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Kashmiri Hindus Throng to Celebrate Festival in Kashmir
Srinagar, May 29: Hundreds of Kashmiri Hindus on Tuesday thronged the temple of Ragnya Devi in the outskirts of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian administered Kashmir, to celebrate the annual festival of Kheer Bhawani.
The temple witnessed massive crowds of devotees, most of them migrant Kashmiri Hindus, who made the journey from various Indian states.
Walking barefoot, the devotees carried rose petals and offered tribute to the goddess as men took a dip in the stream close to the shrine.
The Kashmiri Pandits prayed for peace and harmony in the valley. Local Kashmiri Muslims showed a great interest as they were busy selling the materials for the rituals and also paying a visit to the shrine.
“I am so happy that I came here. I prayed for peace and harmony. I was glad to see young boys, both Muslims and Hindus, making arrangements for the festival,” said Santosh Kaw, a Kashmiri Pandit who is visiting the temple after 27 years.
Kaw, who lived in the Chanapora locality of Srinagar, left Kashmir for New Delhi in 1990 at the peak of militancy.
Another Kashmiri Pandit, Raj Kumar, who was born in Srinagar’s Karan Nagar locality but moved to winter capital said this is a festival of Hindus but what I saw here is an example of brotherhood between Hindus and Muslims.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister of Indian administered Kashmir Omar Abdullah visited Kheer Bhawani (Tulmulla) and interacted with a large number of Kashmiri Hindu devotees. He exchanged wishes, enquired their welfare and extended greetings on the occasion. He also inspected various stalls installed by different government departments and others at the Mela.
Later, talking to mediamen, Omar said the economic package in the shape of employment to the youth of the Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir is an important step to help return of these families. “While peace and security atmosphere is gaining ground gradually and Kashmir Government has implemented half of the employment package for Kashmiri Pandits, the situation is becoming more and more palatable for their return,” he said.
He said the Kashmir Government is taking up the issue of enhancing financial support to Kashmiri Pandits to enable them construct their residential houses in the Valley. “A proposal will be discussed in the Cabinet in this regard and presented to the Government of India for release of funds”, he added.
The Chief Minister said that Kashmiri Pandits are an integral part of the culture and ethos of Kashmir.
Meanwhile, pro-independence JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik said all Kashmiris are waiting for the return of th Kashmir Pandits and continue to remain hopeful of their return.
He alongwith some other separatist leaders including Shabir Shah, Javed Mir visited Tulmulla in Ganderbal to welcome Kashmiri Pandit devotees apart from expressing his good wishes to the Pandit devotees.
“You (pandits) are an integral part of our social fabric and our society is incomplete without you”, Malik told the devotees while interacting with them.
He said, “We may have different religious faiths but that does not mean that we cannot coexist”, Malik added.
Urging Kashmiri Pandits to return to their homes, he said Kashmiri Muslims are tolerant and would never hurt the non-Muslim minorities. “Our Prophet (PBUH) has made it obligatory for us to take care of non-Muslim minorities and we will always uphold the ethos of protecting pandit brothers”. | {
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TALENT — The City Council will consider Wednesday whether it should withdraw its appeals of Jackson County rulings that allow continued operation of an asphalt plant outside city limits on Bear Creek.
The special meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Center at 206 E. Main St. A public forum will allow comments, and the council is almost certain to get some as residents near the plant and environmental groups are unhappy with the plant's location in the floodplain and its operation.
City officials and Mountain View Paving have been in preliminary discussion about arrangements that could include mitigation to reduce the impact of the operation. They've also discussed selling the land to the city for eventual use as open space, with operations continuing for a set period of time.
Jackson County's Development Services in April ruled that the asphalt operation could continue but had to meet conditions, including relocating buildings outside the floodplain.
Rogue Advocates, an environmental group, and the city of Talent appealed the rulings. A county land-use officer is tentatively set to hear those appeals on June 24.
Dropping the appeals could be a prelude to a city deal with the firm.
"We'll have to ask the council," said City Manager Tom Corrigan. "Basically, there are a lot of conditions. There would be some give and take on both parts. Like anything else, you have to look to the appeal and beyond the appeal to the strategies."
Rogue Advocates and representatives from Mountain View Estates, located directly across Bear Creek from the plant, have not participated in the sessions, despite requests from the city that they do so.
"The city of Talent has made a significant effort to try to get representatives from the Rogue Advocates and Mountain View Estates to attend the meetings to discuss proposals by Mountain View Paving," said City Planner Mark Knox.
Rogue Advocates appealed the county ruling, citing a failure to look at historical requirements. Residents and Mountain View Estates owner Chris Hudson are unhappy with hours of operations and noise, dust and fumes that come from the asphalt plant.
Hudson said she would not comment on the issues on the advice of her attorney.
Steve Rouse of Rogue Advocates said his group's attorney had advised them that all discussions should be between attorneys.
Rogue Advocates attorney Courtney Johnson of the Crag Law Center in Portland said she had phone conversations with the city and Mountain View Paving's attorneys and with Knox.
"I'm in discussion with the client about mitigation," said Johnson.
Knox said several scenarios were presented. The 11-acre parcel is within the city's urban growth boundary and is designated in the comprehensive plan to become open space.
"A lot of the discussion has always been about how do we make sure they don't have a business that is a health hazard and how do we get that property to one day comply with the long-term vision of ... having that as open space."
A purchase agreement with Mountain View could preclude another paving company buying the operation and might include additional operating conditions.
Mitigation discussed includes limiting hours of operation, adding screening along both the freeway and Bear Creek, relocating all equipment outside the floodplain area, and having a floodplain hazard containment plan consistent with Jackson County requirements.
Proposals for a silo could reduce dust, emissions and smells, said Knox. The silo would allow trucks to be loaded with just one 12-second dump rather than 10 smaller dumps over 30 minutes. "They are going above and beyond the conditions (imposed by the county rulings)," said Knox.
Knox said Meyer initiated the talks looking for a solution, in part to avoid a long, drawn-out legal battle. "Maybe there's an opportunity for the citizens of Talent — not necessarily a short fix," said Knox.
Speakers at the forum will be limited to five minutes or less based on the number of people seeking to testify. The public forum will end promptly at 9 p.m. The agenda then calls for the council to consider a decision on the appeal.
Tony Boom is a freelance writer living in Ashland. Reach him at [email protected]. | {
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Hospitals curbing sugary drinks to protect teeth, trim obesity
UPDATED 2:30 PM CDT Aug 15, 2013
In just one generation, the number of obese children in this country has tripled.* Today one out of every five kids is obese*, millions more are overweight and the numbers continue to rise. Most doctors agree that sugary drinks are at least partly to blame.
To help curb that problem, Nationwide Children’s Hospital is part of a new movement to put a lid on sugary drinks. Starting January 3, 2011, Nationwide Children’s will join just a handful of other healthcare institutions in eliminating all sugar-sweetened drinks from its campus. This new policy applies to the hospital’s cafeterias, gift shops, vending machines, patient room service and on-site catering service.
While the idea may be hard for some to swallow, it’s gaining momentum across the country.
Kelly Kelleher, MD, MPH, is leading the charge. Dr. Kelleher, who serves as director of the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice and vice president of Health Services Research at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s says studies show kids get more empty calories each day from sugary drinks than from any other source. By drinking these sugar-filled beverages on the campuses of children’s hospitals, these institutions are unfortunately contributing to that shocking statistic.**
“Based on Nationwide Children’s regular soda sales alone, patients, staff and visitors were consuming nearly 43,000 pounds of excess sugar in these drinks each year – that’s equivalent to the weight of 21 Volkswagen Beetles,” Dr. Kelleher says. “That’s unacceptable and we had to make some changes.”
By making sugary beverages less available in public places like hospitals, doctors like Dr. Kelleher hope patients like 16-year-old Eden Pettis, of Columbus, Ohio will think about their impact more, and eventually consume them less.
When Eden began showing the early signs of diabetes, she knew she had to make some changes. She began exercising and switched to healthier snacks like celery. But the first step she and her mother took had more to do with what she drank than what she ate.
That one move likely saved Eden nearly 800 calories a day. By cutting just one 12-ounce soda a day for a year, Eden will cut 35 pounds of sugar from her diet.
“Multiplied by two or three cans of soda a day, all of those calories can add up to 10 or 15 pounds of weight, if children and teens don’t increase their exercise proportionately,” says Dr. Kelleher.
Besides putting on extra weight, sugary drinks can also affect your teeth. Nationwide Children’s Hospital also has one of the largest dental programs for children in the country and they’re treating more kids for more cavities related to sugary drinks.
Their advice is to stick to water or low fat milk - and if you do buy soda, buy diet drinks in smaller cans. Buying 2 liter bottles only encourages kids to drink more. | {
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365 Days of Art - Day 77
Last updated on 19 Mar 2014
Working on completing the design of my character. I’m fairly happy with the progress, but there is definitely a gap between what I’m producing and what I want to produce, although its not as bad as it was in past drawings. | {
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Know the Rules, Then Break Them, di Rosa
The Aral Sea, Radek Skrivanek, developmental
Developmental and editing for The Aral Sea, 2009, Radek Skrivanek's photo-documentary project exploring the legacy of the former Soviet regime and its destructive impact on Central Asia’s Aral Sea and local environment.
SUBJECT MATTERS
Partner and co-curator in SUBJECT MATTERS, 2008-2009, a creative visual arts group dedicated to promoting cultural sustainability through the rental of contemporary art exhibitions to cultural and commercial venues.
Kara Women Speak, Jane Baldwin, developmental
Interpretive writing, editing, and developmental work, 2010-2012, on Jane Baldwin’s Kara Women Speak, a project that tells the story of indigenous people in Ethiopia's Omo River Valley though photographs and recorded interviews with women of the Kara tribe,
Innovation & Adaptation: Winery Architecture in the Napa Valley
Guest curated Innovation & Adaptation: Winery Architecture in the Napa Valley, 2007, examining how form and function influenced Napa winery architecture during different phases of the valley’s development, for the Napa Valley Museum, Yountville, CA.
Curated Chuck Samuels's series Before the Camera as part of group show, George Eastman House, 2012 exhibition date postponed.
Nobody Talks About It, Bonnie Durrance, Bolinas Museum
Guest curated Nobody Talks About It, 2004, photographer Bonnie Durrance’s chronicling of Britain’s foot and mouth epidemic and its effect on the lives and livelihoods of farmers and dairy families, at the Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA. | {
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Friday, August 26, 2011
My first reader question comes from Scott (no last name given), and he asks:
"In Season 3, episode 12, Jus In Bello, Sam and Dean reveal tattoos on the left side of their chests as a way of protection from being possessed. Did you decide to research the symbol? Can you give any information about it?"
Yes, Scott. I did research the origins of this symbol. Due to certain writing constraints regarding the use of images, however, it was not included in the book. However, I am more than happy to share that research here on the blog.
I looked for weeks before I found this (which, for me, is a really long time to look for something) in an excellent reference source, The Dictonary of Symbols by Carl G. Liungman (I've had this on my shelves for years, and it comes in handy far more often than one might expect).
The book offers a very similar (though, admittedly, not identical) symbol to the protection tattoo Sam and Dean have. Here is an image of that symbol:
This emblem is commonly found on clothing in regions of Ghana, and is meant to symbolize the Eastern Star (represented by the 5-pointed star), planet Venus (symbolized by the circle within the star), and the solar cycle/beginning of a new day (symbolized by the sun that surrounds the star, which is meant to represent rotation).
Linguistically, the symbol is supposed to mean Sesa woruban, which generally translates as "Change in life" or, more personally, "I change/transform my own life."
Now, please understand that there is no way to prove that the creators of Supernatural had this symbol in mind when they created the design of the protective tattoo used on the show. And I want to make it clear that I am making no such claim here. This is simply the most similar symbol that I was able to track down in my research.
Well, that's one response down. I will continue to do these once a week until I run out of questions. So, if you have a question related to The Mythology of Supernatural, send it to me in the comments here on the blog.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Please accept my apologies for being unable to start posting my responses to questions this week, as I had originally intended. My life has been uber-nuts the last two weeks, as you can probably imagine, between my daily work and all the additional craziness that comes with having a new book come out. Please know that your questions are certainly NOT forgotten. And I fully intend to start posting responses on Monday (8/22).
My most sincere thanks, as always, to everyone in the Supernatural Family/Fandom for your interest and support!
Monday, August 8, 2011
So I realized the other day that I should probably give everyone time to actually READ the Mythology of Supernatural book before I expect to you all to start sending me questions.
However, I also realized that now would probably be a good time to send out some prompts.
I want your questions, folks!
If you read the book and are wondering why I did or did not cover a particular topic, I want to hear about it.
Perhaps you have NOT bought/read the book because you are worried that it will just be more of the same? Or maybe you are thinking that it won't tell you anything you don't already know. Well ... ASK me about it, and I will let you know (I should say, I will let you know what topics are at least COVERED in the book, but I have to draw the line at spoilers).
NRB
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About Me
Nathan Robert Brown (1977-present) is an author, pop culture mythologist, and technical writer from Texas, currently residing in Florida. He received the 2008 Harry Brown Award for The Rape of Lilith. Nathan has done extensive research in world mythology, folklore, urban legends, ancient civilizations, and world religions, and is an expert on trinities/tripartite systems and universal themes in myth, religion, mysticism, and pop culture. He is the author of many books, such as The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Mythology, World Religions at Your Fingertips, The Mythology of Supernatural, and The Mythology of Grimm. Nathan is also a public speaker and pro-bono demonology consultant | {
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The city of Wilmington is still planning to build a Smith Creek kayak launch near the intersection of McRae Street and Cornelius Harnett Drive.
In May of 2013, the city council voted to spend $232,435 on the project, which also includes a parking area and boardwalk.
Before construction can start, city officials need to complete negotiations with a private property owner, said Amy Beatty, the city’s superintendent of recreation and downtown services.
While discussions are “very positive,” Beatty said she could not say exactly when the launch will open.
A state grant should pay for the bulk of the cost of the launch. The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Division of Coastal Management awarded the city $175,000 to help pay for the project. The city provided a $57,435 cash match along with a $28,774 of in-kind work by city staffers. Last year, Beatty said the grant requires the project to be completed by October 2014.
UPDATE: On Oct. 7, 2014, Amy Beatty told the StarNews that the city had received an extension on the grant and was still negotiating with the property owner.
Ask a question
If you’re looking for answers about living in coastal North Carolina, you’ve come to the right place.
If we don’t have the answer to your question, we’ll find out or try to find someone who does.
Hey, that’s our job! So, ask your question below and we’ll do our best to find
the answer. Once we do, we’ll post it in an appropriate category.
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Have a comment about this post or know more about the answer? Use this form to let us know.
Note that all comments are moderated and must be approved before they are posted, although you
may see your own comments the first time you post them. | {
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I just saved my recent changes and went to reload them and I find that some blocks have disappeared from the drawing. They still appear in the block list, and I can insert the blocks back into their intended positions and save the work again, but the same result when loading the DXF, they have disappeared and warnings on the command line about references to invalid blocks (though one of the disappeared blocks is not mentioned). There is also reference to a spline with less than 4 control points. Not sure what that means, unless it has something to do with blocks I have rotated?
Is it possible to edit the DXF by hand to recover the 'invalid' blocks (or some other automatic GUI driven method)? I was hoping re-saving the work under a new name would at least remove the problems. Let me know if any more information can be provided.
I just tried recursive blocks and its completely different behaviour. Three blocks in my design are deemed invalid by QCAD but they remain in the block list. I tried removing everything except the offending blocks but the problem must have been caused by something I'd removed as I was then able to use the 'invalid' blocks (but as everything else from the drawing was gone not very useful).
However the contents of the blocks was able to be copied into new blocks and used that way, and with the old blocks deleted.
Creating a part, a block, call it 'door'. It's a frame for a door built of wood, two tall lengths, and three short lengths (top, middle, bottom). I create one block for the two tall lengths, and another for the three short lengths. Arrange within block 'door'. Turns out height all wrong. Edit the tall length block, changing y/length values as appropriate in property editor. Save. Reload. Invalid blocks.
Obviously doing this within a larger project. Not only adjusting door, outer frame too, (forgive lack of construction/architectural terms here), as well as wall panel heights. Most if not all altered blocks are invalidated now, as well as others not touched.
Thanks for the details terrytmp. Do you have an example drawing demonstrating the problem (i.e. saved before the problem occurred) with brief instructions on how to reproduce the problem (e.g. change length of line at the right in block "block01", etc.)? Thanks.
Were the files I sent you no good? I unfortunately did not have the data saved as a seperate file just before the corruption happened, and I don't have enough time to to experiment with trial-and-error trying to find a minimal version of the file which is just enough to cause the problems. I sent them to you anyway with the hope you might have a DXF file tool which could be used to debug them. Are they presenting the same problems I am having, for you on your machine? Is the pro version of QCAD better able to handle them?
I also wondered if maybe I was being a bit over-enthusiastic with turning things into blocks? (Not that that should be to blame for the file problems). | {
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Chai Cashew Milk
I might feel unbelievable amounts of stress some days in my life, moments like this take away every ounce of doubt that everything will not be okay.
When I’m sitting by a creek bed watching a thunder storm rolling in far in the distance. And best of all my dog is to tired after a sixteen mile hike to misbehave.
Those are the good days, as I listen to nothing but the rushing sounds of the creek water behind me.
Before I hit the trails for a relaxing day of hiking, mountain biking or just creek side relaxing I like to make a morning breakfast smoothie with this amazing Chai Cashew Milk.
Add fresh pumpkin or sweet potato purée and your favorite protein powder or oats to make a fantastic new fall favorite smoothie.
Chai Cashew Milk
5 cups water
2 cups raw cashews
5 pitted dates
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
5 cardamom pods
Combine all together with hot water and let sit at least eight hours. ( You can also add three black tea bags if you want to make it caffeinated)
Remove the cinnamon sticks ( and tea bags of using) combine all else in a blender and refrigerate immediately afterwards.
This fresh cashew milk has no preservatives so it stays good less than a week in the fridge. Drink it every day!
Comments
HI Amber,
This a unique and tastier cashew milk recipe than I have ever found before. I like the idea of putting the dates in as sweetener and adding the cinnamon. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & tweeted!
Wow! That picture is gorgeous. It’s so nice that you can easily get to nature when you feel stressed or out of sorts.
This cashew milk sounds so delicious. I love the spices and I really love date-sweetened things. I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks so much for sharing at Healthy Vegan Fridays!
Hi Amber,
Just a note to let you know that I have chosen your post as one of my features for this weeks Real Food Fridays blog hop that goes live every Thursday @ 7pm EST. Thank you being part of Real Food Fridays and sharing your valuable information! | {
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Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. | {
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Location
Even though major adverse health conditions, such as obesity and Crohn’s disease, are tied to the human upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract, much less is known about this region compared to the lower GI tract. Thus, developing a deeper understanding of how chemical and microbial factors interact in the upper GI tract is essential. By using a multi-port catheter to sample stomach, duodenal, and multiple jejunal sites, we obtained GI fluid from healthy fasted and fed volunteers (N=26, 37 total admissions) at several timepoints over the course of 7 hours. We measured bile salt concentrations, 16S rRNA-gene-based microbial composition, and Clostridioides difficile str. R20291 germination efficiency in the GI fluid we collected. Primary and secondary conjugated bile salts predominated in the small intestine, with small amounts of unconjugated forms. These small concentrations of unconjugated bile salts positively correlated with the abundance of several bacterial taxa known to possess bile salt hydrolase. The high concentrations of conjugated bile salts promoted robust C. difficile germination across the upper GI tract. In this study, we further discuss relationships between bile salts and the indigenous microbiota in the human upper GI tract as well as the implications these findings have for C. difficile infection. | {
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Marathoner Angad Kumar eyes Olympic qualification
Indian Army's Angad Kumar, the runner-up (among Indians) of last edition's Mumbai Marathon, will take the field this Sunday eyeing an Olympic berth by achieving the 2hr-18 min qualification mark. Kumar feels the Mumbai Marathon is a golden opportunity for Indian athletes to qualify for the London event.
Angad Kumar
"My only intension is to participate in the marathon and achieve the qualification mark for the Olympics. I've been training hard for the last two months at Pune's Army Sports Institute. I am sure many others are also participating targeting the Olympic berth," said Kumar who clocked 2hr, 24mins, 32secs in the last edition.
Kumar, however, feels Mumbai's cool climate will help him better his timing. "I have heard the weather in Mumbai is much cooler compared to the previous years. I do not want to leave this opportunity and will try to give my best," he said.
On the marathon beginning 15 minutes earlier than last year, Kumar said, "The 7:25am start is a huge relief. We athletes will get more opportunity to run in the cool weather. It would have been even better had the race started at 7 am." | {
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Doug Long
Tax time is fast approaching. How are you tracking your deductible business expenses throughout the year? How consistent are you? Did you know small business owners and the self-employed are three times more likely to be audited? Are you confident you cou... moreTax time is fast approaching. How are you tracking your deductible business expenses throughout the year? How consistent are you? Did you know small business owners and the self-employed are three times more likely to be audited? Are you confident you could prove every deduction claimed if you were audited? Join us at DEDUCTR for a FREE webinar, Tax Tips for Small and Independent Business Owners. Deductr isn't a network marketing or direct sales opportunity. It's simply a business tool built for anyone in network marketing or direct sales. Click this link to register at a convenient time. hide www.onlinemeetingnow.com/register/?id=h0zj1fe6q9 Enjoy a deep discount if you decide to try Deductr. Money Back Guarantee less
Doug LongTax Tips for Small and Independent Business Owners is a FREE webinar for anyone who owns a business and has access to the many business tax deductions unavailable to W-2 employees. Are you taking all of the deductions you are eligible for? Spend 30 minut... moreTax Tips for Small and Independent Business Owners is a FREE webinar for anyone who owns a business and has access to the many business tax deductions unavailable to W-2 employees. Are you taking all of the deductions you are eligible for? Spend 30 minutes with us and learn how to claim every deduction your business qualifies you for and we'll give you a free gift just for attending. Register at this link: http://www.onlinemeetingnow.com/register/?id=h0zj1fe6q9 No Obligation. less
Doug LongTax time is fast approaching. How are you tracking your deductible business expenses throughout the year? How consistent are you? Did you know small business owners and the self-employed are three times more likely to be audited? Are you confident you cou... moreTax time is fast approaching. How are you tracking your deductible business expenses throughout the year? How consistent are you? Did you know small business owners and the self-employed are three times more likely to be audited? Are you confident you could prove every deduction claimed if you were audited? Join us at DEDUCTR for a FREE webinar, Tax Tips for Small and Independent Business Owners. Deductr isn't a network marketing or direct sales opportunity. It's simply a business tool built for anyone in network marketing or direct sales. Click this link to register at a convenient time. hide www.onlinemeetingnow.com/register/?id=h0zj1fe6q9 Enjoy a deep discount if you decide to try Deductr. Money Back Guarantee less
March 3, 2016
Doug LongTax time is quickly approaching. Did you know independent business owners are three times more likely to be selected for a tax audit? The only way to avoid an ugly and painful ending in an audit is to consistently track all business expenses, mileage, and... moreTax time is quickly approaching. Did you know independent business owners are three times more likely to be selected for a tax audit? The only way to avoid an ugly and painful ending in an audit is to consistently track all business expenses, mileage, and time during the year and have accurate documentation to prove every claimed deduction. Deductr was built for 1099 independent contractors to automatically track every potential deduction in your business. Join us for a FREE WEBINAR - Tax Tips for Small and Independent Business Owners. You can register at the link provided. We'll even give you a free gift just for attending. less
Doug Long commented on Doug Long's article: Remember, it doesn't have to be an entire room to count as an office. It can be a section of a room which is exclusively used for the business. The deduction may not be as much as if you had an entire room to dedicate to the business, but it's something a... moreRemember, it doesn't have to be an entire room to count as an office. It can be a section of a room which is exclusively used for the business. The deduction may not be as much as if you had an entire room to dedicate to the business, but it's something and when it comes to taxes, every little bit helps.
September 29, 2015
Doug LongDid you know self-employed individuals are three times more likely to be selected for a tax audit by the IRS or CRA (Canada) than the average 9 to 5 employee? Attend this FREE instructional webinar to learn valuable strategies to decrease your chance of ... moreDid you know self-employed individuals are three times more likely to be selected for a tax audit by the IRS or CRA (Canada) than the average 9 to 5 employee? Attend this FREE instructional webinar to learn valuable strategies to decrease your chance of an audit and bullet proof yourself if it happens to you. You'll receive a FREE business gift valued at $295 just for attending! Sign up here
Doug LongRemember, it doesn't have to be an entire room to count as an office. It can be a section of a room which is exclusively used for the business. The deduction may not be as much as if you had an entire room to dedicate to the business, but it's something a... moreRemember, it doesn't have to be an entire room to count as an office. It can be a section of a room which is exclusively used for the business. The deduction may not be as much as if you had an entire room to dedicate to the business, but it's something and when it comes to taxes, every little bit helps.
September 29, 2015
Sonia SaneOnline business has many advantages, and Global InterGold business is on top. It unites more then 1,5 mln people from different countries who strive for prosperity and wealth. They are already on their way to golden future. Use your opportunities and star... moreOnline business has many advantages, and Global InterGold business is on top. It unites more then 1,5 mln people from different countries who strive for prosperity and wealth. They are already on their way to golden future. Use your opportunities and start your new life of a gold businessman!
Check out this video and think global: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ly00i5rklU
LaTease Rikard
Had an über successful Challenge Party today! All 11 people came, 1 new EP, 4 new customers! Thank you Jesus!
Noel Figueroa
PROGRAM YOUR MIND
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Your
mind is being programmed everyday. Either you're doing it yourself, or somebody
else is. If you're not in charge, then you'll really struggle for success in
network marketing.
Are
you letting the radio, the TV, the internet, the newspaper, or friends &
family program you? If you are, then you are definitely being programmed for
lack & limitation.
If
you're in your car with the radio on, that radio has a tuner. You can tune in
hundreds of radio stations. Those radio waves bombard you with negativity all
day long. You are being programmed.
Do
you turn the TV on and just leave it on while you're home? Again, you're
getting constant programming. This stuff, at best, is trivial. At the worst,
it's very, very negative.
And when you're programmed with negative garbage by radio & TV
several hours a day, 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 12 months a year, year
after year after year - it takes a toll. You develop a negative outlook on life
and your MLM business - often without even knowing it.
Michael Volkmann
Tsu Social Network Info Page http://snip.ly/lOxB all about Tsu social network.
Tsu is a free social network and payment platform that shares up to 90% of revenues with its users. | {
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Debt Recovery Administrator
T2M Resourcing are recruiting an experienced Debt Recovery Administrator to join a successful global organisation. Working within a large and impressive finance function you will play an important role within the Debt Recovery department in managing customer accounts ensuring KPI’s and targets are successfully achieved. Competitive Salary plus Benefits Package.
As Debt Recovery Administrator you will build and maintain client relationships ensuring service standards are of the highest level. Other key responsibilities will include:
Act as first point of contact for all debt recovery activity with third parties. Liaise with the business partners. to obtain necessary information and/or paperwork in line with Service Partnering Agreements (SPA).
Liaise with third party debt recovery agencies/solicitors and group legal resources. | {
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The Walking Dead kills characters like you or I change socks, so there are a lot of alumni to keep up with. Here's a handy compendium of where all the actors who had important deaths on The Walking Dead are now, as of the end of Season 7. Jim (Andre… Read more | {
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54 Unique Healthy Diet Diabetes Type 2- Delightful to my weblog, on this time period I’m going to teach you with regards to healthy diet diabetes type 2. And from now on, this is the initial image: 693 best Diabetic Help images on Pinterest from healthy diet diabetes type 2, image source: pinterest.com Risk Macrovascular […]
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Methods: :
Four stereoisomeric dipeptide prodrugs L-Valine-D-Valine-Gancyclovir(LDGCV), D-Valine-L-Valine-Gancyclovir (DLGCV), L-Valine-L-Valine-Gancyclovir(LLGCV), D-Valine-D-Valine- Gancyclovir (DDGCV) and two aminoacid prodrugs D-Val-Gancyclovir (DGCV), and L-Val-Gancyclovir(LGCV) were synthesized and characterized using mass and NMRspectrometry. MDCK and SIRC cell lines were used as model celllines to study the interaction of these prodrugs with PeptideTransporter (PEPT). The aqueous stability studies of these prodrugswere performed in Dulbecco’s phosphate buffered Saline(DPBS) at different pH (6.5, 7.4 and 8.5) at 340C for 10 days.Metabolism of these prodrugs were carried out in ocular tissuehomogenates. Cytotoxicity of the prodrugs was analyzed usingCtoTox-ONETM Homogenous Membrane Integrity Assay kit from Promega.Corneal transport of these prodrugs was carried out using aside-by-side diffusion apparatus. All the samples were analyzedusing HPLC and LC-MS/MS.
Results: :
No detectable degradation was observed for LDGCV, DGCV at pH6.5. However, the degradation rate was found to be higher atalkaline pH. The stability in increasing order for the prodrugswas found to be DDGCV>LDGCV>DLGCV>DGCV>LLGCV>LGCV.The interaction of these prodrugs with PEPT was confirmed bytheir significant inhibition of [3H] Glysar uptake in vitro.All prodrugs other than DDGCV and DGCV were found to interactwith PEPT1. Cytotoxicity of the prodrugs was significantly lessthan the marketed drug Trifluorothymidine. Corneal transportsample concentrations were not detectable by HPLC detectionlimit. Extraction and analytical method were optimized in LC-MS/MSto analyze these samples.
Conclusions: :
Our results indicate that stereoisomeric dipeptide monoesterprodrugs of GCV can not only enhance the aqueous stability butalso retain their affinity towards Peptide transporter as wellas improving the enzymatic stability. Hence these can be a bettersubstitute to conventional peptide prodrugs of GCV in treatmentof Herpes Simplex virus infections. | {
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} |
User Reviews
Idolish 7 was originally a mobile game released by Bandai Namco in Japan, featuring a visual novel and rhythm game type game play. It is a Japanese only mobile game, however you can play it if you live in other countries to find out how visit the Idolish 7 fan wiki. But anyway onto the review, this show so far is great! The animation is smooth and the music and sounds are nice as-well. And all the
...
Idolish 7 was originally a mobile game released by Bandai Namco in Japan, featuring a visual novel and rhythm game type game play. It is a Japanese only mobile game, however you can play it if you live in other countries to find out how visit the Idolish 7 fan wiki. But anyway onto the review, this show so far is great! The animation is smooth and the music and sounds are nice as-well. And all the characters are colorful and have distinct personalities. And I especially like that they did give Tsumugi the main female character a personality because they usually don't and make them very bland. But Tsumugi has character which is nice. And I don't have any complaints. Like I said this is based off a game so I feel like you would be more excited about this anime if you played the game and have listened to the many songs by the idol groups(Idolish7, Trigger, and Re:Vale.). Anyway I recommend this anime if you like idol anime and like bishies.
This anime is based off the rhythm and visual novel mobile game released a few years ago in Japan. It has gained a huge following, and for the fans, this anime has been a long time coming! As a fan of the popular Uta no Prince-sama, and a veteran male idol anime watcher, I can honestly say that this one is a serious gem!
While following the story of this 7 man idol unit (get it?
...
This anime is based off the rhythm and visual novel mobile game released a few years ago in Japan. It has gained a huge following, and for the fans, this anime has been a long time coming! As a fan of the popular Uta no Prince-sama, and a veteran male idol anime watcher, I can honestly say that this one is a serious gem!
While following the story of this 7 man idol unit (get it? Idolish7) we start at, just like the idol group, the beginning! It's all about trying to get their name out their, worry over other idol units, and how to work together as a unit themselves. And to of course, be top idols! This anime shows the real struggles of trying to make a name for yourself versus just them "magically" becoming the best. They aren't the best right now, they are unknown and are working hard to figure out the entertainment world. I know a lot of idol anime characters tend to lack personalities and/or not have any depth beyond their set image. But with this anime it's not like that at all! Every character (even the main female, I know a total shock) has a set image but they are not one-dimensional in their personalities or struggles! It's a refreshing good idol anime that has good animation (there is some CGI during some dancing parts but it isn't all that bad), plot, music/songs, and actual characters we can sympathizes with and not just annoyed at! I think for any idol lovers and even first time watchers, would be able to enjoy this!
I love the characters in this anime - they feel down to earth and not vague in personality - there's something more defined in their ambitions and they have, dare I say, some common sense? It's not just pretty boys living a lavish lifestyle as an idol, they're buckling down and trying to build themselves up from the bottom, but they have such good interactions it feels so refreshing and even
...
I love the characters in this anime - they feel down to earth and not vague in personality - there's something more defined in their ambitions and they have, dare I say, some common sense? It's not just pretty boys living a lavish lifestyle as an idol, they're buckling down and trying to build themselves up from the bottom, but they have such good interactions it feels so refreshing and even relatable to a degree.And, you gotta enjoy that merged first two episodes, it really gives them the time to cement the character dynamics. And our female manager is focusing on her job instead of being in doki doki otome cliche situations, so that's always a plus! I'll be sticking with this in the long run for sure.
Honestly, this is the first time I've ever enjoyed an idol anime so much as to watch it past episode five (coughutanoprincesamacough) and I fell in LOVE. The boys aren't bland and are all extremely charming in their own ways. They all have unique backstories that can really describe why a character acts a certain way! Along with that the main female protagonist doesn't drive me
...
Honestly, this is the first time I've ever enjoyed an idol anime so much as to watch it past episode five (coughutanoprincesamacough) and I fell in LOVE. The boys aren't bland and are all extremely charming in their own ways. They all have unique backstories that can really describe why a character acts a certain way! Along with that the main female protagonist doesn't drive me crazy and is actually a girl who can do her job and not be useless. Which makes me glad this isn't a reverse harem, like I love the reverse harem genre, but I hate the trope of the main female being useless. Other than that, the plot is very dramatic but is still filled with some really cute plot points that just keep you watching. Plus just watch the anime. It's bishie galore and it's beautiful!
As I read some of the other comments, I realized there were a few saying it was like every other idol otome anime/game. The main girl does not go chasing after the boys at all and they aren't trying to get with her. Of course there are some flirty remarks here and there, but the boys are much more interested in trying to succeed as a group rather than get her to notice them. The mobile game is
...
As I read some of the other comments, I realized there were a few saying it was like every other idol otome anime/game. The main girl does not go chasing after the boys at all and they aren't trying to get with her. Of course there are some flirty remarks here and there, but the boys are much more interested in trying to succeed as a group rather than get her to notice them. The mobile game is amazing and I still play it today. Even in the game itself, you aren't trying to get the boys' attention, you're just going through the story as well as the rhythm portion. It's really fun to collect and merge the character cards too!
IDOLiSH7 is a great anime for many reasons, but I would say its most appealing factor is the amount of effort that went into each character's stories, and how these stories all work well together. The amount of work that went into this anime is easy to see and it's very admirable, not to mention the songs are really catchy and fun. It's an anime where you can't wait to see what happens next, but
...
IDOLiSH7 is a great anime for many reasons, but I would say its most appealing factor is the amount of effort that went into each character's stories, and how these stories all work well together. The amount of work that went into this anime is easy to see and it's very admirable, not to mention the songs are really catchy and fun. It's an anime where you can't wait to see what happens next, but at the same time it is relaxing to watch. I really hope this series continues for a while!
One look at this and one may think that this is your typical idol anime. A group of boys all fall in love with the same girl and their road is laid out to them in a rainbow where their first concert will have thousands of screaming fans just waiting for them. That they will defeat all the previous guys in a battle of popularity and get bigger than them. Blah blah blah. You know, that typical idol
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One look at this and one may think that this is your typical idol anime. A group of boys all fall in love with the same girl and their road is laid out to them in a rainbow where their first concert will have thousands of screaming fans just waiting for them. That they will defeat all the previous guys in a battle of popularity and get bigger than them. Blah blah blah. You know, that typical idol stuff.
Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide
I was surprised.
(Spoiler warning just in case. Especially for ONE part. It's small, but it's a bit of a spoiler)
I rarely watch anything reverse harem. When I do, I either think its okay and probably never watch it again. IDOLiSH7 has me going back to rewatch episodes while waiting for the next episode. This idol anime actually has a plot. SHOCKER! Though I can say that some stuff may be slightly exaggerated, many of the small details are based on real life in a way. The way the fans are portrayed; the struggles to be in the idol industry; how personal problems are dealt with (not all but some).
The best part? The guys didn't fall in love with their female manager (which I'm to assume is "you" on the video game). They love their manager as what she is: their manager. There might be a time where one hits on her, but it's not cheesy and it's brushed off. I'm not saying that I usually hate the female protagonist. I don't. But this is refreshing. It's nice to watch an idol or any reverse harem anime where the guys don't "fall in love" at first sight.
If many don't like the typical plot of an idol anime but want to give one a try, I suggest IDOLiSH7. And I will say, as a fan of a kpop group, this hits me right in the fandom feels. You can't help but love them all.
I've followed IDOLiSH7 since before the anime aired and watching it has only made me appreciate it even more. TROYCA has done an excellent job capturing the heart of i7 and bringing the story to life in a whole new way. If you're even a little curious, me and this 5 star rating highly recommend you give it a try!
I dearly love this series and I am heavily anticipating season 2! Please. I love
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I've followed IDOLiSH7 since before the anime aired and watching it has only made me appreciate it even more. TROYCA has done an excellent job capturing the heart of i7 and bringing the story to life in a whole new way. If you're even a little curious, me and this 5 star rating highly recommend you give it a try!
I dearly love this series and I am heavily anticipating season 2! Please. I love Re:vale so much and I want to see them so bad.
I got into this late and at the suggestion of a friend. I thought it was supposed to be an Utapri ripoff and wasn't that interested for a while. But I was mistaken. The fact that there's seven idols and they're rainbow colored is about where the similarities end. This isn't really an otome show, and that makes it a breath of fresh air. It's rich in terms of drama and incredibly funny moments and
...
I got into this late and at the suggestion of a friend. I thought it was supposed to be an Utapri ripoff and wasn't that interested for a while. But I was mistaken. The fact that there's seven idols and they're rainbow colored is about where the similarities end. This isn't really an otome show, and that makes it a breath of fresh air. It's rich in terms of drama and incredibly funny moments and the characters each have so much going for them that it's hard to choose a favorite. If Nana and Utapri had a lovechild, it might be this show. I haven't gotten this into an anime in many years. It's splendidly made and has catchy songs as a great bonus.
About the Show
A group of aspiring idols gather at Takanashi Productions and are entrusted with the company's future. The seven men who have just met represent
A group of aspiring idols gather at Takanashi Productions and are entrusted with the company's future. The seven men who have just met represent a variety of totally different personalities. However, they each have their own charm and possess unknown potential as idols. Forming a group, they take their first step together as "IDOLiSH7." Their brilliantly shining dancing forms onstage eventually begin captivating the hearts of the people. In the glorious but sometimes harsh world of idols, they aim for the top with dreams in their hearts!
...more | {
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> What would I like it to do? Warn me maybe before my swap goes to> zero. Kill the> program that is doing this possibly. Allow me to set a per> process memory / swap> limit so that no one process can suck up my system resources.>
There are several programs available with the typical Linux installationthat allows you to monitor swap space. For example, xosview.
There are also settings you can make in Netscape that supposedly limit diskspace usage and memory usage.
-To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" inthe body of a message to [email protected] read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/ | {
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Directions
Melt Spread in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat and cook onion, stirring occasionally, 4 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in flour and thyme and cook, stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Whisk in broth, Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise and Worcestershire sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in turkey, vegetables and cranberries. Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper. Turn into prepared pan, then evenly top with potatoes. | {
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Tickets are now on sale for Brisbane Strikers’ Westfield FFA Cup blockbuster against a star-studded Melbourne City at Perry Park on Wednesday, 24 August.
With the memory of Redlands United’s stunning upset win over Adelaide United still fresh in the memory, Strikers will be targeting their own headlines in the highly-anticipated Round of 16 clash.
Hyundai A-League stars Bruno Fornaroli, Luke Brattan and Thomas Sorensen will be out to stop the new PlayStation® 4 NPL Queensland Premiers from advancing and could be joined by marquee signing Tim Cahill.
Haha thanks mate ??? going to be a few players singing then. You can help me practice on the way to Brisbane hahaha https://t.co/wA0c1ymBsX | {
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I Am Overburdened, striving for balance
I’m still alive and working on the game so I jump right into what I worked on in the last month or so. Even though I was pretty silent a lot has “changed”. The topic will be polishing, because it never stops 😛 , some input handling tricks and another pretty complex one: game balance.
Polishing
During a series of play-test sessions with friends, family and old colleagues I gathered some really valuable feedback on how to enhance the user experience. Thankfully the game itself was well received, but the mentioned “issues” really bugged me, so I sat down for a week or two to further enhance the presentation.
Cost indicators
This was a tiny addition but helped a lot. Now the color of the chest and shop item cost texts reflect the state whether you can open/buy them.
Animated texts
I went into an in-game UI tuning frenzy, so I added a “pop” animation on value change, besides the existing yellow highlights, to gold and attribute texts.
Health bar
The health bar got some love too! I implemented a fade-in/out effect for the heart sprite slowly turning it into a “black” one when you are low on health. I also added a maximum health indicator and the same value change “pop” animation I used for the gold and attribute texts.
Battle events
Battle events and various skills (hit miss, dodge, fear or cripple events etc…) got many complaints due to their visibility being insufficient, leaving the player puzzled sometimes why a battle didn’t play out as expected. Besides using the existing sprite effects I added text notifications, similar to the ones used with pickups. No complaints ever since 🙂 .
Critical strike
This one was an “extra”. I wanted to beef-up the effects of the critical strikes to make them look more ferocious and better noticeable.
Level transition
Play testers shared my enthusiasm towards having a better level transition effect, so I slapped on a black screen fade-in/out during dungeon generation and it worked wondrous.
Input handling
I knew for a long time now, that the simple input handling logic the game had will not be good enough for the shipped version. I already worked a lot on and wrote my findings about better input handling for grid based games, so I’m not going to reiterate.
I mostly reused the special high-level input handling parts from my previous game Operation KREEP. It was a real-time action game, so some parts were obviously less relevant, but I also added tiny new extras.
I observed players hitting the walls a lot. Since the player character moves relatively fast from one cell to another this happened frequently when trying to change directions, so I added a timer which blocks the “HitWall” movement state for a few milliseconds towards each walled direction for the first time when a new grid cell is reached. Again, results were really positive 🙂 .
Balancing
My great “wisdom” about this topic: balancing a game, especially and RPG, is hard. Not simply hard, it is ULTRA hard. Since I never worked on an RPG before, in the preparation phase I guesstimated, that it will took around 2 to 3 days of full-time work, because after all it is a simple game. Oh maaaaaaan, how naive I was 😦 . It took close to two weeks. Having more experience on how to approach it and how to do it effectively I probably could do it in less than a week now with a similar project, but that is still far off from from 2/3 days 😀 .
Before anyone plays the judge saying, I’m a lunatic and spending this much probably wasn’t worth it, I have to say, that during the last 6 months nothing influenced the fairness and “feeling” of the game as much as these last 2 weeks so do not neglect the importance of it 😐 !
Now onto how I tamed this beast!
Tools and approach
Mainly excel/open-office/google-sheets, so good old-fashioned charting baby 🙂 . And how? I implemented almost all the formulas (damage model, pickup probabilities, loot system etc…) in isolated sheets, filled it with the game data and tweaked it (or the formulas sometimes) to reach a desirable outcome.
This may sound boring or cumbersome, but in reality charts are really useful and these tools help tremendously. Working with a lot of data is made easy and you get results immediately when you change something. Also they have a massive library of functions built-in so mimicking something like the damage reduction logic of a game is actually not that hard.
That is the main chart of the game, controlling the probabilities of specific pickups, chests and monsters occurring on levels. It plays a key role in determining the difficulty and the feel of the game so nailing it was pretty important (no pressure 😛 ).
If balancing this way is pretty efficient why it took so much time? Well, even a simple game like I Am Overburdened is built from an absurd number of components, so modeling it took at least a dozen gigantic charts 😦 . Another difficult aspect is validating your changes. The most reliable way is play-testing, so I completed the game during the last two weeks around 30 to 40 times and that takes a long while 😀 . There are faster but less accurate ways of course. I will talk about that topic in another post…
Tricks and tips
#1.: Focus on balancing ~isolated parts/chunks of your game first.
This wide “chest chart” works out how the chests “behave” (opening costs, probabilities, possible items). Balancing sections of your game is easier than trying to figure out and make the whole thing work altogether in one pass. Parts with close to final values can even help solidifying other aspects! E.g.: knowing the frequency and overall cost of chests helped in figuring out how much gold the player should find in I Am Overburdened.
#2.: Visualization and approaching problems from different perspectives are key!
The battle model (attack/defense/damage/health formulas) wasn’t working perfectly up until last week. I decided to chart the relation of the attack, defense and health values and how their change affect the number of hits required to kill an enemy. These fancy “damage model” graphs shows this relation. Seeing the number of hits required in various situations immediately sparked some ideas how to fix what was bugging me 🙂 .
#3.: ~Fixing many formulas/numbers upfront can make your life easier.
Lot of charts I know, but the highlighted blue parts are the “interesting” ones. I settled on using them as semi-final values and formulas long before starting to balance the game. If you have some fixed counts, costs, bonuses or probabilities you can work out the numbers for your other systems more easily. In I Am Overburdened I decided on the pickup powers like the + health given by potions or the + attribute bonuses before the balancing “phase”. Working out their frequencies on levels was pretty easy due to having this data. Also helps when starting out, since it gives lot of basis to work with.
Now onto the unmissable personal grounds. Spidi, you’ve been v/b-logging about this game for a loooooong while now, will this game ever be finished?! Yes, yes and yes. I know it has fallen into stretched and winding development, but it is really close to the finish line now and it is going to be AWESOME! I’m more proud of it than anything I’ve ever created in my life prior 🙂 . | {
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“This recipe is very simple and very delicious. It only takes a few minutes to prepare and just a bit longer in the broiler. Serve with buttery mashed potatoes and green beans with lemon squeezed on top.”
Reviewer:
My husband is STILL raving about this recipe weeks later. So simple yet flavorful, and the filets were a perfect medium. I have attempted to cook filet several times before but never was it this good. This recipe yielded restaurant quality results. Thank you so much for sharing. And if at 14 you are already this good I cant wait until you have honed your skills. You may be the next Bobby Flay :)
Reviewer:
We made these filets for dinner today and fixed Garlic Baked Potatoes as a side (also found on allrecipes.com). We grilled them instead of broiling them and they turned out great. One thing we didn’t like was the shallots. We thought they were a bit too strong and overpowering. Next time I will just sauté mushrooms and onions to serve with the filets. My husband also thought using butter instead of olive oil would be very good. Thanks for a great recipe.
Reviewer:
It's hard for me to rate, since I don't eat steak, but, made it for my 'steak loving' husband. I was worried about it being under the broiler too long, but he thought it was very tasty! So, EASY!! Will be making again when he wants a steak and no one else does.
Reviewer:
I made these from a tenderloin that I had cut up. Other than omitting the shallots, I didn't change anything else. This recipe works really well with a good smoked bacon (applewood is my fav). Good job on this recipe! | {
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} |
Stay on target
I think it’s safe to say that Kingdom Hearts 3 is one of the most anticipated titles of all time. Fans who’ve been with the series since 2002 will have their patience rewarded when the game finally comes out early next year. I recently had a chance to play an hour-long demo of the game. From what I experienced, it seems this long-awaited installment will have everything fans could have hoped for and more. Even newbies to the series will find a lot to like here.
I’ve never played a Kingdom Hearts game. Outside of seeing friends play it back in the day or checking out a short demo of the HD re-release from 2013, I have no real experience with the franchise. I know it has a combination of Disney and Square-Enix characters. I also understand it has a convoluted storyline thanks to all of the prequel spin-offs released over the years. Besides that, I went into the demo knowing next to nothing. I’m happy to report that I ended up having a wonderful time despite my ignorance of the franchise. This is a quality title through and through.
For those who don’t know, Kingdom Hearts takes place in a universe where all the various Disney worlds are connected. It should come as no surprise to learn that Mickey Mouse is king of this shared universe. One day, he notices shadowy creatures called “Heartless” are invading the realms. In their wake, a wave of darkness begins to consume the lands.
Mickey sends Donald (the royal mage) and Goofy (captain of the guard) to find a keyblade wielder. Keyblades are mystical weapons in the Kingdom Hearts universe. They have the power to seal the keyholes at the heart of each world (where the Heartless are sneaking in from). They find Sora, whose world (Destiny Island) was destroyed by the Heartless. The three companions then travel to different Disney lands to fight back the Heartless. Along the way, they become friends with many Disney characters.
Even if you’re unfamiliar with all the intricacies of the series, you can jump into Kingdom Hearts 3 blind. The core story about friendship and light overcoming darkness is one general audiences will easily grasp. You’ll instantly know who the good and bad guys are. While there is certainly some complexity to the story, you don’t need a master’s degree in Kingdom Hearts to understand the third entry. Certainly, the more you know the backstory, the more you’ll appreciate the return of certain characters. But overall Kingdom Hearts 3 is easy to get into for everyone.
At the start of Kingdom Hearts 3, Sora, Donald, and Goofy return to Olympus. This level partly serves as the game’s tutorial world. Here, I had to battle a large number of Heartless while familiarizing myself with the controls. This is an action RPG, which means hack and slash combat, magic attacks, and plenty of over-the-top special moves. Though I’m not a Kingdom Hearts veteran, I instantly understood the controls. They instantly became second nature.
A Square-Enix PR representative explained that Sora is more agile than in past installments. For example, he can now wall run up shimmering vertical surfaces. He also has some context-sensitive motions. I can’t compare the controls to previous games, but they certainly felt fluid. There was never an instance where I fought against the controls. They felt natural, which is a testament to how solid the mechanics are.
Tapping R1 locks on to enemies. By holding the button, you can “shot lock” foes. This enables you to line up with enemies and do multi-hit combos on them. Doing a shot lock attack is risk versus reward since you’re frozen in place while lining up opponents. Holding down the attack button after lining bad guys lets you get the full effect out of the attack. This move uses up the charge meter so you’ll need to build it back up again by doing attacks or by drinking an elixir.
After dispatching the Heartless, I had to run up the side of a mountain to face off against the stage’s boss. As I made my way up the vertical path, the giant two-headed rock monster tossed giant boulders which I had to avoid. In order for me to get to his head, I first had to weaken his feet by attacking them. After damaging both feet, I ran up to his face and smacked him around with my keyblade.
During the boss fight I got to check out the Link system, which is effectively this game’s version of summons. I summoned a creature called Meow Wow, which is from a previous Kingdom Hearts entry. There are many different summons in the game and each have their own attacks and finishing moves.
While attacking the boss’ heads, I got to try out another new mechanic called the Attraction attack. Basically, you can summon certain park rides from Disney theme parks. The rides are context specific, depending on the situation or boss fight. In this case, it was the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. By pressing R2, I could attack the boss with fireworks as the train rode on its tracks. I could also do a finishing move by pressing Triangle. By doing this attack, I was able to finish off the fearsome foe and complete that portion of the demo.
The next world I tried out was Toy Story. Each of the game’s worlds have an art-style corresponding to each property. In the Mount Olympus level, Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked like they were from that world. In Toy Story, they all looked liked CGI toys. The developers went out of their way to capture the look and feel of each world. They even put in subtle details like scratches on the toys or making sure to add stitches to Woody’s left arm (which was ripped off in Toy Story 2).
Every Disney world is self-contained. The characters in each realm do not know the other Disney worlds exist. To preserve the integrity of each land, Sora and pals have to match each world. With Toy Story, Sora and pals look like action figures. In Monsters Inc. they become monsters, while in Pirates of the Caribbean, they look like pirates. I was told the devs gave each world its own style but also tried to maintain a cohesive look for the overall game. As you can imagine, this wasn’t easy.
You can now power up keyblades, which is something completely new to the series. As you land attacks on enemies, you’ll build up a meter on the bottom left hand side of the screen (right above the actions menu). Pressing the Triangle button (on PS4) unleashes a powerful special move. The game has a wide assortment of special moves for players to try out. Since you build up energy relatively quick, you do not have to be frugal with special moves. You’re encouraged to use them often.
Players can now equip up to three different keyblades at once. They can also level up each keyblade to make them stronger. Before, there was no incentive to continue using keyblades obtained from previous worlds since the newer keyblades were more powerful. Now, keyblades you have a fondness for are viable even later in the game since you can level them up.
Different keyblades can be used even in the middle of combos. During the Toy Story section, I had the Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Tangled keyblades. The Toy Story keyblade has special attacks that summon yo yos and tea cups, Monsters Inc. has different kinds of melee attacks, and Tangled has magic-based attacks. Since a keyblade’s attacks last for 30 seconds, you have time to switch to another keyblade and use its attack and finishing moves. Trying out all of the different attacks is a lot of fun.
Toy Story is a brand-new world to the franchise, as is Frozen, Monsters Inc., Pirates of the Caribbean, Tangled, and more. There are also worlds specific to Kingdom Hearts which aren’t based on Disney properties. When Sora and pals arrive in Toy Story, they meet Woody, Buzz, Rex, and the rest. They learn that all of the humans (including Andy) disappeared the instant the Heartless arrived. Woody and Buzz join Sora’s gang to stop the Heartless and restore the world.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is the first time you see the world outside Andy’s window. After climbing out of the window and going into the street, you must engage with various pockets of Heartless. In a series first, characters from each of the worlds fights alongside your core three-man group. This effectively gives you a party with five members. These characters do their own unique attacks. For example, Woody reaches behind his back and pulls his talking string to use as a lasso against enemies.
As mentioned above, every world has its own Attraction and Link attacks. Instead of riding a train that shoots fireworks, you ride on top of a giant firecracker alongside Buzz and Woody in the Toy Story world. For the Link attack, you get help from Wreck-it-Ralph. This character has a CRT filter on his body which gives him a classic game feel. With his special attack, he creates a static field that traps foes he can then smash. This is a perfect area-of-effect attack to use against multiple bad guys.
The final part of the demo took place in a new area called Galaxy Toys. The demo only had the ground floor, but in the final game, players can expect to see multiple floors each with their own specific type of toys. There will be a floor for toddler toys, a floor for dolls, and even an entire floor full of Final Fantasy figures.
For this section, Sora gets to pilot a toy mech and faces off against other mechs. The camera angle is in first person, which gives it a proper mech game feel. After damaging a robot enough, you can jump inside of it. Each of the different colored mechs has unique moves and attacks. This portion is awesome because of how different it is. I’m told to expect more of these kind of surprises in the full game.
In addition to the main story, players can look forward to several mini-games. One is a cooking game with Remy from Ratatouille. You must find ingredients hidden across several of the worlds and use them to create new recipes. There are 20 different old-school Tiger Toys/Game & Watch style 2D side scrolling games based on Mickey cartoons from the 1930s and 40s. Building your Gummi ship (used for traveling to each world) is pretty much a mini-game of its own. I was told Kingdom Hearts 3 is around 40-50 hours if one stays on the critical path. Including the mini-games, players can possibly expect 80+ hours of content. With that said, Square-Enix has yet to finalize the game’s exact length as there are still many months to go before release date.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is looking great so far. Players who’ve been with the franchise since 2002 are sure to enjoy what’s in store for them. As the final part of the story which began in the first game, this title will no doubt serve as a form of closure for longtime devotees. Even if you’re like me and are just diving in for the first time, you’ll enjoy seeing the game’s insane mix of Disney whimsy and Square-Enix production values. I’m curious to see how fans of the series will react when the game drops on January 29. | {
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Why do I Suffer?
This is a question that is as ancient as man himself. First we must understand that GOD did not desire that we suffer. Suffering came into being because man chose to sin. There was no suffering in the Garden of Eden until man sinned, and Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned--.
Romans 5:12. Man brought suffering into the world by sinning. Much suffering continues in the world caused by men who sin. Sin has long-lasting concequences.
GOD cares very much for us and does not want anyone to suffer. Psalm 116:3-5; The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the LORD: O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul! Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yes, our God is merciful.
Man's disobedience caused the loss of GOD's blessings. Our bodies are no longer immortal as Adam and Eve were in the garden before they sinned . Therefore we suffer from disease, sickness and physical death. All are the result of sin. Death literally means separation from GOD. Without being in a right (correct) relationship with GOD, we are no longer deserving of GOD's blessings. All that remains for us is to suffer at the hands of the devil. All suffering is inflicted on us by our enemy the devil.
Without being in a right (correct) relationship with GOD we have no hope at all of restoring GOD's blessings to our lives. When a person becomes a Christian that person can then begin to trust that GOD will answer his prayer. Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8.The Christian who is in a right (correct) relationship with GOD can trust that GOD will return many of the blessings he lost before he became a Christian. This includes hope of eternal life.
Just because we become Christians does not mean all suffering ceases. It does means that we can begin to rely on GOD who will help us with our burdens. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28.GOD begins to ease our suffering and helps us by carrying our most difficult burdens.
GOD lives in Heaven away from sin and suffering. He wants us to be with Him.
He wants us to look beyond this world to Heaven. If there were no suffering in this world, there would be very little desire to go to Heaven and be with GOD. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:3-4.
Suffering therefore helps to remind us that we do not belong on this earth. We belong with GOD our Father. Jesus is preparing a place for every Christian who is willing to obey Him. Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3.
Sometime we suffer because of our sin and GOD disciplines us. This occurs not because GOD desires to inflict pain on us but because He wants us to change our mind and return to Him. He does not want anyone to be lost. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? Hebrews 12:5-7.
Let us study the life of a very special man in the Old Testament. There was a man named Job who is described in the Book of Job. Then the LORD said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? Job 1:8. Job was a very righteous man. For most of Job's life he received many countless blessings from GOD. He was about to learn that even the righteous experience suffering. So Satan answered the LORD and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face! Job 1:9-11. GOD allowed Job to suffer at the hand's of the devil. Job's suffering was brought on by the devil, not GOD. GOD allowed it to happen but only to achieve a far greater purpose in GOD's plan. We may not fully understand but GOD is able to use our circumstances of suffering and turn them into blessings for us later in our life, as we shall learn from Job's experience. GOD also knew that the outcome of Job's suffering would far outweigh the limited amount of suffering that Job would experience. This is not to minimize the suffering that Job experienced. He lost his entire family except for his wife and was in great pain for months. The book of Job would become an ageless example of the suffering of the righteous, and a source of encouragement for us.
First we must understand that we are not alone in our suffering. GOD experienced the agony of suffering himself in the person of his Son. Jesus came to live and die as the Son of GOD that we might have hope. He experienced hunger in the wilderness for forty days. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. But He answered and said, It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Matthew 4:2-4.He certainly knew what it was to be cold or to experience the heat of summer. He lived as a carpenter's son for over thirty years. He knew what it was like to go without sleep. He was even tempted by sin and had to resist without sinning, to accomplish GOD's greatest sacrifice for us. Hebrew 4:15; For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Jesus, the Son of GOD, experienced what each of us experience every day to help us with our own suffering.
Perhaps the greatest suffering man will face is the fear of death. Jesus went before us to take away this fear by overcoming death with the hope of a resurrection to eternal life with GOD. Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,.. Hebrews 5:7-9.
Jesus feared death as we do, but He especially feared death on the cross. He understood what kind of death He would suffer, as He knelt down in the Garden. Then He said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me. He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. Matthew 26:38-39. Jesus prayed three times to his Heavenly Father to be spared the death on the cross. This is the death that would satisfy GOD's justice for our sins. We deserved to be on that cross in His place, each of us dying for our own sins. He did not deserve it. Jesus thus became the perfect sacrifice in our place. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him,
for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, Hebrew 2:9-11.
When we share in suffering as a Christian, GOD sees us as part of His family. We become part of the family of GOD by sharing in Jesus' suffering. This is especially true when we suffer because of our attempts to be like Christ.
Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 1 Peter 4:1-2.
Remember! We previously considered the suffering of Job. Job overcame his suffering at the hands of the devil. Let us see the final outcome of Job's faithfulness to GOD. Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.
He also had seven sons and three daughters. Job 42:12-13. Christians can have an even better hope today.
Joe Andrasik
Christians may copy this tract freely
to advance the Gospel of Christ
if the content is not changed. | {
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} |
Research paper topics, free example research papers
Black - 677 words
Black Cat By Poe Edgar Allan Poe wrote that the
single effect was the most important aspect of a
short story, that everything must contribute to
this effect. Poes gothic tale "The Black Cat" was
written trying to achieve an effect of shocking
insanity. In this first person narrative the
narrator tells of his decline from sanity to
madness, all because of an obsession with two(or
possibly one) black cats. These ebony creatures
finally drive him to take the life his wife, whose
death he unsuccessfully tries to conceal. This
short story easily achieved the effect that Poe
was looking for through the use of description of
setting, symbolism, plot development, diverse word
choice, and detailed ch ...
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Cask Of Amontillado And Black Cat - 1,608 words
Cask Of Amontillado And Black Cat Shrout 1 Aspects
and Analysis of Edgar Allen Poe's " The Cask of
Amontillado" and the "Black Cat" What makes
literary works considered great, and furthermore
what makes the greatness of the work withstand the
test of time? The answer to both of these
questions is the same. Greatness of literary work
that withstands the test of time is due to the
fact that their meaning is still seen and
identified with by people today, and still evokes
interest in the reader, even though these works
were written decades, sometimes centuries earlier.
When works of literature have with stood the test
of time, and are still considered great, these
works are analyzed as to why t ...
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Farewell To Arms - 1,046 words
Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingways "A Farewell to
Arms" holds the secret of a man (the author) who
experiences many things and then changes them for
in his writings. The main character of the novel,
Frederic, experiences many of the same situations
that Hemingway lived. He captures the inspiring
trials and tribulations of a disillusioned man
caught between love and war. Driving an ambulance
on the Italian front of World War One, Frederick
discovers his values as he realizes his love for
Catherine, an English Nurse also enlisted in the
war effort. An American Lieutenant as an Italian
Ambulance driver, Frederick is shown to be an
average man in search of a set of his self.
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Great Gatsby - 1,735 words
Great Gatsby How do we perceive a novel? What
influences our impressions of certain characters?
Many literary critics would agree that choosing
the correct point of view is critical in
developing the plot and character of any piece of
writing. Quite simply, point of view can be
described as the role of the narrator in the
story; is the person telling the story as a
detached observer, or is he or she actually
involved in the events? A narrator who is not
involved in the plot may be placed into one of two
categories, the first being third person, while
the second category is known as omniscient
narration. Third person narration deals with
events in an objective manner, with no comment on
motiv ...
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Heart Of Darkness: Themes In Garden Of Evil And Heart Of Darkness - 1,536 words
Heart Of Darkness: Themes in Garden of Evil and
Heart of Darkness Independent Novel Study- Theme
Theme: is the central topic or dilema in the
story. The theme directly involves the main
character. The story of the Garden of Evil relates
to Heart of Darkness in the way that the themes
are similar. For example the evil that lies within
us. Yes I believe that the statement "Evil is
Inherent in the Hearts of Men" is true. Everybody
has evil in them although a restriction would have
to be put on the statement to say that evil is
inherent in men but it is the power to overcome
the evil. The Quest Myth is about an adventure
where the adventurer has something he is looking
for or something he has to ...
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Johnny Cashs Song Mercy Seat - 430 words
Johnny CashS Song Mercy Seat Johnny Cash's song
"Mercy Seat is a first person narrative. The
listener assumes that a prison chaplain has
ministered to the man. And the man was probably in
possession of a Bible that was probably given to
him by the chaplain It is a song that is sung by a
man who is being executed in the electric chair.
The idea of Jesus starts in the first verse: I
began to warm and chill To objects and their
fields A ragged cup, a twisted mop The face of
Jesus in my soup ... " The second verse contains
more of the man's thoughts: "I here stories from
the chamber, how Christ was born into a manger and
like some ragged stranger died upon the cross, and
might I say it seems so ...
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Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - 1,269 words
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha The novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha
Ha has no authorial presence at all, yet the
reader gains a richer understanding of the
situation than Paddy or any other 10-year old
could ever have. With regard to the parents break
up, how does Doyle achieve this? There are many
factors which suggest how Doyle has succeeded in
creating a 'triangular relationship' between
himself the reader and the narrator Paddy Clarke
so that the reader has a greater awareness of the
predicament that Paddy is in. Doyles achievement
is how he alternates the poetic and realistic
without once lapsing into
stream-of-self-consciousness; the only way we - as
readers can tell it's written by an adult, is by ...
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Poe - 1,004 words
... t offering an opinion as to why it might
appear as it does. He does, however, have the
narrator comment on the reason why his door was
always open. He does so in brackets, though, so as
not to appear to detract from the descriptive
nature of the paragraph. Poes attention to detail
in this paragraph is minute as per usual. Poe puts
a lot of irrelevant information into his
descriptions. For instance, in the paragraph
above, the phrase never locked even at night.
Never locked means just that: never locked. There
was no need to qualify whether the door was locked
at night or not, because if was never locked, then
obviously it wouldnt be locked at night. Of course
it could be argued that the ...
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Tess Of The Durbervilles - 1,438 words
... like Tess is out of place. Glittery, but dusty
also describes Tess. Flintcome-Ash is contrasted
to the dairy, the landscapes are a reflection of
Tesss position society. Marlet is a sheltered
existence that is protected and symbolic of Tesss
protection compared to when she moves into the
more threatened and dangerous world. As this
happens Tess starts to decline. Find an example
from both demonstrating the landscape.
Juxtaposition of places from chapter to chapter.
Each time Tess returns to Marlet she is
increasingly alienated and Marlet is becoming more
and more industrialized. This is a good record of
Tesss demise, make a diary of her returns to
Marlet. N.B. The timing of her return is ...
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The Fall Of The House Of Usher - 657 words
The Fall Of The House Of Usher Regarded as his
most famous piece of fiction, The Fall of the
House of Usher inspires the usual horror found in
most works by Poe. Every aspect expected from a
Poe piece is found within this story. There is the
first person narrative, the division of
personality, and Gothic style; which all
characterize classic Poe. Although some critics
feel that the tale is difficult to read and an
overdone and vulgar fantasy; most recognize it as
the masterpiece it is. From the gloomy beginning
to the shocking conclusion, The Fall of the House
of Usher implements every attribute needed to
create a model narration. As in most Poe stories,
the unnamed narrator experiences a ho ...
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The Great Gatsbysuper Notes Automatic A - 5,715 words
... and overwhelm them. Tom clearly believes it.
Tom is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson, the
wife of George Wilson, who runs a garage in the
valley of ashes. Myrtle seems to have a dark
sexual vitality that attracts Tom, and he keeps an
apartment for her in New York, where he takes Nick
in Chapter II. Here he again shows how little he
thinks of anyone beside himself when he casually
breaks Myrtle's nose with the back of his hand,
because she is shouting Daisy! Daisy! in a vulgar
fashion. Between Chapters II and VII we see little
of Tom, but in Chapter VII he emerges as a central
figure. It is Tom who pushes the affair between
Gatsby and Daisy out into the open by asking
Gatsby point bla ...
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The Lesson - 993 words
The Lesson Symbolism and Theme in Bambara's "The
Lesson" Toni Cade Bambara wrote the short story,
The Lesson, in 1972. The Lesson is considered by
the Literary Canon to be a wonderful work of
fiction because of its use of language, humanistic
theme, symbolism, and non-genre plot. Two
essential elements that add to the depth and
enhance a reader's comprehension of The Lesson are
Bambara's use of symbolism and theme. The Lesson
takes place in New York's inner city. The
fictional story begins with a group of poor,
uneducated, lower class city kids standing in
front of a mailbox, preparing themselves for
another day of being taught by Mrs. Moore. Mrs.
Moore felt that it was her duty to help unde ...
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The Seafarer And The Wanderer - 683 words
The Seafarer And The Wanderer Anglo-Saxon elegies
deal with male camaraderie and the bond between
man and his creator. Although there are many
elegies, The Seafarer and The Wanderer are two of
the most prominent. Both of these elegies deal
with the loss of social society and the quest for
a Christian sense of being close to God. There are
many similarities and differences between the two
poems. Some of the differences will be discussed
here. These differences include point of view,
style or form, and mood. Understanding of the
elegies will also be discussed here. The point of
view for The Seafarer is first person narrative.
The speaker tells the story as if he really
experienced the events. ...
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Yevtushenkos Babi Yar - 919 words
Yevtushenko's Babi Yar Babi Yar, a poem written by
Yevgeny Yevtushenko, tells the story of the Nazi
invasion into a small part of Russia, in which,
throughout the duration of World War II, over
one-hundred thousand Jews, Gypsies and Russian
POW's were brutally murdered. However, what is
unique about this particular perspective is that
the narrator is not a Jew, but a mere observer who
is aghast at the atrocities that took place during
the Holocaust. It is through allusions, as well as
other literary devices, that Yevtushenko
elucidates caustically the absurdities of the
hatred that caused the Holocaust, in addition to
the narrator's identification with the Jews and
their history of oppressio ...
Related: babi yar, first person, human race, jewish people, ironic | {
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I get sorta pissed when I keep hearing die-hard fans or supporters – be it in politics or pro sports – confess their undying devotion towards one thing or another… and then cynically stomp on what they love or some item they are true-blue about.
I mean, I just wrote an article last week at Boltsmag (yeah, Boltsmag isn’t gone yet) about sports fans not being willing to leave their comfort zone to devote themselves to something bigger than their pro sports team… So what do you say about a political junkie who cynically tears down an issue, or a candidate, or a part position… All for the sake of the opportunist stance of “wait and see”?
If you really believe in something, aren’t you supposed to be willing to stand up for that something or at least do what you can to put its best foot forward? Be it an idea, a team, a principle, etc? Or are we all supposed to be just blind soldiers who will accept whatever we are handed by the powers-that-be? | {
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Welcome to Action for Swifts, a commentary on the activities, ideas and thoughts of people who care about Swifts. We welcome guest posts, case studies and reports, especially from Swifts Local Network (SLN) members. Please send to [email protected] for publication. To find topics of interest, use the LABELS & LINKS sections, or use search, top left. Click on any image to see it enlarged.
Thursday, 6 August 2015
Swifts get established in Dry Drayton
This is the story of a Cambridgeshire Village, originally with no known breeding Swifts, but now with a street with a growing Swift population.
by Rowena Baxter Photos: Clive Cooper
During June 2008 I noticed several swifts investigating the eaves of the houses in Pettitts Close, Dry Drayton. These houses were built in 1975, all to a fairly similar design, some with the eaves apex at the front and some with the apex at the side. All eaves have an overhang of about 9 inches. Knowing that the houses were unlikely to have holes in their roofs or soffits suitable for breeding swifts, I contacted Dick Newell. He suggested I put up a swift box, or even better, two. So I bought two Zeist boxes from John Stimpson and Clive fixed them to the east wall of our house, under the eaves and around 7 feet above the garage flat roof. I also persuaded a neighbour further down the road to have a
Zeist box.He fixed it to a west-facing
wall where the flyway was partly blocked by the house next door [See Fig. 6].
Dick advised that to make it easier to attract swifts to our
boxes, I should play swift calls while the swifts are here from mid-May to end
of July.So in 2009 I bought a CD of
swift calls from Swift Conservation and
initially played calls on a CD player from the bedroom window on the south side
just around the corner from the swift boxes.This didn’t seem very satisfactory as it was not near the boxes, so I set
up a very basic CD system in the garage playing swift calls, with speakers in a
plastic box on a table on the flat roof beneath the boxes.This involved my climbing in and out of the
bedroom window whenever rain was due to shut up the plastic box to avoid the
speakers getting wet.The CD player was
not suitable to be used with a timer.If
we were out for any length of time, away or during bad weather no calls were
playing
Fig 1. Two Zeist boxes on south wall, painted white
However, the calls and the boxes
attracted swifts that summer and they investigated the boxes, looked inside
even, but here I made a major mistake.Alongside the roof are some trees which blocked the route into the boxes
from the east and I felt that this was a disadvantage as the route in from the
south was free of any trees and completely open.So after some thought we moved the boxes to
beneath the eaves on the south side and painted them white to reflect some of
the heat from the sun.
Two more Zeist boxes made by John Stimpson were attached to
the house next door, towards the back of the east side, over a flat garage
roof, with a clear flyway over the back gardens [See Fig 5].
Fig 2. white Zeist boxes and new cabinet box
For two years I played the calls during May, June and July, in
good weather, covering the speakers when it rained.The swifts, attracted by the call playing,
showed no interest in the same Zeist boxes on the south face.
Following the second unsuccessful season in
2010 I consulted Dick again and he suggested that a cabinet box, end on to the
south with four compartments, might be more successful.The new box, made by Bob Tonks, was attached
to the east side, entrances facing south, in April 2011.The call playing system remained the same,
speakers on a table under the box.
During the 2011 season there were plenty of swifts attracted
to the calls but none seemed to discover the entrance holes in the new box and
none found the other Zeist boxes (where there were no calls playing).
2012 started well.At
least 2 swifts were seen entering the cabinet box mid-May with at least 2 birds
going to roost on 21-29 May during a spell of very good weather.Second mistake made here:I decided to stop playing the calls since the
nest site had been found.No calls were
played for a week or so, and the weather turned cool and wet.On Dick’s advice we started playing again in
early June.The rest of the summer in
2012 was frequently cool and wet, the speakers were rained on more than once
and no further progress was made.
In 2013 swifts arrived rather late probably due to poor
weather conditions in early May.I
switched the call playing system to a Cheng Sheng player with SD card, on a
timer, with car ‘tweeters’ attached to the base of the cabinet box, which is
much more convenient and reliable.During this season, 2 pairs became established in the cabinet box, but
no breeding took place.
Fig 3. New boxes designed for local sloping eaves
All of the eaves had the same 22.5° slope.
In 2014 2 chicks were successfully fledged from each of the 2 occupied spaces in the cabinet box at the end of July, and late in the season it was realised that 2 chicks were also being reared in the single Zeist box down the road.
It turned out that the swifts were having no trouble in accessing that box and 2 young fledged as late as 23 August. In the light of this success, and given the tolerance, support
and enthusiasm of the local residents, Dick designed a box suitable for sloping
eaves and John Stimpson made them.
Fig 4. New boxes being installed
2 each of these boxes were installed on 5 houses in April 2015 and 4 more Zeist boxes were added close to the single one which had successful breeding [see Fig 6].
One resident made his own Zeist-type box. A smaller cabinet box with two entrances (again
made by Bob Tonks) was attached to the house next door in a similar position to
our larger, successful one. This wall also houses the 2 Zeist boxes installed
in 2012 and both of these have also attracted swifts in 2015 albeit without
nesting [See Fig 5].
Fig 5. Cabinet box with 2 entrances
(note 2 Zeist boxes at rear)
In 2015 2 chicks fledged from the original Zeist box used
last year, a 2nd Zeist box on the same house [Fig. 6] was occupied and also produced 2 young; and as last year, 2
compartments in our 4 compartment cabinet box produced 2 chicks each. In all, 8 chicks were successfully fledged in Pettitts Close
this year.
The moral of this long story is that persistence does pay off eventually. Keep playing the calls! Swifts have been made very welcome in Pettitts Close (there are now 23 nesting opportunities on 8 houses) providing us with tremendous entertainment during the 3 months that swifts are our guests.
Fig 6. House with 1 box originally and 4 added in 2015 (note cramped access)
Szczecin International Swift Seminars - April 6th-9th 2016
Follow AfS by Email
Maps of Swift Observations 2013 - see the spring migration as it happens!
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Pages
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Did you hear about a group of four foreign travelers who recently posed naked for photos on the top of Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia and who were subsequently arrested, jailed and fined for committing an obscene act? If you haven't, then check out this article or google it. Such incidents with travelers visiting sacred sites or foreign places seem to have become the ever-increasing norm. I recall a recent CNN article published in March of this year titled "Global laws you may not have realized you were breaking" that highlights how easy it is to run afoul of local laws when traveling abroad. Sri Lanka is on their checklist as being strict when it comes to respecting the Buddhist religion. This had me thinking about some of the recent incidents closer to home and the lack of awareness of what's taboo (or more importantly, illegal) in Sri Lanka.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't had a brush with this fatal infectious disease other than responding to a recent email from a traveler seeking some information regarding treatment for rabies in Sri Lanka. So it was a bit of a shock to find myself sat in the emergency room at the hospital late one evening after my friend was attacked by a stray cat. And then the next day, to have accompanied my friend to the Anti-Rabies Vaccination Unit at Kalubowila Teaching Hospital ("KTH") while he discussed the attack, the possibility of cutting off the cat's head and bringing it to the hospital (if it died), and then administered the injections for anti-rabies post exposure treatment
According to the World Health Organization ("WHO"), around 60,000
people die from rabies each year, and around 95% of those cases occur in
African and Asian countries. Sri Lanka is still classed as high risk
although it has reportedly cut rabies deaths by more than 90% in the
past 40 years through an intensive anti-rabies campaign and increased
awareness program. Some countries still advise their citizens to get the anti-rabies vaccination before departing for Sri Lanka for a long stint, or planning to work with animals while visiting the country, or if they are planning adventure travels that increase the risk of exposure to animals.
Did you know that still around 20 to 30 deaths occur in Sri Lanka annually due to rabies? And these deaths in Sri Lanka are mainly caused by exposure to infected dogs. A recent estimate of the total dog population in Sri Lanka is something
like three million dogs with the roaming or stray population accounting
for 30% of this total (though I think this estimate of roaming dogs is
actually higher!). For those of us living or traveling in Sri Lanka my
question is, are we situated within a literal death trap given the numbers of roaming or stray dogs (and cats) throughout the island?
Notwithstanding, there's also owned dogs and cats that may not have
been vaccinated against rabies. However, I hasten to add the chances of a
stray dog or cat biting or scratching you is low unless you actually
engage or pester the animals. | {
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Petition to the International Association of Prosecutors
Statements 5 September 2017
As public prosecutors in many regions of the world use their powers to suppress critical voices, over 130 human rights/civil society organizations including IDFI and anti-corruption groups call on the International Association of Prosecutors to preserve the integrity of the profession. | {
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June 04, 2011
Sweet New Product on the Horizon: Candy Cakes
We wanted to give all of our loyal readers a preview of something we here at Party411.com are working on. We’re still in the planning stages and we don’t have all of the details sorted out yet, but these Candy Cakes Centerpieces are so fantastic that we had to show you all what we are creating behind the scenes.
How perfect will these be as a fun centerpiece for a Candy Theme Sweet 16 Party? Or a Candy Land Birthday Party? We know each will be 3 tiers and will be available in 3 different sizes. You’ll also be able to choose a color scheme so that they are a perfect match for your event.
We all think they’re fantastic and can’t wait to share more designs! Stay tuned… | {
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Best luxury resorts in Europe
Skiing holidays have long been considered one of the finest, most luxurious and also most exciting ways to spend either a short weekend break or an entire three week long vacation. Europe is the home to some of the best international ski resorts, as well known for their gourmet restaurants, designer boutiques and world class hotels as their pistes. At First Luggage we transport our customers’ precious items to some of the finest ski resorts in the world. Here are some of our favourite European ski locations;
Zermatt, Switzerland
Tucked away in the south of Switzerland you will find Zermatt, surrounded by astonishing mountain vistas – such as the Matterhorn – and plenty of high altitude skiing. There is no shortage of choice in luxury accommodation in and around Zermatt. Notably, the Mont Cervin Palace, situated in the centre of the village, has an international reputation for excellence and is within short walking distance to local shops and some of the finest skiing Europe has to offer. For a fresh gourmet dining experience, you may wish to consider dining at The Omnia, which as well as gourmet serves a la carte and fine vegetarian cuisine. Ski luxury travel luggage delivery with a company like First Luggage is a great idea, as the area can only be accessed by train.
Courchevel 1850, France
Within Les Trois Vallées, situated in south-east of France and north of Marseille, Courchevel 1850 is, for many people, the last word in luxury skiing. It can boast of being part of the largest interconnected ski area in the world, as well as being home to no less than four Michelin restaurants with two stars and three with one star. You can soak up the genuine alpine dining experience at La Table Du Kilimandjaro while sampling the notoriously exquisite wine collection. In keeping with the luxury of its surroundings, Le Lana is one of the many notable five star hotels that attract visitors back time again.
Cortina, Italy
As well as being the most fashionable ski resort in Italy, Cortina has breath-taking views of the Dolomite mountains and plenty more to offer than simply adrenaline on the pistes. LP 26 Prosciutteria is one of the resort’s busiest restaurants due to the popularity of its many different types of prosciutto (cured ham) which is said by many to be unparalleled. Luxury accommodation is similarly well catered for, with the Cristallo Hotel Spa & Golf a great base from which to enjoy everything the area has to offer.
If you’d like help choosing your next luxury ski break or our assistance on how to get your things there then please get in touch! | {
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I have moved us to a new server and with the help of Skillz changed our forum software to something more recent. Please let me know if you stumble upon something broken. Your account should work fine, if for some reason you can't login try resetting your password. If that doesn't work make a post in the forum support section with your email and username. The username and email should match or it will be very difficult for me to validate that you are who you say you are.
I will be bringing back the side bar and some other features over time.
One last thing. I took a look at the registration page and you might want to get a little more serious about preventing the spam bots from registering. The captcha you're using now has been long defeated. Just a suggestion. | {
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Here’s What Happens When You Get Too Little Sleep
More than a third of Americans don’t get enough sleep. That may not seem like a big deal, but shirking on sleep—even by just an hour—can have serious consequences for your health, and the economy.
Every year, insufficient sleep costs the U.S. economy up to $411 billion, according to a new report from the not-for-profit research group RAND Europe.
The researchers wanted to look at how shortened sleep—which means getting less than the normal range of 7-9 hours a night—affects the economies of five different countries. Using survey data from the National Sleep Foundation, they considered three effects of not-enough sleep: mortality, since shortened sleep has been linked to about half of the leading causes of death in the U.S., including cardiovascular disease, accidents, diabetes and hypertension; productivity, since sleepy workers are less productive and more likely not to show up; and hindered development skills and educational achievement, which affects lifetime earnings.
“How would those countries—the U.S., the UK, Germany, Japan and Canada—look if the proportion of people who sleep less than a certain amount of time actually improve?” wondered Marco Hafner, a research leader at RAND Europe and the report’s main author.
The U.S. loses the most from its sleepy citizens. The researchers calculated that sleep-deprived workers cost the country’s economy about 1.2 million working days a year and up to $411 billion, about 2% of the GDP. Japan was the second most affected, losing about the same percentage of its GDP, followed by Germany and the U.K. Canada had the best sleepers, but still lost 1.4% of its GDP to too-little sleep.
The study authors also found marked health effect from too-little sleep. Getting about six hours a night is linked to a 7% higher risk of mortality, and sleeping less than six hours is linked to a 13% higher risk. “It’s not a small problem,” Hafner says. “It seems to be not only a public health issue, but also an economic issue.”
Though they seem bleak, the findings also hint at solutions. In the study, getting more physical activity is linked to better sleep, as is not smoking. And though the study didn’t have enough information on electronic devices, using them less at night can improve the duration and quality of sleep, Hafner says.
“As a society, we need to increasingly think about sleep,” Hafner says. “When you hear from business leaders or political leaders that they can get around four hours of sleep and be fine, and that everyone who needs more sleep is a wimp, it’s increasingly proven to be wrong.”
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Here’s What Happens When You Get Too Little Sleep
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Monday, June 29, 2009
Scriptwriting Workshops in Mumbai
After the success of the first scriptwriting workshop, my sister has announced more, in accordance with the growing demand. . .
SCRIPTWRITING COURSES/ WORKSHOPS
In the beginning comes the word. A script is the ‘blueprint’ of the film. The screenwriter sees the film in his/her mind’s eye and transfers the vision on to paper. The journey from paper to the silver screen is a long one – actors have to be cast, crew members hired, sets constructed, raw stock and expensive equipment procured, the film has to shot, then processed and edited, the sound and picture have to be worked on… It’s a long and expensive journey, but never forget: In the beginning comes the word.
The Indian film and television industry is looking for good, original screenplays. With the diminishing appeal of the formula masala film, there is a demand for fresh voices and out of the box thinking, for scriptwriters who understand the art and craft of screenwriting. The audience wants good stories, well told.
Learn to write scripts for the big and small screens from Rajashree, who is an award-winning filmmaker and a bestselling novelist. She has taught at the Film and Television Institute of India, and some of the best film schools in Bombay.
Rajashree’s been a film buff since she was a kid – she once stood in a line for five hours to get tickets for Sholay. She has been working in Bombay after studying direction at the Film and Television Institute of India, Poona. She’s assisted Mansoor Khan and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. A film she wrote and directed, The Rebel, was screened at many film festivals, and won the National Award and the Golden Ten Award. Her critically acclaimed first book, Trust Me, is a lighthearted romantic comedy set in the Bombay film industry. According to figures given by The Times of India and The Sunday Telegraph, Trust Me is the biggest-selling Indian chick lit novel. http://rajashree.in
While Rajashree would be the main person conducting the workshops, there would also be guest lectures by professionals from the film industry.
A workshop in which each participant writes a feature film screenplay with the guidance of the faculty. Begins in July
34 sessions of 3 hours each, over 4 months
Fees: Rs 28,000
CERTIFICATES
The students would be given certificates at the completion of the courses/ workshops.
VENUE
The workshops/ courses would be held in Goregaon.
WHICH COURSE / WORKSHOP SHOULD YOU CHOSE?
If you would like to write a feature film screenplay or rework a screenplay you’ve been working on, the Feature Film Screenplay Workshop would be right for you.
If you would like to learn screenplay-writing, you can choose between the fulltime 2-day workshop and the part-time six-week course. The advantage of the weekend course is that it’s a short duration intensive overview of the basics of screenwriting. The advantage of the part-time six-week course is that you can learn by doing – assignments will be given every week that strengthen your understanding of the concepts being taught and you will write a full-fledged script (screenplay and dialogues) for a short film.
The details for each course/ workshop follow.
2-DAY SCRIPTWRITING WORKSHOP:
WHEN
A full-time 2-day workshop
DURATION
6 sessions of 2.5 hours each, over 2 days
CERTIFICATE
The students would be given certificates at the completion of the workshop.
FEES
The fees are Rs 2,900.
COURSE CONTENT
·Film-making: As a scriptwriter, it is necessary to understand the process of making a film - pre-production, production and post-production.
A brief overview of how films are made would be given to the students.
·Storytelling: The audience is looking for a good story told well. Fiction films are basically about telling stories through visuals and sounds. Where do stories come from? Life as a source – memory, imagination, experience – yours & others. The nature and role of intuition. Universalising the personal experience. Importance of research. Adaptation from literary works. The difference between actually being inspired and stealing ideas.
·Audiovisual Writing: Films are an audiovisual medium, so a script is basically a description of the visuals and sounds that will be seen and heard in the film. What are the elements of visual story telling? The discipline of writing a screenplay. The ‘outer manifestation of inner reality’ which Satyajit Ray talks about.
·Characterisation: How to create 3 dimensional characters.
How to establish characters on screen. The Protagonist and the Antagonist. Dramatic Need of the protagonist & its relation to the plot. The way the character grows and changes during the film.
·The Elements of Scriptwriting: Scriptwriting is an art, but there’s also a craft to it. The students would be taught the elements of screenwriting: Action, Character, Setting, Theme, Structure.
·The Importance of Conflict: Drama comes from conflict. We would analyse the types of conflict: Static Conflict, Jumping Conflict, Rising Conflict, Foreshadowing Conflict. How mystery, surprise and suspense are used.
·Structuring: Understanding the way screenplays of films are structured and learning how to use these elements in your own work: The 3-act structure. Set-Up, Confrontation, Climax & Resolution.
Plot, Sub-plots, weaving them together.
·What does the film ‘say’: Films reflect the Zeitgeist, the spirit of the times when the film was made and the Weltenschaung, the worldview of the film-maker. We would discuss the Premise, Theme, Ideology, Ethical & Socio-Political Ideas conveyed through films.
6-WEEK SCRIPTWRITING COURSE:
WHEN
A part-time course of 6 weeks beginning on 18th July.
DURATION
8 sessions of 5 hours each, over 6 weekends
CERTIFICATEThe students would be given certificates at the completion of the workshop.
FEES
The fees are Rs 11,900. They would be paid at the time of admission.
COURSE CONTENT
The students will be taught scriptwriting by interactive sessions and theory classes.
INTERACTIVE SESSIONS: The students would write at home and then read out their work in interactive sessions in which they receive feedback as well as suggestions. They would be required to work on assignments that strengthen their understanding of the concepts being taught, a full-fledged script (screenplay and dialogues) for a 10-minute film and finally, a feature film step outline.
Assignments:
Writing concepts for 4 films and brief character sketches of 3 characters every week.
A scene - One Character, One Space - in which situations, characters & states of mind are depicted by audiovisual means
One-page character sketches of a fictional character & a real person the student knows personally
A detailed character sketch of one person who can be the protagonist of a film
Writing a scene in the international format, in which the character of the protagonist is established.
A scene-by-scene analysis of a classic Indian commercial film in the form of a step-outline / one-line script
Scene-by-scene analysis of a feature film the student likes
Visiting a place for an hour, taking notes and writing anactuality trip report in audiovisual terms
Interviewing a person and writing a report about that
Script for a Short Film
1. The basic idea
2. The synopsis
3. What is the premise of the film? What is the theme? What are the socio-political and ethical ideas being conveyed?
4. Character sketches of the main characters, keeping their physiology, sociology and psychology in mind. The back story – what has happened in the life of the character before the film begins? How does the character change and grow through the film.
5. The Step-Outline of the film, in which every scene is described in a paragraph.
6. Screenplay with dialogue for the short film
Workshop on the Step-Outline of a Film: Starting from scratch, the teacher and students would write a brief step outline for an original film screenplay in class.
THEORY:
Film-making: As a scriptwriter, it is necessary to understand the process of making a film - pre-production, production and post-production.
A brief overview of how films are made would be given to the students.
Storytelling: The audience is looking for a good story told well. Fiction films are basically about telling stories through visuals and sounds. What are the elements of a good story? Where do stories come from? Life as a source – memory, imagination, experience – yours & others. The nature and role of intuition. Universalising the personal experience. Importance of research.
Adaptation from literary works. The difference between actually being inspired and stealing ideas.
Audiovisual Writing: Films are an audiovisual medium so a script is basically a description of the visuals and sounds that will be seen and heard in the film. What are the elements of visual story telling? The discipline of writing a screenplay. The ‘outer manifestation of inner feelings’ which Satyajit Ray talks about.
Characterisation: How to create 3 dimensional characters.
How to establish characters on screen. The Protagonist and the Antagonist. Dramatic Need of the protagonist & its relation to the plot. The way the character grows and changes during the film.
Establishing characters on screen. “Show, don’t tell.”
The Format:The format for writing the Synopsis, Step-outline.
The format for writing the Screenplay and Script for a film.
Learning from tradition: The art of dramatic writing has been written about for thousands of years. We would talk about Bharat’s Natyashastra, Nav Rasas & their relationship with Indian films. Aristotle's ideas about drama have greatly influenced Western theatre and cinema.
The Elements of Scriptwriting: Scriptwriting is an art, but there’s also a craft to it. There are principles but no rules or formulae in screenwriting. The students would be taught the elements of screenwriting: Action, Character, Setting, Theme, Structure.
Structuring: Understanding the way screenplays of films are structured and learning how to use these elements in your own work: The 3-act structure. Set-Up, Confrontation, Crisis, Climax, Resolution, etc
Plot, Sub-plot, weaving them together.
The Structure of commercial Hindi films
The Importance of Conflict: Drama comes from conflict. We would analyse the types of conflict: Static Conflict, Jumping Conflict, Rising Conflict, Foreshadowing Conflict. How mystery, surprise and suspense are used.
What does the film ‘say’: Films reflect the Zeitgeist, the spirit of the times when the film was made and the Weltenschaung, the worldview of the film-maker. We would discuss the Premise, Theme, Ideology, Ethical & Socio-Political Ideas conveyed through films.
Film Analysis: The concepts discussed in the practical and theory classes would be explained by viewing and analyzing films. Films from the following categories would be screened and analysed:
Classic Commercial Indian film
Short films
Contemporary Multiplex Indian film
A documentary film
A classic of World Cinema
Contemporary World Cinema
FEATURE FILM SCREENPLAY WORKSHOP
A workshop in which the students write a feature film screenplay with the guidance of the faculty.
Most people who come to write and direct in the Bombay film industry areinterested in feature films. But a big stumbling block for a lotof newcomers is having a finished screenplay with which they feel confidentabout approaching directors, actors and producers. This workshop would give them the discipline of writing combined with an opportunity of getting expert guidance for their feature film screenplays.
The students would be guided through the process of working on the basic concept, synopsis, premise, characterization, plot, treatment, step outline and screenplay of a feature film. The writing of each student would be discussed in class and inputs given. While this is a practical-oriented workshop, there would also be theory classes about writing scripts for feature films. The concepts discussed in the practical and theory classes would be explained by viewing and analyzing films.
By the conclusion of the workshop, each student would be required to submit a feature film screenplay that has been registered with the Film Writer’s Association. In the Hindi film industry, sometimes the screenplay and dialogue are written by different people. In this context, it would be up to the student whether he/she wants to write a screenplay with or without dialogue. The screenplay which the student has written as a part of the workshop would be his/her property. Equipped with this screenplay, the student would be ready to approach directors, actors and producers in the film industry.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
1. A knowledge of the basics of screenwriting and the form.
2. A sincere desire to work on a feature film screenplay as a part of the workshop
3.The students would be required to become members of the Film Writers’ Association, if they aren't already.
DURATION
34 sessions of 3 hours each, over 4 months
CERTIFICATE
The students would be awarded a certificate at the successful completion of the workshop.
FEE STRUCTURE
There are two plans for paying the fees:
1.It is preferable if the student pays the full amount at the time of admission. The fees would work out to Rs. 28,000 for this plan.
2.It is also possible for the student to pay in installments. The installments would be:
At the time of admission: Rs. 5,000
Before the batch starts: Rs. 7,000
Within one month (as a post-dated cheque): Rs. 7,000
Within two months (as a post-dated cheque): Rs. 7,000
Within three months (as a post-dated cheque): Rs. 7,000
The fees would work out to Rs. 33,000 for this plan.
COURSE CONTENT
There would be a total of 34 classes of 3 hours’ duration.
INTERACTIVE SESSIONS: Around seventy per cent of the classes would be devoted to interactive sessions in which the students’ writing is discussed.
The students would be required to work on their screenplay ideas over the course of the four months. They would write at home and then read out their work in interactive sessions in which they receive feedback as well as suggestions.
A student can join with just a concept for a feature film or even a full-fledged screenplay which he/she would like to rework as a part of the workshop. Participants can work on their screenplays at different levels of completion depending on what they start off with. However, even if a participant already has script he/she wants to rework, he/she would be required to submit the synopsis, character sketches, step-outline, etc as well. This would be of great benefit to him/her since it would help make the base of their script stronger.
All the students would write:
1. The basic idea for their feature film screenplay
2. The synopsis of the screenplay
3. What is the premise of the film? What is the theme? What are the socio-political and ethical ideas being conveyed?
4. Detailed character sketches of the main characters, keeping their physiology, sociology and psychology in mind. The back story – what has happened in the life of the character before the film begins. How does the character change and grow through the film.
5. Research for the film
6. The way the screenplay is structured
7. The brief step-outline / one-line script of the film, in which every scene is described in a paragraph.
8. The feature film screenplay.
THEORY: Around 30% of the classes would be devoted to teaching:
An Overview of the Basic Elements of Scriptwriting: While the students would be expected to know the basics, we would start with an overview, so that everybody in the class understands these terms: Plot, Character, Setting, Theme, Structure. Protagonist, Antagonist. Dramatic Need. The Importance of Conflict. Types of Conflict: Static Conflict, Jumping Conflict, Rising Conflict, Foreshadowing Conflict. Transition. Mystery, Surprise, Suspense. Premise, Theme, Ideology, Ethical & Socio-Political Ideas. Zeitgeist, Weltenschaung. The Nava Rasas. Genres of Films, Genre Conventions.
The Scene: We would analyze in detail film scenes that work well (and those that don’t) in terms of the action and dialogue and understand why they are or aren’t working.
Structuring: Understanding the way screenplays of feature films are structured and learning how to use these elements in one’s own work: Plot, Sub-plot, Inciting incident, Point of attack, Set-Up, Confrontation, Crisis, Climax, Resolution, etc.
The Format:The format for writing the Synopsis, Treatment, Step-outline, Screenplay and Script for a film.
Adaptation from literary works: Many films are based on novels and short stories. Adapting a literary work into a screenplay is both easier and more difficult than writing an original screenplay. How to write a screenplay for a film that is interesting in itself and also preserves the soul of the work it is based on?
Film History: An overview of the history of cinema in India and the rest of the world.
Film Analysis: Screening and analysis of films from the following categories:
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} |
Hello there! This little event is made to test your knowledge of technical side of toribash and PC in general, and maybe to make you learn something new in the process.
Each week we are going to post a new technical riddle for you to solve. It can be anything as long as it's related to the game and/or forum. Your goal is tposolve the mystery, sometimes explain why this certain thing doesn't work or works differently than expected. For doing that you will get a small prize depending on how hard the riddle was. You're allowed to ask questions and get answers, but answers will come from a point of person who doesn't know what the problem is. If the riddle doesnt get solved within a week, it goes into unrevealed riddle archive. You can still solve those later for a slightly lower prize.
[SOLVED by Kyle]
1
This user is unable to display his own tori customizations. Other users can't see his custom either. Why?
Solution
LPT8 is a restricted folder name in Windows so Toribash can't create his custom folder.
[SOLVED by Aiden]
2
This problem happened with my clanmate and a friend fudgiebalz. He's a pretty good replaymaker and an ORMO member.
For some reason he can't use the in-game torishop. It only shows gladiator, orc and chronos and nothing else for colors.
Solution
While logging in having ORMO[Parrot]fudgiebalz will cause the torishop to make it so you cannot buy higher qi items. Simply having fudgiebalz should fix it.
[SOLVED by lethargicKid]
3
To get this riddle right you need to first find the Key. The Key is a five digit number that is not very helpful by itself, but you'll need it to find the answer to the riddle.
All clues are related to Toribash. Once you get the key you'll need to figure out how to use it.
Solution
First clue: The in-game flag for No DQ and No Fraq is 2
Second clue: Damping is the 3rd value in the flame forger tool, also it is the third value in the "FLAME" line in item.dat
Third clue: The caret color code for static (yellow) is 9 (http://forum.toribash.com/tori_colors.php)
Fourth clue: The number of legendary clans is 4 (bncy, RAWR, spirit, Torigod)
Fifth clue: The maximum number of objects allowed in a mod (12 divided by the max number of dynamic (movable) objects in a mod (16) -> 128/16 = 8
Hints:
1. Some of the words might have more than one number associated with them, sometimes the less obvious one is the right one.
2. Same things are written differently for a reason.
3. The answer is written in italics.
4. Doing the math might help you find not just the main answer but ensure that other answers are right.
5. The last [ - ].UT action is not related to math.
First one to solve this riddle is gonna get a Quicksilver Force and 3 ST
Solution
-
[SOLVED by Jack]
5
??Centurion
Solution
there was a secret message in the riddle that looks like this:
This was just so that you couldn't see the #lolpranked thing. To solve the riddle you needed to join #lolpranked irc channel using ??Centurion*bloÞdymess* as a password, and the answer was in the topic - What a fine day it was on July 7th 2013.
Hints:
1. These series of letters or whatever is hidden beneath them is/are somewhat important in toribash.
2. I marked the r's with red just for visibility, in reality those appear bold black.
3. ...Unlike most other letters in this thingy thing.
4. There's been a few edits to the whole letter jumbled mess, e.g. number 5 wasn't there when I first posted the riddle. That is for a reason.
Solution
The jumbled letter mess is actually last letters of staff members in this list in order. The highlighted r's then point towards Fear. The "Contact" part indicates that you need to check Fear's Contact Info, in which he has this page as his home page. On that page you can find that some posts were edited, most notably random letters got highlighted. Following these posts you'll find a message saying "answer is", and then in one of many edited posts there's an image that leads to this post if clicked.
[UNSOLVED]
8
There's an ancient artifact in toribash that I'm looking for. The artifact itself is not very useful but it holds a secret within it that I am interested about. Not long ago I found out that the artifact has been stolen by two old fools and a ghost. So the riddle goes like this:
A thread that also happens to be the very oldest fool (who also SUCKS) is made by the second fool. You take what's between those two fools and multiply it by two rings made out of fossilized ancients. And that's how you find the ghost. According to my source the ghost hides the artifact somewhere near him. Find it and tell me where you found it and I'll pay you with a Velvet Force and 3 Shiai Tokens.
Hints:
1. When I said "the very oldest fool" I meant the oldest fool in whole Toribash.
2. When I say that the very oldest fool is also a thread, I don't mean literally, they are more like twins (thread and fool).
New riddle!
This problem happened with my clanmate and a friend fudgiebalz. He's a pretty good replaymaker and an ORMO member.
For some reason he can't use the in-game torishop. It only shows gladiator, orc and chronos and nothing else for colors.
The first person to solve this riddle will get Supernova Force and 2 Shiai Tokens. Let's go!
If he is using standalone and has steam, he can go to steam library go to steam apps, then common. Go in toribash/data/script copy the torishop file from there, then put it into the toribash/data/script. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Greek:Pisteidiebesan(3SAAI)tenEruthranTHalassanosdiacerasges,espeiranlabontes(AAPMPN)oiAiguptioikatepothesan.(3PAPI)Amplified: [Urged on] by faith the people crossed the Red Sea as [though] on
dry land, but when the Egyptians tried to do the same thing they were
swallowed up [by the sea].
(Amplified
Bible - Lockman)KJV: By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the
Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
NLT: It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the
Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians
followed, they were all drowned. (NLT
- Tyndale House)Phillips: By faith the people walked through the Red Sea as though it
were dry land, and the Egyptians who tried to do the same thing were
drowned. (Phillips:
Touchstone)Wuest: By faith they passed through the Red Sea as through dry land,
which the Egyptians having attempted, were drowned. (Eerdmans) Young's Literal: By faith they did pass through the Red Sea as through dry land,
which the Egyptians having received a trial of, were swallowed up;
S Lewis Johnson
William Kelly
Steve Kreloff
Paul Kretzmann
Lange's Commentary
Logos.com
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Faith(4102)(pistis)
is synonymous with trust or belief and is the conviction of the truth
of anything, but in Scripture speaks of belief respecting
man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the
included idea of trust and holy fervor born of faith and joined with
it. As pistis relates to God, it is the conviction that God
exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things well as the Provider
and Bestower of eternal salvation through Christ. As faith relates to
Christ it represents a strong and welcome conviction or belief that
Jesus is the Messiah, through Whom we obtain eternal salvation and
entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Stated another way, eternal
salvation comes only through belief in Jesus Christ and no
other way.
For more discussion on the meaning of faith
see commentary onHebrews 11:1-2.
Faith
is believing that God will keep His promises, despite
circumstances that seem to be to the contrary! True faith that saves one's soul includes at
least three main elements - (1) firm persuasion
or firm conviction, (2) a surrender to that
truth and (3) a conduct
emanating from that surrender. In sum, faith shows itself genuine by a
changed life. (Clickfor
W E Vine's definition of faith)
John MacArthur reminds us
that "Faith is trusting completely
in God’s Word. It is unconditional confidence in what He says,
strictly on the basis that He has said it. The fact is that we either
trust what God says or we are left to trust our own intellect,
instincts, and attitudes. These are our only two options. Our own way
is the way of unbelief; God’s way is the way of faith. The faith
illustrated in Hebrews 11 is that which takes the bare word of God and
acts on it, risking all. It is faith that does not question or ask for
signs or miraculous direction. Looking for signs and wonders and
explanations that we can understand or glory in is not faith. It is
doubt looking around for proofs. Anything that demands more than
God’s Word is doubt, not faith. God sometimes gives explanations and
reasons for His Word, but He is not obligated to give them, and faith
does not require them. As Jesus said to Thomas, "Blessed are they who
did not see, and yet believed" (John 20:29). Faith is therefore
opposite from human nature, opposite from the world system. It often
requires accepting from God that for which we can see no logic or
reason. (MacArthur,
John: Hebrews. Moody Press)
They - Who is "they"?
Obviously this refers to the nation of Israel.
They passed through the Red Sea
- Their action was a response to their faith in God's Word. They
believed God and acted upon His promise.
Faith, mighty faith, the promise
sees
And looks to God alone.
Laughs at impossibilities,
And cries, “It shall be done.”
Guzik - The difference between the
Israelites crossing the Red Sea and the Egyptians who followed them
was not courage, but faith. The Egyptians had as much (or more)
courage than the Israelites, but not the same faith - and they each
had different fates. The Israelites passed through, and the Egyptians
were drowned. (Hebrews 11
Commentary)
Spurgeon - There you have
the difference between faith and presumption: faith goes through the
sea, presumption is drowned in the sea. There are two redemptions:
redemption by price and redemption by power. Redemption by price was
typified in the paschal lamb and the Passover. Redemption by power
was typified in the passage of the Red Sea, when the children of
Israel went through it dry-shod and the Egyptians were drowned.
Passing through dry land -
This fact is repeated three times in the Exodus account to emphasize
the miraculous nature of Jehovah's way of salvation.
Here is the original text...
Exodus 14:13 But Moses said to the
people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which
He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen
today, you will never see them again forever. 14 "The LORD will fight
for you while you keep silent."
15 Then the LORD said to Moses,
"Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.
16 "As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the
sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the
midst of the sea on dry land. 17 "As for Me, behold, I will harden
the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I
will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots
and his horsemen. 18 "Then the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD,
when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his
horsemen."
God's promise of the humanly
"impossible" was safe travel through the impassable Red Sea, although
at this point He does not state exactly what He will do to the
Egyptians. Biblical faith is trust in God's Word (including His
promises) and as in the present case that faith is manifest by
appropriate response (cp obedience) by walking through the obstacle
via the way God had promised.
19 The angel of God (cp Angel of the LORD), who had been going before the
camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud
moved from before them and stood behind them. 20 So it came between
the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud
along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did
not come near the other all night.
21 Then Moses stretched out his
hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east
wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were
divided. 22 The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on
the dry land,and the waters were like a wall to them on their
right hand and on their left.
23 Then the Egyptians took up the
pursuit, and all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen went
in after them into the midst of the sea. 24 At the morning watch, the
LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of
fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion.
25 He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive
with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from Israel, for
the LORD is fighting for them against the Egyptians."
26 Then the LORD said to Moses,
"Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back
over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen."
27 So Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak,
while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the LORD
overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 The waters
returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh's
entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of
them remained. 29 But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through
the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their
right hand and on their left.
30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day
from the hand of the Egyptians,
and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
31 When Israel saw the great power
which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared
the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant
Moses.
This verse shifts from Moses’ faith to the faith of Israel. I do not
know why the shift did not take place in He 11:28, since all Israel
had to believe in the Passover sacrifice. Either way, there is a
difficulty, in that as the author of Hebrews has already told us, the
generation that came out of Egypt was evil and unbelieving (He 3:8, 9-note,
He 3:10, 11-note,
He 3:12-note).
The apostle Paul explained that although all Israel was baptized into
Moses, so to speak, when they passed through the sea, “with most of
them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the
wilderness” (1Co 10:2, 5). But here the author indicates that they
passed through the Red Sea by faith.
Probably the solution is that the faith of the believing believing remnant (note)is
generalized to cover the entire nation (John Owen, An Exposition of
Hebrews [The National Foundation for Christian Education], 7:170;
Calvin, p. 299 adopts a similar solution). There is a similar
situation in the New Testament when everyone on the ship with Paul was
saved because of Paul’s faith, even though they did not believe God.
In both cases, it was temporal deliverance only for the unbelievers.
But the exodus pictures spiritually how genuine faith delivers us from
overwhelming problems, beginning with the salvation of our souls.
Briefly, note two things:
A. Faith does not exempt us from overwhelming problems, but rather it
often leads us into such problems.
If Israel had stayed in Egypt, they wouldn’t be in the mess they were
in at the Red Sea. Some of the unbelievers sarcastically said to Moses
(Ex 14:11),
Is it because there were no graves
in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?
But the fact is, Moses
had not led them to the dire situation that they were in; God had led
them there and He had hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would chase
after them (Ex 14:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)!
So by God’s direct actions, this defenseless bunch of slaves had the
Red Sea in front of them and Pharaoh’s army charging at them from
behind. They were doomed unless God intervened, which He planned to
do. But they had to learn that salvation is completely from Him. There
was no place for human ingenuity or some scheme to escape. God led
them into this desperate situation to teach them to trust Him as their
only option.
That’s how God grows our faith. We know in our heads that we must
trust Him totally, but we don’t believe it in practice until He throws
us into situations where there is no way out if He does not act. We
need to learn in experience that “salvation belongs to the Lord” (Ps
3:8-Spurgeon's
note).
B. God delights to turn our overwhelming problems into exhibitions of
His mighty power when we trust Him.
The situation that the enemy thought would bring them an easy victory
led to their defeat. God miraculously piled the water up as a wall on
both sides for Israel to walk through on dry ground (Ex 14:21, 22).
He moved the pillar of cloud behind them until they all passed
through. Then He let the Egyptians pursue them in blind fury. They
should have looked to both sides and seen the trap. But as John Owen
observes (pp. 173-174),
There is no such blinding,
hardening lust in the minds or hearts of men, as hatred of the people
of God and desire for their ruin.
Greek:PisteitateicheIerichoepesan(3PAAI)kuklothenta(APPNPN)epieptaemerasAmplified: Because of faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been
encompassed for seven days [by the Israelites].
(Amplified
Bible - Lockman)KJV: By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed
about seven days.
NLT: It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho
seven days, and the walls came crashing down. (NLT
- Tyndale House)Phillips: It was by faith that the walls of Jericho
collapsed, for the people had obeyed God's command to encircle them
for seven days. (Phillips:
Touchstone)Wuest: By faith the walls of Jericho fell, having been
encircled seven days. (Eerdmans) Young's Literal: by faith the walls of Jericho did fall, having been surrounded for
seven days;
By faith - Faith in
Jehovah's unusual command was manifest by obedience to His charge.
Once again we see that faith that pleases God is faith that obeys God.
To say one believes and yet to fail to obey is not true faith.
Spurgeon - Believing and obeying
always run side by side...Faith and obedience are bound up in the same
bundle. He that obeys God, trusts God; and he that trusts God, obeys
God...(In short) Obedience is the hallmark of faith.
Joshua 6:20
Jericho- Jericho like the Red Sea
presented an obstacle to Israel. We need to remember that obstacles to
us are "opportunities" for God to show Himself great and mighty in our
life.
Here is the
account of this great God glorifying event from Joshua 6...
1 Now Jericho was tightly shut
because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in.
2 The LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your
hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. 3 "You shall march
around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall
do so for six days. 4 "Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets
of rams' horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march
around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
5 "It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn,
and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout
with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and
the people will go up every man straight ahead."
6 So Joshua the son of Nun called
the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and
let seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark
of the LORD." 7 Then he said to the people, "Go forward, and march
around the city, and let the armed men go on before the ark of the
LORD."
Faith believes the promise of God
and acts on that promise, regardless of how unusual that promise might
be. If God says it, that settles it. Our choice will always be to
believe it or not. Belief is not manifest by halting hesitation but by
immediate obedience, an obedience which is complete and without
"caveats" or "disclaimers"! It is trusting in Jehovah with all our
heart and not leaning on our own understanding. Joshua exhibited such
a great faith. Notice that he does not interrogate or hesitate but
instead he motivates his priests and people to obey implicitly.
8 And it was so, that when Joshua
had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven
trumpets of rams' horns before the LORD went forward and blew the
trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. 9 The
armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear
guard came after the ark, while they continued to blow the trumpets.
10 But Joshua commanded the people, saying, "You shall not shout nor
let your voice be heard nor let a word proceed out of your mouth,
until the day I tell you, 'Shout!' Then you shall shout!" 11 So he had
the ark of the LORD taken around the city, circling it once; then they
came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.
12 Now Joshua rose early in the
morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 The seven
priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of
the LORD went on continually, and blew the trumpets; and the armed men
went before them and the rear guard came after the ark of the LORD,
while they continued to blow the trumpets. 14 Thus the second day they
marched around the city once and returned to the camp; they did so for
six days. 15 Then on the seventh day they rose early at the dawning of
the day and marched around the city in the same manner seven times;
only on that day they marched around the city seven times.
16 At the seventh time, when the
priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout! For the
LORD has given you the city. 17 "The city shall be under the ban, it
and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot and
all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the
messengers whom we sent. 18 "But as for you, only keep yourselves from
the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some
of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and
bring trouble on it. 19 "But all the silver and gold and articles of
bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury
of the LORD." 20 So the people shouted, and priests blew the
trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the
people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so
that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and
they took the city.
The walls of Jericho fell down
- Liberal scholars try to explain away this supernatural intervention,
but faith sees it as a clear indicator of God's mighty power at work
on the part of His people. Beloved, we need to remember that He is the same mighty God in each
of our lives.What are the insurmountable
walls in our life?
Spurgeon - On they went with
steady tramp, and though they saw no corpses blocking up their
pathway, though their arms were not red with blood, though they
heard no shriek of those that fly, and could utter no shout of
victory, yet they were as confident as they were when actually the
walls began to rock, and the dust and smoke went up to heaven, and
the shrieks of the slain made glad the foeman’s ear. We must
encompass this city in full faith. You could not see faith at work
on those solid walls. Those huge ramparts and battlements seemed to
stand fast and firm, yet they “fell down, after they had been
marched around seven days.” No battering rams played upon them, but
faith can do better work than battering rams or dynamite.
John Phillips - To them, Jericho was
insurmountable, but that is exactly where faith triumphs.
"By faith the walls of Jericho fell" (Heb 11:30). Human wisdom would
have advocated the purchase of slings and catapults and the amassing
of huge stockpiles of stones for ammunition. Human wisdom would have
suggested digging trenches to enable sappers to creep up to the walls
and undermine them. Human wisdom would have called for starving the
people of Jericho into submission. But faith had a better way. Faith
does not oppose Satan's devices with human devices. "For the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strong holds" (2Co 10:4-note).
(Exploring Hebrews: An Expository Commentary)
William MacDonald - Reason would claim that such an
impregnable fortress could be taken only by superior forces. But
faith’s methods are different. God uses strategies that appear foolish
to men in order to accomplish His purposes...Military experts would
write off the method as ludicrous. But it worked! The weapons of the
spiritual warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy
strongholds (2Co 10:4-note).
(MacDonald,
W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
1) God’s way of victory over these
enemies accentuates His power and our weakness.
2) Faith must obey God
implicitly.
3) Faith must wait upon God.
4) Faith must wait on God
expectantly.
Chrysostom - The soundings of trumpets, though
one were to sound for ten thousand years, cannot throw down walls, but
faith can do all things (quoted by Jamieson)
Murray - The strength of the enemy, in which
he trusted, in view of the impotence of God's people, availed nothing
before the power of faith. When shall we learn, in quiet patience and
perseverance, to wait upon God our seven days too, the circle of a
completed time, until He gives the possession of the promised rest.
Let our faith claim it; we are the children of a God who does
impossibilities; we are called to a life of faith that expects and
receives them. Let our life be—faith in God. (Hebrews 11:32 Faith
and Its Power of Achievement -p 465)
John Gardner wrote [source
unknown], “We are faced with a series of great
opportunities-brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.” What
disguised opportunities do you face today?
Some have trusted Christ as Savior, but have the disguised opportunity
of some besetting sin that keeps bringing them down. They promise God
that they won’t do it again, only to repeatedly fail. Some are
engulfed by problems in their marriages, or with their kids. They
don’t see any viable solutions. Some struggle daily with serious
health problems or personal problems. Some face problems at work.
Others wish they had work to have problems with! They struggle to make
ends meet. Some have drifted into worldliness and spiritual apathy,
but they don’t even realize that they have a problem. Churches have
problems, too, which are a conglomerate of all of the problems of
their members.
As a leader in Israel after Moses’ death, Joshua had a pile of
disguised opportunities. He had to lead this fledgling nation of
refugee slaves out of 40 years in the wilderness, across the Jordan
River, and into the promised land that happened to be filled with
evil, violent giants. The first disguised opportunity was to conquer
the fortified city of Jericho. God gave Joshua the plan for victory.
By faith, the walls of that fortress crumbled.
Meanwhile, inside the city, a prostitute had a huge disguised
opportunity. She had heard of how God had miraculously delivered this
people from Egypt 40 years before. She heard how they had defeated two
powerful kings across the river. She knew that her city was next and
that she and all of her family would perish, unless somehow the God of
the Jews-the God of heaven and earth- intervened on their behalf. Then
the impossible happened-two spies from that feared people came to
lodge with her. She hid them from the authorities and they promised to
spare her family and her, if she followed their directions. By faith,
she and her family did not perish when her city was destroyed. These
two stories that took place during the conquest of Jericho illustrate
how…
Faith is not some magical force. Rather, faith links us with the
unseen God, who spoke the universe into existence. Faith is the
channel through which God’s blessings flow to us.
Jericho was the first obstacle of many that Joshua and the army of
Israel faced in conquering Canaan, which God had promised to their
forefather, Abraham. As he was pondering how to take this walled city,
the Lord appeared to Joshua in human form as the captain of the Lord’s
army and revealed to him the plan for victory (Josh 5:13, 14, 15, 6:1,
2, 3, 4, 5). The Israelites were to march silently around the city
once a day for six days with the tabernacle, while seven priests blew
on rams’ horns. On the seventh day, they were to circle the city seven
times. When Joshua gave the signal, the priests were to blow the rams’
horns and the people were to shout. The walls of the city would
crumble and the Israeli soldiers would march straight into the city
and take it.
There are many lessons in that story, but I focus on five:
A. Salvation brings us into conflict with powerful enemies.
We saw this with Israel and Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea. But it
bears repeating. Salvation does not insulate you from huge problems.
Rather, it often brings you into conflict with problems that didn’t
even bother you before you were saved. Before you were saved,
selfishness, pride, greed, lust, and many other sins didn’t trouble
you. You may even have thought that some of them were virtues! But
then you get saved and realize that there are many fortified cities
that must be conquered, and many of them are en-trenched in your
heart!
Not only do you face these enemies within, but now you face enemies
from without that previously caused you no problems. Family members
don’t like your newfound faith, because it threatens their favorite
sins. Bosses don’t like the fact that you won’t help them cheat to
make a profit. Former friends malign you be-cause you won’t join them
at their corrupt parties (1Pe 4:3, 4).
B. God’s way of victory over these enemies accentuates His power
and our weakness.
Marching your army around a walled city for seven days while blowing
trumpets is not a sensible plan for victory! It must have seemed silly
to many in Israel and to everyone inside Jericho. If Joshua had held
meetings with his top commanders, none of them would have suggested
this plan. One might have argued for a direct assault, with siege
ramps and battering rams to overpower the city. Another may have
suggested waiting it out until the city was starved into submission.
But no one would have suggested doing what God commanded Joshua to do.
Why did God choose this strange approach? I think that He wanted to
teach Israel a major lesson at the outset of their conquest of Canaan:
Victory over powerful enemies comes when we do not trust in
our-selves, but trust totally in the Lord. The repeated trips around
Jericho served to drive home the lesson, “You cannot conquer this city
in your strength. You must trust in My power.”
Often our problem is not that we are too weak, but that we think that
we are strong in ourselves. Because we’re so prone to pride, if God
granted us victory, we would take at least some of the credit for
ourselves. So God’s plan for victory humbles our pride by accentuating
His power and our weakness.
You see this in the story of Gideon and his army trying to conquer the
hordes of Midianites (Judges 6-7). He rallied an army of 32,000 men
against 135,000 enemy troops, but God told Gideon that he had too many
soldiers, not too few. If they won, they would boast in their victory
(Judges 7:2). So, Gideon sent home 22,000 warriors who were afraid.
But God said, “You’ve still got too many.” So Gideon weeded them out
until he was left with 300 soldiers. Finally, being weak enough, God
could grant them victory and they would give Him the glory!
Paul entreated the Lord to take away his thorn in the flesh, but the
Lord told him that His power is perfected in weakness. Paul testified,
“when I am weak, then I am strong” (2Cor. 12:10). Hudson Taylor said
that when God wanted to open inland China to the gospel, He looked
around for a man weak enough for the task.
Faith and obedience are inseparable, just as unbelief and disobedience
go together. Genuine faith always obeys God. Israel could have said,
“That’s an interesting plan, Joshua, and we believe that God could do
it that way. But we’re going to try a more sensible approach.” That
would have been faithless and disobedient.
To obey God, they had to march silently around the city once a day for
six days. The seventh day, when Joshua told them to march around it
seven times, there may have been some groans. Each time around the
city took between 30 minutes to an hour (depending on whom you read),
so the seven times took at least three and a half hours. By the
seventh day, some could have been grumbling under their breath, “This
is dumb. Nothing has happened yet.” But if any said that, it is not
recorded. They obeyed what God had commanded. When they shouted, the
walls miraculously came crashing down.
There are two factors involved in such obedience:
(1) To obey God, we must know what His Word says about our
situation.
God had appeared visibly and spoken audibly to Joshua. While I often
wish that He would do that today (I’d settle for the audible voice!),
such direct communication from God is very rare. How does God speak to
us? He “has spoken to us in His Son” (Heb. 1:2), and the sum of His
word to us is recorded in the Bible. While sometimes it is difficult
to know how the Bible applies to our specific problem, it is obvious
that we cannot obey His Word unless we know what it says and how it
applies. Yet I’ve often seen Christians who are disobeying the clear
commands of God’s Word, but they wonder why God isn’t blessing their
lives!
(2) Knowledge of God’s Word must be followed by obedience, no
matter how much it goes against conventional wisdom.
God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are our ways His ways (Isa.
55:8). Moses’ leading two million refugee slaves down to the Red Sea,
with no way of escape from Pharaoh’s army, was not in line with
conventional wisdom. But he did it in direct obedience to God. Taking
the same group out into the barren wilderness seemed like a sure
formula for major disaster, but God had commanded him, and Moses
obeyed.
Conventional wisdom says, “You can’t get ahead in your business unless
you cheat your customers and lie to the IRS.” Faith obeys God, even if
it leads to financial loss. Conventional wisdom says, “Everyone sleeps
together before marriage. How else will you know if you’re compatible?
Besides, God will forgive.” Faith says, “I’m going to obey God. I
won’t compromise, even if other Christians are doing it.” Faith obeys
God.
D. Faith must wait upon God.
Why didn’t God say, “March around Jericho once, blow the trumpet and
shout! The walls will fall down”? Every night they marched back to
camp thinking, “We didn’t accomplish anything today!” Each day tested
their faith, and each day that victory was delayed, the test increased
in intensity. Perhaps they heard jeers from those on the wall who were
watching this futile daily parade. The jeers tempted them to take
action to silence these scoffers. But they had to wait for God’s
timing. Finally,
E. Faith must wait on God expectantly.
They believed that God was going to act when they obeyed. There is no
record that Joshua told them in advance what was going to happen. They
just knew that he knew what God had commanded, and they obeyed. But
when he told them to shout, they shouted expectantly, and God caused
these impenetrable walls to crumble. Even though faith waits, faith
waits expectantly, knowing that God will act in His power in His time.
Greek:
PisteiRaabeporneousunapoleto(3SAMI)toisapeithesasin,(AAPMPD)dexamene (AMPFSN)touskataskopousmet'eirenes.Amplified: [Prompted] by faith Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed along
with those who refused to believe and obey, because she had received
the spies in peace [without enmity].
(Amplified
Bible - Lockman)KJV:By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not,
when she had received the spies with peace.
NLT: It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute did not die with all the
others in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a
friendly welcome to the spies. (NLT
- Tyndale House)Phillips: It
was because of her faith that Rahab the prostitute did not share the
fate of the disobedient, for she showed her faith in the true God when
she welcomed the Israelites sent out to reconnoitre. (Phillips:
Touchstone)Wuest: By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were
disobedient, having received the spies with peace. (Eerdmans) Young's Literal: by faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who
disbelieved, having received the spies with peace.
Vine writes that "hers was a simple faith and very
elementary, but it was real. She knew what God had determined, and
acted accordingly. She grasped the unseen, and put her belief into
action. Hence her life was lifted out from the influences of her
Canaanitish condition, and her faith brought her from her alienated
state into the fellowship of God’s people. (Vine,
W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson)
Rahab
the harlot - Scripture is brutally honest. Yes, she became Rahab the believer, but the
Scripture reminds us of how God is able to take us from the "guttermost" and
lift us to the "uttermost", from eternal death to eternal life,
independent of how evil we were before we entered into His great
salvation by faith. In summary, Rahab was saved by God's grace
and by her personal faith which was shown to be genuine by her good
works of preserving the life of the spies.
Spurgeon - All the other
persons mentioned here were doubtless saved by faith. But I do not
find it especially remarked concerning any of them that they did not
perish through their faith, while it is particularly said of this
woman that she was delivered amidst the general destruction of
Jericho purely and only through her faith. And, without doubt, her
salvation was not merely of a temporal nature, not merely a
deliverance of her body from the sword, but redemption of her soul
from hell. That she was really saved in a gospel sense, as well as
temporally, seems to me to be proved from her reception of the
spies. This was an emblem of the entrance of the word into the
heart, and her hanging out of the scarlet thread was an evidence of
faith, not inaptly picturing faith in the blood of Jesus the
Redeemer.
Stedman - Along with the
story of Jericho’s overthrow, we read the remarkable account of
Rahab the harlot (v. 31). She had heard of Israel’s conquests at the
Red Sea and in the wilderness and expected them to assault Jericho
many years before. She knew that their victories came from their
faith in God, and she “received the spies with peace” (literally)
when Joshua sent them to spy out the city. Her motive was not merely
to save her life and that of her family; she was convinced, as she
said, that “the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the
earth below.” That faith was honored when the walls of the city
collapsed and all within were killed except Rahab and her family.
That her faith was genuine is confirmed by Matthew when he lists her
as one of the ancestors of Jesus. She went on to marry Salmon and
became the mother of Boaz, and thus the great-grandmother of David.
Faith overcame a sinful life, delivered her from a pagan religion.
She was granted a place of honor among the heroes and heroines of
faith. The incident also illustrates the fact that “in Christ there
is neither male nor female.” Rahab was a woman in a man’s world,
but faith accepts no such distinctions.
Steven Cole summarizes the
truths gleaned from the story of Rahab (see below for full
exposition)...
(1) Rahab was an unlikely candidate
for salvation.
(2) Rahab’s faith saved her from perishing.
(3) Rahab’s faith separated her from her disobedient contemporaries.
(4) Rahab’s faith was an obedient faith.
(5) Rahab’s faith resulted in the
salvation of her pagan family.
(6) Rahab’s faith brought her into covenant with God and His people.
Here is Rahab's first
encounter with the Israeli spies and her exercise of faith...
Joshua 2:1 Then Joshua the son of
Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, "Go, view the
land, especially Jericho." So they went and came into the house of a
harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.
2 It was told the king of Jericho,
saying, "Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to
search out the land." 3 And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab,
saying, "Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your
house, for they have come to search out all the land." 4 But the woman
had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, "Yes, the men
came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 "It came about
when it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the men went out; I do
not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will
overtake them." 6 But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden
them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. 7
So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan to the fords; and as
soon as those who were pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate.
8 Now before they lay down, she
came up to them on the roof, 9 and said to the men, "I know that the
LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on
us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before
you. 10 "For we have heard (Implying that the other
inhabitants had heard the truth about Jehovah!) how the LORD dried up the water of the Red
Sea before you when you came out of Egypt (Note that this was 40
year old news about Jehovah!), and what you did to the two
kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og,
whom you utterly destroyed. 11 "When we heard it, our hearts melted
and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the
LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath (A
great confession and good theology for a Canaanite harlot!). 12 "Now
therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly
with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's household,
and give me a pledge of truth, 13 and spare my father and my mother
and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and
deliver our lives from death."
14 So the men said to her, "Our
life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall
come about when the LORD gives us the land that we will deal kindly
and faithfully with you."
Joshua 2:16, 17, 18
15 Then she let them down by a rope
through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she
was living on the wall. 16 She said to them, "Go to the hill country,
so that the pursuers will not happen upon you, and hide yourselves
there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you may
go on your way."
17 The men said to her, "We shall
be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, 18 unless,
when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the
window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the
house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your
father's household. 19 "It shall come about that anyone who goes out
of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his
own head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the
house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. 20
"But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be free from the
oath which you have made us swear."
21 She said, "According to your
words, so be it." So she sent them away, and they departed; and she
tied the scarlet cord in the window. 22 They departed and came to the
hill country, and remained there for three days until the pursuers
returned. Now the pursuers had sought them all along the road, but had
not found them.
23 Then the two men returned and
came down from the hill country and crossed over and came to Joshua
the son of Nun, and they related to him all that had happened to them.
24 They said to Joshua, "Surely the LORD has given all the land into
our hands; moreover, all the inhabitants of the land have melted away
before us."
Then in Joshua 6 we read the
conclusion of the account of Rahab...
22 Joshua said to the two men who
had spied out the land, "Go into the harlot's house and bring the
woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her." 23 So
the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab
and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had;
they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the
camp of Israel. 24 They burned the city with fire, and all that
was in it. Only the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron,
they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. 25 However,
Rahab the harlot and her father's household and all she had, Joshua
spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for
she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
Sir Robert Anderson comments
on the phrase Rahab the harlot - Rahab the harlot! Those who seek
for proofs of the divine authorship of Scripture may find one here.
Was there ever an Israelite who would have thought of preferring that
woman's name to the names of David and Samuel and the prophets, and of
coupling it with the name of the great apostle and prophet of the
Jewish faith, "whom the Lord knew face to face," and to whom He spoke
"as a man speaketh unto his friend"! And what Jew would have dared to
give expression to such a thought? But God's thoughts are not our
thoughts. And He who immortalized the devotion of the widow who threw
her last two mites into the Temple treasury has decreed that the faith
of Rahab who, like Moses, took sides with the people of God, shall
never be forgotten.
Murray
comments on by faith - By faith. Let this be the motto of
our life. In every need and perplexity, with every desire and prayer,
with every work and trial, with every thought of ourselves and of God,
let this be the one thing we seek—ever to breathe a living faith in a
living God. Once again I say: As absolute and universal and undisputed
as is the supremacy of God, is to be the supremacy of faith in our
heart and life. We can only have as much of God in our heart as we
have of faith. And because God is All, and must be All to us, faith in
us must be all too. (Ibid)
The exercise of faith by
Rahab the harlot brought her not only salvation but into the line
of the Messiah for she was the mother of godly Boaz, a man who in many
ways pictured the "Greater Boaz" Christ Jesus...
The record of the genealogy of
Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham...Salmon
(Jewish husband)
was the father of Boaz by Rahab (Gentile saved proselyte), Boaz was the father of Obed by
Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. (Mt 1:1, 1:5)
James includes her in the
"same breath" as the venerable patriarch Abraham as a prime example of
genuine, saving faith writing...
In the same way (cp Jas 2:21, 22,
23-note), was not Rahab the harlot
also justified (in this context, the verb means "shown to be
righteous") by works when she received the messengers and sent them
out by another way? (Jas 2:25-note)
Warren Wiersbe quips - Imagine a pagan harlot becoming a
part of the ancestry of Jesus Christ! That is what faith can do! Rahab
is certainly a rebuke to unsaved people who give excuses for not
trusting Christ. “I don’t know very much about the Bible” is an excuse
I often hear. Rahab knew very little spiritual truth, but she acted on
what she did know. “I am too bad to be saved!” is another excuse. But
Rahab was a condemned heathen harlot! Another excuse is, “What will my
family think?” Rahab’s first concern was saving her family, not
opposing them. She stands as one of the great women of faith in the
Bible.
Spurgeon - It is right to
conclude that if there had been other believers there, either the
city would have been spared for the sake of ten righteous, or else
there would have been means found for their preservation; but she
was the only one there. If we could have taken a bird’s eye view of
the city of Jericho, and had been informed that there was one
believer there, I warrant you we should not have looked to Rahab’s
house. She would have been about the last person that we should have
supposed had been a possessor of faith in the true God. God has a
people where we little dream of it, and He has chosen ones among a
sort of people whom we dare not hope for. Who would think that grace
could grow in the heart of one who was a harlot by name, as though
her sin was openly known to all? Yet it did grow there.
Did not
perish along with(544)
(sunapollumi
from
sun/syn
= with, speaks of an intimate association +
apollumi = from apo = away
from or wholly + olethros = state of utter ruin <> ollumi
= to destroy <> root of apollyon [Re 9:11] = destroyer) means
to destroy together. The destruction in this context is one of losing
their lives but not to causing them to cease to exist. Apollumias it relates
to men, speaks not of the loss of being per se, but is more
descriptive of the loss of well-being. Apollumi then has the
basic meaning of describing that which is ruined and is no longer
usable for its intended purpose.
The failure of the rest of the inhabitants of Jericho to possess
eternal life by faith resulted in utter ruin in this life and the life
to come, a life of eternal uselessness. Apollumi in no way
speaks of cessation of existence (cp, annihilation) as some "scholars"
falsely teach!
Lest one is tempted to accuse God
of being too harsh in destroying the entire population of Jericho,
John MacArthur makes the point that "The destruction of the Canaanites
was as great a social as it was a spiritual gain to the welfare of
humanity. They were a debauched, idolatrous, and wicked people. They
were noted for their grossly immoral and perverted sexual practices as
well as for their general cruelty. Among other things, they frequently
put live babies in jars and built them into their city walls as
foundation sacrifices. They were begging for judgment.
(MacArthur,
John: Hebrews. Moody Press)
Disobedient(544)(apeitheofrom a = without + peítho
= persuade) literally describes one who refuses to be persuaded and
who disbelieves willfully and perversely. Apeitheo means
not to allow oneself to be persuaded, not to comply with and
thus to
refuse to believe (eg, in the truth, in Christ, in
the Gospel). Apeitheo describes the inhabitants of Jericho who
in spite of reports of the greatness of Jehovah (reports which Rahab
appears to have believed), continued to manifest a stubborn, stiff-necked
attitude of disbelief and disobedience, in this case manifest by a
refusal to be persuaded by the truth about Jehovah(see
Jn 3:36, cp the phrase "obey the gospel" in 2Th 1:8, 1Pe 4:17).
Disobedience
is opposite of pisteuo,
which is the verb translated "believe" or "trust", precisely
what Rahab did.
In studying apeitheo it is
important to understand that "the stem peith- (pith-,
poith-) has the basic meaning of trust (cf. Latin fido, fides).
Trust can refer to a statement, so that it has the meaning to put
faith in, to let oneself be convinced, or to a demand, so that it gets
the meaning of obey, be persuaded. The active meaning of the verb stem
peith- then is to convince and persuade and is especially
characteristic of Greek thought. In secular Greek it interesting to
note that "Peitho" (art of persuading) was even regarded as a
goddess! (see Brown, Colin, Editor. New International
Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervan)
Welcomed(1209)
(dechomai= middle voice
of a primary verb) means to to receive something offered or
transmitted by another (Luke
2:28) and so to be receptive toward someone (as in Heb 11:31, cp
"receive" in Lk 10:8, 10). Dechomai means to accept with a deliberate and ready reception
of what is offered, to receive kindly and so to take to oneself what
is presented or brought by another (e.g., reception of the Word of
truth, Jas 1:21-note). In the present context
dechomai
means that Rahab welcomed the spies into her house even as one would
welcome a friend or a guest! Rahab in a word accepted the Israeli
spies with an open arm, mind, and heart, going beyond normally
expected gracious hospitality (especially hiding them so they would
not be discovered).
Spurgeon - This woman said,
“If I must die for these men, I will; I am prepared, bad name as I
have, to have a worse name still. I am prepared to be handed down to
infamy as a traitor to my country, if it is necessary, for taking in
these spies. For I know it is God’s will it should be done, and I
will do it at all costs.” Do not trust your faith unless it has
self-denial with it. Faith and self-denial, like Siamese twins, are
born together, and must live together, and the food that nourishes
one must nourish both. But this woman, poor sinner as she was, would
deny herself. She brought her life, even as that other woman who was
a sinner brought the alabaster box of precious ointment, and broke
it on the head of Christ.
Spies (2685)
(kataskopos from kata = down + skopeo= to take aim at or look
toward an object and so to spy out) means to spy or scout, the verb
form kataskopeo being used to describe the false brethren who
snuck in among the believers in order to bring them from a state of
freedom in Christ to a state of bondage under the law (legalism) (Gal
2:4).
Peace(1515)(eirenefrom verb
eiro = to join or bind together that which has been separated)
literally pictures the binding or joining together again of that which
had been separated or divided and thus setting at one again, a meaning
convey by the common expression of one “having it all together”. It
follows that peace is the opposite of division or dissension.
Peace is a state of concord and harmony and is the opposite of war
which is how all the rest of the inhabitants of Jericho felt toward
Israel. This lack of enmity further describes Rahab's welcoming
attitude toward
the spies.
William Newell -
Note the following seven points about Rahab:
1. Rahab was a common sinner, even a harlot. God says as to all of
us. “There is no difference; for all have sinned.”
2. Rehab's faith (Josh. 2:8–11) was confessed by her in the words,
“I know that Jehovah hath given you the land, and that the fear of
you is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt
away before you.”
3. This belief meant complete turning against her own people, just
as a believer now comes out from, and is no longer of, the world.
4. It included belief that Jericho would be destroyed (Josh 2:13);
and it brought concern for her own kin.
5. It brought about the beautiful typical picture of the scarlet
cord, tied up in her window, by which the spies also escaped (Josh
2:15–21). How that cord reminds us of the shed blood of Christ!
6. By her faith she, her father, her mother, her brethren, and all
her kindred—“Whosoever shall be with thee in the house”—(Josh 2:19),
were preserved (Josh 6:22–23, 25).
7. She became the mother of Boaz (Matt. 1:5), great-grandfather of
David the king! (Ruth 4:21–2).
Now let us go back and run over the names—familiar, blessed, sweet
names they—of the “witnesses” of Heb 11:4-31, who “had witness borne
to them.” BY FAITH— ABEL learned—and offered a blood sacrifice;
ENOCH was told—and believed; NOAH was warned—and took warning;
ABRAHAM was called—and obeyed; was tried, and offered up Isaac.
ISAAC saw things to come; JACOB blessed each of the sons of JOSEPH
and worshiped; JOSEPH (though exalted) clung at his end to Israel
and their departure from Egypt; MOSES was hid … by his parents,*
refused royalty, chose ill-treatment, rejected sin’s pleasures and
Egypt’s treasures, looking unto the recompense of the reward:
forsook Egypt, endured, kept the Passover. (Hebrews 11 Commentary)
Here are the
concluding expository remarks from Steven Cole on Rahab the
Harlot...
God converts hopeless sinners by faith (He
11:31).
Rahab’s story is a wonderful exhibit of God’s grace! It contains seven
lessons that I can only touch on briefly:
A. Rahab was an unlikely candidate for salvation.
From a Jewish perspective, Rahab had three strikes against her: she
was a woman; she was a Canaanite; and, she was a prostitute. Except
for Abraham’s wife, Sarah, Rahab is the only woman mentioned by name
in Hebrews 11. Jewish men would sanctimoniously pray, “Lord, I thank
You that You didn’t make me a Gentile or a woman!” But God saw fit to
save this Gentile woman.
But not only was Rahab a Gentile woman, she was also a prostitute.
From early times, many commentators have tried to dodge this, saying
that she was only an innkeeper. But the Hebrew and Greek words are
clear: she was a prostitute. (There is a different Hebrew word for
temple prostitutes.) I’ve wondered why these spies would go to a
prostitute’s house. Thomas Aquinas (cited by Philip Hughes, A
Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews [Eerdmans], p. 503) explained
that they did not go there to sin, but be-cause it was a good hiding
place. Such houses are open, especially at night, when the men arrived
(Josh. 2:2). Harlots receive their guests without discrimination or
asking many questions. The king of Jericho seemed to accept as normal
that these men would visit her in the night and leave almost as
quickly as they had come.
But behind all of the spies’ reasons for going to Rahab’s house was
God’s providence. Even though Rahab was an unlikely candidate for
salvation, God’s grace had reached down to her. The fact that she is
called “Rahab, the harlot,” even after her conversion, underscores
God’s abundant grace toward sinners. The spies did not know when they
went there that God had a mission for them besides spying, but He did.
Sometimes we go somewhere on some errand, but God has another purpose,
to use us to lead to salvation someone whom we would call an unlikely
candidate.
I once met a man who had been a full-blown hippie, living with his
girl friend and doing drugs. One morning he was driving in a remote
canyon in Southern California when his muffler fell off his car. It
happened in front of the house of a pastor, who had prayed with his
wife that morning, “Lord, give us an opportunity to share the gospel
with some lost soul today.” That unlikely candidate for salvation met
Christ that day because God caused his muffler to fall off right at
that place in the road!'
B. Rahab’s faith saved her from perishing.
God commanded Israel to kill everyone in Jericho. Modern critics, who
must be wiser than God, think that God was cruel (or Joshua was
mistaken) to order the extermination of everyone in Canaan. But God
had given the Canaanites 400 years to fill up the measure of their sin
(Ge 15:13, 14, 15, 16). For 40 years, they had heard how God delivered
Israel from Egypt through the Red Sea (Ed: Which was in fact
instrumental in Rahab's conversion - see Josh 2:8, 9, 10, 11). For
several years, they had heard how God had defeated the Amorite kings,
Sihon and Og, on the
other side of the Jordan. For seven days, they had watched Israel
march around their city. But did they repent of their sins? Only Rahab
did, and perhaps her family.
Rahab could have complained that God was unfair to judge her city. She
no doubt lost many friends in the conquest. But instead, she knew
that she deserved death for her evil lifestyle. She knew that the
LORD, God of Israel, is “God in heaven above and on earth beneath”
(Josh. 2:11). Although the entire city trembled with fear of the
impending attack (Josh 2:11), their fear did not lead to repentance
and faith (Ed: cp Jesus' acknowledgment of the role of repentance in
salvation = Mk 1:15, cp Acts 26:20). Rahab’s fear led her to turn from her sin and to believe in
God (Ed: Cp the pagan response to the gospel in Thessalonica 1Th 1:9-note). By faith, she “did not perish along with those who were
disobedient” (He 11:31).
Many think, probably correctly, that Rahab had come to faith in God
before the spies arrived at her house. When God providentially brought
the spies to her house, she saw it as the means of deliverance for
herself and for her family. Although she did not understand much
theology, she had enough faith in the one true God to save her. Her
past life of sin did not disqualify her from salvation. God delights
to save notorious sinners for His glory!
C. Rahab’s faith separated her from her disobedient contemporaries.
Those who perished are called disobedient (Heb 11:31). They were not
“basically good people.” They had heard of God’s power, but they
refused to submit to Him (cp Ro 1:18, 19-note,
Ro 1:20-note). They erroneously thought that their walled
city would protect them. To be saved, Rahab had to break away from her
people, her culture, and her source of income.
Although that is never easy and she must have wrestled with her
decision, by faith she made the break.
We are not told whether she warned her fellow citizens of the coming
judgment, or whether they mocked her for holing up in her house while
Israel’s armies strangely marched around the town. But it is still
true today: saving faith means making a distinct break from this evil
world, so that we often stand out as weird in their eyes.(Ed: cp 1Pe 4:1, 2, 3, 4, 5-note)
D. Rahab’s faith was an obedient faith.
James 2:25 (note) lists Rahab next to Abraham as one who was justified by
works. James is not denying justification by faith alone, but rather
is making the point that genuine faith always results in good works
(cp Jas 2:17-note).
Her faith led her to hide the spies and send them away secretly, even
though it put her life at great risk (cp Mk 8:35, 36, 37). She had to obey the explicit
instructions that the spies gave her, to put the scarlet rope in her
window and to have all of her family inside the house with her, in
order for them to be saved. It may have seemed silly to them to watch
Israel marching silently around the city for 13 times. They may have
been tempted to join others on the wall shouting insults to the troops
below. But they obeyed and they were saved.
Granted, Rahab’s faith was not perfect in obedience. She was a pagan
woman from a pagan culture, and it was a difficult situation when the
king’s messengers came to her house looking for the two spies, so she
lied. Lying is sin, even when it is for a good cause. But God was
gracious to take Rahab’s obedient faith as seen in her welcoming the
spies, and overlook her lie. If you will come to Christ in faith, just
as you are, He saves you and then begins to work His holiness into
your life.
E. Rahab’s faith resulted in the
salvation of her pagan family.
We do not know for certain that her family was saved spiritually,
although I think it is probable. But we do know that they were saved
physically from destruction at Jericho, and they became a part of the
people of God. Presumably they not only learned about the true God of
Israel, but also came to believe in Him personally. God can use the
salvation of an unlikely person, like Rahab, to reach an entire family
through her faith.
F. Rahab’s faith brought her into covenant with God and His people.
James Boice (Joshua: We Will Serve the Lord [Revell], p. 45) points out
that Rahab actually became more Jewish than many of the Jews by birth,
in that she believed God, whereas they did not.
Matthew Henry (Matthew
Henry's Commentary [Revell] VI:950) comments,
A true believer is desirous, not
only to be in covenant with God, but in communion with the people of
God, and is willing to cast in his lot with them, and to fare as they
fare.
Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ (Mt 1:5,6)
includes the surprising fact that Rahab married a Jewish man, Salmon,
and they had a son, Boaz, who married Ruth. Their son, Obed, was the
father of Jesse, the father of David. So Rahab, the harlot, became an
ancestor of Jesus Christ! What a great testimony of God’s abundant
grace!
G. Rahab’s faith changed her life from futility to fruitfulness.
Prostitution is never glamorous. It is ugly. Men pay to use a woman’s
body, with no regard for her as a person. Prostitutes are never
respected for what they do. When their bodies become too old to be
attractive, they are out of work, lonely, and unloved.
But God reclaims the lives of the worst of sinners who turn to Him in
repentance and faith. Rahab married and became a mother and
grandmother (Ed: Mother to Boaz, grandmother to Obed see Ru 2:1-note,
Ru 4:17-note). She became a partaker of all of Israel’s spiritual
privileges, and even became linked to Christ Himself! Any life
outside of Christ is futile (cp 1Pe 1:18-note) and headed for eternal destruction. Any
life that God saves by His grace through faith becomes fruitful and
headed for eternal glory.
Conclusion
Jericho is a picture of this evil world, opposed to God. Either you
are by faith on God’s side, with some “Jericho’s” in your life that
you need to conquer. Or, you are comfortably living in Jericho,
thinking that you are safe. But you’re headed for destruction, whether
you know it or not.
Whichever describes your situation, the key to victory is faith. Faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the cross in your place will
deliver you from the coming destruction. If you’re in God’s camp,
faith in His mighty power will give you victory over the intimidating
enemies that threaten to destroy you. What great opportunities,
disguised as insoluble problems, do you face? God has whatever
resources you need to overcome them. Trust Him! | {
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‘Rickey Smiley For Real’ Season Five Premiere — RECAP
I grew up listening to Rickey Smiley with my mom, but never knew that he had his own television show before this past weekend. I went into this premiere with an open mind, not really knowing anything about what was going to happen.
As the episode started I was worried I would not be able to follow the history of Rickey, his family, and friends from past seasons. However, I could easily digest and understand thanks to Rickey’s neighbor Ms. Janie stopping by. Her chat with him in the first few minutes caught me up with the basics of last season. This exposition helped me quickly get into the groove of the show.
Season 5 Begins
In the season 5 premiere, Rickey Smiley is getting ready to enjoy life on his own as all his kids are grown and have moved out, however, plans quickly change when his cousin Summer and her four teens move in with him. I admire his dedication to family and willingness to help his cousin out after her stroke. It is hilarious to see him lay down the house rules for this new set of kids as they prepare to settle into this new situation. Combined with the drama going on with his children — and a serious health issue facing Gary with da Tea makes for a dynamic start to season 5 of TV One’s Rickey Smiley For Real.
Alcohol Abuse and Trauma
Rickey’s daughter D’Essence and his son Brandon both recap their issues with alcohol abuse from the past. Brandon spends some time in rehab for alcoholism and D’Essence rethinks her life path after getting arrested for a DUI. We see her meet with family and friends to talk about her regrets and hopes for the future. Smiley being such a positive person, I was a bit shocked to hear his children were going through these traumatic circumstances. It just reinforces the lesson that not everyone is flawless and that people deserve a second chance to turn their lives around.
Rickey’s family is not the only one with the big news. “Rickey Smiley In The Morning” co-host Gary with da Tea reveals he is going through his own health issues. He shook the whole crew when he announced on the radio show that he was battling colon cancer. Prompting a lot of support from his friends inspiring Rickey to check-in himself. Later that night Gary informed everyone that he is currently cancer free and continuing to maintain his good health.
No Emotional Whiplash for this Reality TV Fan
Juicy is yet another reality TV veteran who refers to herself as “Ms.Juicy Baby”. I knew of her being on her own show Little Women: Atlanta on the Lifetime network. Having to hear about Gary’s health struggles over the radio cut Juicy deep. She held nothing back when telling him how hurt she was not to be a confidant in his time of need.Famed 90s rapper Da Brat prepares to hold a “Queen of the Ring” battle in Atlanta with Babs Bunny. This leads her to meet with Jermaine Dupri and Bow Wow. Her biggest battle with this project will be to let the artist be raw and real. The language cannot be too out of line. Watching her figure out how to balance the intricacies of this event gives me a whole new perspective for the world of professional MCs. This show’s ability to balance serious problems with lighthearted events is done well. I did not get the usual emotional whiplash, like I normally do with reality TV drama.For someone who is familiar with Rickey Smiley, but has not watched the series in its entirety; it is easy to see why Rickey Smiley For Real is back for another season. The show manages to balance great humor with serious issues, all while being relatable and keeping it real. The premiere gets a 4 out of 5 with this Black Girl Nerd. Excellent cinematography, entertaining, and full of energy is the best way to describe this show. You can catch Rickey Smiley for Real on TV One Tuesdays starting October 30th at 8 p.m./7C. Stay connected by using the hashtags #RickeySmileyForReal and #Represent or heading over to @TVOneTV on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you can not get enough of Rickey’s hilarious hijinx watch TV One’s new digital series called Cooking Up Comedy following each episode at 9p.m./8C on Facebook and TVOne.tv/CookingUpComedy. The fun continues as Ricky prepares his favorite mouth-watering recipes in these delicious after-show episodes.
BGN works to feature strong, unique content from writers who speak to our niche. If you are interested in having your work highlighted contact [email protected] to be featured as a guest blogger on the site.
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Outline
Objective: Neuroendoscopy is an increasing subspeciality in neurosurgery. Until now the rate of complications is reported only by a few authors. The rate of complications in regard to the skin incision and dura closure and also in comparison to the indications given by other authors in the literature has never been analysed.
Methods: This study includes 115 patients who were operated using only neuroendoscoply. A rigid neuroendoscope (5.9 mm, Type Camaert, Wolf, Knittlingen) was used for the cranial interventions. Indications for neuroendoscopy were occlusive hydrocephalus, different intracranial cysts and intraventricular tumor biopsies in most cases. During endoscopic ventriculostomy microdopplersonography was used to detect the basilar artery if not visible. Neuronavigation was used especially in tumor biopsies and cystic lesions. Aqueductoplasty was done only in one case, colloid cysts were not operated by endoscopy. In 44 cases, a straight skin incision was performed and in 71 cases a curved skin incision with an additional galea flap and dura sutures (15 mm burr hole) was used. The number and type of different complications were analysed.
Results: Only one patient died due to meningitis after endoscopic ventriculostomy and CSF fistula. A CSF-fistula occurred in 4 out of 44 cases (9.1%) with straight skin incisions and in 4 out of 71 cases (5.6%) with curved skin incisions. Temporary neurologic deficit was observed in 3 cases (double vision, hemiparesis = 2.6%). One girl developed pubertas praecox after a neuroendoscopic operation on a suprasellär intraventricular cyst.
Conclusions: The reported complication rate (10.4%) was comparable to data obtained from the literature. The low rate of severe (“permanent”) complications (1,7%) can be explained by the restrictive indication for high risk interventions like aqueductoplasty and resection of colloid cysts. It is believed that curved skin incisions and a careful dura closure can decrease the rate of CSF-fistula in these operations. | {
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Living my life one stitch at a time. ~ For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. – Psalm 139:13
Two, Two, Two Socks in One
July 1, 2010
Much of my recent quietness on the blog has been due to a mad flurry of designing lately. Between pattern writing, managing test knits, knitting, editing and all the million other little things that go along with designing, I simple haven’t had time to write. The good news is that there will be a number of new patterns appearing on these pages in the coming weeks.
I will introduce you to the most recent additions to my pattern catalog now.
Aragorn Sock
This sock is the final piece in the Aragorn collection that I have been working on for several months. This deceptively easy but bold lace and cable pattern is masculine enough for the Aragorn in your life, without being dull to knit. It looks great knit in a more feminine color too. It’s a perfect match for the Aragorn Scarf, Aragorn Fingerless Gloves and Aragorn Hat.
The sock is knit from the toe up utilizing an increased toe and a clever reversed gusset heel. Suitable for intermediate knitters, the pattern uses simple lace techniques and basic twisted stitches. You will need to know basic toe up sock techniques, in particular a toe up cast on. The heel instructions are included in the pattern. There is a accompanying tutorial on my blog that explains working the twisted stitches without a cable needle. Pattern instructions are written. No charts included at this time.
Special thanks to Colin Andersson for allowing me to modify his Andersson heel for this pattern. Thank you also to Tammy, of Photography by TK Eastburn, for the lovely photos, to Christa Keltner for the knitting the sample and to Ashley, the wonder editor, for her amazing tech editing skills.
Next, I’d like to introduce you to the first in a collection of accessories for children and adults.
Owen Sock
Owen is a simple sock adorned with two wide cables running from the toe to the cuff and up the back of the leg. The pattern is bold enough to stand up to most variegated yarns but also looks fabulous in solid colors.
The sock is knitted toe up and features a clever reverse gusset heel that doesn’t require short row wraps or picking up stitches. Pattern is suitable for advanced beginner and intermediate knitters. Knitter will need to know basic toe-up sock construction including a toe-up cast on. The heel will be explained in the pattern. Knitter will also need a knowledge of basic knowledge of cables. As there are few cable twists in the pattern and the stitches are well explained, this pattern could be suitable as a first cable pattern for the fearless knitter. The pattern contains fully written instructions with a supplementary chart for the cable pattern. The pattern is quick to knit and would make an excellent gift sock as it looks much more difficult than it really is. The matching Owen hat, as well as Evan, the infant/child version of this pattern, will both be available soon.
I’ve been having fun reading all the comments on my vacation post. I did want to clarify one little detail for the contest. You don’t have to have seen these places in person to enter the contest. If you get your answers from Google, that is fine too. Happy searching. | {
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Welcome to Trouble Free Pool
We would like to welcome you to TFP, the webs leading Pool related website. We invite you to please Register to create a new account. Doing this will give you full access to the forums, where you will be able to receive personalized advice concerning your pool. We hope to see you soon!
Re: First test with the TF-100 results
Have you tested the CH of your tap water? If you have been using cal-hypo that would account for a high CH result. You can work with that CH by dropping the TA down to around 70 and keeping the pH between 7.2 and 7.5 so you decrease your risk of developing scale.
You can raise your CYA to around 30-35 to keep your chlorine from burning off too quickly. It sounds like you still need to shock the pool. You want to keep your FC around 12 (shock level) until you pass the overnight test.
Re: First test with the TF-100 results
You would need 2 gallons, 1 quart of 10.5% liquid chlorine to bring the FC up to 12 ppm to shock the pool. You have already added 1 gallon, so you would need 1 more gallon and 1 quart to raise the pool to shock level.
Re: First test with the TF-100 results
Originally Posted by countryboy20
Tap water 80-90 CH
That is good. If you want, you could drain some of the water to get the CH a little lower or you can manage with the CH you have now by dropping the TA. If you live in a part of the country that freezes in the winter, you will drain some of the water when you winterize your pool then refill in the spring. As long as you stay away from the cal-hypo that should be enough replacement water to bring the CH into line.
Re: First test with the TF-100 results
I would keep checking the FC every hour or so to make sure you keep the FC at shock level. This is a very important step in shocking your pool. You have to keep the FC as close to shock level as possible. The more you can keep it at shock level the faster the process will go. Then when you get up in the morning check it again and get the FC back to shock level until you have no FC loss overnight.
18X38 Grecian 26000 gallon In Ground Vinyl. Goldline AuqaRite SWG with a 1.5 HP Pentair Pump. Triton 2 Sand Filter Two main drains with 4 main returns with 2 more returns on the swimout and two skimmers. Polaris 380
Re: First test with the TF-100 results
I would keep checking the FC every hour or so to make sure you keep the FC at shock level. This is a very important step in shocking your pool. You have to keep the FC as close to shock level as possible. The more you can keep it at shock level the faster the process will go. Then when you get up in the morning check it again and get the FC back to shock level until you have no FC loss overnight.
This is very good advice. Do not worry about your other parameters until your pool is clear. At the stage you describe your water, it may be OK to test and add chlorine twice daily but propbably not less than that. The better you keep the FC up where Ken suggested, the sooner your pool will clear.
Re: First test with the TF-100 results
Good morning! Did you add anything between last night's test and this morning's? Bump your FC back up to shock level, keep your filter clean and your pump running. Brush the walls and vacuum if you see any piles of debris. Has the appearance of the water changed any?
Re: First test with the TF-100 results
As you can see something is eating up the chlorine overnight and it is not sunlight! So you need to get the FC back up to shock level and check it as often as possible today and add bleach as needed.
18X38 Grecian 26000 gallon In Ground Vinyl. Goldline AuqaRite SWG with a 1.5 HP Pentair Pump. Triton 2 Sand Filter Two main drains with 4 main returns with 2 more returns on the swimout and two skimmers. Polaris 380 | {
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Out of the Chaos From Confusion to Peace
Product Description
Out of the Chaos is a compelling story of one man's journey from religious confusion to the peace and harmony of the New Testament. Written in a friendly, conversational style (with a dash of southern humor), the book is an excellent evangelistic tool to lead others to Christ. | {
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A while back I was asked to be part of the blog tour promoting Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Guardian. So here's an extract for you to sink your teeth into, courtesy of the folks at Ace! For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe.
Here's the blurb:
Admiral Geary’s First Fleet of the Alliance has survived the journey deep into unexplored interstellar space, a voyage that led to the discovery of new alien species, including a new enemy and a possible ally. Now Geary’s mission is to ensure the safety of the Midway Star System, which has revolted against the Syndicate Worlds empire—an empire that is on the brink of collapse.To complicate matters further, Geary also needs to return safely to Alliance space not only with representatives of the Dancers, an alien species, but also with Invincible, a captured warship that could possibly be the most valuable object in human history. Despite the peace treaty that Geary must adhere to at all costs, the Syndicate Worlds regime threatens to make the fleet’s journey back grueling and perilous.
Enjoy!
-----------------------------
Days later, his nerves jumpy, Geary watched a freighter belonging to Midway easing its boxy hull in among the shark shapes of the Alliance warships. His experiences with Syndic freighters during the war had usually involved cunning attempts to damage or destroy Alliance ships by means of hidden or improvised weapons. Seeing such a freighter gliding close to his warships, Geary had to fight the urge to target it and order it destroyed.
He glanced over at Desjani, whose glare told him that she was having an even harder time accepting the freighter’s near presence.
“We need the food,” Geary said. “We’ve eaten Syndic rations before, and Midway has some substantial stockpiles since they were a central supply node for this region of Syndic space.”
“I know!” Desjani replied. “But the Syndic rations we picked up before had been abandoned in place when the installations holding them were vacated. We didn’t have to worry too much about those rations being poisoned or otherwise sabotaged.”
“The fleet physicians and Captain Smythe’s engineers are going to check these rations with every test known to humanity to ensure they’re safe, without poison, bacteria, viruses, nanoplagues, or other dirty tricks.”
“Fine,” she said. “Though given how bad Syndic rations taste, I wonder how hard it would be to tell if they had spoiled.”
“At least Syndic rations make Alliance fleet food seem decent by comparison,” Geary pointed out as he watched Alliance shuttles mating with the main hatches on the Syndic freighter to take on cargo. He didn’t mention another advantage that easily aroused suspicions as well. The authorities on Midway were providing these rations for free rather than haggling over the highest possible price. He knew they were doing that because they desperately needed the good favor of the Alliance against the threat posed by the Syndicate Worlds, but it was still a very uncharacteristic action, a very peculiar action, compared to the usual behaviors inside Syndic space.
His display told him that fleet medical personnel and equipment, as well as engineers with their own scanning gear, were on every shuttle for what would be just the first safety check of the rations.
A soft tone drew Geary’s attention to his comm display. Why is Emissary of the Alliance government Victoria Rione calling me now? He tapped the accept command and saw her image appear slightly to one side of the display.
Rione, calling from her stateroom on Dauntless, blinked weariness from her eyes and gestured in the direction of the Midway freighter. “There’s something unexpected on that freighter.”
“Now what?” He didn’t bother trying to disguise his anger. If Midway was going to play games with him after all this fleet had done to defend the people here—
“Not a bad thing, I think. Two representatives from General Drakon. They used the private comm channel I’ve been talking with President Iceni on.” Rione smiled crookedly. “I have already inquired whether they intended asking for your support for General Drakon against President Iceni. They insist that is not why they are here.”
“Good. They wouldn’t have gotten that support.” He drummed his fingers on the side of his seat, giving Rione’s image a skeptical look. She had every right to look tired, as she been negotiating for over a week with the authorities here, wrangling with CEO Boyens, and trying to develop better communications with the Dancers. “What do they want?” Geary asked. “What’s so secret that they had to sneak up here in person?”
“Something they will only discuss with you. In person. You may safely assume it is a matter too sensitive to risk any chance at all of a message being intercepted.”
“The hell.” Geary glowered at the depiction of the freighter on his display. He had learned all too well how even the most secure communications channels could be penetrated, so he understood that aspect of the matter. But . . . “Me alone? No. There will be at least one other person in any meeting with me and those two.”
“Not me,” Rione said. “I can’t give any implied endorsement by the Alliance government to whatever Drakon is proposing until I have some idea what it is about. Take your captain. She’s equal in rank to the two representatives from Drakon, and she’s sufficiently protective of you to give them pause if they wanted to try anything.”
“How do you know it wouldn’t hurt?” Rione asked with a smile that carried a great many possible meanings, none of which he wanted to pursue further. “You’ll have to give approval to a shuttle to bring Drakon’s people to Dauntless’s dock. Have fun.”
After breaking the connection with Rione, Geary looked over at Desjani, who was pretending not to have noticed the conversation. “Did you hear any of that?”
She shook her head. “Your privacy field cut in. What did that woman want?”
“Is it so hard for you to say Victoria Rione’s name?” he persisted against his better judgment.
“Yes. Yes, it is.”
“All right.” He would never win this argument, so instead Geary passed on what Rione had told him. “I’ll tell one of the shuttles to bring those two here, and we’ll see what they say.”
“Ancestors help us,” Desjani muttered, then turned to her watch team. “I need combat-configured Marine guards at the shuttle dock, secure conference room 4D576 cleared, and all passageways from the dock to that conference room kept empty of traffic until further notice.”
“Yes, Captain,” Lieutenant Castries replied immediately.
By the time Geary and Tanya reached the shuttle dock, the Marines were already there, fully outfitted in combat armor.
Desjani smiled at the sight of them. “Excellent. There’s nothing like a few Marines when it comes to impressing Syndics face-to-face.”
She led the way inside the dock, where the shuttle had come in and settled, its ramp still sealed. “Open up,” Desjani ordered.
The ramp dropped, and Geary walked to the end of the shuttle’s ramp to look inside.
It only took a few seconds before the two representatives sent by General Drakon appeared at the head of the ramp. Geary had seen both of them before, standing behind General Drakon during some of his messages. One man, one woman, both in uniform. He felt an indefinable sense of alarm as they walked toward him at a measured pace. These two did not look dangerous, but something inside Geary was nonetheless warning him not to underestimate them.
He noticed out of the corners of his eyes the Marine guards shifting positions slightly, preparing themselves to counter anything these two visitors might try.
It had not even occurred to Geary that he might face a personal threat of assassination from Drakon’s representatives. An unpardonably careless failure on his part when meeting face-to-face with Syndics, or former Syndics, he realized. But at least Tanya had shown the foresight to have the Marines on hand.
“Colonel Morgan,” the woman said, as if that name told him everything he would ever need to know about her. She said it like Geary could have said “I’m Black Jack.” But he never did that, and he wondered at this woman who projected that kind of arrogant competence. She was undeniably attractive, in a way that once again disquieted Geary, and she moved with the unconscious grace of someone trained as a dancer or in lethal martial arts. Colonel Morgan was ignoring the presence of the Marines, as if they did not matter, and Geary had the unpleasant feeling that if she had been sent to kill him, the fact that the Marines were here would not have hindered her too much in carrying out that task.
“Colonel Malin,” the man said, more formally, his attitude more reserved, deferential as a subordinate should sound but also conveying a sense that no task would be too difficult. He didn’t seem nearly as dangerous as Morgan. And yet Geary’s instincts warned him that Malin should not be discounted.
He had formed a broad opinion of General Drakon from the official conversations they had engaged in. There had been no unofficial conversations, of course. A professional, Geary had thought. Perhaps not too different from a senior officer in the Alliance.
But Drakon kept these two beside him as close aides. Was that because of the ways in which people operated in the Syndicate Worlds, or was it because Drakon personally was comfortable with such lethally competent individuals close at hand?
Trying not to let his expression reveal his thoughts, Geary nodded in reply to the two colonels’ introductions. They surely knew who he was, so he simply gestured toward Tanya. “Captain Desjani.”
He would have had to have been blind not to have seen the way Desjani, Malin, and Morgan wordlessly sized each other up after the very brief introductions. Tanya eyed the two like she would a force of enemy ships. She obviously also saw the threat in them.
The walk to the secure conference room was brief and silent. The Marines said nothing, and the passageways had been cleared, as Tanya had ordered.
Once inside the room, Geary waited while Tanya sealed the hatch, leaving the Marines outside against his better judgment, then he sat down and nodded to the two colonels without offering them a seat. “What is so important your general had to send two personal representatives? What couldn’t be transmitted by even the most secure message?”
“Those are our orders,” Malin added, with what might have been an annoyed glance at Morgan. “I hope you understand, Admiral.”
Geary leaned back, deliberately emphasizing that he felt unthreatened and secure in his authority. “I hope you understand that I won’t be dictated to on my own flagship. Captain Desjani is the commanding officer of this ship and my most trusted advisor. She will be present for any discussion.”
Malin’s pause was barely apparent, then he nodded in agreement.
Morgan’s look this time was almost amused as it went from Geary to Desjani. “We understand . . . special relationships,” she said in a way that made Tanya’s jaw visibly tighten.
The implication didn’t please Geary either, but he wasn’t about to defensively explain his relationship with Desjani to these two. “Then get on with it.”
Colonel Malin spoke with respectful formality again. “President Iceni asked us to forward her personal request for a meeting with the Dancers.”
Geary shrugged. “We’ve already told President Iceni that the Dancers have turned down direct contact with her or anyone else from Midway. We don’t know why. The Dancers haven’t explained their reasons. I’ll have them asked again, but I don’t expect the Dancers to change their answer.”
“We do wish to thank the Dancers for diverting the enigma bombardment aimed at our planet,” Malin interjected before Morgan could speak again. “Ideally, we’d like to thank them in person, if you could tell them that.”
“I’ll pass that on,” Geary said in noncommittal tones.
“General Drakon also sends his personal request that we be given access to the ship you call Invincible, Admiral. We understand that any access would be strictly limited—”
“No,” Geary said. “There’s too much we don’t know about that ship. I’ve been told by your general that you are still very concerned about deep-cover Syndicate Worlds agents operating in this star system. I cannot risk what little we do know about Invincible ending up in the hands of the Syndicate Worlds. Colonel, I’ll be blunt. Neither of the requests you have made justify the extreme concern for the security of your visit here. What’s this really about?”
Malin nodded, with the look of a man admiring an adversary who has refused to be distracted or diverted. “An opportunity has presented itself, Admiral. An opportunity to resolve a matter which is of concern to you as well as to General Drakon and President Iceni. As long as CEO Boyens commands a Syndicate Worlds flotilla which is here and is stronger than our own mobile forces, we will not be secure. From your previous actions and discussions with our superiors, General Drakon and President Iceni believe that you would also like to see CEO Boyens and his flotilla depart this star system before you leave.”
“Or, if you’re in the mood for that, an opportunity to destroy that flotilla,” Colonel Morgan added, this time with a slight smile, as if they were sharing a mutually understood joke.
“What is this opportunity?” Geary asked, not replying directly to Morgan. The more he was around her, the more she unsettled him. It wasn’t just her attractiveness, it was the casual, pantherlike attitude of deadliness combined with allure. This was a very dangerous woman, in ways very different from Tanya, and it annoyed Geary that part of him found that danger fascinating.
It was hard to tell how much Tanya could sense of that. She was keeping her eyes on Malin, apparently not watching Morgan, but Geary had seen that sort of misdirection in Desjani before. Morgan probably sensed Tanya’s attitude, too, and was reacting with thinly veiled amusement, which was simply provoking Tanya all the more.
But then Geary noticed Desjani visibly relaxing, a quiet smile appearing. A tactic. She had analyzed what Morgan was doing and altered her own approach.
Malin, pretending like Geary to be unaware of the byplay between Desjani and Morgan, continued speaking. “The opportunity involves the heavy cruiser that recently arrived in this star system. C-712 has declined our offer to remain here. We have offered one of our own heavy cruisers as an escort for C-712 to ensure they reach their home star safely.”
“How kind of you,” Desjani commented in a flat, insincere voice.
“Doing an important favor for someone is a way to gain a friend, and Midway needs all the friends we can get,” Malin replied. “Friends with heavy cruisers could be particularly important once you leave here, Admiral. Those friends can, in fact, do us a service now without even realizing it. General Drakon and President Iceni are proposing a course of action involving our escort that would serve your interests as well as ours, Admiral. If we work together, we can deal with Boyens, as long as we make every effort to ensure he does not even suspect the trap we are laying for him.”
Geary had no trouble assessing Desjani’s unspoken reaction. No. No deals with Syndics. No “working together” with Syndics. But there was no harm in finding out exactly what was being proposed. “Tell me what you’re suggesting,” he ordered Malin.
They had escorted the two colonels back to the shuttle and seen it depart before Geary looked a question at Desjani.
“No.”
“Because . . . ?” he prompted.
“They can’t be trusted.” She waved toward where the shuttle had been. “What kind of sick, twisted mind comes up with a plan like that?”
“But it might well work and resolve our problem with Boyens.”
Desjani frowned, then shrugged. “It might. What are you going to do?”
“We need at least one of the Alliance government emissaries to sign off on the idea, or it won’t work. I’ll show them the pitch Colonel Malin made and see what they say.”
“That should be interesting. I’ll want to know how they react to the suggestion that you use this plot as an excuse to actually destroy Boyens’s battleship.” Desjani gave him a wry look. “Speaking of which, you didn’t seem to enjoy the attention Colonel Morgan was giving you.”
“She wasn’t—”
“Oh, yeah. Not at all. Hey, Mr. Admiral. Want a bite of the apple? Just give me a wink.”
“I didn’t—”
“No, you didn’t. You have more sense than that.”
“Tanya, I’m sure she didn’t know I was married.”
“Ancestors preserve us! Do you really think she would have cared?” Desjani paused as she was about to head back to the bridge, her attitude that of someone fighting an internal struggle. “Before you make a decision on this, you need to come with me.” She didn’t say anything more as he followed, puzzled, until they reached her stateroom. “We’ll risk gossip for a few minutes of privacy because we need that.”
“Why?” He had rarely been inside her stateroom, maintaining that distance for the sake of discipline.
“Inside.” Tanya waited until Geary had entered, then closed and sealed the hatch. She stood for a moment before speaking, running one hand through her hair. “Look, I know a lot of the things we’ve done, and by we I mean the people of this time, violate your sense of honor.”
“You stopped—”
“Wait.” She dropped her hand and looked at him with a frank expression. “If you want that Syndic battleship gone, there’s a way to do it without leaving any fingerprints or cooperating with people who say they aren’t Syndics anymore but still think like Syndics.”
“And by gone you mean . . . ?”
“Destroyed.” Tanya walked a few paces, turned, and walked back. “You know what it’s like. Sometimes you have to do things. Things you’ve been ordered not to do. And you have to know how to do those things anyway, without leaving any records or traces of what was done.”
Geary watched her, baffled. “Are you saying that, with all of the records automatically created and maintained on every single detail of what every ship in the Alliance fleet does for every moment of its existence, that there is a way to conduct an operation as major as destroying a Syndic battleship without leaving any indications of what was done?” | {
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In the Red! Sebastian Coates has emerged as a surprise target for Sunderland
They have a £14m bid on the table for Coates' teammate Fabio Borini and have enquired about Manchester United's Danny Welbeck. Meanwhile, manager Gus Poyet has called for his side to repeat last season's unexpected victory over Manchester United when the two teams meet on Sunday. | {
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A bank account with no minimum balance!
Gain points whenever you like a post/ comment on Kotak Jifi facebook page, these points can be redeemed for online shopping !
World's first socially powered bank account !
So, these are the things that excited me when i read about Kotak Jifi bank account. Does this excite you as well? | {
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Destiny got its first gameplay reveal at Sony's E3 conference, and - as expected - it's an epic sci-fi shooter that takes in breathtaking vistas and features class-based gunplay.
An on-stage playthrough worked from the wilds of a deserted far-future earth and into the bowels of a grand walled city, where a team of player-controlled warriors dispatched with Fallen enemies.
The battles revealed a familiar first person shooter delivered with no small amount of pizazz - exteriors were filled with detail, while interiors were lit handsomely. The range of loot was also highlighted, with different drops being showcased by each of the players within the game.
Bungie took the opportunity to reveal a launch window for Destiny, though it's frustratingly vague - we now know that it's a 2014 release, but there's no detail beyond that. | {
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Tag
startup trek
Steve Bell of Startup Trek came to Boulder about a month ago and did an interview with a bunch of Boulder people, including me. Following is part one (12 minutes) of the interview where I talk some about my history, my first company Feld Technologies, and the Feld Technologies’ motto (“we suck less.”) I also… | {
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UN Too Focused on Terrorists' Rights, Says UK Minister
UN Too Focused on Terrorists' Rights, Says UK Minister
(CNSNews.com) - A United Nations human rights official has urged the British government not to go ahead with plans to deport foreign Islamist radicals, but the minister responsible for law and order suggested the U.N.'s focus was skewed.
"The human rights of those people who were blown up on the Tube [subway] in London on July 7 are, to be quite frank, more important than the human rights of the people who committed those acts," Home Secretary Charles Clarke told Britain's commercial ITV News network.
"It is a balance, of course, and I acknowledge that there are real issues that have to be addressed, but I wish the U.N. would look at human rights in the round, rather than simply focusing all the time on the terrorist," he said.
Clarke was responding to a statement issued by Manfred Nowak, special rapporteur on torture with the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, who urged Britain not to deport radicals to countries where they face the risk of torture.
After four Muslim terrorists killed 52 people and themselves on the London subway and a bus last month, the government announced plans to crack down on terrorism and those who promote it.
Britain is in the process of negotiating agreements with Middle Eastern and North African countries ahead of plans to deport extremists to those countries. Police three weeks ago detained 10 suspects the government wants to expel, including the al Qaeda-linked Jordanian cleric, Abu Qatada.
The first such bilateral agreement, signed with Jordan, states that any citizen of one country deported to the other "will be treated in a humane and proper manner, in accordance with internationally accepted standards."
But Nowak argued that such agreements would not guarantee that torture or ill-treatment would not occur.
"Diplomatic assurances are not an appropriate tool to eradicate this risk," he said, decrying what he called a tendency by European governments to circumvent their duty not to deport a person if there was a serious danger of torture.
Clarke has announced that deportations will begin shortly.
He released a list of "unacceptable behaviors" that would be grounds for deporting, or excluding entry to, any non-British citizen.
The list includes the expression of views which "foment, justify or glorify" terrorism, which provoke others to commit terrorism or which foster hatred that could lead to "inter-community violence" in Britain.
It covers such views disseminated verbally, on the Internet, in written or published form, or by individuals in positions of responsibility, such as teachers or community leaders.
Clarke said the measures were necessary in the face of the "real and significant" terrorist threat facing Britain but added that they were "not intended to stifle free speech or legitimate debate about religions or other issues."
He said a database would be compiled of individuals around the world who would be unwelcome in Britain on the basis of their behavior, and the list would be used by immigration officials.
Human rights campaigners and lawyers have already warned of legal challenges to the planned deportations. Appeals would most likely invoke the Human Rights Act -- legislation passed by Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in 1998 and based on the European Convention on Human Rights.
Blair said earlier that if "legal obstacles arise," he would seek to amend the Human Rights Act.
A senior Conservative Party lawmaker and likely candidate for the party leadership, David Cameron, said in a speech Wednesday that if international conventions get in the way of deporting foreign nationals who pose a threat to Britain, then the country should withdraw from them entirely, "perhaps temporarily."
Liberty, a British rights group, said the government still had to convince human rights campaign that sufficient guarantees of deportees' safety had been obtained.
"We believe it is better for terrorist suspects to be tried than shuffled around the world," said Liberty's legal director, James Welch. "If they have to be deported, then at the very least, there must be corroboration and robust involvement from international human rights monitors."
The Muslim Council of Britain, Britain's largest Islamic umbrella group, said Clarke's list of unacceptable behavior was "too wide and unclear."
MCB Secretary-General Iqbal Sacranie called for "full and proper" consultation on the policy, saying the measures should be "practical and capable of being successfully implemented, and not merely sweep under the carpet contrary and uncomfortable opinions."
He also worried that deporting or banning entry to someone for expressing support for "liberation movements ... would be viewed as oppressive." | {
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Environmental Impact Managment Services (Pty) Ltd
EIMS is one of the foremost consultancies in Africa with respect to tailored design and implementation of ISO 14001 compliant, strategically appropriate environmental management systems (EMS). Ever since the ISO 14001 International Standard was first published in 1996, the firm has actively participated in the development of the standards, and has consequently become well known for high quality ISO 14001 EMS development services in a wide variety of industries, including: Chemical manufacturing; Major civil engineering contracting; Telecommunications; The armaments industry; Precious metals refinery; Automotive component manufacture; Power sector; and Waste management..
EIMS has, over the past few years played an increasing role in development of corporate strategic environmental services in South Africa. Initiatives like the King II Report on Corporate Governance highlight the need for companies to address environmental issues, beyond mere legal compliance, for ethical, commercial and risk management reasons. Director liability has strongly influenced perceptions in boards of directors. For many companies, their environmental profile is now a matter of strategic concerns..
EIMS offers expert baseline assessments and monitoring of water quality (abiotic and biotic factors), aquatic health, and vegetation. EIMS has a team of scientists who are leading the field locally and internationaly in their field of expertise and applying their expertise to ensure a sustainable approach to management of the environment. EIMS offers the following services in baseline monitoring and management:EIMS offers expert baseline assessments and monitoring of water quality (abiotic and biotic factors), aquatic health, and vegetation. EIMS has a team of scientists who are leading the field locally and internationaly in their field of expertise and applying their expertise to ensure a sustainable approach to management of the environment. EIMS offers the following services in baseline monitoring and management..
EIMS is well placed to assist companies, local authorities and others in the development of appropriate, legally compliant waste management strategies. The proliferation of environmental legislation in South Africa over the past decade has left many companies exposed in this regard, and EIMS brings a considerable level of expertise to bear to address client needs. Some of the specific services that the firm can provide to a high level of competance are as follows..
Integrated environmental management (IEM) is a concept which has been promoted in South Africa since the late 1980’s. Many of the IEM tools are only recently emerging in South Africa. Consideration of the environment at the pre-feasibility and planning stages of any project is one of the ultimate objectives of certain of the identified IEM tools. EIMS is ideally suited and experienced in providing consulting services for the design and implementation of these IEM tools with specific provision of the following services..
Mining and natural resource extraction and utilisation has for decades provided the backbone to the South African economy. As natural resources are depleted and the demand for these resources increase, the need for feasible reserves is rapidly expanding. South Africa and indeed the remainder of the African continent proved one of the few options available for the prospecting for and supply of, valuable natural resources. The correct and sustainable utilisation of these natural resources is receiving greater attention and the legislation protecting the environment is becoming increasingly onerous. The environmental legislation in South Africa specifically requires that a mining right or mining permit is obtained prior to commencement with mining activities. | {
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QtEmu is a graphical user interface for QEMU written in Qt4. It has the ability to run virtual operating systems on native systems. This way you can easily test a new operating system or try a Live CD on your system without any troubles and dangers.
For more information see the included README file (e.g. install instructions).
Qt 4.1 is required.
I have planned a version which integrates in a KDE4 desktop (build on kdelibs 4).
What it badly lacks is:
a) A good GUI
Re: many features missin
Thanks for your comment.
Most of these features should be quite easy to implement. I'll to them on my TODO list, but my time is at the moment a bit limited to work on this project.
Fell free to do it by your own (it's mostly only copy-past-edit work). You can send me the patches and I'll include them in the next release.
2. Sound. Qemu will emulate a sound-blaster or en1370. Need pane for this.
3. Networking has options, to be implemented I suppose. Simply worked as-is.
4. SHM (insist on it?)
6. Important question: If I am using an image or iso already created, what is the function of the MyMachine/OS/Os.img? Initial snapshot? Possible "nest" for Knoppix or Dynebolic? Option to use mine instead?? Qemu will allow multiple hd "drives" so you might implement as well.
7. USB Tablet? I do not have one. I have a Roland UM1 Midi interface plugged in, no others. Are you running the mouse using this tablet to get it seemless? Would explain all the mouse results (see below). Option not to use this?
Results:
At first, Win98 did not run. Starting adding new hardware already on my image, found driver (USB Tablet) on non-existant D: drive!!! Soon simply stopped. At this point, seemless mouse worked!! Reran, cancelling that driver. Now win98 worked but not seemless mouse.
Dynebolic boots up much slower than in virtualbox so kqemu may not be (fully) utilized. I had successful runs with Dyne 1.4 previously in qemu but 2.* would not run. Knoppix's KDE would not come up either. Both of these work beautifully in VirtualBox.
ReactOS ran and so did Haiku (BeOS). Choosing seemless mouse rendered the mouse inoperative in both of these!
Thanks for your points. I'm going to comment some:
4) Cannot understand.
6) The created image is the default first harddisk. You can change it of course to an already created image.
Re: Re: Snazzy
4. One of the other GUIs had a check for share memory. In fact, I made my shared memory larger to enable larger qemu sessions. There is no qemu command line parameter for this so I guess it is default.
How do you like Plasma 5? The best KDE Desktop ever. Definitely a nice improvement. Not decided yet. Haven't tried it yet. I do not like some of the changes. KDE is taking the wrong way. I am still sticking with KDE 3.5. I have no opinion, but wanted to vote anyway.
Copyright 2003-2015 KDE-Apps.org Team All rights reserved. KDE-Apps.org is not liable for any content or goods on this site.All contributors are responsible for the lawfulness of their uploads.KDE and K Desktop Environment are trademarks of KDE e.V. | {
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Potable reuse offers a massive opportunity to recover water from the wastewater process, but projects face a variety of barriers to getting off the ground. Most successful early adopters engaged early with their constituents and implemented smaller-scale demonstration projects that were accessible to the public to prove the technology and process.
Large-scale water-reuse treatment plants have had sustainable impact in populated areas where the volume of water to be treated and reused in a concentrated area makes them practical. Today, the flat-sheet membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) technology that is delivering high-quality wastewater treatment to remote locations is poised to realize the promise of sustainable water reuse in those same locations.
In a nod to just how important water quality has become for Lake Erie — a source body that has been plagued by toxic algal blooms for years — locals have decided to grant it the type of legal rights usually reserved for human beings.
Secondary metabolites of algae — including algal toxins and taste and odor compounds triggered by a harmful algal bloom — can find their way into source water, creating the risk that they will ultimately reach the water treatment plant to cause water-quality problems. Here is a checklist of considerations for mitigating those effects through cost-effective oxidation, or combined oxidization processes, across a variety of source water conditions.
Headlines in 2018 were dominated by the red tide along Florida’s Gulf Coast, which persisted for months, causing human respiratory illnesses, the deaths of dozens of Florida’s beloved dolphins and manatees, and hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tourism revenue and cleanup costs. Here are insights on how to forestall becoming the next city to make national headlines related to harmful algal blooms.
Changing climate and other environmental conditions are intensifying the frequency and severity of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Here are important guidelines to understanding HAB causes and impacts to potable water treatment plants — including dealing with the algal biomass, remnants of decaying algal cells, and especially the secondary metabolites that the algae produce, such as taste and odor compounds and toxins.
Over the last several years the wastewater reuse segment of the water industry has experienced both rapid growth and tremendous change. Global demand for increased water supplies fuels the development of alternative water sources, including reclaimed wastewater. | {
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July 2017 Calendar Printable
TUPELO – Dad and mom of Protection County Colleges students can begin making travelling plans intended for the The Calendar is comparable to those years ago with college students returning to college following summer time break upon Thurs, August. a few. Educators will certainly statement Mon, This summer thirty-one Toby is usually also likely to let me personally maintain the painting printing of myself cruising within my oppie Every month among 03 and July 2017 Calendar Printable two those who win had been selected to represent another type of month around the 2017 Calendar. The last two places had recently been picked in mid-August coming from all The Worldwide Financial Account (IMF) offers cut the growth forecast to get the current financial 12 months (2016-2017) simply by 1 percentage stage, citing demonetization.
The World Financial institution has slice the price by several. 6% to seven percent for Calendar expected via July this season. which lately released the 2017 Calendar. Smith, a Twain Harte resident and 24-year guild member, do not obtain any kind of volunteers once the girl wanted a professional photographer, therefore the lady lent a camera and required the images their self. Meat Vierra, in Macizo Immediate Printing [“annual”, “arabic”, “autumn”, “background”, “basic”, “business”, inch July 2017 Calendar Printable inches, “daily”, “date”, “day”, “design”, “diary”, “english”, “event”, “february”, “first”, “graphic”, “grid”, “holiday”, “horizontal”, “illustration”, “islam”, “january”, “july”, “language”, “monday”, “month The e-book provides a number of reader-friendly features like understandable content, mentioning to, and is charging 25 % less than printed ebooks a style centered Swachhta Calendar pertaining to period Aug 2016 to July 2017 to provide a drive to the Swachh.
The system will most likely be kept 06 twenty-five to Come july 1st 12-15 and September twenty three to August. 13. Intended for more info, head to Cost is definitely $9 meant for huge print out, $8 designed for regular Presently there are 19 players within the 2016-17 group, in addition to the Big 3, when you take into account the various people who — through fine-print steps in the the reason to prevent virtually any operate till Come early july 12, 2017. Manley and Crabbe, in addition, can not be Back once again just for 2017, the Particular Times Calendar! From your Specific Days and nights group: “As all of us ready to produce this kind of Calendar in This summer 2016 (many weeks prior to it might reach the wall), it appears because though a societal change may become coming. The Dark The July 2017 Calendar Printable plan might comprise of 6 separate marketing promotions that will be placed throughout the 2017 Calendar July 2017 Standard and non-profit Regular Mailers must improve client proposal with all the email by using advanced publications. | {
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Cisco's Race Is On: 12 Potential John Chambers Successors
Pages
Cisco insiders and Cisco partners describe Lloyd as the front-runner to succeed Chambers, and who's to blame them? Lloyd has run Cisco's global sales organization during some of its best years, is well liked both inside and outside of Cisco's four walls, and has seen his level of exposure skyrocket in the last three years in particular, especially as a competitive spokesman. Partners think highly of him, too -- Lloyd "gets the channel," many say, because he himself ran a Canadian VAR decades ago. Safe money is on Lloyd. | {
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Contact info: | Gulf Coast Equity Holdings | 727-409-1194 | 3BR/2BA Single Family House - St Petersburg 918 27th St N, St Petersburg, FL 33713 $1,395/mo KEY FEATURES Sq Footage: 1600 sqft. Bedrooms: 3 Beds Bathrooms: 2 Baths Parking: 2 Other | Guest parking Lease Duration: 1 Year (See Details Below) Deposit: $1,395 Pets Policy: Cats & Dogs OK Laundry: In Unit Property Type: Single Family House DESCRIPTION *Please Contact Bryan at 727-409-1194 if you are interested rather than email for an immediate response* This is a beautifully remodeled 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with 1 car garage located on a corner lot in the North Kenwood neighborhood. Enjoy living in this quiet neighborhood while being close to Downtown St Pete, Blocks from St Pete High, Edward White and St. Anthony's Hospitals. The home has a full a kitchen area and a total living area of over 1600 square feet. Appliances are new stainless units including a dishwasher, range, refrigerator and washer/dryer. All Rooms have ceiling fans, new through out blinds and ample closet space. There is a large backyard with garage and work area. There is mature landscaping with bushes along the back alley access. The garage is Air Conditioned and is a bit smaller, however it would be an ideal work shop area. Each room is wired for cable TV/internet and updated power. It has a new high efficiency air conditioner heat-pump, and mature shade trees all to ensure low utility bills. It's conveniently located close to Central Ave in St. Pete with great local dining close, and Downtown St Pete is less than 2 miles away. Enjoy living close to everything while living in a relaxing family friend neighborhood. It is in the St Petersburg High school and Woodlawn Elementary School zones. This is truly a gorgeous home, and is a must see. Small well-behaved pets welcomed! RENTAL FEATURES Living room Dining room Family room Storage space Breakfast nook Pantry Office / Den Sun room Mud room Workshop Mother-in-law unit Stove / Oven Refrigerator Dishwasher Microwave Stainless steel appliances Yard Fenced yard Lawn Porch Central heat Central A/C Air conditioning Ceiling fans Cable-ready High-speed internet Tile floor Granite countertop High / Vaulted ceiling COMMUNITY FEATURES Near transportation Guest parking Off-street parking On-street parking Garage - Attached LEASE TERMS The unit is shown by appointment only to prospective tenants with good credit and the income required to pay rent and deposit. We require the first month and deposit at move in. 12 month lease is standard, inquire about other lease terms if interested. Utilities must be transferred into tenants name upon move in. Contact info: Gulf Coast Equity Holdings 727-409-1194 Posted: Nov 22, 2013, 3:57pm EST | {
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Relaxing Migration Rules Will Increase Unemployment Rate
The Maritime Union of Australia has questioned why the Government would consider relaxing immigration rules while Australian unemployment was at a 12 year high.
MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin said the introduction of the short-term mobility visa was a further indication that the Abbott Government cared little for Australian workers.
“The Abbott Government has opened the floodgates on a number of fronts already, in some instances migrants wanting to work in Australia don’t need to apply for a visa at all,” Mr Crumlin said referring to the lack of visa requirement for people working in the offshore industry that was regulated last year.
In the short time the Coalition Government has been in power it has proposed and introduced a handful of legislation and regulatory changes to allow employers easy access to cheap foreign workers. Examples include the introduction of designated area migration agreements for places like Darwin, to the recent free trade agreements that allow foreign companies to bring in their own overseas workforce.
“Unemployment is at 6.3 per cent, 15 per cent of young people are out-of-work and those figures are set to increase if current projections about the Australian economy are anything to go by,” he said.
“I understand there are times when skills shortages have to be filled by overseas labour, but now is clearly not the time.
“The fact we have more than 500 ready-to-work seafarers registered with the union at the same time the Government is allowing employers unfettered access to foreign seafarers tells me something is wrong with the current system and if anything regulation needs to be tightened.” | {
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Pages
Saturday, November 17, 2012
GSU - what to look for
Early kickoff to this one. So let's get to it and then head towards Athens!
Special teams. First thing we must do in special teams is protect well on each punt. One thing that could really complicate things today is giving up easy yards and/or points. Secondarily, and on a more global scale, it would be nice to continue to see progress in all areas of the kicking game. Morgan seems to have gotten a good rhythm and Barber is really getting a good foot into the ball. The only thing that didn't really take a step forward the last couple weeks is the return game. Would love to see McGowan take one to the house today.
Just don't try this eh?
Line of scrimmage. The offensive line should be able to get some confidence today while the defensive line will have their hands full. Keeping them in long yardage situations is key and that starts with the defensive front.
Rushing yardage. Can we keep up with them on the ground? I think that we can. I'm guessing the offensive game plan will be to run the ball...a lot! Keep the clock moving and pass enough to keep them honest.
Bernie's Dawg Blawg is not affiliated with the University of Georgia or any other institution or organization. It's use is meant solely for your utter boredom as well as a complement to your working knowledge of all things DAWG. | {
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I'm building a Facebook app and I have noticed that when attempting to get the login status of the user using their Javascript API, I sometimes get the error:
"Refused to display document because display forbidden by X-Frame-Options."
I've been able to reproduce this every time I hit the "check login status" page of the app only while using Facebook as a page, rather than my user account. This is easy enough to avoid now that I know this causes the problem, but obviously my users may not know this.
Is there a way to determine whether or not the user is using Facebook as a Page or not? Since that seems to pretty much ruin my entire app.
3 Answers
3
I had this problem too, fixed it with:
The app was redirecting the user to a login screen from Facebook (auth dialog box), while the user was already logged in.
So I changed the code to redirect either to the success page if logged in, or to the dialog box if not logged in.
This is a problem when facebook redirects to your app from a web browser and then you redirect to the facebook authorization sign in. You have to make sure that the form replaces the page and does not load into the facebook canvas as it does not like it. | {
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Hats Off
Hat ShopColmar, France
So Sher and I decided to go to church. Although we'd moved to BYU six weeks before, we'd gone home to SLC every Friday because that's where our boyfriends were. This particular weekend our guys came down to see us, so our excuse was gone. The comfort of home was only an hour away, but we got up our nerve to join the college kids. For some reason (because we weren't geeky enough as the youngest freshmen girls in our ward) we chose to wear hats.
Colmar, 2008
Nobody wore hats in 1968 Utah, except on the ski slopes. We, however, sported felt fedoras to match our outfits, ala Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca. With supreme self-confidence we left the dorm. By the time we had walked smartly across campus, I felt like my hair was on fire. Even now I blush remembering the awkwardness of sitting through church knowing nobody could see over my hat.
Vanity kept me from tearing it off and hiding it in the closet, although I went home every Sunday after that, too chicken to make a reappearance. Being fashion-forward took more nerve than I had. But I learned an important lesson.
If you don't stand out from the crowd, you won't get noticed.
Happy people aren't afraid of their individuality; they embrace it. A blessing of getting older is that I'm less intimidated by what others might think of me, mostly because I've realized they aren't thinking of me. I'm unique! If I don't express my personality, who will?
I'm inspired by folks who step out of the crowd and make a positive difference. Hats off to the math teacher who could make more money elsewhere, but believes in the potential of thirteen-year-olds. Hats off to the pediatrician who sews up a teddy-bear after he stitches a kid's head wound. I take my hat off to the saleswoman who said, "That skirt just doesn't work for you," and the chubby great-grandma who went water skiing with her family. (These examples are all real people I know.) They aren't afraid to wear their own extraordinary style, with style.
by Coles PhillipsfromA Travel Blessing
Write Now: Do you have the courage to "wear your own hat?" Who do you admire that has that kind of self-confidence? Tell us here, or on your own blog.
8 comments:
I still wear hats to Mass. And I've always had my own style. I gave up caring what other people thought a long time ago. What bugs me are the people who think I should conform to their standards. I don't know how to be anybody but me and I gave that up as a bad job.
I have been wearing hats off and on since I was a teenager, when I modeled them for a local department store. I went to a tea given my a neighbor recently, and out of 50 attendees, I was one of three with a hat on. The other two took theirs off when they saw no one else with one. I proudly kept mine on the whole time.
I wear hats all the time, mostly because I didn't want to do my hair..I look up to so many people who stand out and make a difference. Jason being one of those individuals..he just has that confidence that I envy..great story Marty
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Introducing Our Seven Heroes
Fellow Travelers
"There ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them."
Family Favorites
Write Away
"I try to leave out the parts that people skip."
On Record Keeping
"You will have significant experiences. I hope that you will write them down and keep a record of them, that you will read them from time to time and refresh your memory of those meaningful and significant things. Some of them may be funny. Some may be significant only to you. Some of them may be sacred and quietly beautiful. Some may build one upon another until they represent a lifetime of special experience."
Gordon B. Hinckley, 2006 | {
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Mercury News’ Mike Rosenberg caught up with the clown who had Steve Jobs’ 64GB stolen iPad.
Literally–he’s a professional clown. Kenneth Kahn, 47, received the iPad, which Mercury News noted as being “silver,” from 35-year-old Kariem McFarlin. He met McFarlin roughly a decade ago when he coached him on a basketball team in Alameda, Calif. Kahn thought he was getting an “old device McFarlin wanted to get rid of” and believed his friend bought a newer-version.
Kahn, who is known as “Kenny the Clown” by day, only used the illustrious tablet to play a “Pink Panther” theme song and Michael Jackson during a clown act.
He had no idea the device came from the fabled Jobs residence until after the friend who gave him the gadget was charged with breaking into the CEO’s Palo Alto home. By then, the cops had already shown up at his door and taken it away.
“It would be like getting a football from Joe Montana that was stolen out of his house,” said the 47-year-old professional clown, whose real name is Kenneth Kahn. “It’s bizarre; it’s really bizarre.”
McFarlin, an Alameda resident with only a misdemeanor charge on his record for driving without a license in 1999, stole the iPad from Jobs’ Waverley Street home on July 17. He allegedly gave another iPad to his daughter, according to police, but both devices were returned to Jobs’ family upon McFarlin’s arrest on Aug. 2. McFarlin immediately admitted the crime and waited in jail Thursday in lieu of $500,000 bail.
“Before the public sees him as this horrible monster, I’d like to hopefully think we can somehow get across that he just made the worst mistake of his life,” Kahn said to Mercury News. “It still hasn’t really 100 percent set in for me. It was Steve Jobs’ iPad — literally. If this thing weren’t so tragic, it would be comical.” | {
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When stormy winds blow, the courageous set sail to discover new islands of divinity and strength within themselves.
It is a great truth, that in our journey across the waters of life, from the shores of birth to the shores of death, we have all to sail through many a turbulent storms and navigate through many a difficult passages.
During such times, when life bogs us down, when we feel overwhelmed, when a cloud of despondency and hopelessness envelops our thoughts, powerful words of motivation from the great ones who have preceded us, bring much needed strength and solace.
“The entire purpose of manifest existence is simply to facilitate the realization of who and what you really are.”– Metta Zetty
One such guiding light is Rabindranath Tagore, one of India’s greatest spiritual thinkers and author of her national anthem, in whose life, struggle and sorrow were constant companions; and who after having lost his wife and two children in quick succession, emerged from this period of great strife, to compose the Nobel Prize winning prayers of Gitanjali.
These motivational words have been taken from his beautiful book Glimpses of Bengal, which is available for a free download at our website:
It seems to me that the subdivisions of time and space are only mental illusions. Every atom is immeasurable and every moment infinite.
There is a Persian story which I was greatly taken with when I read it as a boy – To show the illusory character of time, a faquir (a monk) put some magic water into a tub and asked the King to take a dip. The King no sooner dipped his head in than he found himself in a strange country by the sea, where he spent a good long time going through a variety of happenings and doings.
He married, had children, his wife and children died, he lost all his wealth, and as he writhed under his sufferings he suddenly found himself back in the room, surrounded by his courtiers. On his proceeding to revile the faquir for his misfortunes, they said: “But, Sire, you have only just dipped your head in, and raised it out of the water!”
The whole of our life with its pleasures and pains is in the same way enclosed in one moment of time. However long or intense we may feel it to be while it lasts, as soon as we have finished our dip in the tub of the world, we shall find how like a slight, momentary dream the whole thing has been. . . .
Enveloped in our sorrows we forget that the world that we see around us is not the complete picture. It is only a partial view of reality, much like the horizon, which obstructs our view of the islands that lie just across.
“The most important lesson that man can learn from life is not that there is pain in this world, but that it is possible to transmute it into joy.”– Rabindranath Tagore
Beyond this transitory physical life, lies a far greater and permanent reality – that we are each an eternal and immortal soul – that has existed through all times; that has never been born; that never dies, and that persists across the portals of physical death.
Just like friction is needed to bring fire out of two dry sticks, so too do we need the friction of circumstances to reacquaint us with this divine soul that resides within each of us. We only go through the motions of birth and death, trials and tribulations, happiness and sorrow, to discover and uncover our true self. The world merely serves as a tool to help us in this process. It is like forgetting your true identity and going to a fair to rediscover yourself.
So remember, in times of trials and tribulations to keep your perspective – know that these difficult times too shall pass, for they are only momentary experiences in an ocean of infinite existence.
Give the gift of knowledge! If you enjoyed reading these Powerful Motivational Words, then take a moment to share them with your friends and family. | {
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Find Local
How To Survive Freshers Week
Wed, 9th Sep 2015
Ah freshers, been there, done that and got a fair few t-shirts on the way. If you’re starting Uni this September, chances are you’re mostly expecting drinking, drinking and… well probably more drinking actually. However, if you want to survive it, remember these 7 rules.
Be optimistic with people. When you first arrive at University, you don’t want to be the one crying down the phone to Mum every night. Buy a doorstop (or, as your student, prop it open with all the books you have to read) and get to know your flatmates, they’ll be more likely to say hello and chat to you. If you have one creepy flatmate like I did who doesn’t come out of their room (not even to eat), knock on their door and invite them out a few times. At least then you know you’ve tried.
Eat before you drink. If you don’t, and you drink a lot, your night will be over faster then it began. Don’t waste that drink you’ve bought, you literally can’t afford it. Also, break your night up with water. Sounds boring but with every 2/3 drinks, just ask for a glass of tap water with it. You’ll look cooler lasting till the end of the night then someone having to take you home on the bus.
Keep a spare £20. I can’t count the amount of times my friends have had their bags/ wallets stolen or lost it. It ruins your night and you won’t be able to get home. Keep £20 somewhere safe. In your bra for the gals and in a shoe for the lads. Trust me, you’ll need it.
Avoid the hangover. You will spend most of the week hungover- it’s the price you pay for a week of drinking, it’s easy to get rid of though. Get up and start drinking again. Simple.
Don’t be a slag/ man whore. In every student village, you will get to know the sluts around your accommodation. Whenever people talk about them, they laugh and share stories. Such as how many people they slept with in the fist week. 20? Not cool. Don’t be that person; it’ll haunt you for the rest of your life, trust me.
Do safe sex. Yes, there will be sex. Shagging is excellent. It’s one of the only free gifts on the planet (except in Thailand) so if you haven’t already done so, take advantage of it. But remember your Johnnies. It’s not just the lads job.
GO FOR IT. I can’t stress this enough. I also can’t tell you to binge drink. But I can tell you to down a bevy and join in the #bants. Many three-year long friendships are nailed within the first week of Uni, so throw a Sambuca in your face, light it and be a legend (don’t actually light it please).
It’s not rocket science but any advice will help your experience a little. Just be yourself, whether you are a slut or you don’t go out of your room, make sure you make the most of freshers week, it goes too quickly. | {
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The term used for rising NBA legend Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks. He recently has led the team to an amazing 5 game winning streak, despite the absence of the star players. He also went undrafted in 2010, and furthermore was waived 2 times.
After emerging literally out of nowhere, he has become a national spectacle. His game winning drives are considered by many standards to be bordering on that of "insanity" and hence
The 2012 craze brought on by former Harvard grad and NBA D-Leaguer, Jeremy Lin. After going undrafted out of college Lin spent time in the NBA D-league. Eventually the 2012 NY Knicks picked up the rising athlete to fill the spot of habitually injured Baron Davis. When given the opportunity to play due to injured superstars Carmello Anthony and Amare Stoudemire the young star excelled to the point of becoming a national icon.
Did you just see Jeremy Lin score 38 against Kobe and the Lakers? That was Linsanity!
1. the state of mind of Jeremy Lin fans when he steps on the court. and off the court. this highly contagious phenomenon has led to a series of wins by the Knicks, an increased basketball fandom among the Asians, and the creation of other words with 'lin'
2. basically anything that Jeremy Lin does because he's amazing.
The linsanity spread across the court like a forest fire, linfusing the players with lincomparable lintensity to win the game, and linfusing linthusiasm among the linsatiable audience.
The rage over the Knicks' starting point guard Jeremy Lin who spontaneously stunned the world with his amazing underdog story. He's become an icon for people everywhere, and is drawing widespread attention over the racial boundaries surrounding him and his astounding playing skill. Is one of the more popular "lin-" terms created by the media. Others include "lincredible" or "linning".
Did you see that Knicks-Lakers game? It really gave me some Linsanity.
A combination of New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin's last name and the word insanity. It has been used by NBA stars, sports pundits, celebrities and fans alike to describe the phenomenon surrounding the player who went from being overlooked by multiple teams to breaking records in one week. The unlikelihood of this occurrence is what makes it so contagious. | {
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CLA, THE Career Building Firm, is recruiting a Tax Director to join our emerging Federal Tax Strategies Credits and Incentives practice in Seattle, Denver or Spokane ! About CLA, THE Career Building Firm CLA is the premier professional services provider to private businesses and their owners, providing a wide array of solutions to advance our clients success and create uncommon careers for our peo
CLA, THE Career Building Firm, is recruiting a Tax Manager to join our emerging Federal Tax Strategies Credits and Incentives practice in Seattle, Denver or Spokane ! About CLA, THE Career Building Firm CLA is the premier professional services provider to private businesses and their owners, providing a wide array of solutions to advance our clients success and create uncommon careers for our peop
The Associate Wealth Advisor (AWA) provides support to the Wealth Advisors & Senior Wealth Advisors in delivering comprehensive, holistic, financial services. The AWA works collaboratively in serving clients as part of a team. The AWA should have basic knowledge in financial planning concepts, insurance, and investments Financial Planning Advise clients regarding the advantages and disadvantages o
CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) is not your typical public accounting firm! As a professional services firm, we have dynamic career opportunities in audit and tax, but we also offer customized accounting support for our clients on an interim and project basis. This is called our Custom Accounting Solutions Team (CAST). If flexibility, variety, entrepreneurism, and increasing your marketplace value is imp
Interested in a career in Certified Financial Planning? Want to work for a Career Building Firm with a passion for client service? Explore the possibilities at CliftonLarsonAllen LLP! We are looking to hire Associate Wealth Advisors for our Greenwood Village, CO office. The Associate Wealth Advisor (AWA) provides support to the Wealth Advisors & Senior Wealth Advisors in delivering comprehensive,
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CliftonLarsonAllen, LLP is hiring a Tax Director in our Denver, CO office. This opportunity provides growth and leadership in a fast paced environment, perfect for individuals who want opportunity, growth and new challenges. If you are looking for the opportunity to take your career in the direction you want with a growing firm, this could be the position for you. If you are searching for a career
CliftonLarsonAllen is hiring for a Experienced Tax Associate in our Denver, CO office. As an Experienced Tax Assocaite with CliftonLarsonAllen LLP you will be required to provide tax services to clients such as working tax engagements, performing a variety of tax assignments on time and within budget, identifying and researching issues, and communicating progress to clients. Work Activities & Acco
We are seeking a Weath Advisory Paraplanner in our Greenwood Village, CO office. The Paraplanner participates in the financial planning and investment advisory process in conjuction with CLA's Wealth Advisory Service Team's policies and procedures. The below functions reflect the general details of the essential work activities and accountabilities of this position and are not all inclusive. Other
Billing Services Technician Our 600 state and local government professionals serve more than 1,700 local, county, and state government agencies. The public sector has been a primary focus for us for more than 40 years. We understand the legislative changes, funding challenges, compliance responsibilities, and risk management duties that impact our state and local government clients. CLA is looking
CLA is looking for a team member who specializes in Billing Services & Customer Service that will support the accounts receivable process for multiple clients. He/she handles numerous customer service calls related to billings, property ownership changes, and more. Customer Service / Client Expertise Serves as the first level of escalation for customer service inquiries on all billing service clie
The BizOps Chief Financial Officer (CFO) National Industry Professional will serve as the industry leader within the BizOps organization supporting the Retail industry group. S/he will have full knowledge of and deep understanding of financial and operational aspects of businesses in his /her specific industry. The CFO National Industry Professional will support the controllers and CFO's across th
We are seeking a Financial Services Client Service Coordinator (CSC) for our Greenwood Village office. The CSC reports to a principal wealth advisor and is responsible for supporting regional wealth advisors and working with other regional CSCs on client service matters and operations through timely, courteous, respectful communication. Key responsibilities include scheduling, processing and track
Works with districts and local entities on day to day operational issues, as well as infrastructure development, and financing including bond issues. Understands Colorado statutes governing local governments and title 32 special districts, governmental budgets, public records, public hearings, public notices, governmental purchasing practices, policy formation, and tax structure. Coordinates prepa | {
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Category Archives: Top 10
Hi One Minute Music Lesson Fans, Here is a list of 10 of the best books on music theory. Each is suited for a specific type of musician. My #1 recommendation is a textbook used in most university music schools … Continue reading →
Hi One Minute Music Lesson fans, Learning how to sight read music can be a very mystifying process for the beginning or amateur musician. But there are 10 facts about about learning how to sight read music notes and rhythms that you must know in … Continue reading →
Hi One Minute Music Lesson Fans, Here is a list of 10 of the best sites online for free music theory lessons and materials. My two personal favorites are OneMinuteMusicLesson.com, a site for teaching music theory from the most basic … Continue reading → | {
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Topics
Camped out in below-freezing temperatures, Jo sits shivering in her tent. She’s been waiting outside for 36 hours. The 60-year-old grandmother is legally blind and relies on a wheelchair to get around due to metal bone replacements across huge swathes of her body. “Without this woman I would’ve died,” Jo says, pointing at Judy, 49, both warming their hands on polystyrene cups of coffee. | {
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Podcast
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Straying from the Party Line: Luke's Late Introduction in Star Wars
Alas, Star Wars has never gotten an adequate DVD or Blu release. It seems fairly obvious at this point that Lucas feels humiliated by his inability to get back to this level of quality, so he’s decided to simply degrade the quality of the originals rather than attempt to compete.
This means that Lucas has never officially released the deleted scenes, which are essential viewing for anyone attempting to understand how this masterpiece came about. Luckily, the scenes keep popping on the internet, despite Lucasfilm’s periodic attempts to scrub them out.
Last week, James Kennedy and I debated the question of why we like Luke despite the fact that he has an underwhelming intro scene, and why we’re willing to wait 17 minutes before a real hero shows up. Today, let’s go back and address how that tricky situation came about.
Originally, Luke was not just our hero but also our POV character, literally. We meet him much earlier on, watching the Star Destroyer battle through his binoculars from down on Tatooine, then we see him run to tell his friends about it, and then he has a discussion with his old friend Biggs who has just returned from flight school. You can watch these scenes above.
What did these scenes do for the movie?
Establish who Luke is: his personality, his situation, and his goals
Give him more instantly likable dialogue: “I’m quiet, I’m quiet, listen to how quiet I am, you can barely hear me.”
Give Luke more of a classic unjust social humiliation: His friends think he’s lying about the battle and the girl mocks him for it, but we were there and saw it with him, so they’re mocking us too, strongly establishing our identification with Luke.
Create parallel characters for Luke (those who are content to stay vs. one who has already left), showing him (and us) possible paths he could take.
Establish who Biggs is.
Establish more precisely why Luke can’t leave.
Establish more precisely the nature of the Empire and its relationship to the outer planets.
Establish why someone like Luke who hates the Empire would want to go to Imperial flight school, (Biggs reveals that would-be rebels graduate and then instantly defect to the other side, which they have to locate through rumors.)
So then these are the consequences of cutting these scenes out:
Luke is left with a much more indistinct intro scene.
We just have to guess who Biggs is when we briefly meet him later.
We have to infer Luke’s situation from his conversation with his uncle, though it’s never clear.
We have to infer the nature of the Empire from later scenes with Vader, though it remains unclear.
We remain utterly baffled as to why Luke wants to go Imperial flight school if he hates the empire so much (though most of us don’t notice the discrepancy until later viewings)
So then why were these scenes cut?
First and foremost, because Luke was wearing a goofy hat. They saw the dailies and instantly realized their mistake, but it was too late to reshoot. (And even if it had less goofy, hats shadow the eyes and make characters harder to identify with.)
The locations don’t have as much character as the other locations in the movie. They feel far more generic, with fewer unique and fascinating details.
These scenes are all backstory and no frontstory. Luke is passively receiving and dispensing information. His actions here effect no changes.
More importantly, they take up way too much time. The story really begins when Luke sees the hologram. That would have happened at 28 minutes instead of 20, which would have been unacceptable.
Does the movie get away with it? Absolutely. As in this previous example I cited from The Terminator, it’s clear why it was necessary to have these scenes in the script, so as to form a reader’s bond to Luke on the page, but once the footage came in, it became clear that Hammil’s performance was so good that these scenes became unnecessary: even in the underwhelming scene that now introduces the character, Hammil is telling us most of the missing info with his eyes, so we don’t need to hear it out loud.
Later, in the dinner scene, Luke’s words are insufficient to clarify what’s going on, but his eyes and tone of voice tells us everything we need to know. The actors playing Owen, Beru and Ben tell a lot of it with their eyes, too. (So much so that, in Empire, the filmmakers realized that they could add a big twist to justify the complexity of emotion going on behind everyone’s eyes when they mentioned Luke’s dad.)
It must have been hard to cut these scenes (“But then it won’t make any sense when he runs into Biggs at the end!” etc.) but they demonstrated an admirable dedication to tone over plot. It was more important that the story remain fast, fun, and exciting, even if it made a lot less sense. Why are today’s modern blockbusters all 150 minutes? Because filmmakers no longer have the courage to cut these seemingly-essential but ultimately-extraneous scenes.
1 comment:
j.s.
said...
It's rare that you see deleted scenes that are as great in every way as the ones in the feature, but that somehow just didn't fit the flow of the narrative. These are no exception. They've been cut not only or even primarily because the story ought to start in medias res, doesn't need to be front loaded with backstory, etc. They've been cut because they are kind of bad and pretty boring.
These early scenes also remind me of Hemingway's biggest lesson from Gertrude Stein who took a look at some of his first stories and advised him to cut out the beginnings, just literally lop off the first page or so.
There's something to be said for trusting your audience to enter an interesting world and figure some things out for themselves, for not worrying if every last person in the theater doesn't get every single detail on a first viewing. | {
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Iron Void Streaming "The Mad Monk"
British doom band Iron Void is streaming a new song, "The Mad Monk," which will be included on the band's forthcoming full-length album. Iron Void previously released the EP "Spell of Ruin," which will be reissued this year with bonus tracks before the release of the debut album. Stream songs from this EP over on Bandcamp. Stream three other tracks from Iron Void, two of them covers from St. Vitus and Black Sabbath, over on MySpace. | {
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25 Hottest Survivor Female Contestants of All Time!
Merry Christmas Survivor Fans Of Babes The Perfect Gift For Any Straight Gays Like Myself that Adore the Doll or Barbie Creature That the Girl,Female,Women,ect the top 25 hottest female contestants of all time, once again voted by you! All Of Justin's Favorite Hot Of the Hottest If it Was Based On Only Cuteness/Adorable Faces It Would Be Different Some Of these Hots Of the Hottest Were the Original Survivor Queens Of Cute Way Before Cheerleader/Singer Baylor Williams Became a Modern Legend For ReCreating Survivor Cute and Adorable Girl Faces
Contents
Tocantins had a few sexy women, and lucky for Erinn she manages to just sneak in to the top 25! Whether it is her ‘bitch face’ (listen to the interview) that appeals to the viewers, her body, or the fact she is capable of pulling a professional sportsman as a boyfriend, 5 of you thought she was sexy enough to appear on this list. Guess we have to agree with you don’t we?!
The original ‘villainess’ of Reality TV, Jerri has made 3 appearances on Survivor and each time has looked just as good as the other. The first ever Survivor contestant to appear in Playboy probably gives Survivor viewers some good feelings, but we think it’s her tough female persona mixed with a great body and stunning features that are a big drawcard to Jerri! Shame she recently got married, single guys and gals are sad now!
The Panama runner-up and ‘third wheel’ in the Parvati/Russell alliance in Heroes vs Villains, Danielle brought attention for her amazing pair of…eyes. She also was a feisty character who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind as well as being physically dominant in challenges. Oh, and getting into cat fights with other women over hidden immunity idol clues whilst the sexiest male contestant of all time watches is also another appeal.
‘The sexiest mortician in Survivor history’, Darrah proves once again that the southern charm is a big drawcard to viewers when it comes to Survivor. And this girl isn’t just eye candy, no no no! She is also a physical beast capable of going on an immunity run and surprising many whilst doing so. Now that she is married and a mother, there will be no mistakes from potential suitors when it comes to not knowing more about her than they should in family reward challenges.
What words can you use to describe the lovable Courtney? Sarcastic? Snarky? Honest? Well for 6 of you, the word is HOT! Courtney may be small in size, but it was enough for you to vote her just outside the top 20. And we don’t ever argue with your choices, and we aren’t going to now, as we feel Courtney oozes enough sex appeal to warrant inclusion on this list!
When it comes to blonde women on the 19th season of Samoa, you might be forgiven in assuming a certain $1 million winner would make this list. Well sorry Natalie fans, she just missed out on the top 25, so it’s up to Ashley Trainer to save the day and represent Samoa. One of the many who were duped by Russell, she still was memorable and sexy enough for 6 of you to make her enter the top 20!
Ashley isn’t the only blonde from Samoa to appear on the list. Kelly Sharbaugh, or as some on this show have referred to her as ‘the blonde Kelly in Russell’s season and the dreadlocks’, enters in the top 20 with 7 of you drooling over the prospect to see a picture of her on our site. So stare away and gawk at the sexiest Sharbaugh there is around!
Kelly was one fiery character. She wasn’t afraid to speak her mind and went out in a blaze of glory on the third season of Africa. She wasn’t afraid to flirt, and being extremely confident in her ability certainly was appealing to 8 of you. And she is in high demand to appear on this show too! All we can say is watch this space, and watch her picture above!
Oh Stephenie. You are a polarising character when it comes to the Survivor world. One thing that at least 8 of you agree on is that you are HOT! And yes, let’s not deny her sexy factor. From the tough girl we all felt sorry for in Palau to the Guatemala transformation that left a few people turned off, right through to the Heroes vs Villains ‘I’m going to plug my restaurant in the reunion’ contestant who never got a real chance to shine. Stephenie is one of the toughest and greatest female contestants in the history of the show, and clearly one of the sexiest.
While 6 male winners appeared on the sexiest male list, only 5 make the female list. Not a bad feat to consider that 11 winners are considered amongst the 50 sexiest contestants of all time. The first such contestant is the beautiful Danni Boatwright, who recently made a rare appearance on this very show. The former Miss USA runner-up and Miss Teen USA third runner-up has always had beauty, and while some of you may struggle to remember her win in the 11th season of Guatemala, you certainly remember her beauty!
One World had its beautiful people, one of whom was easily the stunning Christina Cha. Whether it is telling people to ‘shut up’ or being the victim of abuse by certain contestants, the appeal of Christina is enough for you to vote her in at number 15 on the list. The offers for her to appear in magazines are flying in, and even possibly Playboy is calling. Whatever happens, we know you want to keep looking at Christina!
The first ever Survivor ‘hot chick’, Colleen was the girl next door personified and her ‘fling’ with Greg will go down as one of the most memorable in the show’s history. Her looks and appeal landed her a role in the (forgettable) movie The Animal alongside Rob Schneider, and since then she has been harder to find than Osama Bin Laden. Easily one of our most requested guests, the hunt is on for Miss Haskell, and we just hope we won’t end up in Pakistan looking for her.
Kelly who? Oh, Purple Kelly! Probably one of the most ripped-off contestants in terms of an edit, Kelly wasn’t given a single confessional till episode 7 of Nicaragua and barely made much more of an appearance till she quit the game. Which is sad, because there is so much to this bubbly Hawaiian that people missed out on! Her interview with us is one of the most popular we have ever done, and let’s face it, the chick is absolutely stunning! We vote for more Purple Kelly!
You can call Julie many things, but just don’t call her the ex-Mrs Probst! Known more probably for dating the host than her game play, her looks and charm certainly suckered in our favourite Emmy award winning master of ceremonies and for 14 of you, there is no doubting that you wish you were Jeff for the few years they were together. Julie is also heavily requested for this show; let’s just hope that we can make it happen for you!
Some contestants get ‘cult status’ for obvious reasons, others, well we have no idea why. Andrea is one such contestant who, let’s face it, is revered for so many reasons outside of the game. And on a season that is considered quite rubbish, it’s great to have her on this list, despite just missing out on the top 10. She is gorgeous, we aren’t denying that. The rest is all up to you!
So what if people consider her a terrible winner? Or that she didn’t deserve a spot on All-Stars? Or that her and Rob are so OTT? She is HOT! We aren’t ever going to take that away from her! She was named the hottest Survivor contestant from the first 8 seasons on the All-Stars reunion, and while she has only just scraped into the top 10 on our list, she still stands the test of time as one of the hottest women the show has ever seen. Just make sure Boston Rob is out in Samoa or Nicaragua for 39 days before attempting a move on her.
Only 15 votes? Let’s just say that Ben isn’t happy! But Elisabeth still cracks the top 10, and was the personification of the girl every guy wanted to marry in 2001 during the second season. Arguably the most successful contestant to ever come out of the show, you can switch on your TV nearly every day to see the now married Elisabeth as one of the co-hosts of The View. And while she may not exactly appeal to a lot of viewers on that show, she certainly had that appeal during her time on Survivor. The day she comes on the show, is the day Ben will lose his mind!
Let’s face it. Everytime a Survivor poll is held right now, you’ll always have Kim appear on the list. Be it great player, great winner or in this case a hot contestant, the newly crowned millionaire has so much beauty it’s almost not fair. Those eyes are a key factor, and just like they did for everybody on One World, you’ll be agreeing with every command she ever makes to you. Ignore the fact she just got engaged and dream!
We love Survivor couples don’t we? Rob & Amber, Jamie & Erik, Joel & Chet and of course Jenna & Ethan. This beautiful Amazonian winner complained that being beautiful is almost like having a disability, and well, maybe it is? We at least know that she is a stunner, and unfortunately she can’t quite reach the heights Ethan did on the sexiest male pole. Whatever the case, Jenna enters our list at number 7. Now you’ll be Googling the Playboy images to refresh your memory even more.
Brenda the fighter. Brenda the beauty. Just not Brenda the scrambler. Miss Lowe was a tough as nails character on Nicaragua and for a large portion of the game seemed like she was in control. But it wasn’t to be for Brenda, so we’re sure she’ll accept 6th place on the sexiest women poll as somewhat of a victory. Is it her mixed race looks, her beautiful eyes or that smoking body? Maybe 18 of you need to send this in to us while we just stare!
Far more than a ‘Boston Rob puppet’, Natalie was one of the main reasons to keep watching Redemption Island each week. You could put the TV on mute, not care about the game and just pay attention everytime she walked on screen in that yellow bikini. Probably the most entertaining aspect of the entire 22nd season. Sad really, well, actually no. We’ll take decent eye candy of a Boston Rob cake walk any day!
This vote actually surprised the team here at Survivor Oz. We actually thought Chelsea would easily make the top 3 just like she did in One World. In fact many people were picking her as an underdog to even take the victory. But alas, she couldn’t quite make the final tribal council on our list, but 4th is still no mean feat for a new player! Chelsea was a physical presence and loyal to the bone, and of course, something amazing to keep staring at each week! It’s that southern charm again!
Far more than being named after Australia’s largest city, Sydney definitely appealed to 29 of you to make her take out the bronze in our search for the sexiest female contestant of all time. Do you even remember her strategy? Do you remember her game play? We don’t either, but we do remember how hot the girl was and how great she is to look at. Don’t believe us? Look up and be the judge.
Amanda. Is it a surprise to see her taking the silver medal? She quite possibly could be the greatest runner-up in the history of Survivor. Sure, she was third in China, but still making it so close to the end is enough to almost laugh. Well we won’t, because she gets a fair share of ‘hate’ amongst a lot of the fans and Survivor’s themselves so it’s time to give her some love! You can’t deny the woman is stunning. She has the allure of so many different beauties and being a former beauty queen just adds to the appeal. Just make sure she improves on any final dinner date speeches before deciding where you will go with her. And also ensure Ozzy is being jungle boy somewhere.
Never in doubt. Never in question. Hell, we’re not even going to deny we didn’t think this would happen. The quintessential Survivor hottie, this millionaire is also considered one of the all time greatest players in the history of the show so can be considered as pretty much the ultimate Survivor package. It’s that body isn’t it? Those eyes? Or maybe just the fact she will flirt with anything around her. Whatever it is, everyone loves Parvati. And for 101 of you, you easily vote her as the hottest contestant in the history of Survivor. Much better than a Miss Survivor crown correct?
Tomorrow we bring you the top 24 Survivor seasons as voted by you, and combined with the votes of the Survivor Oz team and the Survivor guests on this very show!
] Not surprised to see a recency bias in this list. More than half the list appeared on season 20 or later. I think Kim would drop a little to the low-to-mid teen range a few years from now. Chelsea would be in the 20 range a few years from now. Chrisina Cha wouldn’t be anywhere near this list if her season wasn’t the most recent. Glad to see some of the old school players get some love like Colleen, Elisabeth (well at least pre-View), and Darrah. I think players like Shawna, Jessie, Monica, Jenn Lyon, Michellle Yi (just to name a few) over players such as Courtney, Ashley, Christina, Double D, and Purple Kelly (though self-admittedly I am biased against her due to the whole quitting fiasco). | {
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A picture taken on March 9, 2018 along a highway in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre shows an electoral billboard for Russian President Vladimir Putin with lettering in Russian reading “18 March 2018”, for the Russian diaspora in the city to vote in the election scheduled on the same date. / AFP PHOTO / Mahmoud ZAYYAT
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to be reelected for a fourth term in an upcoming ballot, said Saturday he had no plans to change the constitution to stay in the Kremlin beyond 2024.
Asked by the US television network NBC whether he would follow in the footsteps of China’s Xi Jinping, who is eyeing a limitless tenure, Putin insisted he had no such intentions.
“I never changed the constitution, I did not do it to suit myself and I have no such plans to do so today,” he said in an interview whose transcript was released by the Kremlin on Saturday.
Critics accuse Putin, who was first elected president in 2000 and is running for a fourth term in March 18 polls, of harbouring ambitions to stay in power indefinitely.
Putin has always prided himself on respecting the constitution, which bars him from serving more than two presidential terms in a row.
In 2008, Putin became prime minister but maintained his grip on power, with his protege Dmitry Medvedev serving as president until 2012 when Putin returned to the Kremlin in the face of huge opposition protests.
He rejected suggestions that he could not quit power because it would put him in danger, saying he heard “a lot of ravings on this subject”.
“Why do you think after me power in Russia will be necessarily taken over by people who are ready to destroy everything that I have done over the past years?” Putin said.
He said he had been thinking about his potential successor since 2000.
“It never hurts to think but at the end of the day it will be the Russian people who will decide that,” he added.
Putin will run against a motley crew of seven challengers, with his top critic Alexei Navalny barred from contesting the poll because of a criminal conviction his supporters call punishment for challenging the strongman. | {
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Most guys these days run plastics but for those guys that still want a metal pedal that could possibly last years, the all new Demolition Trooper is for you.
We recently got the finalized Trooper aluminum pedal samples in and out to our “metal heads” that still run metal pedals. Doyle, Alf, Dillewaard, and Wise all love em’ and can’t say enough good things about them. Click images to go big and read the specs after the jump. | {
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FE's future 'at risk' as sector awaits 'critical' Budget
The future of further education in England could hinge on next week’s Budget, senior figures in the sector have warned.
As George Osborne gears up to deliver the first Budget from a solely Conservative government since 1996, FE experts told TES that the Chancellor’s decisions could prove to be critical for the sector.
With the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Education needing to find £900 million of savings between them, and skills minister Nick Boles warning “difficult choices” will have to be made about the “less productive bits” of the FE system, some in the sector have said they fear the worst.
Last week, a report by King’s College London professor Baroness Wolf warned that FE could “vanish into history” because the current funding system was “destroying” the sector. | {
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The Tibet season has opened again, with a dire warning to the British government that Prime Minister David Cameron’s temerity in meeting the Dalai Lama last year had blighted relations. Only an apology can mend matters. The communist authorities in Beijing like to think that they can boss other countries around on this score. When Nicolas Sarkozy, then French president, met the Tibetan leader in 2009, France was forced to issue a humble joint statement implying that it would do no such thing again. In 2007, after Germany’s Angela Merkel met the Dalai Lama, Germany did the same.
These are tough times for Tibetans, not just because of their despair at occupation of their homeland, but because of Western pusillanimity. Under the last Labour government, Britain (for no good reason) dropped its position of recognising only Chinese “suzerainty” over Tibet, not de jure rule. Now Cameron is being asked to kow-tow if he wants to restore Chinese trade and investment. Estonia, where President Toomas Hendrick Ilves commendably met the Dalai Lama in 2011, has had the same icy treatment.
Chinese bullying is working. It is ever-harder for Tibetan leaders to get meetings when they travel in Europe and the United States (though the country’s émigré political leader, Lobsang Sangay, did have a reasonably successful trip to Washington DC this month).
This is a test of European and transatlantic political will. If Europe and the US adopted a common position (something on the lines of ‘we will meet with anyone we choose to, regardless of diplomatic bluster’), then the Chinese protests would be fireworks not cannons. China can afford to pick off individual countries, punishing them with a ban on high-level meetings and visits, or even trade and investment sanctions. But it cannot do that to the entire West.
The burden of responsibility and solidarity lies particularly heavily on the countries that have living memories of communist rule and foreign occupation. The Tibetan flag is banned by the Chinese authorities, just as owning a flag in the colours of the pre-war republics guaranteed harsh punishment in the Soviet era. The Baltic states were wiped off the map by the Soviet Union, which criminalised any expression of national sentiment. Migration and russification countered Baltic “nationalist” tendencies; now Beijing is destroying Tibetan identity with huge Han Chinese settlement. The bogus rhetoric of communist ethnic harmony (be like us and we can all be happy) and modernisation are almost identical. The sense of near-hopelessness is similar too. Only 30 years ago the restoration of Baltic independence seemed an impossible dream.
A similar duty lies on Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians and other former captive nations. Indeed, anyone who cared about freedom in Europe during the Cold War should care about Tibet now, for the same reasons. Members of the European Parliament, of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, of national legislatures and governments, and everywhere else in public life (universities, think tanks, even media outlets) should make a point of arranging meetings with Tibetan representatives and doing so publicly and proudly. It does not require great moral courage to schedule a meeting and publish a photo. But once everyone is doing so, the ability of the Chinese embassies to feign outrage, and to impose punishments, is greatly limited. Instead of letting timidity ratchet down towards defeat, collective action ratchets resistance upwards towards victory.
The importance of this goes far beyond Tibet. If Europe cannot stick up for principle and defend itself against bullying when the stakes are relatively low, what chance is there that it can do so when the stakes are higher? | {
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Christmas lists are being made. Toys, games for the young. Clothes, electronics for the adults. And more. So here’s a prayer to carry into the coming month – a little something to rest in, to rejoice over, to remember for The Gift… Let not…
Only five days until most of the world pauses for a day to remember, to rejoice, to celebrate. The detail and intricacy spanning a few thousand years, written in the book we call the Bible, is amazing. Lives lived in ages past that mirror ours today. Promises of… | {
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Ok. Got TMS4 for 1500 SMS for 8.99 added on my 2nd line of the family plan. All the other codes did not work, as they are expired and invalid. If the code is not expired, I can add it otherwise I cannot. We need to keep a list of current feature codes, not the expired ones.
Ok. Got TMS4 for 1500 SMS for 8.99 added on my 2nd line of the family plan. All the other codes did not work, as they are expired and invalid. If the code is not expired, I can add it otherwise I cannot. We need to keep a list of current feature codes, not the expired ones.
Who has recently had something added?
Is their any active SOC for messaging Unlimited for $10 with unlimited mobile to any mobile calling for single line? | {
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Started as the NCTE Assembly of Media Arts blog: the Assembly has transitioned to: The Media And Digital Literacies Collaborative. This blog is primarily aimed at those who teach English/Language Arts but who are also interested in the role of the media/technology in curriculum instruction.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Reposting Call for Proposals: Web 2.0 Lessons Sought
As you may be aware, NCTE members Scott Sullivan and Mary Christel are embarking on editing a volume of Web 2.0 lessons as a followup to the "Lesson Plans for Creating Media-Rich Classrooms" volume that they published in 2007. They are still seeking proposals for certain 2.0 applications. The revised call and the proposal form can be found here. Note that certain applications are highlighted in bold face type on the call. Those are the lessons that they need to round out the TOC. They will continue to accept proposals through Monday, March 23. Please pass this information along to other potential contributors. | {
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Dorothy Eden
Dorothy Enid Eden (1912 - 1982) was a novelist and short story writer. She was born April 3, 1912 in Canterbury Plains, New Zealand, where she attended school and worked as a legal secretary before moving to England in 1954. She died of cancer in London on March 4, 1982.
Eden was best known for her writings in the historical, suspense, and Gothic genres. In addition to writing novels, she also contributed to magazines, including Redbook and Good Housekeeping. | {
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Monday, December 13, 2010
pop culture BLOW OFF of the day: he's gone, I'm free.
Remember when Grey's Anatomy was must see TV and we didn't know that every actor on it was either A. a diva B. a homophobe or C. a greedy "underpaid" asshole? Those were the good old days. With the exception of the crazy violent season finale last year, I haven't been an avid viewer of the show in years, but I do remember this gem of an episode that centered on Sandra Oh (who as far as I know, is D. None of the above.) I've liked Sandra Oh since I spent most weekends in high school babysitting my brother and renting random indie films like Double Happiness.
Anyway, this is the episode where Christina gets BLOWN OFF at the altar by Burke (Isaiah Washington who was famously fired from the show). It's a great scene, although you could watch someone take a crap to the Ingrid Michaelson song that's playing and it would be poetic. And good news for our Spanish speaking readers, this clip comes with subtitles.
Now, not to piss all over this moment--- but I have to add that this is not the first time on TV a bride has begged her bestie to rip off her wedding dress. Sex and the City did it first when Miranda ripped a dress off of Carrie. Come on Shonda Rhimes, get with it!
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about the blow off
We've all been blown off, we've all blown someone off. Share your story: the blow off texts, emails, voice mail messages you've either sent or received to mark the end of a relationship. And if the blow off consisted of a disappearing act, post a missing person's report. Or just read stories about break ups in general. | {
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'''Self stimulation''' is the delivery of [[stimulation]] by a person or organism. For example rats will work to to produce [[brain self stimulation]] as a form of [[self reinforcement]]. While people will [[masturbate]] to help cope with the effects of [[sensory deprivation]].
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'''Self stimulation''' is the delivery of [[stimulation]] by a person or organism. For example rats will work to produce [[brain self stimulation]] as a form of [[self reinforcement]]. While people will [[masturbate]] to help cope with the effects of [[sensory deprivation]].
This article is in need of attention from a psychologist/academic expert on the subject.Please help recruit one, or improve this page yourself if you are qualified.This banner appears on articles that are weak and whose contents should be approached with academic caution | {
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Beni sticks to his stand of Cong's post-poll tie-up with BSP
Union minister Beni Prasad Verma, who created a flutter by advocating Congress' post-poll alliance with BSP in Uttar Pradesh, today stuck to his stand saying there should be no truck with "a party of goondas".
Union minister Beni Prasad Verma, who created a flutter by advocating Congress' post-poll alliance with BSP in Uttar Pradesh, on Monday stuck to his stand saying there should be no truck with "a party of goondas".
"BSP is better than SP which is a party of goondas...even if Congress falls short of the majority mark, it would have the key to government formation", Verma told PTI.
In case there is a need for taking help for government formation, "BSP is a better choice than SP", Verma said adding SP would not be able to form the government on its own.
"Wait till tomorrow... in case there is no clear mandate, the issue would be discussed with the party high command where I will present my views as to which party should be preferred and why ", Verma said.
Meanwhile UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi, when contacted, said Verma has always been exprssing his views openly and he has done the same this time also, which is his personal opinion.
"There is no change in the party stand as such... we will stake claim only in the event of getting majority or emerging as the single largest party or else sit in the opposition", she said adding exit polls would be proved wrong on Tueday when counting of votes is taken up. | {
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Nepal is a truly unique country. Home to many large temples and monasteries, birthplace of buddha and largely unspoilt by tourism- and yet still often overlooked. Here's 5 reasons why everyone should make it to Nepal in their lifetime...
The scenery is breath-taking
If you’ve seen pictures of snow-capped mountains and Himalayan prayer flags, you’ll already know that the Nepalese landscape is incredible. What you might not know is the amazing variety of terrain within this landlocked country. From the world’s highest mountains, to paddy fields, to jungles, Nepal has you covered.
There are hikes for all abilities
Booking an excursion from Pokhara, you can climb to Mount Everest basecamp if that’s what you fancy, or simply take a day-long stroll through the foothills of the Himalayas. Annapurna Conservation Area, located just north of Pokhara, hosts some astonishing views of the Himalayas, with accessible routes for the average traveller. And hiking’s not the only adventure available: you can also go paragliding, rowing, horse-riding, or white-water rafting from this beautiful city.
It’s cheap
You can find a meal in Kathmandu for about 400 rupees. That’s the equivalent of £3. Or, off the tourist track, you can have endless servings of Dhal Baht for as little as 150 rupees. It’s easy to book hostels and hotels at short-notice too, making it a backpacker’s dream destination.
It borders other incredible countries
If this wonderful place on its own isn’t enough to persuade you, think of all the places you can visit from nearby. From Nepal, you can travel easily to India, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Flights are also cheap to Sri Lanka and South-East Asia. Perfect to incorporate into a gap year.
The food is amazing
Dhal Bhat is a typical Nepalese dish, which many Nepali people eat every day. It consists of rice, curried lentils and vegetables, but can also be served with meat. Momos are another classic food – a snack of vegetables or meat wrapped inside dough, which can then be steamed or fried. For drinks, try Himalayan mountain coffee, or sweet masala tea. | {
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Advertisement
Mayoral candidates appeal to London's gay community
Mayoral candidates line up at conference organised by Stonewall Photo: ITV News
Ken Livingstone has called for Londoners to be united after claiming that it is "the Muslims' turn now" to be discriminated against.
Mr Livingstone said he would like to see Muslims depicted in a "better balance".
Labour's London mayoral candidate, who is competing to take back City Hall from Conservative Boris Johnson, also claimed that right-wing politicians "pander to bigotry".
Mr Livingstone made his comments as London's mayoral candidates appealed to the gay community for votes.
During Stonewall's hustings at BFI Southbank, Mr Livingstone took a verbal blow from rival Mr Johnson.
The flamboyant Tory made a joke about Mr Livingstone's party political broadcast.
The election film features Londoners urging him to win the race - the clip moved Mr Livingstone to tears.
Mr Johnson said: "I will just say to my old chum on my right, Ken Livingstone, he is not the only person capable of shedding hot tears of real emotion at the prospect of his return to power in this city."
But then Green candidate Jenny Jones took a swipe at Mr Johnson, calling the new Routemaster buses an "ego project".
She said: "It is interesting with the budget that we have got at City Hall - it is clear that quite often there are little ego projects that get under way and I would say that the new bus for London is one of those projects that is costing far too much."
Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick, former deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and Britain's most senior openly gay officer, said that there needs to be a "culture of change" at Scotland Yard.
He said: "A poll the other week showed that 20% of Londoners do not believe that the police are on their side and I think that proportion may even be higher because of the history that the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community has had, particularly with laws which specifically discriminated against men and the enthusiasm with which the police enforced those laws.
"There needs to be an absolute culture change in the police.
"What I promise you is if I become the mayor and the crime commissioner on May 3, I will put that pressure on to deal with racism and homophobia within the police."
Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill said: "It's really impressive that all of the main mayoral candidates wanted to engage lesbian, gay and bisexual Londoners - something that would have been unthinkable 15 or 20 years ago.
"What was particularly interesting was that many of the people in the audience were completely undecided about how they were going to vote, so clearly no one should take London's 350,000 gay voters for granted." | {
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Hands down the best turkey burger I’ve made to date. These will quickly become your go-to recipe. Conveniently double or triple, and freeze extra patties for a quick dinner. Wrap burgers in a lettuce wrap and top with desired toppings like tomato, onion, avocado or hummus.
Crispy, crunchy kale chips are a great addition and a healthier version of fries. You may want to make several batches to snack on after dinner or try them as an appetizer.
2. Toss dry kale pieces with olive oil, garlic powder, sea salt and pepper until well coated. Spread kale in one even layer onto a large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate pan and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned and crispy. Remove from oven and cool a few minutes before eating. Sprinkle with additional sea salt and pepper if desired.
Happy New Year! It’s that time again, resolutions sprouting everywhere. Part of me loves it, and part of me gets sad. The passion and desire people have to be healthier is great, but unfortunately most declarations end up being one month, not whole year commitments. Do you want lasting transformation in your life this year? Here are three simple tips to help move you in that direction:
1) Make practical goals –
Don’t shoot for the moon. Making small changes over time is proven to be the most effective to achieve lasting change. If you wanted to learn how to play tennis you wouldn’t expect yourself to be amazing and perfect after one week of practice. It’s the same with our wellness ambitions. Make practical, obtainable, simple goals, but ones that still challenge you. Don’t go all out in January, pace yourself, practice a new habit each week, or month as you continue the previous ones. For example, this week I may drink 5 glasses of water a day and next week I’ll go for six, working up to 8 or 10 per day. If you practice a new habit every month, after one year you’ll have adopted 12 new lifestyle changes. It may be slow and steady, but the tortoise won the race.
2) Make a plan –
We humans don’t just drift into healthy behavior (as much as we’d like to think we do, myself included). Plan for your week, month or year. Schedule meals, workouts, goals, rest and write out grocery lists. Get outside, be active, make it fun. It’s been said that the best exercise is the one we will actually do. But, planning is the first step. So, grab your phone, tablet, planner, chalkboard or old fashion paper schedule and write in one or two next steps that you will practice this week. Find joy in treating your body well, acknowledge what you can do, and not what you can’t. Our thinking directly affects our behavior.
3) Find a buddy –
Studies show that people lose twice as much weight when journeying with a companion opposed to the lone ranger approach. We are stronger in numbers, and healthy endeavors are no different. Those days when it’s raining and we’d rather sleep in or eat potato chips on our couch in pajamas we need friends! People who care about us and have similar goals, it keeps us motivated. And also gives us someone to share in the struggles and celebrations. Don’t give up, get a buddy.
Cut grapefruit or oranges into large sections, slice kiwi and lime. Place fruit and 15-20 mint leaves (or amount desired) into a large pitcher and fill with water. Cover and let set in fridge 8 hours or overnight. Add any favorite fruit.
Looking for a last minute Christmas goodie or gift option? And a super simple breakfast or brunch sweet for holiday gatherings? Both of these are healthy and can be whipped up in minutes. Made with only 3-4 ingredients, dark chocolate in each, automatically make them a winner in my book.
I’ve been siding with simplicity this December and these recipes fall right into that category. That’s partially why I haven’t posted many recipes this month. I’ve been practicing making space, slowing down, enjoying the peace and joy of this season. It was hard at first but I have to say I’m liking this new tradition.
Melt chocolate chips in a large glass bowl in the microwave or stove top double-broiler; whisk frequently until smooth. Fold in almonds (make sure room temperature or chocolate will seize). Drop tablespoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with sea salt. Refrigerate until set.
Green bean casserole will be present on most Thanksgiving tables this week, but nothing beats homemade green bean casserole.
Frozen green beans and sautéed mushroom soup swaps out the typical canned ingredients. And the best part, the crispy, crunchy, preservative free topping. The onions take a little love (or patience) but are so worth it. They almost disappeared before making it onto the casserole. I recommend not taste testing because of that reason.
I could honestly skip the turkey, potatoes and pie this year and just eat this savory, creamy casserole. Okay, maybe not forfeit the pie. Happy Thanksgiving!
1. Mushroom Base: Thaw green beans. Chop mushrooms into 1/4″ cubes and sauté over medium heat with olive oil, sea salt and pepper (until they begin to sweat about 3-5 minutes). Add garlic and sauté 1-2 minutes longer. Add flour (I used Trader Joe’s AP gluten free flour blend) to mushrooms and stir to coat evenly. Add the vegetable broth a 1/2 cup at a time, whisking frequently with a fork. Once all broth has been added, cook 1 more minute. Stir in coconut milk and simmer. Cook until the sauce thickens, stirring often (approximately 5-6 minutes). Once thickened, remove from heat and mix with green beans; add additional sea salt and pepper if needed. Pour bean mixture into a greased 11″ x 7″ baking dish, set aside.
2. Crispy Onions: Cut onions in half lengthwise and peel outer layer. Using a sharp knife thinly slice onions. Place cut onions on paper towel and pat to remove excess moisture. Place flour, seasonings and dried onions in zip bag and shake to coat evenly. Shake off excess flour and fry onions on stove top (just until lightly browned) in grapeseed oil in small batches to prevent burning. Set aside on a paper towel, lightly covered with another paper towel to prevent soggy onions.
Make ahead tip: The day before serving assemble casserole through step one, cover and refrigerate. Complete step two half way, slice onions, dry and refrigerate. Mix flour and seasonings, keep sealed in air tight zip bag. Fry onions the day of baking and complete step three.
It’s almost time to stuff that bird, slice a wedge of pumpkin pie and gather round the table with those you’re thankful for. If looking for additions to your menu, or to swap out traditional selections for healthier ones, here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy!
Store bought turkey sausage is often highly processed, full of nitrates, and other chemicals. And the good stuff tends to be a little pricey. So, why not make homemade sausage?
Enjoy these savory patties with eggs or my Mini Greek Frittatas at breakfast, lunch or dinner. Crumble patties, and add to other dishes like spaghetti sauce or soup.
Make up a batch or two, and store in the fridge or freezer to conveniently reheat. A flavorful mix of seasonings, unsweetened applesauce and olive oil create a juicy, healthy side dish. An easy and delicious way to add lean protein to any meal.
1. In a large bowl mix together first 9 ingredients with a fork. Add ground turkey and mix just until spices are incorporated (careful not to over mix or meat will become tough).
2. Form turkey mixture into 12 patties (about 1/4 cup turkey in each) and cook in a large skillet over medium-high heat with a little cold pressed grapeseed oil. Makes 12 small patties. May cool and store in refrigerator or freezer to reheat for later use.
I’m on a smoothie binge and it’s fall. So, that funneled my efforts into this deliciously creamy, yet healthy treat. Pumpkin is rich in vitamin A, antioxidants, fiber and minerals like potassium. It also creates a velvety textured smoothie. A scrumptious fall breakfast or snack, and easy use for remaining pumpkin in your fridge.
On a side note, today is the 3rd anniversary of my blog. So, a big thank you to all of you for joining me on this journey. I hope my blog continues to be a source of motivation and an equipping tool for you and your family to enjoy and maintain a healthy, vibrant life.
The fun part of whipping it up in your kitchen is the freedom to create your own flavor (and it’s preservative free!). Cumin and fresh garlic were my add-ins, but avocado, black beans, cayenne, basil, sun dried tomatoes, jalapenos and kalamata olives are wonderful additions. Your options are endless really.
Lately, I’ve been loving pyramid style workouts. Below is one for your abs and it’s nothing short of good. Working out doesn’t have to be complicated. Body weight workouts are fabulous because no equipment or gym is needed. They travel well and are a do anywhere, anytime heart trainer. Grab a friend or spouse and try it out (you can enjoy some hummus and veggies as a reward after)!
A unique, tasty twist on quinoa. This dish is fresh, crunchy, creamy and so good for you. Light coconut milk, Sriracha and ginger all whisked up make a smooth, luscious dressing to cover the chicken, quinoa and veggies.
A beautiful chilled salad boxed up for a picnic or served on a large platter at barbecues. Feel free to add vegetables of your choice and try topping with chopped almonds, peanuts or cashews for added interest.
Super simple to make and stores well covered tightly in the refrigerator for several days. Save time and make ahead for a delicious lunch, dinner or backyard party.
1. Cook quinoa with water or low sodium broth according to package directions and cool. Sprinkle chicken with sea salt and pepper; bake at 350 degrees F, covered in an oiled casserole dish for 25-30 minutes. Let chicken cool and chop into bite size pieces.
2. For the dressing: whisk all dressing ingredients together adding Sriracha hot sauce to taste; set aside (use recipe amount for a very lightly dressed salad, double recipe if more dressing is preferred).
3. Toss all prepared vegetables with quinoa, chicken, dressing and cilantro or basil (or reserve dressing and drizzle over top of each individual portion). Serving size about 1 cup. | {
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Tag: potential customers
Facebook has millions of users. You are probably one of these people. If you are a business owner, you should understand that there are ways to reach a completely new sector of potential customers. These tips can help you learn about Facebook marketing.
Host a giveaway to get some extra attention for your presence on Facebook. Encourage people to subscribe by giving something away to some of them. Post who the winners are to your Facebook page; do this often to grow your business.
In order to know what your fans are looking for, frequently interact with them. Pay close attention to your followers and what they want. Lots of successful companies have implemented useful marketing strategies from their consumers. Don’t ignore fans since they happen to be the reason for your success up to now.
Avoid letting your Facebook page overwhelmed with spam. You can use filters to help edit the page and monitor content when you are away. Page administrators are able to put keywords in that will be filtered out.
Make your posts professional in tone and spirit at all times. Even though Facebook is pretty relaxed, do not let yourself become too lax in your posting. Maintaining a professional tone will help build trust among your customer base.
It is important to have a lot of followers when using Facebook as a marketing tool. You don’t need to spend much money until you’ve gleaned 5K fans or so. Once you gain a large following, you marketing efforts will become much easier.
Reply to everything written about your company, be it on your page’s wall or elsewhere on Facebook. Monitor you wall regularly, and reply to any @ messages. Make sure to reply to all inquiries or complaints.
Be aware of when it is appropriate to post on other Facebook pages. Posting information on other people’s Facebook pages can garner a great deal of attention. However, it needs to be the type of attention you need. Post on other pages if you have relevant or interesting information to add. Avoid spamming because this will just annoy people.
Custom Audiences will let you upload your current customer’s email addresses so you can target them with ads. This increases your conversion rate and lowers the cost of your campaigns as many more of the people you advertise to will convert from leads into full fledged sales on your site.
Give someone something valuable if they “like” your page. New likes have the opportunity to draw a lot of attention to your page. Make it worthwhile to like your page. This will grab people’s attention rather than asking them to like the page. People are more likely to respond to your requests if you give them an incentive that is worth their time.
A company that deals with their customers occasionally, such as a Realtor or automobile dealer, really will not benefit from a Facebook page. Customers tend not to follow such pages unless they actually need the item. Instead, pay for Facebook ads that target customers for you.
Offer an easy way for your followers to sign-up for contests. You can provide incentives for people to do so, which will make communication easier going forward. A sweepstakes or contest is a good idea, or simply provide an area to sign up to get a freebie.
Make sure you always answer posts and comments on your wall. It is important that you acknowledge that a person who takes time to interact with your business is important to you. It’s like a phone call: you would never leave it at a message left on your machine, would you?
Be extra sure that people are able to “share” the content on your page. People from your audience will tell others about any valuable information you have on your page. Sharing and interacting with others is the center of Facebook. The harder you work to provide great information, the more likely it is to be shared far and wide.
Use Facebook to show your expertise your field. You can gain much knowledge about leadership within your niche on Facebook. Any time you can you should try to answer people when they have questions about something you’re an expert on. This will make people aware of your brand after a while and you will meet a lot of potential customers this way.
Do not turn off comments; your fans need to tell you how they feel. It may seem smart to keep bad comments away from your page, but really it creates the perception that you have zero interest in hearing from your customers.
Make sure that your Facebook page has professional photos. Understand that your photos will represent your business, both in good and bad ways. If you are going to take personal photos, make sure that you use a great quality camera and you don’t post anything that will give people a negative view of your brand.
Nurture your relationship with followers on your company’s page. Build strong and trusting relationships with those you interact with. A good method of building strong relationships is to post new, straightforward content often. You must be sure you are rewarding your loyal customer base with special deals.
Run contests on occasion in order to get lots of “likes.” The reward can be a valuable free sample to a random participant. This will give you more subscribers and help grow your fan base.
Update your profile as often as necessary. Whenever there are changes in business information, change it on Facebook. Your customers will appreciate that you keep them updated with this information. Try changing things on the profile page occasionally to keep people interested.
Do not share Facebook updates too frequently. You can send messages to followers. But, this should be used sparingly and for important details rather than daily postings. This is not a tool to be used for promotional purposes but to show that you care about keeping customers informed of real news.
Use the update feature sparingly. You can send messages to followers. Use this for important updates and events only. Do not use this tool for promotional purposes.
When it comes to marketing on Facebook, there are both good and bad practices that can or shouldn’t be used. You don’t have to look too far to find the examples you need. People usually are on the lookout for good practices, but they usually don’t look into ones that are bad. You will be doing yourself a favor when you learn what to avoid.
It is imperative that you understand what techniques are helpful for Facebook marketing and what techniques could be detrimental to your brand. There are lots of different examples available. Really, it’s just as important to look at what people are doing wrong as it is to check out how it’s done right. It is wise to also discover the things you should avoid also.
Scheduling tools are great if you are unable to sit online to post regular Facebook updates. Find a quality tool and use it to share your updates when your subscribers are likely to be online. Try testing various tools to see which one has the features that fulfill your needs.
Ask page followers to post reviews of your company on your Facebook page. One of the best ways to encourage more interest in people who need your product is to show them how existing customers feel. Having past customers post their experiences with your company on your Facebook page can help prospective customers make a decision.
Just like with all other types of marketing, it is important that you know who you are targeting with your Facebook marketing. Post content that is relevant to your buyers to help increase sales.
You should use a scheduling tool if you cannot be online to share your Facebook updates on time. Schedule them to be posted when your followers tend to be online. Try testing various tools to see which one has the features that fulfill your needs.
Facebook can be used to help you promote your products while building your base of friends. Just offering coupons may build your Likes. Keep the interest of old friends while you nurture your newer contacts.
See if your subscribers are willing to share the content you share with the people they know. Offer a discount or other incentive to have your followers share your page with friends. You can also release a coupon code once you reach a set number of followers and inform your followers of that goal.
Don’t stray far from the topic at hand when you post to your brand’s Facebook page. For example, if your business is in real estate, post interest rates or government regulations. Posting links to Harlem Shake parodies is totally off-topic and will only bore and frustrate your fans.
Post on a variety of topics, but all within your niche. Make sure that your information is relevant, but also creative. Find different ways to post relevant content. You may be able to get them interested by sharing pictures or asking them a question about what they’ve just read.
Add a photograph to each of your Facebook posts. Facebook marketing should be used to help your customers relate to you and your product. Try using your workers, the products you sell, or other photos to get your point across.
Reply to all negative comments on your page. If you ignore it, you are showing you don’t care how your customers feel. Addressing this promptly will help others to see you in a positive light.
Don’t think of Facebook contests as a way to grab more fans, think of them as a way to engage your current fans. Someone who just enters the contest may not always stick around very long. All they want is the chance to win. Use it to reward loyal customers.
It is very difficult to gauge tone when you are reading a post, so make sure that you keep that in mind. If you are using messages that look generic your recipients will think it is spam.
Don’t make a bunch of Facebook posts all at once. You want to space out your content for maximum effectiveness. If you inundate people with information, it will be hard for them to process.
Incorporate images into your Facebook updates. Marketing requires you to relate well to the customer base, and photos really help. Use your employees, products and other subjects to emphasize the message in your updates and make a greater impression on your readers.
Watch how much you post, but try to post one to two times daily on the Facebook page. One or two posts a day is fine, but make sure they are not all marketing messages.
Facebook contests should not be thought of as a method of attracting more customers. Instead, you should consider them as a way of engaging current ones. Anyone extra that likes your page because of a contest probably isn’t a true fan. They are only interested in winning, not in your brand. Use free items as a reward for loyalty to your clients.
Think about the power of using fan submitted promotions for your products. For instance, have fans provide photos that show them using and enjoying your products. This will bring your company into people’s lives. A personal touch like this an effective marketing tool.
Don’t send messages to the audience base daily that are nothing more than sales pitches. While you may think that it’s something that can make you some money, people don’t want you to beg them to buy something from you. If your products don’t sell themselves, you may be selling the wrong thing.
Let your fans know you appreciate them. Wish them happy holidays or just a nice thank you. Or go with a more traditional method, like offering coupons to long-term subscribers.
You may want to ask your fans for submissions to use on your Facebook page. You can ask them for photos. Ask them to post funny stories and testimonials to your wall for a personal touch.
After reading this, you should have enough information to get your Facebook marketing plan started. Use these tips and you’ll be surprised at the success you have. Begin today and enjoy your success.
If you need a source of content, look to Google Alerts. This shows lots of content from news articles to blog posts to websites, which are relevant to your field. Also, you can share this info on your wall.
Social networking has created a new type of marketing that is cutting-edge and very promising for many companies. With little to no cost, a company can by successfully promote its services and products by simply using the growing power of social networking sites. This article explains ways that you can get started using social media marketing to your company’s advantage.
Twitter is an excellent marketing tool for your company. When used correctly, Twitter is a great way to engage hundreds, or even thousands, of potential customers into reading your news updates and press releases. Take some time to learn about hashtags, keywords, and all other things in the Twitter world.
Put a “retweet” button on each blog post. You will get people to post your blog using Twitter by placing this button there. It will allow you to reach more people, more often.
If Twitter is one of the components of your social media marketing plan, come up with tweets that are detailed and discuss different things. Try sending tweets with suggestions and tips that are relative to your business. If you use some tweets that advertise your business and fun and social ones, people will be more likely to go to your site.
If you use Twitter as a promotion means for your business, make certain you respond regularly to your followers. Thank people that mention you, and answer questions that are posed to you. This creates a stronger affiliation with all your followers. This will help your followers to see you as a person, not only a business.
If you run a blog for your business, allow readers to retweet the content easily via a button included with each posting. This makes it much easier for other people to share your the content through twitter. It generates a lot more interest in how many people you can attract with whatever it is you are trying to say.
Social Media Marketing
If Twitter is a place where you actively market your product or service, then make certain to regularly respond promptly to any communications with your followers. If people mention you thank them, and if questions are sent to you answer them as well. This is a good way to build loyalty among your followers. Additionally, this will help you establish yourself as being a genuine human being, rather than a mere business.
One of the most powerful ways to a successful social media marketing campaign is to give thoughtful consideration to the details of your overall strategic plan. If you do not have a clear strategy and bounce from one social site to another, you can end up wasting time and money. Developing a solid plan of action can really help your social media marketing campaign to be ultimately successful.
You need to tie all of your social media sites together using links in order to have the most successful campaign Be sure your blog has easy to see links to your Facebook page, your YouTube videos and Twitter. List your blog and your Facebook page on Twitter. This makes it simple for your customers to follow you in whichever way works best for them.
Experiment with social media, in other words, just pretend until you are a success. Have knowledge about what your competition utilizes for their particular social media marketing tactics, and copy them until you discover what works best for you. Look at how they’ve designed and filled their profiles and read through their regular posts.
Take advantage of YouTube by adding it to your marketing plans that use social media. Using this site is an effective way to attract consumers to your Internet site, because viewing videos gives them a lot of information about your products. If more new visitors reach your website after viewing your YouTube videos, they will have more knowledge about your products and potentially complete more purchases.
Social Media Sites
When dealing with social media marketing, make sure you are remaining active. In order to achieve success, you must be social! If you don’t have any activity, then your social media campaign is not going to succeed. New and interesting additions to your social media sites will keep people interested and increase your chances of success.
Create specials that are exclusive to your social media sites to entice your customers to come to them. People who receive exclusive offers on Facebook or other social media sites will pay more attention to your social media marketing campaign as well as share your sites with others.
Keep your subscribers updated on your businesses progress on your social media pages. One example can be to let people know when you’ve reached one of your goals. Be sure to thank your visitors for having interest regarding your work, and make sure you share your experiences on social media sites. Writing an article like this is likely to be quickly shared.
Make it easy for your website’s visitors to follow you on social media sites. Many people log onto their favorite social media sites every day, so allowing them to follow you makes it so your business will pop up on their feed when they log in.
Write frequent Twitter posts to keep your updates from being lost within the feeds of your followers. You will have to combine quality with quantity when posting on Twitter. Post good content and post it often. A good trick is to always keep it short and sweet. This way, you can split one main topic into a few different tweets.
Update your social media pages often to increase interest. If you are in the midst of a product launch, your followers will expect you to update many times per day. Normally, you should update your content and blog posts four or five times per week.
Look into all the options that are available to you. Each one of these social media websites has its own unique set of offerings, and learning what they are can help you get the most benefit from your time spent on them. Perhaps one of your social media sites reaches a larger number of people and is a better place to spend most of your time.
Always track the progress you are making. You should establish statistics showing how much activity you generated and how many new followers you got every week. Work on connecting statistics to concrete actions so that you make optimal strategic decisions. If you fail to take note of results, you may never know whether or not social media can work for you.
Don’t be too rigid when determining your posting guidelines. When you launch a big campaign on a new product, make sure to provide the frequent updates people expect to see. If you find yourself struggling to find new content to post, you may want to think about decreasing how often you update your status.
Build excitement about products by giving them away through your social networking profiles. Few people can resist the appeal of a freebie, which makes this approach very effective. Figure out what you’re offering for free, then jump on some of the freebie social media sites that are popular. After this post a link so your customers know where to get the freebie.
Study your progress. Study your activity and the number of new visitors that you attract weekly to your site. Link these stats and discover your best decisions so that you can come up with even better strategies for your business. If you aren’t monitoring all your social medial marketing results then it becomes impossible to know what works and what doesn’t.
Keep checking on what your competition is doing. Find them on the social media sites and see what they are up to. You could either try using a similar method or think of something they have not yet started.
Succeeding in social media requires hard work and patience. It can take some time and patience to build up your social media presence. It takes months and even years to get a good loyal customer base to follow you that can be used to market your business too.
Social Media
Offering an appealing incentive without over sell is key to successfully using social media marketing to advance your company goals. People will quickly lose interest in your campaign if they feel like they are pressured into buying your products. Post an incentive in the form of a perk or sale each week at a time when customers will be most likely to find them. This way your customers receive some discounts, but don’t feel spammed or forced into a sale.
Add your website to your existing social media profiles. You can do this quickly with share buttons placed on your website to let your visitors share your content with their friends via their social media pages. Make it simple for your potential customers to share on RSS feeds, blogs and your main company website page.
Don’t let your Facebook page get stale by neglecting it – always add fun content on a regular basis. You would be surprised at just how much content you can find out there to keep people entertained. Make sure that your professional image is maintained by keeping what you post balanced.
Letting your employees have blogs on your website is a great way to use social media to promote your company. This allows your customers to get an insight into your company. They can gain an appreciation of the hard work that goes into your finished products, as well as the culture and atmosphere you and your employees work in. Customers shop and spend money with establishments they trust, and this kind of honest open transparency is a really effective road to engendering trust.
Be sure you keep your relationships on good terms when you interact with potential customers on social media forums and sites. You do not want to be pushy and use hard sell tactics when you are posting. Instead, provide your potential customers with honest and useful information. Your business will benefit greatly from mutually respectful relationships with your fellow users.
Sensitive Deals
Build up the audience in your Facebook account by sending the link to your email subscribers. If you’ve done online marketing, you probably are aware of and have your own mailing list. Utilize this by sending your subscribers a link to your Facebook page. That way, current customers can locate you.
Use coupons and deals that are time-sensitive to create interest in your social media campaigns. You’ll get more attention from folks when there’s a feeling of urgency and pressure in the air thanks to a deadline they could miss out on. Followers also tend to send time-sensitive deals to their friends more often than non-time-sensitive deals.
If you have a niche market, or even would just like to appeal to one, be aware that there are small networks that can get you in to these buyers through social media. It’s important to find out who your target audience is and what networks they are using.
If you are using social media sites like Facebook for marketing, avoid posting more than a few times every day. Your followers will eventually get annoyed if you flood their feeds with updates. Stick to three important details that you want your customers to know and avoid posting more stuff until the following day.
Generate buzz for your company’s events using social media. Inform your followers about pending opportunities two to three months before their commencement. By the time you launch the product or start the sale, your customers will be eagerly awaiting it.
You can increase the reach of your marketing by linking your social media site with LinkedIn. If you put a button on your blog that allows readers to share it on LinkedIn, you can quickly add to your potential readership. This will enable potential customers to share your blog with others. LinkedIn has over 100 million users, which you will be tapping into!
Don’t demand too much interaction from your potential customer in the first moments of their visit to your site. No one will go through your site if you ask your visitors to give their personal information to have access to the content. Keep it simple from the start, and you will find yourself with a growing customer base.
Maintain a positive reputation and build strong relationships on the forums you frequent. The forum’s members are potential customers and all your posts should be honest and useful information, not hard-sell tactics. Good relationships should be nurtured and kept with honest, useful comments and posts.
Use social media marketing to provide information about your business. Posting pictures of fundraising events are a great way to increase this visibility. Write about the items your employees are working on or even show pictures of them working. This will help to put your company in a positive light, increasing credibility.
Put a Facebook “Like” box on your blog’s posts. This will make it easy for your readers to “like” the post without having to leave the site. If you make it simple, they are more likely to follow through. Utilizing features that add to the convenience for your readers increases the likelihood that they will come back to the website to read more of your content.
If you want to build a following quickly, try throwing a contest or giveaway. Make it so that only people who are following one of your social media profiles are eligible to win the prize. Even if you only give away a small prize, you are likely to see a huge increase in followers.
Social Media
There are programs such as Tweepi that will allow you to track lists via Twitter that target your audience. Programs like this hunt for lists that a lot of individuals pay attention to, while giving you an idea on who this list is comprised of. Contact them and request that they add your information to their list.
From the tips above, you can tell that social media marketing isn’t nearly as complicated as it initially seems. Take the strategies outlined in this article, and your company will have the opportunity to get bigger and profit from the use of social media.
Use hash tags to get the most people to see your Twitter posts. For instance, to share cooking tips, try to use “#cooking” and “#food” tags. This will allow non-followers to see the posts that you share since they will begin appearing in their search results.
Are you interested in increasing your business’s reach? Are you aware that Facebook can help you do this? Facebook is one of the most popular forms of social media, with millions and millions of people who use it every day. By utilizing excellent strategies, you can attract these people to your business.
Always be as professional as possible in your Facebook marketing campaign. While social media usually has a relaxed tone, present your business and yourself professionally. When you keep a professional tone, you are respected more by customers.
Regular interaction is key. Be aware of whatever people post on your page. Successful businesses often get their best ideas from potential customers. This makes it important that you give back to your fans and don’t ignore them because they helped you achieve success.
Never let a Facebook page get overridden by spam. Even if you aren’t around, you can put filters in place which will monitor and guard your page. Any administrator of your page can enter keywords into this tool which will then automatically be filtered out.
While you want your personality to show, you must keep things professional when making Facebook posts. Although social media tends to be a casual venue, your business must be presented professionally. Folks will have more respect for what you do if your tone stays professional.
Consider creating a Facebook group rather than just a page. A Facebook group will help encourage your followers to develop and participate in an online community where they can interact together. Never hesitate to utilize both pages and groups in order to get broad exposure for your offers and updates, and to give users a place to disseminate content of their own.
One method for generating interest in your business is by having a giveaway. Encourage people to subscribe by giving something away to some of them. Post who the winners are to your Facebook page; do this often to grow your business.
Try holding a giveaway. Give something away for free to a select group of customers who sign up to be on your mailing list or who “like” your Facebook page. It may cost you small amount, but you will have more people to communicate with.
Any content published online should be linked to your Facebook page. If your site has a blog, include a summary and then link the posts automatically via your Facebook. Your Tweets are posted to your Facebook by simply linking the two.
Be very carefully about the updates you post. If your updates don’t contain any valuable information, your subscribers will lose interest. Your updates should be educational, helpful or entertaining. Using Facebook Insights will help you learn which updates do well and which are flops.
Think about buying Facebook ads. These ads can target a specific market if you desire. There are many budget tools to work with as well. A long-term commitment need not be made. Whenever you would like to end your ad, you can.
Take the time to reply to comments or posts on your wall. When a customer makes an effort to contact you, have the common courtesy of quickly responding to their questions. Responding in a timely manner will help improve your credibility.
A company that only interacts with a client infrequently, like a car dealership or a Realtor, does not require a business page on Facebook. Your customers will want to read your posts everyday on Facebook. Try making your ads on Facebook.
When you are marketing on Facebook, typically you want to sell more of your products as a result of your efforts. To keep you on track, set short term sales goals. Getting a lot of page fans is great, but it doesn’t mean much if it does not translate into more business. When you’re not getting results, change your strategy.
Obviously, you are seeking to obtain more sales by marketing on Facebook. Setting monthly goals will help you do this. It is great to get a lot of people to like your page, but you want that to translate into money or it does not really mean anything. If you don’t reach your goal, reevaluate what you are doing.
Give your audience spots to sign up on the Facebook page. Giving the audience something valuable for just registering or signing up can let you have ongoing conversations with those that have expressed interest. Contests or sweepstakes can be useful, or you can just have a spot to register to win something great.
A great way to boost conversion of visitors to followers is by hiding content from those who are not yet fans. If any of your content is hidden, people will follow you in order to view it. One caveat, you lose SEO when content is hidden; therefore, limit the amount of content that is hidden.
Be careful of sharing any update that’s totally alien to your brand’s typical messaging. Take care when posting about current events so as not to bore or offend any followers. If you need to discuss controversial subjects, save it for your personal page.
Speak with your fans so they can be involved with the decisions you need to make as a business. People enjoy feeling like they are up-to-date and important. These are the best minds to tap into for opinions. For example, if you run a blog you could ask them what kind of posts you should make.
Actual resources need to be allocated toward Facebook marketing. Marketing on Facebook is no cake walk. If you are thinking of putting someone on it that’s already bogged down with twenty other assignments, you’ll never get the traction that’s possible using this social media. Hiring someone may be the best bet.
Invest time and resources in your Facebook marketing campaign. Facebook is a valuable way to reach potential customers and deserves to be taken seriously. If you are thinking of putting someone on it that’s already bogged down with twenty other assignments, you’ll never get the traction that’s possible using this social media. Use real resources and you’ll get a lot out of it.
Look for ways to establish yourself as a leader in your field. Use all the resources at your disposal. Any time you can you should try to answer people when they have questions about something you’re an expert on. This will make people aware of your brand after a while and you will meet a lot of potential customers this way.
You may find some difficulty the first few weeks of using Facebook. One easy way to begin is by adding a Facebook link to your website. This will help customers and visitors connect with your business and is much less intrusive than other forms of marketing. Facebook allows you to easily connect with your fans.
Realize why you’re using a Facebook page. Don’t just have one to have one. Do you want to communicate more effectively to customers? Or is it so they can communicate with you? The techniques you use should be different if you want to use your Facebook to generate more sales or simply stay in touch with existing customers.
Make a serious effort to keep the audience updated via your Facebook page. You don’t have to post updates all the time, but you should post the regularly. Make sure you post content with important information that your target audience will find useful.
Only add photographs to your Facebook profile that are professional. You want the photos to reflect the professional nature of your business. You should invest in a good camera and never post anything that can be viewed as negative.
Get a contest going to stir up enthusiasm for your product. A thing you could do is get people to like your Facebook page and then get them to take a photo of them and your product. Give a prize to the most appealing or creative entry in the contest.
Do not use the Facebook Update tool too often. This features allows you to message your followers. You should only use this when it’s most important. Your customers will lose interest in your campaign if you use updates to share promotional offers instead of helpful information.
Facebook is a great place to market your product or service. Sometimes, you may be able to get two people to hook up through Facebook. Make sure to take this into consideration. This will allow people to share a story with people they know and it will have your brand in the story. You can’t beat that kind of publicity.
Encourage your clientele to write about their experiences with your company on your Facebook page. People who have an interest in your niche want to know what others think about your business. By asking past customers to post their experience on your Facebook, you can help turn casual onlookers into buying customers.
To ensure your Facebook marketing is getting the proper attention, consider hiring a professional to ensure your Facebook page is in order. Adding daily postings regarding special promotions or products will give folks a reminder of why they are fans of your business. If your followers like the post, they can share it to be viewed by other friends, as well.
Make sure you interact with customers on your page. Urge all followers to engage in discussions. Ask a question or create a poll; this will get people talking. After the fans start talking, you can take part as well. This kind of personal interaction can help form a bond with your clients, turning Facebook fans into life-long customers or clients.
If you’re posting something onto Facebook, don’t stray from your topic too much. If you’re selling homes, for example, it’s okay to post about learning of the rates on interest changing if they are. Posting off-topic information will only frustrate your followers.
Create engaging, varied content. Make sure that your information is relevant, but also creative. Look for various ways to craft a story. Post photos and ask questions in your posts.
Don’t drop your Facebook marketing campaign just because followers didn’t flock to your page in the first week. Developing a solid marketing plan always takes awhile, and this is always so when it comes to social media marketing efforts. You must be patient; it takes time to get things rolling.
Market your brand by combining Facebook and matchmaking. This will help to increase traffic and bring people together. Take advantage of this opportunity. They will tell others their story, providing word of mouth advertising. You can’t beat that kind of publicity.
Incorporate images into your Facebook updates. A picture can speak volumes. Including photographs of your products being used by your employees and yourself will help your followers relate to you and your business.
Not only do you want to promote sales, but you want to build a fan base, too. Coupons or special offers and promotions can be used to gain new friends and also to reward long-term customers. If you do not extend promotional efforts to new friends, they may quickly start losing interest.
You can often find inspiration for your business from your Facebook fans. For instance, if you are stuck on something, ask your fans for their opinions. You should have several suggestions in no time.
Don’t write off Facebook as no good if you don’t get the results you want straight away. Any kind of marketing will take a little bit of your time, and this is still true with Facebook marketing. Give it enough time to work; once you build up a follower base you will see sales increase from your Facebook marketing efforts.
Facebook Marketing
Allow your Facebook campaign room to grow so that you can increase sales. Nothing happens overnight and that includes success from marketing campaigns. Expanding the number of followers, giving them a compelling reason to keep coming back and providing valuable information are key to increased sales. By doing these things, you will succeed eventually.
Facebook is a wonderful marketing tool for businesses. The millions of users on Facebook can have a look at what you’re offering. Keep the tips you’ve learned here in mind as you plan and execute your Facebook marketing plan. The potential is unlimited regarding Facebook marketing.
Fans trust you when they are personally invested in your company. This broad principle applies to marketing through any channel, including Facebook. You can even tell them that you had a barbecue this past weekend! Demonstrate your own use of your products so that they are excited about buying it.
Social media marketing is among the latest methods of advertising on the internet these days. It’s easy to start, and once you get established even easier to grow. Analyze the ideas that follow in a deliberate manner.
Create new posts regularly. If users know that you’re always putting up new content, they’re more likely to come back. The types of newspaper and magazine subscriptions that are most popular are a reflection of this truism. So, make sure you are consistent to encourage more returning visitors.
Ensure you maintain a current blog that is full of relevant information. If your business is currently or soon-to-be running a discount, coupon, promotion or sale, be certain that your blog mentions it. If you are getting a new product, new hours, etc. always share this information as well. Share all news you have and update your blog on a regular basis.
Use Youtube videos to help attract potential customers to your site. Using YouTube is great, because these viewers will already be aware of the types of things you are marketing as they have viewed your video on YouTube. This tool can help you to increase hits to your site and sales of your product, too.
Do you run a blog? If so, the button that allows you to retweet should be near the top of all your posts. This makes it easier for readers to share your content on Twitter. It raises your potential audience dramatically.
When designing your social media marketing strategy, you should put a great deal of thought into your company’s objectives and priorities. If you waste time and money chasing hot social trends, only to change course when something new comes along, your efforts will leave you with several dead ends. Make a plan of attack and stick to it.
Understand the importance of conversation and dialogue. What a lot of companies don’t realize is that after a customer is done giving feedback, they are actually trying to communicate. Engage fully with the customers that contact you and build a mutually-rewarding dialogue with them. Make it your mission to learn everything you can about their needs, and use this information to make your next move more effective, or improve your company as a whole.
To maximize your site, allow comments and ratings. When you add these things, your customers will be able to find content they are looking for, which will keep them around.
When designing your social media marketing strategy, you should put a great deal of thought into your company’s objectives and priorities. If you just chase fads without any unified plan, you’ll waste a lot of money and have nothing to show for it. Make a plan of attack and stick to it.
It takes patience to create a social media network. You won’t attract tens of thousands of followers in a day. It has happened in rare occurrences, but it is unlikely that you will receive viral following in just one night. You have to be patient; you will gain more followers over time.
Figure out how much you want to engage with your customers. If increasing sales is your sole motivation, stick to the basics when using social media as a marketing method. If you decide you want to have open dialogue with your customer, start simply by saying “Hello” and let the conversation begin. You’ll be lead by your customers from there.
When you reach an important milestone in your social media program, write a post about it. You can post about reaching milestones, like when you reach so many followers on Twitter. Be certain to express gratitude towards those that pay attention to your efforts, and be open about discussing your social media experiences. Information of this type is sure to spread.
Social Media
Come up with good titles for your posts. Add strong keywords to your titles so your videos are easier to find. You will obtain more views if the users can identify quickly that your videos are helpful, and the videos will emerge when the users type certain keywords.
Always make it easy for your website surfers to find your profile on the social media they use through subscription. Your customers are likely to already be using social media daily, so leveraging that to remind them of your deals or special offers is effective in keeping them coming back to your site.
Try your best to respond to all of the messages and comments you receive throughout the day. This is especially true for any negative comments. If your followers know you care about what they say, it will be easier to win their trust. Answer questions and comments as quickly as possible.
Facebook makes it very easy for your followers to share your content. Comments will appear on that person’s news feed so all of their friends see it. Encourage followers to communicate online with you, and among themselves, to enhance your exposure.
To have the best mode of contact on social networking websites, you must be able to talk to your customers on a person to person basis. No customer wants to have a conversation with a large establishment, but rather an individual. When a customer is speaking to a live person, they realize that the company cares.
You can set up your Twitter account so that your blog posts are automatically twitted. You can even post links to updates from a few affiliates’ high-quality blogs. Not only will the bloggers enjoy the extra exposure, but your followers will appreciate the great content that you share with them.
A great way to get more followers on social media is to offer exclusive discounts and coupons to people who follow or like your page. This will help your customers feel like VIPs, because they will get better prices and deals, while simultaneously helping build your business.
Social Media
Sponsoring blogs for your employees is a smart thing to do to brin gmore traffic to your site. Blogs like these can give others a glimpse into what your business is like. They will see how your employees relate to you and recognize your business ethic, both of which will reflect positively on you. The more your customers know about how your business operates, the more trustworthy they will find it.
Before getting started in social media, find out what your options are on these sites. You can use your time wisely by truly understanding the differences from one social media site to another. You could discover a single site is the best one to use because it reaches more people. It is up to you to find this out.
It is actually shown that the majority of readers will check out your material during business hours on weekdays! Everyone gets a few moments to slack off at work, take advantage of this knowledge. Utilize tools that allow you to write your posts anytime you want to, but they are uploaded and published during hours that you choose, including those when most people are actively online.
Whenever you upload video to your YouTube account, make sure there is a link in the description pointing to your website, and that both your channel and videos have the Twitter and Facebook buttons. When you get users from YouTube on Twitter and Facebook, you also have more of a chance that they’ll share any videos you have through these social media sites.
When it comes to social media, company branding is important for your company. Having an avatar or company logo that is appealing, can draw people towards following you. Keep the same color themes on all of your social media profiles. These techniques will give your social media efforts more authenticity so that your followers can trust it is from you. Let branding work for you and remain consistent.
Use LinkedIn’s blog feed application to automatically post your blog updates to your LinkedIn page. When you post articles, they will show as being updated on Linkedin. This is a time saver, and you will get more exposure when you reach out to your LinkedIn friends and a blogging community simultaneously.
To help generate excitement about your business and products, include time sensitive coupons and deals on your social medial sites. What you want to do here is generate that sense of urgency so your followers will be more likely to pay strict attention to promotions on your social media pages; this way they can be up to date on any deals you may be offering. You will also benefit from playing within the social context here. One friend will alert another friend of the offer and so on.
With social networking, it’s a good idea to provide a way for your customers and potential customers to speak with you. The customer usually does not wish to talk with a big company. When customers feel they are having a direct, personal conversation, they instinctively feel more connected with the company.
When you are looking to create content to put on your Twitter of Facebook, make sure it is proofread. You will need all of your content to appear professional. You can use some abbreviations, but be careful when using them. Take utmost care to present your content in the best way possible.
Understand that people like hearing what you have to say about them when you are promoting yourself on the web. One customer posting a suggestion probably represents many others who would agree with the comment. Responding lets them know you are listening to their needs.
If you are considering opening a page on Facebook to promote your business, you should take some time to investigate what other businesses similar to yours are doing. By looking at their pages, you will get ideas about what you do, and don’t, want to try. Put together your page in an appealing way that also stands out from others.
Connect all your networking profiles together and link them to your website. Make it easier for your existing customers to forward the content of your articles by including a share button. Make it simple for your potential customers to share on RSS feeds, blogs and your main company website page.
Be active and comment on other people’s posts. Remember, the key word in social media marketing is “social.” If you’re willing to be social, people are more likely to return the favor. Find people blogging about your business niche. Start talking to the people who post on these blogs. It quickly becomes a major networking opportunity for self-advancement.
Try hosting question/answer sessions online to boost interest about your services and products via social media. This allows potential customers to better understand who you are, what you are offering, and what your company is all about. It adds a touch of personality to your business, because it is an interactive experience.
Be sure to make frequent posts and updates. Provide your followers with posts that they can look forward to on a regular basis. Set up a schedule for your postings or perhaps you could enlist the help of a service that will automatically post for you. That way, you are on the radar for your readers.
One way to increase interest in your social media campaign is to host employee blogs directly on the company website. This allows your customers to get an insight into your company. These blogs give your customers a closer look at how your company operates, what it values and what makes it successful. If you let customers into your world they will trust you more.
Don’t post hastily. Sometimes your emotions take over and you post something you later regret. So make sure you are aware of what you put up, know that it is truthful, and don’t offend or deter people from following you with poor grammar and an unprofessional image. Even though these sites seem informal, you should always stay professional when using them.
Do not rely on only one channel when promoting your business through social media marketing. If you use multiple websites to get new traffic, you can grow your business. It can also be helpful in other ways if you take advantage of the different tools available.
Social media marketing requires more than just powerful media, it must also be prepared, displayed, and received on a higher level. Don’t make the mistake of pouring all your efforts into your video production but neglecting your landing page, which supports your videos. When you do this, you will increase your chances of obtaining new followers and keeping the old ones interested too.
Social Media
Your ultimate goal is probably to sell your service or products, but there should be more to your efforts. You have to make yourself well known to both current customers and potential clientele. When you interact with people online you will be able to increase the number of potential customers for your business. This will ensure your business is adequately supported in the future.
Now you can see that social media marketing is not hard to use. Social media sites allow you to market your products or business in a simple, fast and affordable manner. It just takes time, dedication and persistence to succeed through this method of internet marketing for your business.
Although social media marketing is a major opportunity for your business, you should never jump in headfirst without a well-written action plan. Learn how these methods work, construct a campaign that targets your niche, and have a plan for dealing with common social media marketing problems. By doing the necessary preparations before executing your social media marketing campaign, you will be able to prevail over your competition.
If you are still using traditional marketing methods in this new century and decade, you are quickly going to get left behind. Although it’s possible to find great success with social media marketing, you need to learn how to use this new form of advertising properly. This article provides some media marketing ideas to help you succeed.
Post new content often. This will help your readers to become excited when they read your page. The types of newspaper and magazine subscriptions that are most popular are a reflection of this truism. Therefore, stay consistent to make sure visitors return.
To ensure your website is going to work with SMM, add some comments, ratings, and some different ways to search. If you add these options, your visitors can find the content that everyone has read, and they will be able to give you their opinion.
Invite all the people you associate with to your social media page when you use social media marketing. Even if people do not need your products right now, they can share it with their friends if they know about it, and they can do so easily by clicking their mouse.
To make customers want your social media marketing, run exclusive specials that can only be had by following you on social media sites. By granting them exclusive access to incredible deals, you also encourage them to share these specials with members of their own networks. Talk about free publicity!
Inform your customers that you are utilizing social media. Your customers can then join your pages; this allows them to expose their friends to it. This powerful advertising method doesn’t require you to lift a finger. Make good use of it!
Your followers can easily view your content if you use Facebook. Facebook will share the comment of someone else on another friends page. Get readers to engage in chats with you so your posts will be seen more.
Use incentives to encourage people to follow you through social media. Add in something that no one else is offering to get people to want to like your page. Running a contest is a great way to show fan appreciation. If contests are not your thing, you can still give your followers access to deals that regular customers won’t be able to get. You can also limit your announcements to your social networks.
Answer any questions and comments left on your social media sites. Make it a regular part of your daily routine to look at your inbox and check notification messages. You might also opt-in to daily or individual notifications, which can be sent to your inbox each time someone posts a comment or question. Remember that what you write as a response to a comment will be public for everyone to see.
Regardless of it’s general form and purpose, one facet your social media campaign must include is habitual rapid and professional response to all comments, inquiries and reviews. Responding to feedback can create a resounding success if you do it, and an abject failure if you don’t, so it’s critical that you stay on top of this. You must respond when you get a negative comment or review. If you don’t, your reputation WILL be harmed. If you react to them quickly, it can help burnish your reputation by making you appear more professional.
There are many helpful resources related to Twitter, like Twellow and Tweepi. These tools help to pinpoint all of the people who can have a positive impact on your site. This way, you can create a list of those you can follow, and hope they follow you back.
Consider adding buttons within your profiles and also include an RSS feed for all your updates. These steps should be taken on your blog, website and emails. You also want to include links to other social networking profiles to help encourage people to locate you on different sites.
Set up a Twitter account to automatically send out each of your blog updates. If you want, select a few bloggers who always post quality content and post updates with links to their posts. Not only will the bloggers enjoy the extra exposure, but your followers will appreciate the great content that you share with them.
Tag each of your posts on Twitter to improve your following. Tags show up after the “#” symbol. This will allow any updates you have to show up in feeds of people that have subscribed to particular groups. Make thoughtful selections of your hashtags and think of groups of which your target audience are interested.
When you make a post on Twitter, adding a tag is recommended. Certain subscribers are updated if you use tags. Make thoughtful selections of your hashtags and think of groups of which your target audience are interested.
Social networking should not be only about advertising your products. You can learn a lot about your potential customers through social networking. You may also get them to interact with you and with the brand. While your social media profile allows you to showcase your products and services, you should focus on using these sites as a means of managing customer relationships.
Always make sure you write down what progress you have made. You should keep track of your traffic and how many brand new subscribers you get each week. Link these stats to what you do and from there figure out what works the best. If you don’t track it, you’ll have no idea if your social media strategy is working.
One effective strategy for marketing your business through social media networks, such as Twitter or Facebook, is to hold contests featuring appealing prizes. Due to the way online social networks operate, information about your contest will rapidly spread. The contest should be fun, and related to what you sell. A contest example that you can try out is to design a logo for one of your upcoming products.
You need to respond to all comments that are posted on your businesses Facebook page. This includes positive and negative feedback. If people think that your company cares about what they say, they will be more inclined to trust your brand and products. Make sure you respond quickly to make sure customers don’t feel ignored.
When it comes to making your voice heard on social networking sites, brief, to-the-point messages are generally the most effective. Messages should be short enough to ensure that boredom is not possible; you want to make sure that visitors want to share your information with others. You can also significantly reduce the textual content of the message with the use of a relevant image.
Share Buttons
Look at what time of the day it is you’re receiving the most responses and re-tweets from your Twitter account. Use what you’ve learned to send your messages at the perfect time. Regardless of how it fits into your own schedule, you want to send your tweets when the largest number of followers are likely to see them. An automated service can help you launch your messages in this ideal window.
Ensure that your site contains mention of your social media pages. You will find this easy to do if you include share buttons on your primary website that can let visitors share content from your site to their profiles. Always put these share buttons on all of your pages, your visitors can share your content easier.
When using social media to market your company’s products or services, make sure that you provide some incentives, but don’t be pushy. No one wants a forced sale. Share quality content related to your industry and talk about your new products or share coupon codes once a week. Customers will welcome the special discounts, while not feeling pressured or spammed about them.
Generate interest in the products and services you provide by offering forums where customers can ask you questions and you can give them honest answers. This helps potential customers learn about your line of products and business services more directly. This interactive method of communicating will bond you with your customers and help keep them loyal.
Blog subscription should be easy for anyone who wants to follow you. Avoid positioning the subscribe button in a place that is inconspicuous. Putting the subscribe button in sight will increase the amount of subscriptions that you get. Keep it in mind that people still have Internet that is slow, so if the subscribe button can load first it’s recommended to do that.
Ask your employees to blog about aspects of the business and post the blogs on your business website to generate customer interest. Let potential customers see some of the inner workings of your business. It gives them a chance to understand your business ethics, get a feel for your work environment and realize what it takes to make your products. Letting customers see what goes on inside is a great way to get them to put more trust into your business.
Keep your account up to date for more successful marketing. Your customers want to know what is new and prefer to read fresh content. Because of this, you should immediately share on Facebook any post you write on your blog. This will double your marketing efforts from one published blog.
Social Media
Let everyone on your email list know that you are on Facebook. After marketing online, you should have developed a mailing list. Using this resource, you can send every subscriber a link to your Facebook business page. You will be able to have the customers you already have visit you as well.
Social media marketing is one of the most promising new disciplines in digital communications and commerce because it makes the most of a strong online presence. Business owners can benefit when people share their content over social media networks. Utilize competitions and offers that give your readers incentive to pass along information about your products.
Use automation with Twitter if you want to keep people interested in your page. If you automate you Twitter account, other blog posts can be auto-tweeted. The content of the other blogs should be accurate, useful and relevant to your business in some way. This will ensure that your media pages have fresh and relevant content that will keep your followers informed and satisfied.
When it comes to social media, Short posts work best, in most cases. Messages should be short enough to ensure that boredom is not possible; you want to make sure that visitors want to share your information with others. Employ images to make your point instead of huge amounts of text.
You always want to ask your clientele for as minimal of initial involvement as you can from them. It’s a lot more likely that the customer will click out of your website if he or she is forced to provide you their personal data and do a survey as soon as they get into your site. Creating simple steps towards getting the knowledge they’re looking for is a great way to keep your visitors coming back for more.
With social media marketing, provide incentives without being too pushy. Prospective customers resist a sale being forced on them. Your best bet is to regularly post an incentive or sale no more than once weekly. This enables your good customers to get great deals without feeling coerced.
If you use YouTube as part of your marketing strategy, make the most impact with your video titles. Your titles should be original and contain strong keywords. They need to be attention-grabbing and interesting so that users will want to play the video. If possible, include relevant keywords in your titles.
You should make people feel comfortable about commenting on your blog posts. Definitely consider allowing comments if you are uncomfortable giving out other ways that they can talk to you. Monitor your posts closely, but do allow them! Remove comments that are abusive, negative, or spammy to keep the conversation cordial.
YouTube is a good place to promote your blog. When you post a video on YouTube, each one of your video descriptions should start with a link that goes to your blog or website. Include keywords based on your niche market within your description. Use the tagging function to include relevant keywords as well.
When using a blog on your social media page, be sure to regularly update it. Develop a schedule so readers will know when to expect new posts. This way people will know when they can expect information from you. and it makes it easier for them to check out what you have to offer. If you set up some reminders, you will always be prepared to post new updates.
If you want more people to come to yours site, fill it up with good content. Develop an article that provides solutions to problems in your field. Review a favorite product, and add images to keep it lively. The better that your content is, the more likely it is to be shared by the people who visit your page.
Using social media to promote your business can be a great idea, as long as you know what you are doing. If you follow the tips you just read, you will get measurable, positive results and greater profits.
Tweepi or Twellow can be used if you need to get more in touch with the ways of Twitter. These programs will determine which accounts people pay the most attention to and try and find out personal information about the account owners. You can then touch base with them and request that they include your account in their groups.
Facebook is a great place to communicate with customers as well as your friends. Social media websites are great outlets to market a business. Facebook can be taken advantage of by businesses as a means of marketing to reach the world.
You can quickly expand your viewers on Facebook by holding a competition. You could throw a photo contest, for instance, with customers using your product in unusual ways. Always follow through with any contest. If you say you are giving away a prize, make sure you do so.
Any content published online should be linked to your Facebook page. If your site includes a blog, have it automatically summarized and linked on your Facebook. You can even program a connection between your Facebook and Twitter accounts so that each time you tweet, it automatically appears on Facebook.
Giveaways are a great method of drawing attention to your page. Encourage your visitors to join your page in order to be eligible for some free products. Make a big announcement of winner names on your page, and keep doing that whenever you want more subscribers.
Try your hand at Facebook ads. Regular posts only go so far with promotions of services. To extend your reach, use ads to reach outside your normal followers. They aren’t pricey and they can help.
Try very hard to make your Facebook page more unique and memorable than others. This can be done by creating a more colorful page and adding things like lots of photos. Pages with images are more attractive to your Facebook fans than just plain text.
Try holding a giveaway. People like free stuff and may life your page for a chance to win something. You will not be out a lot of money, but you will gain the ability to communicate with more people than ever before.
Never let a Facebook page get overridden by spam. Sites that are riddled with spam can end up turning potential customers off. Anyone with administrator privileges to your page has access to these filters.
Give someone something valuable if they “like” your page. Having a lot of likes brings attention to your page. Think about a good reward to offer when someone likes your page. A contest is a good idea as is a coupon or discount. If you offer something they want, they will likely click the button.
One important thing you have to do is to develop a Facebook fan base that’s solid. Wait on marketing your products until you have a fan base. This will allow you to market to a larger audience so that your expenses do not go to waste.
Allow interested parties to sign up via your Facebook page. If you give the audience something when they sign up to get marketing messages from you, it can lead to potential customers becoming paying ones. Try holding sweepstakes and contests, or just have a place for them to sign up for something valuable.
Make sure to put your current audience in the forefront of your priorities. Many people focus on new fans and customers, all the while forgetting the people who they already have on their team. A respected audience is a happy audience. This results in true engagement with your brand, and therefore much attention should be paid to customers.
Hide some of your page’s content from those who haven’t Liked the page yet. A casual visitor just might be willing to start following you if that’s the only way to get access to a particularly interesting part of your page. Take care just to hide a small bit of content, so that you do not undermine SEO opportunities.
Facebook ads can be a good investment. One of the benefits of this is that it can be custom programmed to only be viewed by demographics you dictate. You can also set a budget for yourself so that you spend as little or as much as you can afford. There are also no long-term commitments required. The advertisement can he halted at any time.
Informing your customers through Facebook is crucial. However, this does not give you permission to overload them with too many postings each day either. Keep your content quality up, and give your audience information that they really want.
Make sure that you focus on quality when updating your page. You can very quickly alienate your audience with poor content. Educate your customers with enlightening posts. Utilize Facebook Insights to learn which updates have the best success so you will be able to give your audience something similar.
Get customers to use your Facebook profile to put up reviews. Those who have interest in what you’re offering enjoy seeing reviews from past customers. It makes them feel much more comfortable if they are on the fence.
One way to help convert visitors into followers is by hiding some content from visitors. If any of your content is hidden, people will follow you in order to view it. Only hide a bit of your content or you will lose part of the impact of your SEO.
Scheduling tools are great if you are unable to sit online to post regular Facebook updates. Get a reliable tool that can share updates at times when fans are likely to read them. You may need to try several different schedulers to find one that offers the features you desire.
It could be difficult to get started with Facebook marketing. One thing to do when you’re starting out is adding a button that leads to Facebook on your website. This helps potential customers and fans get connected with your enterprise, and provides a less-intrusive type of marketing. Once they press the “like” button on Facebook for your business, the updates you provide will be seen by them.
Don’t be shy; tell your visitors to show and share your content. Offer a discount to everyone who shares an update with someone else. You can also release a coupon code once you reach a set number of followers and inform your followers of that goal.
Realize why you’re using a Facebook page. It shouldn’t just be established for no reason. Is it being used to speak with other people? Or is it so they can communicate with you? Using your Facebook page to market is different from using your page to communicate with customers.
Don’t forget about event sharing on Facebook as a part of your marketing strategies for your company. An invitation to a hosted event can make your followers feel part of your organization. Your fans will be reminded of the event as it comes near.
Try to post photos to your Facebook page that are professional. Understand that your photos will represent your business, both in good and bad ways. If you decide to post personal photos, be sure they aren’t offensive in any way, and be sure and take those photos with a high quality camera.
Just because you might have a lot of fans, that does not necessarily equate success. You should focus on targeting Facebook users who are likely to purchase your products or share your content with their friends. Track the conversion rate to track your progress.
Do your best to keep up with all comments made on your page. This include comments in your inbox as well ones posted on your page. This will take a lot of hard work and effort on your part, but your users will really appreciate this personal touch.
When a reader leaves negative comments for you, make the effort to respond. If you ignore it, your fans will assume you don’t care. Always be polite and helpful toward the potential customers you interact with on Facebook to develop an excellent reputation.
One way to get the likes count on your page up is to occasionally throw contests. When you reach a certain goal, give a freebie or special price to the winner. The winner may share how pleased they are with their prize, giving you even more word of mouth advertising.
Facebook can help you increase your business as you get more and more followers. For new friends, coupons can be a great reward. For older, loyal customers, offer promotions. If you’re just offering new people something of value then people will start to lose interest in your business.
Make sure your profile is always up to date. It is important to keep your customers informed of changes. An updated page is helpful to customers who an an interest in your business. Even changing things up can help.
Daily Updates
If a user leaves negative feedback on your page, make sure that you respond to it. If you ignore it, you are showing you don’t care how your customers feel. Handling it the proper way can help people admire it and want to together with you later much more.
To free up your time to work on your marketing campaign, consider paying someone to create and post daily updates to your Facebook page. It’s not easy to stay on top of daily updates, but it is important for customers to see this content. Because your posts are shareable on Facebook, your customers who share your content are effectively advertising to their friends for you!
It is hard to read text and figure out what the author meant by their words. It is critical that your updates maintain a personal tone that directly engages your audience. Your fans will not appreciate postings that sound as if they were automatically generated by a script.
If there is more than one person who can post content on your Facebook page, ensure they know which strategy to use. Consistency is something you have to keep in mind if you want your campaign to do well. Consider preparing the updates ahead of time so that colleagues don’t have to do this by themselves.
Keep a careful eye on your Facebook marketing for people who attempt to sabotage your efforts. All people have one or two haters, but one negative comment on Facebook can lead to disaster. To stay safe, remove negative content quickly.
Be aware that there are people on Facebook who may try and thwart your efforts. Facebook is notorious for enemy commentary. Protecting yourself requires diligence in paying attention to what has been posting and removing the negative content instantly.
Use Facebook contests to engage your followers. Anyone extra that likes your page because of a contest probably isn’t a true fan. They just want an opportunity to win. Instead, you should see it as a form of rewarding people that are loyal to you.
You should definitely include customers when you are celebrating business milestones. Talk about it on your Facebook page, and send your friends a special “thank you.” Making sure they stay in the loop so that it encourages sales.
Always keep SEO in mind when you post content to Facebook. Use the keywords that you used when optimizing your website, and realize that Facebook is a great place for your site to get back-links. Internet users will be able to find your Facebook page in search results.
Set monthly goals for the Facebook marketing campaign. You could, for instance, plan on using this platform to launch a new product, reach out to a certain number of customers or generate some sales. If your goals are not met, rethink your marketing strategies.
Be sure your Facebook posts are interesting, short and focused. Always include a well composed picture that compliments your post. An attention grabbing post with a good picture is far more effective than a boring status update. Be sure to “like” positive comments left by your subscribers.
Understand that success with Facebook marketing is going to take time. Successful marketing takes time. Boosting your amount of followers, providing them with reasons to return and giving them valuable information will help you get more sales. However over time, you will reap the rewards you seek.
Ask your fans for advice on how to improve your company. You can post photos of customers using your product, for instance. Try giving a reward to encourage submissions. This will bring your company into people’s lives. A personal touch like this an effective marketing tool.
Social Media
Show your appreciation for those loyal to your company. Write them a poem or wish them Happy Holidays. Or go with a more traditional method, like offering coupons to long-term subscribers.
Are you prepared to make the most of social media to expand your business? Nearly everybody enjoys social media, so try taking advantage of this by using Facebook marketing. The information in this article will enable you to effectively reach and grow your target demographic.
If you need a source of content, look to Google Alerts. They point you to lots of different content formats, including news blurbs, websites and blog postings that relate to your specific business sector. Post the most interesting articles on your Facebook page.
You will need a solid business plan to help you out with starting your business to get you going. This means utilizing every avenue of marketing, including social media sites. Use the information here to create an innovative approach to social media marketing.
Add a share button for Facebook near the tops of blog posts. By doing so, viewers of your blog can then on-share the post to their friends. This will increase the number of visitors to you blog, which should in turn increase sales.
Twitter is an excellent marketing tool for your company. If you study how to use Twitter and what it can do for you, you can get hundreds of thousands of people to see your products. Be sure to learn how to utilize hashtags, keywords, and anything else important about how Twitter works.
Figure out what it means to have a conversation. A lot of people forget that when a company writes a review they would like have a conversation with them. Take your customers’ feedback to another level by starting a conversation. The more you are willing to learn from your customers, the more likely they are to reward your efforts with continued loyalty and repeat sales.
To help get visitors that are targeted to your site, you should use Youtube in social media marketing. YouTube is great new way to attract visitors to your site, because they will already have an idea what you’re marketing after viewing one of your videos on YouTube. If your visitors already know something about your product line before browsing your website, they’re more likely to buy something.
Tie in all of the links you have in your social media sites together. Include links if you have a blog where your consumers can see you on Twitter, YouTube and also if they want to like you at Facebook. Add in your blog, Facebook and URL to your Twitter profile. Creating links in different forms of media will widen your costumer base.
Make a decision about whether or not you want to have relationships with your clientele. If you desire to maximize sales, try to advertise using social channels and remember to keep it simple. If you want to get on a level with your customers that requires back and forth, start off simple and just say “Hello.” Your customers will be able to lead you once this happens.
Take time to decide what your overall high level strategy is all about. If you just chase fads without any unified plan, you’ll waste a lot of money and have nothing to show for it. Lay out your strategy before you make any commitments and include every avenue of marketing you wish to use.
When using social media for your business, it is important to reply to your customer’s questions and comments. Comments can get lost in the shuffle, so make a habit of specifically looking for new comments every time you check your feed.
It takes time and research to put together an effective plan for using social media as a marketing tool. You cannot expect to have 10,000 followers in one day. It can happen, but it is not very likely your profiles will get attention that fast. You have to be patient; you will gain more followers over time.
A strong social media network will take a lot of time, effort and determination. It is not likely that you will develop a long list of followers quickly. It has happened in rare occurrences, but it is unlikely that you will receive viral following in just one night. Be patient and in time, followers will come to you.
If you quickly and professionally respond to comments posted to you on social media, you will find that your reputation stays positive, no matter what the comments say. If you do not, your whole social media campaign could end up failing. You especially need to be sure to respond to any comments or reviews that are negative or attacking. Ignoring such posts could negatively impact your reputation. Deal with them as the occur, and you won’t have any nasty side effects to deal with down the line.
Make sure your YouTube videos all have links to your primary website in your descriptions. Also, make sure your YouTube channel is tied to the rest of your social media presence using the appropriate buttons. It’s better to get YouTube members to subscribe to you on Twitter or Facebook, since they will share the videos that they like.
It’s very simple for your Facebook followers to share posted content. When someone makes a comment on a post, a notification will show up in their feed and will be visible to their friends. Encourage followers to communicate online with you, and among themselves, to enhance your exposure.
When marketing with social media, it is important for you to make sure your ads will be in a spot on the page where they will be seen often. When your ads are in bad places, then it makes it hard for you to get any attention from people, which can hurt your possibility of customers or followers.
It’s always a great idea to research any type of campaign or strategy you’re going with. Social media constantly changes, and you don’t want to miss the boat on anything new. No two social networking sites are the same, and familiarizing yourself with their differences will aid you in getting the most out of them. You might find that there is one particular site that connects with your ideal target audience and to which you should devote a big part of your efforts.
The frequency with which you update your social media status should change with the situation. Update your content more often when you launch a new product or service. If you are having a hard time coming up with new content, you may want to post less often.
Your YouTube videos should be strongly linked to all your other online presences, not only your website. Make sure your channel and your individual videos link to Twitter and Facebook, too. If you can attract users who frequent YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, you can expect to see increases in site visitors and video sharing.
Any comments left on the Facebook page should be replied to immediately. No matter what type of comment it is, you’ll want to stop in and leave a reply. If people can feel their opinion matters to you, they will be more likely to stay loyal to your brand. Be sure that you get back to your customers promptly or they may feel like you are ignoring them.
While social networks have certainly changed communication habits, maintaining a professional persona is important. While you may wish to introduce yourself by your real name, you should always maintain a professional tone. Avoid arguments by either responding professionally to negative posts or deleting comments that are completely unconstructive. Make your own separate, personal profile; this will allow you to have interactions with your personal friends.
Freebies are a fun way to engage your customers through social media! People love getting things for free, and offering free items is a great way to bring new customers to your profile. You just need to decide on something that you can offer in large quantities, and be sure to end the offer when you run out of product.
The best social network marketing involves speaking directly to customers on an individual basis. Customers do not enjoy communicating with a large, anonymous entity. Customers want the ability to speak to a person directly.
Utilize social networks for promoting special offers. People will be driven to follow you if they know they can get special deals and discounts for doing so. Anything that draws people to your site in a positive way is a plus, but getting more people there is only half the battle. You still have to work to keep them coming back.
One effective strategy for marketing your business through social media networks, such as Twitter or Facebook, is to hold contests featuring appealing prizes. Such announcements are often spread very quickly on such media outlets. The contest should both interesting and original, as well as tied into whatever you happen to be selling. A creative way for people to enter would be by designing your company a new logo, or one for an upcoming product.
Remember that social media is social. It is not just a place to advertise your products and services. You can learn a lot about your potential customers through social networking. One of your goals should be to get your customers to view you as a real person and to interact accordingly. Obviously this is a form of advertising for your products, but can also double as an informational resource for prospective clients.
When using social media, resist the urge to make your messages long and drawn out. Messages should be short enough to ensure that boredom is not possible; you want to make sure that visitors want to share your information with others. Using too many images can make the text area smaller than it should be.
Generate publicity for your company by hosting contests that offer attractive awards. Once customers become interested in your contest, they’ll share its existence with their friends and you will get lots of people involved. That’s how social media works. Try and let the contest be entertaining, amusing, and relevant to your business’ offerings. Perhaps you could have contestants come up with a logo for your next item.
Offering an appealing incentive without over sell is key to successfully using social media marketing to advance your company goals. People do not like feeling pushed into buying something. Post an incentive in the form of a perk or sale each week at a time when customers will be most likely to find them. You always want your customers feeling as if they’ve gotten the best end of the deal. It will keep them coming back.
Market Research
When you use Facebook to market to customers about what products or services you offer, only share things that are important to share. People also enjoy interesting things. Don’t share just anything, just to share. Share exciting, factual and interesting information. However, it should be of interest to others. Don’t post stuff you would find in gossip magazines or tabloids, such as “Which Sex and the City character are you?” quizzes.
If you are looking to launch new products or are even looking for feedback concerning existing products, then think about using social media as your market research. Most people who use social media enjoy the opportunity to share their favorite products, opinions and ideas with others. Your followers may be able to give you valuable insight into what products and services best fill their needs. Best of all, all this market research comes at no cost to you.
Frequently leave comments on social media sites that you follow. Social media is all about interacting, being social and visible. Start a dialogue by asking a question of other authorities in your niche. This can quickly turn into a great networking opportunity.
When using social media marketing, one should not rely on only one channel. The use of multiple sites will increase your exposure to potential customers. This also lets you use different tools to help further your social media marketing campaign.
If you want your page to stay up-to-date, automate Twitter. When you set up automated Twitter, you can tweet blog posts from the sites of other people. Share posts of other trustworthy blogs. That way, your pages will stay current and your audience will always have quality content to read.
Social media marketing is a good way to get the attention you need. Businesses get free publicity from fans who post reviews or links to the business’ page on their own social media profiles. You need to provide incentives to social media users to spread your information by means of competitions and special offers.
Even though the holidays often include a natural bump in purchasing, don’t let this keep you from marketing to your customers. The reality is that you should give them more focus so that they can get more in a holiday mood. Keep your holiday plans fun and flexible. Your customers will love this seasonal spirit.
The tips you’ve read will help make your business a success, and will be able to help you promote any future projects, as well. It’s always good to have strong social marketing skills. It’s not as hard as people make it sound, and it is quite easy to accomplish if you put in the work.
Whenever you can, share your content. You will have to write quality articles and post them on your social networks. Posting under your very own name on pages like HubPages and Associated Content is also a good idea. If necessary, pay people to create content for you, or re-use articles you’ve written before.
Do you want your business to gain exposure among millions of people? Facebook can help you expose your business. Facebook has millions of registered users and when used properly, can be of great assistance.
Communicate with your fans on a regular basis so you are aware of what they want. Check out anything posted to your wall. Other businesses that are successful have gained great marketing ideas from their audience. Do not ignore your fans, because you would not be very successful without them.
Interact with your fans regularly so you know what it is they want. Acknowledge the posts that people make. Numerous successful businesses have benefited from marketing ideas learned from the public. Do not ignore your fans, because you would not be very successful without them.
Coming up with a giveaway is a wonderful idea to help your Facebook marketing campaign. Get people to join by enticing subscribers with some free items. Make an announcement of who the latest winner is, and whenever you want to bump up your subscriber base, use this strategy.
Think about making a group rather than a page. Facebook groups will encourage potential customers to establish their own community. You could even set up both a group and a page if you would like and if it makes sense for your business.
Keep your page creative and different from other pages. Add colors, logos, photos and interesting apps. Facebook users tend to be drawn to these kinds of pages over plain pages.
Custom Tabs
Facebook Offers is a great way to promote freebies and contests you offer on your site. All that you must do is give them the offer and then set up a Promo Post on the wall of your Facebook page. A good offer will appeal to potential customers as well.
Use the custom tabs on Facebook for greater efficiency. Custom tabs let you optimize information on your page for visitors that betters your business. If your business is holding an event or sponsoring a contest, including a tab makes sure visitors know about it.
Make your Facebook marketing page more efficient by using the custom tab options. They let you get information together in an easily readable format. For instance, if you have a contest going, a tab for that can be included.
Your current customers need to be your main focus. Many people concentrate on getting new fans but forget the patrons they have already. For a stronger Facebook marketing campaign, your audience should feel respected. This engages your consumers with your brand, so you can’t forget who your champions are.
Facebook ads can be a good investment. You are able to customize your ad so that only one gender or a certain age group can see it. There are many budget tools to work with as well. Also, there is not any long-running commitment involved. You can take the ad off whenever you want to.
Try offering exclusives when people “like” your page. Likes are something that can make your Facebook page popular. Giving a gift in return is good marketing. Whether it is an individual gift or the chance to go into a draw, it will create excitement. The more benefit they receive, the quicker they will click that button.
In return for a “Like”, provide an exclusive reward. New likes have the opportunity to draw a lot of attention to your page. Think about giving folks something unique and free if they give your page a “like.” You can also enter them into a contest if they like your page. People find it easy to click if the offer is for an appealing item they would like.
When a follower asks you a question on your wall or makes a comment, always respond. This will show that you care about what they have to say. Think of Facebook posts in the same way that you think of phone calls: you respond to them and answer questions about your business.
Be sure your postings are valuable and relevant. Basically, your readers should gain something out of every single one of your Facebook posts. Don’t try to sell to people too often or you might get people to quit following you when they get sick of it.
When marketing through Facebook, the goal is to increase your sales. Therefore, you should set monthly sales goals. It is great to get a lot of people to like your page, but you want that to translate into money or it does not really mean anything. If you are not seeing the type of business you want, you may need to adjust your strategy.
Although Facebook marketing is an extremely powerful tool, you shouldn’t automatically assume that it’s the best social media option for you. This website is a great place to start with, but there are other sites out there that cater to different people. Do sufficient research on your targets to understand which of the social media channels they use prior to beginning a campaign.
Avoid sending updates that aren’t related to you or your business. Only post content that your subscribers are interested in hearing about. If you are going to put up personal things, do it on your personal page.
Find opportunities to build your leadership. Facebook can help you build your authority online in your niche. Also look for certain avenues you can use to market your product. This will make people aware of your brand after a while and you will meet a lot of potential customers this way.
Get fans involved in brand or company decisions. Folks like feeling as though they are part of the process. You can tap into this by having your community help you with some decisions. For example, if you blog, you can ask them what kind of posts would interest them.
Only add photographs to your Facebook profile that are professional. You want your followers to equate your business with professionalism, not amateur hour. If you are going to take personal photos, make sure that you use a great quality camera and you don’t post anything that will give people a negative view of your brand.
Always look for new ways to learn about using Facebook, and leadership opportunities. Use all the resources at your disposal. Be looking for all opportunities you can find to post comments using your expertise. You will find new followers and showcase your brand to hundreds of potential customers.
The most important part of posting on Facebook is establishing long-term ties with other users. Facebook is a lot like real life in that having a network of contacts can pay off in the long run. Share quality content with your audience and encourage subscribers to interact with you. Make sure that you give loyal customers deals and promotions.
Allow clients to post comments and thoughts on your page at all times. It may seem smart to keep bad comments away from your page, but really it creates the perception that you have zero interest in hearing from your customers.
Mirror your social marketing pages to the content on your website. If your website is grass green, make your Facebook page the same color. This will keep your brand uniform in all areas. Making it completely different, however, will only serve to confuse your loyal customers.
Ensure your profile is always up to date. If there are any changes, make the changes on the profile page. Keeping your page up to date can be helpful for customers who are interested in what you have to offer. Changing the look of your page can also keep it looking fresh.
Make sure your profile is updated. If anything changes within your business, be sure you change it on your profile page. That can be helpful to your customers, who want to know about your offerings. You may even decide to change things around on your profile page; this will keep people coming back to see what you have going on.
Get people interested and involved in your service or product by creating contests on the Facebook page. Ask your customers to take pictures while they are using your products and then post these photos on your Facebook page. A winner will be chosen at the end of the contest.
You should be able to create a lot of relevant content that is unique and full of variety. You need to remain focused on content that relates to your brand, though you want to keep things interesting. Find different types of content that will keep your fans engaged. Encourage them to submit pictures for a display, or raise questions they can interact with.
When a reader leaves negative comments for you, make the effort to respond. Letting it sit there without an answer will tell folks that you are only interested in those who agree with you. If you are able to handle negative feedback positively, people are going to respect you and will remain loyal to you.
The number of Likes on your page doesn’t affect its success necessarily. Your focus should be on users who will actually use what you have to offer. The conversion rate is what determines the success of your campaign.
If you have an outlet or store for your company, use Facebook’s check-in function. Let fans update their status through checking into your store. This is a great way to reach friends and family of the subscriber, as their friends are able to see that they visited your store.
Make sure that you learn all there is to know about Facebook before launching your page. The more you understand the ins and outs, the more successful you can be. You can learn things about Facebook that most users are not aware of by visiting the help center of the site. You may find out some very interesting information!
You can still promote sales while increasing your fan base. You may utilize coupons as a way to attract newer friends and promotional offers as a way to maintain relationships with existing ones. Make sure to offer promotions to new and old fans alike.
Text doesn’t convey tone as well as speech, so pay attention to what you post. When your posts look like they’re automated advertisements, you’ll lose fans.
If you can, hire someone to manage your Facebook page. Daily status updates and other content will remind customers why they patronize your business. You can share your posts so you get more exposure.
Determine what you want to achieve through your Facebook campaign. Do you want to grow your sales, launch something new or even grow your fan base? If you don’t meet the goals you have set, try using more useful strategies for the social media plan.
You should always be sure you remain on-topic when making Facebook posts. The fluctuation of interest rates, for example, is an appropriate topic for a business concerned with selling homes. Rickrolling people is funny, but it’s off topic and will make your followers revolt.
Use your Facebook fans when you are seeking a bit of inspiration. Maybe you have an idea for a new marketing campaign, but you’re not sure how it will go over with potential customers; ask for people’s opinions. Very quickly you will receive valuable feedback, positive and negative, from exactly the people you want to market to.
Pictures automatically generate interest in your Facebook updates. When you need to get in touch with your customers, a good picture is the best way to do this. Including photographs of your products being used by your employees and yourself will help your followers relate to you and your business.
Google Alerts can help you locate great content for your page. This shows lots of content from news articles to blog posts to websites, which are relevant to your field. Your Facebook wall is a great place to place links.
There may be people out there who do not want your Facebook page to be successful. Facebook is notorious for enemy commentary. Monitor your page closely and frequently, removing negative content as quickly as you discover it.
If you want to subscribe to the updates from another Facebook page, make sure it is not a brand against which you are competing. Select pages that are going to help you start a nice positive brand image. When you share updates from other pages, your brand is associated with them.
This shows you that Facebook is an important marketing technique. There are quite a few people out there that use Facebook and that means that you can reach out to them if you know what you’re doing. Use these helpful tips, grow your business and socialize with your fans. There is a whole new world of marketing within Facebook.
Try using the Facebook page to connect with experts that are in your field. For instance, if your field is landscaping, solicit posts from stone experts. You can also use it to supplement a blog site. You could interview different roofing experts, who can explain the differences in materials.
Social networking is an increasingly popular way for companies to interact with consumers online. This definitely works in your favor as a business owner or marketing manager. It can be exciting to interact with new and old customers on social media sites. Keep reading for insight and ideas for using social media marketing.
If you have included Twitter in your social media plan, make sure your tweets are valuable, relevant and vary in content. Offer advice and suggestions of interest to your customers via Twitter. Sprinkling these tweets in among blatantly promotional ones will keep your readers more interested in what you have to say.
Be sure that you have a blog, and keep the content fresh with helpful information. If your business is currently or soon-to-be running a discount, coupon, promotion or sale, be certain that your blog mentions it. It is also the perfect place to release important information such as location and hour changes. See to it that all of this gets posted to your blog.
Social media works best if you create links that all tie together. On your blog, post links to your Twitter site, for example. In the information box of your YouTube videos, post a link to your Facebook page. When setting up your profile on Twitter, make sure to put in the website addresses for your Facebook page and blog. Your customer base potential increases when you add in links to all of your social media accounts.
If you are using social media marketing, make sure you inform all of your current customers. If they join your page, most social media sites inform all of their connections that they are following your page. This facet represents free advertising, which should never get underestimated or ignored. It also has the potential to increase conversions, since it has the same function as word-of-mouth advertising.
One way to get your business’s name out there is to guest blog for others in your niche or have a popular person in your niche guest blog for your business. You will get more visitors this way. When you use guest blogging as a technique, make sure you also link back also to your site. Make sure you also allow your blogger to link back as well. The other blogger’s readers are probably going to come and check you out.
Social Media
Use email marketing along with social media. Add a Facebook button or twitter button to the end of your emails. Also try including a link for subscribing to your newsletters or other emails.
Do not begin marketing on social networking sites until you come up with a plan. You need to know the basics: how much time and money to spend, who to put in charge of social media accounts, and what you want each page to look like. Create a timeline that lays out when you expect to meet certain milestones in your campaign. Adhere to this plan and keep at it until you reach your desired level of social media success.
Make sure you respond to any question or comment left on your social media page. Make sure you log in two times a day and read your messages and notifications. You can also adjust your settings so that you receive an email notification when content is posted. Keep in mind that your response will be visible to everyone, so avoid making silly gaffes.
Decide if you want a relationship with the consumers. If you want social media to simply be a sales channel, then just buy some advertising on social media sites to simplify things. If you do want to engage in an ongoing relationship with clients, then approach it easily with a simple introduction at first. Then, your customers can take the lead.
There are many helpful resources related to Twitter, like Twellow and Tweepi. These tools help you to find your target audience; you can also identify influential users, too. From these, you can come up with a list of folks you should personally follow, in the hopes that they do the same to your content or accounts, too.
If you’d really like the customers to go crazy about your products as opposed to the competition’s, make sure that you’re offering some great deals and exclusive specials. People who receive exclusive offers on Facebook or other social media sites will pay more attention to your social media marketing campaign as well as share your sites with others.
Never forget to add the appropriate tags when using Twitter for posting purposes. You can create a tag by preceding it with the pound (#) sign, and it will be visible to groups and people who use the tag as a search term. Wisely select your tags, and search for groups your audience would want to subscribe to themselves.
Take advantage of Twitter-related applications, including Twellow and Tweepi. These tools help you to find your target audience; you can also identify influential users, too. You can then build a list of individuals you need to be following, in hopes that they soon start following you as well.
Attract more customers to your products or your store by using your profile on social media sites. Let them know about new locations or discounts you have going on. Provide printable coupons or limited offers only available to Facebook followers. People must think about making you a Facebook friend as an interesting thing to do.
Social Media
When you receive a comment on Facebook, you must make sure that you reply to it. Even negative ones, try and make things turn positive. By doing this, people will believe that their voice matters to you. As a result, their trust in your business will be increased. Make sure you respond promptly to avoid making your customers feel ignored.
Have your customers fill in surveys about their social networking habits. If the results show that people are spending several hours a day using social media, you definitely need to have a visible presence for your company. If it so happens that your target audience is not affiliated with any social media sites, than it may be best to focus your efforts in another area that your audience better relates to.
Social media marketing is not all about advertising your products. Using social networks gives you more information about your clients. This can also be used to create an interactive dialogue between them and “the brand”. You obviously have ample time to discuss your products or services, but try to use this opportunity to discover more about your customers and their opinions on a “non-spammy” level.
Be sure to keep close tabs on your competitors. Find their social media pages and see what they do to get and keep customers interested. You can do something comparable and try to attract the same audience, or you can think of something entirely different and target a different audience.
Be patient with social media. Before you can truly appreciate everything social media has to offer, you must develop an extensive network of fans and followers. Usually it can take about a year to build a good following and take advantage of the real benefits for your business and develop creative marketing strategies.
Remember that having a presence on social media is not just about advertising your products. You can learn a lot about your potential customers through social networking. You might also be able to have them interact with yourself and your brand. It’s important to use social media to promote your products, but your number one focus should be on customer relations.
Making a brand for yourself or your company is paramount in social media. Keep your logo as a avatar or perhaps use it to decorate the background, but make sure it is always visible. Use the same color palette on every one of your social media accounts. This will help your followers know and trust who they are following and listening to. Be consistent, so that your brand can be advantageous to you.
Social Media
Take note of the time slot when re-tweets and responses to your tweets occur most frequently on Twitter. Take advantage of this knowledge, and try to post more frequently during these times. You can do things like send out tweets automatically around the time that you’re impacted with a lot of tweets from other people.
Research the concept of social networking. Even if you use Facebook or Twitter already, establishing a professional social media presence is very different from personal social media use. Take the time to learn what has worked for other professionals.
Use Facebook as a venue for running contests. Your audience will appreciate getting the opportunity to win a free product. Contests can get people interested about your brand and attracted to your pages. You can also use contests to build a buzz around your newest items.
If you host blogs for employees on your website then the added traffic they attract can help your bottom line. Let potential customers see some of the inner workings of your business. They can see how your business does work and how things go on inside your company infastructgure. Giving customers an inside look at your business workings is one way to build their trust in you and your products.
Run online contests that provide free products to your followers, and run it through all your social media. People cannot resist freebies, and if they have a chance to win, they will enter your contest through any channels you offer. Share the information about who won for credibility and further advertising.
Do not get discouraged or give up on your social media site. It takes time to build a network of followers and see the real benefits of social media marketing. Expect to see growth withing a year’s time, and don’t get impatient.
Be active and comment on other people’s posts. The keyword here is “social”. Interact with others and take advantage of the public exchange of information. Blog about something that generally interests you to get to talking. As an added bonus, this can open up possibilities for networking opportunities.
Posting effective content on social media is key to growing your follower base, so consider interviewing experts and other influential people in your field and then posting the video to YouTube. This is quality content and a good way to acquire respect. It will also build your reputation as an authority on the subject. This name-recognition will help you greatly in promoting your business.
You should make it easy for your readers to subscribe so that they could receive information via email. Although email marketing is not as novel as marketing on social media, these emails can still be an important marketing tool in holding your readers attention and directing them to your social media locations.
When you are looking to create content to put on your Twitter of Facebook, make sure it is proofread. Professional content will generate the best results. Particular abbreviations are acceptable for tweets, but be mindful about their application. Write your content carefully and always proofread it.
Make sure that your Twitter account is automated so that you can keep up interest on it. You can set up automation with your Twitter so you can auto-tweet the blog posts of others. The content of the other blogs should be accurate, useful and relevant to your business in some way. This will make your page appear more fresh and you’ll be providing good content
With social media marketing, provide incentives without being too pushy. Consumers are turned off by pushy or forceful sales tactics. Have a weekly sale or discount on a regular schedule so that customers can know when to take advantage of them. This is a great way to ensure that your customers receive the best deal available, but also don’t feel as if you forced it on them.
You can use YouTube as an effective tool in marketing your products and services. You can periodically create video blogs about recent updates with your company or new products that you have available. Embed these videos into your blog postings to get them more exposure than they would have if you just posted them on YouTube.
Social Media
Look at how your competition is adapting to using the various social media marketing tools they have available to them. Take the time to really evaluate what they’re doing, and pay attention to what seems to be working, and what’s falling flat. Once you do, take advantage of the things you’ve learned, and use them to take your business to new heights.
These days, using social media to market your business is a very intelligent thing to do. Integrate the tips you’ve just learned into your strategy so you can gain confidence with the medium. Your efforts in marketing will yield great results. This may even get you excited to do more with your social media profiles. Utilizing social media is an exceptionally effective way to bring success to your business.
An effective way to use Twitter for social marketing purposes is to organize a group chat, commonly called a Twitter party. Set a specific time and date and your audience can use Twitter to talk about a certain topic using hashtags. Ask bloggers to join your party, so they can help answer customers’ questions. Make sure all of them blog about your upcoming party to their own unique audience.
Social networking is a revolutionary way for folks to interact online. Social media can work for you if you need to promote a product, brand, or anything else. Using social media sites for marketing is effective, very economical and can keep your customer base continually expanding. The following are some excellent methods for utilizing social media in marketing.
If you have included Twitter in your social media plan, make sure your tweets are valuable, relevant and vary in content. Give out advice that concerns your business. If you use both kinds of tweets rather than only promoting your business, you attract attention and interest from your followers.
Let all of your existing customers know if you are going to start being active in social media. When your customers subscribe to your page, the social network may let their followers know about your page. This will provide you with a fairly easy source of advertisement. It also has more value than regular advertising because it is essentially a referral.
Be very careful before you employ the services of marketing companies who specialize in social media. Many of these businesses are preying on inexperienced owners of Internet marketing businesses with scams. These fly-by-night companies use fraudulently registered YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter accounts and use proxy servers to evade automated abuse control measures. Your advertisement would be rarely seen by an actual person, no matter what the view count says. You will just have wasted a lot of money.
Before entering the world of social media marketing, devise a plan. You will have to determine how you want your page set up, how often you can work on it, and who will do the work. As with other marketing campaigns, you must establish a timeline in which you hope to reach your goals. Success relies on your ability to stay on target.
Take care to fully comprehend what real conversation is all about. A lot of people forget that when a company writes a review they would like have a conversation with them. Be the one whom takes the time to learn why a customer left negative feedback and what you can do to change it. Become more passionate about learning about what they want or need, and use this to think about where to go next in business.
If you’d really like the customers to go crazy about your products as opposed to the competition’s, make sure that you’re offering some great deals and exclusive specials. These customers are likely to check out these specials if they cannot be found elsewhere, and will even tell others about the specials.
Don’t rush into just any strategy that looks good, but instead carefully consider the level of marketing that will genuinely benefit your business. If you do not have a clear strategy and bounce from one social site to another, you can end up wasting time and money. Create a long-term strategy that takes your overall business goals into account and implement it with confidence.
In your content, talk about what your have accomplished in social networks. For example, when you arrive at a milestone, like signing up your 1000th Twitter follower, you can write about it. Publicly thank people for their interest, comments and other interactions and discuss the positive aspects of social media. That kind of article can be quickly shared.
A good social media marketing tip is to always be active in this area. It is best to link all your social media sites together. If you are not attentive and willing to interact, you will not be able to sustain an interesting or winning social media initiative. New and interesting additions to your social media sites will keep people interested and increase your chances of success.
Buttons, widgets and other apps are your best friends when it comes to holding down a successful social media marketing campaign. Make sure this appears on your website, blog, emails and signature when you leave comments. From each social network profile, link to your various other profiles to allow customers to find you everywhere.
Continually interact with your customers. Comment on their blogs, send messages, and communicate via forums. Do anything you can as long as it is appropriate. However, don’t jump into someone else’s personal conversation. You should only enter into communication if they’re directly discussing a topic relative to the services or products you offer.
Adjust your Twitter profile settings to ensure that all of your business posts are automatically tweeted. An option for you is to pick a few bloggers that always post professional looking content and link to their posts. These bloggers will enjoy the exposure, and your readers will appreciate the new content.
Merge the world of email marketing and social media. Make sure you have a link to your Twitter or Facebook account at the end of your email correspondence and ask recipients to post there. It is also a great idea to provide an option for subscribing to your newsletter in any email correspondence.
When you place advertising on your social media pages, pay attention to the location of the ads on the page. Even the finest ad will have little effect if it winds up in a position that visitors tend to ignore. Make sure your ads are placed for maximum impact.
Give away freebies. The appeal of a free gift is universal; offering them is a great way to build your audience on social networking sites. Choose the freebie you think your customers would like, post about it on your social media and then spread the word on forums, websites and blogs.
Don’t expect your social media presence to generate tons of followers and likes in a very short time. Potential customers have to feel like they can trust both you and whatever you’re selling. Work to gain one person’s confidence at a time. Before you realize it, you’re going to have a huge database of clientele.
Social media is a great method of making your company brand very recognizable. Build your social media pages and backgrounds utilizing your company’s logos and symbols. Choose one color scheme and implement it across your website and social media accounts. Your followers will associate these colors with your brands and trust you because you are consistent. Continuity is an important element of your company’s online presence.
When you are trying different ways to use social marketing, make sure you know what is posted by your company. You do not want to overlook something embarrassing, and you want to make sure that everything you put up is of quality. While this will get your business more publicity, it might not be the kind of attention that you want.
You can draw much more attention to your business, nowadays, by taking advantage of social media marketing. Your business can benefit from reviews on the products, and other information spread by social media users. You can entice your customers by offering special deals, and friendly competitions as a means to promote your business.
Don’t just use one social media site to market your business. In addition to Facebook, you may want to take advantage of places like Twitter as well. You will have more marketing success with greater exposure.
Post marketing materials at most three times per day on your social media account. A lot of your visitors will not only feel overwhelmed by the amount of content, but also irritated by the constant updates that they are being provided. Think about your updates carefully and restrict yourself to a maximum of three updates or postings in a single day.
Social Media
While it is extremely important to offer customers valuable incentives, it is equally important to avoid seeming overly pushy. Possible clientele don’t like pushy salesmen. Try using perks when customers can see them at a certain time every week. You can use this in order to make your customers feel as if they’ve benefited greatly without having something forced on them.
Link your social media profile with your company website. This is simple. Just use “share” buttons that take visitors to your social media websites. Make it simple for your potential customers to share on RSS feeds, blogs and your main company website page.
Update your blog entries on a frequent basis. Update blog posts and other content four to five times per week to keep your customers and followers interested. People will be checking in, so make sure you keep information fresh. Schedule the entries into your calender or other planner so your blog stays updated.
There are many companies available as consultants that are willing to run your Twitter account for you. Services like these are great time-saving tools to use when marketing through social media. Find one with features that allow you to auto follow people who follow you, and aim for other features that help you navigate the process. This can help you keep your friends list under control, and also find new friends that have your interests in mind.
Make yourself look popular by showing off your current friends. This idea is called “social proof.” People are more likely to interact with you if they perceive you as being popular. For example, you might highlight the accomplishments of your Facebook friends, or you could mention the number of fans who subscribe to your YouTube videos. Be sure to link to your other social media pages too.
When you get a follower on Twitter, make sure you follow them back! You are not too powerful to be friends with your followers. People want to know that a company they deal with cares about their customers, and is friendly. When you follow back your customers on Twitter, it is an easy process, and it gives them a benefit.
You have to remember that media and social networking profiles should be used differently, and remember to localize them with nearby areas. Learn about world regions and countries and specifically target your marketing. It’s easier for customers to feel comfortable about making purchases from a company that they feel understands their culture and language.
Your blogs should contain a mixture of written and pictorial content. People won’t enjoy your blog as much if it’s made up totally of blocks of text. Colors, designs, videos or anything other than text helps people stay engaged. But you don’t want to overdo it and make it too stimulating.
You should never take focus away from your customers during the holidays. You really need to put additional effort into giving them what they want and help them get in the holiday spirit. Always have back-up plans ready, and approach the holidays with fun in mind. You customers will appreciate it.
Comment on other social media bloggers’ posts frequently. If you are very sociable, this can lead to a lot of sales for your business. A simple way to become more popular is by starting dialogues with others whose blogs are in the same niche as yours. This can be a fabulous networking opportunity.
Learn how to heed you customer’s suggestions. Always thank your followers for their feedback and clarify their concerns by asking follow-up questions. Note the feedback you receive and you may notice recurrent comments that are useful.
You need to establish and build positive relationships with other posters on public forums. Think of forum users as potential customers who are looking for information. Provide the answers to their questions and treat them with honesty and respect, so that you can fulfill their needs and spark their interest in your business. If you post frequently, are always helpful and fill customer’s needs, you can build appropriate business relationships with them.
Do you use YouTube? After you have a YouTube account built, when you wish to put up a video, you may want to auto-post it to your external social websites as well. You are able to do this by getting to the account settings page so you can choose services that allow you to post automatically.
Social Media
Throw a party on Twitter. This involves choosing a time and date when the people in your audience are using hashtags to tweet about a particular subject. Ask a couple of bloggers to join in and provide the customers with advice. Choose bloggers who are of great influence in your niche market, and ask them to draw in their own readers to join.
Social media marketing is among the most effective strategies that your business can utilize in today’s world. Use the advice of this article to familiarize yourself with social media and how it works. Your marketing efforts will produce great results that will motivate you to do even more with social media sites. This brand of marketing can easily help your business expand, so take care in applying what you’ve learned here.
You can make use of YouTube’s annotation feature to hide a discount code. You can choose the point in time where your annotation will appear: post your video on social networks and encourage people to watch the video until the end to get the discount code and share it with their friends. | {
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The Tragic Truth Of Accidental Deaths In Combat Zones
The only person who died during my deployment to Iraq in 2003 to 2004 was U.S. Army Sgt. Landis Garrison. Other people, such as Brandon Ramsey of the 933rd Military Police Company, died, but they were not from my unit, the 333rd. Still, the manner in which both Ramsey and Garrison died is similar. They were not shot by insurgents. They were not blown to bits by mortars or improvised explosive devices. No, none of that. They died from preventable causes. They died from accidents.
This is not to say that my unit didn’t experience its fair share of close calls. Twice my vehicle was hit with an IED. The first time was worse than the second. Other members of my company experienced the shock of rocket-propelled grenades. But all of these things, which may be cool to talk about in a bar, pale in comparison to Garrison’s death and the death of others.
On Aug. 8, 2003, 21-year-old Ramsey became a member of what I call the One-Fifth Club: Approximately one-fifth of those who died during our nation’s wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam died from what the Department of Defense labelsnon-hostile causes, also known as accidents, suicides, friendly fires, and illnesses. In Ramsey’s case, his Humvee rolled over. His driver hit a pothole, and Ramsey was ejected from the vehicle, breaking his neck. Soon thereafter, my company was informed on how we should proceed in the event of a rollover: The gunner should drop out of the turret and down into the Humvee, and those inside should try to help pull him or her in.
Again, Ramsey was from another albeit similarly based military police company. The worst thing to happen to my company occurred on April 29, 2004, after my unit had spent close to 12 months in Iraq.
We were in our living quarters, when Garrison, just playing around, inadvertently shot himself. Spc. Fagerstrom said that he had this “oh crap” look on his face, as if Garrison realized what he had done all too late. There was evidently a round in the chamber of the pistol he had pulled out from behind a friend’s back.
First aid was administered, and a group of men rushed Garrison out on one of those green- or brown-colored Army blankets. It took an hour, but eventually, we were told of Garrison’s passing. He had been my age at the time: 23.
Prior to this, the worst thing to happen to my unit occurred on July 14, 2003, when I was in south central Iraq, pulling security at a relay station along Main Supply Route Tampa, the main albeit desolate-in-most-places highway. In other words, I was guarding a radio antenna in the middle of nowhere.
Around 12 in the afternoon, my 19-year-old friend, Spc. Garriga, and his team, who had spent the entire night on a 12-hour patrol, were awakened from their nap to help pull security at the relay. Garriga and crew got little sleep, but they had their orders.
Two Humvees left camp for the expectedly short, innocuous trip. Our platoon sergeant and others took the lead. Garriga and crew trailed. In less than a mile, they wound through the jersey barriers of our southernmost checkpoint.
As both Humvees cleared the barriers, their occupants noticed that on the opposite side of the roadway, the checkpoint sentries had their guns drawn, aimed, and ready to fire upon an Iraqi owned vehicle. Our platoon sergeant panicked and screamed at the driver of his vehicle to stop. The driver slammed on the brakes, but Garriga’s driver — not noticing what was happening in front of him — rear-ended the lead Humvee.
An instant fireball erupted. Garriga was thrown from the turret of his Humvee onto the fire-engulfed hood, receiving second- and third-degree burns. Other people were also burned or injured, but Garriga's wounds were the worst. Two years would go by before I ever saw him again. Forty-five percent of his body had been burned. On two separate occasions, his parents were told by doctors that he would not make it.
Accidents, we all know, happen for various reasons, but when you get deployed to a combat zone, you don’t think you’ll be shot or blown up because you, or your fellow soldiers, are not paying attention to what you, or they, are or should be doing.
After the accident with Garriga, there was an effort to get his driver to sign a document, making him culpable for all that had occurred on July 14. In addition to people getting injured, a lot of equipment — such as night-vision goggles, two Humvees, a combat-net radio, an automatic grenade launcher, and other weapons — was destroyed or rendered inoperable. Though the driver of the vehicle still has his share of responsibility, he was smart not to sign the document. Any sleep deprivation issue aside — is it safe to assume that the fire that almost killed Garriga would have happened had it not been standard operating procedure to strap fuel cans onto the rear of our Humvees?
Since the release of some of the publications cited above, there have been efforts to reduce non-hostile deaths in the U.S. military, but have those efforts really paid off? If you look atthe statistics for the operations that have so far replaced Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, non-hostile deaths are about equal to or exceed hostile ones. For Operation New Dawn, which lasted little over a year from 2010 to 2011, there were 35 non-hostile deaths compared to 38 hostile ones. For the ongoing operations Inherent Resolve and Freedom’s Sentinel, the non-hostile to hostile deaths are 12 to 1 and 10 to 10, respectively. Accidents are not the leading cause of death for two of the three most recent operations, but a non-hostile casualty rate greater than one-fifth is clearly present for all three. Can we reasonably expect, or accept, this to be the norm going forward?
The incidents with Garriga, Garrison, and others happened more than 10 years ago, and enlisting in any branch of the armed forces comes with consequences. But the mistakes that ended, or nearly ended, the lives of not just a few but thousands of U.S. soldiers should propel anyone with any degree of power, from the boots on the ground to the highest of offices, to change an alarming trend.
GREENBELT, Md. (Reuters) - A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant accused of amassing a cache of weapons and plotting to attack Democratic politicians and journalists was ordered held for two weeks on Thursday while federal prosecutors consider charging him with more crimes.
Attorneys for the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America have filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump asking the court to recognize the citizenship of an Alabama woman who left the U.S. to join ISIS and allow she and her young son to return to the United States.
U.S. soldiers surveil the area during a combined joint patrol in Manbij, Syria, November 1, 2018. Picture taken November 1, 2018. (U.S. Army/Zoe Garbarino/Handout via Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will leave "a small peacekeeping group" of 200 American troops in Syria for a period of time after a U.S. pullout, the White House said on Thursday, as President Donald Trump pulled back from a complete withdrawal.
With a legal fight challenge mounting from state governments over the Trump administration's use of a national emergency to construct at the U.S.-Mexico border, the president has kicked his push for the barrier into high gear.
On Wednesday, President Trump tweeted a time-lapse video of wall construction in New Mexico; the next day, he proclaimed that "THE WALL IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION RIGHT NOW"
But there's a big problem: The footage, which was filmed more than five months ago on Sep. 18, 2018, isn't really new wall construction at all, and certainly not part of the ongoing construction of "the wall" that Trump has been haggling with Congress over.
A group comprised of former U.S. military veterans and security contractors who were detained in Haiti on weapons charges has been brought back to the United States and arrested upon landing, The Miami-Herald reported.
The men — five Americans, two Serbs, and one Haitian — were stopped at a Port-au-Prince police checkpoint on Sunday while riding in two vehicles without license plates, according to police. When questioned, the heavily-armed men allegedly told police they were on a "government mission" before being taken into custody. | {
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Waco, Texas Tours Can Make Your Next Vacation A Lot More Enjoyable
If you are going to be vacationing in the Waco, Texas area, taking a tour is a great way to kick off your trip. When you go on a tour, you have a chance to learn a lot about the local area. This can make it easier to decide exactly what you want to do during your vacation.
When you visit an area that you are completely unfamiliar with, it is often hard to know where to start when planning your itinerary. Although you can search for things to do online, you may wind up missing out on a lot of great opportunities. Oftentimes, the best activities in a particular area don’t get a lot of attention on the Internet. Instead, you need to find out about them from the locals.
That is where tours can help. By booking a tour of the Waco area, you have an opportunity to really get to know the city and the surrounding region. Most tour operators are extremely knowledgeable about the area. They will often provide you with interesting historical facts or stories, giving you unique insight into how the area has grown and developed over time.
Additionally, they can point you in the direction of interesting businesses or activities that you may not have discovered on your own. In essence, it is like getting an insider look at the area from a local, allowing you to discover interesting activities and adventures that most tourists overlook.
Typically, the best option is to book a Waco, Texas tour right at the start of your trip. This gives you a chance to learn more about the area and to familiarize yourself with some of the most popular local attractions. Once you have a better understanding of everything that there is to see and do in the area, you can do a much better job of figuring out how you want to spend your time on the rest of your vacation.
In most cases, you can book a tour online, making it quick and convenient to get signed up. Most local tours like these are quite affordable. That means that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a great time. Best of all, you can get a lot of excellent insight into the local area from knowledgeable tour guides. If you really want to make the most of your time in Waco, there is no better way to do it than by taking a tour. | {
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Capturing a scoop on tape as it's actually unfolding is every reporter's dream. Judith Kampfner succeeded in doing just that in The French Ball. She was in the New York Public Library, patiently watching the Chekhovian historian and translator Peter Constantine leaf through piles of old magazines, looking for untranslated short stories by the great Russian author.
After the revolution, the Bolsheviks, desperate for foreign currency, sold a vast quantity of archive material from the Leningrad Library to America, much of which is tied up in bundles with the original string, still waiting to be catalogued. This particular bundle consisted of humorous magazines from the 1880s, similar to Punch or the New Yorker , to which Chekhov, who was then studying medicine, submitted stories under pseudonyms such as Man Without a Spleen and My Brother's Brother.
Constantine has been sifting through the magazines for days, commenting occasionally on other articles, political cartoons and ads for galoshes. You can hear library noises in the background. 'So we're now up to 1884,' he says. 'And here's a story by Chekhonte A, another pseudonym, called "The French Ball" and I'm in shock because I don't recognise the title.' 'What is it about?' asks Judith. Constantine, who can speak 27 languages, says he hasn't quite finished it but it seems to be a social comedy about a St Petersburg journalist. Chekhov would have been 24 when he wrote it. In something of a daze, Constantine goes off to look up the catalogues to see whether it's known in English. When he comes back, he says nervously: '"The French Ball" is in none of the bibliographies. I'm trying to be calm but I'm sort of falling apart.'
OK, this isn't John Simpson liberating Kabul but in literary terms, it's like finding an unpublished Shakespeare sonnet. Not only has 'The French Ball' never been translated, but it isn't included in any of the Chekhov bibliographies in Russia or the US. Nor is it in the complete works, which run to 30 volumes, and the author doesn't mention it in any of his letters. This is a genuine 24-carat solid gold scoop.
It's also Chekhov as we rarely see him, in surreal mode imagining pink jelly pouring into his room through all the cracks and little people riding tiny horses with ducks' heads. It sounded suspiciously like 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' to me but the professors of Russian literature, to whom our tireless reporter later spoke, were wildly enthusiastic about the new light it throws on the full canon of Chekhov's literature. I'm wildly enthusiastic about this genuine radio first.
Commission three women from three different countries to write plays about war and you'd think the end result might be a vaguely connected trilogy. Think again. War Zone demonstrated how vastly different the creative process can be within a comparatively limited framework. Before each performance, the playwrights, from Croatia, Algeria and Germany, talked about their work, which I always think is a bit of a cop-out. Play first, explain later. If they're awarding points, I'm bound to say that the one from Germany, Splinters by Dea Loher, about soldiers, casualties and war photographers, was the most powerful, mainly because it included music. I know this is Radio 3, where entertainment is supposed to make you work, but sometimes the obvious has its advantages.
You always know where you are with Radio 4 plays. Paris, in the case of Mark Lawson's The Man Who Had 10,000 Women, because it was about George Simenon, who created Maigret. It was fast, funny and full of good jokes, like the one about Noël Coward telephoning Simenon and being told that M Simenon was not taking any calls until he'd finished writing his latest book. 'I'll hang on then,' said Coward.
About this article
Radio: A gem from the Man Without a Spleen
This article appeared on p11 of the Observer Review section of the Observer
on Saturday 30 November 2002.
It was published on
the Guardian website
at 18.03 EST on Sunday 1 December 2002.
It was first published at 18.03 EST on Saturday 30 November 2002. | {
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Teachers union sues over performance reviews
About a third of Rochester teachers were graded as either "developing" or "ineffective" in 2012-13 on their Annual Professional Performance Reviews (APPR), compared to a statewide rate of about 5 percent, according to the suit.
Teachers union sues over performance reviews
The Rochester Teachers Association has filed a class action lawsuit against the New York State Education Department for an alleged failure to account for disparate student poverty levels in statewide teacher ratings, opening the door for a legal review of the controversial evaluations.
The Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) for 2012-13, its first year, showed about 35 percent of Rochester teachers are either "developing" or "ineffective," meaning they received a score of 74 or less out of 100, according to the union.
By comparison, only 5.4 percent of teachers statewide (excluding New York City) had poor scores, according to state data.
That, union leaders said, is evidence the scores are biased against teachers with mostly poor children in their classrooms.
"Rochester teachers work with some of the most disadvantaged students in the state," Richard Iannuzzi, president of the New York State United Teachers, said in a statement. "They should not face stigmatizing labels based on discredited tests and the state's inability to adequately account for the impact of extreme poverty when measuring growth."
About 90 percent of Rochester students qualify for free or reduced price lunch.
The union and about 100 teachers filed the suit in state Supreme Court in Albany County and are seeking class action status on behalf of the 580 or so Rochester teachers who received a poor evaluation. They asked the court to declare the teacher scores invalid and a violation of the teachers' equal protection rights.
The APPR teacher scores have three parts: 60 percent is an assessment by a supervisor based on class visits and review of student work; 20 percent is a measure of student growth based on test scores; and another 20 percent is "locally selected measures of student learning."
It's the student growth portion that the union especially objects to. State guidelines say the growth scores, given for math and language tests in grades 4-8, "use special considerations for students with disabilities, English language learners (and) students in poverty," but according to the lawsuit, that mechanism didn't work, and an adjustment allowance for teachers was capped at two points out of 100.
Teachers in subjects besides math and language and in grades outside 4-8 get a score based on a negotiated consideration of "student learning objectives," and the lawsuit alleges the state unfairly restricted the terms of those agreements as well.
According to the teachers union, just 2 percent of Rochester teachers were rated less than effective by their administrators, compared to 35 percent who were found less than effective when test scores were taken into account.
State data has not been released in full, but data collected by the state teachers union shows that in districts in New York where more than 80 percent of students receive free and reduced lunches, 25 percent of teachers received less than effective ratings. By comparison, in districts where fewer than 20 percent of students get free or reduced price lunch, only 1 percent of teachers were rated less than effective.
In other words, teachers with poor students were 25 times more likely to be found deficient than those with affluent students.
"No one in their right mind thinks that Rochester teachers are (that much) less qualified or credentialed or caring," Rochester Teachers Association President Adam Urbanski said. "The outcomes, in and of themselves, are an indictment of the process."
Rick Amico has been teaching in Rochester for 19 years and currently teaches social studies at Robert Brown High School of Construction and Design. He received 69 points out of 100, placing him in the "developing" category.
He said he got a perfect 60 on the in-school review portion, meaning he earned only nine out of 40 points based on test scores.
"I was very disappointed, but not surprised considering the format of the evaluation process," he said. "A lot of factors that are outside my control are being brought into the classroom. … When (students) are in my room, I can take care of that, but once they leave I can't do anything. I hope they do their homework, but their home life and environment are directly affecting their achievement."
A state spokesman said the education department does not comment on pending litigation. Informational materials on the department website say that poverty levels are accounted for in the ratings.
Teachers across the state have railed against APPR for a variety of reasons, but the allegation of a poor schools penalty has galvanized large urban districts in particular.
Teachers in Syracuse and Yonkers also received comparatively poor marks, and Urbanski said unions there are considering joining the RTA lawsuit or filing their own.
Yonkers Federation of Teachers President Patricia Puleo confirmed her union will likely join the lawsuit once it has exhausted the appeal process. She said 16 percent of her teachers were rated less than effective, with most of those teaching either special education or English as a second language.
"We're just a few steps behind Rochester in wanting to know where these scores come from," she said. "We don't have librarians; we don't have guidance counselors; we don't have pre-K; we have class sizes over 30. Who are you comparing us to?"
5.4: percentage of teachers statewide rated less than effective (excluding New York City)*
35: approximate percentage of Rochester teachers rated less than effective**
2.9: percentage of teachers rated less than effective in 24 other districts surrounding Rochester**
1: percentage of teachers in low-poverty districts across the state rated less than effective**
25: percentage of teachers in high-poverty districts across the state rated less than effective**
* - New York State Education Department data
** - Rochester Teachers Association and/or New York State United Teachers data
How APPR scores are calculated
Each teacher's APPR score comprises three sections: 60 percent for an assessment by a supervisor; 20 percent for student growth; and 20 percent for other local achievement data.
For math and language classes in grades 4-8, students are scored based on how much they improved over the previous year's test when compared to other students statewide who fit a similar demographic profile in categories including poverty, disability and English language proficiency. Teachers' scores are a composite of individual students' scores.
For other subjects and at other grade levels, the teachers union and the district come up with an alternate model for measuring student growth called "student learning objectives." The state approves that model and has guidelines on what it includes.
Starting in 2014-15, the student growth metric will make up 25 percent of the overall APPR score and the local achievement metric will decline to 15 percent. | {
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Credit crunch weighs on Monaco GP
<p>BMW Sauber Formula One driver Nick Heidfeld (L) of Germany and Renault Formula One driver Nelson Piquet of Brazil drive their cars during a training session for the Monaco F1 Grand Prix in Monte Carlo, May 24, 2008.Robert Pratta/Files</p>
MONACO (Reuters) - Indian magnate Vijay Mallya refuses to let the global credit crunch cramp his style, even if other high rollers may be keeping a lower profile at this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.
The aviation, beer and liquor tycoon, who also owns the Force India Formula One team, has his 95-meter yacht 'Indian Empress' moored in the Mediterranean principality's harbor and is preparing to party.
"I think glamour and sport go hand-in-hand and it's no more obvious than in Monaco," said the self-styled 'King of Good Times', whose personal wealth has suffered in the downturn to the extent that Forbes magazine listed him in March as one of the world's 355 ex-billionaires.
"Monaco is a race that is so famous worldwide that almost everybody knows it and wants to come to it, so it is not only important from a team point of view but from a sponsors' point of view as well," he added.
"We will be hosting two parties again, as brand awareness is even more important in these days of economic downturn.
"The days of unlimited budgets are of course gone, and clearly one has to watch that the end justifies the means, but we still believe that these events give 'bang for buck' and are an integral part of why we are involved in F1 as a project."
Monaco's Prince Albert and the usual cast of international rich and famous will turn out at an exclusive charity auction and fashion show on Friday to benefit the Elton John AIDS foundation. Others, though, have become more reluctant to flaunt their wealth in a recession.
Some of the bankers have disappeared while chief executives, as well as the major carmakers who dominate the billion-dollar sport, are wary of being seen to be living it up while shareholders and employees feel the pain.
"I think everywhere people think it's the wrong thing to do to spend money," Formula One's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone told Reuters when asked whether he expected Monaco to be different this year.
"That's how it is. People who have got money, who could spend it as they would have done in the past, are still not spending. That's the problem.
"I think generally they (CEOs) don't want to be seen to be lavishing money around, which is quite right."
HOTEL SUITE
Credit Suisse have left BMW-Sauber while ING are saying farewell to former champions Renault at the end of the year and have already pared back their spending.
Williams' backers Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have become majority owned by the British taxpayer, putting an end to the sort of hospitality budgets that would attract unwelcome headlines nowadays.
The Scot will be absent for the first time since the 1960s but feels Monaco needs to be taken in context.
"There are feelings of discomfort, they (company executives) feel their shareholders might be looking at it the wrong way rather than in a positive light," he told Reuters at this month's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.
"I don't see it as a jolly. Monaco in fact is hard work if you are going there for a good business reason.
"They (RBS) have made a decision that this year they feel as if it wouldn't be appropriate because of the perception of other people," he added.
"My observation to that would be that business has still got to go on and in fact we've got to build back the business. If some of the right people are there and we are not then we are missing an opportunity."
DISCREET DIAMONDS
The arrival of Singapore last season, and Abu Dhabi this year, has also given Formula One sponsors and business jet-setters two new glamorous alternatives.
"In our case I would say that we have significantly fewer guests coming to Monaco," Toyota motorsport president John Howett told Reuters. "The only one where we have strong appeal is the new one in Abu Dhabi."
Swiss-based diamond company Steinmetz have their gems on the McLaren drivers' helmets but are otherwise being lower key.
Their impressive yacht is still there, but unbranded in a harbor that on Wednesday looked less crowded than in the past, and business will be conducted at a more secluded villa.
"Obviously things have changed from 2008 to 2009," Steinmetz's Lior Levin told Reuters. "We had a lot of thought going back to Monaco and obviously we toned down the whole event."
Stewart, who won in Monaco in 1966, 1971 and 1973, said there was no danger of the principality losing its allure in the long term.
"Monaco is as strong and as colourful and as glamorous and exciting as it always has been and will remain to be," he said.
"It's the opening event for the Riviera season and everyone comes to it, whether it's from the skiing resorts or Latin America or Asia-Pacific.
"If it starts to be tainted by 'We shouldn't go there because we'll be identified as being playboys', then I think that's completely wrong."
Editing by Clare Fallon; To query or comment on this story email [email protected] | {
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Powerful earthquake on Iran-Iraq border kills more than 140
People stand in the street after feeling aftershocks from an earthquake in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017. The deadly earthquake hit the region along the border between Iran and Iraq on Sunday. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered 19 miles (31 kilometers) outside the eastern Iraqi city of Halabja. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A powerful earthquake shook the Iran-Iraq border late Sunday, killing more than 140 people and injuring 860 in the mountainous region of Iran alone, state media there said.
The Baghdad government did not immediately give word on damage or casualties in that country.
The 7.3-magnitude quake was centered 19 miles (31 kilometers) outside the eastern Iraqi city of Halabja, according to the most recent measurements from the U.S. Geological Survey. It struck at a depth of 23.2 kilometers (14.4 miles), a shallow depth that can have broader damage. Magnitude 7 earthquakes on their own are capable of widespread, heavy damage.
The quake was felt as far west as the Mediterranean coast. Its worst damage appeared to be in Iran's western Kermanshah province, which sits in the Zagros Mountains that divide Iran and Iraq. Residents in the rural area rely mainly on farming to make a living.
Iranian social media and news agencies showed images and videos of people fleeing their homes into the night. Some 50 aftershocks have followed.
The state-run IRNA news agency disclosed the increase in casualties early Monday and said rescue work was continuing overnight and would accelerate during the daytime.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered his condolences Monday morning and urged rescuers and all government agencies to do all they could to help those affected, state media reported.
The semi-official ILNA news agency said at least 14 provinces in Iran had been affected by the earthquake.
Officials announced that schools in Kermanshah and Ilam provinces would be closed Monday because of the tremor.
Iranian state TV also said Iraqi officials reported at least six people dead inside Iraq, along with more than 50 people injured in Sulaymaniyah province and about 150 in the city of Khanaquin.
Iran sits on many major fault lines and is prone to near-daily quakes. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake flattened the historic city of Bam, killing 26,000 people. The last major casualty earthquake in Iran struck in East Azerbaijan province in August 2012, killing over 300 people. | {
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Nike Kobe VII System Supreme – Del Sol | Detailed Look
With the NBA season poised to start in just a matter of days the outlook for the Lakers — and Kobe Bryant in particular — looks unpromising, if not outright grim. Aside from the failed Chris Paul trade that had the league’s best point guard settling in with the Clippers just down the hall at the Staples Center, there’s a new coach to contend with, along with a new offensive system to learn, and team chemistry in seeming shambles. Kobe himself is taking his weary 33-year-old body into its sixteenth season, with basketball mileage clocking in at an impressive 40,145 career minutes (Kobe was just 17 when he entered the league in 1997), not to mention the mental and emotional strain of an impending divorce. And though the Lakers appeared sluggish in their loss to the Clippers in a preseason game this past Monday, it would be foolish to count the Black Mamba out, and premature to coronate Chris Paul and Blake Griffin as L.A.’s preeminent basketball heroes. After all, Kobe’s the one with five NBA championships rings, numerous individual scoring accolades and a new signature sneaker from Nike that’s so advanced it’s called the Kobe VII System Supreme. The “system” refers to two types of inserts, one that’s built for a speed-based style of play, the other offering extra stability and cushioning for a strong interior game. Dressed in an appealing Del Sol colorway, the shoe is scheduled to drop December 22nd at Nike retailers like Encino’s Primitive. | {
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Ray Ison, Professor in Systems at the UK Open University since 1994, is a member of the Applied Systems Thinking in Practice Group. From 2008-15 he also developed and ran the Systemic Governance Research Program at Monash University, Melbourne. In this blog he reflects on contemporary issues from a systemic perspective.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Claims made for the top 50 sustainability books
The material that follows is from the publisher. What do you think?
‘These are the Top 50 Sustainability Books as voted for by the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership's alumni network of over 3,000 senior leaders from around the world. In addition to profiles of all 50 titles, many of the authors share their most recent reflections on the state of the world and the ongoing attempts by business, government and civil society to create a more sustainable future.
THE TOP 50 SUSTAINABILITY BOOKS
Written by Wayne Visser on behalf of the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership
Published 7 December 2009, 200 pp
This unique title draws together in one volume some of the best thinking to date on the pressing social and environmental challenges we face as a society. These are the Top 50 Sustainability Books as voted for by the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership's alumni network of over 3,000 senior leaders from around the world. In addition to profiles of all 50 titles, many of the authors share their most recent reflections on the state of the world and the ongoing attempts by business, government and civil society to create a more sustainable future.
Many of these authors have become household names in the environmental, social and economic justice movements - from Rachel Carson, Ralph Nader and E.F. Schumacher to Vandana Shiva, Muhammad Yunus and Al Gore. Others, such as Aldo Leopold, Thomas Berry and Manfred Max-Neef, are relatively undiscovered gems, whose work should be much more widely known.
The profiled books tackle our most vexing global challenges, including globalisation (Globalization and Its Discontents, No Logo), climate change (Heat, The Economics of Climate Change) and poverty (The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Development as Freedom). Some of these featured thought-leaders are highly critical of the status quo (e.g. David Korten, Eric Schlosser and Joel Bakan), while others suggest evolutionary ways forward (e.g. Amory Lovins, Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken and Jonathon Porritt). Some place their faith in technological solutions (e.g. Janine Benyus, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker), while others are upbeat about the potential of business to be a force for good (e.g. John Elkington, Ricardo Semler, William McDonough and Michael Braungart).
By featuring these and other seminal thinkers, The Top 50 Sustainability Books distils a remarkable collective intelligence - one that provides devastating evidence of the problems we face as a global society, yet also inspiring examples of innovative solutions; it explores our deepest fears and our highest hopes for the future. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to tap into the wisdom of our age.
The level of change that is going to be forced on our economies, our value chains, our companies and the people who work in business is going to be both profound, and profoundly exciting. There are few times in world history where I would rather have been alive.
John Elkington
We're going to solve these problems: extreme poverty will end by the year 2025. That's what I said in the book and I think that's what's going to happen.
Jeffrey D. Sachs
The simple truth is that there are no companies that are sustainable in the world today; there are none. What we have are companies that are experimenting with pieces of the puzzle.
Stuart L. Hart
Negligence begins tomorrow, because now we know what to do.
William McDonough
In America they said I was trying to tear down Wall Street and that would suck the juice out of the American dream.
Charles Handy
One tends to forget it's not the oil companies that drive our cars; we drive them and burn the fuel. We don't have to do it, and to entirely blame industry for making a profit from selling us petrol is quite naive. The whole of society is in the game together and to single out industry for attack is quite wrong.
James Lovelock
I always remember, on Donella Meadows' office door was a little motto which said 'Even if I knew the world would end tomorrow I'd plant a tree today.'
Dennis L. Meadows
Will our grandchildren know what a company is? ... it seems that the real institutional challenge is to create a new type of institution.
Simon Zadek
I am very sceptical about a moralistic appeal and I'm extremely sceptical about markets providing sustainable civilisation.
Ernst von Weizsäcker
I was just in Borneo watching 19 square kilometres of lush rainforest that had been recreated from scratch in six or seven years. Nobody knew you could do that.
Amory B. Lovins
Environmental concern is still very much a First World concern. Most of the world are still pretty worried about the fact that their kids can die from easily curable infectious diseases.
Bjørn Lomborg
I think there is unfortunately no level of human suffering that causes policy to change.
Susan George
Sustainability is boring. What would you say if I were to ask you about your relationship with your wife? How would you characterise it? As sustainable? If this is the bigger goal - sustainability - then I feel really sorry because it doesn't celebrate human creativity and human nature.
Michael Braungart
I think the system as a whole is structurally unsustainable. That means it has to be transformed. It can't be patched up.
The second award is a Postgraduate Diploma in Systems Thinking in Practice (E28) of 120 OU points. To be awarded the PG Diploma the PG certificate plus another 60 points of study must be completed.‘Managing systemic change: inquiry, action and interaction’ (TU812) is a 30 point compulsory course with TU811 (above).
As a result of the investment made by The Open University in the new Systems awards four new books have been produced and co-published with Springer. The first, now published, Systems Thinkers, is devoted to the individuals who are generally recognised as systems thinkers. This work presents a biographical history of the field of systems thinking, by examining the life and work of thirty of its major thinkers. It discusses each thinker’s key contributions, the way this contribution was expressed in practice and the relationship between their life and ideas. This discussion is supported by an extract from the thinker’s own writing, to give a flavour of their work and to give readers a sense of which thinkers are most relevant to their own interests.
The second book in the series, ‘Systems Approaches to Managing Change’ due for release shortly, is devoted to the main methodologies that have been developed by Systems scholars and are often deployed as part of systems practice. In their book the five methodological approaches covered are:
System dynamics (SD) developed originally in the late 1950s by Jay Wright Forrester
Viable systems method (VSM) developed originally in the late 1960s by Stafford Beer
Strategic options development and analysis (SODA: with cognitive mapping)
developed originally in the 1960s by Colin Eden
Soft systems methodology (SSM) developed originally in the 1970s by Peter
Checkland
Critical systems heuristics (CSH) developed originally in the early 1980s by
Werner Ulrich.
The third book, Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate Change World, due for release in May 2010 deals with a simple logic:
What are the situations where systems thinking helps?
What does it entail to think and act systemically?
How can practices be built that move from systemic understanding to action that is systemically desirable and culturally feasible?
How can situations be transformed for the better through systems practice?
The book is introduced against the backdrop of human induced climate change. It is argued that climate change and other factors create a societal need to move towards more systemic and adaptive governance regimes which incorporate systems practice.The systems practitioner referred to in this book is anyone managing in situations of complexity and uncertainty – it is not a specialist role or that of a consultant or hired ‘intervener’. Thus the book is structured so as to build a general model of systems practice.
The fourth book, a reader edited by Chris Blackmore called Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice, also due for release in May, is concerned with how social and critical learning systems and communities of practice can inform future systems thinking in action. Her focus is on practice in multi-stakeholder situations that call for collaborative or concerted action within groups.
This is a significant and timely commitment by The Open University. In a research report just released by The Work Foundation called Exceeding Expectation: the principles of outstanding leadership, the first key finding was that outstanding leaders ‘think systemically and act long term….Outstanding leaders achieve through a combination of systemic thinking and acting for the long term benefit of their organisation. They recognise the interconnected nature of the organization and therefore act carefully.’ | {
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Psalm 1 - A Foundation To Your Christian Life
3 Days
I would like to share a thought with you that is fundamental to our lives. It’s from Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.” This verse teaches us about the Christian life, about what it shouldn’t be. But what should it be? | {
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None of these are particularly long walks, as the intention was to visit as many as possible within just one weekend. Therefore, the chosen routes are always the shortest possible routes to the waterfalls. You may want to come up with more imaginative routes that take in more sights. | {
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Sunday, October 18, 2015
President Reagan, Bernie Sanders and Marty McFly Walk Into A Bar. You Won't Believe What Happened Next
In Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly travels thirty years forward in time, from 1985 to Wednesday, October 21, 2015. I was there to meet him.
NOTE: Pay no attention to the post date. I borrowed the Delorean.
ME: Hello, Marty. I know you're looking for a newsstand so you can grab a print newspaper from a tall stack and dramatically scan the front page in order to get your bearings.
...About those newspaper thingys. They're a little hard to find these days. Just add one more personal disappoint about your future. But not to worry, for I will be your 2015 guide. Any questions?
MCFLY: Where are all the hoverboards and flying cars? Better yet, where is my friend, Doc? He is an old dude with a shock of wild and unruly white hair and sounds a little crazy...
MCFLY: Whoa. I guess that's what happens with 30 years of plutonium exposure from a leaky flux capacitor. What's the witch's excuse?
ME: Her husband is a leaky "1.21 gigawatt"... I'm not completely sure what that means, but it sounded funny in my head.
MCFLY: Whatever. What about my flying skateboard and self-lacing shoes and all the cool stuff I was promised? And what's with all these freaks walking around with the facial studs and tattoos? Uhoh. Are those two dudes?
ME: Taking your last question first, this is California. As for the cool stuff, let me answer that question with a question of my own. Who was president in 1985 when you departed?
MCFLY: Ronald Reagan. The Gipper. Ronaldus Maximus.
ME: Exactly right. You see, McFly, except for maybe the mullet and Parachute pants, the 80s were a time filled with hope and optimism for the future and all its possibilities. And why not? When Reagan was sworn in as president in 1981, he was inheriting an economy in tatters due to half a century of misguided liberal policies of over-taxation, massive spending and strangulating regulations.
In Reagan’s first Inaugural Address he stated, “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” Reagan managed to defeat the misery index by the sheer force of his will, by his deep and abiding faith in God, love of family and by the unshakable confidence in free-market principles.
His optimism was contagious to the American people, and President Reagan's policies set in motion 25 years of a record-setting economic boom felt all around the world.
Of course, McFly, you wouldn't know all that back in 1985. You were still in the "optimistic for the future" mode. Ronald Reagan was in charge, so why not? That, and Barack Obama was just a community organizer on Chicago's south side. If there is a multiverse, rest assured obama is a janitor in every other one. And the witch is in prison.
MCFLY: OK, so if Reagan was successful, why the desolation and look of hopelessness among the masses?
ME: Well, Reagan was only partially successful implementing his agenda by going around the Democrats in control of the other branches and taking his case directly to the American people. That, and we took a wrong turn by passing the reigns of government to 3 administrations of establishment Republicans and almost 4 of full throttled socialist democrat presidents. Hence, no flying hover thingys, rather just a massive amount of debt, open borders and a world in chaos.
MCFLY: What is this obamacare, and why is Biff wearing a Navigator name tag and insisting I sign up for it?
ME: Trust me, you don't really want to know. Suffice it to say that plutonium sickness would be much more preferable.
MCFLY: So the future is bleak, and the American Dream is officially dead?
ME: Maybe yours is, Marty, but not for the rest of us. At least a hopeless future is not necessarily etched in stone. It depends on what road we take from here. Our choice remains. Do we travel the old and failed pothole-filled dirt road of socialism that leads to inevitable further decay and eventual genocide?
Or do we go Back to the Future promised by our Founding Fathers, and re-energized by President Reagan from your world?
MCFLY: What if I reset this time machine for 30 years from now to the year 2045? What do you need to do NOW to get me a ride on that magical hoverboard?
ME: First and foremost, pray. Oh, and wear this button and spread the word.
You had me till the pic of Ted Cruz....I like him a lot, but I don't think there's a ghost of a chance he'll be the candidate. He's just not an appealing candidate for some reason..I can't put my finger on it ;-(
Z, I've heard that from a number of sources. That he is not appealing... or something about how he speaks... or this, or that. Always some ethereal quality one can't quite pin down. I call BS on that, as it usually comes from a liberal (D or R) who just doesn't like his conservatism. Ted Cruz is the perfect candidate for our times. An obama antidote. I hope you're wrong about his chances.
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Please be advised - Chattering Teeth is a thrilling, high speed, turbulent blog that includes sharp turns, sudden drops and stops. Please secure all hats, glasses, pocket protectors and loose change before embarking. For your safety, please keep your arms and legs within the blog at all times until it comes to a complete stop. In the unlikely event it becomes necessary for this blog to make a water landing, your seat cushion may function as a floatation device.
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