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See this location on SABRE Maps
Where is it?
M5 junction 11A. The connection between the M5 and M4, taking in Swindon and Cirencester on the way, arrives at the M5.
What's wrong with it?
It's a bit of a tangle really. Some areas have full free-flowing links, some have a roundabout, some have no links at all. The roundabout over the A417 is seemingly unnecessary (one side isn't even used) and the wide sweeping curves, while very nice and graceful, take up a rather astonishing amount of land. The piece de resistance is that (from personal experience at least) the junction tends to have nothing but a couple of cars tootling around the expanse of tarmac.
Why is it wrong?
One assumes that some links are more important than others. Since the A417 forms part of a link to and from the M5 from points south, links to the M5 north are prioritised here. The roundabout can also (perhaps) be explained by what appears to be a new dual carriageway in the aerial photo, under construction there, maybe now finished. Whatever this road serves now has a connection to the junction, though curiously not the A417 westbound.
...Several years on, that dual carriageway is now open and the roundabout makes sense. You could still do with a westbound entrance slip, though.
What would be better?
Providing the missing westbound on-slip to the A417 would be a nice start, so at least no movements from the new road have to take in surface streets.
Right to reply
I went through this junction a couple of weeks ago. The reason for the "missing" slip road off the roundabout onto the A417 is because the motorway slip road has already started and there's not enough room to fit it in (without weaving). What does seem to be the biggest problem, which hasn't been touched upon, is there's no northbound motorway access at all to the roundabout junction (and thus the spur to Gloucester Business Park), which seems very strange. Do they only want traffic from Bristol?
Clearly your motorway designer has never tried to drive around the Gloucester ring road from the south in the rush hour. Access Northbound from the West would reduce the traffic flow on the ring road (which is, incidentally, one of the poorest excuses for a bypass of any city in the country. If he's responsible for that too, I'd like to strangle him).
The dual carriageway under construction in the photo [since updated] connects the junction to the Gloucester Business Park. The decision not build a direct northbound access to the M5 here was - as things tend to be in the UK - very shortsighted, as the Business Park is one of the biggest development sites in the south west with many major distribution warehouses established as well as thousands of houses on the way.
The other day (admittedly due to bad weather conditions) the A417 was at a standstill, so having come off the M5 northbound at 11A and trying to get to Cheltenham I thought the best option would be to get back on the motorway and try the next junction up - junction 11. It turns out that this is impossible as there is no way onto M5 northbound and no slip road onto A417 westbound. Why can you not do either? Am I missing something here?
So if there's a westbound on-slip from the roundabout then there needs to be a link from the M5-A417 southbound as this slip road doesn't connect to the roundabout. To me it should've been a 3 level stack roundabout interchange so all movements are possible with possible on off slips from the M5 southbound to the A417 eastbound.


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How to Choose the Right Home for You
Check out these tips on how to make the right choice when buy a new home…
Check out these tips on how to make the right choice when buying a new home:
- Neighborhood or Home AmenitiesFor some home buyers, living in a particular neighborhood takes precedence over all other priorities, but for others, the home itself matters more. Ideally, you'll find the perfect home in the neighborhood you love at a price that's below your budget, but realistically, most people have to make some compromises.You (and your spouse, partner or family) should make a list of what features you want in a home, such as the number of bedrooms, a fenced yard, granite counters in the kitchen, and then rank them in terms of priorities. Think about whether the house or the community matter more to you, and whether it's worth it to you to make a longer commute in order to live in a home with a larger lot. Source: Realtor
- AffordabilityAs a rule of thumb, traditional mortgage lending principles allowed borrowing up to three times your gross annual income. Couples could generally borrow three times the larger salary plus one times the smaller, or two-and-a-half times their joint salary. You may be able to borrow more but there's no point buying the house of your dreams if it's going to turn into a financial nightmare.Your repayments should not be more than 35-40% of your net monthly income. Use our mortgage affordability calculator to work out the monthly cost of your home loan. It will tell you if you are in danger of borrowing too much. Source: This is Money
- Look at Both Old and NewIt's nice to move into a place that's brand new. But, new isn't always better. Consider both old and new. While you might not like a previous homeowner's decorating decisions, you might like the owner-installed upgrades – like a finished basement and a backyard deck – that a new home might not have. Source: Trulia

subset: commoncrawl


text: Revanta Heights launched by Revanta Group like all other projects of the group is trade mark for luxury and quality. Revanta Heights is a housing society and located at Dwarka L Zone which is extremely near to the city attractions and well connected from NCR including Gurgaon and Noida etc. Along with the USP of the area and its location Revanta Heights is something that will accomplish home buyers desire of living a smart lifestyle. Under this project, the group provides number of facilities to satisfy the residents of each and every age group. Not only have we provided home buyers an elite and high class smart living where everything is just one touch away but also provide you with an extremely appealing and active lifestyle. The society of Revanta Heights L Zone Dwarka has uninterrupted the water and power supply in all 365 days of the year, the society has astonishing club area along with a beautiful swimming pool and play area for the recreation of the residents. The society is well equipped with all the latest home apparatus. With all the standard amenities and elite facilities Revanta Heights, one of the very trusted names in the sphere of real estate has brought the best for Delhi enhance the beauty and add on to the pride of Smart cities.


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Radical Jewish Martyrdom
Publication Date: January 2009
Publisher(s): Association for Jewish Studies; Association for Jewish Studies
Author(s): Robert Chazan; Robert Chazan
Topic: Culture and religion (Religion and religious groups)
Social conditions (History)
Keywords: Religion; History; Judaic Studies; Antisemitism
The author discusses the phenomenon of radical Jewish martyrdom -- the sacrifice of life in the face of an oppressive foe who demands a betrayal of Judaism, which is made radical when the sacrifice of life takes place by actual suicide rather than acquiescing to death at the hand of the enemy. The author examines one example of this kind of martyrdom, the mass suicides committed in the Rhineland during the First Crusade in 1096, and argues that these mass suicides represented a departure from halachic (Jewish legal) constraints, and from traditional Jewish values. This departure, the author explains, can be connected to parallel perceptions in the surrounding Christian world of extraordinary theological and moral circumstances.


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John deVadoss talks about "SOA with .NET & Windows Azure" and related topics
These days, the SOA community is increasingly able to agree on basic SOA terms and concepts, said John deVadoss, the leader of the Patterns and Practices team at Microsoft, and a co-author of SOA with .NET & Windows Azure: Realizing Service-Orientation, a recent addition to Thomas Erls' SOA series from Prentice-Hall.
We recently spoke with deVadoss about the book and related topics. He reminded us that if you get five architects together in one room to talk about SOA, you might hear ten different perspectives on what a service-oriented architecture really is. But the growing body of practical experience is tempering those debates. Continued »
In brief: Software AG touts webMethods and open source spreads
By Kathleen Kriz
Software AG touts webMethods – Software AG recently reported growth in its webMethods division, up 27% from the same quarter last year. According to the company, this high-growth division generated 47% of the company's total revenue of about $351 million for the past quarter. Meanwhile, Software AG reports successful integration of IDS Scheer, provider of Business Process Management (BPM) software, acquired in August of 2009. IDS Scheer is said to have generated 12% of total revenue for the quarter. IDS Scheer adheres to the ARIS for Process Excellence methodology, and provides software for design, strategy and control of business processes. Combined with Software AG, IDS Scheer will continue to strengthen a growth trend, said Chief Operating Officer Mark Edwards in a statement.
Open source spreads – In a recent Accenture survey of 300 large organizations in the US, UK and Ireland, half of the businesses surveyed said they were fully committed to open source software development, while 28% said they were experimenting with open source approaches. Accenture indicates drivers are low cost of ownership, of course, but also high quality and improved reliability and security. Although 69% of organizations expect increased investment with open source in 2010, 35% of companies show some fatigue, saying that the biggest challenge for using open source is training developers on how to use it. The transition to open source can be a difficult one, but Accenture's survey results suggest the effort is worthwhile.
Perl Dev Kit from ActiveState works with HP-UX
By James Denman
Perl continues to find adherents among developers looking for dynamic languages to build Web sites and integrate applications. Notable among commercial suppliers of the software is ActiveState. The company recently released Perl Dev Kit (PDK) 9, supporting cross-wrap applications to HP-UX, as well as Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, and AIX platforms. PDK 9 supports ActivePerl versions 5.8, 5.10, and the new 5.12. The ability to cross-wrap to HP-UX, Solaris, or AIX requires PDK 9 in combination with ActivePerl either Business Edition or Enterprise Edition. The free Community Edition of ActivePerl will only enable cross-wrapping to Windows, Mac, and Linux. Continued »
Embedded systems and SOA: Strange bedfellows get closer as systems of systems
Note on embedded systems – As the world becomes more computerized, embedded systems and enterprise systems are becoming intermixed. Sensors and such now dot the globe, and the data roll-ups from these nodes can best be handled by SOA-enabled systems. To get a view, we spoke recently with UML co-creator Grady Booch, who is paying close attention these days to the future of 'systems of systems' software engineering, and who, as always, provides a unique perspective. He told SearchSOA.com that the effects of systems of systems cannot altogether be foreseen, and that designers should be mindful of this going forward. It looks like there is quite a ride ahead!
Are you ready for real-time ESBs? ESO is!
SOA has brought a lot of benefits to application development, but few would suggest that speedy processing was one of those benefits. SOA incurs overhead, and overhead is the nemesis of fast action, especially of the type required for real-time systems.
The typical Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) middleware at the heart of many of SOA implementations itself has drawbacks for real-time applications – while it provides useful transformations it does tend to be implemented as a central node, offering a possible bottleneck and a single point of failure. Variations address some of these issues, and the basic format works well in a large swath of applications, of course.
But alternatives to typical ESBs have been emerging over time. They are found in some of the harshest environments, but may deserve a look-see in less volatile spaces. Continued »
Google's Rob Pike at OSCON on Go language, more
By Kathleen Kriz
New languages, cloud computing and hands-on Android development demonstrations were all part of the fare last week at the OSCON conference in Portland, Ore. Of note, Google Distinguished Engineer Rob Pike addressed the growing complexity of computing languages and asked if they are more complicated than they really need to be. Continued »
SOA and EA at The Open Group Boston conference
Sometimes the news is that there is nothing new. We saw an example of that recently.
''The exciting thing is that there is nothing new and exciting,'' said Dr. Chris Harding. With that statement the forum director of the SOA Work Group ironically observed that the hype and ballyhoo of early SOA has given way to a new period where SOA is how you do things if you are an enterprise looking for repeatable results. Continued »
Views from the application integration trenches
When inside meets outside, obstacles are always in store. Randy Carey, a former director of information strategies for the Women's Foodservice Forum, an advocacy organization, points to challenges integrating external services, such as an intelligent email management service, with the internal association management software. Fortunately, the association management software vendor had relationships with many third party providers, including the email company, and, in the case of the email service, had a "connector" ready to go to help support data integration between the internal and external applications. Continued »
Tibco Spotfire, others tap cloud for BPM, BI and BAM
Tibco Software's Spotfire group has released an on-demand offering that shares business intelligence dashboards for analytics using cloud computing as a platform. The move betokens an emerging trend that sees BPM and BAM systems reporting for cloud duty.
Ease of set-up is one of the major benefits here. Business users have the wherewithal now to create executable models that also serve as UI builders for executive dashboards that provide a view of operations. But IT and development remain a bottleneck for actual installation of the real-time run-time versions of the systems the business creates. The public cloud is a place where the systems can get built-out, ahead of IT procurement of private cloud or on-premise versions.
Collaboration is a cornerstone of recent BPM add-ons, whether cloud-based or other. Tibco's new offering highlights collaboration, or the social media aspect of business intelligence, which the cloud should leverage somewhat.
Among other activity in this area is Metastorm's new M3 modeling suite, which is composed of a popular subset of its modeling tools for business process building, residing on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. Not far afield of this is a new app store builder included in JackBe's Presto 3.0 enterprise mashup engine, used in many cases for data analytics.
Running PHP, Groovy, Ruby on IBM JVM
One of the most vibrant trends in Java in recent years has been the growth of support for non-Java languages on the JVM. PHP, Groovy, Ruby – these and other dynamic scripting languages have obtained a place in the application development life cycle where quickly building tactical Web apps trumps deliberatively building all-purpose strategic apps to stand the test of time.
Lost somewhat amid a slew of WebSphere news this spring was word of a WebSphere version aimed at users of dynamic languages. Don Boulia, director of product management, IBM WebSphere, tells us the no-compile time dynamic languages have a place in what are being called 'situational' apps. These situational applications recall an earlier era of Rapid Application Development (RAD). In fact, PHP, Ruby and other languages are beginning to fulfill a role not unlike that of Visual Basic and PowerBuilder, two languages of the RAD era.
IBM's Boulia indicates that running these dynamic languages on IBM's JVM and WebSphere application server helps IT departments ensure a simplified runtime environment. While many languages may be flowering, that doesn't need to mean a plethora of app server types for sys admins to manage.
Sometimes what is beginning to be known as Web apps is more familiarly known as Intranet apps. "There is this class of apps in the enterprise where they are time sensitive – they must be built quickly or can be temporary in nature" said Boulia. For these, sometimes, "if you use an enterprise tool set it will "take too long or require skills" the available people just don't have.
"In the old days that was built with PowerBuilder. It met the need and you could move on," he said.
"It comes down to the right tool for the job," Boulia commented, echoing others. And, sometimes, it is the Java developers themselves opting to use a scripting language.
"There are Java people who have scripting skills or interest in it for certain situations," he said. "That's what drove our use of Groovy. It has a strong affinity to Java. The other side is in terms of skilled people who don't have a Java background. PHP is very popular in that space."
A small caveat: The idea that this is all about special situations, and not an enterprise element, should not be taken to an extreme. "From a trends perspective, a few not-so-small entities have begun to use [scripting languages] as the foundation for their Web tiers. That's where it is less situational and more part of a strategic solution," said Boulia.
Big Blue has company in this quest. Last month, Oracle released its first version of the Sun GlassFish server, which includes support for JRuby/Ruby and Groovy/Grails. Also in June, RedHat's JBoss division debuted a JBoss Java portal server that supports Ruby and Groovy as well.


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John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, gave Barack Obama a timely endorsement Thursday, snubbing Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as his own vice presidential running mate.
Kerry came to South Carolina to embrace Obama, two weeks before the state's primary and with Obama needing a boost after Clinton's emotional victory over him in New Hampshire.
Quoting a black American hero in endorsing the man who hopes to be the first black president, Kerry told a cheering crowd, "Martin Luther King said that the time is always right to do what is right." Now is the time, Kerry said, to declare "that Barack Obama can be, will be and should be the next president of the United States."
The Massachusetts senator said there were other candidates he had worked with and respected but Obama was best able to bring Americans together.
Well, that, and the fact Obama never threw Kerry under the bus after his "botched joke" in late 2006 where he appeared to imply that the troops in Iraq were "uneducated". The backlash caused Kerry to announce shortly thereafter that he would not run for President in '08.
And Obama was not Kerry's running mate in '04 who torpedoed the campaign efforts a month before the election by insinuating paraplegics will walk when Kerry is President. Not that Kerry would have won anyhow. But John Edwards' asinine statement sure didn't help.
Yes, I would not put it past Kerry to make this endorsement out of disdain for Clinton and Edwards. Who could forget his pettiness and petulance on full display during the '04 Presidential campaign? Kerry broke Presidential race etiquette by continuing to campaign during the GOP convention. He then exacerbated said pettiness by holding a midnight rally in Ohio just minutes after the convention ended.
Given the 2000 Presidential loser's endorsement was a kiss of death (Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean in '04), is there any chance Obama could rescind Kerry's approval?


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On January 31, 2012 a team of physicians from the State of Qatar made an official visit to UCSD Trauma Center. In the photo, Dr. Jay Doucet demonstrates the advanced trauma protocols on one of the human patient simulators located at Surgical Research Lab (SRL)
On February 8, 2012 a group of trauma surgeons from Japan received a warm welcome from Raul Coimbra, MD, PHD, FACS, Chief of Trauma. They had an opportunity to tour the hospital and learn about the protocols of the UCSD Level-1 trauma center which is considered one of the best trauma centers in the world.
On February 8, 2012 the UCSD Level-! Trauma center and the Trauma Program hosted a meeting for the Trauma Managers Association of California (TMAC). Sharon Pacyna (upper photo, far left) the UCSD trauma program manager was the official host to all the visiting trauma managers. Raul Coimbra, MD, PhD, FACS (bottom left), Chief of Trauma at UCSD welcomes the group and briefly explains about the trauma center. Leslie Kobayashi, MD, FACS (bottom right), a trauma attending and faculty of the UCSD Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care, and Burns, was the guest speaker at the TMAC meeting.
Official Web Site of the University of California, San Diego.


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Electrician in Racine, WI
When you call Flat Rate Electric in Racine, WI, you'll get an experienced electrician to work on your electrical system. Whether you've got a circuit that's not working properly or just need someone to install a new lighting fixture, we always strive to get the job done as quickly as possible. We're a fully licensed and insured electrical company that's been in operation for 10 years, so you can feel secure in your choice.
Some of the most common services we provide are:
- Electrical repairs
- Residential and commercial lighting installation
- Electrical system upgrades
- Outdoor event lighting
If you have a project in mind that you don't see listed, just ask.
An electrician from Flat Rate Electric can come to your home in Racine or Kenosha to work on your electrical issue. Our operating hours are Monday - Friday, 8am - 5pm. Call today to discuss your problem and make an appointment.
Circuit breakers, when first introduced, were a groundbreaking innovation in electrical technology, offering safety and easy repair to millions of home and business owners. And circuit breaker installation can be just as simple and worry-free with Flat Rate Electric on the job. At Flat Rate Electric we pride ourselves on delivering friendly and fair services to customers in Racine, WI.
Anybody who's struggled with blown fuses and the frustrating handiwork of replacing those little plugs knows what an improvement circuit breakers are. Circuit breakers take the hassle out of home wiring, providing all the safety of fuses with a simple "reset" technology. But if it's your circuit breaker that's broken, you need fast, professional service. In Racine, WI, you can trust Flat Rate Electric for expert circuit breaker repair. We practically wrote the book on prompt and professional service, and we strive to provide excellent customer service for home and business owners alike.
Need a reliable and skilled electrician in Racine, WI for your business or commercial structure? You've come to the right place. As an established electrical contractor serving local companies and facilities, Flat Rate Electric is equipped to offer an extensive array of electrical services. From new wiring to emergency repairs, Flat Rate Electric is ready to serve all of your company's electrical needs.
With home and business owners consuming more and more energy every year, it's often necessary to upgrade your electrical service to accommodate the extra demand. Air conditioners alone use more power than entire households did 30 years ago. And if you're running a business or an institution, the need for reliable energy becomes all the more crucial. In order for your electrical equipment to function at its optimal capacity, it is absolutely essential to heavy-up, or upgrade, your electrical service. And Flat Rate Electric is a leading provider of such services in Racine, WI.
Honest electrician for jobs big and small
Great service, very friendly i would recommend to anyone that needs electric service..Reliable and professional and gets job done in good timely matter ...
Awesome service
Great quality workmanship. Great prices and quick turn around time. I would definitely recommend Flat Rate to all my friends and acquaintances.
Share Us With Your Friends and Family
Thank you for sharing us with your friends and family. Referrals are the best thank you gifts we could possibly receive.
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6 Tips To Answer MCQS
6 TIPS TO ANSWER MCQS Multiple choice questions are a form of test given to students to pick the most appropriate answer from several other statements. That sounds cheap but trickery. Especially when the negative marks are awarded. Check the following scenario, if given an exam covering 100 marks having 100 questions. You decide to answer 70 questions which you get 56 and you get 14 wrong, they have to be deducted from the 56.>>>


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Idea Cube
Idea Cube is an incubation center which opened its doors in April 2014.
The vision of the incubation center is to create an environment for all entrepreneurs to collaborate among each other as well with all related stakeholders around the globe. The Center is built upon cooperation and aims at creating companies who have international reputation. With completion of the entire incubation center by late 2015, Teknopark Istanbul will host one of the biggest and largest incubation center of Europe, the Middle East and Africa region.
Business idea contests, pre-incubation and incubation center, accelerator they are already/will all be carried out in the Incubation Center.
At the Incubation Center ideas, talents and capital will be able to flow freely. Followings, but are not limited to, are the motivation reasons why people join or what we are looking for from investors/companies at our incubation center:
Altruism: Giving back to community.
Adventure: An emotional rush for "The Next Big thing". Courage to participate groundbreaking technologies before anyone
Challenge: Climbing the hills that others have said impossible.
Competition: Desire to compete against others are heart pumping.
Connections: Joy of meeting new people and developing connections.
Friendship: Form long-lasting relationships based on trust.
Learning: Satisfaction of learning from others.
Team: Pleasure of being part of a larger group.
Our core rules as follows:
- Continuous and constructive communication
- Collaboration on various areas
- Sharing Best practices and best-known methods
- Minimum supervision for cooperation
- Global mind set
- Continuous idea generation
The venture capital fund to be formed soon is providing funds to our fresh companies and the center is almost cost-free. The priority sectors are life sciences and health technologies, energy, maritime, defence industry, aviation, advance electronics, advance materials and industrial software.


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Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing.
Postage and packaging
The seller hasn't specified a postage method to United States. Contact the seller- opens in a new window or tab and request post to your location.
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Item location: Southall, United Kingdom
Postage to: United Kingdom
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Select a valid country.
Please enter a valid postcode.
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Domestic dispatch time
Will usually dispatch within 2 working days of receiving cleared payment - opens in a new window or tab.
Payment details
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Immediate payment required for this item.
Immediate payment of £19.99 is required.
Seller's payment instructions
Thank you for your order. If you have any questions,Pls feel free to contact us anytime . We will response you within 48 hours(except the weekend & holidays) Thank you for your time and support!


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You can search by colour, country or brand or use the handy search box at the top of the site
The 1996 Colheita Port from Barros is a delicious example of single vintage tawny port. This tawny port has a lovely balance between power and finesse with a silky texture and beautifully sustained flavours. It has a delightful nutty characteristic and is delicious on it's own as an aperatif, with tapas, cheese or most desserts.
Established at the beginning of the century, Barros, Almeida & C0 – Vinhos S.A., is one of the most prestigious companies producing and trading in port. Nowadays, the Barros Group is composed of several companies acquired or established along the years. It's position on the port market is an important one (about 5% of total sales) producing in its Quintas up the Douro about 600 pipes of port. Barros Ports are appreciated all over the world. The unique things about Barros Colheita Port is the fact that it is kept in cask until ready to bottle. As the casks naturaly lose up to 10% of the contents due to evapouration (The Angels Share) each year the casks must be topped up with the same vintage. This means a vintage can start with 500 casks and over time with no sales at all can dwindle to a few hundred casks. This drives the price up as supply and demand decrease the stocks.
This wine was made from a careful selection of grapes and an extended maceration in order to obtain the necessary richness, body and fruitiness needed for a Colheita port. Fermentation was arrested by adding grape alcohol in order to produce a naturally sweet wine.
The vines are cultivated on terraces or platforms supported by the natural contours of the hillsides.
Tasting Note
Old Tawnies from a single year, matured in cask for a minimum period of 8 years. Amber colour with a bouquet reminiscent of dried fruits and spice. Soft and velvety on the palate with a lingering finish.
Everyday Serving Suggestion
Barros Colheita Port 1996 is best served at 17°c to 18°c as an aperitif, with desserts, with cheese, with chocolates and also with a good cigar.
Bronze (Decanter Wine Awards 2010)
Country / Region / Appellation
PT / Douro Valley / DO Porto
Manuel Barros
Vegetarian/Vegan - Yes/No
Milk/Eggs Yes/No
Contains Sulphites - Yes
Additional Resources:
Wineman sell restaurant quality wines, direct to discerning online buyers - there's no minimum order value or bottle quantity and delivery costs are surprisingly low. Now it's easy to buy great tasting wine at everyday prices.
Wineman would like to remind you that the sale of alcohol to anyone aged under 18 is prohibited and reminds you to drink alcohol in moderation along the guidelines of the government.
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The OSKI: The Holidays are Coming!
The Outspark Insider
December 14th, 2011
Fiesta Game News
Hello, fellow Fiestans,
It's time once again for our weekly server maintenance! What's been going on since last time?
Even though the big Adealian expansion is on its way, the world of Isya continues to evolve! The first thing that you'll notice is the freak snowstorm that has hit all the towns... and just the towns?! We're guessing this is the work of a wizard rumored to live in the northernmost point in Isya who flies overhead only once a year. Nobody has ever gotten a good look at him, but he's always wearing a bright red suit, and the scent of peppermint lingers behind after every sighting.
This wizard, called Canta Slaus by the people, often bestows gifts on the people for their hard work in keeping Isya safe year after year. One of these gifts is a large, decorated tree that he places in each town. These magical trees give various blessings to you if you dance near them! Also, some of the many monsters roaming Isya have been turned into snowmen, just for fun! Go find some and see what they drop!
Additionally, Canta watches over all Isyans, new and old. He noticed some newcomers to the country feeling lost and confused, so he gave each of them a mini-guidebook on how to survive and succeed in Isya. If you can run between Uruga and Roumen blindfolded, you probably won't need it, but luckily this tool tip guide can be toggled off and on in your game settings!
As one final present to the Isyans, the wizard Canta has bestowed something once thought lost: T4 & T5 composition and decomposition skills! GMs Wishbone and Velfarre danced for joy (under the buffing tree!) when they discovered this present. At long last, this chapter in Isyan history has drawn to a close...
You might ask, "where's Kobal been through all this?" Why, out in the forest searching for the perfect tree! Let's hope he's more careful this time than he was last year...
To prepare for this maintenance, the servers will be shutting down starting immediately after the outspark.com site-wide maintenance (estimated 12:00am PST), and the maintenance has an estimated completion time of 3:00am PST, for a total of 3 hours. Check the server announcements located in the Fiesta forums for updates in case the process is completed any sooner (or later). During the site-wide maintenance, forums will be down, so we will be updating players via our Facebook page and Twitter feed.
- Added missing composition & decomposition skills! (A new edition of The Wishdom has more details: http://fiesta.outspark.com/news/view/?id=zbn.19541)
- Added user tool tip (like an in-game mini guide): Can be accessed from "Game Options"
- Added Christmas trees to all towns (Roumen, Elderine, Uruga, Alberstol Ruins): Get groovy and dance near the tree for different buffs! (1 buff at a time; for dances 2-5)
- Added the "Mr. Frost" snowman monster: Mr. Frost carries goodies and can be found on 18 different maps. It will spawn up to 3 times on each map
- Changed background music in the towns for added holiday cheer
- It's snowing in Isya!
Errors and Bugs
- Fixed issues with incorrect duration on the following items: Sabertooth mount, Snowman Cap
Next Major Known Update
- Level cap increase
We'll see you after the patch, Isyans!


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The Yves Saint Laurent TV ad for Belle D'Opium has been banned in the UK as the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) considered the woman running her finger down her inner arm is simulating drug use.
The new ad for Belle D'Opium fragrance by Yves Saint Laurent
features French actress Melanie Thierry dancing sensuously, in a
series of captivating gestures. At one moment in the commercial,
she runs a finger down the inside of her forearm. In the end of the
clip a voice says "I am your addiction, I am Belle D'Opium. The new
fragrance by Yves St Laurent."
The actress running her finger down her inner arm was the main reason for the ad to be banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after receiving 13 complaints from viewers saying that the ad was offensive as the actress is simulating drug use. Moreover, ASA was also concerned by the fact that the actual dance scene, consisting of short and rapid movements, ending with the actress lying on the floor, might be considered as simulating the effect of drugs on the body.
"While we noted the consumer research found that most viewers did not consider the ad to be offensive, we nevertheless considered the woman's actions simulated drug use, and therefore concluded it was irresponsible and unacceptable for broadcast" ASA said.
YSL Beauté responded saying that it wasn't their intention to use drug imagery in the ad. "The advertisement was not intended to make any reference to drug culture, but to promote the sensuality and seductive qualities of the fragrance in keeping with the Opium brand which was launched by Yves Saint Laurent over thirty years ago," said a spokesperson of the company.
He also added that the ad for Belle D'Opium was previously tested and consumers didn't see it in that way. "In a consumer test in France before the advertisement was broadcast, no connection with drugs was perceived. Further consumer tests carried out in the UK after broadcast confirmed YSL's view that the Belle d'Opium advertisement was not contentious".
The choreography in the ad was made by dancer Akram Khan, MBE, who said that he wanted to create an ad inspired by the concept of the removal of excessive movement, focusing on the most simple and profound things. However, ASA ruled that the ad will not be broadcast again in its current form.


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Appledore Park
Type:Camping & Caravan Site
Sampford Courtenay
Tel: 01837 659767
This accommodation does not have any available rooms
Appledore Touring Park an award winning 5 Star Visit England park in peaceful surroundings, personally supervised by Tim and Rebecca Webb whose ambition is to help make your stay enjoyable and carefree.
The park covers 8 acres and has 40 pitches with wonderful views of the Devon countryside and our surrounding farmland; these have been landscaped to give level pitches. We have hard standing or grass pitches with 16 amp electric hook ups, drinking water at each bollard. A separate area is available for tents.
Our facilities include under floor heated toilet and shower block with private cubicles and a dedicated disabled area. There is a dishwashing and vegetable preparation area, tourist information point, Wi Fi and digital TV reception is good. Opportunities to recycle, as well as the usual waste points, are centrally located for your convenience.
Well behaved dogs, a maximum of 3 per pitch, with responsible owners are welcomed.
The park has has been awarded a Silver in the Visit Devon Tourism Awards 2017, and Bronze in the South West Tourism Excellence Awards 2017/2018.
We have already planted over 4,500 trees and hedge plants and are hoping to plants more.
Wildlife enthusiasts will be thrilled by the plethora of birds and animals that frequent the area. A herd of deer is regularly seen grazing in the adjacent field.
Guide Prices
- Number of Rooms / Units
- 91
|Room / Unit Type
|Room / Unit Tariff*
|Bell Tent
|£72.00 per room (room only)
|Caravan Pitch
|£14.00 per pitch (2 people)
|Green Campers (with no vehicle)
|£7.00 per person per night
|Touring Pitch
|from £17.00 to £24.00 per pitch (2 people)
*Advance booking is advisable to reserve a pitch for WEEKENDS and SCHOOL HOLIDAYS.
Minimum nights stay restrictions apply at certain times, please check when you are booking.
Dog friendly - up to 3 dogs stay free of charge. Additional pup tent £3.00
Additional vehicle - £3.00 each
- Free Wi-Fi available
- Facilities for the Disabled
- Local Produce English Breakfast
Children & Infants
- Accept children (Minimum age)
- Accept children all ages
Establishment Features
- 24 hr return laundry service
- Broadband Internet Access
- Central heating throughout
- Chemical disposal point
- Countryside Location
- Dedicated motor vehicle waste disposal point
- Dogs Accepted
- Drinking water supply
- Electric hook-up points
- Electric shaver point
- Event venue
- Family Friendly
- Free car parking
- Latest arrival time (24 hr clock) - Late arrivals area after 22.00
- Open All Year
- Overnight holding area
- Pets accepted
- Public telephone
- Showers
- Total number of touring pitches - 40
- Wireless Broadband Internet Access
Key Features
- Accessible
- Family
- Farm
- In countryside
- Midweek breaks
- Weekend breaks
Leisure Facilities
- Access to golf course - Locally within 10 miles
- Arrangements for riding/pony trekking - Locally within 5 miles
- Cycle hire - Locally within 5 miles
- Fishing - Locally within 5 miles
- Wet Room Available
Parking & Transport
- Car parking
- On site parking
Payment Methods
- Accept Bank Transfers, Internet Payment or SWIFT/IBAN
- All major credit cards accepted
Room / Unit Features
- Electric shaver point
- Free Wi-Fi
Specialist Features
- Marketed as green/environmentally friendly
- Mobile Phone Reception
- Special provisions for cyclists
- Special provisions for walkers
Travel & Trade
- Min group size numeric qualifier - 5 pitches with a 10% discount
- Wi-fi available
Map & Directions
Public Transport Directions
Appledore Park is 2 miles east of Okehampton on the B3125.Sat-Nav systems may guide you through lanes unsuitable for caravans; so follow the directions below for the best towing route.Directions from the A30 West Bound.Exit the A30 at Whiddon Down. Head south follow signs for North Tawton. After 1 mile turn right, opposite the Post Inn, onto A3124 for Torrington, Winkleigh and North Tawton . In about 5 miles give way at De Bathe crossroads, turn left onto A3072. Continue on this road without turning off, the road becomes the B3215. We are situated about 4 miles on the right, opposite a lay-by.Directions from the A30 East Bound.Exit the A30 at the second Okehampton turning. Turn left onto the B3260. Continue on this road, your Satnav may tell you to turn off, please ignore, these are the narrow lanes. At the police station, turn right at the traffic lights. At the mini roundabout take the second exit, onto the B3215 to North Tawton & Crediton. Continue on this road, we are situated about 2 miles on the left, opposite a layby.
- 5 Visit England Stars
- Regional and Miscellaneous Loo of the Year 2018
- Devon Tourism Visit Devon Awards - Silver - 2019 2017
- Regional and Miscellaneous South West Tourism Excellence Awards 2017/18 - Bronze 2018
Opening Times
|Open Christmas
|Open New Year
|Appledore Park (1 Jan 2019 - 31 Dec 2019)
* 13th January to the 28th February we can accommodate with very limited facilities.


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Joss Stone, the British soul singer who counts the Duke of Cambridge as one of her close friends, has become a star since bursting onto the international stage as a teenager.
She came to fame in 2003 as a small-town teenager with a big, soulful voice, showcased on her bestselling debut album "The Soul Sessions".
The Devon-raised singer is a household name in the US, where she spends up to nine months each year, and Barack Obama, the American President, is said to be one of her many legion of fans.
Her soulful vocals have seen her described as ''the white Aretha Franklin'' and she has enjoyed success on both sides of the Atlantic.
She was 16 in 2004 when she produced her first hit, Fell In Love With A Boy before a year later, having just turned 17, she stormed the Brit Awards picking up gongs for British Female Solo Artist and British Urban Act.
Stone, whom the Sunday Times Rich list said was worth more than £9 million, is in the top five biggest earning female UK singing stars. She is also the fifth wealthiest British and Irish pop star aged under 30.
The singer, born Joscelyn Stoker in Dover, Kent, on April 11, 1987, was raised on soul music by her mother Wendy, who would later become her manager.
Stone, 24, lives in her adopted Devon when she is not touring the world. Her mother operates a popular music haunt called Mama Stones nightspot in Exeter, where she recorded one of her albums.
The singer is said to have enjoyed singing from when she was a toddler and, after moving to Devon, began performing at school.
At the age of 13 she won the BBC's Junior Star For A Night talent contest, singing the Donna Summer hit On The Radio.
That led to her being snapped up by US record executives and in 2003 her first album, The Soul Sessions, was released to critical acclaim.
The record, a collection of classic covers recorded in just four days, was a runaway success and went gold in America.
More albums and hit singles followed with millions of copies sold and Stone found herself in demand for money-spinning advertising campaigns – most notably as the face of clothing chain Gap.
In 2006, she was the youngest woman on the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated fortune of £6 million before she started to carve out a promising acting career.
But a year later she was hit by controversy, after being the subject of a backlash following her putting on an American accent at the BRIT Awards.
At the time she expressed her frustration, saying she felt unjustly lambasted as other celebrities behaved much worse.
"It's not really that big a deal is it," she said at the time.
"I didn't kill anyone – I wasn't snorting cocaine and punching paparazzi and showing my vagina to the world – I just had a little bit of a twang – J**** calm down!
In 2008 she was tapped to play Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII, in the racy historical drama The Tudors.
She starred opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers' as the king in season three of the Emmy Award-winning TV show.
It was her first TV role, although she did recently grace the small screen as the Cadbury's Flake girl.
Stone was said to have been keen to establish an acting career and made her debut in 2006 fantasy film Eragon.
Her first starring role, in British film Snappers, hits cinemas later this year.
She has recently become close friends with both the Duke of Cambridge and his brother, Prince Harry.
She among the guests at the recent royal wedding involving the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
In 2008, the British soul singer was reported to have begun working on a campaign song for Mr Obama, when he was campaigning for America's highest political office.
Mr Obama is apparently a big fan of her work and had hoped her style will strike a chord with both black and white voters in America.
"Joss is a big supporter of Barack Obama and was very excited to be asked to do this for him," a source said at the time.
"He sent a personal message asking her to get on board. He has always admired her music and thinks she is the perfect choice because of her unique appeal to black and white voters.
"She believes he is going to be the first black American president and she is honoured to be a part of that."
Over the past 18 months she has been working with Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stone lead singer, on a secret album together with Dave Stewart, Damian Marley and AR Rahman.
Super Heavy is the name of the heavyweight musical collective, who plan to release their debut "fusion" album in September.
"It's a bit odd," Jagger recently told Rolling Stone magazine.
"A different kind of record than what people would expect." But Jagger promised that Super Heavy's music was "not all weird and strange". Fans, he added, "will find most of it accessible".
But Stone has still managed to maintain a level-headed approach to fame and once said she would become a social worker if her showbiz career was not a success.
She said: ''If I am destined to be as big as Britney, I will be. If not, I will not.''
In a recent blog-posting she said people living in Britain were "lucky buggers".
"I feel so, so lucky. Lucky because of many things. The fact I can take this time to travel with no plan just going anywhere that I feel is so much fun," she wrote.
"But more so today and everyday these past weeks I have felt extremely lucky to be born in England.
"We have so much as do most countries in the western world. How dare we moan about our situation."
She added: "There are people in England that claim benefits because they are too nervous to work, so they claim their benefits for anxiety and never have to go out side there free home."
She recently disclosed her secret to her voice – honey syrup, which she gets while shopping with her mum.


text:
All of us have a bicycle now so we took the opportunity to take a ride together in the morning.
We cycled to Sapan Hin.
We then cycled around the busy park and market.
Then we stopped for a drink - not sure if this was appropriate or particularly safe?
Then it was time for breakfast...
and on the way home a stop to see an Alex Face painting.


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Human remains found in Garfield County
Hikers discovered what appear to be human remains Friday off a county road between Battlement Mesa and Rulison.
The hikers reported their find to the Garfield County Sheriff's Office, which dispatched a patrol officer to the scene. The officer confirmed that the remains appeared to be human, according to a Sheriff's Department press release.
The area, a short distance off County Road 309, was secured for the night. Officers from both Patrol and Investigations worked through the night to coordinate efforts with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to begin the investigation.
According to WPX Energy spokesperson Susan Alvillar, the site was on the Forshee property, approximately one fourth of the way from Battlement Mesa to Rulison, on the south side of the Colorado River.
Investigators from the Sheriff's Office and CBI met at the site at 9 a.m. Saturday to begin collecting evidence. Garfield County Deputy Coroner Bill Hodgdon was notified, and by 6 p.m. the evidence had been collected.
CBI will utilize the DNA retrieved from the site to identify the remains. Garfield County Sheriff's Office Commander Bill Middleton expects results by the end of next week.
Start a dialogue, stay on topic and be civil.
If you don't follow the rules, your comment may be deleted.
The final four: Glenwood Springs police chief candidates talk policing philosophies at community meet and greet
Thirty-six candidates applied for the Glenwood Springs chief of police position. None of the candidates were from within the Glenwood Springs Police Department.


text: "Geodiversity" or "geological diversity" represents the variety of rocks, minerals, fossils, soils, landforms and natural processes. The rich geodiversity is the result of millions of years of geological history (see time periods section). The Causeway Coast and Glens area showcase rich and diverse geological features which can help understand the long history of the earth (see geology trail section).


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DailyVenture | NightlyVenture | exervive | AceFusion | Ho'ano
Locations | Photos | Wallpapers | About
From a lookout point
Journal Entry
July 4, 2006
Overlooking Rock Formations of Bryce National Park
Keywords : view, rock, formations, Bryce, National, Park, Utah, hoodoos, fins, pines, trees, strata, horizon, valley
You can create any sized image from the original high-resolution image. Select or specify an image resolution in pixels.
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By Chris Bishop
KHARTOUM, Oct 5, 2004 (IPS) — Crumbling masonry, peeling paint and dusty patches where once were manicured lawns?The University of Khartoum has worn poorly under the searing Sudanese sun - as much as the language that the buttoned-up colonialists who built it came to spread.
When the university was opened in 1902 amidst military pomp by Horatio Herbert Kitchener, formerly governor general of Sudan, English was the medium of instruction - and also the official language of Sudan.
But the end of British and Egyptian colonial rule in 1956, followed by the ascendancy of Arabic, saw the popularity of English wither. By the late 1960s instruction in English was being phased out in schools (although universities only followed suit in the early 1990s). All teaching in Sudan is now in Arabic.
There are no official statistics for the number of English speakers in the country at present, but it is safe to say that they are few and far between - especially amongst the youth. On the streets of the capital a conversation in English is usually held with a grandfather who was taught before the so-called "Arabization" of the country.
Change is in the air, however. While the crisis in the western region of Darfur has fuelled the image of a country at odds with global opinion, those outside political corridors testify to growing contact with the world beyond Sudan's borders. In addition, a clause in the peace plan being developed to end civil war in the south may bolster efforts to bring English back into fashion.
Since 2002, delegates from government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army have met near the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to hammer out a deal to end 21 years of fighting in southern Sudan. In addition to stipulating how the country's all-important oil revenues will be shared and a government of national unity constituted, the plan stipulates that English must become Sudan's second language after Arabic.
Mohammed Elfatih Ahmed Braima, who is writing his doctoral thesis on language policy in Sudan, welcomes the renewed interest in English.
"I am not very happy with the situation of English in this country. It is the language of technology and trade, and not enough of our people are learning it," he says.
Similar concerns are voiced by retired engineer Ahmed Defalla Mohammed, who studied in London.
"The (post-colonial) policy put Arabic first and made sure that everyone mastered their own language, which is a good thing," he notes. But, "If they had taught the world's academics and experts Arabic it would have worked better, because the text books are still in English."
However, a resurgence of English may catch Sudan's various teaching institutions flat-footed.
In a country where education is taken seriously there is a university in every state, but this system is groaning under the strain of too many students crowded into too few classrooms.
This year, official figures put the number of students attending Khartoum University at over 20,000 (although certain lecturers claim the number is likely to exceed 40,000) - a dramatic increase over the student complement in earlier years. In light of this, some wonder how tertiary institutions will cope with the extra burden of providing more English courses.
Others point out that taking English at university is a poor substitute for receiving a good grounding in the language at school.
"We cannot teach in four years the English that people used to learn in 12 years at school," says Sadig Yahya, the energetic head of the English Department at Khartoum University. He notes that of the 400 students who apply to study English every year, about 300 are accepted - only a hundred of which will ultimately graduate.
"We have even had students who cannot copy basic information from the question sheet onto their examination papers," adds Yahya.
While many at the university say the dearth of English in home and public life underpins the inability of students to grasp the language, one senior lecturer puts a portion of the blame elsewhere.
"The British?are neglecting the health of their language and culture overseas. It seems they are interested in business only these days," says Younis El-Amin.
Elamien Saeed, officer-in-charge at the local branch of the British Council, begs to differ. Speaking at premises in a side street off the chaos of downtown Khartoum, he says the council helps up to 200 people a day in their quest to learn English - even though only one language officer has been assigned to Sudan.
"Considering the resources we have, we are doing quite a lot," Saeed claims. The council is an arm of the British government dedicated to increasing cultural ties between the United Kingdom and other countries - and to providing educational opportunities for British and foreign students.
Back at Khartoum University, in the hush of library's high arches, 19-year-old Safa Abu Bieda pores over a book in her bid to master English.
The daughter of a customs officer, she is one of the fortunate few who can speak English fluently - albeit with a slight American accent. Because there are so few people to speak English with in Khartoum, Abu Bieda watches American films and listens to American music. She wants to be an interpreter one day.
"I find the teaching is not enough, English is just another subject here and the rest of the world is in Arabic," she says. "Some students struggle with learning certain subjects like physics and medicine in Arabic?Many text books are still in English."
"In Arabic there are many words for one concept. In English, there are many concepts for just one word," Abu Bieda adds.


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24 Chinese Feasts (Jiéqì, 节气), equivalent to the 24 Chinese Solar Terms: Year 2019
Chinese Agricultural Calendar of my Grand Father: 24 solar terms in 4 earth seasons: Year 2019
Amusing: Calculate the 24 Chinese Solar Terms of a Country/Territory
Change the Straw Paper | Change Orientation ...
Here is the 24 Chinese Feasts (Jiéqì, 节气), equivalent to the 24 Chinese Solar Terms for the year 2019.
If you want also the dates of these Chinese feasts on the Chinese Lunar Calendar, here is the link (a slow process) : DetailKnow more about the Chinese Calendar...
Chinese Astrology for Previous Years | Chinese Astrology for Next Years...
| Chinese Feasts related to the lunar events
Chinese Agricultural Calendar of my Grand Father: 24 solar terms in 4 earth seasons: Year 2019
In memorial of my maternal grand father, a part of my great memory of my childrenth. In effect, he was the studied of the countryside town of about 3 000 souls on the chinese bord of the pacific ocean in the province of Zhejiang in China. Before each chinese new year, he calligraphed this kind of calendar for the people of the whole village, even those of the villages around, people thinking abount their future rice harvest. He was so famous of the village and invited by many families for thanks of this knowledge of the Chinese Calendar (Calendar of 10 000 years: 万年历) during the chinese spring festivals, I accompanyed him to share those delicious meats. Dear Maternal Grand Father, you should be very proud of that your little grand-son of that time inheritates a part of your works just as you wished. Thanks my maternal grand father on the sky...
In the calendar of my Grand Father, there are two solar season feasts on each lunar month.
You could also Change the Straw Paper for the calligraphy.
What is the Chinese Lunar Calendar ?
The Chinese Calendar is a solilunar calendar. It integrates as well the revolution of the Earth around the Sun as the movement of the Moon around the Earth.
A month begins at the day of the new moon (invisible Moon) and ends at the day before the next new moon. The full moon is either on 15 or 16 of the month.
A Chinese year can have 12 or 13 lunar months, that correspond to the nomber of new moons between two successive winter solstices. The year is appelé leap year if there are 13 months in the year.
If a Chinese year always starts on the 1st month 1, the date marking the beginning of the Chinese New Year in the Gregorian calendar is variable between January and March according to relative position of the Sun - Moon.
Here is the Chinese Calendar of my maternal grand father.
Year in the Chinese Lunar CalendarA Chinese Year (Suì, 岁) is composed of 4 seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, and sub-divised in 24 Chinese Feasts, equivalent to the 24 Chinese Solar Terms of a Chinese Year. The major solar terms Zhōngqì (中气) are given in boldface, while the minor solar terms Jiéqì (节气) are given in lightface.
As these solar terms are only events of the Sun, no lunar event related feasts, such as Chinese New Year which is the day of the first new Moon (day 1 of month 1 of a Chinese lunar year), Dragon Feast (day 5 of month 5 of a Chinese lunar year), are in the list.
Since the creation of the People's Republic of China on October 1st 1949 by the President MAO Zedong (Mao Tsetong), China has officially adopted the Gregorian calendar, or the solar calendar for the administration purpose. Nevertheless, the Chinese People keep their traditional feasts fixed on the dates of the Chinese Lunar Calendar. These feasts are very vivid today such as the Spring Festivities, symbol of the arrival of the Chinese New Year.
The Spring Festival takes place always on the first day of the first month on the Chinese Lunar Calendar. But the date on the solar calendar varies with the year. Il is always on January or February of the current year on the solar calendar, but its date can be obtained only by a very complex calculation of the dual movement of the Earth and of the Moon.
In the Ancient Chinese History of 24 dynasties, the time has neither beginning, nor ending. Each dynasty hopes an infinite reign on time and each emperor starts counting by his first year of reign as year 1. For example, the Emperor KangXi of the Qing Dynasty counts his reign by KangXi year 1, KangXi year 2, KangXi year 3, ...
Nowadays, the Chinese have officially the Gregorian year. This is to say, the year 2019 for this year. But as the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) is considered as the Creator of the Chinese Nation, the population count also as Huangdi 4717 for this year.
To know more about chinese feasts of the 4 seasons related to the chinese calendar, the chinese lunar calendar of my grand father would be a precious help.


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Web Service Software Factory
patterns & practices Developer Center
December 2006
The Web Service Software Factory (also known as the Service Factory) is an integrated collection of tools, patterns, source code and prescriptive guidance. It is designed to help you quickly and consistently construct Web services that adhere to well known architecture and design patterns.
If you are an architect or developer responsible for building service-based applications, the patterns & practices team would like to invite you to learn how the Service Factory can help your future service development activities. The Service Factory provides guidance that addresses many of the challenges associated with building ASP.NET (ASMX) and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Web services and the components of a distributed application. These challenges include:
- Designing ASMX and WCF messages and service interfaces.
- Applying exception shielding and exception handling.
- Designing business entities in the domain model.
- Translating messages to and from business entities.
- Designing, building, and invoking the data access layer.
- Validating the conformance of service implementation, configuration, and security using code analysis.
- Planning for the migration to WCF.
- Applying security to WCF services.
- Applying message validation.
Use the following information to determine whether Service Factory is right for you, your team, and the services you are building.
What Is the Service Factory?
Intended Audience
Getting Started
System Requirements
Future Plans
Known Issues
Feedback and Support
Authors and Contributors
Related Titles
What Is the Service Factory?
Generally speaking, software factories represent a collection of guidance that helps architects and developers build a specific kind of application. Therefore, the Service Factory helps developers and architects build Web service applications. Web service applications are more than just the technologies that send and receive SOAP messages and expose WSDL contracts—they also include the functionality that is needed to fulfill the service's behavior. Figure 1 illustrates the parts of the application, and their relationship with one another, the Service Factory will help you build.
Figure 1. Structure of a service built with the Service Factory
In addition to the challenges listed in the "Summary" section, the reality is that technologies are constantly evolving. Another challenge that should be addressed is how to build XML Web services using the .NET Framework 2.0 (ASP.NET and Web Services Enhancements (WSE)) so they can be migrated in the near future to the .NET Framework 3.0 (WCF, Windows Workflow (WF), and CardSpace™). The Service Factory helps build services on currently shipping technologies that have a path to future technologies. It does this by introducing concepts that are closely related to the next generation technologies and providing design guidance that minimizes the amount of future change. If you are already building services using WCF, the Service Factory also helps you build and secure those services.
Service Factory guidance is available in three basic forms:
- Written documentation. In addition to detailed How-to topics and the printable patterns enabled through the use of the Service Factory, there are several architecture-related topics that explore the finer details and rationale of the guidance. For example:
- Web Service Application Architecture
- Message Design in Service-Oriented Applications
- Exception Handling in Service-Oriented Applications
- Planning for and Migrating to WCF
- Guidance packages. Using the Guidance Automation Extensions with guidance packages, developers can have a "conversation" with Visual Studio 2005 through the use of wizards and shortcut menus. The conversation results in the generation of source code and configuration that adhere to proven practices. Two guidance packages are included in the Service Factory:
- ASMX guidance package. This guidance package helps build the service interface, the messages the service will expose and consume, and the translators that map these messages to domain model entities.
- Data Access guidance package. This guidance package helps build business entities from and existing data model, build stored procedures from a data model, and generate the repository classes and factories that comprise the data access logic.
- WCF guidance package. This guidance package helps build the service interface, the messages and data contracts the service will expose and consume, and the translators that map these messages to domain model entities.
- WCF Security guidance package. This guidance package helps secure WCF services using X.509, Kerberos, and direct authentication approaches by generating the necessary configuration sections.
- Reference implementation. Global Bank is a fictitious organization whose requirements are addressed by this solution. The solution was built using the preceding guidance packages and can be used as an example of how to apply additional functionality, such as logging and exception management, to a service. For more information, see Global Bank Scenario.
The Service Factory provides the following benefits:
- Increased quality. It provides tested and accepted reusable assets, guidance, and examples that address common scenarios and challenges. It is based on patterns derived from proven industry and Microsoft practices.
- Increased predictability. The patterns & practices team works closely with the development teams responsible for building current and future generations of service and data access technologies. All services built with the Service Factory will be built in a predictable way, arrive at a predictable result, and will enable a predictable migration path to future technologies.
- Increased productivity. It includes automated code and configuration file generation for Visual Studio 2005. With this automation, developers can easily apply guidance in consistent and repeatable ways. Developers can also effectively use the .NET Framework without having to devote significant time to learning the necessary APIs.
- Increased flexibility. The Service Factory is carefully designed according to proven practices, but it is also open and highly customizable. Architects and development leads can customize the factory to include the conventions, policies, and practices specific to a team or organization.
Intended Audience
Based on the target audience, the Service Factory will provide various levels of value. This target audience can be defined by the role of the person using it, and the type of application being built:
- Architects. If you are an architect with a focus on service orientation, it is likely the Service Factory was designed with you in mind because of the responsibilities of your role.
- Developers on a team. If you are a developer on a team and your responsibilities do not span all of the layers in Figure 1, the guidance packages can be installed separately to help you build the part of the application you are responsible for. Development of these various layers can often occur simultaneously. Also, the Service Factory should help larger teams realize larger productivity gains.
- Single developer. If you are a developer who is responsible for building the entire service, the Service Factory includes detailed guidance about how and when to perform the activities necessary to construct each layer. During this process, you will also have the confidence that you are adhering to established patterns and proven practices.
- Service types. This release of the Service Factory helps with the following services:
Entity services. These services provide access to data entities that provide a business-oriented view of the information managed and manipulated by an organization's processes while encapsulating the details of their persistence strategy. An example operation might be "GetCustomerDetails."
Activity services. These services deliver repeatable encapsulated business value and may require the consumption of entity services to fulfill the request. An example operation might be "RetrieveCreditScore."
Future releases of the Service Factory will also help with the following services:
Process services. These services manage long-running business processes. These services are controlled by an organization's workflows, and they often orchestrate the use of other services. An example operation might be "ProcessInsuranceClaim."
Utility services. These services provide infrastructure functionality, such as logging, content routing, security, and publish/subscribe capabilities. These services may operate on the headers or body of the message, and they may have to comply with specifications, such as WS-Security.
The patterns & practices team expects individuals and organizations to standardize on the use of Service Factory for the development of their services. This will ensure consistency across services and provide predictability for future technology evolutions.
Getting Started
The best way to get familiar with the Service Factory is to view the webcast listed in the "Summary" section. This introduction tells you why the Service Factory was built and demonstrates the guidance automation experience in Visual Studio. Toward the end of the webcast, there is a demonstration that applies security to a WCF service using the next release of the Service Factory.
The best way to begin your evaluation of the Service Factory is to download the hands-on lab listed in the "Summary" section. This lab introduces you to many of the activities that will be performed during the construction of an ASP.NET service in C# for the fictitious Coho Winery:
- Exercise 1: Create solution structure
- Exercise 2: Create data types
- Exercise 3: Create message types
- Exercise 4: Create service operations
- Exercise 5: Create business entities
- Exercise 6: Translate between messages and business entities
- Exercise 7: Create CRUD stored procedures
- Exercise 8: Create data repository classes
- Exercise 9: Invoke data access layer
- Exercise 10: Wire up client and test service
The lab has been put together in such a way that the exercises can be completed in order, but you can also start at any point and perform the exercises in any order that is appropriate for your learning.
If there are specific areas you would like to know more about, you can use the "Exploring the Service Factory" topic in the documentation.
System Requirements
To view and run the Service Factory assets in your development environment, you need the following software installed on your computers:
- Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Vista operating system
- Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (with the exception of the Express edition)
- Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition or SQL Server 2005
- Guidance Automation Extensions Technology Preview (February 2007 Release for Visual Studio 2005)
In addition, you may want to install the following software:
- If you will be modifying the Web Service Software Factory guidance package, you must install the Guidance Automation Toolkit Technology Preview (February 2007 Release for Visual Studio 2005) in addition to the Guidance Automation Extensions.
- If you want to use the Enterprise Library Configuration Tool—for example, to modify the settings in the Data Access Application Block that is being used in the reference implementation—you will need to install Enterprise Library.
- To run the Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) unit tests, you must have Visual Studio Team System version 2005 installed. For more information about VSTS, see Microsoft Visual Studio Team System Developer Center on MSDN.
- To run the NUnit tests, you must have NUnit version 184.108.40.206 installed. You can download NUnit from the NUnit Web site.
Future Plans
The good news is that this is not the last version of the Web Service Software Factory. The next version of the Service Factory is expected to be released toward the end of the 2007 calendar year and will focus primarily on service modeling, additional automated guidance, and composing various parts of the application's architecture. Planning for these releases is in the very early stages, but the key areas of focus are likely to include the following:
- Service modeling
- Data access
Service Modeling
Adding support for modeling Web services using a Domain Specific Language (DSL) is a major theme for the next release of Service Factory. The details of exactly how this will be implemented have not yet been finalized. For more information about the next version of Service Factory, keep monitoring the Service Factory Community site.
Data Access
This release of the Service Factory includes guidance to help developers adhere to proven practices while building business-entity based data access layers with ADO.NET 2.0.
The next release of Visual Studio will include additional features designed to simplify the process of designing and implementing data-driven .NET Framework applications, in the form of .NET Language Integrated Query (LINQ). LINQ to ADO.NET will enable the LINQ programming model to work with the Microsoft managed code data access platform. As these new technologies become available, the recommended practices for building data-driven applications will be updated.
The initial releases of the Service Factory target ADO.NET 2.0, but the suggested patterns and approaches for building data access layers and entities are designed to simplify migration to the LINQ to ADO.NET technologies in the future. To demonstrate this migration, the patterns & practices team will release migration guidance and reference implementations that show how the Service Factory architecture applies these new technologies. The Service Factory will also be updated to fully support these technologies when they are officially released.
Known Issues
For information about known issues with the Service Factory, read the KnownIssues.htm file. To view this file, click Start on the taskbar, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft patterns & practices, point to Web Service Software Factory, and then click Known Issues.
Feedback and Support
To provide feedback about this guidance, or to get help with any problems, visit the Web Service Software Factory Community Web site. The message board on the community workspace is the preferred feedback and support channel because it allows you to share your ideas, questions, and solutions with the entire community.
Note It is very important you understand that all the releases on the community workspace are NOT final in any way. They have not yet undergone the complete array of performance and security tests, so patterns & practices team recommends that you treat downloads from the community as beta guidance.
Authors and Contributors
The Service Factory was produced by the following individuals:
- Program and Product management: Don Smith, Dmitri Ossipov, Jason Hogg, Sanjeev Garg, and Tom Hollander (Microsoft Corporation)
- Architect: Dragos Manolescu, Wojtek Kozaczynski, and Edward Jezierski (Microsoft Corporation)
- Development: Chris Tavares (Microsoft Corporation); Hernan de Lahitte (Digit Factory); Pablo Galiano, Juan Wajnerman, José Escrich (Clarius Consulting); and Brian Button (Asynchrony Solutions, Inc.)
- Test: Larry Brader and Carlos Farre (Microsoft Corporation); Tushar More, Mani Krishnaswami, Manickavasagam Shanmugasundaram, Arunkumar Sundararajan, Sajjad Nasir Imran, Meenakshi Krishnamoorthi, Muralidharan C Narayanan, Manu Agarwal, Bhavin Raichura, Vinod Kumar S, Venkata Reddy Donthireddy, and Lalitha Sundaram (Infosys Technologies Ltd)
- Documentation: Nelly Delgado and RoAnn Corbisier (Microsoft Corporation); Lonnie Wall (RDA Corporation); William French (Linda Werner & Associates, Inc.); Paul Slater (Wadeware LLC); Tim Osborn (Ascentium Corporation); Tina Burden McGrayne (TinaTech, Inc.); and Claudette Siroky (CI Design Studio)
Many thanks to the Microsoft Practice team at CGI's Quebec City office who contributed to the development of the Service Factory and who were entrusted with its conversion to Visual Basic .NET. A leading IT and business process services provider with approximately 25,000 professionals operating in more than 100 offices worldwide, CGI works on behalf of its clients to evolve Service Factory and other patterns & practices offerings. To learn more about CGI's Microsoft solutions, visit the CGI corporate Web site.
Many thanks to the following advisors who provided invaluable assistance:
- Edward Bakker and René Schrieken (LogicaCMG); Aaron Skonnard (Pluralsight); Gabriel Gilabert and Patrick Johnston (Thomson Financial); Norman Headlam (Fidelity Investments); Brandon Bohling (Intel Corporation); Alejandro G. Jack (Southworks); Christian Weyer (Thinktecture); Daniel Cazzulino (Clarius Consulting); Steve Millet, Jan Alexander, Andy Gordon, Mark Fussell, Ford McKinstry, Steve Maine, Eugene Osovetsky, Daniel Roth, Jezz Santos, Beat Schwegler, Shy Cohen, Serena Yeoh, Vajira Weerasekera, Sam Keall, Jason McConnell, Pablo Castro, Sanjay Mishra, and Umachandar Jayachandran (Microsoft Corporation)
Related Titles
Mobile Client Software Factory
Guidance Automation Extensions and Guidance Automation Toolkit


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Rescued African lion demands blankets to sleep on
As a household pet, Lambert was used to his creature comforts – especially blankets to sleep on.
It was all very well when Lambert was a small lion cub, but as a fully grown lion it is slightly more problematic.
Lambert was born in captivity and bought by an unnamed man as a pet for his children, aged two and three.
When the family was unable to keep him, Lambert was taken into care by Vicky Keahey, the founder of Texas' In-Sync Exotic Wildlife Rescue and Educational Centre.
But rehousing Lambert, who was too tame to be released into the wild, was challenging.
A conventional lion's paddock was not to his liking, Ms Keahey said.
'We had heard from the previous owners that he slept in the bed with the grandfather."
This prompted Ms Keahey to experiment with a blanket – which Lambert seized with alacrity, Mail Online reported.
Since moving to the Texas rescue facility, Lambert has learned to eat raw meat like his wild counterparts, Lambert will not give up his blankets and sleeps with them every night.


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|In the Hotel entrance
I only took pictures of the dessert station items but I will tell you that the dinner was great. Lots of choices for kids and grown-ups. The good news is that it's all you can eat.Only Disney can get away with serving gummy bears with Thanksgiving dinner
|Pecan Pies
|Mini Pumpkin Pies
I kid you not. This was my dessert plate. Not pictured is my caramel nutella tart and rice Krispie treat. And, there were lots of desserts that I left alone like the ice cream sundae bar, the fruit cobbler, jello, brownies, and cookies.
|The Rice Kristie treats were very colorful with just a hint of white chocolate.
|Yummy Rice Krispie Treats
Here is the niece with Goofy himself.She's getting to that age where she gets embarrassed taking pictures with the characters.
Happy Thanksgiving!


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Two new trailers for Spider-Man: Homecoming have arrived and the spots are sure to get fans of the web-slinger seriously anticipating the new film. The two Amazing Spider-Man films and the third entry of Sam Raimi's original trilogy were not well-received. Even the director said he wasn't happy with the finished film. The new Spider-Man film, a film integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, really does look awesome.
The film is sure to bring Spider-Man back to the top spot in superhero films. The trailers definitely do a good job of hyping the wall-crawler's impending return. Interestingly, he gets an assist from Tony Stark who makes a nice cameo. Will the relationship between Stark/Iron Man and Peter Parker/Spider-Man play out over a series of films? Fans can hope so.
Based on how things are being established with Spider-Man and Iron Man, the two are likely going to share screen time again in the future. Avengers: Infinity War is definitely the next time the two will be together in a film, but this is to be expected. Infinity War is going to be Marvel's mega collective of heroes.
What about the next entries in the Spider-Man movie franchise? The second film is many years away, but it would be nice to see Tony Stark appearing in the films. One of the cooler aspects of the old Marvel Comic books from the 1960's and 1970's was Marvel built a solid universe of characters that did intermingle with each other through guest appearances in other hero's books. Today, crossover appearances are nothing special. In the movies, however, there is still a uniqueness to guest shots and two-hero team-ups. The upcoming Thor movie will feature The Hulk in a major role, which definitely lends the film a box office assist.
The Peter Parker/Tony Stark dynamic should play out in an interesting way. Plus, it could keep Robert Downey Jr. somewhat active in the Marvel Cinematic Universe even if he chooses to bow out of The Avengers and any other lead roles.
And no one really wants to see Robert Downey Jr. go. He truly is awesome in the Marvel movies.


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What if you could wake up and do anything you wanted to do–every day?
I caught up with an old friend the other day. He's single with no kids, and recently had a birthday so he's knocking on 40. He told me that he left his longtime Fortune 500 company for another one, but was laid off shortly thereafter. He didn't work for six months… and he LOVED it! That experience of freedom changed his whole mindset and outlook on spending money and how it is to feel free. Even though he's working somewhere else now (a position was created for him) he has a goal to get out Corporate America for good. He wants a life completely free of debt and stress.
I let him know that I started homeschooling my daughter this year, and she's now away with family for the summer. He told me to live my life and enjoy it. Others don't understand the way I live or have that freedom mindset. I met a woman the other day who said she didn't like working from home (as I do) because she needs to be social and know what's going on. I'm an admitted loner but I can find time in my life to socialize with adult company and keep abreast with world events–without compromising the flexibility I have in my life.
There's nothing like being free. What would being free look like for you?


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Shop Ladies Vest Online At Zando
Get back to basics with the wide assortment of women's vests. The selection features a variety of all your favourite local and international brands. Ranging from plain vests, to patterned vests, the assortment has something for every style aesthetic. The plain ladies vests are available in solid colours from black, to white, pastels, muted tones and bright pops of colour. Match plain vests with denim shorts and espadrilles for a summer-ready appeal. Patterned vests give a contemporary take to the classics, with quirky graphics, fun prints, as well as animal prints. Style graphic vests with boyfriend jeans, a leather jacket and ankle strap heels for a smart casual appeal. Shop vests for women and have key go-to tops this summer!


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EY 5 Marmara matching body part words and images
- By tzerunyan
- 8 November, 2014
- No Comments
This week, EY 5 started their new unit, identifying body parts such as "göz, kulak, diz, dirsek, bilek". They then sorted the images and words by identifying the first letter sound of each body sound.
Grade 1 finding one word syllables
- By tzerunyan
- 4 November, 2014
- No Comments
Grade 1 were working on building three letter, one syllable words such as "kız" and "ayı and the more challenging ones with letters ş, ç, ğ such as "dağ" or "kış", as letters and sounds such "ş" and "ç" are easy to confuse.


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Those who follow Think Tasmania via social media would know we've been in St Helens this past week, sharing all sorts of goodness from the north east. We had a fabulous time, and now we're back facing computer screens instead of pristine beaches. Sigh. Thankfully, while we readjust our vision, Len Langan has chimed in with another guest article about Zeehan's West Coast Heritage Centre. The subject slots-in perfectly with our Queenstown-themed series, just like Len's other recent piece about Greg Duncan and The Wall in the Wilderness at Derwent Bridge.
Tasmanian Gem: West Coast Heritage Centre
by Len Langan
How does one begin to describe a remarkable museum? The West Coast Heritage Centre at Zeehan is big but we all know that big is not always better. As with people as with so many other things, it is not "size" that matters but "quality" and Zeehan in this collection has something to put it on the "quality must see" map in spades. In my opinion it is the most remarkable and best presented provincial museum in Tasmania and possibly in Australia.
This collection is presented with a flair that makes one instantly feel at home and it certainly makes you want to stay for as long as you possibly can. To Tasmanians and to our many welcome visitors, one highly recommends a visit to this treasure house of wonder, nostalgia and future hopes.
The West Coast Heritage Centre houses a vast crystal and mineral collection, a remarkable and well displayed West Coast photographic exhibition, touching on so many social and academic fields of human interest to take one on a journey that equates to a magic carpet flight to warm the heart and feed the imagination.
Working Class to Grand Dames
Mining machinery, a blacksmith's and wheelwright's workshop, classic locomotives and cars, an underground mine simulation and lots more. A Masonic temple, a police court house and then as a crowning glory, the Gaiety Theatre of the Grand Hotel where Dame Nellie Melba once sang and other "greats" have trod the boards. Perhaps Dame Nellie did not sing here but the legend lives on and we like to think that she did as a compliment to a wonderful building and all the wonderful people who still live here.
This remarkable centre opens every day from 9:00am to 5:00pm excepting Christmas Day and Good Friday. It offers a visitors lounge, excellent coffee, an impressive gift shop and a warm welcome. We are all greatly indebted to Phil Vickers and his happy and dedicated team for a first class experience at Zeehan.
As a footnote, Zeehan once had a population of about 10,000 people and was known as "The Silver City" with a two mile long main street.
Len Langan lives in Longford with his wife Jill. They are both passionate about Tasmanian heritage and tourism and things that can be done in this industry. Len writes about Tasmanian history for both The Courier in Longford and the magazine Sagacity, and works with Virtuosi taking music to rural areas.
Photos were supplied to Len Langan by the West Coast Heritage Centre in Zeehan, located at 114 Main Street. Phone (03) 6471 6225 for more information.


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My mom used to make a variation of this with pork or hot dogs (seriously there may be nothing better than a cider cooked hot dog).
The other day I came across a pork shoulder on sale, apples were on the cheap AND sauerkraut was on sale. Kismet? I think maybe.
I really like making this during the fall as it has all the fall flavors, is made over a couple hours, so you can go rake leaves or some other fall activity-and it makes your house smell amazing. Not to mention that the flavors are warm and crisp- just like a nice fall day.
This is a really easy dish to throw together, and the great selling point? You use seasonal ingredients-so these items are typically available and on the cheap end at the local grocery store.
This is what you need;
1 pork shoulder
1/2 gallon apple cider (not juice)
1 can alcoholic cider (optional)
2 large apples-red or yellow is best, sliced
2 large yellow onions, sliced thin
1 bag sauerkraut
6-8 whole cloves
8-10 whole peppercorns
1 tea olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
In a Dutch oven with heat on medium, add oil and onions-cook until transparent 3-5 minutes. Prep your pork shoulder while onions are softening. Remove packaging and dry meat with paper towel. Sear on all 4 sides for about 30 seconds each. (I did this in the Dutch oven while cooking onions-I'm a big believer in one pan cooking if I can do it). Remove pork shoulder, set aside on a plate and stud with cloves.
Add alcoholic cider to onions and let cook for 10 minutes on high heat until reduced by half. Turn heat down to low and add pork shoulder, then the cider. Cover and cook for 2 hours.
After hour 2 add sliced apples, peppercorns and sauerkraut. Stir and flip the pork. Cover and cook for an additional 1 hour. For the last 1/2 hour remove cover to reduce sauce slightly and to thicken. Check your meat. Not only should it be cooked through, but it should be so juicy and tender that you should be able to flake it off. Remove cloves and add salt and pepper to your liking (I tend to only add a bit of pepper). Your onions, apples and sauerkraut should now be melded into this wonderful saucy sauerkraut.
I serve with mashed potatoes and use the extra sauce as a thin gravy.
This dish is very white and beige-so the picture is a little meh-but the results are superb! (Plus I couldn't WAIT to eat it!)


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Barron Saddle, Mt. Brewster region summary. This is a large and complex alpine region broadly covering the Southern Alps south of the Aoraki Mt. Cook region to the Haast Highway, north of Mt. Aspiring.
This region is a treasure trove of new route possibilites, a fact made apparent by the "number of new routes to come out of this area in the last two years. Ross Cullen (the area's guidebook author) and Bill McLeod tackled two peaks on the lower Huxley Range, climbing Waka Jumping, 13 (5.6), 13 pitches on the south face of Leaning Mount, and Zwieback on the Hunter Valley face of Peak 2,285m.
The Cullen and McLeod duo also continued to explore the South Temple Valley and pick off new lines, one of the best finds being the Grasshopper Wall on Peak 2,070m; this wall yeiled one line, and though not technically hard is a good contrbution to the area. Paul Hersey and Mat Woods established two new lines on the north face of Benross Peak (2,486m) from the
Dobson Valley (climbed with Derek Chinn and Dave Morgan also); the first ascent of the south face of Glencairn (2,499m), Neumann Range; and the eight pitch Zoe on Steeple Peak (2,207m), South Temple Valley. Derek Chinn and Paul Hersey also teamed up for a new line on the outlier slab of Steeple Peak, Love Me, Love My Zimmerframe.


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I should be posting about the finished garter st baby sweater I mentioned before. actually, I should have finished the garter st baby sweater I mentioned before. instead of doing the little seaming I have left, I've totally ignored the vintage cardi for 28thirty. carrie's right, there is something about all those purl ridges that is hypnotizing. I wish she would hurry up and post her finished sweater (hint!hint!) so I can finally see what it looks like. in the meantime, I'll just have to carry on with mine.
I've separated the sleeves and have knit a few inches on the body and I'm now in that weird part of a project where I have to decide on the length. do I follow the pattern or mess around and try it on a bunch of times? I haven't decided yet since this cardigan knits up so quickly. is it weird that 4spi is starting to feel really chunky? the knitting itself has been pretty uneventful, except for when I got to the first buttonhole. I had to email carrie to make sure I wasn't crazy. in the pattern photos, the buttonhole band is on the right but as written its on the left. I kept staring at the photos, then at my knitting thinking I wasn't reversing something right in my brain. finally, after checking my coats and tom's shirts, I talked myself into some semblance of sanity. the buttonholes 'should' be on the right, so there. then I noticed another small prob, the buttonhole is the double yo but there's only one decrease written in. easy enough to spot, but still the buttonhole should be k1, ssk, double yo, k2tog, k1. on the next row k1 p1 when you get to the double yo.
now I have a question for you. this is something that's irked me for a while and no one has ever been able to give me a proper answer. in top down raglans, when it comes time to work on the sleeves, if you simply join it in the round you are left with a gap and some loose stitches (as seen above). how do you keep this from happening or how do you hide the gap? I think it's even worse when you knit a raglan bottom up, since you have gaps on both sides of the grafted underarm stitches. thoughts?


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Restaurant is currently closed
Another reason to visit the popular Ravaudage dining complex, the upscale-casual TR Fire Grill. The Orlando market is the first location for this new dining concept for Romacorp Inc., parent company of Tony Roma's. The emphasis here is artisanal fare with a local farm-to-table approach.
The Restaurant
The upscale-casual dining room features interior space that is open and inviting. The U-shaped bar at the entrance is the focal point of the restaurant. There are a handful of high top tables to the right of the bar and tables and booths to the left. A half-dozen or so ceiling mounted TV screens located around the bar provide sports updates, but are not so overpowering that they take away from the restaurant's main focus of quality food and drinks.
The Food
Menu items consist of quality, fresh seasonal produce utilizing fresh, local ingredients, most within a 200-mile radius. Steaks are fresh, never frozen, aged and then hand cut daily in the restaurant.
The restaurant is a "chef-inspired American bistro" with thoughtfully layered flavors and creative combinations of quality ingredients that transform traditional menu items into truly innovative dishes. A good example of this is the Harvest Salad, with a combination of roasted golden beets, grilled pineapple, roasted tomatoes, asparagus, avocado, Manchego cheese and topped with pineapple mango vinaigrette. Batter-dipped bBrussels sprouts top off this salad, deliciously replacing the predictable croutons.
At the Bar
Drinks are available throughout the restaurant, but I'd recommend having at least one specialty cocktails at the bar. Watching the process and getting a narrative of the unique blend of ingredients is part of the experience.
Be sure to try one of the house-crafted "infusions.' (My favorite was the Grilled Daiquiri with wood grilled pineapple infused Barcardi rum!)
Bourbon and whiskey drinkers will be impressed with choices listed on the drink menu. There is a reasonably priced and representative selection of wines available. The 20 + selections of domestic Craft beers, represent 11 different States.
You'll find discounts on beer, wine and cocktails (including hand crafted cocktails) from 3 pm until 7 pm Monday through Friday and noon till 2 pm on Saturday at the bar. During Happy Hour, there is a special bar appetizer menu offered with $4 – $7 options.
Places and Spaces
The majority of the restaurant is a large flexible, open space with both regular and communial tables. The open kitchen on one side featrues the culinary team busy at work while the opposite wall hosts the bar with multiple TV screens. In addition to a good selection of individual booths and tables, the restaurant also offers a private dining area dubbed 'The Godfather Room' which consists of a large round table (comfortably seating 8) that can be enclosed by curtains. There is no charge or minimum for using this table and is the perfect way to host a dinner with friends. Another distinct dining space is a small table with 4 – 5 seats that overlooks the kitchen providing a little personalized interaction with the chefs at work.
MoreThe restaurant is open daily for lunch and dinner. Saturday and Sunday will also feature a brunch menu from 11 am until 2 pm.
TR Fire Grill
1035 N Orlando Ave #101,
Winter Park, FL 32789
(407) 708-3600


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SELEGGT GmbH seeks to be a significant part of the solution to this problem. They aim to further develop the research on endocrinological gender identification in the hatching egg to create practice-ready solutions that can be used to the highest extent possible in the future.
Our team's high scientific and technical standards enable us to develop a process which is at the cutting edge of technology, easy to use and can rapidly analyse a large number of hatching eggs.
Thanks to the SELEGGT process, male chicks will soon no longer need to be killed.


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Not Just Coffee To Grind
(It is the day after Christmas and my parents have recently flown in for the holidays. We are in line in Starbucks, which my parents do not frequent much back home. My elderly parents are telling the barista the order for 4 of us. The fact that my mother needs to repeat the order to the cashier so that it may be rung up is initially lost on her.)
Cashier: "What are you having?"
My Mom: "Oh, no, the other man is taking care of us already."
Cashier: "Yes, I know, but what are you having?"
My Mom: "He's already taken care of us, but thank you."
(A group of three rude women have formed behind us.)
Rude Woman #1: *to my mom, rudely* "They want to know what you already ordered so they can ring you up."
My Mom: *to rude woman #1* "Oh, I have to repeat my order?"
Rude Woman #1: *rolls her eyes* "Yes."
(My mom begins to repeat her order but has trouble remembering everything. Her reciting of the order has taken under 30 seconds. Another woman in the group behind us, Rude Woman #2, begins to stamp her feet, making fun of my mother to rude woman #1 and #3, loud enough for everyone else to hear, complete with more eye rolling and many statements of "Ugh, oh my god!" I get sick of hearing this and dart my eyes in her direction. The eye contact shocks her, and she goes quiet.)
Me: *to Rude Woman #2* "I would appreciate you not being so rude during the holidays. If you don't like your 60 second wait, there is literally another Starbucks a few feet away from this one."
(Rude Woman #2 is shocked and does not know what to say to me. Instead, she turns to her two other rude cohorts.)
Rude Woman #2: "Ugh! What?!? I didn't even do anything! Oh my god!""
(The three of them stay quiet after that.)