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This follows on from Suspicious Digging
If you're interested in my response to Kevin Rose's blog post on Digging Fraud. I also recommend you read ForeverGeek's.
I would reiterate that some stories were buried and it is possible these were buried by the user base and not the admins. Burial means that the item is removed from the digg queue or the front page but it is still accessible at its URL and with a search if 'buried' is ticked. However, my submissions (and those of others) were deleted virtually without trace. This is something that only administrators can do. Only the titles were left intact Notice the "?" in this one's title? And notice that there is an error message which isn't displayed on this totally non-existent page. More information is on my initial post.
In addition I was banned and when Digg acquiesced to my request to be unbanned I received this:
As we have told other users that have emailed us about this subject, there is no abuse involved here, we have investigated it and yes it does look suspicious to the eye, but they are all legit users and therefor [sic] we can not ban them. We ask you kindly to email us if you believe a story is being abused.
[Entire email is in original blog post]
Kevin, wrote this:
Recently it was brought to our attention that several users have created accounts to mass digg and promote stories. While these accounts appear to be valid, they have in certain instances been used for automated in-order (scripted) digging. This is a violation of our terms of service and the accounts have since been banned.
As you can imagine with over 250,000 registered users (and adding thousands more per week) we are constantly monitoring and looking for user SPAM/fraud. Internally, we have several methods for detecting fraud which results in DOZENS of banned accounts per day.
In my opinion what happened in between is that Digg realised this couldn't be hushed up. Note the long time it took Mr. Rose to answer about the issue.
A few more thoughts (update):
One thing that is annoying me in discussion of this issue is comments which state the obvious. Comments like: "Kevin owns it, he can do what he likes", "the administrators have a right to exert editorial control, its a business".
Of course Digg has the right to do whatever it wants on its own server. Indeed its TOS states:
Digg may remove any Content and Digg accounts at any time for any reason (including, but not limited to, upon receipt of claims or allegations from third parties or authorities relating to such Content), or for no reason at all.
Nobody is claiming Digg have broken the law. They have a right to censor what we submit, but we have a right to complain about it. They have the right to artifically promote items to the front page (I'm not necessarily suggesting they have, and I never have), but we have the right to complain about it.
Digg claims on its front page:
Digg is a technology news website that employs non-hierarchical editorial control. With digg, users submit stories for review, but rather than allowing an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do.
And its success is due to people believing that. It's what separates it from Slashdot and makes it to some more attractive.
If what it claims is not true then people are bound to seek to expose the truth. If people who seek to spread the truth on Digg are prevented from doing so, then Digg is being dishonest. They're allowed to be dishonest on their own site, but I'm certainly going to complain about it.
Update: reply received


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I just wanted to thank Neil for producing another great work. I truly enjoyed every minute. Reading Gaiman is like daydreaming, you wander through the story completely oblivious to the rest of the world, and unless someone says 'hey' you lose all track of time. I couldnt put it down. Does anyone else know what I mean?
You couldn't have said it any better.
I feel the exact same way right now as I'm reading Stardust.
The day is gone - I've been immersed in it all day and the hours have flown by - I haven't even ate.
Crazy no?
Neil is a genius!
Danny, Neil doesn't read the boards. If you'd like to pass him your thanks (and he does appreciate it), please do so at the FAQ line off the main page.
"Why are there ghosts in the kitchen punching each other in the balls?" - Aidan, "Being Human"
"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."
- G.K. Chesterton
My moderator voice is red.
Thanks, will do.
When i read neil gaiman's work, it's like i become the character, and nothing can tear me out of the story.
see, I bought the book yesterday and awake up 4 a.m., just to keep reading.
I've already know Gaiman's works starting with Sandman (not by reading any book, but people I know everytime tell me an Sandman storys (is Sandman or Gaiman really Anansi (just realized that)), so when I found "Anansi boys" here (the last book), I couldn't think about not buy it...
And all I fell now is an amazing felling, that I also have my song...
Just want to say thanks to that amazing man and his amazing mind.
"Thinking about restart writing..."
What's new, pussycat?
Dannybrewer, I agree. It's what I felt when I read American Gods, and I am currently reaidng Anansi Boys, I am on chpater two right now, I just started it. Luckily with my hectic schedule I still have time to daydream.
I'd love to have neil coming to Italy. I love the things he writes.
i completely agree he is an awesome writer. i completely got lost in stardust it's one of his best works, along with anansi boys of course.
What exactly do people find so great about this book? Charlie Nancy is a cardboard cut out (yes even at the end of the book). Plot? What plot? It meanders from place to place. When you finally find out Spider's identity and Charlie's identity, YOU DON'T care. Its like "I read 200+ page for that?!?" This has got to be Neil's weakest book. Black Orchid had more depth than this. Neil kept on talking and talking and ultimately said nothing.
ish... you didn't understand!
there is no plot, the way you say, becouse it's the living life. it's a metaphor. the tiger's stories (I'm brazilin, i read the book in portuguese, so i might change some words)are the actions of grahame coats. the evil in the man. the anansi's stories are those people who aren't strong, but are cleaver. the "no plot" is totally on porpouse. i too had to read until page 200 to understand that. if he had wrote a super-powerfull story full of heroes and magic it wouldn't be his intention: show that all of us can be cleaver gods. they are human! they have human lives (ok, not spider...). It's just a big metaphor..
pela estrada afora eu vou bem sozinha...
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subset: commoncrawl


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Daily Archives: July 21, 2014
Tomorrow, a New Insurance Company "Kopenbur" to be Officially Opened
Tuesday, July 22, he JSC insurance company"Kopenbur" will be officially opened. The opening ceremony will be officially launched by the company's German founder ,Chairman of the Supervisory Board Franjo Vidichek and the head of the State Insurance Supervision Service LashaNikoladze. The official opening will be also attended by Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia George Kvirikshvili, Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri, Tbilisi Mayor …Read More »
Offshore Industry Zones might be Created in Georgia
Offshore industry zones might be created in Georgia. The Non-Partisan Independent Majoritarians faction came up with this initiative . The initiative includes privileges for such sectors which are not developed in Georgia at this point. The MP Kakha Okriashvili says that except from income tax, the companies registered in offshore zones will be exempt from all taxes while income tax will be …Read More »
Irakli Gharibashvili Dismissed 7 Ministers
Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili has removed 7 ministers from their posts – the Agriculture Minister, the Minister of Corrections and Legal assistance, the Minister of Culture, the Infrastructure Minister and the Minister of Diaspora have reportedly been removed from their posts. "I want to tell you why I have made …Read More »
Director of "Algorithm" : Culled Netbooks will be Given to the First-graders
"New netbooks will create problems for the first-graders" – Director-General of "Algorithm" company defeated in a tender told "Commersant". According to George Korakhashvili, a product produced by the tender winner "UGT" quickly spoils and is exposed to external influences, while "Algorithm" netbook is water-proof, able to withstand a crash, hit and doesn't burn out. George Korakhashvili notes that the Ministry of Education has selected a laptop model without any specialized care, which saved theMinistry's costs …Read More »
with elegant touch of reality… September 20 – October 8 International Program "When you're talking about Cloud Gate, magic is not too strong a word. " Time Out 20 , 21 September , 2014 Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Taiwan And State Academic Ensemble "Rustavi", Georia Songs of …Read More »


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Home Minister P. Chidambaram Tuesday said if rights activist Binayak Sen had been convicted wrongly for his Maoists links then it would be corrected through legal ways.
'If he is wrongly convicted, it will be corrected in lawful ways,' Chidambaram said, adding that the doctor-activist has been convicted by a court of law and 'those who respect democracy must also respect the processes of democracy'.
The home minister was speaking to reporters while presenting the monthly report card of his ministry.
Sen, 59, was Dec 24 sentenced to life imprisonment by a Chhattisgarh court for sedition and his links with Maoists. The conviction triggered angry reactions from within and outside the country.


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Bush praises moderate church in SBC speech: Faith-based grant went to Cooperative Baptist church
Touting his desire to build a "more compassionate society," President George W. Bush thanked Southern Baptists assembled for their annual meeting last month for being "soldiers in the army of compassion." The president also highlighted, apparently inadvertently, a church that is now aligned with the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and no longer sends funds to the SBC.
Bush spoke June 21 to the Southern Baptist messengers (delegates) in Nashville by live video from the White House. It was the fourth consecutive year that Bush has addressed SBC messengers—all by live satellite except for a taped message in 2003.
Often smiling broadly at the cheers, shouts, whistles and applause he was receiving, Bush touched on four elements known to resonate with many Southern Baptists—a proposed "family amendment" designed to prevent homosexuals from marrying, continuing legislation to curtail the practice of abortion, the appointment of more conservative judges and government aid for faith-based organizations.
"I am proud that we have now opened billions of dollars in grant money to competition that includes our faith-based charities," the president said. "For example, my administration awarded College Park Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida, $5.8 million to build 68 homes for low-income seniors."
Pastor Ron Crawford told EthicsDaily.com that the church was recently awarded a contract through HUD to build a second facility for persons who are disabled or near the end of life. The first, also built with HUD money, is 22 years old.
College Park Baptist Church describes itself on its Web site as a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship church located in the Orlando area. The site provides online links to the CBF and other moderate Baptist entities but not to the SBC.
The Atlanta-based CBF split from the SBC in 1991 over differences on issues including biblical inerrancy and the ordination of women. The convention views the 1,800-church CBF as a competitor and refuses to accept money that churches channel through it.
Adding to the irony, Crawford said, is the fact that the church voted two years ago to no longer send funds to either the Southern Baptist Convention or the Florida Baptist Convention unless a member designates them that way. "That's not because we're mad with anyone," Crawford said. "We feel like we were called to a different part of the vineyard."
In business sessions, Southern Baptists followed the lead of the American Family Association in dropping its eight-year-old boycott of Disney parks and products, reelected president Bobby Welch and recommended that church members monitor their children's schools because of what the resolution said were "homosexual activists and their allies" promoting "homosexuality as a morally legitimate lifestyle."
The statement said parents should decide whether their kids are best educated in public, private or home-school settings. Welch said he did not support another resolution that would urge parents to pull Christian students from public schools. "Everybody doesn't have to go to Disney," he said. "Everybody has to go to school."


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For several years now, a small cadre of conservatives have pushed to eliminate the so-called Johnson Amendment, the part of the IRS tax code that prohibits churches and other tax-exempt nonprofits from endorsing candidates. Supporters of its repeal often justify their position by claiming the issue is about "religious liberty," arguing the law inhibits the freedom of faith leaders.
President Donald Trump echoed this sentiment on Friday while speaking to the Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C. He pointed to an executive order he signed earlier this year that chapped away at the Johnson Amendment under the banner of "religious liberty."
"The executive order followed through on one of my most important campaign promises…to prevent the horrendous Johnson amendment from interfering with your First Amendment rights," Trump said. "We will not allow government workers to censor sermons or target our pastors or our ministers, our rabbis. These are the people we want to hear from, and they are not going to be silenced any longer."
But minutes before Trump's speech, a Republican lawmaker at the same conference acknowledged an ulterior motive other than "religious liberty" for repealing the law: raw political gain.
While speaking on a panel at the summit, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) was asked to discuss a small provision quietly added to the House budget proposal that would chip away at the Johnson Amendment, as well as a bill he cosponsored that would repeal the law. Johnson responded by rattling off a traditional conservative understanding of the tax provision, insisting lawmakers should abolish it to "unshackle" the voice of churches.
But as he finished, another panelist—fellow Congressman Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC)—interjected with a telling quip.
"The voices on the left were never shackled. Now it's time to unshackle the voices on the right," Walker said.
The line won over the crowd, which responded with applause. But by conflating churches with the "right," Walker effectively undermined the argument that efforts to remove the law are singularly concerned about issues of religious expression—or even free speech. Instead, the lawmaker suggested changing the law would benefit one group in particular: conservatives.
Experts agree that changing the tax provision—which is rarely enforced as it is—would almost certainly have a profound impact on American politics. If churches are allowed to endorse candidates without repercussions, then some larger churches may end up operating as ready-made organizing forces for candidates. What's more, churchgoers might choose to make tax-deductible donations to a church that backs their favorite candidate rather than the campaign itself (which is taxed). Houses of worship could transform into a new variety of SuperPAC, with legal and electoral implications that are not totally understood.
Yet such a shift may also subject religious communities to undue political pressure, which may explain why the idea is wildly unpopular among people of faith. According to a 2016 PRRI poll, majorities of every single major American faith group oppose allowing churches to openly back politicians while maintaining their tax-exempt status — including white evangelical Protestants, a group whose leaders are often the loudest advocates for the change. Meanwhile, representatives from nearly 100 religious groups—including entire denominations—signed onto a letter in April imploring lawmakers to avoid politicizing churches.
It's also not entirely clear that doing away with the Johnson Amendment would singularly benefit conservatives. Leaders of the Religious Left have also become increasingly vocal under Trump, and thousands of progressive clergy rallied in Washington, D.C. in August to decry racism and the president's agenda. The Democratic Party has also embraced more overtly spiritual and moral messages of late, with some commentators suggesting the 2016 Democratic National Convention was more religious than the Republican National Convention.


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Single Seat Cane Chair - Black
₦ 14,750
Item No: 5113
(Made to Order)
(Made to Order)
This cane chair with cushion adds a stylish touch to your home decor. The chair is available in multiple finishes. The cushion fabric can be customized and changed to suit your taste.
- Frame Finishes: charcoal or brown.
- Cushion Material: Made with material of your choice.
Details + Dimensions
- 27"w x 37"H.


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Disneyland Park welcomes visitors to its happy place with adventures in Fantasyland, Frontierland, Mickey's Toontown and more. The Southern California park offers attractions, entertainment, shopping, lodging and dining. Prices within the park for food can be more expensive than outside eateries, so if you want to give your budget a break or try different cuisines, venture to surrounding restaurants.
Surrounding Area
The theme park, located in Anaheim, California, sits on 160 acres bordered by South Harbor Boulevard to the east, West Ball Road to the north, West Katella Avenue to the south and Disneyland Drive -- or South West Street -- to the west. Most restaurants near the park are located off South Harbor Boulevard or Katella Avenue. To access these restaurants, your best choice of parking is in the Pumbaa lot, off of Disney Way, or in the Toy Story lot off of South Harbor Boulevard.
Restaurant Chains
Denny's, an American diner, is located at 1610 S. Harbor Blvd. in Anaheim, right across the street from Disneyland Park. The eatery serves breakfast all day, as well as lunch, dinner and appetizers in the inexpensive price range. Carrows, located at 915 S. Harbor Blvd. in Anaheim, about two miles northeast of the park, has a banquet room available if you've got a really big crowd. This moderately priced chain offers breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as desserts and appetizers. Both restaurants offer kids and seniors menus.
Ethnic Cuisine
If you like Chinese food, Ming Delight is about one mile from the Disney Way entrance at 409 W. Katella Ave. This moderately priced, family-run restaurant features traditional Chinese dishes including those with noodles, rice and protein. Tacos Mi Pueblo, 1188 W. Katella Ave., is about one mile west of Disneyland. The restaurant serves Mexican food 24 hours a day and has all the favorites including tacos, burritos and enchiladas as well as Mexican sodas and beers.
Budget Drive Throughs
Located on the east side of the park you'll find the drive-through budget restaurants that offer quick burgers, tacos, salads, drinks, fries and desserts. The choices across from the park include Taco Bell, at 1212 S. Harbor Blvd. and McDonald's at 1500 S. Harbor Blvd. Jack in the Box, at 2210 S. Harbor Blvd. is located about two miles south of the park.
Leaf Group is a USA TODAY content partner providing general travel information. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.


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Salt Lake City, UT (PRWEB) February 15, 2013
Proven to be highly effective in Swiss laboratory studies, this silky light-weight serum is a combination of powerful anti-aging ingredients, that work quickly to improve skin texture by aiding in the production of collagen; limiting the loss of collagen; eliminating free-radicals; aiding the skin in creating new, healthy cells and retaining the skin's essential hydration.
A breakdown of the collagen within the skin is the leading source of fine lines and wrinkles. To combat this loss of collagen the skin needs to be supplied with Amino Acids, critical proteins that help the skin with cellular repair and maintenance. High performance Proline Amino Acids have been blended into the Renaissance Age Serum to help retain age defying looks.
Swiss Edelweiss works synergistically with the skin to aid in eliminating free radicals with natural anti-oxidants, renewing and restoring the skin while providing protection against further damage. Tamarind Seed Extract absorbs deep into the epidermis to aid in improving skin elasticity, leaving a tightened effect that has been observed to perform better than Hyaluronic Acid. Together this unique Swiss formula significantly improves skin elasticity, hydration and smoothness for skin revival everyone will envy.
Renaissance Age Serum will give mature, dry or aging skin types hydration and nutrition needed to achieve healthy, supple skin and a youthful appearance. Paraben Free, Mineral Oil Free, Animal Testing Free. All GS Products have received the Swiss Crossbow of Excellence.
Retail Price $129. For more information please visit our website, email our team, join us on Facebook or give us a call.
WWW.GERDASPILLMANN.COM or 1-800-282-3223.
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/2/prweb9126852.htm.
|Source: PRWeb
Copyright©2012 Vocus, Inc.
All rights reserved


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Survival stories from Auckland, New Zealand.
Compared to the ice storm's aftermath, the power outage that hit Auckland, New Zealand's downtown for five weeks starting in late February 1998 was a modest affair. Nobody even died - unless you count Wayne Gilbert, chief executive of Mercury Energy, the utility responsible for the disaster. Only days before a government commission announced that Mercury's mismanagement caused the outage, he suffered a heart attack at his desk. He was not extravagantly mourned.
If the ice storm in its immensity resembled a hurricane, the Auckland outage was a tornado: It picked up most of the 76,000 office workers and residents of Auckland's central business district and put them down somewhere else. If the Y2K bug attacks locally instead of regionally - if, instead of triggering a widespread blackout, it sets off many small ones - then the Auckland outage may be a more useful model than the ice storm.
Auckland is an exception inside an anomaly. New Zealand is a developed country that yearns for the international respect that development supposedly fosters, yet larger countries slight it; Australians, for example, think of New Zealanders as their country cousins. And even though Auckland is New Zealand's biggest city, other New Zealanders regard it with scorn. It's a nice enough town, comfortable and hospitable and impressively green, but by national standards it's crass and materialistic, almost un-New Zealandian. For one thing, the country's abundant natural splendor isn't visible in Auckland, and it's possible to drive from the center of town to the airport, a 25-minute ride, without seeing one of New Zealand's 60 million or so sheep. The outage added to Auckland's ignominy, all the more so since Mercury should have seen it coming.
At the time, the city's central business district (known to acronym-happy Aucklanders as the CBD) received most of its electricity via four cables extending from two substations elsewhere in the city. Mercury had suffered frequent breakdowns in two cables that were installed in 1959. The simultaneous loss of both cables, enough to hamper but not cripple the city's electricity supply, nevertheless was considered improbable. Mercury assumed the two newer cables were so reliable that it never even contemplated their failure.
Yet between January 22 and February 20, all four cables broke down as a result of what the government commission later called Mercury's deficient contingency planning and lack of cable maintenance. Critics suggested that Mercury's neglect of its infrastructure was a consequence of the deregulation of New Zealand's electric industry, which led to the company's creation in 1992. Since then, Mercury had downsized its workforce from 1,411 employees to 600, and had become preoccupied with buying out another utility, Power New Zealand.
The CBD is home to about 6,000 high-rise residents and 8,000 businesses employing 70,000 people, nearly 5 percent of the national workforce. The outage started during the afternoon rush hour on Friday, February 20, when, with three cables already idle, the fourth cable failed. With stoplights out, traffic turned briefly chaotic, then calmed as cars left the area. The timing was fortunate, giving businesses the weekend to find temporary accommodations outside the CBD and move office equipment. (Y2K is similarly timed, as New Year's Eve 1999 falls on a Friday.)
Like Ontario Hydro, Mercury underestimated the time needed to restore electricity. Its first pronouncement was that power would be back within a week; instead, full restoration of power took five weeks, and short intermittent outages continued until May. The utility also joined city officials in issuing an "urgent notice" advising residents without power to evacuate and instructing people outside the CBD to stay away. To many downtown businesspeople, this was both a crippling blow and an act of extreme disloyalty by the mayor, Les Mills. He responded, with justification, that he had to consider public safety over the merchants' welfare, but few merchants were persuaded. Their anger was a factor in Mills's defeat in last October's election.
In the first few days of the outage, power inside the CBD switched on and off unpredictably. People got trapped in elevators. Fire alarms went off randomly. Security doors locked shut when they were supposed to be open, and stayed open when they should have closed. In a diary entry for Monday, February 23, three days after the outage began, a local journalist named Andrew Heal wrote: "Girlfriend goes for run at crack of dawn. Power goes off and she is locked out, so she stands in the middle of the street and bellows my name. Three sleepy, unshaven faces appear at three separate windows. Great way to meet the neighbors."
Foul, noisy generators soon cluttered the CBD's sidewalks. When a generator in a coffee shop exploded, a wall of smoke surged through the ground floor of the shopping arcade, preceded by fleeing customers. Corry Stoop, owner of a boutique, ran to close her door just before the smoke cloud arrived. A second later, she recalls, "I couldn't see across the hall."
Auckland became the butt of jokes ("Question: What did Auckland have before candles? Answer: Electricity"), and the townspeople's fragile self-esteem was a major casualty. Suddenly Auckland was being compared to - horror of horrors! - a Third World city, and newspapers around the world trumpeted the CBD's plight. Worse, some exaggerated. A four-column headline in The Jakarta Post read, Auckland Evacuated Due to Power Crisis. A New York Times headline said, Power Failure Threatens New Zealand Economy. In fact, most of Auckland functioned normally throughout the outage, and the impact on the national economy was negligible. The reports had an effect on tourism, however: 30 to 40 percent of hotel reservations were canceled, even though the 25 hotels in the CBD continued to run on generators.
Once the outage began, Mercury gathered generators from Australia and elsewhere in New Zealand to provide temporary power. It even got permission from the rock group U2 to borrow the world's largest cargo plane, a Russian Antonov-124, to transport giant generators from Australia. (U2 was performing in Sydney, and didn't need the plane to ship their concert gear for another couple of days.) The biggest generators were deployed to reinforce Mercury's substations; the utility's major customers were given smaller generators.
Most established businesses managed to cope without Mercury's help. The Bank of New Zealand closed its nine CBD branches and transferred its employees to other branches. Buddle Findlay, a leading law firm, installed ISDN lines in four partners' homes and a rented motel, and moved its computer network to the new locales. Still, productivity suffered as lawyers discovered just how much they relied on paper documents, whose retrieval now required a trip to the CBD and a hike up 20 floors of a darkened high-rise.
It was the CBD's small businesses that suffered most. Of the 1,000 retailers located there, only about 200 remained open throughout the outage, as the number of patrons dwindled in the district's cafés, clothing stores, pubs, and gift shops. Many were marginal businesses to begin with, but the blackout ensured their demise. Alex Swney, general manager of a CBD lobbying group called Heart of the City, estimates that business failures doubled during the first half of the year, but concedes that most eventually would have collapsed even without the outage.
Some established businesses were among the casualties. Colin Forster had run a greeting-card shop in the CBD for four years, and hoped to retire with his wife on its earnings. But by the time his landlord reopened the building with generators 10 days after the outage began, his customers had found alternatives. Instead of 200 customers a day, he was lucky to get 10. With cash-flow problems mounting, he closed the shop and dismissed his three employees. Forster got a job as a taxi driver, and says his wife "came very close to having a nervous breakdown."
True enough, some people flourished during the outage; disasters, after all, sometimes speed up the normal process of dog-eat-dog. Peter Cammell, a self-described risk taker who calls himself "Cammell the Chemist," owned one pharmacy in the CBD when the outage started. By the time its ripples played out, he owned two and ran two more. Emboldened by his insurer's promise that his outage losses would be covered, he bought newspaper ads and sent out a mailing to 3,000 customers announcing special offers in his own store, while other CBD pharmacies hurtled toward bankruptcy. Then he began buying them up. "In a small business you don't get a lot of opportunities," he says. "Unless you react very quickly, you get rubbed out."
Many Aucklanders insist that Mercury behaved knavishly. About 1,400 Auckland businesses that suffered outage-related losses banded together to file a class-action lawsuit against the utility, but they have been stymied by New Zealand's legal system, which does not readily acknowledge joint suits. Mercury offered customers compensation, though the sums usually amounted to a fraction of losses. Some claimants speculate that compensation was designed to be just enough to dissuade them from joining the suit. Mercury declined entirely to offer compensation to tenant merchants lacking direct electricity accounts. Though these merchants' losses were just as real as their landlords' - and usually more substantial, since many landlords had collected rent throughout the outage - Mercury accepted no responsibility for them. In the event of a Y2K outage, the moral is inescapable: Don't count on utilities to cover losses.
In an apparent effort to diffuse support for the lawsuit, Mercury also misled outage victims. Tim Chamberlain, owner of a three-employee graphic design firm called Streamline Creative, had to relocate his studio five times during the outage to keep the business afloat. At a CBD information booth Mercury set up during the crisis, Chamberlain asked whether the utility would cover his claim even though his landlord held his building's electricity account. Three Mercury officials assured him he qualified, he says, yet when he filed his claim in May, Mercury refused to cover it. Enraged, he phoned a claims representative and told her about the conversation at the information booth. She said the Mercury officials had "wrongly advised" him.
While the Auckland city council joined Mercury in establishing a relief fund that reimbursed each small business up to NZ$2,000 ($1,100), a fraction of most businesses' losses, the national government showed little interest, maintaining that the dispute was strictly between Mercury and the merchants. Prime Minister Jenny Shipley spent a few hours touring the CBD, then spent the afternoon on a yacht.
A year later, most Aucklanders' memories of the outage are starting to fade - only a small percentage of them, after all, felt its impact - but a distinct feeling about it persists. I found that out at the end of an amiable conversation with a taxi driver, who suddenly realized he was dropping me at the bunker-like edifice of Mercury's headquarters. "We're not ready to forgive them yet," he said solemnly.
In the end, at least, a certain kind of justice was served, for the outage cost Mercury at least NZ$128 million. Moreover, the utility itself fell victim to a government divestiture decree last April, and is being reduced to less than half its former size. The company has pledged that it will not allow another outage to occur, and has increased the reliability and capacity of its infrastructure by installing new overhead and underground cables to the CBD.
Even so, Mercury wasn't the biggest casualty of the outage. It was, as usual, confidence, a belief in the invulnerability of the power supply and the security of modern life. This is supposed to be a big year for New Zealand, one that finally ushers it to its rightful place in the world. As many as 20 world leaders, including President Clinton, are expected to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Auckland in September. In October, the city welcomes 15 challengers for the America's Cup, yachting's most famous competition.
Last comes the millennium itself, a far bigger deal in New Zealand than in most other nations. New Zealand, after all, is just west of the International Date Line, which means it will be the largest of the first few countries in the world to greet 2000, and many celebrations are planned. If outages ensue, it will be New Zealand's fate to warn the rest of the world that it has a few hours to get ready.


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Wind energy supporter begging for more corporate welfare
Credit: The Times News | January 28, 2014 | www.thetimesnews.com ~~
The Jan. 25 column by Simon Mahan pleads for ongoing corporate welfare. Without access to taxpayer dollars (Tax incentives) businesses will close and private funds move elsewhere. What have we to show after 20 years of "investment"? An energy source described by the author as "proposed" or "opportunities". Payment being made in the form of lost tax revenue that will be made up by others.
Well thought of in the abstract, wind turbines do not receive such glowing praise by those in earshot of the low frequency vibrations generated, or by those who find a favored view obscured by 150-foot towers.
Wind farms are 30 percent efficient (no wind/ no energy). What supplies the energy when it is needed but there is no wind? Gas turbine generators. Rate payers have the opportunity to pay for two production methods. Until energy storage is available for "renewable" energy sources, feast or famine prevails. Too much energy when not needed, and unreliable when needed.
Transfer of dollars from a large group who are unaware of the transfer (taxpayers) to a small group of recipients (wind farm projects) will always be favored by the latter. Consultants and lobbyists will explain how the sun will lurch from its orbit without a steady stream of funding. The complaint by Mahan that the nuclear industry received a 15-year subsidy and the wind industry must go hat in hand yearly does not necessarily need to be resolved with all parties receiving long term guarantees. Perhaps if the peoples representatives were forced to explain regularly why money should be borrowed from those not yet born they might feel less inclined to give it away, regardless of the purpose.
Bemoaning a mere $12 billion subsidy, while others received far more does little to endear one to the subsidy process. Based on percentage of energy generated, the wind team is receiving $2.16, as opposed to $1 by the fossil fuel crowd.
If the insecurity of the federal support is traumatizing this special interest group, perhaps they might consider weaning themselves away from the federal trough.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
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Residence Visa
Residence visas are issued by the Controller/Immigration & Emigration in Colombo. Foreign nationals applying for residence visas must obtain the approval of the Controller prior to their departure to Sri Lanka .
To apply for a Residence Visa, the foreign applicant needs to arrive in Sri Lanka on an entry visa issued by the Embassy of Sri Lanka.
Visit visas issued to tourists will not be considered for converting into a Residence Visa.
On receipt of the approval from the Controller/Immigration & Emigration in Colombo, the Embassy can issue entry visa to the applicants once the documents mentioned under 'REQUIREMENTS' are submitted.


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Hope everyone has too much pumpkin pie and turkey tomorrow and after all the arguing, punching and hugs, nothing beats a good flick. Below the jump are 3 of my favorite Thanksgiving flicks to keep you busy and free of small-talk during the holiday.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
One of the greatest comedies ever, period, bar-none, and it takes place during thanksgiving. There are many laughs and enough poignant moments to make it truly memorable. A great flick for when the football games end and the pie is settling down.
Pieces of April
There was a time when Katie Holmes was more than just the wife of Tom cruise. And she made some pretty decent movies during her Dawson's river kids run, such as, Go, The Ice Storm, Wonder Boys and the under the radar but excellent Thanksgiving flick, Pieces of April.
The Ice Storm
Another, strangely enough, movie with Katie Holmes in it. Although, her role is quite small. This isn't your typical Thanksgiving heart-warmer, it's actually a bit of a downer. The remarkable performances by the all-star cast include Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver and a young Elijah Wood and Christina Ricci. Ang Lee directed this Thanksgiving tale of suburban woe.
tags: pieces of april, planes trains and automobiles, the ice storm
My Best of 2012 Playlist by Eric Garneau
After being inspired by some friends, for the past few years I've been really into documenting my musical exploration with year-end mixes. I realize this is not a particularly novel thing to do, but hey, who has original ideas any more? Anyway, this has gotten even easier to do thanks to new technology like Spotify. read more
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The QMobile Evok Power comes with an 8 MP back camera and a 5 MP front camera. Keeping the price in mind, the cameras are satisfactory. The back camera takes good photos in bright daylight. The front camera is not as good but you are already getting more than what you are paying for.


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So I'm writing this post feeling far from my most confident self, but I thought it was important that I shared my journey with adult acne in the hope that it would help somebody going through the same thing. Let me start by saying that I haven't suffered from acne since I was a teenager and I'm 29 now. My teen acne cleared up when I got to 19 and discovered Clean and Clear Advantage Cleansing Gel for Acne prone skin, and I've been lucky enough to have enjoyed clear, fairly fuss-free skin throughout my twenties.
And then, right after Christmas 2017, I started noticing acne popping up on my jawline and cheeks. At first I thought it was because I had eaten so much chocolate and other rubbish over Christmas and also perhaps that I hadn't taken my makeup off as well I usually did on a couple of nights. It was particularly embarassing to have developed a HUGE, stubborn, angry, red spot right on my cheek which refused to go down no matter how hard I tried to get rid of it, on New Year's Eve. It kept poking through my best attempts at concealer and I'm pretty sure I spent most of the night in the bathroom touching it up.
All I could think of during this was "FFS! Why me? Why again? This is so unfair! I've done my time in my teens! This shouldn't be happening to me now – I'm almost thirty for crying out loud!"
*PS brace yourselves for some unsightly images deeper into the post. Usually the complete opposite from the pretty content I strive to create, but sometimes, it is important to keep things as real and honest as possible*
Then, over the next year, my skin went on to develop stubborn spots a week or so before that time of the month, but sadly, they'd take weeks to go away and always leave scars, no matter how much I tried to leave them alone. I tried everything from ice to apple cider vinegar to witch hazel to tea tree oil to salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide. I even tried my hand at the Neutrogena Light Therapy Acne Spot Treatment Pen, that claimed to cure spots from deep within by using light therapy, but alas, to no avail. Possibly because I had waited too long and used it on spots that were already mature, instead of those that were just starting out.
Now it is important to note that I am NOT a big foundation-wearer. I'm not a fan of the stuff and how it feels and / or looks on my face. And while I enjoy doing my eyes, brows and lips, I always prefer to let my skin breathe as much as possible. The only time I'd even bother concealing any spots was if I had an important meeting or blog event, but never otherwise. Also, my skincare regime is always on point. I never, EVER go to bed with my makeup on and always thoroughly cleanse and moisturise my face morning and night. I've also used the same products on my skin for a good few years now, so I had no idea what was causing the breakouts, except for perhaps hormones.
Fast forward about a year to January 2019. A couple of days before my flight to India to come visit my mum, I developed three stubborn spots on my jawline. They were red, angry and hard to touch and I left them alone for a few days hoping they'd go down. But when they still showed no signs of disappearing ten days into my visit, I started to put toothpaste on them at night, in an attempt to dry them out. As many of you will know, toothpaste is one of the most common home remedies for spots that people have used for generations. About three days into doing this, the spots got even redder, angrier and really sore to touch and to top it all off, three more had popped up on my face overnight bringing the grand total to six, and they were just as angry and inflamed as the last three.
Desperate and now fully understanding that there was definitely a problem here and that this wasn't just the occasional period-related spot, I booked in to see my trusted dermatologist who has been tacking other less-serious issues with my skin for a few years now. I make it a point to see her whenever I am back in town, but this time, it felt like I was doing it because I needed to, not because I wanted to. She examined my face and confirmed that I had developed a bad case of stubborn adult acne. I'm still not sure what has caused it, but I have a feeling that it is largely hormonal, as the jawline is where one tends to develop hormonal acne. Not sure what may be causing yours? Check out this handy chart. Here's the plan she has charted out to help cure it:
(Please note that I am not recommending you purchase any of the prodcucts mentioned below. These products were prescribed to me by a professional, based on my individual skin type and concerns. Please see a dermatologist and get the right products for you, as these may not work for you, and may potentially even make your adult acne worse).
(1) Oral Antibiotics
She has started by giving me a mild round of antibiotics to help deal with the infection and dry out the spots from the inside. This isn't a step she plans to repeat often, or one that anybody should. Your body gets used to antibiotics and then they become less effective when you really need them, so I wouldn't reccomend taking them more than once every six months, maximum.
(2) Topical Treatment
She has also prescribed two topical gels that I need to apply to the affected area (spots) daily, and alternate between the two every other day. One is Benzoyl Peroxide based and the other is Adapalene with Clindamycin Phosphate gel. Clindamycin is an antibiotic which stops the growth of bacteria and Adapalene is a common adult acne cure. Both these are prescription medications and are only available at drugstores with a prescription, instead of over the counter.
(3) Emergency Topical Treatments
These are to be used only after my current acne has gone away, or on new and painful spots just as they start to show up on or under the skin. The first one is the basic over-the-counter Fucidin ointment that we have all used at some point or the other and the second is another Clindamycin antibiotic gel.
(4) Face Wash and Moisturiser
One of the first things she said to me when I walked into her office was that my skin looked incredibly greasy / oily. When I told her that my face was bare save for a little moisturiser, she said the worst thing I could be doing is to apply moisturiser to the adult acne-affected area, especially if it was oil-based moisturiser. She said that it didn't really matter if I didn't wear foundation, because moisturiser over spots was as bad as using foundation to cover them up. She also said that my face wash was obviously drying out my skin, causing it to feel dry and over-produce sebum / oil, upon which I was putting more moisturizer, that was clogging up my pores and causing my acne.
She has suggested that I start washing my face with either Episoft Gel or Cetaphil Cleanser and has given me strict instructions to use either a water-based moisturizer or the Avene Clearance Mattifying Emulsion moistruriser, ONLY on the areas of my face that are unaffected by my adult acne.
(5) Hands Off
She said that I need to actively check myself from even accidentally touching my spots, because bacteria transfer from your hands is very real. No leaning on my hands, no accidental scratching and as far as possible, to keep my hair away from the affected area when I am at home.
I'm about seventy two hours into the treatment at the moment. My skin still feels a bit dry even when I wash it with Episoft because it is still used to my old face wash and hasn't had the chance to adjust yet. But it does feel notibily less drier, more bouncy and hydrated than it did post-wash with my old face wash.
(6) Scarring
Not going to lie, I am mentally preparing myself for this bout of acne to scar and am a bit anxious about it, which is why she has prescribed a Tretinoin (Vitamin A acid) gel to heal them. I'm also going to try some Mederma I have in the house that I've had good experiences with in the past.
I am currently about 72 hours into the treatment and surpisingly, after even one one dose (out of three in total) of the prescribed oral antibiotic and appliying the Adapalene with Clindamycin Phosphate gel before bed, I woke up the next morning with my painful adult acne feeling a lot less swollen and sore, and looking as if it had started to dry up already! Even the doctor noticed it when I went in for a different treatment the morning after. And three days in, the acne has almost completely dried and flattened out, so it doesn't feel like bumps on or under the skin. There is still a bit of redness and now dryness, but I'm very pleasantly surprised by how fast it has gone down, after suffering with it for weeks before.
For me, the moral of the story has definitely been to see a professional / dermatologist sooner rather than later. Their expertise is invaluable and you'd be better off with the products they reccomend rather than trying to muddle through on your own with over the counter / drugstore brands. Good skin is an investment and something that will stay with you for years, so never skimp on or avoid going to a dermatologist. Chances are, a year later, you'll regret not having gone sooner.
Just so you know, this is by no means an ad of any sort.It is just something I'm going through at the moment that I thought I'd share my journey on, since a lot of people will relate. Adult acne is something we all go through at some point or the other.
My goal is to have my skin cleared up by my 30th birthday in June, so wish me luck! Would you like to follow my journey treating adult acne with monthly skin updates on the blog or Instagram stories? Tell me which one you'd prefer in the comments below! See you at the next post! xx


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|You are in: UK: N Ireland
Wednesday, 19 June, 2002, 06:14 GMT 07:14 UK
Police 'aided lawyer's murder'
A BBC Panorama programme says elements within Northern Ireland's police and military intelligence collaborated with loyalist paramilitaries in the late 1980s over the murder of Catholics.
A man identified as a loyalist killer tells the programme - to be broadcast on Wednesday - that the targets included the lawyer, Pat Finucane, who was murdered 13 years ago.
Mr Finucane was a thorn in the side of the British establishment in Northern Ireland until the Sunday evening in 1989 when loyalist gunmen burst into his home and shot him dead in front of his wife and children.
As Panorama reveals, the story of who killed him and why continues to haunt the authorities in Belfast and London.
It also raises disturbing questions about collusion between elements of the security forces and loyalist murder gangs.
The central charge in the programme is that such collusion resulted in the murder of a number of innocent Catholics - among them Mr Finucane.
In one extraordinary moment, reporter John Ware sits in a car with Ken Barrett, a loyalist paramilitary who is unaware that this meeting and others are being secretly filmed and recorded.
Barrett tells Ware bluntly: "Finucane would have been alive today if the peelers (police) hadn't interfered."
Barrett - described in the programme by a veteran detective as "a killer" - says a special branch officer encouraged loyalists to murder Pat Finucane.
They then tipped off the assassination squad on the fatal night that the coast around his house was clear - in other words that there were no police or Army patrols around it.
It is shocking stuff, but the programme suggests it is part of a pattern, and that at the centre of that pattern were paramilitaries like Ken Barrett, but also the still more sinister figure of Brian Nelson.
'More professional'
Nelson was a former soldier from Northern Ireland recruited by military intelligence and sent back to Belfast to infiltrate the loyalist paramilitary organisation the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).
In partnership with his handlers though, his job rapidly and dangerously expanded until he was supplying loyalist killers with intelligence documents from the security forces.
The aim, according to the programme, was to make the targeting by loyalists "more professional".
The result was that innocent Catholics were killed.
Since 1989, Sir John Stevens, who is now commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, has been investigating the allegation that shadowy elements within military intelligence and the RUC special branch were colluding with loyalist assassination squads.
Duplicate office
The obstruction he has faced was most dramatically illustrated by the fire which destroyed the offices in which officers working for him were based, in a police station near Carrickfergus, County Antrim, in 1990.
There was a story the fire had been caused by a discarded cigarette end.
But in the Panorama programme, Sir John says he never believed that story and makes it plain he believes the shadowy forces he was investigating were out to stop him.
"What happened was, round about the second or third day of that inquiry, we were given some notification that something might well happen.
"That's the reason why we had a duplicate office in Cambridgeshire where we had statements which made sure that when the fire took place we could continue with the inquiry."
The Stevens report is due out soon, but this Panorama report - with detectives who worked on the inquiry helping to paint a picture of this murky world of collusion and bereaved Catholic families telling of its human cost - seems to point to the conclusions it will reach.
In political terms, in Northern Ireland perhaps, it will not change perceptions - not least because republicans have been alleging for years that something like this was going on.
But the revelations will cause shock elsewhere in the UK.
Panorama has shed light on a murky and dangerous world, and will tell a British audience one dark aspect of what was undertaken in their name in Northern Ireland's recent past.
The nationalist SDLP's Alex Attwood told the BBC on Wednesday there now needed to be a full international independent inquiry into the murder.
The RUC became the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in November last year.
See also:
18 Jun 02 | Panorama
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Lee's Korean Restaurant, 1941 Bishop Ln #107, the first Korean restaurant to open in Louisville way back in1980, is celebrating 35 years in business with a complete interior remodel.
The An family bought the restaurant from the original owners, the Yis, in 2001. Kyoungmee Kate Byun, Assistant Professor of Interior Design at UofL, and a friend of the An family, offered her services and consultation in the renovation of the restaurant.
The interior has a new color scheme, updated furniture and lighting fixtures, wall decorations and window treatments. The layout of the restaurant has been re-imagined, with some walls removed, and new ones installed, and the kitchen has been updated as well.
The menu, too, has been updated, with the removal of some of the less popular items and five new dishes added. The Sahcheoltang, a goat meat stew with sesame leaf, is sure to appeal to adventurous local diners.


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Media Contact: Kendall Hill, 252-526-8588 or email@example.com
Kendall Hill, a 1962 graduate of the college's Department of Horticultural Science and co-owner of Tull Hill Farms, recently won a Volunteer Service Award from the National Agricultural Alumni and Development Association (NAADA).
According to NAADA, the award is presented to "an individual who has given freely of his or her time to further the goals of his or her institution, and has demonstrated leadership and organizational skills to inspire and encourage others to further the success of their alma mater's agriculture and alumni programs."
Hill received the award at the annual NAADA conference this summer.
"In everything he does, Kendall Hill leads by example," said Catherine Maxwell, director of development for the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service, at the event. "Kendall is a giver and a doer. He gives freely of his time, expertise, talents and wealth. When he gives, he challenges and inspires others to do the same. There is neither a goal too high nor an achievement too lofty for him. He digs in and takes charge, and his energy, enthusiasm and commitment are contagious to those around him."
Hill is a co-owner of Kinston-based Tull Hill Farms, a progressive and diversified operation of more than 4,500 acres, producing a wide variety of crops. He is a member of the North Carolina Vegetable Growers Association Hall of Fame and was named a Distinguished Alumnus of NC State's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Hill serves as president of the North Carolina Agricultural Business Council, on the Executive Committee of the North Carolina Agricultural Foundation and the North Carolina Agricultural and Life Sciences Research Foundation, and is a past member of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service Foundation. He has served six terms on the board of the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission, including four terms as president, and served as the state's representative to the U.S. Sweet Potato Commission. He initiated and supported pioneering research such as the micropropagation program for sweet potatoes, and was instrumental in the creation of the college's Specialty Crops Program.
Hill remains an active participant in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences on-farm field trials, field days and conferences and also provides input for the direction of the college's research and extension programs.
Richard Linton, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said, "I have discovered that Kendall Hill does not know the meaning of the word 'no.' He never turns down a call to action from his alma mater. He has a determined and loyal spirit, and we are very grateful for his outstanding service."


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The recent slew of WW1 tanks gave it away but Osprey have just officially announced a publication date for Bolt Action WW1 rules of a year from now. This is exciting because the Warhammer Historical WW1 rules were a dead end. I am hoping that four years of WW1 coverage in the media and significant anniversaries will make the period a popular one so that we get rules and scenarios for things like WW1 in East Africa which, with the early war period is what I am most interested in.
Thursday, 4 September 2014
Monday, 23 June 2014
Mutton Chop WW1 Two different sizes!
New (left) old (right)
If there is one thing I hate about wargames ranges it's the variance in scale you often get in 28mm figures. For example, a few years ago I bought some Perry ECW figures having got lots of Renegade ones and they didn't match at all. I can't understand these people who say well people are different heights so it doesn't matter. It matters to me!
Now I have got used to different scale (which is, after all, what they are) figures between different manufacturers but when the figures are different sizes within a range I get really annoyed. Yes, Warlord Games and your Romans and AW Miniatures Indian Mutiny figures spring to mind. This is usually the result of using different sculptors. However, what is the excuse for figures in the same range, by the same manufacturer and sculpted by the same sculptor being different sizes?
This is exactly what has happened with Mutton Chop Miniatures WW1 range by Paul Hicks. I ordered the first two packs of British and very nice they were too. Tall enough to be used with my Renegade figures without too much problem. When I saw that there were two more packs on sale I ordered them only to find that they are much smaller than the first two packs. In particular, the legs seem shorter and slimmer and the heads and hats are smaller on the new ones. A difference in 2-3mm foot to eye I reckon. Now why would this happen? Fortunately the rifles are the same size and the packs nearly so but, still, how annoying. They offend my artistic sensibilities!
Posted by legatus hedlius at 17:32 No comments:
Labels: BEF, Early War, Western Front: British
Friday, 4 April 2014
Quick comparison: Renegade v Mutton Chop WW1
I'll do a proper review another time but here, in the centre, is one of the new Mutton Chop British by Paul Hicks. Either side we have a Renegade Lowland Scot and a Renegade German.
I wouldn't mix them in the same unit but I have a lot of painted Renegade Germans and I would be happy to field the Mutton Chop British against them. They are much slighter (look at the legs for example) with more in-scale rifles and the thicker bases on the Renegade figures make the latter seem taller.
Posted by legatus hedlius at 08:06 No comments:
Labels: early war British
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Something for the weekend...
Here, from Club International, June 1975, is an unusual illustration of the equipment of a French infantryman of the 5eme regiment from 1914.
Both figures wear the traditional madder and dark blue kepi and collar, complete with regimental number. Both also wear the blue cummerbund which was soon dropped from service although the 5th did wear it at the Battle of the Marne.
The figure on the left is wearing the standard infantry marching equipment. The pack (havresac M1893) was made from canvas over a wooden frame. It was waterproofed through the application of an astiquage; a process that was so messy and unpleasant it was actually used as a punishment. Above the blanket is the gamelle individuelle, mess tin. To the sides of the pack are spare boots and tent poles and on the back is the boiler (marmite pour quatre hommes). Slung from the left shoulder is the bidon or waterbottle with a tin cup attached.
The figure on the left demonstrates the bayonet frog, entrenching tool and the standard musette or haversack.
Both figures are armed with the 8mm M1886 M93 rifle, a somewhat transitional weapon which, although it carried on in service well into World War 2, was basically already out of date in 1914 because of the eight round tubular feed device which was clumsy and difficult to load.
If only more military equipment illustrations were like this rather than the above!
Posted by legatus hedlius at 09:45 1 comment:
Labels: Early War French, Equipment
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Canadian National War Memorial, Ottawa
The memorial in Confederation Square
I was in Ottawa last week and was very taken by their splendid National War Memorial, which is in Confederation Square, just in front of my hotel.
Confederation Square from my hotel room
A contest to design a memorial commemorating the dead of the Great War was announced in 1925. The winner, who was announced in January 1926, was Hull-born Vernon March (1891-1930) based in Farnborough in Surrey (not that far from where I live!) who beat off 126 other entries. His design showed the response of Canada to the war (hence the monument's alternative name: The Response). Work began in 1926 but March never lived to see its completion, dying of pneumonia in 1930. His six brothers and sister worked to complete the sculpture.
The unveiling of the monument by King George VI
The figures, which use 32 tons of bronze, were finished in 1932 and disolayed in Hyde Park for a while. They were shipped to Canada in 1937 where the granite arch was constructed and the whole monument was finally dedicated by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on May 21 1939 in a visit which marked, surprisingly, the first time the reigning monarch had visited Canada.
The cenotaph itself is granite and contains 22 figures representing servicemen from all branches of the armed forces. On top of the monument stand two 17'6" figures representing freedom and peace.
HMCS Stadacona
The figures in the main part of the monument are 7'10" tall and represent infantry, a pilot, an air mechanic, a sailor (from the patrol ship HMCS Stadacona) and support services such as nurses, a stretcher bearer, a sapper and members of the Canadian Corps of Signals, The Forestry Corps and the Army Service Corps. The two mounted figures represent a mounted artilleryman and a cavalryman.
At the left a Lewis gunner and at the right a Highlander with a Vickers gun
A particularly splendid example of a war memorial and it gives me the urge to paint up some of my late war infantry as Canadians.
In 1982 inscriptions relating to World War 2 and the Korean War were added and in 2000 the tomb of the unknown soldier was placed in front of it.
At the rear of the statue you can see one of the nurses and an 18 pounder gun
Posted by legatus hedlius at 17:07 2 comments:
Monday, 7 September 2009
Officers and Soldiers of the French Army 1914: Andre Joineau
I just picked up this superb visual reference (there isn't a lot of text) which has made me very keen to paint some French Infantry for the early war period. this surely must be the most spectacular army of the Great War and I just hope that Great War Miniatures will get around to some of the exotica like the Spahis and Algerian Tirailleurs.
I painted some of the Renegade figures a couple of years ago and really liked them. I find the Great War Miniatures figures a bit small in comaprison but this leaves me with a dilemma. GWM are much more likely to expand their range than Renegade but I have painted a dozen or so Renegade figures (although they will all need re-doing, I suspect). Any Renegade figures I have won't go with the GWM figures. I suppose it won't be too bad if I keep them in seperate units.
Posted by legatus hedlius at 21:32 1 comment:
Labels: Early War French, Sources
Monday, 8 June 2009
German Guards Company 1914
I have just finished re-painting the last platoon of my Guards company; so here they are: 36 figures with 3 command. I am still not sure whether to field a Guards Battalion or a normal Infantry Battalion. Guards are much more expensive so it may be better to have them be the divisional support of a normal infantry battalion. If I do this I will have to paint two companies of normal infantry to field them (then two more in order to be able to field a cavalry unit).
I also have a platoon of Jaegers finished so I think I better do some opponents. I was thinking of doing some Great War Miniatures British but as I don't think I will use my already painted Renegade figures I would have to start from scratch. Also I have some late war British under way so maybe I will repaint my French, as I have a dozen or so done but they are in too bright a blue. The Renegade French are really nice figures and I like them better than the Great War Miniatures which suffer from big head syndrome.
Posted by legatus hedlius at 22:27 1 comment:
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What does it do? This was Katie's first glimpse of a sewing machine.She really had no idea what it was or what it did!
Early yesterday morning, inspired by this darling dress on Shel's Needleworks, I decided to try again to learn to sew. First, I had to find the sewing machine, a gift from my husband on our first anniversary (I had grand sewing plans back then). That took us about twenty minutes. After unearthing it from its basement hiding place, we dusted it. I quickly found the manual and we discovered that it does indeed work! Mary Beth and I took a few practice runs on some scrap fabric, fixed a maternity top, and agreed to go to the fabric store this week. Oh, and we might need to move our Mary Altar; it sits atop my mother's sewing machine cabinet. I thought the furniture made a lovely table but perhaps I should actually use it for its intended purpose. It wouldn't take me so long to find the sewing machine.


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JIM LEHRER: Margaret Warner talked with Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson last week, beginning with why so much of the legal proceedings have been conducted in secret.
LARRY THOMPSON: Nothing that we have been done has been enacted in secrecy. Every measure that we have undertaken is out in the open. Every measure that we have undertaken has had the sunlight of public attention. And almost all measures are not done unilaterally by members of the Department of Justice. These measures are subject to judicial review by judges and other judicial officers.
MARGARET WARNER: But let me just ask you for instance, the chief immigration judge, who just explained to our viewers also is part of the Department of Justice, Michael Creppi, issued an order saying, and I'll just read it to you, that these hearings, these deportation hearings, were to be held in secret, "no visitors, no family, no press, not even confirming whether it's on the docket."
LARRY THOMPSON: The only thing that has been secret, if you will, has been the list of the individuals and the actual hearing itself. But the fact that an individual was taken into custody, the fact that he or she was in a particular detention facility, that was open to the public, if you will, to their friends, to their relatives, they could make phone calls.
This was not done in the dark of night. People do not disappear in this country and we have really not done anything in secret, if you will. The actual administration of justice with respect to some of these cases was done, what we call in camera, because of national security and other concerns, and even that has been subject to judicial review, but nothing has been done in secret.


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When you're feeling overwhelmed by life (cuz let's face it, we all have our moments – including me), it's time to re-assess and get back to the basics. My philosophy on achieving your best life is rooted in self-care. For me that looks like:
Whenever I neglect these 4 areas – Home, Food, Faith, Finances – I have officially boarded the struggle bus. If you can relate, Sis, it's time to get off of the struggle bus!


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Delivering smart, sustainable energy solutions
Published: Oct 12, 2017
Author: Justin Blair
There's no question that the Internet of Things (IoT) will transform the energy and utilities industry—that's already happening. IoT is playing a central role in the modernization of the energy sector—perhaps more than in any other industry.
IoT promises immense benefits for the energy and utilities industry. Companies are already using IoT sensors and integrated energy platforms to improve their resource management, strengthen security, address compliance and, most importantly, to deliver great customer experiences..
Customers are taking the power back
Today's customers aren't used to waiting. They can shop online and have their products delivered the same day. Consumers are growing accustomed to fast, engaging and digitally rich experiences from all of the brands they interact with. So it's no surprise that they're starting to expect the same from their energy and utilities providers.
And it's not just about speed and convenience—customer empowerment matters too. Customers don't just want to keep the lights on and take hot showers. They want a current view of their energy and water consumption, so they can control their usage and spending, and do their part to reduce environmental impact. They're actively comparing their utilities experiences across digital channels, and they're not afraid to share their negative experiences on social media. And if they aren't happy, they can easily switch providers online.
These changing demands mean it's more crucial than ever for energy and utilities companies to adopt customer-centric strategies. And IoT technology is a critical enabler for delivering enhanced customer experiences.
Enhancing the customer experience
Enterprises have a great opportunity to respond to customer demands by leveraging IoT sensors. These can be used to gather a wealth of data about supply and demand, grid capacity and customer usage habits. And this information can be used to dramatically enhance the customer experience.
Smart meters enable energy providers to identify many service problems online. This means that service disruptions can often be resolved without the customer picking up the phone, or having to book a service technician. Smart meters also provide access to near-real-time consumption data. Customers can plan to reduce their energy usage during peak times, and receive discounts or dividends for doing so. Usage-based rates provide a great incentive for customers to reduce their own consumption and save money. Offering these programs can help you to attract and retain value-conscious customers, and gain the edge in this competitive industry.
These benefits don't just apply to energy. Water companies are quickly making progress. Smart water meters can help you to generate accurate bills, while also empowering customers to monitor and reduce their own daily water consumption levels. By digitally detecting pipeline problems and leakages, irrigation problems can be quickly identified and fixed. This has obvious benefits for the customer, and the environment and community, as it helps reduce water wastage.
With climate change a growing issue and predicted increases in droughts and water shortages, IoT technology will play an increasingly important role in sustainable water management. Playing your part can improve your brand image and help your company thrive.
Getting the most from IoT solutions
To make a real success of IoT, there are two crucial factors to consider.
Network connectivity
Firstly, you'll need reliable and far-reaching network connectivity. That means working with partners that have the experience and connections you can depend on, while also leveraging the latest technology. If your company is relying on thousands of IoT sensors—and especially if those sensors are buried in the ground or hard to access—battery life is an important consideration. The latest low-power wide area network (LP-WAN) options, like LTE Cat-M1, enable you to connect thousands of disparate sensors while helping sustain battery life—and do so cost-effectively.
Secondly, you need to have robust security controls in place to protect your IoT systems. Energy and utilities services are maintaining critical infrastructure. Citizens rely on power and water in their everyday lives, and a severe cyberattack or outage could have serious consequences. There's also the vast amount of customer data your IoT systems will gather—customers trust you to keep this information safe, and a data breach could damage your reputation. But security shouldn't be perceived as a barrier to adoption. With the help of a trusted partner, and the latest security controls in place, you can design and build a resilient IoT system.
The energies and utilities industry is entering a very exciting phase. IoT technology is set to revolutionize the entire sector—leading to increased efficiency, enhanced customer experiences and greater sustainability. To find out more, and network with those at the forefront of this technology, come and see us in Texas, October 16–17, at Itron Utility Week.
Justin Blair is an Executive Director on the Business Products team at Verizon, in the Global Products and Solutions organization. Specifically, he leads product management for the Internet of Things (IoT) and Wireless Business products. Justin is also responsible for Verizon's IoT business development efforts, including relationships with relevant OEMs and carriers globally.


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Gallifrey Stands -Ep251- Series 11 Look Back - Part 1
Nicola joins Squee & Dottie to talk about the first half of series 11 of Doctor Who. Our love of the series opener and Rosa, our 'meh' at Arachnids in the UK and everything in between.
Listen to us every Thursday in podcast form or every Friday on http://kryptonradio.com/ at 11am
& Midnight BST (UK) / 3am and 4pm Pacific time (US). Other time zones are available!
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Tropical Rainforest
The Hana Highway is the longest highway thru a rainforest in the USA.
Keanae Peninsula
This peninsula juts out into the north pacific boldly standing against the crashing waves.
Beautiful Maui Waterfalls
There many waterfalls all along the road to Hana. Some of the most picturesque are found after Hana.
Waianapanapa State Park
Incredible black sand beach, caves, blowhole, pools and so much more.
Wailua Overlook
The Wailua valley just a little past Keanae is viewed from this cliffside wayside.
Hana Town & Bay
The town situated on Hana Bay where the community gathers for fishing, surfing and canoeing events.
Hana Flower Gardens
Hana is known worldwide for beautiful tropical flower. One of our stops is a Hana flower farm.
Classic Hana Picnic
Relax over a wonderful picnic lunch at one the many beautiful locations in and around Hana. No paper plates or wraps here.
Palapala Ho'omau
This tiny place within Kipahulu contains the grave of Charles Lindbergh and a variety of other anomalies you need to see to believe.
Custom Cruisers
Our custom 12 passenger vans are built for the road to Hāna with great shocks, brakes, and elevated seats. The most comfortable, safest and best view on the Hana highway.
See More Places
Visit all areas around Haleakala with stops in Kaupo, Kanaio, Kipahulu and all over the back side of Maui.


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Winans Imaginative designs and manufacturers Tyes™, which are bi-colored shoelaces (two color shoelaces). With two colors it makes learning shoe tying easier while reinforcing color recognition. One half of the Tye is one color, the other half is a different color. This helps teach kids to tie their shoes because instead of saying "this loop goes this way and that loop goes over there" you simply say (assuming you pick red and navy blue) "hold the red loop up and take the navy blue and go around the red loop".
They also make a unique gift for kids and adults alike! With spring sports underway, order some to support your local team colors! We have many NCAA and PRO colors available right now. Many sizes can be same day shipping.
Order your Tyes in your favorite sports teams colors! We can customize almost any color.
Sign up to receive emails when new products are available or if you'd like to receive news on special offers.


text: US / Ronni Chasen Publicist Murder Suspect Kills Self Suspect shot himself after police arrived at Hollywood hotel By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff Posted Dec 1, 2010 11:04 PM CST Copied Mourners leave Ronni Chasen's funeral in Los Angeles last month. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond) View 1 more image (Newser) – A suspect in the murder of publicist Ronni Chasen killed himself as police served a search warrant at a Hollywood apartment house. The suspect—whose name and exact connection to the killing haven't been disclosed—pulled out a pistol and shot himself in the head when confronted by police in the lobby of the apartment complex, Beverly Hills police sources tell the Los Angeles Times. Chasen was shot dead inside her Mercedes-Benz last month as she drove home from the premiere of Burlesque. (Read more Ronni Chasen stories.) View 1 more image


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Almost three years ago, I used money and gift cards I got for Christmas to buy an embroidery machine. It took me two and a half years to finally plug it in and learn how to use it! Ridiculous, I know.
Now that I know how to use it, I embroider everything in sight! (I have a Brother HE1 Embroidery Machine.)
The cake design I used for the onesie Harlow wore on her actual birthday and on the onesie she wore to her party is from Planet Applique (click HERE to get 20% off). The number 1 on her birthday onesie was traced, cut, and sewn on with my sewing machine. The font on her birthday and party onesies were fonts stored in my embroidery machine.
Her shorts were inspired by this link I found on Pinterest. The fabric is from Hobby Lobby, and my mom altered a bloomers pattern to make the shorts.
Harlow's actual birthday fell on a Wednesday, and her party was on Saturday so all of our family could celebrate with us.
On Wednesday Colin and I took Harlow to a pumpkin patch. I embroidered the pumpkin design on a piece of fabric, cut the fabric into a circle, then stitched it on the onesie with my sewing machine. I wanted to be able to use a seam ripper to remove the pumpkin design circle and use it on shirts in the future (hence why I didn't embroider it directly on the onesie).
The pumpkin design was a free appliqué from Lynnie Pinnie. I used a font file that I had to monogram the H.
If you embroider, PLEASE leave me a comment with your favorite embroidery websites and software! I'm still so new to this; I could use all the help I can get!
Here are a couple other embroidery sites I like:
Here's a bonus embroidery project…
I had a shirt with an owl on the front and turned it into a pillow. I cut the owl design off the shirt, embroidered Harlow's name on it, sewed it into a pillow, and stuffed it with fiberfill. This was literally the second thing I ever embroidered. I told you I want to embroider everything!


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Sunder Singh
Sunder Singh is the Global Head of TCS' Oracle Practice. He is a proven global business leader with a reputation for bringing new innovations to clients that drive results. He has a passion for identifying future technologies, including cloud, big data, and Internet of Things, and investing in them ahead of the curve to advance his team's technical prowess and to benefit customers.
- Posts: 2
- Since:
- Website: http://www.tcs.com


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The Seren 7 delivers versatility and affordability by way of its Shimano 7-speed drivetrain paired with a convenient Shimano twist shifter aboard its slight rise bar. Like the Seren 3, the Seren 7 is designed with the modern-day advantage of 6000-series rust- and worry-free aluminum. Rolling along on 700c tires and rims built with 14g stainless steel spokes, the Ora 7 is finished with full coverage fenders, chain guard, and a color matched rear carrier – all standard. "Seren" comes from the word serendipity which in short means the act of finding something valuable or delightful when you are not looking for it - sound familiar?
- Lightweight D-Street 6061-aluminum frame with classic comfort geometry
- Sturdy rigid hi-ten comfort fork
- Shimano Tourney 7-speed drivetrain with Revo twist shifter
- Alloy stem and lightweight comfortable handlebars
- Custom D Street Comfort Retro saddle with matching grips
- Lightweight 32-hole alloy wheelset with doublewall rims
- Custom D Street full-coverage fenders and chain guard
- Color-matched rack
Part Numbers
|Coralesque / Medium/Large


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Kaan Apak ALTINTOP
Kaan Apak Altıntop, Vice President and Board Member of İMDAT Association. He has been working as a lawyer for 6 years. He works in the fields of criminal law, IT law, children's rights and grooming. He is currently doing a PhD in Public Law at Kocaeli University. He's also Vice President of Marmara Law Association.
Member of Turkish Criminal Law Association and Forensic Informatics Association.
Hande YAVUZ
She was graduated from Yeditepe University Faculty of law in 2017.Completed her summer intern in Doğan Holding A.Ş.She has certificates concerning communication techniques for kids and women exposed to violence.
Currently she is working as attorney at law.
Cem TURHAN
Cem Turhan was graduated from St. Michel French High Schoolin 1989, then he graduated from Istanbul Technical University Department of Metalurgical Engineering in 1994. He is a board member of IMDAT Association.
Taner GÜVEN
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Taner Güven graduated school of Medicine of Uludağ University in 1998. He received his specialization in 2003 from Forensic Medicine Institute. He graduated from Healthcare Management Masters Degree in 2009. He has been deputy chief physician at İstanbul Bilim University European Florence Nightingale Hospital since 2011. He is also board member of IMDAT Association.
Jacky Sema Pezukoğlu is a retired English teacher and coordinator of EU project REACHOUT. Her field of concern is child abuse in Tourism.
She is board member of IMDAT Association.
Salih Haydar GÜNLER
Salih Haydar Günler graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 2016. In the same year, he started his lawyer practice in an İstanbul based law firm. In 2017, he completed his lawyer internship and started his postgraduate education with thesis in Istanbul University Social Sciences Institute in private law.
He started to work at MEF University in 2017 and he is still pursuing his postgraduate education.
Seda PALANDUZ
Seda Palanduz graduated from Galatasaray University Faculty of Law in 2013 as the class valedictorian. She received her LL.M. from Yale Law School in 2016. She also received a second LL.M. degree on private law from Galatasaray University in 2017 with the thesis on "Squeeze-out of minority shareholders in public companies". She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree on private law at Galatasaray University. Seda Palanduz worked as a research assistant at Özyeğin University Faculty of Law in the 2013 Fall semester. She joined MEF University Faculty of Law in 2014 as a research assistant in the Commercial Law Department. She currently pursues a PhD in private law at Galatasaray University Social Sciences Institute.
Ece ALPAY
Ece Alpay graduated from Uskudar American Academy in 2010. She earned her LL.B. from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 2014. Then, she enrolled in Istanbul University Private Law Master's Program. During the first year of her Master's she completed her legal internship and got admitted to Istanbul Bar Association. She received her LL.M. from Istanbul University in 2018 with the thesis on "The Principle of Orality in English and Turkish Civil Procedure Law". She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree on private law at Galatasaray University.
She joined MEF University Faculty of Law in January 2017 as a research assistant in the Civil Procedure and Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law Department.
Sercan ÇAVUŞOĞLU
Sercan Cavusoglu graduated from Galatasaray University, Faculty of Law in 2016. He studied for a semester at Montpellier University in France as an Erasmus exchange student. He worked at a law firm as a legal intern for a year and completed his legal internship in September 2017. He currently pursues his LL.M. degree on private law at Marmara University. He joined MEF University Faculty of Law in October 2017 as a research assistant in the Private International Law Department


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Nathan Schneider, who wrote a balanced profile of Dr. Craig for the Chronicle of Higher Education a few weeks back, has written an even more in-depth profile of Christianity's ablest defender.
Here's the introduction:
Nobody—or just about nobody, depending on whom you ask—beats William Lane Craig in a debate about the existence of God, or the resurrection of Jesus, or any topic of that sort. During their debate at Notre Dame in April of last year, New Atheist author Sam Harris referred to Craig as "the one Christian apologist who seems to have put the fear of God into many of my fellow atheists."
Over the course of working on my book about how people search for proof of God's existence, I had the chance to spend a generous amount of time with Craig, both in the Atlanta area where he lives and at Biola University, an evangelical school on the outskirts of Los Angeles, where he teaches a few weeks out of the year. For the book, I've gotten to write about ideas like his "kalam cosmological argument," one of the most-cited ideas of its generation in philosophy of religion, which fuses medieval Muslims with modern cosmology. I also tell of his entrepreneurial savvy in turning the Evangelical Philosophical Society into an academic organization that moonlights as a slick-as-a-banana apologetics platform for changing hearts like yours and mine. But none of that quite captures the man's role as a sage and exemplar, in which he renders something like the upbuilding service Oprah provides to home-bound American women, except that his acolytes are the precocious set among conservative, evangelical, young-adult males. He makes me almost wish I were that kind of conservative evangelical myself—which is, to him, the point.
Craig dresses impeccably and professorially, often with a buttoned shirt and a patterned blazer, sweater, or sweater-vest. His dimples hint at a basic innocence that can be startling when it pokes through the frontage of logic. I find in Craig the decency associated with an era I am too young to be nostalgic for, and which I've been taught to imagine was imperialistic, sexist, homophobic, narrow-minded, or otherwise regressive. His rationalizations of certain parts of the Hebrew Bible can sound like he's okay with genocide. Yet none of these accusations quite sticks to him; none is even comprehensible in the cosmic snow-globe within which he expertly thinks his way through life, whose sole and constant storyline is bringing more and more souls to a saving knowledge of the one true Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I live in a different snow-globe from Craig's. Nevertheless, I've gained a lot from the lessons I learned with him, and from his carefully crafted advice, and from his answers to my questions. ("I may not answer, but you can ask!" he once warned.) They've improved my productivity, and my relationship with loved ones, and my physical fitness. It would be selfish if I did not pass some of these lessons on, in synthesized and practicable form, to you.
The article covers 7 points about Dr. Craig:
- Do Everything Like It's a Ministry
- Make a Covenant with Your Wife
- Organize the Day
- Turn Weakness into Strength
- Be Prepared
- Remember That Time Is Everything—and Nothing
- Love God and Authority
And here's one that I found fascinating, being single myself:
3. Organize the Day
There was a time, says Craig, when he began to worry he was losing his knack for philosophy. "Honey," he remembers telling Jan, "I don't know what's the matter with me. I just can't seem to concentrate anymore. I used to be able to study all day long, and there was no problem, and now I find I just can't concentrate anymore. My mind wanders, and I'm tired." He was tempted to despair.
"No, no, don't be ridiculous!" she told him. "You just need to organize your day."
As usual, she was right. She put him on a new schedule: starting the workday with the hardest philosophical work in the morning, then lighter material, like his writing for popular audiences, after lunch. He doesn't look at his email until late afternoon, "when my brain is really fried." (For fear of being bombarded with mail, he doesn't even share his email address with his graduate students.) Soon after trying this regime, he regained his philosophical powers completely.
The couple's life together, at home in the suburbs of Atlanta, is a picture of (a certain kind of) teamwork. Craig wakes up each morning at 5:30, and begins the day with devotional time, reading from the Church Fathers and the New Testament in Greek, and then he prays for the spread of the gospel in some benighted part of the world, with the help of the Operation World handbook. Soon, Jan is up. They have coffee together (which he dislikes, but recommends for the health and social benefits), after which he goes down to the weight room for an hour of exercise. By the time he reemerges, she has a hot breakfast ready and waiting—sometimes as elaborate, he says, as ham and eggs and pumpkin waffles with whipped cream and strawberries. ("She's a fabulous cook.") He'll return downstairs for an intensive morning of scholarship, and reemerge for the hot lunch Jan has prepared. Then, he's back downstairs for the lighter work of the afternoon, culminating in emails, which he responds to in longhand and she has often been the one to type out and send, since his rare neuromuscular disease—more on that in a moment—renders him unable to type. Between meals and typing sessions, Jan plays the stock market. Before long dinner is ready, and they eat, and spend the evening together, watching TV and drinking red wine (which he also dislikes, but also recommends for the health and social benefits).
"She's not an intellectual herself," Craig says of his wife, "but she appreciates the value of what I do, and that's what matters." One would hope that this is true, because she has typed out all of his papers, books, and both doctoral dissertations. Would that we all had such devoted help, though it may be untenable in the present economic climate for those scholars among us unable to garner five-figure speaking fees. We can at least hold off on our email for a few hours—which I have since done, to enormous benefit.
It's very interesting to read this because it's got lots of positive and negative points. On the one hand, he finds Dr. Craig's conservative beliefs and exclusive positions difficult to accept. On the other hand, he has to admit that Dr. Craig really believes what he says he believes, and he's very good at persuading others. He's done his homework. I think the biggest problem that a person has with accepting Christianity is re-orienting the will. Another big problem is being willing to be disapproved of by non-Christians. Even if they can't beat you, the pressure to compromise and please others makes many people shy away from Christianity.
This new profile of Dr. Craig is getting tons of likes and shares on Facebook, so give it a look. Be sure and share it on Facebook and tweet it, too.
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