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Legalese: It is good practicefor there to be a clear list of basic services and seperate lists for additional services says Mark Klimt
I frequently receive calls on the RIBA Helpline from architects who have resolved to end their appointment with a particularly demanding client. I am struck by the single-minded determination of these consultants to end the association, despite the present unfavourable trading conditions and despite any inconvenience or liability that the consultant might face as a result.
Very often the tipping point is the client's ungrateful attitude towards the consultant's additional services, which affronts the architect because of latitude that has already been extended to the client. It is as if a switch has been flicked in the architect's mind, as all the indulgences that have been afforded to the client lead the architect to the immovable conclusion 'no more'. In a way, it is the passion and commitment to a project turned in upon itself.
There are, though, a few steps that it would be prudent to take at the beginning and throughout a commission, in order to give oneself the best chance of avoiding this sort of meltdown. The starting point, as with so many issues, is to try and have an agreement that is clearly worded and explains precisely what will be a basic service and what will be an additional service. This is likely to involve protracted and detailed discussion which some architects are reluctant to engage in at the start of a project for fear of poisoning the well before the relationship is under way.
However, a responsible client ought also to recognise the benefit of having certainty in the contract. It is good practice, therefore, for there to be a clear list of basic services and separate lists for additional or other services (such as is contained in the RIBA Standard Appointment documents).
Provision should also be made - and this is particularly important where the architect has agreed a lump sum for basic services - for a basic service to become an additional service if it expands (whether in time or volume) beyond what could reasonably have been contemplated when the fee was agreed.
For example, a clause could be added stating that if the work increased by more than X per cent, this shall be separately remunerated as an additional service.
A client, meanwhile, will want a mechanism whereby it is informed when additional services arise and additional costs accrue. Such a mechanism must, though, be workable both ways. An architect should not commit to giving a precise advance quote for additional services, because it is unlikely that the extent of the required services will be known ahead of time.
Also, if there is a process whereby the client is to approve these additional services in advance, there should also be a fall-back process if the client drags its feet over any such decision. Too often, a client will rely upon the professional commitment of its architect to do what is necessary, without actually formally endorsing this action, thereby putting the architect's chance of recovering fees at risk.
Once a workable mechanism has been agreed between the parties, the architect must ensure that it complies with the process, rather than relying on the far more uncertain route of the additional fees being recoverable because they were incurred with the client's actual or implied knowledge. If formal written notice needs to be given, for example, then this should be done.
Just as a client is not prepared to be held to ransom over fees incurred without its consent, an architect should not allow itself to be put in the position of being professionally compromised. A well-worded suspension or termination clause covering the eventuality of client approval not being provided is therefore necessary. Ironically, particularly as these recommendations are proposed in order to avoid a bitter falling-out with the client, the clearer and simpler the termination provisions are, the less likely it is that they will ever be called upon.
Mark Klimt is a partner at Fishburns. He is legal adviser to the RIBA and operates the RIBA Helpline
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
1 syllable
- bonn's, brons, bronze, caen's, cons, don's, dons, donze, fons, han's, hons, hwan's, jahns, john's, johns, jon's, kahn's, khan's, konz, lons, ons, pons, ron's, schons, sohns, sons', spawns, swann's, swans, vons
2 syllables
- alphonse, batons, kahan's, lat-lons, milan's, omans, put-ons, run-ons, salons, slip-ons, st-johns, taiwan's, tehran's, tehrans, try-ons, walk-ons, yuan's, yvonne's
3 syllables
- afrikaans, goings-ons, kazakhstan's, nithuekan's, teheran's, teherans
4 syllables
- azerbaijan's
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text:
So here are some of my goals:
- Order FHL films for wills and probate records of my Indiana ancestors. I plan to order the first one this week.
- Order death certificates for my ancestors. I read somewhere (unfortunately I don't remember where) that vital records are in lots of danger from laws that keep them hidden. So I am going to attempt to get as many death records as I can this summer just in case laws change.
- Work on new indexing project. After finishing my Vevay Newspaper Index, I have been looking for something else for Switzerland and Ohio county, Indiana researchers. I have decided to compile a list of all the census enumerators in these counties. It's a field that many people do not look at on the census form when they search for their ancestors and I hope I find some of my ancestors during this time.
- Read my genealogy books.
- Work on National Institute of Genealogical Studies course. I will be working on the Analysis and Skills Mentoring Program-Part 2. I started it, but haven't really dived in yet. It is my last course in the intermediate course set.
- Write at least 3 ancestor profiles. This is part of my 2010 resolutions.
- Visit my ancestor's graves in the Cincinnati area.
- Borrow more photos from my grandma's house to scan.
- And the big finale for the summer will be attending the 2010 FGS conference in Knoxville, Tennessee.


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200 years ago this week, John Snow was born. Here at Public Health Perspectives, we're pretty big fans of his.
Stephen Johnson, who wrote a book about Snow's 1854 cholera investigation called The Ghost Map, walks us through the story in a TED talk. Go ahead and watch. I'll wait.
Snow has been called the father of modern epidemiology, and his map praised by no less than Edward Tufte. His story wasn't remarkable in any single respect (he wasn't even the first to map cholera deaths in Victorian London) but it brings together so many important aspects of public health that we're still learning from today. Here are my top three:
1. Data visualizations can make powerful arguments for change
In 1854, the same year as Snow's cholera outbreak, war broke out in the Crimean peninsula. Florence Nightingale was a nurse to the wounded there, and created these famous polar area diagrams depicting causes of death among the soldiers. Preventable diseases dwarfed battle wounds in mortality:
John Maindonald writes in the Journal of Statistics Education that Nightingale "made strong, consistent and carefully argued cases for enlightened and data-based public decision-making." The charts were a big part of that.
Today, we rely on visualizations like Snow's. The World Health Organization has a big pile of cholera maps, and it's totally no big deal. Disease mapping is still fertile ground for innovation, though: doctors can now mark patients on outbreak maps with their iPhones, and social media can be data-mined to show how disease spreads.
2. Microbes have been under our nose all this time
While John Snow was arguing that there was something harmful in the water on Broad Street, Filippo Pacini was staring through his microscope in Italy at the germ later named Vibrio cholerae.
Although we got a pretty good handle on pathogens in the 19th century, we're still learning about the good guys under the microscope. The Human Microbiome Project is one major effort to figure out just what species we're carrying around, whether we all carry the same ones (and, if not, what the differences mean) and what all this has to do with our health.
We now have evidence that microbes regulate blood pressure, contribute to obesity, affect brain function, and train our immune systems, just to name a few. The ones that cause or prevent acne are literally under our nose.
3. Sanitation and clean water are (still!) really important.
Many of the world's worst diseases are passed through the fecal-oral route. It's the way those germs evolved: get the host to poop you out, and you're on your way toward a free ride into the next person's gut.
Preventing that mode of transmission means separating the water you drink (and the food you eat) from, as Water.org delicately puts it, "yesterday's dinner." Billions of people lack adequate sanitation. According to Water.org's numbers, more people worldwide have a cell phone than a toilet, and diarrheal diseases kill more children than malaria, AIDS, and measles combined.
Stephen Johnson mentions in his talk that when cholera next broke out in London, officials told those in the affected area to boil their water; sewers were already under construction. That, he says, was the last major outbreak in the city.
Today, the challenge is getting clean water to, and waste away from, people mainly in rural areas in developing countries. Among the newest efforts: the Sanitation App Challenge (winners to be announced next week). Contenders include apps like the Trashmaster and the Ladies Room Finder.
The difference between now and 1854 is: we're aware of all this stuff. We have giants' shoulders to stand on. And yet, the supply of public health puzzles is probably infinite. So let's get back to work after toasting the man who made, as Stephen Johnson put it, "a map of deaths that ended up creating a whole new way of life."


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ESX Day 2 (for me): 'CSAA is in really good shape'
It's been a busy day so far at ESX, and it's not over yet. Going through notes both typed and recorded can be a time-consuming process… It takes a lot of love and devotion for the industry to get these posts and stories out. What I wouldn't do for security!
Anyway, I hit a few of the seminars today, attended the Icebreaker Luncheon, met with some industry folks and attended the CSAA General Membership meeting, which I found very interesting.
CSAA treasurer Daniel Demers with Montreal-based Reliance Protectron Security Services (I wrote about those guys last year), proudly announced that CSAA has been going gangbusters lately. "We're very excited because it looks like this is going to be another really good year. CSAA is in really good shape … Look at the contributions. It's really impressive. Growing dues and growing meetings," Demers said. "We're going to be over $700,000 for this year for the dues."
CSAA president Ed Bonifas appealed to those in attendance to donate or loan classic pieces of security industry equipment to CSAA's new industry museum which will be set to open next month–assuming there are pieces in residence to put on display.
Bonifas also officially announced the approval of ETL-listing as sufficient for an alarm company to join CSAA. I spoke with ETL's national sales manager, Life Safety & Security Commercial & Electrical Jeff Baum and director, Life Safety and Security Services Global Commercial & Electrical Tom Connaughton later in the day. I covered some of ETL's struggle for recognition earlier in the year.
CSAA EVP Steve Doyle talked a little bit about the CAD-to-CAD program Pam Petrow and others have been tirelessly working on. He mentioned that CSAA was forming three committees to help with the wide launch of the program. One committee, which Steve characterized as a Public Outreach Committee would be responsible for spreading the word about what the program was and what the recently established nationally recognized standard was for. If you missed out on any of SSN's coverage, you can check out my writings on the subject here, here, and here.
SIAC executive director Stan Martin gave an industry/municipality relations update, noting in particular some tough goings on down in Arizona. "We've got about 10 municipalities down there who are thinking about going to verified response, but we've been working really hard and we're sure they'll all fall in line." Martin said of the troubles I documented down in the Greater Phoenix area.
Lou Fiore delivered a standards committee update, in which he announced a video verification standard draft was in progress, an audio verification standard draft had been completed, a PERS response standard and video dispatch standard committees had been started. I wrote about MAMA's Spring Meeting a short time ago and highlighted that one of their accomplishments had been the formation of a standards committee. Fiore said that CSAA hoped the two committees could focus their efforts and work together.
Then it was off to my sit down with Jeff and Tom from ETL. That was a very interesting talk, into which I'll further delve in a separate post or story.
Then it was time for the CSAA 60th Anniversary Gala and the Weinstock Awards, which were cool. I was tweeting like a madman the whole time, so check those tweets out. James Orvis of Security Solutions won the coveted Weinstock Person of the Year Award. He seemed truly amazed, humbled and grateful. "Wow. 'I'm shocked' is a bit of understatement," Orvis said. "I accept this on behalf of my family as well. Thank you."
I got to hang out with Melissa Courville from DICE and CSAA's Celia Besore for a while, which was cool since it's the first time I've met her, despite calling her ad nauseam for just about everything since my first day here and my first blog post almost two years ago.
Overall a very satisfying and busy day. Tomorrow looks a little less busy and I'm anxious to walk the floor. We'll see what happens.

June 24th, 2010 at 12:02 pm

Hey Missy,

Of course, I speak with both you and Celia on a regular basis. I meant my first blog post was two years ago ;-). It's hard to believe that much time has gone by since I first started typing away in the Monitor This! blog.

Thanks for the comment. Drop by any time.


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NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman broke his right fibula and dislocated his ankle upon landing from a parachute jump for charity in Florida, the team said on Monday.
Cashman, 45, the main executive who decides which multimillion-dollar contracts to offer on Major League Baseball's highest paid team, was attempting to raise awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project, which aids U.S. military veterans when they return from war.
He was injured on the second of two tandem jumps with a parachutist from the U.S. Army Golden Knights at the Homestead Air Reserve Base outside of Miami, the team said in a statement.
Surgery was scheduled for later on Monday at Broward Health Medical Center, the statement said.
"I'm in great spirits and it was an awesome experience," Cashman said in the statement. "The Golden Knights are first class. While I certainly didn't intend to raise awareness in exactly this fashion, I'm extremely happy that the Wounded Warrior Project is getting the well-deserved additional attention."
In recent years, Cashman has rappelled from the roof of the 22-story Landmark Building in Stamford, Connecticut, in what has become a Christmas season tradition.
Cashman was also in the news for non-baseball reasons last year when a woman was arrested on charges of stalking him. The woman has pleaded not guilty.
(For details, see: www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ )
Reporting by Daniel Trotta, editing by G Crosse


text: Become a Sponsor Join our CommunitySponsor the APDA New Jersey ChapterWe're thankful for the support of our event sponsors. Interested in partnering with APDA?Why sponsor a local APDA event?It's a great way to support the fight against PDShow your customers that you careConnect with your target audienceFoster goodwill within your communityHelp APDA raise the most funds possible to help people impacted by PD in your areaWe are looking for good partners like you! For more information about sponsorship opportunities, please complete the form below.Name* First Last Company*Email* Why are you interested in partnering with APDA?Would you like to join our mailing list?Yes!No Thanks.Please check the box below:


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Hello Shaleen,
One thing is your spouse feeling insecure about maybe being older than you and the fact that you still have communication with your ex but another is treating your family bad! No excuse! Unfortunately you will forever have communication with your ex because you have a connection brought upon by having children together. She cannot blackmail you into not communicating or having contact with your ex or children. She should have known this when getting together with you. It comes with the package. You need to put your foot down and let her know that she cannot have that attitude! If you accept it,than this will bring great turmoil to your marriage! Family is everything especially when you love your family. She might need to speak to someone about her fears and insecurities.
Just a thought!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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LXer Weekly Roundup for 21-Sept-2008
In this weeks Roundup we have, The Large Hadron Collider survives its first attacks from hackers, 5 Useful Tips to Customize Firefox 3, Android gets closer to being released, Carls Schroder opines on what it means to be a "geek" and University of Santa Barbara researchers show incredibly easy it is to compromise the security on a Sequoia Systems voting machine. Also, 10 things Linux does better than Windows, a Richard Stallman interview, VLC gets a new look and Google Chrome for Linux?
What is happening in the world of Ubuntu?: I have been talking about Ubuntu for a number of articles now and how easy it is to use. In this article I will look at the next two upcoming versions and investigate what they have to offer. Ubuntu, unlike other Operating Systems which could be mentioned, strive for a predictable release schedule. They have only missed it once in eight releases and then only by two months. A new version of Ubuntu is released every six months in April and October. The naming convention is associated with the year and the month that it is released. 8.04 was released in 2008 in the 4th month, April. The previous release was 7.10 in October 2007.
5 Useful Tips to Customize Firefox 3: Firefox is the most popular browser on Linux, being the browser of choice for over 70% of the Linux users. I this article I explained 5 of the most useful and used tips in Firefox, together with screenshots where I considered necessary. Most of them are related with the about:config variables, but I also provided a graphical way of doing things where it was possible.
42 of the Best Free Linux Graphics Software: Linux is a very strong platform for budding artists, photographers, animators, and designers. With inexpensive hardware, free software, and a modicum of talent and inspiration, anyone can create professional-looking computer graphics.
Battle Brews Over Firefox In Ubuntu 8.10: Firefox, what's not to love about this open-source web browser? Well, a number of users following the development work on Ubuntu 8.10 (the Intrepid Ibex) are feeling rather outraged over Mozilla Firefox 3.0.2 and later. In the latest Ubuntu packages, Firefox requires an EULA (End-User License Agreement) be accepted the first time you launch the browser. The EULA mostly deals with agreeing to Mozilla's trademark policies for Firefox.
The Large Hadron Collider switches on. If it's the end of the world, it will be powered by GNU/Linux: You know a science story is big when an experiment gets first or second billing on the main evening news—and it's not even a slow news day. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is up and running as I write and as far as I can tell I'm still here, so it looks like the doomsayers were a little premature. Unless I'm writing this piece from the far side of the singularity of a black hole in a parallel universe. The LHC is an huge experiment (a snip at $10 billion) to explore the very small and very energetic sub-atomic world to verify, amongst other things, if the Higgs Boson really exists. That will be a monumental triumph for science and the human spirit. I have always been fascinated by particle physics, despite by academic background in the Humanities and I will be following the progress at CERN with great interest.
OpenSolaris 2008.05 is robust and ready: Sun has been getting serious about opening up its software for a few years now. OpenSolaris, an open source Unix operating system like Linux and BSD, released in May, is its latest foray into the open source arena. I found OpenSolaris to be a production-ready OS that works equally well on desktops and servers. OpenSolaris is released under Sun's Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL), which isn't compatible with the GNU Public License (GPL) used by Linux. This means that lots of the technology in OpenSolaris won't be making its way into Linux any day soon. Also, OpenSolaris isn't 100% free, as some components are available only in binary form under the OpenSolaris Binary License.
Everything You Wanted to Know about the New Android Cell Phone: I spoke to Rob Jackson, who started the Phandroid blog and the AndroidForums.com discussion groups and asked him about the impact of the release of the first Android-powered (open source) cell phone, the HTC Dream, which is due for release by T-Mobile on Oct. 20th.
Opinion: The Road to Geekdom: Don't get into IT because you want an air-conditioned office. Get into it because it's your passion. Not sure it's your passion? There are a lot of free tools that'll help you explore.
Not Worried Enough Yet?: Researchers at UCSB have demonstrated how ridiculously easy it is to compromise voting machines from Sequoia Voting Systems, which are currently used in 17 states and the District of Columbia.
Linux devotee tries to spread the word: Larry Cafiero is sitting in his cluttered office in the Santa Cruz Mountains looking nothing like a revolutionary. Friendly bearded face. Casual blue jeans. Comfy work shirt with the little penguin logo. Yeah, penguin logo. See, Cafiero is a Linux guy. Maybe you know one — or a Linux woman. Maybe you know that to love Linux is to live Linux — that you don't just use free and open-source software, you embrace it and evangelize it. Some more than others.
OpenGL 3 & DirectX 11: The War Is Over: Given the prevalence of DirectX nowadays, we tend to forget that 10 years ago an all-out war was being waged between Microsoft and Silicon Graphics in the field of 3D APIs. The two companies were both trying to win over developers, with Microsoft using its financial muscle and SGI relying on its experience and its reputation in the field of real-time 3D.
10 things Linux does better than Windows: If you tallied up the strengths and weaknesses of Linux and Windows, which OS would come out ahead? According to Jack Wallen, superiority in security, flexibility, interoperability, community, and command-line power (among other things) put Linux well ahead. See if you agree with his assessment.
Meet 120 Companies Running Ubuntu Linux Servers and Desktops: The next time somebody tells you that Ubuntu isn't for business, check out this list of more than 120 businesses and organizations across the globe running Ubuntu on servers, desktops and mobile systems. The companies are part of the fast-growing Works With U 1000 list, which will eventually track 1,000 Ubuntu-focused companies across the globe. Take a look or add your company to the list.
Richard Stallman Interview: Richard Stallman talks about GNU's 25th anniversary, Google Chrome, sharing non-free software, preinstalled GNU/Linux on pc, NDA, OLPC XO.
Installing VirtualBox 2.0.0 On Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop: This tutorial shows how you can install Sun xVM VirtualBox on an Ubuntu 8.04 desktop. With VirtualBox you can create and run guest operating systems (virtual machines) such as Linux and Windows under a host operating system. There are two ways of installing VirtualBox: from precompiled binaries that are available for some distributions and come under the PUEL license, and from the sources that are released under the GPL. This article will show how to set up VirtualBox 2.0.0 from the precompiled binaries.
OpenOffice.org 3.0 Promises New Life for Office Software: OpenOffice.org is in an unenviable place. Office suites -- word processors, spreadsheets, presentations and the ilk -- are utilitarian, complex bundles of software. They are a necessity of modern life, used daily by individuals and businesses all over the world. It isn't that people take them for granted. People don't consider them much at all. It has been a long time since I've had any feelings whatsoever about an office suite. There have been developments in office software that have been innovative, such as online document creation.
VLC gets a new look on Windows and Linux: After two years in development, VLC, the universal media player, has moved from the 0.8.x versions to version 0.9.2. The release, named "Grishenko", is available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and other operating systems, is available to download from the Videolan web site. The most visible new feature in the Windows and Linux versions is a new user interface. The new interface uses Qt4, replacing the previous wxWidgets-based interface as the default interface and allowing for better internationalisation and a richer set of graphical controls.
Google Chrome . . . for Linux?!: As some of you know, Google released a new browser recently, something calledChrome. The idea is/was to fix everything that is wrong with browsers and make the Web browsers a tool to run applications. As opposed to just viewing Web pages. I'm being a bit silly here, but Chrome is built to be more like an operating system than a plain old browser. There's more but it's all only for Windows users since a Linux version doesn't yet exist. Wait . . . What? Check out this screenhost (click it for a full screen view).
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text: Main Content Act 350 of 1980 friendly link Printer Friendly bills affecting index and updates Search within this Statute for THE NONPROFIT HEALTH CARE CORPORATION REFORM ACTAct 350 of 1980AN ACT to provide for the incorporation of nonprofit health care corporations; to provide their rights, powers, and immunities; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state officers relative to the exercise of those rights, powers, and immunities; to prescribe certain conditions for the transaction of business by those corporations in this state; to define the relationship of health care providers to nonprofit health care corporations and to specify their rights, powers, and immunities with respect thereto; to provide for a Michigan caring program; to provide for the regulation and supervision of nonprofit health care corporations by the commissioner of insurance; to prescribe powers and duties of certain other state officers with respect to the regulation and supervision of nonprofit health care corporations; to provide for the imposition of a regulatory fee; to regulate the merger or consolidation of certain corporations; to prescribe an expeditious and effective procedure for the maintenance and conduct of certain administrative appeals relative to provider class plans; to provide for certain administrative hearings relative to rates for health care benefits; to provide for the creation of and the powers and duties of certain nonprofit corporations for the purpose of receiving and administering funds for the public welfare; to provide for certain causes of action; to prescribe penalties and to provide civil fines for violations of this act; and to repeal acts and parts of acts. History: 1980, Act 350, Eff. Apr. 3, 1981 ;-- Am. 1991, Act 60, Imd. Eff. June 27, 1991 ;-- Am. 1994, Act 169, Imd. Eff. June 17, 1994 ;-- Am. 2013, Act 4, Imd. Eff. Mar. 18, 2013 Compiler's Notes: For transfer of the Department of Insurance and Office of the Commissioner on Insurance from the Department of Licensing and Regulation to the Department of Commerce, see E.R.O. No. 1991-9, compiled at MCL 338.3501 of the Michigan Compiled Laws.For transfer of authority, powers, duties, functions, and responsibilities of the insurance bureau and the commissioner of insurance to the commissioner of the office of financial and insurance services and the office of financial and insurance services, see E.R.O. No. 2000-2, compiled at MCL 445.2003 of the Michigan compiled laws.Popular Name: Blue Cross-Blue ShieldPopular Name: Act 350 © 2017 Legislative Council, State of MichiganThe People of the State of Michigan enact: DocumentTypeDescription 350-1980-1DivisionPART 1 (550.1101...550.1108) 350-1980-2DivisionPART 2 (550.1201...550.1220) 350-1980-3DivisionPART 3 (550.1301...550.1313) 350-1980-4DivisionPART 4 (550.1400...550.1439) 350-1980-4ADivisionPART 4A MEDICARE SUPPLEMENT CERTIFICATES (550.1451...550.1499a) 350-1980-5DivisionPART 5 (550.1501...550.1518) 350-1980-6DivisionPART 6 (550.1601...550.1620) 350-1980-6ADivisionPART 6A HEALTH ENDOWMENT FUND CORPORATIONS (550.1651...550.1655) 350-1980-7DivisionPART 7 (550.1701...550.1704)


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- Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Who said what after Friday practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Read what the drivers and teams had to say after Friday practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Race:
- Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Heikki Kovalainen - FP1: 20th
"Generally the car was a bit on the nose to start with. Under braking and turning in it was on a bit of a knife edge and the tyres started going off quite early so that contributed to the handling issue, but we made a few changes and by the third run of the day we'd made some good progress with the balance. It was pretty neutral by the end of the session but the tyres had completely gone by then so we weren't learning too much more, but overall a decent session and good to contribute again this weekend to help the team in Abu Dhabi."
Charles Pic - FP1: 19th, FP2: 21st
"FP1 was all about trying to turn down how strong the front of the car was, particularly on turn-in to the corners. The aero balance was pretty good but the car was too pointy for me on each run and even though we improved the rear I didn't have a balance I was really happy with for the whole session
"In FP2 the temperatures were obviously lower than FP1 and the balance wasn't as good as it had been in FP1. I was also struggling to get temperature into the front tyres so we had a look at that on the performance run as the conditions are obviously much more like they will be in quali in FP2. On the run on options they came up to temperature much faster, the fronts were actually easy to warm up but the balance overall was still a bit on the understeer side, especially on entry and mid-corner. We added more front wing for the long run but I still had issues with the front warm up. Overall the car was understeering and I had some issues with braking stability so we'll look at that in detail tonight and aim to fix it for tomorrow."
Giedo van der Garde - FP2: 19th
"I was back in the car for FP2 and it felt pretty good right from the first run. The rears were locking a bit too much and the car wasn't planted in the high speeds but overall it was ok. I did a couple of runs on the mediums to begin with, then onto the softs for the performance run and I have to say the car felt pretty generally stable. We did have a bit of rear locking under braking and I would have like a bit more front end, but we made a few changes for the run on the softs and it was feeling good - my quickest lap was ok but I know there's more to come for quali, especially if we can improve the front end.
"On the long run I stayed on the options. The front tyres were cooling a lot which created understeer, but by the end of the run they were starting to come back. The rears were very consistent throughout the run so that gives us some interesting strategy options for the race. I haven't tried the primes on a long run yet but Charles has so we'll see what his data says tonight and then we can progress tomorrow."
FerrariFernando Alonso - FP1: 12th, FP2: 8th
"Compared to other Fridays, today we were a bit less competitive than usual and now we need to work out if that is down to the fact that the track characteristics do not suit our car, or if it's a question of set-up. The tyres work better here than in India, where they suffered a lot from blistering in the fast corners, while here they are better, especially at night when the temperature drops. Unfortunately, in performance terms, we are behind our rivals for second place in the Constructors' classification. Compared to the start of the year, they have improved and will be difficult to beat, but tomorrow we will make some changes and will do our utmost because we absolutely don't want to give up the fight".
Felipe Massa - FP1: 17th, FP2: 10th
"Today we got through the entire programme we had planned for this day, concentrating on set-up and the behaviour of the two Pirelli compounds. At the moment, I am not very pleased with the car's behaviour, as we are not as competitive as I'd expected to be. On this track, we found ourselves running in daytime in the sunshine, with very high temperatures, with the conditions changing completely in the evening and in this situation, it's not easy to understand which direction to go in. Now we will try and work out how to improve the car's performance for tomorrow's qualifying, which we know won't be easy, but we'll give it our best shot".
Pat Fry, engineering director
"As far as the work programme was concerned, this was a Friday like any other, but when it comes to the results it was rather complicated. We had a few small aerodynamic components to try and the analysis crossed over the performance of both cars, which provided enough data to choose the best configuration for the race. Here, in order to establish the best set-up, you have to take into consideration the changing track conditions between the first and second sessions. In both of them, we struggled to find the right grip level, especially on the Medium compound. In the late afternoon, the situation got better and we worked on the balance of the cars, but the results were not that satisfactory. The performance difference between the two compounds is very high and some cars, including ours, made up almost two seconds a lap. This unusual difference in performance from the Medium tyres clearly shows what a margin for improvement there is and that's why tonight, we will evaluate solutions better suited to giving our drivers a more competitive car".
Force IndiaJames Calado - FP1: 14th
"Yas Marina Circuit is a track I know really well so it was easy to get up to speed today and within one or two laps I was feeling quite comfortable. The rest of the session went pretty well and I was able to complete the comparison work with the set-up. The balance felt good, but I was suffering with high tyre wear on the medium, especially through the final sector."
Paul di Resta - FP1: 7th, FP2: 13th
"It's been quite a positive day. The general balance is not too bad, although there's still work to do to improve the car through the high-speed part of the lap. The main issue of the afternoon was the brake failure on the front left, which caused me to run wide at turn eight. The team chose to change the brake material, which cost us about 15 minutes of track time, but we were able to do a long run on the soft tyre at the end of the session."
Adrian Sutil - FP2: 15th
"It's hard to say too much about today because we had to change the brake material in the middle of the second session. That had quite a big impact on the car and it was difficult to make a comparison with the set-up changes. There is quite a big difference between the two tyre compounds and at the moment I'm struggling more with the medium tyres. The general balance of the car felt okay so I'm still positive we can be in good shape tomorrow."
Robert Fernley, deputy team principal
"It's been a positive day overall. The only real issue was the brake failure on Paul's car, which fortunately did not cost us too much track time. He was able to return to the pits and we fitted new brake material to both cars as a precautionary measure. I feel optimistic that we can build on the performance level we showed in India last weekend. The long run pace looks competitive, especially on the soft tyre, and both drivers felt happy with the general balance."
LotusKimi Raikkonen - FP1: 6th, FP2: 4th
"The car feels okay and we had a pretty normal Friday. The shorter chassis feels okay here, but I didn't drive it back to back with the longer one so it's difficult to say which is better. We're still trying to get rid of some understeer, but on this circuit it feels better so far. As always, there are some improvements we can make to the car so let's see what happens tomorrow."
Romain Grosjean - FP1: 1st, FP2: 12th
"It's been a pretty good day even if we missed time in the later session whilst the brakes were worked on. We also had a little vibration that needed looking at, but it wasn't the end of the world. The car feels pretty good as we saw with the fastest time in the first session, so I'm sure we'll get on top of everything we need to for tomorrow."
Alan Permane, trackside operations director
"As always in Abu Dhabi, we saw two very different sessions on Friday; the first taking place in daylight with very high track temperatures, the second in much more representative evening temperatures which is what we'll see for qualifying and the race. We completed limited setup work in FP1 - focusing on setting ride heights rather than car balance - then used FP2 to complete our normal evaluations of the two tyre compounds. Unfortunately Romain had a brake disc failure which lost him some track time, and there was a small vibration when he returned to the track so we cut his day short in order to fully investigate this issue. Kimi meanwhile had a good day and looks competitive on both tyres. He wanted to try the short wheelbase car again as he felt its characteristics would suit this circuit. So far it all looks good and this configuration will be kept on his car for the remainder of the weekend. His long-run pace looks very encouraging on both tyres."
Rodolfo Gonzalez - FP1: 22nd
"It has been good to be back in the car again and to be running at such an awesome circuit. Over 22 laps we achieved a lot of data for the Team which will be quite important in determining how we progress from here over the rest of the weekend. As always it's good to be conducting work that is so helpful to the Team and I look forward to seeing how it works out over the next couple of days."
Jules Bianchi - FP1: 21st: , FP2: 20th
"I'm quite pleased with how today has gone for me. We seemed strong from the start with the new aero development we had this morning and we have done some more good work with the new suspension components. This afternoon the conditions were pretty much as we expect them to be for qualy and the race - the same light and temperatures - so it is quite good to find ourselves where we are in terms of the competition. I think it will be very close so we are taking nothing for granted, just pushing all the way for the best result on Sunday."
Max Chilton - FP2: 22nd
"A shorter day for me having made way for Rodolfo's planned Free Practice session this morning. I've driven here before so I am pretty familiar with the track and the acclimatisation was short. Just as I was getting into my run I felt something wrong with my car. It seems that I had a damaged brake duct, but we're not quite sure how it happened. The guys worked well to replace the duct and turn the car around and I was pleased to get quite a few laps in after that. We are finding our way with the car balance a little but now is a good time to do that as these are the conditions we expect in qualifying and the race. Not a bad start but quite a lot of thinking to do in preparation for FP3."
John Booth, team principal
"With the track and air temperatures in FP1 being unrepresentative for the conditions we will experience in the race, we opted to do a significant number of aero data collection runs with Rodolfo and Jules to evaluate a small aerodynamic upgrade we have put on the car this weekend. Rodolfo continued his running in what were quite challenging conditions, which he coped with well. Jules was immediately happy with the car balance, which was pleasing, and he demonstrated that the developments have worked as expected. Into FP2, with lower track temperatures, both race drivers continued to work on optimising the car balance with the suspension development we first tried in India. Overall we are pleased with the data we have collected and happy that the aero upgrade Jules ran is performing as expected, therefore we will apply this development to both cars this evening. "
McLarenJenson Button - FP1: 8th, FP2: 7th
"It was a pretty good day in terms of understanding the car. Our direction with the set-up looks reasonably good, too. I also think both tyres are working reasonably well around here. I got my fastest lap on my first attempt on the Option tyre, which most people didn't, so I'm quite happy about that. My long runs proved quite tricky, however - first, because of traffic, and, second, because I was delayed by an issue that we initially thought was a puncture but that actually turned out to be a sensor failure. As a result, I had to drive slowly back to the pits, after which I lost a lot of track time because we had to replace some parts on the car that had got a bit warm during that slow lap. Still, all in all, I think we're in reasonable shape here."
Sergio Perez - FP1: 10th, FP2: 6th
"This was a productive day for the whole team - I felt really comfortable with the car in both sessions, and really enjoyed my time on the track today. I feel happy with my car, and I don't expect to change too much. Normally, we change quite a lot on the car between Friday and Saturday in order to refine the balance and set-up, but I don't think we'll be doing too much of that tonight. The Option tyre is performing quite a lot better than it was in India. While I think we feel more comfortable with the softer tyre, it'll still be difficult to make a one-stop strategy work on Sunday. Tomorrow, I'd like to see us get into Q3."
Martin Whitmarsh, team principal
"After our encouraging performance in India last week, it appears that we've been able to carry that momentum forwards to this weekend. Both Jenson and Checo enjoyed productive sessions: while our focus this afternoon was once again on understanding and developing concepts and components for 2014, the evening's session quickly proved productive as we progressed through our set-up and tyre evaluation work. Despite a sensor failure for Jenson - which prompted us to believe that he'd suffered a puncture - both drivers got a decent amount of mileage under their belts and reported that the car was behaving well around this circuit. For tomorrow, we feel we already have a useful understanding of the car, but we'll be looking to further refine that ahead of the qualifying session."
MercedesLewis Hamilton - FP1: 2nd, FP2: 3rd
"Today was a fairly standard Friday programme for us, although the second session is always more valuable here as it's so much more reflective of the race conditions. As the temperatures cool down, the characteristics of the car change and you get an increase in understeer, so the main challenge is to try and pre-empt the set-up that you're going to need. Physically it gets easier when the sun goes down but you don't even notice the visibility change as they do such a good job of lighting the track. A decent start today but there's a lot of work ahead of us over the weekend and we'll give it everything we can as always."
Nico Rosberg - FP1: 5th, FP2: 5th
"We didn't learn a great deal during the first practice session today as it was so hot and we won't have those conditions in qualifying or the race. I struggled a little on the option tyres but was able to find a better rhythm when we switched to the primes. It should be an interesting race from a strategy perspective as the tyres seem to be right on the limit of one or two stops. Our aim is to be the best of the rest again which I'm quite confident we can achieve and score some important points."
Ross Brawn, team principal
"It was an interesting Friday, covering the full range of track conditions and the circuit changed quite considerably in the cooler temperatures this evening. We had to follow those developments carefully with the car set-up and the balance in order to get the most out of our running. Lewis had a differential control issue in the second session which hampered him somewhat, although we managed to recover the situation during his running. Otherwise, we tried to maximise our time out on track in order to learn as much as possible about the tyres, especially in the most representative race conditions this evening."
Toto Wolff, executive director
"We completed our programme today with few issues and both drivers seemed reasonably happy with the car. We made some positive changes between the first and second practice sessions and the drivers and engineers will be working hard overnight to find more performance. The car seems quite competitive but there are a lot of quick cars out there and I am sure it will be very close tomorrow."
Red BullSebastian Vettel - FP1: 3rd, FP2: 1st
"It's difficult to say today how we compare to the others, we know the Lotus is quick here, but we also had decent pace today. It's not always so easy at this circuit with the conditions changing throughout the day; we start in the sun and finish at night and the track temperature changes during that time. But, no big issues, so I'm pretty happy."
Mark Webber - FP1: 4th, FP2: 2nd
"The second session today was more representative of the race and qualifying than the first, due to the time of day and temperatures. It was a lot about the tyres today; I think the soft tyre will hold out better here than it did last week. It wasn't a bad feeling for the first day, we got the information we needed, so let's see how we get on tomorrow. We'll go through everything tonight and try to understand the car on both tyre compounds."
SauberNico Hulkenberg - FP1: 11th, FP2: 9th
"It was a normal Friday. We worked through the programme we had planned and learned quite a lot about the car and the tyres today. I am confident that we will be able to show a strong performance. There is still room for improvement in the set-up of the car, but overall I'm happy."
Esteban Gutierrez - FP1: 15th, FP2: 11th
"Today was a very productive one. We tested different set-ups on the car and evaluated how the tyres behave here. In the morning we were testing different balances, and it's always a matter of finding the right set-up for qualifying and then the right set up for the race. Now we need to find the right compromise for tomorrow. Here the track changes a lot from the morning to the afternoon, as track temperatures vary significantly, so it is challenging to judge the car. This will be the same for qualifying and the race."
Tom McCullough, head of track engineering
"It was a straight forward, incident free Friday for our team. As always here, it's about understanding the difference in tyre and car performance from the hotter FP1 to the cooler FP2. Both drivers were pretty happy with the car, and we got all our test items and set-up work done. The long-run pace and the balance of the car were quite good. However, it's pretty tight around us as the last few races have shown, so we will work hard on improving our low fuel performance and thus our qualifying potential."
Toro RossoJean-Eric Vergne - FP1: 16th, FP2: 17th
"If we ignore the lap times, I think this was a reasonably productive day. Our overall performance is good and I felt the car was working well. It's true we need to find a bit more lap time for tomorrow, but I am fairly confident. We just need to work well overnight to iron out the small details that were not quite right today and I believe we can then run competitively. As for the tyres, I did a long run on the Soft tyre and it definitely works much better and lasts longer with better degradation than we saw in India a few days ago. So, everyone should be able to make better use of it in the race on Sunday. This is an enjoyable track to drive and the setting, as well as the timing of the sessions is truly unique."
Daniel Ricciardo - FP1: 18th, FP2: 16th
"Our first day in Abu Dhabi was not the best, as we struggled to find the right balance on the car. Leaving lap times aside, it was quite difficult to understand exactly what was going on with the car underneath us. That makes life harder, as it robs you of confidence. However, we did make some progress between the morning and the afternoon, but there is still much more to do. I think we understand what we need to achieve, so some effective work this evening with the engineers figuring it out will see us do much better tomorrow. The Soft tyre seemed to behave much better here than in India, which is what you'd expect, even if I didn't do so many laps on it with a high fuel load. I've always enjoyed the experience of driving here, as it goes from twilight to dark so quickly, which involves a helmet swap during the session, which is fun."
Laurent Mekies, head of vehicle performance
"A challenging day, because we were never completely happy with the balance on either car. When that happens, you soon find the lap times disappear and that's why we are a bit further down the order than we should be. Our priority tonight therefore is to try and give both drivers the consistent balance they found in recent races. Assuming we do that, on Saturday we will be back in the fight with our usual midfield group. Although we have the same Pirelli tyre choice as in India, the very different conditions, atmospheric and track, mean the Soft is functioning very consistently, so we will have different strategy equations to play with here. On top of that and unique to Abu Dhabi, is the fact the temperature actually drops by a large amount during the sessions and the race. It means we have to set up the car to work well at both ends of this temperature range."
WilliamsPastor Maldonado - FP1: 19th, FP2: 14th
"It was a good day for us today. We completed our planned programme and the car felt quicker with the new updates. There are still some balance issues we need to work on, but overall there seems to be more potential in this package. We now need to check the data and thoroughly analyse today's sessions to make further progress tomorrow, but I think we can find a bit more speed than we had today."
Valtteri Bottas - FP1: 13th, FP2: 18th
"We tried some interesting things on Pastor's car today with a view to 2014 and we saw some interesting results and noticeable differences in the way the car performed. We will have a busy night tonight analysing the data we have and now it is about maximising what we have and trying to get every tenth out of the car. I'm confident we can still gain some more speed for tomorrow's qualifying and the car seems to suit this track a little better than it has the last few circuits."
Xevi Pujolar, chief race engineer
"We ran both cars on different aero configurations today, with Pastor running a development package for next year and Valtteri continuing with our standard package. The track was very slippery to start and both cars were struggling with overall grip. In FP2 Pastor continued with some aero comparisons, as well as trying some mechanical tests aimed at getting more grip on the first lap of each run. Valtteri concentrated on short and long runs comparing the two compounds of tyre, with conditions in FP2 more representative of what we will see in the race. The track conditions were improving throughout the day with the soft option tyre more susceptible to graining and the medium looking more consistent. Overall, Pastor's development package showed more positive results, so we will be fitting this across both cars for tomorrow."


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Section Conference (Industry Specific Events)
- Oct. 6: Association⁄Nonprofit Conference, Austin, Texas
- Register by Sept. 7 to save $100
- Fashion Women's Exclusif Sandals Paris Multicolored Oct. 6: Educators Academy Super Saturday, Austin, Texas
- Oct. 7–9: International Conference (ICON), Austin, Texas
The International Conference is headed to the Live Music Capital of the World, Austin, TX! Join us for the PRSA 2018 International Conference, taking place Oct. 7-9, 2018 at the JW Marriott Austin. Click here to reserve your hotel room.
- Dec. 6–7: PRSA Marketing and Digital Communications Conference, San Diego
The PRSA Marketing and Digital Communications Conference is an exciting new conference for communication professionals designed to immerse them in the world of integrated marketing communications. Over the course of this fast-paced, unique event, attendees will learn how owned, earned and paid media work together to build communications campaigns that deliver extraordinary results. Saver Rate Deadline: Oct. 18, 2018.
Partner Conferences/Events
- Sept. 6–7Coolred Green Neck Army Sleeve Solid Pencil Sexy Loose Women Short Shirt V T Dress rqOxrHT4: Not Your Father's News Release, Presented by PRSA and Ann Wylie, Atlanta
- Sept. 13–14: 2018 Leadership & Executive Communications Conference, Presented by PRSA and Ragan, Washington, D.C.
- Sept. 26–28: Brand Storytelling & Content Marketing Conference at Intel, Presented by PRSA and Ragan, San Jose, Calif.
- Oct. 2–3: Catch Your Readers, Presented by PRSA and Ann Wylie, Dallas
- Nov. 7–8: Think Inside the Inbox: Get Opened, Read & Clicked Through, Presented by PRSA and Ann Wylie, Washington, D.C.


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jbaylin needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 149 designs submitted by 39 freelance designers.
We need to design a logo that will be displayed on the splash page of our new children's online properties as well as on physical goods (apparel, electronics etc). We are seeking something for children aged 6-12 that is fun, playful, and yet interactive, educational, and has sustainability in mind. We are unifying physical goods with an online presence. Animals/creatures/habitats play a big role in our brand. See Description for definition and more...
Our company's core idealogy:
- We are in the business unify the physical, thevirtual and the sustainable.
- We exist to be purposeful, global and responsible.
- We intend to be observant,honest and inspired with and by our customers andpartners
- MOKU - means island in hawaiian
- ZOKU - means tribe in japanese
- Animals/creatures play a big role in our brand.
- Color Scheme not specifc.
- The ability to ADD a tagline (we haven't made one yet)
- Too cutesy - while our age range is 6-12 - We'd like to skew bit higher. Be careful with cursive - difficult to read.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Maggie Sottero Bridal-Aretha Aretha-7MS934LU
- Brand: Maggie Bridal by Maggie Sottero
- Style #: Aretha-7MS934LU
- Availability: Available to Order
This classic lace on tulle fit-and-flare features a soft scoop neckline. Scattered lace appliqu�s adorn the bodice and skirt. Lined with shapewear underlay for a figure-flattering fit. Finished with covered buttons over zipper closure or corset closure.


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Foodbank's first priority is to provide food to people who would otherwise go without. We work hard to help as many people as we can by accepting all edible food offered to us by food companies and the general public.
This said the role of nutrition is becoming more important in Foodbank's operations. It is no longer sufficient to merely provide kilojoules to alleviate hunger. Foodbank is committed to providing nutrient rich foods to maintain adequate growth and health outcomes as part of fighting food insecurity.
Nutrition is important to everyone but eating well is especially a challenge for those who are disadvantaged. Low-income people often don't have the money, education or other resources to eat well. Less than optimal eating patterns contribute to overweight and obesity which in turn are associated with increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, many cancers, asthma and a host of other conditions.
When it comes to proactively sourcing food, for instance, via our Key Staples Program, Foodbank focuses on food which will enhance the overall nutritional profile of its supply to community organisations and charities.
Foodbank is currently involved in programs to increase the amount of fresh food it disseminates to complement the pantry foods which have been its mainstay in the past. Foods being targeted include fruits and vegetables, meat and milk.
Foodbank works with its food industry partners and member agencies to provide healthy food choices to those seeking food assistance. We aim to monitor the nutrient quality of our supplies and, wherever possible, communicate the importance of good nutrition to our donors and member agencies. By doing so, we aim to decrease barriers to healthy food choices and improve our community's health.


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Journals & Collaborative Projects
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We look forward to swapping with you. Happy Arting!
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Below you will find a sampling our members' work from previous group swaps and projects. Click on images to view them larger. We hope this will inspire you to come and play with us! If you are interested in joining our group, please visit us at:
Come play with us... Join today!
Paper Traders is a friendly online community of artists from around the world. We nurture and value creativity, embrace new ideas, products, and techniques yet also value tried and true methods of artistic expression. Our projects consist primarily of paper arts, mixed media collage, artist trading cards, altered art, assemblages, collaborative journals, mail art, and more.
We are interested in creative individuals of varied skill levels who wish to challenge themselves artistically and help build a supportive community. We are at our best when we can share our creative efforts as well as techniques, resources, feedback, and insights. We encourage conversation about art, the art process, and what it means to be an artist.
Paper Traders is hosted on Yahoo Groups at
We hope you will consider joining us on an artistic journey!
In order to prevent spammers and to insure that all applicants are actual persons interested in creating art, a questionnaire will be sent to all potential members. When applying, please submit digital examples of your work or direct us to a website where we can view your art. The intent of the questionnaire is not to judge the merits of your art but to safeguard the integrity of our community.
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Below you will find images that are owned by our group members and offered for your personal use as well as images found in the public domain. Images may be freely used in your personal artwork but may not be used for commercial purposes of any kind without written permission of the owner. No images may be used to create collage sheets or image collections for resale.
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Open Art Challenges !
We're changing things up here at Paper Traders. Instead of the monthly challenges of the past, we'll now be hosting special challenges that might feature a specific technique or product and will be rewarded with actual prizes sponsored by our group members.
Our new challenge for 2013 is a year long word prompt journaling project/challenge. Each specific challenge will be open for one month and all art bloggers can participate, whether you are a Paper Traders member or not. Each artist will comment with a link to their blog post that features the artwork for that particular challenge. For each challenge, a winner will be selected whose art best exemplifies the challenge. The winning artist will be featured here and get a "Trader Treasure" blog button to display on their own blog. They also will receive one chance for each entry for the end of the year prize drawing. Watch this page for more details and challenge announcements.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Gallery: Masterboards & Tags
Barb A.
Barb A.
Cathy C.
Cathy C.
Debra C.
Debra C.
Ellen L.
Lillian M.
Lillian M.
Pam C.
Pam P.
Sandy A.
Shelly R.
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My Day in Amsterdam's Red Light District
I'm zoned out - I just can't handle anymore. You can only smoke so many joints in a day.
I take out my Frommer's Travel Guide and try to determine how to make it from The DampKring coffeeshop to the famous Red Light District of Amsterdam. After a few long pauses I give up, order a drink, and begin to roll another joint. I guess you can never smoke too many.
The DampKring was made famous by the movie 'Ocean's 12,' and has since seen a steady stream of people trying to pretend they're Brad Pitt or George Clooney. I chose to be Brad because I too am happily in love with a hot babe that likes wearing vials of my blood around her neck (just kidding, but she is hot) to be Clooney.
The shop has a wide open interior with orange walls. Various shades of orange overlap in different shapes, to provide you with the ultimate psychedelic experience. Good drinks and good weed are served here at moderate prices. Plus, you are greeted at the door by a lazy cat that sits in the window purring contentedly, no doubt due to the large amount of wacky second-hand smoke.
After my initial haze wore off, I ventured out only to be greeted by blinding sunlight - it was, after all, only a little past noon on a Friday. My bloodshot eyes adjusted slowly, and I began my journey to the famed district of the Red Lights.
Nowhere in Amsterdam do they promote the Red Light District; you only find this place through a concerted effort. All I knew was that it was centered around an old church and it ran mainly along one of the many canals that ring the city. As I passed through a narrow street, assuming I was getting close, I caught a glimpse of a set of windows with an old woman perched on a chair in one. I had arrived.
On the ground floor of the old brick building I was passing were five large windows bordered with neon lights. Inside, four of the windows displayed closed curtains, but the other held the aforementioned old lady. This aging prostitute-for-hire wore skimpy clothing and read her book, oblivious to the people outside her window. I moved on in hopes of catching a glimpse of younger, sexier babes.
As I moved into the more bustling part of the district, a more exciting, racy atmosphere emerged. Fast-paced beats pulsated out of the pubs, clubs, sex shops, and restaurants. The streets were congested with people, many of which were fellow tourists, but also families of locals wandering the canals as if what was displayed in the windows was merely everyday fare. The crowd was mostly composed of rowdy young men, though; either high on the weed they had just smoked, or high on the hope that they could afford one of the Red Light Ladies. Countless more windows were lit up in red, highlighting the gorgeous, sex-pot, attainable-but-it's-gonna-cost-you women.
I wanted to see this famed area after dark, so I eased my way back to my hotel to take a nap and allow the effects of the smoke to ease a bit. After a three hour nap I was refreshed and ready to make the trek back to the Red Light scene.
After dark the area changes - red lights do indeed light up the surroundings. Each window is surrounded by red neon, but inside black lights make the clothing the ladies of the evening wear glow a haunting, bright white.
Some of the girls do a little shake and twirl, some sit there with bored expressions chatting away on their cell phones, while others, like the older lady from earlier in the day, read books or magazines. Some shoot their sexy come-hither stare at the dumbfounded men on the streets, most of whom seem to have no idea what to do with themselves in such a target-rich environment.
There is a strict code of no picture taking in the district, but I did have the fortune to witness some poor chap attempt it. The women quickly beat on their windows angrily, glaring at the poor rube who was behaving inappropriately. Here's a photo I obtained legally, from 1976:
I was particularly interested in observing the interactions between the women, after they had opened their windows a crack, talking business with the anxiously awaiting men. But honestly, I was never quite sure where to look as I walked around the district.
I felt like it was rude to look at the women, even though they are selling themselves willingly, and make careers out of being looked at. I tried to maintain a business as usual facade while exploring, but what I really wanted to do was gawk and stare, and knock on their windows to ask them how much their services were. Ok, that probably came out wrong.
I did not want their services personally, I just have a curious mind, and was dying to know more details, like why they do it, how much money they make, how many customers they take a day, do they have boyfriends/husbands, and if so, do they mind their work.
To my surprise, I found the Red Light District only slightly trashy. Regardless of the fact that they were practically naked, these prostitutes seemed to have a lot more class than the ones I've seen working street corners across the US and Canada.
The Red Light women seem to be more powerful and in control. You get the impression that it is a professional business which they excel at, and it appears that they are free to pick and choose which ever customer suits them best. Elsewhere, I always got the impression that the hookers were weak, destitute, possible victims of trafficking, who out of pure desperation would take on any and all comers, so to speak, just to make a buck.
The Red Light District is a place like no other, with an endless amount of things to see and do (no pun intended). A visit to Amsterdam would not be complete without gawking at the X Rated sights found here. Plus, you can't take pictures, so you really do have to see it for yourself.


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The fruits are very important for our healthy. You must eat many fruits at day, so you can choose between orange, banana or pear. But there are many more. So today we are going to color these one. One more time, you can choose the color, too.
Once a week, we can taste a food like that. A big hamburguer with lettuce and cheese, besides, a coke and chips. We enjoy with it because we love it, but just we cannot eat that food everyday, because you know it is junk food.
Today, you will be the chef, because we show you this cupcake and you have to complete it with colors and many details that you want. It´s a fantastic idea, isn´t it?. Don´t waste time and print it before coloring.
Tomatoes are good for our healthy so, we have to eat them occasionally. If you like them, you have to print this picture and give them color, while you know them a little more. Then, you can share it with your friends.
Fruit is a healthy food for every person and it must be in our diet. In this picture, we can see different kind of fruit such as, pineapple or grapes and bananas or oranges. What do you like?, maybe you can eat one of them each day.
In this picture, we can see a family who is praying before eating their food. Each person prays but their pet, a little dog, is hungry and he is ask for some food. You can color them but quietly.
This is a piece of watermelon which we have to color, but first, we want to remind you that it is a fruit with much water and it´s healthy for us. Now, we have to print and color it.
If you want to give a present, the birthday cake is the best gift in the world. It has many colors and flavors. This one has four candles, though you can draw many more. If it is an special party, you have to show an special dessert like this. What flavor do you like?.
It´s time to eat so if you are hungry and you don´t want to eat many calories...this is the solution. A sandwich with letucce, cheese and tomato, it´s so delicious and it´s so good for you healthy. Before eating the sandwich, you can color it if you want.
Doraemon is very happy because he is with his friends. One of them is called Nobita who is a child and a bad student. Besides, in this picture, Shizuka appears, too. She is a funny girl and, I have to say that Nobi loves her. You have to color all characters if you like them.
If you have a special party and you want to wear a mask, here you are. Nobody will know who you are, but first, you will have to print, cut and color it. It´s an easy work, but anyway you will need time to do it. Call your friends because the work is easier when you have some help.
The police is coming with a big car, which has headlights in blue and red. The policemen always go around the streets for catching thieves, so our town is safer. Now, we can print this car and then, color it. It´s so easy and funny...Try it.


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Resource options for Knowledge Exchange instructors and participants
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a Scholarly research site that gives users access to articles, theses, books (limited) abstracts and court cases. This information is from Colleges & Universities, Professional Societies and other websites. Many can be found in PDF format available for download. If you need to update your Adobe Acrobat please click here.
Wikipedia is a free web based encyclopedia, that is reviewed by its users for accurate content.
Online social media siteLinkedIn Online professional siteTwitterOnline blog site where users can subscribe to "blogs" by people.You-Tube Online site dedicated to video content. This site covers almost any topic millions of videos, movies and short films.


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The History and Mysticism of the Tulku Tradition of Tibet
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DetailsA tulku is a fully enlightened one (buddha) or highly accomplished adept (siddha) who chooses to be reborn again and again for the benefit of all beings. Most tulkus, though, are the rebirths of well-trained masters who are engaged in spiritual training and serving others. Tibetan Buddhists have, for well over a millennium, been meticulously following the tradition of finding, recognizing, enthroning, training, and venerating these revered figures who provide teachings of liberation for both monks and laypeople. This guide to the tulku tradition covers its long history, separating fact from fiction, giving an overview of how the system works, and providing short biographies of some of the great tulkus of the past and present. Included are accounts of the magical occurrences that are associated with these remarkable beings, and advice for how anyone can set out on the tulku path.News & Reviews
"For the first time ever, the principle of tulkus, or incarnations—such a vitally important part of the Buddhist tradition of Tibet—is explained with exceptional clarity and in fascinating detail. A jewel of a book from Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, one of our best living writers on Tibetan Buddhism." —Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and DyingReader Reviews


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Stratos, the BugMaster General, writes: Bug Hunters... unite!
OUR MISSION: To confirm every bug, mistake, glitch, hack, typo, and error in DragonFable that other players report at www.Artix.com/Bugs! NOTE: We are Bug Hunters... not player support! We do not fix bugs other players' characters, accounts, or upgrades.
If the line up there makes your fingers itch to grab a mallet and squash something, then keep reading, because you're just what Stratos is looking for! Read on for more details:
Please post the following on the DF forum:
1. A link to your DF character page
2. The languages you speak/write
3. A couple sentences about how long you've played DragonFable, and why you want to help squish bugs.
Here are Stratos' requirements for joining the Bug Hunter crew:
1. You need to have Skype installed. This will let him contact you directly about any of the bugs you've encountered.
2. You must be age 13 or older to join the crew, but 18+ is preferred (as we can give you more responsibilities once you've gained experience)
3. Help when you can. We don't have set times for our Bug Hunters to be available, but we would like you to be available to help regularly.
4. Must be able to follow directions... and ask questions! Stratos has a system set up, but if there's something you don't understand, ASK! He wants to help you squish the bugs as much as you want to squish them!
5. Good critical thinking skills are a plus. (Being able to see a problem and narrow down the source or reason can speed the fixing process up.)
(Please do not include your age, email address, or Skype name when posting. Stratos will be able to contact you without them. Thank you!)
Stratos will contact you directly if you look like a good fit for this task. It won't always (or even often) be fun. You'll read reports, play DragonFable until it breaks, then go do paperwork. But you WILL be helping the DF dev team improve the game!
Reading reports and duplicating bugs over and over again not for you? That's OK! But DO we need EVERYONE's help reporting the bugs on the Bug Tracker!
We can't fix DragonFable unless we know there are bugs... and that's where YOU come in!
Tags: Alina BugSmashing Bug Hunters Unite SQUISH SQUASH Splat Ew
Copyright © 2006-2019 Artix Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
"AdventureQuest", "DragonFable", "MechQuest", "ArchKnight", "BattleOn.com", "AdventureQuest Worlds", "Artix Entertainment", "Artix"
and all game character names are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Artix Entertainment, LLC. All rights are reserved.
Portals: New Games · Mini Games · Browser and Mobile Games
Multiplayer: Browser MMORPG · PvP MMORPG
Single Player: Online RPG · Fantasy Dragon Game · Space Mech Game · Web RPG · Sci-Fi Alien Game


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24c Curtiss Jenny invert single
The most famous US stamp printing error occurred at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing during the week of May 6- 13, 1918: one sheet of one hundred stamps with an inverted image of a blue airplane escaped detection. The error occurred either when an inverted carmine frame sheet was fed into the small hand press for the second impression or when the plate printer, after inking and wiping, placed an inverted blue vignette plate into the press. The biplane featured in the design is the famous JN-4-H "Jenny," modified by replacing the front cockpit with a mail compartment.
The Washington, DC, post office sold the error sheet on May 14, 1918, to William T. Robey. The lucky collector sold it to Eugene Klein, a Philadelphia stamp dealer, for $15,000. Klein then sold the sheet to collector Colonel H.R. Green and recommended breaking the sheet into blocks and singles to sell. The entire discovery and sales received enormous press.
Benjamin K. Miller, one of the early buyers, obtained a single, position 18, from the sheet of one hundred for $250. The "Inverted Jenny" prices quickly soared, and Miller eagerly sought other stamps before their values skyrocketed as well. He then began in earnest to obtain one example of every known US stamp in the Scott postage stamp catalogue. Miller's "Inverted Jenny" was stolen in 1977 and recovered in the early 1980s. The perforations along the top had been trimmed to disguise it as position 9.
This stamp was the centerpiece attraction in Part II of the National Postal Museum's 'Rarity Revealed' exhibition, 2007-2009. The "Inverted Jenny" is the most requested postage stamp for viewing by visitors at the museum.


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IUCN-Med is pleased to announce that the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria version 3.1 has now been published in Arabic, with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID), and the objective of promoting red listing in Arabic countries at national and regional levels. The "Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional levels" also in Arabic will be published later during the year.
There are nine categories in the IUCN Red List system, from species that are not threatened (Least Concern) to species already extinct (Extinct). At regional level, two additional categories are used (Extinct in the region and Not Applicable, for example for non-native species). The threatened categories (Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically Endangered) are based on five scientific criteria that evaluate the risk of extinction of the species based on biological factors such as: rate of decline, population size, area of geographic distribution, degree of population, and distribution fragmentation. These criteria can be applied to all species (except micro-organisms) in all regions and all countries.
The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria have undergone an extensive review in recent years. This review has produced a clearer, more open and easy-to-use system. The revised Categories and Criteria (IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria version 3.1) were adopted by IUCN Council in February 2000.
All new assessments and reassessments on the IUCN Red List use the 2001 IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria version 3.1.


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rodpaolucci needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 109 designs submitted by 36 freelance designers.
I'm a serial entrepreneur of web startups and a tech fan. I love startups and how they can change the work environment.
This is my new startup project being launched and the idea behind the project is to make easy for sales manager to prepare for meetings, close deals and better understand the prospects' and competitors' profiles, what is crucial in their history, what are the social aspects involved etc.
It is named ChiliCoffee because coffee is energetic and chili is spicy. Mixing both you'll have something strong and full of energy.
Different from traditional and old-school CRM and sales software this is a typical web 2.0 company: SaaS-based, sales through the web with affordable pricing ranges and cool. The idea is create an identity which combines community and love around the brand.
The main audience is small and medium companies sales business manager looking to have deep knowledge of customers' and competitors'.
Some considerations:
1. It needs to be cool, web 2.0-like
2. I want to work with an icon or representative shortcut to be easily remembered by users.
3. Create an icon mixing with coffee and chili.
The files I will require are:
Print file format - .ai (CMYK)
Web file format - .jpg and layered .psd (RGB)
Please do not use any stock images or clip art in the logo
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Availability: Out of stock
Cool Cat:
All cards must be purchased with flowers. Delivery charges will apply if purchased separately.
This item is not available during Valentine's Day period (12 Feb - 15 Feb) - please refer to our Valentine's Day cards collection for available styles.
1 2 3 < 7 6


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Posts Taggedforums
Forums were the first version of social networks. They have been around for decades and were immensely successful in connecting people. Lacking a long-term vision, a lot message board script developers clearly missed the bus by not thinking ahead how best to put an already available userbase to better use.
Even in the era of real-time tweets and status updates, forums are still going strong. The primary reason is that communicating via forums is less annoying and often strictly on topic. While using a web browser to access a forum from the desktop is awesome, using a mobile web browser is far from being ideal. That's where Tapatalk comes into the picture. (more…)


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Whoda thunk it?
Stupid media company pays way over the odds for Web 2.0 outfit...
And, in other news, birds live in trees...
Recent lay-offs at MySpace were costly for its disgruntled parent News Corp, which said in its Q2 earnings that it was officially seeking a buyer to offload the failing social network entertainment portal. The company swallowed a $275m charge in its latest quarterly results, and admitted for the first time publicly that it was …
MySpace was bought out of greed - at the thought of the income from ad content.
Facebook has got the ads, is very well established and the owner doesn't need a big cash bost as he's well minted.
Sorry to piss on your strawberries but it seems you may not have much of an idea about Facebook.
well elmer, you don't seem to have much idea about facebook either.
facebook will die on its arse (like the rest of the other web 2.0 shit) once the slack-jawed yoof who use it move on to the next shiny new thing. just like they did to myspace. and bebo. and orkut. and aol. and .... all the way back to compuserve in the days of dial-up. or the days of cb radio in the era before the internet.
the best thing about the myspace death spiral is it will cost the dirty digger a lot of money.
There is no saving MySpace under your control. It's a clear loser in the social media world. There is a model that could save your money loving ass. Call or email us at Videography Lab.
BTW: Fox does have some good entertainment programming but your News is unfair and way out of balance.
Bob Kiger - Videography Lab - Oceanside, California, USA


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Lycrawoman necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 125 diseños de 25 diseñadores freelance.
Principessa Couture, LLC = (Princess in Italian)
We are two NYC woman launching a line of bags for girls and woman. We love using backpacks but they are SO boring! We are creating a line of Cool, Funky Backpacks that have style,allure, razzle-dazzle and a "Glammy Way" about them.
Our identity is
based on the gorgeous sequin appliques we apply to each bag.
The look of the bags are
100% nylon & functional, but with a very "Glammy/Edgy" look to them.
They will have appliques of rhinestones-beaded appliques of peace signs/skull & crossbones/Fleur di Lis, unusual shapes, but all in sequin. The zipper pulls will be rhinestone, and the bags will be trimmed in gorgeous detail.
Please see attachment!
We are creating a two different lines, pending on the stores we will be selling
1) Girls, ages 8-16
2) Trendy Young Woman, ages 20-45
We would like the art work to be applicable to represent both.
We see the logo being in a rectangular.
No crowns or wands please.
Our color story is Pink (a softer version of bubble gum pink) with Black & White,
or Silver & White (Silver looking like "silver glitter").
We need to follow through in our branding as a Logo, Business Card, Hang Tag, Woven Label and Invoices.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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What started off as a kid sitting watching WrestleMania 6 in Toronto, dreaming that he could one day throw elbow smashes and bounce off ropes, turned into so much more.
The kid, Adam Copeland, became Edge the WWE superstar. And that kid, from small town Orangeville, north of Toronto became a champion. Saturday night, he will join the most legendary of legends in WWE's Hall of Fame.
"Finding out (I was going into the Hall of Fame) was really surreal," said Copeland. "I'm not going to lie. I had big reservations. It was: 'This year? Really? Why not next year or five years from now? Is it too soon?' Then I started getting texts from guys like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. They were the first. And if these guys were OK with it, then I had no problem with it. Looking back at where I have been ... This is so awesome."
Copeland was forced to retire when doctors diagnosed him with cervical spinal stenosis.
"Having doctors make the decision for me actually made it easier," he said. "I didn't have to hem and haw over it, I didn't have to stew about it. Thankfully I was already emotionally and mentally preparing for it. I wanted to make it to the top and I made it to the top. All that I did, it was selfish, but I needed to get there to make it work.
"I grew up in front of people. And yes, I was emotional when I was forced to retire. I never became my character. I was always able to say: 'I'm Adam and I'm playing the character of Edge.' I was never going to be 55 and still wearing trench coats, trying to be a rock star. It can be hard playing a character for 20 years that that character doesn't become you. It didn't for me. I can't imagine Johnny Depp walks down the street and has people saying: 'Hey, Jack Sparrow ... What's going on?' "
With spare time on his hands, he has found time to do things like hiking his dogs and mountain biking ... And he's getting out his rock and roll ya-yas.
"I've seen Pearl Jam a bunch of times ... Foo Fighters too ... The first time I met Dave Grohl, I thought: 'That's the way I have to be.' And I have the time so I can do things like fly out to see Eddie Vedder in April."
Does he have that inner rock star?
"I think it's in there, but first and foremost, I did what I was supposed to do and that was to be a wrestler," he said. "I have dexterity enough to throw a punch, but I don't have the dexterity to be a musician."
Copeland is excited by and looking forward to The Rock vs. John Cena main event at WrestleMania.
"The fact that they've been able to have a year buildup is unheard of," he said. "It's almost impossible. You look at Savage vs. Steamboat, Andre vs. Hogan ... How do you keep these guys apart for that long. Luckily, with Rock's schedule, it wasn't difficult.
"As a fan, I'm loving it. I've been watching Triple H and Undertaker and Rock and Cena. Would it be fun to be in their shoes? Sure. But I will sit up in a box with my family and enjoy the show. There will be no pressure, no dangerous bumps and no mid-air spears from Jeff Hardy. Sure there will be moments that I wish I was in there. I'm sure it was the same with Brett Favre and John Elway where they were watching football and thinking: 'I wish I had made that play.' "
Copeland is also excited about a new DVD on him (You Think You Know Me: The Story of Edge) which will be released soon.
"I'm in an amazing, amazing place. For me to have college buddies and guys that I trained with ... To see them in a WWE DVD is cool for me. And I'm not going to lie, you want to hear what other guys say about you."


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Mass Casualty Incident Disaster Simulation
Last year I graduated from CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) class. In CERT you receive training on how to prepare, survive, and help out in a disaster, natural or otherwise. I took the class with a friend of mine, Dana Richardson, who had taken the class before and came to mine as a refresher. My… Read On
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Longer working hours and tax hikes to fund pay rises in Lebanon
New pay increases for public sector workers in Lebanon will be funded by tax hikes an increase in VAT
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The long-awaited new salary scale draft law [in Lebanon] will be tied to an increase in working hours of civil servants and a tax hike on luxury goods, State Minister Marwan Kheireddine told The Daily Star.
"The plan has been drafted in a way that focuses on increasing public sector efficiency, reducing cost and increasing revenues for the state," State Minister Marwan Kheireddine, who serves on the committee that finalized the plan, told The Daily Star.
Kheireddine said he expected the draft law to be passed by the Cabinet during a key session Thursday, when a major demonstration is planned by the Union Coordination Committee – the teachers and civil servants coalition leading a monthlong open-ended strike to demand wage increases.
The Cabinet planned to increase the value added tax on luxury goods from 10 to 15 percent, he said, explaining that low and middle income families would not be hit by tax hikes.
Cars priced at over $25,000, alcohol and luxury food products are some of the goods to be taxed, the minister said.
Another source to fund the wage hike would come from fees imposed on real-estate developers who wish to amend current zoning regulations to allow for the building of additional floors, Kheireddine added.
The amendment of zoning regulations would only apply to new buildings. Completed construction works would be excluded, he explained.
Though the Cabinet secured revenues to fund the wage hike, the minister said their collection would take some time, which in turn required the government to pay the salary increases in installments over a period of four years.
The UCC has warned that their strike would go on if the government decided to pay the wage hikes in installments. Head of the UCC Hanna Gharib was unavailable for comment Tuesday evening.
The minister added that working hours at the public sector would be extended to 5 p.m. as opposed to 2 p.m., and that Saturdays would become a day off.
The draft law would also allow the government to reposition civil servants currently appointed in overstaffed departments to understaffed ones, the minister explained. He added that this would allow for a temporary employment freeze, another key aspect of the plan.
The employment freeze would be upheld at each public department until each ministry develops a restudied organizational chart for its departments, in coordination with the State Ministry for Administrative Reform.
"One of the problems of the public sector is that we have organizational charts from the 1950s and the 1960s, but the whole world changed and there is a desperate need to restudy work functions in the public sector," Kheireddine said.
Private school teachers will join the major protest on Thursday, when the Cabinet is expected to tackle the issue of the wage scale, Gharib said Tuesday during a rally near the Justice Ministry in Beirut.
"The association of private schools will go on strike Thursday and join public school teachers," Hanna Gharib told protesters.
The Private Teachers Association has previously taken part in the open-ended strike that was launched by the UCC in February.
However, private school teachers across Lebanon resumed classes after President Michel Sleiman vowed to push for the Cabinet to refer the draft law to Parliament by March 21.
Senior Lebanese economists voiced support for increasing public sector wages in a statement Thursday.
"The demands of the UCC are just and the draft law should be referred to Parliament. The new wage scale is nothing but a needed correction of wages, which have lost a big percentage of their purchasing power since 1996" when they were last amended, the statement said.
The wage hike, the statement added, is even more importance given the inability of the government to provide a social safety net "that guarantees a decent living."
Inbound and outbound flights from Rafik Hariri International Airport will be suspended for a period of four hours Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. due to strike action by staff members who have demanded to be included in the new wage hike, the airport said Tuesday.
The Economic Committees, which groups business and employers associations, have repeatedly warned against referring the new wage scale to Parliament, arguing that any increase in salaries would inflict major economic losses on the country.
Kheireddine, however, insisted the committee drafting the law was immune to pressures from the UCC and the Economic Committees.
"We did not succumb to pressure exerted by either group. Giving more, as asked by the UCC, would have been disastrous and not giving anything, as demanded by the Economic Committees, would have been unfair. This proposal, we believe, will be good for the economy," he said.
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