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Setup of SoftActivity Keylogger with Avast! Free Antivirus 7
Avast! Free Antivirus 7 may detect SoftActivity Keylogger on your computer as Potentially Unwanted Program(PUP) threat. In fact, there is no virus in SoftActivity Keylogger software. It only does what is declared in its features on the website, i.e. records your kids computer activity with parent's permission.
To prevent Avast! Antivirus from detecting this threat you will need to exclude C:\Windows\syspkgwk folder from scans in Avast.
This article applies only for version 6 or newer of SoftActivity Keylogger. Upgrade to the latest version
Follow the steps below to exclude SoftActivity Keylogger folder from the antivirus and to install the monitoring software . Please note that you should configure Avast exclusions before the monitoring program installation.


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Maritime Services
Insurance is arranged through Global Marine Insurance Brokerage Services where a team of professionals arranges tailored and cost effective insurance solutions to accommodate individual client's requirements.
They have developed relationships with highly respected international insurers with the ability to underwrite a diverse range of marine insurance products. In today's uncertain world, only the most financially stable underwriting security is used for the client's added peace of mind.
A broad range of marine insurance products can be arranged for both small and larger commercial fleets. For further details on the main insurance coverage provided, please visit www.gmis.eu

subset: commoncrawl


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Article from THE LITTLE MAGAZINE
Tulsi Badrinath's Meeting Lives was on the longlist of the Man Asian Literary prize. It is easy to read and the translated verses from the Upanishads and biographical texts of revered Vedantins that liberally intersperse the narrative are a pleasant surprise. This allows the author to travel in time and history and connect the vignettes to the present time and the physicality of the storyscape.
Aditi inhabits and traverses many worlds in her search for meaning of her role and identity. She is a well-educated, well-informed, Vedanta-inspired, independent woman and introspects periodically on her various roles as daughter, friend, wife and mother and an empathiser of an abandoned woman. The storyline is fairly straightforward. There is hardly anything unusual about a plot that engages with a young woman's concerns about her married life and motherhood which unfold a sequence of disappointments and frustrations.
Aditi marries a person of her choice and has a baby who becomes her central focus as she tires to raise him single-handedly. The narrative throws up unusual challenges to the reader as Aditi sometimes goes into overdrive in her internal dialogues with mythological and historical characters to seek and find understanding, parallels, and solace. At times the joy of reading gets overwhelmed by cross references and requires a dogged approach to get through to the end.
Badrinath wanted her novel to reflect her life as an Indian and wanted it to be about India. Like her protagonist, Badrinath is a young mother, spiritually and philosophically informed, a trained Bharatnatyam dancer who loves to write fiction. So far, this bears up with her ideas of what she wanted to do with her story.
The storyline and its conceptualisation, however, suffer from weak ideation. Aditi struggles through her period of motherhood in trying to raise a baby who is a handful. She is disillusioned in her relationship and finds it hard to cope with being a single mother living in her parental home. The Juxtaposition of Thayee - an old, abandoned mother of four who lives on the street - with that of Aditi adds an interesting contrast. The only thing that ties them is their individual isolation and the fact that both live their lives in total surrender to what comes their way.
The part of the insensitive husband is meant to lend support to why Aditi feels abandoned and distraught when overworked and tired with the baby. This somehow does not wash.
Mothers all over the world are the primary nurturers and caregivers, even in bonded relationships. Her frustrations with not having her husband around for emotional and physical support cannot justify a full novel. It is her choice that Aditi rejects outside help and becomes a fulltime mother. The conflicts and insecurities are her own as she remains a dutiful daughter and unchallenging in her husband's life decisions. This novel needs a sequel to see how the situation gets resolved.
Motherhood and a spouse indifferent to child-rearing is hardly what exciting fiction is made of. What saves and enlivens this narrative are the beautiful verses from spiritual treatises cleverly interwoven with the running story. But if Badrinath is looking for a global audience then she will unfortunately fall into the trap of using spirituality to attract a foreign readership. Fortunately, the book had a detailed glossary and references pages.
The novel must be read not so much for its complex ideas but mostly to feel its inner fabric of soft and calm vibrations of positive resonance.
Article from the Newspaper THE HINDU
Meeting Lives, her first novel, was on the Man Asian Literary Prize longlist 2007. Her second novel, now titled Man of A Thousand Chances, was also on the Man Asian Literary Prize longlist, 2008.
Tulsi Badrinath's "Man of a Thousand Chances" (Hachette India), recently launched, is very different from her first novel, "Meeting Lives" (Niyogi). If that one used an unconventional format with a dreamy, arty quality that actually made some readers ask "where's the story?", this one very much has a plot — and a plotter.
Harihar, an employee in a Chennai museum and an earnest, doting father of Meeta whom he has to marry off in an opulent style befitting his community's expectations, plots to "borrow" and pawn a priceless coin minted by Emperor Jahangir. His job gives him access to the antiquities stored in his office, and an object not displayed to the public will not be missed for a long time. By that time, Harihar will have redeemed the coin, having paid back the pawnbroker using money from an investment due to mature just a few days after the wedding.
Taking advantage of a hubbub caused by an errant temple elephant that escapes from its mahout and enters the museum compound, Harihar sets his plan in action. It seems, like all meticulous schemes, the perfect crime.
But first-time thieves forget to calculate the stress of being on the wrong side of the law. Or leave a margin for unforeseen developments, or the possibility that others can be dishonest too. So the novel from the first has a suspenseful tone. We know 'whodunit', but we don't know if he will be caught.
"Yes," agrees Tulsi, adding. "The resolution in the end is both at the level of the narrative as also the philosophical."
Here we come to the crux of her interests. Tulsi says as the daughter of a philosopher (Sahitya Akademi Award recipient late Chaturvedi Badrinath), she wants her novels to have something the reader can take away beyond the storyline. So there is, behind this seemingly simple story of a middle-class man in a socio-economically induced fix, a more complex question: We find ourselves in a discussion of karma, of why some actions have logical results and others seemingly don't.
"I wrote this book to answer the question, if only to myself, what is it that makes things happen? Fate or providence, self-will or karma," says the author. "And the plot was woven around this theme. It is a question that begins to preoccupy Harihar when the unity of his world is breached by the loss of Ratan, his son."
Harihar, suffering guilt pangs, wonders if he is just a pawn in someone else's chess game. Are we finally responsible for our actions? Tulsi suggests that perhaps the punishment one expects for knowingly committing a wrong has already been dealt out to Harihar, "since we will never know which action is being matched in which life with its reaction/punishment."
She remarks, "Harihar arrives at the conclusion, which matches my own view, that regardless of what makes life happen, rather than trying to control the capricious outer world, he could try to concentrate on his inner nature... for the only thing that he can control are his responses to a puzzling, often brutally unfair, world."
It is a long way to come for a man born into an orthodox business family, whose early life lessons have been about how to keep money safe from greedy relatives. "These are people who don't read very much and don't examine their lives to any great degree," notes Tulsi, "which is why Harihar is surprised by his own growth once he joins the museum." Tulsi emphasises that Harihar's wife Sarla is a pivotal character. "She truly is fundamental to this story as well, sliding out from the confines of her house into the world of men, a scary world for her…She's the unsung hero."
Historical details
The setting also ensures the story is peppered on the one hand with cameos from a North Indian style wedding, and on the other, details about Indian history and numismatics. Did this require a lot of research? "Not a lot of research but yes, very specific research relating to coins. I was looking for stories of hoards, and found the lovely one relating to the Bayana hoard, and also interesting details such as Jehangir shown holding the wine-cup in a particular coin, or peacocks on Roman coins." Then there is the iconography. "I wanted to write about Indian art, to share my love for it and actually wanted to fill this imaginary museum with the best examples of Indian sculpture and bronzes, etc. but soon realised that would not work in a novel. So I chose just one bronze, my favourite, the absolutely unique Vrishabha-vahana Shiva of the Thanjavur museum and described him," says the author, a Bharatanatyam dancer trained under the Dhananjayans, adding, "The Hindu had carried an article about 11 years ago with all the details I needed.
I had actually cut out and saved that article!" Tulsi says her next work will likely be a non-fiction book, though she has started on another novel too. Meanwhile, she is shortly off to Ahmedabad to read a paper and perform at a colloquium of women writers organised by the Sahitya Akademi. A cool convergence of vocations: meeting lives!


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Thanks to Twitter, I found this infographic shared by Bill Ferriter (@plugusin) and retweeted by almost everyone. Of course, before I could finish up my previous post, George Couros (@gcouros) beat me to posting this on my blog. Of course, I didn't have anything to do with creating this graphic but completely agree with what it says. I hope you enjoy it and learn from it as well.
UPDATE - Bill (@plugusin) has now gone on to share an additional post on this graphic as it has received a lot of attention and even some scrutiny. In case you wanted to keep up with the discussion his post can be found here.


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Panasonic Sound Rush On-Ear Headphones
Surround yourself in powerful, dynamic sound with large, 40mm driver units and soft, comfortable headband and earpads for hours of listening comfort. A foldable, lightweight design in multiple colors and tangle-free cord make the RP-HXS400 instantly compact for travel and storage. Available in a four bold colors, Sound Rush Plus is fully compatible with iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices.
Dynamic Sound And On-Ear Comfort
On-ear headphones deliver dynamic sound and comfort for hours of listening enjoyment.
Powerful Bass And Treble
Powerful bass and clear, natural treble with 40mm neodymium drivers.
Foldable Design
Foldable, 180 degree swing-arm design and padded earcups - perfect for storage and travel.
Mobile Controller And Tangle-Free Cord
Switch seamlessly between calls and music with integrated mobile controller. Compatible with iPhone, Blackberry and Android. Tangle-free cord. Available in four bold colors.
Footnote: (*1)IEC:International Electrotechnical Commission


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By Caryn Wright
Rachel arrives with a tiny pink bundle in her arms and a dull weariness in her eyes. At the age of 16, she has already been forced to marry a town elder and given birth to her third child. Tragically, this is far too common. "In Kenya, three out of ten girls report having experienced sexual violence before age 18" (Jena Lee Nardella, The Mother & Child Project). For Rachel, her youth has been stolen — she is no longer allowed to attend school, has been shunned by society, and now must find a way to care for her babies.
Fortunately, Rachel and girls like her are able to find refuge and redemption on the steps of a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Nanyuki, Kenya, empowering girls to change their own future. This home provides a place for teen moms to live with their babies, complete a high school level education, and receive job training in order to improve their future. Yet, even this opportunity is unavailable to 225 million women in developing countries who wish to delay or avoid pregnancy but lack resources to do so.
Four years ago, as a 20-year-old female not yet finished with my Bachelor's degree, I was shocked to realize my privilege. The realization came upon meeting Rachel and girls like her who did not have the choice to delay parenthood merely because of the circumstances they were born into. I had the opportunity to pursue a college degree without any worries of how an early marriage dictated by my culture might affect my future. The freedom I have to choose and pursue an education before starting a family is a luxury that 225 million women do not have. These resources are crucial for the 300 thousand women who will die during pregnancy or from complications giving birth annually due to a lack of access to care.
The Reach Every Mother and Child Act of 2015 was a bold, bipartisan policy initiative developed and supported by more than 20 diverse NGOs. Although it failed to pass during the last session of Congress, the reintroduction of this transformative legislation is crucial to dramatically accelerate the reduction of preventable maternal, newborn, and child deaths worldwide — helping achieve the U.S. commitment to end these deaths by 2035.
Here at World Vision we know how to end preventable maternal, newborn, and child deaths. One inexpensive, yet effective strategy is the healthy time and spacing of pregnancies (HTSP), which is sensitive to both cultural and religious values, yielding powerful results. HTSP "provides a child the opportunity to obtain proper nutrition while allowing the mother to replenish nutrients lost in pregnancy and breastfeeding" (Kent R. Hill, The Mother & Child Project).
World Vision has captured the stories of countless families whose lives have been transformed by HTSP. John and Grace are a couple residing in western Kenya who set out to have a big family since in their culture children are considered a sign of wealth. Tragically, their plans changed when two of their five children died from malnutrition and illness. Because Grace's pregnancies were spaced so close together, her children were unable to receive the care and nutrition they needed. Having to work so hard to provide for her family, Grace couldn't nurse her two babies properly. However, their lives were transformed upon meeting Jael — a World Vision Community Health Volunteer. John and Grace learned how to space births three years apart so mother and baby could thrive. Now, Grace has the energy to work on the farm without ill effects and is able to provide for the needs of her children.
By empowering women to choose their future and protect the needs of their families, a critical link in the cycle of poverty is broken. If women wait until the age of 18 to have their first child and space pregnancies out by at least three years, the rate of under 5 child deaths could be reduced by 25 percent. By encouraging HTSP, women are able to sufficiently care for the children they already have before becoming pregnant again. As a result, this prevents unnecessary deaths of children, allows women to pursue an education, which lowers poverty rates, and empowers women to be an influential voice in their communities.
Families like John and Grace who have lost two children to malnutrition and girls like Rachel who are looking for resources to change their future need your help. As the REACH Act is being reintroduced in the 115th session of Congress, ask your members of Congress to show their support. In doing so, you will become a part of the solution that will save the lives of 15 million children and 600 thousand women by 2020. We can end preventable maternal and child deaths by 2035.
Caryn Wright is currently an intern for the Advocacy Integration and Campaigns team at World Vision. She has a Bachelor's degree in English from Grand Canyon University and desires to use her passion for writing to tackle issues of poverty and injustice.
Photo: Grace Atieno, 32, and her daughter Hawi Ester receive a visit from World Vision Community Health Volunteer Jael Atieno. © 2016 World Vision/ photo by Laura Reinhardt


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For the last ten years on Easter Island have lived and built a restaurant intensely and over the years has become a labor of love, it is my home and where I have seen my son grow up and where I have been happier with my wife.
A common mistake people not informed, is to think that this is just a restaurant, they see it as an expression of complete art, as we have done personally from the garden to the music, lighting, etc. It is a whole piece of me. All done by the same person.
Now as every story has a protagonist and an antagonist, just at the time when the restaurant is almost finished, we start again in a new place, apparently the land lord found oil or the Lost Ark, because He has given me only two months to build a house, a restaurant that is, a whole new place. We were warned on October 4 we have to be out the first week of December, just two months !!!! To start again.
Personally after the first 48 hours of panic, I have taken the news and all the energy of frustration and fear as a challenge and a personal promise and my family that everything we need to build this deadline.
For this reason at this time and the next two months, I am 100% dedicated to building the new place that should be finished the first week of December, these are the last seven weeks that will see ten years of work of a man obsessed only you have sought to improve.
We will continue working with reservations, because I am physically overextended and tired but never defeated and the next project will be what I always wanted:
"An imperial castle of black porcelain with imperial gardens, wood assembled by hand and everything I want to build for the next twenty years, a paradise on earth for my family and for some privileged people who meet the requirements to enter.


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The Winter Sports School in Park City (WSS) is a private, not-for-profit college preparatory high school featuring an academic session specifically tailored and optimized for high school winter sports athletes.
Student-athletes from across Utah and the United States attend the WSS for high school. Classes are in session from mid-April through mid-November. The unique non-traditional school year provides competitive skiers and other winter sports athletes with freedom from academic stress in the winter, and allows them to focus more effectively on training, travel, and competition.
During the summer and fall, when classes are in session, the WSS provides sport-specific dryland training to prepare student-athletes for the upcoming competition season. In the winter, many WSS students return home to train and compete with their club teams, or join regional and national teams for elite international level competition.
Most Winter Sports School students proceed to college following graduation; many of the remainder join national team programs. WSS alumni are well represented at prestigious NCAA member schools with a strong presence in winter sports.
Over the past 19 years, Winter Sports School students and alumni have amassed numerous Olympic and World Championship medals, World Cup race podiums, overall World Cup titles, World Junior podiums, National Championships, Junior National Championships, and innumerable positions on elite regional and National teams.
A selection of notable WSS alumni includes winter sports stars such as Bryan Fletcher (Nordic combined), Ted Ligity (alpine skiing), Julie Mancuso (alpine skiing), Alex Schlopy (freeskiing), and Elli Ochowicz (speed skating). Sarah Hendrickson, the reigning women's ski jumping World Cup Champion is a current student and will graduate from the WSS with the class of 2012 in mid-November!
The Winter Sports School in Park City has developed a class schedule and academic curriculum specifically designed to facilitate the volume and intensity of dryland training required to achieve a high level of success in cross country skiing. 2012 USSA J2 Junior National Champion Karsten Hokanson (class of 2013, cross country skiing) is one of several successful junior cross country skiers currently enrolled at the Winter Sports School. High school aged Nordic skiers interested in more information may visit the WSS website: http://www.wintersportsschool.org/. School representatives can be contacted at:
Winter Sports School in Park City
P.O. Box 1998
Park City, UT 84060
(435) 649-8760
For a unique view of Winter Sports School alpine and Nordic sport training, check out this short, WSS student produced video:
Here's a link to the Winter Sports School summer 2012 newsletter:
Watch a WSS alumni testimonial from Olympic Gold Medalist Ted Ligity:
Bill Hokanson
Head Coach, Wasatch Nordic Ski Academy
Nordic Conditioning Coach, Winter Sports School in Park City
(801) email@example.com


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"Perry chooses to stick his thumb in Texans' eyes rather than protect citizens from the abuses of taxpayer-funded lobbying."
Perry veto ensures citizen lawsuit to stop TxDOT's taxpayer-funded lobbying will continue
Terri Hall
San Antonio Express-News
Copyright 2009
Friday, Governor Rick Perry vetoed HB 2142 (authored by Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon), which could have settled the issue of the Texas Department of Transportation's (TxDOT) misuse of taxpayer money to attempt to sway public opinion in favor of toll roads, particularly privatized toll roads, and the Trans Texas Corridor.
Governor Perry prefers to pour salt in the wound instead of allow meaningful reform of his highway department that's run amok and lost the trust of many Texans. The wholesale outrage over TxDOT's propaganda campaign from taxpayers and lawmakers alike prompted the Legislature to act, and, as is his usual course of action, Perry instead chooses to stick his thumb in Texans' eyes rather than protect citizens from the abuses of taxpayer-funded lobbying.
"Losers" still get paid
To further demonstrate the Governor's (and Legislature's) total disregard for fiscal responsibility when it comes to toll roads, he also signed SB 882 (authored by Sen. John Carona) that EXPANDS payments to LOSING bidders by Regional Mobility Authorities (RMAs) to design-build contracts and allows those payments to exceed $250,000 (which was the cap placed on losing bidders on Comprehensive Developments Agreements)!
The mantra in Austin is "the sky is falling, we have no money for roads," yet we have money to pay LOSING BIDDERS who won't even build any roads? Wouldn't every other industry that bids on government contracts love this goodie? They didn't pass a bill to continue TxDOT or the Department of Insurance, but they were sure to pass this one.
SB 882 also repeals the prohibitions on RMA Board members and RMA Directors from receiving gifts and contributions, which clearly takes a step backwards and allows conflicts of interest to abound.
Keep Texas Moving dubbed propaganda campaign
Lawmakers studied TxDOT's ad campaign in-depth in the interim between the 2007 and 2009 legislative sessions where even the Director of the Government and Public Affairs Division (GPA), Coby Chase admitted in testimony before the State Affairs Committee that "maybe we did overdo it." Both chambers overwhelmingly passed this bill to send a clear message that TxDOT can only provide public information not crossover into public persuasion on the taxpayers' dime. As a result of its overreach, the TxDOT sunset bill, HB 300, had the GPA division report directly to the Legislature.
In 2007, TxDOT raised eyebrows when it waged an ad campaign called Keep Texas Moving that clearly tried to change public opinion in favor of Perry's toll road policies, including hiring registered lobbyists (in excess of $100,000 a month) to get buy-in from local elected officials for the Trans Texas Corridor and persuade members of Congress to allow TxDOT to buy-back existing interstates for the purpose of tolling them. (Read more here.)
TURF vs. TxDOT before the Appeals Court
TURF appeared before the Third District Court of Appeals April 24, 2009, in its lawsuit (TURF vs. Texas Department of Transportation or TxDOT) to halt the misuse of taxpayer money for attempting to sell the public on toll roads. Justices demonstrated they were monitoring the actions of the lawmakers in regards to legislation pertaining to the case and noted that the Legislature had acted. TURF attorney, Charles Riley, pointed out that the public cannot be assured TxDOT has been restrained by proposed legislation since the Governor could still veto it. Unfortunately, Riley was proven right by Perry's veto Friday. Perry's veto all but ensures the case will continue.
The lawsuit was brought in September 2007 pursuant to § 37, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. TURF believes the law clearly prohibits TxDOT's expenditure of public funds for the Keep Texas Moving pro-toll, pro-Trans Texas Corridor propaganda campaign.
TxDOT has violated § 556.004 of the Texas Government Code by directing the expenditure of public funds for political advocacy in support of toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor, and have directly lobbied the United States Congress in favor of additional toll road programs as evidenced in its report, Forward Momentum.
Not a license to lobby the public and elected officials
TxDOT claims it has the authority to advertise and promote toll roads citing Chapter 228.004 of the Transportation Code. However, lawmakers have stated they never intended that law to give license to TxDOT to lobby the public in favor of toll road policy, but rather advertising more akin to "get your Toll Tag here." Rep. Lois Kolkhorst said in an Express-News article in September 2007, "The Legislature did not tell TxDOT to go on a media campaign explaining the pros of the Trans-Texas Corridor and private equity investment (in toll roads)."
TxDOT is still waging a one-sided political campaign designed to sway public opinion in favor of the policy that puts money in TxDOT's own coffers. TxDOT may have ceased hiring outside consultants, but by its own admission, it has instead hired an in-house lobbyist, and its Keep Texas Moving web site and use of Department resources continue to attempt to get buy-in for toll roads from lawmakers and the public alike.
On August 22, 2007, TURF filed a formal complaint with Travis County District Attorney to investigate TxDOT's illegal lobbying and asked him to prosecute TxDOT for criminal wrongdoing. See the formal complaint here. TURF's petition seeks to stop TxDOT's misuse of taxpayer money in a civil proceeding.
Terri Hall is the Founder of Texas TURF. TURF is a non-partisan grassroots group of citizens concerned about toll road policy and the Trans Texas Corridor. TURF promotes non-toll transportation solutions. For more information, please visit their web site at: www.texasturf.org.
© 2009 San Antonio Express-News: www.voices.mysanantonio.com
To search TTC News Archives click
To view the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog click


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Vancouver housing marketing is rebounding from tax impact, with prices up 5% in 3 months.
Prices in Canada's most expensive city for existing homes appear to have rebounded from the impact of a...Read More
Headquartered in Surrey, BC and operating in Ontario, BC and Alberta, Alpine Credits has been approving Canadian homeowners for home equity loans since 1969. Regardless of their credit, age or income, with Alpine Credits, homeowners get approved in as little as 24 hours. If you own your home and need a loan we can help.
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Prices in Canada's most expensive city for existing homes appear to have rebounded from the impact of a...Read More
The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales though its MLS system hit their highest level since last...Read More
The CBC BC reports that applications are now open for the B.C. government's new Home Partnership Program ....Read More
CBC BC reports that the provincial government took steps to reduce some of the pressure in Metro Vancouver's...Read More
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Wuyuan Xian (Wuyan County) is situated in the northeastern corner of Jiangxi Province, near the nexus of Jiangxi, Anhui and Zhejiang Provinces. It lies sandwiched in between Jingdezhen County to the west and Zhejiang Province to the east. To the north lies the border with Anhui Province.
The city of Jingdezhen boasts of its porcelain (it is called the "Porcelain Capital of China"), the city of Huangshan in Anhui Province to the north boasts of being the center of Huizhou culture (the city was formerly named Huizhou; the Huizhou Cultural Garden lies at its center), the prefecture-level city of Quzhou in Zhejiang Province to the east boasts of its long history dating back to the Yue State that existed prior to and during the Spring and Autumn (BCE 770-476) Period of the Eastern Zhou (BCE 770-221) Dynasty (the Yue State would defeat and annex the Wu State during the latter half, or the Warring States (BCE 475-221) Period, of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, but would then itself be defeated and annexed by the Chu State during the same Warring States Period), but none of these places can compare with Wuyan County when it comes to sheer beauty, for Wuyan County has been dubbed the 'Most Beautiful Countryside in China' by a "jury" that consists of both national as well as international experts.
Hui-style Architecture
This judgement is based partly on Wuyuan County's well-preserved, ancient Hui-style architecture, partly on the county's breathtaking natural beauty that is characterized by emerald-green mountains (over 80% of the county is covered in woods), blue lakes and clear rivers and brooks, and partly by the spirit of tranquility which continues to define this area, linking it to its unhurried, ancient past. Indeed, others have called Wuyuan County China's last genuine Shangri-La, though there are other localities in China which vie for that title.
Wengong Hill, Yuanyan ("Mandarin Duck") Lake and Linyan Cave are known as ecological wonders. There are also many well-preserved ancient villages such as Jiangwan (the ancestral home of the former President of the PRC, Jiang Zemin), Likeng, Sixi, Wangkou and Yan. The ancient Hui-style buildings with pink walls and black tiles, only faintly visible here and there amid the green hills and the blue waters, paint a picturesque landscape of harmony between man and nature.
The Hui-style architecture of Wuyuan - its delicate wooden buildings and unique stone bridges - dates from the middle of the 8th century during the Tang (CE 618-907) Dynasty. The area's relative remoteness and its rugged, albeit beautiful, terrain, which made transportation difficult, has, more than any other factors, helped to preserve the pristine beauty of Wuyuan County.
Idyllic Scenery
The idyllic scenery, both the manmade as well as the natural landscapes, are preserved in Wuyuan County, thanks in no small part to the continued tranquil lifestyle of the local inhabitants. Virtually every village has something unique to offer, if only a small detail that catches the visitor's eye and causes one to stop up and photograph it - or be photographed by another bypasser with you or your party in the foreground. The preservation of Wuyuan's distinctive and original architecture and its pristine nature will surely be the challenge to confront in future, as tourism increases in the area.
The village of Wuyuan itself is the natal village of two distinguished individuals: the Southern Song (CE 1127-1279) Dynasty philosopher, Zhu Xi, and the more recent Zhan Tianyou (1861-1919), China's 'Father of Railroads'.
In spite of its remoteness, Wuyuan County has always been defined by its culture. For example, the official records indicate that after the institution of the imperial examinations*, over 550 candidates from Wuyuan County completed these exams successfully. As for art, Wuyuan County is known for its traditional Luo Dance, said to be a living fossil from the ancient past. In addition, Hui Opera, which characterizes the area (note that Wuyuan County was formerly part of Anhui Province, and continued to preserve its Hui culture even after it became an official part of Jiangxi Province), is the origin of modern-day Beijing Opera.
The Imperial examinations, or Keju, were introduced during the Han (BCE 206 - CE 220) Dynasty in an attempt to weaken the existing - and often corrupt and injust - feudal system whereby office was held in hereditary succession by local tribesmen rather than being held on the basis of merit. The hereditary system led to incompetence and abuse of power, and served the populace at large very poorly. Following certain progressive principles espoused centuries earlier by Confucius (BCE 551-479), this system was thankfully changed with the introduction of the Keju.
A corollary of the Imperial-examination - based appointment of public servants is that those officials who did not perform as they were expected to could be removed from office without risking a power struggle between the Imperial court and the local elite. Chinese society was far ahead of its time in instituting such a system of accountability; in Europe, the system of feudal lords, based principally on hereditary succession, continued far beyond the end of the feudal era.
Likeng, the most visited place in Wuyuan, is renowned for the harmony of brdges, a crystal clean brook and cottages. Rows of houses constructed long that brook, which is 2 to 3 meter wide. It is a typical watery place.
It was built by Yu Clan and reputed as an sophisticated residential area. Over 30 residences of the Ming and Qing dynasties have been well-preserved in Sixi village. The layout of those residences is elegant.
There are many old trees and houses with various heights in this village. In the morning, mist floating over those trees gives people a mysterious impression. The river flows out of the village in a circle.
The first house built in Wangkou enjoys a history over 900 years. This village is inhabited Yu Clan mostly. One attraction is the Ancestral Hall of Yu Clan a cultural relic unit covering an area of over 1000 square meters. Possessing the reputation of well-designed layout, the most detailed woodcarvings and superb craftsmanship, this Ancestral Hall is considered to be a treasure gallery of architectural art and has been regarded as the "Number One Shrine South of the Yangtze River".
Bus from Jingdezhen to Wuyuan
Every half an hour, there is a car to Wuyuan at Jingdezhen bus station which is very close Jingdezhen train station. The first bus departs at 6:30 a.m. and the last one departs at 16:30 p.m. at Jingdezhen. It takes 2 hours from Jingdezhen to Wuyuan (85 km).
From Jingdezhen Airport to Wuyuan
Visitors can go to Jingdezhen by plane. Taking a taxi to Licun village bus station costs about 15 yuan.
Next, taking a bus to Wuyuan costs about 30 yuan.
Or visitors can take a taxi from airport to Wuyuan. But we do not recommend for the taxi fare may reach to 300 yuan.
Beijing to Wuyuan
1. First, take a train from Beijing to Jingdezhen. Only K45 is available now which departs from Beijing at 11:10 a.m. and arrives at Jingdezhen at 10:27 a.m. the next day.
Next, take a bus from Jingdezhen to Wuyuan as the above way.
2. Visitors can also go to Jingdezhen by plane as the above way.
Shanghai to Wuyuan
Take bus to Wuyuan is the most convenient way for no transfer. There are 2 buses a day from Shanghai to Wuyuan (9:28 a.m.; 18:45 p.m.) at Shanghai South Bus Station directly. The journey takes about 7 hour and 180 yuan.
If you cannot catch the direct buses, you may take the bullet trains to reach Shangrao from Hongqiao Railway Station. Upon reaching Shangrao, you can take a taxi to reach local Daihulu Bus Station to take buses for Wuyuan. The bus fare is 35RMB.
Hangzhou to Wuyuan
There is no direct train between Hangzhou to Wuyuan now, so the best option is travel by bus. Take bus at Hangzhou West Bus Station to Wuyuan. Depart at 9:20 a.m. The ticket price is 117 yuan.
Huangshan to Wuyuan
Huangshan Tunxi Bus Station to Wuyuan
Ticket Price (RMB)
Huangshan Tunxi
1 hours
40 Yuan
Huangshan Tunxi
1 hours
40 Yuan
The Best Time to Visit
The best time to visit Wuyuan is from March to April when rape flowers flourish.
Nearby Attractions
Hongcun Village
Being famous as Anhui style buildings, Hongcun Village is known as one of the best villages in China. Located in the southeast of Huangshan City, Hongcun Village has been a World Heritage Site of UNESCO since 2000. The best time to visit an extremely beautiful Hongcun Village are March, April and the beginning of November. A large scale of cole flowers are open during March and April. At the beginning of November, thousands of red leaves decorate the village.
There are buses from Wuyuan to Hongcun which takes about 2.5 hours.
Travel Information
There are many shuttles in every scenic spot in Wuyuan. Visitors can take bus from one attraction to another.
Solo Adventure Tips:
How to Get There?
By train from Beijing or Nanjing: take the train to the city of Huangshan (Anhui Province), then take a bus south to Wuyan.
By train from Shanghai: take the train to the city of Huangshan Quzhou (Zhejiang Province), then take a bus west to Wuyan. Alternatively, one can continue on to the city of Jingdezhen from Shanghai, then take a bus eastward to Wuyan.
For travel around the county of Wuyan, it is cheaper to rent a mini-bus (seats up to a dozen adults) if one is a larger group or if one can form a larger group from smaller groups. The price ranges between 250-300 Yuan per day on average, but may be higher in peak season (one can always try to haggle, though supply and demand will ultimately have a great deal to say).
Ticket Price:
Opening Hours:
More Tips:
1) Dining out in Wuyuan County is both inexpensive and a treat. If you are lodging with a local resident, you can suggest to be served local "home cooking" - the price is as low as an extra 10 Yuan per person per day. If you have special needs with respect to spices (Hui fare tends to be spicy) or you cannot tolerate certain foodstuffs, just let your host know in advance.
2) The price of hotel accomodations varies as can be expected, depending on location and/or the amenities. For a room with a double bed, you can expect to be charged between 240-300 Yuan per night at the most exclusive accommodations, between 180-240 Yuan per night for medium-level accommodations, and between 50-80 Yuan per night for "discount" accomodations. Cheapest of all is staying in in the home of a local resident - the price ranges between 25-40 Yuan per person, less "home cooking" of course.
Our local experts are always ready to create you a hassle-free tour. Get an authentic experience by contacting one of our travel advisors.


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11 and to aspire bto live quietly, and cto mind your own affairs, and dto work with your hands, as we instructed you,
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Pr 17:14 Pr 20:3 Pr 25:8 2 Th 3:12
2 Th 3:11 1 Pe 4:15
Ac 18:3 Eph 4:28


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On the Set of The Sopranos
"Inside" a Fan's Construction of Nearness
Nick Couldry
When people use up a great deal of time and energy in interpreting a specific text, their subsequent actions oriented to that text pose interesting problems for social scientific interpretation. While the early history of fandom research was dominated by deconstructing fans' subordination in an outdated taste hierarchy, one challenge for current research is to gain a clearer, more inclusive view of the underlying interpretative problem that fan practices pose.
>This is a problem in which unwittingly I have found myself entangled. My book The Place of Media Power: Pilgrims and Witnesses of the Media Age (Couldry 2000) was not intended as part of fandom research, and its emphasis was on questions of media, power, and space more generally. But it could not avoid the link, because one of its case studies involved making sense of what fans and others did when they visited the set of the UK soap Coronation Street in Manchester. However, the anger I felt at the frequent pathologizing of fans' perfectly legitimate interpretative practice was one reason I avoided all trace of individual psychology in my analysis. I was trying to avoid what I saw as a reduction of such practice to the "defects" of individual psyches, and so set off in the opposite direction to see how far one could go in understanding an (admittedly) highly specific fan practice—journeys to the location where a media text is produced—relying only on a sociology that had excised psychology.1 This was clearly too limited a solution to the interpretative problem of fandom, and in any case the emergence since of sensitive treatments of fan psychology that


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A Tufnell Park boozer has come up with a neat way of drawing in the punters during this time of heightened wallet worrying: they're offering customers a haircut along with their Heineken.
The Dartmouth Arms has hired stylist Arlene Stainthorpe to visit every Thursday night, where for a mere £9 she'll whip out the scissors for anybody who fancies a rug rethink while they're Brahms and Liszt. With pub earnings beset by cheap supermarket booze and the smoking ban, management hopes that Arlene's appearance will draw in more customers.
Says the pub crimper herself: ""People can get a bit more daring after they've had a drink". Having downed that ill-advised fifth glass of Merlot it might be the perfect time to try out the assymetrical mullet-combover-cowlick combo, with a profanity shaved into the graded undercut, that you've always dreamed of.
We applaud the idea of bringing other lines of work into the hallowed environs of the local pub, and wonder what else would benefit. Open heart surgery at the bar, perhaps? It would save the NHS a fortune on anaesthetics if the patient was plastered with a bottle of tequila before the first incision. Police interrogations could also benefit - criminologists would surely eke confessions out of suspects much easier if the perp was three sheets to the wind.
Image courtesy of ArSiSa7's Flickrstream


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Here are some magical images from the tale of Pegasus and Bellerophron, a Greek myth that is an interesting lesson in pride. The story begins with Bellerophron, who cannot rest until Athena's winged horse, Pegasus, is his. With Athena's help, he captures the enchanting creature and goes on many adventures. He also defeats the Chimera, […]
Tag Archives | shadow puppets
Greek Myths * Pegasus Shadow Puppet Show * 4th & 5th Grade
By admin on May 4, 2014 in Art, Art Teaching, Kids Art, Shadow Puppets, Uncategorized
Bats, Owls & Caterpillars * Shadow Puppet Science * 3rd & 4th Grade
By admin on May 3, 2014 in Art, Art Teaching, Kids Art, Shadow Puppets, Uncategorized
Art meets Science: After learning about bats, owls and caterpillars, these students acted out predator/prey scenarios and shared facts about these creatures in dynamic (and, as you can see, sometimes bloody) puppet shows. Students first studied the habits of their creatures and then storyboarded them into action, using Pixar storyboards and comic book sequences as […]
Where the Wild Things Are * Shadow Puppets * Kindergarten
By admin on June 10, 2013 in Art, Art Teaching, Kids Art, Shadow Puppets, Uncategorized
On the day of Maurice Sendak's birthday, it seemed only fitting to post the Shadow Puppets & Performances my kindergarteners made of Where the Wild Things Are. In Max's room, a forest grew… In Max's room, a forest grew… Shadow Puppet of Monster
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How We Measure Impact
One key aim of journalism is to educate the public about specific instances of corruption, social injustice, and institutional inequity (and possible solutions to the same). Our goal is that the public will be influenced by these stories to create a more just society. That movement, from reporting to influence to action, is how we define impact.
Many believe that the larger an outlet's reach, the more influence, and thus the more impact, it will have. However, reach and impact are not the same thing. Using the theory of collective impact developed by John Kania and Mark Kramer, we believe that when outlets copublish and copromote a story, their impact on public conversation--on moving people from reporting to action-- will be greater than the sum of their user numbers would suggest.
Our understanding of impact drives our commitment to collaboration, which is evident in all our projects.
The Media Consortium has begun amassing a body of research on ways to measure impact. From 2012-2015, we conducted an experiment using sentiment analysis to measure whether randomized editorial collaborations on immigration reform, climate change, charter schools, and racial justice would produce a statistically significant shift in public conversations on those issues. The initial experiments, conducted with the generous support of the Voqal Fund and in partnership with the Harvard University team led by Professor Gary King, have proved promising. See the files attached. We are actively seeking support to carry on further research in this area.


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Inhyung (Si Yeon Kim) is a young girl who is obsessed with getting facial plastic surgery to look like everyone else. Her family and almost all people around her have had fashionable surgery to give them doll-like, creepy faces. In her desperation she is tempted by less reputable sources....
A creepy film which is inspired by the popularity of plastic surgery in Korea, as well as a study on self-image and peer pressure. The premise behind the film is unsettling, but it's the doll faces that really get you. They are really well done. Especially Inhyung's mother's face, which is the most freaky.
The ending left me feeling hollow: it definitely did its job!
[Image: viddsee.com]


text: I'm an authorized retailer for Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile and was wondering if anyone had any good, flashy applications that will run on the HTC Hero that may or may not have any practical use, but look cool and certainly turn heads away from things like Palm Pre's and iPhones. One of my favorite things to show customers is the weather application that comes installed on rainy days, so they could see the wind-shield wiper remove the rain from the screen. I've found in my particular market very few consumers actually care about all the techy, geeky things we think about when choosing a phone, and care more about stupid stuff like that. I looked at the 'foggie' app, as showcased by Dana Carvey on the T-Mobile commercial, but I don't think I could justify even $0.99 for an application that is effectively useless and may not work well enough for showing off the phone worthy of winning two awards at T3. Thank you!


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|The Banyan Man
France, 1760-1780
The Victoria & Albert Museum
The work of The Lunéville Pottery Factory in France, this wholly Rococo figure of a standing man was made to appeal to the Eighteenth Century fascination with the exotic and the asian. The figure is dressed in a turban and a banyan, and is likely a lost member of a set of dessert figurines.
The figure was made of tin-glazed earthenware adorned with enamel colors and dates between 1760 and 1780.