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Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said today that Lebanon cannot afford to continue without a government that can protect it from regional turmoil and economic downfall, and hoped that a government will be formed before the end of the year.
He added that we face Israeli escalation by committing to International law and resolutions, most importantly UN Security Council resolution 1701, and consider the Lebanese army as the sole defender of sovereignty.
Addressing a large audience at Chatham House in London, during a discussion under the title Lebanon: A vision for the Future, Hariri reminded that his incumbent government took the decision that Lebanon, including all political formations in government, will abide by a policy of disassociation, adding that this policy will be maintained in the new government.
Hariri started by delivering a speech, before answering the questions of the director of Chatham House, Dr Robert Niblett, and the audience.
In his speech, he said: I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to address this distinguished audience, which I am also sure will be a tough audience! I thank Chatham House and Dr Robert Niblett for having me.
I am here during very complicated times, both for my country and the region.
As you may already know, we held elections in May. The first in 9 years. President Aoun and I agreed to steer the country towards economic and political stability through reforms, capital investments and strengthening our security institutions, in the respect of our constitution and our democracy.
Since May, I have spared no effort to form a National Unity government. I entered consultations in good faith to ensure fair representation in the Council of Ministers.
I am a patient man and I am willing to wait and find a solution. But this is not about me. It is about Lebanon. Our country cannot afford to continue without a government that can protect Lebanon from regional turmoil and economic downfall.
I am confident that we will reach a government soon, as all realize that the need for stability and economic growth far outweighs any political agenda.
Lebanon remains an oasis of peace and stability. We have tested civil war, long before all other countries in the region and learnt many lessons. I, for one, am adamant never to allow the return of divisions and strife.
And even though our power sharing agreement might be complicated, we have to always remember, it is the sort of agreement most countries in the region are aspiring to attain today.
Now, for the really difficult part: Lebanon is in a really, really rough neighborhood. We have to work very hard to prevent the fires from neighboring Syria to spread to our country, and to avoid the belligerent escalation the Netanyahu government seems to be embarked on.
This dual task is complicated by the presence of 1,5 million displaced Syrians, 200 thousand Palestinian refugees, and the accusations made by Israel recently.
To begin with displaced and refugee population, and to give you an order of magnitude, it is as if the UK had 33 million refugees on its territory, today. In Lebanon today, we have 4 million Lebanese and about 2 million refugees.
This has placed incredible pressure on our infrastructure, basic services and fiscal situation. We are receiving humanitarian assistance, which is welcome but still insufficient. And we are working hard to mobilize the International Community to do its part, considering Lebanon is providing a Public good to the world.
Our army and security services are on constant alert to prevent any terrorist infiltration and our national consensus stands strong in the face of extremism.
We face Israeli escalation by committing to International law and resolutions, most importantly UN Security Council resolution 1701. We consider the Lebanese army as the sole defender of sovereignty and we are engaged in a National Dialogue process to agree on a National Defense strategy, which will resume, as soon as government is formed.
In the many inter-Arab conflicts, my incumbent government has taken the decision that Lebanon, including all political formations in government, will abide by a policy of disassociation. This policy will be maintained in the new government.
The region also faces a historic source of instability, in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our position is that of Arab consensus as expressed by the League of Arab States and by the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. Basically, we see no other solution than 2 separate States, the capital of the Palestinian state in Jerusalem and the right of return guaranteed to the Palestinian diaspora.
This last point is of particular importance to us, since our Constitution forbids the permanent implantation of refugees and our national consensus on this will remain unshakable.
I believe Lebanon has an essential role in the region. As a model of coexistence and tolerance, it is a rampart in the face of extremism. Lebanon has always been the laboratory of creativity and innovation in the Arab world.
In this era of disruptive technology and transition towards a new economy, this role will be maintained and re-invented.
My incumbent government started two years ago laying the groundwork in legislation, telecom infrastructure and education. The new government will continue on this path. And I am sure the legendary resilience, creativity and human capital of the Lebanese will do the rest.
Question: I want to start with the economy because I think that part of your visit is to try to drum up some of the much needed investments in the country in particular in infrastructure. Could you say a word of two about where the country is on that process and how important is it to have a fully functioning government in order to be able to both attract investments and undertake some reforms?
Hariri: We have particular circumstances with 1.5 million refugees and we have had 1% of growth in Lebanon since 2014-2015.
To have quick growth and deal with unemployment of the Lebanese youth, and 75% unemployment among the refugees, we had to look outside the box. We looked at where we could invest money, create jobs quickly, increase the growth and grow our economy.
Historically, Lebanon always used Syrian manpower for all the infrastructure work that we had in the past. In the early 90s for instance we have had 600 to 800 thousand Syrians working in Lebanon in agriculture and infrastructure jobs. Therefore, our idea is to stabilize the country and make sure that our youth and our Lebanese people have enough jobs.
So we went to CEDRE and presented the 250 projects. We wanted to do reforms so we brought in the World Bank, we brought in the IMF, we sat all together, examined each project and took the advice of the IMF on how to fix our fiscal problems. We agreed in the incumbent government, before going to CEDRE, on all the reforms and on all the projects. We went to CEDRE and got the money that we asked for.
Since the elections, work did not stop. For instance, because we thought that certain reforms needed to be passed right after CEDRE, even with a caretaker government, we went to parliament and passed 5 laws of reforms. We agreed also with the Parliament Speaker that any law that has to do with CEDRE needs to go on a fast track. Usually, because of the bureaucracy we have in Lebanon, a reform law or loan from the World Bank used to take a year or two, today it takes 3 to 4 weeks. Everybody realizes in Lebanon that we cannot sustain our economy, we cannot sustain the 1.5 million refugees in Lebanon if we do not create jobs for us, for the Lebanese. And Lebanon has to change, we cannot work like we used to work 10, 15, or 20 years ago. Yesterday, in the joint parliament committees, we finally agreed on changing our commercial law that was written in 1958.
Questions: How important is resolving Syria for your economic hope in Lebanon?
Hariri: Syria represents a path for us to Iraq, to Jordan and to the Gulf. Our strategy is to invest in infrastructure, prepare Lebanon to be a platform so that big companies from Britain, the USA or the European Union would invest in Lebanon or make Lebanon a hub for them for reconstruction in Syria, in Iraq and even in Libya.
Syria represents a big market for Lebanon, and so does Iraq.
Question: In the last legislative elections, your party took a little bit of a hit, giving an element of confidence to Hezbollah to want to be more adamant in designing what a future government would look like. How likely is it that you will form a government and what kind of compromises might be needed for that to be achieved?
Hariri: I think that the government is extremely important but for me the focus is how to make CEDRE functional. Today I came to London and met with so many officials, financial institutions and businesses. We can do business in Lebanon even with a caretaker government. But the ideal thing would be to form a government. I think we are in the last 100 meters of forming the government and hopefully we should be able to form it before the end of the year.
Question: Lebanon is challenged on the foreign policy front and we are not always able to make our own decisions, but on the domestic front, who is responsible for the garbage, electricity and other problems. Who is responsible for fixing them?
Hariri: After the assassination of my father, the country went into a huge division, people were not listening to each other and not talking to each other, until I decided in 2016 to take 2 initiatives to break this division in the country. I nominated a candidate for presidency from the other side. We elected President Aoun and this mixed the cards politically.
What did the division do to Lebanon? Nothing. The problem is, if you want to blame somebody, you should blame all of us because we were politically against each other. If anybody presented a project from one side, the other side would refuse it. We all used to work on how to make sure the other fails. When we elected President Aoun, we decided to put the differences aside, especially the regional issues. Hezbollah is not going to change my mind on Iran and I am not going to change his mind on Saudi Arabia, the gulf, on what we believe in or on our alliance with Great Britain or the United States and all these countries. I am not going to change my mind about his way of dealing in the region. So we decided to put our regional differences aside and to focus on what is good for the country in the past year and a half. This is why we were able to do a budget and to agree on an electoral law. Most governments, when they do electoral laws, they do so assuming that results will be good for them. I knew the law would make me lose a bit, but I accepted for the sake of wanting the country to move forward.
My policy has always been that if we stand still, we are not going to advance. We need to compromise. What happened in the garbage and electricity is due to all our mistakes, all of us together. Now we passed a plan for energy, we passed a plan for solid waste and a strategy for telecommunication. We should have spent on fiber optics or the internet about 600 to 700 million dollars in the early 2010 but we didn't because of our divisions, we did it in 2017 and now it's rolled. The same thing with energy, now we are working very closely with the World Bank and the IFC to help us develop these plans. So hopefully, once we form this government, you will see a lot of these issues being resolved because we have a strategy on how to tackle these problems.
Question: Lebanon benefited from a robust banking system historically, a sector larger than in Greece or Argentina for instance. Deposit inflows are estimated at 2.4 billion dollars this year compared to 7.3 billion last year. To slow down in deposit inflows means that now they fall short of external financing requirement. Funding shortfall is estimated at 2 billion dollars in 2018, what measure would you consider introducing to increase depositors confidence in the medium term?
Hariri: There are several reasons why we have decreased deposits in Lebanese banks. First, the remittances we used to get from the Gulf states diminished because the Gulf states are also suffering from the economic situation. You have less Lebanese working there, less salaries paid in the Gulf.
We used to get remittances of about 9 billion or 8 billion from this region, they dropped down to 5. So this is one of the reasons why we get less investments.
The other is that you have higher interest rates in the world, the USA increased its interest rate up to 3.5 now. What we are doing today to increase that part of pumping money into the country, is opening up our private sector. We passed a PPP law in 2017 and all the projects we want to do will be done by BOT. Money is going to come to the country to build all these projects. You have the 11, 8 billion that was committed in CEDRE, these are specific projects studied by the World Bank. At the same time we are talking with several States, in the Arab world, Europe, and the USA to see if we can put some deposits into the Central Bank to increase dollar deposits in Lebanon. This is something we launched just a week ago. The things I said before are the plan to bring money into the country.
Question: Prime Minister, why is it taking you so long to form a government and how are you going to implement your vision and policies if 7 months after the elections, you are still struggling to form a government?
Hariri: We just organized elections, the first in 10 years. I am sure that by the end of the year we will have a government. The challenges are very hard, there are new MPs in Parliament and we need to take that into consideration. Some people want more, some people want less, this is democracy. If you look at some democracies like Belgium or Germany, it took a while to form a government. We are getting there, it's not a regional issue, it's an internal issue, it's because the equation changed a little bit in parliament and some people want more. I believe that most of the obstacles were solved, there is still one obstacle and I am sure that we will be able to resolve it.
Question: Are external funders helping or not helping, in terms of their demand or need to move beyond the caretaker government? Is it helpful to have pressure from the outside on this or is it irrelevant?
Hariri: When the World Bank and other institutions push us to form a government, this is for the benefit of Lebanon. Most people today really believe in the reforms that are in CEDRE because everybody understands that we cannot do business as usual or as before, we need to change and we need to change now.
Question: Israel doesn't need a reason, like the tunnel, to attack Lebanon. Have you discussed this possibility with the government here and what did they tell you?
Hariri: You open the news today and you see in headlines that Lebanon has tunnels that go all the way to Israel and there are allegations that Hezbollah is doing those tunnels, but have you ever heard about how many sorties Israel makes every month into Lebanon? Have you ever heard how many times did Israel entered our international waters? Do you think this is fair? You think it is fair that 150 sorties were made last month into Lebanon? You think it is fair that our national waters are penetrated ten or twenty times a month and we have occupied lands, the Shebaa Farms? For me as a government, UNSCR 1701 has to be implemented and we will not accept other than that. The Lebanese army will deal with the issue of the tunnels. But to come out blatantly and say that Lebanon is responsible for all of this, I think Israel has a lot to answer to on how many intrusions it made since the approval of the 1701. We have sent countless complaints to the United Nations, but what has been done? Nothing.
Question: Lebanon is in a unique position where you have the Lebanese Army and you also have a highly militarized militia or party, so an outside government is going to ask am I dealing with a state or am I dealing with a state within a state?
Hariri: Israel has launched wars on Lebanon in 1993, 1996, 2006 and between them attacks and assassinations. Did this weaken Hezbollah? In 2006 Hezbollah was saying that it had 10,000 missiles and Israel told the world at the time: look, Hezbollah has 10,000 missiles. Today, Hezbollah says it has 100 thousand missiles. What did the war in 2006 make to all of this? Did it make Lebanon weaker? Did it make Hezbollah weaker? This is a regional and not a Lebanese issue. This is an Iranian issue. If we want to deal with this issue, let us sit on a table and let us stop these wars and talk about how we solve these issues in the region. If we want to make peace with Israel, we have a resolution that came from the Arab League, but Netanyahu doesn't want peace. This is what I really believe. I think Netanyahu wants a little piece of Lebanon, a little piece of Golan, a little piece of Palestine, a little piece of Jordan. Everybody went to Oslo and there was an agreement between governments and this was destroyed. The Arab League had a peace process but nothing happened. We want peace, we don't want war and I don't think anyone in the region wants war. I, for one who suffered from civil war and wars on my country, I agree with the Arab League peace initiative, but what does Israel want. Do they know what they want?
Question: Can you address the Mediterranean energy issue. Do you see this as a game changer and do you see it helping you with investments?
Hariri: I think it is a game changer for Lebanon, Cyprus and everyone in the region. We are countries that never had natural resources. Getting into this today can help our people in Lebanon and the region to move from one level to another, but at the same time we have to be careful on the expectations. I think we should learn from the Norwegian experience where they thought in the beginning that they have oil and gas and they jumped on investment and they almost got the country bankrupt. They told us that what saved them was when the oil jumped because of the crisis that happened in the seventies. We need to be careful, we need to invest in the right places. Lebanon opened its blocks. You have Total, Enni and Nortec that came to Lebanon and there is another round of blocks that are going to be for bids. This is completely transparent in Lebanon. We talked to BP and they are interested to invest in these blocks and you find more companies interested in investing, even American companies.
Question: You have only 5% of women in Parliament. How do you see balancing gender in parliament?
Hariri: Half of these women are in my parliamentary bloc. When we went to vote for the law, I don't want to speak in a confessional way, but Speaker Berri who is a Shiite and me, a Sunni, were the only blocs to vote for quota in parliament, whereas all the other blocs, the Christian blocs, voted against the quota. We are working very hard to push everybody to get a quota in parliament. What we did in the government is that we put a rule that any appointment that the government will do will have a quota of women of 30 percent and in some cases 40 percent.
People in Lebanon underestimate the acceptance of the citizens to vote for women. This is a problem with the political parties and not with the people. When we held elections within my party, people who voted in places like Akkar, Dinniyeh filled the quota, while we were unable to fill it in Beirut and I had to appoint the quota myself.
Question: You mentioned Iraq today and I am aware that the foreign minister was in Baghdad and in the Kurdish region last week. Evidently, you have identified some areas of cooperation. What are these areas and what is the volume of trade between Iraq and Lebanon?
Hariri: We want to open our markets to all our Arab friends and I mentioned Iraq because I am half Iraqi also. Iraq is a big market and I think we can learn from each other a lot. The Iraqis lived the same situation that we had. In the past we didn't focus on economic growth between these countries. We need to focus on these markets, on Morocco, Egypt and all countries. Lebanon needs to open its market and we need to penetrate the markets and this would bring benefit to Lebanon and to Iraq.
Question: You mentioned Netanyahu several times and he threatened something bad would happen. How would you react to this? And how did your relationship with Saudi Arabia evolve in the last three months?
Hariri: If Israel decides to go to war with Lebanon, they will not succeed. The only way to move forward in this region is by dialogue and peace. In the past there was a man who wanted peace in Israel, it was Rabin and he was killed. But Netanyahu doesn't want peace. He talks about it but he promises bad things that could happen to Lebanon.
On the relationship with Saudi Arabia, I was there a month and a half ago for the conference, amidst of what was happening on the issue of Khashoggi, which I condemn, the Saudi government condemns, the whole world condemns. The Saudi government arrested those people. From day one, this issue was handled poorly. But now it is taking its course through justice. My relationship with Saudi Arabia is good and I believe that the Saudi market is a good market for Lebanon and we prepared many of agreements that we will be signing as soon as the government is formed. You will see Saudi Arabia taking some serious steps towards Lebanon and helping economically. In CEDRE, Saudi Arabia committed one billion dollars from the Saudi Development Bank. So, I think the relationship couldn't be better.
Question: Since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, has there been a change in the regional dynamic? The United States seems from the outside to be applying more pressure for a change in the foreign policy of Saudi Arabia. And they are putting pressure on Iran. Do you sense that there is a change in dynamic since the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran by the US?
Hariri: I think that the United States withdrawal from the JCPOA is an American decision and you can feel the sanctions in the region very bluntly. Iran is suffering economically. You can see that some exports we were getting from Iran stopped these days. Iran is facing a big challenge. But at the same time we hear new talk about ending the war in Yemen and this is good for the region. I believe in dialogue and in peace and I think the way to move forward is by dialogue and peace. But at the same time, you need to have two people willing to sit at the table and talk. My concern today is that any mistake made on the Hormuz strait is detrimental for the region. The tension is high among all these powers. Lebanon is a small country but at the same time it was able to make a little miracle after seven years of war in Syria, where we were able to push back any tension coming from Syria. Surprisingly, other than Hezbollah fighters that fought with the Syrian regime, the number of extremists that came out from Lebanon compared to other Arab nations or compared to Europe even is very minimal. It is about 150 in the past seven years. This is something that we are proud of, because we work hard with our youth to make sure that our youth doesn't go and fight because they see the extreme atrocities that the regime did to its people in Syria.
Question: What is your message for the millions of Lebanese who left the country looking for a better future and have no hopes and can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, giving the economic, political and internal challenges?
Second question: You always seem to be walking a very tight line and have to be compromising and be the moderate voice in the country. Are you condemned for the rest of your time as a Prime Minister to be in this position?
Hariri: Two wrongs don't make a right. If somebody is extremist in his position, it is not right for me to be extremist in my positions. I think we should look at what benefits the country. My political ambitions are there but without a growing country and without finding jobs for the youth, it is not a position I want to be in. Saying the truth on how to deal with issues is the only way to move forward. My father was like this. He had it very hard because he had an occupying power telling him what he can do. My father couldn't appoint one person in any position. Today it is not like this. We have come a long way. We need to understand that we actually gained our freedom after the Syrians left Lebanon. This has been a learning process for us as Lebanese because this is the first time that we are running the country. We didn't do a good job from 2005 till 2016. We did the opposite of what should have been done. We should have sat down and talked to each other regardless of our differences. I came from a business community and I didn't know anything about politics.
And sometimes I feel that I should have done something at this time. But now we know what we're doing, we know how to move forward and we have a plan. I will not compromise all the time, I will compromise for the sake of the country.
The answer to the question about my message to the Lebanese: Lebanon is divided inside and my call for the Lebanese Diaspora is to forget who is in power, forget who is Saad Hariri, forget who's the president and who's the speaker. The Diaspora is the real power for Lebanon. They all should help Lebanon, regardless if Saad Hariri or anyone else is prime minister. We should all focus on how we can help. We should learn from others. Other nations focus on how they can help their country, regardless of who is in politics. I will give you a small example that happened with me. In 1998, my father, in a political maneuver, was kicked out of power. Prime Minister Selim Hoss was going to Saudi Arabia and at that time I was 27 years old. My natural reaction was that I need to make sure that he has a bad visit to Saudi Arabia because he was against my father. I went to tell my father that I have news, that this guy is coming to Saudi Arabia and I am looking how to undermine the visit. He said no, you should work to make it successful. We should all help Selim Hoss to be a good prime minister. This is what we all need to do in the diaspora. We should all work for Lebanon and this is my call for the diaspora. I think Lebanon today is doing the right thing. We have a plan, CEDRE is there, reforms are there and we will implement them. And if we don't implement them punish us with your vote. If we don't do the job, make your vote count.
Question: After the harmonious meeting at the presidential palace on Monday between the prime minister, the speaker and the president, and after and most importantly the impressive speech of the Prime minister today, do you believe that we are going to have a government? Are we going to have any clash in the south? Are we going to solve the problem between us and Syria?
Hariri: On the government, I hope that we will have a government before the end of the year. I don't think we will have clashes in the south. I don't think anybody wants war in Israel and anybody wants war in Lebanon. We know from our contacts with everyone in Lebanon, and this is the message we delivered to the Americans and everyone, that we don't want any clashes so I don't believe there will be a war. And yes Lebanon is a good place to invest and we are open to business.
Question: In Syria, what do you see is the prospect for peace and how will Lebanon cope with the return of the Hezbollah militia, unless you want them to stay there?
Hariri: I think a lot of them have come back. We believe that Hezbollah had a big force in Syria, about 15000 and now they diminished and this is what they are saying. I think they are 2000 to 3000 and this is the intelligence we have from the West also.
I think the position of the Syrian regime today is like Saddam Hussein's position after the first Gulf war. He was moved out from Koweit, and Iraq became under the control of United Nations. Today Syria is under the Russians and you have the Americans, the Iranians, the Turks and God knows who. I think that the position of the regime is very weak. He has to listen to the Russians and unless you have a new constitution in Syria and a right representation of the people, it will still be ambiguous. About 700 thousand people were killed and there is a huge reconciliation that needs to be done in Syria. Is it going to happen? Is Assad ready to reconcile without vengeance? This is the big question mark? I don't have the answer for that.
Question: You presented a bright vision for the future of Lebanon but it seems irrelevant to the reality given the problems in the infrastructure, like the flooded streets recently. Do you think the infrastructure is ready to attract foreign investors to Lebanon? And do you think that the Lebanese people has the right to know what happened to you when you have been forced to resign in Saudi Arabia?
Hariri: Corruption is a serious issue in Lebanon. That's why we made sure when we went to CEDRE to have a committee to oversee a transparent process. The World Bank will work with us very closely on each of those bids. We also started moving to e-government that will clear a lot of the corruption we have in the country. What happened two weeks ago in Beirut is a disgrace and the prosecutor already arrested 3 persons. This is totally unacceptable. I really want to work with the civil society because they have a lot of good ideas. But we need to listen to each other and give each other advice and move ahead on those agendas. When we went to CEDRE, we made sure that the two biggest civil society associations came with us and we want to make sure that everything we do is transparent.
About what happened when I was in Saudi Arabia, I answered this many times. It was a wakeup call to the Lebanese. We were shooting ourselves in the foot. People needed to understand that this is something we cannot continue doing. We cannot tell the Gulf to come to Lebanon and at the same time there are political parties cursing the Gulf. I myself should not make statements about Iran and expect Iran not to answer. We need to disassociate ourselves and move away from the regional conflicts. Lebanon is too small to pay a price in these big conflicts. The big countries can afford it but we can't.
Question: What do you expect from the Lebanese youth?
Hariri: We have a lot of startups in Lebanon and it's all by the youth. We made a lot of facilitating laws. We are giving them incentives. We are working with a lot of associations like LIFE and IDEAS that are full of youth and we ask them to give us ideas or advice about what we need to do.
I want to say one last thing, every time I meet an official, anywhere in the world, they have friends from Lebanon or they have some people who work in their offices from Lebanon. This is something we should be proud of and this is the kind of Diaspora we need to work with us. The Lebanese, wherever they go, will thrive because they want to work and achieve. Our problem is how to make all this energy focus on the country. The only way is to create stability, security, the right environment for investment and let the Lebanese do the job. The problem is that politicians have not been letting the Lebanese do their job. We need to move away as a government and do all the legislations that the people want and then Lebanon will thrive.
Source: National News Agency


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This relatively low-tech method is among a battery of tests that materials scientists are using to determine why several anchor rods securing the newest portion of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the region's busiest, failed their earthquake inspections. The first alarms sounded in 2013, when seismic tests found 32 faulty rods. They'd been sitting in a large pool of water, corroding. — wired.com
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Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf tossed out an idea that she admitted might sound a bit crazy: What if San Francisco housing developers could fulfill their affordable housing requirements by building some of that housing in Oakland? [...]
The idea is for San Francisco residents who qualify for below-market-rate housing to live in affordable units that would be built in Oakland. [...]
The foundation for the partnership is already being prepped in Oakland — sfgate.com
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Oakland has earthquakes, droughts and a host of other resilience problems to tackle. Now it has a Chief Resilience Officer to lead the charge.
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For 76 years, the gray steel eastern span of the Bay Bridge was cursed and reviled but mostly just taken for granted. [...]
At least two groups of artists and architects have mounted campaigns to spare some of the steel from the recyclers so that they can transform it into artworks that might include a home, a public gathering space and an Airbnb rental space - with a view of the new Bay Bridge. — sfgate.com
Related:Winners of the Bay Bridge House Student Design CompetitionRethinking The Bay Line View full entry
With a total of 73 entries from 37 schools around the world, the winners have finally been revealed for the Bay Bridge House Student Design Competition. Architecture and design students had to develop a modern, self-sustainable house made from the scraps of the soon-to-be-demolished eastern span of the historic Oakland Bay Bridge in the California Bay Area. — bustler.net
The winners are: Overall: "Hanging House" by Lee Ka Chun and Ngan Ching Ying (The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture) Board Members winner: "An Invisible Triangle" by Qazi Shamsud Tamzeed (Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology) Community Vote: "The Bay Bridge... View full entry
The eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was supposed to be the crowning glory of the bridge-builder's art, gracefully echoing the rolling hills surrounding San Francisco Bay.
Yet as the project heads for a Labor Day opening after $6.4 billion and 15 years, the country's most daringly iconic highway bridge stands as a poster child for those who think major infrastructure projects are wasteful. — bloomberg.com
Previously: Bolts along Bay Bridge bike path fail View full entry
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C B Smith-Dahl talked with Walter Hood about the work his firm West Oakland-based Hood Design has done redesigning Lafayette Park in Old Oakland and Splashpad Park by Lakeshore. The discussion also touched on the topic of gentrification and the importance of an urbanism of diversity. View full entry
You've heard of popup stores, right? Companies setting up storefronts that might only be around for a week or a day or even just a couple of hours. [...]
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Four years ago, I was part of GAMBIT: Newer African Writing, a project organized by The Mantle Thought–an NYC-based publisher of avant garde writing and criticism. I was just making my first ripples in the Nigerian literary scene; my debut novel, City of Memories, had just been published. Nine young writers were interviewed by the extremely competent Emmanuel Iduma over a period of about four months and we each contributed a short story. GAMBIT featured Abdul Adan (Somalia), Ayobami Adebayo (Nigeria), Dami Ajayi (Nigeria), Richard Ali (Nigeria), Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Nigeria), Dango Mkandawire (Malawi), Donald Molosi (Botswana), Novuyo Rosa Tshuma (Zimbabwe), and Suzanne Ushie (Nigeria).
A new review, GAMBIT: Newer African Writing (A Review) was just published on Afridiaspora by Nigerian critic Joseph Omotayo. He says–
Gambit is an assertive project. This makes it so admirable. Anyone interested in African literature should get this book. Students of literature should read this book. This book should be in our colleges' curriculums. Unfortunately it won't. Gambit offers a trajectory of the writers featured in the book. So many things have changed for these writers since 2012. Some have been shortlisted for great 'Western' prizes or touring 'Western' cities (for validation?) (f)or global visibility. These writers are now taking their fate into their hands. Structures here will never help them, except in few organised African countries like South Africa. There have been growing discontents among emerging African writers, especially those who are at the margin, those without access to the literary organised institutions of the West.
Read his very interesting review here: GAMBIT: Newer African Writing (A Review) and buy a copy of the anthology here: GAMBIT: Newer African Writing.


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Pregnancy is one of the strangest experiences I've ever had. Not only are you growing a human, but your body also automatically becomes public property. People feel instantly comfortable looking you up and down, touching your stomach, and commenting unabashedly about your size/shape/overall appearance.
I have never felt more "on display" physically in my entire life, and I know this is an experience shared by many pregnant women. Add in the parade of celebrity post-baby-body stories, unsolicited opinions about the choices you should be making, and opinions on how you should care for your unborn child—and it's enough to make anyone feel a little crazy in their own skin.
If this sounds familiar, and you're stressing about your own pregnant body and all of its changes, here are five tips to help you chill out:
1. Give yourself some credit.
You're growing a baby! How wildly amazing is that? Maybe you feel like a glowing goddess, and maybe you feel like an exhausted hobbit. Either way (or somewhere in between) you are making a human, mama. You deserve to be celebrated.
Remember the incredible work your body is doing right now and do something kind for yourself. Acknowledge this season in your life and make it a point to celebrate you.
2. Stop the comparison.
It's so easy to compare your body to other women's—pregnant or not. This doesn't do you any favors. Rather than scrolling through Instagram feeling insecure because you won't be rocking a six-pack on the beach this summer or because your skin isn't as bright or your belly as perfectly round as the other mamas-to-be in your feed, just be you.
The truth is, this is one specific season in your life, and pregnancy looks and feels different for every woman.
3. Focus on the joys of the present.
I think one of the most harmful phrases out there right now is "get your pre-baby body back." From the second the scale starts moving up or your belly starts to expand, there is a common pregnancy fear of "will I ever get back to my pre-baby body?" This line of thinking keeps us stuck in the past.
We are human beings, and as far as I know, we haven't come up with the technology to travel back in time. Rather than obsessing about getting our pre-baby bodies back, we can focus on taking incredible care of our with-baby and post-baby bodies. A gentle understanding that all bodies are constantly changing and evolving without any ability to move backward (not just pregnant ones!) can help you to open your mind to falling in love with your post-baby body.
Practice releasing the fear that a body that has carried a baby will be "worse" than one that hasn't, be in awe of all your body is doing, and remember that you're truly incredible.
4. Practice self-care.
You are worthy of being cared for, and pregnancy is an essential time for inner and outer self-care. What your pregnant body needs may be different from what you're used to, so take some time to check in with yourself and discover what would feel kind and nourishing. Prioritize foods that help you feel balanced, activities that help you to relax, movement that lets you feel empowered, and people who love on you the way you deserve.
Ask for help when you need it, say "no" when it feels right, and make sure to get what you deeply need. Pregnancy requires a lot of energy, and that means you need support more than ever.
5. Speak to yourself with love.
When someone on the train asks you if you're having twins (you're not), the number on the scale at the doctor's office freaks you out, your boss tells you he thinks you're about to pop, or your boobs grow out of yet another bra, take a moment to say something kind to yourself.
Pregnancy is too often accompanied by insensitive and misplaced remarks, but that doesn't mean that you can't speak to yourself with love. You are worthy of love and are loved just for being you. Remind yourself of this as often as you need to!


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OneTick is the premier enterprise-wide solution for tick data capture, streaming analytics, data management and research. It captures, compresses, archives and provides uniform access to global historical data, up to and including the latest tick. OneTick has no limitations on data volumes, peak rates or length of stored history, and it collects every tick for all asset class types including equities, fixed income, futures, FX and options, as well as full order book data.
OneTick's powerful analytical tools enable clients to run historical simulations and back-tests, develop trading and market-making strategies, build transaction-cost models, perform real-time surveillance and answer regulatory compliance requirements. With its superior features and unmatched functionality, OneTick is being embraced enthusiastically by leading hedge funds, mutual funds, banks, brokerages, market makers, data vendors and exchanges.
Users can:
OneTick is built from the ground up to understand market data. Its engine is finely-tuned to understand the nuances of trading, quoting and order book processing. We provide a broad set of in-built functions we call Event Processors focused on trading and quantitative research for tick data. While we are asset-class neutral, our library of analytical functions provides a means to research the relationship between trades and quotes, to instantly merge Order Books from multiple sources, to convert currencies for cross-border arbitrage and hundreds of other in-built functions expressly purposed for analysing markets. These analytics functions or Event Processors are easily amenable to other data such as executions, RFQ systems and user-definable content.
The Query Designer is a visual design tool enabling a user to graphically construct or model queries using a collection of query elements called Event Processors. Event Processors are nodes on a graph and can be linked in series or in parallel using a directed graph construct. A query's graph is assembled using a drag-n-drop, "paint a canvas" metaphor. Each Event Processor has its own unique parameter set. Parameter values can be simple static values, reference values (i.e. tick stream fields), evaluated conditions, or user-supplied input (e.g. aggregation interval) that can be supplied at query runtime.
Our Python interface provides data scientists and quantitative researchers with the convenience of Python and the performance of OneTick.
Key Features:
OneTick analytics have been extended to incorporate Machine Learning (ML) capabilities, using well-known open source ML libraries. Customers can use OneTick's machine learning event processors for training, prediction, performance evaluation, and real-time learning/prediction on-the-fly. These operations can be performed natively within OneTick, without having to export any data.
OneTick's ML algorithms address common machine learning categories such as classification, regression, and clustering. Specific algorithms include support vector machines, relevance vector machines, kernel ridge regression, and k-means clustering. The trained models are themselves stored as OneTick databases.
OneTick includes a dashboard designer that can be used to build new dashboards both for visualizing results of queries in historical or real-time CEP mode, and as control interfaces. Visual Dashboards support historical and real-time CEP queries. OneTick Dashboards can run either as deployed Windows applications or as HTML5 web-based dashboards
A drag-n-drop paradigm is used to add visualization and control elements to a new dashboard. Behind each display or control component (e.g. charts, tables) are one or more OneTick queries that connect to Tick Servers at the back end, which allows advanced functionality to be deployed quickly. Dashboard components can also communicate by way of messages.
Real-time CEP dashboard displays continuously or with frequency predefined by the query parameters (for example, a real-time market monitor dashboard updates market-maker obligation metrics grids and charts), and can also examine historical data. At the back-end, the OneTick streaming analytics engine collects real-time market and transaction data and calculates the obligation metrics.
In this application, user dashboards can be started any time. The latest calculated values and the recent history of calculated values will be available to dashboards immediately when they connect, and, from the user's perspective, will update continuously on the dashboard thereafter.
Applications such as a real-time execution quality monitor can be configured to generate alerts on various conditions. These events can flow into an existing, configurable alert management workflow dashboard for reviewing, assigning, commenting on, and closing execution quality alerts.
This is a screenshot of an existing trade practice surveillance alert examination dashboard, which is an example of a specific configuration of the alerts-management component.


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Are you a Wizard of Oz games fan? Well, now you get to play the wizard of oz ruby slippers slot with the same theme. Not to mistake this new Wizard Oz Ruby Slippers WMS slots is from the movie makers. This game is made by the well-known pokie developers WMS slots. A well-designed game based on the classic old film "The Wizard of Oz" (1939). With all the main characters of the movie. This game is ideal for film fans. With colorful and decent graphics and exciting bonuses, WMS fans are in for real treat.
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As the game is inspired by The Wizard of Oz. The arcade is designed in a way that the Wizard Oz Ruby Slippers WMS Slots magic casino lovers will find themselves. In the land of the mighty wizards. You are going to see what the ruby slippers can do, as similar to what you know after seeing the movie.
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WMS gaming provides you with bright and exciting colors. Which is used in a way to create an ideal environment for you to play the game in a high setting? It makes the play more appealing. With the gold trimming of the ruby slippers slot reels and background. In green will surely remind you of the light from the magical world of Emerald city.
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Wizard Of Oz Ruby Slippers WMS Slots UK Bonus Features
In this fantastic games, you will get four bonus features:
- Ruby Slipper Feature — which will be randomly triggered and includes Dorothy clicking her slippers together. It can release 1 and four expanded 'Wilds' onto reels to increase wins. Each win is dependent on a multiplier of 2x to 10x of the stake.
- Witch's Broomstick Click Bonus — you have this trophy on landing the Wicked Witch on reel 5 and two other special icon characters. Once you get it, a mini-game will activate in which you get to choose from brooms to get real instant prizes. That's right!
- Wizard of Oz Free Spins Bonus — manage to place Wizard on reel 3 with any two characters and you get five free spins with extra bonuses depending on the symbol which activate the game.
Dependent on triggering symbols, you may get the following:
- Dorothy means five free spins;
- Tin Man signifies 3X Multiplier;
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- Scarecrow will turn character tokens into extra Wilds.
Give It a Try!
A classic story with entertainment and great withdrawal and welcome bonuses is real satisfaction. If you love classic movies, this game will appeal to you. A far for the boring game for you to invest your time.


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The Bench Sale is now on across selected tops and cool shirts from Bench, now up to 30% off for a short time!
Bench is a premium clothing brand offering cool, functional urban clothing for men, women and children.
They have hoodies, coats, jackets, shirts, t-shirts, accessories and a denim range; all of their styles are practical and centred around the essentials. Their label is designed for those that have a busy lifestyle and are always on the move. They offer flexible clothing that does not fall victim to short lived trends or gimmicks.
An outfit from Bench will stand the test of time and will always have you feeling comfortable and stylish regardless of the current fashion trends that others may be following.
Add Bench to your Favourites list and be the first to know every time they have a Sale on!
Start Date: 26/12/2019
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From Prayer TO ACTION
This article was published on The Speaking Tree, here.
SADHVI BHAGAWATI SARASWATI was a participant at the Parliament of Religions, the same conference that Swami Vivekananda attended back in 1893. She filed this blog from Salt Lake City in the US.
In 1893, Swami Vivekananda travelled to Chicago to take part in the Parliament of Religions. His opening line, 'Sisters and Brothers of America'continues to echo throughout the world as the embodiment of interfaith, intercultural harmony and love.At that time, the Parliament was focused on fostering peace through dialogue and understanding between the world's religions. A hundred and twenty two years later, the Parliament of Religions met again recently in Salt Lake City, Utah, for a five-day programme that was attended by 10,000 people from 80 nations and 50 religious traditions, according to the organisers. In addition to the incredible expansion of the Parliament and the pervasive presence of hashtags and urges to 'follow'one another, there has also been another great change.Today, the definition of peace has expanded. Today, the total number of annual deaths due to terrorism, war, communal violence, domestic violence, drug-induced violence, and crime pales in comparison to the number of those due to lack of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
Climate Change
Today, the threat of climate change hangs heavy over our heads. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, drought, record heat waves, and acre after acre of desiccated fields and dry riverbeds are the new normal. This Parliament, in many sessions, focused on a shift from prayer to action. Rather than exhorting audiences only to love one another or to live together peacefully, the leaders at this Parliament emphasised in myriad languages, myriad contexts and myriad themes that we must act and serve for each other. Swami Chidanand Saraswati, cofounder of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, from Rishikesh, India emphasised, " We have built enough temples. Now we must build toilets.Meditation and sanitation must go hand in hand." In India, 600 million people still defecate in the open, with approximately 300 million women having to wait for the cover of dark to relieve themselves in dignity. The Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, the world's first initiative to engage the planet's many faiths as allies in efforts to create a world where every human being has access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation and proper hygiene (WASH), organised three major programmes at the Parliament. One of these flagship panels, hosted in cooperation with UNICEF, focused specifically on 'Worship to WASH, 'as the shift in emphasis required by the world's religious leaders.The panel brought nine renowned interfaith leaders all the way from India to speak to the Parliament about why they have shifted their focus from worship to water, sanitation and hygiene and why others should follow suit. Imam Umar Ilyasi, president of All India Imam Organisation emphasised, "On behalf of almost 500,000 imams of India, we stand together with the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance in this crucial measure and we will work for water, sanitation and hygiene to save the children of our world." Said Acharya Lokesh Muni, president of Ahimsa Vishwa Bharati: "I pledge to inspire and motivate the entire Jain community to join the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance (GIWA) and walk to share and spread this message." At another session focused on Climate Change and You, the Indian leaders were joined by Rev Michael Bernard Beckwith, the famous founder and director, Agape Spiritual Ministries based in Los Angeles as well as Buddhist Dharma Master Hsin Tao, founder of the Museum of World Religions and Rabbi Yonatan Neril, executive director of the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development, Jerusalem. Traditionally, religious leaders are focused on helping their followers attain salvation, or liberation, or moksha or nirvana or heaven after death.Typically religion focuses on helping us remove the ignorance which keeps us separate from the Divine. This is wonderful. Meditation, prayers, spiritual practice are crucial if we are going to be, as Swami Chidanand Saraswati famously says, 'in peace not in pieces.' However, the emphasis from the leaders of every religion was, "The body is a temple. Life is sacred and must be preserved."
Peace Redefined
At this Parliament, the definition of peace has expanded. It is no longer enough for religious leaders to exhort their communities not to kill each other with bombs, guns or missiles. Today, the definition of peace must also include ensuring that our brothers and sisters of every colour, culture, country and creed have access to healthy food to eat, clean water to drink, sanitation and hygiene. To permit a billion people on this planet to sleep hungry and about 15,000 children to perish from starvation every day; to lose approximately 1,800 children every day simply due to lack of water, sanitation and hygiene; to look away while 1.8 billion people live in extreme poverty, is as deplorable as launching grenades in each other's houses of worship.
Clean Vessel
The theme of the Parliament was Reclaiming Our Humanity.The leaders emphasised that humanity does not exist in a vacuum. My humanity is inextricably linked with yours. As faith leaders we emphasised, perhaps for the first time in history in such a collective number that our meditation is not only meant to be for our own bliss and our own peace.Our own joy, our own bliss is not the end goal. The end goal is that, through our meditation, through our connection to the Divine, we should be free of everything that blocks us from being a clear, clean vessel for the Divine's work on Earth. We should, ultimately, see the Divine in everyone and everything and therefore, automatically, reach out and serve them. With nearly 85 per cent of the world's population belonging to a faith, a shift of this kind in doctrine is monumental.


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Trucking fleets provide flexible goods transport, but along with the flexibility comes variability. Meeting the operational challenges of a large fleet of mobile equipment means greater situational awareness and the ability to both react to changes in business needs and incidents or accidents as well as become more proactive with respect to maintenance, all of which the PI System can deliver.
Condition-based maintenance enabled for real-time data means fleets can better maintain and protect their asset infrastructure. However, knowing how to implement CBM can be a challenge.
Want to make better use of your available data, and see how mature your current use is? Take an assessment and receive a benchmark report to create some momentum towards your own transformative data strategy.
See how Syncrude increased asset uptime.
Watch the PI Integrator for Esri ArcGIS provide situational awareness for electric vehicle assets.
Learn how data-driven logistics helped ArcelorMittal meet production targets.
View a sample business architecture to better understand how the PI System can fit within your data infrastructure.
Find out what the PI System is and how it can support a connected supply chain.
With more than 25 years of experience in product management, consulting and operations in the transportation industry, Matt works closely with customers, OEMs, partners and research institutes to derive valuable transportation data in industrial machinery, supply chain and connected cars.


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The Afghan National Army (ANA) battling insurgency in the northern parts of the country has changed its war strategy from a defensive one to an offensive position and are systematically attacking insurgent strongholds, military officials confirmed.
"Now we are not in a defensive position, everyone knows that we attacked insurgents in Sar-e-Pul province and advanced up to Masjid-e-Sabz and Deh Mordeh villages. Also we attacked the Taliban in Baghlan and our operation is ongoing in Kunduz as well," said General Mohmand Katawazai, a military official in the north.
Katawazai added that Afghan security forces are targeting the enemy but that they are having difficulties destroying Taliban strongholds in remote areas.
He said that the Afghan security forces are not afraid of the risks as they advance on the insurgents.
Meanwhile, military officials in the north have said the Taliban's "Omari" operation – their summer offensive – has failed and that in the past five months a large number of insurgent have been killed in the north and south-east of the country.
"In the recent five months, 1,010 insurgents were killed and their bodies remained on the battlefields," said General Hasibullha Quraishi, a special forces commander in northern Balkh province.
Quraishi added: "Around 405 wounded insurgents have been arrested by security forces. We can say that intelligence forces have confirmed this."
He added that Afghan security forces also had sustained casualties, but their numbers were less.
However, the Kohistanat district in Sar-e-Pul province has been under Taliban control for the past year while a few other districts in the province are under serious threat.
Asked why an operation has not been launched to retake Kohistanat district from the Taliban, Mohammad Zahir Wahdat, governor of Sar-e-Pul, said: "The reason why a large-scale operation has not been launched in Kohistanat, I think is because security forces, the president, the chief executive, ministers and other security sectors are busy trying to solve the problems."
However, he did not clarify what he meant by the word problems.
Officials have however urged the public to cooperate with security forces and to not listen to the propaganda of insurgents.


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credit: Michelle Meiklejohn
Don't cry when the sun is gone, because the tears won't let you see the stars. ~ Violetta Perra
Have you ever noticed that sometimes the things we thought were awful and should never have happened to us were actually for our best. And if we had stopped whining and crying sooner we would have seen the good in the situation and saved ourselves a lot of misery. And Christians are promised that in all things God is working for our good.
My mother used to quote this little saying to me when I looked at a situation negatively -
"Two men stood at the selfsame bars,
One saw mud and the other saw stars."
There is no reason for me to allow myself to spend so much time bewailing my situation that I miss the wonderful work God is doing in and around me.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57
SUNDAY - Sunday Features SATURDAY - TGI Saturdays
SUNDAY - Sunday Features SATURDAY - TGI Saturdays


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Upcoming Event: Lock Tavern Festival
Lock Tavern
35 Chalk Farm Road
Thursday 13th April – Sunday 16th April
1pm – 3am
This Easter weekend, Camden's best pub is hosting live music, DJs, street food and drink. The Lockfest is free to attend and features upcoming bands performing the hottest music out there. Near to MStay's Haverstock Hotel, it's perfectly situated so that you can dance your heart out to some great live music and then crash land into one of our comfy beds.


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Even as the parents of preschool aged children, you've most likely heard the phrase STEM education tossed around as if it were going out of style. STEM is an acronym — it stands for science, technology, engineering, and math — and it's crucial our children are learning these skills both in school and at home.
We're raising our children in a technological age, meaning some of their most favorable career options will be in the STEM field. Lending support to this claim is a recent study from USC which found that minority college students who took jobs related to their STEM degrees earned at least 50 percent more than their classmates who majored in humanities or education fields.
And it's not just STEM learning we need to focus on. Children will also need to be well versed in 21st Century skills. How do we define these skills? According to an article from the Edventures STEMpower blog, "Such skills include collaboration, communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and more. In a rapidly evolving job industry, this skill set has become not only important but necessary for workers to possess to be successful. Careers of the 21st century require employees to be innovative, think creatively and work well as a team!"
Luckily, STEM education and 21st Century skills can be easily taught hand in hand — and there are plenty of preschool friendly activities that do just that.
- Exploring How Water Travels Through Leaves from Buggy & Buddy (pictured)
- Air Pressure Experiment for Kids from Kids Activities Blog
- Magic Milk Science Experiment from Laughing Kids Learn
- Ivory Soap Microwave Experiment from Happy Hooligans
- Floaters and Sinkers from Babble Dabble Do
If you're wondering what your children could possibly learn from their favorite app, you might be surprised to hear that game based learning is becoming an educational staple, as it helps students develop math, science, engineering, and problem solving skills. However, technology can be used in many different and exciting ways.
- Best Apps for Preschoolers from Parents.com
- Outdoor QR Code Treasure Hunt from Homeschool Den
- Photography With Kids: Activities They Can Do from Click it up a Notch
- 15 YouTube Channels of Fun Science for Kids from iGameMom
- 50 Essential Children's Book Apps (Part 2: Preschoolers) from Digital Media Diet
- Four Bridges To Build And Test With Preschoolers from the Stay at Home Educator
- Play, Think and Build with Preschool Engineering from Hand Made Kids Art
- Homemade Marble Course {Using Recyclables} from Fun-a-Day
- Gum Drop Engineering from Modern Parents, Messy Kids
- How to Build a Great Blanket Fort from The Art of Simple
- 2D Shapes: Marshmallow Geometry from Playdough to Plato
- Fish for Numbers Game from Education.com
- Dot Marker Counting from Tons of Fun
- Don't Feed The Raccoon! from the Stay at Home Educator
- Clothespin Letter and Number Match-Up Game from Teach Mama
It's never too early to start your little one on the path to STEM success. The more fun and exciting you make STEM learning, the more likely they'll be to stick with it as they age.
Liz Greene is a writer and former preschool teacher from Boise, Idaho. She's a lover of all things geek and is happiest when cuddling with her dogs and catching up on the latest Marvel movies. You can follow her on Twitter @LizVGreene


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The /*Israeli Consulate*/ sponsored the massive solidarity rally. Organizers say that they want to give U.S. citizens in Los Angeles a chance to show their support for /*Israel*/.
All of this comes as the political firestorm continues to grow a week after Israeli commandos killed nine protesters who defied a naval blockade of Gaza.
Those who turned out for the /*Mid-City*/ rally said that the rally sends a very clear message.
"It makes me cry when I see all these officials, the governor, the mayor's representatives, it makes me cry to see that they believe in us, how they believe in the Jewish people and they believe in the state of Israel," said protestor Rebecca Appel.
During the rally, /*Wilshire Boulevard*/ was shut down between /*Crescent Heights*/ and /*San Vicente*/ boulevards. /*LAPD*/ said that rally organizers have a permit to demonstrate until 7 p.m. Sunday.
Your feedback is important to us! Please complete a brief survey so we may continue to improve abc7.com


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We recommend scheduling a meeting to discuss in detail the goals of your project. Once we have the bigger picture we might need to find out your interested visual direction. Ultimately we might ask for the final Copy that you will use across pages(but not mandatory to have).
We schedule a meeting with your team where we present the works and discuss what and how we can improve things. Repeat until a final polished result.
We strive ourselves to deliver high quality and in close relationship with your interests and goals. But in the case that you don't like the designs, once the work has started, you are eligible for a partial refund.
Off Course. We work on a performance-based model where we get paid in full when we get your approval for our designs.
Bank Transfer, PayPal or Payoneer.
Depending on your upfront-mentioned preferences, we deliver PSD, Figma, XD files plus assets(fonts, style guide, etc). As a summary, everything a developer needs to do his part.
We accept EUR as our primary currency, but open to USD as well with currency exchanged to the current rate.
Once we deliver our final works we either send you a list of photos and fonts used(and guidance on where to buy them from), or we buy them for you and include them in the delivery pack.
Yes, we do. You will get a full refund if we didn't start the work yet, and a partial refund(negotiable depending on the depth of work) when we already started the work.
Usually, a 5-8 page website with medium complexity takes us 7 working days to get a final and approved version, ready for delivery. The time can vary and be improved upon request.
Our pricing model is per project not per hour. But to give you an idea, we charge €60/hour.
Yes, off course. If the changes are small, consider them on the house. If the changes are significant, there will be an additional cost.
All you have to do is to either get in touch using our Live Chat module or submit an Inquiry. We are ready to respond to your questions and find common ground for a fruitful collaboration.
Have a bigger project? Let's discuss!
Yes. We respect your project's privacy!
We're mainly taking care of the Visual Design part of your project. But in the case you need a full service, we can arrange that with our trusted Development partners.


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- Server 1
Wheely Online Free
In an imaginary world where vehicles are the citizens, one underdog cabbie attempts to become king of the road in his hometown, Gasket City. He soon discovers that staying true to oneself is a greater pursuit than personal glory. When threatened by elitist attitudes and mobster trucks, can one unglamorous black and yellow 'local zero' rise to the challenge and become a 'global hero'?
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family
Actors: Barbara Goodson, Brock Powell, Frances Lee, Gavin Yap, Jay Sheldon, Ogie Banks, Tamyka White
Free Online: CipFlix.To
Duration: 90 min
Release: 2018
IMDb: 4.0


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Holiday Specials: Black Friday 2017
Who's ready for Black Friday Shopping Sprees?
A lot of companies are keeping their "Black Friday" Specials on the "hush, hush" but here's a few you won't want to miss!
First off is Glisten & Glow – Made in the USA (Bristol, CT.) A local native to me 🙂
Considered an "indie" brand, Glisten & Glow is well known in the "beauty" industry as making highly pigmented holographic & cream nail lacquers as well as hand & nail care products. A small company, Jill makes all her products and i would highly recommend giving them a try.
You can follow Jill on Instagram @glistenandglow1 – She often posts live product demos and promo announcements too! If Instagram isn't your thing then follow her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GlistenandGlow/
For all you Holo die hards check out this private facebook group called "the holo hookup"
Open Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/theholohookup/
I have heard rave reviews about the "Glisten & Glow Top Coat" $6.99
Plus a BRAND NEW LIMITED EDITION Release of 3 Color Shifting Thermal Holo Nail Lacquers special for Black Friday these polishes are absolutely to die for! They shift color at around 80 degrees… I'm so excited to pick one of these up too!
Don't forget to add the promo code: BFANDBEYOND at checkout to receive the 30% OFF.
Glisten & Glow 30% OFF from 11/23 11PM EST. – 11/27/17 11:59PM EST.
Next up is ZOYA!
Valid to US and Canada Consumers until 11:59pm ET on 11/24/17.
50% OFF Entire Order + FREE SHIPPING – PROMO CODE: FRIYAY
Receive a Free Givenchy Le Rouge Lipstick Trial Size in 315 with Any $25 Purchase! Use Code: BERRYCHIC
Code: BERRYCHIC End: 23 Nov 2017
Save 20% Off Select Items – Valid Nov 24-27
One of my favorite brands of athleisure wear is Donajo. They have great deals starting Thursday night… but it's still "hush, hush" so sign up to get the deals in your "in-box"
A few other brands to keep an eye out for special deals this holiday season are


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This forum section is a read-only archive which contains old newsgroup posts. If you wish to post a query, please do so in one of our main forum sections (here). This way you will get a faster, better response from the members on Motherboard Point.
Solid state drives?
Discussion in 'IBM Thinkpad' started by MD34, Apr 5, 2011.
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Norwegian Cruise Line is the innovator in cruise travel with a 51-year history of breaking the boundaries of traditional cruising. Most notably, Norwegian revolutionised the cruise industry by offering guests the freedom and flexibility to design their ideal cruise holiday on their timetable with no set dining times, a variety of entertainment options, and no formal dress codes.
Today, Norwegian invites guests to enjoy a relaxed, resort-style, cruise holiday on some of the newest and most contemporary ships at sea with a wide variety of accommodation options, including The Haven by Norwegian®, a luxury enclave with suites, private pool, and dining, concierge service, and personal butlers. Norwegian Cruise Line sails around the globe, offering guests the freedom and flexibility to explore the world on their own time and experience up to 27 dining options, award-winning entertainment, superior guest service, and more across all of the brand's 16 ships.
Norwegian offers several accommodations to suit every guest's need. Hidden away at the top of the ship is The Haven by Norwegian®, an exclusive enclave with the most luxurious, well-appointed, and spacious accommodations. With ever-changing views from a private balcony, mini-suites and balcony staterooms offer guests a new perspective almost every day, and feature comfy seating areas, convertible and/or drop-down beds, and plenty of storage space. Ocean views, insides, and studios let guests relax, embrace their personal space, and get back to the action. For guests travelling solo, Norwegian's studio staterooms are an industry first, providing solo cruisers the most affordable, stylish, way to cruise.
As the innovator of freedom and flexibility at sea with no set dining times, Norwegian understands that dining is central to guests' holiday experience, from gourmet meals to superb service. Norwegian offers both complimentary and speciality dining options.
Freestyle cruising means a huge range of exciting events and activities. Regardless of guests' ages or preferences, all Norwegian ships have something to keep guests entertained, with award-winning entertainment every day and every night.
Fahy Travel is now an agent for Norwegian Cruise Lines. Norwegian Bliss launched last month and Caroline, manager of Fahy Travel, was on the ship for two days where she had the chance to experience all this wonderful ship has to offer.
For information on itineraries and pricing, contact Fahy Travel cruise department on 091 594747 or [email protected].


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In 2011, the Kentucky Chamber Foundation and CCL partnered to develop the Leadership Institute for School Principals which provided educators access to high-caliber training. Over the past five years, 255 principals took part in the program with positive results reported in schools across the state.
The job of a school principal is much like that of a CEO. Principals are responsible for bottom-line results, deal with rapid and near-constant change, and need to demonstrate agility in the face of unpredictability. Understanding those challenges, CCL adapted its world-renowned leadership training for top-level educators to form the foundation for Kentucky's Leadership Institute for School Principals.
Fast forward five years, and today, more than 250 school principals across Kentucky have attended the institute, thanks to generous donations totaling over two million dollars from the state's business community. This ground-breaking collaboration between business leaders, educators and CCL is paying off in measurable results. According to education analyst Susan Perkins Weston of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, assessments at Kentucky schools led by institute alumni "clearly show schools delivering stronger improvement than the state as a whole."
When Amy Swiney first attended the Kentucky Leadership Institute for School Principals in 2014, she was an elementary school principal for just under two years. She credits the institute and CCL's assessments with helping her define her own leadership style. "As a new leader, I had a difficult time delegating and giving up control," Swiney says. "I was trying to take stress off my staff, but the assessments showed me that my staff thought I didn't trust them." Institute classes and coaching by a CCL-certified trainer helped her to understand her own leadership preferences and how to adapt those when needed.
"I still use what I learned in the program every day," says Swiney, "and I still refer to the materials I received in the program." Swiney is mindful that funding for the institute relies on the donations from area businesses. "I had seven different companies sponsor my participation and I personally hand wrote each one a thank you note," she says. "I wanted them to know the impact that this program made on me and my school."


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Yesterday on Lifehacker they posted a forehead-smack idea. Take a credit card, cut it up a bit. You're left with a free, light, earbud holder. I've got a bunch of old cards lying around, so I made one.
I Didn't like it. My design grievances:
- You wrap in the short direction, which means more wrapping to get the job done
- Having the earbuds stored on either side means you need to put in each bud individually
- It takes just as long to unwrap as it does to wrap
It needed some work to compete with my current method. The beauty of using cards is that they're easy to work with and plentiful (in my house at least.) It only took about an hour (7-10 iterations) to settle on a winner. Meet my new earbud holder:
- The earbud slots are wide and next to eachother, so you can get the buds in quickly with one motion
- You wrap the long way, so you're done in half the time
- The way the plug is clipped ensures that the wrap stays put, but…
- Because the wrap isn't in channels, it slides right off once the plug is detached. WAY faster.
UPDATE: I went through a few more iterations and came up with an improved design.
Tags: earbud holder


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When editing a problem, I encounter the following problem:
The text in the text-window is not not cut- or pastable.
When I use another textprocessor first, I still cannot paste something into the window.
Therewith it is very cumbersome to write the same comment for many wrong solutions, which all have the same cause several moves before, again and again ...
Several solvers will therefore wonder what they did wrong, when, after all they did capture etc., but not in the best way.
I hope that they use the navigate solutions.
Is something wrong with my machine, or should cut/pasting work?
{Posted by Thomas Derz}


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2020-10-20T06:31:57Z https://iji.sums.ac.ir/?_action=export&rf=summon&issue=3227 2012-03-01 10.22034 Iranian Journal of Immunology Iran.J.Immunol 1735-1383 1735-1383 2012 9 1 Protein Profiling of the Secretome of FcεRI Activated RBL-2H3.1 Cells Esmaeil Sadroddiny Jafar Ai Kathleen Carroll Trong Khoa Pham Phillip Wright Ashutosh Pathak Birgit Helm Background: Secretory proteins of IgE receptor activated mast cells and basophils play a pivotal role in the generation of immediate and long term immune responses in allergy and type I hypersensitivity.
Objective: The present study aims to generate a 2-D map and profile of proteins secreted from a high secretory variant of the rat basophilic leukemia cell line, RBL-2H3.1, which in view of the difficulty associated with gaining adequate numbers of pure primary mast cell and basophiles, represents an accepted model system for the study and standardization of the methodology to characterize the secretome of these cell types.
Methods: A 2-D map of secretory proteins was generated by 2-D PAGE and a shotgun mass spectrometric approach carried out for protein identi fication.
Results: Study resulted into identification of 299 proteins released from resting and IgE receptor activated RBL-2H3.1 cells after 90 s, 30 min and 3 h antigen challenge. Further sequence analysis identified ~53% of total proteins as secretory proteins which could be attributed to classical and non-classical secretory pathways. Additionally, functional classification of classic secretory proteins verified the presence of proteins belonged to cytokines, receptors, membrane proteins, lysosomal proteins and proteins associated with specific sub-cellular localizations such as endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, nucleus, cytoplasm and ribosome. According to this data the presence of some secretory proteins such as cytokines (e.g. MCP-2, PF-4, CSF-1 and TGF-β1) are all subject to Ag challenge which may point to their importance toward pathogenesis in allergic diseases.
Conclusion: In view of both a beneficial and adverse role of mast cell mediators in health and disease, an identification of temporal changes in the secretory pattern may form the basis for future tailor made intervention strategies that may enable us to harvest the therapeutic potential inherent in mast cell exocytosis while inhibiting/attenuating negative outcomes. Basophil FcεRI IgE mast cell RBL-2H3.1 Secretome 2012 03 01 1 31 https://iji.sums.ac.ir/article_16853_5229fc47c87b30dc1f96e76e1578cb30.pdf 2012-03-01 10.22034 Iranian Journal of Immunology Iran.J.Immunol 1735-1383 1735-1383 2012 9 1 Specific IgE to Common Food Allergens in Children with Atopic Dermatitis Mozhgan Moghtaderi Shirin Farjadian Sara Kashef Soheila Alyasin Maryam Afrasiabi Marzieh Orooj Background: Atopic dermatitis is a major public health problem, often starting in early childhood and sometimes followed by other allergic diseases. Although hypersensitivity to foods is assumed to play an essential role in the development of atopic dermatitis in some patients, little is known about common food allergens in Iranian children with atopic dermatitis.
Objectives: This study was designed to identify probable food allergens in Iranian children with atopic dermatitis and find the relationship between food sensitization and the severity of atopic dermatitis.
Methods: This study included 90 children aged 2-48 months with atopic dermatitis. Skin prick tests for cow's milk, hen's egg, almond, potato and soybean were done. Serum specific IgE to 20 food allergens was also screened.
Results: Among children with atopic dermatitis, the frequency of food sensitization was 40% by skin prick test and 51% by food-specific IgE. Children with atopic dermatitis were most commonly sensitized to cow's milk (31%), hen's egg (17.7%), tree nuts (17.7%), wheat (12.2%), potato (11.1%), tomato (8.8%) and peanut (8.8%). In 42 children with moderate to severe eczema, sensitivity to food allergens was 78.5% by skin prick test and 88% by serum specific IgE evaluation.
Conclusion: Our results showed that cow's milk, hen's egg and tree nuts were the most common food allergens in Iranian children with atopic dermatitis. Sensitization to foods was much higher in patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis. Determining specific IgE in children with atopic dermatitis can be helpful in managing these patients. Allergens Atopic Dermatitis skin prick test Specific IgE 2012 03 01 32 38 https://iji.sums.ac.ir/article_16854_04c06f0947b08b3a8ed6654aa8e0b480.pdf 2012-03-01 10.22034 Iranian Journal of Immunology Iran.J.Immunol 1735-1383 1735-1383 2012 9 1 Association of KIR3DS1+HLA-B Bw4Ile80 Combination with Susceptibility to Tuberculosis in Lur Population of Iran Farhad Shahsavar Tahereh Mousavi Alireza Azargoon Kobra Entezami Background: Natural killer (NK) cells are the effector cells of innate immunity that respond to infection and tumor. Interactions between killer cell immunoglobulin like receptors (KIR) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I molecules regulate NK cells responses to eliminate infected and transformed cells.
Objective: To investigate the impact of KIR genes, HLA ligand genes, and KIR-HLA combinations on susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB) in Lur population of Iran.
Methods: The genomic DNA of 50 patients with TB from Lorestan province of Iran was genotyped for sixteen KIR genes and their five major HLA class I ligands were determined by a polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) assay. The results were compared with those of 200 healthy unrelated Iranian individuals.
Results: In Lur population of Iran, a significant decrease in frequency of KIR3DS1 was found in TB patients compared to control group (24% vs. 44.5%, OR=0.394, CI=0.194-0.798, p=0.013). Also, among the three activating genes that may use HLA class I molecules as their ligands, a significant decrease was shown in frequency of KIR3DS1 with HLA-B Bw4Ile80 ligand in TB patients compared to control group (4% vs. 23%, OR=0.14, CI=0.033-0.596, p=0.004).
Conclusion: These findings imply a genetic imbalance between activating and inhibitory KIR genes and KIR-HLA combinations in Lur TB patients. Low level of activating KIR3DS1 and its combination with HLA-B Bw4Ile80 ligand might have an influence on the susceptibility to TB in Lur population of Iran. HLA KIR NK Cells Tuberculosis 2012 03 01 39 47 https://iji.sums.ac.ir/article_16855_c10a6623c1d38714a820d85597c32e10.pdf 2012-03-01 10.22034 Iranian Journal of Immunology Iran.J.Immunol 1735-1383 1735-1383 2012 9 1 Infection by Cag A Positive Strains of Helicobacter pylori is Associated with Autoimmune Thyroid Disease in Iranian Patients Mahmood Soveid Kazem Hosseini Asl Gholamhossein Ranjbar Omrani Background: Infectious agents have been suspected as a triggering factor for development of autoimmune thyroid disease (ATD). Some reports from Western countries have suggested association between Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection and ATD.
Objective: To investigate the association of ATD with Cag A seropositivity in a population with high rate and early age of onset of HP infection.
Methods: IgG anti HP and anti Cag A antibodies were measured in 88 patients with ATD and compared with results of 112 healthy individuals.
Results: The rate of infection with HP was not significantly different in patient and control groups, but there was significant association between ATD and infection with Cag A strains (p<0.005). This association was significant for both hypothyroidism (p<0.005) and Graves' disease (p<0.02). Cag A antibody level correlated with titers of thyroid auto antibodies (p<0.001).
Conclusion: In a population with high rate and early age of onset of HP infection, only infection with Cag A positive strains is associated with ATD, and this may be due to immune cross reactivity. Autoimmune Thyroid Disease Cag A pylori Graves΄ Disease Helicobacter 2012 03 01 48 52 https://iji.sums.ac.ir/article_16856_245813872b822cea2a90fbbf6aca2721.pdf 2012-03-01 10.22034 Iranian Journal of Immunology Iran.J.Immunol 1735-1383 1735-1383 2012 9 1 CD4⁺Foxp3⁺ Treg and its ICOS⁺ Subsets in Patients with Myocardial Infarction Samira Ghorbani Gazar Alireza Andalib Mohammad Hashemi Abbas Rezaei Background: Atherosclerosis is a multifactorial disorder with chronic inflammatory conditions in which immune cells play a significant role in its pathogenic process. Regulatory T cells (Treg), as a part of immune system, are involved in controlling autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Quantitative and/or functional alteration of Tregs has been shown to play an atheroprotective role and may also promote plaque stabilization.
Objective: To assess if inducible costimulatory molecule (ICOS) expression on one subtype of Treg cells with high suppressive potential correlates with the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.
Methods: Patients with myocardial infarction (MI) and/or stable angina (SA), diagnosed as atherosclerosis by angiography, and a group of individuals with normal coronary angiography (NCA) were recruited for the present study. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were prepared and the expression of ICOS, Foxp3 and CD4 molecules was tested by flowcytometry.
Results: The percentage of CD4+Foxp3+ Treg cells was reduced in MI group compared to NCA and SA groups (p<0.005). Evaluation of the two Treg subsets according to ICOS expression showed a decreased ICOS+/ICOS- Treg ratio in MI and SA groups compared to NCA individuals (p=0.002 and p=0.048, respectively).
Conclusion: The present data indicate that Tregs and its ICOS+ subsets are decreased in patients with MI or SA, suggesting a potential role for Treg in atherosclerosis progression or onset of acute coronary syndrome. Acute coronary syndrome Atherosclerosis ICOS myocardial infarction Regulatory T cells Stable Angina 2012 03 01 53 60 https://iji.sums.ac.ir/article_16857_4c2d6c060f6b69ff81a64624c0edaafb.pdf 2012-03-01 10.22034 Iranian Journal of Immunology Iran.J.Immunol 1735-1383 1735-1383 2012 9 1 Differential WNT Gene Expression in Various Subtypes of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Ali Memarian Parvaneh Vosough Hossein Asgarian-Omran Mina Tabrizi Mahdi Shabani Fazel Shokri Background: Dysregulation of WNT signaling has been reported in many malignancies.
Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the expression pattern of 14 members of the WNT gene family in different immunophenotypic subtypes of ALL.
Methods: Semi-quantitative RT-PCR was performed on samples from 71 ALL patients and 36 age-matched healthy individuals. The ALL patients were categorized into BALL (76%), T-ALL (22.6%) and mixed lineage (1.4%) and the B-ALL cases were further classified into pro-B, pre-BI, pre-BII and immature/mature-B based on immunophenotypic results.
Results: Among the WNT genes, WNT-7B (p=0.026), WNT-9A (p=0.020) and WNT-16B (p=0.023) were significantly over-expressed, whereas WNT- 2B (p=0.033), WNT-5A (p=0.016), WNT-7A (p<0.0001) and WNT-10A (p<0.0001) were down-regulated in B-ALL. Among the T-ALL subtype, however, significant down-regulation of WNT-2B, WNT-5B, WNT-7A, WNT-10A and WNT-11 was evident. Comparison between B-ALL subtypes showed significant over-expression of WNT-7B, WNT-9A and WNT-5B in certain subtypes.
Conclusion: Our results suggest contribution of the WNT genes in leukemogenesis of ALL. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Immunophenotype RT-PCR Wnt 2012 03 01 61 71 https://iji.sums.ac.ir/article_16858_39dde9034dbbdff779b5d4c11d967948.pdf 2012-03-01 10.22034 Iranian Journal of Immunology Iran.J.Immunol 1735-1383 1735-1383 2012 9 1 Thanks to Our Peer-Reviewers in 2011 2012 03 01 https://iji.sums.ac.ir/article_32934_68e599e07d79780fdf7ce58a4d9ccad7.pdf


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For most people, summer is driving season -- day trips, road trips, drives to the beach, festivals, fairs, visiting friends and commuting in the bright sunshine. This summer, U.S. News is putting the cars we test through their summer paces and giving you tips and advice for making the most of your summer driving. In this installment, the Infiniti G37 Convertible takes a scenic drive in the mountains.
It's just my luck that I would test the 2011 Infiniti G37 Convertible the week an earthquake and hurricane hit the East Coast. Luckily, after Hurricane Irene passed through the D.C. area Sunday morning, Mother Nature blessed me with an absolutely beautiful day to go for a drive.
Besides being ridiculously gorgeous inside and out, my fully-loaded Infiniti G37 Convertible was extremely fun to drive. I put the top down and headed out to the mountains of Virginia. Shenandoah National Park's Skyline Drive provided not only scenic views of the Virginia countryside, but it also gave me the perfect opportunity to see how the G37 Convertible handles on a twisty road.
Simply put, this rear-wheel drive car was made for winding roads. Its 3.7-liter V6 engine produces 325 horsepower and 267 pound-feet of torque. Every time I punched the gas pedal to go up a hill, the G37 responded with amazing power and a noticeable growl, which I loved. Its seven-speed automatic transmission with manual mode shifted smoothly through the gears.
The G37 Convertible's suspension provided a comfortable, yet sporty ride. Every time I took a turn, the G37 Convertible's sport-tuned steering responded quickly and precisely.
After an afternoon of turns, twists and hills, it was time to head back down the mountain, which was equally enjoyable. The Infiniti G37's brakes are strong without being grabby, which helped me slow the car to a more park ranger-friendly speed limit.
On the downside, the 2011 Infiniti G37 Convertible is not practical in any sense of the word. Although it technically has a trunk, you can't fit anything larger than a small purse or briefcase in it, and its back seat isn't big enough for actual human beings. You might be able to squeeze a small child or two back there, but it's more useful as a cargo shelf since nothing fits in the trunk.
But if you're in the market for a mid-life crisis car, or want something that not only turns heads but is incredibly fun to drive, you should definitely test drive the Infiniti G37 Convertible.


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Chung's pick of the month Jai Alai IPA, Cigar City Brewing Tampa Cigar City is one of the fastest growing craft breweries in the U.S. and has helped put Florida on the Craft Beer Map.
Jai Alai is their flagship citrusy IPA that is available year around in bottles or on draft in local craft beer bars. Jai Alai pays tribute to the original extreme sport, Jai Alai. Tampa was once home to a busy Jai Alai fronton but sadly all that remains of Jai Alai in the Tampa Bay area is this India Pale Ale that is brewed in tribute to the merry game. Jai Alai IPA is a monster interpretation of an American IPA using six different hop varietals, Simcoe for dry hopping and sturdy caramel malts to create a desire balance for a perfect IPA. 7.5% ABV.
Up Coming Beer Events 01/28/2012 Jupiter Craft Beer Fest 02/11/2012 Coffee District Special Wooden Cask Tapping: Aventinus Eisbock Cheers, Chung Seo Coffee District in Pineapple Grove


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Areas of teaching and research interests:
Ar. Nikita Harikrishan has completed B.Arch. and has worked as an Designer, she has the experience of working with vulnerable communities involving participatory community design, survey and documentation, policy making, strategies and planning for safer and healthier environments. She has conducted workshops on low cost affordable housing for pre University students.


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Shop by categoryChoose from our collections!
Summer CollectionSTYLE IS A WAY TO SAY WHO YOU ARE WITHOUT HAVING TO SPEAK
From The Blog
Our Celebrity Collections
From Cute Prom Dresses to Dangerously Sexy Maxis
With the help of famous faces such as Rosie Fortescue, Amy Childs, Binky Felstead, Jessica Wright and more recently Natalya Wright and Stephanie Pratt, we've grown in size and confidence.
Rosie's high fashion inspired collection was influenced by her travels to the most stylish cities around the globe. Binky mixed her laid-back everyday style with that undeniable Chelsea flare while Natalya and Stephanie added their charm and beauty to bring out the best in our very own SistaGlam Collection.
We're also extremely proud to have been collaborating with reality royalty Jess Wright in her exclusive collection of celebrity inspired formal and designer dresses, which has produced some of our biggest best sellers. Her effortless Essex glamour and put together style has given us so much inspiration to create season upon season of sensational midis, maxis and minis, providing affordable designer dresses online, for everyone!


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Find a Park
View Statewide Map
1 Parks Found
Effective immediately, Florida State Parks will follow local orders requiring facial coverings or masks to provide for staff and visitor safety. These requirements vary from area to area. Our main priority is the safety of our guests and staff. We will continue to review operations on a daily basis and make additional operational changes as may be deemed necessary for protection of public health. Please review individual park pages for specific information for each location.
View details about online payments, park and campground closures, park programs/events and facial coverings.
Hurricane Zeta
In order to ensure staff and visitor safety, Florida State Parks is monitoring the conditions associated with Hurricane Zeta. No parks or overnight accommodations ( cabins and/or campgrounds) are closed due to the storm at this time. Please visit specific park webpages for details and the latest information, or visit Storm Updates for additional information.


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Page 2: Penultimate 'Breaking Bad' Edition
Posted on Tuesday, September 24th, 2013 by Peter Sciretta
Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn't make the front page of /Film. After the jump we've included 36 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It's like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness.
Header Photo: Breaking Bad latte
Inside the Breaking Bad writers' room: how Vince Gilligan runs the show
Breaking Bad's Ozymandias Was Not The Series' Greatest Episode
Scott C created this awesome Breaking Bad print
Damon Lindelof on Breaking Bad: How Heisenberg Is Like Batman
'Breaking Bad' Writer Peter Gould on Penultimate Episode — 'What Hell Looks Like'
Heisenberg and the Cartel of Death t-shirt
9 Questions Breaking Bad Still Needs to Answer
'Breaking Bad's Infamous Phone Call Becomes a Referendum on the Show and Its Audience
How to Draw Breaking Bad's Walter White
Breaking Bad fans in Albuquerque: here's the one viewing party not to miss
Breaking Bad Cupcakes
The ten best kills of Walter White and friends (spoilers through the first half of Breaking Bad season 5)
Crazy theories on how Breaking Bad will end, in musical form
Breaking Beer: Albuquerque brewery unveils 'Breaking Bad'-themed ales