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2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid Review
Reykjavik, Iceland -- "In Iceland, sometimes the plow gets stuck." This is not what you want to hear as darkness descends on your expedition. Certainly not if you're driving something considerably smaller than a snowplow, like, say a 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid.
It wasn't our idea. Subaru elected to introduce its first-ever hybrid on this hardy island nation of 320,000 people. The automaker's press representatives duly show some Power Point slides about how environmentally minded Icelanders produce seventy-two percent of their own energy, thus providing the perfect analogue to a new green vehicle.
The 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid attests to Subaru's peculiar way of doing things. The automaker is seeking to close the gap between its image as a progressive, environmentally conscientious manufacturer and the reality of its relatively inefficient all-wheel-drive lineup. And yet, rather than offer a new hybrid model or base one off a particularly efficient gas-engine vehicle in its lineup, it chose to start with the XV Crosstrek, the lifted Impreza variant introduced for 2013. The hybrid consists of a 13-hp electric motor integrated into a CVT automatic. Paired with a 2.0-liter boxer four-cylinder, the system creates 160-hp and achieves 29 mpg in the city and 33 mpg on the highway. Those are rather mediocre numbers for a compact car, but they're quite good for a small crossover. Subaru naturally prefers you think of it as the latter even though it has some twenty cubic feet less cargo space than a Honda CR-V. But then, you wouldn't drive a CR-V in Iceland.
Not that we'd really recommend driving the Crosstrek Hybrid or any other compact crossover around Iceland. Already in the month of November, the days are short and the weather unpredictable. It doesn't help the hybrid's case that its nickel-metal hydride battery pack sits in the spare tire well. The can of fix-a-flat substituting for a real spare probably won't help if (when) sidewall meets volcanic rock. Fortunately, we won't be traveling alone. Local guides drive ahead in heavily modified Toyota Land Cruisers and Land Rover Defenders, which ride on forty-four inch rubber and carry extra winter tires for the Subies.
The journey starts off sensibly enough at the 9:30 a.m. sunrise with a mix of paved roads, dirt trails, and packed snow. Icelandic expedition guide Karl Olafsson, who looks very much like an Icelandic expedition guide named Karl Olafsson, instructs us before river crossings and cryptically promises it will be "meaningful." The Subaru performs well and is no doubt more comfortable than the old Toyota or Landie. The 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid is, in fact, the nicest evolution yet of the Impreza. It features more sound deadening than the conventional XV and comes with a higher level of standard content, which helps justify its $3000 premium over a conventional XV Crosstrek with an automatic transmission. We particularly appreciate the standard heated cloth seats.
We're still appreciating the heated cloth seats and dimly wondering when we'll get to our hotel for an after lunch nap when Iceland gets serious. There were two variables our guides may not have sufficiently considered. The first is how blowing snow can all but erase an off-road trail. The second is how the incompetence of automotive journalists can multiply. That's how your humble scribe, following too close behind another 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid, had to turn off into a snow bank to avoid a pile-up of like-minded colleagues. The XV contributes flaws of its own. Throttle response, seamless in most situations, is a bit sluggish when trying to rock out of deep slush, although the electric motor does boost low-end torque (163 lb-ft at 2000 rpm versus the conventional XV's 145 lb-ft at 4200 rpm). Stability control intervenes even when it's turned off, making it difficult to spin the wheels to create momentum. A Subaru logistics man advises drivers to leave stability control enabled and let it apportion power to the proper wheel. "You'll be able to go through just like the big trucks," he adds hopefully.
Instead, the big trucks spend much of the afternoon freeing Crosstreks, and it begins to appear we're in actual trouble, as opposed to the sort that's entertaining to write about. In-car supplies include a bottle of water, a few protein bars, and a bag of Haribo gummy bears. At 5 p.m. a snowplow comes to the rescue and promptly gets stuck, requiring chains on the tires. Finally, four and a half hours after we'd departed and after several river crossings in the dark, we reach our destination, which turns out to be a large hut with bunk beds. At least it's warm. Damaged tires are strewn across the bathroom floor for field repairs. Fresh spares are running short. Our Icelandic hosts don't seem so concerned, as they're snorting tobacco.
We wait until late the next morning to depart so that our guides can scout the best route. Meantime, the breakfast spread includes coffee, bananas, and ground sheep's head. Our fleet of XV Crosstreks look as bedraggled as the group of drivers, with front fascias hanging askew and a thick plaster of ice and grime covering the once bright assortment of white, green, and silver paint. Nevertheless, all but one vehicle fires up and the convoy forms once more for the voyage to Reykjavík, Iceland's biggest city. Fortunately, much of the path has been cleared or at least packed down, and we make it to pavement without much incident.
The asphalt is still four-wheel-drive territory, as we frequently hit patches of snow and ice. The 3450-pound hatchback charges stoically through the gusting wind, although front-end skittishness keeps us from pushing too hard. We're cruising along between 40 and 50 mph when, about 10 miles outside of Reykjavík, the low fuel light comes on. We slow down and carefully monitor the power flow on the multifunction display—under the right circumstances the gas engine can shut down at speeds up to 25 mph. The XV, filthy and out of gas but still running, eases up to the hotel curb in EV mode.
What have we learned? Mainly, that the 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid isn't as elegant a solution for Icelandic expeditions as an SUV on forty-four inch tires, just as it may not be as elegant a solution for saving fuel as a Toyota Prius. But in three days of fording streams and drifting through snow, it did prove to be one tough Subaru. For brand loyalists who want a more efficient vehicle, that should be more than enough.
2014 Subaru Crosstrek XV Hybrid
- Base Price: $26,820
- As Tested: $26,820
- Powertrain
- Engine: 2.0-liter flat-four/electric hybrid
- Horsepower: 160 hp @ 6000 rpm
- Torque: 163 lb-ft @ 2000 rpm
- Transmission: CVT automatic
- Drive: 4-wheel
- Measurements
- L x W x H: 175.2 in x 70.1 in x 63.6 in
- Legroom F/R: 43.5/35.4 in
- Headroom F/R: 39.8/37.7 in
- Curb Weight: 3,451 lb
- EPA Rating (city/highway): 29/33 mpg


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PRICEPANEL allows the production of brochure price panels in QuarkXPress using data from pricing systems.
We have also developed and enhanced the PRICEPANEL program to create a server based version. In this server version data from pricing systems can be sent to the PRICEPANEL server which processes it and creates a completed price panel in position on the actual brochure page. The server will also create and return to other locations an XML version of the table for proofing or other web applications and an Adobe pdf of the panel.
The panel server operates automatically and many files can be downloaded to the server and left for the processing to take place.
Please contact us to find our more. Contact us

subset: commoncrawl


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Marissa Mata
Edinburg High Edinburg, TX Class of 1998
Memories of Marissa Mata
Are you Marissa Mata?
This page means someone is someone is looking for you. Register for free to let other alumni contact you and more:
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About placeholder profiles
You are visiting the placeholder page for Marissa Mata. This page is here because someone used our placeholder utility to look for Marissa Mata. We created this page automatically in hopes Marissa Mata would find it. If you are not Marissa Mata, but are an alumni of Edinburg High School Edinburg, TX, register on this site for free now.


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Real Estate Businesses Insurance in Orlando, Clearwater, and Lakeland, FL
Keep your Assets Protected
Business Insurance Center provides insurance to real estate agents and businesses in Orlando, Lakeland, Clearwater, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Kissimmee, and surrounding areas.
You will want to ensure that your real estate business is covered properly, primarily based on what type of real estate in which you are involved. At Business Insurance Center, we will work with you to create a business owner's policy that can lump coverages, such as:
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?Business Insurance Center will help you lump together the right protection plan so you can keep your business protected in as an efficient manner as possible. Contact us today to set up a consultation.


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I do have an extreme desire to spend a great deal of my time making paintings, thinking about paintings, staring at paintings and dreaming about paintings. When I relate to a routine to my work day in the studio, I find that … It is an exhausting day, both physically and mentally. People often comment "at least you're doing something relaxing". Relaxing? That is hilarious. It's anything but relaxing! It can be as relaxing as being in labor. That said, the "birth" of a painting is a thrill and a joy.
The Importance of Repetition
"If you like something, do it again, and then again, and then again." This is how series are born, for sure, but more than that, it is practice.


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Are you looking to compete for a women's college basketball scholarship? If so, you will soon find out that the competition is very tough. There are thousands of high school basketball playing girls from across the country that you will have to compete with.
The basketball recruiting process typically begins during a prospect's junior year. If the player is a true freak of nature (say a Brittney Griner), it can start even earlier. The college basketball scholarships process seems to be getting started earlier and earlier as players get exposure at earlier ages due to camps, off-season basketball, and the Elite Basketball Clinic.
As a part of the recruiting process, players will typically play AAU or similar basketball during the spring and summer and attend camps each year to be evaluated by college coaches. In recent years, top players attend elite level camps like the Nike Camp and are evaluated by many college coaches at the Elite Basketball Camp.
For blue chip or superstar basketball players (say a Breanna Stewart), recruitment will happen automatically. In other words, these players don't really have to do anything to be recruited, it just happens. The word spreads quickly about these players, their level of athleticism, and their accomplishments on the court.
For the majority of high school basketball players, being recruited for college basketball scholarships does not happen that easily. For most players, it is a continuous work in progress as they try to get noticed and recruited by college basketball coaches. In fact, some excellent basketball players fly under the radar of college coaches each and every year.
If you find yourself in this situation and you are struggling to get the attention of coaches, one of the very best things you can do is to take control of your own recruiting. What do I mean by that? You need to take full responsibility for your own recruitment and market and promote yourself to coaches. Let the coaches know about your achievements on the court and how you can help their program be successful.
The very first step toward being recruited for college basketball scholarships is to put together an athletic resume. After you get a completed resume, send it out to all the basketball coaches you think you could play for. If you have the talent to play at their level of competition, they will be glad to hear from you.
Read other articles on how-to get a college scholarship, get recruited, and play college basketball HERE.
Leave your questions in the space below.
This article was contributed by Gary V. Hawkins, author of "Five Secrets You Must Know To Get Recruited For Athletic Scholarships."
Click HERE if you are a female basketball player, would like to play in college, and will be in 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade or a Post Grad in September 2017.


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Part travelogue, part commentary on the art of massage.
Cook (The Exact Unknown and Other Tales of Modern China, 2014, etc.) says from the start: "Massage is always already erotic." From there, he takes readers on a pleasure cruise: a massage school in Chicago ("What an antidote to the cerebral mortification of the University of Chicago!"); a subgenre of Japanese pornography relating to (allegedly) secretly recorded massage sessions ("I do not know how the average enthusiast of Japanese porn responds to this particular genre"); and a wide range of locations in China and Southeast Asia: "A hot woman in Hanoi came up on a motorcycle. 'Marijuana? Massage?' she asked, inviting me to jump on." Throughout it all, Cook offers blunt commentary and matter-of-fact testimonials. There's the disappointment of a "chocolate" massage in Thailand: "She shows me a small bowl filled with oil and a clump of congealed chocolate at the bottom. If it weren't for her accomplished stroking which quickly brings me off, I'd be pretty upset." And a pleasant surprise in Taiwan: "The woman's rare combination of expert technique and open-mindedness makes for one of the most intense massages I have ever had." As good as it might feel, the book isn't for the squeamish or the prudish: an essay on semen likens it to "the toxic venom ejected from an alien," and a commentary on randy masseuses explains how many are horny and ready for extra fun, at no extra cost. Comparisons of international hand jobs can become dull, and readers are likely to disagree with his assertion that "every act of sexual intercourse should be paid for," but Cook's affection for the massage never wavers. His book offers a fascinating portrait of a man who has ventured into the titillating establishments the world has to offer.
Readers interested in parting the curtains at the Turkish bathhouse and the Chinese baojian anmo will find this an excellent place to begin.


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The jury deliberated for 40 minutes before returning a guilty verdict. And at 27 years old, Justin Chapman was sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for 30 years.
The investigation was also brief, and the trial lasted only a few days. It was swift justice in a quiet little town that is unused to murder: Bremen, Ga., population 6,300, lies about 50 miles west of Atlanta near the Alabama line.
The prosecutor remains certain to this day that he got the right man, and Chapman may well be guilty of the crime that killed Alice Jackson, 79. But his case is also an example of repeated breakdowns at nearly every level of the criminal justice system in Georgia.
Chapman's public defender wasn't ready for trial, having had almost no time to investigate the case or prepare a defense. The key witnesses against Chapman provided devastating testimony that may or may not have been true – and had a motive for doing so. A second public defender botched Chapman's appeal.
Bill Rankin, the AJC's senior legal affairs writer, has taken a deep dive into the case, sifting through thousands of pages of court transcripts and other legal documents and interviewing dozens of people.
Having covered trials and lawyers and courts for more than 20 years, Rankin has a close acquaintance with the state's public defender system and its practitioners. He knows how police and prosecutors try to piece together a case, and how defense attorneys try to unravel that work. And in the Chapman case, he has documented the near collapse of the justice system.
Rankin narrates the seven-part podcast, which was inspired by the enormously popular "Serial" podcast of 2014, by "This American Life" producer Sarah Koenig. As Rankin remarks in Episode 1: "Now, obviously, I'm no Sarah Koenig. I'm used to writing stories, not speaking them. But I do have an important story to tell you."
Rankin has traveled repeatedly to Bremen and will take you there in his podcast and on the ajcbreakdown.com website. You'll find a sleepy city crisscrossed by railroad tracks, where the lonesome thunder of freight trains fractures the stillness dozens of times a day.
Join us for Breakdown: railroad justice in a railroad town.
Reporter: Bill Rankin
Writers: Bill Rankin and Richard Halicks
Editors: Richard Halicks and Pete Corson
Video: Hyosub Shin and Ryon Horne
Photography: Hyosub Shin and Bill Rankin
Music: Bo Emerson
Music production by Billy Gewin and Cave Cricket Studio
Maps and timeline: Emily Merwin
AJC content team: Sandra Brown, Pete Corson, Richard Halicks, Ana Santos and Bill Rankin
AJC technical team: Emily Merwin, Matt Sabath and Ashlyn Still
Project advisers: Amy Chown, Cynthia Dubose, Laura Inman, Shawn McIntosh, Drue Miller, Monica Richardson, Bert Roughton and Katie Tankersley
Social media director: Michelle Kerr
Podcast adviser: Susanna Capelouto
Recording production: CO3 Sound Atlanta
Website design and development: CSE


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The green light in the novel The Great Gatsby, by Mr. Fitzgerald, is a significant symbol which reflects the America's dream that Gatsby must have felt when he first laid eyes on Daisy. The green light is first mentioned in chapter one of the Great Gatsby by Nick, the narrator, who sees Gatsby staring into the starless night and reaching out in the darkness as a guiding light for him to find his goals. Green is the color of life, promises and dream. To Gatsby, his dream will live as long as he remains gazing at the light.
When we first begin, the reader has no idea what the green light is. Fitzgerald used that perfectly to his style. It is far more effective first to present a mysterious object and then gradually unveil the symbol for it then to give all the information away in the very beginning.
When Gatsby finally meets Daisy in chapter five, he shows Daisy the green light. The symbol of light becomes very clear to the reader. Daisy is so close to Gatsby's dream, but at the same time, she falls short of what he expected. To Gatsby, the green light is special only because it resembles something special to Gatsby. He would be lifeless, broken and dead without it. The main symbol becomes clearer in the novel's final paragraphs, in which Gatsby's green light is compared to the "green breast of the world". The word "Breast" suggests that the early Dutch explorers think of America as a woman, just like Gatsby's dream being Daisy. Nick also compares the green light to how America must have seen to the early settlers, full of unspoken promises and new life.
The green light is a great significance in the novel. The green light represent...


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[…] via agiletales.com […]
Posts de 'Agile Tales'
[Agile Tales] Comment on Stop wasting your time: Timebox it! by Dividindo reuniões em pomodoros – parece ótimo! – Fernando Garrido VazTuesday, August 1st, 2017
[Agile Tales] Comment on Stop wasting your time: Timebox it! by Refatorando o planejamento da sprint – mais pomodoros, mais negócio – Fernando Garrido VazTuesday, August 1st, 2017
[…] segundo a lei de retornos decrescentes mencionada em outro post nesse blog. Já tinha lido o relato de um pessoal da Globo.com sobre o uso da Pomodoro Technique para rodar reuniões, e achei que seria interessante tentar. […]
[Agile Tales] Comment on When you are struggling: what agile is really about by Gebhard GreiterWednesday, January 20th, 2016
We need to think beyond the Agile Manifesto — the Manifesto's approach is not abstract enough:
For defining Agile we should focus on the goal of Agile rather than on the misleading, very problematic way suggested by the authors of the Manifesto. Please read
The New (2011) Definitions of Agile or
The Manifesto can be Poison
The Manifesto is ignoring CIO's Interest.
[Agile Tales] Comment on When you are struggling: what agile is really about by Jeff PattonWednesday, January 20th, 2016
I really like this… and I think you know I agree wholeheartedly.
There's lots of odd paradox about process. We need just enough of it to work together. Too much moves our focus from what we're trying to accomplish to the process – it makes the process what we're trying to accomplish. Too little makes it challenging for us to work together.
In classes these days I do a quick word association. That is I write down the word "process" and ask participants to give me first words that come to mind. The words that come up usually aren't particularly uplifting and give some strong hints about the culture they work in. I then write down the word "game" and ask participants to shout out the first words that come to mind. In addition to words like "fun," and "team," I often hear words like "competitive," and "winning."
It seems to me that games have just enough rules to allow us to play together as a team, have fun, and focus on the real object of the game – ideally to win. Winning in software [for me] is building a successful product.
Contrast that to the processes most companies labor under. Just surviving a process seems like winning at times. Winning at process is often "doing it right," or "following the rules."
One thing I recall from working with your company is that your leaders, most of them, seemed focused on winning the game. That's the best cultural foundation a process can have.
Reminding people that process should feel like we're playing a game has helped me a lot lately. Some folks still don't like the Scrum game. I've often South Americans complain about US football that there's "too many meetings." One agile "game" may not be right for every culture – but within an organization and especially a team, it's important that we all be playing the same game.
[Agile Tales] Stop wasting your time: Timebox it!Friday, March 19th, 2010
Imagine that you have a very important job to get done, and as always, your time is limited. But you just can't focus. As soon as you are ready to start working on your thing, your mind vanishes and starts wondering about something else, entirely unrelated. You try to focus, but all of the sudden you start to "listen in your head" to that new song you just heard in the radio 20 minutes ago when you were driving to work. Who have never been in a similar situation?
The human brain is limited – you cannot sustain attention forever. And your capacity to sustain attention diminishes as your day goes by. Your brain naturally needs to focus on/focus off in a regular basis, in order to have time to work through cognition – otherwise you wouldn't be able to learn and make progress on your work. The University of Alberta's Dictionary of Cognitive Science defines that sustained attention is:
Sustained attention is "the ability to direct and focus cognitive activity on specific stimuli." In order to complete any cognitively planned activity, any sequenced action, or any thought one must use sustained attention. An example is the act of reading a newspaper article. One must be able to focus on the activity of reading long enough to complete the task. Problems occur when a distraction arises. A distraction can interrupt and consequently interfere in sustained attention.
If sustain your own attention is hard as it is, let alone sustain the attention of a 5 – 9 people in a meeting room for a long period of time. Ever since I started working my agile ways, I was introduced to the concept of Timeboxing. The concept is really simple: limit the time, so you focus on the high priority stuff first, and avoid multitasking at all costs. Timebox is everywhere: all Scrum meetings are timeboxed – from the crucial planning, review and retrospective meetings, to the trivial daily meeting. It works mainly trough peer-pressure – as everybody knows that the time is limited, the group will auto-regulate to avoiding losing focus.
Throwing Pomodoros at the problem
I've been doing two weeks iterations using Scrum. In the end of the sprint, we usually have a 30 minutes review meeting, a 1-hour and a half retrospective, and in the next morning, a 2-hour planning meeting. We've been doing this for a while, but yet again, I caught myself managing time, and having a hard time to keep the group focused on what to do. So I found out about the Pomodoro Technique, and started to use Pomodoro in my personal time. It worked great for me, and after a really bad planning session, I decided to try the Pomodoro technique to manage the group time in the next retrospective, just to see how it worked. At first, it was a very counter-intuitive decision: in order to keep focus, I would introduce more interruptions to the meetings. So I decided my magic number: each Pomodoro would take 35 minutes. Between each Pomodoro, 5-minute breaks. After two Pomodoro's, a larger, 15-minute break. A clear, and visible agenda of what would happen at each Pomodoro. At the beginning of the meeting, I asked the team if they would let me introduce this new technique, as a trial, and explained the mechanics of the Pomodoro. The deal was to try once, and see how it went – and if the team felt it was a good idea, use it again as long as we felt it made some sense.
The first Pomodorized meeting
The first meeting that we tried to use Pomodoros to control the timebox and the progress of the meeting was a sprint retrospective meeting. Our sprint retrospective uses the basic structure of Diana's Larsen and Esther Derby book (Agile Retrospectives: making good teams great). So we had a well defined and structured meeting – which helped us a lot in determining the agenda of each Pomodoro. We started the meeting, and everything ran smoothly. We had planned for a 3-Pomodoro retrospective meeting, with a total duration of 2 hours and 10 minutes, adding up all times (including breaks). The result was amazing: the focus of everyone was on the retrospective at all times. We had no interruptions, no cell-phones ringing (they were all off – part of our deal), no people going to the bathrooms in the middle of the activities. The overall result was excellent, and even tough we had a longer meeting, at the end everyone felt less tired and accomplished. So we started using Pomodoro's at our planning sessions, and the things were just better. No worries about timing: Timebox is an excellent focus tool.
Final words
Focus is the new scarce: information sources are growing to infinite scales while available attention is stucked. How much information are we consuming every day? Studies of the Global Information Industry Center, from the University of California in San Diego, estimates that an average American consumed 36 gigabytes of data on an average day. Are we asking the right/necessary questions?
Stop to manage your time and start to manage your focus. Stop wasting your time: Timebox it!
[Agile Tales] Pointless product design: It's not about velocityFriday, March 19th, 2010
I've started to wrap up some ideas for a blog post when I had a conversation with Jeff Patton about product design, while he were in Brazil with Globo.com doing some consulting work. Patton's specialty is on product design, and he has some pretty good ideas about how to handle it – I'll probably talk a little more about his ideas on another post – and I kind of had an epiphany when I saw the following tweet by Jeff:
Looking forward to the time when people use agile development to build great products, not just deliver dumb stuff faster – Jeff Patton
This instantaneously reminded me of a StackOverflow podcast I've listened to a few months ago. This was a remarkable podcast, because they had Uncle Bob Martin as a special guest. In the previous podCast of the series (podCast 40), Jeff Atwood made a statement that caused some discomfort between Uncle Bob and themselves, so they invited Uncle Bob to the next podCast to clear things out, but that's not the point.
The point is when Atwood says (just search for "wordpress" on the transcript and you'll find it):
So, to me the root issue is if you deliver a product, a software product, that nobody likes or wants to use, it really doesn't matter how high quality your code is. That's really the bottom line. And I think I've learned this from WordPress, because WordPress is a great, it's a fantastic tool, but the code is the worst code you can possibly imagine. First of all it's written in PHP which is already a problem right, on top of that it's crazy PHP, like it'll melt your brain if you look at it too long.
I can't help but agree with Atwood's statement. What I understood is that he said that the overall product quality is as important as the code quality underneath it – and even if you have a crappy code underneath, and a great product emerging from it, you could get away with it. This doesn't mean that you have a license to produce crappy code if you've got a good product – it does mean that you have to pay attention not only to the technical part of the thing, and make an effort to design great products implemented with great code.
One trap that I see many people in the agile world falling for is not worrying at all about product quality, which take us back to Patton's tweet. I see too much focus on the technical details (as of in engineering), and on the agile "process" or "framework", leaving the Product Owner behind, alone in the dark, to "define the product". It's one major cause of many project's failures. Agile is not only about creating great code, nor about following a "process" or "framework". It's about creating great products, collaboratively, as a team. This means a shared backlog, shared product ownership, shared vision.
What bring us to the point of velocity, as in throughput of the team. Your product will not be better if you deliver just as many features as you could, as fast as hell. In order to deliver a great product, you don't need to go faster – you need to go well. It's good to remember that Pareto's principle applies very strongly in software development – 20% of our product features get to be used by our users for 80% of the application usage time. So, why don't heavily invest in having this 20% of features mastered, so you can guarantee a freaking great experience for your users 80% of the time?
When I was talking about this with Marcos Pereira, he brought into light a fairly old post from Kathy Sierra, on Kathy's Creating Passionate Users blog. In her blog post, she presents the Pareto Principle in a very good way, talking about The Design of Everyday Things, and how a simple car stereo got so bloated with features that it's almost impossible to use it without looking into the manual. This is exactly what I mean, and we've seen greater successes of simplification out on the real world. Look at the iPod's user experience. It's easy, intuitive, and you barely have to look to the manual to use it. The advanced functionalities are still there, but you don't need to bother with them just to listen to your music. MP3 players have been around for a long time, but only after Apple "re-invented" the iPod, this market kicked-off.
In order to achieve this excellence level in Product Design, you need to think differently when it comes to backlog prioritization. I've seen it work in a few Product Backlogs in Globo.com. Instead of having a huge pile of histories on your product backlog, precisely divided in order to provide incremental delivery, you just focus on the main functionality, and rank it according to the following experience-driven scale (this is just an example – please feel free to add/modify/build yours from scratch):
- Ashamed of (the functionality exists, but doesn't have a good experience. The team would be ashamed to present this piece of the software to an end-user).
- Hum.. just fair. (the functionality exists, and is fairly usable. Depending on the importance of this functionality, it might be enough for a beta tester to try it out).
- Enough (the functionality is usable. It's just enough for production release, and most of the users will like it.)
- The best! (the functionality is so good that our users just love it. This is the time to add the extra piece of functionality that will turn your users in addicted monkeys. Nah, just kidding! But this is the idea – this functionality is now a master piece of work!).
Now would be a good time for an example…
So, for instance, let's take a Webmail application as an example. One functionality that is in the 20% group that gets used 80% of the time is the "send email" functionality. Your team could deliver it incrementally and iteratively, by first creating it and being ashamed of it (ex. very basic send email – no BCC, no CC, no WYSIWYG editor). In a future iteration, your team goal would be to make the "send email" functionality just fair for usage (ex. add a WYSIWYG editor, add bcc and cc fields) – and then release to your beta users. On the next iteration, the team would add some more of this functionality, in this case the ability to send a message with levels of priority, or add labels, of whatever your team think that will make a difference to the end user.
This kind of backlog prioritization cannot be done if the team doesn't feel the ownership of the product, or if the Product Owner doesn't share the backlog with the team. The end result of this is a natural, user-driven prioritization, when people will start to take into account that maybe it's best to invest on a new feature until it's Enough than to make this functionality the bestest best since the beginning, and have other functionalities worked at the same time, incrementally improving them all.
This will basically help you do more of what matters, and less of what doesn't matter a lot in the long run. Start with a beginner's mind, and start building best products and making your users happier!


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Know Where Your Food Comes From
When you buy local with Emerald Lane Angus Beef, you know your dollars are staying in your community, helping support local business, family farms, and also giving back to the community through our mission, Beef with a Purpose. But you don't need to sacrifice quality to stay local. As a family farm, we produce the highest quality of Angus Beef. From our farm to your family's plate, we take tremendous pride knowing that producing the best, means our customers can serve their family's the best.


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Created 07-13-2017 11:24 AM
Cloudera is pleased to announce that Cloudera Enterprise 5.12 is now generally available (GA). The release includes enhancements for running in cloud environments (with broader ADLS support and improved AWS Spot Instance support), usability and productivity improvements for both data science and analytic workloads, as well as performance gains and self-service performance management across a range of workloads.
As usual, there are also a number of quality enhancements, bug fixes, and other improvements across the stack. Here is a partial list of what's included (see the Release Notes for a full list):
The full contents of this release include:
Over the next few weeks, we'll publish blog posts that cover some of these features in detail. In the meantime you can access the following links for additional information:
As always, we value your feedback; please provide any comments and suggestions through our community forums. You can also file bugs via issues.cloudera.org


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Biwako Quasi-National Park
Coordinates: 35°21′31.74″N 136°10′17.1″E / 35.3588167°N 136.171417°E
|Biwako Quasi-National Park
|Shiga/Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
|976.72 km²
|July 24, 1950
Biwako Kokutei Kōen (琵琶湖国定公園) is a Quasi-National Park in Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.[1][2] It was founded on 24 July 1950 and has an area of 976.7 km2 (377 sq mi).[3] In June 1993 an area of 65,984 ha beside Lake Biwa was designated a Ramsar Site and wetland of international importance.[4]
See alsoEdit
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Biwako Quasi-National Park.
- ^ "琵琶湖国定公園". Ministry of the Environment. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
- ^ "三河湾/鈴鹿/室生赤目青山/琵琶湖". National Parks Association of Japan. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
- ^ "List of National Parks". Ministry of the Environment. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
- ^ "Ramsar Sites in Japan - Biwa-ko" (PDF). Ministry of the Environment. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
|This article about a national/quasi-national park or protected area in Japan, or related topic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.


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The Creative Works Award recognises major creative works, including art works, performances, productions, compositions and architectural designs produced by UCT staff.
The award may be made to jointly-produced creative works, but if non-UCT people are involved, the UCT contributor must have played the biggest role.
Hendrik Hofmeyr is Professor and Head of Composition and Music Theory at the South African College of Music, UCT. Hofmeyr's Second Symphony – The Elements was premiered in 2017 by the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Conrad van Alphen. The symphony is usually regarded as the apex of instrumental writing in any composer's oeuvre, and this, Hofmeyr's first purely orchestral symphony, is the first major symphony to emerge in South Africa in more than 30 years.
Dr Sara Matchett recieved the joint award for her theatre production, Womb of Fire. The nomination of Womb of Fire for a UCT Creative Arts Award was inspired by the work's insistence on addressing how violence in South Africa, over centuries, continues to play itself out on women's bodies.
Associate Professor Svea Josephy recieved the joint award for her exhibition, Satellite Cities. The exhibition was held at the Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, 19 January to 6 March 2016 and co hosted by the WITS City Institute. Satellite Cities was a curated exhibition including an impressive body of photographs accompanied by text panels and a catalogue.
Associate Professor François du Toit won the 2017 Creative Works Award for the Five Beethoven Concerti, played on two consecutive nights with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. He described the 6-month preparation (5 to 6 hours daily) for the 90-minute concerts as being like "practising for a marathon".
Read the Daily News article. Download the citation.
Associate Professor Jay Pather, director of the Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Art, re-imagined Shakespeare's Julius Caesar by creating a theatrical spectacle that included directing, choreography and cabaret and bringing it to bear on the current state of the nation.
Read the Daily News article. Download the citation.
Professor Mark Fleishman received the award for his long-running production, Every Year, Every Day, I am Walking. The mostly wordless play traces a fleeing child and her mother's trek from an unnamed and violence-riddled francophone African country, to Cape Town, where the family struggles to settle. Through the eyes of the young girl, global audiences since 2006 have been shown a slice of the battles that the largely invisible migrant community in Cape Town fight continually. It's a story about being violently displaced, the agony of perpetual movement, and the cruelty of hope.
Associate Professor Johann van der Schijff received the award for his catalogue Community Punching Bag. Van der Schijff is a senior lecturer at the Michaelis School of Fine Art where he teaches new media in the undergraduate degree as well as doing postgraduate supervision. His sculptural/new-media works have been exhibited nationally and internationally. His research interests are in the areas of computer-aided design and manufacturing techniques and the design of interactive systems. He says that, growing up in South Africa and living in a violent country and continent, questions of power relations in society underlie much of his work. This forces the viewer into a position of choice in their engagement with his artworks.
Emeritus Professor Michael Godby of the Michaelis School of Fine Art received the award for The Lie of the Land – Representations of the South African landscape, an exhibition he curated in 2010 and 2011. The project included scholarly essays on literary, cultural, political and environmental aspects of the South African landscape. It was carefully designed to showcase and celebrate a vigorous tradition of South African art, not only engaging with the role of land through South African history, but also clarifying the changing stylistic strategies for representing land at different points in South Africa's history.
Read the Monday Paper article. Download the citation.
Professor of sculpture at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, Gavin Younge received the award for his 2011 solo exhibition Cheval de Bataille, a project commissioned by the French Monuments Council and which was housed in the Forteresse de Salses, a fortress in France that has run a vigorous contemporary art programme for many years.
Read the Monday Paper article. Download the citation.
Professor Michael 'Jo' Noero, of the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics was awarded the prize specifically for his design of the Red Location Museum of Struggle, located in Red Location, New Brighton, in the Eastern Cape. One of the oldest settled black townships of Port Elizabeth and a prominent anti-apartheid struggle site, Red Location has been the home of some of the country's leading political figures.
Associate Professor Fritha Langerman of UCT's Michaelis School of Fine Art won the inaugural Creative Works Award for her work Subtle Thresholds. The exhibition, which was a curated mixed-media work with objects from the collections of the South African Museum and the University of the Witwatersrand's Adler Museum, had as its themes the classification of disease and the representation of speciation.


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How many clocks do you have in your house? You might be surprised where clocks are hiding. Does your microwave have a clock? How about your stereo? Coffeemaker? DVD player? Phone? Thermostat?
Do all the clocks agree with each other?
P.S. Daylight Savings Time begins today. Because it is almost spring and the days are getting longer, your clocks spring ahead by one hour. (In most places.) While you count the clocks, you can change their time, too.
Make this a family activity: Get everyone to guess how many clocks there are in the house, then go count them all. Who was the closest? Were there more or less than you thought there would be?
This activity promotes math skills and visual identification.


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Online Patient Registration
ORAL SURGEON, FRISCO, TX, Dr. Mark Davis
You may register with Frisco Oral & Dental Implant Surgery by filling out the secure online Patient Registration Form. After you have completed the form, please make sure to press the "Submit" button to electronically send us your information. The security and privacy of your personal data is our primary concerns, and we have taken every precaution to protect it. If you choose to not register online, we will have paper registration forms to fill out at your initial visit.


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9" double pie crust - optional, you can add 1 tsp grated lemon zest to the crust
3/4 C sugar
3 Tblsp cornstarch
20 oz can crushed pineapple with juice
1 Tblsp lemon juice
Optional for top crust:
2 Tblsp milk
1 Tblsp sugar
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees
- In medium saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch, pineapple with juice and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened, then allow to boil for 1 minute stirring constantly.
- Put bottom crust into pie plate.
- Cool mixture slightly and pour mixture into bottom crust.
- Add top crust and seal edges. Make a few steam vents.
- Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar, if using.
- Bake for approx 35 minutes.
- Serve chilled or at room temperature.
- This is a hot oven, even for pies, you may want to start checking it around 20 minutes and use a shield for the outer crust if it's getting dark at any point after that.
- Some Allrecipes commenters felt there wasn't enough pie filling... I used a standard Pyrex 9" pie plate and we all thought there was plenty!
- I did not add the zest to my crust or brush the top with milk and add sugar.
- When it comes to pie, it doesn't get much easier, I always have can of pineapple around. A 20 oz can was on sale for 99¢, that's a real fruit pie any time of year for 99¢-Woo Hoo!
I'm joining:
Seasonal Sunday
On The Menu Monday
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Easter Show and Tell
Foodie Friday
Sweets For A Saturday


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On-line Shopping Scratch Map As A Travel Accent And A Good Present
While taking a cruise and traveling is numerous enjoyable, most individuals do not find it pleasurable to plan the trip. If the ban surpasses the authorized challenges and the protests by every decent human being in every single place to go into impact, it could set precedent to future bans. Should you've gotten the feeling that the company is not receptive to your questions, thank them for their time and discover one other agency. The U.S. State Division cautions that as a consequence of crime, an organized tour booked via a travel company is the easiest way to discover this stunningly numerous and virtually untouched nation.
The travel suppliers of the products, the cruise traces, air lines and the very massive travel brokers, who are in reality the competition of the small person travel agency, are forced by contract to offer their product on the similar worth as they are promoting the product being bought to the smaller agencies and in addition pay the small travel companies a commission primarily based on the assumption of quantity from that travel agency.
You'll additionally discover low airfares, free travel guides, worldwide vacation rental listings, well-liked boards with recommendation about just about each destination, and extra. Kai has an undergraduate diploma in Travel … Travel More


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Arriving early, Demoss and I began talking and lost track of time. Before we knew it, Em Topaz stuck her head out the hall door. "hmmm," she said looking around.
"Hi, there." I greeting her. "We were just hanging outside. Sorry didn't mean to be late."
"Hi," Demoss added.
EM Topaz chuckled, "Hello!"
Quickly we joined her into the hall.
"I have some announcements." EM Topaz began. "First...""But I didn't think it prudent to have a meeting when elections happen the next day." she explained.
"Wow, I had forgotten they were that fast." I said. "I'll send out messages to the other governors."
EM Topaz nodded. "Second...I have finished the reward hall."
Clapping and cheers filled the room. I couldn't wait to see it.
"A few things you should know. There was a bug." EM Topaz frowned. "That made it possible for certain items to be picked up after a publish we had recently."
"Oh No!" I said in shock.
EM Topaz nodded. "Because of that Mesanna, had me remove everything and only put stuff up that had been fixed. She put shard bound and glue on everything."
She paused sighing. "Any thing that was crafted had to be set aside. So I don't have the referee uniform anymore."
"That's not good." I said. "But I'm sure Thalia can remake it."
EM Topaz smiled. "Good, I have permission to have it recreated."
I sighed in relief. "That was an important costume."
Just then Lady Thalia came in. "Hi, Lady Thaila. Bad news. A bug ate your winning referee Halloween Costume. You'll need to remake it."
Lady Thalia looked me puzzled. " Sorry what's wrong? What costume?"
"Your Halloween Bagball UMP one." I replied.
"Oh, Garion's bagball referee suit?" Lady Thalia asked. " What happened to it?"
"Mesanna has given strict rules as to what goes in there and it must be submitted to be shard bound." EM Topaz explained. "So if someone like Thalia could remake it and submit it to the mailbox at the reward hall. I can put it in my mailbox and have Mesanna put the right tags on it "
Lady Thalia nodded. "I will let Garion know."
EM Topaz smiled excitedly and opened a gate. "Now, shall we go check out the new reward hall before we zoom."
I rushed through the gate. I couldn't wait to see how the hall looked.
Before we went in EM Topaz explained "I made two floors of shelves and can add more as we need the space.
"This area will be for contest rewards mostly with more shelves upstairs." EM Topaz pointed to several of the contest trophies.
"Very nice." I said admiring her designs. I loved the shelves and wondered if they would work in the historical library.
After we had finished exploring, it was decided to head to Buc's Den for a shard white net toss.
"Lets get this show on the road!" EM Topaz shouted opening a gate.
However to our dismay, no one had any white nets. "I'm sorry, I looked and looked but couldn't find any."
EM Topaz winked. "Me either but I have...surprises."
Just then I heard on of the sailors, Tomas, holler. "Make haste, 'tis a murder!"
Hurrying to the dock we found several shipwrecked pirates attacking the citizens.
"Oh, No, Shipwrecked pirates have invaded our Net Toss!!" EM Topaz shouted at us.
We had fought off pirates before and these would soon learn that they were not welcome.
As I healed, I saw something coming out of the sea. Strange seedweed creatures had been drawn by the smell of blood dripping in the water. Before I could warn the others, the world went grey.
These proved to be deadlier than the pirates...bodies began to litter the docks. I decided to stay closer to the healers to aid in their effort.
As hard as it had been to keep people healed, the job became almost impossible as more creatures arose from the sea...Mutated Sea Snakes...
Ocean Lichs...
And Deep Sea Sirin.
The battle raged on both the docks and the land. Until at last with the help of the local citizens, we were able to defeat the strange creatures.
Though there was little thanks. Carrocio, the harbor master, walked away muttering about the cost to repair the docks and to clean up the mess.
"Whew, "EM Topaz declared, "That was tough!"
I laughed, "That was fun."
EM Topaz looked around. "If anyone has white nets maybe we can save them for next time."
At first No one spoke...to tired from the long fight. "I have two you can have." Lady Thalia offered at last.
"You all want to do the two nets Thalia has or save them up?" EM Topaz asked.
"I was just saying you can have them for whenever." Lady Thalia told her.
Demoss laughed "Two are better than none."
"Hush," I whispered winking at him.
"Well I can start a collection and when we have a good bunch like 10 or 12, we can do them." EM Topaz decided. "How does that sound?"
"Sounds good. " I replied. "I'll get my friends started on getting them.
"This was fun and there were some creatures we hadn't seen before." EM Topaz paused. "I wonder where they came from?"
"I don't know" I said, "But I have a feeling it isn't good. Maybe Harriet the Hag will know."
"From the "Kill the poor red tamer clan?" Lady Thalia said smiling.
"Poor tamers dressed in red." I laughed. "They did seem to like you."
EM Topaz joined our laughter. "I know next week Harriet the Hag needs our help. "
"Is she cooking children again?" Demoss asked grinning.
"I head her mumbling something about animals stealing her fruit or something weird." She shook her head. "I think she's senile."
"Or maybe there are animals stealing crops. I'll have to check on my farms in Yew." I wrote myself a note.
"Maybe, still it is very strange." EM Topaz agreed. "We will find out next week I guess."
Opening a gate to Luna, she smiled and waved. "Thank you for coming tonight! I have a blast with you all!
"Good night," I replied thanking her. After she left, I remembered some of the spells casted by those sirins. Yep, she did indeed have a blast with us.
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Lake Austin's White Net Toss Attacked
Our night with EM Topaz began with a couple of announcements. First, she was canceling the governors' meeting as the elections were the same...
By Tamais, Nov 18, 2016 | |


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Want to hear NEW Alternative and Progressive rock? Check out our Sister Station KVSC 88.1FM & HD
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It seems taking on jobs for cover art has completely side-tracked me from 1. finishing my blog story (ignores the fact it was Christmas based) and 2. Finishing a couple of WIPs.
But, honestly, I am having the best time ever. Really! My health has been a little up and down recently, so it has been an absolute joy to have something I could get stuck into and distract me from other things. Yes, I need to get back to my writing, but it has been a welcome change.
So, thank you to RJ Scott, Amber Kell, Lisa Worrall, Sue Brown and Silvia Violet for engaging my imagination and giving me something beautiful to create.


text: The Memorial Day weekend road trips start later this week and BJ's Wholesale Club in New Castle is offering a $15 gift card to customers who buy at least 10 gallons of gas on Thursday. The promotion is available at the New Castle location on 124 Sunset Blvd. It's limited to the first 500 members who arrive when the gas station opens at 6:30 a.m. Along with the gift card, those 500 members will receive club coupons.


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Video Interview: Maya B gives insight on Dollar to a Diamond and Upcoming EP
Maya B is a singer, songwriter and producer from Los Angeles California. Currently on the Girls Need Love Tour with Summer Walker. We sat down to talk to Maya B at the Metro Chicago. Opening night for the new Capitol Records signee was a major success. Get to know Maya B as we talk Dollar to a Diamond, Selenas, Real Life and new EP.
Maya B Interview Shot and Edited by Kevin Baker @ImKevinBaker


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The American Dream — at least what it seems to have become over the past three or four decades — is getting a bit of an overhaul.
In times of great prosperity, the American Dream symbolized pursuit of upward prosperity, a rationale that the more effort you invested in your work life the better life you would be able to lead.
Yet, in times of financial uncertainty through the years, the dream has been interrupted and redefined. A recent study by MetLife indicates that Americans may now be going through one of those reassessments and setting aside aspirations of upward prosperity.
The survey of more than 2,400 reveals an emerging trend that shows Americans are less concerned with material issues and that life's traditional markers of success – getting married and having a family, buying a house and building wealth – have taken a backseat to the pursuit of personal fulfillment.
That's not to say individuals don't still take their careers seriously, but indicates that climbing the corporate ladder or attaining business success is less important than having a grounded and satisfying personal life.
MetLife calls it the "Do-It-Yourself American Dream" that is enabling individuals to define their values.
The survey shows that 70 percent of people no longer think you have to be wealthy to achieve the Dream, while 65 percent don't think you need a college degree, and 70 percent think marriage and children are not an essential component. A big surprise; 59 percent don't thinking owning a home is as important.
Individuals instead want to pour more time into developing meaningful relationships and finding personal fulfillment. "It's as if Americans are saying, 'Don't tell me what the American Dream is; I have my own Dream. Yours may be different, and that's okay,'" says Beth Hirschhorn, chief marketing officer for MetLife.
The survey reports that in October 74 percent of Americans said they already have what they need in material goods, compared to only 58 percent who said the same thing just 18 months ago.
Although unwilling to make a lot of sacrifices to get ahead, the study finds, individuals will still work hard at their jobs – or even second jobs – but don't feel that working just to get ahead will actually get them ahead.
More than one in five of Generation Y – those in their 20s and 30s – are working extra hours, freelancing or working second jobs to get ahead. Yet, for the first time in many years, Americans say their standard of living does not need to be higher than their parents' in order to feel they have achieved the American Dream.
One-third of Americans say they would be willing to take a job that they are overqualified for if that was all that was available. There still is a desire for financial security among Americans. MetLife says so much of the population is living paycheck to paycheck that while they may be happy today, they are not investing and saving enough for retirement later in their lives.
Thirty percent say they have not attained financial security while 50 percent of Baby Boomers – the generation edging into retirement years – say they haven't saved enough for retirement.
The good thing about the American Dream is that each individual has the freedom to choose how they define it and how much time and energy they want to invest in its pursuit.
More from SDReader
- More stories by Michael Kinsman
- The generation gap narrows — March 28, 2013
- Survey Reveals the Prevalence of Illegal Practices Among Finance Pros — Aug. 5, 2012
- More than Half of Small Business Employees are Unhappy — Aug. 2, 2011
- New Endangered Species — The Happy, Loyal Employee — April 26, 2011
- Stress in the Workplace Has Reached New Heights — Nov. 30, 2010


text: Music Please note this event has already taken place and you are viewing an archived page of the Lakeside website. For a list of current events, exhibitions and workshops, please click on 'What's On' in the menu above Frigg's Finnish Fiddle Tunes Workshop Thursday 23 November, 4.30-5.30pm Djanogly Recital Hall £11 Band members offer a fiddle tunes' workshop for all string players (not just fiddlers!). We explore Scandinavian tunes: jigs, reels, polkas, schottisches, waltzes teaching by ear but with the offer of scores for future reference. Classical, traditional, jazz and folk string players all welcome.


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New Vendor: Maxx Sunglasses
Casey's Distributing is happy to announce we have partnered with Maxx Sunglasses!
Maxx HD® has built its success around the High-Definition Lens, which creates more vibrant and sharp images while participating in outdoor activities; rain or shine!
Maxx HD® Licensed Sunglasses are distinguishable from the competition by offering:
- Vibrant Team Colors
- Raised Metal Logos
- High-Definition Lens
- Shatterproof Polycarbonate Lens
- Ultra-Light Frames
- 100% UV400 Protection
- No Peripheral Distortion
These officially licensed sunglasses are sleek, bold, and full sized. They are engineered with a no slip rubber nose piece and arm grips, have full lens coverage without peripheral distortion, and have quality metal logos with vibrant team colors. The signature High Definition lenses exceed ANSI impact standards and have 100% UVA & UVB protection.
Casey's Distributing is now stocking the Dynasty 2.0 style sunglasses. Items are in-stock and available for immediate shipping!
Please click here for more details or contact your sales representative to place an order!
Leave a Reply.
May 2018


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Dermpath Diagnostics is exclusively focused on providing exceptional dermatopathology services. Our commitment to dermatopathology is backed by an unrivaled team of over 90 board-certified Dermatopathologists, advanced diagnostic technologies and unparalleled clinician/patient support. We are currently seeking a NIGHT SHIFT Histotechnician for our Dallas, Texas laboratory. As a Histotechnician you will have the advantage of being a member of this team.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Minimum Qualifications
� A.A., A.S. degree and one year of experience within the last 10 years, OR H.S. education or equivalent and 5 years full-time acceptable experience as a Histotechnician within the last 10 years.
� HT (ASCP) or ASCP eligible OR five years of full time experience in the last 10 years
� Meets all requirements as outlined in corporate Minimum Qualifications for Histotechnician SOP.
Required to work a permanent NIGHT SHIFT schedule with the hours of 9.00pm to 5.30am.
Dermpath Diagnostics offers a competitive compensation packages, including outstanding benefits and an excellent work environment.
For consideration please visit our career site at www.dermpathdiagnostics.com


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How to use your Electronic Cigarette or Vape Pen
Every V2 e cigarette or V2 PRO Vaporizer has a battery that is used to heat up the e liquid (containing pharmaceutical grade nicotine and water) contained in the cartridge or tank. The e liquid is vaporized and this allows inhalation and simulates the "smoking experience" to help reduce nicotine cravings. The batteries are rechargeable and the cartridges are either disposable or refillable up to 10-40 times [we sell various types of prefilled or refillable e cigarette cartridges and tanks].
Each disposable cartridge [i.e. V2 Classic] is approx. 20 cigarettes and costs less than £1.95 - that is a packet of 20 cigarettes is almost 4 times the price - can you remember when a pack of 20 was £2.00?
EX Series Cartridges last even longer (up to twice as long) and save you even more money.
If you like to use e liquid to refill the tank yourself then use EX Blanks or a V2 PRO Vaporizer which can be refilled and reused a number of times.
If you have any questions phone our support line on 01733 555 555 for help and advice.
Also, have a look at our blog article about vaping at work.
Note: A standard tobacco cigarette has about 6-7 puffs, your e cigarette will last a lot longer. Use your V2 e cigarette in the same way as a tobacco cigarette - don't hang on to it for 15 or 20 minutes - the battery will last a long time if used like a normal cigarette. Take a few puffs and then take a little break.
Unpacking Your V2
The first step is to open the box. Although some kits differ, all V2 kits include at least one V2 battery, a charger, a pack of V2 atomizers/flavour cartridges or an empty tank, and an owner's manual or user guide. We recommend that you read through your owner's manual thoroughly before using your V2. If you can any questions then please contact customer services online or via telephone to ensure you start off correctly. It can very frustrating buying a new "gadget" and then not being able to use it effectively right away, s if you need help please ask !
Charging Your V2
Before using your V2 e cigarette or vaporizer for the first time, we recommended that you fully charge the battery/device. To charge the battery, simply screw the battery into the USB adapter (or attach the magnetic charging cable), then plug the USB adapter into a computer's USB port (or into the included USB to Wall adapter). When charging, the LED light on the charger will glow red or flash depending on the model. Your V2 is fully charged when the LED on the charger glows blue or green. A V2 Classic or Ex Series battery can last up to one week on a full charge depending on how many puffs you take per day.
Installing A Fresh Cartridge
Unpack a V2 Classis or EX Series flavour cartridge and pick off the rubber stay-fresh caps. Screw the cartridge securely onto your electronic cigarette battery. Your V2 e cigarette will enter standby mode as soon as you screw in the cartridge. Your V2 is now ready to use!
Enjoying Your V2
Kick start each new cartridge by taking a few strong puffs in rapid succession. This action will warm the liquid and prime the heating element producing a thick consistent vapour with each subsequent puff. As you press V2 to your lips and inhale, the LED light at the tip will glow just like the tip of a burning cigarette. Relax and enjoy the rich smooth V2 vapour.
V2 Electronic Cigarettes: General Usage Information
V2 electronic cigarettes are comprised of two primary components, the flavour cartridge and the battery. V2 vapour cartridges contain our proprietary solution of nicotine (or non-nicotine), water, flavourings and propylene glycol (an FDA approved inhalant and food additive). The cartridges contain built in atomisers, so there is little cleaning or maintenance required, unlike many electronic cigarettes on the market today. All you should need to do is wipe around the top of the battery with a clean tissue everytime you change the cartridge.
V2 e cigarette kits are shipped with our Classic/Standard automatic batteries or EX Series batteries, which are designed to offer a perfect balance between physical weight and vaping/smoking time between recharges. To use your V2 electronic cigarette, simply screw a flavour cartridge on to the end of the battery and puff on it like you would a normal tobacco cigarette. When you draw air through the V2 cartridge, the heating element will automatically activate and produce inhalable vapour containing your chosen strength of nicotine and selected flavouring compounds.
Every V2 Classic flavour cartridge is filled with enough of our proprietary vapour e liquid to produce between 150 - 220 puffs (dependent upon deepness of puffs). Each Classic cartridge is roughly equivalent to a traditional pack of tobacco cigarettes. You'll know when a cartridge is used up when the flavour becomes weak and has a burnt taste. Cartridges are disposable and can be discarded after use. Just screw off the old cartridge and screw on a fresh one—it's that simple! When the battery requires charging it will blink intermittently. Standard V2 Automatic Batteries can last from 2 days to a week before they require recharging ( this is dependent upon your smoking frequency and puffing style). The battery can be fully charged in 2-3 hours.
Tip: smoking a V2 electronic cigarette is a little different than using an old fashioned ignitable cigarette. To adjust the vapour thickness, you may want to prime the e cigarette. To do this, give it a few strong puffs in rapid succession before puffing normally. This action will heat up the vapour e liquid a little bit more so it becomes warmer and this will create thicker/richer vapour in subsequent puffs.
Tip: When you first begin using electronic cigarettes, you may want to start with a light strength or a mix of strengths. Some people find the full strength nicotine cartridges or e liquid to be too strong. It often produces better results if you start vaping with a lower strength e liquid and increase the number of puffs until you feel satisfied.
Tip: A great accessory you may want to consider is a V2 Manual Battery or a V2 PRO Vaporizer. Unlike the automatic batteries which activate by puffing, the manual batteries and vaporizers have buttons installed on the body of the e-cigarette or device allowing the vaper much more control of the vaping experience. It is really a matter of personal preference; for every person that prefers a manual battery or vaporizer with a button to operate it, you will likely find two people that prefer the automatic option because of it's ease and simplicity. As a general rule, automatic batteries are a little easier to use, and certainly better for multi-tasking.
Tip: Flavour, strength & taste are very important decisions when you start to vape, as important as the vape device you choose. If you don't get the choice right first time it is important to continue and not to get frustrated and give up. Try alternating between tobacco, fruity and sweet flavours at different times of the day. You might find that a menthol or minty e liquid goes great with your cup of coffee in the morning but not with your cup of tea in the afternoon! Try a mix of nicotine strengths to see which one helps reduce your cravings best. Also, it's Ok to mix smoking and vaping (known as dual use). There is nothing wrong with having a cigarette in the morning and then vaping for the rest of day. You don't need to stop smoking right away, we know it is very difficult to quit smoking, and for many smokers to quit, it takes a Herculean effort.
You are on a journey away from smoking & we want to help you get there. Stay off the Marlboro Reds and don't give those tobacco companies any more of your money !


text: The Coca Cola Company Atlanta Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, has completed the acquisition of Costa Ltd. from Whitbread PLC. The $4.9 billion transaction follows approval from regulatory authorities in the European Union and China. The acquisition was first announced Aug. 31, 2018. Costa, which has operations in more than 30 countries, gives The Coca-Cola Co. a


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Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies
This biannual academic journal provides a locus for studies of Confucian and other classics within the context of East Asian cultures to establish a base for a dialogue between East Asian cultures and other cultures for better understanding the central values of East Asian cultures. The Journal welcomes research papers, scholarly discourse and book reviews. It also exchanges publications with other local and overseas periodicals in the field of the humanities.
Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies
No.1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Da-an District, Taipei City 10617, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
TEL : +886-2-3366-3750 / FAX : +886-2-3366-3751 / E-mail: email@example.com
Copyright (C) 2007. All rights reserved.


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This evening was a race against the clock--picked up kids from daycare (late), rushed home, baked chicken nuggets in the oven and boiled whole wheat rotini on the stove, chopped up cucumber and filled water glasses. Called them both to the table, reminding them to wash hands on the way over.
We had 30 minutes to scarf dinner, find shoes, and scramble to shul to fulfill our Jewry Duty (pun intended although not mine). It is our week to take Minyan duty and show up for services every evening at 8 p.m. so that if someone has to say Kaddish, there will be a quorum. M and I have split the responsibility; tonight he had a meeting, so I had to take the munchkins with me. And no, they don't count. Not until after Bar/Bat Mitzvah age.
Post-scarfing, we had about 10 minutes before having to depart. I wanted to get through the dishes and wipe the table, knowing I would be even more tired upon our return and would have to deal with bedtime and all its shenanigans. No sooner had the last bite of dessert been consumed, then I was up from the table and at the sink.
Me (to Syd): Bring me your plate and glass, and put away the ketchup please.
Syd: Why do I hafta do everything around here?
Me: I beg your pardon? I believe I just cooked you dinner. All I'm asking you to do is put away the ketchup.
Syd: But I didn't even use it.
Me: Sure you did. On your chicken.
Syd: No I didn't. Daddy must have left it out.
Me: (holding up the plate she has just given me) I'm washing ketchup off your plate right now.
Syd: Fine! I'll put it away! (flounces to fridge and puts ketchup away)
Me: Could you throw away that napkin on the table?
Syd: I need a time out!
Me: (sotto voce) Of course you do.
Sam: I want to help, Mommy.
Me: Thank you, sweetheart. I could use your help. The biggest thing you could do for me right now would be to pick up the noodles you and Syd dropped on the floor.
Sam: Where are they?
Me: On the floor.
Sam: Are there a lot?
Me: Just bend down and pick them up and put them in the bin.
Sam: Actually, Mommy, I think I need a time out too.


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Aided College Affiliated to University of Kerala (NAAC accredited with Grade B).
National Science Day Celebrations:2019 -26 & 27 February 2019-Venue:Auditorium- KSCSTE supported-Organised by Science Forum & Department of Physics
World Wetland Day-2019-Wetlands and Climate Change-Awareness Programme & Competitions- 1 and 2 February 2019 - Organised by PG Dept. of Chemistry, NSS & BMC-Sponsored by KSCSTE-Venue: Auditorium
Cancer Awareness Class-On January 25 2019 - Organised by Department of Physical Education,
Health Club- RRB; Venu:Auditorium


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Bears, we will let you get away with a lot. You can paw through our trash. You can sneak into our yards. But when you come into our houses and steal our delicious, frosted, high fat birthday cakes you've simply crossed a line, and it means only one thing: death.
, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is on the hunt for a black bear in Macclenny, Florida, a small town a bit outside Jacksonville near the Georgia border.
"Relocating this bear is not an option," says commission spokeswoman Karen Parker in a news release. "Public safety is our No. 1 concern. When we catch it, we will euthanize it. We do not want the bear entering another house."
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Posted by:
Mature, amateur born-again Adventist composer/songwriter seeks young, like-minded born-again Adventists age 18 – 25, who can read and write music at all grades i.e. from grade 1 to 8 to form 2 new and separate Christian groups.
1. STRINGS OF PRAISE – Excellent female soprano singer, conductor & string quartet
comprising of 1 violinist, violist, cellist & double bassist each
2. TAKE 8 – Excellent a cappella octet made up of 2 sopranos, alto, tenor & bass singers
each & a conductor.
Primary aim of the two groups will be to raise funds for ADRA via annual FREE concerts leading to, & during the ADRA Annual Appeal at various South London SDA churches to begin with.
Ideally, each member of both groups should live in S.E. London where it is anticipated rehearsals will be held in at least 1 SDA church, for quick and easy access to rehearsals when they begin, as punctuality will be key.
Each member of both groups should kindly ask their respective church leaders for permission to use a room in their church for same time & day 1 or 2 day a week rehearsals.
Each member of the string quartet, STRINGS OF PRAISE must own his or her own musical instrument & bring it to rehearsals always. It is appreciated that it may be difficult for the double bassist to bring a full-size double bass to rehearsals but this is what is truly needed.
Compositions STRINGS OF PRAISE will be rehearsing & ministering are contemporary classical music ones for The Lord's Prayer 1 & 2, Psalms 23, 117, 121, 125 & their instrumental versions etc.
Compositions TAKE 8 will be rehearsing & ministering are modern ones for a rendition of hymn 327, I'd Rather Have Jesus, in the Seventh Day Adventist hymnal etc.
Those of you who have their own compositions will be very welcome to present them for the possibility of rehearsing & ministering them to raise money for ADRA.
Contact Details
Name: Tim Segun Aigoro
Email: email@example.com
Mobile: 07954 706 563
This is my first blog post.


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Lion D is a rasta singer from Italy (yes, Italy) playing the international reggae scene. An intriguing combo, methinks. Learn more about the rising star in our one-on-one interview.
Who: Lion D; interviewed by Kayla Liederbach
What: An intro to the music and story of Lion D
Where: Murfie HQ, Madison, WI (via Skype)
When: Wednesday, November 28, 2012
How: Recorded by Kayla Liederbach
File: WAV version
Check out more of Lion D at facebook.com/liondreggae.
Into RSS? Follow our podcast feed via https://blog.murfie.com/category/podcasts/feed.


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See your dreams come to life, keep believing in hard work.
We have often heard the famous quote, 'Hard work is the key to success' and it has been set to our minds from ever since we can imagine. But, through personal experiences, everyone has an idea that that quote is in fact, true. Nothing brings success like working hard for anything that we wish to achieve.
We have to keep the following principles in mind while chasing our dreams:
- Hard work:
If we keep working hard towards the thing that we want in life, nothing can stop us from achieving it. It may take time but, hard work will get us where we want to be as it always pays off. If we put our best and all our energy into things, the end result will always be satisfactory.
- Dedication:
We have to dedicate to our dreams. We can't just plan our dreams and then, leave them hanging in the middle. We have to keep chasing it till we achieve it. Our determination and dedication defines how much we want to reach closer to our goals in life
- Focus:
We should never lose sight of what we want in life. We have to stay focused and not get distracted or influenced by any other factors in life because that will just push our dreams further away. If we are focused on achieving our dreams, we can get what we want just the way we want it.
- Action:
Our Dedication should be backed by actions. We can't just pray for good things to happen and sit around idly. We have to get things done and keep working hard in order to get what we want. Because yes, devotion is important but, it is nothing if it comes without hard work and actions.
- Positive Attribute:
We should never get affected by any negativity around us. E.g. "I'm too old or not rich enough or good enough." Getting these ideas in our head is a waste of time. We have to know that we are enough and that nothing can stop a positive person from achieving anything they want if they have a strong desire to succeed.
- Power of a dream:
Dreams are powerful. If we set our vision to something, no matter how many distractions come our way, we will always find a way to achieve our goals. We have to open ourselves up to creative thinking and imagination. We must have the courage to dream of a world we want to see ourselves in. We have to answer the true calling of our life and allow ourselves the freedom to do things necessary to make that vision a reality.
- Believe in God:
We can't just leave everything to Him, but yes, there is an extent to which we can rely on Him as well. We have to understand that He will help us only if we show Him that we deserve His help. We have to keep working hard and never give up on our dreams.


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Dr. Nazak Mozaffarieh, O.D
Dr. Mozaffarieh, O.D. (aka 'Dr. M' or 'Dr. Naz') was raised in Vienna, Austria, and graduated from Vienna International School in 1993. She then moved to California to study Molecular and Cell Biology at U.C. Berkeley. After receiving her undergraduate degree, she pursued her Optometry degree at U.C. Berkeley, graduating in 2003. After working in different practice settings for several years, she opened her private practice "Eyes & Smiles Optometry" in 2007 in Pinole. In 2011, she purchased the practice of Dr. Gloria Waite in Pinole and merged both practices into Dr. Waite's location. She currently provides free eye exams for Children's Vision First, a non-profit organization. She is married and a mother of fraternal twins (boy and girl). She also loves animals and has 4 dogs and 2 cats. In her free time she enjoys skiing and wine tasting.
Dr. Bernard Hale, O.D.
Dr. Hale, O.D. was born in England but grew up in Los Gatos, California. He studied Population Genetics & Evolution and Scandinavian Studies at U.C. Berkeley, where he also went to Optometry School. He completed an Optometric Pediatric Residency (with a sub-specialty in contact lens) through U.C. Berkeley in 1999. He has been working at this Optometry office since 2001, and continues to do so since Dr. Mozaffarieh took over the practice. Dr. Hale is a masters swimmer who enjoys open water swimming, sailing and scuba diving. He is very happily married and the proud father of identical twin girls.
Perla is our office manager/optician and has been working in this field for over 12 years now. She will be helping you pick out your glasses, discuss different lens options, and explain your insurance coverage to you.
Perla was born in Stockton and raised in Napa amongst 3 other siblings, one being her twin. She has an energetic young son named Charlie, and 3 dogs in her household.


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We have created these real estate directories so you can take advantage of finding anything related to your Costa Rica real estate purchase or sale right here on our website. As usual, we try to give you all the resources possible. Good luck on your search.
International real estate directories
Realestatehit.com – Real Estate Directory – Real Estate Information and Resource, Properties Listings. RealEstateHit.com is a leading directory of real estate where you can browse for real estate information by locals or services, real estate agents, buyer agents, homes for sales, properties for sales, and real estate rentals, apartments & rentals, commercial lenders, foreclosure resources, FSBO listings, moving & relocation services, real estate law, inspection services.
Big bear real estate, including lakefront, foreclosure, and all other properties in the big bear real estate multiple listing system.
www.costaricaweb.de Infos für den Costa Rica Urlaub – Costa Rica Hotels, Restaurants, Busse uebersichtlich auf Karten dargestellt.
M&E Cost Segregation – Leading Engineering Based Cost Segregation
M&E is the cost segregation leader due to our engineering-based approach and our industry leading reports. We provide maximum tax benefit with minimum risk.
Remax Dominican Republic Real Estate Listings And Rentals
Villas, condo apartments and land for sale and rent in Sousa, Cabarete, Las Terrenas, Samana, Bavaro, Punta Cana, Santo Domingo and Puerto Plata.
United States
Kessel Holdings LLC
Quality vacant land and lots in port charlotte Florida! Gulf access parcels. Our companies specialize in land wholesale to private individuals. We purchase our properties in volume discounts & make our lots available to our clients at 40-60% the MLS.
Rush For Usa Land, Llc
Advertising portal for any type of land, property or natural resource, oil and gas, mining. Land, rural properties, building lots, ranches,homes, oil, gas, mining properties for sale. Realtors, private, corporate sellers are welcome to advertise 4 free.
Blue Ridge Ga Real Estate
Best cabins for sale and real estate listings in blue ridge, ga call sharp real estate services at (706) 946-9400 or visit us at 240 west main street blue ridge ga 30513.
Cabins In Blue Ridge Ga
Southern comfort cabin rentals are located at 240 w main st, blue ridge, GA 30513 or call (706) 258-3737. If you want to stay in Blue Ridge with a beautiful mountain view or lake view check out our luxury cabin rentals.
Other Real Estate directories
Real Estate Directory– Property Listings, Relocation & Mover Services
Real Estate directory including real estate agents & brokers, real estate services, real estate support & supplies.
RealEstateYellow.com – Real estate Yellow page and real estate directory
NewHomeBuySell.com – Find New Homes for Sale, Home Builders, and House Plans
Real Estate Information and Resources
Directory of Real Estate Professionals
Real Estate & Properties Directory
Real Estate Marbella, Costa del Sol
SUN PROPERTIES Marbella has an extended selection of beautiful Properties in Marbella for sale. Also many Marbella properties with 100% mortgage. Great Marbella rental properties in all price ranges.
If you have any questions about Real Estate directories, feel free to contact us.


text:
Surprise! Another tag post! I think I've done more tag posts in the past few months than I have in my entire time blogging. Weird.
The tag I'm doing today is an oldie, but a goodie. It's called the Unpopular Opinions Book Tag, and it was created by TheBookArcher. No one tagged me for this post; I just thought it was time I actually made my unpopular opinions known.
A popular book or series that you didn't like
This one is a weird one. I adored Maggie's Shiver trilogy. It was beautiful and lyrical and everything I wanted in high school. Scorpio Races was a good read as well. Then, I read The Raven Boys, and I thought it was "meh." Everyone else, though, they thought it was DA BOMB. I don't know if I'm missing something or what, but I sometimes feel like I'm all alone in my little bubble of feelings.
Who knows, maybe I'll give this book another shot later, but for now, it's one that I was very disappointed in.
A popular book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love
Admittedly, not everyone hates this series, but I find that a lot of people dis on the first book. I absolutely LOVED the first book. It was amazing and action-packed. I'm not sure why people hate on it so much…
A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did not want them to end up with
In Bloodrose, the third book in Andrea Cremer's Nightshade trilogy, Calla ends up with Shay. SHAY! I don't like him. I was furious whenever this book originally came out. I think it was the first time I ever read a ton of Goodreads reviews, just so I could find fellow readers who were as mad as I was.
A popular book genre that you hardly reach for
This is a tough one. I read contemporary, fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, romance, and many other genres. I guess, if I had to choose, I'd say magical realism. I don't even really know how many books with magical realism elements are out there; I just know that I don't particularly like the genre. However, maybe I simply haven't read the right book yet…
A popular or beloved character that you do not like
I have two: Warner from Taherah Mafi's Shatter Me series and Rhys from Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses series.
I don't like Warner because of his actions in the first two books in the series, and I refuse to read the other two and half books simply because other people believe they redeem him. He is a horrible person. Also, I hate it when authors randomly switch the love interest in the middle of a series when, for the majority of the plot, the character has been with one person. I loathe getting invested in one guy only to have to switch allegiances to another.
Speaking of switching love interests, I have yet to read any of the sequels to ACOTAR, simply because I enjoyed Tamlin's character in the first book. Apparently though, he turns into a raging a$$hole in the second book. I just don't get why SJM even had Tamlin as the main reason Feyre was introduced to this world instead of making Rhys the original love interest and intro to the fae world.
Whew. That was a long rant. Moving on.
A popular author that you can't seem to get into
E. Lockhart seems to be a big name in the YA community. None of her books sound that interesting to me, though.
A popular trope that you're tired of seeing
Is it wrong that I'm tired of the lone wolf, girl assassin trope in YA? I think it's great that female characters are taking on these roles in fantasy books that typically belonged to men, but it's hard to make the YA version gritty enough. If an author is going to write an assassin, she needs to be AN ASSASSIN with all the skills and grit that comes with the role. And, personally, I don't want to read about a character who kills people for a living unless she's got a really good backstory.
A popular series that you have no interest in reading
Lauren Oliver's new series that you can flip the books over and read from a different character's POV, the Replica series. I just don't have any desire to pick it up. #sorrynotsorry
The saying goes "the book is always better than the movie" but what movie or TV show adaptation do you prefer over the book?
Another tough question. I guess, for now, I'm going to go with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Not because I hated HP3 or anything, but because HP3 was my least favorite of the HP books. Despite that, HP3 is one of, if not my favorite movie in the franchise.
Alright, there you have it. Those are some of my unpopular opinions. I know that a few may be controversial, but I just can't help it. They're my opinions, and I'm sticking to them. ;)
What are some of your unpopular opinions? Let me know in the comments.


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Thank you Doodle Bugs for your most versatile linky!
Five for Friday! How to Neglect Your Blog in Five Easy Steps!Friday, October 10, 2014
Thank you Doodle Bugs for your most versatile linky!
6 comments
Whoops! This was a really fun post to read. I love your sense of humor!ReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks so much for stopping by! It was fun to write this post, too!Delete
Great and funny post - was fun reading it!ReplyDelete
I just discovered your blog, and I'm so glad I did! I'm your newest follower. You are BRAVE to teach kindergarten, even for a day. I'm almost tempted to suggest "Freaky Friday" at my school, but it would be a challenge! I'm excited about your Freebie Fridays! Thanks.ReplyDelete
Laughter and Consistency
I cannot wait to hear how your venture into Kindergarten went!!! I love this post by the way! I have been feeling horrible because I have been neglecting my blog but your post helped me put things in perspective.ReplyDelete
Mrs. Spriggs' Kindergarten Pond
This post was fantastic! I had been neglecting my blog and my blog reading...trying to catch up now. Thus the reason for just reading this post from 2 weeks ago! Wow...12 new microscopes. I'd be jumping up and down. Just love reading all your posts...no matter when I get to them.ReplyDelete
Luv My Kinders


text: In 1980, the conductor Wojciech Rajski brought together a group of talented young string players to form the Polish Chamber Philharmonic. In 1984 the ensemble was expanded and since then has also performed as a full orchestra with wind instruments. From 1984 to 1990 the violinist Adam Kostecki was a soloist with the orchestra and its deputy artistic director. His artistic qualities and experience in chamber music have contributed substantially to the Polish Chamber Philharmonic becoming one of today's outstanding chamber orchestras. The orchestra has performed concerts in all the important European music centres and appeared at significant music festivals. Many internationally renowned soloists have also collaborated with the orchestra. Over the years the orchestra's achievements have been documented in numerous recordings for a variety of broadcasting corporations as well as in several recordings for the Thorofon, EMI and Dux labels.


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Glenelg Ark
The Glenelg Ark project was established in 2005 under the Department of Sustainability and Environment Weeds and Pests on Public Land Initiative as a landscape scale fox control project. The project is a collaboration between DELWP and Parks Victoria and aims to facilitate the recovery of native mammal populations at risk from predation by foxes in far south-west Victoria by undertaking broad-scale and continuous fox baiting using buried Foxoff®.
By 2016 the program had expanded from its original 10,000 ha in 2005 to cover 90,000 ha of state forest and national park of which 70,000 ha is baited (Treatment Management Zones) and 20,000 ha not baited (Non Treatment Management Zones).
Treatment zones:
- Lower Glenelg National Park (south)
- Cobboboonee National Park
- Mount Clay State Forest
Non treatment control zones:
- Hotspur State Forest
- Annya State Forest
- Lower Glenelg National Park (north)
In 2011 the fox baiting program expanded to include Discovery Bay Coastal Park to reduce predation on a significant population of the Hooded Plover Thinornis rubricollis which is a beach nesting bird.
Glenelg Ark incorporates a comprehensive monitoring plan designed to evaluate the benefits of reducing populations of the Red Fox Vulpes vulpes to two native ground-dwelling mammal prey species Southern Brown Bandicoot Isoodon obesulus Long-nosed Potoroo Potorous tridactylus, and one arboreal species Common Brushtail Possum Trichosurus vulpecula.
Monitoring results
There has been a significant decline in bait take from 2005 to 2013 in the Treatment Management Zones (TMZs), and a significant difference between TMZs and Non Treatment Management Zones (NTMZs) between 2005 and 2013. Overall, each of the three monitored native prey species has shown a significant positive response in site occupancy to fox control. However, factors that drive population change, i.e. colonization and persistence were not uniformly positive for all species or all TMZs.
The results of Glenelg Ark's nine-year management project can demonstrate that the fox population can be reduced and maintained at relatively lower levels in fragmented landscapes, and that fox control has had a generally positive effect on the occurrence of the three native mammal species. Alternative hypotheses that could explain the observed variable response on TMZs are that resources may limit the population's capacity to persist in newly colonised sites, or that foxes have been replaced by feral cats as the introduced predator. These alternative explanations require further investigation to ensure the project is facilitating the recovery of small and medium sized mammals at risk.
Revised Aims
To continually improve the management outcomes of the Glenelg Ark project over the next three years, a revised set of aims have been developed based on the results of the monitoring and evaluation of the project over the past nine years. These aims are to:
- Maintain the conservation gains achieved to date.
- Increase our understanding of the drivers for apparent recent decline in Southern Brown Bandicoots.
- Evaluate the possible broader conservation gains of the program. i.e. other species in the project area that are not currently monitored but are thought to benefit from fox control.
- Integrate risk-based fire planning and predator control actions for key response species into the program.
- Improve efficacy of predator control operations so that the project continues to be a best practice examples of integrated and landscape scale predator control.
2017 Update – from ARI Technical Report No. 275 (2016)
This report of monitoring activities between 2013 to 2015 was released by ARI in May 2017. The report provides new information on the fox control program and an assessment of monitoring techniques (hair-tubes vs digital cameras).
Hair-tubes vs digital cameras
It was found there was no overall significant difference in detection rates between cameras and hair-tubes; however, cameras are less costly to operate and are able to 'capture' a wider range of species in all weather conditions. The project will now use digital cameras for future monitoring.
Fox activity & feral cats
Studies found fox activity at locations with fox control was significantly lower compared with activity at locations without fox control.
There was no significant difference in Feral Cat activity between sites with and without fox control, although there are indications which suggest there could be instances where higher levels of Feral Cat activity may occur in treated areas.
Fox control response to selected native species
The project specifically monitors fox control response for Common Brushtail Possums, Southern Brown Bandicoots and Long-nosed Potoroos. The most recent report demonstrates how results can vary year to year.
In 2013 there was strong evidence of a positive effect on site occupancy from fox control on Common Brushtail Possums and Long-nosed Potoroos, and inconclusive evidence of a positive effect on Southern Brown Bandicoots.
In 2014 there was no evidence of an effect for Common Brushtail Possums, Southern Brown Bandicoots and Long-nosed Potoroos.
In 2015, it was found the number of sites occupied by Long-nosed Potoroos was greater at locations with fox control.
When taking a longer-term view between 2005 and 2015 sites occupied by Common Brushtail Possums remained higher in treatment locations compared with the number in non-treatment locations. Little change was observed for Long-nosed Potoroos and site occupancy of Southern Brown Bandicoots remained unchanged.
An important point is that native species site occupancy remains higher at locations with fox control than it was at locations with no fox control in 2005.
The limited response of bandicoots and potoroos may be due to a lack of suitable habitat for these species. Another factor to be considered is over the 10 years since the project began in 2005, there have been 7 years with below-average rainfall.
A number of recommendations are made in the report to improve outcomes of the Glenelg Ark project.
Robley, A., Moloney, P. and Neave G. (2016). Glenelg Ark— benefits to biodiversity from long-term fox control 2015 update. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Technical Report Series No. 275. pdf. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Heidelberg, Victoria.
Progress reports:
ARI Technical Report No. 275 Glenelg Ark 2015 update: benefits to biodiversity from long-term fox control (Robley et. al. 2016)
Glenelg Ark 2005–2013: Evidence of the Benefits for Native Mammals of Sustained Fox Control (Robley et al. 2014)
ARI-Technical-Report 226. Glenelg-Ark-2005-2010 evidence of sustained control of foxes and benefits for native mammals.
David Pitts, 03 55 270 422, Glenelg Ark Project Officer, Far south-west, Barwon South West Region, DELWP.