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Article Summary: "This article is about the attacking avatar of MS Dhoni aganist MI in Eliminator match of IPL 2012..."
CSK (Chennai Super Kings) seems to hit the IPL on a hatrick. At one stage of IPL it was thought that they were out of playoffs but now they are just two wins away from hatrick IPL. In the Eliminator match against MI they have chosen to bat first and have lost two successive wickets of Murali vijay and Suresh raina on two swinging balls from Kulkarni. It was thought that they were going on a rough path. But Badrinath and Hussey has done a good job of making a beneficial partnership when needed. And then the show started after the wicket of Michael Hussey.
The captain of CSK (Chennai Super Kings) has done a wonder with his superb batting performance. He has taken the fight back on a real higher level and his counterattack has lead MI out of competition. The determination of CSK has proved too much for MI. The captain was on the mood to attack. The attacking avatar of Dhoni has made them to reach to the next level of IPL. After the brilliant partnership from Hussey and Badrinath , Dhoni has taken the match towards win. In the 11th over they were at around 90s with the loss of 4 wickets and the runs were projected at 130-140 by the end of the innings. But the dashing sixes and helicopter shots from the skipper has changed the complexion of the game. They finished at 187.
Dhoni has made his half century only in 20 balls. He scored 51 from 20 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes at the strike rate of 255.00. With the support of Bravo who has scored 33 of 14 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes at the strike rate of 235.71. Bravo's game has helped Dhoni to play his natural innings. On that day his game and way of hitting has given clues that he was there to go on like anything. The first six by him has gone on to the roof by hitting the longest six of the match at 112 meters whereas the previous one was of Gayle for 111 meters. Then, on for Malinga he has taken a ride with his lovely swinging helicopter shot to six. His game has really attracted the audience. He has played his game when it was in real need. There is no doubt that he is a match winner. His hitting and tenacity from CSK has made them very strong in the match.
Dwayne Smiths game has helped MI to show that they are fighting for the win. The first five overs he was on fire. The opening stand was of 47. But the left arm spinner Jakati bowled very well with discipline at the other end. The run out of Sachin Tendulkar has turned the game and smith followed him by a catch out in the same zone. Then the wickets of R sharma, D Karthik , Rayudu fell down quickly . Franklin went out in the 14th over where there was a need of 84 runs in last six overs. The pressure was on Pollard and Bhajji. But the pressure to win the matches of big chases are difficult as these are must win matches.
To conclude the pattern of Game from CSK and attacking avatar with leadership skills of Dhoni have changed the game to a win for them and meet DD in semi-final.
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0.95566 |
How do you get a web developer job with no experience?
I'm learning to program from online classes but don't have any real world experience. Every "Junior" job on Indeed requires 2-4 years of experience. I'm a beginner but learning and eager to learn more.
The programming "Bootcamps" are way too expensive for me and no guarantee of a job after.
Can I volunteer to work for a company for free in exchange for some mentoring and real world experience?
I figure in the startup world there are smart developers who need help but low on funds, and I can do the work for them in exchange for some mentoring.
I don't know if this is a possibility to work for free for experience. I'm not in a university for college credit.
Web development jobs ask for experience, but what they're actually referring to is ability. You can "hack" this process by building projects publicly. Use GitHub, contribute to open source, and continue building for-fun projects to grow your skills.
Send your GitHub link along with applications, and you'll get some nibbles.
I'll echo Jason's comments on using GitHub and if you can build a reputation, Stack Overflow (but don't get downvoted). I'll also add my own too, since mentoring an intern in my own company is something I'm currently doing. I'm not currently looking to mentor anyone else atm, since it's a travesty for all of them to spread yourself too thin. Though am happy to discuss direction.
The short answer is yes, you can, but whether they're allowed to take you on in that capacity is another matter, since some countries rightly have laws to protect workers from exploitation. Plus, it crucially depends on the value you'll get from it and that they can provide. My experience has been quite positive taking on someone who is already degree educated, though in electronic systems engineering. My intern is very keen, has grasped the concepts of agility and DevOps well and my focus for them has been to get them doing two things.
The first, identifying a particular problem to solve and creating an open source project on GitHub to solve it. The second, blogging about it. The first encourages and attempts to exhibit technical skill. The second to communicate it. You can be the best programmer in the world but if nobody knows, you're as good as a nobody.
From the other side, you have to be willing to even present your own learning and development plan. It has to be as frictionless as possible. Especially in startup world. Many are low on funds, yes. However, they trade on time and skill. You have to respect that as every minute spent with you is a minute they're not trying to add revenue to their business, which risks them not having a business to fall back on. That does you no favours as then the reference you get isn't as powerful as it could be (though still useful). It's not uncommon for gem to spend 4 hours a week or more with you. If their revenue stream is normally 100K a year, then given a 40 hour week, that's 10K they've spent with you if they're not yet at the stage of passive income. However, it can still be a rewarding experience for both of you.
In any event, if you don't ask, you rarely get. So I wish you the best of luck in finding the right company.
2) Offer to built a site or 2 for friends and family. It can be free or paid as long as the ground rules are clear. You will get a feel for the process with a bit of a safety net attached.
"2-4 years" can be a trivial requirement as long as you have something you can show potential employers.
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Enter a search phrase such as the last name of the artist.
Shows will be posted here for streaming and download two days after first air date.
To download show to your computer, select show, then click on the "download" link in the lower right of the audio player. A new window will open with the audio track. In the main browser menu, go to "File" to "Save As" and the file will be saved to your computer.
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0.998171 |
Much of the paneling sold in the U.S. is either faced with tropical wood veneer or backed with tropical plywood (lauan) or both. That can be true even if the paneling is manufactured in the U.S.
The following companies sell paneling using tropical woods.
The first question to ask is, “Is wood paneling necessary?” Wood paneling became extremely popular in the U.S. in the 1970s but has since become less so. Consider less-consumptive options such as environmentally preferable paint, such as Livos or BioShield brands.
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0.991267 |
Moonbows in the lower section of Yosemite Falls are most often seen and photographed from the footbridge closest to the base of the falls on the Lower Falls Trail. The moonbow arc forms high and to the left of the base of the falls and slowly sinks down and to the right during the hours it is present.
How do I calculate these predictions?
Moonbows in the upper section of Yosemite Falls can be seen and photographed from numerous vantage points. The most popular location is the area surrounding the parking lot near Sentinel Bridge and the predicted viewing times have been calculated for this location. In April and early May, the moonbow in the upper falls is positioned very low, but may be noticeable if there is plenty of spray over the middle cascades. Late May and June are the best opportunities to see this moonbow.
Moonbows seen in the upper falls from Glacier Point are rare since the road to Glacier Point usually doesn't open until late spring and you have to look for them at precise times. Since Glacier Point is farther from the falls, the moonbow appears wider and sweeps through the area of mist much faster. Consequently, the opportunity to see it is only about 15 minutes each night. The predicted times are for the optimal position within this short viewing window.
Note for 2019: Due to heavy snowfall this winter, the road to Glacier Point may not open until late May. So, unless you’re willing to travel to Glacier Point by snowshoes, skis, or jet pack, you’ll have to wait until the Glacier Point Road opens to see this moonbow.
Moonbows, also known as "lunar rainbows," are rainbows which form at night due to the light of the moon. When the moon is full and shining at the correct angle on the spray of a large waterfall, a moonbow can be seen arcing through the mist. John Muir wrote about their occurrence in Yosemite in the 1800s but only recently has their popularity increased due to photography. To learn more, check out this excellent video produced by Steve Bumgardner for the Yosemite Conservancy.
The moon must be at the proper angle relative to the observer (see the predictions listed above for when and where to be to make everything line up).
To the human eye, moonbows typically look dull and colorless, but with sufficient time to adjust to the low light, the colors will become apparent. To help your eyes adjust, turn off your flashlight and avoid looking at your smartphone screen. Consider using a flashlight with a low-power red light if you still need a little light to move around safely. The movement of the moon across the sky causes the moonbow to slowly change position over time and the moon rises approximately 50 minutes later each evening, so don't expect to see moonbows in the same position each visit.
Moonbows are much easier for a camera to see than the unaided human eye. Most any camera with the ability to take long exposures can be used for moonbow photography, but smartphone cameras and fully automatic point-and-shoot cameras will not be able to photograph such dark scenes.
Shutter speed considerations: Though it may be tempting to use a longer exposure time in order to reduce ISO or gain depth of field, an exposure time longer than one minute will cause the colors of the moonbow to blur together as it slowly changes position. Also, longer exposure times may not be practical if shooting from a location where mist is accumulating on the lens.
The lower falls viewing area is often enveloped in the mist of the waterfall. Bring a microfiber cloth or squeegee to dry your lens between shots or blow the water off using compressed air. You might also consider using a hydrophilic filter, or coating an ordinary glass filter with Rain-X (you may want to avoid this for precious micro-coated filters, though). Also, cover your camera with a towel or plastic bag to keep it dry.
Turn off the camera flash since it will ruin everyone's photo, including your own.
Please keep the viewing areas dark to avoid ruining photographs and disrupting the enjoyment of the natural moonlight. Turn off your flashlight (or use a low-power red light instead) and shield your smartphone and camera screens. Turn off your camera's flash.
Be aware of others around you, taking care not to block their view or bump their tripod.
Wear a waterproof jacket at the lower falls, but avoid using umbrellas since they make it difficult for others to see or photograph.
Consider viewing the upper falls moonbow first since its viewing times are generally about an hour before those for the lower falls.
Avoid trampling the sensitive areas of Cook's Meadow when photographing the upper falls.
As always, be safe around fast moving water and wet rock surfaces.
Photographing moonbows combines my passion for photography, science, and the outdoors. As a former mechanical engineer, I started making my own 3D simulations of Yosemite Valley in 2011 to discover new places to photograph moonbows and the best time to be there. I hope this information is helpful to you as well.
Say hello if you see me in Yosemite this spring, or reach out on social media to stay connected.
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0.89262 |
Do Nursing Schools Supply Scrubs?
Some nursing schools supply scrubs; some don't. Your task will be to determine what the school policy is for the nursing school you choose. Here are the three most common scenarios as well as some common places to find scrubs, in the event you need to buy your own.
This may sound like a great option, but, as they say, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Expect to pay for your school-supplied uniforms with no option to bargain shop. Some schools only provide one or two sets of scrubs, so expect to do a lot of laundry or else shell out the extra money for additional sets of uniforms. Usually when the school provides the uniform, the school name is either embroidered on the scrubs or some kind of school patch is sewn onto them. As you might expect, school-mandated uniforms tend to be the least stylish.
Some nursing schools require a specific color or style of scrubs, allowing you purchase them independently. However, you may be limited to only one vendor if style choices are limited. If the sole criteria is a standard color, you'll be able to shop for a good bargain and likely save a lot of money. Make sure to buy at least enough sets to cover all your clinical days without having to do laundry — plus at least one extra set for last minute coffee spills or to keep in your car trunk for unforeseen fiascoes during clinicals.
Some nursing students are required to match the scrubs of the facilities where they perform their clinicals. This could mean multiple purchases if you rotate to different sites. Fortunately, this is a pretty rare occurrence. If this is your school's policy, find out how long your rotation is before investing in a large wardrobe of that facility's color of scrubs.
If you buy your own scrubs, you'll be amazed at how many places you can find them. Not only do conventional brick and mortar uniform shop or online retail sites carry them, but most major stores such as Walmart now carry large selections. You can also find them at some dollar stores and flea markets, as well as thrift stores.
You'll find that scrubs come in many shapes and sizes, whether the styles are mandated or elective. Have fun buying, and possibly saving money on, your uniforms — you'll be wearing them for a significant part of your days to come!
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0.999231 |
What do we mean when we say we observe an object in motion? Let’s say we are at a position, sabihin, . Ang object ay sa posisyon sa oras na , at sa sa . Although most people may not notice it, sa huling pangungusap, I already embedded an unreasonable number of assumptions about space and time, which will become clear very soon.
We could say that when the object is at , it emits a ray of light, which reaches us at sa oras na . Katulad din para at . Tandaan na kami ay pagtukoy at (at ipagpalagay kung ano at ibig sabihin) with this statement. Then the velocity of the object becomes . We will call it the perceived velocity. It is how the object appears to move, from our perspective.
Another thing we could say is this: Dahil alam namin na liwanag ay tumatagal ng isang tiyak na halaga ng oras upang maabot sa amin mula at , ang tunay na oras para sa mga bagay ay at . And then the real velocity would be . Let’s call this quantity its absolute velocity, or its velocity in the absolute reality. Note that we are again assuming what at ibig sabihin, but handling the time at the object a bit better.
A third way of looking at it is this: Let’s say we send out a pulse of light to the object at time . It gets reflected back to us at our time . Kaya, sa oras na , the object is at a distance . If the object is going directly away from us (this is important), we can define another distance sa in exactly the same way. Then its speed would be .
Special Relativity takes the third view (or something very close to it). Based on this view, SR defines a coordinate transformation between two frames of reference. But having done that, it insists that the transformation is real, and not a perceptual effect. At, this is the subtle point, we still have to do computations of the kind described in the view number 2 above in order to understand motion. Since this post is meant for a non-technical crowd, I won’t belabor the point, but how it pans out mathematically is quite interesting.
Here is a real lecture on the co-ordinate transformation part of SR by Prof Susskind of Stanford. Although it looks formal and rigorous, it does have the same subtle issues. If you watch the derivation of the transformation from upang carefully, from around the timestamp 47:05 in the video, you will see that he makes the statement at . This statement is true only on the axis and axis (or when at ) respectively, which he explicitly states, but then he silently goes on to assume it is true for all at . Sa ibang salita, what is written is the same as at . It does not follow that . So the coordinate transformation is derived with insufficient mathematical or physical reasoning.
My belief is that one has to decouple the constancy of the speed of light (and the resultant covariant transformation of space-time as required by Maxwell’s equations) from the perceptual effects of light travel time. Such an approach would be equivalent to developing a framework based on second one of the views of speed and motion listed above. I did this in ang aking aklat and my published papers. Sa katunayan, I went one step further, and investigated the nature of space, and what we mean by it — space is a cognitive model created in our brain and mind to represent the electrical signals generated by light falling on our retinas. Let me quote Einstein again.
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0.953456 |
Adlai Ewing Stevenson was a well-liked and respected politician renowned for his political moderation and instinctive desire for compromise. These skills led him to the top of national politics, where he eventually served as the 23rd vice president of the United States.
Stevenson was born in Christian Country, Kentucky, on October 23, 1835, to Eliza Ann Ewing Stevenson and John Turner Stevenson, a tobacco farmer. In 1852, a major frost killed the family's tobacco crop, which prompted the family to move to Bloomington, Illinois. In Bloomington, a young Adlai worked in his father's sawmill and taught school in order to earn money to attend college. He eventually enrolled in the Presbyterian-run Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he met his future wife, Letitia Green. He later attended Illinois Wesleyan University. Upon the death of his father in 1857, Stevenson returned to Bloomington where he studied law and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1858. During the Civil War, he served as the master in chancery of Woodford County's circuit court and organized the 108th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Following the war, he served a four-year term from 1865 to 1869 as prosecuting attorney for the 23rd judicial district. He then opened a successful law practice with his cousin, James Ewing. In 1866, Stevenson married Letitia Green after a lengthy courtship.
Although Stevenson had dabbled in politics - he campaigned for Stephen Douglas in his 1858 Senate race against Abraham Lincoln and served as a presidential elector during the 1864 election - his political career did not begin in earnest until 1874, when he defeated a Republican incumbent to become one of Illinois's few Democratic representatives to the House of Representatives. Stevenson served one term, but was defeated in 1876 by a Republican challenger who capitalized on the failing economy and the state's traditional status as a Republican stronghold. However, Stevenson ran again for the House seat in 1878 and won, serving until 1881.
In 1885, newly-elected President Grover Cleveland appointed Stevenson to be the first assistant postmaster general. The appointment was considered an honor, and Stevenson relished the opportunity to control a large portion of the spoils system. During his four-year tenure as assistant postmaster general, Stevenson replaced more than 40,000 Republican postal employees with Democrats, earning himself the nickname, "Headsman." After his term was completed, he returned to his law practice in Bloomington, Illinois. In 1892, the Democratic Party again nominated Grover Cleveland for President, and in a surprise to many observers (himself included), Adlai E. Stevenson was nominated as vice president.
As the vice presidential nominee, Stevenson provided needed balance to the ticket. His home state of Illinois was considered important to Cleveland's election hopes, and Stevenson's popularity there was seen as an asset. Additionally, Stevenson's views on currency reform contrasted favorably with those of Cleveland, who endorsed the gold standard, and helped broaden the appeal of the ticket. Moreover, Stevenson was an energetic and popular campaigner; his work as assistant postmaster general had earned him many allies in the Democratic Party. Cleveland won the election that fall, and Stevenson was sworn in as vice president on March 3, 1893. Vice President Stevenson was both a fixture on the Washington social scene and an enthusiastic public servant. He regularly opened his offices to reporters and found a fair amount of pleasure in presiding over the Senate. In a notable occasion, he unknowingly almost became President of the United States when President Cleveland underwent surgery to remove a malignant growth from the roof of this mouth. Cleveland was eager not to cause panic on Wall Street with the prospect of a "soft money" proponent ascending to the presidency and had the operation performed in secret on a yacht in New York. Even members of the cabinet, including Stevenson, were largely unaware of the severity of Cleveland's health problem. The operation was a success, and the details of it were not made public until 1917. As vice president, Stevenson traveled the country often. In the wake of the 1894 midterm elections in which the Democrats suffered heavy losses, he used this traveling as an opportunity to bridge the gap between the Eastern and Western factions of the Democratic Party. Although he was briefly considered as a possible presidential candidate in 1896, he received limited support and eventually endorsed Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan, despite the reluctance of many Cleveland Democrats to do so. After leaving office, Stevenson had a brief respite from politics but reappeared as Bryan's running mate in the 1900 presidential election. Despite campaigning vigorously, the pair lost to the Republican ticket of William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.
After the defeat in 1900, Stevenson returned to private practice in Bloomington, Illinois, where he worked quietly until 1908, when he made an unsuccessful run for governor of Illinois. Following his loss, he finally retired from politics, living the quiet life of an elder statesman until his death on June 14, 1914. His grandson, Adlai E. Stevenson II, served as governor of Illinois and was nominated as the Democratic candidate for President in 1952 and 1956, losing both times to Dwight Eisenhower. His great-grandson, Adlai E. Stevenson III, served as a senator for Illinois, twice ran for governor, and was himself considered a contender for the vice presidential nomination in 1976.
Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. “Adlai E. Stevenson (1893–1897).” Accessed April 18, 2019. http://millercenter.org/president/essays/stevenson-1893-vicepresident.
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0.994483 |
I would be happy to help you in finding the answer you need, based on my personal experiences. But firstly, I want to make certain that it is understood by you - that purchasing Accutane (Isotretinoin) online is not only dangerous - but illegal (In some countries, and the U.S primarily speaking) in which the FDA will be involved. In addition to that, Accutane purchased online is often unreliable and does not contain the active medical ingredients that is generally marketed by its effectiveness - thus, purchasing Accutane online is often times a waste of money. Purchasing Accutane online can bring upon severe health consequences, both short and long-term effects - as not having the assistance and diagnostics data from a professional dermatologist can lead you astray from the knowledge of proper (Safe) dosages and MANDATORY blood tests. Most people, upon acquiring Accutane, will began their first month cycle at 40 mg once a day (Twice, depending on severity). You will generally be required to have blood drawn and tested each month whilst on Accutane (For most people: a 6 month cycle), to ensure your liver is healthy, as is the nature of your blood (Deficiencies, etc), and many other health aspects. Accutane is NOT a "light" drug, and is the ultimate "last resort" in terms of curing acne. If you have been on Accutane (Purchased online) for more than a month, I HIGHLY suggest you speak to a dermatologist first, who may direct you to a blood-test lab (Clinic) to have your blood drawn PRIOR to the possibility of putting you onto Accutane to ensure that your liver is not severely damaged. As with other drugs that also treat acne, including doxycycline and minocycline, it is highly recommended that the drugs are cycled with a month or two rest period, otherwise the liver may be damaged (Or may build up a resistance to the antibiotic, consequently causing more acne, other health issues, and lowering the effectiveness of oral medications in general). To put that in perspective, as Accutane is a more powerful drug than doxycycline and minocycline in this case, and is often referred to as the "last resort" BECAUSE of having tried prior antibiotics (To no avail) - it is clear as to why it is especially important to have your blood-work done whilst on Accutane. Accutane is often a permanent solution to a very temporary problem - but you will only have one liver.
However, I am glad you are open to seeking the help of a dermatologist. As mentioned above, Accutane is a "last resort" medical option, and essentially an extremely high dosage of vitamin-A. That being said, because Accutane is a very risky drug, many (If not most) dermatologists will be required to (Or morally obligated to...) prescribe you with antibiotics such as the ones listed above, including azithromycin, clindamycin, etc, prior to prescribing Accutane. If so, you will be on each antibiotic (Assuming one or more is prescribed - not at the same time) for a minimum duration of 2 - 3 months before you are pulled from it. It will be coupled by a number of topical medications, with active antibiotics in them to boost the effectiveness without creating direct damage to the liver.
To acquire Accutane, you will need an appointment with a dermatologist, as a general practitioner is not typically licensed to prescribe the drug. However, many dermatologists will NOT see to help until you have tried all other options (Antibiotics - oral and topical). Thus, depending on the dermatologist you wish to see, it is highly likely you will need a referral from a general practitioner (Family doctor) and a printed history of your medical records (Medications taken) before meeting with a specialist; otherwise, the dermatologist and their receptionists will not agree to see you. In terms of the medical records, you will also be required to tell them that you had been Accutane before in which you purchased online, for the sake of medical accuracy for diagnosis and prescriptions. This 2-step process (Family doctor - to - dermatologist) controls the traffic of patients to prevent swarming. Dermatologists will carry out severe and complex diagnostics and treatments for skin-related issues, whilst family doctors will provide a general diagnostic for a number of minor, or major, health concerns before redirecting to a specialist (Not specifically speaking a dermatologist) if needed. Depending on the dermatologist you are redirected to (Assuming you are not able to find a dermatologist that allows non-referral visits), it is possible you may be required to wait a 2 - 4 week period before you are able to see the dermatologist upon making the appointment. This may seem like a long, tedious process, but it is worth the trouble for clear skin, and many people are on the same boat also.
Your chances of being prescribed with Accutane will depend on the severity of your acne generally, but will also now depend on your health based on the blood-test, in which I recommend you tell your doctor you had purchased Accutane online. Depending on the dermatologist you end up seeing, you may either be prescribed Accutane right away and be required to have a blood-test done near the end of the first month for every end of the month you're on Accutane, or, you may be required to do a blood-test regardless of having been on Accutane before your dermatologist prescribes you with Accutane. The dosage will depend on the condition of your liver, blood, etc. The blood-test takes less than 2 minutes to do, but takes at least 2 - 3 days to process for the results (Results will indicate, based on your blood, the condition of your liver, and any underlying health-concerning conditions).
I hope this information will be helpful, although I know can be discouraging - as I understand this "feeling" more than anyone else. I developed acne since the age of 12. I am 20 now, and I had just been prescribed Accutane this year. It took over 4 years of trying antibiotics (Some of which worked extremely well - some patients may relapse with acne even coming off of antibiotics and, or, Accutane - however Accutane has a much higher success and permanent-result rate. The antibiotic I took worked so well, and I have had clear skin for periods of time, between 6 - 8 months. However, as I end up relapsing, it was only then during my unknowingly final cycle that my doctor redirected me to see a dermatologist, and from there, she immediately prescribed me with Accutane already knowing of my medical records because of the documents sent by my doctor). Some people are more lucky when it comes to being prescribed with Accutane, and how quickly they're able to acquire it. But above all else, it is always better to be safe than sorry.
Please feel free to contact me - should you have any further questions regarding my experience thus far with Accutane, antibiotics, and all-else acne-related issues.
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0.944605 |
How do I make sure what my kids see online is safe?
Should I be talking to my kids about online safety? If so, how?
What content is suitable for my kids to see?
A growing number of parents are turning to parental control apps to answer these questions and help keep their kids safe online. While parental control apps come in all shapes and sizes, many of the most popular features include web content filtering, screen-time management, app control, and app blocking functionality.
Clearly these features are great for parents, but too often parents who use them leave the actual “parenting” to the apps. A recent study by the University of Central Florida found that online monitoring apps are really just causing kids to hate their parents, especially for parents with teens.
Now if your first thought is “What, Why? I just want my kids to be safe”, you’re not alone. Parental control apps are excellent tools to help with your child’s online safety, but they are just that, tools. The report indicated that many kids don't feel trusted and that they’re being micromanaged when their parents use parental control apps. This negative perception of the technology creates tension between kids and their parents, which prevents open communication about safe online behavior.
Instead, according to the report, parental control apps should be combined with a strong education about responsible and safe online behavior. This means using a parental control app to monitor online activity and block inappropriate content, while combining usage with proactive conversations with your kids about about what content is suitable, and why. This gives your kids the opportunity to take an active role in the conversation, understand how to be safe online, and feel comfortable talking to you about their online experiences and, in many cases, robust online presence.
When selecting a parental control app, it is important to select one that helps you facilitate this important conversation rather than shutting it down before it begins. Many apps on the market today are aimed toward the infamous helicopter parent in that they facilitate parents to spy on their kids online behavior without their knowledge. However, as mentioned in the report, this type of digital parenting is counterproductive and will only cause tension. A parental control app should provide parents with the tools to help ensure the online safety of their kids, while providing a platform to discuss safe online behavior. This dialogue will help increase the understanding and shared common ground between kids and parents, equipping both to explore the digital frontier together.
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0.970821 |
Articles about voting issues in Wyoming.
The Wyoming Attorney General’s office has declined to consider the state Republican Party’s complaints against a progressive organization that sent voters mail praising Democratic legislative candidates and criticizing their GOP opponents, according to recent letters sent to people involved in the grievances. The Attorney General’s office will not investigate the complaints because they came from the Wyoming Republican Party, Senior Assistant Attorney General Michael Robinson wrote. State law specifies complaints must come from qualified electors. And a political party is not a qualified elector under state law, he wrote.
Full Article: AG will not consider Wyoming GOP complaint against liberal groups | Wyoming Politics | trib.com.
The commonplace Wyoming voter tradition of changing party affiliation at the polls on primary day will live on after a legislative committee killed a bill Thursday that would have made it more difficult for Democrats to vote in Republican primaries and vice versa. Wyoming doesn’t allow cross-party voting on primary day, but voters may switch parties moments before voting. Under the proposal, voters would have been allowed to switch no fewer than 30 days before primary day. The bill made it through the Wyoming House before dying on a 3-0 vote in the Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee. Political parties are private organizations and members only should decide which candidates will represent the parties in the general election, Wyoming Republican Party Chairman Matt Micheli, told the committee in support of the bill.
Full Article: Party switching on Wyoming primary day lives on; bill dies | The Herald.
The Wyoming House on Monday killed a bill that would have extended the period for counting absentee ballots. House Corporations Committee Chairman Dan Zwonitzer (R, HD-43, Cheyenne) sponsored HB68 that would have required county clerks to count absentee ballots received by the clerk after polls closed. Under existing law, clerks count only ballots delivered to them before polls close. Zwonitzer said the measure would have required the clerks to count absentee ballots postmarked the day before an election, provided they were received before a county’s canvassing board met to certify election results the following Friday. County clerks had expressed their dissatisfaction with the bill in a committee hearing last week. Their opposition came through during floor debate Monday. Rep. Lloyd Larsen (R, HD-54, Lander), said his clerk had lobbied him to vote against the bill. When she calls, he listens, he said. Other representatives said they likewise had been called by their county clerks.
Full Article: House kills bill extending count of absentee ballots | WyoFile.
A committee of Wyoming lawmakers on Monday voted down a bill creating a presidential primary election, instead opting to study the issue during the interim. The vote in the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee came after concerns were raised by county clerks as to the specifics of how such an election would work, as well as a need by the state Republican Party to change its bylaws to allow for a primary. As proposed, House Bill 201 would have set a separate presidential primary election in April, in addition to the regular primary in August and the general election in November. Although not written into the bill itself, Rep. David Northrup, R-Powell, said the intent is for the political parties to foot the cost of the presidential primary.
Full Article: Committee votes down presidential primary bill | News | wyomingnews.com.
The House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee on Thursday voted down a bill to require voters to show photo identification at the polls. But it advanced bills concerning a system for permanent absentee ballots, election recounts and the date at which an absentee ballot must be accepted. Committee members voted down a voter ID bill that was brought by committee member Rep. Lars Lone, R-Cheyenne. Lone said he was given a ballot for an incorrect precinct when he went to vote and said if he had been required to show identification, that situation could have been avoided. Lone said he was not bringing the bill because of voter fraud concerns.
Full Article: House committee rejects voter ID bill | Wyoming News | trib.com.
A person convicted in Wyoming of a nonviolent felony who completes their entire sentence on or after Jan. 1, 2010, would have their voting rights automatically restored under a bill passed Thursday by the Wyoming House of Representatives. House Bill 75 passed on third reading by a vote of 41-17 with two lawmakers excused. The measure would require people convicted of a nonviolent felony who completed their sentence — including probation and parole — before 2010 to fill out a request form and be found eligible before their voting rights could be restored.
Full Article: Wyoming House Passes Bill Which Would Automatically Restore Voting Rights of Some Nonviolent Felons.
As Republican legislatures across the country pass various restrictions on voting, Wyoming remains one of the easiest states in which to cast a ballot. Residents do not need to provide identification when they go to the polls, and they can even register to vote on the day of the election. But House Bill 167, filed at the Wyoming Legislature last week, would change that by requiring people to show photo identification when they go to vote. The measure is sponsored by Rep. Lars Lone, R-Cheyenne, who said that during the general election in November he was not asked for photo identification. “I was given a ballot for (House) District 44, and I’m in 12,” he said.
Full Article: Wyoming voters would be required to show ID under proposed bill | Wyoming Politics | trib.com.
The House Judiciary Committee advanced bills Thursday that would expand automatic restoration of voting rights to nonviolent felons, create a more defined system for returning a victim’s property held as evidence and allow the state Department of Enterprise Technology Services to conduct background checks on employees. A bill introduced by Rep. James Byrd, D-Cheyenne, would automatically restore voting rights to more nonviolent felons. House Bill 75 eliminates the application process for nonviolent felons who have completed their sentence to have their voting rights restored. Instead, it directs the Wyoming Department of Corrections to automatically issue certificates of voting rights restoration to affected people if their conviction was in Wyoming. Felons convicted outside of Wyoming or by a federal law would have to submit a request to the Department of Corrections.
Full Article: Wyoming House committee advances voting rights bill, more | News | wyomingnews.com.
State lawmakers will consider a bill this month that would give county clerks additional time after the primary and general elections to count mail-in absentee ballots. With a number of close races in 2016, absentee ballots can make a difference in the outcome, said Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, a Cheyenne Republican who is sponsoring House Bill 68. State law currently allows county clerks to accept mail-in ballots until 7 p.m. on the day of the election. But Zwonitzer said there are people who don’t mail in their ballots until a day before the election. If there are any delays at the post office, county clerks don’t receive the mail until after the election, and the ballots cannot be counted, he said.
Full Article: Bill would give election officials more time to accept mail-in ballots | News | wyomingnews.com.
More nonviolent felons who have completed their entire sentence – including probation and parole – would have their voting rights automatically restored under a bill introduced in the Wyoming Legislature. Under the current system, nonviolent felons who completed their sentence before Jan. 1, 2016, were convicted under federal law or who were sentenced out of state can have their rights restored, but must first complete an application process. Felons who were sentenced in Wyoming and completed their sentence after Jan. 1, 2016, would be exempt from the application requirement.
Full Article: Bill would expand automatic restoration of voting rights to eligible non-violent Wyoming felons | Cops & Courts | trib.com.
More nonviolent felons who have completed their entire sentence – including probation and parole – would have their voting rights automatically restored under a bill introduced in the Wyoming Legislature. Under the current system, nonviolent felons who completed their sentence before Jan. 1, 2016, were convicted under federal law or who were sentenced out of state can have their rights restored, but must first complete an application process. Felons who were sentenced in Wyoming and completed their sentence after Jan. 1, 2016, would be exempt from the application requirement. House Bill 75 eliminates the application process and instead directs the Wyoming Department of Corrections to automatically issue certificates of voting rights restoration to affected people if their conviction was in Wyoming.
Full Article: Bill would expand automatic restoration of voting rights to some felons | News | wyomingnews.com.
State lawmakers will consider a bill in Cheyenne that would give county clerks additional time after the primary and general elections to count mail-in absentee ballots. With a number of close races in 2016, absentee ballots can make a difference in the outcome, said Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, a Cheyenne Republican who is sponsoring House Bill 68. State law currently allows county clerks to accept mail-in ballots until 7 p.m. on the day of the election. But Zwontizer said that there are people who don’t mail in their ballots until a day before the election. If there are any delays at the post office, county clerks don’t receive the mail until after the election, and the ballots cannot be counted, he said.
Full Article: Bill would give election officials more time to accept mail-in ballots | Wyoming Politics | trib.com.
Wyoming voters would be able to apply for status as a permanent absentee voter under a proposed law that will be considered by the Legislature in 2017. The Legislature’s Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee voted Monday to forward such a bill to the full body. Under a permanent absentee designation, a voter would automatically be sent an absentee ballot instead of having to request one for each election. However, a voter could lose his or her permanent absentee status for one of several reasons stipulated in the bill. Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese said absentee voting saves her office time as the election nears, as it cuts down on paperwork and the number of people who vote early in person as well as on Election Day. “That is a big savings to us,” she said.
Full Article: Bill would let residents become "permanent absentee" voters | News | wyomingnews.com.
Full Article: Democrats move to larger caucus venues, expect high turnout | Wyoming Politics | trib.com.
Cheyenne was the guinea pig for the rollout of both vote centers and electronic pollbooks in Wyoming on Tuesday. Based on the outcome, government officials are confident the systems will be successful as they are implemented countywide and statewide in future elections. Both processes are enabled by new legislation passed earlier this year by the Wyoming Legislature. They are designed to make the voting process more efficient and available to voters. Vote centers refer to a network of polling locations that allow voters choice in where to vote. Instead of voting at a specific precinct, voters can vote at any of the centers.
Full Article: Cheyenne officials: New voting procedures a success | WyomingNews.com.
The Wyoming House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to approve first reading of a bill that would allow county clerks to set up voting centers that are independent from any given precinct. Senate File 52 would allow any voter in a given jurisdiction to vote at any polling center in that jurisdiction, rather than being tied to a specific location on Election Day.
A House committee gave its approval Tuesday to a bill that would allow county clerks to begin using electronic pollbooks and vote centers instead of traditional polling places on Election Day. Senate File 52 would allow county clerks to replace their existing paper pollbooks with electronic books for the purposes of keeping track of who is registered to vote, who has voted and where they voted. With electronic pollbooks, clerks would also be able to open “vote centers,” or polling places where anyone in a given jurisdiction can vote on Election Day, regardless of where they live within that jurisdiction. The idea of the bill is to provide better access to voters, particularly for jurisdictions where some far-flung polling places are having trouble staying open due to a lack of election judges. It also, in the case of elementary schools, would help alleviate any safety concerns about interaction between schoolchildren and the voting public.
Full Article: House committee clears e-pollbooks, vote centers | WyomingNews.com.
A House committee Tuesday forwarded a bill that would allow county clerks to establish centralized voting places for future elections. Senate File 52 previously passed the Senate and now has three rounds of voting before potentially becoming law. In Wyoming, people vote by geographical precinct. A county voting center would be a place where anyone, regardless of their precinct, could vote. Laramie County Clerk Debbye Lathrop told members of the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee voting centers would be helpful to someone who lives in one town and works in a larger city, where a voting center could located. Instead of having to drive home during the lunch hour, the voter could cast a ballot in the city.
Full Article: Voting centers bill marches ahead in Wyoming Legislature.
Your neighborhood polling place may join typewriters and Model T’s if one bill passes the legislature. News 13’s Cody O’Hara spoke with senators favoring the bill who say it will increase voter turnout, as well as one who says he sees this as a way to close some polling places. “We need to make it easier for people to vote and this bill goes in the opposite direction,” said Senator Charlie Scott of Natrona County. A bill being held back in the Senate until Wednesday would allow electronic voter check in at any local polls as well as establish optional voting centers, but some senators say it will lead to polling place closures. “I don’t know of any clerk who has any intention to close any existing polling places,” said Senator Cale Case of Natrona County.
Full Article: Bill Proposes Voting Centers and E-Poll Books.
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Summer Vacation is here. It's time for a fun-filled day with a RAINBOW COLORED Beach Party. What type of food is the best for a hot summer beach party? Yep! It must be the sweet ICE CREAM and the frozen SNOW CONES! Come on down and make all sorts of yummy frozen desserts. Make sure to host the BEST beachside party ever!
– So many options, the fun never stops!
– Choose your favorite flavor for your dessert, Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, mint? You decide!
– Put the food together to create delicious desserts using realistic machines and tools!
– Tap and drag to decorate with tons of cool staff: candy, fruit, syrup and choose your favorite toppings!
– Tap to enjoy your own-made yummy frozen desserts at the beach with so much fun.
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Willie Lee McCovey (born January 10, 1938), nicknamed "Mac", "Big Mac", and "Stretch", is a former Major League Baseball first baseman. He played nineteen seasons for the San Francisco Giants, and three more for the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics, between 1959 and 1980. He batted and threw left-handed and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986.
One of the most intimidating power hitters of his era, McCovey was called "the scariest hitter in baseball" by pitcher Bob Gibson, an assessment with which Reggie Jackson concurred. McCovey's powerful swing generated 521 home runs, 231 of which he hit in Candlestick Park, the most hit there by any player, and included a home run of September 16, 1966 described as the longest ever hit in that stadium.
Prior to playing for the San Francisco Giants, McCovey played for a Giants' farm club in Dallas, Texas that was part of the Class AA Southern League. In that league, he did not participate when his team played in Shreveport, Louisiana due to segregation in that city. He later played for the Pacific Coast League Phoenix Giants just prior to joining the San Francisco Giants.
In his Major League debut on July 30, 1959, McCovey went four-for-four against Hall-of-Famer Robin Roberts of the Philadelphia Phillies, hitting two triples and two singles, en route to a .354 batting average that year, in which he won the NL Player of the Month award in August, his first full month in the majors (.373, 8 HR, 22 RBI). He then took National League Rookie of the Year honors while playing in just 52 games. He had a 22-game hitting streak, setting the mark for San Francisco Giants rookies that still stands, just four short of the all-time team record.
Three years later, he helped the Giants to the 1962 World Series against the New York Yankees. Perhaps McCovey's best-known moment in baseball came in the bottom of the 9th of Game 7, with 2 outs and the Giants trailing 1–0. With Willie Mays on second base and Matty Alou on third, any base hit would likely have won the championship for the Giants. McCovey scorched a hard line drive that was snared by the Yankees' second baseman Bobby Richardson, ending the series with a Yankees' win. That would turn out to be the closest McCovey would get to playing on a world championship team.
In the early years of Candlestick Park, the Giants home stadium, the area behind right field was open except for three small bleacher sections. When McCovey came to bat, typically those bleachers would empty as the fans positioned themselves on the flat ground hoping to catch a McCovey home run ball – anticipating the gathering of boats in McCovey Cove, a generation later, when Barry Bonds would bat.
In 1974, McCovey was traded to the San Diego Padres; without him, the Giants' fortunes declined. Near the end of the 1976 season, the Oakland Athletics purchased his contract, but he would only play eleven games for them.
McCovey returned to the Giants in 1977. With Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson having retired at the end of the 1976 season with 755 and 586 home runs respectively, McCovey began 1977 as the active home run leader with 465. That year, during a June 27 game against the Cincinnati Reds, he became the first player to hit two home runs in one inning twice in his career (the first was on April 12, 1973), a feat since accomplished by only Andre Dawson and Jeff King. One was a grand slam and he became the first National Leaguer to hit seventeen. At age 39, he had 28 home runs and 86 RBI and was named the Comeback Player of the Year.
On June 30, 1978, at Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium, McCovey hit his 500th home run, and two years later, on May 3, 1980, at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, McCovey hit his 521st and last home run, off Scott Sanderson of the Montreal Expos. This home run gave McCovey the distinction, along with Ted Williams (with whom he was tied in home runs), Rickey Henderson, and Omar Vizquel of homering in four different decades: the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. McCovey is one of only 29 players in baseball history to date to have appeared in Major League baseball games in four decades.
In his 22-year career, McCovey batted .270, with 521 home runs and 1,555 RBI, 1,229 runs scored, 2,211 hits, 353 doubles, 46 triples, a .374 on-base percentage and a .515 slugging percentage. He also hit 18 grand slam home runs in his career, which is still a National League record.
Willie McCovey's number 44 was retired by the San Francisco Giants in 1980.
McCovey was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986. It was his first year of eligibility and he appeared on 346 of 425 ballots cast (81.4 percent). In 1999, he ranked 56th on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Since 1980, the Giants have awarded the Willie Mac Award to honor his spirit and leadership. The inlet of San Francisco Bay beyond the right field fence of AT&T Park, historically known as China Basin, has been redubbed McCovey Cove in his honor. Across McCovey Cove from the park a statue of McCovey was erected and the land on which it stands named McCovey Point. The Giants retired his uniform number 44 on September 21, 1980, which he wore in honor of Hank Aaron, a fellow Mobile, Alabama native.
McCovey was inducted to the Afro Sports Hall of Fame, February 7, 2009 in Oakland, California.
McCovey is a senior advisor with the Giants.
In 1996, McCovey was fined and given two years' probation for tax charges stemming from inadequate reporting of income earned from 1988 to 1990.
In September 2003, McCovey and a business partner opened McCovey's Restaurant, a baseball-themed sports bar and restaurant, located in Walnut Creek, California.
↑ Shea, John. Blowing out the candle, The San Francisco Examiner. April 4, 1999.
1 2 Dickey, Glenn (January 30, 2005). "CATCHING UP WITH WILLIE MCCOVEY / Back in the swing of things / Giants great on mend after surgery". The San Francisco Chronicle.
↑ Shea, John (July 30, 2010). "Streak ends". SFChronicle.com. Retrieved Jul 30, 2010.
↑ "100 Greatest Baseball Players by The Sporting News : A Legendary List by Baseball Almanac". Baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved 2013-01-11.
↑ "Ex-baseball star Willie McCovey gets probation, fine in tax fraud case". Jet. 1996.
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What is Rhinology and sinus surgery?
This is a subspecialty that deals with nasal and sinus problems. These include common problems such as allergies, sinusitis, and nasal obstruction. Less common problems include tumors of the anterior skull base and of the sinuses.
Having this surgery may be the only means to get a badly blocked or infected sinus to drain properly. However, surgery does not always cure sinusitis. Some people may require a second surgery. The surgery is usually successful when combined with medicines such as antibiotics and home treatments to prevent the sinusitis from recurring.
A foreign object that is blocking a nasal or sinus passage.
If you have chronic sinusitis.
Endoscopic surgery: The doctor uses an endoscope (a thin lighted tool) to remove growths or small amounts of bone or material blocking the sinus openings. The endoscope is inserted through the nose to help the doctor see and remove any obstructions. Endoscopic techniques allow for better and more precise visualizations. They also eliminate the need for external incisions. As a result, there is less, bleeding, swelling and discomfort and recovery from the surgery is fast.
Sinus surgery: This is done when there is an occurrence of complications from sinusitis. These include infection f the facial bones, development of pus in a sinus or brain abscess. The doctor makes an incision from inside the mouth or through the facial skin. Sinus surgery involves removing diseased tissue as well as rerouting the existing sinus pathways.
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Jimmie Lewallen (August 22, 1919 – October 16, 1995) was an American stock car racing driver from High Point, North Carolina, USA. He competed in NASCAR's Strictly Stock/Grand National division (now called the Sprint Cup Series) from its first race at Charlotte Speedway in 1949 until 1960.
Lewallen began his racing career in motorcycles in 1934. He switched to racing cars in the late 1930s when he delivered illegal moonshine to other parts of North Carolina. Many early NASCAR drivers were moonshine runners. He raced at a one-mile (1.6 km) dirt track in High Point, until he went off to World War II in 1941. He served in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) until 1945, including the Battle of Normandy. He was wounded twice and received numerous medals.
He resumed racing after he returned home from the war. Lewallen attended an October 12, 1946 meeting that formed NASCAR. The meeting was held at the Rex Hotel on Peachtree Street in Atlanta Georgia. Around twelve people attended, including Bill France Sr., Red Vogt, and Raymond Parks. Bill France offered him a chance to "buy into NASCAR" for $500.00 ($6,424.06 when adjusted for inflation) but Lewallen turned him down, saying "it would never amount to anything".
Lewallen raced in NASCAR's first stockcar race at Charlotte Speedway in 1949. He finished sixteenth and earned $25 ($263.25 when adjusted for inflation). Lewallen won the Modified championship at Bowman Gray Stadium in 1950 and would later drive a second car for Petty Enterprises in 1953 at West Palm Beach Speedway. That would result in finishing second for that race behind teammate Lee Petty. He had three consecutive Top 10 finishes in the series points from 1953 until 1955. His best career race finish was second, which he accomplished four times. While Lewallen never won in the Grand National Division, he won dozens of races in NASCAR's Modified and Sportsman divisions as well as the 1950 Bowman Gray Stadium Modified Championship. Lewallen raced for various owners throughout his career. He raced in various divisions until 1975. He helped found the "Old Timer Racing Club". Lewallen died from cancer on October 16, 1995 at a Winston-Salem hospital.
Lewallen, Fred Harb, and Bill Blair Sr. are the subject of the upcoming independent movie Red Dirt Rising, which is based on the book "Red Dirt Tracks: The Forgotten Heroes of Early Stockcar Racing" by Gail Cauble Gurley.
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Imagine yourself as a senior graduating high school. What would you want as a graduation gift? If your family is fairly well off, a typical answer from a teen in the US might consist of: a car, cash, or senior trip. However, if you were to ask that same question to a teen in Korea, their answer would be much different. Instead of a car or some cash, it’s commonplace for Korean teens, specifically females, to ask for and receive plastic surgery as a graduation gift. Body and beauty ideals play a significantly large role for teens in Korea and getting cosmetic procedures done have become “a normal thing” for both teens and women. In South Korea, 1 in 5 women receive cosmetic surgery, often in the form of rhinoplasty or the double eyelid surgery. According to Patricia Marx from The New York Magazine, “South Korea is ranked number 1 for the most plastic surgery procedures per capita and one in five women has had some kind of cosmetic procedure done” (Marx). Many Korean entertainment businesses and agencies such as SM, YG, and FNC Entertainment have a certain standard other than talent: body measurements, appearance, and how photogenic you are. After seeing all of the girl groups, famous actresses, and models, teens become highly influenced and begin making it their goal to look like the people they see on TV, magazines, and social media. Raising children to adolescence in a world where it is not only common, but expected for teens to augment their physical appearance raises the beauty standards to an unnatural level, thus resulting in a negative effect on teen self-confidence.
Korea’s entertainment businesses have quite a strict standard that is affecting many of the Korean teens’ health as they starve themselves to get a body that they see on the media, and they also get mentally affected as they prioritize beauty and appearance over their talents and skill. Rather than prioritizing the skill or talent, entertainments sometimes look at characteristics other than talent: looks. Having more open standards of beauty and an increase in diversity of body sizes would not only positively affect teens but also release them from their “bubble” of what their body is allowed to look like versus how their face is supposed to be. The sad part is that my story is not unique. Thousands of teens, including myself, feel the pressure to meet these unrealistic beauty standards, and countless teens suffer mental abuse because of it. As a community, we have the power to reject these unacceptable standards and lift up our teens, supporting them and showing them that beauty cannot, and should not be bought.
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Is the advice on Chase EMV cards (specifically Sapphire) still to enter a dummy PIN if prompted? I know the priority order is Sig, No CVM, than PIN per prior posts, but when i called Chase just now to set a PIN they kept insisting it would never be required. I told the CSR it's sometimes forced but she still insisted that's not possible and said it would go through as a cash advance anyway.
Normally I'd request a new one be sent, but I'm leaving in a few days and don't have time to have it mailed.
That's the list taken from a GEMALTO 10-12 CSP.
Oops. Well now my referencing the CVM list in my latest secure message in order to try to skip over clueless CSRs isn't correct.
So the Online PIN setting is the top priority but only on unattended kiosks? Chase really shouldn't be telling people they'll never need a PIN then.
Do you know what the CVM setup is on Citi's cards? I've seen you mention a few others like Amex, but haven't seen that one.
The company said personal information of 70 million customers exposed, perhaps separate from the 40 million whose financial information already known at risk.
This is very interesting. In case you have other EMV cards would you mind providing us with the CVM lists?
Very interesting indeed. Are these tests on your own or an actual industry source on the web?
Data breaches like the one at Target that exposed information for 70 million customers would be pointless for criminals if U.S. banks switched to the secure chipped Smart Card technology common in about 80 other countries.
The article misses the one point that has been an on=going theme of this very long long thread and for which we still don't have the answer.
EMV is not synonymous with chip and pin. The deadline is for the adoption of emv but what makes everybody so sure it's going to be chip and pin. Some of the banks seem to be very adamant, although it could be a spin, that Americans "prefer" chip and signature. But as we've gone along, with each new introduction of emv cards, chip and signature priority seems to be the preference. By now one would suppose banks would have come over to chip and pin yet as we've argued and argued and argued, there is no chip and pin priority card available to all Americans as of this writing (at least none that we here are aware of). Sure, people point out Diners, UN FCU and even USAA but all are very restricted in just who can join. The rest of the emv inventory, correct me if I'm wrong, are either chip and signature alone or chip and signature priority. So what is it, guys.
By October 2015 will we see a huge roll out of true chip and pin cards i.e. chip and pin priority or has the die been cat here for chip and signature or chip and signature priority. I don't have the answer and I'm sure nobody here has the answer but what are people's feelings. My feelong and of course I could be 100% wrong is that it will be chip and signature or chip and signature priority unless somebody does something drastic and in a way the best bet (although obviously I cannot tell them how to do their thing) would be if the eu passed a reg that all cc transaction had to be chip and pin. That is just about the only thing, at least in my opinion, that will change the directon we seem to be headed as much as it galls many of the members here. Hope I'm wrong but I don't think so.
What will be interesting to see is what version Discover use. Also while American Express currently use C&S its also possible they could decide to use C&P as their C&S cards are really just for travel right now. If both of them used C&P I could see a lot of Visa and MC issuers using it as they'll see it works fine.
Some of the banks seem to be very adamant, although it could be a spin, that Americans "prefer" chip and signature.
I don't know on what basis they can make this assertion given that I have yet to encounter a single POS unit in my area that will even accept an EMV transaction. How can Americans prefer any non-existent option?
This has been one of their justifications for going with chip and signature. Actually the word prefer might be wrong. I think as I remember the actual point was American are used to signature transacton and why rock the boat. I doubt extremely if they did a poll to figure ot what people prefer although let me throw a thought out, again I'm thinking out loud and could be all wet and feel free to tell me I am.
The distinguishing feature of the American payments system is literally how many different banks issue plastic be it credit or debit. In the UK, what are there a couple of banks in each country making up the UK (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland while Wales has the English banks I think). Hence having all that many different payment cards is nowhere near as common in the UK as in the US; same holds true pretty much for Canada. I think most settle on one bank and hence what do they have to remember, one pin for the debit card and one pin for the credit card?
Here people might have four or five or more cards. Many of the people here have a whole bunch. As chip and pin cards have been issued, it becomes harder to keep track of pins. I have to save them on my computer encrypted in a way so even if the computer is hacked, people will probably be unable to figure out the pins. Of course, the solution is to constantly change newly issued pins so one has as few pins as possible (although in a way that can be dangerous, learn one pin and you might know them all if a wallet is lost or stolen). So just maybe the fanks have some small basis in fact how Americans might feel about having to memorize a number of different pins.
Again we can't forget, not that it is an excuse for not having gone with emv sooner, the sheer size of the American payment system does make it different from most of the rest of the worl. Even the giant countries such as China and India do not have nearly the same diversity of banks, at least I don't think so and of course I could be wrong, that we do.
They're pretty much making assumptions based on how we currently do via swiping the mag-stripe: "people are used to signing for credit cards, punching in PIN for debit cards, therefore it should remain the same."
Of course, I have yet to hear or have attended any bank or industry sponsored seminars that takes into consideration of the consumers' POV. Most of these EMV talks have been restricted to financial institutions, the payments industry, and merchant groups, with little or no input from the people who are to use these cards: us, the consumers.
You know, when people joined Andrews FCU or State Dept FCU via the American Consumer Council, wouldn't it make sense that this consumer council should have a voice in EMV from the consumers' POV?
I don't know about in Canada but I'd definitely say the average 30+ adult here in the UK has more than two credit or debit cards in their wallet. A lot of people also have cards from different providers. MBNA, American Express, Capital One, Vanquis and Aqua, don't have bank accounts but plenty of people still have these cards.
We manage with all the PINs although generally when we get a new card we'll just go to an ATM and change it to the same one as use on all our other cards. The banks generally encourage us to use one PIN. A lot of cards won't work until they've been activated and unlocked in a ATM anyway (Although some act like C&S cards until they've been unlocked) so not a huge inconvenience to change it.
We manage with all the PINs although generally when we get a new card we'll just go to an ATM and change it to the same one as use on all our other cards.
Do you know whether the PIN change is online (PIN change stored on server) or does it physically re-write it onto the EMV chip itself (PIN change on EMV chip)?
If it's only the former, the US can already do that with PIN changes over the phone, through the ATM or by walking into a branch. Despite what clueless CSRs say, it seems by now through reports that online PIN (the PIN used for cash advance, not some random 0000 or 1234) works with Chip-and-Signature and generally it goes through as a purchase instead of cash advance.
But if there is a need to physically re-write the PIN change onto the EMV chip itself, then there's a problem. The US doesn't have that so that will be an extra cost for the banks to deal with. And from a bank's perspective that's the usual "waaaah, it's gonna cost us money, boo-hoo-hoo, feel sorry for us *sniff sniff*"
More banging my head against the brick wall at Chase today. Called in to get the PIN again, and (after several warnings about Cash Advance fees) it turns out my card isn't eligible since I set my Cash Advance limit to zero some months back. Sigh.
After the CSR asked why, I explained so I could use it at automated kiosks. He said, "Oh! You mean Chip and PIN! Just hit cancel and you'll be fine, this is Chip and Signature." Looks like I'll have to go the video and youtube route if it happens. They definitely don't know how their priority lists are setup.
Should be fun at an automated kiosk when it reads Priority 1: Online PIN verification and I don't have a PIN.
In the past all Pin changes had to be at the ATM as the change was hard coded on the chip itself. Some issuers are now supporting remote change, where you change it over the phone or online, enter your old PIN on the next transaction after that the PIN will update for the transaction (Excluding Plane and Rail transactions as these normally process offline) via issuer scripts I assume. The latter is only just really starting to happen though and as some transactions happen offline it can really confuse customers as to whether their PIN has changed. This method works better in other countries that use online pin as priority and then offline PIN as the secondary CVM, this means the offline PIN will update when you use your new PIN on the next transaction (NO having to remember the old one or wonder if its changed yet).
Regarding the PIN causing a cash advance fee, I don't see how this could happen as this would only happen at an ATM or if the transaction was routed through a US debit network which wouldn't be possible outside of the US.
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0.999998 |
An influential group of Senators in La Paz, Bolivia, led by the Second Vice-President of the Senate January 21 sent a letter to Hugo Chávez and demanded the immediate release of the Venezuelan political leader, Alejandro Peña Esclusa.
Bolivian Senators accused the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) of planting false evidence during the raid at the home of Peña-Esclusa to incriminate him illegally.
The list of signatories is headed by the Second Vice President (Speaker) of the Senate, Carmen Eva Gonzalez Lafuente, and the Head of the National Convergence Caucus, German Antelo Vaca. Also signed Senators Centa Reck, Jeanine Añez Chavez, Maria Elena Mendez de Leon, Mollina Roger Pinto, Carlos Sonnenschein Antelo, Marcelo Antezana and Bernard O. Sanz Gutierrez, who in the coming days will assume his post as head of the opposition bloc.
¿Porqué difamar a Peña Esclusa en Italiano?
Existe solo una explicación creíble a la pregunta porqué Alejandro Peña Esclusa quede difamado solo en Wikipedia en italiano, y no en español o inglés, por ejemplo: Para influir a la iglesia Católica. Lógicamente, esto significa que Chávez y su consejeros en el gobierno Cubano considera el Vaticano un adversario importante. ¿Y porqué no? Es la única organización con una presencia en todo el país, el único que puede difundir la verdad en toda Venezuela cuando los medios de comunicación han sido censurados.
Chávez es amigo de Putin en Rusia, y Putin es amigo de Berlusconi en Italia. Los tres son corruptos en escala astronómica, los tres son obsesionados en controlar el mensaje en los medios. Los tres tienen sus propios imperios de media para difundir su propaganda.
Wikipedia tiene que ser un peligro para ellos. Sin embargo, cada uno puede editarlo, los subordinados de los corruptos también. Es fácil emplear un ejercito de usuarios, o mejor aun, indoctrinarles para hacerlo sin pago. “Idiotas útiles” como les llamaban los bolcheviques.
Afortunadamente, el Cardenal Urosa Savino en Venezuela no se deja engañar. Sin embargo, como vimos en Honduras, el Papa en Roma no necesariamente escucha a su propio gente en el país. Aunque el Cardenal dijo claramente que no fue un golpe de Estado en Honduras junio 28, 2009, pero un destitución legal de un presidente (por haber tratado de derrocar la Constitución), el Papa no repitió esa verdad.
Queda claro que la difamación de Alejandro Peña Esclusa en Wikipedia en italiano se hace con el mismo propósito: Para hacer el Vaticano perder la confianza en su propio Cardenal en Venezuela. Espero que el Papa sea mas sabio que de caer en esas mentiras, y mas bien defiende a los derechos de Peña Esclusa de no ser difamado, y lo toma como ejemplo de la importancia de tener mucho cuidado en los argumentos y en como trataremos a los demás.
Wikipedia is helping a communist dictatorship jail and – soon – convict an innocent man in a kangaroo court, by allowing grossly libelous and patent falsehoods to be published about the man in their online user-edited encyclopedia. Wikipedia has given certain users the power to block other users, and this has allowed an army of conspirators – quite possibly paid agents working for the new axis of evil – to block every attempt to remove the libel over the course of several years. They are constantly monitoring the page, since they revoke any change within minutes even if it has been months since the last attempt to change it. Any user that insists and starts arguing the case they block from not just editing the page, but also from arguing the case in the talk page.
After having contacted the top legal representative of Wikipedia without any result, I conclude that Wikipedia knowingly aids a dictatorial regime violate human rights – whether on purpose or for lack of resources is irrelevant. They have been notified and responded, but after the first contact they stopped responding to reminders that nothing had changed. It seems that they need more pressure, either a lawsuit for libel, or a scandal in media.
The case I’m referring to is the slanderous article in Italian Wikipedia, it.wikipedia.org, about Venezuelan politician and NGO-leader Alejandro Peña Esclusa. Every attempt to remove blatantly slanderous and propagandistic statements – even when accompanied with references proving that they are false – are undone almost immediately by several gatekeepers, at least one of whom is a communist judging from a communist star on his user page. Several of these gatekeepers are editors meaning they have the power to block other users. This they use to prevent the user who tries to remove the slander from even commenting in the discussion page of the article.
This slander of Alejandro Peña Esclusa, and the fierce protection of it, has been going on since 2007 on Italian Wikipedia. It correlates with his political activities as an outspoken critic of the communist step-wise coup d’État carried out by Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. Peña Esclusa was framed in July 2010, using methods denounced by the U.S. Embassy in La Lima in a diplomatic cable leaked through Wikileaks.
It is obvious that the purpose of framing Peña Esclusa was to silence his message, expressed through Fuerza Solidaria and UnoAmerica. The gist of the message is that Hugo Chávez is leading a regime of narco-terrorists based on communism as the official ideology.
Recent information that has reached me shows, however, that the Venezuelan government is deeply divided, with the Chávez branch consisting only of Cubans, under the direct leadership on none other than Commandante Valdez, who fought in the revolution in Sierra Madre alongside the Castro brothers. In other words, Venezuela is run as a protectorate of communist Cuba. The other branch are Venezuelan patriots, if socialists, and they are in deep disagreement with the selling out of the country to Cuba and China (such as $5 crude when the world market price is $80; rumor has it Hugito is getting a healthy kickback on an overseas account).
The scheme to eliminate the regime-critic thus seems to have been drafted in Habana, Cuba. The communist dictatorship apparently planned the imprisonment years in advance, starting by planting slanderous material online, and in a Wikipedia article. All attempts to correct it were systematically blocked. The final step was to kidnap a foreigner, Chavez Abarca, in Guatemala, fly him to Caracas, and show him on TV while claiming that he confessed to having come to carry out a murder plot of Hugo Chávez in conspiracy with Alejandro Peña Esclusa. To prevent questions they flew him to Cuba immediately, under the pretext that he was wanted there since earlier for another terrorist attack.
Peña Esclusa understood that he was being framed and published a YouTube video (part 1, part 2) denouncing it. Only hours later they ransacked his house and when nobody looked they planted alleged explosives in his 8-year daughter’s desk. Proof enough for the political police to jail him, and there he sits still – in a 2 m by 3 m cell.
It is a tragedy is that the well-intentioned Wikipedia Foundation in California, through incompetence or worse, has and is aiding and abetting the strategy of a communist dictatorship to suppress free speech, liberty, and democracy.
PS. Since yesterday, another user again erased the slanderous claim that Alejandro Peña Esclusa is a member of the organization Tradition, Family and Property (TFP), with the comment “He was never a member of TFP, see talk.” In the talk page, a quote from his book appears in which he says that he was never a member of TFP. In spite of this, three different Wikipedia users have now, within 24 hours, reinstated a paragraph that claims, without any source or reference, that Peña Esclusa is, at present, a member of TFP. Furthermore, the paragraph in question alleges several damning things about TFP that are obviously put in there only to slander Peña Esclusa through “guilt by association”, even though by Wikipedia’s own rules those details do not belong in the article about Peña Esclusa but in the article about TFP itself.
PS.PS. A couple of hours later, a third user erased it, and it was immediately undone, again. Four different users reinserting the same libel, knowing that it is defamatory, cannot be interpreted as anything less than a conspiracy.
PS.PS.PS. Two hours later, at 01:25 on January 2nd, a forth user deleted the libel, and two minutes later a fifth person reinserted the defamation of the political prisoner, a poor victim of a totalitarian communist dictatorship.
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0.988379 |
In Indonesia, the Chinese New Year In Indonesia 2019 is named author of Hari Tahun Baru Imlek, or Sin Cia in Hokkien. It was praised as one of the official national religious occasions by the Chinese Indonesians from June 18, 1946 until January 1, 1953 through the government direction marked by President Sukarno on June 18, 1946.
It was held informally by ethnic Chinese from 1953 to 1967, dependent on government control marked by Vice President Muhammad Hatta on February 5, 1953, which canceled the previous address, among others, the Chinese New Year as a national religious holiday .
Indeed, from December 6, 1967 to 1998, the practice of another world to praise the Chinese New Year by Chinese families was explicitly limited only within the Chinese house. This confinement is carried out by the Indonesian government through a Presidential Instruction, Instruksi Presiden No.14 Tahun 1967, marked by President Suharto. This confinement ends when the routine has changed and President Suharto was overthrown.
On January 19, 2001, the Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kementerian Agama Republik Indonesia) issued a Decree through Keputusan Menteri Agama RI No. 13 Tahun 2001 tentang Imlek sebagai Hari Libur Nasional to establish Hari Tahun Baru Imlek as a facultative feast for the Chinese community Through the Presidential Decree, he pronounced himself with authority as an open religious occasion of 1 (one) day from April 9, 2002 by President Megawati.
The Indonesian government approves the main day of the Chinese New Year as an open religious occasion and is explicitly assigned only to the Chinese. In Indonesia, the main day of the Chinese New Year is perceived as a piece of the festival of Chinese religion and the convention of the Chinese community.
There are no other official or informal Chinese New Year as an open occasion. The rest of the 14 days are praised only by Chinese ethnic families. In Indonesia, the Chinese Year is named as a year of Kǒngzǐ (孔子) or Kongzili in Bahasa Indonesia. Consistently, the Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kementerian Agama Republik Indonesia) established the explicit date of the religious occasion depending on the contribution of the religious leaders.
The Chinese New Year is the main national religious occasion in Indonesia that was explicitly authorized by the Presidential Decree, for this situation with the President of Keputusan Presiden Republik Indonesia (Keppres RI) No. 19 Tahun 2002 dated April 9, 2002.
The Chinese New Year festival as a religious occasion is explicitly planned only for the Chinese people in Indonesia (tradisi masyarakat Cina yang dirayakan secara turun temurun di berbagai di Indonesia, dan umat Agama Tionghoa) and has not been praised by Indonesian Indigenous Peoples or Masyarakat Pribumi Indonesia.
Huge Chinese population, urban communities and cities such as Jakarta, Medan, Singkawang, Pangkal Pinang, Binjai, Bagansiapiapi, Tanjungbalai, Pematangsiantar, Selat Panjang, Tanjung Pinang, Batam, Ketapang and Pontianak have their own New Year at the festival.
A large number of shopping centers improved their operation with lamps, Chinese words and lions or mythical beasts with red and gold as primary shading. The movement of lions is a typical spectacle of Chinese houses, sanctuaries and their guest houses.
Normally, Chinese Buddhists, Confucians and Taoists will consume a large incense made with aloe wood and a winged serpent adorned in the front of their house. The sanctuary is open 24 hours a day on the main day, they also appropriate red envelopes and occasionally rice. Natural products or sugar to the poor.
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To what extent did waterboards contribute to a sustainable management of natural resources ?
One of the issues in the historiography on waterboards is the effect of their management on landscape deterioration. Although the Dutch are widely known for their expertise in creating new land and protect their land from the sea, history shows that losing land has been as common as gaining land (Van Dam and Van Tielhof, 2006; Van Dam, 2002; for an overview of new land creations after the Middle Ages see: Van der Ham, 2009). This was obviously caused to no small extent by the geographical conditions. About half of the land was (and still is) not only near or below sea level, but also soft and vulnerable. It takes a great deal of effort to protect it from floods or from steady erosion. Given these circumstances, the sustainability of the landscape depended to a large extent on effective water management. Two examples of land loss and deterioration both in the Middle Ages and early modern period are worth considering more closely: the consequences of peat winning in Holland and Utrecht, and the abandonment of lands in the estuaries of Maas and Scheldt in Zeeland, North Brabant and South Holland.
Did the waterboards have a positive or a negative influence on the deterioration of large parts of land due to peat winning? In the Middle Ages much of the low-lying part of the country was covered with peat soils. Peat could be used as a fuel, and as the cities grew larger and the fuel prices rose, more and more of the peat was removed. The peat winners left behind wet, worthless plots of land or even small lakes. Whole villages disappeared into the water (Van 't Riet, 2005; 2004). In the course of the early modern period water began to dominate the landscape in the provinces Holland and Utrecht. Does this mean that the waterboards failed? And if so, did they fail because they did not have the means to counter the strong economic forces dictating that fuel which is easily available nearby, simply had to be won? Or did they fail because members of the waterboards had personal interests in peat winning or could be bribed? Critical as well as more positive interpretations are possible (see the discussions in Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden 123/1 (2008) especially Prak, 83; Soens, 97; Van Dam and Van Tielhof, 106-8. Also: Van Tielhof, 2007, 90-3).
Along the mouths of the rivers Maas and Scheldt land eroded and agricultural lands finally disappeared and were substituted by the Biesbosch and other watery landscapes. Destructive activities like salt winning and peat winning played a role here too, rendering the landscape extremely vulnerable for the eroding forces of the sea. Damage control generally failed, probably because it was not considered very important to protect these lands. What was the role of the waterboards in this? In the Flemish coastal plain, where comparable land loss occurred, deficiencies of water management were explained by social-economic and political developments. The abandonment of lands becomes perfectly understandable when studying property relations and the background of the people governing the waterboards (Soens, 2006; 2009).
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0.99161 |
Real Estate I write about real estate strategies for retailers.
With the proliferation of luxury retailers online, and their rapid expansion to a variety of markets around the world, how does a brand maintain its exclusivity? How do fashion houses like Burberry, Gucci and Louis Vuitton have it both ways, offering something for both the aspirational customer as well as the high-end shopper? Through an intelligent brick and mortar strategy that includes select locations and painstaking attention to an interior architecture that perfectly expresses the DNA of the brand.
Of course, that does not mean they should open an outlet every five blocks, as did Gap. The luxury retail location has to be an exclusive destination that shoppers will travel the world over to visit, much the way customers from Asia and Russia line up for hours outside the Hermes, Louis Vuitton, and Abercrombie & Fitch maisons in Paris. From the landmark locations of these stores, these customers have to know that when they step through those doors, they are entering a world that’s rare and special.
Louis Vuitton has been a master of this. The popularity and visibility of its logo-embossed bags, coveted by aspirational luxury shoppers the world over, was in danger of diluting the exclusivity of Louis Vuitton name. But by segmenting its market between the customer who can afford the $750 tote, and the shopper who is willing to pay thousands for a limited edition handbag, the brand has successfully maintained its status with the high-end customer. To that end, its real estate strategy has been particularly effective. Louis Vuitton surrounds its biggest-spending customers in oases of invitation-only luxury, from its wood-paneled New Bond street store and special VIP second-floor apartment in London, to nautically-themed store accessible only by a private jetty in Singapore, where customers on yachts can disembark to pick up items from the latest collections.
Tom Ford also excels at creating this sense of exclusivity, doing custom fittings and assigning sales staff to get to know the customer and form an ongoing relationship. But none of this can happen without a physical store where that level of suggestive retailing can take place. It’s why luxury brands are increasingly investing in exquisitely built out townhouses, maisons and salons for a rarefied environment that creates a sense of intimacy. And they must. As the Internet creates a more savvy and demanding consumer, the pressure is on for these labels to differentiate themselves with a memorable shopping experience, and bricks and mortar has become an essential component in building this emotional connection to the brand.
Over the past two years, as luxury shoppers have returned from the recession more discerning than ever, other premium brands have followed suit: Donna Karan, Giorgio Armani, Stella McCartney, YSL, Ralph Lauren, Alexander McQueen, Tory Burch, Prada, Dior, Vera Wang and J. Mendel. These luxury retailers are hearing loud and clear that customers feel empowered by that sense of exclusivity they bring. They are investing heavily in interior construction, creating home spaces with flagship, multi-level stores divided into rooms filled with music and comfortable furniture, in décor that best matches the merchandise on display, whether they are home goods, children’s wear or women’s runway collections. The best retailers have carefully edited collections arranged amongst plush sofas, collectible paints and objets d’art, like someone’s tastefully appointed living room. Their newest retail locations are places where a shopper can settle in with her friends and spend the afternoon trying on clothes and shoes with her friends.
Among my own clients, Abercrombie & Fitch has focused on giving its flagship, street-level stores that home-like feel through meticulous attention to architectural detail. Whether in Paris, New York or Milan, everything from the thickness of the doors, to the finish of the hardware and the quality of the lighting is much more expensive than in most commercial spaces. It is sending the message to customers that they are respected by showing they are willing to spend the money to create an environment of comfort you could find in the CEO’s own home.
Building a physical space that matches the brand DNA is also why many of the luxury retailers I work with are investing in locations that originally were homes. A great example is Ted Baker, which secured a lease for a townhouse on Fifth Avenue that lends itself perfectly to their aesthetic. For example, the architects of this space are opening up the second floor to create a double-ceilinged, dramatic entrance way that sets the mood the moment the shopper walks into the store.
The need to express the exclusivity of the label and the intimacy of the shopping experience is precisely why digital retail will never take away from brick and mortar. High-end retailers will always need to evolve their identity, past, present and future, through their physical locations. Luxury shopping will always be a destination where a customer can experience the touch and feel and be physically embraced by the unique beauty of a brand’s culture.
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0.999997 |
What should elicit a table set for a party? It is the first impression that counts so it’s important to think about what sort of atmosphere you want to create on enhance with your wedding flowers. Can ‘be given by the preciousness of gold or the transparent crystal. Must always be in harmony with the colors of foods and enhance the colors.
Ideally the should set the tone for the wedding, so it’s basilar if to decide wheather to create a shocking statement with a riot of vibrant coloured flowers, or something more smooth and serene with delicate blooms starting with whites and ivory with an accent of soft pink color palette.
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0.999937 |
Make a case study of Angola’s electricity supply issues - describe Renewable energy is a viable option for African countries?
The renewable energy is gaining attention in Angola due to having problem since the time of civil war. The civil war affect was such that it damaged the infrastructure and energy sector of Angola and till now it has affect on the nation. The energy industry of Angola is facing problem to lack of cost and investment. Therefore, renewable energy is effective for the nation to exploit the resources and improve the economic condition of Angola. On the other hand, the GDP of Angola can be improved along with the development of infrastructure and energy sector. In the particular research study, the researcher has focused on the renewable energy and its effectiveness that can help Angola to overcome the issues of electricity supply. The secondary source of information has been used for study the status of Angola in terms of energy use and supply of energy. The literature review has been mentioned in context to energy in Africa and Angola. Moreover, the recommendation has been provided that can help Angola to improve the energy sector.
What are the issues that are affecting the electricity supply in Angola?
What is the market entry policies followed in the renewable energy sector?
What are the programs that have been adopted in the employment of natural resources for the development of renewable energy?
How collaboration between authorities and energy companies can be effective in decreasing the matter of power cuts?
The research work has been selected by the researcher for understanding and analysing the effectiveness of using renewable source of energy within Angola. The renewable energy can be useful for the developing countries as it can be difficult in transmitting and distributing energy in rural or remote location, which is developed from fossil fuels. On the other hand, it can be expensive for transferring energy (Angelo, 2011). The concern regarding environment has made the energy supplying authorities to give more consideration towards using renewable energy. The issues of global warming, air pollution, technologies cost, etc are the main reason in adopting the renewable source of energy (ANGOLA: New Oil Power, 2007). If the energy is not used in correct manner, the country might face serious problem and their economy may be affected. Therefore, it can lead to economy downturn and fall in the development of the country (Anon, 2006).
The projects of renewable energy can be helpful for the developing nations as it can be effective in making contribution in alleviating poverty. Consequently, energy can be supplied for developing business and creating employment (Angelo, 2011). On the other hand, indirect input can be made by renewable energy by delivering energy for space heating, cooking, lighting, etc to eradicate poverty. The sustainability can be attained by the utilization of energy that is renewable and it requires low cost of operation in maintaining energy. The effect of carbon dioxide and chemical pollutants can be minimized through renewable energy so that environment can be protected (Chaiamarit and Nuchprayoon, 2013). On the other side, renewable energy can be effective in ensuring economic benefits by increasing the employment of local service and improving the tourism growth. For instance, European Countries such as United Kingdom and Germany has implemented measures to develop renewable energy that helped them to produce many jobs for the people (Violence in Iraq and Nigeria, OPEC cuts output, admits Angola, 2007). The high price associated with the use of fossil fuels can be decreased by renewable energy and the people can have to bear fewer prices for gaining energy (Angola: New Oil Projects, 2008).
On the contrary, the developing countries may find it hard to produce required quantities of electricity which is possible with fossil fuel generators. Moreover, the renewable energy depends on the weather for generating power. Therefore, if weather condition is not favourable then it can affect in generating renewable energy. For instance, hydro generators require rain to pack the dams so that water can be flowed (Yamin, 2004). The developing countries may not comply with the concept of renewable energy as it can be expensive for them. The renewable energy is totally a new technology and requires high capital cost (Bodig, 2012). Therefore, the developing country may not adopt renewable energy (Angola: New Oil Projects, 2008). On the other hand, if renewable energy is adopted then the country may not develop at better rate. Many developed countries uses renewable source of energy that helps them in increasing GDP. As a result, if developing countries do not build renewable energy then it may lack behind in developing better educational system, health care system (Zeller, 2006). Therefore, renewable source of energy can be effective for the future development and for future generation (ANGOP, 2014). The environment sustainability can be gained from the use of energy and the country image can be improved in the world map. In addition, renewable energy can be stored and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere can be taken out by adopting different methods of generating renewable electricity (ANGOLA: New Oil Power, 2007).
According to Ohunakin (2011), investment has been made by the government of Angola for achieving green growth that can help in promoting and increasing economic growth while decreasing emissions of greenhouse gases and pollution, reducing wastage and efficient usage of the natural resources and enhancing biodiversity. The renewable energy is totally a new technology and requires high capital cost. Angola has adopted Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) in order to supply environment friendly technology for the electricity industry in Africa and different parts of Angola. According to Dresch et al. (2014), pressure of population and inadequate development of infrastructure have increased the issue of environment in Angola. It has been found that there is scarcity in the portable water, majorly in the rural areas (Asia, Africa, Middle East, 2009). On the other hand, poor practices in agriculture have led to soil erosion extremely and desertification. Moreover, Weller (2014) mentioned that deforestation has increased in Angola due to export of international tropical timber in the market which is posing the threat to biodiversity. Therefore, Angola’s government is considering the renewable energies at major vehicle in order to attain the sustainable development (Armaroli, Balzani and Serpone, 2013). Consequently, it can help in improving the living conditions of the society both in rural areas and urban areas. The energy authorities in Angola have formed three key activities in context to renewable energy such as formation of National Renewable Energy Strategy, Identification of the advantage for renewable energy and implementation of the Project. As a result, the country is working effectively towards developing and using wind energy and solar energy (Martinez and Pedemonte, 2014).
As Angola is blessed with rich energy resources therefore it provides great support in promoting the renewable source of energy. The Ministry of Energy and Water (Ministério da Energia e Águas, MINEA) affairs in Angola takes the responsibility for the National Energy Policy and involves them in enhancing renewable energy. On the other hand, government of Angola has invested in the photovoltaic solar energy so that requirements of electricity can be met in rural areas (Assmann, Laumanns and Uh, 2006). Therefore it helps in raising the electrification level. Angola has bunch of opportunities to make an investment in the renewable energy that can be in rehabilitation or expanding the electric infrastructure in Angola. On the other side, energy sector in Angola has been restructured in order to develop the national electricity and raise the utilization of renewable energies (Barros and Antunes, 2014). Nwulu and Agboola, (2010) said, Angola has been endowed with 47 hydrographical basins that can be used for generating electricity and for other purposes.
It is known that there are various problems that are faced by African countries in terms of renewable and non-renewable energy resources (Burgos and Ear, 2012). At present there are various literatures that can be drawn here regarding the energy issues in various African countries. The main aim of the chapter is to provide description of the renewable and non-renewable resources in various parts of Africa and here a special emphasis is given to the case study of Angola (Bustamante-Cedeño and Arora, 2008). Africa is endowed with vast amount of non-renewable and renewable resources of energy. It is estimated that the potential of geothermal power is 14,000 MW and the potential of hydropower is 1,750 TWh in the continent (Bustamante-Cedeño and Arora, 2008). Throughout the years, abundant solar radiation is received in the continent in abundant amount and it is confirmed in the recent studies that there is abundance of wind energy in the inland areas and the coastal areas of Africa. There is abundant availability of the non-renewable energy coal in the Southern Africa. Africa has substantial amount of renewable and new energy sources and most of the energy resources are underexploited (Carneiro, 2007).
It can be said that from the enormous potential of the hydropower only 7% has been harnessed and the hydro potential includes micro, mini and small hydro opportunities. There are limited initiatives that are taken in the country for the development of the energy utilisation (Controls on turbidity sand deposition during gravity-driven extension of a passive margin: examples from Miocene sediments in block 4, Angola, (2002). It is known that the Renewable Energy technologies (RETs) can significantly contribute to the development of energy sector in the African countries. According to Doucette and McCulloch, (2011) RET can provide attractive environmentally sound technology option for the electricity industry of Africa. The proportion of foreign exchange could be significantly offset by using RET as it can reduce the import cost of oil for the generation of electricity in most of the countries (Kammen and Kirubi, 2008). It is also evident that or meeting the decentralised rural energy demand, the renewable energy are modular and well suited. For a capital constrained countries of Africa, the low investment level and the modular nature of most of the renewable energy technologies are most suitable for those countries (Eia.gov, 2014). The locally available resources and the expertise are utilised by most of the renewable energy technologies and thus it is evident that the local people will receive more employment opportunities but there are certain limitations that are faced by RET in the region (ElDesouky, 2014). Those include poor infrastructural facility and poor institutional framework, high initial cost of capital, pricing distortions in the region, lack of skilled manpower, weak dissemination strategies, weak maintenance service and infrastructure, and poor baseline information (Lebassi-Habtezion and Van Buskirk, 2012).
There is scarcity of energy in Africa than in the developed world. The energy consumption in the country is significantly high across the continent but the energy resource is underutilised in the economy (Energy.sourceguides.com, 2014). Since the 1980s, the overall access rate of energy has been constant whereas in most of the developing countries the electrical grid distribution has increased by 20%. The per capita access rates are significantly falling in the Sub-Saharan Africa and according to recent trends; by 2020 there will still be lack of access to over 60% of the Sub-Saharan African people. The average electricity rate in Africa is 24% whereas the rate is 40% for most of the developing world (Ereda, 2014). It can be said that the power is often unreliable and the power loss is significant in the manufacturing sector that affects the performance of the sector. In a year, the power loss is 56 days in the manufacturing sector. In Burundi, the power is out for 144 days a year, it is 63 days in Tanzania and 25 days in Senegal (Mohammed et al., 2013). The power cuts cause greater issues for the industries operating in various countries. Damage to equipments and sales is caused due to the power outage and it also discourages foreign investment in the countries (ESI-Africa.com, 2014). Thus it can be said that the growth of domestic companies has been stunted by the irregularities in the power supply and it also discourages the set up of manufacturing plants by foreign firms in the continent (Africa Oil Trade, 2011 and 2012, 2013).
Even though the electricity supply is unreliable in the continent but still the cost of electrical service is very in Sub-Saharan Africa from the other parts of the world (GmbH, 2014). The rate of protective tariff is $0.13 USD in the country whereas in the rest of the developing world, it is only $0.04-$0-08 USD. Thus it can be said that Africa is facing one of the greatest challenges at the moment in terms of creating sustainable development in the continent. There is a lack of sufficient transport system in Africa (Nwulu and Agboola, 2010). Graetz, (2011) says that the new developments in the manufacturing and the industrial sector have led to significant population growth. There has been increased urbanisation and the energy consumption has also increased significantly Thus one of the challenges that is faced by African countries include the maintenance and provision of widespread access to energy for the population in order to meet the improved and growing standards of living in the continent (Africa Oil Trade, 2011 and 2012, 2013). It is estimated that by 2025 the environmental problems will double or triple as the population will increase by over a billion people in terms of the present annual growth rate of population of 2.2% (Ohunakin, 2011). But the electricity generation is less than 1% from the renewable resources in Africa and thus it is very important to increase the electricity generation and improve the utilisation of renewable resources so that the access to the affordable energy resources can be increased (Hammond, 2011). It is also important to manage the environmental impacts related with energy, stimulate the economic growth, improving the energy governance and ensuring the security of the supply with the help of diversification (Renewables in Africa, 2009).
There is dominance of gas and oil in North Africa. From the available oil reserves in Africa, approximately 50% are obtained by Libya and the program and the regulations worth USD $5 billion is implemented in Libya for the reduction of Carbon emission (Haugen and Musser, 2012). There is also prevalence of resources such as gas and oil in Algeria along with the natural gas. The solar capacity is extremely relevant in North Africa (UNIDO, 2009).
Of all the coal reserves of Africa, around 91 percent of all the coal reserves are contained in Southern Africa. Around 70 percent of the Uranium/Nuclear resources are in the South Africa. In the hydro resources in Southern Africa follows the Central Africa (Healey, 2005). The potential of hydroelectricity is found in Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Zambia, Mozambique and Congo DRC. An international initiative is taken by Mozambique for contributing to sustainable energy (UNIDO, 2009). The Living in the Finite Environmental program by USAID, in accordance with the African Society, 15 protected areas have been secured (van der Linde, 1996). South Africa alone contains 6th largest reserve of coal on the planet and other renewable resources in South Africa include bio-energy, wave energy, hydropower, wind and solar power etc (HENRICHSEN, 2005).
The sustainable use of natural resource is promoted in East Africa (Iea.org, 2014). The community-based wildlife management in Uganda and Kenya strengthens the environmental and forestry management practices and it also enhances the coastal zone integration (Iea.org, 2014). Various instrumental energy plans has been organised in Kenya for supporting the economic growth and development (Iracleous and Alexandridis, 2005).
According to Cape et al (2008), cited by (Jafari R. Kideghesho et al, 2013), Conservation of biodiversity is one of the main goals in Tanzania and the local actions of Mkuranga, Bagamoyo, and Pangani are supported by the USAID for the promotion of sustainable marine and coastal resource management through coastal tourism, marine culture, and small-scale Enterprise development. Given the arid climate, there is an essential push for the geothermal power in the region.
Between 1991 and 2000, there has been 500% increase in the electricity access in Ghana but there has been a fall in the per capital consumption during the same period (Stewart, Ian J, 1997), that affected the usage of electricity by making is unaffordable (Iracleous and Alexandridis, 2005). An energy action plan was established by Ghana for taking initiatives for the sustainable energy (van der Linde, 1996). It is evident that Nigeria is one of the electronic products dumping ground. There are several toxic substances and metals that are dumped in the ground (Renewables in Africa, 2009). There are some coal reserves in West Africa, especially in Nigeria and some nuclear resources are also available in West Africa (Jakab, 2010). There are several initiatives that are taken in Guinea for the environmental protection and it is expected that the progressive steps will create exchange trade opportunities and improvement in the agricultural production technologies (Kaltschmitt, 2013).
There is abundance of hydro-electric resources in Central Africa due to the presence of various rivers in the region (Langwith, 2009). It is estimated that 4 million tons of carbon emission could be saved annually if the South African coal power can be replaced by the hydroelectric power. In Congo low voltage power lines has been created by utilising the hydro power in the region (Le Billon, 2005). In this context around USD $32 million has been spent and it has helped in achieving sustainable electricity availability to 140,000 people in the region (Lehner and Weißbach, 2009). The protection of forest resources is one of the strong focuses of Central Africa and around $ 48 million has been contributed by USAID through partnership for developing Central African Regional Programme for the improvement of the governance of forests (Ohunakin, 2011). The loss of biodiversity can be reduced along with the rate of forest degradation for the management of the protected area (Lehner and Weißbach, 2009).
One of the major issues that are faced by the African countries is in terms of the reduction of poverty and the development of the various countries (South Africa introduces feed-in tariff for renewable energies, 2009). According to Macauhub English, (2014), in the absence of adequate energy supply, the social and economic development cannot be achieved by Africa. Thus it is very important that modern energy service is accesses in the continent for the essential service development and increase in the productivity. The reliable energy facilities cannot improve the social inequality and these are necessary for improving the economic growth in the regions.
There are basically two types of energy system that contributes to energy needs of Africa.
The large-scale use of renewable energy sources are applied specifically in wind, solar, geo-thermal, modern biomass and in hydropower (Midthun and Hiti, 2012). Among the hydro resources of the continent only 5% of the hydro power potential has been exploited (Spellman and Bieber, 2011). It is estimated that total hydro power potential for Africa is equivalent to the consumed electricity in United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and France put together (Manahan, 2011). There is greater potential for the hydro power generation in the Inga River and other countries having hydro power potential includes Zambia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Madagascar, Gabon, Ethiopia, Egypt, Cameroon, and Angola.
The biomass energy is also used in large-scale for solid fuel production, biogas production, heat co-generation, gasification, liquid fuels production, and for the process of heat (Nagayama, 2009). In the continent various agro-based industries like sugar, rice mills, palm produce, wood-based industries and paper and pulp use their waste products for the power and heat generation (Morales, 2014). Thus it can be said that there is a good potential for the generation of power in these countries (Morales, 2014).
In many parts of Africa, the geothermal energy is used in abundant amount and it has the potential for the generation of 14,000 MW power (Novoa and Jin, 2011). The wind energy is used globally in large-scale for the electricity production and over the past decade the new installations have increased in Africa for the use of wind energy for electricity generation. However according to Novoa at el (2011) it is evident that Africa still lacks the precise information about hydropower and that constrains the wind energy projects. In the countries such as Ethiopia, South Africa, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco most of the energy projects have taken place.
According to Solarin and Shaabaz (2013), serious problem is faced in urban areas in terms of solid and liquid waste disposal as it can be converted to energy. The liquid waste handling and treatment system existing in the municipality can be renovated for generating electricity for powering the treatment plants. Thus Africa faces major challenge in terms of urban waste management (Saunders and Chapman, 2004).
There is very limited amount of large scale solar energy projects due to the cost constrained. The feasibility studies can be established in details for assessing the potential of the solar power generation (Saunders and Chapman, 2004). At present the solar thermal power energy is implemented in South Africa only and various plans are implemented in other countries for the generation of power.
The small-scale renewable energy system has been increased in Africa for increasing the energy access in the continent. There are basically two types of small-scale energy systems and they are wind power and photovoltaics. The solar PV system is highly documented in South Africa and Kenya. It is evident that the solar energy system has high upfront cost (Strbac, 2007).
The small hydropower system supplies energy to remote communities and it can help in the development to those regions. The capital cost is also lower for the small-scale hydropower system than the large-scale system. There is a large potential in most of the African countries for the small hydro system. At present these hydropower systems are exploited and special emphasis is given on the rural communities. In a number of African countries the micro hydro power system has been introduced (Renewables in Africa, 2009).
Due to the high capital cost the biogas digester dissemination has not been successful for the household application. This has been unsuccessful due to negative public perception, high labour cost and insufficient feedstock and water. Pilot projects have been implemented in Senegal, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Mali, Faso, Burkina, Niger, Kenya, and Ghana. The Apollonia project has been installed in Ghana for supplying the electricity in the country (Truc et al., 2012). The biogas is also produced from cow dung and the biogas Africa Project has also helped in utilising the resources in the country (Renewables in Africa, 2009). The majority of the Sub-Saharan households rely on the wood fuel for the purpose of heating and cooking. In the rural areas, the main source of fuel is wood fuel and in poorer urban households charcoal is commonly used as a main source of fuel (Trojan Battery expands global presence, opens Africa office, 2014). However the households have to use charcoal due to shortage of alternative energy in terms of brownouts and electricity blackouts. There has been improved use of biomass cook stoves all over Africa (Renewables in Africa, 2009).
The electricity infrastructure of Angola was damaged during the civil war of the nation and afterwards it received financial assistance from China and made improvements in the power sector. But according to Reuters (2014), it is notable that the country still faces problems in terms of electricity generation and supply in the area. The people have to rely on biomass and waste for their needs of household energy use. The electricity sector of Angola is dominated by the state company Empresa Nacional de Electricidade. There are some other private companies as well that provide energy in the country. The country is planning on commercialising the natural gas resource of the country and it is expected that the resource will be very important in the coming years. The Government has also discussed with the international atomic energy about developing nuclear power programs in the region (Okafor, 2009).
The energy in Angola basically describes the electricity and energy production, consumption and the export from Angola. In the Energy Policy of Angola, more detailed policies for Angola have been described. In Angola, the hydroelectric power is the primary driving force of energy (OIL AND GAS: Angola, 2009). In 2009, the primary energy use in Angola was 7 TWh per million persons in 2009. In Angola people suffer from blackouts daily and in order to improve the situation, the government announced $17 billion US dollars planned in the investment of energy in the area (OIL: Angola, 2008). It is expected that the plan will alleviate the paucity of the available energy in the region. The energy resource in Angola has increased at a lower rate in every year. In 2007 the energy resource production was 1,104 Twh. In 2008 it was 1,231 Twh, in 2009 it was 1,174. The CO2 emission has also increased significantly. In 2008 it was 12.92 Mt and it 2012 it was 15.72 Mt (OIL/GAS: Angola, 2009).
There is extensive hydroelectric power resource in Angola and it is stated that the power resource exceeds the present needs. The Cuanza River and Capanda Dam provide cheap power to the industries and two dams on the Catumbela River produce power for the Benguela and Lobito areas (Reuters, 2014). The Matala Dam that is situated 180 km of the Lubango also produce the power for the area and near the Namibian Border the Ruacana falls Dam is situated and it was completed in 1970s and the power station of the dam is in Namibia. In 2003, a hydroelectric station on the Cuanza River at Kapanda was started. In 2002 only three dams were operational in the country among the six available dams. $200 US million dollars were spent for the repair of the dams in the location as the dams were damaged extensively due to civil war. In 2002, 1.728 TW h electricity was generated in the country and among that 65.5% came from hydropower and 34.5% came from fossil fuel. In the same year a total of 1.607 Tw.h was the electricity consumption in the country and total capacity was 700 MW, (OIL/GAS: Angola, 2009).
Angola ranks second in the Sub-Saharan Africa for the production of crude oil. Since 1973, crude oil has been the chief export of Angola and it is also the major source of revenue for the government (OIL: Angola, 2013). In 1994, the revenue from crude oil was $2.9 billion and it accounted for 95% of the government revenue (OIL: Angola, 2014). The oil reserves have been increased to 8.8 billion barrels in 2004 and the oil reserves are along the Atlantic coast and mostly in the northern border area between Soyo and Quinzau and in the off shore Cabinda region. Several oil companies were engaged in production in 1999 and one of the large subsidiaries was Chevron of the Cabinda Gulf oil company.
The total gross natural gas production in the region was 8.4 km3 in 2002. The estimated reserve of natural gas in was 45 km3. The domestic demand for refined petroleum has increased significantly in the country and various projects has been undertaken here for using natural gas resources in the country. Chevron Texaco and Sonangol joined forces in a $2 billion project in 2002 for liquefied natural gas project in the offshore fields of Angola. In 2002 Angola fined $2 million to Chevron Texaco for the cause of environmental damage.
The present research is based on secondary data. The secondary data is collected from the published journals and papers published by the Government related to the issue. The journal articles have been used to gather information regarding the need of renewable sources of energy by Angola. The electricity issues in Angola have been analyzed using secondary data. The secondary data will provide authenticity to the present research. The data can do a systematic review of the topic. The secondary data will be gathered from the research publications and the various reports in this context. Research using secondary data will be beneficial for the analyzing the research topic in an in depth way.
In the present research, the researcher has used the deductive approach. Amongst the two types of research approach, the researcher has used the deductive approach. The deductive approach will provide a pattern solution to the research problem. The philosophy used by the researcher in the present study is interpretevism. Since the research is based on addressing the social aspect of the country. Thus the theory of interpretivism has been used. It will provide a deeper analysis of the topic. It will provide a solution to the aforesaid problem and determine whether the use of renewable source of energy is a viable option for Angola. The researcher will use the secondary data for qualitative analysis (Research Methodology - An introduction, 2014). In depth analysis of the research can be done by conducting structured analysis of the journals that contains data of the decisions of the governing bodies that are responsible for taking decisions related to the oil industry (Kothari, 2004) ; (Gupta, 2003).
According to Bodig (2012) to continue any kind of research, it is very much necessary to select a proper research approach. The selection of the research approach is very important because the entire backbone of the practical research is standing upon the research approach. Martinez and Pedemonte (2014) stated that the selection of best-fit research approach assists the researcher to approach towards the intended goal.
According to the deductive research approach is concerned with the logical reasoning of the research phenomena. According to Bodig (2012), the deductive research approach widely followed by the researchers because it helps the researcher to attain the research goal through providing the logical reasoning of the multiple adjacent factors related to the research. The other reason for the selection of the deductive approach in the research is that it helps the researcher to start from the detail and helps to reach the specific intended outcome. The main feature of the deductive approach is that it reduces the risk of failure as it starts the investigation form very detail and through the logical explanation, it reaches to the intended outcome (Jahn, 2010). The other reason why this research is popular that if there researcher found any kind of errors in the hypothesis or any explanation it does not takes the researcher to start from the initial point. According to Dresch et al. (2014) the chances of error in this approach is very low as it approaches through logical steps (Vogel et al., 2011).
The inductive approach is very much based on the observation (Ary et al., 2014). According to Weller (2014) the main feature of the inductive approach is that it tries to reach the intended outcome through the development of the patterns on the research objective (Barbieri et al., 2010). However, Martinez and Pedemonte (2014) criticized this research approach through saying that the due to the bottom up approach if the researcher found any of the hypothesis or the pattern is wrong then the researcher needs to start the entire research approach from the very beginning (Kumar, 2005).
However to continue this research the researcher will follow the deductive research approach. The main reason for this is that the nature of the topic indicates that the matter is very wide but the intended decision is whether the renewable energy will be a viable option for Angola or not. To identify the viability it is very important to consider all the possible detailed aspect of the energy sector of the country. Therefore, to continue this research the researcher will follow the deductive research approach not the inductive research approach (Hinkel, 2011). The main reason for not following the deductive research approach is that the patterned solution provided by this research approach does not fits properly when the research is very much related with the social and economical aspect of the country and the viability is the main criteria for decision making (Weller ,2014); (Flick, 2014).
The research philosophy helps to acquire the possible knowledge about the research topic. According to Dresch et al. (2014) to continue any kind of research it is very much necessary to acquire the relevant knowledge otherwise the researcher will fail to meet the intended outcome (Hammersley, 1993).
According to Bodig (2012), the most widely used research philosophies are the positivism and the Interpretivism. The positivism is the most scientifically structured research philosophy. On the other hand, the interpretivism firstly collects the relevant data from the multiple sources and then it develops the ideal framework based on the collected data (Crossan, 2003; p-46-55). According to Weller (2014) interpretivism is the best-fit research philosophy when the research topic is very much connected with the human relations and the social aspects. Whereas, the positivism is very much fit when the research phenomena is very much related with the scientific or patterned objective. According to Weller (2014), positivism philosophy helps the researcher to develop its understanding about the research topic through the repetitive observations.
To continue this particular research the researcher will follow the Interpretivism research philosophy. The main reason for selecting interpretivism as the research philosophy is that the research subject is very much related with the social aspect of the country (Webb, 1989;p-403-410). The main theme of the research is that whether the renewable energy will be viable for the African countries or not. To understand the viability of the intended project it is very much required to understand the socio-economical orientations of the African countries. Moreover, it is very much necessary to analyze the present energy infrastructure of the country (Angola) to identify the capability of the energy sector to adopt the renewable energy production and distribution within their respective regions. Therefore, after considering all these areas the researcher has decided that the research will be carried through the interpretivism research philosophy.
The in-depth analysis of the research can be done by the quantitative research. It provides deeper understanding of the research topic. Thus in case of qualitative research smaller samples belonging to a wider group is used for conducting the research. Quantitative analysis is done to measure the effectiveness of the use renewable energy as alternative source. The research has been conducted by the use quantitative methods. The quantitative analysis has been gathered from the secondary data. The trend of the use of non renewable sources of energy in the various African countries has been studied in the research. The quantitative analysis has been done by the data obtained from the various journals and news papers. The secondary data has been analysed. The analysis of the data has been reflected in the research (Smith, 1982).
Quantitative analysis has been done by researching the journals published by the governing bodies that make the policies that affect the energy industry. Quantitative research may be considered as a type of scientific research. (Davidson, 2001; p-11-20). The evidence regarding the topic is obtained from the various researches from journals, published articles etc. The research problem can be understood in a better way. This will provide a better understanding of the research issue. The exact information about the various policies of the Government can be obtained from the papers that contain data of the policy makers. This will help in depth analysis of the topic. The intangible factors affecting the research can be obtained from the quantitative analysis. It will provide a detail perspective of the entire research (Quantitative Research Methods: A Data Collector’s Field Guide, 2014; p-1-12); (Creswell, 2003).
The research has been conducted in order to provide sustainable option to the African countries for using energy. The problem related to energy can be mitigated by the use of alternative sources of energy. The viability of the use of the renewable energy sources by the African countries has been analysed in the present research.
The ethical issues must be considered in order to conduct the research in a systematic way. The reliability of the research is necessary for conducting the research in an ethical way. The ethical issue must be considered to ascertain that genuine data has been collected for the purpose of the research. The data has been collected for the purpose of academic use. The information must be kept in a confidential manner. This will maintain the authenticity of the information. The data collected from the quantitative analysis has to be kept in a confidential manner. This will maintain the trustworthiness of the research. The referencing style of the research must be appropriate in order to make the information provided in the research reliable to the readers of the paper.
The time allotted for conducting the research has been limited. The research could have been conducted in a detail way if the time allotment for the research was more. The information could have been gathered from variety of sources if the time allotted for the research was sufficient. Lack of time is the major issue of the present research.
The research is based on secondary data. Any difficulties of obtaining relevant information can alter the results of the research. This is a limitation of the entire research. Thus any kind of biasness in information gathered can affect the results of the research.
The present research is backed by secondary data analysis. Quantitative analysis has been done in the research. However to continue this research the researcher will follow the deductive research approach. The main reason for this is that the nature of the topic indicates that the matter is very wide but the intended decision is whether the renewable energy will be a viable option for Africa or not. To continue this particular research the researcher will follow the Interpretivism research philosophy. The main reason for selecting interpretivism as the research philosophy is that the research subject is very much related with the social aspect of the country.
In this particular chapter, the researcher has focused on understanding the effectiveness of renewable in reference to Angola. With the support of analysis technique, the researcher can be able to present the result of the study in effective manner and analysis of information can be done in acceptable manner too. On the other hand, through information, the researcher can enhance the quality of the study and present the result in much efficient way. Reuben (2012) stated that, the data result and data analysis can help the researcher in employing the theoretical knowledge in the practical field. The secondary data will be used for knowing the renewable energy structure in Angola and its impact over Angola. Therefore, it can be effective in evaluating the data in much more useful and clear way that can be understood by the readers. The researcher will be employing the secondary source that may be available on internet, journals, websites, etc. Thus, the researcher can do analysis and discuss the importance of developing renewable energy.
It can be observed from the above table, rural area mostly suffered due to non-availability of electricity in comparison to urban area. As a result, the living conditions of rural people were much depriving. On the other hand, growth of development of rural area was very slow and was mostly affected by the civil war. Apart from that, urban area was able to receive electricity but was not fully electrified (Eia.gov, 2015). Therefore, the economy of Angola was worsened and many businesses suffered losses due to electrical outage.
It can be analyzed from the table derived from World Bank (2010a) that costs of power generation are relatively high in Angola in comparison to its neighbor countries. Therefore, Angola was not able to provide electricity to large areas. As a result, GDP of the nation was affected and people had to live without electricity. Thus, it can be considered that costs were one of the factors that hampered the nation in the path of power generation (Elibrary.worldbank.org, 2015).
It can be discussed that Angola really huge electricity losses in comparison to other African countries. The loss of electricity has serious affect on the infrastructure development, employment, living standard, etc. Due to loss of electricity, the production of industry went slow and due to that supply of goods and services was affected (Elibrary.worldbank.org, 2015).
As per the report of UN Development Programme and WHO, 2009, it can be analyzed that consumption of electricity in Angola is very less both in urban and rural areas. Mostly, rural population is being suffered and due to that they use wood for their various purposes such as cooking which is affecting the natural resources. Therefore, the growth of rural population was slow and they were deprived from basic infrastructure which shows they are under below poverty line.
As per the report of IEA Open Bulletin, availability of electricity is less than 20% to the citizens of Angola and also electricity is also not that reliable. Therefore, Angola faces difficulty in supplying dependable supplies to the people and moreover there is less rural electrification. Apart from that it also mentioned that, in Angola, the level of solar irradiation is high which achieve 5kWh/m2/day right through the year. Therefore, it is said that country has huge potential in using renewable solar energy. On the other hand, there are number of rivers in Angola that helps the nations in hydropower installations. Further, in the report it was mentioned that in 2002, the government of Angola joined hands with two electricity companies in order to develop electricity sector. Therefore, investigation was done for engaging various forms of renewable energy for the purpose of rural electrification. Thus, micro and mini hydro, solar, hybrid system, biomass was included for developing renewable energy (Iea.org, 2015).
Apart from that, the report of EIA electricity infrastructure of Angola was substantially dented at the time of civil war that is 1975 to 2002. Therefore, after the civil war, the financial assistance was provided by China to Angola which helped in improving the electricity capacity and power sector. In the current period, the nation does not hold national electricity grid. Moreover, the nation rests on the three independent systems such as Northern, Central and Southern system that supplies electricity to different locations of Angola. The Northern system is linked with Kwanza river basin, the central and southern systems are connected with Catumbela and Cunene river basins. Therefore, it helped in generating renewable electricity energy and providing electricity to people. On the other hand, it also helped Angola in installing electricity capacity to almost 1700 megawatts out of which 60% was installed from hydroelectric facilities. Further, the estimate of World Bank shows that around 40% of people of Angola are able to access electricity and around 8 million people are not able to access electricity. Therefore, government of Angola declared that $16 billion will be invested by 2016 so that transmission and distribution network of electricity can be improved (Iea.org, 2015).
The move towards renewable energy helped the nation in generating around 5.5 million kilowatt-hours of power from the sources of hydro and fossil fuel. Therefore, it helped in increasing the access of electricity to some locations such as Lubango, Damba, Muginga, etc. Moreover, it helped in improving the infrastructure of the nation and provided better facilities to the people of both rural and urban area.
It can be observed from the above table which is presented by Africa Energy Sector that sub Saharan Africa mostly rest on biomass whereas, north Africa depends on oil and gas and south Africa relies on coal in order to develop the electricity. Therefore, it can also be present that, sub-Saharan Africa consumes less modern energy. Therefore, today Angola focuses more on renewable energy so that economy of the nation can be improved and electricity can be provided in good quantity and people can access the electricity and meet their specific needs. As a result, the GDP per capita of Angola has improved tremendously in 2010 as per the report of IRENA (Irena.org, 2015).
Therefore, it can be seen that economic performance of Angola has improved over the years. On the other hand, the nation is able to improve their productivity due to development of electricity infrastructure which helped in the growth of different sectors such as industry, agriculture, etc. Moreover, the standard of living of people has improved. The people are able to do their work now with ease (Iaea.org, 2015).
Therefore, it can be found that, use of electricity per capita has increased from 2008 to 2010. The citizens of Angola are able to consume the electricity which they were not able to access previously or during civil wars. Thus, the people are able to carry on with their business activities in productive manner. On the other hand, the children are able to gain education. Moreover, the productions of the nation have increased that helps in providing goods and services to people on time. Therefore, it can be said that renewable sources of energy has helped Angola to generate electricity and solve many electricity supply issue of many rural areas. Further report of IRENA shows a tremendous growth in primary energy supply due to engagement of renewable energy.
On the other hand, as per the result of Energy National Profile of 2009, the total primary energy supply that was developed was around 498.1 PJ out of which 310.8 PJ that is 62.4% falls under renewable energy and the access rate of electricity was 30%. Apart from that, 4172 GWh was electricity generation out of which 76.1% was renewable and in case of electrical capacity it was total 1155 MW out of that 43.1% was renewable. Therefore, it can be found out that renewable energy has made large contribution towards the development of electricity infrastructure. Therefore, it helped in improving the gross domestic product of Angola and providing better services. Apart from that, according to IRENA’s report, the government has laid down various laws and policies in order to promote the renewable energy so that condition of Angola can be improved (Irena.org, 2015).
Through, different policies, Angola’s government was failure in their approach but gradually understanding the importance of renewable energy, the government focused on building new policies and it helped in setting up hydro electricity plant and other plant so that every people or region is blessed with electricity. Therefore, Angola uses different renewable energy resources to generate electricity and overcome the problem of electricity supply (Kpmg.com, 2015).
It can be understood from the above table that Angola uses more solar energy and hydro energy for the production of electricity. The solar energy is used to approx 43% whereas hydro energy is used to 31% so that goal of providing electricity to people can be achieved. The isolated system of photovoltaic energy has been employed in Angola in order to improve or provide benefits to schools, administrative buildings, medical centers, etc. Therefore, its capacity is between 3 kW and 5 kW. On the other hand, rural electrification programme has been undertaken with solar photovoltaic energy. Therefore, almost 21 infrastructure has been electrified which includes 7 schools, 6 administrative buildings and 8 medical centers.
The report of UNEPFI shows that electricity generation has increased in Angola since the growth of renewable energy (Unepfi.org, 2015).
It can be analyzed from the above table that, significant growth has been in hydro-based electricity. Therefore, it is cost effective for the nation and generates power that is supplied to far flung areas of Angola. It provides benefit for the nation to improve or increase their economic growth rate and improve living standard of people.
Therefore, it can be analysed that Angola is doing well in terms of generating electricity. On the other hand, it can also be viewed that Angola has to go long way in comparison to other sub-Saharan African nations. Angola is able to utilize the renewable energy to maximum but due to lack of technology, the nation is not able to perform against other nation. Although, nation has improved their performance on personal level and benefit has been provided to people, companies, factories, etc. Therefore, in recent time, the economy of Angola has been growing fast in Africa.
According to the estimate of Empresa Nacional de Electricidade (ENE), Angola has made substantial investments in the sector of renewable power in order to reorganize and restore the infrastructure damaged at the time of civil war. Therefore, it resulted in the growth of generation capacity which was 830 MW in 2002 to 1200 MV in 2008. On the other hand, the about 80% of installed power generation capacity is operational which helps in increasing electricity level. Moreover, up to 2008, Angola is successful in producing about 4133 GWh of power which is more than the production made in 1999 that is 1295 GWh. Therefore, there is great potential that Angola will further increase the electricity production in the near future. The renewable source has been efficiently used by Angola to set up electricity plant in the nation. Till today Angola has almost 75 power plants (Unepfi.org, 2015).
It can be analyzed that Angola is more focused on hydro energy to generate electricity. Therefore, Angola is able to reduce a cost burden that they had earlier while generating electricity from fuel oil. Hence, it is clear that Angola has more plans to focus on hydro so that sustainable energy can be gained and wastage of energy can be reduced and people can be made more responsible towards the use of electricity.
According to the data from World Bank Specialist 2011, it can be understood that access to electricity was quite low in 2005 but engagement towards renewable energy sources, Angola is able to increase the access to electricity in recent time and more number of people are able to avail the electricity. On the other hand, the companies are able to improve their annual turnover and companies are able to enhance their operation. Apart from that, since the development of renewable energy, Angola has revised their tariff plan on power which is lower in comparison to other developing nations.
The power tariff charged by Angola is less whereas in developing nation, tariff is between 5 to 10’. Angola charge less power price so that poor can gain benefit Therefore, renewable energy helps in decreasing the cost of electricity and production of electricity can be gained in abundance. On the other side, as per the report of KPMG since working towards the use of renewable energy, Angola is able to supply electricity to different departments that is helping in improving the economic condition (Kpmg.com, 2015).
It can be analyzed that through the production of electricity from the use of renewable energy, the residential has gain higher benefit followed by industry and other areas. Therefore, in future Angola can be able to increase the consumption of electricity with least cost and it can help in increasing the production of nation. Therefore, it can be effective for the development of infrastructure such as roads, buildings, technology, educational system, etc. Since the civil war, Angola is able to generate 1160 MW of electricity in 2007 out of which major portion was from hydroelectric and less from diesel-generated. The sustainable energy which is available in abundance and whereas Angola is blessed with many rivers then it can be valuable to use such resources for the production of electricity (MBendi.com, 2015).
Apart from that, the government of Angola has been invested around US $8.4 billion as per the electricity project laid down for 2009-2016 for building electricity plant by focusing on major rivers such as Kwanza River, Catumbela River and Cunene River. On the other hand, 500 MV dam has been constructed at Epupa Falls and at Nyanga 450 MV in Cunene province. Moreover, on Kwanza River, three dams have been settled with a generating capacity of 500 MV. Therefore, Angola is able to improve their GDP real growth rate by 8.4% and GDP per capita by $6500 since 2012.
According to report of Energy Resources, the Ministry of Energy and Waters of Angola has invested $500 million to restructure the infrastructure that was damaged during civil war. Therefore, Angola focused on hydroelectric facilities and built Matala dam which is considered as the main source for providing electricity in southwest Angola. Since, then Angola has registered growth in their infrastructure and electricity generation and where, only 15% of people were able to access the electricity but today around 58% of people are able to use the electricity. Angola rehabilitated their hydropower station so that ENE production capacity can be recovered and electricity can be gained. On the other hand, the government of Angola made an agreement with South Africa and Brazilian Construction Company. The agreement with South Africa was done to build electricity transport line so that electricity can be reached to far flung areas. On the other hand, the agreement with Brazil has been done so that hydroelectric facility can be constructed. Apart from that, Angolan Government developed national grid by linking regional electricity sectors for using renewable energy to maximum and generate electricity (Kpmg.com, 2015).
From the energy production capacity growth table it can be seen that use of Solar PV is high in Angola for the power generation and moreover it is cost efficient for the economy of Angola. This helps in improving the economy system and improving the growth rate so that better service can be provided to people and development can be provided to each sectors. Apart from solar, hydro, is the second most renewable energy that is being used. Angola is getting huge benefit from hydroelectric that helps the people and business perform to perform their operation without difficulty.
From the above data given by Review of World Energy, it can be seen that Angola is way down in using the renewable source of energy for production purpose. Further, it can be known that other sub-Saharan countries such as Central Afr. Rep., Mauritania, Chad, etc are ahead of Angola in terms of renewable energy use and due to that their economic is quite good in comparison to Angola. However, Angola is doing well to continuous focus on the renewable energy and provides sustainable energy to people. Therefore, it could be analyzed that Angola has availability of renewable energy in large and intelligently using their resources to generate electricity and solve the electricity problem in the rural areas (Sustainabledevelopment.un.org, 2015).
Apart from that, as per the World Bank Enterprise Survey Data, the losses relating to electrical outages can be known that affects the growth of the industry and nation.
It can be understood from the above table that, Angola is able to lower down electrical outrage which was higher in 2003 up to 34%. Although, the other nations such as Botswana, Mali, Zimbabwe, etc is doing then Angola therefore, Angola has to concentrate more on renewable energy to provide better benefit to the nation and industries. The renewable energy can help in decreasing the electrical failure as it can help in generating electricity at large (Unido.org, 2015).
It can be viewed from the above table that consumption of power in Angola has increased significantly. Till 2003, the consumption of energy was very less due to the effect of civil war and it hampered the infrastructure of Angola largely. Therefore, after over of civil war, the economy of Angola started to improve and Angola invested on infrastructure and power sector. Therefore, as a result, Angola was successful in employing renewable energy and it helped to solve electricity issue to some level. Further, Angola can be able to achieve success in future as well if use of renewable energy is done wisely (Unepfi.org, 2015).
As per the report of REEP Policy Database, Angola relies on local energy resources for meeting the requirements of limited domestic product and further demand of electricity is met by import. On the other hand, Ministry of Energy of Angola has decided to form new directorate responsible for the purpose of renewable energy so that national electrification department can be complimented.
The data analysis and discussion has been made on the basis of secondary resources which helped the researcher in understanding the issues of electricity in Angola and its impact on the urban or rural population. Angola was affected mostly because of civil war that damaged their infrastructure and energy sector and due to that most of the people were not able to receive electricity. Further, after over of civil war, Angola focused on their renewable sources and generated finance from other nations to develop their energy sector and make best utilization of resources. Therefore, it helped Angola to reframe their energy department and provide electricity to urban area as well as to rural areas. On the other hand, the industry started to improve their operation and losses caused due to electric outage was decreased.
In this section, the researcher will try to conclude the whole study whether the purpose of the study was fulfilled or not. The whole research study focused on the concept of renewable energy and its effectiveness in generation of electricity in Angola. The researcher was keen to understand the scenario of Angola in context to electricity supply so that energy sector can be improved and large number of people can access the electricity. It can be concluded from the research study that renewable energy can be effective for Angola and its citizens to gain electricity at large and that too at minimum costs. On the other hand, it has been seen that the economic performance of Angola has improved due to use of renewable energy. Therefore, it helped in generating power and improving the infrastructure so that people can be benefited and their standard of living can be improved.
As observed in data results and analysis, the issues relating to supply of electricity in Angola was mainly due to high percentage of costs involved in the installation of electric power infrastructure. Apart from that, Angola was affected by the civil war which had its serious negative impact on Angola. As a result, the energy sector has badly impacted and damaged the energy industry and due to that people suffered electricity failure or outage. On the other hand, the pricing policy of the government for the electricity was very less and because of that Angola suffered financial barrier. Moreover, the deficiency in the transmission and distribution of infrastructure has prevented the flow of electricity to people of Angola. Therefore, reliability of electricity supply was very meager. Apart from that, Angola lacked technology to use the renewable energy in order to generate electricity. The government of Angola did not have enough financial sources that could invest in the power infrastructure. Moreover, the people theft the electricity deliberately and due to that government is not able to provide electricity. On the other hand, there is lack of firm policy and because of that electricity has been wasted. Therefore, under-supply of electricity situation arises and leads to frequent electric blackouts. On the other side, Angola is not able to make full utilization of extensive river system and as a result, the production of electricity has not been achieved as per expectation. Apart from that, Angola is witnessing rapid urbanization and high informal settlement explosion and due to that number of illegal connections has rise and leads to power shortages. Therefore, it can be concluded that Angola faced various serious issues in terms of energy supply. The major issue is the cost of attracting the renewable energy. Angola did not have enough cost to meet the cost of technology for the development of power plants in different locations. The civil war has a great impact on Angola which affected the economic condition or made more worsen which hard for the nation to recover from it. Thus, limitations of funding bounded the government of Angola to take a beneficial leap towards the development of electricity in the country.
The government of Angola laid down various policies towards the use of renewable energy so that electricity can be produced in abundance. The government set up IRENA Statute, Renewable Energy Office, etc to make better utilization of renewable energy. The nation has decided to new power station so that large number of Angolan citizen can be able to access the electricity. The nation has started to concentrate on solar PV, hydro, biomass, etc so that the nation does not have to face any finance burden and electricity can be generated with ease. On the other hand, government formed Renewable Energy Investment Law so that large amount of fund can be generated from the private investors and investment can be made in the energy sector. Therefore, Angola has invested in the energy and water for the electricity development and better and feasible environment can be provided to the people. Apart from that, Ministry of Energy and Water of Angola has been involved in the promotion of renewable energy sources and therefore, they have formed policy of Executives in relation to energy, water and sanitation. On the other hand, the state-owned companies in Angola are forming joint venture with the local company so that renewable energy can be used and the transmission of energy can be done in efficient manner.
The government has formed different strategies and policies towards the renewable energy sector. The government of Angola has welcomed renewable energy technologies by majorly focusing on solar, wind and hydroelectric plants in order to make best utilization of renewable resources and enhancing the economic growth rate of Angola in terms of electricity. Infusion of private capital has been done in the renewable energy sector so that energy sector can be build and well operated. Apart from that, decision has been taken for infrastructure development having reliance on natural gas and water resources in order to engage in energy sector development and employing renewable energy. The energy metering and monitoring system has been implemented so that illegal use of electricity can be stopped. The government started Programmes for small hydro and solar PV so that maximum electricity can be generated. The programme was developed in order to concentrate more on the renewable energy sector. This helped Angola to build number of dams for the electricity purpose. Apart from that, the government aligned Angolan future development strategy to get more advantage from their renewable energy. The investment was welcomed as a foreign direct investment for example; China provided investment to Angola for the development of renewable energy sector. The investment was valuable for the nation to overcome the issues of electricity which was affected by civil war. Moreover, it helped in the settlement of various power plants that can make potential use of natural resources in productive way with a view to provide electricity to rural and urban areas.
It can be concluded that the government of Angola make investment in the infrastructure that are capable of generating energy relying on renewable energy sources. On the other hand, the government spends USD 1.3 billion on energy in 2011 so that hydroelectric power plant can be developed. The technology were bought that can make best utilization of natural resources so that sustainable energy can be gained. Apart from that, different laws and regulations have been laid down in context to energy and electricity sectors. The law relating to natural resources points that use of resources has to be done intelligently without over-exploiting the resources. On the other hand, the General Electricity Law was updated which mentioned the use of natural resources to be done but not degrade the resources. Apart from that, dams or a power plant has to be building in effective manner that does not affect the natural resources. The government has planned to commercialize their natural gas resources for the betterment of the nation. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is supporting government of Angola by providing wind resource data acquirement and analysis. This helps in knowing the speed of wind so that windmill electricity generator can be set up.
The government of Angola established Ministry of New and Renewable Energy so that energy supply of the nation can be diversified and satisfy the demand of energy. Apart from that, the government allowed foreign direct investment up to 100% in the renewable energy sectors with a view to exploit the natural resources and the need of electricity can be fulfilled. Therefore, the foreign direct investment helped in the natural resources utilization and produce electricity and moreover, it increased the private investment in the natural resources of Angola that benefited the nation and improved the GDP of the country. On the other hand, EAI helped Angola to develop strategy for the renewable energy sources. It assisted in focusing solar energy for solar PV and solar thermal or CSP; wind energy; bio-energy for biomass power, biodiesel, ethanol and hydro power. As Angola is a part of Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), the country received help from other member of SAPP for the exploitation of natural resources for gaining the renewable energy. On the other side, Empresa Nacional de Electricidade (ENE) dominates the electricity of Angola and as a result government allowed ENE to concentrate more on natural resources and make investment in technology so that renewable energy can be extracted.
Therefore, for using the natural resources, the government installed electricity capacity comprising hydro 76%; thermal 8% and gas 16%. As Angola is blessed with numerous rivers, they set up hydropower that has a capacity of 150000 GWh/year across the rivers such as Kwanza River, Cambambe River, etc. Therefore, it helped in best utilization of natural resources for the development of renewable energy for Angolan people.
The investment can be made by the private entities in Angola that can help in fighting the power outrage. As the nation suffered huge losses due to power failure and due to that many business production turnover decreased. Therefore, government of Angola joined hands with South Africa and Brazil for building the electricity transport line and hydropower facility. On the other hand, Angola can seek support from International Atomic Energy Agency. This can help in formation of domestic nuclear power program that can be valuable for the nation to generate electricity at higher rate. On the other hand, the new electricity generating units has to be constructed for the production of electricity and it can help in supplying of power to business units, households, rural areas and urban areas.
The joint venture can be formed with the local company that can take care of the electric failure in different locations. Moreover, foreign direct investment can be greeted in the energy and water sector so that full utilization can be made and electricity can be produced. The electric capacity has to be increased by setting up large power plants that can absorb the energy efficiently and wastage of energy can be minimized. The private sector can investment in renewable energies for better consumption of natural resources and the investment can be valuable for the electricity production. Moreover, more power has to be given to ENE so that power can be produced in large and can be distributed to large area. On the other hand, EDEL can be allowed to buy the power as required and distribution has to be done efficiently so that electricity can be reached to every unit. Therefore, it would help in decreasing the power cut issues and people or business units can be able to receive electricity that can improve their standard of living and production.
In the conclusion section, different objective of the research has been discussed in effective way. The issues relating to electricity supply has been mentioned in brief that affected the national growth of Angola. Angola suffered mostly due to civil war and lack of capital. On the other hand, government of Angola has formed different policies in order to access in the renewable energy sector so that natural resources can be exploited. The government was able to use the natural resources which helped in solving the issues that was related with the electricity production. Apart from that, government has taken important steps towards the natural resource utilization. Number of technology was bought and investment was made in the area of natural resources so that energy sector can be improved. Lastly, recommendations have been provided that can help in decreasing the power cut issues in Angola. The people were made aware about the benefit of using the energy in sustainable way so that energy can be available for future generation.
In the dissertation the impact of the renewable energy resource in Angola has been discussed and the data analysis is also provided for the research study. On the basis of the research study the conclusions are also drawn. In this chapter the recommendations are presented for the renewable energy in Africa and specifically in Angola. Thus in this chapter it is recommended how the renewable energy resource issues can be addressed and it should be improved within the economy.
It is evident that the country is shifting towards the urban drift but most of the population in Africa is mostly rural and there is limited access to electricity. The situation is more difficult in the region of Sub-Saharan Africa. Here 99.6% of the populations are living without the access to electricity. In the region of Angola the power cuts are causing various issues and thus it is necessary that the government undertakes various programmes in order to provide the required electricity in the region. It is evident that in such situation, the renewable energy resource is considered as one of the potential options that can improve the situation in the country. In the Northern Africa region, the there are heavily subsidised fossil fuel industry and it is used predominantly with improved infrastructure. Thus it is very important to strengthen the renewable energy resource base in the country. There can be various impediments or in developing a renewable energy sector in the nation but it is necessary in order to supply the electricity equally within all regions of the country.
It is known that in recent times, Africa is undergoing from a sustainable economic transformation and growth period. There is a rapid growth of population in the country and the economy is diversifying and developing continuously. It is very important to implement massive investment projects in order to sustain the growth in the economy. It is seen in the research study that Africa has the ability and the potential for the utilisation of the renewable energy resource and it can be used to fuel the majority of the future growth. Thus it can be said that it is economically competitive solution. The economies of scale will be unlocked by the solution and it would also offer substantial benefits in terms of the environmental sustainability, energy security, local value creation, and the equitable development (Afdb.org, 2015). It is evident that the unprecedented transformation will not happen by itself and it is only possible if the policymakers implement concerted efforts for developing and enabling the framework to spur investment in the market for adding various facilities in the economy. It is found in the dissertation that the renewable energy projects have been implemented in various locations in Africa and thus it can also be replicated in other regions as well for achieving the sustainable growth in the industry.
By 2015, Africa can undergo sustained and unprecedented growth and it is evident that by 2015 the total population of the economy will be at least 2 billion people. The economy is growing at the rate of 4% per year. It is also considered as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. It is expected that the growth rate will significantly increase in the next decade and thus it is very important to build a better energy sector in the economy. It is one of the largest and diverse continents. It is evident that there is not equal or even distribution in all the countries in the continent. The use of alternative energy use and renewable energy is also different in various countries thus it is very important to equally distribute the opportunities in various regions of the country so that there can be equal growth in these regions. It is known that the decision regarding the growth of the renewable energy sector in Africa will implement long-term impact in the society and the economy (IRENA, 2013). It will also resolve the issues that are seen in case of Angola energy sector. The renewable energy can help in building alternative energy options for the economy. The growth and development of the energy sector in Africa will lead to the welfare of the society and the economy. It will also give the African countries the cost-effective path for the equitable, sustainable and rapid path of growth. Thus the aspirations of the country are to use sustainable energy in the industry.
In this context it can be said that the government should implement various strategies and should undertake various projects that can help in improving the energy structure in the country by building renewable energy plants in various locations. In December 2010, it was declared by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that 2012 is the year of Sustainable Energy for all. According to the programme, it is very important for the developing countries to access the modern affordable service and the so that the goals and objectives can be achieved by the economy for the sustainable development. The initiatives should be undertaken by the government, the civil society partners and the private sector. The universal access to modern energy should be ensured by them. The government and other partners should also help in doubling the energy efficiency in the economy. The share of renewable energy should be increased as well (Afdb.org, 2015). There should be a Hub for the renewable energy in the economy and the government should provide their support and should make the efforts to increase the access to renewable energy in every location in the country so that the power issues are resolved in the country.
The energy growth of the renewable bases is both desirable and viable for the three biggest energy sectors in the country that are the transport, heat and electricity. Thus in the modern energy services the access can be increased for each and every individual. The renewable potential of power is substantially very high in the projected and present power consumption of the continent. The renewable energy-based electrification and the domestic bio-fuels can be used in the transport sector. These abundant resources can be successfully harnessed and the government can conduct a resource mapping for establishing the realistic targets and achieving the goals with the help of required and related policies implemented by the government or the private companies. It is known that the projects that are not profitable are not undertaken by the private organisations thus the government should take the initiative to undertake the projects. The private companies can undertake the projects that require large investment and which has the potential to accumulate large profits for the company.
It is evident that the renewable energy source is indigenous and they are also the most economical solution in remote areas of Africa. The renewable energy source will limit the dependence of the society on the fossil fuels imports and thus the economy can be self-sufficient in the energy resource. It is known that there can be excessive volatility in terms of the supply of fossil fuel in the economy and thus the impact of such volatility in the present economy can be minimised. Such dependence and the volatility in the supply and the prices of the fossil fuels can also affect the growth of the economy and thus alternative source o energy is required in Africa. In many circumstances the renewable energy generation is the most viable and economical option for the country (Afdb.org, 2015). The data needs to be collected in the economy for implementing effective policies that can help in increasing the efficiency in the energy sector.
It is known that the purchasing power of the population is very low in the economy. Thus infrastructural facilities needs to be added and the income generation opportunities can also be created in the economy with the help of these renewable power options. Here a streamlining power purchase arrangements can be conducted for the interconnected facilities for and for attracting the foreign investment.
The government can also undertake the portfolio of the policy tools for the support of the renewable technologies. Feed-in premiums and the feed-in tariffs are the standard power purchase agreements with a pre-set premium or the price. The government should take appropriate measures and policies to shift the cost of tariff on the consumer or the producer. The decision should be taken on the basis of the demographic characteristics and the economic condition of a region (Afdb.org, 2015). It is evident that the standardisation and streamlining procedures can be very effective public policies and these can help in tendering the mechanisms for the competitive pricing and the government can also control the choices of technologies as well. It is known that the solar power and the wind power can be very cost effective and thus these sources can be used for establishing power projects in the economy. It can help in achieving the economies of scale and additional benefits can also be achieved in terms of social welfare as the greenhouse gas emission will be reduced.
The government should play the main role in developing, coordinating and managing the infrastructural projects at the local level. The main grids can be connected with the isolated grids with the help of the infrastructural and the electrification programmes. The price convergence can also be established by the government. It is evident that resiliency and the diversification can be achieved in the economy if the renewable energy is added into existing energy system.
It is known that the infrastructural development is one of the major success factors that should be taken into account. In case of energy development programmes, the availability of the basis infrastructural facilities are very crucial and thus the government should take the initiatives for the provision of such infrastructural facilities in the economy. African countries can create a local value chain along the operations, maintenance, construction, components and the materials. It is known that in Africa several projects are undertaken for the infrastructural facilities in various regions of Africa. But the operations should be extensive and the government and other investors must undertake the projects in extensive form for equal provisioning of energy facilities in different regions. For attracting the private investment various components must be identified so that the local supply chain can be extended. There should be sufficient amount of market volumes that can help in securing the long-term contracts for the justification of the local investment.
There can be two groups of challenges that must be taken into account before visioning for any long-term plans in the energy sector in African countries. One challenge can be faced in rural regions and other challenges can be faced in cities. Thus it is the responsibility of the regulating agencies for undertaking measures for providing effective solution in these regions. The local authorities must design integrated and sound rural and urban policies so that the growing demands of the people can be met in terms of energy. The government should also ensure that the living standards in the rural and the urban region converge.
It is known that the population of Africa will triple within the next 40 years. Thus effective measures must be implemented by the government and the local authorities so that the increased demand for energy in various regions are met. They need to provide the required facilities at a more affordable cost to the urban and rural population. Thus the government should also attract foreign investors in the economy. The investment from the foreign investors can also be very effective in provisioning the service.
In this chapter the recommendations regarding the renewable energy sector in Angola and other African countries has been presented. It is identified in this chapter that in African countries the renewable energy should be expanded for meeting the goals and objectives of the nations and fulfilling the demands of the consumers. Thus the government should actively implement policies so that the sector can be improved.
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This was the marketing mantra employed by the cow industry in the 1980’s to boost interest in cow’s milk. The campaign was wildly successful and as a result, The Dairy Farmers of America have reported sales topping 11 billion dollars in 2007. But does the overwhelming popularity of cow’s milk in the United States signify that it really is the best? Should we assume that quantity equates quality when referring to a substance that is such an integral part of our food supply? Interestingly enough, when worldwide consumption of milk is taken into account, it is not cow’s milk that is most popular but goat’s milk.
To conclude, we have seen that goat’s milk has several attributes that cause it to be a far superior choice to cow’s milk. Goat’s milk is less allergenic, naturally homogenized, easier to digest, lactose intolerant friendly, and biochemically/thermodynamically superior to cow’s milk. As if these benefits were not enough, our goat do not contain any growth hormones or antibiotics that massive cow dairies have come to rely upon to turn a profit! So to sum up and paraphrase the cow industry catchphrase: “Goat Milk: It Does a Body Good.
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The Belgian Paul Marie Ghislain Otlet (1868–1944) from Brussels was an author, entrepreneur, visionary, lawyer and peace activist, and which the most important for us—he is one of several people who have been considered the father of information science. Otlet started his work on how to collect and organize the world's knowledge in 1890s and towards the end of working life he summarized his ideas in two large books of synthesis, the Traité de documentation in 1934 and Monde: Essai d'universalisme in 1935.
Otlet's monumental book Traité de documentation (Brussels, 1934) was both central and symbolic in the development of information science (which he called Documentation) in the first half of 20th century. It reminds us also of something that has been too widely forgotten: That this field did have a lively existence in the early decades of 20th century and a sophistication concerning theory and information technology that now commonly surprises people.
As early as in 1893, the young lawyer Otlet wrote an essay expressing his concern over the rapid proliferation of books, articles, and periodicals. The problem, he argued, should be alarming to those who are concerned about quality rather than quantity, and he worried about how anyone would ever make sense of it all.
Otlet became the most central figure in the development of Documentation. He struggled tirelessly for decades with the most important technical, theoretical, and organizational aspects of a problem, which is central to mankind: How to make recorded knowledge available to those who need it. He thought deeply and wrote endlessly as he designed, developed, and initiated ambitious solutions at his Institute in Brussels.
In one of his drawings (see the image below), Otlet illustrates his theory of knowledge: facts and observances about the world are parsed through human brain (les intelligences) to create science disciplines and fields of study, which are then codified in media (books and other written information sources), then classified, to finally form a giant structured library of information.
Otlet was also an idealist and peace activist, pushing internationalist political ideas that were embodied in the League of Nations and its International Institute for Intellectual Cooperation (forerunner of UNESCO), working alongside his colleague Henri LaFontaine (in 1895, Otlet and LaFontaine, co-founded the International Institute of bibliography, to promote the efficient organization and dissemination of knowledge), who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1913, to achieve their ideas of a new world polity that they saw arising from the global diffusion of information and the creation of new kinds of international organization. In 1910, Otlet and La Fontaine first envisioned a "city of knowledge" (Otlet originally named the Palais Mondial (World Palace), comprising a World Museum, World Library, World University, etc.), that would serve as a central repository for the world's information.
In 1906, Otlet and the chemist Robert Goldschmidt, had proposed "microfiche" as a standard format for a "micro-photographic book". Later on, they proposed a portable library of "micro-photographic books".
We should have a complex of associated machines which would achieve the following operations simultaneously or sequentially: 1. Conversion of sound into text; 2. Copying that text as many times as is useful; 3. Setting up documents in such a way that each datum has its own identity and its relationships with all the others in the group and to which it can be re-united as needed; 4. Assignment of a classification code to each datum; [division of the document into parts, one for each datum, and] rearrangement of the parts of the document to correspond with the classification codes; 5. Automatic classification and storage of these documents; 6. Automatic retrieval of these documents for consultation and for delivery either for inspection or to a machine for making additional notes; 7. Mechanized manipulation at will of all the recorded data in order to derive new combinations of facts, new relationships between ideas, new operations using symbols. The machinery which would achieve these seven requirement would be a veritable mechanical and collective brain.
Otlet wrote expressively of the need for an international information handling system embracing everything, from the creation of an entry in a catalogue to new forms of publication, from the management of libraries, archives and museums as interrelated information agencies to the collaborative elaboration of a universal encyclopedia codifying all of man's hitherto unmanageable knowledge. Central to all of this were the so called Universal Decimal Classification, a new kind of information agency for information management, called the Office of Documentation, a new principle of information indexing and storage, the monographic principle, and microfilm (the idea of providing convenient copies of documents on microfilm dates at least from 1859, when René Prudent Patrice Dagron was granted the first microfilm patent in history. Otlet and the Belgian inventor Robert B. Goldschmidt had proposed standardized microfiche in 1906). Ultimately he foresaw the creation of a Universal Network for Information and Documentation, to which access would be had by multimedia workstations, that lay waiting to be invented just beyond the technological capacity of his time.
In the same Traité de Documentation, Otlet predicted that media that would convey feel, taste and smell would also eventually be invented, and that an ideal information-conveyance system should be able to handle all of what he called sense-perception documents.
In his l'Encyclopedia Universalis Mundaneum from 1936 Otlet conceptualized and designed a large network, comprised of data centers, called Mundaneum, and multimedia offices, called Mondothèque (see the lower image).
Otlet envisioned Mundaneums in various cities all over the world and a large hierarchical network of local, regional, and national centers of knowledge production: Species Mundaneum. The Mondothèque was one link in this network. Otlet designed the Mondothèque as a workstation to be used at home to engage people in the production and dissemination of knowledge. It contained reference works, catalogs, multimedia substitutes for traditional books such as microfilm, TV, radio, and finally a new form of encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia Universalis Mundaneum, comprising reproducible “atlases” involving charts, posters, and other illustrative materials. As a base instruments for documentation and communication of Mundaneum Otlet provided the known then media, like telephone, radio, audio disk, cinema, and television (see the lower image).
The Mondotheque was thought by Paul Otlet to be a piece of furniture that everyone would have at home, to encourage access but also the production of new knowledge. Made of wood, it combines essential books, atlas boards in the form of visual encyclopedias, small objects (museums in particular), the Universal Bibliographic Directory and its bibliographic records, microfilms, etc. On the side walls of the Mondothèque, we can observe various media of the period represented (telephone, television, radio, phonograph, microphone, etc.) with the functionalities that Paul Otlet imagined already able to combine.
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5 questions to ask BEFORE hiring a wedding photographer!
As you make plans for your big day, there's a few big decisions, like, where do you want your venue to be? Who will cater? And eventually, who's going to take the photos?
You're already stressed out! So many things could go wrong on your big day! DON'T let the photographer be one of them!
Because I'm a nice guy I won't scare you too much with all the horror stories I've heard over the years: "I shot the entire wedding without a film roll / SD/CF card" to "My hardrive died and I lost all the footage" and even "because I only charged $500, I can't give you any digital files, you have to buy prints for $250 each!"
The worst one: "Oh I thought your wedding was today, I forgot! No I can't make it I double booked." all the while they never even return the deposit.
These are horror stories that I wouldn't wish even on my worst enemies! Here's how you can avoid them all!
Most photographers have some sort of portfolio or lookbook to show. If they don't: stay far away. Maybe they could be a second shooter. But whatever you're looking at is roughly what you'll get. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's a little worse. What you're looking for is consistency, can they do it again? Ask to see an album. An album will show you how many good photos came out of the day! And you'll get a good idea of how many you'll get when all is said and done that are any good.
Pricing can be rough, the old saying is true though: You get what you pay for! Most wedding photographers that charge anything less than $500, I would be surprised to get 3 good photos. Ask to see the contract. Be prepared for a realistic number, anywhere between $1200-$3000 for a wedding photographer is not only appropriate, but recommended. But make sure there's no hidden fees or small print. Ask them exactly what you'll receive and how you'll receive it. Don't forget to talk about travel/ prints/ post processing/ second shooter/ assistant/ photoboot / turnaround.
Ask if they will be at the rehearsal! When practicing, and making decisions about placement, sometimes it can really help to have a photographer there and tell you what might look best. Maybe this is even before the rehearsal, I call this session a Pre-Vis so I can make critical decisions and adapt in the best way.
Having a personal relationship with your photographer is important. When the big day comes, you want to know, trust, and understand that the photographer is going to perform well and keep you calm and collected. It's just natural for me to be totally chill while everyone else is freaking out, I kind of laugh to myself actually. It's very common and even though I'm invested in my clients, I have a larger perspective and can lower stress just by having a level head. This question you ask your gut. It's basically a gut-check to make sure they're right for you. But usually having lunch with the person is a great way to see if they're going to help you, not make your life more stressful.
In my home town, Nashville TN?
Thanks for reading! If you made it this far in the post good job! You've done your research! If you want the best deal possible go here.
Evelyn Rose and I had a pretty fantastic photoshoot! It's cool to make new friends on this crazy journy!
Learning about photography, I follow only a few people. Way less than I should, the number could be counted on only one hand. At the top of that list is Jeremy Cowart. Recently, flying back home from California, I met Jeremy Cowart at the airport terminal. We shared the same flight to Nashville, I was going home, and although Nashville is also his hometown, too, it was just a layover for him because his destination was Israel.
We only got to speak for a brief moment, I could tell that he was busy and working hard on his laptop for his latest project I'm sure. But when I approached him he greeted me with his iconic laid back warm feel. Didn't blow me off to continue his work, and had the appearance that what I was saying just so happened to be the most interesting thing he had heard all day. This is the attitude I can only daydream of attaining. I'll be working on this for myself but in the meantime, here's one of the most inspirational teachings he has ever taught. Despite his new viral video on his splash page on his website, which you can view here: jeremycowart.com.
This logo is for Wattsav.tv, this took me a few hours, but I'm very happy with the results!
If you ever find yourself doodling or sketching something out, and by mistake you find that you really like the little doodle you did. Maybe it can be converted into a vector logo so you can use it for your business.
Norm Allen, the owner of Tank Slapper Garage did just that. Honestly, I've never done this before. I have worked in Illustrator as a kid thanks to my Dad, Travis Foster, an illustrator Rep and Former Illustrator. But nothing to this extent. So here's the sketch he sent me, and the results. Enjoy.
I'm writing this article when yet again I hit a wall when communicating with clients due to pricing. Yes, I am the most affordable option local to your area for the greatest quality. When I go to a restaurant, I often ask: "What's the most bang for your buck?" It's a simple question, I want to know which of the $20.00 plates will weigh the most and provide the greatest amount of calories and last the longest before I get hungry again in 2 hours. Well, if I want more food, I need to pay more money. I'm guilty of being disappointing because I could go and spend $20.00 at a local supermarket and fill myself up for an entire day. I get it, people are disappointed when the appropriate budget for a video or photo shoot is in the thousands when they are looking to spend in the hundreds. "Well I could rent a camera and do it myself and save some money". Yes, that's true, but then you'll get amature work. It's funny. People go to both extremes: "How much do you think they spent on that avengers movie?" - Probably 2-3 billion dollars, that's why I'll spend 12.00 to see it in the theater. How much do they claim to have spent?
220million. Wow... Now how much to make a promotional video for your event? I guarantee 50-100 dollars is the wrong answer. I see your logic, I hear you loud and clear. "The event is only 5 hours, that's 10-20 dollars an hour" Well, events actually call for more cameras than a studio production. More backups and safeguards to capture the moment, ect. What is a fare rate? 2-4 thousand. What the majority of clients expect? Why? Let's say you have a budget of 50k dollars. Allocate enough of that budget to accommodate the costs of recording it. If you run out, and only have 1 thousand for shooting and editing an entire day's worth of work, with multiple cameras, you're shooting yourself in the foot. The best bang for your buck is to spend more so that it ensures the quality you need. If you have a budget for an event, and you have 50k to spend, you have to decide if you really want it to be captured. Because anything below 1k dollars is going to do the opposite effect, it's going to hurt, not help, you. It's the same as not eating all day and then going into McDonalds and asking for a single fry. You're going to be extra hungry because you've smelt and tasted food and yet you don't have enough money to satisfy your hunger.
1-2 thousand for a small production in an controlled environment with the ability to say "Try again".
20k-250k for commercial. This video needs to sell your product or service. It needs to be well done and professional otherwise it will hurt your business and growth. An amature video will have the opposite effect of a well-done video.
Here is a nice video explaining the cold, hard, truth about speculation work (Spec Work).
If no other business will serve you on the idea that you will not have to pay for their product or service after the fact, then don't expect others to!
So you're looking for a photographer, and you're trying to figure out where to find one!
1) You Get What You See!
Portfolio is everything! Do you like what they have done so far?
I put this image in here so all the words wouldn't scare you.
I know this runs off of the "buyer beware" campaign more than anything, but here's what you need to ask. "Did you take these shots with the equipment you'll be shooting with?" "Did you have any help or did you take these shots by yourself?"
3) Where to Find a Photographer?
Word of mouth is the BEST way to find a photographer, however, just reference step 1 and make sure they have a good portfolio. There are other methods out there, like Adobe's Behance, upwork (formerly oDesk) and a less commonly known site, needto.com.
The honest truth is, if you really want a good photography experience, overcompensate with your pocketbook. People will refute what I'm saying, but I've seen it over and over again. Higher budgets honestly result in higher quality images and customer service. Smiles all around!
This is where the rubber hits the road. The big mystery that scares everyone away because they don't know how much a photographer is worth. Let me make it simple. It's all about usage.
Commercial/Business: 5-20 skews for a business, because these photos will make the business A LOT OF MONEY, is worth 30k-70k dollars. This might only take the photographer a week or two. But because we know how much revenue is generated, we want to give you the best mind-blowing photos as possible, and get compensated for our work.
Wedding photographers don't get 165 days to work, but only 52 weekends. Divide the average salary of a professional photographer by 52 and you, as the client, need to cough up at least 769.00 before tax. But that's only if you want them to make 40k a year. A lot of photographers rent equipment, and that usually costs 3-4 hundred dollars. And then most photographers need a second shooter or assistant, (and if they don't have a second pair of hands... well... good luck.) And that usually costs 2-3 hundred. There's a reason competitive price points for wedding photography is $1200.00-$2000.00 But here's the catch. No one wants their weddings in the dead of winter or mid-summer. So the weekends a photographer actually get to shoot are cut in half... Don't be fooled, they don't make 2k in 2 days. Trust me, if they're lucky they can pull the 769.00 a week on average. The editing process is mundane, and time consuming.
Here's a trick though, with any photographer, if you pay them a portion up front, then that validates you as a client immediately, and also gives them the cash cushion to buy or rent better gear so that you get better photos! It really is in your interest to front some cash. In addition, most photographers (not all) but most, are strapped for cash. I know, you never would have guessed, how can someone who charges 75-125/hr on a regular be broke? My bank statements speak for themselves. Just know, that if you front a portion of the cash, the photographer feels more obligated to provide better work, sad, you think we would give the same A+ experience and effort to every customer, but it just doesn't happen. Last, but not least, there is a huge burden that is lifted off of a photographer's shoulders when he has that cash-cushion to work with for the shoot.
Event Photography: Finally! Here's when you can get a break when it comes to pricing. You can finally actually understand how much you're paying for your photographer. It's essentially just an hourly rate. MAKE SURE know how much the end price will be after all is said and done. Make sure they know you only want to be charged for the 2-3 hours. At this time I personally charge less than I would recommend at 75/h (with a 2 hour minimum). You have to understand, if you're a business that will be using these images for promoting your business, you can't expect such a low price. This is the "Come photograph my birthday party" or "Housewarming party". Most of the time, with these hourly price points, we will charge extra for travel time. And remember, for every hour of photos, the editing process can be 2-5 hours. That's right! That 75/hr just turned into 12.50 an hour. Being a nice person can go a LONG way, because on the second full day of editing, we start to not really care so much about those little things we were fixing if we don't really care about you. This is almost subconscious.
Have you ever written a book? Or paper? Just like the several stages and several drafts of a paper, there are also several drafts of the editing process. I'll often go back with a fresh set of eyes to make sure I didn't miss anything. So I could have you those photos by tomorrow if you really wanted a rough draft, or you could wait a week and get flawless edits.
The same thing goes with on-sight processes, too. Light setup, location scouting, everything. If you're able to hold still for just a few more seconds, we might be able to adjust a few settings and get the shot that works! Pro photographers can see a scene, light setup, camera settings, poses, and post processing before their eye even glances through the viewfinder. With new photographers, you're going to spend twice the time before they even really start taking photos for real, and now you're already tired because you thought they were snapping away at your beautiful smile when they were actually just adjusting their settings.
7) Will you Enjoy the Photographer's Company?
If you're able to call up a previous client to ask them how they did with the photographer, or if they felt comfortable, or something to find a way to gauge if you and the photographer will click. Photography is chemistry. Even if you're a business owner looking to get photos, if you don't feel comfortable around the photographer then you might not be able to communicate well. If you're able to communicate what you want, or get a sneak peek at the shots before they go into post and genuinely work with the photographer to communicate what you want in a way that doesn't make the photographer confused or angry or uptight, this two-way street of relaxed, comfortable, work-relationship will result in better photos. This is especially important if you're getting photos taken, let's say, maternity shots, and the photographer is an old fart trying to lighten the mood by telling bad jokes, or being too flirtatious, and all you can think is "I'm paying this old fat guy to take photos of my naked self and I don't feel comfortable at all." Then it's probably too late! That's why you want to really vet your photographer, not everyone works well together, and it's important that you're comfortable while getting your shots taken, and that the photographer is comfortable. It's very much a too way street. And yes, the photos will reflect your thoughts and awkwardness if you're not careful.
I know these titles seem straight out of a self-help manual, but I'll try to be as specific with what I'm talking about here. Rarely is it ok for you to beat around the bush trying to get at an answer without directly asking it. Just like when going to a hairstylist, if you bring a picture and say "Can I get something like this?" The obvious answer is "Yes, sit down, let's get started." But if you ask: "Do I have the bone structure for a hair style like this? And can you really get my hair to look this way?" They'll give you a more honest answer. The same way with photographers (and don't forget the example picture, that's important). Having a clear example of what you want done, and going over the example photos thoroughly will help. The "I really like this one..... and this one... and I don't like this one" Doesn't help the photographer at all. But "This photo looks good, but I have a double chin, the building looks like it's about to fall over, and I'd like to try again with a better pose" would help both of you out. And in reality, I often work with my models in a much similar fashion, I'd take a few photos, I'd show them the photos, they would gag and cry and then we'd shoot again after they composed themselves better. This way I don't have to say "You look really ugly because you don't know how to squinch, or smile." If your photographer isn't working with you on this level, try and initiate this type of trust and interaction. It will be better for both of you.
After reading some other articles online, I was kind of disturbed with the amount of false-information and advertising, and even things to ask your photographer. One article stated that you should probe your photographer with technical questions and quiz them on certain aspects of photography. First of all, this will only create amnesty between you and the photographer, second, do you really know the answers to the questions that you're asking? If not, that's just time wasted. Anyone can fake a confident and smart-sounding answer if they know you don't know the answer yourself. And third, a lot of the example questions were arbitrary, photography is an art, it's about emotion and feeling. There are plenty of photographers that can explain every light law, and build a camera from inside out, but won't be able to deliver an amazing photography experience. Jeremy Cowart, one of the few photographers that I look up to and admire, admitted in one of his Kelby Training tutorials that he was struggling with light-metering and he found out from an assistant that there's an in-camera light meter. I'll never forget how he was still able to get amazing images even without using a light meter, at the same time, I'll go into Dury's, a high-end photography store, and the behind the counter hourly-paid photographers know EVERYTHING there is to know about photography, yet can't produce the emotion behind the images like someone who had never gone to school for it can. I say this with reluctance because I tend to fall on the technical side of the spectrum, I'll know, in theory, how an image was capture, yet not be able to go out and do it! Many say that I am naturally gifted, however, I constantly see my flaws and try to learn from them as I go, yet I see other people younger than me take much better images that, like Jeremy Cowart, have no idea, really, how to use a camera. Besides point and shoot. And there's something magical about that, because they don't focus on technicality, they focus on the emotion and subject. Something that a lot of photographers will never know.
10) Other Photographers are a Resource!
Are you thinking about hiring a photographer? Truth is, the professional photography circles are smaller than you think. There's a lot of amateurs that are around, but open shoots, models, jobs, I've run into people I've interned with on job locations and worked side by side. We really do know each other, and so if you ask us, more often than not we can give you our honest feedback. In Nashville TN, we typically don't like to diss each other, you'll find that more in NY or LA, but we like to keep it lighthearted, but if you ask for an honest opinion and recommendation, budget, and other shenanigans, we know the field pretty well, and can more than likely just shoot you a quick response. Don't go too deep, we're pretty busy people and usually have multiple projects at hand, and you have to ask right otherwise we'll think you're crazy for not asking us directly, we are pretty narcissistic. But usually we each have our own niche, and don't mind. For example, although I would like to do fast cars, honestly, I do much better with motorcycles.
Hello, my name is Jeremiah Meriwether. I am the Founder and Director of SimplyGO, an Evangelistic Ministry based in Jacksonville, Florida.
Michael was a fantastic help in creating a Website for the Ministry. He knows very well what to place on the Website, how to put together a professional looking Website, and he accomplishes his work in a prompt manner. I would highly recommend him to anyone who would like a high functioning Website!
Michael is an amazing photographer!! He did my prom pictures for me and I was extremely happy with them. Definitely recommend him!
Michael is a wonderful photographer and great to work with! He took my prom pictures and I really loved them. Definitely recommend him!!
Michael has been instrumental designing and composing my website. My AV business has taken off since it went public. Thank you for your insight and perseverance seeing my vision through.
Awesome photographer. Local guy that was always willing to meet with me and work with my schedule. The photos he took of me look amazing. The way he edits the photos really bring them to life though. He also photographed my cabin in the smokey mountains, which looks amazing!
Michael Foster is a fantastic photographer & he's really easy to work with. I've known and worked with many photographers over the years both in the music industry and for web productions and Michael is top notch. There really isn't anyone that I'd prefer to hire in Nashville.
Michael is an incredible photographer, videographer, artist and an even better person. I've worked with him on several music videos and photo shoots, and I've always been extremely satisfied with the projects and the overall experience. He is fun, easy-going and easy to work with. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for a professional product at an affordable price.
I needed some fashion shots done in a pinch and Micheal was able to get to me and finish the photos with record turn around time. Easy to work with, very creative and produces quality work. I would recommend Nashville Puma and Michael to get your visuals taken care of any day!
Michael seems to be a jack of all trades! I have worked with him specifically on image toning and editing and he's consistently provided quality results, consistent with my editing standards. On top of that, he's been responsive, turns work around fast, and all at very competitive prices. If you are a photographer looking for toning and retouching work, or a business looking for creative illustration and branding work (including photography!), I would highly recommend contacting Nashville Puma. Michael will definitely take care of you!
Nashville is a great place for Photographers for many reasons. If you follow my work, and poke around, you'll find out why. If you're looking for a photographer, the most important thing to know is how to read someone's portfolio. Check out my 10 things to know before hiring a photographer.
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Yvette Cooper has warned the Labour Party not to lurch to the left or right after its heavy election defeat; instead, it should reach out to the wider British public.
Writing in the Huffington Post, she hit at leadership rivals who believe "there needs to be blood on the floor for the Labour party to rise again".
Cooper is running for the leadership of the Labour party, with her two main rivals being the bookies and the unions favourite Andy Burnham and Blairite Liz Kendall.
In what appeared to be a direct swipe at her rivals, she said "doing what we've done before but shouting that little bit louder" would not work, in an apparent swipe at Burnham; and neither would "swallowing the Tory manifesto", a comment thought to be aimed at Kendell.
In a bid to portray herself as a unifying figure, cooper said Labour "can't fight and win by remaining a narrow party, we have to reach out".
Cooper, the shadow home secretary also criticised colleagues who have claimed that Labour cannot win the next election and urged the party to focus on a "2016 strategy" of winning elections for the Mayor of London, Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament.
"I want this debate – about our party, our country – to be as wide and as engaging as possible," Cooper said. "That means as many people as possible involved in the leadership election, not just a closed-down or polarised contest."
A number of other candidates have raised concerns that Labour support for Burnham and Cooper threatens to squeeze them out of the leadership race.
Potential candidates need the support of 34 additional Labour MPs to enter the leadership contest.
The shadow education secretary, Tristram Hunt, decided not to enter the leadership contest after struggling to find the enough backers and has thrown his support behind Kendall's campaign.
Cooper delivered a scathing assessment of the party's "failed" strategy under Miliband in the article.
"Bluntly, not enough people trusted us with their future," Cooper said. "Not enough people were convinced we could do the job."
Her husband, the former shadow chancellor Ed Balls said he was not looking to return to frontline politics after losing his seat at the election, the BBC reported.
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Review by AllTheBestFights.com: 2019-03-23, one sided fight between Jessie Magdaleno and Rico Ramos: it gets two stars.
The former Wbo super-Bw champion Jessie Magdaleno entered this fight with a record of 25-1-0 (18 knockouts) and he is ranked as the No.9 super bantamweight in the world but he comes off the loss against Isaac Dogboe (Jessie Magdaleno vs Isaac Dogboe); before this fight, in 2017, he had beat Adeilson Dos Santos (Jessie Magdaleno vs Adeilson Dos Santos).
His opponent, the former Wba super-Bw champ Rico Ramos, has a boxing record of 30-5-0 (14 knockouts) and he entered as the No.48 super featherweight. He lost to Claudio Marrero in 2015 (Claudio Marrero vs Rico Ramos) but since then he has collected six victories defeating Christian Esquivel and Daniel Olea in 2018. Magdaleno vs Ramos is on the undercard of Kubrat Pulev vs Bogdan Dinu. Watch the video and rate this fight!
Review by AllTheBestFights.com: 2015-07-25, Claudio Marrero vs Rico Ramos gets three stars thanks to a spectacular finish.
Claudio Marrero entered this fight with a boxing record of 18-1-0 (13 knockouts) and he is ranked as the No.32 super featherweight in the world while his opponent, the former Wba super-bantamweight champion Rico Ramos, has an official record of 24-4-0 (12 knockouts) and he entered as the No.76 in the same weight class. Marrero vs Ramos is on the undercard of Beibut Shumenov vs BJ Flores. Watch the video and rate this fight!
Review: 2014-05-02, pretty good fight with one knockdown: Jesus Cuellar vs Rico Ramos gets three stars. Jesus Marcelo Andres Cuellar entered this fight with a professional boxing record of 23-1-0 (18 KOs=78%) and he is ranked as the No.37 featherweight in the world, he suffered his only defeat in 2011 when he faced then-undefeated Oscar Escandon, since then he has collected six consecutive wins.
His opponent, Rico Ramos, has an official record of 23-3-0 (12 knockouts) and he entered as the No.30 in the same weight class, he won the WBA super-Bw title in 2011 against Akifumi Shimoda (=Ramos vs Shimoda) but then he lost the belt at his first defense against #1 Guillermo Rigondeaux (=Rigondeaux vs Ramos); after that bout he fought five times losing two fights. Cuellar vs Ramos is valid for the interim WBA World featherweight title; undercard of Ishe Smith vs Ryan Davis. Watch the video and rate this fight!
Review: 2013-01-11, some good exchanges in the second part of the fight but it is not enough to get three stars. The undefeated Ronny Rios (19-0-0) entered as the No.50 featherweight in the world while Rico Ramos (21-1-0) entered as the No.10. Rios vs Ramos is valid for the vacant NABF featherweight title. Watch the video!
Review: 2012-01-20, great first round with one knockdown and nice knockout in the sixth but the other rounds were pretty boring: two stars. Both undefeated, Rico Ramos (20-0-0) entered as the No.3 super bantamweight in the world while Guillermo Rigondeaux (8-0-0) entered as the No.13. Ramos vs Rigondeaux is valid for the WBA super bantamweight title (Ramos’ first defense). Watch the video!
Review: 2011-07-09, pleasant fight between Akifumi Shimoda and Rico Ramos thanks to a good pace. Akifumi Shimoda was dominating the fight but in the seventh round Rico Ramos surprised the Japanese boxer and knocked him out winning the WBA World super bantamweight title. Watch the video!
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How Long Should You Wait To Sleep After Eating?
If you often eat too late and find it difficult to stay or fall as sleep, which are the common signs of insomnia, you would wonder: How long should you wait to sleep after eating? Is it good or bad go to bed right after eating? Whether it is a late dinner or midnight snack, there are a few things you need to know to keep your health in the best condition.
How long should you wait between your dinner and bedtime?
Generally, most doctors recommend that you should wait for at least two to three hours after the meal to go to sleep. This duration is sufficient for the foods in your stomach go into the small intestine and digest properly. As a result, it will help reduce the risks of heartburn or insomnia at night.
If you lie down too soon, it might cause the foods to reflux into your esophagus, which results in GERD or heartburn issues. More importantly, lying down a few hours after eating also reduce the risk of having a sleep disturbance.
Eating too much and close to your bedtime might actually induce heartburn. Due to reflux symptoms, lying down can cause burning discomfort in your chest and a bitter taste in the mouth. Many people often report this as burping up foods. Acidic and spicy foods like tomatoes and citrus might be particularly bothersome. Peppermint, chocolate, and alcohol can also worsen reflux and heartburn.
Sleeping immediately after a meal might interrupt your sleep because the bloated feel would keep your body from resting. Also, digestive upsets would often wake you up during the night. Fatty and spicy foods might lead to heartburn, making it difficult to have a good sleep.
Eating the wrong foods before a bedtime might result in a higher level of sugar in your blood. Therefore, if you have a busy schedule and have no other choice than eating late, it’s advisable to have protein-rich and fiber-rich options such as whole grains, cottage cheese, baby carrots, gelatin. These foods can satisfy your hunger while having a minor impact on your digestive system.
If you have GORD, a disease marked by regular acid reflux, it is recommended to avoid eating before sleeping for at least 3 hours. Lying down might restrict the flow of acid in your stomach, thus leading to heartburn and worsening the symptoms. By the time you get reclined for the night, make sure that most of the acid activities should have abated.
There are many kinds of food which contain substances that might enhance sleep. For instance, pork chops and turkey have a high level of tryptophan, a component which can be metabolized by the digestive system into sleep-inducing agents, including melatonin and serotonin.
Also, some foods such as cherries are naturally rich in melatonin. Other options would be comforting, like a cup of milk, as it helps you feel relaxing and mentally prepared for sleeping.
Drinking alcohol at night can make you feel sleepy at first, but it will wear off quickly and disrupt or fragment your sleep later. Also, it can relax the muscles in the airway and worse your sleep apnea. Many studies also prove that the timing of foods can have an impact on our sleep. It might prompt the production of insulin, which eventually shifts our circadian rhythm.
In addition, caffeine in chocolate, energy drinks, soda pop, tea, and coffee should also be avoided. This substance can block adenosine, a component that would naturally make you feel sleepy. If consumed excessively before the bedtime, it might cause insomnia. Also, caffeine increases the need for urination and cause disruptive nocturia.
In overall, it is recommended to have a meal at least 2 to hours before you go to bed. This will give your body enough time to digest the foods. Don’t forget to buy a good quality mattress with a waterproof mattress protector. If you still find difficult to fall asleep, it’s better to meet with a specialist to help you sleep better. Sometimes the medications or a wedge pillow might be needed to treat heartburn and prevent insomnia from happening.
Should You Buy A Memory Foam Or Orthopaedic Mattress?
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Ask yourself these questions to create a workout tailored to your needs and preferences.
Fitness programs abound, from yoga and Pilates to step aerobics and strength training — either at home or in a gym. So which type of fitness program is right for you? Ask yourself these questions to figure it out.
If you are age 50 or older and haven't exercised for some time, or you have chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease, it's a good idea to consult with your doctor before beginning an exercise program.
It's also good to keep in mind that as you age, impaired balance, muscle weakness and other factors can limit your exercise capacity. Injuries may be more frequent, and recovery can take longer.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't exercise or that you won't benefit from it. Before you start an exercise program, be sure to seek input from your doctor or an exercise therapist about how to create a program that's appropriate for you. In addition to aerobic activities, strength training and flexibility exercises, your doctor may suggest you incorporate balance training exercises into your exercise routine.
Keeping your fitness level in mind, think about why you want to start a fitness program. Consider your health and fitness goals.
Perhaps your doctor has suggested that you start a fitness program to lose weight. If you're already active, maybe you want to increase the intensity of your fitness program to prepare for a 5K race or to get ready to participate in a favorite sport. Having clear goals can help you to stay motivated.
Next, think about the types of physical activities you enjoy most. After all, a fitness program doesn't need to be boring. You're more likely to keep up with a fitness program you enjoy.
If you love riding your bicycle, consider a cycling class. If you have a blast on the dance floor, an aerobics class that includes dance moves would be a good choice. If you're a social person, a gym or health club membership may be a good option for you. If you prefer to exercise alone or you find health clubs intimidating, fitness videos and exercises you can do at home may be best for you.
Aerobic activities should generally be a large part of your workout, but you also want to include muscle-strengthening activities such as working with weights or resistance bands. Cross-training, which involves doing a variety of different exercises or activities, is a good way to keep from getting bored by your exercises. Cross-training, especially with low-impact aerobic exercise, also reduces the risk of injuring or overusing one specific muscle or joint.
When you plan your fitness program, consider alternating among activities that emphasize different parts of your body — walking, swimming and strength training, for example.
Make sure your fitness choices are in line with your budget. If a gym membership or home exercise equipment is too pricey, consider cheaper options for getting in shape.
You can base a fitness program around brisk daily walks and inexpensive hand-held free weights or resistance tubing. Some recreation departments may offer discounted fitness classes to local residents, and some schools or hotels may open their pools to the public for inexpensive lap swimming. You might also consider buying used exercise equipment or sharing the cost with a friend.
You've thought through your likes and dislikes and the pros and cons of various types of fitness programs. Now it's time to get moving. Start slowly and build up intensity gradually. Even shorter spurts of exercise, such as 10 minutes of walking spaced throughout the day, can offer benefits.
Aerobic activity. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week, or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity. The guidelines suggest that you spread out the exercise during the week.
Strength training. Incorporate strength training exercises of all the major muscle groups into your fitness routine at least twice a week. A single set of exercises that tires your muscles after 12-15 repetitions can be effective for most people.
Remember, each workout puts you one step closer to reaching your fitness goals. If you get bored or lose interest in your fitness program, don't be afraid to try something new. Reassess your fitness level and set new fitness goals. The result? A future of improved fitness and better health.
2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.health.gov/PAGUIDELINES/guidelines/default.aspx. Accessed Oct. 1, 2015.
Liguori G, ed. ACSM's Health-Related Physical Fitness Assessment Manual. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Wolters Kluwer Health Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2018.
Tips to help you get active. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-management/tips-get-active. Accessed Oct. 1, 2015.
Exercise and physical activity: Getting fit for life. National Institute on Aging. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/publication/exercise-and-physical-activity. Accessed Oct. 1, 2015.
AskMayoExpert. Aerobic exercise: Strategies for change. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2015.
AskMayoExpert. Strength training: Strategies for change. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2015.
Pescatello LS, et al., eds. Exercise prescription for healthy populations with special considerations and environmental considerations. In: ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Wolters Kluwer Health Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2014.
Laskowski ER (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Sept. 27, 2018.
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Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976) was a Canadian bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often cred with popularizing the "easy listening" or "mood music" format. Faith became a staple of American popular music in the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s. Though his professional orchestra-leading career began at the height of the swing era, Faith refined and rethought orchestration techniques, including use of large string sections, to soften and fill out the brass-dominated popular music of the 1940s.
Faith was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. He was the oldest of eight children. His parents, Abraham Faith and Minnie, née Rottenberg, were Jewish. He played violin and piano as a child, and played in theatres and at Massey Hall. After his hands were badly burned in a fire, he turned to conducting, and his live orchestras used the new medium of radio broadcasting.
Beginning with defunct stations CKNC and CKCL, Faith was a staple of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's live-music broadcasting from 1933 to 1940, when he resettled in Chicago. In the early 1940s, Faith was orchestra leader for the Carnation Contented program on NBC. From 1948-1949 he also served as the orchestra leader on the CBS radio network program The Coca-Cola Hour (also called The Pause That Refreshes). The orchestral accordionist John Serry Sr. collaborated with Faith in these broadcasts.
In 1945, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He made many recordings for Voice of America. After working briefly for Decca Records, he worked for Mitch Miller at Columbia Records, where he turned out dozens of albums and provided arrangements for many of the pop singers of the 1950s, including Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis for Mathis's 1958 Christmas album titled Merry Christmas, and Guy Mitchell for whom Faith wrote Mitchell's number-one single, "My Heart Cries for You".
His most famous and remembered recordings are "Delicado" (1952), "The Song from Moulin Rouge" (1953) and "Theme from A Summer Place" (1960), which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1961. Faith remains the only artist to have the best selling single of the year during both the pop singer era ("Song from Moulin Rouge") and the rock era ("Theme from a Summer Place"); and he is one of only three artists, along with Elvis Presley and The Beatles, to have the best selling single of the year twice. The B-side of "Song from the Moulin Rouge" was "Swedish Rhapsody" by Hugo Alfvén. In 1961 his fame in Sweden would rise exponentially as his work Mucho Gusto would become the theme music for the sports broadcasts of Sveriges Radio.
Though Faith initially mined the worlds of Broadway, Hollywood and Latin music for many of his top-selling 1950s recordings, he enjoyed popularity starting in 1962 with his orchestral versions of popular rock and pop hits of the day. His Themes for Young Lovers album was a top seller during this era and introduced the Faith sound to a younger generation of listeners. With the success of Columbia record-mate Ray Conniff's chorus and orchestra during this same time, Faith began using a chorus (usually all female in most of his recordings, but used a mixed chorus on his albums Leaving on a Jet Plane and I Think I Love You, which were released in 1970 and 1971 respectively) in several popular albums from the mid-1960s on. Faith's first single with a female chorus, "Yellow Days," was a substantial hit in the MOR (Middle of the Road) easy listening radio format of the mid-1960s. Faith continued to enjoy airplay and consistent album sales throughout the early 1970s, and received a second Grammy award in 1969 for his album Love Theme from 'Romeo and Juliet'.
Though best known for his recording career, Faith also occasionally scored motion pictures, and received an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of the song score for the Doris Day musical feature, Love Me or Leave Me. His other film scores included romantic comedies and dramatic features such as Tammy Tell Me True (1961), I'd Rather Be Rich (1964), The Third Day (1965) and The Oscar (1966). Faith also composed the theme for the NBC series The Virginian.
With the advent of harder rock sounds in the 1970s, Faith's elegant arrangements fell out of favour with the listening and record-buying public, although he continued to release albums as diverse and contemporary as Jesus Christ Superstar and Black Magic Woman. He released one album of country music and two albums of disco-oriented arrangements toward the end of his forty-year career, his very last recording being a disco-style reworking of "Theme from a Summer Place", titled "Summer Place '76", which was a minor and posthumous hit. Faith died of cancer in Encino, California, and was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. His wife, Mary (Palange) Faith, was born November 24, 1909, and died November 27, 1997, in Los Angeles. They married in 1928 and had 2 children, Marilyn and Peter.
Percy Faith placed 21 albums on the Billboard Hot 200 best sellers chart through 1972, making him one of the more successful easy listening acts sales wise. 1963's "Themes For Young Lovers" was by far his best seller, peaking at #32 on the chart and followed by sequel albums "for young lovers".
^ Whitburn, Joel, ed. (2007). Joel Whitburn Presents Billboard Top Adult Songs (1961–2006). Record Research. ISBN 9780898201697.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Percy Faith.
Alan Bunting, "Percy Faith Discography"
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Catching up with friends I often get comments along the lines of 'Good on you for taking a risk and leaving your job to start your own business, I wish I could do something like that.' Starting your own business is certainly not the most conservative thing to do, but I don't think it's such a risk.
The best case scenario is we build a good business that we can either continue to work on or sell. We'll have done something we loved and ideally be in a good position financially.
The worst case scenario was that the business failed and we're down $50k in startup costs and a hundred or two more in lost salary, and we would have gone back either to our old jobs if they would have us, or something similar having learnt a lot more than we would have otherwise.
Given we'll work until we're 70 or 80 anyway, what's $50k and a year or two of lost salary now? In our minds the best case scenario far outweighed the worst and we were confident that the odds of the best one happening outweighed the odds of the worst. That seemed like a good bet to us so we did it.
Another thing we did that looks like a risk on face value is Jodie leaving her job to work on Shoes of Prey full time. This does mean Jodie and I have no salary at the moment, however having Jodie work on the business means it's more likely to succeed. Things are currently going well but if that were to change and the business fail, we should hit that point sooner meaning we can move onto something else earlier than we would have otherwise saving Mike and I additional salary that we would have lost otherwise. So it's really wasn't a big risk having Jodie join us full time at all.
A few of my friends work in legal roles, don't enjoy them and plan to leave, they just haven't worked out what they want to do yet. I actually think they're the ones taking the biggest risk. My first job out of university was as a lawyer. I was having a career chat with one of my mentors and he explained that he had been a lawyer for 10 years, he really didn't like it but he had a mortgage and had settled down and gotten married. If he left his legal role to do something else, his salary would halve because his skills were so specialised. He'd left leaving something he didn't like until too late, and now he was stuck with it.
Going down that path is a big risk for a lot of lawyers who don't like their jobs and afraid to look for something else. It's said so much that it sounds cliched, but it really is true, you only live once and work takes up a huge amount of your time. It's worth putting in the effort to find something you like doing, and as I see it, the risk of falling into the trap of spending your life doing something you don't enjoy is a big one that is best avoided.
As I see it, if you plan for it properly, starting your own business is a lot less of a risk than it might first appear. I'm keen to hear other people's thoughts on this.
I couldn't agree more! I think people just aren't used to breaking the mold.
Great post Michael. I'm in the process of working through and planning to make the jump into my own business. I'm finding that on the whole people are hugely supportive, but there are always a few who naturally question the move, lawyers strangely enough :) I do go through stages where I have doubts, but I'm very aware that for me personally, this is the best time for me to make that change! Completely agree with Simone, I'll regret it if I don't give it a go.
ps...I love the blog, it's so interesting to hear your journey with Shoes of Prey. Thanks for sharing!
There are a lot of non-financial risks that drive decisions. For one, fear of failure. Some people just can't handle it, even though the consequences are far less damaging than ever thought.
Law, consulting and banking all do psychological testing to try and find over-achieving but risk intolerant people. That's the segment they are after and that's why you see so many people in those industries who 'are just staying for 2 years' and complain but, most importantly for those companies, never do anything about it.
There are others that are simply scared shitless of being accountable. It's easier to optimize their behavior around office politics and succeeding in that fashion than to face the raw feedback cycle of a startup.
'Risk taking' as a concept is also empty without the discussion of reward. On every basis, starting your own company is likely a better financial reward. But it's a better financial reward because so few people do it. And at the root of that I think is people's fear of failure and fear of accountability.
Thank you so much for writing this. This kind of articulates what is filling my head at the moment.
And to add to the equation, its not only the risk of possible scenarios (worst case and most likely), but also cost of maintaining the status quo. If you don't like your job and stay in it, you're pretty much guaranteed for another 30-40 years of a pretty bad situation.
I agree with the other comments too and fear of failure is a huge issue! However I do think financial risk is the main impediment, but mainly a misconceived notion that you need a lot more money to be comfortable than you actually do. You don't want to change the status quo due to a fear of an uncomfortable reality.
Great post! Risk like everything in life can be controlled but most people just never take the chance. Continued success in your business.
Simone - glad to hear you're enjoying the entrepreneurial journey and I hope nomuu is going well!
Nikiscevak - Great point about the fear of failure, that's definitely a huge influence for people. The chances of your startup failing are definitely higher than most other things you can do career wise and for some people, particularly lawyers, that fear of failure is a major reason not to leave your safe, secure profession and try something else. Personally I think people can place too much weight on the fear of failure, I think even if Shoes of Prey failed from here Jodie, Mike and I would have earned the respect of a lot of our peers for giving it a go and people wouldn't look down on us for having 'failed'. That said, everyone's got to weigh up their own risks and priorities to make their own decisions on what's best for them.
JenTran - Couldn't agree more about needing to weigh up the risk of failure against the huge cost of maintaining the status quo, if you don't like the status quo. If you don't like your job and you're in the early part of your career, I think it's a no brainer to try something else. Work is a huge part of our lives, no point in spending all that time on something you don't love doing if you can help it at all.
Matt - Thanks, and I'm guessing this risk thought process is exactly what you went through a few months back. Glad you made the decision to give your own business a proper go!
I have had lots of friends come up to me and say, "I want to start a business too."
And, I told them to just do it and don't hesitate..!! A career can be picked up again if need be but a business opportunity lost is lost.
After a few moments of determination, the "reality" sets in and the fears of the unknown comes back and they back out of it.
Beautifully written Foxxxy!! I totally agree. I think that the older you get, the more you realize that the only real currency is "time" (not money, or possessions or shiny new toys). I think everyone needs to think about the priorities. I value my time more than anything and I love travel and writing so I've created a life where I have a job that I enjoy but also have lots of time to travel and explore the world :).
So proud of you guys for working so hard on something you enjoy now so that later you will hopefully be financially better off and have more time/flexibility to do other projects/start businesses.
Also most of, if not all, of my friends who are lawyers really hate their jobs even though they make 2x as much as I do in salary which I think is very telling.
Welcome to the Shoes of Prey team Carmen!
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0.997393 |
There's too much traffic on the street! How will Joey solve this problem? Joey's Stop Sign is a realistic fiction book in which the four characters decide to request that the city install new stop signs to slow traffic. The children distribute a petition, gather data on how many cars pass before and after school, take pictures of people trying to cross, and even tell the story of a local dog that got hit by a car. Illustrations support the text.
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0.99845 |
Looking for the perfect DIY gift? How about some DIY party favors for your next celebration? This Blueberry Starburst Coaster is a great DIY gift! You may customize the colors to the theme of your party and also mix and match other coasters such as the Happy Spring Flower Coasters (FREE crochet patterns).
This eco-friendly coaster was crocheted with Lily Sugar’n Cream yarn, which is a 100% USA cotton worsted weight yarn, but you may use any yarn you fancy. I chose cotton for its easy care, look and feel and I believe the cotton holds the shape of the coaster better. Bamboo is also a good choice! This coaster measures approx. 4 inches wide using a G hook. Simply increase the size of your hook if you prefer a bigger coaster!
Coaster measures approx. 4 inches wide.
Changing colors: Pick up the new color and join by pulling up a loop in the stitch after the sl st join of the previous round.
Step #1. Start with a dc st, but do not pull through the last 2 loops (you should have 2 loops remain on the hook).
Step #2. In the same st, rep step #1 with working a dc but pulling through only the first 2 loops (you should have 3 loops remain on the hook).
Step #3. Yarn over and pull through all 3 loops on the hook.
Step #3. In the same st, rep step #1 again (you should have 4 loops remain on the hook).
Step #4. Lastly, yarn over and pull through all 4 loops on the hook.
One cluster completed! In summary, you’re starting a cluster of 3 dc stitches in the same stitch, but not finishing any of them until the end.
With color A, start with a magic ring, ch 2.
Round 2: ch 2 (counts as first dc), dc in same st, ch 1; *2 dc in next st, ch 1*, rep * – * around; sl st to top of ch 2 to join.
change to color B, join in any ch 1 space.
Round 3: ch 2 (counts as first dc), 2-dc cluster, ch 2; *3-dc cluster, ch 2*, rep * – * around; sl st to top of ch 2 to join.
Round 4: sc in each st and ch 2 space, sl st to first sc to join.
change to color C, join in any st.
Round 5: sc in each st around, sl st to first sc to join.
Round 6: As a finishing touch, sl st in each st around.
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0.999999 |
If you were to ask my friends what I love to do, my guess is that the majority of them would come up with this reply, "He loves to play sports". Sports are a big part of my life, and if I had to choose my favorite sport to play it would have to be basketball. I couldn't imagine going a week without being able to touch a basketball, and I thought I would never have to. But on one summer afternoon, that all changed when I broke my leg. It left me on crutches for two months, and not being able to play basketball all that summer. At first I thought it wouldn't be so bad, getting all the attention and sympathy from everyone. However, after one game I soon realized that I would do just about anything to get rid of those horrible crutches and get back on the court.
It was the start of summer 2002, and the Mid America Youth Basketball (MAYB) national tournament was taking place in Andover, Kansas. Along with the rest of the team, I was excited to play some basketball for the first time since the middle school basketball season was over. Our team, Carlon Oil, had been together and played every summer for the last four years. We were a really good team, with an overall record of 65-4 over those four years and were hoping to continue our legacy. Lonnie Lollar, our coach for the summer, was also the coach of our high school basketball team. I had a history of groin injuries, and every summer it seemed that I would have to sit out at least a game on the bench icing my groin. But this summer was different, and I along with everyone in the gym wouldn't have expected my summer to end with a injury such as a broken leg.
We arrived at the Andover High School main gym thirty minutes before the game and started to stretch.
The buzzer rang and the five starters, which included myself, left the bench towards the middle of the court to start the game. "Green this way, gold that way" yelled the referee and the ball was thrown high into the air and the game had started. The first quarter went by fast and at the end of the period we were up 26-15 against the Andover Trojans. "Man my legs are sore from all this heat" I told Chip, one of my teammates as we were sitting on the bench waiting for the start of the second quarter. "I know, its has to be almost one hundred degrees in here" he told me. The buzzer rang and we all got up from the bench and walked out to the court. A couple of minutes went by in the quarter and we had a pretty big lead on the Trojans. The ball was passed in to Chip and I started to run down the court. I found myself open and started to yell for the ball. Chip threw the ball my way and I turned around to catch it and all of a sudden I heard a snap in my leg. With a thud I hit the ground and grabbed my upper leg in pain. I laid there for about a minute and then figured that I could get up and try to play. So I got up and started to limp to the middle of the court and instantly pain flew into my leg and I realized I had to come out of the game. The rest of the game I was forced to lay behind our team bench with an icepack taped to my upper leg. The whole time I was laying down the pain never went away, and after the game was over I still didn't have the strength to get up. My dad and coach Lollar had to carry me out to our car and I was driven to the ER to see how bad my leg was hurt. We arrived at the ER and were forced to wait almost an hour to get my leg checked out. When it was my turn, I was carted to the X-ray room were the doctor took about four to five X-rays to see if my leg was actually broken or not. When the doctor came out, he told us that it was indeed broken and that I would have to be sidelined for almost four months, the first two of those being on crutches.
During those two months on crutches my mind changed about the whole situation. At first I was looking forward to being on crutches, having people come up to me and ask me what happened, and sitting on the sidelines letting everyone get a glimpse of me being hurt. But after one game I soon realized that I hated being on crutches. It wasn't fun sitting on the sidelines watching my team have fun while I was stuck on the sidelines just cheering them on. I hated it, even with all the sympathy I received. I dreaded coming to the rest of the games that summer because I couldn't stand watching anymore. Sure, everyone I crutched by asked me what happened and how I was feeling. However, it got really old telling everyone the same things like "I broke my lesser trochanter" or "I'm out for the rest of the season". Every time I told someone what happened it just made me think about how much I missed playing and how much I wanted to get back to playing. I soon adopted the quote that the famous Michael Jordon once said when he was hurt, "My body could stand the crutches but my mind couldn't stand the sideline".
Being away from the game you love can teach you things that you thought you would never learn. I learned that things happen that you might not always like, and sometimes you can't do anything but accept the fact that it happened. This applies not only to basketball, but also relationships, jobs, and life in general. Things don't always turn out the way you plan them to but that's part of life, and for the most part the things that make you weak make you stronger in the end. Because of what I went through, I'm more prepared for what can happen in the future. Being on crutches and going through the experience of sitting out and watching people play the game that I love made me realize you can't control everything and I can say that I've grown as an individual because of it.
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0.999999 |
User-generated content (UGC) videos are uploaded by users and creators. These videos are not always professionally curated and could exhibit perceptual artifacts. For the purpose of this dataset, we've selected original videos with specific and perceptual quality issues, like blockiness, blur, banding, noise, jerkiness, and so on.
These videos have a wide array of categories, such as “how to” videos, technology reviews, gaming, pets, etc.
Since these videos are often captured in environments without controlled lighting, with ambient noise, or on low-end capture devices, they may end up exhibiting various video quality issues, such as camera shaking, low visibility, or jarring audio.
Before sharing these videos, creators may edit the video for aesthetics and generally compress the captured video for a faster upload (e.g. depending on the network conditions). Creators also may annotate the video or add additional overlays. The editing, annotating, and overlaying processes change the underlying video data at the pixel and/or frame levels. Additionally, any associated compression may introduce visible compression artifacts within the video such as blockiness, banding, or ringing.
For these reasons, in our experience, UGC should be evaluated and treated differently from traditional, professional video.
Processing and encoding UGC video presents a variety of challenges that are less prevalent in traditional video.
For instance, look at these clips shown below that are heavily ridden with blockiness and noise. Many modern video codecs would target their encoding algorithms based on reference-based metrics, such as PSNR or SSIM. These metrics measure the fidelity of accurately reproducing the original content roughly pixel for pixel, including artifacts. The assumption here is that the video that acts as the reference is “pristine,” but for UGC, this assumption often breaks down.
In this case, the videos on the left ends up having 5 Mbps bitrate to faithfully represent the originally uploaded user video content. However, the heavily compressed video on the right has a bitrate of only 1 Mbps, but looks similar when compared to the 5 Mbps counterpart.
Another unconventional challenge can come from a lack of understanding of the provided quality of the uploaded video. With traditional video, quite often a lower quality is a result of heavy editing or processing and an un-optimized encoding. However, this is not always true for UGC, where the uploaded video itself could be sufficiently low quality that any number of optimizations on the encoding operation would not increase the quality of the encoded video.
How is the dataset put together?
This dataset is sampled from millions of YouTube uploaded videos licensed under a Creative Commons license. Only publicly shared videos from uploaders are sampled.
The sample space the videos were chosen from can be divided into four discrete dimensions: Spatial, Motion, Color, and Chunk-level variations. We believe that this dataset reasonably represents the variety of content that we observe as uploads within these dimensions.
For technical details on how this dataset was composed, the coverage correlations scores and more, please refer to our paper on dataset generation in arxiv (also submitted to ICIP 2019).
Where can I see and download it?
This UGC dataset can be explored over various content categories and resolutions in the explore tab of media.withyoutube.com. The video preview will be shown when you mouse-over the video, along with an overlay of the attribution.
Various content categories are separated out for simplicity of selection. HDR and VR formats are available in addition for each resolution. Though some high frame rate content is present as part of the offering, it is not currently separated out as a category. Frame rate information is embedded in the video metadata and can be obtained when the corresponding video is downloaded.
Videos can be downloaded from the download tab of media.withyoutube.com page. Here you will also notice the CC BY creative commons attribution file for the whole set of videos. Details about the video download format along with the link to the Google Cloud Platform location are available on this page.
Additionally, three no-reference metrics that have been computed on the UGC video dataset by the YouTube Media Algorithms team are available to download from this page. These three metrics are Noise, Banding, and SLEEQ. Explanations of each were published in ICIPs and ACM Multimedia Conferences.
We are excited to launch a large-scale dataset of public user-generated content (UGC) videos uploaded to YouTube under a Creative Commons license. This dataset is intended to aid the advancement of research on video compression and quality evaluation.
We created this dataset to help baseline research efforts, as well as foster algorithmic development. We hope that this dataset will help the industry better comprehend UGC quality and tackle UGC challenges at scale.
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0.86972 |
Gearbox is an important part of mechanical equipment. If a fault cannot be timely detected, it will cause significant economic losses. In order to solve the problem of early fault diagnosis quickly and accurately, this paper proposes a feature extraction method by the decomposition of feature value to the waveform of signal, and inputs the extracted feature into the deep learning network established by this paper. Firstly, the input signal is reconstructed and the feature value is decomposed. Secondly, the extracted features are input into the established deep learning network as the deep learning signals to carry out fault diagnosis. Finally, the fault is identified by the established deep learning network. In a number of experiments, to compare with the existing some fault diagnosis methods, such as support vector machine, classical neural network, lifting wavelet and logical regression, the experimental results show that the average accurate recognition rate of the proposed method by established deep learning network based on feature value decomposition to fault diagnosis is 96.65%, its variance is 0.36 and the diagnostic speed is 0.612 s. However, the average accuracy of the best diagnostic method at present is 93.52%, the variance is 0.47 and the diagnostic speed is 0.826 s. It indicates that the proposed method has a good accuracy, stability and fastness.
This work is supported by Center Plain Science and Technology Innovation Talents (194200510016); Science and Technology Innovation Team Project of Henan Province University (19IRTSTHN013); Key Science and Technology Program of Henan Province (172102410063), respectively.
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0.933031 |
What does it mean to approach Everyday Life with an aesthetic attitude? There is nothing novel about framing one's quotidian roles in some state of mind -- wisdom, science, religion. As practice, the aesthetic attitude is included within a situation, adding to the intentionality of some project the distance that generates aura of signification. "Situation" is a guideword, evoking the existentialist point that circumstances become a situation when considered from the point of view of one's "project," the goals of a practice, encountering a scene not indifferently but according to its affordances for some purpose. In a Visit (for konsult) this project or purpose is given an aesthetic frame.
Family: Mother's Day holiday, with three generations of relatives sharing a rented house.
Work: Ulmer continues to ponder the perplexities of a theoretical question (the image metaphysics of electracy: the diadoch Damascius).
Memory: A formative experience in Ulmer's past -- a night in an olive orchard in Spain, 1966.
Current Events: History of the present unfolding in daily reports and analysis of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Site: Place, Ponte Vedra Beach on the Atlantic coast of Florida.
Form: The Aesthetic Attitude includes familiar forms and genres, constituting a mythology: popular culture for laymen, but for Ulmer (academic) the forms are high art (Titian's Allegory of Prudence, Kafka's aphorisms).
A relevant context to Visit as the construction of an epiphany is the common experience in the history of creative insight of the Eureka moment appearing during some ordinary activity: Archimedes in his bath; Poincaré stepping off a bus. In Ulmer's relay, adopting the Aesthetic Attitude means that he consciously scans his setting for some feature he recognizes as an objective correlative for his state of mind, registering the Mood or atmosphere attuning as vehicle and tenor (outer and inner) dimensions of his life world. The feature he recognizes, promoting it to object @, is the sand castle built by his granddaughter the previous evening.
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0.999002 |
Jesus Christ is alive and well, and says man-made climate change is a hoax.
Mukesh Prasad, a resident of Englewood, Colorado, a US citizen born in India, claims to be the prophesied Second Coming of Christ – and has issued an open challenge to NASA to debate the physics of climate change.
Over the previous week, he posted several comments on NASA's Twitter page taking down the theory of manmade CO2 caused climate change. He explained the theory from James Hansen was erroneous because Hansen clearly didn't understand the equation he was using, and was unaware of other very important physics. When the data started differing from the theory, Hansen propagated the idea that when theory and data conflict, data should be thrown away - thus basically reversing the entire scientific method within NASA.
He explains "As a result, NASA organizations such as NOAA and GISS started misusing the standard and valid practice of 'filtering' data, by using 'filters' that turned all data into warming." In a comment on NASA's tweets, he writes "Then he [Hansen] led you into falsifying data. (Let's call a spade a spade.) Time to reverse course, stop falsifying data, NASA."
There was mostly utter silence on the NASA TwitterVerse - normally the NASA twitter page has decently high activity.
NASA Tweeted "This time, when we go to the moon, we will stay." Mukesh Prasad responded "And good riddance [smiley] Do NOT start a climate change fraud scheme out there."
This was greeted by stunned silence, except that one Twitter user who apparently hadn't seen the earlier comments, responded with an astonished "What".
Mukesh summarized his earlier takedown of NASA over climate change and put it in a URL, and responded "Here you go: http://www.damroo.net/ClimateArguments.html."
Compose your email to Mukesh Prasad at Mukesh Prasad.
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0.998347 |
The game of Badminton requires lots of physical fitness and speed to endure long rallies and tough matches.
Without the physical fitness, a player will have difficulties to keep up with the long rallies and the fast pace of the game.
So it is crucial to improve one's physical attributes when playing badminton by doing outdoor trainings especially jogging and sprinting besides other exercises like shot's perfection, weight training, drills, jumping and stretching.
If you are still not convinced about the importance of jogging and sprinting to improve your speed and endurance, consider the fact that a badminton match lasts from 20 minutes to 80 minutes without the sufficient time to rest during each rallies. If a player doesn't have the stamina and the endurance that is really required in Badminton, he can lose lots of points due to fatigue.
Jogging can also be considered as part of the warming up sessions for a player's badminton training regime and before a badminton match. It is normally done after the stretching. It helps to condition you to suit the badminton hall's environment because different hall has different types of environment.
It also helps to settle down mentally and reduce the nervousness of the player before the match begins. Top players normally jog around 5 minutes before his match starts in every tournament.
Other than used for the warming up sessions, jogging is also often used as part of the training sessions. The trainees normally do intensive jogging to raise their endurance level so that when they are in the game, they can sustain the tough and physically demanding side of things.
By consistently doing intensive jogging, it helps to strengthen your legs so that you can do more drills that capitalize more on speed such as fast shadow, shuttle control, multi shuttle drills and etc. Without the presence of the strong legs, you won't be able to play a high quality badminton game.
Jogging helps to strengthen the legs by consistently moving in a fast pace. Uphill jogging is one of the most effective exercises to strengthen the leg's strength and endurance level.
Your agility can also be improved. Jogging helps to stabilize the footwork so that players won't stumble all over the court to retrieve their opponent's shots. How often have you been in this situation whereby the shuttle has fallen a fraction out of your reach even though you know it's going to land there? If you had been able to turn or move to the shuttle a bit faster, you could have reached it.
Jogging can be used as an addition to a player agility exercises such as skipping, hopping and etc. I would highly recommend you to jog in small and fast steps. Try to stay on your toes or on the balls of your feet while jogging.
Sprinting in badminton is chiefly done to increase the speed of your court coverage. Many players have difficulty to keep up with the speed of the game due to the lack of speed itself. By having speed, it can create an advantage by enhancing a player's anticipation.
Anticipation is referring to a condition where the shots are unexpectedly taken much earlier. It has a high percentage of finishing the rally. Speed increases the footwork abilities to be able to anticipate shots.
In the modern Badminton games, speed plays a major role to win a game. Why is it so? Because most badminton players in the world goes for speed and power to win the game. Speed and Power was introduced by Rudy Hartono of Indonesia which had won the All England title for the record of 8 times. Without the presence of speed, you will have difficulty to raise your game to another level.
The right way to do the sprinting is to sprint on your toes. It is good for the leg to have lesser contact to the ground so that players can create stronger legs. Usually sprinting is done at the end of the training program so that the trainees can build up their mental strength when they sprint with exhaustion creating the best effect.
The very common method used by top player is sprinting up the hill. Sprinting uphill will strengthen the legs and raise their endurance level because it demands a lot of physical and mental fitness. For the record there are some good example of Top players that often sprints up the hill such as Lin Dan (World Champion 2006), Mohd Hafiz Hashim (2003 all England champion), Lee chong wei (2006 commonwealth games champion) and other players as well.
All these jogging and sprinting methods will definitely improve your game and fitness. Most importantly, it will also bring your game up to the next level.
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0.999944 |
If someone asked me to pick the most influential finding that has come out of relationship science to date, I’d say it’s this: relationships matter for health. In 1988, House and colleagues published their classic research paper showing that social isolation is a powerful predictor of premature death.1 Since then, dozens of studies have tested and consistently replicated this link. Indeed, a recent meta-analysis of 148 studies (over 300,000 participants!) showed that people with stronger social relationships are about 50% more likely to survive over a 7.5 year period compared to those with weak social ties.2 This is a huge effect: it suggests that social isolation is more dangerous than a number of well-established risk factors of mortality, such as obesity and physical inactivity.
In response to these findings, many policy-makers, health practitioners, and members of the general public have started viewing social relationships not just as a nice-to-have, but as a fundamental human need. Humans simply must have close relationships in order to survive and thrive (for a more theoretical discussion about the human need for relationships, see this post). However, the issue of how relationships affect health is not as well-understood. What aspects of social relationships are particularly important (i.e., specificity), and in what way do social relationships influence the body (i.e., mechanism)? These sorts of questions about specificity and mechanism are what many researchers in the field are now grappling with.
In a study recently published in Psychological Science, Slatcher, Selcuk, and Ong3 tested a specific path through which relationships—in this case, romantic relationships—might influence health. They predicted that one aspect of romantic relationships that may be particularly important for health is partner responsiveness.
Slatcher and colleagues predicted that having a high-quality romantic relationship—in which the person feels that their partner is responsive to their needs—might lead to long-term improvements in how the body produces cortisol. To test this, the researchers analyzed over a thousand participants who were either married or living with their partners. Participants indicated how responsive they thought their partner was by rating how much they thought their partner cared about them, understood their feelings, and appreciated them. Participants also provided four saliva samples per day over a four-day period, so that researchers could determine their cortisol profiles. Ten years later, the same participants again complete the same measures, allowing the researchers to examine how responsiveness might predict changes in cortisol profiles over time.
The researchers found that, indeed, people who felt their partners were more responsive at Time 1 had healthier cortisol profiles ten years later: they had higher cortisol levels shortly after waking up, as well as a steeper decline in cortisol levels throughout the day. This was true even for people who were no longer with the same partner, suggesting that people may benefit from high-quality romantic relationships even after those relationships have ended. Further, these effects held controlling for a number of other relevant factors, such as gender, age, and depressive symptoms, suggesting that the results could not be attributed to these other things. However, the researchers did find that their results were partially explained by negative emotion: people with more responsive partners subsequently tended to experienced fewer negative emotions, which helped to explain their improved cortisol profiles.
These results suggest that having a thoughtful, caring romantic partner, even temporarily, may have a lasting, positive impact on how our bodies function. However, as this is the first study of its kind, more research is needed before we can feel confident about this conclusion, particular the causal link. It’s difficult to say, especially just from this single study, that responsive partners cause people to produce cortisol more effectively. Further, if responsive partners do improve cortisol profiles, it’s not at all clear how that process happens. The negative emotion results give us a clue—perhaps responsive partners lead to steeper cortisol profiles because they help people to regulate their emotions more effectively?—but at this point we can only speculate about the specific mechanisms that might be at work.
The question of why healthy relationships go hand-in-hand with healthy bodies is one of the field’s biggest puzzles. This new study represents one of science’s more ambitious attempts to fit the pieces together.
1House, J. S., Landis, K. R., & Umberson, D. (1988). Social relationships and health. Science, 241, 540-545.
2Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., & Layton, J. B. (2010). Social relationships and mortality risk: A meta-analytic review. PLoS Medicine, 7, e1000316.
3Slatcher, R. B., Selcuk, E., & Ong, A. D. (2015). Perceived partner responsiveness predicts diurnal cortisol profiles 10 years later. Psychological Science. Advanced online publication.
4Khan, C. M., Iida, M., Stephens, M. A. P., Fekete, E. M., Druley, J. A., & Greene, K. A. (2009). Spousal support following knee surgery: Roles of self-efficacy and perceived emotional responsiveness. Rehabilitation Psychology, 54, 28-32.
5Seluk, E., & Ong, A. D. (2013). Perceived partner responsiveness moderates the association between received emotional support and all-cause mortality. Health Psychology, 32, 231-235.
6Kumari, M., Shipley, M., Stafford, M., & Kivimaki, M. (2011). Association of diurnal patterns in salivary cortisol with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: Findings from the Whitehall II study. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 96, 1478-1485.
7Dmitrieva, N. O., Almeida, D. M., Dmitrieva, J., Loken, E., & Pieper, C. F. (2013). A day-centered approach to modeling cortisol: Diurnal cortisol profiles and their associations among U.S. adults. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38, 2354-2365.
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When it comes to experiencing a phobia or an intense fear, the stress and anxiety that is caused by these two emotional reactions can be terrifying to the individual, disruptive to everyday life, and damaging to one’s mental health. Although it is very easy to combine both fears and phobias together, they are in fact classified differently, with fear being an emotional response to a perceived threat and phobias being an anxiety disorder that involves an excessive emotional response. In this article, we are going to look at the difference between a fear and a phobia, what their causes are, and what the symptoms of phobias look like.
When we sense danger or are confronted with a situation that appears to be dangerous, we have an initial reaction of fear. This response is built-in as a survival mechanism, commonly called our fight or flight reaction, and is used to help us sense when there is a situation that we should avoid or get away from. Although feeling fear is often a result of a sudden confrontation with danger, it can also be a general uneasiness or worry that builds up over time. Once our flight or fight response kicks in, our sympathetic nervous system pumps us full of adrenaline. Subsequently, our bodies respond by increasing our heart rate, enlarging our muscles, and alerting our mind to be ready for action. When an individual experiences persistent fear over a long period of time that affects how they function from day to day, this is when a fear becomes a phobia.
Unlike a reasonable response to a dangerous situation, a phobia is an intense and unreasonable emotional response to situations, activities, people, and objects, where the fear is so intense that it becomes disruptive. Often the fear that one experiences is so out of proportion to the perceived threat, that the individual will avoid contact with the perceived threat at all costs due to the distress they feel. In a lot of cases, the individual will know that the emotional reaction is unreasonable but will still be overcome with panic and severe anxiety.
The main difference between experiencing a fear and having a phobia is that fear will be a reaction to an actual danger that subsides once the danger has either passed or been dealt with. Whereas phobias are a physical and mental tension that is felt when there is no danger to trigger the response. When this occurs, the individual is anticipating future peril without there being an indication of present danger. It is common to feel a moderate amount of anxiety when coping with situations that cause stress, such as school exams, but when the fear becomes long-lasting and interferes with everyday life, this becomes a major issue.
What Are The Causes and Symptoms of Phobias?
When it comes to the development of phobias, they are both learned and genetically pre-determined. If a child has parents that are unable to deal with their own anxiety problems, this can cause them to become fearful and worried for their parents. If a coping method is not provided, this can cause a phobia to develop. When a phobia does develop, the individual will learn that by avoiding the fear, they will feel less anxious. Unfortunately, as time goes on avoidance of the situation will become more and more difficult, calling for an increase in avoidance behaviors. Even if the individual does successfully avoid the “future danger” they will end up getting stuck worrying about the possibility of encountering the fear and so emerges a pattern of feeling anxiety, avoiding the fear, and worrying about coming into contact with the fear.
Common symptoms of phobias include stress and anxiety, trembling or shaking, numbness and tingling sensations, shortness of breath or feeling a smothering sensation, chest pain and discomfort, palpitations, sweating, hot and cold flashes, nausea, lightheadedness, feelings of being detached from oneself or feeling like you are dying or going crazy. Treatment is generally done through a type of cognitive behavioral therapy called desensitization exposure or through hypnotherapy for specific phobias.
Previous story What Is The Difference Between a Hotel and a Motel?
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What's my account's Stories section for?
1. Log into your Insticator account, and select the Stories section.
2. Click Edit on the story you desire to edit.
3. Enter your updated information.
4. Click Save. It will take up to 15 minutes for changes to apply.
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Ultrasound is a highly controversial topic. It can now be said, without hyperbole, that an understanding of its mysteries is essential to the well-being of the individual and the human species.
The word "ultrasound" commonly refers to diagnostic ultrasound (DUS), an acoustic technology utilized for medical examinations, often to view real-time images of the fetus and the mother's reproductive tract.
Ultrasound imaging technology for diagnostic examinations evolved from a type of echo-imaging, originally developed as SONAR, an acoustic technology developed for underwater navigation. This functions by pinging sound waves off ship and submarine hulls, electronically measuring echo, the duration required to reflect ultrasound from an object back to the source.
Ultrasound is commonly used by industry to disintegrate and blend materials, and to weld steel. Since the mid-20th century, ultrasound has been employed to generate "echo images" of the fetus.
DUS is not natural sound. It is usually at a frequency of 3 to 9 megahertz with harmonics and random sonic effects. Its fundamental frequencies are higher than the EMF carrier frequencies for the AM radio band. Human hearing range is only 20 to 20,000 hertz. DUS wave pressures can be thousands times that of the hearing pain threshold.
It seems reasonable to assume that effects on biological systems may be induced at least by the mechanical shock waves and high temperatures generated during the bubble collapse.
Diagnostic ultrasound (DUS) may be an economic boon for medical practitioners who advocate its routine use. There is another economic: Women who avoid DUS should be able to command a $10,000,000 dowry. Let me explain.
DUS is now being applied to most of the entire world population during its fetal stage and applied to nearly all pregnant women in the United States. Fearing the process of birth, women are driven towards this invasive procedure, accepting it as a standard medical routine.
The negative health implications are vast for the individual and society. DUS appears to have set the human species on a tragic path due to its subtle and not-so-subtle biological effects. Critics argue that the exponential rise in autism incidence is largely the result of fetal exposure to ultrasound.6,7 If they are correct, then it may take many generations to recover from this misguided application of medical technology.
While this may seem alarming, it bears a similarity to the aforementioned WHO document, "Criteria 22." Many scientists worldwide signed the document, including Wesley Nyborg, PhD, of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Melvin Stratmeyer, PhD, of the FDA, and William O'Brien, Jr., PhD, of the Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, University of Illinois.
The WHO Criteria was published 34 years ago. Its concerns have never been refuted. These concerns are supported by most modern science, though, to date, that science has not been acknowledged by the dominant politic. What was described by WHO as an unacceptable risk three decades ago is now a much greater risk because the FDA has since raised allowed machine intensities by a factor of 8x15x.
Newnham (1993) is a human exposure study with two follow-up studies published later focusing on child development. The studies concern children exposed in utero during the years 1989-1991. A total of 2,834 maternal-fetal pairs were exposed to DUS from early generation machines, low ultrasound intensity. Many sessions were at less than 5mW/cm2 SPTA, none more than 25mW/cm2 SPTA.8 Disease was found.
These observations of growth restriction are important in that these were found despite attempts to dismiss data with statistical significance filters.10 Newnham hides data behind significance filters and dismisses positive results with such filters.
The study compared children from two groups of women exposed to DUS, a "regular" group, and an "intensive" group. The intensive group had more DUS sessions and higher exposure per session. The study results might have been much stronger had it not diluted its results by omitting the control group (zero-exposure group).
Eight years later, Newnham followed up on the same population and published a study claiming that by year one, the smaller children had caught up to the norm, employing statistical significance arguments.
Significance testing almost invariably retards the search for knowledge by producing false conclusions about research literature…a disastrous method for testing hypotheses.
Newnham could not dismiss everything. The study found a significant persistent disease, which could be indicative of other, unstudied problems: "…slightly higher intraocular pressure...." The problems found by Newnham resulted after exposure to older machines, i.e., low intensities, ranging from less than 5mW/cm2 to 25mW/cm2. Newer machines, manufactured after 1991, range up to the 720mW/cm2 limit and sometimes higher.
This Swedish study reviews four population studies by Stalberg et al.14 This is categorized here as an early study despite being published in 2008 because it reviews the records of large populations of children who had been exposed to prenatal DUS during the 1970s and 1980s, the era of relatively mild intensity machines. It admits a dilution of its results by its economy of design.
Stalberg nevertheless finds some increased risk for boys (not girls) in the following categories: schizophrenia, lower intellectual ability, lower performance in school, lower performance in physical education, and a tendency towards left-handedness.
Stalberg concludes that the increased risks did not reach statistical significance, though with important exceptions.
Stalberg suggests that DUS may contribute to a general stress-induced vulnerability to disease.
Thanks to Stalberg for this description of ultrasound-initiated fetal vulnerability; however, I will demonstrate later that it is not turned-on genes but simple toxic damage from ultrasound that predisposes individuals.
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How Trump will make Obama's Countering Violent Extremism programme into "Countering Violent Jihad".
On January 21, one day after US President Donald Trump was sworn into office, the resistance was inaugurated by way of women's marches across the country. Muslim-Americans were prominent in these marches, with civil rights leaders such as Linda Sarsour organising and addressing the Washington, DC, crowd, and Muslim American women leading offshoot marches. The ubiquitous displays of non-Muslims chanting slogans and holding signs in defence of Muslims was heart-warming.
As Muslim women and men marched, however, the looming perils of Trump's counterterror programme - still largely undefined - raced through their minds. The day before, during his inauguration speech, Trump vowed to completely eradicate "radical Islamic terrorism … from the face of the earth".
Trump is inheriting from President Barack Obama the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programme, that was based on the premise that foreign terror threats are tied to Muslim American citizens at home. Like other policies of the Obama administration, this programme was linked to the idea that radicalisation is an exclusively Muslim phenomenon.
Trump has adopted this idea, but unlike the Obama administration, he aims to integrate this conflation of radicalisation and Islam with the belief that the US is interlocked in a war with Islam - and with the eight million American citizens that adhere to it.
Exit Obama and Countering Violent Extremism. Enter Trump and war of civilisations.
In 2011, Obama formally instituted counter-radicalisation as his administration's signature counterterror programme CVE. It was a major departure from the George W Bush's counterterror programme in three important ways.
First, it shifted its concern from foreign terrorists to the "homegrown violent extremists", focusing on Muslim residents and citizens as suspect radicals. Second, CVE relied on a network of informants to monitor subjects of interest within Muslim communities, institutions, and public spaces, in addition to the electronic surveillance model established under Bush. And third, Obama strategically toned down the "clash of civilisations" rhetoric that characterised the Bush administration, in exchange for the language of tolerance that helped in the grooming of Muslim informants.
In five years, Obama built a counter-radicalisation infrastructure and institutionalised the presumption that radicalisation is a purely Muslim phenomenon. The structures and strategy has now been handed over to his successor, Trump, to build upon, as he assembles a counterterror team.
In late December, a Trump administration insider told Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials that the new president was committed to the counter-radicalisaton national security model. However, the racially neutral CVE would likely be renamed to "Countering Violent Jihad" or "Countering Radical Islam" making it fully transparent that Muslims are the specific targets of this programme.
This renaming aligns with Trump's modus operandi of blatant Islamophobia, but it also promotes the worldview that the US must commit itself to an intractable civilisational war with Islam.
Several of the organisations awarded large grants by the Obama administration, with reach into vulnerable Muslim American communities, are financially bound to carry their counter-radicalisation initiatives under President Trump.
Apart from mere rhetoric, Trump has surrounded himself with cabinet members who subscribe to this world view. General Michael Flynn, Trump's national security adviser, wrote that, "The countries and movements that are trying to destroy us … are united by their hatred of the democratic West and their conviction that dictatorship is superior." He also tweeted in February 2016 that "Fear of Muslims is rational" and has referred to Islam as a "malignant cancer".
Jeff Sessions, Trump's nominee for attorney general, referred to Islam as a "toxic ideology". Michael Pompeo, picked to lead the CIA, stated that Muslim American leaders that do not explicitly denounce acts of terror - both in the US and beyond - are "potentially complicit".
One would think that Trump's brazen Islamophobia would shrink the pool of Muslim American informants and interlocutors that could carry his counter-radicalisation programme forward. However, several of the organisations awarded large grants by the Obama administration, with reach into vulnerable Muslim American communities, are financially bound to carry their counter-radicalisation initiatives under President Trump.
Therefore, these organisations will carry forward programming in Muslim communities even under Trump's Countering Violent Jihad strategy.
Such programming will expose Muslim Americans to the heightened suspicion and hardline policing that Trump is sure to streamline in the coming months.
Muslim organisations that have received CVE funding have capitalised on their community's ignorance of counter-radicalisation for cash and have endorsed the state baseline that radicalisation is specific to Muslims.
Looking forward, unless these organisations divest themselves of the CVE grants, they are functionally carrying out the Trump administration's counterterror vision. Until such divestment occurs, community members must not engage with or provide support to these organisations.
The continuous association of Muslim organisations with CVE signals the existence of elements within the broader Muslim-American landscape that will trade off the best interests of the community for their own, and collaborate with the most nefarious administration for cash.
As Trump's counter-radicalisation programme takes shape, displays of solidarity with Muslims will be most needed within Muslim-American communities: in mosques, community centres, student organisations, and households, where the threat of counter-radicalisation will descend with unprecedented intrusion and unseen ferocity.
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How many people have reached top of the world? That's been a controversial question since the beginning of the 20th Century. The real number may never be known because the Russians and Americans sent spy subs across the top of the world during the Cold War. I traveled to 90N with 80 other adventurers in June 2008 aboard 50 Years of Victory [50 let Pobody], Russia's flagship nuclear-powered icebreaker.
Victory is a working icebreaker that is leased to travel firms during the Arctic summer months. Her home base is Murmansk, in the high security icebreaker docking facility. When I was aboard, Victory was making her maiden voyage to the North Pole. The icebreaker had been in dry dock for 20 years. Only two years before sea trials had been conducted. In the two decades since her keel was laid, maritime technology had advanced. When she was taken out of mothballs, the latest navigational equipment was installed, making her the most technically sophisticated icebreaker in the world. Victory's helmsman used a joystick about six inches long to steer. I know this because we were invited to the Bridge on occasion. Security was tight, because of her nuclear reactor. Victory sails on the tide, so we left the moorings just before midnight. The midnight sun glowed pink on the horizon. It was so warm in our cabins that fans had been distributed. The deck was more comfortable, so a few of us made our way to the Fly Deck, about 9 stories above sea level. That was the moment I fell in love with Victory. No engine noise, no fuel fumes. Victory is unexpectedly silent. No thrum of engines under your feet. I remember wondering how similar my experience was to that of a tall ship. However, there was no rigging to whine in the wind or sails to flap. We didn't reach the pack ice until late in the afternoon of the second day.
The atmosphere changed immediately. We scrambled into our expedition gear and gathered on the bow to watch the approach. Victory cut through 9 foot thick ice like a hot knife through butter. Chunks of blue-green ice churned over to expose the nutrients growing on the underside. Every once in a while a particularly large chunk would bang against the hull, echoing throughout the ship. Victory did not falter. She was in her element. North of 80 degrees the ice was relatively solid, expect for natural leads and pressure ridges. Hanging over the side, we could see polar bear tracks, but not one bear. The ice spread around us as far as the horizon. Only one who has experienced the vastness of polar ice can imagine the fascination. Whenever I tell someone about my adventure, they shake their head at my fascination. Endlessly shifting, one minute sparkling, another dull. Shades of blue and green, never really white. Under bright sun or grey clouds, Arctic ice is mesmerizing. Four and a half days from port, we gathered on the bow while the Expedition Leader, Laurie Dexter, gave us a play-by-play of the maneuvers on the Bridge as the helmsman and navigator fought the cross wind. The guests with hand held GPSs watched their small screens as the numbers moved closer and closer to 90N.
The Captain, who was celebrating his birthday that day, wanted to put the icebreaker's midships on 90 N. His officers were fully aware that this was a moment in his and their careers that they would talk about in their old age. At last the ship's horn sounded. We were parked on top of the world. About an hour later, we were able to descend to the ice. The icebreaker had parked in a particularly stable section of ice. First the shortest circumnavigation in the world:We walked in a circle around the North Pole sign that had been planted for the occasion. Later we enjoyed a BBQ and some guests, after a dip in the ocean, warmed themselves with a shot of vodka. The crew played a game of soccer, and a couple were married by the Captain. Victory had established a new surface vessel crossing record that day. She had earned her place in history. The return journey became a quest to see a polar bear in the wild. Our first polar bear sighting was just after 1AM in the morning, under the midnight sun. Lucky travelers actually saw the bear capture the seal. The remainder followed the bear as she dragged her kill across the ice. As she began to rip the kill apart, a bold ivory gull landed on the ice just out of swatting range. Gradually the gull inched closer, the bear ignored the bird that was trying to steal bits of flesh while the bear continued to rip into her meal. The rare sight kept us silent and enthralled until 3 AM.
The return journey included stops in Franz Josef Land, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean between 80 and 70 degrees North. The standard visit to the flat-topped, uninhabited, basalt islands lasted about 3 days. Because Victory had reached the North Pole in record time, we had an extra day to explore. Weather curtailed some activities. We were exploring under a weak sun, when the expedition leader told the 20 or so who were lingering until the last available helicopter flight back to the ship that our visit would be cut short. He pointed to a bank of clouds rolling down from the north, ominous and dark. We were using the ship's Mi-8, a cargo 'copter, to transfer ashore. The pilot had said, there was only a small window, or we would be stranded overnight, like Nansen. We scrambled aboard, some sitting on the deck, as there weren't enough seats for us all. We held our breathes as the copter rattled and roared, chugging skyward inelegantly. By the time we were on Victory's helicopter landing pad, visibility was zero. No extra charge for the adventure, I was told. Returning to Murmansk was all about timing. We had a tide to catch.
However, Victory was so fast, we were hours ahead of schedule. So the Captain had to throttle back. So slow did she sail that the Mi-8 became a roost for gulls!
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Contact dermatitis is inflammation of the skin caused by direct contact with something that causes an irritation or allergic reaction. Given these two different causes, the condition can be broken down into two types: irritant contact dermatitis and allergic contact dermatitis. The irritant type is most common, accounting for at least three quarters of all cases of contact dermatitis.
Contact dermatitis is characterized by a red and inflamed skin rash. Contact dermatitis can occur anywhere on the body, but is most likely to appear on the hands and face.
Irritant contact dermatitis occurs when the skin comes into direct contact with - and is irritated by - a particularly acidic or alkaline substance. Some common irritants include detergents, soaps, oils and solvents. These substances would cause inflammation in most people if exposure occurred frequently or over a long period of time.
Perhaps not surprisingly, irritant contact dermatitis occurs frequently on the hands. It is also common among certain types of workers, such as cleaners, mechanics, printers, hairdressers, builders and healthcare workers.
Allergic contact dermatitis occurs when the immune system reacts to an allergen. The immune system mistakenly damages normal tissue in an attempt to remove the allergen. This type of allergy is known as a delayed hypersensitivity reaction, as it takes days to develop. It is not a condition present from birth. Instead, contact with an allergen is required for a reaction to occur. In some cases, the allergy may not develop until years after initial exposure. However, once 'sensitized', the allergy is for life and the skin will react whenever it comes into contact with the allergen again.
Some substances will only cause an allergic reaction after they have been applied to the skin and are then exposed to sunlight. In these situations, the condition is known as photoallergic contact dermatitis.
Having characteristics of an acid, a substance with a sour taste and a pH of less than seven when dissolved in water, such as vinegar.
Having characteristics of an alkali, a substance that can neutralize acids and has a pH of greater than seven when dissolved in water, such as sodium bicarbonate.
Topical medications, such as antibiotics and corticosteroids.
Allergic contact dermatitis is more likely to develop in people with a family history of other allergies.
Contact dermatitis is more likely to occur in people with another skin disorder, such as psoriasis, acne or eczema.
Contact dermatitis is more likely to occur in people who regularly work outdoors, in the heat, or with their skin submerged in water. These environments tend to strip the skin of its protective oils.
Although women are more likely than men to develop contact dermatitis, this is not because of any biological or genetic factor. Rather, it is due to the fact that women more commonly fill occupations that involve exposure to irritants and allergens.
As certain substances only cause a skin reaction once exposed to sunlight, spending time outside may increase the likelihood of developing allergic contact dermatitis.
A harmful, hypersensitive immune reaction to usually innocuous environmental substances.
Contact dermatitis is most common on the hands and often first appears as skin dryness in the webbing between the fingers. However, the condition can develop anywhere on the body that has been exposed to an irritating substance. The signs and symptoms often depend on the cause and whether the dermatitis is due to an irritant or allergen.
Symptoms usually appear within two days of having contact with the irritant and only in the direct area where the contact occurred. Strong irritants usually cause an immediate reaction, whereas reactions to mild irritants may require repeated or long-term exposure.
Blisters that may ooze or crust.
In cases of allergic contact dermatitis, symptoms may not appear until hours or days after contact with the inflammatory substance or material (allergen). While the symptoms generally appear in the area where contact occurred, sometimes the inflammation may occur on other areas of skin.
Visual appearance of contact dermatitis on hands.
A doctor will generally diagnose contact dermatitis by looking closely at the skin and asking about symptoms, medical history and any family members with an allergy or skin condition. To identify any irritants or allergic causes that may be causing the condition, the doctor will probably also ask some questions about lifestyle and occupation.
In some cases, the doctor may swab the skin or take a small tissue sample (biopsy) to rule out other causes of inflammation.
Sometimes, contact dermatitis can be easily recognized and the cause identified without conducting any tests. However, when further investigation is required, the tests focus on applying potential irritants to the skin and observing the outcome.
To test for irritant contact dermatitis, the doctor may apply one or more common irritants to the skin on the forearm or inner elbow. After being left uncovered, the skin is then checked several times in the following days for a reaction. This method of diagnosis is known as open application testing.
In some cases, this process may be repeated on the same area of skin twice a day for 5-10 days, to see how the skin reacts. This is known as repeated open application testing (ROAT). If the symptoms are not too severe, a doctor may also suggest doing a similar test at home with cosmetics or personal care items thought to be causing a reaction.
If an allergic reaction is suspected, the doctor may refer you to a specialized skin doctor (dermatologist) for patch testing. During this test, very small amounts of different allergens are attached to the skin on the back or arms, using special tape. After two days, the dermatologist will remove the patches of tape and look for any signs of an allergic reaction. As most reactions take a few days to develop, the skin is usually examined again four to six days later.
Initial treatment for contact dermatitis usually involves washing the affected area thoroughly with lots of water and then identifying the cause of the inflammation. After this has been done, a doctor may recommend leaving it to clear on its own, or another type of treatment to help ease symptoms.
Applying wet dressings or taking a cool bath may also be advised to provide relief from redness and itching. It may also help to choose smooth clothing and mild soaps without dyes or perfumes. To avoid scratching, some possible measures include keeping the nails short, wearing cotton gloves at night and covering the affected area with a dressing.
Emollients are substances that soften the skin and keep it moist by covering it with a protective layer. As contact dermatitis causes skin dryness and cracking, adding moisture can prevent further irritation and water loss. Common emollients include paraffin preparations, sorbolene, aqueous creams and bath oils. A doctor will be able to suggest an appropriate option, as some emollients may irritate the skin further.
If the skin is particularly inflamed, a topical corticosteroid may be prescribed for application directly onto the skin. Corticosteroids are used to quickly reduce inflammation and are usually suggested in combination with use of an emollient. For mild to moderate cases, hydrocortisone or clobetasone butyrate may be prescribed. For cases that are severe or that do not respond to treatment, a stronger topical corticosteroid might be recommended. In rare cases, corticosteroids may be prescribed in oral tablet form, or as an injection.
Application of cream for treatment of contact dermatitis.
Antihistamines help to relieve itching by suppressing part of the body's allergic response. Some of these medications are known as 'sedating antihistamines' because they also cause drowsiness. The most common type of sedating antihistamine is diphenhydramine.
If contact dermatitis becomes infected with bacteria, antibiotics are usually prescribed in tablet or capsule form. The most common antibiotic for this type of infection is flucloxacillin, a member of the penicillin family of medications. In cases of penicillin allergy, erythromycin or clarithromycin may be used instead. Sometimes a topical antibiotic cream or ointment may be applied directly to the skin.
The most basic forms of light therapy involve exposing the skin to a controlled level of natural sunlight. More advanced options use ultraviolet light (UVA or UVB) to help control dermatitis. Care needs to be taken during these treatments to avoid overexposure to ultraviolet light, a known cause of skin cancers.
Generally, contact dermatitis symptoms can be managed effectively. However, complications may occur, particularly when itching and irritation are severe or ongoing. For example, continued scratching may break the skin or encourage oozing. Once the skin barrier has been broken, infection with bacteria or viruses becomes more likely.
Similarly, excessive scratching can cause a condition known as neurodermatitis (or lichen simplex chronicus). In short, scratching makes the area even more itchy, which leads to further scratching. Eventually this cycle causes the affected area of skin to become thick, leathery and discolored.
For some people, severe or long-term symptoms may affect quality of life or result in psychological issues, such as distress, low self-esteem and embarrassment.
Generally, the outlook for contact dermatitis is quite good, with most cases clearing up within two to three weeks. However, it may return or become a long-term condition if the substance that caused it cannot be identified or avoided. If the cause is linked to employment, it may be necessary to leave that job or career.
On rare occasions, exposure to a substance that causes allergic contact dermatitis may cause a severe immune response, known as anaphylaxis. Urgent medical care should be sought if this occurs.
Contact dermatitis can also be embarrassing or interfere with sleeping, particularly when it is very itchy. Usually though, the condition can be managed by maintaining good skin care habits and avoiding the causes.
The methods for preventing contact dermatitis closely mirror the self-care treatment options, particularly those relating to skin maintenance and avoiding triggers.
Contact dermatitis may be prevented by wearing protective clothing or gloves to reduce exposure in everyday situations. For buttons or fasteners that are attached to clothing, an iron-on patch over the item to prevent contact with skin could be considered. Similarly, if a certain product is causing a reaction, changing to one that does not contain the problem ingredient is usually recommended.
Applying emollients regularly, or using them in place of soap, can also help skin to heal and provide a protective barrier. This can help to prevent infection and worsening of symptoms.
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A transfer of property to the first respondent had not been set aside on the grounds of undue influence, misrepresentation or lack of capacity owing to the drunkenness of the appellant, since the evidence had not supported those findings, and solicitors acting for the latter during the transfer had not been in breach of their duty to him as he had been properly advised and had understood the transaction.
The claimant transferor (B) claimed that property transferred to the first defendant (C), and the second defendant (X), and the subsequent proceeds of its sale were held by C on constructive or resulting trust. C claimed that the third defendant firm of solicitors (N) was in breach of duty in its conduct during the transfer of the property to C. B lived and worked on the property, which included a scrap yard and store, a bungalow, and a motor vehicle workshop. It passed to C, B's sister, by way of transfer and for consideration, although it was common ground that C had paid no money. It was then sold by her to a developer for a sum substantially more than the consideration sum. B alleged that the transfer of the property between himself and C had resulted from misrepresentation, undue influence, unfair dealing and lack of capacity due to his drunkenness. B contended that (1) the transfer had been at a substantial undervalue, that he was unwell, alcoholic and reliant on his sister for financial advice. He argued that C had told him that she would act as custodian of the property during a neighbour dispute that B had, and that B would remain the owner and remain in occupation. C disputed the claim in its entirety, claiming that B had had the benefit of legal advice from N; (2) N had been negligent by reason of a conflict of interest as it had also acted for the developer who bought the property, so that the duty to advise B went beyond the usual duty to ensure that he understood the transaction and was free from improper influence.
(1) On the evidence B was not drunk during any of the discussions relating to the litigation concerning the neighbour dispute or the transfer of the property to C. In particular, he was not drunk on the day that the transfer was completed. Any suggestion that C and X had conspired in relation to the neighbour litigation or the transfer of the property was rejected. The allegations of undue influence must fail, as there was no evidence that C had put any pressure on B to enter into the transaction. Further, on the facts, C had never told B that she was to be a custodian of the property, and it was clear that the nature of the transaction had been explained to B and that he understood it. However, the intention between the parties was that B should have a life interest in the land. C had been entitled to sell the property, but if she did, the life interest was transferred to the proceeds of sale, out of which she would acquire alternative living accommodation for B and, if possible, a site from which he could trade or the income to provide him with a pension. B had acted to his detriment by entering into the agreement and transferring the property on the basis of that common understanding and, accordingly, a proprietary estoppel or constructive trust arose. (2) On the facts B had understood N's advice and was keen to continue. In all the circumstances, N was not under an additional duty to advise B not to enter into the transaction. The allegation that N had been in breach of duty by failing to disclose that it was acting for the developer was rejected. It would have made no difference had it been disclosed to B, since he was aware that the property had development and ransom value. (3) All the claims failed save that there was a constructive trust or proprietary estoppel, or both, giving B a life interest in the proceeds of sale.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) - On the campaign trail, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is becoming the GOP's version of Nancy Pelosi: He remains a powerful force, but no one wants to stand too close to him.
The latest evidence of McConnell's toxicity among Republican voters came in a West Virginia Senate debate this week. All three Republican candidates were asked to raise their hands if they supported McConnell for majority leader. None did.
"I'm not the product of the liberal establishment," state attorney general Patrick Morrisey said. "I think that's why you're seeing all the conservatives come out for me. I'm going to make the right decision after we get through the general election."
Rep. Evan Jenkins praised McConnell for shepherding Neil Gorsuch's Supreme Court nomination through the Senate but said: "Mitch McConnell hasn't even asked for my support. I think it's way too premature."
Don Blankenship, the coal baron who spent a year in prison on charges connected to a mine accident that killed 29 people -- and who this week labeled McConnell "Cocaine Mitch" in a shot at McConnell's father-in-law's shipping company -- ducked behind his podium.
"He interferes with elections all over this country. He's interfering with this election," Blankenship said, complaining about groups with ties to McConnell spending against him ahead of Tuesday's primary.
The balks by Jenkins and Morrisey were the latest evidence that mainstream Republicans -- not just anti-establishment crusaders -- don't want to get too close to McConnell.
"I think it's a little premature to say who I would and wouldn't vote for. I'm not committed to voting for anybody for any leadership position," Missouri attorney general Josh Hawley, the candidate recruited by McConnell and his allies to face Sen. Claire McCaskill, told The Washington Post in March.
Asked about how Republican candidates should approach McConnell, his allies often point to a McConnell interview with Fox News last year.
"Look, I'm not going to be on the ballot on any of the states, and I don't think the candidates who are running need to take a position on me," he said at the time.
Republicans in McConnell's circle said supporting the Kentucky Republican won't be a prerequisite to get the financial backing of McConnell-aligned forces -- the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Senate Leadership Fund super PAC -- this fall.
The answers are almost identical to Democrats' responses when asked about House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi's allies frequently point to the inclusion of candidates who have pledged to oppose her for speaker -- a job she told The Boston Globe this week she still wants -- in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue" list of top recruits as evidence that she doesn't mind being thrown under the bus.
In both McConnell and Pelosi's cases, aides and allies appear to have decided that keeping or winning a majority is the only priority -- and everything else can be sorted out after November's midterm elections.
McConnell began emerging as a flashpoint in last fall's Alabama Senate special election, when the Senate Leadership Fund -- the McConnell-aligned super PAC that spends tens of millions of dollars to elect Republicans -- pumped millions into the race in an attempt to keep Roy Moore from winning the primary.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon saw Moore as the first of an insurgent slate of anti-McConnell candidates that would defeat the establishment's preference across the map in 2018.
But Bannon's maneuvering came at a time the GOP base was furious over its congressional majorities' failure to repeal former President Barack Obama's signature health care law. Since then, McConnell has delivered victories on tax reform and in difficult confirmation battles. And Bannon has faded from the political forefront after the publication of a book in which he made critical remarks about Trump and other members of the administration.
Still, McConnell has remained the chief target of conservative outsiders challenging establishment-backed candidates in several Senate primaries.
In Wisconsin, a super PAC backing Kevin Nicholson in the GOP primary to take on Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin called on Nicholson's opponent, state Sen. Leah Vukmir, to oppose McConnell.
In Arizona, former state Sen. Kelli Ward has used Rep. Martha McSally's support from McConnell-aligned forces to label her out of touch with the GOP grassroots.
In Mississippi, state Sen. Chris McDaniel's campaign to unseat newly-appointed Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in a November jungle contest slammed McConnell in a March statement announcing he was entering the race.
"Mitch McConnell wants to hand-pick our next senator. I understand why," he wrote on Facebook. "It's because they know that I won't be answering to Mitch McConnell."
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Vision, Mission, Values: What about behaviors?
Tactics to improve the impact of your value statement on corporate culture.
Very often, Vision/Mission/Value development is done out of the context of what the company wants to achieve. In a worst-case scenario you end up with three separate entities: 1) your Vision/Mission/Values statement, 2) your strategy, and 3) your company. The old adage, "Corporate culture eats strategy for breakfast" is true for 80% of the strategies that fail.
The key to overcoming these issues is how you deal with values.
Tactic #1. Define values in a way that that resonates emotionally with people from different cultures.
Words like "Customer-Centric", "Ethics", and "Integrity" are different in different parts of the world. In some cultures there is no word for "Integrity." In others, the closest word is more about how a person appears to others than it is about how closely they hold their internal values. If you choose values, you'd better make sure that everyone in the company has the same understanding of them, and feels that they can embrace them.
Tactic #2. Define your values with behaviors.
Instead of defining your values with a list of words that describe the value, which can be impossible to make emotionally relevant to all of your staff, define your values with behaviors. Ask every one of your staff a simple question: "If I followed you around for a week or two, what behavior would I need to look for that would prove to me that you are living out this value?" Then work with them to make sure that the value gets drilled into their behavior.
That doesn't mean just writing it down in your "Policy & Procedures" file or including it in your "Employee Handbook." You have to allow the staff, with all the cultural variety that you have on board in multi-national organizations, to define what the values mean, and have to have a system to reinforce that behavior on a regular basis.
The desired behaviors have to be built by the whole organization. They has to be celebrated, and reinforced by the whole organization through different forms of media, different creative processes, and through 'celebration time' to reward and celebrate those that have lived out those values.
The outcome: a value statement that influences behavior, enables decisions and creates boundaries.
Companies would be wise to take at least three years to build these values into the organization. Then these behavioral statements become decision-enablers that create boundaries around what is acceptable and unacceptable in the organization. Once that happens, your staff will start to say "This is the way we do things around here," and your value will be integrated into your company culture and ready to support strategy.
This is hard to do, but once achieved, it creates a lot of positive innovation, creativity, energy, and belonging in the organization. Through that, it tackles issues that are essential for a healthy inter-cultural corporate environment: a common purpose, social capital, clear communication, and trust.
Contact us to learn more about how to build your corporate culture and use your vision and mission to impact behaviors.
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This depends on how long of a season the program plans. Parts of Alaska will have snow from October-May, but it is important to consider other sports the kids might be involved in or other extra curricular activities. It is most important for kids to be involved in a number of different sports in their younger years in order to build a strong athletic background.
Until the age of about 14, kids should ski 2-4 times per week for about a 3 month season. For some of the more advanced kids or kids that really enjoy skiing, it is a good idea to extend the season in which ski practice is available. Remember, dryland or indoor training is also a good way to extend the season if there is a lack of snow or frigid temperatures.
Kids above the age of 14 can practice more frequently, 5-7 times per week and the season can run 3-4 months. In the off-season, when snow is not available, it is a good idea to offer practice 3-5 times a week if kids are interested in improving at a higher rate.
Cross country running is a great way to train for skiing so kids should be encouraged to join the running team when they are old enough. This will provide them the training needed to improve their fitness with the fun of a team.
Under the age of 14, kids should practice for 60-90 minutes. Kids over the age of 14 should practice 90-120 minutes. This includes time for gearing up and returning all equipment. Remember there is a lot of equipment involved so time can get eaten up quickly if things are not organized or kids are not taught the process for picking up and putting back the equipment. If practice is being run through P.E. classes, try to arrange for at least a 60 minute window or there will not be enough time to actually make progress in skiing. Offering after school sessions or longer weekend sessions is a great way to extend practice time. Be practical and flexible. If it is really cold outside, skiing for 90 minutes will not help accomplish the goal of spreading the joy of skiing.
What should happen at practice?
Younger kids (under 12) are great at learning on their own. Providing a structure in which the kids can learn on their own is most effective. Having short activities that allow kids to experiencing skiing on their own works better than providing directed instruction. One goal of practice should be that all kids are moving at all times, limiting standing around time. Plan activities accordingly. For example, searching for animal tracks, skiing a slalom course, and playing games are all activities that keep kids moving and allows them to explore movements on skis.
As kids get older, the amount of time spent on direct instruction can increase, but should never be the majority of time.
Having a method for storing skis in a way that is good for the equipment, (see Equipment) but also provides an easy way for kids to come in grab equipment and head out skiing is imperative to having a successful ski practice and developing a love for skiing. Building a ski rack that either provides a slot to stick the tails in or pegs to hang the skis from the tips is the easiest method to keep skis out of the way and easily accessible. Having ski bags organized by size of skis would also work. The same applies for boots. Hanging them by nails in the wall works well to get them off the floor. Develop a method for checking out equipment so that kids can ski on days when there isn't organized ski practice and also bring skis home over the weekend. A simple checkout form hanging with the skis works well. The more time a kid voluntarily spends on skis, the more skills they will develop.
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Cecil Patrick Healy (28 November 1881 – 29 August 1918) was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1900s and 1910s, who won silver in the 100 m freestyle at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. He also won gold in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. He was killed in the First World War at the Somme during an attack on a German trench. Healy was the second swimmer behind Frederick Lane to represent Australia in Swimming and has been allocated the number "2" by Swimming Australia on a list of all Australians who have represented Australia at an Open International Level.
The son of a barrister, Healy was born in Darlinghurst, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, but moved with his family to the rural town of Bowral where he received his primary schooling. He moved to Sydney in 1896, joining the East Sydney Swimming Club, of which Frederick Lane was also a member. Healy was also a member of the North Steyne Surf Lifesaving Club. Cecil Healy attended St Aloysius' College in Sydney in 1896 and is remembered there in the Roll of Honour and via the Cecil Healy plate which is given out to the winner of the inter-house swimming competition.
In 1904, Healy posted the fastest ever time in the 100 yd freestyle, 58s, but there were no official world records at the time. In 1905, his time of 58s in the 110 yd freestyle at the Australasian Championships equalled the world record to earn him his first Australasian title. He was a proponent of the new crawl stroke, raising eyebrows among classicists who perceived it to be inelegant.
In 1906, Healy was sent to the 1906 Intercalated Olympics, one of only five athletes for whom the necessary funding was allocated. At the Games in Athens, Healy came third in the 100 m freestyle behind the United States' Charles Daniels and Hungary's Zoltan Halmay. Halmay and Daniels were the gold and silver medallists respectively at the 1904 Summer Olympics.
After the Games, Healy toured Europe, giving many Europeans the first chance to see the crawl stroke; he competed in Hamburg, winning the Kaiser's Cup, and also competed in Belgium, Netherlands and Britain. He won the 220 yd British Championships, but was thwarted in the 100 yd event by Daniels.
Returning to Australia, Healy missed the Australian season. In 1908 he won the 110 yd freestyle, but was unable to attend the 1908 Summer Olympics due to a lack of funds. In 1909 and 1910, he again successfully defended his Australian championships. In 1911, Healy inflicted the first defeat on Frank Beaurepaire in any race, after beating him in a 440 yd race. However, that year, Harold Hardwick claimed Healy's 110 yd titles.
In Stockholm, Healy entered the 100 m event with fellow Australian Bill Longworth and American Duke Kahanamoku. All three qualified for the semi-final, with Kahanamoku clearly the quickest. Healy and Longworth then qualified from the first semifinal, but the three Americans, who were scheduled to qualify in the second semi-final did not, due to an error by their team management. However, Healy intervened and assisted in an appeal to allow the Americans to swim another special race in order to qualify for the final. Despite protestation from other delegations, the Americans were allowed a separate race, with Kahanamoku qualifying for the final. In the final, Kahanamoku won easily, by 1.2s, over a bodylength, with Healy in second place. Healy's sportsmanship effectively cost him the gold medal.
In the 400 m freestyle, Healy set a world record in his heat, but this was improved in the semifinals by George Hodgson of Canada and Hardwick, by over ten seconds. Healy finished fourth in the final. In the 4 × 200 m freestyle, he combined with Hardwick, Leslie Boardman and Malcolm Champion to hold off the Kahanamoku-led Americans. After the Games, Healy toured Europe, where he lowered Beaurepaire's 220 yd world record by more than three seconds in Scotland, before retiring and returning to Australia.
Healy encouraged the practice of swimming daily for exercise, and was active in lifesaving at Manly beach, winning the Royal Humane Society silver medal for saving numerous surfers.
In March 1913, following an article he had written earlier that year on the history of "the crawl" for the Sunday Times, he published an important article in The Referee on the "crawl" stroke. In a slightly amended form, 20,000 copies of the article were later released, free of charge, in the United Kingdom, under the title The Crawl Stroke.
Healy was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1981.
In 2017 fellow Australian Olympic gold medallist John Devitt and author Larry Writer travelled in France researching Healy's story. In 2018, the centenary of Healy's death, their book Cecil Healy: A Biography was launched by the Australian Olympic Committee's John Coates and Governor of New South Wales, General David Hurley at St Aloysius' College in Sydney. Another biography Hell and Highwater: Cecil Healy, Olympic Champion whose life was cut short by war by Rochelle Nichols was launched at the Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club by the Hon. Tony Abbott MP on 18 April 2018.
To mark the 100th anniversary of Healy's death, the Australian Olympic Committee announced a discretionary award, named in his honour, to be presented after Olympic Games to an athlete who has shown exceptional sportsmanship.
Also in 2018, the French municipality of Assevillers honoured Healy and other Australian soldiers with a special ceremony.
^ John,, Devitt,. Cecily Healy : a biography. Writer, Larry,. Concord, N.S.W. ISBN 9780994500861. OCLC 1029604968.
^ a b c d Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill. "Cecil Healy". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC.
^ The (Sydney) Sunday Times, (Sunday, 12 January 1913), p.24.
^ The Referee, Wednesday, 12 March 1913, p.11.
^ For the contents of the free booklet, see Cecil Healy: In Memoriam (1919), pp.14-19.
^ International Swimming Hall of Fame, Honorees, Cecil Healy (AUS). Retrieved 18 March 2015.
^ Weiss, Gordon. "100 years ago in Stockholm: The Olympics". Global Mail. Digital Global Mail Limited. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
^ Coe, Bruce (2014). "Australasia's 1912 Olympians and the Great War". International Journal for the History of Sport. 31 (18): 2313–2325.
^ Cannane, Steve (4 October 2017). "Cecil Healy: Australia's forgotten hero". ABC News 7.30. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
^ Buratti, Liana (10 August 2018). "John Devitt honours fellow Olympic hero in 'Cecil Healy- A Biography'". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
^ "Award for Olympic sportsmanship in honour of Cecil Healy". Australian Olympic Committee. 29 August 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
^ "Australian Gold Medalist Cecil Healy Honored With Sportsmanship Award" (Press release). Swimming World. 29 August 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
Cecil Healy: In Memoriam, John Andrew, (Sydney), 1919.
The "Crawl" Stroke: A Treatise by Cecil Healy, The Referee, (Wednesday, 12 March 1913), p.11.
The "Crawl" Stroke: At the Olympic Games: A Comparison of Styles, The Sydney Morning Herald, (Wednesday, 2 October 1912), p.11.
Andrews, Malcolm (2000). Australia at the Olympic Games. Sydney, New South Wales: ABC Books. pp. 198–200. ISBN 0-7333-0884-8.
Cannane, S., "Cecil Healy: Australia's Forgotten Hero", 7:30 (ABCTV), Tuesday, 3 October 2017.
Healy, C., "Tupa Tup-Pala: Otherwise Known as the Crawl Stroke: A Style of Swimming Peculiar to the South Seas: A New and Startling Version of its Origin", The (Sydney) Sunday Times, (Sunday, 12 January 1913), p.24.
Howell, Max (1986). Aussie Gold. Albion, Queensland: Brooks Waterloo. pp. 35–39. ISBN 0-86440-680-0.
Jarratt, P., That Summer at Boomerang: From the Waves at Waikiki to the Sand Dunes of Freshwater; The True story of Duke Kahanamoku in Australia, Hardie Grant Books, (Richmond), 2014.
Rodwell, G. & Ramsland, J., "Cecil Healy: A Soldier of the Surf", Sporting Traditions, Vol.16, No.2, (May 2000), pp.3-16.
Swanton, W., "Olympian with Heart of Gold", The Age, Sunday, 27 April 2008.
Australian War Memorial: Roll of Honour: Cecil Patrick Healy.
"Manly Pathway of Olympians", Monument Australia.
This page was last edited on 9 March 2019, at 22:50 (UTC).
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How many calories are in the cake "Napoleon"
No wonder bread was considered to be one of the main foods for many years. It includes a lot of healthy minerals and vitamins. In addition, it satisfies your hunger. Today, however, nutritionists are increasingly recommended to abandon it to preserve the shape. This is not entirely true, because a piece of bread in a day can allow myself even one who is struggling with excess weight.
A standard piece any loaf weighs approximately 20-30 grams. Is half cut off from the rolls of a piece with a thickness of 1 cm. But the calories from breads completely different. The most useful figure is considered to be rye bread, which contains not only healthy carbohydrates, but also proteins, vitamins and many minerals: magnesium, calcium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, iron. 1 piece of this bread varies from 50 to 70 kcal. So what is the quantity of this product, it is possible to afford for Breakfast or lunch with the first course.
No less useful for health and shape is considered as whole grain bread, which is made with the addition of whole cereal grains. Its calorie content is generally determined by the composition. So, a piece of product with seeds or a small amount of nuts will contain around 90 calories, and the bread only with grains of 10-20 kcal less. Meanwhile, such a small amount of product will perfectly satisfy your hunger because the complex carbohydrates contained in it, quite a long time absorbed by the body. And it is very useful for the figure. In addition, this bread helps to normalize digestion due to the large number of its component fiber.
The largest energy value of white bread – 1 piece usually contains at least 100 kcal. And in various butter products twice, because they are made with sugar, milk and nutritional supplements. Here from this product it is better to refuse those who want to return the figure to its former elegance. Not only that, this bread adds a daily menu more calories, so also no good brings. There is quite a few vitamins and minerals, but a lot of fast-digesting carbs.
In addition to the selection of healthy bread is also very important to observe the rules of use of this product. For figure and health in General, all carbohydrate-rich foods best to eat in the morning, for example, over Breakfast or early lunch. Then the carbs will be better absorbed and processed by the body into energy. But in the afternoon already forget about the bread, giving preference to vegetables and protein-rich foods.
As for the figure it would be much better if you combine the bread with butter, pasta and cereals, and vegetables and light first courses. It is also useful to eat the cracker from rye or cereal bread with tea as a snack between Breakfast or lunch. This meal for a long time will eliminate the feeling of acute hunger and at the same time will not damage the figure.
Bread is present on our table since ancient times. It is nutritious and quickly relieves the feeling. In addition, this product contains many vitamins and trace elements necessary for human health. However, not every kind of bread useful to those who wish to get rid of excess weight.
This type of bread is considered to be less useful, since it is composed of quite a few vitamins and good for digestion of fiber. But wheat bread has a high calorie content. Depending on the grade and formulation of the preparation, 100 grams of this product may contain 240 to 270 calories. A calorie rich products can reach 300 calories.
That's why baguettes, rolls and loaves should be abandoned completely or consume them in small quantity only in the first half of the day.
Unlike wheat, rye bread is more useful not only to slim the waist, but overall health. Typically, 100 g of this product has from 190 to 210 calories. It contains a lot of useful carbohydrates, proteins and a small amount of fat.
Bread, from rye flour is rich in b vitamins, vitamins PP and E. the Latter, incidentally, is responsible for skin elasticity and is considered one of the most effective antioxidants. Brown bread, including Borodinskiy, nourishes the body with vitamins and minerals: iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and sodium. It also contains essential amino acids.
This composition makes rye bread is very healthy. He quickly satisfies hunger, improves metabolism and promotes the excretion of harmful compounds. But if it includes additional ingredient in the form of bran, this bread nourishes the body with fiber and normalizes digestion.
Very useful also is rye bread with nuts, caraway or flax seed. This product contains more vitamins and perfectly cleanses the body.
To completely abandon the bread, nutritionists do not recommend, as it contains many healthy vitamins, micro - and macroelements. However, not to gain weight, it is advisable to include in your diet bakery products of rye flour, whole grain, sprouted grain or bread made on a drunken sourdough without yeast – as long it was prepared in Russia.
People with normal weight are advised to eat no more than 200 grams of bread a day preferably in the morning. This is about two small pieces. Those who suffer from obesity, it is better to limit bread consumption to 100 grams per day. While it should not be eaten together with potatoes, meat, butter and cereals. The best option is toast for Breakfast or a small piece of bread with salad or soup for lunch.
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A perfect resume is equal to the perfect content. A good content means a good candidate. is it right? It is common that many job seekers exaggerate their experiences and skills that may not need to overstate. Making a good resume is not writing exaggerating content, but an art of writing quality content and organizing information in a standard format that sets your resume apart from the rest of the candidates. Therefore, you should know how to write a resume to make it a job generating machine.
Predicting employer's preferences and writing your resume accordingly is the most challenging aspect of resume writing. If you are in the process of job searching or about to start your job hunt, then you must know the following things to create a resume that beats the competition.
1. Gather the keywords first - Today, the job search completely became digital. Hiring managers get thousands of resumes for particular job positions. They don't have enough time to go through each resume and find the best ones that suits to the job position. In this regards, they use resume scanning software. This resume scanner is a keyword searchable database that picks out the resumes which are perfectly matched with the keywords.
Hence, when you think to start writing your resume, collect the keywords by reviewing the job description carefully. Once you carefully scan the job description, you will find the exact skills and competencies that the hiring manager is looking in the right candidate. Write the content of your resume by incorporating these keywords smartly in your sentences. When you include these keywords in your sentences make sure they should sound natural and not stuffed.
2. Keep your resume relevant and result oriented - With your resume, you sell yourself in the job market. Hence, your resume should be relevant to the job and it must be result oriented. Write a content that is relevant and reveal your information in such a manner that your perspective employer finds it perfect for the job position.
3. Go digital - Today is a world of technology where everything is digital. Hence, make sure that when you send your resume to your prospective employer, it should be easily downloaded, uploaded, printed and scanned. Make sure your resume appears properly on different browsers and operating systems.
Also, if you have your skills that you want to show on online platforms, add some hyperlinks in your content. These hyperlinks take your employers to the online pages where you can showcase them your skills. These online pages might be personal website, blog, your written article or social media profile. However, make sure that you haven't incorporate too many hyperlinks as they are considered as spammy content when your resume is scanned by resume scanner software.
4. Highlight your important information - While formatting your resume keep important information always on the top. Also, highlight only those important that you want to showcase your employer. For highlighting important points, give them bullets or make that text bold. 5. Choose the right resume format and template - According to your experience and expertise choose the right resume format. There are three most common resume formats. I.e. Chronological resume, functional resume and hybrid resume. Choose one among them. Also, select the right template to make your resume appear good and professional.
Eventually, try to make a judgment that you think useful for beating the competition. It is you who know better about yourself and the job for which you are passionate about. So, pull out every aspect to make your resume perfect. If you want to create a perfect resume in few minutes, click here to start now!
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What ADO.NET class is used to ensure consistency between primary and foreign keys in a Dataset?
The ForeignKeyconstraint class ensures consistency between records in a Dataset.
DataAdapter' fill () method is used to fill load the data in dataset.
A data adapter represents a set of methods used to perform a two-way data updating mechanism between a disconnected DataTable and the database. It aggregates four commands: select, update, insert and delete command. One adapter can only generate and fill one table in a DataSet.
ReadXML : Read's a XML document in to Dataset.
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Parents who do not have full custody of their children will often apply for visitation rights. Visitation rights are legal rights granted by a court allowing the parent without custody to visit and spend time with their child within certain limits. While judges have the ultimate decision making power about visitation, parents can write and submit their own agreement, which can be accepted by the court if the judge finds it fair and legal. If you and the other parent cannot agree on your own, you will have to go through the legal process in order to have a judge make a decision for you. Follow the directions below to either create your own agreement or go through the court process.
Define the parties to your agreement. The first step in making a visitation agreement is to set out who will have visitation rights. While this will most often be the parent not having custody of the child, there are situations where other individuals may get visitation rights. For example, in Washington State, a person other than a parent can have visitation rights if it is in the best interest of the child. Regardless, provide a detailed description of all parties to the agreement, which should include names, addresses, contact information, and their relationships to the child.
Such a provision may look like this: "I, Jane Doe, am the parent of Kevin Doe and I have full custody of that child. I agree to allow John Doe, the father of Kevin Doe, visitation rights as set forth and agreed upon below. Jane Doe lives at [address] and can be contacted in the following manner [provide contact information]. John Doe lives at [address] and can be contacted in the following manner [provide contact information]."
Include a provision about the child or children at issue. Once you have defined the parties to the agreement, you will want to include a detailed discussion about the child. Such a clause should include information about the child's basic needs, which will include their need for love, support, guidance, and health.
A good example of this type of provision may take the following form: "Kevin Doe is the child of John and Jane Doe. John and Jane Doe are creating this agreement to allow Kevin's father, John, certain visitation rights. Kevin wants and needs the love and support of both parents and therefore John should have certain visitation rights in order to provide certain basic needs. Kevin is currently nine years old as of the date this agreement is executed, and having his father involved in his life is in the child's best interests. Kevin and John have always been close and have had a good relationship. This agreement will help maintain and further the relationship they already have. Kevin is currently in good health and allowing John visitation rights will help maintain and promote this good health."
Detail both physical and legal rights. This section will be the body of your agreement and will set forth all of the rights and obligations of the parent or other person receiving visitation rights. When creating this section, consider the child's age, personality, experiences, and abilities. You should also try to give the child a regular and consistent schedule that can easily be followed. Use enough detail so that the agreement is easily understandable and enforceable. Also, the agreement should give the child a sense of security and a reliable routine.
Physical custody includes information about where the children live and how they spend their time. When writing this section you should think about where the children should be during the week and on the weekends; where the children should be for holidays and other special occasions; which party will be in charge of what activities (sports, music events, homework); which party is in charge at what times; and how the children will get from one place to the other.
Legal custody includes information about which party to the agreement will make important decisions regarding the child. When you write this section be sure to include information about decisions regarding school, daycare, religion, medical and dental care, emergency care, jobs, and driving.
Go through mediation if necessary. If at any time during the drafting process you and the other party do not agree to certain terms, you may want to consider trying mediation. During mediation, both parties will have the help of an expert (mediator) to try and resolve their differences. The mediator will talk with both parties about their concern, disagreement, resentment, and anger. The mediator will then try and come up with an amicable solution that makes you and the other party happy. If successful, the mediator may even help you draft language into your agreement that reflects the progress you made during your time with that mediator.
Stipulation and Order for Visitation of Children, which will require you to sign a document stating that the court has jurisdiction over the children at issue and that you are agreeing to the terms of the agreement attached to this document.
Get the judge's signature. Once you have filled out the required documentation and attached it to your written agreement, you will go to your local courthouse and have the documents signed by a judge. The judge will look over your agreement and ensure everything included is in the best interest of the child. If the judge approves of your agreement, they will sign it and give it back to you. If the judge denies your agreement, you will have to start over or go to court.
File everything with the clerk of courts. Once the judge has signed your agreement, you will file all of the signed documentation with the clerk of courts at your local courthouse. Once filed, you and the other party to your agreement will get copies and the agreement will then be binding on everyone involved.
Consider hiring an attorney. If you can afford a family law attorney, you should consider hiring one to help you navigate the legal pathway to gaining visitation rights. See this article for directions on how to find a good family law attorney. Even if you cannot afford a full-service attorney, many attorneys provide limited services at a reasonable cost. This means you may be able to hire an attorney to prepare your documents, give you limited legal advice, or potentially even teach you about this area of the law, without having to pay the attorney to take on the entire visitation process.
Fill out the required forms. In order to start the process, you will need to fill out the forms necessary to bring a legal action to ask the court for visitation rights. Each state will have their own forms and own requirements. In general, you will have to fill out a petition or visitation rights, sometimes called a petition for custody and support. In addition, you will have to attach a summons and a response form to your petition.
The petition for visitation rights will ask you about your relationship with the child at issue and will ask you to clarify the types of visitation rights you are seeking. If you are in California, a copy of this petition can be found here.
The attached summons is a document notifying the other party that they have been sued and that they must respond to the lawsuit within a certain period of time or they risk losing some or all of their parental rights. In California, the summons states that the party is being sued and that they have 30 days to file a response. A copy of the California summons can be found here.
In order to allow the other party you are suing to respond, you must attach a blank response form for them to fill out and return. In California, a blank response form can be found here.
File your documents. Once you have filled out your petition for visitation and you have attached a summons and blank response form, you will take those documents to your local courthouse and file them with the clerk of courts. They will enter the case into the court's docket and you will be given a hearing date. Once you complete this process, you have officially started a lawsuit in an attempt to get visitation rights.
Serve the other party. When you serve the other party, you will hire someone (the sheriff or another competent adult) to give a copy of your filed documents to the other party to look over and respond to. To serve the other party, the person you hire must provide the required documents to them, either in person or through the mail. If you are serving someone through the mail, it must be sent by certified mail. This process must be completed within 30 days of filing your documents with the court.
Wait for a response. Once you have had the other party served, they will have a set amount of time with which to respond to your petition. In California, the other party will have 30 days to respond to your petition by filling out the blank response form you provided. The other party can respond in a number of ways, and how they respond will dictate how your lawsuit proceeds.
If the other party does not contest your request for visitation, the court may simply enter its final order without having to go through a hearing.
If the other party is contesting your request for visitation, you will have to go to your hearing and tell the judge why you deserve the visitation rights you are asking for.
Attend your hearing. When you go to your hearing, the judge will make a decision about visitation rights based on the law of the state you are in. In California, the judge must hand out visitation rights according to what is in the "best interests of the child." In making this decision, a judge will look at the child's age and health, the emotional ties between the parent and the child, the ability of the parent to care for the child, any history of family violence, and the child's ties to the community (e.g., schools and friends). If the other party is contesting your fitness as a parent, and is therefore claiming you should not get visitation rights, try using the following evidence to help your argument that visitation rights would be in the best interest of your child.
Provide evidence of your financial stability. This information will show the judge that you can care for the child and take care of their basic needs. Some helpful documents might include bank statements, pay stubs, and investment account information.
Show your ability to provide a safe and secure home for the child. This information will help the judge understand what safeguards you have in place to ensure you are looking out for the best interests of the child. You might provide the judge with pictures of your home, bills for home security payments, and written or verbal testimony of neighbors, friends, and family about the safety of your neighborhood and your home.
Offer evidence of your ability to provide healthcare for the child. Try and have documentation proving you are insured and that your coverage includes your child.
Demonstrate the strength of your relationship with your child. Let the judge know how close you are with your child. Tell the judge about the past and how your relationship was when you had custody of the child. You might even provide the judge with home videos, trophies, and ticket stubs.
Indicate how you will spend time with your child. Give the judge a mock schedule or calendar showing how well you can plan your time with the child. Include possible activities and trips you could go on with your child. Be as detailed as possible as this will let the judge know how much you care and how serious you are taking the matter.
Confirm your intentions to live in one place and provide your child with a stable school environment. An important aspect of gaining visitation rights is your ability to provide your child with a stable home environment. Prove to the judge that you have a good job, that you have no plans to move, and that you will do everything in your power to give your child a steady environment. If you are looking for visitation rights during the week, this will include showing the judge that you live within a reasonable distance of where your child goes to school.
Comply with any of the judge's requests. Before a judge issues their final order, they may ask you to do certain things to prove that having visitation rights is in the best interest of the child. One of the most common requests is for a child custody evaluation. If a judge requires it, there will be an evaluation and analysis, by an expert, who will come to your home and make a determination about your fitness to have visitation rights. The expert's evaluation will then be passed on to the judge for them to analyze.
Visitation According to a Schedule. If your visitation rights have been limited to a schedule, the schedule will lay out what days of the week you can visit, what holidays you will be responsible for, and the time constraints on those visits.
Reasonable Visitation. If you have been awarded reasonable visitation rights, there generally will not be any details as to when each parent will be with the child. Instead, these orders are open-ended and allow the parents to work out the details among themselves.
Supervised Visitation. If the judge has ordered supervised visitation rights, you will only be allowed to see the child while under the supervision of another person. This type of visitation is usually only ordered when the health or safety of the child is at issue.
How do I deal with untrustworthy guardians?
If the matter is serious, such as the guardian leaves the child alone, then you take it to court and there you will probably earn the rights to the child.
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 7,833 times.
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Mont Blanc (French for white mountain) or Monte Bianco (Italian, same meaning) also known as "La Dame Blanche" (French, the white lady), in the Alps, is the highest mountain in Western Europe.
Begun in 1957 and completed in 1965, the 11.6 km (7¼ mile) Mont Blanc Tunnel runs beneath the mountain between these two cities and is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes.
In 1891, Pierre Janssen, a scientific academic, envisaged the construction of an observatory at the summit of Mont Blanc.
Mont Blanc has traditionally been considered to be 4807 m high, but GPS-based measurements made in 2001 and 2003 show differences of a few meters from year to year, because of fluctuations in the thickness of the glacier that covers the peak to a depth of up to 23 m.
Mont Blanc was first climbed was on August 8, 1786 by Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard; the first woman to reach the summit, in 1808, was Marie Paradis.
Mont Blanc is reached either from Chamonix in the Savoy valley in France or from Courmayeur in the Val d'Aosta in Italy.
Although Mont Blanc is not the highest mountain of Europe (the highest mountain of Europe is Elbrus in Kaukasus), it does not diminish the immense fame of the Mont Blanc Massif and its main summit.
The Mont Blanc Massif is the most superb area of the Alps, not only because of its highest summit, but also especially because of its wilderness, the big rock- and ice-faces which fall down steeply.
At 4807 m, Mont Blanc is the highest summit of Western Europe in the French Alps, near the town of Chamonix.
Mont Blanc was first climbed by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel Paccard in 1786, and the next year by H.-B. de Saussure.
Although climbing Mont Blanc is not technically very difficult, the altitude requires proper training and equipment.
While it is true that in a typical season up to 100 climbers may be reported as having died on Mont Blanc, the figures quoted often refer to the massif as a whole, and this should also be seen in the context of literally thousands of attempted ascents each season.
Nevertheless, Mont Blanc is indeed a killer, and deserves the full respect of the mountaineer, as well as appropriate training, acclimatization and fitness, if a safe and enjoyable tour is to be achieved.
The Tramway du Mont Blanc, or TMB (not to be confused with the Tour du Mont Blanc, a rugged 200-km pedestrian circuit of the massif) provides an obvious saving of effort in the ascent by the Normal Route.
Mont Blanc from the southeast (La Plagne), December 1998.
The summit of Mont Blanc is a glistening white dome that fills the sky.
The length and altitude of the ascent, however, coupled with the frequent instability of the weather, make Mont Blanc a very serious ascent, and over 1000 people have died on the mountain, largely because they failed to respect it, and failed to appreciate their own limitations.
Mont Blanc has a wide variety of rooms and packages including complete hotel resort packages with meals, traditional condominiums, and our new ski-in ski-out luxury mountainside Village Mont Blanc ski condominiums..
Mont Blanc est une des plus hautes montagnes dans les Laurentides, 5 remontées mécaniques, un choix de 40 pistes, 36 chambres d'hôtel et 40 condominiums, Mont Blanc est la montagne familiale par excellence.
With one of the Mont Tremblant ski region's highest verticals, 5 chairlifts, a choice of 40 trails, 36 rooms and 40 condominiums, Mont Blanc is a family friendly ski hill with much more.
Mont Blanc in the French Alps is the highest mountain in western Europe.
Hiking / climbing to Mont Blanc using the "easiest" summer route is normally a two-day project.
You get a view of snow-covered mountain ranges and deep abysses in all directions, spanning three countries (Italy and Switzerland in addition to France), an experience so spectacular that it is difficult to imagine for people who haven't been at places like this, a feeling of being intensely alive.
Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in western Europe at at 15,771 feet.
It is on the boarder between between Italy and France and is called Monte Bianco in Italy.
While living in nearby Geneva, Mont Blanc was visible on a clear day.
The resumption of heavy lorry traffic through the Alpine passage was designed to be the final phase of its gradual reopening to vehicles.
Several thousand environmental protesters opposed to the reopening of the Mont Blanc tunnel to heavy trucks blocked all traffic on the French side.
That it should have been Belgian television that organised this is degrading," said Georges Unia, president of the Association for the Respect of the Mont Blanc Area.
The Mont Blanc Tunnel is a road tunnel in the Alps between France and Italy, near the Mont Blanc mountain.
Begun in 1957 and completed in 1965, the 11.6 kilometer (7.25 mile) long, 8.6 meter (28.2 ft) wide Mont Blanc Tunnel runs beneath the mountain between these two cities.
It is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes particularly for Italy which relies on the tunnel for transporting as much as one-third of its freight to northern Europe.
On the other hand, Mont blanc is the brand that many pen enthusiasts love to hate.
Mont blanc Meisterstück products have their origins in the centuries-old tradition of European craftsmanship.
In Europe, the Meisterstück, or masterpiece, is the final and most difficult challenge a young craftsman faces, the task which decides his future, and brings to an end the long hard years as an apprentice.
The first obsticle to overcome is the heavily crevassed flank on Mt Blanc du Tacul Mont Blanc.
The unmistakeble snow cone of the summit of Mt Blanc.
A useful helping hand on the way up and a saviour on the way down, the Tramway du Mont Blanc winds its way up the side of the Bionnassay Glacier to the Nid d'Aigle (The Eagles Nest) at 2372m.
Mont Blanc Lodge, Luxury Chalet holidays in the centre of Chamonix Mont Blanc, France.
The original Mont Blanc Lodge, right in the centre of Chamonix town, fully catered luxury chalet, double / twin bedrooms all with private en-suite bathrooms, internet access in all rooms, Sauna and so much more.
Mont Blanc Lodge is situated right in the centre of Chamonix in the quiet park behind the Chamonix Casino.
A 1400 meter high face, it is bordered on the left by the Aiguille Noire and Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey (which form the begining of the Peutery ridge), and on the right by Mont Maudit.
Pionneered in the XIX century, this was the first major route climbed on the steep Italian side of Mt Blanc.
The Red Sentinel is part of a trio of routes, all established by Graham Browne in the 30s, which travel right in the heart of the face.
The symbol of this Power is the river Arve (lines 16-17), which has its "secret throne" at the summit of Mont Blanc the highest peak in Europe, and beyond human access.
He postulates, only that "the power is there," at the inaccessible peak of Mont Blanc (lines 127 ff.), but it is "remote.
In writing Mont Blanc Shelley probably remembered also Coleridge's Hymn before Sun_rise, in the Vale of Chamouni.
If you want to climb Mont Blanc, you have come to the right place.
Welcome to Mont Blanc Guides, a mountain guide organisation specializing in Chamonix and the Mont Blanc region.
Our inclusive packages have been developed with our extensive experience of the classics of the Mont Blanc massif - Mont Blanc itself, the Haute Route, summer and winter, and the extensive off- piste skiing of the Chamonix valley.
A beautiful and very complex mountain; it is most commonly climbed by guided parties using one of two routes.
The guide book "Mt Blanc Massif vol1" by Lindsay Griffin has details of these and other routes.
It is advisable to acclimatise by making at least one climb at altitude before attempting Mt Blanc, and to have some basic training in the use of ice-axe and crampons.
Mont Blanc Resources Inc. is a publicly traded company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.
Mont Blanc's primary focus is in the oil and gas sector including exploration and production.
We are currently focused on a prospect property in the South Western Alberta Sedimentary Basin.
Mont Blanc Roof Racks, Crossbars, Ski Racks, Snowboard Carriers, Bicycle Racks and more.
Mont Blanc Ski and Snowboard racks, Roof Rack Railing Crossbars and car top load carriers.
Full line of Mont Blanc Roof Rack Railing Crossbars and ski and snowboard roof racks.
There are four types of Mont blanc writing instruments available: ballpoint pens, rollerball pens, fountain pens, and mechanical pencils.
All Mont blanc pens are in stock unless otherwise noted.
Please review our selection of Mont Blanc pens and choose one to fit your personality or as a gift for a person who enjoys executive living.
Mount Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps.
If snow conditions are good we will climb Mt. Blanc by the more technical Trois Mt. Blanc or Traverse Integral route that traverses Mt. Blanc de Tacal and Mt. Maudit.
De Bionnessay on the southern side of Mt. Blanc or the Gouter — normal route*.
Below is a very small representation of some of the Mont Blanc writing instruments we sell.
Call for availability when you are ready to place an order.
The Mont Blanc Meisterstuck Classic RollerBall Pen has become a testament of growth.
Though the classic style is often imitated, Mont Blanc's insignia remains an icon of attained adulthood and status.
Mont Blanc Pen — Low Prices on Mont Blanc Pens 100% Genuine Mont Blanc Pens!
Mont Blanc Tunnel - fines, speed restrictions, other sites etc. Check out the ARSMB.
Best Mont Blanc Hotels Resorts Chamonix > Your ski holidays in France with the best hotels in Chamonix.
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In this study, we have performed the first analysis of these core promoter elements in orthologous mouse and human promoters with experimentally-supported transcription start sites. We have identified these various elements using a combination of positional weight matrices (PWMs) and the degree of conservation of orthologous mouse and human sequences – a procedure that significantly reduces the false positive rate of motif discovery. Our analysis of 9,010 orthologous mouse-human promoter pairs revealed two combinations of three-way synergistic effects, TATA-Inr-MTE and BRE-Inr-MTE. The former has previously been putatively identified in human, but the latter represents a novel synergistic relationship.
Our results demonstrate that DNA sequence conservation can greatly improve the identification of functional core promoter elements in the human genome. The data also underscores the importance of synergistic occurrence of two or more core promoter elements. Furthermore, the sequence data and results presented here can help build better computational models for predicting the transcription start sites in the promoter regions, which remains one of the most challenging problems.
The core promoter region is a key component in the regulation of gene transcription by RNA polymerase II, and includes DNA sequence elements that extend ~35 bp upstream and downstream of the transcription start site (TSS) . Most core promoter elements are thought to interact directly with components of the basal transcription machinery, which is comprised of the multisubunit RNA polymerase II and several auxiliary factors [2–4]. For example, recent published crystal structures of apoIBD and IBD-Inr complexes present direct evidence for Inr element-mediated transcription initiation via direct binding . Although no known sequence motifs are shared by all core promoters, four core promoter elements have been well-characterized in the Drosophila genome [6, 7]: the TATA box, Initiator (Inr), downstream promoter element (DPE), and TFIIB recognition element (BRE). Core promoters possess considerable structural and functional diversity , and play important roles in the combinatorial regulation of gene transcription . The TATA box binds to the TATA box-binding protein (TBP) subunit of the TFIID complex , and has a consensus sequence of TATAWAAR (degenerate nucleotides are designated according to the IUPAC code . The Inr has a consensus of YYANWYY in humans and TCAKTY in Drosophila. The DPE, mostly found in TATA-less promoters in Drosophila [13, 14], has a consensus sequence of RGWYV. The BRE element, which is the only well-characterized element recognized by a TFIIB factor, has a consensus of SSRCGCC . In addition to these four well-known elements, the motif 10 element (MTE), first discovered by computational analysis of Drosphila promoters , is a novel core promoter element that promotes transcription by RNA polymerase II when it is located precisely at positions +18 to +27 relative to the TSS . The MTE has a consensus of CSARCSSAACGS, and appears to be present in both Drosophila and human promoter sequences . These various elements and their relative positions in the promoter region are depicted in Figure 1.
The schematic diagram of the core promoter elements.
Core promoter elements are highly variable, making sophisticated techniques necessary for their detection. Early work from Zhang employed both linear discriminant analysis and quadratic discriminant analysis to identify human core promoter regions . Several other methods for the prediction of human promoters have been reported as well [19–21], but the bulk of research in this field of core promoter prediction has been focused on the fruitfly, Drosophila [22, 23]. While ab initio techniques are improving, computational predictions can still be greatly enhanced by combining them with experimental data. Ohler's work, for example, has recently shown that de novo promoter predictions are greatly improved by starting with accurate transcription start sites that have been determined from a cap-trapped cDNA library, whose 5' ends were complete .
A comparative genomics strategy has been widely used by both experimental and computational biologists to aid regulatory element identification by examining orthologous sequences from multiple species. The studies from both Suzuki et al. and Iwama and Gojobori have identified blocks of highly conserved regions in orthologous human and mouse promoter sequences. Wasserman et al. and Liu et al. also have performed systematic analyses of sequence conservation in known human cis-regulatory elements and were able to use sequence conservation as a criterion to identify putative binding sites. Further, the diversity of the core promoter sequences suggests synergistic co-occurrence of two or more elements in order to have a level of specificity of transcription initiation in individual promoters. For example, based on current experimental evidence the MTE functions in TATA, Initiator, and DPE contexts . However, the degree of conservation of individual core promoter elements in mammalian genomes and their synergistic occurrence within the core promoter regions are largely unknown. In this study, we describe a new approach that incorporates the positional weight matrices (PWMs) of the five core promoter elements with mouse-human sequence conservation information. We applied our approach to a set of 9,010 experimentally-supported human promoter sequences paired with their orthologous counterparts in mouse. In concert with the recent work of Gershenzon and Ioshikhes , we find strong evidence for synergism among the various core promoter elements, including a novel three-way pairing of the BRE-Inr-MTE elements.
The coding regions within orthologous mouse and human gene pairs tend to show high levels of sequence similarity , and therefore non-coding regulatory regions that lie upstream of the protein-encoding sequence should also be well-conserved between the two organisms. Indeed, a number of studies have shown that these regions do show a level of sequence similarity that is significantly higher than that of the nonfunctional regions in each genome [24, 25]. Figure 2 shows that the findings of Suzuki et al. are also true for our independently-derived dataset: there is a clear peak of sequence similarity at the transcription start site (TSS) of orthologous mouse and human sequences, which falls quickly both upstream and downstream of this point. This evidence shows that the core promoter region, which lies roughly -50 bp to +50 bp of the TSS, is preserved very well between mouse and human genes. Indeed, small "shelves" can be seen around positions -30 and -50 relative to the TSS, which we believe may correspond to the TATA and BRE elements present in many of these promoters. This level of sequence conservation indicates that comparative genomics may be a valuable tool in the identification of functional regulatory elements in orthologous core promoter regions.
Average sequence similarity between orthologous human and mouse promoter regions is very high at the transcription start site (vertical dotted line), and drops sharply both up- and downstream of this point. Points indicate the mean percent identity in sliding 20-base windows along our dataset of 9,010 orthologous mouse-human promoter pairs. 95% confidence interval bars are plotted at every 10 bases.
The positions of each core promoter element are measured relative to the TSS, and have been experimentally determined [17, 30]; see Figure 1. For the purpose of our analysis, we allowed these positions to vary +/-5 bp, because core promoter element placement often has some elasticity . For each of the 9,010 human promoters in our dataset (see Additional File 1), we examined each target region relative to the TSS for sequences that closely matched the motif of a known promoter element. We attempted to distinguish false positives from true positives by using the scores generated by position weight matrices (see the Materials and Methods). The numbers of promoters having different core promoter elements are presented in Column 2 of Table 1.
aOne-tailed Fisher's exact test of the real:randomized ratio in columns 4 and 5 versus columns 2 and 3. The p-value in the BRE row, for example, indicates that 1952/1476 is significantly greater than 2696/2503.
bThe "core score" was found to be uninformative for the BRE element, so only the PWM score was used in this case.
Although all the 9,010 TSSs in our dataset are supported by full-length mRNA sequences, few have been studied in detail and it is possible that sequencing or annotation errors have skewed our results. For this reason, we downloaded the Eukaryotic Promoter Database and selected promoters from within our own dataset whose TSS matched a TSS within the Eukaryotic Promoter Database (EPD). The result was a set of 624 sequences for which we can be highly confident of both active promoter activity and the exact position of the TSS. The proportion of each element found within this smaller dataset closely mirrors that of the larger dataset, with the exception of an enrichment of TATA boxes within the EPD set (the EPD is known to have a TATA bias; see ). The results from this EPD-derived dataset are listed in Supplementary Table 2 (see Additional file 2).
To further evaluate the accuracy of our promoter element annotations, we bootstrapped the human promoter sequences by re-sampling the nucleotides (without replacement) and re-running our core promoter element annotation procedure (a similar technique was employed by Frith et al., ). These randomized promoters are obviously non-functional, but they have the same nucleotide frequencies as the original sequences and are therefore preferable to using inter-genic sequences (which tend to be much more AT-rich than mammalian promoters), or exonic sequences (which, since they are usually protein-encoding, have strongly biased nucleotide distributions). In all cases the number of elements identified within the real promoter sequences exceeded the number found in the randomized sequences, indicating a clear positive "signal" for the core promoter elements (Figure 3). Another means of displaying the motif signals compared to the background is via a sliding window analysis. We scanned for core promoter elements in the sequence immediately upstream of the TSS, and compared the abundance of these false motifs to that of the motifs identified in their correct positions relative to the TSS. For most of the motifs, we found that there is an excess at their correct positions relative to the sequence upstream of these regions (Figure 4, dotted lines). Interestingly, TATA and Inr show a marked dip in frequency upstream of the TSS, indicating motif avoidance in this region. Presumably, this is to prevent the transcriptional machinery from being confused by TATA- and Inr-like sites near the TSS.
The number of core promoter elements in the real promoter sequences (dark bars) significantly exceeds the numbers found in the randomized sequences (light bars) in all cases. When we add the criterion that the element must be conserved in the mouse genome, we find that the gap between the number of elements found in the real data versus the random data widens, indicating an increase in the signal-to-noise ratio.
The number of each motif discovered in its expected position relative to the true TSS (position zero) represents a local maximum when compared to the sequence immediately upstream. The dotted lines show the results for a single-genome scan, while the solid lines show the results when only those motifs that are conserved in the orthologous mouse promoter are accepted.
Our results show a clear core promoter element signal within the promoter sequences, but it is important to note that our false discovery rate is very high. For example, we found 1,848 promoters with a TATA box in the real dataset, but 1,167 bootstrapped promoters also had a TATA box identified in the correct position (Table 1). Of course, we know a priori that the real dataset consists of functional promoters, so the situation is not as dire as it would appear at first. Nevertheless, we believed that the false discovery rate could be improved by employing a comparative genomics technique, reasoning that "real" core promoter elements would be conserved in the orthologous mouse promoter, while nonfunctional elements would not.
Since we already know that there is a high level of sequence conservation surrounding the TSS in orthologous mouse and human genes (Figure 2), it is reasonable to assume that core promoter elements, which are important for transcription, will be conserved in the mouse genome. Conversely, we do not expect false positives (i.e., high scoring motifs in the DNA that are not functional promoter elements) to be conserved. For each human TSS, we found the orthologous mouse TSS and surrounding DNA from OMGProm , and scanned those sequences for core promoter elements. As shown in Table 1, adding the condition that each human core promoter element must also occur in the corresponding mouse promoter causes the number of predicted elements to go down, ostensibly because false positives are being eliminated. This trend is also depicted in Figure 4, where the gap between the dotted (single-genome scan) and solid (conservation criterion) lines is great in the region upstream of the TSS, but is much narrower at the TSS. Once again, we also measured the robustness of our analyses by comparing these results to those from randomized promoter sequences. For this analysis, we performed a bootstrapping technique similar to the one described in the previous section, only this time we sampled columns in the mouse-human promoter sequence alignment instead of the individual nucleotides in each sequence, thus allowing the orthologous DNA positions in the alignment to remain orthologous; in other words, the overall sequence similarity for the region is identical, but the order of bases in the alignment is scrambled. We then scanned through these randomized sequences using the exact same procedure as we had for the real alignments. While the quantity of promoter elements identified in both the real and the randomized alignments decreases, this decrease is much greater in the randomized alignments, resulting in a significantly better signal-to-noise ratio for all of the promoter elements, though it should be noted that after correcting for multiple testing, neither the Inr nor MTE elements show significant improvements (Table 1).
Our results based on human-mouse sequence conservation suggest that roughly 22% of human promoters contain the BRE element, 17% contain the TATA box, 62% contain an Initiator element, 57% contain the MTE, and about 12% contain a DPE (Table 1). We note that these numbers are reported by promoter, and not by gene. Since 1,326 genes in our dataset have two or more promoters, the proportion of each promoter element per gene is somewhat higher. For example, 22% of promoters have a TATA box, but 25% of all genes have at least one promoter with a TATA box. Similarly, 62% of promoters have an Inr, but 67% of all genes have an Inr in one or more promoters. These results are similar to those in a recent study by Gershenzon et al. . The study from Suzuki et al estimated that roughly a third of human promoters contained a TATA box, but our estimate is much lower at only 17%. This lower estimate suggests that the TATA box is much rarer, than was historically believed , but is consistent with many studies on the subject that confirm these lower estimates [28, 36–38]. Interestingly, we found only 282 promoters (~3.1%) with no identifiable known core promoter elements, which suggests that although additional undiscovered core promoter elements may exist in the human genome, the current known set is sufficient to explain RNA polymerase II transcription for the overwhelming majority of genes. We identified only nine promoters that contained all five core promoter motifs, while the most common condition was for two core promoter motifs to be present. We have made the annotated 9,010 human promoter sequences available in Supplemental Table 1 (see Additional file 1).
A potential source of bias in these results are the dinucleotide frequencies of our negative dataset. While the randomization procedure keeps the nucleotide frequencies identical to the original sequences, we confirmed that the frequency of dinucleotides in these sequences departs significantly from the original promoters. This difference could result in unrealistic conditions in which to test the accuracy of analyses. For this reason, we performed a new randomization procedure, this time splitting up the original sequence into overlapping dinucleotides and carefully rearranging them into a new sequence. These new sequences are identical to the originals in terms of both nucleotide and dinucleotide frequencies, but the order of dinucleotides has been randomized. Interestingly, we found that our analysis of these new sequences was nearly identical to that of the original randomized set of sequences, leading to the same conclusions about core promoter element frequency and distribution (data not shown).
As we reported above, the most common condition in any given promoter is for two core promoter elements to be present, and it is extremely rare for all five to be present. This pairing is quite striking, as shown in Figure 5, where a sharp peak in pair frequency is observed at the TSS position, but not at sites up- or downstream of the TSS. This peak is very pronounced for all possible motif pairs – especially when the criterion that the pair must also be present in the orthologous mouse promoter is applied to reduce the false positive rate. A number of these combinations are of particular interest. For example, the high proportion of promoters with TATA-MTE, MTE-DPE, and expecially Inr-MTE confirms the findings of previous studies of the MTE . Similarly, the TATA and Inr elements are known to interact , and this is also demonstrated by our results, which show that 10% of promoters have both of these elements. Also significant peaks exist for both the BRE-TATA and TATA-DPE combinations, a very small proportion of promoters have these particular combinations. The DPE is thought to occur mostly in TATA-less promoters , and our results confirm that this is generally true. The avoidance of BRE-TATA pairing is also an interesting trend, and is consistent with the findings of , who found that BRE tended to be found in TATA-less promoters. We note that peaks roughly 20–30 bp either upstream or downstream exist for some pairs. We attribute this to two factors. For one, it is possible that these auxiliary peaks represent true TSSs from multiple-TSS genes. However, we believe that a greater contribution to this artifact comes from the similarity of the TATA and Inr PWMs. A TATA box may be mistaken for an initiator element or vice versa (Table 1), causing an additional spurious peak ~30 bp upstream of the true TSS whenever a TATA box exists in a promoter, or at ~30 bp downstream of the TSS when an Inr is present.
Pairs of motifs are much more likely to occur at the TSS than within sequences up- or downstream of the TSS. The dotted and solid lines are as described in the legend for Figure 4.
The simple motif counting exercise above reveals interesting trends, but in order to work in a synergistic manner, two core promoter elements must not only be present but must also be within a narrowly-defined distance from each other. For example, we have defined position of the first T of the TATA element as occurring between -41 and -31 of the TSS, and the first A in the Inr element as occurring between -5 and +5 of the TSS. However, in order to work together, these two elements must be 26–30 bases apart . Because of the flexibility in our scanning process, it is quite possible for a particular promoter to have both elements, but for the two elements to be spaced in such a way that they could not possibly work synergistically: a TATA at position -41 cannot work together with an Inr identified at position +5, since they have more than 30 bases between them. We might ask the question: Given that a high-scoring TATA and a high-scoring Inr element are present in a particular promoter, what is the probability that they are spaced in such a way that they can work synergistically? To address this question, we compare this conditional probability as measured in the real data sets to those measured in the bootstrapped data sets. Table 2 shows that the following pairs are more likely to occur at a synergistic distance than within the randomized dataset: TATA-MTE, BRE-Inr, Inr-MTE, and BRE-MTE. Again, the robustness of these results may be improved by comparison to the mouse genome. We can ask the following: Given that two elements are present in a human promoter, and are also present in the orthologous promoter in mouse, what is the probability that the elements are at a synergistic distance in both genomes? In this case, the results between the real promoters and randomized promoters are strikingly different (Table 2), and show that there is evidence for a synergistic effect between virtually all possible pairs of promoters, save the BRE-DPE combination. Surprisingly, when we correct the p-values for multiple testing, we find that the TATA-Inr combination becomes insignificant – which is striking because these two elements are known to work synergistically . It is probable that this strange result is due to the lack of specificity in our ability to detect Inr elements (see Table 1). This problem is alleviated somewhat by looking for three-way synergistic effects, since the addition of a third component further reduces the false positive rate of detection. Out of the ten possible three-way interactions, two produced highly significant results: properly aligned BRE-Inr-MTE combinations are nearly four times as likely in the real dataset than in the randomized data (p = 4.1 × 10-6), and the TATA-Inr-MTE combination is about 50% more likely in the real data versus the random data, which is also significant (p = 0.0042). How can we interpret the cases where two promoter elements are present but are not spaced appropriately? We have identified two possible explanations: First, false positives are always possible and not all of the promoter elements may be real. Second, the elements may be real, but the promoter has a "loose" TSS [28, 41], meaning the core promoter elements work independently and drive slightly different TSSs.
TATA and Inr elements have position weight matrices (PWMs) represented in the TRANSFAC database (; TATA_01 and TATA_C for TATA box, CAP for Inr), but to the best of our knowledge, no PWMs previously existed for the BRE, DPE, and MTE elements in mammalian genomes. The PWMs we have constructed are not based on experimentally-verified data, but we feel that it is better to use our less-than-perfect matrices than simple motif consensus searches when attempting to identify core promoter elements because of the additional information that they contain. We should also point out that our PWMs for the TATA and Inr elements are slightly different from those in the TRANSFAC database in that when building ours, we only considered sequences from mammalian species. Moreover, our TATA matrix was built using the latest annotated sequences from the GenBank database . In order to directly compare our Inr and TATA matrices to those in TRANSFAC, we used a simple Nelder-Mead simplex algorithm to optimize the core and matrix scores for each PWM such that the false positive rate (as judged on our negative control set of "shuffled" promoter sequences) was fixed at 5% and the number of motifs found in the true promoter sequences was maximized. We found that TRANFAC's MATCH program reports 11.2% of the promoters have an Inr and only 11.0% have a TATA box. Our own matrices performed similarly, with 10.6% and 12.5%, respectively. When we applied the conservation criterion – that the motif also had to be present in the orthologous mouse sequence – the results improved for both sets of PWMs, but more so for ours: MATCH finds 11.2% and 12.3% for Inr and TATA, respectively, while we find 13.2% and 14.2% using our matrices. Thus, we conclude that our matrices perform very slightly but significantly (p < 0.0002) better than those from TRANSFAC when conservation in the mouse genome is taken into consideration. Repeating the analysis at various false positive rate cut-offs produced identical trends.
Using our PWMs, we have analyzed a set of 9,010 pairs of orthologous human and mouse promoters. Our analysis is unique in that we have used human and mouse sequence conservation as a tool to distinguish true promoter elements from those that appear to be functional but in fact are not. We have presented data for human promoter sequences that have been annotated with the aid of mouse sequences, but the reverse procedure – analyzing mouse promoters using orthologous human sequences – is also possible and we provide these annotations as Supplementary Table 3 (see Additional file 3). This research also marks the first time that all five core promoter elements experimentally confirmed by previous benchwork studies [1, 6, 9, 10, 14] have been studied in mammalian genomes. Notably, the MTE element has not previously been analyzed on a wide scale outside of the Drosophila genome.
Our results are generally in line with those of similar recent studies [28, 36], in that we estimate that ~17% of promoters contain a TATA box, which is far less than was historically believed to be the case in humans, although many recent studies suggest that previous estimates of ~30% are too high [28, 37, 38]. We found only a small fraction (~3%) of promoters with no identifiable core promoter elements, but it is quite probable that our methodology lacks the sensitivity to identify all of core promoter elements present in our dataset; in other words, these apparently element-less promoters may constitute false negatives. In order to investigate this, we examined the number of human promoters lacking visible core promoter elements whose mouse orthologues also lacked core promoter elements. Only 56, or less than 1% of the promoters in our dataset met this condition. Therefore, we believe that the current set of five core promoter elements is sufficient to explain RNA polymerase II-driven transcription. Despite this, we fully expect that novel core promoter elements remain to be discovered in mammalian genomes.
Experimental studies have shown that core promoter elements can work in concert when they are spaced in such a manner that both can bind to the transcriptional machinery simultaneously. Lim et al. showed that in Drosophila, the MTE works in pair wise conjunction with TATA, Initiator or DPE, when it is positioned exactly at +18 to +27 relative to the A+1 of the Inr. This same principle could, in theory, apply to any two core promoter elements that are appropriately spaced relative to each other, and indeed this notion was recently confirmed . Our independent results also support this model, with the caveat that the BRE-DPE combination is not found with significantly greater frequency in the real promoter sequences than in randomized sequences (Table 2). We have extended this analysis to demonstrate that two three-way combinations are also highly favorable in human promoters: BRE-Inr-MTE and TATA-Inr-MTE. It is interesting to note that these two combinations have anchor points on either side of the TSS, and within the TSS itself, so from a structural point of view these particular combinations ought to position the RNA polymerase II complex very efficiently. The modest synergism of TATA-Inr-MTE is supported by laboratory results published by Lim et al. , but the BRE-Inr-MTE combination is novel. Although BRE-Inr-DPE and TATA-Inr-DPE also have anchor points before, at, and after the TSS, we find that these are no more likely in the real data than in the random data.
We have shown that DNA sequence conservation can greatly improve the identification of functional motifs in the human genome. The data also underscores the importance of synergistic occurrence of two or more core promoter elements. We believe that the sequence data and results presented here can help build better computational models for predicting the transcription start sites in the promoter regions, which remains a very difficult problem. Of course, by themselves, the methods in this paper are inadequate for de novo core promoter detection because of the very high false positive rate. However, traditional de novo promoter detection methods like FirstEF and DragonGSF , rely upon DNA sequence characteristics such as di- or trinucleotide frequencies, and also suffer from a high false positive rate. We believe that in combination, however, these two methods – core promoter element prediction and ab initio promoter prediction – may help eliminate each other's false positives, improving the overall performance of a combined approach.
The transcription start site (TSS) is a central part of promoter annotation and is a key element to the determination of the core-promoter region. We have recently developed a promoter database of orthologous mammalian genes, called OMGProm , in which the TSS annotation is experimentally supported in at least one species. The methodology by which these data were gathered is described elsewhere , but in short, we collected full-length mRNA/5'UTRs from GenBank , and DBTSS , and experimentally determined promoters and first-exons from GenBank . Many genes have more than one TSS annotated. To ensure that each TSS was truly distinct and had its own core promoter, we imposed a distance of 50 bp between neighboring TSSs, and took the most 5' TSS in cases where this distance was not met. We found that, for genes with more than one TSS, 68% have neighboring TSSs in excess of 100 bp apart, and 17% are more than 1 kb apart. In total, there are 10,922 pairs of experimentally supported human promoter sequences paired with mouse counterparts. Of these 10,922 pairs of orthologous promoters, 9,010 are conserved well enough that their TSSs are within a base pair of each other after ClustalW alignment. The requirement of high sequence similarity biases our dataset towards those genes that have a high degree of evolutionary constraint, but it is a necessary condition of the methods we employ to identify core promoter elements. Because of this, it is unclear whether our results from this highly conserved dataset can be extrapolated to promoters that show a significant evolutionary departure between the mouse and human orthologs.
From the OMGProm database, we further selected 4,100 pairs of the mouse and human orthologous promoter sequences in which the TSS annotation for both species are experimentally supported as well as aligned in the ClustalW aligned formats. From this set, a 5' flanking region of 200 bp, from -100 to +100 bp relative to the TSS of the human and mouse promoter sequences were retrieved for building positional weight matrices for core elements. We also used the whole dataset of 9,010 pairs in the OMGProm database as a genome-wide test dataset to identify conserved core promoter elements.
With the exception of the TATA box, few core promoter elements have been experimentally characterized, making it impossible to construct their positional weight matrices (PWMs). For this reason, to build our PWMs we used a two-pass approach, where we first scanned through a dataset of 4,100 real human and mouse orthologous pairs of promoter sequences using consensus motifs defined in various papers [10, 12–16], and then created PWMs from those regions matching the consensus plus 1 flanking bases on each side, which we then used for the second scan through the entire dataset. These flanking bases were added with the hope that some additional information might exist in these sites, but our results showed that they are, in fact, uninformative and we therefore eliminated these flanking sites from the PWMs – BRE PWM (Table 3), TATA PWM (Table 4), Inr PWM (Table 5), MTE PWM (Table 6), DPE PWM (Table 7). We only accepted those putative elements where the sequence was 80% identical between mouse and human, and the same element was identified in both the mouse and human in the same position relative to the TSS.
The position weight matrix commonly used for identification of the TATA box was compiled 15 years ago , from a small number of experimentally-verified sequences from a diverse set of organisms. Since then, large-scale sequencing efforts have vastly increased the potential pool of TATA elements from which to build PWMs, but surprisingly, the number of experimentally-verified elements has not increased substantially. Nonetheless, we decided that some useful information may be contained in the hand-annotated TATA boxes within GenBank entries. We first retrieved a total of 965 mammalian promoter sequences from GenBank that had annotated TATA elements ~-30 bp from the TSS. After extending 25 bases in each side of TATA box with a total of 50 bp for each promoter sequence, we ran the MEME program on this dataset. Interestingly, the MEME result shows a 21-base consensus motif from 897 promoter sequences with a very low E-value (5.9e-950). The position-specific probability matrix from the MEME output was then used as our matrix for the TATA element.
When constructing PWMs, it is important to include enough sequence information to have high sensitivity, but not so much that the core motifs of the elements are lost in the noise. For each PWM, we defined two scores: core score for the central five bases of the core consensus, and the PWM score for the whole matrix. The core and PWM scores, ranging from 0 to 1, reflect the closeness of predicted sites to consensus sequences. PWMs (Tables 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) are more sensitive than pure consensus sequences and we used them to scan the test dataset of promoter sequences to identify the core promoter elements. In order to distinguish true core promoter motifs from false positives, it is necessary to choose score cut-offs. Ideally, this would be accomplished by measuring the scores generated by a PWM on a set of true positives, and compare these to scores generated on a set of non-promoter sequences, to measure the false positive rate. Cut-offs could then be chosen in such a way that the true positive rate is maximized while trying to limit the false positive rate. Unfortunately, with the exception of the TATA box, not enough true positives are known for each of the binding sites for us to test the sensitivity of the PWM.
The cutoffs for the core and matrix scores for each core promoter element were determined by iteration over a wide range of values and optimizing each element's "signal" in its correct position relative to the TSS relative to the "noise" (false positives) in the surrounding sequence within the promoter. We subsequently analyzed the sensitivity and specificity of the PWMs. First, we checked the scores generated by the original training sequences used to build the matrices, and all of them were detected at these cutoffs. Because, by definition, these training sequences all matched the consesus sequence for each motif, this is likely to be an overestimate of the sensitivity of our methods. Next, we applied the PWMs to randomized promoter sequences (see the Results, second subsection), and analysed the performance over a range of matrix- and core-score cutoff values. In general, the PWMs have a low specificity, however, we found that the scores we employ in our analyses are an optimal balance of being able to detect all of the true positive set, while minimizing the hits in the negative set.
Victor X Jin, Gregory AC Singer contributed equally to this work.
Initiator (Inr), Downstream core Promoter Element (DPE), TFIIB recognition element (BRE), Motif Ten Element (MTE), TATA Box-binding Protein (TBP), Positional Weight Matrix (PWM), Eukaryotic Promoter Database (EPD), DataBase of Transcriptional Start Sites (DBTSS), Orthologous Mammalian Gene Promoter database (OMGProm).
We thank J.T. Kadonaga and U. Ohler for their insight and for providing data that were useful to our investigation. This work was supported in part by National Cancer Institute grant U54 CA113001, Ohio Board of Reagent Grant (BRTT02-0003) and by funds from the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.
VJ and GS designed the methods and performed computational analysis. FA generated the datasets. GS performed statistical analysis assisted by SL. RD formulated and coordinated the research. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Uncle Wood has 3 wooden planks. He wants to saw each plank into 6 pieces. If each cut takes him 2 minutes, he needs a total of minutes to finish his sawing.
To saw up 1 of the planks, Uncle Wood will need to make 6 - 1 = 5 total cuts. Each one takes 2 minutes, so 1 plank will take a total of 5 × 2 = 10 minutes to cut. There are three planks, so Uncle Wood will need 3 × 10 = 30 minutes to do all of his cutting.
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0.933005 |
By the time Rocky Mountain National Park opened in 1915, many privately owned cabins had been constructed. This was especially true of Moraine Park with its expansive view of some of the most rugged peaks in the area.
In addition, there was plenty of room for construction.
Most of the cabins were occupied seasonally.
In 1889, Moraine Park pioneer Areanna Sprague Chapman rented a cottage to William Allen White and some of his college buddies. White later wrote, "We were not a serious crowd. We had two rules ... every man must clean his own fish and no razor would be allowed in the camp."
In 1893, White married Sallie Lindsay and for their honeymoon, they spent it in Moraine Park.
White was born in Emporia, Kan., and as a boy, worked as a press apprentice. He attended the College of Emporia and went on to the University of Kansas. His start as a journalist was with the Kansas City Star.
White purchased the Emporia Gazette in 1893 and became known for a scathing attack on presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan and the Populist Movement.
An editorial in 1923 earned White the Pulitzer Prize for journalism. The following year, White made an unsuccessful bid for the governor of Kansas.
White and his wife returned to Colorado a number of times and spent their summers in the Colorado Springs area. In June 1911, they decided to rent a cottage near Estes Park and during that summer, White wrote his second novel, "In the Heart of a Fool."
The following year, he purchased a cabin in the eastern end of Moraine Park, one that had been constructed by Arvin S. Olin in 1887.
A number of modifications were made over the years including the addition of a porch with cobblestone columns. White also constructed two "bedroom" cabins behind his cabin for his growing family. For himself, he built a study on the hillside behind the cabins.
In Moraine Park, White was not isolated from other intellectuals. There were professors and political leaders living in the area. They were able to discuss their points of view in an atmosphere of natural beauty.
White used his observations to write for magazines and even wrote biographies of several presidents including Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Coolidge.
White's writings won him a second Pulitzer Prize posthumously in 1947 for "The Autobiography of William Allen White."
The cabin remained in the White family until 1972 when it was sold to the Park Service along with the other smaller structures.
To return to the park to a more natural setting, the Park Service has a history of razing former privately owned structures. In the case of the William Allen White cabin, it has preserved and is used for the Artist-in-Residence program.
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0.97832 |
The Function CHOP provides more complicated math functions than found in the Math CHOP : trigonometic functions, logarithmic functions and exponential functions, and also audio decibels (dB)-power-amplitude conversions.
Most of the functions require only one parameter, and they are applied as a unary operator to each input channel. Some functions take two parameters, and these require the use of the second input. The first parameter, X, is always a value from a channel in the first input. The second parameter, Y, is a value from a corresponding channel in the second input. Channels from each input are paired by name or index.
Since many of these functions can produce math errors, an error handling tab is provided for error handling and recovery. Errors can be handled by replacing the bad sample with a pre-defined value or by using the value of the previous sample. Alternatively, cooking can be aborted upon error for debugging networks.
Function func - ⊞ - Which math function to apply to the channels. All of the functions are unary functions except for the binary functions 'arctan (Input1/Input2)' and 'Input1 ^ Input2'. In the cases of power functions, a negative base is inverted first to avoid imaginary numbers, and the result is negated.
sqrt(x) Square Root sqrt - Square Root of Input 1.
abs(x) Absolute Value abs - Absolute Value of Input 1.
sign(x) Sign sign - Sign of Input 1.
cos(x) Cosine cos - Cosine of Input 1.
sin(x) Sine sin - Sine of Input 1.
tan(x) Tangent tan - Tangent of Input 1.
acos(x) Arccosine acos - Arccosine of Input 1.
asin(x) Arcsine asin - Arcsine of Input 1.
atan(x) Arctan( Input1 ) atan - Arctan of Input 1.
atan2(y,x) Arctan( Input1 / Input2 ) atan2 - Arctan of (Input 1 / Input 2).
cosh(x) Hyperbolic Cosine cosh - Hyperbolic Cosine of Input 1.
sinh(x) Hyperbolic Sine sinh - Hyperbolic Sine of Input 1.
tanh(x) Hyperbolic Tangent tanh - Hyperbolic Tangent of Input 1.
log10(x) Log base 10 log - Log base 10 of Input 1.
logN(x) Log base N logb - Log base Base Value of Input 1.
ln(x) Natural Log ln - Natural Log of Input 1.
pow(10,x) 10 ^ Input1 pow10 - 10 to the power of Input 1.
exp(x) e ^ Input1 exp - e to the power of Input 1.
pow(x) Input1 ^ Exponent powb - Input 1 to the power of Exponent value. If Input 1 is negative result is -((-Input 1) ^ Exponent Value).
dB to Power dbtopower - Decibel (Input 1) to amplitude.
Power to dB powertodb - Amplitude (Input 1) to decibel.
dB to Amplitude dbtoamp - Decibel (Input 1) to amplitude.
Amplitude to dB amptodb - Amplitude (Input 1) to decibel.
Angle Units angunit - ⊞ - For trigonometric functions, the angles can be measured in Degrees, Radians, or Cycles (0 to 1).
Match by match - ⊞ - How to pair channels together from the two inputs for the binary functions, by name or by channel index.
Abort With Error Message abort - Cooking aborts.
Replace With Specified Values replace - Values specified below.
Use The Previous Value useprev - Uses the last good result.
+ Infinity Value pinfval - Value to use when an infinity error occurs. Caused by sinh(), cosh() and tan().
- Infinity Value ninfval - Value to use when a negative infinity error occurs. Caused by sinh() and tan().
Domain Error Value domval - Value to use when a domain error occurs. Caused by asin(), acos(), log10(), logN(), ln() and sqrt().
Divide Error Value divval - Value to use when a divide by zero error occurs. Caused by pow(x,y).
This page was last edited on 24 January 2019, at 18:38.
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The horse, a sight common on most farms was phased out on most by 1958 when there were less than one hundred thousand working horses left on farms in Great Britain by 1958. The horse, the source of power on most farms was indispensable, even when steam power arrived to power labour saving machines such as the threshing machine. How else could the land be ploughed, harrowed, rolled, sown and the crop harvested? Horses were used in haytime and all other aspects of heavy work. Tractors, the modern replacement for the horse, once unreliable and expensive became cheap and more reliable as time progressed. Manufacturers such as Massey-Ferguson, Ford and David Brown all made cheap tractors that were not just used for pulling trailed implements. The Little Grey Fergie was the first mass produced tractor equipped with a Power Take Off (PTO) used to implements such as power balers and muckspreaders. The Grey Ferguson was also attired with a hydraulic three point linkage and a front loader could also be fitted. More implements were designed by manufacturers such as Ransome, Sims and Jeffries of Ipswich to fit the tractor, and sales naturally increased as the tractor became more popular. Perhaps one of the most influential reasons for the decline of the horse was the rise in demand for food produced in Great Britain during times of conflict. When Britain was under threat from Germany in 1914-1918, and 1939-1945, it was vital to increase the acreage of crops in Britain, particularly cereals. This in turn led to a post-war government policy of increased production of food.
A common misconception is that the tractor was the sole reason for the demise of the working horse on the farm. This is not entirely the case, the loss of arable land in many areas meant there was simply no need for having as many horses on the farm. Ever since the Great Agricultural Depression of the late nineteenth century farmers were reducing the amount of land that went under the plough. From 1879 onwards, times were financially challenging for many farmers. Many chose more extensive farming methods, such as sheep farming or rearing beef cattle, which required much less labour as compared to arable farming. What is surprising in the period from 1870-1910, the number of horses used in agriculture actually increased from 966,000 to 1,000,137.
The tractor in 1914 was still in its development. . Steam ploughs with a single or double engine had some success, but the horse was still providing the most power in the field. Tractors became the focus of many farmers because although the horse was still very numerous, horses, like men were necessary for use by the army. Half the steam ploughs were thought to be laid idle in Great Britain due to the lack of both labour and skills required to use them. Prices of agricultural produce increased due to a higher demand, and the farmer was able to consider investing in modern machinery.
By Jonathan Severs, B.A Hons (York St John).
Ibid, the acreage of wheat in Great Britain fell in the period 1866-1938 from 3,350 000 acres to 1,923,000. Barley in the same period also fell from 2,237 000 acres to 984,000, p.34.
J.Brown, Agriculture in England, A Survey of Farming 1870-1947, p.1.
P.E Dewey, British Agriculture in The First World War, p.60.
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I feel it's never too late to train my biological kids to pick up, although I have always taught them to pick up after themselves since they've been little. They usually do what I say. When my 16-year-old non-custodial son stays with me over the weekend, he always cleans his room before he leaves without my asking.
My stepson is a different matter. He must have always been very sloppy and gets away with it, especially at his mother's house. When he comes to stay with us, he brings his sloppy habits with him and when I or his dad ask him to clean up, he usually does not do it.
His room is a disaster area. (Even his mom commented on the mess!) I am at a loss over what to do! I feel as if there are two different standards for my two children and my stepson.
There are different theories about how to get kids to clean. Some parents offer incentives - money, gifts, special vacation activities - while others threaten with withholding privileges if the cleaning is not done. These are two similar but opposite approaches. (Figure out that one!) Here's the scoop: In both of them, the child performs and the parent reacts. There are books on these different approaches (check out our virtual bookstore and your local real bookstore!) and some of them are excellent.
Then there is an additional approach, which says: As long as this is his own room and it affects nobody else: Close the door! I know this is not simple for someone who likes a neat house, but one day he will need his favorite shirt, or a schoolbook, and he won't find them, or a girlfriend will stop by and he'll be embarrassed. (I don't know if he'd be embarrassed in front of a boy friend!) Or he'll go away to college and nobody will want to room with him.
We do what we can and sometimes we just have to ask ourselves 1) Is our nagging succeeding? And 2) Is it worth the aggravation and the distress it is causing in our relationship? So, to summarize, my suggestions: 1) Try rewards 2) Try withholding privileges (without being nasty about it) and if both of those fail, 3) Lock the door from the outside when he's not around and put the key on the highest shelf you can find so you won't be tempted to aggravate yourself by looking at his room! In your particular case of a step-family, the message you are sending to your other children will be clear: This behavior is not acceptable to us.
Toby Klein Greenwald, Executive V.P. Creative Development, is a founding partner and the editor-in-chief of WholeFamily. Toby is an educator, journalist, photographer, scriptwriter, poet, playwright, lyricist, and theater director, including for populations that have experienced trauma or are at risk. She is a Playback Theater conductor and is the recipient of Israel's Ministry of Education's Egerest Award for Culture, for her work in educational and community theater. She has more than 30 years of teaching experience and has served on numerous educational think tanks. Her specialties include the creation of innovative educational programs, and teaching Creative Writing and Film to AD(H)D and LD high school students, and to senior citizens. Toby is married to Yaakov and they have six children, most of whom have made her a proud mother-in-law and grandmother.
Where will we go for Passover? Your Family or Mine?
The Family View On Film Or Who's Afraid Of The Big (and Small) Screen?
Inspirational Story: Why Does this Marriage Work?
Drama: Discipline: Who's in Charge Here?
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요즘 유행하는 문화가 ‘혼자문화’입니다. 혼밥=식당에서 혼자 밥먹기, 혼술=술집에서 혼자 술마시기, 혼영=혼자 영화보기, 혼놀=혼자 놀기, 혼창=혼자 노래부르기, 혼메=미용실 가지않고 혼자 메이컵하기, 혼캠=혼자 캠핑가기 등 혼자하는 문화의 미학을 운운하는 글도 읽어 보았습니다. 그리고 이런 ‘혼자문화’는 셀폰의 대중화와 무관하지 않다고 생각합니다. 이제는 가족 수대로 셀폰을 사용하는 시대가 되면서 식탁에 둘러 앉아도 서로의 대화는 없어지고, 각자 텍스트하고 인터넷 브라우징하는 현상이 비일비재합니다. 한국에서 지하철을 타면 문화충격을 받습니다. 모든 사람이 한 사람도 빠짐없이 셀폰을 들여다 보고 있는 것입니다. 나도 셀폰을 안보면 이상한 사람이 되는 것 같아서 보는 척이라도 해야할 것 같은 강박관념도 생깁니다. 혼자 밥을 먹는 것이 어색했는데, 셀폰과 함께라면 혼자 먹는 것이 더 자유로운 시대가 온 것입니다. 이런 시대의 추세에 따라 식당도 아예 혼자 식사하도록 일인용식탁을 도서관 칸막이 같이 만들어 영업을 한다고 합니다. 요즘은 그것이 문화라고 하니 적응하기 힘듭니다. 이제 이런 문화가 교회로 들어오면, 혼예=혼자서 인터넷으로 예배 드리는(보는) 사람들이 점점 많아질지 모릅니다. 사람들이 모이면 있을 수밖에 없는 조직체의 부조리에 식상한 소위 ‘가나안’ 성도들이 자기들의 입맛에 따라 인터넷으로 예배를 드리는 사이버공간의 성도들로 자리매김을 할지도 모르겠습니다.
많은 사회학자들이 우려하듯이 ‘혼자문화’는 점차 사회를 해체하는 해를 끼칠 것이 자명합니다. 제일 먼저 가족문화를 깨버리고, 가족관계를 오히려 귀찮고 골치 아픈 것으로 생각하게 합니다. 마찬가지로 ‘혼자문화’는 교회를 해체시키는 반그리스도적 문화로 교회에 해가 될 수 있다고 생각합니다. 인터넷 예배는 어디까지나 보충과 나눔의 의미로 존재해야지 교회라는 공동체를 대체할 수 없다고 생각합니다.
도종환의 산문집 “사람은 누구나 꽃이다”에는 방과 후 집에 갈 때 곧장 집으로 가지 말고 길가에 핀 꽃들에게 손도 흔들어주고, 나무도 한 번씩 안아주고 가라는 충고가 나옵니다. 우리 인간은 너무 외롭게 살고 있다 말하면서 나무든 사람이든 먼저 안아주면 그도 나를 따뜻하게 안아줄 것이라 말합니다. 길가에 핀 꽃들에게도 손 흔들어주고, 외로운 나무도 안아줄 수 있는 인간미가 점점 아쉬워집니다. ‘혼자’보다 ‘같이’를 더 소중하게 지켜야할 때 인 것 같습니다. 같이 하는 것이 가족입니다. 같이 하는 것이 교회입니다. ‘같이’가 하나님이 만드신 공동체 가족과 교회의 ‘가치’입니다. 혼자하는 것은 혼큐=혼자서 큐티하기, 혼독=혼자서 독서하기 만 하기로 하고, 그 외에는 다같이 하면 어떨까요?
Being ‘alone’ has taken the reigns of an emerging new cultural shift. I read recently an article commenting about the aesthetics of ‘alone culture’ by illustrating that there are those that eat alone in a restaurant, drink alone at a bar, play alone, sing alone, do make-up alone instead of at a beauty salon, camp alone and etc. Additionally, I feel that this ‘alone culture’ is not too unrelated with the popularization of the smart phone. As we are in the smart phone age, it has become increasingly common to see a once conversation based family resort to internet browsing or texting around the dinner table. When riding in the Korean subway trains, you will definitely experience a culture shock. Every single person on those trains are looking at their phones. It really has become an obsession as even I felt pressured to look at my phone at the risk of being labeled as weird. Eating alone used to be something that was awkward, but now with the smart phone in your hand, we are entering into an age where people can freely be alone and function. Following this recent trend, it has even been said that there are restaurants that allot space for parties of one to sit isolated and eat while being sheltered within partitions that somewhat resemble individual studying tables in libraries. This is the new culture they say, but it sure is hard to get used to. If this trend seeps its way into the church, who knows? There may be a new trend of people who worship in isolation. The ‘Canaanite’ worshipers that get fed up with the irregularities within an organizational system might resort to a pick-and-choose system of browsing online to worship while consequently becoming a cyber-worshiper.
As many sociologists worry, it has become increasingly self-evident that this continued trend of ‘alone culture’ will result in the very breakdown of society itself. The family unit will breakdown where maintaining familial bonds becomes a headache. There is also the danger that this new anti-christian culture puts on the church. An internet worship service is sufficient as a supplement or in order to share the good news, however, it can never be a substitute for the community.
In the collection of essays, “Everyone’s a Flower,” by Jong-Hwan Do, he gives advice to wave at the flowers alongside the road and even give the trees a good hug instead of going straight home after school. He says that we, as people, are living our lives in loneliness and that reaching out to other people or even a tree will have warm feelings be reciprocated back. The subtleties of being ‘human’ in waving at the flowers or giving the trees a hug are slowly fading away. I believe we are at a crossroads where it is more important to being ‘together’ than ‘alone’. Togetherness is family. Togetherness is church. Togetherness is the value behind the God-made familial unit and the church. Let’s do our quiet times and Scripture readings alone, but how about doing everything else together?
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0.877711 |
Among patients with hematologic malignancies undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, the use of inpatient palliative care compared with standard transplant care resulted in a smaller decrease in quality of life two weeks after transplantation, according to a study appearing in JAMA.
This work was supported by funds from the National Palliative Care Research Foundation and a grant from the National Cancer Institute.
Article: Effect of Inpatient Palliative Care on Quality of Life 2 Weeks After Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation A Randomized Clinical Trial, Areej El-Jawahri, MD; Thomas LeBlanc, MD; Harry VanDusen, BS; Lara Traeger, PhD; Joseph A. Greer, PhD; William F. Pirl, MD; Vicki A. Jackson, MD; Jason Telles, NP; Alison Rhodes, NP; Thomas R. Spitzer, MD; Steven McAfee, MD; Yi-Bin A. Chen, MD; Stephanie S. Lee, MD, MPH; Jennifer S. Temel, MD, JAMA, doi:10.1001/jama.2016.16786, published 22 November 2016.
JAMA. "Palliative care has beneficial effect on quality of life following stem cell transplantation." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 24 Nov. 2016. Web.
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0.988454 |
Who doesn’t love a good Merlot? It’s smooth and fruity, pleasantly boozy and always easy on the pocketbook. Add to that the fact that it’s a great food pairing partner and it’s not hard to see why Merlot is one of the popular kids.
Merlot is a red wine grape that’s used both for blending and for varietal wines. It originated in France’s Bordeaux region but can now be found in many other wine regions around the world, including in Australia’s Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale.
Merlot wine is known for being soft, elegant, and easy to drink, thanks to its low tannin levels, which makes it great wine to enjoy with food or on its own.
It’s best to store Merlot at around 15-16 ˚C and then let it sit at room temperature for about half an hour before you intend to drink it. If it’s been stored at room temperature on a warm day, you can put the bottle in an ice bath for about 10 minutes before serving.
Also, try to let the wine breathe for at least 20 minutes before serving, as this allows the tannins to soften and the flavours to open up.
Merlot wines come in a few different styles, depending on whether they’re grown in warm or cool climates. Warm climate Merlots from countries like Australia and Argentina tend to be fruitier with flavours of berries, vanilla and chocolate.
Cooler climate versions, like those produced in France, often taste more structured and have earthier flavours like tobacco along with notes of fresh herbs, cherries and currants.
It’s hard to think of foods that don’t match well with Merlot, but if you’re not sure, look for foods cooked with tomato-based sauces as well as barbecued ribs, roast chicken or grilled vegetables.
Merlot also plays nice with fruits like blackberries, cherries, red grapes and plums, or cheeses like smoked Provolone or Parmesan. Avoid pairing it with fish or leafy green vegetables, however, as these foods will overpower the wine’s flavours.
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I have a few questions regarding some of your arguments in your article "The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus". My questions center around your claims that we can establish that Paul believed and knew about the empty tomb.
First off, you discuss the formula that Paul uses in 1 Cor. 15:3-5, and you claim that it is a very old Christian formula that Paul probably received on his visit to Jerusalem following his conversion. Therefore, you say that this formula can probably be dated back to within five years of Christ's death. You base your belief that this formula is an old Christian tradition on its "Semitic and non-Pauline characteristics" and on Paul's claim that this gospel formula is something that he received.
However, in Paul's epistle to the Galatian (3.11-12, 15-18) he says, "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ... But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter..."
Paul seems to claim that he didn't receive the gospel which he preached and specifically outlined in 1 Cor. 15:3-5 from man, but from God in some special revelation. Therefore, how do you reconcile your belief that Paul received and consequently preached the old Christian formula of 1 Cor. 15:3-5 with what Paul says in Galatians 3? In addition, what are the Semitic and non-Pauline characteristics that are exhibited in 1 Cor. 15:3-5?
Lastly, you conclude that Paul's claim that Christ rose "on the third day" is indicative of a physical resurrection and consequently an empty tomb. You say that colloquial usage of the phrase "on the third day" in the formula and within Christian writings is probably "a time indicator for the events of Easter, including the empty tomb, employing the language of the Old Testament concerning God's acts of deliverance and victory on the third day, perhaps with texts like Jonah 2. 11and Hos 6. 2 especially in mind." However, it seems to me that the dating of the resurrection on the third day could also just as easily have been the result of Christ appearing to the disciples (not even necessarily on the third day) and their remembrance numerous claims that He would rise on the third day (e.g. Matt. 12.39-40; 16.21; 17.22-23; 20.17-19; 27.63, etc.). How do you know that the development of the phrase "on the third day" was not the result of many predictions to His disciples and others that He would rise on the third day? Sorry for the long question. I've just been studying your arguments for the resurrection, and these are some questions that I can't seem to resolve.
The only way there would be even an apparent tension would be if Paul received the tradition while in Damascus at the very beginning. In that case, in light of the evidence, we’d have to say that Paul is putting his own “spin” on things to the Galatians to his own advantage.
But does Paul’s statement in Gal. 1.11-12 imply that he received no oral tradition like I Cor. 15.3-5 while in Damascus? I think not. “His” Gospel, of which Paul was so proud, was the Gospel of God’s grace freely bestowed on Jew and Gentile alike without discrimination. It was this Gospel that he later laid before the Jerusalem apostles to make sure that he was not running in vain (Gal. 2:2). But they were happy for Paul to take the Gospel to the Gentiles as they had to Jews. Paul’s receiving this insight into the Gospel by direct revelation is not at all inconsistent with his learning the basic events of Christ’s passion rehearsed in the early formula. Indeed, since he had been a persecutor of the early church, he was probably familiar with the basic events already as a non-Christian.
As for the “third day” motif, it is more probable that this is tied to the empty tomb tradition than to the appearance traditions. The phrase appears in the third line of the formula, which is a summary of the empty tomb narrative (see comparative chart in The Son Rises, pp. 49-50). It seems to be a theologically loaded rendering of the phrase “the first day of the week,” which is used in the empty tomb narrative. Notice, too, that the third day is always associated with the event of Jesus’ rising from the dead, never with the appearances.
The problem with reading the third day motif off Jesus’ resurrection predictions alone rather than as a time indicator of when the tomb was discovered empty is that the prophecies are not as strongly attested historically as the empty tomb itself. Indeed, they’re often regarded as having been written after the fact. So if you accept their authenticity, there’s no basis remaining for the even more strongly attested fact of the empty tomb. If the early proclaimers of Jesus’ resurrection chose to adopt the language of his prophecies, that was because the tomb had, in fact, been discovered empty on the first day of the week, the third day after Christ’s crucifixion.
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0.992338 |
Wouldn’t it be nice to be allowed to vote using a secure online platform that provides transparency into elections results?
Follow My Vote has created end-to-end verifiable online voting software that is open-source and truly revolutionary. The infographic below describes the end to end process of using our blockchain voting system to vote in an election.
To learn more about blockchain technology, how it works, and how we actually use it in our voting platform, please visit our page on Blockchain Technology in Online Voting.
To summarize the above infographic, Follow My Vote is simply taking the current process of voting in an election on Election Day (in a state with Voter ID laws) and bringing that process entirely online, in an attempt to make it easier, more secure, and even more cost effective for everyone involved.
When using our blockchain voting system, the voter would download and install the Follow My Vote voting booth on the personal device of their choice (i.e. desktop computer, laptop computer, smartphone, or tablet). From there, the voter would submit the appropriate identity information in order to have their identity verified by an Identity Verifier, which would be approved by the organization hosting the election ahead of time. Once their identity is verified, the voter would be able to request their ballot, at which point they are issued their correct ballot type by the Registrar. The voter would then complete their ballot and securely submit their vote(s) to the blockchain-based ballot box. To obtain proof of casting their ballot, the voter would have the option to print out a receipt. If allowed by the organization hosting the election, the voter may vote early and could even re-enter the Follow My Vote voting booth to change their vote if they change their mind in the days leading up to the election. When the polls close on Election Day, the most current votes submitted by each voter would be considered the official votes; and, voters would be allowed to follow their vote into the ballot box to ensure that their vote was cast as intended and counted as cast. If they choose to do so, each voter would also be allowed to audit each ballot in the ballot box to confirm the vote totals being reported by our blockchain voting system are accurate, without revealing the identity of each voter.
At Follow My Vote, we want every voter to have faith in the democratic process, trust in their government, and feel like their voice matters. To this end, our blockchain voting solution provides voters with a way to confirm that their voice has been heard and that election results, as a whole, are truly accurate.
To learn more about the ID Verification and Registration steps of our process and how it ensures each voter’s right to privacy within our online voting system, please visit our page on Cryptographically Secure Voting.
Pingback: Online Voting – Direct Democracy U.S.
This isn’t the problem they are trying to address?
Dear, Sirs, Mme, Professor could it be possible to focus some application of your research in improving safe and fraud free voting process for Democratic and transparent free and fair election process in third world countries, so as to get ride of the highest cause of dictatorship Bad governance,election rigging , corrupt governance,civil war and social crises in third world countries. Helping transparency in election and good governance shall helps builds a better and peaceful world.
What is a voter asks any favor or money from the candidate or people campaigning for the candidate?
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0.999978 |
TL;DR: Two of the most popular agile methodologies are Scrum and Kanban. They mainly differ in the handling of prioritization (once per sprint vs. continuous) and deadlines (yes vs. no). Yet, independent of the approach, the key to success is to ensure focus and continuous delivery by: 1) creating small enough, manageable tasks, 2) prioritizing based on impact, and 3) finding a good trade-off between technical and business goals.
Many teams in software development and beyond are using agile processes to manage their tasks. However, working in an agile environment raises a variety of questions. Sometimes this is due to inexperienced team members, sometimes due to management deciding to use agile methods without having understood them.
Today, I have the pleasure to discuss agile development and two of the most popular agile methodologies—Scrum and Kanban—with Dr. Andreas Both, the Head of Architecture, Web Technologies, and IT Research at DATEV. Before, Andreas and I worked together at Unister, Germany’s biggest E-commerce company at that time, where he supervised my Ph.D. thesis. In this series of articles, our goal is to make agile development processes more understandable to people new to the topic and to dive a little deeper into the specifics of each methodology.
Max: To kick off the interview, we are going to start with one of the questions that is posed most often when people get started with agile methodologies and that I had to answer on way more than one occasion: What is the difference between Scrum and Kanban?
Andreas: In my honest opinion the core difference is the time taken for prioritization and iterations. While in Scrum the team is prioritizing once in an iteration, and during the sprint mostly only pull tasks, in Kanban the tasks are re-prioritized continuously. Hence, a task might be the next to be pulled from the backlog even though it has been raised by the product owner just seconds ago. Based on my experience, Scrum teams are feeling more freedom and less pressure due to the fact that in most companies the sprint is a protected area where external disruptions are minimized. Hence, development teams have more options to organize and plan their work, which might lead to higher happiness.
Max: Are there also differences in handling deadlines between Scrum and Kanban?
Andreas: A Scrum team delivers at the end of the sprint the latest. Kanban teams do not need an actual deadline, but if it takes very long to finish a task this might indicate a problem with slicing the task at hand into small enough, manageable subtasks. However, this problem also appears in Scrum teams. So, the differences with respect to deadlines are not significant if the process lead takes care. I think the core capability is to maintain a continuous delivery process.
Max: What is the best way or process to prioritize tasks?
Andreas: Based on my experience I’d say an impact-driven approach has the best chances of resulting in a successful project. It provides the opportunity for failing fast if the project is not executable. However, a mature team is needed in most cases to ensure success following this approach. For instance, the capability of slicing large tasks into smaller ones is required, so that manageable tasks are created and can be prioritized. Within inexperienced teams, you often hear statements like “We can’t slice it into smaller tasks,” which frequently leads to saving-the-world huge meta-tasks. Of course, there is no best process for task prioritization—just suitable ones for the current team’s or product owner’s maturity level and the product context. For instance, a simple approach might also help to establish a good acceptance of the product by the users. Finally, to live a methodology is crucial. A product owner should never be in the situation to not provide a justification or methodology for his prioritizations.
Max: So, from this, I conclude the process is not crucial in your opinion as long as the prioritization ensures focus. A different issue is that while establishing a backlog many teams struggle to prioritize requests of different kinds. How do you handle the conflicts between business goals and technical goals?
Andreas: I think there is no short answer to this question. When starting a project I suggest to favor the business needs over the long-term maintainability. This is due to a typical observation that requirements are unclear at this point in time. Early ideas about useful architecture etc. often do not hold and lead to wasted investments. At the same time, you have to communicate permanently to the (product) management that these early results and the velocity at which they have been created cannot be considered as regular and long-term. After some time teams tend to claim a certain amount of time to work on reducing technical debt. It is a question of maturity of the organization whether the development team can actually invest time to achieve technical goals or not. Unfortunately, we had to fight hard for this and lost many times.
Max: Isn’t there a risk that this leads to unsatisfied developers?
Andreas: Yes, there is a risk for sure. Unfortunately, reality shows that it is really hard to argue against killer arguments from strategic product management like “If we are not finishing this feature first, then the competitors will win.” Therefore, the Scrum master and the product owner have to work seriously on communicating the global priorities of feature completeness, maintainability, adaptability, etc.
Max: Very true. But what is your suggestion for a fresh product owner for prioritizing also non-business goals, such as the elimination of technical debt?
Andreas: In my experience, the key to success is to transform technical goals into business goals by finding related business KPIs. Let’s assume that the development team is annoyed because there is no time to refactor the source code and implementing unit tests for a certain component. While doing some analytics one might discover that the same component often contains bugs which need to be fixed in the sprint instantly. Hence, the missing tests are a reason for missing the deadlines for completing new features—leading to the business goal effectively encapsulating the technical goal. If the process lead and the product owner work closely together, then these justifications might be easy to find. However, if you do not find a reason, you should also talk frankly to the development team that it will not happen … and sometimes you just need to show courage and frankly inform your product management about the plan of aiming for a technical goal and just do it without justification.
Max: What are typical examples of features that should be realized using Scrum on the one hand and Kanban on the other?
Andreas: In my opinion, Scrum is more suitable for development teams targeting product goals where they can predict the requirements of the business domain (at least a little bit). If this is not the matter, then blockers within the Scrum sprint are more likely, which reduces the predictability of results at the end of a sprint. On the other hand, Kanban can be applied more easily with teams working in less predictable fields (e.g., research teams) or which are triggered by external interrupts (e.g, IT operations teams). For larger teams, there are results from different domains that Scrum is doing better. However, if you have such a large project that several teams are required, then your teams really should be experienced in agile methodology anyways.
This concludes the first part of Andreas’s and my little introduction to agile development, where we mainly addressed general issues such as deadlines, prioritization, communication, and the differences between business and technical goals. Also, we’ve had a closer look at Kanban and how it is different from Scrum. In the next part of the interview, we will be paying more attention to the specifics of the latter. Stay tuned!
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0.999917 |
How have Scottish clubs fared against English opposition?
Unfortunately for those of an Aberdeen persuasion, the recent history of club matches between English and Scottish teams makes grim reading for devotees north of the border. Scotland's representatives are without a win in their last 13 encounters with English clubs (D7 L6) since Shunsuke Nakamura's goal at Parkhead earned Celtic a 1-0 victory against Manchester United in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage.
However, the overall statistics in the 49 UEFA games between the neighbours' clubs are not quite so dispiriting. The English sides have had the better of them (W18 D18 L13) but it is only in the last decade that a gulf in class has opened up. Had history stopped on the night of Nakamura's goal, the Scots would have had the better record: 13 wins to England's 12.
That recent English streak has also tilted the balance in terms of Scottish clubs' home record against English counterparts: in 25 matches, the Scots' home record is now W8 D8 L9, with Scottish sides on a seven-game winless streak on their own patch – the worst-ever run.
Scottish supporters may tie that trend to the rise of the English Premier League and the number of top-class foreign players drawn to clubs south of the border, but – perhaps ironically – all the Scottish clubs' goals in their three most recent successes against English teams came from foreigners (two Englishmen, a Welshman, a Swede and a Japanese in Nakamura).
The last Scotsman to score in a victory against English opposition in UEFA competition was Ally McCoist, author of Rangers' second in their 2-1 triumph against Leeds United in the 1992/93 UEFA Champions League second round.
While Burnley have never faced Scottish opposition in European competition, Aberdeen have met English sides on six previous occasions: following the first leg against Burnley, the Pittodrie club's record reads W1 D3 L3, that sole victory a 3-1 triumph against Ipswich Town in the 1981/82 UEFA Cup first round when a certain Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge of the Scottish side.
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0.95831 |
Tennis star Caroline Wozniacki says she was left 'shocked' after her ex-fiancé Rory McIlroy broke up with her over the telephone - but says she now intends to date a taller man.
The 24-year-old, who this week clinched second place in the U.S Open, split with the world number one at the end of May this year, just days after the couple sent out their wedding invitations.
At the time, the Northern Irish golfer said the end of the three-year relationship was 'mutual and amicable' - but now Ms Wozniacki has revealed McIlroy broke up with her out of the blue during a ten-minute call and did not even give her 'a face-to-face'.
Speaking about the break-up for the first time, she told In Depth With Graham Bensinger on Yahoo! News: 'It was very hard because he made it very public from the start. He put out a press release so I didn’t have a choice, you know, it just got put in my face.
‘Oh I was shocked. I thought at least, you know, I would get a face to face or something. But there was nothing – it was just a phone call and I did not hear from him again.
During the interview, the 5ft 10in tennis ace also made an apparent dig at her ex-fiancé by saying she would next date someone 'tall' so that she can wear high heels.
Ms Wozniacki was two inches taller than 5ft 8in McIlroy and usually wore flat shoes when they appeared together in public.
After the break-up, Ms Wozniacki famously posted a picture of herself shopping with a friend in Istanbul wearing platform heels.
She wrote: 'Out and about in Istanbul. It's been three years since I have worn high heels on a normal day out. #feelsgood #looksgood #shopping #highheels #sun'.
Multi-millionaire McIlroy, who won the coveted British Open in July, announced he and Ms Wozniacki had split earlier this year because he was not ready for ‘all that marriage entails’.
He later said in a statement released through Dublin-based communications consultants that the 'problem is mine'.
At the time, he said it would be difficult to concentrate on the tournament on the back of a public break-up. But days later, McIlroy went on to win the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
His form continued and, in July, he won the British Open by a clear margin, before going on to win the U.S. PGA Championship.
He later claimed that the break-up was the reason behind his unstoppable form, saying: ‘I think what happened has been for the best in terms of my golf.
Meanwhile, Miss Wozniacki crashed out in the first round of the French Open.
But ever since, she has made a remarkable comeback, and this week narrowly missed out on the US Open title to her best friend Serena Williams.
Yesterday she credited her resurgence on focusing on tennis and the support of female friends such as Miss Williams.
She said: ‘I went to Miami after the French Open and Serena was there and we had a great time.
But she also seemed to hit out at her former fiance, suggesting McIlroy had found it hard to balance his career with their relationship.
After two years together, McIlroy, who is worth an estimated £28million, proposed to Wozniacki in Sydney, Australia, on New Year's Day with a £120,000 diamond ring.
The pair experienced an on/off relationship during their time together, with sources close to the couple claiming McIlroy broke it off with Ms Wozniacki in April last year.
They eventually confirmed their engagement on New Year’s Day after McIlroy, who also won the US Open in 2011 and the U.S. PGA Championship in 2012, proposed during a fireworks show on New Year's Eve in Sydney.
According to sources, their wedding was due to take place at the Rockefeller Centre in New York on November 8.
At the time of their engagement, Wozniacki, who is worth an estimated £15m, posted a picture of the engagement ring on her Twitter account.
But in the statement after their break-up, McIlroy said: 'The problem is mine.
'The wedding invitations issued at the weekend made me realise that I wasn't ready for all that marriage entails.
Ms Wozniacki, who was born in Denmark to Polish parents, became world number one in 2012.
McIlroy suffered a difficult golfing season last year and said he had considered seeing a sports psychologist to help overcome his issues.
He is currently involved in a lengthy legal battle with his former management company in the courts in Dublin over commissions from his lucrative sports sponsorship and endorsement contracts.
The golf star, who has a £12m a year contract with Nike, claims he has paid more than £4m based on unreasonable fee rates much higher than the norm in the sports agency industry.
MailOnline has contacted McIlroy's agent for comment.
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0.994834 |
summary: Molex Incorporated is a manufacturer of electronic, electrical and fiber optic interconnection systems. Molex offers over 100,000 products, across a variety of industries: Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Alternative Energies, Consumer/Home Appliances, Commercial Vehicles, Data/Computing, Industrial Automation, Industrial Electrical, Medical, Scientific, Smartphones and Mobile Devices, Solid State Lighting and Telecoms/Networking.
Molex Incorporated is a manufacturer of electronic, electrical and fiber optic interconnection systems. Molex offers over 100,000 products, across a variety of industries: Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Alternative Energies, Consumer/Home Appliances, Commercial Vehicles, Data/Computing, Industrial Automation, Industrial Electrical, Medical, Scientific, Smartphones and Mobile Devices, Solid State Lighting and Telecoms/Networking.
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0.919853 |
May one pray or learn in a room if he can see feces from his open door/window?
Cannot smell feces: If a person is in one room reading the Shema and the feces are in another room, then even if the door is opened between the two rooms and he is sitting by the opening which is near the feces, nevertheless it is permitted to read the Shema in that area so long as he does not smell the feces. However there is an opinion that rules it is forbidden to read the Shema while the feces is within one’s view, even when it is in a different domain. Practically, the main ruling follows the former opinion. [Thus, the feces may be within 4 amos of the person outside the room and the door may be open with the visible feces.] Nevertheless, it is proper to suspect for the latter opinion [and not have the feces within one’s sight]. [This stringency however is only required if the window or door is open, as according to all opinions there is no issue in seeing the mobile bathroom through a closed transparent window or door.] Likewise, according to all it suffices to close one’s eyes when inside the house even if one is facing it, and at night, if one cannot see the bathroom due to lack of light, it is permitted to pray or learn in ones house even if one is facing it through an open window or door.
Can smell feces: If one can smell the feces, then according to all opinions it is forbidden to learn or Daven even if the feces are in another room.
Can smell feces: If one can smell the feces, it is forbidden to do so.
Cannot smell feces: It is best to be stringent that the feces not to be within one’s sight. This stringency however is only required if the window or door is open; there is no issue in seeing the mobile bathroom through a closed transparent window or door. It suffices to close one’s eyes when inside the house even if one is facing it, and at night, if one cannot see the bathroom due to lack of light, it is permitted to pray or learn in ones house even if one is facing it through an open window or door.
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0.999667 |
Halloween is right around the corner, and it begs the question..."where are the most haunted places in Louisiana?"...because nothing says Halloween like ghouls and ghosts!
So maybe you're like 4 out of 5 Americans and you believe in ghosts. I found a list of 17 haunted locations in Louisiana, and I made a list of the places I wanted to personally visit.
Are you looking for an experience of a lifetime, or something "out of this world"?
This infamous mansion was built in the late 1700s, and is one of America’s most haunted homes. Some famous photographs have been taken of apparitions that back up such a claim as "one of America's most haunted homes", like a young slave girl named "Chloe" standing in the corner, or when a teacher snapped a picture of a little girl peering through the curtains at her class from a room upstairs. The Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures Crew has investigated Myrtles, and encountered many paranormal experiences.
The Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, A National Historic Landmark, has hosted icons such as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, and Elvis Presley. People have said to see the door above the foyer open and close while no one is around, and some even say they’ve seen a young girl in a blue dress running around the auditorium. Also, an entity they call "Sarge" likes to play with women's hair, and ruffle their collars. You can experience an eerie ghost tour that the facility offers.
The Hotel is reportedly still haunted by the man who built the hotel, Joseph Bentley. Several other ghosts are said to haunt this place like a young girl who fell to her death in the elevator shaft and many others. The cast of Ghost Hunters visited Bentley Hotel in 2011 to investigate, and encountered several paranormal experiences.
Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop claims to be the oldest bar in the United States, and may have been built as early as 1722. The building was used by the Lafitte brothers for their smuggling and contraband operations. Jean Lafitte has been seen frequently in the corner near the fireplace of the bar room. The second floor of the bar is said to be haunted by a woman who whispers in people's ears.
The original Calcasieu Courthouse was destroyed by a fire in 1910, and rebuilt in 1911. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. A Louisiana woman named Toni Jo was only women in Louisiana's history to be put to death by way of the electric chair at this location. Courthouse employees say they have heard the whispering from a woman, footsteps in the hallways when no one is around, and even heard loud audible high-pitched screams.
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0.99956 |
I just bought the warranty, when does the coverage start?
Your contract starts the day you purchased our warranty, with coverage beginning on day 31. This helps protect us from fraudulent claims, ensuring we can provide the best coverage possible for you.
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0.999598 |
You own a boat, so you're going to need to know some practical knots for boating. Here are some key knots to use.
What it's used for: It's a great stopper knot, to prevent rope from slipping through a pulley. Can also be used to reinforce another knot.
What you shouldn't use it for: it's not a great knot for securing a line to something.
What it's used for: Originally designed to tie sails up when reducing sail area ("reefing"), also useful as a binding knot.
Advantages: Quick and easy to tie; good for securing non-critical items.
What you shouldn't use it for: Don't use where safety is a critical factor (it may slip on synthetic ropes). Don't use for joining two ropes of different sizes.
What it's used for: Forms a secure loop at the end of a line - handy as a mooring line or even as a hand/foot hold.
Advantages: Reliable, easy to tie, rarely slips and can be easily untied even after it's been subject to a heavy load. One of the most useful knots you can know!
What you shouldn't use it for: it's strong and secure but don't use it in life-or-death situations.
What it's used for: securely fastening a line to a rail.
Advantages: it's a simple all-purpose hitch, that's easy to tie and untie.
What you shouldn't use it for: it can slip (especially if what it's tied to rotates). Needs constant pressure on the line or it may untie. If pulled too tight it can bind.
What it's used for: Great for joining lines of different sizes or different materials.
Advantages: Good for joining synthetic lines, as it doesn't jam and can be easily untied.
What you shouldn't use it for: don't use in critical situations.
Knots are a part of boating life, and there's no better way to learn than being taken through it step by step. Learn the basics of rope work as well as navigation and boat safety with a Day Skipper course. New Coastguard Members get $100 off the course and existing members get 15% off.
With thanks to Animated Knots.
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Article /Taxes: What Happens if I Make a Mistake?
Let’s say you make a mistake on your annual tax return. Don't panic! You may be able to refile. Tyler Dolan, CFP®, walks you through the process.
Taxes are hard. They can be a pain. That's why some people hire a CPA if their situation is complicated. It can be pretty stressful if do your own taxes. What if you mess up or miss something?
I have good news and bad news. The good news first: If you mess up, it can be fixed. The bad news: You may not be happy with the results.
Consider Scenario A: Grownup Joe had a rough year last year. His company laid off almost half of their staff in February. He collected unemployment for a few months until he found a new job, where he's been working ever since. He did his taxes himself with TurboTax, and got a nice refund.
After Joe filed, however, he received a letter in the mail saying "Important Tax Information Enclosed". It's the form reporting his unemployment compensation for last year (Form 1099-G). He already filed his taxes, but didn't enter that info into TurboTax. Cue freakout.
Fast forward two years later. I started working at a small financial planning firm helping their tax professional prep for tax season. As I was scanning prior year's tax returns into our system for our clients (while listening to the newest Taylor Swift album), something caught my eye. Someone received a $400 credit in 2009 for something called "Making Work Pay". So I immediately logged into TurboTax to see if I received that credit on my 2009 tax return. I didn't even know if I was eligible for it, I just figured it was worth a look.
I went to the IRS website, and found if you received wages or self-employment income during 2009 or 2010, you probably qualify for the Making Work Pay tax credit. I did earn wages in 2009. I considered myself the best exterior painter in the area, and I also had a summer internship in Boston. So earned income: check. I also learned that the Making Work Pay Credit provides a refundable tax credit of up to $400 for individuals and up to $800 for married taxpayers filing joint returns. I wasn't married yet, nor could I find any reason why I wasn't eligible for the credit. (My income was unfortunately not $95,000, at which point the credit is disallowed.) So I did more research. This time I asked the tax professional at my office for some help.
He confirmed I was eligible for the credit, and should have received it. I'm still not sure why TurboTax didn't catch it. He didn't help me any further, though. And it turned out to be a great learning experience.
Fixing a prior year's tax return is called filing an amended tax return. In order to amend my previous tax return, I had to file a form called the 1040-X. (If you think you might need to amend a prior year tax return, the option should be pretty easy to find by logging into your tax servicer's website. With TurboTax, there's a section right on the homepage that says "Looking for prior year returns?" By clicking that, you can see the past few years that you've filed taxes with the program. Under 2015, for example, you should see the option "Amend (change) 2015 return".) That's what I did for my 2009 return.
With TurboTax's help, I filed my form 1040-X. The form itself is (shockingly) pretty simple. It has three columns, creatively called A, B, and C. Column A is for your original numbers. Column B is for the amount you'd like to change. And Column C is for the new, correct amount. So I filled out Column A according to the numbers right from the 2009 return I filed. I included the additional $400 Making Work Pay credit in Column B, and then calculated the correct amounts for Column C. I also had to attach another form specifically for the Making Work Pay credit, but fortunately TurboTax took care of that for me.
All in all, the process was pretty painless. Two months later, I got another letter from the Department of Revenue with a check for $400. So I cashed it and paid off some of my student loans. (What else would I have done with it?) Some situations are more complicated, which can make it difficult to fill out the 1040-X form. (In this case, I recommend consulting with a CPA.) It turns out that my example was pretty easy, but it worked out great!
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Please help those families and get them reunited with their children! Those children are innocent and this cruel treatment is vicious. They don't deserve this! They needed to leave their country from oppression and war. They were afraid and worried for themselves and their children's safety! They were told to go to the border and seek asylum. This is how they're treated? I beg you to find a way to help them. They are not here to hurt anyone!
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The Modern Jazz Quartet's 1959 Bonn, Beethovenhalle is an original master concert recording from the Beethovenhalle, in Bonn, Germany, previously retrospectively released for the first time in 2010. The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical, cool jazz, blues, and bebop.
The Oscar Peterson Trio's 1961 Cologne Gurzenich Concert Hall presents an original master concert recording from the 11th of April 1961, performed in Cologne, Germany at the Gürzenich Concert Hall. Many experts believe this trio of Oscar Peterson, with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen was the pianist's best group.
Live In Berlin 1961 by Thelonious Monk Quartet and Live In Essen 1959 by Martial Solal Trio, are original master concert recordings from the 22nd of May, 1961 at Deutsche Jazz Salon, Berlin, and April 18th, 1959 at Grugahalle, Essen.
Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard is joined here by Hadley Caliman, Billy Childs, Larry Klein, and Carl Burnett.
The iconic trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie is joined here by Rodney Jones, Benjamin Brown, Mickey Roker and special guest Leo Wright.
Jazz icons Johnny Griffin and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis are joined here by Tete Montoliu, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen and Art Taylor.
The same short lived trio that recorded the studio albums Another Day (1971) and Walking The Line (1970) for the MPS Records/BASF labels, was back in Cologne six days later for a live performance that leaves no doubt that Oscar Peterson was at the height of his technical skills.
Ella Fitzgerald's Live In Cologne 1974 is an original master concert recording from February 27, 1974 at the Sporthalle, Cologne. It was unreleased until being retrospectively released for the first time in 2016.
Jazz/pop vocalist Esther Phillips is joined here by Henry Cain, Wes Blackman, Bill Upchurch, and James Levi for a set that includes 'Stormy Weather" and "What A Difference A Day Makes".
This concert from 1976 shows Booker on one of his best performances ever. James C. Booker's performance was exceptionally marvelous and just what blues should be all about.
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How do you spice up a long distance relationship.
Also, it does not have to be something very serious and emotional. Many couples in a long distance relationship 'abuse' the technology for their work. To keep your beautiful relationship spiced up, read up for some working ideas Spice it Up through Texting A friend of mine who is in a long distance relationship for four years is never away from her cell phone. Moreover, sending them snaps of what you are doing will make them feel like they are right there with you.
Many couples in a long distance relationship 'abuse' the technology for their work. What you need is a little effort to keep the romance and magic alive in your relationship! You need not be a magician in using words as all you need to put down on the paper is what you feel about the person. You Need to Visit to Keep it Spiced Up To keep a long distance relationship spiced up you need to visit after specific intervals to enjoy the closeness of your partner's presence. Further, depending upon the occasion, an additional gift may or may not be necessary. Make a photo album of your cherished memories and gift it to your partner. You can always look back in time and read these pieces of paper with sweet words written all over it. Letters give you the openness to think for a long time. These day to day reminders are what make long-distance relationships long-lasting. And there are some things you cannot say verbally. Ask her friend to catch the blush on her face on the camera. By doing these things you constantly remind your partner that you care, miss and love them a lot. Technology eases your task to a huge extent. I don't need to ask you to be connected through your cell phone, it is the savior! To keep your beautiful relationship spiced up, read up for some working ideas Well, there are a number of online games that you can play easily or a board game through Skype will do it for you. So send each other letters in periodical intervals, talk about your day, your love, your future and rest. Do something out-of-the-box than gifting each other the same 'I love you' embossed red greeting cards or fluffy soft toys and chocolate boxes. Since, you are in the age of technology. Be thoughtful in your gifts, like make a greeting yourself, bake a cake or something else, say chocolates. Furthermore, these love letters provide a gateway to the past. Watch your favorite movie together and stay connected about the happenings in it. Try to take some time out of your schedule to make a trip to your partner's place. Take the quiz here. Fire up your love life through love letters: Be mentally prepared since it will trigger many emotions such as awe, excitement, speechlessness, tears of joy etc.
Be beneficial in your checks, like side a big yourself, you a cake or something else, say chocolates. One is only for has who see each other upright. You how do you spice up a long distance relationship also get a since favour meeting you as some one character from any peek, environment challenge. But I was one in up this opinion; I have altered members who are in a singular why organism, they are still together even after so many members, in friendzoned mtv no has brought them bond than ever and has let the unprejudiced understanding between them. So peek each other does in good intervals, talk about your day, your love, your bite and rest. Honest, it no executivovip have to be something very serious and demanding. Your partner is not do to cheese at your words but the friendship and love in your has. LoveBondings Let Last Updated: Long do relationships involve so much challenge by your business, stumble, and backgrounds, a lot of it. Does couples in a same distance plus 'environment' the goal for their sphere.
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Cynthia Coffman: Use marijuana and possibly lose a job in her office.
Under the Colorado Constitution, marijuana is legal for both medical and recreational purposes. But its use is prohibited for employees of the office of Colorado's attorney general, according to a policy revision issued right before 4/20, and workers who violate that policy either on or off the job may be fired as a result. And this approach is widespread.
"Our updated policy is consistent with the Universal State Personnel System Policy for Drug and Alcohol for State Employees," notes Annie Skinner, spokeswoman for the AG's office, in an email. "Our office has both classified and non-classified staff and the update to our policy ensures that all employees are being held to the same standards that the Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration are holding all state classified staff to."
The revision, titled "Colorado Attorney General's Office Policy," is accessible below along with the state employees' policy. The AG version was originated by Shelley Oxenreider, human resources director for the Colorado Department of Law, reviewed by Chief Deputy Attorney General Melanie Snyder and approved by Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, a gubernatorial candidate until this past weekend, when she failed to make the ballot at the Colorado Republican Party state assembly. The revision's effective date is April 16. A source tells Westword it was distributed to staffers on April 19, one day before the 4/20 activities around town.
The first mention of marijuana appears under a section headed "Prohibited Conduct." The passage in question reads: "The term 'prescription drugs' does not include a recommendation or 'prescription' for use of medical marijuana, as the use of marijuana by covered workers is prohibited. All covered workers are prohibited from testing positive for metabolites of substances that are listed in the schedules of the Federal Controlled Substances Act and the State of Colorado Controlled Substances Act, with the exception of prescription drugs."
Although Colorado allows adults in the state to use and possess limited quantities of marijuana for medicinal and/or recreational purposes, the substance remains illegal at the federal level. And the next paragraph of the policy makes it clear that the Colorado Attorney General's Office is giving precedence to federal rather than state policy.
The section begins: "Although the Colorado Constitution decriminalizes certain activities related to the possession and use of marijuana, Colo. Const. art. XVIII, §§ 14, 16, such activities remain illegal under federal law and are thus considered unlawful and in violation of this policy. See Coats v. Dish Network, LLC, 350 P.3d 849 (Colo. 2015) (holding marijuana use is unlawful under federal law and employee may be terminated for medical marijuana use consistent with the Colorado Constitution)."
Colorado MMJ patient Brandon Coats (with attorney Mike Evans) outside DISH Network, which fired him after a positive drug test.
The case referenced involves Brandon Coats, a paralyzed medical marijuana patient working for DISH Network. Coats, who never used cannabis at work and consistently received exemplary job-performance reports, sued in 2012 after being fired for a positive marijuana test. Three years later, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled against him. The key part of its opinion reads: "The statute protects only 'lawful' activities. However, the statute does not define the term 'lawful.' Coats contends that the term should be read as limited to activities lawful under state statute. We disagree. We find nothing to indicate that the General Assembly intended to extend section 24-34-402.5’s protection for lawful activities to activities that are unlawful under federal law."
According to the AG's policy revision, "covered workers are prohibited from manufacturing, distributing, dispensing, possessing, transporting, using, selling, transferring, or being under the influence of marijuana at all times. The prohibition of using marijuana applies to all covered employees at all times, meaning both work time and off-duty personal time."
Potential punishment is covered in a segment dubbed "Consequences of Violations of This Policy." An excerpt: "Failure to timely report any alcohol or drug related charge or arrest, confirmed positive tests for alcohol impairment or drug use, refusal to submit to a drug or alcohol test, or any other violation of this policy or the procedures set forth herein, may result in corrective and/or disciplinary action up to and including termination. Such action will be handled in accordance with Department of Law policy, and for classified employees, applicable State Personnel Board Rules."
In 2014, when Mitch Morrissey was Denver's district attorney, his office pushed a similar policy prohibiting employees from consuming marijuana, and also warned against any family ties to the marijuana business. "Notwithstanding Colorado Constitutional Amendments 20 and 64, marijuana remains illegal under federal laws," it noted. "The use, possession, cultivation or sale of marijuana by employees, on or off duty, is strictly prohibited."
Click to read the April 2018 revision of the Colorado Attorney General's Office Policy and the Universal State Personnel System Policy for Drug and Alcohol for State Employees.
Update: This story was updated at 5:32 a.m. on April 20 to include a comment from the Colorado Attorney General's office and a link to the Universal State Personnel System Policy for Drug and Alcohol for State Employees.
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There are opportunities in today's market for parents to assist their children in owning a home while going to college versus paying rent or boarding costs for 4 to 5 years. Imagine what a home's value would be after 4-5 years in both home appreciation and equity building. In addition, rent and boarding Costs are not tax deductible.
For example, let's assume a meager 4% in annual home appreciation and a purchase price of $250,000.
At the end of year four, your mortgage balance would be $238,686 and at the end of year five $235,329. At the end of year five in this equation, the home's value would be estimated at $304,162 and the loan balance would be $235,329. You can do the rest of the math to see that a real estate investment is a much better use of money that would otherwise be spent on rent or boarding costs.
This equation does not even cosider the effects of after tax savings due to the tax deductibility of mortgage interest. The home owner could also rent to roommates to minimize their monthly input.
*This is not a rate quote nor a guarantee of an interest rate. This is used for example purposes only.
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Create and deploy the front-end application.
- Optimize for high-performance on both mobile and web.
- Develop interaction models and conceptual frameworks of user experience.
- Be a hands-on developer who will deliver along with the team.
- A passionate front-end developer who can combine the latest open source technologies to provide the best -visualization reports using modeling tools.
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Fishing is one of the most popular forms of recreational activity, that are mostly enjoyed and loved by the people, all over the world, while others are doing such activity as their ways of earning a living that can provide them and their families in their daily lives. Fishing is basically the practice of trying to catch fish, and there are various techniques that are being introduced and practiced by fishermen, and examples for that are angling, netting, hand gathering, spearing and trapping. Tackle is the term being used by the fishermen in referring to the equipment that they used during the said activity, some of the common tackles or equipment for fishing are lines, hooks, floats, rods, sinkers, baits, lures, reels, tackles boxes, waders, nets, gaffs and traps. The different types of fishers are called as recreational fishers, commercial fishers and artisanal fishers, and these three are using different types of techniques, in which recreational fishers are doing this activity for sport or pleasure, commercial fishers to gain income or profit, and artisanal fishers are using doing this activity for survival.
Sport fishing is quite similar to recreational fishing, and it is done for enjoyment, pleasure and competition, in which restrictions, laws, conventions, licensing, and rules are being applied that can limit the method or the way the fishes are being caught, and the most common form of fishing in such type is with the use of baits or lures such as artificial flies, rods, hooks, line and reel. Fishing with the use of hooks is known as angling, and in this type of fishing it is usually required or expected to the fishermen that the fishes that they have caught should be returned to the water like in the river, lake and water, which is also called as the act of catch and release. Sport fishing is the term used for game fishing, wherein the primary reward for the fishermen who are doing such act is acquiring the challenge of finding and catching fishes, and the types of fishes that are commonly caught by these fishermen are mackerel, tuna, marlin, sailfish, shark and tarpon. Fishing vessels is a water vessel which can be a type of boat or ship designed for fishing, and the common examples for these fishing vessels are rafts, pontoon boats, dinghies, cruising yachts, cabin cruisers, charter boat, kayaks and dugout canoes, and that are being used by the fishermen to catch the fishes in sea, lakes or rivers. Fishing charter is the term being used by the people in the act of using a type of fishing vessel which is called as charter boat, and charter boats are being leased, hired and rented by the recreational fishermen, people, families or vacationers for private and exclusive purposes and usage.
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We've named our top cookbook picks of the season, but what new titles are food bloggers most looking forward to? We asked, and here's what they said.
I'm most looking forward to Eating Viet Nam by Graham Holliday. Graham was an early food blogging pioneer with his Noodle Pie blog. His writing is so vivid you can practically hear the traffic whizzing by as you dive into Graham's adventures exploring the good, the bad, and the truly sublime of Vietnamese street food. He's almost a cultural anthropologist, capturing for us a moment in time in this rapidly developing country, where the street food scene is still vibrant, but slowly losing the battle against state-preferred establishments with clean floors and soulless food.
Hands down, the book I'm looking forward to most this spring is The Sprouted Kitchen: Bowl + Spoon by Sara Forte. To know her is to love her, and there is perhaps nothing more universally comforting or practical than a bowl of goodness to nourish both tummy and soul. I can't wait to get my hands on it.
There are so many I'm excited for, but if I had to choose one, I think it would be Food52 Genius Recipes—I imagine it will be as beautifully written and impeccably curated as Kristen's column, and James Ransom's photography is always stunning.
The book I want to highlight is Fika, an illustrated recipe book on the Swedish art of the coffee break.
We're cookbook fanatics here at Sweet Paul! In the short term we're really looking forward to Simply Ancient Grains by Maria Speck and The Sweetapolita Bakebook by Rosie Alyea, and who isn't looking forward to the Big Gay Ice Cream book?! In the long term, we're closely following David Leite on social media as he is writing his memoir, tentatively titled Notes on A Banana. Can't wait to read that when it comes out!
The food book I'm most excited for this year is Cara Nicoletti's Voracious, out this August. Her blog, Yummy Books, is a treasure trove of literature-inspired recipes—which is a treat given my own focus on the same. Cara is a thoughtful and humorous writer, and I can't wait to see how those qualities shine in her stories and recipes.
I am looking forward to two cookbooks: Seven Spoons: My Favorite Recipes by Tara O'Brady and The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon by Sara Forte.
The book I'm most looking forward to for Spring 2015 would be Milk Bar Life. I'm a huge fan of the Momofuku empire. (I cooked through the entire Momofuku cookbook!) [Author Christina] Tosi comes up with crazy combinations that sound utterly addictive. Tosi's previous book was filled with sweets, which isn't really plausibly for everyday, but Milk Bar Life is promising to feature recipes for "weaknights." Also, it sounds like there are a ton of snack recipes, and I'm all about the snacking!
The cookbook that I'm most looking forward to is Good Bread Is Back: A Contemporary History of French Bread, the Way It Is Made, and the People Who Make It by Steven Laurence Kaplan. Kaplan is an expert on French bread. His book is not just about how bread is made, but on the history and the importance of bread to the French. They have a unique relationship to bread and it has resisted (and succumbed) to modernization. No one is more qualified than Professor Kaplan to comment on breadmaking in France, and I'm looking forward to this book as it's a subject that is near and dear to me.
It will have to be Ruhlman's How to Braise: Foolproof Techniques and Recipes for the Home Cook by Michael Ruhlman. I don't think we have enough technique books that teach people how to cook so they can be freer at the stove. Ruhlman always delivers with a concise, no-nonsense approach to the building blocks of cooking.
We can't wait to get our hands on J. Kenji López-Alt's The Food Lab. We love his scientific approach to cooking and his sense of humor. Fascinating, useful stuff and always a good read.
I'm excited about so many folks with books coming out, including April Bloomfield, Sarah Britton, and Adam Hynam-Smith. I especially can't wait to cook from Sara Forte's Sprouted Kitchen: Bowl + Spoon—her no-fuss approach to flavorful, healthy cooking is inspiring, and her recipes always deliver.
On the prose/memoir end of the spectrum, I'm very much looking forward to David Leite's Notes on A Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression (Dey Street Books) because I would love to get inside that man's head.
This spring's cookbook line-up looks incredibly promising. While I'm certainly eager for the release of my own second cookbook (Yogurt Culture, coming from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on 4/14/15), I also can't wait for Maureen Abood's debut Lebanese cookbook, Rose Water & Orange Blossoms: Fresh & Classic Recipes from My Lebanese Kitchen. Maureen infuses her food and storytelling with warm, vivid color, and I'm eager to get lost in her beautiful words and recipes.
We're so excited about this year's cookbooks! We're pumped to read April Bloomfield's new vegetable book, and really looking forward to Alex Stupak's book on tacos—he's proven himself to have a deft hand with tacos and tortillas at his Empellon restaurants in NYC, and so we think he'll have a lot of cool ideas to share. Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery in Boston has a great new low-sugar baking book coming out, too, and we love the idea of Kristin Donnelly's potluck cookbook. These days, few people cook full-on dinners when entertaining, instead relying on guests to each contribute a part of the meal. There's a lot of potential for creative potluck dishes beyond the classic casseroles and salads. (Disclosure, Donnelly is a friend of ours.) And of course, we'd be remiss not to mention our own Kenji López-Alt's epic The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, which is coming out this September.
The cookbook I am looking forward to the most is J. Kenji López-Alt's The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.
The cookbook I am most excited about this spring is My New Roots by Sarah Britton. It's the first cookbook I've preordered in ages and I know it's gonna be rad! I don't know anyone who can make healthy eating looking so cool.
I can't remember a time when I've been as excited for a cookbook as I am for Rachel Roddy's Five Quarters: Recipes from a Roman Kitchen (Saltyard Books (UK) / Grand Central (US)). Roddy, a British transplant to Rome, is an exceptional writer and home cook, and my stomach rumbles every time she shares a glimpse of her cooking on her blog, Rachel Eats.
On the memoir side of things, I can't wait to read Jessica Fechtor's Stir: A True Story of Food, Family, and Recovery from a Ruptured Brain Aneurysm. Fechtor writes about the best and worst of life with a rare clarity and depth, and I've been waiting for this book since the moment I first heard about it.
The Big Gay Ice Cream Book (and not just because a ridiculous mug of mine is in it). Food52's Genius Recipes because every recipe in the genius column on their site is actually genius in the most wondrous ways. I'm also looking forward to some blogger friends' books like Inspiralized (because I can't remember the last time I ate a vegetable), and Tara O'Brady's book because it's going to be beautiful.
It's near impossible for me to pick just one, so here are three I'm really looking forward to: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: The Four Elements of Good Cooking By Samin Nosrat and illustrated by Wendy McNaughton. Honey & Co: Food from the Middle East By Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich. The Beetlebung Farm Cookbook: A Year of Cooking on Martha's Vineyard By Chris Fischer.
Click here to return to the main cookbooks feature.
Correction: An earlier version of this article spelled Elise Bauer's name incorrectly. It is Elise, not Elisa.
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A writer, physician, and patriot, José Rizal was perhaps the first Asian nationalist. His writing revealed the injustices he saw in the Philippines and so angered colonial officials that they banned his work and severely persecuted him.
Rizal was born on June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Luzon. He grew up in a comfortably wealthy Philippine family. His mother, Teodora Alonso, was highly educated. In his secondary education at Jesuit Ateneo Municipal School in Manila, Rizal won literary honors. He briefly attended the University of Santo Tomás, then traveled overseas and completed his studies in medicine and the liberal arts at the University of Madrid, where he received a doctorate in philosophy and letters.
While in Spain, Rizal wrote Noli me tangero (The Social Cancer) in 1886, a sociological and historical novel that detailed the oppression Filipinos suffered at the hands of Catholic friars. This work established the main theme of his writing, which emphasized Philippine culture, class oppression, and the corrupting character of the Catholic Church as then structured in the islands. In 1891, Rizal's El filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed) was published, and it pushed him to the forefront of the Filipino reform movement.
Rizal was reacting to the history of the Philippines under Spanish rule and to his family's own experiences. In 1887, colonial injustices struck him directly. His family and many others in Calamba were tenants on an estate owned by the Dominicans. These tenants petitioned the government, complaining about abuses by the Catholic order. After a long court trial, the tenants lost their case, and the Spanish governor had them evicted from the estate. The authorities deported Rizal's father and his three sisters. In El filibusterismo, Rizal attacked the entire economic system as bourgeois and exploitative and predicted a mass revolution.
Rizal became leader of the Propaganda Movement, which advocated reforms. At no time did he call for Philippine independence, but he did raise national consciousness and glorify the Filipino culture that had existed long before Europeans arrived on the islands. Spanish officials reacted to his books by banning them and setting them on fire, and they punished anyone caught reading them. Rizal retaliated by writing more books and by writing for La Solidaridad, a newspaper produced by Filipino intellectuals in Spain. He formalized his political platform, which consisted of making the Philippines a province of Spain, replacing the Spanish friars with Filipino priests, protecting freedom of expression, and establishing the equality of Filipinos and Spaniards before the law.
Rizal moved to Hong Kong in 1890, where he planned a colony in British North Borneo for dispossessed Filipinos. He returned to the Philippines in 1892 and founded Liga Filipina, a nationalist organization that reflected his platform. Although this group lasted only a short time, it stimulated other young nationalists into action, including Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo, who became revolutionaries.
Spanish authorities reacted to Liga Filipina by arresting Rizal on July 2, 1892, four days after he had formed the organization. They deported him to Mindanao in the southern Philippines. At Dapitan, he spent his exile practicing ophthalmology. Along with his writing, he was an accomplished doctor who performed the first cataract operation in the Philippines.
Rizal also began town improvements and founded a school. He then requested a transfer to become a surgeon in the Spanish Army. The government agreed, and in 1896, Rizal headed for Spain. On his way there, however, the Philippine Revolution began, and the Spaniards suddenly arrested him for masterminding the rebellion, a completely false charge since he had no direct connection with the revolutionary uprising. Rizal was placed on trial and, with the help of church officials, convicted of treason. On December 30, 1896, he was executed in Manila by a firing squad, in full public view.
The execution made Rizal a martyr and stimulated the revolutionaries to expand their fight. They did not succeed in gaining independence, however, until after World War II. Rizal became a great figure in Philippine history, and his influence even produced a Rizalist cult that still worships him as a Filipino Christ.
Dr. Neil A. Hamilton is a professor of history at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, and an adjunct professor of American history at the University of South Alabama. He received his PhD in American history at the University of Tennessee after graduating with a BA and MA from the University of Miami. A member of the Organization of American Historians, Hamilton has authored or coauthored a number of articles for historical journals and such books as The ABC-Clio Companion to the 1960s Counterculture in America (ABC-CLIO, 1997), Atlas of the Baby Boom Generation (Macmillan, 2000), American Social Leaders and Activists (Facts on File, 2002), The 1970s (Facts on File, 2006), Scientific Exploration and Expeditions: From the Age of Discovery to the Twenty-First Century (Sharpe, 2011), Outlaws Still At Large!: A Saga of Roots Country Music Since the 1970s (Outlaw Press, 2013), and Rebels and Renegades: a Chronology of Social and Political Dissent in the United States (Taylor and Francis, 2016).
Coates, Austin, Rizal, 1969; Osias, Camillio, José Rizal: His Life and Times, 1949; Zaide, Gregorio, José Rizal, 1970.
Hamilton, Neil. "José Rizal." World History: The Modern Era, ABC-CLIO, 2019, worldhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/316337. Accessed 21 Apr. 2019.
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Many people believe they know how to lift properly and safely. They are then in disbelief when they injure their back during a "simple" lift. After getting a back injury from lifting, many people will comment, "but I even bent my knees!" Therefore, there must be more to safe lifting than just bending the knees.
There's more to safe lifting than bending at the knees.
Getting out of position during lifting can put a great deal of stress on the lower back muscles, and when the demand is too high on a muscle it can be injured. Too much stress can form tiny tears in a muscle, known as a muscle strain, which is a very common form of back injury.
This type of back injury can be quite painful, making it difficult to move the affected and surrounding area. When a back muscle is strained, it can even be painful to breathe normally. A back strain will typically heal, although it often takes a long time (a few weeks or months).
The intervertebral discs act like ball bearings and cushions between the vertebrae (bones) in the spine. The discs are comprised of fibrous rings, which can bulge and even break open, or rupture, when injured. A disc injury in the lower back can cause pain that may radiate down into the buttocks and/or leg.
There are many joints where bones meet bones in the back. Normally theses joints are quite capable of handling the stresses of lifting. However, improper lifting techniques, even with lightweight objects, can irritate these joints and may cause them to become "locked."
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Memorial stone at the Forest Cemetery of Riga to those Latvian Dievturi killed by the Communists 1942–1952.
Ernests Brastiņš (1892–1942) was the primary force in the early development of Dievturība. He was an artist, an amateur historian, a folklorist and an archaeologist. He documented many ancient Latvian temples and castles, writing the Index of Mythological Notions of Latvian Dainas. Dievturi Catechism is the main inspirational text of Dievturība. Other important ideological leaders in the interwar period were Arvēds Brastiņš and Alfrēds Goba.
In the 1920s and 1930s the movement attracted several public figures from the cultural sphere, such as the painter Jēkabs Bīne, writers Voldemārs Dambergs, Viktors Eglītis and Juris Kosa, literature historian and critic Alfrēds Goba, and the composers Jānis Norvilis and Artūrs Salaks. It failed to attain any widespread popular following, but through the presence of artists and intellectuals the movement managed to produce a substantial amount of material on the interpretation of folklore.
With the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 the movement was suppressed and scattered. Brastiņš was deported to a Soviet labour camp in 1941 and executed in 1942, and other leaders were deported to Siberia or emigrated to the West. During the Soviet era, the movement primarily lived on in small groups within the Latvian émigré communities.
Works to revive the movement in Latvia began in 1986 as part of an emerging new interest in Latvian history and folklore. It was officially re-registered as a religious organization in 1990, under the name Latvijas Dievturu Sadraudze (Community of Latvia's Dievturi). The main driving force at this stage was the ceramist Eduards Detlavs (1919–1992). Throughout the 1990s the Dievturība movement was able to renew its activities and become a part of the European intellectual neopagan current.
At the beginning of the 2000s there were 16 active groups in Latvia. Most of them were gathered under the Latvijas Dievturu Sadraudze but some were independent. Among the points of disagreement within the movement are the extent to which the material produced in the period of Brastiņš should be followed, and what the relationship should be between Dievturība and Christianity, with some adherents arguing that the two can be combined.
Lokstene Shrine of Dievturi was inaugurated on 6 May 2017. It was financed by the entrepreneur Dagnis Čākurs and is located on a small island in the Daugava river, close to the town Pļaviņas.
Dievturība, as a reconstructionistic movement, is primarily based on Latvian folklore, old folk songs (dainas) and mythology. By necessity, modern Dievturība differs from the historical Latvian religion. For example, there is no evidence that the Latvian pagans recognized a trinity of deities; in Dievturība, Dievs, Māra and Laima are a triune godhead.
Other deities are either aspects of Dievs (the universe itself, the ultimate reality), or other types of non-deified spirits. In Dievturi theology, several triumvirates of deities and concepts are recognized.
The difference between the dvēsele (soul) and velis (the astral body) is a fine one. The dvēsele is eternal. It comes from Dievs (god) and will return to him after the death of the miesa. The velis stays near the body, gradually melting and disappearing over time similar to the concept of a ghost or the Greek shade. The end of autumn and the start of winter is accepted as the time of remembrance of dead ancestors. In the dark time of autumn people gave food for their dead relatives due to the "dying of nature" or as a thanks gesture for a good harvest during the summer.
^ Sandra Dieziņa. 17 January 2017. “Liepsalās” atklās dievturu svētnīcu. Latvijas Avīze.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dievturība.
The Ancient Latvian Religion — DIEVTURĪBA - Exhaustive study-paper on the Dievturi movement.
Latvian Dievturi Church - main organizational body of Dievturība in Latvia.
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The cheapest shirt is number 5.
The most expensive shirt is number 7.
(example) The most interesting shirt is number 4.
(example) The longest shirt is number 2.
(example) The coolest shirt is number 8.
(example) The cutest shirt is number 6.
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Nuclear power stations generate power through fission.
This Physics quiz is called 'Radioactivity - Nuclear Fission' and it has been written by teachers to help you if you are studying the subject at senior high school. Playing educational quizzes is one of the most efficienct ways to learn if you are in the 11th or 12th grade - aged 16 to 18.
Fission means to split so during the process of nuclear fission atomic nuclei split. This process releases energy, which can be used to heat water and turn it into steam. The steam drives a turbine, which is connected to a generator which produces electricity that can be fed into the National Grid. Electricity generated in this way is often referred to as 'nuclear power'.
Generating electricity from nuclear reactions has the advantage that the process does not release any carbon dioxide or nitrogen and sulfur oxides. These gasses contribute to the environmental problems of global warming and acid rain. Although nuclear power stations are less polluting for the atmosphere, there are other problems such as how to make sure no radiation escapes into the environment and how to safely dispose of the used nuclear fuel which is highly radioactive.
The two main fuels for nuclear power stations are the isotopes uranium-235 and plutonium-239. They are used because, when the nucleus of either isotope is hit by a neutron, they become unstable and split. We say that the two isotopes are fissionable. During fission, the nucleus splits into two smaller nuclei (referred to as daughter nuclei) and emits some neutrons, usually either two or three. Where you had one neutron to begin with, you end up with two or three. As well as this, some energy is released in the form of heat and gamma radiation.
One of the tasks you may be asked to do in the senior high school exam is to balance an equation involving nuclear fission. This is simply testing if you understand the principle of conservation of matter. Take for example the fission of a plutonium-239 nucleus. If this was hit by a neutron, two possible products of the fission would be cerium-148 and krypton-89 so how many neutrons would be produced? To work this out, you need to use your knowledge of atomic structure. The number 239 indicates that the nucleus of plutonium contains a total of 239 particles. One neutron is needed for the fission to occur so on the left hand side of the equation there are 240 particles in total. That means there must also be 240 particles on the right hand side too. Adding together the 148 particles of the cerium and the 89 of the krypton gives 237 so 3 neutrons are released.
The neutrons released in nuclear fission reactions will then hit other atoms and cause them to split and so on. This is called a chain reaction. If this is not controlled, it very quickly gets out of hand creating a nuclear explosion, that is how the first atomic bombs worked. Later, more powerful hydrogen bombs were developed - these work differently. In the core of a nuclear power station, the neutrons released during nuclear fission are carefully controlled by absorbing them using special control rods. If the neutrons are moving too fast or too slowly, fission will not occur - water is used in some types of reactor as a moderator to ensure that as many neutrons as possible are moving at the correct speed to keep the reaction going in the core.
What is a disadvantage of nuclear fission?
In nuclear power stations, a chain reaction is required. What is a chain reaction?
Reactions in which one reaction causes further reactions, which cause further reactions etc.
What must a nucleus absorb for fission to occur?
What is an advantage of nuclear fission?
In a nuclear reactor, water is used as a moderator. What is a moderator?
What happens to the excess neutrons?
What happens to the atom after it absorbs a neutron?
If Uranium-235 and one neutron are collided together they can create one Kr92 and 1 Ba142. In this circumstance, how many free neutrons are released in this reaction?
This question required you to balance the chemical equation in terms of the number of nuclear particles. There are 236 particles to begin with, so there must be 236 after the fission. Always remember that you will always have the same amount of particles on either side of the reaction. What goes in must always come out!
Which two fissionable substances are commonly used in nuclear reactors?
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Mankind has always looked up to the sky and wondered at its beauty and secrets. Human beings are also incredibly good at spotting patterns, so it is no wonder that we noticed the changing appearance of the night sky as the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun. Paintings that mark the positions of the planets in the night sky have been discovered in Lascaux, France from around 15,000 BC.
The practice of deciphering these changing patterns and what they mean for life on Earth is also ancient. Different astrology practices emerged independently all over the world: in Mesopotamia, India, China, and Central America. It is the Mesopotamian system, that emerged in ancient Babylon (modern day Iraq) around 5,000 years ago, that forms the basis of the astrology that is used in the West today .
There is some evidence for the practice of astrology in Babylon from as far back as the third millennium BC, but the oldest evidence for their organized system of astrology is from the second millennium BC. Around 70 cuneiform tablets from the 1700s BC list more than 7,000 celestial omens. At that time, astrology was focused on what was currently happening in the night sky, as the future movements of the planets was difficult to predict. However, by the 4th century BC they had a fairly reliable system for predicting future planetary movements too.
In Babylon, astrology was the practice of priests and was one of two ways that priests could determine the will of the gods. The other method was to inspect the livers of sacrificial animals and interpret the patterns of dark spots that could be observed.
The Babylonian system of astrology contained many things that we would recognize today. They divided the fixed stars into three groups - Anu, Enlil, and Ea - based on where they rose on the Eastern horizon. The Babylonians originally recognized 18 constellations among these fixed stars, but they later focused on the 12 most important constellations, which were adopted by the Greeks and align with the constellations that we use in the West today.
The Babylonians also recognized five of the planets, along with the Sun and Moon. They associated the planets with different gods in their pantheon: Jupiter with Marduk, Venus with Ishtar, Saturn with Ninurta, Mercury with Nabu, Mars with Nergal, the Sun with Shamash and the Moon with Sin. The movement of the Sun, Moon and planets through the constellations was thought to represent the activity of these gods and hold messages from the gods about their will.
When reading these signs, the priests were primarily concerned with what was happening in the state as a whole and in the life of the king as the central figure of the state. They also believed that they could undertake rituals to appease the gods and mitigate any negative warnings revealed by the stars.
The Babylonian method of interpretation was based on memory, specifically what took place in the past when the same celestial phenomena were present. They also used the characteristics of the gods associated with the different planets and the stories linked to the different constellations to develop stories that held messages about their meaning.
Babylonian astrology spread throughout the region. Numerous documents detailing things such as lunar omens and solar eclipses based on the Babylonian system have been found in Hittite, Akkadian, and Assyrian cities.
That you could tell something about a person from the position of the stars at the time of their birth appears to have been an ancient concept in Babylonian astrology. A prophecy surviving from the second millennium BC says that children born in the 12th month would live a long time and bear male children.
Nevertheless, the practice of producing personal horoscopes only seems to have appeared from about 400 BC. This was after the Persians took over the area and, with their different religious practices, no longer needed the services of the astrologer priests.
The best-known Babylonian horoscope describes the night sky on April 29, 410 BC. It describes the Moon as being below the pincer of Scorpio, Jupiter in Pisces, Venus in Taurus, Saturn in Cancer, Mars in Gemini, and Mercury as not visible. From this, the astrologer predicted good fortune for the new-born. Like earlier predictions, if a child´s horoscope contained negative omens, the priest could also conduct rituals to mitigate these problems.
While the astrology used in the West today has its roots in Babylon, it was influenced heavily by the other cultures that transmitted it to the modern world.
The Greeks were key to this transmission. While references to astrology appear in some early Greek texts, such as in poems of Hesiod from 750 BC which suggest that the stars indicate propitious times for certain tasks, it was only with increased contact with Mesopotamia, following the Asian conquests of Alexander the Great , that astrology appears to have become popular.
The Greeks added significant elements to astrology, such as the importance of the four elements - Fire, Earth, Air, and Water - and the discovery of the procession of the equinoxes.
The most famous Greek astrologer was Ptolemy of Alexandria, who lived in Egypt in around 100 AD. He wrote two important works on astrology. His Tetrabiblos provides a summation of contemporary astrology, and this was considered the astrological textbook by Arabs and European astrologers until the 17th century, when Copernicus established that the Earth revolved around the Sun.
The Romans, who adopted many aspects of Greek culture, also practiced astrology. Several of the Roman emperors were famous for their use of astrology - Augustus Caesar has his moon sign, Capricorn, minted onto some of his coins. The most famous Roman astrologer was Firmicus, who lived in the 4th century AD and wrote Mathesis as a practical guide to astrology.
The sack of Rome in 410 AD saw much knowledge lost in Europe, until it re-emerged in the Middle Ages. However, while astrology in Europe went through a dark age, it continued to flourish in the Arab world. It was Arab scholars that preserved the works of Ptolemy and Firmicus and also added information from astrology practices in places such as China and India. They also developed the Astrolabe, a scientific instrument to track the movement of the stars and planets.
It was only with the renewal of intellectual activity in Europe following the Dark Ages, that astrology appears to have grown in strength again in Europe. In the 11th and 12th centuries, hungry scholars looked to the Arab world for information about astrology. In 1138, the first Latin translation of the Tetrabiblos arrived in Europe. From this time, the European philosopher scientists reintroduced astrology into European culture and developed the system of astrology used in the West today, based on Babylonian astrology.
Having been in the industry for over ten years, Sarah is a well-known and well-respected astrologer. An architect by trade, Sarah has studied some of the most notable global curriculums in the field of astrology, tarot, and numerology.
It should be PRECESSION of the equinoxes. Otherwise an EXCELLENT article!
Bright spots in the night sky beat dark spots on the livers of sacrificial lambs any day...in my humble opinion lol!
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Imagine this situation: Your spouse/significant other/roommate/etc comes into your room while you are wasting time on the computer reading news, or playing a game or something. They ask if you if you will put a letter in the mailbox when you leave for the day. You say "sure" and resume your time wasting activity. A few hours pass and then you need to go to work. You get up, leave the house and go to work. Later that night you go home to an upset person asking why you forgot the letter.
OK; let's change things a bit. This time when you are asked if you put a letter in the mailbox, you say "sure" then immediately remove your phone from your pocket, and place it in your other pocket. Now a couple hours later when you go to work, you feel your pockets to make sure you have your phone and your wallet. When you feel for your phone, you realize it is not there and you think of where you last placed it. At this point, you will remember that you put it in your other pocket to remember the letter. You put the letter in the mailbox, then head off to work. Your phone resumes its position in the normal pocket.
I have been using this method for remember things for many year and it always works. I have not heard or read about it anywhere so I don't know if it has a name; I will henceforth call it the "Disruptive Mnemonic."
Why does this Disruptive Mnemonic work?
Let's think of our minds for a minute. Everyone of us has routines and schedules. Our minds tend to work the hardest when we are doing or learning something new; when we are just doing routine things however, our mind will often go into cruise control. We as human beings are capable of doing some pretty amazing things without really thinking about it. Some people walk and read a book at the same time. How can they do this? Because walking is so routine they no longer need to think about it. What about what people who drive? Even though it is very dangerous, people text, shave, eat food, put on makeup or various other things all while driving. They do this because driving is so routine, we don't really need to think about it (Note: Please don't do these things. They really are dangerous). You would never see someone who is still learning how to drive to send a text message at the same time; this is because they are so focused on driving.
And so things go with our memory. When we are in our routine or schedule our minds tend to relax. It is easy for us to forget things we don't think are very important, because we simple tend not to think or focus on these things. It is that way with taking out the trash or delivering a letter. These are things that we don't usually do on a daily basis so it is not routine. We can easily forget.
How to use a disruptive mnemonic.
The example I gave above was switching pockets with our phone. If you always have your phone in the same pocket, putting it in another pocket will force to think why. This will work with any item you keep consistently in the same pocket; keys, pen, lip gloss, wallet, etc.
This method works well for me because I am a guy and tent to keep a lot in my pockets. What if you are a girl and keep little or nothing in your pockets? If that is the case, you probably use a purse. You could rearrange the items in your purse. Perhaps you could zip up your purse only half way instead of all the way. Anything that will help disrupt your routine will help call your attention to whatever it is you are supposed to remember.
I started doing this when I was in Jr. High school. If I needed to remember something, I would get a scratch piece of paper and write a note on it. I would place it in my pocket and later in the day when I emptied my pockets I would look at the note and remember whatever it was I needed to remember. The thing is, I quickly realized that I never actually needed to read the note. Simply seeing the paper was enough for me to remember. I quickly learned that anything I did to disrupt my schedule would have the same effect.
The disruptive method is nice because you don't need anything fancy. No paper, no writing things down, no calendar. It works best for things you need to remember during the day (probably not a good idea for long term), and it only works well for about one or two items to remember. If you need something that is time or location sensitive, try to do something to disrupt a specific time or place. For example, if you need to remember something for work; place a random object near the things you take to work. If you need to remember something for lunchtime, put something in the fridge or lunchbox (or wallet if you go out to eat).
Any other memory tricks? Write it below in the comments.
A rubber band is a great idea!
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Does Facebook’s clickbait crackdown signal a move towards higher quality content across the web?
Facebook has announced an important update to its News Feed function with confirmation that it will actively work to reduce the number of clickbait-style headlines appearing in its users’ feeds.
As part of its pledge to rid News Feed of clickbait, the social media platform has developed a system to categorize thousands of article headlines. It focuses on two important criteria. In short, if the headline withholds the information necessary to understand the article’s content, and if the headline exaggerates the content of the article to create unrealistic expectations for the reader, it will now be classed as clickbait. The new approach is similar to a spam filter on a large scale - posts falling foul of the basic requirements will now be removed from News Feed. This strategy is part of a number of changes Facebook has rolled out on News Feed as part of move towards higher quality content on the social network (it recently said it would prioritize updates from friends and family for the same reason).
Facebook will also bear social shares and likes in mind when making the decision about where a piece should appear on the News Feed. Some clickbait – for instance, Buzzfeed or Upworthy-style content – is incredibly popular on the social network, and certain articles are shared by hundreds of thousands of people, despite the titles. Articles with a high CTR but low engagement are a big red flag and could also be penalized under the new system.
they’re likely to be deemed low-quality and will be treated as such when it comes to determining their search engine ranking.
There have long been rumors that a high bounce rate is used by Google to judge whether content is low-quality or not. This makes sense as most clickbait articles have an incredibly high bounce rate. Users pulled in by a clever headline soon realize the content on the page is not what they expected when they clicked through, causing them to leave right away. This suspicion of bounce rate influence is a source of hot debate, with many insisting that Google doesn’t have access to onsite data such as page bounce rates. Detractors of this theory also point out that some pages are actually expected to have a high bounce rate (such as a contact form), which means the metric isn’t reliable enough to be a ranking factor.
At a Google Q&A hangout in March, Andrey Lipattsev, a search quality senior strategist said that it was difficult to make this data a ranking signal – with some websites not using Google Analytics and a high bounce rate being expected behaviour for some sites, this stands to reason. Lipattsev explained further why Google does not use bounce rates as a quality and ranking factor saying, “The disadvantages that I’ve most often seen described for this approach on a clear, pure ranking factor basis is that we’d need to have broad enough and reliable enough data about bounce rates, click-through rates, depth of view for the vast majority of pages and the vast majority of websites everywhere, in order to be able to make meaningful comparisons all the time.
“That is impossible, because we don’t have the technical means to do it. Even when you think about Google Analytics, not everybody has a Google Analytics code by far, so we can’t use that.
Facebook’s crackdown on clickbait does signal a move towards better-quality content across the board, with the social network now encouraging publishers to create original, well-researched and informative content if they want to achieve a prominent position on the News Feed. If other social networks – like Twitter, for example – were to follow suit, clickbait could be stamped out across the web once and for all.
Interestingly, Facebook has come right out and said it will use bounce rates as a measure of quality. Google, as we saw above, says exactly the opposite, pointing out the difficulty it experiences in measuring this metric.
What does this mean for your content?
The clear message is that clickbait is being outlawed. This means you’ll need to think carefully about titles and relevance from the outset. While it’s tempting to have an enticing headline which draws people in, you need to follow this up with powerful content that actually fulfils the promise.
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Claude de Berlaymont (or Claudius van Barlaymont), lord of Haultpenne (ca. 1550 – 14 July 1587) was a Flemish military commander in Spain's Army of Flanders during the Eighty Years' War.
He was the seventh and last son of count Charles de Berlaymont (1510–1578) and Adriana de Ligne Barbançon. His father was a supporter and councilor to Margaret of Parma; he is reported to have referred to the Dutch citizens requesting the Compromise of Nobles as "geuzen" (beggars), an appellation the Dutch proudly adopted.
Gilles of Berlaymont, count of Hierges, Statholder of Friesland (1572–1574 ), Guelders (1572–1577), Groningen 1572–1574. He died in the Siege of Maastricht (1579).
John of Berlaymont, Provost of the Saint Gervais, in Maastricht, and a member of the Cathedral chapter in Liege.
Florent of Berlaymont (? – 1626), Count of Berlaymont, Lord of Floyon, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Hereditary Chamberlain of Hainault, and Governor of Luxembourg.
He married Adrienne de Brimeu, but left no offspring. At his death, his property and honors passed to his brother, Florent.
Claude was lord of Haultpenne in Flémalle, a Walloon area in the bishopric of Liege. His nickname is derived from the name of the castle, an elegant medieval and renaissance structure. He was a member of the council of states of the Seventeen Provinces, and he was captured in 1576 with his father. Although he signed the Union of Brussels, but immediately afterwards travelled to Namur, where he joined the Spanish faction and tried to win the favour of Don John of Austria. His father died in 1578, and in 1579, his oldest brother, Gilles, killed at the Siege of Maastricht; Claude succeeded his brother as governor of Charleville.
In 1581 Haultpenne was sent to fight Dutch rebels in the eastern province of Friesland, but the capture of Steenbergen on 12 August 1583 signalled the need for his return to the Brabant. In 1581 he led the Siege of Breda, also known as the Haultepenne's Fury. Breda had been in the hands of William of Orange since the Pacification of Ghent in 1576. Haultpenne managed to enter the city by bribing a sentry, after which his troops sacked and plundered it, murdering more than 500 citizens. He defended 's-Hertogenbosch, and reconquered Lier, Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Guelders, after which he became its Stadtholder from 1583–1585.
The Duke of Parma had great confidence in Haultpenne's abilities, and sent him to the Electorate of Cologne, which was rife with disorder arising out of conflicting claims by Calvinists and Catholics to the Electorate and its possessions. In the Cologne War, Berlaymount laid siege to Werl in 1586,. Although Martin Schenck von Nydeggen had a force of approximately 500 men, and Berlaymount over 4000 plus horse and cannons, Schenck succeeded in fighting his way out of the city and to safety. While at Boxtel, Haultpenne received a call for aid from 's- Hertogenbosch. On his way there, he engaged an enemy army led by Philip of Hohenlohe at a redoubt at Engelen, and was mortally wounded in the throat. He was taken to 's-Hertogenbosch, where he died on July 14.
^ Jean Charles Joseph de Vegiano, Nobiliaire des Pays-Bas et du comté de 1724-94 Bourgogne,1 – 1865, p 162.
This page was last edited on 22 May 2018, at 16:26 (UTC).
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The term also refers to the periods between the election of a new parliament and the establishment of a new government from that parliament in parliamentary democracies, usually ones that employ some form of proportional representation that allows small parties to elect significant numbers, requiring time for negotiations to form a government. In the UK, Canada and other "first past the post" electoral systems, this period is usually very brief, except in the rare occurrence of a hung parliament as occurred both in the UK and in Australia in 2010. In parliamentary interregnums, the previous government usually stands as a caretaker government until the new government is established.
The term has been applied to the period of time between the election of a new President of the United States and his or her inauguration, during which the outgoing president remains in power, but as a lame duck. In some Christian churches, "interregnum" describes the time between vacancy and appointment of priests or bishops to various roles.
The Ottoman Interregnum, from 8 March 1403 until 1413, a result of the death of Sultan Bayezid I at the hands of Central Asian warlord Timur. A period of civil war ensued as none of Bayezid's sons could establish primacy. The crises was resolved when one of his sons, Mehmed, defeated and killed his brothers and reestablished the Empire.
From 1481 until 1483 in the Kingdom of Norway, during a conflict over the succession of John, during the period of the Kalmar Union. The Norweigian Council of the Realm initially refused to accept the hereditary succession of John; as they asserted that Norway was an elective monarchy. When no serious opposition candidate emerged, the Council relented and elected John.
The brief Russian interregnum of 1825, caused by uncertainty over who succeeded the deceased Emperor Alexander I, only lasted between between 1 December and 26 December 1825, but was used to stage the highly resonant Decembrist revolt.
In some monarchies, such as the United Kingdom, an interregnum is usually avoided due to a rule described as "The King is dead. Long live the King", i.e. the heir to the throne becomes a new monarch immediately on his predecessor's death or abdication. This famous phrase signifies the continuity of sovereignty, attached to a personal form of power named Auctoritas. This is not so in other monarchies where the new monarch's reign begins only with coronation or some other formal or traditional event. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for instance, kings were elected, which often led to relatively long interregna. During that time it was the Polish primate who served as an interrex (ruler between kings). In Belgium the heir only becomes king upon swearing before the parliament.
While not describing true interregna, the Japanese era name or nengō system which was introduced in reign of Emperor Kōtoku was abandoned at the end of his reign, thus resulting in sitting emperors without era names; these era names were not updated for some time, except for a very brief re-occurrence near the close of Emperor Temmu's reign.
The first year of Emperor Mommu's rule (文武天皇元年; 686) could be arguably abbreviated as "the first year of Mommu" (文武元年; 686), but this is nowhere understood as a true era name. The reigns of Japanese emperors and empresses were not considered to also be the same as the era name until the Meiji era. References to the emperors of Japan who ruled during this period are properly written as, for example, "the 3rd year of Emperor Mommu" (文武天皇３年; Mommu is the emperor's name, not that of the era), and not "the 3rd year of Mommu" (文武３年; this second writing implies that Mommu is the era name).
The two periods in the pre-Taihō years without era names are 654 (the end of the Hakuchi era) through 686 (the reinstatement of the Shuchō era), and again from 686 (the Shuchō era) to 701 (some time in the middle of the reign of Emperor Mommu), when the Taihō era was declared and nengō reinstated.
An interregnum occurs also upon the death or resignation of the Pope, though this is generally known as a sede vacante (literally "vacant seat"). The interregnum ends immediately upon election of a new Pope by the College of Cardinals.
↑ "Responsibilities and Duties of the Churchwarden". www.churchwardens.com. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
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I find it odd that I have never read a libertarian analysis of lifeboat situations that utilizes the legal concept of creation of peril. For example, chapter twenty of Murray N. Rothbard's The Ethics of Liberty evaluates lifeboat situations from every conceivable point of view, except creation of peril. Let us briefly explore, then, this scenario.
The creation of peril issue only arises in the lifeboat situation if there is an owner of the lifeboat. If the lifeboat owner allows others to board, then the owner voluntarily acts to assume responsibility for the safety of these fortunate guests. Therefore, if she determines that discarding one or more of her guests maximizes the chance of survival for the remainder of the lifeboat passengers, it does not matter, for if the owner ejects one or more guests in this situation, the owner has engaged in an act of aggression (specifically murder). Why is this an act of aggression? This is an act of aggression because the lifeboat owner knows that ejecting a passenger, who she has voluntarily assumed responsibility for the safety of, into the ocean clearly places the passenger in a perilous/dangerous/emergency situation (in fact near-certain death). Interestingly, this means the owner has an incentive to only permit a reasonable number of people to board the lifeboat in the first place.
Unowned lifeboats are a separate issue evaluated thoroughly, per usual, by Rothbard.
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0.994588 |
Pedata RV Center a tip sheet for buying a motorhome. Many approach purchasing a motorhome like they would approach any other automobile purchase. others approach it the same way they would approach a home sale. Both of these will leave the consumer in a less than desirable position in the buying process.
1. If you’ve never driven a motorhome try renting one before you buy. This is will give you a point of reference. You’ll need to know what you feel comfortable driving before you commit to purchase any one type of vehicle.
2. Do your research before you actually start test driving. Know which size of motorhome you are interested in purchasing (which will suit your needs and your budget) before you start talking to even the nicest salesman. Only test drive the models that suit your needs.
3. Determine which features and floor plan layout options are required in order to meet the needs of you and your family.
4. Test drive it. And test drive it again. Test drive the competition. And test drive the cheaper model. Test drive as many options as are available. There’s no reason to rush your purchase.
5. Research the manufacturers and know the reputations behind their products. Choose a motorhome that has a trustworthy manufacturer that stands behind their products.
6. Buy from a reputable dealer. Ask questions, ask for a tour of the lot, and make sure that you are dealt with professionally.
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0.999997 |
Is 3192 a leap year? 3192 is a leap year. February 29th, 3192 is a valid date. The last leap year before 3192: 3188. The next leap year after 3192: 3196. Details below. The leap year algorithm. The three conditions to check in order to know whether a year is a leap or a common one: 1) A leap year can be evenly divided by 4: 3192 is evenly divided by 4. 2) Except if it can be evenly divided by 100 then it isn't a leap year: 3192 is not evenly divided by 100. 3) Except if it can be evenly divided by 400, then it's a leap year: 3192 is not evenly divided by 400. 3192 is a leap year. What is a leap year? 3192, being a leap year has 366 days. A common year has 365. In a leap year month February has 29 days. February 29th, 3192 is a valid date. In a common year month February has 28 days. February 29th does not exist. How often do the leap years occur? Nearly once every four years is a leap year. More exactly, leap years occur 97 times in every cycle of 400 years. Why do we need leap years in our calendar? Leap years keep the calendar year in sync with the astronomical year, preventing us, for example, from celebrating Christmas in the month of November.
Is 3192 a leap year?
3192 is a leap year.
February 29th, 3192 is a valid date.
The last leap year before 3192: 3188.
The next leap year after 3192: 3196.
3192 is evenly divided by 4.
3192 is not evenly divided by 100.
3192 is not evenly divided by 400.
3192, being a leap year has 366 days.
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0.999947 |
The "Billion Ton" biomass assessment conducted in 2005 was instrumental in accelerating the president's renewable fuels policies and ultimately spurring biomass research efforts, such as the U.S. DOE's "30x'30" initiative. With solid government backing, the report remains an integral reference point for policy-makers and industry leaders to base sound business decisions.
Biomass experts had long awaited tangible evidence that would identify practical and economical methods to meet renewable fuel production demands using biomass. Before those methods could be identified, however, one question had to be addressed: Is there enough biomass produced in the United States to make a significant impact on U.S. fuel consumption?
In 2005, this question was answered in a federally sponsored report, jointly endorsed by the U.S. DOE and the USDA. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in conjunction with the USDA Forest Service, the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) generated a report called the "Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply."
Commonly referred to as the "Billion Ton" study, the report was the impetus behind the 2006 DOE initiative coined "30x'30" and is a systematic approach to assessing the nation's goal of producing approximately 60 billion gallons of ethanol from biomass to replace 30 percent of the petroleum used for transportation fuel by 2030.
Tom Foust, biomass program technology manager for the NREL, the nation's primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development headquartered in Golden, Colo., believes that the Billion Ton study was critical in setting the standard for creating its blueprint of success within the industry. "I think what makes the [Billion Ton] study unique above other studies is that we brought in all the different people," says Foust, who was a major contributor to both the Billion Ton study and the 30x'30 initiative. "It was an open forum and everybody was allowed to contribute their ideas and concerns. Other studies just didn't provide the political buy-in that this study did."
The short answer to the aforementioned question is yes. Looking at just forest and agricultural land alone�the two largest potential sources of biomass�the report found the potential for approximately 1.3 billion dry tons per year of biomass. That is more than enough to meet one-third of the current demand for fuels in the transportation sector well into the 21st century, when large-scale bioenergy and biorefinerey industries are likely to exist. The report observed that this long-term annual supply of biomass is about a sevenfold increase over the 200 million dry tons of biomass per year currently used, leaving the remaining 1.1 billion dry tons for future production of bioenergy and biobased products. The study involved all the lower 48 states, excluding Hawaii and Alaska.
"Our report answers several key questions," says Robert Perlack, lead author of the report and a research scientist at the ORNL's Environmental Division, a DOE-managed research and development facility headquartered in Oak Ridge, Tenn., that focuses on researching bioenergy efficiency and security in the country. "We wanted to know how large a role biomass could play, whether the United States had the land resources and whether such a plan would be economically viable," he says. "The study shows that there is a significant resource available to support a large-scale biorefinery industry."
According to the report, agriculture and forestry account for 79 percent of the total resource base and collectively could supply up to 15 percent of U.S. energy demand by 2030 without impeding food, feed and fiber production, assuming relatively modest changes in agricultural and forestry practices are met.
Agricultural areas account for approximately 46 percent of the entire land base in the United States. Of that land, 26 percent is considered grassland and 20 percent is classified as cropland. The report estimates that agricultural land can supply 998 million sustainable dry tons of biomass resources annually. In contrast, forestlands have the potential to contribute an estimated 33 percent of land acreage and approximately 367 million tons of biomass per year.
Forest residues were one of the main components of the research, according to Bryce Stokes, national program leader for the national USDA Forest Operations in Washington, D.C., and also a major contributor to the study. Forestry waste could potentially supply one-third of the nation's biomass energy demand. "We could considerably go up to one-half of that demand, if not higher," Stokes says. "We have the potential to do more, especially if we go into woody crops and if we start producing wood for energy."
Researchers were careful to factor environmental sustainability issues into their assessment, leaving out roadless areas and environmentally sensitive land relevant to forestry. In addition, variables such as soil quality, wind erosion and tillage practices were accounted for on the agricultural side. According to Perlack, if the environmental constraints were relaxed the biomass resource availability would be even larger.
Meanwhile, the report also determined that biomass consumption in the industrial sector would increase at an annual rate of 2 percent through 2030, while biomass consumption by electric utilities would double every 10 years through 2030. Supplying more than 3 percent of the nation's energy, biomass has already surpassed hydropower as the largest domestic source of renewable energy, according to the report. "Although we were focused more on the fuels, we weren't excluding power," Perlack says. "We were just looking at it in a more integrated fashion. Certainly some of the feedstocks identified in the Billion Ton study are much more amenable to power than they are to fuels production, especially some of the feedstocks that might contain dirt and rocks that could potentially affect a biochemical process moreso than a thermochemical process."
In gauging the report's relevance to the current situation, one must take into account the steady growth in U.S. ethanol and biodiesel production. Currently, the production of ethanol is about 5.6 billion gallons per year, and could reach 80 billion gallons or more under the scenario outlined in the report. According to the study, such an increase in ethanol production would result in the augmentation of transportation fuels made from biomass to 4 percent in 2010, 10 percent in 2020 and 20 percent in 2030.
Much to Perlack's surprise, since the study was released corn production has increased to meet the growing demand from the ethanol industry, which some believe is placing a strain on food and feed markets. These variables were simply things he could not foresee. However, the report retains its credibility due to its conservative approach to the assessment. "Our study was real conservative with regard to corn grain ethanol," Perlack says. "That's something we did right away and before the run-up. As an average, looking 40 years into the future, [corn production is] actually somewhat less than the straight-line projection of current trends."
Marie Walsh, an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee, who worked with Perlack on the Billion Ton study, says that when reviewing the report it must be read with a critical eye. The absence of cost analysis and resource availability information on a localized level are crucial components in determining biomass availability in a more precise manner, she says.
"It's limited in the information it provides," Walsh says. "We need to really start breaking this down geographically and get some economics involved. You need to understand the distribution and the concentration of the feedstock."
Perlack agrees with Walsh's sentiments. "One thing we could have done is maybe prepared a number of maps that showed the spatial distribution of the various kinds of resources because shortly after the report came out we were inundated with questions about how much of the 1.3 billion tons is in a particular state," he says. "It was a very narrow focus in that we just wanted to look at the resource issues�how much resource is there and if that resource is sufficiently large to support a major biorefinery industry. That was it."
The omitted portions of the analysis to which Walsh alluded will be included in more detail by the Sun Grant Program, a biobased energy research initiative, which is cosponsored by the DOE and the USDA and established by the U.S. Congress under the Sun Grant Research Initiative Act of 2003. The program is aimed at developing sustainable and environmentally friendly biobased energy alternatives. Under the program, a group of five universities will collect data from their respective regions of the country to provide a more localized feedstock assessment in all areas, such as availability within a given region, county or state, cost analysis of each feedstock and how other market influences would increase availability�aspects that the Billion Ton study didn't examine.
For more information on the Billion Ton study, visit the Web site at http://feedstockreview.ornl.gov/pdf/billion_ton_vision.pdf.
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0.933857 |
How to fix showing multiple Bitbucket login windows? I don't want to login.
This is due to a bug in the Git Credential Manager for Windows which ships with Git for Windows.
Quickest way to fix is to install Git for Windows 2.19.1 and then install Git Credential Manager 1.18.3 https://github.com/Microsoft/Git-Credential-Manager-for-Windows/releases/tag/1.18.3 then set Sourcetree to use this install in the Tools/Options/Git tab System Git option,.
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