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Japan’s pride, the snow topped Volcano Mt Fuji is all set to become a World Heritage site. A World Heritage Site is a natural place or a man made wonder which is very special. It could be a lake, mountain, forest, mountain, island, desert, monument, building, complex, or a city. If these places are man made they are usually the ones which are historically or culturally very important. Who decides what should be a World Heritage site? There is a special branch of United Nations (UN), which is known as The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO. It promotes peace by bringing the nations together in the fields of education, science and culture. UNESCO committee decides the World Heritage sites. Mt Fuji, at 3,776 (12,460 feet) is Japan’s highest mountain. There is going to be a formal announcement in June according to the Japan’s cultural agency. Singing in Space!

http://kinooze.com/mt-fuji-is-now-a-world-heritage-site/

The 2016 Special Session is the 23rd special session in Kansas history. The first was called in 1874 and the most recent were: 1987 (State highway plan), 1989 (Property tax), 2005 (School finance), and 2013 (“Hard 50” sentencing). To return to the 2015/2016 Regular Sessions select the link under the Historical tab above. *Joint Meeting Agenda of House committee on Appropriations and Senate committee on Ways and Means June 23.

http://kslegislature.org/li_2016s/

The MCI recognises that participants in hillwalking should be aware of and accept any risks and be responsible for their own actions and involvement. Hillwalking is an adventure sport and not devoid of an element of risk. To minimise risk be prepared; boots, rucksack, waterproofs, a packed lunch, hot drink, warm hat, gloves etc.. Grade A Walks: Hill Walks, these walks are for the experienced walker with a high level of fitness required. Generally, they are up to 8 hours duration and can often be 1500m ascent or more. Participants must be aged 18 years or over. Grade B Walks: Cross-Country, these walks are generally 4 to 5 hours duration with a climb usually of not less than 600m. Participants must be aged 18 years or over. Grade C Walks: Cross-Country, these can be 3 to 6 hours duration and vary from track, forest or river routes to walks with moderate climbs often up to 500m. Participants must be aged 18 years or over. In the event of extremely bad weather please ring the leader of the day to check the walk viability.

http://lakedistricthwc.com/safety.aspx

The PreK-12 educational industry is changing rapidly. Charter schools. Private-for-profit schools. Greater use of home schooling. Vouchers. Computer based learning systems catering to the individual learning styles of students. Budget shortfalls for public schools. Changing governance structures and the evolving roles of School Boards. All these are challenges to the public school, PreK-12 environment. And there are many more challenges to come including the role of internet based cameras recording every action and every word in every classroom (discussed in a separate paper by this author) and the possibility a completely redefining who is the “customer” for PreK-12 education in the United States (also discussed in a separate paper by this author). Volunteers currently play many roles in the public school PreK-12 environment. They help out in the office, assist with extracurricular activities, raise money and address key issues through the PTA or PTSA and serve on governing and quasi-governing boards at the community level throughout the United States. This author is not aware of any statistics collected on the level of volunteerism each year in the PreK-12 public school environment. Often high school students volunteer to mentor elementary school students in programs such as “Elementary Baseball” in Washington, D.C. College students mentor PreK-12 students through the National Society for Collegiate Scholars throughout the United States. There are many other valuable mentoring after school and weekend mentoring programs and this author has been a mentor for a District of Columbia elementary school student in the northeast section of the city. Even though there are literally thousands of volunteer efforts in and around the PreK-12 public school environment, there has never been a successful movement to place truly large numbers of volunteers in the classroom. There are many reasons why such a large scale volunteer program has never taken hold, but there are now as many reasons why such a large scale volunteer program may become an integral part of the PreK-12 environment within the next decade. There may not be enough volunteers to volunteer in every classroom. There may be another dozen reasons why there has never been a large scale program to add volunteers to the classroom in PreK-12 public education. While it is beyond the scope of this article to address each of the reasons listed above, this article will show how social forces are converging that suggest that such a large scale volunteer program might be developed on a pilot basis in innovative school districts and may prove to be incredibly beneficial to the PreK-12 public education system. In every category of capital or set of resource inputs, we see real limits. How can schools find something today that impacts positively on each and every resource input without costing them significant amounts of money? It is impractical to think that buildings will be donated, that school districts will be able to find ways like the private sector has done over the past three decades to eliminate levels of management and not hurt productivity. Curricula will not be donated to schools. Students and their parents will fight being charged significant sums for students to participate in extracurricular activities. Governments will not add to school budgets significantly and will not in the future increase spending per student or project long term budgets consistent with long term population predictions. The political process, which has a fairly short term time horizon, can not commit five and ten years out to guarantee schools sufficient funding in the future. The first proposition I make is one that I admit has not been proven. That proposition is that enough people in the United States could be recruited to volunteer in every classroom every day. We have 2,000,000 PreK-12 public school classrooms and assuming that each volunteer volunteers one day per week for ½ a day, we will need 10,000 volunteers. In addition, we would need another 500,000 volunteers to volunteer for extra urricular activities and after school mentoring. Today, we may have a greater opportunity to promote volunteerism in schools. America’s Promise provides volunteers as do corporations like Starbucks giving workers time off from their jobs to volunteer. More and more people are reaching retirement years when they may have more time to volunteer. Thus, the potential exists for more adults to volunteer in classrooms as a “teacher’s assistant” or in some other capacity that would increase the human capital and intellectual capital available to the PreK-12 public schools without significant cost. I believe the screening, training, recruitment issues can be successfully resolved with pilot programs. The fact that some teachers and some students may hold the point of view that they would not like a volunteer in their classroom may be a thought that will fade as volunteers find ways to become useful in making significant contributions to the PreK-12 educational system of this country. It is also possible that by enrolling so many volunteers into the PreK-12 public school environment that we will become a ‘teaching nation’ and the volunteers will become important stakeholders, political allies and supporters of the public education system. It is also clear that a well run volunteer program like the one suggested here could result in higher educational achievement by students, better discipline in the classrooms, the development of long standing mentoring relationships between volunteers and students and could also result in giving students important role models as these adults exhibit the best in themselves and in America as they volunteer. This program could improve the lives of many Americans who would welcome the right volunteer opportunity, one where their desire and capabilities to contribute to others is allowed to flourish in the place where the next generation of Americans are getting their start in life. The purpose of this article is to start a conversation, a debate, that intersects the fields of volunteerism and the need to improve our public schools. The goal is to direct high quality resources into our public schools without breaking the budgets of local, state and federal governments. I hope that a pilot project could start with foundation support to test this idea in several school districts. Full national implementation of this idea could take place within the next decade. I believe that teachers and students have little to fear if this becomes a national program, a National Educational Corps, if you will. Issues like how to insure or bond the volunteers so that schools will not be liable for their actions can be resolved in the financial markets and through leadership of associations with skill and knowledge in the insurance arena. With the risks of the program being real, but low, and the benefits of the program being potentially enormous, this programmatic idea should at least be given a full and fair debate at the national, state and local program level. If we do it, I would want to call it either the “National Educational Corps” or the “Wofford” program, to acknowledge the great work in the field of volunteerism that Harris Wofford has brought to this country. If I had never met Harris Wofford and had never had the privilege of working with him in the 1970’s on the idea of National Youth Service, I do not know if I would have become such a supporter of this idea. Finally, the benefits of this program can be easily measured through students’ scores, reduction in student dropout rates, the public’s perception of how well schools are doing, the volunteers’ rating of the program, and many other easily documented measures in use in the educational world. This is a program whose time has come, but will take a long time to actually become reality.

http://leadershipforeducators.org/wordpress/?p=39

Dick Anderson came to Lake County High School in the fall of 1963 from Mapleton High School in Denver, where he had served as a freshman basketball coach and an assistant track & field coach. While at LCHS Anderson, a math and physics teacher, served as the head track coach (1965-1980), head cross country coach (1965-1979), and JV basketball coach (1963-68). Anderson is considered to be the founding father of the renowned LCHS cross country program. While at Lake County High School, Dick Anderson produced ten State Champion cross country teams, four individual State cross country champions, six individual State track and field champions (who broke five state records) and numerous All-State and All-Conference athletes. He was named CHSCA Cross Country Coach of the Year in 1969, 1972, 1977, 1978, and 1979. From 1967-1971 Anderson’s teams won five straight Pikes Peak League Championships and five straight Colorado State Championships. Five consecutive State titles is a state record that has since been tied but never broken. In 1979, the first year that LCHS competed with a girls team, he became the first coach in Colorado history to win both the boys and girls State Cross Country Championships in the same season. Anderson was once offered a position to coach the Kuwait Jr. National Team. He served as a full time ski patrol man at Copper Mountain from 1980-1983. He resumed coaching at Aurora Gateway from1986-1993 where he served as head XC and track coach from 1986-1995. The Aurora Gateway programs were in poor shape when Anderson arrived. When he retired both programs were respectable. He settled at the Mount Massive Trout Club, located south of Leadville to enjoy his retirement.

http://leadvillesportshall.com/dick-anderson/

This year’s lecture considers how we need to change our approach to urban design to create economically, culturally and environmentally sustainable communities that are truly inclusive and reflect the aspirations of today’s diverse society. It features contributions from Peter Morrison, CEO, RMJM Group, Yaw Osseo-Asare, Harvard Graduate School of Design and a special VIP guest to be announced. The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust is a national educational charity established to dismantle barriers to participation in architecture and urban design and to help young people find pathways out of poverty and into these professions. Each year the RIBA hosts a Memorial Lecture to honour Stephen Lawrence’s memory, inspired by his dream of becoming an architect. Free. Booking essential. Limited capacity.

http://lecturelist.org/content/view_lecture/5680

Link Kaplan was launched in 2003 with the aim of delivering levels of service and professionalism to small and medium size businesses normally associated with top tier firms. Morris joined KPMG, London in 1989 where he gained experience in the retail, distribution, construction and finance sectors. On qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1992, Morris spent two years at Harrods Plc before joining Deloitte & Touche, London where he was promoted to Senior Manager. Lynn has worked with a number of accountancy practices during which time she gained extensive experience of businesses with turnovers up to £10m. Her experience extends to a wide range of sectors such as property, retail, publishing, and textiles. Lynn has also managed finance functions helping clients achieve significant tax savings. 1. Finance Department Outsource – This is delivered through our experienced outsource team managed by qualified accountants. 2. General Practice Work – This includes day-to-day bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, year end reporting, taxation and business advisory services.

http://linkaccountancy.com/about.php

Who's behind logtempo? logtempo is a product of turrall consulting, a private company with team members in the Switzerland, Germany and the UK. It's Founder, Robert Turrall, is a long-time technologist with over 30 years of media and technology company experience - including senior executive roles in sales and marketing in addition to many years of IT consulting and development work. Timesheets have been the bane of Robert's life for as long as he can remember. The labourious filling-out of spreadsheets, clicking of drop down lists of clients, projects, and tasks, or - worse - the completion by hand of paper timesheets. All of the above seem to be designed to test our patience and waste productive time - or even just time we could be spending on something more fun. logtempo was created to change the status quo; to simplify time-tracking to the extent that it's no longer a chore.

http://logtempo.com/company.html

Tickets are available by emailing |||EMAIL_ADDRESS||| or by calling |||PHONE_NUMBER||| . Genevieve Lally is a storyteller, dance-maker and adventurer. She recently received a Wilde Award for her aerial and ground based choreography for The Tempest at What A Do Theatre (Battle Creek, MI). Acting credits in Chicago include Strangeloop Theatre, The State Theatre, The Actor’s Gymnasium, Chicago dell’ Arte, and the Tall Ship Windy, among others. Internationally, she has studied and performed Classic Theatre in Greece and has trained in West African Drum and Dance in Guinea. She holds a degree in Art and Theatre from Cornell College. Her current favorite adventures include bicycling through Chicago during rush hour, whitewater kayaking and re-imagining old stories. Carolyn Sinon is a singer, actor and dancer based in Chicago. Before coming to the windy city, she received her BA in Political Science and Theatre from the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, and studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School in Russia. She is also a recent grad from the iO program, and is studying aerial arts at the Actor's Gymnasium. Past productions include: I Have Been to the Wild Wood, Folkbound (Duplicity Ensemble) , The Bacchae, Revisted (The Right Brain Project), Coronado (Springs Ensemble Theatre), Rope (Theatre 'D Art), and Taming of the Shrew(UCCS). She absolutely loves experimenting with movement on stage, and is so excited to be working on this project! Tiffany Williams is so excited to be a part of Persephone! A Washington D.C. native, Tiffany worked with the H Street Playhouse and Imagination Stage. Some favorite Chicago credits include, Salome and The Bacchae: Revisited(The Right Brain Project), The Beautiful Dark (Redtwist Theatre), The Submission (Pride Plays and Films) and most recently FOUR with Jackalope Theatre. Tiffany is a proud graduate of the University of Michigan's BFA acting program. Thank you for the amazing experience girls!

http://lostgenevaproject.weebly.com/the-play-cast--creative-team.html

Below is a list of crimes reported for North Whittier in the latest seven days. Keep in mind that the number of crimes reported for this time period may increase over the coming weeks as the Sheriff provides additional data. Over the last six months, the rate of 18.4 crimes per 10,000 people is higher than in nearby Avocado Heights and Hacienda Heights and lower than Pico Rivera. North Whittier is covered by two police jurisdictions. The neighboring communities are Avocado Heights, Hacienda Heights, Industry, Pico Rivera, Whittier and Whittier Narrows. North Whittier is one of the 272 neighborhoods in Mapping L.A., The Times’ resource for crime, neighborhoods, demographics and schools.

http://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/north-whittier/crime/

CNN has posted an article by S.E. Cupp and I must say I disagree with Ms. Cupp completely. She argues that the Christie and Palin question is a detriment to the GOP. Add Ms. Cupp to the long list of people trying to tell us when it’s too late for this one or that one. Lately, it’s become an absurdity to watch. I can’t imagine that it’s possible that she believes her own impatience ought to drive the party’s choices, but there she is demanding: “Time’s up, Christie and Palin. In or out?” Excuse me if I fail to take Cupp’s complaint seriously, declared as if she has anything to say about it. Perhaps she should return to tweeting all things Tony Stewart. Maybe she would have told Reagan he had better jump in. Who knows, but more to the point, who cares? What Cupp’s column demonstrates is the arrogance of the media in its attempts to influence events according to their agenda. Besides, while this article is posted on CNN, I know that Cupp’s associations have included The Daily Caller, and of course FoxNews, so I’m not surprised to see her further this particular narrative. My laughter over this jewel cannot be quieted. Conservatives “aren’t able to fully invest in candidates?” Suddenly, Cupp’s argument seems more like a “Winning The Future” moment than any sort of conservative commentary. There is absolutely nothing forbidding conservatives from committing to any of the declared candidates. What Cupp offers here is actually an insight from the perspective of the establishment: These are people who hedge their bets, and the non-entries of Christie and Palin have essentially frozen a goodly sum of cash that might go into play should one or both ultimately announce, or swear off. S.E. Cupp now runs the conservative movement? Does she speak for you? She doesn’t speak for me. For whom is she speaking, anyway? That should be the question that you take away from all of this. Which conservative voters have become “dangerously ambivalent?” I don’t know any. Ambivalence will be measured by turn-out during the primary season next year, and not by gauging the number of big-dollar contributors still clinging to their cash. I’ll give Ms. Cupp her due: She did an excellent job of trying to advance a phony narrative. All I can say is “Better luck, next time.” As I pointed out in my coverage earlier Friday, this all comes down to strategy, and none of us should fall into the trap of believing Ms. Cupp doesn’t know that. What we should also recognize immediately is that Cupp’s article is a part of somebody’s strategy, and when taken together with Williams’ article on FoxNews, it begins to paint the picture more clearly as to the identity of the driver of this narrative.

http://markamerica.com/tag/palin/

The ARM architecture (originally the Acorn RISC Machine) is a 32-bit RISC processor architecture that is widely used in a number of embedded designs. Due to their power saving features, ARM CPUs are dominant in the mobile electronics market, where low-power is a critical design goal. Today, the ARM family accounts for over 75% of all 32-bit embedded CPUs, making it one of the most prolific 32-bit architectures in the world. ARM CPUs are found in all corners of consumer electronics, from portable devices (PDAs, mobile phones, media players, handheld gaming units, and calculators) to computer peripherals (hard drives, desktop routers.) The most noticeable branch in this family nowadays is Intel’s XScale. The ARM design was started in 1983 as a development project at Acorn Computers Ltd. The team, led by Roger Wilson and Steve Furber, started development of what in some ways resembles an advanced MOS Technology 6502. Acorn had a long line of computers based on the 6502, so a chip that was similar to program could represent a significant advantage for the company. The team completed development samples called ARM1 by 1985, and the first “real” production systems as ARM2 the following year. The ARM2 featured a 32-bit data bus, a 26-bit address space giving a 64 Mbyte address range and 16 32-bit registers. One of these registers served as the (word aligned) program counter with its top 6 bits and lowest 2 bits holding the processor status flags. The ARM2 was possibly the simplest useful 32-bit microprocessor in the world, with only 30,000 transistors (compare with Motorola’s four-year older 68000 with around 68,000). Much of this simplicity comes from not having microcode (which represents about 1/4 to 1/3rd of the 68000) and, like most CPUs of the day, not including any cache. This simplicity led to its low power usage, while performing better than the 286. A successor, ARM3, was produced with a 4KB cache which further improved performance. In the late 1980s Apple Computer started working with Acorn on newer versions of the ARM core. The work was so important that Acorn spun off the design team in 1990 into a new company called Advanced RISC Machines. For this reason you often see ARM lengthened to Advanced RISC Machine instead of Acorn RISC Machine. Advanced RISC Machines became ARM Limited when the company floated on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ in 1998. This work would eventually turn into the ARM6. The first models were released in 1991, and Apple used the ARM6-based ARM 610 as the basis for their Apple Newton PDA. In 1994, Acorn used the ARM 610 as the main CPU in their RiscPC computers. The core has remained largely the same size throughout these changes. ARM2 had 30,000 transistors, while the ARM6 grew to only 35,000. The idea is that the end-user combines the ARM core with a number of optional parts to produce a complete CPU, one that can be built on old semiconductor fabs and still deliver lots of performance at a low cost. The most successful implementation has been the ARM7TDMI with hundreds of millions sold in mobile phones, handheld video game systems, and Sega Dreamcasts. While ARM’s business has always been to sell IP cores, some of the licensees generated microcontrollers based on this core. The Dreamcast features a SH4 processor which only borrows concepts from ARM (low power consumption, optional compact instruction set etc.), but is otherwise different from an ARM. The Dreamcast also features a sound chip designed by Yamaha with an ARM7 core. Nintendo’s Gameboy Advance, however, uses the ARM7TDMI at 16.78MHz. DEC licensed the architecture (which caused some confusion because they also produced the DEC Alpha) and produced the StrongARM. At 233 MHz this CPU drew only 1 watt of power (more recent versions draw far less). This work was later passed to Intel as a part of a lawsuit settlement, and Intel took the opportunity to supplement their aging i960 line with the StrongARM. Intel have since developed its own high performance implementation known by the name XScale. Perhaps in part because of the conditional execution facility using up four bits of every instruction, newer ARM processors have a 16-bit instruction mode, called Thumb. The smaller opcodes have less functionality; for example, only branches can be conditional, and many opcodes cannot access all of the CPU’s registers. However, the shorter opcodes give improved code density overall, even though some operations will require more opcodes to be executed. Particularly in situations where the memory port or bus width is constrained to less than 32 bits, the shorter Thumb opcodes allows greater performance than with 32-bit code because of the more efficient use of the limited memory bandwidth. Typically in embedded applications a small range of addresses have a 32-bit datapath and the rest are 16 bits wide or narrower (e.g. the Game Boy Advance); in this situation, it usually makes sense to compile Thumb code and hand-optimise a few of the most CPU-intensive sections using the 32-bit instruction set, placing them in the limited 32-bit bus width memory. The first processor with Thumb technology was the ARM7TDMI. All ARM9 and later families, including XScale have included Thumb technology. ARM has implemented a technology that allows certain of their architectures to execute Java bytecode natively in hardware, in another execution mode alongside the existing ARM and Thumb modes and accessed in a similar fashion to ARM/Thumb interworking. The first processor with Jazelle technology was the ARM926EJ-S: Jazelle being denoted by the ‘J’ in the CPU name. It has been used by mobile phone manufacturers to speed up execution of Java ME games and applications, which is probably what drove development of the technology. Thumb-2 technology made its debut in the ARM1156 core, announced in 2003. Thumb-2 extends the limited 16-bit instruction set of Thumb with additional 32-bit instructions to give the instruction set more breadth. As a result the stated aim for Thumb-2 is to achieve code density that is similar to Thumb with performance similar to the ARM instruction set on 32-bit memory. Thumb-2 also extends both the ARM and Thumb instruction set with yet more instructions, including bit-field manipulation, table branches, and conditional execution. Thumb-2EE, marketed as Jazelle RCT, was announced in 2005, first appearing in the Cortex-A8 processor. Thumb-2EE provides a small extension to Thumb-2, making the instruction set particularly suited to code generated at runtime (e.g. by JIT compilation) in managed Execution Environments. Thumb-2EE is a target for languages such as Limbo, Java, C#, Perl and Python, and allows JIT compilers to output smaller compiled code without impacting performance. New features provided by Thumb-2EE include automatic null pointer checks on every load and store instruction, an instruction to perform an array bounds check, and the ability to branch to handlers, which are small sections of frequently called code, commonly used to implement a feature of a high level language, such as allocating memory for a new object. NEON technology is a combined 64 and 128bit SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) instruction set that provides standardized acceleration for media and signal processing applications. NEON can execute MP3 audio decoder on CPU running at 10 MHz and can run the GSM AMR (Adaptive Multi-Rate) speech codec using CPU running at no more than 13 MHz. It features a comprehensive instruction set, separate register files and independent execution hardware. NEON supports 8-, 16-, 32- and 64-bit integer and single precision floating-point data and operates in SIMD operations for handling audio/video processing as well as graphics and gaming processing. SIMD is a crucial element in vector supercomputers which feature simultaneous multiple operations. In NEON, the SIMD supports up to 16 operations at the same time. VFP technology is a coprocessor extension to the ARM architecture. It provides low-cost single-precision and double-precision floating-point computation that is fully compliant with the ANSI/IEEE Std 754-1985 Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic. VFP provides floating-point computation suitable for a wide spectrum of applications such as PDA, smartphones, voice compression and decompression, three-dimensional graphics and digital audio, printers, set-top boxes, and automotive applications. The VFP architecture also supports execution of short vector instructions allowing SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) parallelism. This is useful in graphics and signal-processing applications by reducing code size and increasing throughput. ARM Ltd does not manufacture and sell CPU devices based on their own designs, but rather, licenses the processor architecture to interested parties. ARM offers a variety of licensing terms, broken down by cost and deliverables. To all licensees, ARM provides an integratable hardware-description of the ARM core, as well as complete set of software development toolset (compiler, debugger, SDK), and the right to sell manufactured-silicon containing the ARM CPU. Fabless licensees, who wish to integrate an ARM core into their own chip design, are usually only interested in acquiring a ready-to-manufacture, pre-verified IP-core. For these customers, ARM delivers a gate-netlist description of the chosen ARM core, along with an abstracted simulation-model and test programs to aid design integration and verification. More ambitiuous customers, including integrated device manufacturers (IDM) and foundry operators, chose to acquire the processor IP in synthesizable RTL (Verilog) form. With the synthesizable RTL, the customer has the ability to perform architectural level optimizations and extensions. These allow the designer to achieve exotic design goals not otherwise possible with an unmodified netlist (high clock speed, very low power-consumption, instruction-set extensions, etc.) While ARM does not grant the licensee the right to re-sell the ARM-architecture itself, licensees may freely sell manufactured product (chip devices, evaluation boards, complete systems, etc.) Merchant foundries can be a special case; not only are they allowed to sell finished silicon containing ARM-cores, they generally hold the right to re-manufacture ARM-cores for other customers. Like most IP vendors, ARM prices its IP based on perceived value. In architectural terms, the lower-performance ARM cores command a lower license cost than the higher-performance cores. In terms of silicon implementation, a synthesizable core is more expensive than a hard-macro (black-box) core. Complicating price matters, merchant foundries who hold an ARM license (such as Samsung and Fujitsu) can offer reduced licensing costs to its fab customers. In exchange for acquiring the ARM core through the foundry’s in-house design-services, the customer can reduce or eliminate payment of ARM’s upfront license fee. Compared to dedicated semicounductor foundries (such as TSMC and UMC) without in-house design-services, Fujitsu/Samsung charge 2-3x more per manufactured wafer. For low-mid volume applications, a design-service foundry offers lower overall pricing (through subsidization of the license-fee.) For high volume mass-produced parts, the long-term cost-reduction achievable through lower wafer-pricing reduces the impact of ARM’s NRE cost, making the dedicated foundry a better choice. Many hightech semiconductor firms hold ARM licenses: Broadcom, Cirrus Logic, Freescale (spun off from Motorola in 2004), Fujitsu, Intel (through its settlement with DEC), IBM, Infineon Technologies, Texas Instruments, Nintendo, Philips, VLSI, Atmel, Sharp, Samsung, and STMicroelectronics are some of the many companies who have licensed the ARM in one form or another. Although ARM’s license terms are covered by NDA, within the IP industry, ARM is widely known to be among the most expensive CPU cores. A single customer product containing a basic ARM-core can incur a one-time license fee in excess of (USD) $200,000. Where significant quantity and architectural modification are involved, the license fee can exceed $10M.

http://martinelectronics.co.uk/wp/?cat=28

Mario Anglada has over 23 years of experience developed at leading Healthcare companies such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle Health Science, Univision Communications and now leads Hoy Health LLC. Hoy Health LLC, is a first-of-its-kind health-tech platform that provides a comprehensive and integrated bilingual healthcare support ecosystem to medically underserved patients offering solutions relative to medication access, medication adherence, tele-health and chronic condition management programs. Hoy Health’s core businesses include HoyMEDS, a prescription medication discount program; HoyRX, a medication discount voucher program; HoyCCM, a clinical chronic condition management program and its direct to consumer retail counterpart HoyLIFE chronic condition management kit; and HoyDOC, a telemedicine program. Visit http://www.HoyHealth.com. Medical Travel Today (MTT): Tell us how you got started in this venture. Mario Anglada (MA): I have almost 25 years of experience in healthcare, with leadership roles in marketing and sales for all different types of products within the medical arena. During my career, I have worked in a variety of market segments including pharmaceutical, over-the-counter medications, medical devices, medical nutrition, drug distribution, pharmaceutical distribution, as well as telemedicine and healthcare products and services. Over the years, I saw that while the U.S. population is rapidly increasing, within the Hispanic domestic population there were no concentrated solutions that focused on the needs of the Hispanic consumer from the perspective of culture and language. We created Hoy Health to solve the needs of Hispanics, as well as other medically underserved populations across the United States. Our ultimate vision is to have a global company providing services worldwide. MTT: Please describe the Hoy model, what makes it unique and its product and service offerings. MA: Hoy has basic elements to all its products and services: all are directly billed and sold to the consumer. We built a platform that does not need a payment mechanism by a third party, which eliminated the need for insurance. HoyRXallows anybody in the United States to utilize our purchase platform to buy medications for themselves or loved ones at a standardized pricing bracket of $10 to $40 in $5 increments. The system generates a voucher that is immediately emailed and available for use at 62,000 pharmacies throughout the country. The voucher is prepaid. Consumers can purchase vouchers for their family members living in the U.S. or in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Our team will transmit this purchase to our partners in each of those countries. The partner then delivers the medication that was pre-purchased for the family members within 24 hours of a purchase on our site in the United States. HoyMEDSis a drug discount card. The card is free, and the consumer takes it along when paying for medication. The pharmacist will take the information on the discount card and will tell the consumer the discounted rate — up to 80 percent discount for cash pay pricing. HoyDOCis our telemedicine platform offered to consumers and doctors. It is a free and complete medical record. Soon, this platform will allow consumers to have primary care consults with board certified bilingual physicians across our geographic footprint at a very low cost. Our projected consult cost is expected to be around $25, which allows the consumer to have access to a doctor 24/7 in either English or Spanish. Initially, it will be available in the United States and Central America at scale, but we plan to take this global. MTT: What would you say are the unique features and benefits of the program? What sets you apart? MA: I think the uniqueness of what we are doing is related to understanding what the consumer needs from the perspective of primary care medicine. We have modeled our products and services to be accessible without the need of a third-party payer. Today, someone with insurance can get adequate primary care very effectively. The problem is that those who do not have insurance or are without the support of a third party are unable to engage with doctors. Keep in mind that 90 percent of your life is dependent upon primary care — so our unique value proposition lies in taking products and services that historically were only available through an insured model and offering them directly to the consumer at a more affordable, low-cost. MTT: Could you expand on how this addresses a global need? MA: We chose primary care because the needs of a diabetic consumer in Kenya, Rwanda, Puerto Rico, Puerto Vallarta or the Bronx are the same. The primary care delivery model is typically the same – a face-to-face interaction with a healthcare professional and longer-term monitoring. We sought to create products and services that not only supported products and services here in the United States, but also met the needs of anybody in the world. That’s our mission: providing affordable and acceptable primary care to everybody, everywhere. Our first phase is to utilize that affinity across international borders for consumers in the United States. Ultimately, once we have that established across the globe, our goal is to replicate the Hoy Health model of direct consumer purchases from our website, resale partners and support ecosystem in every country, worldwide. We want to take our U.S. model – in which the consumer buys on our platform from partners and then interacts directly with the primary care provider without the need for insurance – and replicate it in every country we enter. MTT: Why now? Why hasn’t this been done before? And how is this going to be received in the community? MA: In the United States, there’s been a separation of primary care from an institutional setting. Historically, you went to your doctor’s office in your community and that doctor was typically associated with a hospital system, hat hospital system and the doctor were your primary care providers. Now, we’re seeing new models of care that are more direct-to-consumer. For example, telemedicine and virtual care are a reality, allowing the consumer and provider to consult directly from a variety of provider apps. Another trend is that retailers have entered the primary care space and now provide services directly to the consumer. Consumers embrace all of this. We have started with the Hispanic community because historically, these consumers have been underserved in terms of their medication or healthcare needs. I think about 17 percent of the population in the United States today is of Hispanic origin. When you look at the number of doctors that are Hispanic, we are only talking about seven percent of them being designated Hispanic. That’s a big differential. When you overlay on top of that the language barrier, those numbers get even smaller. We are at the inflexion point where a tablet or a cell phone is available to most consumers across the country and internationally. This means consumers can have a telemedicine consult video, communicate with healthcare professionals at a distance, and access health information all from their devices and whenever it is most convenient for them. MTT: Does your model accommodate resellers and channel partners? MA: Absolutely. We have contracts in place with unions and plan sponsors, hospitals, retailers, benefits companies, and other intermediaries that are our conduits to the consumer marketplace. The variety of scope of our channel partners are impressive – and we are always welcoming new collaborative opportunities. As our investor community expands, and our footprint grows nationally and internationally, Hoy Health is destined for even greater success on a global level.

http://medicaltraveltoday.com/spotlight-mario-anglada-ceo-hoy-health/

Modern driver training should cover in greater depth the vulnerability of cyclists in the cut and thrust of 21st Century Roads. Long gone are the days of the advice “just give them a wide berth and everything will be ok”! All drivers need to be more aware of motor cycles and pedal cycles, Bike Week should be the beginning of a better understanding between all road users. To have a safer road experience in the future drivers, especially Learner drivers who are the drivers of the future, need to be coached and made aware of these vulnerabilities including, but certainly not limited to, the fact that cyclists may swerve or move out suddenly to avoid potholes, drains, puddles etc. They may be suddenly blown off course by the wind and some may not even look before changing direction, when moving out to pass parked cars for example.

http://mickduncan.co.uk/category/educational/

The Croydon Edible Map was produced in 2009 for an exhibition at the Building Center, London. It was the first map I produced. The map differs from later maps in that it focuses on quantifying the space available to grow food together with calculations for yields. Additional, I began to write comments on the map regarding practices of growing and harvesting to give an idea of the everyday life that UA might bring to a city. These qualitative themes eventually took precedence over the more quantitative approach, partly because of the additional practice of using the map as a tool to walk and engage with residents.

http://mikeytomkins.co.uk/edible-map-of-croydon/

" REAL JESUS " When talking to Jehovah's Witnesses, be sure to stay on ONE SUBJECT, and that subject is JESUS CHRIST. If you have the right Jesus you are right for all eternity, but if you have the wrong Jesus, you are wrong for all eternity. Jehovah's Witnesses will attempt to change the subject to the "Kingdom" or "world conditions." Firmly bring the subject back to Jesus, and do not allow them to hopscotch the Bible, but read all verses in their context, several before and several after the verse they use. Use a recognized Bible translation, not a "New World Translation" of the Watchtower Society. This booklet has been carefully and prayerfully prepared to show the Jehovah's Witness that he does, indeed, have "another Jesus" and not the Jesus of the Bible. Pray for the help of the of the Holy Spirit and His convicting power to be present. Don't expect immediate results. Witness with authority, and share your testimony of your personal relationship with Christ. Give him a copy of this booklet when he leaves and continue to pray for him. Many thousands have been set free. Witness out of love, remembering that our precious Lord and Savior shed His blood for all the lost. Welcome to a difficult but vastly rewarding mission field! Since we have the warning in scripture that there would be those coming to us preaching "another Jesus", disguising themselves as "apostles of Christ" (2 Cor.11:3,4,13-15 ) we need to examine Jehovah's Witnesses claims concerning Jesus Christ in the light of scripture. J.W. doctrine has two true Gods, Almighty God Jehovah, and beside Him a lesser " mighty god", Jesus Christ. John 1:1 has been altered from the original Greek in their bible to read "the word was a god" to accommodate this polytheistic doctrine. (see pages 150, 416 - 417, Reasoning From The Scriptures, 1985 edition published by the Watchtower Society). Christians are monotheists, believers in ONE GOD. "I am He. Before Me there was no God formed and there will be none after Me. I, even I, am the LORD and there is no Savior besides Me." ( Isaiah 43:10,11) See also Isa. 44:6, 8; 45:22,23 and 46:9. There is only ONE God by nature-- all others are man-made (Galatians 3:20 and 4:8) See also James 2:19. Since there is only ONE God allowed in Scripture, if Jesus is called GOD, He is that one GOD. Jesus is called "Almighty God"- Revelation 1:8, with Rev. 22:20. Jesus is called "the true God" in 1 John 5:20. Jesus is called "the only God" in 1 Timothy 1:16,17. The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures has tampered with the above scriptures. Use any other translation of the Bible, or read the Greek side with the English words under in their "Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures." (1969 edition) . Be warned the JW's have altered even the interlinear side in their 1985 edition of the K.I.T. to distort the Deity of Jesus Christ. JESUS IS NOT "HO THEOS" "HO THEOS" means in Greek, "The God", and the Watchtower teaches that this term applies only to Jehovah God. (Kingdom Interlinear pages 1158 & 1159, 1969 ed., or page 1139 in the 1985 ed.). JESUS IS "HO THEOS" Note: a Greek-English Interlinear Bible is needed to prove the above points. WE HAVE RESTORED THE NAME "JEHOVAH" IN THE GREEK TEXT EVERYWHERE THE HEBREW TEXT IS QUOTED. On pages 11 and 12 of the Kingdom Interlinear (p 18--1969 ed.) the Watchtower Society promised that they would insert the name Jehovah where the New Testament (Greek) writers were quoting the Old Testament (Hebrew) writers. They deliberately missed a few places! Using the Watchtower rule above, we SHOULD find in their translation... Philippians 2:10,11 quoting Isaiah 45:23 "Jesus Christ is Jehovah to the glory...." 1 Peter 3:15 based on Isaiah 8:13 SHOULD be "But sanctify the Christ as Jehovah in your hearts." The fact is that the New World Translation has distorted or removed all scriptures proving the Deity of Jesus Christ. The men who comprised the Translation Committee had no adequate schooling or background to function as Bible translators, having no formal training in Biblical Hebrew or Greek. Their purpose was not to "translate " accurately, but to distort the word of God to support their doctrines. This embarrassing reference has been removed from the Society's newer concordance "Insight on the Scriptures". Despite speculations in this newer publication, the name Jehovah was never used by God, the Israelites, Jesus Christ, the apostles, or the early church. "Insight On the Scriptures", page 526 says, Hence," Jehovah is fittingly and uniquely called the creator". The "Reasoning" book calls Jesus "...the second-greatest personage in the universe", and presents him as a helper for Jehovah in creation. The Greek word for "first- created" is "protoktistos". This term is NOT used in connection with Jesus. The term "Firstborn," "prototokos" means in Greek "Preeminence in rank." Jesus Christ is the Creator. ( John 1: 3,4; Hebrews 1; 10). Note how the Watchtower Bible has altered Colossians 1:16, 17 by adding to the Greek text the term "by means of him" and the word "other" four times. Read without these additions, Colossians 1:16,17 calls Jesus the Creator. "I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens BY MYSELF and spreading out the earth ALL ALONE." J.W.'s will attempt to use parts of Proverbs chapter 8 to prove Jesus is a creature. Point out that Proverbs 8 is completely concerned with "wisdom" not "Jesus". Jehovah's Witnesses likewise try to use the term "only begotten" to support their doctrine that Jesus was "begotten" or created at the time of creation. Without disputing over the meaning of "begotten", point out that the Bible plainly teaches that Jesus was "begotten" at the time of His resurrection. (Acts 13:32 33). "...the name Michael applied to God's Son before he left heaven to become Jesus Christ and also after his return" (Page 393 of "Insight on the Scriptures". The angels worship Jesus (vs. 6 ). The Father never invited any angel to sit at His right hand (vs.13 ). The Father calls His Son "God" (Ho Theos) in verse 8. NOWHERE does scripture say Jesus is Michael. "the Son cannot do a single thing of his own initiative but only what he beholds the Father doing." These texts are used to support their doctrine that Jesus is lesser that Jehovah. "He is the second greatest personage in the universe" says the " Reasoning" book on page 209". Colossians 2:8-10 proves that although Jesus was a man, he still had "ALL THE FULLNESS OF DEITY DWELLING IN HIM BODILY." (The J.W.'s had to drastically alter this portion of scripture as it destroys their doctrine denying the Deity of Christ). For a brief scriptural explanation of the Trinity refer to pages 11 through 14 of this booklet. Scriptures referring to Jesus' humanity cannot be applied to His Deity. JESUS IS NOT THE "I AM" The J.W. Bible has altered John 8:58 to read " I have been," robbing Jesus of His Divine title. Page 214 of "Reasoning " book asks the question: "Does the fact that worship is given to Jesus prove that He is God?" Despite this admission that Jesus is worshiped they use the word "obeisance" to teach their followers not to worship Jesus. While on earth Jesus accepted the worship of men (Matthew 14:33; 28:9), even while directing worship to God alone (Matt. 4:10), showing Himself to be God. Every knee must bow to Jesus (Phil. 2:9, 10). JW's teach Jesus materialized bodies after His resurrection. (Pg. 217, "Reasoning"). J.W's. use 1 Peter 3:18 which says Jesus was "made alive in the Spirit." The term "in the Spirit" does not mean "a spirit". The apostle John was " in the spirit " in Rev. 1:10. Romans 8:9 tells us that the whole congregation was "in the Spirit." Does this mean John and the early church had become spirits and lost their fleshly bodies ? No! Read Romans 8:11. Jesus Himself told His disciples He was NOT A SPIRIT after His resurrection [ Luke 24:33-45.] The thought of Jesus materializing fake nail prints on his fake body is nonsense to everyone but the Watchtower Society. J.W.'s give many meanings for the instrument of Jesus' execution, selecting the word "stake", but admitting it could equally be a "timber," "piece of wood" or a "beam." ("Reasoning" book, page 89). A "beam" of course needs to be supported by a "post", so cannot be a "stake" . Their reasoning is faulty as usual. "Unless I shall see in His hands the imprint of the NAILS and put my finger into the place of the NAILS..." Since there was more than one nail, Christ's hands were NOT together over his head, but separated. WHY Jesus died is the important thing, not HOW He died. God's blood purchased the church. [Acts 20:28], See also Rom. 5:15-18. The word "TRINITY" means "Tri-Unity". While not used in the scripture as a Bible term, it conveys what the Bible teaches concerning God. The ONE GOD of the Bible is revealed to us in three ways, as the FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT. There is only ONE GOD. "I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. I, even I, am the LORD and there is no savior besides Me." Isaiah 43:10,11. " God is only one" [Galatians 3:20]. "You believe that God is one. You do well; even the demons also believe and shudder." [ James 2:19 ]. We cannot absolutely comprehend the infinite God with our finite minds. The early church recognized this and had a common confession "Great is the mystery of Godliness." [1 Tim.3:16]. The one God of scripture is revealed 3 ways, and we must accept God's revelation of Himself to us. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all called GOD - Therefore they must be the ONE GOD. Since there is no dispute with J.W.'s that the Father is God, we proceed to the Holy Spirit & Son. "The Lord is the Spirit" says 2 Cor. 3:17,18. Who then is the Lord? "Jesus is Lord of All" says Acts 10:36. Deuteronomy 32:6 identifies the Lord as the Father. The three are the one Lord. The Holy Spirit is called "The Spirit of Christ" or "The Spirit of God" interchangeably in Romans 8:9. Notice the terminology in Acts 5:1-10 where the three terms interchange. "Holy Spirit," "God" and "Spirit of the Lord". Truly " God is Spirit" [John 4:24]. Although the Father and Son seem to receive more mention in Scripture, the reason is stated in John 16:13-15 where the work of the Holy Spirit is revealed, namely to glorify the Father through the Son. Beautiful tri-unity! In scripture Jesus is called "God" but is also spoken of as being "with God" or the "Son of God". In our natural thinking we cannot understand the "mystery" of Jesus Christ [Col. 2:2]. He came to earth as Emmanuel- God with Us [Matt. 1:23]. For a" little while" He became lower than the Angels [Heb. 2:9], and although existing in the form of God, He emptied Himself [ i.e. set aside His Divine privileges] and took the form of a man. [Phil. 2:5-8]. He was still Deity [Col. 2:9] but functioned as a man to buy back what Adam lost- a perfect human life [Rom. 5:12,15] While a perfect man, Jesus placed HIMSELF in the divine order [1 Cor. 11:3] and for this time said " The Father is greater than I am," [ John 14:28], "greater" being a Greek word denoting position [ not nature]. The Jews knew Jesus' claim to be the "Son of God' showed He considered Himself equal to the Father in nature [ John 5:18; 10:30-33; 14:7-9]. After proving faithful to death, Jesus was exalted and worshiped with a "name above every name' [Phil. 2:9,10]. Jehovah's Witnesses claim that they alone are the true followers of God on earth, and yet they do not even have God's name right. According to Watchtower sources, the use of the name "Jehovah" began with a Catholic Monk in 1270 A.D. God's revealed name in scripture is YHWH, and is unpronounceable. The closest we can get is "Yahweh". Write to us for details. Jehovah's Witnesses downgrade Jesus Christ, making Him inferior to their "Jehovah", claim He is an archangel, and deny His Deity. Their bible," The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures" is not a translation at all, but a distortion of God's Word. They claim support for their "translation" from spirit mediums and other cult groups, but not one recognized Greek or Hebrew scholar will endorse their efforts. Write to us for documentation. While we have set the matters straight on J.W. Doctrine, we are in no way attacking individual Jehovah's Witnesses. Our purpose in writing this booklet is to equip Christians to defend their faith, which the J.W.'s have bitterly attacked, calling our doctrines "satanic". We know we must love these deceived people with the love of Christ and lead them to a saving knowledge of Him. Many thousands have been set free already. A combination of the word of God, and prayer and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit can set these people free of bondage. Please join us in this outreach.

http://mmoutreachinc.com/jehovahs_witnesses/jws_real_jesus.html

Yes, I know that it may be difficult to wrap your mind around it, but I'm about to review my first thriller, The After House (1914) by Mary Roberts Rinehart, for this blog! What's next? Discussing Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett? Chatting incessantly about the "literary" crime novels on today's best seller lists? Oh, for Carr's sake, what's becoming of me? ;D I promise that the next book will be a return to the great old detective stories... well... sort of... but for now let's embark on a frightful journey aboard a blood-soaked craft that might have gone the way of the Mary Celeste had it not been for a resourceful young man posing as a sailor. The story of the massacre aboard the Ella, an old coasting-vessel reequipped as a pleasure-boat by the boozer millionaire Marshall Turner, on that "terrible night of August the twelfth," is retrospectively narrated by Ralph Leslie – a newly graduated, but nearly penniless, doctor, who still hasn't fully recovered from his bout with typhoid fever. While being hospitalized, he developed a yearning for the open sea, where he hopes to regain his strength and earn some money, and upon his release he jumped at the opportunity to join the crew of the Ella and is put to work as a deck steward – mainly looking out for the passengers residing in the ship's after house. With its crew and passengers all present, the ship sets sail to sunnier climes, but even before that blood-streaked night the voyage was troubled by dark undercurrents and ill-omens of things yet to come. The ship's owner and his drinking buddy, a ship officer named Singleton, act as a menacing scourge to pretty much everyone around them, and end up passing around motives to justify a small-scale holocaust. During the faithful night of August the twelfth and the early morning of August the thirteenth, someone emerged from his berth or abandoned his post, and, under the cover of darkness and slumber, picked up a red painted emergency ax and gruesomely hacked three people to death – including ship's captain! With three horribly mutilated, blood spattered corpses on their hands, the aghast crew puts Singleton, who had a one-sided skirmish with the captain, in irons, strip Turner of any authority he thought he had and nominate the levelheaded Leslie as their new captain to help them get out of this mess. But how do you lead a crew of experienced, seafaring men to a safe harbor when you lack their nautical knowledge and experience, and how do you keep them, and the passengers, safe and sane when there's a very real possibility that the actual ax-wielding killer is still prowling the decks with them? Suspicion is abound as well as loyalty to one another as some of them try to obliterate tell-tale pieces of evidence that might identity the murderer, but don't make a mistake about it, this is not a straightforward, puzzle-orientated detective story, since there really aren't any legitimate clues to look at, but an atmospheric thriller not entirely unlike Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (1939). For an early thriller yarn, this wasn't all that bad of a story, and I really liked the macabre picture Rinehart painted of the Ella towing a jollyboat that's been converted to a floating crypt for the three slain victims, nonetheless, she slipped up and botched the ending. The final quarter of the book transforms from a slightly paranoia inducing thriller to a full-fledged courtroom drama, which doesn't even yield the solution in a dramatic dénouement and only serves to suck out all of the atmosphere – which was the best thing the book had going for itself. This feels like a stylistic anomaly. The murderer, who, by the way, is a complete whacko, should've been confronted before they reached their port of call, and not after a mistrial when Leslie revisits the ship, which felt like the solution was hastily given as some sort of after thought – and it shows... badly! To sum up the book in one sentence: some good, some bad, but overall a readable enough story if you don't expect too much from it. Note: a regular book review, this time of a detective story actually published before 1950, will be up in the next day or two. Stay tuned! The concluding volume of Spiral – The Bonds of Reasoning has been looming at me from my desk ever since it arrived in the mail, but I find myself unable to pick up the book and burn through it at my usual breakneck speed – insatiable devouring all the answers that I have waited so many years for. But with the ending of another series, Hikaru no Go, which I enjoyed reading as much as Case Closed and Spiral, and the cancellation of Deadman's Wonderland, I'm practically left without series to read – not many regular series anyway. So instead of greedily gobbling down this treat, I'm going to savor it for a few days and let it ripe – and meanwhile I have been sampling a potential replacement, Amnesia Labyrinth, which is described on the back cover as a new offbeat tale of murder and twisted love. The protagonist and sometimes narrator of this series is a rather stereotypical manga character named Souji Kushiki, a reserved, good looking student from an affluent family who aces all his school tests and excels at sports, and has just returned home from an extended stay at an far-away boarding school – much to the delight of his three sisters, who are more than merely overjoyed when they learn of his return. He enrolls into a local school, where he meets the incessantly energetic Sasai, who seems to know a good deal about his personal life, and learns from her that three of their fellow students were brutally murdered over the summer holiday – and she's determined to pick up the investigation where the police left off and wants to enlist his help in cracking the case. Up till this point, the plot bears all the hallmarks of your typical high school murder mystery, in which two students try to connect the dots of a series of unusual crimes that are, in one way or another, linked to their school, but that's where the story, like Spiral, is deceptive in its initial appearance. However, where Spiral morphed into a clever and intriguing, multi-layered game of chess, the plot of Amnesia Labyrinth quickly distorts itself into a dark and twisted character driven crime story. Souji's family life is one that will probably disturb many readers of this blog. His step-sister, Harumi, has a crush on him, but she's too shy to actually make a move on him, while his full-blooded sister, Youko, constantly wraps her arms around him and simply can't stop fondling with him and he actually has a sexual relationship with his half-sister, Saki, which they deem as normal. An already difficult family relationship, to say the least, strained by the fact that his sisters may be involved in the murders at his new school. It's too early to say for sure which direction the series will eventually take, but as things stand now, it has all the potential to be either a total disaster, in a modernist, thrillerish kind of way, or a complete and welcome surprise. But in case of the latter, it pretty much all depend on how well the mystery elements of the plot will develop in the upcoming installments. Amnesia Labyrinth is published by Seven Seas, and the second volume is lined up for a release in early June. Final note: You can read a free sample of the first several pages on the website of the publisher. Remember: it's manga, so read right-to-left. One of the best detective novels I read last year was Murder on Safari (1938) by Elspeth Huxley. Despite its uninspired title, the book is the epitome of what a detective story should be: an excellent cast of well-drawn characters inhabiting a vividly painted setting and a top-notch plot that plays scrupulous fair with its readers – in this case providing a solution with nearly a dozen footnotes, referring back to the pages where the clues were given. Brilliant! Huxley played the grandest game in the world the way it's supposed to be played, and therefore expected a great deal from The Merry Hippo (1963), but was a bit let down by the overall story, which, while not bad, failed to grab my full attention. The titular hippo is a sumptuous guest house in Hapana, one of those two-by-four countries tucked away in a nook of the African continent, where a Royal Commission, consisting of both Europeans and Africans, have taken up their residence as they discuss and investigate the country's independence from British imperial rule. Not as easy a task as it may seem with a local political climate resembling an explosive powder keg, revolutionary movements, religious cults and informational leakage to communist Russia, which may or may not be linked to the fatal poisoning of one of the Commissionaires during what should've been a leisurely picnic – and it's even possible that the victim unwittingly took his poisoned sandwiches from the wrong lunch box. Huxley tells a genuinely amusing story, in which she sketches an ill-assorted cast of characters, who clash with one another on more than one occasion, and the setting shows that she knew what she was writing about. But the plot, somehow, didn't keep up with the rest story and thus failed to excite and capture this reader's complete, undivided attention. However, it's not that the plot is bad itself, it just isn't very interesting and pretty mundane compared to the rest of the story – and the solution is both anticlimactic and somewhat unfair where the motive is concerned. All in all, this was not the follow-up success that had been expected, but, fortuitously, I still have a couple of her books from the 1930s to hunt down, which, hopefully, have maintained the overall quality of Murder on Safari. It's an understatement to say that Gladys Mitchell was one of the least conventional mystery writers of the 20th century, whose fondness for preternatural events, evoking magical scenes and settings, off-the-wall plotting and uncanny knack for creating believable children gives her detective stories a fairytale-like quality. This is further heightened by the presence of her series detective, the shrieking, cackling, rib-probing pterodactyl-like Mrs. Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley, who's not unlike an unsightly Good Witch of the North. However, this doesn't always make her books good detective stories as fair play is often drowned in the imaginative wealth and complexity of her plots, and plot threads are sometimes left dangling in the wind. The best example of this is her often touted masterpiece, The Rising of the Moon (1945), which is narrated by a 13-year-old boy and is better read as a coming-of-age story with strong mystery elements than as a pure detective story – because the ending leaves you scratching your head in utter amazement (it's up to the individual reader to decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing). At her best, though, her books had the deceptive appearance of a conventional, British mystery novel, often complete with a charming country villages and quaint vicars, but they really are clever and delightful send-ups of the genre and brimming over with bizarre elements – such as witchcraft and chopped-up corpses (e.g. The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop, 1929). Merlin's Furlong (1953) is a book from her middle-period and displays nearly all of her strength and practically none of her weaknesses, and begins in a very conventional manner when a rich and cantankerous old man invites his nephews over and starts playing around with his will. Surely an ill-advised course of action for any character in a detective story, but we won't learn immediately what happens to them as the story shifts focus from the crabby old geezer and his suffering relatives to three enterprising young men ready to embark on an adventure. These three undergraduate students, Harrison, Waite and Piper, answer a peculiar advertisement beseeching the help of a warlock in handling a pin-covered voodoo doll. The man behind this strange request is the eccentric ex-college professor Havers, who dabbles in the black arts, and hires them to retrieve a stolen religious icon from the old man who's toying around with his legacy in his dilapidated home. Confusing? Complex? Not at all, and this is only the start of their adventurous journey. The foursome, the three men and the professor's voodoo doll, embark on their risky venture to Merlin's Furlong, the name of the despot's home, but the region is cluttered with ancient ruins bearing that Arthurian name and they accidently end up at Merlin's Castle – coincidently the dwelling of the oddball professor who employed them to get his icon back. But when they finally arrive at their correct destination, after trampling around the country side, they don't find the item they set-out to retrieve, but the old man sprawled out on his bed with a sizable dent in his skull – and when the local police discovers the body of professor Havers in his coach-house they have a heck of a lot of explaining to do. Enter Mrs. Bradley, whose expertise in witchcraft is much needed to unravel this dazzling complex plot that involves a pin-covered voodoo doll, a desecrated gravesite of a suicide victim who was buried twice, a secret room stuffed with artifacts, a dead cat and a live monkey, a midnight cult and a change of heirs. Mitchell neatly ties all these plot threads together and satisfactory accounts for all of them, which makes Merlin's Furlong one of her most rewarding books. The plot perfectly exhibits her sheer, unrivalled and wild imagination, but nothing of the detective story is lost along the way – which was as nice as a surprise as the solution itself. So if you haven't met Gladys Mitchell and Mrs. Bradley before, this is a great book to make their acquaintance and it's widely available again thanks to the wonderful people at the Rue Morgue Press. May their books grace our bookshelves for many decades to come! I have decided that reviews of Gohso Aoyama's marvelous Case Closed (a.k.a. Detective Conan) series will become a semi-regular feature on this blog spot. Yes, I know. It's somewhat befuddling and illogical to start smack in the middle of a series, but I have been reading these stories since 2006 – and I didn't have the time to revisit all those foregoing volumes. But don't let that stop you from discovering this tremendous and imaginative detective series for yourself and try to catch up with me if you can. It's been done! Just take the time to read these notes and this earlier blog entry, so that you know what to expect, and plunge yourself in the vibrant, ever expanding universe of Detective Conan – where high adventure and mystery awaits all who seek it! The first chapter of this book is the conclusion of a case that started in the previous volume, which involved a murdered software developer who had close ties with the elusive criminal organization that's responsible for Conan's precarious situation. However, they appear to be completely unaware of the death of their computer programmer, and Conan decides to bait a trap with the program he was developing for them, but they remain as intangible as ever. This story provided another compelling plot thread in the ongoing and increasingly more important main storyline, concerning Conan and his wraithlike adversaries. Conan and his buddies of The Junior Detective League lend a helping hand to one of their own in the hope of earning a set of beautiful Festival Dolls for Amy, but at the apartment where the dolls reside also hangs a coveted wall scroll worth a small fortune – and, of course, someone swipes it. This is a fairly clued but minor story in the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Purloined Letter." Conan, Rachel and her dad, the celebrated sleeping detective, Richard Moore, attend a professional wrestling show where they have an opportunity to meet the star of the company and reigning champion – the famous masked wrestler, Wolf Face. But a backstage rivalry soon leads them to the dressing room of another wrestler, scheduled to face the masked lucha libre in the main event, who was brutally stabbed to death in front of a running camera and the video shows that the perpetrator was none other than Wolf Face! Conan does an excellent and swift job in deducing who of his fellow in-ring combatants donned one of his masks and done in his opponent – successfully proving that Wolf Face's paws are free of blood and securing his secret identity from the fans and press. Conan's friend and rival detective, Harley Hartwell, also has a knack for landing himself in tight situations – as he and Kazuha find themselves at the mercy of a ruthless jurist who's trying to force him to decipher a code cooked up by a private detective who has the goods on her. He has to try to keep himself and Kazuha alive while also trying to reach Conan for help. This is more a thriller than a proper mystery, but with the complicated cryptogram worked into the plot an intelligent suspense story would probably be a better qualification. The stories that make up this volume are a fairly good, if somewhat unexcited, addition to the series, and will not fail to entertain its fans. Case Closed, volume 39: The Adventure of the Scarlet Blaze is set to be released in mid-July, and I, for one, can't wait to get my greedy hands on it. Note: I wrote this review when my concentration was completely shot, so it didn't turn out the way I wanted. It's a well-established fact that Kelley Roos is one of my all-time favorite mystery writers, only second to the unsurpassed master of the locked room mystery, John Dickson Carr, and I'm sure that some of my fellow detective enthusiasts are probably sick and tired at this point of me pouncing at every opportunity to proselytize Roos' work – especially that unacknowledged masterpiece, The Frightened Stiff (1942), which, by the way, is still in print. Just FYI. I adulate Roos' witty style that's usually tightly woven with the threads of a cleverly crafted plot, and I dote on Jeff and Haila Troy – one of the better bantering husband-and-wife detective teams in the genre. Considering this affinity I have for the books and characters, it was disconcerting to learn that, in their last recorded case, my favorite snooping couple had gone their separated ways! One False Move (1966) was written after a seventeen year break from the series, in which between suspense and thriller stories appeared under the Kelley Roos byline, but before the end of the second decade, William and Aubrey Roos decided to return to the traditional detective story – resulting in an amusing romp, in which they deliver playful jabs to their own body of work, both their straightforward detective stories and suspenseful thrillers, as well as their characters. After her divorce from Jeff Troy, Haila Rogers packs up and leaves New York City behind her to recuperate with relatives living in Carsonville, a scant town in Texas momentarily buzzing with activity as the town's anniversary nears closer and the rehearsals for a pageant are in full swing – reenacting a fairly recent and bloody piece of local history, involving a gang of outlaws and several brutal murders. But that's all stuff for the history books, and, with the era of desperados behind them, the town reclaimed its sleepy demeanor and serenity. But they didn't reckon that with Haila's arrival, they welcomed someone in their midst who's a chronic sufferer from, what later would be diagnosed as, "Jessica Fletcher Syndrome," which especially acts up in an aggressive manner in small town environments – and before long, she just so happens to overhear fragments of a heated argument, between a blackmailer and his unidentifiable victim, naturally ending with a fatal knife thrust to the blackguard's heart. "This isn't the first murder victim you’ve discovered?" "Well ... no" The chief's eyebrows rose above his steel-rimmed glasses. "The third, Miss Rogers?" "Well, it's been quite a few. Come to think of it, I’ve never kept count. You see, my ex-husband was always getting mixed up in murder cases. In fact, that was one of our bones of ... shall I say, contention?" In defense of Jeff, that's hardly fair criticism when only moments ago she tripped over the still-warm and bleeding remains of the first homicide victim the town has seen in decades, but then again, maybe she has a valid point when a second murder of a local admiral, battered to death with a bronze bust of Shakespeare, coincides with him unexpectedly showing up in town – and even has a nearly fateful brush with the murderer. This subtle way of poking fun at the conventions of the genre and their own stories is pretty typical of this book, and you have to be a little familiar with their previous work to fully appreciate it. For instance, if you contrast some of the events, concerning Jeff and Haila, with those from their first detective novel, Made Up to Kill (1940), you have to conclude that the series has come full-circle – as both the characters and readers rediscovers one another. The humor and zest of the earlier books are still very much a part of this late entry into the series, but the plotting, alas, seems to have suffered from the Rooses picking up the traditional whodunit format again, after having abondoned the form for so many years to write thrillers and suspense stories. Not that the plot is an awful mess or painfully transparent, but proper detection has become a secondary concern, nevertheless, the two modern murders were neatly tied-in with the towns history set against a semi-theatrical backdrop – which is worthy of at least one or two bonus points. Everything considered, this is not a book to begin with if you're new to the series, but if you're devotee of Kelley Roos than you probably want to check up on your old friends, Jeff and Haila Troy, and find out for yourself how they will haul themselves out of this messy quagmire. In an earlier blog entry that was dedicated to the memory of H.R.F. Keating, I mentioned that he was an unusual writer in the field, who excelled when he wasn't attempting to pen down a formally plotted detective story, but when he focused his direction on the battle-of-wits between his subservient police inspector, Ganesh Ghote, and a powerful adversary. The best example I could provide at the time was Inspector Ghote Goes by Train (1971), in which the poor inspector is locked in a mental standoff with a cunning confidence-trickster, but also remarked that Inspector Ghote Draws a Line (1979) and Under a Monsoon Cloud (1986) apparently took a more interesting and earnest approach to this form of story telling, however, I was unable to comment on them then since neither book had yet come into my hands – a glaring omission that has now been rectified. In the past two weeks, I added both titles to my ever-growing collection and have just finished reading Inspector Ghote Draws a Line, in which Keating puts a nifty spin on the old cat-and-mouse game between protagonist and antagonist. The servile Inspector Ghote is ordered off to the heat sweltering abode of Justice Asif Ibrahim, situated in a secluded spot of the sultry country side, to find out whose been leaving the old judge threatening letters and prevent any attempts on his live. But the pensioned-off judge, who earned himself an unpopular reputation by condemning the plotters in the Madurai Conspiracy Case to death shortly before India's independence, is obstinate in his refusal to accept any help and is determined to make Ghote's job as difficult as possible, by obscuring information and attemps at restricting him in his investigation. Ghote's presence is only tolerated on insistence of a two relatives and because he's in the guise of a Doctor of Philosophy, there to assist him in committing his memoirs to paper, which conveniently strips him of his official status and privilege of asking importunate questions – and before long it begins to dawn on the inspector that his foe is not the nebulous would-be killer, but his prospective, unyielding victim-to-be. This makes for a satisfying and original artifice on the authors' part, in which the solution to the case at hand is not revealed by peeling away the many layers that cover-up a murderous plot, but the ones that encumber the character of Sir Asif Ibrahim – resulting in one of the rare triumphs of characterization over plotting. Nevertheless, even with the characters emerging triumphantly from the book, its plot is nothing to sneeze at, either, offering both misdirection as well as a properly clued solution – proving once again that he wasn't completely inept with the traditional format and makes for an overall gratifying reading experience. Inspector Ghote Draws a Line is perhaps not as fun a read as Inspector Ghote Goes by Train, even plodding in parts, but it shows Keating at the top of his game in what undoubtedly is his masterpiece. Contrary to what the title might suggest, this is not a belated rant on Disney's inane scheme for a modern rendition of the Miss Marple character – plucking her from a quiet village in the British countryside and dumping her in the Big City in the guise of a present-day version of a 1920s flapper. I will not drop any embittered comments on how Agatha Christie's grandson is pimping out her estate and that everyone with a pocketful of loose change can take Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple for a ride. Nor shall I make poor attempts at sarcasm by saying that the next major announcement will probably be that Harlequin Publishers has acquired the rights to The Mysterious Mr. Quin (1930), and are in the process of revising them into full-length romance novels – with all the detective stuff cut out of them, of course, but to make up for the lost of authenticity they will slap the name of Mary Westmacott on the covers. Nope. Not a peep out of me on that subject. The Disney I'm referring to is Dorothy Cameron Disney, one of the many shamefully neglected names in the field, who specialized in blending detection with atmospheric scenes of suspense and eerie foreshadowing sequences – commonly referred to as "Had-I-But-Known." This term is used to describe the books of Mary Robert Rinehart and her followers, who usually have their heroine reflecting back at the start of their novels, "had I but known that my surprise visit to my Great-aunt Agatha would expose a dark plot leading to the death of four people, I would never have gone to Rockport." Or something that runs along similar lines. To be fair, this particular sub-genre never really appealed to me, sounding just a little bit too much as cozies with some doom and gloom added to the mix, but the descriptions and reviews of Dorothy Cameron Disney's mysteries, suggesting complex plotting wrapped up in a thick, atmospheric blanket, did catch my attention – and after reading her first book, Death in the Back Seat (1936), I'm glad that, once again, I succumbed to temptation. Death in the Back Seat opens with a young couple, Jack and Lola Storm, taking a break from their expensive New York lifestyle, and settle down for while in the quiet town of Crockford, situated in rural Connecticut, where they rent a small cottage from the unsociable Luella Coatesnash – a stout, old-fashioned woman who's somewhat of an unofficial sovereign of the region. But peace and quietness simply cannot be allowed to reign long in a detective story, and when a mysterious telephone call, more or less, orders the Storms to pick up a business acquaintance of their landlady, who, at that moment, is visiting France with her companion, they're unwillingly dragged into a vast and dark plot – leaving them with a corpse on the rumble seat of their car and a bag in the front seat stashed with cash. And that's just for starters. Crockford, being the small town it is, are prejudiced against the suspicious outsiders and it doesn't exactly help that their cottage, and the grounds immediately surrounding it, are the center of all the criminal activity in the region – from a burglar, his face blackened with charcoal, stumbling from their closet and fleeing into the night to charred fragments of bone in a furnace. However, they're not making things exactly easy for themselves, either, purposely stumbling from one dangerous situation into another – all the while finding clues, uncovering hidden relationships, and, more importantly, not trying to get themselves killed. The only thing you can say against them is that they don't do it with the same joie de vivre as the Troys and the Browns, but then again, this not that type of mystery. This book is really one big knotted ball of plot threads that slowly unravels in front of a captivated reader, and the best part is that you can play with it yourself, by trying to unsnarl it before Jack and Lola do, or, uhm, just sit back and enjoy the ride. On a final note, Mike Grost notes on his excellent website that Disney completely ignored one of Van Dine's sacred rules, and I have one thing to say about that: good for her! There are, IMHO, only two rules for writing a good detective story: it has to play fair with the reader and there has to be a plot (or at the very least an attempt at creating one). I see no discernible reason why a detective story should exclude sinister societies, monstrous conspiracies, tough gangsters or a genuine love interest. It just depends on how well an author can work these elements into a story, and some do it better than others. Disney is one of them and scores full marks for this effort. The regular book reviews will commence next weeks, including a critique of another one of my new discoveries, and a pretty good one at that, but for now, you will have to do with this piece of artwork from The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service – depicting its members as famous fictional detectives. Role call: Yuji Yata as Hercule Poirot; Ao Sasaki as Miss Marple; Keiko Makino as Sherlock Holmes; Makoto Numata as Shunsaku Kudo and Kuro Karatsu as Kousuke Kindaichi. Note of warning: time didn't permit me to write this response at my leisure or properly proof read before posting – so please judge it on its content and not the style. This is a slovenly response to a blot-post on TGWTG website by Patrick and Pharmmajor discussing, back and forth, one of my all-time favorite detective series, Case Closed a.k.a. Detective Conan, but I'm afraid the only thing the article did for me was irking me the wrong way and the parroting on Patrick's part genuinely annoyed the heck out of me. Jim: "Detective manga is a small, but highly popular genre in Japan that has gradually grown in popularity here in America over the past few decades." Jim is correct in stating that detective stories in manga form are highly popular in Japan, but they haven't gradually grown in popularity over here – on the contrary, they've been selling rather poorly. Last year, the releases for Case Closed were cut back from six to four volumes a year, The Kindaichi Case Files was only sporadically released (about once a year) before ending up on the chopping block and there has yet to be a publisher who gives series such as Q.E.D., Detective Academy Q, The Accidents, Chief Detective Kenichi and Master Keaton as much as a glance. Why this woeful lack of interest of both readers and publishers? I don't have a definite answer to that question, but I can offer a theory. Contrary to Japan, the traditional mystery isn't an active part of our pop-culture, that is to say, writers such as Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie still enjoy a large readership, but there's barely a place on the market for neo-orthodox mystery writers. Case in point: John Pugmire faced the daunting task of getting one of Paul Halter's locked room novels published into English, but, as the years crept by, it started to look more and more like an impossibility that would even baffle Dr. Alan Twist and Owen Burns – and was only solved by the advent of self-publishing services. This is not the case in Japan, where there's an entire neo-orthodox movement whose books are even eligible (and won) literary prices – which is why Conan and Kindaichi are such a success over there, with both younger and older readers, but fail to really catch on here in the West. The problem is that the traditional detective story, which include locked room mysteries and other impossible crimes, has become a specialized genre over here and publishers mistakenly targeted these books at the type of manga fans who gobble up series like Naruto and Bleach, instead of actual mystery fans – and, unfortunately for Conan and Kindaichi, there's only a small overlap of manga and classic mystery readers.

http://moonlight-detective.blogspot.com/2011/04/

"The one thing I do know about murderers is that they can never let well alone." The Conqueror Inn (1943) is the eighteenth entrée in E.R. Punshon's decades-long series about a rising policeman, Inspector Bobby Owen of the Wychshire County Police, which was praised by Anthony Boucher in The San Francisco Chronicle as "rewarding for its solid construction" and "the distinguished characterization" of an Irish patriot. It's definitely an interesting and noteworthy addition to the shelf of war-time mystery and crime novels from the 1940s. At this point in his career, Bobby Owen is doubling his role as the chief of the Midwych County C.I.D. with the post of secretary to the chief constable, Colonel Glynne, who was growing "more and more used to leaving everything to the young man already recognized as his successor" – which should have bound him to a paper-strewn desk. The key word here is "should," because Owen is on an errand that should have been confided to a subordinate. This errand leads him to a remote watering hole in a lonely, desolate spot of his district. Mr. Christopherson is the philosophical-minded, but taciturn, proprietor of the Conqueror Inn, which alleges "to be the oldest licensed house in England" and legend tells how William the Conqueror was served wine there. However, the building was torched to the ground, during a skirmish between Highlanders and Dragoons, after which a new structure was erected in 1750. So none of the subsequent owners possessed the paperwork necessary to substantiate their historic claim. What brought Owen to this remote and desolate place was a strange phone call from the present landlord: Mr. Christopherson placed a phone call to the police, requesting an experienced officer, because he had found a wooden box crammed with "tightly packed bundles of one-pound notes" – a grand total of two thousand pounds. A nice chunk of money in those days, but that’s not all the landlord stumbles across. Not far from the road where he found the box is "a new dug grave." So they open the grave, but even Bobby is shocked by what he unearthed. The makeshift grave contains the body of a man, "stripped of every shred of clothing," with a single bullet hole directly over the heart, but the horrifying aspect is that "the dead man's face had been battered out of all resemblance to human features." As a result, Bobby finds himself faced with an unusual kind of problem: having to figure out who had been killed? There are a number of possibilities: one of them is the son of the landlord, Derek, who went missing on the battlefield of Dunkirk, presumably killed, but evidence surfaced suggesting he might have survived. If this is the case, it becomes obvious that his family has been hiding him from the authorities, which also gives rise to another possibility: might the confused, shell-shocked young man might have shot the faceless man? After all, Bobby found evidence of an attempted burglary at the inn. Another candidate for the role of corpse is a young Irishman, Larry Connor, who came over from the Emerald Isle to enlist, but was rejected by the R.A.F. and seems to have gone missing not long thereafter – which is disputed by his uncooperative uncle, Micky Burke. Bobby finds that nearly everyone involved in the case is annoyingly unaccommodating: the landlord and his daughter, Rachel, talk about as much as a brick wall. Rachel even openly defies Bobby and this throws the prowling policeman in a sulky mood ("women never play fair"). Bobby also encounters a military man, Captain Peter Wintle, who sustained a black eye around the same time as the victim received a sound thrashing, which was two days before the murder, but the captain refuses to slip any information to the inspector. It's noted at the end of the book that this needlessly complicated the case. Finally, there are Mr. Merton Kram and his daughter, owners of a lorry company, who seem to have a marked interest in the outbuildings of the inn. But are they involved in the murder? So the slightly frustrated police-inspector has to piece to truth together from allusions, half-stated truths, a forged letter, a buried service revolver and burning candle on a mantel piece – all of them, somehow, tied to the box full of one-pound notes, black marketeering and a possible plot from Irish revolutionaries. This makes for one of Punshon's typically complicated, but niftily executed, detective stories that run all over the place. But his plots always seem to manage to land on their feet. So I was very pleased with the overall story, but the reader has to be warned about one aspect of the plot: the revelation of the murderer’s identity and motivation is anti-climatic, because it turns out to be a rather simple, sordid and even modern kind of crime. One that was complicated by the mutilation, burial and the other aforementioned plot-threads. Some of you might respond with: "What? That's all?" It makes The Conqueror Inn perhaps more of a crime novel than a proper mystery, but I really liked the story as a whole. As you've probably noticed by now, I have a huge soft spot for these war-time detective stories and there was enough here to forgive that weak spot. Note for the curious: Dean Street Press has previously reissued two other very interesting and excellent World War II mysteries, which are respectively Harriet Rutland's Blue Murder (1942) and Ianthe Jerrold's There May Be Danger (1948). Both of them come highly recommended. If You Lie Down With Dogs... "Sometimes... I think that the War has had a bad effect on some of our young men." Annie Haynes' The Crow's Inn Tragedy (1927) is the third installment in a short-lived series of mystery novels, which marked the final appearance of Detective-Inspector Furnival, who previously helmed The Abbey Court Murder (1923) and The House in Charlton Crescent (1926), but he was given an early retirement in favor of Detective-Inspector William Stoddart – who burst on the scene in The Man with the Dark Beard (1928). The Crow's Inn Tragedy can also be read as the end of the first phase of Haynes' career as a mystery novelist, which covered five standalones and the Furnival trilogy. After those seven detective stories, Haynes appended her bibliography with four additional titles about Detective-Inspector Stoddart and the last two were published posthumously. So the subject of today's blog-post is an overlooked, but important, milestone in the life and career of Haynes. Let's get started! One of the primary backdrops of the story is an old-fashioned, dingy and worn solicitor's office, located on the first floor of a corner house of Crow's Inn Square, which "evidently not had a coat of paint for years" and bare of any modern innovations or conveniences – making the place feel like a holdout from the late 19th century or early 1900s. It's in this "indescribable air of gloom" that the head of legal firm, Mr. Luke Bechcombe, receives his brother-in-law, Reverend James Collyer. Occasionally, Mr. Bechcombe provides some of his clients with a special and discrete service: he disposes of their valuable stones and substitutes them with paste. As a rule, these clients consist of society women, who overdrawn on their allowance, but refuse to tell their affluent husbands that they raked up a debt that their pocket money can't cover. But now his brother-in-law wants to dispose of a valuable and precious family heirloom, the Collyer Cross. The emerald studded cross is a treasured and precious religious artifact, "gleaming with baleful, green fire," which the clergyman wants to convert in cash in order to payoff the debts incurred by his son, Tony. Tony Collyer served in the trenches of the First World War, but the war "played ruination with the young men just beginning life" and England, "the home of heroes," had "no use for her heroes now" – which is why his father does not want to be too hard on the boy. Rev. Collyer wants to give his son a clean start, because he has "an inducement now that he has never had before." Tony is, sort of, engaged to Mr. Bechcombe's secretary, Cecily Hoyle. However, Mr. Bechcombe has some bad news for his brother-in-law: the emeralds are a paste substitute and this is when an important plot-thread is introduced: Bechcombe tells there have been "as many jewels stolen in the past year in London" as "in twenty years previously." The suspected party in these thefts is a well-organized group of criminals, known as the Yellow Gang, who are headed by a figure referred to as the Yellow Dog. This plot-thread dangles inconspicuously in the background of the story and only takes the center-stage during the final chapters, but more on this gang-related plot-thread later. In the meantime, there's another problem requiring the attention of both the police and the reader: Mr. Bechcombe is strangled to death in his private office and his death is surrounded by questions. Why had his managing clerk, Mr. Amos Thompson, disappeared? Who was the lady who had left a white, expensive-looking glove at the scene of the crime? How is it possible that one of the witnesses, who eventually came forward, claimed to have spoken with the solicitor when the medical examiner said he was dead at that time? Detective-Inspector Furnival of the Yard, known in the force as "The Ferret," is placed on the case, but the inspector seems to be doomed to play second fiddle in every instance of his last recorded case. The questions surrounding the murder are easily answered, especially after the halfway mark of the book, but Furnival takes forever to catch up with the reader and Haynes' storytelling is far more memorable than the characterization of her policeman – a gray, colorless character who hardly stands out against the background of the plot. He's practically swallowed by it. Even his last opportunity to shine is stolen by Mr. John Steadman, a barrister and criminologist, who accompanies Furnival on his investigation as an amateur snoop, of sorts, and takes the lead in escaping from the Yellow Gang in the final chapters of the book. So the poor inspector is not given an opportunity to bow out as a hero. I suspect those final chapters, describing the showdown with the Yellow Gang, is not to everyone's taste, which tinges the story with Victorian-era sensationalism and have seen this sequence being compared to Agatha Christie's The Big Four (1927). However, I found these scenes to be far more reminiscent of Dorothy L. Sayers' "The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba," which can be found in Lord Peter Views the Body (1928). Personally, I found these scenes to be mildly amusing, but they did turn a dark, moody whodunit (as easy as it may've been) into a gaudy thriller from an era that preceded the Golden Age. So not everyone might appreciate this last turn of events. On the whole, I feel somewhat divided about The Crow's Inn Tragedy: I liked Haynes storytelling and how the pall of the war hung over the story, but the plot hardly posed a challenge to the reader. And then there was the thriller-ish ending. The journey to the easily perceived and anticipated ending was much better than the eventual arrival there. So not exactly on the same level as the excellent The House in Charlton Crescent and The Crime at Tattenham Corner (1929), but it was a quick, fairly good read. So far this lukewarm review. Hopefully, I'll have something really good again for the next one. "After all, most people... when confronted with a case of murder, have little but their knowledge of detective stories to guide them." Over the past six months, I reviewed a brace of mystery novels by Leo Bruce, Nothing Like Blood (1962) and Death at St. Asprey's School (1967), but they were about his secondary detective-character, Carolus Deene, who never reached the same heights as his original creation – a former village constable, turned private-investigator, named Sgt. Beef. The boorish, beer-chugging and dart-loving sergeant is a personal favorite of mine, but Beef only appeared in eight novels and a dozen, or so, short stories. It's one of those great series that was too short-lived. Luckily, I still had two full-length mystery novels from this series residing on the mountainous region of my TBR-pile. So after two very uneven detective stories from the Deene series, I decided to eliminate one of the remaining Beef novels from my seemingly never-ending list of unread detective stories. Neck and Neck (1951) is the seventh, penultimate, entry in this series and the plot offers a personal problem for the serious, long-suffering narrator, Lionel Townsend, who regularly gets ragged on by Sgt. Beef for his dearth of literary success or lack of confidence in his ability – which is why he has "to play second fiddle to all these other clever detectives." Or so the sergeant assumes. But his personal biographer confides in the reader that he could no longer blind himself "to the fact that Beef was a genius." Townsend had known him first "as a heavy-footed policeman," blunt and boorish, whose methods seemed outwardly slapdash, but he had "prevailed too often to leave any doubt about his really profound cleverness." Now he wants Beef to apply his uncouth methods to clear up the murky circumstances surrounding the sudden passing of his favorite aunt. The story opens with an urgent telegram from Townsend's brother, Vincent, who appeared previously in Case with Rings and Ropes (1940). It informs him that their "Aunt Aurora died suddenly this afternoon," but the telegram is quickly followed by a telephone call, in which Vincent shakily tells his brother that the doctor refuses to sign a death certificate and a police doctor is now on the case. There were also several policemen at the home of their aunt. Apparently, Aunt Aurora "felt terribly ill just after lunch," excused herself, but "by tea-time she was dead," which did not sit well with her doctor and he called in the police – who shared his suspicion and an investigation was started – eventually revealing "a large quantity of morphia" in her system. So she was undoubtedly murdered, but the only viable motive to kill this beloved woman was her money. The bulk of her money was divided between Lionel and Vincent, while a distant cousin, Hilton Gupp, had been cut out of her will. This came as both a surprise and shock to Gupp, because he really needed the money. However, Gupp has an apparently unshakable alibi. Some of the other beneficiaries included a thousand pounds for the Misses Graves, "Aunt Aurora's great friends," who were living well above their means and the local vicar, obsessed with the restoration of church murals, for which Aunt Aurora left five hundred pounds to the St. Luke's Restoration Fund. So Townsend decides to call in Beef and this gives Bruce an opportunity to do a bit of knocking on the fourth wall. Vincent reproachfully remarks how surprise he is at his brother for trying "to make a detective-story-fan’s holiday out of Aunt Aurora's death" and, sarcastically, added that "it will make an excellent novel." After all, Beef usually get to the bottom of it. After his arrival, Sgt. Beef approaches the case with his brash oafishness and blunt questions. For example, he asks the family solicitor, after the funeral, in the presence of everyone else how money "there was in the kitty" and hinting he may need "a new biographer in any case" – since Townsend is as much as suspect as anyone else. It would not be the first time the narrator turned out to be the murderer. However, where Beef genuinely shines in this outing is as the only person to notice an obscure link between the poisoning of Aunt Aurora and "a little affair in the Cotswolds." Before he even appeared in the case, Beef told Townsend he was working on a second case: an unpleasant bibliophile, collector and publisher, Edwin Ridley, was found hanging from a beam in his gloomy home. At first glance, it seemed to be a case of suicide and this worried his brother, a clergyman, because Ridley had taken out a large insurance and this was supposed to go into a trust fund for the children of his clergyman brother – which would not be paid out if it turned out that he taken his own life. So the Reverend Alfred Ridley engaged the services of Beef, but it was the police who figured out the publisher was strangled first and then hung up on a rope. There are more than enough potential suspects: Ridley used his small publishing house to wrench money from aspiring authors by letting them share in the printing costs, but the result was usually no more than a handful of cheaply printed and badly bound volumes. This spelled the premature death of many literary careers. One of these young writers, named Greenleaf, attempted to kill himself over such a "gag" and this makes him an obvious suspect. But that's not all: the secretary of the victim discovers someone has been "monkeying with one or two of the more valuable books" from his late employer’s collection. So there are more than enough potential motives to go around on this second investigation and Beef suggests Townsend makes "one book of the two of them" by letting both cases run neck and neck. Having parallel investigation, which eventually come together, is not an unusual approach to plotting a mystery novel (c.f. Robert van Gulik), but the hidden connection that links both murders is the crux of this plot – which made for niftily constructed plot. Granted, the idea did not originate with Bruce, but Neck and Neck is a good, early example of this plot-device. Only thing that can be said against is that modern readers probably will not be entirely taken in by the trick. You can both guess and deduce the identity of the murderer and how the murders were connected. Nevertheless, Neck and Neck is a genuine detective story with a fine plot and nicely written, which effectively ended on a serious and human note. Overall, this made for a pretty good read from one of my favorite series of detective stories. Sadly, I've only one Sgt. Beef novel left on the big pile: Case Without a Corpse (1937). Guess I'll save that one for next year or so. "What was that somebody said about a bolt from the blue and death coming out of the sky?" Ernest C. Elmore was a theatrical producer, stage director and playwright, who wrote half a dozen fantasy novels, but abandoned both the stage and the fantasy genre to become a prolific writer of detective stories – which he did under the alias "John Bude." Over a period of twenty-five years, the penname of John Bude appeared on the book covers of thirty mystery novels. A literary legacy that, until now, consisted entirely of very rare, often expensive and highly collectible editions. So these detective stories were long overdue for a second trip through the innards of a printing press! Thankfully, the British Library Crime Classics, an imprint of the Poisoned Pen Press, have made a dedicated effort to pull his work from the bog of obscurity, five of them so far, of which two have been reviewed on this blog – namely The Cornish Coast Murder (1935) and Death on the Riviera (1952). I found them both to be pleasantly written and highly entertaining mystery novels, but the plots were, alas, not of the same grade as the writing or characterization. However, the latest book to make a reappearance in this series of reissues, The Cheltenham Square Murder (1937), received some good notices and the plot sounded solid enough. I was not entirely wrong in my presumption. The Cheltenham Square Murder is Bude's fourth mystery novel, but only the third one to feature his series character: Superintendent Meredith of the Sussex County Police. During his third recorded case, Meredith finds himself in a textbook example of the proverbial busman's holiday. Meredith is invited to spend a portion of his holiday in the company of a well-known crime writer and personal friend, Aldous Barnet, who wants draw on the expertise of the superintendent for the book he's writing. As luck would have it, Barnet's sister went abroad and she placed her home at the disposal of her famous brother. So he could work in peace. The home of Miss Barnet is situated in Regency Square, one of the iconic squares of Cheltenham Spa, "that famous and lovely town," which exhales "an atmosphere of leisure, culture and almost rural tranquility." Regency Square consists of ten houses, "erected in the form of a flattened U," but the architecture of these exclusive looking abodes is not uniform. However, the effect is not disharmonious and gives the impression "of a quiet, residential backwater," where old people can grow becomingly older, undisturbed "by the rush and clatter" of the modern world – which has left them nothing more than "the memories of a past epoch." As noted in the opening chapter, outward appearance can be very deceiving and the inhabitants have their fair share of problems. Problems that range from small annoyances to the kind of intrusions that could bring someone to murder. Some of the small annoyances consist of "a minor war" about an elm tree, which divided the square in two camps: one side wants the tree removed, while the others wants to the tree to remain where it has stood for over a century. Other irritations include the insistent hymn-singing of the Watt sisters, the yapping of Miss Boon's pack of dogs and the eternal ringing of Dr. Pratt's telephone-bell, but the real trouble can be found in the household of Arthur West – who was deserted by his wife, lost most of his money and had to put his house up for sale. There are two people at the heart of West's precarious situation: a retired stockbroker, Mr. Edward Buller, who made money off his bad advice to West and a really villainous character, Captain Cotton, who had been swarming around his wife. So you can almost understand when the news reaches that a murder has occurred at the home of Buller, but the true surprise comes when everyone learns the victim is Captain Cotton and the manner in which he died. After all, it did not occur very often that a policeman was confronted, these days, with "the dead body of a man with an arrow embedded in the back of his head." The shaft had entered the room through an open window and the murder weapon, in this instance, does not decrease the pool of potential suspects, because the square is teeming with fervent (amateur) archers – half of them members of the Wellington Archery Club. This aspect of the plot reminded me of Leo Bruce's Death at St. Asprey’s School (1964), which uses a similar craze for archery, at a boy's boarding school, as a convenient excuse to use the classic bow-and-arrow as a murder weapon. It saddles the detectives of both books with a similar type of problem: who was in a position to loosen the fatal arrow and, in the case of this story, how did this person manage to lug around a cumbersome, six-feet bow. But we're getting ahead of the story. First of all, the congenial Inspector Long is the man officially assigned to the case, but he's aware of Meredith's past successes and of the opinion that "two heads are better than one," which makes for a pleasant makeshift investigative duo. Long and Meredith have a mish-mash of case to untangle: such as unearthing all of the potential motives and figuring out who knew Cotton was dropping by Buller. Or if the murderer took out the wrong man by accident. However, the wall safe in Cotton's home was opened and sifted through after his death and this puts both policemen on a small trail of blackmail. They also have to consider if the felled tree had to make way, so the murderer could have a clear shot, and who had access to the empty home of West. So, all of this, makes for a pleasantly busy and engaging mystery novel, but the strongest and weakest point of the plot is the how-aspect of the murders: there are two identical murders, which pose a number of questions to Meredith and Long, but they clever and deceptively presented – only smudge on this is the lack of fair play. You can figure out who the murderer is, but the, admittedly clever, methods this person employed can only be really guessed at. I made a fairly accurate stab in the dark, but only because a pair of short stories, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and R. Austin Freeman, kept popping into my head. Well, I guess John Bude was one of those writers who wrote stories about detectives instead of detective stories. Regardless, I still found The Cheltenham Square Murder to be a pleasantly written, well characterized and reasonably plotted. It was perhaps not one of the fairest mysteries ever conceived, but the plot was noticeable cleverer and stronger than those from the previous two I've read. So I was not entirely dissatisfied with the end result and would recommend new readers, if they're interested, to start with this one. "One's idea must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature." Back in June, I posted a review of Venom House (1952) by Arthur W. Upfield and concluded the blog-post with the promise to return to his work more often, which, somehow, I actually managed to achieve – posting one review every month since that post. So why not continue down this path? The Battling Prophet (1956) numbers twenty in the series about Upfield's half-caste policeman, Detective-Inspector Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte of the Queensland Police, whose special abilities makes him the man for "special assignments in the Outback" or "outer urban areas." Originally, the book was published as a serial in a weekly newspaper, The World's News, in 1955, which probably explains one uncharacteristic aspect about this particular entry in the series. One of the hallmarks of this series are the bright, colorful and vividly described backdrops that can be found on the Australian continent. And turning these settings into full-fledged characters was one of Upfield's talents. Over the course of twenty-nine books, Bony traveled to desert lagoons, isolated cattle stations, lonely swamps, valley towns and braved the parched, treeless grounds of the Nullarbor Plains, which impressed on the reader the sheer size of the continent, but a large chunk of The Battling Prophet takes place in-and around a small cottage – giving off the impression that you’re reading a novelized version of a stage play. The cottage in question belongs to eighty-four year old Mr. John Luton, a man of the old guard, who represents a dying race of men "who had left their mark so indelibly on the Outback." A stock of men "the like of which will never again be seen," because they "were born long before motor traction could weaken their bodies" and "the craze for luxury and mental distraction" came too late to get a firm grip on their minds, but they were prone to some of the old-world weaknesses – such as an Australian predilection for blackout drinking. However, even these drinking binges were done in accord with old-school rules: an observance that's "a relic from the old days" when hard workingmen would go on a weeks-long drinking spree after a long, self-imposed period of abstinence. Tragically, the last of these benders at the riverside cottage resulted in a casualty. Ben Wickham is a long-time friend of Luton and had as many enemies as admirers, which he accumulated during "a stormy career" as a pioneer of modern meteorology. During the 1950s, the science behind modern, long-range weather forecasts was still largely theoretical: the plans from the 40s to launch cameras in orbit, to observe weather and cloud patterns from space, would not come to fruition until April 1, 1960 – when the first weather satellite, TIROS-1, was launched. So to be able to make accurate forecasts, before the dawn of the space age, has serious (geo) political implications. Wickham has a weather record, dating back five decades, which allows him to make accurate prediction about the weather four, five or even six years ahead. One of Wickham's recent victories was the spot-on prediction about a great draught, but the accuracy of this forecast earned him as much scorn as admiration. As a result, the farmers who took Wickham seriously did not fallow their land, sown crops, bought manures, hired farm hands or took out any loans – which saved many of them from potentially bankrupting themselves. However, the people who had a financial or political interest in the farmers spending all of their money were not amused. Not amused at all. This is the reason for Luton's refusal to accept that Wickham had "died in the hoo-jahs of alcoholic poisoning," which he slipped into after one of their drinking spells, but was killed on account of him preventing the enslavement of farmers and graziers by "the big merchants" and "the banks." So on the recommendation of his neighbor, Knocker Harris, the old man dispatched an urgent letter to Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte. Upon his arrival, Bony is confronted with the first of many complications and obstacles: if it is the murder, the culprit was clever enough to fool both the local doctor and the medical examiner from the police department. A death certificate was signed, stating Wickham had died "from heart disease accelerated by alcohol," after which the body was cremated and the dust scattered to the four winds. A perfect murder! A good security for the murderer, but, regardless, someone starts pulling strings and Bony finds his own police apparatus is starting to work against him. Officially, Bony is on a fishing holiday and a guest of Mr. Luton, but rather quickly begins to receive urgent summons to make an early return to duty – orders he ignored and this makes him eventually a wanted man. But that's not all. Bony and Luton find themselves confronted with a couple of foreign agents, from behind the Iron Curtain, who proved to be prone to violence and prefer to enter a room with a gun in hand. I think this betrays the episodic nature of the story's original run as a newspaper serial, but makes for a fun, well-paced yarn. And loved how much Bony was enjoying his precarious situation. By the end of the book, Bony should've been so deep in trouble that it would've taken a platoon of gravediggers to get him out of it again, but he simply lifts himself out of the hole. How? Bony blackmails all of the involved police organizations and government branches by threatening to expose their, less than legal, activities. This makes for an excellent closer and recalled Rex Stout's The Doorbell Rang (1965), in which Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin also use the illegal activities of a government agency (i.e. FBI) to close a case. So all of this makes for a good and even excellent read, but there's one blemish that keeps The Battling Prophet from a place in the first rank. The revelation of the murderer was anti-climatic and was not really connected to any of the other plot-threads, which was slightly disappointing. I found the background of the victim fascinating and the murder should really have been tied to his activities as a meteorologist. Unfortunately, The Battling Prophet ended on a slightly disappointing note, but the journey to the final chapter was not bad. There were some pretty good or fun scenes. One of them has Bony telling Rev. Weston about his past, while they cast a fish line, which recounts his birth and how he acquired his peculiar name. Bony alluded to his origin in other novels, but this telling of his story seemed to have a bit more details. I also liked the scene when has inside a hidden cellar listening to a policeman making enquiries about his whereabouts. As I noted, Bony was having far too much fun in this outing. To sum this overlong review up, I would not recommend readers who are new to the series to start here, but fans of the series will find this an interesting inclusion in Bony's casebook. Like Arthur on Excalibur." Recently, I reviewed A Child's Garden of Death (1975) by Richard Forrest, which marked the debut of his husband-and-wife detective team, Lyon and Bea Wentworth, as well as the first one to feature an impossible crime – of which there are five in this ten-book series. Some of them have very alluring sounding premises (e.g. inexplicable vanishing of an airplane and a disappearing houseboat). So, naturally, I felt attracted to the series and A Child's Garden of Death, in spite of its imperfections, deserves praise for attempting to bridge the gap between detective stories from the Golden Age and those from the post-World War II era. In any case, the book warranted further investigation and almost immediately decided on which one would be next in line: the last one from the series, Death at King Arthur's Court (2005), which was published posthumously. Inferring from the dated plot-thread about the fax machine, I strongly suspect the manuscript was initially rejected by his publisher and spent the next decade as drawer stuffing. Nevertheless, the summary of the plot was promising a story with a solid locked room problem, one with "a medieval twist," involving a hooded figure wielding a broadsword and the shadow of suspicion falling on Lyon – who could end up on death row. So how I could possibly resist? But let's start at the beginning. Lyon is an author of children's literature and created the Wobblies, "a pair of benign monsters," while his wife, Bea, is an "unflappable state senator." One whose rising star is starting to get noticed across state lines. They live in an eighteenth century house, called Nutmeg Hill, which stands in the Connecticut town of Murphysville, but the small, deceivingly peaceful town has a homicide rate that competes with that of Cabot Cove and Midsomer County. Usually, they find themselves involved in these local murder cases. During their first recorded case, Lyon and Bea were drawn into an official police investigation by a close friend, Police-Chief Rocco Herbert, but in their final outing as detectives they find a problem in their own driveway – inurned inside a completely sealed, armor-plated RV! Warren Morgan, a professor at Middleburg University, has been receiving death threats from "a bunch of disgruntled college dropouts," who refer to themselves as the Brotherhood of Beelzebub, which went as far placing "a hundred grand bounty on Morgan." So the professor went full A-Team on an old RV and turned the vehicle into "a rolling fortress." The front doors had been strengthened with interior braces, the windows were replaced with "the special safety glass utilized on armored cars" and could be covered steel shutters. A steel shield had been welded under the chassis and a giant air-conditioning unit was sunken into the roof, requiring the combined strength of "four or five very strong guys," which has an air-filtration system built into it – making it impossible to gas him through the air vents. Finally, the only door has a combination lock and there are only two people with the right combination: Morgan and Lyon. The final result is a vehicle with "all the protection of an army tank" and "the interior comforts of hedonist's house trailer," which was parked for extra security on the driveway of the Wentworth home. However, every effort to protect himself proved to be wasted money and energy: someone penetrated a seemingly impregnable fortress and butchered the professor with his own broadsword. He used the sword as a prop in one of courses in Arthurian legends. Around the same time as the murder, Lyon found himself in the nearby woods, dazed and confused, but he also feared for his life: a hooded figure, in a robe, wielding a medieval-looking sword was pursuing him with the clear intention of separating his head from his shoulders. Strangely, the figure of his executioner "disappeared into the darkness as quickly as it had appeared." When Lyon emerged from the woods, hunched, bloody and dragging a long sword across the grass, he tells a waiting Rocco Herbert that something had happened to him, but he was "not sure what." However, Captain Norbert of the State Police suspects Lyon of murder. After all, Lyon was covered in blood, carried a broadsword and knew the combination of the lock on the door. So you would expect that, from here on out, the plot would center on exonerating Lyon, but here is where the book began to flip-flop – shifting the focus of the story into a different direction. Lyon avoids immediate arrest and the next couple of chapters have him recounting the events from the day and evening, which introduces a number of potential suspects. First of all, there are two feuding literature professors from Middleburg University and Margon's half-brother and sister, twins, who are under his financial control, but there’s also a redheaded stripper from Boston and mother of Morgan's son – who wants to secure a future for their child. This gave the narrative an entirely different tone and the story never returned to the one set forth in its opening chapter, in which Lyon was attacked by the sword-wielding figure. It turned the book from a dark persecution story into a more lighthearted whodunit in less than two chapters. Actually, the opening of the book and the chapters recounting what happened on the day preceding the murder recalled some of the Jonathan Creek episodes from the 1990s (e.g. Danse Macabre, 1998). After these chapters, the State Police receives a letter, written in red ink, which claimed responsibility for the murder ("Satan has been gloriously revenged") and Lyon is let off the hook. Once more, this changed the tone and direction of the story: there are a number of additional murders, one by sniper fire, and the reader learns of a person who has designs on Bea. First by stabbing or shooting her in public and eventually by planting a car bomb. On top of that, Lyon and Rocco have to deal with the slightly unhinged personality behind the threatening letters, which involved the plot-thread about the fax machine, but this was basically a side distraction and an excuse to introduce some thriller-ish material – such as tossing around a hand grenade. I actually liked that fun little scene, but there's no way they could've pulled that off in less than four seconds. Anyway, this moves a great chunk of the second half of the book into the territory of the modern thriller and crime novels, which was reflected in the poor and disappointing conclusion of the book. The murderer was both obvious and slightly mad. So don't expect too much from the who-and why part of the plot. There is, however, one aspect of the plot I loved: the explanation for the locked room murder. If you want something different in a locked room mystery, you'll find it in this part of the plot. The solution wonderfully uses such aspects as the weight of the armored vehicle and some, eh, external factors. Forrest excellently clued and foreshadowed how the trick was pulled off, which he subtly spelled out to the reader in the opening chapters, but you've to be very alert and perceptive to put one and one together. Sure, the idea behind the locked room trick is simpler than its execution, but that does not take away from the fact that Forrest found a fairly original way to enter and leave a sealed environment. So, yeah, Death at King Arthur's Court has a strong opening, a shaky, uneven middle section and a disappointing ending, but with a good and solid impossible crime plot. I guess I can only recommend this one to locked room enthusiasts. Other wise, you can safely skip this one. Well, I'll try to find something better and more classical for the next blog-post. "Will you walk into my parlor? That ever you did spy." Clifford Orr hailed from Portland, Maine, and during his short time on this earth made a living by his pen, starting with writing and scoring musical comedies for his school's drama club, which portended his moderate success as an occasional lyricist – scoring a hit with "I May Be Wrong (But I Think Your Wonderful)," sung by Doris Day. He also worked for a Boston-based newspaper, managed a Wall Street bookshop and rounded out his career as a "Talk of the Town" columnist for The New Yorker magazine. A perfectly respectable and presentable résumé, but not entirely complete. It misses an important, if short, period from his career and that brief stint is of interest to the ferocious consumer of crime-fiction. During the late 1920s and early '30s, Orr wrote and published two mystery novels, The Dartmouth Murders (1929) and The Wailing Rock Murders (1932), which have since fallen into obscurity. A third book was announced, called The Cornell Murders, but it was never published. So there we have another entry for this lamentable list of lost and unpublished detective stories. Fortunately, the other two have emerged from literary oblivion and found their way back into print. Earlier this year, Curt Evans, genre-historian and mystery enthusiast, announced that a small publishing house, Coachwhip, was reissuing The Dartmouth Murders and The Wailing Rock Murders as a twofer volume – for which he penned a short, but insightful, introductory piece. On a side note, Evans seems to have a finger in a number of pies these days and it's starting to resemble the formation of a syndicate, but I love it when scarce, long-forgotten mystery novels get reissued. So I'll just pretend I did not see any syndicate forming going on here. Anyway, let's start with this review: I decided to begin with Orr's second mystery novel, The Wailing Rock Murders, which Evans described as an "original work" possessing "a strong element of terror" reminiscent of the "eerily atmospheric Thirties detective novels" by the John Dickson Carr – such as The Three Coffins (1935) and The Crooked Hinge (1938). Surprisingly, the book is not a locked room mystery. I say surprising, because it is listed in Locked Room Murders (1991) and secured a spot in the line-up for the "99 Novels for a Locked Room Library," but there's not a trace of a genuine impossibility to be found between its pages. Only the dark, moody atmosphere makes the book comparable to the work of Hake Talbot, Joel Townsley Rogers and Carter Dickson. So how it came to be labeled as a locked room novel is somewhat of a mystery, but let's not dwell on the lack of a miracle crime in the book. Anyway... One of the first notable aspects of The Wailing Rock Murders is the detective-character, Spaton "Spider" Meech, who is a grotesque and deformed monstrosity: a twisted spine turned him into a hunchback and his long, gangling arms hang well below his knees, while his large head seems to lie on his chest when he walks – which earned him his nickname. He also prefers "to sit cross-legged on tables or on the floor" rather than rest his hump "against the unyielding back of a chair." This malformed image makes children laugh and old ladies cross themselves, but it has served him well when he started to make a name for himself as a Great Detective. After all, the press and public love stories with strange or unusual angles and characters. The Wailing Rock Murders finds Meech in Ogunquit Beach, Maine, where his ward, Garda Lawrence, is a guest at the home of the Farnols and she invited her Uncle Spaton to join her there. Creamer Farnols is an amiable, twinkle-eyed host and his wife, Vera, was described by Garda as "a peach," but suffers from occasional "intervals of unconsciousness." They've a daughter, Patricia, who has invited Philip Masterson: a silent, moody and introspective young man. Garda also invited a young man, Victor Millard, but he has a forthcoming and good-humoredly personality. Finally, there is a holidaying chemist, Richard St. John, and his wife, Helen. All of them are packed inside a "scabrously ugly" house, a complete monstrosity, perched on a cliff, like "some strange foreign growth," which has "a many-angled cupola topping the whole abomination" – making it appear as "the head of some underworld king" protruding "from the rocky earth." The house has a twin structure perched on the rocks of a nearby cliff. Below them are the windswept and haunted beaches, which is where the cursed rocks of the book-title can be found: there's a curiously-shaped cavern down there and "whenever the wind blows across the opening in a certain way" a slight humming can be heard, but, every now and then, a tremendously heavy wind produces a heart-wrenching wail. A wail that, according to the legend, foretells of death. I found this to be somewhat reminiscent of the cursed, rocky protrusions from Arthur J. Rees' The Moon Rock (1922). Well, the legend of the wailing rocks deliver on their promise and a gruesome murder occurs not longer after the arrival of Meech, which he discovers: Meech finds the body of his ward, "her throat most horribly, most hideously slit," inside the cupola room. So he immediately takes charge of the investigation and the local sheriff allows him to usurp all of the authority in the case. One of the criticisms often leveled against the Golden Age detective story is the freehand given to meddlesome amateurs and semi-official investigators, but Meech takes it to the next level – basically hijacking the office of sheriff. I do not recall having come across anything like this before. However, Meech does function as a proper investigator: drawing maps, compiling timetables and conducting interviews, but what really drives the narrative is stumbling from one situation into another. He angrily listens to the murderer's confession, which leads to a second throat-cutting in the cupola of the other house. A supposedly empty, deserted and boarded up place, but Meech discovers it houses an embarrassing family secret and leads him to a third murder – one that's buried deep into the past. It also becomes apparent that mental issues and twisted minds are a common feature among this small cast of characters. All of this takes place over the course of a single, sleep-deprived night and during the early morning following their nightmarish experience. And as the sun rises, Meech figures out the whole mess and comes to an unsettling conclusion. The explanation is surprisingly simplistic and you've got to admire the fine tight-rope Orr tried to traverse, but there's a problem or two: one of them is that the solution made nearly all of the plot-threads appear as irrelevant and only served as a distraction from the obvious. Secondly, the passing of time dulled the twist of the solution. It was not entirely new when the book was originally published, but Orr's application of it was unusual and noteworthy. I suspected such sort of game was being played, but kept being lured away from it by the other plot-threads. So, all in all, The Wailing Rock Murders is not one of the all-time greats from the genre's Golden Era, but still a good, fun and solid read. If you love such mystery writers as Carr and Talbot, you'll probably like this one. Regardless, I suspect The Dartmouth Murders will end up being my favorite of the two. It sounds like Patrick Quentin (college setting) meets Ellery Queen (father-and-son detective team). So you can expect a review of that one in the near future and I'll try to have a genuine locked room mystery for the next one. By the way, is it just me or is there something different about this place?

http://moonlight-detective.blogspot.com/2016/09/

Eating all the healthy, wholesome foods in the world is of little use if your body cannot absorb the nutrients and put them to use building healthy body tissue. According to the ayurvedic “beej-bhoomi” theory of disease, poor digestion is actually the root cause of most disorders. When the food we eat is not digested properly, ama, the by-product of poor digestion and metabolism, builds up in the body, clogging the microchannels of the body. Not only does this further block the efficient flow of nutrients to the different parts of the body, weakening the immune system, but it also hampers the unrestricted flow of wastes out of the body so that a “fertile breeding ground” is created for disease and infection to take hold. If you have a coated tongue when you wake up in the morning, an unpleasant body odor, bad breath, discomfort in the joints or post-lunch fatigue, you probably have some accumulated ama in your body. Unfortunately, digestion problems are widespread in America. Some digestive disorders, such as acid indigestion, are obvious. Headaches, disorders in bowel movements such as diarrhea or constipation, or a feeling of discomfort in the stomach after a meal are other symptoms that can be tied to poor digestion. Most spices enhance digestion, and that’s one of the reasons spices are revered in ayurvedic cuisine. Not only do they help enhance digestion, but they also help remove accumulated ama, so they are valuable additions to your daily diet. Turmeric, cumin, coriander, fennel, mint, asafetida (hing), black pepper, dried powdered ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne are among the ayurvedic spices that enhance digestion and metabolism, cleanse ama from the body and prevent digestive disorders such as gas and bloating. If you are new to ayurvedic cooking, try the Maharishi Ayurveda Churnas (ready-to-use spice mixes) formulated especially to be Vata, Pitta or Kapha balancing. Spices contain a lipid-soluble portion and a water-soluble portion, so ideally some should be sautéed in ghee or a healthy oil such as olive oil and added to dishes, and some cooked in the liquid portions of dishes such as by being added to soups, stews or sauces during the cooking process. Ghee helps transport the therapeutic value of spices to the different parts of the body, so ayurveda generally recommends including a ghee-spice mixture in at least one meal of the day. Spices are like herbs: they work gently and gradually, with the benefits adding up over time and no dangerous side effects. Ayurvedic physicians recommend resisting the temptation to take your spices as nutraceuticals, where the so-called “active” ingredient is isolated and put in a pill or a capsule. Take them as nature intended, and you will reap the benefits for years to come.

http://naturopathicmedicine.info/plant-based-spices/

Head of Steam (previously Darlington Railway centre and Museum) are emailing their monthly newsletters to the group. They can be found in the list below. The British Wildlife Photography - Winners 2012, 7th June to 1st August 2013.This highly acclaimed and unique wildlife photography exhibition captivates visitors with outstanding and beautiful imagery. It is a celebration of British Wildlife as well as a showcase for the country’s leading nature photographers. To celebrate the Festival of the North East the museum will be exhibiting a selection of photographs from the Cleveland Bridge Collection on the Museum Platform, opening 7th May. Family Arts and Crafts Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays between 2nd & 12th April 1pm until 3pm in Northern Rail Activity Room. Join us in the Easter holidays for fun arts and crafts for all the family. Included in admission and yearly passes. An exhibition jointly curated by the museum and the North Eastern Railway Association that explores and remembers the North Road Works site, the locomotives that were built there and the people who worked there 150 years after it opened in 1863. Listing the Titanic Events in February. Santa at the Station: Meet Santa in our magical grotto and receive a Christmas present. Entertainment includes mini train ride, arts and crafts and face painting. Comming soon: Santa at the Station. Titanic Honour & Glory, voted by The Times newspaper as one of the top 5 exhibitions in the country, is set to dock at Head of Steam. Heritage Open Days, Sat 8th & Sun 9th September. Come along and enjoy FREE access to the Head of Steam Museum as we participate in the national Heritage Open Days! Not only enjoy free access to the museum, but also free guided tours and a chance to meet some of the museum’s partners. Darlington Model Railway Club has been in existence since 1971. To celebrate their long connections with Head of Steam Museum, the club will exhibit their working layouts on 1st and 2nd September. Also watch demonstrations, buy from traders and, if you wish, tour the club rooms located on the museum site. Come along and enjoy the atmosphere of the golden days of Steam and Diesel – In Miniature! Andy Taylor - A speck of light: An exhibition of a collection of paintings that show the play of light on a subject and how it distorts and creates mood and atmosphere. Art -A-Track: Discover railway related artwork from the museum’s collection. Railways have been a favourite subject for artists, including Monet and Turner, for over 150 years. Art-A-Track is an exhibition of artwork from the museum’s permanent collection. The exhibition covers three broad railway themes: locomotives and rolling stock, buildings and infrastructure and railway personalities in a variety of mediums. Vintage Vehicle Rally takes place on 20th May 2012 11am - 3pm on the Museum & Events Field. A variety of rare and unusual vintage vehicles from across the North East and Yorkshire regions gather together again for this popular event. Easter themed arts and crafts for all the family to have a go at. Just drop in! Comming soon ... "Hot Coals and Ashes Exhibition". Head of Steam in conjunction with other museums are working on an exciting new art and history project - we want people to come along and help us to knit a 3d wall hanging of the town. Comming soon ... Santa at the station. The Tornado Story: an intimate account of the building of the Peppercorn class A1 60163 Tornado. The first main line steam locomotive to be built in the UK since the 1960s, Tornado's importance to Darlington and the North East is explored for the first time in this major exhibition. With artefacts on loan from The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, 'The Tornado Story' is told by those who made it! Steam and Diesel Shuttle Weekends, 17th & . 18th and 24th & 25th September 2011. Take in the sights, sounds and smells of operating steam and diesel engines. The Art of Robert Stephenson: images of the man, his life and his works is currently on display at Head of Steam Museum. Build your own railway semaphore signal with members of the Institution of Civil Engineers and Robert Stephenson Trust on Saturday 10th September 2011. Get ready for another Roman invasion at the Railway Museum. Head of Steam - Darlington Railway Museum has just launched a new, up-to-date guidebook, the first to be issued since the one published by the original Museum Trust in 1982. The new book is proving popular with museum visitors and is selling very well.

http://nelpg.org.uk/index.php?option=com_simplelists&view=simplelist&layout=basic&category_id=25&Itemid=46&limitstart=75

We are a locally owned and family-operated business. We have lived in the Seguin/New Braunfels area for over 25 years. We both graduated from Southwest Texas State University, and we met while working at Schlitterbahn in 1999. Fast-forward to 2018, Ella now teaches at Navarro Junior High, and I (Mike) am leaving Schlitterbahn after 25 years. We have met so many wonderful people at Schlitterbahn, and getting this project off the ground wouldn’t have been possible without some of their help. Although it will be sad leaving the Bahn behind, we are looking forward to this next great adventure and can’t wait to make some of the best tasting ice cream you will ever try.

http://newbraunfelstipsycow.com/about-us/

Picking XIs for a decade can feel a bit like trying to form Powerplay rules - introducing artificial restrictions to drum up some excitement - because cricket careers and schedules don't naturally lend themselves to decade-style reviews. But ESPNcricinfo's staff were not going to pass up an opportunity to make use of their endless cricket watching to play selectors. Let the arguments begin. Test cricket evolved markedly in the 2010s, as evidenced by our opening partnership: a marriage of old-school defence and T20-inspired stroke-making. Only one member of our 23-member panel didn't pick Alastair Cook, who led the run-scoring charts for the decade with 8818 at 46.41*. His partner, David Warner, was another shoo-in after his gradual evolution from a flashy upstart to one of the format's top players. Three of the so-called Fab Four slot in below. Joe Root's relatively poor run since he took up England's captaincy meant he failed to get a single vote. As the outstanding batsmen of their generation, there can be no surprise that Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli and Steven Smith boost the middle order with their 74 Test hundreds in this decade. Ben Stokes slots in at No. 6, having become the world's premier allrounder. The Adam Gilchrist effect left the 2010s without an obvious candidate to keep wicket - though BJ Watling was unfortunate to miss out. AB de Villiers' ability to go relentlessly hard or produce rearguards like he did in Adelaide in 2012 means he gets the gig behind the stumps. Dale Steyn was a unanimous choice. His wicket-taking ability is evidenced by a strike rate of 43.9 for the decade. He will share the new ball with James Anderson, the leading wicket-taker for the period. With another few years' experience, Jasprit Bumrah might well have been a contender, but he fell way short of the criteria for this XI of a minimum of 50 Tests or six active years (75 ODIs/100 T20s were the criteria for the men's limited-over teams). Nobody took as many five-wicket hauls in the decade as the legendary Rangana Herath, who shares spin duties with the man responsible for much of India's success at home - R Ashwin. With three different World Cup winners in the decade, it is no surprise that as many as six different countries are represented in our ODI XI. Hashim Amla and Rohit Sharma open the batting as the format's second- and third-most prolific run scorers in the decade, while 50-over cricket's GOAT, Virat Kohli, slots in at three. de Villiers, whose strike rate in the 2010s was a sublime 109.76, played the decade's defining innings in 2015, when he made a 44-ball 149 - the fastest ODI hundred - against West Indies at the Wanderers. He was a single vote away from joining Sharma and Kohli as a unanimous pick. Ross Taylor edges out Jos Buttler, thanks to his longevity and an eye-catching average of 54.01, while MS Dhoni slots in as captain and wicketkeeper - though his powers might have waned towards the end of the decade, he remains the great thinker of modern limited-overs cricket, and averages over 50 in the 2010s. Shakib Al Hasan is the side's allrounder, having spent the decade giving Bangladesh not only runs and wickets but control and balance thanks to his multifarious talents; Imran Tahir, the leading legspinner in the format in the 2010s, takes the other spin role. The pace attack is a mouthwatering combination of Trent Boult, Mitchell Starc and Lasith Malinga, the three outstanding seamers of the given period - good luck telling one of those three they won't be taking the new ball. Our short-form XI is dominated by West Indians - hardly a surprise given their World T20 wins in 2012 and 2016 and their prominence across the domestic leagues of the world. Two of them combine to open the batting: Chris Gayle, the format's all-time leading run scorer and its first global icon was an automatic pick. Sunil Narine, whose pinch-hitting exploits have redefined T20 hitting, joins Gayle up top while also earning his spot thanks to a superb decade as a mystery spinner. Kohli and de Villiers complete their clean sweeps in our men's sides at No. 3 and No. 4 respectively. And Dhoni's tactical nous, glove work and batting make him an irresistible package in the middle order. Three West Indian allrounders comprise the lower middle order. Kieron Pollard, the first true big-name T20 freelancer, is followed by Andre Russell, the 2019 IPL MVP and the man who is single-handedly pushing the boundaries of possibility for batsmen around the world. Dwayne Bravo, a star not just for Chennai Super Kings but around the world, slots in at No. 8. Afghan sensation Rashid Khan joins Narine as the other main spin option, while there is a distinctive Mumbai Indians feel to the other two seamers, Malinga and Bumrah, the two best yorker bowlers of the decade. Our women's XI is packed with all-round options and some of the game's most iconic players - though there are high-profile omissions in Megan Schutt, Alyssa Healy and Smriti Mandhana. The batting line-up combines clean hitting with calm accumulation. The top three are the decade's leading run scorers in both ODIs and T20Is (the two formats under consideration): Stafanie Taylor, Suzie Bates and the captain, Meg Lanning. Indian great Mithali Raj, another shoo-in, averaged 55.31 in ODIs and 37.18 in T20Is in the decade. Sarah Taylor, the outstanding wicketkeeper of the era, comes in at No. 5. Australian superstar Ellyse Perry and West Indies legend Deandra Dottin complete the middle order. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given they formed the backbone of Australia's all-conquering side during the decade, Perry and Lanning were the two unanimous choices in the side. Among the specialist bowlers, the leading women's ODI wicket-taker of all time, Jhulan Goswami, edged out Shabnim Ismail to share the new ball with England stalwart Anya Shrubsole, while the decade's standout bowler, Trinidadian offie Anisa Mohammed, and South African allrounder Dane van Niekerk will lead the spin attack.

http://nextcricket.com/blog/Kohli,-Rohit,-Bumrah,-de-Villiers-and-Perry-make-it-to-ESPNcricinfo,s-XIs-of-the-decade

During Women’s History Month, we tend read empowering pieces about historical feminists, modern trailblazing women, and important cases where the glass ceiling has been shattered or raised. In this piece, however, I want to dive into the past and analyze an often-overlooked piece of feminist history: the phenomenon of witchcraft in Europe and its colonies and the role that witchcraft and magic played for women in those societies. As European history progressed and the Protestant Reformation took hold on the continent, the Roman Catholic Church and other religious organizations became very concerned with stopping the threats of ‘heresy’ and ‘black magic’, which they saw as a threat to their power and the souls of the people. This sparked the witch trials, made famous in America by those held in Salem, Mass. around the 1690s. Witch-panic persisted for far longer than those events alone, however, and lasted from about 1490 until the latest trials in 1750. Wolfgang Behringer, a German historian specializing in witchcraft beliefs of early Modern Europe, estimates that as many as 60,000 people were executed for witchcraft over this period. To us in modern times, the number seems unbelievable. But in these centuries, beliefin magic was an essential part of life, and the Church used that belief to terrible effect. So, what exactly is a witch? Like the nature of magic itself, this question is a source of much debate. It seems clear that everyone who practices magic was historically not considered a witch. Witchcraft seems to specifically refer to those who practiced magic on the fringes; those who made others uncomfortable; those living alone and rumored to be able to do great and terrible things. Throughout the history of Europe, witches filled various and oftentimes opposing societal roles. They were sought out for solutions to problems that could not be solved, like bad harvests and sickness, and were also treated as healers and wise-people. In England, they were referred to as ‘cunning folk’ and were treated with a kind of awe. However, they also served the role of feared scapegoats for all problems. If cattle died or a famine struck, the witch was blamed. If a baby fell sick and died, the witch was blamed. Still, the witches fulfilled many necessary functions. They were the only recourse for the marginalized in society, especially women. Women in European society were not granted the same privileges as men. Their roles were restricted, and their value was tied to their ability to bear children. For those who could not or did not want to do so, witchcraft provided a means of taking charge of their destiny. Because magic was so widely revered, witches, as users of it, were powerful in ways women were typically never otherwise able to be. They were also able to offer help to other women in need. They would provide folk recipes to abort fetuses, attract husbands for women (and thus financial and societal stability), and enact revenge against those who wronged women. Witchcraft thus has clear feminist implications. While not all witches were women, 75-85% of those killed in the witch trials were female, according to Anne Barstow’s “Witchcraze”. They were the most likely to be suspected, since women were considered sinful and distrustful by religion at the time and many did not fit the narrow expectations set by society. Therefore, the archetype of the witch was disproportionately associated with women and witches were uniquely poised to help women with issues we would consider feminist today: reproductive rights, bodily autonomy, financial autonomy, and equal balance of power. In some ways, witches by their very nature represented a subversion of the patriarchal power system. Since they wielded ‘magic’, they had power in the minds of the people, but their power did not operate by the patriarchal rules and laws of the time. It existed outside society and allowed women and other marginalized people to claim power and autonomy through their own merits. In our current era of #MeToo and the Women’s March, we tend to focus on more recent figures for inspiration and knowledge. But amongst all the relevant discussions of modern powerful women and feminist heroes, we should still remember the historical power of the archetype of the witch, and its role even today. So this Women’s History Month, put on your pointy hat, brew some tea, and think about just how far we’ve come.

http://njitvector.com/2019/03/women-and-witches-how-magic-and-feminism-collided/

What part of do you come from? http://tileboard.ca zyprexa The two weren't afraid to get a little wet and wild as they played around in the waves, tossing each other into the ocean during their sunny day at the beach. But this isn't the first time we've spotted the couple hitting the water ...

http://nobukatsu.blog32.fc2.com/?mode=edit&rno=3968167

Lyme disease is a major concern in some parts of the United States. It is contagious to both dogs and people. What Is Lyme Disease? Lyme disease is a disease caused by a bacteria known as Borrelia burgdorferi. The disease is transmitted through the bite of a tick. Lyme disease is considered a zoonotic disease because it can infect both dogs and people. It does not appear to be a major threat for cats. How Is Canine Lyme Disease Spread? Your dog can get Lyme disease if he is bitten by an infected tick. Canine Lyme disease is not directly contagious from one dog to another however. What Are the Signs of Lyme Disease? In dogs, the most common sign of Lyme disease is lameness which may shift from one leg to another. Other signs include fever, depression, lack of appetite and irritability. In more serious cases, the kidneys may become involved, causing what is referred to as Lyme disease nephritis. How Is Lyme Disease Diagnosed? Infection with Canine Lyme disease is readily diagnosed through the use of a patient-side blood test. In some parts of the United States, the number of dogs with positive tests for Lyme disease is quite high. In the Northeast, as many as 50% of the dogs tested are found to be positive. However, of those, a large percentage (as many as 85-95%) will never show signs of disease. How Do People Get Lyme Disease? As in dogs, people are infected through the bite of an infected tick. Though the disease is considered zoonotic because both dogs and people can become infected, people are not typically infected directly from their dog. However, dogs and other pets can be responsible for carrying infected ticks into the home environment which may place you and your family at risk. Dogs are considered to be a sentinel for Human Lyme disease. Areas which see a large number of dogs infected with Lyme disease also tend to see larger numbers of people infected as well. •Check your dog thoroughly and often for ticks. Remove them promptly when found. Never handle a tick with your bare hands. Always wear gloves when removing them. Be particularly wary of checking your dog for ticks when he has been outdoors. •Check any cats in the household for ticks as well. Though cats are not at high risk for Lyme disease, they can become infested with ticks when outdoors. •Consider using one of the many monthly flea and tick preventive medications for your dog and/or cat. •Take precautions to help keep your living area free of ticks, such as keeping your grass mowed and removing high grasses and brush from near your home. •Check yourself thoroughly for ticks, particularly if you have been in a high risk area such as a wooded location or an area with high grasses. Do not forget to check your children as well. •Thoroughly inspect any clothing, backpacks, or other gear that you have used for hiking or camping. Look for crawling ticks on these items before you bring them inside your home. •Do not assume that wooded or grassy areas are the only places where ticks can hide. It is possible for wildlife and even birds to bring ticks into your own backyard. So be vigilant in checking your pets as well as your family for ticks, particularly during the warmer months of the year. Please note: This article has been provided for informational purposes only. If your pet is showing any signs of illness, please consult a veterinarian as quickly as possible.

http://nyppba.org/article/lyme-disease-protect-your-family-and-pets-15.aspx

Should I Get Help? And What If I Don’t Get Help With My Anger Issues? If you’re like most men, you’ve been taught to hide your emotional concerns. But hiding problems with anger only makes them worse and can lead to other serious problems. Although difficulties with anger can create a lot of problems, these difficulties can be remedied. Left unaddressed, however, difficulties managing anger often worsens and can result in damaging, long-term consequences for you, your kids, your marriage, your career, and your future. So, if you’re reluctant to get help with your anger for yourself, consider doing it for the well-being of your kids or the people close to you. For many men, one of the biggest obstacles to seeing an anger management therapist is the concern that if others — like coworkers — found out, something bad will happen or they’ll lose respect. Don’t let these fears impact your family, your relationship with your partner, or your future success. Muster the courage to ask for the help you need. Research shows, finding a anger management therapist who you’re comfortable with — and one who understands men — is critical for psychotherapy or anger management to be effective for you. But it’s not easy to find an experienced therapist who’s skilled at working with men. I’ve trained thousands of health professionals nationwide in how to best help men, and have helped men in individual counseling and psychotherapy for over 20 years. I can help you to better manage your anger. I know asking for help is sometimes hard, but phoning now is a start. Give me a call at |||PHONE_NUMBER||| . I’ll be happy to talk with you and answer any questions you might have.

http://oaklandangermanagement.com/should-i-get-help-and-anger-management-counseling-for-my-anger-issues/

Each and every day, firefighters are exposed to various hazards, including unknown exposure to asbestos, which may lead to mesothelioma. Whether they are entering a building that is engulfed with flames, working to remove an injured driver from their vehicle, or climbing tall ladders to save someone from a compromised structure, there is no shortage of on-the-job hazards. Firefighters may not be aware of the presence of the less obvious but equally dangerous threat of exposure to asbestos and the potential for asbestos-related disease. Mesothelioma is a deadly form of cancer that affects the pleural lining of the lungs. There is no known cure and the survival rate for mesothelioma is less than 1%. In the U.S., over 35 million residences contain asbestos-containing materials, such as insulation, drywall compound, and floor tiles. Prior to 1980, when the use of asbestos for structural purposes was banned, the majority of homes and other buildings contained materials laden with at least 1% asbestos. When asbestos-containing materials are damaged from fire, the tiny fibers may become airborne, putting firefighters at risk for inhalation. The majority of firefighters are protected from inhaling toxins during the extinguishment of a fire because of their self-contained breathing apparatuses, or SCBAs. However, once the fire is contained and firefighters are moving through rubble and debris, they may no longer be wearing the necessary safety equipment, which leaves them at risk for asbestos exposure. Firefighters may also be at risk for exposure when they are in their firehouse, as many firehouses are situated in much older buildings that may be laden with materials, such as piping insulation or roofing, that contain dormant asbestos. Mesothelioma is a deadly asbestos-related disease. There is no cure for pleural mesothelioma, but there are various mesothelioma treatment options available. The Mesothelioma and Asbestos Awareness Center is the web’s leading resource for information related to asbestos exposure, mesothelioma, and treatment options. Please visit the Mesothelioma and Asbestos Awareness Center for additional information.

http://ofsoa.com/News/1037

Tower Heist, starring Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy. Tower Heist, directed by Brett Ratner, is a good comedy to enjoy on a casual date or with friends and family. It tells of a luxurious apartment manager who gathers his fired coworkers and others to get back the money they’ve lost to a Wall Street swindler that lives in the Tower. He strives to find the stashed emergency money for the sake of his coworkers who worked so hard to make a living, wrongly conned by a man who slyly promised to keep their money safe. This crime comedy is held together by a great cast, including Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Michael Pena, and even Matthew Broderick, from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off! With more and more movies conforming to the standardized production of genres, Tower Heist stands out with its clever storyline. Usually comedic movies deliver a cliché tone and ending, but this movie has great moments that are delivered with great fluidity and clear crosscuts. In other words, there isn’t the usual clutter and frivolity that usually deadens a script. This quality is inevitably enhanced by the smooth acting cast. Whether it was from the casts’ immense experience in the comedic genre or not, their acting supported the script and enhanced the movie production and portrayal. I encourage you all to go and watch this movie because it was definitely heartwarming to see the same comedic actors you grew up with collaborate with each other to create an entertaining movie. My favorite line from the movie was when the Tower’s aged doorman, after learning that all his savings are gone, says that he’s spent 19 years opening doors, but the thing is, “people can open their own doors." The movie was released November 4th, so get your tickets and experience it! And maybe, you’ll gain some insight on why the protestors are out occupying Wall Street today.

http://old.baremagazine.org/2011/11/tower-heist-screening.html

End of the world guns... Civilization has ended as we know it, complete breakdown of law and order. What do you do? Which gun do you need? Guns that don't break, and if they do can be easily repaired. Luckily, guns are pretty robust for the most part, and can last a lifetime if taken care of. Maybe not so much with modern plastic guns, but the old wood and steel variety can be pretty tough. I have noticed the hundred year old guns I have all still work, but I have some problems with the modern stuff. Muzzle loaders seem to be a good choice, if you're only hunting for food, and not having to get in a firefight. Any ex-military gun should be tough enough to get you by till civilization returns. Bolt guns are usually pretty reliable, though I would pack away some extra springs and such now.... you would hate to depend on your WW2 Enfield with a broken extractor spring. If you are planning for this event, having guns in a caliber that is plentiful locally seems to be the best choice. Once that runs out, reloading is an option, but getting any new supplies would be problematic. Presumably there will be lots of old car hulks sitting around, and all their wheels have lead wheel weights on them, but brass will have to be husbanded carefully. But what to do about primers? The Indian Wars of the 19th century had a primitive (by our standards) people reloading old Henry rimfire ammo. Don't know how they did it but somehow they came up with a priming mixture, possibly from some old match heads. Evidence from the Battle of the Little Bighorn show a lot of empty Henry casings with 2 to 3 hammer indentions on the rim of the cases, suggesting reloading activity. The US Cavalry wasn't using the Henrys. Then there is this guy reloading his primers... Check out his other videos, he also makes gunpowder out of matches... As far as repairing guns go, it'll be hard to find a gunsmith at the end of the world, it's hard to find a local one now. In order to have you're own repair shop, you'll need a defendable building, and some people to defend it while you're out looking for food, which means you'll have to form some sort of tribe with individuals you can depend on. This is getting to sound like the stone age, with firearms.... What good would it do you? The end of the civilized world bodes ill for survival... we can't all hunt for our food, there are too many of us. It seems the weak will be whittled down quickly... and those left will be squabbling over dwindling resources, and killing someone to get it... It will be a pretty ugly situation, and possibly not surviving to see it could be considered a blessing.

http://oldbritishguns.com/391-end-of-the-world-guns

This story from the New York Times about the corruption of Teodoro Obiang certainly hits close to home. His $35 million dollar estate in Malibu is just down the hill from Pepperdine. Several times a year, Teodoro Nguema Obiang arrives at the doorstep of the United States from his home in Equatorial Guinea, on his way to his... I am forwarding this call for papers from Tim Waters at Indiana to be presented at a forthcoming conference on the Milosevic trial. Looks like a great event. The Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Russian and East European Institute and Center for West European Studies announce a major conference in Bloomington, Indiana on February 18-21, 2010. The conference... Does Anyone Deserve Constitutional Rights? A decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and four others in federal court in New York has sparked a new round of debate over detention policy. The Administration is on course to maintain a three-tiered system: criminal prosecutions for some detainees in U.S. federal courts, prosecutions of others before a revamped Military Commission, and indefinite detention for still others who can neither be tried nor released. There are problems with this ad hoc framework, some of which are derived from the need for a comprehensive policy to replace the failed and flawed executive unilateralism under which it was developed. Congress and courts have put their belated mark on some aspects of the policy, but we continue to operate broadly within its confines. One of the contributing authors of the failed executive unilateralism criticizes the Obama Adminstration’s decision to prosecute KSM in New York because “The treatment of the 9/11 attacks as a criminal matter rather than as an act of war will cripple American efforts to fight terrorism.” Criminal trials must be very harmful activities if they will “cripple” U.S. anti-terrorism efforts. How will they do that? Writing in the WSJ, John Yoo argues: “Prosecutors will be forced to reveal U.S. intelligence on KSM, the methods and sources for acquiring its information, and his relationships to fellow al Qaeda operatives. The information will enable al Qaeda to drop plans and personnel whose cover is blown.” The openness required by criminal trials is the purported harm. Why would this prosecution be any more harmful that the prosecution of Jose Padilla or Zacharias Moussaoui, for example, or Ahmad Omar Abu Ali for that matter? The criticism repeats as its primary evidence of harm an unsubstantiated claim regarding intelligence losses that occurred because of the prosecution of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. No doubt, care will have to be taken in how the U.S. prosecutes its case, but the alarmist claim that anti-terrorism will be “crippled” belies credibility. This issue, however, is not the only one Yoo raises, and not the one that primarily interests me. He further claims: “Even more harmful to our national security will be the effect a civilian trial of KSM will have on the future conduct of intelligence officers and military personnel. Will they have to read al Qaeda terrorists their Miranda rights?” He then asks a series of additional questions about pre-trial procedure in a “war zone.” As bad as revealing U.S. intelligence sources may be, “even more harmful” would be the requirement that U.S. officials recognize that terrorism suspects have rights, such as the right to be free from coerced (tortured) confession. Focusing on Miranda is telling, since Yoo was instrumental in providing the legal authorization for U.S. torture practices. Here we get at the heart of the “war versus crime” dichotomy motivating critics like Yoo: “KSM and his co-defendants will enjoy the benefits and rights that the Constitution accords to citizens and resident aliens. …” Or, any person within the jurisdiction of the U.S., an important point Yoo still fails to recognize. The “war on terror” was said by Alberto Gonzales to be a “new kind of war” rendering “quaint” some of the rights afforded by the Geneva conventions. This temperament carries over to hostility to granting terrorism suspects constitutional rights in criminal trials, but fails to articulate how adherence to constitutional and human rights norms can themselves be “even more harmful to our national security.” How is it even remotely plausible to claim that if U.S. personnel must conduct themselves in rough conformity to constitutional (and by implication, human rights) norms, even greater harm to our national security will occur? In making this claim, Yoo reveals that one motivation for the "new kind of war" model is the attempt to free U.S. officials from certain constitutional and human rights constraints. Freedom from legal constraint may have its pragmatic advantages, at least in the short run. This mistaken view is one reason executive unilateralism has led in the long run to an ad hoc detention policy, repaired in part only after the Supreme Court held that detainees were in fact protected by Geneva and were in fact entitled to U.S. court jurisdiction. Untethered from an institutionally unrealizable executive unilateralism, there does not seem to be much purpose in reasserting a need for officials to act free from constitutional and human rights constraints. So why do we see this view reappear as a reason why criminal trials of terrorists cause “even more harm” to national security? The Fifth Circuit earlier this month issued a highly unusual decision addressing whether state law could "reverse preempt" the New York Convention. As any student of international arbitration knows, state law occasionally attempts to limit the enforceability of arbitration agreements. Such a policy is preempted by the New York Convention as implemented by the Federal Arbitration Act. ... Hey, Mr. President, You Bow to No One! [caption id="attachment_10567" align="alignright" width="150" caption=" "][/caption] I'm fascinated by the mini-kerfuffle (on the Right at least) over President Obama's propensity to bow when meeting foreign heads of state who are also royalty (see his super-bow to the Emperor of Japan to the right). In the old days, this type of stuff was really important. Students of Chinese history may recall that one... The following is a guest post by Lt. Col. Chris Jenks, the Chief of the International Law Branch in the Office of the Judge Advocate General. Lt. Col. Jenks is posting in his personal capacity. A Canadian Court recently sentenced Désiré Munyaneza, a former Rwandan Army officer, to life imprisonment with eligibility for parole following his conviction in May for... Cross-posted at Balkinization Nothing like Friday afternoon with the President overseas for a little news: The men accused of conspiring to commit the 9/11 attacks will be tried in federal court in New York City. Five other men, including a man accused of involvement in the USS Cole bombing in 2000, will face trial before new and improved (if not... Richard Goldstone is getting lots of flak for his recent report on the conflict in Gaza. Much of this flak is either undeserved or way over the top. But the unreasonableness of some of his critics does not mean his report was actually good and wise and fair. The basic problem, as I see it, was that Goldstone and... Unless something rather dramatic happens, the Obama Administration is going to give up on its self-imposed January 22, 2010 deadline for closing prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay. The Center for American Progress, a reliable barometer of the Administration's thinking, has also advised against meeting the deadline. As a legal matter, it is not obvious that closing Gitmo would have made much... From our friends at George Washington Law School: The George Washington University International Law Review is now accepting submissions of book reviews for publication in Volumes 41 and 42. Book reviews should be written on a recent or forthcoming book discussing a timely issue in international law. Word count should not exceed 9000 words. Submissions must be in Microsoft Word (.doc)... For those around DC this upcoming Monday afternoon, there is a very interesting panel discussion organized jointly by the ABA International Section, ASIL, and SAIS on the ICC. It will feature a screening of an excerpt from the documentary The Reckoning, and then a panel discussion that will have Gary Solis, Jane Stromseth, John Bellinger, and me, and moderated by...

http://opiniojuris.org/2009/11/page/3/

The Eildon Hills are the most distinctive single landmark in the Scottish Borders. The iconic triple peaks were once a volcano, an iron age fort, and a Roman signal station for the nearby camp Trimontium, 'Place of the Three Hills'.At the Eildons' feet in the valley of the River Tweed lies Melrose, birthplace of the game of Rugby Sevens in 1883. The game spread worldwide, and today the Rugby Sevens World Cup trophy is called the Melrose Cup in recognition. Melrose also boasts The Wynd Theatre, Harmony House, and the annual Borders Book Festival. The area around Melrose has been inhabited for thousands of years. Melrose's 12th century abbey, once the richest in Scotland, is the burial place of a casked reputedly carrying the heart of King Robert the Bruce. The 68 mile walk and cycle route, the Borders Abbey Way, links the four great ruined Borders Abbeys in Kelso, Jedburgh, Melrose and Dryburgh. Melrose is also the start of St Cuthbert's Way, a 62 mile walk to Holy Island.

http://ourscottishborders.com/live/shopping/melrose

Lollapalooza Loses L... Every summer, Chicagoans and Suburban youths travel to Grant Park for Lollapalooza. In past years, tickets for all-day passes and for single day passes have sold out in hours. This year it took one week for four-day passes to sell out, with some single day passes still available, two months... The epic music festival known as Lollapalooza came and went this weekend, and the concert dominated the news in Chicago from surprise guest performances and appearances, alleged police brutality and damages left to Grant Park. This Trending News Monday, let’s take a look at some of the... Whether it’s the polar vortex gracing its presence over the great lakes, surging storms wreaking havoc on the coasts, daunting droughts in the Pacific Southwest or twisters leaving a destructive path in the Midwest, the weather has sure provided a lot of fodder for news publications this...

http://ourspace.thesanjosegroup.com/tag/chicago/

There are various versions in the south of Italy, and both the Neapolitans and Sicilians proudly claim it’s theirs. The Sicilian variety is good, and in fact anything that contains fried aubergines is good by definition, the way I see it. On the island, however, parmigiana often contains ham and sliced boiled eggs, which strike me as an unnecessary, out-of-place distraction from the aubergines. It’s also served at room temperature. In Naples, meanwhile, it’s hot and passionate, and stripped down to the essentials: aubergines, cheese and tomatoes. As I said, love on a plate. And that means heat, not cold; you should be prepared to risk getting your tongue burnt. But there’s a payoff. Comparing the pleasure you get from caramelized aubergines melting in your mouth with oozing mozzarella and tomato sauce, to the experience of cold fried aubergines, boiled eggs and resolidifed melted cheese is like comparing a night of passion with the woman you love to a peck on the cheek from an ageing aunt. So, need I specify? You’re getting the Neapolitan version. Parmigiana and I go back a long way, to Naples in the early nineties, to be precise. I had just arrived in this sprawling, buzzing city, without a word of Italian and without any idea about real Italian food. On one of my first nights, some of my new friends took me to what seemed like a hole in the wall in the Vomero district of the city, leading me down some steps to a bustling but intimate den of a trattoria just below street level. Like many places back then in Naples, the atmosphere had something of an old-style smoky bistrot. It was run by a wizened, smiling Neapolitan nonna, whose name escapes me, and who is probably frying aubergines for the angels by now. She smiled a lot at me, I remember, after doing her very best to communicate with me in Neapolitan dialect, and quickly coming to the conclusion that smiling was perhaps a better option. Either way, I felt immediately at home, and ended up returning often, each time managing to exchange a few more words along with the smiles. The menu was of course incomprehensible to me, but when I worked out that one of the dishes contained aubergines, I had to try it. This was back in the days when aubergines in England were still bordering on the exotic, so I felt like some kind of food pioneer as I ordered this unknown delicacy, which of course the locals had probably been eating for centuries. When the plate arrived, still bubbling from the oven, seeping orange, tomato-infused oil, the aroma of fried aubergine, golden parmesan and basil was inebriating. It was flamethrower hot and untouchable, but nevertheless irresistible. So I started round the edges and gradually worked my way to its molten heart, searing mouthful after searing mouthful. It was probably the best thing I had ever tasted in my life, and it was love at first bite. The aubergines and mozzarella melted into each other, doused in boiling tomato and basil sauce. And this too was a revelation. I realized I had never really tasted tomatoes before, had never realised how rich and sweet they could be. Fry the sliced aubergines in batches in olive oil until golden, laying them on kitchen paper as you take them out of the pan to soak up the excess oil. Choose an oven/soufflé dish of a size that will allow you to have at least three layers of aubergines. Spoon a little tomato sauce over the base. Follow with a layer of aubergines, then tomato sauce, seasoning, a few torn up basil leaves, torn up pieces of mozzarella, and grated parmesan. Repeat the aubergine-sauce-cheese sequence until the ingredients are used up, remembering to make sure you have at least three layers. Finish with an abundant layer of grated parmesan. Drizzle some olive oil over the top. Bake at 180°C for 35-40 minutes, until golden on top. Take out of the oven and leave to rest for 20 minutes before eating. This resting period is important, and helps the ingredients melt into each other. It also ensures you avoid third-degree burns in your mouth. Love on a plate is one thing. Sado-masochism on a plate something else. By the way, yes, this is a vegetable dish, but that doesn’t mean it’s for dieters. Calorie-wise it’s probably equivalent to a deep pan pizza with extra mozzarella and salami. This entry was posted in Recipes, Vegetables & side dishes and tagged aubergines, mozzarella, vegetable by hungryenglishman. Bookmark the permalink. Luckily up here there’s none of that aubergine stuff. Just loads of pizza and Two Hoots beer!

http://passioneat.it/2016/11/parmigiana-aubergine-bake/

As John Cook discovered, what's being referred to in these ROTs, is the classic knee that appears in all response time curves, such as those shown in the following diagram. These curves assume an M/M/m queue, which means exponentially distributed inter-arrival periods and service periods. The x-axis is the server or processor utilization (ρ) and the y-axis is the response time (R) of the system (normalized by the service time S). The y-units are mean number of service periods. Strictly speaking, R is not identical to the waiting time (W), but that's a technical detail in this context. The response time is always proportional to the queue length. Let's consider each case, starting with the top curve. The top curve represents the response time for a single-server queue, e.g., the checkout at a grocery store. Once you've chosen a line, you're stuck with the service rate of that cashier. Here, I'm excluding the possibility of defection to another line, just to keep the discussion focused. In the case of a computer system, the waiting line is the scheduler's run-queue. Clearly, at around 80% utilization (ρ = 0.8) of the cashier, the response time curve does start to climb significantly. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's a problem or "things are going wrong." Why? First, this is a plot of average response time or, more formally, the statistical mean. It does not show fluctuations (i.e., variance about the mean). A system that is 80% utilized will always have response times that climb significantly. The real question is, how sustained are those longer response times? That's where things like percentile response times or queue lengths, come in. Light Traffic: At low utilization (near ρ = 0), R/S = 1 which means that the response time is identical to 1 service period (S); the time it takes to ring up your own groceries because there was nobody ahead of you at the checkout. Moderate Traffic: At intermediate utilization (near ρ = 0.5), R/S = 1/2 which means that the response time R = 2S has climbed to 2 service units. On average, one person will be getting their groceries rung up when you arrive at the checkout. Heavy Traffic: At high utilization (near ρ = 0.75), R/S = 3/4 which means that the response time R = 4S has climbed to 4 service units. In other words, your response time has doubled again even though the server only became 50% busier than case (b), i.e., from 0.50 to 0.75. On average, 1 person will be getting their groceries rung up and 2 people will be waiting in line when you arrive. This breakdown is necessary due to the intrinsic nonlinear characteristic of the queue and that’s what makes queueing theory rather unintuitive (even for experts). That's also why we need performance models to understand performance data. Moreover, I find these ROTs (a)--(c) to be more practical for on-the-spot performance analysis. Believe me, I've caught quite a few people out by slinging these ROTs at their "pristine" performance measurements. Guerrilla Mantra 2.13: If the measurements don't agree with the model, change the measurements. Now let's look at the other curves. The other curves in the above plot correspond to a single waiting-line with multiple servers, like the multiple bank tellers mentioned by Joel Spolsky. Once again, the waiting line represents the scheduler's run-queue in a computer system. As the number of servers or cores is increased, it is evident that the knee in the curve becomes sharper in the direction of the lower right-hand corner of the above graph. In fact, the locus of the knee appears to move along the diagonal dashed-line. Immediately, you may be wondering if that dashed line provides yet another ROT by which to simply characterize these curves. That's a great question, but unfortunately that line turns out to be an optical illusion. But I digress. More importantly, notice that the lower curve (in blue) remains quite flat right up to about 95% busy. This curve corresponds to 64-way processors (virtual or physical, doesn't matter for this discussion). Only above that traffic level (ρ = 0.95) does the response time increase, and it increases very suddenly; much more suddenly that the single processor case. In fact, the gradient is nearly infinite! So, on this curve, R = S above ρ = 0.75 (CMG) and even at ρ = 0.80 (Joel). Neither the queue-length nor the response time increase significantly and therein lies the rub. If you've already plunked down the bucks for your 64-way multicore box, you had better be making use of them as often as possible in order to justify the expense of the hardware or software dev or both. In performance lingo, you had better utilize them to the max, which in this case means, you had better be running them near 95% busy. But ... and here's the catch, .... no busier! Put differently: You bought a Ferrari, you need to drive it at top speed (otherwise, what's the point?), but if you redline it for too long, the engine will blow up. The redline represents a barrier or wall; the multicore wall in this case. If a resource is more than 75% busy for sustained periods, take a closer look to see whether or not that level of utilization is acceptable in terms of response time or queue length. Common sense is the pitfall of performance analysis. John Allspaw said... I couldn't agree more, and agree with your pointing out that ROT's can be notoriously misleading without the standard caveat of "your mileage may vary". I have a question. Would it be correct to model a dual core machine as a multiserver queueing system with 2 servers? And what about a cluster of multi-core servers?, e.g., should 10 dual-core nodes be modeled as (a) an M/M/20 system, or rather as (b) an M/M/10 queue whose service rate is twice that of option (a)? The first unhelpful thing to get out of your head is the word "correct." There is no correct model. All models are wrong, but some are wronger than others. It all about finding the best approximation. The real test is, how well any choice of model matches the data or whatever other constraints you are trying to meet. Within those boundary conditions, the simplest model that does the job is usually best choice. So, depending on your data or other goals, M/M/2 might be perfectly fine for a dual-core model. For the cluster, you need to think about where requests wait if they can't get serviced (all cores busy); assuming they're not just dropped on the floor. In other words: Is there one or more waiting lines? M/M/20, for example, can only have a single waiting line, by definition. Now ask yourself: What does that single waiting line or buffer correspond to in the real cluster? It might be the run-queue of the O/S or a load-balancer or ... it might not be there at all. In which case it can't be M/M/20. The important point here is, the queueing models are already forcing you to understand more clearly how the cluster operates from a performance standpoint. For a broader view and more exampls along these lines, take a look at Chap. 7 of my Guerrilla CaP book. There, I model a dual core system HP ML530 server, not as M/M/4 but M/M/4/16. Reason: the system only has a finite number of active threads (16) in the test rig and that has more significant ramifications for performance than the number of servers. All of this (and more) is discussd in great detail in my Guerrilla training classes. Hello Neil, thanks for your quick answer. OK, I understand perfectly what you mean, so I'll go into further details. There is actually no waiting (no queue), so if all servers are busy, further jobs are lost (i.e, Erlang-B). Now, suppose that each server has a maximum of 10 connections, e.g., we can serve at most 200 concurrent connections with our 10 dual core servers. Would Erlang-B be the best choice (either M/M/10/10 or M/M/20/20)? A truncated Erlang-C (M/M/n/K/FIFO) seems inaccurate to me, as the servers work in processor sharing. It's very hard to make any further progress when you haven't stated what perf question you are trying to address. Quoting: "at most 200 concurrent connections" suggests to me a finite N=200 or M/M/m/N/N queue, which isn't Erlang-anything. A lossy Erlang-B queue suggests you might have a batch system in mind (viz., as if additional batch requests would be dropped). However, in steady state equilibrium, you expect to see some waiting time, even in a batch system, because the observation period T >> S mean service period. To avoid any waiting time at all in steady state, would require infinite servers (delay node).

http://perfdynamics.blogspot.com/2009/05/queues-schedulers-and-multicore-wall.html

With clear blue seas and terracotta towns, is there anything more romantic than summer in Italy? We have travelled across the country to find Italy’s secret weekend escapes. Forget the tourist traps, there's plenty more to discover in Italy for a romantic weekend getaway. Sitting on a peninsula on the Ligurian Coast, this charming village in the province of La Spezia is surrounded by areas of great natural beauty. Built by the Romans and originally called Porto Venerus, it is an area of history and romance, said to be a favourite spot of English poet Lord Byron who swam across the bay to visit his muse, Mary Shelley. Compared to the busy streets of Cinque Terre, Portovenere feels serene, the perfect place to take your evening passeggiata after dinner. Pisciotta is a little-known, charming Italian town in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania. The old town sits on top of the hill, overlooking its seaside frazione, Marina di Pisciotta. Leading away from Pisciotta there are trails to olive groves, that not only elevate the antipasti options but also help the town hold on to its rustic Mediterranean charm. Saunter down to the Marina to see the bustling fishing port, complete with a smattering of fishermen’s cottages and trattorias that serve up some of the freshest seafood you’re likely to find. Insider’s tip: try absolutely anything on the menu that mentions anchovies (the local chefs get creative), as they are some of the best we’ve ever tasted. Think you need to jet to the Caribbean to experience the island lifestyle? Think again! The residents of the island of Marettimo have been practicing a slow, community-driven way of life for centuries. One of the jewels in the crown of Sicily, Marettimo forms one of the three Aegadian Islands that sits off the western coast, a short ferry ride from the port town of Trapani. With a rugged landscape and clear blue sea, it makes the perfect place for walking, scuba diving, or just relaxing in the sun. Unlike some of the other islands, Marettimo has a real laid back vibe free of snobbery. Liguria’s capital is possibly Italy’s most underrated city. It’s the sixth largest city in the country and Italy’s biggest port. It combines eclectic and vibrant culture, with a rough-edged style. “La Superba” as it was known in its heyday, is a perfect place to end a trip to Liguria if you want a dose of raw culture and intrigue after the serenity of the surrounding coastal resorts.

http://peroniitaly.com/news/travel/undiscovered-italy-weekend-breaks

The Management of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has expressed readiness to invest additional $3 billion in its existing stakes in offshore oil and gas operations in the Nigerian jurisdiction. Leading a team of CNOOC top executives to the corporate headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Yuan Guangyu, Chief Executive Officer of the Beijing based corporation, described its investment in Nigeria as the most strategic and important overseas business undertaking. He said CNOOC had invested over $14 billion in its Nigerian operations, even as he called on the management of the NNPC to seek common grounds of beneficial interest with CNOOC for enhanced productivity. Responding, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, who was represented by Victor Babatunde Adeniran, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Ventures Autonomous Business Unit of the corporation, thanked CNOOC for its interest in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry. Founded in 1982, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation is one of the three big Chinese national oil entities. CNOOC is originally focused on offshore exploration and production, whereas the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is slanted towards onshore upstream exploration and production. SINOPEC, the third of the tripod, is focused on refining and marketing. UAE , Kuwait to invest US$220Bn in Oil & Gas in...

http://petrolgasreport.com/china-offshore-oil-company-invest-3bn-nigeria/

Move over Ian Wright (Lonely Planet/Globe Trekker) and Michael Palin...you have a talented competitor who'll run circles around you. Thiago Bahia is one of the hosts of Amazonia; a travel documentary soon to be aired on PBS that features the natural beauty of Belém, a city on the banks of the Amazon estuary, in the northern part of Brazil and capital of the state of Pará. Wach the 10 minutes documentary to appreciate Thiago's innate abilities to relate to the natural wonder of his birthplace. Although his employment in a major financial institution is here in New York City, Thiago's heart (and possibly his mind as well) belong in Belém, and he is most comfortable as far away from concrete jungles as possible. Counting this talented young man as a personal friend, I have no doubt that he'll astound us even more. Boa Sorte Thiago!

http://photographslr.blogspot.com/2009/05/thiago-bahia-amazonia.html

Our servers collect data regarding each site visitor’s session. This information is collected so we can compile and analyze usage data to provide reports to Morehouse College as well as further develop the site to be more useful to visitors. Site visitors are not required to submit personal information to the website(s) we host on behalf of Morehouse College. However, if they decline to do so, we may not be able to provide site users with requested content or services. Any personal information that site visitors submit through the website is owned by Morehouse College, and used only to provide the contracted-for services.

http://plannedgiving.morehouse.edu/privacy-policy

Do you sometimes get the feeling that there’s a whole world of news Out There which, for some reason, the usual media won’t touch? The BBC Radio 4 news was this morning covering the terrible tragedy of the sinking of a boatload of refugees off Italy. To answer it they interviewed a guy now resident here, who had actually got into Europe after more than one such trip. He started off by saying that things were so bad at home in Libya that he couldn’t stay, but then went on to describe the horrors of the voyage, the starvation, the daily deaths, the women lapsing into insanity and finally his return home. “Goodness!” exclaimed the presenter. “After an experience like that whatever made you decide to try again?” And here’s where the script went off-message, because the guy explained that he hadn’t made the choice. He’d been on his way to church with others, when government officials rounded them up and forced them on to a boat. At that point the interviewer said thankyou, and spoke to a United Nations official who described the economic and physical pressures that made ordinary people feel constrained to strike out for Europe. And that’s a sorry enough tale. But fleeing from a war zone is one thing. Being exiled from your country on a lethal overcrowded hulk by your government – apparently on the grounds that you are a Christian on his way to church in a predominantly Muslim country – is another, and very much more sinister. Why do you suppose it’s one in which the BBC (or the other mainstream media) seems to show no interest, even when first hand evidence is presented in a relevant interview?

http://potiphar.jongarvey.co.uk/2013/10/04/on-an-unrelated-subject/

Pouyan Rezvani is an Iranian postdoctoral researcher at the project PAL. In his PhD dissertation he worked on two hitherto unpublished astrolabe texts by Abū Rayḥān Bīrūnī under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jan P. Hogendijk at Utrecht University. He was an academic member of the department of the history of science at the Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation (Tehran, Iran) from 2013 to 2018. His special interest is history of astronomical instruments in Medieval Islam. PhD: Utrecht University, Mathematics Institute, GS-Natural Sciences, 2019. Dissertation: “Two Treatises on the Astrolabe by Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Bīrūnī (973-1048 A.D.)”; Promotor: Prof. Dr. Jan P. Hogendijk. MA: University of Tehran, Institute for the History of Science, Astronomy in Islamic Civilization, 2011. Thesis: “Theoretical Foundations of Sundials in Islamic Civilization with Persian Translation and Commentary on Ibn al-Haytham’s Risāla fī al-Rukhāmāt al-Ufuqīyya (Treatise on Horizontal Sundials)”; Advisor: Dr. Mohammad Bagheri. BSc: University of Arak, Faculty of Science, Physics, 2009. “Chronology of the Events of the Samarqand “Observatory and School” Based on some Old Persian Texts: a Revision” (with Hamid-Reza Giahi Yazdi), Suhayl (International Journal for the History of Exact and Natural Sciences in Islamic Civilisation), vol. 14, Barcelona, 2015, pp. 145-165. “Two Early Persian Texts on Shadow Schemes and the Regulation of Prayer Times”, Suhayl (International Journal for the History of Exact and Natural Sciences in Islamic Civilisation), vol. 13, Barcelona, 2014, pp. 119-147. Introduction to the Facsimile Edition of Three Treatises by Thābit ibn Qurra (Sundials, Solar and Lunar Motions, a Fourteen-Sided Solid Inscribed in a Given Sphere), Miras-e Maktoob (written heritage) Publications with the Collaboration of Institute for the History of Science (University of Tehran), Tehran, 2014.

http://ptolemaeus.badw.de/team/46

The RCL Chemical Conversion "Modular GTL" RCC is now creating Modular GTL (gas-to-liquids) opportunities for remote and smaller gas fields where scale has been a limiting factor. It is estimated that less than 10% of the world's gas fields are capable of sustaining a 10,000 bpd (barrels per day) facility. However, scaling down to a 2000 bpd production range is estimated to open 70% of the world's gas fields to economic viability. Hence, approximately 30 years of energy independence immediately derived from the U.S.A's new found and now procurable Natural Gas Reserves. David Farmer – President & CEO: Mr. Farmer brings a decade of experience in industrial gases, gasification, and project development as former VP Business Development of InEnTec, Inc. and President of InEnTec Chemical LLC, a leader in chemical gasification technology. He led the development, construction, start up, and operations of the world’s first and largest commercial scale chemical plasma gasification plant at Dow Corning’s Midland, MI facility. Prior to joining InEnTec, he spent 22 years in Fortune 300 corporations including Director of Global Business Development with Praxair, a world leader in industrial gas supply and processes, and senior level Marketing, Operations, and Engineering positions in the electric utility and consumer products industries. He received his B.S. Industrial Engineering degree from The Georgia Institute of Technology and his MBA from Duke University. William B. Johnson – Chairman & COO: Mr. Johnson, previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of Lakeside Energy LLC. He also served as an Executive Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions at Primary Energy Holdings LLC. He was responsible for all mergers and acquisitions and key commercial activities and played a key role in building Primary Energy from a business with zero revenue to a business worth over $1B. He founded Nations Energy and served as its President & Chief Executive Officer. He served as a corporate officer of Air Liquide Group, an $8B company, responsible for its global chemical and energy businesses. During his 15-year tenure with Air Liquide, he oversaw startup and acquisition of various businesses as well as profit and loss accountability for key subsidiaries. He also managed its production, business development and strategic planning activities. Previous jobs included Fish Engineering and Construction and Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University and Harvard Business School, AMP.

http://rclchemical.com/

Welcome to the website of the Masonic and Military Order of the Red Cross of Constantine and the Orders of the Holy Sepulchre and St John the Evangelist for the Division of Surrey. The order accepts Freemasons who have a belief in the Trinitarian Church and are members of a Craft Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter. For those wishing to extend their researches into the spiritual side of Freemasonry, particularly further developing the theme of the Royal Arch degree there is much in this wonderful order to exercise the mind. Further information can be gleaned from the History of the Order which you can access here. There is a list of Conclaves, equivalent to Craft Lodges and Royal Arch Chapters, which make up the Division and their meeting places. A current list of Divisional Officers and also the Sepulchre Guard who have specific duties in connection with the Holy Sepulchre is available. The regalia required, toast list and Divisional bye laws can be accessed together with a copy of the divisional magazine, The Byzantine Times. For those accessing the site with an interest in joining this beautiful order please go to the contact us tab and you will be offered more advice and assistance from one of our team. The Red Cross of Constantine at the Allied Masonic Degrees Annual Meeting... A Christmas Message from your Intendant General... Orders Beyond the Craft Evening... The Red Cross of Constantine Supports the Mark Charity Dinner Dance... This website ©2018 The Red Cross of Constantine, Division of Surrey. Website designed, built and maintained by Allsorts Design.

http://redcrossofconstantine.co.uk/

You can find pt1 and pt2 here. Billy thinking quickly tells charlie to give him a minute and then gives him that "You know what I mean" wink. Charlie smiles and walks away. Billy: Linda, to be honest with you, I don't feel like joining them, I mean, unless you really want to? Linda: Ah no, I don't really feel comfortable going in there Billy. Billy: Good, so I'm going to tell them we are leaving. Linda: What are you going to tell them? Billy: The truth, that you and I are going to get a cup of coffee and get to know each other better. That is if you want to? Linda: Sure, that sounds good to me! Billy goes over to Charlie and tells him the deal as Linda watches. Billy comes back and says, "Shall we?" while reaching to take her hand to help her up. Linda: What did he say? Billy: Oh, he understood. Every thing's ok. Linda: Oh good, I was afraid that your friends might be mad at you. Billy: Nah, they're a good group of guys. In the back of Billy's mind though, he knew how Charlie was pissed and that he just might have lost a friendship or two by leaving. But, as they waited for the elevator to go back downstairs, he looked into Linda's eyes. She seemed relieved and happy. He knew that he made the right choice. Be your own person even at the expense of loosing a friend or two. If they are really your friends, they'll understand and support you. Bobby, you really know what it takes to get the girl! LOL Sharon. Although I wish that were the case, I'm pretty much in the dark.

http://relationship-digest.com/2008/10/as-date-turns-pt3.html

Rudolf Mauersberger (26/01/1889 - 22/02/1971), a German composer, organist and choirmaster; born in Mauersberg, died in Dresden, Germany. It fell to Rudolf Mauersberger to lead the Dresdner Kreuzchor for forty years, all but two of them under the dictatorships of Hitler and the East German government. To this ordeal was added the tragedy of the allied bombing of Dresden on February 13, 1945 which destroyed the city. Mauersberger's immediate response was the heartbreaking motet Wie liegt die Stadt so w�st, (How the city lays in ruins) to words from the Lamentations of Jeremiah. That the pain of this tragedy never left Mauersberger is evident in that he made the subsequent Dresdner requiem his life work that did not reach its final form until 1961. It is for soloists, 3 choirs, brass, percussion, double bass, celesta and organ. 3) a distant choir, the voice of thedeparted. Most of the work is sung a cappella, but a small ensemble consisting of organ, celeste, trombones, double basses and percussion is used occasionally, particularly in the "Dies irae" section. The interplay of these three choirs adds greatly to the poignant effect of this work. The texture is mainly homophonic with consonant harmonies, but with some dissonance in the "Dies irae". "Agnus dei" section is an alto solo written for Peter Schreier whose distinguished career began with this choir as a child. The dark textures of the alto voice is well-suited to the solemn spirit of this concluding section. Throughout, the choir provides an aura of grief-stricken dignity and shows attention to the nuances of the music. The alto solo is sung very capably. The applicability of this work for our time speaks for itself.

http://requiemsurvey.org/composers.php/www.ruchmuzyczny.pl/www.de.wikipedia.org/wiki/de.wikipedia.org/wiki/stats/stats/composers.php?id=521

When you are in a foreign country and you are in a difficult situation, sometimes it is hard to puzzle out where to find help. In this page we provide information, where people in difficult situations can look for leagal, social, psychological help, where you can find place for sleap or place to eat free of charge, where you can look for integration activities. Red Cross - humanitarian organization who is taking care of refugees and asylum seekers. For more information you can look in the page or in Facebook. Center PLUS - gives consultations and information for citizens of third countries. More information is here. Caritas - it is an international humanitarian organization who is fighting poverty around the world in defense of human rights and caring for each individual requesting the preservation of dignity, regardless of race, religion, gender and ethnicity. More information you can find here.

http://returnhome.lt/en/for-migrants/other-information-for-migrants

Why Congregational Voting is NOT an Exercise of Ecclesiastical Authority – Session 14. As to the Settlement of Vacant Congregations among us: They have the important privilege of choosing their own ministers, and are uncontrouled in the exercise of this right. This right is of the utmost importance; but, that the benefit may be enjoyed, it seems necessary, that those concerned should be fully apprised, where it resides, and how it is to be applied. If this is not the case, the good may not be obtained; and while the means of preserved, the end may be lost. As to the First, we are not sufficiently agreed, and our practice is not uniform. It is generally required that the voters be Seceders; but I am not certain whether a person, whole under scandal, is or ought to be, in all cases excluded. I believe this is not settled. In some places, females are excluded, in others they may be electors. That they should be in any case excluded, merely on account of sex, is not enjoined in Scripture, and seems contrary to Reason. Women are, indeed prohibited from public teaching; but we do not, on that account, prohibit them from sitting down at the Lord’s Table, and there making a public profession. They are admitted to present their children for baptism, and to join in public covenanting. In each of these, they must be as chargeable with speaking in the church, as they can be in using their right of suffrage in the choice of a teacher. In a religious view, they are equally interested as the other sex; and they are often of equal discernment. To exclude a mother in widowhood, is to exclude one of the most interested; to exclude a wife, because a wife, from an independent suffrage, is to erect a patron in every family, and make the husband, in this instance, lord over the conscience: besides it gives to a single man, perhaps of precarious residence, an equal quantity of influence, as to him who is a resident householder, and represents a numerous family. And why a female, merely for want of a family connection, should be excluded from the exercise of her right, seems scarcely evident. In some cases, the right is confined to heads of families. This is liable to equal objections as those above stated, but in a more extensive degree. Yes, these are rational reasons why Mr. Watt seemed to FAVOR the right of women to congregationally vote. where are you going with this JJ? My original intent was to vindicate the SDA practice of allowing women to vote in congregational church affairs, and to show that the Spiritualists at the Seneca Woman's Rights Convention in 1848 only revived the foundational principles of woman-suffrage ideology that had already been planted in a seed form and had been hiding in many Baptist churches, and even some Presbyterian churches since the early 18th Century. It has been a while since I have posted anything. I wonder, by now, has any of you considered these points I made about why congregational voting is not a share in the government of the Church? An EXCELLENT idea has just entered my mind! In my next session, I shall prove that at least ONE staunch Presbyterian, the Rev. Samuel Rutherford, in 1644, actually PROVED that the New Law found in the New Testament of the Bible DOES give women the right to vote in congregational affairs! Therefore let not these ultraconservative reactionary neo-confederate ultrapatriarchalist sects of the Protestant (nor of the Papist) persuasions put the blame on the French-Revolution Spiritualist Free-Love Abe-LINCOLN-abolitionazi yankee carpetbagger radical red Republican innovators of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, for the idea of women voting and holding public office anywhere in the Church or the State: for the virus of woman-suffrage (in congregational affairs) was ALREADY harboured and nourished by Rev. Samuel Rutherford, in 1644, on Presbyterian principles!! And this is the man that the ultrafundamentalist branches of the Presbyterian denomination LOVE with the love of complacency and show no remorse! Instead of glorying in him, they ought to be ashamed if they are so opposed to woman suffrage! [If your thesis be true] Then Paul writes not to all saints at Corinth: not to women. And [consequently] women were not to mourn for the scandal, nor to forbear his company. 3. What privilege the people have in [the] ordination [of officers], to confer a ministry which they have neither formally nor virtually, I know not. As you see, one of the Congregationalists / Independentists of the 17th century argued AGAINST woman-suffrage in congregational affairs - though that was not his MAIN intention. The Rev. Rutherford showed just how fallacious those anti-woman suffrage arguments are. Since this privilege of congregational suffrage is by the Independentists' own testimony, part and parcel of the liberties Christ has purchased for His Mystical Body, it is not expedient, but rather contrary to Gospel liberty, to deny this prilvilege to women. Do you see this as a problem in the SDA church ? I am presenting proof that no one ought to be opposed to woman-suffrage either in church or in the State. I have no problem with women voting in the church as members of the congregation. One more thing: enemies of woman suffrage plead that women are represented by their husbands, brothers, fathers, and sons. 1. If the Scriptures recognize us as voters at all, they do not recognize us as families, but as individuals. No one votes for a family, but for himself only. Note: Either one person one vote or else the individual is worth nothing at all! 2. The "opinion" [namely, that of a certain professedly Lutheran Synodical Committee attempting to DENY that a congregation violates a Scriptural or Lutheran principle, where a family is not otherwise represented, by allowing all members male AND female to congregationally vote] assumes that "a family" - possibly composed of a number of male and female members - may be "represented" by one male member at a congregational meeting, and one vote would be cast for the whole family. We deny the right of such representation of the female members of the family, but granting this right, for argument's sake, it is very doubtful whether the one vote expresses the views and convictions of all the other members of the family. Note: Enemies of woman suffrage also ought to know that the plea that women are represented by their male relatives also makes this same fallacious assumption "that "a family" - possibly composed of a number of male and female members - may be "represented" by one male member at a congregational meeting, and one vote would be cast for the whole family". Even on the assumption that woman suffrage is against the Law of God, there are certain grave reasons, which I will list later, why we must DENY "the right of such representation of the female members of the family". 5. It is also a fallacy to suppose, that a wife, who is "represented" by a husband at a congregational meeting thereby exercises more rights and privileges than a widow or single woman, if the latter are debarred from voting. The husband of a wife votes only for himself and not for his wife, depositing only one vote. The wife has, therefore, no more to say in the matter than the widow or single woman. If the right of voting is to be given to the widow and the female members of a family not otherwise represented, as seems to be contemplated in the report of the committee, it must in justice be given to all women, whether single or married. I do not need to tell you again why the assumption that the vote of a male head of the house represents his entire family is false - that reason was already given in the previous post! Why Congregational Voting is NOT an Exercise of Ecclesiastical Authority – Session 16 (Continued).

http://revivalsermons.org/forums/index.php?topic=5519.msg84988

Riverhawk’s workplace health & safety program aims to remove or reduce the risks of the health, safety and welfare of all who may be affected by our business operations. To do so, Riverhawk’s management strives to provide a safe working environment, safe systems of work, and a commitment to all matters relating to health and safety in the workplace. Riverhawk maintains a commitment to continually improve our performance through effective safety management. This is done by asking all employees to comply with safe work practices, report all incidents on the job regardless of seriousness and to report any known or observed hazards to a member of management.

http://riverhawk.com/health-safety/

Trying to navigate through insurance and addiction treatment options that are available to you can be challenging and disheartening at times. While you are well aware of how important it is to get help for your or a loved one’s addiction, insurance companies don’t always seem to feel the same way. Fortunately, there are options no matter what type of insurance that you have, you just have to be willing to put in the effort to find the one that best meets your needs. The type of addiction treatment that you may have access to can greatly depend on your insurance as well as funds that you have available. In some cases insurance companies will agree to allow you to select any center that you wish while paying a certain amount each day. Others may only allow you to select from centers that have already been pre-approved by the company. It is important to communicate with your insurance company about the fact that you are seeking treatment so that you can get as much information about the assistance that they are willing to provide before you get started. If you have a treatment center in mind you should contact them to determine whether or not they accept your insurance. If they say they do not it is worthwhile asking if they are willing to negotiate with your insurance company. In some cases there is the ability to reach an agreement that is acceptable to both parties. This is especially true when there are not providers that have been approved by your insurance company that are in a close distance to where you live. Remember what you are fighting for when negotiating your way through this process. It is also important to note that you may be able to get care without the use of your insurance depending on the area in which you live. Some states have taken measures to help anyone get the treatment that they need. The rise in drug related deaths and crimes have put a focus on the need for people to have access to these services in greater numbers than ever. Be sure to look into any services that may be offered in the community in which you live. There are also some centers that are non-profit or take on a certain number of cases free of charge each year. These centers often require that you apply, and a spot is not guaranteed. They often select individuals on a case by case basis depending on a number of factors. This is still an option, however, if you are willing to go through the process. It can be extremely daunting when you are dealing with insurance and addiction treatment issues. The key is to keep yourself focused on what your ultimate goals is. There is no room to give up on the ultimate goal. You may be told no a number of times while trying to get the help that you need and deserve, but with perseverance there is always a way.

http://rtv6indy.com/considering-insurance-and-addiction-treatment-options/

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) of St. John the Evangelist, Merrow. The PCC of St John the Evangelist, Merrow is the data controller (contact details below) as regulated by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This means it decides how your personal data is processed and for what purposes. The PCC of St John the Evangelist, Merrow complies with its obligations under the GDPR by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data. To exercise all relevant rights, queries of complaints please in the first instance contact the PCC Secretary at |||EMAIL_ADDRESS||| or c/o Parish Office, 222, Epsom Road, Merrow, Guildford, GU4 7AA. You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF.

http://saintjohns.org.uk/privacy-notice.php

If you’re planning to improve the condition and quality of your home and business, then you came to the right place! San Diego Foundation Repair provides foundation inspections and maintenance services to residential and commercial facilities. This is one of the best things you can do first before you purchase or sell your property. Give us a call or visit our website so we can assist you with your concerns. Foundation Repair Problem, Solved! Plumbing leaks, drainage, and poor soil conditions are just some of the reasons why a foundation fail. The good thing is – there are a lot of options available in terms of repairing your foundation. Basically, you need to determine the problems in your home – like sloping floors – and the reasons behind these. At San Diego Foundation Repair, one of the goals is to find out what started everything – and we believe that it’s best to check the interior of the home first before we proceed with the exterior and crawlspace (if applicable). To come out with the best foundation repair inspection, we believe that we need to thoroughly check the entire home or office space so we can come out with the right solutions. Our mission, as one of the top foundation repair service companies, is to provide the most accurate repair for residential and commercial spaces, in accordance with State and Local Building Codes. We also keep in mind to provide a practical solution, therefore, our services are available at a reasonable price. You and your property are our top priorities so we come out with a solution that is both affordable and of high quality. So if you’re looking for the best foundation repair inspection in San Diego, then look no further! Give us a call now or contact us through our website. Our foundation repair company does not just focus on giving the right inspection and maintenance service to your facilities, we also aim to equip you with the right knowledge so you’ll know how important it is to ask for professional assistance. Neglecting a cracked slab or worn out stemwall is a usual scenario that may lead to further problems. Are Foundation Bolts Important In Every Home? Foundation bolts are essential tools when attaching a wood sill plate to the concrete perimeter. It’s important for a home to have this as bolts secure the house to the foundation in case of an unlikely event, such as an earthquake. How Do I Know If My Stemwall Is No Longer Usable?

http://sandiegofoundationrepair.net/services/foundation-inspections/

Migen makes it possible to apply modern software concepts such as object-oriented programming and metaprogramming to design hardware. This results in more elegant and easily maintained designs and reduces the incidence of human errors. build synchronous designs more productively by automating tasks like resetting registers and abstracting away the event-driven paradigm of HDLs. integrate system-on-chips, for example by automatically interconnecting on-chip buses such as Wishbone. design hardware accelerators in the dataflow paradigm, with semi-automatic integration in a SoC. Migen will become the foundation for the next-generation Milkymist SoC, and is also used in the Rhino software-defined radio platform from the University of Cape Town. Sébastien Bourdeauducq is an inventor passionate about science, electronics and open source. After working for several small companies - which included developing the Wi-Fi driver infrastructure for the Nabaztag/tag - he founded Milkymist in the summer of 2007. The project combined his interest for the world of music with the desire to learn about and open up system-on-chip design, and it has now grown into a full-fledged open source project and commercial venture. Since 2011, he is also providing open hardware design services for CERN and the Rhino project, the latter contributing to the development of Migen.

http://schedule2012.rmll.info/ANNULE-Migen-a-Python-toolbox-for-building-complex-digital-hardware?lang=fr

Macrocollum itaquii: A new species of Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Late Triassic of Brazil. Sauropod Dinosaurs are the largest known land animals ever to have walked the Earth, with some species reaching masses of around 60 tonnes, larger than any member of any other Dinosaur group, and exceeded only by the modern Baleen Whales (which are fully marine in nature). These Dinosaurs descended from the Prosauropods, a polyphyletic group (i.e. a group which does not include all the descendants of their most recent common ancestor, since Sauropods are not considered to be Prosauropods; polyphyletic groups are not considered valid by many modern taxonomists) which includes early bipedal forms, and which may have split of from other Dinosaur groups before the Ornithischia/Saurischia split, with the two groups being together known as the Sauropodomorphs. The earliest known Sauropodomorphs are relatively small-bodied forms from early Late Triassic (about 233 million years old) in Brazil, suggesting that the group originated in this area, though these forms lack many of the key features associated with the group, such as elongate necks and slender skulls. In a paper published in the journal Biology Letters on 21 November 2018, Rodrigo Temp Müller of the Programa de Pós Graduaçaõ em Biodiversidade Animal and the Centro de Apoio à Pesquisa Paleontológica da Quarta Colônia at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Max Cardoso Langer of the Laboratório de Paleontologia at the Universidade de São Paulo, and Sérgio Dias-da-Silva, also of the Centro de Apoio à Pesquisa Paleontológica da Quarta Colônia at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, describe a new species of Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Late Triassic of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. The new species is named Macrocollum itaquii, where ‘Macrocollum’ means ‘long-neck’ and ‘itaquii’ honours José Jerundino Machado Itaqui, for his role in the formation of the Centro de Apoio à Pesquisa Paleontológica da Quarta Colônia. The species is described from three specimens, two almost complete and one lacking the skull and cervical vertebrae (neck). The specimens clearly show the elongate neck and slender skull of later Sauropodomorphs, and is dated to about 225 million years ago, coming from the upper portion of the Candelária Sequence of the Paraná Basin, making this species only about eight million years younger that the oldest known Sauropodomorphs. Müller et al. also suggest that the fact that three specimens were found together may be indicative that Macrocollum itaquii had began to develop social behaviour. Reconstructed skeleton and representative elements of Macrocollum itaquii. (a) Skull in left lateral view. (b) Skull in dorsal view. (c) Skull in ventral view. (d) Fourth cervical vertebra in left lateral view. (e) Mid-truncal vertebra in left lateral view. (f) Left ilium in lateral view. (g) Left ischium in lateral view. (h) Right pectoral girdle in lateral view. (i) Right manual digit I in medial view. (j) Right astragalus in dorsal view. (k) Right femur in cranial view. (l) Left pes in cranial view. Abbreviations: I-1, phalanx one of the digit I; I-2, phalanx two of the digit I; a, angular; ap, ascending process; co, coracoid; crt, crest; ct, cranial trochanter; d, dentary; dp, diapophysis; epi, epipophysis; f, frontral; fh, femoral head; fob, fossa for the olfactoy bulbus; inf, internarial fenestra; is, ischium shaft; j, jugal; mc, medial condyle; mcI, metacarpal I; mtI, metatarsal I; mtIII, metatarsal III; mtV, metatarsal V; mw, medial wall; mx, maxilla; n, nasal; ns, neural spine; opl, obturador plate; p, parietal; pa, parapophysis; paa, postacetabular ala; pmfo, promaxillary fenestra; pmx, premaxilla; po, postorbital; poz, postzygapophysis; prf, prefrontal; prz, prezygapophysis; q, quadrate; qj, quadratojugal; sa, surangular; sac, supracetabular crest; scp, scapula; sq, squamosal; stf, supratemporal fenestra. Scale bar is 50 mm. Müller et al. (2018). Large numbers of cold-stunned Sea Turtles wash up on beaches at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Over 400 Sea Turtles have washed up on beaches around Cape Cod, Massachusetts this week. Volunteers from the Massachusetts Audubon Society patrol the area at this time of year looking for distressed Turtles, but have been surprised by the high numbers found this week, which compare to about 600 found between October and December in recent years. A total of 173 Turtles have died as a result of hypothermia, many of them Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle's, Lepidochelys kempii, a species considered to be Critically Endangered under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. Volunteers measuring rescued Turtles at the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Massachusetts Audubon Society. Ironically, though the Turtles are suffering as a result of the cold, the root cause of the problems is thought to be rising sea temperatures associated with global warming. Turtles breed in the warm waters of the Caribbean during the northern winter, and come northward during the summer to feed in the nutrient rich waters off the American east coast, however they have not, until fairly recently, come as far north Cape Cod, where they are apparently caught out by the sharp decline in water temperatures late in the year, resulting in the stranding of frozen animals seen this week. Lijinganthus revoluta: A Core Dicot flower from Cretaceous Burmese Amber. The Core Dicots are the single largest grouping of Flowering Plants, Angiosperms, and include groups such as the Saxifrages, Vines, Beaches, Oaks, Roses, Gourds, Willows, Geraniums, Myrtles, Cabbages, Citruses,Horse Chestnuts, Mangoes, Cacti, Heathers, Sunflowers, Honeysuckles, Nightshades, Olives, and Lavenders. The oldest fossils currently assigned to the group come from the Late Cretaceous of North America, though molecular clock dating methods suggest that the group is likely to be considerably older. In a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports on 13 November 2018, Zhong-Jian Liu of the Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Orchid Conservation and Utilization at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Diying Huang and Chenyang Cai of the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Xin Wang of the Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Paleogeography at the at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, describe a new Core Dicot flower from Middle Cretaceous Burmese Amber. The new flower is named Lijinganthus revoluta, where 'Lijinganthus' means 'Li Jing's flower', in honour of Li Jing (1967–2015) for her talent and poetry, and 'revoluta' refers to the petals of the flower, which are revolute (are rolled back at the edges). The flower is 6.5 mm in length and 4.8 mm in width, with five petals and five sepals, a pedicel, stamens, and a gynoecium. Lijinganthus revoluta embedded in a Myanmar amber. (a) Side view of the flower, showing physically connected pedicel (white triangle), petals (1–5), and stamens. Scale bar is 1 mm. (b) Top view of the flower, showing petals (1–5), anthers (white triangles), and ovary (double triangle). Note the relationship between stamens (a,b) and Petal 4. Scale bar is 1 mm. (c) Bottom view of the flower, showing revolute petals (1–5) and stamens. Scale bar is 1 mm. (d) Detailed view of the rectangular region in 1c, showing the relationship among sepal (white line), petal (4), and 2 filaments (white triangles). Scale bar is 0.1 mm. Liu et al. (2018). Psoralis darienensis: A new species of Skipper from the Darién National Park in Panama. Skippers, Hesperiidae, are a large group of Butterflies named for their quick darting flights. They are global in distribution, but reach their maximum diversity in the tropical regions of Central and South America. In a paper published in the journal Tropical Lepidoptera Reasearch on 31 May 2018, Fabian Gaviria, Ricardo Siewert, Olaf Mielke, and Mirna Casagrande of the Laboratório de Estudos de Lepidoptera Neotropical at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, describe a new species of Skipper from the Darién National Park in Panama. The new species is placed in the genus Psoralis, which currently contains 12 species from South America, and given the specific name darienensis, meaning 'from Darién'. The species is described from two male specimens collected from an abandoned mine site within the Darién National Park, at an altitude of about 1500 m above sealevel. These are brown in colour with yellow and black markings and a forewing length of 19 mm. Psoralis darienensis. Male from Darién National Park, Darién Province, Panama, dorsal (a) and ventral (b) views. Gaviria et al. (2018). Physeter macrocephalus: Sperm Whales wash up on beaches in Sulawesi, Indonesia, and Northland, New Zealand. Two Sperm Whales, Physeter macrocephalus, have washed up on beaches on southern Sulawesi, Indonesia, and Northland, New Zealand, this week. The first Whale, measuring 9.5 m in length, washed up on a beach near Wakatobi on southeastern Sulawesi on Monday 19 November 2018. Examination by staff from the Wakatobi National Park found 5.9 kg of plastic inside the animal's stomach, which is thought to have been the cause of the Whale's death. The second Whale, which measured about 15 m, was stranded alive on a beach near Doubtless Bay in Northland, New Zealand late on Saturday 23 November, and despite attempts to save it died overnight. In keeping with local tradition the Whale will be given a full funeral by the Ngāti Kahu Māori people, as is the case with all Whales and Dolphins washed up in the region, though in a break with tradition the group have decided to allow scientists to take samples from the animal's stomach, due to concerns that plastic in the environment may be harming the species. A Sperm Whale, Physeter macrocephalus, that washed up on a beach in southeast Sulawesi on Monday 19 November 2018. Kartika Sumolang/WWF Indonesia. Sperm Whales are the largest species of Toothed Whales, reaching about 20.5 m in length. The species is currently considered to be Vulnerable under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, with a population that probably measures somewhere in the hundreds of thousands. The species is thought to have had a population of over a million around the beginning of the nineteenth century, but to have fallen to about 29 000 by1880. The population rose again in the early twentieth century, as targeting of the species by Whalers declined, then fell from 1946 to 1980 as hunting of Sperm Whales increased again. Since 1985 the species has been protected by a moratorium on the taking of Whales agreed by the International Whaling Commission, and although a few Sperm Whales have been taken by the Japanese Whaling fleet since this time, the main threat to these animals is thought to come from Fishing nets, in which they can become entangled and drown, and plastics, which they can ingest, filling up their stomachs and preventing them from taking their normal food (mostly Squid). Asteroid 2018 VS8 passes the Earth. Asteroid 2018 VS8 passed by the Earth at a distance of about 748 300 km (1.95 times the average distance between the Earth and the Moon, or 0.50% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun), slightly after 4.50 am GMT on Saturday 17 November 2018. There was no danger of the asteroid hitting us, though were it to do so it would not have presented a significant threat. 2018 VS8 has an estimated equivalent diameter of 6-22 m (i.e. it is estimated that a spherical object with the same volume would be 6-22 m in diameter), and an object of this size would be expected to explode in an airburst (an explosion caused by superheating from friction with the Earth's atmosphere, which is greater than that caused by simply falling, due to the orbital momentum of the asteroid) in the atmosphere between 38 and 20 km above the ground, with only fragmentary material reaching the Earth's surface. The calculated orbit of 2018 VX1. Minor Planet Center. 2018 VS8 was discovered on 12 November 2018 (five days before its closest approach to the Earth) by the University of Arizona's Mt. Lemmon Survey at the Steward Observatory on Mount Lemmon in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson. The designation 2018 VS8 implies that the asteroid was the 218th object (object S8) discovered in the first half of November 2018 (period 2018 V). 2018 VS8 has an 998 day orbital period and an eccentric orbit tilted at an angle of 3.40° to the plane of the Solar System, which takes it from 0.94 AU from the Sun (i.e. 94% of he average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun) to 2.97 AU from the Sun (i.e. 297% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun, almost twice as far from the Sun as the Planet Mars). It is therefore classed as an Apollo Group Asteroid (an asteroid that is on average further from the Sun than the Earth, but which does get closer). As such the asteroid has occasional close encounters with the planet Earth, which it last came close to in January 1955. Phyllium yapicum: A new species of Leaf Insect from Yap Island, Micronesia. Leaf Insects, Phylliidae are a group of Stick Insects, Phasmida, currently known from as far west as the Seychelles, as far east as Fiji, as far north as Tibet and as far south as New Caledonia. Several new species have been described in this group in recent years, but most of these have been cryptic species (i.e. species which so closely resemble other species that they cannot readily be told apart by physical examination, but which are reproductively isolated from them) split from other species with ranges previously presumed to have larger ranges than was actually the case, rather than new populations living in areas where these Insects had not previously been observed. In a paper published in the journal Insecta Mundi on 31 August 2018, Royce Cumming and Sierra Teemsma of the Montreal Insectarium describe a new species of Pyllid Leaf Insect from Yap Island in Micronesia. The new species is placed in the widespread genus Phyllium, and given the specific name yapicum, in reference to the island where it was discovered. It is described from a single female specimen, which was collected in 1980 and deposited in the collection of the California Academy of Natural Sciences, where it has remained overlooked until now. The specimen is 73.4 mm in length and yellow and brown in colour, though it is likely to have been a bright green when alive. Phyllium yapicum. (A) Dorsal view. (B) Ventral view. (C) Thorax side view. Cumming & Teemsma (2018). Phyllium yapicum appears to be most closely related to other members of the genus Phyllium from the Philippines, which is unsurprising as this is the nearest area where they have been recorded to date. However, Yap is separated from the Philippines by 1400 km of open ocean, which would seem rather hard for a Leaf Insect to cross, so Cumming and Teemsma suggest that there may be undiscovered species of Phyllium on the islands of Palau or Guam. Heavy rains bring flooding to Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Heavy rains have brought flooding to parts of southwestern Iran, southeastern Iraq, Kuwait and northeastern Saudi Arabia this week. Saudi Arabia has been the worst hit, with at least 35 killed in flash flooding incidents and 4000 being forced to evacuate their homes. The flooding has also killed at least 12 people in Iraq. Neither Iran not Kuwait have reported any casualties, but both countries have been forced to evacuate people from areas effected by the flooding. Two Indian nationals trapped on top of a vehicle in the Al-Lith Valley in Saudi Arabia. Both were later rescued by the Royal Saudi Air Defence Forces. Al-Ekhbariya. The Middle East, while generally arid, is prone to occasional severe flooding. This stems from two causes; firstly the arid climate prevents the development of a thick soil layer which would be expected in less dry areas, so that in much of the area (non-porous) bedrock is either exposed or close to the surface, and secondly the hot climate leads to heavy evaporation from nearby seas and oceans, so that if the wind changes direction and brings water-laden air to the area, it brings a lot of precipitation with it. This combination of heavy rainfall and low ground absorbency leads to large amounts of water at the surface, typically moving downhill at some speed. Wadis, dry channels or ravines through which these sudden floods are channelled, can be particularly dangerous at these times, particularly as they often appear to resemble natural pathways or even camp sites to people unfamiliar with the climate. Another man being rescued from flooding in Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia, on Friday 23 November 2018. Saudi Gazzette. The storms have been caused by a low pressure system over the western Persian Gulf, caused by exceptionally hot weather in the region. As the air is heated the the air pressure drops and the air rises, causing new air to rush in from outside the forming storm zone. If this zone is sufficiently large, then it will be influenced by the Coriolis Effect, which loosely speaking means the winds closer to the equator will be faster than those further away, causing the storm to rotate, clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere. Rescue workers aiding flood victims in the Al-Shirqat District of Iraq on Friday 23 November 2018. Middle East Monitor. Damage caused by flooding in Kuwait City earlier this month. Noufal Ibrahim/EPA. This extreme weather is thought to be connected with a developing El Niño weather system, which warms the waters of the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. The El Niño is the warm phase of a long-term climatic oscillation affecting the southern Pacific, which can influence the climate around the world. The onset of El Niño conditions is marked by a sharp rise in temperature and pressure over the southern Indian Ocean, which then moves eastward over the southern Pacific. This pulls rainfall with it, leading to higher rainfall over the Pacific and lower rainfall over South Asia. This reduced rainfall during the already hot and dry summer leads to soaring temperatures in southern Asia, followed by a rise in rainfall that often causes flooding in the Americas and sometimes Africa. Worryingly climatic predictions for the next century suggest that global warming could lead to more frequent and severe El Niño conditions, extreme weather conditions a common occurrence. Macrocollum itaquii: A new species of Sauropodomor... Large numbers of cold-stunned Sea Turtles wash up ... Lijinganthus revoluta: A Core Dicot flower from Cr... Psoralis darienensis: A new species of Skipper fro... Physeter macrocephalus: Sperm Whales wash up on be... Phyllium yapicum: A new species of Leaf Insect fro... Heavy rains bring flooding to Iran, Iraq, Kuwait a... Spiricopia aurita: A Cylindroleberidid Ostracod fr... Odorrana kweichowensis: A new species of Piebald O... Magnitude 1.7 Earthquake near Barnard Castle in Co... Beania serrata & Beania mediterranea: Two new spec... Hedychium viridibracteatum: A new species of Ginge... Flooding hits south and central Trinidad. Landslide kills four in Tamil Nadu. Sumatran Elephant killed by poachers. Thirteen confirmed deaths as Cyclone Gaja makes la... Poecilocloeus coffeaphilus: A new species of Maske... Boa blanchardensis: A dwarf Boid Snake from the Pl... Neopilina sp.: Tracking Monoplacophorans on the oc... The Leonid Meteor Shower. Magnitude 2.3 Earthquake near Leominster in Herefo... Raphia gabonica & Raphia zamiana: Two new species ... Landslide kills at least ten in Rio de Janeiro Sta... Poacher sentenced to 33 years imprisonment in Sout... Magnitude 5.2 Earthquake in Chine State, Myanmar. British citizen dies after contracting Rabies in M... Anolis dracula: A new, cryptic, species of Anole f... Humpback Whale washes up on Californian beach. Ebola outbreak kills 198 in the Democratic Republi... Wildfires kill at least nine in California. Eleven killed by flash flooding in Jordan. Magnitude 5.4 Earthquake in Western Australia. Lavocatisaurus agrioensis: A new species of Rebbac... Explaining the failure of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Da... Glaresis hespericula: A new species of Scarab Beet... Flats evacuated after sinkhole opens close to resi... Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi: The Phantom Urvögel ... Asteroid 2018 VC passes the Earth. Macrobiotus hannae: A new species of Tardigrade fr... Leatherback Turtle dies in aquarium after being re... Twelve dead in Sicily flooding. Landslide kills nine-year-old girl in Jammu and Ka... Eruption on Mount Ebeko produces 4.5 km high ash c... Southern Taurids to peak on Monday 5 November 2018... Fifteen confirmed dead as storm system sweeps acro... Glacial flour creates dust storm in Greenland. Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake in Iquique Province, Chil... Miopetaurista neogrivensis: A Flying Squirrel from... Preserved magnetic field in a mineral grain from t...

http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2018/11/

There has to be an idea or subject, but not one that can be explained in conceptual terms; that is superficial and sterile. This sentence, out of all the others, proves his thinking weak. BUT, in his own less-than-advanced manner, he has gotten himself on the right track by venturing some convictions. Some more hard work and some more hard thinking will save him. Plenty of other artists (the wishy-washy and non-committal) are well behind him. He'll be okay eventually. The "contemporary-ness" of sculpture only depends upon its participation and visibility within the scheme of current (sculpture) events. It is NOT an issue of style or an issue of how it addresses or rejects tradition. It is not well-placed energy to wonder about the status of contemporary sculpture. THAT stuff happens in the art "career" not the art "life". Such a trifle is easily handled in the meanderings of the 87.7% of obligated travail which puts meat on the plate and beer in the fridge. Last edited by evaldart : 11-09-2010 at 10:21 AM.

http://sculpture.net/community/showpost.php?s=31d381309faf724b9bbffcfbe6948957&p=95432&postcount=5

In conformational isomerism where the two geometric forms easily interconvert, such as most open-chain single-bonded structures; instead, the terms syn and anti would be used. When the substituent groups are oriented in the same direction, the diastereomer is referred to as cis, whereas, when the substituents are oriented in opposing directions, the diastereomer is referred to as trans. An example of a small hydrocarbon displaying cis/trans isomerism is but-2-ene. Cis and trans isomers often have different physical properties. Differences between isomers, in general, arise from the differences in the shape of the molecule or the overall dipole moment. These differences can be very small, as in the case of the boiling point of straight-chain alkenes, such as pent-2-ene, which is 37 °C in the cis isomer and 36 °C in the trans isomer.[3] The differences between cis and trans isomers can be larger if polar bonds are present, as in the 1,2-dichloroethenes. The cis isomer in this case has a boiling point of 60.3 °C, while the trans isomer has a boiling point of 47.5 °C.[4] In the cis isomer the two polar C-Cl bond dipole moments combine to give an overall molecular dipole, so that there are intermolecular dipole–dipole forces (or Keesom forces), which add to the London dispersion forces and raise the boiling point. In the trans isomer on the other hand, this does not occur because the two C-Cl bond moments cancel and the molecule has a net zero dipole (it does however have a non-zero quadrupole). The two isomers of butenedioic acid have such large differences in properties and reactivities that they were actually given completely different names. The cis isomer is called maleic acid and the trans isomer fumaric acid. Polarity is key in determining relative boiling point as it causes increased intermolecular forces, thereby raising the boiling point. In the same manner, symmetry is key in determining relative melting point as it allows for better packing in the solid state, even if it does not alter the polarity of the molecule. One example of this is the relationship between oleic acid and elaidic acid; oleic acid, the cis isomer, has a melting point of 13.4 °C, making it a liquid at room temperature, while the trans isomer, elaidic acid, has the much higher melting point of 43 °C, due to the straighter trans isomer being able to pack more tightly, and is solid at room temperature. Thus, trans-alkenes, which are less polar and more symmetrical, have lower boiling points and higher melting points, and cis-alkenes, which are generally more polar and less symmetrical, have higher boiling points and lower melting points. In the case of geometric isomers that are a consequence of double bonds, and, in particular, when both substituents are the same, some general trends usually hold. These trends can be attributed to the fact that the dipoles of the substituents in a cis isomer will add up to give an overall molecular dipole. In a trans isomer, the dipoles of the substituents will cancel out due to their being on opposite site of the molecule. Trans isomers also tend to have lower densities than their cis counterparts. The cis/trans system for naming alkene isomers should generally only be used when there are only two different substituents on the double bond, so there is no confusion about which substituents are being described relative to each other. For more complex cases, the cis/trans designation is generally based on the longest carbon chain as reflected in the root name of the molecule (i.e. an extension of standard organic nomenclature for the parent structure). The IUPAC standard designations E/Z are unambiguous in all cases, and therefore are especially useful for tri- and tetrasubstituted alkenes to avoid any confusion about which groups are being identified as cis or trans to each other. Z (from the German zusammen) means "together". E (from the German entgegen) means "opposite". That is, Z has the higher-priority groups cis to each other and E has the higher-priority groups trans to each other. Because the cis/trans and E/Z systems compare different groups on the alkene, it is not strictly true that Z corresponds to cis and E corresponds to trans. For example, trans-2-chlorobut-2-ene (the two methyl groups, C1 and C4, on the but-2-ene backbone are trans to each other) is (Z)-2-chlorobut-2-ene (the chlorine and C4 are together because C1 and C4 are opposite). Whether a molecular configuration is designated E or Z is determined by the Cahn-Ingold-Prelog priority rules; higher atomic numbers are given higher priority. For each of the two atoms in the double bond, it is necessary to determine the priority of each substituent. If both the higher-priority substituents are on the same side, the arrangement is Z; if on opposite sides, the arrangement is E. Cis–trans isomerism can also occur in inorganic compounds, most notably in diazenes and coordination compounds. alkenes and alkynes to alkanes, but for a different reason: the trans isomer cannot line its hydrogens up suitably to reduce the alkene, but the cis isomer, being shaped differently, can. In inorganic coordination complexes with octahedral or square planar geometries, there are also cis isomers in which similar ligands are closer together and trans isomers in which they are further apart. For example, there are two isomers of square planar Pt(NH3)2Cl2, as explained by Alfred Werner in 1893. The cis isomer, whose full name is cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II), was shown in 1969 by Barnett Rosenberg to have antitumor activity, and is now a chemotherapy drug known by the short name cisplatin. In contrast, the trans isomer (transplatin) has no useful anticancer activity. Each isomer can be synthesized using the trans effect to control which isomer is produced. For octahedral complexes of formula MX4Y2, two isomers also exist. (Here M is a metal atom, and X and Y are two different types of ligands.) In the cis isomer, the two Y ligands are adjacent to each other at 90°, as is true for the two chlorine atoms shown in green in cis-[Co(NH3)4Cl2]+, at left. In the trans isomer shown at right, the two Cl atoms are on opposite sides of the central Co atom. A related type of isomerism in octahedral MX3Y3 complexes is facial–meridional (or fac/mer) isomerism, in which different numbers of ligands are cis or trans to each other. Metal carbonyl compounds can be characterized as fac or mer using infrared spectroscopy. ^ "IUPAC Gold Book - geometric isomerism". Goldbook.iupac.org. 2009-09-07. Retrieved 2010-06-22. ^ "Chemicalland values". Chemicalland21.com. Retrieved 2010-06-22. ^ Craig, N. C.; Chen, A.; Suh, K. H.; Klee, S.; Mellau, G. C.; Winnewisser, B. P.; Winnewisser, M. (1997). "Contribution to the Study of the Gauche Effect. The Complete Structure of theAntiRotamer of 1,2-Difluoroethane". Journal of the American Chemical Society 119 (20): 4789. IUPAC definition of "stereoisomerism" IUPAC definition of "geometric isomerism" IUPAC definition of "cis-trans isomers"

http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/Cis%E2%80%93trans_isomerism

When Dr. George Libby retired in 1951 after serving Seymour area residents for 55 years, both the Green Bay Press-Gazette and Appleton Post-Crescent published an interview with him. The following article includes excerpts from both papers. Dr. Libby’s recollections provide an insight into what life was like in the area during the late 1800s and early 1900s. After his graduation from Northwestern University, Dr. Libby returned to New London to work in the dental office of D. W. Haskell. It was then he made his first trips to Seymour carrying his dental instruments in a grip. A room to serve as an office was reserved for him at the White House Hotel on North Main St. After a few months he opened an office in the Stewart Building on South Main Street. In 1898 he moved his office to the newly opened Falck Hotel (Hotel Seymour). Ten years later he opened an office above the State Bank (Don’s parking lot). Before railroads were built, Dr. Libby, as a boy, used to go with his family from New London to Oshkosh by steamboat on the Wolf River. He remembers too, the stage that went from Green Bay to Shawano carrying mail and passengers. He speaks of the old military road that went from Green Bay to Superior. It was the practice in those days to use corduroy or logs in swampy places along the road, which made traveling exceedingly tough. In discussing the social life of Seymour during the early days, Dr. Libby says dancing was very popular during the winter months. There were two local dance halls and orchestras were hired from Green Bay, Appleton, and Oshkosh. Traveling German bands played in taverns in communities through which they passed. As soon as word got around that one was in town they were hired for a dance that night and a crowd was rounded up. Costume parties were held and Dr. Libby, possessing a keen sense of humor was the inspiration of more than one merry event. The Winninger Brothers of Wausau traveled about in the early days giving stage shows, he recalls. They produced a different show every night during their stay in a community and they were so popular that everyone turned out. For many years they appeared annually at the Seymour fair. Dr. Libby never missed a fair and in the old days he said it was all horse races and big pumpkins. When he first came to Seymour there were no telephones, no paved streets, no waterworks, and no electric lights. All trips were made by horses or on the train which came through town twice a day on the Green Bay and Lake Pepin Railroad. He remembers the old fire engine in Seymour called Fire Strife no.1, which was operated by men pumping on either side. Seymour had many fires in the old days and everyone had to help fight them. As he recalls, the largest fires were the old school building, which burned in 1903, the Stewart flour mill, the Munger livery barn, and the Seymour woodenware plant. Seymour used to have wooden sidewalks and an old town pump, which was located in front of McCord’s drug store. On a warm summer day this old pump was the most popular place in town. The village used to be lit by kerosene lamps which were set on posts on street corners. Every evening about dusk they had to be cleaned and lighted. Dr. Libby remembers a young lad named Fred Wolk used to make the rounds on an old white horse which would stop at each lamp while Fred cleaned and lit the wick. When electric lights were first introduced in Seymour the power was turned off at midnight. If a party was in progress around midnight, everyone rushed to get home before the lights went out. For a small fee the lights could be left on for an extra hour and that was often the case according to Dr. Libby. Dr. Libby said there have been many improvements in dentistry through the years. Instead of the old time drill that had to be pumped by foot, electric motors now do the work. There have been great improvements in dentist’s chairs and the coming of x-rays greatly aided in the preservation of teeth. He recalls the first set of artificial dentures he made, which were then called “false teeth,” and he remembers the name of the lady for whom they were made. Years ago false teeth were made from rubber, or porcelain. Recently Dr. Libby sold his practice and equipment to Dr. Erdmann, who will continue to practice in the same office in the State Bank building. Dr. Libby loves to fish and for years owned a cottage on Loon Lake. He and Mrs. Libby have one son, Dr. Robert Libby, who is married and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. When cool weather comes, they hope to spend the winter with their son and his family.

http://seymourhistory.org/news/?id=104

As a member of the PROC German Squadron you have a series of very important diplomatic responsibilities on behalf of the People's Republic whether you are a Cork native or from a German speaking nation yourself. By wearing this t-shirt you will spread the word about Corkonian independence and highlight the differences between those who manufactured the debt crisis above in Dublin and the salt-of-the-earth crowd down here in the People's Republic. We're sound out we are. There's a high chance that a couple of weissbiers will be forthcoming as they listen to you explain the wonderful philosophy of Corkonians in your beautiful accent.

http://shop.peoplesrepublicofcork.com/proc-german-hoodie/

Rukwa Region lies in the extreme south western part of Tanzania. The region has an area of 27,765 sqkm comprising three (3) Administrative Districts with four (4) Local Government Authorities (LGAs).The administrative districts include Sumbawanga, Nkasi and Kalambo. According to the 2012 Population Census the region has 1,004,539 people. Rukwa is located about 1200 km by road from commercial and administrative centres of Dar es Salaam and Dodoma respectively. Large part of the road infrastructure has significantly affected development of the region. The Region borders with Zambia to the Southwest, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the West across Lake Tanganyika, Katavi Region in the North and Mbeya to the Southeast. The highest point of the region is at Malonje in the Ufipa plateau at 2,461 meters above level and the lowest point is Lake Tanganyika at 773 meters above sea level. The major languages spoken in this region include Swahili, Fipa, Mambwe, Lungu and Nyamwanga. English is also spoken but by limited number of people. With exception of English and Swahili, the other spoken languages are vernacular (specific to a particular ethnic group). Agriculture: Maize, paddy, beans, groundnuts, sunflower, finger millet, sorghum,wheat, cassava, potatoes, sugarcane. Forest products: Logs, timber, honey and beeswax, building materials.

http://sido.go.tz/rukwa-regional-office

Lizabeth Kate Morell, a.k.a. "Liza," is proud to be part of the Bailey team, having lived in California serving the local community for over 30 years. Liza specializes in extraordinary homes for the contemplative life, retirement options and sustainable, cooperative development. Her specializations prompted a move to Corralitos after being a long-time Aptos resident, expanding her real estate territory to include not only Santa Cruz County but also the greater Monterey Bay area. Liza has been serving in the educational community, currently on the Board of Directors of The Orchard School, and was director of Glenbrae Learning Program for middle school students. A graduate of UCSC, with Honors in Psychology and Community Studies, Liza traveled extensively and received dual citizenship in New Zealand, prior to returning to Santa Cruz to raise a family. Her daughter Arianna, "Lulu," is an accomplished performing artist and honors student attending the University of Redlands in Southern California. Liza was born and raised in New York, where she enjoyed the natural beauty of Long Island and attended the Dalton School in Manhattan. "Liza continues our tradition of joining forces with full time real estate professionals and offering them tools and resources to serve our clients." Paul and Robert Bailey.

http://sites.e-agents.com/1baileyprops/Agent-Detailed-Info?lid=18260

Playing tribute to some of the most beautiful songs of all time, four professional musicians come together to capture the sheer spell binding atmosphere that every COLDPLAY fan has experienced, seeing them perform live. The COLDPLAY Show will take the whole tribute art to the next level, they believe that if you are going to set up a tribute band to one of the most successful bands of all time you have to do it right. It has to be as close to the real thing as possible. Don't just close your eyes and think they sound like COLDPLAY, open them and they even look like COLDPLAY. The Coldplay show are available in full electric mode with a massive PA and Lighting rig or acoustic mode as well to suit all venues. The band consists of some of sydneys best tribute musicians and has over 40 years of experience combined in the music industry. With full replica costuming and instruments the Coldplay show is the closest fans will come to experiencing Coldplay live without going to see the real band.

http://sphereorg.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=128&Itemid=172

Russell and his wife Michelle have been attending St Albans for over 20 years. Russell has always loved working with children and when he was unable to work in 1995 due to health issues, he felt prompted to attend the Bible College of NZ, Manawatu Branch. He completed the Ministry Internship Programme (MI Dip) in children's ministry. Late in 2003, St Albans was seeking a half-time Children’s Pastor and Russell was appointed in January 2004. Raised in Lower Hutt, Russell joined the army after he left school and during his time there completed a building apprenticeship alongside military duties. After Russell left the Army he worked as a carpenter both in Lower Hutt. and Palmerston North. Russell and Michelle married in 1991 and raised their four beautiful children: Natalie, Nathan, Stephen and Matthew, alongside occasional foster children. Russell has enjoyed teaching gymnastics as a hobby since he was 16 years old and now runs his 'Flipp-It' gymnastics business alongside his church work. Other hobbies include breeding cats (Siamese and Balinese), gardening, pottering with a Morris Minor, watching a good movie and doing up their home which is a never ending hobby!

http://stalbans.org.nz/russell-seagar

As technology changes, St. Dominic School strives continually to stay up-to-date. Students in grades K-8 have access to two computer labs each of which can accommodate a full class. The students learn a variety of technology computer/laptop skills, softwares and applications in the teaching computer lab. An auxiliary computer lab is available for class use as the teacher integrates technology into the subject area being studied. For example: younger students can publish a story or poem and insert artwork; middle school students can do internet research for a social studies or science project; and junior high students can work on an Excel spreadsheet for a math assignment. Both the computer teacher and the classroom teacher work together to integrate technology across the curriculum. Each and every classroom has an interactive Smartboard and overhead projector, a networked computer and a laptop/tablet for the teacher. Teachers also have access to carts with tablets for classroom use. The entire building has access to a wireless network and networked printers in every wing of the building. Our library uses an automated program to track our catalogued collection of over 15,000 volumes. Parents and students can view lists of Accelerated Reader (AR) books, and also check their student’s progress in AR, on line. ProgressBook allows parents to view grades, Interim Reports and Report Cards on line and on their smart phone. This program also provides quick and easy communication between parents and the teachers, office and nurse via e-mail.

http://stdominic-k-8.org/Academics/Technology

There’s a jazz song that is titled, “Peel Me a Grape.” How do I know that? Because I sang it when I was with the jazz band…many moons ago. That being said, I had a dream last night—about grapes. Well, I had quite a few dreams, actually. My mind doesn’t usually stop much. But the final dream was of a ginormous cluster of purple grapes. They were the size of bowling balls. Each grape, that is. When I woke, I was reminded of a story in the bible. The children of Israel had finally reached the promised land, and before they went in and took the land, they sent 12 spies to check it out. One man from each tribe. While the men secretly scoured the area, they became increasingly dumbfounded by what they found. 10 of them returned with a negative report They carried on and on about the size of the people (there were giants in the land and cities with magnificent walls). Two of them, however, came back with a very different take. They couldn’t believe the size of the produce. To prove their point, they had cut down one cluster of grapes, put it on a pole, and carried it back between the two of them. It was that huge. Now, I’d certainly love to think my dream was prophetic. That my year will be momentously fruitful…and who knows. It might be. But I am also old enough to know—life happens. And when it does, just buckle up and ride it out. You WILL get to the other side. That being said, I decided to do some quick research on the subject, and found something interesting about grapes. I was reminded that most grapevines don’t produce fruit until their third season. Basically, saying, that grapevine in your backyard that you have been nurturing can take up to three years before you are able to pluck some grapes. Now, be sure to take into account environmental factors and the care of the plant. But those factors? They are: sunlight, well-drained soil and proper pruning. Selah. Perhaps you have had some personal grapevine in your “backyard” that you have been working on of late. Take hope…with a bit of time and great care, you’ll see some fruit. Now, probably not like exactly like that species of grapes that came from the land flowing with milk and honey, but then, one never knows. If anything, you’ll certainly see something blossom and that will put a smile on your face. With that, I’d like to wish you and yours a fruitful and productive 2017. May you drink the fruit of your vine, and may your year be blessed beyond measure.

http://stephaniekae.com/blog/peel-me-a-grape/

Female circumcision is slowly declining in Iraqi Kurdistan. Years of campaigning and a law against the practise have borne fruit. Some villages went from 100 percent of all young girls being circumcised to none. "Circumcision brought us problems. It is much better for husband and wife when it is not happening." The mokhtar of Twtakal, a small village in Iraqi Kurdistan is very clear about it. The practice of FGM, or female genital mutilation, should be eradicated. The village chief is proud that his village has stopped circumcising its women, where only two years ago still every mother had it done to her daughters. It was a bad habit, Kak Sarhad told DW. "For men, who have all these layers, it is cleaner. But women don't have that and don't need it." The elder women of the village do not agree. "It has been done for generations. Our mothers and grandmothers did it. We had no problems with our husbands, no divorces," say some village women, gathered on the floor in the mokhtar's house. Twtakal is one of the six villages that became "FGM Free," in a project launched by the German-Iraqi organisation WADI. The isolated village which houses 13 families is one of the success stories, and illustrates a slow trend toward a decline in the practice in Iraqi Kurdistan. Until recently, research done by WADI showed an over 60 percent prevalence of FGM in the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This summer, Kurdish scientists published new figures that seem to imply smaller numbers of young girls are touched by it, with their percentage down to about 35. Scientific data is hardly available in post-war Iraq. The Kurdish Higher Commission of Women Affairs has announced it will start new and extensive research by the end of this year. The trend to change is the result of many years of campaigning, says WADI project coordinator Falah Murad. "We started awareness campaigns in 2004, but until very recently even the government was denying that in some villages 100 percent of the women were circumcised." Their advocacy resulted in 2011 in a law prohibiting the practice, but Murad says that hardly anything has been done since to implement it. He is sure that the drop in the figures is mostly thanks to WADI visiting isolated villages like Twtakal. Over the years his people went to hundreds of them, showing a special movie and talking to the people about FGM. In six carefully chosen villages the policy has been refined. Aid workers are in close contact with the villagers and offer their assistance on other issues. They helped Twtakal to get a primary school and electricity. The message is clear: stop FGM and get services in return. Yet WADI is fighting an uphill battle, as eradicating FGM does not only require a change of mentality, but also signals a clear break with traditions. "First we could not believe that is was bad," say the women in Twtakal, "but then we saw the movie and we heard it is bad for women when giving birth, and for her sexual arousal." While young boys at the door try to hear what is being said, the mokhtar's wife Nasrin recalls how her first daughter was only one year old when during her absence her grandmother took her to be circumcised. "For my second daughter I did not allow it because she was so afraid." Islam was partly to blame, the women say, but even more is tradition, as it was done for generations. "The elder women were telling us that the prayers would not be accepted of girls who were not cut, and when they cooked their food would not be clean." In a positive development, the local mullah, who was in favour of the practice, changed his tune after WADI started its visits. The women made vows to the aid workers not to touch their daughters. "Now we are each other's lawyers, we make sure none of us falls back to old habits," Nasrin says. The midwife enters, a small woman in her 60s dressed in black, with a tattoo on her chin. Next to taking care of the births of the village's children, she used to circumcise the girls. "I would only cut a little bit." She folds a tiny piece of paper to show how it was done. "None of my girls died. They walked away afterwards." She feels tricked by the organization, as she lost part of her income. "I thought they would pay me." She's threatening to pick up her old trade again, even though she knows it is now prohibited by law. "I am not afraid of the police," she said. Aid workers admit that they have no way of making sure that no girls are circumcised, as they cannot examine them. That is the responsibility of the Kurdish government, they add, showing their frustration. "But we spent so much time with the villagers that we have built up a trust between us. The women promised to let us know if they hear of anyone doing it. And we have not been phoned." They have a strong supporter in the mokhtar, who is happy about the change. Since Twtakal became a "Free FGM-village," between 10 to 12 girls have escaped the fate of circumcision. But more importantly, the village opened up to the world, children could get an education and Twtakal set an example for its neighbors. "At first the other villages joked about Twtakal," says Falah Murad of WADI. "About the sign of an FGM Free Village, the change of old traditions. But then they saw the small services we provide, and the bigger ones by the government. Now other villages want that too. So now it's time for the government to pick this up." Kak Sarhad is proud. The revolution started with his village, he says. "We have taken it to the forefront. We moved forward, we are more open-minded. I am happy it started from here."

http://stopfgmkurdistan.org/html/english/articles/article080e.htm

The idea of strategic planning for corporations evolved in the 1960s from military planning concepts. In The Little Black Book of Strategic Planning for Distributors, Brent Grover hints at the similarities between business and war. Harvard professor Michael Porter was the catalyst for a corporate interest in strategy according to Brent, releasing Competitive Strategy in 1965. Brent postulates in The Little Black Book that the generation of business leaders who fought in World War II were receptive to Porter’s aggressively competitive message, leading to a wave of interest in corporate strategy and the rise of big-time consulting firms Boston Consulting and McKinsey as the strategic planning go-to experts.

http://strategicplanningfordistributors.com/2013/01/18/the-strategic-battle-plan/

Why are some broadband suppliers slower than advertised? The main reason that you may receive slower than advertised speeds is due to your site's distance from the local exchange, which is a common factor when considering broadband speeds. Another factor that can affect speeds is the amount of users on the line at one time.

http://support.ice-comms.co.uk/support/solutions/articles/19000019039-why-are-some-broadband-suppliers-slower-than-advertised-

Those who know me, follow this blog, or even visit my office know that I have used Apple products for quite some time. Even in those dark years when Steve Jobs was not at the helm I used Apple products, mostly because they were still the easiest and best machine for me to use (particularly with Hebrew and NisusWriter). I have often been accused of being an “Apple Fan Boy,” but I reject that label. I simply like using great products that work well and reliably. This is the same reason why we have most often had Honda cars (and now a BMW). Great products that work well and reliably. And look great. That is what Steve Jobs gave us. The passing of Jobs did not come as a surprise to any who followed the tech news. He had been battling pancreatic cancer, which took a friend of mine in 4 short months, for years. As so often in his life he beat the odds, at least for a time. So now we eulogize him. That is not inappropriate. He rightly takes his position with such innovators at Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. Like both of those men his inventions, or more accurately, his drive to create and bring brilliant minds together to create, transformed our world. When I was in grad school it is true, I was one of the few who used a Mac, a PowerBook 140, but today millions of people use an Apple product. I am not even sure how many iPod devices we have in our house now and almost all of the deans at my university are now using iPads. While the Macintosh operating system made computing far simpler than ever before, opening up its use to the masses of simple folks like myself who didn’t want to know command lines and coding language, the iOS devices have transformed how we interact with the world, do research, consume and produce media and content. It is really impossible to underestimate the impact this one man has had on the world in terms of commerce, culture, education, and … well, in just about every way you can imagine. But like Ford and Edison Jobs was not a man without his shortcomings. Others will no doubt catalogue such shortcomings, but he was notorious for being prickly to the point of being abusive. When he first started Apple even those closest to him said that he was not fit to be a CEO. In an NPR story last month Sculley, whom Jobs had chosen to become CEO of Apple in 1983, stated that he greatly regretted removing Jobs from their board and leading to Jobs leaving Apple. Yet it was also what Jobs needed in order to become the great CEO that we know remember and celebrate. Jobs’ business practices have been vaguely criticized by many over the years. His passion for secrecy is legend as was his supposed ability to create a “reality distortion field” that kept the masses buying whatever it was he was selling. He certainly thought differently, jettisoning the floppy drive and making machines in outrageous colors when beige and ports was what computers were all about. As Gateway’s retails stores were dragging that company down into the financial abyss he took Apple into the heart of retail. And into a market cluttered with devices he launched the iPhone so successfully that every smart phone is now compared with it. He and his company may not have created out of whole clothe any specific device they sold, they transformed them all such that the whole was more than the sum of its parts (plus a healthy profit margin). Steve Jobs has left an incredible legacy, one we will be studying for years to come. At his core though he was a great visionary and a normal human. He had foibles, problems, and shortcomings. He was not the messiah nor the anti-Christ, but like all of us he had the potential to be a bit of both. Oh, and he changed the world.

http://targuman.org/2011/10/06/steve-jobs-1955-2011/

The trade balance deficit hit a record level of 19,408.7 MD throughout the year 2019, against 19,022.9 MD in 2018, according to data published on Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). This deficit was recorded particularly with some countries, such as China (-5852.2 MD), Algeria (-3038.2 MD), Italy (-2667.6 MD), Turkey (-2466.8 MD) and Russia (-1403.3 MD). On the other hand, the trade balance recorded a surplus with other countries mainly, France at 3778.2 MD, Libya at 1376.5 MD and Morocco at 410.3 MD. Excluding energy, the trade balance deficit stood at 11652.2 MD. The energy balance deficit stands at 7756.4 MD, i.e. 40% of the total deficit against 32% in 2018 and 26% in 2017. The coverage rate gained one point in 2019 compared to the year 2018, standing at 69.3% against 68.3% one year earlier. The increase observed at the level of exports (+7%) during the year 2019 concerns the majority of sectors. Indeed, increases were recorded in the mining sector, phosphates and derivatives by 21.3%, mechanical and electrical industries by 12.3%, the textile and clothing and leather sector by 4.2%, the energy sector by 3.9% and other manufacturing industries by 12.2%. On the other hand, the agriculture and food-processing industries sector saw a 13% drop, following the decrease in olive oil sales (1386.9 MD in 2019 against 2125 MD in 2018). As regards the 5.4% increase in imports, it is due to the rise observed in most sectors. Indeed, imports went up by 19.6% for energy products under the effect of the increase in natural gas purchases (3691.6 MD against 2173 MD). Similarly, imports increased by 9.5% for capital goods and by 0.9% for basic agricultural and food products. On the other hand, imports recorded decreases of 9.5% for mines, phosphates and derivatives and 2% for raw materials and semi-finished products. Tunisia’s exports to the European Union (73.9% of total exports) grew 7.7%. This evolution is due to the increase of national exports to some European partners, such as Germany (+14.6%), Italy (+8.8%) and France (+6.2%). In addition, Tunisia’s sales are decreasing with other European countries, especially with Spain (-19.6%) and the Netherlands (-7.5%). With the Maghreb countries, exports increased with Libya by 20.4%, with Morocco by 15.4% and with Algeria by 3.7%.

http://tdailynews.net/story-z11767690

Risking 4 His Glory! On Wednesday afternoon I had arranged to take V. to Main Taunus Zentrum and she would meet up with O. & H. (a fellow leader) at 1345 at the fountain in the centre. O. said she would stay for 5 minutes and if we weren’t there she would move on. We were at the fountain at about 1340 and V. needed to find the toilet so I told her she could go into Karstadt and I would wait at the fountain. While I was waiting I was looking around and observing people, and noticed a young lady sitting on the edge of the fountain looking rather upset – although at first I wasn’t sure if she just had something in her eye! When I sensed she really was upset about something I began to pray in tongues to see whether the Lord wanted me to go across to her and so that I would not be doing it in my own strength… I sensed He wanted me to go and speak to her so I went. So then I prayed for more revelation, that God’s love through Jesus would be made real to her – that he had known her since before she was born and loved her, peace, joy, other things I can’t remember, and also for her back. During the prayer I noticed she had her eyes open so I told her it would be better for her to close her eyes against distraction. Afterwards, I asked her how she felt. She looked a bit glassy eyed. This was the gist of what was said, but there might have been other things – I wasn’t really thinking too much about what I did say, but trying to rely on the Lord. The main thing was that at least her heart was opened up a bit to the Spirit. It would be great if she called me, but I pray that this is a seed planted in her heart and that someone else will water it – she may be going away to University perhaps, so let’s pray she will come into contact with Christians there. I hope this testimony brings encouragement!

http://testimonies.kingdomlife-frankfurt.com/2007/07/risking-4-his-glory.html

GFWC partners are the organizations with whom GFWC has established a formal relationship and mutual understanding. Our partners offer unique and customized services: materials, speakers, kits, and/or additional information specifically designed for GFWC clubs. GFWC is proud to partner with a number of dynamic and impactful organizations. Together, we are working to improve our communities and better our world. Prevent Child Abuse America is the leading national, not-for-profit organization whose sole mission is “to prevent the abuse and neglect of our nation’s children.” Prevention is defined as the abuse or neglect never occurring. The Prevent Child Abuse America national office is located in Chicago, Illinois, and its network includes 47 statewide prevention chapters. The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. They carry out this mission through research, community services, education, and advocacy to save babies' lives. They help moms have full-term pregnancies and healthy babies, and if something goes wrong, they offer information and comfort to families. Alliance for Community Trees (ACTrees) is a national nonprofit organization founded to improve the environment where more than 90 percent of America’s population lives—cities, towns, and metropolitan areas. In 1993, its founders shared a vision of a verdant, healthy, functioning urban environment supported by a broad base of community residents who value trees as part of their community’s infrastructure. Today, ACTrees is a growing national network of more than 250 member and program partner organizations. These organizations are involved in community greening, stewardship of their community trees, public environmental education, policymaking, and other activities which engage residents in growing and sustaining tree canopy, and our urban groves and forests. Founded in 1958, HOBY’s mission is to inspire and develop our global community of youth and volunteers to a life dedicated to leadership, service, and innovation. For more than five decades, HOBY has been inspiring young people to make a difference and become catalysts for positive change in their home, school, workplace, and community. HOBY also provides adults with opportunities to make a significant impact on the lives of youth by volunteering. More than 4,000 committed HOBY volunteers plan and execute the programs each year. Due to the selfless efforts of volunteers and the contributions of generous donors, nearly 10,000 students participate in HOBY programs annually. Easter Seals provides services to ensure that all persons with disabilities have equal opportunities to live, learn, work, and play. Easter Seals assists more than one million children and adults with disabilities and their families annually through a nationwide network of more than 550 service centers. Each center provides top quality, family focused, and innovative services tailored to meet the specific needs of the community it serves. The Heart Truth® sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, is a national education program for women that raises awareness about heart disease and its risk factors and educates and motivates them to take action to prevent the disease. Through this program, the NHLBI leads the Nation in a landmark heart health movement embraced by millions who share the common goal of better heart health for all women. The Heart Truth and The Red Dress are registered trademarks of HHS. Red Dress is a service mark of HHS. National Wear Red Day is a registered trademark of HHS and AHA. The Inside Knowledge: Get the Facts About Gynecologic Cancer campaign educates women and health care providers about the five most common types of gynecologic cancer: cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar. This initiative was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and supports the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act of 2005, or Johanna’s Law, passed unanimously by Congress in 2006, and signed into law in 2007. Inside Knowledge offers information and resources in English and Spanish to women and health care providers about risk factors, symptoms, and prevention strategies associated with each of the cancers. For more than 65 years, Heifer International has provided gifts of livestock and environmentally-sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income. Since 1944, Heifer has helped 15 million families in more than 125 countries through training in livestock development and livestock gifts that multiply. Operation Smile is an international children’s medical charity focused on restoring children’s smiles through performing surgery on facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate. They are dedicated to raising awareness of this life-threatening issue and providing lasting solutions that will allow children to be healed, regardless of financial standing, well into the future. Operation Smile’s free surgeries and medical missions are made possible by the thousands of volunteers and donors, throughout the world, who generously contribute time, talent and resources. Shot@Life, a United Nations Foundation’s campaign, seeks to educate, connect, and empower Americans to champion vaccines in order to save children in developing countries. Every 20 seconds, a child dies of a vaccine-preventable disease like pneumonia, diarrhea, measles, and polio. You can help save a child’s life by encouraging, learning about, advocating for, and donating vaccines. For more than six decades, GFWC has supported UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, in its efforts to ensure the world’s most vulnerable children have access to health, and immunization, clean water, nutrition, education, emergency and disaster relief, and more. Are you concerned about the decline in your club's membership? Is it a struggle to find volunteers? Have you ever wondered, "Where are the young people?" Holding a Bridging and Bonding conversation will help your club explore these questions. Invite club members, family, friends, or members of other organizations. The ideal size is about 12-18 participants. A Bridging and Bonding conversation can help your club strengthen ties with other organizations and increase your visibility and membership. Your club will be recognized at the GFWC International Convention and contribute to a GFWC national report on the issue. Materials are free and support is available. Contact Debi Witte of the Kettering Foundation at |||PHONE_NUMBER||| or |||EMAIL_ADDRESS||| This project is a collaboration between GFWC and the Kettering Foundation. To learn more about the foundation, click here. Sew Much Comfort provides adaptive clothing to support the unique needs of our wounded service personnel members, including all branches of the military and national guard. Unfortunately, standard clothing does not properly fit with fixators, prosthetics, and casts. For many, a hospital gown is the only option. SMC adapts store-bought or sewn clothing using our custom-designed patterns. The clothing is designed to appear as normal civilian clothing, and is constructed for ease of dressing, fostering self-care. Sew Much Comfort is the only organization providing adaptive clothing at no cost to our wounded service members.

http://tfwc.tripod.com/id106.html

Trillium Health Partners Foundation is proud to host the 8th Annual Laugh Out Loud, presented by Square One. Since 2013, this high profile gala has featured comedic heavyweights, including Howie Mandel, Martin Short, Gerry Dee, Russell Peters, James Corden, Jay Leno and last year, Wayne Brady! Laugh Out Loud 2020 builds on our tradition of delivering unparalleled entertainment by showcasing the best comedy the world has to offer. This edition of Laugh Out Loud sees the return of energetic funnyman Howie Mandel, who launched our LOL gala in 2013 as event headliner and is coming back to mastermind the comedy fest in support of mental health care at Trillium Health Partners. Mandel has carved a name for himself as the darling of network television, hosting hit primetime shows such as Deal or No Deal, and as the endearing and long-serving judge on America’s Got Talent. With a prolific 30-year career that includes movies, TV game shows, and even an animated series, this versatile performer has risen through the ranks of show business to become one of the most recognizable names in entertainment. So join us on Saturday, February 29, 2020 for a very special night of laughter at the Toronto Congress Centre to support Trillium Health Partners! Check out our pics from LOL 2019 with Wayne Brady!

http://thcf.convio.net/site/PageNavigator/LaughOutLoud/layout/lol_Home.html

There are many issues on which I disagree with Donald Trump. But the Republican nominee got it right on his approval of the Cincinnati Zoo’s shooting of Harambe the gorilla. Harambe made the news last week when a small four-year-old boy fell into the gorilla’s enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. As the huge silverback gorilla dragged the boy around “like a toy,” zoo officials rushed to subdue the animal. Job well done, you might say. Well, it didn’t take too long for all the Monday-morning quarterbacks to emerge from the woodwork. As Rich Lowry observes, the emotional reaction to the shooting recalls the truth of G.K. Chesterton’s aphorism: “wherever there is animal worship, there is human sacrifice.” Thankfully, the zoo’s director, Thane Maynard, refused to back down, saying that he stands by the decision to shoot and would do it again if the circumstances repeated themselves. The destruction of any of God’s creations is unfortunate. Silverback gorillas, additionally, are creatures of beauty, and the destruction of beautiful creatures can definitely cause pangs of regret in people’s hearts. But a human soul is infinitely more precious and infinitely more beautiful. The zoo’s decision not to risk the infinite beauty of a human life for the aesthetics of a gorilla ought to have been a no-brainer. So thank you, Cincinnati Zoo, for saving the life of a four-year-old, and for reminding us of our moral priorities. NextWho is David French? Return of Reparations?

http://thecollegeconservative.com/2016/06/01/thank-you-cincinnati-zoo/

"The interconnected conflicts raging across the Middle East today have amounted to a dreadful human catastrophe with spiraling global consequence. One of their lesser effects has been to deflate the reputations of Western main battle tanks mistakenly thought to be night-invulnerable in the popular imagination. Iraqi M1 Abrams tanks not only failed to prevent he capture of Mosul in 2014, but they were captured and turned against their owners. In Yemen, numerous Saudi M1s were knocked out by Houthi rebels. Turkey, which had lost a number of M60 Pattons and upgrade M60T Sabra tanks to Kurdish and ISIS fighters eventually deployed its fearsome German-built Leopard 2A4 tanks. ISIS destroyed eight to ten in a matter of days…"

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=522211

Building on nine successful national conferences on teaching Canada’s history, the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS) in collaboration with l’Association québécoise pour l'enseignement en univers social (AQUES) will be holding the 10th such national conference entitled Identities and Engagement. This French language conference will be held on October 17-18, 2013 at the Chateau Bromont hotel, in Bromont, Quebec. The 2013 edition of the event on the teaching, learning and communication of the history of Canada will address various issues concerning Canadian history, identity and engagement of students as well as including a number of sessions on the francophonie in Canada and teaching history and social studies in French outside of Quebec. In Addition the ACS will mark the 50th anniversary of the royal commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism with a number of sessions on the Commission and its impact on the development of Bilingualism and Biculturalism in Canada over the last 50 years. The ACS invites proposals for sessions. These may be individual workshop sessions, panel or other types of conference sessions. The ACS will cover the travel costs and one night hotel costs for all session proposals that are accepted. All conference participants must pay the conference registration fee of $270.00 ($140.00 for students). The conference organizing committee welcomes proposals dealing with methods for teaching our history and obstacles to overcome in making history relevant to the daily lives of students in the classroom. We invite submissions on such topics as the impact of historic conflicts on Canadian identity, history and geography. Other topics include the social and economic characteristics of Canada during the first two decades of the nineteenth century, the nature and evolution of relations between British, French and Aboriginal peoples in Canada and the challenge of teaching history in our classrooms. The organizers are seeking proposals from various disciplines and perspectives. We ask that proposals be no longer than 200 words. Proposals will be evaluated by the Conference steering committee of the Association for Canadian Studies. Individual sessions will be 20 minutes in length and group session will be 75 minutes. Visit our web site at www.acs-aec.ca to register for the conference as well as for additional conference information. Please send proposals by e-mail to James Ondrick, Director of Programs of the Association for Canadian Studies at |||EMAIL_ADDRESS||| or call |||PHONE_NUMBER||| before the deadline of May 27, 2013. The conference will be pertinent to all those interested in issues revolving around the teaching and communicating of Canadian history. Professors, students, teachers, researchers, civil servants, decision makers and members of non-profit and history related organizations will benefit from the conference sessions, as well as the opportunity to meet and hear experts from across Canada. The conference will look at the most effective methods in teaching history, address current issues in communicating history and look at the relevance of history in our daily lives. The event will bring together teachers and pedagogical consultants from across Quebec, as well from a number of provinces throughout Canada. In addition, many of Quebec’s and Canada’s leading academics and authors as well as researchers and representatives from museums, archives, government, non-governmental organizations and media will be present. The theme this year of identities and commitment is closely linked to the different identities that make up our Canadian society. Thoughts on francophone integration, multiethnicity or deep research of our own identity will be a subject discussed at the conference. The commitment goes hand in hand with that identity, whether through social involvement or the energy deployed by our youth: If the identity is well defined, the commitment is that bigger. This identity construction and commitment grows daily in our classes in history and education for citizenship, geography and contemporary world. Across the disciplines of the social universe, we are helping to shed light on these different identities and encourage commitment social or personal for each of our students.

http://thenhier.ca/en/content/identities-and-engagement.html

Event occurs on 09/07/2019 from 07:00 PM to .

http://thepinetree.net/index.php?module=announce&ANN_user_op=view&ANN_id=64019

I was born in San Diego to a Navy man and his beautiful young Hawaiian street preacher bride. Shortly after serving in the Navy, my father felt a call to lead a church in Boise, Idaho where my three siblings and I spent most of our childhood. From Navy Brat to Pastor’s Kid, it didn’t take long for me to fall deeply in love with God and want to serve God the way I had seen my parents do. By my teenage years I felt a huge call to ministry. Following this call I decided to study ministry at Warner Southern University. Two years into college I decided to hit the road with a band called Truth. When my touring with Truth ended, I was a 22 yr old in Nashville with my future ahead of me. I began going to a church called Belmont on Music Row. In 1997 the youth pastor of the church asked my future husband and me if we would like to volunteer to serve the youth ministry. Two things happened, we said yes and became volunteers, and Joe and I fell in love and got married. Over a decade after saying yes to being a youth volunteer, I’ve served as youth director of a couple churches, and had the opportunity to launch a youth center. In 2009 I was honored to partner with and help Michael W. Smith realize his dream to expand his original vision of Rocketown, serving teens through culturally relevant programming, mentoring, and entertainment, with the opening of Rocketown Florida. Recognized by Michael as the “heart of Rocketown,” I performed every job from custodian to show promoter to pastor (all the while with the official title of Operations Director). In 2011 I moved to the beautiful state of Colorado. Through this winding path of God’s grace, I have found a new passion: To shape and serve teens by serving youth leaders, youth organizations, and parents of teens. Here’s how I’m doing that. 3. Providing relevant written resources for today’s youth leader. Throughout the years, I’ve been given many nicknames by the kids I’ve worked with. Hula Girl. Mama T or just T. Even Tater. If you want to stay connected, theresamazza.com is where you want to be. I’m still actively involved in youth ministry. I work with young teen moms at Hope House, and participate in youth ministry at my church, Broomfield United Methodist. I’m married to Joe Mazza, the most talented and funniest person I know. We’ve been married for 16 years and have an amazingly talented and crazy son.

http://theresamazza.com/

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli Sunday inaugurated the ‘Open Bank Account’ campaign of the government in cooperation with Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA) in order to enhance the access of all people into the banking system. The campaign aims at opening bank accounts of every Nepali citizen in commercial banks. The campaign was launched as per the budgetary programme of the government for the current fiscal year 2018/19. Under the campaign, 28 commercial banks will cooperate to open accounts of every Nepali citizen in their bank at zero balance. The banks have also agreed to provide Rs. 100 in each account opened under the campaign as per their corporate social responsibility (CSR). With the announcement of the national campaign ‘Open Bank Account’, the government has started to walk with the private sector banks, which has increased trust between them. We are feeling encouraged with the new campaign as the government has considered banks and financial institutions (BFIs) an important partner in the national prosperity campaign. But BFIs have challenges to extend banking services in remote areas. It is difficult to keep human resources there, operation cost is high and there are problems in networking and security. Therefore, the government should announce incentives such as discount in tax and capital adequacy. If security and incentives are provided, we are ready even to provide mobile banking services to remote villages. BFIs are working to enhance the financial literacy among the masses. But in order to make the national campaign a successful one, we need to promote access to the BFIs, support of the local bodies and greater digitalisation. Use of technology will simplify the things. When people can open their bank account from their home or offices and make most of the transactions instantly in a cashless manner through digital device, they will be motivated to use it. Use of technology must be promoted if we have to attract the youth to the banks. Similarly, the government should include the class ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ - development bank, finance companies and microfinance banks respectively, in its banking definition and allow them to go to the local levels. Currently, only class ‘A’ commercial banks are allowed to mobilise the government funds which limits other BFIs to take risk to expand their services to the remote villages where there are less economic activities. Banking is the most transparent and most regulated business sector in the country. BFIs don’t cheat their customers as they have to be transparent in their every activity. It is also not true that we earn a huge profit while mobilise deposits at a very low interest rate. We have to follow the Nepal Rastra Bank guidelines to maintain the spread rate below 5 per cent. Many commercial banks with above Rs. 8 billion paid-up capital are earning Rs. 500 million to Rs 2 billion in profits which is normal. Recently, BFIs are facing growing operational and technological risks. Use of digital technology has promoted the use of banking services and speeded up the transactions but at the same time it has created threats of data and money theft, hacking and fund embezzlements. Banking sector regulator, NRB, has strictly introduced the ‘Know Your Customer (KYC)’ provision which scared some people. But we must understand that it was for the good of the country and the banking institution since the country has promised to implement anti-money laundering provisions and there will be an international audit of Nepal’s efforts in discouraging money-laundering. The government has forwarded Nepal Bankers’ Association (NBA) in the ‘Open Bank Account’ campaign with very catchy slogan. The mindset of the people should be changed for the effective implementation of the campaign. Still today, millions of people make transaction of their business from outside the banking system. This campaign helps bring such activities in to the banking system and promote transparency, therefore, it is appropriate. Opening of bank account only does not lead to the prosperity. It should be utilised effectively. Banks are providing Rs. 100 to every people opening account in their banks under the campaign. Rs. 100 is important for those in whose account it goes. It should go to the people which do not have banking access. Opening bank accounts of all Nepali citizens by the banks alone is not possible. The government should also facilitate banks in opening accounts by motivating people into the campaign. Distribution of elderly allowance in every ward is not easy task. The government should manage security and other managerial parts for this. For the implementation of the policy, the people handling the government and the bureaucracy should first accept banking system from their level. For attracting people into the banking transactions, the government authorities should first be ready to accept banking instruments, including cheque in its transaction and gradually should promote the cashless transaction. Opening bank account is not sufficient. It should be utilized effectively. We cannot really open the account of every Nepali citizent as 100 per cent efficiency is not possible even for a machine. If we become able to open account of additional 10 per cent people in a year, it may be regarded as our success. For this, the government should enhance banking literacy by introducing it in the curriculum of school level courses. More than 6,000,000 children are in school level education, we can motivate them for the banking transaction and saving through banking literacy campaign. Local bodies should also focus on job creation in productive sector for the utilization of the bank accounts opened under the campaign. Policy of banks to meet the increased in minimum paid up capital requirement through the issue of right shares created problems of liquidity in the financial sector. Delay in government expenditure under capital budget is also supporting for liquidity problem in banking sector. The government should find the ways to enhance its budget spending capability. We have been talking about economic prosperity, and financial transaction is directly linked with prosperity. Banks are now opening their branches in local levels. Private banks have also cooperating with the prosperity campaign by opening their branches in the local levels. Although it is said that the government activities should be carried through the government banks, the government decision to involve the private banks in the ‘open bank account’ has excited us. We are excited as the ‘open bank account’ campaign launched by the government is attainable in the sense that both the private and government banks are joining hands for the purpose. However, it is not an easy work. In the remote villages, there is no required infrastructure. There is problem of security, cost, and lack of employers, and networking. Our employees do not want to stay in remote villages. In stead, they want to quit job. Thus government should provide incentives to the private banks. Government must encourage and motivate the banks to carry on the economic transactions at the wards of local levels despite such barriers. The deposit collected from the local levels would be invested in the local levels. However, if there are not areas for the investment, the collected deposits can be diverted. The campaign must encourage the promotion of cashless economic transaction and use of cheque. Every sector must use the banking channel to handle economic transaction. However, there is need to change the mindset. The government offices should be ready to receive cheque, not cash. This will motivate people to use the banking channel. But opening account alone will not work if the people do not use the account. For example in Rasuwa Rs. 30, 000 bank accounts which were opened earlier are now in doormat. The local levels must encourage and motivate the citizens for the use of cheque for transaction. Motivating factor is a must to generate banking awareness among the locals. It needs time. It is challenging. Banking sector is the most transparent and well managed sector. The state is not mobilising it properly. Merging in the banking sector has increased the capacity of investment. For example the banks are now capable of investing in 100 kw hydropower projects on their own. Earlier, they used to invest only for 10-15mw power projects. on its own.

http://therisingnepal.org.np/news/30314

Mentorn Media's output has a breadth and quality that ranks it as one of the UK's foremost producers. Established in 1985, Mentorn Media is one of the UK's longest established independent television production companies, making thousands of hours for broadcasters in the UK and worldwide. Our offices in London, Cardiff and Glasgow produce programmes across a range of genres. We are one of the biggest independent companies in the UK, and pride ourselves on building strong relationships of trust with institutions, government departments, businesses and members of the public who provide access. Question Time, The Big Questions, Traffic Cops, Motorway Cops, and Cowboy Trap are recognized brands in the BBC's output, placing Mentorn Media as the sixth biggest supplier in terms of hours to the BBC. We have begun the second series of BBC Three current affairs studio show Free Speech and recently produced the acclaimed Panorama documentary: Stephen Lawrence - A Time For Justice. Over the last couple of years Mentorn Media has produced two series of The School Musical and in 2010, An Idiot Abroad with Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington for Sky1, as well as the award winning documentary series Fish Town for Sky Atlantic broadcast in 2011. If you've worked for Mentorn Media, add credits to your profile to appear here.

http://thetalentmanager.com/tv-companies/252/mentorn-media

Jasmine Harman finds properties in Cartagena, Spain for Richard and Jackie from Southampton. The couple is torn between moving to Devon or Spain, with Richard wanting to stay close to family in Devon while Jackie dream of a lifestyle change in Spain. With a budget of £250,000, it is Spain that offers the best value for this kind of cash. The first property on view in Spain was in the conservation area of Campillo de Adentro. It is an extended country house set in two acres of land with amazing mountain views. The property comes with a small pool, two bed rooms, a summer kitchen and a conservatory. The asking price at the time of viewing was £228,000. Next on view was a property in the old town of Totana, which is surrounded by prime hiking land. The detached villa has three bedrooms, ½ an acre of land and a pool, and has a BBQ and a choice of four different outside eating areas. Finally, the couple was shown a house in the beautiful village of La Penilla. It is a traditional rustic home set in 1.3 acres with a pool and olive grove. Inside there are three bedrooms and a separate annex with an additional bedroom.

http://thetalentzone.co.uk/blog/jasmine-harman-finds-properties-in-cartagena-spain-on-a-place-in-the-sun-home-and-away/

Chapter 23b – How Exciting! “Ghosts” and “souls” haven’t avoided our human characteristic described above. Here also, the believer creates in his or her mind a complete virtual picture, bearing its own rules. This is done by collecting pieces of alleged data from others. The picture includes various worlds of life after death, reward and punishment, heaven and hell, good spirits and bad spirits, tunnels and lights, souls that are attached to the body by an invisible thread, prayers and text segments in this world that presumably do good for the souls in the next world, words and deeds not to be dealt with during a seance, bearded religious authorities with a wise look, who seem to know well the “real” secrets of what’s happening behind our backs. There are certain interesting characteristics of the phenomenon of the imaginary conspirative world, whether it has to do with ghosts and souls, or with aliens and flying saucers: Its rules and its habitants change slightly according to the belief and the cultural background of the addict. The rules by which that world functions, shall always complement each other, like pieces of a puzzle brought together in our mind. They will be somehow related to our basic fears. In any case, they will always be on the edge of clarity. The nature of such cosmic conspiracy is being incomplete and suffering missing pieces of data, in order to continue teasing the imagination. The so-called “proofs” integrated in it, will be, like the sayings of the famous oracle from Delphi, subject to interpretations both ways. Those who promote the conspiracy will always seek (and find) other people with certain scientific background, whose name is involved in believing similar things. Our love of conspiracies and intrigues generates and nurtures them out of purely natural events: President Kennedy’s murder, the landing on the moon, Prime Minister Rabin’s assassination, the events of September 11. It’s very likely that some of our ancient mythologies were formed this way. The connection to religion is pretty obvious. Some of these ancient myths found their way into our most popular books. The system itself teaches their stories. We’re thrilled by the mystical promise embedded in them. We swear on their printed version in the court of law. In 1970, a somewhat strange story hit the media. Headlines told about a complex computer program used by NASA, to calculate planetary and lunar positions in the future and in the past. It appeared that the program was stuck at some point of the calculation – a problem that was interpreted by some as if a day was missing somewhere in the processing. Then (sparing you the gory details), a consultant named Harold Hill suggested that the missing day represented the time when Joshua made the Sun stand still (Joshua, chapter 10, verses 12-14). Some quick calculation done by the scientists indeed proved that the missing time matched the estimated delay of the Sun, as told by the Biblical story of Joshua! This could have been a very exciting story, except for the minor issue that it never took place in real life. Still the tale became widespread, and even Mr. Hill himself – a real person – had an interesting time denying the world yet another myth. It’s easy to believe when someone tells you what you want to hear. Carl Sagan wrote a lot about it in his wonderful book The Demon-Haunted World, where he made the distinction between science and pseudoscience. We do not live in a dull world. There are plenty of interesting and exciting things to learn about it: From sub-atomic particles to pulsars and quasars, from chromosomes and genes to nerve cells and brains, from prime numbers to differential equations. It’s also quite all right to invent legends and tell myths – as long as we treat them as such. No user responded to " Chapter 23b – How Exciting! "

http://thetruthiswrong.com/indeed/belief/skepticism/chapter-23b-how-exciting/

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Provinces, municipalities, police forces, businesses, investors and untold other Canadians have been working at the double-quick to get ready for legalization of cannabis. Canada’s senators must not be seen as partisan laggards who hold up their hard work. The answer is ‘not very long from now’, provided some opposing senators turn their minds to the substance of Bill C-45 rather than focusing on how they it can be delayed. The most recent timing issue emerged earlier this week, when Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor told a special committee meeting of the Senate that Canada’s provinces and municipalities need eight to 12 weeks of lead time to adapt to the regulations that would follow approval of the bill. Other organizations have also been preparing diligently, hiring staff, training individuals, investing etc. These organizations have important timetables and they expect the Senate of Canada to respect their work by doing its job. Indeed for provinces like Ontario and New Brunswick, approval can’t come soon enough. In this sense, approval of Bill C-45 by May of this year sounds more desirable than July for provinces, who have already invested significant time and resources for the preparation of legal cannabis. So it’s time for us to pull up our socks and get on with the work we are paid to do. The question of timing arose shortly after the Bill arrived in the Senate in November last year — driven by reactions to the federal government’s July 2018 target date for the kick-off for the proposed new regime. At that time, Andrew Scheer, the Leader of the Conservative parliamentary caucus, who obviously doesn’t think we have a problem with cannabis in Canada, publicly directed Conservative senators to delay the Bill. So much for independence in sober second thought. Mr. Scheer’s Senators appear to have snapped to it and a very serious public health issue is becoming a political football. These Senate Conservatives are saying “what’s the rush?” while going AWOL in participating in the Second Reading debate. As of Feb. 7, not a single member of that caucus had spoken in the Chamber to Bill C-45, even though there has been ample opportunity to do so since November. In fact, that group shut down questions minutes after I had delivered my second reading speech on Nov. 30. This is all a bit rich from a political party which itself knows something about moving legislation with dispatch. Time allocation motions were employed over 100 times during the tenure of the previous government, with some bills pushed through in one day. By contrast, time allocation has not been used in the Senate once since the 2015 election. Admittedly, the view is different from the opposition benches. Adequate time to study a bill comprehensively is crucial. But let’s be real. Bill C 45 will be scrutinized for months as opposed to days. Hardly a rush. In the midst of the timing debate, it is important to note that the conversation on legalizing cannabis is not new. Indeed, the Senate of Canada’s Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, chaired by a former Conservative senator, recommended the legalization of cannabis in 2002. Another challenge with debate in the Senate is the slap-dash, truncated, approach to debates which are plagued by tactical adjournment-driven delays. This happens far too regularly. But the new cadre of independent Senators see the possibility of a more effective and efficient Senate which moves beyond the replication of the political dynamics of the House of Commons. One that really does provide sober second thought. Reform-minded senators of every stripe were advocating for this long before my arrival. But we now have a critical mass interested in pushing that agenda forward. At the centre of this discussion is a proposal for the creation of a senate business planning process, one in which senate leaders organize and map out timelines for review of government business. This would ensure that blocks of time are set aside on the calendar to really dig down into legislation in a concentrated way. Alas, the response from some of my Conservative colleagues was that they preferred the traditional way of doing business. But I think it’s time to move on and I suspect that many Canadian observers of the old-school Senate would agree. I’d be supportive of trying this again, and I know that Senator Peter Harder, the government representative in the Senate, as well as senators from all corners of the chamber, also like this approach. Frankly, there will be a time when we have to decide. Let me conclude by saying that, like other independent senators, I don’t have to take instructions from Andrew Scheer or Justin Trudeau. My focus is on doing the best job I can for Canadians. Now that is a privilege. This article appeared in the February 8, 2018 edition of iPolitics. Read it here.

http://tonydean.sencanada.ca/en/news/op-ed-senate-should-improve-cannabis-laws-not-stall-them/

Read an excerpt from the 2016 Preface (pdf). More than two decades after serving as a juror on the high-profile seven-month murder trial People v. Erik Galen Menendez, Hazel Thornton updates her book Hung Jury with a new preface and a postscript essay of observations about the Menendez brothers’ second trial. Includes psychological commentary by Lawrence S. Wrightsman and Amy J. Posey, and legal commentary by Alan Scheflin. Hazel Thornton was a telecommunications engineer in Pasadena, California, at the time of the first trial. She is now a professional organizer living in Albuquerque, New Mexico and author of Go with the Flow! The Clutter-Clearing Tool Kit for an Organized Life. Visit her online at www.org4life.com.

http://tupress.temple.edu/book/20000000009640

Angioplasty in this context refers to the use of an expandable balloon inserted into a target artery from a remote site, usually the groin, in order to expand a narrowed or blocked segment of the artery. This technique can be accomplished under local anaesthesia and often requires only a few hours of stay in the hospital. In some cases a metallic stent is used to support the area of the artery that was treated in order to stabilize the plaque that has been stretched open. The decision to use a stent is made at the time of the procedure. This approach is often referred to as endovascular treatment since it is performed entirely inside the blood vessel. In order to optimize treatment more complex cases may be managed by a combination of open techniques plus an endovascular procedure. This approach is often referred to as a hybrid procedure and is employed when more than one segment of a the arterial tree is being treated. An example would be a patient with a narrowing of the iliac artery located above the groin in the pelvis who also has a blocked femoral artery (in the thigh). This would be treated by an angioplasty/stent of the iliac artery plus a bypass of the leg artery. less durable and more prone to early failure (particularly in the leg) than open operations including bypass. Although less invasive than open surgery, there are risks involved. Need for repeat intervention in up to 20% of cases over 5 years in the arteries above the groin and up to 50% in the first year for leg arteries.

http://victoriavascular.ca/angioplasty-and-stents/

Miha Pogačnik is a virtuoso violinist and cultural ambassador with an exceptional capacity to use classical music to inspire creative leaders to think beyond traditional boundaries. His presentation will be titled "Passage Through The Fire: A Harmonious Strategy For Uncertain Times", and is likely to be one of the most unforgettable presentations of the year. Through his music, Pogačnik brings the concept of 'Creative Leadership' to life by exploring the relationships between harmony and tension, success and failure, flow and crisis. In an economic climate of great turbulence, there's no better time to seek creative inspiration from 'outside the box'. Part impassioned classical musical performance, part live improvisational drawing and 100% unbridled energy, Miha is an inspirational master of communication. His presentation is made possible by the Berlin School of Creative Leadership. Miha Pogačnik boasts an unusual mix of musical and corporate skills. He is the President and Founder of the Institute for Development of Intercultural Relations through the Arts (IDRIART) and a Board Member of the Berlin School of Creative Leadership. Since 1998, he has directed the annual Business and Art Conference at Castle Borl, Slovenia and has also addressed the World Business Academy, the World Economic Forum in Davos, and groups at the United Nations. Miha´s clients also include Ericsson, Royal Dutch Shell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Saatchi & Saatchi, Whirlpool, Skandia Insurance, ABN Amro Bank, Nike and The Body Shop. He has also orchestrated 180 intercultural festivals and exploratory learning journeys around the world to build bridges between cultures, minds and perspectives in recognition of the need for change. Miha also serves as Cultural Ambassador of Slovenia. He works in English, German and Slovene.

http://videolectures.net/miha_pogacnik/

Lawrence's Nolan Spencer was chosen as the Midwest Conference Player of the Week. APPLETON, Wis. -- Lawrence University baseball standout Nolan Spencer has been chosen as the Midwest Conference Player of the Week following the Vikings' spring break trip to Florida. Over the Vikings' final six games, Spencer (Elmhurst, Ill./York) hit .478 while batting in the lead-off spot. The senior shortstop went 11-for-23 with a triple, six runs scored and four runs batted in. Spencer also collected five walks to help him compile a .571 on-base percentage. He did some damage on the bases as well by going 6-for-6 on stolen bases. Spencer pushed his average on the season to .395, and he is now 10-for-10 on stolen bases. Lawrence returns to action on Saturday when the Vikings host the University of Chicago in a four-game set at Whiting Field to open Midwest Conference play.

http://vikings.lawrence.edu/sports/bsb/2018-19/releases/20190325vm6lto

[2]When God brought Elijah into the wilderness during a great drought, Elijah was sustained by the ravens and brook. But when the time came for Elijah to move on, God didn’t send an angel with a message, He simply dried up the brook. After this and other confirmations, the details seemed to fall into place rather rapidly, and a few weeks later we had booked tickets for eight of us to fly to South Korea, where Tim and Angie have based their work in South Korea and Mongolia. Working with IBLP [3], their vision is to strengthen and Christians and families with sound Biblical teaching, such as IBLP’s Basic Seminar [4].

http://visionserve.org/2010/10/new-direction/print/

activities of Vivius’ original consumer driven product. She managed Vivius’ founding team of IT professionals, and was a founding member of the Vivius management team. Prior to joining Vivius, Ms. Rouchka was a Team Lead – Programmer/Analyst for PDA Software Service, Inc., where she was responsible for all phases of the systems development lifecycle from inception to release, including client relations. Prior to joining PDA, Ms. Rouchka was an actuarial specialist in the Kansas City office of Towers Perrin Integrated HealthSystems Consulting (IHC), where she specialized in computer based solutions to healthcare financial analysis projects. Ms. Rouchka’s experience includes the management of an IT team that developed a state-of-the-art internet based consumer driven product which included real-time automated underwriting and pricing, development/programming of a universal model to generate pharmaceutical capitation rates by therapeutic class, the development and evaluation of physician fee schedules based on such standards as HIAA, Medicare RBRVS, and the McGraw-Hill relative value scale, age/gender actuarial development, and medical cost analysis/modeling. In addition to her proven record of managing an IT team, Ms. Rouchka has extensive experience with a wide variety of computer applications as well as multiple programming languages. Ms. Rouchka received separate B.S. degrees in both (a) actuarial science, and (b) computer science and mathematics from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri.

http://vivius.com/about/our-leadership/tracy-rouchka/

Our liberal pals are in real trouble, and as a compassionate conservative, I feel an obligation to help them winch their all-inclusive bus out of the ditch and help them with an ideological front end alignment. Going into Nov. 2, the libs were riding high. John Kerry was running neck and neck with Bush in the polls. George Soros and the Hollywood crowd, you know, the people so often cited as being representative of “real America” were dumping truckloads of cash into the campaign coffers of Democrat candidates (a good sign, because it’s all about money). And even though Dan Rather got caught with his journalistic pants rumpled up around his ankles with nary an intern in sight, the press on the whole was doing a darned fine job of painting Iraq as an utter disaster. From the streets of Boston to the bath houses in San Francisco, joy and optimism filled the hearts of lefties everywhere. But something went wrong. Kerry lost, taking a four-point pasting at the polls. Gay marriage was banned in 11 states, including two states won by Kerry. Democrats lost House and Senate seats, including that held by their Senate minority leader, Tom Daschle. They even lost several gubernatorial races. And the election map was even more disappointing, with the country covered in red, with the Libs hanging on to the northeast coast, the west coast and a blue island populated by liberals and traditional union workers in the upper midwest. Oh the pain. The injustice. And worst of all, the presidential victory by Bush was so clear, it couldn’t be clouded with allegations of vote fraud on the part of a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. Desperate for answers, the Libs starting searching for reasons for the “unfair” across-the-board spanking. It was wacked-out Evangelical Christians. No, wait, people in the Midwest were uninformed. Really, it’s just that the 60 million people who voted for Bush were “stupid” (uh, how does that square with John Kerry’s sizeable win in the “let’s not talk about them” demographic that is voters who did not finish high school?). It was Hillary’s fault. It was an evil plot by Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh. Sorry guys. Turn off NPR. Put down Al Franken’s book. Stand up. Look in the mirror. It’s you. It’s your party. And it’s the people who have shoved you out of the driver’s seat and taken the wheel. They’ve made a sharp left turn and now you’re sitting in a ditch. They guy in the driver’s seat, an unkempt, rotund chap wearing a baseball cap is screaming mad and he’s got the accelerator flat against the floor. But you’re not going anywhere. You see, out here in the Midwest (or “Jesusland” as it was called on a map published recently by a bunch of Libs) the view of the evident majority of voters isn’t even close to what the New York Times, Rosie O’Donnell or Barbra says it is. In fact, we love our kids and we want them to first have a real childhood, get through the teenage years unscathed and venture into adulthood in a culture that looks something like the one that produced their parents. We don’t though, feel that that courts should tell us that we have to formally recognize their relationships in legal marriages. And we work with gays, we live next door to them and those of us that go to church sit in the same pews as they do. So we don’t equate gay marriage with the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s. In fact, an awful lot of African-Americans find that comparison insulting. And we average, middle-class midwestern white folks agree with them. Like most of the country, we’re pretty much split on the abortion issue. But the majority of us feel we ought to give our consent before our 14 year-old daughter gets one, just as we have to give consent before the school nurse can give her so much as an aspirin. And most of us, while we may be divided on the issue of abortion, feel that partial birth abortion is a grisly form of infanticide which no reasonable person would consider defensible. We’re also somewhat split on Iraq. But what we do know is that if it was O.K. to take out good old Slobodon during the Bosnian Conflict due to his “ethnic cleansing,” then Saddam with his mass graves, support of terrorists and desire to acquire nukes was probably deserving of the same treatment. So when you scream “Wrong war, wrong time, wrong place,” you push us away. On terrorism: sure, we’d like to see Osama’s head on a plate, or at least know that he’s in the worst imaginable American prison, playing leapfrog with several large, lonely cellmates. But we know that every video of him shows a guy who looks increasingly worse, and who is obviously well on his way to looking like the aforementioned Saddam did when we plucked him out of a hole in the ground last December. He’s obviously on the run, so we don’t think he’s doing a very good job of commanding his “army” of psychopaths. And that’s evidenced by the fact that we haven’t been attacked since 9/11. Somehow, Mr. Bush and Company are doing something right. And we think it’s only a matter of time before we drag Osama into custody, or zip his remains into a body bag. So while you’re busy condemning the president for not pursuing terrorists, we see not only progress but results. On your party: you keep sliding leftward, all while your leadership looks back reverently at the JFK years, wondering how to get back to them. Well, think about it: JFK was a tax cutter. JFK also was quick to grab the handle of the sword when he perceived a Soviet threat in Cuba—essentially taking preemptive action. Who does that sound like? We out here in the red states liked JFK and his policies, heck, we liked him so much that thousands of dead people in Chicago even voted for him, giving him the victory back in 1960. So doesn’t it make sense that we voted for Bush? We haven’t changed out here, but the Democratic party has. JFK, your stated hero, would be somewhere to the right of Joe Lieberman, who, just four years after running for VP, now sounds more like a Republican than a Democrat. He hasn’t changed. But his party has. Ask Zell Miller if you don’t believe me. Finally, you have to realize that we like Bush. No, we don’t think he’s perfect. But we don’t think he’s a whacked out Bible thumping fascist bent on torching the Bill of Rights and then throwing the Constitution into the blaze. We also wonder why it was no big deal for Clinton to go to church, and for Al Gore to imitate a Southern preacher when he addressed the NAACP convention, but Bush gets condemned and compared to a Taliban-style Mullah when he dares to set foot in a church. We’ve suffered no terrorist attacks, we think the economy – despite the press ignoring employment figures identical to those of the Clinton years – is doing well and improving, and we like the idea that Bush seems to have an idea of right and wrong. So, if you want to winch your car out of the ditch, maybe you ought to put down your triple mocha soy latte, pick up your cell phone and call Joe Lieberman or Bill Clinton. Oh, and leave Mr. Moore, the Rotund Radical on the side of the road. Maybe he can hitch a ride in Leonardo DiCaprio’s Prius. Even today, two days after the election and just a day after John Kerry’s concession speech, Democrats are already openly speculating about the prospects of a 2008 White House run by Hillary Clinton. While this may confirm in some measure, the conspiracy theorist claim that the Clintons were hoping (and in unseen ways, working against) still-Senator John Kerry’s campaign, it also leads one to wonder what, if anything, the Party of the Ass has learned from the horsewhipping administered to it by the American electorate just 48 hours ago. While I, like most conservatives, celebrated wins in the race for the White House, victories that strengthened House and Senate Republican majorities and still more governor’s offices in the hands of conservatives, I’m an American first. And because of that, I think it’s important that those to the left of center take a long hard look at the lessons American voters wrote in the election results of Nov. 2. It’s important because, while I hold conservative values and policies dear, I believe a weak Democratic party can only lead to a weak Republican party (and, of course, vice versa). After all, good competition benefits all. So, what did the American Electorate tell us Nov. 2? First, that it places great value on values. George Bush took a clear and certain position on every question or issue that came his way not only during the just-ended campaign, but since the day he took the Oath of Office in January 2001. You may have forgotten, but in the days and weeks preceding 9/11, he took a firm position on stem cell research. While the wreckage of the World Trade Center was still smoldering, he told Americans and the entire world that he would bring the full force of the U.S. military and its resources to bear on the bearded fanatics of the Muslim world. What’s more, he made it plain that states who supported terrorists in any way would be considered enemies of the U.S. No longer would two-bit tyrants in Muslim countries thumb their noses at the U.S. with impunity. Sadaam called Bush’s bluff. Muammar Qaddafi didn’t. Bush’s other positions were every bit as clear. Bush supported tax cuts. Bush, rightly or wrongly, supported a guest worker program for illegal aliens. Bush supported the use of the PATRIOT act. Bush opposed abortion. All clear, all certain. Kerry, on the other hand, tried to win voters by taking something of every position on nearly every issue. His many flip flops certainly need not be repeated here; we’ve all heard scores of them ad nauseum for the past six months. Kerry had no expressed values, and it cost him the votes of those who wanted to know what they were. Second, while American voters on the whole, do not bear any ill will toward gay, lesbian, transgendered, cross-dressers, those questioning their orientation, or what have you, they also do not feel they should be forced to place the societal stamp of approval that is marriage on the many lifestyles that make up the confused rainbow of those who choose to identify themselves chiefly by their sexual preferences. In short, you can dress like a Druid and spend your afternoons with transgendered midgets in bath houses, but don’t seek to have society give the same formal acknowledgement to that relationship as it does to traditional marriages, which human society has formally sanctioned for about 5,000 years. The idea of gay marriage has been pummeled by U.S. voters at every turn. Clearly, further pursuit of this issue only seeks to widen the divide between mainstream Americans and the Bath House Party, which is counter to their stated goals of merely seeking acceptance. You have acceptance, but you’ve no right to expect approval. Third, put some distance between yourselves and the Michael Moore wing of the Democratic party. Certainly, the pseudo-intelligentsia of the entertainment industry sprained a few elbows clapping one another on the back after the screening of Fahrenheit 9-11, and after screeds by Sean Penn and intellectual heavyweights such as Leonardo DiCrapio, Natalie Maines, Rosie O’Donnell and the rest of the People Magazine crowd. But most Americans don’t buy it, and don’t identify with this bunch. Most Americans can’t afford to vacation regularly in every popular tourist haven on earth. Most can’t afford to have three kids, one by an ex-spouse, another by an ex-boyfriend and third solo, through invitro fertilization. Most Americans can’t completely flop at work one day and wake up to a host of multi-million dollar job offers the next. Jennifer Lopez makes “Gigli,” sees it turn into an utter failure financially and presumably artistically, and then spends months sorting through a series of new movie offers. That’s not the real world. While the lefties loved to listen to the Hollywood crowd snipe at George W. Bush, those of us who recognize the entertainment world and those who populate it as escapist didn’t. We knew better than to confuse this world and the opinions of those who live it in to drive our real world decisions at the polls. Fourth, look at the map. The election map was truly astounding. Kerry took New England, a traditional strong ground for liberals, and the Left Coast. In between was a sea of red states, dotted only by the leftist bastions of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois (which is dominated by Chicago’s Democratic machine). If the dems want to Hillary to be competitive in 2008, they’d better help her learn what people in the Midwest, the South, the southwest, the north central and the west value and consider priorities. Clearly, apart from the three aforementioned liberal enclaves, the message of the dems was rejected by most of the U.S. Fifth, don’t count on the media to do your dirty work. Americans could tolerate the liberal bias of the media, until the mainstream media began to act on its urges to influence the election. Dan Rather’s memogate, the overblown coverage of the Abu Graib prisoner hazing, the Missing Explosives controversy and endless other “Bush is screwing up” stories crossed the line. The price was an American electorate that shot back at the press, and more important, a total loss of credibility for the likes of Rather, Brokaw, Jennings, the New York Times, etc. Sixth, play fair. Reports of plans for rioting in the streets of New York during the GOP convention, stealing Bush Cheney signs, slashing tires on vehicles used by Republican campaign workers, break-ins and vandalism of Republican campaign offices aren’t merely the acts of overenthusiastic campaign workers. These are initial steps on the road to fascism. (Funny how the left likes to hurl that very word at Republicans). Certainly there’s more, but that’s a good start. Take consistent positions. Get out of bed with the “LGBT” crowd. Stay out of Michael Moore’s bed (there’s no room left anyway). Visit Kansas City, Des Moines or Lubbock. When you get there, listen and don’t talk. Dan Rather’s going to retire—for good reason. Play nice—the ends don’t justify the means. Extreme liberalism is little more than a flatulent philosophy made bloated by hyper-egotism, unrestrained self importance, and an over abundant sense of self. With such an array of flattering characteristics at its core, the common misnomer so often assigned to it is that much more incredible to hear. All too often I hear the misguided merging of two mutually exclusive terms, forming a paradoxical and decidedly undeserved union: the “liberal intellectual.” Though often used as a pejorative to demonstrate the inane state of our politicized institutions of higher learning currently held hostage by liberal ideology, the pairing is, nonetheless, incorrect. At its roots, liberal ideology is more dependent on emotion to serve as its foundation than any true empirical reasoning or logical constructs. Consider for a moment the last time you had engaged in debate with a leftist. Here I will take the liberty of employing the politically incorrect technique (and, therefore, my language of choice) referred to as “sweeping generalization.” In all likelihood no debate would have actually occurred. Instead, what you had probably experienced was a one-sided, childish rant characterized by ever an increasing volume from the left side of the “debate.” This is a technique deliberately engaged to drown out the conservative point of view rather than confront it head on and triumph by merit. In other words, their position was vociferated while yours was lost through loud, boorish behavior. This does not result in a debate illustrating the differences between two ideologies. Instead, what is achieved is an emotionally-charged monologue that could be likened to that of a two-year throwing a fit. Such diarrheal argumentation, or perhaps more appropriately “ideological self-gratification,” though effective in soothing the orator’s delicate sensibilities, does nothing to advance their argument’s intellectual credibility—status it would have enjoyed through honest debate, despite the certainty of inevitable defeat under said circumstances. But it is not difficult to understand why those embroiled in the leftist movement abandon logic and reasoned premise during “debates” of ideology. Positions based solely on emotion and kaleidoscopic visions of fantastic utopian social constructs are necessarily repudiated by such critical thinking. The magnetism of liberalism, therefore, does not rest in its intellectual foundation. Instead, it resides in its emotional appeal of perceived fairness and the promise of egalitarian outcome for all to enjoy (the true dangers of which are best addressed in a separate, dedicated thesis). So there it is. Though liberalism’s underlying promise is a feel-good alternative to the harsh realities of everyday life, pragmatism forces us to reject the purest of such ideals in favor of solutions wrought from the intellect. That is not to say, of course, that pragmatism is always, or even often, the victor in ideological application—political forces see to that. The conclusion then, is this: if liberal ideology is not the fruit of the intellect, then by definition the notion of the intellectual liberal rings false. Ah, the libs…once again they’re on the warpath, this time masking firmly rooted anti-Christian sentiments with high-minded laments and accusations of anti-Semitism and harmful depictions of violence. Of course, I’m referring to the leftist crusade du jour: the secular war against Mel Gibson and his production of “The Passion of the Christ.” Naturally, we all realize that Mr. Gibson isn’t the true target of their unholy war, nor is the film for that matter. Instead, their sites are intently focused upon Christianity as a whole. What better way to achieve that end than to call into question—in a very public forum—the founding principles of Christianity: the accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as found in the Gospels. As has become the favorite tact of the liberators of historical truths—freeing said monolithic constructs from the oppressive binds of reverent study of past events and adherence to their factual origins—the libs have now undertaken the daunting task of compelling a revisionist accounting of the Gospels themselves. They are attempting said feat through an attempt to hijack public opinion with baseless accusation and the promulgation of widespread misinformation about the scale and magnitude of the purported public outcry against the imagery and message contained in the movie. The “violence” that they’re all up in arms about is used to demonstrate the brutality that Jesus had suffered, thereby emphasizing the magnitude of His sacrifice. All too often, His ordeal had been characterized by “He suffered, died and was buried…” in effect, marginalizing His gift. This unintended reduction of salience is largely attributable to those who practice Christian faith. The movie, however, reverses that trend by clearly demonstrating the reality of the situation as set in the historical context of the time of Jesus’ life. It was necessary and not at all overstated to demonstrate the brutality of His ordeal in order to drive home the point and poignancy of His sacrifice and how truly difficult it would have been for one to voluntarily submit oneself. I find it ironic that only now, when an ages-old historical account is retold on screen, are the libs suddenly concerned about the violence factor. Of course, if this had been superfluous violence placed on screen only to draw audiences to the theatres for a secular film (a morally superior and critically exempt product, of course), this would not be an issue. Consider, for example, the countless films that have been released in the past thirty or so years—fraught with violence, gore, sex, drug use and virtually every other vice known to man—which garnered nary a comment from the suddenly now “concerned” critical base. One could go so far as to characterize their sudden “concern” as little more than thinly veiled Catholic/Christian bias aimed solely at denigrating the movie (or if the truth be told—Christianity) with unabashed, hypocritical vitriol—all coming from an amoral, hedonistic, revisionist crowd with oscillating sensibilities that are only activated through convenience of political advancement rather than adherence to a structured philosophy. The anti-Semitism of which they speak was a concern brought forth even before the movie went public, which begs the question “how could they level such charges without being witness to the events contained in the film. The answer is quite simple, really. All they had to do was look to the movie’s source material: the Gospels. The Gospels recount the trials and tribulations Jesus faced in the last hours of His life. These stories are the historical documents we draw upon to learn of these events. Whether or not it casts those who were directly responsible in a negative light is irrelevant and, frankly, quite insignificant to the larger meaning attributed to the stories. To those now aghast at the depiction found in the movie, I offer you this: get over it. It happened and no amount of protestation can change that—a condition, by the way, that holds true for the historical accounting of any example of man’s inhumanity to man. That said take a moment to reflect upon how the situation was demonstrated in the film. The viewer sees a frenzied mob whose collective emotions were given rise by the events unfolding before them—events that were fueled by protagonists who clearly relied upon the presence of an angry mob to secure their own desired result. That which cannot be denied is the dark figure that is found lurking about the agitated crowd, as well as the protagonists themselves. It should be quite obvious even to the layman that this figure is the physical manifestation of evil—or Satan, if you will—whose mere presence stimulates hateful emotions in those embroiled in the situation. It also prompts Jesus’ own followers to betray, deny, and abandon Him. So even those closest to Jesus engage in unfathomable acts against the one they profess to love. It is clear that taken in aggregate, His followers, the Romans, and the Jews, are a small, representative sample of humanity as a whole, and as such, the sins of all mankind are responsible for His death. By freely accepting that death, He bestowed upon all the gift of forgiveness and salvation. It is this theme, of course, that is the root of Christianity and has been taught to present day in Christian theology. To argue otherwise merely underscores one’s ignorance and willingness to draw conclusions without the benefit of knowledge and understanding. Or perhaps, rather, it represents their outright rejection of the facts in favor of bolstering their unfounded claims of racial or religious intolerance for the sole purpose of advancing their own suspect agenda. Either is a possibility, however, it is the latter that seems most likely.

http://vomsorb.com/page/2/

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Klinefelter. Specialist Coach Mike began his journey in the sports, athletic club & exercise science industry from 1980-97. A former state, regional, and national title holder in bodybuilding, with background in Power & Olympic weight training. Power lift training protocols were under the Worlds Strongest Man Bill Kazmaier where they traveled the country conducting Exhibitions, NFL Strongest Man in Football Competition. Klinefelter displayed muscle endurance, multiple sets of 20 rep squats with 405 lb. “The Kaz” brute strength bench pressing over 600 lb. for reps. Olympic lift training protocols under US Olympic Team Coach John Coffee. In the 90’s, Klinefelter entered the track & field arena founding & coaching track teams. By 2002 he was coaching the 4×400 relay team of the Georgia Express, a Jr. Olympic team competing on the National level winning State, Regional & National titles and then as sprint coach for the Kennesaw State University track team taking 1st in the 4×400 indoor region championships. In addition to coaching track and owning his own training facility, Klinefelter began the in-depth study of plyometrics and speed development training. By the late 1990’s, he was incorporating this research into his teachings. Recognizing the success of the local athletes he was training with plyometrics and speed development, and the lack of exposure in the local market, he opened The Sports Training Center & Speed School in 2002 where they now train over 300 athletes annually, connected to the local school athletic & sports programs. Exposing & teaching athletes “Pro-Style Sports Performance Training” designing a curriculum & methodology that enables the athlete to reach top speed quicker, build power & overall athleticism. Absolutely. In 1997 the athletic club company I had been with for 14 years old & the new company let all us veterans go. 1999 became a partner with group of owners in another chain of athletic clubs. Things were going great, money coming in, in January 2002 sold our little 1,400 sq. ft, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1 car garage starter home & moved into a bigger house with a bigger payment, 2 weeks later I was unemployed with a wife & 2 kids. No money coming in, money going out, into August now still no job, got the family together & explained the situation to them, down to enough for 3 house payments left, don’t know what lies ahead for us. Unable to get a bank loan, that summer took my idea of a Sports Performance Training Business with cardboard, magic marker & stick road signs on corners. Started with 6 athletes, the head football coach of the local HS let me use the track & wt. room to start. That spring a 50,000 sq.ft. baseball facility had opened up in Kennesaw, I presented my Sports Performance Training concept to the owners & rented space from them that August, thus official begin “The Sports Training Center & Speed School”. It didn’t cover all the bills but it put a Band-Aid on the finances & slowed down the bleeding. In March of 2004, they went out of business, I purchased the weight room equipment from the owner by putting on my credit card. I found myself scrambling to find another space, had made arrangement with the landlord to stay in building as long as I could & pay utilities. With 2 weeks left to be out of the building that October I ran into a baseball instructor in the same situation, October we took on old dirty warehouse in downtown Acworth & turned it into a baseball training facility, the business took off. Fall of 2016, that building sold & we had to be out by spring 2017, again scrambling around looking for a new location, April moved back to Kennesaw were it all began. The baseball coach & I are still in business. Today we look back & can say this is a business “Built the American Way” from the ground up, no business loans, just an idea, building relationships in the community, hard work & delivering a quality product/service. We do no advertising, our advertising is our athletes get results, As long as that happens the parents will keep writing checks for them, the athletes keep coming back, 16 years later starting with 6 athletes we now train over 300 athletes annually, one of the longest running Sports Performance Training Facilities in the Nation & support of the area school athletic, sports programs & coaches. Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about The Sports Training Center & Speed School – what should we know? Its easier to say what Sports Performance Training is not, It’s not just cones & ladders, speed & agility, strength & conditioning, The history of plyometrics dates back to the 60’s when Russia & eastern bloc countries used new & unique training techniques on their Olympic athletes. As we look at records of those athletes, they dominated certain sports during this era. Their training consisted of different styles of jumps, foot speed drills, training equipment, stretching, and weight training exercises that when combined in a structured curriculum & progressions resulted in increased speed & power in the athlete. Today it is a highly skilled position demanding knowledge of how the human body works & responds in relation to the sport. There’s no college degree that says you’re a head football coach or sports performance coach, it’s on the job training. The NFL, for example, will have many specialist coaches in the training/exercise science department of the organization. A strength coach that was maybe a former world record holder in powerlifting, the speed/sports performance coach, a nutritionist, physical therapist, kicking coach, etc… The head track will have a specialist on staff, shot put, pole vault, hurdle, their experts in that particle field or subject. The sports performance trainer is a specialist, a spoke in the wheel of the overall development of the athlete, team & organization. The objective of plyometrics is to enhance the explosive reaction of the individual through powerful muscular contractions as a result of rapid eccentric contractions. This is accomplished through various techniques. The first is to develop the hip flexure muscles, its physiological function is to lift the leg. This maximizes the frequency of the turn over cycle of the leg during running stride. The result is a faster, quicker athlete with increased explosive power, reaction speed, lateral & multi-change of direction speed, coordination, balance, development of the stabilizer muscles in the ankle, knee hip & shoulder joint, energy transferred to the movement & injury prevention. Core training is vital, we call it “The Center of Gravity” for athletic development. Core training is the strengthening, developing of the mid-section area of the body, abdominal muscles, oblique & lower back playing a key role in the overall athleticism of the athlete. When you fix this then everything else gets better, run, throw, kick, swing, lift. In the 90’s when I was researching & studying about this style of training used at the elite, Olympic, professional, NFL, college D-1 level it wasn’t new, just kept secret up there, no one wants the other team to get an edge on them. What we do is expose athletes to the type of training they will do at the next level. The younger the athlete gets involved the better the long-term results, a steady diet of it during the offseason over the years. I recall watching a college QB now playing in the NFL & played HS football in the Atlanta area & saying that is phenomenal athlete. He can run, jump, great balance, like a gymnast playing a sport. Later read an interview on him & he said his father started him training with a sports performance coach at age 6, that explained it, why he was able to elevate himself above the others along with natural talent. The gratification is watching the results, taking the athlete from point A to point B, not to skip B & C in the process. watching them play at the next level, the college signings, NFL drafts, the phone call from a parent who’s son was always the last one to get picked on a baseball team, moved up to no. 4 in the batting line up & made it to 2nd base for the first time, a proud parent, the relationships with the athletes & parents. When someone sets out to be a coach its not about the money, there are other careers for that. I have great respect for the HS coaches, the hours they put in, time away from their families, miss their own kid’s sports events. There’s gratification in knowing that you left a footprint on the athlete, you made some kind of positive impact on them, that they learned something out of the experience. The curriculum sets us apart, the athletes go through a training system. What sets us or any business apart from the others is having a reputation for delivering results, a quality product or service. Experience & knowledge may be the biggest factor going for us, nearly 4 decades in the industry, 16 years in business, thousands of hours spent on study, training & research, experimenting, Not just the exercise science aspect of it but the business side leaned along the way, marketing, managing, having a business model & relationship building with the community. Exercise Science is always evolving, better training techniques, teaching methods, equipment, your never done learning, always trying to better your product. The curriculum is the blueprint or hart of what we do & why we have been successful, how we implement the progressions & training protocols. You have to have a system, a process the athlete goes through, you don’t just shoot from the hip as they say. What you learned out of the journey & experiences philosophically is a young man you expect things to go smoothly, easy, it’s not. You venture into life & the business world climbing the mountain with the goal of making it to the top which you think is success, only to find that when you got to the top you discovered there were still many more peaks & valleys on the other side you still have to go through. Except it, embrace it, be prepared for the next challenge. It starts with God, faith & family, you don’t know what the next day brings, situations in life you have no control over. I can honestly say things have never come easy for me, I left Tulsa Oklahoma in 1979 for a job in Va. Beach, Va. with $500 I borrowed & paid back, you grow up poor, working since 6th grade, parents divorced when I was 4, lived in an apartment raised by a single mom, aunts & grandparents, both grandparents raised 3 kids in a 2 bedroom, 1 bath rented home, my great grandmother on my dads side was full blood Choctaw, raised 11 kids in a 2 bedroom, 1 bath rented home. When you know you’re never going to take over the family business or inherit anything its sink or swim. Life is like a treadmill, the world keeps going no matter what’s going on in your life, you fall off sometimes but have to get back on. The man’s role is provider & protector of the family when a man can’t find a job or can’t provide for his loved ones it ways heavy on you. But there’s a positive experience that can come out of that, “Problem Solving”. Life presents a problem, work to solve it, grow from it, learn from it, help someone else through it, don’t quit, perseverance. The fact that I have made a career out of something I enjoy doing, believe in & have a passion for is a blessing. I’m on the sidelines of a football game, a wrestling match, a playoff game or leading a practice. Great place! Great person! My son went there and is now playing college ball on a scholarship. We believe that the hour drive to Mikes place was worth it. Just don’t let him ride dirt bikes….

http://voyageatl.com/interview/meet-mike-klinefelter-sports-training-center-speed-school-cobb-county/

At the inception the college was affiliated to University of Calicut and continued till 2009.With the establishment of Kerala University of Health Sciences ( KUHS), from 2010 onwards all the courses are affiliated with KUHS. All the programmes in our Institution is internally accredited by Indian Nursing Council, New Delhi regularly. The State Nursing Council also periodically inspects the College and grant sanctions to conduct Nursing programmes.

http://wahe.co.in/accreditation-affiliation/

A World of Discovery! Balancing academics and athletics comes naturally to Khadijah Daniels. The Wake Tech graduate was a standout on the basketball court for the Lady Eagles, and is now playing a vital role as a member of the William Peace University Pacers. Khadijah is serious about playing basketball, and even more serious about her studies – as she pursues a bachelor’s degree in biology. “I always enjoyed... Every day is filled with wonder and exploration for young children and the teachers who guide them as they grow and change at such a rapid pace. These early childhood educators play a vital role, helping children develop, learn new skills, and explore interests in a supportive environment. And for the past 35 years, Wake Tech has prepared hundreds of men and women for this important and rewarding... If you’re looking for a growing career field in healthcare, look no further than your local pharmacy. Pharmacy technicians, who work under the supervision of a pharmacist, are in high demand. That’s what brings many students to Wake Tech’s Pharmacy Technology program. Secorria Pettiford is pursuing an Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree and getting hands-on training that’s... There’s no doubt that a mental health crisis is affecting college students. Studies show a steady increase in students seeking mental health services at colleges and universities across the nation. Common concerns such as depression and anxiety are prevalent, and issues such as suicidal thoughts are growing. That’s why Wake Tech offers Wellness Services as a free confidential resource for... When Joseph Burns graduated from Grace Christian Academy in 2013, he thought he was headed to Campbell University to study criminal justice on an ROTC scholarship. But when his scholarship fell through due to an injury, Joseph’s plans completely changed. “My mother really wanted me to go to college, but I didn’t want to take on a student loan,” Joseph explains. So he got what he thought... Title: Assistant Professor, Biology Background: I was born in New York, but moved to NC when I was young. After college, I relocated to Sarasota, FL, where I worked at a marine lab researching manatees for five years. I attended graduate school in Atlanta, where I conducted field research on sifaka, a species of lemur in Madagascar. I lived in the spiny desert forest of Madagascar for six... Title: Digital Communications Manager / Web Master Background: Served with the Town of Garner for 23 years as Assistant Town Engineer, IT Director, then IT Director/Station Director of WTOG Owned and operated a consulting business - PC Knowledge, LLC, where I built websites for small companies and conducted computer training classes. Education: B.S. in Civil Engineering - North... 2018-2019 SGA President: Jose Fabre, Jr. Area(s) of study: Associate in Engineering and Associate in Science. Background: Native of New Jersey. Education/Career Plans: After I graduate from Wake Tech, I’m transferring to NC State University to pursue a degree in Architectural Engineering. Advice for students: Get involved in extracurricular activities. It is proven that universities and employers are more likely to... By Mollie Hodl, Wake Tech Career Specialist Great news on the job front! The unemployment rate in the Triangle is below 4% — which is positive news for college graduates and those seeking new opportunities. As employers continue to expand and new companies establish operations locally, additional jobs will be created. The increased demand for skilled workers means it’s possible that you...

http://waketech.mycareerfocus.org/spring-2019-volume-12-issue-1/

The event, entitled "The Courage Roundup," will be held on August 10, 11 & 12 2018 (Friday – Sunday) in the south end of Halifax. Although the event is sponsored by gay men and lesbians in Alcoholics Anonymous, all recovering alcoholics and addicts, all those who wish to recover, and their friends are welcome. You don't have to know anyone to attend; just show up. If you feel shy, contact the organizers and they'll put you in contact with someone to hang around with until you're comfortable. “Let's Keep It Simple” is this year’s theme, and the weekend includes sessions with guest speakers and workshop discussions of recovery topics in a very relaxed and peaceful setting in south-end Halifax, plus a lot of "fellowship" that is, just sitting around and talking about life and doing it better. This gathering is the only one for the LGBT* community east of Montreal. Things officially start at 6:00 on Friday, August 5th, at the Universalist Unitarian Church at 5500 Inglis St. It's OK to be late, and it's OK to show up on Saturday from 9:00am until about 4:00pm and take in what you can. Registration is $25 which includes lunch on Saturday, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. The organizers have arranged a private supper at a nearby restaurant on Saturday for $14.50. To see the schedule, or to arrange a buddy to attend with, or for other questions, visit the website, http://courageroundup.ca/ email courage449@yahoocom, or call Dale C at |||PHONE_NUMBER||| .

http://wayves.ca/node/334

Dr. Louis Mendelson, 79, of Bloomfield, Connecticut passed away on December 26, 2019. He was the beloved husband of Margie and father of David and Andrew. He also leaves behind his brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, whom he thought of as his brothers and sisters, his loving nieces and nephews, and his many wonderful friends. He was the son of Abraham and Jeanette Mendelson, and pre-deceased by his sister Elaine Levin. Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Louis attended Vanderbilt University and the Medical College of Virginia. He served his pediatric internship and residency at the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. After serving two years in the United States Air Force, he completed his fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at UC San Diego. He began clinical practice in Hartford in 1972. Louis’s life was committed to caring for his patients and teaching his students and colleagues, many of whom regard him as family. His passion for patient care and public health matters led him to the heights of his profession. He was widely considered a national expert on penicillin allergy. In addition to his 47 years as a practicing pediatric allergist, Louis was a dedicated teacher at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Hartford Hospital, and the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, where he was the former Head of the Allergy Division and Co-Director of the Food Allergy Clinic. Toward the end of his career, Louis helped establish the New England Food Allergy Treatment Center. Furthermore, his lifelong efforts to ensure the proper diagnosis and treatment of penicillin allergy culminated in the establishment of AllerQuest, a company formed by a group of experts in the field to fulfill this goal. His skills and accomplishments have been recognized by the Connecticut Allergy Society, where he served as President, and the New England Society of Allergy, where he was President and an original organizer and Governor. Throughout his career, Louis received many awards of which he was proud and grateful. Among the most meaningful to him was the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology’s Distinguished Clinician Award. Funeral services will be held on Monday, December 30, 2019 at 11:00 am at Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford, Connecticut. Following interment at Emanuel Synagogue Cemetery, the family will return to Emanuel Synagogue. Shiva will be observed from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm on Tuesday, December 31st and Wednesday, January 1st at the family home. Of all his interests, few things were dearer to him than the work he did as the first Chairman of the AAAAI Allergy Research Trust, which is dedicated to the support of clinical research and ongoing educational programs for clinicians and patients. Memorial contributions may be made to the Dr. Louis Mendelson ARTrust Lectureship c/o the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology, 555 E. Wells Street, Suite 1100, Milwaukee, WI 53202-3823 or at www.aaaaifoundation.org (Mendelson Lectureship), or a charity of the donor’s choice.

http://weinsteinmortuary.com/obit.cfm?step=2&id=3496

I'm not going to be too literal in chronologies on this site, but I do feel that it's good, early on, to look at Kelly early on—just a bit. Kelly was a cartoonist for his his high school paper. Most all cartoonists have to start out being influenced in style by other cartoonists, and in Kelly's case John Held Jr. was a primary inspiration. Although there are traces of the other popular cartoon styles of the time. Just looking at the samples below I see some similarities to early gag cartoons of Will Eisner, Bob Kane, Milton Caniff and others, all learning their craft from the same comic pages of newspapers and magazines of the time. Directly below, Kelly pays direct homage to John Held Jr. Above, John Held, Jr. The John Held Jr samples above and below are borrowed from ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, which if you haven't been there before, you simply must go and explore sometime. There's some great Kelly stuff there as well. The artist John Held, Jr. is probably most responsible for what has become the stereotypical visual representation of the young men and women of this time period. From around 1915 until the later end of the 1920s, Held was responsible for adorning some of the most influential magazines of the time with his distinctive cartoon art. His caricatures of the flapper girl and her loping, goofy college suitors were not only indicative of the freewheeling nature of America's youth, they were an indictment of all of the foolishness that went along with it! Yet, it was Held's ability to identify the irony within the lives of these youth that ultimately qualified his work as a mature and absolutely relevant cartoonist. In even his most dogmatic of cartoons, Held's humor prevails over his opinions, compelling the observer to laugh along with him. Herein lies Held's true magic. Not unlike F. Scott Fitzgerald (the literary clairvoyant of the times), his brilliance stems from a keen power of observance rather than a preordained or painstakingly learned formula for success.

http://whirledofkelly.blogspot.com/2009/11/believe-it-or-not.html

My favourite thing about when James Wan and Leigh Whannell create a horror film is they rarely, if ever go for a jump scare, it is mostly psychological horror or very atmospheric which is what a horror film should be, making me feel majorly creeped out is a much better achievement than making me jump with a loud noise and flashing something on screen as that is what most horrors have resolved to. It also doesn’t help that an audience member would say that it was a terrifying film because it made them jump, I can walk up behind someone and shout “BOO!” in their ears and guarantee you that they jump, they aren’t going to be too scared to turn around, they would turn around and say “What was that for you cunt?”. The atmosphere of this film is fantastic, it has a thoroughly creepy vibe throughout and I can imagine if you were afraid of dummies or dolls then the creepy factor would sky rocket, however I am not afraid of dolls or dummies yet the film still had me creeped out through most of it. There are some lulls in the film story wise, mainly in the second part where it becomes less of a horror film and more of a mystery/thriller type film, which when executed successfully wouldn’t be a problem, in this film however, it isn’t executed as well as it could have been and it just seemed to grind the film and the story to a halt. The acting was pretty bland, for a horror film to work you usually have to have a charismatic lead either in a “He’s such a nice guy” or “He’s a prick but he’s cool”, something to engage audiences. Ryan Kwanten had no charisma at all and while it isn’t really a problem in most of the scenes involving the dummies, when it is just Kwanten and Wahlberg on screen, it definitely gets tempting to let your mind wander, combine that with bland dialogue and a weak script, especially in the second act just doesn’t hold your focus like it should. The third act is great though, it’s the culmination of a pretty good opening and a bland second act but the third act is a great payoff for an audience for being so patient with the film. The creepiness factor is cranked up, the story suddenly becomes very interesting and the effects really get to shine. Also, I never predicted the twist which is a rarity in films nowadays, especially horror films, not only did I not predict the twist, it surprised me and was pulled off excellently. The score was very reminiscent of ‘The X-Files’ theme, which I am unsure if it was supposed to be an homage or just a coincidence, it did feel a little jarring at first and slightly distracting, however as the film progressed the theme seemed to become more suitable throughout.

http://whoisthemanfromkrypton.com/2014/07/dead-silence-2007/

The 18th International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc and Wireless Networks (WiOpt 2020) will take place from June 15 to 19 , 2020 in Volos, Greece. It welcomes different perspectives, including performance analysis, protocol design, wireless communication, and optimization theory. Contributions to this symposium should improve the state-of-the-art in design, analysis, dimensioning and operations of wireless network by providing insights into theoretical aspects as well as providing practical methods and tools. All forms of wireless networks are of interest: from cellular wide-area and local-area networks to dense and sparse Ad Hoc networks; domain specific vehicular, public-transport and personal-area networks as well as application-specific sensor networks. Tutorial proposal: TBD.

http://wi-opt.org/

We are happy to welcome the new slate of Advisory Council members for 2016-17. Co-chairs Amy Brown and Kara Morin will be leading the efforts of the council. Ted Wilson, Executive Director of Schools for Children, will be acting as Program Administrator and sit as an active member of the council. All members were recommended to the Schools for Children Board of Trustees and have been elected by unanimous vote in late June. They are: Helen Josephine, Tatum Abe, Joshua Gould, Missy Morley, Amanda Rettig and Jessica Mutch. We are delighted to have their active support as we head into an exciting new school year. Welcome!

http://winnbrookcc.org/winn-brook-child-care-advisory-council-2016-17/

It seems the norm that everyone despises their job, and yes, the occasional grumble is to be accepted. But when your job begins to raise your stress to abnormal levels, you could be putting your personal relationships, safety and health at risk.

http://womenofhr.com/tag/health/

If you’re looking for Woodruff Sweitzer, then you’ve come to the right place. However, as you might expect from an entrepreneurial company, we’ve made some changes to better serve our clients and employees. We embrace the same entrepreneurial spirit that established our company a quarter of a century ago, and we have new names for the U.S. and Canadian offices. The U.S. company is now an employee-owned company and has changed its name to Woodruff. The Canadian company has expanded its offerings and is now WS. Our entrepreneurial mindset pushes us to take risks, be bold and challenge the status quo to drive extraordinary outcomes for our clients and employees. Visit our sites for the full story and let us put our entrepreneurial spirit to work for you!

http://woodruffsweitzer.com/

This week's Book Giveaway is The Wind Off the Small Isles, by Mary Stewart. I'm really happy that Hodder Books reprinted this little-known 1968 novella (along with a recently rediscovered short story, "The Lost One"), but I'm not sure I would describe it as a "beloved modern classic". Maybe "long-lost treasure", if they were looking for a superlative? Anyway, a full review will follow shortly.

http://wordcandy.net/2019-06-03-weekly-book-giveaway-the-wind-off-the-small-isles-by-mary-stewart