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What Does God Want From Me???? Series
Contributed by W Pittendreigh on Oct 9, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: We often feel like asking, "Good God Almighty, what do you WANT from me?" Micah gives a clear answer -- to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
What Does God Want From Me?
1 Listen to what the LORD says: "Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say.
2 Hear, O mountains, the LORD's accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.
3 "My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me.
4 I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.
5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD."
6 With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Andy was just an interesting fellow.
He'd never been out of his home town until he went to college.
He rarely showed any signs of emotion, but he had a great sense of humor.
He became a devoted Christian while we were in college, and often told people, "Just remember. Jesus loves me and he loves you."
When he became angry, however, Andy would simply say in a deadpan fashion, with a completely straight face, "Just remember, Jesus loves me, and he LIKES you."
But when things really went badly – I mean REALLY bad, he would eventually throw up his hands and look at the sky and yell, "Good God Almighty, what do you WANT from me?"
Haven't you ever felt like doing that? Just looking up at God and pleading with Him, "Good God Almighty, what do you WANT of me?"
It just so happens that this is the message Micah presents in our Old Testament lesson for today.
Micah is one of the Minor Prophets, which is a collection of books that make up the last few pages of the Old Testament. We have been looking at the Minor Prophets for a few weeks, taking a look at a different one each week. Today we turn our attention to Micah.
Micah was the prophet of the downtrodden and exploited people of Judean society. He prophesied during a time of great social injustice and boldly opposed those who imposed their power upon the poor and weak for selfish ends.
As he preaches to the people, Micah himself raises the question that my old college roommate used to ask – "Good God almighty, what do you want of me?"
Of course, Micah is a bit more poetic – "What does the Lord require of us?"
The answer comes as a three-fold response, beginning with "act justly."
Or, in other words, act with fairness, honesty, and integrity.
Micah had a special concern for justice, primarily because he saw so little of it.
What God requires of us is that we do what is right and fair in our relationships with other people.
Justice involves the sense of a standard of equality among people. It can be as simple as being honest in even the smallest routine business transaction. In Micah, the prophet complained about the person who uses "dishonest scales, with a bag of false weights." (Micah 6:11)
There is an old saying, "honesty is the best policy." But for the Christian, that slogan should be, "honesty is the ONLY policy." Because this is a consistent theme in all of Scripture -- that we are called to be people of fairness and integrity in all our dealings.
In Psalm 51:6 we read, "You desire truth in the inward parts."
In Proverbs 4:23 we read, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring all the issues of life."
We must settle it deep in our hearts to be a people of integrity, and be on guard in the battle to "act justly."
Micah tells us three things God requires of us. One is to act justly. Easy task. But it is hard to make a reality.
We are a nation of Enrons – and they are not all on a large scale.
We do the cheating on small scales that never make the headlines.
We cheat our neighbors.
If we can swindle an employee, or steal from our employer, we'll find a way and do it.


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Aww Mama better watch out for her little boy. Isaiah is already trying to impress the ladies
Carrie Underwood revealed he has a crush on her tourmate- Maddie of Maddie and Tae
This morning my 4-year-old, who hates wearing jeans, asked to wear jeans so he could "look cute for Maddie." He also asked me to fix his hair and to get him some flowers that he could give to her. Don't you break his heart @MaddieMarlow !!! 😂
— Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) May 9, 2019
and Maddie absolutely loves him too
I seriously could've cried. My heart just about exploded 😭 y'all raised the sweetest boy! Goes to show what a great example you and your hubby set for your boys. #newtourboyfriend 😂 https://t.co/oHlxE6dvUo
— Maddie Marlow (@MaddieMarlow) May 10, 2019

subset: commoncrawl


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France's Kyivan Queen
Anne of Kyiv married Henry I, king of the Franks, on 19 May 1051.
Ukraine has been part of European history since before the Norman Conquest. Remarkably, in the middle of the 11th century, the queens of Norway, Hungary, France and Poland were all Kyivan Rus princesses. The first three were daughters of Yaroslav, Grand Prince of Kyiv and Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden. The fourth was his sister, Maria.
Too little is known about these women, although Elisabeth, sometime queen to Harald Hardrada of Norway – the Norwegians called her Ellisif – makes fleeting appearances in some of the saga literature.
The best documented is Anne of Kyiv, queen to Henry I, king of the Franks. They married on 19 May 1051, following a lengthy Frankish diplomatic mission to the Kyivan Rus. Their son, Philip I, was born the following year. It was probably Anne who introduced the Greek name Philip to the west.
When Henry died in 1060, with Philip aged eight, Anne emerged as a powerful figure, certainly acting as a de facto guardian to the young king in the first two years and possibly sharing the crown with him.
Like her sisters and aunt, Anne would die a long way from her homeland, part of a little known generation of royal Kyivan women establishing bonds of blood across mainland Europe.


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The Public Education Subcommittee promotes general mental health education to the public through a diversity of multi-media and multi-activity programmes which aim at increasing public awareness, dealing with stigmatisation and encouraging early identification and early intervention. For the mental wellness of the community at large, the Subcommittee also collaborates closely with community partners to deliver conjoint educational programmes.
The Subcommittee has produced numbers of mental health education information. For details, please click here.
Certificate Courses and Advanced Certificate Courses in Mental Health were organised to provide training on the knowledge and skills in managing common mental illness to healthcare professionals and related personnel who may come into contact with people with mental health problems or their carers in their daily practice.
Stress Management Workshop is conducted by our psychiatrists and clinical psychologists for external organisations to enhance participants' knowledge and awareness on stress, and provide ways of preventing and coping with it. The 3-hour workshop includes psychological tests, interactive activities, case discussions and daily exercise, etc. Adjustments can be made to suit the needs of individual organisation.
The IMH and St. John Ambulance have been co-organising the BPLS Course since January 2011. The course is run on a regular basis to provide participants an overview of the common mental health problems and treatments. It also teaches how to recognise stress/ anxiety and be confident in offering help in a first aid situation.
Our mental health professionals (psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychiatric nurses, occupational therapists, etc) were invited by community agencies to be speakers for mental health talks and seminars. Topics included schizophrenia, affective disorders, child psychiatric disorders, dementia, substance related psychiatric disorders, stress management, suicide, etc.
Our mental health professionals were invited to be interviewed by various media, e.g. radio & TV programmes and newspaper, to share on mental health topics. Articles written by our mental health professionals were also published regularly on newspaper columns.


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CONFORTO is one of the leading Italian Companies in the field of electric mechanics. It has been leading this sector of manufacturing water pumps and all its types since the eighties and always in pursuit of the latest technologies invented in order to develop its products even more to satisfy all its customers in all exporting countries.
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Vault Comics Announce Surprise Sera and the Royal Stars #1 Vault Vintage Variant
By Staff Reports
Vault Comics is thrilled to announce a surprise Vault Vintage variant cover for Sera and the Royal Stars #1. Drawn by Nathan Gooden and designed by Tim Daniel, this Vault Vintage cover pays homage to Curt Swan & Neal Adams' 1969 cover to Adventure Comics #381 from DC Comics..
Begun in 2018, the Vault Vintage cover line celebrates the artistic achievements of both modern and legendary comics artists. The back cover of each Vault Vintage cover features a detailed history of the original cover and the creative team who produced. Vault Vintage covers are designed to celebrate the creators and covers they honor, and to ensure readers learn about some of the most important moments in comics history.
Sera and The Royal Stars is an epic fantasy series co-created by writer Jon Tsuei (Run Love Kill) and artist Audrey Mok (Archie), with colors by Raul Angulo (Buffy the Vampire Slater), letters by Jim Campbell (Wasted Space). and design by Tim Daniel.
Civil war rages in the Empire of Parsa, and famine has struck. As the seasons refuse to turn, Princess Sera receives a vision from the deity Mitra telling her to find the Royal Stars and restore them to the heavens. Despite her kingdom and her troops' need of her command, Sera embarks on a quest to find the fallen stars-now trapped on earth-and save her people from dearth and death.
Sera and the Royal Stars #1 hits store shelves on July 17th.


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CGAP Launches Smallholder Families Data Hub
CGAP Launches Smallholder Families Data Hub to Help Providers Discover Opportunities to Reach the Rural Poor
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 12, 2018 – CGAP today launched a new research tool to help financial services providers learn quickly and easily about the demand among smallholder families for financial services. Small, family-run farms are home to the majority of people living in absolute poverty around the world, without access to the resources they need to improve their lives. This tool will help providers identify new opportunities to serve this large and diverse market in Africa and Asia, whose financial lives are often little understood.
Explore the CGAP Smallholder Families Data Hub
Smallholder families make up one of the largest potential markets for financial services in many developing countries, but reliable data on their financial and agricultural lives are scarce. Through simple, interactive data visualizations, the CGAP Smallholder Families Data Hub puts at providers' fingertips more than 300,000 data points from CGAP's demand-side smallholder research, enabling them to look for promising business opportunities to develop products and serve these families.
"CGAP has been building the evidence base on smallholder households, detailing their dynamic mix of people and income-generating activities. This fills an information gap, especially at the level of more vulnerable smallholder families. We hope this new tool will make the data more accessible to the innovative companies and financial service providers developing products for this important client group," said Gerhard Coetzee, who leads CGAP's Customer & Provider Solutions team.
The trove of data powering this new business research tool comes from six national smallholder household surveys conducted in 2015 and 2016 in Bangladesh, Cote d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. Each survey has a nationally representative sample of about 3,000 families who indicated that agriculture provides a meaningful contribution to their household livelihood, income or consumption, and who have up to 5 hectares of land and a certain number of livestock.
Companies already are using CGAP's smallholder survey data to build new products. In Tanzania, agricultural input distributor Positive International Limited (PIL) and the Grameen Foundation are exploring a mobile savings solution for farmers who do not have enough cash on hand to buy farming supplies. CGAP's survey data shows that 96 percent of smallholders in their pilot region own mobile phones and 84 percent have used mobile money, but only 24 percent have used bill pay. This information informed PIL's approach to familiarizing customers with the use of bill pay.
"CGAP's data is a great resource. It helped us design our mobile layaway service and plan for a pilot. Now we're using the data to understand the product's potential in other regions," said Karan Kapoor, managing director of Positive International Limited in Tanzania.
The CGAP Smallholder Families Data Hub features:
- Interactive dashboards showing how smallholders in each of the six countries earn and spend money, use financial services and their attitudes toward providers, as well as showing poverty levels, crops and livestock, and agricultural markets in those countries
- Links to in-depth resources, including country-by-country analyses of the survey data, full data sets and questionnaires from the surveys, and financial diaries for three markets, Mozambique, Tanzania and Pakistan
"These data show smallholder families in a new light and illuminate potential opportunities for providers to better serve their needs for financial solutions. For us at CGAP, they reinforce the diversity and importance of smallholder households to financial inclusion, highlighting the presence of young people, women, small- and medium-sized business owners and casual workers in this pivotal client group," said Jamie Anderson, a senior financial sector specialist at CGAP who focuses on smallholder households.
About CGAP
CGAP is an independent think tank that works to empower poor people to capture opportunities and build resilience through financial services. We test, learn and develop innovative solutions through practical research and active engagement with our partners on building responsible and inclusive financial systems that help move people out of poverty, protect their gains and advance global development goals. Housed at the World Bank, CGAP is supported by over 30 leading development organizations committed to making financial services meet the needs of poor people.


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Roads across Suffolk have been flooded by a deluge of rain which has been unleashed on the region.
Storm Franklin has blown into East Anglia just hours after the last effects of Storm Eunice were felt.
There is a yellow weather warning for wind in place until 1pm today (Monday, February 21) and several flood alerts have been issued.
Read more: Storm Franklin named as latest storm to hit the UK
Drivers have been urged to be cautious while travelling on Suffolk roads and police have confirmed that there is standing water on major roads such as the A14 and A11.
Flood alerts have been issued for estuary and coastal areas.
Check our live blog below for updates on traffic and travel in Suffolk during Storm Franklin.
Make sure you are following SuffolkLive on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to ensure you stay up to date with the latest news in Suffolk.
Alternatively, you can sign up for our Daily Newsletter for the top headlines straight into your inbox.
Key Events
Felixstowe to Ipswich train cancelled due to tree blocking rails
Greater Anglia Rail have siad that the 8:30am 2R07 train train from Felixstowe to Ipswich will be cancelled.
This is due to a tree blocking the railway line.
Rail passengers told to 'avoid travel' by train today as storms paralyse networks
Train operators have warned customers to "avoid travel if possible" on Monday as services are expected to be paralysed by gale-force winds and lashing rain.
National Rail has warned anyone making essential journeys once services resume to expect "major disruption" to routes "across most of Great Britain" – including cancellations, delays and slower speeds onboard.
This comes after the Met Office issued an amber wind warning for Northern Ireland and a milder yellow wind warning for much of the rest of the UK as Storm Franklin moves in.
The forecaster warned that the south of the country will be particularly hard-hit by stormy weather during the morning rush hour.
UK warned stronger winds and more rain coming
Britons have been warned to brace for strengthening winds and lashing rain as Storm Franklin moves in overnight.
The Met Office has issued an amber warning for wind which could cause a "risk to life" in Northern Ireland until 7am, while a milder yellow wind warning covers England, Wales and south-western Scotland until 1pm.
Environment agencies have issued hundreds of alerts for flooding across the UK, including two rare "severe" warnings where rainfall could also pose a "danger to life" for communities along the River Mersey in Greater Manchester.
Franklin not quite as bad as Eunice - but still dangerous
Met Office Chief Meteorologist Andy Page said:
Following the significant impacts of Storm Eunice on Friday, Storm Franklin will bring further high winds for many late on Sunday and into Monday, although not on the same scale as Eunice.
"Coastal areas of Northern Ireland, especially on that north coast, will get the strongest wind gusts, which could be around 80mph in a few places. Amber and Yellow Wind Warnings have been issued, and people should remain cautious ahead of the system that will bring 50-60mph wind gusts for much of the UK from late on Sunday and through Monday."
All lanes have reopened on A14 at Bury St Edmunds
Good news on the earlier disruption, according to National Highways East.
Power cuts continue after Eunice for thousands of homes
Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng tweeted a Storm Eunice update:
55,800 customers are without power – down from 190,000 yesterday.
"In total, 1.35 million customers have been reconnected.
"UK Power Networks (SE + E England) is receiving mutual aid from other network operators across the UK to bolster their restoration efforts."
Monday expected to have windy start
The Met Office has released maps showing how Storm Franklin will progress:
#StormFranklin will give a very windy start on Monday to parts of the UK, before winds slowly ease during the afternoon
— Met Office (@metoffice) February 20, 2022
Here is the #4cast for Monday pic.twitter.com/wvPb5lTuD0
Flood alerts
- The Suffolk and Essex coast from Felixstowe to Clacton including Orwell and Stour estuaries
- The Suffolk coast at Southwold
- The tidal Deben estuary
- The tidal River Waveney from Ellingham to Breydon Water


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We are pleased to have back with us as compere for the NFDA Spring Ball 2019, TV presenter and rugby commentator, Mark Durden-Smith! Our after-dinner speaker is former England Cricket Captain and TV commentator and pundit David Gower OBE.
There are still few spaces available for the NFDA's event of the year which will take place at the luxurious 5-star Grove Resort, Chandler's Cross, Hertfordshire, on Saturday 11 May 2019. The evening will finish with our live 'motor industry' band 'The Hods' and our awards for Industry Initiative, Manufacturer and Special Recognition.
The Grove, Chandler's Cross, Watford, WD3 4TG
Saturday 11 May
Event itinerary:
18:45 Champagne reception
20:00 Dinner
22:00 - 00:00 Entertainment
Dress: black tie
Mark Durden-Smith
David Gower OBE
For more information or to make a booking, please call Louise Woods on 01788 538 332 or email at email@example.com


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Please phone/e-mail/Message. We can be there in person to assess your business requirements. On the same day or at next immediate visit, we will fix a plan from the few and give you a quote. On agreement, we do it for you at the earliest for the best price and deliver at your convenience. No frills! No hides! Simple!...
10 Columba Road
Inverness, IV3 5HQ
Mob: 0790 4606159
Phone:01463 710507
Fill the form below and submit to contact us.


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Draw-a-nude: for all your henny needs
Hen parties can be daunting. From demanding hens to jealous husbands to be, there is a long list of factors to take into account on your hen journey. But brides-to-be need to see the hen party as part of the wedding journey. Many brides plan their wedding to a tee. Every step of the way has a specific meaning, a specific plan attached to it. Not only the ladies make sure that the basics are taken care of, but they also make sure that all the people involved are kept in the loop. The hen party is the turning point of a wedding. From all the hen party activities, your draw-a-nude class is ideal for building Team Hen. The arty and relaxed set up of a life drawing class allows ladies from different walks of life find a common playground.
You could choose a life drawing class because
The bride-to-be needs some arty pampering
The draw-a-nude class is designed with the bride to be in mind. She will have the centre stage. The life drawing models will tease her a bit, but also give her the chance to show of her painting skills. As this is a social gathering, the model helps the bride socialise with the group. Either by joking and focusing on the bride or by acting as an MC, the model will be by the side of the bride for most of the time. He can assist the bride in introducing the ladies to each other, and creating a cocktail party atmosphere.
The hens insist on the naked touch
You might have a few hens in the group that are dying to get a stripper. At the same time, you might have some ladies that would cringe at the thought. The draw-a-nude activity is ideal for both. The naughty hens can focus on the main muscle while the rest can draw the sculpted biceps. The beauty of this hen weekend activity is that it is versatile. You can spice it up with a couple of Buff butlers, or tone it down with the presence of an Arts Facilitator. The latter can have the function of a chaperone, making sure the group keeps drawing instead of asking the model for his number.
The Draw-a-nude activities work for any time of the day
This is an activity that you can serve for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is hard to find an activity that can suit any time of the day. Most adrenaline-fuelled hen party activities suit the morning time. And most pub based activities the night. Ideally, your life drawing class will happen in the early afternoon. But if you enhance with other services, such as a buff butler cocktail party or a karaoke party it can turn into the highlight of the night. As it turns out Life Drawings Ireland, can help you with both. Our life drawing models have also DJ and Cheeky Butler options. So you can enjoy the presence o the model, and after finishing your draw-a-nude class, you can turn your hen cottage into a night club. We offer state of art sound systems and your Butlers/ MCs can spin the decks till the wee hours – if the neighbours don\'t call the Garda.
The draw-a-nude activity provides the best souvenirs
Instead of ordering t-shirts and bric-a-brac as souvenirs for your hen party, your masterpiece can be framed for the occasion. Some hen parties make sure to include the best drawing in the wedding book. If you are thinking of adding some DIY arty souvenirs to your hen night, then make sure to let the organisers know about it. In this case, it is best that you use the same size drawing pads as the wedding book pages. Alternatively, you can make a photo album of the hen night including photos of the life drawing session.
The life drawing classes are available nationwide
If you choose to hire life drawing models as part of your hen party activities, our company can arrive at your doorstep anywhere in Ireland. You will be able to host a drawing class in your rented accommodation or your chosen venue. While most hen party activities are based around the general tourist activities of the area, the life drawing classes can be delivered almost anywhere. For example, if you are camping or glamping, a good few activities are out of the question. But with life drawing models that can hike to your remote glamping location, all the fun is at arm\'s reach.
The set up for the draw a nude activity is simple to execute
All you need is space and inspiration. With the help of our life drawing models, your space will transform into an art studio. The model is the key feature of the event. The ladies will be able to relax in their chosen environment instead of adding mileage to their heels.
You can turn it into paint party with a body painting session or you can opt for a sculpt a nude session instead. The activity in itself is simple yet effective. It makes the hens work together and apart but most of al works wonders as an ice breaker.
If you are looking to book a draw-a-nude, sculpt a nude or a body painting activity, do not miss the opportunity to get to know our life drawing models. They are the hosts that every hen party should hire. Call us for a no-commitment quote 😉


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There are numerous reasons you may think about getting plastic surgery. Plastic surgery can be the answer for you, and these can range from physical deformities to simply wanting to feel better about yourself. Knowing about the procedure, what might happen, the good things, and costs are important and this article can help you with your questions.
Ask to see the surgeon's portfolio showing how past patients looked after their surgery when you meet with a doctor. Ask your doctor any questions you have, and ask to speak with prior patients to get more information regarding the whole experience. This will assist you in deciding if the doctor is right for you.
Look into whether or not your surgeon's malpractice insurance coverage. You want to get compensated if something going amiss in your procedure.
Look into alternative ways of the financing options at your disposal.
Talk about the costs with your surgeon to get pricing details. You will also need to decide on a payment method, or you can even set up a payment plan. It is important that you reach a payment agreement regarding your surgery.
Blood loss is one of the biggest potential complications patients are going through plastic surgery. Bleeding during surgery is a common result, but if you are excessively bleeding it can be an issue. Bleeding can often occur in the course of surgery or even afterwards. You may need corrective surgery to repair where the excessive bleeding has turned into pools of blood under the skin.
Learn everything you can about the type of plastic surgery you are considering. You must obtain as much information as possible prior to discussing things with a surgeon. You can then ask relevant questions and should be able to spot any strange or misleading statements.
You may want to ask to be put on an on-call list.
The cost of plastic surgery is not set in stone and can change if circumstances change. The final bill is dependent on different things like anesthesia, clinic charges and other fees. Make sure you consult with your surgeon or his financial department about the total cost of your procedure.Do not pay one thin dime until all costs have been fully disclosed in writing.
If the surgeon you are considering is does not have a certification from the ASPS, it is a good idea to look elsewhere.
You might need time before resuming your regular routine with some procedures.
There are four areas of research that you will need to take into consideration before going for plastic surgery. The first part is recovery time. You also be aware of the surgery.
Give yourself enough time after your procedure is completed. Some procedures require as much as four weeks or more of recovery time.Make sure you take the required time off of work for recovery.
Reconstructive surgery is something that many in society consider every day, and you just might find yourself among those numbers. Whether you want to address an old injury, birth defect, or simply improve your appearance, it is essential to understand everything you can about plastic surgery so you can have your experience go as smoothly as possible.


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This content was written and submitted by the supplier. It has only been modified to comply with this publication's space and style.
Greg Struger, new Business Development and Sales Manager for the Western United States and Canada, comes to groninger with 20+ years of experience in the fill/finish and packaging industry. Most recently, he worked with clients on sterile and non-sterile fill/ finish primary packaging equipment as well as containment and freeze drying technologies. Greg's experience also extends into customized labeling solutions, coding and vision system integration, vibratory sorting, conveying and screening applications. Greg has served clients in the Pharmaceutical, Consumer Healthcare, Chemical, Consumer Goods and Beverage industries throughout his career. He holds a bachelor's degree from Kent State University and is a member of ISPE.
groninger, a global leader in fill/ finish packaging solutions, already has a strong client base in the Western United States. Filling and closing solutions like FlexPro 50, INTEGRA, and FlexCare make groninger's portfolio a reliable resource for its customers'. With the additional sales support, the company responds to accelerating growth within the region. "We are glad to welcome Greg to our team. He will help expand our presence in the Western North American territory." states groninger USA CEO Heiner Dornburg.


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Seq2Sql: paper notes
Seq2SQL: Generating structured queries from Natural Language using Reinforcement Learning (2017) Link to heading
Paper link: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1709.00103.pdf Authors: Victor Zhong, Caiming Xiong, Richard Socher
Here's my notes from this paper.
Seq2SQL uses the Seq2Seq model as a starting point
- The output of the seq2seq model is unnecessarily wide for SQL queries. In other words, the paper is only interested in a small subset of the seq2seq output space.
- As a result, the output of Seq2SQL is limited to the union of words in the question, SQL commands and table headers
The paper created its own datasets.
- It scraped wikipedia tables, using some criteria to eliminate small tables
- Used Mechanical Turk to create a natural language dataset. Did this like so:
- Generate automatically badly formed "questions" from a template. Probably things like "how much max price for tomatoes" and "what person most often selected". The questions all are queries against a HTML table scraped from Wikipedia.
- Get someone to reword them, turning them into natural language queries. They have to change at least 10 characters from the input for it to count.
- Get two people to check the rewording. If both agree that the rewording is valid, keep it, else discard.
It's unclear from the paper how they got the "true" results for each natural language query. There's a SQL query that has the ground truth for each natural language query - but no idea how they got this.
The "ground truth" SQL is run to get the "correct" result. This is then used to generate a reward function for the generated sql query.
The paper refers to old models using something called a pointer network. This pointer network uses a sequence of LSTMs to generate the output token by token. Seq2SQL doesn't use a pointer network.
Seq2SQL is a three part model, utilising the structure inherent in SQL queries. The three parts were aggregation , select and where . Reinforcement learning is only used in the where phrase.
- Aggregation phase was done with multi-layer perceptron. Select phase was done with a LSTM.
The Where clause used "pointer decoder". There was a problem with training it because where clauses can be in any order. You don't want to penalise one ordering unnecessarily. Reinforcement learning was used for this task to fix this. Rewards used were -2 if not valid sql, -1 if wrong result, +1 if right result.


text: To me, youth leadership is about organizing and inspiring others. I don't have to be the loudest person in the room in order to be an effective leader. What matters most is bringing the voices of others to the forefront, gaining their respect, and encouraging them to share their voices so that we can enrich our communities together.


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Growing demand for Golden Visas boosts new homes sales in Spain – Lucas Fox
Sales increase by 85% across the Lucas Fox group in the first half 2019, according to the company's latest analysis.
Lucas Fox has registered its highest ever number of transactions for new homes, according to its latest Market Reports for the first two quarters of 2019.
There were almost five times as many new homes sales across the group compared to the same period last year, representing 45% of all the company's sales in comparison to 17% in the first half of 2018.
The biggest rise was seen in Barcelona, where the number of completed new homes sales in the first half of 2019 was just over seven times greater than the number in the same period in 2018. New homes sales in the Catalan capital represented 65% of all Lucas Fox Barcelona sales, an increase on the proportion in the first half of 2018 when new homes sales in Barcelona accounted for 31% of all Barcelona sales. The average price of a new home sold in Barcelona was €1,078,601, compared to €850,840 in the first six months of 2018, an increase of 27%.
Sales of turnkey homes to foreigners in Barcelona were dominated by Middle Eastern buyers who represented 29% of new homes sales in the first half of 2019. 30% of new homes sales were by national buyers, up from 25% in the same period in 2018.
Elsewhere new homes sales for Lucas Fox were strong in Marbella where they represented 60% of sales, Sitges (43%) and Valencia (25%).
"It has been an exceptionally encouraging first half of the year for our New Developments division," comments Joanna Papis, Lucas Fox Head of New Developments. "Many construction projects in Barcelona have finally finished and we've seen a big rise in the number of completed sales in the city as a consequence. The majority of new homes sales in Barcelona were for properties in the Eixample district in the city centre and the beachfront areas of Poble Nou and Diagonal Mar, areas consistently popular among foreign buyers. The majority of these sales were to obtain the Golden Visas, especially for our Middle Eastern clients."
Overall, the volume of transactions across the Lucas Fox group in the first six months of 2019 increased by 85% when compared to the same period in 2018 and the value of sales almost doubled, driven mainly by the completion of these new development projects in the first half of the year. Lucas Fox's Catalonia offices saw transactions in the first half of the year rise by 150% when compared to the same period in 2018 and the value by 132%. The average price of a sold property across the seven offices located in the Catalan region was €868,087.
Foreign buyers accounted for 60% of all Lucas Fox sales, with the majority coming from the Middle East, the United Kingdom, the United States and Latin America. A quarter of all Lucas Fox buyers purchased property as a primary residence with those buying as a secondary residence or investment property each accounting for a third of all sales.
According to Spain's National Institute of Statistics (INE), new homes sales in the first half of 2019 across Spain rose by 7% when compared to the same period in 2018, with an average of 8,215 sales per month.
Idealista showed that property prices across Spain have continued to increase year-on-year, recording an annual rise of 6% in June 2019. Prices rose significantly in some of Spain's secondary cities such as Girona (20%), Cádiz (11%) and Málaga (8%).


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There have been a number of ongoing debates all across the U.S. regarding valet parking attendants' responsibilities with respect to visibly intoxicated drivers. The families of victims who have been injured and/or lost their lives due to valet attendants giving visibly intoxicated drivers their keys back often seek to hold those attendants liable for sending the drivers out into the streets while clearly being impaired.
The city of West Palm Beach experiences its share of drunk drivers daily and unfortunately those drunk drivers cause serious injuries when the cause car accidents. What's more, our firm has seen an increase in drinking and driving accidents that also involve valet drivers and others who are operating someone else's car. In the event there was an car crash with an intoxicated driver, especially a valet, our injury lawyers will tell you that holding valet workers culpable for such events will be a difficult task, but success with the right injury lawyer is possible.
For instance, if a drunk driver caused damage to your car in West Palm Beach your personal injury lawyer you hire will need to be keenly aware of how Florida Court's hold those violators responsible. Florida courts have repeatedly ruled that valet parking companies are not legally required to withhold an obviously intoxicated customer's car keys from him or her.
But the question remains for many people–why shouldn't valet attendants be held legally responsible to some extent for what occurs to a driver and/or others on the road after he or she gets behind the wheel of a motor vehicle? While the issue may seem to be clear cut for most lay people, the courts do have their reasons.
Table Of Contents
Why Valets Aren't Being Held Responsible
In actions that involve negligent entrustment issues, courts have noted that a crucial element of such cause of action is that the individual (or company) charged with liability have a "superior right" to control the property. In cases of car owners and valets, the valet is what is known as a "bailee," which means that the valet is someone who holds someone else's property pursuant to an agreement made between the parties. That being the case, a valet does not have a legal right to refuse to return a motor vehicle to its rightful owner/operator.
Simply put, valets cannot be held legally liable for negligent entrustment of a vehicle to its rightful owner/operator. In fact, as just about any personal injury lawyer will tell you, if a valet fails to return a vehicle to the owner, they could be sued by the owner/operator of the vehicle and ultimately found liable for conversion or theft.
When considering other reasons why valets in Florida should not be held responsible for accidents that occur after a visibly intoxicated individual leaves the premises, thought must be given to the fact that in many instances, valet workers are underage individuals who are simply trying to make a few dollars at an honest job. Would it be proper to expect a teenager to be able to discern whether or not a person is too intoxicated to drive and hold him or her responsible if the driver gets into an accident later on? Ultimately, there would be an influx of lawsuits surrounding this issue, which would lead some to ask, "Where would it all end?"
Car Accidents Due To Drunk Drivers
However, should a drunk driver run a red light, or do something else blatantly negligent, it is still advisable to investigate and research where the intoxicated person was coming from such as a hotel, bar, or other drinking establishment. For instance, police officers, such as the Palm Beach County Sherriff's Office will use several different types of tests to determine if someone was driving under the influence and caused an accident with injuries. Some of these tests are:
- Observations. Police officers are trained to determine if someone was operating a vehicle while under the influence by the observations they make after the person was pulled over, or worse yet, after they caused a car accident.
- Cops also use field sobriety tests to determine if the person who caused the accident is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The most common field sobriety tests are referred to as the "standardized" FSTs: the walk-and-turn, the horizontal gaze nystagmus, and one-leg stand.
- In the event a car accident was caused by someone and there are serious injuries, the police officers will generally require the drunk driver to submit to a chemical test such as a "breathalyzer." In cases where a person causes an accident that results in someone becoming seriously hurt or dies, then police officers will generally seek a warrant to test a person's blood alcohol count (a.k.a. BAC)
Drunk Driving Accident Statistics And Car Crashes
It is never advisable to drink and drive or to use recreational drugs while operating a vehicle. Statistics have shown that people who operate a vehicle while drunk or on drugs are 10 times more likely to cause a serious or fatal traffic crash. Because it is so well known that this behavior is illegal and puts the public at a higher risk of injuries, Florida Courts have allowed car accident victims the right to pursue punitive damages.
Punitive damages can allow a jury to award money against a responsible party in order to "punish" the defendant for the extremely risky behavior. In Palm Beach County alone, case routinely are permitted to move forward with punitive damages. So, for instance, if a driver under the influence causes a car accident in West Palm Beach, your lawyer may be able to get the Court's permission to pursue these additional damages to for the injured person, in cases where the driver of the car is found to be under the influence.
What To Do If Injured In A Car Accident From A Drunk Driver?
Anyone who has been injured or is the victim of a drunk driving accident that occurred after the driver was given his or her keys back from a valet should contact our personal injury lawyers located throughout Palm Beach County with law offices in Boca Raton and West Palm Beach; we are the injury and accident lawyers you need at the Shiner Law Group.


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Tom's Midweek Greeting
Crossroads Community Church
Nevada MO
December 14, 2018
Dear Crossroads Family,
This is a busy season, isn't it? I'm thankful for each of you, your commitment to serving the Lord and each other in many ways. I hope you're keeping up with the pace of the season, and, more importantly, I hope we can all experience – inwardly and in our schedules – some of the peace we need at Christmas time.
For people who have experienced loss – as some of you have this year – the holidays can be like a grinding triathlon event: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Someone in the church reminded me the other day that we were probably on mile 13 of that triathlon!
I was encouraged today by the little word "all" found in Psalm 145 – some reminders that the Lord loves you all, and that he takes care of all who know him. Most of these verses have a little qualifier following the word "all," but sometimes I like to just stop at "all." Consider the following:
v. 9 – The Lord is good to all.
v. 14 — The Lord sustains all … who fall.
v. 14 — He raises up all … who are bowed down.
v. 15 – The eyes of all look to You.
v. 17 – The Lord is righteous in all in ways, … and kind in all his deeds.
v. 18 – The Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth.
v. 20 – The Lord keeps all … who love him.
v. 21 – All flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.
I hope you will be encouraged by the truth that the Lord is watching out for you, and that he can be fully trusted! Not a single detail in your life or mine escapes his attention.
This Sunday
We will worship at 10:00 at the Y. I look forward to our worship, fellowship, and time in God's Word. We'll continue in our theme of "Four Looks at the Life of Jesus," this time from the Gospel of Luke. No youth or adult studies this Sunday morning.
Following our worship service, everyone is invited to meet with Joe Chenoweth for follow-up on "Walking the Walls." As you know, we've been using the story of Nehemiah and the re-building of the walls of Jerusalem to identify places of ministry we can strengthen at Crossroads for the coming year. We've identified two specific ministry teams needed – a Sunday Morning Team, and a Follow-Up Team. Some of you have already responded to the invitation to be a part of those teams for the first half of 2019. Thank you! During this Sunday's meeting with Joe, we're going to focus on the following questions:
- What positive effects or movements are we seeing as a result of our Walk the Walls meetings and conversations?
- Do we have defined Point Persons for the two gates we've identified (Sunday Morning, Follow-Up)?
- Do we have some idea of Who Else would be on those teams?
- What initial steps are we asking each team to take as they begin the process?
- What will be the meeting rhythm for these teams?
- What will be the meeting rhythm for Joe's with us?
This is going to be an important time for us all together to evaluate how we're doing at rebuilding the walls at Crossroads, and to set the stage for ministry in 2019! I hope you'll set aside the time to be with us! Thank you! And a big thanks to Joe for coming all the way from Cornerstone E-Free Church in Harrisonville to guide us through this exciting process!
Other Dates & Needs
Men's Fellowship: Our monthly men's fellowship and discipleship study will happen this coming Monday evening, 6:30 pm, at Wood's Deli. I hope you'll come. We always leave encouraged!
Moss House: The Moss House needs our help with a move for one of its residents. Judi and Phill are coordinating the move which is scheduled for tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 10 a.m. Can you lend a hand moving a few household items? Please contact Judi or Phill. Thank you!
Christmas Eve Service: We'll worship and fellowship together on Christmas Eve at 6:30 at the Y. I hope you'll come and bring a friend or family member. Please let me or Stacey Wilson know if there is someone we can send an invitation to. Stacey is taking the time to send out invitations on behalf of the church family. You can text Stacey information at 417-667-6516. Thank you!
Church Telephone Directory: Thanks again to Heather who has updated our church phone directory. Make sure you pick one up!
I look forward to seeing you Sunday!
— Tom


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Afrikaans singer Jurie Els says the editors of You and Huisgenoot
magazines used their publications to ridicule a court order he had
allegations made against him, writes Fatima Schroeder in the Cape Times.
In papers filed at the Cape High Court Els wants to order that the editors of the English and Afrikaans editions of the magazine be jailed, alleging that they were in contempt of court for breaching the court order.
Els said the publications had continued to report on the allegations after he had lodged the contempt of court application.
These further reports used the court proceedings to create sensation which made the contempt even worse, he said.
A reference to the story on the cover page read: 'I'll never forgive myself.'
In the story, which was published in February, Els had been indirectly accused of sexually molesting 21-year-old Afrikaans singer Robbie Klay throughout his teens.
Els's name was not published in the main report and certain portions of the article had been blacked out.
His face was blurred in the pictures.
But Els says the interdict he obtained against editors Esmaré Weideman and Izelle Venter specified that the magazine editors should not have published the story at all.
He also said the content of the reports clearly indicated that he was the alleged perpetrator of the sexual assaults on Klay even though his name was not mentioned.
He instituted contempt of court proceedings and the matter briefly came before the high court in March but was postponed after the editors indicated that the application would be opposed.
However, Els filed a further affidavit after he discovered that additional reports were published.
One of the reports included an interview with Klay's mother under the heading: "He took Robbie from me." It reported that Klay's mother blamed herself for the alleged molestation. A reference to the story on the cover page read: "I'll never forgive myself."
Els said another report in a separate edition of the magazine included large extracts from the affidavit attached to the contempt of court application.
Click here to read the full report, posted on iol.co.zaÂÂÂ


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Within the framework of the joint project RAIN from the Client II funding measure of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), a delegation of two research assistants from FiW and Ruhr University Bochum travelled to Ghana in the last two weeks of February. It was the second trip to the target area after the project start in June 2019. The two weeks were successfully used to strengthen the contacts in the pilot regions in Ghana and to further specify the project contents.
In the first week a workshop with the Ghanaian project partners of KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) took place in Kumasi. On this occasion, the project team exchanged views with local representatives of the planning and engineering departments on the adaptation of water management plans, early warning systems and about the different groups of stakeholders. The use of innovative and locally adapted water treatment processes was also discussed. In the course of the workshop, several sites on and near the university campus were visited, which could be considered for the installation of pilot plants for grey and stormwater treatment. The management of the plants is to be taken over by Ghanaian students with the aim of a sustainable personnel capacity building.
As in Kumasi, meetings between the project partners took place in Accra. Here Envaserv Research Consult and the IESS (Institute for Environmental and Wastewater Studies – University of Ghana) met with the two experts from the delegation. In particular, the different factors influencing the quality of surface water in Ghana were discussed. In this context, different factors influencing the water quality of permanent and temporary water reservoirs were examined. Special focus was placed on unregulated water use and wastewater discharge, the influence of the rainy season and the role of informal settlements. For the establishment of intelligent water management, knowledge of both the water quantity during the dry season and the dynamic changes in water quality are important.
In addition, meetings were held with local decision-makers at municipal level in Accra. Thus, agreements could be made with Mr. Daniel Alexander Nii Noi Adumuah, district manager of the municipality of Adenta, to support the project. But even before our cooperation, the topics of the RAIN project were already present in the municipality of Adenta. For instance, advanced methods for the management of water resources, such as fish farming and recycling possibilities, were already being worked on.
Furthermore, by presenting the project to the National Water Resources Commission (WRC), the project consortium has expanded the project network at the highest political level. The Commission is responsible for the regulation and management of Ghana's water resources and the coordination of government policy in relation to these resources. Many links between the RAIN project and the WRC can be found in this respect. These are mainly in the area of integration and transfer of local measures to improve the water quality of surface waters in regional and national water management plans.
FiW has returned to Germany with many new impressions and insights and hopes to continue the productive and successful discussions with the local project partners soon.


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Photos/Video: Fairmont Christmas Tree Lighting
The Fairmont Southampton held their Tree Lighting Ceremony this evening [Dec 8] on their Great Sound Lawn with carol singing from the Heron Bay Primary School Choir.
The 21-minute live video replay is below:
The festive event saw the lighting of 10,000 lights on the 25 foot Christmas Tree, live entertainment with Olivia Hamilton and treats for the kids including cookie decorating. Eggnog, hot soup and refreshments were also available for all.
Click to enlarge photos:
Read More About
Category: All, Community, Entertainment, News, Photos, Videos


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ABS has issued Guidance Note to describe the ABS approach for qualification of new technologies in order to confirm their ability to perform intended functions in accordance with defined performance requirements. They also provide details of the required submittals, the ABS review process and the key interaction points with ABS during the new technology development.
This document introduces a systems engineering approach to qualification that allows for systematic and consistent evaluation of new technologies as it matures from a concept through confirmation of operational integrity in its intended application. The approach is divided into a multi-stage process that is aligned with the typical product development phases of a new technology.
The qualification activities within each stage employ risk assessments and engineering evaluations that build upon each other in order to determine if the new technology provides acceptable levels of safety in line with current offshore and marine industry practice.
The qualification efforts by all stakeholders including the vendor, system integrator and end-user at each stage are recognized and captured within a new technology qualification plan (NTQP). Completion of qualification activities as identified within each stage of the NTQP results in a Statement of Maturity being issued by ABS attesting to the maturity level of the new technology.
ABS further notes that when applying these Guidance Notes for certification or classification purposes in conjunction with Novel Concept Class Approval process, the primary driver for classification acceptance will be safety even though there may be additional functional requirements (e.g., reliability) defined by the client.
The New Technology Qualification process confirms the ability of a new technology to perform its intended functions in accordance with defined performance requirements. The process starts with a comprehensive description of the technology to be qualified, followed by a screening of the technology to reveal the new or novel features that the qualification should focus on.
The process is divided into five sequential stages that progressively qualify the technology from feasible to operational stages as requested.
The five qualification stages are:
- i) Feasibility Stage
ii) Concept Verification Stage
iii) Prototype Validation Stage
iv) System Integration Stage
v) Operational Stage
The qualification activities are based on the information available depending on the maturity level and based on the findings and knowledge gained in the previous stages completed. Typically, there are two main sets of activities within each stage, namely, engineering evaluations and risk assessments.
Upon completion of each of the five stages, a Statement of Maturity will be issued to the vendor(s) and the technology can progress to the next stage of maturity. It is envisioned that some vendors may have developed technologies to a level beyond the Feasibility Stage prior to contacting ABS for this qualification service.
In such cases, ABS would perform an assessment of the current stage of technology development and endorse the technology with the applicable Statement of Maturity based on this assessment. The technology qualification can then proceed starting at that stage and continuing to the subsequent stages. Additionally, the new technology qualification process can be stopped at any stage, and restarted at an agreed upon time.
Further details may be found in the report herebelow
Source: ABS


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White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies w/ Cranberries
White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies w/ Cranberries
I love baking cookies with nut butter, they come out so delicious and soft. Cashew butter is one of my favorite nut butter to use when baking because it has such a gentle creamy taste. These White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies with Cranberries are the perfect Christmas cookie for your night in or to share with friends. The delicate touch of nutmeg brings all these flavors together.
Here's how it's done …
1/4 cup organic cashew butter (cashew butter only ingredient)
1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
1/3 cup agave nectar or maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup almond flour (fine)
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 pinch nutmeg
1/4 cup chopped pistachios
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
2 tbsp chopped dried-unsweetened cranberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
Mix the wet ingredients and then the dry ingredients in separate bowls.
Mix the dry into the wet and then add extras (cranberries, white chocolate, pistachios)
Refrigerate for 20 minutes or put in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Bake for 12 minutes (ovens may vary) check if it's done by sticking a toothpick into the center of the cookie, if nothing comes out on the toothpick it's done.
Let cool for 5 minutes and remove from pan to a cookie cooling rack.


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Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee, grown in the Blue Mountain range in Jamaica, with peaks as high as 7,500 feet, is perhaps the most prized coffee in the world. It is famous for its full, rich flavor, clean taste, low acidity, notable sweetness, extraordinary body, and powerful, intense aroma.
This tasty coffee doesn't come cheap. A one pound bag of Jamaica Blue Mountain Wallingford Coffee, one of the most highly regarded estates offering this coffee, costs $50.00! Nevertheless, if you want to treat yourself to the best coffee in the world, you won't go wrong to splurge on this wundercafé.


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Rebranding UKguests and then some
by: Leon Harris on 8th Dec, 2011 at 00:00am
Most people would argue that the end of a year is also the time most people and their ideas for improving their business hibernate! Well that idea would seem a myth as we at Big Web Company have been more busy than we can just about handle (seriously). I haven't updated this for a while so a quick headsup of some of the most recent goings on.
A load of new projects in the past 2 weeks including a couple that had risen from an earlier death. New in though, we start with an entire rebranding exercise of UKguests PLUS their new improved website.
All of the print / exhibition work we are doing for them will be up on here soon and the NEW site _should_ be launching within the next couple of weeks but until then you can enjoy the slender visual above.


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In 1956, fashion photographer Norman Parkinson travelled to India to shoot an editorial for British Vogue. He snapped models Anne Gunning and Barbara Mullen throughout the vast country, from the Taj Mahal to the Jaipur City Palace and beyond. The resulting images, shown here, inspired Diana Vreeland to famously proclaim that "pink is the navy blue of India." The stunning architecture and landscapes in Parkinson's photos have me terribly excited for my fall trip to Delhi, Jaipur, and Udaipur. Have you ever been to India…? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
(All images copyright Norman Parkinson Ltd)


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Caitlin O'Halloran – Reporter
University students are offered a wide variety of help when it comes to choosing a major.
There's a lot of different things that we'll do. I mean I always kind of start with a conversation with students and see where their study interests lie primarily," said Academic Specialist for Major Exploration Britt Conroy.
There are many different services offered on campus to help students lean towards a direction that puts them on the right path to decide their major.
"I came about my major because I work with domestic violence victims each day and I see the support and resources that they need," said social work major Valerie Stedner, a senior.
On campus, there are eight academic advising centers for students. Each center has advisers and a faculty coordinator. There, they can help students struggling to choose a major or looking for a new major, students going through challenges that affect their academic success, and provide other support if needed, along with many other services.
"One thing I use extensively is the major elimination tool," said Conroy. "It takes students through a very intentional process of elimination. So, I'll direct them to this, and we can kind of talk about major or potential major interest based on things, so this is one tool particularly for brand new students or first and second year students, this is really helpful."
Conroy noted the importance of students understanding that just because they pick their major in one area, does not mean that in the future when looking for jobs, they are solely limited to that one specific area. They can branch off and go into other fields that interest them as well.
The actual process of choosing my major was simple and easy to do," said special education major Arielle Eighmy, a senior. "My major is special education, and I am graduating this May 2021. I chose this major because I started working with kids who have special needs in high school, and I basically fell in love with the population."
One new tool that has been added for assistance to students is the schedule planner. This planner allows students to put in courses they are required to take and add their personal obligations like hobbies, sports, family, work and other obligations to offer them a schedule which works around all of those priorities.
I'm available and I want to talk to students about what they are interested in and if they tell me some classes and things or even stuff that they were interested in high school, that can kind of help me point them in a direction of well 'oh you like your environmental course, well did you know we have environmental systems and sustainability as a major? Oh no' so then we can check it out," said Conroy.
On the Inside Southern academic advising website, they offer other resources to students such as academic maps to help plan their schedules, course registration to give them more information on successful registration, degree evaluations to help students navigate through curriculum requirements, help them get an idea of what courses they need to take and when they are estimated to graduate.
Another helpful tool for students is the academic advising center, students shedule an appointment with an adviser for their major. They also offer a same-day advising option where if students have a quick and simple question, they can schedule an appointment between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, for a quick 20 minute advising meeting.
"I also wanted to help people but never knew in which way," said Stedner. "Social work is the major I chose because I can truly have an impact in peoples' lives."
Photo credit: Roma Rositani


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THE PHILIPPINES is unlikely to see any credit rating downgrades this year and in 2023, as the economy is expected to grow faster despite headwinds.
Victor A. Abola, an economist from the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), said they kept the gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast at 6-7% this year, faster than the 5.7% expansion in 2021.
This is below the Development Budget Coordination Committee's (DBCC) lower growth target of 6.5-7.5% for this year.
"We have faster growth in GDP for this year and next year. Our situation right now is better than in past crises. [President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.] will be generally positive for growth," Mr. Abola said at the First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) and UA&P Economic and Capital Markets briefing on Wednesday.
Economic growth would also be driven by sustained domestic demand — household consumption, government and investment spending, he added.
"We don't see any credit downgrade anytime soon," Mr. Abola said, noting there is a low likelihood of a downgrade in 2022 and 2023.
He said the Philippines has a better external sector than the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and continues to experience sustained growth in remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
"We have a steady source of OFWs [and] our BPOs are providing steady support to our revenues… A credit downgrade is unlikely as we grow faster," he added.
FMIC expects remittances to grow by 3.5-5.5% this year and in 2023, while BPO revenues are seen to increase by at least 6% this year.
Fitch Ratings in February kept the country's investment grade "BBB" rating, but kept the "negative" outlook as it flagged uncertainties in the country's medium-term growth and hurdles to bringing down debt. A negative outlook means a downgrade is possible within the next 12 to 18 months.
S&P Global Ratings last affirmed the country's "BBB+" rating with a stable outlook in May 2021. Meanwhile, Moody's last affirmed its "Baa2" credit rating with a stable outlook for the Philippines in July 2020.
At the end of the first quarter, the Philippines' debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 63.5%, exceeding the 60% threshold that multilateral lenders consider suitable for developing economies.
The debt-to-GDP ratio was 60.5% at the end of 2021, the highest since 65.7% in 2005. The ratio stood at 39.6% at the end of 2019.
"Do we have a debt problem? Yes and no in the sense that it went up from about 40% of GDP to 60.5% in 2021. However, [with] the growth this year and the coming years, I project only the debt ratio to go between 65% and 66%, which is something we have already experienced very much during the [Arroyo administration] and resolved not quite difficultly with some determination," Mr. Abola said.
"What is important here: More than the debt ratio is the extent by what percent of our budget goes to interest expense," he added.
The DBCC is aiming to bring down the debt-to-GDP ratio to 61.8% by end-2022 all the way to 52.5% by 2028.
"The country's macroeconomic fundamentals remain sound and we have a much better economic situation now than in the past crises," FMIC President Jose Patricio Dumlao said in a statement, citing the country's high gross international reserves and strong exports.
Mr. Abola also noted that growth rates for GDP, consumption, investments and exports are "moderately better now" during the pandemic and Russia-Ukraine crisis, compared with the crisis in the 1980s, Asian Financial Crisis, and Global Financial Crisis.
INFLATIONMeanwhile, inflation is projected to hit 5-5.2% this year largely due to the impact of higher global oil prices on domestic prices of fuel, food, and commodities.
This is slightly lower than the 5.5% inflation projection FMIC-UA&P made in June.
Inflation averaged at 4.4% in the first semester, still below the central bank's 5% target.
"The good thing about the inflation of food prices is that it's not rice-driven because rice makes up about 9% of our consumption basket. It's more [on] the meats and vegetables," Mr. Abola said.
Food accounts for about 39% of the CPI basket, giving food prices an outsized impact on the movement of the indicator.
Meanwhile, the Philippine peso will remain in "depreciation mode" due to the US Federal Reserve's aggressive policy tightening and widening trade deficits. The peso is projected to end the year at the P54-P55 level against the US dollar.
"As central banks continue to rein in elevated inflation, interest rates are expected to rise from their current levels by an average of 100 basis points across the curve," FMIC said.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index is projected to hit 7,100 by the end of the year, it added. — D.G.C.Robles


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In 2012, my mom and I went to Floriade, a horticultural expo that happens once every 10 years in the Netherlands. We stayed in the town of Venlo and one afternoon, as we were exploring all the little shops, we came across these cute little moss-covered pots.
I'd been wanting to recreate the look, so when I was buying some spring bloomers from a local florist, I added sheet moss to my purchase.
You'll need:
- Spring plant
- Coir pot
- Sheet moss
- Garden twine and/or florist wire
Creating your moss-covered pot
Soak the sheet moss and then gently wring it out like a facecloth. Otherwise the moss crumbles. The wet moss is easier to work with, but I'll admit it's challenging to wrap the moss around the pot. You almost need two people—one to hold the moss in place while the other uses thin floral wire to secure it. I used a coir pot as I thought the moss might also adhere a bit better to it than plastic.
When everything is wrapped just so, wrap some twine around the pot for extra security. I also do this because it looks pretty. One tip I feel I must pass on from the florist is not to dump the moss water down your drain. Because the moss expands in water, it could wreak havoc on your pipes!
I popped vibrant ranunculus into my moss-covered pot, but there are all sorts of lovely spring blooms on display at this time of year, from flowering bulbs to sweet, colourful primulas.


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Media Releases
Rising Extinction Risk for Sharks and Rays
New research shows oceanic shark and ray numbers are down by more than 70 per cent over the past 50 years, and James Cook University scientists fear some species are facing extinction.
JCU's Professor Colin Simpfendorfer and Dr Cassandra Rigby were part of an international team of authors that found dramatic declines after they calculated two biodiversity indicators for oceanic sharks and rays worldwide.
"The numbers show the global abundance of oceanic sharks and rays has fallen to the point that 75% of these species now qualify as threatened with extinction," said Dr Rigby.
She said the scientists considered a number of reasons for the decline, but the clear driver was a doubling of fishing pressure and a tripling of shark and ray catches.
"This amounts to an 18-fold increase in Relative Fishing Pressure - exploitation relative to the number of fish left. The decline may be even more severe, as these analyses start in 1970 while fishing fleets have been expanding globally since before the 1950s," said Dr Rigby.
Professor Simpfendorfer said despite the bad news, Great White Sharks and the Great Hammerhead Shark populations in the Northwest Atlantic appear to be recovering due to strict US laws now protecting them.
"Fishing limits are needed immediately to prevent shark and ray population collapses. Governments should adopt, implement, and enforce - at domestic and regional levels - science-based catch limits and other protective measures," said Professor Simpfendorfer.
He said scientists were also warning of the consequences of doing nothing.
"There is a moment when depletion of a species reaches a point of no return. If nothing is done and we reach that point then we are gambling on what a future without sharks and rays in our oceans will be like," said Professor Simpfendorfer.
The paper is a project of the Global Shark Trends Project (GSTP), a collaboration of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group, Simon Fraser University, James Cook University, and the Georgia Aquarium established with support from the Shark Conservation Fund to assess the extinction risk for chondrichthyan fishes (sharks, rays, and chimaeras).
The GSTP team engaged more than a dozen additional experts from around the world to complete the oceanic shark and ray analysis.
Professor Colin Simpfendorfer
E: firstname.lastname@example.com
Dr Cassandra Rigby
E: email@example.com


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This property is now sold, However it is left here as an example.
You get a copy of the report, and access to specific videos showing every step of the building inspection.
Does doing a pre sale report help?
The house hit the market Wednesday the 30th May, and was sold by Tuesday the 6th Jun. Quite a bit faster than the average 26 days to sell for the month!


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When Microsoft released its popular personal computer operating system, Windows 7 on October 22, 2009 it pledged to give users 10 years of support. Those 10 years are now up and the company is stopping support for Windows 7 on January 14th 2020.
What does end of life mean for Windows 7?
End of life simply means that Microsoft no longer support the operating system and strongly recommends that all users upgrade to Windows 10.
What happens when Windows 7 support ends?
In practical terms it means that Microsoft will no longer release security updates or patches for Windows 7. This means that any existing vulnerability or any discovered in the future will not be fixed.
The end of support also extends to user support. If you have an issue you will no longer be able to call Microsoft for technical assistance.
Can you continue to use Windows 7 after January 14th 2020?
The short answer is yes. Your Windows 7 machine will continue to function. Programs like Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer will behave just as they did. The problem is that the machine will now be vulnerable to any security issues that exist in the operating system. These will not be patched and could be exploited by hackers, malware or viruses.
If you are using your Windows 7 PC in a business environment this will now pose a huge security risk to the company. Even if only one Windows 7 machine remained on the network all the data could be at risk.
According to statistics from Net Market Share
37.31% of PCs are still running Windows 7 as of August 2019
Source: netmarketshare.com
What do we recommend to our clients?
We have already moved all existing clients to Windows 10 and have long since stopped supplying PCs with Windows 7. Many upgrades were performed when customers were able to receive Windows 10 for free. That offer ended on July 29, 2016.
Each day we help new clients work out plans to deal with any remaining PCs running Windows 7. These plans involve a full onsite auditing of problem computers and include costs for the various options and upgrades.
If you would like us to help your business deal with this issue, please call us on 01293 562 700. You can also send us a message online or arrange a time for us to call you. All initial audits are free and you are under no obligation.
Windows 7 facts and figures
Windows 7 was an upturn in fortunes for Microsoft after the despised Windows Vista*. Even though it will soon be end of life and little more than a memory, it will be remembered fondly.
Here are some interesting facts and figures:
- During development Windows 7 was codenamed 'Blackcomb'. This was later changed to 'Vienna'.
- New features for a windows OS included handwriting recognition and support for virtual hard disks.
- As of August 2019, 37.31% of PCs still run on Windows 7.
- In China over 50% of computers are still using Windows 7.
- When pre-orders were announced it took only eight hours for Windows 7 to surpass the demand Windows Vista had achieved in its first four months.
- Pre-orders surpassed the numbers reached for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
- By July 2012 Microsoft had sold over 630 million Windows 7 licences.
Alternatively, you can arrange for us to give you a call at a time that suits you! (Mon - Fri, 9:00 - 5:30pm)
IT Director
As a Director of Optima Systems Ltd Jay is responsible for overseeing Sales and Marketing, Human Resources, Customer Relations and Account Management. In addition, Jay is responsible for the design, development, efficiency and smooth running of the IT Networks of our clients, as well as our own technical infrastructure. More about Jay.
Ask Jay about IT Support / PC, Laptop and Mobile Device Support / Server Support / Backups & Disaster Recovery


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Home › Forums › TRUCK BUILDS › 03 Regular Cab V8 › Reply To: 03 Regular Cab V8
March 18, 2018 at 12:45 am
Ok cool, pickups are so much easier, 4runner bodies areheavy and awkward. I used an engine hoist and excavator to take my old body off. And the new body, I used engine hoist and some ceiling joists with a come along and ratchetstrap.
pumped to see some progress pics!


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Irish Sport Horses fill four of top 10 places at Eventing World Championships in France
- 22 October 2017, 12:50
Four Irish Sport Horses have finished in the top 10 of the six-year-old division, at the FEI World Breeding Championships for Young Eventing Horses at Le Lion in France today (Sunday).
The competition attracts the cream of Young Eventing Horses to Le Lion d'Angers in Western France each year. The Irish Sport Horse I Spye, bred by Thomas Ryan from Co Tipperary), finished in fourth place with Jesse Campbell (NZL) on a score of 43.4
Elizabeth Power and The Irish Sport Horse DSL The Entertainer, bred by Caroline Bjoerk from Co. Kildare, were just one place further back in fifth on a score of 45.0, while Rio Olympian Jonty Evans with John The Bull (ISH), bred by James Byrne from Co. Westmeath, finished in ninth place on a score of 46.6. Youve got the Lux (ISH), bred in Co Kilkenny by Jane Darragh, finished 10th with Hayden Hankey (GBR).
The gold medal went to Britain's Izzy Taylor with Monkeying Around after they came home on their Dressage score of 37.6.
Janet Murray, Chef d'Equipe of the Irish team for the Young Horse Championships in Le Lion said:
"I am delighted to see Irish Sport Horses so well represented, with four in the top 10 of the six-year-old old world championship. Elizabeth [Power] is understandably disappointed as her horse warmed up very well but had just one tired jump in the arena which cost her a medal at the horse's first CCI. Jonty's [Evans] horse jumped well and both are exciting horses for the future with a return visit next year for the seven-year-old class high on their agendas. I Spye produced his best ever performance for New Zealand's Jesse Campbell who was very pleased with the son of Harlequin du Carel."
Earlier this month, The Irish Sport Horse Studbook was once again crowned the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) leading Eventing Studbook in the world for 2017.Since the WBFSH rankings were established in 1994, the Irish Sport Horse Studbook has won the coveted Eventing Studbook rankings for an incredible 22 of the last 24 years.
4th I Spye II (ISH) [was Lates Harry] – 2011 mare by Harlequin du Carel (SF) out of Lombardos Corner (ISH) by Lombardo (KWPN). Breeder: Thomas Ryan (Tipperary). Rider: Jesse Campbell (NZL)
5th DSL The Entertainer (ISH) – 2011 bay gelding by Omar (BWP) out of Cloverhill Girl (ISH), by Clover Hill (ID). Owner/Bred by Caroline Bjoerk, Co. Kildare. Rider: Elizabeth Power (IRL)
9th John The Bull (ISH) – 2011 chestnut gelding by Luidam (KWPN) out of Think About It (TB), by Houmayoun (TB). Bred by James Byrne, Co. Westmeath. Owner: Helen Caton. Rider: Jonty Evans (IRL)
10th Youve got the Lux (ISH) – 2011 mare by Lux Z (HANN) out of Valeska (ISH). by Carrolls Flight (AES). Breeder: Jane Darragh, Co Kilkenny. Rider: Hayden Hankey (GBR)
- Popular
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From 5* to 1* Irish bred horses are having success around the world.
***DEADLINE EXTENDED*** Reproductive Health Screening Scheme


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You do not have to go far to enjoy the joys and happiness of bird watching. Our backyards can serve as a fun place where new bird watchers can start learning from the basics.
To construct the best birdwatching area in your backyard, you can use the service of bird feeders. Getting bird feeders is making sure that birds never run out. Make sure you research how far away from each other the feeders should be. What to feed them is another thing that you should know something about.
Just like the feeders, the food that you select should depend in large part on what type of birds you are hoping to attract and where you live. Some of the more common types of bird feed are sunflower seeds, cracked corn, and thistle. Often found in a mix, pour this type of seed into a hopper-type feeder to meet the needs of several different species at one backyard bird watching station.
Since you have constructed some feeders, which are very good ways of experiencing the birds on a greater level, you should ensure that the created place for backyard watching gets the complete view. Remove low-hanging branches that may block your view. Do this when there is no bird around feeding on the feeders, sudden change in the environment may disrupt their behavior patterns.
Now that you are ready to begin your observations, you will find that you need some kind of magnifying device to see the birds better. A basic pair of binoculars to watch is usually sufficient for beginners, though you may find it better to mount a spotting scope near a bird-watching picture window in your home. These optical devices will greatly increase your ability to identify birds and get to them by their distinct markings and behaviors.
The plant layout or the spacing between trees and shrubs are all important factors when considering our avian friends. Provide open spaces that should be well protected from wind and street noise since this noise does not appeal to birds.
Increasing the number of plants in your backyard guarantees more birds will be starting to get cover. You can even create a layered garden to provide richness and diversity in your garden. You can add layers by planting clusters of shade-loving small trees, shrubs, and ground covers under taller trees. They would look a little bit close to the natural woodland.
A good thing about bird watching or keeping a bird-watching atmosphere in your backyard is that your garden tends to be organic. The birds helped in controlling the garden pests and diseases with an arsenal of chemicals, organic gardening balances the ecosystem healthily.
Working knowledge of organic gardening is important to a gardener intent on attracting birds and butterflies. Using plants native to your region reduces the need for pesticide use since native plants are resistant to local pests and diseases.
There is nothing better than watching colorful birds fly around a native and natural garden that almost looks like the bird's natural habitat. This makes sure that birds will be coming back to our backyard. Bird watching is a pastime many people can enjoy and do without leaving your house or the city.


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The intro…
Welcome to part 3!
Before I get started I just want to quickly mention the rather bonkers Tuesday we had last week where FFG, freshly off the back of announcing (well, it wasn't them who announced it but, you know what I mean) the transfer of X-Wing (and other SW titles) to Atomic Mass Games (AMG) went ahead and released the new Squad Builder app/website into the wild AND snuck in points for the newly released ships AND gave us the end of November points update that had been promised.
It was glorious chaos.
I won't go into points details here (plenty of other people who are FAR more knowledgeable than I am have done that already) except to say that Dash and Outrider did NOT drop in price (sad!) but Jake Farrell did (yay!) and so did Wedge. I've not looked into what that means for my lists except that I now have an extra 2 points of bid on the list I talk about below. Just a little reminder that this game (and the others I've linked) were played before these points came out.
Ok, you've had your warning. Let's do this!
A quick recap first – the rather amazing X-Wing Hipster Mr Phil GC had organised a TTS tournament to celebrate his birthday. Clearly Phil knows rather a lot of top quality players and so this would be one of the toughest fields you could hope to see in an X-Wing tournament. And me.
I was feeling rather hilariously out of my depth even before round 1 was drawn, which incidentally pitted me against world champion Oliver Pocknell.
I lost that one.
The next round saw me drawn against a System Open winner, Martyn Chivers. I somehow (probably slightly undeservedly given how the last few turns panned out) managed a win in that one, putting me at 1-1. This meant I was already faring better than I'd expected. Significantly better.
My list for the day was one I've been running for a few weeks now and, having learned a little of what not to do in the game against Oli and not completely borking it against Martyn I was starting to feel more comfortable with it.
Dash Rendar (85)
Expert Handling (4)
Bistan (10)
Perceptive Copilot (8)
Ship total: 107 Half Points: 54 Threshold: 5
Ten Numb (48)
Marksmanship (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Autoblasters (3)
Stabilized S-Foils (2)
Ship total: 56 Half Points: 28 Threshold: 4
Jake Farrell (36)
Ship total: 36 Half Points: 18 Threshold: 2
Total: 199
View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v8ZsZ200Z39X120WW77W54WWWY74X125W113W232WWWW313Y50XWW&sn=Dash%20Ten%20Jake&obs=
Dash has a tendency to either live forever or burn down super fast with very few games seeing him do neither. Ten is there to throw at my opponent's face to distract from Dash and hopefully hurt something before he dies. Jake is the focus monkey for Dash but in the last 2 games he has unexpectedly thrown out some rather important (and unlikely) damage. Heck, maybe I should even point him at enemy ships more often!
So who would I be drawn against next?
The batrep… (JARGON ALERT!!)
Well the answer was Simon Tournay. A great player, a lovely bloke and one of the original 186th Squadron members, having been playing X-Wing since pretty much the beginning.
Simon was running a triple silencer list (although I think he initially spawned the list twice, the prospect of 6 silencers freaked me out a little!)
Kylo Ren (76)
Advanced Optics (4)
Ship total: 80 Half Points: 40 Threshold: 3
"Rush" (57)
Automated Target Priority (1)
Ship total: 58 Half Points: 29 Threshold: 3
"Recoil" (57)
Predator (2)
Ship total: 59 Half Points: 30 Threshold: 3
Total: 197
View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=First%20Order&d=v8ZsZ200Z236XW186WWY386X348WWY284X127WWW&sn=Vs%20Simon%20Tournay&obs=
Another opponent with a crossover of initiatives at i4 and i5, another list with a bigger bid than me. I was going to be first player again and it might turn out to be important, especially with a potentially double repositioning Kylo moving after Dash.
Time to figure out target priority. Clearly Kylo is the one to get, he's worth most points and is the one I don't want to be facing in the end game if I can help it. Kylo is normally played very cagey though so I'll have to see what I'm presented with and go from there!
I tried to take his gas cloud cover away (those silencers are hard enough to hit anyway!) by placing as many as I could on my side of the board and then placing debris relatively evenly since his ships are nimble enough to get around them anyway.
I place Ten Numb opposite Recoil and Rush and Dash and Jake in the opposite corner before Simon places Kylo just right of center.
It's hard for me to predict where Simon wants his ships to go but I stick with my standard opening of turning everyone to stall for a turn. Hopefully Dash's position will dissuade Kylo from flanking on my right but I won't know until it's too late.
Rush and Recoil go straight before all my ships hard turn and the i4's roll left. Kylo banks to the middle and rolls back away.
It's all fairly non-committal at this point and we are WAY off shooting so it's back to dials.
I want to entice Simon to joust Ten (in order to hit them with Dash as well as Ten) so he's going to hard turn right. Jake will go straight to stay close to Dash who, in turn, will bank in to try and get someone in arc.
Simon brings Recoil and Rush forwards, boosting with both but one being a banked boost which landed rather prefectly:
I shuffle all my ships around before Kylo banks in and sits next to the middle gas cloud with a focus for good measure.
Kylo fires first, hitting Dash for 3 before Dash and Ten go to work on Rush with Ten getting to play his double tap trick. He survives on 2 hull though and in return he and Recoil take 3 shields from Ten Numb.
It's already going better for Ten than in the last game!
Back to dials we go. I want to try and finish Rush off but he's now operating at initiative 6 which is going to make it more difficult. I figure I can try for a block with Ten while Dash, who is wary of Kylo coming in on the flank, will try and blast past him while keeping rear arc on, well, whatever he can hit. Jake will do Jake things and hopefully not end up somewhere too stupid.
Ten pulls out a 2K (JARGON ALERT!!) while Jake goes 4 straight and rolls to give Dash a focus action.
Recoil sails right over the top of Ten Numb to stare into Jake's face. Dash takes the 3 bank to get some distance in and focuses before Kylo slowly comes around the gas cloud and Rush…well… lands this:
With everyone moved we end up like this:
We are sure as heck shooting this time, but not everyone. Rush and Ten have no arc on anything so Kylo fires at Jake and gets 1 hit on. Dash fires at Kylo and misses. He then fires his second shot at Recoil and misses that too.
Nice work Rendar.
Jake shoots at Recoil but can't take advantage of the range 1 bonus and dones no damage before Recoil takes his turn and takes Jake's other shield.
Not a great round for me, that one.
Still, I've got all my ships on the board and Kylo keeps buring his Force down so there's still hope.
Back to planning we go. What to do next?
Ten needs to turn but a bank to clear stress will put him in no-man's land so I embrace the stress and give him a white hard 2. Jake will hard turn too and continue being a focus monkey while Dash will hard turn and turn his turret somewhere useful.
Ten turns and hangs on to his stress and Jake hard turns and then rolls towards Kylo, handing Dash a focus.
Recoil hard turns around the cloud before Dash hard turns around the debris and turns his turret.
Kylo goes for a hard turn to chase Dash but bumps Jake (yay!) and then Rush bumps into Ten Numb (another yay!). Not too bad!
Still no shot for Rush so it's Dash first. He shoots at Kylo and, somewhat predictably, misses. But the shot onto Recoil is devastating. 3 hits and a crit and Simon's green dice blank out leaving him to lose his shields and then flip over a Direct Hit! Recoil is on just 1 hull but nobody else has him in arc to take advantage!
Kylo fires at Ten from range, hitting for a shield and a crit. He's not dead though!
Jake isn't shooting anyone so Recoil takes his shot at Dash and takes his last shield.
Back to dials again and it's hotting up now. I've lost half points on Jake and Ten and I'm 1 health point away from half on Dash too. In return I've got 2 of the silencers almost dead but Kylo is untouched.
Ten will bank to clear the stress this time while Jake will hard turn back in and Dash will continue his orbit of the debris.
Jake turns, rolls (gives himself a focus) and boosts (and gives Dash a focus). Ten banks in and while I want to roll and lock he's too close to the gas could so has to make do with just a focus this time.
Recoil turns left but bumps into Jake. Dash banks and takes a lock on, err, someone (it's been a week ok! I can't remember!) before Kylo bumps into the back of Recoil. Yes!
Rush hard turns and then rolls left just barely missing the gas cloud (that's the 3rd tight move this game Rush!) and taking a focus.
Rush shoots at Ten but despite being range 1 can only land 1 hit (leaving Ten on 2 hull). Dash shoots at Rush but can't land enough damage and the gas cloud saves him from taking anything.
Dash takes his second shot at Recoil and gets the last damage through to finish him off. One down!
Kylo fires at Jake who evades all but 1 (leaving him on 1 hull!) before Jake takes a pot shot at Rush (and misses) and then Ten takes a range 1 shot at Kylo and strips his shields.
Time for dials again. This time Jake will bug out (before he can die!) with a hard right turn. Ten will KK-turn again while Dash will 3 bank.
Jake turns, rolls, takes a focus, boosts and gives Dash a focus (it's just so beautiful when it works!). Ten does his 2K, hoping to do something useful (spoiler – he doesn't). Dash takes his bank and locks Kylo.
Kylo hard turns in at Dash and stops just short of a bump. Rush decides to disengage, banking right and boosting left for extra distance.
Rush isn't shooting so Dash gets to go first.
Does Rush look in range of Dash to you?
Rush is in by the very finest of margins. While Simon curses his choice of move Dash rolls dice but STILL can't land the final blow on him.
The second shot at Kylo is double modded though and despite having the Force to help him out Kylo takes 2 crits including a Hull Breach. Ouch.
Kylo returns fire at Dash and lands 3 hits himself, scoring half points. Jake and Ten are both redundant at this point with no arcs on anything.
Time is running out so it's time to think tactical.
I send Ten in at Dash to force a bump. Best case is that Kylo overshoots and can be shot by Ten and/or Dash, worst case, Kylo bumps and can't shoot Dash. Jake will hard turn right to try and stay relevant.
Ten goes straight, clears stress, rolls and takes a lock on Kylo. Jake turns, rolls and hands a focus to Dash. Dash shuffles forwards into Ten.
Kylo bumps into Dash (yay!) while Rush hard turns in, rolls and boosts.
This time Dash manages to roll 3 hits and a crit. Rush rolls 5 (!) greens, gets 3 evades and 2 eyeballs. No gas cloud bonus for you! The crit goes through and Simon pulls out… a Direct Hit! Rush is (finally!) down.
We've time for 1 last turn so I should try and hold on to the lead that I think that I have!
Jake takes a 2 forwards and rolls away. Ten hard turns to get out of Dash's way. Dash then hard turns onto the gas cloud and rolls, hoping to be obstructed but falls short!
Kylo takes a 4K (which, if I'm honest, I didn't think would fit!)
None of my ships can fire but Kylo has a range 3 unobstructed (dammit!) shot into Dash. He takes it but even backed up by the Force he can't land any more damage on the sneaky Corellian and the game is over.
Result: 157 – 100 win
The conclusion…
Another win! ANOTHER ONE!
I'm freaking 2-1 in a tournament with champions and veterans and experts!!
And not only that but I'm actually quite happy with how this one played out. Aside from the odd turn where I misread what Simon was doing and positioned Jake and Ten where they couldn't shoot of course.
Every game with this list is helping me to refine what I'm doing and making me try to think more steps ahead, namely with Jake. Dash having a double modded shot is so powerful that it's very important that I make it happen as much as possible. I've rather got away with Jake being in very vulnerable places and I know that won't always be the case.
It's also pretty important that Ten gets to shoot and make full use of his double taps. It's always harder against higher initiative ships as I can't always get the lock he needs but using him to try and block is an acceptable second role. Hopefully he won't always be as expertly avoided as he was in this game!
Again this was a great game and Simon was a great opponent to play against. My experience of the day playing in this tournament was certainly surpassing my expectations, yes in results but also in terms of hanging out with people over Discord and playing.
So 3 down, 1 to go! What will my next pairing bring?
If you're looking to buy some gaming 'stuff' and don't have a local gaming store, you can use my affiliate link for Firestorm games. They're great!


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Raise a Toast to the Deep and Dark Mollydooker The Boxer Shiraz 2013
What is Mollydooker, The Boxer, Shiraz 2013 about?
Mollydooker The Boxer Shiraz 2013 is a red wine whose current vintage year is 2013.The sub-category of wine is Shiraz.It contains 15.50% alcohol content.The makers of this impressive wine are Sarah and Sparky Marquis. This wine bears in South Australia, in the region of McLaren Vale. It has a closure at the top of the bottle neck as a screw top.
A bottle contains 750 ml of Mollydooker The Boxer Shiraz 2013 and it costs around $26.99 per bottle.
Why to choose Mollydooker The Boxer Shiraz 2013?
Mollydooker The Boxer Shiraz 2013, is an impressive combination of richness, smoothness, and power. This luscious red wine takes a person to a different world altogether because of its tender flavours of berries and lush layers of chocolate, complementing the spice and liquorice of the wine. The deep and dark colour of the wine completely matches its intense flavours.
The Mollydooker The Boxer Shiraz 2013, serves the perfect and balanced combination of fragrant oak and tannins that support the magnificent and majestic fruits of the wine.
This wine brings so much complexity and character, when sipped, that it will undoubtedly be applauded by the one who drinks it. The makers, Sarah and Sparky have molded this amazing piece by their tremendous efforts in such a way in 2013 that it makes a person experience an immense pleasurein a single sip of the Mollydooker, The Boxer, Shiraz 2013.
What do the winemakers have to say about Mollydooker, The Boxer, Shiraz 2013?
The power of the fruit in this wine is extremely enjoyable. It has a breathtaking exhibition of flavours and an unbelievably awesome intensity.But there issomething that really finishes the wine off in a beautiful way. That is the exquisite creamy layers and the smoothfeeling that embraces the mouth. This wine is so hedonistic. It is a sweet one, multi layered with flavours of berries and fruits and also layers of luscious chocolateand fresh plum, which accounts for a complete spectrum of flavours. It is a must have for all those who enjoy wine and want to enjoy a lovely meal with their loved ones. It is different, relaxing and very luxurious. If you are going on a holiday to relax and want to have a really good time, then this wine is a definite take away. It's inherent quality is outstanding. We have made it into an luscious chocolateand fresh plum.