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Real People. Real Stories. Redefining Success.
If you're looking to redefine your success, you've come to the right place. Here at Ayanda Mbanga, we're all about giving you the tools and resources to make the best of your career. You'll not only find where the job opportunities are but also how to put your best foot forward in order to get the job you want. It's all about getting the most out of what you want from your career. And we're here to support you on this journey to success.
Career success means something different for everyone. For some, it's about earning the money they need to live the lifestyle they've always dreamed of. For others, it's about having a career that makes you excited to start each new day and leaves you feeling fulfilled every evening as you go home. This is why we're not only focussed on helping you find a job, we're here to help you figure out what type of job opportunity best suits you. It's about finding the right environment where you can thrive and develop your skills and confidence.
So, if your current job is causing you to wonder how to make yourself get up in the morning or you're unemployed or just starting out, then it's time to begin searching for a career that will lead you to the success you've always dreamed about. Now is the time to start and Ayanda Mbanga is right here with you. On this website you won't only find out what job opportunities are available, you'll also find blog posts to help you further your career, as well as a page dedicated to the daily lives of successful people. If you're wondering where to get career advice, you've come to the right place!
We all know why job security is important, but at Ayanda Mbanga, we believe loving what you do is just as important. Helping you find that perfect job and mentoring your career development is what we are all about.


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This pressure is to ensure employment equity, proper procurement and utilisation as well as sound community development.
The mining sector is in a depressed state at the moment and these challenges must be seen in the context of there being many marginal mines that are on the brink of insolvency.
The focus of the article is to reflect how best to deal with these challenges. I am of the view that the involvement of the union and a well-developed and properly implemented business rescue plan can go a long way to moving that particular mine away from the inevitable liquidation into a business rescue scenario.
A business rescue plan can be fairly easily prepared and while it may look impressive the fundamental test is whether it has been implemented in accordance with the objectives set out in the mining Charter and the relevant legislation.
Every person in the mining industry knows that if there is a liquidation then that effectively means the end of the mining right through the operation of Section 56(d) of the MPRDA.
The business rescue plan is the fundamental document through which the process of attempting to rescue the marginal mine must be driven. Accordingly, the preparer of the business rescue plan must be fully and completely aware of the challenges set out in the mining Charter (published in September 2010) and these principles must be the cornerstone of how the business rescue practitioner develops and implements the business rescue plan.
It is my view that any business rescue plan that does not have as its cornerstones the 3 essential principles of employment equity, local procurement and community development will most definitely fail.
The DMR (Department of Mineral Resources) is an essential player in the business rescue environment simply because the DMR, through its inspection procedures, will be fully aware of the distressed mine. Business rescue does not as a matter of course suspend the mine's obligations under its approved social and labour plan or its mine works programme. Timeous engagement with the DMR will prevent a stand -off with the DMR and in my view, a prudent and sensible business rescue practitioner will consult with the DMR on an informal basis. An example of this is that the business rescue practitioner would need to ascertain whether the DMR would be in support of any transaction that may be concluded during the business rescue process. To meet these challenges it is my view that the business rescue practitioner must ensure that there has been a proper pre-assessment or analysis of the marginal mine after its finances became distressed. The business rescue practitioner can work in isolation and attempt to take steps to rescue the business once he obtains the appointment. In my view there is little or no chance of this succeeding and what must happen is that the potential business rescue practitioner must be in possession of a comprehensive set of technical, financial and legal information in relation to the marginal mine. This information must be properly communicated by the business rescue practitioner to all the affected parties and the business rescue practitioner should try and work towards achieving a "pre-packaged deal".
The "pre-packaged deal" will have identified all the fundamental problems and will have addressed them. For example, the most important issue is the obtaining of post commencement finance and a post commencement financier will only consider advancing the finance if there are assets available in order to obtain security and accurate information is available as to the technical, financial and legal aspects of the marginal mine.
An example of this is the pressing need to involve the community in the pre-planning for the business rescue. The reason is that the community have rights (in some cases real rights through leases) and without the buy in from the community there is no hope whatsoever of a marginal mine being rescued.
Another example of the work that must be done prior to the business rescue is to ensure that off take agreements are in place assuming the marginal mine has been successfully rescued. The business rescue practitioner can negotiate some form of commitment towards these off take agreements prior to the publication of the plan.
The business rescue practitioner must accurately ascertain what secured rights are enjoyed by various creditors. By way of an example certain creditors may allege a lien or another right of retention eg. a claim of ownership by way of accessio. The investigations preceding the business rescue plan must drill down into all these challenges because it is pointless for the business rescue plan to refer to a creditor's right. The business rescue plan must refer to the creditor's right and then propose and set out what solution the business rescue practitioner has negotiated or what solution seems to be appropriate under the circumstances.
The investigations must obviously concentrate specifically on the history of wildcat and unprotected strikes. The business rescue practitioner should be well prepared and understand the cause of the strikes and once these have been identified they must then be analysed and solutions as opposed to issues in respect of the strike history must be set out in the business rescue plan.
The obtaining of post commencement finance has on previous occasions failed and this has been partly due to the lack of proper technical, financial and legal information and if the organisation contemplating advancing post commencement finance thinks that there is a possibility of incorrect information the finance will never be forthcoming.
Section 128(1)(a)(ii) of Act 71 of 2008 defines an affected person as any registered trade union representing employees of the company and Section 128(1)(a)(iii) defines an affected person as any employee that is not represented by a trade union or that employee's representative.
Accordingly, in terms of Section 131 of Act 71 of 2008 a trade union (in its capacity as an affected person) may apply to a court for an order placing the company under supervision and commencing business rescue proceedings.
I am of the view that unions have not been properly advised and need to be reminded on the ramifications and the ambit of Section 144 of Act 71 of 2008 namely that correctly structured and organised a union should be able, through the committee of employees' representatives, to consult with the business rescue practitioner during the development of the business rescue plan and the union is, in terms of the legislation, afforded an opportunity to review the business rescue plan and to prepare a submission in terms of Section 152(1)(c) of Act 71 of 2008. In terms of this section the union is given the opportunity for the employees' representatives to address the meeting where the business rescue plan is being considered.
This is an opportunity where the unions can become involved and the business rescue practitioner must be asked by the union whether the business rescue plan as it has been developed will be implemented in order to take the mining Charter into account. As an example, the mining Charter requires that by 2014 mining employers must complete the conversion of all hostels to family units with an occupancy rate of 1 person per room. A further example is that the Charter has, as one of its goals, the acquisition of ownership by previously disadvantaged persons of at least 26% in companies and/or corporations that hold mining rights. In addition, obligations under the approved social and labour plan must be complied with as a condition of the mining right.
A prudent and wise business rescue practitioner will most certainly take into account the views of the unions and/or the individual employees when dealing with the plan.
In the case of the employees of Solar Spectrum Trading 83 (Pty) Ltd (applicant) and Afgri Operations Ltd (respondent) the Honourable Kollapen J indicated in the judgment, where the employees were the applicants (for business rescue) that the employees, in their capacity as applicants, sketched out the various stages of the business operations of the respondent and the employees identified individual problems that were being experienced (in this case adequate irrigation, proper crop choice, proper fertilisation and effective management production). The Judge also commented that the employees contended that the replacement of previous management with new management started yielding positive financial results. The Honourable Kollapen J made the following important statement when balancing the competing interests :-
"(a) The applicants (employees) have been working and living on the farm for periods of long duration : the permanent employees from 2 years to 11 years. The large majority of them have dependents. They appear committed to using their skills to contribute to the rescue of the business".
The trade unions have access to the records of the distressed company in terms of Section 26 of Act 71 of 2008. The obtaining of the financial records by the union must be encouraged and the business rescue practitioner or the person doing the pre-assessment must have genuine and meaningful consultations with the union for the reasons given namely that the union can bring an application as an affected person and the unions are afforded proper consultative and participation mechanisms which in my opinion are being very poorly dealt with at present and this has drastically affected the possibility of a rescue.
If the implementation of the plan takes these suggested factors into account I think there is a far greater chance of a meaningful rescue and to adhere to the broad principles of the Charter will mean that the successful rescue will be achievable. This of course will result in the saving of the inherent value of the marginal mine as well as numerous jobs ultimately to the benefit of the entire community.

subset: commoncrawl


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Sarah Davis
Carlsbad, San Francisco & Beverly Hills, California, USA
About Fashionphile …
Founded by Sarah Davis in 1999 and built on a foundation of her love for fashion and practicality, Fashionphile has worked hard to become the leading online reseller of pre-owned luxury handbags. The business's online success has enabled Sarah to open three boutiques across California. Sarah's revolutionary vision of a safe and easy shopping destination for the buying and selling of luxury handbags has enabled thousands to reclaim designer bags and accessories at exceptional value. Since its founding, Fashionphile has worked hard to become the leading and most trusted source in the secondary market for luxury handbags. The name has become synonymous with trust, competitive value, and unparalleled customer service. Fashionphile offers the largest selection of pre-owned vintage, rare, and limited edition handbags from some of the most coveted luxury designers. The business has had the honor to be recognized by: CBS KCal, Good Day LA, Fox 11, Good Morning America, The Today Show, E! Entertainment TV Live from the Red Carpet at the Academy Awards, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2014, a Brazilian blogger had a Fashionphile handbag shipped to a New York hotel where she was staying and shared her experience on the popular Brazil fashion blog Garotasestupidas (or Stupid Girls). Word about Fashionphile spread throughout the country, pushing Sarah to find ways to safely expand its international sales to Brazil, a country she previously avoided.
It's exhilarating to start something like this from scratch out of what was once so relatively small and insignificant. The satisfaction that comes from seeing it develop over time into a well-oiled machine that becomes a career for people really is hard to beat. Over the years, I've put in my time working long days and sometimes nights, taking risks and losing sleep. But today, it warms my heart to walk through the warehouse, and see so many working so hard to not only put food on the table, but to give their families opportunity for growth and development. Nothing feels better than knowing that this business that we have built together gives them the peace to know they can provide for themselves and those that they love.


text:
How to get the Windows 98 experience on today's PCs
Twenty years ago Windows 98 became available for sale to the general public, yet the operating system enjoyed a mixed reputation. It brought new features and refined the concept of PNP (Plug & Play) devices which could automatically be detected by the system when connected to a USB port. However, Windows 98 was also famous for being the… Read More »


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One of the concerns I have about add-ons is that the there is no context maintained between invocations. It's the same thing with custom functions. What that means is that the document or spreadsheet structure needs to be rebuilt each time, using something like.
var doc = DocumentApp.openById(id);
In a normal Apps Script function, the document object persists throughout the function so there no need to keep opening it. With an add-on, you have to open it each time. With a several hundred page document this can take minutes - performance like this is simply not viable.
I decided to look into it to see if I could figure out what was going on.
The test
Performing repeated actions on a growing document and timing how long each of them take to see if there is an inflection point at which the performance suddenly degrades and if so then what is it. Running the tests from an HtmlService and comparing it against a baseline running the same thing with a persisted document should provide some insight.
The results
At first I was a little disappointed, because I noticed that the time to open a document was increasing proportionately to the growing size of the document (and in any case was under a second). It wasn't increasing exponentially like the overall run time - so it wasn't going to be that easy to track down what was causing this.
I noticed that there was an exponential delay between request and the open action.
But the delay was between the end of the previous cycle and before the document open start. In other words, the request to open the document was taking longer to 'be received', but it wasn't clear what was happening during that delay - which could be close to a minute for a document with 1mb content.
Saving and closing.
My first thought was that saving and closing the document at the end of each cycle might help to reduce the delay in responding to the next cycle (although since the request didn't know it was going to process a document, it's not clear how). However that process of saving is in itself exponential. As the document content reaches 1mb, it takes over a minute to close.
However the good news is that the delay between request and action has gone (implying that there is some kind of implicit document save happening at each google.script.run request).
What's going on?
I'm now starting to suspect this is not completely related to the size of the file, but more about how many times its called. This time I'll clear out the document between each cycle, so each cycle's document should be roughly the same size - and in theory should suffer the same delay - but that is more or less steady, so it is related to the size of the document.
Comparing the request time
A timestamp in the request can be compared against the time the request gets received to confirm it is indeed processing something in between the time the call is sent and received. .
google.script.run.performanceTest (packet, new Date().getTime());
this is received and logged in the stats package.
function performanceTest (package,initiated) {
return PerformanceTest.createChunk(
The lag (the time between the execution request and it starting) is not exponential, whereas the delay (the time between the previous cycle finishing and the next one starting) is. This pretty much points to there being a non sequential implicit save and close happening outside the flow of the script during which time nothing else can happen.
Assuming this is what's supposed to happen, it makes add-ons involving large files pretty much impractical. One approach could be to always do a save and close at the end of some add-on action in the hope that another one will not be required before it's finished.
The code
The process is controlled from a webapp, which repeatedly provokes a performance test, dumping the results at the end
window.onload = function () {
var MAX_CYCLE = 20 ;
var packet, cycleCount = 0;
function addChunks () {
//create new chunks in the document and see how long it takes as the doc gets bigger
if (cycleCount < MAX_CYCLE) {
.withFailureHandler( function (err) {
throw err;
.withSuccessHandler ( function (data) {
cycleCount ++;
packet = data;
.performanceTest (packet);
else {
// dump result
google.script.run.dumpResult (packet);
The performance test
This adds some random data to a table and appends it to the document, in each case measuring how long operations like opening, reading text and so on take. The data is random to minimize any skew that might be to do with some kind of compression or caching. This example
has the save and close enabled.
function performanceTest (package) {
return PerformanceTest.createChunk('1MR7QCbasRsAWRCeEc2baeNfyZBr2ZpMPsXxvNAHFfB4',package);
function dumpResult (package) {
// write the data to the sheet
new cSheetExec.SheetExec()
.sheetOpen ('1Higg488LQnUzuvfXphD0fTaOqqpdAPDbwlWfokZYPyk','opentest')
.setData (package);
var PerformanceTest = (function(pt) {
'use strict';
var MAX = 200, MIN = 50, ROWS = 40, COLUMNS = 10;
function action_ ( packet , action , argOb , measure, func ) {
var start = new Date().getTime();
var result = func (argOb);
packet.push ( {
elapsed:new Date().getTime() - start,
return result;
* create a bunch of pages
pt.createChunk = function (docId,packet) {
if (!packet) {
// first in, clear the document
DocumentApp.openById (docId).getBody().clear();
var packet = packet || [];
action_ (packet , 'cycle', null, 0 , function () {
// open a document
var doc = action_ (packet , 'open' , docId , 0, function (id) {
return DocumentApp.openById (id);
var openPacket = packet[packet.length-1];
// get the body
var body = action_ (packet , 'body' , null , 0 ,function () {
return doc.getBody();
// get the body as text before adding some more
var text = action_ (packet , 'pretext' , null , 0 ,function () {
return body.getText();
openPacket.measure = text.length;
var para = 'Writing another table';
var elem = action_ (packet , 'paragraph' , para, para.length , function (stuff) {
return body.appendParagraph(stuff);
// add some stuff
var stuff = cUseful.getRandomSheetStrings(ROWS,COLUMNS,MAX,MIN);
var elem = action_ (packet , 'chunk' , stuff, 0 , function () {
return body.appendTable(stuff);
// get the body as text
var postText = action_ (packet , 'posttext' , null , 0 ,function () {
return body.getText();
// add the size of the text now
packet[packet.length-1].measure = postText.length;
// and on the previous
packet[packet.length-2].measure = postText.length - text.length;
// close
action_ (packet , 'saveandclose' , null, postText.length , function () {
return packet;
return pt;
})(PerformanceTest || {});
For more like this, see Google Apps Scripts snippets. Why not join our forum, follow the blog or follow me on twitter to ensure you get updates when they are available.
You want to learn Google Apps Script?
Learning Apps Script, (and transitioning from VBA) are covered comprehensively in my my book, Going Gas - from VBA to Apps script, available All formats are available now from O'Reilly,Amazon and all good bookshops. You can also read a preview on O'Reilly.
If you prefer Video style learning I also have two courses available. also published by O'Reilly.
Services > Desktop Liberation - the definitive resource for Google Apps Script and Microsoft Office automation > Google Docs >


text: An observation tower positioned over a picturesque bogland in Scotland by Icosis Architects. The structure is located at the Dubh Lochan peat bogs in Sutherland that gives visitors a view of the unique patterns formed by the pools of water as well as "to assist with introducing the concepts of conserving peatland habitats in order to mitigate climate change." The tower is made of timber and steel and clad with Scottish Larch inside and out. It has an open viewing deck above and is located far from any light source that makes it perfect for stargazing. The Forsinard Observatory was commissioned by The Peatlands Partnership and is currently shortlisted for the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) award.


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Articles and Commentary For and Against Changes to the AHRA
November 21, 2018 – Proposal to pay sperm and egg donors, surrogates spawns controversy: Bill C-404 would legalize financial compensation for egg and sperm donors, surrogates in Canada. CBC news.
"While many see sperm and egg donation as a way to make it easier for couples struggling with infertility, LGBT couples or prospective single parents to have children, the meeting does not explicitly invite donor-conceived people. With commercial DNA tests on the rise, those donor-conceived people are finding their hidden genetic history online after decades of donor anonymity being the norm — and they're demanding new protections in the world of assisted reproduction.
"I felt it was a real slap in the face to donor-conceived adults and really tone deaf by the department of health to not even realize we were stakeholders and an integral part of this process," said Martin. "My intention is to go there and make our presence known and get it on the public record."
As someone who has spent a significant amount of money and time to become a mother, Reich recounts the emotional turmoil of the possibility of losing an egg donor at the last minute because the donor simply changed her mind.
"The whole framework here [in Canada] is 'Oh, I'm so lucky and I should just be so grateful that they're donating.' Well actually, I'm shelling out tens of thousands of dollars, so am I lucky or am I really buying a service? Whether you call it that or not — if I'm buying a service, don't I deserve quality and don't I deserve somebody who's committed, who's not going to flake out on me?" says Reich.
October 29, 2018 – Reimbursing Surrogates & Donors. Professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy, Dalhousie University François Baylis. Impact Ethics.
"The proposed new regulations […] specify which expenditures can be reimbursed. Egg and sperm donors as well as surrogates can be reimbursed for travel expenditures, care of dependents, counselling services, legal services, insurance coverage, and more. In addition, surrogates can be reimbursed for maternity clothes, expenditures related to the delivery, as well as loss of work-related income due to pregnancy.
In addition to listing reimbursable expenditures, the proposed new regulations stipulate that all expenditures are to be receipted and properly documented, with all documents kept for a period of six years. As well, a team of inspectors is to ensure that the regulations are enforced.
With the introduction of a robust regulatory framework we have a clear and viable alternative to the commercialization of assisted human reproduction. For much of this past year, special interest groups as well as clinicians, lawyers and brokers working in the fertility industry have been lobbying to replace the current federal altruistic system with provincial commercial systems."
October 26, 2018 – Reimbursement Related to Assisted Human Reproduction Regulations. By The Government Of Canada, Department of Health. Canada Gazette, Part 1, Volume 152, Number 43.
This document outlines regulations for reimbursement of gamete donation and surrogacy including:
"The following expenditures incurred by a donor in the course of donating ova or sperm may be reimbursed:
- (a) travel expenditures, including expenditures for transportation, parking, meals and accommodation;
- (b) expenditures for the care of dependants;
- (c) expenditures for counselling services;
- (d) expenditures for legal services and disbursements;
- (e) expenditures for any drug or device as defined in section 2 of the Food and Drugs Act;
- (f) expenditures for products or services that are provided by or recommended in writing by a person authorized under the laws of a province to practise medicine in that province;
- (g) expenditures for health, disability or life insurance coverage; and
- (h) expenditures for obtaining or confirming medical or other records."
October 26, 2018 – Ottawa Proposes Partial Easing of Sperm Donation, New Surrogacy Regulations. By Terry Pedwell. The Globe and Mail.
"The Trudeau government proposed new regulations Friday that would lift a ban on men who have sex with other men from donating their sperm anonymously to Canadians struggling with infertility.
The proposed changes, up for review through public consultations, could also see surrogate mothers reimbursed for more of the expenses they face in trying to help people build their families, including loss of income."
October 26, 2018 – Liberals Pitch New Rules on Payments for Surrogates, Sperm donors. By Kathleen Harris. CBC News.
"In April, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it's time for Canadian society to wrestle with the controversial issue of paying women to carry other people's babies.
He called surrogacy an "extremely important issue" that affects many prospective parents, including same-sex and infertile couples. He said he expects the debate to draw extreme opinions and emotions.
The issue has been contentious in the past, even within feminist circles. Proponents of paid surrogacy say the ban denies women the right to do what they want with their bodies. Opponents say it amounts to commercializing a woman's body."
August 13, 2018 – Who has Control Over Frozen Embryos After Divorce? by doctoral candidate at McGill University's Faculty of Law Stefanie Carsley. The Globe and Mail.
"What about treating embryos as property? The Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which criminalizes paying for sperm and eggs in Canada, makes clear that reproductive material is not property that may be exchanged on the market. Adopting a property approach also means that embryos could be used as a bargaining chip in acrimonious divorces."
June 9, 2018 – Has the Age of the Anonymous Sperm Donor Ended? By Elizabeth Payne. Ottawa Citizen.
""The basic human right to know where you come from should not be denied (to) people conceived through a medical procedure," said Jackson who founded the group We Are Donor Conceived.
She and others say Canadian law needs to catch up to the new reality, to make sure the rights of the donor-conceived are protected.
Donor offspring groups and individuals have increasingly become vocal about issues around assisted reproduction in recent years. In addition to an end to donor anonymity, donor offspring have called for strict limits on how many times one sperm sample is used to conceive a child. Some of them have found hundreds of half siblings — all conceived with sperm from the same donor. In surveys, most people who were donor conceived say the limit should be about 10."
June 3, 2018 – Canadian Parents Want to do More for the Surrogates Carrying Their Babies. By Rebecca Lindell. Global News.
"Health Canada intends to establish within the reimbursement regulations for Section 12 of the ARHA broad categories of expenditures for which donors and surrogates may be reimbursed," the department said in a statement.
Until then, the private members bill will continue through the parliamentary process. All parties have said they will look at the proposed bill and study whether it is in the interest of Canadians, so there's no guarantee of if or when it could become law.
In the meantime, intended parents like Black and Wood will have to look for creative, non-monetary ways to show their appreciation."
May 29, 2018 – Liberal MPs Private-Member's Bill Would Lift Restrictions on Third-Party Reproduction by Carly Weeks. The Globe and Mail.
"But a group of medical experts and ethicists say the changes would create a regulatory vacuum and turn the creation of children into a monetary transaction that could have worrisome consequences. In a joint statement, the group of seven experts, which includes law, health-policy and bioethics professionals, outlined several concerns, such as the possible exploitation of women. In addition, if the free market is allowed to dictate price, the cost for donor eggs, sperm or surrogacy services could also increase substantially, said Alana Cattapan, assistant professor at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan and one of the joint-statement signatories."
May 7, 2018 – Stop the Commercialization of Surrogacy by Erin Lepine. Law times.
"Housefather alleges that those most expert and involved in fertility are completely unanimous in their support for commercialization. I respectfully disagree. I am a lawyer who actively practises in fertility law. I do not support the commercialization of surrogacy or gamete donation in Canada. Commercialization of surrogacy, egg donation and sperm donation in Canada would work in the face of core Canadian values — the values that informed the altruistic nature of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act when it was enacted and values that remain relevant (not outdated as Housefather has suggested) in Canadian society today. "
May 1, 2018 – Paying for Surrogacy, Sperm and Eggs Shouldn't be a Crime by MP Anthony Housefather. The Hamilton Spectator.
"We need to decriminalize payment. Let the provinces step in and fully regulate the arrangements between parents and surrogates, agencies and donors, including compensation. This can include caps on payments."
May 1, 2018 – Argument of Paying for Surrogacy, Sperm and Eggs Based on Misinformation by Professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy, Dalhousie University François Baylis and Assistant Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan Alana Cattapan. The Toronto Star.
"Very few jurisdictions around the world — some American states, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine and Iran — permit payment for surrogacy. Some countries that previously welcomed Westerners seeking to pay for surrogacy — including Nepal, Thailand, India, and Mexico — are now increasing regulations to control (and in some cases to eliminate) their commercial markets.
Countries with which Canada has historically been aligned (including, the United Kingdom, Denmark, New Zealand, and most of Australia) have laws banning commercial surrogacy that are very similar to ours.
What Canada needs is improved federal intervention to ensure that assisted reproduction is well-regulated, and that the care of surrogates and others is not left to the open market."
April 13, 2018 – What Should be Done about Canada's Assisted Reproduction Laws? By Alison Motluk. The Globe and Mail.
"So far, the discussion has mostly centred on the difficulties faced by people building their families. Much less has been said about the people who will be asked to help – or the people who will be created.
I'm no fan of the 2004 law as we've experienced it. But it seems to me that the best parts of the law never came to fruition. There were supposed to be regulations for surrogacy, egg donation and sperm donation. That never happened.
There was supposed to be a national personal health registry, to identify the health and safety risks of assisted reproduction and to stay on top of ethical and human-rights concerns. Never happened. There was supposed to be an agency to enforce the law, Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, but although an agency by that name briefly existed, it fell well short of all the hopes pinned to it before being quietly killed off."
April 9, 2018 – Our Fertility Laws and Criminalize People Trying to Start a Family. It's Time for an Overhaul. By MP Anthony Housefather and fertility lawyer and founder of Fertility Law Canada Sara Cohen. The National Post.
"While the Private Member's Bill would decriminalize these matters, health regulations should be developed, including ensuring that a donor registry is in place to track the number of times sperm and ova are used in our population and to track any health issues. Provinces could create a framework for compensation, including limits if the province believed such limit was appropriate.
Nobody in this country should fear jail time because they want to be a parent, or because they want to help someone build a family. That's why we're working to update our laws."
April 2, 2018 – Paying surrogates, sperm and egg donors goes against Canadian values By Professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy, Dalhousie University François Baylis and Assistant Professor, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan Alana Cattapan. The Conversation.
"The governance of assisted human reproduction is too important to the future of Canadian families to be undermined by a private member's bill calling for an open market in human reproduction."
We will continue updating this list as more articles are published.


text:
Grimy, slimy and green - that's not how you want your pool. Guests are coming over this weekend - you want a backyard party, perfect for entertaining. The only thing that's lacking is a crystal clear and refreshing swimming pool.
You haven't used your pool since last fall and feel bad that's gone all winter without a good cleaning. Do you need to empty it out and start over? Well maybe just a good pool cleaning?
This is what we do.
We want your next outdoor party or BBQ to be a hit and the only way you can do that is to hire a professional to come and clean it and restore it back to where it once was. Sure, you can spend the next 3 days working on it full time, or you can save yourself the time and hassle and call in the pros.
Because we do it all - CLEAN, CARE, REPAIRS & MAINTENANCE, we can assess the situation, give you an estimate and tell you when it will be completed... just in time for this weekend's party.
So don't go through another weekend with that dank, algae-covered swamp - Contact EVERCLEAR Pool Service today and be the hero of your neighborhood with the best party AND the best pool on the block.
Need a repair? We can do that too!
Filters, Grids, Motors, Pumps, Valves, Heaters, Tile Repair, Plaster, Electrical, Cool Decking and Much More!!
By Slivenbg at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Oxyman using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7446051
Don Reinhard has been a Havasu City resident for several years and loves the sun and warmth of this area. He has brought both of these together being in the pool industry. Call him today for quotes on pool and spa maintenance and service.
September 2019


text:
91.3FM KXCI Celebrates 1971 August 20th @Rialto Theatre
|Click Image for larger view of 1971 po
Lineup and order: Dying to know who is playing when? The only way to find out is right here.
Tickets for Emmylou Harrris are SOLD OUT. But lucky for you, KXCI's Membership Drive begins just in time. Starting September 13th, limited tickets will be available in special packages for new or renewing members!
Support KXCI and the Fox. Buy your tickets today, right here!
Labels: Amy Rude, Atom Heart Mother, community outreach, Five Way Street, Kevin Pakulis, KXCI, KXCI Celebrates 1971, Lisa Otey, Modeens, rialto theatre, Silverfox, Son y Sol, Tom Walbank
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Produced by D/errick, Chuuwee questions hypocrisy in "UNITY", the first official single from his upcoming album "Paradiso" set to release on March 24th on Below Systems Records.
"The song focuses on how people usually argue or contest what you're saying when you try to bring up unification or a better way of living. Either you're talked down to about being snobby and prideful or they blow you off because whatever your saying isn't important. None the less with everything going on right now we need to stick together instead of trying to separate and point out which problems are worse than the others." Chuuwee points out.


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Mariholtet Food & Drink
Refuel and relax at Østmarka's cozy cafe
Essential info
- Destination: Oslo
- Season: January-December
About Mariholtet
Mariholtet is located on the western side of North Elvåga Lake in Østmarka. It's a cozy refuge from the outdoors and place to refuel! Enjoy a selection of rolls and baguettes with toppings, pastries, and cakes including carrot, apple, rhubarb, and chocolate. Quench your thirst with hot/cold drinks or beer/wine.
During the summer season, one canoe and two kayaks are available, allowing you to explore the lake. Honey is produced on-site in the autumn. It's very popular, so make sure you visit early in the season.
The gift shop is stocked with maps and books about the forest as well as bike repair equipment and ski wax—just in case you need it! Visit the Mariholtet website for more information including activities and hours.
Getting there
T-bane line 3 to 'Ulstrud', towards Mortensrud. Then walk about a kilometer to Østmarksetera, where the trail begins. If traveling via car, park at Østmarksetera.
Alternatively, take T-bane line 2 to 'Ellingsrudåsen', then walk about 50 minutes to the trailhead. Or park at 'Ekerud utfartsparkering' and begin the hike there.
- Toilets
- Fireplace
- Cafe
Questions or comments? Let us know.
Nearby adventures
Last updated:


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Buying posters via this link
helps Artchive - click here!
|Let us, for a moment, divide all works of art into two types: those with a precise date, and those without. By precise, I mean those with a single year given...without a "circa".
DONATELLO David c. 1444-46 Bronze Height 158 cm Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence
Pretty close, Mr. Art Historian, but no cigar. Obviously, the assignment of precise dates to older works is problematic...and pedantic, since they were using a different calendar anyway. Artists of the time evidently did not consider the dating of their work to be of importance.
Consider, now, art of a more recent time. The percentage of precisely dated works steadily increases.
DUCHAMP, Marcel The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) 1915-23 Oil paint, varnish, lead foil, lead wire, and dust on two glass plates (cracked), each mounted between two glass panels in a steel and wood frame 272.5 x 175.8 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art
No, no, Marcel: no "circa"! The work was produced over a period of eight years. This actually represents a much more precise dating...a less self-conscious artist would certainly have forgotten after six or seven years just when he started the darned thing, anyway, now wouldn't he?
PICASSO, Pablo Seated Man with Sword and Flower Mougins, 2 August (II) and 27 September 1969 Oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm Private collection Zervos XXXI, 449
And now to the very limits of precision. A record of the exact day (and location!) on which the work was begun, then laid aside until it was finished a few weeks later. But even more: note the (II) after the first date. This indicates that it was the second catalogued work created by Picasso on that day! To Picasso's detractors, this is an example of his profound ego and proof of his slapdash output; to his defenders, a record of the journal he used to chart his artistic voyage and evidence of his prolific creativity. Personally, I like the guy.
To me, precise dating is an indication of self-consciousness, a sign that the artist has an awareness of his work in the context of history. In some cases, it is a conceit that future generations will give a damn about the painting at all, much less exactly when it was created.
CÉZANNE, Paul Still Life with Apples c. 1895-1898 Oil on canvas 27 x 36 1/2 in (68.8 x 92.7 cm) The Museum of Modern Art, New York Venturi 736
Here, on the other hand, the ultimate romantic image of the creatively possessed artist, toiling away unacknowledged in the service of his art. Cézanne didn't even sign the vast majority of his paintings, much less provide dates for them. This lends an authenticity to his work, evidence of a firmer commitment to the struggle for self-expression with total disregard for the opinion of the rest of the world. Many an art MFA has been gainfully employed attempting to determine the sequence of Cézanne's ouevre.
VAN GOGH, Vincent Branches with Almond Blossom February 1890 Oil on canvas 73.5 x 92 cm F671 JH1891 Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam
So, if Vincent van Gogh is the quintessential "unappreciated in his time" artist, how did this work come to be so precisely dated? Contrary to myth, Van Gogh was extremely self-conscious of his art. His almost daily letters to his beloved brother Theo provide such a detailed discussion of his work that art historians have been able to use them to precisely catalog almost his entire output.
FRIEDRICH, Caspar David Tetschen Altar or Cross in the Mountains 1807-08 Oil on canvas 115 x 110 cm (without frame) Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
Friedrich offers a poignant example of both sides of this coin. In 1807 and 1808, his Tetschen Altar was a critical work in the burgeoning Romantic movement, and was championed in the press of the time by the many literate supporters of Romanticism.
FRIEDRICH, Caspar David Large Enclosure c. 1832 Oil on canvas 73.5 x 102.5 cm Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
A quarter century later, Friedrich had fallen out of fashion. Forgotten by his contemporaries, he retreated to his studio. There, alone, he created his greatest masterpieces...but only Friedrich knows precisely when.
Mark Harden
[Home] [Juxtapositions] [Galleries] [Theory and Criticism] [Art CD-ROM Reviews] [Artchive] [Links]


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This years Crunchies aren't going to be the same without Michael Arrington, Heather Harde or any of the other legacy TechCrunch members who've now left the AOL owned website for other endeavors or Sarah Lacy's Pando Daily. Nevertheless, the show must go on and on it is!
GigaOM, VentureBeat and TechCrunch have teamed up for the 2012 Crunchies happening now at the Davie Symphony Hall in San Francisco California, and as you've come to expect Thedroidguy and Nibletz team are in the house ready to provide the interwebs with great coverage.
We're about 5 minutes away from the start and you can catch a livestream by following this link to TechCrunch.
We'll post more photos in a bit!


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Astrid Harrisson Channel Islands, UKAstrid is an international equine photographer. She has travelled to all corners of the earth, from the mountains of Mongolia to the foothills of the Andes, in a bid to understand more about horses and the cultures where they are found. Astrid's work is regularly exhibited and she is represented by galleries in London, Dubai and the USA. Her work was recently published in a coffee table book, The Majesty of the Horse.
Preferred Style
Equine Photography.
Preferred Camera
Nikon full frame D700 but soon to upgrade to D800e 36MPX.
Astrid Harrisson shot this horse 'Sindri' on a farm in the far north of Iceland. As the stallion pranced around the field, the photographer wanted to convey his magnificence and power in a single image.
(A0) Extra Large Print £1,020.00
Edition of 25
118.9 X 79.2cm. 2" white border.
(A1) Large Print £600.00
Edition of 50
84.1 X 56cm. 1.5" white border
(A2) Medium Print £300.00
Edition of 75
59.4 x 39cm. 1" white border
(A3) Small Print £144.00
Edition of 100
42 x 27.9cm. ½" white border
- (A0) Extra Large Print
Edition of 25
140 x 100 cm. No Border (Deckled option; 5cm border)
- (A1) Large Print
Edition of 50
103 x 75 cm. No Border (Deckled option; 5cm border)
- (A2) Medium Print
Edition of 75
75 x 54 cm. No Border (Deckled option; 5cm border)
- (A3) Small Print
Edition of 100
57 x 43 cm. No Border (Deckled option; 5cm border)
Configure Sindri


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Product Description
Ships from Hong Kong. Barrel is exquisite wooden material, written is flexible, barrel light texture, exquisite overall design, various styles for your choice, suitable for acrylic painting, watercolor painting, comics, etc. Let you encounter the beauty on the pen. Size: Pen holder length of 23.7 CM (9.33 Inch) Including 6 PCS Brushes, bristles fiber brush and birch pen holder, Singular number specification Suitable for acrylic painting, watercolor painting, cartoons, etc As a perfect gift for your friends Encounter the beauty on the brush


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Portal Direct Entry skips the Gateway and Login pages when users access the URL for Blackboard Learn. Instead, users are shown the first portal tab. When users access the system through Portal Direct Entry, they are considered guests until they log in. The Login Module is a portal module that allows users to type a user name and password to log in. This module can be placed on any module tab to allow users to log in to the system. For information about how to add a module to a tab, see Creating Module Tabs.
If an administrator has allowed users to create accounts and turned on Portal Direct Entry, a Create Account link appears in the Login Module. The module is no longer available to users after they have logged in. To learn more about enabling Portal Direct Entry or account creation, see Customizing the Gateway Page.
Authentication types
The portal login page displays only if one of the following authentication types is set: Datatel, LDAP, or RDBMS. To learn more, see About the Authentication Framework.
Edit Login module properties
- On the Administrator Panel, under Communities, select Tabs and Modules.
- Select Modules.
- Open the Login module's menu.
- Select Edit Properties. The following table describes the available options.
Login Module Properties Option Description Enter Tab Information Title [r] Edit the title. Module Type Login Module is automatically displayed here. Description Provide a description for the module. This description is not displayed to users. Availability System Availability This is set to Yes by default if Portal Direct Entry is turned on. This option may be set to No if Portal Direct Entry is turned on. If No is selected, the Login Module is removed from all module pages and users must use the icon at the top of the page to access the login page. The Login Module cannot be turned on if Portal Direct Entry is not on. Available for Use on a Course Module Page Select Yes to make the module available for use on Course Module pages. Available for Use on an Organization Module page Select Yes to make the module available for use on Organization Module pages.
- Select Submit.
Edit Login module content
The Login Module appears to users when Portal Direct Entry is on. Text for the module may be added from the Module Contents Login Module page. The text appears in the module along with the boxes for entering a user name and password.
- On the Administrator Panel, under Communities, select Tabs and Modules.
- Select Modules.
- In the menu for the module, select Edit Contents.
- Provide Text to display to users in the text box of the module. Users may enter HTML in this area. Users should not add <body> tags, <form> tags, or <form element> tags. These tags cause issues when the page is accessed by end users.
- Select Submit.


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We offer a variety of indoor and outdoor lighting products that includes LED high bay&low bay, LED flood light, LED parking lot&area light, LED street light, LED tube, and panel light.
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Black fine mist sprayers with end caps. 20/410. Sold in units of 10 sprayers. BOTTLES SOLD SEPARATELY!!
Note: Please make sure that you order the correct size lids to fit your bottles. Double check your order during checkout to make sure the sizes match. Sales are final. We do not offer any exchanges or returns.
Purchasing this can earn you up to 60.99 ($0.61) or more rewards points!
Average Customer Rating:
(5 Reviews)
Write a Review (requires login)
A viewer
from USA 03/22/15
Bought these for the 1 ounce clear bottles so I could test out the odor eliminator base. They fit perfectly, are inexpensive. You just trim the end if there is excess plastic tubing and pop in. They make a nice fine mist spray and don't leak. Love them!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Do you?
A viewer
from Niles, MI US 08/19/14
I had tested one out of this batch I had ordered. I loved the fact that it indeed is a fine mist sprayer and worked as it should! Love it! Thank you!!
A viewer
from San Antonio, TX US 03/03/14
I have ordered 100's of these in black , white and clear choices,,, I wouldn't say they are ' FINE MIST" bc they spray too 'splotchy' on the face as opposed to some store bought sprays I've used,,, a bit nerve wracking if you are marketing facial mists. But as body and room sprays, they are very nice and well made ;)
Did you find this review useful?
A viewer
from Reynoldsburg, OH US 10/30/12
I ordered these for the first time to make my odor eliminating spray. Out of the 10, I had one dud that seeped out of the sprayer when I gently shook the bottle. (which was okay with me seeing as I got to justifiably keep one of my yummy sprays! LOL) It still sprayed and worked fine otherwise.
All others were perfectly fine and I'll continue to orders these from NG!
A viewer
from Attleboro, MA US 11/21/11
These are great, seems dumb to review something so basic but if you are wondering- I've ordered these about 5 times, and in all my ordering, no duds! 5-8 presses and they are spraying, no clogs, no leaks, no sputtering. They are worth every penny!


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Most of the time I think my cooking tastes better than it looks. I'm not the queen of pretty presentation, although I do try from time to time, and my icing skills are on a par with my ability to draw; easily outdone by a five year old. I've always said that your insides can't see what it looks like, but they do know how it tastes, and for the most part it tastes good.
But I think I've baked something that looked a lot more impressive than the taste. It is supposedly Potato Focaccia Pugliese (of page 62 fame),
which sounds a lot more exciting than when H, eyeing the accompanying sausages with a lot more enthusiasm, asked:
"you made … potato pizza?"
Don't get me wrong, it doesn't taste bad per se, and the potato topping went very nicely with the sausages (think bangers and mash sandwiches), but it is potato pizza, and it's just a bit, well, ordinary.
We love a good pizza around these parts (and occasionally the sort that a man in a van brings), but if I want pizza I'd top with spicy tomato sauce and pepperoni, or thinly sliced butternut squash, sage and buffalo mozzarella, or continue my quest to replicate the slices of steaming hot Italian ham pizza H and I bought for lunch from a little side street bakery in Rome on our first holiday together.
Topped with potato it isn't really just bread, but it isn't a meal by itself; an uncomfortable halfway house. Perhaps that's what it's meant to be, and my uncultured English taste buds are rejecting it for not being slathered in melted cheese, but if that's the case, bring on the cheddar.
So from one that's not on the repeat list to two recipes for chicken that really really are, both originally courtesy of Pablo's menu links on French Foodie Baby.
Firstly, Roasted Chicken Thighs with Clementines, originally an Ottolenghi recipe from Jerusalem but tweaked by Sassy Radish for those of us that just aren't that keen on fennel and that aniseedy sort of taste. We made the version with extra onions and orange juice and oh my! Gently caramelised clementines and tender chicken and a lick your plate kind of a sauce.
We gave H's brother and his wife Jerusalem and a 'kit' of all the things that might be a bit difficult to pick up in the supermarket for Christmas (I can't take credit for the idea, it came from the very wonderful Sous Chef *), and I'm so pleased to know that at least one recipe will be a hit. I shouldn't really have doubted, the only time I've been to an Ottolenghi shop in London I could have eaten my way down the display, so mouthwatering were the salads, and that was before you got anywhere near the cake!
And if chicken legs happen to be on special offer in your butcher's this week, let me introduce you to Buttermilk Brined Chicken. I made half quantities because there are only two and a half of us eating supper at the moment, and that was plenty for three thighs and drumsticks, and I tweaked the recipe a little to use mild smoked paprika (because that's what I had) and skipped the olive oil over the top of the chicken before I put it into the oven (because that's what I didn't have).
It's another recipe that produces melt in the mouth chicken, this time with a slightly smoky salty flavour. It reminded me most of summer suppers after you've spent the whole day on the beach or in the surf and the sea has impregnated your skin so that everything has that slight tang.
We don't have any summer yet as it is, alas, raining yet again, and we're a long way from the sea so anything that conjures up those kind of memories has got to be a hit; food for the soul as well as the tummy.
So there you have it, my moral for the day; don't bother with potato pizza, eat chicken instead.
*On a side note, I can't rate Sous Chef's customer service highly enough; part of the kit had split in transit, I phoned to let them know, and they parcelled up and sent out a replacement straight away so that it arrived in time for Christmas.


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The Live Video Training will take place Tuesday November 21, 09:30 AM Sydney, Australia Time. There are some examples of other timezones below. This isn't convenient for everyone, so there will be on demand Video Training replay available to everyone who registers. You can view this at any time, and still ask questions.
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Copyright 2017, Flight Lab Pty Ltd, Our Wide Sky - Terms and Conditions Privacy


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"However well translated and however widely distributed Bibles may be, unless people engage with them in life-challenging ways we will fail to bring God's Word into the lived experience of people." Dr. Fergus Macdonald
Our vision for the Center for Scripture Engagement is to equip people to engage the Scriptures in ways that will drive evangelism, personal discipleship, worldview formation, and church planting.
Our dream is that Scripture engagement will become one of the most broadly applied missional concepts to emerge in the Christian world in this decade.
Our mission is to carry out four distinct programs:
Underlying both our vision and mission is a deep conviction regarding the efficacy of Scripture to speak for itself. We believe that by exploring biblical texts creatively and imaginatively we hear Scripture challenging us to submit to the unique claim God is making on our allegiance.


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excerpted from writngs of Dov bar Leib, with a few edits and expansions by Reb Akiva on Mystical Paths
The Rebbe Rashab, Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, was the 5th Lubavitcher Rebbe. Based on the Zohar Vayeira 119a, he started the custom of Seudat HaMashiach on the last day of Pesach 5666 (hebrew year, secular year 1906).
The previous verse says basically that B'itah, Geulah in it's time, cannot come before that year 5666 (1906). Yet, all the events that are described in the Zohar that happen B'itah began to unfold with the Shoah starting just before the year 5700. So we begin the time count of the Zohar's list of events from there.
Both the Al Aksa Intifada in 5760 and the 2nd Israeli-South Lebanon War in 5766 are signposts specifically mentioned in this Zohar that we can mark as having occurred! As a mater of fact the Rebbe Rashab did say that while he was setting up Seudat HaMashiach in 5666, the Geulah events described in this Zohar would not take place for another 100 years.
Here is the Zohar in question:
When the 60th year shall have passed over the threshold of the 6th millennium, the G-d of Heaven will visit the daughter of Ya'akov with a preliminary peqidah (a final Din v'Cheshbon – a final judgement).
The Al Aksa Intifada started on the second to last and last days of the year 5760 with Sharon Sharon ascending the Temple Mount 36 hours before Rosh HaShana and worshipers at the Western Wall being pelted with boulders hours before the onset of Rosh HaShana. Since peqidot are usually pronounced on Rosh HaShana, this final peqidah was decreed on Rosh HaShana 5760 not Rosh HaShana 5761. Plus the first full year of the Shoah was the year 5700 so that the 60 years began on Rosh HaShana 5700.
Another 6 1/2 years will elapse and there will be a full remembrance of her.
I have always struggled with this one, but since the Al Aksa Intifada began before Rosh HaShana 5761, the peqidah was on the previous Rosh HaShana 5760 when peqidot usually occur. So that takes us until 5766 1/2. If one counts from the actual intifada one gets to 5767 1/2. The first is the most likely because of what happened next.
Then another 6 years, making together 72 1/2 years. In the year 66 Mashiach will appear in the Land of the Galil.
I verily believe that this began with the 2nd South Lebanon War which began on the 17th of Tamuz 5766. It ended hitkansut (let's all get together rather than the more cold expression hitnatkut (Disengagement)) and what seems to be all future unilateral evacuations of existing and recognized yishuvim. Because of the behavior of some of our (blank blank) that was the revelation that we deserved.
Nothing like this occurred in 5767 so that 5766 was the year 66 in this Zohar. Keep in mind anyone that enabled the atrocity called hitnatkut in 5765 was a criminal, pulling 10,000 people out of their homes for no good reason whatsoever except for the possibility of 24 hours of positive world public opinion which also never occurred. Half a million people were placed into more dangerous, more accurate, and longer range missile fire because of this idiocy too.
So instead of Mashiach really appearing in the Galil in 5766, we had to settle with the bombing of Red Haifa which effectively ended all of TRMLO's evil decrees. And the entire Geulah process was pushed off until the next Shmittah cycle. The question is: This entire Zohar starts with an analysis of the Vav in Ya'akov's name from Zecharti eth Briti Ya'akov (I will remember my covenant with Ya'akov.) So the Zohar explains that the secret of the final redemption is this Vav which comes from HaShem's Name. It says that after the final peqidah we should wait 6 1/2 years (6 years for the Vav and another half a year to bring the Geulah in Nissan.)
Ok, if that is the case why then wait another 6 years until 5772 1/2. The Zohar is silent on what appears to be an unnecessary repetition of Vav years. Vav is 6 not 12. Only with 20/ 20 hindsight can we be Monday morning quarterbacks and know the real reason why. And the reason because of (blank blank) is not a pretty one.
Now for the year 5772 1/2. A star in the east will swallow seven stars in the north.
I am sure that this was an astronomical event which did occur as the molad for Siwan 5772 when the sun in the annular total solar eclipse was aligned with the 7 Sisters (the Pleiades). The 7 Sisters are definitely a northern constellation with declination expressed in degrees north. The sun of course was coming from the east and headed west. So this was that event, the molad for Siwan 5772. As an amateur astronomer, I am sure that the reference to 7 stars in the north is the Pleiades the most well known Messier object in the night sky. It is the most important Messier object in the night sky where 7 stars can be seen as a fuzzy object with 7 stars in it according to the naked eye since antiquity.
And a flame of Black Fire will hang in the rakia for 60 days. Originally I thought that this was the Flame virus discovered in the Cyber-rakia on the 8th of Siwan right after Shavuot. I asked a mekubal about this, and he said that this pasuk is a spiritual pasuk representing the hidden but immanent presence of G-d affecting the world in a natural way to prepare the world for what comes next. Right after Tisha B'Av the Syrian Civil War which had been taking less than 1000 lives per month exploded and started taking 5000 lives per month. This was at the end of the 60 day period that began on Isru Chag of Shavuot right after the molad for Siwan. So every month starting with August, 5000 Syrians have died per month.
And there will be wars in the north in which two kings will perish.
Remember the events of the Zohar are written from the perspective of Israel (the physical location). Currently 1 war rages in Israel's north, the Syrian civil war. Parts of this war are spilling over into Lebanon, and Hizbollah fighters from Lebanon are participating in Syria. Additionally Turkey is firing across the Syrian border to push internal Syrian military actions off their border. Wars are raging in Israel's north but but the 2 kings have not yet perished.
Then all the nations shall combine together against the daughter of Ya'akov in order to drive her from the world. It is of that time that it is written: "And it is a time of trouble onto Ya'akov, but out of it he shall be saved." (Yirmiyahu 30:7)
At that time all the souls in the Guph (the storehouse of neshamot in Shamayim) will have been used up, and will need to be recreated. As a mnemonic of this we may use the verse: "All the souls of the house of Ya'akov that came into Mitzraim ....all the souls were 66." (Gen. 46: 26)
In the year 73 all the kings of the world will assemble in the great city of Rome, and HaKodesh Baruch Hu will shower on them fire and hail and meteorites until they are all destroyed, with the exception of those who will not yet have arrived there.
Interestingly, Capitol Hill and the surrounding area of Washington DC were originally known as Rome, Maryland. Further, the subsequent and current name Capitol Hill also comes from Rome, Italy, where Capitoline Hill is one of the 7 hills of Rome, Italy.
I am not predicting. I am just presenting the evidence that we are in process for the period of time in this Zohar for 5772 1/2 through the year 5773. In the future we will discuss the timetable in Medrash Sefer Eliyahu for 5773, 5774, and 5775 dealing with the three year war and explosive outbreak of full scale war in the Sabbatical year between Rome and Persia.
The Event is in the Hand of G-d.
Yalkut Shimoni Yishayahu Remez 499 -
The King of Arabia (today Saudi Arabia) will seek advice from the White House (Lavan the king of Aram) what to do about Persia waxing in power in the world. And Persia will go forth to take over the world. And everyone will grab their abdomen as if in the pangs of birth, and scream out to G-d. And G-d will then tell his children, "Don't worry my children. The time of your Redemption has arrived."


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Arn - Knight Templar: Special Extended Edition DVD
Starring Joakim Nätterqvist, Sofia Helin, Stellan Skarsgård, Milind Soman, Simon Callow, Vincent Perez, Bibi Andersson, Michael Nyqvist, Fanny Risberg, Steven Waddington
Directed by Peter Flinth
Extended director's cut of the epic action adventure set in medieval Sweden.
Joakim Nätterqvist stars as Arn, the handsome son of a high-ranking Swedish nobleman who is brought up in a monastery before being sent off to the Crusades as a Knight Templar.
Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Cecilia (Sofia Helin), is sent into a convent to do penance for their forbidden love.
On his return to Sweden, battle-hardened from first-hand experience of the brutality of religious conflicts, Arn has two missions: to win back Cecilia and to unite his country.
- Format: DVD
- Region: 2
- Certification: (15)
- Catalogue number: HFR0164
- Studio: High Fliers Video Distribution
- Release date: 12/09/2011
- Genre: Drama
- Colour: Colour
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Victorinox have now been manufacturing their legendary and original Swiss Army Knives for over 125 years. Practical, useful and reliable companions, they continually prove their worth in everyday situations. As with all Victorinox items the Swiss cross and shield emblem is the unmistakable trademark of unrivalled design, craftsmanship and quality features.
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The second in a monthly series of improv music to soundless films at The Center For New Music. Benjamin Ethan Tinker is curating this series with Center For New Music curator Tania Chen. This evening the film will be the dialouge-less "Dementia (aka Daughter of Horror)" (1955) by John Parker.
"May be the strangest film ever offered for theatrical release." – Variety
Come here the ecstatic sounds of the trio of Fred Frith, Beth Custer and Christina Stanley!
Though the point of reference for many remains the iconic band Henry Cow, which Fred Frith co-founded in 1968 and which broke up more than 30 years ago, Fred Frith has never really stood still for an instant.
In bands such as Art Bears, Massacre, Skeleton Crew, Keep the Dog, Tense Serenity, the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, Eye to Ear, and most recently Cosa Brava, he has always held true to his roots in rock and folk music, while exploring influences that range from the literary works of Eduardo Galeano to the art installations of Cornelia Parker. The release of the seminal Guitar Solos in 1974 enabled him to simultaneously carve out a place for himself in the international improvised music scene, not only as an acclaimed solo performer but in the company of artists as diverse as Han Bennink, Chris Cutler, Jean-Pierre Drouet, Evelyn Glennie, Ikue Mori, Louis Sclavis, Stevie Wishart, Wu Fei, Camel Zekri, John Zorn, and scores of others. He has also developed a personal compositional language in works written for Arditti Quartet, Asko Ensemble, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ensemble Modern, Concerto Köln, and ROVA Sax Quartet, for example. Fred has been active as a composer for dance since the early 1980s, working with choreographers Bebe Miller, François Verret, and especially long-time collaborator and friend Amanda Miller, with whom he has created a compelling body of work over the last twenty years. His film soundtracks (for award-winning films like Thomas Riedelsheimer's Rivers and Tides and Touch the Sound, Peter Mettler's Gambling, Gods, and LSD, and Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow's Thirst, to name a few) won him a lifetime achievement award from Prague's "Music on Film, Film on Music" Festival (MOFFOM) in 2007. The following year he received Italy's Demetrio Stratos Prize (previously given to Diamanda Galas and Meredith Monk) for his life's work in experimental music, and in 2010 was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Huddersfield in his home county of Yorkshire. Fred currently teaches in the Music Department at Mills College in Oakland, California (renowned for over fifty years as the epicenter of the American experimental tradition), and in the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland.
Beth Custer is a San Francisco based composer, performer, bandleader, and the proprietor of BC Records. She has over thirty-five recordings out with her ensembles The Beth Custer Ensemble, Eighty Mile Beach, Clarinet Thing, Trance Mission and Club Foot Orchestra. Beth composed for the contemporary chamber ensembles Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Zeitgeist, Earplay, City Winds, Turtle Island and Kronos String Quartets; for the theatre productions of Campo Santo Theatre, Berkeley and San Diego Repertory Theatres, Magic Theatre, California Shakespeare, Overtone Industries, and Cornerstone Theatre; for the dance troupes AXIS Dance Company, Joe Goode Performance Group, Roco Dance, Flyaway Productions, Ledoh, Harupin Ha, and Osseus Labyrinth; for the films of Cathy Lee Crane, Julie Wyman, Melinda Stone, George Spies, and Koohan Paik. She created KQED's Independent View theme with her band Eighty Mile Beach and composed for CBS/Film Roman's Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat with Club Foot Orchestra. Beth created four musicals with award winning writer Octavio Solis in LA and SF. Her collaborative scores with inventor and MacArthur Fellow Trimpin lead her to compose Vinculum Symphony, a site-specific, large-scale work that unites chamber musicians with experimental instrument builders. Her numerous awards include a six-week artist residency in an Italian castle at Civitella Ranieri Center and she was the first Bay Area artist to receive a second artist's residency at the Marin Headlands Center for the Arts. Other residencies include Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA, a McKnight Fellowship in Minneapolis, and with the SPaNk Ensemble at the University of Wyoming. She received the prestigious Meet The Composer New Residency grant wherein she was awarded $120,000 over three years to collaborate and create music. Other awards include MTC and American Composer's Forum Commissioning grants, three San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist grants, three Zellerbach Family Fund awards, a Gerbode award, and an Argosy Foundation recording grant. She also received the prestigious Aaron Copland Recording Fund award to release her 65-minute live film score for the rare Soviet Georgian silent film My Grandmother. The Beth Custer Ensemble has performed live with the film all over the world for over 10 years.
Christina Stanley is a Bay Area based violinist, improviser, multi instrumentalist, vocalist, electronic musician and songwriter who began piano at 5 and violin studies at the age of 8. she attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from ages 15-18 where she studied with li lin and eventually earned a full performance scholarship to San Francisco State University where she earned her Bachelors of Music and studied violin with Daniel Kobialka, Jassen Toderov and the Alexander String Quartet. After touring Europe and the US with various music groups, she attended HB studio in New York City where she studied theatre,dance and voice for two years. She then went on to earn an MFA in Music Performance and Literature from Mills College, where she studied violin with David Abel,composition and improvisation with Fred Frith and Roscoe Mitchell, and won the Margaret Lyon prize for excellence in music. She is currently an active performing musician and teacher, working as a solo artist as well as a member of various groups including the R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné! With whom she appeared at the Warfield, The Fox Theater and Yoshis SF and Oakland. Her solo compositions are published on Self Help Tapes. As a studio musician, she has appeared on albums for kill Rockstars, 4AD and Beggars Banquet/rough trade. She has been a featured Solo performer for the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, a vocalist for the William Winant percussion ensemble, and has premiered works by George Lewis and Roscoe Mitchell for Mutable Music under conductor Petr Kotik. Her original painted graphic scores have been featured at the Outsound New Music Summit in San Francisco, Temple Ad Hoc in Los Angeles and Rock Paper Scissors Gallery in Oakland. She is currently working on a recording project with the ROVA Saxophone Quartet and recording and writing an album with the band Silent pictures. She is passionate about working with living composers and composing new music.
Optical Sound #2 ~ Dementia (1955) ~ Frith•Custer•Stanley
Sunday, September 27, 2015 — 12:00 AM
Tickets: $15 General, $10 Members
Tickets available at the door only
Tickets available at the door only


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IRWIN is proud to introduce a full line of fine woodworking saw blades that are manufactured in Italy to the highest standards of precision required for fine woodworking and finish carpentry. These industry leading laser-cut, thin kerf saw blades are produced in a highly-automated, state-of-the-art facility in Udine, Italy – the heart of high-quality circular saw blade manufacturing.
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5 pages enclosed expressing current feelings & statements ranging from 1970— recently. The final 2 pages I wrote as frontispiece to a story a magazine wanted to use. We decided later against allowing them to make money off of us. The book was a large paperback w/ contributions from numerous writers. Manson said that he might have given me some encouragement on that project, but I think that what the publishers did put in the book was far better than the story I had written. (They reprinted in the book part of a magazine article about him that was good).
I'm wondering about sending all material I have, if I do decide to contribute, to Boyd since he's to be the editor of the proposed book. I've sent him copies of these 5 pages. He can make copies, tho his $ is scarce.
I sent you a letter of mine and one of CM recently. You should have it by now. Please copy his letter for me. I liked it & I wanted to re-read it, however I'd kept it for long enough & thought I best mail it.
Thanks for the ph. # & letter etc duplicates to send on. I dreamt of taking out "The Crawl" about the 70 mile Sunset Blvd. experience 5 of us had crawling to the Hall of Justice where Manson was held in L.A. It ends with us being snubbed by the press after 7 full days on our hands & knees (& numerous experiences behind us that I only can allude to in a frightened story). (I'm not a writer but I can play thoughts—yet it's not enough to meet my own standards). Still I'll see what it looks like. Oh! I started to say —it ends with us sitting on the sidewalk, wrapping out bruised, scabbing bloody knees & cleaning our grubby hands w/ alcohol just as the sun is getting hot & the prosecutor in his 3pc. tweed suit meets us on his way to work. Always dapper & snappy he greets us as if meeting us for a luncheon recipe.
"Hi girls," he says (and w/o flinching) "what're you doing?" Brenda looked up & told him we were trying to wake a few people up.
"You'll never do it that way" he said, shaking his head. "You'll have to put a bomb at their feet." And with that he was off, said he'd be late—to the prosecution of our friends for mass murder, & though his may sound like the wisest words, being as we thought 9 dead bodies would be enough, I recall vividly the bitter irony through the smoggy sunlight & our weariness and I'm surprised we've lasted this long in the pursuit of peaceful change except for our unwillingness to run amok. It wasn't suicide we wanted but the burial of dead systems of thought.
As for "Manson's right wing revolutionary cause", I believe that if Manson had wings he'd have at least two of them and a substantial body of his soul self in the center.


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Leadership development at the individual level to imbibe and apply critical attitudes that are the enablers of success.
By attending this Leadership Development program, you will learn processes, tools and techniques to:
- Incorporate self-awareness to boost productivity
- Use personal vision as a spring boat to excellence at workplace
- Demonstrate components of taking ownership and execution excellence for self-leadership
Why this Program
Leadership Development starts by leading oneself first. Every individual needs to take charge of their own goals and work towards achieving excellence. This programme will help individual contributor to possess the necessary skills and knowledge that can lead to success.
Leading Thy Self is a unique Leadership Development program for individual contributors, to unleash their inner potential and to provide vital tools for exceling in performance.


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Conventional wisdom says that there's a right way and a wrong way to play a song, but that notion is being questioned more and more every day. Who'd have thought that a jazz version of the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" could sound so good, or that Johnny Cash could so easily turn a piece of grimy industrial music into such an effecting folk tune?
Experimentation like this is not only important to pushing the boundaries of music, it's also tons of fun! And with the Easy Song Arranger tool on Digital Music Notebook, you can come up with endless musical concoctions of your own.
The Easy Song Arranger tool lets you change the style of any song so you can hear it and play along with it in any genre you want. You can also add intros and endings while muting and adding additional accompaniment parts.
To open the Easy Song Arranger, first open a song from your library and click the arrow at the right hand side of the screen. You'll see that it has three sections:
- The Intro and Ending section
Here you can specify whether or not you want the player to add an introduction and ending to the song during playback. With Intro and Ending set to on, the song will start after an intro and ending will play once the sheet music comes to an end.
- The Style Selection section
This is where you can select what type of background accompaniment you want the song to have.
First, select the general genre you want to use – choose from Ballad, Country, Dance, Latin, Pop, Practice, R&B, Swing & Jazz, Traditional and Waltz.
Then, choose a particular style to use within the genre you've chosen.
- The Arrangement section
This section is where you can get really specific about what you want to hear. Each style has 8 different parts which you can turn on or off using the boxes in this section. Customize to your hearts delight.
As you can tell, the Easy Song Arranger can be used for serious performance or just for laughs, depending on the mix of song and style that you choose.
Click here to watch what can happen when the Easy Song Arranger is allowed to run wild on some classic songs.
Watch as Yamaha's Digital Music Notebook program turns "House of the Rising Sun" into a dance track.
Watch as Yamaha's Digital Music Notebook program turns "Auld Lang Syne" into a reggae track.
- Doug


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The Sport Clubs Athletic Training Department provides prevention, management and rehabilitation of injuries sustained while participating in Sport Clubs. The department provides comprehensive, high-quality healthcare in an educationally progressive atmosphere. Our department also provides a dedicated strength and conditioning program for the Sport Club participants.
The Sport Clubs Athletic Training staff work with the Klotz Student Health Center and other allied healthcare professionals to meet the medical needs of each participant.
In addition to their regular clinic hours listed below, the Sport Clubs Athletic Training Staff can be found on-site directly covering our Sport Club games, tournaments, and high-risk practices.
Athletic Training Center Fall / Spring Semester Hours*
Monday9:00am - 4:00pm
Tuesday9:00am - 4:00pm
Wednesday9:00am - 4:00pm
Thursday9:00am - 4:00pm
Friday9:00am - 1:00pm
* Hours are subject to change without notice
Athletic Training Center Winter / Summer Break Hours*
Monday9:00am - 2:00pm
Tuesday9:00am - 2:00pm
Wednesday9:00am - 2:00pm
Thursday9:00am - 2:00pm
Friday9:00am - 2:00pm
* Hours are subject to change without notice
To confirm hours, make an appointment or any other questions pertaining to Sport Clubs Athletic Training please call (818) 677-7008 .
Location: The Sport Clubs Athletic Training Center is located in the Plaza del Sol, adjacent to the Plaza Pool . Enter by descending the stairwell behind subway or next to the Oasis center and walking past the Plaza Pool locker rooms. There are signs to guide you.
Medical Clearance Deadlines
- Fall (First Monday in November)
- Spring (First Monday in March)


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Aircraft Tire / Wheel Racks
The ultimate solution for storing your aircraft wheel assemblies! Our aircraft wheel racks can be custom designed and manufactured to meet the specifications of your aircraft model requirements. Our Aircraft Wheel Racks have been placed in some of the largest commercial and private airports in the United States, leading to improved maintenance repair times and overall safety.
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- Available for shipping worldwide!
All welded construction with 2" square steel mechanical tubing with ½" X 2" steel flat bar front edge frame and ½" Ø wedge anchors to mount rack to floor slab


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2) Swag lags: At a festival that had become known for its freebies as much as its films, celebrity "gifting," the practice of lavishing luxury products on tastemakers who breeze in from New York City and Los Angeles, was toned down. With the IRS warning celebs that the gifts should be reported as taxable income, stars and their entourages were less likely to snap up potentially useless electronics and accessories that require a 1099 form. Some stars opted to give their wares to Kevin Bacon's new charity, Sixdegrees.org, and others chose to keep their receiving quiet by using gift cards from the privacy of their hotel rooms instead of trudging conspicuously through the snow with bags in hand. In an effort to remind attendees that Sundance really isn't about collecting the right size parka, festival organizers gave away 25,000 buttons that said "Focus on Film." That was one gift no one was ashamed to claim.
3) Dakota Fanning tries something dangerous skiing: The most controversial film going into the festival was Hounddog, in which 12-year-old Dakota Fanning plays a victim of sexual abuse who finds comfort in Elvis Presley music. Protested by religious groups and child advocates, the movie's much-debated rape scene turned out to be disturbing but not at all graphic. The camera fixes on a closeup of Fanning's face while the actions of a predatory neighbor boy are mostly implied. Despite protests, it appears the young star of Charlotte's Web and War of the Worlds was not harmed in the making of this movie. She also skied for the first time while in Park City. And seemed to come out of that unscathed, too.
4) Documentaries get starry: Some of the hottest documentaries at the film festival employed actors to tell their tales: the opening-night movie, Chicago 10, relies on a voice cast including Nick Nolte, Mark Ruffalo and Liev Schreiber in animated scenes of the trial of anti-war demonstrators from the 1968 Democratic National Convention; Woody Harrelson and Mariel Hemingway read letters and journals in Nanking, about the Japanese occupation of the Chinese city in 1937; Strange Culture features Tilda Swinton and other actors dramatizing events that lead to the arrest of a University of Buffalo professor on suspicion of bioterrorism. Yes, everybody in Hollywood is trying to be as cool as that hip documentary A-lister, Al Gore.
5) Shorts go far: The competition to get a short film into Sundance is fierce and the quality of the movies that make it into the festival is high. Usually outshone by the feature competitions, shorts got to screen to wider audiences this year because anybody who couldn't make the trek to Park City or score tickets once they got there could download nearly half of Sundance's 71 competing shorts at Apple's iTunes Store for just $1.99 a piece. Films for sale include the German motorcycling documentary Motodrom and High Falls, a relationship drama starring real-life couple Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard. That's not a bad deal to discover the next Wes Anderson, Spike Jonze or Alexander Payne all directors who started out with a Sundance short.
6) Sales skyrocket: With every distributor looking for the next Little Miss Sunshine, Sundance 2007 was a filmmaker's market as 13 movies sold in the feverish first six days of the festival. Sons of Rambow, a British comedy about a boy's obsession with the movie First Blood, sold to Paramount Vantage for just under $8 million; ThinkFilm picked up the astronaut documentary In the Shadow of the Moon for $2.5 million; the Weinstein Co. paid $4 million to win a heated bidding war for the John Cusack drama Grace is Gone, prompting the indie film company's head, Harvey Weinstein, to tell the Hollywood Reporter, "F--- it. I'm good at this. It's fun." We're pretty sure Cusack was happy about it too.
7) Anna Faris takes the lead: Known by younger audiences for her performances as ditzy Cindy Campbell from the Scary Movie franchise, and by attentive grownup filmgoers for her small roles in Brokeback Mountain and Lost in Translation, funny Anna Faris finally gets the screen time she deserves in the stoner comedy Smiley Face. Faris stars as a pothead actress sent on a series of misadventures after she devours some weed-laced cupcakes. OK, so director Greg Araki's picture is not a huge departure from Faris' spacey blonde cinema roots, but it is that rare physical comedy that stars a young woman who is more than just some guy's girlfriend. Ben Stiller, you might want to get tickets to this one.


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Bike racks have a sad history so far with me. I've always been a THULE fan, partly because of the Swedish connection and because a friend was a THULE rep.
I lost THULE bike rack number one last Spring with two bikes on it -- operator error and resulting theft. Totally my fault and so heartbreaking that I wasn't more careful. Still apologizing for the loss of two bikes today as neither of them were mine. Weeks later, I invested in a new bike rack, double the price, able to carry four bikes which was now necessary with three bikes at my house.
The Ridgeline rack tilts down so that you can still open the rear door when the rack is hooked to the hitch. Loved it and used it several times over the first few weeks. Then one day at work I got a call from the building parking office asking me to come down and meet the parking manager at my car. There's nothing good that was going to come of that. I found out that one of the valets had backed my vehicle and brand new bike rack into another vehicle. My bike rack as seriously bent in several directions -- although it took one for the team and there was no damage to my vehicle.We'll be able to rescue this rack with a little welding help from a friend in NM where I think the bike rack will stay for use there.
So this week, thanks in partial contribution from the parking office's insurance company and the REI 20% off member sale, Ridgeline #2 has come home. This should be a once in a lifetime purchase, not one made every few months. Here's to Ridgeline 2, may she live long!
Next week a short vacation is in order to Coronado Island. We'll be able to bike ride to all our planned activities including the theater, a Padres game, movies, bowling, beach and restaurants - we'll take bikes on ferry for some segments into the city, but with our bikes the world will be ours. Can't wait and will be ever so grateful to our trusty new bike rack.
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