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Shopify Review & How-To for Small Businesses
Get the deets on one of the top dogs in e-commerce websites.
Looking to start an online shop? Based on its name alone, Shopify may seem like a logical choice. And honestly, it's a pretty good option for any e-commerce business.
Shopify makes it easy to list products and set up a professional-looking online store. What's more, the app store offers tons of extra add-ons that can really help your online business run smoothly.
There is a downside, of course. Shopify isn't the easiest to use, especially if you're using any of the free templates available on the platform. And if you need more than a home page and a place to list products, you may struggle finding something that looks professional.
Want the scoop on our entire Shopify experience? Read on, friends.
Shopify is a website builder that specializes in e-commerce software. Long story short, it's a platform that helps you build a full-service website to support your online store.
Shopify is best for new business owners
Shopify is a decent e-commerce solution for just about any small business. But where this website builder really shines is in its impressive collection of resources for new business owners. We're talking logo makers, name generators, stock photos—basically, everything you need to get your new online business up and running.
What's more, if you ever get stuck on part of your website, Shopify has a whole team of experts available for hire. It costs extra (prices start between $20 and $3,000 depending on the project), but you don't have to waste time trying to find a reliable freelance designer or copywriter—it's all right there within the Shopify dashboard. Convenient, right?
So if you're new to business (or even just new to online business), Shopify's got a lot of tools to smooth your entry into the e-commerce space.
- Easy-to-use product management
- Resources for new businesses
- Inventory tracking
- Good search engine optimization
- Confusing dashboards
- Limited options on free templates
- Extra transaction fees on credit cards
- Poor design on free templates
How Shopify stacks up
To give you a bit more insight into how Shopify compares with other e-commerce builders, we've scored the platform in three categories: usability, design, and customization.
Usability score: 3/5
In total, we spent around two hours building our Shopify site. Granted, that's less time than we spent building our site on other platforms. But the biggest reason it took less time was because we gave up on it a lot faster.
For starters, the dashboard wasn't consistent. In other words, there's one set of controls for editing the home page and a completely different set of controls for the about page . . . and another for the blog and another for the store—you get it. In the end, we felt like we were learning an entirely new platform every time we moved on to a new page. Honestly, if we were business owners, we wouldn't want to waste valuable time trying to learn each new editing format.
And then there was the about page. Editing that page brought us to the verge of tears, largely because the page editor was so atrociously difficult to use. To keep the text from tightly hugging the image, we had to spend over half an hour adding spaces into the HTML code for the page (only to find out later that there was a spacing option hidden away in the image controls). Ain't nobody got time for that, particularly when you're trying to grow your business.
Finally, we got frustrated at one point because it was stupidly difficult to change background and text colors. After we stopped recording, we did find another tab that gives you the option to customize those colors a bit. But even that was frustrating because the site was so laggy we couldn't properly view the changes we made. We couldn't help but ask ourselves, Where the heck was this feature when we were actually building our site? We're sure it was there, but the fact that it took us over two hours to find it speaks to how unintuitive the platform was.
Still, it wasn't all bad. The home page layout options were all pre-optimized for mobile apps, so we didn't have to do any fancy editing to get it to look good for customers who use their cell phones. And again, the process of actually uploading and editing blog posts and products was pretty easy.
Weighing all these pros and cons of building a site on Shopify, we feel pretty justified in our usability rating of three out of five.
Design score: 3/5
First, we have to give props to Shopify for making it so easy to build a mobile site that actually looks good (or at least decent) on mobile apps like Safari.
Since you don't have the option to drag and drop elements on your page, you're stuck choosing between a few select layouts for each section. On the plus side, it ensures that every square inch of your site is compatible with mobile internet browsers. But on the down side, it locks you into designs that may not work with the pictures and content you want on your page.
Once again, the about page proved to be our biggest problem. The end result looked very amateur—despite all the extra time we'd put into building the page.
Again, though, templates are a huge theme in our review. If we'd actually ponied up the $140–$180 necessary to buy a template, we probably would have ended up with a much more professional-looking design.
Customization score: 3/5
We had to give Shopify a two out of five for customization, mostly because the platform doesn't offer many free templates. And the free templates that it does offer are pretty basic.
On top of that, Shopify doesn't have the drag-and-drop customization of other website builders. But it's difficult to explain what the platform has instead since the editing dashboard changes completely based on the type of page you're building.
In general, we were frustrated with how little we could change our site to reflect our brand and optimize our customers' experience. When we wanted to change the header on our home page to include a subhead, it was simply not an option because we were locked into those pre-designed choices for home page sections. The most we could ever do was figure out how to change basic colors, but those tools were pretty limited.
Now, admittedly, we didn't dive too deeply into Shopify's app store, which contains thousands of extra apps to help you customize your site and run your business more effectively. In the app store, you can download everything from a reviews widget to a live chat feature. You just have to be willing to pay, as only about half the apps offer a free version. Otherwise you'll have to fork over a lump sum up front or pay monthly subscription fees, which average out to be about $16 per month per app.
Feature comparison
Shopify is an e-commerce website builder, so it makes sense to compare it to the other big player in the e-commerce business field: BigCommerce.
On the whole, we think BigCommerce comes out on top. Shopify has fewer themes, charges transaction fees if you use third-party payment gateways, and includes gift cards and shipping quotes with select plans only. The only area where Shopify really tops BigCommerce is in the sheer number of apps available in its app store.
Here's the full feature breakdown:
|Online store
|Product limit
|Credit card payments
|SSL security
|Mobile-friendly templates
|Discounts and coupons
|Gift cards
|With some plans
|Shipping quotes
|With some plans
|Transaction fees on third-party apps
|24/7 customer support
|About 1,200
|About 200
Shopify pricing by plan
Let's talk shop: how much does Shopify actually cost?
Shopify has three basic plans: Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify.
|Basic Shopify
|Advanced Shopify
|Transaction fees for online credit card payments
|2.9% + 30¢
|2.6% + 30¢
|2.4% + 30¢
|Transaction fees for third-party payment gateways
|~$15.99/mo. per app*
|~$15.99/mo. per app*
|~$15.99/mo. per app*
|View Plans
|View Plans
|View Plans
Shopify plan costs
As you can see from the chart above, Shopify plans range from $29 per month to $299 per month. Unfortunately, that just scratches the surface in terms of what you'll actually pay.
In addition to the cost of your plan, you'll need to pay transaction fees if you opt to do credit card payment processing through any gateway other than Shopify Payments. So if you want to use PayPal or Authorize.net, you'll wind up paying anywhere from 2.4% to 2.9% plus a 30¢ fee on each transaction. What's more, if you opt to receive payment through a credit card or a third-party payment gateway like PayPal, Shopify charges you an extra 0.5%–2%.
That's pretty steep, especially considering BigCommerce doesn't charge you any transaction fees. And that's all before you factor in the cost of paid themes and apps (which average out to be about $15.99 per month each). Woof.
Shopify also offers two other plans: Shopify Lite and Shopify Plus. Shopify Lite costs $9 per month and allows you to sell products on Facebook or your pre-existing site. Shopify Plus, on the other hand, is for the very largest online merchants, and the cost varies from business to business.
Fortunately, Shopify does let you save money if you opt for an annual (10% discount) or biennial plan (20% discount).
|Biennial cost
|Annual cost
|Month-to-month cost
|Learn more
|Basic Shopify
|View Plans
|View Plans
|Advanced Shopify
|View Plans
Obviously, there's a big price jump between each of these plans. So why is each plan priced so differently?
The first reason is the transaction fees—the bigger your plan, the lower your fees, which makes sense because it allows businesses to pick the plan that'll save them the most money.
The second reason is simple: each plan offers more features than the last.
Regardless of the plan you choose, you'll get all the features in our comparison above, as well as these tools:
- Sales channels
- Manual order creation
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Printed shipping labels
- Fraud analysis
- Shopify point-of-sale (POS) app
- Hardware peripheral support
- Third-party POS apps
From there, features vary according to plan:
|Basic Shopify
|Advanced Shopify
|Customer segmentation
|(with app)
|(with app)
|(with app)
|Credit card storage
|(with Shopify Pay)
|(with Shopify Pay)
|(with Shopify Pay)
|Google customer reviews
|(with app)
|(with app)
|(with app)
|Product filtering
|(with app)
|(with app)
|(with app)
|Staff accounts
|Shipping discount
|Up to 64%
|Up to 72%
|Up to 74%
|Gift cards
|Professional reports
|Register shifts
|Unlimited Shopify POS staff PINs
|Advanced report builder
|Third-party calculated shipping rates
|Custom SSL security
Not sure what some of these features even are? No worries, we've got you covered.
Having a site that allows multiple sales channels is a big deal if you're looking to sell your product on multiple sites or platforms. Basically, this feature lets you add a product once on your Shopify store, then sell it on social media sites like Facebook, auction sites like eBay, and even general marketplace sites like Amazon. And good news: all Shopify plans are compatible with multiple sales channels.
Customer segmentation is used to divide your customers into subgroups. In the case of the health and wellness site we built for this test, we'd probably want to segment our customers into groups based on their interests. Are they here to lose weight? To get exercise tips? Recipes? Breaking them into groups allows you to send them newsletters, promos, or loyalty perks specifically geared to them, which makes them more likely to interact with your site. Currently, Shopify businesses need to download an extra app to get this feature.
If you're looking to reduce friction in your checkout process, credit card storage is a good way to do it. With this feature, your customer has to enter their credit card info only once and it's saved for good. Shopify does offer credit card storage as part of Shopify Pay, so it's available if you opt to use it.
Product filtering makes it easier for customers to shop on your site. If your customer only wants to see gray clothing, for instance, product filtering would allow them to narrow down your items to include only clothes that are gray.
With staff accounts, you can set up email addresses that use your site's domain. That way, if you need to reach out to a customer or conduct any other business on behalf of your company, you can send emails from your site's domain. Basically, it's another way to make your business look all kinds of professional.
FYI: Even if you're a small business that doesn't do face-to-face sales, you still need a business license and an employer identification number (EIN). If you haven't gotten one already, don't forget to factor the cost of your license into your startup cost calculations.
Domain costs
If you haven't bought your domain (a.k.a. the thing people type into the web address bar) already, you can buy it directly through Shopify.
How much does it cost? Well, that depends on the domain name you're trying to buy.
Shopify charges a minimum of $11 for a domain name, though they can be more expensive. Fortunately, the steepest price tag we saw for a domain through Shopify was $91.
Just keep in mind that domain costs are annual, so you'll have to pay for your domain every 12 months.
Other important features
While usability, design, customization, and price are important, they're not the only things we considered in our review.
SEO (short for "search engine optimization") is vitally important if you want your site to show up when people search for words related to your business. These days, SEO can really make or break your business, so we took at a look at how well Shopify integrates SEO features.
Overall, Shopify did pretty dang well.
Shopify has integrated a lot of SEO features right into your main page and product editor. Translation: you don't have to go hunting all over the back end of your site to customize your page titles, headings, alt text (the text that shows up when you hover over something), URLs, or meta data (the title and description of your page that displays in search engine results). Plus, every Shopify plan includes SSL encryption (a must-have, as it proves to Google that you're trustworthy).
Shopify also auto-generates XML sitemaps for you, which basically provides search engines with a road map of your site so they can find all your pages and provide better results for their users. But you can't customize it, so that's a bummer.
Finally, Shopify sites see only a so-so page speed. Page speed is an important factor for search engines because customers tend to get impatient with sites that don't load quickly enough. Consequently, site speed can have a direct effect on how search engines rank your page, so we do wish Shopify would up its game there.
Customer support
Remember how we said Shopify was really good for new businesses? That's because Shopify goes out of its way to provide resources for new business owners.
Shopify offers step-by-step tutorials on how to get your business started. It even offers tools like the logo maker and the brand name generator to help you get going. From there, Shopify delivers helpful articles, webinars, and video tutorials about ways to build your brand—both on Shopify and on social media.
Our favorite thing about Shopify, though, is their Shopify Experts feature. This option makes professional help for your website super accessible, so you don't have to dig around on the internet for a freelancer and just pray that they're worth the money. Veteran business owners and budding entrepreneurs alike can quickly and easily find reliable web experts to help with design, copy, marketing, SEO—you name it.
And of course, if you ever get stuck, Shopify's customer service team is available via live chat, email, phone, and even Twitter if you ever need a quick answer and can't find it in the forums.
Basically, we love how easy it is to get the customer support you need when using Shopify—which is probably a good thing considering how hard and sometimes frustrating it was to build a quality site on the platform.
Shopify customer reviews
Seeing less-than-stellar reviews for Shopify online? Don't believe the bad press.
As of this writing, Shopify has a TrustScore of 1.3 on Trustpilot. That's a tough look for our guy right there. Here's the thing, though: most of those reviews aren't complaining about Shopify itself—they're complaining about particular stores on Shopify.
Basically, Shopify's really bad at weeding out fraudulent merchants. So scammers go and set up fake shops on Shopify, get people to order their fake products, then collect the credit card payments without ever shipping the items. And because these scammers are using free "shopify.com" domains, the victims get confused and think Shopify is to blame.
Now, we're not making excuses. Shopify has a real problem identifying real merchants and fake merchants. In fact, most of the valid negative reviews of the platform center around Shopify mistakenly deleting business owners' stores because they were flagged as fraudulent or "high risk." Even so, Shopify is a lot more reliable than Trustpilot reviewers make it out to be.
But don't take our word for it. In addition to earning an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau2, Shopify has also earned a lot of praise from business owners:
"I highly recommend Shopify to any new business trying to sell products online. The backend data system is amazing, and to gather more data, you can easily implement Google Analytics to your Shopify store. While it takes time to learn the apps/plugins to enhance your website, the initial steps are really straightforward, and Shopify does provide a lot of templates to get started."
"You get so much from Shopify right out of the box, including very focused training videos to help you get up and running . . . . Everything about Shopify is made to help entrepreneurs build almost every aspect of their business."
"Shopify makes it nearly effortless to get a business off the ground in no time . . . . Shopify makes it so easy to edit and customize your website and overall user experience without the fear of crashing your site. As an added bonus, Shopify has a trove of online help and even better, more supportive customer service . . . . Shopify enables retailers to step right into the e-commerce world with practically no design knowledge or experience."
Our Shopify website build
If you're curious to know the gritty details of our website build, we've put together a play-by-play of our experience. Take a look at where we stumbled and what we liked.
The basic website
Shopify includes a limited number of basic templates and themes to get a site started. We figured most small-business owners would want to at least start with a basic theme, so that's what we used on our website build.
Shopify centers your entire website around your store, so there's not a lot of support for extra pages outside of what's included in your template. To start with, our template included a home page and a blog in addition to the store page.
For the home page, our template included a few nifty features, like a slideshow background on the header. It also gave us the option to include some featured products and a reviews widget on our home page. We opted not to use either, but it's pretty easy to see how features like that would be really useful for a store-centric business.
On the whole, our home page looked decent, and it was optimized for customers viewing the page on mobile apps like Chrome for Android, which was a huge plus. But we also got a bit frustrated when we couldn't customize the home page to look exactly the way we wanted without digging into the site's HTML code.
The dashboard for the template we used offered a limited number of layout options for each section on the page. That meant we couldn't change or customize the header to include a sub-headline. Instead, we had to put the subheading on a separate slide in the header, where it's unlikely a customer would look or scroll.
It's possible that we just didn't know our way around the site well enough, but we also found it difficult to preview the final layout of each section once we entered our text and uploaded our images.
Unfortunately, it didn't get any easier from there. The about page gave us tons of trouble, and we couldn't make it look any better than a glorified blog post. You can watch the video for yourself to see everything we had to go through just to add a small space between the side-by-side text and images.
We suspect we would have had an easier time if we'd selected a template with an about page included. But since there were hardly any that included both a blog and an about page, we were a bit stuck.
Long story short: If you're looking for a website builder that lets you create a full-fledged site and you don't want to pay extra for a template, we'd suggest using something other than Shopify. But if all you want is a home page and an online store, Shopify's got all you need.
The blog
Shopify's blog editor made uploading posts super easy.
We started out with three blog posts (pre-written in Google Docs), then copied and pasted them into the blog editor. And we have to give Shopify major kudos for keeping all our headers, links, and other formatting intact—we hate having to redo all the work we've already done to make the blog post look right.
The dashboard for the blog editor also made it easy to access everything we needed in one place, including search engine optimization (SEO) options to help Google, Yahoo, and other search engines position our content at the top of their search results. That made it pretty simple to upload our post and still feel confident that we'd gotten all the small details taken care of.
All that being said, the blog ended up looking a little . . . meh. Was it the worst-looking blog on the planet? No. And to be fair, a lot of the non-free templates had more professional blog layouts.
But we certainly wouldn't use Shopify if blogging is a key component of your online business—unless you're willing to pay $140–$180 for a theme, of course.
The online store
The core of all Shopify sites is the online store, so we were surprised our store didn't turn out better.
To give credit where credit's due, we loved how easy it was to add products and track inventory with Shopify. Like the blog editor, the product editor included everything we could possibly need in one spot—including product variants and a few options for making your product easier to find on search engines.
Shopify also features tons of tools to help you track inventory, sales, shipping, and payments. And a quick visit to Shopify's app store can set you up with even more features, like tax helps and birthday discount codes for loyal customers.
We were surprised by the actual look of the store, though. The main store page didn't have the same level of professionalism that we got on other website builders like Squarespace, and the way it displayed product variants on item pages looked a bit amateur.
Granted we were using a free template. But you'd think a platform that advertises itself as a top-notch e-commerce solution would ensure that every template included a professional-looking store, right?
In the end, Shopify didn't offer any features we couldn't find on other platforms, and we liked the look of our store on Squarespace and Weebly better. So even though Shopify is supposedly a leader in e-commerce websites, it wouldn't be our first choice unless you're a new business owner and could use the extra set-up resources provided by Shopify.
Our overall Shopify review
Okay, so basically, Shopify's just okay. We don't think it quite lives up to the hype as a top e-commerce solution because it's hard to customize, the design was meh, and the platform was hard to use in general—at least when you use a free template like we did.
That being said, it's not all bad. Shopify does a really good job providing resources to new businesses, so if you're a startup e-commerce store, it could be a great fit for you. It's also got easy-to-use SEO features so you can make sure your site shows up on Google searches.
Bottom line: if you're new to e-commerce, you could do a whole lot worse than Shopify . . . but you might be able to do better too.
At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.
1. ASoft, "Shopify App Store Analysis"
2. Better Business Bureau, "Shopify, Inc."


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subset: commoncrawl


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Author(s): Sarah Dunant
1570 in the Italian city of Ferrara. Sixteen-year-old Serafina is fipped by her family from an illicit love affair and forced into the convent of Santa Caterina, renowned for its superb music. Serafina's one weapon is her glorious voice, but she refuses to sing. Madonna Chiara, an abbess as fluent in politics as she is in prayer, finds her new charge has unleased a power play - rebellion, ecstasies and hysterias - within the convent. However, watching over Serafina is Zuana, the sister in charge of the infirmary, who understands and might even challenge her incarceration.
From our greatest novelist of Renaissance Italy comes Sacred Hearts, a stunning tale of passion, betrayal and music set in an enclosed convent in 1570.
Shortlisted for Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2010.
Sarah Dunant is the author of six crime novels for which she won two Silver Daggers. Cultural commentator - for many years she presented The Late Show - she was editor of War of the Words (Virago 1994). Her two previous novels, Transgressions and Mapping the Edge, were the subject of major acclaim.


text:
A Nice Profile!
Hi Dickhead,
I like your profile and I see we have some things in common. Please check me out and let me know if you are interested.
Here's my link: {profile_link}
Just seeking friends
Hi there Dickhead,
I'm not seeking sex, just here looking for someone to hang with. I read your profile and you seem open to making new friends. I'd like to know more about you.
Here's my profile: {profile_link}
I'm too shy
Excuse me, Dickhead,
This is not a "Hello" from me because I'm new at this and too shy to admit that I'm interested in connecting with you. So I'll just keep it to myself. ;-)
BTW, just so I don't come across too weird, here's my profile: {profile_link}
Thanks, yes
Hi Dickhead,
Thanks for the wink! Yes, we might have a connection. Tell me more about yourself and what you enjoy.
Reach out-touch someone
Hey Dickhead, you foxy man,
WOLF! I'd like to share something with you, ..... my body.
Here's my profile: {profile_link}
Hot photo
Hey Dickhead,
I just got to tell you, your photo is really hot. You are one sexy guy!
Here's my profile: {profile_link}
Cyber pals
Hi there Dickhead,
I'm seeking someone to write to and get to know over the internet. You seem interesting. Want to connect?
Here's my link: {profile_link}
Your details?
Hi back, Dickhead,
No offence, but I can't relate to "mystery" people. Please have a complete profile including a profile photo if you want me to respond to you seriously. If you do that, you may contact me again.
Take care,
Dating Material
Hi there Dickhead,
I'm interested in getting to know someone who is serious about dating. You seem like a quality guy, and that intrigues me. Check out my profile and feel free to ask any questions.
Here's my link: {profile_link}


text:
I had some vague idea about shooting bullets out, and having gravity mess with them.
I dunno. Seems like firing bullets in a full physics model is a lot more complicated than it looks. Unlike, say, real life, right kids?
Very unsure about this. In general I'm trying to avoid shooting games. They just seem so.. passe? Obvious? Something.
But, playing with gravity? Now THAT appeals. Of course, if all I have is bullets that flop around like dead fish, that's not going to be much fun. I'll keep working on it.
Ok, so after much mucking about, I have the tank trundling along, a foreground, and gravity randomly varying. Oh, and the bullets work too. There's still not much of a "game" per se though.
Well, this is an "ok" game, but it's certainly nothing earth shattering. Interesting to play around with, that's about it.
I'm starting to get quite frustrated with my lack of photoshop/art skills. First, I can easily get sucked down a rabbit hole of spending ten hours learning how to do something quite basic (once you know how) – or something that simply isn't that core to the game (eg, how to draw a decent looking string on a balloon). Secondly, it's critical I stay focused on getting the game play etc together. There's a lot more value in better game play than in better art (I believe). That is, if I absolutely must choose between the two.
Obviously, I'm learning and getting better all the time, but I can see why people spend a decade learning how to do this stuff. It's painfully obvious to me how much I suck at this.
Still, gotta push forward.


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The country is inhabited by 49 species of fish, 2 species of amphibians, 44 reptiles, 10,000 invertebrates, and 85 mammals, among which are such rare species like the Marco Polo sheep, the Bukhara red deer, and the desert antelope (gazella subgutturosa).
One rare species of animal it is possible to find is the Tajik moufflon (urial), a subspecies of the Asian moufflon, which is an ancestor of our modern sheep.
The snow leopard (ounce) is a beautiful, smart and strong predator (more than 2m long including its tail). It is a menace for rare animals such as the markhoor, a spiral-horned buck, and the Pamir argali (ovis ammon), the largest mountainous sheep in the world, whose weight can reach 200kg.
Upstream from the Amu Darya River is a unique area, the Tigrovaya Balka preserve. It is the home of many rare animals and birds - leopards, jungle cats, hyenas, black-golden pheasants, desert partridges, serpent eagles, as well as the usual fauna for the area - wild boar, badgers, hares and porcupines. The Turan tiger was last seen in Tigrovaya Balka in 1953.
Marco Polo goat
Brown bears live in the dense bushes of the mountain forest. At altitudes of 3-4,000m in the Pamirs it is possible to see yaks (bos mutus). Here, near snowfields and among rare plants, marmots (marmota menzbieri kaschkarov) can also be found.
More than 384 species and subspecies of birds nest in or fly over the territory of the country. Singing birds such as nightingales, orioles, buntings, thrushes and many others create a constant background symphony that never quietens down during springtime, not even at night.
In the sky, large noble birds of prey hover, including the lammergeier eagle, griffons (gyps) and hawks (with a wing-span of 2.5m), and smaller ones such as kites and falcons. Another rare bird, the Himalayan snowcock, lives on rocky ridges.
The Pamiri lakes are a favourite habitat for water birds, among which the Indian mountainous goose and Tibet Pallas sand grouse are particularly interesting.
The mountain partridge is common, and its beautiful singing makes it a popular pet in city apartments.
In brightly painted sub-alpine meadows, live a variety of creatures, including map butterflies (araschnia le-vana), locusts, and beetles of varying sizes and colours. All serve as food for birds during the breeding of their quickly-growing offspring.
Among Tajikistan's reptile population you can find poisonous snakes such as the cobra, ebetina viper, and carpet viper (echis), and numerous non-poisonous snakes, such as grass and wood (coluber) snakes. The ancient giant lizard (sand crocodile), as well as several dozen kinds of smaller lizards live here.
The rivers and lakes hold carp (cyprinus carpio), fresh-water catfish (silurus), barbel, osman (diptychus), marinka (schizothorax), and trout. Downstream in the Vakhsh River the ancient shovelnose can still be found.
Many examples of Tajikistan's flora and fauna are listed in the International Red Book as rare or vanishing species, requiring protection or special care and attention.
Yaks. Baland Keek, Pamirs


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Mum found this picture that my big sister drew of me back in 1977.
It's amazing to think that I've barely changed in over thirty years!
Comic coming tonight! some time this week! I promise.
Posted at 05:47 PM | Permalink
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OK, so. I've been trying to work out whether I should make this public... fearful that maybe it would be yet another project that I simply don't have time to do. Let's face it - my track record isn't great. Early in the new year I committed to the idea of drawing a comic every Wednesday night. So far I've drawn two. Ahem.
So, I'm thinking that maybe the pressure of making the blog public will spur me on. Here's hoping.
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So, I wanted to do a mini-comic but then I remembered how inconvenient it can be to do all that photocopying, folding and stapling... not to mention all the posting! This will do very nicely for now.
I'm hoping to post some old stuff that I've found lying around, plus a new comic every Wednesday night.
Thanks for reading!
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Jennifer Reyes, of Sandy Springs, says she was promised a mortgage modification from the company that collects her payments.
Patrick and Dawn Salmon, of Snellville, say they were instructed by the same company to skip payments to become eligible for federal mortgage relief programs, and that foreclosure wouldn't happen while they were being evaluated.
But out of the blue, they say, their houses were foreclosed anyway. Months later, the families remain in their homes and in limbo awaiting resolution to cases they say were botched by Litton Loan Servicing.
Borrower advocates say the cases might have been cured if Georgia law required court intervention before foreclosing, because such issues would have been exposed and resolved.
Bankers say these are regrettable cases, but that the state's non-judicial foreclosure system works for lenders and borrowers alike.
The mortgage industry nationally has been roiled by claims of improper foreclosure processes. The extent of the problem in Georgia is unclear, but consumer advocates say the cases they've seen suggest broader problems.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss said his office has dealt with hundreds of constituents alleging problems with their lenders, the modification process and foreclosures.
Bronwyn Lance Chester, a Chambliss spokeswoman, called such complaints "our most active and numerous caseload."
Lenders say even if some paperwork was flawed, the overwhelming majority of borrowers wind up in foreclosure for failure to pay their bills, and most foreclosures will stand.
Whether outliers or emblems of a failed system, the Reyes and Salmon cases show how circumstances can quickly send financially distressed homeowners into a spiral.
In early 2009, Reyes fell behind on her mortgage after a series of setbacks including losing her job. Damage to her four-bedroom Spalding Drive home from a 2007 storm also took a toll on her savings, Reyes said, as did an illness to her mother and the death last year of her father.
Reyes, who cares for her mother with some financial help from a brother, sought a mortgage modification to reduce her interest rate.
"I haven't mooched, I haven't asked for anything for free," Reyes said. "All I was trying to do was to lower the payment a little until I got back on my feet."
Reyes had built the four-bedroom home in 1998 and didn't want to lose what she called her dream home.
After months of phone calls and providing Litton her financial data, Reyes said she was told approval of a loan modification was assured and the foreclosure had been halted. A lawyer processing the foreclosure confirmed it, she said.
But two men came to Reyes' door on a Saturday afternoon in October 2009, telling her their company had bought the house at a foreclosure auction days earlier.
"I was dumbfounded. I thought it was some kind of joke," Reyes said.
It turned out that two law firms hired by Litton started separate foreclosure proceedings simultaneously on Reyes' home, according to Reyes' attorney, Tom Stubbs. One was canceled when Reyes was assured of a modification; the other inexplicably wasn't, Stubbs said.
Litton declined to comment for this story.
Stubbs said if Georgia had a system requiring foreclosures be heard in court, "this never would have happened." A court likely would have found two foreclosure proceedings were processed, Stubbs said.
Stubbs also said foreclosure documents in the case have documentation errors, including agents working for Litton misrepresenting themselves.
In documents, known as assignments, filed in both foreclosure cases, a lawyer processing one of the foreclosure proceedings and an employee for Litton in the other assignment misrepresent themselves as officers of the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, or MERS, Stubbs said.
MERS, a bank-owned database that allows lenders to buy and sell mortgages electronically, is being used in foreclosure cases to assign ownership of loans. MERS, which has few employees, allows agents of mortgage companies to act as agents on its behalf. The practice, which is key to completing a foreclosure, has been questioned by consumer attorneys.
Reyes remains in her home while facing a lawsuit from the investor who bought it on the courthouse steps. The investor wants title to the home and Reyes and her mother evicted.
Patrick and Dawn Salmon, the Snellville couple, also suffered setbacks that caused them to be delinquent on home they bought in 2006 for about $280,000.
They were able to catch up earlier this year, draining their savings and retirement accounts. The couple could have sold their rental home, but instead approached Litton about a loan modification under the federal government's Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP).
Patrick said a Litton representative told him the company wouldn't consider a modification unless they were behind on their mortgage. The Salmons skipped a payment.
Later, during the modification process, Litton returned two monthly payments, according to documents provided by the couple.
Their home was listed for foreclosure, but Litton promised in its letters to the Salmons "no foreclosure sale will be conducted, and you will not lose your home during the HAMP evaluation period."
John Bartholomew, a lawyer at Atlanta Legal Aid Society, said debtors trying for HAMP modification cannot be foreclosed once they'd entered the evaluation period, or within 30 days after being denied for federal relief.
Yet the home was foreclosed Aug. 3, one day after Litton denied the Salmons' HAMP application. A few days later the family returned home from a funeral for Dawn's father in New York, unaware their modification had been denied or their home foreclosed.
The Salmons said they had provided Little numerous financial documents and were still answering the company's questions when their home was foreclosed.
"We thought everything was fine," Dawn said.
After finding a foreclosure notice on the door, Patrick Salmon said he and his wife called and wrote the foreclosure attorney, Litton, members of Congress and the White House. Dawn said the mortgage company wouldn't return calls or speak to her.
A real estate agent working for Litton offered them $500 to leave the keys and walk away by the end of August, Dawn said.
"It was a slap in the face," she said. They started packing but kept calling Litton.
In late August, Dawn got through to a Litton agent who said the foreclosure would be rescinded.
But Dawn said they still haven't gotten a bill, nor do they know how much they are in arrears.
"We want closure to this," Patrick Salmon said. "We want our home; we want to pay our bills. We want to do the right thing."


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Editor's note: The Joslyn Art Museum provided source material to Resource Library for the following article or essay. If you have questions or comments regarding the source material, please contact the Joslyn Art Museum directly through either this phone number or web address:
Legends of the West: The Foxley Collection
November 11, 2006 - February 25, 2007
In November, Joslyn Art Museum celebrates its 75th anniversary and begins a year of special exhibitions, events, and programs honoring that milestone. The inaugural show of its 75th anniversary exhibition roster is Legends of the West: The Foxley Collection, opening November 11, 2006 and continuing through February 25, 2007.
For the past 30 years, Bill Foxley -- cattleman, industry innovator, art collector, and former Omahan -- has been acquiring American Western art that spans a period of over 125 years. His collection emphasizes legendary artists who fueled the imagination with their depictions of cowboys, native peoples, and Western landscapes. Legends of the West features some of the very best works from the Foxley Collection, one of the most important of its kind in the world.
Featuring paintings and some sculpture, Legends of the West at Joslyn showcases 56 works selected from the Foxley Collection and representing the great span of artists, styles, and subject matter of the American West from around 1832 to 1940. Featured artists include such luminaries as Albert Bierstadt, Karl Bodmer, Edward Borein, Maynard Dixon, Henry Farny, Frank Tenney Johnson, William Robinson Leigh, Charles Christian Nahl, Thomas Moran, Frederic S. Remington, Charles M. Russell, and Charles Schreyvogel.
Bill Foxley built one of the largest cattle and feeding companies in the U.S., with sizable ranches and innovative feed lots in Texas, California, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and other locations. Starting in the early 1960s with an inheritance from his father, who was also a cattleman based in Omaha, Foxley grew the company into a very successful business while at the same time discovering his love for important American Western art. Foxley's experience with art (and Joslyn Art Museum) began early.
As a high school student at Creighton Prep, located at that time on the campus of Creighton University, Foxley would "slip out" early to explore Joslyn's collections of European and American art. Later, through reading, consulting with experts, and visiting museums around the country and world, his knowledge of art expanded, his interest focused on the art of the American West, and he began to build a stellar collection. By 1983, his collection included almost 125 works. That same year, he opened the Museum of Western Art in Denver, Colorado, to the public. Located in the historic Navarre Building, he personally financed the museum until 1998 when it closed. It was the first of its kind in Denver, with educational programs and tours that encouraged an appreciation for the art of the West. Since that time, Foxley has continued quietly acquiring important works of American Western art. He is a passionate and knowledgeable collector and self-taught historian who understands the fleeting definitions and sometimes underappreciated form and content constituting what has become one of the most strident markets in the art world, the art of the American West.
A fully-illustrated exhibition catalogue and narrative essay by Joslyn director J. Brooks Joyner will be available for purchase in Joslyn's Hitchcock Museum Shop.
Exhibition Resource Area
The Cowboy Corral, a special exhibition resource area for young visitors, will be located at the end of the Legends of the West exhibition. The Cowboy Corral will offer a variety of engaging exhibition-related activities in a rustic setting. Children will enjoy mounting a saddle, handling horse and cowboy gear, reading and composing their own cowboy poetry, braiding leather, and choosing a recipe for at-home cowboy cookin'. The Cowboy Corral is open during regular Museum hours.
75th Anniversary Gala Celebration Highlights Legends of the West
Legends of the West will be the featured exhibition at the Museum's 75th anniversary gala celebration on Saturday, November 11. The evening includes buffet dining, exhibition viewing, and a spectacular entertainment event with producer, songwriter, and Grammy® Award winner David Foster. Foster will produce a concert for the evening featuring surprise performers. The 75th anniversary celebration honorary chairmen are Suzanne and Walter Scott. Chairman is Barbara Call. Fee. Dress is cocktail attire. Limited, open seating for the concert. Reservations are due Friday, November 3. To receive an invitation, call the Museum at (402) 342-3300. For more information, visit www.joslyn.org.
Members Opening Anniversary Event Includes Video Interview with Bill Foxley
A Joslyn members-only event celebrating the Museum's 75th anniversary and the opening of Legends of the West: The Foxley Collection will be held Saturday, November 18. The evening begins at 6:30 pm (doors open at 5:30 pm) in the Witherspoon Concert Hall with the airing of a video interview between Bill Foxley and Joslyn Director J. Brooks Joyner. In the interview, Foxley will share his motivations, decisions, and insights concerning the formation of his remarkable collection, selections from which make up the Legends of the West exhibition. The second half of the evening's formal presentation will also include a lecture, "Expansive Influences: American Art Museums as Community Institutions," by Neil Harris, Ph.D., Preston and Sterling Morton Professor in the Department of History at the University of Chicago. After the lecture, members will enjoy complimentary hors d'oeuvres, cash bar, and viewing the Legends of the West exhibition. All permanent collection galleries will be open. Limited, open seating for the evening's concert hall presentation. Invitations for this event will be mailed to all Joslyn members. This event is sponsored in part by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. To join Joslyn, contact the Museum's membership department at (402) 342-3300 ext. 286.
Holiday Lights Family Festival and Cowboy Gathering
Kids and families are invited to dress in Western duds and stampede to Joslyn on Sunday, December 17, for a free afternoon of family fun in celebration of the exhibition Legends of the West: The Foxley Collection. From 1-5 pm, guests can mosey through the show with a printed gallery guide. Throughout the afternoon, cowboy music will be performed by Jim and Jeanne Martin, Joan Wells will demonstrate trick roping, and participants will learn about the multi-ethnic roots of the cowboy with Ricardo Garcia. Hands-on activities will include braiding leather, making a poke sack, and designing a brand stamp. Mouth-watering chuck wagon fare will be available for purchase in Café Durham. This cowboy gathering is part of downtown Omaha's annual Holiday Lights Family Festival. Free admission is offered at participating arts and cultural attractions and complimentary trolley service is provided between locations. Chairmen of the Joslyn event are Jodie Clement, Dianne Nelsen, and Leslie Southard of the Joslyn Art Museum Association.
Wide Open West Lecture Series
In celebration of Legends of the West, Joslyn will present a lecture series, Wide Open West, on Saturdays, February 3-24, at 2 pm. The series will offer reflections on cowboy culture featuring local and national scholars and performers. Each program includes exhibition viewing and an hors d'oeuvres reception. Fee. Exhibition admission and hors d'oeuvres reception included in the lecture ticket price. For series details and/or to purchase tickets/series passes, contact Joslyn's assistant curator of education, adult and special programs, at (402) 342-3300 ext. 262.
Guided Tours
Regular guided tours of the exhibition will be offered as follows: Saturdays at 11:30 am (Nov. 25, Dec. 2, Jan. 6, 20, Feb. 3, 17); Wednesdays at 1 pm (Dec. 6, 20, 27, Jan. 3, 17, 31, Feb. 14); and Friday at 1 pm (Dec. 15). Saturday morning tours are free. Wednesday and Friday tours are free with regular Museum admission.
Art Class & Camp
Joslyn offers an art class and an art camp celebrating Legends of the West
Major sponsors for Legends of the West are the Bodmer Society of Joslyn Art Museum, City of Omaha, Douglas County Commissioners, Durham Foundation, and Mutual of Omaha. Sponsors are First National Bank, Marlene and Joe Ricketts, and Gail and Michael Yanney. Additional support is provided by Lenore Polack and Omaha World-Herald.
Text panels for the exhibition
(above: Maynard Dixon (American, 1875-1946), The Pony Boy (Blackfeet Indians, Montana), 1920, oil on canvas, Lent by W. C. Foxley, on view in the special exhibition Legends of the West: The Foxley Collection, Nov. 11, 2006 - Feb. 25, 2007, Joslyn Art Museum)
(above: Frederic S. Remington (American, 1861-1909), Cutting Out Pony Herds, 1908, oil on canvas, Lent by W. C. Foxley, on view in the special exhibition Legends of the West: The Foxley Collection, Nov. 11, 2006 - Feb. 25, 2007, Joslyn Art Museum)
(above: Albert Bierstadt (American, born Prussia, 1830-1902), Big Sandy River-Wind River Mountains, 1860, oil on board, Lent by W. C. Foxley, on view in the special exhibition Legends of the West: The Foxley Collection, Nov. 11, 2006 - Feb. 25, 2007, Joslyn Art Museum)
Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional source by visiting the sub-index page for the Joslyn Art Museum in Resource Library
Visit the Table of Contents for Resource Library for thousands of articles and essays on American art.
Copyright 2006 Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation. All rights reserved.


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Gift Certificates
Give loved ones the world
We've decided to discontinue the United gift certificate program, so gift certificates are no longer available for purchase. You can redeem any existing gift certificates and check your balance on the Check Gift Certificate Balance page.
You can still help your family and friends get to where they want to go by purchasing gift miles. On the Buy Miles page, simply select "Give Miles" and log in to your MileagePlus account to get started.
We also invite you to check out united.com gift registry to see if your favorite traveler is registered to receive the gift of United flights.
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|S. Scott Bullock
S. Scott Bullock
|Personal Information
| Stuart Scott Bullock
May 7, 1956
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
|Actor, Voice Actor
|There is more information available on this subject at S. Scott Bullock on the English-language Wikipedia.
Stuart Scott Bullock (born May 7, 1956) best known as S. Scott Bullock, is an American voice actor, known for his voice work in several TV series. He voiced Flappy Bob, Poseidon, Dionysus, Professor Olaf Gunderson and many other minor characters in the series and Wishology!.
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Yesterday was wet. As much of the west of England sank under the floods, some rain fell in London too. So a Hackney Town Hall wedding for Sarah & Owen didn't escape the weather. It wasn't the heaviest rain but it didn't let up all day, as it fell from a dark sky. Of course the days either side proved to include blue skies and sunshine, but no, Saturday was a day for umbrellas. A day to test the cameras too.
A last minute booking – only got the call from Sarah's mum a fortnight ago, it was an intimate winter wedding. Just family. A registry office ceremony at Hackney town hall ( in a room surrounded by "sham marriage" warning stickers but friendly, professional registrars ) followed by a dash to a taxi and up to Islington, to The Duke of Cambridge gastropub.
But before the drinking and food – some portraits of the Bride and Groom – in the rapidly diminishing light. Shot by the canal, hopefully it is hard to see how dark it really was from these shots? But the lights in the background and the glowing street lights as they walk back to the pub may give a clue. ( For anyone interested. ISO 2000 1/50th at F2.0 ) It was dark in and out of the pub.
But although dark, there was a 'cosy' feel for the party in the pub. Weddings don't have to be big – you just need the right people and for everyone to relax. In a few weeks Sarah & Owen start their next adventure – now as a married couple – when they go off to live and work in New York!
I usually begin these posts with a detail – something that links into the day. This time it is the raindrops hitting a puddle on the town hall steps that set the backdrop to the story. Here are a few images from the day…


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Thanks Girl Tweets World for the inspiration for this post. I spend so much time thinking about where I'll be going that I don't spend much time considering how I should be doing it, which is just as important. At the moment I don't have a solid plan of where 2017 is going to take us but, when it does, I will be travelling with these ideals in mind.
Travel responsibly
By this I mean visiting places ethically and leaving nothing but footprints behind. There are so many gorgeous parts of the world that I long to visit, but tourism is destroying them (I'm thinking of Phi Phi Island in Thailand right now, but there are many others). For me, travelling responsibly means choosing hotels that take care of the land they are built on, are culturally sensitive and aware, and selecting travel companies for tours that are ethical and environmentally friendly. For example, when we travelled in Thailand we avoided activities that exploited animals and selected tours that were environmentally friendly, such as the Two Sea Tour of Phang Nga Bay.
Raise awareness
It's a huge privilege and responsibility to work in the media, and I have always tried to use whatever platform I've been writing for to promote causes that are close to my heart. My dearest hope is that the writing I produce on subjects such as the plight of the elephants in Chiang Mai will change just one person's mind about travelling ethically vs unethically themselves. I hope in 2017 to be able to raise awareness to more causes, particularly related to animals and tourism.
Travel deeper
I love to discover the cultural heart of countries that we visit. Usually this means avoiding anything really touristy and setting out to discover the history and heart of the area. With a small child in the past I have neglected this at times in favour of taking my daughter somewhere easier that she would enjoy, but that she could do anywhere back at home – for example a water park with slides because she would get immediate enjoyment and it's easy, vs taking her temple hopping in Chiang Mai, which surprisingly she absolutely loved.
Cheese came home from our Thailand trip having learnt about religion, Buddha, monks and the importance of not riding elephants. It wasn't lost on me how much more she learned doing travel such as this vs things like amusements parks. My goal in 2017 is to use our travel to learn more about each destination and the people who live there and completely skip the other stuff.
Travel local
We can't afford to fly around the world as much as I'd like, but we can do more local travel, which is something I want to focus more on in 2017. There is plenty to explore in our own country that we have yet to introduce the Cheese to that I think we will all love, so Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane + Sunshine Coast are all on the itinerary for the year (if you have any hot tips on things to do in these area that are off the beaten path, please let me know!).
Travel cheaper
We are hopefully buying a house in January so we will need to cut back on spending. This will mean that I have to be thrifter day-to-day, which is a good thing, and also research free/cheap travel ideas. I'll be spending more time researching things we can do for free when we travel, both locally and abroad, so you'll notice more content coming to the blog as a result of this that will help with budget travel plans. I hope to discover free museum days, cheap ways to get around, ideas for exploring nature, the best deals for attractions and hotels and share them with you.
Switch off
This will be the hardest for me! I find it absolutely impossible to stop taking photos, writing down notes and filming videos to relax and enjoy the moment. I rarely find travel restful because I'm always trying to capture everything to produce great content later – the downfall of your passion also being your career! I finished 2016 absolutely burnt out however, and I see that in 2017 I need to schedule time to stop documenting and just enjoy and relax, as hard as it might be to do.
What are your resolutions? Do you make them?
Christine is the editor of Adventure, Baby!


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I sprout. That is, I grow sprouts. The picture below is about half-way through what I call a "sprouting session." It's not really called that, by the way. I'm going to tell you how to sprout and try to convince you to start sprouting for yourself. Why? Because I'm obnoxious and demanding and I care.
Sprouts provide many things our bodies need for us to live healthy lives. They are an excellent source of protein which helps our bodies repair itself as well as regulates many of our bodily functions (balancing of water, delivering nutrients, etc.). Sprouts also provide a huge dose of vitamin C, helping our immune systems fight off colds and diseases. Further, some types of sprouts such as broccoli sprouts have elements that can help prevent cancer. In fact, some studies have suggested that they contain several times more anti-cancer chemicals than in mature broccoli. (Note from Sandi: on the NIH [National Institutes of Health] website you can find confirmation of broccoli sprouts' anti-cancer properties; they also kill helicobacter pylori, the bacterium that causes stomach ulcers and some stomach cancers, but don't take my word for it, go read about it here.)
Another benefit is that they are organic. Many fruits and vegetables that you purchase in stores have been compromised by pesticides and other fumigants. This is not true of sprouts . Further, sprouts are easily digestible due to their cell walls being delicate and easily releasing nutrients.
Advantages Of Sprouts Over Other Foods
One of the primary advantages of consuming sprouts is the level of vitamin production that happens within them. When vegetables and fruits are purchased from your local supermarket, those foods have stopped producing vitamins. In fact, they stopped producing them the moment they were picked. Then, those foods are often shipped hundreds, even thousands, of miles to the stores where they are eventually bought by customers.
Sprouts continue producing vitamins up until the moment you consume them. Even in your refrigerator, they will keep growing and producing vitamins. Eating these instead of store-bought fruits and vegetables ensures that your body will enjoy the maximum amount of vitamin content. --End of excerpt


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Attractions and Things To Do in the Philippines
Attractions and Things To Do in the Philippines
12 attractions in the map1 Naked Island Guyam Islet Daku Island Blue Cathedral Union Beach Magpupungko Rock Formation and Tidal Lagoons Corregidor Marine Sanctuary Tayangban Cave Pool Pacifico Surf Break Sugba Lagoon Poneas Hilltop Hidden Lake Cloud 9
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Submitted by Chief Editor on
What happens if somebody on H1B loses job while in AOS ( interview done)? Can he/she be without job for an extended period of time? Does the status change to AOS automatically? Have you seen a rejection in I-485J that's filed after change of employment under a SOC code that's not same as earlier SOC code but Job Description is similar? What happens if I-485J is denied? Does USCIS allow a new I-485J to be filed?PDF version
Covid Coronavirus loss of job while in AOS I-485 period
Video Transcript
All you have to do is file a Supplement J with a new job offer. In the meantime, if you are not working and staying at home that's fine because adjustment of status 180 days brings you to a point where you don't have to have a job you only have to have the offer of a same or similar job. If the supplement J is denied I guess you can file another Supplement J. I would probably file a motion to reopen if the I-485 is being denied with another Supplement J. FAQ in detail...


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A Texas-based company is looking to get $50,000 in funding to develop the world's first point-and-shoot 3D camera.
Producing 3D models is not easy, unless you call yourself an engineer specialized in CAD. Lynx Laboratories is looking to lessen the engineers' work with the help of the first point-and-shoot 3D camera in the world, called Lynx A. Instead of creating 2D photos, the camera will output 3D models of the objects where it is pointed at.
Lynx A will have enormous implications in 3D modeling
The device itself is rather big and somewhat different from a regular 3D camera. The difference is that it is designed as a tablet, featuring a 14-inch LCD screen that displays the 3D images instantly after taking them. Additionally, the camera's processing power comes from a "powerful graphics card".
Lynx Laboratories claims that its 3D camera solves the biggest annoyances of current shooters, as it features a big battery and high-capacity storage. This way, Lynx A's battery will last for "four hours" of moderate use, while having a lot of room for many 3D images. Another "important" feature of the device is the 14-inch LCD, which cannot be compared to any other LCD found in high-end cameras, says the company.
Lynx A is running on a 3D sensor and a 640 x 480 color digital camera. Designers will have three options at their disposal, including object modeling, scene modeling and motion capture.
The first works as a paintbrush and it scans surrounding surfaces, while painting a 3D model on the camera's viewfinder. The second option is for "sculpting", as it carves out 3D models of the objects situated in front of the camera. Finally, the motion capture option will record 3D videos. Users start recording a moving object and when the "pause" button is hit, 3D models will be immediately displayed on the screen.
Kickstarting the Lynx A 3D camera project
Lynx Laboratories used the Kickstarter platform to gather money for its project. The funding platform can be used by anyone and, since its launch back in April 2009, it has helped approximately 35,000 projects to get more than $450 million in funding. Anybody can donate for a project and even if the goal is reached before the ending of the funding, donations can keep coming and developers can further use them to improve the project in question.
At the time of writing this article, the Lynx A camera gathered $36,433 out of the $50,000 goal. The project started on February 1st and there are still 40 days to go, meaning that the company will definitely reach its goal. Pledging $1,799 for the 3D camera will make the company send you a Lynx A camera when it is ready for adoption.


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The seemingly unabated spread of the virus also put paid to the conclusion of rugby's Six Nations yesterday, when the organising committee announced that Ireland's three outstanding matches, at home to England and away to Scotland and Wales, will be postponed until an unspecified date next season. Next weekend's games, England v France and Italy v Wales, will go ahead.
The Cheltenham cancellation will cost the betting industry an estimated £100m. The festival attracts 200,000 spectators to Prestbury Park and is worth £10m to the local economy. Hotels are facing heavy losses, which some have tried to limit by withholding racegoers' deposits.
The meeting, originally planned for March 13-15, was first rescheduled for April 17-19 after the course failed to comply with British Horseracing Board and Ministry of Agriculture guidelines concerning the grazing of sheep on the track. The new foot and mouth case, confirmed on Saturday, is in the village of Woolstone, putting the Cheltenham course inside an exclusion zone.
Bookmakers last night said that contingency plans to run the meeting's four main champion races at Sandown Park would do virtually nothing to replace their lost income. The Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and Stayers' Hurdle will all be transferred to Sandown, not in name but as new Grade One races over similar distances at the Whitbread Gold Cup fixture on April 27 and 28.
"With the original dates going," said David Hood of William Hill, "the betting industry lost about £100m - and us about £20m. If they run these championship races at Sandown's Whitbread meeting that would boost the turnover, but you are talking peanuts. All that you would be talking about there are feature races on an attractive day.
"The unique nature of the festival and its position in the racing calendar make it one of the strongest betting fixtures of the year and the damage to betting turnover cannot be underestimated."
In addition to the rescheduled championship events four races at this week's Grand National fixture at Aintree have been upgraded in status and been granted extra prize money. Cheltenham's managing director, Edward Gillespie, said it was now vital for racing to rally behind the three-day National meeting which starts on Thursday.
"It is bad news, but we must now all try and support the big meeting at Aintree. I know that I'm very much looking forward to my day out on Saturday. We are disappointed for everyone concerned that the 2001 Cheltenham Festival won't go ahead, but we must now look forward to next year," he said.
Sixty-one meetings have now been lost to foot and mouth and Cheltenham is the 14th racecourse to fall within an exclusion zone. The BHB indicated at the weekend that it will consider allowing racecourses within infected areas to stage fixtures again.
Speaking before the annoucement of Cheltenham's cancellation, Paul Greeves, the BHB's racing director, said: "If perhaps in two weeks' time we feel the situation is coming under control we will be ready to act. The ministry has already said it is OK and at some point racing itself will question our policy. Some racecourses are already asking and others will certainly follow."


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To avoid an economic "death spiral" of insurance markets, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that tax credits are available to individuals in states that have a federal exchange under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). King v. Burwell, 576 U.S. ___ (2015). In a 6-to-3 decision, the Court relied on context and policy to resolve an ambiguity in the statute, supporting the ACA's tax credit in states where the health care exchange is established by the federal government.
An Exchange Established by the State-or the Federal Government
The question before the Court was whether the ACA's tax credits are available to individuals in states that have a health exchange established by the federal government, or only to those in states where the exchange was established by the state. The ACA provides that individuals are only eligible for premium tax credits under the ACA if the individual obtains insurance through "an Exchange established by the State." But the Act also provides that if a state fails to set up its own exchange, the federal government will establish "such Exchange."
The Internal Revenue Service issued a regulation making ACA premium tax credits available regardless of whether the exchange was established and operated by the state or the federal government. The parties challenging that IRS regulation in this case argued that tax credits should not be available in states with a federal exchange as that was not an exchange "established by the State."
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, acknowledged that the challengers' "plain-meaning" arguments were strong, but concluded that the context and structure of the statutory phrase meant that Congress intended the tax credits to apply to eligible individuals purchasing insurance on any exchange created under the ACA. He wrote that the statute is ambiguous and that plain meaning of a statute is but one means the Court uses to resolve an ambiguity. In this instance, context and structure of the statute were more persuasive.
Roberts noted that Congress passed the ACA to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them. He cited studies that suggested that if tax credits did not apply to federal exchanges, premiums would increase between 35-47 percent and enrollment would decrease by about 70 percent. He wrote, "It is implausible that Congress meant the Act to operate in this manner."
Tax Credits Are One of The ACA's Key Reforms
The Court defined the tax credit scheme as one of the ACA's three key health insurance reforms. The first key reform is the "guaranteed issue" requirement, which prevents insurance companies from denying health care insurance based on a person's health, and a "community rating" requirement, which prohibits insurers from charging higher premiums to those in bad health.
The second key reform is the individual insurance mandate, requiring individuals to have health insurance coverage or pay a tax penalty. This reform is designed to get more healthy people into the insurance pool, lowering premiums across the board. Individuals are exempt from this requirement if the cost of buying insurance would exceed eight percent of their income.
The third key reform is providing tax credits to certain individuals in order to make insurance more affordable. People with household incomes between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty line are eligible to purchase health insurance on the exchange with tax credits which are provided directly to the insurance provider. The availability of premium tax credits through state and federal exchanges is seen as essential in getting more individuals insured and spreading the risk pool.
Acknowledging that the ACA included many instances of "inartful drafting," the Court decided that limiting tax credits to state exchanges would gut the second and third key reforms in states with a federal exchange. The combination of no tax credits and an ineffective coverage requirement would result in insurance markets plunging into a "death spiral." The Court concluded that Congress meant for all of the key reforms to apply in every state, including those with federal exchanges.
Result: No Change for Employers in ACA Requirements
By upholding the tax credit scheme in all states regardless of whether an exchange was set up by the state or the federal government, the Supreme Court supported the overall scheme of the ACA. Although Justice Scalia wrote a scathing dissent that was joined by two other justices, the ACA remains intact. Employers should continue to comply with all applicable ACA requirements.
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Lane reduction on Hillsborough Road
The Town of Riverview wishes to advise the motoring public that Hillsborough Road from Rivercrest Avenue to Old Coach Road will be reduced to one lane in each direction from Monday, August 19 to Friday, August 23 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
This lane reduction is to allow crews to mill the asphalt surface and repave that section of Hillsborough Road. Work is expected to finish at the end of August.
The Town apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciates the public's patience while these infrastructure upgrades are completed.


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Football coach Nick Saban once said, "One thing about championship teams is that they're resilient." Reflecting the tenacity that permeates a winning team, that statement certainly rings true for the Palmetto State. After all, we have a championship team of our own -- Team South Carolina -- and time and time again, our team has overcome adversity, growing stronger and more united than ever before.
Over the last week, South Carolina was once again tested as Hurricane Florence and subsequent flooding impacted many across our state. In both preparation and response, businesses and residents, alike, have banded together to ensure the safety of our citizens and a swift return to normalcy after the flood waters subside.
In some areas of South Carolina, water levels continue to rise. As this occurs, communication and collaboration between industry and local and state officials will remain critical. Business leaders can access the latest, most up-to-date information by visiting www.scemd.org or contacting the state's Emergency Support Function (ESF) 24 at firstname.lastname@example.com or 803.737.8524. Businesses are also encouraged to reach out to ESF 24 to report damage or request assistance.
In the weeks and months ahead, as we rebuild and recover from the aftermath of this latest weather event, Team South Carolina's resiliency will once again take center stage. As it does, and our great state gets back on its feet, we'll be able to return to the winning ways we've worked so hard to cultivate.


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When Donald J. Trump first came on the scene, he was seen as the bull in the china shop!
When some thought it could never happen, he became the 45th president. All their money and schemes couldn't inhibit him from becoming president of the United States.
He is the epitome of what is/was needed to expose the evil that is deeper than anyone could imagine.
Yes, he is a bull in the china shop that will expose the deep state. Then it will become apparent who OUR enemy is. And when the curtain is raised for all to see, it may not only include Democrats but also Republicans, because we have seen there are wolves in sheep clothing.
When God called Donald Trump to be president, he gave him the wherewithal to complete the task. And, it takes a person EXACTLY like him to crack this thing wide open! TRUMP 2020.
Loretta Jones, Slippery Rock


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Challenges and Opportunities for the Future of Broadcasting in the Digital Era
A. Afilipoaie, B. Anokye, D. Dodul, M. Esau, K. Gokhman, L. Zavala
A few decades ago, "watching television" was a daily habit that suddenly became a lost practice in the Digital Era due to the development of new technologies, the arrival of more and better devices and connectivity improvements that completely changed users' experience, allowing them to watch whatever they want, at any time and in any place.
The internet offers new channels where users can participate in content production, creating a sense of ownership over the medium, a sense of empowerment that was absent in the era of television or broadcast media.
Less TV time in the digital era
Recent studies suggest that most consumers spend more time on smartphones, computers and tablets, rather than television. Insights from the Accenture Digital Consumer Survey 2017 (applied to 26,000 consumers in 26 countries) revealed a drop of 55% in consumers who prefer to watch TV, compared to the previous year.
This change goes beyond physical devices, it also concerns the way users actually choose specific content. Platforms such as Netflix and Amazon are taking over the battlefield, banishing the glory days of television broadcasters and attracting a significant percentage of the market to this new form of entertainment and information.
The Generational Gap
The generational gap also seems to play an essential role in consumer habits. According to the TV Viewing annex of the Ofcom Annual Research Report 2017, more mature audiences maintain their patterns related to watching scheduled content on television, while younger consumers move in a better way through online platforms.
According to the European Commission, two-thirds of young people watch TV series and films on the internet, and a third less traditional TV than before. On average, in the EU, TV viewing time has dropped in the past few years as content has moved online.
Rethinking Strategies and Seizing Opportunities
There have also been reports on TV advertising revenue decreasing and moving online. These trends are therefore raising some issues for the future of broadcasting in the digital era, which might find broadcasters between a rock and a hard place. Thus, broadcasters need to rethink their strategies, and they need to do it fast.
The future of broadcasting in the Digital Era is uncertain but it is also full of opportunities. It's important to keep in mind that audiences are no longer only observers. Broadcasters are now dealing with full participants: users that interact, recommend, criticize, rate and share all kinds of information and content, which could represent a great reach advantage if they know how to make the most of it.
The Survival of Broadcasting
Will TV survive in the digital era? Undoubtedly, the survival of broadcasters will depend on how well they adapt to this new type of audience and their demands. Will they hang in there or will viewers simply cut the cord? When the older generation slowly disappears, how will broadcasting grasp the attention of this new generation that is driven by instant gratification and the condition of immediacy? How can broadcasters compete with the online TV industry that seems to be gaining more and more momentum with each passing year?
With so many questions, it is difficult to gain an understanding of what could happen, however, there are experts in the field like Discovery Communications Vice President of Government Relations for EMEA and guest speaker for this week's Brussels Talking Lecture Series, @RossBiggam, that can shed light on these issues and provide some insight. Lucky for us, he will be front and center at VUB for a guest lecture Tomorrow, March 6th.


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Transforming your outdoor space doesn't always have to be a massive and expensive undertaking. The right furniture combination and design choices can create a significant difference in the look and feel of your patio. As the leading provider of quality patio furniture, Holloway Company can help you. Here are some simple ideas you can try: [Read more…]
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The most cherished dream of each writer is to see his work published on the site and read by thousands of people. However, not everyone can make their dreams come true because copywriting is a tough task.
To be a successful writer means that you have to write a lot and always have the inspiration and desire to grow in this industry. The writer becomes known in those cases when he continuously improves useful skills and his style of writing. We chose several habits that are peculiar to writers.
They read a lot
Successful writers read a lot. They read books, magazines, articles and online blogs. In the process of reading, they study various branches of knowledge and learn current trends.
Reading helps them to find new words and come up with various ideas that readers might like. In the process of reading, you are always learning. Reading other people's work helps to improve your writing style.
They like to set goals
It is great to set certain goals before you start writing the text. Establishing goals helps you to set priorities in the process of performing various tasks correctly. An example of a successful goal is the desire to learn how to write several thousand words daily.
Make sure you write at least six thousand words a week. If you notice that you do not have time to meet the deadline, then get up early the next day and finish what you started. Be consistent and persistent in the process of achieving your goal.
They train their brains
To maintain our body in an excellent shape, you need to work out, and also in a view to carrying out an active brain work, exercises are necessary.
You may train your brain with various exercises that you can find on the Internet. Permanent intellectual practice will allow you to improve yourself in the sphere of writing.
They have a favorite place for work
Each writer has his comfort zone, where he can write and enjoy this process freely. You can also try to find such place to become a successful author. Some people like to write when being in nature. Someone prefers to write at home, and someone with ease works at the office.
They play sports
The work of the writer is monotonous, during which one constantly has to sit in a single place. With such a sedentary schedule, you need to exercise regularly. To keep the body fit, we recommend starting the day with a physical drill. Then you can work, and in the evening you can go for a run, to the gym or pool. You can also try meditating or start practicing yoga. It will help you to be more focused at work.
They meet new people
A successful writer will never be locked up and avoid meeting people. If you really want to succeed in this profession, then you need to be socially active. Do not be afraid to get acquainted with new people. Thanks to such acquaintances, you can learn something new and exchange thoughts and opinions about the events that interest you. New associates will help you to find out more and expand your mental outlook. A real opportunity is also communicating with interesting people through social networks.
They communicate with readers
The best pastime for a writer can be communication with readers. Spend a few minutes for answering their questions or comments and thank them for their positive feedback on your work.