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EKA's elementary school is a full service elementary serving grades K through 5. All grades K through 5 complete projects throughout the year in addition to the more traditional learning in math and English language arts. EKA follows a 4 day work week (Tu – Fri). Mondays are expected to be used as home learning days. Students in the elementary program are provided nutrition/snack and recess breaks between classes, in addition to a lunch/recess period every day.
Kindergarten Advisories
EKA's kindergarten program offers full-day classes. Kindergartners usually complete 4 or 5 projects during the year. Kindergarten advisories have their own classrooms including restroom facilities.
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1st Grade Advisories
1st grade advisories also have their own classrooms. 1st grade students take assessments early in the year to help place them in the most appropriate math and reading classes. This means 1st grade students may have different advisors for reading and math than their home advisor. This provides variety to a student's day and allows students to visit 2 or 3 advisors and work with different students. Because technology is integrated with student learning, 1st graders can be seen carefully carrying their iPads between classrooms during the day . 1st Grade students complete a project every 4 or 5 weeks, and projects are primarily completed at home.
[panoembed pano="NddpQG" width="600″ height="400″] Click this link if the above view doesn't load.
2nd – 5th Grade Advisories
2/3 advisories and 4/5 advisories are located in large rooms of 3 or 4 advisories instead of individual classrooms. Each advisory is separated by portable walls. 2nd and 3rd grade advisories and pods are separate from 4th and 5th grade advisories and pods. Similar to 1st grade, 2nd – 5th grade students are assessed early and placed in groups of students appropriate to their level of learning. 2nd through 5th grade students may switch advisories for reading and Math, and also carry their iPads or Chromebooks with them through out the day. 2nd through 5th grade students complete a project about every 4 to 5 weeks. 2nd and 3rd grade students primarily complete their projects at home. 4th and 5th grade classes are additionally given dedicated time during the day to work on projects. 4th and 5th grade projects are expected to be more detailed and show higher levels of learning.
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About cathyhutch2016
Lives in Boston, Massachusetts
Since Apr 2011
My guide is to help you get a good over view of Boston and not break the bank. Wear comfortable shoes and you are ready to go!
24 Places
12 City Tips
24 Places
History Museums
Historic Sites, Historic Walking Areas, Marinas, Ships
Government Buildings, Historic Sites, History Museums
Historic Sites, History Museums
Historic Sites
Historic Sites, Monuments & Statues
Gift & Specialty Shops, Historic Sites, History Museums
Historic Sites, Monuments & Statues
Churches & Cathedrals
Sightseeing Tours, City Tours, Historical & Heritage Tours, Hop-On Hop-Off Tours
Sacred & Religious Sites, Architectural Buildings, Churches & Cathedrals
Gardens, Parks
Arenas & Stadiums
Specialty Museums, Points of Interest & Landmarks, Monuments & Statues
Points of Interest & Landmarks
Boat Tours
Visitor Centers
Shopping Malls, Points of Interest & Landmarks
Game & Entertainment Centers
Dolphin & Whale Watching
Nice museum and it is free. Exhibits change frequently.
The Navy Yard was used quite a lot in WWII. Check out the buildings from the era.
The Italian section of Boston. Lot's of great restaurant, shops, and many historical points of interest.
It was Boston's original State House and has a nice museum.
It is the oldest wooden structure in Boston dating back to the 1600's.
It is right in front of the Old State House so you can see both in a very short amount of time.
You have great view of the city from the top of the Monument.
It is where the Boston Tea Party started on 12/19/1774.
This is where the Revolutionary War all began, worth the trip
It is a beautiful church, worth a visit to while ion the Freedom Trail.
Any time I go someplace new I always take a trolley tour. It is the best way to get a good overview of the city. Old Town Trolley is hop on hop off so you can see all the above sites at your own pace.
My favorite spot in Boston, a must see for history buffs.
A nice sections of the city, lot's to see and do for everyone.
Considered to be one of the top ten most beautiful churches in the world.
America's first public garden, check out the Make Way for Ducklings statues.
America's best ball park, take the tour and enjoy!
This is a stained glass globe that depicts the world before the Great War.
Lot's of shopping, great for foodies, and where the Boston Marathon ends.
The Swan Boats have been in the Public Garden since the 1880's.
This is a good place to pick up literature about the city and talk to the guides if you need ideas about what to do.
It is Boston's #1 tourist destination, everyone eventually ends up here.
Every animal is hand carved and represents an animal found in New England, Where else can you ride a skunk?
This is a four hour tour and well worth the price.
Best lobster roll in Boston. It isn't fancy but worth the trip.

subset: commoncrawl


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Upper Mideast District Semi-Final Championship
125 Nobleton Lakes Drive Nobleton, ON L0G 1 N0
Handicap Revision Date: August 1, 2017
Player Registration Fee $125 Registration Deadline: August 10, 2017 Guest Fee for Awards Luncheon $25
The Woods/The View Courses *click course to view scorecard Course / Slope RATINGS WHITE Tees: 74.0 / 132 -- 5810 RED Tees: 70.8 / 126 -- 5213Adjusted Course RatingCourse / Slope RATINGS WHITE Tees: 72.0 / 128 -- 5444 RED Tees: 69.0 / 122 -- 4895
*Practice Rounds may be played Monday-Friday subject to course availability
**In the event of delays in play, awards luncheon time may be adjusted accordingly.
Rain Date: In the case of inclement weather that prohibits play, EWGA will reschedule event.
Location: Room locations are subject to change without notice.
Our recommendation for lodging is the Host Hotel listed below. We have arranged for a block of rooms with a special extended EWGA Member rate. Please be sure to note the registration deadline. There are no registration requirements regarding accommodations. Participants are responsible for arrangements and payment of accommodations directly with the facility of their choice.


text: Here is a group of bottle stoppers for the holidays. I managed to get a picture of these before they were gone! I had originally did a Santa and a snowman, but my daughter suggested I should do one as a tree, with a present beneath. It turned out good and it looked nice with all three grouped. Ashley liked it also, and claimed that first set. So, a friend saw Ashley's and wanted a set also, so here that one is! I made some little stands to display them, when the bottles are emptied! I' m posting this on MikePounders.weebly.com and it is supposed to post it on Facebook as well; that sure would save some time, if it works! Thanks for looking!


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8 years ago
and then some...8:14 AM Edit This 0 Comments »
april 7th i believe? fresh out of the most absurd 2 week sprint in what i thought was spring...170" was reported by alta...reeediculous! so obviously with all this snow i was a bit busy. got some shit done with giray during that time which is rad! just yesterday was the first legit spring day ive seen in ages and we took full advantage of it by heading up to pc for a lil booter action. big thanks to joe mack and erik seo who pulled a bunch of strings for the sesh to go down for sure. blah blah blah, here are some still captures...
joe mack, freshy switch front 5 melon
why grab skis when you have trees?
hes down there in a blur


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Interview with…….John Cosham
Every month we are hoping to interview leading lights from the sign industry, this month we are talking to John Cosham from Jantick
Did you know?
John was born in the 1950′s to a Doctor and Company Director, he trained as an engineer at Reading University. At 25 he started his illustrious career in the Sign supply industry with Duramark Safety selling safety signs and then onto vehicle graphics and sign faces. He then moved to Rennicks starting the vinyl supply for the traffic market.
John then moved to Signfix where he moved from Sales Manager to Sales Director looking after both the commercial and Traffic divisions. In 2000 John formed Jantick which specialises in supplying the commercial sign market with various products.
Known for his affable nature and extensive contacts throughout the industry Jantick offer a wayfinding and consultancy service second to none. Working with a network of companies and individuals Jantick have now completed over 20 University projects throughout the UK.
John specifies Signscapes Fingerpost, Noticeboards and Column Plates, together with other products from the Signscpape range for some of his projects.
When asked why John is still enjoying his career in the sign industry he commented "The sign industry continues to evolve and diversify into new areas and is forever changing"
Tags: Column Plates, Finger Post, Noticeboards, sign making, Signscape


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City Year Baton Rouge City Year Baton Rouge
Here's a sample of our volunteer opportunities:VIEW AS
Mission Statement
City Year's mission is to build democracy through citizen service, civic leadership and social entrepreneurship. Together, these essential, interconnected and nonpartisan startegies can serve as the civic foundation for a strong, active and responsice democracy.
City Year unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service, giving them opportunities to change the world. In communities across the United States and through two internationl affiliates, these divers young leaders help turn around high-need schools and get at-risk students back on track to graduation by working to improve their attendance, behavior, and course performance.
This information
Might be out of date
Do you work for this organization?
Request administrator status and update its information!


text:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. novelist Elmore Leonard, known for gritty crime dramas including "Get Shorty," has been hospitalized in the Detroit area after suffering a stroke last week, the author's longtime researcher said Tuesday.
The 87-year-old crime writer, who is also known for film adaptations of his works "Out of Sight" and "3:10 to Yuma," suffered a stroke on July 29, researcher Gregg Sutter Said.
Sutter said Leonard's condition has steadily improved over the past week. He declined to identify the hospital where Leonard, who lives in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, is being treated.
Leonard, famous for his gritty cowboys, hardened crooks and laconic cops, won the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
The ad man-turned-writer has published nearly four-dozen novels, the first of which "The Bounty Hunters" in 1953.
He told Reuters in an interview last year that the award had given him renewed motivation to write.
"I don't have any reason to quit," Leonard said. "I still enjoy writing."
Leonard also serves as an executive producer on FX's Emmy-winning TV crime drama "Justified," which is based on his novels "Pronto," "Riding the Rap" and a short story "Fire in the Hole."
Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Cynthia Osterman


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A new Bus Pirate educational/experimentation kit is in the works. Here, in no specific order, are the experiments/parts we plan to include. Almost all are from Microchip. This is mostly an accident, they seem to have the cheapest and most commonly available small serial devices in through hole packages.
If you know of alternate devices or we're missing something painfully obvious, please let us know in the comments below.
Warm up exercises: LED and resistor on AUX pin introduces the Bus Pirate interface.
Simple serial to parallel shift register. This inexpensive output expander chains together to control hundreds of outputs from a simple 3 wire protocol. Illustrates nicely how binary bits in a byte become high/low on the IC pins.
Temperature measurement using two methods. A cheap analog sensor, and an I2C serial sensor.
Memory, a very basic first time serial device. Teaches addressing, binary numbering, and two common protocols (I2C and SPI) using the same basic command set.
Digital to analog converter. Output a voltage with digital control, read it with the Bus Pirate voltage measurement probe.
Analog to digital converter. Read a voltage (from a 5K potentiometer) and see the result as a digital value. Use the value to calculate the actual voltage.
A digital potentiometer is more versatile than a cheap DAC because it can pass analog signals such as audio and act as a volume control.
A real time clock chip is a low power and easy way to keep time. Using a dedicated RTC chip is easier for beginners, though most pros will integrate it into a microcontroller . This is an inexpensive I2C device, and we were a little SPI heavy.
UART and serial is ubiquitous, but there's very few cheap, through-hole slave devices that use it. Without a serial device we only have 2 (3 with the 74HC595) protocols covered in the kit. Our (current) solution is to program the cheapest possible ATTINY with a little firmware that responds to serial commands.
Why an ATTINY and not a PIC, MSP430, etc? The Bus Pirate can directly program most AVRs through AVRDude and there is an open/free IDE and compiler. We can include a short programming exercise in programming a chip without a bootloader. This might help someone revive and Arduino later too.
One-wire is off the list because the devices are expensive, scarce, and it looks like even Maxim is killing off parts that support it. We declared it dead some time ago, and others have expressed similar sentiments. It also takes a ton of work to read/write data, and the demo doesn't fit nicely in a little booklet.
A PWM chip with serial interface is missing. That would a great concept lesson, and output could be measured with the frequency measurement futures of the AUX probe. This could probably be integrated into the ATTINY (or other UART chip) though.
I'm interested.
That is a great selection of ICs. However, if you include an ATtiny with an integrated ADC (like the ATtiny25), you could use it as a cheap temperature sensor with I2C support. And the MCP4801 is the slightly more expensive cousin of the MCP4901, but comes with an integrated voltage reference.
I want one. Is it going to be the BP v4 w/Logic Analyzer or just BPv4c?
Will the attiny on internal RC oscillator be accurate enough for uart? Since the buspirate doesn't have a crystal reference either (does it operate off the FT232's clock?) is it likely the two will be far enough in opposite directions that it will have communication problems?
I guess I haven't heard anyone complaining about baud rate problems with the BP before so I'd guess it's not an issue?
I think this is a great idea. I have always thought that this was something very lacking for the Bus Pirate. It's oddly difficult to find any good tutorial info for those of us that learn by doing.
I assume this will come with some step-by-step paper instructions. A video series would be great, too!
Sign me up for one kit, so I can play with my Bus Pirate!
You can program a Microchip PIC10F200-I/P (8-pin DIP) to respond to serial commands (there is no UART, but you can use bit-banging code). At $0.58 in single quantity from DigiKey or Mouser, I think that's cheaper than the ATTINY you mentioned.
I think there is a CoolRunner-II app note on making a port expander that would let you swizzle your mix twixt I2C and SPI, if it helps. The XC2C32 is inexpensive, althought I think it's in TSOP versus thru hole.
Maybe use a 10k pot instead… it's what's needed for those simple character displays which can be used with the 74HC595. That way all a potential buyer needs is the kit plus a display to get started.
Good idea. A couple of comments: About a digital pot being more versatile than a D/A converter, note that digital pots' steps are rather large which is fine for an audio pot but not for a lot of D/A uses, and they also may not change settings quickly. There are multiplying D/A converters that you can use as a volume control. About the lament that a PWM chip with serial interface is missing, PWM usually gets converted to an analog voltage anyway, so a D/A can replace it and there are loads of those on the market.
gridstop: For the UART, you can't really afford to have the clock speed be off by more than about 2% for reliable operation. RC is probably not good enough, but a ceramic resonator would be.
Sorry– my website address didn't come out correctly in the previous comment. It's http://WilsonMinesCo.com/ where I have lots of 6502 resources. The primer's circuit potpourri page at http://wilsonminesco.com/6502primer/potpourri.html has a lot of circuits showing exactly what you're talking about above. I have more coming.
I did some research on uart chips and the best I could find were i2c/spi uart converters and they are not cheap and will be too complex for the intended audience. Maybe include a cheap ftdi breakout to simulate serial communication with a PC?
I would love to get my hands on one of these. When do you thing they will be available?
Why not a LCD or some 7-seg LEDs? They can definitely expand usability of these set. BP LCD back pack with some header or adapter might help to interface both Microcontroller and BP.
Why not a LCD or cheapo 7-segs LEDs? They can definitely help the usability of this pack. Existing LCD backpack with some adapter or jumper can help interfacing with both BP and microcontroller.
Why not a LCD or cheapo 7-segs LEDs? They can definitely help the usability of this pack. Existing LCD backpack with some adapter or jumper can help interfacing with both BP and microcontroller.
(Is My IP address in spam list??)
I did suggest last time to include a plain inverter 74hc04 did u see that :o)
it seems from my "BusPirate Issued #61″, having optional inverted outputs implemented in BP settings seems to be pretty hard to implement, so you could included a plain inverter 74hc04 in your kit :o)
It could be an easy first exemple to try or when you need inverted BP signals :-)
In addition to all the great labs and tutorials already planned for this device, I personally would really like to see some labs/tutorials covering the use of the Bus Pirate to do JTAG work, preferably in conjunction with openOCD (perhaps re-flashing the bootloader for an Arduino, or programming a PIC device).
Is it possible to single-step an ARM M0/M3/M4 device (via JTAG or SWD) using a Bus Pirate? If so that would be awesome, and a lab/tutorial on it would be fantastic!
I'm working through updating some old PLL experiments. Some of the older chips are now obsolete.
I was thinking of using GAL, but Lattice stopped supporting these in 2011. For simple PLD, forget Xilinx or Altera: Atmel are the only ones I can find still making PLDs in a breadboard-compatible DIP format.
So, for a whopping $4.50 through Digikey, I suggest the Atmel ATF750LVC-15PU.
It's 5V compatible, and supposedly JTAG programmable too.
Has this kit been releases? What are the plans?
This would have been my #1 xmas gift.. Oh, well. maybe my birthday. :(
Where can I buy this kit?


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Of Course Unschoolers Have Rules!
There's this perception that unschoolers live some kind of wild life of chaos. Without boundaries and rules. Sometimes people peeping in from the outside believe that the foolish parents are letting the kids are making all the decisions. Unschoolers Are Unique I cannot not and will not speak for others. I will only speak for


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|1998 - The Visible Man
|Sunday, 03 August 2008 14:14
In addition to the album `Feelings`, David Byrne released the remix album "The Visible Man" in a limited edition of 5,000 copies.
The CDs were first sold during the second half of the "Feelings" world tour and were available in regular stores. Remaining copies were available at on-line through the Luaka Bop website..
On August 26, 1998 "The Visible Man" was released in Japan as well, in edition of 2,000 copies (with obi-strip).
"The Visible Man" contains six songs from "Feelings" (9 tracks) in rather radical remixes, done by some of the hippest remixers around.
Around the time of release of the Visible Man album, a double vinyl promo-only called "Freaky Wicked Remixes" was distributed among US DJ's. The album contains 6 of the "Visible man" remixes, plus two tracks not available on the CD.
Tracks "Freaky Wicked Remixes" 2 x 12inch:


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Trekking Tour in Nepal (17 Days)offered by supplier M15449 (read about supplier)
Key Information:
Tour Duration: 17 day(s)
Group Size: 2 - 8 people
Destination(s): Nepal
Specialty Categories: Hiking & Trekking Cultural Journey
Season: October - November
Airfare Included: Yes
Tour Customizable: No
Minimum Per Person Price: 2700 US Dollar (USD)
Maximum Per Person Price: 2700 US Dollar (USD)
Day 1: Kathmandu Arrival.
Our staff will meet you upon arrival at the airport to transfer you to our hotel. Optional easy afternoon sightseeing and time rest.
Day 2: In Kathmandu.
As our staff obtains our restricted area permit, enjoy sightseeing with our knowledgeable guide in Kathmandu — visiting older neighborhoods of the city with distinctive palaces and Hindu and Buddhist temples.
Day 3: Kathmandu to Pokhara.
An all day scenic drive takes us to Pokahara. After settling in at the lodge, enjoy the stunning panorama and strolling Fewa Lake's shoreline.
Day 4: Pokhara via Jomsom to Kagbeni.
Our flight to Jomsom is early. Depending on the flight time, breakfast could be in Pokhara or in Jomsom. The short flight by a small, 15–passenger aircraft flying through Kaligandaki Gorge between two of the tallest mountains on earth, Mount Annapurna and Mount Dhaulagiri, both above 26,000 feet.
In Jomsom, you'll meet our porter staff, adjust your daypack and then begin the trek hiking to Kagbeni. The trail is mostly flat along the Kaligandaki river basin, which we follow on and off during the trek. Kagbeni is an important village with interesting architecture, a village monastery and several tourist lodges — it's the junction where trekkers explore upper Mustang in the north and Annapurna Circuit to the east. Trekking time 3 hours, sleeping elevation 9,216 feet.
Day 5: After registering at the restricted area's checkpoint, our trek ascends a short hill with moderate ups and downs, leaving the river bed far below. Tangbe Village is a rest spot where a community apple orchard is cultivated. The trail continues with short ups and downs to reach our lunch stop — Chhusang Village on the Kaligandaki River. A river crossing then leads us to Chaile Village after a short up hill climb (ascent approximately 1,000 feet). Trekking time 6 hours, sleeping elevation 10,000 feet. Approximately a 1,500 foot ascent.
Day 6: Chaile to Syangbochen.
From Chaile our trek heads west, climbing a hill with both steep and gradual sections across from scenic Gyagar Village. As we climb higher, the views are more spectacular with Nilgiri (23,160 feet), Tilicho (23,400 feet), Thorong Peak (20,152 feet), Yakwa Kang (21,260 feet) and other peaks. The Annapurna range fills the horizon above the beautiful panorama of nearby Mustang.
After about two hours of continuous climbing, we arrive at a pass marked with prayer flags and rock piles — offerings by Nepalis to the mountain spirits. From the pass, it's a short walk to the village of Samar for an early lunch before continuing to Syangbochen. Trekking time eight hours, sleeping elevation 12,631 feet. Approximately a 3,300 foot ascent.
Day 7: Syangmochen via Ghami to Charang.
From Syangmochen we begin with a short climb to Syangmochen La Pass (12,628 feet) before the trail descends to Tama Gaon Village. We take the trail from the junction at Tama Gaon and hike upwards once more to reach Jaite To Nyila Pass. This pass is the southern boundary of Lo or Mustang itself.
From Nyila, we walk downhill to Ghami for lunch. Leaving Ghami, the trail passes the areas longest and oldest Mani Prayer Wall, ascends to a final pass and then downhill near Charang Village for the night. Trekking time 8 hours, sleeping elevation 11,676 feet.
Day 8: Charang to Lomanthang.
Charang Village has one of the largest Buddhist monasteries in the area as well as the winter palace of the king of Mustang. Before breakfast, visit Charang Monastery and after, trek gently on to Lomanthang to the north. In about four hours, we reach Dye La Pass. The fortified palace and village of Lomanthang appear from the high, dry landscape of the Tibetan plateau. From Dye La Pass it's under one hour to reach Lomanthang. Trekking time 5 hours, sleeping elevation 12,496 feet.
Day 9: Optional horse trip to Caves of Jhong, old monasteries and Chhosar.
Nepal's government restricts stays beyond Lomanthang. Today you have an option for a rest day exploring the surrounding region or we can ride horses (optional, at additional cost) to visit the old cave village of Jhong at Chhosar. It takes about two hours by horseback to reach Jhong — a cave complex five stories high with more than 40 rooms where entire villages flourished 2000 years ago. Two old Buddhist sites are also nearby. We can explore them as well and still return to Lomanthang by late afternoon.
Day 10: Free day in Lomanthang.
Explore the fortified capital town of old Lo Kingdom, noted for its tall white-washed walls, gompas and the Royal Palace, a nine-corner, five-story structure built about 1400 AD. Lo was an independent principality of Himalaya long before it assimilated into modern Nepal. The royal family of Mustang received special honors until 2008 when Nepal declared itself a republic. Tour the village and its three important monasteries which contain ancient frescos painted in natural color — the American Himalayan Foundation helped restore these ancient paintings. The Annapurna Conservation Area Project visitor center is also worth a visit.
Day 11: Lomanthang via Lo Gekar to Ghami.
Once we leave Lomanthang we take the trail towards Marang La (13,874 feet) and Lo Gekar. This area is the highest on our trek and offers panoramic view of the Annapurna Range, Saribung Peak and the Damodar section of Annapurna Himalaya. Damodar is one of the last frontiers close to the Tibetan border — its rugged landscape and ancient culture are unique.
From the pass it's a long gradual descent to Lo Gekar Monastery, the oldest Buddhist monastery in the Himalaya. It was built by Guru Rinpoche in the 8th century. Enjoy a simple lunch at the monastery and continue our trek to Ghami via another pass of Mu La (13,677 feet). Trekking time 8 hours, Sleeping elevation 11,548 feet. Approximately a 3,200 foot ascent.
Day 12: Ghami to Gheling to Syangbochen.
Starting with a short hillside ramble, we retrace our steps to Syangbochen. Approximately a 2,660 foot ascent. Lunch is in Gheling. Hiking time is 6 hours.
Day 13: Syangbochen to Chungsi Caves to Chhusang.
We explore the 8th century meditation cave of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava), who established Buddhism in Tibet. The cave, Chungsi Rangjyon (self emanated), contains stupas, paintings and status of Guru Rinpoche and Buddha. It's a full eight hour hiking day, with the trip to the caves. Lunch is in Samar. Approximately a 2,400 foot ascent.
Day 14: Chhusang to Kagbeni.
Today is our final trekking day in the restricted zone. We continue downhill to Chaile and then with moderate ups and downs passing the villages of Chhusang and Tangbe to arrive at Tibet-influenced Kagbeni, located in the valley of the Kali Gandaki — one of three rivers crossing the mountains. The Kali Gandaki was one of the major trade routes between Tibet and India. Traders brought salt from Tibet and barley, spices and clothes from India. Following the Chinese invasion of Tibet, trade abruptly ended and formerly prosperous villages faded into obscurity. Approximately a 1,300 foot ascent. Only 4 hours of hiking. Free time to explore Kagbeni, a photographers paradise.
Day 15: Kagbeni to Lupra to Jomsom.
Most trekkers return straight to Jomsom but we will make a detour to visit Lupra Village — hidden in a canyon off of the main trail. This special village is unique, as it's the only Bon Po Village which survives in Mustang. Bon Po pre-dates Buddhism and is one of the oldest religions in the world. After lunch at Lupra, we trek back to Jomsom. Sleeping elevation 8,921 feet. Approximately a 1,340 foot ascent. Five hours with time in Lupra. Lunch in Jomsom.
Day 16: Jomsom to Pokhara to Kathmandu. Two short flights return us to Kathmandu.
Day 17: Depart Kathmandu.
Free time will depend on your departure flight time. We'll provide an airport transfer for your flight home today.
Airfare is included in the tour price.
- Land Cost (itinerary): $2315 USD.
- In Trip Air (itinerary): $360 USD.
Transportation to the starting point of Kathmandu, Nepal is not included.
Note: this trip has scheduled dates. A similar itinerary can also be organized as a custom trip upon request. Contact us for details and ask about a custom trip option if desired!
Click here to email this vacation offer to a friend.
Joined InfoHub: Nov 2006
Since 1988, M15449 has provided treks and custom personal arrangements for independent, spirited travelers and small groups wishing to explore the rich cultures of the Himalayan countries and Southeast Asia. We have an intimate, first-hand knowledge of the majestic Himalaya — in India (Ladkah, Sikkim, Spiti, Lahoul),...


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Academic Decathlon Test Scores (10/30/2004)
Read more. Study harder. Score higher. Excellence always because there's nowhere to go but UP. (Scores out of 1000 points)
Blue scores have been replaced by newer scores in the same subject area for calculation of seat scores.
Green scores are the ones counted for the seat score calculations.


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Celebrity Then And Now
Posted by Ryan Neal
Celebrity Then And Now
Publication: RidiculouslyExtraordinary. Posted by Ryan Neal
Famous For:
Playtime Is Over, Sucka Free, and Beam Me Up Scotty
$75 Million
Currently Known For:
"Chun-Li","Barbie Tingz", and "Bed"
Famous Years:
Playtime Is Over, Sucka Free, and Beam Me Up Scotty
$75 Million
There was a time when celebrities were being discovered on MySpace, but that was a very short window as now it's Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Luckily for Nicki Minaj, she was able to be discovered in the time of MySpace, back when she was still Onika Maraj, a Trinidad and Tobago born singer that signed with a group called Full Force in 2007.
After leaving the group and gaining some traction on the internet, Minaj was signed to Dirty Money Entertainment on a six month deal where she adopted her new name. Over the next two years, Minaj would release a couple of mixtapes that were popular on the underground scene, but that can only make you so much money.
Minaj's net worth was next to nothing less than a decade ago, and now she is worth a whopping $70 million thanks to her rise into stardom. It was in 2009 that Minaj got her big break when she was signed by Lil' Wayne to his newly formed Young Money Entertainment label and was featured on multiple hit singles, netting herself $50,000 for each song she was in the background of.
In 2010, Minaj released her first full studio album, and by the end of the year she became the first female to have seven songs that were on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time. The hit album had more than two million sales around the world, and it brought in a profit of nearly $2 million for Minaj. Minaj really cashed in on the album when she went on the "Pink Friday Tour" in 2012 with 43 shows.
The tour was such a success that 18 new shows were added on at the end of 2012 in the "Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour". Each performance for Minaj paid her $150,000 per night and a special edition called "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" brought in another $900,000 for Minaj in sales. Minaj then released her third album (and second full one), "The Pinkprint" in 2014 and "The Pinkprint Tour" to go along with.
Three albums and three tours have all pulled in millions, but Minaj is making the bulk of her money from other business ventures. In 2012, Minaj was selected to be one of the judges on the hit reality singing competition "American Idol". The one year that she was there got her a check for $12 million.
In terms of endorsement deals, Minaj got her first big one in 2010 with MAC Cosmetics when she released a new lipstick every Friday for an entire month. The next year, Minaj was the spokesperson for the Casio TRYX digital camera, as well as a nail polish collection and even a Barbie doll that portrayed a Minaj-like character.
2012 saw even more endorsements with Nokia (launching their Lumia 900 phone), a clothing line with Adidas and multiple advertisements with enormous sponsor Pepsi. Minaj has multiple fragrance lines in her name that include Pink Friday, Minajesty and Onika. Minaj is partnered up with Myx Fusions, and is the spokesperson as well as a co-owner, and the company makes a moscato drink.
There are even more companies that Minaj has been endorsed by or has a part ownership in, but there are simply too many to list. The biggest one that she has been involved in recently is Tidal, a streaming service that was started by Jay-Z, and Minaj has a three percent stake in the company.
Minaj has appeared on the highest earners list in music ever since her emergence in 2010. By 2012, she was eighth in the list for Hip Hop artists, pulling in $29 million, and then $15 million the next year. Don't expect Minaj to go away anytime soon, as she is still pulling in massive endorsements and her latest album was nominated for several 2016 Grammy Awards that include Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.
So far, there isn't an album in the works that would be released in 2016, but with multiple appearances on stage likely that cost $150,000 each, she's bound to pad her net worth in the coming year. Minaj has also branched out into acting, with appearances in "Ice Age: Continental Drift", "The Other Woman" and the upcoming "Barbershop 3". Whether you love her or hate her, she's here to stay on the richest list for quite some time.


text:
1. Create a project notebook
And notes. You will want to start with a single note to get the ball rolling. Give this note a tentative project name (eg Using Evernote to help you write). Write down every little thought you have on the project. From the moment you conceive the idea to the moment you start writing (and probably a little after). Even if you think the idea is terrible. Write. It. Down. The best writing is produced when you have too much to write and can freely take out the stuff that doesn't make the grade. And remember, these are note to yourself so feel free to shrten wrds, write incomplete…, or use termzzz only you would understand.
2. Gather reference material
You might be producing a 500 word blog post and decide to skip this step. On the other hand you may be prepping to write a 10,000 word dissertation and this step is crucial. Do your research and, when you can, copy and paste any material you think may come in handy into a new note in you notebook. You might want to call this note reference material/ideas depending on what you're writing. If it's important to the project to develop a bibliography, note the page number, book edition etc. Take pictures of pages using the Evernote document camera, clip full page web articles and quickly type up snappy quotes. Why? You're creating a trove of information that Evernote allows you to easily search through.
3. Tag everything
If you find/take a picture that inspires you to write a photo blog, drop it into Evernote and add a tag of your project name and "inspiration". If your project name is too long, turn it into an acronym. You can use the same technique if you record a speech that gives you an idea. If it ever gets difficult to find a particular type of note in your project notebook just filter your notes by tag to get to exactly what you want (eg UEtHYW & inspiration).
4. Structure
You have everything gathered in one place and tagged appropriately and you're just about ready to write. But first organize and structure your notes. Let's say you're writing an 80,000 word book, your initial "project name" note may by now be an unproductive sprawl. You may want to break it down further into other notes. Try note headings like "Plot", "Themes", "Structure", "Character", then structure each note individually, ensuring the information flows logically. Your book starts with the end of the world as we know it? Make sure your Plot note starts just the same. And tag, tag, tag. Try tags like "writing" and "story elements" so you can quickly filter it from your "inspiration". Feel free to add the names of the notes as tags as well. If, for example, you think you may want to quickly search through a host of book plots at some point.
5. Format
When you're done structuring, go one step further and add formatting to your Evernote notes to improve readability. Whatever works for you. I like to use colours on text: red when I want to signal that this bit is super-important and needs to be written in, blue to leave notes to myself that I won't necessarily transfer to the final product but which I should nevertheless be thinking of when writing. Add bold, for headings or italics for stress. Increase or decrease font size for emphasis. Specific lines will pop out if you do it right and thus remind you to put them in.
6. Write
You have everything noted, structured and formatted now you can start writing. Try to improve on everything you have written in the first instance. Don't just copy and paste lines in. That initial word vomit of ideas and structure can usually be refined very easily. Your final product will inevitably be better than those jottings because you have now had time to think about what you have written down, and read it over before transferring it. And don't feel pressured to have everything mapped out before you start writing. As long as the general shape of the piece is in your head feel free to get started. You may only need a few, unstructured and underdeveloped lines to start. Of course, it depends on how ambitious (and lengthy) your project is.
Bonus tip: Phone_Project Name and Graveyard notes
Evernote is a great bit of software but it has its flaws. You may have it installed on your laptop and phone and decided to add to individual notes on both devices. Which is a good idea… if the software worked perfectly all the time. I tend to get a lot of conflicting notes and then I have to go through them and make sure any crucial note jottings don't get lost in Evernote's conflicting notes pile. I suggest creating a separate note (Phone_Project Name) in your project notebook and adding to it solely on your phone — you can always combine them later. It works for me.
Also add a 'Graveyard' notebook to your project notebook to help make deleting bad stuff easier. I know how it is. You spend so much time writing something (a chapter in a book maybe), and it doesn't work. So you're looking at thousands of words and thinking: "I have to delete all of this?". Drop it in your graveyard notebook instead. You'll feel better that way. And if there's a specific line or paragraph you like that you feel you can work into the rewrite, just search for it in Graveyard and copy and paste it in.
And we're done. Those are my six steps to writing with Evernote. Now go forth and create.
Do you find these tips helpful? Tell me what you think in the comments section below.


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Powerful claps of thunder, brutal winds, and what appeared to be a loosely formed tornado stripped parts of Long Island of thousands of trees yesterday. High-priced homes with fully ensured automobiles parked alongside crystal blue swimming pools fell victim to flying timber.
The storm passed slightly North of Brooklyn. Not a whisper from the clouds in the form of fait thunder or the gentle spark of far away lightning was witnessed by the millions in Kings County scorched by near 100 degree temperatures.
Brooklyn needed the rain, although wind as strong as that which blew over Long Island yesterday would have toppled shoulder-high tomato vines that some have nurtured carefully since March.
Backyard gardens thirsted for drops of real heavenly rain, not cold downpours from a plastic watering pot filled each night in a sink full of dirty dishes.
In Brooklyn, where locals talk to vegetable plants as they tend to them, the skies remained without any precipitation. On Long Island, where very few plant kitchen gardens, housewives on anti-depressants and high-blood pressure medications stood unmoved, just watching the sky out large bay windows. They ran wrinkled, white arthritic fingers through now bleach-blonde hair as the sun faded and a sense of danger loomed over all heads. The wind seemed charged with invisible electric particles. Those with front lawns perfectly manicured by illegal Mexican immigrants gasped as the winds began snapping trees and hurling lawn furniture across Nassau County.
"I've never seen anything like it," one citizen proclaimed on local news, forgetting a winter storm from last season that seemed to turn the sea white like the hair of most women of Long Island.
In this part of the city where the youthful reside, only the sky turned ominous. The storm seemed to gather strength from cups of espresso on tiny tables on outdoor patios of our expensive coffee shops sprawled across town like mini- Great Lakes. The storm passed over before condensation between haze and Verona occurred. Not a froth of summer rain foamed over the grinding soil of Brooklyn.
Not a single drop splattered the dry, dusty sidewalks of the hood where it seems there is sidewalk and road construction at every corner. In Manhattan, a new subway line is under construction. How dry it must seem there when it only rains on Long Island.
You Tube uploads of the storm from office workers further north in Connecticut aired on CNN moments after the storm roared loudly off to sea. Brooklyn didn't lose Direct TV reception.
Today, what's left of the storm is only rubbish to be removed from over- manicured, bleached front yards. Century- old trees are being cut today by roaring chainsaws held in the tiny hands of Mexicans. The ancient trees will end up in piles, to be burned perhaps, as firewood in hearths of summer homes that rarely see the cold hot spell that we have here in Brooklyn with no rain.
To the kitchen sink to fetch some morning rain for the flowers and plants that seemed to be praying for rain in my back yard yesterday.


text:
It's another short story about time travel! Funny but dark, CHRONOCAVIA sees two brothers facing off in a lighthouse, somewhere in the South Pacific...
You can read it on Redbubble or here in this blog post. Hope you like it!
Thanks as usual to my wonderful editrix Theresa @Desdrata :)
'Don't cross the lines!' I yelled, panting. It was futile. Xavier leapt up the steps in his jet-black suit, his face written with glee.
The lighthouse was hollow, stretching up to a platform above which obscured the top. Stairs ran up in a spiral around the inside wall, alarmingly with no handrail.
Someone had painted a huge, thick line on the floor and up the wall on either side, splitting the lighthouse in two. To the left, the line was black, to the right – a scarlet, dotted line.
Suddenly Xavier disappeared. One second, pounding up the steps, the next, gone.
'Where's your spirit of adventure, brother?' his voice called from nowhere.
Nothing else for it. I gave chase.
Wednesday, I thought to myself, leaping up two at a time. I crossed the black line. It is Wednesday 26th March. Wednesday. Wednesday.
I curved round to the other side; the dotted red line approached.
Without breaking my stride, I bounded on. Still alive.
'Isn't this exciting?' shouted Xavier. His voice was fainter, echoing more than it should have. 'I'm nearly at the top!'
I hurtled up the spiral steps, crossing both lines – black and red, black and red again – trying not to look down. Never mind time travel, I thought, a fall from this height would break your neck.
Suddenly, the top: an area just twenty yards or so wide. No walls, just a vast dome of metal struts and glass with the spectacular crystal lens hanging above. A walkway ran around the empty space, with a small platform jutting out into the middle. All around, the Pacific Ocean roared to the horizon in every direction.
And right in front of me, a dazzling grin, with my brother attached.
'What is this, Xav?' I panted, backing as far from the red and black lines as I could. I noticed they went all the way up the windows. 'What the hell is this?'
'This is the future,' he beamed happily, looking almost wholesome for a second. 'Ha, yes, the future is exactly what we're interested in!'
'What you're interested in,' I replied. I pressed myself back against the windows as hard as I dared, glancing out at the savage sea. 'How? The International Dateline's not magic.' I looked down at the rocky island below. 'And where's the helicopter gone?'
'Huh, the International Dateline.' Xavier gestured dismissively at the black line, as if it were an outdated car model. 'Sure, cross the Dateline and you gain a day, lose a day – whatever, doesn't matter. The time is still the same.'
He tip-toed theatrically towards the red line, painted so precisely on the walkway and up the windows.
'But cross Chronocavia,' his eyes lighting up with wonder, 'and you stay in the same day. Because you travel in time!'
I was way out of my depth. I felt nauseous. But someone had to be the voice of reason. 'You're messing with things you don't understand.'
'Forces you don't understand,' he snapped, pointing at me. His black suit was sharp as ever, somehow uncrumpled from the helicopter ride. 'What day of the week is it? I bet you don't even know.'
'It's Wedn—' I said naively before I could stop myself.
'Hah! Wednesday? Wednesday? We left Wednesday downstairs by the door!' He was manic now. And yet he looked at me imploringly, begging me to understand. 'It's Saturday, brother! We crossed that red line in the same direction three times. Three! It took us five minutes to travel three days forward in time!'
I wanted to understand. I felt like I should.
'Look, it's easy,' said Xavier, always the mind-reader, 'I'm here on this side with you, in Saturday. When I cross this line, going west, I should gain a day into Sunday. But this is Chronocavia – the great gap, the loophole! So I can cross it,' he casually strolled across the dotted red line, arms outstretched, 'and hey presto, it's still Saturday.'
I felt giddy. I peered ahead over the edge of the walkway; the spiral stairs spun downwards, out of control.
Spiral. That was it. It was a time spiral – where you can walk in a circle, but not end up in the same place as you started…
'What is this about?' I asked, snapping back to present. There was always a reason behind everything. 'Why did you drag me here? Is this about Katrina Summers?'
'It is, isn't it?'
'No, it's about world domination. I swear!'
'I knew it,' I sneered, stepping forward. 'You were always jealous she dated me in high school and not you. Your whole life you've tried rubbing my face in your successes. It's your way of getting back at me.'
'Are you crazy?' Xavier replied, without any trace of irony. He marched right over the red line from Saturday back into Saturday; I edged left away from him as he approached…
'Look at you! Your "world domination" consists of gadgets and gizmos and petty cash…'
(He was implying my global business empire and half a trillion dollars were trivial. To be fair, he'd said it before.)
Suddenly, something caught my eye down on the floor, all the way down. Black things. With splashes of dark brown-red.
Oh god.
It was bits of body, dressed in a black suit. An arm. A leg. A smart shiny shoe.
I looked down at my own black suit, my shoes.
'Xavier,' I started, 'Xav, can you see down on the floor…?'
He wasn't listening.
'…I'm far more concerned with ideas, with breaking the rules. And look at this!' He was right up in my face now – I leaned back as he jabbed his finger behind him. 'This is magic, or science, or, or, or both! There isn't a word for what this is!'
'There's a word for what you are.'
He curled his lip and backed away. 'I'm better than you.'
'Really.' I followed him, two steps to the right, worryingly close to the edge.
'Yes, really.'
'Oh, really?'
'Yes really!' he yelled, inches away, spit landing on my cheek.
I turned my face instinctively – and suddenly, the body bits were gone. The floor, far down below, was the same clean beige concrete it always had been.
No no no no. This can't be good.
'I've got news for you, brother. The world doesn't change with inventions, it changes with ideas. It's not people like you who change the world, drip-feeding the public with your faster computers and consumer crap, it's people like me—'
'Shut up!' I barked at him, pushing him out of my face. 'Just shut up, you egotistical loser!' He was lighter than I thought, stumbling several paces onto the platform. The open space loomed behind him, between black and red lines.
'Get off me—' he pushed back, grappling at my suit.
'You've spent your whole life shouting "Look at me! Look at me!"' I was angry now, and gave him a second shove in the chest. 'You're selfish and vain and I've had enough of your—'
I swear, I didn't push him that hard.
He fell off the edge, a frantic look on his face – as half of him fell into Saturday, and half of him fell into Sunday.
I felt sick.
Down on the floor, on the right hand side, half of his body bounced bloodily on the bare concrete all by itself. On the left, the other half came to rest amongst the dark blood and parts which had been waiting for twenty-four hours, reunited at last.
I sat down. Then I stood up. Then I sat down and stood up again.
My eyes welled up. But I didn't cry. Neither of us had been that kind of person.
He'd certainly been crazy. You couldn't rule the world just by jogging forward three days in five minutes. What did he expect? Spontaneous applause? A seat at the UN?
The excitement of the idea had blinded him so much, he'd lost sight of reality completely.
I exhaled, staring out over the ocean. Far to the north, I could just make out the merry red and white stripes of the other lighthouse, marking the other side of Chronocavia.
Down below on the island, an empty space lay where the helicopter should have been. But then I realised it was still waiting there, in that exact spot, just three days and five minutes away.
I turned away from the sea, and stared hard at the dotted red line.
Three days in five minutes. Hmm.
That was no good.
To rule the world, you'd need machines…


text:
We've been back at school for a few days now and we've only missed the bus once!! Due to lost shoes, they were not where they were meant to be placed ready for the next day.
I have spent my lunch breaks running about town delivering bags of decluttering to the big charity bins. We have several different ones and I have spread the joy between them all. Last Thursday the boot and back seat of the car were so chocka block full that I felt really bad when we had to go into town and Miss MDK had to squeeze in with her face against the window......not really, we took some out so that she was safe, but if I hadn't that would have been the picture!!!!
I've still got tonnes to do!!
I have some takers at work for the knitting wools in the shipping container that I want to cull. I was going to take it to the local library where a knitted squares program is run, this suits me better.
If I live to be 300 years old I won't be able to get through knitiing or crocheting it all!!
Ford the poddy Calf is doing well
as you can see he is well protected from this cold weather.
Sometimes he gets his very large dog coat off.
Itty Bitty MDK has pretty much made it his responsibility to mix up the milk and feed him.
He does like some company down at night in the dark.
I think he might looove ford.
On the weekend Mr MDK and Big Boy MDK went plane galavanting.
Big Boy MDK got his students plane license last week and then got to ride in several different planes in a few days.
This Glider was pretty special.
He had a pretty good time in the passenger seats.
We had a fair bit of action here tonight.
This little Cairn terrorist
Yes this sweet little scruffy dog, caught a feral piglet tonight.
A neighbour drove in and said that he had chased a group of piglets across the road and they had then cut through the corner of our house block when Jake here chased after them.
We went investigating and could hear lots of squealing in the paddock, his sister came running back when we called her but we went into the paddock and started chasing after the eyes we could see glowing.
I stopped and called the kids back thinking that a big pig could turn back and go after them.
When I stopped I could hear a lot of heaving breathing and panting.
I shone the torch around thinking a big pig was going to get me, and then I found this little dog sitting very, very still and he wouldn't look at me. I thought he'd been hurt and we all went to check him, and that's when I saw the piglet which was about the same size as him. He was sitting on it and wouldn't move.
We were able to catch the piglet and dispose of it.
That's one less in the Paddocks.
Who'd have thought I'd bred a new variety of pig dog!!!
This big tough guy had no idea what was going on.
Nice cool, crisp, winter skies around here.


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Division II 7-on-7 Football State Tournament Preview: Seven East Texas Teams Headed to Central Texas
More than a half dozen East Texas teams make the trek to Central Texas the next two days for the Division II 7-on-7 state tournament.
Seven East Texas squads -- Canton, Carthage, Chapel Hill, Crockett, Gilmer, Jasper, and White Oak -- compete in the Division II tournament, which kicks off the weekend's action with pool play at 1 p.m. Thursday at Southwest Williamson County Regional Park in Leander. That will also be the site for the D-I tournament starting at 8 a.m. Friday morning.
The 64-team tournament includes 16 pools. The top two teams in each pool advance to Friday's championship bracket, while the bottom two go to the consolation bracket. The tournament website -- www.txstate7on7.com -- has a full schedule.
TheOldCoach.com's Matt Stepp, one of the state's top 7-on-7 experts, said Carthage is the most likely East Texas team to advance deep into Friday's championship bracket. The Bulldogs, who are the preseason No. 1 team in Class 3A by Dave Campbell's Texas Football and TheOldCoach.com's Friday Night Football, return a 2,800-yard passer (Blake Bogenschutz), a 1,600-yard rusher (Tevin Pipkin), and a pair of receivers (Terian "Tee" Goree and O'Keeron Rutherford) who combined for 25 touchdown receptions in 2012.
"Experience on offense and they've got a quarterback," Stepp noted as reasons for the high expectations surrounding Carthage entering state 7-on-7. "You throw in those kind of weapons in Goree and Rutheford, the matchup nightmare. Pipkin is a fairly good receiver for his position also.
"I think the key for Carthage is how consistent are they gonna be. If Carthage plays up to their potential, they could be playing for a long time on Friday and maybe win the whole thing. Or are they gonna lay an egg? I think they're probably the most talented offensive team in the entire (D-II) tournament."
Rutherford and Goree have terrorized opponents all summer. At 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-3, respectively, UTSA-committed Bogenschutz has had his pick of who to throw to during the Bulldogs' May 25 state qualifier tournament in Diboll and in league play against Marshall and Shreveport Evangel. Goree has five D-I FBS offers, while Rutherford has one.
"(7-on-7) helps us develop a strong chemistry with the receivers that were here last year, as well as the new guys that are learning the routes. The chemistry is very important," Bogenschutz said. "Jakeldrick Jackson (2016) has been the most improved throughout our offseason and we are excited about what he's bringing to our team. Tee and O'Keeron are getting better and better every day. Tevin is back and healthy and will help us have a strong backfield along with Bryian Bolton (2015)."
Carthage plays in Pool N with Gatesville, La Grange, and Sonora. The Dawgs are a heavy favorite in that pool, Stepp said. (Full pool matchups listed below.)
One of the most anticipated pool-play games of the D-II tournament is Gilmer vs. LaMarque, which is 2 p.m. Thursday. The Buckeyes are expected to advance to the championship bracket along with LaMarque, but that game will likely determine which is the No. 1 seed.
Gilmer, which advanced to the Class 3A Division II state championship game in Dec. 2012, is another of the seven East Texas teams that could make some noise Thursday and Friday. The Buckeyes have veterans all over the field in 2014 quarterback Tanner Barr, 2014 Texas A&M-bound tailback/linebacker Josh Walker, 2014 Texas State-committed receiver DeVondrick Dixon, and speedy 2015 athlete Chase Tate. There's also versatile 2015 athlete Kris Boyd, who holds offers from Texas and TCU at cornerback.
"Gilmer and LaMarque is gonna be a really fun game to watch," Stepp said. "I'd pick Gilmer as the favorite in Pool J."
Those two teams join Rockdale and Wellington in their pool.
Stepp said the East Texas sleeper is Chapel Hill. The Bulldogs face Dublin, Port Isabel, and Wimberley in Pool M.
"They have athletes. If their quarterback (senior Andrew Black) is throwing the ball well, I think Chapel Hill is a team that could make some noise as a sleeper," Stepp said. "They got a somewhat favorable draw. The (championship) bracket could set up favorable enough for them to get to the round of 16 if they can get out of their pool. I think the pool shakes out pretty nicely for them."
Three key players for Chapel Hill will be two-way standout Joseph Clark -- a 2014 recruit with three D-I FBS offers -- as well as classmates D.D. Mumphrey (defensive back) and Wesley Thompson (linebacker/safety).
Stepp said Pool E could set up favorably for junior quarterback Chandler Eiland and Canton, which will face Glen Rose, East Bernard, and Alpine in pool play.
Pool K houses two East Texas teams: Crockett and Jasper. The two Bulldogs teams join Boerne and pool favorite Graham.
"Jasper will be in a battle to get to the winner's bracket," Stepp said.
White Oak played well during June league play in Longview and faces Columbus, Crane, and McGregor in Pool B. The Roughnecks have plenty of weapons for senior quarterback Dylan Gale, although senior receiver Jansen McCurdy, who was typically White Oak's best big-play target in June, will be unavailable because of a club baseball tournament in Arizona. That could mean more balls to receivers such as 2014 targets Hayden Nichols or Gabe Michael.
As for Carthage, Bogenschutz said the Dawgs are more than ready for the state tournament.
"We are excited about the opportunity to get out there and compete Thursday and Friday," he said. "Should be a great experience."
Division II 7-on-7 Football State Tournament
July 11-12
Southwest Williamson County Regional Park, Leander
Pool A
- Dallas Episcopal
- Fort Worth All Saints
- Iraan
- Houston Westbury Christian
Pool B
- Columbus
- Crane
- McGregor
- White Oak
Pool C
- Argyle
- Cameron Yoe
- Eastland
- Houston Kinkaid
Pool D
- Coleman
- Ingleside
- Navasota
- Wills Point
Pool E
- Alpine
- Canton
- East Bernard
- Glen Rose
Pool F
- Abilene Wylie
- Celina
- Salado
- Somerset
Pool G
- Bandera
- Boyd
- Lorena
- Midland Christian
Pool H
- Edna
- Fairfield
- Melissa
- Stephenville
Pool I
- Bangs
- College Station
- Crandall
- Yoakum
Pool J
- Gilmer
- LaMarque
- Rockdale
- Wellington
Pool K
- Boerne
- Crockett
- Graham
- Jasper
Pool L
- Booker
- Burnet
- Kaufman
- Kountze
Pool M
- Chapel Hill
- Dublin
- Port Isabel
- Wimberley
Pool N
- Carthage
- Gatesville
- LaGrange
- Sonora
Pool O
- Anna
- Brownwood
- Houston Episcopal
- Mexia
Pool P
- Grandview
- Iowa Park
- Rice Consolidated
- Springtown


text:
" . . . a true community band . . ."
Sat., June 30th - 12:20 p.m.
R.B. Hall Day
Waterville Opera House
Waterville, Maine
Tues., July 3rd - 7:30 p.m.
Independence Eve Concert
Patriotic Medley
Bridgton Bandstand
Followed by Fireworks
Wed., July 4th - 12 Noon
Bridgton's Independence Day Parade
(Lineup at 11:15 p.m.)
Wed., July 11th - 7:00 p.m.
Bridgton Library Courtyard
Wed., July 18th - 7:00 p.m.
Bridgton Library Courtyard
Wed., July 25th - 7:00 p.m.
Bridgton Library Courtyard
Wed., August 1st - 7:00 p.m.
Bridgton Bandstand
Wed., August 8th - 7:00 p.m.
Happy Birthday, BCB
Bridgton Bandstand
80th Band Birthday Party
with cake following concert!
Sat., October 6th - 10:00 a.m.
Grand Parade
Fryeburg Fairgrounds
Note: Rehearsals are held Monday evenings at 7 p.m. at Stevens Brook Elementary School in Bridgton from the first Monday in May, through mid-August. There will be no rehearsal on Monday, May 28th.
The Bridgton Community Band
Steven Sweetsir, Conductor
E-Mail: email@example.com
For bookings contact Mike Costa at 207-256-4342
For press/media information contact Ginny Halligan at firstname.lastname@example.com
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Enter the code shown above into the box.
Website Design by William Severance, WESNet Designs
Direct comments, suggestions, link requests to firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Jeff Bercovici interviews Barb Rechterman, GoDaddy's Chief Marketing Officer, for Forbes.
FORBES: A lot of the criticism of "Perfect Match" accused it of reinforcing certain negative stereotypes. Did that bother you to hear?
BARB RECHTERMAN: I'm not sure what negative stereotypes it reinforced.
FORBES: I guess it was the idea that beautiful women are dumb and need men to help them, that beautiful, dumb women and rich, unattractive men go together.
BARB RECHTERMAN: Interesting. I had not thought of it that way. But I can tell you the goal here was not to stereotype at all, but to make it about two things: to make it acceptable for a beautiful woman to kiss a nerdy guy who might have money, or to make it acceptable for a nerdy guy to kiss a beautiful woman. The goal was to demonstrate our edgy heritage and make it smart, and I think it did that.
I also don't see how that ad is sexist. It's kinda gross, but sexist? I don't think so.
If you want to know what a sexist ad looks like there are plenty of good examples in GoDaddy's past. If anything, "Perfect Match" was GoDaddy growing up.


text:
[Update: Some offers mentioned below have expired. For current terms and conditions, please see card agreements. Disclosure: Cards from our partners are mentioned below.]
There are two questions you'll hear over and over during the holiday season. The first one is, "Would you like to open a store credit card and save 15 percent right now?" To which your reply should be: "No, thanks."
The second question you'll often hear when you buy a fairly expensive item is, "Would you like to purchase an extended warranty?"
If you paid by check or debit card then the answer is…maybe. But if you used a credit card, the warranty question takes a little more thought. You might already have an extended warranty as one of your card's benefits. If that's the case, then buying the extended warranty is a waste of your hard-earned money.
How do you find out? Well, I hate to say this, but the answer lies within the itty bitty fine print. But as always, my goal in life is to make things easier for you. So here are the most important things you should know.
How long is the extended warranty?
The extended warranty that comes with a major credit card usually extends the manufacturer's warranty for up to a year longer. But this can vary by card.
By the way, warranties are usually provided by the payment network (e.g., Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover) and not by the card issuer (the bank). Here are a few essential things to know:
- You only get this protection if you used the card to purchase the merchandise.
- American Express offers a one-year extension beyond the manufacturer's warranty with all of its cards. And you get this extra year of warranty coverage for products that have manufacturer's warranties of up to 5 years (many cards only cover manufacturer's warranties of up to three years).
- Discover doesn't offer an extended warranty via its cards, but offers a service called SquareTrade for a fee.
- Visa's extended warranty benefits are better than MasterCard's. MasterCard gives an extra year on the warranty only if the manufacturer doesn't offer a one-year warranty on the product you're buying.
- Visa provides warranty protection for its "Visa Signature" cards. You get a one-year extension beyond the manufacturer's warranty.
Let's take a closer look at Visa's benefits. To find out if you have a "Visa Signature" card, look on the front of your card for the words "Visa Signature." Here's a quick and dirty way to get the scoop on what you need to know if you have one of these cards:
- Go to Visa's Warranty Manager Service website to get the details about what's covered and what's not covered. You'll find an easy Q&A format that addresses your main concerns.
- Examples of what's not covered: boats, autos, computer software, and used or pre-owned items.
- Purchases made outside the U.S. might be covered if there's a valid U.S. manufacturer's warranty on the item of three years or less.
- You must file a claim within 60 days after the product failure.
How to file a claim
To file a claim, you'll need to call the benefits administrator for your credit card. Here's a handy phone list to get you started:
American Express: 1-800-225-3750
Visa: 1-800-882-8057
MasterCard: 1-800-622-7747
When you make a purchase with your credit card, keep the receipt in case you need to file a claim. Also keep the manufacturer's warranty, the serial number, and product description information on hand. You'll need all of this information when you make the phone call to file your claim. Make it a habit to start a paper file whenever you spend big on something. That way, you'll be ready in case you need to use this benefit.
What's your experience with this?
I've heard stories about filing claims that run the gamut from "excellent experience" to "downright ugly." I haven't personally ever had to use this benefit. If you have—whether it's a good or bad experience—please tell us about it in the comments section.
Image: Zurich, via Flickr.com


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there were kids, babies, aunts, uncles, grandmas, brothers, sisters, & cousins as far as the eye could see. it was lovely.
friday evening ben & i ventured on up to northern ky to meet up with his mom, pop & brother. i got to visit my dear friend cory for a few hours which was dream. it's hard when you don't get to see your close friends very often! james {her babe} was asleep but i didn't sneak a peek into the crib where he was sleeping with his arms straight up, just like superman.
after staying up much later than my old lady bedtime, we took a quick wink & then hit the road once again. up, up & away to the suburbs of chi-town for some much needed visiting.
ben's aunt mary jane & uncle joe had everyone over. they have a great home for entertaining: a big ol' room connected to the kitchen for catching up, a patio for relaxing, a pool for cooling off {it was a billion degrees}, a pond for fishing, a yard for playing. my favorite parts of the day: just being together, going down the pond, squishing the little baby cheeks AND seeing ben's aunt mary jane get around with no problem. when we were up for christmas she was struggling to breathe & she could only walk a few steps without being totally exhausted. now, since she's had her double lung transplant, she's up moving around, running all over the house, cooking & enjoying her time with people she loves. it really is a miracle. how awesome that we get to be a witness to that!?
.two of the cutest babies in the world.
look at that curly hair. love.
i'm not sure if anyone took any good group shots this year, and if so they aren't on fb yet {that i could find} here's some of the gals & guys from last year.
sunday we slept in a tad & eventually got up and ate platefuls of mada's pancakes. we always stay with ben's aunt mada & uncle rob when we come to town & they are so hospitable...they take such great care of us & are incredibly welcoming.
from there we went to D & D Foods, which is an italian deli & shop owned & operated by benny's fam. i'm not italian so i never know anything about what different foods are, how you eat it, where it comes from etc. but it is so fun to be there! an atmosphere like none other that i've been in. since the deli has been around for such a long time {and is run by such great people} folks flock from all over to come visit grandma ada, uncle guido & the rest of the fam. if you are ever in the chicago heights area i highly recommend you stop in and see them! tell them we sent you!
we haven't even gotten to the actual family reunion yet! that's where we headed next - to the family reunion, which is held at a local park which houses an awesome pool & water slide. the kids loved it. we ate {and ate more} and hung out with an even larger group than saturday. sadly, our time in chicago had to come to a close. we all had work monday morning & needed to get back to kentucky. so back into the car we went.
just another road trip with my best friend. so lovely.


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Out for a walk around, what a unique experience, this is so cool...
Color change.. photos below taken at different time of day..
Exploring the World by Motorcycle - She had owned and ridden a Harley in the States, acted as a navigator and co pilot in light aircraft and sailed a yacht dodging pirates through the islands of the pacific – surely this was the next logical step. The big difference though – she is doing the newest great adventure around the world on a motorcycle.. So come along for the ride!! © Sherri Jo Wilkins
Beautiful photos. Love the dog walking away along the path and running towards you :-)
Great photo of you covered in snow :-)
Went from Belgium to Rome couple years ago on the bike.
Lucky you to experience Tuscany like this.
What a great opportunity to just chill (literally and figuratively) in such a beautiful area! Great pics -- makes me want to just ditch work and go riding!ReplyDelete
Beautiful pictures again! And it's too long ago that I was in Italy the last time (2005). Need to go there again. By bike!ReplyDelete


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Contact: John Stoudt, 315.568.0024
Women's Rights National Historical Park continues its second annual Winter Film Festival by showing the documentary film One Woman, One Vote on Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2, 2013.
One Woman, One Vote documents the 72-year struggle for women's right to vote in America. The film explores how the suffrage movement unfolded and identifies the challenges women faced in their demand for equal rights. The running time of One Woman, One Vote is 106 minutes.
Women's Rights National Historical Park commemorates and preserves the sites associated with the First Women's Rights Convention, held in 1848 in Seneca Falls. "We are proud to be part of the National Park system, and we invite everyone to join us in celebrating our shared history and culture through film," said Superintendent Tammy Duchesne. "The Winter Film Festival is a great way to learn more about our nation's history," added Superintendent Duchesne.
The park is also showing the film as part of its celebration of Women's History Month in March. "We are inspired by the courage of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and countless other women and men who struggled for equal rights in this country," said Duchesne. "Their stories continue to resonate with people across the globe."
All Winter Film Festival showings will occur at 12:00 Noon on Fridays and Saturdays at the Women's Rights National Historical Park Visitor Center, located at 136 Fall Street in Seneca Falls. All film showings are free of charge. The Winter Film Festival films are intended for a general audience. Visitors are encouraged to call if they are interested in a particular showing as film lengths vary.
For more information, please visit our website at www.nps.gov/wori or call (315) 568-0024.Follow the park's social media sites for Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/womensrightsnps) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/WomensRightsNPS) to learn more about our upcoming programs. Learn about the park's latest activities by reading its most recent newsletter: https://www.nps.gov/wori/parknews/upload/WORI-Newsletter-Vol-2-no-1-12-26-12.pdf.


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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. CLF, +0.44% declined 17% on Wednesday, a day after the company announced a fourth-quarter loss and said it will slash its dividends. The iron ore and coal miner also said it plans to sell nine million shares to pay debt. Cliffs cut its quarterly cash dividend by 76% to 15 cents a share from 62.5 cents a share. The stock was the largest decliner in the S&P 500.
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Social worker registration loophole slammed by Phoenix Sinclair inquiry head
The retired judge who oversaw the Phoenix Sinclair inquiry says the Manitoba government has rejected one of his key recommendations to improve the child-welfare system by making social workers accountable.
In his inquiry report, Ted Hughes recommended that social workers be required to register with a regulatory body similar to those governing the work of doctors and nurses.
But officials with the brand-new Manitoba College of Social Workers say their authority is being undermined by a government loophole that allows hundreds of workers — those who don't have the term "social worker" in their job titles — to avoid having to register.
- Manitoba social work staff escape scrutiny thanks to loophole, says college
- Phoenix Sinclair inquiry prompts Manitoba to keep kids out of CFS care
That means hundreds of professionals who work with vulnerable children, including child protection workers and intake workers, would escape regulation, according to the college.
Hughes says anyone doing social work, regardless of their title, should be registered with the college.
"I guess they have the right to accept or reject my recommendations, but that one I think is clearly stated and the case for it has been clearly made in the report," he said in an interview.
Hughes said Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross had consulted him recently about some of his recommendations, but she did not discuss the registry of social workers with him at that time.
The judge added that he has already heard from some Manitoba social workers who are concerned that the new rules allow hundreds of workers to escape scrutiny and regulation.
"Under whatever title, whether it was a child-care worker or an emergency care worker, if they were indeed practicing social work, regardless of what their job description was or their title was, then they would be required to be registered," he said.
"The reason given in the report is this amendment will protect not only the title of social worker, but will ensure that members of the profession are truly qualified, meet a standard of competence and are governed by a code of ethics."
A provincial government spokesperson told CBC News it does not want child-welfare employees who are not qualified social workers to face mandatory registration.
The province's next steps will include reviewing workers' duties and determining with union officials whether more positions should be designated as "social worker" positions, the spokesperson said.
Hughes led the public inquiry looking into the death of five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair, who fell through the cracks of Manitoba's Child and Family Services system before she was murdered by her mother and stepfather in 2005.
After his report was released, the province pledged to overhaul its child-welfare system to keep more children with their families and home communities rather than taking them into foster care.
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text: Founded by Marco Baldassari, Paul Zuntini and Andrea Scuderi, Eleventy is a superb Made in Italy company. Offering up a perfect blend of classic and modern apparel since its inception in 2006, what was once a small line of polo shirts has become an international prominence. Wide-ranging collections are coveted all-over the world for finely crafted, easy-to-wear apparel. Men's Eleventy knitwear fits seamlessly into winter wardrobes. Understated in design yet rich in luxury fabrics, this versatile range of smart turtlenecks, cardigans and jumpers boasts a warming adaptability.


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Captain Golden
Pet Passion is just for #AnimalLovers!
Check out the site of this sweetest Italian brand of shirts and tell me which one stole your heart; but remember, they can only be worn from true pet lovers :)
How do you like my tender "Captain Golden" puppy?
*Sponsored Post


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Paying for School
You're interested in going back to school to earn a degree … but how will you pay for it? Are you eligible for scholarships? Exactly what are your funding options anyway?
At Grantham University, we understand you have questions about how to pay for your college education. And we have answers. From low tuition rates to programs supporting military personnel and veterans, we're here help you explore your financial aid options. We'll do our very best to help you keep your education costs low.
One way we help is by keeping tuition rates low – in fact, we offer a lower tuition rate than 95% of other private / for-profit institutions.1
A textbook and software grant is available to students who qualify. For eligibility requirements, go to this link https://www.grantham.edu/online-college-tuition/textbook-and-software-grant-program/.
|Undergraduate/Graduate Tuition Rates through March 13, 2019
|Military Rate*
|$250/credit hour
|Veteran Rate*
|$250/credit hour
|First Responders and Civil Servant*
|$250/credit hour
|Undergraduate Rate*
|$265/credit hour
|Graduate Rate*
|$325/credit hour
*Tuition rate after applicable scholarship, if eligible.
|Fees through March 13, 2019
|$38 per credit hour (estimate cost based on current rates and cost of books).
|Returned Check
|Graduation Fee (degree)**
|Graduation Fee (certificate)
|Technology Fee
|$45 non-refundable per 8-week term
|Electronic transcript
|Paper copy of transcript
|Replacement Diploma
|Late Payment
|International Shipping Fee***
|$50 per course
* View a list of textbooks.
** Includes: diploma, final requirements review, official transcript and commencement.
*** If charged, not subject to refund after seventh class day.
|Undergraduate/Graduate Tuition Rates as of March 13, 2019
|Military Rate*
|$250/credit hour
|Veteran Rate*
|$250/credit hour
|First Responders and Civil Servant*
|$250/credit hour
|Undergraduate Rate*
|$295/credit hour
|Graduate Rate*
|$350/credit hour
*Tuition rate after applicable scholarship, if eligible.
|Fees as of March 13, 2019
|Resource Fee*1
|$50 per credit hour
|Returned Check
|Graduation Fee (degree)**
|Graduation Fee (certificate)
|Electronic transcript
|Paper copy of transcript
|Replacement Diploma
|Late Payment
|International Shipping Fee***
|$50 per course
* Non-refundable fee. Estimated cost based on current rates and cost of books.
** Includes: diploma, final requirements review, official transcript and commencement.
*** If charged, not subject to refund after seventh class day.
1Grantham University's Resource Fee covers the cost of all materials required to complete coursework. Grantham provides new or gently used textbooks or e-books as well as all required materials outlined in the course syllabus. Standard shipping fees* for textbooks and other course materials are included in the fee; however, students may select to pay for premium shipping. Students are still responsible for selecting their course materials to be shipped from the University Bookstore after they have registered for their classes, but will not be charged at checkout.
While the resource fee is nonrefundable, students may elect to opt out of the textbooks and/or ebooks that are provided for each course. Students electing to opt out will receive a credit of $50 per course on their student account, and will be responsible for securing the required course materials on their own. The ISBN information is available at the University Bookstore
Applying for Financial Aid
Your education is too important to take chances with your financing options.
At Grantham University, we want to help you find the right solution for financing your college education. There are a number of federal grants and loans available, and we would love to come alongside you and walk you through the application and awarding process - step by step.
From scholarships to Federal Student Aid (FSA) to programs for military members and veterans, there are a number of financing options out there. Here, we'll focus on FSA-related financing.
Do I Qualify for FSA?
FA Eligible Programs
Federal Grants
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Financial Aid Awarding Process
FSA Award Package
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FA Student Consumer Information
For assistance with the Federal Student Aid process or to discuss the financing options available to you, contact Grantham's Office of Financial Aid today at (866) 850-2980 or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Military Programs Finding Ways to Finance Your Education
Whether you're active duty, a veteran or a military spouse, your service deserves to be recognized and honored.
We want to serve you by helping you achieve your education goals. It's why we're here. Grantham University was founded by a veteran to help veterans better their lives through distance learning. Today, we continue this commitment by offering military students, veterans and their families targeted online degree programs in the most affordable manner possible.
Our financial aid team can help veterans maximize their Veterans Administration benefits, active-duty and reserve personnel explore Tuition Assistance benefits, and spouses and family members research financial aid options. Plus, we offer a number of scholarships, including a Textbook & Software Grant Program to help cover the costs.
Contact an admissions representative today at 1-888-Y-GRANTHAM or by email at email@example.com to explore how we can help make education more affordable for you!


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Oscar's wife jokingly calls him the "Mayor of Nostrand Avenue", but the title is pretty accurate. He seems to know everyone who walks through the doors of his Brooklyn coffee shop Tinto, and he's buddies with all the small business owners up and down the block. His huge, welcoming smile is his standard greeting.
Oscar is an Airbnb host and when guests arrive at his Crown Heights home, he makes them feel like they're part of the neighborhood by sharing his favorite places to eat, drink and shop.
Here are some of Oscar's recommendations:
"Our guests want to learn about the neighborhood they're staying in. When travelers stay here, they eat where the locals do, shop where they shop, go out where they go out. They get a real Brooklyn experience."
"I always offer my guests a complimentary breakfast at the coffee shop. Tinto becomes like a second home for them. I constantly have my guests stopping in during their day to say hello to me and to ask me for suggestions for their plans for the night. Most of my regulars come in here every day. So when my guests come in for breakfast and take their map out, my regulars give them suggestions on where they should visit too."
"It's great having guests in a neighborhood that doesn't normally see much tourism. It is really important that the guests staying in our neighborhood are spending in our neighborhood too. Airbnb is something that is very exciting for local business owners."
Oscar always recommends Gloria's Caribbean Cuisine for it's authentic West Indian roti and curries. This place is so good that even Anthony Bourdain is a fan.
"When my guests want to try something local, I always send them to see my friend Artemio and his family at Taqueria Milear."
Recently opened, this small restaurant serves up authentic mexican meals using Artemio's grandmothers recipes.
"Our neighborhood is changing — but you get a great mixture of old and new Brooklyn. Nostrand Ave is a really good spot where everything is working in a really special way."
Oscar also suggests the newly opened King Tai Bar. It's named after the chinese food restaurant that used to be in the space, but the vibe is seaside Art Deco.
For guests with a sweet tooth, Oscar points towards Richol Bakery. Pastry Chef Albert Richol spent most of his life living and working in Paris, but brought his confections to Brooklyn a few years ago.
"Every business owner brings their own flavor to the neighborhood and that's part of what makes it so diverse and exciting."
"My guests go to a lot of the businesses that are located near our home. They truly help the local businesses in the area."
After a long day of exploring Brooklyn, some of Oscar's guests look to unwind. He recommends they take a class at Urban Asanas, a locally owned yoga and pilates studio right across the street from Tinto.
At the end of their stay, Oscar's guests often leave handwritten notes thanking him for his hospitality and for introducing them to his diverse Brooklyn neighborhood. They value the real New York experience he provides from Tinto's locally roasted coffee and delicious Brooklyn-made treats to his in-depth knowledge of the area. Many guest invite Oscar to come visit their corners of the world–and he would take them up on it if he could ever take time away from Tinto.


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Yesterday, a plot bunny jumped right into my head and I decided to start a new piece of creative writing. I'm not sure what it's going to be– a novel, novella or short story, but I like the idea so much that I can't let it go (speaking of which, if you're a writer, you should never let an idea go without writing it down, but more on that later).
This new idea reminded me of the journey we have to go through to actually put something down on a piece of paper. It's a blank slate. A wealth of ideas that can go in hundreds of different directions, and even more questions that need to be answered. What will the characters be like? What point of view will be used? What will the target audience be? What will the conflict be, where will the climax occur?
You get the point. Starting something new is exciting and scary all at the same time. While it's awesome to just let my creativity go and write down what comes to me, it's also a huge undertaking, whether I'm working on a column, a short story, or a full-length novel. There's so much to think about that sometimes I don't even know where to start.
There are hundreds of resources out there to help, though. The things that I most like to use are novel writing journals, worksheets to develop plot, and worksheets to create personalities of new characters. They really give me an idea of what can be most important when developing a story, like the motivations of the characters and questions about themes and the overall plot. Answering these questions also jumpstarts my creativity and helps me develop more of the story.
If you're a writer and you haven't tried these techniques, I recommend it. Here are some links to resources that I like to use. Click them. Click them now (I'm not being sponsored or anything, I just think they're great).
The Thirty Day Novel Success Journal
All Indie Writers Novel Planning Tools and Worksheets (Check out the outlining tools and templates)
How to Write a Book in Thirty Days Worksheets (Lots of worksheets for basically everything you can think of)


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Reference Books
Focus Books
Study Guides
What Is
Part A
Part B
BOOK - Enterprise Transformation - A Pragmatic Approach Using POET
◄◄◄ Previous Page
Next Page ►►►
The Halo Effect is the idea that our overall impression of a
person can be based on one trait about them. However, For example, if someone
has a likeable personality, people might find that person's other qualities
more appealing.
In a recent experiment, a man made two videos for a dating
website. In the first video, he read the script in an upbeat manner, whereas in
the second, he read the same script in a more melancholy fashion. The first
video was given to a one group of girls and the second was given to another
group, who watched the video in a separate room. The girls who watched the
upbeat video found the man to be likeable, while the girls who watched the
second video found the man to be unpleasant, even though he had read the exact
same script.
However, this halo effect can also be applied to things and
is heavily used in the presentation of products as well as people, using a lot
of style to either detract from or cover up the substance. For example, the
picture above of a group of smiling women. Very happy, laughing, studying,
chatting and generally having a good time. Interestingly, this is the main
image used on the www.yarlswood.co.uk
Yarl's Wood is a secure Immigration Detention Centre in the
UK where people who have been arrested for being illegally in the UK are taken
and held under lock and key before they are deported.
Style over substance favours how things look and a general
feeling of happiness over anything else. It is synonymous with the outside
world where celebrity and presentation has grown to outshine any fundamental
value. The whole world seems consumed with how things look.
"It's not what you say but how you say
This trait generally means that no one wants to rock the
boat and differences of opinions and confrontations are to be avoided at all
costs - regardless of the detriment to the Enterprise.
If people are mediocre, ineffective or inefficient at their
jobs, then this tends to be tolerated so long as they are always happy and get
on with people, smile a lot and are the "life and soul of the party" (of course
there are limits but the general point stands) but if someone points this out
(and by doing so annoys them) then this is not tolerated.
◄◄◄ Previous Page
Next Page ►►►
Questions to ponder...
Do people in your Enterprise favour style over substance?
Can you think of examples where this has happened in the past?
Who were they? What was the impact? Why do you think they acted in this way?
What needs to change to reduce the likelihood of it happening in the future?
Who needs to drive that change?
2008-2018 Pragmatic EA Ltd


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What I will do at this point is link you the blog entry. The reason I will do this is because that is the right way to critique something that someone has done. You criticise something then at least have the good grace to point your readers/viewers at the article/video in question. For the record, TJ did the same.
Here is the blog entry (nestled amongst 152,301 blog entries of nasty names she has been called):
I invite you to read it, that is the right thing for me to do. To be fair she makes some points that beg to be addressed. I think it is fair to say that on a number of occasions, over the years, TJ has been a total cunt (the gender neutrality is slipping a bit, I know).
What was pleasant to see was that TJ DID address them. He made a video response. He even apologised and expressed remorse for some of the comments he had made. Here is that video:
I invite you to watch it, that is the right thing for me to do so that you can judge him for yourself and not rely solely on what I have to say in regard to him.
So that is the background. My purpose for typing this out is not to sing TJ's praises. You can watch his video yourself and decide whether you you think he has responded to the criticisms Greta made (*which i linked for you*) or otherwise. Instead, the purpose of this blog entry is to explore briefly what happened next.
Here is Greta again:
"Note: The Amazing Atheist has apparently put up a video responding to my recent post excoriating his behavior and calling on the atheist community to shun him. (No, I'm not linking to it.) As a result, I am expecting a temporary influx of TAA fans in this blog. I have therefore changed my commenting settings. For now, and until the influx dies down, comments in this blog will automatically go into comment moderation unless someone has commented here before and has had that comment approved. (Translation: Brand-new commenters go into comment moderation.) Thanks for your patience and understanding.
UPDATE: The majority of comments from the influx of fans of The Amazing Atheist are being posted here. I don't want them to derail the thread they're primarily being posted on, and most of them violate my comment policy; but since this conversation is garnering a certain amount of attention, I'm posting them here for the purpose of documentation."
So Greta elsewhere casts the usual scorn on any objections with the always hilarious "Freez Peach" pun (for the uninitiated this is supposed to parody people who decry FtB's lack of "free speech", though I have never managed to determine quite what the joke is) which is summarily rolled out on every other blog entry to such hilarity that sellotape have apparently reported a marked increase in sales as FtBers attempt to tape their split sides up.
But this complaint is not about free speech. In fact not only do I fully support Greta's right to be as big a wanker as she wishes with regards to skewing the debate on her own blog but I would actively defend her right to do so, were it to come under serious pressure. However, just as she has a right to set the rules I also have a right to criticise them.
I think through my time on Youtube and the internet and my interactions with theists. Always I looked down on the way they managed and limited interactions by selectively moderating and blocking those they disagreed with. I always felt a slight air of superiority that atheists didn't need to do that; that atheists had the tools for the arguments to stand up for themselves. The very LAST thing we needed to do was to make sure that our audience was kept away from theist perspectives.
How disillusioning the last couple of years has been for me. Believe me, i really DO appreciate how disillusioning it must be for Greta et al to see the extreme aggression and bigotry of some people in their community. it must come as a shock to them. No less of a shock is the shock I have experienced that some in our community (Greta counts as one) are no better than the folks I used to look down upon who "manage" exchanges and information through the judicious and skewed application of the various censorious options their webspaces have open to them.
Make no mistake: this is not about free speech. In fact my guess is that Greta and her chums are in the majority. The Christian forums and the Stormfronts of this world all do the same thing. I suppose I just thought that maybe we were the exception; that atheists had a bit more confidence to hide from other perspectives and shut our spaces from alternative viewpoints when expressed other than through our own mouthpieces.
I particularly want to draw your attention to this:
The Amazing Atheist has apparently put up a video responding to my recent post excoriating his behavior and calling on the atheist community to shun him. (No, I'm not linking to it.)
I find that beyond pathetic. When Thunderf00t did the same thing years back (pre all this left wing* politicisation of atheism online) when he pulled to pieces a muslim called DawahFilms I went on record on YouTube and labelled his behaviour a "cunt's trick", not for his position with regard to DF but for not linking his viewers to the video Dawah had made so that they could judge for themselves. It was a cunt's trick when TF pulled it and it is a cunt's trick that Greta has pulled here: no mistake.
Truly I find this approach pathetic. Like the old days in the UK when the IRA (and I assure you I feel nothing but loathing for that organisation) was barred from speaking on British tv so we had the ludicrous situation where Sinn Fein politicians (such as Adams and McGuinness) would be talking to camera with their voices replaced with the voice of someone else. What were we afraid of? That their arguments would be so persuasive that we would all start agreeing with them? Hell, if that WAS the case then they should have been allowed to speak, surely? What is Greta afraid of that she feels she has to stop her readers from hearing TJ's response outside of her cherry-picked interpretation of it?
Not pathetic.......... (insert a word that means really really really pathetic)
I respect Greta's right to censor and block. She blocked me ages ago and no wonder: anyone who watches my videos will be in no doubt what a truly desperately awful person I am and how important it is that no-one could be subjected to my weasel words, or her followers subjected to the notion that some other atheists may have some fundamentally and substantially different viewpoints to their own. Horror of horrors! But this is a new low. A new low smugly waved away with another hilarious round of "freez peach" jokes to pre-empt any comments such as this.
I, for one, am not buying it.
When you make a blog post pulling someone to pieces then man/woman up and point your readers to the reply. there is something truly contemptible about trashing someone (even if it is deserved) and then when they attempt to respond to your criticisms doing everything in your powers to shield your readers from what they have to say.
The editorial staff of The Sun would truly be proud. Well done Christina, you make the atheists of this world look a little less distinct from the theists and the bigots.
*I am personally politically central and see positives and negatives on both political wings (and I happily advocate socialist models for many things). My comment here was not intended to be explicitly anti-left wing it is just that atheism is no more left wing than it is right wing and i fucking hate political land grabs!