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Notifications With Pushbullet
This post looks at notification systems on Android, Chrome and Android Wear and provides a simple way to insert your own notifications in to the stream with Pushbullet. I presented this at the Google Developers Group in Brisbane this week, the post is a longer form of the presentation. The slide deck I used is available here, I've enabled commenting on the document so please feel free to leave your feedback.
What are Notifications?
Before we look at specific implementations we need to describe what a notification actually is, or more specifically what an idealised version of a notification is. An ideal notification has four key features - it must be concise, subtle, contextual and ignorable.
The purpose of a notification is to let you know about an event that you 'might' be interested in. How this notification is presented varies greatly - it might be a simple LED indicator, an icon present in a toolbar or small popup in the corner of a screen. In any case there is not a lot of ways to show complex information so the notification should only provide the minimum required to allow you to make the decision to follow up on it or not.
Notifications are personal things - they only affect you and should be tuned to what you need to know so they should be subtle and non-intrusive. The whole world doesn't need to know that your eBay purchase was just shipped so a vibration or a blinking light should be enough to get your attention.
A notification system should take your current context - time of day, location and the activities you are performing - into account as a filter to determine what notifications are pertinent. Google Now is a good example of a service that uses context to filter notifications - your location, the current time and recent activity determines what cards are presented.
Notifications, alerts and alarms are different things with different purposes. Ignoring a notification should have no negative consequences - if the information or event being reported requires immediate action you should not be using a notification.
Notifications on Android
The Android notification system is simple, they are announced with a sound or vibration and an icon will be placed in the status bar for events that have not been dealt with yet.
The image above shows the UI for Lollipop, the KitKat version is very similar. Simply slide the status bar down to see the pending notifications, tap to get more details or swipe right to discard it. If none of the notifications are of interest you can clear all of them with a single tap.
Unfortunately the nature of the phone doesn't make this a particularly useful system. There are several steps required to see even the basic information contained in the notification - pull out your phone, unlock it and swipe down the notification list.
The common pattern with a phone is polling - check the device periodically to see what notifications have come in. Unfortunately this interferes with the timeliness of notifications, they may no longer be relevant by the time you read them.
Notifications on Chrome
The presentation is similar to desktop notifications for native applications and Google have done a good job integrating it into the major desktop platforms. An icon indicates if there are any pending notifications and a small popup will appear with the content. All of the Google services use this system in the browser and many third party extensions make good use of it as well. You can even have notifications from your phone mirrored on the desktop through an extension as well.
If you are in front of a computer most of the day this is a more effective way of getting notifications than a phone. Relevant information is presented in the corner of the screen as it happens and you have the opportunity to respond to it as it becomes available without the need to poll for updates.
Android Wear
Android Wear are one of the first devices to appear whose primary, if not sole, function is to display notifications. They have been on the market for nearly a year now and the software has matured to do the job very effectively.
The Android Wear system comes close to the ideal notifications I spoke about at the start of the post - the notifications are concise (presented with a card based UI), subtle (notifications are announced with a simple vibration), and ignorable.
The UI is very intuitive - notifications form a stack as they come in and you can simply swipe right to dismiss the current one, swipe left to respond to it and swipe up or down to navigate through the list. Some notifications on Wear allow you to respond to them immediately directly on the device itself - for a message you can reply via voice, a reminder can be postponed or the sending app can be opened on the phone.
I reviewed the Galaxy Gear Live shortly after they first came out and it has become an integral part of my day to day life since then. Wearable devices seem to be a very partisan item - you either find them indispensable or you just don't see the point. Unfortunately only using one will determine which camp you live in.
Custom Notifications
Now that we've seen how notifications are handled on a range of Google platforms it's time to consider where these notifications are coming from.
All the usual suspects are present - email, social media, calendar reminders and Google Now which is all fine and good. What about the events we want to know about but aren't supported or generated by these apps? There are a lot of domain specific events that it would be nice to hear about when they happen that aren't being pushed to the notification queue displayed on your phone or watch.
It would be nice to know if a long running task such as a build script has finished (and if it finished without error). Monitoring values would be useful as well - I don't really need to know how many hits my site has had every hour but if that value was significantly above or below what was expected that is a useful piece of information to have. There are also events you do want to know about whenever they happen; a server restarting or a UPS kicking in.
How do we get those sort of things into our notification queue?
The best tool I have found for this is a service called Pushbullet. Pushbullet allows you to send 'pushes' (which are notifications with benefits) between all devices it is installed on. Even if you are not interested in sending out custom notifications the service is pretty damn useful all by itself and I highly recommend you take a look at it.
It's available as an app for Android and iOS, a browser extension for Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Opera and as a desktop application for Mac and Windows. If you are using Chrome you don't need a separate desktop app - the Chrome extension provides all the functionality (as long as you are allowing Chrome to run background services). There is of course a web app as well - so you can send out pushes from any browser on any machine.
It will mirror notifications that appear on your phone to your desktop and, in some cases, let you directly respond to notifications from the desktop as well (you can reply to an SMS message without going to your phone for example). You can easily send files between devices which is a simpler experience than using Dropbox or Google Drive if you just want to transfer a single file. You can also share your clipboard across devices as well.
The full set of functionality is only supported on Google platforms, other platforms have some limitations - you can't mirror notifications from iOS for example.
What we are mostly interested in though is the API that Pushbullet presents that we can use to send our own notifications to devices and Chrome. It is a very simple REST based API - simply POST a JSON request to the correct endpoint and process the JSON result. The API lets you generate new pushes, read the list of pushes that have already been sent and manage your device list.
A 'device' is not necessarily a device - it's simply a named target for pushes. New devices will be created for everything you install Pushbullet on so you can send pushes directly to it as well as to all devices in your list. You can create a new 'virtual' device if you like and use that for a specific set of notifications. In this way you can get it to act more like a message queue - the pushes don't actually get displayed on anything they are just generated and consumed by software.
Bindings exist for C#, Java and Python and there are a lot of other bindings are available on GitHub - just do a search. If your language of choice is not supported it is very simple to write your own - as long as you can do a HTTP request you can write a binding. For the examples here I'm going to use the Python bindings.
Sending Notifications
The Python bindings for Pushbullet are available on PyPI, simply install the 'pushbullet.py' package ...
pip install pushbullet.py
The simplest example to send out a notification to all of your connected devices looks like this ...
from pushbullet import Pushbullet
# Get from account settings page
# https://www.pushbullet.com/account
API_KEY = "your_api_key"
pb = Pushbullet(API_KEY)
push = pb.push_note("My title", "My message")
As you can see adding support for sending out notifications is very simple. If we extend the basic example with error checking and support for command line arguments we can build up a tool that you can invoke from a batch file or shell script and use to add notifications to notifications and long running tasks. Here is the code ...
#!/usr/bin/env python
# 15-Jun-2015 ShaneG
# Simple command line tool to send a Pushbullet notification
from pushbullet import Pushbullet
from optparse import OptionParser
from sys import argv
# Either set a default key here or pass on command line
# Usage information
%s [-k|--key api_key] [-t|--title message_title] message_body
-k|--key api_key Specifies the API key to use for this push.
-t|--title title Specifies the title of the notification.
def showUsage(message):
""" Display usage information and exit
global USAGE
print (USAGE % (message, argv[0])).strip()
if __name__ == "__main__":
# Process args
parser = OptionParser()
parser.add_option("-k", "--key", action="store", type="string", dest="key", default=API_KEY)
parser.add_option("-t", "--title", action="store", type="string", dest="title", default="New Notification")
options, args = parser.parse_args()
# Make sure we have a key
if len(options.key) == 0:
showUsage("You must provide an API key.")
# And we want a message.
message = " ".join(args).strip()
if len(message) == 0:
showUsage("No message provided.")
# Do the push
pb = Pushbullet(options.key)
pb.push_note(options.title, message)
except Exception, ex:
print "Error: Unable to send notification - %s" % ex
Even this is simplistic, you could extend it further to add support for files and URLs as well as simple text notifications. As it stands it is good enough for a range of purposes. Simply add it to your /etc/rc.local file to get notified of server restarts or at the end of a build script to let you know it has finished.
A More Complex Example
As I mentioned before Pushbullet supports a rich set of notification types and all of these are exported by the API. You can build up some complex integration scripts to get information from sources that were never designed to present it in that fashion.
I have an old digital oscilliscope from the 1990's, it's a nice piece of equipment but hardly what you would call modern. The only way to get a copy of the trace on the screen was to send it to a printer and the oscilliscope has a centronics and a serial port to facilitate this.
One of the output options in a raw monochrome PCX file (the other is Epson Esc/P printer control codes but that's a little bit too old school - even for me).
I wrote a simple Python script to monitor the serial port and save any data coming in as a PCX file. It then converts the PCX image into PNG (so it can be understood by modern applications) and send it out using Pushbullet.
When I press the 'Print' button on the oscilliscope the trace image pops up as a notification in Chrome and I can embed it into my lab notebook, a blog post or Hangout conversation. It automatically stores it in Google Photos as well so I have a time and date stamped archive of measurements I've made.
A well behaved notification system can dramatically improve your day to day activities if it stays close to the key features (concise, subtle, contextual and ignorable) and allows you to insert your own notifications into the queue to meet your specific requirements. Hopefully I have pointed you to tools that can help you with the latter.


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Expand Your Horizons! Ski Camp
March 1, 2020 - March 6, 2020| $TBA
The 18th annual Expand Your Horizons! Ski Camp will take place on Mar 1 – 6, 2020. Beginning in 2001, this annual ski camp has opened new doors for intermediate and advanced level skiers with physical disabilities, allowing them to:
- Explore alternative techniques
- Ski and ride diverse terrain
- Try new ski activities—race training, bumps and powder skiing
- Learn from video feedback
- Share the Telluride experience
Starting in 2011, camp participants have had the opportunity to join Helitrax, Colorado's premier heli-ski operation, for a day of helicopter-assisted backcountry skiing (skill level and additional fee pending). This is the only adaptive camp in the country offering this level of skiing!!!
This camp is open to participants comfortable skiing blue runs independently. For more information contact Kendal, TASP Assistant Program Director, at email@example.com or 970-728-3865.
Cost: $TBA (includes double occupancy lodging, lift tickets, lessons, and most meals)
Cancellation Policy
Payment in full will be taken at the time of application to reserve your spot. Cancellations before 7 days prior to the camp will receive 1/2 of camp cost refund. Cancellations after this date will unfortunately not receive any refunds of fees.

subset: commoncrawl


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2 slab of ribs, 1 whole brisket (sliced), 6 hot links or
polishes, 2 large potato salads and 2 large baked beans.
Prices shown on the website do not include tax.
*Disclaimer: Although the food image/pic above is real food cooked and prepared by Jon Jon's BBQ, this pic is strictly used for promotional purposes and may not fully represent what comes with the meal.


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June 03 2008
Ace Golf Franchise Hits the Links and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) This Summer with Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee® 2
Hot Shots Golf® Returns to PSP™® With More Exotic Courses and Funky Characters, Hundreds of Customization Options, and Extensive Online Action
FOSTER CITY, Calif., June 3, 2008 - Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) announced today the North American release of Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee® 2, available exclusively for the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system. Developed by Clap Hanz, in conjunction with Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Santa Monica Studio, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 delivers another exceptional golf experience onto PSP™, comprised of the franchise's signature over-the-top graphics and intuitive gameplay. In addition to bringing the charm and wit of the multi-million unit-selling Hot Shots Golf® franchise, the game doubles the amount of wacky characters, detailed courses, and items available since the original Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee® on PSP™. Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 also offers a wide range of multiplayer modes including 16-player online tournaments and Ad Hoc capability for one-on-one or Stroke Mode challenges.
"The Hot Shots Golf franchise is a winning tradition with the PlayStation® brand and we are continuing to implement innovative and intuitive features to deliver the most fun-filled golf experience on the market," said Jeff Reese, Director, Software Marketing, SCEA. "With gorgeous graphics, extensive online functionality, and variety of fun gameplay modes and courses, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 brilliantly showcases the capabilities of PSP™ and offers a game that is a must-have for any gamer or golfer."
For the first time in Hot Shots Golf franchise history, online play has been expanded to facilitate competition between regions worldwide, allowing gamers to challenge other Hot Shots golfers across the globe via Wi-Fi multiplayer. In Wi-Fi, players can go head-to-head in Match Play, create custom rooms, and generate tournaments of up to 16 players. For those seeking a specific game set up, players can also search for friends and tournaments based on select criteria. Additionally, Ad Hoc is available to allow gamers to pick a course, select the number of holes, and tee-off locally with up to seven others. In single player, golfers can engage in Stroke Play mode, offering traditional golf on any available course, as well as Challenge Mode, which gives players the opportunity to compete in a regular season of tournaments and the ability to unlock various characters and items throughout the game. The Multiplayer modes also fully support the Loyalty system and hidden items, allowing players more access to strengthen their favorite characters. To improve individual skills, players can access a Training mode to perfect every drive, pitch, and putt, enhancing their character's shot-making prowess and overall accuracy with the Hole-in-One mini-game.
Players will have the opportunity to golf on 12 breathtaking courses across a variety of worldly environments such as tropical islands, vast desert plains, snow-capped mountains, and oceanfront spaces. Character customization includes over 350 options to personalize characters with a variety of items including clothing, hairstyles, clubs, accessories, and more. With up to 20 different playable characters, golfers can utilize special combinations of clothing and accessories to provide a unique boost to character attributes as well as overall fashion and style. Successfully conquering challenges within the game will allow players to further upgrade equipment, allowing for more accurate shots, longer drives, and impeccable putting control.
The independent Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has rated Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee an "E" for "Everyone." For more information about the ERSB visit www.esrb.com.
About Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. continues to redefine the entertainment lifestyle with its PlayStation® and PS one® game console, the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system, the ground-breaking PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system, and its online and network services the PLAYSTATION®Network and PLAYSTATION®Store.
Recognized as the undisputed industry leader, Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. markets the PlayStation family of products and develops, publishes, markets, and distributes software for the PS one game console, the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, the PSP™ system and the PS3™ system for the North American market. Based in Foster City, Calif. Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. serves as headquarters for all North American operations and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
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Hip Regency guesthouse
Herb-scented ridge-top gardens
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
A bottle of Islington-label wine
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If you haven't entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel's local currency (AUD350.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today's exchange rate.
Hip Regency guesthouse
Herb-scented ridge-top gardens
Get this when you book through us:
A bottle of Islington-label wine
11, including five rooms in the original 1847 house and six garden rooms in the modern extension.
10am. Earliest check-in, 2pm, but both are flexible subject to availability.
Double rooms from $239.41 (AU$350), excluding tax at 10 per cent.
Select rates include breakfast and minibar soft drinks.
Poke around in the writing desk in your room and you should find a great guided Rivulet walk – with obligatory stop at local gourmet deli and cafe, Raw – ready to slip round your neck and under your Barber. If you fancy less exertion, beauty and massage treatments can be ordered in your room.
Library, music room, outdoor pavilion with open fire and barbecue, free WiFi throughout. In rooms: iPad, flatscreen TV, in-house movie and cable channels, DVD/CD player with library, iPod dock, minibar, Basic Earth Botanicals and Beauty & the Bees toiletries.
Tucked away at the back of the new extension, smart and simple ground-floor Garden Rooms 6 and 7 have the best views, but stay in the old house to feel cocooned and connected – Regency Room 3, the Wellington Room, named after the mountain it overlooks, is generous, elegant and airy. The Attic Room is small and tastefully cluttered with views through its original casement window to the conservatory.
Patterned pashminas for elegant dinners, reading glasses for close-up ogling of the fabulous art collection.
Spend some languid downtime in the Andrew Pfeiffer-designed gardens, shaded by the 100-year-old willow.
This is more of a couple's retreat – no under-16s allowed.
The Islington Hotel sources most of its food locally and grows some produce on site. It composts food waste, recycles wherever possible, and buys green energy and carbon offsets, to make the property carbon-neutral overall.
Nab the corner table overlooking the reflective infinity pond with its ghost-white Murano glass stalagmites, or ask for a private dinner at the grand colonial table in the library.
Understated but well-pressed and designer.
The main dining area and fireside snug are housed in a two-storey sandstone conservatory with a chequered black-and-white marble floor and huge, fern-filled urns. The Islington's talented chef cooks up a delicate but flavour-packed storm, with a mix of Mod Oz and European influences. Local, seasonal produce reigns – Cressy lamb, Highland wild rabbit and fresh-from-the-water fish and oysters – to be paired with a selection of superbly swillable wines.
An extensive honour bar, featuring all-Tasmanian wines, beers and local gin, whiskey and vodka, is available for guests whenever they fancy a tipple. The Asian-themed and darkly lush rose-hued drawing room is a soothing place for a late-night glass of tawny port, or house-speciality martini.
Dinner is served daily from 6.30pm till 9.30pm
You can order dishes from the main menu to enjoy in your room during breakfast and dinner hours, and light snacks such as cheeses and soups are available at other times. Picnics can be arranged in summer.
The Islington Hotel is located in relaxed South Hobart, a five-minute drive from the heart of the CBD and Salamanca Place.
Hobart International Airport (www.hobartairpt.com.au) is a 30 minute drive from the hotel. Despite the name there are no international flights into Hobart International Airport but most major Australian mainland cities have regular flights to Tasmania. Check out Qantas (www.qantas.com.au; 13 13 13), Jetstar (www.jetstar.com; 131 538), Virgin Australia (www.virginaustralia.com; 13 67 89), and Air New Zealand (www.airnewzealand.com.au; 13 24 76) for flights.
You can take a taxi or hire a car from one of the major car rental companies at the airport. It's a 30-minute drive though the city to the hotel.
Savvy seafarers can board the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry (www.spiritoftasmania.com.au; 1800 634 906) at mainland Melbourne, and nine to eleven hours later you'll find yourself on the other side of Bass Strait in Devonport, Tasmania. You can take your car, sleep in a luxurious cabin and with numerous restaurants and bars, a cinema and a kids playroom onboard there are enough entertainment options to sink a ship (though thankfully the Spirit of Tasmania vessels have a sound safety record). From Devonport it's a three hour and 30 minute drive to Hobart.
On a Saturday morning, take a five-minute cab ride to Salamanca Place for the 300-stall-strong weekly market – it sells everything from baked potatoes to bold ceramics. Feeling thirsty? Tasmania is in the throes of an alcoholic rennaissance and from Hobart you're in good sampling territory. Coal Valley, part of the Southern Wine Route, is within easy reach and will satisfy any grape-based cravings, and there are plenty of grain-based options in the city: Hobart Brewing Company for craft beer; Lark Distillery or Sullivans Cove for award-winning whiskies. For an artistic fix, make a beeline for the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) – it's a cliff-clinging work of art in itself, as well as being home to an impressive array of, you guessed it, old and new works.
Smolt's (+61 (0)3 6224 2554) Italian and Spanish menu is replete with gourmet pizzas (topped with seasonal ingredients such as taleggio, potato and garlic; and pancetta and broccolini), farm-to-table meat and fish dishes, and small plates. Frank Restaurant, a five-minute drive from the hotel, is run by the same team, with a focus on Argentinean style grilled meats. Further afield, team a catamaran cruise with a trip to Peppermint Bay (+61 (0)3 6267 4088) on the waterfront at Woodbridge, where local crayfish, oysters and fish are the star attraction (it's a 35-minute drive from town, if you'd rather stay on dry land).
This review of The Islington Hotel in Hobart is taken from our guidebook Mr & Mrs Smith Hotel Collection Australia/New Zealand.
Six months into the year and Mrs Smith and I have the horrifying realisation that we haven't been on a single break. This, we decide, has to change. To the Apple Isle, immediately. Smith Jr at home in capable hands, this trip is about getting away from everything.
Arriving at Hobart Airport, Mrs Smith decides we need to eat – and fast. A lazy lunch, she figures, will get us into the swing of this trip. Panic creeps in when we can't get hold of the friend we hail as 'Tasmania's all-knowing expert on where to eat'. As we're due to check in at the Islington Hotel, we tap the hotel on where to go for a relaxing meal. Lisa, one of the hosts, sends us confidently in the direction of Meadowbank Estate.
Detouring off the freeway, we motor down a gorgeous country road flanked by cherry blossoms and vineyards. We arrive at the recommended winery 15 minutes from Cambridge, and the view from the dining room's floor-to-ceiling windows swallows our attention. French provincial-style tucker, great wine and the vision of mist swirling around the mountains are what the doc ordered; we leave hours later in a new state of mind, officially relaxed.
Hobart is a pretty city: situated on the coast, split down the middle by the Derwent River and backdropped by Mount Wellington. For us it's shrouded in a soft white haze, pierced occasionally by shards of sunlight. Driving through one of Hobart's dress-circle suburbs, we admire gracious old houses, beautiful gardens and river views. As soon as our tyres crunch on the gravel of the Islington Hotel driveway, Lisa and Thomas rush out to welcome us. Their friendly, confident approach sets the mood. We're in safe hands.
Resplendent in Regency notes, the architecture hails from 1847. These days as a hotel it houses lounges, a dining room and five bedrooms in the original building. A double-height, glass-and-steel conservatory comprises a new extension, where we find a fireplace-flaunting bar, open kitchen and the offer of informal dining, plus six additional contemporary rooms up for grabs. The whole affair is lovingly couched in an acre of gardens designed by Andrew Pfeiffer, a landscaper celebrated in London, Istanbul and Buenos Aires for his green-fingered Midas touch.
From foliage to soft furnishings, we give the decor in the public areas a thorough once-over. It exemplifies the popular anything-goes aesthetic of mixing old and new, antique and à la mode, Asian and Euro – held together elegantly in this instance by the owners' art collection. Contemporary local artists hang alongside Brett Whiteley and walls are festooned with travel memorabilia and artefacts reflecting both familial and local history. Seeing another person's passion boldly on display reminds me of why I love to travel. Our room, located in the contemporary wing, is beautifully understated, modern but far from minimalist. Outside is the classic English garden setting, augmented by exotic Australian birds flitting through native flora. And add to that a postcard-perfect view of Mount Wellington.
After a pinch-me-it's-paradise afternoon of napping, reading and garden perusing, we're ready for dinner. Dressed for the occasion, we head to the rose-tinted drawing room where Thomas uncorks a bottle of champagne. Sinking into a sofa, Mrs Smith and I have a long catch-up while Thomas attends to every need, topping up glasses and plumping cushions. We've ordered tasting plates matched with some of Tasmania's finest wines. In that stunning show kitchen, the chef creates a beautifully balanced menu harnessing the region's bounty – impossibly fresh oysters, delicious ocean trout and succulent lamb – cooked with precision and care. And, of course, imbued with passion.
The next morning, over breakfast, we plan our Derwent Valley attack. Before whetting your appetite for wanderlust, let's get you salivating again. If only every day I could tell a chef how I'd like my eggs. Home-made granola and poached fruits are followed by organic scrambled eggs and house-cured gravlax.
Lisa takes the reins of our day, arming us with directions, bookings, re-bookings and more bookings – all of it with a smile. We set off first to explore antique stores in New Norfolk, then in the opposite direction for lunch. Peppermint Bay overlooking Bruny Island is a wonderfully of-the-moment providore with a tempting restaurant and bar. Great service, first-class local produce and crayfish, and a fabulous wine list prove that having Lisa play architect to our excursions outdoes relying on our all-knowing mate.
Back at the Islington, the sun disappears behind the hills and our afternoon segues to evening with another bath, another siesta and another bottle of bubbly. Tonight we're off to Hobart hotspot Piccolo, an Italian eatery and bar. Post-carbs, bed beckons, but instead we're sidetracked by the Islington's conservatory and its cocktails. Looking up through the glass roof, the stars are twinkling so brightly it's as if we're in the country.
Another heavenly sleep in the bespoke Angel beds (custom-made locally) and our perfect escape is at an end. But we got what we came for: pampering, relaxation and a deluge of great food. Just before we leave, Mrs Smith reads a quote from the in-house brochure: 'It feels like you're staying at a rich friend's house,' she shares.
'It's better than that though,' she suggests. 'It's as though your mates have gone away and left all their staff at your disposal too'. Now there's a service that really trumps that in-the-know Tasmanian pal of ours.
Having stayed here quite a few times, we keep returning because of the wonderful hospitality, comfortable rooms, fabulous views, and amazing food!
Don't expect much nightlife, this is a peaceful haven enhanced by the honesty bar!
That the Islington Hotel is beautiful! The gracious public lounges with the breakfast area and outdoor reflection pool are both modern and elegantly traditional, reflecting the 1800's epoch of the hotel. The staff hospitality is wonderful, successfully creating the sense of truly being a guest in a lovely home. The location of the hotel is not in the centre but the neighbourhood is characterful, being surrounded by other lovely historic homes.
Nearby night life.
The Signature room was large and sumptuous and extremely well presented and equipped. It was peaceful and calm being out of the city (realistically a 35-minute walk to the Waterfront).
A high energy atmosphere or ever present staff. We stayed at the weekend and only one senior staff member appears to take on all roles expected by guests apart from waiting tables. We were not impressed by the food sadly. If you are not fond of a cooked breakfast option then you may struggle as the options were limited and slightly atypical. The cooked breakfasts were took such a long time to arrive and the bacon was over cooked and sour dough toast inedible. Our evening meal, again took ages to arrive, and was quite bland and disappointing.
Serene ambiance, views of Mount Wellington, beautiful food and attentive staff. Eat at the hotel, the produce is fresh and the chef is excellent!
Lively nights. This is a peaceful small boutique hotel far enough away from the CBD in a tranquil setting.


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Guided tours
You can explore Drottningholm Palace by yourself, but a guided tour will ensure that your visit is particularly memorable.
The number of places on each tour is limited, and cannot be booked in advance . To book a guided tour for larger groups, see menu Group Visits.
The guided tours takes approximately 45 minutes.
The guided tour costs 30 SEK:
To join a guided tour you buy an entrance ticket and a tour ticket 30 SEK at the cash desks. The guided tours are free of charge for children under 18 years of age (additional entrance ticket for child 7–17 years of age).
Guided tours in English
January–April, October–December
All open days 11:30 and 13:30
All open days 10:30, 11:30, 13:30 and 15:30
Guided tours in Chinese
We offer guided tours of the Palace in Chinese in June, July and August. Buy entrance and tour ticket before the guided tour starts.
Fridays at 13;00, 7 June–30 August 2019:
June: 7, 14, 21, 28 June at 13:00
July: 5, 12, 19, 26 July at 13:00
August: 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 August at 13:00
Guided tours in Russian
During New Years eve and the following week there will be Palace tours in Russian. Entrance and tour ticket must be purchased before the guided tour starts.
Daily at 13:00, 31 December 2019–5 January 2020.


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Davis Enterprise: Davis Arts Center: Big Day of Giving is a magical day
April 18, 2016
Acme Theatre Company, Davis Chorale, Short-Term Emergency Aid Committee (STEAC), Yolo Basin Foundation, Yolo Healthy Aging Alliance and Yolo SPCA will all be part of the carnival. All of these nonprofits are participating in Big Day of Giving, too, and have their individual goals.
I love working with these other organizations; I truly believe it makes us better to collaborate and our event will be great because of this cooperative environment.
I hope you take the time on May 3 to go online to www.bigdayofgiving.org and make donations to your favorite nonprofits and maybe one or two that you don't know. I hope we are one of them, but mainly hope you reflect on how during these 24 hours our region comes together and supports one another.
Maybe that is where the magic really lies.
Read More: The Davis Enterprise


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This blog journal provides you knowledge on Cambodia, Buddhism, ways of life and contemporary worldview.
Monday, January 08, 2007
The Asia Pacific Leadership Program
East West Center, Hawaii
Entering its sixth year, the Asia Pacific Leadership Program (APLP) is the center of excellence for leadership education in the Asia Pacific region. The APLP is a graduate certificate program combining the development of regional expertise with the enhancement of individual leadership capacity. Based at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, the program is creating a network of dynamic leaders from around the world who are familiar with the critical issues and cultures of the Asia Pacific region and trained to work collaboratively. The program involves intensive coursework and field studies. All participants receive an APLP Entry Fellowship valued at approximately $10,000.
The Asia Pacific Leadership Program seeks outstanding individuals with high leadership potential from across the Asia Pacific region, North America and beyond. All participants have at least a Bachelors degree with the majority having graduate degrees as well. At least 20 countries are represented in each cohort. APLP Fellows come together from all walks of life, including areas as diverse as government, business, NGOs, health sciences, media, monastic orders, and the academe.
Participants will gain a broad regional perspective, become knowledgeable about the critical challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region, and be trained to exercise collaborative leadership and promote cooperation toward the well-being of the countries and peoples of the region. The APLP empowers future leaders with the knowledge, skills, experiences and supportive community needed to successfully navigate personal and regional change in the 21st century.
The program was established through generous funding support from the Freeman Foundation.
Application Forms and Fellowships
For more information about the Asia Pacific Leadership Program, as well as application forms and fellowship opportunities, please visit our website at:
Recruitment for 2007-08 is open. Places are limited. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. The deadline is February 15, 2007.
East-West Center
The East-West Center is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The Center contributes to a peaceful, prosperous, and just Asia Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education, and dialogue on critical issues of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the United States. Funding for the Center comes from the U.S. government, with additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and the governments of the region.
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How I Got 1000 Blog Followers In 6 Months
Sunday, 8 January 2017
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51 comments:
CONGRATULATIONS!!! I'm so happy for you!! Hopefully your blog will continue to grow and grow! I'm concentrating so much on bloglovin at the moment as that's what I want to work on..aka how I found your blog. I bought a domain early last year and it made everything feel and seem more professional, I wouldn't go back!ReplyDelete
Charlotte / Charlotte's PicksReplies
Thanks!! I was super excited when I saw I hit 1k! Followers aren't everything, but it's nice to know people are interested after all the hard work :) xxDelete
That took me ages to read haha! You are an expert when it comes to gaining followers - I'll take to take this all on boards, so hopefully I gain more than my usual 50 followers a year aha. Well done you! xxReplyDelete
Haha yeah theres a lot of words, hence the different sections! Thought people could pick and choose then hahaha. <3 I do love ya CloBlo xxxDelete
This was super helpful - thankyou! Just out of interest how long did it take you to reach the 100 mark? I feel a good base following is key in getting you up to the higher numbers :) I have only been blogging about 4 months now, but I was only posting about once or twice a month for the first couple haha! So probably more like 2. It was such a faf figuring everything out at the beginning but I feel like I've finally settled into my style, found my perfect theme and am super happy with how my posts are turning out. I'm a photography newbie too so it's all a big learning curve but I just want to keep getting better and better! xxReplyDelete
Frances KayleighReplies
I'm glad you found it useful! It was a couple of years, but I posted once every blue moon (with month gaps) and didn't do any of the things above! Photography can be difficult, I still have a lot to learn with it, but it gets better the more you practice :) Good luck with your blog :)Delete
Jaynie Shannon | Beauty & Lifestyle
Smashed it!! Well done you xoReplyDeleteReplies
Oh well thank you Miss Gina xxDelete
Congratulations on hitting 1k! This post is really helpful, definitely going to keep everything in mind! I'm trying to work on my Pinterest account, but I find it's really hard to grow! xReplyDelete
It can be difficult to get followers on it, but all you need is one post/pin to get pinned a lot of times and it will help with traffic. :) xxDelete
Congratulations on hitting 1k! I recently took a bit of time away from blogging but I've just got back into the swing of things and am loving it more than ever, my aim is to hit 1000 this year too :) I think engagement is key too, blog chats, leaving comments and sharing the blogger love. xReplyDelete
Megan | http://www.meganjean.co.ukReplies
Aw thanks :) Good luck! Yeah engagement makes a massive difference! xxDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
Yes girl! This post was everything! love it, I can't wait for my blog to grow too!ReplyDelete
Thanks for the inspiration, also with Pinterest.. do you just pin your blog images? As I've considered using pinterest.. but I always feel like readers won't visit my blog if it's just the photo?
Just curious as to your thoughts!
Emily xReplies
Haha your blog is awesome, I'm sure it will grow really quickly! I pin it as a website, it then gives you the option to choose a photo :) When people click it, it sends them right to the post :) They may not follow but it will help with traffic :)Delete
Jaynie Shannon | Beauty & Lifestyle
Love this post! So inspiring. I think i'll create a Pinterest, that's one I have neglected.ReplyDelete
Holly x | http://www.thechroniclesofholly.com/Replies
Aw thanks :) It can really help xxDelete
These are some fab points, and congrats on your achievements :} Going to follow you myself now. I definitely need to get on the Pinterest hype - I've been saying this to myself for weeks, but your post has now sealed the deal for me haha.ReplyDelete
N xx | Lovelaughslipstick xReplies
Thanks :) I followed you right back! Lovely blog.Delete
Jaynie Shannon | Beauty & Lifestyle
So many great tips! Really enjoyed reading this and I'm definitely going to try more with Pinterest now too!ReplyDelete
Ellie x
Thanks! Hopefully it's helpful for you. xxDelete
You've reached 1k so quickly, and I'm happy for you! I've been kind of all over the place with my blogging schedule, photo layout, posting times, etc. which can relate to my drop in engagement over my first few months of blogging (I started in March of last year!). Awesome tips, and this year I really want to work on making it a success :)ReplyDelete
Kyia at WANDERLUSTGIRL// Lifestyle & Beauty
Let's be BLOGLOVIN friends!Replies
Thanks! It definitely makes a difference when you get into a routine and you're happy with how your blog looks! xxDelete
I love all these tips girl! Congrats on the 1k!ReplyDelete
Thanks so much :) xxDelete
Fantastic tips - I completely agree that working on theme and layout can have a huge impact! I am very interested to change my layout until I am 100% confident with it! xxReplyDelete
Yeah it made a lot of difference when I was really happy with the aesthetic's of my blog. I found I was more motivated to write. xxDelete
Wow 1000 followers in 6 months. Thats incredible!! Thanks for the tips :) Definitely useful!ReplyDelete
Renee | Life After LuxReplies
Glad it was useful :) Thanks :) xxDelete
Firstly, congratulations for getting 1k and I hope it will continue to grow for you! :) This post was incredibly useful! I've found Bloglovin' and Twitter to become real gems for me in bringing attention to my blog. But I am also guilty of writing loads of blog posts then ignoring it. Which is probably why I'm slow to the get go even though I've had my blog for three years! I'm definitely going to try these out and excited to see where they'll take my blog! :) xReplyDelete
Victoria | VictoriaaHelennReplies
Thanks so much! Having a routine definitely helps. It won't always work and you may take the odd break, but the more regular you are, the better! xxDelete
Wow congratulations to you. I'm hoping to be in the same boat as you soon and grow my subscribers.I only started blogging from New Years day and these points are really helpful.ReplyDelete
Rachael | Rachael Blogs BeautyReplies
Good luck with your blog! It takes a lot of time and effort but is really worth it. xxDelete
Great post very helpful to all us newbies, i write my blog as a creative hobby and am amazed when anyone reads it! Im learning everyday and think its lovely that other bloggers help and support each other well done xx @thirtynineforever.comReplyDeleteReplies
I agree, I still find it strange that people are interested in my ramblings! Definitely, we should all help and support each other! xxDelete
This is a great informative and concise post about building followers and getting more traffic for a blog. I agree a lot of bloggers do not utilize Pinterest like they should.I follow a lot of bloggers that have skimpy Pinterest profiles.The majority of my traffic comes from there. I was lucky that I started using Pinterest as soon as I started my blog several years ago. I have had several post that have went viral because of it, and I still get a ton a traffic from pins I pinned from my blog 5 and 6 years ago. So it most definitely works but most bloggers tend to only focus on Instagram .ReplyDelete
It can be one that is easily missed! I probably don't use it to it's full potential so I do want to work on it even more :) xxDelete
Such a great post which came at a time that I needed it the most lol! Well done for reaching 1000 followers so quickly! Hopefully it continues to grow for you! XReplyDelete
I'm glad you liked it! Thanks so much :) xxDelete
Congratulations on the 1000! That's seriously impressive, it took me way longer to get to that milestone! Lovely tips too, I really need to make the most of Pinterest more!ReplyDelete
The Makeup DirectoryReplies
Thanks so much :) It's definitely one that can help with traffic! xxDelete
Love it. Please check out my new post on all things hair colour!ReplyDelete
Kisses xo | From Aliona With Love
Instagram @alionawithlove
Twitter @alionawithlove
1000 followers a month is really amazing. Well done babe xReplyDelete
Tiffany Tales | Lifestyle & BeautyReplies
Over 6 months hahaha I'd be proper chuffed if it was over a month! xxDelete
This is amazing.. I will definitely be keeping these in mind, thank you! I am loving your blog too by the way, keep up the amazing work pretty gal! xReplyDelete
Aw thanks very much! Hope it was helpful xxDelete
Incredible tips! Thanks for sharing your knowledge :) One of my goals this year is to try and really grow my Bloglovin following so these tips will really come in handy xReplyDelete
Katina Lindaa | www.katinalindaa.comReplies
No problem at all! Bloglovin' is a great platform :) xxDelete
Good work! Congrats :)ReplyDelete
Silvia | www.andoutcomesthegirl.com
Great tips! Thanks for sharing.ReplyDelete
nice post. thanks for sharing.ReplyDelete
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Quote:So, how EXACTLY (as best as you can out in in text form) do you straight blast? I mean maechanics, foot work, punching at multiple targets or one area, etc. I think I got it but I'm not sure. I've been working on it hard (also the boxing blast has been a staple drill of mine now) but when I do it I almost charge my opponent kind of running throwing rapid straight punches alternate to the leg I'm stepping with, and I punch a several different targets. Is this about right?Also, I have a problem with gettign nailed with groin kicks sometimes and straigth kicks both mid and low. What can I do to deal with this issue?
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These cute little table favours are made for my ladies attending this weeks classes.
I'm loving the new Envelope Paper, which is what I've used here, in Cucumber Crush. They are so simple to make and a 12" x 12" sheet of Designer Series Paper or Envelope Paper will yield 12 of them.
- Cut a 3" Square piece of paper
- Using the Envelope Punch Board, Punch and score at 1 1/4"
- Turn anti-clockwise and lining the pointer up to the scoreline, punch and score
- Turn anti-clockwise and repeat step 3 until all four sides are done, before filling your mini treat holder and securing like a domed envelope. Embellish as you wish. I've used the sentiment from Endless Thanks.
I've filled mine with the tiny Tic Tac boxes that won't melt in the warmth of the summer weather we are enjoying.
Such a cute way to present someone with a token chocolate at the end of a meal.
What treats would you like to receive that won't melt like chocolate would?
Happy Crafting
Mikaela x
Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog


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monopoly, oligopoly, and cartel
This content was COPIED from BrainMass.com - View the original, and get the already-completed solution here!
-Explain the difference between a monopoly and an oligopoly, and a cartel.
-Provide an example of a monopoly, an oligopoly, and a cartel.
-What are the welfare effects of monopolies and oligopolies.
-How does game theory explain the interactions of firms within oligopolies and cartels?
-What is the economic purpose of OPEC. What has happened to oil prices over the past five years?
-Synthesize the information gathered and tell the economic consulting firm which actions you think OPEC will take over the next year.
Solution Preview
Explain the difference between a monopoly and an oligopoly, and a cartel.
In a monopoly there is only one firm that supplies particular product/goods. In case of an oligopoly there are few sellers. In oligopoly, the sellers remain aware of the actions of other sellers. Their decisions are influenced by those of others. In an oligopoly there is no formal agreement among the firms. A cartel is an agreement among competing firms. This is formal agreement among manufacturers or producers to fix prices, and the quantity produced.
Provide an example of a monopoly, an oligopoly, and a cartel.
An example of a monopoly is Iarnród Ã?ireann in Ireland. There is no other railway in Ireland. An example of oligopoly is the film industry in the US; there are six studios that control 90% of the US film revenues. The example of a cartel is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. This is a cartel of oil selling countries.
What are the welfare effects of monopolies and oligopolies?
The welfare effect of the monopoles and oligopolies is negative. The reason for this is that in case of monopoles and oligopolies ...
Solution Summary
This solution gives you strong points concerning monopoly, oligopoly, cartel


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Money is a sign of poverty.
It took a few Scottish sci-fi authors to point this out, but it is the most obvious fact about the concept. Money is a technology for triaging scarcity. It is something you only need when you have to manage a poverty of something else. It has taken many forms through human history, each with its own affordances and drawbacks. Gold and cowrie shells are pretty and durable, but their value travels with impractical slowness. Fiat currency travels fast, communicates value fast, but it's always subject to a self-interested political policy. Money has been IOUs passed around communities, showing trust in the one who owed. Sometimes that was a trusted leader or merchant, sometimes it was a regional or even national government. National currency binds national cultures together as a common cultural artifact, but these days transnational currencies like the Euro can let people travel and trade freely in a more common world.
The things that are of infinite value and lie beyond scarcity, cannot be bought with money. They are love of mothers, the beauty of the sky, the affections of pets, furtive glances, touch, epiphanies, and singing songs. They are the endless service and sharing of human to human that makes life bearable.
On the internet, some activists have named the sharing of the networked non-scarce infinites: they call it datalove. Datalove is there when you create Open Source and Free Software, it's there when you use it, it's there when you share knowledge, especially knowledge that helps people use the internet better and more safely. More controversially, it's there when you pirate movies, share books, and preserve that which others would like forgotten. These things lie beyond any form of money.
Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin are some of the things collectively referred to as the cryptocurrencies. By far, the most important is Bitcoin, which has been mined and traded around the world for around five years. These currencies are the internet trying to invent a native form of money. Like everything the internet does, internet money is over-technical, over-engineered, probably not very well thought out, hilarious, profoundly male dominated, and eventually compared to Hitler. I love the internet, it's my home every bit as much as any geography is, but does it make sense for the internet to invent a money? What, exactly, is the internet's poverty? What is cyptocurrency better at sharing than the internet is?
And what is money itself now, in these days of networked life and instant communication?
This got started when a friend told me he'd give me a Bitcoin wallet, and bet me a bottle of scotch that contributions from the net would cover my December sublet. The scotch in question is an Islay, so you know this is serious, and the wallet in question is 1JBLPTkopLR6Q5HcQFw1JvLVtgk9YACc1D.
I do not yet know what I will do with any bits of Bitcoins I get, or what it means to get a Bitcoin, but I will share this journey with you. Bitcoin claims to be money, so money is where we have to start trying to understand it.
I am ambivalent about money.
A lot of it is wrapped up in my class background: a poor white girl from a failed working class family. Like many failed working class people, my family fell into drugs, addiction, and an endless series of scrounged jobs that went no where and didn't often last long. We were touched by the justice system, by disease there was no money to treat, and just a bit touched. Being poor in America without a stable job is considered so close to crazy it might was well be a diagnosable mental illness.
When you are poor in America money is chained to shame. You are ashamed that you don't have it, you are ashamed when you do but don't share it with family and friends, you are ashamed when you want it, you are ashamed of what you're willing to do to get it. Like all unchosen masters, you hate it as much as you need it. Money makes you angry, it's what families yell and lie to each other about. Its power is mythologized. One of my most vivid memories of my childhood was my father declaring he didn't have any problems money couldn't solve.
The poor don't get to keep their money.
While it's well understood that the poor pay more for things and more often, that's not what I mean. Poor people survive by being part of a community. It can be a family, a neighborhood, or a subculture of alienated teens. Affiliation can take many shapes, and the poor often have more than one. It is implicit and absolute that poor people must support each other. You must make sure those in dire need get what they need even if it costs your savings. This is the fragile safety net that keeps so many people alive and able to function in America, and much of the world. It takes many names, mutual aid, remittance, resource sharing. But if you are making money, you are expected to contribute to keep other people going. To not share your money is to risk not only losing that path of support yourself, but social isolation and shunning.
You're never going to save your way out of being poor unless you're willing to walk away from family and loved ones and let them suffer and sometimes die.
Often, the only way you can keep money when you get it is to spend it at once, before the requests for help come in.
Making money causes shame, having money causes shame, spending it is no better, and it rules everything you do.
In America, even relying on community is a source of shame. The long admired idea of the "self-made man" isn't self-made because he's built the strong and loyal social connections that will support him, defend him, and turn to him for wisdom and affection throughout his long and social life. The self-made man is defined as someone who has hoarded enough money that he can pay for those things even if he is universally reviled, because destitution and need drive others, even if they despise him, into servitude to him until he dies, presumably alone.
A word to America: you may want to rethink this conception of esteem, because that is all kinds of fucked up.
In my 20s I started dating my way into Middle Class culture.
The Middle Class get to keep their money, but in exchange for a social isolation that horrified me when I first encountered it. The truth is, it still horrifies me. The American Dream of a middle class life that the poor, like myself, are supposed to reach for is a nightmare of alienation and loneliness. It takes its physical form in suburbs, and other living arrangements where you can die and be eaten by the cats over a period of months before anyone bothers to check on you.
Even the parent-child bond couldn't survive the distance built by suburbs and allowances and that most dreaded of American institutions, financial independence.
In families, everything in the middle class pushes people to abandon each other as soon as they have the money to. Children are pushed to education and stable corporate jobs so that they can be shameless — never needing their families in any way. Parents are pushed towards saving for retirement, in either the hope of financially created independence or expectation that their grown children would never abide their presence.
Most of my friends now are middle class, and many of them barely have any relationship with their parents. The ones that do usually have large immigrant families that haven't yet assimilated into the dream of American Loneliness.
My mother and I have had a nightmare relationship, but we will always give each other anything we can, and we can talk about anything. My mother knows exactly what I do, understands the technology I work with, because she is interested in my life. I also know far more about horse racing, her thing, than I have any reason to, though I feel guilty for not knowing more. Our relationship, while atypical in most ways, is typical of how not just the poor but people have supported each other since we started dabbling in civilization, and perhaps before.
The poor do not merely owe each other money, they owe each other life, which they give to each other in abundance.
Money can be used to extract and isolate; it can be used to provide, to bind, to protect, to strangle. So, it is with no small trepidation that I watch my beloved internet start to play with the idea of creating a native variety of this strange cultural talisman.
Analysis of any money, including Bitcoin, tends to be mathematical, regulatory, or economic, for obvious historical reasons.
But, "We ignore the cultural meaning of money at our peril,"
said Lui Smyth. Digital Anthropologist and Bitcoin researcher at the University College of London. In a wonderful post called Bitcoin Is More Than Money (As Is Any Money) Smyth starts to explore not the mere what Bitcoin is, but the much richer question of what it means.
For me, accepting Bitcoin contributions tangles it up with everything money has meant in my peripatetic life, with the ambivalence and suspicion I have always had with any kind of payment. This look at Bitcoin will be personal as well as cultural. It will be about what money means to humanity, the history of money, and how the network is making it even weirder.
This is Part One of a series, here is Part Two.


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My husband isn't on Twitter, he tried it once but gave up pretty quickly, so he didn't see these tweets. They weren't aimed at him, I'd already asked for them, what more could I do?
So I resigned myself to the undeniable fact that neither of us are particularly romantic, we had even neglected to buy each other cards. (I can't really resent him for not remembering my choice of books when I haven't even bothered to buy him a card can I?!) Who needs a special day to remind yourself that the person you've committed to spending the rest of your life with actually loves you anyway?
But then last week we were out shopping and after popping off to the toilet, I found Mr. D in Waterstones looking puzzled.
"You alright?" I asked.
"Yeah, I was going to try to get you those love letter books but they're not out on the table anymore. Do you think they still do them?"
Of course, the Valentine's display had been replaced with a Mother's Day tribute leaving poor Mr. D at a loss as to where one might shelve such a book (he's more accustomed to the Crime Fiction department). So together we asked the shop assistant, who kindly pointed us in the right direction and I came away with my longed for books.
I didn't get a love letter tucked inside, or a romantic inscription scrawled in ink, my books weren't wrapped up in brown paper and tied with twine, embellished with a single red rose, and they didn't suddenly appear on my pillow one day as a sweet surprise.
But he did remember. And that's enough for me.
Who says romance is dead?


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Enterprise Mobile Device Security: Personal Symbian Device Protection
As an administrator managing mobility for an enterprise environment, you want to enforce certain policies for all personal devices being used at work, including Symbian devices. Devices running Symbian operating system include Nokia's smartphones, such as the N-series and E-series devices. Users can take the following actions to protect their personal devices from loss or theft:
Locate the lost device using GPS. When a Symbian phone is first purchased, the user should inquire with the wireless carrier whether a GPS locating service is available. Some carriers offer services for various types of phones for a nominal monthly or annual charge.
Alternatively, vendors like McAfee WaveSecure or Kaspersky offer online services that users can buy to help locate Nokia devices. These services largely work in the same way as MobileMe for Apple iOS devices: They provide a web-based interface that users can log in to, in order to locate the missing phone. These services typically cost $20–30 per year and can help alleviate panic when a phone is lost.
Remotely lock or wipe the device. If the user is unable to find the device using GPS, many Symbian devices have built-in capabilities to remotely lock the device or remotely wipe it and reset it to factory default settings. The device can also be wiped automatically if a wrong passcode is entered too many times. These settings are built into the device itself and can be activated easily.
To set up remote locking and wiping before the device is lost or stolen, users must do these two things: Enable remote locking and set a wipe message. The steps are somewhat different depending on which device the users own, so they may need check the device's documentation for clarification.
If it's an N97 phone, for example, users should go to Settings→Phone→Phone Mgmt. →Security Settings→Phone and SIM card. Users then see a Remote Phone Locking option that can be either enabled or disabled.
Enabling that setting activates this feature, which works by sending an SMS message from another phone to the lost phone with a message — like "wipephone" — that the user has set on the phone. Once the setting is activated, the user can remotely lock or wipe the device by sending an SMS message with the text he configured on the device.
Wiping the device removes all personal contents from the device, leaving it in a factory-default state. This makes regular backups all the more important. Regular backups can save the user in such situations by enabling him to restore to a previously saved configuration.
Remotely set off an alarm. If a user can't find his lost Symbian device, he may want to remotely set off alarms on it. Many Symbian devices have built-in capabilities to remotely wipe the device when a SIM card change is detected.
This prevents a thief from simply removing the phone's SIM card and replacing it with a different one. When such a change is attempted, the device wipes its own contents, thereby preventing any personal data from being visible to the thief.
Even if the person is left with a stolen Nokia device with factory default settings, no personal data is compromised. At the end of the day, that's what matters to prevent identity fraud from occurring. Users can check the device's documentation for information on how to set a remote alarm.


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Review: Third Man Records Singles Collection 2009
In many years from now when someone asks me about my record collection and what records I truly love I'll choose Jack White. But I'll skip past White Blood Cells and Elephant, give Broken Boy Soldiers a miss and leave Horehound behind, instead I'll pick out Third Man Records Single Releases 2009 because it is a divine celebration of music. The concept is beautiful, truly moving, different artists of a more then just a diverse nature come together, centralised around this one nurturing institution in Nashville. It's not about personal tastes, would I buy a Transit record? Hell no but how can you ignore people singing with such conviction about the NTA. It's not about virtuosity because Mildred can't sing or play to save her life. It's not even about originality seeing as Fly Farm Blues could've been written 100 years ago. What this LP represents is community, a fertile collection of musical pursuits and celebrations. It wasn't just the dawn that was glorious after all.
The Dead Weather, who dominate the collection, perfectly encapsulate this ethos. They are band that really shouldn't exist from a commercial or careerist perspective, yet they do because they feel they have to, the music drives them above anything else. Listen to the unprecedented inventiveness of I Cut Like A Buffalo, the unrestrained passion of You Just Can't Win or the amazing interactions of talented musicians on A Child Of A Few Hours. You can't ignore them but their trademark dirty blues is exclusive to them on the album and a wide range of genres are explored.
The talent is in no short supply as seen in the infectious Rachelle Garniez single. She didn't need a b-side because her vocal range on one song is enough to fill an LP, a vocal range that elevates a lovely pop song into something more special. Similarly Dan Sartain's irrepressible groove at first seems standard but there's something 'off' about it that you can't quite put your finger on and it makes the song all the more endearing.
The weirdness isn't always subtle though. I doubt A Glorious Dawn's quirkiness will ever be surpassed by another Third Man Release yet the sentiment seems sincere and it's a perfect snapshot of the esoteric approach Carl Sagan took to our existence, making us observe with child-like wonder. Of course Mildred & The Mice are just silly. There is absolutely no great musicianship on display nor is there any song writing chops, instead Mildred just shouts her way through the record putting forth so much bravado that you can't really do anything but like her. But Transit take the cake for the biggest, for lack of a better term, 'what the fuck?' moment. They appeal to mainstream tastes more then any other band on the album but the repeated shouts of 'NTA' really catch you off guard.
Of course Jack gets to produce his idols creating a flawless 45 with proto-Jack himself Dex Romweber. It's the best single of the lot and you can't help but squirm at the synergy as Jack and Dex trade howls on Last Kind Word Blues, like the most demented father and son duo imaginable. But most importantly it proves Jack's tireless thesis that the blues will never get old. An even greater blast from the past is the triumphant return of Wanda Jackson who really get's the entire Third Man treatment, complete with squealing solos and Memphis horns. Her vitriolic howl on You Know I'm No Good makes Amy Winehouse seem tame.
And most importantly it does the work of any self-respecting indie label, launching some younger bands. They are the shakiest for sure but they still show some great potential. The ethereal harmony of the Smoke Fairies is not everyone's cup of tea yet they manage to convey an amazing amount of mystique for such a new act. The Black Belles certainly don't break any new boundaries yet you cannot deny the hooks they possess. Indeed if What Can I Do? had been 40 years ago it would be the next Dead Weather B-side.
In the end it's BP Fallon who says it best. His simple blues I Believe In Elvis Presley serves as both a celebration and a warning about placing our musical heroes in a divine canon. I'll choose to ignore his warning: I Believe In Jack White and I Believe In Third Man Records.


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6 Rare Andy Warhol Prints Donated to ASU Art Museum Andy Warhol's iconic works have taught generations about expression, experimentation and the role of commercialization in popular culture. Now, six of his works will illuminate generations to come at the ASU Art Museum. The free installation is on display now through the end of September … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Detroit Institute of Arts
Where have I been lately?
The blog has been quiet lately. In the past month my job has changed drastically: I'm in a new department with a new team and I've been assigned some exciting projects. During this transition I've had to adjust my "free time"/writing schedule and focus on research. Now, with a full month under my belt, and … Continue reading
Meet a Museum Blogger: Marcus A. Harshaw, Jr.
Eight years into his career and Marcus A. Harshaw, Jr. is still an emerging museum professional. He started in public program and exhibition experience roles for the Indiana State Museum and now manages the department of Special Programs and Exhibits for Cincinnati Museum Center. A self-proclaimed, museum junkie, Marcus loves to travel visiting as many … Continue reading
What Happened in Museums This Week? November 30 – December 6
3,200-Year-Old Gold Artifact Transferred From L.I. Estate to German Museum "After the Holocaust and what it had done to their family, killing their grandparents, aunts, uncles, everyone, they wanted to donate it to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. They preferred it to go anywhere but Germany," said Steven Schlessinger, the attorney for Flamenbaum's heirs. As … Continue reading
What Happened in Museums This Week? September 28 – October 4
Australian Museum To Display Replica Of MT Dino Employees of the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center here have painstakingly built a replica of a 75-million-year-old Montana dinosaur so it can be shipped overseas for display in an upcoming exhibit at the Australian Museum, that country's equivalent of the Smithsonian Institute. To read more, click here. Detroit … Continue reading
What Happened in Museums This Week? August 10 – 16
Air Museum Gets Extension on Buying Part of Bomber Plant The Yankee Air Museum received very good news Wednesday — an extension on the purchase of the former Willow Run Bomber Plant. The museum will have an extra two months to raise the money it needs to buy 175,000 square feet of the bomber plant, … Continue reading
What Happened in Museums This Week? July 27 – August 2
Detroit Art Museum Warns Auction Could Be Death Knell A top officer at the Detroit Institute of Arts predicts near-certain closure for the museum if Detroit sells major pieces from the 60,000 works in the institute's art collection as a way to address the city's dire financial situation. To read more, click here. Georgia Museum … Continue reading


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Handcrafted and Unique Leaf Form from our Colorful Fruit Bowls collection.
This clock is made from stoneware.
Size: width 27cm / 11in
weidth 11cm/ 4.3in
Our pottery is hand-brushed with food-safe, colorful glazes in orange, red and white.
Ceramic techniques are diverse and provide sample opportunities for artists to create unique products.
Our Handmade Ceramic clocks can be part of the charm and beauty of every home.
Our craftsman creations are painstakingly created with no specific guidelines, but inspired by their own many years of experience and each piece of our handmade wall clocks is made entirely by the hand of the craftsman who has manufactured it.
You can check all our items from this Colorful Fruit Bowls collection.


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Stunning loft at the "Del Prado" -undisputed as one of vancouver finest heritage conversions in trendy Old Yaletown. Big, bright & open floor plan-sunny, southern outlook looking over Mainland Street's heritage buildings. This home features rich Beechwood floors throughout, an open, expansive living/dining area with gas fireplace, high ceilings with concrete beams & wood panels. lots of fresh air and sunshine with floor to ceiling windows running the full width of this loft plus double glass doors opening to juliette-style step out balcony. A large, gourmet kitchen with s/s appliances,gas range,top of the line expresso machine, s/s countertops and backspalsh and solid maple cabinets. Common rooftop.
Check out the details of this Condo for sale, 305 1155 Mainland Street, Vancouver, BC


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Summer Send-Off: Spexy + Shady Looks for Labor Day
Labor Day is right around the corner, which means summer is coming to an end. While we're so sad to see it go, we know summer deserves the perfect send-off. So, whether your Labor Day plans are simply soaking up some sun or heading to a backyard BBQ, we've got the ensemble for you. Take… Read more »


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Here are some links to reports from yesterday and today:
Of course you can always google Auschwitz where you will find the thefts as the lead news item for the time being anyway.
I noticed that the first reports I read focused on the enormity of what had occurred at Auschwitz during the holocaust with the privileged character of The Perse School being considered of secondary importance. Here's The Daily Mail:
The pair, who attend Cambridge's exclusive The Perse School where fees are more than £15,000 a year, were spotted acting suspiciously on Monday afternoon.And here's The Guardian:
Perse school counts the theatre director Sir Peter Hall and Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd among its alumni.So, posh young men at a posh school. I'm guessing profit wasn't the motive. Maybe they were overwhelmed by curiosity. I can't help feeling sorry for them given the way the news of what they did has traveled round the world but I suppose the law is the law.


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Note: Due to construction on C St., the group entrance will not be accessible for groups beginning June 1, 2016. Please plan your entry through the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance.
Education meets inspiration at the Newseum! Book a visit, learn about chaperones, and find helpful tips on planning your trip.
Tour Operators
Are you a tour and travel professional planning your group visit to Washington, D.C.? Find out why the Newseum should be at the top of your itinerary.
Independent Groups
Groups that purchase 10 or more tickets are eligible for discounted admission. Learn more about our available discounts and how to book your visit.
Scouts and Youth Groups
Summer camps, scout groups and other youth programs qualify for discounted group rates. Learn more about our available discounts and how to book your visit.
Dining Options
Looking for an impressive venue to bring your entire group for lunch? The Food Section by Wolfgang Puck offers an extensive selection of hot entrees, grilled and cold sandwiches, gourmet soups, salads, desserts and more, on the Newseum's Concourse Level. Find out more about our boxed lunches and vouchers available for groups.


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We are now living in a world in which artificial intelligence (AI) is not the future - it is the present. Businesses and companies all over the globe are using AI to create better and more efficient processes. Today, the use of AI is around every corner.
Everything from how we view media to automated modes of transport are powered by AI, and we're quickly heading for a more AI-centered world.
New to AI? Not 100% sure what each term and abbreviation means? We've got you covered. Download the free artificial intelligence glossary and familarise yourself with all the terms you need to know.
Please note: That all fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.


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In many ways, Anthony Minghella's production of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly," which returned to the Metropolitan Opera on Thursday, resembles an insect collection in which colorful, exotic specimens are fixed on a neutral background and bathed in a sharp, bright light. It's a fitting way to present this ever-popular opera about a caddish American naval officer who enters into a nonbinding marriage with a teenage Japanese geisha and then abandons her, pregnant, lovesick and cast out from her community. Featuring innovative puppetry by Blind Summit Theater, it's also an uncomfortable production that introduces multiple perspectives in ways that illuminate and alienate in equal measure.
It's up to the singers, then, to breathe life and warmth into the story. On Thursday, the cast was led by the South African soprano Amanda Echalaz, who made her house debut in the title role after leaving her mark on European stages, including those of the Royal Opera House in London, La Monnaie in Brussels and the Berlin State Opera. Elegant and slender — Pinkerton scoops her up effortlessly in his arm to carry her over the threshold on their wedding night — with a clear-flowing, nimble voice across the range, she gave a performance that was deservedly well received by the audience. But there was also an evenness of timbre, bordering on the monochromatic, in her singing, mirrored in the self-possessed composure of her character, which suggested either nerves or excessive caution.
Bryan Hymel was vocally assured as the thoughtlessly callous Pinkerton, singing with a robust tenor and ringing top notes. His acting was most convincing in the optimistic seduction scene of Act I. When he returned with his American bride at the end of the opera, he appeared more uncomfortable than contrite. But his voice fit the verismo style well. Next month, he will sing in Puccini's early opera "Edgar" in Frankfurt.
Scott Hendricks made a felicitous house debut as Sharpless, bringing a warm, generous baritone to the role of the decent but impotent American consul. The mezzo Elizabeth DeShong was outstanding as Butterfly's servant Suzuki. With her deeply resonant low register, she created a character who is tragically prescient about the unfolding disaster.
Alexey Lavrov glowed fiercely as Yamadori, a suitor Butterfly spurns because she believes in Pinkerton's return. Ryan Speedo Green as the Bonze had trouble making himself heard as he cursed Butterfly for converting to Christianity, one of several instances in the first act where balance was an issue.
This might have been due to the last-minute substitution of Marco Armiliato, as conductor, for Philippe Auguin, who had fallen ill. Mr. Armiliato had been scheduled to conduct subsequent performances of "Butterfly" this spring, but may not have had time to work with this cast, resulting in a somewhat tentative opening act. By Act II, these jitters had been put to rest, and the letter-reading scene with Sharpless and Butterfly was painfully beautiful, with the drip-drip of tragedy expressed in pizzicato strings, while Butterfly's fragile legato lines stand for her delusional hope.
In her final scene, Ms. Echalaz finally drew on greater reserves of vocal color. The staging of her suicide was spectacular and almost indecently beautiful, as her red sash unraveled into ribbons of blood.


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If the Government Shuts Down, Will the Trains Still Run?
Whether or not transit agencies will have to shut down because of the Federal government's stalemate depends on who you talk to. Streetsblog's Tanya Snyder has the story:
Just a month ago, AASHTO sounded the warning that the transportation sector could lose up to $100 million a day in case of a government shutdown, which now looks all but inevitable. However, Congress's extension of SAFETEA-LU through the end of the fiscal year (September 30) has put their minds at ease. Now, AASHTO spokesperson Tony Dorsey says spending for federal highway programs will continue unabated, despite a shutdown. "At this point," Dorsey said, "we're not anticipating any issues." Still, he said, they're hoping that "should there be a shutdown, it will be a very, very short one."
But that's not the whole story."
Thanks to Tanya Snyder