text:
Not just for cats!
- Catnip can be used as an herbal beverage (tea).
- The essential oils can be used as a bug repellent.
- The flowering tops are used to make medicine for people and pets.
- It is an aphid repellent when it is growing.
- Flowers are very attractive to bees.
- And your cats will love you for getting it.
"Catnip's leaves and shoots have been used as a flavoring in sauces, soups, and stews, and in several patented beverages, as well as in fruit table wines and liquors. The use of catnip leaves and flowers in herbal teas was documented at least as early as 1735 in the General Irish Herbal. Medicinally, the plant has been used to treat intestinal cramps, for indigestion, to cause sweating, to induce menstruation, as a sedative, and to increase appetite. Additionally, the plant has been used to treat diarrhea, colic, the common cold, and cancer. In Appalachia, nervous conditions, stomach ailments, hives, and the common cold have been treated with catnip tea. The dried leaves have been smoked to relieve respiratory ailments, and a poultice has been used externally to reduce swelling. In the early 1900s, the flowering tops and leaves were used to induce delayed menses." ~ Drugs.com
Harvest individual leaves when the plants have become established. To dry, hang branches upside down in a well-ventilated, dry location out of sunlight.
Scientific Name: Nepeta cataria


text:
Cornish Pirates have announced that Bedford prop Christian Judge is their first new signing ahead of the 2017/18 season.
The 23-year-old has signed a two-year contract with the Pirates and returns to Cornwall where he has played the majority of his rugby growing up.
He played for Launceston from the age of eight right up to their first team and he also played National Two for the Cornish All Blacks.
The prop has represented the county of Cornwall on numerous occasions, winning the County Championship in 2015 and 2016 and last season Judge played for England Counties.
Judge also played for Plymouth Albion last season and was a standout prop in National One before joining Bedford in the summer.
"Having grown up in Cornwall this is a truly exciting opportunity. The Cornish Pirates are recognised as an iconic team and it provides just a fantastic opportunity for me to develop my game with the support of Alan Paver and Gavin Cattle.
"It's also been a great privilege to be a part of Bedford Blues this season and I'm hugely thankful to both the club and the supporters for the opportunities I've been given over the course of this year," said Judge.
Cornish Pirates coach Alan Paver added: "Christian is a young Cornish prop who we have been keeping an eye on in recent seasons.
"It is clear that he is a highly promising player who has already started to make his mark and is capable of developing still further. I am looking forward to working with him."
Tagged Alan Paver, Bedford Blues, Christian Judge, Cornish Pirates
Comments are closed on this article.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
[Skip to content]
Friday 12th August – Timetable of events & athletes in action
Times shown are BST - Rio is -4 BST as a reference.
Morning Program
13:30 – Men's Discus Throw Qualifying Round
13:35 – Women's Heptathlon 100m Hurdles
Jessica Ennis-Hill, Katarina Johnson-Thompson
14:05 - Women's Shot Put Qualifying Round
14:10 – Men's 800m Round 1
Michael Rimmer & Elliot Giles
14:50 – Women's Heptathlon High Jump
15:10 – Women's 10,000m Final
Jo Pavey, Beth Potter, Jessica Andrews
15:55 – Women's 100m Preliminary Round
18:30 – Men's 20km Race Walk Final
Tom Bosworth
Evening Program (times shown are early hours of Saturday 13th August BST)
00:30 – Women's 1500m Round 1
Laura Muir, Laura Weightman
00:35 – Women's Heptathlon Shot Put
00:40 – Women's Hammer Throw Qualifying Round
Sophie Hitchon
01:05 – Men's 400m Round 1
Martyn Rooney, Matthew Hudson-Smith
*Rabah Yousif was due to compete in the individual discipline but has since experienced muscle tightness in his final preparations. As a result he has withdrawn from the individual event in order to focus on the 4x400m relay later in the athletics program*
01:20 – Men's Long Jump Qualifying Round
Greg Rutherford
02:00 - Women's Shot Put Final
02:05 – Women's Heptathlon 200m
02:40 – Women's 100m Round 1
Asha Philip, Desiree Henry, Daryll Neita


text:
Book now
via Casilina 1390 00077 Monte Compatri Italy
Area: --
View map
Book online or call +39 041 8624040
view info & map
Property Location
When you stay at Camp's Hotel in Monte Compatri, you'll be 10 minutes by car from Fontana Candida. This property is 10.6 mi (17.1 km) from Marco Simone Golf Club and 15.9 mi (25.6 km) from Colosseum.
Make yourself at home in one of the 13 air-conditioned rooms featuring refrigerators and flat-screen televisions. Complimentary wireless Internet access is available to keep you connected. Private bathrooms with showers feature complimentary toiletries and bidets.
Take in the views from a terrace and a garden and make use of amenities such as complimentary wireless Internet access.
Enjoy a satisfying meal at Camp's restaurant serving guests of Camp's Hotel. Wrap up your day with a drink at the bar/lounge.
Business, Other Amenities
The front desk is staffed during limited hours. Free self parking is available onsite.


text:
It doesn't matter how old you are or how much income you earn every month – everyone needs insurance. Most people already know that, but how much insurance coverage do you need?
The hard truth (ha ha) is that too many Singaporeans don't have enough insurance coverage because they simply don't know how much insurance they need in the first place.
So how much insurance is enough?
Being underinsured is a risky situation that can hurt you financially in the event of an unfortunate accident.
Young Singaporeans in their 20s and 30s are particularly vulnerable to being underinsured – which is dangerous because these are the years when you should be buying enough insurance to protect your future wealth.
- Min. Death and TI Coverage
- Min. Cancer Insurance Coverage
- Max. Renewable Age
- 85
- Monthly Premium
To illustrate how much insurance every young Singaporean needs, let's take look at an average Singaporean's journey as he meets with an experienced financial planner to get right about of insurance coverage.
Say hello to Mark, a young 25-year old Singaporean professional earning $3,000 a month.
Part 1: Determine liabilities
Mark chose an insurance agent to help him make sense of his financial situation so that he knows how to protect his wealth. In Mark's case, the first thing his financial advisor asked him was "What are your liabilities?"
Liabilities include monthly bills and any outstanding loans. This is Mark's list:
|Amount Paid Each Month
|Necessity (Is it a life essential?)
|Handphone bill
|Gym membership
|Utilities bill
|Car loan ($40,000 outstanding)
|Personal loan (laptop purchase, $2,000 outstanding)
Part 2: Determine expected living expenses (if "something" happens…)
Next question – "What happens if you become completely disabled in a car accident?" Mark has no real answer, so this is when his financial planner does his calculations.
Judging from his debt liabilities, Mark would be an upfront lum sum payable of $42,000 (outstanding car loan + personal loan). That's because in the event of an accident, there's no way he would be able to make payments on his obligations.
His necessities on the other hand would amount to $300 (handphone + utilities) per month – payments that would still need to be made even if Mark had no way of paying them!
Additionally, Mark's monthly expenses would increase drastically. He would need medication, regular medical consultations and a caretaker to watch over him. Not to mention there would be huge medical bills to pay off as well (since we all know hospitals won't treat your injuries out of charity).
- Min. Death and TI Coverage
- Critical Illness Coverage
- Add on
- TPD Payout Limit
- Monthly Premium
Mark's financial planner provides him a list of possible monthly living expenses IF an accident did occur:
- Food ($450)
- Medication ($100)
- Maid/nurse ($1,000)
- Medical consultation ($200)
- Transportation ($100)
- *Initial lump sum for medical treatment after accident ($50,000)
Falling off your chair? It gets worse. This is actually a very frugal estimation – your monthly expenses and initial lump sum for treatment are expected to be much higher.
Part 3: Tally up how much insurance coverage is needed
The financial planner will then evaluate the total lump sum and monthly expenses that would be needed after looking at the revised expenses in the event of an accident that may leave Mark permanently disabled.
|Lump sum payments
|Monthly expenses
|Car loan
|Total liabilities
|$300 (handphone + utilities)
|Personal loan
|Initial lump sum (treatment)
|Medical consultation
|Total lump payment
|Total monthly expenses
After tallying up these numbers for Mark, his financial planner asks him to think about the possibility of living another 10 to 20 years. Adding 3% annual inflation, the total amount he would need over the span of 10 to 20 years would be (with 3% annual inflation):
|Total expenses
|Grand total
|Annual inflation (3%)
|10 years
|$2,150 X 12 (months) X 10 (years) = $258,000
|20 years
|$2,150 X 12 (months) x 20 (years) = $516,000
It becomes immediately apparent that he needs $472,000 to $820,000 in his bank account just to survive another 10 to 20 years!
That amount will wipe out his savings and investments. Take for instance he has savings amounting to $10,000 and $50,000 in investments, he will barely be able to pay off his immediate liabilities ($92,000).
- Min. Death and TI Coverage
- Critical Illness Coverage
- Add on
- TPD Payout Limit
- Monthly Premium
If Mark has no insurance, it means that Mark is severely underinsured. To cover his current and future expenses, he has to get insurance with a sufficient sum assured that will enable him to live for another 10 to 20 years.
As an estimate, you need at least $500,000 insurance coverage for 10 years
So how much insurance do you need if you're a single Singaporean? Roughly $500,000 in coverage (or sum assured) is the answer – and that's if you're A) living on a very frugal $2,000+ a month, and B) if you're expected to survive another 10+ years.
That insurance coverage number is in line with what the amount of insurance recommended by the Life Insurance Association (LIA) Singapore for the average working adult in an average household – which is $490,000.
Just remember that it only takes one accident to wipe out your savings. Don't simply choose the cheapest policy available or skip out on insurance entirely. It's important to protect your wealth before you invest.
Do you have enough insurance coverage? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
Related Articles
Insurance Singapore Guide (2019) – All You Need to Know Before Buying Your First Plan
Health Insurance in Singapore – Everything You Need to Know to Survive 2019
Best Travel Insurance Singapore 2020 – Here's How to Compare Travel Insurance


text:
How do I remove the factory receiver? Is it screwed to the body or installed with a double sided tape? Will put in a 3rd party receiver and a fully waterproof box. Thank you.
Double sided tape is holding it down. There is a screw on each end of the long blue part it site on too.
Sent from my Moto E (4) Plus using Tapatalk


text:
The update, iOS 11.3 is available now. The iOS 11.3 Features, which delivers exciting new immersive augmented reality experiences, offers customers more visibility into the battery health and performance of their iPhone new Animoji, access to personal health records in the Health app etc
Augmented Reality
The iOS 11.3, apps can now deliver AR experiences that allow developers to place digital objects on vertical surfaces like walls and doors in addition to horizontal surfaces. Detection and incorporation of images like film posters or artwork into AR experiences are supported Gives a higher-resolution real-world camera view when using AR experiences.
Battery Health
The iOS 11.3 adds new features to show battery health and Displays information about maximum battery capacity and peak performance capability. It Indicates if the performance management feature that dynamically manages maximum performance to prevent unexpected shutdowns is on, and includes the option to disable it
Introduces four new Animoji characters on iPhone X that bring user expressions to life as a lion, bear, dragon or skull.
Health records
The iOS 11.3 Health app has gained a Health Records section. It allows patients of almost healthcare institutions in the US to view their health records.
Business chat
The iOS 11.3 Business Chat is a new way for users to communicate directly with businesses. today, Business Chat will be available in beta in the US.
Users will now see a new data privacy information page when they update the software. When an Apple feature asks to use your personal information, an icon now appears along with a link to detailed information explaining how your data will be used and protected.


text: Anthony Scaramucci Already Out as White House's Communications Director 11:44 AM PDT 7/31/2017 by Jeremy Barr FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME YOUTUBE "The Mooch" had a very up and down 10 days in the post. Anthony Scaramucci, who in only 10 days as White House communications director became a topic of national intrigue, is leaving his role, the office of the White House press secretary announced in a statement Monday afternoon. "Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House Communications Director," the statement read. "Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team. We wish him all the best." Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, during an afternoon press briefing, said that Scaramucci does not have another role in the administration at this time. Scaramucci was given the job Friday, July 21, and by Thursday, July 27, became something of a national laughingstock when The New Yorker reported his profanity-laced conversation with the magazine's Washington correspondent the night before. He was hired by President Donald Trump to take charge of a communications operation in disarray, and his hiring coincided with the departure of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Scaramucci, in his conversation with The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, was extremely critical of White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon and predicted, correctly, that then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus would be removed from his position. Following the publication of Lizza's article, it became an open question in Washington whether Scaramucci would keep his job. At the Politicon conference last weekend, longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone said that Scaramucci should absolutely stick around as communications director. Jason Miller, who was originally tapped as communications director before stepping aside, argued that Scaramucci would be a great asset to the White House and would be a much better communicator of Trump's thinking. Dan Pfeiffer, who served as communications director during President Barack Obama's administration, teased Scaramucci on Twitter after the news broke. "Unfortunately for the Mooch, the minimum tenure to get invited to the annual WH Comms Directors Reunion is 3 weeks," he wrote. FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME YOUTUBE Jeremy Barr email@example.com jeremymbarr


text:
"The International Academy of Smyrna is a community partnership which provides an engaging, student-centered environment and rigorous, relevant curriculum that promote the development of critical thinking skills. Our graduates will be well-rounded world citizens who are academically prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future."
Our actions are based on and guided by our core values: integrity, responsibility, inclusion, and perseverance. Focus on our core values will serve what is best for students. These values, with respect to our mission, will provide the environment within which to best educate our students. The International Academy of Smyrna believes strongly that by teaching stakeholders to embrace these values, our students will realize their full potential.
Our Academic Focus
- Rigorous Instruction – challenging lessons based on the Georgia Standards of Excellence
- Experiential Learning – virtual, in house and/or off campus learning experiences
- Service Learning – schoolwide focus on problem-solving and meeting community needs
- Spanish in all Grades – scholars learning Spanish and applying their knowledge through practical conversations
- Personalized Learning – data analysis by staff to make adjustments to instruction and to close learning gaps or accelerate learning
- Increased Stakeholder Involvement – parent input is encouraged and we welcome involvement and participation in school activities


text:
Let's take a closer look at this week's Jets opponent:
Atlanta Falcons
Record: 3-3
Head coach: Dan Quinn (third season); Offensive coordinator: Steve Sarkisian; Defensive coordinator: Marquand Manuel
Overview: The Falcons started the season 3-0, looking like they were going to be in contention for a return trip to the Super Bowl. Then, they hit the AFC East. The Falcons have lost three in a row — all to AFC East opponents. Now, they face another one in the Jets as they try to get back on track.
Best offensive player: Julio Jones is a matchup nightmare for any team. The Jets likely will put Morris Claiborne on him for the entire game if they can. Jones' numbers are down this year. He has 34 catches for 466 yards and just scored his first touchdown last week. The Jets have to hope he does not break out against them.
Best defensive player: The Jets could have drafted Vic Beasley with the No. 6 overall pick in 2015, but chose Leonard Williams instead. Beasley does one thing – rush the passer – but he does it well. He had 15.5 sacks last year to lead the NFL. This year he has three sacks in four games. He's missed two with a hamstring injury. It could be on backup tackle Brent Qvale to slow him down if Brandon Shell (neck) is out.
Biggest offensive concern: The Falcons lost offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who is now the 49ers head coach, after last season. They replaced him with Sarkisian and the transition has not worked out. The Falcons are averaging 21.3 points per game, down from 33.8 last year.
Biggest defensive concern: The Falcons have only forced three turnovers this season, the least in the league. They only have recorded two interceptions and one fumble recovery. Last year, they had 22 takeaways. Quinn is a defensive coach, so this must be driving him insane.
Injury to watch: Running back Tevin Coleman was limited in practice Wednesday with a knee injury. It does not sound serious, but could limit his touches Sunday.
Coach's quote: Quinn, a Morristown, N.J., native on returning home for the game: "It's always a favorite thing of mine because of growing up there is where my love of football began, and so watching games, before MetLife, at old Giants Stadium, going there watching games, watching the Giants and the Jets on TV every Sunday and Monday night, so it's always kind of a cool spot for me because it brings it back to where my love of ball began. Past that, once you get there, then it is back to on to the game and you get to see family, but I think I always reminisce about why the game is so important to me and where it started from playing youth football and all the coaches that were involved in my life at an early age."


text:
LMV Commerciale srl and REMA TIP TOP AG enter into partnership
- New national distribution channel for Italy
- Commerciale LMV srl only authorized distribution partner | target date year end 2019
REMA TIP TOP, the global system supplier of tire repair services and products, as well as products for materials handling and processing, and Commerciale LMV srl / LMV Service srl, a leading supplier of tire service products and services, enter into partnership. Commerciale LMV srl, based in Padua, will in future be the only authorized and official distribution partner to distribute the worldwide known REMA TIP TOP Automotive products for tire repair and tire service on the Italian market.
"The Italian market has always been of great importance to REMA TIP TOP AG", Patric Scheungraber, COO of REMA TIP TOP, states. "For this reason, we have decided to combine our previous activities with Commerciale LMV srl to offer Italian customers the best possible product portfolio in the future."
Livio Gaja, CEO of Commerciale LMV srl, values this partnership as an important step to strengthen the market leadership in Italy: "With over 40 years of experience in the automotive market, we are the ideal partner for a global company to address the specific needs of the Italian market for tire repair material and workshop equipment." The new partner expects a bright future ahead: "With this merge, we are able to offer the best products, services and skills available on the international automotive aftermarket to the Italian customers and build on our growth in the past."
The supplies of REMA TIP TOP products on the Italian market will be gradually transferred from Rema Tip Top Italia Automotive srl to Commerciale LMV srl by 31/12/2019. In order to support the customer in making correct use of REMA TIP TOP products, Commerciale LMV srl renews its intention to provide training and updating courses both on equipment and on repair material and consumables.
Source: REMA
Related items
- Pekka Vauramo to continue as President and CEO of Metso Outotec until the end of 2023
- Sedgman wins Contract Extensions in QLD
- Metso Outotec and Boliden renew Service Contract for the Aitik Copper Mine in Sweden
- Industrial Minerals Association honors KaMin
- Epiroc wins large Mining Equipment Order in Russia


text:
General Mills Invests $250 Million To Expand Its Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Manufacturing Hub
"On behalf of our Murfreesboro employees, and General Mills, we're excited for what's to come and look forward to continued success in Murfreesboro," General Mills Plant Manager Dave Tincher said.
"We want to thank General Mills for choosing to expand in Tennessee and for creating these new jobs in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County," Governor Bill Haslam said. "Companies have a choice in where they do business, and we know that the majority of new jobs created in our state come from businesses that are already located here. We work hard to help existing industries expand in Tennessee, and these new jobs support our goal of becoming the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs."
"I am really glad to see General Mills expanding in Tennessee," Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd said. "It's always exciting when a company that already has a presence here can continue to grow and add more employees. I want to thank General Mills for their investment and the new jobs they're creating in our community."
"General Mills has been a longtime community partner by employing hundreds and donating countless volunteer hours and funds to aid local charitable organizations," said Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland. "We appreciate the impact they have made on our community and wish them many more years of continued success."
"As important as it is to recruit new jobs to our community, it's just as crucial to make sure we maintain a positive business climate that allows our existing industries to flourish," said Destination Rutherford Chairman Bill Jones. "The decision for General Mills to expand is additional confirmation that our county is moving in the right direction."
"Tennessee Valley Authority and Murfreesboro Electric Department congratulate General Mills on its decision to expand manufacturing and add more jobs in Rutherford County," TVA Senior Vice President of Economic Development John Bradley said. "We are pleased to work with the state of Tennessee, the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce, city of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County officials to facilitate existing companies like General Mills in continuing successful operations."
Most Read
Why are Foreign Trade Zones Making a Comeback?
The New Normal in the Automotive Supply Chain
2020 Auto/Aero Site Guide
34th Annual Corporate Survey & the 16th Annual Consultants Survey
Infrastructure Investment as an Economic Stimulus Tool
Nondisclosure Agreements Best Practices When Negotiating Incentives
2019 Top States for Doing Business: Georgia Ranks #1 Sixth Year in a Row


text:
- Publish date:
A high-flying ladybug
Above all, you must understand that the important thing right now in Denise Boudrot's career is not that she is a lady, but that she is a bug. She will always be a lady, but after Dec. 20 she will never again be a bug. Just one more month to live in a storybook, and then we shall see.
A bug is an apprentice jockey, the name derived from the asterisk inscribed in a racing program to indicate that a horse has been granted a five-pound weight allowance as compensation for being steered by a novice. Thus: DEVIL'S GULCH *111 DENISE BOUDROT. If this were Dec. 20, that entry would read: DEVIL'S GULCH 116 DENISE BOUDROT. Or worse, maybe it would read: DEVIL'S GULCH 116 PAUL CAPABLO, or even: DEVIL'S GULCH *111 BENITO CARRASCO. There are few things in sports so disposable as yesterday's apprentice.
This is not merely a practical matter, like the pitches a rookie will not see the second time around the league. For the jockey it can be going from the sublime to the ridiculous. Some pimply little kid—"Hey, Sonny, as short as you are, you ought to be a jockey"—catches on how to hustle a horse out of the gate and to hang on for dear life. A wily agent materializes, cadges a couple of live rides off trainers who owe him favors, and suddenly everybody on the backstretch is standing in line to get the wonder bug boy up on their stock. Bugs who ride like sacks of potatoes have been known to win national jockey titles.
The day an apprentice loses the weight advantage—one calendar year after his fifth win—is when reality hits full force. Trainers start telling the kid that they're "going with experience." There might not be a track in the country where at least one old jock isn't sweating weight in the box, gobbling water pills, scrambling to get up on any long shot, willing to hold any horse for a small price, who remembers the glory months, years ago, when he was the hot bug, when every live mount was his (plus a gaudy Cadillac, cash down, and a bottle blonde to go with it), and the vista of unlimited riding greatness ahead that ended, alas, exactly a year to the day after his fifth win. All the poets, all the painters, all the lovers and the dreamers, none could ever describe the ultimate splendor and promise of youth so well as the ethereal look on the baby face of a hot bug as he comes back with another winner, waving his whip in salute at a cheering world.
Denise, 22, is such a bug. Miss Boudrot (pronounced exactly like Lou Boudreau) is far and away the leading rider at Suffolk Downs in Boston. Since it seems certain she also will be the first woman jockey ever to be a leading apprentice at a major track, she is, in a very real sense, the start of a second generation of female riders. The first entered through the side door, so to speak, when women were allowed onto the tracks four years ago: jockettes. Some were merely manifestations of the fad. The best of those that hung on and prospered were tempered with a pioneer toughness, generally cast out of difficult, even mean, childhoods, which gave them the steel to endure rejection, mockery and—inevitably—casting-couch gossip whenever they did gain mounts. Robyn Smith, a stunning, graceful beauty who had dabbled in Hollywood, felt almost obliged to deny her attractiveness and retreat into contrived mysteries; Mary Bacon, brazen as she looked, rode a winner practically on the way to the maternity ward, and accommodated Playboy's usual photographic demands. One of the first days Denise was ever at a track, she saw a woman rider dismount and slug a startled male rival.
Denise is like those original jockettes only in gender. What she is, is a bug. Her true colleagues are boys, boys like Chris McCarron, an apprentice who grew up as she did only a few miles from Suffolk Downs in a Boston suburb. He is now the leading rider in the country. Or Darrel McHargue, mature and clever, one of the leading bugs in the nation last year, who proved to be the real McCoy and has kept on winning without the weight advantage.
Boudrot may be able to follow that script, too. She is smart, patient on a horse—"cool" is the word frequently employed in her behalf. Unlike most bugs who ride hell-for-leather, out wide, whipping frantically, Boudrot is known for dropping down on the rail, saving ground, working the fiercest territory. "She plays that rail, she makes it count," says John Mieli, a veteran trainer who never even considered using a girl jockey before he saw Boudrot ride. Even in the low-dollar sprints that dominate the Suffolk card, most of Denise's wins come from off the pace, rating.
After a race she returns to the lady jocks' dressing room and watches the rerun. Tom Stanski, her valet, joins her. "Come on, come on," Denise calls, rooting for herself. She is third in the stretch on a sore-kneed plater named Seductive Silver, who quit in his last race, under a boy rider, as odds-on favorite. Out front, a filly named No Unhappyness, ridden by Ovidio Diaz, looks safely home.
In the men's jockey quarters, the boys are also watching the rerun on their TV, seeing Denise steering Seductive Silver off the rail, around a tiring challenger and taking aim on No Unhappyness. At the sixteenth pole she is still two lengths back, yet she tucks away her bat and merely hand-rides her mount, pushing, coaxing, in the animal's own rhythm. "Look at that," says a rider. "She don't touch him but the one time."
Denise watches herself win and then switches over to the soap opera. "Well, how do you feel getting beat by her, Ovi?" another boy says to Diaz, but it is a friendly jibe, without rancor. At Suffolk almost every jockey has been beaten by Denise, and they have learned to live with it, which is not an easy thing for these little men who have discovered a place of their own in a big person's world.
"The ones who are jealous of Denise are the other girls around the track," says Vickie McElhiney, a 20-year-old trainer. "That's the only place you'll hear any bad talk about her."
Mike Carrozzella, long a leading rider in New England, has helped teach Boudrot the ropes. He says with some chagrin, "It's all changed around. She's the first girl jockey ever to get mounts because she is a girl. Guys around here are saying, well, I can't win with a boy, so let's try 'the broad.' "
"The broad"—it is said blandly, in the neutral manner of "the boy" or "the six-horse"—has won 63 races at the meeting (five of them on a single day two weeks ago) and has been in the money 50% of the time. And now almost every horse she rides goes down several numbers off the morning line. Usually in a pattern. As soon as the mutuels open there is a quick drop in odds—the housewife money coming in—then a leveling off till the very end, and another drop, the smart money. But if the fans are creating false favorites for her, and if the four-letter gutter word for woman ricochets about the grandstand when she loses, Denise remains a most popular rider. "Go home and have a baby" is about the most pointed remark she ever hears.
But then, Boudrot has caught everyone by surprise at Suffolk's fall meeting. She had not ridden since last May 26, when a rogue horse suddenly bolted for the outside and crashed full speed into the rail, his chest leaving an indentation still visible. Denise thudded to the ground, landing in a drainage ditch with a broken leg. She also was out several months late last year when a mount clipped heels and she wrenched her back in the resultant fall. Oh, she is a tough cookie, and brave. "Even when I was little I had no fear," she says.
She is strong, too—4'11", 104, a size 3, but more compact and full-breasted than most girl jocks. Her pale, placid face seems nearly always in repose, with narrow eyes that calmly receive the world around them, sometimes blue, other times green, sometimes hazel, given the right light and mood. She lives with a Chihuahua and two cats in an apartment near Suffolk, eats whatever she pleases, smokes quite a bit, bets not at all. She speaks well, if in the classic broad-A Boston accent. Disposition? It can only be said that Denise Marie Boudrot is sweet.
But she is nobody's fool, understand that. "The racetrack is a world all to itself," she says. "I've been very lucky. There's a lot of heartaches and heartbreaks here, and I'm not nearly as naive as when I first came. I used to believe everybody, but I've learned about people. I guess I've toughened up."
She came naturally to that initial attitude of trust, nurtured by a loving, secure family, and having lived a perfectly unremarkable life. She grew up a tomboy—"Sam, "friends called her—in Burlington, Mass., a few miles north of Boston, the second child and only daughter of a French-Irish marriage. At 12 she got her first pony. She graduated from Burlington High in 1970 and worked as a supermarket check-out girl, in a snack bar and on an assembly line before landing a stable job for $60 a week.
With her earnings from riding (her mounts have won nearly $400,000 in purses) she bought her parents a farm last spring in Elloree, S.C. They named it the Longshot Lady Farm. Nelson Boudrot, who had been a production foreman, retired, and he and his wife Julia settled there. Then a month ago, Julia Boudrot dropped dead.
"I'm sorry these sad things come up," someone says to Denise.
"No, don't be sorry," she replies. "All their lives my father and mother had to work and scrimp for money. And then for those five or six months they had together in South Carolina they could relax, and my father could buy her things he wanted to for the first time. Don't be sorry. Those were very happy times."
Her own personal life?
"I don't want to get married now. It's hard for me even to date away from the track because all my interests are here, which is not a good way to be, I know. Still, you should do things right, just like for a marriage to be done right the woman should devote her whole self to her family, her kids, her house."
Right after Denise loses her bug next month Suffolk closes, and she will leave for South Carolina to work near her own farm with Trainer Junie Bresnahan. He is the man who first taught her to ride thoroughbreds. He still has her under contract. She will not be back to the races until next spring—without the bug. She appears to have the strength, the heart and the brains to make it as a journeyman, to duplicate the success of McHargue after he lost the bug, or of Tony DeSpirito, the last New England jock to fulfill the promise of a fabled apprenticeship. But then, so many bugs have failed, been left to ride out nondescript careers with nothing but the tarnished memory of that one glorious year of youth when it seemed that life and weight would always be so easy to make.
"I don't think five pounds is so much anyway," Denise says, and firmly. "Maybe on a little filly, but not for most horses." She shrugs, and when the low winter sun glances off her golden hair, it is easy to dream for the lady.


text:
Vosne-Romanee Village from Domaine des Perdrix is a red wine produced from only Pinot Noir in the Vosne-Romanee Village appellation. This 1.16 hectare plot is planted on soil composed of clay and limestone. The wine is aged for 18 months in traditional 228 litre barrels from Burgundy.
Vosne-Romanee Village 2016 from Domaine de Perdrix has a beautiful garnet colour with purple tears. Aromas of flowers and spices are very powerful. The 2016 vintage offers ripe tannins, and beautifully marries length and balance.
By the same producing estateShow all


text:
OWHE Blog
Meet Claudia Davila Jun 2 2016
Claudia Davila
Institution: Linn-Benton Community College
Position at LBCC: Student Recruitment Specialist
When I made the decision to go back to school in my 30's I had no idea in which direction I wanted to go. I really couldn't get over the fact I was even heading back to school as I must admit I was one of those teens that could not stand school and really believed I wasn't a great student so I had given up on any possibility of college even before I graduated high school.
Meet Rebecca Torres Valdovinos May 2 2016
Institution: George Fox University
Position: English Language Institute Director and Assistant Professor
"Tia? That means aunt, right?" the Sacred Heart of Mary nun asked in her New England Accent. Dressed in her full habit, she looked down at the small seven-year-old Mexican-American child. I looked up at her with amazement. She didn't know that the women I was describing in the conversation about our family party celebrating my First Communion were my mother's sisters! At 7 years old, I had no comprehension of the word "aunt"; I only knew "tia". This was my first awareness of being from another culture. Thus, my journey has its roots in the barrio of East Los Angeles, the place of my birth and childhood.
Meet Sharece Bunn Feb 2 2016
My journey to student affairs was anything but linear. Rather than settling down to a job after college like my four siblings did, I took the adventurous route, joining Peace Corps and working temporary jobs after my two years abroad. I was always searching for the job and place that would give me meaning. In doing so, found the field of student affairs without actually looking for it. After getting my masters degree in journalism, I went back into the Peace Corps as a "response," or short-term volunteer, hoping to find clarity for what I wanted to be "when I grew up." It was during that year that I fell in love with working at a university. Working with college students brought me joy and pushed me to think in new ways. I had found my niche.
Reflections of the 2016 OWHE Conference from the Conference Director Jan 29 2016
That's a wrap! The 2016 Oregon Women in Higher Education Conference has ended, and as the Director of the Annual Conference, I am feeling…gratitude, connection, and community.
I am grateful for the experience and the amazing, talented women I had the privilege of working with and meeting at the conference. For the past 6 months, the board of directors and the conference planning team worked hard to organize this event…which was no small feat!
Meet Sharon Chinn Jan 2 2015
Sharon Chinn is the director of Educational Career, Licensing, and Accreditation Services and the Commencement Coordinator at the Graduate School of Education and Counseling, Lewis & Clark College. With 25-years in the field, Sharon brings to her work decades of experience networking, advocating, and supporting students, faculty, and staff as they grow in their professions. Sharon completed her undergraduate work in comparative sociology at the University of Puget Sound, including a year spent at Coleg y Drindod (Trinity College) in Carmarthen, Wales, studying Welsh language, history, and society. She went on to complete a master's degree in counseling psychology with a focus on adult development and career counseling at Lewis & Clark College. The highlight of her graduate years included one-year spent as a faculty intern with Clackamas Community College's "Displaced Homemaker" program under the mentorship of its founder, Anne Pardington.
Meet Rebecca Schaffeld Dec 2 2015
I grew up in Hermiston, a small town in eastern Oregon. I received my Bachelor of Arts from Oregon State University in 2011. I majored in Sociology and minored in Spanish and Women Studies. I am a recent graduate of the College Student Services and Administration Master in Education program at Oregon State University. During my time in graduate school I had the opportunity to be a graduate assistant for the Career Development Center and participate in many other programs and functional areas such as academic support and orientation. My area of specialization was Transitioning Students and I am now seeking a career in student affairs, where I can utilize my skills in developing students and passion for empowerment.
Professional Journey:
Meet Natalia Fernández Nov 2 2015
Natalia Fernández is the Oregon Multicultural Librarian for the Oregon Multicultural Archives (OMA). The OMA is a part of Oregon State University's Special Collections & Archives Research Center. Its mission is to assist in preserving the histories and sharing the stories that document Oregon's African American, Asian American, Latino/a, and Native American communities. Prior to joining OSU in November of 2010, she interned at the Arizona Historical Society and worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Arizona Library Special Collections. Fernández holds an M.A. in Information Resources and Library Science from the University of Arizona (U of A). She also earned her B.A. in Art History and Spanish Literature from the U of A.
My Professional Journey


text:
Xenium's claim to excellence applies not only to our services in customer projects, but also as an employer for our employees.
We are very pleased about the top ranking in the "Great Place To Work" category "Best Employer in ICT 2020" for the fifth time in a row!
Do you need a helping hand to put your IT on the right course? We are by your side enthusiastically when it comes to putting together the right IT for complex business processes, leading IT projects out of a crisis or redesigning IT landscapes. We'll get to the bottom of things with you and find a solution that's tailor-made to your needs.
As a partner who listens and understands, we help you realise your goals by developing individual ideas and concepts for you as well as by pitching in with their implementation. Accordingly, our consultants have the ability to assess the facts of a project accurately and, moreover, have an excellent understanding of the social environment too – it's exactly this combination that makes our team so exceptional.
»After time off for a long trip abroad with my husband as well as after taking maternity leave for my twins, I was able to transition back seamlessly. It was good to know that there were exciting projects, interesting clients and nice colleagues awaiting me after my return.«
Nicole Weidner
»Xenium has 35 people on staff at the moment. After three months I knew everyone, and after six months I knew that I was happy to work with every one of them.«
Dr Jens Nullmeier
Do you enjoy leading challenging IT projects to success and want to take on responsibility quickly when doing so? Are an open atmosphere and good team cohesion just as important to you as your professional and personal development? Then get an idea yourself of our company culture and your future perspectives – become part of the Xenium team!


text:
Habitat for Humanity of Jacksonville, Inc. (HabiJax) will host an open house for its model home Thursday, April 30, from 4:45 to 6 p.m. The model home, decorated by Sisler Johnston Interior Design, is located at 1308 Tyler Street, Jacksonville 32209.
Interested homebuyers are welcome to attend to explore the details of HabiJax homes, including landscape design, brick, carpet, siding, cabinet, countertops, and door and shutter options. Attendees may also learn about the HabiJax criteria for homeownership, the stages of the approval, the homebuyer processes, and more.
HabiJax, founded in 1988, has become the largest non-profit affordable housing provider in Duval County, helping improve urban core neighborhoods in Jacksonville, including New Town. HabiJax is one of the most successful Habitat for Humanity affiliates in the United States, having provided homeownership opportunities and other housing services for more than 2,000 families.
For more information, to donate or to volunteer, visit www.habijax.org or www.facebook.com/habijaxfans.


text:
Pakistan's first-ever survey on Fortification Assessment Coverage Toolkit launched
The Ministry of Planning Development and Reform (MoPD&R) Pakistan, with support from Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) along with Oxford Policy Management has organized a dissemination of Fortification Assessment Coverage Toolkit (FACT) Survey in Islamabad. This survey is undertaken to determine the coverage and likely contribution of fortified foods to micronutrient intake among women of reproductive age (aged 15-49 years) and children under five.
Muhammad Aslam Shaheen, Chief Nutrition (MoPD&R) and SUN Focal Point, welcomed the honorable guests. In his remarks he said that this survey will help to document the accomplishments of ongoing food fortification programs in the country, identify the potential barriers, provide baseline for future Food Fortification Programs, guide the current large-scale Food Fortification Program and help to refine and rework the project interventions in the light of information received from both the service providers and end users. The market information will be vital to gauge the quality of products and services and identify gaps in food system. There is inadequate information on the coverage and consumption of fortified staple foods in Pakistan. The FACT survey will provide representative data both at national and provincial level and share information of at high-risk populations including women of reproductive age and children in Pakistan.
Dr. BaseerAchakzai, Director Nutrition, MoNHSR&C, highlighted that the survey provided evidence that fortification of salt and oil/ghee could have a large impact on the intakes of iodine and vitamin A among young children and Women of Reproductive Age in Baluchistan, Punjab, and Sindh. However for this to occur, all products would need to be fortified in compliance with the fortification standard. Currently, most of these products are fortified at below standards which call for focus efforts to increase compliance at production level.
GAIN's country director, Dr Qaiser Pasha, said that GAIN has already done FACT surveys in 15 countries and Pakistan is the 16th country in the row. He hoped that the evidence generated through a scientifically rigorous process will be lavishly used by government and partners to inform new programs and improve on ground implementation.
While presenting the key results of FACT Survey Valerie Friesen, Technical Specialist GAIN shared that Salt fortification could fulfill iodine intake requirements among young children and women if all products are fortified according to standards, which is important given there are few natural iodine sources in the diet. However, the households not consuming fortified iodized salt (i.e. 25 per cent in Punjab, 16 percent in Balochistan) need to be reached. She added that Oil/ghee fortification could have a large impact on vitamin A intakes among young children and women.
Mr Muhammad Aslam Shaheen Cheif Nutrition/SUN Focal Point,MDPR giving welcome remarks @GAINalliance @SUN_Movement pic.twitter.com/Ovb7P6X1i0
— SUN Movement Pakistan (@SUNMOVEMENTPAK) August 10, 2018
In his closing remarks, Dr. Azeem Khan, member of the Food Security and Climate Change, Planning Commission, shared that Food fortification has been a significant public health intervention because the diversity of our food production as well consumption is low and expensive. Therefore the fortification programs are the most relevant initiative to meet the micronutrient deficiencies in the short term in a cost effective way. We should go far 100 percent fortification of (Salt,Oil/Ghee and Wheat flour) side by side bio fortification program may be undertaken to increase micronutrient supply intake. The Provincial role in improving the fortification coverage and quality has been very important. The provincial government can sign MOU'S with industries to improve fortification coverage. He assured that the findings and recommendations of this survey will be incorporated in the 12th five year plan to overcome malnutrition.
The event was attended by Government representatives from various federal ministries & provincial departments, SUN focal points from all provinces, International Donor & Development agencies, UN agencies, Development Partners, INGOs, Civil Society organizations and senior media persons.


text:
The houses today are constructed on the premise of contemporary, light-weighted and open-ground plans wherein it becomes tough to discover a little peace and quiet surroundings. In most of the homes, the partitions are eliminated to increase the to be had space, kitchens are filled with large home equipment, and rooms are surrounded by means of home theatres making noise an vital a part of our lives. We are the best creators of a loud environment and we will simplest assist ourselves in decreasing it. This isn't always some thing this is created by means of nature it's miles truly a person-made product.
The evil outcomes of noise are that it is able to reduce to rubble your sleep, upload for your pressure, infringe in your privacy and in a nutshell it's far hampering the exceptional of existence we're dwelling. Fortunately, we're fortunate that there's some of soundproofing or acoustic treatments that you can take help from to alleviate the problem. The acoustic barriers can efficiently assist parents to get rid of this critical trouble. Before, we continue it is also essential to realize how sound genuinely works?
The clang of the bell and other bodily matters sends sound waves rippling via the ear. When those waves reach the ears, they vibrate a touchy membrane i.E. The eardrum and we hear them as sounds. It is said to be the sound, now not the noise. Noise is something this is unpleasing to the ears and is also termed as unwanted sounds.
Here are some helpful techniques for making your house a quieter region:
Cut down on noisemakers- Consider buying quiet home equipment for your own home including residence fanatics, kitchen appliances and many others. Buying quiet home equipment is even extra useful if they're to be stored nearby dwelling or sleeping areas. Maintenance of existing appliances is also an critical part of the equation. If you find some thing unusual, get it checked or repaired with the aid of the technician as quickly as feasible.
Use sound soaking up materials- The material that enables to reduce and soaking up the unwanted sound are some thing that every house owner would love to have. There are a lot of factors with the intention to paintings as a barrier that reflects and absorbs the noise getting into your property. These acoustic boundaries are quite useful in minimizing the out of doors noises and soaking up the interior sounds. Ensure getting a spec sheet organized via the tradesman so you can take a look at and approve it before its installation.


text:
Micronations.wiki costs £160 per year to keep online.
Since we are unable to run advertisements, we ask that any users who are able to do so
make a contribution so that Microwiki may continue to survive and thrive. Thank you!
National symbols of Esse
This article lists notable national symbols of the Essian Commonwealth.
|National flag and ensign
|16 February 2017
|A horizontal blue-white-blue tricolour - symbolizing the rays of past Essian flags - with a blue crown in the center representative of the Essian monarchy.
|Designed by
|HIllM Lord Henry
The national flag of the Essian Commonwealth, known as the Essian Tricolour, is the banner used to represent the people of the Essian Commonwealth. Several flags have been used by the state in the past, however the present flag was designed by HIllM Henry, Lord of the Essian Commonwealth. It was designated as the national flag on February 16, 2017.
The following is a list of flags, in sequential order, flown as the national flag of Esse:
Over time, the blue rays on the second flag of the Essian Commonwealth have evolved into horizontal stripes, then into their present form of a horizontal tricolour. The Commonwealth has, since its establishment, used the same colours in its flag despite several proposals in the past to change the national colours. The national colours are blue and white.
Coat of arms
|Coat of Arms of the Essian Commonwealth
|The Essian Monarchy
|18 February 2017
|Laurel wreath
|Tiger, national animal of the Essian Commonwealth
|Unchained tigers
|Latin: IMPERIUM IN IMPERIO
The coat of arms of the Essian Commonwealth is the first and present coat of arms of the Essian Commonwealth, adopted on 18 February and designed by Stephen Freayth in the weeks before. It was officially made the nation's coat of arms through a royal edict on 18 February 2017, and has been in consistent use since that date.
The shield in the center of the coat of arms is singular and features a tiger, the national animal of the Essian Commonwealth. The colors on the shield are blue and white, identical to the national colors of the Essian Commonwealth. On the outside, similar supporters are used and the color red is utilized. On the banner below, the motto of the Essian Commonwealth is featured, in Latin: IMPERIUM IN IMPERIO, meaning "A state within a state." The coat of arms is used on many official documents, and is considered the official symbol of the Essian Monarchy.


text:
Paris - Mats Hummels fired Germany to the brink of qualification for the 2018 Soccer World Cup on Friday with a late winner against the Czech Republic, while Harry Kane scored twice as England downed Malta 4-0.
RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner struck after just four minutes for the world champions in Prague, but Vladimir Darida's stunning second-half equaliser hauled the hosts level.
Joachim Loew's side made it seven wins from seven in Group C though as Hummels headed in a Toni Kroos cross on 88 minutes to clinch a 2-1 victory and leave Germany needing just four points from their final three matches.
"We can't be happy with the way we played," said Loew.
"We had to have a lot of luck today and if Mat hadn't scored with this great header, then we would have had to live with a draw."
They could punch their ticket to Russia as early as next Monday should they beat Norway at home and Northern Ireland fail to win against the Czechs in Belfast.
Northern Ireland remained on course to finish second, and enter the November play-offs, after a Josh Magennis brace and Steven Davis penalty ended San Marino's gritty resistance in a 3-0 win in Serravalle.
Tottenham Hotspur forward Kane turned the page on his August jinx as England laboured for much of the evening in Ta'Qali before the visitors struck three times in the closing minutes.
Kane, the Premier League's golden boot winner the past two seasons, has yet to score a goal in August during his career but marked the arrival of September by converting England's opener on 53 minutes after clever play from Dele Alli.
Ryan Bertrand netted his first international goal four minutes from time when his long-range effort skipped past Malta goalkeeper Andrew Hogg, with Danny Welbeck nipping in ahead of Hogg to add a third in stoppage time.
Kane then chipped in with his second of the game after a sublime assist from Marcus Rashford as England stayed two points clear of Slovakia at the top of Group F ahead of next Monday's clash at Wembley.
"Whenever you come away for games like this it is never going to be easy," Kane told ITV.
"We were trying to break them down, they had 10 men behind the ball. We knew if we just kept moving it wide we would find the space."
Miha Mevlja's 81st-minute own goal handed Slovakia a 1-0 win over Slovenia in Trnava, while Scotland cruised to a 3-0 win away to Lithuania to stay within four points of second place.
Stuart Armstrong, Andrew Robertson and James McArthur were all on target for Scotland, who will hope to close the gap on Slovakia when they host Malta next.
Denmark revived their qualifying bid with a 4-0 thrashing of Group E leaders Poland in Copenhagen courtesy of goals from Thomas Delaney, Andreas Cornelius, Nicolai Jorgensen and Christian Eriksen.
The Danes are level with second-placed Montenegro, 3-0
winners in Kazakhstan, and both nations trail Poland by three points.


text:
In this paper, we present an approach to query modeling that leverages the temporal distribution of documents in an initially retrieved set of documents. Continue reading "Using Temporal Bursts for Query Modeling" »
Time-Aware Chi-squared for Document Filtering over Time
To appear at TAIA2013 (a SIGIR 2013 workshop).
Document filtering over time is widely applied in various tasks such as tracking topics in online news or social media. We consider it a classification task, where topics of interest correspond to classes, and the feature space consists of the words associated to each class. In "streaming" settings the set of words associated with a concept may change. In this paper we employ a multinomial Naive Bayes classifier and perform periodic feature selection to adapt to evolving topics. We propose two ways of employing Pearson's χ2 test for feature selection and demonstrate its benefit on the TREC KBA 2012 data set. By incorporating a time-dependent function in our equations for χ2 we provide an elegant method for applying different weighting schemes. Experiments show improvements of our approach over a non-adaptive baseline.
Do support groups members disclose less to their partners? the dynamics of HIV disclosure in four African countries
To appear in BMC Public Health.
Background: Recent efforts to curtail the HIV epidemic in Africa have emphasized preventing sexual transmission to partners through antiretroviral therapy. A component of current strategies is disclosure to partners, thus understanding its motivations will help maximise results. This study examines the rates, dynamics and consequences of partner disclosure in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda, with special attention to the role of support groups and stigma in disclosure.
Methods: The study employs mixed methods, including a cross-sectional client survey of counseling and testing services, focus groups, and in-depth interviews with HIV-positive individuals in stable partnerships in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda, recruited at healthcare facilities offering HIV testing.
Results: Rates of disclosure to partners varied between countries (32.7% – 92.7%). The lowest rate was reported in Malawi. Reasons for disclosure included preventing the transmission of HIV, the need for care, and upholding the integrity of the relationship. Fear of stigma was an important reason for non-disclosure. Women reported experiencing more negative reactions when disclosing to partners. Disclosure was positively associated with living in urban areas, higher education levels, and being male, while being negatively associated with membership to support groups.
Conclusions: Understanding of reasons for disclosure and recognition of the role of support groups in the process can help improve current prevention efforts, that increasingly focus on treatment as prevention as a way to halt new infections. Support groups can help spread secondary prevention messages, by explaining to their members that antiretroviral treatment has benefits for HIV positive individuals and their partners. Home-based testing can further facilitate partner disclosure, as couples can test together and be counseled jointly.
Multilingual Semantic Linking for Video Streams: Making "Ideas Worth Sharing" More Accessible
This paper describes our (winning!) submission to the Developers Challenge at WoLE2013, "Doing Good by Linking Entities." We present a fully automatic system – called "Semantic TED" – which provides intelligent suggestions in the form of links to Wikipedia articles for video streams in multiple languages, based on the subtitles that accompany the visual content. The system is applied to online conference talks. In particular, we adapt a recently proposed semantic linking approach for streams of television broadcasts to facilitate generating contextual links while a TED talk is being viewed. TED is a highly popular global conference series covering many research domains; the publicly available talks have accumulated a total view count of over one billion at the time of writing. We exploit the multi-linguality of Wikipedia and the TED subtitles to provide contextual suggestions in the language of the user watching a video. In this way, a vast source of educational and intellectual content is disclosed to a broad audience that might otherwise experience difficulties interpreting it.
- D. Odijk, E. Meij, D. Graus, and T. Kenter, "Multilingual semantic linking for video streams: making "ideas worth sharing" more accessible," in Proceedings of the 2nd international workshop on web of linked entities (wole 2013), 2013.
@inproceedings{WOLE:2013:Odijk, Author = {Odijk, Daan and Meij, Edgar and Graus, David and Kenter, Tom}, Booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Web of Linked Entities (WoLE 2013)}, Date-Added = {2013-05-15 14:09:58 +0000}, Date-Modified = {2013-05-15 14:11:37 +0000}, Title = {Multilingual Semantic Linking for Video Streams: Making "Ideas Worth Sharing" More Accessible}, Year = {2013}}
Personalized Time-Aware Tweets Summarization
To appear as full paper at SIGIR 2013.
In this paper we focus on selecting meaningful tweets given a user's interests. Specifically, we consider the task of time-aware tweets summarization, based on a user's history and collaborative social influences from "social circles." Continue reading "Personalized Time-Aware Tweets Summarization" »
Local and global algorithms for entity linking
Feeding the Second Screen: Semantic Linking based on Subtitles
Television is changing. Increasingly, broadcasts are consumed interactively. This allows broadcasters to provide consumers with additional background information that they may bookmark for later consumption. Continue reading "Feeding the Second Screen: Semantic Linking based on Subtitles" »
Een bril die alles weet
Dit is het artikel uit het NRC van 9 februari 2013, getiteld "Een bril die alles weet."
De fantasie van Star Trek en The Matrix komt dichterbij. Computers gaan u steeds beter begrijpen. Straks kunt u gewoon met zoekmachines praten. Continue reading "Een bril die alles weet" »
Personalized Time-Aware Tweets Summarization
To appear as full paper at SIGIR 2013.
In this paper we focus on selecting meaningful tweets given a user's interests. Specifically, we consider the task of time-aware tweets summarization, based on a user's history and collaborative social influences from "social circles." Continue reading "Personalized Time-Aware Tweets Summarization" »


text:
• Home • All Products
Author: Dennis RaineyRetail Price: $9.99
Our Price: $5.49
Save: 4.50 (45.05%)Availability: In Stock
With warmth and wisdom that only comes from weathering the storms of life, Dennis Rainey shares seven ways to not only build a strong foundation, but to choose to live the life of purpose and potential you were created for. When the winds of culture blow, you will be able to stand firm on the Truth. You will be able to choose a life that matters. A life that makes a difference in the here and now--a life that echoes into eternity.
You are at crossroads of culture and Christianity. Which way will you choose to live?
Unabridged audio CD.
More From ChristiansUnite...
About Us |
Privacy Policy |
ChristiansUnite.com Site Map |
Statement of Beliefs


text:
Z. Wang, L. Millet, M. Mir, H. Ding, S. Unarunotai, J. Rogers, M. U. Gillette, and G. Popescu, "Spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM)," Opt. Exp. 19, 1016-1026 (2011)
Download PDF
We present spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) as a new optical microscopy technique, capable of measuring nanoscale structures and dynamics in live cells via interferometry. SLIM combines two classic ideas in light imaging: Zernike's phase contrast microscopy, which renders high contrast intensity images of transparent specimens, and Gabor's holography, where the phase information from the object is recorded. Thus, SLIM reveals the intrinsic contrast of cell structures and, in addition, renders quantitative optical path-length maps across the sample. The resulting topographic accuracy is comparable to that of atomic force microscopy, while the acquisition speed is 1,000 times higher. We illustrate the novel insight into cell dynamics via SLIM by experiments on primary cell cultures from the rat brain. SLIM is implemented as an add-on module to an existing phase contrast microscope, which may prove instrumental in impacting the light microscopy field at a large scale.


text:
Okanogan Nature Camp: Resources for Home Learning
Schools are closed, so here are some of our favorite activities to get you outside with your family to have fun, explore, and learn about your local ecology. We've also created a list of community science projects you can help with online. Wouldn't it be cool to turn social distancing into data that can help conserve our local natural resources?
Post pics of your discoveries to our Facebook page with #OKNatureCamp and teach us all something new!
We're here for you.
We know people ask a lot from teachers. That's why we provide engaging, hands-on activities linked to state standards. We can customize activities to fit your curriculum. Programs are also available for youth organizations and homeschool groups.
"Thank you for, once again, providing a fun and informational learning experience for our 2nd graders. They come away from your activities with new knowledge and they talked about your lessons for several days." - Jill Streeter, Virginia Grainger Elementary School.
"Thank you for teaching me about the Ponderosa Pine. I had a lot of fun." -Oroville 3rd grader
Stream Table Programs
Bring a creek to your classroom! Our stream table is a fun and exciting way for students to cover earth and biological science topics like the water cycle, erosion and deposition, and river ecology. Programs are available for grades K-12.
Field STEM
Take your students to the outdoor classroom! Our field-based programs get down and sometimes dirty exploring the habitats and natural resources of Okanogan County. Sign up for an annual field excursion or set up an ongoing field investigation. We'll provide the support you need to get K-12 students outside.
It's knowledge bowl for natural resources! High school students compete in teams of 5 to see who knows the most about natural resources. County winners continue on to the State Envirothon competition, where teams compete for a spot in the international Envirothon. Regional competition takes place in April. In 2017, Okanogan Conservation District will host the event. Learn more about the competition at waenvirothon.org


text:
Budgeting After a Divorce
Full Size Version
Download the Worksheet
Share |
100 Church Street
Somerset, KY 42501
Full Size Version
Download the Worksheet
Lifestyle inflation can be the enemy of wealth building. What could happen if you invested instead of buying more stuff?
How literate are you when it comes to your finances? Brush up with these five basics.
A presentation about managing money: using it, saving it, and even getting credit.


text:
These apple-flavored caramels really evoke the essence of the fall season. You'll love how fast the candy cooks up, and they make a sweet homespun gift for friends and neighbors. Boiled cider is the secret ingredient that gives them warm, baked apple flavor. Add cinnamon and nutmeg, and you've got apple pie in candy form!
Apple Cider Caramels
Yield: 5 dozen caramels
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup light corn syrup
2 cups granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup boiled cider*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
* Boiled cider can be found at kitchen specialty stores and online at King Arthur Flour. If you can't find boiled cider, a substitute can be made from 2 1/2 cups sweetened apple cider simmered on the stove top until reduced to 1/2 cup. The flavor will be more subtle than the purchased boiled cider, but the caramels will still have a recognizable apple flavor.
Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan with shortening. Line it with a piece of parchment that overhangs the long edges of the pan.
Stir together the heavy cream and syrup in a 6 quart stock pot. Add the granulated sugar, cubed butter and boiled cider. Stir well until the mixture is a consistent color.
Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pot, or insert the wand of a digital thermometer into the mixture and set the alarm to 248°F.
Bring mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. When sugar is dissolved and mixture is at a full boil, decrease the heat to medium-high. The mixture will continue to bubble. Cook for 20-25 minutes, or until the candy thermometer reads 248°F.
Stir together the salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small condiment cup. Remove the pan from the heat source. Be careful, it will still be bubbling.
Stir in the spice mixture.
Pour the caramel into the prepared pan.
Let the pan stand, uncovered, at room temperature overnight. You may also refrigerate the pan for quicker setting. Run a knife between the parchment paper and pan.
Turn the solid caramel block out on a work surface or cutting board. Cut it into 1 x 5-inch lengths.
Cut the caramel into bite-size pieces (about 1 x1-inch squares).
Wrap the caramels in 6-inch squares of wax paper and twist the ends to close. Be sure to wrap them soon after they're cut into pieces; if left at room temperature for an extended period of time, the caramels will relax and lose their shape. Keep caramels in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 8 days. Caramels will keep slightly longer when stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour. All photographs by Heather Baird.


text:
Inside Entrepreneurship: Starting a business is like scaling steep peak
Q: My wife and I want to franchise a food business that "just hasn't been done." It is sure to explode nationwide, if not worldwide. We really just want to develop it, prove it, attract a few dozen franchise investors and sell out. I believe we could make millions in a few short years. Do you have any advice on how to proceed from here?
-- R. and R. Sims, Jacksonville, Fla.
A: I've always found a lot of similarities between entrepreneurs and mountain climbers. Both wake up each day eager to explore unpredictable terrain.
Pioneering mountain climber George Mallory, who may have summited Mount Everest before Edmond Hillary, once described his climbing struggles as sheer joy. He said it was these daunting adventures that allowed him to enjoy life fully. For him, climbing Mount Everest was not for the record books but "because it was there" to do. It satisfied his soul.
So with this in mind, I ask if your enthusiasm for your startup idea is more about the monetary rewards of your entrepreneurial climb or the climb itself. I believe you have to love the challenge of solving day-to-day business problems to succeed as an entrepreneur.
Whenever I read a letter from an entrepreneur that speaks to "quick profits" or "fast millions," I worry. Successful entrepreneurship is rarely quick, easy or an overnight lottery win.
You ask a common question: What is my first step forward? Here are some thoughts.
Can franchise founders make money? Absolutely! Franchise organizers can generate fees from the sale of each new franchise plus royalties on each franchise location's product sales. Of course, franchise founders "summit" when they take their companies public on a national stock exchange. If you really want to reach the top, you can do it!


text:
Archive your Magento sales orders in the community edition of Magento, just like in the Enterprise version. To top it off, the sales order grid and archive grid also have SKU's and Products added to the grid and Billing Name also contains the company billing name and is filterable by company name. We've also added postcode and customer email to the sales order grid for ease of filtering.
Will automatically archive orders older than a selected date in your System > Configuration.
Compatible with versions
|Community Edition
|Professional Edition
|Enterprise Edition
|18.104.22.168 - 1.9x
|1.8x - 1.11x
|Not Required in Enterprise
SUPEE 6285 & SUPEE 6788 Compatible (Updated 2016)
instant download
We have utilised the Silktide cookie consent javascript to bring you a FREE Magento module that will allow you to have the Silktide cookie consent javascript on your website.
Benefits of using the Silktide javascript:
Allows cookie consent for just your website
Allows cookie consent for all websites using the Silktide javascript
More Information on the javascript can be found here http://silktide.com/cookieconsent
This module overwrites the Google Analytics Html function, so if your using Google Analytics Plus, you will want to change the Ga.php file within GA Plus.
Compatible with versions
|Community Edition
|Professional Edition
|Enterprise Edition
|1.3x - 1.7x
|1.8x - 1.11x
|1.7x - 1.12x
Version 2 allows you to control position of the banner, position of the privacy settings, theme and if you would like customers to accept social and advertising cookies.
Vesion 3 fixes issues with Internet Explorer
Version 4.0 js, css updated
Changing your javascript to that is used for advertising or social links to the following at the start


text:
Songbooks Online 4+
Karaokeware Inc.
- Free
Search and Submit Karaoke Song Requests from your IPhone or IPad!
What's New
Version 1.4.1
Various performance enhancements
New Kiosk Mode
Privacy Policy Added
Ratings and ReviewsSee All
Convenient but...not?
So it's super convenient you can see the lineup and search your song easily. However if you decide to leave the bar and want to cancel your song that's not an option.
A very mediocre app. It does the job but it could definitely improve.
Convenient and great little program.
More than likely, the issues that some have with the app are related to the hosting software. I've used this software for a couple years now with little to no issues. My only complaint is that I was grandfathered under their lower price and my bank put a fraud alert on my card so my payment didn't go through. So songbooks online immediately bumped me up to the higher pricing. 🤨
Buggy mess
Basic things like cascading drop downs don't work correctly in iOS 13. Why did you present a search for shows in the first place when you couldn't select the show you were participating in? For that matter, why didn't you use location services to determine where I was and choose the event that way? And why am I giving you a user name and password instead of using many of the oAuth options? And you need my full name? Really? And finally, it looks abhorrent.
- Seller
- Karaokeware Inc.
- Size
- Category
- Entertainment
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
- Languages
- Age Rating
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2017 Karaokeware Inc.
- Price
- Free
Family Sharing
With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app.


text:
Clinical Project Lead - Medical Devices
- Apply
- Save job
Bullet points
The opportunity to develop your skills in a high-tech company
The opportunity to join a dynamic team within an international scope
About Our Client
Our client is a company active in the medical devices industry and is looking for a clinical project lead. They are based in the south of Brussels.
Job Description
As Clinical Project Lead you will:
- Develop the strategy of study
- Specify the activities and services for clinical trials to be outsourced
- Manage the relationships and performance of the CROs
- Develop, coordinate and/or review specific study-related documents
- Schedule set-up trial activities
- Be a part of the process of Trial Site Selection
The Successful Applicant
As Clinical Project Lead you:
- Have a master or bachelor in Life sciences
- Have at least 5 years of demonstrated experience in managing clinical trials in Medical Device industry
- Demonstrate a solid knowledge of GCP
- Speak French and English
- Are open to 15-30% of travel
What's on Offer
- A salary depending on your experience
- A package with several extra-legal benefits
- Position within a dynamic company within an international scope
- A place with innovative leaders with proven tracks records
Save job


text:
With Godzilla: King of the Monsters now just 6 months away, Legendary Pictures has set its sights on their next project which is poised to merge the Godzilla and Kong franchises. The studio released a Godzilla vs. Kong plot synopsis for fans this morning, and confirmed that production is now underway.
Adam Wingard is the director behind the camera on the film. Several characters from Godzilla: King of the Monsters will reappear within Godzilla vs. Kong, including Millie Bobby Brown as Madison Russell and Kyle Chandler as her father, Mark Russell. Other leads on the monster film include Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry.
To help promote the 2020 movie, Legendary Pictures gave us a tease of the Godzilla vs. Kong plot. They obviously aren't divulging much, especially with Godzilla: King of the Monsters yet to release, but it's something:
"In a time when monsters walk the Earth, humanity's fight for its future sets Godzilla and Kong on a collision course that will see the two most powerful forces of nature on the planet collide in a spectacular battle for the ages. As Monarch embarks on a perilous mission into uncharted terrain and unearths clues to the Titans' origins, a human conspiracy threatens to wipe the creatures, both good and bad, from the face of the earth forever."
The above story comes from a script that was developed by Terry Rossio. Wingard is adapting it with filming taking place across Hawaii and Australia. Warner Bros. is working in collaboration with Legendary to produce domestically most overseas territories. Toho will handle distribution in Japan.
With the generalized Godzilla vs. Kong plot summary hinted at, we now just have to wait a year and a half to actually see it play out. The movie lands in theaters worldwide on May 22, 2020.


text:
Own Your Holidays
bleach mugen - my roster 30.04.2011 pc free download
Barber Shop- In The Game Sports Barbershop Huntington Beach ...
Get directions, reviews, payment information on Barber Shop- In The Game Sports . Sports Barbershop, Barber Shop, Flat Top Haircuts, Men's Grooming, Men's .
Where Can I Go?
carrie fisher fake shemale pics
Pete's Flat Top Shop - 6011 Burnet Rd Austin, TX, 78757
Reviews and ratings of Pete's Flat Top Shop at 6011 Burnet Rd Austin, TX, 78757 . Get phone . You need a taper haircut or a fresh new look and he can do it. He is very talented, check him out at Casey's Barber Shop on Justin Ln. # 459-6862.


text:
The volunteer-led magazine with ever-changing voices exploring different perspectives on today's rapidly-evolving world.
Scott enjoys skiing and mountain biking in the Canadian wilderness. He fervently enjoys writing and travel and has aspirations of being a foreign affairs journalist or a war correspondent. He hopes to come back to South Africa someday; though hopefully, not as a war correspondent.
The Hard Livings, The Clever Kids, Thug Life, The Americans and The Junky Funky Kids… the list goes on. These names, as infamous as they are comical, have become ingrained in the vocabulary of almost every Capetonian, regardless of social economic status, colour or creed. It is no wonder this pernicious integration has occurred; with over 130 gangs in the Cape Flats area alone with membership in the hundreds of thousands, the effect of gang culture pervades the lives of many.
Error: No posts found.
Make sure this account has posts available on instagram.com.


text:
Donald Trump held his first rally since Mueller cleared him of Russian collusion. The packed-out venue cheered as the president slammed Democrats, calling out their pathetic games. Setting the stage for 2020, he's officially dropped the gauntlet on them.
This week has been pretty good for the president. And a disaster for the Democrats. Earlier in the week, Senate Majority Leader McConnell forced Democrats to admit they do not stand behind the Green New Deal. The insane proposal by radical newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was rejected by every Senate Democrat, who were so cowardly they all voted "present."
That's a big win for Republicans, who had criticized the toxic "environmental" proposal.
But bigger than that was the release of Robert Mueller's two-year report on Russian interference during the 2016 Election. The Attorney General released a summary of the report, revealing that Mueller confirmed what Trump and much of America has been saying for years: Donald Trump DID NOT collude with Russia.
That has outraged liberals, who for years were hoping Mueller's probe would lead to Trump's impeachment, removal from office, and even his incarceration.
Those dreams went up in smoke as Mueller cleared Trump completely.
This week, Trump spoke at his first rally since the report came out. He appeared at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As you can imagine, the place was packed.
The Democrats have blasted Trump for years, saying he's losing support. I guess all these Americans didn't get the memo!
While speaking to the packed-out arena, Trump held nothing back. He slammed Democrats, calling out their games. He demanded that they apologize to the American people for wasting our time and tax dollars on pointless investigations.
And he made his case for 2020.
"The Democrats have to now decide whether they will continue defrauding the public with ridiculous bullsh–," Trump said to thunderous applause, "– partisan investigations, or whether they will apologize to the American people."
Trump continued to unload on his opponents: "I have a better education than them, I'm smarter than them, I went to the best schools; they didn't. Much more beautiful house, much more beautiful apartment. Much more beautiful everything. And I'm president and they're not." [Source: Fox News]
Trump's never been one to walk the line of political correctness. He speaks his mind and makes no apologies.
Why should he, when he's speaking to a massive crowd of passionate supporters?
He even addressed protesters who gathered outside the arena, saying "What do you think of their signs, 'Resist?' What the hell? Let's get something done."
The president reminded the crowd of the titanic success his administration has enjoyed over the last two years. The economy is roaring to life, ISIS is defeated, and so much more. He also made the stakes of 2020 clear when he addressed the open border.
He promised the crowd that he would close the border, unless Mexico halts yet another set of caravans heading for us.
Trump also slammed the toxic Green New Deal. He mocked a part of the proposal that would force families to only own car. "One car per family — you're going to love that in Michigan."
The Democrats overplayed their hand with the Green New Deal. Several 2020 candidates endorsed it. This radical policy would cripple our economic, destroy jobs, and end American prosperity.
Democrats should be worried. Despite 2 years of negative coverage, Trump supporters are as excited as ever. As seen by how they behaved leading up to this rally.
Trump's rally prompted thousands of supporters to line the streets hours beforehand in a festive atmosphere that included vendors selling "Make America Great Again" hats and holding supportive signs…
Enthusiastic fans — including many who stood by Trump amid a torrent of unproven allegations that he conspired with Russia to sway the 2016 election — began to encircle the Van Andel Arena as early as 3:30 a.m. [Source: Fox News]
And to think, the election is over a year away! What will this country look like by 2020? President Trump has scored countless wins. Now, the shadow of the Mueller probe is officially gone.
What can Democrats do to counter his momentum? I can't think of a thing.


text:
Matthew Lansburgh's luminous, character-driven collection of linked stories, Outside Is the Ocean, follows the life of a German immigrant named Heike as she grapples with the assorted disappointments of love and family. She is the book's center of gravity, the sun around which other characters orbit — namely her estranged son, Stewart, but also a cadre of others: her adopted daughter, Galina, a handful of neighbors and in-laws, an ex-husband whose loneliness is eclipsed only by his frustration with an Airedale that tries desperately to escape him.
Winner of the 2017 Iowa Short Fiction Award, Outside Is the Ocean has recently been named a finalist for a 30th Annual Lambda Literary Award as well as a 2018 Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction. Stories in the collection have appeared in such places as Ecotone, Glimmer Train, The Florida Review, Joyland, Cosmonauts Avenue, Columbia: A Journal of Literature & Art, and Slice. "Driving North," a story told from Stewart's perspective as he navigates a tense visit home to California, first appeared in the Summer 2016 issue of MQR.
Many aspects of Outside Is the Ocean make it a memorable read: characters at once selfish and sympathetic; an overarching wit that informs the melancholy rather than undermining it; a structure that (from a craft perspective) makes the book worth studying as an exemplary model of the story cycle art form. But it is the dynamic between Heike and Stewart — particularly the constant friction between them — that gives Outside Is the Ocean life. Heike, for her part, can't understand why her son won't return her affection; Stewart can't understand why his mother — pushy and angling — won't leave him alone.
Lansburgh depicts the clashes between Heike and Stewart in a way that nudges the reader to take sides; such is the charged nature of their relationship. Often I'd find myself horrified by Heike's lack of boundaries: No, Heike, you may not let yourself into that woman's apartment! Then in the next story, I'd feel devoted to her and angry at Stewart for being petulant: So what if your mother wants to put on her dirndl and yodel? So what if she wants to sunbathe topless in the neighbor's yard? Get over it!
But of course that's the beautiful and necessary trick of the collection, and one that Lansburgh deploys with great skill and control: letting the reader determine which character's version of reality is correct. Heike is ultimately — despite her selfish behavior, her trampling of social norms, even her eventual dementia — a more reliable narrator than Stewart. Stewart would have you believe he's reliable, and he is by all accounts more intelligent and self-aware, but he's also far shiftier in terms of how he reveals his world. His aversion to his mother is the exact thing than turns the reader onto Heike — the thing that makes her character both foreign and familiar, lonely and in desperate need of an ally. She is magnetic, she is charming, she is worth watching, and this is due at least in part to Stewart's tendency to cast her as a villain.
I moved through this excellent collection at a clip and when I was finished, I had the pleasure of corresponding with Lansburgh over email about his writing process, his approach to revision, and the turning point at which he began to take himself seriously as a writer.
You masterfully alchemize autobiographical material into fiction for this collection, noting in an interview with Anne Raeff and Lori Ostlund for ZYZZYVA: "The process of taking the raw material of my life and turning it into 'literature' was […] incredibly difficult and involved a tremendous amount of trial and error. Some of the stories in the collection probably went through close to 100 drafts."
I'm curious to know which stories from Outside Is the Ocean went through the most revision, and to that end, what would you consider the murdered darlings of the book?
Not surprisingly, the stories I started when I first began working on this book went through the most revisions. In retrospect, I realize I was using the earliest stories as vehicles to learn how to write short fiction. "California" and "The Lure" probably went through the most drafts, followed by "House Made of Snow" and "Driving North." There were things about "California" that continued to bother me even after it was first published, and I put it through another round of revisions once I learned that Outside Is the Ocean had won the Iowa Short Fiction Award.
As for murdered darlings, there is one story that I removed from the collection (based on the advice of a close friend and trusted reader) just a few months before the book was finally published. The story is called "The Mother's Tongue" and for many years it was the last story in the collection — it's a kind of fable about a mother duck and her duckling children who fly south for the winter and become stranded in a huge storm. They seek refuge in a woodcutter's barn and, in exchange for a warm place to sleep, the woodcutter extracts a promise from the mother duck. This promise ends up costing the mother her language. Heike tells this fable to Stewart when he is a boy as a way to explain why it is that ducks make a quacking sound and don't speak proper German. At the end of the story, the mother duck becomes separated from her children during another storm as they are trying to find the woodcutter's barn once again. The story ties into the book's themes of language and maternal loss, and, as much as I loved it, I decided to go with my friend's advice. She thought that the final scene in "Buddy" was a stronger ending for the book and that the fable might be a bit reductive.
What was your process for arranging the stories this collection, and why did you lead with the particular narrative of Heike going to Vegas? How closely does the arrangement reflect the order in which the pieces were written?
For many years, I didn't spend much time thinking about the best order for the stories and simply kept them arranged chronologically. Once the manuscript was finished (or began to feel finished), I spent more time thinking about the book's opening. "California" and "House Made of Snow" are both foundational stories in that they provide key background information about the main characters, but these never struck me as the strongest pieces in the collection, so, in an effort to "hook" readers, I tinkered with other possibilities. When one of my readers suggested using "Queen of Sheba" as the starting point, that immediately felt right. A lot happens in the story, and it allows the reader to get to know many sides of Heike's personality in just a few pages. Once that decision had been made, I felt much more comfortable adjusting the order of the other stories. I no longer felt the collection needed to be sequenced temporally; instead the logic that guided me focused more on the evolution of the characters and the way the stories might play off one another thematically.
For the most part, I composed the stories in chronological order, though "Outside Is the Ocean" broke this rule — it was one of the last stories I worked on. Unlike many of the others, I wrote it in just a few days and it didn't go through that many drafts.
I love the opening line from "Driving North," which originally appeared in MQR: "Five years ago, when his mother announced that she was flying to Moscow to adopt a five-year-old girl, Stewart did his best not to react." So much character revealed in that single line! I'm curious what gets you writing a story in terms of the initial spark, and how do you find your (consistently wonderful) points of entry?
Thank you! I worked on the opening of that story, on and off, for a long time. (I re-wrote the first two pages of "Driving North" and "The Lure" dozens of times over a span of many years.) I think that finding the right way to start a story is often like finding the missing piece of a puzzle. As all writers know, beginnings pose many challenges: how to hook the reader, how to create mystery, what information to privilege, what information to withhold, how to create a scaffolding for the rest of the story to rest on. It's a tall order and always difficult to pull off.
As all writers who are sending stories to journals constantly hear, editors reading slush are always looking for a reason to reject a story and move on. The first paragraph has to be strong, and if it fails in any respect, it usually means the story won't get picked up — no matter how good the rest of it is. For me, this results in substantial hand-wringing and lots of trial and error.
How did the semi-autobiographical characters of Heike and Stewart develop as you were writing these stories? (Nerdy follow-up: Did you work with any sort of character map or timeline to keep yourself from committing continuity errors from one story to the next?)
I'm afraid my answer isn't that interesting: I started close to life and, over time, I gradually moved toward fiction. With each successive draft, with each new story, I gave myself more and more permission to invent the characters' personality traits and the situations they found themselves in. The end result is mostly fiction, though some key elements in the identities of the characters remain true to life (e.g., I'm gay; my mother lives in California but grew up in Germany).
I did end up making a kind of timeline or chronology. At a certain point, the dates started getting very hard to keep track of!
You note in a touching essay for Glimmer Train on the obligations one owes to family when writing about them: "I first started writing Outside Is the Ocean many years ago as part of an ongoing effort to make sense of the people who raised me and shaped who I am: to understand and grapple with the anger and mistrust, the guilt and, yes, love that has characterized so much of my relationship with my parents."
Because this collection has been many years in the making, I wonder at what point the individual stories began to work in conversation with each other? In other words, when did you know you had a book?
I spent a long time working with these characters and trying to write what I hoped might be stories before I ever thought of writing a book. For many years, I never took myself seriously as a writer. I liked writing and I tried to carve time out of my schedule to write, but I felt pretentious calling myself a writer. I didn't know anyone else who wrote seriously, and I sometimes felt certain friends thought my efforts to write were a bit perplexing. Close friends knew writing was something I'd always cared about, but I think some people thought it was strange that I'd rather stay home and write than go to a party or meet up for dinner. Sometimes, I used my vacations to take the train to Princeton where I'd stay at the Nassau Inn and spend my days in the library. I'm sure this also seemed strange to some people.
Getting my first story published and then enrolling in NYU's MFA program were turning points for me. I began to meet other people who valued writing, and I felt a greater sense of legitimacy. This is what ultimately allowed myself to think about working towards a book. Writing is, in many ways, an act of faith. You have to believe in yourself. You have to work towards a goal that may, at first, seem inaccessible and far-fetched. You have to give yourself permission to dream big — and to fail along the way . . . without giving up.
Finally, what are you reading right now, and what are some books you're most excited to read in the near future?
I recently finished Christine Sneed's The Virginity of Famous Men, which I adored. I also just re-read Remains of the Day, which is one of my top ten favorite books ever. (The novel I'm working on now is narrated by an unreliable narrator, and Stevens is such a great example of a narrator whose understanding of himself and the world around him is occluded in heartbreaking ways.)
Next up: All The Names by José Saramago and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I also have a shelf of books related to the discovery of the Americas and the conquest of the New World (e.g., Bernal Díaz del Castillo and Bartolomé de las Casas) that I'm hoping to get to at some point. They may or may not help me think about a future writing project I've been considering. One of the biggest fears I face as a writer is that I'll run out of ideas!
Find out more at matthewlansburgh.com, or follow him on Twitter @senorlansburgh.