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Buy The Samsung Pro 815 Here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BBF2XI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000BBF2XI&linkCode=as2&tag=youtubeco0b4c-20&linkId=JW4WITKCDX53GLXP Samsung officially announced its first SLR-styled digital camera, the Pro815, an 8 megapixel, 15x zoom model back in June, but it didn't actually arrive until the late autumn. It's targeted at enthusiasts and boasts a lot of 'world firsts' including the largest LCD ...Read More »
DSLR MIRRORLESS CAMERA BEGINNER TUTORIAL Video Rating: / 5Read More »
Beginners Guide To External Flash For Your dSLR, Manual & Automatic
Trust me, if you want to improve your photography, an add-on speedlite / flash / strobe is a wonderful accessory. It can be confusing trying to understand the difference between manual and automatic flashes, so in this video I explain the basics. Thanks, Rob. Video Rating: / 5Read More »
NIKON D750 DSLR CAMERA: Practical Tips for Beginners
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1) Sony NEX-6L/B Compact http://amzn.to/ZmswzW 9 Save 44% 2) Fujifilm FinePix F900EXR http://amzn.to/1tVgab3 5 Save 38% 3) Sony Alpha A3000 http://amzn.to/1i65alf 9 4) Olympus Stylus TG-850 http://amzn.to/1dFNCzo 9 5) Cannon PowerShot SX600 http://amzn.to/1h95U6O 9 6) Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS30 http://amzn.to/1kcuck3 9 7) Fujifilm Finepix F900EXR http://amzn.to/1dFNSyn 3 8) Nikon Coolpix S9500 ...Read More »
Photography Tutorial – FIRST Lesson! What is Aperture ? DSLR Photography Lesson for Beginners
http://photographyequipment.yolasite.com/ (Budget Equipment) https://www.facebook.com/JibranAPhotography (For Extra Help) https://plus.google.com/u/0/117707896463999833994/posts (GooglePlus) https://twitter.com/PhotogsOnUTube Photography Tutorial & Tips – A detailed Photography Tutorial on "Aperture" with picture samples. This lesson is very basic and important for beginners. Important Notes: f/2 = bigger aperture (more light coming in) Perfect for blown up background f/12 = ...Read More »
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Video Rating: / 5Read More »
BEST DSLR Camera for beginners 2015
Nikon D3300: http://amzn.to/1DZcxv4 Nikon D3300 24.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II Zoom Lens 24.2 MP CMOS DX-format sensor 5 frames per second continuous shooting 11 AF points with 3D tracking ISO 100-12800 (expandable to 25600) 1080 (60, 50, 30, 25, 24 fps) HD ...Read More »
Video Camera Tips for beginners BEST Filmmaking TRICKS – mistakes, lighting, Camera angles, DSLR
Video Camera Tips for for beginners – startup mistakes, best tricks, lighting, Camera angles, DSLR . Make sure do subscribe to our channel. All the Videos are copyright of there makers. – https://www.youtube.com/user/MattsMacintosh -https://www.youtube.com/user/startphotography -https://www.youtube.com/user/GreatPhotographyTips The video covers following tips DSLR Camera tips for beginners Video making tricks Tripod tricks ...Read More »
How To Shoot Video With a DSLR For Beginners PT 1
To make a video with a DSLR camera you need some additional skills to those for shooting stills. There are some camera settings unique to video and some of them you wouldn't normally use. In how to shoot video with a DSLR for beginners we'll show you how to think ...Read More »
Watch the full course on http://tinyurl.com/Take-best-photos-DSLR Buy the best DSLR Camera accessories from Amazon http://tinyurl.com/SLR-Camera-Accessories Declaimer: All copyrights for this video are reserved to Ken Schultz https://www.udemy.com/u/kennethschultz/ We do not sell or give away for free any of the tutorials or after effects template on our YouTube channel. All copyrights ...Read More »
Photography Tutorial for Beginners: What is Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO (DSLR Lesson) – CamCrunch
This is a photography tutorial for beginners. With this video, you will learn about the three things that affect the exposure of an image. After watching, you'll know exactly what the aperture, shutter speed and ISO do to affect the exposure of your image. Video Summary There three things that ...Read More »


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We have had the great pleasure of working with a wide variety of organisations and business owners to help them grow their social media presence and create a strong website presence.
"A warm welcome welcome and superb training that at no time made me feel daft for not knowing Facebook. Never patronising but informing and guiding. The best money I have spent in a long time."Facebook trainee
"Thanks again for all your assistance, as without you, Step into Yoga would not be where it is already!"Renate Mullins, Step Into Yoga
"Laurie has brought our website up-to-date on a WordPress platform that is simple to understand and update, even for us complete novices! She was incredibly patient with us, talking us through the design process and suggesting ideas for how we could best organise our information. Laurie even came to our training centre to take photos thus ensuring our site has images that are of high quality and clearly represent what we do."Tricia Sharpe, Recoil Trampolining Club
"Thank you to you and Laurie Edmonds for putting on an excellent course last month. Her knowledge of the functionality of the system and how to use it efficiently and cost effectively was second to none. I particularly liked her engaging manner and enthusiasm which has encouraged me to take it on and set up my own page with added functionality".Facebook trainee
"Pitched at exactly the right level. Laurie is excellent, engaging and I don't know where the time went. Thoroughly enjoyed it."Social Media trainee
"I thoroughly enjoyed the course and have come back singing the praises of it. We all agreed as a group that the attention to detail in communication and the step by step (literally) guide to finding you was fantastic. The course leader was great."Facebook trainee
"Thank you for your support developing the websites and social media for my business. I am getting regular interest in my website and an increasing amount of enquiries are leading to work.
I was a reluctant starter with Twitter but since you persuaded me to open an account in October 2012 I have been amazed at the benefit. Twitter has put me in contact with several other businesses and I have been offered some unusual and interesting work. It has also helped me develop my professional network and keep up with local issues and developments in education and health. I am very surprised to have 200 followers already!
My Facebook page continue to be a way of reaching parents and are useful for sharing more detailed and fun information. At times, I struggle to keep on top of all these aspects of communication but when I panic you always seem to be able to focus my efforts. Thank you again, I would highly recommend your services."Abi Johnson, Occupational Therapy Essex and Get Ready Club

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Wrangler's cozy hoodie features paisley printed yokes with a sheriff star on each. The ruffled star with "Super Cowgirl" embroidered in pink around it make this hoodie a must have for your little cowgirl's wardrobe.
Ariat Girl's Laurel Water Resistant Jacket is made from a water resistant and wind proof outer layer and has a micro-fleece inner lining. Young riders can look super stylish at the stables while still staying practical in this navy print jacket.


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I've finally arrived home from the Prince William Committee of 100 panel on blogging, ethics, and the 1st amendment. I had a wonderful time except for the dread fear I always go through when having to do a public speaking event. (which I rarely if ever do, because I'm not big on dread fear).
There wasn't as much disagreement on the panel as you may have expected. I wasn't that surprised. I did think the discussion was interesting.
I prepared too much, part of that fear thing. If I ever have to do something like this again, I'll be "better" prepared.
The entire thing will be on the web somewhere in video form. I may not link to it -- I don't think I'll enjoy seeing myself, as I'm certain I'll hate what I say and how I look. And I can only hope and pray that I didn't do anything embarrassing.
I may post some of my prepared comments later in a different thread, or maybe not. I'm working on some theories of how we can "take back" the web as a force for good, but I'm not sure that's possible, or whether my ideas would actually work. Maybe we can discuss it together.
I finally met Jonathan Marks, who for the record I still dispise as an internet persona. :)
But as is true for nearly every person I meet, I had no trouble carrying on a civil and actually interesting conversation in person -- we spoke for over 20 minutes. This reminds me that I've meant to put down my thoughts about the last election, and I'll probably do that in the next few days now that I had a chance to articulate them.
I sat at a table with Earnie Porta, Mayor of the Town of Occaquan. I truly enjoyed speaking with him, and with the others at my table who while not as public a figure as Earnie were equally engaging.
I'll probably wait to post anything particularly substantive, and instead read what others might be posting. There were many bloggers at the event.


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Text format xml jobs
Key Requirements 1. Get text from an image (Given a region). High accuracy 98% or better, dirty or complex backgrounds 2. Patron comparison (Detect and calculate similarity) ** Compatible with Windows and Linux Additional requirements (Negotiable) -. Method to get differential image. -. Method to compare two images (different sizes) -. Method that
Don't car...different formats to text. 2) It needs to identify different parts of the documents to break out. a) Currency and Values in that currency b) Line Item descriptions or main invoice description instead of line item details if not available. 3) Link the descriptions to a US Customs HTUSA Number. 4) Dump results in a csv, txt, xml type format.
...url's. One returns json and the other xml. I don't care which one is used but I want the code to be as fast as possible.. I want you to create a web page with a text box that will take a value. The value should be typed in as "PMC14901" then there is a button that will call a JavaScript function that returns the xml or json. You need to parse the da...
...following activities: * Title Tag Optimization * Alt Tag Optimization * Anchor Text Optimization * Heading Tag Optimization * Google Analytics Set Up * Robots Txt. Validation and optimization * Google XML Sitemap generation and Submissions * Image Optimization (Alt Tag, and format of images) * Optimize and Remove unnecessary Code * Website verification from
...script using PDFMiner [login to view URL] This will be a script that can be run from the command line. It will ask for 3 inputs, 1. pdf file 2. Field to check 3. text in field to validate The output will say if the value is present or not. For example in GSA300, Field 3. Contract number contains 47PM1118D1133, The user should then be able
We need software that will recognise the text (numbers and letters) on a scoreboard from a live camera feed captured via blackmagic card or similar, and output the characters and numbers into a data format like XML or simply to a csv
...feed is valid, but interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations. Feeds should not be served with the "text/html" media type Then when I go to the help link I get this: Message Feeds should not be served with the 'type/subtype' media type Explanation The web server is reporting
...pk:27677/corporate_sms2/api/[login to view URL] The response format is: Success Response: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> <corpsms> <command>Auth_request</command> <data>Session ID</data> <response>OK</response> </corpsms> Error Response: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-...
...etc). - WYSIWYG editor should user friendly, intutive and should have the ability to import data from external sources like ( Database,XML or JSON). - Editor shall include toolbox containing objects like ( text, line, rectangle , circle , image etc.) - GUI shall have a canvas on which objects from toolbox will be drawn ( drag and drop). User can
...etc). - WYSIWYG editor should user friendly, intutive and should have the ability to import data from external sources like ( Database,XML or JSON). - Editor shall include toolbox containing objects like ( text, line, rectangle , circle , image etc.) - GUI shall have a canvas on which objects from toolbox will be drawn ( drag and drop). User can
...choice (all choices and next steps will be retrieved from db as well) 3 - Static (but filterable) tables that will be stored in db and will adapt user's screen (preferably XML format) There will be mainly 4 browsing options for the end-user: 1 - Manual browsing in chapters / topics (retrieved from db) 2 - Quick search and filter on content and procedures
We need a script to parse a web page behind login screen, and process a page using Phantom JS, extract certain text, and output the string in json or xml format. We prefer using PhantomJS or Salmonjs [login to view URL]
...the value file from the FTP-share. The values must include energy in kWh, leader- and returns- temperature and the volume in m³/h in one XML file. The XML must meet the following requirements: XML Return Format: Minimum Example <prtg> <result> <channel>First channel</channel> <va...
...com/chromedp/examples . Settings should be read from [login to view URL] (note you can change this into JSON, XML or whatever you prefer. Or you can keep it an INI file. I don't care about the format of the configuration file as long as it is a text file of some sort). The [login to view URL] configuration file will have the following seven parameters. URL
The page require the user inform a given xml file where the size may vary from 1mb to 6gb. when its submited to the server the server must recognize that given xml, parse and sent it back to a web interface in a grid format. Its a very important requirement performance and memory managent. What I see for a possible solution is to use html 5 file
...going to pick someone in the first 5 minutes of submitting it If you want to take two weeks to do it then say so, I'd rather it be done properly than quickly.**** I have a text file containing 67 sections, each section contains clues to that year. These clues need editing and proof reading so they makes sense and are a standalone sentence with the
...an existing text file from XML format to CSV format (comma delimited file). I will need both the executable and the visual studio application submitted upon delivery. What I need added is the following as shown under "Project Details" below: PROJECT DETAILS - application will need to be modified as follows: Add code to write to a text file (.txt)
I'm looking for someone to complete a project for me. It is a very short piece of text(500 words) that I need to input into xml and link a css sheet to format the text.
...available libraries/packages in PYTHON. ** Approach(Converting PDF to XML). ** I have a data in PDF format with some text and tabular structure. Need to extract the data into XML in the form of same table structure. ** You can find the sample output, how the extracted data from PDF to XML should look like. Please find the attached doc's. 1. fir...
...2nd and 3rd rows of the selected column. 2.b) Create and Update form field formats are required so support text(100), text area, numeric, a specialized NULL character ("n/a"), date (specialized to store only in ISO Date or ISO Date/Time format '2018-01-30T09:00:00 (and be escaped so that the date time formatting is not converted in EXCEL to seconds


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WU TipsWhen shopping for cauldrons, get one that is made for cooking, not for show. It is important that potions be made in food safe pots.


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The Serbia international believes that the Blancos attacker always delivers when his team need him and sees the Portuguese icon as Madrid's undisputed star performer.
"Cristiano Ronaldo is a superb player. He's Madrid's go-to-guy, as the Americans say," Subotic told Kicker.
|Cristiano Ronaldo is 12/1 with Bet365 to score a hat-trick against Borussia Dortmund
The defender then went on say that the Madrid defence will face a tough task to contain Marco Reus on Wednesday.
"Marco is a fantastic player. I honestly think there's no defender - so no-one at Madrid either - who can shut him out for an entire game. It's impossible to completely eliminate him."


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Louisiana Governor: 'You can say farewell to college football next fall' if budget crisis remains
Louisiana's budget crisis has the state's attention.
It may have also grabbed that of the nation now, too.
In a TV address Thursday night, Gov. John Bel Edwards said that the ongoing budget crisis involving TOPS recipients may cost them their scholarships and LSU its football season.
"If you are a student attending one of these universities, it means that you will receive a grade of incomplete, many students will not be able to graduate and student athletes across the state at those schools will be ineligible to play next semester," Edwards said.
"That means you can say farewell to college football next fall."
TOPS, the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, is a statewide college scholarship program that covers tuition for in-state students that meet certain academic benchmarks.
LSU has more TOPS-eligible students than any other college in Louisiana with about 53 percent of the students using the program, including a number of student-athletes.
The financial issues plaguing Louisiana are an estimated $2 billion and are considered the worst more than three decades.
Edwards has proposed a number of potential solutions.
However, with no imminent fix in sight, LSU may have an even more difficult path to chase than the coveted national championship in 2016.


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A fan site for the former Beatle, Wings founder, solo artist and Inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Honey Pie (audio only)
Here, Paul is imitating the sound of the songs his parents loved and which he undoubtedly heard often as a kid. Just an odd sound for the '60s, though this would have fit in perfectly in the 20's-30's era. Just shows what a genius Paul is, that he can reproduce the sound so perfectly and put it on one of the most iconic albums of the late 20th Century.
Posted by James Bjorkman at 7:16:00 PM
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If Gathering: Hope from Connection
IF: Gathering --Not What I Expected
by April Jones
Before we begin, I should confess something to you up front--I am not a huge fan of gender specific ministry. The quickest way to have me run for the hills is to tell me you want me to join the "Women's Ministry." My mind conjures up images of pastel colors, flowery dresses, shopping, baking, Pinterest-ing, gossip sessions, and self-help discussions.
I am not crafty and look awful in pastels; I only bake when there is no way to avoid it; and as for self-help--25 years of Oprah pretty much took care of that. But I love ministry, I love study and I love WOMEN. Women are complicated. Women are challenging. Women are messy. Women are beautiful. Women are fascinating. Women are brilliant. Women approach God's Word and study in a completely unique way. Some women are hard to know. Some women are wide open. Some women are boisterous. Some women are introverted. The awesome diversity that is Woman is one of God's most impressive displays of creativity.
Earlier this year, over 200 of these fantastically diverse women gathered together at Hope Church to attend the IF: Gathering--a two-day, world-wide simulcast event featuring a "secret" line-up of Bible-believing speakers, panelists, worship leaders and activists. I was one of those 200 women.
Despite my general aversion to organized women's ministry, I find incredible value in the gathering of women for the purpose of studying God's Word. I am a huge fan of Beth Moore, Pricilla Shirer and Christine Caine. I love the idea of dedicating specific time to the study of the Scripture. I want to dig out nuggets that I haven't before seen. I want to suck the marrow out of the living words of God and find applications for my everyday life. I long to hear from women with different life experience who have specific illustrations of how God ordered their steps, directed their paths, and opened doors--I want that--I need that. So, I approached this weekend as an opportunity for God to show me something I hadn't seen before, reiterate things He had shown me several times before, or just be present in a new way.
I'm sure my preparation for the conference was similar to many others who attended. I found child care for my daughter; deliberated over what outfit to wear--we women definitely try to look our best for each other; purchased just the "right" notebook and pen to take notes--I am a sucker for office supplies and a conference full of speakers lends itself to making sure one has the perfect writing tools to capture it all; and made plans to meet up with my girlfriends who were also attending.
As it turned out, however, despite my diligent planning, I was not at all prepared for what would occur over the next two days. God rocked my world from the moment I walked into the building, found my group and sat down for the first session . . . from that point on, I have to tell you, the God and Creator of the Universe showed up and showed why He is I AM . . . I have tried many times over the last few months to put into my own words what happened that weekend . . . I can't do it. From worship and praise, to prayer and meditation, to confession--nothing that occurred in Texas (where the conference was held) or Springfield, IL (where I was) can be explained by the human tongue.
From the moment the conference kicked off with a truly anointed worship session, through each speaker and time for response and connection--this conference has had a lasting impact on my heart and mind. I am a woman who struggles against finding my value in being valued by others. Eugene Cho took to the stage and got right into my business--water your own grass--April--quit worrying about how it compares to someone else's!
For a girl who has never felt like she was the right kind of enough, Jennie Allen rocked my ever-loving world. I think we all strive so hard to prove that we are worthy, to protect our status or reputation that we don't even consider what we would dare if we didn't expend so much energy in that negative direction.
Throughout the weekend God revealed a new and fresh encouragement to my heart. He ripped away some comfort crutches I had been leaning on for years and He just loved on me. I connected with old friends and made some new. I reveled in the anointing that was tangible when, with one voice, this gathering of women proclaimed their love for their God.
I asked Chantell why she worked so hard to bring IF to Hope. This was her response: "As I looked around at the women of Hope, I wanted them to connect with God and with each other in a deeper, more sincere way. I felt like IF: Hope Church could do that."
All I have to say is "Mission accomplished, Chantell"--Heaven alone will measure the impact of this event.


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By Louise Warmley, Community correspondent
First Baptist Church Youth Choir, St. Mary's Baptist Gospel Choir, Braxton's Chapel Church Choir, Speight Chapel Choir, True Light Baptist Church Choir and Philippi Baptist Church Choir sang with anointing of the Holy Spirit last Sunday evening at Anointed Praise and Worship Church, along with special singing by their youth choir.
This was a great service. Mary Alice Douglas presided over this service. All who went to this service left feeling overly blessed.
• Rockwood Zoning Board and Regional Planning Commission will meet in regular monthly session at 6:30 p.m. in Rockwood City Hall.
• Roane County Commission's fire board will meet at 6 p.m. in the Qualls Commission Room of Roane County Courthouse, Kingston.
• Rockwood Recreation Board will meet in regular session at 6 p.m. in Rockwood Community Center.
Editor's note: The deadline for including items in Calendar is at least one week before the event. Items appear as a public service as space is available. Unless otherwise noted, all events and activities are open to the public.
Editor's note: The deadline for including items in Calendar is at least one week before the event. Items appear as a public service as space is available. Unless otherwise noted, all events and activities are open to the public.
• Bradbury United Methodist Church's Relay for Life team will have a bean and soup supper and auction beginning at 6 p.m. in the church at 3506 Buttermilk Road West, Kingston. All money raised will go to the American Cancer Society. Call the church office at 376-2990 for details.
FRIDAY — Exercise at 9 a.m. in Kellytown Baptist Church recreation center, Oliver Springs.
• Bowling at 1 p.m. in Tri-City Lanes, Midtown.
MONDAY — Exercise at 9 a.m. in Kellytown Baptist Church recreation center, Oliver Springs, and at 9:30 a.m. in Kingston Community Center.
• Pinochle at noon in Kingston Community Center.
TUESDAY — Quilting at 9 a.m. in Kingston Community Center.
• Kingston United Methodist Church's All 4 Kids sale will begin at 9 a.m. in the fellowship hall of Bethel Presbyterian Church at 203 S. Kentucky St., Kingston. The sale continues from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.
• Riggs Chapel Baptist Church, Harriman, will have its first-ever Only Believe family rally beginning at 6 p.m. in the church at 623 Riggs Chapel Road. The church's youth drama team, with help from some of the adults, will perform skits and songs. Bruce Armes will be the guest speaker.
By Ellen Probert Williamson
A great bonus of early spring is the arrival of wildflowers and edible provender in gardens and woodlands.
Some wild food grows much faster in the early spring than our usual garden provender does. It gets this head start because it is in its natural habitat with perfect soil conditions.
Some of them are right in your garden — or even on your front lawn. All of them are available right now, before you plant your vegetable garden for this year.
The 4- and 5-year-old class at The Henry Center, under the direction of Aimee Tuggle and Myrna Powell, have been collecting pennies for a special project.
Late last month, John Griffin and Stephanie Kolski, front row, from the Roane County Animal Shelter were presented with a check for $73.30 — equivalent to 7,330 pennies collected — to purchase much-needed food and supplies for pets at the shelter.
25 Years Ago
Construction began on a Hardee's fast-food restaurant in Rockwood. The 3,490-square-foot structure was expected to employ 35 people. This was the company's 53rd restaurant in Tennessee.
10 Years Ago
Piece by piece, several miles worth of sidewalks and streetlights in downtown Harriman were completed, thanks to a grant and private and corporate donations. Getting electrical lines underground also helped to enhance the project.
Five Years Ago
Copyright © 2018
The Roane County News is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Roane County and Kingston, Tennessee, and the surrounding area.


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They`re bred to run swiftly -- like greased lightning. And the ones that don`t meet the challenge meet their death.
In greyhound racing, the stakes are high. It`s a sport where gamblers` cash flows freely. For the dogs, it`s literally a run for their lives.
Nationwide, between 20,000 and 50,000 greyhound race dogs -- the ones that buckle when they should bolt -- are killed, veterinarian David Goodman said. The dogs are killed because they have outlived their usefulness and are too expensive for breeders to keep, he said.
Goodman, of the Ramblewood Animal Hospital in Coral Springs, has been trying to help. He heard about the situation in March when a friend asked him to adopt a greyhound. After adopting a dog, he organized a greyhound adoption program. Since then, he`s placed eight dogs in good homes.
``They are bred to race, and if they don`t, it`s easier to put them to sleep than keep them,`` said Goodman, a native of Connecticut. ``I want to help. I feel sorry for these animals. They`re such friendly dogs, very social.``
Greyhounds are quiet and shy, easy to train and manage on a leash, Goodman said. Most are medium-sized and make ideal pets.
Goodman estimated that breeders sell them for $250 to $400.
``Right now, I have a male greyhound for adoption. He`s very, very, very friendly and will make a great pet,`` Goodman said. ``I want to find a good home. Since I`ve been doing this, I have only turned down one adoptive family.``
For more information, call Ramblewood Animal Hospital at 753-6220.
Ron Butler, president of Adopt-A-Family of Broward County, is looking for handouts.
In August, he started asking area business people to open their eyes and their checkbooks to the family adoption program.
Now, things finally are panning out.


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Ilko Kucheriv Democracy Partnership Programme fellows release policy papers, video
News Source: PASOS Secretariat, Czech Republic
Four fellows who took part in the 2013 Ilko Kucheriv Democracy Partnership Programme have released policy studies and a video documentary created as part of their fellowships in the project.
The fellows from independent democracy and human rights advocacy NGOs and think-tanks from the CIS region worked with hosting institutes, and spent up to five weeks in the office of the hosts in preparation for writing the papers.
PASOS partnered with network members the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, the Association for International Affairs, the Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation Foundation, and the Institute for Public Affairs to offer the fellowship program, which seeks to assist the advancement of democratic practices in transitional democracies. The program was made possible with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
Following is information about the fellows and links to the projects they created for the program:
1. Maria Zolkina, Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Kyiv, Ukraine
Policy area: The impact of Europeanization on democratic transformations: the cases of Slovakia and Ukraine
Host organization: Institute for Public Affairs, Bratislava, Slovakia
2. Kyrill Zakharov, Vidkryte Suspilstwo, Sumy, Ukraine
Policy area: Review and analysis of Polish NGOs' watchdog type activities in the sphere of justice and transferring of their experience to Ukraine
Host organization: Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
3. Vyacheslav Bihun, Koretsky Institute of State and Law, National Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kyiv, Ukraine
Policy area: Justice through Human Rights Protection: Ukraine's Case Study (the Impact of European Court of Human Rights in Ukraine, with English subtitles – switch on CC, the captions option)
Host organization: International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France
4. Galyna Usatenko, Europe XXI Foundation, Kyiv, Ukraine
Policy area: The Role of NGOs in the reform of higher education in ex-Soviet area (the experience of the Czech Republic and Ukraine's practice)
Host organization: Association of International Affairs, Czech Republic
The program is named after Ilko Kucheriv, a prominent activist in the Ukrainian civil-society movement who succumbed to cancer in 2010.
Kucheriv was the founder of the think tank that now bears his name and personally contributed a great deal to the advancement of democratic ideas in Ukraine. In the early 1990s, he understood the importance of public opinion for the development of a civic society, and Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation was the first organization to make available the results of social research to the broader public and to train journalists in understanding public opinion polling.


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On July 6th the enigmatic, atmospheric, Renaissance-era surroundings of the city's famed Zitadelle Spandau will swell to the sound of the very best in new, cutting-edge electronic music.
In 2010, as part of the celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Paul van Dyk staged the We Are One event. Three years on, Paul has set in motion a return for We Are One. Moving from arena to festival grade, 2013 will see the event take place in the striking, history-rich setting of Berlin's Zitadelle Spandau.
Playing alongside Paul throughout the day and night will be a host of the world's most gifted electronic sound designers.
Nick Bracegirdle's ensemble outfit, Chicane Live, has been holding arena audiences all over the world in his thrall. On July 6th, he will be taking to the We Are One stage with a captivating live performance that will include the debut of Paul & Chicane's first studio recording together.
The night's line-up will also include Saharan-hot sounds of Aly & Fila, who will bring their Egyptrance sound to the Zitadelle. Also taking to the stage will be hot new VANDIT signings, SHato & Paul Rockseek, Holland's First State, and German duo Stoneface & Terminal. The We Are One 2013 anthem will come courtesy of PvD and Canadian tough-trance powerhouse Arnej, who'll also be playing the show alongside many more, yet-to-be-announced artists and acts.
Come and join Paul in his fortress of sound as he premieres Politics of Dancing 3's musical direction! This will be the event of Summer 2013 – a concert of sound & light people will be talking about for months to come. Make sure you're at Spandau by securing your ticket now through the www.weareonefestival.com web-space.
The Spandau Citadel is one of Berlin's leading state-of-the-art multi-purpose locations that hosts everything from sports events to concerts, exhibitions and various show formats. Most-outstanding is the Citadel's massive central courtyard which makes almost anything possible.
Visit our website for all information, including the complete line-up, tickets, travel tips, and media www.weareonefestival.com


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Following a highly praised show at the Cambridge in June, Australian singer songwriter Kim Churchill heads back to Newcastle in support of his new single "Single Spark".
His 'Silence/Win' album which has garnered amazing reviews since it was released in May this year. Tickets for the January shows going on sale 10 am Friday 31st October.
Born in Canberra and growing up in the tiny New South Wales coastal town of Merimbula, this nomadic multi-instrumentalist has become renowned for his deft guitar work spending most of his time on the road intertwining memorable performances with his love of travel and surfing. Kim Churchill fascinates his audience by juggling guitar, bass drum, harmonica, tambourine and percussion all whilst delivering an extensive and remarkable vocal range.
At only 24 years old his extraordinary gig list includes a spot on the Glastonbury and Beautiful Days Festivals, The Montreal Jazz Festival and North America's most scenic and intimate festival, Telluride Blues and Brews. He's opened for both Billy Bragg and Michael Franti and completed successful international headline tours through Canada, the UK and Europe.
In more recent news Kim has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Sony ATV and he's also inked an album deal in UK with Atlantic Records who will release 'Silence/Win' at the end of October. Kim will finish 2014 on stage at Falls and Southbound Festivals.
Kim plays The Cambridge Hotel again on Friday the 23rd of January 2015. Tickets on sale 10 am Friday 31st October from https://www.musicglue.com/kim-churchill/tickets/


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IDW's Ted Adams Talks Premier Status
When word hit late last week that IDW Publishing had been granted Premier Publisher status through Diamond Comics Distributors, the took many in the comics industry by surprise. Not only is IDW the first publisher in almost 15 years to achieve the status, it was actually the first new publisher to be added to the club of DC, Marvel, Dark Horse and Image who hold down the front portion of Diamond's "Previews" catalog since Diamond became the default distributor for all comic shops in America.
As soon as the news hit, CBR reached out to IDW CEO Ted Adams for his take on what the deal meant for IDW's future. From the books that brought them to this point on through how a spot in "Previews" early pages can help the publisher expand its reach even more in 2010, Adams gave a full run down on where IDW's publishing business is at from comic shops to book stores to the web.
CBR News: First off, congratulations! A new company stepping into the Premier class of Diamond's publisher roster certainly is unprecedented and even unexpected for a lot of folks. Is this something IDW has been setting its sights on for a while?
Ted Adams: Thanks! Achieving 'Premier' status with Diamond has been a goal for all of us at IDW for the last couple of years.
In a nuts and bolts sense, when and how did this all come together? IDW took a much publicized 4% of market share over the past year, placing the company into the Gem Awards category with the other Premier Publishers in January, and you also won the award for best OGN of 2009 with "The Hunter." Did that sales performance provide the turning point for this premier partnership?
I think the growth of IDW certainly factored into Diamond's decision. Our editorial team has been putting together a solid line of books the last couple of years, and that's resulted in both critical recognition and increased sales.
Generally, what do you feel this premiere level means for the company? Do you think much will change about your 2010 plans as a result, or will the effect be more connected to the sales you hope to see over the course of the future?
Our 2010 plans were largely set before the "Premier" decision was made, so it won't have any real impact on what we plan to publish this year. My hope is that we'll have increased attention, and sales, for the projects we've got in the works.
Similarly, we all know that IDW will be seeing many benefits from this status in terms of visibility, not the least of which is a spot in the front section of the monthly Previews catalog and the occasional cover of that magazine as well. What parts of the deal you think are going to have the biggest impact on how IDW is going to be seen in the industry and with retailers?
I think you've nailed the biggest benefit – moving to the front of the "Previews" catalog. I'm told that there are a lot of consumers and retailers who simply don't look past the "Premier" section, and I'm looking forward to reaching those folks with our books.
Is there any specific ways in which your section of "Previews" will change outside of being moved up in the page order?
We've completely redesigned our section. It now includes a Table of Contents, and because we have more pages in Previews, it will allow us to give more attention to each title. IDW titles are also now eligible for Diamond's Gem of the Month recognition.
You've had so many big books and big properties grow out of your catalogue in recent years – is there a specific kind of project or publishing philosophy the IDW staff feels has brought the company this far?
One of the things I'm most proud of is the fact that IDW is such a diverse publisher. I've always said that the thing that's most important to me is that someone at IDW has to be passionate about a book for it to get on our schedule.
That approach has led to a line that includes:
- Licensed titles like "Angel," "A-Team," "G.I. Joe," "Star Trek" and "Transformers"
- Creator-driven books like Bob Fingerman's "From the Ashes," Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez's "Locke & Key," Fiona Staples, Steve Niles and Ashley Wood's "Mystery Society," Elaine Lee and Michael Wiiliam Kaluta's "Starstruck"; Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray's "The Last Resort" and Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood's "Zombies vs. Robots Aventure"
- Dean Mullaney's Library of American Comics which includes "Dick Tracy," "Little Orphan Annie," "Bloom County," "Bringing Up Father," "L'il Abner" and "King Aroo"
- Ash Wood's books like "Swallow," "Sparrow," "World War Robot" and the upcoming "FI"
- Craig Yoe's imprint, Yoe Books, which includes "The Art of Steve Ditko," "The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story," "Krazy & Ignatz in Tiger Tea" and "Krazy Kool Kids Komics"
- The Desperado imprint, which includes "The Art of P. Craig Russell," "The Art of Tony Harris" and the upcoming "DeadWorld Classics"
- The ComicMix imprint, which includes Mike Grell's "Pilgrim" and "Jon Sable," Tim Truman and John Osrander's "GrimJack," Trevor Von Eeden's "The Original Johnson," Mike Oeming's and Mark Wheatley's "Hammer of the Gods" and Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley's "EZ Street"
- Scott Sava's Blue Dream Studios, which includes "Dreamland Chronicles," "Cameron and his Dinosaurs" and the upcoming "The Luckiest Boy"
- Comics based on literary works like Darwyn Cooke's amazing adaptations of the Ricard Stark Parker noves, James Patterson's "Witch & Wizard," Peter Beagle's "The Last Unicorn," Mario Acevedo's "Killing the Cobra" and Robert Bloch's "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper"
- Reprints of classic comic books like Dave Stevens' "The Rocketeer," Kurt Busiek and David Wenzel's "The Wizard's Tale," Richard Comely and George Freeman's "Captain Canuck," Chuck Dixon and Jorge Zaffino's "WinterWorld" and the upcoming "Danger Girl Deluxe Edition" by Andy Hartnell and J. Scott Campbell
As vital as the Direct Market is to IDW and comics in general, you also publish for other markets, including the book stores (where you distribute through Diamond's DBD branch, of course) and the growing online and mobile comics realm, from iPhone apps to PSP sales. How does becoming a Premier Publisher affect, if at all, your plans for other distribution? Will you be synching up all three platforms to unveil new product at the same time?
Our goal is always to reach as many readers as possible, and our diverse line means that we have titles that work differently in the three markets you describe, but our preference is to sell our books through the Direct Market. I've been associated with the Direct Market my entire career, which I hate to say has now reached 20 years, and my loyalty will always be with the comic stores who support us.
The digital versions of our titles all include the Comic Shop Locator Service information, and our hope is that people who read one of our comics via iTunes or PSP will like it enough to want the print version.
We've found that some of our titles perform significantly better in the book channel, but, again, our hope is that readers who pick up, say, a Transformers book in the book channel will like it enough to want to read our monthly Transformers comic books.
Lastly, there's a lot of talk and worry these days about print publishing shrinking in the future, with the Direct Market specifically having a hard time finding longterm stability over the next several years. From your point of view, what do you see as IDW's role in strengthening this sales outlet, and what new initiatives do you think will best serve the Direct Market?
I believe in the Direct Market. I was asked to be one of the judges for last year's Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award and had the chance to see the videos that the nominated stores put together. I came away from that experience very encouraged – the best comic stores have an infectious passion for comics and are clearly influencing the buying patterns of their customers. I think what we're going to see over the next couple of years is a weeding out of the bad stores and renewed success for the good ones.
Check back with CBR later this week for word on the IDW deal from Diamond's Bill Schanes.
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Victoria welcomes progress of Homelessness Reduction Bill
Victoria Prentis, Member of Parliament for North Oxfordshire, has welcomed the progress of the Homelessness Reduction Bill, which passed its Third Reading in the House of Commons on Friday 27 January. The Bill, which seeks to reduce and prevent homelessness, can now proceed to the House of Lords after receiving cross-party backing in the Commons.
The Homelessness Reduction Bill aims to reduce homelessness by placing extra duties on councils to intervene at an earlier stage with households at risk of homelessness. It also provides for more detailed advice on housing options for those facing problems, and makes it easier for homeless applicants to appeal a decision against them.
Speaking in the debate on Friday, Victoria made reference to the successful steps taken by Cherwell District Council and local charities like Banbury Young Homelessness Project (BYHP) and the Beacon Centre to reduce rough sleeping in North Oxfordshire by 20%. Victoria, who sits on the Justice Select Committee, also spoke about the importance of dealing with the link between imprisonment and homelessness.
Commenting after the Commons' vote on Friday, Victoria said, "The cross-party support from MPs makes it clear that there is a real commitment to change how we deal with homelessness in this country. This Bill does not have all the answers, but if it becomes law it will go a long way to ensuring fewer people in Oxfordshire and elsewhere become homeless. I pay tribute to my colleague Bob Blackman MP, as well as all those on the Bill's Committee who have worked so hard to get the legislation to where it is now".
I welcome the Bill's provisions to end the post code lottery service for those facing homelessness. A change in the law will also enable brilliant local charities like Banbury Young Homelessness Project (BYHP) to have more time to help people, rather than fight the system."
The Homelessness Reduction Bill has received the backing of the Government, which has committed funding so that the law's provisions can be implemented. It will now go to the House of Lords for consideration.
The full text of Victoria's speech in the Commons can be found here.


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Mimo Smart Baby Monitor
Better Sleep for Everyone.
Being a parent definitely has its sleepless nights, especially when you're worried about your little one. The Mimo Smart Baby Monitor helps you know that your baby is sleeping soundly and resting well. Mimo provides caregivers with an insight hub (via the companion iOS or Android app) for baby as they sleep. Mimo wirelessly sends the baby's breathing, body position, skin temperature and sleep quality via low energy Bluetooth to a parent's smart device along with live audio, and parents can share the information with as many caregivers as they like. Designed to fit easily into your life, Mimo kimonos are 100% cotton, machine washable (tumble dry on low) and are available in different sizes so that you can continue monitoring your baby as they grow.


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"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together."
~ Vincent Van Gogh
Most important goals in life require discipline, repetitiveness and consistency. A youngster, developing good study skills. A couple, saving enough for that first home. Anyone trying to lose weight or get in shape. By not doing the work, cutting corners or being inconsistent, one finds themselves with a lower grade, not enough to buy that home or weight gain.
Discipline, repetitiveness and consistency are also needed to prevent discrepancies in the Traffic Department. From order entry to broadcast, the "Life of a Spot" journeys to many different areas along the way. Has your organization mapped this journey? Have you looked at each turn in every process to safeguard against potential pitfalls, resulting in lost revenue? Not only lost revenue, but lost inventory as well in the form of makegoods.
Standard operating procedures… Best practices. It doesn't really matter what you call it, as long as it is written down and followed consistently. Everyone does the task the same way every time, with the goal of achieving uniform results. By creating a structured process, you can prevent major discrepancies from occurring and close the gap on the unavoidable ones.
Know thy Traffic software
It's important while creating this structured process, to take some time to really learn the software that you use every day. This small upfront investment will have huge time payoffs in the long run. Software developers have been busy in the past couple of years creating new tools and automating processes. Anything that can be automated, should be looked at closely as managing systems is much easier than managing people. At each turn in the process, it needs to be decided if the current way is the safest most efficient way to perform the task or if the software offers an undiscovered better way.
Map it … write it down
It begins at the beginning. Start with following the spot. So, what's the first thing that happens? The order is input into a Traffic system. Who does it and what check & balance is in place to ensure that it was entered correctly? Does the software offer a functionality to confirm that the order was entered correctly? Does the software offer a way to check-in on the contract from time to time to make sure that all spots are placing where they should?
As you continue to follow the life of the spot, you come across each process … and there are many. How do you ensure that advertisers are receiving adequate time separation? Adequate competitive separation? How does the spot migrate to the Production Department? And how do you confirm that the Production Director actually assigned the correct audio to the correct cart number? What happens when you reconcile the log? Who is in the loop as to what happened the previous day? And what steps are taken to prevent a mis-step from happening again? What about reports? Who pulls which reports and when? Is it consistent? Can it be automated?
Consistency … the hardest part
It's a process … not an event. It requires practice. Like a muscle, the more you work on developing it and using it, the stronger it will become. The moment you take your eye off the process or begin to cut corners … that's when something is going to fall through the cracks, resulting in a discrepancy. So again, discipline, repetitiveness and consistency are the most important factors.
As you move along, the process needs to be reviewed from time to time. When a spot misses, it's important to understand where in the lifecycle the break-down occurred. More importantly is zoning in on that area, and making a change so that the error does not repeat itself. Everyone needs to be on the same page for this to happen. No one needs to place blame, but accountability needs to be present.
For all the bosses out there, here's an idea I wrote about in my first article about Closing the Gap on Discrepancies. Why wouldn't you adopt this?
When an organization sets their goal at 98% or 99% or 99.5% discrepancy free, then what they are really saying is, we understand that human error happens and we are comfortable with losing that much revenue.
The work of a Traffic Manager is stressful, never ending and mind numbing. Most often, they are on the low end of the pay scale and are not eligible for commission. Yet, they are responsible for the bottom line. To achieve all the above, it takes a lot of care and nurturing. Mostly, it takes engaged employees. So, if the station bills on average $7 Million dollars a year and the goal is 99%, that's $70,000 that can be closed in on.
Wouldn't all parties benefit by offering bonus incentives to close the gap on discrepancies?
.1% of 7 000 000 = 7000 ($1,000 bonus) (station recoups $6,000)
.5% of 7 000 000 = 35,000 ($5,000 bonus) (station recoups $30,000)
1% of 7 000 000 = 70,000 ($10,000 bonus) (station recoups $60,000
Give a little. Get a lot. For salary level, that's a big bonus. Dangle that carrot and I guarantee the over-all process will improve and strengthen.


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There are many different completely unique instruments and models that the yard or perhaps a garden needs so as getting maintained in the terrific way.
Brush Cutter
The principal as well as the foremost of yard and garden apparel can be the yard mowers for undertaking horizontal grass trimming through the yard or even the garden tools. Now it is determined over the scale of your lawn/garden which type of the yard mower you'll phone call for getting going for. If it is critically merely a tiny lawn, walk-behind yard mowers would do the job okay. They'll possibly be push-behind or self-propelled ones; energized by gasoline, electrical power or batteries.
If the lawn/yard dimension is moderate, i.e., neither extraordinarily large nor substantially tiny, you can phone call for to create an add-on of riding yard mowers for the stock options of equipment. An required function getting saved in ideas on the time of buying them is their hp value, frequently through the limits 17 hp to 21 hp, which may determine the pace they do their placement with.
If the scale of your yard even now goes on getting greater, you may think about such as a yard tractor or else a garden tractor using the up coming hp worth through the differ of 22hp to 28hp for the yard and garden equipment.
A robotic mower operates on its non-public and doesn't phone call for human being help at any level to function.
Power Tools
Power assets consist blowers, vacuums, chain saws, chippers, shredders, mulchers, edgers, hedge trimmers, log splitters, pole saws, stress washers, string trimmers, tillers and consuming water pumps.
Gardening Tools
Gardening assets consist of axes, picks, machetes, bonsai tools, guide edgers, pruners, loppers, shears, rakes, hoes, saws, shovels and cultivators.
Plant Germination Equipment
Plant germination apparel consists ballast assemblies, germination kits, germination trays, developing lamps, developing lighting fixtures, developing lights, heating mats and humidity domes.
Watering Equipment
Watering apparel comprise taps, hoses, nozzles, wands, sprinklers, timers, watering Cans, automated watering apparel and rainfall barrels.
Sprayers are possibly compression sprayers or else they could be hose sprayers.
Spreaders can be the apparel to seed the vegetation in the correct manner.
Outdoor Carts and Bins
Outdoor carts and bins consist carts, composting bins and wheelbarrows.
Plant Containers and Accessories
Plant containers and add-ons encompass baskets, boxes, bud vases, cachepots, xmas tree stands, outside urns, plant hooks and hangers, plant racks, plant stands, planters, tree tubs and vases.
Backyard Constructions
Backyard architectural structures consist of arbors, backyard bridges, garden stakes, gazebos and trellises.
Outdoor Power
Outdoor energy could be arranged by lightweight generators, energy inverters, rechargeable energy provides or eco-friendly vitality sources.
Pest Control
Pest manage could be executed by utilizing insect zappers, pest lures, pest repellents, sprayers, foggers or traps.
Weather Devices
Weather equipment are of the quantity of sorts like barometers, hygrometers, rainfall gauges, temperatures sensors, thermometers, environment clocks, environment stations and wind gauges.
Snow Blowing
Lawns and gardens may phone call for fast snow removing through winters which could be carried out with de-icers and salt spreaders, garden tractor and snow thrower chains, snow plows, snow blowers or snow throwers, snow rakes or snow shovels.
Outdoor Cooking
Outdoor cooking may utilize grills, smokers, turkey fryers, barbecue assets and outside kitchens.
I will probable be reviewing the selected finest out inside the above-mentioned yard and garden apparel in my weblog posts to try to uncover the comfort of people that are keen on buying them to make certain which they could get among the quite most superb return on their cost and just not merely hold out with it smoothly for an extended length of your time but at the same time are in the placement to adore their yard and garden apparel as a good offer as they adore their yard or their garden.


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Hi all,
So I've taken a bit of a hiatus from photography for the last 4-5 years. I still shot on occasion, but it was mostly with my mirrorless setup and on vacations and hikes.
Recently, I've had a few friends (and friends of friends) come to me wanting engagement photos, sponsored social media posts for their company, portraits, etc. I have all of the lenses I need, one thing that is lacking is a modern speedlight.
I currently have a Canon 430 EX (the original) and two YN-460II's that I modified for a 3.5mm port. I also have two Paul Buff CyberSync receivers and a transmitter that I was using to trigger the YN460's back in college for basketball and volleyball.
Given the setup I have, if I'm trying to pack light, I'd need to chose between having an ETTL flash or having the ability to trigger off-camera. I'm also thinking that neither of these flashes is going to be powerful enough for fill light in outdoor portraits with a small softbox either. Also, I don't think I can use the 430EX off camera with my EOS M5 and I don't believe the 430EX supports HSS off camera with my 70D.
This leaves me in an interesting situation. While my CyberSync receivers have been bulletproof and never failed me, it would be nice to have something that supports ETTL and HSS.
I've read a lot of good things about the Godox / Flashpoint setups along with their expandability. I was thinking of picking up a X1T-C Transmitter, TT685 and a TT600. The TT685C would be my primary flash but would also have the option to be used off camera too (unlike my 430EX. My question revolves around the TT600 - I see it supports HSS, but does it support ETTL when triggered by either the 685 or X1T-C? I know it's a manual flash, but the product guide makes it seem like with the transmitter, it does ETTL too. Also, are these reliable enough to just sell off my other gear? I'm not shooting weddings or anything, so if something were to die, it's not the end of the world. On the other hand though, I know some of the YN flashes we had bought for our college newspaper had a tenancy to die after a year or so of usage. Also, how good is the wireless setup? Before I got the cybersyncs, I had some super cheap triggers... that worked probably 1/2 the time. Obviously a miss here or there isn't an issue, but it became painfully frustrating after awhile.


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Explore some enthralling magazine covers for titles like Vogue and Verve by Picasso, Matisse, Dali and more.
For French Artist Joann Sfar, #parisisaboutlife
Michael Dooley delves into the work of French Charlie Hebdo illustrator Joann Sfar, whose Instagram images have sparked controversy.
Germany's Golden Age of Book Cover Design
Michael Dooley explores German book cover design featured in the new book, "The Book Cover in the Weimar Republic."


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- How to Sell to Market Research Buyers, Part 3
- How to Sell to Market Research Buyers, Part 2
- How to Sell to Market Research Buyers, Part 1
- 5½ [behind-the-scenes] Marketing & Sales Activities You Need To Do in December
- Got something to say?
- Running a small firm? Who holds you accountable?
- Marketing & Sales Success Begins with a Simple Step… Thinking!
- Your Sales Forecast Doesn't Have to be a Guessing Game!
- Lead generation is a 3-step process.
- Measuring Sales… it's Not just about Revenue
- 7 Selling Behaviors Seller-Doers Must Employ to be Successful.
- Can you really be "all things to all people?"
- 12 Marketing & Sales Activities you Gotta STOP this Year!
- How to maximize the impact of your marketing investment.
- Revenue Growth? Try the '5% Challenge'… it's Brilliant!
- Should you ever walk away from revenue?
- Get Ready for 2017 with these 6 Marketing & Sales Activities
- 20 Marketing and Sales Concepts Business Leaders Need to Know, Part 2
- 20 Marketing and Sales Concepts Business Leaders Need to Know, Part 1
- 10 Guidelines for How to Be Successful at Sales
- Strategy Before Tactics!
- 6 Marketing & Sales Lessons Learned in our First 4 Years in Business
- The Sales Presentation: Stop Reading the PowerPoint Slides and Tell Your Story
- Content Marketing not working? Eh, don't worry about it!
- Marketing Measurement: 3 New Methods You Have to Try in 2016
- The One Thing You Must Include in Your 2016 Marketing & Sales Plan
- Not using LinkedIn? Are you kidding me?!
- Is it OK to fire a client?
- Take Charge of Your Own Success… Stop Relying on Others!
- Getting first-time clients to take a chance on you.
- 9 Ways to Build your Business During the Summer Slowdown
- The Top 10 Ways to Build Awareness
- The 13 Most Common Website Mistakes
- The Most Important Part of Exhibiting
- Content marketing isn't a one-time thing… it's an all-the-time thing.
- THINKING! A framework for creating better business plans in 2015.
- Not happy with your marketing & sales? Then make just one change in 2015!
- For Beginners: Should I Tweet Daily? Yes… and here's how.
- Got your Marketing Plan for 2015? No?! Now's a good time to start…
- How to Connect with Booth Visitors – An Exhibitor's Worksheet
- Not getting the email results you want? Make sure you're following these 7 email marketing guidelines.
- 10 Ways to Get Clients to Sell FOR You (and they won't cost a dime!)
- Do you know where you're going? Why Strategy should drive your marketing & sales.
- 11 execution tips to help you exceed client expectations
- How to Turn First-time Clients into Repeat Clients
- 15 easy, low-cost marketing and sales tactics for 2014 – Part 2
- 15 easy, low-cost marketing and sales tactics for 2014 – Part 1
- 13 Lessons for Researchers Who Don't Want (or Like) to Sell
- Social media marketing success in 30 minutes a day
- Get it right! You can't manage what you don't measure.
- It's not that complicated! A common sense approach to the marketing & sales process.
- How MR firms are blowing it with new customers: Lessons learned while secret shopping
- Management or sales… you can't serve two masters.
- Prove it! Nine ways to convince prospects to work with you for the first time.
- Five everyday ways to grow your business
- How that 'one great client' could doom your firm
- Six marketing and sales mistakes MR firms make every day
- Eight proven ways to build awareness – and why you should!
- Suspects, Prospects and Clients: Is your firm focused on the right target?
- A Checklist for Conducting Your Own Marketing & Sales Audit
- Learning to play the game: What football can teach us about marketing
- Differentiating your firm in a crowded marketplace
- 25 low- or no-cost ways to grow your business
- 15 Reasons E-mail Still Matters in Sales and Marketing
- Come prepared, dress the part and follow up: 10 dos for exhibiting at MR trade shows
- No rookies, no gum and no Frisbees: 10 don'ts for exhibiting at MR trade shows
- How to see yourself as clients see you
- Marketing 101: It takes Work to make it Work
- Use the 8 Ps of Marketing when Setting Strategy
- Integrate the 4 As of Marketing into Your Planning
- Size Does Matter: 4 Approaches to Growing Your Business
- The 12 Guiding Principles of Marketing (part 2)
- The 12 Guiding Principles of Marketing (part 1)
Content Marketing not working? Eh, don't worry about it!
Do these sound familiar?
- "Only about 40% of the people who registered for our webinar actually showed up." or
- "I've talked to a number of those who downloaded our latest eBook and less than half have even read it."
Here's my advice… don't be too upset about it. It's not that big a deal!
The reality is… much of what you do from a content marketing perspective will fall on deaf ears – or more appropriately – might never make it to the ears they were intended for. Don't sweat it…
First of all… sh** happens! Webinar registrants, for example – who generally register for the session days or weeks in advance – get called into a last-minute meeting and simply can't make it. Or people who want to read your eBook just get busy and forget about it… or maybe they save them up because they're hoping to read through them while they're on vacation. There's not much you can do about circumstances like that.
So, is all that effort that you put into developing your content – and a lot goes into big items like eBooks and webinars – wasted effort? Maybe… but not really.
You might think the effort was wasted because…
- … you did put a lot of effort, time and money into these things and you want some kind of pay-off – at least to have the eBooks read and people attend your presentations. You're delivering good, useful information and you want others to benefit from it.
- … good content reinforces your expertise and position as a thought leader and if it wasn't seen or read, that opportunity was lost.
- … the more of your content a sales prospect absorbs, the more you move them through the Buying Funnel™, and if they're not reading it – they're not moving.
All true… sort of. On the other hand…
- Just knowing that you are a publisher of good content (especially if you do it consistently) will help to influence the perception of your firm in the marketplace… and your position as a thought-leader.
- Your efforts at promoting the content (to drive registrations or downloads) build awareness in the markets you serve and keep your name top-of-mind with existing clients and prospects.
- And maybe most importantly – as part of the process – you capture the prospects' contact information (through the registration or download form). With this data in hand, you still have the opportunity to follow-up with them (e.g. "We're sorry you couldn't join us at yesterday's webinar…"). In addition, you can now engage with them through drip marketing for a long time to come.
Content marketing is considered by many (including me) to be the #1 way for professional B2B firms to build awareness in the markets they serve, generate (and nurture) sales leads and establish a position for their firm in the minds of their clients & prospects… but it's certainly not perfect. What marketing initiative is?
But don't let that keep you from embracing Content Marketing. And do pay attention to a few key lessons that it teaches:
- Continue to create and distribute great content… many (if not most) of your clients and prospects WILL read it (or attend it) and in doing so, develop and reinforce the perception of your firm that you want them to have.
- Once the content is created, promote it like crazy. It takes a lot of 'touches' for a sales prospect to make a buying decision… and content promotion is part of that.
- Make sure that at least some of your content is 'gated' – that it requires the sales prospect to give up a little of his/her contact information in return for accessing it. It's a proven way to generate qualified sales leads.
Yes, when you discover that registrants are not showing up to your webinars or that downloaders are not reading your eBooks, it's frustrating. So, by all means, do some research to understand 'why'… and do some testing to try to improve your "show rates" or "read rates." But know this… that even with those kinds of issues, a well thought-out, well-planned and well-executed content marketing program still works and should still be at the core of your marketing efforts!
For more information on Content Marketing, download A Content Marketing Guidebook here: http://bit.ly/1RR9BWL.


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Who Am I?
Hello, my name is Leslie Burman. I am a Registered Dietitian (R.D.), Certified Diabetes Educator and Licensed Nutritionist (L.D. /N) for the State of Florida. I have been actively involved in nutrition education for the past 15 years.
I currently provide nutrition counseling to the public, servicing the South Florida Area.
My services specialize in those interested in health promotion, disease prevention, and weight loss management..
I received my Undergraduate Studies Degree from Florida State University, Tallahassee and board certified eligibility from Florida International University, Miami.
I currently hold advanced Training degrees from the American Dietetic Association in, both, Adolescent and Adult weight loss management.
I also utilize my training as a certified Myers Briggs Personality Instructor to assist with deciphering what nutrition education plan is most suited for individualized personality types.
Professional Activities and Affiliates:
Active Member of the American Dietetic Association
Member of Sports Cardiovascular and Wellness Nutritionist Practice group
Advanced Certification in Adolescent Weight loss management
Advanced certification in Adult weight loss management
Member of the Palm Beach Dietetic Association
Former AFAA certified fitness instructor
American Dietetic Association specialty practice group for Nutrition Entrepreneurs
Who Might Benefit from my services?
Those who want to learn healthy alternatives and manage weight effectively
Those families who want to maintain a high quality nutrient dense family environment
Those who want to compete or actively engage in competitive or recreational sports
Those individuals interested in vegetarian or plant based protein diets.
Those individual who have syndrome x, diabetes, high blood pressure, or heart disease.
Those individuals who have Anorexia, Bulimia, engage in compulsive overeating, or binge eating.
Those individuals with special allergies, intolerances, or aversions to foods.
Those individuals who want to raise energy levels, promote disease prevention, and health
'Personalized Nutrition at your doorstep"
How do I schedule an appointment?
To schedule an appointment, please contact me at work 561-789-7000 or by email at email@example.com
Initial counseling session includes evaluation of past medical history in relation to current nutritional needs
Identify problem, set tangible and viable solutions to reach optimum health and wellness goals.
Solutions may include: Knowledge of current triggers, problems of concerns, behavior modification via hands on individualized approach to meet individualized and specialized needs.
Fees and Insurance
Please call for current fee-for-service rates. Rates vary depending on time, frequency, and email consultation services.
Will Insurance cover my visit?
Based on insurance companies, reimbursement might be rendered. If you have a health condition in which dietary nutritional needs are recognized as part of your care, you may be eligible for reimbursement. Your insurance company will be able to inform you of your current Medical Nutritional therapy coverage.


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Searching For Tubal Reversal Doctors
Looking for tubal reversal doctors? If you are reading this article, chances are you are looking for a surgeon who will do tubal reversal surgery for you and you are looking for information to help you pick the right one for you. I hope the following paragraphs will help you with this.
Although there are many facts you will want to learn about each doctor you are reviewing, perhaps the most important can boil down to 1) does he listen to you and respond to you, and 2) what do other women have to say about him. You will find that having a caring doctor goes a long way to making your experience better.
But to begin at the beginning, you will want to know about his education and training. What schools did he attend? Where did he do his residency? Who trained him to be a tubal reversal specialist? Does he specialize in tubal reversals?
Next you want to know about his experience. How many of these surgeries does he do weekly? Or are you going to have to ask for yearly? By that, I mean he can only tell you he has done two surgeries in the last year so a weekly number is not something he can produce.
Who does your doctor associate with? Now, I'm not asking about his friends outside of work. What we need to know is how good are his staff, the anesthesiologist, and the surgical team? Are they the same people he works with every week and who, therefore, know what is going on? Or, in the case of the one hit wonder, does he get just whoever is working the day your surgery is scheduled whom he may have never worked with before?
All the above are important but maybe one of the most important things, as I alluded to above, is whether or not he responds to your questions. Or does someone at least from the office answer your questions and concerns? Do you get the feeling they really care about you as their patient or are you simply another paycheck? How easy is it to communicate with the doctor and his staff? Do they provide more than just the phone as a means of contact?
You also want to know what other women who have had the surgery think. You want to know their experience with the doctor you are reviewing. Surely you have some way of checking. Are there testimonials on his website? Can you talk to these women through a message board? Will some even let you contact them through email? This latter may be something you can do through the message board.
Now you have some things to help you consider all the available tubal reversal doctors. Finding the right one for you should be a bit simpler now.
To discover additional to ask tubal ligation reversal doctors, browse the tubal reversal articles and resources available at http://www.sterilizationreversalhelp.com.
Article kindly provided by UberArticles.com
Topics: pregnancy | Comments Off
Tags: fertility, health, infertility, pregnancy, reproduction, reproductive health, surgery, tubal ligation reversal doctors, tubal reversal, tubal reversal doctors, Women, womens health, womens issues
Article Citation
MLA Style Citation:
Wilson, Sandra "Searching For Tubal Reversal Doctors." Searching For Tubal Reversal Doctors. 23 Jun. 2010. uberarticles.com. 13 Aug 2014 <http://uberarticles.com/home-and-family/pregnancy/searching-for-tubal-reversal-doctors/>.
APA Style Citation:
Wilson, S (2010, June 23). Searching For Tubal Reversal Doctors. Retrieved August 13, 2014, from http://uberarticles.com/home-and-family/pregnancy/searching-for-tubal-reversal-doctors/
Chicago Style Citation:
Wilson, Sandra "Searching For Tubal Reversal Doctors" uberarticles.com. http://uberarticles.com/home-and-family/pregnancy/searching-for-tubal-reversal-doctors/
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70 per cent young Brit women have unsafe sexNovember 30th, 2007 - 2:07 pm ICT by admin
London, Nov 30 (ANI): It seems that young women are not precautionary when it comes to sex, for a new survey has found that 70 per cent of them have unprotected intercourse with new partners.
Despite well-known fears of sexually transmitted diseases, 97 per cent revealed that they don't carry condoms.
According to the Company magazine poll, almost 50 percent had caught a sex infection.
"We were shocked by the results," the Mirror quoted Claire Irvin, an acting editor, as saying.
Along with Durex, the magazine has signed celebrities such as Dannii Minogue to design condom tins.
Stressing on the soaring rates of sexually transmitted diseases, Dannii said: Using a condom has never been so important." (ANI)
Tags: brit, condoms, dannii minogue, durex, magazine poll, new partners, new survey, precautionary, sex london, sexually transmitted diseases, tins, unprotected intercourse, unsafe sex, using a condom, young women


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Soup can be a healthy meal in and of itself, especially if it's bean-based. You can always go with the canned variety but dried beans last a long time, cost less, and contrary to reputation, can be easy to prepare. Try black bean soup with smoky jalapeno salsa.
Grilling is a great way to cook the fat off your food and pack on the flavor. Also, fish like salmon and cod are terrific on the grill – and grilling shrimp with the shells on keeps them amazingly moist. No other cooking method adds flamed-on flavor to veggies.
Healthy eating's best kept secrets are hiding in your bulk food aisle. Ingredients such as bulgur, barley and quinoa are inexpensive sources of fiber and protein that are a breeze to cook and give your meal extra texture. You can even batch cook them on Sunday night to have all week long.
Fresh fruit packs extra nutrients into a meal, creates a refreshing contrast with meat in the summer and requires little or no cooking time. Try this recipe from "Real Simple Dinner Tonight: Done!," for roasted pork chops and peaches.
The phrase 'vegetarian meal' used to sound like an oxymoron but there is mounting evidence about the benefits of a plant-based diet. Shoot for one vegetarian dinner a week, like stir-fried rice noodles with tofu and vegetables.
Making a healthy dinner at the end of the workday doesn't have to be a hassle. Meals can be prepared quickly using fresh, interesting ingredients. Food director at Real Simple magazine, Allie Lewis Clapp, offers 189 healthy recipes in her new book 'Real Simple Dinner Tonight: Done!' Check out these essentials to making a healthy meal in about 30 minutes


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The Deception of the Peony
Author: Violet Garnets
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Language, light perverted humor
Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto, and I am merely borrowing his characters for creative and entertainment purposes.
Summary: Naruto's certainly not an idiot, but sometimes the symbolism and multiple layers of certain things goes over his head. This includes certain silver-haired jounin, jewelry, festivals, and flowers.
Note: This happens to be inspired by storm_light's prompt. As you can see, this is quite longer than one-hundred words.
"What's on your face?" Kakashi asked as his student entered the room.
Naruto stared at his teacher, surprised. "Where?"
Kakashi traced the outline of his own lips on his mask, completely amused. Naruto's blue eyes bulged. Furiously, he began to wipe at the red lipstick on his mouth.
"Shit!" He swore between wipes. "I forgot! Sakura and Ino coerced me into a 'practice session' before the mission!"
"Mission? Practice session?" He raised a fine silver eyebrow. "What kind of mission needs a young shinobi to wear lipstick?"
"I badmouthed Tsunade, and now she wants me to cross-dress while I bodyguard this princess at the festival," the blonde grumbled petulantly.
Kakashi shook his head, but stopped midway. Naruto could almost see the gears reversing in the man's head, although he wasn't quite sure why. "Naruto?" Kakashi asked, his tone not betraying any significant emotions. "By cross-dress, will you have to wear a yukata too?"
Naruto nodded reluctantly.
Dark eyes lit up. "Oh, well, have fun!" Kakashi said, almost singsong, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. The blonde shook his head, and resumed his fruitless attempts to remove the lipstick.
A few evenings later, Naruto was in the Fire Country capital, and extremely irritable despite the festivities around him—or rather, her.
With Sexy no Jutsu and the make-up skills of Sakura and Ino, Naruto looked like the ordinary girl: the blonde hair was tied up in an elegant bun, whiskers were well-concealed. Sakura and Ino had retracted their earlier threats after he agreed to be relatively cooperative. They gave him a tiny amount of input and let him pick his yukata.
Surprisingly, he had found one he liked (not that he would actually completely admit it). It was a crisp, light gray, and tiny ocean-blue flowers drifted across the cotton fabric as if blown by the wind. Ino had been surprised by the choice, expecting him to grab the bright orange one with the flowers that looked like fire. But Sakura…she only grinned; a bit impishly, and asked why Naruto had chosen that one, the one that was gray. He found himself blushing at her implications, and had excused himself to prepare.
So what if he developed a tiny little liking for their former teacher? It didn't have anything to do with changes in clothing choice. Did it? Well, it didn't matter anyway. Kakashi was back in Konoha, and Naruto had a job to finish.
So there he was, at the festival, watching the girls from a distance. Ino and Sakura, now grown women, finally reconciled and left their childish rivalry behind. They got along just swimmingly with each other and the young Princess Haruka. The three women joined in a lively dance, laughing and twirling away, their hair bobbing up and down. Naruto was content to stay in the background. It was difficult enough to just walk around in the constricting yukata. Dancing would take way too much effort.
A wolf whistle drew his attention, and Naruto adjusted the obi around the yukata before walking over to the man that called. "Anything wrong, sir?" Naruto almost gagged at the feminine, "flirty" tone he took on. Being a girl for more than two minutes reeked. He never realized how much of a burden breasts were…
"First of all, I think your outfit looks a little uncomfortable. Maybe you should take it off," the man said, waggling his eyebrows. While not ugly, he was obviously uneducated and boorish, even more than Naruto himself. His arm had already wrapped itself around Naruto's slim waist.
The shinobi wanted to laugh at the situation, absolutely sure this guy would not act like this if he knew the full situation, but as it was…Naruto opted just to sock him one in the stomach. A girlish giggle escaped as the guy gasped for breath.
"Why, you little bit—" As the creep rose to strike Naruto, he was just as quickly sent back down by another figure.
Naruto felt a tad insulted by the interference. He was just getting ready to give the guy a shiner too… As he opened his mouth to say something cheeky, he realized just who it was in front of him. Sure, the guy was wearing a blue yukata with yellow butterflies on it, and there was no mask on his face, but all the other features were unique to one person: silver hair flopped gently to one side, a dark eye-patch covering the left eye, and a sliver of a scar peeping out from under the eye-patch. It was unmistakable.
"It's really impolite to raise a hand to a woman, you know," Kakashi said. Naruto didn't register the jab at his masculinity; he was too preoccupied with wondering just why Kakashi wasn't wearing his mask…it was weird seeing a very handsome face match up to that voice. "If you continue on acting like that, I suggest you stay down there. Are you alright, miss?"
It took Naruto a moment to realize that the last statement was directed towards him. "T-thanks," was all he managed to stammer out. What was he supposed to do? Did Kakashi know that the woman he was speaking to was actually his student? Naruto did tell the man he was going to be at this festival…but what reason did Kakashi have to be here? Backup wasn't really needed for such a job. He finally settled on a relatively safe question: "What are you doing here?"
"Same thing as you, I'm just enjoying the festival. It's not everyday the daimyo turns seventy."
Naruto snorted, forgetting the female act. "Thought the old guy'd be dead by now, the way his wife is."
Kakashi laughed, and Naruto was taken aback by how…natural it sounded. "That is quite true; do you know the daimyo's wife personally, miss?"
All right, this was strange. Would Kakashi take an act this far? He looked like he honestly believed that the person he was speaking too was a stranger on the street. And come to think of it, Kakashi had never actually seen Naruto's Sexy no Jutsu…the pervert definitely would be out cold seeing a female Naruto nude… Then again, Kakashi was a pretty good actor. This was all too confusing. Naruto decided to play along.
"I actually wait upon the daimyo's niece, Princess Haruka." A slender hand gestured towards the circle of dancers. Kakashi nodded, and as his silver hair fluttered in the wind, Naruto suddenly felt a little dizzy.
This man was handsome, the features of his face defined and likable even with the pale scars crisscrossing across his face. Seeing his face without a mask made Naruto— God, he needed to get out of this female disguise as soon as possible before the hormones got to him—or, as he really thought about it, he could take advantage of his situation. Now he had a chance to do things he never dared to do before… "I'm…Hikaru. Thank you again for helping me out," Naruto murmured.
"It was nothing, I do what I can to help pretty young ladies," he replied, smooth and suave as ever.
Naruto—or Hikaru – smiled. "Well, isn't there any way I can repay you? Are you hungry?"
"No, I wouldn't let a woman pay. Maybe if you were a man. But I would like some company for the rest of the evening. Would the princess mind if I stole you away?"
"Just give me a moment, please…um…your name?"
"Botan*. Go ahead, I'll wait here."
Naruto nearly flew over to where Sakura was. Catching her attention, he motioned her to join him.
"Anything wrong, Naruto?" she whispered, half out of breath. Her cheeks were a healthy pink, just like her hair. Naruto briefly admired her beauty, before relating his story to her. Her green eyes livened up, and she did her best to discreetly steal a look at their former teacher. "No way! I can't believe he's here! And…wow…he's kinda…hot. No wonder you like him."
Naruto's cheeks burned at her comment. "Shut it," he muttered darkly. "Why do you think he's here anyway? It's not like we need backup."
She only giggled. "To flirt with you, of course! What are you waiting for? Haruka's safe with us. Go! If you score big, let me know!" Sakura pushed him away, and rejoined the crowd before he could say anything more.
He groaned, and resisted the urge to run his hand through his hair. Maybe he should just inconspicuously disappear and go back home to Konoha…but Kakashi would probably notice if a young girl tried to run away from him. Should he just go with it, and act like a girl? Ah, what the hell. He was wasting his time angsting out all the possibilities. He was never good at being wishy-washy anyway. Screw it all, he was going to act like a girl and he was going to enjoy what could possibly be his first and only date with the man he had a massive crush on. And with that, he dove straight into his role as Hikaru.
'Hikaru' strode over to the stand where 'Botan' had been waiting, and greeted him with a pretty smile. "Thank you for waiting, sir."
He smiled back, and the blonde felt a flurry of sensations running through his heart. "No problem. Shall we go?" Kakashi held out an arm and Naruto took it gently, blushing as he did so.
They walked along the pathway, and chatted about everything but their personal lives: how beautiful the flowers were, the state of the capital, the daimyo's health, and so on. It was obvious both relished speaking about trivial matters. Naruto really couldn't remember a moment like this in Konoha, where the conversation never trailed back to missions or training. They stopped at the little stands, sampling foods from each region of the Fire Nation and admired the goods merchants held out to them.
"Excuse me, sir," an elderly man stepped out in front of Botan, a cheeky smile barely hidden underneath his moustache. "Would you like to buy something for your pretty companion?"
"What exactly are you selling?"
The old man moved out of the way to allow the pair a better look at his merchandise. "Jewelry, all handmade."
Deep down, Naruto was hesitant, almost afraid of Kakashi giving something to Hikaru. Wouldn't that cement Kakashi's feelings for someone else? But at the same time…Naruto wanted any display of affection or even liking possible from this silver-haired man, even if it was gained through misleading means.
"Hold still."
The blonde obeyed, breath trapped inside as a warm hand caressed his cheek. After a moment's fiddling, the man pulled away, examining the look.
The merchant appeared at Kakashi's side, and frowned. "Excuse me for being so insolent, but…isn't that necklace a little masculine for a woman of her delicacy?"
"Really?" he replied, smirking. "What do you think, Hikaru-dono?"
Naruto held up the thin silver chain around his neck, and examined the pendant closely. Overlapping spirals of silver created the outline of a drop of water, and a single sapphire lay inside it. For some reason, it made him feel a little…nostalgic.
"Well," the old man conceded, "the sapphire does match her eyes. And it's quite feminine, now that I look at it. Would you like to purchase it?" Kakashi had the money out in an instant.
"No, you really shouldn't buy this for me," Naruto said softly. If you really knew who you were buying it for, you'd change your mind. "Please reconsider."
"Sorry, it's a bit too late for that," Kakashi grinned as he dropped a few more coins into the merchant's hand.
Naruto did the only thing he could; he huffed in silence as they walked over to the stream. Little children were lighting candles and placing them on little rafts, biding their time until the fireworks display began.
Kakashi chuckled a little. "I always thought women liked receiving jewelry. Are you different, Hikaru-dono?"
"You don't even know the first thing about the person you gave this to," the blonde mumbled, fingering the pendant absently.
"Really now?" Kakashi laughed again. "Well, stop me once I head in the wrong direction. Alright?"
Naruto said nothing.
"I'd say you're naturally a blonde, because there isn't a single trace of dark roots. You usually don't attend festivals or wear yukata, since you looked so uncomfortable when I saw you. You can take care of yourself, judging by the way you took care of that guy. Anything so far?"
Sullenly, the blonde shook his head, and continued to play with his new necklace.
"You like to smile. You're caring and considerate. You try your best at everything, no matter what it is."
"Now you're just naming off generalities. All this could apply to anyone, at face-value," Naruto scoffed. But the other's response made the younger one choke.
"Well, how about this: You fight with more spirit than anyone your age, anyone in the village. Your dream in life is to protect your precious people. And…your first kiss really doesn't count."
Suddenly, the space between them seemed to close, although neither moved. Naruto looked up, half-terrified and half-anxious, with wide sapphire eyes. He dropped the necklace from his hand, and let it fall against his chest. "B-b-botan?"
With a lightly serious grin, the man whispered, "It's Kakashi to you…Naruto."
Naruto's surprise converted into flabbergasted anger. "You-you had me act like a girl the whole evening when you knew who I was?" He attempted to point menacingly at Kakashi, although the carefully painted and decorated nail kind of ruined the effect.
"It'd be a poor job if you suddenly started acting like yourself when you look that, wouldn't it? And you and I both got some good practice in acting like someone else."
"But you didn't need to pretend—"
"If I had told you who I actually was, you would have dropped the façade anyway."
The blonde huffed, still confused. "Why, though? Why keep it up?"
"Well," Kakashi exhaled audibly before continuing, "two shinobi on a date is much more awkward than two civilians, isn't it?"
It took the 'female' a moment to process all of that. "We…were on a date," he sighed hazily, speaking more to himself than the other. "Why would you—"
"Seventeen years old and you still have all these questions for your teacher? Perhaps I haven't taught you well."
"You didn't answer my question," Naruto accused.
Kakashi shrugged. "I like you, that's why. Why else would I come all the way here just to spend an evening with you and give you something nice?"
"Oh. Well, thank you. For the gift and, you know, everything." Naruto blushed as he tripped over his words. He hated how even though he already stopped acting like a girl, he felt more feminine right at that moment than ever before. He felt like he had an obligation to give something back to Kakashi, but what exactly?
Then, floating innocently down the stream, a peony caught Naruto's eye. There was something about its vibrant crimson color that pulled him towards it. Bending down, he scooped it up in his hands, letting the water seep down through his fingers. "Here," he murmured, presenting it to Kakashi. "A botan for Botan."
Kakashi covered his face with his hand, chuckling. "Are you really sure you want to give that to me?"
"What's wrong with it?"
"Oh…absolutely nothing at all," he responded breezily, an impish grin plastered across his face. He took the flower from Naruto's slender hands, and tucked it inside his obi. "You should probably get back to your mission. If I'm not mistaken, the fireworks display would be a prime time to attack the princess."
Naruto groaned. "Shit, really?" Without a farewell, he dashed away. Kakashi watched him with a crooked smile, then turned his view upwards as the first fireworks exploded in the sky. They were magnificent, and for a moment, a brief moment, looked a bit like red peonies before they disappeared into the infinite night sky.
"Wait…that's it?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, her green eyes large and perplexed. She paused in her work, letting the pen float over the mountain of papers.
Sitting across from her on a table, Naruto shrugged. "What do you mean, 'that's it'?"
She sighed. "You guys are so bad at this. There's supposed to be some culmination of passion or something. Why didn't you kiss him?"
"Why would I?" He looked downwards, playing with the necklace Kakashi had given him two nights earlier.
"Um...because you like each other?"
"Would you just go and kiss Sai if you two liked each other?" The blonde retorted, knowing full well he hit a chord.
The medic-nin returned to her work, pointedly ignoring the question. "So all you guys did was confess your feelings and give each other gifts? How borin— wait…what kind of flower did you give him again?"
"A peony," Naruto replied nonchalantly. "A red peony. Why?" He realized Sakura had dropped her pen and was, at the moment, attempting to stifle her laughter. She shook almost violently, her pink tresses waving around wildly. "What?" The woman shook her head, choosing to continue her giggling fit than answer him.
Finding the situation hopeless, he decided to leave, Sakura still laughing as he did so. "Women are weird," he grumbled.
Even when he finally made it to his apartment, the blonde's thoughts were still toiling over the paradox of the red peony. What was so funny? Were peonies uncommon? Was it strange to give another man a flower? Well, that didn't matter, because it was strange to like Hatake Kakashi in the first place. "Damn it, why won't someone just tell me?"
"You could just ask."
Naruto jumped, and immediately assumed a defensive stance. But upon realizing it was just Kakashi sitting at the table, he relaxed—a little. Being around the jounin always made him a little tense, in a kind of strange, relatively good way. "The window?" he asked, attempting to gloss over his previous surprise.
"It's a bit easier to unlock than the door. So, what are you curious about?"
"Ah, well, um…you know, it's not a big deal actually," he chuckled sheepishly, running a hand through his hair.
Kakashi cocked his head to the side, and briefly Naruto imagined his teacher as a small child. The strange idea made the person in front of him a little less intimidating. "Come on, I'm interested now."
There was something in the copy-nin's timbre, perhaps its mellow richness, which made the normally stubborn Naruto concede.
"What, exactly, is the meaning of the red peony I gave you? I told Sakura and she laughed like an old hag." The blonde exhaled loudly, as if it took a lot out of him just to say those two sentences.
A smile appeared from under Kakashi's mask. Naruto couldn't exactly describe it, but it made him feel a little fuzzy, out of focus. "Red is rather obvious, don't you think? It's passion, or love."
"Oh. Right. But why would Sakura laugh about that?"
"She wasn't."
"I don't get it, then."
"She was laughing about the symbolism of the peony. It represents the female reproductive organs."
Naruto's mouth made a little 'o' while his eyes made big ones. "So…I…"
"Essentially, you metaphorically gave me your virginity," Kakashi continued smiling as he pulled down his mask and pulled up his hitai-ate. His expression struck the younger one as predatory,. "I think it's about time I claim my prize, too."
Uzumaki Naruto only had six words before Hatake Kakashi claimed his 'official' first kiss.'
"I'm going to bottom, aren't I?"
*Botan is actually a name Masashi Kishimoto considered for Kakashi's character, meaning "peony".
My deepest apologies for the strange use of pronouns in this story, I had trouble referring to Naruto as 'she' when he viewed himself as a man in a woman's guise. It just didn't make sense to me.
Also sorry the format is similar to my other one-shots, but I really can't break out of it for now. If I was a director, I suppose you could call this and other one-shots the formulaic romantic comedies. But I am working on a more serious story, which should hopefully turn out well and be a little more original.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Constructive criticism is always appreciated.