text:
Photo: The Last Billboard
An art installation called The Last Billboard that sat atop the Werner Building in East Liberty for years. It was censored last month and remains blank. Eve Picker, the CEO of we do property management, the building owner, ordered the removal of a message that was allegedly deemed offensive by unidentified community members.
Much has been written about the incident by Damon Young of Very Smart Brothas, Tony Norman of the Post-Gazette, halushki of Enright Park Association, and Grant Oliphant of the Heinz Endowments. Artist Alisha Wormsley, who asserted that she does not own the censored words, affirmed her inspiration for the piece, and her feelings about both its removal and the community's response in this statement. While I have little to add to the discussion about the harm done by this act of censorship, I can provide some additional context for it.
The following piece is about controlling the narrative about East Liberty, and by extension, any neighborhood where money is to be made through real estate, and where controlling land is only half the battle. Landowners must also control the ideas and perceptions about a place, and they do so through branding ("Eastside"), imagery (renderings in vacant storefront windows), and compliant media outlets (too many to name). Landowners are aware of the threats to that narrative (The Last Billboard).
Although I open and close with Picker, this piece is not about her. Picker is but a thread that reaches back more than a decade into the systematic rewriting of Pittsburgh's history and the branding of its future. This piece is merely the outcome of pulling that thread. Despite knowing Picker for a long time, I don't know her well, and I chose not to reach out to her for this story. This is merely a thought-piece, unsuitable for citations in PhD dissertations, public testimony, or threatening fliers stapled to telephone poles.
As one who knows the power of community narratives, and the rewards for those who control them, Picker remains a central figure. But she's not alone.
Images like this one cover the windows of vacant storefronts in East Liberty. Photo: Downstream
In the Beginning
Fifteen years ago I sat across a table from Eve Picker and the creators of Model D Media, an online publication based in Detroit. An idea that Picker had been kicking around began to crystallize—creating a platform to tell positive stories about Pittsburgh neighborhoods—and was on a brainstorming tour, making stops with various organizations and people to which the idea might appeal.
It appealed to me. Before long I was a subscriber to this online thing called "Pop City Media" that, with its blend of arts, culture and development news, was unlike anything I'd seen prior to 2006. Picker, best known up until then as a high-risk developer of buildings that no one else would touch, became Pittsburgh's most significant content creator seemingly overnight.
"Pop City Media posed a long-lasting challenge, perhaps a threat, to the local news establishment."
Picker's status as a fixture in Pittsburgh news lasted for a decade or so, culminating with her Tiny House in Garfield. The house was tiny, but its mishaps (mostly on the public sector side) were not, and the project was generally regarded as a bust. The Tiny House concept in other cities has served as a means to create affordable housing, and Picker was the first to give it a go locally. Soon after, Picker kept a low profile.
Until she did that thing. That bad thing.
The bot from Greenland that follows me will surely wonder, What bad thing? Well, bot… An art installation called "The Last Billboard," which sits atop an East Liberty building owned by Picker's real estate company, read: There are Black People in the Future. In response to alleged, unidentified complaints, Picker, citing a never previously evoked clause in the lease with the curator of the installation, ordered its removal. So, bot, of all the many troubling things that happen in East Liberty, this one was of the censorship variety.
Many neighborhood-serving businesses in East Liberty are vacant or closing. Photo: Downstream
Challenging the Establishment
It may be difficult for young Pittsburghers and newcomers to the city to grasp how radical of an idea Pop City Media was early on. (If you think "Eastside" is a neighborhood and not merely a geographically-based corporate brand, then that includes you.) Then, the city's doom-soaked newspapers peddled violence, blight, abandonment, and anything else that fed our city's collective low-esteem, and our seemingly unquenchable thirst for its validation.
Traditionally at times like these, Pittsburgh could always fall to the feet of its dark master: sports. Sadly, though, those were lean years for two of our three once-great teams, whose underperformance was rivaled only by our city's tax base. Much of the Pittsburgh citizenry remained on defense, willing to fight to the death to prove that, no matter what, we were better than Cleveland.
Yet there was a restlessness in certain quarters, especially among young people dissatisfied with a dearth of affordable, relaxed cultural events, and a nightlife that forced them to choose between drinking at a random person's apartment, and drinking on a "boardwalk" made from four moored river barges. There, partygoers could choose from various venues, some of which openly banned track suits, velour, brimmed hats, and Timberlands.
That pent-up energy began to flow, the cultural bleeding began to clot, and what emerged were the types of things that could only be described as Pittsburgh as fuck! GroundZero Action Network, Penn Avenue Arts Initiative, and the Shadow Lounge reshaped cultural norms and the ways in which we interacted with the built environment and each other.
"Few cared about the outsize influence that this revenue may have had on Pop City Media's content, ergo, its message."
Meanwhile, community-based organizations were multiplying throughout the city, many of which were organizing around community plans and reimagining business districts. It wasn't paradise, but many of us who were old enough to suffer the steel mills closing and Tequila Willie's opening felt that the city was starting to head in a better direction.
However, plenty were the signs—figuratively and literally—that we were wrong, and many of us can look back and pinpoint which portentous sign we failed to recognize. For me, it involved a charming Carson Street hybrid bar and coffee house called Tuscany. If you were looking for a place where you could write letters (with an actual pen on actual paper) to your future spouse, surrounded by dark wood wainscoting, while watching Queer as Folk with a hundred complete strangers, Tuscany was your spot. Upon leaving Tuscany, you stepped in sidewalk puke for the third time in as many visits, and ignorantly wrote it off as nothing more than a strange and unfortunate coincidence, again not seeing the signs (which, in this literal instance, was Nick's Fat City's rebirth as Diesel). And when you found Tuscany permanently closed and its sign gone, you were so outraged that you failed to make proper meaning of its successor's new prophetic sign that read Finn McCool's.
A major transition was underway in Pittsburgh, and major transitions are difficult to recognize in the moment, especially for sluggish newspapers that, in the absence of competition, made their mint from subscribers who craved daily doses of failing urbanity, a precursor to what would later become known as ruin porn. (Ok, fine, there was also international news, sports, coupons, and the funnies.) In their attempts to make sense of this transition, it was evident to many that the news producers didn't "get" the news makers.
But Picker got it. And by getting it, Pop City Media posed a long-lasting challenge, perhaps a threat, to the local news establishment. While the newspapers were fumbling around in a dark closet like teenagers who lost a round of spin the bottle, Pop City found the light switch. Picker turned its management over to editor Tracy Certo, whose writers produced compelling stories that showcased the collaborative, creative spirit found throughout Pittsburgh neighborhoods.
Picker returned to running real estate companies with no capital letters. no wall productions and we do property management developed and managed various buildings downtown and elsewhere. Picker's downtown properties, such as 421 Firstside, the Bruno Building, and 930 Penn Avenue, were leased to a variety of commercial and residential tenants, including fierce gladiators such as Georges Laraque, Gary Roberts, and the American Institute of Architects. The latter published Columns, a monthly architectural magazine edited by Certo prior to her jump to Pop City.
Picker's real estate migrated eastward over time, including the Strip District's Brake House Lofts and Bloomfield's LUNA Lofts, and all the way to East Liberty. we do redeveloped the Liberty Bank Building on Penn Avenue (which was acquired for $1,000), where East Liberty Development, Inc. (ELDI) was a tenant; and acquired the Werner Building, later home to the Waffle Shop, Shadow Lounge, Conflict Kitchen, Livermore, and The Last Billboard.
"Communities awake each day to find that another vital organ has been harvested in the night."
Flourishing under Certo's management, Pop City Media brought in more than 150,000 visitors per month in 2009. With startup funding of $200,000, it attracted additional investment from the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, while charging upwards of $40,000 for site advertisements, many of which were placed by real estate development companies.
In what may have been another missed sign, few cared about the outsize influence that this revenue may have had on Pop City Media's content, ergo, its message. Perhaps it was the combined effects of coming out of the Great Recession and, for some of us, still having a lingering Obama buzz going, we didn't see the sign that read: There are $4,500/month Apartments in the Future.
Pop City Media (not be confused with the Pop City Pittsburgh Facebook group, a separate but related successor) is now defunct. Prior to her departure, Certo penned a farewell letter that included some clues for what her next venture would be, the theme of which was a new endeavor focused on (paraphrasing): Those who were taking Pittsburgh to the "next level."
Somewhere in Lawrenceville, a certain citizen was delighted by this news. This citizen had for some time been making the rounds, picking brains, and conceptualizing that very thing. Finally! Someone with actual publishing creds and a solid grip on punctuation is going to take this on and shine some light in all of Pittsburgh's darkest corners…Our segregated neighborhoods…the racial school achievement gap…dubious bus service…poor air quality…inexplicably expensive rents all of sudden. His mind raced… An editorial board made from some of Pittsburgh's best minds penning opinion pieces that matter…that will get us to that next level…that will use proper ellipses.
Above the Fold
NEXTpittsburgh was launched in March 2014, and under Certo's stewardship, is now read by nearly a quarter-million people each month, according to its website. NEXT is a nicely designed, multilayered, largely utilitarian site that aims to "publish stories with impact, focused on the cool people, projects and places taking Pittsburgh to the next level."
Hard to argue with that, as our opinions likely differ on the meaning of cool, but it's the impact that deserves our attention now. To its credit, NEXT is the only publication I'm aware of that covered the Last Billboard controversy and included all of the following in their entirety: Wormsley's Instagram statement; Picker's email to Jon Rubin, the curator of the installation; Picker's two emails to NEXTpittsburgh; and a statement from ELDI. I consider that high impact.
Yet impact is best measured by the rule, not the exception, and NEXT leans towards celebrating the city's titillating cool factor through e-newsletters and Facebook entries for its 32,000 followers. NEXT is a tree that bears a lot of fruit, but we need to ask how high readers are asked to climb to get it.
"Controlling that narrative is a major battleground in the future of East Liberty."
In the spirit of the times, Pop City Media's against the grain stories were more the rule than the exception. If NEXT's with the grain stories seem low-risk and calculated by comparison, the question then becomes, for what purpose and to what end?
Take, for example, Eastside Bond, a luxury apartment complex with more than 300 high-priced units. NEXT's articles about Bond and the broader Eastside development celebrated high design and amenities, such as dog-washing stations, stone countertops and fire pits, while leaving a lot of fruit, higher and harder to reach, to rot on the branches. NEXT emphasized a $70 million loan from Huntington Bank as the project's financial cornerstone, but neither quantified the project's public subsidies—federal, state and local—nor questioned the public benefits thereof. With units priced as high as $4,500 per month on the edge of a predominantly low-income neighborhood of color, NEXT did give voice to community planning—the developer's voice:
"We think we're doing development that will benefit everybody, but the devil's in the details," says Minnerly [Mark Minnerly of Mosites Construction and Development]. "So we're trying to make sure we're part of a balanced strategy, that we're doing pieces of what is a larger community plan."
As Pittsburgh began to change, Pop City Media's evolution and the emergence of NEXTpittsburgh were no longer the paradigm-shifting force of Pop City's early days, but more of a city rebranding campaign that continues to this day. There's no trace of malice in NEXTpittsburgh, and its devotion to the many things that make Pittsburgh great—job openings, personal profiles, family friendly events—seem nothing short of genuine.
Yet with millions of readers annually, stories about groundbreakings, new restaurants, and social events profoundly shape the image of this place. With celebrating the hip, the cool, and the newest-latest in a city on fire, comes a responsibility to acknowledge that fires don't burn on their own. In East Liberty, many people and businesses are running out of oxygen.
Unlike the days of urban renewal, communities today are not dealt knockout blows, but eroded like canyons by wind and rain—a vanquished community mural with the faces of black children over here, a shuttered discount clothing shop over there, and a censored billboard with the words "Black People" in between—and waking each day to discover that another vital organ has been harvested in the night. Because federal agencies are no longer able to single-handedly dictate the future of a place, twenty-first century renewal employs an ever-changing slate of partners, collaborators, and co-conspirators, some of whom are oblivious to their own conscription. But in the end we have to ask, what's the difference?
The media doesn't control the fate of East Liberty; but by fawning over certain elements and delivering backhanded compliments to others, its influence is significant. This is the same media that's currently loath to bear witness to what many perceive as the death of a community; the same media that was once all too eager to put the actual deaths of actual members of that community on the front page, above the fold.
It's the death by a thousand cuts, it's the nickel-and-diming that cities now use to conquer its stubbornly untamed urban areas, and it's up to all of us to point out every instance of baiting-and-switching, short-changing, and convenient-omitting wherever we find it.
Most of my readers are white. I'm talking to you.
Law of the Instrument
At an April 16 community meeting for the Penn Plaza redevelopment, audience member Celeste Scott talked about the need for community-controlled development. "I think this is just a testament to what happens when the developers control the narrative," she said. Scott's remarks pertained to housing, but are equally applicable to many facets of neighborhood development.
Controlling that narrative is major battleground in the future of East Liberty, and while the tone-deafness towards it has become pandemic, it was Wormsley's text on The Last Billboard that East Liberty Development, Inc. (ELDI) questioned as being possibly tone-deaf. As a non-profit developer, ELDI owns many pieces of this narrative, including a big one: the "successful" transformation of East Liberty can be attributed in large part to crime reduction.
"Telling good stories is good for business, especially the real estate business."
ELDI commissioned a crime study analysis by the consulting firm Numeritics, who released a report called, "East Liberty Crime Data Analysis," completed in 2013. The first sentence —"Within a span of five years, 2008 to 2012, overall crime in the residential area of East Liberty has decreased by 49%, and residential property prices have doubled" — establishes the narrative for the remaining 22 pages.
The report reads like a stiff crime-fighting story. The villain is the Slumlord, whose properties overwhelmingly contribute to neighborhood blight and disinvestment, and whose tenants are overwhelmingly responsible for neighborhood crime. The hero is ELDI, which has restored some order to East Liberty by targeting and acquiring approximately 200 properties that it later sold, rehabbed, or retained as rental units; and through property upkeep, increased police presence, and implementing rigorous tenant-screening practices. This is all according to the report, of course, which concludes by making a pitch for more funding to allow ELDI to further these efforts.
Numeritics was approached by ELDI to "examine the linkages between these developments and ELDI initiatives…[and was] tasked with providing plausible reasons that explain these developments; examining the degree to which ELDI was responsible for them and documenting the process by which these outcomes were achieved…"
Not surprisingly, this professionally prepared report does just that. To analyze and critique it fully would not only be time consuming, but would require a professional to do so (at a significant cost); without that, the report stands unchallenged, and is frequently cited as evidence that ELDI initiatives are working as intended, and the neighborhood is better off for it.
While the quality of the data is difficult to question, the essence of the report is not. It's purpose is to explain (if not rationalize) changes that have already occurred, not to evaluate or critique the methods used to bring about those changes, or its consequences. Opposing viewpoints, either statistical or anecdotal, are largely absent, except for a stated goal of correcting "misguided narratives" that persist in East Liberty. Of greater concern is the report's premise: "Crime is a real estate problem and therefore requires a real estate solution."
Let that sink in.
To claim that something as complicated as crime can be so neatly reduced to "a real estate problem" is breathtaking. To craft an analytical report around this declaration, when the solution has already been identified, is astounding. Surely ELDI's crime-reduction activities sprung from a solid foundation of facts, data and research?
"ELDI staff who live in or around East Liberty came to the realization that crime is a real estate problem and therefore requires a real estate solution," the report states.
The report then reveals the "hot spot" theory which states that neighborhood crime originates from a small number of properties, and policing or acquiring them has disproportionately large positive impacts on neighborhood safety. Though the theory is considered well-grounded, its purpose here is to justify ELDI's anecdotal hypothesis.
Not surprisingly, what follows focuses on real estate, and does not speak to the other underlying causes of blight and crime, namely poverty, and its root causes. Largely absent is that crime is also an employment problem; an education problem; a mental health problem; a substance abuse problem, etc. — problems that ELDI is less equipped to tackle. Because ELDI is primarily a real estate development company, this too closely resembles the "law of the instrument," an over-reliance on a single tool, that says if all you have is a hammer, you'll treat everything as a nail.
"The viewpoint of this report is clear: the desirability of a place is measured by investment and rising property values."
Another troubling aspect of the report can be found in the section titled, "The Theoretical Basis for the Intervention Strategies." Here the authors write, "In explaining the successes that ELDI has had in the revitalization of East Liberty, we look to a number of evidence-based theories that are relevant to that transformation." Two pages later, "Last but not the least is the Broken Windows theory (Kelling & Wilson, 1982)."
As a crime reduction theory, the premise of Broken Windows is that small crimes like vandalism lead to more serious ones, and diligent policing of the former reduces the latter. The theory has been implemented in many cities, most notably within the New York Police Department under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, through policing policies like "stop and frisk."
The effectiveness of Broken Windows-style policing is debatable at best, as is the correlation between property crimes and more serious offenses. What's not debatable is that Broken Windows is racist. It results in countless arrests of predominantly people of color, often not for the original crime of a busted window or graffiti, but for the kinds of absurd infractions that white people are almost never arrested for—such as obstructing a sidewalk in front of their own home—after being questioned about a broken window.
Effectiveness aside, Broken Windows allows for more police intrusions into a community and increases the number of confrontations between police and community members. For a police department to endorse a controversial theory like Broken Windows is one thing; for a community group to do so in another. It's well-known that even minor arrests often result in plea-bargained guilty verdicts that, in turn, may result in the loss of one's housing assistance, and thus their ability to remain in a gentrifying neighborhood. Surely this twentieth-century crime-fighting Broken Windows theory wasn't embraced, let alone celebrated, in East Liberty?
"Initiatives that worked were refined and made more specific to East Liberty's situation," the report continues. "The ones that did not work were jettisoned. Over a period of time, some existing literature on crime was built into this mode of thinking. Concepts and theories like the Broken Windows that rang true were adopted by ELDI."
But that's not why East Liberty lost nearly a thousand black residents in eight years, says Numeritics, who argues "that close to 70% of the population loss is accounted for by units simply being abandoned and/or uninhabitable." This comes from a January 2018 "white paper," titled, "The Population Impact of East Liberty Revitalization," that opens with the question, "What factors explain the loss of approximately 940 African Americans in East Liberty between 2007 and 2015?"
The document argues that most of that population loss occurred prior to the neighborhood's revitalization, a finding that counteracts "the misguided narrative that the displacement of African Americans happened only after the neighborhood was deemed a desirable place to live…(Italics added)."
Yet the report then specifies that the data for the loss of the 940 African Americans began in 2009, not 2007.
"Specifically, between 2009 to 2015, using the US Census American Community Survey (ACS) data, the point estimate of the population of African American [sic] in East Liberty fell by 940; from 4190 to 3250, representing a 22% decrease in African American population."
The dates are important when combating this so-called "misguided narrative," because it was 2009 when the last of three low income high-rises was demolished. Ranging from 17-to 20-stories, Federal American Properties (FAP) at one time housed approximately 1,000 residents, most of whom were African American and had already been displaced by 2009. Had the report actually reached back further, the loss of African Americans would have increased substantially, in numbers and percentage.
To say that this loss occurred prior to the neighborhood becoming a "desirable place to live" is inherently problematic. Not acknowledging that the high-rise demolitions were undertaken to catalyze revitalization is negligent; asserting that East Liberty became a "desirable place to live" is racially biased. Even with its many problems, East Liberty has always been a desirable place to live for thousands of its residents, especially low income African Americans who valued its abundance of transit options and neighborhood businesses, not to mention its social fabric made up of family and friends.
The viewpoint of this report is clear: the desirability of a place is measured by investment and rising property values. This viewpoint was then regurgitated by local and global news outlets that did not question a report that was commissioned by an East Liberty real estate organization; undertaken by an East Liberty-based consulting firm; and predicated on the hypothesis of ELDI staffers who live in East Liberty. This report, routinely cited by ELDI staff in public forums, has had a demonstrative influence over the prevailing community narratives which, by its own admission, it sought to correct.
It wasn't clear to me who funded this report. A case can be made for funding a more independent examination of the subject matter within; without that, the imbalanced report appears—what's the word?—misguided.
Last Billboard and Controlling the Narrative
Guiding East Liberty's transformational narrative in this way is quite different from the positive narrative cultivated by Pop City Media early on, which was arguably innocuous to neighborhoods like East Liberty, and directly confronted the harmful narratives of the establishment. Only Picker can speak to her motives then or now, but it's never been clearer that telling good stories is good for business, especially the real estate business.
As a former tenant in one of her buildings, I can say that Picker was known to be both charming and cantankerous, and I never knew which extreme I might encounter in the hallway. Still, I never imagined that Picker would censor art of any kind, especially The Last Billboard, knowing the firestorm it would create.
Or, perhaps, she didn't anticipate a firestorm, or a strong reaction of any kind. Has the New East Liberty, curated and manicured the way it is on the ground and online, led Picker to believe that the alleged offenses of public art outweighed the real offense of removing it? It's impossible to know; what is known is that Picker still sees a role to play in controlling the narrative of a neighborhood in which she has real estate interests.
If Picker had simply discovered a sign she disapproved of and ordered its removal, this matter would be less complicated. But that's not what happened. In these times when urban renewal needs co-conspirators, Picker was prompted, and as if by reflex, complied. Because she suggested that community consensus was required for the sign's reinstatement, but not its removal, confirms this.
But if we look hard enough, we can find clues to thorny questions like these. While researching this story I stumbled upon Picker's blog, simply called "Eve Picker." In a posted dated January 4, 2018, titled, "Embracing Graffiti," Picker recalled a recent trip to her native Australia. (All posts prior to April 2018 have since been deleted, but you can find a screenshot here.) Picker wrote:
"The tiny alleys and streets feeding into Brunswick were an unexpected surprise. There we found both occupied and abandoned buildings joyfully encased in graffiti. Now I've never been much of a fan of wall art. Wall art can often mean that the neighborhood doesn't have the buying power to renovate the building behind the facade. But here, off Brunswick Street, one of the most expensive places in town, the colorful walls are encouraged and are just captivating."
With former Shadow Lounge and Waffle Shop-turned-Livermore sitting vacant, this was an odd thing to say. More importantly is that within a span of three months, Picker censored one vision of the future and embraced another. In East Liberty, this public art was found to be "offensive and divisive," and causing "friction":
Whereas in Brunswick, art like this is "just captivating":
In the end, when the winds of public opinion changed direction, Picker did too. That kind of community power—forcefully expressed by people of color and white folks alike, from inside and outside East Liberty—proved once again to be an antidote to the actions of capricious landowners.
The conversation then moved indoors, where the Kelly-Strayhorn Theatre hosted a sober, civil and enlightening community forum. The theatre, known as KST, has been holding conversations like these for some time, unbeknownst to many in the audience. One takeaway may be that the KST has emerged as the kind of community institution that can fill the communication void left by other institutions.
For more than a decade, East Liberty real estate developers have casually weathered occasional disturbances from within the community, allowing them to subside on their own without detriment. Renters of increasingly high-priced apartments have not been deterred by this ephemeral discontent either, for they, too, seem to know that this too shall pass.
If it's true that concerns about The Last Billboard were voiced from within the community, we have to ask why it prompted a stronger reaction than, say, any of the traffic-jamming ruckuses of the many street protests that have taken place during the last year. Was it because the billboard held a 24/7-illuminated-at-night presence, whereas protests disperse after few hours? Or perhaps it was because those displeased cannot influence what happens in the public square, but can influence what unfolds atop a private building?
What's certain is that Wormley's art claimed a piece of the East Liberty narrative.
Picker the message-maker has long known the power messages have to change communities. Picker the messenger has long known how to deliver them, and presumably how to take them away, but found that the latter is not so easy. That she was wrong about that might suggest that East Liberty has indeed changed, but perhaps not the way she thought. Perhaps it is Picker and the rest of her real estate cohort that are now missing the signs.
But let's not forget, this is not about Eve Picker.


text:
Jun 24, 2019
In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Jared Diamond about the rise and fall of civilizations. They discuss political polarization, disparities in civilizational progress, the prospect that there may be biological differences between populations, the precariousness of democracy in the US,...
Jun 17, 2019
In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Michael Weiss and Yascha Mounk about the state of global politics. They discuss the rise of right-wing populism in Europe, the prospect that democracy could fail in the US, Trump's political instincts, the political liability of "wokeness," the Left's...
Jun 6, 2019
In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with his wife, Annaka Harris, about her new book, "Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind."
SUBSCRIBE to continue listening and gain access to all content on samharris.org/subscribe.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
CBC Maritimes is looking for the most culturally vibrant community in the Maritimes to celebrate culture in Canada. It's an opportunity for Maritimers to express their cultural passion for their city, town, village, or community. If you have a favourite place that has great music, cultural events, unique heritage or great artists and theatre, CBC wants to hear from you!
From September 3-10 Maritimers can visit www.cbc.ca/maritimes/cultureville or call toll-free 1-855-420-4115 to nominate their community. CBC's Colleen Jones will visit the top 10 places and discover which one will be named Maritimes Cultureville 2013.
"This is a tremendous opportunity for Maritimers to show pride in the cultural fabric of their communities. We were thrilled last year when over 70 places were nominated to be Maritimes Cultureville. We're looking forward to see who will be on the map this year and to discover all the cultural activities across the Maritimes," says Peter Hall, Senior Regional Manager for Arts, Performance, and Documentary Programming.
Listen to Information Morning and Shift on CBC Radio One in New Brunswick to find out some of the towns or cities nominated throughout the province.
On Thursday, September 26, at 6:30 p.m., join Colleen Jones when CBC Television in the Maritimes airs Maritimes Cultureville 2013. The 30-minute show will reveal the top 10 nominees and the countdown to the 2013 winning community.


text:
Cult Espresso
I've been a huge fan of Cult Espresso since it opened back in 2014. Their coffee is excellent, the service is always friendly and knowledgeable, and the food really solid, showcasing a number of local favourites like Union of Genius and Manna House.
In the last few months, they've been looking to shift their food offering towards more in-house creations. They're now making their own soup, sandwiches and salads. I was intrigued to give things a look so popped in on an uncharacteristically quiet Saturday afternoon.
There was plenty of good chat from the counter as usual. Today's espresso was a Brazilian from Williams & Johnson. It was absolutely excellent.
The soup of the day was red pepper and sweet potato. I added a reuben sandwich, then took a seat to await their arrival.
The soup proved really very good, with the sweet potato nicely reining-in any potential over-sweetness from the pepper. It was not to the standard of the spectacular Union of Genius Caribbean chicken I'd had on my last visit, but it was still pretty damn good.
The sandwich was beautifully toasted and really satisfying.
So overall, Cult seems to be very deftly making the transition to moving more of their food offering in-house. There's further plans afoot so make sure to visit often to see how things develop.
Blythe scores Cult
4.5/5 for food
4/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
4.5/5 for service
giving an overall 17/20
I ate: red pepper and sweet potato soup; reuben sandwich
I drank: espresso
I wore: camel coat
Total bill: £10.50
Address: 104 Buccleuch Street, Edinburgh EH8 9NG


text:
At Basfords we offer a complete window solution. whether you're looking to replace your old windows or for your new extension or building project.
Our entire range of windows, regardless of material, meet or exceed the latest performance and specification standards. You're guaranteed the very best products in terms of security, energy efficiency, weather performance and much more besides.
Basfords. Your local window specialists.
At Basfords, you'll find only the very best in windows benefitting from the latest in technologically and design, from some of the best known names in the industry.
Carefully designed, expertly manufactured and professionally installed, our windows will be tailored to suit your specific property, style, taste and budget.
Whether you are looking for the latest in energy efficient PVCu windows or our diverse range of contemporary aluminium windows we can help. We only offer up-to-the-minute products to give you the best of what's currently available.
Our windows come in a complete choice of opening options from outward opening casements, tilt and turn windows to sliding windows and more besides. These are further enhanced by a range of complimentary profiles enabling you to crate bay or bow windows, shapes or curves and one off designs.
Latest Generation PVCu Windows.
Choose from our range of slim profile windows, traditional chamfered and ovolo profiles . Three's even a Nordic design offering a beautiful flush casement to give the appearance of solid timber windows.
For more traditional properties take a look at our authentic sash windows. Designed to offer all the aesthetics of original timber sliding windows at substantially less cost. All come with authentic detailing, traditional hardware in a choice of colours, foils and grains.
Our superb range of PVCu windows come from one of the world's best known providers. As standard you benefit from low maintenance, quality glass units, multi chamber profiles, high security and a wide choice of colour.
Advanced Aluminium windows for the home.
For the very latest in aluminium windows look no further. You can choose from the very best in contemporary windows with a beautiful flatline appearance for the best in modern aesthetics.
Perhaps you live in an older property and are looking for all the benefits of aluminium but with a more traditional look or a softline and rounded appearance. We have a choice of products for this too.
Even if you're looking to replace your old Crittall or other metal windows we provide solutions. Our superior range of slimline windows are specially designed for the replacement of old steel windows. They offer all the advantages of modern double glazing whilst retaining the features of the originals.
Aluminium offers you the widest colour choice there is. You have over 200 colours to choose from including metallic and wood effect finishes and even different colours inside and out. They benefit from exceptional build quality, optimum security and energy efficiency.
Origin Flush Casement Windows.
Our Origin window offers the industry's first flush casement feature inside and out for the ultimate window you can buy.
Manufactured to the most exacting standards and of superior quality and design, Origin are to be seen to be appreciated. There's no other aluminium window quite like it.
AluK complete aluminium window solutions.
Our AluK range of windows offers real solutions where standard window replacements are required or you need a direct fix or slimline window for new build applications.
You'll find them ideal for either new installations or for the replacement of old metal, timber or even PVCu windows.
We even offer specialist aluminium windows designed to replace old Crittall and other steel windows whilst retaining all their original Art Deco features.
Secondary Double Glazing.
Secondary double glazing can help enhance any Listed, Heritage, Conservation area property with constraints on window replacements.
Our range of secondary double glazing solutions provides a wide choice of window options. All can make your home warmer, quieter, more comfortable, energy efficient and secure.
Secondary double glazing is available for any type of home and at substantially less cost than a full window restoration or replacement.
Let Basfords make your home better all round.
Contact us today for a free no obligation quotation or visit our showroom to see our extensive range of windows for the home. Or you can call us on 0115 895 4948.


text:
We're the only IT experts to recognise that it's better for everyone if we don't offer the latest brand‐new technologies. Instead, we deliver completely tailored services for your team via supremely durable high‑quality refurbished systems with renewed life‑cycles. Our tech is A-Grade quality, because our international ISP and Communications partners replace their products so early that we can deliver young, high‑quality tech at completely unique prices, with flexible buy‑back options, next‑day delivery and lifetime warranties. That means excellent tech for you, at budget-friendly costs.
We're the alternative IT company that brings total transparency: what we've been able to do in the past, what we can offer you for the future, and expert knowledge of the product itself.
We don't stop until the customer has what they need. We'll find the products you want and deliver them with next–day delivery and lifetime warranties.We want you to know we'll help you every step of the deal.
Sometimes, the IT products you want seem hard to find, if not impossible. But what if we could not only find them, but could supply them as part of a bespoke solution to your exact IT needs?
BE Networks will always offer tailored solutions and service to every customer's requirements.
BE Networks has a whole process that no other IT company comes close to matching.
A unique, 100% completely anti-static ESD processing
of all our products, logistics and transportation, from our shoes and gloves to our racks and carts, maintaining their quality in a way only BE Networks can.
A detailed physical inspection
of every product, grading them on a three-point scale.
Every product tested
by our certified engineers – final by it's own test report, including a last physical check, and if in stock for long time, the same thorough test update will be made.
BE Networks-developed Korrvu packaging
to maintain our vital ESD protection.
Thanks to our fully stocked warehouse
we can offer fast delivery (often next-day) on thousands of products across the world.
Customer care
means we'll keep you posted on the process and delivery of your order, with your own personal account manager in case you have any queries.
Recycling is important to us
all our waste is separated or re-used, to keep our footprint as small as possible.
Offering the right future-proof network backbone to support a combination of primary and high schools, with a limited budget.
- Analysis of customer's special needs
- Conclusion: small budget + basic technological needs refurbished, high-end equipment
- Avoiding the expensive solution of offering new equipment
- Minimizing cost by choosing a low-cost solution from our stock
- Shipping and handling, on-site installation
By offering the previous-range Catalyst 6500 equipment, these schools could afford a redundant solution with on-site spare parts for maintenance and still have budget left to deploy a first range of class rooms with wireless internet.
Educate a customer with huge market power to approach a cost-efficient purchasing strategy.
- Comprehension of the special boundaries due to global contracts and logistics
- Analysis of customer's complicated purchasing procedures
- Consulting the decision makers on different hierarchy levels within the hierarchy of the company
- Suggestion of a customized maintenance contract, including immediate replacement support
Our customer ended up saving 30% of their budget by outsourcing their spare parts management to BE Networks.
Upgrading the whole network infrastructure of a 6-floor building – Project was already blocked by management due to high cost.
- Discussion with the customer: offer from regular distribution, needs and expectations
- Analysis within the BE Networks team: consultation of our IT engineers and comparison between possible solutions
- Design of the whole network: from servers till access points
- Suggestion of tailored solution based on specifications needed, available stock and budget limitations
Our high-end, refurbished solution matched perfectly the client's expectations in terms of budget, quality and warranty.
Offering a customized solution among Cisco IP phones, to upgrade from the previous 7900 series.
- Buy-back of the 7900-series IP phones to boost customer's budget
- Avoiding the obvious -and expensive- solution of the official replacement of the model (7800 series)
- Deeper discussion with the customer to understand their exact needs (technical and financial)
- Offer a solution that included the SPA504G IP phones, which with a small configuration, could perform up to the customer's needs, within their budget
- Configuration of the SPA504G IP phones and shipment to Greece
By understanding our customer's needs, the BE Networks team was able to offer a 100% customized solution to them.
Global roll-out of Cisco routers, for standardization of locations world-wide.
- Budget fit for a combination of 120 routers within the 2900- & 3900-series of Cisco equipment
- Hardware configuration of all routers (memory upgrades & module inclusion)
- Software configuration of all routers (Remote cooperation with integrator for license loading & customization)
- Label tagging & individual packaging for all locations
- Shipping and clearance for 20+ locations in North & South America, APAC & EMEA
By choosing BE Networks as the one-stop shop for this project, not only they saved more than 20% overall cost, but they also did not have to worry about the operational aspect of the project.
"The goods have arrived and everything works perfectly – thank you for the super quick service and the excellent shipping and handling!"
Rink, IT Manager
"I have to say that after several months I can assure that the gear had no problems whatsoever and I'm really happy with the order and all your kind attention. I'd like to add that all boxes were well packed up and protected when they got here. So my opinion overall is great, and that's why I would like to ask for a quote again"
Ruben, Procurement Manager
"We just received the goods and everything looks great. Thank you for the fast shipping and service! We will stay in touch!"
Giorgia, Purchasing Director
"Always a pleasure doing business with BE Networks. Fast delivery and some of the best prices in the market. Great job!"
Vasilis, Network Engineer


text:
VETERAN back Geraint Walsh has called for cool heads when Pontypool play for a place in the Principality Premiership against Llanelli this evening.
The clubs meet at Aberavon's Talbot Athletic Ground (kick-off 7.05pm) for the final place in next season's revamped 12-team top flight.
Llanelli finished fifth from bottom of the Premiership after being leapfrogged by Bridgend last Saturday while Pooler have long been inked in for the play-off courtesy of their third WRU National Championship triumph on the spin.
It was a case of when, not if, Leighton Jones' men would win the crown and they went on to secure a second perfect campaign on the spin, taking their record to 65 wins from 66 league games since missing out on promotion in 2016.
Now they are aiming to down Llanelli to earn a place at the top table for the first time since 2012, when they were demoted because of more tinkering to the Premiership format.
Pooler have already claimed the scalp of Llanelli along with the Premiership's Cardiff, Carmarthen Quins, Cross Keys and Bridgend in recent in the WRU National Cup runs.
However, head coach Jones has already described this evening's clash as "a massive game, our biggest in three years", and that it put his charges under severe pressure.
Walsh is no stranger to big games thanks to his stellar spell at Pontypridd, with his exploits earning Wales Sevens recognition and a professional contract with Cardiff Blues.
The 30-year-old's experience will be to the fore in a clash that will put players under severe stress given the prize for the winners.
Pooler are at their best when they play on the edge, but they also need to stay on the right side of World Cup referee Nigel Owens.
Walsh said: "There will be a fine line in not allowing our emotions to run away with us. In those terms, we have played three Principality Premiership sides this season and largely hit the right note.
"Despite the cup run, this will obviously be the biggest game of the season as the club has been working towards this for the last three seasons.
"We have to keep the pressure off ourselves and it will all be about belief. A lot of our boys have been involved in Premiership teams and I think we can go into the game confident and with the belief that we can achieve something special."
Walsh has represented his country on the sevens circuit but is now the experienced figure alongside the fast feet of young wingers Jordan Thomas and Lloyd Lewis.
The utility back will be tasked with using the knowhow from his trophy-laden Ponty days to bring the best out of those around him.
"If I'm lucky enough to be selected, I will try and be a bit more of a cool head on the field. I try to set an example through my actions and will look to make sensible decisions and not get too carried away," he said.
"The boys in our back division are better when they are excited and can express themselves and it's important to keep everything positive.
"The Aberavon surface is good and the weather is supposed to be decent. We have to back how we have approached things so far this season and keep going."
Pooler triumphed 19-11 when the clubs met at Parc y Scarlets in the cup in January, 2017 thanks to tries by scrum-half Aaron Quick and hooker Alex Watkins plus a trio of penalties from fly-half Matthew Jones.


text:
by John Tallodi
The Fiat 500L is a larger, more practical variant of the cute but tiny Fiat 500. It has been on sale for a number of years now and while its smaller sibling is the most stylish option in its class, the 500L needs to compete on a more practical level against a brace of newer competitors. For 2017 the 500L range has seen a rationalizing of trim offerings and the standardization of a new automatic transmission.
While from the outside it may look like a Fiat 500 that has been left in the oven too long, the 500L offers a stylish and interesting interior design. It also has ample space for occupants up front and the tall ride-height and large glass area give the drive a commanding view of the road. You sit on rather than in the 500L but that is acceptable for a vehicle whose intended role is of an urban commuter.
Space in the rear is acceptable too, miles better than in the little 500 and on par with the other offerings in its class too. Two adults will be quite happy to travel in the back although the center seat is best reserved for children.
The cargo space is very generous, whether the rear seats are folded up or down you can load more into the 500L than just about any other small station wagon or crossover around.
The news is not so good when it comes to fit and finish and the quality of some of the materials used. Despite the interesting design, the minor controls and buttons also feel as if they were built to a price, forgivable on a cheap little city runabout like the standard 500 but not so much on something like the 500L.
The 500L is clearly not intended to be hustled along in a spirited manner, the vague controls and shoddy dynamics remind you of this whenever you attempt to push the car beyond its limits. The car dips under braking, leans in corners and the transmission does not like to be hurried along.
Driven more sedately the 500L offers decent ride quality on unchallenging road surfaces, although it can soon get choppy on rougher roads.
The Fiat 500L is front-wheel drive and powered by a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine. Producing 160 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque it provides decent acceleration when unladen, although a full complement of passengers can make highway overtaking maneuvers a tense affair. The standard 6-speed automatic transmission is the only option available and while it changes cogs smoothly, its responses can be frustratingly slow when a quick burst of speed is required.
Fuel consumption figures of 22mpg in the city and 30mpg on the highway are about average for the class.
The Fiat 500L is available in three trim options, all come fitted with the same engine/transmission combination.
The base Pop Trim includes 16-inch alloy wheels, 6-speaker audio system, Uconnect 5.0 touchscreen with Bluetooth connectivity, cruise control, cloth seats with leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear knob, heated exterior power mirrors, foldable rear seats and remote keyless entry.
Trekking Trim adds additional exterior color choices, fog lamps, all-season tires and 17-inch alloy wheels, leather covered seats with heating for the front pair, premium audio system and unique exterior details. Available options include a power sunroof, auto-dimming rearview mirror and dual-zone climate control.
The top Lounge trim level includes most of the above as well as the available Trekking specifications excluding the sunroof which remains an option. It also adds body colored exterior plastic details, power driver seat, unique 17-inch alloy wheels and rear armrest with cup holder. Safety systems include a rear park assist system and rear back up camera.
Optional packages can be chosen for each trim level which add most of the options available on the top Lounge trim variants.
The Fiat 500L struggles to transfer the diminutive standard 500s charm into a more practical package. Inside it offers a stylish design with ample passenger space and a very generous cargo.
Those awkward looks and poor handling may keep some shoppers away and there are better alternatives out there in this segment, not least Fiat's own 500X.


text:
Download Special Force
Special Force is a first person shooter that gives you a clear objective throughout the entire game, even though there are only three levels. At the end of each level you will have to beat the boss in order to take him down and advance to the next level.
Besides the boss monsters you will also encounter all kinds of other enemies, including even humans that still must be killed. You will have to move fast in order to protect yourself from the enemies and you will have to shoot even faster in order to take them down once and for all.


text:
A complete Datsun 240z choke mechanism that has been professionally cadmium plated with a brand new choke knob and grommet. The complete mechanism has been lubricated and will operate like...
Brand new decals for your heater control bezel.The lettering is white which is correct for 1970 year.
Brand new 1970 inspection door retainer clips to keep the doors in place for the Early Datsun 240z up until May 1970. Sold in set of 2


text:
by Nick Peters
We read the following in the section on the Ante-Nicene fathers in the Watchtower brochure, "Should You Believe In The Trinity?":
Justin Martyr, who died about 165 C.E., called the prehuman Jesus a created angel who is "other than the God who made all things." He said that Jesus was inferior to God and "never did anything except what the Creator . . . willed him to do and say."1
It is important to note at the start that the Watchtower provides no documentation for these quotes. If you want to know from what work of Justin Martyr these come, you must search personally. In the pre-internet days, this would have been more difficult. Nowadays, the reader can simply open up a whole work of Justin Martyr and search the document for keywords.
In my search, the closest I have come to finding the first part of this quote is in the Dialogue with Trypho the Jew. In Chapter 56 of that work we read the following from Justin:
Then I replied, "I shall attempt to persuade you, since you have understood the Scriptures, [of the truth] of what I say, that there is, and that there is said to be, another God and Lord subject to the Maker of all things; who is also called an Angel, because He announces to men whatsoever the Maker of all things--above whom there is no other God--wishes to announce to them."2
This can sound as if Justin is holding an Arian view, but is that the case? To begin with, let us not fault Justin for a lack of Trinitarian language--seeing as it was not in use in his day. What we have to do is look and see if the concepts are there. What does it mean when Justin says that Jesus is called an Angel? Is this saying he is Michael the Archangel--as Witnesses believe Jesus to be?
To begin with, Justin later says in the same chapter that Jesus is only numerically distinct from God but not distinct in will; and I ask who could be of one will with God but God alone? The interested reader is encouraged to click the link and just read through the next few chapters. What we find are quotes like the following:
And I continued: "It is again written by Moses, my brethren, that He who is called God and appeared to the patriarchs is called both Angel and Lord, in order that from this you may understand Him to be minister to the Father of all things, as you have already admitted, and may remain firm, persuaded by additional arguments."
"Moreover, I consider it necessary to repeat to you the words which narrate how He who is both Angel and God and Lord, and who appeared as a man to Abraham, and who wrestled in human form with Jacob, was seen by him when he fled from his brother Esau."
"Have you perceived, sirs, that this very God whom Moses speaks of as an Angel that talked to him in the flame of fire, declares to Moses that He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob?"3
The last quote is quite important as it refers to the event in Exodus 3 with the divine name being revealed to Moses. Do the Witnesses want to say that an angel took upon himself the divine name? Throughout the dialogue, Justin is arguing that when God appeared in the Old Testament, it was really Jesus--certainly not the position of an Arian!
As for the second Watchtower quote, it also comes from the same chapter in the Dialogue, but why is it a problem? Would a good Trinitarian hold that Jesus did other than what the Father willed Him to do? How could He have lived a perfect human life and done otherwise? It can sound indicting at first, but should we see it as such? The question to ask the Witnesses is, "What am I to infer from that fact? Can you logically get me to how that denies the Trinity?"
Seeing that the brochure is full of strawmen, such as constantly confusing the idea of Trinitarianism with modalism (modalism being the belief that God is one person who keeps switching roles between Father, Son, and Spirit), it is unlikely one will meet a Witness theologically adept enough to handle such an argument. Still, that is no reason why the Christian should not be seeking to read theology. Theology is important for the Christian not because it is used to refute the heretics but because it is knowledge of Him who is supreme above all.


text:
This vanilla ice "cream" is great for making sundaes, ice cream sandwiches, root beer floats or on its own for a frozen creamy treat. Blending the ice cream after it has been frozen is important as it breaks up any ice crystals that form, ensuring that you end up with a creamy, not crunchy, dessert. This pairs wonderfully with dairy-free caramel sauce.
- 1 1/2 cup soymilk powder
- 3 1/2 cups soymilk
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Steps to Make It
Gather the ingredients.
In a blender, combine the soymilk powder, water, and soymilk until well blended.
Combine the soymilk mixture with the sugar, vanilla, and vinegar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stirring constantly, cook until the mixture is thick and syrupy in consistency.
Pour the mixture into a 9-by-5-inch metal loaf pan or other medium-sized metal or aluminum pan.
Place the pan in the freezer uncovered for 1 hour.
Remove the pan from the freezer and scrape the ice cream into a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds, or until mixture is creamy.
Place the mixture back in the pan and back into the freezer.
Repeat this procedure 3 more times at 30-minute intervals, allowing the ice cream to chill in the freezer covered for 1 hour after the last blend before serving.
Serve ice cream cold, adding your choice of toppings if desired.


text:
To make an appointment for electrical work, domestic or commercial, please click the button below and fill out your details.
Alternatively, please call:
Our main business operating hours are 5 days a week, however, you can call us anytime. If there is no answer please leave a message and we will get back to you ASAP.
With over 25 years experience and qualified to the latest BS7671 regulations, we have experience in all domestic and commercial works, from installing a socket to complete rewires.
Based in Witney, we offer quality electrical services to customers throughout Oxfordshire and the surrounding counties.
We are happy to visit you and give free advice and written quotations. All our work is fairly priced, insured and guaranteed.
Why not click on Domestic Services or Commercial Services above, to see some of the work we are able to provide? Or the Gallery to see some of the projects that we have carried out.
Making sure your home and work place is safe from electrical fires and faults is essential. It can be a matter of life or death. Below are the statistics for electrical injuries and deaths across the nation for 2015. Contact us to make sure you are safe, thinking about it after the event is too late.
To make an appointment for electrical work, domestic or Witney electrical contractors, please click the button below and fill out your details.
T: 01993 252143 M: 07951 297336 email@example.com
A very good company. Steve Evans came to do the quote and was very thorough. Then I left it for 5 months and when I got back to him he remembered me and was able to start work within a couple of weeks. Absolutely no fuss, they were pleasant to have around and are good communicators. The work was good and as tidy as it could be. A good company that I would recommend without hesitation.
Arranged an electrical check with this company which they carried out promptly and professionally. They then came in to do some further electrical work which was completed efficiently and on time. Whole team were polite, efficient, approachable and turned up when they said they would. Excellent service, many thanks.


text:
We can provide a great selection of ID holders to accompany your ID badges and lanyards, ensuring your company sustains a professional look at all events.
Ideal for holding conference, security, name, and visitor ID's, our holders are available double or single sided, portrait or landscape and in a range of colours and fitting requirements to suit your promotional needs.
Contact us on 01245 382600 for more help from our expert sales team!
Update your preferences, tick as preferred:
In accordance with new privacy laws, we want to make it easy for you to understand how we handle your information and use personal data. Please review our updated privacy policy


text:
|How to Unlock
|Alien! (5)
|Achieve and maintain the maximum level of alert for 3 minutes outside of a mission.
|Billboard Breaker (50)
|Jump through all the billboards in the game.
|Born to Park (15)
|Complete level 10 in the task "Parking Boy".
|Breaking News! (15)
|Complete level 10 in the task "Glipforg News Paperboy".
|Car Collector (100)
|Unlock all vehicles (excluding vehicles unlocked at the police station).
|Car Crusher (50)
|Complete level 10 in the tasks "Car Crusher", "Battle in the Stadium" and "Desert Battle".
|Careful Driver (15)
|Drive a car for 3 minutes without collisions.
|Careful Fighter (5)
|Complete any car crusher mission without taking any damage.
|Careful Parking Boy (5)
|Complete the "Parking Valet" mission without damaging any cars.
|Circus Cleaner (15)
|Complete level 10 in the task "World's cleanest circus".
|Comic Fan (100)
|Find all the comic frames scattered around Planet 51.
|Curious Boy (30)
|Enter every open house and building in the game.
|Desert (50)
|Complete all the Desert missions.
|Experienced Delivery Boy (5)
|Don't lose any boxes in the "A Job of Little Importance" mission.
|Fast Rock Gatherer (5)
|Pick up all the special rocks in the mission "Singing in the Rocks" before any go down the drain.
|Flying Car (15)
|Perform a jump of 150 ft or more.
|Fugitive (5)
|Elude the law enforcers 3 times in a row in the same vehicle outside of a mission.
|Glipforg Deliveries (15)
|Complete level 10 in the task "Glipforg Deliveries".
|Glipforg Taxi Driver (15)
|Complete level 10 in the task "Taxi!".
|I've Got Antennas! (100)
|Complete all the game missions, including all tasks.
|Lawnmower Master (15)
|Complete level 10 in the task "Lawnmower Boy".
|Perfect Gardener (5)
|Complete "Neera's Garden" without cutting any flowers, touching the mole, or getting hit by water.
|Perfect Timing (5)
|Finish any of Chuck's missions on foot without failing any obstacle nor taking any damage from traps
|Pro Cyclist (10)
|Travel 12 miles by bicycle.
|Pro Driver (10)
|Travel 300 miles by car.
|Reckless Driver (5)
|Destroy 30 pieces of property in 60 seconds.
|Skilled Driver (5)
|Complete the "King Klong" mission without damaging the pickup.
|Slippery (40)
|Escape 40 times from your enemies by hiding in the trash cans.
|Sticker Collector (100)
|Collect all the stickers that you'll earn in the tasks.
|Sweet Cleaner (5)
|Complete the "Cleaning The Circus" mission without making King Klong angry.
|The Coolest Paperboy (5)
|Get "perfect" throws for all newspapers in "The Paperboy" mission.
|The Dog Catcher (15)
|Complete level 10 in the task "Too Many Dogs in this Town".
|The Fastest Driver (50)
|Complete level 10 in all race tasks.
|The Suburbs (50)
|Complete all the Suburbs missions.
|Too Good to Compete (5)
|Keep first place in any racing mission for more than 1 minute...and win!
|Town (50)
|Complete all the Town missions.
|Welcome to Planet 51 (10)
|Complete the tutorials.


text:
Shipping to Kurdistan
We provide reliable operation for all kind of cargo and shipping to Kurdistan. Whether it is regular transit trade or humanitarian aid, diplomatic, reconstruction project cargo, household goods or commercial cargo we handle it with equal proficiency. We handle all coordination, documentation, bill of lading, letters of credit as well as insurance and legalization. When time is of the essence, we can answer the call. Our major destinations in Kurdistan are Erbil, Suleymanie, and Duhuk.
Air cargo to Erbil, Kurdistan
We have a daily airfreight service to Erbil International Airport. Our rate may depend on the chargeable weight of your cargo however we always try to offer the most competitive and fastest transit in our Airfreight service.
Sea freight to Kurdistan
We can offer the full container service from your or your supplier location in the US to Sulaimaniya, Dahuk, and Erbil in Kurdistan. The goods needs need to either palletized or wooden-crated. The container will be shipped first to Mersin in Turkey from where our agent will have the cargo transported. We offer service for shipping to Erbil and other major cities in Kurdistan.
We offer:
- Residential freight to Kurdistan
- Commercial cargo and freight
- Container shipping to Kurdistan
- Detailed tracking with Proof of Delivery (POD)
- Customs handling at ports of Iraq
- Dry ports and border posts
- Road transportation
- Air Freight to Erbil
- Air Freight to Kurdistan


text:
New York City's recently-approved "Green New Deal" (not to be confused with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's environmental wish-list) will slash the amount of red meat served in municipally-run facilities by half in order to combat climate change, according to Breitbart's Josh Caplan.
The $14 billion "Green New Deal" will phase out purchases of processed meats in city-run schools, hospitals and correctional facilities by 2040, amid an overall cut in purchases of 50 percent. New York would be the first city in the world to adopt such a policy, and was announced after New York Schools adopted "Meatless Monday" in an effort to encourage the consumption of less meat.
Chloe Waterman, who serves as Program Manager for the Climate-Friendly Food Program at Friends of the Earth, said of De Blasio's proposal in a statement: "New York City is strengthening its climate leadership by acknowledging the importance of slashing consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions associated with factory farmed meat. Eliminating processed meat and cutting red meat purchases will pay dividends for the health of future generations and the planet." –Breitbart
"We applaud Mayor de Blasio, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, and all of the advocates who made today's announcement possible. We hope other cities will soon follow suit, said Waterman.
De Blasio (D) said on Monday during the Green New Deal announcement on Monday that he also plans to introduce a bill banning the construction of glass skyscrapers in an effort to reduce citywide greenhouse emissions by 30%.
"We are going to ban the classic glass and steel skyscrapers, which are incredibly inefficient," said the Mayor on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' Monday morning.
At one point during that press conference, Mark Chambers, director of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, chimed in to clarify that there would be no prohibition on buildings made from glass. "I want to call out that it doesn't mean that buildings can't use glass anymore," he said. And the mayor himself followed the "ban" language with a less bold proclamation.
"If a company wants to build a big skyscraper," he said, "they can use a lot of glass if they do all the other things needed to reduce the emissions." In other words, skyscrapers made out of glass and steel will not be banned; instead, they will be required to meet certain energy-efficiency standards. –Curbed
As part of the Green New Deal, New York will power all of the city's operations with energy generated from clean sources, such as Canadian hydropower. The city is also rolling out the mandatory recycling of organics, congestion traffic pricing, and phasing out city-wide purchases of single-use plastic utensils.
The so-called "Green New Deal" – or Climate Mobilization Act, was passed last Thursday in a 45-2 vote.


text:
It's not really weird that Gwyneth Paltrow threw an "English garden party" in the Hamptons where a bunch of her super rich friends hung out and played with children and watched Blythe Danner do the "Gangnam Style" dance while a four-piece bluegrass band plays on. But it's kind of weird that Cameron Diaz got an invite.
Isn't she too burp-y for that kind of sophistication?
An English Garden Party [YouTube]


text: Much like your local man (cue Simpsons...), Local Bands Ruin Everything. And we're proof of that. So we've got a co-headlining show with Go Ask Alice, also featuring Asylus, Torah, and Smile On The Sinner on June 16th. Being held at FiftyOneWest, we've only got 150 tickets to sell, and they're only $5 a piece. If you want to get wild and have your life ruined by Arizona local bands.... this is the night for you. Don't wait around, tickets are going fast. Grab them at the link in the sidebar.


text:
TED@UPS: What If More Expensive Isn't Better?
As medicine advances, so does the complexity and price of healthcare. Jan Denecker takes the stage at TED@UPS to share three ways the modern healthcare industry can learn to do more with less. Jan shares his story in his TED@UPS talk featured below. Click here to learn more about Jan.


text:
Simcha Zin and Mordechai Lichtenstetter received the Police Medal of Honor for helping neutralize a terrorist who carried out a stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Zin and Lichtenstetter, who are charedi US citizens who were visiting Israel when the attack occurred. They received the Police Medal of Honor for their actions at the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC this week.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.


text:
FlowForma Cloud BPM Applauded by SharePoint Reviews
08 Sep, 2016, 12:34 BST
DUBLIN, September 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
FlowForma, the leading provider of BPM tools for Microsoft Office 365®, today published an independent product validation report by SharePoint Reviews, the world's largest SharePoint and resource directory.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160908/823123 )
The review of the FlowForma Cloud BPM tool was produced by the highly respected Ron Charity, an Enterprise Architect who has worked in consulting for over 20 years and been involved with SharePoint since its 2001 beta.
In the review entitled 'FlowForma - A Powerful Workflow Solution for SharePoint', Ron Charity shares his experience of using the product over a five day period, focusing on the installation process, his first impressions, the product interface, as well as the training and support provided with the FlowForma BPM tool for Office 365. After using the products key features and experiencing its functionality, his review applauds the FlowForma tool for its no code, simply logic approach and its intuitiveness.
"From customer feedback and user testing, we've always known our product was an intuitive tool, enabling process owners to rapidly digitise business processes. This independent assessment by SharePoint Reviews confirms and reinforces this message and is testament to the fact that the product was built from inception with end users in mind. We have an R&D team and roadmap committed to ensuring a user friendly experience," said Luke Kennedy, CTO, FlowForma.
The report labels FlowForma as the ideal solution for those migrating from InfoPath, who want high usability, a rich feature set and the power to automate processes quickly, no matter what the complexity, while maximising existing investments in SharePoint and Office 365.
"For those with InfoPath, FlowForma has a migration tool which organisations can use to
migrate business process steps and fields into the FlowForma system and apply the required business logic." explains the product review.
In his report, the reviewer also highlights the products rapid installation, impressive workflow designer, InfoPath migration tool, Software Development Kit (SDK), built-in business process accelerators and consistent user experience across devices.
Supporting Resources:
- To download the product validation report go to http://www.flowforma.com/review
- To learn more about FlowForma, the BPM tool for Microsoft Office 365 watch a short video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vDEkOEqfdI
- To download a trial of FlowForma go to http://www.flowforma.com/trial
- To book a product demo go to http://www.flowforma.com/demo
About FlowForma
FlowForma, the leading provider of Business Process Management (BPM) tools for Microsoft Office 365® has been revolutionising the traditional BPM space with an innovative approach to developing award winning BPM products that empower users to create and streamline processes smarter and faster, utilising the familiar SharePoint platform, without any coding.
Born out of Ireland's leading IT solutions provider, Ergo, FlowForma is a Microsoft Partner, with over 100 customers across Europe, South Africa and North America. The company is headquartered in Dublin with offices in London and Lithuania and is motivated by its values to innovate, evolve and achieve with employees, customers and partners.
For further information, visit http://www.flowforma.com
About SharePoint Reviews
SharePointReviews.com is an independent, vendor-neutral, and most complete product and resource directory, with over a thousand listings, and growing. It provides SharePoint power users, developers, and administrators with objective reviews and buying advice on SharePoint Web parts, applications, and development platforms. With searchable product listings and ratings, it will help you find the most suitable product within the shortest time.
Now, in addition to product listings, SharePointReviews.com also offers a comprehensive directory of in-person and on-demand training companies, consulting firms, events and conferences, all with exclusive focus on SharePoint technologies.
SOURCE FlowForma


text:
- Pity 03:26
Press Materials
- Promo Photo (Lo-Res) JPEG
- Promo Photo (Hi-Res) JPEG
- Artwork (Lo-Res) JPG
- Artwork (Hi-Res) JPG
Artist Links
Noga Erez Pity - Single
January 31, 2017 | Slang50116DS2
- Spotify
- Music
January 31, 2017 | Slang50116DS2
By signing up to the City Slang Club mailing list you will be kept updated on our news, but you will also receive early access to new music, give-aways, ticket raffles, discount percentages and exclusive pre-orders for club members (btw. membership is free). We are working on a Digital Subscription Club for the near future and some neat specials for our upcoming 30th anniversary in 2020. We will not share your data with third parties we just want you to be part of this journey so join the City Slang Club experience below! Please make sure to not only add you address but also to put a tick in the e-mail box below. Otherwise we can't stay in contact with you!


text:
Any one missing a red Honda 2020 reg. seems to be abandoned in my street
We use cookies to help our site work and to understand how it is used. By clicking 'Accept', you agree to us doing so. You can read more in our cookie notice Or, if you do not agree, you can click 'Manage' to access other choices.


text:
Perth's cool response to heatwave a mystery
Submitted by astone on Tue, 11/06/2018 - 10:29
Heatwaves can have detrimental effects on people, particularly in large population centres like cities.
Urban populations are also affected by heat stored in or generated by cities. Heat is stored in building materials, such as concrete and asphalt, while vehicles and heating/cooling systems produce additional heat.
This is why cities tend to be hotter than surrounding rural areas at night. It's what we call the urban heat island effect.
While we know that both heatwaves and the urban heat island effect independently increase urban temperatures, no previous research had investigated the impact of these two phenomena in combination in Australia. This meant it was unclear whether city populations were more vulnerable to heatwaves than their rural neighbours due to the urban heat island effect.
To understand the relationship between heatwaves and the urban heat island, CLEX researchers examined temperatures during heatwaves in three southern Australian cities – Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth – and compared these to periods without heatwaves.
The researchers found under non-heatwave conditions all three cities had warmer night-time temperatures than the surrounding rural areas, meaning they all experienced a night-time urban heat island.
However during heatwaves the strength of the urban heat island changed.
During heatwaves in Melbourne and Adelaide the urban heat island became warmer than normal, indicating that there was an amplification of the urban heat island during heatwaves.
By contrast, Perth showed a cooler than normal urban heat island effect during heatwaves. Temperatures in the city during heatwaves were actually cooler than expected.
This research is important as it shows that heatwaves can be hotter and therefore more dangerous in cities. If the urban heat island can be minimised in Melbourne and Adelaide this research suggests that heatwave temperatures may be cooler and less dangerous to human life.
The researchers are currently investigating why the results differed for Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth.
They have determined that wind speed and direction, sea breezes, and the locations of the weather stations used in the research are unlikely to be the cause of these differences and are currently investigating the effect of large-scale weather patterns.


text:
Areas We Cover
Our Estate Agent office in Locksbottom covers the following areas.
Are you considering selling or letting your property in Locksbottom? Book a free no-obligation sales and lettings valuation here.
Average review score on Google 4.4 / 5
"Great service and excellent people willing to go the extra mile to help. Could not recommend enough." - Ieuan Casey
View all Langford Russell Locksbottom testimonials.
Use the quick links below to find your ideal property to buy or rent in Locksbottom
Houses For Sale In Locksbottom Houses To Rent In Locksbottom
Flats For Sale In Locksbottom Flats To Rent In Locksbottom


text:
Create your own "Advertise" page
There are many advertising networks out there connecting content publishers (i.e. bloggers) with advertisers. The advantage of those networks is that they can tap a wide range of advertisers, something that would be very difficult for a small blogger. Secondly they also have economies of scale to deal with thousands of ads monthly and consequently a higher credibility.
That said, such networks also have a huge drawback, they usually eat half of your money. Text-Link-Ads, for instance, places simple text links on your site. You can decide the amount of links you want to put on your blog, and based on a couple of parameters (traffic, topic, pagerank, etc.) they will calculate a monthly price per link. Suppose the price is $50 monthly per link, this means that an advertiser will pay $50 dollars to put the link on your site, but you will receive only $25 and Text-Link-Ads will eat the other $25.
Subscribing with advertising networks can be an option if you don't have time to sell advertising yourself or if just want to make a couple of bucks to pay your hosting bills. If you are serious about your blog and if the traffic is starting to grow steadily, however, I highly recommend that you create your own "Advertise" page to deal directly with potential advertisers, cutting out the middle man.
You can customize your advertise page in whatever way you prefer, but a good way to structure it is to divide the page in three main paragraphs. On the first paragraph you need to describe what topic your site deal with, who are your readers (age, geographical locations, profession, or anything else that describes them) and what kind of traffic or exposure the site is receiving. Notice that the more precise you get the better.
The example of the first paragraph for Daily Blog Tips would be:
Daily Blog tips is generating over 120000 page views per month, with a very targeted audience composed of bloggers, site owners and web designers. The site features daily tips on blog design, promotion, web tools, and more. If you have a website or product that is focused on blogging or online marketing in general Daily Blog Tips is the right place for you.
On the second paragraph you want to specify what kind of advertising you are looking for, preferably including the price and graphical specifications. A possible example would be:
There are two ways to advertise on Daily Blog Tips:
- sponsored link ($30 monthly)
- sponsored graphic ($120 monthly) *Graphics should be 125×125 pixels, without animations
Finally, on the third paragraph you should include general information about the advertising deals and how the person could get in touch with you in the case he is interested. An example for the third paragraph is:
Daily Blog Tips reserves the right to approve sponsoring sites. Advertising plans are agreed on a month-to-month basis where either party may terminate the relationship on 15 days notice.
If you are interested or need more information please send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Browse all articles on the Monetize category
18 Responses to "Create your own "Advertise" page"
Eddie Gear
Clear examples and well written ideas. Cant believe that I missed out this post.
nice post man,very useful for a full time blogger like myself…:)
I should have known blogging years ago so I can have traffic like you mention above.
Thanks for sharing!
Daily Good Tips
I joined TLA but i haven't put the code into my blog. I afraid my google pagerank down.
Bang Kritikus
Is this dangerous for our blog google pagerank. I get information that if we put text link ads, google will penalties our blog. Is that right ??
I think this is something that will help my site gain more revenue. I'll try it out for a few months, hope everything goes well.
But if a certain advertiser is willing to pay $50 to TLA to put a link on your site means that the link itself has a value of $50 dollars for him, therefore with the right approach you should be able to sell it yourself
Excellent point. I had a true A-ha moment reading that comment.
I've been so excited by Text-link-ads – how user-friendly and low-maintenance the whole process is – not to mention the Feedvertising plug-in is a great way for WordPress users to offer free downloads as a subscriber incentive – I think I've allowed myself to slip into "auto-pilot" regarding the possibilities.
Your bottom-line here is obvious.
I like the idea of running T-L-A in addition to offering a more PREVALENT, hand-picked sponsor.
This is exactly what AdsBay is hoping to accomplish! Currently all advertising networks charge an extortionate amount of money to sell your ad space, but with AdsBay you can sell your ad space using an auction format and you pay no commission on the sale. You can also set up your "Advertising Page†to point to your AdsBay auctions.
- L.O. Niskasaari
I have seen a couple of other examples out there, but I agree with both of you guys, it not easy to get started selling your own ads,
then again, here in Brazil we have a saying that goes like this "baby that does not cry does not get the milk"
I would agree with Ajay, Advertisers hesitate to buy ads directly from us. So far, I've seen only Stammy (Paul Stamatiou) have great success with it
Check out my Advertise Page:
check out the site of Paul Stamatiou, he has a good advertise page and you can see where he placed the ads that he sold directly (graphical ones).
Ajay D'Souza
Agreed on that point Daniel. Without doubt if the advertiser contacts me directly, it will work out cheaper.
I'm still confused about how exactly to go about it. I've got Google Ads and TLA on my site. They are bringing in enough to ensure my site keeps running.
Don't know how successful I'm going to be on this aspect. Also, not sure where exactly to place these ads.
Ajay, I agree with you that sometimes advertising networks are an easier option.
But if a certain advertiser is willing to pay $50 to TLA to put a link on your site means that the link itself has a value of $50 dollars for him, therefore with the right approach you should be able to sell it yourself.
I know it is not easy, it takes time and the blog needs to have certain characteristics, but it is certainly worth a shot.
Excellent post! With quality content and a well-built authority even among a few other authors/sites/bloggers, one can attract advertisers through this option easily, I think. One can also keep any currently subscribed advertising networks also in case an advertiser goes through that route.
A way to differentiate those two options could be to offer ads like text-link-ads on a specific side of the sidebar, whereas getting an ad link directly from the owner from the "Advertise" page would result in an ad in a completely different spot. That way, both options will be utilized until the site has grown popular enough among advertisers to get rid of any ad networks, if one wishes to.
Ajay D'Souza
btw, check out
Ajay D'Souza
There is one problem with trying to sell your own links is that Advertisers sometimes are reluctant to buy from the blog owner directly.
I have had a few measely offers to sell ads. TLA so far is among the best options.
Comments are closed.


text:
This Russian expression of surprise, dispatched in dismay or pleasure, translates as 'fir trees and sticks'.
Instead might say 'holy cow', 'gee whiz' or even 'yowza' – a corruption of 'yes, sir' first used in minstrel shows. Or text OMG.
Germans might also refer to the Almighty with the corruption Meine Guete – my goodness – or Ach Du lieber … an abbreviated reference: Oh, Dear… in heaven.


text:
Explore the timeless principles of fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity.
A Framework for Success for Leaders Everywhere. Learn about our newest solution.
Your first-level leaders are the "Difference-Makers" in your business.
This organization-wide transformation teaches the behaviors necessary to execute the most Wildly Important Goals.Learn More
Coming Soon. We are updating our entire site. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Coming Soon- we are updating the site and apologize for any inconvenience.
Each day brings with it a new wave of urgencies that compete for our attention. Texts, emails, calls, meetings and more, all converge on our already full schedules. The result is a sense of being busy without actually being productive, which leaves people feeling burned out and unfulfilled. The sheer volume of daily distractions threatens our ability to think clearly and to make wise decisions about what is important.
The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity empowers people with clear discernment to avoid distractions and to accomplish the goals that matter most in their professional and personal lives. Supported by science and years of experience, The 5 Choices not only produce a measurable increase in productivity, but provide a renewed sense of engagement and accomplishment.
How to discern the important from the less and not important. How to increase your ROM (Return on the Moment) in the midst of fierce distractions.
How to guide your decision making through a framework of what success looks like in your current most important roles.
Tips and Tools to plan weekly and daily to execute with excellence on the most important things.
Need we say more? Make technology work for you, not against you. Turn your technology into a productivity engine.
Simple yet critical ways to increase energy so you can think clearly, make good decisions and feel more accomplished at the end of every day.
Learn to make high-value decisions using the 21st century time management skills of decision, attention, and energy management, combined with powerful planning processes.
Learn a four-step process for skillfully managing projects, large or small. This proven approach helps project managers and their teams craft and deliver high-quality projects on time and within budget.
Discover how to craft presentations around essential objectives, present key concepts and ideas with power and enthusiasm, and design and present effective visuals.


text:
This is an old revision of the document!
You are in TerraME :: Introduction to Geographical Information Science
Introduction to Geographical Information Science
Professor: Gilberto Câmara
The course "Introduction to Geographical Information Science" is focused on discussing the core concepts of Geographical Information Science. We take a realist perspective, and ask ourselves the question: What are the different types of geographical data, and how are these types representable in computers?. What we call "geographical data" includes different kinds of data. We observe the natural world when we get data about topography, landscapes, the oceans and the atmosphere. Sometimes we represent data from nature as a continuous variation, as when we build digital terrain models. In other situations, we give names to natural features, as when we say "Mont Blanc". We also create geographical reality, as when we draw boundaries of countries and of land parcels. We also measure facts of the social world, when we take a census and locate crimes. We also build continuous distributions out of social reality, when
"The biggest problem with models is the fact that they are made by humans who tend to shape or use their models in ways that mirror their own notion of what a desirable outcome would be." (John Firor, formed director of NCAR, cited in Myanna Lahsen's paper "Seductive Simulations".
There are certain similarities between a work of fiction and a model: Just as we may wonder how much the characters in a novel are drawn from real life and how much is artifice, we might ask the same of a model; How much is based on observation and measurement of accessible phenomena, how much is based on informed judgment, and how much is convenience? (Naomi Oreskes, professor of History of Science, also cited by Myanna Lahsen).
"A model is clear, decisive, and positive, but it is believed by no one but the man who created it. Observations, on the other hand, are messy, inexact things, which are believed by everyone except the man who did that work". Harlow Shapley, American astronomer
Conclusion: to understand what models are, a scientist needs to be able to develop models himself. He needs to master computer programs that allow him to grasp the basics of modelling activity. He needs to be understand the different techniques used in modelling and their limitations.
To build the models, we will use the TerraME software. The software are supporting material are available at the TerraME site.
Main reference books
- Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life, John H. Miller & Scott Page, Princeton University Press, 2007.
- Simulation for the Social Scientist, N Gilbert, K. Troitzsch. Open University Press, 2005. Wiley, 2004.
- Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems, A. J. Heppenstall, A. T. Crooks, L. M. See, Michael Batty (Editors). Springer-Verlag, 2011.
- Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up, J. M. Epstein and R. L. Axtell. MIT Press, 1996.
Additional references
- Geosimulation: Automata-based modeling of urban phenomena. I. Benenson, P. Torrens.
- Rules, Games, and Common-Pool Resources. E. Ostrom, R. Gardner, J. Walker. University of Michigan Press, 1994.
- The Construction of Social Reality, John R. Searle, Free Press, 2007.


text:
In 2010 a 5 year old boy got stuck on some elevated playground equipment at the McDonald's store in Castle Hill. The boy had gained access to the rear of the playground in an area he was not supposed to go and climbed up onto the equipment. Mr Metaxoulis came to the boy's aid. He climbed up to where the boy was located (a height of about meters from the ground) and successfully handed him down to his parents.
Unfortunately, Mr Metaxoulis then himself fell and injured his left wrist (aggravating an old injury) and suffered a minor rib injury.
McDonald's denied they were at fault. A District Court judge agreed with them. But the matter then went before the Court of Appeal, where Mr Metaxoulis won.
The Court of Appeal found that McDonald's knew children were gaining access to the rear area of the playground but did not take adequate steps to prevent that re-occurring. They could have placed warning signs, used spring loaded hinges to ensure the relevant gate would remain closed or used a key lock on the latch (much like a pool gate). Those simple steps would have avoided access to the area and reduced the risk of any injury.
McDonald's was found to be negligent and Mr Metaxoulis was awarded $179,000 in injury compensation.
If this article could be relevant to your situation please contact us. We'd be more than happy to help guide you through your possible options.
For more details read the full version of the court judgment:
Metaxoulis v McDonalds Australia Ltd [2015] NSWCA 95
[ARForms id=103]


text:
Venture Capitalist to Lead Energy Loan Programs
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has hired a Washington-based venture capitalist to speed its efforts to choose alternative-energy companies and car makers that will win loan money and loan guarantees from the federal government.
The appointment of Jonathan Silver -- managing general partner of Core Capital Partners, an investor in alternative energy, advanced manufacturing, telecommunications and software companies -- makes him the latest in a growing roster of venture capitalists in positions of influence at the Department of Energy.
The agency has become a potentially huge source of capital for companies in the renewable-energy industry, many of them relatively small companies that have been battered by the recent turmoil in the credit and private-equity markets. Some renewable-energy trade groups have complained the Energy Department isn't moving fast enough to fund projects.
Mr. Silver, 52 years old, will be executive director of the Energy Department's loan program office, the agency said Tuesday. His job will be to oversee the Department's loan-guarantee program and a DOE program that is supposed to disburse up to $25 billion in loans to auto makers to help them speed the introduction of advanced, fuel-efficient vehicles. Mr. Silver wasn't available for comment.
Since taking office, the Obama administration has announced more than $8 billion in loans to Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co., Tesla Motors Inc. and Fisker Automotive Inc. It also has awarded a loan guarantee to solar-panel maker Solyndra Inc. to help the company build a factory in Fremont, Calif.


text:
Adam Sisman
He Lived Too Long
Fiery Heart: The First Life of Leigh Hunt
By Nicholas Roe
Pimlico 432pp £12.99 order from our bookshop
The Wit in the Dungeon: Leigh Hunt and His Circle
By Anthony Holden
Little, Brown 384pp £20 order from our bookshop
Leigh Hunt had the misfortune not to die early. He lived to the age of seventy-four, the sole survivor of a generation of Romantic writers – including Keats, Shelley and Byron – otherwise long since passed away. When he died in 1859, even his local paper, the West London Observer, expressed surprise that he had not done so before. Had he, like the others, died in his prime, he would surely have been better remembered, the glamour of youth forever attached to his name. As it was, he lived to suffer embarrassments and mortifications that tarnished his early achievements.