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5 Ways to Remain Undefeated In Life and Cherish Each Moment Successfully
Life is an amalgamation of existence and survival. It often replicates Pandora's box. When we talk about existence, it relates to one's identity. When we talk about survival, stories of struggles, success, victories, and defeats come into the panorama. Survival defines the continuation of existence.
The concept of existence makes us curious about, "who am I"? Whereas, instincts of survival raise queries about "how to know who I am"? This journey from Who to How comprises several halts and platforms to make life interesting and beautiful.
Let's Have a Look at the Surroundings
Have you ever seen a bird building its nest? It appears beautiful yet simple, right? Stop and think about the efforts they have put behind its construction. They collect sticks, twigs, yarn, grass, leaves, mud, and many other things. They prove to be skilled architects of nature. This is one of their necessities to survive.
When the eggs hatched, the baby birds come into existence and struggle to survive in the external environment. They adapt and try to fly. They fall and get scared but never give up because they know this is vital for their survival. Then a day comes when they fly higher and soar in the sky.
Why doesn't their survival seem complicated to us? Why don't they have any emotional and mental breakdowns? Human beings have evolved and are privileged to experience emotions.
What Makes Life Interesting and Brings Meaning to Your Existence?
There are 3 things that brings mean to your existence: Desire, Determination and Struggle.
Human beings have desire to achieve things. Sometimes desires become the cause of one's misery, but desires can also be the driving force which let you manifest your highest potential. Having desires is important. It motivates us to forge ahead towards victory. It gives us a reason to work and strive for more.
But desire should not dominate you, and you should not depend on it to be happy. Your willpower and attitude determine your approach towards its fulfilment.Many times we don't get the desired results. Sometimes it is better than what we thought, and sometimes it's the opposite. A wise person neither gets swayed away with the victory nor disheartened with failure.
If the desire is the force, then determination is the velocity. Their product gives us the power to become courageous and fight like an invincible spirit. The determination provides a direction and illuminates your way to success. Hence, determined, every time you get a setback in life. When life throws curve balls, apply the technique of self-motivation and wisdom.
When we do not achieve a set goal, we consider ourselves failures. When life doesn't seem easy, when things turn out to be contrary or opposite of our expectations, we define the situation as tough and full of struggles.
The real struggle in life is not with the situation but with ourselves. If you succeed to win over the lowest state of your mind, your weaknesses, you win half of the battle. We win the other half with courage, hope, and a never give up attitude.
Winning is important, but to never get defeated is something even more important. If you remain undefeated no matter what, that's a success.
Here are 5 Ways to Remain Undefeated:
1. Build a Habit of Reading and Self-Motivation
In the moment of delusion and doubt, books prove to be a guiding force and a loyal companion, capable of empowering and motivating you. When we are stuck in a situation and not able to figure anything out, reading an article, blog, book or magazine has been proven to be a saviour.
A habit of reading helps you to learn and grow. It's like self-help pills. You keep yourself motivated. Whenever doubt comes, you seek the writings of ancient wisdom, derive its meaning according to you and keep yourself in a high life state.
2. Thinking and Introspection
Thinking is an art, and introspection is the tool to perform this art. When we spend time with the inner self, we contemplate many things. When we dwell in the dialogue with ourself, we find answers to many questions, and our vision becomes more explicit.
We know ourselves. We don't get affected by people's criticism or applause. We consistently focus on our thoughts and keep moving forward along the chosen path, and that is the key to achieve your goal.
3. Seek Inspiration from a Mentor
A mentor is someone who guides you throughout and enables you to achieve success in your life. A mentor is a source of inspiration. A mentor can be anyone; a teacher, a friend, your parents, grandparents, or even some celebrity. When you get down and gloomy, look at your mentor and many deadlocks of your life open automatically.
4. Connect Yourself to Spirituality
Spirituality is the way of living one's life unaffected by worldly affairs. When we open the gate to eternity, we leave behind our footprints. It will not only guide others but also paves their way to a peaceful life.
Practicing Yoga brings you closer to spirituality and meditation and helps with mental health. Hence, Yoga and meditation have the quality of a lotus flower. No matter what condition you are going through, you will bloom.
It calms your mind, relaxes your body, and improves your concentration. Your stress levels reduce and you achieve the hormonal balance your body and mind is looking for. This balance boosts your confidence and your belief system.It is a capsule for the overall development of your personality and inculcating this habit in our daily routine takes us to a higher level of success.
5. Be Courageous and Never Get Defeated
Courage is a virtue which enables us to make our dreams come true. To keep fighting the battle of life, you must have courage. It helps you to overcome your fear. When you win over your phobias, you increase your potential. You never get defeated, and that is an epic victory one can report.
In the weakest of your moments, when life seems unfair and ruthless, calm down, take a deep breath, close your eyes, and talk to yourself. Pay gratitude for whatever you have. You will find the meaning of your existence and that ethos to survive will never let you get defeated. You will triumph.
1 Comment
Hi Sanjay,
Can a mentor be an author I am following too? And what are the best books that had impacted you the most?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Leave a Reply
The Guide to Staying Motivated While Working Alone
Working alone at home might sound like a nightmare to some, but as a fully signed up introvert, working alone at home is an absolute dream. No energy-draining small talk, no noisy distractions, just peace and quiet to complete deep and focused work. Well not quite. Working alone at home has more challenges than you might expect. Boredom, lack of focus and lack of motivation to name a few.
When you start working for yourself, you quickly realise that one of the biggest problems you face isn't the job itself. Maintaining your motivation poses a potentially huge difficulty. Much of that difficulty stems from working alone, rather than in a traditional office setting. There is also the challenge of staying focused on the task at hand. With no boss or supervisor looking over your shoulder, social media can distract or cat videos interrupt you.
But the greatest problem by far is a simple lack of motivation. There doesn't seem to be a pressing need to finish this project right now, making it far too easy to put it off until later. Left unchecked, a lack of motivation can cripple the work you are trying to accomplish. Over the past few years I've developed a few go-to tactics to improve my lone working motivation.
Here are some of the tools I've used to stay motivated and on-task.
These first few tips focus on using different tweaks in your personal work schedule to provide some variety and maintain your focus.
1. Include short breaks
My eye doctor once told me that for every 20 minutes of staring at a computer screen, you should look away and focus on something across the room for 20 seconds. This gives your eyes a chance to reset. Do something similar with the rest of your body; don't just look across the room, walk, jog, or run across the room. Give your body a break, and try to reset your thoughts. If you don't have the discipline to take regular breaks, use an app to remind you.
2. Block out an afternoon for social activities and networking
Set aside one afternoon a week for your social life. Friday afternoon works best for me. If you feel guilty about not working, think of it as a chance to network. Either way, be sure to spend this section of time with other people. Socialise and network.
3. View your personal schedule as your work schedule
A 9-to-5 job requires getting up every morning, preparing for the day, leaving the house, and commuting to your workplace. In other words, it requires going to work. You want to recreate the same rhythm at home. You may not actually need to leave your house in order to work, but try to stick with the schedule. Filling the old job timeslot with your new work helps to keep you motivated – you can't clock out early!
These next few tips are little things you can do to trick yourself into staying focused!
1. Music
This tip may sound cliché, but try listening to an upbeat song loudly whenever you feel unmotivated. It's a simple trick, but a surprisingly effective one!
2. Have somewhere else to work for a change of scenery
When procrastination sets in, sometimes a quick change of scenery is all you need. If you work at home, going to your favourite café can be a huge help. Other freelancers I know have even gone so far as to hire office space outside the home, and rotate between the two to help stay on-task.
3. Love what you do
This is arguably the most critical point on the whole list. If you don't love what you do, it will be hard to keep yourself motivated – particularly long-term. Sure, you may be able to push on through sheer force of will for a while, but sooner or later you'll lose motivation entirely. Do something you genuinely enjoy, and you'll find it much easier to stick with it for the long haul.
These last few tips are Industry-related!
1. Make sure you have fun projects
Not all of your work projects will be fun, but fight to make at least a couple of them fun. These might even be personal side projects, not particularly related to your main job. Or they might be in the same general field, but not your specific focus.
2. Attend industry events a couple of times a year
Nearly every imaginable industry has an organising body of some kind. Find the local branch, and use it to keep tabs on industry-related events. Attend some seminars, network, and maybe even glean some new tips and tricks from industry insiders.
3. Schedule at least one call a week to learn something within your industry
View this as an opportunity for personal development. At least once a week, try to learn something new about your industry. For me, this might mean calling a new tool provider to demonstrate their gadgets. Whatever your industry, try to expand your horizons a little bit every week. You'll learn new methods and make new connections at the same time.
These tips worked for me, hopefully, some of them will help you out as well. Above all, strive to enjoy what you do, stick to a "work schedule," and look for opportunities for constant self-improvement. With those ideas in mind, you'll find staying motivated much easier to do alone or in a group!
7 Ways Yoga Effectively Motivates You to Achieve Success
Yoga is an appointment with your own self. It is time to meet your true self and receive a return ticket to your true nature that is bliss and happiness. You will naturally feel happy while doing yoga. Many people don't realize they are in a distressed state until it's too late. The same thing happened with me when I failed to understand my life's circumstances. I was struggling with a lack of motivation, depression, insomnia, and maintaining my personal relationships, which eventually started affecting my physical health.
Last year, I struggled with depression and general anxiety disorder. I was constantly chasing after money, a lucrative career, happiness, and success. I was afraid that if I told my colleagues about my mental health issues, they would criticize me and eventually it would hamper my progression and I would not be taken seriously.
Last winter, my responsibilities in life increased in a short period of time, which created a lot of anxiety. It began to disturb my mood at home as I was unable to relax and felt low. I hated my own egotistical self because I was an extremely competitive individual as well. I always felt that I did not have the career of my dreams and I was not where I aimed to be. It felt like I was failing because I was not able to attain any of the goals I set in my own life.
I decided to share my emotions and feelings with someone who could potentially make things easier for me. I ended up explaining my struggles and mental illness to my manager. His reaction was amazing because he thanked me for being honest, and he introduced me to yoga. I am happy that I made this decision because it felt better after sweating it out in the Yoga workshop.
Yoga helped me in focusing on what I truly had, instead of on what I didn't have. I learned how to embrace my competitive side and to use it in a way that pushed me to become a happier person. Yoga taught me that instead of wasting most of my life chasing after success and competing with others, I had to let life run its natural course. Happiness and success will then come to us naturally.
Below I have listed some reasons as to why yoga works effectively to motivate yourself to achieve success:
1. It Solves Your Problem
When it comes to challenges and tackling problems, yoga works amazingly. When you get on a yoga mat and begin to practice, you are made to deal with everything that comes to you and asked to face it gracefully. In turn, this increases your focus and patience levels, so that you will be able to face the mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical challenges at every turn.
2. It Lowers Your Anxiety and Stress
Yoga doesn't mean that you will heal instantly, but constant practice can help you destress. The simple breathing and moving exercises can help a lot in releasing your tension and anxiety.
Yoga helps in stretching your muscles by relaxing them as most of the stress and tension is stored there. The breathing exercises energize your body by increasing the blood flow, which eventually refreshes your body and mind. The daily practice of yoga makes you aware of the surroundings by making you control your emotions and stress.
"Learn to relax. Your body is precious, as it houses your mind and spirit. Inner peace begins with a relaxed body." – Norman Vincent Peale
3. Increase Your Focus
Yoga helps improve your focus through the breathing exercises you do during the yoga postures. It relaxes the body and mind so you can think clearly, and in time build up the ability to concentrate.
Yoga is focused on concentration, breathing, and the alignments. Additionally, yoga's claimed to bring mental and physical relaxation by energizing the parasympathetic nervous system, and this is the reason why yogis sleep well at night. No wonder they have such a healthy and a stress-free lifestyle.
4. It Helps in Redefining Success
Real success comes when you use yourself to your full capability. It does not matter what you become, the only thing that matters is that you are living your life to your full potential.
If you want to be successful, then you must see everything just the way it is, without any distortion. Yoga helps you with just that. Through practicing yoga daily, you will start to see the results and live more joyfully.
5. It Boosts Your Health
Mental health affects your work and your physical health. Your physical health can drastically affect your work as it will make you work less and take more time off, which will lead to lined-up pending assignments.
Yoga helps your body with almost every physical problem. Yoga increases your blood flow, oxygen, and improves your circulatory system. All the postures of the Bikram yoga help to improve the flow of fresh and oxygenated blood to every part of the body and mind.
"Move your joints every day. You have to find your own tricks. Bury your mind deep in your heart, and watch the body move by itself." – Sri Dharma Mittra
6. Gives Mindfulness and Makes You Present
Mindfulness teaches us to become more present at any given moment. It makes us more aware and conscious of our inner thoughts, feelings, emotions, and hence makes us strong enough to control our actions towards situations.
Practicing breathing in yoga teaches you to experience and live each moment to the fullest. Over time, yoga will help you live in a deep sense of fulfillment and inner peace, which will ultimately help you in making the right decision for yourself and your team.
7. Stay Aware and Positive
A yogi tends to have a balanced outlook on life. Yoga sessions of meditations, breathing exercises, and mindfulness will aim at making you conscious and aware of yourself. Additionally, it will open up new possibilities of understanding your true self.
Yoga also aims at making you a positive person, and the effects of yoga are not limited to relaxation after a workout but are exceptionally long-lasting. Yoga makes you attain the attitude of gratitude that helps you identify the brighter side of life.
To achieve success through yoga, you must adapt it into your day to day life because having good health is a basic necessity to live a happy and healthy life and no one but you can keep yourself healthy.
Have you tried yoga? If so, share with us how it's positively impacted your life below!
5 Ways to Find Everyday Motivation in the Least Likely Places
When you're down in the dumps, the natural thing you want to do is find motivation to recharge and restart. But unlike computers or phones, people don't work that way…or do they?
Think of it this way, people are natural sources of motivation, and we may not even be aware of it. Recall the last time you went to the store, chatted with the happy counter girl, and the helpful guy in the queue, you came out smiling and feeling good, didn't you? That's because those people charged you with their positive energy.
The problem is, just like them, there are people with negative energies who drain you of your motivation. After you interact with them, you feel listless, depressed or just simply low. In such a scenario, I would advise you to go to that grocery store again, but that's just not practical.
Here are 5 unlikely places to get your dose of motivation:
1. Wind from Within
Where else would you find motivation quickly but yourself? You are the ultimate source of inspiration. Don't believe me? Try these tactics.
Think about the reason why you're feeling down, and treat it as a challenge. Consider it as a game, and you need to beat your competition with any strategy that you can think of and come out on top. Feel that boost of energy?
Next, dive in and consider why you feel like such a failure. Is it the career choices? The face-off incident with your ex at the office gathering? The boss who is always criticizing you? Take these issues one by one and devise plans to tackle them.
Change your career if you must, or give this one your 200 percent. Avoid your ex or talk it out with them. Face your boss by telling them how disappointed you are with their behavior, or keep on taking the criticism. The point is, not to overthink but to resolve what's bugging you and pulling you down.
Perhaps this feeling of failure which is dragging you down stems from your fear of it. To make it right and regain your motivation, you'll have to face your fear head on. There is no way around it so might as well deal with it like a "challenge". There's that word again, you know what to do now.
2. Tune in to Ted Talks
What if you still can't find motivation from within, and still feel down? Ted Talks are the best sources of inspiration.Real people. Real experience. Real talk. You can't get any closer to real motivation than a Ted Talks. From career to personal, emotional, educational etc. each Ted Talk takes you on a journey of the speaker, forces you to face their reality, and end up with a solution, which might be yours too.
One of my favorites is by Adam Grant, "Are you a giver or a taker?". It has really given me thoughts about what my life is all about and what I would like to change. One of the lines which struck me and turned my life around was: "If you're a matcher, you try to keep an even balance of give and take: quid pro quo — I'll do something for you if you do something for me. And that seems like a safe way to live your life. But is it the most effective and productive way to live your life?"
That's just one Ted Talk. There are tons out there. The point is not what you watch but what you garner from their experiences, wisdom, and lessons delivered.
3. Soul Searching Speeches
While Ted Talks are about your average Joe, whom you can relate to and may even bump into in your everyday routine, speeches from successful people are another thing entirely.
We are talking about golden nuggets from dynamite, successful tycoons who have changed the world. They're revolutionizing the way we live and breathe.
And you know what else they are? They're powerhouses who have the immense capability of giving you the much needed motivation spark to come out of your lowest low. When famous people like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Jack Ma, Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama get invited to deliver commemorating speeches, they share with you their world.
They tell us about using smart decisions to solve complex problems. They share with us their dilemmas, and how to come out of it without harming yourself. But most importantly, they tell us about their fears, challenges, and failures which they've successfully overcome.
One of the most famous speeches, and my personal favorite, is Steve Jobs' commencement speech at Stanford University. Jobs, who has revolutionized home computing, mobile devices, and luxury branding of technology, tells us if we live each day as if it were the last, then there is nothing to fear. After all, fear is the reason why we don't do a lot of things that would boost our motivation.
4. Tap Into Teaching
People say that teaching is a noble profession but nobody tells you about the motivational aspect of it. Even if you're down, nothing brightens your mood up instantly like a student looking up to you. You feel thousands of feet tall.
You don't have to be a full time teacher to feel motivated. Help someone at the workplace and teach them a skill. Teach your kids about what you know. And if you're single, teach the neighbor's kids.
When you teach someone, you are actually learning and discovering yourself. It gives you a new perspective and forces you to look at problems from the student's point of view. And, you might discover the reason for feeling demotivated, or stressors that are pulling you down. When you are able to identify the problem, you'll be able to find the solution.
5. Interest in Interviews
What do Humans of New York, Larry King Live and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon have in common? You guessed it…interviews. Funny or serious, interviews are meant to bring out the inner person of the interviewee, but I bet you didn't know they also bring the humane side of the interviewer.
Interviews force you to wear the interviewee's shoes, think like them, and understand their dilemmas. What better lessons to learn and get motivation from real life people who've been there and done that?
Of course it doesn't mean you start grabbing any Tom, Dick or Harry to interview. Find an angle, seek permission and have a purpose for your interviews. Maybe you want to find out where people go to find inspiration, or motivate others. Or, ask people what they do when they hit bottom, or at the peak of their career.
You'll be surprised at the rationale, humbling experiences and feelings these individuals will share. Let their answers be your motivation.
4 Simple Yet Effective Ways to Boost Your Team's Motivation as a Startup
Many startup leaders are able to grow their organizations quickly, thanks to their off-the-charts motivation and productivity. Unfortunately, when the organization is no longer a one-man show, it becomes very difficult to equip their team members with the same degree of motivation. This can negatively affect the organization's morale, productivity, and possibly revenue.
Below are the four simple and effective ways to boost your team's motivation as a startup:
1. Evaluate your own leadership as a leader
Many leaders had their own share of experience with bad leadership. Tim Denning, Addicted2Success contributor, also goes as far as saying, "working with a bad boss is a soul crushing dream killer." No leaders want to be known as a bad leader. Unfortunately, some startup leaders unintentionally fall into the trap of micromanaging and never listening to the team members because they might not always have an experience as a leader.
If your team is big enough, you can also consider doing an anonymous survey that evaluates your leadership. But if that is not an option, there are tools that allow you to assess your own leadership performance. Go through the assessment, and focus on implementing the changes. Even if the team members' motivation does not skyrocket overnight, there will be an improvement overtime.
"The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly." – Jim Rohn
2. Focus more on intrinsic motivation
A study of 200,000 U.S public sector employees by Yoon Jik Cho and James Perry showed that intrinsic motivation, rather than extrinsic motives such as position and salary, makes triple the impact on employee motivation and engagement. This study shows that motivating team members through position and salary is important, yet the biggest transformation will show when you get team members to focus on internal rewards.
For startups and teams with a limited budget, this represents a powerful way to be able to attract and retain the best team members. Though there will be some team members that might be disengaged because they are more motivated by position and salary, there will also be team members that may choose to stay in the organization because of the team's culture– even if they get other job offers that might be more extrinsically appealing.
Challenge your team members with bigger responsibilities and goals. Encourage them to continue developing their skills or learn new ones. Show them you appreciate their loyalty. The internal rewards and the personal loyalty that your team members develop by working with your team will ensure that they can continue to stay engaged to the work and stay motivated to get the work done.
3. Be specific on HOW their work matters, and how much you care
Most leaders are aware of the importance of great team members and focus on recognizing the team's efforts. However, when specificity as to how their work makes a difference in the team is added on, it can become extremely powerful. Team members want to know that the business cares about their work and jobs, but also about making a positive impact on the society.
Everytime you remind your team members about how their work makes a difference in the company's growth, and how the organization makes a difference in the community, your team member will not only feel pride in their work, but they will also be fired up with an extra dose of motivation.
"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself." – Henry Ford
4. Encourage team members to become self leaders
An article by HR Digest shows that 25% of millennial team members are looking for a chance to prove their leadership skills. Although it is highly encouraged for startup leaders to challenge their team members and give them opportunities to showcase their leadership abilities, it can be risky if they do not have a previous leadership experience. That is when self leadership comes in.
Self leadership is a concept developed by Bryant and Kazan and is about having a clear individual identity as a leader. This can mean having a clear understanding of the vision, who they are as a leader and what their capabilities are as a leader. This helps your team members embody an identity of a good leader while developing their leadership skills.
There are many ways of empowering team members to develop self-leadership, such as encouraging them to take on new challenges or allowing them to partake in professional development activities. It can also mean giving them room to innovate and make their own decisions with their authority.
As the team gets bigger and the organization is no longer a one-man show, it can be challenging for leaders to keep their team members motivated. However, with these simple ways, it'll be easier to equip your team members with the extra dose of motivation to continue doing their best and boost the team's performance as a whole.
How do you keep your team motivated and excited? Share your ideas and thoughts below!
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subset: commoncrawl


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Summer Sci-Fi Preview: Falling Skies Returns for Season 3
Jun 4, 2013 6:03 AM EDT
The third season of Falling Skies could turn into either War of the Worlds or E.T. — which just happen to be two movies directed by Steven Spielberg, an executive producer of the TNT alien-invasion series. A new ally from outer space has g… Read more


text:
MOLENAAR Family Tree and MOLENAAR Genealogy Records
Last updated: 2007-01-06 | Researchers: 2 | Journals: 0
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What is this? This section (in blue) is available for editing to our advanced members, in a Wiki style. If you would like access to edit this surname page wiki, please contact us.
MOLENAAR Family History and MOLENAAR Family Genealogy Journals
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Helpful hints on Dutch names from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia - 2006-11-09


text:
We'd like to invite you on a journey…to a place where healthcare becomes healthier. Here at Lourdes, we're blessed with a rare combination. We offer some of the latest technology medical science offers. And the kind of compassion every patient needs. But, how we deliver our healthcare is something that can get even better.
Lourdes Call to Action is a way to bring tangible actions to our Strategic Plan and to focus even greater on our Mission - a Mission that truly makes us something different and distinguishable among healthcare organizations.
Together we promise: Healthcare that works. Healthcare that is safe. Healthcare that leaves no one behind.
Healthcare that works…a priority of Ascension Health is to design a healthcare system that works for everyone. A system that is patient driven so that care can be provided quickly, efficiently, and accurately.
Healthcare that is safe…throughout the Ascension Health system, we are committed to having no injuries or deaths that could have been prevented. We will focus on ensuring that our staff has the education, technology, and time to provide the right care.
Healthcare that leaves no one behind…we are working toward 100% access for all people through advocacy at the national and local levels and through partnerships with organizations that share our dedication to service.
We will pursue these imperatives with an urgency driven by our belief that every patient deserves nothing less than excellent healthcare. We commit to this Call because we must - our Mission demands it, our patients deserve it. This Call to Action is a very powerful statement and something that all employees and physicians at Lourdes are being asked to embrace.


text:
- Height: 22cm
- Colour: Available with Gold or Silver Glitter Edge
- Made by Festive
There is no additional cost of delivery for Christmas Trees up to 20ft in height.
For Christmas Trees over 20ft, delivery charges will apply.
Please contact us on 03456048366 or e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com for a quote for any tree over 20ft in height.
For stands, decorations, lights and wreaths, a delivery charge of £7.00 will apply unless these items are purchased with a Christmas Tree.
If these items are purchased with a Christmas Tree, there will be no delivery cost.


text:
The Studiomaster GX range sets a new standard in loudspeaker performance, portability and cost. The range comprises 10 models, 5 active (powered) and 5 passive (unpowered).
The strong trapezoidal shaped wooden cabinets are black carpet covered to give a stylish, durable finish while keeping weight to a minimum. All full range cabinets contain a 35mm speaker pole socket for stand mounting and all models have tough slotted handles, making transportation easy. These passive cabinets have a pair of industry standard 4 pole speaker connectors for reliable operation and the flexibility to connect to additional cabinets.


text:
Shape\pattern: PlantMaterial: Cubic ZirconiaStyle: Cute/RomanticBack Finding: Push-backEarring Type: Stud EarringsItem Type: EarringsMaterial: 925 sterling silversize: 1.1 CM
We believe in our products and want to keep you coming back for more, so we back that up with a risk-free, 45 day guarantee.
If you don't have a positive experience for ANY reason, we will do WHATEVER it takes to make sure you are 100% satisfied with your purchase.
Buying items online can be a daunting task, so we want you to realize that there is absolute ZERO risk in buying something and trying it out. If you don't like it, no hard feelings we'll make it right.
We have 24/7 Email Support. Please contact us if you need assistance.


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"I can't get my head round it. In Europe, if there's a big derby game on the Saturday, say Manchester United and Man City, [coach] Alex Ferguson gets a phone call at half-past eight saying Wayne
Rooney can't play? The whole bloody country's going to be in an uproar. It was frustrating. It was a huge disadvantage and I feel sorry for the players and our club."
-- Vancouver's Scottish midfielder Barry Robson is upset that MLS isn't more like Europe and he's not treated more like Wayne Rooney after being suspended for the Whitecaps' game against Seattle for harrassing an assistant referee during his previous game. (Vancouver Sun)


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Where you might see only a peaceful park along the river, with trees and picnic benches, John Vater sees a hellhole.
Where you might see only a peaceful park along the river, with trees and picnic benches, John Vater sees a hellhole.
The tattooed Marine Corps veteran, who fought in Vietnam, drops to his knees and peers into the darkness beneath the broken slabs of concrete that line the water.
"Nikita!" he calls out. "Baby, c'mon!"
"She's a little Russian gray," he explains to an onlooker. "They're beautiful little cats."
Eventually a tiny head emerges, eyes blinking in the morning sun. But Nikita does not want visitors. She retreats into the blackness.
Vater leaves three handfuls of dried cat food on the rocks.
"She's 6 months old," he says. "Her brother got slaughtered out here. I've got to get her out - this is a hell of a place for cats to live."
No one can say precisely how many feral cats live in Stockton, nor how many "feeders" like Vater are caring for them.
But the scope of the problem becomes obvious during a short walk with Vater in Louis Park, which he visits almost every morning, carrying a canvas bag full of food.
He stops along the path every 50 steps or so, calling out to each cat which he knows is hiding somewhere in the tangled brush only a few feet away.
Here comes Lucille, the orange tabby who turned out to be a boy. The name was given before Lucille allowed anyone close enough to determine his gender.
Here comes Chiquita, the classic tuxedo who is especially brave and outgoing.
Here comes Lilly, who only recently allowed Vater to pet her for the first time. "That is a great advancement," he says. Lilly's mother, Zelda, was killed here. Her brother Rufus, who liked having his belly scratched, was successfully adopted.
And here comes Matilda, who holds her tail high, a sign she is happy to see her protector. Matilda had two kittens: Fluffy, one of the prettiest cats in the park, was killed by dogs last winter; Clemson died after coming down with a urinary tract infection.
As Vater walks, the cats keep appearing. There are more than a dozen in this one area.
The wolf tattoo on his forearm notwithstanding, Vater has a gentle manner with the felines. He doesn't simply dump the food and move on; he talks with them and handles them, if they're willing. Many of them are, which brings us to the point that fills Vater with anger:
Why aren't these cats in loving homes?
Many have already been spayed and neutered. With enough socialization, he says, they could live in someone's home instead of spending winters shivering beneath rocks, or outrunning dogs and even people. Vater believes some of the 40-plus cats that once lived here were killed at the hands of humans.
"You cannot ignore this away and you cannot pretend this away," Vater says, the gentle tone with which he speaks to the cats suddenly replaced with indignant outrage. "We did this, and we have a responsibility to do what is right, what is decent and what is good."
Whether feral cats should ever live in a home is a subject of controversy. National advocacy group Alley Cat Allies argues that true ferals (as opposed to strays that have been around people in the past) should be trapped and fixed, and then released back into the same environment from which they came.
Brianna Brumbaugh, a manager with the Maryland-based organization, praises Vater for feeding the cats and getting them fixed. That's "doing the community a service," she says.
"But these cats already have a home in the outdoors," she says. "They don't need a new home."
The cats might be accustomed to Vater, even rubbing up against his leg at times, but they're not likely to react as well to a would-be new owner, Brumbaugh says.
Julie Damron, a veterinarian at the Sierra Veterinary Clinic on Hammer Lane, who writes about pet care for The Record, says some cats might be adoptable, depending on how friendly they are.
But first things first: They must be fixed.
"We have such a big issue with pet overpopulation in our city," Damron says. "I have a lot of situations where I've talked to people who just want to feed cats and don't want to do spaying and neutering. They end up with a lot of cats and it ends up being overwhelming. You don't realize how quickly they can multiply."
Back at the park, Vater says he figures that if only a small fraction of Stockton residents wanted to help, thousands of cats could have a better life. He introduces a visitor to Midnight, a black cat with a "meow like a little music box." Then there is Melvin, who is comfortable enough with Vater to crawl up onto his chest if he were to lie down.
"These are beautiful little souls, they are," Vater says. "I want them to know they're loved and that they matter in this world, and I've got to find a way to get them out of here."
Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 546-8295 or email@example.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/breitlerblog.


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A GlaxoSmithKline Plc plant in Canada that makes the flu vaccine Flulaval has been cited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for failing to meet quality control standards.
GSK said it is working to rectify the problems and does not expect a delay in distributing the vaccine for the 2014-2015 flu season. The company typically starts shipping the product at the end of July.
In a warning letter dated June 12 to GSK's flu vaccine manufacturing facility in Ste-Foy, Quebec, the FDA said the company failed to take appropriate steps to prevent microbiological contamination of products, among other violations.
GSK said on Tuesday no contaminated products had been released to the public.
"Every batch of GSK vaccines is subject to extensive review before it is released," the company said. "Vaccines that do not pass this rigorous review are discarded."
The FDA said controls for the purified water system at the plant were inadequate and that some Gram-negative bacteria identified in water used for equipment washing had been implicated in product contamination issues at the facility as far back as 2011.
In 2011, 24 vaccine lots were rejected due to the excessive presence of endotoxins. These are found in the cell walls of Gram-negative pathogens such as salmonella. When bacteria die the endotoxins are released, possibly contaminating laboratory equipment and causing health problems in people and animals.
Other lots were rejected in March and July 2012, and certain test lots were contaminated last year. These were manufactured on the same equipment as commercial lots for release to the United States, the FDA said in its warning letter.
This year, 20 of the lots manufactured, or 21 percent, showed bacterial growth and endotoxin levels. These lots were also rejected. GSK said the lots were rejected as part of the company's quality review process.
The FDA said there was no set schedule for disinfection of the water system and that manufacturing controls in place were inadequate to control bacteria on unsterilized surfaces. The agency said the company's investigation into the repeated accumulations of bacteria had been inadequate.
The deficiencies, the FDA said in its letter, "are an indication of your quality control unit not fulfilling its responsibility to assure the identity, strength, quality, and purity of your licensed biological drug product and intermediates."
GSK said it anticipates providing between 28 and 33 million doses of flu vaccine to the United States for the upcoming season and said it is working with health agencies in Canada and the United States to "support their efforts in managing supply of influenza vaccines for the 2014-15 flu season."
Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington and Esha Dey in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Marguerita Choy and Paul Simao


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The ancient Indian practice of balancing internal energy for better health now has some science on its side -- and promotes innovative ideas for helping the body heal itself.
Shel Pink, 40, a Los Angeles working mother of two, wakes up every morning with the sun, gives herself an oil massage, and does yoga or meditates before she sits down to her breakfast of steel-cut, organic oatmeal and fruit. She brings lunch to the office, usually rice and mung bean, and most challenging, she gets to bed by 9:30 or 10 p.m. She does all of this according to a traditional system of health said to have been developed by Indian rishis, or seers, some 5,000 years ago.
Who knows if they saw this coming? But since the eighties, the discipline called Ayurveda has been taking root in this country, thanks to popularizers such as Deepak Chopra and Ayurvedic training programs that have produced a new generation of American-born teachers who are proving that the message of balanced living is actually quite modern.
Ayurveda ("science of life" in Sanskrit) covers a lot of ground: diet, lifestyle, "detox" massage and cleansing techniques (panchakarma), and herbal remedies (rasayanas). It also makes use of the sister disciplines of yoga and meditation. Everything fits into a unifying philosophy of balance -- living in sync with our own unique energetic makeup.
According to Ayurveda, we, and the universe we exist in, are composed of three complementary energies, or doshas: vata, which is movement; pitta, which is transformation; and kapha, which is stability. The three doshas comprise five "great elements" that give them their distinctive qualities. Vata is made of air and space, pitta of fire and water, kapha of water and earth. We're all our own proprietary blend of vata, pitta, and kapha, but we usually have one dominant dosha that determines things such as our personality and appetites. Take our quiz to find yours.
Keeping Doshas in Check
Our doshas shape our identity, but they can also be our Achilles' heel when the dominant energy becomes too strong. For instance, the pitta personality is naturally drawn to hard work and high achievement, but if she gets too caught up in that, to the exclusion of her softer (kapha) or more reflective (vata) sides, she's courting a physical and/or emotional breakdown. In Ayurveda, everything is connected. The fiery pitta personality may crave spicy foods, which then fuel hot emotions.
"My students always ask me, 'Does that mean I can never trust my instincts?'" says Hilary Garivaltis, dean of the Ayurveda program at the Kripalu Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. No, she advises, but we do have to check in to gauge the consequences of our diet and lifestyle choices and pacify our out-of-balance dosha with its opposite energy.
Sound too simplistic? A number of studies, admittedly small scale, have shown Ayurvedic herbal remedies effective in treating chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes. Hari Sharma, M.D., of Ohio State University's Center for Integrative Medicine, has found that many of these traditional Indian herbs are among the most potent antioxidants yet discovered. And, intriguingly, the Ayurveda approach dovetails with two of the most significant trends in modern Western medicine: integrative medicine, with its emphasis on treating chronic diseases with adjustments to diet and lifestyle, and genomic medicine, which is beginning to tailor treatment to individual genetic differences.
In India, there's even an emerging field of "ayurgenomics," which yielded a 2008 study that was able to separate the three doshas according to sophisticated genetic and biochemical markers. Says Bhaswati Bhattacharya, M.D., a clinical assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College who teaches Ayurveda to Western physicians at her Dinacharya Institute in New York City: "We're finding that the science validates what the classical Ayurvedic texts are saying in a more poetic way."
What's your Dosha: Vata
In the Ayurvedic tradition, dry, cool vata energy is associated with movement, be it thoughts passing through the mind or food through the digestive system. When vata puts its stamp on a person, she's lean, fine-featured, often tall. She might work for a start-up or go into writing or the arts. But all that nervous energy can leave her stuck in high gear, an anxious wheel-spinner. She can be short on follow-through, and "an airhead," Bhattacharya says bluntly.
When vata energy is exaggerated, the quick, active mind becomes nervous, agitated, and prone to insomnia and sometimes headaches. A common first line of defense is addressing diet (eat hearty, warming foods) and lifestyle (get on a regular schedule: early to bed, early to rise). An Ayurvedic practitioner may then prescribe a preparation that includes ashwagandha, a heating herb that can stabilize nervous energy during the day and enhance sleep at night. Too much dryness in the system leads to incomplete digestion, constipation, and/or excess gas. Using pepper and ginger in cooking heats up the "digestive fire" that can burn rather weakly in the cool vata. Dryness often shows up in the joints as pain or even osteoarthritis, and can be helped by using anti-inflammatory spices such as ginger and turmeric. Get more Ayurvedic Fitness tips for vatas.
In Ayurveda, the key to proper nutrition for everyone is eating whole foods -- whenever possible, in season. But each dosha type has to exercise special care with foods that can exacerbate her dominant energy, especially in the season when that energy runs high. A vata person who eats dry, cold vata foods (for instance, cereals and raw vegetables) in vata season (late fall/early winter: think cold, desiccating winds) is creating a recipe for imbalance. Instead, go with moist, warming foods like soups and stews, and add a warm piece of salmon to a salad.
Vatas tend to hit the ground running -- sometimes in circles. Bhattacharya recommends a morning meditation to focus the mind and a set routine to bring some discipline into the picture. Vatas are drawn to -- and built for -- high-energy sports like jogging and cycling, but they can wear out quickly. K. Michael Ferranti, a New York City practitioner and educator who runs Gotham Ayurveda, recommends yoga (gentle Hatha is a good choice) or Pilates to balance those aerobic efforts.
"They say in a relationship, one person is the kite and one is the string," Bhattacharya notes. "Vata is the kite." Vata-in-balance can bring spontaneity and fun to any relationship. A vata out of balance can be a flighty novelty-seeker -- but Garivaltis says that she may pacify her excess vata energy by finding a loyal kapha mate to ground her. "Two vatas together will have a ball and then burn out quickly," she warns. In the bedroom, vatas usually want frequent sex -- but if they indulge that craving every time, they'll drain their shallower energy reserves.
"Oil is vata's best friend," says Garivaltis, who recommends applying sesame or almond oil at least every other day, either in the morning or before bed. The heavy oil, generously applied, locks moisture into vata skin, which has a tendency to dry out, especially in vata season, and a gentle 5- to 10-minute massage with it has a calming effect on the tightly strung vata nervous system.
What's Your Dosha: Pitta
In the body, pitta is the metabolic heat that transforms food into energy, and in the person, it's what animates the strong, medium-built striver who lives to solve problems and surmount challenges. She's the competitor who's climbing the professional ladder in business, medicine, or law -- smart, engaged, on point. She can also become part of the burn-out crowd. When pitta is too much, she's a judgmental perfectionist. "That's the surgeon throwing the instruments across the operating room," Bhattacharya says, "the domineering parent, the 'my way or the highway' control freak." Get more Ayurvedic Fitness tips for pittas.
Inflammation is the common thread in pitta unwellness. It can derange digestion (heartburn, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers), the skin (rashes), and the hormonal systems (thyroid and sex-hormone disorders, including infertility). The remedy is straightforward: Put out the fire! The first step is attention to diet and lifestyle. (Tone down the competitive approach.) Moderation is recommended for caffeine and alcohol across the board, but pittas in particular tend to over-rev on coffee and vent aggression when they drink alcohol; they would do well to replace both with mint drinks and coconut water, especially in the "pitta-genic" summertime. Cooling spices like cumin, coriander, and fennel can help with overheated digestion and should be used in cooking.
Pitta has the strongest "digestive fire" of the three doshas but can abuse it by overdoing foods that are spicy, oily, or salty. If the digestive system rebels, it's time to emphasize sweeter, cooler fruits and vegetables (raw or cooked), such as melons, carrots, and broccoli. All told, the pitta nutritional approach should be low-acid, high-alkaline, and anti-inflammatory, Ferranti says.
Garivaltis suggests meditation or relaxing exercise in the morning and a routine that's big on restorative sleep and three square meals. (A high-performance engine has to be carefully maintained.) The pitta who is feeling grounded can indulge her yen for high-octane activity. If she's feeling the wear and tear, says Vasant Lad, director of the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, she should try an activity like yoga, meditation, or swimming.
At her best, pitta is a passionate romantic. She loves the excitement of surprise flowers ("They're cooling," Lad says) or a closed-curtains weekend getaway. At her out-of-balance worst, she can be jealous and sexually manipulative. "'I want it because I want it,'" Bhattacharya says. "It's about 'me,' not 'us.'"
A 5- to 10-minute massage twice a week with coconut or sunflower oil takes the edge off living la vida pitta, but a scalp and foot massage may be enough. Ferranti suggests adding cooling essential oils like peppermint to the base oil. For irritations, turmeric -- either as a cooking spice or in a preparation -- can help soothe.
What's Your Dosha: Kapha
Grounded Kaphas are "earth mother" types with pale skin, big eyes, and lustrous hair. (They often turn up in more nurturing lines of work: counseling, nursing, cooking.) Kaphas may be healthy, but they're almost always carrying at least an extra 5 or 10 pounds. When out of balance, "even their tenacity is lazy," Bhattacharya says; for example, the kapha who can't bear to let go of anything gets bogged down in clutter.
Think of the body fluids that lubricate the human system and drain the wastes from it: lymph, mucous, phlegm. Now, imagine that the channels are blocked, and you've got the out-of-balance kapha: the tendency to bloat and hold on to excess weight (with the cardiovascular risks that entails) and an oft-clogged respiratory system that's prone to infection. Ayurveda aims to energize this chilly, sluggish system with diet and 30 to 60 minutes of exercise a day. Because an overweight, out-of-shape body is prone to so many maladies, out-of-balance kaphas may be especially good candidates to see a practitioner for recommendations. Get more Ayurvedic Fitness tips for kaphas.
Almost invariably, kaphas are drawn to what is not good for them: high-calorie sweet and fatty foods. They, and for that matter, anyone who is feeling heavy and sluggish (especially in kapha season, late winter/early spring), should forgo milk, butter, and ice cream (not to mention chocolate, cheese, and cake). Instead, go with sharp, astringent, and bitter foods that seem to suck the moisture out of your mouth and cut through the mucous. Apples, beans, cauliflower, and cabbage are all good choices. "Swiss chard, berries, and spinach actually detox your body," Ferranti adds. A liberal amount of pepper and sharp tastes help wake up the system, Bhattacharya says.
According to Ayurveda, we should all get up with the sun or before it. For kaphas, this is especially important -- and loathsome. "They hate it!" Lad says. Kaphas should fight their sedentary tendencies with yoga (a vigorous style of Vinyasa) in the morning, Garivaltis says, and aerobic exercise -- jogging or cycling, for instance -- later in the day. If kaphas start to become too introverted and housebound, Ferranti says, they should see friends or throw a party.
"Kaphas absolutely need intimacy and cuddling," Bhattacharya says. Sexually, they may be slow to heat up, but once they do, they have deeper reservoirs of energy than either vata or pitta. The dark side of the out-of-balance kapha? Not surprisingly, she will hold on too tightly and smother her mate out of insecurity. The kapha-vata match is often the best -- nurturance and liveliness in balance.
Oil massage is less important for kaphas, who already have plenty of water and fat in their tissue. Once or twice a week is fine. Ferranti suggests adding an aromatic oil like eucalyptus or camphor to a grapeseed base to heat up the massage. Or add some turmeric for an anti-inflammatory self-detox treatment, Bhattacharya says. Kaphas also might try dry-brushing the entire body with a loofah sponge or body brush. The friction, practitioners say, energizes the body by breaking up stagnation in the lymphatic system.
Want to learn more? Try an Ayurvedic Weekend Detox.


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Entire industries are being disrupted. Discover how those with an analytical, global and innovation mindset will thrive in the future of work.
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Having the world's highest-performing teams delivering exceptional insights to our clients is our passion. As part of the world's highest performing teams, you'll deliver real insight and value. In the process, you'll have the chance to build relationships with people from all over the world and from a variety of industries, and those relationships will help you to learn, develop and shape your career.
Networks and knowledge that will, in fact, last you a lifetime. You'll be encouraged to find a path that complements your strengths and interests while also improving the way we serve our clients.
Joining us is about so much more than just the EY name on your CV.
Use the tabs to explore what our difference means to you.
We look for graduates who can demonstrate a truly global mindset. After all, our services help build confidence and support the functioning of capital markets around the world.
The challenges our clients face are growing more complex, so our high-performing teams work seamlessly across geographical boundaries and industry sectors to help our clients meet those challenges. Our unique global structure makes that seamless teamwork possible, and it also provides you with extensive career options.
We'll be able to give you real challenge and responsibility from the moment you join the organisation. Our teams are inclusive and we encourage you to express opinions.
It's only by respecting the contributions of colleagues that we're able to learn and grow as an organisation.
You can also rest assured that we offer great development opportunities, from formal training and qualifications through on-the-job learning. Our reputation is based on creating outstanding leaders, who confirm we deliver on our promises. And as you play your part, we play ours.
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Latest media releases
UBS announces changes to the Group Executive Board
- Andrea Orcel appointed co-CEO of UBS Investment Bank alongside Carsten Kengeter
- Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, currently co-CEO of Asia-Pacific region (APAC), appointed Chairman of UBS Investment Bank
- Chi-Won Yoon appointed sole Chairman and CEO of Asia-Pacific
Zurich/Basel, 22 March 2012 – UBS today announced a number of changes to its Group Executive Board.
Andrea Orcel, currently Executive Chairman of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will join UBS and jointly with Carsten Kengeter lead the Investment Bank as co-CEO, effective 1 July 2012. He will become a member of the Group Executive Board, reporting to UBS Group CEO Sergio P. Ermotti.
Kengeter and Orcel will be jointly responsible for implementing our strategy, outlined at last November's Investor Day, of building a client-focused, less capital-intensive and more globally competitive Investment Bank.
"I am pleased that we are adding Andrea's depth of experience and skillset to our Group Executive Board," commented Sergio P. Ermotti. "Taken together, Carsten and Andrea's expertise and proven track record create very strong impact, and they will co-lead an effective execution-driven leadership team."
Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, currently co-CEO of Asia Pacific, will become Chairman of UBS Investment Bank, effective 1 April 2012. In this new role as the most senior client sponsor for the Investment Bank, Wilmot-Sitwell will specifically focus on ensuring the seamless delivery of our investment banking business to key clients around the world. He will continue to be based in Hong Kong and will step down from the Group Executive Board.
Chi-Won Yoon will become sole CEO of the Asia Pacific region, effective 1 April 2012. He will continue to support the business divisions in managing growth, increasing collaboration, and ensuring profitability in the region. "Under both Alex and Chi-Won's leadership we have made significant progress in this strategically important region," Ermotti commented. "Chi-Won will build on that success and continue to oversee the development of our market-leading businesses in Asia Pacific, while Alex will be focusing on developing the global client franchise of the Investment Bank."
Ermotti continued: "These changes and our recently announced regional mandates demonstrate our commitment to deliver the entire breadth of UBS's expertise to our clients.
Andrea Orcel professional experience
Andrea Orcel is Executive Chairman of Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML) and President of Emerging Markets ex Asia.
His direct responsibilities at BoAML include corporate strategy, engagement with major corporations, investors and governments around the world and, as President of Emerging Markets (ex Asia), managing Corporate & Investment Banking, Sales & Trading and Wealth & Investment Management in key emerging markets.
Previously, he was President of International Banking & Wealth Management and Head of International Corporate & Investment Banking. Prior to the merger, he led Merrill Lynch's Global Origination division (the combination of Investment banking and Capital Markets), was President of Merrill Lynch Global Markets & Investment Banking in Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) and was a member of the firm's Management Committee.
Orcel joined Merrill Lynch in 1992 as part of the financial institutions division in EMEA. He became head of that business in 1999 and in 2003 was appointed global head. In 2004, he expanded his role in EMEA by becoming Head of Origination and President of Global Markets & Investment Banking.
In 2007, Orcel assumed responsibility for Global Origination and applied the same approach to establish top-tier profitability, grow market share significantly, and diversify the business from a financing-led model to a client-focused advisory model; and from a US-centric business to one where the majority of revenues were driven internationally.
Orcel previously worked at Goldman Sachs and at the Boston Consulting Group.
He has an MBA from Insead, a degree in economics and commerce summa cum laude from the University of Rome, and is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian and French.
He was born in 1963 and is an Italian citizen.
Media contact
Switzerland: +41-44-234-85 00
Americas: +1-212-882 58 57


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Tom Wanyandie
"I was thinking about God and that he would protect us.With God in my head, I took that walking stick and beat the bear, then I shoved it down his throat."
I get a lot of email through the website. Most of my communication with BotW readers is generally in the form of suggestions for future articles, and I'd say in a typical week I probably receive something on the order of 8-10 badass article suggestions a day. Generally, I think this is very awesome. I love that people enjoy the site and want to contact me, and I always appreciate hearing about new and interesting badasses I wasn't aware of before. The only problem is that I know I can probably never appease everyone who contacts me – the list of articles I want to write in the future currently has over 700 names on it, and I'm pretty much constantly adding new characters to it. Having almost 15 years worth of content queued up is pretty nice, but some people are just bound to be disappointed.
Well, this week is one of the very rare instances in which I can pretty much please everybody. Of all the suggestions I received in the last couple days, roughly two-thirds of them have been in favor of one man – badass Canadian wilderness master Tom Wanyandie. This isn't just a coincidence – it's a testament to how completely awesome this man's story is, and how his actions in a brutal, life-or-death situation has made him into what can only be described as a universally-recognized badass.
This week Tom and his son James were wandering through the wilderness near Prairie Creek, Alberta, searching for moose antlers. Now I honestly had no fucking clue that moose actually shed their antlers, but apparently they do, and James really likes to go around in the woods, pick these things up and make them into decorative pieces of art. I kind of envision the final product being something along the lines of those crazy antler chandeliers you see at those kitschy over-the-top "lodge-style" family-dining restaurants with the stuffed (hopefully fake?) animal heads hanging on the walls, but I really don't know that for sure. I guess it's irrelevant in the long run.
Anyways, Tom and James are out there doing God-knows-what, just minding their own business, when all of a sudden they see a small Grizzly bear cub hanging out in the woods just being one of the most goddamned sickeningly-cutest things that has ever existed on the Material Plane:
Now, when most people see something like this their first thought is usually along the lines of, "OMG TOTEZ ADORABLE NEEDS HUGZ LOLOL!!!"
People familiar with the woods know better. They see these adorable bear cubs as brutal harbingers from the most infernal layers of Hell itself, presaging the doom of all those unlucky enough to see them and the violent, bloody death of all that they hold dear. They know that when they see Mr. Oh-Em-Gee-It's-So-Cute-I'm-Going-to-Projectile-Vomit up there, this isn't very far behind:
And they're usually right. Big Momma Bears don't like it when you fuck with their kids – or when you're in a position where you could theoretically fuck with their kids - and they really have only one way of expression their displeasure: By killing the ever-loving ass out of you. So on this fateful day in the Candian wilderness, Mrs. Totez Adorable saw James Wanyandie standing within the acceptable minimum safe distance of her son, and went completely thermonuclear on him with her giant fuzzy, suddenly-not-so-cute death claws of death.
James barely had a chance to say, "OH HOLY SHIT BALLS" before the insane, pissed-off Grizzly was on him. Mrs. Bear ran up, grabbed him with her razor-sharp teeth, and chucked him up into the air like a fucking professional strongman launching a pinata full of Creatine into the stratosphere. Seemingly before he'd even hit the ground, the Grizzly was on top of him, pinning him to the ground hard with her paws (breaking his arm in the process) and biting the ever-loving crap balls out of him with her giant scary kill-teeth. James, who has a heart condition and wears a pacemaker, was in some seriously deep shit.
Well, Big Tom Wanyandie doesn't like it when you fuck with HIS kid, either, and Mrs. Bear apparently didn't realize that she needed to worry about this guy just as much as most people need to worry about man-eating killer bears.
Tom is a 78 year-old Cree Indian who spent his entire life venturing through the woods as a hunter, trapper, and wilderness guide. He's been hardened by nearly eight decades of badass mountain man survivalist shit, seen everything there is to see, fought everything there is to fight, and even though he's pretty much decrepitly old he wasn't going to sit around and watch some jackass bear assault his kid like Yogi Bear wolfing down a picnic basket in Jellystone National Park.
Tom grabbed the closest instrument of brain-smashing kill-sanity that he could find, which just so happened to be the broken-off tree branch he was using as a walking stick during the journey, and fearlessly charged balls-out towards the bear without any regard for his own safety or well-being. In lieu of a badass battle cry, he just started screaming an epically-graphic string of Cree profanity so nut-shrivelingly virulent it would make even the most hardcore pirate start weeping tears of blood. After unleashing a verbal assault consisting of goddamned near every swear word ever invented in the history of the Native Americans, the 78 year-old father proceeded to simply bash the fucking bear about the head and neck with this stick. Once he had the bear's attention, he jammed the stick into its mouth to keep it from continuing its once-unstoppable toothy assault on his son, and with the stick lodged in the creature's grill Tom just started punching the fucking shit out of it with his bare (bear?) hands.
Well Mrs. Bear was a giant, 600-pound beast from a species that had been genetically disposed to kick ass at brutal hand-to-hand combat, and she certainly wasn't going to give up that easily. She turned on Tom, smashing the glasses off his face (thereby rendering him pretty much completely blind), and breaking his hand in her powerful onslaught. Tom STILL didn't give a fuck. He's a hardcore Canadian mountain man, and it's going to take a hell of a lot more than a haymaker face-punch from a giant man-eating Grizzly bear Berserker to keep this dude from heroically saving his son from certain death. Tom tackled the fucking thing (!), and just started whacking it with his stick repeatedly in the head and neck like a crazy face-smashing maniac. The two unstoppable asskickers went at it like a couple of badass heavyweight fighters, each one battling for his life, locked in an epic death match against a formidable adversary. I like to imagine that Tom continued violently swearing at this thing the entire time, but I couldn't find anything to confirm that.
Well, finally, after being ruthlessly smashed in the face repeatedly with a stick, the bear decided it'd had enough and got the fuck out of there as quickly as its four legs could carry it. Tom helped his badly-injured son half a mile back to their truck, where they immediately drove to the hospital. James was admitted with serious injuries, and needed surgery to save his life, but he is expected to make a fully recovery. Tom was treated for a few minor wounds and released the same day. His first plan of action is to go back to the spot of the battle and assess what happened.
He's just hard like that.
"Tom's not the kind of man that would run. He'd fight no matter what.He's not a 78-year-old you might find in an old-folks home."
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Lexus LS430 Windshield Washer Fluid Reservoir Replacement Cost
Know what price you should pay to get your vehicle fixed.
The average cost for a Lexus LS430 windshield washer fluid reservoir replacement is between $218 and $249. Labor costs are estimated between $114 and $145 while parts are priced at $104. Estimate does not include taxes and fees.
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Posts Tagged 'how can i find someones ip address who's stealing my wireless'
If your neighbours are stealing your wireless connection, you may be able to notify from the logs on your router or modem.
You might look for logs such as LAN users, connection or status log, or connected MAC addresses. And you can also use a tool to check the IP/MAC on your wireless network IP range.
Verify the MAC addresses
To find out who is on your network, you have to make a list of all the devices that are meant to be connected. Find out their MAC adresses and their IP addresses if they are static.
To find out the MAC and IP address on Windows OS, click the Start menu and choose Run. Type cmd and click OK. In the screen that opens, type ipconfig/all and hit Enter. The MAC address will be shown as the physical address.
Once you know the MAC addresses of each of the computers on your wireless network, you will recognise any addresses that don't belong under the window that shows the MAC addresses of current clients.


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Mick Jagger with the band at London's O2 Arena last November. Photo: Ian Gavan, Getty Images
At last, after a wait that began late last year, we have local Rolling Stones tour dates.
Well … almost. It's certain that the legendary group's spring leg of stateside shows on its 50 and Counting Tour will kick off at Staples Center in Los Angeles. It just isn't clear when exactly, as the arena's availability is still to be determined by NBA and NHL playoff schedules.
Very likely that kickoff will be as early as possible in May, as Mick & Keith & Charlie & Ronnie already have a May 5 gig lined up at Oakland's Oracle Arena, on sale Monday at 10 a.m.
And this is also locked up: the Stones are returning to O.C. as well, headlining Honda Center on May 15.
It will be the first time the band has played Southern California since 2005's outing behind their last album, A Bigger Bang. Having grossed more than a half-billion dollars, that global jaunt ranks as the second highest-grossing tour of all-time, after U2's 360 Tour in 2009-2011.
Other stops on their trip, including San Jose, Toronto and Chicago, have on-sale dates, but such details for these local visits are still to come. Also part of that wait: ticket info about their May 11 performance the at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Will there be additional dates? That seems a given, considering how the itinerary is spaced out so far.
And will this be their last hurrah? Never say never when it comes to the Stones, but it wouldn't be surprising if at some point they declare this a farewell.
After all, Charlie Watts will turn 72 shortly before the band heads back to the U.K. to headline the Glastonbury Festival on June 29, then play London's Hyde Park on July 6. Mick Jagger, who looks as fit now as he did 30 years ago, reaches 70 not long after that appearance, while Keith Richards hits that milestone in December.
"'50 And Counting' has been pretty amazing so far," Jagger said in a statement today. "We did a few shows in London and New York last year … and had such a good time that we thought … let's do some more. It's a good show. Lots of the classic stuff everyone wants to hear … with a few little gems tucked in here and there. The stage is shaped like lips and goes off into the venue so I get to run around in the crowd. It's great fun to be able to get that close to the audience."
"From day one at rehearsals it sounded so fresh," Richards added. "You could tell that everybody was dying to get their teeth into it. It was like … open the gates … let us out! Cause man, it is the life and blood of us to play in front of people."
We'll update this post once on-sale dates and prices have been revealed. Expect tickets to start in triple digits, probably around $150, and top off close to $600 for best seats (that's the range for Oakland and San Jose). Citi card-holders get first crack via pre-sale.


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I choose many things by the scent of them. Scent is the key part of taste. People that lose their sense of smell often lose their enjoyment of food. Smell is transport or torment, as simple as hunger, as complex as love. Scent is memory, simply the whiff of something takes us back. The smell of Charlie perfume, six months I spent in London on an assignment years ago where I bought some in an apothacary, the fresh clean air smell of raw corn silk, brushing my nose as I waited in an Indiana blind. Rosemary baking on bread and the floral steam scent that was my Mom hand ironing everything in our house, including the sheets, while I played with my little Tonka trucks underfoot. Waking up now, the faint scent of shampoo and vanilla on my pillow.
The smells of childhood are all their own, be it your own childhood or that of your children. Clean milky skin, the scent of fresh grass, bicycle oil and band aids, the bite of apple in a school lunchbox, soap bubbles and Hershey's chocolate. The teen years are simply a smell of angst, gangly legs and sweat, locker rooms, Right Guard deodorant, burnt rubber and a corsage that lay dying in a bedroom drawer.
Then the smell of a hospital, a smell I hate to this day, watching someone become more and more body and less and less self, until the self was so wrapped up in pain all that was left was the body, wasting away, releasing its scent to the room. Yet I could still hug them and could still smell, if only in my mind, the warmth of cookies, the smell of Wind Song perfume and baby shampoo. Not for me, an end like that, lay me out where I smell only fresh rain or motor oil, release me to the wild, to become part of it, then never look back.
Scents are like colors, bringing back memories some would wish swept away. Crayons, Flesh and Indian Red, colors not politically incorrect, and soon bleached to remove possible offense. Just as some mask the breathy clean musk of natural beauty with too much powder and perfume, covering up that which is innately desirable. But scent, like colorful crayons, remains vivid in memory, drawing horizons on pieces of paper that went back home to that kitchen that smelled of perfume and cinnamon. I can still walk through my childhood home and take in those scents, of yeast and meat, spice and coffee, tracing them with my noise through alleyways of retrospection, cataloging them with the smells of other things, marionberry pie, fresh cotton, the exhaust of a muscle car.
There are scents that in just one moment, take us back to a place, a single, distinct point of time.
The stale air in a bedroom, the smell of sleep laying deep in your throat as your brain refuses to rest. You watch someone sleeping, looking at that exposed place on their neck where the sheet and their hair almost meet, the skin laying pale in the moonlight. Flesh, bridging a contrast between soft silky hair that smells faintly of sandlewood and the sheets pure smell of crisp softness. You place your lips on that space of skin, inhaling softly and deep, breathing in the balm of future tears.
The oily jet smell of a turbine engine blowing up and out from the hot eternal darkness of a engine, the odor rising like flame and blowing cleanly back, across tarmac. You never forget that odor, the vivid, dead perfume that is a dinosaur cooked on a kerosene stove, coating everything it touches.
But, there are other smells, so many smells, that bring only smiles. The smell of wet dog, soaked and tireless, rushing from the water that beads on his dense fur, as slow as chilled glycerin. The smell of green, as the wheels of an airplane pull away from it, the length and breadth of life measured in the takeoff run on a freshly mowed runway. Garlic baking, a peppery meat infused scent of Merlot poured into glasses at lunchtime, stealing away from work and duty for a few days of leave in a city foreign of sight and scent, dim sum and sourdough, the salty scent of an oceans' release.
There is the smell of fresh blueing, the smell of the first handgun I ever bought. I held it, taking in the deep blued finish that seemed to hold all reluctant light and breath, feeling the weight in my hand, the scent of cold steel bracing me. Then I simply stepped up and fired it. A single shot, in which a lifetime lay behind me. A single shot, upon the bare and pock marked wall, the shadow of its form shuddered in what was not the wind, but my own trepidations, until holding it steady, I squeezed the trigger with one intake of virgin breath.
So many smells, so many memories. Food and wine, and guns and love, all intertwined, the power and the need of it all. I wonder what scents tomorrow will bring to store up for later? The snow falls from above, covering the landscape of both form and flaw, cleansing the sky of all burden and need. I open the door to breath deep the scent of the air, curtains inhaling in and out with a breeze that is as fresh and new as the day waiting to be breathed in deep.