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unleash your creativity
Once upon a time making movies was the exclusive right of the big Hollywood film studios. Well no more. With the right software, a little know-how, and the help of YouTube, anyone can become cinema's next big thing. And that's not all. From Grammy winning albums to fine art and photography, new technology means that anyone can create a masterpiece – no previous experience required.PHOTOGRAPHY With the rise of digital cameras (which seem to be getting cheaper with each passing minute), photography is back in fashion, and the new generation of point-and-shoot digital cameras allow even absolute novices to get great results with relatively little effort. If you are an absolute beginner however, you may still want to get a few words of advice from the experts. www.photography.com is a good spot to get general advice about taking photos. Not technical by any means, www.photography. com has pointers on everything from black and white photography to fashion photography to photographing children. If you're looking for a site that focuses a little more on the nuts-and-bolts aspects of taking great shots, try www.photographytips.com It's a great site that shows you how to get the most out of your camera and teaches professional techniques in easy-to-understand terms. Of course these days there's much more to photography than simply pointing and clicking. After you've caught that great snap there are ways to turn it into something truly spectacular after that initial click. The first stop for professionals is, of course, Photoshop (www.photoshop.com). When it comes to editing your photographs, if you can imagine it, it's possible with Photoshop. Whether it's easy is another matter however, and Photoshop can be pretty intimidating to the absolute beginner. But once you've got a handle on the basics, the world is your oyster. Visit tinyurl. com/phtshptips for how-to guides on getting the most out this truly powerful software. If you don't need all the bells of whistles of Photoshop, and honestly, most of us don't, there are plenty of free alternatives. Try Gimp (as mentioned above), Google's Picasa (picasa.google. co.nz) or an online editor such as Picnik (tinyurl. com/getblender). Both Picasa and Picnik offer easy editing options, such as cropping, exposure controls and sharpening, meaning you can get great results from an imperfect snap without having to spend hours figuring out complicated functions. Then there's Flickr (www.flickr.com), a massive online image hosting site that allows you to display your pictures, create a user profile and participate in a vibrant online community. If you're looking for inspiration, Flickr is second to none.ILLUSTRATION From Norman Rockwell to Frank Miller, illustration has always been considered the granddaddy of the fine arts. Technology has come a long way since Rockwell started putting brush to canvas, however. The digital revolution has transformed the way people think about the visual arts, and allows artists to create images never thought possible previously. When it comes to illustration, Adobe is hands down the leader in the field. Boasting two of the industry's most recognised pieces of software, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, Adobe is generally considered the artist's first choice when it comes to creating art and manipulating images. And it's little wonder either; both Illustrator and Photoshop are very powerful pieces of software. If you can't do it with one of these two programs, chances are it can't be done. www.adobe.com/products For those going into business as professional artists it's hard to go past the Adobe line, although the average user might baulk at the price. There are alternatives, however. For vector-based art-work, try the free vector program, Inkscape. It supports many advanced features, such as clones and alpha blending, all within a stripped-down interface. There's also a great site offering Inkscape specific tutorials: inkscapetutorials.wordpress.com inkscape.org/download One of the better known Photoshop alternatives is Gimp (www.gimp.org). While not having the endless options of Photoshop, Gimp still offers a lot of power (and a similar learning curve), although it's hardly the only option. For plenty of other options visit Osalt.com, a site specialising in open source alternatives to Photoshop, as well as many other handy downloads. And why stop at two dimensions? Google now offers 3D modelling, allowing you to create 3D objects. See sketchup. google.com, and if the Google version isn't to your liking, try the Blender, available at tinyurl.com/getblender If you're looking to make technical diagrams, the days of cartridge pencils and protractors is long gone. You can visit live.gnome.org/Dia/Download to download software that will allow you to create structured diagrams on your PC. Once you've created your masterpiece, get it online. Sites like www.deviantart.com allow you to exhibit your work to a worldwide audience, create a profile and even sell prints.VIDEOWhen it comes to video, YouTube is your gateway to the world. If it's online video, chances are it's hosted on YouTube, and if you're looking for views it's got to be your first stop. It's got an extremely easy-to-use interface and a worldwide audience is able to watch your clip within minutes of it being uploaded. But just how do you go about capturing the Spielbergian movie masterpiece? These days if you own a digital camera, chances are it can capture video. While older cameras may be limited in theirrate, resolution and memory capabilities, most new-model cameras provide more than enough power for the amateur auteur. Many cameras boast pretty comprehensive editing capabilities as well. In some instances however, editing on-device can be awkward and confusing, but don't worry. Windows Movie Maker is a free program that allows you to do all the basics, such as trimming and joining video, adding text, fade-ins and fade-outs and special effects, and it's so simple to use, you'll be up and running in moments. There are different versions available and you'll want to choose the one compatible with your computer. If you're running Windows XP, try visiting tinyurl.com/movmakerxp for your edition, or if you're running Vista, Windows 7 or the Windows Server 2008 operating system, try tinyurl.com/movmakernew All too complicated? YouTube to the rescue again – you can now perform simple video edits such as joining and trimming, and it even allows you to add new audio from the AudioSwap library. For all the details go to tinyurl.com/yteditor.MUSICIf you've got a song in your heart but don't know how to get to the rest of the world, here's how. What you choose depends on what you want to achieve, your level of experience, and of course, your budget. Few would disagree that the ultimate digital recording software is ProTools. Countless hit records have been cut using ProTools and if you can imagine it, ProTools can make it happen. (Check out our review of ProTools Essentials this issue on page 28). If you're inexperienced in making music, but still want to start cutting tracks as soon as possible, you'd perhaps be better off with a program that offers less options, but guides you through the music –making process step by step. Try something like Magix Music Maker 16, a relatively cheap system that offers plenty of samples and loops to help you build your song from the ground up (see our review in the June 2010 issue). If budget is your only concern, don't despair. Try Audacity. It's completely free, and while it may not have the same control offered by more expensive software, classic songs have been composed on a lot less: audacity.sourceforge.net For great advice on the home recording process, and for lots more digital recording options, visit homerecording.com/digital.html for a rundown of what's available. Once you've recorded the next Bohemian Rhapsody, you'll want to share it with friends, family and record executives. Upload it to an mp3 hosting site such as www.mp3-upload.net or www.filefactory.com, then sit back and wait for the phone to ring.


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Who is eligible for Kentucky VA loans?
Kentucky VA loans are available to veterans of the United States Armed Forces, including those who are on active duty or reserve, as well as widows or widowers of veterans. There are also special circumstances under which spouses of veterans can also apply for eligibility.
Keep in mind, you'll need to provide a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) in order to prove you are entitled to receive VA financing. Visit the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs website to learn how to obtain a COE. Your lender can also help you obtain a COE based on your unique circumstances.
What benefits do Kentucky VA Loans offer veterans?
Kentucky VA loan program comes with special advantages other mortgage loan products don't have. Here are just a few benefits of Kentucky VA loans:
Flexible qualifying and credit requirements
Lower interest rates
Zero down payment
No private monthly mortgage insurance (PMI)
Property tax exemptions
There are even grants that allow disabled veterans to make modifications to their home. Another important benefit to point out includes the ability to finance a substantial portion of the closing costs associated with purchasing a home.
In order to get you pre-approved, I will need the following items from you. This is a free process and I will give you a copy of your credit report for free.
VA Loan Checklist
The following is a list of documents that may be required to process your VA mortgage loan:
One full month's worth of pay stubs
Last 2 years W-2′s
Last 2 years tax returns
Copy of your DD214
Your VA Certificate of Eligibility (we can help you get this if needed)
Last two months bank statements for all accounts
I don't need originals, copies are fine. You can fax or email me the above documents.
Let me know your questions.
Thanks and look forward to helping you
VA Home Purchase Benefits
Option for no down payment, zero down home loan
Current 30 year fixed rate of 3.75%
No monthly mortgage insurance premium
Seller or lender may contribute to veteran's closing costs
Termite report required on all VA loans
No closing costs option available
Close in as little as 30 days
Free Mortgage Approvals
Joel Lobb
Senior Loan Officer
American Mortgage Solutions, Inc.
10602 Timberwood Circle, Suite 3
Louisville, KY 40223
phone: (502) 905-3708
Fax: (502) 327-9119
Posted by joel lobb at 12:46 PM
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Labels: 100% cash out refinance, Current VA Mortgage Rates Louisville KY, IRRRLs Versus Cash-Out Refinancing Loans, Kentucky VA Home Loans, Louisville Kentucky VA Home, streamline refinance, zero down va loans

subset: commoncrawl


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It's just before 7pm as the three of us watch the larger-than-life burnt orange African sun set on the edge of the Ngong Hills. Each of us covered head to toe in the deep red dirt of the Great Rift Valley, smiling from ear to ear and drinking down an ice cold Tusker beer. It's been one of those days when you've worked so hard that your brain hurts and your body aches yet your face is shining because of the deep satisfaction from the day.
Just over a decade ago I purchased a one-way ticket to Kenya. I had no idea when I got on that plane just how much the people of Kenya would change my life and what that change would create for many others. I knew very little about Africa then and about the world of international development. I was just a kid from Texas recently graduated from the University of Kansas with a heart on fire wanting to know more about my purpose in life, who I was, and where I fit in the world.
I am so grateful that I did jump on that plane, despite the well intentioned wisdom of so many who kept telling me to go to medical school first and then go help the people in Africa. I am thankful that I was too ignorant or stubborn or whatever it was to get on that plane. As a result I quickly realized it wasn't about my helping the people of Africa, or about the people of Africa helping me, but about us learning how to love and appreciate one another. During that year of living in Kenya my understanding of the world broke wide open and for the first time I realized how intertwined our lives are to one another, even those we may never meet. My heart was shattered in such a beautiful way that I expanded and began to see how much I had to learn from my new friends and family in Kenya. For the first time I began to know the abundance of LOVE.
And that brings us to the present moment, drinking a few Tusker beers, watching the sun set after a long day in the Kenyan wilderness overseeing the creation of our new product, the LOVE bracelet. Jeremiah, Jim and I had just spent the day visiting the 10 Maasai community groups totaling more than 400 women who had recently been employed as artisans through our collaboration with American Eagle Outfitters (AEO). It was one of those work days that you couldn't possibly dream up even if you tried. Three friends meeting with more than 400 Maasai artisans, talking with them about life, about what it means to them to hand-stitch LOVE each day with their friends as they sit under acacia trees near their homes.
The LOVE bracelet was designed by my friend, Chrissie Lam, during a collaborative trip to Kenya with our fashion brand, LIFE Line. We had been in partnership for a few years and wanted to partner on a product that would continue to empower the people of Kenya through job creation. One of the key elements I have learned over the past decade is that much harm has been done in Africa under the intentions of doing good. The reason for this is that much of the Western worlds efforts to "help" Africa actually perpetuates a culture of dependency where African communities literally wait on Western aid to "help" them rather than give them opportunities to live empowered lives. I have found that the best way to do this is by creating jobs where people are able to take control of their own lives by becoming business men and women providing for their families just like any of us here in the West want for our own families.
I couldn't be more excited about our latest partnership with American Eagle Outfitters and the launch of the LOVE bracelet. Over the last 3 months during the production of the LOVE bracelet AEO has empowered LIFE Line to create more than 400 jobs for Maasai women in the Great Rift Valley. Not only have we created jobs, but the Maasai women have made these beautiful bracelets through their ancient tradition of beading under acacia trees near their homes. These products were not made in a factory. They were literally hand-stitched under acacia trees by women community groups gathered in love to stitch LOVE for you!
Together, we have empowered these women to earn a living, care for their children, and provide for their households. It puts a smile on their faces as they wake up, walk with their community of women to live into purpose-filled work of a quality product. Their efforts also connect us here in America to a powerful story of LOVE that we then get to share via the hashtag, #loveisproject.
As the three of us sat there watching the sun go down we all smiled knowing that such a product handcrafted in the African wilderness would soon be front in center in the 1,000 American Eagle Outfitters stores across America. What an incredible feeling and what an amazing collaboration between The Supply Change, LIFE Line and American Eagle Outfitters to believe in something greater than ourselves and to live that belief out loud across the world through LOVE. I hope you enjoy the LOVE bracelet and ask that you please share the love via the hashtag #loveisproject. Thanks to everyone for doing your part to open this door, including our personal TRIBE and the original #loveisproject backers, for believing in us and for seeing the opportunities created when we leverage the influence of fashion to empower lives though job creation.
Big LOVE,
More about LIFE Line: lifelinefashion.org and @lifelinefashion on Instagram


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"Just to say - what a wonderful system! I can thoroughly recommend paying a few extra pounds for the exceptional service received last week. I parked - the driver drove my car away - I walked into the airport with my luggage and on my return was met immediately outside. Highly recommended for people unable to walk far or who dislike inclement weather!"
Excellent Service
"Quite the quickest we've ever got out of an airport. Courteous staff, quick, efficient and only a bit more expensive than parking ourselves."
A Truly Excellent Service
"We found it so much easier than having to wait for a bus to travel to an off site car park. We shall certainly be using them again."
Great Value for Money
"We followed the instructions given on-line and we were met promptly on departing and arriving. got a text on morning of return asking for flight no. The advantage of this service is that there is no hanging about at all. Would definitely use this again at these prices..great value for money."
Very Competitive Rates
"I was impressed with the meet and greet service at Leeds. They were waiting for us when we arrived and were there within ten minutes of our arrival. Rates are also very competitive. I will be using them again on my next flight from Leeds."
Would Recommend
"I have just returned from a half term break in Turkey & chose the services of LCS Meet & Greet at Leeds Bradford airport. I chose the services of LCS as not only was it competively priced, it eliminated the hassle of finding the offsite parking prior to departure. It also allowed us the privilege of not having to set off to the airport really early and made the journey far less stressfull. LCS met me at the aiport upon arrival and were waiting with my car on the day of return. I would recommend their service."
Brilliant service - I would recommend you to anyone!
"Just to thank you for your prompt and efficient service at 0300 this Saturday when we got back to a very foggy Leeds-Bradford. 4 very tired passengers were extremely relieved and pleased to see our car draw up just as we were crossing from the terminal to the drop off and pick-up point. Once again brilliant service and I would recommend you to anyone."
First Class Service
"I would (in fact already have) highly recommend the First Class Service you provided at Leeds Bradford Airport. First impressions are very important and I was very impressed on this, 'first' occasion. I will definitely use your company every time I fly from Leeds in future and will advise anyone I know to be travelling from there to make use of your service."
Very Friendly and Efficient
"LCS meet and greet service at Leeds and Bradford airport is a very friendly, efficient and punctual service and we will certainly use the same company again when travelleing from the airport."
Caring People
"Thankyou for the excellent service and the thorough valet service. We will definitely use your service again.Very professional and caring people."
Speedy and Efficient
"Thanks for the speedy and efficient picking up and dropping off with our car.Everyone was fiendly and helpful we will recomend you to our friends and look forward to using you again."
Worked out great
"It worked out great for me".
No Problems at all
"It did exactly what is said on the tin.. And very very fast... No problems at all.. Would recommend"
Car Cleared of Snow and Ice
"Car cleared of snow and ice which was a great benefit landing back in the recent bad weather! Thank you."
Brilliant Value
"Brilliant value and so easy to use!"
Would Recommend
"Excellent service and staff were very nice. Would recommend to anyone. Will be using them again."
Superb Customer Service
"Superb customer service, great communications, very prompt. The best we have used."
Huge Difference from Self Parking
"2nd time I have used LCS at leeds Bradford what a huge difference from self parking. On & off shuttle buses never again highly recommend"
Thanks for Taking Care of the Thompson Family
"Having just returned from a great Easter holiday we found your meet & greet service fantastic."
Extremely helpful and friendly
"We used your service on 25th June (returning 1st July) and just wanted to email to thank you. We were slightly hesitant when booking, but we couldn't have been happier with the service. It was quick, easy and the man who collected and dropped of our car was extremely helpful and friendly. It saved us a lot of time compared to our last trip using the long stay parking. Thanks once again for the excellent service!"
Thank you for the excellent service
"I would like to thank you for your excellent service last week. I arrived back from Berlin to be met by an immaculately clean car; it made the airline losing my luggage much more bearable. To cap it all, the efficient meet and greet service and an excellent valet was cheaper than my usual business parking at the airport. "
Superb Service
"Superb service - prompt, courteous and efficient. Extremely pleased with "mini valet". Won't hesitate to commend to fellow travellers and will use again next time I fly from LBA. Thank you."
Leeds Bradford Airport is located on the A658 just outside the centre of Yeadon and is well sign-posted from the nearby A65, A660 and A6120. It's also clearly marked from the region's motorways - the M62, M1 and A1M.


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Throughout the first half, Monticello's big home victory over North Fayette Valley at Dean Nelson Field was a see-saw contest.
And then it wasn't.
Max Keleher rushed for 209 of his 243 yards in the second half, scoring three consecutive touchdowns, as the Panthers rallied from a 20-14 halftime deficit to defeat North Fayette Valley 34-26 Friday, Sept. 15.


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'Lone Ranger' announcer Fred Foy dies at 89
December 22, 2010 | 11:57 am
Fred Foy, the radio announcer best-known for calling out "Hi-Yo, Silver!" in his passionate lead-in to "The Lone Ranger" radio program, died Wednesday at his home in Woburn, Mass., of natural causes. He was 89.
His daughter, Nancy Foy, said her father began his career as an actor before landing the job as the announcer on "The Lone Ranger" show in 1948. Radio historian Jim Harson said Foy's dramatic introduction, performed over and over for the live program, was so good it "made many people forget there were others before him."
Nancy Foy said to the end of his life, her father never tired of repeating the intro to anyone who would ask.
A full obituary will follow at Latimes.com/obits.
-- Associated Press


text: Crankbiats can be fished almost year round here in the north east however I really like crankbaits for spring pe-spawn fishing and during periods of high muddy water in summer. No matter what time of year or water conditions your slinging a crankbait, the sooner you can get it down deflecting off structure, the sooner you will start hooking up. Here's a quick tip for getting your crankbaits down to depth quickly and efficiently.


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A frugal present is measured first by it is usefulness. With that in thoughts, the frugal thoughts that's, the present truly serves two sensible functions; it's helpful and saves cash. Most frugal ladies will Under I'll discover a few concepts for considerate, sensible-and sure, frugal-presents. Fill a sturdy laundry basket with one or two packing(…)
Frugal Gifts for the Cook
By Shuchi Bhatnagar in Frugal Living No Comments Tags: Cook, Frugal, Gifts
Everyone has to prepare dinner. Some like it and others simply prepare dinner out of necessity. It is extremely probably somebody in your present listing belongs to the primary class. Under are two concepts for good present baskets for the cooks in your record. Do not permit your self to be restricted by simply these(…)
How to Save Money on Gifts
By Shuchi Bhatnagar in Family Budget No Comments Tags: Gifts, Money, Save
Giving presents doesn't need to be spendthrift. Because the previous adage goes, It's the thought that counts. This goes to point out that folks can begin slicing again on presents that may value them tons of of dollars. It's best to go for issues that is probably not that costly however would undoubtedly convey pleasure(…)
Give Great Gifts without Paying a Fortune for Them
By Shuchi Bhatnagar in Bargain Hunting No Comments Tags: Fortune, Gifts, Give, Great, Paying, them, Without
Typically it appears that you're all the time making an attempt to price range for various events the place that you must present a present. There are all the time loads of housewarmings to attend, weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays to maintain you digging into your pocketbook. Since you realize you'll all the time want presents,(…)


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September 05, 2019 12:00 PM ET [12:00] (New York) | Policy Watch
Join authors of a new book, Smart Regulation, from the Committee for Economic Development (CED) to hear them discuss the right balance between providing prudent consumer protection and supporting sustainable economic growth.
May 02, 2019 12:00 PM ET [12:00] (New York) | Policy Watch
Join our expert panel to learn the implications of US-China relations on America's competitiveness and leadership abroad.
March 07, 2019 12:00 PM ET [12:00] (New York) | Policy Watch
As a changing workforce composition and an aging population has put insurmountable stress on our social security system, more individuals are having to take responsibility for managing their financial futures. Learn how the development of index funds has provided Americans with several diversified and low-cost options to plan for their retirement.
December 06, 2018 11:00 AM ET [11:00] (New York) | Policy Watch
Join us for our December Policy Watch program where we will take a look at the top-priority issues following the 2018 Midterm elections and what the results mean for the 2020 presidential election.
November 14, 2018 11:00 AM ET [11:00] (New York) | Economics Watch
Join our expert economists who will reveal seven key trends that will impact the short- and medium-term outlook for the global economy and provide growth projections for the US, Europe, and Emerging Markets.
October 24, 2018 11:00 AM ET [11:00] (New York) | Window On
Many global organizations are facing large financial exposures to political risks due increasing geopolitical concerns. Join our expert panel to learn what are the biggest sources of political risk for businesses and how should businesses mitigate or cope with these risks, and plan for a response.
September 26, 2018 11:00 AM ET [11:00] (New York) | Window On
It's one of those evergreen questions: where will the price of oil go? Join our next Window On episode to learn the many factors which determine where oil prices may go next and how this will impact business.
September 12, 2018 11:00 AM ET [11:00] (New York) | Economics Watch
Join us for our monthly global forecast discussion and then examines what factors are likely to cause the US economy to gradually slow from its current 3 percent growth pace in 2019.
September 06, 2018 11:00 AM ET [11:00] (New York) | Policy Watch
Join our panel of experts from The Committee of Economic Development of The Conference Board and beyond to learn how the national debt affects your paycheck and the overall fiscal health of the United States.
September 06, 2018 03:00 PM CET [15:00] (Brussels), 09:00 AM ET [09:00] (New York) | Special Webcast
Join this three-part series as Gina Hayden, author and co-founder of The Global Center for Conscious Leadership, takes us through the concept of conscious leadership. Part 3 will focus on business as a force for good.


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About Us
BT Commercial is a dynamic and diversified company with an operation history since 1995… Our company is growing from strength to strength and proudly working with some of the world leading brands in different fields.
We are now moving our core business into alternative & high technology products and installations. We have a well structured set up for our operations including offices, showroom and warehousing complimenting a most capable office & technical staff.
The company IMPORTS A WIDE RANGE OF PRODUCTS including alternative energy products such as:
- Solar thermal water heating
- Photo voltaic tracking and fixed systems
- High efficient air-conditioning units for Domestic and Industrial installation
- Gas fired domestic heaters
- Water heating boilers for Domestic and Industrial use
We also have other lines that are solely intended for the retail trade and these are found in the Products section.
The company is focusing on the retail sector according to the line of work and to compliment our retail strategy we are opening a showroom displaying our products in our own premises for the comfort of our customers. Other retail outlets are being planned.
We are proud to have been entrusted with leading projects and have gained the trust of our customers with installations in hotels, factories and commercial outlets while at the same time gaining a leading edge in the domestic market for air-conditioning & solar water heater sales and installations.
Property Investments
We have invested substantially in properties around the island that are for residential & commercial use. Please visit our property section and have a look at our properties that may be best suited for your needs.


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OpenDaylight Controller:MD-SAL:MD-SAL Document Review:Architecture
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Background
- 3 Requirements
- 4 Architecture
The technologies in the design of the OpenDaylight controller software architecture lie at the intersection of three recent technology trends in software engineering and networking: Software Defined Networking (SDN) innovations, model driven software engineering (MDSE) and model driven network management. Because SDN is driven (in part) by the demands for increased network programmability (enabling the networking agility component of the movement toward increased virtualization, abstraction and programmatic control), the controller functions as both "middleware" in solution delivery and "foundry" in application development. The OpenDaylight controller software architecture defines patterns of application creation and interaction (APIs and RPC governance), underlying application services (e.g. message routing, formatting and data storage) and has ultimately lead to new development tools for an environment enabled for open source collaboration.
The following sections are organized as follows. Section Background provides a brief background of these key software and networking technologies/approaches used in the model-driven controller architecture/design. Section Requirements describes the context and requirements for the OpenDaylight controller architecture/design. Finally, Section Architecture describes the architecture of the OpenDaylight controller.
Software Defined Networking
Software-defined networking emerged from work done at UC Berkeley and Stanford University around 2008. The original SDN network architecture proposed decoupling of network control from packet forwarding and a direct programmability of the network control function [1]. Network intelligence is (logically) centralized in software-based SDN controllers, which maintain a global view of the network. As a result, the network appears to the applications and policy engines as a single, logical switch. This architecture has been further evolved in the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), an organization that also drives the evolution of the OpenFlow protocol standard. OpenFlow allows the network control function to remotely program the packet forwarding function.
Over the years, multiple controllers were developed for this architecture: Beacon, Floodlight, NOX, POX, Ryu and more recently ONOS. Each controller implemented OpenFlow as the sole southbound protocol towards the packet forwarding function, and provided access to its control plane functions through northbound REST APIs. These controller platforms supported mostly network control plane applications, with the "killer app" being network virtualization.
While decoupling of control and forwarding functions is a valid and useful SDN use case, SDN can be defined more broadly than by the OpenFlow protocol abstractions. OpenFlow only supports retrieval and programming of data related to the network forwarding function. However, the network is a source of a vast amount of other useful data that can be utilized by SDN applications. Moreover, network data can be retrieved and networks can be programmed through a variety of protocols and APIs at different levels of information abstraction, such as BGP, NETCONF, Netflow/IP-Fix, SNMP, or vendor-specific CLIs. Basically, SDN defines a generic feedback/control/policy loop between applications and the network: applications get data/information from the network, process the data and make policy/control decisions that are driven back into the network, as shown in the following figure:
SDN use cases now encompass, in addition to Data Center specific orchestration applications, a variety of diverse SDN applications that harvest network information and use network APIs to program the network. Examples are, in addition to virtualization (VTN or Open DOVE), applications such as multi-layer path optimization, network analytics, Group Policy configuration, Service Function Chaining or Security.
Model-Driven Software Engineering
OpenDaylight leverages Model Driven Software Engineering (MDSE) defined by the Object Management Group (OMG). MDSE describes a framework based on consistent relationships between (different) models, standardized mappings and patterns that enable model generation and, by extension, code/API generation from models. This generalization can overlay any specific modeling language. Although OMG focus their MDA solution on UML, YANG has emerged as the data modeling language for the networking domain.
The models created are portable (cross platform) and can be leveraged to describe business policies, platform operation or component specific capability (vertically) as well as (in the case of SDN) manifest at the service interfaces provided by a network control entity (horizontally and vertically within an application service framework).
MDSE enables run-time mediation and inter-model mapping, for example, if the models are of two different domain types, such as J2EE and UML
Model-Driven Network Management/Programmability
The model-driven approach is being increasingly used in the networking domain to describe the functionality of network devices [4], services [15], policies [18], [19], and network APIs [16], [17]. The protocols of choice are NETCONF and RESTCONF; the modeling language of choice is YANG.
NETCONF is an IETF network management protocol that defines configuration and operational conceptual data stores and a set of Create, Retrieve, Update, Delete (CRUD) operations that can be used to access these data stores. In addition to the data stores CRUD operations, NETCONF also supports simple Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and Notification operations. NETCONF operations are realized on top of a simple Call (RPC) layer. NETCONF uses an XML- based data encoding for the configuration and operational data, as well as for its protocol messages.
RESTCONF is a REST-like protocol that provides a programmatic interface over HTTP for accessing data defined in YANG, using the data stores defined in NETCONF. Configuration data and state data are exposed as resources that can be retrieved with the HTTP GET method. Resources representing configuration data can be modified with the HTTP DELETE, PATCH, POST, and PUT methods. Data is encoded in either XML or JSON.
YANG was originally developed to model configuration and state data in network devices, but it can also be used to describe other network constructs, such as services, policies, protocols, or subscribers. YANG is tree- structured rather than object-oriented; data is structured into a tree and it can contain complex types, such as lists and unions. In addition to data definitions, YANG supports constructs to model Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) and Notifications, which make it suitable for use as an Interface Description Language (IDL) in a model-driven system.
The SDN controller should be both a platform for deploying SDN applications and provide (or be associated with) an SDN application development environment.
An SDN controller platform should be built to meet the following key requirements:
- Flexibility: The controller must be able to accommodate a variety of diverse applications; at the same time, controller applications should use a common framework and programming model and provide consistent APIs to their clients. This is important for troubleshooting, system integration, and for combining applications into higher-level orchestrated workflows.
- Scale the development process: There should be no common controller infrastructure subsystem where a plugin would have to add code. The architecture must allow for plugins to be developed independently of each other and of the controller infrastructure, and it must support relatively short system integration times. Currently, there are 18 active OpenDaylight projects. Fifteen more projects are in the proposal stage. OpenDaylight projects are largely autonomous, and are being developed by independent teams, with little coordination between them.
- Run-time Extensibility: The controller must be able to load new protocol and service/application plugins at run-time. The controller's infrastructure should adapt itself to data schemas (models) that are either ingested from dynamically loaded plugins or discovered from devices. Run-time extensibility allows the controller to adapt to network changes (new devices and/or new features) and avoids the lengthy release cycle typical for legacy EMS/NMS systems, where each new feature in a network device results in a manual change of the device model in the NMS/EMS.
- Performance & scale: A controller must be able to perform well for a variety of different loads/applications in a diverse set of environments; however, performance should not be achieved at the expense of modularity. The controller architecture should allow for horizontal scaling in clustered/cloud environments.
To support development of SDN applications, an SDN controller should also provide (or be associated with) an application development environment that should meet the following key requirements:
- Code generation from models should be used to enforce standard API contracts and to generate boilerplate code performing repetitive and error-prone tasks, such as parameter range checking.
- Code generation should produce functionally equivalent APIs for different language bindings.
- Use a domain-specific modeling language to describe internal and external system behavior; this fosters co- operation between developers and network domain experts and facilitates system integration.
- A domain-specific modeling language and code generation tools should enable rapid evolution APIs and protocols (Agility).
- Domain-specific language/technologies/tools used in the controller must be usable for modeling of generic network constructs, such as services, service chains, subscriber managements and policies.
- Modeling tools for the controller should be aligned with modeling tools for devices. Then, a common tool chain can be used for both, and device models can be re-used in the controller, creating a zero-touch path between the device and a controller application/plugin that uses its models.
- The tool chain should support code generation for model-to-model adaptations for services and devices.
History and Overview
OpenDaylight was originally inspired by Beacon, which introduced the use of Open Service Gateway Interface (OSGi) that is key for modularity and run-time loading of components (plugins) into the controller. The initial "bootstrap" contribution to ODL introduced a major innovation: the Service Adaptation Layer (SAL) that separated southbound (SB) protocol plugins and northbound (NB) service/application plugins. The architecture comprised three layers: SB protocol plugins, the SAL, and the NB Application/Service Functions., as shown in the following figure.
The SB (protocol) plugins interface with network devices. The SAL adapted the SB plugin functions to higher-level Application/Service functions, which provide the controller's NB APIs to applications. Examples of Application/Service functions are the Topology Exporter, the Inventory Manager and the OpenFlow Statistics Manager. The layered architecture allows the controller to support multiple southbound protocols (via SB protocol plugins) and to provide a uniform set of services and APIs to applications through a common set of NB APIs.
In the original SAL (referred to as the "API-Driven SAL", AD-SAL), developers had to define the SAL APIs used by the plugins and code the adaptation functionality between the northbound and southbound plugins. It quickly became apparent that hand-coding the SAL APIs and adaptations to support new plugin functionality would not scale in an initiative of ODP's magnitude.
Evolution to the Model-Driven Service Adaptation Layer
To address the requirements for the controller listed in Section Requirements , a new model-driven architecture was proposed and implemented for the Service Adaptation Layer (referred to as the "Model-Driven SAL", MD-SAL). The architecture is built around concepts, protocols and modeling language described in detail in Section Background.
Controller plugins can be either data/service Providers or data/service Consumers. A Provider provides data/services through its APIs. A Consumer consumes services/data provided by one or more Providers. For example, the OpenFlow protocol plugin provides services to add, modify or delete flows from switches connected to the plugin. One of the consumers of the OpenFlow plugin's services is the Forwarding Rules Manager that provides higher-level flow programming services to controller clients.
The OpenDaylight development environment includes tooling that generates this code (codecs and Java APIs). The tooling preserves YANG data type hierarchies, retains data tree hierarchy (providing normal Java compile-time type safety) and data addressing hierarchies. A plugin's APIs are resolved when the plugin is loaded into the controller. The SAL does not contain any plugin-specific code or APIs and is therefore a generic plumbing that can adapt itself to any plugins or services/applications loaded into the controller.
From the infrastructure's point of view, there is no difference between a protocol plugin and an application/service plugin. All plugin life-cycles are the same, each plugin is an OSGi bundle that contains models defining the plugin's APIs. Since all plugins are the same to the controller infrastructure, the architecture can be drawn as shown in the following figure, which also shows how in a cluster of multiple controller instances an MD- SAL instance within a JVM container will be connected to the cluster's message bus and data store.
OpenDaylight YANG Models
The Hydrogen production code contains approximately 110 YANG models; 3 models were defined in IETF RFCs, 8 in IETF drafts, the rest have been defined for specifically for the controller and its applications. Approximately 10 models describe IETF protocol PDUs, 27 models describe various aspects of the OpenFlow protocol and 35 models define the controller's internal wiring and configuration. Approximately 15 additional models were used for prototyping and proof-of- concept work.
TODO: Helium statistics
Model-Driven SAL (MD-SAL) Detailed Description
TODO: Add a summary of the three things that MD-SAL is: RPC, Notification, Data Store, all described in yang.
Common Concepts
The common concepts used in the MD-SAL design are as follows. An RPC is a one-to-one call triggered by a Consumer, which may be processed by a Provider either local or remote. A Notification is an event, which a Consumer may be interested in to receive, and which is triggered / originated in a Provider. The Data Store is a conceptual data tree, which is described by YANG schemas. A Path is a unique locator of a leaf or sub-tree in the conceptual data tree. Finally, a Mount is a logically-nested MD-SAL instance, which may be using a separate set of YANG models; it supports its own RPCs and Notifications and it allows for reusing device models and a context in network-wide contexts without having to redefine the device models in the controller ("Mount", as its name suggests, is basically a logical mount of a remote conceptual data store).
MD-SAL Functionality and Data Representations
The MD-SAL provides a variety of functions required for adaptation between Providers and Consumers. First, it routes RPC calls between Consumers and Providers (RPC Call Router). Second, it provides a subscription-based mechanism for delivery of Notifications from Publishers to Subscribers (Notification Broker). Third, it routes data reads from Consumers to a particular data store and coordinates data changes between Providers (Data Broker). Finally, it creates and manages Mounts (Mount Manager).
The implementation of the above SAL functions requires the use of two data representations and two sets of SAL Plugin APIs. The Binding-Independent data format/APIs is a Data Object Model (DOM) representation of YANG trees. This format is suitable for generic components, such as the data store, the NETCONF Connector, RESTCONF, which can derive behavior from a YANG model itself. The Binding- Aware data format/APIs is a specific YANG to Java language binding, which specifies how Java Data Transfer Objects (DTOs) and APIs are generated from YANG model. The API definition for these DTOs, interfaces for invoking / implementing RPCs, interfaces containing Notification callbacks are generated at compile time. Codecs to translate between the Java DTOs and DOM representation are generated on demand at run time. Note that the functionality and performance requirements for both data representations are the same.
MD-SAL Design
The data handling functionality is separated into two distinct brokers: a binding-independent DOM Broker that interprets YANG models at runtime and is the core component of the MD-SAL runtime, and a Binding-Aware Broker that exposes Java APIs for plugins using binding-aware representation of data (Java DTOs. These brokers, along with their supporting components are shown in the following figure:
The DOM Broker uses YANG data APIs to describe data and Instance Identifiers specific to YANG to describe paths to data in the system. Data structures in the Binding-Aware Broker that are visible to applications are generated from YANG models in YANG tools. The DOM Broker relies on presence of YANG schemas, which are interpreted at runtime for functionality-specific purposes, such as RPC routing, data store organization, and validation of paths.
The Binding-Aware Broker relies on Java APIs, which are generated from YANG models, and on common properties of Java DTOs, which are enforced by code generation. Therefore data transfer optimizations (zero-copy) are possible when a data Consumer and a data Provider are both Binding-Aware.
The Binding-Aware Broker connects to the DOM Broker through the BA-BI Connector, so that Binding-Aware Consumer/Provider applications/plugins can communicate with their respective binding-independent counterparts. The BA-BI Connector, together with the Mapping Service, the Schema Service, the Codec Registry and the Codec Generator implement dynamic late binding: the codecs that translate YANG data representations between a binding-independent (DOM) format and DTOs, which are specific to Java bindings, are auto-generated on demand.
The physical Data Store is pluggable – MD-SAL provides an SPI through which different data store implementations can be plugged in.
The Mount concept and the support for APIs generated from models allow for applications talking to NETCONF devices to be compiled directly against device models – there is no need for controller-level models that represent devices. Device models are loaded into the controller from a NETCONF device when the controller connects to the device, and apps can work directly with them.


text: Uche Ogbuji wrote: > > Tom Passim: > > > Jim Fulton continued the attributes thread - > > > > I still don't see why anyone is still arguing about whether the DOM rec > > makes Python use attributes. I doesn't. In fact, it says that what are > > called "attributes" in the IDL definitions are NOT supposed to be attributes > > in implementations, and that the get/set accessor functions don't have to > > store/retrieve from actual objects, let alone attributes of objects. > > > > So can we at least lay this part of it to rest? Now if most people think it > > is more 'Pythonic' to use attributes, or if there are clearcut performance > > benefits, then we have a basis for discussion. But let's quit talking about > > whether the DOM rec makes us do attributes. > > Now I have no idea what you lot are arguing. The first argument was against > leading underscore because it's "not Python idiom". The point was made that > we should simply cock a snook at the Python/CORBA binding. Once that point > was allowed, the same lot are arguing against using attributes, which are > indisputable Python idiom on the grounds that it goes against the spirit of > the W3C spec. People who read the W3C spec have reason to expect accessor functions. This is a resonable argument for them. While this argument isn't necessarily conclusive, there's no reason to dismiss it. I think a much stronger argument is that requireing that DOM attributes be published as Python attributes puts an undue burden on DOM implementors. The abstraction of attribute access to allow computation *is* a Python idiom, but so is use of accessor functions. Avoidance of circular references is *certainly* a common Python design practice. There are techniques for implementing the DOM API that avoid circular references that require compting some DOM attributes. Requiring that DOM attributes be published as Python attributes makes this harder. > I hope I can be blunt without antagonism, but it seems as if a particular goal > is in mind: i.e. DOM attribute access through accessor/mutators only, and any > available argument is being thrown at that goal. Is there something wrong with presenting arguments to support a position? > I'll note that I claim to have no agenda But you have an opinion, which is fine. > except to do what's sensible for > Python and DOM (we've already put a great deal of work into making 4DOM > conform to the earlier list consensus, and we could put in more work if it > made sense.) I question the value of list consensus without follow through. I, as a DOM implementor have no way of knowing what the list consensus was unless I happened to be paying attention at the time, which I wasn't. If there was consensus, then it should be published. When I asked about the API a few days ago, there didn't seem to me to be much consensus about what the Python DOM API actually is. Jim -- Jim Fulton mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com Python Powered! Technical Director (888) 344-4332 http://www.python.org Digital Creations http://www.digicool.com http://www.zope.org Under US Code Title 47, Sec.227(b)(1)(C), Sec.227(a)(2)(B) This email address may not be added to any commercial mail list with out my permission. Violation of my privacy with advertising or SPAM will result in a suit for a MINIMUM of $500 damages/incident, $1500 for repeats.


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The MBSR programme was developed by Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Centre for Mindfulness in Medicine,
Healthcare and Society, University of Massachusetts Medical School.
It is an 8 week, 9 session programme designed to teach people how to integrate mindfulness in their everyday lives.
It especially focuses on applying mindfulness to the whole range of challenges that can arise from life's stresses and physical and psychological conditions.
The effects of mindfulness could be described as 'coming home to oneself'.
It's not foreign to us as we all started out as mindfulness experts so fortunately it is not about 'getting' or 'acquiring' something it's more about remembering how to live in this way.
Click here for 10 minute video clip from the Center for Mindfulness on the MBSR programme
Over the course of the 8 weeks participants experience and learn to use mindfulness meditation in the form of formal practices, such as sitting meditation, body scanning and during mindful movement.
Instructions and tailored individual advice is also given to help participants incorporate mindfulness into their daily activities and also to help them respond to stressful experiences in a more effective way. Daily home practice is part of this course.
It is the aim of the programme to cultivate ways of learning and being that can be utilised far beyond completion of the programme and the various studies
that have been done outline this to be the case.
Your can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf – Jon Kabat-Zinn
Dr Kabat-Zinn and colleagues have developed this programme over the last 3 decades and
it has been successfully implemented in hundreds of hospitals, clinics, health centres, communities and other settings around the world.
Numerous scientific studies underline the effectiveness of the MBSR programme.
The MBSR programme is intensive in nature and also life affirming.
The patterns of the mind we will be working to change have often been around for many years so we can only succeed in shifting these habitual and automatic ways of thinking if we put in some time and effort.
It can be challenging to find time and self discipline to attend the classes and to do the home practice but it is worth making a commitment to oneself to give it your best shot as only then you can make a decision whether this approach could be helpful for you and your life. Click here to read what others say about the course.


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Bioi Architects have set a whole new standard of energy-efficiency with this crisp new farmhouse in Warburg, Canada. Tasked with building a home that is attractive, efficient, modern and yet affordable, the designers employed a series of innovative construction techniques and emergent technologies that cost their client less than $100,000. Bioi sheathed a re-purposed barn in a black metal skin, and the whole program was oriented for maximum southern exposure. Heavily insulated and then fitted with the most efficient mechanical systems available, the home was awarded the highest EnerGuide rating possible.
The Warburg house was placed in a large clearing on the southern edge of the client's farmstead to maximize southern exposure. The barn's shell was draped in black corrugated sheet metal and then the eastern and western edges were punched out and clad with attractive cedar planks. These entryways provide plenty of natural light and also ensure passive cooling during warmer summer months. Skylights and windows bring additional light indoors.
All of the plumbing infrastructure was clustered together in a birch-clad cube. Radiant heating is embedded in the polished concrete floor and a super-efficient mechanical system slashes the home's energy bill. These interventions combined with heavily-insulated outer walls make this home as energy efficient as they come. As the designer points out, the only thing that could make it more so is an on-site generation system that wasn't included in the brief. Despite being simple, this striking singular volume is bound to lead the way to more efficient housing in chilly Canada.
Via Arch Daily


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Oasis-Church-NJ.com celebrated its Grand Opening on 9/19/10, as it kicked off it's GLEE Series. Glee means unbounded joy. Listen in as Pastor Dave shares from Romans Chapter 8 in God's Word how to maintain hope in a world that is hopelessly broken. Go here to see our NJ church videos.
Oasis meets in two awesome locations: Sundays 11am at at The Gran Centurions at 440 Madison Hill Rd in Clark; Sundays 10am at Regal Hadley Cinema Theater Stadium at 1000 Corporarte Ct in South Plainfield, right near Target!.
We serve the following nearby NJ towns with our contemporary,non-denominational church services: Mountainside, Union, Westfield, Scotch Plains, Summit, Elizabeth, Plainfield, Fanwood, Cranford, Clark, Berkeley Heights, Springfield, Roselle, North Plainfield, Green Brook, Dunellen, Kenilworth, Woodbride, Piscataway, South Plainfield, Plainfield, Edison, Perth Amboy, Metuche, South Bound Brook, Bound Brook, Manville, Bridgewater, Hillsborough, East Brunswick, New Brunswick, North Brunswick, South Brunswick, Woodbridge, Bernarsdville, Maplewood, Hillside, Colonia, Fords, Warren, Millburn,Linden, Rahway, Linden, Watchung, Chatham, Irvington, West Orange, Piscataway, Montclair, Hillside, Maplewood , Newark, Iselin, Sayreville, Perth Amboy, South Amboy, Rutgers, Franlin Township, Somerset, Somerville,Rahway, Irvington, Basking Ridge Nutley, South River and more.
More About this NJ Church:


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One of the really cool things about distance estimation functions is the ability to instantiate multiple instances of an object.
The basic sphere distance evaluator takes the form of a quick distance check from the current location to the centre of the sphere and looks like this:
distance_estimate = magnitude(pos-centre) - radius
To make this into a tiling sphere you just wrap the x and z coordinates around in a box. A really simple way to do this is using a mod instruction like this
pos.x = mod(x+1, 2)-1; pos.z = mod(z+1, 2)-1; distance_estimate = magnitude(pos-centre) - radius
The full script if you want to reproduce this object…
rule main { scale = vec(8,8,8) distanceminimum=0.001 distanceiterations=200 stepsize=1.0 distancefunction(repspheresingle) distance } shader repspheresingle { distance = sphere(vec(rep(getx(pos),0.1), rep(gety(pos),0.25), rep(getz(pos),0.15)), vec(0,0,0), 0.1) }
This approach is the one that Inigo Quilez discusses in his excellent reference article about simple distance estimation functions.
It can be pretty hard to get your head around why this works. Within global space you can exist at any coordinate position i.e. you can go to -1000 on the x axis, or +100000 on the x axis. With a distance estimator there's not much going on at these locations. A sphere estimator of radius 1 only gives values close to zero in the central cube of space. To make the sphere appear again then we take our coordinates outside of this central cube, and map them back inside it.
When a ray is cast, the ray will step in global space, but the sphere distance estimator will work in a local coordinate system defined by the size of the repeating cube.
This gives very cool results for little cost when instantiating simple objects, but it's not perfect. Have a look at this screenshot of repeating tori.
I've added a rotation to this distance estimator so that each instance of the torus is rotated by it's global x position. As you can see, we're starting to get some misses on the distance estimation function near the edges of objects, particularly the torus on the lower edge of the image. What's going on here?
Well, imagine that the mod operation has effectively added a clipping plane into 3d space. As the distance estimator approaches this clip plane it's possible that on the nearside, there's a large distance estimate, but on the other side of the clip plane an object exists almost immediately (i.e. we should have a small distance estimate). When we use the larger value to step the ray we skip over the object. The collision point has been missed!
You can improve the look by reducing your step size and increasing the threshold for the distance estimator, but you'll never quite be able to get rid of the missing pixels when your instantiated object approaches the clip plane.
It'd be tempting to throw the towel in on multi-object instantiation with more complex global functions, but what we've discovered here is an interesting aspect of distance estimation functions. For them to work properly they have to be "smooth". i.e. the distance estimator shouldn't go from 0.01 to 1.0 if you've moved 0.000001 along the ray.
These discontinuities cause the distance estimator to fail, leading to missing pixels when raytracing.
In the case of a simple mod function the discontinuity occurs at the clip plane of each repeat where the coordinates moves from 1 back to 0. The chart below shows this in 1 dimension…
Fortunately there is a way to fix this. Instead of using a pure mod function we can actually fold space around the clip plane. Folding effectively means "mirroring" space around the clip plane. Mathematically it's not that dissimilar to the standard repeating function shown above, except that we now reflect it around the origin.
value = abs(smod((value + repeat), repeat*4) - repeat*2) - repeat;
And instead of having a graph with obvious discontinuities, you now have a sawtooth graph with no harsh discontinuities.
When we change our multiple torus render to use the box fold we get a noticeably different result.
First off you'll notice that instead of each torus rotating incrementally, they now alternate between rotate left, and rotate right. This might be unwanted, but the really interesting thing is that the torus on the lower edge of the image is now solid!
If you want to replicate the two tori images above you'll want the following two shaders (and the latest version of wooscripter)
// repeating torus distance = torus(roty(vec(rep(getx(pos),0.1), gety(pos), rep(getz(pos),0.15)),mul(180,getx(pos))), 0.08, 0.02) // folded torus distance = torus(roty(vec(fold(getx(pos),0.1), gety(pos), rep(getz(pos),0.15)),mul(180,getx(pos))), 0.08, 0.02)
Once you start thinking about it, there's a bunch of other smooth functions in 3d that you could use to transform global space back into a local object space, but I'll mess about with that another time!


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Charismatic Chaos manifestations and preaching in the Church today. Take a look at the following two short videos featuring the "ministries" Marjoe Gortner and Mr Todd Bentley – and see how and why these two ministries are linked together as such. In this short video, Marjoe Gortner explains the money making business of the False Profit […]Read: Charismatic Chaos – Marjoe Gortner and Todd Bentley
Seducing Spirits
Faith Undone (5)
"Is the emerging church spirituality part of this great falling away?"Read: Faith Undone (5)


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Lebanese security officials say gunmen have ambushed and killed a Palestinian official in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon.
They say Talal al-Urduni, a senior security official with the mainstream Palestinian Fatah movement, died Saturday in a hail of gunfire along with his bodyguard after they were intercepted by the gunmen near the Nidaa hospital in a neighborhood of the camp.
Lebanese security officials say Islamic extremists in the camp were likely behind the assassination Saturday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give official statements.
The assassination triggered heavy gunfire inside the camp, which could be heart in the southern port of Sidon.
Assassinations are common in Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp and a haven for militants and fugitives.
© 2010 Ahram Online.


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On Sunday November 13, 7:30 pm, Los Angeles Filmforum and Otis College of Art and Design present Doin' It on Tape: Video from the Woman's Building. The screening is the 7th in the series Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 at the Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd (at Las Palmas), Los Angeles CA 90028. Excerpts from two of my videotapes will be included in the program – Eclipse in the Western Palace (1976) and Our Lady of LA (1987). To purchase tickets go to http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/209055.
Jerri Allyn and Alex Juhasz host this screening, and introduce video excerpts from 1971 through 1987, from the Woman's Building and LA Women's Video Center Archives (LAWVC). Video art, documentary features, and raw footage touch on the 1893 Woman's Building at the Chicago World's Fair, women artists in Southern California circa 1968-1973, feminist education, lesbian art, the goddess in the city of angels, violence against women and women fighting back, art collectives and art activism – with some thoughts on media archives. The program looks at some of the amazing media work created at the Woman's Building and the LAWVC, usually on video, much of it not seen in twenty years or more, by many of the leading artists of the era. Featured artists include: The L.A. Women's Video Center collective, Cheri Gaulke, Starr Goode, Suzanne Lacy, Leslie Labowitz-Starus, Susan Mogul, Sheila Ruth, Jane Thurmond, and more. The LAWVC was cofounded at the Woman's Building: A Public Center for Women's Culture by Nancy Angelo, Candace Compton, and Annette Hunt in 1976 and joined by Jerri Allyn in 1977.
This screening is organized in conjunction with the exhibition Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building on view at Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design October 1, 2011-January 28, 2012. Dr. Alexandra Juhasz, Professor of Media Studies at Pitzer College, mined the Woman's Building video archives housed at the Getty during the research phase of Pacific Standard Time. Her essay, A Process Archive: The Grand Circularity of Woman's Building Video, can be found in the Doin' It in Public catalog. Jerri Allyn is an artist and educator who was instrumental inn the early years of the LAWVC. Her Debating Through the Arts performance was recently presented at LACE as part of Pacific Standard Time.
See http://www.otis.edu/public_programs/ben_maltz_gallery/womansbuilding.html and http://www.womansbuilding.org for more on the Woman's Building and the exhibition.
In person: Jerri Allyn, Alexandra Juhasz, Susan Mogul, Cheri Gaulke, Sue Maberry, Kathleen Forrest, Suzanne Lacy, Leslie Labowitz-Starus (schedules permitting).
Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980 will feature over 24 shows from October 2011 through May 2012. Alternative Projections is Filmforum's exploration of the community of filmmakers, artists, curators and programmers who contributed to the creation and presentation of experimental film and video in Southern California in the postwar era. Film series curated by Adam Hyman and Mark Toscano, with additional contributions by guest curators and is presented in conjunction with the support of the Getty initiative Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980.
– Cheri Gaulke


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Although most people are familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan, all too often we've sanitised Jesus' message in it, which results in us missing just how challenging the call to love our neighbour as ourselves is. The Good Samaritan isn't a story about the kindness of strangers; it's a radical redefinition of the word 'neighbour' and a picture of crossing divisions to love those who are different to us. This sermon challenges us to ask the questions "who is my neighbour?" and "how can I be a neighbour to them?".
Listen to this sermon from Sunday 3rd September 2017 by clicking here.


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Hot Luck's Hi Lo event Friday night is a celebration of the dishes that got chefs excited about food and being a chef.
"Don't try and make something super fancy, make something you're really excited about," fest co-founder Aaron Franklin told the chefs. For Uchi chef-partner Tyson Cole, that meant tuna and texture. When he first started learning to make sushi about 24 years ago, Cole says his first love was raw tuna. He loved a simple roll called a tekka maki, and says he used to eat one a day for years.
"I got addicted to that roll, and in turn to the tuna. Eventually I just started eating raw tuna sashimi," Cole said. "And later, after many guests requests to make new dishes, started to pair tuna with all kinds of other ingredients."
One example a Uchi: the tuna and goat cheese sashimi with Fuji apples and pumpkin seed oil, that's been on the menu since day one.
Cole's getting back in touch with his first love with a dish of akami te, fresh big eye tuna with raw watermelon served with a touch of nouc man (fish sauce with sugar and garlic), is one of the best bites you can imagine.
- Barbecue guru Aaron Franklin fires up his torch for Hot Luck festival
- Aaron Franklin to create and sell barbecue pits for home cooks
- Barbecue guru Aaron Franklin fires up his torch for Hot Luck festival
- What will Aaron Franklin be cooking at Hot Luck?
- Aaron Franklin and partners bringing Hot Luck food and music festival to Austin in May


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I've always wanted to learn to make tamales. So when I had the opportunity to cook with my wonderful friend Janet, I asked her if she would show me how they are made in her home country of Mexico. Before we started, she warned me that tamales are a labor of love: While certainly not a quick dish, they would be worth the work, she ensured me.
Many countries have their own version of tamales. Even in Mexico, tamales vary from place to place, family to family: Some wrap their tamales with corn husks, while others use banana leaves. Janet told me that where she is from in northern Mexico, corn husks are the preferred cooking sleeve, and she feels that they yield a tender, softer exterior. The fillings, too, are matter of preference. Some like to add refried beans or chicken to the masa dough, but for Janet's family, the favorite is slow-cooked pork flavored with ancho chile. (And she uses any leftover pork to make tostadas or fill tacos.)
Because the pork simmers for three hours, Janet makes it the day before. With the pork shredded and flavored ahead of time, she can focus on making the masa dough and assembling the tamales.
Making the masa is a bit time consuming—but very important. Janet told me that in Mexico, you can go to the mill to pick up freshly ground masa, which is softer and fresher than what we purchase in the grocery store here. In the States, she prefers to buy "instant" masa, as she feels it has the closest flavor to what she was able to buy back home.
Once the masa is ready, she lays the pliable husk in her hand, using her palm as a base, and spreads the masa up and down. She wants the masa to be thin enough that she can put a generous helping of pork down in the middle. Then, she expertly folds it up and ties it with a bow made of corn husk. In Mexico, she would make a simple tie on the pork tamales and a bow on the bean tamales so that her guests would always know what they were going to find inside.
When she's ready to cook, Janet lines the steamer basket with broken pieces of corn husks before nestling in the tamales—the steam will heat the husks before the tamales, which prevents against soggy bottoms. Then, she places a plastic bag over top of the tamales to catch the condensation (another moisture protection device), followed by a dish towel and, finally, the top of the pot.
Then, it's just a matter of waiting two hours—one for the tamales to steam, and one from them to hang out in the steamer with the heat off. Janet covers the finished tamales with homemade salsa verde made with tomatillos, onions, and cilantro. The combination of the savory pork, soft corn masa, and fresh salsa verde makes all of the labor worthwhile.
You can make the tamales ahead of time, too: Freeze them, steamed or un-steamed, in a plastic bag for up to a month. Defrost the tamales before steaming or, if they've already been cooked, defrost them in the microwave on a dish wrapped in Saran Wrap for two to three minutes.
What's your favorite type of tamale? Tell us in the comments below!
See what other Food52 readers are saying.


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Please complete the form below and we'll contact you about your appraisal.
Emma Marshall and Tristan Hargreaves, the directors of estate agents Woolley and Wallis Lymington presented the Lymington Dementia Action Group with a cheque for £160. The money was raised as part of a raffle arranged by the firm to help local organisations. A total of £320 was raised, which was split equally between the Lymington Dementia Action Group and Simon Says Child Bereavement. Emma Marshall said, "These are two important charities in Lymington that as a local agent we are proud to support. The work they do is invaluable, especially for the families dealing with a difficult situation."
Tim Wookey, collected the cheque on behalf of the Lymington Dementia Action Group from their High St office and took the opportunity to explain some of the group's initiatives that their funds would help support. In particular the recent bi-annual Tea Dance, which welcomed around 60 people living with dementia on 29th October into the Lymington Centre for live music, tea and cakes.
Tim Wookey commented, "Our group is made up entirely of volunteers who co-ordinate activities and events for people living with dementia, to make life a little easier. We couldn't undertake the work we do without the essential support of local companies and organisations making donations, baking cakes, funding leaflets, providing volunteers etc. We are really very grateful indeed."
For further information, please contact Tim Wookey on 07940 164 954
Director Lymington Office


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Our Services
Services of the Information Systems Office (ISO) can generally be grouped under the following categories:
Central Administrative Information Systems
The primary function of the ISO is to develop/support the central administrative systems of the University and to ensure that such systems operate in a smooth manner.
Working in conjunction with administrative offices, which in turn solicit and bring back requirements of the greater University community, a set of integrated information systems is in place and continues to expand and evolve to meet business / user requirements. Click here for further information on the current portfolio of the university's administrative systems.
Requests for the development of additional systems and functions are typically channeled through concerned administrative offices to the steering committee which oversees the priorities and justifications of such requests.
These are typically self-service functions through which users can carry out various administrative activities directly and on-line, including the conduct of administrative/business transactions, personal information retrieval/update, etc.
Working in conjunction with respective administrative offices, ISO maintains and delivers electronic services that are targeted for both staff and students. As with system development work, requests for the provision/enhancement of e-Services are typically channeled through concerned administrative offices to the steering committee which oversees the priorities and justifications of such requests.
Information Services
A model for the dissemination of administrative information outlines the approach / strategy to support
- central dissemination of administrative information (via custom functions)
- open, user-based access to authorized data (via self-chosen means)
- provision of analytical data for management
Under this model, administrative information is recognized as a university resource. Respective administrative offices assume the role of information custodians in their concerned areas (e.g. the Finance Office is the custodian of financial related information, the Admissions, Registration and Records Office is the custodian of student related information, etc.).
The role of ISO is to serve as the safe-keeper of the stored information and to act upon the instructions of the custodian offices regarding the keeping / dissemination of information.
Click here for more details about the services / policies regarding information dissemination.
General Consultation Service
General consultation is provided on the following matters:
- How administrative systems and information could be used to facilitate local / departmental administrative operations.
- For administrative offices, prepare guidelines / policies and recommend good practices in the use of technology and information.
- Users / offices can contact ISO at x6240 or by email to email@example.com for more information regarding such services.


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The Pilcrow
The Pilcrow is Manchester's latest addition to a seemingly never-ending list of craft beer openings. But there's a back story to this one that marks it out as something that little bit different. If you don't know (and why don't you-it's been on TV) it's been something of a joint enterprise project. When the latest city centre `redevelopment` was announced several years ago; there were cries of anguish when it was realised that the historic Crown and Cushion pub would be a casualty. Indeed has there ever been a `redevelopment` when a historic pub wasn't sacrificed? Manchester City Council seem almost perversely proud of their reputation as cultural vandals who wouldn't know history if you underlined it in a dictionary.
Anyway, don't get me started on those arse-wipes. Back to the Pilcrow. One bright spot of the new plans was the announcement of the building of a new pub. This was to be slap bang in the middle of NOMA: the new 20 acre neighbourhood development project that promises to fuse city living with city working. Or something like that. It's in Sadler's Yard which was the site of Manchester's first steam mill and is now Manchester's newest public square. Named after James Sadler, who became the first Englishman to fly in 1784 and staged two successful ascents from what is now Balloon Street. You could easily pass it by but it's in a nook between New Century Tower, the CIS Tower and Hanover Street.
At the moment, although there has been some use of the square for outdoor events, it's mainly home to non-descript offices. However, it is planned to be the leisure and cultural epicentre of the area and that's where the Pilcrow comes in. And its USP? Well the interior has been put together by craftsmen and enthusiastic volunteers who have attended workshops to best utilise their skills. From the handpumps to the (sturdy) toilet doors, it's been a labour of love. The phrase "a pub built by the people for the people" has been used. You can read more about its journey from concept to realisation on its website.
Of course you need someone to actually run the place. Step forward All Our Yesterdays, a new collaboration between Jonathan Heyes, owner of the ever-so-well-known Common and Port Street Beer House, and Paul Jones, co-founder of Cloudwater Brew Co. They've worked closely on the project from the outset to achieve the pub you see before you now.
So what is the pub like? Basically it's a narrow L-shaped room with the bar in the left corner with tables and chairs arranged in rows down the right next to the large glass windows. The soft toned colour scheme and plenty of natural light give it a fresh and airy feel. It's not quite finished yet but I like it. And that's not just because we had it to ourselves. It's my kind of joint. It's got a good vibe. The seating is comfortable and practical, the toilets look good and there is plenty of space outside to enjoy the legendary Manchester summers.
Beer, beer, beer, I hear you cry. Yes, yes, yes, I cry. Other bloggers may enthuse about the flooring, atmosphere etc. in a pub but, as my mother always used to say, it's all about the beer. There are no less than seventeen, including three cask beers, to tickle and tantalise your taste buds. With the operator's pedigree, it comes as no surprise that along with Cloudwater, expect to see a smattering of other Manchester breweries mixed in with some more exotic fare. And it's great to see a banker like Jever appear in its too rarely seen draught form.
Ideally placed close to Victoria station, this could be the missing link between the outer rim of the Northern Quarter and the city centre. Certainly it won't be long before it becomes a destination pub in its own right.
The Pilcrow is at Sadler's Yard, Manchester, M4 4AH. Open Mon-Thur 12-10:30pm, Fri/Sat 12-11:30pm, Sun Closed.


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Groups General Stock Images
This page lists links to general stock images about groups. Please add your own images to the list.
Note: Please adhere to any limitations for using the stock images as set down by the owners!
chinese fan dance 2.2 by meihua-stock
HoolaHoop Sisters 1958 by PostcardsStock
inripeachesjanice by sissies-stock
Navy Wedding Sword Archers 3 by FantasyStock
Together 3 by PhotoStockMarket
page revision: 3, last edited: 11 Dec 2007 14:33


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If you are a Community Bank or Credit Union and are looking for a partner that understands your needs and can deliver a high level of service to you and your customer, Midland Mortgage Corporation is your mortgage service provider. Let us help you increase revenue while limiting risk and expand your product offering.
To become a business partner, download and complete our application and agreement, complete our Safe Act Compliance Form and if you are a broker complete the MMC Broker Compensation Plan.
Please make sure to include the following:


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There's no denying that online marketing makes an impact on your business, although how big an impact might be exaggerated. Internet World Stats reports that 78 percent of the American population is online, and 73 percent of Americans log onto Facebook at least one time each month. While those statistics are impressive, it's noteworthy that there are a remaining 70 million Americans that simply cannot be reached via online marketing. Here are a few steps you can take to reach that audience and increase your branding power through word of mouth.
Select a topic that will get your target audience talking about your brand. Topics might include ideas like: information on the brand itself or material that promotes one specific product or service within your brand. Make it an attention-grabbing topic that can be the center of conversation around the water coolers in the office or even in the home. A topic that generates emotion is a good conversation sparker.
Demographics should be thoroughly reviewed. In studying them, you can determine who will make the best brand advocate for your target audience. That person might be a local television or radio host, a political figure or just another influential community stake holder. The chosen influencer will speak on your behalf and begin to generate a buzz about your brand, so it's important that person be a credible, known community member.
Choose the outlet that you feel best promotes information sharing. To grab your influencers' attention, strategically post building signs, billboards, posters, etc. Seek out a popular local radio or television show to sponsor, so your information is delivered by local popular personalities that people know and trust. Create an exciting event and send a press release about that event to the top newspapers in your area.
B&B Image Group was founded in 1935 and was originally called B&B Display. The company has great experience and expertise in offline branding with a wide array of printing services including digital printing, screen printing and signage. It is dedicated to four main principles of business: providing high quality services and products; offering competitive prices; providing a quick turn-around time to customers; and being employee-owned. Contact B&B Image Group today to get a free quote!


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As someone who has worked in education-- in various capacities-- for almost a decade, I am often asked questions not only about the state of education in our nation, but about what parents can do to get their kids ready/ better prepared for the new school year. My first answer has always been, contrary to the Target commercials' contention (I like last year's commercial better, actually), that getting ready for the next academic year (be K-12, or even the transition to community college) isn't just about school supplies-- though that is important, too! In any event, here are some of my tips for getting your child (or yourself!) prepared for the new school year:
- Yes, don't forget the school supplies! Making


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Lahore: SITE offices, manned by the personnel of the agencies concerned, should be set up for the projects being executed under the Lahore Roads Rehabilitation Programme, at a cost of Rs14 billion, to ensure coordination among the relevant departments for early completion of the projects.
These directions were issued by Task Force on Rehabilitation of Roads Chairman Kh. Ahmad Hassan who was presiding over a meeting to review progress of the projects here on Tuesday. Lahore Development Authority Director General Shahid Mahmood, MPAs Hafiz Mian Muhamamd Nauman, Rana Ijaz and Chaudhry Shahbaz as well as representatives of the Frontier Works Organisation, Wasa, Tepa, Lesco, SNGPL and other departments were also present.
Kh. Ahmad Hassan underlined the need for publicising traffic management plans besides identifying alternative routes for facilitating the traffic on the under-construction roads. He asked the officials to take the MNAs and MPAs concerned on board for accomplishing these projects.
The meeting was informed that a flyover as well as an underpass would be constructed under the Shalimar Interchange Project in the Mughalpura area. Work for laying 72-inch sewerage from the GT Road to the Bund Road in the Bogiwal area, costing Rs110 million, was in progress. A 60-feet-wide road was also being designed for the 3.4km long stretch, which would be constructed at a cost of Rs84.8 million.
Work for fixing curb stone on Maulana Shoukat Ali Road was underway, which would be completed within a fortnight, besides a cycle track would be earmarked along the Madr-e-Millat Road in Township. Initial work for construction of road from the Multan Raod to Bund Road in Sabazazar area was in progress while the road construction work in Gulshan-e-Ravi would be started soon, the meeting was informed.
The News


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French President Emmanuel Macron and the prime minister of India put forth a common front on the need to fight climate change on Saturday, with the French leader saying he would travel to India before year's end for a summit on promoting solar energy.
French President Emmanuel Macron and the prime minister of India put forth a common front on the need to fight climate change on Saturday, with the French leader saying he would travel to India before year's end for a summit on promoting solar energy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi closed a European tour meeting with Macron in Paris as world governments began adjusting to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the landmark climate accord reached in and named for the French capital.
Modi delivered on France's hope that India would confirm its commitment to the Paris Agreement, saying that fighting on behalf of "Mother Planet" is a gift for future generations. India, the world's fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is a critical player in the climate pact.
You may also like to watch:
"We are in favor of this Paris Agreement and we will continue to work in that direction, even beyond the Paris Agreement, even if this agreement did not exist," Modi said at the close of the two leaders' talks.
France and India have launched the Global Solar Alliance aimed at developing solar energy and making it accessible to all. Macron described it as a "concrete instrument" in the fight against climate warming, and said other countries would be brought in at the India summit.
"We are both convinced our countries have much to do for ecological and environmental transition and for the fight against climate warming," he said.
The newly elected Macron, who has made on a mark on the international stage in the month since he was elected after talks with NATO leaders and the heads of the world's richest industrialized nations, further bolstered his diplomatic credentials in meeting with Modi.
Macron greeted the Indian prime minister with a bear hug in the courtyard of the presidential Elysee Palace, while Modi said later that Macron's victory over far-right leader Marine Le Pen in May "encouraged the entire world." Macron and Modi also discussed their countries' strategic partnership. India has bought 36 Rafale fighter jets, the delta-winged French aircraft that have been a hard sell.Macron said India's defense minister will be in Paris next week and the economy minister would be visiting before the end of the month.
The two countries' industrial and military partnerships "will intensify," he said.
Before his departure, Modi laid a wreath at the Arc de Triomphe in honor of Indian soldiers who fought in France during World War I.
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Dr David Borthwick
Dr Laura Watts
Alec Finlay
Dr Gareth Davies
Rachel Dowse
Orkney 2018
The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE-UKI) Postgraduate Conference will be held in Orkney in September 2018 in conjunction with the Orkney International Science Festival.
The Conference will run from Wednesday 5 to Friday 7 September, and will include outings to see at first hand some of Orkney's landscape and marine renewable energy developments.
IMPORTANT NEWS - funding opportunity!
Arts and Humanities Doctoral Researchers registered at SGSAH member institutions may claim expenses for travel and accommodation for attendance.
Please contact SGSAH directly by emailing firstname.lastname@example.com
Sunrise at the Comet stone in Orkney - image by Neil Ford www.neilford.net
Keynote Speakers
Dr David Borthwick
Dr Laura Watts
Alec Finlay
Dr Gareth Davies
Rachel Dowse


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Jun 18, 2011
Sorry about the delay but Show 9 is here!
We have another special guest for this show, Cody.
Join us as we discuss the major upheavels in Episode 9, Baelor.
Here's the links talked about in the show:
Sean Bean onNed Stark
Miss USA is a fan
MUPPETS!!! (Do we need to say more?)
Jun 12, 2011
Today we have a special guest! The official censor of theGalactic Watercooler podcast, Barb "Bkitty" Kern.
Honor, mercy, dishonor & ruthlessness, this episode had it all.
Links from the show:
Essay on honor fromWesteros.org
Peter Dinklagenews
Emelia Clarkeinterview
Nikolaj Coster-Waldauinterview
Jun 5, 2011
This episode we discuss episode 7, You Win Or You Die.
Cast & crewtwitter list
Ratings for Sunday,May 29
Henry Lloyd on Emilia Clarke


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City & Guilds
The culinary team at NSIA are delighted to be able to offer the City & Guilds Diploma in Food Preparation & Cooking (Culinary Arts) 8065-02 on completion of the New Zealand Certificate in Cookery (Level 4), followed by the New Zealand Diploma in Cookery (Advanced) (Level 5), the following year. This will be at an additional cost.
City & Guilds qualifications are recognised around the world in more than 100 countries. They are seen as the leading qualification in Hospitality and Culinary Arts trades and are a preferred qualification within the industry.
By completing the City & Guilds qualification you will benefit from a huge global alumni network and find yourself ahead of others on interview short-lists.
What's more, the World Association of Chefs is providing the opportunity for City & Guilds qualified candidates achieving professional cookery qualifications to become accredited, giving worldwide recognition.


text: Publishers and authors are united in their desire to produce a good and widely read book, but that won't stop you butting heads. Maintaining good communication with your publishing house and literary agent is the best way of ensuring your book is published well. This section will arm you with behind-the-scenes knowledge of the publishing process, will teach you what to expect and how to ensure your relationship with your publisher is long and fruitful.


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You may have encountered some errors and to prevent it you may have cleaned it by pressing Clean from Project in your Menu-bar .
You have a file in your gen folder R.java
It may go missing and you may get lots of errors in your classes .(like : R cannot be resolved to a type) . Do not try to correct it by importing R .
- Just check that there are no errors in your layouts (xml files) from res .
- There may be some problem in the style.xml or some API level problem in AndroidMainfest.xml
- Build your project by going to Project in your Menu-bar and click on Build All .
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