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(6 months)
With millions of policies sold every year, a penny saved per policy can make a significant difference, and that's why our Operations division is so crucial.
This rotation typically has a more project-based focus, and often provides graduates with the opportunity to interact with other parts of the business.
(6 months)
Claims are at the heart of our promise to our customers, so it's vital that we, as a company, relentlessly drive innovation and improvement of our claims function.
Graduates are typically based in a head office role, offering work that delivers value to our customers and the business.
(6 months)
In this placement, spent in commercial or personal lines, you could be an account executive for one of our corporate partners, or you could sit with one of our marketing teams working to develop our websites, marketing material or new product and service offerings.
(9 months)
As an underwriting-led business, we pride ourselves on technical excellence in the marketplace.
You'll learn to underwrite at least one of our commercial products, and gain exposure to the world of underwriters, business developers, brokers, delegated authorities and much more.
Allianz has a strong reputation for supporting students in their studies.
You'll be assigned dedicated study days and the funding you need to successfully complete the Chartered Insurance Institute's Advanced Diploma in Insurance (ACII).
In addition to your CII qualification you'll also complete Allianz's market-leading Excellence in Technical programme.


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Dr. Neel Shah, MD, MPP, FACOG says that the greatest influence on whether a birthing person has a cesarean is which door they walk through when in labor. It's not baby's size, being due or overdue, or even if they have a risk factor, such as gestational diabetes. The variation in hospital cesarean rates is so great that the hospital itself becomes the risk factor for major surgery. The variable for whether a vaginal birth is possible has become the address where the labor occurs.
Why Has the Rate of Cesarean Sections Increased?
The hospital providers and their staff create a culture around how they care for birthing families. This includes how each birth team, in part influenced by the setting, creates a sense of emergency or a sense of emergence. A monoculture in birth today spreads common behaviors among providers who would otherwise "cross pollinate" more readily with the physiologic model. When community standards become largely dependent upon technology, the provider's willingness for physiology turns to a social risk or even a job risk in a culture that is low in hands-on skills. These hero's of birth fly against the wind.
"Control chart analysis demonstrated that the institutional cesarean delivery rate was due to culture…"
Ogunyemi, D., McGlynn, S., Ronk, A., Knudsen, P., Andrews-Johnson, T., Raczkiewicz, A., … & Bahado-Singh, R. (2018). Using a multifaceted quality improvement initiative to reverse the rising trend of cesarean births. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, 31(5), 567-579.
"Increasing provider awareness of primary cesarean birth rates and focusing on 3 physiologic birth parameters that have been shown to promote vaginal birth had a positive impact by significantly decreasing the primary cesarean birth rate of a private maternity care practice and, consequently, a community hospital."
Javernick, J. A., & Dempsey, A. (2017). Reducing the Primary Cesarean Birth Rate: A Quality Improvement Project. Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health, 62(4), 477-483.
Another study "found that cesarean rates varied tenfold across hospitals, from 7.1 percent to 69.9 percent. Even for women with lower-risk pregnancies, in which more limited variation might be expected, cesarean rates varied fifteenfold, from 2.4 percent to 36.5 percent."
-Kozhimannil, K. B., Law, M. R., & Virnig, B. A. (2013). Cesarean delivery rates vary tenfold among US hospitals; reducing variation may address quality and cost issues. Health Affairs, 32(3), 527-535.
In order to create a birth culture where the cesarean rate is safely below 15%, the provider needs both the skills and a working environment to practice those skills.
Factors for Cesarean Birth
Barber categorizes 5% of cesareans as related to maternal or neonatal factors, Barber, 2011. Could the rest be related to birth and work culture within the institution or education of the provider? Pressure to avoid litigation can surpass a point of safe use of technology. Today, 37% of first births resort to cesarean for unspecific labor dystocia.
In other words, labor isn't progressing and no one knows why. More than 1/3 of the time! Is labor progress REALLY such a mystery?
Social reasons for longer labor may relate to hormonal response of the birther and the level of stress hormone in the provider. These chemical realities need our attention to bring them into synchronicity for the good of the parent-infant attachment and the benefit of bonding to development in the person and society.
The Spinning Babies Approach
Gail begins to feel for the presenting part
Spinning Babies® seeks to enhance physiology for the ultimate purposes of parent-infant attachment and high self-regard in the birth giver's self-assessment after childbirth. Techniques which enhance the parasympathetics and calm the process often enhance progress (Rebozo Manteada, Polarity, Standing Release, and Sidelying Release).
Further Reading:
- Nurses, Key to Reducing the Cesarean Rate
- Reducing the Cesarean Rate
- Cesarean Rate
- Turning Breech Babies and Cesarean Outcomes
Upcoming Workshops

subset: commoncrawl


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Sympathy Floral Arrangements
When you need to share a comforting thought, let Lee's Flower And Card Shop Inc in Washington help you select an appropriate flower option for the home, office, service or cemetery. Ask about same day delivery to Washington and the surrounding area.
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Forever in Your Heart Sympathy Basket WGG330 US 79.99 Shipped Direct in a Gift Box.
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Contact Information
If you have any questions whether big or small, please feel welcome to contact me by email, give me a call or visit me in my office in Joensuu or Kuopio. I'm happy to answer your questions or direct you to appropriate services.
Ms Anne Kauppinen
HR Specialist
anne.kauppinen (at) uef.fi
Tel: +358 50 371 8624
Join our Facebook group UEF International Researchers and Staff (closed group) or UEF Yammer group (UEF login required).
Immigration Services offered by the Campus cities:
Immigration Services offered by the Campus cities also offer free guidance and counselling services for immigrants.
- Immigration Services of the City of Joensuu
Siltakatu 20
Open: Mon-Fri 9:00-15:00
- Immigration Services of the City of Kuopio
Ms Tiina Valtonen, Immigration Coordinator
tel: +358 (0)44 718 3078, tiina.valtonen(at)kuopio.fi
- Multicultural Centre Kompassi
Kauppakatu 40-42


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Both public outreach during a project and crisis management when something goes badly wrong requires communication with the public. What are the strategies for each? What are the similarities? What are the differences?
During this webinar industry insiders will discuss:
- Keys to forming a communication structure during the public outreach phase of a project;
- Creating a formal strategy for handling media requests both during a project and in times of crisis; and
- Communications plans and strategies that are essential to prepare ahead of time for use throughout the life of a project, and in the event of a crisis.
Sponsored by:


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The Tennessee Jazz & Blues Society is a wonderfully diverse group of people, brought together by a love for jazz and blues.
Membership categories include Basic (individual/family), Professional Musician, and Student. A "Friend of TJBS" membership adds additional support for the organization's mission. Members support the work of the Society in promoting jazz and blues in the area, through news and information, reviews and commentary, and live performances Members enjoy "perks" including ticket giveaways, discounted admission to TBJS ticketed events, and early access to monthly columns by noted jazz journalist Ron Wynn.
Annual Membership Dues:
Basic Membership – $35
Friend of TJBS – $100 (Basic membership + contribution)
Professional Musician Membership – $50
Student Membership – $15
NOTE: Dues payments are nonrefundable. Need More Information? For additional membership & TJBS information e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com.`
Online membership signup is temporarily unavailable. Click here to download the membership form. Fill it out, print, and mail the form with your check or credit card information to: Tennessee Jazz & Blues Society, Inc. P.O. 121293 Nashville TN 37212-1293


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CAREER changers looking to train as a fitness instructor have the chance to attend an information day later this month.
T2 Fitness Education, based in the Blunsdon House Hotel in Blunsdon, has been running training courses since 2011, helping hundreds of people re-train to be fitness instructors and personal trainers.
It is hosting a second open evening of the year to attract people looking to switch careers, or students already training, for its September 2019 intake.
Stu Gatherum, founder of T2, said "Following a fantastic turn out and sign up in September, we're running another open evening for prospective students.
"We run courses for people who are looking to become personal trainers, as well as more advance courses for experienced PTs who are looking to specialise further."
There will be a 10 per cent discount on all courses booked at the event which will have guest talks from current tutors and previous students.
The open evening will be on Monday 25th March at Blunsdon House Hotel, from 7.00pm-9pm.
Students will need to place a deposit to reserve their place on a course and register to attend at www.t2fitness.co.uk.


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Here is the latest bread that I tried. It is something I found on Pinterest. It is very similar to my Artisan/bucket bread but it is stickier and you just spoon it into a pan as soon as all ingredients are stirred together. So I call it Spoon Bread.
1 Loaf Recipe
1 3/8 cups warm water
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 3/4 cups flour
Measure flour, sugar and salt into a bowl and whisk together. Set aside. Measure warm water (not hot and not, not cold), into a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast on top of water. Add dry ingredients and stir with a large wooden spoon until all are combined. Spray a regular loaf pan with Pam. Spoon dough into pan and tap lightly on counter. Allow dough to double in size rising to just over the top of the pan. Bake at 350º F for 35 minutes or until the top is a golden brown. Brush top of bread with butter and try to wait 10 minutes before cutting it.
4 Loaf Recipe
5 1/2 cups warm water
7 teaspoons instant yeast
2 Tablespoons salt
3 Tablespoons sugar
11 cups flour
Same directions as above except divide the dough into 4 loaf pans that have been sprayed with Pam or well greased with Crisco.
Warning: Only make 1 or 2 loaves at a time because you will eat it all in one sitting. If you should have any left over it does make terrific toast. :)


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Herringbone tile backsplash – Named after the complex bone structure of herring, Herringbone is a classic model that has reached all aspects of design. Fishbone samples are often used in interior design and can be found in almost every design element – our favourite carpet, pillowcases, wooden floors, curtains and tiles. Whether you are working on a bathroom floor or a kitchen backsplash, fishbone tiles add timeless character to any design.
If you are a sucker for classic, herringbone tile backsplash in a simple white brick colour and a fine white plaster line is your best bet. Although this look is often seen in traditional kitchens, it works as well in the modern and modern design. Choose 2 x 4 or 3 x classic sizes for traditional look. Or try a 2 x 8 size for a model of bones showing its wild side.
For a more modern look go for a slightly cold neutral, such as a light grey. This colour tone works well with any design style, however, we think it looks best in modern kitchens. The herringbone tile backsplash below selects a matte grey in a sleek 2 x 6 size. Combined with fresh white cabinets and stainless steel details, space feels clean and modern with a moderate amount of texture, size and personality.


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Shannon Wheeler Launches The Whistleblower Papers on Kickstarter
Cartoonist Shannon Wheeler has launched a Kickstarter to bring the Whistleblower Report and Ukranian Call transcript to comics.
The creator behind Too Much Coffee Man, and the bestselling book Sh*t My President Says: The Illustrated Tweets of Donald J. Trump is currently working on a graphic novel adaptation of the Mueller Report.
But, with the news moving so quickly, he decided to adapt the recent political rattling revelation and news.
Reward levels range from $7 for a digital version to $100 for a "super special edition" and original cartoon. The regular edition includes a print and digital copy is just $10 dollars. There's a signed and numbered reward level at $20 as well. Print reward levels are limited to just 220 copies total.
The project is a little under halfway to its goal of $2500 and runs until November 15, 2019.


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Marketing has become a much more important corporate function. There is no denying that. We live in a world whereContinue reading
Tag: investment
6 Steps Towards A New Economy
As we move out of the recession, we need to be prepared for how business will adapt as companies, onceContinue reading


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As promised, I'm back today to talk about how to turn your models into gorgeous alien colors -- and maybe more importantly, how to get the "glued on tinfoil bikini" effect ... so I thought I'd put up the end product first and then cycle back to the beginning, and start over!
ALL THE IMAGES WITH TEXT HAVE BEEN UPLOADED AT FULL SIZE -- click to see them at 1:1 and read the captioning.
Changing the color of a character is something I've done once or twice before. You might remember this:
A few months ago I played with a combination of monochrome and color ... in one of the experiments instead of having a color model wandering in a monochrome scene, I turned it around and had a monochrome model wandering about in a full-color scene. The principle is the same here as it is in making the model come up green, blue, or whatever shade you want...
Now, since everyone reading this will be using different software, it's pretty pointless me walking you through the process in any one interface! But I can easily tell you the process to turn DAZ Michael 4 or Victoria 4.2 as blue as Jake Sully.
For myself, for this kind of thing I use Irfanview, which is FREE from Irfanview.com -- it's just the easiest and the most powerful as well as the price being right!
You need to track down where the images of the skinmap are kept on your harddrive. They'll be in the Textures folder inside your DAZ Runtime folders, which are probable installed in your Documents folder. You have to hunt them down and, when you've found them, copy them out into a folder on your desktop. Be sure to work with copies!! If you overwrite the original files, you'll wind up reinstalling the texture set to get back to where you were before!!
Now, if you've never done this, the actual images can be a bit gruesome ... yup, they look like a flayed human. Like a Mayan sacrifice. Sorry, dudes, that's how it works. Basically, when an artist or designer is assembling a new skin map for sale at DAZ or Renderosity etc., a human volunteer is imaged in very, very find detail under never-changing lights. The photos are then mosaiced together and the background dropped out. These images are then applied to the 3D model using a coordinate set called "UV" coordinates, which are the same thing as the x,y,z coordinates that describe both the real world and the world inside your 3D software, but the u,v system determines where a texture map is applied to a model.
So ... find the set of JPEG images you want to use for your alien -- back them up to the new folder on your desktop. Next challenge: tum them just the right shade of green, blue or whatever.
These are big images ... could be 4000x4000 pixels, at high-rez, so you obviously need to have a decent computer to do this! Open the images one at a time in your imaging program. Open up the dialog where you get to fiddle about with your R,G,B parameters, as well as gamma and contrast, and ... start fiddling!
It's important to know a bit about how one color affects another. RGB means Red, Green, Blue (duh), but what you might not know is that an easier way to make an image go green is to drop out the red! Say you want to make an image go blue ... you can turn up the blue, but if you don't drop out some red, it's going to go a purplish blue. There are all kinds of rules and formulae for working this out, but you don't need them. You just need to play with the software till you discover which colors work on concert with which other colors, to give what effect.
Don't forget to adjust gamma and contrast before you save the final result, otherwise you could end up with a pale, flat, "lifeless" skinmap.
The next thing is to apply these new JPEGs to your model.
Load up Victoria or Michael, or whomever. Then, open the Surfaces tab. See the loooooong list of all the bits of the model you can get hold of? You'll need to choose Skin - Face, Skin- Head, Torso, Limbs, and so on. Then, in the little dialog where the existing map is named, give this a click, then click Browse ... and click your way through to the folder where you put your new images. Choose those. Keep going till the whole model is re-skinned.
(Incidentally, if you wanted your model to come out with the tiger-stripes you saw on the Na'vi, these you will have to hand-paint! In fact, you can hand-paint whole skinmaps, starting with a blank "template," which is sometimes supplied with skinmaps. There's also something ... I think it's called "Living Doll," but don't hold me to that ... which is a skinmap template for artists who're clever with GIMP or whatever. I'm very, very tempted...!)
So that's the skin color for the alien taken care of. Now, what about the glued-on tinfoil bikini?
Okay, now we get back to the interesting part!
So load up your Michael or Victoria (Victoria was "on" yesterday, so let's have a change and use Michael today). Add a costume. In this picture, above, I used the M4 Basicwear Speedoes. Then you use your Surfaces tab to add, or change, the diffuse map to something interesting. I used a Hawaiian pattern, which was made from a snapshot of a piece of Hawaiian fabric. No need to buy these textures ... too easy to make them yourself, and if you do, you wind up with something unique. (Sometimes, the models in my pictures are wearing the fabrics off our furniture!)
To make it really obvious what I did, I've plunked the same fabric texture on the floor prop here's standing on. It's that easy. Now...
I changed out the diffuse map again, just for fun, and to show how easy it is. Then, I applied a displacement map. This actually does "displace" the surface of the OBJ you slap it onto. The black parts of the pattern are punched in, the white stand up, so you can make it look like an OBJ has been hammered into a pattern...
So, a displacement map is a JPEG image in black and white, which we used to call "zip-a-tone" back in the days of offset printing. And it has a huge effect on the OBJ ... you can use this as a bump map too, but remember that bump maps don't make the OBJ change shape at all. They basically just cause the illusion of texture. Which is why I don't use them very often.
So far, so good. But it doesn't much like tinfoil! So...
...change the "costume" for a G-string. Then drop out the diffuse map and set the color to one of the mid-dark grays. Apply the same displacement map ... but now, get clever. Crank the GLOSS parameter up high (remembering that 100% = no gloss, and 0% is full gloss, which makes perfect sense. Not), and set the gloss color to white. Then scroll down to the reflection dialog, crank this way up and set the reflection color to white too.
Render one. A...ha! You ought to be close now, and you can go on tweaking all these things till you get just what you want. For instance, in the above-right image, I actually applied a blue-green-purple diffuse map, and then in the displacement dialog I adjusted the Minimum setting to (minus) -.30 to get this effect, which was pretty much what I'd wanted.
The last thing was to bring in a column and strip in a backdrop. What makes the column interesting is that I made it deep purple and turned it into a mirror with the reflection parameter. I swapped the ground color to green, to look better against the purple, and then the backdrop is a digital painting.
I ought to come back and talk about painting the backdrops! Another time...
Right now I've actually run out of time, but I think I'm finished this essay anyway.
Hope this helped ... and I hope you have loads of fun playing with all this.
Jade, 2 January


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Get Gifts Delivered in Ras Al Khaimah Instantly
The meaning of the Arabic word "Ras-al-Khaimah" refers to headland of the small huts. History and archaeology of this place is marvelous inviting tourists all over the world. Our Ras Al Khaimah gift shop would surely take you on a joyous ride as you would find innumerable flowers and cakes to be gifted to your dear friends. To get gifts instantly just order gifts online in Ras al Khaimah and surprise the receiver. The list of gifts to be presented to your friends and family is a never-ending one. But when you are visiting our website, we make sure you get the best of flowers and cakes to be sent as gifts to Ras Al Khaimah. The whole experience of gifting is going to change with our gift delivery in Ras Al Khaimah.
Gift Ideas in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE - Ferns N Petals
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For the people in Ras al Khaimah, the good news is - our mouthwatering cakes of different varieties and fresh flowers of different colors, are always in stock to fasten your gifting process. To congratulate your friend on his/her recent promotion send him/her cakes using our services of cake delivery in Ras Al Khaimah. Your wife would be thrilled to receive a flower after you left for office fighting with her. Our flower delivery in Ras Al Khaimah would take care of you as we value your relationship with your friends and family.
We have stretched our delivery services to your nearby places like Al Jazirah, Al Hamra, Ar-Rams, Khawr Khuwayr, Diqdaqah, Khatt, Masafi, Huwaylat. With our same day delivery services, send gifts like cakes, chocolates, flowers to your friends residing everywhere. We would be more than happy to serve you happiness. Free shipping policy is something which would really refine your gifting purpose as we want you to feel the joy of gifting.
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The month of March is yet to come but you have to start planning it in advance as two major occasions are lined up. Women's Day on 8th March and Mother's Day on 21st March are two big events that would keep you busy! So, Ferns N Petals is here to unveil some of the best gift ideas for your March festivity. The thrilling bouquets and arrangements of flowers like roses, lilies, carnations, chrysanthemums, etc. and the box of chocolates or donuts are some of the sweet and elegant women's day gift ideas that you can opt for the wonderful women in your life. For your sweet, loving, and caring mom, you can opt for the appealing personalized cushions, a basket of fresh seasonal fruits, a box of colorful & tasty macaroons, personalized mug, and a tray of crunchy and delicious cookies, etc. These amazing mothers day gift idea would bring a bright smile on your mom's face for sure. Apart from all these gifts, you should not forget the fragrant and vibrant floral gifts like vase or basket arrangement and bouquets of exotic flowers. So, get the mothers day flower delivery for your mom and make her feel special. Our same-day and next day delivery services are there to help you with this process!


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(Telegraph) Northerners' brains are bigger, scientists find
Good news for our readers from the north: you are likely to have a bigger brain than your southern counterparts.
Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily mean you are more intelligent than people from the south – just that you have evolved to cope with the longer winters and greyer skies in northern climes.
Analysis of 55 skulls from 12 countries, dating from the 1800s, showed that people in northern areas have evolved to grow larger eyes and visual areas of the brain.
Having wider pupils allows the eyes to take in more light, while a bigger retina is able to distinguish more detail, producing a higher-resolution image.
A larger optic nerve and a more sizeable area of the brain dedicated to processing sight are also needed for northern populations to see to the same level of detail as people from further south.
Researchers from Oxford University examined the volume of eye sockets and brain cavities in the skulls and found a direct link to the latitude of their country of origin.
While English people had an average brain size of 1,416ml, the figure in Micronesia, which lies very near the equator, was just 1,200ml.
In contrast Scandinavians, the most northerly population tested, had a brain capacity of 1,484ml – more than 20 per cent higher than Micronesia.
(See the original article here)
Also see How Come 90% of Men Lived and Died in the Same Place They Were Born Compared to Half of Women?, Do We Need Promiscuous Females to Survive?, Time's List of the World's 100 Most Influential People and Should We Blame a Man's Midlife Crisis on the End of his Wife's Reproductive Career?


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Air Curtains keep warm air in and cold air out.
Our air curtains provide consistent temperatures for your cold areas without hindering staff movement into the room. The ability to keep cool air in your temperature controlled room and warm air out, is essential to keeping your energy costs low.


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Kinson Removals
Kinson Removals
Kinson removals, when moving locally or looking to move to Kinson and searching for Kinson Removals, White & Company have been based in the area for over 145 years and provide a full removals & storage solution. As founder members of British Association of Removers. FIDI & OMNI White & Company can provide for a local move, anywhere in the UK, Jersey and Guernsey, Europe or International destinations. White & Company work tirelessly to provide the best possible service and peace of mind for those looking to move home.
How to find White & Company
Elliott Road,
West Howe,
Email: email@example.com
Tel: 01202 912142
Opening Times:
- Mon 09:00 – 17:00
- Tue 09:00 – 17:00
- Wed 09:00 – 17:00
- Thu 09:00 – 17:00
- Fri 09:00 – 17:00
- Sat 09:00 – 12:00
- Sun Closed
Kinson Travel Connections
Getting to Kinson is via the: A341/A3049/A347. Getting to Kinson by Train – there are three stations to choose from: Bournemouth (3 miles), Branksome (3 miles) and Pokesdown (4 miles). The closest three airports are: Bournemouth Airport (2 miles), Southampton Airport (26 miles) and Bristol Airport (55 miles).
Where is Kinson
The map below shows the location of Kinson, Dorset
Houses For Sale In Kinson
The average value of a property in this area at this time is £238,000. There has been an increase in property values of 6.06% for the past year. You would pay around £286,000 for a detached house, £212,000 for a semi-detached and £207,000 for a smaller terraced home.
Kinson Leisure
Dudsbury Golf Club & Hotel
64 Christchurch Road
Tel: 01202 593499.
Kinson Local Council
If you are planning to move to Kinson, and need information on schools, planning permission, parking permits or council tax. Simply contact: www.bournemouth.gov.uk
Kinson Local Schools
- Kinson Primary School
- Christ The King Catholic Primary School
- Hill View Primary School
- The Bourne Academy
- Glenmoor School
- Winton Arts and Media College
- Portfield School
- Switched-On Christian School
- Langside School
Kinson Cable and Phone Connections
When planning your Kinson Removals, and need to know the broadband availability, simply visit: www.cable.co.uk
Kinson Removals | Houses For Sale In Kinson | Kinson Estate Agents
White & Company removers & storers. Call 01202 912142 for a free removals quote.
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For years now, brand contests have been popular across all social media channels. Brands run a social media contest for a plethora of purposes. The reason can vary from increasing brand awareness or sales to enhancing consumer identification with your brand. According to Mention.com, 52 percent of consumers say that participating in a contest helps them feel more connected to a brand.
So, right before we nosedive into what makes a contest successful and relevant, let us talk about why contests are still a great tool in marketing. While contests were just used as an attention seeking tool in the early 2000s, now it has become a bigger mechanism to drive engagement. Some simple reasons why brands should consider contests are
Instagram's recent algorithm is triggered in a way that it rewards business pages that show organic engagement from followers with higher exposure and reach.
With the immense competition out there in the world of social media, where the customer scrolls through content in a blink, contests help in driving engagement with personal attention. Customers themselves tend to reach out and comment on the content.
Keeping the customer database updated
How do you manage to update your customer database? With contests, here is a list of people who already fall in the demographic space that your brand is targeting or a list which reveals a whole new set of people that your brand hasn't been concentrating on. While customers are wary of spam, convincing your followers that they're getting a reward for giving you their email address without any spam does the trick.
Reach and virality
Nothing like a contest with a good giveaway that makes customers share it with their peers and friends. As long as you keep the contest simple and the giveaway attractive, the brand reach is enormous.
Now that the brand is convinced that contests are the way to go, let's look at what the brand can do to make it a successful one. How does the brand make it a winning strategy?
Choosing the platform
While experimenting with all the social media channel cuts down the risk, there are some defined advantages to Instagram. Recently, Facebook has taken a major dip in engagement. Unless the brand decides to invest media monies into the contest post, returns are rare. For a small to a mid-range brand, even the minimal budget would help. But this also nullifies the whole point of organic growth by contests. What could plausibly work on Facebook, is to have a more consolidated approach where we could get an enormous number of people posting about a subject at the same time or within short intervals. The more conversations in a shorter period of time the better.
The idea is the promote your contest when once you realize it is on its path to success. In this arena, Instagram is a clear winner in the past year. To the contrary, the customer engagement in this platform has proven to have been 10x better than that of Facebook's.
Snapchat was a good contender a year back with its customized filters and its 200 million loyal users. TikTok is also making its way into promotions and brand notice with its user base consistently growing.
Understanding your audience
While this tip comes with every campaign that a brand has to run, if you want to achieve your goals, then you need to know your audience. But let's look at the nuances that a brand has to focus upon.
If you are targeting the millennial population, the brand has to consider that they are way more complex than the previous generation of consumers. Here are a set of people who prefer experiences more than monetary gifts. In fact, 72% of millennials prefer to spend more money on experience-related purchases. No wonder travel and experience giveaways are so popular. Know the demographic that you are targeting. Let's say that you run a stationery brand that sells art materials. If your followers are mostly teenagers, running a contest that gives a cash prize or a vacation when they can't travel alone doesn't make sense. In this scenario, an event ticket to an art show or a set of expensive art supplies should do the trick. Once both you and your audience know exactly who you're speaking to, you can keep them engaged by tying your promotion to events and trends that matter to your target market.
Keeping it simple – Types of contests
Social media audience will not respond to anything that requires any sort of additional effort. Some brands tend to get greedy while focusing on sales. For eg, buying a product of the brand and clicking a photo with it is a lot of effort for the audience. This will result in dwindling participation by the audience. Contests should preferably be designed around simple activities like clicking a photo, sharing a story or an image using hashtags or comments, dance moves or something fun and easy for the follower to do. Keep the rules uncluttered and the activity relevant to your brand's essence and maximize engagement.
Unless there is an absolute necessity, even switching to links that are outside the social media channel can reduce participation. Keep it as simple as possible.
Video-based Campaigns
Now that Facebook and Insta Live are more popular than ever, engaging your customers with an active, visual and experience-based campaign is a great way to increase engagement.
Comment and Giveaway campaigns
Comments are a great way for brands to get high engagement rate from the followers, but with very less activity or investment from the consumer.
Brand-related Content campaigns
Want your fans to feel closer to the brand? Why not invite your audience to share their own content and be a part of the experience? Ask them to create pictures, videos or live streams that respond to your brand's essence.
Social cause campaigns
Honest social causes can be incredibly effective when it comes to increasing customer engagement. The current social media users are very aware of being politically correct and are involved with philanthropy. When the social causes are relatable and honest, it can help improve interaction plus the brand gets to do some social goodness.
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Will you be my Hand of the Queen? My red carpet sidekick? My plus one and then some? I'll sneak you (give you a luxury trip and make you feel like a khaleesi/khal) to the final Game of Thrones premiere EVER and we can get lit at the after-party! Can't say anyone else fighting for the Throne would do that, eh? TEAM TARGARYEN 4 LYFE! For your chance to win, enter through my bio link or at omaze.com/emilia @omazeworld #onlyatomaze #breakerofchainsandwebsites #motherofdragonsfriendofomaze #litafredcarpet #onceinalifetimebaby #❤ #fortheredcarpetthrone
Omaze combines a contest post with social cause and an experience giveaway with the Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke
Differentiate your contest and giveaway wisely
There is no calm before the storm in marketing. Advertise your contest extensively before the launch. Videos announcing the contest would work better than an image or a simple post. Make use of Insta Stories. In 2018, 80% of Instagram users confirmed that they constantly use Instagram Stories as a source of temporary video. This also means you'll need to spend more time offering unique prizes, creating unusual rules and striking up ways to generate action.
Set up posts that countdown to a live stream or the upcoming event that gives out details about the giveaway. The more appealing the reward is, the more are the chances that the follower will share that experience on social media and link back to you. Your contest prize could be a way to expand your social visibility even further.
The above mentioned can help a brand craft a more modern, future-focused social media contests and make contests a winning strategy. While the contest designs can't stay the same way that they were a few years ago, a refurbished one can hike up the brand's visuals. Have you done a contest from your page? Do let us know below in comments, or visit our website, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages to reach out to us.


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Monday, December 22, 2014
Yes We're OPEN!! Check out our Holiday Schedule
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
It's that time again!!
Saturday December 6th, 10 - 5 and Sunday, December 7th, 12 -5!!
Porch & Twig is celebrating with refreshments and sales!!
Come by and share some holiday cheer!
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UC Davis has lined up two highly accomplished California technologists as keynote speakers for this year's UC Computing Services Conference:
- Diane Bryant, chief operating officer of Google Cloud, and a 1985 graduate of UC Davis in electrical engineering
- Andrew Isaacs, a UC Berkeley professor with years of experience in Silicon Valley tech and business innovation
Their talks in Jackson Hall will be free and public.
You don't need to register for the University of California Computing Services Conference (UCCSC) to hear the speeches by Bryant and Isaacs—although if you do register you'll also have access to two days of presentations in the areas of health technology, leadership/professional development, research, security/privacy, technology and security policy, web and applications, and women in technology.
The UC Office of the President believes so strongly in the value of the conference that it will cover the registration cost for the first 100 UC employees who are attending for the first time, or who work in library IT or research IT.
Registration opens soon
For those who are paying, registration will cost $175. Registration opens May 18 for presenters, and May 25 for everyone else. The conference runs from Aug. 13 through Aug. 15.
Also in the works:
- A welcome dinner and reception in the Good Life Garden on Monday, Aug. 13
- A happy hour on Tuesday, Aug. 14, featuring a string quartet and vendor drawings
- Campus tours, including one by double-decker bus
The conference, hosted by a different campus each year, is open to any University of California faculty and staff who work in IT or are interested in information technology. Presentations are generally designed for IT professionals, but some sessions cover topics that also apply outside IT, such as project management, service delivery and procurement.
Watch for further details, and subscribe to updates, at uccsc.ucdavis.edu.


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Tobias Kaye
Lyre style Sounding Bowl in Acacia. Tuned to full scale.
Musical bowl, easy to play, remarkable sound.
Ash Lyre Bowl 335
Strong grain against golden strings gives a spreading sound and look.
£2122 inc case
Heart Style Sounding Bowl in Ash
Very light and thin this style of Sounding Bowl has a rich and intimate tone
15 inches across
Tobias Kaye
Tobias Kaye developed Sounding Bowls, sculpture with tuned strings. So easy to play that making music becomes easy. The quality of the sounds relaxes the mind creating a feeling of deep peace. Overtone harmonics are so rich that the NHS uses Sounding Bowls in therapy.
Each Sounding Bowl is a unique sculpture.
All strings are tuneable
Galleries and museums worldwide display them as art.
People everywhere make music at home.
Tobias Kaye's studios are open by appointment.


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What say the letters? The tarot de Jhan Carlos Sandoval gives to know what fate has in store for you in the horoscope of today.
You CAN VIEW chinese Horoscope 2017: predictions sign by sign
Aries: Avoid get carried away by negative ideas with respect to your working environment and analyzes with caution the situation. You will feel that a relationship is not giving you what you want on an emotional level.
Taurus: You take a rest to recover the energy you lost in your latest work. Other topics you would be moving away from attention to your sentimental life. Prevents show coldness.
Gemini: it Is possible that some procedures or documents are causing delays in your projects. You'll have to decide if you leave aside the history with that person or keep trying to work.
Cancer: you'll have to know to convince the other party to that negotiation comes out in your favor as you wish. You will feel that you are reaping the result of mistakes made with that person.
Leo: Someone you could disappoint in the field of labour and seek to renew your environment in order to achieve improvements. You would be in doubt if a person aims at something more than a friendship with you. You'll carry.
Virgo: you'll emerge victorious from the competition that is present in the field of labour and you will get what you wanted. The attraction you feel for someone could turn into something more stable on an emotional level.
Libra: A person encourage you to return to a work that left side. Your initiative will have results. You receive news of someone who was far away and re-emerge the illusion between the two.
Scorpio: You'll feel suspicious of giving the best of you in that project for lack of security in their performance. Avoids close in your ideas and I know more understanding with that person who needs it.
Sagittarius: you'll have to be more flexible in determining a negotiation. Will be positive for you. Overcome some of the difficulties that have come to be presented with your partner. Promotes dialogue.
Capricorn: You'll be able to resolve some financial concerns that you had from a while ago. You desprendes of a situation in the past to achieve harmony with the favourite person.
Aquarius: you will Find a different way of achieving your goals and you'll have the support of someone in the past. You are presented with two possibilities both sentimental and you have to make a decision.
Pisces: you may decide to perform this project individually to ensure the success of the same. You take time to assess your current sentimental life and find stability.


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CaixaForum: top Barcelona art gallery | Photo: Tom Walton
The social program in Barcelona this week:
- Tuesday 22nd | Our trip this afternoon takes us to the Manzana de la Discordia, the block on Passeig de Gracia with three of the best examples of Modernista architecture (16.00).
- Wednesday 23rd | We're going to Barcelona's most-visited art gallery this afternoon, the CaixaForum, which currently has a great Charlie Chaplin exhibition on. The converted old factory building is another great example of Modernista architecture (16.00).
- Thursday 24th | Come along to film afternoon today: we'll be watching Barrio, which was a huge hit in Spain when it came out (16.15).
- Friday 25th | It's a Rockabillie Friday Club this week, with music by people like Stray Cats, Jimmy & The Mustangs, The Paladins and Levi Dexter. There's a dance competition too, perhaps inspired by one of Spain's big television hits, Mira quien baila… In the bar/on the terrace, 19.00-21.00.
Join us in Reception ("C" floor), unless otherwise stated, at the times given above.


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HOPEWELL TWP. — Savin Sun will gather with family Thursday to celebrate the Fourth of July like most Americans — enjoying a barbecue, fireworks "and being thankful for the people that laid down their lives to give us the freedom that we have."
The Hopewell Township woman doesn't take freedom for granted.
"I'm grateful to be in this country," she said, "to be able to experience things that I know, back home if I was there, I wouldn't be where I am today."
Sun, 36, was born in a refugee camp in Thailand.
Her Cambodian parents lived in a village outside Battambang, the capital city of Battambang province in northwestern Cambodia. They crossed the border into Thailand in the early '80s to escape genocide wrought by the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot.
From 1975 to 1979, between 1.5 million and 3 million people were killed by the communist political group that ruled the country following the Cambodian civil war, according to the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota.
The regime, wanting to create a classless, agrarian society, forced city residents to work as farmers; persecuted religious and ethnic minorities; separated families; and targeted intellectuals — teachers, lawyers, doctors and clergy — the center said.
Many died from disease and starvation.
Sun's father, Thoeun Sun, was a police officer; her mother, Savoeun Keo, was a homemaker and baker and sold her desserts at farmers markets.
"When the genocide happened, they were able to get from the countryside to Thailand, which is where the refugee camps were," Sun said, taking with them their son and daughter.
Sun, the third of four children, and another brother were yet to be born.
The United Nations Human Rights Council estimates Thailand hosted more than 1 million refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam — people escaping political repression, torture and war — since the mid-1970s.
"My mom doesn't talk about it a lot 'cause I guess it stirs up a lot of memories for her," said Sun.
"My sister, at the time, she was about 12 or 13, so she talks about it every now and then — how they had to walk in the woods. … She would just remember hiding and trying to be quiet."
The Khmer Rouge "didn't want people who knew how to read, knew how to write — things like that," Sun said.
"When I read more about the history — because I was not in it by any means — they just didn't want anyone that could question what they were trying to build. You had to fake like you didn't know how to think for yourself. You just had to go with the flow."
Born in 1983, Sun said she doesn't remember much about refugee camp life, other than what her parents and older siblings have said, and "they don't talk about it much."
They lived in man-made huts. Women took care of the household; men farmed. They washed in nearby rivers and streams.
The family lived in the camp about two years, Sun said.
In 1985, they came to the United States, with the help of missionaries.
"My parents said they came to give me a better life — a chance at education and something better," Sun said.
They settled first in Utica, N.Y.
"We didn't stay there long," Sun said. "My sister said there wasn't a predominantly Asian culture. It was mostly Americans. I guess they kept in contact with some of the people that lived in the same villages. Somehow my mom found out there was a group of Cambodians in Philadelphia, so that's when we relocated from New York to Philadelphia."
At home, Sun's parents didn't speak English.
"When I started school, it was just me trying to learn the language," she said, with the help of English as a Second Language Program.
"It was difficult at first," she said, but eventually she mastered the language and was able to translate for her parents, who learned enough to carry on some conversation. They were employed as migrant farm workers "because that's what they knew back home," Sun said.
She graduated from Kennett High School, part of Kennett Consolidated School District in Kennett Square, Pa.
Sun got a job as a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home in Kennett Square. That's when she realized she was drawn to taking care of people.
Sun would enroll at Center for Arts and Technology—Brandywine Campus in Coatesville, Pa., and graduate as a licensed practical nurse.
Around 2012, she met Sean Croner. A Hopewell native, he worked for insurance company Aflac Inc. in Philadelphia.
Friends first, they started dating.
Her daughter, Maya Richburg, now 11, was about to start school.
Croner, she said, "wanted a long-term relationship. He didn't want her to start school somewhere and uproot her. I decided to move here to be with him."
'Be all you can be'
Held up in traffic, Sun calls to say she is running late for an interview. Hers is an ambitious and whirlwind schedule, most days filled with college classes, clinical practicals at hospitals, full-time job, and mom to daughter, Maya, and son, Bryce Croner, 5.
It's 1:30 p.m. when she arrives at Rochester Manor + Villa, which offers rehabilitation, skilled nursing and personal care. Sun, manager of its 60-bed, short-term care unit, oversees the certified nursing assistant team, hospitality aides and unit secretaries, and assists with patient-care plans and regulatory compliance.
Her boss, Kristin Goldstrom Oeder, executive director, said Sun is an "excellent nurse who is always willing to go the extra mile for her residents, families and team. She is also very ambitious and tackles any project, training or position with enthusiasm."
This morning, Sun sat in classes at LaRoche University in McCandless Township — classes she will complete next year to become a registered nurse.
Sun was hired at Rochester Manor in 2014 as a charge nurse, working under the direction of registered nurses, and within a year moved up to licensed practical nurse concierge. She called it a "middle man" position — a liaison with patients, families, outside care providers and facility team members. She made appointments, scheduled transportation and helped with patient admissions.
Soon thereafter, Sun was promoted to licensed practical nurse assessment coordinator and handled the facility's compliance with state and federal billing requirements.
Last year, once again, she advanced to unit manager.
"It's all about balance," Sun said, and a management team at Rochester Manor that encourages and accommodates continued education.
"They stuck by me through a lot with my class scheduling," Sun said, telling her "we will work with you."
Rochester Manor's care approach is "person centered," said Mark Miner, the facility's public relations adviser. "The whole culture of how they treat employees is very much the same," he said.
Oeder agreed that the facility promotes continuing education and work-life balance. Sun, she said, is a "very inspiring" example.
"I like my team," Sun said. "We all stick together. I like the patients I come across. Not one patient is the same. Everyone has a different story. That's what stands out for me. It's just getting to know people, hearing where they come from. I guess it keeps me humble."
One of the most uplifting parts of her job is "seeing people come in and how far they advance when they leave," Sun said.
She has no plans to leave Rochester Manor once she gets her nursing degree.
"Rochester Manor is like a second home to me," she said. "I don't have plans to leave. I want to advance my career to be a better asset to the company."
Her life can get hectic, she said, but "I kind of tell myself when I'm wearing a certain hat, that's the hat to focus on," whether it's nurse, mother or student.
Last year, Sun took the Oath of Allegiance in Pittsburgh, administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, to become a naturalized citizen.
"I just felt like it was the right time," she said. "I feel like the American dream is just life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and that's what I've been doing my whole life. My kids are citizens, my boyfriend's a citizen. It was just time for me to be the same."
Sun said she hasn't abandoned her Cambodian culture, but "this is what I call home now."
She said she looks at her situation in two ways.
"If I would have stayed home (in Cambodia) or if my parents didn't make it here, I would have been dead or I would have no education, and that's something I've worked toward my whole life is to be educated. And that's what my parents have always said: 'You guys have to take advantage of education.' Here, it's free. People don't kill you, because you have it. You don't have to be afraid, and no one's ever going to be able to take it away from you."
Being an American, Sun said, "truly means trying to be all you can be. That's what makes me want to continue my education and grow to be the best I can be. I want to be a good role model for my children and make a difference in people's lives."


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Comparing 4 west valley real estate markets
Today on the Valley of Heart's Delight Blog, I looked at the real estate markets for Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino, and Los Altos.
All four of these areas are known for good public schools, proximity to the coastal range, and a nice way of life. All but Cupertino have a quaint downtown area, and those three communities each have about 31,000 residents, while Cupertino is more than double that. For folks relocating to the San Jose area for work, most likely, all four will be considered if schools are a priority.
To see how these 4 highly regarded communities compare in terms of market conditions and what you can buy for your money, please visit:
Market comparison: Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino and Los Altos on the Valley of Heart's Delight Blog.
Related Reading:
What does it cost to buy a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home in the West Valley areas of Silicon Valley?
It can be challenging for people moving to Silicon Valley to get a sense of pricing for home buying. So to compare "apples to apples," let's take a hypothetical case of a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home of approximately 2,000 SF house (appx 185 square meters) and see how the cost looks in one area versus another.
Today I compared several cities and areas using the formula: single family homes of 1800 – 2200 SF, 3-5 bedrooms, 2-3 bathrooms, on lot sizes of 5000 SF to 10,000 SF that have sold within the last 30 days (short window of time due to price changes in the last 6 months or so – first dropping in the 2nd half of 2018, and now nosing up again).
DOM means "Days on Market", the number of days a home was listed as available before pending.
Please note that this is a rough estimate of home prices. In many areas, cities, or towns, there can be multiple school districts. In those cases, the home price will be impacted by which school district the property is located within. (If you are interested in prices for similar homes a year or two ago, please also scroll down to find similar charts and data.)
I have arranged this chart in descending order by Sales Price. This is usually how I organize the data, and you can see certain markets shifting position, moving up or down the order depending on what's hot. To compare, below is a report from April 3rd, 2019 using the same formula.
In the past, I've done similar studies, but using a larger window of time to even out any aberrations.
In most cases, the most expensive and desirable places have either the best schools or shortest commute location or both. Had I ranked these for school scores, you'd find that Cambrian is fairly high up and a good "bang for the buck" location – though not a super short commute for folks who work in Mountain View (though not so bad for people working in Cupertino). None of these is especially close to North San Jose (Cisco).
Palo Alto is a gorgeous, exciting area with all kinds of wonderful features – beautiful neighborhoods, lower crime, great schools, short commute. It is usually the most expensive area on this list. But if you didn't found a successful startup company or inherit a couple of million bucks, it can be hard to buy a single family home there. Many people would like to live in the shadow of Stanford University, but the budget just won't allow it. What, then?
Please use the list above as a way to get your bearings on nearby areas in the South Bay (southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area). This is not an exhaustive list – it's just most of the areas closest to Highway 85 or the West Valley Freeway. You can study various cities, downs, and districts within the region at my stats site, popehandy.rereport.com. (Free and you do not have to register unless you want email updates.)
Finally, it should be noted that one of the main drivers of home values is school districts. In the San Jose / Silicon Valley area, the school district boundaries do NOT follow the city or town boundaries. Los Gatos, for example, has 3 different elementary school districts, with varying scores which impact home values. So too with Saratoga and many other areas, San Jose especially! All this to say that the figures above are only ROUGH GUIDES. When you break it down to micro-markets, the picture changes more. But as a starter guide, I think you'll find the above info helpful to give you a general idea of how far your money can go in home buying for areas in Santa Clara County from Palo Alto to Blossom Valley.
Want to do a deep dive on any of these areas? Please visit my Valley of Heart's Delight Blog to learn about them.
Historical comparisons of home prices in the same / similar areas
Here's similar info from about 22 months ago (one change is that the lot sizes used before was a range of 6,000 to 10,000 SF, and in 2019 I went down to 5,000). I also thought it would be useful to share the number of sales represented, since obviously a small number may not be truly representative of home values in today's market.
January 25, 2018: Continue reading
More affordable homes to buy or rent in Silicon Valley with better schools
Edit: I originally wrote this post on August 12, 2013, but it is still accurate today, January 25, 2018, and probably will be for years to come.
- Palo Alto (very costly)
- Cupertino (less expensive for the school scores compared to other areas up to #5 on this list)
- Saratoga (very expensive)
- Los Altos & Los Altos Hills
- Los Gatos & Monte Sereno (95030 & 95032)
- Parts of San Jose in Cambrian 95124 and Almaden 95120 (very good value)
- The Los Gatos Mountains (zip code 95033)
- Parts of Fremont (Mission San Jose area)
The most expensive places to live in Silicon Valley
If you're moving to pricey Silicon Valley, your goal may not be to find the very most expensive places to live. However, if you are coming here and looking for great schools, it's very likely that the list of places with fantastic public schools will overlap considerably with that of expensive real estate.
A couple of weeks ago, the Business Insider compiled a list of the 20 most expensive zip codes in the area, and also compared the median sale price in 2014 with that of the same zips in 2013 so you can see how much prices are rising. These are the median sale price and does not reflect cost per square foot. If you want a 2,000 SF house, you may not easily find it in the toniest areas!
Their 2014 Silicon Valley areas include zip codes within Atherton (94027 median sale price $3.9 million in 2014) , Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, Hillsborough, Saratoga, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Menlo Park, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Redwood City, Belmont, San Carlos, and the Almaden Valley area of San Jose (95120, median sale price $1.177 mil in 2014). Since it's by zip code, some towns or cities show up twice, for more and less costly parts of that community.
Surprising omissions are Woodside and Los Altos.
Not sure how Almaden could be more costly than those two areas, but this is the list they compiled. Read the whole article with the specifics here:
How do home prices compare between Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino, Campbell, and areas of San Jose such as Cambrian, Almaden and West San Jose?
Yesterday on my Live in Los Gatos blog, I compared a number of "west valley" areas in Santa Clara County, or southern Silicon Valley, to provide a sense of how much home you can get for your money in Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino, Campbell, and areas of San Jose such as Cambrian, Almaden and West San Jose. I used my Altos Research weekly newsletters, which provide a snapshot view of four real estate pricing tiers for various cities or areas. In these, you see the median list price per quartile with the type of square footage, lots size, beds and baths found for each one.
Let's look at Cupertino first, since I get a lot of folks wanting to relocate to Silicon Valley for Apple employment, and many of the new recruits have heard about the wonderful public schools in that city – a major draw. A few years ago, it was very possible to purchase a small house in Cupertino for under a million dollars. But have a look at the chart below and check out the days on market as well as the other data….
In many areas, the most affordable homes are the ones that get gobbled up fastest. Why is it that in Cupertino, the lowest priced listings are on the market the longest? It's not their size – I can tell you this from two decades of experience selling homes in the Bay Area. It is very likely that these properties are not too livable as a group. They probably need serious remodeling or rebuilding (and perhaps expansion as well). Most buyers do not have the cash to totally "rehab" a house, especially if they are starting at over $1,000,000. If you want to live in Cupertino and not throw a ton of money into the existing house, or tear down and rebuild, you're most likely to need a budget closer to $1.3 or $1.4 million as a starting point. Want to be able to walk to Infinity Loop? Make that $1.5 or more – and you will still need to do some remodeling unless it's very small!
What about other nearby Silicon Valley communities and neighborhoods? Please have a look at the full article with charts for a number of areas (plus one for all of San Jose).
What does a million dollars buy you in Los Gatos 95030, Los Gatos 95032, and nearby areas: Saratoga, Almaden, Cambrian, Campbell, Cupertino?
Which Silicon Valley areas are the most European feeling?
I have been fortunate to have made 5 trips to Europe, one of them lasting 9 months, and will be returning again before the end of 2013 (this time to Belgium). It is so diverse, beautiful and compelling! Having experienced a little culture shock myself (when living in Florence, Italy, for one year of university), I'm very sympathetic about how hard an international move can be, and I understand that for Europeans moving to Silicon Valley, there can be an acute culture shock, particularly for those coming from more rural areas.
The bulk of Silicon Valley is located in Santa Clara County, which is at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay. In this county, there are approximately 1.8 million people, almost a million of them in the city of San Jose. Some areas, or districts, of San Jose have a distinctive character and are almost like towns or small cities themselves. So in this article I'll mention both cities and towns, but also areas or districts of San Jose, which might appeal to our European transplants. Most of my comments will reference Santa Clara County or "south bay" locations, but I will also mention others on the San Francisco Peninsula and SF Bay Area too.
Architecture, Urban Centers and Charm
It is an unfortunate negative in Silicon Valley that much of our housing consists of ranch style tract homes, and truthfully, they are not exactly a work of art. New or newer homes tend to be on very tiny parcels of land (or "lots") and for many people may simply feel too congested or crowded. But there are beautiful residential neighborhoods – you just need to know where to look! In many ways, the areas with higher charm can make our global home buyers feel more comfortable than if they were faced with only track, ranch neighborhoods.
Do you value unique, older architecture with Victorian, Craftsman, Tudor or other home styles? Then check out these areas:
- Within San Jose: the Japantown, Vendome, and Naglee Park areas of downtown San Jose. Also in central San Jose are the Rosegarden, Shasta Hanchett and Burbank neighborhoods which all boast some lovely older homes. Or, if you love classic Spanish Revival style homes with views, consider the old Alum Rock area of San Jose near the country club (golf course). The Willow Glen area of SJ (zip code 95120) is full of lovely old established neighborhoods with historic homes and tree lined streets. If your job takes you to downtown San Jose, all of these areas will be fairly close.
- If you want a rural, eclectic atmosphere, check out the "New Almaden" area of San Jose. This is actually a county pocket with a San Jose mailing address.
- Other towns or cities with older, more interesting architecture include the "downtown" ares of Los Altos, Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Campbell, Mountain View, Saratoga and Menlo Park (in San Mateo County, just north of Palo Alto).
- If work will be on The Peninsula, there are many areas nearby that may work. San Mateo has some fantastic neighborhoods! Also San Francisco, which is tiny but full of beautiful areas, may be a strong draw (I do not sell there – it's too far for me). Warning: the weather in San Francisco is very often COLD in summer!
- Across the bay, Berkeley has some great Victorian and other homes and several really interesting pockets, as does parts of Oakland. (I do not work these areas either as they are too far for me, but I did live in Berkeley in graduate school and can connect you with a great agent there.)
Open House in Saratoga on Sunday
Saratoga, Santa Clara County
We invite everyone to visit our open house at 12111 Woodside Dr. on
October 21
from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM.
Property information no longer available.
Open House in Saratoga on Saturday
Saratoga, Santa Clara County
We invite everyone to visit our open house at 12111 Woodside Dr. on
October 20
from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM.
Property information no longer available.
Ranch For Sale in Saratoga
• 1,191 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm ranch
– Great Opportunity!
Saratoga, Santa Clara County
Great chance to buy into beautiful and highly desired Brookview neighborhood at an affordable, entry-level price! This 3 bed, 2 bath home is clean and nicely maintained but modest for the neighborhood at 1191 square feet. The lot is huge (and offers RV parking), so the upside potential is HUGE!
3 Bedrooms
2 Bathrooms
Hardwood Under Carpet
Remodeled Hall Bath
Some Dual Paned Windows
Newer Furnace
Newer Air Conditioning
Newer Rollup Garage Door on Attached 2 Car Garage
Washer, Dryer, and Fridge to Stay
Oversized Quarter Acre Lot with Gorgeous Yard, Lawn and Fruit Trees
Property information no longer available


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Solid Brass Hexagonal and Round Locking Nuts all supplied with washers. Hexagonal version available in 2 sizes of 10mm and ½". Round nuts available in just half inch. 26 threads per inch. Suitable for use on a wide variety of our products such as our all thread and for securing lamp parts, wall lights, and hooks etc.
Minimum buy of 10.


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Syria: The Week in Review (February 8-15) (Al-Akhbar (Lebanon))
Syrian children wearing orange jumpsuits stand inside a cage on February 15, 2015 placed near the debris of a building destroyed in bombardment by Syrian government forces on the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma, during a protest to denounce the continuing killing of civilians in the Syrian conflict and the failure of the international community to stop the carnage. During the protest organised by Syrian activists, the children were imitating Jordanian air force pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh, who was reportedly burned alive by jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group, an act that was condemned by Muslim and Western leaders. AFP/Abd Doumany
As the Syrian conflict nears its fourth anniversary, Al-Akhbar English is inaugurating its weekly overview of the war on the ground, highlighting both notable political moments as well as developments of the major fighting in the country.
More than 210,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the country's conflict in March 2011 and half of Syria's population of 22 million has been forced to flee their homes. The conflict began as a peaceful revolt demanding democratic change, but evolved into a brutal war after government forces violently repressed demonstrators and Islamists poured into the country from all over the world, seeking to establish an "Islamic caliphate."
Here are the most notable events of the deadly conflict from Monday February 8 to Sunday February 15.
BBC interviews Assad
In an interview with the BBC broadcast on February 10, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said third parties, including sources in Iraq, were conveying information to Damascus about the US-led campaign of airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Syria.
He added that there was no direct cooperation between the Syrian government and the United States.
Assad critics have accused Damascus of indiscriminately killing civilians in air strikes on rebel-held areas, using unguided munitions such as barrel bombs.
However, Assad denied that the army was using the makeshift bombs — crude barrels packed with explosives and shrapnel that are generally dropped by helicopter.
"I haven't heard of (the) army using barrels, or maybe cooking pots," he said, laughing.
"We have bombs, missiles and bullets," he added, rejecting claims that the army was using indiscriminate weapons.
He also denied claims that Syria's government had used chemical weapons against its own people in August 2013, in an attack outside Damascus that killed up to 1,400 people and led to the Syrian regime relinquishing its chemical weapons arsenal due to international pressure.
The main frontlines
Eastern Ghouta
The ongoing battle in the opposition bastion of Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus' suburbs, witnessed a turning-point at the beginning of last week.
Eastern Ghouta has been under siege by the Syrian regime for nearly two years, leading to severe food and medical shortages. Since mid-2012, the Syrian army has carried out frequent air raids there and on other on rebel-held areas.
According to the Violations Documentation Center in Syria (VDC), 84 people were killed in the past week in Eastern Ghouta alone, including 68 civilians.
According to the VDC, Damascus' suburbs have so far witnessed the most severe loss of lives in the country.
The dangerous conditions on the ground make it very difficult to independently confirm casualty tolls in Syria.
Former rebel militiamen who have switched sides and joined pro-government forces are engaged in a fierce battle against Islamist insurgents near Damascus, sources said on February 8.
Jaysh al-Wafaa, whose name in Arabic translates as "The Loyalty Army," was formed some three months ago, more than a year into a suffocating regime siege of the Eastern Ghouta area.
According to Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, among the ranks in Jaysh al-Wafaa are "armed men who, after more than a year under siege, handed themselves in to the regime."
On February 9, at least 15 people were killed and dozens wounded in army's airstrikes on the city of Douma, in the Eastern Ghouta area.
The area was still reeling from a massive army aerial assault on February 5 that came after rebels fired more than 120 rockets and mortar rounds into the capital.
The rebel barrage killed 10 people in Damascus, while the army airstrikes and surface-to-surface missiles fired at Eastern Ghouta killed at least 82 people up until Monday, according to the Observatory.
State news agency SANA reported that a large number of "terrorists" had been killed in Eastern Ghouta without specifying the exact number. According to SANA's field reporter however, most of those killed were foreign fighters, mainly Saudi and Libyans.
The Syrian government designates all armed opposition groups as "terrorists."
Also on Monday February 9, pro-opposition Local Coordination Committees activist group accused Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam), a powerful Islamist group near Damascus, of detaining a group of their colleagues.
An LCC spokeswoman said that six activists had been taken from their office on Monday, while the Erbin committee said one had since been set free.
Jaysh al-Islam is the most powerful rebel group operating in the Eastern Ghouta area where Erbin is located. It was formed by a merger of rebel factions in 2013 and has received backing from Saudi Arabia.
Jaysh al-Islam has been accused of also being behind the abduction of four prominent activists known as the Douma Four — Razan Zeitouneh, Wael Hamada, Samira Khalil and Nazem al-Hamadi — in December 2013.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on February 12 that Eastern Ghouta was facing a severe shortage in doctors, severely limiting the ability to treat patients in the area.
"The number of patients treated in the hospitals we support has gone beyond breaking point," MSF director of operations, Dr. Bart Janssens, said.
"The number of requests for medical supplies has shot up," he added.
The Observatory announced on February 12 that at least 183 people have been killed in raids in ten days, most of them civilians.
The southern battle
Meanwhile, battles raged on in several southern provinces in Syria, pitting Western-backed rebels and a local al-Qaeda affiliate against the Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters.
The Syrian army, backed by Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, had made significant gains on the ground in a sweeping offensive against rebel and jihadist outposts in the south.
It was the first time the state-run news outlet confirmed that the Syrian army was backed by Hezbollah. Meanwhile, pro-opposition sources claimed that the southern offense was being led by the Lebanese resistance movement, quoting militants as saying that the Syrian army had no role in the battle.
"Regime troops and their Hezbollah-led allies are advancing in the area linking Daraa, Quneitra and Damascus provinces," close to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Observatory said on Tuesday.
The Syrian army advanced steadily southward, claiming control of the villaged of Deir al-Adas, al-Danaji, Deir Maker, and the hills of Masih, Mer'i, al-Arous, and al-Sarjah.
With the capture of these towns, the first objectives of the army's southern offensive were reached, according to an army official interviewed by Al-Akhbar.
A military statement issued on Wednesday evening said that "the importance of the successes achieved by the Syrian Arab Army soldiers in the southern region is that they bolster and secure the Damascus-Quneitra axis and the Damascus-Daraa axis, and cut off the supply and communication lines between terrorist outposts in the western Damascus countryside and the Daraa and Quneitra countryside. Also, control over the main hills can further bolster military successes in this area."
After taking control of strategic hills, the Syrian army appears to be close to recapturing the areas of Khirbet Sultana and Talat Fatima, where rebel activity had ceased this past week following intensive artillery strikes by the Syrian army against armed opposition posts there.
The battle — the most serious effort to date by the government to take back the south — was mostly brought to a halt on Thursday by snow.
"There is a fierce storm moving through the country," one field commander in Deir al-Adas told Al-Akhbar. As a result, the Syrian army relied mainly on artillery batteries, "the god of war" as the soldiers call them, to shell targets directly.
According to the Observatory's estimates on Thursday, four days of fighting had killed 19 combatants on the government side and 48 on the opposition side.
The Syrian government doesn't give death toll estimates for either side of the conflict.
On Saturday, a reporter and a technician for the state-run Syrian news channel were injured in Deir al-Adas, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.
The south is one of the last remaining areas where non-jihadist rebels fighting Assad have a foothold. Just a short drive from Damascus, the area remains a risk to the Syrian leader, who has otherwise consolidated control over much of the west.
Syrian troops had been on the defensive in the south, losing control of large swaths of countryside near Jordan as well as areas along the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, according to regional military analysts and diplomats.
Multiple Lebanese media outlets commented on the advances of the Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters in the south, stating that the decision to launch the southern offensive had been taken several weeks ago, after an attack in the southern Syrian area of Quneitra. An Israeli missile targeted a convoy in Quneitra killing an Iranian general and six Hezbollah fighters, including a senior commander and the son of renowned Hezbollah senior commander Imad Mughniyeh, Jihad Mughniyeh.
On Sunday, SANA quoted People's Assembly speaker Mohammed Jihad al-Laham as saying that the ultimate goal of the southern battle was "the occupied Golan."
Laham added that the liberation of the occupied territories had started, and that the Syrian army would not stop until all territories were restored, "no matter what the price will be."
The assault near the armistice line on the Golan was aimed at "breaking the stretch of territory that they (rebels) are trying to establish" at the border, a Syrian security source said on Thursday.
The southern rebels, often described as the best organized of the non-jihadist armed opposition, see themselves as the last hope for the Syrian armed opposition as the four-year conflict has become hijacked by Islamist militants.
But the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian wing, and other Islamist brigades and rebels fighting under the umbrella of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, who the US and other allies want to arm and train, currently have a presence in the region.
Damascus has repeatedly accused groups such as Nusra, who are active in the Quneitra countryside, of working hand in glove with Israel from which they receive logistic support.
Nusra is the key party spearheading the coming confrontation with pro-government fighters. Military sources have said that the group's militants possess anti-tank (TOW) missiles, US-made advanced weapons, and an encrypted communications network that is hard to penetrate.
Israeli media outlets have reported that "the insurgents have failed to halt the advances, and Hezbollah's next target will be Tal al-Harah," and expressed concern over the possibility of Hezbollah deploying on the border line with Israel in the Golan Heights.
Meanwhile, regional and Israeli media outlets are reporting that the Israeli army is on alert and has deployed near the occupied Golan Heights region. Israeli Channel 10 reported concerns over the fast approaches of the Hezbollah and the Syrian army near the northern borders of Occupied Palestine.
Kobane and the northern fronts
Meanwhile, Syrian Kurdish forces have set their sights on taking back Tal Abyad, another strategic town on the border with Turkey, after recapturing Kobane, the Observatory announced early last week.
Tal Abyad, located about 65 kilometers east of Kobane, is an Arab and Kurd town in the Syrian province of Raqqa occupied by ISIS and used by jihadists to cross the Turkish border.
"The next battle after Kobane is Tal Abyad," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said on Monday.
However, there have been no further updates on Kurdish advances in Tal Abyad.
On February 12, a Japanese journalist who had planned to visit Kobane accused his government of muzzling the press, after officials confiscated his passport to stop him from traveling to war-torn Syria.
The move came with Japan still reeling from the brutal murder of two citizens — war correspondent Kenji Goto and his friend Haruna Yukawa — by ISIS in Syria in January.


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Property Location
Located in Greifswald, Mercure Hotel Greifswald Am Gorzberg is in the business district and convenient to Theater Vorpommern and University of Greifswald. This 4-star hotel is within close proximity of Greifswald Botanic Garden and Eldena Abbey.
Make yourself at home in one of the 113 guestrooms featuring minibars. Complimentary wired and wireless Internet access keeps you connected, and satellite programming provides entertainment. Bathrooms have showers and hair dryers. Conveniences include safes and desks, and housekeeping is provided daily.
Rec, Spa, Premium Amenities
Enjoy recreation amenities such as a sauna or take in the view from a rooftop terrace. This hotel also features complimentary wireless Internet access, babysitting/childcare, and gift shops/newsstands.
Enjoy a satisfying meal at a restaurant serving guests of Mercure Hotel Greifswald Am Gorzberg. Quench your thirst with your favorite drink at a bar/lounge.
Business, Other Amenities
Featured amenities include complimentary high-speed (wired) Internet access, dry cleaning/laundry services, and a 24-hour front desk.
Are you affiliated with Mercure Hotel Greifswald Am Gorzberg? Apply to the Hotel WiFi Connect program to take control of your account, improve your hotel's confidence score and ranking.
© 2013-2016 Hotel WiFi Test Inc.


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For a bit of sunshine in winter, grow your own citrus
This vitamin is known to boost the immune system. So, eating oranges, grapefruits and even using lemons and limes in cooking or beverages makes perfect sense, especially during the winter cold season when other sources of C may be less available, such as peppers, strawberries and cantaloupe. (Broccoli, Brussels sprouts and kale are also good sources if not cooked in too much water.)
Citrus fruits ARE seasonal, remember. The best citrus comes to us in the winter from Florida and other tropical climes.
Suppose, however, you want to try to grow your own "local source" of citrus. Is that possible in Connecticut where the winters can be less than hospitable to plants that might prefer a more tropical climate?
The answer is a resounding, YES! Though the outdoors would not support the growth of non-winter hardy citrus plants, the cozy indoors could be just the place -- with a little attention to the source of sunlight and humidity level.
Citrus plants make valuable additions to your houseplant collection, simply because of their beautiful foliage. They have glossy dark green leaves and the scent of their flowers (and to a lesser degree) their foliage is wonderful.
There are several varieties of lemons, limes and grapefruits that make great indoor plants. You can also grow kumquats, tangerines and oranges. Not all varieties will bear fruits like you buy in the grocery store; some varieties will provide you with the beautiful, scented foliage only. Some will produce perfectly edible fruits. And some will bear smaller, intensely flavored fruits that can be made into marmalades or candied peel.
Some of the citrus varieties that best adapt to indoor culture include the Meyer lemon, Persian lime, kumquats (cousins to the citrus family) and Calamondin orange.
�"�The Meyer lemon was introduced from China in 1908. While not a true lemon, its fruit is used as a lemon substitute despite being much less acid than true lemons. Its fruit resembles a large orange. Meyer lemons are more cold tolerant than true lemons.
�"�The Otaheite orange was introduced into France from Tahiti by way of England. Its fruit is orange in color, but its flavor is slightly lime-like and not very acidic. The tree is a dwarf and often sold as a potted "miniature orange."
�"�A Persian lime is a citrus fruit grown commercially in the U.S. and sold simply as a "lime." The fruit yellows as it reaches full ripeness. It is larger, thicker-skinned, and less aromatic than the key lime.
�"�The Calamondin orange is a fruit tree that was developed in and is very popular throughout Southeast Asia. The fruit resembles a small, round lime, a little bigger than the size of a quarter. It smells like a tangerine and has a very thin green or orange colored peel. It is very sour.
�"�I remember eating kumquats as a special treat at Christmas as a young child -- like clementines that are so popular now. Kumquats are small, oval, yellow-orange citrus fruits. The fruit, which can be eaten whole, has a sweet outer skin and a tart flesh.
Growing citrus indoors, while very doable, can be a bit challenging -- especially if your goal is a small supply of edible fruits. There are several conditions you'll need to strive for if you want to produce flowers and fruit.
First, let there be light -- and lots of it. While the foliage can adapt to the relatively low light levels, for fruit to develop, you'll need to give the plants as much light as possible. A south facing sunny window will help, but if natural light is inadequate, you can supplement with artificial lights.
Relative humidity is likely to be too low for citrus house plants in most Connecticut homes during the winter heating season. Try running a humidifier in the room or, at least set the plant on trays of pebbles filled with water. Soil, water and fertilizer needs of citrus are similar to other houseplants. Citrus plants also like cooler temperatures: about 65 degrees during the day and 5 to 10 degrees cooler at night.
You may have flowers, but still have difficulty getting fruit to form on your citrus plant. This may be due to lack of pollination. In the wild and in the grove, citrus are pollinated by insects. Since these are not usually present in the home situation, shaking the flowers gently or flicking them with your fingers ought to get the job done. Or, you can pollinate them with a cotton swab or small paintbrush, transferring the pollen from one flower to another.
If you're persistent and have some good luck, you'll be rewarded with Meyer lemons, kumquats or tiny oranges. They're going to be different from commercially cultivated fruits. They're likely to be smaller and the taste may be more acidic or bitter.
Add slices to sparkling water or tea. Peel the skins off and slice into a winter salad of greens and red onions. Top with a balsamic vinaigrette. These fruits are great for use in marmalades or to make candied fruit peel.
Meyer lemons are also the perfect for making preserved lemons, often used as an ingredient in Mediterranean or Middle Eastern cooking. You can find recipes easily by plugging in the words, "preserved lemons" into your favorite search engine. Enjoy!
For more information about growing citrus indoors, call the University of Connecticut Home and Garden Education Center at (877) 486-6271 or send an e-mail to email@example.com.


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In the light of laws passed to curb remote gambling, it is difficult to understand why the authorities are even considering granting Singapore Pools permission to offer online betting ("Singapore Pools still waiting for nod on online betting"; May 31).
If online betting is indeed going to be offered, more care must be taken to promote responsible gambling.
Systems and processes must be put in place to allow self-exclusion by vulnerable customers and impose auto-exclusion of minors.
Additionally, Singapore Pools and the authorities should consider innovative ways to offer more robust risk-managed betting products.
One way is to allow customers to both back and lay a betting outcome, similar to what betting exchanges offer.
This would allow customers to hedge their risks, implement stop-loss limits, or exit a market outright to cut losses.
It behoves Singapore Pools and the authorities to do more to ensure that the availability of online betting, should it become reality, does not exacerbate the issue of problem gambling in Singapore.
Woon Wee Min


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30 Jan 2019 An increasing number of borrowers are choosing five-year fixed rate mortgages as Brexit uncertainty prompts people to seek peace of mind when it comes to their home loan, according to Yorkshire Building Society.
The Yorkshire reported a 44%[ rise in the number of borrowers choosing the longer-term mortgage rate last month (December 2018) compared to December 2017, which it says could be a result of the looming deadline for the UK to leave the EU.
Janice Barber, Mortgage Manager at Yorkshire Building Society, said: "While homebuyers' reluctance to purchase a house during these uncertain times is cooling the housing market, borrowers are rushing to secure new deals that will see them through Brexit and beyond. We're seeing a significant rise in the number of people taking advantage of competitive longer-term fixed rate deals."
Yorkshire Building Society responded to demand for longer-term fixes last year by launching seven-year and ten-year fixed rate mortgages.
"Five-year fixes, as well as our seven and ten-year fixed rate mortgages, are proving popular as people look for the security of knowing what their monthly repayments will be for a number of years," Janice added.
The Yorkshire lets would-be borrowers reserve a mortgage deal up to six months in advance[, meaning those with a home loan due to mature in the coming months can take advantage of today's deals and secure a rate for the near future should they wish.
Janice said: "Our findings show homeowners clearly value the stability longer-term fixed rate mortgages offer, and may indicate that borrowers are expecting rates to rise.
"Borrowers looking to remortgage this side of summer could start the remortgage process now should they want to take advantage of competitive low rates and get peace of mind that their home loan is arranged regardless of any Brexit outcome."
Helpful Resource Depending On Your Requirements


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Punisher Flag (Thin Blue Line Edition)
Leather holster
The Leather Holster with the American Flag and WE THE PEOPLE all over it. God Bless America!!
Every stylish Leather holster is handcrafted from fine American heavy leather, Hand molded to the specific gun model and dyed in custom color.
These stylish holsters have an average 15° forward cant and are available in left and right handed versions.
All Leather Holsters are made from American materials from the heavy leather, to the thread, dye and oil.


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Jun 14, 2016
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Meerans MonstersWritten by Khawar Jamil
Khawar Jamil › http://www.dxbblog.ae/
Khawar Jamil is the Founder and Chief Editor of Dubai Blog,Khawar is a UAE based Blogger and self made Internet entrepreneur with 5 years of experience in Internet Marketing and blogging . Read more about Khawar and our team Here!
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Two roads near Alum Creek State Park would benefit from a multimillion-dollar improvement project in the works in Delaware County.
Delaware County's commissioners Jan. 25 approved a contract for up to $338,839 with Columbus-based Mead and Hunt for engineering work on an effort to resurface and widen portions of Africa and Cheshire roads.
Delaware County Engineer Chris Bauserman said the widening project would add "safety shoulders" -- paved shoulders instead of dirt or gravel -- on Africa Road from Jaycox Road north to Cheshire Road, and on Cheshire Road from Old State Road east to Africa Road.
Bauserman said the project should make the roadways safer for the various vehicles that visit Alum Creek Reservoir.
"There's a lot of bicycle (and) recreational traffic in the area because of the reservoir and recreation activities there," he said. "Also, there are a lot of people pulling trailers and boats through the area as well, so we think this is a good candidate for this type of project."
According to county records, the engineering firm also has been asked to determine if turn lanes are warranted at intersections along Africa Road in the project area.
While commissioners voted to move ahead with design work on the project last week, Bauserman said construction may be years away.
"I think we're still a year and a half or so away, so construction would be in 2020," he said.
Bauserman said work on the selected portion of Africa Road, which stretches from northern Orange Township through Berlin Township, could cost about $4 million. He said work on the selected portion of Cheshire Road, which sits in Berlin Township, could cost an additional $1 million.
He said the county has secured a federal grant to fund up to 80 percent of construction costs on the roadways.
The project is the latest in a series of county efforts to improve safety conditions near Alum Creek Reservoir.
The county last year oversaw the construction of a roundabout at the intersection of Bale Kenyon and Lewis Center roads just south of the body of water in Orange Township. The $2.5 million project also included the installation of a new deck surface on the bridge over Alum Creek directly east of the intersection.
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Adebimpe Mbang and Femi-Oyewo, Kinnect – Connecting for Good
Kinnect is a nonprofit organization started by three friends: Adebimpe M. Femi-Oyewo, Damilola Sobo-Smith and Kayode Olutimayin. The name Kinnect is a play on two words: Kin and Connect, and it embodies the mission of the NGO to promote the concept of Kin connecting to address societal challenges in Nigeria. Kinnect provides a platform where people, ideas, organizations, and resources can connect to transform their local communities.


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The attorney for an animal research technician charged with killing Yale University graduate student Annie Le says his client, Raymond Clark III, plans to plead guilty today, his attorney said.
Public defender Joseph Lopez said Clark, who is charged with strangling 24-year-old Annie Le of Placerville, Calif. days before her wedding in September 2009, would plead guilty in New Haven Superior Court. He said it was part of a plea deal, but would not specify the charges.
"We anticipate a change of plea on Thursday," Lopez said Tuesday. "This appears to be in the best interests of our client."
Prosecutor John Waddock said there was a "substantial likelihood" of a change of plea Thursday. He declined further comment.
Le's body was found stuffed behind a research lab wall on the day she was supposed to get married.
The question is why? Asian festish? Animal rights? What else?


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At first when Mike and I got the instant pot, I thought it would be one of those appliances that we would never use. Maybe once in a while we'd take it out to pressure cook a large hunk of meat. But the truth is, more often than not, Mike and I reach for the instant pot weekly, because it makes everything incredibly easy and hands off.
When you get home after a long day, it's so freeing to throw everything into the pot and have it have it do it's thing while you relax. It takes the mystery out of cooking. And yes, it kind of takes the romance out of cooking too, but when you're hungry sometimes you just want to eat. For those times, I give you: Instant Pot chicken tortilla soup. Super simple, super savory, and soup-er (couldn't resist) good.
Recipes :
Serves 2-4
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 dried ancho chile
- 1 jalapeno, chopped
- 4 cups no sodium chicken broth
- 14.5 oz can diced fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast or 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- sliced jalapeños
- cilantro, roughly chopped
- avocado, sliced
- shredded cheddar
- sour cream
- crunchy tortilla strips or chips
- lime wedges
In the Instant Pot insert, add onion, garlic, ancho chile, jalapeño, chicken broth, tomatoes, and chicken. Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
While the Instant Pot is doing it's thing, prepare the toppings. Slice the jalapeños, chop up the cilantro, slice the avocado, and cut the limes.
When the Instant Pot is done, quick release the pressure. Remove the ancho chile and discard. Carefully remove the chicken and shred.
Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, then serve in bowls.
Finish with jalapeños, cilantro, avocado, cheddar, sour cream, tortilla strips, and lime. Enjoy hot!
Note: If you don't have an Instant Pot, you can make it in a regular pot on the stove. Add the onion, chili powder, jalapeño, chicken broth, tomatoes, and chicken to a pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Continue to simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken. Continue with the remaining steps.


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'Caged: Memoirs of a Cage-Fighting Poet' is Today's Free eBook
Today's free eBook download, Caged: Memoirs of a Cage-Fighting Poet, is from MMA fighter and writer Cameron Conaway. The story follows a young fighter who forges a fighter's path through a painful childhood using the discipline of martial arts and a collection of prose, poems, and inspirational quotes.
Accomplished MMA fighter and award-winning writer Cameron Conaway presents in Caged the true story of a young man who overcomes a family background and his own inner torment by learning to channel his frustrations into the physical world of mixed martial arts fighting and the cerebral world of poetry and writing. It teaches the value of personal reflection, how life's most painful moments can lead to a deeper understanding and appreciation of human nature, and just what is possible when optimism and determination combine to overcome tough odds. Caged shows how the pursuit of two seemingly disparate passions helped a struggling boy blossom into a simple man. The result is a literary and lyrical philosophical journey into the heart and mind of a modern-day warrior.
Caged: Memoirs of a Cage-Fighting Poet free through Amazon today, Wednesday, February 26, 2014 through Friday, February 28, 2014. It currently has 4.5 out of 5 stars from 40 Amazon reviewers. For more free eBooks, check out our 10 Websites to Download Free eBooks list, as well as our Free eBook of the Day archive.