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I'm getting worried. Either my rapidly advancing years are affecting my faculties more than I think, or south-west Cumbria is turning into an owl 'black hole'! The more I read in ornithological journals and reports, the more I think I am going 'ga-ga' (dictionary definition 'fatuous, senile, slightly crazy') or else our area is out of synch with the rest of the owling universe in the UK! It's probably the former as over the years I have many times been accused of being a 'scare monger', 'Job's comforter', 'pathological pessimist', 'nutter', or worse unprintable epithets (!!!) when it comes to the matter of owl population statuses in the UK, especially the long term future for the barn owl in Britain. It all depends on how well people know me! However, the fact is I can only relate what I see and have recorded on a personal level over some 42 years of owl watching between 1965 and 2007.
For instance, between the 1960's and 1990's I took tawny owls for granted. They were virtually everywhere in areas holding large trees, and their querulous hoots were a normal accompaniment to my nocturnal wanderings in the late winter and early spring months, especially on my last 'dog trot' of the day before I retired to bed (usually about midnight), or while out 'owling' in the early hours. At our wildlife hospital at the World Owl Centre we came to expect an annual deluge of 'rescued' so-called 'orphan' tawny owlets each spring (in what we rather rudely referred to as 'the silly season'!!!). On average we could expect between 10 – 20 such cases each year, 'rescued' by well-meaning people who had found them on the ground or in the road and mistakenly (in most cases) believed they had been abandoned by their parents (the owls I mean, not the rescuers!). Fortunately for us, thanks to the sheer volume of owlets brought in, plus the fact that Muncaster is ideal habitat for tawny owls, we could usually crèche-rear them and return them to the wild where they belong. Only if they had been kept too long as a 'pet' and had become imprinted on humans, did we have a problem.
Worryingly, this is no longer the case. In recent years the number of owlets brought in to us has almost dropped to nothing. In 2006 none arrived at all. I would love to think this is because our message of "please leave them alone unless they are in immediate danger" is paying off, but to be honest I suspect this is not the case. The fact is that even here at well wooded Muncaster we are simply not hearing the typical begging calls of wild tawny owlets any more, and it is years since I heard a youngster around my own home at Eskmeals. Adults are certainly still around in the general countryside and I know Sue our Conservation Officer ringed one owlet at Muncaster in June, but sadly it was found dead some weeks later, and despite hearing the territorial hoots of several pairs earlier on, that seems to have been it when it comes to successful breeding. As I have said, I am worried, especially since many of our nest boxes are not being used despite being located in what ostensibly appears to be ideal habitat. On my own 'patch' I could normally hear at least three territorial males calling against each other from their regular territories, but in spring 2007 just a single pair briefly visited our garden on three nights, while a single bird arrived for one night in November and again in December – and that was it. The nights remain silent!
Tawny Owlet
Photo © Ian McGuire - www.wildowl.co.uk
The reason I am worried about all this is that it is a well known fact that tawny owls often fail to breed at all when prey is scarce, and even if they do, only a single youngster or a complete failure results. I am sure many of you watched 'Springwatch' on TV this year (presented by our patron Bill Oddie of course!). If you did, you will know that of three tawny owlets filmed in their nest box, one youngster did not make it despite the box being located on a wonderful farm in Devon, and not in sheep-grazed (or should I say 'razed'?) S/W Cumbria. And when the normally hugely optimistic Chris Sperring, the Hawk & Owl Trust's Conservation Officer who works in the Mendips and Somerset Levels, also starts expressing concerns I really get worried, for he is usually guaranteed to raise my spirits by telling me his stomping grounds are teeming with voles and owls of all species. Not so in 2006 however, when many areas of Britain suffered one of the biggest vole crashes in recent record, with many owl fieldworkers voicing concerns.
Prior to this, in response to ever-increasing reports of owl declines the British Trust for Ornithology decided to carry out a national owl survey between August 15th – October 15th 2005, with fieldworkers visiting some 2,652 sites across the UK.
For tawny owls the results were reassuring. 63% of the surveyed areas held tawny owls – an almost identical figure to a similar survey carried out in 1989. Only in the English and Scottish uplands and Greater London were tawny owls scarce. A BTO spokesman stated "It is great news that they (tawny owls) are still to be found in most areas in which they were encountered in the previous survey. It may be that with more and more double-glazing in modern houses, we just aren't hearing them as much as we used to". Hmmm! Well at least this suggestion is different!!! However, I would urge you not to relax too soon. I certainly don't walk around in a double-glazed cocoon, and nor I suspect does Chris Sperring or any of the other owl workers who had expressed similar concerns to my own!
At the risk of adding to my reputation as a boring, repetitious, grumpy old misery-guts, let me once again point out that it is not the 'presence' of birds which is most important – it is 'how many surviving youngsters do they produce each year to replace adults which die in the winter months prior to the next breeding season'. Only if this figure equals – or preferably exceeds – mortality, can we breathe a little easier. And of course this applies to all wildlife species, not just owls. It's not exactly rocket science, but alas, is a crucial point all too often ignored by researchers, especially the ringers who judge 'success' by the number of young birds ringed each year rather than the number which survive to join the breeding population the following spring. I would also remind you of the date of the BTO owl survey, i.e. 2005 – one of best owl breeding seasons for many a long year, but alas, the year before the disastrous 2006 'vole-crash'. What we now need to ask is "what actually happened in 2006, and what did 2007 bring"? Which brings me conveniently to barn owls!
Readers of these newsletters will need no reminding that I have long railed against the oft-quoted figure of 4,000 breeding pairs of barn owls still being present in the UK (the published results of the last 'survey' carried out in the late 1990's, but which wasn't in fact a true figure representing 'actual' successfully breeding pairs observed at 'first-hand'). Nor will you need reminding that in our neck of the woods (S/W. Cumbria) breeding barn owl numbers are now but a mere shadow of the numbers present in the 1970's – late 1990's, and this is certainly not down to double-glazing!!! It is down to over-grazing and loss of habitat caused by drainage and increased silageing which have destroyed huge swathes of the rough tussocky grasslands needed by both barn owls and their main prey, the short-tailed vole. I know what I used to see and what I see now – and they are not the same – and this is the beautiful 'wild' Lake District! Pessimist and grumpy I may be, but blind I am not! I live only fifteen minutes drive from The Owl Centre, and on my way home at the end of the day in the late 1980's – early 1990's I could usually rely on seeing between 1 – 3 barn owls (and in the winter the occasional short-eared owl) either hunting in the fields or sitting on fence posts waiting for voles. Not now. Such a sight is a 'red letter' entry in my daily diary and a rare event at that. In a bid to keep my favourite species 'ticking' at Eskmeals, I have for many years supplementary fed barn owls which come into our garden on a nightly basis for hand-outs – but even with this help, for the past two years only single owlets have been reared by one pair in both 2005 and 2006. We awaited the outcome of 2007 with some trepidation, for although the owls still came in nightly, our searches of the nearby MOD land where this pair breeds (they originated from 4 captive-bred birds we released there in 1972), failed to reveal a breeding site and our nest boxes remained unused. The explanation is simple. Although Jenny and I have bought three small meadows and rent two more in an attempt to re-create good vole (and butterfly) habitat adjacent to our home, this is the first time in 42 years that I have searched suitable habitat for voles and have actually found no trace of them whatsoever! In other words, the voles haven't recovered from their 2006 'crash' and even with the aid of our 'soup kitchen' the birds were not finding enough food to bring them into breeding condition! What a state of affairs!
Now before I go any further, it is important to remember that to get an 'overall' view of how things are in Britain as a whole, we must be careful not to become too parochial – and let's be honest, most of us tend to be just that when we are considering what is happening in the natural world. 'Our patch' (rightly) assumes huge importance but might not reflect what is actually happening on a national scale, and I am as guilty as the next man (or woman) in this! So - is the rather miserable picture I am painting only pertinent to S/W. Cumbria? Our North Cumbrian colleagues would certainly say "yes", for they are forever telling me that I am talking rubbish and that their own nest-box scheme is very successful, and as I have said, Chris Sperring is usually guaranteed to give us good news from the South-West, as is long-standing WOT member and good friend (and 'twitcher extraordinaire'!) David Rutherford who lives in the barn owl heartland of Norfolk.
It is to answer this question that each year I eagerly await 'Barn Owl Link', the newsletter of the Barn Owl Conservation Network in which barn owl 'guru' Colin Shawyer invariably gives us a review of the year's previous breeding season on a national scale. Very useful and sometimes a welcome salve to my own tales of woe!
Barn Owl Tyto alba alba
Photo © Ian McGuire - www.wildowl.co.uk
Frustratingly, with rumours that in contrast to the record year of 2005, 2006 had been disastrous in many counties, the report was a little late in appearing. But at last it arrived – and as expected, it contained worrying news. Even my old mate Chris reported that for both tawny and barn owls "an over-winter prey shortage had left many adults in poor condition with the result that breeding was at an all time low. As predicted, when food is scarce the marginal pairs seemed to disappear". However, don't despair yet, Chris went on to report that "some barn owl pairs made a recovery late in the season and hatched eggs in September, and this upturn, alongside good tawny owl signs this spring gives a promising outlook for 2007".
In line with this news, Colin Shawyer confirmed that in 2006 many adult female barn owls had been in too poor a condition to lay eggs due to a predicted 'vole crash' and the males having to turn to the much smaller common shrew as alternative prey. He went on to say that there had been unusually high levels of owlet mortality, not helped by the wet and cold weather at a crucial time in their development. Nor was it only the owlets which suffered. There were also more adult deaths than normal, especially males at, or near to the nest site. These individuals had apparently succumbed in their vain attempts to bring sufficient food to the brooding females and owlets.
Even the stronghold of Norfolk suffered in 2006, with the North-West Norfolk Ringing Group only ringing about 120 owlets compared with a phenomenal 500 + in 2005. Mind you, we would have been deliriously happy with 120!!! Fortunately, the Norfolk Group remained upbeat, saying that while 2006 certainly wasn't a good year, it wasn't disastrous. For example the Hawk & Owl Trust's fabulous Sculthorpe Moor Reserve (where the habitat is perfect) had two pairs of breeding barn owls which reared 3 and 4 young respectively, with one pair even managing to rear a second brood! Such are the vagaries of barn owl breeding biology!
In neighbouring Lincolnshire too there were differences between locations (akin to Cumbria) with the west of this very large county suffering more than elsewhere. Lincolnshire 'owl wizard' Bob Sheppard pointed out that there is a wide variety of prey species in the central grasslands, which means that barn owls are not as reliant on short-tailed voles as they are in most other areas (including Cumbria). Indeed, an early start of 5 barn owl pairs incubating eggs in late March had Bob optimistic for the 2007 season, and evidently things were also looking good in North Oxfordshire, so fingers crossed.
Good news in 2006 also came from Jersey with 60% nest box occupation and 20% + sites successful. In the Galloway Forest area pairs had a late start (mean first egg date 20th May), but with 25 out of 33 monitored sites occupied, and good clutch sizes (mean 5.57 eggs), everyone was happy. In the end 18 sites fledged 54 owlets (average 3 per site), with only 2 certain failures and one unknown result. The other 2006 'good news' areas tended to be in the North, Midlands, and eastern and southern parts of England.
Conversely there was a major shock amongst the 'bad news' areas, i.e. most of western England and parts of Scotland and Wales. I have often mentioned the fantastic success of Major Nigel Lewis's nest box scheme on the Ministry of Defence's Salisbury Plain Training Area and the Larkhill & Westdown Ranges in Wiltshire, run by the Imber Conservation Group. So successful in fact that it is now possibly the best population of barn owls in the whole of Britain – and this from a starting base of just a single breeding pair in 1987 when Nigel began his campaign to increase the Wiltshire population! Ten years later this figure had risen to no less than 78 pairs in 1997, followed by the following sequence for South Wiltshire : - 1998 – 72 pairs; 1999 – 101; 2000 – 140; 2001 -132; 2002 153; 2003 -166; 2004 – 163; 2005 – 210 (yes, 210!!!); then almost halving to 109 in 2006. On Salisbury Plain itself, the number of breeding pairs was 37, 35, 45, 66, 70, 64, 73, 51, 69 and 26 for the same years, and these reared 87, 51, 151, 140, 144, 130, 178, 83, 231, and 36 owlets respectively. Hence the shock – a drop of almost 200 owlets in 2006! Indeed, Nigel commenced his report with the words "Welcome to the 2006 report (our 23rd) which was the worst year we have had since we started the nest box project! The main reason was the crash of the short-tailed field vole population. This happens every third or fourth year (not reflected in the figures shown above (TW)) and as the vole is the main food source of most owls and kestrels the effect can be serious, but combined as it was with several weeks of freezing weather in late winter the effect was catastrophic". He went on to describe how the owls were in 'survival mode', desperately hunting for food rather than getting into 'breeding mode' by consolidating their positions at nesting sites. Some of them were even falling prey to ravenous buzzards which were also in trouble due to the vole crash.
When I tell you that in 2005 Nigel and his team actually ringed an unbelievable total of 671 owlets, while in 2006 they only had 60 to ring, you might well think that he would throw up his hands in disgust and take up golf or something. Not a bit of it. This remarkable man remained amazingly upbeat about the whole situation! He pointed out that "with a minimum of 109 pairs still resident in South Wiltshire (50 on the Training Area) and with an estimated 46 singleton 'floaters', there should be enough to cover winter losses and form the bedrock for a good 2007 season". Colin Shawyer too was equally upbeat when he wrote his report in Spring 2007. Like Nigel he was somewhat scathing about reports in the national press that UK barn owls had experienced a catastrophic decline from 4,000 pairs to just 1,000. In actual fact, this had not been claimed and was down to a typical misquote by the press who had failed to differentiate between a statement by a barn owl organization that 'possibly as low as only 1,000 pairs might have bred successfully in 2006' and the totally different 'possibly only 1,000 breeding pairs now remained'! Colin stated that he and two colleagues had in fact recorded the 'presence' of 1,000 breeding pairs of barn owls in just three counties, but didn't go on to say which counties these were or whether they succeeded in rearing any young (i.e. bred successfully) – which as I have stressed, is the most important factor and the point being made by the barn owl organization.
Also, with due deference to his undoubted expertise in 'things barn owl', I am afraid I have to differ from Colin is in his assertion that "the breeding population of barn owls in Britain, although still vulnerable, has not declined overall in the last 20 years and is at the very least stable at 4,000 pairs – the computer generated figure I mentioned earlier. He goes further by stating that most conservationists actively involved in helping the barn owl in Britain have reported a steady increase since the 1990's and that a figure of 5,000 breeding pairs is now probably a more realistic estimate. I hope he is right, but I'm afraid I still have my doubts that the long term future of this most charismatic of species is assured.
Both Colin and Nigel stressed that short-term fluctuations in the number of young reared, and the absence of adults from their traditional nest sites in some years is a totally natural characteristic feature of the breeding biology of barn owls caused by the regular and predictable changes in the number of field voles, which like Scandinavian and Arctic lemmings, show' boom and bust' (aka 'plague and crash') fluctuations in population every third or fourth year. However, what really raised my eyebrows was the claim that because these patterns have been recorded for almost 100 years, they were able to predict that 2006 would be a poor breeding year and that 2009 will be the next poor year with 2007 and 2008 being better ones. The problem here is that such fluctuations do not happen on a national scale – they are usually localised, may not even happen at all, or else are brought about by climatic factors such as was certainly the case in 2006 – which did affect many areas of the country including Cumbria. In theory, having 'crashed' that year, our vole population should have started to increase again Spring 2007, especially in the balmy month of April which was glorious. They didn't, and as I have said, for the first time in my life I couldn't find any evidence of their presence even in perfect habitat. Old age and failing faculties? Maybe, but I don't think so. They simply weren't there, having been totally wiped out by flooding and sodden ground during the 2006/7 winter – a scenario which continued throughout May, June, July and mid-August. As I write (New Year's Day 2008) our own local 'grassland' more resembles the Okavango Swamp than barn owl habitat and it doesn't take a genius to work out what has happened to the vole population which dwelled there! We'll see what 2008 brings.
Colin also refutes the claim that the absence of breeding pairs at traditional nest sites indicates a massive population crash, stating that this is totally normal behaviour in a poor food availability year due to the birds being unable to achieve breeding condition. In his studies he has evidently found that around three quarters of Britain's 4,000 (!!!) barn owl pairs do not occupy their breeding sites all year round. If they do not reach breeding condition they simply spend the year roosting nearby, eventually returning to breed successfully the following year. I truly hope this is currently the case, but would ask the pertinent question "If this is what is happening, why don't we see them still searching for prey in their favoured hunting territories? They still have to eat, so where better than their familiar breeding territory where they know the best prey-rich areas, and where better to roost than in their cosy nest sites with no boisterous kids to pester them! Incidentally, nowadays barn owls invariably nest in man-made boxes – which begs a further question "what will happen if barn owl nest box schemes eventually go out of fashion? How many 'natural' sites are actually left?"). These are the long-term points we have to consider, not short-term 'fixes'.
Another important point I need to raise is the fact that in 2006 Nigel Lewis's average brood size was just 1.38, a far cry from the necessary 3.2 – 3.5 to maintain/increase the overall population (Iain Taylor 1994). Nigel reported that tawny owls and kestrels were also affected, but little owls fared better since they are not so vole dependent, and of course earthworms, a favourite food of little owls, become more easily available in wet weather. I suspect that such was the case in many other areas.
So, at the end of this marathon, we are left with the question I have used as the title for my article – "is the glass half full or half empty"? Only time will tell, but I leave you with several things to ponder. Was 2006 an entirely predictable cyclic 'crash' year for voles, and consequently owls, or was it yet another example of the 'miner's canary' telling us we are in trouble due to global warming causing erratic changes in weather, often severe. Certainly here in West Cumbria it was the latter.
In 2007, after initial euphoria from some owl workers that there were signs of hope for a recovery when some pairs began to nest very early in the glorious weather of April, we had a May which was wetter than normal, followed by a 'write-off' summer which was the wettest on record with disastrous floods in Yorkshire, Humberside, Lincolnshire and East Anglia (remember the two latter were 'good news' areas in 2006). Conditions in these areas don't bear thinking about, and if any of our members were victims of these disasters, do please accept the sympathy of all of us at the WOT, we cannot begin to appreciate what you went through and many are still going through. To talk about owls and voles in such circumstances is almost obscene, but I do have to ask you to consider the all-important question – "what happened to the voles, other small mammals and owls in those areas. Even if barn owls have bred successfully in some areas in 2007, what chance have the youngsters got of surviving until next season? The forecasters are predicting more months of rain, violent thunderstorms, tornados, snow, freezing conditions and yet more flooding. Although here in S/W Cumbria we did have some successes, we also had failed barn owl broods and 'unsaveable' adult barn owls brought in starving, one weighing just 185 grams (normal healthy weight 310 – 320 grams! Now comes a further worry. The government of Gordon Brown has announced its intentions to build an extra three million homes by 2020, with the number of new properties rising from 185,000 annually to 240,000, some of which, unbelievably, are still to be built on known floodplains! Planning restriction are also to be removed to encourage more development on Green Belt land – including hitherto protected areas such as SSSI's, nature reserves and ancient woodlands, and even large gardens and allotments etc. are to be re-classed as 'Brown Field Sites' subject to Compulsory Purchase Orders to enable them to be built on! Nor will we be able to demand a Public Enquiry into inappropriate Planning Applications. Such decisions will now be made by so-called 'independent committees' – and if you believe that you no doubt also believe in fairies! In other words, our once 'green and pleasant land' is about to become covered almost entirely in concrete and red brick and transformed into a mass of soulless developments and urban sprawl. Yet we are already one of the most overcrowded countries in Europe and this latest threat strikes me as being an almost fatal blow to the future of what biodiversity we have left – including owls, especially 'specialist' owls like the barn owl. (Do I feel another petition coming on?).
However, having made you all thoroughly miserable, I am instructed by Office Manager Jenny Lewin (she's been on a Course!) that I have to leave you happy, so let me try to put a smile back on your faces by telling you that the BTO report that according to their Nest Record Scheme, in many areas tawny owl, kestrel and barn owl actually ended up having a productive season in 2007 – thanks to a bumper vole harvest!!! Also, Sue Thurley our hard-working Conservation Officer did find some barn owlets to ring this year, and will no doubt be giving you an update on the 2007 season in West Cumbria in due course. On her behalf, and in the light of the above, do please get in touch with her at the office on 01229 717393 or by E-mail here to report how your barn owls and voles fared in 2007 – we really need to know. Such information is vital in the present circumstances – and let me tell you that if you wish to confirm that I truly am a 'Job's Comforter'/ 'grumpy old man' and all is well, I will be the happiest man on earth to be proved wrong! Here's to a good 2008!
Tony Warburton
Ref. Taylor, I. (1994). BARN OWLS: Predator-Prey relationships and conservation. Cambridge University Press
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Pedals — is a VST effect plug-in for Windows, designed for processing electric guitar and bass. It is also possible to process other audio sources for a variety of artistic techniques.
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Five of the seven other planets of our solar system congregate in the east and southeast at first light for the next few weeks. Two of them are quite bright, so you won't have any trouble finding them. And they can help point the way to the others.
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Script by Damond Benningfield
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Professor Ed Coyle spoke at the Lunchtime Seminar on Teaching Science and Technology to Nonscientists today. He described a great program which he founded at Purdue University in 1995. His idea is to mutually benefit the community and the university by assessing technology needs with community organizations, and the university proposing solutions by devising engineering projects. Funding is by grant from society or foundation. Professors and students design, develop and manage the project. The projects involve committments of a year anyway, and credit is given for successful completion.
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Informational: Federal Court Arraignment
The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Missoula, on June 22, 2011, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch, the following individual was arraigned:
DAVID DWAIN SLEDGE, a 61-year-old resident formerly of Kalispell, appeared on a charge of production of child pornography. He is currently detained. If convicted of this charge, SLEDGE faces possible penalties of a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and could be sentenced to 30 years, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervision. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee L. Peterson is the prosecutor for the United States. The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, the Flathead County Sheriff's Office, and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.
The defendant pled not guilty to the charge.
The charge, an indictment, information or complaint, is merely an accusation and all persons named as defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. A pre-trial conference and a trial date will be set and the United States will be required to prove the allegations set forth in the indictment beyond a reasonable doubt.


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U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature For February 17
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110428/DC91889LOGO)
Profile America — Sunday, February 17th. This month — and some sources cite this date — is the anniversary of the 1766 birth of Thomas Malthus in Dorking, England. Given that birthplace, he perhaps naturally became an economist, demographer and statistician. He's remembered for "the principle of population," a 1798 essay foretelling widespread famine caused by population growth far outstripping the food supply. While the forecast remains unrealized, his theory of demand-supply mismatches was a precursor to later theories about the Great Depression. When Malthus wrote his essay, the world population was a little under 1 billion. Currently, the global population is about 7.1 billion people. Profile America is in its 16th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Global Population Growth U.S. Census Bureau, Population Clock Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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Ranch alum selected for Athlon spirit competition
Date: August 27, 2009
by: The Observer Staff
Lakewood Ranch High School alum and current University of South Florida Sun Doll Tiffany Blevins has been chosen to represent USF and the Big East in the first round of the Athlon Sports Sideline Spirit Competition.
The Web-based competition features more than 30 cheerleaders and dancers from throughout the country. Every three weeks, Athlon selects one person from each of the major college conferences. Photos and profiles are displayed on the Web site, and visitors can vote on their favorite. The contest runs through the end of the regular season in December.
Blevins will be competing in the first round, which runs Aug. 29 through Sept. 18, against girls from Troy, Michigan State, Alabama, Oregon, Boston College and Alabama. Prizes include $2,000, a JVC HD Everio Camera and a JVC Micro System with iPod Dock.
Those interested in voting for Blevins must first register at AthlonSports.com. Votes also can be submitted via Athlon's Facebook page. Users can vote up to 20 times a day, per account, at the Web site, and up to 10 times a day on Facebook.
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- Jan
11 Shoreline Church Launch
10:00 am - 11:30 am
- Jan
12 Scramble for SPARCC
12:00 pm
- Feb
7 Manatee Audubon - OPEN HOUSE at Felts Audubon Preserve
8:00 am - 11:00 am
- Feb
21 "Fall in Love with the Haven" 60th Anniversary Celebration
11:30 am
He's a swinging sensation
When Gus Andreone, 103, teed it up at the Lakes Course of Sarasota's Palm-Aire Country Club, he expected to shoot under his age — he usually does.
'Excellent' mentors recognized
One East County teacher may officially be coined "excellent."
Food and fun
The Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance and its Young Leaders Alliance have something to talk about: the organizations collected 764 pounds of nonperishable food and $1,295 cash to benefit The Food Bank of Manatee/Meals on Wheels PLUS.


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Dreamcast VGA
The Dreamcast VGA Box (also known generally as a DC VGA adapter or DC VGA cable) is an accessory for Sega's Dreamcast video game console that allows it to connect to a video display such as a computer monitor or an HDTV set through a VGA port. Because the Dreamcast hardware can produce a VGA-compatible video signal natively, this connection provides improved picture quality compared to standard composite video or S-Video connections, along with support for progressive scan video.
Sega released the original VGA Box as an official accessory, but many third-party versions were also produced and sold worldwide in various form factors.
Most games for the Dreamcast are VGA-compatible, while various workarounds exist to enable VGA output from many of the games that do not feature official support.
When pins 6 and 7 on the Dreamcast's A/V out port are connected to the ground pin (such as when a VGA box is connected to the console and externally switched to VGA mode), the Dreamcast system internally switches to VGA mode,[1][2] displaying a 640x480p60 image (progressive scan, at a standard EDTV resolution) in RGBHV at 31 kHz, which allows it to connect to a computer monitor or EDTV/HDTV set with a VGA input.
The official VGA Box consists of a rectangular black plastic case, bearing a VGA out port and a 3.5 mm minijack for stereo audio output on one side, and an A/V output jack breakout panel (S-Video, composite, and RCA stereo audio jacks) on the other, for switching output either to a typical computer monitor and speakers/headphones or to a typical TV.
Most third-party versions are functionally identical to Sega's model besides cosmetic differences, but some simplified designs lack the additional A/V breakout and output switch. These units can only be used for VGA and audio output. Some of these designs are streamlined to the point that no extra housing is required beyond the cable jacket and the connectors; such units are described generically as DC VGA cables.
One enhanced model, the Performance-branded VGA Adapter for Dreamcast produced by InterAct, additionally features a VGA input port and stereo minijack input for PC video and audio pass-through, with automatic source switching when the Dreamcast system is powered on and off.[3][4][5][6] This enables a computer or other daisy-chained video game console with VGA output to remain connected to the same monitor and speakers as the Dreamcast simultaneously, without swapping cables or using additional switches for both VGA video and 3.5 mm stereo minijack audio.
It is also possible to modify a Dreamcast to add the same VGA functionality to the console itself, obviating the need for a standalone VGA box.[7][8]
Most Dreamcast games are compatible with the VGA Box.[9][10] Incompatible games will normally present an error message upon boot. All Dreamcast games can use a VGA box's S-Video and composite ports when the box is switched to TV mode, meaning one does not have to swap cables to play VGA-incompatible games as long as a display is also connected to one of these ports.
There are a handful of European and North American games that did not include the necessary flag within the boot sector on the disc ('IP.BIN'), thus preventing the Dreamcast from booting in VGA mode. Common workarounds include unplugging the VGA Box while booting a game, or temporarily switching the VGA Box into TV mode while booting a game, or using a boot disc such as DC-X.
Elements of some sprite-based games that were originally designed for interlaced display may appear less detailed when displayed in progressive mode due to the lack of scanlines softening the image. However, these games are officially considered compatible with the VGA Box because they can be played normally in VGA mode, and were thus branded as compatible on packaging and marketing materials.
Hardware and accessories[edit]
Dreamcast VGA boxes are compatible with Dreamcast systems from all regions, since all consoles are capable of producing the appropriate video signal. NTSC and PAL systems will produce images at the same resolution and horizontal scan rate when running similar compatible software.
Dreamcast light guns will work with VGA or other connections when using a direct-view CRT VGA display. They will not function with LCD, LED, and plasma screens, or projectors, regardless of the connection used, due to hardware limitations of the light guns themselves.[11]
Digital displays[edit]
The VGA Box can be connected to an HDTV or PC monitor's DVI port with a simple passive adapter, as long as the port is DVI-A or DVI-I compatible.
It is also possible to convert the VGA output of the Dreamcast to HDMI or DVI-D via an active VGA to HDMI converter. However, since this is an analog-to-digital video conversion, the picture quality will depend on the processor in the converter and/or display, especially if any image scaling is performed. Such processing may also introduce or worsen display latency.
Demand for Dreamcast VGA boxes has risen among console owners in the years following the discontinuation of the Dreamcast due to an overall increase in the usage of HDTVs and computer monitors since then, as such displays increasingly lack standard S-Video and/or composite video connections. Accordingly, prices for Dreamcast VGA boxes on the second-hand market have increased as well, particularly for discontinued premium models.
Other video game consoles released shortly after the Dreamcast, such as the PlayStation 2,[12] Nintendo GameCube,[13] and Xbox,[14] supported progressive scan through YPbPr component video, but in the case of PlayStation 2 and GameCube relatively few software titles took advantage of the feature compared to the Dreamcast.
Various VGA accessories and independent hacks were produced for these consoles, mostly by third-party manufacturers and hobbyists. However, since none of these consoles were capable of producing a native RGBHV signal at 31 kHz for standard VGA output, these devices were generally designed around an outboard color space transcoder and/or scan converter. The most common and inexpensive of these devices, as with most similarly low-end general purpose signal converters, generated a VGA signal from composite or S-Video, resulting in poor quality.
The complexity, cost, and lack of software support for such accessories led to far lower VGA usage compared to the Dreamcast. However, since these consoles supported YPbPr component video natively, they were easier to use with typical EDTVs and HDTVs that may have lacked VGA support. Later consoles widened support for progressive scan by featuring component video, VGA, and/or HDMI connection options.
Since 2012, there are new VGA cables being independently produced that are widely available mostly through places such as ebay and Amazon.com but for as little as under $15.00 each (including shipping). These do differ to the previous VGA box concept as they are purely a VGA cable with RCA left/right audio outputs. This usually requires a RCA to 1/8"(3.5mm) stereo adapter in which some sellers will offer this along with the cable. Retro-bit has also offered a new VGA box (as well as S-Video, Video and controller extension cables) as part of support for older game consoles due to recent retro-gaming interest.
- ^ "Dreamcast VGA box schematic". gamesx.com. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
- ^ "Dreamcast AV Connector". gamesx.com. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
- ^ "Performance VGA Adapter - IGN". IGN. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
- ^ "Every Performance VGA Adapter Question Answered - IGN". IGN. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
- ^ "Madness Gameware DC-VGA Adapter - IGN". IGN. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
- ^ "CNN - Review: Performance VGA Adapter". CNN. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
- ^ "Sega Dreamcast VGA mod". Instructables. Retrieved 2010-12-24.
- ^ "Dreamcast internal VGA". mmmonkey. Retrieved 2010-12-24.
- ^ "VGA compatibility list". sega-dc.de. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
- ^ "VGA box compatibility". ShinForce. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
- ^ "CRT vs LCD, Video Inputs, Lightguns on HD". racketboy.com. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
- ^ "Playstation 1 + 2 AV Pinout". gamesx.com. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
- ^ "Nintendo GameCube Digital AV Connector". gamesx.com. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
- ^ "Xbox AV pinout". gamesx.com. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
External links[edit]
- Dreamcast Hardware Peripheral Information - VGA Box (Official) (Japanese)
- DCTP - Dreamcast VGA Box
- Dreamcast VGA Audio/Video Adapter at the Wayback Machine (archived April 5, 2010)


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Fan Friday: RuffGrip Dog Leash AND MumMe "Shoe" Socks Giveaway!
Welcome to Fan Friday here at PTPA! Today we have two great PTPA Award-Winning products we are giving away that you will not want to miss! Giveaway #1 – One lucky fan is going to win the awesome RuffGrip Dog Leash that our parent testers were raving about. The RuffGrip Dog Leash is a one of a kind dog leash with a superior grip. Rubber woven nylon gives it the great grip, leather bands or "stops" add support. The need to grip tightly is alleviated and never again suffer rope burns like nylon or cotton. For more information on this great product, you can visit the PTPA Winner's Circle to find out more! Giveaway #2 – MumMe "Shoe" Socks are high quality socks for your little one that are also incredibly cute. Their socks are designed with style, comfort and fun in mind and are eco-friendly and made with soft, comfortable organic cotton. Socks feature a smooth toe seam and are made slightly longer than standard ankle length, so they don't slip off active babies and toddlers as well as silicone non-skid grips on the bottom to help keep kids steady on their feet. For more information on this great product, you can visit the PTPA Winner's Circle to find out more! Simply do the following for each prize that you would like to win: 1. "Like" the companies FB page as well as the PTPA Facebook page: RuffGrip Dog Leash MumMe Wear 2. Like the product page on the PTPA site for each prize that you wish to win: RuffGrip Dog Leash MumMe 3) Comment on each of the winners pages with what your favorite feature about their products are or why you would love to win them! RuffGrip Dog Leash MumMe 4) Spread the word about these awesome contests on your Facebook page, Twitter, or your blog. Fan Friday giveaway is now closed. Thank you for all who entered. Lauren Rasor you won the RuffGrip Dog Leash and Marisssa Bowering you won the MumMe Shoe Socks! Congratulations! Please email firstname.lastname@example.com to claim your prizes.


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John Amos Comenius
|John Amos Comenius
28 March 1592
|15 November 1670
(aged 78)
|Teacher, educator, philosopher and writer
John Amos Comenius (Czech: Jan Amos Komenský; Slovak: Ján Amos Komenský; German: Johann Amos Comenius; Polish: Jan Amos Komeński; Hungarian: Comenius Ámos János, in other sources: Hungarian: Comenius-Szeges János; Latinized: Iohannes Amos Comenius) (28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670)[1] was a Czech[2][3][4][5] teacher, educator and writer. He served as the last bishop of Unity of the Brethren and became a religious refugee and one of the earliest champions of universal education, a concept eventually set forth in his book Didactica Magna. He is considered the father of modern education.[6][7] Comenius was the innovator who first introduced pictorial textbooks, written in native language instead of Latin, applied effective teaching based on the natural gradual growth from simple to more comprehensive concepts, supported lifelong learning and development of logical thinking by moving from dull memorization, presented and supported the idea of equal opportunity for impoverished children, opened doors to education for women, made instruction universal and practical. He lived and worked in many different countries in Europe, including Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Transylvania, the Holy Roman Empire, England, the Netherlands and Royal Hungary.
Life and work[edit]
Comenius originated from Moravia, but history has no accurate record of his birthplace. There are three possible locations: Komňa, Nivnice and Uherský Brod (all three locations are in Uherské Hradiště District, southeastern Moravia, Czech Republic). His ancestors came from the Kingdom of Hungary (from the part that is today Slovakia, which is very close to Moravia both geographically and linguistically, likely from Pobedim near Trenčín) during the 15th century and their family name was Segeš according to a rough dedication found in his work Clamores Eliae in 1964 by Milada Blekastad, a monographer of Comenius.[8]
He described himself as "Moravus ego natione, lingua Bohemus";[5] an inhabitant of the Margraviate of Moravia (probably with Slovak roots) who used the Czech language for daily communication. The original family name (Szeges or Segeš) is of Hungarian origin and is relatively common in Western Slovakia both for local Hungarians and even Slovaks.[9]
John Comenius was the youngest child and only son of Martin Komenský and his wife Anna Chmelová. His grandfather, whose name was Jan Segeš, started to use the surname Komenský after leaving Komňa to live in Uherský Brod.[10] (He was "the man from Komňa" = Komenský.) Martin and Anna Komenský belonged to the Moravian Brethren, and Comenius later became one of the leaders of that pre-Reformation Protestant denomination.[11] His parents and two of his four sisters died in 1604 and young John went to live with his aunt in Strážnice.
Owing to his impoverished circumstances he was unable to begin his formal education until late.[11] He was 16 when he entered the Latin school in Přerov (he later returned to this school as a teacher 1614–1618). He continued his studies in the Herborn Academy (1611–1613) and the University of Heidelberg (1613–1614). In 1612 he read Fama Fraternitatis. Comenius was greatly influenced by the Irish Jesuit William Bathe as well as his teachers Johann Piscator, Heinrich Gutberleth, and particularly Heinrich Alsted. The Herborn school held the principle that every theory has to be functional in practical use, therefore it has to be didactic (i.e. morally instructive). In the course of his study he also became acquainted with the educational reforms of Ratichius and with the report of these reforms issued by the universities of Jena and Giessen.[11] Comenius' book Janua linguarum reserata (The Gate of Languages Unlocked, 1631) brought him widespread prominence and fame. However he and the Unity became special targets of the Counter Reformation movement and were forced into exile even as his fame grew across Europe.
Comenius became rector of a school in Přerov.[12] In 1614 he was ordained into the ministry of the Moravian Brethren and four years later became pastor and rector at Fulnek, one of its most flourishing churches. Throughout his life this pastoral activity was his most immediate concern. In consequence of the religious wars he lost all his property and his writings in 1621 and six years later[11][13] led the Brethren into exile when the Habsburg Counter-Reformation persecuted the Protestants in Bohemia.
Comenius took refuge in Leszno in Poland, where he led the gymnasium and was given charge of the Bohemian and Moravian churches. In 1628 he corresponded with Johann Valentin Andreae. In 1638 Comenius responded to a request by the government of Sweden and traveled there to draw up a scheme for the management of the schools of that country,[12][13] and in 1641, he responded to a request by the English parliament and joined a commission there charged with the reform of the system of public education. The disturbed political condition of England interfered with the latter project,[11][12] and so in 1642 he returned to Sweden to work with Queen Christina (reigned 1632–1654) and the chancellor Axel Oxenstierna (in office 1612–1654) on the task of reorganizing the Swedish schools. The same year he moved to Elbing in Poland's Royal Prussia and in 1648 went to England with the aid of Samuel Hartlib, who came originally from Elbing. In 1650 Zsuzsanna Lorántffy, widow of George I Rákóczi prince of Transylvania invited him to Sárospatak. Comenius remained there until 1654 as a professor at the first Hungarian Protestant College; he wrote some of his most important works there.
Comenius returned to Leszno. During the Northern Wars in 1655, he declared his support for the Protestant Swedish side, for which Polish partisans burned his house, his manuscripts, and the school's printing press in 1656. From Leszno he took refuge in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where he died in 1670. For unclear reasons he was buried in Naarden, where visitors can see his grave in the mausoleum devoted to him.
After his religious duties, Comenius's second great interest was in furthering the Baconian attempt at the organization of all human knowledge. He became one of the leaders in the encyclopædic or pansophic movement of the seventeenth century, and, in fact, was inclined to sacrifice his more practical educational interests and opportunities for these more imposing but somewhat visionary projects. In 1639, Comenius published his Pansophiæ Prodromus, and in the following year his English friend Hartlib published, without his consent, the plan of the pansophic work as outlined by Comenius. The manuscript of Pansophia was destroyed in the burning of his home in Lissa in 1657. The pansophic ideas find partial expression in the series of textbooks he produced from time to time. In these, he attempts to organize the entire field of human knowledge so as to bring it, in outline, within the grasp of every child.[11]
According to Cotton Mather, Comenius was asked by Winthrop to be the President of Harvard University, this being more plausibly John Winthrop the Younger than his father since the junior Winthrop was in England; but Comenius moved to Sweden instead.[14][15] Comenius also attempted to design a language in which false statements were inexpressible.[16] He also wrote Protestant Hymn songbooks (Gesangbuch). A new Dutch translation of his Janua Linguarum Reserata by C.F.J. Antonides is available.
Educational influence[edit]
The most permanent influence exerted by Comenius was in practical educational work. Few men since his day have had a greater influence, though for the greater part of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth there was little recognition of his relationship to the current advance in educational thought and practice. The practical educational influence of Comenius was threefold. He was first a teacher and an organizer of schools, not only among his own people, but later in Sweden, and to a slight extent in Holland. In his Didactica Magna (Great Didactic), he outlined a system of schools that is the exact counterpart of the existing American system of kindergarten, elementary school, secondary school, college, and university.[11]
In the second place, the influence of Comenius was in formulating the general theory of education. In this respect he is the forerunner of Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Fröbel, etc., and is the first to formulate that idea of "education according to nature" so influential during the latter part of the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth century. The influence of Comenius on educational thought is comparable with that of his contemporaries, Bacon and Descartes, on science and philosophy. In fact, he was largely influenced by the thought of these two; and his importance is largely due to the fact that he first applied or attempted to apply in a systematic manner the principles of thought and of investigation, newly formulated by those philosophers, to the organization of education in all its aspects. The summary of this attempt is given in the Didactica Magna, completed about 1631, though not published until several years later.[11]
The third aspect of his educational influence was that on the subject matter and method of education, exerted through a series of textbooks of an entirely new nature. The first-published of these was the Janua Linguarum Reserata (The Gate of Tongues Unlocked), issued in 1631. This was followed later by a more elementary text, the Vestibulum, and a more advanced one, the Atrium, and other texts. In 1658 the Orbis Pictus was published, probably the most renowned and most widely circulated of school textbooks. It was also the first successful application of illustrations to the work of teaching, though not, as often stated, the first illustrated book for children.[11]
These texts were all based on the same fundamental ideas: (1) learning foreign languages through the vernacular; (2) obtaining ideas through objects rather than words; (3) starting with objects most familiar to the child to introduce him to both the new language and the more remote world of objects: (4) giving the child a comprehensive knowledge of his environment, physical and social, as well as instruction in religious, moral, and classical subjects; (5) making this acquisition of a compendium of knowledge a pleasure rather than a task; and (6) making instruction universal. While the formulation of many of these ideas is open to criticism from more recent points of view, and while the naturalistic conception of education is one based on crude analogies, the importance of the Comenian influence in education has been recognized since the middle of the nineteenth century. The educational writings of Comenius comprise more than forty titles. In 1892 the three-hundredth anniversary of Comenius was very generally celebrated by educators, and at that time the Comenian Society for the study and publication of his works was formed.[11]
As a theologian, Comenius was mystical, a believer in prophecies, dreams and revelations.[13] He was greatly influenced by Boehme. In his Synopsis physicae ad lumen divinum reformatae, Comenius gives a physical theory of his own, said to be taken from the book of Genesis. He was also famous for his prophecies and the support he gave to visionaries. In his Lux in tenebris he published the visions of Christopher Kotterus, Mikuláš Drabík (lat. Nicolaus Drabicius) and Christina Poniatowska. Attempting to interpret the book of Revelation, he promised the millennium in 1672, and guaranteed miraculous assistance to those who would undertake the destruction of the Pope and the house of Austria, even venturing to prophesy that Oliver Cromwell, Gustavus Adolphus, and George I Rákóczi, prince of Transylvania, would perform the task. He also wrote to Louis XIV of France, informing him that the empire of the world should be his reward if he would overthrow the enemies of God.[12]
One of his daughters, Elisabeth, married Peter Figulus from Jablonné nad Orlicí. Their son, Daniel Ernst Jablonski (1660–1741), Comenius's grandson, later went to Berlin in 1693; there he became the highest official pastor at the court of King Frederick I of Prussia (reigned 1701–1713). There he became acquainted with Count Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf (1700–1760). Zinzendorf was among the foremost successors to Comenius as a bishop (1737–1760) in the renewed Moravian Brethren's Church.
The Comenius Medal, a UNESCO award honouring outstanding achievements in the fields of education research and innovation, commemorates Comenius. Peter Drucker hailed Comenius as the inventor of textbooks and primers.[17]
Comenius, his life and teachings, have become better known since the fall of the Iron Curtain.[citation needed]
- Czech Republic and Slovakia
During the 19th century Czech National Revival, Czechs idealised Comenius as a symbol of the Czech nation. This image persists to the present day. In 1919 Comenius University was founded by act of parliament in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, (now in Slovakia). It was the first university with courses in the Slovak language. Slovakia and the Czech Republic celebrate 28 March, the birthday of Comenius, as Teachers' Day. University of Jan Amos Komensky has been founded in Prague. It offers bachelor's, master's and graduate degree programmes.[18]
Gate to Languages, a project of lifelong education, taking place in the Czech Republic from October 2005 to June 2007 and aimed at language education of teachers, was named after his book Janua linguarum reserata (Gate to Languages Unlocked).
- Comenius is pictured on the 200 Czech koruna banknote.
- Other European
In Sárospatak, Hungary, a teacher's college is named after him (the college now belongs to the University of Miskolc.)
A primary school in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia is named after Comenius (Jan Amos Komenski in Macedonian). The Czechoslovak government built the school after the catastrophic earthquake in 1963 that levelled most of the city.
The Comenius Foundation is a non-governmental organisation in Poland, dedicated to the provision of equal opportunities to children under 10 years of age.
The Italian film director Roberto Rossellini took Comenius, and especially his theory of "direct vision," as his model in the development of his didactic theories, which Rossellini hoped would usher the world into a utopian future.[19]
"Comenius", a European Union school partnership program, takes its name from the teacher of nations.
In the United Kingdom, the University of Sheffield's Western Bank Library holds the largest collection of Comenius manuscripts outside of the Czech Republic.
In 1892 Comenius Hall, the principal classroom and faculty office building on Moravian College's campus in Pennsylvania, was built. In 1892 educators in many places celebrated the three-hundredth anniversary of Comenius, and at that time the Comenian Society for the study and publication of his works was formed.[20]
The education department at Salem College in North Carolina has an annual Comenius Symposium dedicated in his honor; the subjects usually deal with modern issues in education.
The Comenius Foundation in the US, a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity, uses film and documentary production to further faith, learning, and love.[21]
- Orbis Pictus ("The Visible World in Pictures")
- Linguae Bohemicae thesaurus, hoc est lexicon plenissimum, grammatica accurata, idiotismorum elegantiae et emphases adagiaque ("Thesaurus of the Czech language"), 1612–1656
- Problemata miscellanea ("Different Problems"), 1612
- Sylloge quaestionum controversarum, 1613
- Grammaticae facilioris praecepta, 1614–1616
- Theatrum universitatis rerum, 1616–1627
- Centrum securitatis ("The Center of Safety"), 1625
- Moraviae nova et post omnes priores accuratissima delineatio autore J. A. Comenio ("Map of Moravia"), 1618–1627
- Didactica magna ("The Great Didactic"), 1633–1638
- Via Lucis, Vestigata & Vestiganda ("The Way of Light"), 1641
- Schola pansophica ("School of Pansophy"), 1650–1651
- Primitiae laborum scholasticorum, 1650–1651
- Opera didactica omnia ("Writing on All Learning"), 1657
- De bono unitatis et ordinis ("On Good Unity and Order"), 1660
- De rerum humanarum emendatione consultatio catholica ("General Consultation on an Improvement of All Things Human"), 1666
- Unum necessarium ("The One Thing Needful"), 1668
- Spicilegium Didacticum, 1680
- O andělích ("About Angels"), 1615
- Retuňk proti Antikristu a svodům jeho ("Utterance against the Antichrist and his temptations"), 1617
- O starožitnostech Moravy ("About Moravian Antiquities"), 1618–1621
- Spis o rodu Žerotínů (Script about House of Žerotín), 1618–1621
- Listové do nebe ("Letters to Heaven"), 1619
- Manuálník aneb jádro celé biblí svaté ("Manual or Core of the Whole Saint Bible"), 1620–1623
- Přemyšlování o dokonalosti kŕesťanské ("Thinking About Christian Perfection"), 1622
- Nedobytedlný hrad jméno Hospodinovo ("Unconqerable Fortress (is) Name of the God"), 1622
- Truchlivý, díl první ("The Mournful", volume I), 1623
- O poezí české ("About Czech Poetry"), 1623–1626
- Truchlivý, díl druhý ("The Mournful", volume II), 1624
- O sirobě ("About Poor People"), 1624
- Pres boží ("Press of God"), 1624
- Vidění a zjevení Kryštofa Kottera, souseda a jircháře sprotavského ("Seeing and Revelation of Kryštof Kotter, Neibourgh of Mine and Tanner from Sprotava"), 1625
- Překlad některých žalmů ("Translation of Some Psalms"), 1626
- Didaktika česká ("Czech Didactic"), 1628–1630
- Škola hrou (Schola Ludus, School by Play) 1630
- Labyrint světa a ráj srdce ("Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart") 1631
- Brána jazyků otevřená (The Gate of Languages Unlocked) 1631
- Keatinge, The Great Didactic of Comenius (London, 1896)
- Simon Somerville Laurie, John Amos Comenius (1881; sixth edition, 1898)
- Quick, Essays on Educational Reformers (London, 1890)
- Müller, Comenius, ein Systematiker in der Pädagogik (Dresden, 1887)
- Löscher, Comenius, der Pädagogik und Bischof (Leipzig, 1889)
- Monroe, Comenius and the Beginning of Educational Reform (New York, 1900)
See also[edit]
- ^ Daniel Murphy, Comenius: A Critical Reassessment of his Life and Works (1995), p. 8 and p. 43.
- ^ He himself wrote in his letter to Petr Montanus "Toliko svému národu abych prospěl některými knihami sepsanými v mateřském jazyce, taková touha mě pojala už jako jinocha a neopustila po celých těch padesát let; k jiným věcem jsem byl přiveden jenom časovými příležitostmi. A o těchto příležitostech se zmíním, dříve však podám výčet děl, která jsem sepsal v mateřštině. Především, abych ovládl svůj jazyk, začal jsem roku 1612 (za pobytu v Herborně) skládat Poklad jazyka českého) to jest co nejúplnější slovník, přesnou mluvnici, ozdobné i výrazné způsoby mluvy a přísloví." [1]
- ^ "Unum necessarium" Komensky subscribed as "J.A. Comenius Moravus" http://www.etf.cuni.cz/kat-cd/unum.htm (czech translation)
- ^ "Clamores Eliae" he dedicated "To my lovely mother, Moravia, one of her faithful son...". Clamores Eliae, p.69, Kastellaun/Hunsrück : A. Henn, 1977.
- ^ a b "Moravian by nation, language Bohemian, profession theologian, servant of Gospel from the year of grace 1616." It is his own identifiacion in "Opera omnia didactica" 1657, http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/comenius/comenius1/p3/jpg/s468.html
- ^ "John Amos Comenius." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
- ^ Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society, 1972
- ^ Milada Blekastad, Comenius. Versuch eines Umrisses von Leben, Werk und Schicksal des Jan Amos Komenský (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1969). p. 723
- ^ Otto Kolárik: Nové údaje a pripomienky k životopisu a určeniu hrobu J.A.Komenského, http://www.snk.sk/swift_data/source/NbiU/Biograficke%20studie/15/bs15_9_36.pdf
- ^ Vyskočil, František: JAN AMOS KOMENSKÝ. Kapitoly o jeho předcich, rodičích, přibuzných a místě narození. Brno 1990. p. 66
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Comenius, Johann Amos". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
- ^ a b c d Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Comenius, Johann Amos". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^ a b c Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Comenius, Johann Amos". Encyclopedia Americana.
- ^ Johann Amos Comenius, Charles William Bardeen, and Charles Hoole, The orbis pictus of John Amos Comenius. ISBN 1-4372-9752-8, page ii, quoting Cotton Mather, Magnalia, vol. II, p. 14.
- ^ Daniel Murphy, Comenius: A Critical Reassessment of his Life and Works (1995), p. 27.
- ^ Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach. ISBN 0-14-028920-8 pages 635
- ^ Drucker, Peter Ferdinand (2003) [1989]. The new realities (revised ed.). Transaction Publishers. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-7658-0533-1. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
[...] a Czech, John Amos Comenius – the first person to advocate universal literacy – invented the textbook and the primer.
- ^ http://wwww.ujak.cz
- ^ Rossellini, Roberto. Utopia autopsia 1010. Rome: Armando, 1974. 195-6.
- ^ New International Encyclopedia
- ^ http://comeniusfoundation.org/
External links[edit]
|Wikiquote has quotations related to: John Amos Comenius
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Comenius.
- Comenius' biography
- J.A. Comenius Museum in Uherský Brod
- Comenius Museum & Mausoleum, Naarden, NL
- Comenius Foundation. US
- Article by the psychologist Jean Piaget on the importance of Comenius (PDF)
- THE GREAT DIDACTIC (Didactica Magna) online
- Orbis Pictus (The Visible World in Pictures) online
- Jan Amos Comenius Bibliography
- 1592 births
- 1670 deaths
- 17th-century Czech people
- 17th-century bishops
- 17th-century Latin-language writers
- 17th-century writers
- 17th-century Protestant theologians
- Bishops of the Moravian Church
- Burials in North Holland
- Czech bishops
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- Czech expatriates in Hungary
- Czech expatriates in Germany
- Czech expatriates in the Netherlands
- Czech people of the Moravian Church
- Czech Protestants
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- Czech schoolteachers
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- Grammarians from the Czech Republic
- Heidelberg University alumni
- Writers of the Moravian Church
- People of the Dutch Golden Age


text:
Dragonair offers a wide range of attractive products to satisfy your shopping desires.
From 1 to 31 December 2014, you will enjoy a 15% discount when making any purchase of HK$2,000 or more* on Dragonair inflight sales products or home delivery service. The more you spend the bigger savings you get!
*on one receipt·
Shopping on Dragonair allows you to purchase products onboard and order them for home delivery service. The service covers six regions in Asia including Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. Simply look for the icons below.
To order, please fill in the order form placed in Emporium or in the front seat pocket, and then return the completed form to our cabin crew, or send by email, fax or mail.
You may also download the order form here.
Download Emporium (full version - 17MB)
All downloadable files on this page are in PDF (Portable Document Format) and can be viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download the Reader at no cost from Adobe's Website.
If you are a member of The Marco Polo Club or Asia Miles you can earn miles through purchase of inflight products.
|Who will earn
|What you earn
|How you earn
|The Marco Polo Club members
Spend a minimum of HKD 500 (net) on Dragonair inflight products on a single sales receipt. Please present your membership card when making your purchases.
*Net payment exceeding HK$500 after discount and any vouchers
|Asia Miles members
From 1 October to 31 December 2014, for every HKD1,000* spent on inflight sales or home delivery products, you'll receive a lucky draw coupon giving you the chance to enter a lucky draw to win a FIAT 500 1.4 Lounge or other lifestyle products. The more you spend, the more chances you have to win fabulous prizes. Simply complete the lucky draw coupon details and return it to our cabin crew or mail it to Dragonair's Inflight Sales Department.
*Net in one transaction after discount
|Value (each)
|FIAT 500 1.4 Lounge
|Samsung Curved UHD TV HU9800 (55")
|Panasonic Steam IH Warm Jar SR-SPX183 (1.8 litres)
|Apple 13" MacBook Air 128GB
|Samsung Galaxy Tab S (8.4") Wi-Fi
For more details, please refer to the Terms & Conditions on the lucky draw coupon.
Trade Promotion Competition Licence No.: 043997
All products and prices shown in the catalogue are valid from 1 October to 31 December 2014. Due to limited space inflight, we apologise if any product is out of stock.
Terms & Conditions for Purchase with Emporium
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Fax: +852 3193 8808


text:
Best iPhone Calorie Counter
Let your iPhone help you get healthier.
Keeping track of your diet and calories can be tricky sometimes. The iPhone has made calorie counting the easiest it's ever been with some essential apps. This AppGuide will help you select the best apps for your healthy journey.
Essential Apps
Lose It! – Weight Loss Program and Calorie Counter
by FitNow
Lose It! is one of the best apps out there to count calories. Millions have already fallen in love with it, including myself. The user interface is simple, yet still stunning. There is already a database of food and activity, but you can still add yours as a custom entry if you cannot find what you are looking for. You can even set up recipes for more complex foods. This app also includes a barcode scanner so that you can log packaged foods without the hassle of typing out information from the box. You can use Lose It! with or without an internet connection. If you set up a free account on LoseIt.com you gain access to even more features!
Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal
by MyFitnessPal.com
This simplistic app makes calorie counting fast and easy. Its food database is one of the largest out there with just over two million entries. It even comes with a barcode scanner so that you can easily find foods while you're preparing them. The recipe calculator is a fabulous feature that allows you to enter your own recipes to calculate the nutritional contents. Aside from being a calorie counter, this app also includes a database of exercises, goal tracker, reports, and a way to connect with friends. Don't forget to visit the website MyFitnessPal.com to sync and back up your data for free.
Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker PRO by MyNetDiary
by MyNetDiary Inc.
This feature-rich app allows you to track just about every aspect of your health. Far more than a food diary, you get a diet planner, recipes, and detailed nutrition database. Track your exercise, body measurement, blood pressure, sleep, daily steps, water intake, vitamins/medications, and more. You get access to an online community supported by a registered dietician. Your health journal gets synced between all of your devices including your iPhone, iPad, and computer.
Calorie Counter by FatSecret
by FatSecret
This free food diary has some nice extra features. In addition to a large nutrition database of both restaurant and grocery store foods, you get a manual barcode input, exercise diary, and weight tracker. Sync your information online for access anywhere.
Notable Apps
Fooducate - Healthy Weight Loss, Food Scanner & Diet Tracker
by Fooducate, Ltd.
Ever wonder what grades you would earn in school based on your diet? Wonder no more! With Fooducate you can track your diet, calorie quality, and even a bit of exercise. This app does include a barcode scanner, but you can also manually search for a product. One neat thing about this app is that you can learn about a food product's pros and cons. If your product isn't in the system you can submit it for analysis. This is not only a great way to count calories, but also helps you choose healthier alternatives.
Calorie Counter & Weight Loss, by SparkPeople
by SparkPeople, Inc.
Users of the popular website SparkPeople.com will definitely want to download this app on their iPhone. If you've never visited the site, you can register and get a free account for maximum customization, or simply use this app without it. You get a food, calorie, exercise, and weight tracker. You can even have daily meal plans customized to your goals if you like.
by sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC.
This free app is actually like three apps in one: a nutrition database, a food tracker to record your daily meals, and a restaurant locator. Track not only calories, but also proteins, carbs, and fats. The nutrition database is powered by CalorieKing, and it includes nutrition information from all the major restaurant chains as well as most foods found in grocery stores. If you want to make healthier choices when you eat out, GoMeals can help.
Decent Apps
Meal Snap - Calorie Counting Magic
by DailyBurn
Meal Snap allows you to take pictures of your meal and then tells you what foods were in it. It also tells you how many calories were in that. While this is a great concept and pretty darn cool, it isn't 100% accurate.
MyPlate Calorie Tracker - Your Diet and Fitness Calorie Counter for Better Health by LIVESTRONG.COM
by LIVESTRONG.COM
Track your daily caloric intake and exercise with this universal app. It's a companion tool for members of Livestrong's "The Daily Plate." In addition to calories, this app will also track your fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrate, sugar, fiber, and protein intake.
Jillian Michaels Slim-Down: Weight Loss, Diet, & Exercise Solution
by Everyday Health, Inc.
When it comes to results, Jillian Michaels never fails. Use this app to count your calories and track your fitness. It also includes step-by-step videos from Jillian, slimming recipes, a sample meal plan, and a sample fitness plan. If all that isn't enough for you there is a subscription option of $3.99 a week that will grant you access to even more content.
CalorieKing Food Search
by CalorieKing
This app doesn't technically keep track of your calories, but if you're looking for a fast way to check calories then look no more! The CalorieKing Food Database is deemed America's most reliable and contains over 70,000 foods. It even includes over 200 fast food chains and restaurants. In addition to providing you with calorie information, it also lists specific details such as the amounts of protein, fiber, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, and alcohol in each food item.
Food Scanner: Good Food or Bad Food?
by ARAWELLA CORPORATION
With a particularly attractive user interface and useful nutrition information, this universal app carries some nice features. Search products by entering the barcode or name of the product. Foods are evaluated and given scores so you make the best food choices.
Nutri-Find; The Nutrition Database
by S.Lotti
Just what it sounds like, this no-frills universal app is an extensive and detailed nutrition database for grocery store and chain restaurant foods. It's a little pricey for what it is, but nonetheless, it does what it says.
Free Versions
Calorie Counter and Food Diary by MyNetDiary
by MyNetDiary Inc.
MyPlate Calorie Tracker - Your Diet and Fitness Calorie Counter for Better Health by LIVESTRONG.COM -
by Demand Media, Inc.


text:
Definitions for robert's rules of order
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word robert's rules of order
Princeton's WordNet
Robert's Rules of Order(noun)
a book of rules for presiding over a meeting; written by Henry M. Martin in 1876 and subsequently updated through many editions
Translations for robert's rules of order
- regras de Ordem de RobertPortuguese
Find a translation for the robert's rules of order definition in other languages:
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Discuss these robert's rules of order definitions with the community:
Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
"robert's rules of order." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2014. Web. 20 Dec. 2014. <http://www.definitions.net/definition/robert's rules of order>.


text:
- What's New
- Seating
- Sit/Stand
- Keyboard Systems
- Monitor Arms
- Lighting
- CPU Holders
- Foot Rests
- Laptop Holders
- Cable Management
- Slatwall
- Computer Accessories
- Ergo Consulting
- ViewPoint Technology Wall Stations
- TouchPoint Mobile Technology Carts
- HealthPoint Technology Cabinets
Case StudyArup Case Study
ERGO Info
Give your peepers a breather! Reduce eyestrain by taking regular vision breaks. Try looking into the distance two or three times an hour for 30 seconds.
Introducing the perfect fusion of style and strength. Through its unique design, the M8 Monitor Arm accommodates the widest range of monitors available today—any monitor up to 42 pounds. Combining rugged performance with sleek, handsome aesthetics, the M8 is the ideal solution for heavy monitor applications or any other environment with a flat panel monitor.
|Need a 2-monitor solution?
M8 with Crossbar
Monitor Matters
A dynamic monitor arm adds ergonomic versatility to any workstation.
Learn more
The M8 was designed by the Humanscale Design Studio.
Learn more
Responsible Design
Sustainability is the natural outcome of simple, elegant design.
Find out why
- Supports the widest range of monitors available today
- Rugged, high-capacity construction supports dual-monitor applications with optional crossbar
- Sleek, modern aesthetic complements any contemporary workstation
- Integrated cable management reduces unsightly cable clutter
- 180º stop mechanism prevents wall damage from over-rotation
- Counterbalances monitor(s) with simple hex screw adjustment
- Quick Release ball joint facilitates fast and easy monitor installation and removal
- Built-in security system provides effective theft-deterrent for public areas
- Accommodates virtually any monitor ranging from 8 – 40 lbs.
- Offers 11.5" of dynamic height adjustment
- Offers up to 22" of depth adjustment
- Built-in fine-tune adjustment ensures that double monitors line up perfectly
- VESA Plate supports all monitors with 75mm and 100mm VESA hole patterns (Larger VESA plates
- also available)
- VESA Plate stores two hex keys for instant access to adjustment tools
- Mounting options:
- Clamp Mount
- Bolt-Through Mount
- Universal Slatwall Mount
- Wall Stud Mount
Warranty Information
10-year 24/7 warranty
We work hard to ensure that our environmental philosophy is reflected in each product we create. With our Design for Environment protocol, our designers and engineers examine the environmental impact of every choice made throughout the design process—from initial concept through final production. We invite you to read more.
A selection of sustainability highlights for the M8:
- Recycled content: 13% post-consumer, 12% pre-consumer
- Made predominantly of steel and aluminum, which are highly recyclable
- Shipped in packaging that contains recycled content
- Learn more about how we work to extend the life of our products through both design and engineering so they won't need to be replaced often
- Designed for easy disassembly with clear recycling instructions
- SCS Indoor Advantage Gold certified
- ANSI/BIFMA level® 1 certified
- Close the Loop program ensures that every product ends its useful life with a minimal environmental impact
Frame Finishes
|Polished Aluminum


text:
Previous Episode | Next Episode
Diego's Ringed Seal Rescue
Post your Comments or Review
This page has been viewed 17 times this month, and 423 times total.
Diego's Ringed Seal RescueDiego's Ringed Seal Rescue (2009) Season 4 Episode 405- Go, Diego, Go! Cartoon Episode Guide
This page has been viewed 17 times this month, and 423 times total.
- Go, Diego, Go! Cartoon Episode GuideEpisode GuideTelevisionSeriesCartoon
- Nickelodeon Studios
- Distributed by: Nickelodeon Studios
- Cartoon Characters: Diego Marquez, Alicia Marquez, Dora Jones, Baby Jaguar, Click, Rescue Pack, Bobo Brothers.
- Voice Actors: Jake Toranzo Szymanski [Jake T. Austin], Gabriela Aisenberg, Thomas Sharkey, Rosie Perez, Keeler Sandhaus.
- Produced By Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh.
- Written By Rosemary Contreras, Nancy De Los Santos, Ligiah Villalobos.
- First Aired on November 16, 2009.
- Originally Aired on Nick, Jr. (USA), Treehouse TV (Canada).
- Running Time: 30 minutes.
- Season: 4
- Color
Cartoon Summary:
A fawn is trapped by a rockslide, so Alicia and her friend Whitetail, a deer, race to the rescue, avoiding coyotes and zigzagging down the mountain to reach the fawn and dig her out.
Cartoon Production Information:
Dora the Explorer's cousin, Diego Marquez, is an eight-year-old, rough-and-tumble action-adventure hero with an intense love of nature and the animals around him. Go, Diego, Go! takes viewers on... (more)
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Yes! We have a mobile site. Click here for the Mobile Version of Diego's Ringed Seal Rescue


text:
Quebec City
Cirque du Soleil's First Nations star
Christian Laveau is the voice of Totem, which debuts in Vancouver in May.
Happy Easter eats and events
Travellers throughout Canada are hopping outside for fun events this long weekend.
20 Best Places to Travel in Canada: 2014
Charlottetown tops the Vacay.ca list of Canadian travel destinations for the next 12 months.
Top 20 Streets in Canada: Vive Quebec!
Rue du Petit-Champlain in Quebec City is the best place in the country to take a stroll.
Chateau Frontenac's early Christmas gift
Quebec City's landmark hotel has an holiday present for you that starts at $129!
No. 1 Street in Canada: Petit-Champlain
Quebec City's historic pathway tops a ranking of the nation's finest routes to shop and explore.
Quebec City's smallest business owner
Want to see your photo spotlighted? Simply email a JPEG to email@example.com and win a prize!
Upscale gems in Lower Quebec City
Away from the walls and tourists is a vibrant taste of this provincial capital ready to be explored.
Open your eyes to Wendake dreamcatcher
Want to see your photo spotlighted? Simply email a JPEG to firstname.lastname@example.com and win a prize!
$509 for luxury train trip to Charlevoix
See the light with this train package that takes you from Quebec City to Hôtel La Ferme.


text:
Online only! When the occasion calls for your very cutest, then it's time to bust out this adorable skater dress! Heavyweight knit fabric is textured and striped, forming a sweetheart neckline with a banded waist and full, pleated skirt. The best part is in back, where a heart-shaped cut-out leads the way for a covered-button accent, with extra cut-outs all around!
Size small measures 30" from shoulder to hem.
60% cotton / 40% polyester / machine wash


text:
Robbies Apartment Ayia Napa
Official Contact Details - Robbies ApartmentPhone: 07801122054 GB
Ayia Napa Cyprus A fantastic 1 bedroom apartment, full air con, two large balconies, nice views surrounded by tropical gardens,with magnificent swimming pool. In the luxurious premier La Casa complex
- Price from 29 GBP / Day / Per unit
- 1 bedroom & 1 bathroom
(click on a photo to view it)
Last updated: 03/25/2010
This is your property ?
Ayia Napa Apartment Cyprus
Due to the popularity of Robbies Apartment there are only a few vacancies left for the spring & summer of 2010 please book early to avoid disappointment .
Autumn & winter of 2010 are already fully booked
This Beautiful Ayia Napa Apartment is on a Premier privately owned La Casa Di Napa complex in Ayia Napa Cyprus surrounded by lush gardens within sight of a magnificent communal pool and tropical gardens and is fully equipped with all that you will need for a great self catering holiday it is suitable for families and couples alike.
Robbies Apartment is near the centre of ayia napa in the complex of la casa di napa cyprus
Enjoy the Cyprus Sun in this beautifil Ayia Napa Complex
We reserve the right to refuse young single sex group bookings
In some circumstances discretion will be used
A 25% deposit ensures your booking with the balance due 8 weeks before arrival date
This Beautiful, Ayia Napa Apartment has one bedroom, with fitted wardrobe, full length mirror, and dressing table & twin single beds. The bedroom also has double doors opening to the front balcony & a single door to the rear balcony it is also equipped with steam iron & hairdryer.
It has an open plan kitchen /lounge area. The kitchen is fully equipped including steak griller and slow cook, full cooker and oven, Table & chairs automatic washing machine, plus microwave and toaster all of which has been done to a high standard.
The lounge has two sofa beds, Satellite LCD TV, DVD player, CD player & radio. storage space, with double doors opening onto the front balcony.
The bathroom has a UK style toilet, wash basin & fitted shower. Bed linen & Towels are provided, but please bring your own towels for the pool and beach.
This Ayia Napa apartment in the La casa Di Napa complex has full air conditioning plus double glazing throughout.
This apartment has no other adjoining apartments or adjoining balconies on this level, giving you a sense of privacy as you overlook the La Cas Di Napa complex,
This Apartment in La Casa Di napa complex Ayia napa Cyprus has a telephone (incoming calls only) , It also has its own wi- fi Broadband connection great for keeping in touch via email or messenger with your family & friends (or dare I say it the Office !!!), with no costs to you.
You will need to bring your own laptop or Ipod touch..
wi-fi codes ect, are in the apartment welcome book
Ayia Napa Cyprus Apartment for Rent
Prices & deals
- Lowest Daily Price:
- Highest Daily Price:
- Lowest Weekly Price:
- Highest Weekly Price:
- Cleaning fee:
- Charging Method:
- Per unit
- Payment Types:
- Cash
- Credit Card
- Cheque
- Travellers cheque
- Paypal
- Wire Transfer
Location & area
Near the Centre of Ayia Napa Cyprus
35 min from Larnaca airport.
5 min from Nissi Beach.
3 min from Ayia Napa Harbor
6 min from Water Park.
2 min from Amusement Park.
- Address:
- Ayia Napa La Casa Di Napa Complex, 5330, Ayia Napa, Cyprus
- Accommodation located in:
- coastal, leisure area, near centre of ayia napa, near cultural interest, near diving spot, near historical interest, near restaurants & bars, near shopping area, near the beach, near water sports, resort, town!
Amenities & services
This beautiful ayia napa cyprus holiday apartment has two large balconies, one facing south easterly towards the sea the other, north westerly so you can view a great cyprus sunset. Both balconys are furnished with tables chairs and sun loungers. With this apartment if you want, you can choose to have an open air breakfast in the sun or in the shade !!!
sleeping :The apartment comprises 1 bedrooms in total; 1 twin. The property also has 1 single sofa bed located in the lounge, 1 double sofa bed located in the lounge. This gives room for up to 4 people. Bed linen and towels are provided for your use. general :The apartment has 1 bathrooms and 1 WCs for your party's use. Air-conditioning keeps the apartment cool. entertainment :The apartment has television dvd, satellite/cable. The music system will play cds, radio. If you need to keep in contact there is a telephone for incoming calls only. eating & living :There is room for 4 in the living room and 4 in the dining room. To prepare food you will find a cooker, an oven, a microwave, a fridge, a freezer, a kettle, a toaster. You will also find a washing machine, an iron and ironing board. The owner has also provided cutlery, crockery, glassware, cooking utensils.
Smoking : This is a non smoking apartment****
Pets :Pets are not welcome **** Wheelchairs
:Not suitable for wheelchairs
# of Units: 1... and each unit includes:
- Bedrooms: 1
- Bathrooms: 1
- Single beds: 2
- Double beds: 0
- Baby cots: 0
- Single sofa beds: 2
- Double sofa beds: 0
- Bath:
- Hair Drier:
- Shower:
- Towels:
- Washing Machine:
- Work Desk:
- Bed Sheets:
- Bikes:
- Cable/Satelite TV:
- Internet Broadband:
- Internet Dial Up:
- Ironing Board:
- Stereo/Radio System:
- Library:
- Telephone:
- DVD Player:
- Fax:
- Butler Service:
- House Chef:
- Local Guides:
- Local Transportation:
- 24h Concierge:
- Tours & Excursions:
- Fridge & Freezer:
- Crockery & Utensils:
- Dish Washer:
- Microwave:
- Oven:
- American Kitchen:
Living room
- Fireplace:
- Sofa Bed:
- Table & Chairs:
- Private Beach:
- Barbecue:
- Sauna:
- Garden:
- Shared Bathroom:
- Spa / Jacuzzi:
- Swimming Pool:
- Lift / Elevator:
- Disabled Facilities:
- Tennis Court:
- Terrace:
- Parking:
- Pets Welcome:
- Safe:
- Sea View:
- Central Heating:
- City View:
- Daily Cleaning:
- Air Conditioning:
- DVD/Music Collection:
- Ensuite Bathroom:
- Balcony:
Review - Robbies Apartment
Robbies Apartment - Contact the owner
Important Notice : Avoiding Fraud
It's rare, but some helpful hints to watch out for with regards to fraud:
- It is important to NEVER wire funds or use/employ other fund transfer mechanisms such as western union: Always use a credit card to protect yourself against fraud. If owners pressure you into providing a deposit or refuse to accept credit cards, there is a high probability that this is a scam.
- If at all suspicious of fraud, ask to see their website, or any other literature they can provide or send to you. Ask them for contact details for guests who have previously stayed on their property insisting on telephone numbers. Be suspicious of emails that originate from free email services (yahoo, hotmail, gmail, etc)
- Research the property thoroughly on the internet to see if there is any history or mention of scams associated with the property.


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Product Range / Shampoos
Everyday ShampooMild enough for daily use and has been specifically designed to nourish and protect coloured hair.
Volumising ShampooSpecifically designed to nourish and protect coloured hair, without leaving fine hair limp and flat.
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