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EUGENE, Ore. -- (Aug. 25, 2010) -- A 13-member research team led by University of Oregon scientist Dr. Albert O. Edwards has found a gene likely responsible for Fuchs corneal dystrophy, an inheritable genetic disorder and leading cause of corneal transplant operations.
Edwards performed a genome-wide analysis comparing patients with and without typical age-related Fuchs, finding an alteration in the transcription-factor-4 gene (TCF4). Fuchs -- pronounced FEWKS or FOOKS -- generally emerges in middle-aged, roughly age 40, and older people.
The discovery appeared online Aug. 25 ahead of regular publication in the Sept. 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Fuchs emerges slowly with blurred or cloudy vision, tiny bumps known as guttae (GOO-tay) on the cornea's surface and, in severe stages, painful blisters on the corneal surface. The disease affects the endothelium, a thin layer of cells that line the back part of the cornea where changes result in swelling of the cornea and thickening and clouding of the cornea. Guttae are found in the corneas of an estimated 5 percent of people in the United States.
Of those diagnosed with Fuchs, only a small percentage go on to require corneal transplants, said lead author Dr. Keith H. Baratz of the Mayo Clinic ophthalmology department in Rochester, Minn. There are about 40,000 corneal transplants -- about 10,000 linked to Fuchs -- done annually in the United States, according to the Eye Bank Association of America. It is more common in women than in men, according to the Fuchs Corneal Dystrophy Association.
The discovery won't immediately translate into clinical benefits, but "this is the first step in identifying the pathophysiology of the disease," Baratz said. "Right now, we don't have a treatment for Fuchs dystrophy other than transplant surgery when a patient is at the end stages of the disease. The ultimate goal is to find out how the disease occurs and find a treatment to prevent or slow its progression."
Having the TCF4 gene variation has a huge impact on the risk of Fuchs disease, said Edwards, a senior research associate in the University of Oregon's Institute of Molecular Biology. "It vastly exceeds the risk found previously for the complement-factor-H gene in macular degeneration," he said. "If a person has risk variants involving TCF4, that individual is anywhere from several to a couple of hundred times more likely to have Fuchs disease."
Edwards, in 2005, when at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, was lead author of a study published in the journal Science that identified complement factor H in macular degeneration. That gene discovery tied complement factor H to a five-fold increase of risk to developing macular degeneration, accounting possibly for at least 50 percent of the risk of being affected. The risk impact of TCF4 on Fuchs is much stronger, Edwards said.
While the TCF4 gene has been identified, exactly what occurs to cause a defect is not understood. The researchers found evidence that at least one transcription protein, E2-2, needs more scrutiny. "E2-2 is a transcription factor. It controls gene expression," Edwards said. "The pathway probably contains E2-2 and the protein ZEB1, but we don't really know that yet. We do find variation of expression across this region, so it has something to do with the expression of the gene."
E2-2, important in cellular growth and differentiation, has been implicated in other disease states, including activity that promotes or suppresses cancer. It is expressed in the corneal endothelium. ZEB1, which may be regulated by E2-2, already is thought to contribute to Fuchs.
The study involved the genotyping of 280 Fuchs patients recruited in clinical settings in Minnesota and Michigan. These patients had at least Stage 1 signs of Fuchs or had received corneal replacements as a result of the disease. Their genomes were compared with 410 control patients.
"The real impact of what we've done is to determine the biological underpinnings of the disease," Edwards said. "We've identified a protein that is probably involved, and that will allow us to, hopefully, identify a method to prevent people from losing their vision."
Three other genes previously had been linked to very rare subtypes of Fuchs. In addition, early onset Fuchs has been linked to mutations in yet another gene, COL8A2, but Edwards and colleagues suggest in their paper that this may be a different disease with a different cause.
"This discovery demonstrates the value of excellent clinical phenotyping and a large-scale genetic database of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to uncover genetic risk factors for many vision-related disorders," said co-author Anand Swaroop, chief of the National Eye Institute (NEI) Neurobiology-Neurodegeneration and Repair Laboratory. "The genetic data used in this study was obtained for GWAS of age-related macular degeneration through a scientific collaboration supported by the NEI."
Co-authors with Edwards, Baratz and Swaroop were: William L. Brown, Katharina E. Schmid-Kubista, Nirubol Tosakulwong, Euijung Ryu and Kent R. Bailey, all of Mayo Clinic; Kari Branham, John R. Heckenlively, Wei Chen and Goncalo Abecasis, all of the University of Michigan; and Khoa D. Tran of the UO Institute of Molecular Biology and Oregon Retina of Eugene.
The National Institutes of Health primarily funded the research. The Foundation Fighting Blindness and the American Health Assistance Foundation, both based in Maryland, and Research to Prevent Blindness and the Max Kade Foundation, both in New York, also provided support.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of the 63 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. The UO is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.
About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,700 physicians, scientists and researchers, and 50,100 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic campuses in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz.
Media Contacts: Jim Barlow, director of science and research communications, 541-346-3481, firstname.lastname@example.com, or Robert Nellis, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., 507-284-5005, firstname.lastname@example.com


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The moon still stood high in the coal black morning sky as I headed to work this morning. It peered out from a mist of clouds to give an almost greenish glow. My breath hung in front of me and under the glow of street lamps the metal railings sparkled where the frost had taken hold.
I've stayed bundled up at work today as I can't seem to shake off the chill that's in the air. It truly feels that Winter has arrived in all of her artic frosty glory. It feels like December and I love it!

subset: commoncrawl


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Following a preview last week, Jeep has unveiled seven new concepts for the 2015 Moab Easter Jeep Safari.
Following a preview last week, Jeep has unveiled seven new concepts for the 2015 Moab Easter Jeep Safari.
First up, the Chief concept pays tribute to the full-size Cherokee from the 1970s. It is based on the Wrangler and features an Ocean Blue exterior with a French Bread roof and a retro-inspired grille. The concept also has chrome bumpers, a chopped roof and 17-inch slotted mag wheels. Other notable highlights include Dana 44 axles with lockers as well as a 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine with a cold air intake.
While the exterior is decidedly retro, the interior's "Surfer" theme leaves a lot to be desired as the multi-colored leather seats and vintage-style surf stickers look a little tacky.
Moving on, the Staff Car concept was designed as a "salute to legendary Jeep military service vehicles." As a result, it has a military-inspired exterior with minimalist fender flares, a stretched canvas roof and 16-inch steel wheels with 35-inch Firestone NDT military tires. The concept also has military-style headlights, bench seats, a 2-inch lift kit and Dana 44 axles.
The Wrangler Red Rock Responder goes in a different direction as it has a rugged exterior with high-top fender flares, a four-inch lift kit and 17-inch beadlock wheels with 37-inch BF Goodrich Mud Terrain T/A KM2 tires. The model also boasts LED lights, a Warn winch and Dana 60 axles with 5.38 gearing.
The concept also has unique side cargo boxes that hold a number of accessories including a hi-lift jack, a fire extinguisher and an air compressor - among other things.
Check out the press release for additional information


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2017, forged iron and sand.
Dimensions 47 x 15,5 x 29,5 cm.
In times of crisis and austerity the artist detects a widespread feeling of resignation, a sort of passiveness that impedes the opposition to social, political and economic decline. Half man, half ostrich, Omuzzo is the representation of this modern being who hides his head in the sand not to confront life


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We now have trial access to 2 new resources!
CAB Global Health Database via Ovid
Trial URL: http://libguides.fiu.edu/go.php?c=15966988
Trial ends: 10/14/2015
GLOBAL HEALTH brings together the resources of two internationally renowned databases - the Public Health and Tropical Medicine (PHTM) database, previously produced by the Bureau of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases (BHTD), and the human health and diseases information extracted from CAB ABSTRACTS.
Dating back to 1973, together they provide a unique resource which offers a substantially deeper subject coverage of information related to human health and communicable diseases than many other sources currently available.
Theatre in Video: Volume II via Alexander Street Press
Trial URL: http://libguides.fiu.edu/go.php?c=15938738
Trial ends: 11/08/2015
We already have access to Volume I of this collection. Volume II has a greater focus on contemporary and international productions, including performances from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Theatre Arts Films, BBC and TMW Media Group.


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Lisa Rinna and her family, including daughter Delilah Hamlin, celebrated the launch of "The Power of You" campaign in Los Angeles on Tuesday, May 21.
As they enjoyed a party at Bootsy Bellows in West Hollywood with dad Harry Hamlin and sister Amelia Hamlin, Lisa and Delilah, who is the new face of the brand's just-released Premium Collection, the ladies posed for photos with one another and with Lisa's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills co-star Dorit Kemsley, who was the only cast member present.
According to a press release, the venue's decor was inspired by Delilah's bold taste, and the event was held in an effort to showcase her "daring and feminine style."
"The hot spot in West Hollywood epitomized her it-girl persona and brought her closest friends together for a night out," the release stated. "Guests enjoyed fun food stations and experiential desserts with champagne in a glamorous setting. A branded vanity gave guests a chance to recreate Delilah's shoot and become a part of the campaign."
Boohoo's Premium Collection became available on May 21, and items in the collection range in price from $40 to $120. Included in the collection are ruffled jumpsuits, blazers, lace dresses, and more, which are all available in U.S. sizes 2-10.
Lisa and Delilah both shared posts on their Instagram pages in regard to Delilah's new collection with Boohoo.
After Lisa shared her own clip of Delilah's collection on Instagram, tons of her Real Housewives of Beverly Hills co-stars and Real Housewives from other cities weighed in on the exciting news in the comments section of her post.
"So good!" Dorit wrote.
"Beautiful," said Tamra Judge from The Real Housewives of Orange County.
"AWESOME I love," added Eileen Davidson.
During an interview with Page Six Style earlier this week, Delilah admitted that she's taken some style advice from her mother, who has an impressive and extensive wardrobe, over the years.
"My mom knows a lot about how to wear vintage with current trends," the 20-year-old explained. "You can never go wrong with a nice piece of vintage!"
Delilah also spoke out about her 54-piece line with Boohoo, which she described to the outlet as "very chic, versatile, and sexy, yet cute at the same time."
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 9 airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. on Bravo TV.


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Sunday, December 24, 2017
2017 Rewind : My Year In A Nutshell
Forget YouTube's 2017 Rewind, this is the one you want to watch. Here are some of my favorite moments from (and thoughts on) 2017, as well as a look ahead to the coming year. Thanks for watching Tim Kreitz Adventures.
Thursday, December 07, 2017
Our final motorcycle trip of 2017 | Alpine, Texas
Clif and I ride our bikes into the Big Bend region of Texas, deep within the Chihuahua Desert. There we enjoy local Mexican cuisine, meet a group of motorcycle friends from Lubbock, and stay in the nicest motorcyclist lodging we've ever had on a road trip.


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Create an Account - Increase your productivity, customize your experience, and engage in information you care about.
The Village would like to welcome these new businesses into our community. Stop in and visit. Remember, it is always great to support our local businesses.
Powell's Way of Kenpo1921 Mannheim Rd630-447-9073http://www.wayofkenpo.com/ Martial Arts SchoolFountain District
Print Labb 2.09834 Roosevelt Rd708-688-9522PrintingAddison Creek District
Impulse Rehab & Wellness PLLC3075 Wolf Rd708-223-8011Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy & WellnessPrairie District
Latonia Harris Insurance Agency 1907 Mannheim Rd708-498-6968Insurance AgentFountain District
Jeannie's Hair Company3015 Wolf Rd708-531-1991SalonPrairie District
Chicagoland Home Mortgage Services10555 Cermak Rd773-557-1000Mortgage BrokerFountain District
Corner Realty1600 Westchester Blvd630-263-4897Real Estate BrokerHistoric Boulevard District
CAG Wholesale10311 Roosevelt Rd708-397-4944Arts & CraftsMunicipal District
Brick Body Studio9909 Roosevelt Rd708-996-7820Body SculptingAddison Creek District
Dollar General10201 Roosevelt Rd708-947-6756Discount RetailerMunicipal District
Susy's Nutrition Club1937 Mannheim RdNutrition & Samples708-407-6168Fountain District
Ashanti Signs & Graphics9825 Roosevelt RdGraphic Design & Signs708-203-5329Addison Creek District
M&M Counseling Inc9869 RooseveltCounseling & Healthcare708-288-2658Addison Creek District
Corazon's Nail & Hair Salon Inc10054 Roosevelt RdBeauty Salon708-562-7222Addison Creek District
D&E Accessories Boutique1905 Mannheim RdBoutique702-401-4772Fountain District


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ResearchGate is an academic social network which provides a forum for researchers to share and collaborate with colleagues.
Twitter is a social media tool which can facilitate communities of practice.
A hashtag is any word beginning with a # symbol. People use hashtage to reference a specific topic. Clicking on a hashtag takes you to the search results for that termm, e.g. #pelvichealth, #incontinence.
Create a Twitter account and follow colleagues' tweets. When following someone on Twitter you are subscribing to that user's updates on your timeline.
Twitter usernames or "handles" start with an @ symbol. Your username should be descriptive. The username for the University of Ottawa's Motor Function Measurement Lab is @mfmlabUOttawa.
Start tweeting, and soon you'll have your own followers. Tweet (i.e. message) about your research, your practice, and your professional reading. Tweets are brief, maximum 140 characters in length including.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) feeds allow you to automatically receive new blog posts, journal tables of contents, or new PubMed search results, without clogging up your e-mail in-box.


text: Discussion on the collapse of Enron Introduction: The collapse of Enron in 2001 raised many questions regarding the corporate accounting and corporate governance. Enron was the energy leading company, merged with Houston Natural Gas and Internorth in 1985, made money through buying and selling financial contracts linked to the value of energy assets rather than ownership of physical assets. In October of 2001, the company reported their first quarterly loss from 1997, following by their bonds rated downgraded to the junk bonds. Finally, the company was reported to bankruptcy in December 2001. Thus the topic was raised by the public regarding the corporate accounting, audit, and corporate governance. It also pushed the SEC and FASB to pay attention about the accounting standards whether the current accounting standards are being managed as a special purpose vehicles or the effective reporting. The following part will be based on the literature and develop a deep discussion on the reason the collapse of Enron. Literature Review The one of many reasons that attributes to the collapse of Enron is the poor corporate governance. Colley et al. (2003) defined that the corporate governance matters the success of individual commercial enterprises. It is an examination of business that sustained success over long periods reveals boards have governed the business effectively. Monks et al (2008) state that establishment a system of accountability is one way to govern the corporation behave consistent with the public good. The system of accountability is the legitimacy and authority of corporate power based on accountability. Corporate management is asked for effectively accountable to the independent, competent, and motivated representative. They make sure the corporate governance to maintain the legitimacy and credibility. Adams (2003) pointed out that the corporate structure has three components: shareholders, a board of directors, and officers. A distinctive characteristic of America company is that corporate ownership and control are dispersed across a relatively large number of shareholders. Elson and Gyves (2003) concluded that directors typically review the business strategies, evaluate the company's outside auditor, and compensate the executives, and ensure the corporate performance. This means the directors have the responsibility to monitor and ensure the operation of company. However, the senior executives especially CEO Arthur Andersen intervene the company's business model. The other reason attributes the failure of Enron is creative accounting adopted by the senior management team. The accounting principle in US is very different from UK. In UK GAAP, it required the true and fair override to presented financial report, while IFRS requires financial statement fairly presented instead of true and fair view. This gave the opportunity for the company like Enron to make the creative accounting in the financial reports. This in turn leads to their final failure. Abbas et al (2010) suggested that effective financial reporting is fundamental to investor confidence as well as good corporate governance. The usefulness of financial statement could be defined by means of the usefulness of financial information and the globalization of accounting standards. (Hu, 2002) Usefulness of financial statements could help shareholders and investors to understand the current position, situation, and prospects of the company. Moreover, Benston (2003) found that the usefulness of financial statements provide evidence of an audit and revealing the presence or absence of significant conflicts of interests and misappropriation of resources, disclosure of important information, compliance with GAAP, confirmation of the promised performance, and a good measure of economic performance. However, Enron is a good example of creative accounting, which could use the financial reports to mislead the public. McLeay and Riccaboni (2001) pointed out that creative accounting involves accountants using their knowledge of accounting rules to manipulate the financial reports. Below part will discuss why the senior management team would like to make decision to adopt the creative accounting and the failure of those charged with protecting the interest of the shareholders and other stakeholders. A detail discussion on the collapse of Enron Christopher et al (2003) pointed out that Enron's senior management and others tried to use various accounting and reporting techniques to mislead investors. According to Elson and Gyves (2003), the key executives repeatedly entered into the improper transactions designed to mask the company's problem by keeping debt off the company's balance sheet, thereby maintaining the good credit rating and artificially manipulating the stock price. Furthermore, the CEO Andersen even controlled the company's internal and external auditing matters with the famous auditing company. On the one hand, the above fact reflected one reason caused the collapse is lax oversight of corporate activities and CEOs particularly. Currall and Epstein (2003) found that the Enron Board appeared to have excessive trust in Enron's top executive team. This reflected by the five ways: the waiver of company Code of Ethics, stock sales by executives, the company's external auditor consulting large fee, the external auditor acted as the internal auditor, and financial personnel with connections to external auditor. (Elson and Gyves, 2003) The waiver of company Code of Ethics is very unusual because the board needed to know the exact reason to reach that decision, but the Boarder of Enron allowed the CFO to conduct the off-balance-sheet activities. The stock sales by executives exceeded the normal sale, which did not draw the board's attention. The external auditor ideally should be independent of the company, but Enron hired the external auditor at the same time doing the consulting working and paid the huge consulting fee. This in turn led to the external auditor company worked as the internal auditor to help the company hide the important issues. It seemed the auditor work like an integrated auditing, actually it is risky in that it would reduce the efficiency of the auditor's working and the auditor even may forgot their role to audit not hide something for the company. Moreover, Gordon (2003) concluded that Enron top management team chose to fraud by the complex private entities rather than the market driven structure, the board fail to conduct the critical faculties. Therefore, the neglect and excessive trust of the board of Enron as well as the over powerful within the top executives had account for the later failure. Traditionally, the board existing is responsible for the monitor to protect the interest of shareholder. Once they failed their responsibility and gave too much power to the top decision makers, then the decision makers would take the opportunity to manipulate the situation especially in the accounting part by using the creative accounting. Gordon (2003) suggested that a reliable corporate governance system ought to catch wrongdoing before it becomes pathological and carries such destructive consequences for the shareholders, not to mention the other stakeholders. The board needs to keep an eye on the stock movement or other things to see the change of the market no matter in the booming or bear market. On the other hand, the shareholders and stakeholders also played a vital role in the failure of corporate governance regarding the Enron Case. Currall and Epstein (2003) concluded that the investors like stakeholders or shareholders were lack of the knowledge about the Enron business model. Enron sold a good prospect to the investors based on the run up stock price and the decorated financial report. For one thing, the stakeholders and shareholders did not know the exactly the business model of Enron and critically review the model, then they just according to the past performance of the stock price movement thought the stock price would go up. Many investors admitted that they did not know the business of Enron but confident with the stock. For another thing, the Enron gave the pressure on the professional investors like Wall Street analyst who may deviating from what Enron told, then the analyst had to give up their critical review. Enron imposed the confidence to the investors by the rapid rise of stock price, at the same time hided the information like off-balance-sheet activities and make-to-market accounting to the investors. (Christopher, L. et al, 2003) Therefore, the Enron used these creative accounting methods to raise the stock price rather than the transparency disclosure. These creative accounting methods such as wash and round trips mislead the public that the real operating performance the transaction is not real because Enron sold it to its overseas subsidiaries, to some extent, it is like trading with itself. The imposed pressure, and the lack of transparency did not draw the shareholders and stakeholder's attention that Enron hided so many information and used the creative accounting to mislead them. Instead, the investors chose to believe the company blind, rather than critical review the operation of the Enron. Thus, Enron have the confidence or motivation to use the creative accounting to decorate the financial report because the company knew others did not pay attention the real operation of the company, the investors just care the stock price and the prospects. Since the company would issue the annual report, if the investors neglect or cannot understand the report, this gave the chance to the company to fool the investors. Investors need to critically review the company's financial report and ask the additional disclosure when they found the improper part. By doing so, it can prevent them from the loss and protect their interest because additional disclosure or understanding of financial report will constrain the company to use the creative accounting methods because they know they will not cheat the shareholder and stakeholder anymore. As for the shareholders and stakeholders is the other part outside the board to monitor the top management team operation, their focus not only need to be focus on the return on investment, but also more importantly pay attention to the abnormal movement of the stock price. They need to understand the additional information that the company release or asked the company for the additional disclosure regarding the abnormal movement. If trusting blindly, it will result the potential risk like the series of financial risks following after the collapse of Enron. The long run business relationship is established the effective and efficient monitoring mechanism. The shareholders and stakeholders shall not focus on the short term profit, while need to develop a long run business with a critical review. Conclusion: All in all, the collapse of Enron shocked the world regarding the effective corporate governance. Instead of blaming the CEO or the top executives, it gave an alarm about the importance in the corporate governance. It should establish the effective principal of corporate governance to ensure the director must be independent of the senior management team and pay attention to the operation of the company. For example from the view of the board, it should establish the mandatory disclosure system supported by the antifraud rules to ensure the information they got is correct and transparent. Undoubtedly, the top management team, the board, shareholders hold the company's share all the time, on the one hand, it gave the top executives incentive to manipulate its financial report by creative accounting, which in turn conveyed to the public by the 'good story'. Therefore, constrain the over power of top management teams is quite essential. The director member of the board needs to be independent of the management director. Thus could ensure an effective monitoring to prevent the top management executives adopt the creative accounting or fraud. On the other hand, the directors and shareholders have to push the company compliance with the self regulation and critically review the stock price movement. If the abnormal movement took place, the board and shareholders could track and ask for the disclosure. Last but not least, for the better corporate governance, the US GAAP could adopt the true and fair view override instead of present fairly to ensure the quality financial report and additional disclosure when the company deviates from the some principal. Reference: Abbas, A.M et al. (2010). International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Workbook and Guide: Practical Insights, Case Studies, Multiple-Choice Questions, Illustraions. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc. pp. Forward. Adams, E.S. (2003). Corporate Governance after Enron and Global Crossing: Comparative Lessons for Cross-National Improvement. Indiana Law Journal. Vol. 78. pp. 723-781 Benston, G.J. (2003). The Quality of Corporate Financial Statements and Their Auditors before and after Enron. Policy Analysis. Vol. 497. pp. 1-29 Christopher, L. et al. (2003). Corporate Aftershock: The Public Policy Lessons from the Collapse of Enron and Other Major Corporations. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc. pp. 28-48 Colley, J.R. et al. (2003). Corporate Governance. New York: the McGraw-Hill. pp. 11-13 Currall, S.C & Epstein. M.J (2003). The Fragility of Organizational Trust: Lessons From the Rise and Fall of Enron. Organizational Dynamics. Vol. 32(2). pp. 193-206 Elson, C.M & Gyves, C. J. (2003). The Enron Failure and Corporate Governance Reform. Wake Forest Law Review. Vol. 38. pp. 855-884 Gordon, J.F. (2003). Governance Failure of the Enron Board and The New Information Order of Sarbanes-Oxley. Connecticut Law Review. pp.1125-1144 Hu, D. (2002). The usefulness of Financial Statements under Chinese GAAP vs IAS: Evidence from the Shanghai Stock Exchange in PRC. Working Paper, China McLeay, S. & Riccaboni, A. (2001). Contemporary issues in accounting regulation. Norwell: Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 155-166 Monks. R.A.G et al. (2008). Corporate Governance. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 18-19 原文链接:Discussion on the collapse of Enron转载请注明出处:优易论文


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Chromatic Awards has announced the winners and finalists of their 1st Annual Color Photography Contest. This year, the judges reviewed
We bring you a selection of 25 great fine art photos awarded in 2016 edition of PhotogrVphy Grant. PhotogrVphy Grant
Monochrome Photography Awards is proud to announce the winners of their 2016 photography competition! French photographer Michel Kirch has been
American photographer Drew Nikonowicz (born 1993) has been announced as the overall winner of this year's Photogrvphy Grant and granted
© 2015 - 2020 International Photography Magazine & Grant. All Rights reserved.


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McALLEN — A pair of Mexican nationals each pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges for their role in a scheme to provide fake identification documents in exchange for cash, court documents show.
Standing before U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez, Aidee Elizabeth Vazquez-Gomez and Jesus Manuel Renteria-Zavala each pleaded guilty to one count of fraud with identification documents in connection with a federal investigation that led to the arrest of the pair from Mexico.
A month after they each pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges, Vazquez-Gomez and Renteria-Zavala agreed to reverse course and plead true to their respective charge in exchange for a reduced offense level at sentencing, court records show.
On March 6, an undercover agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations negotiated with Vazquez-Gomez to pay $160 for a set of fake identification documents, a Texas ID card and a social security card, according to the complaint filed against the pair.
The following day, the undercover agent met with Vazquez-Gomez in Pharr, where the agent gave the woman a down payment of $80 for the fake documents and agreed to pay the other half when he received them.
During the meeting, Vazquez-Gomez told the undercover agent that she was open to future deals with him.
About a month later, the agent worked out another deal with Vazquez-Gomez for an additional two sets of fraudulent documents.
" Each set consisted of one fraudulent (Texas) Identification Card and one fraudulent Social Security Card, for $160 per set," the complaint stated.
On April 10, Vazquez-Gomez met with the agent again in Pharr and was given $160 as a down payment with the remaining $160 to be paid once she provided the sets of fake documents.
Once again, after her transaction was complete with the agent, she told him she could provide additional documents, including permanent resident cards and a fake Texas state driver's license for the same $160 price.
In September, the undercover agent worked out another arrangement with Vazquez-Gomez and met with her in San Juan, where he asked for two more sets of fraudulent documents, which included permanent resident cards and social security cards for $320.
On that day, Sept. 5, HSI agents arrested Renteria-Zavala, who later admitted to manufacturing the fraudulent documents that ended up in the hands of the undercover agent.
The 36-year-old man said he was paid $80 per set, explaining that the 30-year-old woman would keep $160 for herself.
The pair, who remain in custody, are each scheduled for their sentencing hearing on Jan. 24, 2019, court notes show.


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Drift King legend, Keiichi Tsuchiya, is a big fan of the Toyota Trueno/Levin AE86, fondly known as the Hatchi Roku. There is one time on his Best Motoring/Hot Version video specials where he drove his ever favourite Toyota Trueno AE86 and quoted that how he wishes Toyota to make such fun cars again. Come 2012 and his dream has come true.
Lovely picture of the Drift King with the 86. Credit to www.pmcgphotos.com
In this video, we will see the legend competes with some of UK's best motoring journalist, Autocar UK's Steve Sutcliffe and Top Gear UK's Ollie Marriage to see who can handle the Toyota 86 (known as the GT86 in Europe) in a true gymkhana style battle.
No matter who wins, all three unanimously agree the Toyota 86 is indeed a wonderful car to drive for driving enthusiasts. I guess Keiichi pretty much love this car, a lot.
[SOURCE: Toyota UK]


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Cloud computing is a way of delivering various computing services like servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, etc over the internet. It deals with delivery of hosted services over the internet.
It allows you to consume a compute resource, like computing resources, storage or application as a utility. You may not need to maintain the infrastructure and related software.
Cloud-based storage helps in storing files in remote machines instead of local storage or hard drives. As long as the system has network connectivity, it can access the information and software available on the remote storage.
Cloud computing reduces operating costs in your business as well as helps in ensuring high business continuity, augments collaboration between employees across different places, manages elasticity of business, etc.
Its use is rapidly rising, and a lot of organizations, irrespective of its size, is adopting this new technology.
Despite its exponential growth and adoption in the world, cloud computing also has certain disadvantages. The pros can help an organization to excel whereas the drawbacks can harm its progress.
Continue reading this article to find out the benefits and drawbacks associated with cloud computing so that you can decide wisely what is right for your business!
What are the advantages of using cloud computing?
Businesses of all sizes can benefit from cloud computing if it is used correctly. Cloud computing has several benefits. Let us look at what advantages cloud computing offers.
1. Cost Saving
Generally, any organization has to spend lot of money on setting up their IT infrastructure.
They need to invest in multiple requirements like servers, network devices, storage, ISP connections, software, etc. Cloud computing eliminates such type of expenses.
Just go to your cloud service provider and avail the required cloud service. The cloud is cheaper and helps the companies reduce their expenses to a considerable extent.
Biggest advantage of using cloud is the option for pay-as-you-go which helps companies to choose and plan accordingly.
You will have option to ramp up or down number of CPUs on the fly and so cost can be significantly reduced. E.g. during month end when you need extra CPU powers, you just increase as many CPUs as you need and post month end activities, lower it down to minimal.
Companies also need experts to manage their IT infrastructure and require finance for this purpose as well. But in cloud computing, the cloud service provider is responsible for managing more or less everything, and thus it results in cost-saving.
2. Storage
With the cloud, you get nearly unlimited storage space to keep your files and documents. So, the problem of running out or frequent cleaning of storage or scalability issues diminishes significantly.
3. Reliability
Cloud services are more reliable compared to in-house IT infrastructure, provided you have a good quality network connection.
You need not to worry about updates as they are generally managed by the cloud providers and you get latest versions with minimal downtime.
The services run on redundant infrastructure and offer you higher availability of IT services.
Also, there is a fast failover mechanism where if a server fails, the hosted services and applications can be transited smoothly to one of the available servers.
Many providers also provide a Service Level Agreement with 24/7/365 and 99.99% availability guarantee. With a managed service platform, the cloud is significantly consistent compared to traditional systems.
4. Backup and Recovery
Backing up all your information and restoring them from the cloud is much easier than keeping the same on a physical device.
Even if your personal computer crashes, your data remains safe in the cloud and you can still access them anytime, anywhere if you have internet connectivity.
Also, most of the cloud service providers are competent enough to deal with the information recovery. So, one need not worry too much about backup plans as it is being managed by cloud providers.
5. Speed
Most of the cloud computing services have self-service and on-demand options. Therefore, vast amounts of computing resources can be provisioned in a jiffy.
This makes the businesses flexible and also removes the pressure of capacity planning.
6. Manageability
Cloud computing provides central administration of resources; vendor managed infrastructure and SLA backed agreements to simplify IT management.
There is no need to handle any IT infrastructure as the service provider manages more or less everything.
You also get a user-friendly web-based interface for accessing software, applications, and services, without any installation, and an SLA confirms the timely delivery, management, and maintenance of your IT services.
7. Accessibility and Deployment
With the cloud and proper internet connectivity, you can access the required information from anywhere, anytime.
It does not matter whether you move to another timezone or a different location as long as there is an internet connection. Also, you can pay only for the resources you use.
Cloud computing provides quick deployment. With this, your complete system can become functional almost in a jiffy. However, the time consumed will depend on the exact type of technology you desire for your work.
8. Strategic Edge
Ever-augmenting computing resources offer you a competitive edge over other competitors, since the time needed for IT procurement is virtually nil.
With cloud computing, your organization can implement mission-critical applications for delivering significant business advantages, without any upfront costs and with minimal provisioning time.
Cloud computing helps you to concentrate on your key business goals and objectives instead of worrying about technology all the time. It aids you in decreasing the time required to market the latest applications and services.
What are the drawbacks of cloud computing?
So far, we have discussed how cloud computing is fruitful and how a business of any size benefits from cloud computing.
However, cloud computing also has its risks and disadvantages which one should be aware of, especially smaller companies, before using it.
Curious? Let's continue. The major disadvantages of cloud computing are as follows.
1. Speed and Bandwidth
You require fast internet speed for accessing any cloud service and good bandwidth for uploading or downloading files. Without these two, your services will be hampered.
2. Possible Downtime
With cloud computing, your business becomes dependent on the reliability of the internet connection. When there is no connectivity, you're offline and cannot access the server, data or apps from the cloud.
If the internet service experiences frequent outages or a drop in speed, then cloud computing may not be desirable for your work.
So, before taking up cloud computing, think about the extent to which your business will be dependent on it because even the most reliable cloud service provider is prone to suffering from server outages at any point of time.
3. Security issues
Though cloud service providers incorporate several security standards and industry certifications, storing information and essential documents on external service providers always pave the way for risks and threats.
Using cloud-based technologies implies that you have to grant your service provider access to essential business data. Being a public service, cloud service providers are prone to security challenges too.
The ease in procuring cloud services may also provide nefarious users the chance to recognize and exploit weaknesses and vulnerabilities within a system.
For example, in a multi-tenant cloud architecture where there are many users hosted on the same server, a hacker might attempt to break into private user-data hosted and stored on the same server.
However, such loopholes are unlikely to occur.
Switching to the cloud improves security problem of a small business. Several big cloud computing organizations have more available resources and can offer various levels of security to the smaller ones.
If you are the owner of any small business, then you need to figure out if the security levels provided by a cloud computing company can overcome the potential security risks of cloud computing.
4. Vendor Lock-in
Cloud service providers claim that the cloud is flexible to use, but the concept of switching cloud services is something that hasn't yet entirely flourished. It may be hard for organizations to migrate their services from vendor to vendor.
Also, hosting and integrating any current cloud application on another platform may create interoperability and support problems.
For example, applications built on Microsoft Development Framework (.Net) might not function appropriately on the Linux platform.
5. Reduced customer trust
Data breaches undoubtedly result in diminished customer trust. For instance, in one of the substantial data breaches related to payment by card, hackers stole over 40 million users' credit and debit card numbers from a store called Target.
Thus, the customers began avoiding the Target stores, leading to a loss of business for the company, and severely affecting their revenue.
Even contractual breaches affect the relationship with the customer as well as business partners. Contracts between different business groups often limit how data is used and who is permitted to access it.
When employees shift restricted information into the cloud illegally, the business contracts may be violated, and legal action can be taken against them.
For example, a cloud service, having the right to share all information uploaded to it with third parties in its terms and conditions, is actually violating the confidentiality agreement it promised to the business partner.
6. Data transfer cost
While the inbound data transfer to the cloud is free, on the other hand, outbound data transfers over the monthly allowance are charged on a per GB scheme.
If your business requirements involve downloading a massive amount of data from your cloud applications or data storage on a regular basis, then the additional pricing also increases.
However, cloud computing is extremely competitive, and prices change from time to time. So, do check current pricing before doing any operation.
Cloud computing is an excellent development opportunity for a business of any size, especially the smaller ones. It enhances productivity and performance of an organization by reducing the need for IT infrastructure and management.
The largest cloud computing services run on a worldwide network of safe and secure data-centers. They are regularly upgraded to the latest version of quick and efficient computing hardware, providing multiple benefits over a single corporate data center.
Like everything else in this world, even cloud computing has its benefits and drawbacks. In this article, we have covered them in detail to give you a clear concept.
When opting to use cloud computing, begin with it slowly and select few of your business applications to replace with it and find out the results. With time, you'll surely become more acquainted with it and will be in a better position to judge the suitability of the cloud for your business operations.


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Puget Sound Regional Report
From Eastern Washington grain and produce to Aerospace, oil and containerized cargo, Puget Sound ports serve much of the west coast and much of the inland west. Although each port has its niche market, competition is heating up, and Puget Sound facilities must upgrade to remain vital, while working within the ever-increasing regulatory framework.
The Northwest Seaport Alliance is now a reality. Recently, the Federal Maritime Commission and the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma commissioners voted unanimously to approve the new partnership, which will operate as North America's third largest container trade gateway.
The Alliance will compete on the same level as the other main gateways of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the Port of New York/New Jersey as far as total volume, and handling increasingly larger ship cargoes, says Deputy CEO Don Esterbrook, "But I think the significant difference is we're going to be able to rationalize our capital investments so we can invest in the gateway as a whole for terminal enhancements and infrastructure, working together to improve the utilization levels."
The newly-formed Alliance management team will oversee the operations of all the cargo terminal assets, and is headed up by John Wolfe, CEO of the Port of Tacoma who has the dual role of Alliance CEO for up to five years. Esterbrook and port of seattle deputy CEO Kurt Beckett are the deputy CEOs. Other staff will be transitioning into new roles as the two ports consolidate their efforts, but there will be no loss of jobs related to the formation of the alliance. In fact, Esterbrook predicts additional jobs will be created due, in large part, to strategic marketing initiatives needed to raise the profile of the new gateway. Transitional activities are expected to be completed by year's end.
When asked about the emerging near-port partnership trend, Esterbrook says since all industries go through various forms of consolidation, it's logical to think that port authorities could follow suit. "In our case [Tacoma and Seattle], there is no need for us to be competing internally," he says. "However, bringing together two cultures that have been competing for nearly the last 100 years is no small task. The performance will speak for itself, whether we're able to improve the infrastructure and enhance terminal facilities, both on the water side and land side, so it's critically important that we are successful."
Other Than Lumber
The Port of Olympia's marine terminal business dropped this year compared to last year's banner year due to two major factors. For example, a major portion of the marine terminal is leased out to Weyerhaeuser, an international forest products company that export logs to China, Korea and Japan. Activity has declined because the dollar is negatively impacting exports.
"Compared to last year, every log costs anywhere from 15 percent to 25 percent more," says Executive Director Ed Galligan. "As a result, purchasers of logs, and particularly Weyerhaeuser's customers, are looking elsewhere. For example, Russia, Australia and New Zealand can significantly under-price due to the stronger dollar."
Additionally, the dramatic reduction OPEC has put on the cost of a barrel of crude oil has also affected business. Last year, the Port handled the largest volume on the west coast of ceramic proppant (fracking sand) that came from China. "This year, we are anticipating only one ship. Last year, we had in the range of 18 ships," explains Galligan. "The reason is most of the drilling and fracking, particularly in the Bakken Oil Reserve in North Dakota, has all been put on hold because of OPEC pricing. It's very difficult to compete with that."
Despite fluctuating economic challenges, business continues moving forward. Earlier this year, the Port added a 140-ton Terex/Gottwald heavy lift crane to optimize over-sized, heavy cargo-handling operations. And the Port's marina has been doing well. Capacity is at about 85 percent full with the summer season of haul-outs providing extra revenue.
For now, several planned capital investment projects have been deferred due to changing market demands. "We're deferring forward into next year, a little over $13 million in projects; some include the taxi way at the airport. However, other revenue-driven projects for a range of customers will move forward as planned," says Galligan "The Port has several buildings that were previously privately owned that have reverted to Port ownership. About six of those need some renovation work. We have deferred that right now because we don't have a committed tenant."
Every five years, the Port's goal is to conduct an economic benefit study that breaks down data on its four main lines of business; seaport/maritime cargo, marina activity, real estate and the Olympia Regional Airport. According to the 2009 study, the Port created more than 7,000 jobs, generated $31.2 million in state and local tax revenues and invested more than $10 million in fixed assets. The 2015 study is expected to be available in September.
"I am encouraged by the developer inquiries that are now coming in," says Galligan. "We are in the marketplace on a continuous and aggressive basis with a broad range of sales and marketing opportunities for private businesses. That's one side of the equation. The other side is when potential customers call the Port. As those type of calls are coming back around again, as they did prior to the economic turn down several years ago, that's even more encouraging for the outlook for future growth of the Ports book of business."
The Port of Bellingham recently awarded American Construction with a $30.6 million contract for phase 1 of the clean up of the Whatcom Waterway on Bellingham's waterfront. The waterway is contaminated by heavy industrial activities resulting from long-time operations of the former Georgia-Pacific (GP) chemical plant. The majority of the cleanup work will take place in the inner Whatcom Waterway between the Roeder Avenue Bridge and the Bellingham Shipping Terminal.
The activity will help restore salmon habitat, open up more public access and improve the region's economic outlook. Work has already begun on the first phase of the project, which will see American Construction remove 159,000 cubic yards of contaminated marine sediment and perform other tasks such as removing creosote-treated timber and industrial debris from the shoreline as well as dredge to a minus 35 draft to enhance the terminal's depth.
"We were very pleased that American Construction got the work to do this project for us," says Dan Stahl, Director of Maritime. "They have a very good reputation. They've done similar work at other ports in Puget Sound."
The project has been several years in the making; the Port has been pursuing clean up permits since it purchased the GP property in 2005, which added another 25 acres of adjacent lay-down area to the existing 10 acres.
In the last two years, the Port has spent approximately $5 million on piling and bulkhead work in order to upgrade the shipping terminal's infrastructure so it can be repositioned in the market. The Port is also looking at upgrading the electrical system at the terminal for an estimated $2.1 million, in addition to another $5 million on storm water work that will include extensive paving work, which could begin as early as 2016.
According to the Department of Ecology, who is partially funding the cleanup project, the initiative is expected to create between 500 and 2,000 jobs, generate $490 million in business revenue and $90 million in local tax revenue. "The Bellingham Shipping Terminal has been significantly underutilized since the GP mill shut down in 2000," says Stahl. "We're hopeful by getting the draft deeper and re-injecting some money into the paving and the power upgrades, that we'll be able to get the terminal back to work."
Breakbulk Growth
The Port of Everett has been enjoying a record year in terms of cargo handling volumes. The Port specializes in moving over-dimensional, high value cargoes for aerospace, manufacturing, energy and construction industries. Through the end of June this year, the Port received 71 vessel calls compared to 47 through June of 2014.
The increased activity has been a good problem to have. Earlier this year, the Port took delivery of a new $5.1 million, 150-ton GHMK 7608 mobile Harbor crane, which has helped it weather the growth. And additional labor pulled from the Puget Sound region has increased employment opportunities. "We're going to be adding to our normal longshore contingent so that we have additional manpower on a regular basis," says Port spokesperson Lisa Lefeber.
The Port recently completed a new ro/ro cargo berth and heavy lift pad in order to handle the largest ro/ro ships, a two-phased project that cost $4.7 million. Additional expansion plans include building larger berths; increasing from 700 to 1,000 feet as well as new rail enhancements.
"We are a smaller port in comparison to Seattle and Tacoma," says Lefeber. "The Everett customs district did $25.7 billion in exports in 2014. To put that in perspective, that's more export value than the entire state of Alabama."
The Port of Everett is currently working on new projects under the recently-passed transportation package – an injection of $16 billion for state-wide freight corridor improvements was signed by Governor Jay Inslee in July – $38 million is earmarked for freight mobility enhancements on the 41st Street Freight Corridor from the Port to Interstate 5.
"We pride ourselves on good customer service and in our ability to quickly and efficiently handle cargo without congestion or delay," says Lefeber. "And a key part of that is having the right infrastructure and cargo handling equipment to do that."
Alaska Gateway
In February of this year, the Seattle Metro Chamber released its report: Ties That Bind: The Enduring Economic Impact of Alaska on the Puget Sound Region prepared by the McDowell Group and sponsored by more than 20 businesses, including the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, Foss Maritime Company, Alaska Airlines, and the Alaska Oil & Gas Association.
The study, which has been conducted four times now since its inception in 1985, represents data gathered from Whatcom, Pierce, Snohomish, Skagit, King and Kitsap counties in the areas of freight and cargo connections, seafood, passenger transportation and tourism, petroleum, maritime services, health care, education and tribal ties. The statistics are broken down into exports and natural resources categories.
In a nutshell overview, labor earnings increased 12 percent in Puget Sound during the period 2003-2013, from $4.3 billion to $6.2 billion as the number of Alaska-related jobs grew to 113,300 from 103,500. In 2013, seafood processing alone created $690 million in earnings and 13,000 jobs, and more than 97 percent (3.4 million tons of cargo) was moved by water north through the Ports of Tacoma and Seattle. Additionally, on average over the period, Puget Sound maritime support services to the Alaskan region have generated $390 million in wages with 5,300 jobs.
Port of Tacoma CEO Don Esterbrook commented, "If you rank Alaska with our other international trading partners, it's our fourth largest just behind China, Japan and Korea, so this partnership is critically important."
port of seattle spokesperson Peter McGraw said, "The fishing industry in particular represents about a $30 billion-a-year industry in which 40 percent of the landed catch in the United States comes from Alaska. We want to continue to be a driver of the economic growth between both states, whether that be helping the fishing fleet or the catcher-processors move their product through the port of seattle and on to national markets. We also want to continue to provide a platform for job training and any other specialty skills necessary in those trades."


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Linux Boot Process – Boot Loader
December 9, 2015 | Article | 2 Comments
In order for a computer to successfully boot into device we know, a computer should pass some process which we refer as boot process. The BIOS, operating system, and harware components must all be working properly. Failure of any of these three elemens will likely result in a failed boot sequence.
The first sector of a boot device is called as sector '0′ or the Master Boot Record (MBR) . BIOS can read only sector '0', it can't read any other sector. They are programmed to read the first 512 bytes of disk or the Master Boot Record section. It has three components: primary boot loader info in first 446 bytes, partition table in next 64 bytes, MBR validation check in last 2 bytes.
To load Operating System, a special program called boot loader written here. Boot loader even helps us to boot more than one operating systems on the machine (called chaining).
The infamous boot loaders for Linux are GRUB and LILO. GRUB (Grand Unified Boot loader) is used by default on majority of Linux distributions. GRUB is capable of booting DOS, Windows, Linux, and BSD operating system. The LILO (Linux Loader) is an old boot loader, used by several distribution.
When BIOS finished initialized the system, it will jump to Master Boot Record and loads the boot loader from there.
Boot loader does:
- Bring the kernel (and all the kernel needs to bootstrap) into memory
- Provide kernel with the information it needs to work correctly
- Switch to an environment that the kernel will like
- Transfer control to the kernel.
Boot loaders can be divided into some categorizes by the design: single stage boot loader, two stage boot loader, and mixed stage boot loader.
A single stage boot loader is a boot loader which consists of a single file that is loaded entirely by the BIOS. This image performs the steps described above to start the kernel. However, on x86 the boot loader is limited to the 512 bytes.
We can take an entire dump/backup of MBR in Linux, using dd utility:
dd if=/dev/sda of=mbr bs=512 count=1
When the above command executed, it will dump the contents of our first sector which of 512 byte to a file named mbr. The bs stands for block size. The count means to dump only the first sector. So the overall command will dump only first sector (512 bytes) of disk /dev/sda.
As discussed before, the MBR has a structure in which it has partition table. We can see the partition table information from our MBR backup file as show below:
file mbr
A two stage boot loader actually consists of two boot loaders after each other. The first being small which then load the second one. The second one can then contain all the code needed for loading kernel.
Mixed boot loader is a boot loader similar to two stage boot loader. it splits the bootloader in two parts, where the first half (512 bytes) can load the rest. This can be achieved by inserting a '512-bytes' break in the ASM code, making sure the rest of the loader is put after the bootsector.
In Linux, after boot loader is loaded into memory it looks into /boot directory and loads the kernel image. Note here, that it is boot loader that expects all the files and kernel image needed for booting under /boot directory. This is the reason why kernel image and all boot related files are kept under /boot directory.
For GRUB, it has three stages of bootloading:
- GRUB stage 1
- GRUB stage 1.5
- GRUB stage 2
The hard disk sectors are counted from 0 to the last sector. The first sector contains the GRUB stage 1. Normally partitions will not start before sector 63 hence we have sectors from 1 to 63 free. This space is used for storing GRUB stage 1.5. The free space between MBR and the beginning of the partition is called as MBR GAP. This space contains the drivers for reading file system. So the GRUB stage 1 will load grub stage 1.5 to the RAM and will pas the control to it.
Now grub stage 1.5 will load the file system drivers and once the file system drivers are loaded, it can now access /boot/grub/grub.conf file which contains other details about kernel path and initrd path etc.
Once boot loader loads kernel image to memory , the control is passed to kernel image .linux


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A HIGH STREET rescue plan by retail guru Mary Portas was accepted by the Government and well-received in high streets up and down the country.
However, industry leaders in Wales, including the Federation of Small Businesses, gave the news a lukewarm reception, and out-of-town retailers and park bosses joined them this week in questioning the report.
More than two-thirds of North Wales' business parks are still empty, and while those responsible are pleased to see measures taken in struggling, built-up areas they want more done for firms in rural surroundings.
Among them was Mark Evans, director of Pebble Hill Property Ltd in Llandudno Junction.
He is desperately trying to shift space at both St Asaph business park and Parc Menai, Bangor.
Mr Evans said: "It's not all about the high street. Some business parks like St Asaph and Parc Menai have also suffered with a high proportion of vacant units.
"Business rates are disproportionately high to the current levels of rent and new development has stopped because of the policy on empty property rates and the lack of investment return for a developer.
"Business parks need promoting and marketing to encourage take up of the vacant space and the North Wales councils need to engage fully with the private sectors landlords and the Welsh Government on this."
He added: "It's is great to hear Mary Portas' ideas but we still need the higher paid jobs in the economy who then go out and spend in the high street."
Housing Minister Grant Shapps said a "Portas Plus" plan would include a £10 million High Street Innovation Fund to return empty shops to use, money awarded to locations delivering the most creative and effective revitalisation projects, and a National Markets Day to encourage entrepreneurs. A £500,000 fund for Business Improvement Districts will also be set up to help town centres access loans.
Eagles Meadow manager Kevin Critchley welcomed the announcement, but revealed many of the recommendations contained in the report were "already being implemented in Wrexham".
FSB Wales' North Wales Development Manager Mike Learmond felt it was a step in the right direction but was concerned UK Government incentives and funding schemes won't tackle the problem in Wales.
"We urge the Welsh Government to consider the measures being taken by UK Government, and the recommendations put forward by the Enterprise and Business Committee to develop its own innovative solutions," he said.
Coleg Llandrillo Cymru was fully behind Ms Portas' plans. The college's Rhyl base already works with the TV star, delivering her master classes as part of its Skills Shop.
Director Celia Jones, said: "The retail sector is a major employer in
North Wales. Companies are two and a half times more likely to go out of business if they don't invest in their staff and their skills needs, and many local retailers and students have already benefited from her expertise. "The training helps to keep employers and employees up-to-date with the new retail landscape, as well as trends and ideas. Mary is the industry guru for the retail sector, so we are delighted that, as a first step towards revitalising the sector, the Government has accepted her recommendations to help revive the industry. Much more still needs to be done, but this is an important first step."


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Whether a sleek up-do or romantic tousled waves, our professional team of hair and makeup artists can transform you for your special occasion.
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Bride Trial £45.00
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1 out of 10
50 minutes
At the school
Open file
"Why did you want to become a doctor" Report Response
"What stressful situation" Report Response
"What volunteer work " Report Response
"What stressful situation have you encountered" Report Response
"none...all very typical questions outlining my application" Report Response
"SDN" Report Response
"the bredth of pathologies and populations you'd get to see at during clinical years" Report Response
"facilities, neighborhood" Report Response
"overall terrific experience: admissions escorts you to your interview, interviewer escorts you back - students seem really happy there and get really excellent clinical training. other plusses: organ-based curriculum, extra mini-courses (photography or something of the sort), *CHEAP* tuition, supportive faculty. Downsides are the facilities and the sub-crappy neighborhood...but those are the prices to pay for really good clinical experiences." Report Response
Browse all Questions & Responses


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It seems like the term GMO has been around forever. But in truth, commercial GMO foods have only been around since 1996. GMOs or "genetically modified organisms," are plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses or other plants and animals in order to produce a "beneficial" trait not possible in nature. Safety issues surrounding GMO foods has sparked widespread debate and legislation throughout the world over the last 15 years and in the U.S. a non-GMO movement has been gaining momentum recently. The debate is largely about whether GMO labeling should or should not be required.
Currently, there is no federal legislation in the U.S. regarding the use, growing or labeling of GMO food products- a contrast to Europe, and many other countries where labeling is required and few food products use genetically modified ingredients. In fact, Walmart, General Mills, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestle, Unilever, Kellogg's, Starbucks and McDonald's are GMO-free in Europe because of these laws.
The U.S. grows more than half of all GMO crops in the world and although initially grown for animal feed, GMO foods have been increasingly incorporated into our food system since their inception. In the U.S. commercially produced GMO crops include soybeans, corn, cotton, canola, squash, sugar beets and papaya. Soy and corn are common ingredients in many processed foods and difficult to avoid.
Recent proposed federal legislation would require GMO labeling. Senators Barbara Boxer, D-CA and Peter DeFazio, D-OR have introduced a bill to congress that would require labeling of GMO ingredients used in any food. "This legislation is supported by a broad coalition of consumer groups, businesses, farmers, fishermen and parents who all agree that consumers deserve more – not less – information about the food they buy," Boxer said.
In the past, labeling efforts have occurred on a state level in California, Alaska and others with varying success, but this is the first of its kind to be introduced into the Senate since 2000. Already in 2013, twenty-four states, including Colorado have proposed legislation that would require GMO labeling or restrictions on GMO foods.
Manufacturers of GMOs claim genetically engineered products are safe and well accepted, but the resistance to labeling may suggest otherwise. This current proposed federal legislation is unlikely to pass, due largely to formidable opponents- biotech giants, known as the "big six"- BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta as well as many other food companies. The most recent GMO labeling effort in California was rejected by voters after opponents spent more than $45 million to stop it.
Although a seemingly uphill battle it is clear this issue is not going away any time soon and local and federal GMO legislation attempts will continue. Recently, some large food companies have come out in support of GMO labeling efforts or have at least announced that they would no longer oppose them. This is good news for supporters of GMO labeling and a sign that these grassroots efforts may be gaining some momentum.
For a full list of current legislation regarding GMO labeling or bans/ restrictions on growth please visit the Center for Food Safety website.


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Acute Medicine Awareness Week 2019
The Society for Acute Medicine's 8th Acute Medicine Awareness Week is going to be taking place week commencing Monday 10 June 2019 in all the acute medicine units throughout UK. Units are advised to choose any day that is convenient for them within the week for the celebration of everything acute medicine.
Registrations for the Awareness Week are now open! To register, please complete the registration form here and return this to Elin Andersson, email@example.com, to register your participation for the week. Please tell us what date you have chosen to celebrate everything Acute Medicine in your department. Please send us your registration form by 5pm on 4 June in order to receive AMAW merch such as balloons, canvas bags and buttons.
Please click here to download your AMAW19 resource pack.
If you are looking for any ideas of what to do please look at the activities through the link below which were organised by SAM members in previous year.
This year Acute Medicine Awareness Week is been organised in collaboration with takeAIM Fellows. Please visit our website, http://www.takeaim.org.uk/ for everything Acute Medicine.
The hashtag for this event is #AMAW19, follow SAM on @acutemedicine & takeAIM on @take__AIM


text: RIP shooterdave, I ride a xr650l and your report was one I used when I decided on which bike to ride. God bless and god speed! One things for sure you really.........LIVED!! On your terms and I admire you for that. It felt weird typing this , ....surely they got the internet in heaven...... DM


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Ideas, photography and activities to inspire happy, healthful holidays.
- Fun, no-equipment workout videos to do with your family – Whether you like dance, barre, HIIT or kickboxing, Pop Sugar has you covered. They complied 40 different 30-minute workout videos you can do anywhere. Scroll through and find the one that is best for you … and maybe your relatives?!
- Stunning Childbirth Photography – The imagery from the 2018 Winners of Birth Photography Contest is not to be missed. No matter who you are, these images are powerful reminders of the magic that is new life.
- Last Minute Gift Ideas that Are Meaningful – "Give more love, less crap" is the essence of this post. Check it out for 7 gift ideas that more about experiences than material goods. This is a great approach for anyone who is in a last minute gift pinch and/or trying to practice minimalist living!
- Easy and Delicious Detox Tea – Support liver health and satisfy your tastebuds with this detox tea that you can make from spices in your cupboard!
- Don't Beat Yourself Up for Lackluster Holiday Exercise, Just Do What You Can – It's okay if your holiday workouts aren't the best. We can be hard on ourselves when holiday craziness disrupts our exercise routine, but try not to stress about it. Jen Miller from NY Times Health explains "The holiday season is a busy time, with travel, family visits, upended schedules and sleighloads of treats and drinks…Go easy on yourself. If you don't get in the last .18 miles [of your run] because you ran with some friends in ugly Christmas sweaters, that's O.K. If you flew across the country and are struggling to get through a speed workout the next morning: that's O.K. too — even if you cut it short or just skip the speedwork part. Unless you're hurt, some running is better than no running, especially right now. My coach has told our training group that it's a tough time for a lot of people and to try for at least 20 minutes a day rather than not running at all. If the holidays aren't merry and bright for you, and you're having a rough time, put on your running clothes and run for a mile. If you feel great, keep going. If you don't, at least you moved your muscles a bit and got away from the houseful of relatives. Remember that the picture-perfect Christmas is sometimes a lie we tell ourselves."


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To celebrate the 215th anniversary of the maternity ward, the Women's Clinic of East Tallinn Central Hospital organised a conference "215 Years of Maternity Care: the Measurable and Immeasurable" at the Radisson Blu Sky Hotel on 4 October, which was attended by almost 300 specialists in Estonia.
Established in 1804 on the territory of Ravi street in Tallinn, the six-bed maternity ward has become Estonia's largest and most innovative Women's Clinic.
According to Brigita Tamm, Head of the Women's Clinic, doctors, midwives and nurses carry out their daily work with immeasurable dedication and professionalism. "Maintaining women's health – monitoring pregnancy in the Women's Health Centre, preparing for childbirth in the Family Education classes, prenatal testing in the Centre of Perinatal Care, obstetric care in a modern renovated obstetrics department, modern neonatology, gynaecological health checks throughout the life cycle, infertility treatment – this is our clinic today."
Every year, more than 4000 babies are delivered at the maternity ward of East Tallinn Central Hospital, around 350 of whom are premature. "The birth of every child is special," says Tamm. "Our staff is professionally prepared to meet the high expectations of young parents. The quality of our clinical work is comparable to that of Europe's leading hospitals. This quality is a delightful result of years of systematic and consistent development."
The promotion of breastfeeding and complete support for parental care and love has brought the Women's Clinic of East Tallinn Central Hospital recognition as a baby-friendly hospital.
An important guarantee for the future quality of life of very premature babies is donated breast milk. To provide this, a unique breast milk donor bank has been established at the department of neonatology of the Women's Clinic of East Tallinn Central Hospital. "In light of today's anniversary, I can thank all the kind and helpful donors of breast milk," adds Tamm.
"The quality, results and development of our work are measurable; maternity care never ceases to exist," says Brigita Tamm, referring to the key message of the conference organised for the anniversary of the maternity ward.


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Please increase disk space for GNOME3 PPA
The GNOME3 PPA is a central source for people that want to run the parts of GNOME 3 that didn't make it into a release. So it includes 3.0 for Natty, 3.2 for Oneiric, and we'll be testing 3.4 for Precise. We do plan to drop the Natty support but it seems there's still a fair amount of users.
Webkit (required for Epiphany) uses an enormous amount of space: it looks like the -dbg binaries alone take up over 1.2 GB of space. I'd like to upload the latest Webkit for Precise but there isn't space. Increasing the limit from 4 GB to 6 or 7 should help. Thanks!
Question information
- Language:
- English Edit question
- Status:
- Answered
- Assignee:
- [LEGACY] Canonical WebOps Edit question
- Last query:
- 2011-12-05
- Last reply:
- 2011-12-06
- Whiteboard:
- 2011-12-06 jtv: assigned to LOSAs team. (Not renamed to reflect the change to "webops" yet, apparently!)
|Steve McInerney (spm) said :
Heya Jeremy,
have increased to 8gb. See how that goes?
If that turns out to be more than ample; give us a yell, and can tweak it down for you.
Can you help with this problem?
Provide an answer of your own, or ask Jeremy Bicha for more information if necessary.


text: Cody 4 Report post Posted June 12, 2006 The Photon Master List (IMG:http://www.houseofrave.com/media/battery/2color_big.jpg) What are photons? -Key chain, push button LED lights. Where can I get them? (Sites suggested from various GS.C members) -Vicomptel -Alphanet -Photonlight Articles on Conjuring? -The Art of conjuring by Ginseng Other userful topics and articles -How To Make an Orbit What can I do with photons? Video Clip and Website Examples -Conjuring (link) / Gin Conjuring in October (video) -Orbiting (link) / N3W813 Orbits Video 3.01.03 (video) -Photons attached to glowsticks (video) -Konrad Stringing with Photons (video) -Maverickwolf Photoning (video) -MJM Photoning with his photon chucks (video) -Janus using Strobefx (video) You're NOT limited to just these examples! Photon Gear? -white gloves. With white gloves one can slide some photons in the finger tips, the light with show through, but you can't see the photon, creating a more seemless flow. Used a lot in conjuring. -Long Sleeved Shirts. Lights will reflect off a light colored fabric much better than your skin, thus helping the conjuring illusion. Written and Edited by Ravergirl Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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If there's one place in the world that's strongly resembles Silicon Valley, it's must be the area around Tel Aviv. This September, a delegation of 70 Belgian startups and corporates discovered the assets of 'Silicon Wadi' during a large-scale mission organized by the City of Antwerp, Startups.be, Flanders Cleantech Association and i-Cleantech Vlaanderen.
You just have to look at the numbers to realize that Tel Aviv is one of the undisputable startup hotspots in the world. In 2016, 104 tech exits in the area accounted for a staggering $10 billion. 2017 saw the biggest Israeli tech exit ever, with automotive specialist Mobileye being sold to Intel for $15 billion.
In ten years' time, almost 7.000 startups were created in and around Tel Aviv, supported by over 60 (often state sponsored) incubators and accelerators, 9 universities and hundreds of VC's, funds, business angels and experienced entrepreneurs.
300 tech multinationals including HP, Intel, Apple and IBM have a large R&D center in 'Silicon Wadi'. On its own, the high-tech industry is responsible for 12.5 percent of GDP. That's really crazy for such a small country.
It's hard to identify one reason that explains why the tech sector and the startup scene are doing so well in Israel, different elements have to be taken into account.
Obviously, the ties with Silicon Valley are very strong, and Jews are known to be born entrepreneurs. Another reason is that local start-ups immediately look towards the US, Europe and Asia, as their own market is virtually nonexistent.
"The most significant element is the role of the military"
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 90's, many Russian and Eastern European Jews also moved to their 'promised land' in the Middle East. Those people had often enjoyed a very good engineering education.
But the most significant element is the role of the military. The Israeli army is very committed to technological innovation, and many tech companies arise around the armed forces (cybersecurity being the stronghold in the local tech ecosystem).
"Israeli are entrusted with heavy responsibilities during their (mandatory) military service", explains Emmanual Grinspan, a Belgian that moved to Israel and is now CEO of the digital agency E-nnovative Minds. "Moreover, they are trained in perseverance and improvisation. Those are qualities that usually fit the entrepreneurial mentality. "
Mutual exchanges
Grinspan spoke to a delegation of 70 Belgian startups and corporates on the first evening of a multi-track September-mission to Israel, organized by the City of Antwerp, Startups.be, Flanders Cleantech Association and i-Cleantech Vlaanderen.
The mission focused - amongst other things such as foodtech and health - on two important growth sectors for Antwerp: digital innovation and cleantech. It took place simultaneously with the prestigious DLD Festival in Tel Aviv.
"The aim of the visit was to create partnerships between Antwerp- and Israeli-based companies in sectors as internet of thing (IoT), health and cleantech", says alderwoman in economy Caroline Bastiaens (CD&V), "as it was to encourage Israeli investors to invest in Antwerp and to support mutual exchanges."
Now that we're talking investors: six Belgian start-ups (Hilbert Paradox, T-Mining, Rombit, Forganiser, MySmartBottle and Hoplr) got to pitch for two renowned Israeli venture capitalists (Viola and 83North) during the mission. They performed quite well, as two of them (Hilbert Paradox and T-Mining) got an invitation for a more 'extensive' meeting afterwards.
The city of Antwerp also organized a pitch session for Israeli startups during the DLD Festival. No less than 63 Israeli start-ups applied to come and pitch their enterprise in front of a professional jury. Five strong start-ups were selected for the actual competition, that was won by 'neurofeedback headset developer' Best Brain.
In turn, IMEC's John Baekelmans and Tom Braekeleers (who's responsible for the ehealth incubator BlueHealth in Antwerp), were quite impressed by BestBrain. But at the same time, Braekeleirs also emphasized that we should be prouder of our own achievements in Belgium. "In healthcare, we haven't much to learn from the Israeli startups. In loads of areas, we're even way ahead."
Jorik Rombauts (Rombit) and Carine Van Hove (Flanders Cleantech Association) felt the same way. "The Hiriya Recycling Park that we visited is very impressive indeed", acknowledges Van Hove, "but when you look at the broader cleantech-picture, Belgium most certainly has an edge over Israel. This also means that there could be interesting opportunities for our cleantech companies in the area!"
"Israeli startups are very strong in everything cybersecurity", adds Jorik Rombauts, "because that's a sector in which the Israeli government invests tons of money. But when you look at IoT, Antwerp has more leverage than Tel Aviv, there's no doubt about it."
Promised land
Which brings us to the following question: isn't Israel the 'promised land' after all? Well, it's complicated. There's tons of investments in Israeli startups, but 90 percent of that money comes from abroad, as start-ups are being bought at the speed of light by foreign tech multinationals.
"It's very difficult for a local startup to grow into a bigger company by itself", Harold Wiener from Terra Venture Partners told the Belgian delegation at the residence of Belgian ambassador Olivier Belle. "In Israel, the goal is to invent something, and then sell it."
"Israeli make more noise than any other people in the world"
"Being the best pilot country in the world, Israel remains a true startup nation", stressed Wiener, "but we also need to grow our young tech companies, and for that to happen, we need more investments from European and American partners and VC's. We should get rid of the prevalent 'act fast, sell fast' formula."
"Israeli make more noise than any other people in the world, and we do business in a very direct manner", legendary Israeli tech entrepreneur Yossi Vardi admitted during the DLD Festival, "European startups can learn a lot from that attitude."
"But we also need your help, as our startups need the European markets to be able to grow into healthy and livable companies. That's why it's very important to have your Belgian delegation visiting us, and strengthening the ties between our two countries."
Wanna know what our startups got out of the mission? Read their reactions here!


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Director: Andy Muschietti
Cast: Bill Skarsgård
Original: 1990
The reviews are in and the results are stellar – it looks like this remake has remained close to the source material of Stephen King's best-selling novel. The story follows seven children who come face to face a sadistic shapeshifter that takes the form of a evil clown called Pennywise. Whoever's idea it was to cast Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise is an absolute genius. He looks truly terrifying in the trailer.
It comes out this Friday September 8th
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem
Original: 1968
Not much has been revealed about this mysterious story and perhaps it's not a remake but judging by the trailer it's safe to say there's something seriously satanic going on here with Jennifer Lawrence at the center, which is very similar to what happened to Mia Farrow in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby. Is Lawrence's Veronica being groomed to bear the seed of Satan, with her husband being part of the sinister plot? Also, the name, "mother!" indicates that maternity is a central point – remake or homage the similarities are pretty stark.
mother! comes out on September 15th
Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Cast: Ellen Page, Kiefer Sutherland
Original: 1991
Not technically a remake, but a sequel to Joel Schumacher's 1990 cult medical drama starring Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon and Julia Roberts. This time we see a group of med students experiment on "near death" experiences that involve past tragedies until the dark consequences begin to jeopardise their lives. Original flatliner Kiefer Sutherland is joining the cast as their shady professor.
Flatliners comes out on September 29th
Blade Runner 2049
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling
Original: 1982
The long-awaited sequel to Ridley Scott's classic Blade Runner is upon us. Details on the story are being tightly guarded but we do know that it's set several decades after the original and Ryan Gosling has shared that, "it's not a remake of the story, more an extension." Based on the industrial-y-dystopian-y trailer the world feels as iconic as the one Scott created in 1982.
Blade Runner 2049 comes out on October 6th
Murder on the Orient Express
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Actors: Daisy Ridley, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer
Original: 1974
As well as directing, Branagh will also star as Agatha Christie's redoubtable detective Hercule Poirot, who is tasked with investigating a thrilling mystery with thirteen strangers stranded on a train, where everyone's a suspect in the murder of a passenger aboard.
Murder On The Orient Express comes out November 3rd
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle
Director: Jake Kasdan
Actors: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart
Original: 1995
The new remake/reboot/sequel is doing things a little different whereby instead of an ancient board game the focus this time is a video game where the four leads are avatars representing four high school teenagers.
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle comes out on December 20th
Mary Poppins Returns
Director: Rob Marshall
Actors: Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep
Original: 1964
The original Mary Poppins was set in 1910. The sequel takes the action forward to 1935 where in a Depression-era London, a now-grown Jane and Michael Banks, along with Michael's three children, are visited by the enigmatic Mary Poppins following a personal loss.
Mary Poppins Returns comes out December 21st 2018
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My Mexico: Sabrina Naggar
My Mexico: Sabrina Naggar
If the monotony of post-Christmas leaves you mentally thumbing through travel brochures in a bid to escape the realities of the real world, then take a leaf out of Sabrina's well-travelled book and gather the troops for a trip to a place where hippy charm, archaeological relics and powdery white shores sing in perfect unison – Mexico.
With the end of the year approaching, we packed up our brood and headed off to explore the idyllic coastlines and unrelenting prettiness of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
Our destination was the seaside town of Tulum; a picture postcard expanse of rustic beaches and good vibes overlooking the Atlantic.
Situated in the Yucatan Peninsula, Tulum has something for everyone – from foodies, to history hunters, sun-seekers to detoxers. Tulum is perhaps most famous, though, for being home to the ruins of an ancient Mayan walled city and the last place inhabited by the Mayan people. My husband and I were all ears during our guided tour but the kids were far more interested in forging friendships with the geckos that had made themselves at home there!
Back in Tulum itself, Yoga and freshly pulped juices were the squeeze of the day - a 'bikini boot-camp' without the military presence. Everyday there was a new juice to try whilst absorbing the charm of our barefoot luxury surroundings - complete with dream-catchers, artisanal guacamole and beautiful bohemian types swathed in casually elegant beach attire.
But herein lies the real charm of this delectable place – no large resorts! Instead, discreet boutique hotels line the powdery white beaches with suitable amounts of laid-back cool.
We made Sanara, an eco chic hotel and wellness centre, our home for the duration – whose motto 'space to breathe, heal and be free' could not have been a truer word spoken.
Travelling by bike on specially reserved pathways was an equally enjoyable and leisurely experience which the kids loved. A great way to explore the area.
Tulum is a place where food is so fresh you can practically still taste the ocean with every bite. Some recommendations include Cafe Violetta, Hartford and Gitano but Posada Margherita was our favourite - an incredible Italian restaurant on the beach whose focaccia was on-point. Whilst the food was a gastronomic delight, we did make sure we were careful with water consumption, drinking only bottled water to avoid the infamous 'Montezuma's Revenge'!
We were in awe of the cenotes which are underground turquoise pools of water complete with awesome stalactites – you just can't go to Tulum without seeing these.
Tulum certainly lived up to the reputation that preceded it; the best beaches, grandiose ruins and a vibe so laid back I'm not sure I'm ready to get up just yet…


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Managing Coupons
The second approach to managing your coupons is by adding the coupon to the Prep & Pantry database. I would suggest creating a location such as "Coupon Binder", then scanning and adding your coupons to this location. By entering the coupons into your inventory you will be able to track a coupon's expiration date and details. Use the name and description fields to your advantage and enter the coupon specifics there.
In a future update I would like to offer a specific Coupon mode that will provide you with some coupon specific fields such as BOGO, Save $1.00, etc. If you have any suggestions as to what you would like to see or how I can improve Prep & Pantry's coupon tracking, please don't hesitate to drop me a line.


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With a background in online marketing, Bec brings strong digital skills to the team, paired with a passion for storytelling and a hankering to see positive change in the world.
We are delighted to have her bubbly personality join our Marketing & Engagement Team. Bec will be working to spread the word about our work, provide support to our individual offsetters and donors, organise outstanding events to engage with our supporters deeply, and help support our mission to lay the grounds for hope by empowering people to take tangible and long-lasting environmental action.
Read this interview to learn more about Bec, and please join us in welcoming Bec to the team!
Q. Hi Bec! Tell us a bit about your professional background.
After I finished university I went into a marketing role for a company that was a comparison website. The role was all about content marketing, both written and video, and gave me lots of experience. Working in a very small team meant that I had to do a lot of different roles! I learnt fast and had to hit the ground running.
Q. Has anything surprised you about Greenfleet so far?
The cake! Oh my goodness there is so much cake! There always seems to be something to celebrate here, which is lovely. Aside from that, it's incredible how connected the Greenfleet team is. We all have very different roles but we also all work closely towards our common goal.
Q. What prompted you to seek work in the sustainability/environment space?
I think it's a pretty scary time for the environment in a lot of ways, and it's difficult to feel like you can make a difference. My household tries to be as environmentally conscious as possible but sometimes it is easy to feel helpless as an individual. I love that Greenfleet offers a way to make a tangible difference to the environment. I think this is really important, and I'm very proud that I'm getting the opportunity to be a part of their mission and spreading the word about what they do.
Q. You recently visited some of our Greenfleet forests. Tell us about your visit.
I was very lucky to get taken to three of Greenfleet's sites with Eoghan, from our forestry team. We first visited a site in Rowville called 'Police Paddocks'. This is a relatively new site for us. I got to see the amount of growth that can happen in a couple of years and gain an understanding of the dangers our younger forests face while they're establishing. The second forest was a smaller one in Knox, that has been growing for over twenty years. The trees here were very established and I got to see how high they can grow.
The highlight of the day for me was visiting Kinglake National Park and seeing the Watson's Creek Biolink that Greenfleet revegetated after the Black Saturday Bushfires. It was quite incredible to see the amount of growth that has happened since then but also confronting to be able to still see some of the damage done by the fires. Visiting here really gave me a sense of how important the work we do is. The trees are not only offsetting carbon in this area but also restoring habitat for some endangered species that are now living there again.
I understood how incredible Greenfleet's work was, but it's very different seeing it firsthand. It made me even more excited to be working here.
Q. What do you do when you're not working?
One of my favourite things to do outside of work is rock climbing. I try to go as often as I can. That's definitely my most exciting hobby. Otherwise you'll find me reading a book, cooking or looking after my plants. This season we're growing strawberries, spinach and snow peas outside, and the indoor plants are starting to take over the apartment!
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Cookbook author Julia Turshen uses only five main ingredients—chicken, kimchi, garlic, scallions and oil—to make one of the tastiest and simplest braises. Slideshow: More Chicken Recipes
How to Make It
In a medium enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the oil over moderately high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add half of it to the casserole skin side down. Cook until browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Flip the chicken and cook until browned on the other side, 6 to 8 minutes more; reduce the heat to moderate if the chicken is getting too dark. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken.
Add the chopped scallions, garlic and kimchi with its juice to the casserole and bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Nestle the chicken in the sauce, cover and simmer over moderately low heat until an instant-read thermometer inserted into a piece of dark meat registers 165° (160° for white meat), 20 to 25 minutes. Garnish with sliced scallions and sesame seeds, if desired, and serve.
Serve With
Brown rice and steamed greens.