond. They sold most of their collection as a result.
While not being specifically named in the video, it is likely they were reported under the Prevent scheme. Designed to spot potential terrorists in the early stages of radicalisation, it is most often employed by schools, universities and other government organisations.
"Extremism" is defined for the purposes of the scheme as "vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs." Also included in the definition are "calls for the death of members of [British] armed forces".
They are now back playing again, including the very campaign that got them in trouble in the first place, as it "annoys all the right people." However, they advise any younger viewers who may be interested in picking up their hobby to avoid telling anyone at school, pointing out that "some of the teachers these days are so far to the left that they've lost the ability to understand… Some of the teachers do not live on Earth – they think that toy soldiers are real life".
Many commenters on the channel were astounded that they were even reported to begin with. A user under the name NationalVideoWatcher complained that "when chavs throw rocks at my house, all of a sudden the police 'can't do anything', but the minute you build a miniature in come the bloody MI5!" CoxJul, a school governor, said he was "disgusted to hear of this referral over wargaming", and urged the pair to pursue action against the school. LateStart1 summed up the situation well, asking how could we be living in a world so crazy as to trust "unhinged, politically motivated simpletons… with the education of our young people!"
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What do the film Movie 43 and Bierstöckl's spare ribs have in common? They are both tasteless. However, while the film is occasionally funny, there is absolutely nothing funny about Bierstöckl's ribs. Unless you find travelling to the opposite side of the city and paying 17 euros for two racks of dead pig hilarious.
The whole story is that I did not go to Hetzendorf for the ribs. The goal was to try the Brettljause that I found on the online menu of a Heuriger sharing the address with Bierstöckl. Apparently, the Heuriger and the beer restaurant belonged to the same owner. However, apart from a huge sign, there was certainly no trace of the Heuriger, and even the waiter did not know anything about it. My suspicion is that the Heuriger closed but the sign and the website remained.
It is hard to imagine more boring ribs than the ones Bierstöckl's cook had managed to make. The complete absence of marinade required a heavy use of the two sauces to obtain any kind of taste, while the sauces were of the most generic sort. The meat was certainly pre-cooked and warmed up, very greasy and contained tiny pieces of bones threatening to break my teeth. The picture above has some contrast added to it, but in reality, the ribs had a rather unappetizing pale brown color. Even the potatoes were cooked without any love and, like the ribs, seriously lacked salt.
I left the restaurant full and slightly sick, mainly because of the desire to finish this uninspiring dish as quickly as possible. In retrospective, the dinner at Bierstöckl was probably worse than no dinner at all.


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Wondering what to do with the kids on a scorching hot days in Sydney? Whilst the beach, pool and water play parks are fun wet options, you could also try ice skating, the movies, a museum or ten-pin bowling for some indoor air-conditioned relief. If you're looking for some ideas of how to keep cool (and get out of the house), we've come up with plenty of ideas to keep you entertained.
Things to do on a hot day in Sydney with kids
1. Go swimming at an Aquatic Centre
We have so many fabulous aquatic centres scattered around the North Shore and nearby areas, you really are spoilt for choice. They all have indoor and well as outdoor pools, so you can avoid the UV rays with some indoor splash action. On the North Shore, try:
- Hornsby Aquatic & Leisure Centre, Hornsby
- Ku-ring-gai Fitness and Aquatic Centre, West Pymble
- Lane Cove Aquatic Centre
- Willoughby Leisure Centre
- North Sydney Pool
Beyond the North Shore (but only a short drive) you could try Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centre, Manly Boy Charlton Pool or Warringah Aquatic Centre in Frenchs Forest.
Click here to see a list of nearby indoor pools.
2. Have some water fun at a Water Play Park
Water play parks are a great option if you want to be out in nature but don't want to deal with sand or getting soaked. There are lots scattered around Sydney, including
- Putney Park
- Blaxland Riverside Park
- Darling Harbour Playground
- Pirrama Playground, Pyrmont
- Lizard Log, Abbotsbury
- Steel Park, Marrickville South
- James Ruse Reserve Water Playground, Parramatta
Click here for our list of awesome Water Play Parks in Sydney.
3. Go to the beach
If you fancy a trip to the beach, either go first thing in the morning or late afternoon, when the UV rays are at their lowest. The sand gets burning hot for feet on hot days, so really isn't a fabulous option for the middle of the day. And of course, slather everyone in sunscreen and stay in the shade where possible! Some beaches on the northern beaches have Rockpools (like Queenscliff, Dee Why, Freshwater, Collaroy, North Narrabeen, Mona Vale, Newport, Bilgola, Avalon, Whale Beach, Palm Beach).
Click here for our list on best family-friendly beaches on the North Shore.
4. Go to the movies
The movies are an awesome option on a super hot day, as the air conditioning is pumping and you can sit in a dark, cool theatre for a good two hours. Local cinemas include Hoyts Cinema at Chatswood Westfield and Mandarin Centre, Event Cinemas at Hornsby and Macquarie Centre, Roseville Cinemas, Hayden Orpheum in Cremorne and Hornsby Odeon.
View our Summer Movie Guide to 2019/2020.
5. Seek refuge at an air-conditioned indoor play centre
Not all indoor play centres are air conditioned, so choose wisely! The ones that are air conditioned are usually really busy on a scorching day, but at least they're a good option for kids who love to play and you want to stay cool.
Our favourite air-conditioned play centres on the North Shore:
- Planet Mino, Chatswood
- Chipmunks, Macquarie Centre
- Wannabees, Hornsby
- Moving Bodies, Mt Kuring-gai
We list all the local indoor play centres here.
6. Go for coffee, brunch or lunch (where the kids can play too!)
Most restaurants have air conditioning, and these ones have free indoor play areas too! So forget about cooking in a hot kitchen, and visit a family-friendly spot like The Belrose Hotel, Terrey Hills Tavern, Pennant Hills Hotel and North Ryde RSL, which all have indoor play areas for the kids. Plus, it's a cheaper option – you don't need to pay an entry fee, just buy a coffee or some lunch.
Click here for a list of all restaurants with play areas.
7. Indoor, air-conditioned Museums, Art Galleries & Attractions
There are lots of things to do with kids in the city on a hot day! Visit one of the many indoor, air-conditions attractions in Sydney that provide a cool escape for a few hours. At Darling Harbour, Powerhouse Museum, Maritime Museum, SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium, WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo and Madame Tussauds are all perfect for children, and guaranteed to provide a good few hours of indoor fun. Other options in the city include a trip to Sydney Tower Eye (the tallest building in Sydney), Australian Museum or The Art Gallery of NSW.
If you're likely to go to Sydney Aquarium, Sydney Zoo, Tower Eye or Madame Tussauds more than a couple of times, it makes sense to buy a Merlin Annual Pass, which gives you unlimited access for 12 months!
8. Go bowling
You'll be delighted at the cool air conditioning happening at your local bowling alley. From about the age of four, children can learn to do ten pin bowling (with the help of a ramp and side bumpers). Once you've finished your game, stay for some lunch or a coffee. During the week (off peak), games start at about $12 per person. Local options:
- Strike, Mandarin Centre, Chatswood
- Strike Macquarie Centre
9. Hit the local ice rink!
When it's 40 degrees outside, why not go somewhere icy cold… like the local ice rink? Macquarie Ice Rink is our nearest option on the North Shore, and is a great way to spend a couple of hours. Don't be fooled by the heat outside, you still might want to pack some gloves for the kids (in case they fall over lots!) and a long-sleeved top (with perhaps a singlet underneath). And don't forget socks too! Check the website for session times.
10. Hang out in an indoor Shopping Centre
Escape to an indoor (air-conditioned) shopping centre! Everyone often has the same idea, so parking can raise the blood pressure, but once inside an indoor shopping centre, you'll want to stay all day! Even better, if you choose a shopping centre with a little play area, it's a win-win for the parent and the child. They can burn off a bit of energy, you can watch with a coffee (if you're lucky)…. and you might have a chance of them sitting in the pram or trolley, or following you around when you need to shop. We list all the local shopping centres with play areas here.
11. Enjoy some waterside dining
On a scorching hot Sydney summer day, it's often a few degrees cooler by the coast! There's nothing more refreshing than a sea breeze to cool you down. There are loads of child-friendly cafes by the water. Some of our particular favourites include:
- Bathers' Pavilion Cafe, Balmoral
- Flying Fox Cafe, Mona Vale
- Plonk Beach Cafe, Mosman
- Echo on Marina, Roseville
- Bacino Bar & Kiosk, Chowder Bay
Click here to see the list of child-friendly cafes near the water.
12. Feast on Fish & Chips
If sitting down at a cafe isn't easy with your kids and a picnic is a more relaxing option, how about pulling out the rug and feasting on fish and chips by the water on a hot day?
From Manly all the way up to Palm Beach, plus Brooklyn and Bobbin Head, we list nearby spots for Fish & Chips by the water.


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Hello and welcome back to my page!! In the spirit of Spring Cleaning, I thought it would be fun to share 10 things that helped me feel more organized in my day to day life! I hope you find these tips helpful!
1. Create Checklist!
I know this can sound silly, but this simple task is life changing! I make weekly checklist at work prioritizing my duties for the week. I make checklist of the chores I need to do around the house. You can also do this in the notes section of your phone and erase each task that you achieve. There is just something so special about writing out goals and then checking them off your list. You will feel a sense of accomplishment as you slowly check off each item or goal.
2. Make Grocery Lists!
This goes along with tip #1! I never grocery shop without a list anymore, and it has saved me so much time and money. I keep a list on my phone in the notes section, this makes it easy to add to it whenever I need to. For example, if I'm getting ready in the morning and I notice I am running low on toothpaste, I will immediately add it to the list, if I make my morning coffee and my creamer is low, I pull out my phone and add it to the list. This has been one of the best things for me!
3. Meal Prep!
Meal prepping can sound so intimidating but trust me, it can be so easy! It's all about finding foods you like and making them easy to grab and go for the week. A typical meal prep week for me would be cooking on Sunday and making a tin of egg bites for breakfast, spaghetti squash noodles with a meatsauce, and taco bowls. It's all about finding easy foods you love and placing them in handy containers.
4. Use a Planner!
Now, I am fully aware that this tip is not for everyone! I personally LOVE planners (minor obsession), but I know they are not for everyone. I like to see an overview of my week and month at a glance, so that I know what to expect for the upcoming days. It also helps me not miss holidays, events, or birthdays. You can also utilize the calendar in your phone if you don't enjoy paper!
5. Keep a Schedule!
This goes right along with tip #4! Having a schedule keeps me focused, motivated, and on task. Often times we can forget about an event and over book ourselves which can be overwhelming. Use a cute wall calendar, a planner, or your phone calendar to keep track of your scheduled events.
6. Plan Your Outfits!
This is a task that I have NOT mastered, but it would make my life so much easier. My mom has been picking out her outfits the night before and it has saved her so much time and energy. I find that my room gets disasterous when I can't find anything to wear in the mornings. I have tried this tip many times and it is always helpful, I just need to do this way more consistently.
7. Use a Budget App!
I downloaded the Mint app and it was very helpful. You can manage your spending habits and create budgets so that you aren't spending unnecessary amounts on things. I don't know about you, but sometimes spending can be stressful, so staying on top of things can ease your stress.
8. Unsubscribe From Emails!
Who else recieves dozens of emails that you just delete!?!? GUILTY! I spent 30 minutes one day unsubscribing from many emails and it felt like a huge weight lifted. It has also saved me a ton of money, because I don't know about every sale from every company anymore!
9. Create Email Subfolders!
This is something else that I have recently done and it helps me stay very organized. I created a subfolder for Travel, Shopping, Social Media Collaborations, and my Banking. When an email comes in, I drop it into the subfolder and it makes things easy to search when I need to.
10. Make Your Bed Daily!
This is more for your mental health, I just started making my bed every morning a few months ago and it has made each day a little better. Often times I can feel so stressed out, but making my bed each morning gives me a sense of accomplishment early on in the day and its one thing checked off my daily to do list!
Here are the products that are pictured above 💕
The Content Planner
I hope these tips have been helpful and uplifting!! If you have any other fun tips to share, please comment below, I would love to hear!! As always, follow me on Instagram 💕


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Inviting God In
There is something so special about hearing something in church that just penetrates deep into your soul.
Today that happened.
I was so excited this morning to go to church. Every third week is a time called "A space for women," where any woman can meet downstairs with others and share about life, read a devotion or Scripture together and share on that in some way.
Today the woman who set up this group meeting wrote a little devotion about what she has been feeling God say to her, and that phase was, "Don't Waste."
Her message was to not waste the moments that we tend to feel useless, because God wants to be invited in to them. I want to share with you a little bit of what she wrote –
"Every feeling, experience, hurt, struggle, disappointment, frustration, worry, is an opportunity, and invitation to God; inviting Him right into the middle of it. These places are often the dark places of our souls, and yet the very places into which God desires to bring His loving light. He wants to enter into these inner spaces of our lives, and show us that His loving light bring gifts of revelation, understanding, freedom, and wisdom.
You will notice that certain emotions, lack of forgiveness, and judgements, are barriers to loving others. When you become aware of these ways within you, invite Jesus in. Invite Him right into the middle and let Him begin to unravel, release, show you why it is there and what it has done to you. Spending time communing with God's Spirit around those dark and miserable moments bring relief and forgiveness, and showers you with grace, mercy, peace, and love."
After the devotion was finished, we were asked to share if we could identify a way that we feel God asking for an invitation into our lives for healing, for light to be brought forth, for comfort and peace.
I really couldn't think of anything..but as it was my turn to share, words just flowed out of my mouth. I started sharing about something that I didn't necessarily intend to share about.
I shared how I am feeling uncomfortable. For most people who could be reading this, we are around the same age – early 20s. I'm 22 and married and every single year up until now has been planned out for me, even since I was a little girl. You go through elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. New year, new grade. Then I got engaged, then I got married and moved away and everything happened to me in 2016.
And now it is 2017. And nothing is happening this year. Nothing is planned to happen at all.
So I feel strange in this year of nothingness.
I shared about this on a previous blog post, but I am what I call a "change junkie." I just absolutely love change. Because its something new, something to look forward to, and it usually gives me that temporary feeling of joy and excitement, but it will go away, and so I look for something else that can change. So you can image how weird I feel when I can see that nothing is changing this year.
(That I can foresee)
And so as I am sharing this I say, "So I think God is telling me so stop, to invite Him into this uncomfortable place of being still and learning that I don't need change to feel joy, because when things change, I want to control them, I don't let God control them, so I think God is telling me to just listen to what He has to tell me in my uncomfortableness, and make decisions and trust that He will go with them in them."
God talked to me in that moment – The Spirit spoke through me and I heard God this morning.
And then of course I leave the meeting and my mind starts doubting and goes to, "Well how do I make decisions for myself in a way that pleases God and is in His will."
And the sermon starts.
And the sermon was all about making decisions.
And towards the end of the sermon Matt said these words –
And the sermon was all about making decisions.
And towards the end of the sermon Matt said these words –
"The moment when you are frozen in fear is the moment when Satan wins."
This dug deep, deep into my soul.
Yes, making decisions is hard. Its hard because we sit and sit and sit with, "What about this, or this, or is this God's will, no that's too hard, God's will probably wouldn't be that, how sure do I have to be that its God's will before I actually do it?"
Isn't it exhausting? I know it is because I go through these questions in my head every day and it just leaves me frustrated and bitter because I want God to be a little bit clearer and a whole lot louder.
We don't hear a straight up answer so we are afraid to make a decision. We are frozen, and the longer we stay frozen the more unhappy we become and Satan sees that ice and does everything he can to add more and more.
Today I learned that we can make decisions, yes people, we can make decisions.
God will be with us in whatever decision we make.
God will be with us in whatever decision we make.
This year to me looks like nothing, but I can decide to do something new and I'm not sure what that is but I do know that whether God is clear about something or not, in any decision, He will be there, and He already is making this year into something special.
I can just ramble on and on about this but I just want to end with another thing that was said today during the sermon –
"Many times our prayers are filled with requests for the concrete details, as we ask for God to meet the who, the what, the when, the where. The larger Biblical story shows a God who is largely concerned with the how and why."
How are we loving others, how are we serving Gods Kingdom.
Why are we doing this, are we doing this for self-gratification or to serve God and bring His message of love to His people.
Keep breaking the ice, keep making decisions and trusting that God is a God who does not change, but changes everything else even if we can't see it. He is constant and stays constant through every decision you make. He just wants to be invited into the space you are in, even if its messy. He already knows! He just wants to be there anyway


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Zoo Med Repti Hammocks are made of soft nylon mesh which provides a lofty, yet accessible multi-dimensional perch that's ideal for security and basking. The Repti Hammock is durable, adaptable to any cage or terrarium, and easy to clean.
Take your reptile to greater heights by creating an arboreal resting place on the slippery sides of your glass or acrylic terrarium. Ideal for climbing lizards including iguanas, anoles, basilisks, water dragons, and more. Use with Zoo Med's Lizard Ladder for easier access!
Made in the USA. 6-month manufacturer warranty.
What reptile hammock size would be the best for a 40 gallon tank? The one I currently have is too small and doesn't properly adhere to the sides.
Thank you so much.
I would recommend this one https://reptileslounge.com/products/zoo-med-repti-hammock?variant=31633999112 in GIANT size.


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Sometimes the slowdown of a Windows server occurs because the device or its operating system is outdated. Other times, the slowdown is due to physical constraints on the retrieval, processing, or transmitting of data. There are other causes as we will cover. In any case, the delay between when a command is made and a response is received is referred to as "latency." Latency is a measure of time. … [Read more...]
Do I Really Need V-locity on All VMs?
V-locity® customers may wonder, "How many VMs do I need to install V-locity on for optimal results? What kind of benefits will I see with V-locity on one or two VMs versus all the VMs on a host?" As a refresher… It is true that V-locity will likely provide significant benefit on that one VM. It may even be extraordinary. But loading V-locity on just … [Read more...]
SysAdmins Discover That Size Really Does Matter
(...to storage transfer speeds...) I was recently asked what could be done to maximize storage transfer speeds in physical and virtual Windows servers. Not the "sexiest" topic for a blog post, I know, but it should be interesting reading for any SysAdmin who wants to get the most performance from their IT environment, or for those IT Administrators who suffer from user … [Read more...]
Thinking Outside the Box – How to Dramatically Improve SQL Performance, Part 1
If you are reading this article, then most likely you are about to evaluate V-locity® or Diskeeper® on a SQL Server (or already have our software installed on a few servers) and have some questions about why it is a best practice recommendation to place a memory limit on SQL Servers in order to get the best performance from that server once you've installed one of our solutions. To … [Read more...]
SQL Server Database Performance
How do I get the most performance from my SQL Server? SQL Server applications are typically the most I/O intensive applications for any enterprise and thus are prone to suffer performance degradation. Anything a database administrator can do to reduce the amount of I/O necessary to complete a task will increase the server's performance of the application. Excess and noisy I/O has typically … [Read more...]
The Challenge of IT Cost vs Performance
In over 30 years in the IT business, I can count on one hand the number of times I've heard an IT manager say, "The budget is not a problem. Cost is no object." It is as true today as it was 30 years ago. That is, increasing pressure on the IT infrastructure, rising data loads and demands for improved performance are pitted against tight budgets. Frankly, I'd … [Read more...]
Can you relate? 906 IT Pros Talk About I/O Performance, Application Troubles and More
We just completed our 5th annual I/O Performance Survey that was conducted with 906 IT Professionals. This is the industry's largest study of its kind and the research highlights the latest trends in applications that are driving performance demands and how IT Professionals are responding. I/O Growth Continues to Outpace Expectations The results show that organizations are struggling to get … [Read more...]
Finance Company Deploys V-locity I/O Reduction Software for Blazing Fast VDI
When the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority decided to better support their users by moving away from using physical PCs and migrating to a virtual desktop infrastructure, the challenge was to ensure the fastest possible user experience from their Horizon View VDI implementation. "Anytime an organization starts talking about VDI, the immediate concern in the IT shop is how well we will be … [Read more...]
Enhanced Industry-first FAL Remediation and Improved Performance for MEDITECH
When someone mentions heavy fragmentation on a Windows NTFS Volume, the first thing that usually comes to mind is performance degradation. While performance degradation is certainly bad, what's worse is application failure when the application gets this error. Windows Error - "The requested operation could not be completed due to a file system limitation" That is exactly … [Read more...]
When It Really NEEDS To Be Deleted
In late May of this year, the European Union formally adopted an updated set of rules about personal data privacy called the General Data Protection Regulation. Condusiv CEO Jim D'Arezzo, speaking with Marketing Technology Insights, said, "Penalties for noncompliance with GDPR are severe. They can be as much as 4% of an offending company's global turnover, up to a total fine of … [Read more...]


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If you've checked out my Cartoon Animation Basics series or my MPV Hub article on Monty Python Mouth Animation in After Effects, you've seen some examples of jointed animation: where the character is broken up into the sections (usually at the joints), the joints are "pinned" together with anchor points, and you animate the character by rotating or re-positioning the limbs (or jaws) around those anchor points. It's a simple and effective animation technique, but tends to create rigid characters that look like marionettes on strings.
However, there's another technique available to us in After Effects that lets us create much more organic, spontaneous "squash-and-stretch" animation. Squash-and-stretch was a fluid, rubbery animation style dating back to the 1920s, and used to great effect in cartoons like Betty Boop animations, where the squash-and-stretch style is taken to surreal extremes:
Using After Effect's Puppet Pin Tool, we can animate our own characters in a highly organic, natural squash-and-stretch style, and even record our character's movements in realtime while syncing the movements to a soundtrack, all in After Effects. And in this feature tutorial, I'll show you the basics of how to do just that. (My new series "More Cartoon Animation Basics" covers the Puppet Pin Tool in detail.) Let's get started.
Now, unlike the characters you need to create for jointed animation, where you have to break the character up into separate layers in Photoshop before importing it into After Effects, your Puppet Pin character should be all one piece on a single layer. In fact, all your character needs is an alpha channel outline, which will define the character's edges when you rig it with the Puppet Pin Tool (this will make more sense in a bit.)
For this tutorial, I'm just going to use a very simple outline of a generic exercise figure, white on black:
You can use whatever image you like, of course, but it's essential that the image has an alpha channel that outlines its shape. If it doesn't have one of its own, you'll need to mask the outline of the image manually. Fortunately, my image is an easy one to mask, which is one of the reasons I chose it. If you have a similar image, here's one method for quickly masking an image. Grab the Magic Wand Tool (W):
Then click with it in the larger white area of the image to select all the white pixels:
We also want the character's head to be part of the Puppet Pin animation, so we need to add that to the alpha channel. So, Shift-click with the Magic Wand in the head area to add its pixels to the selection:
Now choose Select > Save Selection... and save the selection as a New Channel to create an alpha channel:
We now have an alpha channel that exactly duplicates the image. However, we need to connect the head part of the alpha channel to the body, or else the Puppet Pin Tool will see them as two separate objects and won't connect them into a single character. At the same time, we don't want to create an artificial neck for the figure that is, we want the head to appear detached. We solve that problem by painting directly into the alpha channel, not the RGB channels.
So, in Photoshop, click the Channels tab to show the channels, turn off the visibility for the RGB channels, turn on the visibility for the Alpha channel, and select it for editing:
Next set your background color to white and use the Rectangular Marquee tool to make a selection between the head and neck, then delete the selection to white:
We still have black in the RGB channels, so the head will appear to be detached when composited against black, but the alpha channel connects the two sections together for the Puppet Pin. Just save the image as a Photoshop file to preserve the alpha channel, and we're ready to start working in After Effects.
The music excerpt I'm going to use here is 22 seconds long, so that's how long my project will be. And I'm going to work at 640 x 480 pixels for a reasonable video frame size. Also note that my comp background color is black:
Import your music and image files, add them to your comp, and we're ready to rig the character.
The next step is to rig the character with the Puppet Pin Tool, which means to set the deformation points that we'll be animating. The way that Puppet Pin works is that setting an initial Pin point with the tool divides the entire character'"based on its alpha channel'" into a fine mesh of triangles. You can then add additional Pin points to define joints and deformation centers. After that, you can move those Pins around (including keyframing them), and the pixels underneath the mesh will warp and bend with the mesh, almost as if your image has been printed onto a sheet of rubber, and you're stretching and pulling the sheet. It's a cool effect, but you need to rig the character first.
So, to start, grab the Puppet Pin Tool from the toolbar, leaving its settings at their defaults for now:
Click with it in the foot region of the figure - you'll see the figure covered with the mesh:
Next we want to add some additional Pin points. These points serve as animation control points and set limits for the influence of other points on the mesh. However, you don't need very many points for a simple animation. In my case, I'm just going to have the figure swaying its hips to the music while waving its arms overhead, but keeping its feet in place. So, I really only need Pins in both feet (to keep them in place), one at the hips (which will be our main animation point), and one on the head near the neck, which will let the head move along with the body but also help keep it in place, so it isn't completely in sync with the body:
Experimentation will, of course, help you understand how the Pins affect each other, but for now, we only need a couple. Now that you have a couple of Pins in place, you can just position your cursor on one of the points and drag it around to see what happens: you'll see that the mesh, and the character, deform to follow the point:
Now comes the fun part: making the character dance. We could do this by keyframing the character over time in the usual way, but it's much more entertaining to record an animation in realtime while listening to a soundtrack. This is one of the Puppet Pin's coolest features.
To start with, we need a soundtrack, of course; I'm using an excerpt of one of my old scores. Just add that to the character's comp and position it in time where you'd like it to start. Then, with the Puppet Pin Tool selected, hold down the Command key and position the tool over one of your Pin points; you'll see the cursor add a small clock icon. As soon as you click with that Record cursor on the Pin, the recording will start, so be prepared for that. You might need some practice to get a feel for how the recording begins, but you can always undo any false starts you make.
So, click and start dancing! Here's a screen capture of one of my own efforts, something like what you'll see when you do it yourself:
And here's the result:
And basically, that's what you need to know to get started with the Puppet Pin Tool, a wonderful but lesser-known feature in After Effects. And as always, experiment, and have fun.
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Following a comprehensive tender process, the Norfolk Group has appointed Construction Profile the contract to build its first residential development on the water's edge of one of Sydney's most prestigious suburbs.
Located on Kurraba Road in Neutral Bay, the development will feature four luxury waterfront apartments. The full-floor "penthouse" apartments come replete with individual car lift access, premium-quality finishes and fittings and direct access to beautiful Sydney Harbour.
The win is especially pleasing for Construction Profile as it is refreshing to work with a client that is focused on quality rather than cost. Over the course of the next year, we will be applying the skills and knowledge that we have derived from delivering luxury developments such as One&Only's Hayman Island Resort, on this project.
We also look forward to working with Artazan Property Group and Popov Bass to deliver an exemplary building that befits its location.


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ADHD & Parenting: Tips for Creating Calm
When your child has ADHD, there may be a lot of frustration. Your child might get frustrated with having to complete homework that bores them. They might get frustrated with so many thoughts ping-ponging in their brains. They might get frustrated that they have such a hard time focusing — and have to deal with many other challenges triggered by ADHD.
And you might get frustrated with everything from their taking forever to get ready in the morning to not following your rules. As a result, you might apply more pressure, thinking this will motivate your child.
But it only backfires.
Inevitably, all this frustration peaks, leading to stressed-out kids and stressed-out parents. According to Cindy Goldrich in her book 8 Keys to Parenting Children with ADHD, "Stress and pressure can shut down the thinking brain — the prefrontal cortex that houses executive function skills." And kids with ADHD, she writes, may be already up to 30 percent delayed in these skills.
So the more stress and pressure kids with ADHD experience, the less able they are to concentrate, pay attention and manage their emotions, she writes. For instance, they might want to work faster, but their ADHD prevents them from doing so.
This is why creating calm is so critical.
"Without calm, no learning can take place and no problems can be solved," explains Goldrich, Ed.M., ACAC, a certified ADHD coach, mental health counselor and parent training specialist.
In 8 Keys to Parenting Children with ADHD, she shares four ways parents can create calm both within themselves and within their children. Creating calm is one of the keys to parenting kids with ADHD.
The other seven include: getting educated about how ADHD actually influences behavior, academics and social skills; strengthening your connection with your child; cultivating good communication; teaching collaboration; being clear and consistent; establishing meaningful consequences; and handling your child's choices.
Below you'll find Goldrich's four calming strategies, along with other related insights from her wise, information-packed book.
Focus on yourself.
First, Goldrich points out that it's important to model self-control and self-regulation yourself. She suggests several strategies, which may be helpful for most people in calming down.
For instance, you can take several slow, deep breaths, or count to 10 slowly in your mind. Try lowering your voice. "When speaking softly, it is a lot more difficult to express extreme emotion," writes Goldrich, founder of PTSCoaching.
Politely tell your child that you need to take a break to compose yourself. Let them know that this isn't about avoiding or rejecting them. Instead it's about helping you respond appropriately.
Ultimately, Goldrich reminds, we're in charge of our own reactions. The key is to find and use the calming strategies that work for you.
Parent your child.
That is, let go of your expectations about what your child should be doing and when. As Goldrich writes, "he may just need more time than his peers to show his true potential." Tempering your expectations helps you gain a good perspective when you're reacting and responding to your child, she says.
Express your feelings without blaming, shaming or criticizing your child.
According to Goldrich, pay attention to the language you're using when correcting or encouraging your child. Try to be empathetic and supportive. Of course, this isn't always easy. You are human, after all. But again, "If you want your home to feel calm, it must start with you." So work on adjusting your own behavior and learning to cope with stress and anxiety.
Teach your kids to be calm.
Start by teaching your child how their brain works. According to Goldrich, "A short, simple lesson can help them understand, value, and take ownership of their actions." For instance, you can explain to your child that their executive skills are located at the front of their brain, "the thinking brain." These areas help your child get started, focus, remember things, plan and organize, manage their emotions and monitor how they're working.
Goldrich also includes this script parents can use:
You are the Chief Executive Officer of your brain. Think of each of the areas as a manager that is on your staff. It is your responsibility to train each part of your brain to function at its best. If one of your "managers" is struggling, I can help you learn tips, tools, and strategies to help you strengthen these skills and train the manager.
The back part of your brain has your amygdala. This is the part of your brain that manages emotions. When you are feeling extra stress, anxiety, or pressure, this emotional brain takes over and it is very difficult for your thinking brain to function at its best. Solving problems, learning, and performing become very difficult.
Help your child brainstorm different ways they can calm down. This might include journaling about their thoughts and feelings; keeping a soothing blanket or cloth; flipping through magazines; spending quiet time in their room ("just like a turtle learns to go into his shell when scared or threatened"); and helping them learn emotion words, such as "I feel sad"or "I feel anxious." If your child is younger, to help them identify emotions, print out emoji pictures with different expressions.
Help your child recognize the thoughts, physical sensations and situations that signal they're getting upset. You can even have a signal or code word for your child when they're in public to let them know their emotions are escalating. Have a plan so they can remove themselves from the situation. Use empathetic words. Offer a hug. As Goldrich writes, "solving the problem is sometimes secondary to the empathy he may need in the moment."
Goldrich also suggests parents create a "Calm Kit." Keep this kit anywhere your child might need it – from their room to the car. Involve your child in creating the kit, which might include stickers, crayons, bubbles, Play-Doh, small toys and a laminated card with other ideas (such as playing "I Spy").
ADHD has many challenges, which are frustrating for both kids and parents. Creating calm is a smart and valuable strategy. And that calm starts with you.
This article features affiliate links to Amazon.com, where a small commission is paid to Psych Central if a book is purchased. Thank you for your support of Psych Central!
Tartakovsky, M. (2018). ADHD & Parenting: Tips for Creating Calm. Psych Central. Retrieved on September 27, 2020, from https://psychcentral.com/blog/adhd-parenting-tips-for-creating-calm/
Last reviewed: By a member of our scientific advisory board on 8 Jul 2018
Published on Psych Central.com. All rights reserved.


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It will be useful if someone can details rules on buying HDB?
It will be useful if someone can details rules on buying HDB?
hey, go check out HDB wedsite all stated there. ha! ha!
hi guys
check with you huh. my friend heard from another friend that there is this $50000 rebate for 1st time buyer.
my good friend took over the apartment from her elder bro about 2 yrs + ago. the apt used to be under the brother and her mom's name. now it is under my friend and her mom's name. that time, her parents paid for the down payment, subsequently the brother paid using his cpf for mthly instalment.
her brother and her mom were the 1st buyer of the apt. now that my friend took over from them, can she be considered to be the 1st time buyer ( for her, this is the 1st time she bought a hse ) and entitled to $50000 rebate?
Last edited by coke addict; 21st July 2008 at 10:50 AM.
Dear Coke addict
you mentioned this happen 2 years ago, i think maybe too late to apply for any grant already.
Yes, your friend is considered first time buyer and should be elgible for the grant, but there are other eligible reqirement that include income ceiling, etc. please ask her to check with HDB.


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THE Belfast Hills Partnership are seeking volunteers to help plant 6,500 trees and hedging plants before the end of March.
Most of the trees to be planted this season will be part of an industrial revolution project in quarry and landfill sites throughout the Belfast Hills. Some of the trees are also part of the group's invasive species and woodland resilience projects and so are being planted in woods where invasive plants have been removed or where tree diseases will have the most impact.
This planting will strengthen the woodlands by increasing the number of different species in the targeted area.
Belfast Hills Partnership Volunteer Officer Lisa Critchley said the planting tasks are a great opportunity for anyone who enjoys being outdoors.
"Tree and hedge planting is one of the most enjoyable volunteer tasks. You can see the impact you have made and will be able to show your friends and family what you planted," she said.
"Generations of people – and wildlife – will enjoy your hard work for years to come. The visual effect in the hills will be extensive, especially in the industrial sites.
"The role is very rewarding and anyone can enjoy it. All you need is warm layers, good boots and a big grin," she added.
The project is part of the Belfast Hills Landscape Partnership Scheme supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Woodland Trusts MOREwoods scheme.
The planting will take place on weekday mornings from 10.30am to 1pm. The planting will be on private and public land and industrial sites across the Belfast Hills, including Carnmoney Hill, Cave Hill, Squires Hill, Ligoniel and Wolf Hill in the north of the city, Colin Mountain to the south and Divis and Black Mountain in West Belfast.
To find out more and register your interest, contact Lisa at the Belfast Hills Partnership on 02890 603 466 or email lisa.critchley@ belfasthills.org
Make your New Year mark on Belfast Hills
THE Belfast Hills Partnership are seeking volunteers to help plant 6,500 trees and hedging plants before the end of March.


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I just finished uploading this House for sale, 1609 RUFUS AVENUE, North Vancouver, BC
Here's something a little out of the ordinary in The Boulevard. This 4 bedroom home has a wonderful Japanese flair. You'll love the easy care Japanese garden with fish pond, sliding window screens & indoor hot tub. There's plenty of space for a growing family & the traditional floorplan has 4 bedroomS plus den upstairs. The main floor has been well cared for although the renovation possibilities are endless with so much space to work with. A double garage plus workshop have a 200 sf deck above for sun bathing or evening cocktails. The back yard has lane access & sports a green house. Cross the road to Loutet Park with playing fields & nature trails.


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Mangaluru, May 24, 2015: Officials of Customs at Mangaluru International Airport at Kenjar here seized foreign currency totaling 12,500 Saudi Arabian Riyals, 7,755 UAE Dirhams, 50 Kuwait Dinars and 400 Qatar Riyals equivalent to Rs 3,75,023 from a passenger Mohammed Ali Pallikunhi, 27, hailing from Mogralputhur in Kasaragod District.
The release from the customs said, they intercepted him at the time of his departure from Mangaluru International Airport on May 24 before he could board Jet Airways flight 9W532 to Dubai.
Mohammad attempted to smuggle the Foreign Currency out of India without valid money exchange documents, Krishna Kumar Prasad, deputy commissioner of customs, Mangaluru stated.


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Vuo version:
Fixed in Vuo version:
OS version:
- Mac OS 10.9
Steps causing the bug to occur:
Honestly not sure if this is a bug or not. Change OSC port while running and the app stop button appears with the circle spinning but nothing happens.
How did the result differ from what you expected?:
Not sure, thought I might be able to change it on the fly but have a feeling that might not be the case..
It's a bug. You're supposed
Submitted by Steve (@smokris)
It's a bug. You're supposed to be able to seamlessly change any port value at any time. Thanks for reporting it; we'll try to get this fixed soon.
@architek1: We fixed this in
Submitted by Steve (@smokris)
architek1: We fixed this in Vuo 0.7.0 — you should now be able to dynamically change the OSC port without crashes.


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Sausage Chicken Soup
Total TimePrep/Total Time: 30 min.
Makes6 servings
- 3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
- 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) chicken broth
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 medium sweet red pepper, diced
- 1 medium green pepper, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3/4 cup picante sauce
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1/2 pound smoked sausage, diced
- Sliced habanero peppers, optional
- Place chicken in a greased microwave-safe dish. Cover and microwave on high for 3-6 minutes or until a thermometer reads 170°, turning every 2 minutes. Cut into cubes; set aside.
- Place potatoes and broth in a 2-1/2-qt. microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave on high for 3-1/2 minutes. Add the onions, peppers and garlic; cook 3-1/2 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender. Stir in the picante sauce.
- In a small bowl, combine flour and water until smooth. Gradually add to potato mixture. Cover and cook on high for 2-3 minutes or until thickened. Add chicken and sausage; cook 1-2 minutes longer or until heated through. Sprinkle with habaneros if desired.
Editor's NoteThis recipe was tested in a 1,100-watt microwave.
Nutrition Facts1 cup: 270 calories, 12g fat (5g saturated fat), 57mg cholesterol, 869mg sodium, 21g carbohydrate (6g sugars, 2g fiber), 19g protein.
Recommended Video
Mar 12, 2012
A very hearty and tasty soup. But next time I'd make a few adjustments.1. Needed way more broth. I added about another 1 1/2 cups, but it wasn't enough.2. It took longer to cook the potatoes than mentioned. They were cut up very small but had to go 12-15 minutes longer.3. Because of the needed broth and longer potato cook time, it would be just easy (or maybe easier) to cook on the stovetop.
May 23, 2010
Everyone loves this soup! Every time I make it, everyone raves about how good it is. I just make cornbread with butter and honey to accompany it. I also add roasted frozen corn at the end to cool it before eating. I used hot Italian sausage, instead of smoked sausage, squeeze it out of the casings, and brown it in a skillet before adding the remaining ingredients to my pressure cooker, in which I cook it 45 minutes. I'm quite certain I use a lot more chicken broth than it calls for. I do not use the flour.


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I'm cleaning up the first few castings of the box of RSM Hussars I received from DPC in the US the other day. They are really nice. The castings are very clean, very crisp, almost flash free and with only a few points on them from casting vent channels.
Their designer, the late Steve Hezzlewood was a giant among sculptors and I wish that other manufactuers would take many leaves from his book. Preferably, they might just take the whole book!
These are the Prussian Hussars in the Mirliton with an additional Austrian one in the fur Busby/Colpak to serve as an officer (according to my references the Turpin Hussars' Officers were so attired). I've a Line Trumpeter in tricorne and the coat with the hanging sleeves as the musician - his uniform is reasonably accurate as to my sources. I've no idea what their standarf-bearers wore and as RSM never did a standard-bearer for the Hussars, I'll be using a Line Cavalry trooper with a flagstaff in place of his sword. I wouldn't do this to one of the Hussar troopers as the conversion would require major surgery.
Having ordered, I've found myself with a figure or three over from my new cavalry establishment (two officers, a guidon, a musician and two squadrons of eight troopers) of twenty figures.
This led me to start flipping through my Ospreys for inspiration.
I discovered a light corps called the "Volontaires de Saint-Victor" with a charming Hussar uniform of red laced white with a buff pelisse and shabraque. As we know, many of the light corps raised by France were composite units incorporating infantry, cavalry, and, in some cases, artillery!
The "Volontaires de Saint-Victor" were no different in this respect, incorporating eight companies of hussars, eight of fusiliers and one of grenadiers. The infantry wore a blue coat and collar lined and turned up in red with white small-clothes, buttons and hat lace.
I thought it might be worth raising a couple of companies of hussars and a couple more of fusiliers. I do wonder though at their role on the tabletop, though. I mean I can see that you might use the infantry as skirmishers, but the cavalry?
I suppose I could brigade them with the Turpin Hussars. If nothing else, I suppose I could use them in a small skirmish battle of foragers versus foragers, or in a scenario involving scouting forces. I guess I see their role as being more operational rather than tactical and am having trouble getting my head around their tactical role.


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ABC Tropical North, Mackay
During my two week internship, I produced various radio stories involving research, finding talent, interviewing, editing audio and writing subcopy – both for news bulletins and other segments. I am grateful for having had such a wonderful opportunity with a supportive and funny team.
A feature story about two legends who are still working hard putting up barb-wired property fences well after they were due to retire.
I researched and wrote this short story about the Queensland-based 9th Battalion landing at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915 which was aired across the state on ANZAC Day, 2019.
My aim was to give the audience an immersive experience by layering music and sound effects to recreate the atmosphere of that dreadful morning. (Although of course, I could never do justice to the actual lived experience).
The narrative is voiced by ABC Tropical North's Tegan Philpott and the interview is with war historian, Doctor Jack Ford.
Package about proposed Reef Bill amendments – aired on ABC Tropical North's Saturday Breakfast with Jonathan O'Neill.
Also included are the 6.30am and 7.30am news bulletin versions.
My story on increased coal spending in the Mackay and Bowen Basin region led the 6.30am news bulletin, followed by my story on new agri-tourism farm tours (both 6.30am and 7.30am bulletins are included below).
Also included is my extended package for the Rural Report that allowed for extended analysis.
Story about Mackay missing out on a public hearing into the prevention of sexual violence in Queensland. When I found out Cairns also missed out, I wrote the copy to work across both locations.


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'Please pray for our Bahamasland,' Canadian victim wrote before Dorian hit
Similar stories
Hours before hurricane Dorian pounded the Bahamas obliterating entire neighbourhoods, Alishia Sabrina Liolli asked her friends and loved ones on social media to pray for her family and the small island she called home.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified; but the dogs, chickens, husband & children are inside and everything is batted down the best we could!" the 27-year-old Ontario woman wrote on Facebook at 11:42 p.m. on Saturday, just before the full thrust of the storm hit. "I love you all — please pray for our Bahamasland, especially our Abaco. We will keep everyone updated as best we can!"
On Thursday, Liolli was confirmed to be one of at least 20 people killed during the storm.
Her friends and family took to social media to express their shock and sadness at the news.
"Can't believe this is real … a life taken too soon," her cousin, Aislinn Liolli, said in a Facebook post. "I lost my best friend, my confidante, my rock, my person. Alishia you were a ray of sunshine, always grateful, would give the shirt off your back to anyone. You made the world a better place."
Aislinn Liolli said her cousin was "always smiling, always joking, able to make anyone feel better."
Liolli lived with her family in Marsh Harbour, a small town on the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas. She grew up in a small town near Windsor, Ont., said her friend Ryan McKenna.
The two first met at Ryerson University. Liolli, as a residence adviser and slightly older than the incoming first-year students, was the de facto leader of the floor at Pittman Hall, a student residence at the university, McKenna said.
"I always called her 'mom,'" he said. "She was always looking after me, an 18-year-old kid from P.E.I in the big city for the first time."
McKenna said Liolli was a motherly figure to other students at Ryerson.
"She was a calming influence and somebody who always tried to encourage unity on our floor," he said. "She organized the first movie night, got everyone to go out for dinner together. She was always trying to unify the group and she did a great job of it."
A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money to bring Liolli's body back to Canada.
The organizer of the GoFundMe page said Liolli worked at a school in the Bahamas that was destroyed during the storm, and that any extra money raised would be used to help rebuild it.
Liam Casey, The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version had an incorrect last name for Alishia Sabrina Liolli


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I come to this party a little late, but I want to complain about the idea of a "car czar", because you can rule this silly idea out on purely managerial grounds.
The American automobile companies are large companies. Companies. I'm emphasizing this for a reason. They each have a fairly hierarchical structure that enables them to make decisions with an audit trail for responsibility. As everyone who has studied companies knows, it's important to avoid kicking decision-making high up the ladder. Empowering lower level managers enables the people who understand the problems to solve them efficiently. If the leader of your company (or division) makes all the important decisions, then the whole company (or division) cannot advance faster than the work of that single manager. Requests for decisions pile up and the company plods along like a tortoise.
Now you may be asking, what about the president of each company? Doesn't the buck stop with him? (Or, outside the American auto industry: her?) No, most of the bucks stop way below the top. For example, Peter Drucker has said that the job of the president of a large company is to decide what that company should be doing in five or ten years. That's plenty of work right there.
If we have a car czar, then some of the most important decisions of the three large companies will get stuck waiting for his or her attention. These won't be simple decisions requiring a quick flip of the coin, either. The Car Czar is likely to give each issue the attention it deserves, plus the coming-up-to-speed that it deserves. You can pretty much guarantee that any auto company waiting for the car czar will fall far behind the rest of the industry.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
I come to bury Car Czar, not to bail him:
Posted by firstname.lastname@example.com at 7:26 PM
1 comment:
- Anonymous said...
Bastiat, Hayek, Drucker and Shakespeare! I love it!
That said, I find myself less opposed than P.B., probably because I presume a different role. Rather than managing the company, I would expect the C. C. to do things like:
1) combing 10,000 pages of tax code (and other regulations) to find those that contribute to the current situation adversely
2) coordinating with highway and infrastructure departments to plan for what the future of those departments should be
3) coordinating academics to help understand what brought us to this point (bad management, CAFE standards, UAW, etc.)
great post!
JG Fellow
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SHRM-CP (SHRM Certified Professional) & SHRM-SCP (SHRM Senior Certified Professional)
SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM – CP) and Senior Certified Professional (SHRM - SCP) programmes were developed to validate core HR knowledge and skills in demonstrating mastery of generally accepted principles, independent of geographic region, from professionals practicing HR outside of the United States. Through demonstrated knowledge, the credentials enhance the credibility of HR professionals and the organizations they serve.
SHRM regards the SHRM HR Certification as the new standard for the HR profession by incorporating key HR competencies into it. SHRM's new credentials demonstrate competency and knowledge – that are required for effective job performance.
Key benefits of SHRM® Certification:
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
For additional event or venue information, please email firstname.lastname@example.com can also reach us at +60 123915481


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Poseable Pickett
Product Details
This Pickett toy has bendable arms and legs, so you can change his pose as you wish! He is 20cm long, and sits neatly in your coat pocket as he does for Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts™ film series.
Product Code: 1330604
Care Instructions
Not applicable.
Delivery Information
We have a range of delivery options available; for more information, please see our Delivery page.
Did you know
Bowtruckles only nest in trees that produce wand-quality wood.


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14December 2019
There are many benefits associated with text message marketing. Below are the biggest five.
Reach a huge audience immediately, and all at once
Nearly 6 billion people have a cell phone with texting capabilities. When you consider the world's population is 7 billion, it's easy to see just how many people can be reached through text message marketing. Many of them are just outside the door of local businesses!
Text message marketing is effective
Cold calling no longer works because people don't answer their phones for unknown numbers. Email marketing has its place, but still, many emails go unopened. But, 82 percent of customers read every single text they receive within 5 seconds of receiving it. That's an effective marketing tool!
Text message marketing is affordable
Whether you do it yourself or have a marketing firm take over the task of text message marketing, it's one of the most affordable marketing methods out there. It costs just pennies for every text. When outsourcing the job, marketing firms may charge a small monthly fee.
Text message marketing is flexible
Many marketing campaigns are set to run for a certain amount of time only. Because of this, business owners only have one chance to get it right. Text message marketing is much more flexible. It can be changed to adapt to what the customer and business owner need.
Customers love it
If you can market to your customers in a way they're open to, they're more likely to respond positively towards your advertising message. And customers love text messaging. In fact, while 20 percent of the messages in email marketing are considered spam, only one percent of texts are.
Looking for more tips on marketing?
We offer a FREE Discovery Session for local business …. no obligation!
If you have any questions or feedback, please don't hesitate to touch base with me anytime. Slight Edge Digital is here to help your local business online!


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Diamonte Bridal Hair Comb
Diamond shaped jewellery made up of diamontes in the form of small leaves. It is held in place with a good, double pronged comb. This hair jewellery would be stunning on a bride or bridesmaid.
Measurements/ length 8cm, width 4.5cm at widest point. Comb 7cm wide.
Fabric/ Diamonte and Metal
We offer a Custom Fitting Service
Share This:


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It's been a busy day here in Silicon Valley:
• BabyList, an online baby registry that lets users add items from any store, raised a $620,000 seed round from 500 Startups and others. The company was founded by a former Amazon software developer who, while pregnant for the first time, kept wishing she could register for things like frozen meals, pet sitting and diaper services all in one place. (I watched her pitch during 500 Startups' demo day and remember thinking, "This could be a big idea.")
• Another San Francisco startup, Biba, trumpeted a $15M Series B led by InterWest Partners. Others in the round included Benchmark Capital, ex-Symantec chief Enrique Salem and Aaron Levie, the omnipresent CEO of Box. (Biba, which makes a mobile business app for conference calls, is not to be confused with Bizo, which on Tuesday said it had raised $12.5 million in venture debt from City National Bank.)
• San Francisco's Watchwith – which lets TV networks syndicate their content via Shazam, Twitter and other digital outlets – announced a $5 million financing led by Rogers Venture Partners and Samsung.
• Corporate health and wellness startup Keas said it had raised $8 million from Ignition Partners and Atlas Venture. It, too, is based in San Francisco. I'm seeing a trend here.
Tags: 500 startups, aaron levie, amazon, Atlas Venture, BabyList, Benchmark Capital, Biba, Bizo, Ignition Partners, Interwest Partners, Keas, Rogers Venture Partners, samsung, Silicon Valley, venture capital, Watchwith


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3rd HBCT enters combat zone of Iraq
January 13, 2006 -- Tension was high as the 30-plus vehicle patrol pushed through the gates of Camp Buehring, Kuwait, toward the Iraqi border. For many Soldiers, this would be their first time entering a combat zone. Continue Reading 3rd HBCT enters combat zone of Iraq
'Santa Express' train begins season
The Royal Gorge Route Railroad was the first train taking passengers through the Royal Gorge, with the first run in 1879. Thousands of passengers have taken the trip through the gorge, looking at the scenery and catching an occasional glimpse of wildlife. The trains stopped taking passengers through the gorge when air travel became popular. Continue Reading 'Santa Express' train begins season
Soldier for life: Female Iraq native empowers Kosovo mission
After picking up bread for her mother, a 13-year-old Iraqi girl was approached by three bearded men as she rode her bicycle home. The men told the girl she belonged at home with her mother and she would bring shame to her family. After the experience, the girl was not allowed to ride her bicycle or play outside. That young girl was Cpl. Hala Kadhem. Continue Reading Soldier for life: Female Iraq native empowers Kosovo mission
Veterans Day 2018: Honoring Soldiers, Families of 4ID
One hundred years ago, the guns of World War I fell silent, marking the end of "the war to end all wars." A century later, we still honor the courage and sacrifice of the men and women who have answered the Nation's call to serve. Veterans Day is a day to remember those brave patriots who have steadfastly stood in harm's way to defend our Nation and the everyday freedoms we enjoy as Americans. Continue Reading Veterans Day 2018: Honoring Soldiers, Families of 4ID
Ski, snowboard expo — Patrons prepare for winter festivities
The Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (DFMWR) Outdoor Recreation office hosted its annual ski and snowboard expo Saturday at The Hub. The event was designed to help Soldiers and their Families prepare for the upcoming ski season and to let people meet various vendors to make their outdoor recreation activities the best possible. Continue Reading Ski, snowboard expo — Patrons prepare for winter festivities


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Loyiso Bala sent his brother a happy birthday message on Twitter that sparked outrage. The musician was labelled homophobic and accused of hiding it behind religion. Loyiso apologised for the tweet.
PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see Briefly.co.za News on your News Feed!
Loyiso Bala took to social media to wish his brother the best birthday, but his tweet caused quite a stir and left many people seriously upset.
The musician tweeted, in part:
"As I said to him, 'I'm in no position to judge you but to love you and to always point you to Christ. Your relationship with him will define your life's purpose'."
This didn't sit right, and soon Loyiso was labelled homophobic, as reported on by Briefly.co.za.
Now he has taken to social media again, this time to apologise for the tweet and to make it clear that he meant no offence with his words.
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"I tweeted a post that offended the LGBTI community. I sincerely apologise as it was not my intention to hurt anyone, but to express my love for my brother."
Loyiso also wanted people to know that he is all for equal rights.
READ ALSO: Black Coffee shares good news about his gig selling out in NYC
Loyiso's fans couldn't help but comment and say that people are offended too easily, while others thought his apology wasn't really sincere.
@LutendoMagoro - It's tough being a celebrity
@THEOLA07 - People on Twitter read too much into things.
PAY ATTENTION: 12 Times Celebs Flaunted Their Mindblowing Wealth on Instagram
@Trixx_Ray - You were probably advised by your team to apologise. You initially didn't see anything wrong with your tweet and you probably still don't but alas.....
@Afiba_sa - You have a funny way of showing love to your brother. You still haven't removed the tweet meaning you stand by what you said. Shame maaan Loyiso
@KhanyoSmith - I wonder what wrong did you Do honestly. Yhuuu Abantu can be over sensitive .
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