text: ## Why Write User Stories? Developers can take notes and problem solve. The typical user story syntax is clunky and meaningless. I can get my point across without them. These are all true statements, but they're also full of misconceptions. Too often, requirements are given as a hallway conversation or email note by a busy executive who's trying to get something done. Two weeks later, the work is complete and it bears *zero* resemblance to what the executive had in mind. Therein lies the main problem: we're trying to collect information from each other's minds and without a shared perspective we often miss each other's point. User stories are the currency of our trade. They allow technical and non-technical folks alike to collaborate, plan and outline a product's requirements. With a well-defined and well-written story, teams can work together without ambiguity or confusion. ## Defining a User Story The basic definition of a user story is… > A description of functionality that will be valuable to a user of a system or software. To break that apart: 1. **Description.** This description should be well articulated, but not overly complex. Anyone should be able to read it and explain it back to you. 2. **Functionality.** It must be specific enough that it *does* something. This is not marketing copy. 3. **Valuable.** The most important part. Why should we be building this thing, anyway? Does it save us time? Make us money? Is it just mind-bendingly awesome? 4. **User.** Who are we doing this for? Bob in Accounting? The executive team? Our core user group? A small, but valuable, subset of our users? 5. **System or software.** The domain in which we're working. Where does the story fit in the overall arc of our product? ### User Story Syntax The basic components of a user story are… >As a << user >>, I want << feature >> so that I can << receive value >>. Three modular pieces: Users, features, and value. As mentioned before, the value is the most important part (and I often write that part first). Why should we care about this story? What is its happy ending? What does the thing actually need to do, and who does it serve? There's more to it than that, but that's the basic operating syntax. Modern stories often turn into full-on *narratives*, which contain Later, we'll talk about how to actually write them and how to collect requirements for good stories. ## Writing Good User Stories First and foremost, a good user story allows us to easily have **empathy** for our customer or user. Sure, it's a buzz word, but an important one: knowing why our users can benefit helps us create better software to serve their needs. When we downplay the importance of understanding our users, we end up with terrible interfaces and cludgy experiences that satisfy requirements, but don't delight. ### Start with the User They're called user stories for a reason. We need to have a solid understanding of the user's interaction with our software in order to write for them. I'm not talking about personas or demographic identification right now (although that is important). I'm more concerned now with *who* is actually using the system and what their technological abilities and constraints are. In brainstorming the user role, simply name the individual type who will represent the role. Organize the set by sorting the roles into relationships between them - overlapping and adjacent roles. Things to think about: * The user's level of domain knowledge The user's technical proficiency The user's proficiency with the software The frequency a user will interact with it The user's goal for using the software The user's context for using the software (mobile!) From there you should have a solid list of key user roles and how they're going to interface with your product. It should become somewhat clear from this alone what key requirements are for each group. ### Story Rules A good story must also follow agreed upon guidelines. This is really well articulated in Mike Cohn's reference, [User Stories Applied](http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/books/user-stories-applied). He co-opted the "INVEST" model for writing stories, which is: * "I" ndependent (of all others) "N" egotiable (not a specific contract for features) "V" aluable (or vertical) "E" stimable (to a good approximation) "S" mall (so as to fit within an iteration) "T" estable (in principle, even if there isn't a test for it yet) Another key tenet of user stories is laid out here: stories aren't a commitment, but a *reminder*. They're a placeholder for a more detailed conversation and an overview of an idea. One shouldn't expect that a user story alone gives a team enough information to go off and build something. As we break a story down into its component parts, we start outlining its needs. A few things that come alongside a user story in later planning: * Wireframes or UI design * User workflows, content and form fields * Acceptance criteria * A development checklist and estimate The closer you are to a story in your planning process, the more detailed it needs to be. Conversely, the farther a story is from an iteration, the larger and less precise it can be. These less precise stories are often called **epics**, as they end up containing large swaths of functionality and multiple stories themselves. They're not bad stories, just big, and will ultimately get broken down into their component parts. #Collecting Stories I write stories almost exclusively on 3"x5" notecards. I **love** notecards. They're cheap, physical objects that can be moved around, grouped together, or (my favorite) torn up. I also typically use a standard Sharpie marker, as the physical constraint forbids me from writing too much detail on a card. Sometimes I lay them out on a table, on the floor, or tape them to a wall. They typically get grouped, organized, prioritized and discussed in great detail while they're still physical cards. ![Organized User Story Notecards](http://cl.comenerdwith.me/V6wS/stories%20on%20a%20wall.png) There are a few ways we can retrieve user stories from a disparate team of people or groups of users. To help get people thinking and articulating their thoughts further, I often like to facilitate a workflow workshop. Start with an empty box and use this as your starting screen or interaction point. Walk through what happens next, and take a depth-first approach: follow each trail to its end rather than trying to go one level deep across the whole experience. While doing yourself, prompt the group with: * What will the user want to do next? * What mistakes might the user make? * What additional information might the user need now? Focus on quantity over quality at this stage. You're brainstorming, so postpone UI. Sometimes I'll even draw circles or just words on a whiteboard to remind everyone that we're not talking about how something *looks*, but how it *works*. Boxes look like buttons or screens, so defer that visual thinking until the idea's been articulated. Now we have a list of key users and an understanding of what they need to do with the product. It's time to actually write stories. I like to facilitate short bursts of creative writing, normally around Card Passing. I use a [Time Timer](http://www.timetimer.com/), a really fantastic visual timer, to keep things moving. I typically go through a few different ways of writing stories, all with stacks of notecards around a table with our stakeholders and clients. ![Time Timer](http://cl.comenerdwith.me/V5n1/time%20timer.png) #### Individual Writing Normally I'll set a five minute clock and have everyone "claim" a user workflow or feature set. Then each person writes as many cards as they can. Once the five minutes are up, I read each card (without revealing its author) and allow the group to sort the cards and identify duplicates. **Remember, we're still brainstorming.** I don't tear up any cards… yet. #### Group Writing Next, I'll set the timer and have each person at a table write the "As a…" statement then pass the card to their left. The next person writes the "I want…" and so on. Complete cards in this way until your time has elapsed. Then, start with the "So that…" and then the "As a…" - "I want…"" comes last. Passing cards forces everyone at the table to stop thinking linearly. They're often presented with a user type or business value they don't normally think about, and so they have to creatively come up with ways to serve those needs. I find that group writing typically yields more in terms of card volume, and, as you'd expect, the general quality of the cards goes down. That's ok – the point here is still quantity over quantity. Once we're done, I stop the group and we check in again by reading all the cards. It's important here to make sure all users are represented and at least *some* level of functionality is recorded for each of the workflows, features and ideas we've had around the table. Once we've confirmed that as a group, we start sorting. ![User Story Sorting](http://cl.comenerdwith.me/V6xk/organizing%20user%20stories.png) Story sorting allows us to weed out bad ideas, poorly written or duplicate cards. It also allows us to stack relevant thoughts together as we chain features and needs together in a workflow. Ultimately, we strive for consensus but it's always best to have a true product owner in the room to establish priority and our team's direction. Now we have an idea of what we're building. Feel good? This process should be draining, but incredibly satisfying. We're just getting started. Next time, we'll unpack how to add the right amount of criteria to our stories so they can actually be worked on. ### Acceptance Testing Stories User stories are great placeholders for functionality, but they're not all the functional requirements we need. To go deeper on actually conveying need, we integrate a series of acceptance tests to confirm a story is satisfied. Or, put another way: how do we know when it's done? A few ground rules: 1. It's better to write a short story and a longer list of metrics to test. 2. These tests should be written before coding. 3. These tests should (typically) not be written by the actual developers. 4. These tests should comprise the QA script for the team after coding. #### Writing Acceptance Tests Acceptance tests are detailed list of requirements that accompany a story. They should be actionable and task oriented, centered around the following thoughts: * What does the team need to know about the story? * What can go wrong during the story? * What am I assuming about how the story will be implemented? It's a good idea to use a consistent tone and syntax here, too. Our team follows the "Verify That…" approach. The first line of your acceptance tests should begin with that phrase, and what follows can be a simple list of to-do's, essentially. This allows the developer as well as te QA team to ensure the requirement is met. #### Behavior Modeling Another way of explaining detailed functionality is via a behavior model. This layout gives another consistently phrased approach to how we handle individual requirements. The syntax is: >Given that I am << on a page >> and I have << performed an action >>, I should << see this reaction >>. This model is also great for QA and bug submissions. Simply add, "Instead, I expect << desired functionality >>." to the end of that line and you've got a really well detailed error report that can be submitted to a developer. I often write these tests on the back of the user story notecard. Again, this limits the amount of detail I can add to a particular card (and instead implies that I should break complex stories down into multiple cards or enttities). So now we've got a big pile of well written, thought out user stories and they even have acceptance criteria. Next up: how do we know where to start? ### Prioritizing Stories Over this series in user stories, we've gone through how to identify users, how to lay out their needs, how to document them into stories, and how to put additional detail around those requirements. Now we need to answer the tough question: what do we do first? Typically, we always seek the easiest, highest value items to work on next. To get there, though, we still need to determine what's easy and what's valuable. #### Valuing Stories For every story, we think through the following: * How desirable is this story to the core user group? * How does this story impact overall cost? * How important is this story in relation to other stories? Each story then gets assigned a relative value to identify how important it is compared to others. We like the MOSCOW method for identifying business value and priority. It's easy enough: >**M**ust have, **S**hould have, **C**ould have, **W**ant to have Every story card we write ends up with a relative value assigned to it by our product owner. Or, we might go more in depth using a system like the [Kano model](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_model). I love this model for its dispassionate ability to organize ideas into areas of value. It's easy enough Another great exercise is **story shopping**. We can assign a baseline value to each story (possibly from our initial estimates) and allow our stakeholders to "shop" for them with a fictitious amount of money. Of course, we ensure there's more points on the table than the client has in terms of fake money – so, preference and choice emerges to help complete the exercise. It's subtle, but using scarcity quickly shows us what we need to be focusing on and what items can wait for later. #### Estimating Stories While a product owner is evaluating the relative business value of our stories, a development team should be reviewing them to discuss the potential time (and thus, cost) each story will take. This figure can be incredibly important when making the decision of business value: a story that will take two weeks might be less desirable than one that takes two days. The only way to know is to confirm with our development team. Like writing the actual stories, our team needs a common language in order to establish the recommended cost of each story. That language should allow us to: * Change our mind when we have new information about a story * Plan for epics and smaller stories * Not spend much time estimating * Provide useful information about our work and the time remaining * Take imprecision of estimation into account * Quickly plan releases To that end, it's best to use abstracted points rather than estimating in hours. Points represent no real unit of time, but are a currency an entire team can comprehend. A scale of points is simply a measure of _relative complexity_. A 20 point story is four times larger than a 5 point story, and so on. It's a good idea to use pre-defined values like the modified Fibonacci sequence: 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, 80. A logarithmic scale like that reminds us that point precision decreases as story sizes increase. To keep things simple, we sometimes use a difficulty scale, where 4 points represents an extremely complex story, whereas 2 points is half as difficult. Again, remember that an estimate is really a "size", not a true time estimate. t's always best to think of how stories relate to one another in terms of relative difficult and assign that point value accordingly. #### Estimating Meetings Here's an effective workflow for how to convey user stories to a development team, clarify their needs and then produce an estimate. 1. Gather the team (Customer team and developer team) and share the stories. 2. The customer or customer team reads a story to the developers. This should take a while. 3. The developers ask questions, the customer clarifies (take good testing notes!). 4. Each developer should write a story point estimate down for each story without showing the other developers. 5. At the end of this process, each developer should share the story estimates with each other. **They will differ.** 6. The high and low estimators will need to explain their decisions and discuss for clarity with the group. 7. From there, the group should converge on one point number estimate for each story. The points estimation process here is often called "Planning Poker", since it involves a sort of card game like estimate reveal. Allow developers to discuss points, rather than just arbitrarily handing them out. Allow developers with experience in one area to claim a series of stories so they might assign a lower point value to them. Allow junior developers to place a higher point value on an item and claim it for themselves (or better, to pair up with someone else on it). Organize the story cards into a digital system like [Trello](http://trello.com) and allow the business stakeholders and product manager(s) to prioritize the stories at will. The development team should make recommendations on how to address the right order of a stories, but ultimately the business is responsible for choosing what work happens first. _Expect the order to change frequently._ ![Agile Trello Board](http://mrdanadams.com/images/trello/board.png) Once we're into a system like this, we've now got a prioritized, estimated and well-organized backlog of work that our team can start chipping away at. The goal here, again, is not to keep things set in stone; the team gathered and learned enough simply _to get going_. This backlog should breathe. It should rise and fall as stories are added and completed, and should change structure frequently. The list of stories can always be polished, pruned and expounded upon (and we should welcome it). Review the backlog frequently to remove dead weight and add new insight. It's a constant dialogue; the stories are just the cue cards.


text:
ERIC Cray started 2016 by taking the bronze medal in the 60-meter run of the 2016 Asian Indoor Athletics Championship in Doha, Qatar.
The 27-year-old Cray, so far the lone official Filipino who has qualified for this year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, clocked 6.70 seconds in the final to finish third place behind gold medalist Hassan Taftian of Iran (6.56) and compatriot Reza Ghasemi (6.66).
The Fil-American sprinter set a Games record when he clocked 6.57 seconds in the semifinal round before Taftian broke it in the finals.
Meanwhile, pole vaulter EJ Obiena is also seeking a berth in the Olympic Games through Doha meet.
Obiena, who recently saw action in the UAAP for University of Santo Tomas, is looking to surpass the Olympic standard of 5.70 meters to qualify for Rio.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A zoo in Egypt pretty plainly broadcast to its customers what it thought of them and their intelligence when, apparently in the face of a zebra shortage (or a demand for zebras) it, instead of procuring a zebra or at least putting up a sign that said, "Sorry, No Zebras," just went and painted a donkey like a zebra and acted like it was legit.
Even upon being called out the zoo said, "Nah. That's a zebra."
It is not a zebra.
The falsified equid was discovered by 18-year-old Mahmoud Sarhan, who posted pictures of the painted donkey to his Facebook page.
Read More: Texas Prisoner Kicks Out Window, Climbs onto Roof of Police Car on Highway
As you can see from these pictures, this animal is roughly as much of a zebra as a college basketball referee or an old-timey, 1930s prisoner.
The zoo — because when you've already committed this much why not double down? — assured people that the zebra was both, in fact, a zebra and well taken care of.
Upon reviewing pictures of the donkey a PETA official determined that donkey was definitely not well taken care of, the first and most obvious clue being that it was covered in paint. Beyond that, though, take whatever the PETA person says about an animal not being well taken care of with a grain of salt. By PETA standards, any animal that isn't being actively fellated is being mistreated. (But really, this animal is absolutely being mistreated.)
If it weren't for the fact that an animal was being mistreated it would be impressive how little this zoo cares about what anyone thinks of them. There has to be some sweaty, underpaid, totally detached manager who only cares about the bottom line in an office with no air conditioner giving orders to paint the donkeys and pay a homeless man to come in and wear a gorilla suit every day.
Either way, someone give this donkey a bath and find it a new home before this zoo sells it as shawarma meat.


text:
SHS Pharmacy will be OPEN during Spring quarter: Mon-Wed & Fri (8am-4pm), Thurs (9am-4pm
UC SHIP allows us to write refills for a 90 day supply for SHIP patients now and through the Spring Quarter.
Please contact your PCP through MyStudentChart or call our SHS Pharmacy at 858-534-2135 to ask for refills.
We are able to FedEx your prescriptions and any over-the-counter items to any house or apartment address in California. We can also send prescriptions to outside pharmacies. Call our pharmacist if you need this service: 858-534-2135 and please give us 3-4 days to process your prescription request.
For after-hours advice, use MyStudentChart or call the main phone number 858-534-3300 and select the "Advice Nurse" option.
The Student Health Pharmacy is available to all registered students with student health copays. For 30 days prescriptions, $5 generic, $10 brand, $40 non-formulary.
At retail pharmacies, $10 generic, $40 brand, $100 non-formulary. We also fill 90 days prescriptions where applicable, where retail pharmacies cannot.
Students with SHIP insurance maximize their pharmacy benefit by using the SHS Pharmacy.
Note, we only bill the SHIP insurance plan, so if you have private health insurance, you would pay the retail price and then submit a claim to your insurance company for reimbursement.
ECP is available without a prescription at the SHS Pharmacy. The cost is approximately $20.00 plus tax.
Over-the-counter items such as cough and cold remedies, first aid supplies, lotions, ointments, contraceptives, and contact lens products are for sale at reduced student health prices.
If you have questions regarding the Drug Formulary or list of covered medications, please call Optum Member Services at 844-265-1879. Optum is the UC SHIP carrier for pharmacy benefits.
As there may be some availability exceptions, please call and speak with one of our pharmacists if you have questions 858-534-2135.


text:
The best way to learn proper English is to read news report, and watch news on TV. Watching TV shows is a great way to learn casual English, slang words, understand culture reference and humor. If you have already watched these shows then you may recall the words used in the following dialogs.
perhaps our last chance,
to avoid CARNAGE.
Meaning and definitions of carnage, translation in Somali language for carnage with similar and opposite words. Also find spoken pronunciation of carnage in Somali and in English language.
What carnage means in Somali, carnage meaning in Somali, carnage definition, examples and pronunciation of carnage in Somali language.


text:
Fencing's governing body is offering South Korean Shin A-lam a special sportsmanship award following her controversial elimination on Monday.
A day after a weeping Shin staged a one-hour protest and had to be escorted off the fencing strip following her semifinal loss to Germany's Britta Heidemann, Korean Olympic Committee president Park Yong-sung said the federation recognized there were issues with time keeping and apologized.
"They never expected this kind of thing to happen in the last second, three attacks. Their time keeping machine is only in seconds, not (tenths) of a second," Park said. "Because of this, they could not handle the situation correctly. That they admit."
The row erupted when two double-touches were recorded with a second left and Shin thought she had won.
After some discussion, one second was added, giving Heidemann a chance to surge forward and hit Shin with the winning point.


text:
Institution Promise 15: Separating the Office of Attorney General from Public Prosecutor
02. The position of Public Prosecutor will be held by another independent individual who can act without partisan interest. The person will lead Malaysia's Public Prosecutor Office, enjoying autonomy to exercise his prosecutorial powers.
PH Manifesto Page 43 May 10, 2018
Not started


text:
The Week Ahead: Mariah Carey, Joe Bonamassa, Mario Biondi, Mushroomhead and more
Posted: 8th March 2016
Also taking place from Monday 14th March 2016: Blancmange
, of Montreal
, Glen Hansard
, Chris Robinson
Brotherhood , Enslaved
, Bettye LaVette
, Lamb
and more
All prices are exclusive of booking fees. Click on the images for more details and to buy tickets (subject to availability)
This week:
Festivals, Tours and Concerts
|Mariah Carey 'Sweet Sweet Fantasy' from 15th to 23rd March in London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and more
|Joe Bonamassa from 19th March to 8th July in Plymouth, Bournemouth and Birmingham from £45 to £75. Limited tickets available
|Mario Biondi on 14th March in London - limited tickets available
|Mushroomhead from 18th March to 3rd April in London, Reading, Norwich, Southampton, Brighton and many more from £16.50 to £18.50. Note: American Head Charge have had to pull out of this tour.
|Blancmange from 17th March to 4th June in London, Manchester, Blackburn, Glasgow, Brighton and more from £15 to £20. Limited tickets available
|Trivium from 20th March to 1st April in Kilmarnock, Aberdeen, Middlesbrough, York, Leicester and many more from £20
|of Montreal on 14th March in London from £17.50
|Christine and the Queens on 15th March and 3rd May in London from £17.50 to £20. No tickets available for March.
|Glen Hansard on 16th March in London from £22.50
|Chris Robinson Brotherhood on 14th March in London for the Black Crowes man and his band, from £22.50
|Enslaved from 17th to 19th March in London from £18 to £26. Limited tickets available for 17th.
|Bettye LaVette on 19th March in London from £27.50
|Lamb on 17th and 18th March in London and Manchester, from £25 - tickets selling fast!
|Amorphis from 18th to 25th March in London, Nottingham, Glasgow, Wolverhampton, Dublin and more from £20 to £22
|Gang Starr Foundation on 17th March and 15th April in Dublin from £15
|Professionals from 17th March to 19th May in Leeds, Newcastle from £13.75 to £15
|Natalie Merchant 'Paradise Is There' from 16th to 24th March in London, Dublin and Manchester from £30. Rare UK tour. Limited tickets available
|Tracer from 15th to 26th March in Southampton, Exeter, Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham and many more from £15. Limited tickets available
|Kano from 16th March in London, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham and more from £15. Limited tickets available
|Simple Plan from 20th to 24th March in London, Manchester, Nottingham and Bristol from £17.50 to £18.50. Rare UK tour. Limited tickets available
|Life of Agony 'Agony in the UK' from 17th to 19th March in London, Manchester and Wolverhampton from £20. Rare UK dates. Limited tickets available
|Half Moon Run from 14th to 23rd March in London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester and more from £13.50 to £17.50. Limited tickets available
|Striking Matches from 14th to 20th March in London, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol from £15. Limited tickets available
|DIIV from 17th to 28th March in London, Brighton, Liverpool, Newcastle from £11.50. Limited tickets available
|Enslaved from 17th to 19th March in London from £18 to £26. Limited tickets available
|Von Hertzen Brothers from 18th to 24th March in London, Bristol, Digbeth, York, Manchester and more from £13 to £14
|Karma to Burn from 20th to 28th March in London, Wolverhampton, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle from £10 to £15
|Defeater from 14th to 17th March in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham from £12 to £14.50. Limited tickets available
|Video Games Live on 19th and 20th March in London and Manchester from £25 to £30
|Tom - A Story of Tom Jones from 15th March to 4th June in Leicester and Edinburgh from £25.50 to £29. Limited tickets available
|Alan Carr Work in Progress show in Greenwich for the Chatty Man on 14th March.
|People, Places and Things from 15th March to 18th June in London. Limited tickets available
|Disney On Ice - Silver Anniversary Celebration from 16th March to 15th May in Belfast and Liverpool
|Bear Behaving Badly from 19th March to 5th June in Dartford, Reading, Swansea, Crewe, Northampton and more from £12 to £16. Limited tickets available
|Boris Godunov Royal Opera with Bryn Terfel from 14th March to 5th April in London. Limited tickets available
|Pasha Kovalev 'It's All about You' from 20th March and into spring for the Strictly star in Brighton and more, from £23.50. Tickets selling fast.
|Andrew Maxwell 'Yo Contraire!' on 15th March at the Glasgow Comedy Festival, from £14 to £20
|Ed Gamble from 16th March in London and more, from £6.60 to £15.50
|Jerry Sadowitz Glasgow Comedy Festival show on 18th March in Glasgow from £23.75
|Brendon Burns Glasgow Comedy Festival show on 14th March in Glasgow from £10


text:
MILWAUKEE, WI (May 16, 2016) –
WHAT: Information risk management and security professionals gathering at the Secure360 Conference will have the opportunity to hear Joe Sturonas, PKWARE chief technology officer speak on encryption and data security in his presentation: "Encryption Doesn't Always Protect Your Data."
A 25-year veteran of the commercial software industry, Sturonas will expose the gaps that exist with today's current security mindset that focuses on protecting a network or device without aligning risk, reputations and revenue where it matters most – the data.
Sturonas will dive into the latest tools and techniques to bridge the divide in today's computing model. Within his presentation, he will demonstrate how professionals can focus on the data itself, regardless of the file format, data origin or compliance standard.
Secure360 is the premier educational conference in the Upper Midwest focusing on the governance, risk and compliance, information security, physical security, business continuity management, and professional development. To view the full schedule of events at Secure360, visit: Secure360.
To join the conversation on Twitter with @PKWARE and @Secure360, use the hashtags: #Sec360 and #Sec360TC.
WHO: Joe Sturonas, chief technology officer, PKWARE .
WHEN: Tuesday, May 17, 2016
4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: St. Paul RiverCentre
Room 13
175 W Kellogg Blvd
St. Paul, MN 55102


text:
Spring 2014 Trends Straight from the Runways: Pretty Pastels
A rainbow of soft springtime shades reigned throughout the collections. The best thing about the pastel trend? You can pick your most-flattering color and wear it with whatever silhouette flatters (and excites) you. From a minty-green board-shorts suit to a CEO lilac dress to sporty baby blue bombers, the sky's the limit on how pastel-happy you want to get.
Spring Flowers:
Spring flowers come along and cheer us up at a time when we most need it -- after we've somehow survived another long winter. Speaking for myself, it wouldn't be going too far to say that they help me convalesce as I recuperate from winter's months-long blustery barrage.
So I thought that it would be so fun to combine those to into one post for a boost of Spring Inspiration.
We've put Pinterest Board devoted to Spring flowers and fashion so if you like to see more please click here.


text:
SightMD Announces Acquisition of Hatsis Laser Vision
SightMD, a leading multi-specialty ophthalmology platform and a portfolio company of Chicago Pacific Founders, today announced a strategic partnership with Alexander P. Hatsis, M.D., FACS of Hatsis Laser Vision. The partnership expands SightMD's presence on Long Island, adding an additional Nassau County location and three providers to SightMD's current footprint of 32 locations and 70+… Read More
Hearing Aids – It's An Adjustment
One very common misconception about hearing aids is that they are "just like eyeglasses," meaning that once you put them on, your hearing troubles are immediately "corrected," much the same as eyeglasses "correct" your vision when worn. Eyeglasses are considered corrective because when properly set and worn, your vision will be improved to the normal… Read More
The Best LASIK Surgeons…Best of Long Island 2018 Winners SightMD
When it comes to LASIK in Long Island New York, SightMD provides the best in bladeless custom LASIK laser vision correction. This year, SightMD was recognized as the best LASIK eye care practice on Long Island in the "Best of Long Island" contest as seen in the Long Island Press. SightMD also has more "Top Doctors: New… Read More
Stye and Chalazion Treatment | Eyelid Swelling
Long Island patients with eyelid swelling or styes are best treated by an oculoplastic surgeon to improve the condition. A stye is a blocked oil gland of the lids that results in pain, redness, and swelling of the face. Hot compresses and eye drops/ointments are the first line treatment for a stye before considering a… Read More
Eye Plastic Surgery | Long Island | New York
[Long Island, NY] – Eye plastic surgery (also known as oculoplastic surgery) is a special branch of medicine that combines Ophthalmology and cosmetic surgery. Also known as ophthalmic plastic surgery, the field offers specialized attention to cosmetic and reconstructive procedures around the eyes and face. SightMD offers eye plastic surgery consultations in Manhattan, Queens, Nassau… Read More
When Hearing Aids Are Not Enough
Sometimes even the most advanced technology cannot provide optimal hearing support in the most challenging listening situations for all patients. Fortunately there are many options to consider when your hearing aids are not enough! Many of today's hearing aids have the ability to connect to your smartphone. This can be a direct wireless connection via… Read More
Cataract Surgery: Guide to Choosing the Right Lens Implant
A big decision that cataract patients need to make is the type of lens implant they will want. Medical insurance coverage will include a standard lens implant. Provided there is no astigmatism (which will be explained below), this standard lens implant is capable of correcting distance vision. This means that if patients did not need… Read More
How to Have A Better Conversation With Someone With Hearing Loss
For people with hearing loss, conversations with friends and family can be very difficult. The extra effort needed to understand a conversation correctly can leave your loved one feeling tired and frustrated. It can be hard to watch family and friends struggle and it is easy to get annoyed when they don't understand what is… Read More
The Dr. Frank Verdone Memorial Symposium For Optometrists by SightMD
SightMD had its biannual Optometry Symposium at the Huntington Hilton Hotel in Melville, NY on Sunday January 21st. The ophthalmologists at SightMD have a special relationship with local optometrists, who serve as primary eye care providers to many of our patients (about 80%). We co-manage many cataract and LASIK patients with optometrists in the… Read More
Cataract Experts at SightMD
When it comes to cataract surgery in Long Island, New York, SightMD leads the way with more top cataract surgeons than any other eye care practice in Long Island. So what is a cataract and how is it fixed? What is a Cataract? Many of our patients come to the office thinking that a cataract… Read More


text: OfficePrinter Business Card Software - Version 2.0 Design and print business cards, letterhead, envelopes, address labels, CD labels, and more. The business card software and label software includes pre-designed templates that allow users to create a design in minutes. The program was awarded 5 stars rating by Download.com, 5star-shareware.com, and others. Logos and clip art are included. The program allows the user to easily manipulate the look and layout of all text. Special effects such as shadow, spiral zoom, and shapes such as curves, arches and ovals can be applied to text. The program supports both U.S. and metric units, and letter and A4 paper sizes. Users can import JPG, BMP, and other graphics directly into the design. A design can also be exported into the standard bitmap .BMP format to be sent to a printing house or be emailed to others. It also comes with a database, mailing-list feature for making a batch of labels, name badges, and envelopes effortlessly.


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Hi IndieHackers crowd,
I'm considering writing an in-depth post about how I bootstrapped my software biz to $10k/mo before I switched over the "dark side" and raised a round of investment. My goal is to present my reasoning and ideally, provide some nuance to the VC vs. bootstrapped discussion.
If I write this, it's going to be a long post, so I wanted gauge interest before investing a lot of time :)


text:
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Nominee Switches Voter Registration To District He Would Represent
Errol George Tapped To Complete Unexpired Term In District B
The nominee to fill a vacancy on the New Orleans City Council has never voted in the district he is set to represent, the WDSU I-Team reported.
The full council is expected to vote on the nomination of Errol George on Thursday. George was suggested by Stacy Head, who is giving up the District B council seat to assume one of two at-large positions on the council.
But when contacted by WDSU, a spokesperson for Head confirmed that George has only recently registered to vote in District B.
"Councilwoman Head was not unaware of the fact that he just recently changed his voting registration, but again, the issue for her was who could best represent some of the issues on an interim basis in the district," Cheron Brylski said.
Brylski said George moved to River Garden, in District B, about five years ago, but failed to change his voter registration. As a result, he remained registered to vote in District E over numerous election cycles.
If approved by the council, George will represent District B on an interim basis. He would not be able to run in the election to complete Head's unexpired term.
That election will take place in late 2012.


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Roy Orbison – Crawling Back tab
#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE--------------------------------# #This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the# #song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research.# #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------# "Crawling Back" (Roy Orbison - Bill Dees) Intro: (arpeggiated classical guitar [2X; drums enter 2nd time]): D [xx4232] / / / / / / / / / / / / Verse 1: D G A Only you and no-one else G A D Can keep me crawling back D G A You know I can't help myself G A D And now I'm crawling back Bridge A: D F#m After all you've done to me G Gm The times you've turned me down D E7 I still will be your clown because I love you A13 D I'm craw-aw-ling back Bridge B: D D6 Dmaj7 D6 You know I would die for you F#7 G Heaven knows how I have cried for you D But what else can I do Bm A G A D Bm But crawl on back to you-oo oo-hoo Em A D Crawling back to you Bridge C: F#7 G People stop they talk and they stare A D But they don't know that you really care F#7 G E7/G# That you're only lonely and making believe D/A Em And you need me, a love D A/C# G Em A When the world turns you down Verse 2: D G A Whenever you might need me G A D I will come crawling back D G A [N.C.] Wherever you will lead me G A D I will come crawling back Coda: D / / / / / / / / / / / / / -- another ace 60's tab from Andrew Rogers


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I have crummy posture, so this gadget / clothing product caught my attention when I saw it in the latest Skymall catalog on my flight back from Fort Myers Florida this past week. The PostureTek Biofeedback Apparel System is available in a shirt or bra design. An adjustable controller is located in a hidden pocket in the garment. This controller can be set for the posture rigidity that you desire. Then when you slouch, the module senses the incorrect posture and gently encourages correction by vibrating. The PostureTek product will cost you about $100.
Stop slouching with the PostureTek t-shirt or bra
Support The Gadgeteer: The Gadgeteer's main sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links in articles like this one. Even though we may receive compensation, we always give our honest opinions about our experiences with each product.


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A few weeks ago, I issued a strong two-thumbs-up to the new NBC drama Parenthood. With the sixth episode airing tonight, I want to offer an updated assessment.
First, I'm enjoying the show immensely. It is strong and well-crafted. But it is not entirely free of weaknesses:
Many of the scenes are overdone. The writers are unwilling to let the cast members communicate meaning with a single word, glance, or gesture when a dozen of these things can be squeezed in. This tendency especially aggravates Mrs. Φ (who has consented to watch a few episodes with me) to the point of exasperation; we both want to scream at the T.V., we get it already! Which is so regrettable because it is so unnecessary. The actors are all experienced and in top form. They shouldn't have to beat everything to death.
Thematically, the show succumbs to the usual clichés where children are Founts Of Wisdom bringing enlightenment to their parents, instead of being little savages needing a good thrashing. This is particularly annoying coming from the teenaged daughters, both of whom are, in fact, guilty of significant breaches of the law and good family order.
Several aspects of the plot point involving ne'er-do-well brother Crosby's illegitimate son could have been made stronger. Big sister Julia, an attorney, counsels him to ask the mom, who had kept the son's existence a secret for five years, for a paternity test, talking vaguely about the "legal repercussions." Now, this may, in fact, be a good idea, but it would depend on the specifics of California law, and isn't obvious considering that the mom hasn't asked Crosby for anything other than to be involved in his son's life. (I suspect that, by such involvement, Crosby is "holding himself forth" as the child's father in a way that makes the paternity test legally moot should it ever come to a child support award – for which the California DSS can sue even without Mom's involvement. If this understanding is correct, the show should have the guts to state clearly what "family law" really is.)
The advice Crosby should have gotten was to tell his current girlfriend Katie, who inexplicably wants Crosby to father her own child, about the new development as soon as possible. Yet this occurred to nobody until the fifth episode, and Crosby delays informing her well past the point where it starts to look furtive and dishonest.
While I'm at it, the show's single greatest implausibility is Crosby's relationship with Katie. Katie is evidently a successful professional of some sort, while Crosby is . . . well, he's got a job working at a recording studio, but he doesn't apppear especially successful. Nor is he especially stable, or virtuous, or handsome, or charming, or dominant, "bad-boy", "alpha", sociopathic, or anything else that a woman like Katie might find attractive. Dax Sheppard plays him only marginally less cretinous than he played "Frito" in Idiocracy.
While I'm at it, another implausibility is that Adam and Kristina's young son Max's Asperger's Syndrome would have gone undiagnosed in public school as long as it supposedly did. Max is well played by Max Burkholder, who turns 13 in November; I don't recall how old his character is, but I'm guessing no younger than eight. In reality, teachers would have flagged his behavior patterns within the first few months of first grade.
But frankly, these are so far mere quibbles next to what I like about the series: strong acting, compelling themes, and poignant situations.
One of the things that regularly occurs to me as I watch this television show is: I'm really glad I'm a Christian. It's too bad the show, like virtually all television shows except The Simpsons, can't give any major characters a mainstream religious affiliation. But since it doesn't, its characters are left to go through life making up their rules as they go along, and this turns out pretty obviously to make their lives a lot harder than they would otherwise be. I appreciate that few people can tolerate theological overhead to which they do not subscribe, but most of the time, the Christian life is vastly superior to its alternatives.


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BBC Worldwide creates VP of marketing role
BBC Worldwide's sales and distribution arm has appointed former Granada marketing chief Clare Vincent to the new role of vice president of marketing. She will move into the position in November.
Vincent will be responsible for "setting the overall strategic vision" for marketing BBC Worldwide's distribution business globally, including presales and aftersales. She will report to BBC Worldwide Sales & Distribution managing director Steve Macallister and BBC Worldwide marketing director, Helen Kellie.
Vincent was previously director of marketing at Granada International, where she led all marketing activity for the company, including brand roll-outs, trade events and marketing strategy.
She has acted as a marketing consultant for Target Entertainment Group and is credited with setting up advertising agency CreativeVerve.
BBC Worldwide Sales & Distribution managing director, Steve Macallister, says: "We have a great deal of marketing strength at BBC Worldwide – Clare's focus will be to take the long view and develop and overarching marketing strategy that supports our business and franchise portfolio as we keep growing."


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It is not duty but a keen sense of gratitude that compels me to express my heartfelt appreciation. Going down memory lane, what struck me most when I met you for the first time was the assurance you instilled in me, the positive outlook you had, the depth of efficiency, and the striking dedication to sell my home. I have never known a person to work harder or more diligently, and with more enthusiasm than you in selling real estate. It has been a great privilege and pleasure to have you as my agent. There are no better words to express what my heart feels than two simple words, "Thank you!" I shall never hesitate to pass on your reference to all of my friends, acquaintances, relatives and colleagues. I know they will appreciate the high level of professionalism, quality, and sincerity that you have shown me. May God bless you and your family and may your success continue and spread far and wide." Gratefully yours, Dr. Specht.
View all Joan Elflein's Testimonials


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Where to Workout in Red Deer
Ah spinning, the fitness class that I hate to love and love to hate. Jess and I popped into this new studio to kick off our first Where to Workout session of the New Year. One of us left Ryde RD a sweaty mess after, the other one left looking adorable as always. I was the sweaty one. Spin is a great cardio workout, with some classes even utilizing hand weights and various movements that get you a full body workout. For me, it definitely gets my heart rate soaring, the sweat dripping and the hamstrings burning. Here's what you can expect from your first visit to Ryde.
About RYDE RD
Ryde is new to the Red Deer fitness scene, opening in late 2016. The boutique spin and body studio is quickly gaining momentum and adding more class sizes to the meet the demands for indoor cycling turned party. Not only that, they have a pretty sweet partnership going on with Hudsons Canada as an added incentive to get your spin on.
They have a handful of fun instructors, all with their own personalities and music tastes to add to their classes. If one instructor isn't quite your jam, try another one until you find someone who gives you just the fun workout you're looking for. If you're lucky, you might even catch a team teach, where two instructors join forces and maybe even indulge in a battle of different musical styles.
The studio has a simple design, with crisp white walls and industrial features, plus a selection of apparel if you're looking to update your fitness workout. Their Eat Sleep Ryde Repeat tanks are super cute.
About the Classes
Ryde offers three different ryde classes:
Ryde 30 – a 30 minute lunch time crunch class
Ryde 50 – a 50-minute ride that includes a weight track for a full body workout
Sip and Ryde – a 50-minute ride plus a $10 voucher to refuel at Hudsons
Have you ever gone to a night club or concert where the combination of the music, the lighting, the energy of the people around you created this energy that had you dancing your little heart out until suddenly the lights come on and you have to go home but you don't really know how that much time could have possibly gone by because you were having way too much fun? That's kind of what it's like to take a Ryde class. You can expect the music to be pumpin', the lights to be flashing and the energy to be high and for there to be some dancing atop your bike seat. It's a sweaty party that will make you check your watch twice to make sure the class didn't end early because it flies by.
If you're looking for a break from the bike, Ryde offers Fit 60, an hour long full body workout class. Comprised of a mix of boot camp, HIIT, plyo, kettlebells, you'll challenge your strength and flexibility.
Want to combine spin and body workout? Ryde and Lyft start with a 30-minute ride and follows up with a 20-minute body pump class.
Single Ryde: $19
Lunch Crunch: $10
Ryde 5 pack: $80
Ryde 10 pack: $150
Ryde 20 pack: $275
Monthly pack: $175
New Ryder offer (2 weeks unlimited): $40
Special spin shoes and a towel to catch that dripping sweat are included in each class at no additional cost.
What I Loved Most
My favourite part of Ryde is the intimate party atmosphere. The small space allows for you to feed off the energy of the other riders in the room mixed with the dark room, fun lights on the roof and loud music. Somehow this all combines to make 50 minutes fly by in flash. Like, it has to be some sort of time warp when you enter that room. Since spin isn't the easier, no the most fun workout for me, this kind of atmosphere makes me forget how much my brain is swearing at my body.
Of course, I always love a studio with beautiful decor. The white walls, gold accents, and industrial decor plus those kick ass lights in the spin room are amazing.


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Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Distinguished International Student Scholarship (referred to as "the scholarship" hereafter) is set by Ministry of Education in order to implement the spirit of the national conference on education , expanding the influence of the Chinese government scholarship and creating an incubator for more distinguished international talents.
1.Standard of the Scholarship
Full-time self-supporting bachelors and masters who have studied in SDU for at least 1 year are qualified to apply for the scholarship. A bachelor will be awarded 18,000 RMB in total while a master 30,000 RMB.
The quota of the scholarship for SDU will be decided by Ministry of Education.
2.Application Eligibility
1) Applicants must be friendly to China and well-behaved.
2)Applicants should be in good physical and mental health, abiding by China's laws and regulations , and having comprehensive development.
3) Applicants should have excellent academic performance and strong learning and research abilities.
4) Priority would be given to those who suffer economic difficulties when the applicants are under the same conditions.
3. Application
Applicants must apply online and submit printing application documents.
1)Apply online: Applicants must apply at http://studyinchina.csc.edu.cn/ and complete the application form online.
2)Application documents: Applicants must submit printing application forms and documents as follows.
a.Chinese Government Scholarship Application Form;
b. Proof of study provided by the university;
c. Transcript with stamps from administrative departments;
d. A recommendation letter from the department in charge of international student affairs;
e. A story of my life in China, no less than 800 words;
f. Other supporting materials.
4. Evaluation process
1) Personal application;
2) Checked by school or college;
3) Reviewed by evaluation committee organized by Department of Undergraduates' Affairs and Department of Postgraduates' Affairs;
4) Department of International Affairs submits candidates' materials to China Scholarship Council.
5. Contact Us
Department of International Affairs
Address:Room C302, Mingde Building, Central Campus of Shandong University, No.27 Shanda South Road, Jinan, China


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Walking holidays in Eastern Norway
Join us to explore the beauty and wilderness of Norway. Experience the vastness and tranquillity of the Norwegian mountain landscape and the richness of its unspoilt nature. Enjoy the warm hospitality and delicious food of our comfortable, family run hotel.
Discover contrasting landscapes from the rich farmland of Gudbrandsdalen to the elemental beauty of the Rondane National Park. Explore the peace of accessible wilderness and experience the exhilaration of the Dovre and Jotunheimen National Parks.
We offer a variety of walking and hiking holidays from June to September, visit our summer holiday and course calendar, across a range of grades so you can find the walking holiday to suit your interests and fitness. All our holidays are based at our hotel allowing you to relax into an authentic taste of Norway on the edge of the Rondane National Park.
Our walking holidays are all-inclusive and centre-based. You will enjoy day hikes led by our expert guides, carrying just what you need for the day.
Our guides know the area very well and add to your holiday with stories about Norwegian nature, history and culture and the landscape from which they have grown.
Ideally suited to single or solo travellers, join like-minded people for your adventure.
Seeking time and space for yourself on an active holiday? Our Mountain Mindfulness holiday gives you the opportunity to explore mindfulness and the mountains. We combine walking in the beautiful, wild mountain area around Venabu with mindfulness practices indoors and outside to offer you a more contemplative yet active mountain holiday.
Explore the landscape with your camera. Join our photography workshop and develop your skills out in the mountains.
All of our holidays have been carefully created to offer you the best of Eastern Norway: its beauty, its nature and its culture.
For more information please visit the individual holiday pages or contact Joy O'Flanagan:
To book please contact hotel reception:
t: +47 61 29 32 00


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Naoko Hara, freelance motion graphics designer, only just graduated from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in 2014 and is starting off quite strong in her field. In such a short space of time she's already served as lead animator on projects, and worked with prominent clients like Coke, TNT, Showtime, ESPN, and Fusion Networks. Among the styles she works in to fulfill these briefs, this NYC-based designer particularly shines when her work has an abstract flavor.
My favorite among Naoko's works thus far is her contribution to Fusion's "Self Evidence" series:
For this project, Naoko says Fusion gave her "an interview VO with Janet Mock (NYT best selling author), one month time frame, and complete creative freedom". This creative freedom is readily evident in the end result: there's a lovely tension in the abstract elements and a buoyant joy throughout the animation. What I think Naoko does particular well here is balance synchronicity between image and audio against ending up too matchy-matchy.
These geometric animations of the JAQK Cellars logo are conceptual student pieces, but they feel highly appropriate for a wine seller with "fun" at the core of its brand—especially given that aesthetics are how many, if not most, people choose their wines.
This unofficial JAQK animation in particular makes good use of the musical texture.
Continuing our theme into abstraction, these blueprint-esque animations are deeply satisfying to watch, and would feel at home in the opening credits for an action film. Naoko designed and animated these elements for rock band Goodbyemotel's internal video project.
There's more to see from this young animation designer. If you're on a slow connection or cell service with limited data, I would suggest checking out more of Naoko's work on her Vimeo account. Otherwise, see more work—with hi-fi animated gifs—on Naoko's portfolio.


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An important part of generating new scholarship is presenting that scholarship for critique. I had the opportunity in April to present what I have learned about the generation of jail debt in antebellum Virginia at the Business History Conference. The "BHC" is a group of historians and economists who study business, capitalism, and economic history in all areas of the world. It's a fun bunch!
Of Course it was the Women
I have ALL THE SOURCES
Last month I blogged about how all the best sources for my project went up in smoke as the Confederates were evacuating Richmond in 1865, but how I wasn't loosing hope. And I have been rewarded for my positive thoughts!
Whaddaya mean there are no records?!
I had only barely started and my research had already come to a screeching halt.
"Almost all of the records for the city of Richmond for the 1840s were burned during the Civil War," said the researcher at the Library of Virginia.
Abstract–African American Credit Use in the Early Republic
My name is Amanda Gibson, and I am a PhD candidate in the history department.
Credit was and is central to the growth of capitalism. My dissertation will uncover the credit market experiences of those most vulnerable to the externalities associated with a slavery-based capitalist economy. It will describe enslaved and free African Americans' use of credit from the American Revolution to the Civil War.


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WASHINGTON – World finance leaders issued a somber assessment on Saturday of the global economy, saying the recovery remains uneven with growth and jobs in short supply.
The steering committee for the 188-nation International Monetary Fund issued a final communique that called for decisive action to bolster growth. However, the major economies remained at odds over the best mix of policies to pursue.
"An uneven recovery is emerging but growth and job creation are still too weak. New risks are arising while several old risks remain," the IMF group said.
"The commodity that is in shorter supply now is confidence," Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the chairman of the IMF panel and Singapore's finance minister, told reporters. "We need to regenerate optimism and confidence."
The World Bank announced that its policy committee had approved a proposal to establish a goal of eliminating extreme poverty, defined as living on less than $1.25 per day, by 2030. It is estimated that there are still 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for more than one-third of the world's extreme poor.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim called this goal "an historic moment" for the world. "We are no longer dreaming of a world without poverty. We have set an expiration date," Kim told reporters at a closing news conference.
Emma Seery, a spokesperson for Oxfam, the anti-poverty group, said while the World Bank's target was welcome "we are concerned that it will duck the tough choices needed to reach it."
The spring meetings of IMF and its sister lending agency, the World Bank, on Saturday followed two days of discussions among finance leaders of the Group of 20 nations, composed of traditional powers such as the United States, Japan and Germany and fast-growing developing nations such as China, Brazil and India.
The finance leaders sought to project an air of cooperation even though they were unable to resolve sharp differences that have risen to the surface following an initially botched bailout of Cyprus in March. The banking troubles in the small Mediterranean island country renewed fears that a prolonged European debt crisis still poses significant risks to the global economy.
The United States was represented at the finance meetings by Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The administration pushed for European nations to moderate their austerity programs of spending cuts and tax increases in favor of more stimulus to bolster growth and combat painfully high unemployment in countries such as Spain and Greece.
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Forecaster Sports
Deja vu for Deering boys' soccer
Varsity Maine
Thursday's high school roundup: Deering rallies in second half to top Cheverus in boys' soccer
Clemson QB quarterback Lawrence tests positive for COVID-19
Sports Digest: Back in the Big East, UConn women favorite to win basketball title
Schools and Education
Federal court upholds Maine law barring public funding for religious high schools


text:
Ceramic dental implants
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Dear Dr. Maniscalco,
I wanted to drop you a line to let you know what a positive experience I had with the filling you addressed for me. Not only do I not have any sensitivity in the tooth (Hopefully that = no root canal) but I also felt NOTHING during the actual procedure. That was a first in 38 years, so thank you! Looks like I chose the right dentist.
Debbie B
I am a very nervous patient. Everyone (at your office) is patient and professional in taking care of me. Thank you.
Helen C.
Funny, I was telling a colleague the other day about my childhood memories of dental visits when growing up in New Jersey. My parents took us to what one might call a not-so-kid-friendly dentist who gave no Novocain except for extractions!
Thank you for making the dentist a pleasant experience. Tooth problems are never easy to deal with when you are in pain. You guys have been great.
Shane M.
I haven't had a chance to write sooner, but Dr. Maniscalco called me back on the eve before Thanksgiving, and was really nice to me on the phone. I wouldn't hesitate (after him returning a page while he was traveling) to try him out.
I appreciate the personal touch, it helps. A couple of times Dr. Maniscalco followed up with me after a procedure which I thought was great customer service. Also, remembering my pre-visit meds and having them available is great.
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Cosmetic Dentistry Presentation
To provide you with a better understanding of cosmetic dental treatments, we have provided the following multimedia presentation. Many common questions pertaining to dentistry are discussed.VIEW Presentation


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Super Bowl Stocks
It's not the best stock-picking strategy, but research shows that shares of the companies with the most-popular ads during the big game get a bump.
Desperate for a sign -- any sign -- that the stock market will turn around this year? Robert Stovall, the veteran strategist at Wood Asset Management in Sarasota, Fla., suggests paying attention to the Super Bowl Predictor.
According to this simple guide, the Dow Jones industrial average rises in years when an original member of the National Football League wins the Super Bowl. When an old American Football League team wins the championship, the Dow falls that year.
This market prognosticator has worked 79% of the time, says Stovall, who, at 82, has been in the investing business for more than five decades. That's a very positive indicator for stocks because the Cardinals and the Steelers were among the original NFL teams that merged with the upstart American Football League in 1970 to form the current NFL.
Of course, Stovall says -- and we agree -- that you should use the Predictor mainly for entertainment purposes. If you want a potentially more reliable gauge of what the market will do after the Super Bowl -- this year's game takes place February 1 -- don't worry about the action on the gridiron. Instead, watch the TV commercials. According to academic research, stocks of companies that advertise during the Super Bowl have received a short-term boost in the past.
A study by the University at Buffalo School of Management and Cornell University found that when ads received a favorable response from sports fans, there was a rush to buy the stocks of the advertisers -- and a corresponding jump in their share prices. The researchers, who looked at 529 commercials that ran during 17 Super Bowls from 1989 to 2005, culled ratings from the USA Today "ad meter," which tracks how much consumers like the ads.
Then they checked whether the most-popular ads generated a spike in the stocks. And that was, in fact, the case, says Kenneth Kim, an associate professor of finance at the University of Buffalo. On the Monday after the Super Bowl, shares of companies that produced the ten most-popular ads outpaced Standard & Poor's 500-stock index by an average of 0.26 percentage point. Although the number may seem small, that's actually a fairly significant amount of outperformance for one day. What's more, as time went on, the gains continued.
The study, which tracked the stocks only for a few weeks after the big game, also found that share prices of the companies behind the least-popular ads rose as well, although to a smaller degree.
While the correlation is fodder for conversation over guacamole at a Super Bowl party, it's obviously not the best way to pick stocks, says Kim. However, given the economic uncertainty and market volatility, he expects to see share prices of advertisers advance again this year. "During times of uncertainty, we hang on to such signals even more," he says.
In fact, Kim says, some investors have taken his research pretty seriously. When a press release went out recently about his findings, he says, he received calls from hedge funds and money managers who wanted to see the raw data.
So who's advertising this year? Among publicly traded companies, there's the usual mix of beverage producers and consumer-products outfits. Among them are Anheuser-Busch InBev (symbol AHBIF.PK, $27.10 as of the market's January 28 close), the product of the recent merger of Anheuser-Busch and InBev; Coca-Cola (KO, $43.86) and PepsiCo (PEP, $52.04); automakers Audi AG (AUDVF.PK, $615) and Hyundai Motors (HYMLF.PK, $57.64); and tire maker Bridgestone (BRDCY.PK, $26.65). (The stocks with symbols ending with "PK" are of foreign companies that trade on the pink sheets, the non-Nasdaq over-the-counter market.).
Also hawking their products and services during the game will be tax preparer H&R Block (HRB, $21.51); Dreamworks Animation SKG (DWA, $22.26), the movie company; CareerBuilder.com, owned by Gannett Company (GCI, $7.33); Denny's (DENN, $1.89), the restaurant chain; and Monster Worldwide (MWW, $10.76), the online job-listing company.
The post-Super Bowl pop in share prices would almost seem to justify spending $3 million for 30 seconds of airtime. Then again, nothing is guaranteed. In fact, to test his own research, Kim kept track of which ads he thought would be winners as he watched the Super Bowl last year. In the end, he was wrong. "You can't make money off this strategy because you don't know which ads will be liked," he says. "It's harder than stock picking -- it's ad picking." At the very least, it gives you something to talk about if the game is a blowout.


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Must be upgraded to windows 10 when windows 7 stops service in 2020?
What is the end of Windows 7's life?
The end of the lifecycle is a term used by Microsoft to identify when a company no longer supports an operating system or application.
In this case, this means that from January 14, 2020, Microsoft will continue from Windows 7 and will not fix security vulnerabilities in the operating system. If something goes wrong and the error is developed, you won't be able to call Microsoft to fix the problem. Microsoft and other companies often use this initiative to dedicate people and time to the most important applications and services. However, in a world where Windows 7 is still quite popular, many people may not like the idea that Microsoft will give up the operating system after ten years of release.
Therefore, when Microsoft clicks on the expiration date, any computer, binary-generation laptop, tablet, or other device running on Windows 7 will be self-defense in the face of hacker attacks.
What does the end of the Windows 7 lifecycle mean for my security?
A good thing that is not at the end of life is that the operating system or software package is fully supported and patched. In Windows 7, all of this support will disappear after January 14, 2020.
In the past few years, when Microsoft put the software into life, the company provided a number of patches in its operation to protect the security of the operating system as much as possible. Although this is a welcome decision, it also means that hackers are free to be hit after the end of their lives.
How do I move from Windows 7 to Windows 10?
Like it or not, even if you don't want to migrate to Windows 10 at first, you have no choice at all. PC manufacturers will bundle Windows 10 to their machines and have no options to downgrade to Windows 7. In addition, you won't find Windows 7 for purchase anywhere except eBay, CraigsList, and standard retail channels.
If you are upgrading to Windows 10, you can use the full Windows 10 license for free as long as you have a PC that meets all the requirements to run the operating system. This shouldn't be too hard, but let's see what you need to get Windows 10 on your computer.
Should I upgrade my machine?
Although you and your employees can still use your computer, when you have an unsupported operating system, you are basically running at the time you borrowed. Commonly used software, including Windows products, may no longer function properly on older systems, and Microsoft's support team will not be able to help resolve any issues that may arise. Unfortunately, outdated software and hardware don't last forever, and the risk of failure or violation increases dramatically over time. It may be the best time to upgrade your computer to Windows 10 because you want to avoid these potential problems.
How do I upgrade to Windows 10?
Once you decide to upgrade to Windows 10, The first thing you need to do is download the software called Media creation Tool. It is a small executable file developed by Microsoft that allows you to download Windows 10 and create installation media, or upgrade your current Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 computers directly to the latest version of Windows 10. To get the media creation tool, start any Web browser and navigate to this web site: Download Windows 10 Disc Image (ISO File) – Microsoft.
The first thing that the media creation tool requires you to do is accept the license Terms. Read carefully, If you agree, tap or click Accept. Select the "upgrade this pc now" option and click Next.
The media creation tool then starts downloading the Windows 10 installation Files. This step may take a while, depending on how fast your Internet connection is. Download it and install it, during which time your computer may restart several times and wait patiently.
Windows 10 Product Key
Windows 10 Professional:W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX
Windows 10 Professional N:MH37W-N47XK-V7XM9-C7227-GCQG9
Windows 10 Enterprise:NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43
Windows 10 Enterprise N:DPH2V-TTNVB-4X9Q3-TJR4H-KHJW4
Windows 10 Education:NW6C2-QMPVW-D7KKK-3GKT6-VCFB2
Windows 10 Education N:2WH4N-8QGBV-H22JP-CT43Q-MDWWJ


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Carol was recently interviewed by Sean Styles on BBC Radio Merseyside. They talked about Simon, the jewellery that Paul makes, and the new exhibition in Birkenhead Park. In case you missed it, we've got the clip here.
Author Archives: phil-sherry
Fractured Vision Exhibition (round three)
The third exhibition of Simon's work takes place in the Gallery, Birkenhead Park April 29th to May 5th.
The opening on 28th April by Mike McCartney is by invitation only.
The exhibition, entitled Fractured Vision, will feature old and new designs by Simon, work from Wirral Potters, and contributions from the members of the craft group at Wirral Society of the Blind and Partially Sighted.
Newton Ladies Guild
The ladies of the guild very kindly made The Eye Fund their designated charity for 2012. Carol and Paul have visited them on several occasions and have always been made most welcome. On the evening of January 17th 2013 Carol Read the Rest…
Greasby Methodist concert and Christmas Fair
Our very good friends, Rod and Jean Sherratt, organised a concert at their church. The proceeds of £700 from the ticket sales went to The Eye Fund. Everyone who bought a ticket also brought along a tin of food for Read the Rest…
Ashville Lodge Christmas Fair
On the 24th November Carol and Paul joined their good friends from the Wirral Society of the Blind and Partially Sighted at their annual Christmas Fair. This is always a great occasion and is as much fun as hard work. Read the Rest…


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Cobweb Christmas Tree Card
Beautiful illustrated card by Hadley Paper Goods.
A simple image of a Christmas tree draped in spider webs - the image derives from a beautiful folk story which is written on the back.
Printed on high quality 300gsm card. Each card measures 11.5cm x 15cm when folded and comes in a handsome brown envelope, the inside is left blank for your own message.
Made From Card


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I am trying to implement a voting system in nodejs. My server needs to be able to create transactions and send them to the ethereum blockchain when provided with the user private key. I have tried doing so using different modules however I seem to always run into the same issue. - The connection with the RPC works fine - The transaction seems to be created just right - Transaction is registered as sent to the network by my local node but will never appear in the blokchain.
I have managed to have transactions registered while using web3 but I can't do it the same way if I want to be able to sign transactions myself. Tests were done using both a local or remote ( infura ) node on the testnet ( ropsten and kovan ). I may have a hint of the problem : - When creating a transaction (succesful) with web3 my local node sees the transaction hash as '0x456515...' and the address as '0xcfnsk55sghHG...' - When doing the same with ethereumjs-tx to sign the transaction, the node sees it as '456515...' and '&cfnsk55sghHG...' I am looking for any information / help as to what the problem is or how to solve it =)
var Web3 = require('web3');
var Tx = require('ethereumjs-tx');
var _ = require('lodash');
var SolidityFunction = require('web3/lib/web3/function');
var keythereum = require("keythereum");
var web3 = new Web3();
web3.setProvider(new web3.providers.HttpProvider("http://localhost:8545"));
var toAccount ='0x2824dD13D388ed0Df7Ae1b5697b7b66E737E021a';
var fromAccount = '0x4129c6A02caB77DeEdBDC221904a3dc1ab7cAAfE';
var privateKey = Buffer.from('My Private Key', 'hex' );
gasPrice = web3.eth.gasPrice;
gasPriceHex = web3.toHex(gasPrice);
gasLimitHex = web3.toHex(300000);
console.log('Current gasPrice: ' + gasPrice + ' OR ' + gasPriceHex);
nonce = web3.eth.getTransactionCount(fromAccount) ;
nonceHex = web3.toHex(nonce);
console.log('nonce (transaction count on fromAccount): ' + nonce + '(' + nonceHex + ')');
var rawTx = {
nonce: '0x85555',
gasPrice: gasPriceHex,
gasLimit: gasLimitHex,
to: toAccount,
from: fromAccount,
value: web3.toHex(web3.toWei ( 1, "ether")),
data: '0x7f7465737435000',
chainId: '0x3',
var tx = new Tx(rawTx);
var serializedTx = tx.serialize();
web3.eth.sendRawTransaction('0x'+serializedTx.toString('hex'), function (err, hash) {
if (err) {
else {
console.log('Transaction receipt hash pending');
Thank You


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Financial firms have had to deal with a high number of cyberattacks and IT incidences in the last few years. Some of these have been high profile and have led to millions of dollars in loss. Consequently, the operating and risk environment for financial institutions has changed drastically leaving both these institutions and their customers vulnerable.
Therefore, both regulators and governing bodies have been promoting operational resilience as the next step forward for financial firms. Operational resilience is about determining the probability of a cyberattack happening and working on ways to minimize the damages. When firms focus on operational resilience, they assume that cyberattacks will happen rather than just thinking they might happen.
However, it can be difficult to get operational resilience right since it requires a change in IT infrastructure, functions, and management. In this blog post, we put forward the 8 key actions that you can take towards building operational resilience within your organization.
8 Key Action Items for Operational Resilience
The key actions that businesses should take to support their path to operational resilience are:
- Prioritize critical services: Organizations should identify the services that are most critical to their customers and partners or that ensure continuity of business processes. All such critical services should be prioritized for resilience and the firm should set a clear and reasonable tolerance for them.
- Understand what impact tolerance is: An organization needs to understand and have clear estimates for how much disruption their business can tolerate. The scenarios that are used to come up with such estimates should assume the failure of critical systems and processes. Once such scenarios have been run, firms should determine what their impact tolerance is i.e. the point after which disruption will cause the business will start going down. For cyber threats, the scenarios for determining tolerance should be focused on the failure of IT implementations and disruption at partners/third-parties/offshore-centers.
- Know and understand the third-parties involved: Third-parties are one of the biggest causes of operational outages in organizations. Whether it is due to poor security implementations at their endpoints or because of a lack of awareness, third-parties can expose firms to all sorts of cyber risks. Therefore, businesses need to understand that they will still be responsible if a lapse in their security occurs because of a third-party. Firms should have a thorough process of knowing and understanding their third-parties, especially their IT implementations, before working with them. To become operational resilience, you need to ensure that all third-parties are resilient, too.
- Come up with communication plans: Communication is a key aspect of operational resilience. The questions you need to ask yourself is: If a disruption of a key business process/service occurs, how will stakeholders, regulators, counterparties, customers, and third-parties be informed? How will staff be informed so they can react and respond to the disruption appropriately? Who will govern what, when, and how customers will be informed of the disruption? Your communication plans for each stakeholder should address these questions and you need to lay down a clear outline of who will be informed, when they will be informed, and how will they be informed. A great communication plan also includes pre-made templates that can be used to reduce response time to stakeholders and customers.
- Be flexible: Remember that an operational resilience program is not a one-time task that will be set in stone forever. Instead, as your business evolves, so will your resilience program. You need to understand that as internal and external factors change with time, so will the risks and threats that are posed to your business. Consequently, your resilience plans should be adjusted regularly as and when your business changes.
- Formalize your reporting: For senior management and boards, the most effective method of evaluating an operational resilience program is through risk metrics and proper reporting. The board needs to have a sound understanding of the resilience plan since they are the ones who make informed decisions about the direction and investments that go into operational resilience.
- Put the focus on assessments and audits: Organizations should prepare a three-line defense model for operational resilience that includes operational management, compliance functions and risk management, and internal audit. It is also important to get a neutral (and external) view of your firm's operating environment through a detailed assessment. This should not just be considered a tickbox on your security checklist, but an opportunity to learn more about cybersecurity on an ongoing basis. Over time, these audits and assessments will become an annual process that reminds and reprioritizes operational resilience within your firm.
- Take a proactive approach: Operational resilience is all about preparation and putting into place proactive measures that can minimize damages or entire incidents altogether. Hence, it is important that you turn away from traditional reactive approaches towards security and rather focus on proactive planning to ensure that you can solve resilience issues at the initial stage when problems or risks are identified.
With the imminent threat of cyberattacks and growing pressure from regulators, it is clear that operational resilience will remain the center of attention in 2020 and beyond. The 8 action items that we have presented in this blog post will help organizations get started with and develop a robust strategy for building their operational resilience program.
Apvera is a cybersecurity partner that specializes in risk and compliance management with expertise in facilitating firms from various industries across the world. We help organizations understand and achieve operational resilience through our proven and well-tested strategy. For more information about how we can help you, please get in touch.


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A few years ago, the Observer began a series calling out what we thought were some of the area's ugliest buildings. The AT&T office building at Bryan Street and Haskell Avenue, the Dallas World Trade Center, the Turley Law Center on Central Expressway, Irving's convention center, Dallas City Hall. (That last one might come down more to personality than looks. As they say, beauty is skin deep; it's what's inside that matters.) Sadly, the writer who handled the series moved on, but the fugly endures, so we're back at it, saying mean things about some of DFW's architectural eyesores. First up this round is one butt-ugly apartment building that, to be honest, is not much worse than a lot of the new residences sprouting up around Uptown and Oak Lawn, except for one soon-to-be changed feature. Got your own nominees for fugliest? Drop us a line in the comments.
There you are, in your sporty sports car, driving around Uptown on a gorgeous fall day. You're cruising down Lemmon Avenue, like you do, looking for somewhere to eat. Wendy's! Starbucks! KFC! So many fine options. You pass a car dealership with an American flag in its parking lot that's so big it could make a tent to house a family of five. You smile because you love America. And that's when it hits you. Like a bulldozer. Like a bulldozer that's been left wet in the sun too long. To your right is an apartment building so ugly and so hurtful to your eyes, you're forced to pull over and investigate.
Avana West Lemmon shouldn't be ugly. It's near pretty, pretty Uptown, after all, and Uptown and its beautiful people deserve nice things. But that rusty red is the color of Grandma's shag rug in her old house that hasn't been redecorated since the '70s. It looks like the painters just went to Home Depot one day said, "Give us 500 gallons of whatever you're trying to get rid of cheap."
Whatever happened to beige? Cocoa? Taupe? Brooooooown. These are the proper colors of Dallas' newest low-rise apartments, not rabbit-ass red.
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As I was leaving the perimeters of the apartment building, I stopped to talk to one of the painters. I asked what they were doing to the godforsaken building. Painting over the red?! Yes, he and a nice lady at the front office confirmed they were painting over the red.
Well that's a start, anyway, but the industrial looking metal railings on the postage-stamp-size balconies and the exposed guttering in contrasting colors remain. So do the Subway, a fitness center and an emergency room on the ground floor, because nothing says home more than living above a fast-food joint next to a place where people pick up prescriptions for mysterious rashes, minor injuries and other homey delights.
As we pointed out in July, the trend of tedious human warehouses sprouting above retail strip centers is afflicting Uptown and other cities thanks partly to changes in building codes that encourage the spread of a "new urbanism" style that looks oddly like the heyday of the old Soviet Union.