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William K. Black has written another astounding piece on the New Economic Perspectives web site. The piece is titled The Lessons Richard Bowen's FCIC Testimony Should Have Taught the Nation.
The financial crisis was driven by history's three most destructive epidemics of financial fraud: appraisal fraud, liar's loans, and the sale of fraudulently originated mortgages to the secondary market through fraudulent reps and warranties. One cannot understand, effectively investigate, or prosecute the senior financial officers who led these fraud epidemics without a detailed technical understanding of the fraud schemes and the financial markets. This first column is intended as a resource for those willing and able to make the investment towards achieving that understanding. Because people like me and Bowen no longer train FBI agents and prosecutors, and because the Obama administration's most senior officials have been unremittingly opposed to prosecuting the financial officers that led the three fraud epidemics, no FBI agent or prosecutor has the necessary technical understanding. My second column explains why this makes the FBI, the SEC, and the Department of Justice's (DOJ) failure to draw on Bowen's expertise all the more harmful and indefensible.
No spoiler alert is required either about Holder's reaction to Bowen providing the Department of Justice (DOJ) with a criminal case against Citi's controlling officers on a platinum platter. Holder, as always, refused to prosecute the banksters whose frauds drove the financial crisis. He eventually brought a civil action to get some useless fines from Citi rather than from the Citi officers who looted Citi, Fannie and Freddie, and Treasury. Holder also failed to thank Bowen when Holder announced the civil settlement with Citigroup and refused to use the golden opportunity of the press conference announcing the settlement to ask other whistleblowers to come forward. All of this, of course, is SOP for Holder and Loretta Lynch, President Obama's choice to be his successor. Lynch failed to prosecute HSBC or its responsible officers for its extraordinary crimes on behalf of genocidal regimes, terrorism sanction busters, and massive money laundering for the Sinaloa drug cartel. You can only read it in right wing publications, but she is also accused of not speaking to either of the two key whistleblowers about HSBC. Lynch's nomination is being held hostage by the Republicans for all the wrong reasons.
The piece is long, and I must admit I had to stop before the end and before I vomited. However, the piece is not that technical. I understood it fully and I am no accountant nor an economist. Why even a Nobel Prize winning economist could understand this article if they would only deign to read it. The trouble is that these prize winning economists make their theories about how an honest market would work, while having no appreciation that massive fraud is actually how many markets work. It never occurs to them to listen to the law enforcement people who understand fraud when they see it. They also don't listen to banks' own experienced bank enforcement executives who shout out about the fraud, and are summarily crushed by their fraudulent bosses.
I included in my excerpt the paragraph that mentions Loretta Lynch so that I can refer back to it anytime I need to explain why I am dead set against her nomination for Attorney General.
You'll have to read at least enough of the article to understand why I categorized this article under Greenberg's Law of Counterproductive Behavior. You won't have to read much to be hit over the head by the figurative 2 by 4 of the reasons.


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This is a Lululemon black hydration water running belt with three bottles.
Here is a view of the belt.
Here is a close up of the buckle or fastener. You can see the red Lululemon label.
This is a view of the metal clasp. You can see Lululemon stamped in it. This belt can be adjusted to several inches.
Here is another view of the buckle.
This is a picture of the plastic water bottle inside the belt sling or bottle holster.
This is a view of all of the bottles from the back.
Here is the label on the inside of the belt. It says that it is designed in Vancouver, Made in China.
I used to run with this belt all the time and I have one in charcoal grey as well. Does anybody still run with these belts?

subset: commoncrawl


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Ingrid Starnes Vetyver Bergamot 250mL Body Cleanser
or 6 weekly interest-free payments of $4.83
What's this ?
What's this ?
Vetyver and bergamot oils have been known for their calming, balancing and invigorating skin properties for centuries. Here they are paired with the best in modern all natural clinical practice. Made with organic manuka honey and goat's milk; aloe vera; camellia, rosehip, macadamia nut, jojoba, coconut and wheatgerm oils, this is made of nothing but good things but has the feel, finish and effectiveness of a petroleum based product. Active agents draw ambient moisture while natural nut-based emollient oils retain softness. No sulfates, silicones, parabens, petrochemicals, artificial fragrance or animal testing. A recyclable bottle, renewable paper sticker and made in New Zealand.


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Launching our Turkish language website is just a first step toward the global outreach that Sites By Hand is striving to achieve.
STANFORD, California (PRWEB) February 06, 2013
Sites By Hand, a first-of-its-kind Web design and solutions site established by Stanford University students, announced today the launch of a Turkish language version of its website.
The launch brings Sites By Hand a step closer to its goal of becoming a global web development company providing international website design and effective web solutions, while contributing its services to non-profits worldwide.
Sites By Hand is working overtime to meet the needs of a growing number of global consumers searching for web services that fit their professional needs and budget, beginning with English language and Turkish website design. In doing so, the company has committed to making a positive global impact by empowering non-profits worldwide with pro-bono services.
Student technology experts at Sites By Hand create high quality, professional websites by hand for small businesses and individuals. Potential customers simply log on to the SitesByHand.com website and begin browsing the menu of services to select those that match their needs. The Sites By Hand three-minute calculator provides an automated estimate, so users can plan a personalized Web solution they can afford.
"Launching our Turkish language website is just a first step toward the global outreach that Sites By Hand is striving to achieve," says Ryan Breslow, co-founder and Head of Production for Sites By Hand. "We are building our reputation on innovation, collaboration, and a commitment to meet the needs of a global community in need of practical web development services."
Building on a new generation of online innovation, Sites By Hand is also delivering on a global-minded social strategy that places a high regard on contributing to something larger than itself. Sites By Hand believes that each profit-earning entity must also have a social impact.
Sites by Hand is proud of its commitment to social issues. A portion of the profits from every website purchased is earmarked for helping non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and non-profit organizations meet their web needs.
About Sites By Hand:
In addition to collaborative custom web design, Sites By Hand offers premium domain services, logo and Favicon design, professional graphics, establishment of a content management system (CMS), fast revision capabilities, complete on-page SEO, custom branded Emails, professional content page writing, blog-style formatting, shopping cart integration, inventory and integrated payment systems (including PayPal), search features, password protection for pages, video marketing and more.
Sites By Hand specializes in development of E-commerce websites, informational websites (business, NGO, non-profits, etc.), portfolio websites, interactive websites, blogs, and websites with custom relationship management (CRM) software. Sites By Hand also offers ongoing support with a content management system that is integrated into each new website to enable clients to create new web pages, manage site categories and tags, easily edit existing content, access and alter site settings, add photos, videos and other media, and more. Customer care services are also available, which offers an ongoing relationship between Sites By Hand and the client's IT manager to handle website updates quickly and efficiently.
For more information on developing a website and other web services, visit the Site By Hands website at http://www.SitesByHand.com, or Email info(at)sitesbyhand(dot)com.


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State lawmakers stayed with the status quo in killing a proposal last week that would've given tax breaks to ordinary homeowners in West Dallas.
Instead, only wealthy developers will continue to receive millions in tax reimbursements while driving up assessments in nearby blue collar neighborhoods.
State Rep. Eric Johnson had proposed legislation in the Texas House of Representatives that would've taken some of the taxpayer funds earmarked for Trinity Groves and instead used that money to fix residential streets, assist families in moving to other areas or pay for affordable housing, according to the Texas Tribune.
Johnson's bill also would've required West Dallas residences to be assessed for tax purposes without regard for nearby development.
Besides the immediate housing crisis for dozens of families on the brink of eviction in West Dallas, their tax assessments have tripled. The Texas Tribune offers the example of neighbor Pete Hernandez:
The Dallas Central Appraisal District has already notified him that his house and its land are now appraised at $75,690 — nearly triple the $26,360 they were valued at last year. Hernandez estimates that'll make his property tax bill cost about $2,300, well above the $800 or so he previously paid. The 57-year-old said he's not sure yet how he'll cover this year's bill. And he's not alone. Many area residents fear they may have to move elsewhere in a city with dwindling affordable housing options.
But the Texas Legislature showed no mercy for working class West Dallas. They killed the bill Friday, and Johnson posted on social media:
In the end, having absolutely no allies in this fight but, rather, some very wealthy and relentless opponents who were successful in convincing those who are supposed to be serving West Dallas to instead hand over West Dallas, proved to be too much for me to overcome.
Find his full post below.


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Self Storage Services, Singapore
As living and working spaces in Singapore get smaller to accommodate for rapid population growth and influx of foreign talent, homeowners and space planners need to get more practical and creative when it comes to storage.While facilities like hideaway storage can easily make a space feel larger, sometimes it would be worth investing in storage space to keep important items safe and out of the way when not in use.
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Our centrally-located warehouses are easily accessible via highways and public transport in Singapore, which means that you can gain access to all your stored items with immense ease.


text: CMT Music Awards: Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan Among Performers 7:30 AM PDT 5/19/2016 by Natalie Stone FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Christopher Polk/ACM2016 Keith Urban also joins the lineup of musicians that will perform live in Nashville. Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan are among country superstars that will perform during the 2016 CMT Music Awards, the network announced Thursday. Chris Stapleton, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Keith Urban and Thomas Rhett also are among male country stars that will give audiences a performance during the fan-voted awards. Country fans also can expect joint performances from The Voice coach Shelton and Country Music Hall of Fame members The Oak Ridge Boys for a collaboration of Shelton's "Doin' It to a Country Song," as well as a musical showcase from Urban and his tourmates — Brett Eldredge and Maren Morris — of songs from Urban's most recent album, Ripcord. Additional performers scheduled for the awards will be announced at a later date. Voting is open and will continue until Monday, June 6, at 12:01 a.m. The awards show will air live from Nashville on June 8 at 8 p.m. ET (taped-delayed PT). FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Natalie Stone email@example.com @thr


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Crestron Demos Its NFC Solution at CEDIA Expo
Amidst numerous product introductions at CEDIA Expo last week, Crestron demonstrated its application of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, which it is calling airConnect.
Once specially programmed thin tags are affixed behind wall keypads and faceplates, homeowners, without launching an app, can trigger personalized lighting, shading, entertainment system and temperature control commands by putting their smartphones close to the embedded NFC tag to activate it.
Setting up a phone to work with NFC tags requires minimal integrator programming, the company said. Right now, NFC technology is Android-device compatible, but Crestron will add iPhone and iPad support when those devices are enabled for NFC, according to Jeff Singer, director of global marketing.
Other highlights at the Crestron booth included:
• The introduction of Crestron Studio Home Designer software, which enables touchscreen GUI creation and system design while substantially cutting down programming time; further, it is backward-compatible to support existing programs. Feature highlights include: Smart Sizing, which automatically scales graphics across all types of screens with no loss of resolution on larger screens; Universal Upload, which sends one touchscreen program all at once to all screens in a project; and Smart Object, whereby programmers can drag and drop controls, presets and metadata interfaces from a library into a project and have that element automatically populate everywhere it is required.
• The debut of Crestron's Shading Solutions lineup. Around 400 fabric choices are available as well as three hardware series. The launch is happening along with a Crestron Design Tool dealer support program.
• The Sonnex multi-room HD audio system, which supports Apple AirPlay.


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10 Useful Tips On How To Write Product Descriptions That Sell
Your eCommerce store has a great modern design, lots of products and tempting positive reviews. It seems that you should be drowning in orders, but it is not happening. Why?
Maybe, poorly written product descriptions are the reason. They definitely have a great impact on the purchasing decisions made by your store visitors.
In this article, we will tell you how to write mind-blowing product descriptions that can turn even a skeptic customer into a loyal one.
What is a product description?
A product description is a text on the product page that gives viewers the detailed information about this specific item. As a rule, it includes benefits of the product, its features, details, purpose, methods of use, etc.
Product descriptions help potential buyers get a general idea of the product and decide if this particular item meets their needs and preferences. In other words, product descriptions determine whether people buy your products or not.
Of course, every product on AliExpress has its own description, but it's a really bad idea to use any of them in your store. Here are some reasons why.
Why shouldn't you use the original product descriptions from AliExpress?
If you have ever bought something from AliExpress, you probably know that the product descriptions written there are a bit messy. They seem to contain everything, from the seller's marketing materials to weird uninformative collages. Obviously, they don't inspire much trust and, what's even worse, disclose the product's origin.
Another unpleasant feature of AliExpress product descriptions is the lack of optimization for search engines. They don't include any keywords, so with these descriptions you will have a slight chance to reach your target audience.
Besides that, there is no uniform style for AliExpress product descriptions – every seller describes products as he or she wants. So if you start using them without modification, your eCommerce store will look unprofessional and poorly made.
To avoid these mistakes, let's look at how to write product descriptions that will make your customers place their orders in your store.
How to write a product description that sells
Research your target audience
Before writing product descriptions, you need to imagine your average buyers and think how they will respond to your content.
For example, it's a bad idea to use nothing but difficult terms if you sell highly professional sports equipment to the general public. Of course, your duty is to explain what this or that thing does and how it works, but you must keep it simpler. If not all of your buyers are well-educated athletes, find a way to make your product descriptions clear and understandable to everyone.
If you're just starting out and have no idea who your customers are, we recommend you to do the following:
- Use Google Analytics to get more information about your website visitors (gender, age, country, etc.)
- Look for your competitors' stores and analyze what type of content their customers value the most
- Read people's comments to find out what words they usually use
This will help you get a better understanding of your target audience, their preferences, expectations, and pain points.
Change the product titles
When writing product descriptions, don't forget about product titles. They are one of the first things that people see when looking through your store.
As you know, most AliExpress product titles are terrible. They include lots of unnecessary words. Your goal is to edit them and to make them readable and attractive.
What do you need to do?
- Use Google Keyword Planner to find the keywords related to your products
- Include the chosen keywords into your product titles
- Add some important attributes of the product (color, size, material, weigh, model, etc) to the title
Let's look at an example of well-written titles.
As you can see, you don't need to write too much details! Remember that this is just a title. So, make it as informative and short as possible.
Focus on the benefits for your customers
These days, it isn't enough to just describe a product and tell your customers about its features. People want to know how they will benefit by using your products.
Let's say you want to sell an enamel pin. You can write about its materials, unique design or any other details. No doubt, this information should be in your product description.
However, you need to write why your customers should buy this product from you. In other words, you need to tell them what experience they will get by using your product.
Specify the number of products
Some time ago I decided to buy new earrings from an online store. I quickly found the ones I like and placed an order. In several days, I received my parcel and was extremely disappointed because I got only one earring!
And you know, that wasn't a mistake! These actually were piercing studs and they were sold by the piece, so if I wanted to get a pair of earrings I had to buy 2 pieces. The problem was that a seller didn't write this information in the product description clearly enough.
If you don't want to get negative reviews from your customers, we recommend you to always specify the number of pieces per order in your product descriptions.
Write product descriptions in the customers' language
When writing product descriptions, you need to use the words, phrases or terms your customers use in their daily lives. What's more, you need to use exactly these terms to describe your products. Otherwise, you have lots of chances that your website visitors won't understand you or won't find an item they're looking for.
Speaking your customers' language is the necessary condition for creating great product descriptions.
Make your description scannable
Product descriptions shouldn't look like novels. People don't read them for pleasure. Their main goal is to receive all the valuable information about the product. So you need to make them scannable.
To do this, include the following elements in your product descriptions:
- Bullets
- Highlining
- Whitespaces
Here's what we are talking about:
They will help your customers quickly scan your text and easily get the information they are looking for.
Keep the same writing style on all the product pages
Your eCommerce store will look more professional if you keep the same writing tone and style on all the product pages.
Do you use bullets to describe a dress? Use them to write descriptions to all the other products. Do you put jokes into your product descriptions? Keep it up!
Although it will take some time, your customers will trust your store and like it a bit more.
Use high quality images
It's no secret that great images play a key role in online shopping. However, many eCommerce store owners can't choose the right ones.
Pictures in your store should be:
- Larger than 1×1 in (otherwise your images will have grey stripes on each side)
- Clear from any watermarks or writings
Ideally, the pictures shouldn't contain easily recognisable photos of models who demonstrate the product in use. However, it's a difficult task if you dropship apparel or other items that need to be shown on an actual person. In any case, try to focus on the photos that don't show the model's face and don't make it too obvious that the promo pictures were taken in China. Otherwise, people will associate your website with AliExpress and avoid buying from you.
Optimize your product descriptions for search engines
In order to get more targeted traffic and more orders, you need to optimize your product pages for search engines.
We have a great article which explains in detail on how to write product descriptions for SEO. Feel free to read it and follow the guidelines step by step. If you do it right, your customers won't be long in coming!
Use social proof
When your webstore visitors aren't sure about what products to purchase, they look for what other people usually buy from your store. As a rule, they choose the products with the highest number of positive reviews.
Thanks to AliDropship plugin, you can easily import authentic client reviews from AliExpress and increase your product pages' credibility. Besides, you can also use a wide range of marketing tools providing social proof – feel free to read more about them here.
Here were the 10 tips on how to write product descriptions that are powerful, persuasive, and money-making. Share your knowledge about the products in your store, don't be afraid to experiment with different types of description and it will bear fruit in the near future!
Very useful. thanks
Practical tips, thank you.
Very useful information indeed. Many thanks for the excellent work.
You are also going to come across hyperlinks to hubs from other authors right here on HP who've currently extensively covered specific elements of On-Web page Search engine optimisation.


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Please check out my other "Full to the Brim" posts as well. Many contests are still underway. I publish "Full to the Brim" every Friday. Thanks for visiting my blog and come back soon!
(I'm a little late this week with FTTB, but, hey, I'm only human! Hope you are having an enjoyable weekend.)
Fish for more children's book giveaways at Lori Calabrese's Fish for a Free Book linkup each Friday
My book giveaway:
Despicable Me Book Set Prize Pack Ends 7/26/10
Other book giveaways:
Frugal Plus - Book Giveaway Ends 7/29/10
Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez
A Bookworm's Bargains - Book Giveaway Ends 7/23/10
52 Family Time Ideas from Bethany House Publications
The Amazing Mess - Book Giveaway Ends 7/18/10
$25.00 gift certificate for Usborne books
Kindred Spirit Mommy - Book Giveaway Ends 8/3/10
Pookster and Bubs books: "The Unloose Tooth" AND "The Practically Perfect Pickle"
Mommy PR - Book Giveaway Ends 7/27/10
Scare a Bear by Kathy Jo Wargin
JDaniel4's Mom - Book Giveaway Ends 7/27/10
Tiger Tales: The Very Greedy Bee, The Crunching Munching Caterpillar, The Itsy Bitsy Spider and The Very Lazy Ladybug
Luxury Reading - Book Giveaway Ends 7/26/10
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (YA)
Happily Blended - Book Giveaway Ends 7/24/10
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (YA)
MomStart - Book Giveaway Ends 7/26/10
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (YA)
Blush - Book Giveaway Ends 7/19/10
For Just One Day by Laura Leuck; Marc Boutavant (Illustrator)
Gahome2mom - Book Giveaway Ends 7/27/10
Hands-On Bible (Tyndale) Gift Certificate
thatsIT! Mommy - Book Giveaway Ends 7/23/10
Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 1: Water Volumes 1-4
Maria's Space - Book Giveaway Ends 7/26/10
National Geographic Kids: Weird But True, The Big Book of Fun, and National Geographic Kids Almanac 2011
Lil Blu Dragonfly - Book Giveaway Ends 8/3/10
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Work and Play Day by Day - Book Giveaway Ends 7/21/10
Various book sets for kids and adults
100 Scope Notes - Book Giveaway Ends 7/19/10
Summer Book Giveaway Extravaganza
Sweeps4Bloggers - Book Giveaway Ends 8/1/10
Seeds of Change by Jen Cullerton Johnson
Mommy PR - Book Giveaway Ends 7/31/10
Judy Moody's Way Wacky Uber Awesome Book of More Fun Stuff to Do!
Tech Savvy Mama - Book Giveaway Ends ??
10th anniversary hardcover edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Member Only: Mom Bloggers Club - Book Giveaway Ends 7/31/10
five Hallmark recordable storybooks: Hey Diddle, Diddle, Bright and Beautiful, I Love You Grandma, My Grandpa and Me and We're Not Scared of Anything.
Putumayo Kids Air Guitar Video Contest: Grand Prize: in-home concert with StarFish singer StingRay and 5 Putumayo Kids CDs! ; Runners-up: A set of 5 Putumayo Kids CDs - Ends 8/15
To Kill a Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Sweepstakes" - HarperCollins Publishers: Five Winners will receive the To Kill a Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Prize Pack - Ends 8/15/10
Have a children's book you are giving away on your blog? Let me know! I'll spread the word here!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Full to the Brim - Kid's Book Giveaway List (7/17/10) Late Edition
Posted by Brimful Curiosities at 10:00 PM
Labels: Contests and Giveaways, Full to the Brim
4 comments:
- Jaedyn said...
Thank you for including my giveaway! :) Can't wait to enter the others!
- July 18, 2010 at 7:40 PM
- Anonymous said...
I've left you the "A Blog with Substance" award on my blog. I enjoy your posts!
- July 20, 2010 at 9:36 PM
- Gwen T said...
New Book Giveaway on my Thursday Children's Book Review - plus lots of tips for new homeschoolers - ToliversToTexas.blogspot.com
Thanks for listing these!!
- July 23, 2010 at 10:15 AM
- Brandy Ellen said...
Thanks for sharing my giveaway!
- July 31, 2010 at 7:25 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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https://prp.fm/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Rose-City-Food-Park-Graphic.jpg 340 720 Ken Wilson https://prp.fm/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/PRP-logo-reversed100.png Ken Wilson2016-03-14 20:47:082016-03-14 20:47:08Tasty Tuesday : Spring Sampling Event — Rose City Food Park
Something wonderful is happening at the Rose City Food Park on Saturday, March 19, 2016. A very special event will be taking place from Noon till 6 PM. This will be the pod's Spring Sampling event. Carts at the … Continue Reading


text: I still think of him.. little sign comes and says, 'the one who left is coming back this way" … to my grand daughter telling me I need to put the lion back in my truck … to seeing a patient with the name Celestial… to calling a patient and him having an English accent so strong I had to giggle…. to moving to a new house, seeing my lion sitting by the front door and knowing I will take him and find him a spot in my new world…. I still think of him..


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My Pet Shop Boys Site Has Moved To Blogger
Sorry for the inconvenience. I'm keeping this site open, because I plan on posting fan fiction about other musicians, TV shows and movies. It will not be long before work begins here. The new Pet Shop Boys fan fiction address is: https://westendgurrrl.blogspot.com Hope to see you there. lonelyheroine aka MyBeautifulPain Continue reading My Pet Shop Boys Site Has Moved To Blogger


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Career lessons from the game of poker
A successful poker player constantly plays a high standard, and does not make impulsive decisions. A long-term discipline in a career path builds one's wealth, supported by one's past success.
A single wrong decision can demolish one's reputation and credibility.
This is a professional note extracted from an online article.
Read more efficiently
Save what inspires you
Remember anything
Key Ideas
A good poker player chooses a table where he has a better chance to win. A group of casual players is better than a table of professional players.
In your career, you need to pick the right stream or the right company, where your skills are in demand, and your contribution will be valued.
A poker player learns many skills initially about different combinations of cards, and how to play a basic game. He keeps on improving by further calculating the other aspects of the game, which were not understood before.
Similarly, one needs to identify the basic skills for the job and then grow with experience, improving your dealings with people and situations.
A poker player has to live by his decisions, even when he is losing.
In our professional life, we are also on our own with our decisions. No one will be there to sympathize with you, and the pain is yours alone.
Not risking in a poker game means slowly losing or bleeding away our stack. In our careers, we have to take risks, take the jump ahead, getting out of our comfort zones to succeed.
It's not the end of the world if a poker player has a set of bad cards, as any bad situation can change with new cards and the skillful playing of the game. In the corporate world, good or bad situations change quickly. Being the weakest in the team does not mean you cannot reach to the top.
Good situations too can change rapidly, so we should not be taking our promotion, bonus, boss or our job for granted.
Life is a game of poker, and works best when not taken too seriously.
Your career should be something you enjoy doing. It is good to keep the eye on the ball while enjoying the game, playing in the right spirit.
Your past work culture, expectations and even your prior performance do not matter in the present moment.
In Poker, new outcomes, and surprises in the current keep happening in the game of cards, and the past cards dealt cannot influence that. What matters is how you act now.
A certain percentage of the winnings always go to the casino where the game of poker is being played. Similarly, your work has to ensure your employers goals are met, not just yours.
If the casino table is rigged or players are playing in tandem, there is a strong chance that you will lose.
In the case of the workplace, if you see extreme discrimination, politics harassment or bias, then there is no need to stay there.
The game of poker is unpredictable and the luck of the draw lands in our favor, out of the blue.
A successful entrepreneur sticks to his creation, limiting his losses and keeps on working tirelessly for that moment to arrive.
A poker player has to decide when to quit (fold) so that he can save his stack for the next game. When the odds are really low, and the cash is bleeding, he makes the decision to fail.
Similarly, in business, we have to know when we are wasting our energies and quit something that is draining our resources, pivot our business if required, or start from scratch on a new one.
A good poker player is not dependent on luck of the draw, and on the other player's mistakes to win. It's about how you play.
Any investor knows that the business will do well not because it's a great idea, but because there is something he sees in the businessman.
Key Ideas
The odds are always fifty-fifty. But most of us anticipate better odds, or better luck, after a bad streak, as if now we are due for good luck.
This 'Gambler's Fallacy'...
Maria Konnikova, in her soon to be published book The Biggest Bluff, tells us that Poker is a real game, closer to life as opposed to the modern games which try to 'game' our brains' and exploit its weaknesses.
Poker pushes us out of our comfort zones and illusions and puts us where life is, unpredictable, and always with fifty-fifty odds.
Key Ideas
Being decisive is simply the most rational way to take on any problem.
Decisiveness means having the ability to decide with speed and clarity.
They act this way because they assume others will make better decisions for them.
They underestimate the power of this effective strategy and end up relying on the thinking power of others to survive.
The best decision is the best one you can make with the information available at the time.
Simply need to make a decision with the faulty information at hand and move forward. Waiting longer is just delaying the inevitable, so you must decide even in the face of uncertainty.
3 more ideas
Key Ideas
To avoid the trap of overestimating our own skill, we need to start thinking probabilistically. That means estimating the odds and adapting your decision-making accordingly.
Even if the decision had a good outcome, we still need to objectively analyse the quality of the decision-making underneath.
Tilting means realizing that your emotions are not separate from the logic of your decision making - for example, the despair that comes from bad luck, or the overconfidence that comes from a win.
You can learn to cope better by regularly checking in with yourself to see what you are feeling and how you react. Once you have identified those feelings, then try to analyse how they're influencing your judgment.
one more idea


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The 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo will be held June 10-13 in Chicago, IL. The call for presentations is now open. Deadline has been extended to Friday, September 14 at 5:00 pm (EST). Submit your presentation proposal.
Submissions emphasizing a specific product, process or manufacturer will not be considered. NFPA will review all presentation proposals. Selections will be made based on quality, relevance, focus, practical application, and on the presenter's experience and credentials.
If your proposal is accepted, you will be required to submit a handout. Continuing education credits (CEUs) will be awarded for all education sessions. More details.


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a farewell to Malazan
I just read Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon, the first of ten volumes in what he calls The Malazan Book of the Fallen (eight have been published so far). Erikson is obviously a very intelligent man and a much better writer than is common among writers of fantasy, but I won't be reading any more installments in the series. To explain why, I have to invoke Tolkien.
In a number of letters Tolkien responds to the very common view that The Lord of the Rings is about power by simply denying it. Rather, he says, the book is about "the Fall, Mortality, and the Machine." To seek for power (including technological power: "the Machine") is one of the ways we respond to our fallen and mortal state. But there are other ways: for instance, art. Even those who are not mortal, but are fallen — in Tolkien's world, the Elves — are driven by the impulse to make beautiful things, and indeed their desire to make beautiful things can cause them to fall. (As is told in The Silmarillion, this desire leads them into tragic alliances with Morgoth, the Satan of Tolkien's world.) Their very artfulness can also lead them into a kind of preciousness, an aestheticism that courts moral exhaustion.
Tolkien was also deeply interested in the varieties of friendship, and the ways in which friendship can be a consolation and a comfort in a broken world. This is not unconnected to what I have just said, because friends also help one another to stay healthy — morally as well as physically — and for those of us who are fallen and mortal, such help is a great benefit.
All this is not to say that Tolkien doesn't have a great deal to say about power, only that power is not at the very heart of his concerns, and his treatment of it only makes complete sense in the context of these other fields and values.
By contrast, Steven Erikson, as best I can tell from Gardens of the Moon, does not appear to be interested in anything other than the many varieties of power: physical, psychological, magical, political, spiritual. In his world there is no art, unless you consider as art certain varieties of magic — say, shifting a person's soul from a human body to a wooden marionette. But this is really just the exertion of a (temporary) power over death. And once I decided that I wasn't going to read any further in the series, I decided to cross the Rubicon — that is, check the Wikipedia pages of the next few volumes for plot summaries. I turned away from the computer with a great sigh of relief that I didn't devote any more time to Malazan.
I would add, while I'm making enemies, that I think precisely the same is true of George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. (I've read two of those, which I think you'll agree makes me an expert.) Like most of Tolkien's other descendants, Erikson and Martin have taken up his portrayals of world-shaking battles and the strategies and political machinations that lead up to them, but seem not to have been receptive to anything else the old Master was up to. But what makes Tolkien still unique is his determination to weave his battles, and his inquiries into power, into a larger picture of what sort of life is good for human beings to live. To but it as briefly as possible, that's a life in which art and friendship may flourish.
Now, a contemporary writer may not share Tolkien's vision of what makes for a good life. Fair enough; but in that case I'd like them to give me some sense of what their ideals are. Of these exhaustive and exhausting anatomies of power — it's Foucault's world; they're just playing in it — I have had more than enough.


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Your worldwide partner in natural crop protection
Valto is an innovative, Dutch family
company dedicated to the world of natural
crop protection.
Our best known product, V10, is being
used to protect tomato plants from the
Pepino Mosaic Virus.
We are always seeking to cooperate in interesting new projects with business enterprises, students and research institutes.
We collaborate closely with scientists, researchers and laboratories and companies, growers and corporations to find solutions that work.


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Girls Aloud – female pupils calling the tune in Scottish Pipe Bands
Monday, January 27th, 2014
on behalf of The Scottish Schools Pipes and Drums Trust
Schoolgirls have hit the headlines after they overturned a traditional male bastion, by taking over one of Scotland's most promising pipe bands.
Preston Lodge High School have had hundreds of youngsters have signed up to learn bagpipes and drums in their band, but the coveted places in the band are being dominated by girls.
The Scottish high school has 31 players in its pipe band, including 24 girls and just seven boys, Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championships say the popularity of piping among the fairer sex is soaring.
The Pipe Band received coverage in the Sunday Post, a national Scottish institution, which
reaches upward of 670,000 people every week; and in the Edinburgh Evening News, the daily paper serving the Scottish capital, which sells more than 30,000 copies every day.
The coverage was achieved as part of an ongoing PR campaign for Scottish Schools Pipe Band Championships.
We're a friendly bunch here at Holyrood PR an we'd love to hear from you if you're interested in finding out what PR could do for a business like yours (check out our Case Study success stories).
Contact us at any time to find out how our company could benefit from coverage – you'll find all the ways to get in touch (including a video that will guide you right to our door) on the Holyrood PR contact page.
Private: Heather Peebles
Based as a PR in Edinburgh, Heather Peebles is a highly-valued member of the team at Holyrood PR. Her work with the Scottish public relations consultancy sees her advising clients in healthcare, construction, renewables and logistics. As well as delivering numerous successful PR campaigns, she is also experienced in crisis PR and reputation management.View Private:'s Profile
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Taking a Cruise generally is a great vacation for you and your loved ones. This can be a handsome provide which many can get low cost cruises. Whether you might be looking for adventure on the high seas in the Caribbean, or a tradition-enriching experience through Europe, a cruise trip offers something for everybody. From that time, Carnival Cruise Strains by no means looked again. So you possibly can get pleasure from family time together, look for a cruise that provides video games, contests, reside entertainment and different things that might interest all of you.
You will discover actual ships that have been destroyed throughout the river crossing, uncover artifacts and learn what makes this specific area so dangerous and feared by even the most skilled sailors. Royal Caribbean Cruises shouldn't be a sport of the adults only but somewhat they have made video games available for teenagers from 6 months to thirty six months too alongside aspect different enjoyable-stuffed actions for the adults.
Enjoy unique rewards, perks and privileges on your subsequent cruise while you sign as much as our loyalty programme totally free in the present day. Some cruise lines have particular cruise offers which can be available solely by means of their very own website and most provide particular discounts in the event you book by means of their very own website. Roses will adorn the ship as we arrive in Portland, also called the Metropolis of Roses." In the morning, our guide will meet us on the ship for a enjoyable-filled, narrated tour of the city.
Our model new ship is taking to the oceans in 2019, and heralds a brand new era for Saga Cruising. Some cruise traces additionally provide particular perks accessible solely to group cruisers. The Royal Caribbean worldwide cruise might be from three, five, and seven days period and the itinerary might be to such gorgeous beaches of Magen's Bay in St. Thomas, the golf course of Barbados or the specialty French shops in St. Marten and plenty of different superb websites.
Different cruise traces could supply on-board credits that can be used towards special activities or in the direction of shore excursions that usually price further if you guide them separately. Some are afraid of airplane travel but sill travel on cruises. Journey agents who focus on reserving cruises have access to a few of the best cruise prices and up-to-date information on present cruise ships.


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If you want to know what British windsurfing legend Nik Baker is up to, you can check his Facebook profile.
There you will find information about what he is doing and where is he heading with his new van full of demo equipment for everyone to check out or try. So if you want to meet up with Nik and try the latest North, Fanatic and Mistral equipment, become a fan on his profile and be updated about where he will be sailing next.
Photo Credit: PWA/J.Carter


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Below are the latest 3+ bedroom condo listings in downtown San Diego. The list is updated every 10 minutes! Click on any 3 bedroom condo for sale listing below to view more details or schedule a property tour. Please contact us with any questions.


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The volcanic island called Reunion Island appeared out of the ocean three million years ago. The Piton de la Fournaise, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, shapes the landscape and even gains ground on the ocean itself during certain lava flows.
Accessible magic
An astonishing lunar landscape, the floor shaped by hardened lava flows, the earth covered in orange and brown scorch marks: climbing up the Piton de la Fournaise reveals strange, stunning, but very accessible scenery. The Plaine des Sables, the Pas de Bellecombe mountain pass, craters and lava flows are just some of the magical places you will never forget. When you get to the base of the volcano, the scenery of the Savage South creates a visual spectacle, with craggy basalt cliffs, the green of lush vegetation and the deep blue of the Indian Ocean.
The Savage South coasts
Across the south of the island, the successive lava flows from Piton de la Fournaise have come down to the oceans, creating black sandy beaches with fine, hot sand when the sun is at its highest. The beaches form an exceptional landscape, surrounded by arid plant life and enough to inspire poetry. The most famous of the beaches is the Etang-Salé, a fishing village and an immense stretch of sand where locals meet up on weekends for picnics. Have you ever wondered what it feels like to walk on the moon? You might have some idea after exploring the volcanic and lunar scenery that only Reunion Island can offer.


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Is it Time to Focus on You?
Create Your Future is back! I've been on hiatus for a bit, relocating from Wisconsin to New Mexico, and being deep into projects.
With the new year upon us, I found myself missing the one-to-one contact with clients and the amazing process of helping each person realize their dreams, navigate successful career changes, and attain personal goals.
Speaking of the new year, I always seem to find myself wanting to tidy up every aspect of my life in January. As soon as the holidays are over, I am compelled to get the decorations put away and clear out anything that no longer serves a purpose or enhances my life. Whether this is the result of our "new & improved you" societal outlook, or simply a natural rhythm, it seems to happen each year without fail.
Perhaps it is an evolutionary and biological aspect of winter. Just as our animal friends hunker down and draw inward, resting and replenishing themselves during the winter, we tend to stay home and focus more on our own personal growth during this time of year.
Whatever the reason, I find it easiest to go with the flow and use this time to refocus on personal goals, health, relationships, work, simplicity, and order in my world.
What about you? Share your story below and get a free 30-minute personal growth consultation!
I look forward to hearing from you.
Leave a Reply.
Create Your Future
Within each of us lies the potential to do great things. For most of us, the right tools are all we need. With them, we can discover the work we were meant to do. My passion is helping others design and create the lives they have only imagined.
December 2017


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Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol, John Coplans
Edition : First / Eindhoven & Greenwich / Van Abbemuseum/New York Graphic Society / 1970 / Softcover. / Near Fine
4to. 160pp. Printed wraps as issued. Numerous Colour and Black & White plates. Text in English. Issued in an unknown but very limited edition by the Van Abbemuseum to coincide with Warhol's exhibition in 1970. This specially bound issue has silk-screened covers featuring close-ups of Warhol's face. Laid in is the Dutch translation booklet. Wear to corners and spine with dent to bottom left corner. Discreet ownership inscription to titlepage.


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30 Years of Developing People Teams & Organizations
The BasicsFrom experience and conscious intention a few fundamental premises and recurring themes are apparent that inform and guide our work with clients.
All organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they get.
Your organization's results are the visible bottom line of all the conscious and unconscious design choices that have been exercised. To change the results you must change the design. We assist you in developing a greater range of choices in designing your organization for continuous learning and development.
All organizational units are simultaneously wholes and parts.
Individuals, work groups, departments, divisions and organizations are whole/parts or holons. We are never one or the other, we are both. The dynamic tension of fulfilling our responsibilities as wholes and parts is fundamental to our existence.
We are prisoners of structures of which we are unaware.
It is not the structures we can see which imprison us but the structures we can't see. Unearthing these structures requires a different way of thinking about your organization. Isolated problem solving has been the predominant tool in North American business for decades. But in complex systems comprised of nested holons, cause and effect are more dynamic; often far removed in time and place. Systems thinking reveals the interconnectedness of structures blocking personal, group, and organizational performance. As you develop a more systemic and holistic understanding of your organization you reveal issues which had been previously invisible.
The fundamental learning unit of the modern organization is the team.
In today's business environment major decisions are seldom made or carried out by a single individual. They are either made in a group, or translated into group action. Individual learning, no matter how wonderful it is or how great it makes us feel, is often irrelevant to organizational development. Individuals are forever learning and yet there is seldom any organizational learning. When teams learn, they can become a model for learning throughout the organization. When teams learn the organization learns.
To understand whole systems is to understand ourselves.
All systems, as large or as complex as they may be, follow relatively few "rules". As you master the systemic behaviour of your team and your organization, you gain insight into the systemic behaviour of your life. Think of nested tables - what we learn from the individual can be applied to the organization and what we learn about the organization can be applied to the individual.
The medium for development, accomplishment and change is communication.
Work unfolds as a series of "conversations," some more structured than others over time. When a conversation is missing or remains unfulfilled, organizational performance suffers.
Development and change, whether it be social, organizational or personal, is fueled by the passion of inspiration and sobered by the truth of reality. A healthy dose of both is critical for true development to occur.


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Michael Anderson
San Dimas, CA, USA
BA, Philosophy, Minor: Biblical Studies, Biola University
MA, Philosophy, California State University, Los Angeles
MLitt, Theology, Imagination & the Arts, University of St Andrews
Thesis topic
Vision and the Art of Reading
Under the supervision of George Corbett, Michael wonders about the role of visualization in mediating the Biblical narrative to the reader and the constructive role this may have with regards to Biblical meaning.
Other information
Michael lives in St Andrews with his wife, Francina, and their two children, Lea & William. Before coming to St Andrews, Michael taught high school Philosophy & Bible and worked for an animation company that taught theology to kids. Michael feels very fortunate to study at such a unique institution in this historically significant and beautiful place.


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- You may be looking for the DWM backup comic story.
Ship of Fools was the fourth Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures novel.
Publisher's summary Edit
"So who do I have to kill to get off this cruise?"
When Krytell Industries offered Benny a small, slightly dubious and, um, unofficial job aboard the majestic space cruise-liner, the Titanian Queen, she jumped at the chance. After all, with an unlimited expense account, an entire new wardrobe and more strings of pearls and other jewels than you could shake an Art Deco stick at, what more could a poor girl want?
That was then.
Now, the luckless if remarkably deserving passengers of the Titanian Queen are dropping like flies. Are the deaths the work of the mysterious criminal known as the Cat's Paw? Or is the super-rich businessman Krytell himself somehow involved? And will the great detective, Emil Dupont, finally stop getting things completely and utterly wrong and solve it all in time for tea and muffins?
Whatever's happening, Benny had better discover the truth for herself, and discover it soon. Before she suddenly finds herself another highly deplorable crime statistic.
Plot Edit
to be added
Characters Edit
- Bernice Summerfield
- Irving Braxiatel
- Marcus Krytell
- Isabel Blaine (aka Cat's Paw)
- Emil Dupont
- Captain Iolanthe Crane
References Edit
Books Edit
- Bernice has been sent a review copy of Franz Kryptosa's Lost Gods and the Fall of Empire.
Computers Edit
- Several artificial life forms including ARVID and the Cat's Paw are from the Catan Nebula.
Foods and beverages Edit
- Irving Braxiatel drinks Albareran claret from the 24th century.
History Edit
- Mention is made that humans first made contact with aliens in the 22nd century.
Objects Edit
- Olabrian joy-luck crystals are complex, interlocking, lattice-globes of quasi-living crystal hewn from the heart of Olabria's satellites.
Planets Edit
- Plumptious Minor is a (formerly) isolated Earth colony whose society is based largely on innuendo.
Spacecraft Edit
- The Titanian Queen was undertaking its maiden voyage, a pleasure cruise through the Proximan Chain. It stopped off at Shokesh during the trip.
Notes Edit
to be added
Continuity Edit
- The Cat's Paw was previously mentioned in PROSE: Oh No It Isn't!, Dragons' Wrath and Beyond the Sun.
- The Czhans previously appeared in PROSE: Death and Diplomacy.
- There is a vague reference to PROSE: Return of the Living Dad in that Benny didn't know her father until late in her life.
- Franz Kryptosa was first mentioned in PROSE: Dragons' Wrath and appears in Down.
External links Edit
- Ship of Fools at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: Ship of Fools at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: Ship of Fools


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Opinions on higher education revealed in new survey
A Third Way survey found that Alabamians want greater accountability with their higher education institutions.
Ninety-four percent of survey respondents agreed that the skills required in today's job market are different than in the past, a belief that may be tied to the large majority of respondents that think college is still a beneficial investment.
Alabamians decidedly believe that vocational training certificates have the best bang for your buck, as 90 percent said they are "worth the investment and usually pay off." Sixty-nine percent said the same for bachelor's degrees and 74 percent felt that associate's degrees were worth it. These attitudes may not be constant in different communities.
Seventy-seven percent of voters said that institutions have a responsibility to ensure that their students graduate. According to a memo from Third Way, 51 percent of first-time, full-time students attending a four-year institution in Alabama graduate within six years, which eclipses the average completion rate of 40 percent.
Two-thirds of those surveyed said that they believe the federal government should get involved to protect students from taking out loans to attend predatory institutions that may leave them in a worse position than they were in before.
Generally, voters want the federal government to hold higher education institutions more accountable. In fact, 90 percent believe institutions should face sanctions if they're receiving federal money and most of their students can't pay back their loans. Eighty-two percent believe that college accreditors should be required to consider student outcomes as part of their review of institutions.
Forty-eight percent supported free tuition at all public colleges and universities and 61 percent were in favor of free tuition at community colleges.
The online survey was conducted by Global Strategy Group for Third Way, and polled 1,143 likely 2020 voters in six states from April 30th through May 9th, 2019.
SPLC files complaints in Pike County over suspension of two Black students
Both complaints, filed in Pike County Juvenile Court, ask the court to reverse suspensions of RaQuan Martin and Dakarai Pelton, both Black and former students at Goshen High School.
The Southern Poverty Law Center on Wednesday filed two complaints with an Alabama juvenile court alleging the Pike County Board of Education arbitrarily suspended two students in violation of their due process rights under the U.S. Constitution.
"Students across Alabama continue to be excluded from school without regard for their due process rights, leading to unwarranted and unlawful suspensions and expulsions," said Michael Tafelski, senior supervising attorney for the SPLC's children's rights project, in a statement.
"This is particularly troubling for Black students who are three times more likely to be excluded from school for minor and subjective infractions than their white peers. Education is an important aspect of a young person's life and the decision to exclude them from school should not be taken lightly," Tafelski continued.
Both complaints, filed in Pike County Juvenile Court, ask the court to reverse suspensions of RaQuan Martin and Dakarai Pelton, both Black and former students at Goshen High School.
The complaints state that on Nov. 22, 2019, both students were approached by the school's principal "in connection with alleged rumors that a group of students had 'smoked' that same day in the parking lot at school." The principal alleged he had video security footage of them doing so, but wouldn't show the students the footage, according to the complaints.
Both boys told the principal that they had not used marijuana, but had both accompanied another student to their car in the parking lot, and both left when the other student showed them what appeared to be drug paraphernalia.
"The students, both seniors at the time, denied the allegations and even took drug tests that showed they had no drugs in their system that day. But the school refused to consider this evidence," the SPLC said in a press release.
The complaints state that the district failed to provide the students proper notice, including details about their charges, evidence of wrongdoing, a meaningful opportunity to be heard or to present evidence of their own and question witnesses during their hearings.
"Only you know what did or didn't happen in that vehicle … you dodged a bullet here because we didn't have the proof that we need," said one school board member to one of the students during his hearing, according to the complaint.
"There was no proper investigation at all," said Shatarra Pelton, Dakarai's mother, in a statement. "It was unorganized and overblown. The school was unable to produce any evidence other than hearsay."
After a brief hearing, both seniors were suspended for the rest of the school year, missing out on a chance to finish their high school athletics and potentially missing out on college football scholarships as a result, the complaints state.
Prior to their suspensions, both students had no disciplinary referrals and were making good grades, according to the complaints.
"On Jan. 13, the students appealed the Council's decision to the Pike County Board of Education, and the board agreed to consider allowing the students to return to GHS if they participated in drug treatment classes, passed urine and hair follicle drug tests and maintained perfect attendance at the alternative school. After completing all the requirements, the students returned to school on Feb. 21 – three months after their removal," the SPLC said in the release.
"He had a rough senior year, to say the least," said Tasha Martin, RaQuan's mother, in a statement. "He missed senior night, he missed everything."
"They didn't get to play not one game," Martin said. "They had some coaches visit them while they were in alternative school but when the coaches found out that they couldn't go back to school, they stopped coming. Our families were devastated; sometimes me and Ms. Pelton would be on the phone and just cry to each other. It has been really tough."
"I want schools to understand that it's not just a moment you're ruining, you're ruining a lifetime," Pelton said. "With no factual basis, only an unproven accusation, you have just completely deterred a student's life. Most schools say that they are there for their students, but you are showing them the total opposite."
Pike County Schools during the 2019-2020 school year referred 49 students to a disciplinary hearing, according to the SPLC. Of those, 48 students were either suspended or expelled, and although Black students made up less than 50 percent of the student population, Black students made up 80 percent of the referrals. On average, Black students make up 77 percent of all students referred for disciplinary hearings in the district, according to the SPLC.
Report: Alabama is fourth-least politically engaged state in 2020
The study scored states based on 11 key indicators of political engagement. Those included things like voter turnout, political donations and voter accessibility policies.
Alabama was ranked fourth from last in political engagement in the country in 2020 in an analysis done by the personal finance website WalletHub.
The study scored states based on 11 key indicators of political engagement. Those included things like voter turnout, political donations and voter accessibility policies.
A record 137.5 million Americans voted in the 2016 presidential election, but that only accounts for 61.4 percent of citizens who are old enough to vote. The U.S. ranks 26 in voter turnout among the world's 35 developed nations.
"That's no surprise, considering most states don't emphasize civic education in their schools," the report points out. "Large proportions of the public fail even simple knowledge tests such as knowing whether one's state requires identification in order to vote."
One of the study's metrics where Alabama scored lowest was the percentage of the electorate that voted in the 2016 election, which was 57.4 percent. That number is low, said Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst, and is 4.5 percent lower than it was in the 2012 presidential election.
She said that other factors responsible for the state's low rank were its preparedness for voting in a pandemic and the low percentage of residents who participate in local groups or organizations.
The report's assessment of the state's preparedness for voting in a pandemic included voting accessibility metrics.
"Alabama actually received a negative score here because of the unnecessary obstacles created for voter access, such as: voters need a notary or two witnesses to complete an absentee ballot, voters are required to provide a copy of a photo ID for the mail application and/or ballot, and mail ballots are due before close of polling," Gonzalez said in an email.
She said that states ranked at the top of the list, like first-place Maine, have higher engagement due to measures taken by state legislatures.
"Making it easy for people to vote increases engagement," Gonzalez said. "This can be done through things like automatic voter registration, early voting, or voting by mail. The existence of local civic organizations involved in voter mobilization also plays a part in this."
A federal judge ordered Alabama on Sept. 30 to do away with its witnesses or notary requirement for mail-in ballots, and to allow curbside voting for the Nov. 3 election. An appeals court reversed the former ruling on Tuesday, a decision which Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill applauded. It upheld the latter decision, about which Merrill said, "we intend to appeal to the Supreme Court to see that this fraudulent practice is banned in Alabama, as it is not currently allowed by state law."
Metrics where Alabama ranked below average, with a score of one being best and 25 being average, were as follows:
- 26th in percentage of registered voters in the 2016 presidential election
- 35th in voter accessibility policies
- 37th in percentage of the electorate who voted in the 2018 midterm elections
- 38th in total political contributions per adult population
- 42nd in percentage of the electorate who voted in the 2016 presidential election
- 45th is the change in the percentage of the electorate who actually voted in the 2016 elections versus the 2012 elections
ASU strips Bibb Graves name from campus building
Workers removed the name of Bibb Graves, a former Alabama governor, from a campus residence hall that also houses the historically Black college's famed bell tower.
A few months ago, Alabama State University president Quinton Ross promised to remove the names of those with ties to white supremacy or who supported racist causes from campus buildings.
A former KKK leader was the first to go.
Workers removed the name of Bibb Graves, a former Alabama governor, from a campus residence hall that also houses the historically Black college's famed bell tower.
"This is something that we have planned to do for several months," said Ross. "I established a committee to research the names that are on our buildings to determine those who were closely associated with racist organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan. Bibb Graves was a Klan leader at one point, so the decision was made to remove his name from the building."
The committee was led by Dr. Janice Franklin and university archivist Dr. Howard Robinson. Removal of Graves' name was unanimously approved by the ASU board of trustees.
Removing Graves, who was elected governor of Alabama on the strength of his support from the KKK, was a popular decision on campus and among alumni. Getting his name off the building had been a topic of discussion for decades.
Ross said the university will now begin the process of choosing a new name for the bell tower building.
"I am proud that we are able to make this happen during my tenure as president of the university," Ross said.
"Worst fear come true:" Two Alabama public school teachers lose parents to COVID-19
Two Alabama high school teachers tell APR about losing loved ones and the struggles they've had with school districts they say didn't do enough to protect them, their students or their families from the deadly disease.
She couldn't taste the M&Ms. The Alabama high teacher said she tested positive for COVID-19 three weeks after classes started, and days later her elderly mother, whom she was caring for, did, too.
"Her oxygen level decreased and she developed pneumonia," the teacher said. She spoke to APR on the condition that her name not be used, nor her county school district identified, as she's not yet able to retire.
Her mother died in late September from COVID-19, and she lives with the knowledge that she believes she got coronavirus at her school and passed it on to her mother.
It's one of two stories from Alabama high school teachers who spoke to APR this week about losing a loved one and the struggles they've had with school districts they say didn't do enough to protect them, their students or their loved ones from the deadly disease.
"I have taken every precaution I possibly could personally, but I feel like my school system let me down as far as not having adequate PPE, not performing adequate cleaning rotations or having proper cleaning supplies," the teacher said. "Anything that got cleaned in my room I cleaned myself, and I even bought some of my own supplies because we didn't have any."
There's no social distancing among students during breaks or a lunch, she said, describing kids as "sitting on top of each other without their masks." It was a maskless culture in her community to begin with, she said, and it has continued after school restarted.
"Something's got to change," she said.
She told APR that she understands the scientific data, which shows children are less susceptible to severe outcomes and death from COVID-19, but explained that that doesn't tell the whole story.
"You've got to consider the people that are in charge of those kids on a daily basis, and are teaching them, that we're taking that home," the teacher said. "We're considered essential workers, but we're not treated as such."
According to an Oct. 2 CDC report, between March 1 and Sept. 19, there were 277,285 confirmed COVID-19 cases among school-aged children in the U.S., and nearly twice as many 12- to 17-year-olds had the disease compared to their younger counterparts. Children, even when asymptomatic, can still transmit coronavirus to others.
A separate CDC study in September found that 12 children at three Salt Lake City, Utah, child care centers got COVID-19 in those centers, then spread it to 12 other family members, with one infected parent having to be hospitalized.
She said teachers weren't invited in on reopening discussions until two days before the school board's meeting to vote on the matter, and that despite a promise from the county's Emergency Management Agency director that teachers would receive training on protective measures, that training hasn't taken place.
In late July, school administrators held a video conference meeting with teachers interested in instructing virtually in a plan that would use the state's Schoology learning system and SchoolsPLP curriculum, she said.
"Of course, I was part of that, because I had emailed supervisors early on saying, 'Hey, I'm high risk myself. I take care of elderly high risk parents. If there's any way that I can teach virtually, have my name on that list,'" she said. "So they kind of gave me the, 'Well, we don't really know exactly what direction we're going in.'"
In the meeting, teachers were told they'd be paid $75 per student for the entire semester to teach virtually, but that they could not contact those students during school hours, which they considered to be like double-dipping, she said.
"Even during our planning time right on school campus, so it had to be after hours," she said. "We just weren't willing to do that for the amount of money, because we all kind of added up the hours and it was not even minimum wage."
When no teachers agreed to such low pay, the system decided to switch from using the state's learning management system and curriculum to an easier online curriculum called Edgenuity, she said, which was already being used during summer school.
Instead of paying some teachers to instruct those virtual students, the system required each school's assistant principal to instruct all of those virtual students, she said, which left vulnerable teachers, and those caring for sick family members like herself, no choice but to teach class in person.
"So that didn't even become an option," she said.
"We were told that we were getting all this cleaning equipment, and we were using COVID money to pay for extra custodians to come in and help clean the schools," she said. "And as early as the day before school started we had no cleaning supplies. They had to scramble around just find Clorox wipes and Lysol, which is hard to find anyway."
Those extra custodians weren't hired until last week, she said. Her school started back with in-person, five-day weeks, or virtual learning, on Aug. 19, yet there was no plan to leave a day of the week open for cleaning, she said.
"So teachers were upset. Concerned about that, because we were feeling like we weren't being treated like professionals," she said. "Nobody was communicating. The answer to most questions, even in the first several days of school, was, 'Well, we don't know.' We're starting school and the plan was 'there is no plan.'"
The board of education did allot some money for teachers to select cleaning supplies from a company the system buys from. Three weeks after school started, she received some supplies, but not exactly what she'd ordered. Other teachers tried to hunt down supplies online, but had little luck at the time, when cleaning supplies were in short supply nationwide.
It was about that time that she tossed several M&M's into her mouth and couldn't taste them. She couldn't smell a candle nearby either. A family member spotted the loss of taste and smell as symptoms of coronavirus and suggested she get tested.
She tested positive and was sent home to quarantine, but said that although the CDC guidelines call for a classroom to be deep cleaned after a teacher tests positive for COVID-19, the next day her school held ACT tests in her classroom without doing that deep cleaning.
"They sprayed some Lysol and wiped down desks, but it didn't get a deep clean," she said.
Other schools in her district have had COVID-19 outbreaks, and more than a quarter of her students that attend class in person have either tested positive for coronavirus or were quarantined because of exposure to someone who has, she said.
The teacher said before either contracted COVID-19 her mother bought her two large air purifiers "out of her own pocket because she knew the risk was great with my returning to face-to-face classroom instruction."
No Choice
The other Alabama high school teacher who spoke to APR this week also asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation for speaking about her concerns.
"At our school, we have had so many of our kids have it, and so many of our football players have it," she said of confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Her father was in his early 80s and she was his only caregiver, having lost her mother years before, she said.
"So I've tried to limit my contact with him as much as possible since we started back to school," she said.
Recently, she began having headaches and became concerned, she said.
"I couldn't shake my headache. It just wouldn't go away, and we had all these kids that had COVID at my school," she said.
She went for a COVID-19 test on Friday and got the call on Monday that she had tested positive. Two days later her father developed a fever and also tested positive for the coronavirus.
His fever had come down, but one day she couldn't get him on the phone. He was found that day, lying on the kitchen floor, she said.
"I started CPR on him, she said. "I thought maybe I got something but I didn't. It was just me doing the breathe."
"He's my only person. He's it. For four years now I've tried my very best to take such good care of him," she said.
She hadn't seen him for a week before he got sick, but she suspects she gave it to him before then, when she may have been asymptomatic.
"I had no choice about it. No choice whatsoever," she said of having to work in person.
She's expressed her concern to the Alabama Education Association about how her school was mishandling the dangers of COVID-19 before she came down with the illness and before her father died, and said the school isn't following its own guidance.
"They've let parents into the building. They've let outside visitors in the building. They let a group take a field trip, even though it was in their plan that they could not," she said.
Her attempt before school started to warn an administrator about how class schedules would overcrowd classrooms was dismissed outright, she said.
Numerous people who work in the poorly ventilated administrative offices at her school have contracted COVID-19, she said.
"Because we have no ventilation in our offices. It's just like a nursing home," she said, adding that those offices have windows but the windows can't be opened.
She struggled several times during the interview when discussing the loss of her father, and described the entire ordeal as her "worst fear come true."
"This is just so shocking. I mean, I just still can't believe it," she said. "I'm just heartbroken."
"Do the best you can"
A teacher at a Shelby County high school told APR recently that teachers are buying their own safety equipment, and described the community as fighting against keeping their own children and families safe.
She also asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation for speaking openly about what's happening in her school.
"The administration said, 'You're not going to be able to keep six feet of distance. This is not going to happen. Period. Do the best you can, but we understand that's not going to happen,'" she said.
"There are teachers who have shower curtains hung up all in their rooms. There are teachers who are spending their own money to buy HEPA air filters," the teacher said. "We're just kind of left on our own to figure out a way to protect ourselves."
The teacher said at first, if a student was found to be positive for COVID-19 and quarantined, custodial staff would do a deep cleaning of that classroom, but that practice, too, has since fallen by the wayside.
Prior to Sept. 29, Shelby County Schools weren't publishing information on the number of confirmed cases among students or staff, and that was a big point of contention for teachers, she said.
Since they have begun publishing those numbers on the district's website, teachers are still unsure about their veracity, she said, adding that it was unclear if virtual students are included in the numbers, which would drive down the positivity rate listed in the data and not give a good glimpse as to what's happening in physical classrooms.
The teacher said also troubling is how parents of many students are handling COVID-19 in schools, with many pressuring one-another not to report positive COVID-19 test results to the school, so as not to cause other students to miss class and extracurricular activities due to quarantining.
"So there's pressure in the community to not report. They don't care. They don't think it's gonna hurt them. They don't think it's gonna hurt their children," she said.
The teacher said just about every teacher she's spoken to has had a student who is out of class for a period of time "and then of course we all think, okay so they didn't report. So they just went home and got better and didn't report, and I don't necessarily blame them, because of the pressure."
Cindy Warner, a spokesperson for Shelby County Schools, in a response Tuesday to APR regarding the teachers concerns, said that the district includes virtual students in the COVID-19 testing data because many of them come to campus for extracurricular activities including athletics and have contact with other students and faculty.
Warner said the COVID-19 data isn't broken down by school "as the district maintains the responsibility to uphold FERPA rights of students and ADA protections for employees" and doing so would increase the risk that a student or teacher could be identified.
Speaking to the teacher's concerns about a lack of social distancing, Warner said teachers have been instructed to try to create as much space as possible between them and the students, while also providing quality instruction.
Maintaining social distancing in the school became harder, Warner said, when the district transitioned on Sept. 14 from a staggered two-day week to a full five-day week.
"Teachers have not been asked to spend personal money for PPE or supplies for their classrooms, however, they may have voluntarily chosen to do so," Warner said. "The district has a Concerns Protocol established through our Human Resources Department. This process provides a way for employees to discuss any COVID-19 related concerns. The district has provided appropriate accommodations to address employee concerns, including the purchase of many HEPA air filters for teachers/staff across the district."
On cleaning, Warner said enhanced cleaning is done throughout the day, and a deep cleaning is done on Wednesday and Fridays after school.
Asked about the teacher's statements about parents pressuring one another to keep positive COVID-19 test results to themselves, Warner said the district and school is unaware of that.
A protest
On Tuesday, the first day of in-person learning across Montgomery Public Schools, 168 teachers didn't report to class, and about 60 protested outside the Montgomery Public Schools central office, WSFA 12 News reported.
"We do not have a concrete plan. We have an outline but then we have to fill it in. How in the world am I going to sit at my desk and teach kids online and teach a classroom full of students?" one teacher said during the protest, according to the news station.
In a statement Tuesday, the Alabama Education Association said the association has made great efforts to make sure both students and educators are as safe as possible in their classrooms and schools.
"AEA is aware of the frustration many educators have regarding their health and safety – and although today's protest was not spearheaded by AEA, the association is focused on the safety of all education employees in Montgomery County as they return to work," AEA's statement continues.


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Taylor Momsen Leather Jacket
Taylor Momsen rocked the punk look on the set of a music video when she sported this cool leather jacket.
Taylor Momsen Mini Skirt
A leather mini-skirt topped off Taylor Momsen's punk-inspired music video look.
Browse: Taylor Momsen | Leather Jacket | Mini Skirt
Popular Lookbooks see all looks »


text: Hello, my name is Stephanie Hopper and I live in Las Vegas. Being that I'm a 36 year-old stay-at-home mom, I know a lot of tips and tricks how to take care of your home. Also, my passion is journalism and I have even wrote some articles for local newspapers. Nonetheless, on my blog I will write about the hot news from all over the world, and some tips and tricks about journalism, so hopefully you will find it interesting!


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From IU Sports info:
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana football team will face Massachusetts on Sept. 8 at 3:30 p.m. ET. ESPN3 willtelevise the game, which will be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
This will be the first meeting between the two programs.
IU now has seven game times set. The Hoosiers will host Indiana State (Sept. 1), Ball State (Sept. 15) and Ohio State (Oct. 13) at 8 p.m. ET on BTN.
Indiana will welcome Michigan State for Homecoming on Oct. 6 and will travel to Illinois on Oct. 27. Both kickoffs are set for noon ET.
The Hoosiers Oct. 20 road contest at Navy will start at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.


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Simple but configurable and themeable, distraction-free text editor for writers. Open-source and available across desktop platforms.
Created by Graeme Gott
Great app. Works flawlessly and i love the theming. however the macOS version has been discontinued and I messaged the developer to be sure about it. Linux and Windows versions are available and work well!
An excellent piece of software that accomplishes what it sets out to do.
Nice and simple, good theme options
What I like about Focus Writer is that it is distraction-free but with an auto-hide menu which functions can be added to or not displayed but with the File, Edit, View (and so on) where you can still access all the features so nothing is lost.
It is fully customizable where you can create your own backgrounds, colours, fonts etc... And create your own themes of which you can do many. I like that the different Font types are displayed along with adjusting the font size and it gets previewed in the window.
I have a few of these distraction-free writing programs with each offering different or added features. And FocusWriter has been just 'one' of the best choices.
Taking the time to customize and become experienced with its features is what I suggest to get the most out of FocusWriter.
(I posted this as a comment as opposed to a Review as I have yet to still venture into all its other feature packed components).


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January Two-Week Hiatus
on January 19, 2015 at 3:52 pm
Posted In: All About the Site, It's All About Me
Rumors of War (comic and blog) will be going on a two-week hiatus while I transition through one of those big life-things.
The comic will return for its ninth (and final) chapter Monday, February 2nd.
2014 was an interesting year. I know it was a "bad year" for a lot of people. I'm "strongly ambivalent" about 2014. There were highlights, but 2015 promises to have some very interesting turns — some sooner than others.
I'm being cryptic. I'll stop. I'm too busy to be cryptic.


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Robeez 6 pk Sweet Kitty Socks
by Robeez
Six pairs of dots and solids make this a great fashion basic pack for any wardrobe. Three pair have a sweet kitty detail at the back ankle.
- 6 pair of socks
- Elastic gather at ankle ensures that our socks stay on in all kinds of activity
- Non-skid application on soles helps prevent slips and falls
- Perfect for infants, babies, pre-walkers and toddlers
- The original Kickproof infant sock since 2010
- 75% cotton, 22% nylon, 3% spandex
- Machine wash, tumble dry low. Do not iron or bleach


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|Don't ask to ask, just ask
Re^4: The Concept of Referencesby revdiablo (Prior)
|on Apr 14, 2005 at 18:06 UTC ( #447892=note: print w/replies, xml )
|Need Help??
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the pointer itself doesn't know whether it's a pointer to a struct, or anything else. The pointer just points to a spot of memory. It's the syntax that you use that determines how the memory gets used.
Perl's references, on the other hand, know what they're referring to. If you try to use a hash reference as an array reference, perl can look at the reference type and say, "wait a minute, that's not an array reference!"
I don't know how much difference this makes in terms of usage, but it's certainly a difference between the two constructs.
In Section Meditations


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What a shock. Who would have ever thought socialism could breed self-perpetuating tyranny by a ruthless megalomaniacal thug?
Venezuela's Hugo Chávez again seeks indefinite re-election
Associated Press
CARACAS -- President Hugo Chávez asked supporters to propose a constitutional reform that would allow him to seek indefinite re-election and govern through 2019, giving him more time to build a socialist economy in Venezuela.
''We are going to begin the national debate,'' the former paratroops commander told a crowd of red-clad government supporters at a rally in Caracas on Sunday.
Chávez, who was first elected in 1998, is barred from running again when his term as president expires in 2013.
Venezuelan voters last year rejected a sweeping package of constitutional changes that would have ended presidential term limits, with many of Chávez's opponents warning that he intends to be president for life.
Any new attempt at a reform, which must be approved in a nationwide referendum, would open a new front for tensions between government-backers and their political rivals.
Chávez also threatened Sunday to expel Colombia's top diplomat in Maracaibo, Venezuela's second largest city, after he privately welcomed opposition victories in five key races during last week's gubernatorial and municipal elections.


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Members Login
Members Only
Welcome to our Members-Only section. You must use your email address and password to login. If you are not identified as a member in our database, you will not be permitted access. Please contact Brandon at email@example.com so we can properly identify you as a member in our database.


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This page introduces V-Ray User Interface topics and generally how to access them. Please click on the appropriate topic(s) below for the full documentation and proper usage information.
V-Ray rendering plug-in for Sketchup consists in the following:
V-Ray Toolbar – Includes several toolbars with easy shortcuts to some of the most commonly used V-Ray components.
V-Ray Frame Buffer – V-Ray allows you to render to a V-Ray specific frame buffer and includes additional rendering tools.
V-Ray Progress Window – Provides detailed log information about the current render.
V-Ray Asset Editor – Manages V-Ray materials, lights, geometry, and render settings.
V-Ray Color Picker – A color manager that allows numeric color value selection.
V-Ray File Path Editor – The File Path Editor is a scene assets' managing tool.
V-Ray Scene Importer – A tool that lets you import a .vrscene file directly as an editable SketchUp model.
V-Ray Menu – Nested in SketchUp Extension menu, it provides access to most common V-Ray actions such as File Path Editor and Colorize Textures.
V-Ray Toolbar
The V-Ray Toolbars for V-Ray Lights, V-Ray Objects, V-Ray Rendering and V-Ray Utilities provide easy shortcuts for commonly used V-Ray components. For additional information, see the V-Ray Toolbar page.
V-Ray Frame Buffer
The V-Ray Frame Buffer is a V-Ray specific renderer. It contains a variety of additional tools, and an additional Lens Effects dialogue can be expanded from its bottom toolbar. For additional information, see the V-Ray Frame Buffer page and Lens Effects page.
V-Ray Progress Window
The V-Ray Progress Window provides a detailed log about the current render. It shows some useful information such as texture or material issues, the number of raycasts, etc.
The nested progress bar at the bottom of the VFB gives real-time updates about the status of the render process. The full progress log can still be accessed in the V-Ray Progress window which is opened through the small square button at the bottom-right corner of the VFB.
V-Ray Asset Editor
The V-Ray Asset Editor allows for convenient management of V-Ray related assets and V-Ray render settings. For more information, see the V-Ray Asset Editor page.
V-Ray Color Picker
The V-Ray Color Picker is a color manager that allows numeric color value selection in Screen (sRGB)1 and Rendering (RGB) Color spaces. It provides the option to set the RGB values in two scales - 0.0 to 1.0 or 0 to 255. The V-Ray Color Picker has swatch slots to keep your favorite colors.
V-Ray Color Picker automatically converts Kelvin to RGB values, as well as RGB to Kelvin whenever possible.
Color Assistant is available under the arrow at the bottom of the Color Picker. For more information, see the V-Ray Color Picker.
V-Ray File Path Editor
The V-Ray File Path Editor is a file managing tool that lets you set file paths, create scene archives and keep track of different assets. For more information, see the File Path Editor page.
- Hovering with the cursor over each color box in the Asset Editor displays a tooltip with the color value in RGB format with a range of 0 to 1 in Screen (sRGB) color space.


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Well, Michigan—looks like you just got Loki'd.
British actor Tom Hiddleston, perhaps most widely known for playing Thor's charmingly sinister brother Loki in the Marvel films, took to the stage this weekend at the Wheatland Music Festival, which showcases what's hot on the traditional music scene in bluegrass, folk and Americana.
The 33-year-old Royal Academy of Dramatic Art alum treated spectators (including one quick-thinking audience member who captured the somewhat blurry footage below) to a full-twang rendition of country legend Hank Williams' uptempo "Move It on Over," MTV reported.
Hiddleston will play Hank-the-First in the upcoming biopic I Saw the Light, Deadline reported in June.
Hank Williams was almost as legendary for his hard-living as he was for his influential songwriting. The small-town Alabama native made it big in the 1950s honky tonk with classics like "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," but died at age 29 from alcohol-induced heart failure (an accumulation of too much booze and pills) in the back of a Cadillac.
Production for the biopic begins in October in Louisiana, Deadline reported, and will need to impress legions of die-hard Hank fans, so it may be wise that Hiddleston is getting into crooning shape a month early.
Of course, nothing may ever match the real deal, but it certainly does answer the query, "Hey good-lookin', whatcha got cookin'?"


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More on containment and holding environments
In the previous step Dr Laura Steckley provided an introduction to the concepts of containment and holding environments.
In the article 'Constrained, Contained or Falling to Pieces?' she explores this in a bit more detail. This article appeared in the November 2010 edition of the online journal CYC-Online and the full edition of the journal can be accessed also. This journal is aimed at those working in the field of child and youth care (CYC), a concept you will be introduced to in week four of the course.
In this article Laura reflects upon what the concept of containment has to offer when we think about working with and caring for vulnerable children and young people. She sets out some of the early thinking of Wilfred Bion and how he identified the containment offered by parents and caregivers as being fundamental to growth and development. The strong parallels with the theory of attachment, covered elsewhere this week, are highlighted also.
Laura writes this article through the lens of residential child care, a setting where some vulnerable children and young people may find themselves placed for a short or long period of time. However, the links to all children and young people and their need for emotional and physical containment can be easily made.
Many of the children (and families) we work with have faced difficult circumstances and experienced significant disruptions to these early processes of containment. As a result, their development of thinking, particularly the thinking that enables them to manage and make sense of things, may have been limited. For some, the impact can be profound. You can probably identify kids you've worked with who cannot recognise their own emotions, let alone identify themselves as having them rather than being them.
The sources in the 'See Also' section may be consulted for more information on the topic.
© University of Strathclyde