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At Sqwishful, we're all about celebrating plants every day. But this year for Earth Month, we've picked some of our favorites to give extra cheer to plants that cleanse, purify, and inspire. From roots and herbs to flowers and fungi, these plants deserve our thanks.
Plants That Help Us Clean Naturally
Long before soap was invented and stocking up on cleaning products was a thing, we were using plants to clean our spaces. Palms fronds were made into brooms. Herbs were used as disinfectants. Through biomimicry, plants have become our blueprint for modern cleaners.
Here are some of our favorite plants that help clean naturally:
May Chang
May Chang or litsea cubeba has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for centuries to treat depression, digestive issues, and cuts and wounds. Its flowery, citrusy scent and antibacterial qualities make it the perfect ally to help keep spaces clean.
There are two ways you can use May Chang—add a few drops of the essential oil to a diffuser to purify your home's air or make your own surface cleaner.
Here's a great DIY recipe for a multi-purpose surface cleaner:
You'll need:
- 2 parts distilled water
- 1 part white vinegar
- 15 drops of May Chang essential oil
- 15 drops of Peppermint essential oil
Mix it all together in a spray bottle and use it to clean countertops!
Copalxocotl (aka Soap Tree)
This hard-to-pronounce plant was used by Aztecs in Mexico to clean. Later, adopted by Spanish conquerors, who named it Soap Tree. The roots and fruit from this plant create a lathery soap that can clean both bodies and clothes.
Native Americans and other indigenous communities have been burning sage for centuries. The ritual of smudging with sage cleanses the energy of a room or person and promotes healing. It is also known to enhance awareness and mood.
Plants That Purify The Air
Not only are plants responsible for the air we breathe, but a single plant (plankton!) creates more than 70% of all the oxygen on earth. The remaining 30% is made by forests like the Amazon. And we like to think, our house plants, too.
Here are some of our favorite houseplants that purify the air in your home:
English Ivy
This easy-going, climbing plant reduces airborne particles released every time you flush (yes, plants do that!) while looking cute in your bathroom. It will grow in almost any condition and can be invasive, so it's best to keep it out of your compost pile.
Aloe Vera
Aloe Vera not only purifies the air in your home, but this drought-resistant succulent also treats and moisturizes your skin. Egyptian queens Nefertiti and Cleopatra used it for its anti-aging properties. Easy to care for and resilient, its leaves can be cut and used for many different purposes.
Snake Plant
Unlike most plants that photosynthesize during the day, this succulent plant works hard at night to produce oxygen. It's also great at filtering the air from several chemicals like formaldehyde, making it an ideal plant for your bedroom plant.
Peace Lily
Of all the plants studied in NASA's Clean Air Study, the peace lily can remove the most volatile organic compounds or VOCs from the air. A plant-lover staple, its beautiful white flowers make it one of the most elegant air-purifying plants you can get.
Plants That Are Straight-up Cool
We think all plants are worth raving about, and these plants are no exception. They're as unique as they are cool.
Here are some of the coolest plants we love:
These unusual, primeval plants are also known as air plants because of their unique ability — they don't need soil to grow. They don't need to be watered either. They actually grab moisture and nutrients from the air. How cool is that?
With over 20,000 species, orchids are one of the largest family of plants. Like tillandsias, orchids are air plants that can grow on tree bark and thrive without soil.
Corpse Flower
This one-of-a-kind flower is as unique as it gets. Its corm can weigh up to 220 pounds and grow to 20 ft tall, making it one of the biggest flowers in the world.
Most flowers bloom every season, but not this one. The corpse flower blooms once every 7 to 9 years, and its magnificent bloom only lasts for a day or two. Some take decades to bloom — and when they do, the flower produces an overpowering, rotten smell, where it gets its name from.
Mycelium (fungus!)
Fungi aren't exactly plants, but we're including them anyway because this fungus is essential for healthy forests. Mycelium is a root system that grows underground — stretching miles across entire forests and natural, wild spaces. The fine thread of mycelium absorbs water and nutrients, creating a network that can spread across both plants and other fungi.
Thanks to this incredible fungus, plants, trees, and flowers can communicate with each other, sending signals and even aiding diseased plants.
Plants That Make the Best Cleaning Essentials
At Sqwishful, we believe in nature's power to cleanse, purify, and inspire. That's why all our products are plant-powered.
Here are some of the plants we use that we'd like to give thanks to:
Wood Pulp
Wood pulp cellulose is abundant, making up 33% of all earth's plants. Wood pulp for paper making dates back to the 2nd century Han Dynasty China. Our wood pulp is sustainably harvested from pine that is hearty and durable.
It's believed that ancient Egyptians used luffas for cleaning and bathing. When dried, this tropical gourd becomes the perfect natural scrubber.
Bamboo has been cultivated for over 7,000 years in China and evolved from prehistoric grasses between 30 and 40 million years ago. This unlikely evergreen is quick-drying and naturally antimicrobial, making it an ideal material for cleaning.
This species of the Agave plant was used by the Aztecs and Mayans to make fabrics and paper. Like bamboo, the leaves of this plant are naturally antimicrobial.
Hemp is a strain of the cannabis plant. Hemp use archaeologically dates back to the Neolithic Age in China, with hemp fiber imprints found on Yangshao culture pottery dating from the 5th millennium BC.
From the Sqwisful team — Happy Earth Month!
We're excited for another year of celebrating plants and creating products that respect and honor our planet.


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The Brexit vote was evidently not just about immigration. But if there is a paramount reason for Britain's shock decision to leave the European Union it is the seething discontent of a large slice of the public created by 20 years of historically unprecedented immigration and the insouciant response of the political class to this change—one that never appeared in an election manifesto and was never chosen by anyone.
The consensus of establishment opinion over the past generation—minus several tabloid newspapers—has ranged from a happy embrace of the change to a belief that it is an uncontrollable force of nature. Yet around 75 per cent of the population (including more than half of ethnic minority citizens) has consistently told pollsters that immigration is too high with the salience of the issue rising to the top of the list of national concerns in recent years. Immigration is also a metaphor for the larger disruptions of social and economic change, especially for those who have done least well out of them. In the quiet of their living rooms most people have quite nuanced views on different forms of immigration and tend to be more positive about the local story, yet immigration overall still stands for "change as loss."
This should be no surprise. Large-scale immigration is always and everywhere unpopular—Canada is a partial exception, where mass (albeit highly selective) immigration has become part of the country's national identity.
It is a basic human instinct to be wary of strangers and outsiders. In rich, individualistic societies, tribal and ethnic instincts may have abated but they have not disappeared completely and have been supplemented by anxiety about sharing economic space and public goods with outsiders. Yet Britain has not become a country of angry nativists. Indeed, the growing opposition to immigration in recent years has been accompanied by increasing liberalism on almost all cultural matters. As recently as the early 1980s, about 80 per cent of the population thought same-sex relationships were wrong; now a large majority support gay marriage. The number of white British people objecting to someone of a minority race marrying into their family or being their boss is now in single figure percentages.
But this requires several caveats. First, there is a hard core of nativists and racists estimated to be about 7 per cent of the population. The BNP won nearly 1m votes in the 2009 European elections.
Second, there is a larger group—possibly a majority—who broadly accept the shallow liberalism that is Britain's dominant ethos and are comfortable with difference at a micro-level at work or in social life, yet still do not like the macro changes to their city or country and worry that too many newcomers fail to integrate.
Third, although chauvinistic nationalism is much rarer in modern Britain than it was a couple of generations ago, reliance on national social contracts and the belief that national citizens should be first in the queue remain as strong as ever. State welfare has extended its reach via tax credits and housing benefit and although state employment overall has been in decline, if you live in some of the most run-down parts of Britain you will probably be employed by the state. This does not necessarily make you a flag-waving nationalist but it might make you more sensitive to competition with outsiders for school places, hospital beds or social housing.
The latest British Social Attitudes survey finds that 71 per cent of people think immigration increases pressure on schools and 63 per cent say it increases pressure on the NHS. It also finds that 42 per cent think immigration is good for the economy and 35 per cent say it is bad. But there is a class division: 15 per cent of graduates think immigration is bad for the economy, compared with 51 per cent of those with no educational qualifications.
Is this false consciousness? To many liberals the popular hostility to large-scale immigration is a classic example of people sacrificing their material interests to their cultural values. But that assumes a widely spread economic benefit from immigration. It is true that the effect on jobs and wages at the bottom end is less negative than many people assume. But on the other hand there is not a strikingly positive economic story for the existing population on wages, employment or growth—and taking immigration as a whole, the fiscal contribution is slightly negative.
The liberal view—often supplemented by the observation that it is areas of lowest immigration that are most opposed to it—also misreads the social psychology of mass immigration. This is less about xenophobia and more about the psychology of recognition.
In areas of high immigration people doing middling and low skill jobs can come to feel even more like a replaceable cog in the economic machine as they are exposed to greater competition of various kinds with outsiders. Instead of the "one nation" they are beseeched to sign up to they will often see a political class casting aside the common-sense principle of fellow-citizen favouritism.
Areas of low immigration are often depressed former industrial areas or seaside towns where people feel that the national story has passed them by, as it has. Opposition to immigration there is more about the changing priorities of the country and its governing class, priorities that no longer seem to include them.
How then with no strong economic rationale and the opposition of a clear majority of the country have we become a country of mass immigration?
Having absorbed, not without conflict, the post-colonial wave in the decades after the 1950s, Britain in the mid-1990s had become a multiracial society with an immigrant and settled minority population of around 4m, about 7 per cent.
It was not yet a mass immigration society with persistently large inflows. Today, it is. About 18 per cent of working-age people were born abroad and in the past generation England and Wales's ethnic minority population (including white non-British) has trebled to about 12m, or over 20 per cent—25 per cent in England.
Some of this is an open society success story—consider the growing minority middle class. But to many people the change is simply too rapid, symbolised by the fact that many of our largest cities, including London, Birmingham and Manchester, are now at or close to majority-minority status.
Up until the mid-1990s, Britain had never experienced gross annual inflows of over 300,000 but since then the annual inflows have rarely been far below 600,000. This step change is not unique to Britain and is part of what we call globalisation. But it was not inevitable on that scale and required the active political support of the 1997-2010 Labour government. Labour did not intend to turn Britain into a mass immigration society but most party leaders and activists, increasingly drawn from the liberal graduate professional class, felt at ease with the change. Indeed, as New Labour increasingly converged on a centre-right consensus on economics, being pro-immigration and pro-multiculturalism loomed ever larger in the centre-left political consciousness.
Several decisions were taken by Labour, all of which were reasonable in their own terms, that together created a far more open immigration regime (supported by the 1998 Human Rights Act, which gave non-citizens more rights).
What were those decisions? There was the repeal of the "primary purpose rule," which had made it harder for some ethnic minority groups to bring in spouses. The rule was regarded as discriminatory and its abolition was a payback to loyal voters. More significantly, higher education was beginning its rapid internationalisation, something encouraged by Labour as a means of financing the expansion of the university sector. With a booming economy and low unemployment there was also pressure from certain business sectors to increase work permits. And when Balkan asylum seeker numbers rose in the late 1990s, there was an incentive to move people from the asylum route, with the costs and dependency involved, to the work permit route.
Then came the big one. In 2004, the former communist countries of central and eastern Europe joined the EU and Britain was the only big EU country to allow them immediate access to its labour market. It was expected that a few thousand a year would come, in fact over the next four years, nearly 500,000 people did. There are now 3.3m citizens of other EU countries living in Britain, up from less than 1m in the late 1990s and around half of them are from central and eastern Europe. The fact that Labour took that decision to open up the labour market before it was necessary to do so is, in retrospect, one of the biggest steps on the road to the Brexit vote. The scale of arrivals was, of course, a surprise and there were economic and geopolitical reasons to support the opening. Yet the lack of internal party opposition to the decision was evidence of the weakness of the blue-collar voice in the party—and the country more generally—and the inability of the progressive mind to separate questions of racial justice from the economic and cultural impact of mass immigration.
Labour lost the 2010 election, and some analysts believe immigration was a decisive factor. Gordon Brown's contempt for a Rochdale Labour voter's fears was one of the lasting memories of the campaign. The coalition then took power with a Conservative pledge to cut annual net immigration numbers from 250,000 to around 100,000.
The coalition achieved short-term success, cutting net immigration overall by a third, and net non-EU immigration from 217,000 in December 2010 to 142,000 in December 2013, thanks to clamping down on the abuse of student visas, raising the income threshold for people wanting to bring in spouses and effectively banning low-skill immigration from outside the EU.
This dealt with the fallacy that reducing immigration had become impossible in the modern world. But the pledge to reduce net inflows to "tens of thousands"—unwise in retrospect—was badly knocked off course by another surge from Europe, this time mainly young people from Spain, Portugal and Italy escaping the Eurozone crisis. Net immigration is now over 300,000 and may rise further before it falls.
This is the background to the Brexit vote. And that vote has merely further complicated one of the central tasks of British public policy: how to respond to the legitimate desire of a large majority to reduce immigration while minimising damage to an economy that has in some sectors become dependent on migrants. Visa-free travel for visitors within Europe will continue after Brexit but a deal between Britain and the EU will surely require replacing the current free movement of citizens with a work-permit controlled inflow of labour.
The distinction between citizens and labour is crucial. Freedom of movement may be a basic—though economically unnecessary—principle of the EU but it has radically changed its form over the years. Prior to 1992, it was labour that moved rather than citizens and the worker usually had to have a job offer. Since 1992 it is the European citizen who has moved, carrying with them all the rights and privileges of a national citizen in all EU states. This did not matter when few people crossed EU borders but when, after 2004, it became a mass movement it was a hammer blow to the belief that national citizens take priority. An unemployment safety valve for the struggling southern or eastern European economies with the conveniences of permit-free work and instant access to the social state has been bought at a very high price in popularity for the EU in Britain and the other northern states that have been the biggest receivers of EU citizens.
Angela Merkel must now sorely regret not being able to offer David Cameron a more radical overhaul of European citizenship and free movement. And it is not impossible that Brexit might yet create a head of steam for such reform—Merkel's coalition partners the Social Democrats recently raised the possibility of a longer qualifying period for most social benefits for EU citizens.
But even when some sort of work-permit control is re-established, inside or outside the single market, with more restricted access to the social state for a period for EU citizens, Britain's pull factor of the English language and jobs will remain. Even unskilled workers from poorer EU countries, or countries further east, will still be needed in food processing and agriculture—at least until automation or imports replace them. British workers will do tough and anti-social work if it is well paid—look at the oil rigs. But the work in those sectors is heavily seasonal, requires flexible 24-hour shift patterns, and is often in underpopulated areas of the country. And thanks to the margin pressure from the supermarkets, pay is as basic as the law will allow. This is not work that people with other options will take.
In any case, there are still plenty of things that a British government can do within existing legal frameworks to control borders better and reassure citizens. Here are five ideas. First, we need a dedicated immigration and integration department. The Home Office could shed its policing functions to the Justice Ministry and become that department. It also needs a bigger, ring-fenced budget. Border control in a more mobile era—including efficient permit control for the short-term flows we need—is expensive, yet we spend only about £2bn a year on it, about 0.3 per cent of public spending.
Second, at the heart of the new department should be a beefed-up migration impacts fund (MIF). The MIF was invented by Labour in 2008 to deal with social infrastructure pinch points in areas of high immigration but only has an annual budget of about £35m. That should be increased tenfold. Local authorities and other public bodies should bid for funds and, when granted, the extra funding should be shouted about in the local media.
Third, we need a high-profile commission to consider how hiring and training British citizens can be made more attractive for employers. Is under-investment in technical skills partly the result of it being too easy to bring trained people from outside the EU on skilled worker and intra-company transfer schemes? About 150,000 such visas were granted last year with about 60,000 for dependents—the right of people on work visas to bring in dependents should be reviewed. The commission should also review how public spending cuts can trigger immigration. Cuts to nurse training budgets (they fell 20 per cent from 2010 to 2013) means more nurses from Poland or Portugal.
Fourth, many people who voted for Brexit have an uneasy sense that those running the country do not know how many people are here or where they are. And they are right. It is time for an overhaul of migration statistics and a much more reliable oversight of movement across borders—about 2m people arrive on visas every year with many overstaying. To that end we need a Scandinavian style population register for all citizens (and non-citizens) incorporating a unique person number.
Finally, we need to establish a more formal distinction between full and temporary citizenship. Almost two-thirds of the annual inflow into Britain is now temporary—whether students or workers—and the number of people granted citizenship has actually fallen in recent times to a steady 100,000 a year. Why? Because EU citizens now form about half of the inflow and they do not want or need to become British.
Anxieties about integration exacerbate opposition to immigration, and with some reason. There is a growing separation in neighbourhoods and schools in some areas between the white British and some minority groups—especially those from conservative Muslim backgrounds. In recent years a second integration problem has been added: people from the poorer EU states who have no desire to integrate into British society because they are here for a short period to earn money.
Thanks to the lack of a distinction between full and guest citizenship this creates unnecessary resentment: we allow people into our national home, the reasoning goes, and they treat it as a transit camp and a temporary convenience. Yet this is not the reaction to seeing, say, a Chinese student—he or she is clearly someone who is here for a limited time, to the mutual advantage of Britain and the student, and will return home.
A guest citizen is not a full member, does not have full access to social and political rights and leaves after a few years. Formalising guest citizenship would mean that we could concentrate rights, benefits and integration efforts on those who are making a commitment to this country. There is a trade-off, as academics like Martin Ruhs and Branko Milanovic have argued, between migration and citizenship. If we want to continue with relatively high inflows we have to guard full citizenship more jealously.
Immigration after Brexit will remain uncertain—not least for those 3.3m EU citizens already here and the 1.2m Brits in other EU countries—but it is unlikely to fall sharply unless we hit a serious recession. In the longer run, the democratic mandate requires lower numbers and greater mitigation of negative consequences—economic and psychological—for existing citizens.
Britain became a mass immigration society much as it became an imperial one—in a fit of absence of mind. The political class must now realise that managing this better is at the centre of a modern state's responsibilities.
This piece was originally publish by Prospect.

subset: commoncrawl


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Let's understand how to fix ConfigMgr security updates installation failed errors. You might be already aware of the process of building Software update packages in SCCM. ConfigMgr also has a feature to update non-Microsoft applications. Intune also has a feature to deploy security patches through Windows Update for Business.
Installation of the Dot Net Security Updates failed through SCCM. The error message could be seen on the Software center: installation failed for .NET Framework 4.5 Security Updates. I try to share my experience in solving this .NET problem.
Also, you can understand what are the different methods to install the Dot NET framework on Windows 10 devices in the following post. Install .NET Framework 3.5 in Windows 10 | Quick Easy Way.
Microsoft .NET Framework is one of the most popular application development platforms. C# and ASP.NET frameworks are used by millions of developers for building "Windows client applications, XML Web services, distributed components" and so on. It's no surprise that ensuring the top-notch performance of .NET applications is a foremost need for most application owners and developers.
Wondering why we are talking about .NET Framework here in the SCCM post? Ok, So let me clarify. We have been getting a lot of questions lately related to .NET Framework patches deployed through SCCM & failed to install.
It's still uncertain about who should troubleshoot it if any of the .NET patches failed to install. So it's no big deal. If other security patches related to OS are getting installed if deployed using SCCM then you do the math.
Several organizations have a "Single Point Of Contact" for both the "SCCM & Windows Server platform" so this post will be helpful for them. Without further delays let's start.
SCOPE: Installation of the following Security Updates failed through SCCM. The error message could be seen on the Software center: installation failed for .NET Framework 4.5 Security Updates
Objective==To install the Security updates related to .NET on the servers.
Checked SCCM CACHE path where the failed security updates installer setup was found. C:\Windows\CCMCACHE.
Tried installing those updates from CACHE manually and got the error "Installation wizard doesn't apply or is blocked by another condition on your computer". This is a generic error and doesn't give us much. MS has already published several methods and a few which can be seen in several MS articles are mentioned below:
Method 1:
Run the Windows Update troubleshooter.
Method 2:
Disable the security software temporarily.
Note: Antivirus software can help protect your computer against viruses and other security threats. In most cases, you should not disable your antivirus software. If you do have to temporarily disable it to install other software, you should re-enable it as soon as you're done. If you are connected to the Internet or a network during the time your antivirus software is disabled, your computer is vulnerable to attacks.
Method 3:
Put the computer in a clean boot state before proceeding with the installation of the windows update and install one update at a time and check which update is causing the issue.
Note: After installation of the windows update, follow Step 7 in the provided link to return your computer to Normal startup mode.
You can also install the updates (KB number) manually by downloading them from the Microsoft download center.
So you followed all 3 methods and back to square. Now what? I mean you followed everything and still the .NET patch fails.
Then we check with the server owner if we can repair .NET from ARP (Add & Remove Program). When you do that then the installer asks us to point it to the working directory but you don't have it. A few MS websites recommend repairing .NET by following the link below:
The website leads us to "NetFxRepairTool" and the advantage is it repairs all the versions of .NET installed on that server. This also has 50-50. Sometimes the issue gets fixed permanently and in some cases, it comes back in the next month's patching cycle.
Root Cause:
So the first thing I would like to know is why the repair failed when we initiated to repair .NET from ARP. That's because no installer cache for .NET under c:\Windows\Installer. Please refer to the below article:
Missing Windows Installer Cache Files Will Require a Computer Rebuild. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2667628
One of the MS Tech Heath Stewart has explained it very briefly. The page talks about Visual Studio but it applies in our case too. Link https://devblogs.microsoft.com/setup/update-does-not-apply-or-is-blocked-by-another-condition-on-your-computer/
Solution – ConfigMgr Security Updates Installation Failed
Uninstalled .NET Framework (All Version) from the machine. Downloaded the full package from the following site:
Fresh installation was done for .NET Framework on the server. The security patch installation for .NET was successful.
NOTE: In case of uninstallation failed please use the .NET cleanup tool (Link given below) to remove all the versions of .NET installed on the server. Please take the approval from the application owner before you perform this action. https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=5942
Disclaimer – The information provided on the site is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, however, we make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on the website.
My name is Deepak Rai, and I am a Technical Lead on SCCM and Intune with more than 14 years of experience in IT. My main domain is SCCM (AKA ConfigMgr, CB, MECM, etc.), Intune, and Azure (Runbooks). I have worked on several platforms (Active Directory, Exchange, Veritas NETBACKUP, Symantec Backup Exec, NDMP devices Like Netapp, EMC Data Domain, Quantum using Backup Exec 2010 and 2012, HP storage works 4048 MSL G3, Data Deduplication related troubleshooting.) in these 13 years but at last ended up to the technology from which I started as IT Engineer (SCCM).


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My grandfather, Charlie Bratcher Slaughter, played the banjo, guitar, fiddle, piano, organ, and probably more, but mostly he played the banjo. He won fiddlers conventions in various instruments, but mostly he won playing the banjo.
Here is the oldest photo I've seen of my grandfather with his banjo. It was taken probably in the late 1920s.
His style of playing was called parlor style. It was a precursor to the three-finger Earl Scruggs style used in bluegrass music today. It was a more polite style and was suited to all types of music.
Here is Charlie Slaughter playing "You Are My Sunshine" from 1974. It is a country song, although the recording by the composer, Jimmie Davis, had jazz accompaniment.
Here is Charlie Slaughter playing "Aloha Oe." It was a Hawaiian popular song written in 1878 and recorded many times over the years.
Here is a photo of Charlie Slaughter and his banjo in 1975 at a family reunion.
My grandfather had a number of influences on his style of playing and the variety of songs he knew. One of his influences was blues musicians he heard playing around the tobacco warehouses in Durham. Some of these musicians eventually recorded and are well-known today, such as Rev. Gary Davis and Blind Boy Fuller.
Charlie Slaughter also heard piano rolls at someone's home or heard people playing popular sheet music of the day on the piano. One of the songs he played on the piano was a ragtime piece from 1908 called "Rainbow."
Another influence on his playing was listening to the popular records of the day. I don't know that his home had a phonograph, but I'm sure that with his love of music, he found people who did have "talking machines." The most noteworthy banjo player during my grandfather's early years was Vess L. Ossman, the "King of the Banjo." He made many records in the parlor style, and here is one of them, "Whistling Rufus" from 1899 on an Edison wax cylinder.
My grandfather said that he learned some of his songs at "juke joints," which were eating and/or drinking establishments that had a jukebox. Some of these places had rhythm and blues records on the jukebox. That's where he learned to sing "Corrine Corrina," perhaps from the 1941 recording by Big Joe Turner.
Even though Charlie Slaughter died 40 years ago, and the parlor style of banjo started in the late 1800s, there are still a few people who still play in that style. One musician that I like a lot is Bela Fleck. He plays in various styles, but here is a song he plays in parlor style, "Home Sweet Home" from 1999.
© Copyright 2018 Michael T. Slaughter


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Martian Manhunter Will Take On New Identity On Upcoming Supergirl
In the final-minutes of 'Human for a Day,' Hank Henshaw (David Harewood) came out of the superhero [...]
In the final-minutes of "Human for a Day," Hank Henshaw (David Harewood) came out of the superhero closet by revealing to Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) he is in fact DC Comics' iconic green-skinned shapeshifter Martian Manhunter, aka J'Onn J'Onzz.
Before he made that reveal, he made Alex promise not to disclose his secret to her sister Kara. At some point Supergirl has to find out the truth, but when?
Harewood told Entertainment Weekly that it will happen soon as "he actually pretends to be Supergirl" in an upcoming episode. "She gets to see Supergirl for the first time, as Kara," he added. "It's quite a thing for her to see herself taking off and flying into the sky. It fills her with pride that there's this female superhero. She looks awesome."
"Hostile Takeover" episode of Supergirl will air Monday, December 14 at 8PM on CBS.


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Charitable Projects
At Engenuiti we believe that it is our duty to use our knowledge to help create a better society. Our work on charitable education projects in the developing world gives us an opportunity to do this whilst learning about local construction materials and culture. We allocate 3% of our budget to charitable projects each year.


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Short Thought continued.....
Freedom in Christ
"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
You were running a good race.
Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?
That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you."
(Galatians 5:6-8 NIV)
Paul was the first missionary to take Christ's gospel of grace from Jerusalem to
the surrounding areas, including Galatia, and was instrumental in establishing the church there.
When he heard that the church was struggling, and that the gospel was being undermined
by a group of Judaizers who had gained influence, he wrote to the Galatians.
He explained that the Christian's commitment to Christ is based on the free gift of grace through faith,
not through adherence to Mosaic Law (specifically circumcision).
Paul, also known as Saul (Acts 13:9), had been an upright Jew from a good lineage,
well versed in rabbinical and religious law and had considerable grounds for putting
his confidence in Judaism. He persecuted the early church and caused, or witnessed,
the deaths of many, including Stephen, the first Christian martyr (Acts 22:20).
Then Jesus revealed the truth of what he was doing to him, and his life was transformed (Acts 8:1-31).
He had done horrendous things but he had such a revelation of God's grace and freedom
that he could write with utter conviction: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)
We all have placed our confidence in things other than Christ:
our heritage; abilities; position; status; relationships.
We have things in our pasts that we want to forget
for none of us have lived perfect lives.
We may believe that our faith is contingent on following particular contemporary religious rules.
Yet, the gospel of grace and freedom that Paul preaches is not contingent on who we are,
what we've done or what we do, but in what Christ has done for us.
When we forget the truth of His grace and focus on our strengths, sin or rules, we lose our freedom.
Thought: Who, or what, is holding you back from believing this truth?
Blessing: May you be so overwhelmed by His grace that, like Paul,
you focus on standing firm on your freedom in Christ.


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Situated along the Batu Feringgi Beach facing the Andaman Sea, the five star Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa, Penang nestled within a 30-acre tropical landscaped garden, interspersed with centuries-old rain trees and with a unique name, Rasa Sayang, which means a "feeling of love" in Malay. Its intricate Minangkabau roof has been internationally hailed as an architectural masterpiece that seamlessly integrates traditional and modern design elements that reflect an aspect of the character and charm of Malaysia. The dark brown treated timber roof stretches over the entire complex, creating a magnificent image of a traditional Malay palace rising from a tropical paradise.
Designed with the sophisticated traveller in mind, the resort consists of two separate wings spanning 304 guest rooms including 16 suites, where all rooms come with a view of the Andaman Sea or the finely crafted garden. The Rasa Wing is set amidst the lush Shangri-La gardens with a separate driveway and entrance, featuring some of the most elegant and spacious accommodations with a choice of 115 guest rooms in Penang.
The Garden Wing was an additional wing that was built to complement the original Rasa Wing, making the Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa the gem along Batu Feringgi with a separate entrance, lobby and driveway. The 189 Garden Wing rooms have been refurnished to ensure that the rooms remain relevant, eco-friendly and timeless, with a relaxed, tropical resort ambience. The Garden Wing features nine different room categories with views of the gardens and sea. The room makeovers were done once and for all to incorporate the latest hardware fixtures and software furnishings. Earth tones, a citrus palette and hues of blue have been added to draw the beauty of nature into the rooms, giving it a fresh, spacious and airy ambience. The rooms also have LED lights to lower the resort's carbon footprint.
Facilities include a Health Club with male and female bathing sections, a Par-3 golf course, three tennis courts equipped with flood lights, a water sports center, swimming pools and five restaurants and bars offering an array of international, seasonal and local cuisines.
Batu Feringgi Beach, 11100 Penang.
Tel: 604-888 8888
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Facebook: Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa


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I am, like I am!
(Acceptance of my nationality, my political and religious
fundamental attitude, my peculiarities . . . . )
I would want that my life is respected
just like I also respect the life of my fellow human beings.
I long to use my energy and my talents for my own well-being,
for the well-being of my family and my friends,
for the well-being of my neighbors
and for the sake of our earth.
I´d like to see people in our governments who can do justice
- by their maturity and wisdom -
to their high responsibility for all life on earth,
so that I can live in peace and liberty
and in harmony with nature.
I confess to this explanation by the symbol of the sun.
Thanks for the translation to
Blue Souldiver - GCITR/Germany


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Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting Athens, Greece on October 28 and 29. As part of her last official visit to the Greek capital as Chancellor of Germany, she will meet once again with Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Merkel was invited to visit Greece by Mitsotakis during an EU Summit meeting in Slovenia earlier this month.
Merkel to meet with Mitsotakis in Athens, Greece
The outgoing Chancellor, who has led Germany for the past 16 years, had dinner with Mitsotakis on Thursday evening, and then will meet the Greek PM on Friday morning at the Maximos Mansion. A joint press conference is scheduled afterward at 12:30.
On Friday, the Chancellor will also be received by the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
The leaders are expected to discuss European and international policy, climate change, and migration.
Merkel's visit to Athens is "an important sign of the close – and in the spirit of trust – cooperation between the two countries, including in the European context," Deputy Speaker of the German Federal Government Ulrike Demmer said.
Related: German Chancellor Merkel Exits with Good Reviews — But Not from Greece
German Chancellor's visit to Turkey
The Chancellor's arrival in Greece comes after the conclusion of her last official visit to Turkey.
Merkel enjoyed a friendly relationship with Turkey, despite periods of crisis. Germany shares a close bond with Turkey as more than three million people of Turkish origin are naturalized German citizens.
Erdogan took power in Turkey just two years before Merkel became German Chancellor in 2005. The Turkish President stated during a press conference in Istanbul on October 16 that he hopes "that our successful work with Mrs. Merkel will continue in the same way under the new government."
The German Chancellor quelled any fears about future relations between the countries by expressing that the incoming government, which will be formed from a coalition of multiple political parties, would continue the goodwill.
"We always have common interests, and that's how the next federal government will see it," Merkel stated during her visit.
While in Turkey, Merkel discussed Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Turkey's clashes with the EU with Erdogan.
Despite frequent acts of aggression against EU member states such as Greece and Cyprus by Turkey, Germany has often tried to strengthen ties between the EU and the country.
Most notably, the two leaders discussed the issue of migration during their meeting in October. Since the refugee crisis began in 2015, Germany has accepted millions of migrants and refugees, many of whom entered Europe from the Middle East and Asia through Turkey, into the country.
Mentioning Greece, Erdogan stressed that although Turkey cannot accept more refugees, the country will not keep its borders closed and send refugees back to countries where they may be in danger, "like Greece did."
In reference to relations between Greece and Turkey, Merkel stressed the continued need for discussion and diplomacy between the neighboring countries.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!


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Blair & Jack | Red Barn Inn
October 2, 2021
Like most couples over the past two years, Blair and Jack had to postpone their wedding due to the pandemic. After officially tying the knot back in 2020 in Florida during an intimate ceremony, they made sure to have all their family and friends present this time around. Blair and Jack's wedding began and ended at the Red Barn Inn. A beautiful venue in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. The venue sits on a small pond, with a breath-taking stone ceremony location on the far end of the property. These two were an absolute blast to work with and I couldn't be happier for them!
Congratulations to Blair and Jack!
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A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be useful or decorative. Practical knots may be classified as hitches, bends, splices, or knots. A hitch fastens a rope to another object; a bend unites two rope ends; a splice is a multi-strand bend or loop. A knot in the strictest sense serves as a stopper or knob at the end of a rope to keep that end from slipping through a grommet or eye.
Knot tying skills are often transmitted by sailors, scouts, climbers, rescue professionals, fishermen,and linemen. The International Guild of Knot Tyers is an organization dedicated to the promotion of knot tying.


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Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Thanksgiving Market this Saturday
This Saturday, November 19, from 9 a.m. until noon, we will be at the Petersburg Farmers' Market (at the round market building) selling our soaps and plastic bottle flowers. Stop by and see us and the other vendors including Rabbit Hill Farm, Cardinal Hill Farm, Dolce Vita Farm, and more!
Posted by
Rachel Chieppa
in Labels:
Cardinal Hill Farm,
dolce vita farm,
handmade soap,
homemade soap,
Petersburg Farmers Market,
rabbit hill farm,
1 comment:
- leah said...
These soaps look amazing!! Do you have an online shop?! Good luck at the show!!!
- November 17, 2011 at 10:40 AM
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Post Comments (Atom)


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How to Start a Corporate Green Team to Fast-track Your Green Initiatives
Are you planning to start an effective corporate green team?
First of all – congratulations on embracing good environmental practices in the workplace! This is the beginning of your eco-adventure, and a great way to help your company, and the planet.
Committing to sustainable economic development as a company is more than implementing a recycling program, or reducing your food waste.
It's about contributing to a better future for everyone, everywhere.
To make it easier for you, here's what you need to know about starting your sustainability team. In 9 steps, you'll go from zero to getting on the fast-track to first-rate green initiatives at work.
Before the steps, here's a little reminder of the definition of the term 'green team.'
What is a Green Team?
Traditionally, green teams are voluntary groups of people that come together to teach others about sustainable development, and show them ways to help the environment at work through programs, initiatives and educational experiences.
Green teams are:
- Either grassroots or established teams
- Focused on helping the company be eco-friendly
- Committed to improving the social, economic and environmental impact of their brand
- Dedicated to inspiring the employees inside a company to go green
These days, a corporate green team can be either voluntary or officially appointed – with a Director of Sustainability at the company driving funded green initiatives for their corporation.
Step 1: Announce a Call for Green Team Members
The first step to putting together a motivated sustainability team, is to announce that there are 12-15 (or less) official positions available and you are accepting applications.
Get the word out:
- Announce it publically at an employee gathering
- Send an office-wide email blast
- Put up posters and a signup sheet
- Create a display that calls for applicants
Employees at most companies really care about green initiatives, so much so that according to a recent study – 40% of Millennials choose where to work based on their sustainability programs.
Step 2: Host Your First Official Meeting
Your first official meeting will have your green manager chatting to the candidates about why they want to help the company with eco initiatives and where they could make the most impact.
Make sure that your selected candidates:
- Are fully committed to the team
- Will be available for meetings and can take on additional work
- Are willing to be green ambassadors for your company (be visible)
- Come from different departments
- Have leadership potential
Large environmentally conscious companies should appoint a manager to keep their green team on track, on budget and setting realistic goals.
This manager will meet the applicants, speak about the company's long term sustainability goals and make the final selection. You can also opt to accept anyone who wants to be a part of the team.
Step 3: Assign Roles and Responsibilities
After choosing the best possible corporate green team members, you'll host a brainstorming session where you will discuss various green initiatives and who would be best doing what on the team.
- Assign roles to each team member (funding, technology, energy, waste, water…)
- Review each member's skillsets and assign responsibilities (writing, speaking, organizing…)
- Reaffirm time expectations and short term planning objectives
This brainstorming session is where your team will come up with small green business ideas and who will be responsible for each idea or initiative moving forward.
Step 4: Discuss Meeting Times and Outreach
The next step is to nail down a regular meeting time that makes sense with conflicting team schedules. There should always be a core number of members present to drive progress forward.
- After the team formation phase, twice a month is effective
- 64% of team members pay attention for 45 minutes, 91% for 15 minutes
- Most green team communication can be managed via messenger and email
- Decide how to keep company employees informed & engaged
Chat about ways to help the environment at work that won't take long. A green team recycling initiative is an easy starting point for your outreach schedule.
Step 5: Establish Your Green Mission Statement
Once your schedule is sorted out it's time to focus on establishing a green mission statement for your corporate green team. Consider all four sustainability pillars when creating your statement.
Refine your mission statement until you have one sentence, or one paragraph, that neatly explains your purpose, as it relates to the other employees and their practices at your company.
Step 6: Audit Existing Green Initiatives
This step is more hands on for your team. To understand where to begin with good environmental practices in the workplace, you'll need to conduct a company-wide sustainability audit.
- Identify the areas you want to audit (initiatives, governance, impact, waste reduction, resource conservation, employee engagement, sustainable supply chains)
- Rank these by order of importance, and assign an audit to each green team member
All green team ideas for corporations need to be rolled out slowly, according to a prioritized list. Determine which sustainable area needs the most attention, and start there.
Step 7: Attract Volunteers and Build Satellite Teams
Once your corporate green team moves forward with various initiatives, you'll find that you need more help. Attracting employee volunteers and creating satellite teams is part of your mission!
- Be public about the green initiatives you're running and call for volunteers often
- Specific initiatives will benefit from short-term green volunteers
- Spend time building dedicated satellite teams at other branches/locations
- Reward volunteers when you achieve your green goals
Creating an eco-office means that everyone will at some point, decide to volunteer for a green initiative. Make it fun, fulfilling and rewarding so that people want to get involved.
Step 8: Invest in Green Learning Opportunities
Environmentally conscious companies that have established green teams often have a dedicated budget for you to use when setting up your initiatives, programs and plans. Use this budget to learn more about sustainable development!
If you don't have funding for green initiatives, you can always host some exciting fundraising experiences for your company.
- Invest in an educational app that unifies your green team recycling programs
- The right app will improve the recycling IQ of your entire company
- Get experts, speakers and leaders in the space to do presentations at work
Giving your employees easily accessible educational resources like a recyclepedia will drastically improve the efficiency of your green programs.
Step 9: Create Momentum with Proven Results<
Get off to a strong start by getting your corporate green team to benchmark and then systematically improve your various green initiatives at work. If your programs are connected to an app, it makes tracking, collecting data, and analyzing results easier.
- Use analytics (facts/figures) to prove to stakeholders that your initiatives work
- Get more funding and discover more opportunities with proven results (cost-savings, resource reduction, efficiency improvements)
- Inspire your employees with the proven success of your green team (boost morale!)
Your mission is to create an eco-friendly business, by getting everyone involved in the success of your initiatives. Create momentum, and design a truly sustainable work culture!
Sustainable economic development is about helping your employees realize their responsibility to the world. Your team will light the torch and carry it to each person, using these 9 steps.
Find your ideal corporate green team members, host a selection meeting, then establish your team structure, mission and process. Audit your current initiatives and rollout company-wide improvements, tracking and measuring as you go.
If you do this, you will help your company go green for now, and forever. Get started!
What is the first green initiative you plan to tackle once your green team is formed? Tell us below.


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Mission of the John the Theologian Cheremenets Monastery – the former mission of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the territory for which in 1714 Peter I granted to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. In 2001 the building was returned to the Church and it was granted to the Mission of the St. John the Theologian Cheremenets Monastery.
The Church of the Holy Trinity in the Mission of the John the Theologian Cheremenets Monastery
The five-domed church was built in 1861-1864 by the project of the diocesan architect G.I. Karpov in the style of Russian churches of the 17th century.
Chapel of the Trinity Life-giving
The chapel was built in 2015.
The Belfry
Эта страница доступна на Русском языке.


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31 August 2021
APR.Intern Announced as a Finalist in the Australian Defence Industry Awards
Australian Postgraduate Research Intern (APR.Intern) has been named a finalist in the Australian Defence Industry Awards for Graduate Program of the Year.
The Australian Defence Industry Awards recognise excellence from defence professionals, organisations and businesses across the country, and awards them with a prestigious accolade for their achievements over the past year.
Graduate Program of the Year recognises a business that has driven demonstrable growth through developing and delivering the most effective defence graduate program for new industry participants.
The finalists, announced on Monday 30 August 2021, represent individuals and groups across the defence industry over 33 categories.
APR.Intern's National Program Manager, Lisa Farrar, said the program was delighted to be recognised for its service.
"APR.Intern has been connecting defence businesses with Australia's brightest PhD research students for more than a decade. Despite 2020's Pandemic challenges, we increased the number of student placements with defence businesses, and thank the Awards panel for its recognition," said Lisa.
"The sheer number of submissions, plus the ongoing and continued support of our partners and judges, provides a great level of confidence for Australia's defence industry and is representative of the depth of talent we have in the sector. I wish everyone the best of luck on the night," said Defence Connect Director William Magee.
The winners will be announced at a black-tie gala event hosted in Canberra on Tuesday 7 December 2021.
See the full list of Defence Industry Awards finalists here.


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$99 thousand grant to assist local veterans
WASHINGTON, N.C., June 10, 2021 –Various federal and state officials joined U.S. Department of Agriculture North Carolina Rural Development in announcing a veteran's support center in rural North Carolina.
USDA is investing $99 thousand to renovate an existing barn to be used as a community event center for wellness and resilience-building programs for at-risk veterans.
"Rural Development is honored to be part of this project," said USDA Rural Development Acting State Director Mel Ellis. "Our veterans sacrificed so much of their selves in the service of our county. Places like this will help give them the assistance they need in their post service years."
The proposed project will provide space to house community events and workshops including woodworking, visual arts and crafts, kinetic courses such as yoga.
The barn will also provide classroom and meeting space for a public health approach to building wellness and resilience as a community prevention strategy for veterans in the local area.
The project is an essential community facility that will continue to provide health wellness and meeting event space for the rural residences of Washington.
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.
If you'd like to subscribe to USDA Rural Development updates, visit our GovDelivery subscriber page.


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Photo: Live95fm.ie
The draw has been made and we're heading for Limerick on Saturday week. I'd meant to put together a brief primer earlier on today about our Round 1 opponents but work got in the way and so it never happened. Instead, you'll have to make do with this thrown-together bit of background info on the Shannonsiders.
Let's start with our history against them. This is easy enough to do, seeing as we've only met them very infrequently down the years. A (very) quick search in the results archive yields an NFL Division IVA meeting in Askeaton in October 1966 when we walloped them by 5-10 to 0-4. Maybe that was our first ever competitive meeting, maybe not.
Askeaton was also the venue for another noteworthy clash with the Treaty County. That was in short-lived Centenary Cup back in 1985, when we were rather gallingly thumped by 3-6 to 0-5 in a Round 2 tie.
The 21st century had dawned before we finally met in the championship. That, predictably, happened in the qualifiers where, in a Round 3 tie, we squeezed past them at Hyde Park, besting Liam Kearns' team by just a single point on a scoreline of 0-13 to 1-9.
Limerick had a decent side in that first decade of the new Millennium and we met them in the top division of the NFL in 2007. That MacHale Park encounter – which we won by 1-10 to 0-7 – was our most recent competitive one with them. Both Keith Higgins and Andy Moran lined out for us that February day eleven years ago.
Since then we've gone our way and they've gone in a very different direction. In their case, this has meant a relentless slide down the pecking order, all the way down to Division Four of the National League. It's not an environment where they're covering themselves with glory either.
They were relegated to the bottom tier in 2016, having lost all but one of their Division Three matches. The following year they won four but lost three of their Division Four games, finishing fourth in the table, two points off the promotion places.
Last summer's championship campaign was short and brutish for them. They only got two runs out, the first in the Munster semi-final against Clare and the second in Round 2 of the qualifiers against Wexford. They lost both matches by a single point and their inter-county year was over before the end of June.
Things didn't get a whole pile better for them in Division Four this spring. Round 1 saw them lose 2-12 to 0-9 away to Laois, Round 2 was a 2-11 to 0-13 reversal at home against Carlow, Round 3 saw them draw 2-8 with London over in Ruislip, Round 4 was a crushing 2-18 to 1-9 hammering by Leitrim in Carrick but Round 5 brought some succour as they beat Waterford by 2-10 to 2-9 in Kilmallock. Round 6 was a match that was never played, as their game with Wicklow fell foul of the weather and was never subsequently re-fixed, while Round 7 brought another defeat, this time by 1-13 to 0-12 to Antrim at Saturday week's venue. They ended the campaign in sixth place, having garnered just three points.
It was also at the Gaelic Grounds, the weekend before last, where Clare brought Limerick's gallop in this year's Munster championship to a rapid end. The Bannermen had a facile 1-22 to 0-14 win over their neighbours in that game, in the process extending Limerick's winless run in Munster to six years.
So, then, that's the kind of form our Round 1 opponents have been displaying the last while. It's small wonder, to be honest, that Paddy Power have priced us at 1/50 to advance to the next round.
I'm going to leave off on the poll I've tended to close posts like this with. I think all that out-of-county voting for Tyrone in the poll I put up ahead of this morning's draw has cured me of that kind of democracy for a while. Maybe closer the date itself I'll fire the poll thingy up once more.
Instead, I'll sign off now by giving an advance plug for the upcoming new episode of the Mayo News football podcast. This was recorded earlier today after the draw was made and is being edited even as I type. The new episode includes, amongst other things, Stephen Rochford's reaction to our pairing with Limerick and it's due to go online tomorrow morning.


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The drive toward smart manufacturing represents a major and fundamental shift in the industry. Built on big data, analytics, and the connected power of the IIoT, the smart manufacturing journey is breaking down silos both within the factory and throughout the supply chain, while also transforming traditional operational models into smarter, more efficient systems.
In the process, manufacturing companies are creating new ecosystems and moving to new business models like mass customization, product-as-a-service, and continuous innovation. All of this requires proactive management of manufacturing operations across an enterprise and value chain with resources and processes automated, integrated, monitored and continuously evaluated through all available information.
Before we can move to planning the roadmap to achieve this vision of connected smart manufacturing ecosystems and value chains, we first need to establish some common ground on the goals, terminology, and current state.
To do that, IndustryWeek and MESA International recently teamed up to survey North American manufacturers on these issues. The results demonstrate a lot of common ground between companies and markets involved in smart manufacturing, and a lot of controversy, too.
The full results—and the first action steps on them—will be revealed at the 2018 IndustryWeek Manufacturing & Technology Conference, in an exclusive workshop featured in the co-located MESA International's 2018 North American Conference.
The session will be led by Conrad Leiva—vice president of product strategy and alliances at iBASEt—and Julie Fraser—a manufacturing software analyst and consultant with over 30 years of experience in the industry.
Together, they will clear the air on smart manufacturing and lead workshop participants through the conversations they need to have in order to put these ideas into action.
Recently, IndustryWeek met up with Leiva and Fraser to get an early look at the findings and hear what they are planning for the event.
IW: First, what are some areas of common ground you have discovered in the industry around these smart manufacturing initiatives?
FRASER: Urgency. In our conversations, most manufacturers are focused on creating more digital information flow both within their organization and across their value chains. While the drivers are different in every industry, disruptors—plus customer and regulatory expectations—are making nearly every company feel some urgency to transform their business.
Initiatives. Most manufacturers and producers are working on a strategy for smart manufacturing; our initial online research shows more than half have implemented at least one project.
Objectives. More than half of the manufacturing respondents are seeking operational efficiencies and reduced operating costs from their smart manufacturing initiatives.
LEIVA: A big portion of the other half are looking at transformative business models and value chain integration.
FRASER: Analytics is critical. Fully 84% of manufacturers in our initial survey feel big data and analytics of unstructured data is critical for smart manufacturing success.
IW: There are also areas of "controversy" where the consensus is much less clear. What are some of the major ones?
FRASER: Terminology. When presented with a few options for what to call this, most of our US-centered response base chose "smart manufacturing." However, when asked prior to that to tell us what it's called in their organization, we got nearly as many different responses as responding organizations.
Approach. One thing we noticed in these write-ins is that many call this continuous improvement, lean or something similar. We are finding out they are considering this a continuation of existing lean and continuous improvement initiatives. Others seem to view it as a radical new strategy for the company, focusing on entirely new business models and ways of delivering value. So is it a major strategic change, or simply more of the same incremental improvement?
What's included. While most seem to feel that smart manufacturing includes connected factory and connected supply chain, the Industrial Internet of Things, and digital manufacturing, a substantial portion do not agree that each of those are part of smart manufacturing.
Cybersecurity. Can smart manufacturing be secured effectively? Is the risk of connecting everything on the Internet worth the reward?
MES. Is there a role for MES, or will IIoT Platforms mean you don't need MES?
IW: Now that we have this data, what is the next step for the industry?
FRASER: So the program has already conducted an initial online survey in conjunction with IndustryWeek, and that helps set a baseline for North America. The program will then include interviews with manufacturers and producers worldwide, as well as working group activities where we'll pull forward current state-of-the-art learning and stories of the projects and initiatives underway now.
It's relevant because every company has only so much bandwidth for new initiatives. By learning from other companies—both in similar industries and in industries that are quite different—every manufacturer stands to accelerate their own company's thinking and the progress of their initiatives. We plan to illuminate what works—and what perhaps does not yet work. Where are the pitfalls, what are the considerations, where are the benefits. Rather than spending their own resources to discover all of this, each participating company will get an opportunity to learn more, and learn it much more rapidly.
LEIVA: It is also important that smart manufacturing initiatives are not worked solely within each enterprise because the goal is to connect the entire manufacturing value chain. The more you work with peers in the industry to align these goals and agree on how to exchange data and orchestrate the value chain to realize the vision, the more likely that these goals will be achieved earlier rather than later.
IW: What are the biggest topics/concerns with smart manufacturing and how will you help attendees deal with them?
FRASER: The biggest concerns are often around a few key topics: Where to start, how to proceed (what to do first).
LEIVA: What we want to do is to start communities around some common initiatives found in the survey including analytics, IT-OT convergence, and connected supply chain. We figure that getting people together that are making progress on these initiatives and people just getting started will provide a valuable outcome to everyone. We want to move from talking about smart manufacturing to making significant progress on the journey.


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AOP Precast produced CE certificated Ring Clutch (lifting clutch) with high grade 35CrMoV special casting head clutch and forged bolt. When the head of ring clutch inserted into the recess and anchor head, the bolt will lock down the anchor from head of ring clutch. The ring clutch casting head need to special head treatment to improve mechanical behavior. The forged bolt need the same materials with head. The lifting clutch hook was made by enough thickness and high strength steel. The ring clutch hook welded need high quality and deeply to approval with X-ray machinery.
Write Your Own Review


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I have worked with Dan Crowley and the team at Dynamic for more than 20 years on a variety of companies ranging from larger scale, heavily leveraged transactions to smaller, growth-oriented firms. Each time the outcome has been very positive and the success directly attributed to efforts of Dan Crowley and his team. There is no one else we would turn to for assessment and crisis management services.
Dan Crowley is street-smart and confidence-inspiring. With him there are rarely surprises, just an honest, no-nonsense professional approach to running a business. I wish I had 10 of him.
I have known Dan Crowley for over 22 years. I have worked with him peer to peer, consulted for him and served on the boards of several of his companies. Dan is extremely intelligent, very savvy in the business world and is an expert at understanding what needs to be done and accomplishing it.
Dan's leadership in the wake of a big rate cut quickly restored morale and stabilized operations. He included and empowered people, successfully completed an important financing on favorable terms, and got the company moving forward with an accretive acquisition program. It has been a pleasure to watch the team pull together, create a real culture, and build value under his direction.
Dan Crowley and Dynamic provide unparalleled operating and financial leadership for high potential companies facing challenges requiring immediate attention. We have worked with them on a number of occasions and have been rewarded through remarkable transformations in our portfolio companies. Their areas of expertise include financial restructuring, cost management, contract negotiation, growth and M&A. Dan's 24-hour per day dedication and exhaustive attention to detail leads to immediate and enduring value creation. He is, quite simply, one of the most capable and driven executives in all of healthcare services.
Dan has an amazing ability to manage a far-flung organization, getting people to buy into his vision and pull in one direction for the benefit of the firm. He is open and transparent, making associates feel they are part of the solution.
Dan Crowley has been a thoughtful and dynamic speaker in the graduate degree program at the University of Southern California. He brings the vitality of real-world leadership experience, the challenges of decision-making in high velocity environments, and the importance of understanding finance down to the basis point. He is generous with his time and in his commitment to sharing his leadership expertise with others.


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Top court reverses ruling on civil servants bonus cuts
In a surprise ruling last week, the plenary of the Council of State reversed a decision by a section of the court which found a 2012 law scrapping a special bonus paid out on the Christmas, Easter and summer holidays, as unconstitutional.
According to sources, the majority of the judges at the plenary found that, not only are civil servants not entitled to retroactive payments, as the first ruling had stated, but the legislation on which the cuts were based is constitutional.
The ruling could affect current handouts paid by the government as well as those planned for the future and concerns all civil servants, including municipal employees and those who work in legal entities governed by public law.
The decision was taken in a tense session bhind closed doors on May 17, the sources said.
In late December 2018, a section of the top administrative course ruled that those cuts violated the constitution, following a legal precedent set by the country's Supreme Court in 2015.
The verdict came after a mass litigation brought by thousands of civil servants who then claimed retroactive payments.


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Worldwide, omega-3 product introductions grew at a 27% compound annual growth rate during the past decade, according to Packaged Facts' report "Omega-3: Global Product Trends and Opportunities." Packaged Facts said the U.S. accounted for 41% of new product activity. The firm estimated the global omega-3 consumer packaged market at $13 billion in 2011. For its part, Euromonitor International estimates the U.S. omega-3-6-9 supplements category at $400 million.
What is prompting the growth in omega-3 sales and new product development? Multiple reports tout the benefits of omega-3 consumption, whether in the diet or via supplementation. One recent study sought to measure associations between omega-3 levels and anxiety, depression or sleep, but in an unintended consequence, it discovered strong associations between cognitive flexibility and executive function. The research, published in Nutritional Neuroscience, measured red blood cell levels of EPA and DHA and found, "The diminished cognitive reserve observed in the lowest quartile HS-Omega-3 Index might compromise performance of mission-essential tasks, specifically those requiring dual-tasking."
The report continued, "Clearly, ingesting more EPA and DHA can increase the HS-Omega-3 Index, whether from food or fish oil supplements. If it could be shown that a higher omega-3 intake improved executive function and cognitive flexibility, mission effectiveness, and overall military operational and medical readiness should also be enhanced."
The research follows a 2011 study appearing in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, finding male military personnel on active duty between 2001 and 2008 with the lowest DHA levels had a 62% increased risk of suicide than their colleagues with higher omega-3 levels.
An Ohio State University study found fish body oils may reduce the proteins that cause inflammation linked to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Study participants, all either overweight or obese, ingested either supplements in different doses or placebos. Both higher and lower omega-3 doses resulted in reduced inflammation, per the study published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity.
In addition, recently released research found omega-3 fatty acids could reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. The study in Neurology established an association between omega-3 consumption and lower blood levels of a biomarker related to memory.
Some health benefits of omega-3 supplementation have been well documented, but one recent study explored its effects on damage from exposure to airborne pollution. Exposure to particulate matter in the air increases cardiovascular disease risk and related deaths. A study at the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found omega-3 fatty acids reduced the lipid changes brought on by breathing particulate matter. Further, the results suggest omega-3 fatty acids may relax blood vessels, lower blood pressure and impact the nervous system signals that control heart rhythm. Published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, the study supplemented the diets of 29 healthy, middle-aged participants in a randomized, double-blind trial with either an omega-3 supplement or a placebo for four weeks prior to exposure to either filtered air or ultra-fine particulate matter for two hours. After exposure to the high levels of particulate pollution, the placebo group experienced a significant decrease in heart rate variability. Those taking the omega-3 supplement exhibited little change. The placebo subjects also showed an immediate increase in two types of lipids in the blood after exposure, compared to the omega-3 group.
Adults are far from the only market for omega-3s, however. Children, or at least their parents, are the targets for Nordic Omega-3 Jellies from Nordic Naturals. The fish-shaped jellies have a tutti frutti flavor and 250mg of EPA+DHA per jelly. Made from purified fish oil sustainably sourced from anchovies and sardines, the jellies have been specially formulated for children ages 2 and over, according to the company.
"When formulating this product, we focused on a chewable omega-3 that delivered on dosage and taste, plus convenient packaging that would delight parents," noted Dr. Keri Marshall, Nordic Naturals chief medical officer. "Children want a fun product that tastes great, while parents want concentration and convenience."
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has ruled that up to 5g of omega-3 is safe, extending the typical recommended upper limits of roughly 1-1.5g daily. "The Panel considers that supplemental intakes of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid combined at doses up to 5g/day, and supplemental intakes of alone up to 1.8g/day, do not raise safety concerns for the adult population."
"Long-term supplemental intakes of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid combined up to about 5g/day do not increase the risk of spontaneous bleeding episodes or bleeding complications even in subjects at high risk of bleeding (e.g. taking acetylsalicylic acid or anti-coagulants)."
Certainly, with more and more studies confirming a variety of health benefits from omega-3 consumption, as well as regulatory agencies increasing permitted consumption guidelines, the market remains ripe for omega-3s.
From the August 20, 2012, Prepared Foods E-dition


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On Tuesday, September 20, at 10 a.m., New Jersey School Boards Association, in collaboration with the New Jersey Education Foundation Partnership, will present an interactive webinar on ways education foundations can help school districts by providing additional funding that can be used for a variety of purposes including innovation, pilot programs, technology, the fine arts, extracurricular activities, and more. The webinar is free and registration is available online.
Learn about the benefits to establishing an education foundation; maintaining the best practices for long term success; as well as strategies for a strong, collaborative relationship between the school district and the foundation. Hear from the Morris Educational Foundation about how they have flourished through collaboration with not only the school district but the community.
For more information on this webinar, or on the "NJSBA at Your Service" webinar series, email Lou Schimenti, NJSBA products and services specialist.


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Flawed US Refugee Admissions Program is Failing Iraqi Refugees;
Recession Only Makes Matters Worse – IRC Commission Calls for Overhaul of Resettlement System
16 Jun 2009 – The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program is outdated and under-funded and is resettling Iraqi refugees into poverty rather than helping rebuild their lives in the country that offered them sanctuary, says the International Rescue Committee.Â
In a new report, "Iraqi Refugees in the United States: In Dire Straits,†the IRC's Commission on Iraqi Refugees says resettlement continues to be a critical and lifesaving intervention for thousands of at-risk Iraqi refugees who are living in precarious conditions in exile and unable to return home safely. Yet the federal program no longer meets the basic needs of today's newly arriving refugees and requires urgent reform.
"The resettlement program in the United States fails individuals with high levels of vulnerability, especially during difficult economic times,†the report states.
In April 2009, the IRC Commission sent delegations to Atlanta and Phoenix to examine the bleak situation for Iraqi refugees and impediments to their successful assimilation. They interviewed dozens of Iraqi refugees, who expressed deep gratitude for their safety and freedom in the United States, but also painted a picture of intense anguish and frustration.
Many Iraqi newcomers have been unable to secure jobs. In the meantime, they are exhausting available resources, seeing their benefits expire, struggling to get by and facing eviction and destitution. A large number are war widows with young children who arrive here grieving and alone, with little if any work experience. Many others are highly educated professionals who hope to find work in their areas of expertise, but discover that even entry-level jobs are elusive. High numbers suffer emotional trauma, war-related injuries or chronic illnesses. Unstable living conditions and uncertainty about the future compound their psychological distress.
"Nearly all of the Iraqis we surveyed had expectations that they would receive better care from a government whose policies had a hand in their upheaval, particularly those who put their lives on the line to work for the U.S. military and government and were targeted as a result,†says IRC president George Rupp. "Few imagined that they would receive such short-term and limited assistance upon arrival or that they could become homeless in the country that offered them shelter. They deserve better.â€
The Commission report says the resettlement program is "dangerously under-funded.†Under the current system, a one-time federal stipend of $900 is provided for each refugee arrival. The grant generally fails to cover immediate needs, including rent, clothing, household supplies and a range of vital services that aid agencies provide. Refugees may apply for other forms of state assistance, but it's rarely sufficient to cover basic necessities. That puts the burden on resettlement agencies to fill in the gaps with increasingly scarce private resources.
"The U.S. resettlement program was designed nearly 30 years ago and hasn't been seriously looked at since,†says Bob Carey, the IRC's vice president of resettlement policy. "The success of the program is premised on refugees being able to find employment and become self-supporting in a short period of time. When that doesn't happen, the system doesn't work.â€
Carey says the economic downturn has brought into sharp relief the serious deficiencies in the U.S. Refugee Admissions program.
The report concludes that the U.S. resettlement program is failing in its mandate to help refugees restart their lives in safety and dignity. "Immediate measures must be taken to ensure that Iraqis, as well as all other refugees resettled in America, do not fall victim to homelessness and poverty. A thorough examination and reform of the U.S. refugee resettlement process are urgently needed.â€
The IRC's Commission on Iraqi Refugees offers the following recommendations:
1. Increase Federal Assistance: Congress should appropriate emergency funds to aid refugees at risk of eviction, ensure that funds for new arrivals keep up with the cost of living, expand eligibility for cash assistance and extend the time frame during which services can be accessed.
2. Avoid the "Resettlement Lotteryâ€: The aid refugees receive varies significantly from state to state. Refugees should receive a viable and uniform package of services and assistance, no matter where they are resettled.
3. Make Programs Flexible: The "one size fits all†approach doesn't allow flexibility to target special needs of vulnerable refugees or cast a wider safety net during a recessionary economy.
4. Improve Orientation: Refugees must be fully briefed about the benefits and challenges of resettlement so that they can make informed decisions about their future. Better information and preparation will speed their adjustment and assimilation after arrival.
5. Conduct a Comprehensive Review: The program for domestic resettlement and assistance requires an extensive review to determine what works and what does not ahead of a needed overhaul of the system.


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The sculptural taps that stand out with generous lines above the sink are a great success to attract attention and show off a beautiful dashboard. The fault that we want a large faucet that stands out from other kitchen elements and that even has a different finish than other kitchen elements (for example, a gold or black kitchen faucet with chrome accessories). The thing is, big, pretty faucets are taken for granted. And they are always there. And when the sink is installed precisely on an island, that is when the tap looks like the sculptural one it deserves.
The best-selling faucets on Amazon show that the tap is the best large kitchen and extensible if possible. (more convenient to reach all corners and fill buckets or large pans) and both issues are not incompatible with good prices because some of them do not reach fifty euros.
1. With sculptural and extensible shapes.
2. Fully extendable and available in more colors (white, red, or black), this faucet is another best seller
3. In white and gold this tap will not go unnoticed. Removable sink tap 360 ° rotatable with 2 functions single-lever spout for kitchen faucets.


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Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAnthem Inc. modestly boosted the salaries and stock awards given to three of its four top executives last year and also handed out smaller bonuses, according a proxy statement filed Wednesday afternoon with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
That mix of moves caused overall compensation to essentially hold steady or grow modestly for Anthem's executives.
Meanwhile, Anthem's stock had a terrific year. Including price gains and dividends, Anthem's stock gave shareholders a 38-percent return last year, closing on New Year's Eve at $125.67 per share.
CEO Joe Swedish received a total of $13.53 million in cash, stock and perks in 2014. That was down 20 percent from 2013, when Swedish joined Anthem.
But Swedish's 2013 compensation was inflated by nearly $4 million in extra compensation the insurer gave him to make up for pay he had to forego from his previous employer when he took the top job at Anthem, as well as moving and legal expenses incurred in negotiating his contract.
Excluding those payments, Swedish's 2014 compensation rose 3.7 percent over the previous year. However, his 2014 compensation for was for a full year, whereas he worked just more than nine months for Anthem in 2013.
Anthem Chief Financial Officer Wayne DeVeydt received much smaller stock awards in 2014 than the previous year, when he was given $3 million in extra stock awards to encourage him to stay with Anthem and to make his compensation more equal to other health care CFOs. As a result, DeVeydt's total compensation fell 37 percent, to $4.97 million.
Excluding the special stock awards in 2013, DeVeydt's compensation would have been virtually unchanged between the two years.
Ken Goulet, president of Anthem's commercial and specialty businesses, enjoyed a 4.2-percent increase to his compensation, bringing his total 2014 cash, stock and perks to $4.95 million.
Anthem's chief administrative officer, Gloria McCarthy, received a 9.5-percent boost to her compensation, which last year totaled $3.94 million.


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"During his time there, with the aid of surveys von Teisenhausen walked the entirety of the property's 320 acres, stopping frequently to quickly cut discreet, eye-like shapes with his thumbnail into the trunks of more than 1,000 trees. The rudimentary symbol has become a trademark for the artist, who has carved more than 5,000 similar marks into the trees on his own property. Interestingly, these marks have aided his thus far successful legal battles to prevent oil and gas companies from drilling and laying pipes on his land, as they allow him to invoke artistic and cultural copyright. At the Tree Museum, these marks provided the opportunity for him to explore and be in the land, as they do for the visitors seeking them out. The act also allowed to declare the property itself to be the work of art. Adding an object would only have been detraction. Not only do the personal, political and universal fuse in this case; the almost infinitesimal action and mark become a profoundly grand gesture. While remaining true to his own engaged commitment to art, nature and humanity, von Teisenhausen's conceptually based approach to the project represents at once a challenge to his own working methodology and to the expectations of the audience".
David Liss, "Responding to Nature'The Tree Museum (The Tree Museum 2006)
Peter von Tiesenhausen was born in New Westminster, British Columbia in 1959. He studied at the Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, Alberta (1979-81) and participated in the Emma Lake Artists' Workshops, Emma Lake, Saskatchewan in 1991, 1992, and 1993. His work has received critical acclaim nationally as well as internationally. von Tiesenhausen lives with his family in the countryside, near Demmitt, Alberta, northwest of Edmonton.


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Mastermind Steffen Kummerer comments on the track: "The title track combines past and future to the present. With a combination of virtuosity, catchiness, and clear arrangements, "A Valediction" unfolds a bittersweet, fragile temper and sums up the lyrical framework of the entire album. A worthy title track and characterful summit of upcoming concerts."
The video was shot, once again, with talented Mirko Witzki and brings back the vibes of late '90s MTV. Watch below…
"A Valediction" will be available in the listed formats below and is now finally up for pre-order, and pre-save via this link.
The album, graced by a cover artwork painted by internationally renowned artist Eliran Kantor, will consist of 11 new studio tracks and the tracklist reads as follows:
01) Forsaken
02) Solaris
03) A Valediction
04) When Stars Collide (feat. Björn 'Speed' Strid)
05) In Unity
06) Devoured Usurper
07) The Beyond
08) Orbital Elements II
09) The Neuromancer
10) In Adversity
11) Heritage
Oran O'Beirne
www.overdrive.ie 2021


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What you are likely looking for is the method Task.WaitAll(task1, task2, task3..);. The method allows you to wait for several tasks to finish, even though the tasks execute in parallel.
Below is a full example where I start five tasks that wait a different amount of time (1.000, 3.000, 5.000, 8.000 and 10.000 milliseconds):
public static async Task Test()
Task task1 = StartTask(1000);
Task task2 = StartTask(3000);
Task task3 = StartTask(10000);
Task task4 = StartTask(8000);
Task task5 = StartTask(5000);
Task.WaitAll(task1, task2, task3, task4, task5);
// You will not get here until all tasks are finished (in 10 seconds)
private static Task StartTask(int timeToWait)
return Task.Run(async () =>
Console.WriteLine($"Waiting {timeToWait}");
await Task.Delay(timeToWait);
Console.WriteLine($"Done waiting {timeToWait}");
The tasks start close to simultaneously and finish what they are doing in parallel with the one taking the shortest time finishing first. This can be seen in the below image where they start rather randomly but finish in order:
However "Done!" is not printed in the console until all 5 tasks have completed, which means it will be printed after ten seconds.
With a list of tasks
Maybe you do not have several individual tasks but rather a list of tasks. In this scenario you can instead use WhenAll
rather than WaitAll
Task task1 = StartTask(1000);
Task task2 = StartTask(3000);
Task task3 = StartTask(10000);
Task task4 = StartTask(8000);
Task task5 = StartTask(5000);
var list = new List<Task> { task1, task2, task3, task4, task5 };
await Task.WhenAll(list);
Everything else is the same as with WhenAll
That is all!
I hope you found this helpful! Let me know what you think in the comments down below :)


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In October 2015 I set out from Taichung to attend a music festival in Nantou, the landlocked county in the mountainous interior of Taiwan. Since I don't often have an opportunity to ride a scooter I allocated some extra time for onward exploration and ended up visiting many interesting and wonderful places, many of them quite obscure. What follows is the first part of a mostly visual record of this road trip around the geographic center of Taiwan…
Nantou Road Trip 2015: Ren'ai
My second day on the road in Nantou County in October 2015 was completely unplanned. I left Puli and headed deeper into the mountains simply to see what was there, not having done any advance research. From a glance at the map I had a rough idea where I'd be going—deeper into traditional Taiwanese Indigenous lands to the east of Puli Basin (埔里盆地). Ultimately I ended up visiting several settlements and two reservoirs in a few hours of riding around what is now known as the township of Ren'ai.
Nantou Road Trip 2015: Puli
Puli was my home base for several days of road tripping and adventure around Nantou in October 2015. Recently I decided to publish my findings and impressions from this trip despite not knowing much about what I was seeing at that time. Most of the other posts in this series document trips from one place to another but in this post I'm focusing on some of what I found within city limits, starting with some history to put everything in context.
Huaguo Theater 華國戲院
Huáguó Theater (華國戲院) is one of hundreds of abandoned theaters scattered around Taiwan. Located in Puli, a town of approximately 80,000 in the heart of Nantou, this particular theater was likely built in the late 1950s. From what I've read in an article by Wáng Hénglù (王亨祿), this theater was operated by a couple with the family name Zhōu (周) and specialized in showing Western films on a single screen before its inevitable demise.
The Geographic Center of Taiwan 台灣地理中心
The Geographic Center of Taiwan (台灣地理中心) is a modest roadside attraction at Hǔtóushān (虎頭山, literally "Tiger Head Mountain") in Puli, Nantou, on the way to bigger attractions like Qingjing Farm (清境農場). As the name implies, it marks the geographic center of the island of Taiwan, albeit with a bit of a twist: there are actually two monuments here, one at the base of the mountain and another near the peak at 555 meters above sea level. It's about a ten minute hike to get to the real center of Taiwan!
Nantou Road Trip 2015: Puli to Sun Moon Lake
This post gathers photos taken on two scooter rides from Puli to the shores of Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 in Yuchi, part of a multi-day road trip undertaken in late 2015. I didn't have a chance to explore as deeply as I would have liked, nor did I really know what was so special about this part of the country while I was there, so this post will be somewhat less extensive than most others in this series. I hope to someday return to the Sun Moon Lake area and gather material to make a fully informed post about this fascinating part of Taiwan.
Shuili Snake Kiln 水里蛇窯
The Shuili Snake Kiln 水里蛇窯 is a wood-fired pottery kiln on the outskirts of Shuili, Nantou. The name is derived from the kiln's serpentine shape, though to my eyes it looks more like a slug than a snake. Founded in 1927 by master potter Lín Jiāngsōng 林江松, it remained a family business for generations before being opened to the public as a "ceramics park" in 1993.
Jiji Wuchang Temple 集集武昌宫
Wǔchāng Temple 武昌宮 is one of many remnants of the devastating 921 Earthquake, which ripped through central Taiwan on September 21st, 1999, toppling tens of thousands of buildings and claiming nearly 2,500 lives. Located in the rural township of Jiji in Nantou, less than five kilometers from the epicenter of the magnitude 7 quake, this temple was destroyed mere months after it was completed. Rather than clear the debris, the damaged structure was left more or less as it was the morning after it collapsed, and a new temple with the same name was built in front. Nowadays this ruined temple is a popular roadside attraction and a prime example of disaster tourism in Taiwan.
Nantou Road Trip 2015: Sun Moon Lake to Taichung
This post is the final entry in a series documenting several days of riding around Nantou in October 2015. On the last morning of this trip I woke in Puli, close to the geographic center of Taiwan. I only had to return the scooter to the rental shop in Taichung sometime after nightfall so I decided to take a more circuitous route and check out many sights along the way. After a quick breakfast I headed south, briefly stopping by the shores of the majestic Sun Moon Lake (日月潭, covered in the previous entry in this series), and ascended a winding mountain access road leading into Xinyi, one of several majority Taiwanese Indigenous districts in this landlocked county.