Femara belongs to the class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors. According to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, Femara is a better treatment for early stages of breast cancer than tamoxifen. Femara does not have the side affects associated with Tamoxifen either. These side effects have included endometrial cancer, and potentially fatal blood clots.
"Five years of treatment with tamoxifen reduces the risk of breast cancer recurrence by 47 percent and the risk of death by 26 percent," according to Dr. Beat Thurlimann and colleagues. "Despite these benefits, about half the women so treated relapse.” Women past menopause now have a better option to treat early-stage breast cancer, with the approval of a Femara, a drug aimed at staving off recurrences.
The study published today found some problems with Femara. The Swiss researchers with teams in the United States and Australia found that women taking Femara were more likely to experience osteoporosis, higher levels of cholesterol and possible heart problems. The team studied 8,010 women.
The FDA decision will allow Novartis to market the drug to post –menopausal women with early hormone-positive breast cancer, or to patients whose cancer depends on estrogen to grow. The treatment begins right after surgery. This is known as early adjuvant setting therapy and is a systemic approach to fighting microscopic metastatic disease after surgical resection of the primary tumor.
The BBC also reported that Nigel Bundred, a professor in surgical oncology at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, said: "These results are fantastic news and give hope to women with breast cancer - especially those at high risk of their cancer recurring.
"They show that Femara is more effective than tamoxifen when given to women after surgery and offers even greater advantages to these particularly vulnerable women."


There's been growing recognition in the region that entrepreneurs, innovation, advanced technology and fresh ideas will be essential to remaking Erie into a vital, forward-facing community.
What better time, then, to restart the Innovation Erie Design Competition as a means to solicit and nurture ideas that could lead to new businesses here? And what better venue for the competition, after a one-year hiatus, than the Idea Lab at Blasco Library?
The competition is centered on people in a variety of disciplines — science, art, manufacturing, engineering, design — entering original ideas for products that could be made in Erie and lead to the creation of new businesses. Participants will receive support from regional and national product development experts at a design lab later in February and early March.
It will be held at Blasco's Idea Lab, which opened in the fall of 2017 as a catalyst for the sort of brainstorming and innovation the contest aims to foster.
As reporter Matthew Rink detailed on Wednesday, the competition was launched in 2008 by Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Penn State Behrend, Civitas and the Erie Art Museum. Previous editions drew as many as 35 submissions in a single year.
The competition was adopted in 2018 by the Idea Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to providing resources and services to entrepreneurs trying to turn ideas into viable businesses. The Idea Fund suspended the competition for a year as it retooled it and planned its move to the Idea Lab.
That will be the site of the Innovation Erie Product Design Lab on Feb. 23 and continuing on March 2. Topics will include product design, 3D printing, engineering for cost, local resources, and patents, according to Erin Wincek, executive director of the Erie County Public Library.
That will set the stage for the contest entry period, which opens March 4 and closes on March 22. Applications will be accepted at www.ideafunderie.org.
The coming together of the Idea Fund and its mission, the Idea Lab and its resources, and the next wave of Erie entrepreneurs is a reflection of the synergies and collaboration that have been forming in the region to help unleash creative energy and turn it into economic development. A variety of people and groups have been rejecting Erie's deep-seated tendency to pine for the past in favor of creating anew and looking ahead.
The Innovation Erie contestants will be competing for a prize package intended to start turning the winning idea into action. Four finalists will vie for a $10,000 prize package that includes $3,000 in cash plus assistance with product development and manufacturing.
Some of Erie's biggest past success stories sprang from entrepreneurial roots. That spirit is again on the move.


The Public Investment Corp (PIC), which manages almost R2 trillion of assets, voted against a record-breaking nine resolutions at the first ever AGM of Steinhoff Africa Retail (Star) in mid-March.
Star, which is the African retail arm of Steinhoff International and is in the process of being renamed Pepkor, accounted for 14% of the PIC’s "no" votes at AGMs in the three months to March 2018.
The publication of the PIC’s voting record for the first quarter — within a few months of the reporting period instead of several months to a year later — marks a welcome return to the early days of the PIC’s shareholder activism.
In 2008 the PIC was the first institutional investor to disclose how it voted at shareholder meetings. As the largest asset manager in SA, it was able to compel other institutions to follow suit. Sanlam is now the only large institution that refuses to disclose its voting.
In total, the PIC declined to support 64 of the 539 resolutions it voted on during the three months.
In what was likely to have been prompted by general anger and concern about the greater Steinhoff scandal, the PIC voted against the re-election of four Star directors and the appointment of a fifth. It also voted against placing shares under the control of directors and against endorsing the remuneration policy and remuneration implementation report.
The PIC holds only 0.21% of Star, but it has a hefty indirect exposure through its R9bn investment in Lancaster, the BEE consortium controlled by Star chair Jayendra Naidoo.
In its September 2017 prelisting statement, Star referred to the placement of R6.2bn of shares with Lancaster, giving it an 8.83% stake in the soon-to-be-listed retailer.
A year earlier Lancaster had bought 60m Steinhoff shares at R75.98 apiece.
At the AGM the PIC voted against the re-election of Danie van der Merwe and Steve Müller to the board, and the appointment of Louis du Preez. It also voted against the re-election of Allen Swiegers, Johann Cilliers and Müller to the audit committee. In each case it questioned the independence of the director.
Director independence is one of three major issues likely to earn a "no" vote; the other two are auditor independence and an inadequate remuneration policy. In many cases — Reunert, Coronation, Oceana, Tiger Brands and Transaction Capital — the PIC voted against resolutions relating to one or more of these issues for the second successive year.
The PIC did not respond to requests for comment on what further action it could or would take to effect the desired change.
The bad news for institutional investors such as Sanlam that are struggling with current disclosure practices is that things look set to become even more challenging.
Fiona Reynolds, CEO of the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, says the organisation now wants investors to publicly declare how they intend to vote at upcoming meetings.


SPARKLE Computer Co., Ltd., the professional VGA card manufacturer and supplier, today announced the SPARKLE GeForce GTX 460 series Graphics Cards, which includes the SPARKLE GeForce GTX 460 768MB Graphics Card, the SPARKLE GeForce GTX 460 1GB OC Graphics Card and the SPARKLE GeForce GTX 460 2GB Graphics Card.
As a deadly weapon of Fermi Family, SPARKLE GeForce GTX460 series graphics cards provide the best performance price ratio, being the the world's best $200 graphics card, it brings a new level of DirectX 11 performance to mainstream PC enthusiasts and gamers around the world.
For Mainstream Market The SPARKLE GeForce GTX 460 series Graphics Cards from SPARKLE deliver all the benefits of the advanced 40nm process from TSMC, a high speed GDDR5 memory interface, and full DirectX 11 support, possessing considerable power improvements compared to its predecessor. They use the GTX460 cores with 336 stream processors and 192-bit / 256-bit memory interfaces with 768MB/1024MB/2048MB GDDR5 memory.
The SPARKLE GeForce GTX 460 series Graphics Cards are designed from the ground up to deliver potent gaming performance, delivering up to 8x faster geometry tessellation, than the closest competitive product. The SPARKLE GeForce GTX 460 series Graphics Card feature dedicated tessellation engines, resulting in outstanding performance at a new price point for GeForce GTX 460 GPUs.


Fledgling vintage shop owner Lily Allen recently unveiled the first sketches of an 18-piece, vintage line of dresses she's created under the line Lucy in Disguise for pre-fall.
The pop singer has taken this latest step in the fashion and retail world, along with her sister, Sarah Owen, a year after the two opened the vintage shop Lucy in Disguise in London. Lucy in Disguise also serves as the fictional muse for the new collection, a woman Allen described to WWD as “a time-traveling fashionista who’s inviting you to explore her wardrobe ... It’s a great opportunity to play with the character."
WWD reports that the line encompasses pieces like a Forties-inspired tea dress, a sequined maxi and a flapper-style cocktail number for evening. Retailing between $175-$630, the collection will be exclusive to Shopbop.com in the U.S., which is good news for residences stateside who are fans of the British Allen and her aesthetic.


Lou Kerner of Wedbush Securities, who covers the social Web space, is fond of referring to Facebook as the second Internet. He calls it this, of course, because so much of what one can do on the open Web one can also do on Facebook, including email, chat, search, e-commerce and dozens of other activities.
I think there are at least a couple of parallel "Internets" emerging: one, as Lou contends, controlled by Facebook, and the other by Apple. It could also be argued that the real, original Internet is increasingly controlled by Google.
The value of the original Internet is that it is largely free, fair and democratic. It's also an awful mess on many days, open to gaming, predatory behaviors and downright criminal activity. While the Facebook "Internet" has fewer of these downsides, it is by no means completely free of the plagues of the open Internet, and it certainly isn't as fair or democratic.
Apple, however, has managed to create a pretty pristine environment without the ugliness that you get with free, fair and open. That pristine state, of course, comes at a price (not free, not fair, not open). But on those days when you're dealing with spam, gamed search results or any number of indignities, the highly controlled Apple environment can seem like a true oasis.
Meanwhile, Apple's iCloud is on the horizon, threatening to shake things up in the way only Apple can.
It used to be Google was the main way most of us would search for and find what we were looking for on the Web. Today, depending upon which "Internet" you're on, you can use one of any number of features, functions, or apps to drive search activity.
On my iPhone alone, I have search-like apps including Yelp, Google Maps, Alfred (a cool digital personal assistant app with Siri-like qualities), OpenTable, Fandango and IMDb, among others. I have airline apps, banking and credit card apps, and, of course, a huge range of entertainment-related apps.
And my social apps, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Blockboard, Meebo, rrripple, TweetDeck, Sports+, and Forecast, each have their own search qualities built into them.
All of which is to say things are getting increasingly complex for those of us looking to get found when people may be trying to find us online.
As search result pages in the free, fair and open Internet increasingly include lots of fancy stuff up top that push organic results either below the fold or off page one, and as content farms, gamers, schemers and others work to ruin the party for everyone else, one has to wonder if efforts like legitimate search engine optimization really make much of difference these days. Still, the majority of a site's traffic will likely come from Google, so we remain vigilant.
Still, with the proliferation of all these other forms of search and discovery in play, it's increasingly important to make sure that marketing teams understand where many of these apps are getting their information (by scraping a third-party source, for instance, or via an API). Once you know what the sources of information are for any given app, it's critical that you optimize those sources. Luckily, many of these apps are drawing from the same small collection of sources, so it need not be too onerous.
While there is really only one, true Internet, the fast-growing parallel universes controlled by Facebook and Apple mean we've got to be concerned with optimizing each. The good news is, there is less game-playing, spam and generalized shenanigans in these controlled environments, and they may end up being the more hospitable place to get found down the line.
1 comment about "The Parallel Internets".
Thomas Pick from Webbiquity, September 26, 2011 at 11:10 a.m.


The previous administration a) tortured detainees, making it harder to prosecute dangerous terrorists; b) released bad guys while detaining good guys; and c) neglected to keep comprehensive files on possible terrorists who've been in U.S. custody for several years. As if the fiasco at Gitmo weren't hard enough to clean up.
I'm reminded of something John Cole said the other day: "The moral of this story is not the danger for Obama going forward with his Gitmo decommissioning, the moral is that when venal, shallow, small men are given unfettered power and authority, they do incompetent, stupid, and evil things."


Linden, Sandi (Clay) Titus of Stockton, Steven (Liz) Kamita of Stockton, Stacy (Jim) Lorenzen of Roseville, CA and Karen (James) Cairel of Elk Grove; 6 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren, and many nephews and nieces.
Toshiye was raised in Japan until she returned to the U.S. at age 14. The Teranishi family moved from Stockton to San Francisco where they operated the Azumaya Tofu Company. She married her husband in 1930 and farmed in Linden where they raised their three children until they were sent to Manzanar Internment Camp during the war.
After the war, Toshiye returned to Linden with her family to continue their farming operation.
Toshiye enjoyed watching the Giants, Forty Niners and Kings on TV and taking trips to Reno and Lake Tahoe with her friends to try her luck. She was a member of the Stockton Buddhist Church, JACL, Aichi Shinboku Kai and Tomonkai.
Her friendly smile and gentle demeanor will be missed by all whose lives she touched.


Historic Downtown Woodbury-Right in the middle of Historic Downtown Woodbury. Two Story Commercial property. First floor already has an established Restaurant. Second floor is very spacious with 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths apartment with central heating, front/rear entries. Private parking in the rear of the building. Seller is also a licensed Agent of Century 21 Alliance.
Call today for a chance to make this house your home! Priced to sell, hurry before its gone! Microwave, dishwasher, and electric range included. Being sold AS IS.


JERUSALEM (AFP) - A Palestinian tried to stab a private security guard at an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank on Saturday (Oct 24) and was shot dead, in the latest in a string of such attacks, police said.
"A terrorist, who arrived armed with a knife, tried to stab a security guard at the site. In response, the terrorist was shot by the security force at the scene and killed," a police statement said.
Police said the alleged attacker arrived from the Palestinian side of the Al-Jalama checkpoint between the northern West Bank and Israel.
As at other such checkpoints, private security guards operate alongside troops.
The incident takes to 51 the number of Palestinians killed this month in clashes with police or while carrying out attacks on Israelis. An Israeli Arab has also died.
Eight Israelis have been killed in attacks. One Israeli Jew and one Eritrean were killed after being mistaken for attackers.
Earlier on Saturday, an Israeli told police he had fought off an attempted knife attack near the Old City in annexed east Jerusalem. The alleged assailant fled.
There has been a wave of lone-wolf knife attacks, shootings and car-rammings against Israeli soldiers, police or civilians since Oct1 as tensions have soared over the status of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a site that is sacred to both Muslims and Jews.
Clashes erupted during Jewish religious holidays last month as an increase in visits by Jews to the compound raised fears among Muslims that Israel was planning to change longstanding rules governing the site that allow Jews to visit, but not pray.


RUSH: Bardstown, Kentucky. It’s Chris. Welcome to the program.
CALLER: Rush, thank you so much. I’m a huge fan. I really look up to you. When I’m not traveling… I bought the talk radio app for a dollar on the App Store, so I can listen to you when I travel. I have two kids; I’m reading the Rush Revere book right now. They love the talking horse. I run a small business, manufacturing. We’re booming. We make the X-Deck SafeTec Work Platform. Every guy in the shop listens to your program every day. We love you, Rush, and you have tied this together. You are the voice for all of us. But I wanted to make a comment.
You had mentioned yesterday how there’s a CIA program where they’re able to make the IP addresses look like they’re from other places. It’s really funny how this whole story today that we’ve been talking about all day, how the Washington Post believes this story, that their anonymous sources… And the Washington Post hired John Podesta. Podesta was the head of Hillary’s campaign. And today is the day, the day that the evidence that Seth Rich, the guy from the DNC, the one who had access… There never was a Russian hack. When Seth Rich, it’s proved that he leaked the information to WikiLeaks. All this stuff comes out to kind of keep media hushed and not talk about an actual murder.
RUSH: All right, now, first, it has not been proven that his emails were leaked to WikiLeaks. It’s not been proven that that means the Russians weren’t involved. This really gets in the weeds, and I’m glad you called because I want to use your call as a transition into it. But before we get into it, you mentioned that you use a talk radio app, which is fine and dandy. But you know what I want to do? I want to make you a subscriber to RushLimbaugh.com, a complimentary subscriber. That means you’ll get the newsletter as well.
But in addition, you can then get our app, and you can listen to this program on the app. You can listen to it live, you can listen to it as a podcast, you can watch the Dittocam version of it on our app. It’s simply the Rush Limbaugh app in the App Store, and it’s just another option for you. I’m not trying to talk you out of your system. I just want to give you another option. So don’t hang up here, Chris, so that we can find out what we have to do to comp you as a subscriber to RushLimbaugh.com and the newsletter. And we’ll send you, for your kids, a package of things including a Liberty doll, the talking horse from the Rush Revere series.
Now, here is the overview of this story. A Democrat National Committee staffer was murdered on July 10th last year not very far from his home. A DNC staffer. It is said that he had leaked something like 44,000 emails to WikiLeaks. Law enforcement sources are saying this. “A federal investigator who reviewed an FBI forensic report detailing the contents of DNC staffer Seth Rich’s computer generated within 96 hours after his murder, said Rich made contact with WikiLeaks through Gavin MacFadyen,” who is now room temperature.
He passed away from cancer. But he was an American investigative reporter; Seth Rich ostensibly used him as the go-between to get these 44,000 emails to WikiLeaks. The subject of the emails… Apparently, the story is that Seth Rich was outraged that DNC was rigging the primary for Hillary Clinton. Now, the local Washington police said (paraphrased), “No, no! There’s nothing to any of that. This is just a robbery gone bad.” The problem with that is that his wallet was not stolen nor his phone. So people say, “W-w-wait,” and the investigation so-called after that. No perp has been found.
So if you accept all of this at face value, what you would conclude here is that the FBI (and, thus, Comey) knew about this connection of this Democrat National Committee staffer been murdered and his forwarding of 44,000 emails to WikiLeaks and despite knowing all of that, still pushed the Russian story. Rod Wheeler, who is the family investigator, said… (muttering) Let’s go to the sound bites. We’ve got this guy on sound bites. This story is written weirdly.
WHEELER: The police department nor the FBI has been forthcoming. They haven’t been cooperating at all. I believe that the answer to solving his death lies on that computer, which I believe is either at the police department or either at — at the FBI. I’ve been told both.
MARRACO: — that could link Seth Rich to WikiLeaks?
WHEELER: Absolutely. Yeah. And that’s confirmed.
RUSH: Wheeler is saying that there’s a police source that’s looked him dead in the eye and the FBI looked him dead in the eye and told him. But nobody’s seen it, folks. Nobody has seen the laptop and nobody’s seen the 44,000 emails. It’s just this guy saying so. Now, there’s more, but I’ve got one more sound bite to go. Wheeler continues his answer.
WHEELER: I have a source inside the police department that has looked at me straight in the eye and said, “Rod, we were told to stand down in this case, and I can’t share any information with you.” Now, that’s highly unusual for a murder investigation, especially from a police department. Again, I don’t think it comes from the chief’s office, but I do believe there is a correlation between the mayor’s office and the DNC.
RUSH: All right. So the staffer, Seth Rich, is murdered back on July the 10th, and there was reputedly a computer with 44,000 emails that were transferred via intermediary to WikiLeaks. Nobody’s seen the computer. Nobody’s seen the emails. A family investigator says he’s been told all this, that it exists. So everybody that believes that, you’d have to believe that Comey and the FBI knew it and ignored it for something else. What did they look at as something else?
Well, let’s not forget the official storyline on what happened. The official storyline is that the Russians hacked the DNC and found a way for all the data that they found to get to WikiLeaks. Seth Rich, nothing to do with this; you don’t have any evidence, they’re saying, the Russians did it. How do we know? We don’t know from the FBI because the DNC did not allow the FBI to examine their computer network. Instead, the DNC hired an outfit called CrowdStrike, which is an outfit based in Ukraine, and the guy that runs CrowdStrike hates Vladimir Putin.
It is CrowdStrike which says that they analyzed a DNC computer, and they found fingerprints from two different Russian government intelligence organizations. And from that the FBI has accepted what CrowdStrike found and told them about. CrowdStrike also said that the Russians tried to get in and hack the RNC network but failed. So the FBI has not even been considering the Seth Rich story. They have defaulted to believing the Russian angle and CrowdStrike’s analysis.
They are a private sector forensic computer outfit and network outfit. And the FBI just accepted what they said and then were off and running now with the Russians leaked the data from the DNC to WikiLeaks. This does not involve Podesta. Podesta’s computer data, all those emails is not part of this. Podesta fell victim to his own phishing attack. Well, not his, but a phishing attack on his own computer.
Now, Seth Rich is a fascinating, fascinating angle, because if this actually turns out to be an internal leak from a disgruntled employee who happens to be mad at the way the DNC was rigging the game against Crazy Bernie, because that’s what we learned from that leak. We learned the DNC had rigged the primary against Crazy Bernie. That’s not from Podesta. That’s from the DNC computer.
So now there’s two competing theories as to how WikiLeaks got it, either from Seth Rich, who was murdered. And, by the way, he was murdered two weeks before all of this info shows up on WikiLeaks. So it’s a good, old-fashioned mystery. The FBI has chosen to accept whatever CrowdStrike told them and to leave this Seth Rich story as bohunk and that the only thing worth paying attention to here is the Russian connection.
RUSH: By the way, folks, on this contention that nobody’s seen the evidence on Seth Rich’s computer, this 44,000 emails. WTTG, the Fox 5 Eyeball News affiliate in Washington says that the family investigator — this is Rod Wheeler, says that there is tangible evidence on Rich’s laptop that confirms he was communicating with WikiLeaks prior to his death. Just as there is evidence that he was sending these emails, he was communicating in addition to that.
Now, if this is true, then this does great, great damage to the Russian theory, because there’s still no tangible evidence the Russians were involved in hacking the DNC — do you realize this? By the way, one minor correction. CrowdStrike is a U.S.-based outfit. They’re founded by a Ukrainian who does hate Putin.
The FBI did not conduct its own examination of the DNC computer system or its network. They let CrowdStrike do it. The DNC didn’t want the FBI to do it, so they hired CrowdStrike, and whatever CrowdStrike said, the FBI accepted. And the CrowdStrike are the only people who are saying, yeah, we found some Russian fingerprints in there.


Charley is pretending that the floor is a sheer wall and that he is a mountain climber climbing up it. Adventurous Charley finds himself on a real mountain with his friend Midge stuck up the top.
Charley wants to make a sock puppet but can't find his sock. How strange, it's just disappeared! So Charley becomes a detective and gets on the trail of his missing sock.


CASCADE TOWNSHIP — Testing of private drinking wells near an airport southeast of Grand Rapids has found chemical contaminants after a report identified the airport's extensive use of toxic firefighting foam.
WOOD-TV reports that Gordon Water Systems tested 20 wells at homes near the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Kent County. Many residents requested testing after the news station revealed the airport used the toxic firefighting foam for more than two decades.
The company, which services Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Portage, found perfluorinated chemicals in four wells. The chemicals are often found in the firefighting foam.
The tests didn't find any perfluorinated chemicals above the state's limit for drinking water. But many residents say the results show that widespread testing is needed.
Airport officials say they're investigating the contaminants but have no immediate plans to test neighboring wells.


Signal Hill police said a man tried to kidnap a 16-year-old girl as she walked home from school near 19th Street and Cherry Avenue Tuesday afternoon.
Police only described the man as an Asian male between 20 and 30 years old, driving a gray four-door sedan with paper plates. He pulled alongside the girl at about 1 p.m. near Nelson Academy and asked her for directions, police said.
She continued to walk away, ignoring his request. He then exited the car approached her, grabbing her by the arm, police said.
“The victim immediately reacted and pushed the suspect away from her and fled toward home,” police said in a written statement.
The man drove off south on Cherry Avenue.
The department is asking the public’s help in locating the man. To report information, call Sgt. Russ Hefte at 562-989-7214.


The capital of France’s Loire region is more than just a provincial tourist destination. An hour’s drive from Brittany, Nantes is a lively city that has grown from medieval roots into a buzzing place to be.
With more than 100,000 trees, hundreds of parks and almost three hectares of flower beds, Nantes is remarkably green. From the Parc de Procé — at just over 27 acres, a good space for runners — to the Jardin des Plantes, a botanical garden that includes a 200-year-old magnolia, the city is not short on natural beauty.
Nantes is also committed to sustainability: it was named European Green Capital in 2013 for a climate plan that included three eco-districts to balance affordable housing with green space. It also aims to halve CO2 emissions per capita by 2030.
The medieval Bouffay district in the centre of Nantes is largely pedestrianised, allowing for a relaxed walk. If you don’t fancy walking, public transport is never far away. In 1985, Nantes became the first French city to build a modern tramway, and now 95 per cent of inhabitants live within 300 metres of a public transport link.
It is also easy to get in and out of the city. It takes around two hours to cover the 342km to Paris on one of 18 daily TGV high-speed train services.
While Nantes is popular — L’Express magazine lists it as the top city to work in France — it is a considerably cheaper alternative to the capital, Paris, and other big cities such as Lyon and Bordeaux. In 2017, apartment values in Nantes averaged €2,713 per square metre, compared with €8,823 in Paris, according to data provider Statista.
The Île de Nantes — an island in the river Loire, which runs through the centre of the city — is home to a spectacular giant mechanical elephant. Inspired by the work of Nantes-born 19th-century novelist Jules Verne, this water-spouting Nellie is part of the Machines de l’Île collection of mechanical creations, which was launched in 2007.
Other cultural highlights include the riverside Musée d’arts de Nantes, which reopened in 2017 following a €48.8m refurbishment of the 19th-century space. The revitalised museum features art spanning nine centuries. Meanwhile, Le lieu unique, a national centre for contemporary art, also hosts theatre, cinema and music.
Thanks to its Loire valley location, Nantes is surrounded by vineyards known for their white Muscadet wine. In a nod to Nantes’ proximity to the Atlantic coast, the wine is considered a perfect accompaniment to shellfish. La Cave en Voyage is a wine truck specialising in organic wine that will deliver to your door.


In this Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018, photo, a North Korean military guide leads a tour of the USS Pueblo in Pyongyang, North Korea.
"This remains an important issue for many Pueblo residents and Coloradans, including surviving veterans."
COLORADO POLITICS — U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton is hoping President Donald Trump will request the return of the captured U.S. Navy vessel USS Pueblo during his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“We will never forget the horrors that its crew endured at the hands of their captors,” Tipton, a Republican, said in a Wednesday press release, referring to the spy ship that was captured off the North Korean coast on Jan. 23, 1968.
Also this week, Tipton introduced House Resolution 894, which calls for the ship’s return. Colorado state lawmakers previously have passed resolutions demanding the same.
The U.S. maintained the ship was in international waters when captured until 11 months later, when it reached an agreement that allowed the ship’s 82 surviving service members to be released under conditions that included admitting it encroached on North Korean territory.


Demi Lovato debuted a brand new hair cut right in time for spring.
Lovato's hairstyle, Amber Maynard Bolt, revealed there's a special meaning behind the dramatic cut. "Demi has been feeling great and wanted something to represent that!" she explained via Refinery 29. "She's been wearing extensions and growing her hair out for a while so this was a nice change up while keeping her classic and beautiful!"
It's a nice change for the pop star, who's been through so much in the last year. Since leaving rehab in October, she's been focused on staying healthy after overdosing last summer. Not only has Lovato celebrate six months of sobriety, but she's embraced the "mistakes" she's made, admitting she needed to make them in order to grow.


MANILA, December 24, 2004 (STAR) By Donnabelle Gatdula - The country’s three major oil companies along with several small oil players are cutting pump prices by an average of 30 centavos per liter.
Pilipinas Shell and Petron Corp., two of the country’s major oil players, announced yesterday a reduction of 30 centavos per liter in gasoline prices effective this Christmas eve.
Caltex Philippines Inc. and small oil players Total Philippines Inc., Eastern Petroleum Corp., Seaoil Philippines Inc. and Uni-oil Philippines Inc. cut pump prices last night.
Flying V, owned by the Villavicencio family, implemented a higher reduction of 35 centavos per liter earlier on Dec. 23. Flying V operates 114 gasoline stations nationwide.
The reduction came following the call made by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Consumer and Oil Price Watch (COPW) urging the oil firms to cut pump prices in line with falling world crude prices.
Energy Secretary Vince Perez called on the oil firms last Monday to reduce the prices of petroleum products due to the softening of world oil prices after hitting record highs in the past months.
Only Subic-based PTT responded to the call and reduced its gasoline price by 50 centavos per liter last week.
Other oil firms opted to reduce the price of their liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by an aggregate of P2 per kilo. They also offered public transport groups a discount of 50 centavos per liter on diesel products.
The latest oil price rollback on gasoline came a few days after COPW chairman Raul Concepcion hit the continued refusal of oil companies to reflect world oil prices, saying it does not foster the right environment under the Oil Deregulation Law.
"I think they are abusing the consumers. Based on our computation, they should have reduced the prices of fuel products," Concepcion said.
Concepcion noted the clamor for the review of the Oil Deregulation Law and the creation of an independent body to conduct the review and recommendation.
Concepcion said oil firms should also be "responsible" enough to explain to the public why they continue to maintain high prices while there is a noted drop in crude prices in the world market.
"It would definitely be reflected in their profits this year. Obviously, they would record higher earnings in 2004 compared to 2003," Concepcion said.
Concepcion expressed his belief that most of the oil firms are just holding back, waiting for the implementation of the import tariff increase starting next year.
"So whatever rollback they will make will become academic (with the imposition of the new tariff rate on petroleum products)," he said.
Higher oil prices will prevail next year with the imposition of the five percent import duty on imported crude and all refined petroleum products except liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by Jan. 1, 2005.
The DOE gave the go signal for oil firms to pass on to their customers additional costs incurred due to the increase in the import tariff to five percent from the present three percent.
Based on DOE estimates, the national government would raise additional revenues of P5.58 billion a year from the new import duty levels.


LONDON: A mural by elusive British street artist Banksy depicting a child enjoying falling snow that is in fact pollution from a burning bin has been sold for more than 100,000 pounds (US$130,000) to a British art dealer.
From one side, the "Season's Greetings" mural on a concrete block garage in Wales shows a small boy with his tongue out to catch snow that, when viewed from another side, turns out to be ash from an industrial bin.
"I bought it and it cost me a six-figure sum," John Brandler of Brandler Galleries, told Reuters by telephone.
"I am lending it to Port Talbot for a minimum of two or three years. I want to use it as a center for an art hub that would bring in internationally famous artists to Port Talbot."
When asked how he could afford such luxuries, he said: "I am an art dealer. I own several Banksies, I also own (John) Constable, (Thomas) Gainsborough, (Joseph Mallord William) Turner, I've got (urban artist) Pure Evil - I've got all sorts of art."
"My hobby is my business. The last time I went to work was when I was 18," Brandler said.
Previous works include "Mobile Lovers" which shows an embrace between lovers who stare over each other's shoulders at their mobile phones and an abrupt warning near Canary Wharf in London that reads "Sorry! The lifestyle you ordered is currently out of stock."


And to prove it's a world class city, Seattle traffic congestion is in the top 20 in the world.
Congratulations, Seattle and Tacoma drivers. You enjoy two of the top 16 most congested commutes in America. That's the result of the annual Global Traffic Scorecard from Kirkland-based INRIX.
Seattle drivers paid $1,853 each in 2017 for that privilege of being stuck in the city's traffic congestion while Tacoma drivers spent $1,485. And since housing prices have forced many people who work in Seattle to live in Pierce County, they are likely getting dinged twice.
Congestion cost Seattle over $5 billion in 2017, according to INRIX. Tacoma lost $2.4 billion.
Seattle also made an international mark, finishing with the 20th worst congestion among major cities around the world -- right between the Russian cities of Krasnodar and Saint Petersburg.
Portland finished 12th in the U.S. with 50 hours lost to congestion and $1,648 per driver.
Los Angeles finished No. 1 not only in the nation but the world. INRIX said the average La La Land driver spent $2,828 in 2017 to spend 102 hours in congestion. It cost the city over $19 billion.
New York City (91 hours, $2,982 per driver) finished second in the U.S., followed by San Francisco (79 hours, $2,250), Atlanta (70 hours, $2,212) and Miami (64 hours, $2,072).


Joy'siah Austin, 3, of Elizabeth City, sits for a free eye exam by Edenton Lions Club member John Guard at Knobbs Creek Recreation Center, Monday. The Lions were participating with the Albemarle Alliance For Children and Families to provide the screenings. Guard is using a device called a spot vision screener, which he said costs around $6900, to tests children's eyes. The device features a small window with blinking red and blue lights that a person being examined stares at while the lights are turned out. While not meant as a substitute for an eye examination by an ophthalmologist, the device can tell the screener if a person has certain vision problems, such as myopia.


The Weather Channel is getting action-packed to advertise its Groundhog Day coverage. The cinematic legacy of the holiday known as Groundhog Day is wrapped up almost entirely in one film: the 1993 Bill Murray classic called, yes, Groundhog Day. The film was directed by Harold Ramis and starred Murray as a local TV weatherman Phil Connors, doomed to relive Groundhog Day over and over again in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Groundhog Day was a sizable hit at the time, but has only grown in esteem in the years since, to everyone from critics to Bill Murray acolytes to dorm-room philosophers.
In the years since, of course, no one has attempted another film centered around Groundhog Dog, despite always-false rumors of an impending sequel. But with the actual Groundhog Day approaching this Friday, another arm of the weather industry is giving us a look at what a Groundhog Day action movie might look like.
We Love Weather, a Twitter account associated with the Weather Channel, has released a mock action movie trailer for the Weather Channel’s Groundhog Day coverage on its morning show, AMHQ. The “trailer,” a minute-long clip for a fictitious movie called “Groundhog Day: Prognostication”, features explosions, dramatic music and other action cinema stand-bys. Check it out, below.
The video is humerous, and the Weather Channel deserves credit for finding something cinematic to do with Groundhog Day that doesn’t have anything to do with the 1993 movie. When it comes to Punxutawney Phil, “action hero” isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind - Phil is neither particularly decisive, nor does he move very fast - but that’s of course part of the humor.
Then again, with Groundhog Day celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, there are going to plenty of chances to commemorate the film throughout 2018. There's already a Groundhog Day Broadway musical, which debuted last year.
Groundhog Day is this Friday. AMHQ’s coverage starts at 4 a.m. on the Weather Channel.


COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Northwestern and Maryland have followed similar paths to this point in the football season.
Where they go from here could well be determined by the result of their first-ever meeting on Saturday.
The Wildcats (2-3, 0-2 Big Ten) and Terrapins (3-2, 1-1) were feeling pretty good about themselves until last week, when each learned how they stack up against the upper echelon of the conference.
Northwestern lost at home to Penn State 31-7 and Maryland was outclassed in a 62-14 rout at Ohio State.
“There’s definitely parallels there,” Terps coach DJ Durkin said.
So now, it’s bounce-back time for two teams at a pivotal juncture of the schedule.
Northwestern went 2-1 against non-conference foes before opening in the Big Ten with a credible showing in a 33-24 loss to Wisconsin on Sept. 30. Then last week happened.
Maryland followed an uplifting win at Minnesota by falling flat at Ohio State.
Fitzgerald follows Maryland closely, and not just because it’s a Big Ten foe.
FISHER OUT: Northwestern linebacker Paddy Fisher will miss the first half after being ejected for targeting last week. The call came when Fisher popped Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley. Fisher led with his helmet, which came in contact with McSorley’s helmet.
Fisher leads the Wildcats with 43 tackles.
QUARTERBACK QUANDRY: Max Bortenschlager will start at quarterback for Maryland if he’s recovered from a helmet-to-helmet hit at Ohio State.
Bortenschlager left the game after the third-quarter play and did not return. Durkin said he would monitor the quarterback’s health and make a decision close to game time.
Bortenschlager is Maryland’s third quarterback this season after Tyrrell Pigrome and Kasim Hill sustained season-ending knee injuries. Caleb Henderson will start if Bortenschlager can’t play.
NO OFFENSE: The Wildcats managed only a fourth-quarter touchdown and had three turnovers last week. “Our offense has to stop shooting itself in the foot,” receiver Flynn Nagel said.
Maryland could muster only 66 yards against Ohio State. “A lot of things happened in that game that culminated in obviously a lackluster performance,” Durkin said.


This set of Flash templates lets you quickly create a simple yet attractive animated Web page. Included are six designs suitable for both corporate and home use. Templates allow you to enter your text, choose your own colors and pictures, set the number of buttons and pages, and use basic HTML formatting for the body text. The program does not hide unused buttons, however. You will have to edit the source pages manually in a text editor and change colors by entering their hexadecimal codes. To the developers' credit, however, the source code is thoroughly commented. EasyTemplates might serve best as training wheels for someone with a decent command of HTML, or at least an interest in learning it.
Creating your own entire Web site is peanuts using Flash templates from EasyTemplates. EasyTemplates offers you the most flexible and easiest way imaginable to create Flash Web sites. You don't need to know Flash or HTML, just enter all your content in a standard text file, replacing the text and colors with your own, and upload the files to your Web server. Version 1.2 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.


Ten months on and despite six arrests, no one has been charged or brought to justice for the murder of Wolverhampton teenager Keelan Wilson.
The family of the 15-year-old have spoken out after Detective Chief Inspector Chris Mallett told an inquest that further arrests could be made in the coming weeks.
He told the hearing at Black Country Coroners Court that work to investigate the 15-year-old’s murder nearly 10 months ago is extensive and remains ‘consistent’ – despite pressure on resources.
Keelan was stabbed to death just yards from his home by an armed group of masked attackers.
He was ambushed while he was tending to a broken-down car at around 11pm on May 29 in Strathfield Walk in the Merry Hill area of Wolverhampton.
Keelan’s mother Kelly Ellitts said: “This inquest update is no different to the last update really. It’s just exactly the same with different wording.
“We were told months ago they would be making those arrests in a couple of weeks and now at the inquest they have said a few weeks again.
"Just every day you have to get through it and go through the motions.
“There’s people out there who acted like animals.
“You can stab somebody and you can do it with the intention to hurt them but not kill them. I think that happens a lot.
“But these boys will stab someone and hurt them, and it gives them a little bit of street credit. With Keelan, it was a pre-meditated attack.
"He was set up. He was outside his home, he was trying to come home. They attacked him, there was numerous of them that did it to him and it was a completely different situation to a lot of these murders.
“We have got a bunch of animals out there on the street, who are walking free. It is not safe for them to be out there.
"I just think Keelan's case should be a priority – the way that he was killed is horrific."
Keelan’s grandmother, Barbara Wilson, said: “I am never giving up, I know justice will be served.
“I cannot comprehend the pain what Keelan’s parents are going through. But as a grandmother I am feeling that pain.
Senior Black Country Coroner Zafar Siddique adjourned Keelan’s inquest hearing to allow police to continue their investigation.
A new hearing date was set for June 24.


After eight years, the Russian River Brewing Company’s much-ballyhooed Pliny the Elder has lost its ranking as the nation’s best commercial beer.
Instead, a beer from Comstock, Michigan, has captured the palates of the American Homebrewers Association, whose members voted in the 15th annual Best Beers in America survey.
Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale edged out Pliny, which came in second. And another Bell beer, Hopslam, took fifth place.
Larry Bell started the brewery in 1985 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
For the survey, members of the AHA, which publishes Zymurgy magazine, were able to vote online for up to 20 of their favorite beers. All of the brews had to be commercial ones sold in the United States.
Here is the top 10; there were two ties, indicated by the letter T.
Stay tuned for more results from the survey.


Which states produce the most celebrities?
Celebrities who have achieved fame and fortune often flock to states like California or New York. What some of us don’t know is that many A-listers were born in obscure places.
While some states produce only a handful of celebrities, people born in certain states seem to be destined for the spotlight. Using data provided by Gracenote, PrettyFamous looked at the number of celebrities per state to see where the most celebrities are from. The raw number of celebrities per state was normalized against the state’s population to determine a per capita figure. This figure represents the number of celebrities from their respective states, per 100,000 people.
These per capita figures were calculated from a subset of our data of 12,589 celebrities who have appeared in at least one television show or movie and have had their place of birth recorded in our database.
Additionally, we have identified which celebrity from each state has the most Twitter followers.
Top Celebrity from Michigan on Twitter: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
This visualization shows the breakdown of celebrities based on each state’s number of celebrities per 100,000 people.
How many celebrities are from your state?


Team New Zealand will have to wait until Friday at the earliest to win the America's Cup.
The New Zealanders won Thursday's first race, but the second was postponed because of high winds.
Dean Barker's crew moved to within one win of lifting the Cup after scoring a 15-second victory in the 11th race.
The day's second race was called off, due to high winds.
Team New Zealand leads 8-1 in the race to nine wins.
Two races are scheduled for Friday.


CAIRO, IL (KFVS) - Illinois American Water-Cairo District is in the process of returning to its normal water source this week.
Construction has been completed at the Cairo Water Treatment Plant to improve the intake structure in Ohio River. This construction resulted in a need to use well groundwater as an alternate source of water supply temporarily.
"This change ensured residents continued to receive reliable water service critical to public health and community fire protection while the construction on the plant's intake system was completed," said Senior Operations Manager Grant Evitts. "We thank the community for their patience and understanding."
The transition is expected to be completed this week.
The Cairo District will also begin flushing fire hydrants and water mains. The work will continue over the next four to six weeks.
Customers may experience a slight drop in water pressure or draw some discolored water temporarily.
If this occurs, it is recommended that customers let their cold water run to clear before using it again and refrain from doing laundry during that time.
Fire hydrants will also be checked and operated to help ensure fire protection in the community.
For more information, customers can call the 24-hour Customer Service Center at (800) 422-2782 or visit www.illinoisamwater.com.


Antibiotics kill pathogenic bacteria. However, they can also kill beneficial bacteria and upset the human body, especially in the gut. Scientists have developed a way to help protect ‘good’ bacteria from antibiotics.
Scientists have discovered that populating the gastrointestinal tracts of mice with a key species of bacteria that produces a specific enzyme, helps protect the good bacteria in the gut from the harmful effects of antibiotics.
The species of bacteria that produces the important enzyme is Bacteroides and the enzyme produced is beta-lactamase.
For the study, the scientists established populations of beta-lactamase producing Bacteroides in some mice, but not in others. They then gave all the mice ceftriaxone, a beta-lactam antibiotic, for three days and then oral doses of pathogenic bacteria.
The results showed that the mice that had been populated with Bacteroides maintained their diverse species of beneficial gut bacteria and remained free of the pathogens. With the control mice, there was a decrease in the beneficial bacteria (due to the antibiotics) and some detection of the pathogens.
The implications of the research are that beta-lactamase enzymes could be given orally as drugs, to protect the gut bacteria from systemic antibiotics.
The research was conducted at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The research has been published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. The paper is titled “Gastrointestinal Colonization With a Cephalosporinase-Producing Bacteroides Species Preserves Colonization Resistance Against Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus and Clostridium difficile in Cephalosporin-Treated Mice”.


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Why does the loss of some lives merit more grieving than the loss of others?
It was a pretty innocuous quote from AFP but it spoke volumes about the disposability of certain lives. "British Prime Minister David Cameron also spoke with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, reiterating 'the UK's strong support for Israel's right to take proportionate action to defend itself from Gaza rockets, while expressing condolences over the Israeli deaths and concern over the 'mounting civilian casualties in Gaza.'"
How did it come about that the loss of some lives merits grieving and that of others mere concern over the magnitude? How come some people have rights to self-defence while others are expected to patiently endure decades of dispossession, ethnic cleansing and humiliation? Why, as Michael Onsando asked on Twitter, "this insistence that the oppressed need to be 'better people' than the oppressors - why?"
This week too, when Kenya's foreign minister, Ambassador Amina Abdallah, was asked about the country's stand on the Israeli bombardment and invasion of Gaza, which has claimed the lives of more than 700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 32 Israelis, the vast majority being soldiers, she seemed to shift uncomfortably in her seat. Then came the spiel about working for a "sustainable peace" and "concern for the children". No discussion of the rationale for the offensive or of the issues that lie at the root of what is euphemistically called "the Israeli-Palestinian conflict": land, dispossession, collective punishment, discrimination, oppression.
But I suppose we should not act too surprised. For Kenya has long practised the same within her borders and, furthermore, much of Abdallah's tenure in office has been spent proselytising for impunity for those in power accused of committing crimes against humanity.
The Kenyan coast and much of the northeast is caught in the grip of a spiral of violence, as a ruthless terror group exploits long-standing grievances surrounding dispossession and discrimination and silencing. Sounds familiar? It is the same thing Hamas is doing in Gaza.
But instead of addressing these issues, the Kenya government has chosen to gloss over them, to resort to simplistic narratives about fighting the war on terror or to opportunistic politicising of incidents, to ignore the report of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission and to only make token efforts at reforming the security forces. It has opted to scapegoat and collectively punish the same Somali and Muslim populations it has traditionally marginalised, oppressed and dispossessed. Again, sound familiar?
That is exactly what the Israeli government is doing today in Gaza. Instead of undoing the occupation that is at the heart of the conflict, the Israeli government, like its Kenyan counterpart, prefers to obfuscate and lie; to pretend it is pursuing the cause of peace while it delivers death to kids playing on a beach just as the Kenyan authorities claim to pursue security by arresting children.
Perhaps the parallels between the two were what occasioned Abdallah's discomfort. There was however, no evidence of such at the African Union (AU), which has voted to grant immunity from even the worst sorts of crimes to sitting heads of state and other senior government officials. After passing a resolution that, in effect, gives carte blanche to local potentates to abuse and murder their wards, the AU had no qualms about condemning Israel's "aggression" against Gaza.
The sad truth is, as Cameron's statement above clearly demonstrates, some lives are deemed to be intrinsically worth more than others, whether we are talking of the Middle East or East Africa. The death of Palestinian children, as regrettable as it may be, pales into insignificance beside the death of an Israeli soldier, just as a Somali life in Kenya is not worth as much as that of a "proper" Kenyan.
And once such determinations are made, then it becomes easier to justify the unjustifiable; to make morally obscene calculations as to how many lives of one sort can be acceptably sacrificed for the protection of another sort. To ask at what point the world will have had enough of Palestinian death and misery, or Kenyans enough of Somali and Muslim oppression.
In this formulations, the victims are seen to be deserving of their victimhood and any resistance, especially that which results in the loss of life of the oppressor, as the real act of aggression. So we almost never hear affirmations of the Palestinian's right to self-defence because their oppression and dispossession is not perceived as act against which they need to defend themselves.
Similarly, when Somalis in Kenya are rounded up en masse, denied their constitutional rights and forced to pay bribes for the release of their children, one hears not much more than a whimper from the Kenyan institutions, media, opposition and human rights community and few calls for high-level accountability.
In both Kenya and the Middle East, sustainable peace will only come when we finally decide to face up to the root causes of the conflicts; when we refuse to be distracted by clever, if disingenuous, media strategies and attempts to shape narratives.
We will not solve problems except by solving them. We must ask questions when "negotiations" and "reforms" are allowed to become a cover for continuing oppression and when war and violence and rights abuses are touted as necessary for peace. And when public officials ask us to distinguish between those whose bodies are grievable and those who only merit concern when they turn up in too great a number.


As a third-grade teacher for D.C. Public Schools, Gary Hamilton wanted to be part of the community beyond his classroom.
Tired of long commutes to Wheatley Education Campus from his home in Beltsville, Md., Hamilton this week is moving into a one-bedroom apartment in the District’s NoMa neighborhood. But that change will come at a cost.
Hamilton, 35, said he will be paying $2,600 per month to rent a 690-square-foot apartment, about $1,000 more than his rent in the Maryland suburbs. Even as a seasoned teacher making a base salary of about $116,000, the prospect of becoming a homeowner in the nation’s capital is daunting — for him and for other employees of the school system.
Hamilton was part of a group of D.C. employees who met Thursday with Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), who as part of her proposed budget for the coming fiscal year is pitching a $20 million fund to create more affordable housing for middle-income workers.
The so-called workforce housing fund would be aimed at helping those making 60 to 120 percent of the area’s median income. That would apply to a family of four whose annual income is between $70,000 and $141,000, city officials say.
The District already invests substantial sums each year in the development of affordable housing for low-income residents. Bowser has proposed investing $130 million next year into a fund for construction of units for people with low incomes, up from $100 million in previous years.
But the mayor has argued that many middle-class workers — including such government employees as teachers, firefighters and social workers — are also being priced out of a city where the cost of living seems to climb inexorably.
The proposal has met opposition from some activists, who say it would divert precious funding from programs that should help the homeless and those on the bottom end of the income scale.
Spending on families making up to $140,000 annually is the “wrong priority” in a city where many residents struggle to stay off the streets, said Ed Lazere, executive director of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
Bowser found a more receptive audience Thursday with a group of about a dozen city workers that gathered over lunch at Busboys and Poets in the U Street Corridor.
D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Lt. David C. Hoagland, who last year bought a house in North Michigan Park through a program that helps D.C. employees purchase their first homes, said city employees face a range of obstacles when looking to buy in the District.
Beyond high housing costs, he said, they are often competing against other buyers willing to pay in cash.
“I have no idea where these people who are moving to the city are getting their money from,” said Hoagland, who is also vice president of the D.C. Firefighters Association.
Beyond spending on affordable housing, Hoagland said, the city should provide assistance to employees with ongoing costs such as mortgage payments or child care.
For the moment, the mayor remains focused on gaining approval for the $20 million workforce housing fund from the D.C. Council, which is reviewing her proposed budget.
After hearings that are underway, the council is expected to finalize a spending plan for the next fiscal year by June.


News reports and politicians lauding US gas exports as “best for Crimea” don’t disclose the US gas companies pushing the line, or their Russian connections.
A small group of pundits and politicians with close ties to the fossil fuel industry are using the crisis in Crimea to demand that the United States promote natural gas exports as a quick fix for the volatile situation. But such a solution, experts say, would cost billions of dollars, require years of development, and would not significantly impact the international price of gas or Russia’s role as a major supplier for the region. Rather, the move would simply increase gas prices for American consumers while enriching companies involved in the liquified natural gas (LNG) trade.
On Capitol Hill, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Representative Fred Upton (R-MI) was among the first to use the crisis in Ukraine to demand that the Department of Energy speed up the approval process for new LNG terminals. “Now is the time to send the signal to our global allies that US natural gas will be an available and viable alternative to their energy needs,” said Upton in a statement. As we’ve reported, Upton’s committee is managed in part by Tom Hassenboehler, a former lobbyist who joined Upton’s staff last year after working for America’s Natural Gas Alliance, the primary trade group pushing to expand natural gas development and LNG exports.
Groups created and funded by Charles Koch, chief executive of Koch Industries, have also demanded that America should respond to the crisis in Crimea with LNG exports. “A serious President would also fast-forward permits on new liquefied natural gas terminals that could ship to Europe,” claims a column posted by Americans for Prosperity, a Koch-run advocacy group. A similar argument is advanced by the Koch-founded Cato Institute.
What’s left undisclosed, however, is the huge financial stake in the debate for Koch Industries. A brochure for the company shows that Koch has deeply expanded its footprint into the natural gas market, and is now actively engaged in shipping, sourcing and marketing LNG, in addition to becoming a leader in developing financial instruments related to natural gas. “To complement existing North American activities from Houston and to optimize their global portfolio, KS&T companies are expanding a Europe-wide natural gas business from Geneva and an LNG trading business from offices in Houston and London,” reads the document. Further, Koch federal lobbying disclosures show that the firm has pushed a bill to expedite LNG exports from America to NATO countries.
What Timmons did not mention is that ExxonMobil is a leading member of his trade association, and that ExxonMobil has extensive ties to Russian gas giants, including partnerships to develop natural gas in the United States and around the world. (For more on the business ties, see Kert Davies and Steve Horn’s recent reporting on the Putin-sanctioned alliance between ExxonMobil and Russian state–owned oil and gas giant Rosneft.) In short, Timmons’s strong signal to Russia would help Russian gas businesses.


ICE is a terrorist organization trying to stop musicians from sounding off against immigration policies, and that's why 21 Savage is now behind bars ... so says U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson.
We got the congressman Monday at Reagan National Airport, and he didn't hold back, claiming ICE was up to no good when it nabbed 21 just days after he released a song critical of the agency.
Johnson says ICE is trying to make an example out of 21 Savage, to scare other musicians into silence.
As we reported ... 21 Savage and his people believe his arrest by ICE may have been motivated by revenge for his song, "A Lot," which includes the lyrics ... "Been through some things so I can't imagine my kids stuck at the border. Flint still need water. People was innocent, couldn't get lawyers."
Johnson, who reps the county where 21 was arrested, has been lobbying ICE to release the rapper on bond.
Bottom line for Hank ... ICE needs to be reigned in.


Is there a bicycle gathering dust in the garage? Is that bicycle just sitting there taking up space? Maybe that bicycle needs a little love after enjoying the corner of the garage for a number of years. What if there was something fun the family could do to be reunited with that bicycle that is out in the open that everyone will enjoy?
The Tired Bike Derby is just the event to get Crook County interested in bicycling outside and being active! This event is brought to you by the Crook County Health Department in partnership with Crook County Parks and Recreation District, Good Bike Co., For the Children, and Central Oregon Youth Development Inc. The Tired Bike Derby will teach bicycle safety, fix minor bike repairs, and give people of all age groups a chance to use their bikes competitively.
The Tired Bike Derby held at the Prineville Bike Park is a three-part event, with a bicycle safety lesson and helmet giveaway, a bicycle repair clinic, and time attack races divided by age group. The event starts with a safety lesson and bike helmet giveaway donated from For the Children. At the bicycle repair clinic you will be able to perform minor repairs on site, while some more intensive repairs may be done for a fee. The time attack races will have time reductions given for tricks performed, and prizes are available for the best times in each age group.
The Tired Bike Derby will be held on April 27, 2019 with the safety lesson kicking off the event at 10 a.m. PST at the Prineville Bike Park.


ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Photoshop World 2018—In a move that signals a significant expansion of the FileShadow Cloud File Assurance Service, FileShadow today announces support for Adobe Creative Cloud Storage. In addition to support for all popular cloud file systems, FileShadow’s file archiving and protection service will support archiving of Adobe Creative Cloud files to the IBM Cloud with IBM Cloud Object Services (COS). The FileShadow Service delivers “11 Nines” of durability for the Creative Cloud Assets, providing the assurance that assets stored on Adobe Creative Cloud are “available for a lifetime,” company executives said.
Pike noted that by using IBM Cloud Object Storage, the FileShadow vault spans three U.S. regions, including the East Coast (Virginia), Central (Texas) and West Coast (California), to eliminate the vulnerability of a single data center and delivers “11 Nines” of durability.
In addition, FileShadow’s file assurance service for Drobo is fully integrated with customers’ cloud storage on Adobe Creative Cloud as well as Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, One Drive and One Drive for Business, providing a single cloud application for access to a consolidated catalog of files from on-site Drobo storage and Adobe Creative Cloud storage.
FileShadow does not replace Drobo, Adobe Creative Cloud storage or other cloud storage vendors. Instead, it assures immediate searchability, availability and protection of the files within all of these sources by archiving each generation of every file. The service creates extensive searchable metadata on each file, its content and location (GPS) as well as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and vision tags for scanned images.
FileShadow Service is available free of charge through September 30, 2018.
With $17.7B in annual cloud revenue, IBM is the global leader in enterprise cloud with a platform designed to meet the evolving needs of business and society. Moving past productivity and cost improvements, the IBM Cloud is tuned for the AI and data demands that are driving true differentiation in today's enterprise. IBM's private, public and hybrid offerings provide the global scale businesses need to support innovation across industries, while its nearly 60 Cloud Data Centers across 19 countries help clients meet their expanding data locality requirements.
FileShadow instantly finds and connects the disparate cloud files for prosumers and small- to medium-sized organizations to protect, catalog and archive them into a secure, reliable and searchable single location. The Cloud Assurance Service provides “11 nines” of durability, meaning files are secured and protected from data loss. FileShadow works with online and offline storage sources, including Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, OneDrive for Business and Adobe Creative Cloud, along with Drobo network attached storage. With FileShadow, users can quickly find any file with advanced search features such as file content, OCR of scanned images, GPS location and image searches. Visit FileShadow.com for more information.
Drobo makes award-winning storage solutions that provide an unprecedented combination of data protection, expandability, and ease of use. Based on the patented and proven BeyondRAIDTM technology, Drobo delivers the best storage experience ever for hundreds of thousands of consumers, professionals, and businesses. For more information, visit www.drobo.com and download the press kit from: www.drobo.com/press-kit.
Drobo, BeyondRAID, and the Drobo logo are trademarks of Drobo, Inc., which may be registered in some jurisdictions. All other trademarks used belong to their respective owners.
Adobe, Creative Cloud are registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
FileShadow today announces support for Adobe Creative Cloud Storage.


Structurally, the movie box office is pointed back to the future, but with a couple of twists.
As we approached mid-July, according to data compiled by Boxofficemojo.com, the domestic box-office take for films released in 2018 was startlingly top-heavy. According to numbers posted Friday—before the current weekend is factored in—the Top Ten films, led by Black Panther, accounted for $3.34 billion, or 58.8 percent, of the $5.68 billion in sales for 362 movies. So 352 films were left to split $2.34 billion, for an average of about $6.6 million each (though a great deal of that went to the Second Ten, leaving crumbs for the rest).
In the year’s second half, of course, performance will even out a bit, as awards contenders and holiday films diminish the lead by first-half blockbusters. But it appears likely that, for the first time in recent memory, the Top Ten films will finish the year with 40 percent or more of the total box-office. Several of the biggest movies, including Jurassic World 2 and Incredibles 2, are still selling tickets. At the same time, several current Top Ten movies have taken in less than $200 million, a situation that will change by year’s end, when fresh blockbusters—Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch? Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse?—will push every movie in the top rank above the $200 million mark, as has happened each year since 2011.
Top-loading of the box-office is a clear trend. For the last three years, at least a third of domestic tickets sales have gone to the first ten movies. In the prior 17 years, the figure was generally closer to 25 percent, and fell as low as 22.2 percent in 2000, according to Boxofficemojo data. In that year, How The Grinch Stole Christmas led the pack with about $260 million, but the top films accounted for only $1.72 billion of the $7.74 billion taken in by 374 releases.
So the big are getting bigger. The middle is shrinking. And almost everybody in the film business knows it. But what’s surprising—at least to me—is that the pattern has precedent.
In the early 1980s, in fact, box-office top-loading was even more extreme than it has yet become today. In 1984, when Beverly Hills Cop was the big hit, the Top Ten films accounted for $1.27 billion of $3.35 billion in sales for the films released that year or 37.9 percent. That’s a bit higher than the recent high of 36.1 percent, achieved in 2015, when Star Wars: The Force Awakens dominated sales.
In 1982, the Top Ten, led by E. T.: The Extraterrestrial, eventually accounted for 43.9 percent, or $1.26 billion, of $2.87 billion in sales for all the year’s releases.
Thus, top-loading isn’t entirely new. But the current trend is marked by two changes that will affect industry decisions for years to come.
First, as veteran film consultant David Gross has pointed out in a survey introducing his new Franchise Entertainment Research company, the gap between performance by franchise films like the Marvel movies and one-offs like American Sniper or Gravity has widened. “Non-franchise B.O. fell in 2017 to its lowest level ever,” Gross wrote.
Second, the total number of releases has grown sharply, even as ticket sales cluster at the top. Boxofficemojo.com tracked 738 films last year, up from 132 back in 1982, when sales were similarly top-heavy.
Through the intervening decades, a steadily growing flow of movies from independent and quasi-independent companies helped to spread sales through the Top Hundred. Now, almost all but the first ten movies will survive through digital and foreign sales, or not at all.


Daniel Ballard is the only new face in Michael O’Neill’s 27-man group.
Michael Duffy and Pat Hoban were on the scoresheet as Dundalk booked their place in the second round of the Europa League qualifiers.
The cars were broken into in the Doolough area of Louisburgh.
Gardaí are now using new laws to tackle sham marriages.
* And that’s even before they were suspended. Dublin meanwhile ranks 31st out of 31 European cities in terms of percentage income spent on charges each year.
If EU house price rises were a music chart, would Ireland make the top 5?
Estonia has the highest number of drug deaths in Europe. But why?
Estonia with a population of just 1.2 million, has 191 per million drug deaths per population.
The Italian’s eventful reign in charge of the Boys in Green is over.
Concerns about jobs at the IFSC are among the reasons that Ireland has not signed up to implementing a levy on financial transactions despite Greece, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Germany and France all doing so.
It seems like a lifetime ago now.. but relive the madness with this collection of images.
Poll: Should Ireland introduce a financial transaction tax?
Finance Minister Michael Noonan has rejected the introduction of a tax on financial market transactions but what do you think of the idea?
The Boys in Green are going home early and there are genuine reasons for Irish football fans to be feeling down, writes Miguel Delaney.
“We came here with the aim and the dream of winning the European Championships. It’s gone completely wrong for us,” said the Aston Villa defender this afternoon.
“We don’t see fear in training or in our preparations for the tournament, I don’t see tensions in the side,” said the Italian after the rout by Spain.
Ireland were up against it when facing the defending champions tonight. But the Ireland manager gave Spain a helping hand, writes Miguel Delaney.
The Italian admitted his side made life easy for one of the best team’s to ever lace up football boots tonight in Gdansk.
“You can hear the fans, they’re an absolute credit to their country and the team,” said the West Brom man after the defeat.
The Irish are the first team eliminated from the tournament after a night to forget in Gdansk.
Giovanni Trapattoni leads his men into a can’t-lose clash with the world and European champions in Gdansk. It might well be epic.
With a mouth-watering Group C game against defending champions Spain hours away, the Irish are painting the city green.
It’s clear Ireland will go with the skipper as a lone striker against Spain, Miguel Delaney writes from Gdynia.
Poll: Should Trap drop Robbie Keane for the Spain game tomorrow?
Should Ireland’s record goalscorer sit this one out in order to stifle the likes of Xavi and Iniesta in midfield?
The message from the Ireland skipper was clear this afternoon ahead of the daunting meeting with world champions Spain in Gdynia: believe.
“Clearly we are not going to change our style one little bit,” the Barcelona man insisted today.
The 73-year-old Italian coach said he has to rebuild some dented Irish confidence before taking on Vicente del Bosque’s Spain.
Ukraine the perfect hosts, England go back to basics and more headers. Miguel Delaney breaks it down.
“This morning, I watched our game with more calmness and came to the conclusion that we played good,” the Ireland boss said today.
All is not lost, Ireland fans. No seriously… it’s not.
Cian O’Callaghan woke up with a thumping headache, a sore jaw and a magical day’s worth of memories.
If you’re going to sit back and invite teams onto you, the most important objective is not to commit the kind of errors that sabotage that, writes Miguel Delaney in Poznan.
“Maybe Shay didn’t see the ball, because he had three or four players in front of him,” Trapattoni said of the early Croatian goal.
The Italian said Ireland will now aim for six points against Spain and Italy over the course of the next week.
Ireland were out-classed by Croatia in their Group C opener in Poland tonight. Here’s how it happened.
Could Giovanni Trapattoni’s men get off to a winning start against Croatia this evening? Let’s find out.
We whiled away the hours before kick-off collecting tweets, following stories and giggling excitedly. Review the day’s action here.


Bea and her own band of Bellas strip Nick's R&B track way down.
The 16-year-old teamed up with CoverGirl for a “Pitch Perfect 2”-inspired a cappella version of the pop-R&B jam, infusing it with her own strong vocals and rock sensibilities.
We know what you’re probably thinking: how in the world could anyone do “Chains” justice without the song’s distinctive heavy beats and R&B flavor? That’s where Bea’s posse of wickedly talented a cappella gals (who could definitely give the Barden Bellas a run for their money) comes in and lets their voices mimic the ominous drops in the original version. At the center of it all is Bea, whose commanding voice has never sounded so gorgeous.
As for what Nick thinks of the cover, we can only assume he’s as awed by it as we are. After all, he and Bea got chummy at Wango Tango last weekend, where we like to imagine he gave his special seal of approval.
Check out the video to see Bea and the girls’ vocal and physical strength in action (literally — they actually pick up and move a bunch of heavy-looking furniture onto a rooftop!).


The interim Budget FY20 was carved to perfection to woo farmers, middle-income group, creating more jobs and providing some relief to the MSME sector. But, what about the investors?
Although there was nothing special for the investor community at large but D-Street is taking comfort in the fact that the fiscal deficit number did not exceed much from the target and the measures announced in the Budget are likely to support earnings of companies in consumption, consumer discretionary, agri-related sectors and to some extent healthcare companies.
The fiscal math assessment is more relevant for FY19 as FY20 numbers will get substantially changed with the formation of the new government after the 2019 General Elections. Benchmark indices are likely to move sideways, so investors are better off placing bets on select sectors which are likely to get benefit from the Interim Budget, suggest experts.
“Budget is reflationary, with 13 percent spending growth on the back of 14 percent growth in FY19. The budget is clearly geared toward electoral expediency with a significant focus on uplifting the farm and housing sectors, job creation, and alleviating the distress in the MSME sector,” Emkay Global said in a report.
“The reflationary stance of the Budget could provide a boost to corporate earnings, especially in consumption, agri-rural sector, retail lending, and housing, there can be implications for inflation and interest rates as well,” it said.
Emkay Global has maintained its Nifty target range of 11,000-10,400 but continues to remain cautious on mid & smallcap stocks. It is 'overweight' on IT services, pharmaceuticals, BFSI (primarily private banks), and specialty chemicals; 'equalweight' on auto & auto ancillaries, consumers, oil & gas, metals & mining, and fertilizers & agro-chemicals; and 'underweight' on capital goods, construction & infra, cement and telecom.
The global investment bank, UBS maintained its Nifty base case of 10,000 for December 2019, and remained 'selectively overweight' on consumer discretionary and neutral on autos. It remains 'underweight' on industrials/infrastructure sectors.
For autos, the Budget will support entry-level 2-wheelers, especially in rural areas, but will unlikely benefit premium bikes, MCHV and tractors, it said.
Interim Budget FY20 has some positives for both developers as well as homeowners. The Budget has given developers more leeway to monetise finished inventory and extends tax exemptions to promote affordable housing.
Home buyers/owners with more than one house are not disadvantaged. A committee of ministers has been appointed to examine GST for housing, which currently is high at an effective rate of 12 percent. Morgan Stanley remains constructive on the industry with a preference for mid-cap stocks such as Oberoi Realty, Sobha and Prestige with all three OW-rated.
The government has extended the exemption from tax levy on notional rent for unsold ready inventory by one yearn to two years (after the end of the year in which the project is completed).
Assuming a 1.5-2 percent rental yield, this can result in a 60-70bp (as a % of sale value) of tax savings. In terms of stocks, DLF and Oberoi have high complete/near complete inventory and could benefit the most.
The change in the import duty for electric vehicles component is a big boost and positive step especially when we are looking to revolutionize the Auto industry by 2030.
This will certainly give some relief to electric vehicle (EV) players and especially well-established players like Hero MotoCorp and M&M in two-wheeler segment.
For FY20, the total capital and development expenditure (including IEBR) of Railways has been pegged at Rs 1.6 trillion against Rs 1.4 trillion and increase of 14.3 percent on a YoY basis which should aid order pipelines for companies like PNC Infra and L&T.
Allocation to Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana has been increased to Rs 19000 crore against Rs 15,500 crore on a YoY basis. The overall allocation to roads is Rs 1.7 trillion compared to Rs 1.5 trillion on a YoY basis which is an increase of 13.7 percent YoY which will give strong visibility to road sector ordering and be positive for companies like KNR Construction, Ashoka Buildcon, Sadbhav Engineering, PNC Infra, and Dilip Buildcon.
Tax reforms for middle-class taxpayers. Full rebate on taxable income up to Rs 5 lakh annually will benefit 40 percent of tax payer base (i.e.30 million taxpayers). The brokerage firm expects it to drive higher urban discretionary spend which should benefit companies like Havells India, Jubilant FoodWorks, Symphony, and TTK Prestige.
PM Ujjwala Yojana has been extended to 8 crore households compared to 5 crore households earlier. The govt has already provided new LPG connections to 5.9 crore households and aims at attaining the 8 crore household guidance in FY20. The move should support companies like TTK Prestige, Hawkins Cookers, and V-Guard.
Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana budget allocation is at Rs 16000 crore compared to Rs 18300 crore for FY19RE. States are running behind their target of constructing 1 crore households in rural areas by the end of FY19.
The brokerage firm expects an acceleration prior to the general elections which should support companies like Havells India, Crompton Consumer, and V-Guard.
Also, PM Saubhagya Yojana program aims at attaining 100 percent electrification by end of FY19. As many as 1.7 crore (40mn in FY14) households still don’t have an electricity connection will be positive for companies in cables, fan, and lightening.


As we announced a couple of days ago, we’ll be joining in with a live Treasure Hunt for Vodafone’s ‘Live Guy’ next week and getting in on all the Live Guy action (and hopefully win a Dell Inspiron mini 9 netbook) while he makes his way across the country as stealthily as possible. So what’s his mission all about? As of Monday 17th December, Live Guy will be entering 11 cities with his little netbook, posting clues as to his whereabouts live online using Twitter, Facebook, Google Picasa, YouTube and his blog. Dedicated contenders can track him down in the city he’s in saying the code words “You’re Live Guy and I’m a Vodafone winner”. Online users can guess his location by placing a tag on a map (pin the tail on the donkey style) on the Live Guy website. He begins in Edinburgh and ends up in London on the 29th November.
Susi managed to track him down for a quick low-down before embarking on his journey and he tells her all about his itinerant adventure.
Check out www.findliveguy.com to find out more and get ready to play.


CHANDIGARH: A host of international exhibitors, including people from Australia, Germany, China, Japan, Israel and Canada, will take part in an agro technology fair that gets under way here from November 30.
At least 50 global participants will display their wares at Agro Tech 2002 that has been organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The main attractions at the event, on till December 3, will be five expositions -- a poultry expo, a diary expo, a farm expo, an agri-tech expo and food expo.
Netherlands is reportedly the partner country and Uttaranchal the partner state.
The international exhibitors will display agri products as well as services in the areas of food and beverages, diary, biotechnology, freezers, cutting machines, corporate advisory services and post-harvest systems.
Three leading Dutch companies and nine French firms will display their wares. Other countries participating in Agro Tech include Belgium, Poland and Italy.


Co-pilot lands plane! Oh my!
Willie Wilson supporters lash out, but should they?
Will the Lucas Museum be allowed to "park" in the park?


NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) reported earnings on Feb. 6. Here are the numbers you need to know.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), NetEase beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.
Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue increased and GAAP earnings per share increased.
Gross margins grew, operating margins shrank, net margins expanded.
NetEase booked revenue of $364.5 million. The 10 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected a top line of $350.2 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 9.4% higher than the prior-year quarter's $333.0 million.
EPS came in at $1.23. The nine earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $1.09 per share. GAAP EPS of $1.23 for Q4 were 15% higher than the prior-year quarter's $1.07 per share.
For the quarter, gross margin was 70.8%, 160 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 45.3%, 110 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 44.4%, 160 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $338.9 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $1.17.
Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.51 billion. The average EPS estimate is $4.81.
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,119 members out of 1,158 rating the stock outperform, and 39 members rating it underperform. Among 303 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 295 give NetEase a green thumbs-up, and eight give it a red thumbs-down.
Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on NetEase is outperform, with an average price target of $60.63.
Internet software and services are being consumed in radically different ways, on new and increasingly mobile devices. Is NetEase on the right side of the revolution? Check out the changing landscape and meet the company that Motley Fool analysts expect to lead "The Next Trillion-dollar Revolution." Click here for instant access to this free report.
Add NetEase to My Watchlist.


EDITOR’S NOTE – The Barley MacTavish Fund accepts letters from Midland County residents about themselves or other people, explaining why they need help and what they have tried to do about their problems. Write to Barley, care of the Midland Area Community Foundation, 76 Ashman Circle, Midland, MI 48640 or call (989) 839-9661. Be sure to include a daytime telephone number.
I have contacted a number of churches to aid me, but they cannot for a number of reasons. My neighbor suggested I contact you. I am a single woman and am disabled and I live on a fixed income. All of my family members have passed, so I do not have any relatives to count on.
My biggest concern is with my well pump. The bladder tank went bad causing the pump to keep running. I was told that a leaky toilet and the hot water heater contributed to this problem. I have included an estimate from a local repair service to fix it.
I realize that this is a problem I cannot ignore. But I just do not have that amount of money to deal with it. I live on a tight budget already. I would be so grateful if you could help me this one time. Thank you for all your support you provide to people in our community.
Plumbing issues are no laughing matter! Good for you to seek help. I will send a check on your behalf to your repair service provider. You faced a challenge and contacted a number of other agencies in town. You sound like a proactive person. Best wishes!


August. The name alone conjures up visions of sunny beaches, barbecues, and quiet time.
“I see August as a great opportunity to ask what is going to come in the fall, get preliminary information, and, in general, make use of the relaxed, lazy days to sow the seeds that will be harvested with more serious conversations in the fall."
Here are five ways entrepreneurs can use this month to build their businesses.
Launches don’t necessarily take place in January. September is often considered the unofficial "second" New Year, with roll-outs of new products and services. It often works well, as there is less competition for attention.
It’s not always about product or service roll-outs. Speaking engagements are now major priorities for entrepreneurs, allowing them opportunities to showcase their expertise and knowledge to potential new clients.
Arzu Tekir, co-founder and head of strategy and business development at URBANARBA Smart City Marketing and Communications, is using August to organize a series of workshops and seminars on smart cities to take place in Miami in September. Additionally, Tekir is curating a panel, “How to Tell a Smart City Story: Building Ecosystems, Engaging Citizens, Using New Media,” set for October 24th at the Smart Cities Connect Conference in Tampa.
They will be able to relax even more knowing they are laying the groundwork for a successful and active fall season.
Jennefer Witter is the CEO/Founder of The Boreland Group Inc., a public relations agency that focuses on corporate and executive visibility. She is the author of "The Little Book of Big PR: 100+ Quick Tips to Grow Your Small Business" (HarperCollins). Witter is also an in-demand speaker, with appearances at venues such as The Pentagon, The Pennsylvania’s Conference for Women, Vital Voices Global Ambassadors program, the 92Y, and The Brookings Institution. You can follow her on Twitter at @JenneferTBG. Jennefer’s August goal is to get cracking on her website’s update.


Former Blackpool loanee Sean Longstaff has signed a new four-year deal with Newcastle United.
The midfielder spent last season on loan with the Seasiders, scoring nine times in 45 appearances under the management of Gary Bowyer.
The 21-year-old, who is a product of Newcastle's academy, has put pen to paper on a new deal which will keep him at St James' Park until 2022.
Longstaff said: “I’m a local lad, I’m from Newcastle and they’re the team I supported growing up.
"The fact they’ve seen enough in me – and the manager has seen enough in me – to give me a new deal is great.
Longstaff, who had previously spent time out on loan with Kilmarnock, made his competitive debut for Newcastle earlier this season in the Carabao Cup second round tie at Nottingham Forest.
He has also been named on the bench four times in the Premier League by manager Rafa Benítez this campaign.
Benitez added: “I’m really pleased with the extension because we have seen from the first training session that Sean is a young lad with great potential.


With Christmas just around the corner, it occurred to me that I might tell you about some classical Christmas music. But then I thought “No. Why should I?” To be perfectly honest, I find the Christmas thing a bit of a bore and I’m jolly glad when the whole tiresome business is over. So instead, I’ll tell you about two interesting Japanese works that I discovered recently. And incidentally, it’s a fortunate coincidence that 23rd December just happens to be the birthday of the Japanese emperor.
Since the latter half of the nineteenth century, Japanese composers have tended to look towards Western musical culture as well as drawing on elements from Japanese traditional music. Kômei Abe was one of the leading Japanese composers of the twentieth century and his First Symphony of 1957 is a good introduction to Japanese classical-music-in-the-Western-style, although it’s a curious mix of musical idioms.
The prolific Toshiro Mayuzumi composed more than a hundred film scores and if you’d like an entertaining musical experience, seek out his Concertino for Xylophone and Orchestra which I believe is still available on YouTube. Kunihico Hashimoto was another leading Japanese composer whose music reflects elements of late romanticism and impressionism, as well as of the traditional music of Japan.
Oh yes, and I mustn’t forget Toru Takemitsu, perhaps the most revered of the whole lot. He composed hundreds of works that combined elements of Eastern and Western philosophy to create his own unique sound landscape. More than anyone, Takemitsu put Japanese music on the map.
Yûzô Toyama is a native of Tokyo who studied with Kan-ichi Shimofusa, a pupil of the German composer Paul Hindemith. The Rhapsody for Orchestra is probably the composer’s best-known work. He is also known as a conductor and for years held the post of chief conductor with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. In case you are wondering, NHK stands for Nippon Hôsô Kyôkai – the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. In 1960 Toyama conducted the orchestra on a world tour which included several of his most popular works.
As a composer, his most important musical influences were probably Béla Bartók and Dmitri Shostakovich. He is fond of incorporating Japanese traditional music into his work, drawing on folksongs and the classical Japanese dance-dramas of Kabuki theatre. Toyama has written well over two hundred compositions and has received numerous awards in Japan for his contributions to the nation’s musical life.
The Rhapsody for Orchestra dates from 1960 and is based on Japanese folk songs in which traditional instruments, including the kyoshigi (paired percussive wooden sticks) are blended into a conventional Western orchestra. You’ll notice distinctive Mikado-like moments from time to time. The work starts with thunderous percussion so keep your fingers on the volume control.
This is a splendid performance and the Polish musicians seem to enjoy playing the work. With excellent sound and video, it looks superb in full screen mode provided that your download speed and processor are fast enough.
Yoshimatsu is also from Tokyo and like his compatriot Toru Takemitsu, didn’t receive formal musical training until adulthood. He left the faculty of technology of Keio University in 1972 and became interested in jazz and progressive rock music, particularly through electronic means.
Yoshimatsu first dabbled in serial music but eventually became disenchanted with it and instead began to compose in a free neo-romantic style with strong influences from jazz, rock and Japanese traditional music. He’s already completed six symphonies, twelve concertos, a number of sonatas and shorter pieces for various ensembles. In contrast to his earlier compositions, much of his more recent work uses relatively simple harmonic structures.
This curiously-named work is technically a triple concerto and the ornithological reference reappears in his Symphony No. 6 written in 2014, subtitled Birds and Angels. Yoshimatsu described this concerto as alluding to “an imaginary bird in the realm of electronic cyberspace.” It’s a concerto for saxophone in all but name and uses a free atonal jazz idiom for the soloists against a conventional symphony orchestra. It was composed in 1993 for Hiromi Hara who performs it on this video. The three movements are entitled Bird in Colours, Bird in Grief, and Bird in the Wind.
There’s some brilliant playing from these talented young musicians with a lovely haunting second movement and a joyous third movement with some fine brass writing and a thunderous ending.