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ANZAC Day 2019 will take place on Thursday, 25 April and is a time for the NSW community to come together and pay tribute to the first ANZACs and to all the brave servicemen and women who have since followed in their footsteps.
This year Sydney's traditional ANZAC Day March through the CBD will run down Elizabeth Street to Liverpool Street, commencing at Martin Place. The Sydney CBD will again have four key commemorative events this ANZAC Day.
0415 - 0530hrs, Cenotaph, Martin Place
The official State Dawn Service is held at the Cenotaph in Martin Place. The Catafalque Party and Band march on at 0415hrs, the ceremony commences at 0430hrs which is believed to have been the approximate time at which the first Australians waded ashore at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915.
Due to limited space, spectators with accessibility requirements are encouraged to register and once registered should arrived before 0300hrs to ensure access. Registrations are done via Department of Premier and Cabinet:
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone: 9228 4613
For more information on the Dawn Service please head to http://www.anzacdaydawnservice.org.au/
In NSW, Dawn Services are held at community war memorials around the state. People are encouraged to attend commemorative events in their local area. To find a service in your area CLICK HERE.
0900 - 1300hrs, Elizabeth Street (from Martin Place to Liverpool Street)
For information on the March please CLICK HERE.


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Wow, the town is looking good. At this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere we have nearly day-long Golden Hour. This was taken from Kiener Plaza looking southeast about an hour before sunset. The classical-style building on the left is the Old Court House, scene of the gay rights rally featured in Monday and Tuesday's posts. By the way, since the title refers to how the picture was made, here's the setup: f 6.3, 1/200 sec., ISO 400, Canon 5D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM lens with B+W circular polarizing filter, shot in RAW and buffed up in Photoshop. That's an awful lot of bother to go to. I think it's worth it.
TOMORROW: alien death ray strikes office tower?

subset: commoncrawl


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"Never, Ever Give Up" – Fighting the System to Get my Children Back
Note: Names of the children have been changed to protect their identity.
Alicia is a mum of four children. Her youngest Thomas was born just before two of her older children were returned to her care. Jane and Kevin were taken away from Alicia when they were 2 and 19 months respectively. The Department of Family and Community Services sought to place the children on 18 year permanent placement orders within 6 months of their removal. Alicia also has an older daughter, Chelsea, who is still in foster care in Queensland. She hasn't seen Chelsea for 9 years.
Alicia asked Lucy, an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, to assist her in recording her story of 'surviving the system' and getting her children back. It is important to Alicia to share her experience with other parents, so that they might gain some insight into what it is like to get their kids back after such a long time. She hopes other families might learn what to look out for and get as much support as possible especially if they don't have family living close by. I think it's really important that families actually don't have unrealistic expectations as to what's going to happen. Alicia's intention is to bring hope back to families that have given up.
No-one in Alicia's family would be surprised that Alicia is sharing her story to help others. Alicia says she loves helping other people. In fact, even while her children were in the care of the Department, Alicia was giving her time to help raise her step-grandchild, whose mother lacked family support. I did miss my own kids at the same time, but I just kept going. I thought to myself, my kids will be okay for me to do this. (My grandkids) were like my little tools to help me to grow as a person and I definitely wouldn't have it any other way.
In sharing her experience, Alicia is driven by two important beliefs. Firstly, that family is really important and they should always stick together no matter what, through hardship and happiness. If you go through everything together, you always know you can get through it, because you have each other. Alicia learned the importance of family the hard way. I came from a family that didn't really stick together, so basically from a broken home. I wanted something different for my family. Mothers, fathers and children are meant to be together. It shouldn't be separated. We should have always been together, learning and growing.
Secondy, Alicia believes every child deserves a great childhood. I grew up with quite bad parents that weren't there to love and care for me. I was in a youth refuge at 14. I had complete strangers teach me to cook. I never wanted that for my kids. I wanted to be able to do it for myself. I wanted to teach them stuff that parents should, instead of missing out all the time. I missed out for way too many years, I don't plan on missing out on anymore. My kids deserved better than the broken childhood that I had.
This is Alicia's story of strength, resilience and never giving up.
I was put on to the methadone program to get off the drugs. Every time I went to see the doctor, he kept increasing the dose. In the end, I was on 90 mls of methadone. I would walk from my house with the kids in the pram. It would take me 45 minutes to walk to the hospital. I would get home and the kids would be playing and I'd be out like a light, fall asleep. Something finally started to click in my head, so I went back to the methadone clinic and said 'I need to go down, it's too much'. I told them I was going home and going to sleep. They said 'no'. I stuck my finger up at them and I said 'see you' and walked out. I didn't go back there. After 24 or 48 hours they have a duty to inform DOCS, so it all come to a head. That's when they [DOCS] started to intervene.
Alicia and her partner decided to get help from a doctor to get off Methadone. There can be some hectic side effects coming off Methadone. You end up really sick, so they (DOCS) said 'there's a spot up at the childcare centre for the kids if you want to put them in' and I said 'Okay cool, that's great'.
While Alicia was undergoing treatment, DOCS were preparing to remove the children. They actually waited until after Christmas and said 'right we have an extra day at the childcare centre. You can send them there, so you can go to court' and I said 'okay, no worries'.
On Court Day, Alicia had no idea what was about to happen. My brain was not functioning normally. While I was at court the judge said 'right the kids are to be removed', so when I put them on the bus that morning, I didn't see them again. I wasn't expecting it. I guess I was in my own little fairytale to think they weren't going to be removed.
Looking back Alicia has some best guesses about what DOCS were concerned about, although she says it was never clearly explained to her at the time and if it was, she didn't understand it. Drugs, domestic violence, and apparently abuse and neglect but I don't believe that. I didn't hear anything except for the fact that the kids were going to be removed. None of it registered. I still remember it as if it was yesterday, but I was only 21.
My heart just broke. I had the anger then. I was actually outside the courthouse with my partner and we walked down the street and then he rang his mum. His mum and her boyfriend were going to come down and pick us up. We ended up turning around and walking back up and I saw the boss of DOCS. I nearly broke his arm trying to get to her, but he held me back, which I'm thankful for because I wouldn't like to think what I would have done.
I had to go home to an empty house.
Alicia had a lot of time on her hands to think about her treatment by the Department and how it led to her kids being removed. On one occasion while doing an assessment with DOCS, a psychologist told her she had no attachment to her daughter. It was disgusting. Because at that time of the year, the World's Greatest Shave was on, I shaved my head to raise money. But he wrote that I had an aggressive haircut and there was no attachment between me and my kids. I wondered 'whose kids you were looking at' considering every time I saw my daughter [on access visits], she was attached to me. It made me really, really angry. To be honest all I felt was judged.
Having been told she had no attachment to her children, the effect on Alicia was devastating. It just made DOCS job easier, but it just destroyed me. Because the kids were so young, there was supposed to be a six month period, where I could have got off the drugs to clean myself up. I could have got those kids back but I wasn't even told about it, until just before the six months was up. Because I thought I couldn't get the kids back, the drugs got a hold of me again. They made it clear the whole time that I wasn't going to get them back. The way they looked at me, that body language speaks louder than words. They basically looked down on me and said 'you're not going to get better'.
I probably gave up in the first bit, so I just did more drugs. I just used it more to numb the pain, but unfortunately it was only a temporary fix.
About two years later, Alicia ended up having another baby. Alicia's experience with the Department (DCS in Queensland) was about to get a whole lot worse. Child Safety turned up to the hospital. They were nasty pieces of work, both of them. Not even 24 hours after I had her [Chelsea] I was doped up to the eyeball and just had a caesarean, they came up and were asking me all these questions about Jane and Kevin. I looked at them and I said what's 'Jane and Kevin got to do with it?. I've just had another baby, what the hell are you going on about? The counsellor ended up having to ask them to leave. I was in that much of a mess that I went down to the special care Nursery and stood there, staring at my baby, crying and couldn't even touch her. I just couldn't do it, basically they just destroyed me. That was the most horrific experience of my life. And then straight up they wanted a urine test. I wasn't even in the right frame of mind. Unfortunately I made the mistake of taking a Valium [from my partners supply because I couldn't sleep] and that's all it took. They made me leave the hospital without her.
When we went into the DCS office a couple of days later this young one, just out of uni was sitting there going 'You know, if that urine test had been clean you would have been taking your baby home today'. I nearly jumped that table but you know what? I didn't. I just wanted to lunge over that table and destroy her like they just destroyed me. I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I was off in Fairyland with all the drugs from having the operation done. When you're on Morphine, it keeps you awake. It doesn't actually allow you to go to sleep unless you're completely dosed up. I made that one silly mistake. I had one Valium and they [DCS] just rubbed it in my face. I will never ever forgive Child Safety for what they did, because that just destroyed everything. [The took away] my sanity, my dignity, the whole lot gone out the window, I had nothing left. I still don't know how the buggery I survived. It was horrific having to leave the hospital without my baby. That was the day my heart was shattered. It was already broken and then they just smashed it.
I went back to the drugs again because I thought 'what have I got now'? I was at wit's end, but I still went and saw the other two. I always remain connected with the other two kids.
Staying connected to her children was so important to Alicia, but it was not an easy task living in Brisbane and travelling to the Gold Coast for visits without any assistance. It used to take me 4 hours maybe longer to get there just for two hours. I was buggered by the time I got home. Logistically it was really tough. They [DCS] were still looking down on me. I didn't worry about them. I just continued to see the kids. When Chelsea was about two I was having unsupervised contact. Then I don't even remember why or what happened, but I was cut off. I was pretty unstable, but I wasn't doing drugs. I was going from house to house. I didn't have stable accommodation. Then my partner got a payout from an accident he had at work. We went and got a three bedroom townhouse, brand new furniture and set it up for the kids. They [DCS] basically said 'up yours'. They didn't want to know.
A supervisor [at the visitation centre] used to say to me 'So what's your plans?' I told her 'I'm going to get Chelsea back and then I'm going to get Jane and Kevin'. Well that conversation turned around and kicked me in the face, because the supervisor went straight back [to DCS] and told them what I said. I get a phone call later on that afternoon. 'You know our intentions. The kids are going to stay with us until they're 18.'
The odds of having your children returned after being placed on 18 year orders diminishes significantly. Much of this Alicia believes is because parents give up.The 18 year order was put in place six months after they [Jane and Kevin] were taken. I had no idea they were going to do that [in court that day]. I thought I'll still never give up no matter what they ever said to me. No matter how many times I wanted to give up, I kept saying to myself 'No, I can't give up'. It takes a lot more than that to hold me down. I'm a stubborn person and a very strong willed person. No matter how many times they kept telling me 'our intentions are to keep the kids until they're 18', I never believed them. No matter how much it hurt every time. It was like rubbing salt into the wounds. After two years of being clean, I pulled my head out of my backside and I walked in there and said 'tell me what I need to do. I'll do anything literally'. She goes 'you know our intentions the kids are going to stay with us until they're 18.' I said some choice words as I walked out the front. I thought 'you are not going to get me'. So then at this stage, I was living unstable, I was really bad. I had to make a choice. It was probably one of the most difficult choices of my life. I was living from couch to couch, didn't have anything. I had to get my shit together and get my kids back.
Alicia had to sacrifice time with her children to get her life back on track and prove that she was a worthy mother. I only saw them for 2 hours every 2 months, 6 times a year, which really sucked. That accounts for just 24 hours a year. But that's what you get, nothing you can do about it.
On visits, Alicia started noticing how the kids were coping with different care arrangements of which there were many. Sometimes there were no concerns and visits were happy and memorable occasions. At other times those observations were alarming.
I met the first lot of carers but that was it. I saw the new carers at the visitation centre but I didn't like them. Their demeanor was a lot different. The kids started changing, more so Jane. Jane was very quiet, withdrawn and would just cling to me. She wasn't happy and I could see that. She was different from what she normally was, her happy bubbly self. She just wanted to be with me, didn't want to leave and she couldn't tell me much. Kevin on the other hand, well, he didn't even know how to wipe his own bottom when he went to the toilet. [He was four]. It means they didn't really have much time for him. It confuses me, because I thought 'the carers should be showing Kevin anything he needs to do for his hygiene. I think it was the first time that I heard my son say that he misses me. Jane said to me that she'd been wetting the bed. Before Jane was taken, she was already toilet trained. As soon as they were taken everything just went backwards. I was pretty annoyed about the situation. Kevin even said he was sad. Neither of them were very happy. The kids wanted to come home. Jane was telling me her actual address. I think that was a bit of a red flag for me, to tell me actually where she lived.
I rang them [DCS] up and I said 'there's something wrong, something going on here you might want to go and check it out.' Their grandmother told them. Kevin's father told them. We all told them there's something not right there. We could all tell by the way the kids were acting yet they didn't bother doing nothing about it. They just ignored me basically. Until three years down the track when all the damage was already done. I wasn't even told when Jane was diagnosed with autism. No one told me that. I found out when I got them back.
Alicia's worst fears were realised when she learned from Jane about the trauma she had experienced in care. Jane being held over a 15 storey balcony, that absolutely disgusted me. I thought how dare you. My daughter told me in the end once she got a bit older, and maybe come to terms with what happened in her own way. She was five or six when it happened. She will never forget it. The worst part about it is the way I felt with seeing how upset she was. I tried to tell them [DCS] but they didn't listen. The system failed the kids it's a simple as that. They didn't want to listen to what I had to say about what was going on over there. They just brushed it off as if it's not happening.
Jane was always made to stand in the corner with her hands on her head. Kevin was a little bit different. He got to eat with them, he got to play the Wii he got to do whatever he wanted. Jane on the other hand, wasn't allowed to play with Kevin, she wasn't allowed to play the Wii, she wasn't allowed to eat with them. The way my daughter was treated was appalling. Yet the system is trying to tell me that I stuffed my kids up. I thought 'yeah ok, I did the wrong thing but the kids are a million times more damaged now from what they've let happen. Jane couldn't tell anybody because they told her not to say anything. I still live with that guilt everyday with everything that's happened to her. Regardless of whether I could do anything about it or not doesn't make any difference. And they didn't listen. I don't know what's happened out of this. I hope something has happened I'm disappointed and angry because I feel like it's just been swept under the carpet. I just hope to God those carers don't get any more kids.
I don't know whether any of this abuse was documented. I hate the Department but I don't hate the people. It's just the department because of what I have experienced in my time with them and still experiencing in Queensland.
Kevin and Jane's grandmother was so concerned about their welfare, she had spent four years and a lot of money on lawyers to get them into her care. They kept saying no. Eventually Jane stepped up and said there was something going on. She disclosed to DOCS that she was being abused. Then basically [DOCS] threw the kids at the grandmother and said 'here you deal with it'. What I mean by that is that during the period they were with Leslie her mother died and DOCS didn't even offer her respite. To put it nicely the kids were terrors, they'd already been through so much trauma. So she was trying to deal with the kids and the loss of her mother. It was really hard for her.
During that time Leslie lost her leg from the knee down because she is a diabetic. They still didn't offer her respite. She had to rely another family members to come and look after the kids while she was at hospital or going to her other appointments.
It was really hard I guess for me because I knew that she was going through some tough times and I couldn't help her any more than what I did already. Anytime the kids mucked up, she would ring me and tell me exactly what happened and when it happened. We were working as a team. I didn't hear from them [DOCS] not like I had before. Now the grandmother had everything left up to her to do. Leslie was supportive of me. Because I've known her for so long, she knew what I was like when I drug-affected and when I wasn't.
Eventually the kids were just running amok and she couldn't do it anymore. I still take my hat off to her. I don't know how she did it for 3 years. So one day she was giving the kids back because she just couldn't do it for her health. [She started to have problems with her eyes]. I had her on the phone numerous times in tears because she felt bad. It broke her heart. She didn't want the kids to think that she'd given them away, but it was her health.
After that the kids went to a residential care place which was ok. The kids were given what they wanted, when they wanted. Allambi taught Jane cooking and all that sort of stuff.
I did the Triple P program and the Bringing up Great Kids. I could actually use it on was my little granddaughter at the time. I didn't see my kids enough to be able to use it with them, but I still did the program. I wanted to prove that I was doing beneficial things to better myself and that I'd never ever really stopped doing stuff, I'd just stepped back and was doing it in the background. They wanted some evidence of no drug relapse basically to find out what my chances of relapsing was. I am now 8 or 9 years clean.
They wanted to give the kids back but they turned around and said you need a three bedroom house. By the end of the week, I had a 3 bedroom house.
For Alicia, the reunification process felt like it happened way too fast. I was really heavily pregnant with Thomas. I was trying to prepare myself and I was like 'arrrghhh'. In September, [the Residential Care staff] were driving the kids down, dropping them off Friday night and leaving them until Sunday at my house. It was a bit of a knockout, a shock. I actually had my kids staying over in my house for the first time since they were removed. It was really weird. It was great but then they got upset when they had to go back to care. That was hard letting them go because they didn't want to go and me being pregnant would bawl my eyes out. I would cry at the drop of a hat.
By November, the children were back in Alicia's care full time. It didn't even seem real. It was like I was in a dream. I can't even describe it. I guess for Jane it was good, but really difficult at the same time because of her having autism. Everything had changed. For [kids like] her, they don't deal with change very well. It was good until the honeymoon is over.
Reflecting on the moment she got her kids back, Alicia has mixed feelings. I feel like I have a piece of my heart back, that's not broken. There's still a little bit missing. My heart's basically just starting to heal now. I'm proud of myself for actually getting the kids back, because there's not many people out there that get the kids back after so long.
Alicia says it is her pride she got back in court that one day in November, when the 18 year orders were overturned. That's something I thought I would never hear. Every time I've been to court before, I was just basically run down. The kids were in 100% my care now. I had my own lawyer and the kids had their own lawyer as well. It's definitely really important in case something is said the wrong way.
I wanted them [the kids] to hear what the judge said. It's really important to show them how I felt about the situation and to show them to always say what you need to say, don't hold back. If you want to say something, say it. Always stand up for what you believe in. That's what I did.
Alicia reflected on the sort of mum she wanted her kids to see that day. A strong person, a really strong mum. Someone who's willing to fight for what they want and show my kids how much they really do mean [to me]. Show them that I'll never give up, never, ever give up.
Even when her children were back in Alicia's care, the effects of child removal are never forgotten. To have another child, after your last ones are removed is scary. Walking out of the hospital with Thomas, I was s***ting myself. I thought someone might stop me or I'd be met at the door by DOCS. I thought I was doing something wrong.
Alicia does not hide the fact that being a mum again is hard work. It's been a rocky road for the whole family.When they [the kids] were in Residential Care, there was money for them to go out and do things. They did a paid activity once a week. So when they come back to me, they've gone from middle class to a lower class. You don't get as much money being the parent than what you do when they're in care. They don't have that access now. I keep saying to them, 'you've got food in your belly, you've got clothes on your back, you've got a bed to sleep in'. Jane tends to ask for money a lot for school so my answer is 'I'm really sorry but I don't have it'. It's really tough. I didn't realise how hard it actually was being a parent. Back then I lived in sort of a fairy tale thinking it's going to be all rainbows and cupcakes.
Alicia is committed to instilling strong values, despite the push back she receives from her now teenage kids. When the kids were at Residential Care, Kevin didn't do a great deal around the house including his bedroom. The youth workers would just get in there and clean it up. But I don't. I'm trying to teach them life skills. That's their room, that's their responsibility, that's the way I look at it. I think it is it teaches them responsibility. I say 'if you want to go to your friend's house you have to give me something hence a clean bedroom'. The way I look at it is, I'm helping them as they're getting older. I'm trying to teach him that it's not a woman's job to clean up after you. You clean up after yourself. That's the whole thing, I'd like him to treat women with respect. Back in the old school it was a woman looking after the kids while the man went to work. Now it's not like that. It's both. They can both do the housework. They can both go to work. They can both look after the kids. It's about sharing the responsibility.
Alicia had no idea that when her children came back, Trauma would also walk through the door. Kevin has been very closed in. He won't speak to me. He would rather write me a letter instead of actually asking me for something. I don't actually know what Kevin has had to deal with. The only thing that I know is that Jane is the one that was abused. I don't really know about Kevin because we haven't really had a chance to talk about the situation.
All I want to do is be able to help the kids, but it's hard to help if you don't know what's going on, especially with Jane being autistic. It's hard when she's sad, happy, sad, angry, all of the above, she gets all the emotions in one. I asked her how she is feeling she goes 'oh I don't know Mum' because it's all these emotions all at once. I'm sad because I'd like to be able to help the kids but I don't know what's going on for them. Jane doesn't know what's going on for her. With Jane, I just sort of step back a bit. I'm still here, but not not in her face or anything. And then Kevin, he will usually come to me when he's ready.
Alicia realises that she can't do it all on her own. She credits other people in her life, for helping her get through difficulties with managing the children's behaviour. The occupational therapist has an awesome rapport with Jane. When I need some advice about what to do or say I actually ring her and talk to her, she's really good like that.
Alicia has also learnt a lot through her Certificate 3 in Disability specialising in Autism. It's definitely opened my eyes a bit more and I'm starting to learn the NDIS. I'm a little bit more understanding of the actual disability itself to be able to try to help Jane in certain areas, because you have to approach things in a certain way. It could be using the right tone of voice. If you growl that creates frustration and doesn't end well. It depends on what's happening in the environment and who's around, as to what happens.
Alicia identifies a number of strengths that have helped her get through the challenges of parenting now. Patience. That's a big thing because if you haven't got patience you're in for a lot of fun. A lot of the time I use patience trying to get Kevin organised or to clean his room or walk the dog. If you don't use patience the big monster comes out and starts roaring instead of talking.
Patience is something that Alicia has used in other parts of her life. When you come off the drugs you can end up really sick and it's not pretty. I guess I started having that [patience] when I got off the drugs. It was very easy to turn around and go back, but I was like 'no no no'. I just kept saying to myself to ride it through, ride it through.
'Hard working' is another strength that Alicia identifies gets her through the day to day. My workload has got big. Before I had the kids there was nothing really but now I get the kids up for school, organising, making sure the kids are ready, get them to make their lunch, get everyone in the car, drop everyone off. Yeah it's pretty hectic now. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
Skills, Knowledge and Qualities for Surviving Hard Times
Alicia believes her skills and knowledge for surviving the Child Protection system may be useful for other parents who are trying to get their children back. Let me tell you, it's a really hard system. Speak up and if they don't listen speak up again. All I can say is just keep going, until they listen. If not, go to the Ombudsman. If I thought about that back then, I probably would have done the same thing, I know that now.
Always go with your gut feeling because 99% of the time it's right. Regardless of whether you spend 2 hours every two months with your kids or 2 hours every week with your kids you still know them regardless. If you see a change in them always speak up, don't ever let it go. Alicia says gut feeling is a skill she developed over time to help her tune into the needs of her children. I didn't really listen to it when they were young, but as the kids started to get older, I could always tell. I just felt sick a lot of the time.
Alicia says having a strong will helped her to never, ever give up. It kept me going it. It kept me continuing all the good stuff I was doing, like fighting another day, taking each day as it comes. Always be there for the kids, don't miss your visits, be consistent. Strong will helped Alicia make the decision to move back to Sydney to live with her dad, to get her life back together. I just spent time working on me, not worrying about where I'm going to get the next drugs from. I just spent time on me and gave myself the chance to grow up. I took the time to basically take care of myself, still see the kids and do what I needed to do. Get back to my healthy self. But I missed out on seeing Chelsea.
I've done parenting programs. I've done Certificate 3 in Aged Care, Home and Community Care and just about finished certificate 3 in Disability and Community Services. I don't even worry about drugs anymore I've got better things to do. I've been clean for nine years. It's awesome I'm so happy about it. I still don't know what I even got out of it. Numbness is the only thing I got out of it. I tell you now I would never ever go there again.
Alicia says stubbornness is a quality that has helped her get her kids back. When the Department had expected Alicia to tow the line and do rehabilitation, she had other ideas about what was best for her. I didn't want rehab because I thought 'No I can do it myself'. It made me sad that they [DOCS] would say that to me but the other half of me was more determined to prove them wrong. I was going to get those kids back no matter what. People can turn around and say 'you can't do this' and I turn around and go 'right that's a challenge'. If people say that I can't do it, I say f*** no, I'll show you how it's done. A year before I gave up the drugs I would walk down the street and there would be other mum's with their kids. I would sit there and say 'what am I doing this s*** for'? I should be like them'. I just said 'I've had enough' and stopped. It bloody wasn't easy.
For all those times that Alicia had the door slammed in her face, it just made her more determined. It made me push harder that's what it did, I wasn't taking that. Regardless of how I felt, I said 'no'. I moved into the background. I continued what I was doing and just kept plugging along with or without them [DOCS]. I had to keep going because I didn't want my kids to think I didn't fight for them. One day if the kids want to look at all the files, they can do that to through Freedom of Information. They will see that I did for fight for them, that I didn't give up. I always had them in mind every time I did something new.
A Message to Other Parents
Much of Alicia's advice to other parents is linked to the two core beliefs that Alicia shared at the beginning of this story. That is every family should be together no matter what and every child deserves a great childhood.
Other parents in the child protection system sometimes give up. Alicia has some ideas on why this might be the case. I believe that some of the hoops that DOCS try to get you to jump through, it just continues and continues. They end up with self doubt. It makes them lose sight of what they want. They think they're going to get something, but not always. From my experience jumping through all these hoops is never-ending. It depends if stuff is actually explained properly, because I mean some people might understand, but other people might not fully understand what is expected of them especially if they're young like I was. I was 21 when I lost my kids and at that stage they walked all over me and just gave up on me in the first place.
DOCS wants you to fall apart and give up and then they don't have to worry about you. Even though I did a little bit when the kids were first taken, then I pulled my socks up. I pulled my arse into gear and got my s*** together. That's what DOCS wants, because then they can turn around and go 'Yeah I told you so'.
You can't give up, no matter how much you want to. If you give up, you're not only giving up on yourself, you're giving up on your kids. If I don't fight for them who's going to? Nobody fights harder than their parents and the kids for that matter. No matter what they [DOCS] throw at you, use it, use it to your advantage. Listen to what they have got to say, regardless of whether it's good or bad, just use it as a strength. If they say you can't have your kids back don't believe that for a second. Believe what you want to believe. If they say 'you can't have it', you say 'yes I can'.
Alicia says guilt held her back from asking for help. I've always been independent and wanting to do things myself. I've always blamed myself for everything that's happened. I thought I could do it on my own. I just basically sucked it up. It was hard but you're better after. There's automatic relief but it's a matter of actually being able to ask for help. Even if you don't have a great deal of family around, don't be discouraged by that. If you need help, reach out. There's services around that will help you. You've just got to get out there and find them. Never be afraid to ask.
For parents that are in the process of getting their children back, Alicia has some wise words to share. I just want people to be a bit more better equipped for what's going to happen.
There are ways of working with lawyers that Alicia believes is important. Make sure that they hear exactly what you want to say, exactly the way you tell them. Make sure you tell them, it doesn't matter how small the details. Make sure that they tell the judge what you want the judge to know. It's really, really important.
In working with DOCS and the court system Alicia also has some advice. Keep your mindset about the kids. Make that your whole motivation while you're there. Always make sure that you're well presented, that actually means a lot. It could mean wearing your black and whites. Make sure you're wearing clean and tidy clothes. Make sure your hair is brushed. Always sit there with your chin up because it shows that you're listening, you're listening to every single word that's being said. You don't want them to think that you're not listening because trust me that doesn't go very good. At the end of the day whatever you do or whatever you wear, use the fact that you're there for your kids as your motivation always.
When all may seem hopeless and lost, Alicia has these final words. When it might seem like the end, let it be the start. My biggest thing is never give up. Never be discouraged. At the end of the day it's all about the kids. No matter what you think or do, I always think about the kids.
And even if you can't get your kids back, Alicia agrees you can stay active in their lives. Make sure they always know where you are, that you are always there.
An Invitation to Connect
Alicia hopes that by sharing her story, the voices of other mums and dads are heard and taken notice of by 'the system'. I want to encourage other parents to document their story as I have done, as it has been a wonderful healing process for me.
After reading Alicia's story, we invite you to write a message to send back to her . Here are some questions to guide your response.
- As you read Alicia's story, were there any words that caught your attention? Which ones?
- When you read these words, what pictures came to your mind about Alicia and what is important to her (ie. hopes, dreams, values and beliefs)? Can you describe that picture?
- Is there something about your own life that helps you connect with this part of the story? Can you share a story from your own experience that shows why this part of the story meant something to you?
- So what does it mean for you now, having read Alicia's story? How have you been moved? Where has this experience taken you to?
Please send your message to Lucy Van Sambeek at email@example.com
If you would like to connect with others who are touched by the experience of child removal, please join us on our closed Facebook Group.


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Jamie, co-founder of Zen Monkey Studios, is stuck at home like the rest of us, and will package this pin set just for you!
While we're all feeling toxic right now, it's also a good time to work on inner peace!
This combo includes:
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- 1 - One True Morty Pin
This combo is available for $29.99 + $4 shipping!


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Customer Testimonial: Movie Maker Air Bud Explains How Cohesity Makes Data Protection Easier and Less Expensive
Prior to discovering Cohesity, Air Bud Entertainment was experiencing a lot of challenges with its legacy backup solution. The film maker has made more than twenty popular kid movies, which means backing up and archiving a lot of data – some of it indefinitely. With AirBud's legacy environment, backups were taking weeks and would often crash at the end, resulting in a do-over.
Watch this video to hear why Air Bud's technical director, Tyson Clark, recommends Cohesity data protection to anyone who needs backup or secondary storage: "It's super fast, super easy to use, and gives you native AWS Glacier support, which is nice when doing archival data."


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The bountiful expression of wholeness and color, this horse moves comfortable in any environment. Vivid and kind, all four of his feet are off the ground, sending a clear message of both flight and freedom. His curved shape suggests warmth and intimacy. Arabian horses were the most prized possession of the Bedouin as he could travel long distance across the desert on horseback. Called "Drinkers of the Wind", Arabians could travel without much water, ad seemed to thrive on the desert breezes. Because he was so prized Arabians lived in the tents as one of the family. Keeping him healthy and safe kept the family safe. The Arabian story is an inspiration to all.
This is the first time this very special painting has been offered for sale online.
In two panels, the upper panel measures 36x48" and the lower piece is 12x48", for a total size of 48x48".
Wired, Ready to hang, shipping in the US included.
An homage to the original horse painters and artists creating on cave walls... as artists we always use whatever is at hand! The main caves of Lascaux in France and...
Mixed media, acrylic, inks, archival spray. Cave painting. Inspired by essence and form. Modernist, elegant, perfect in any location, as its simplicity inspires the pure beauty of the equine and...


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After remarkable successes in the enduro, 4X and marathon downhill formats, Onza Tires has now set its sights on the freeride market. What better way to start then with new team riders such as James Doerfling, one of the stars of Canada's freeride community.
Whether at contests like the Red Bull Rampage or on set for a movie, 26 year-old Canadian James Doerfling has repeatedly been turning heads as he feels no section is too sketchy, no line too steep and exposed and no jump to high and far. He refers to his riding style as «big mountain freeride», something he has acquired over the years riding the rugged mountains of British Columbia. Like a skier in winter, Doerfling is always looking for spectacular lines to ride with lots of power and flow, but without any fear. He does all of that in natural settings widely untouched by humans.
This mix of thrills, style, skills and breathtaking scenery has earned James Doerfling segments in mountain bike movies such as «Where The Trail Ends» and «Kranked». But Doerfling has also shown repeatedly strong performances at freeride contests. Last fall, he was an excellent second after the qualifying at the Red Bull Rampage although he could not repeat his performance in his two final runs, ending up sixth. Whether at the Red Bull Rampage or at Châtel's «Mountain Style», James is at his best when others start to scan the terrain for less extreme lines.
Having grown up in Williams Lake, Doerfling is a typical resident of British Columbia's rural backcountry. When he's not ripping down mountain slopes on his mountain bike or snowboard, he likes to relax and go fishing or hunting. People like James Doerfling know how to survive without a supermarket close by – and he does so to unwind a couple of times per year. He also has big plans for the season ahead: «We will be doing a bunch of web video stuff mostly, and then I'd like to do even better than last year at the Red Bull Rampage at the end of the season. After having been second in qualifying last year, that's not going to be all that easy.»
James Doerfling is looking forward to the cooperation with Onza Tires: «Getting to work with new sponsors is always exciting. I'm stoked to be teaming up with Onza Tires to help them develop some of the best tires on the market. You really need a lot of trust in your equipment to ride big mountain terrain. The new tires have been amazing, and with Onza Tires I have no doubts about dropping into any chute lines.»
Vital stats James Doerfling
Nickname: Redneck, Hauser
Date of Birth: July 7, 1986
Hometown: Williams Lake BC
First Time on a Bike: Too young to remember
Years Riding: over 10
Riding Style: Big Mountain Freeride
Influences: Jeremy Jones
Favourite Trail: China, BC
Drinks: Beer
Drives: Cummins
Music: I listen to a little bit of everything
Your Rules to live by: Never look back
Typical Day: Wake Up and Kill it all day
Red Bull Rampage 2012: 2nd in Qualifying, 6th at Contest,
8th at Châtel Mountain Style 2008 and 2009,
6th Red Bull Rampage Qualifying 2010,
Film Segments Kranked 6 – 8, Where the Trail Ends
Spare Time: Snowboarding, Fishing, Hunting


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Work to Do
A couple of weekends ago I taught a Mixed Media Art Journaling class at the Mendocino Art Center. The center is located in the quaint artsy coastal town of Mendocino in on the Northern California coast. It's a beautiful little town and a lovely place to teach. On Saturday, after teaching, I made my way to the local bookstore and as I often do, I found myself thumbing through the poetry section. This poem of Mary Oliver's spoke to me and I used it as my inspiration for my Sunday demonstration in my workshop the next day.
I Go Down to The Shore
I go down to the shore in the morning
and depending on the hour the waves
are rolling in our moving out,
and I say, ok, I am miserable,
what shall –
what should I do? And the sea says
in it's lovely voice:
Excuse me, I have work to do.
–Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings
The poem speaks to where I am right now- "I have work to do". I had a summer with busy parts and lazy parts, visits, travels and guests. It is wonderful to get out of the routine, get out of the ordinary, to play with the rhythm of the day and the rhythm of the week. But at some point it is time to return to ordinary time. There is comfort in the return – the structure of rising early, exercise, and getting down to the business at hand. This week was that for me, doing Ranch work, making sketches for a commission, meetings, emails, even this blog, all of it. My to-do list has been sitting ignored for some time now and this week it's boxes were checked, things completed new items added. It is both daunting and invigorating to return. So forgive me if I brush past you in my bustle, like the sea, "I have work to do".
6 responses
Lovely Lisa! I'm hoping those sketches are for our work together!! 🙂
August 19, 2016 at 1:53 pm
So beautifully rendered, Lisa! I resonate with Mary O's poetry and your fine visual art. Thank you to you both for sharing this with a "perpetual wannabe." 😜
Sent from my iPad
August 20, 2016 at 11:37 am
One of my favorite of your blog postings. Thank you for reminding me. I'm going now…
August 21, 2016 at 1:32 am
Pingback: Work to Do — Lisa Thorpe's Mandala Challenge | Earthenware Ministry


text: Back with another round of scans and a bit of an explanation. My trusty old scanner started having issues before Christmas and I ordered a replacement. Unfortunately after waiting for the store to source one (after New Year), they didn't, so then I had to find another option. So I have a new scanner and I'm still trying to work out its tricks and what it can do. It frustrating because technically Canon still make my old scanner you just can't get one. At least I still have my good friend Photoshop to do the polishing. So here, at last, are the February issues of Duet, Potato and WinkUp. Duet 2016.02 -- 22.4Mb -- MEGA Potato 2016.02 -- 20.6Mb -- MEGA WinkUp 2016.02 -- 20.7Mb -- MEGA


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We have had a superb days skiing, it snowed practically all night so Park City was full of powder. It has taken a little while to learn how to ski powder properly, today seemed to be the turning point for both of us, although Angus did some spectacular face plants, at one point he dissappeared from view only to emerge covered head to foot in snow. I must say the training we did with Tim Dudgeon has paid off, Tim skied free style moguls for Great Britain in the Nagano winter Olympics which is no mean feat. In my whole life I have only known two Olympians one being Tim and the other a very dear friend of Lindsay's, Lorraine Baker she competed for GB in two Olympics as a 800m runner where she made the finals in one and the semi's in the other an outstanding achievment , if you consider the Worlds population is circa 6.5 billion people and only 10,000 compete in The Games it only serves to prove how exceptional you must be to get there.
We went out early this morning and went all over the mountain, we even took on some of their strongest blacks and survived one was called The Widowmaker I wondered why their were so many wives at the top urging their husbands on. It was busier than previous but the minute you get off the beaten track it soon quitens down.
Tonight we headed off to Deer Valley to watch the world cup aerials for both men and women, these people reach heights in excess of 50 feet, it was the finals and a real spectical there was a live band (plenty of 10s and 24s out) and a party after the event , all in all a good night.
Tomorrow we head off to an area known as the Canyons they have a deal running 1 adult, 1 junior pass $80 to include 2 beers and 2 burgers can't be bad, and with all the powder that is around it is shaping up to be a fun day.


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voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
SRDP - Agri-Environment Climate SchemeCreated: 21/01/2019
The Agri-Environment Climate Scheme promotes land management practices which protect and enhance Scotland's magnificent natural heritage, improve water quality, manage flood risk and mitigate and adapt to climate change. It will also help to improve public access and preserve historic sites.
AECS funding for environmentally-friendly land management practices is open for the next 12 weeks.
For more information, click here.
Next deadline: 12 April 2019


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Do You Need A Custom Mouthguard This Fall? [QUIZ]
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U2.com 2018 Subscription FAQ Thread
flariviere replied to bigwave's topic in All About U2I got my 2017 subscription gift last month only (redeemed it in May 2017). So I was over the moon to get an email yesterday saying my 2018 had "already" been shipped... to my OLD address! I have changed my address on my account over 9 months ago and they have sent my 2017 gift to the correct address, but they apparently decided to use the old one anyway for the 2018 gift. I called and the lady took my "new" address (even though it is the address showing on the order page for my gift on the website) and she said it would be shipped again to me when in stock, in the order the gifts are redeemed. I expect to wait as long as I did for my 2017 gift now... Someone needs to get a grip at Live Nation Merchandise. It is just a terrible, terrible service!


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HMV chief executive Alan Giles today said he was stepping down as the music and books store reported disappointing sales over Christmas.
Mr Giles, 51, has been chief executive since 1998 but will retire from HMV in December this year.
The shock announcement came as the company reported a 5.5% fall in like-for-like sales at its HMV stores in the five weeks to January 7, while like-for-like sales at Waterstone's were down 2.4%.
Margins were also hit in the UK following increased levels of discounting compared with the previous Christmas.
Mr Giles' decision to retire could throw into doubt HMV's controversial takeover bid of smaller independent bookstore Ottakar's.
The deal has already faced ferocious opposition from publishers and authors and has been referred to the Competition Commission.
On the subject of his retirement, Mr Giles said: "I will miss the excitement and camaraderie of working with such a talented team, but after more than 30 years in retailing I feel it is time to move on to the next stage of my career."
He said he wanted to develop "a portfolio of non-executive roles".
HMV also announced that former IBM UK chairman and chief executive Carl Symon will succeed David Kappler as chairman.
Today's half-year results and Christmas trading update was the first September when HMV reported a sharp dip in summer sales and warned of a gloomy outlook for the rest of the year.
The company said today: "Both HMV and Waterstone's delivered a marked improvement in trading over Christmas following very difficult conditions in the autumn."
HMV was boosted by sales of Eminem and Robbie Williams CDs, while the Lee Evans XL Tour 2005 Live DVD also performed well. Earlier in the year, new albums by Coldplay and Gorillaz were popular with shoppers.
At Waterstone's, best-selling books included Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver, Sharon Osbourne's autobiography and Untold Stories by Alan Bennett.
But Christmas offers at both stores meant margins fell.
HMV fared much better in Canada and Asia Pacific over the festive season, but like-for-like sales for the whole group fell 2.7%.
The decline in Christmas sales followed tough trading conditions throughout the autumn, which saw HMV's operating profits slump to £2.8 million in the six months to October 29 from £15.7 million a year earlier.
Like-for-like sales dived 6.1% in the period, although growth from new stores ensured that total revenues were only £500,000 down at £759.7 million.
Mr Giles said: "The competitive pressures faced by our UK businesses made trading very difficult during the autumn period.
"Despite the improving trend at Christmas, the group retains a cautious view of the outlook, and we remain very focused on maintaining tight control of our costs and on maximising our performance over the remainder of the year."
HMV makes about 90% of its profits in the second half of its financial year, which includes the key Christmas period.


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{look how young and fresh-faced we look. oh, pre E-monster life}
3 years ago today, Adam got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife for time and all eternity.
i said yes then and i would say yes all over again.
if i had known how wonderful life would be being married to Adam, i would've sucked up my pride and gotten married sooner!
i am so grateful Adam loved me enough to choose me to be his wife.
and he has constantly showed me love and compassion ever since the day we met.
i love you, Adam Benjamin Robinson!
and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY & ARIZONA'S BIRTHDAY
to all of you!
make it a good one!
:::p.s. if you do read my old blog post announcing our engagement, please understand three things: 1. i was really excited, 2. i was trying to tell the story fast, and 3. my writing definitely was not top notch (not that it is now either but it was much worse then). i need to write out the whole story on my blog someday but just haven't yet so that will do for now :)


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by StarLeaf | Booth: 11-C120
Traditional video conferencing systems can end up being more of a hinderance than a help, severely impacting the productivity of everyone in an organization. At the very worst, staff could see video conferencing systems as a productivity trap, rather than as a useful platform helping them to collaborate with their colleagues.
Our recent survey of IT decision-makers revealed, UK employees participate in 26 video conference calls a month on average, and that 90% experience problems when first trying to connect. This is a staggering figure and these challenges can really eat into an employee's working day. The ideal scenario is for people to enter a meeting room, instantly join a video conference call and share their laptop screen, without interruptions.
It's time for businesses to free up IT department resources, simplify communications and give users a better experience. People want and need to be able to get on with their jobs and collaborate with their colleagues.


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Friday, October 19, 2007
The Big Gulp
Being in criminal law, the crime / law shows were worse torture. Even supposedly gritty ones like "N.Y.P.D. Blue" and "Homicide" rankled.
My loved ones banned me from movies on the subject after "The Verdict," when I gagged on my Big Gulp in so many scenes that I needed a Heimlich to survive.
So why did I rent "Fracture"? Anthony Hopkins & Ryan Gosling, two of my favorites outsmarting each other, that was the hook.
And I wasn't disappointed by their scenes together — the brilliant, sly defendant vs. the young, slick D.A. Hopkins and Gosling were fine.
But the plot's turns that depend on The Law had me laughing and gagging again. The suspense and the payoffs rely on two bits of legalisms that are completely bogus.
The judge throws out a signed confession because one of the officers in the room had been having a secret love affair with the victim, the wife of the guy who confesses that he shot her. I could swallow the melodramatic stretch of this unlikely event. That's not what bothered me. But the law is wrong. No judge would find such a confession to be coerced on that evidence. Nope, uh-uh. Never happen in any court in the U.S.
The second supposedly surprising legal twist is that after the brilliant defendant is acquitted of attempted murder of his now comatose wife, he signs papers that get her plugs pulled and she dies. He thinks double jeopardy will prevent his re-trial. Uh-uh. Wrong again.
This was the same plot blunder made by an Ashley Judd film a few years ago callled "Double Jeopardy". Ashley was convicted of killing her husband when he vanished from their boat and while in prison, she discovers that he is still alive. She is released and goes to find him, confronts him and kills him, getting away with it because as we all know, "you can't be punished twice for the same crime." Nope. Sorry. Not true. Never has been true. The law would simply apologize for its first mistake and lock you up again.
Now, don't get me wrong. I get it that shortcuts and contrived plot devices are sometimes necessary to make a story work. I don't mind it if the inaccuracies are incidental to the main point. But when it is the Big Twisteroo or when the movie is intended as a commentary on "The Legal System," artistic licenses should be revoked.
2 comments:
the most annoying thing about those plot devices is that even if the point of the film is not to be a critique of the legal system, audiences nevertheless leave the film righteously indignant at how stupid/sloppy/unjust the system is, thanks to whatever inane contrivance the twist depended upon. i suspect it's because in most other areas of life, which people know based on experience, audiences are adept at picking out obvious lies - if a character tumbled down a mountainside and came up without a bruise, audiences would cry foul. but when it comes to the law, relatively few people (even lawyers, i suspect!) are well-versed or thoughtful enough to know the difference between reality and utter bullshit. yet ignorance has never prevented anyone from having an opinion and that's why audiences leave a film like THE VERDICT furious at the injustices of our 'system' without ever stopping to think maybe it's not the system that's to blame, but the screenwriter!ReplyDelete
True. I've talked films with teachers, doctors, cops, athletes, and hookers. All bitch about films about subjects they know about in the same tone of annoyance. Even writers who claim to be part of the profession "cheat" in this way. Film bios & histories are notorious for this. But such is the power of film, TV, and pop culture in general that the film becomes the truth. Ask Oliver Stone & John Ford.ReplyDelete


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Boo Hewerdine & Gustaf Ljunggren: Before and Katherine Priddy
Boo Hewerdine & Gustaf Ljunggren: Before and Katherine Priddy
Celtic Connections
Dates and times
In characteristically unexpected contrast to the full-band, full-bodied pop sound of 2017's Swimming in Mercury, Boo Hewerdine's new album Before seeks to capture songs at their earliest, arguably purest point of creation: before too much thought creeps in. Hewerdine then enlisted Swedish musical polymath Gustaf Ljunggren, on Dulcitone, Indian harmonium, Mellotron, langspil (a traditional Icelandic zither) and other outré instruments, to respond instinctually in kind. This intriguing duo journey continues here.
Since releasing her debut EP Wolf back in September 2018, Katherine Priddy has been quietly gaining notoriety and turning all the right heads. The EP quickly amassed radio plays from an array of DJ's including Gideon Coe, Mark Radcliffe, Janice Long & Tom Robinson, all jumping on-board and championing the release. The great Richard Thompson named it as his 'Best Thing I've Heard All Year 2018' in MOJO Magazine and chose Katherine as his tour support in Ireland in August 2019.
A limited number of additional tickets will be released through via the Tron Theatre Box Office from November 24th.
Venue Map
Trongate, Glasgow, G1 5HB


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Ethical analysis of Uber's culture
Every agency or corporation
has unique characteristics and behavioral mechanisms. Organizational culture
and ethics depict the character of the corporation (Johnson, 2011). Culture is
composed of values, norms, assumptions, and artifacts of the agency's people
and their acts. Given time, members of a company come to experience the precise
way of life and ethics of the organisation. The number one goal of the
organizational way of life is to provide shared goals and core values that boost
mutual trust and goodwill. Also, a not unusual set of values offer the
contributors with a coherent set of simple assumptions which results in a extra
green work output. Additionally, company way of life and ethics gives control,
mitigates communication issues, and fosters dedication amongst the various
workers. Because of this, the researcher chose to investigate the moral culture
of Uber agency due to its achievement and screw ups in the secular marketplace.
In 2008, Garret Camp bought
StumbleUpon to eBay while putting out with a fellow entrepreneur referred to as
Travis Kalanick. This got Camp interested by solving Taxi trouble in San
Francisco. The original idea become to
first achieve drivers, a parking spot in a garage, and a Mercedes S elegance.
The value would be split most of the entrepreneurs along an iPhone utility. by
means of March 2009, the 2 businessmen came up with a call which become
UberCab. In June 2009, Camp employed Kalanick because the Uber's leader
incubator as the former ran a complete-time gig at StumbleUpon. Seven months
later, Oscar Salazar, Camp and Kalanick modified the call of the employer to
Uber tested the prototype of the service on the streets of latest York. With
the help of buyers, Uber raised $11in February 2011.
Over the subsequent six
months, Uber spread its wings to Boston, Washington D.C, Seattle, and Chicago
and in a while went international. By 2016, Uber was able to provide its
services to over 540 cities (Chokkattu, 2016).
Uber's workplace climate
Consistent with Johnson
(2011), moral tradition refers back to the documented approaches and systems
that define a shared set of an company's center standards and values.
businesses regularly layout these moral ideas in formal systems or written form
including reward and incentive applications, rules and structures,
organizational policies, purchaser characters, and code of ethics. different
formal strategies that agencies use to enhance ethical requirements are
schooling, disciplinary and enforcement mechanisms, Peer behavior and other
moral norms fall underneath the category of casual mechanisms.
The Code of conduct of Uber
Uber's venture is to create
opportunities for the cities, riders, and drivers. They offer services to the
community through using drivers, imparting reliable transport mechanisms, and
enhancing the cities' economic system. by using being mindful and devoted to
their vision, they are answerable for their prospects well-being. further to this,
the code of behavior of Uber for drivers tells them to keep away from
discrimination, aggressiveness, and constantly maintain safe. The organisation
additionally brought a new board that evaluations the safety practices and
advises its employees on the roadmap for extra protection features to the platform.
Additionally, Uber invited off-responsibility safety officers and law
enforcement officials to scrutinize what they have got in location. The action
above try to audit the safety application ("criminal", 2016).
Public view of Uber
Notwithstanding the Code of
conduct laid out by means of Uber, the general public have negative things to
mention approximately the employer. for instance, years ago, Uber arbitrarily cut their driver
quotes through 50%, insisting that Uber's 250,000, now over half million,
drivers might generate extra income(Chokkattu, 2016). So, after drivers drove
two times as many miles, spent two times as much time, spent two times as lots
on gas and renovation fees, drivers might feel the Uber providence. Uber
pounded this hallucination, on the equal the time deceptive an all toowilling
public into believing the fares protected a motive force gratuity. Each Cornell
and The Harvard commercial enterprise faculty stood at the back of Uber's no
gratuity policy. The enterprise faculty and Uber's executives insinuated and
perpetuated the false narrative of a integrated tip. It certainlydidn't seem as
if those esteemed faculties have been worried with the wellness of the running
guy. The public is absolutely at a loss for words by using the whole loss of
attention given to Uber's exploitation and callousness in the direction of
labor. The reality that drivers are their bosses is again each untrue and
deceptive. Uber is a outstanding service, but they must without a doubt show
empathy towards the working magnificence.
These businesses are going
to attain a tipping factor due to the fact the undeveloped middle cannot
maintain the burgeoning complete. Uber turned into built on an opportunist reputation
of the political ideology towards such things as exertions laws or maybe worker
decency. It turned into, from the inception, a bully that aimed to take down
economics of transportation and to displace hundreds who had worked years to
accumulate their cab medallions. So, what happened changed into that it had
managers who were misogynists.
Ethical challenges confronted through Uber
Ethical issues are a superb
subject for the company. Uber has suffered a spate of poor publicity in recent
days after allegations of discrimination and harassment from a former software
engineer ("every other Uber Engineer goes Public With Sexism and Harassment
Allegations", 2017). The engineer complained to the Human aid manager who, in
retrospect, sided with the harasser. Such movements are unconstitutional and
dangerous. additionally, the movements and public utterances of Uber's pinnacle
managers have been questionable as some distance as ethics and enterprise
practices are concerned. as an instance, the CEO of Uber, Travis Kalamick
changed into on record as pronouncing that they employed rudimentary manner to
scare off their competition from the market. In August 2014, Uber was mentioned
as the usage of dubious strategies to persuade their competitor's drivers to illness
to Uber. The most affected competitor changed into Lyft which had maximum in
their rides canceled. there has been additionally some other accusation of Uber
prying into reporters' non-public lives.
Customer security also stays
a non-prioritized trouble contrary to commercial propagandas. Unprofessional
drivers are contracted by using the agency to provide cheap offerings. Such
movements value financial dangers to the lives of clients who can in any other
case no longer meet the pricing wishes of more high priced services. lack of
tracking and evaluation mechanisms that centers on purchaser protection
additionally places the protection of passengers at stake. The cases of unethical drivers sexually
assaulting passengers have trounced the organization and in the end brought
about the cancellation of its offerings in some countries. Unethical behavior
is caused by the reality that drivers most effective perform on settlement
terms without being permanently employed by using the enterprise.
The agency has additionally
been cited to put in force fee surge at some point of emergency times that are
pretty unfriendly to its users. The fees are stated to at instances sevenfold
the commonly charged rates. The firm does no longer own cars and heavily
consequently closely is based on automobiles utilized by their drivers; this
jeopardizes the consolation of their offerings as a number of the vehicles are
not pleasant to wheelchairs which may be a priorityfor some clients. regulations prolonged to the organization
have occasioned inconveniences to its customers. moreover, a few international
locations have give you rules that don't help the offerings provided by means
of the firm mentioning unfair benefit.
every other assignment
confronted by means of Uber is the lack of worker motivation. The drivers lack
a coherent repayment arrangement, consequently, have suffered price cuts to
cater for fees incurred in imparting offerings at low fees. This amongst
different challenges performs a critical position in tainting the logo photo of
the enterprise for this reason irritating Uber's preference to achieve complete
diversification across the whole globe.
As a result, drivers lose their loyalty to the corporation because they
are no longer on everlasting employment arrangements. The business enterprise
additionally heavily costs the drivers to cut on charges incurred in the manner
of presenting cheap rides to clients. cases of motive force court cases have
therefore been at the rise; which means different corporations stand a chance
to accumulate the services of this drivers, and this flow will exceptionally
affect Uber. The above state of affairs places competition which includes Lyft
in a higher role to compete favorably inside the marketplace because it complements
screening of its drivers and make sure they hold better ethical requirements
while on provider.
Uber Ratings
The strategic technique a
company chooses to pursue performs a important position in enhancing and
maintaining the fulfillment of its enterprise. Uber employs diversification as
a strategy toimprove the fulfillment of its operations. Diversification
enhances the competitiveness of the organization via widening the scope of its
products and services and increasing the number of its customers. fee
differentiation method based on nature of the product helped to fulfill the
varied desires of all clients no matter their financial variations. The company
as well engaged in strategic partnerships with local companies which include
American express as well as with international entities consisting of times net
(India), Baidu (China), and the yank Movil (Latin the us). This strategic
method enabled the corporation to merge understanding from numerous entities as
a way of making improvements to its offerings (Chokkattu, 2016).
The company invests closely
in promotion efforts to growth logo cognizance.the thrill marketing method is
hired in making sure patron attention to presented merchandise. the usage of fb
Campaigns is used to enhance its dominance inside the marketplace. The
promotion projects are also tailor-made toward stressing the ease and friendly
costs of available products and services. in addition to this, Uber-business
enterprise faces competition from different operators together with Lyft and
has to ensure powerful performance to stay competitive in the marketplace.
The organization has been
able to collect better profits from its operations and predicts $10 billion
revenue series with an approximated summed valuation of $40 billion. The influx
of sales is attributed to the growth in customer numbers as well as the surge
price approach which doubles fees in the course of times of better demand and
emergencies. The company executed product diversification and appeared to be
making wonderful improvements inside the enhancing patron loyalty.
specifications of the patron are especially prioritized, and this has enhanced
the nice performance of its manufacturers throughout the towns and nations of
operation. The number of drivers affiliated to the agency is likewise seen to
be popping up no matter instances of lack of pleasure many of the drivers.
Abuse of Corporate authority
The present leadership of
Uber-enterprise is perceived as being unfair to its drivers. The corporation,
for example, has evolved strict regulations and regulations that drivers should
conform with. for example, Uber-organization calls for its drivers to simply
accept 99 percent of the ride requests they get hold of, to undertake as a
minimum one experience every hour and to remain on-line for fifty mins in step
with hour. those restrictions restrict drivers from supplying services to
services that base on ride-sharing. The limitations are seen to deal with
drivers as personnel instead of their operation on contracts.
The gain of this regulations
is that it ensures the drivers are constantly in operation, consequently,
increasing the revenue for the company. This method is however no longer an
excellent one as it increases conflicts with drivers and can cause instances of
moves; tThis would cause low revenues, a decline in income in addition to will
taint the coolest call and photo of the enterprise("every other Uber Engineer
goes Public With Sexism and Harassment Allegations", 2017).
it's far obvious that Uber's
ethical behavior is questionable. Uber's CEO become heard admitting to
sabotaging its competition. That alone must imply where Kalanick's ethical
compass directs itself. moreover, more extensively, the corporation has thus far
skirted tax payments via claiming that its drivers are contractors.
however,Uber treats its drivers like personnel disturbing rather particular
tasks to be executed in fairly unique ways. The drivers grow to be on the
fast-cease with few bargaining rights. Uber has lied approximately what a
motive force can earn. The FTC currently ruled in opposition to Uber for false
claims stated in its employment ads on sites like Craigs. cities and countries
around the sector have filed proceedings towards the firm for violating
exertions legal guidelines. Its drivers have been accused of sexual attack.
Additionally, this wild west
way of life is common among tech startups — the imperative is to grow and grow
quick and supply value speedy. It seems like the folks that advanced the middle
enterprise has no concept what it method to be an organisation or a supervisor,
are ignorant of the moral requirements of getting employees, and feature little
or no revel in in developing a organization (developing commercial enterprise being
a separate issue). upload to that the fact that many of these tech startups are
initiated through individuals who are stoked at their first tastes of superb
This is the bottom line for
Uber:The employer is reminiscent of Enron, with a rank and yank subculture
pervading the vicinity.because Uber generates lots of coins ($3B/yr), it
desires to find a manner to make its commercial enterprise version paintings at
scale. It has now not achieved that yet, because of this that some thing that
increases motive force attribution or makes recruiting tougher for the employer
is not right for business. Scandals like the above referred to negatively
effect the organisation. What Uber's CEO desires to comprehend is that he has
some extreme ethical blind spots.
The enterprise needs to
build a healthful courting with its employees. In essence, the effect will sell
the picture of the enterprise and its emblem.
The strategy is likewise capable of resulting inefficient operations via
the fact that more drivers will be drawn to the corporation. improving a
motivating compensatory package to the drivers will sell their loyalty to the
enterprise, and this can play a important position in ending unethical conduct
a few of the drives. beginning this method may even bring about complete
employment of the drivers, and as a result, expert schooling might be
prioritized. In turn, the operational restrictions imposed to Uber will be
lifted. The approach will, consequently, play a important role in efforts
towards figuring out the need to gain product awareness as well understand more
proportion of the marketplace. notwithstanding the referred to blessings of
this strategy, one awareness that comes out without a doubt that the approach
will swell the wage invoice of the company and will result in a decline inside
the found out profits. irrespective of the above, the strategy turns out to a
promising approach, and the organisation need to recollect implementing it.
satisfaction some of the drivers may be completed so one can make certain they
work tirelessly to beautify their productivity.
Uber can decide to spend
money on modern efforts. The referred to approach is fine as it will play a
essential position in maintaining the corporation's competitive advantage. The
plan will ensure the business enterprise can give you better approaches of
addressing its challenges accordingly assisting its efforts. The technique, as
an instance, will develop the want to get with knowledgeable mechanisms of
solving the desires raised by means of drivers. other than the referred to
advantages of this approach, it will help deal with future needs of clients
through enabling the organization to own electric as well as self-driven motors
as a consequence selling the efficiency of operations. Innovation initiatives
will play a essential position in developing the enterprise leading tohigher
profit margins.
The foremost hazards posed
with the aid of this strategy is that it will require big sums of capital and
also will render drivers jobless because of the presence of self-driven
automobiles. The technique requiresmuch time to be fully functional. In effect,
the employer may lose plenty of earnings inside the event of looking forward to
an initiative which is in its experimentalstages; the outcome of the approach
is consequently no longer time pleasant. but, this approach is a great pick. It
has the efficiency to assist the company solve its present day issues, plan and
overcome destiny demanding situations by way of so doing it promotes
operational performance. Uber being rather reliant on the era world should,
therefore, recall this method as a mechanism toward solvingthe motive force
related and different issues and ensuring income maximization.
The alternative
recommendation is for Uber to cognizance on rate. awareness price approach is superb as it
helps to beautify purchaser loyalty due to great locations. This approach may
also make Uber collect large marketplace percentage due to it being coined
across the want to enhance consumer delight.
This method can even make the business enterprise realize greater income
due to an boom in purchaser base. The mentioned boom in patron base means that
Uber will get the vital finances to meet compensatory needs of its drivers. The
cons of the method are that it is able to bring about a loss to the
organisation. The strategy as well may want to event underpayment to drivers in
conditions where income aren't finished to the most. The focus fee method
additionally denies the company the opportunity to take advantage of
emergencies as well as different occurrences that might in any other case
necessitate doubling of the charges. The researcher could, therefore, recommend
that Uber pursue the focal point charge method aimed at helping it acquire
emblem attention, better market stocks, improved profits and as a result
capable of meet the compensatory wishes of its drivers.
The company's social duty is
to give freedom to the personnel to reveal the paintings lifestyle of the
groups. What is going on at Uber is surprising – the manager molesting female
personnel at a hotel is underwhelming. The scope of the freedom facts laws
should be widened and covering employees' rights to speak about work way of
life, and the confidentiality clause should no longer gag the workforce. Moreover,
the control ought to combine the moral duties to the school curriculum. Uber should
seek to additionally reform their inner value systems and stick to the global
code of conduct to avoid its collapse.
Uber Engineer is going
Public With Sexism and Harassment Allegations. (2017). Fortune.com. Retrieved
four March 2017, from http://fortune.com/2017/03/03/uber-engineer-sexism/
Chokkattu, J. (2016). A
quick records Of Uber. TechCrunch. Retrieved 4 March 2017, from https://techcrunch.com/gallery/a-quick-records-of-uber/
Johnson, C. (2011).
Organizational Ethics (1st ed.).
Legal.(2016). Uber.com.
Retrieved 4 March 2017.


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Review: Samsung Galaxy S7 Active for AT&T
Hardware Software Wrap Up Comments
Editor's Note: The Galaxy S7 Active may look different from the Galaxy S7, but it has the exact same processor, RAM, camera, and other core components. It also runs the same version of Android and has the same build of Samsung's TouchWiz UI and apps. Therefore, we've carried over portions of the text below from our review of the Galaxy S7. Rest assured, we fully tested every feature of the S7 Active for AT&T.
Lock Screen
Samsung took a page from some of its competitors when it comes to the lock screen. The biggest and most important change is the inclusion of an "always on" screen that shows the date, time, battery level, and core notifications from email, messaging, and the phone. This way you can snag a quick status update without pressing any buttons or waking the phone up. It's truly helpful. Like the Lumia Glance Screen, the S7 Active's status tool floats around the display sort of like an old-school screen saver. Nostalgia!
Other than this change, the lock screen works mostly as it does on every other Android smartphone. Pressing the home button or screen lock button will fully wake the display and you'll see the time, date, notifications, and several app shortcuts. I like that you can customize how much detail is revealed by the individual notifications. (If you care to burrow deep into the settings menu you can tweak exactly how each app is allowed to notify you.) The lock screen includes shortcuts to the phone app and camera. You can't customize the app shortcuts, which is a bit of a shame.
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The physical home button doubles as a fingerprint reader. That means you can use your fingerprint to secure the phone. I trained several prints and found it to be mostly reliable. It's not quite as quick as the print readers on the iPhone 6s or HTC 10, but it is quick enough for daily use. Other security options include patterns, PINs, and passwords, which can be set to switch on immediately or after a specified interval. Choose wisely.
Home Screen
The Galaxy S7 runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow. That means it includes some of the core new features from Google, such as Doze and Now On Tap. As expected, however, Samsung plastered its TouchWiz UI on top of the base platform. The results are mixed, but not all that different from any other phone Samsung has released in recent memory.
There are three home screen panels active out of the box and they are filled with an assortment of Samsung and AT&T apps and services. It takes some effort, but you can clear away the junk and customize the home screen panels with the apps, shortcuts, and widgets of your choosing. I like that Samsung allows you to assign which panel is the home panel, such as the middle screen or left-most screen, etc. You can activate the Briefing panel (which is Flipboard) if you want, or ignore it. If activated, Flipboard automatically becomes the left-most panel.
One thing I dislike: the button to access the app drawer is anchored to the far right of the home screen dock. I prefer the button to be in the middle, but Samsung won't let you move it around. Worse, the dock only fits four buttons across where many phones fit five buttons. Oddly, you can adjust the size of the home screen panel grid between 4x4, 4x5, or 5x5 icons, depending on how many apps you want on each screen. Doing this, however, doesn't change the 4-icon limit in the dock. C'mon, Samsung!
As for the app drawer, Samsung organizes it into horizontal panels. Out of the box, there is a single panel that has a handful of folders jammed with AT&T, Samsung, and Google apps. Samsung normally allows users to choose between alphabetical order, custom order, or order based on frequency. If you choose alphabetical order, which is what I prefer, all of the apps are pulled out of folders and listed individually. On the S7 Active, choosing the alphabetical arrangement doesn't pull the folder-bound apps out. This is really annoying to me. You can take the time to individually remove the folders. These are small complaints, I suppose, but the S7 Active is harder to tweak in this regard than the GS6 or other Samsung phones.
There is no change to how Samsung treats the settings screens. You can choose to add some of your most-used settings tools to the top of the screen; otherwise, all the settings are arranged into the usual clumps (radios, personalization, accounts, system, and so on.) The same goes for the Quick Settings panel and notification shade. Samsung changed up the fonts, colors, and icons, but the underlying functionality of the Quick Settings panel is unchanged. That means you can tweak where the toggles land for controlling various radios, and such.
When it comes to personalization, the S7 Active includes an expanded set of themes. Themes override everything: fonts, colors, icons, graphics, wallpapers, and more. There is only one alternate theme preinstalled on the phone. If you want more, you'll have to create a Samsung account to download them. That's annoying and pretty much guarantees I won't be downloading more themes. Creating a Samsung account is free, and most of the themes are free, too. The usual tweaks are all available, such as ringers, alerts, yadda yadda yadda.
You can multitask on the S7 Active by running two apps at the same time in separate windows. Not all apps are supported, but those that are have a distinct icon (two rectangles on top of one another) to indicate their compatibility with the tool. It works fine and takes maybe 60 seconds to master.
The S7 Active includes TouchWiz Easy Mode, which gets rid of the complicated home screen panels and app drawer in favor of larger icons and fewer screens through which to navigate. This tool is meant for people who may be new to smartphones, or those who have seriously bad eyes.
You can use a number of different hand gestures to control the phone. For example, you can capture a screenshot by swiping the edge of your hand across the display, or call the contact whose call log, message, or contact details are on the screen by bringing the phone to your ear. Incoming calls can be muted by placing your hand on the screen or turning the phone over.
On the performance front, the S7 Active has a Snapdragon 820 processor with 4 GB of RAM. The 820 is Qualcomm's top-of-the-line chip, and 4 GB is a whole lot of RAM for a phone. The 820 is a SoC that bundles together blazing quick processor cores with a GPU, ISP, and LTE radios. It's fast. The phone does everything lickety split. You won't see any staggering, slowness, or lagging with the S7 Active. It performed every task I set before it without hesitation.
The camera app is a carry-over from older Samsung phones, but has a wider array of shooting modes and tools than most. The best way to launch the camera is to double tap the home button. You can do this when the phone is locked. You may also program the action key in the left edge to open the camera if you wish. The camera jumps to life quickly so you can capture a shot.
The S7 Active's camera includes shutter controls and access to the shooting modes and recent photos on the right side of the viewfinder. There are two shutter buttons, one for pictures and one for video, and the shooting modes include auto, pro, selective focus (bokeh), panorama, video collage, live broadcast, slow motion, virtual shot, food, hyperlapse, aqua (for underwater shots), tag shot, and sports. None of these modes is really new. I'd recommend most people stuck with the auto settings, as it is the easiest to use, and takes great photos.
The "pro" mode is a manual mode that adds control over white balance, exposure, and ISO, which are not available on the auto mode. You can choose your own shutter speed, too, up to 10 seconds for creative night shots, as well as fiddle with metering and color correction. Select focus allows you to alter which subject is in focus after you've taken the photo. The video collage tool automatically assembles a handful of photos and videos (based on time, location) to create shareable moments. Live broadcast lets you push live video directly to YouTube. The Food tool lets you take close ups of your fancy food and makes the colors look more vivid. Slow motion and hyperlapse do what you expect them to. The virtual shot tool lets you take 360-degree images of stationary objects. For example, you can use it to walk around Michelangelo's statue of David and then see the statue from all sides on your phone. It's tricky to use and takes practice.
Using the aqua shooting mode uses software to account for the fact that the phone is under water. It also rewires the controls a bit: the action key becomes the shutter button, and the volume key becomes the video button. The tag shot mode is chiefly for adding GPS location data to images, while the sports mode improves focusing and shutter speeds in order to help freeze motion.
An arrow on the left side of the camera UI will drop down a set of icons that let you access effects (sepia, etc.), the timer, flash, HDR, and full settings. You can play with the resolution, location tags, grid lines, and so on, but there are a few more-advanced settings. For example, you can turn on the Motion Photo capture mode, which captures video and images at the same time (like HTC's Zoe and Apple's Live Photos). It works well. The S7 Active also has a tracking auto-focus feature that lets you select a subject and keep it in focus even if it moves around.
The user-facing camera includes several imaging tools. The basic selfie mode includes a beautification tool that's rather extensive. For example, you can make your face slimmer, make your eyes bigger, add a heavenly shine to your face, as well as play with your skin tone. The selfie came includes a wide-angle mode to fit more people into that group shot, and you can use the live broadcast function when taking selfies, too. Last, the camera will snap pictures in selfie mode if you cover the heart-rate monitor with you finger.
The camera app is very fast. The Snapdragon 820 — along with its dedicated image signal processors and Samsung's software — provide flawless performance of the app itself. You can keep it simple for basic photography if you want, or take advantage of the wide number of features to more creative. It's got something for everyone.
Samsung took a different approach to the camera sensor this year. For a while it seemed as though Samsung might fall victim to the megapixel wars, amping up the number of pixels indefinitely in order to appear more powerful. But photo pros know that megapixels aren't everything, and that has apparently sunk in with the folks over at Samsung. That's why the S7 Active trades the 16-megapixel sensor from the S6 Active for a higher-quality 12-megapixel sensor. Samsung says the pixels are larger to improve low-light capture, among other advantages.
The phone takes darned good pictures. It's probably the best camera available from a modern smartphone, and it definitely goes toe-to-toe with the iPhone 6s, HTC 10, and LG G5.
Focus is sharp, exposure is dead-on, and colors are accurate. I was very pleased with the results I saw from the camera. The phone does well in bright and dark environments. Shots taken in darker spots were free of grain and noise. The f/1.7 aperture and optical image stabilization help a lot here. Pictures you take underwater will depend a lot on lighting and luck. It's a fine, fine camera.
The front camera has a 5-megapixel sensor and an f/1.7 aperture and it produces excellent selfies. I find many phones take grainy selfies that look soft and drab. The S7 Active takes highly accurate selfies (warts and all!) that are crisp, clean, and properly exposed. You're going to be able to take your selfie game to a whole new level with the S7 Active.
The phone captures video up to 4K, but as always I recommend you stick with the 1080p HD settings. Full HD provides all the pixels you need and the S7 Active does a great job at delivering sharp, accurate video.
Going on vacation? Leave the dSLR at home. The S7 Active can handle most of your photography and video needs — even if that involves the beach, ocean, or other outdoorsy spot.
Samsung / AT&T Stuff
The AT&T S7 Active has 52 apps pre-installed, which is more than AT&T crammed onto the standard S7. The issue isn't so much the volume of apps as it is how aggressive AT&T's apps are. They assault you during the device setup process and, even when dismissed, come back later with reminders to sign up, download this, install that, sync here, and push there. It's way over the top. AT&T's apps border on malware, they're that intrusive. In particular, the DirecTV app pushes an ever-present advertisement to the notification panel that drives me insane.
Samsung toned down the presence of its own apps, but there are still 11 Samsung apps hidden in a folder. (S Health, S Voice, Milk Music, and so on.)
The one app from Samsung truly pertinent to the S7 Active is the Activity Zone app. It keeps track of weather and includes a barometer, compass, flashlight, and stopwatch. It is, by default, the app that opens when you press the user-programmable action key. It works, but the design is rather basic.
My biggest gripe with all these is that hardly any of the unwanted apps can be uninstalled. AT&T allows you to "turn off" unwanted apps. This reverts to the installed version of the app and then inactivates them. Apps that have been turned off won't be updated or run, but they'll still take up internal storage space — except for DirecTV. Even when turned off, that app comes back to push its ad into the notification panel.
By the way, the phone ships with 32 GB of storage, of which 23 GB is available out of the box. Thank goodness the phone supports 200 GB microSD cards.
Samsung is back with another semi-rugged variant of its flagship smartphone. The Galaxy S7 Active is tougher than the standard S7, but offers most of the same specs and features.
Jun 6, 2016
Samsung today announced the Galaxy S7 Active, a semi-rugged version of its S7 flagship smartphone. The Active has a sturdier metal frame with rubber-coated corners to help protect it.
Sep 1, 2020
Samsung has revealed new details of its Galaxy Z Fold2 foldable phone, the successor to last year's pioneering Galaxy Fold. While Samsung has improved or refined most aspects of the design — including the hinge — the much larger outer display stands out, having grown from 4.6 to 6.2 inches, and now protected by Gorilla Glass Victus.
Jul 22, 2020
Samsung today announced the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, a variant of the company's folding-screen, clamshell-style phone that adds sub-6 GHz 5G and a faster processor, but is otherwise similar to the 4G version. In the US, it will be available for $1,450 starting August 7th from AT&T and T-Mobile, and unlocked from Samsung, Amazon, and Best Buy.
Jul 13, 2020
US carriers have launched a flurry of new entry-level phones from LG and Samsung in recent weeks. The phones include three new models from each of the two manufacturers.


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Price : 65.00
Item specifics
|New other (see details) :
A brand-new, unused, and unworn item (including handmade items) that is not in original packaging or may be missing original packaging materials (such as the original box or bag). The original tags may not be attached. For example, new shoes (with absolutely no signs of wear) that are no longer in their original box fall into this category. See all condition definitions– opens in a new window or tab
|Seller Notes:
|"Retail Price: USD 119.99"
|Accessories Available at Store Front:
|Sole Stopper; Heel Protector; Shoe Brush; Cushions
Party Party Veryfine
|Accessories Option:
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|Country/Region of Manufacture:
|Lining Material:
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|Featured Refinements:
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|Medium (B, M)
|Heel Dress Sandals; Formal Evening Pumps; Dance
|Heel Height/Type:
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|Ballroom Dance; Competitive Dance Sport
|Outsole Material:
|Suede Leather
|Dance; Bridal & Wedding; Prom; Club Wear; Formal;
|Return/Exchange Policy:
|Free shipping for Exchange. Buyer Ship back for re
|Dance Style:
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|Party Party Collection Name:
|50 SHADES of GREEN 2.5 & 3" Heel-I
|Custom Size: 101/2, 11, 11 1/2, 12:
|4~6 Weeks Process Time
|Custom Size (10.5, 11, 11.5 & 12):
|Contact Seller for Desired Style & Size
Item description
Find the perfect color to match your dress. This style seamlessly combines a fashionable designer look with the comfort of the classic dance shoes. Let you take every step glamorously and making sure it stays on you till the end for any events.
~50 SHADES of GREEN 2.5 & 3 "Heel Dance Dress Shoes Collections-I by Party Party
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Price : 65.00