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This is what I woke up looking like this morning. I call it my "crazy writer's hair", better known to other natural gals as "I-didn't-tie-down-the-naps" last night!
|Excuse the glamour. I said I'd just woken up!
Now, on to the promised links....
Good Stuff on Tumblr
- Apostrophe Shame (just for when you need to be reminded)
- Grammar .net (I love the info-graphics)
- heretoedit (examples aplenty)
- Grammar Girl (because I love her)
- Writing from Books Amino (various nuggets of gold here)
- Resources for Writers
- Practical Grammar
- Go Ask Yer Grammar (not the Tumblr title, but very cool, so...)
- A Question of Character
- Refs & Resources for Writers (scroll down their site for good info)
- Amanda Patterson (I use her stuff daily)
- Role Player Tips (that's "player", not "playing", you dirty booger!)
- Writers' Resources (varied and wonderful)
Just doing searches on Tumblr ("writer resources", "grammar", etc.) will yield useful info. Enjoy.


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Women's Basketball at Wheaton
Wednesday, December 5 | 7 p.m.
Emerson Gymnasium | Norton, Mass.
• Babson and Wheaton will meet for the 62nd time on Wednesday night in a series that dates back to the 1977-78 season. The Beavers are 45-16 all-time against the Lyons and have won the last six contests between the teams.
• Senior Elizabeth Lane scored all of her game-high 12 points in the first quarter and visiting Babson raced out to a 24-point halftime lead on the way to defeating Wheaton, 77-43, on January 31st, 2018, at Emerson Gymnasium.
• Junior Emily Bonifacic had 11 points and six rebounds, while seniors Katherine Tamulionis and Bianca Tomassini each added 10 for the Beavers.
• Abbie Brickley poured in 31 points and the Lyons finished 13-of-26 from three-point range to edge the Beavers, 77-72, on February 21, 2015, in Babson Park.
• Rebecca Arnone scored 14 points and Shoemaker recorded a school-record 10 blocks for Wheaton, while Erin Young '15 made five three-pointers and scored 18 points to lead the Beavers.
• Wheaton (3-3, 1-1 NEWMAC) was downed by Coast Guard, 89-60, on Saturday in New London, Conn.
• Sophomore Mikayla Pucci scored a game-high 22 points and also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for the Lyons, who finished 1-of-15 from three-point range.
• Pucci (15.3 pts, 6.3 reb) ranks third in the NEWMAC in scoring, junior Sara McLeman (8.7 pts, 5.7 reb) is shooting 51.3 percent from the floor and senior Abby Hamilton (8.3 pts, 4.8 ast) is leading the team in assists.
• Wheaton is shooting 40.3 percent over its first six games, but has committed 20 or more turnovers in two of its three losses.
• Babson (3-2, 1-1 NEWMAC) is looking to keep the momentum after a, 66-59, victory over Brandeis on Monday night in Staake Gymnasium.
• Tamulionis finished with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Senior Tea Spellacy scored nine of her 11 points in the second half to lead the Beavers, who closed the game with a 7-0 run.
• Senior Payton Ouimette (13.0 pts, 12.0 reb) is leads the NEWMAC in rebounds, Tamulionis (11.6 pts, 1.8 ast) is shooting 42.6 percent from the field, and Spellacy (7.6 pts, 3.2 reb) has made six three-pointers over the last two games.
• The Green and White is allowing just 8.6 offensive rebounds per game over its first five outings.
• The Beavers have won each of their last nine trips to Wheaton going back to 2009 with seven of the victories coming by double-digits.
• Tamulionis has averaged 12.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists in two games at Wheaton over the last two seasons.
• In its three wins this season, all of which have come by 10 points or less, the Green and White is shooting 77.8 percent (14-of-18) at the free throw line in the fourth quarter.
• The Beavers went 6-of-6 down the stretch in Monday's win over Brandeis, which includes a 4-of-4 effort by Tamulionis over the final 13 seconds.
• The Green and White pulled down a season-high 22 offensive rebounds in Monday's win against Brandeis, which came into the game with a +12.8 rebounding margin.
• Babson got at least seven points from seven different players in Monday's victory.
• The Beavers are 17-1 in their last 18 NEWMAC road games going back to January 20, 2016.

subset: commoncrawl


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Wearing one of my favorite tee brands today – Wilt! Have y'all discovered them? I love their shape and their slubby jersey texture. Good quality tees for summer. I have a couple, this one here is the uneven club tee.
wilt asymmetrical tee, similar cutoffs, converse x tibi hightops
kate spade sunnies ℅, jadetribe pom basket tote, loren hope cuff, kate design fish scarf
Again with my pom basket – I've been carrying it everywhere.
And let's take a moment to chat about this Kate Design kissing fish scarf. Kate Spencer is an artist in St. Kitts where she, with the help of Charleston's own Maria Darby, turns her paintings into these gorgeous scarves! Just lovely, don't you think?
Yep, so you'll regularly be able to find me in a version of this outfit this summer! You can shop Wilt's tees and dresses here!
Photography by Gray Benko.


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A product recall tied to a federal investigation into phony product registrations has prompted Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. to postpone the release of its second-quarter financial results, the company said yesterday.
A product recall tied to a federal investigation into phony product registrations has prompted Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. to postpone the release of its second-quarter financial results, the company said yesterday.
The earnings report, originally scheduled to be announced today, instead will be released after the stock market closes on Monday.
Dealing with the recall "prevented us from adequately preparing for our earnings release," Jim Hagedorn, chief executive, said in a news release.
Experts, meanwhile, said the recall is unlikely to hurt Scotts over the long term.
Last week, Scotts was ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to stop selling and using products containing an illegal and unregistered herbicide. Federal law requires all new pesticides to be submitted for review and registration, and the recalled products used EPA registration numbers that don't exist.
Scotts blamed the recall on one employee who apparently sent invalid forms to regulators. The employee was fired, Scotts said. The recall of more than 1 million units is expected to cost Scotts between $5 million and $10 million.
"It's more of an embarrassment than anything else, and more of a nuisance than anything else," said Jim Barrett, an analyst with CL King & Associates. "I don't see it impairing the company's longer-term prospects."
There could be a short-term effect on Scotts' sales as products are removed from the shelves at the start of planting season, but that's "hard to quantify right now," said Stewart Scharf, a Standard & Poor's analyst.
Scotts has not yet released estimates of lost sales, but spokesman Jim King said he "can't imagine it having a material impact on the business."
Scotts took out a full-page advertisement in Sunday's Dispatch with a letter from Hagedorn explaining the recall and offering an apology.
The ad ran only in the Dispatch, because the company is based in central Ohio and "we owed an explanation" to the community, King said.
From a public-relations standpoint, that's probably the right approach, according to one local company that helps corporations with crisis management.
"One thing we always advise companies is to be as forthright as possible," said Anthony Huey, president of Reputation Management Associates, based in Grandview.
Huey said if Scotts makes it clear to consumers that they're working with the EPA to solve the problem, "I think they'll be completely fine."
Scotts' share price has fluctuated only slightly since the recall issue arose on Wednesday. That day, the company's shares closed at $33.39, down 3.4 percent from the previous day. Yesterday, when the earnings postponement was announced, shares closed at $33.37, down 2.4 percent, or 82 cents.


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The Shubert's hour-long backstage tour is the perfect activity for any theater or history enthusiast. Whether you are visiting New Haven for the first time, or a life-long resident, you'll be amazed by the incredible history of the legendary Shubert!
- First THURSDAY and SATURDAY of each month at 11:00am*
- Tours are FREE & open to the public
- RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED, to reserve your place: email or call Kathy Apuzzo at
- email@example.com / 203.773.4316
- Please meet at the theatre's main lobby doors
- *Please note: tour schedule is subject to change based on performance schedule and holidays.
- Thursday, March 12 at 11:00am
- Thursday, April 2 at 11:00am
- Thursday, June 4 at 11:00am
Shubert History
Since opening in 1914, the Shubert Theatre has earned the title "Birthplace of the Nation's Great Hits" by staging the world premieres of hundreds of shows including Oklahoma!, A Streetcar Named Desire, Annie Get Your Gun, My Fair Lady, A Raisin In The Sun, The Sound of Music and countless more. Some of the biggest names in show business have graced the Shubert stage - including Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable, Mary Martin, Rex Harrison, Ethel Merman, Gene Kelly, Julie Andrews, Carol Channing, Robert Goulet, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Redford, James Earl Jones, Jane Fonda, Alan Alda, Debbie Reynolds, Jerry Lewis, Liza Minnelli, John Travolta and hundreds more!
Each season, hundreds of students and adult members of the community take a trip behind the scenes and "back in time" with a "Backstage Tour" of the historic Shubert. Explore places such as backstage, dressing rooms and much more - all while learning about our vibrant history!


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Learn how eXtyles is used by journal, book, standard, and government publishers
Learn more about eXtyles, NLM (JATS/BITS) XML, and InDesign
Keeping It Authentic: Reconciling ORCID iDs Gathered at Submission with the Author Manuscript
In this Industry Update article for Learned Publishing, published in the July 2018 issue, Senior Solutions Consultant Robin Dunford and CEO Bruce Rosenblum discuss current issues in the collection, authentication, and publication of authors' ORCID iDs. The article describes how eXtyles ORCID Integration Suite allows automated reconciliation and synchronization between an article submission system's transmittal file and the author manuscript to ensure that authenticated ORCID iDs are protected through the publication cycle.
To read the article, click here!
Letter to the Editor: RE: Seifert M. How accurate are references in Trace Elements and Electrolytes? Trace Elem Electrolytes. 2017; 34: 137-138.
In an invited response to this letter from Dr. Matthias Seifert, Inera's Robin Dunford, Sylvia Izzo Hunter, and Bruce Rosenblum document the results of an investigation into how our eXtyles software handles errors and omissions in author-submitted reference lists. Taken together, Dr. Seifert's findings and our own demonstrate that Inera's software does its job well, while also offering concrete suggestions for further improving reference accuracy beyond the use of software.
To read the letter and our response, click here!
Wrangling Math from Microsoft Word into JATS XML Workflows
Inera Customer Support and QA Project Lead Caitlin Gebhard and CEO Bruce Rosenblum clarify the different forms of equations that can be encountered in Word documents and discuss the issues and idiosyncrasies of converting these various forms to MathML, LaTeX, and/or images in the JATS XML model. This paper also touches on workflow alternatives for handling equations in various rendering environments and how those downstream requirements may affect the means of equation extraction from Word documents. This paper was presented at JATS-Con 2016.
XML Publication Workflows for Standards
Inera CEO Bruce Rosenblum presents an overview of XML workflow options for standards bodies that includes an ISO case study. This article is reproduced with the permission of SES, the Society for Standards Professionals. The article was first published in Standards Engineering, the official SES Journal, Vol. 65, No. 6, November/December 2013. For subscription or membership information, contact SES at email@example.com.
Variations in XML Reference Tagging in Scholarly Publication.
Inera CEO Bruce Rosenblum provides a brief history of reference tagging in SGML and XML. The paper discusses specific reference markup structures in the Journal Article Tag Suite (JATS), from the common to the arcane. The evolution from <citation> and <nlm-citation> to the newer <mixed-citation> and <element-citation> elements in 3.x is reviewed, including a discussion of the workflow implications of each model. Rosenblum concludes with some observations about the intersection among reference markup, online reference linking, and the true meaning of references in the world of electronic publishing. This paper was presented at JATS-Con 2011.
NLM Journal Publishing DTD Flexibility: How and Why Applications of the NLM DTD Vary Based on Publisher-Specific Requirements
On the basis of a review of more than 20 implementations of the DTD, this paper discusses various interpretations chosen by a range of publishers as well as the business or technical requirements that led to those decisions. The implications, pro and con, of this flexibility are examined. The paper concludes with the suggestion that this flexibility is one factor that has led to wide adoption of the NLM DTD Suite. Presented at JATS-Con 2010 by Inera CEO Bruce Rosenblum.
E-Journal Archive DTD Feasibility Study
A report prepared under a Mellon Foundation grant for the Harvard University Libraries that surveys the DTDs of ten journal publishers.
The Gift that Keeps on Giving: Metadata & Persistent Identifiers Through the Research & Publication Cycle
CEO Bruce Rosenblum joined Christine Orr (Ringgold Inc.), Sarah Whalen (AAAS), Mary Seligy (Canadian Science Publishing), Jennifer Goodrich (Copyright Clearance Center), and Howard Ratner (CHORUS) for this panel at the Society for Scholarly Publishing 40th Annual Meeting in May 2018. Chosen as part of SSP's second annual Virtual Meeting track, the session brought together success stories and cautionary tales from different stages of scholarly communications. Metadata and persistent identifiers smooth workflows and transitions between systems, enable analytics and discovery, and position all stakeholders for greater insight in to research activity as well as business development.
To view the recorded presentations, click here!
JATS XML and Related Publishing Standards
CEO Bruce Rosenblum was invited by the Associação Brasileira de Editores Científicos (ABEC) to speak at their 25th Course on Scientific Publishing in São Paulo in June 2017. Bruce's talk was targeted to publishing professionals wishing to improve their familiarity with XML publishing standards.
To see the slides and access video of the presentation, click here!
Standardizing Standards: Publishing with STS, eXtyles, and Typefi
CEO Bruce Rosenblum joined other industry experts from Typefi and standards organizations around the world for this series of webinars, co-produced by Inera and Typefi, covering the what, why, and how of publishing standards with NISO STS.
To view the recorded presentations, click here!
Find Your Path: The Four Roads to XML
CEO Bruce Rosenblum joined Typefi CEO Chandi Perera to offer attendees experiences and perspectives on when and where to introduce XML into the publishing workflow—during authoring, before editing, before composition, or after publication?—with attention to the pros and cons of each approach and publisher case studies emphasizing lessons learned from various workflow failures and successes.
To view the slides, click here!
Demystifying JATS & BITS with eXtyles & Typefi
CEO Bruce Rosenblum joined Eric Damitz, Senior Solutions Consultant for Typefi, for a joint presentation in May 2016. Demonstrating an eXtyles-Typefi workflow, Bruce and Eric show how to leverage these complementary solutions to simplify your editorial and publishing processes, dramatically speed up production, and produce quality XML – without any additional effort or XML knowledge.
To view the recorded presentation, click here!
JATS and Its Role in Scholarly Publishing
Inera CEO Bruce Rosenblum discusses the evolution of NLM and JATS, the internationalization of JATS, the relationship between JATS and the standards ecosystem, and the uses and future of JATS XML. This keynote address was presented at JATS-Con Asia 2015. Presentation materials and video can be found on the JATS-Con Asia program page.
A Standard XML Document Format: The Case for the Adoption of the NLM DTD?
Presented in 2006 at an event jointly organized by the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers and Scholarly Information Strategies.
Automated Quality Assurance for Heuristic-Based XML Creation Systems
A study of the stability of XML conversion system applications maintained by regularly conducted, automated regression testing. Presented at Extreme Markup 2004.
A Decade of DTDs and SGML in Scholarly Publishing: What Have We Learned?
A review of how DTDs reflect the business requirements of publishers in journal publishing. Presented at Extreme Markup 2002.
JATS—Where's It Going, Where Has It Been? (NISO Newsline)
NISO Newsline: Has the NISO version of the standard been widely adopted?
Bruce Rosenblum: There has been wide adoption of JATS in scholarly publishing. [...] JATS has been more successful than we ever imagined. In many ways, it was an accident waiting to happen. By the time the NLM DTD got out the door, people were really looking for an off-the-shelf XML standard. A large part of the market was locked out of going toward XML without such a standard.
eXtyles: Interview with Elizabeth Blake and Bruce Rosenblum (PLOS Blog)
7. How does eXtyles use the NLM DTD?
Bruce Rosenblum: eXtyles users, with no knowledge of XML, can create high-quality XML according to the NLM DTD as a simple one-button action after using eXtyles to easily complete editorial preparation of a manuscript. In other words, eXtyles XML creation is a natural by-product of normal manuscript preparation for publication, and it requires no specialized user knowledge.
ALPSP Awards Spotlight on... Edifix, a cloud based bibliographic references service (ALPSP Blog)
ALPSP: Why do you think it demonstrates publishing innovation?
BR: There are a number of tools on the market for managing bibliographic references; these tools are used primarily by researchers for maintaining reference databases and creating reference lists. Edifix, however, is not a reference manager. Reference managers require structured or fielded reference elements, which for plain-text references – the kind you find in a typical manuscript – involves a lot of cutting, pasting, and re-keying of reference data.
The critical innovation Edifix brings to the bibliographic reference problem is its parsing engine – that is, its sophisticated ability to automatically identify the elements of plain-text references. This ability to accurately burst a reference into its parts and then put it back together enables all of the advanced Edifix services, from copyediting to data correction to structured output (including an output format that will let you import into a reference manager like EndNote without all of that manual labor).
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One of the most established biochemical research and development companies in the world with over 30 years experience, IPCI has developed innovative technical solutions for the production of sustainable polyols. Through extensive research and development investment, we have become the global industry leader in the production of propylene and ethylene glycol from low-cost, surplus or byproduct sugar (edible and biomass sugars) materials. These polyols have been successfully commercialized in world-scale commercial production facilities.
IPCI's technology and solutions help companies create value from a diverse range of agricultural and forestry products, byproducts, residues and wastes, such as biodiesel and bio-ethanol waste products, straw and other agriculture residues and pulp mill waste liquors.


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I've been doing a bit more sorting and storing in my craftroom... this seems to be never ending or maybe it's my new hobby, hahahaha!
I saw a post on the Silhouette blog for using a file folder pocket shape for organizing unused cut shapes. Just what I needed as I had lots of clear plastic bags with various bits floating around inside!
I modified the shape so instead of a pocket I had a tab at the bottom and tabs on the sides. This was so I could glue the tabs to the box making them fixed. To keep things neat... the tabs at the top are labeled in the same order I have filed my shapes in the Silhouette program. The papers are from the Glitz range and the box was one I picked up in a $2 shop.
A quick project that looks kinda cute don't ya think? As well as being practical...lol!


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Early Access Program for WebStorm 8
Early Access Program for WebStorm 8 is closed now.
Learn what's new in WebStorm 8 on the website and download WebStorm for your platform.
What's new in WebStorm 8 EAP
- Advanced AngularJS support
- Integration of spy-js, JavaScript tracing tool
- Improved REST client: custom methods, Cookies, improved UI
- Grunt integration
- Bower integration
- Improved RequireJS, AMD and Harmony modules support
- Multiple cursors and selections
- Live console in JavaScript and Node.js debugger


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I got this search on my blog which took the reader to How Do Birds Keep Warm in Winter. I did mention that birds shiver, but they use flight muscles to do so.
It is not like I watch if they are shivering or puffed up to stay warm in the wild, but I do have a tropical cockatoo that will shiver when cold. So to answer the reader's search, yes birds do shiver.
Many species of birds are coming to the feeders. The wind is wicked and I refill the feeders constantly, another day of in and out feeder filling.
My cockatoo is happy to be indoors and eating his steak and eggs as the outside birds have seed and suet, fare the cockatoo turns his beak up at. I do give my parrot's uneaten seed to the wild birds.
Temperatures are low with snow and wind gusts of up to 45 mph, yet warming of 42 degrees is in the offing.
Birds are having trouble flying to and from the feeders or staying perched on limbs in the wind. Hawks like in this post, will take off by facing into the wind. But the wind is not a friend to photography…
I could only take decent photos when the wind subsided. Since I take most of them from indoors where I am warm, at least I am not outside shivering then. Indoor photos through the window are not the best.
Nobody liked the wind today, me or the songbirds.
Honestly though, it was a bit comical how the birds feeding seemed a bit annoyed.
I raised the ISO to compensate for all the movement of crests and tails blowing.
Not to mention the wind was tossing me around as well. So I was between being in and outside the house photographing. Below outside the house – inside through a window above. Nicer photos are taken outside, generally.
Some of the birds take it in stride dealing with this weather, never bothering them.
The pear tree was filled with woodpeckers and nuthatches. A flock of eight goldfinch was in residence too, along with many very chilled doves.
The garden had five pair of cardinals, three pair of Downy Woodpeckers, six nuthatch and a large flock of starlings during the day.
The hawk came in and cleared everybody out but only until moving on did the birds return. The little birds still looked skyward to see if he would return. I am his biggest nemesis when I am outside with the songbirds.
He is looking for unsuspecting ground feeders and I ruin his bird buffet often. There are many hawks too.
All the birds were back minutes after it left though. That is unusual coming back that fast after a predator was around, but I guess they like me as a guard dog.
Some were caching food in the pear tree like little machines. It was a very busy bird day, expected due to how hard it was to find food for the birds in their natural wildlife habitats.
Feeders are often filled with mixed birds when the temperature sinks and the snow covers landscapes.
Some dined in, others enjoyed a drink at the bar…
Singing, Hail, Hail, The Gang's All Here! Life at the feeders.


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Many people are in the same situation that you may be in right now, today. When thinking about starting an online business there are so many things that need to be learned and skills to pick up that you think that you will never get to the point of putting up that first page, first post, first site.
Well, in actual fact you can do that starting today and have something up by the end of the night.
The fact is that the start is just filling in a few boxes and then typing in a few lines of text and you are off to the races.
Lets Get started, shall we?
How to Start Your First Blog
First of all lets not get hung up on anything. Fact is that the first post you write, the first video that you record, the first image that you upload is just a starting point and people will not point at you on the street or ridicule you in the office.
I remember that over 10 year ago I started my first blog and after a little bit it picked up steam and I started getting lots of traffic. No one noticed at work for at least three years or so. Since it was a fitness blog one person said, "I guess I should be talking to you about how to lose weight?" one other person last year mentioned that they saw a post that I wrote about probiotics.
So first thing to remember is that you do not have to worry about embarrassing yourself.
OK, with that out of the way the easiest thing is to just get your feet wet. You don't need to shop around and get hosting, or domains, or VPS servers, or even memberships for any kind of content. You just need to go to WordPress.com and get signed up.
Now I know that you have probably heard, you need your own domain, and hosting. This is not true though.
I have my own domains and hosting now but when I started I was just using blogger and it worked fine for a long while.
So once you go to WordPress they will ask you a few questions, What kind of layout, what .wordpress.com subdomain you want, and then even how much you want to pay (tip: pick the $0 one, it is fine for now).
Then, WordPress will ask you for and email address and a password, get you to confirm and then you can log right in.
Easy peasy.
So not that you are logged in you have lots of options, but the first is to write your first post.
Click the Write button in the top left corner and you will be given a nice easy to use window. On top of the toolbar is where you will write your title and below the toolbar is where you can write the text of your first article.
On the Left hand side of that toolbar is the + sign to add media so that you can add any pictures to this post.
Today we won't worry about any pics but for now just write down your first thoughts on why you have started this blog and what your aim is to help others. Then on the right sidebar you can hit publish.
You are done, and you are ahead of so many people that do not even get started. There are still lots of things to learn and do. You can learn about headlines, copy, seo, visual appeal, sales techniques…. it never ends
But for today you are done. You have a first post on a blog and are ready to do anything that you dream of.


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HALIFAX - Almost a century ago, church bells tolled to herald the sombre arrival of cable ships carrying Titanic victims in Halifax harbour.
On Sunday morning they will ring again, nearly 100 years to the hour that the great ship vanished from sight, swallowed up by the dark waters of the North Atlantic on a moonless night.
Since the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, Halifax has become a pilgrimage site for history buffs, romantics and those whose ancestors perished on the ship. The city is the final resting place for 150 of the Titanic's victims.
Organizers of commemorative events have been working for months to attract visitors to Halifax while maintaining the solemnity of the occasion.
"Keeping the events respectful and meaningful has been our No. 1 priority all along," says Kyla Friel, a spokeswoman for Nova Scotia's Communities, Culture and Heritage Department.
The department has been working closely with the Titanic 100 Society, a non-profit community group, to plan events including public seminars, film festivals and musical performances to mark the centennial.
Some 1,500 passengers and crew members died when the Titanic, the largest ocean liner of its time, collided with an iceberg and went down south of the Grand Banks. There were just over 700 survivors.
"We believe we've struck that balance between commemorating Halifax's connection and along with that, making it a public, free event so that Nova Scotians and visitors can come to Halifax and participate in history," says Friel.
On Saturday evening, a candlelight procession will begin on the city's harbourfront boardwalk outside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.
The museum, which boasts the largest display of wooden Titanic artifacts in the world, launched a new exhibit on cable ships Thursday. The ships were dispatched from Halifax in the days after the sinking to pull bodies from the icy waters.
The procession will wind through downtown Halifax and into Grand Parade, a public square in front of City Hall. Some 20 performers, including a barbershop quartet and Symphony Nova Scotia, will play music from the era.
Actor Gordon Pinsent will also tell the story of the Titanic and Halifax's connection to the tragedy, followed by a moment of silence and ringing of church bells at 12:30 a.m.
The timing of the bells is deliberate: the last wireless message to be received from the Titanic at Cape Race, N.L., was recorded at 12:27 a.m.
For Ken Pinto, executive director of the Titanic 100 Society, the weekend will cement Halifax and Canada as a key part of the Titanic's story.
"People are finally connecting and embracing our own Titanic heritage," says Pinto. "That's the ultimate goal of this."
More events are planned for Sunday, including a spiritual ceremony at Fairview Lawn Cemetery, where more than 100 Titanic victims are buried. Later in the day, J.A. Snow Funeral Home, which prepared bodies for burial in the disaster's aftermath, will unveil a permanent memorial to the passengers and crew who died in the sinking.
Other locations in Halifax with links to the tragedy have made their own plans to pay tribute to the Titanic.
J.A. Snow Funeral Home was once located inside what is now the Five Fishermen Restaurant and Grill. The downtown seafood restaurant still contains the pulleys used to hoist the funeral home's caskets, only now the shaft is used as a wine cellar.
"It's a daily occurrence now where people are curious, they hear about the building and the history and they are inquiring," says Maurice Kaneary, the restaurant's general manager.
Until the end of April, the restaurant is offering a three-course meal inspired by the Titanic's first-class menu.
Paul MacKinnon, executive director of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission, says local businesses have been careful to appropriately observe the tragedy.
"It's not so much a big celebration as a commemoration and I think that everyone's very aware of that," says MacKinnon.
Friel says organizers are prepared for the crowds they hope will come to observe the anniversary.
Once the crowds depart, Pinto says the world will continue to be fascinated by the ship that foundered on its maiden voyage.
"You can't define it," he says. "It's something that connects with people at a deep level."
On the Web: www.titanic100.ca
Also on HuffPost


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John Williams (who wrote the music for all six Star Wars feature films) returned once more to score the seventh film of the series: The Force Awakens. This tutorial is a piano version of the music from the official trailer for the movie, which was released in October 2015.
ive already seen the force awakens.
shut up
it is just 4 n00bs bruh
I love star wars this is just amazing im going to learn it,this shouldnt take to long :)


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Can we replace the $2000 thyroid biopsy and pathology report with Frankie's nose? Why not? Cost-efficient medicine.
"A scent-trained dog was able to identify the presence or absence of thyroid cancer in human urine samples 88.2 percent of the time, a new study concluded.
The study out of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) gathered urine samples from 34 university thyroid clinic patients before they underwent a biopsy for suspicion of thyroid cancer.
Fifteen of those biopsies came back positive for thyroid cancer, while the remaining 19 were diagnosed as benign thyroid disease.
Enter Frankie, a male German shepherd mix that had been trained to recognize the scent of cancer in thyroid tissue. Frankie's sharp nose matched 30 out of 34 samples with their pathology diagnoses."


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2017: A year in review
It's the end of December, which means it's time to reflect on the year and express our gratitude for all our great memories. Normally I don't like to share too many photos of ourselves because I want to inspire our readers and make the story about the place and less about our vacation. Here are some of our more personal memories that happened along the way this year.
Our 2017 most Cherished Memories
These daytime naps and playful morning cuddles are what we live for.
When we said goodbye to San Francisco this year.
This is Zero embracing our new life in Pleasant Hill.
We spent our summer in the backyard, having BBQs and doing silly dances.
One morning we woke up early to see the sunrise over Mt. Diablo and it was magnificent.
On 4th of July, we hiked with friends in Las Posadas State Park. It was hot and dry, but all we remember is zero's happy derp after a long hike followed by a delicious lunch in St. Helena.
This whole year, Jeremy slipped in handwritten notes into my lunches. These notes were just small gestures that kept me smiling throughout the day.
Our travel decisions were influenced by our longing to reconnect with far away friends. We planned our whole trip to Norway and Sweden around visiting our Swedish friends in Gothenburg, Sweden, and it turned out to be just as memorable and special as the night we first met them.
We hiked some of the most demanding terrains this year. Our hike in Bergen, Norway was so challenging and yet so stunning. It felt like such an accomplishment to complete it.
The beauty of Flam, Norway was completely eclipsed by the memory of playing baby goats. It's small, and unexpected things like this that remind us to be spontaneous and lean in to opportunities to climb in the goat pen and let them climb all over you.
I found my inner peace while hiking along the Siltcoos trail in Oregon. With each step, I silently thanked the ancient redwoods for helping me regain what I had lost and felt overcome with gratitude.
While we cherish our grand adventures, sometimes we love the simple things like playing cards at the table on a camping trip. I remember watching the light flutter as it passed through the trees, leaving dots all over the table and thinking that this moment was just perfect.
We celebrated Jeremy's birthday in the Presidio, with a picnic playing bags on the grass and eating good food truck food. It was a typical sunny San Francisco day and the best part was spending it with friends.
Our road trip through Colorado wasn't complete without drinking beer and playing bags with old college friends.
Every time I thought I had seen it all, Colorado would surprise me the next day with something even more beautiful. I stood there looking out into the canyon of Mesa Verde, admiring its beauty and trying my best to remember every detail.
It was such a gratifying feeling when we finally got to the top of the tent rocks trail ridge and saw this view.
We've been taking a family photo on a Thanksgiving day hike since 2012 and it has become our annual family tradition, one that we look forward to every year.
Looking ahead
We are excited to be going to Japan later in 2018. We've been researching and taking Japanese lessons, so we can immerse ourselves in the culture. Loretta plans to take a long weekend with her oldest friend to celebrate their 30th birthday and 20 years of friendship in New York City. We hope your 2018 is full of happiness, adventure, and new experiences. Happy New year!


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gisadvising operates as a running stream-of-consciousness about my ideas related to the spatial sciences. I am a technologist and an educator, not a philosopher. Therefore, I rarely wax poetic about the "way things should be", or give my opinions about some new GIS standard that comes out. In these pages you will get a peek into the things we are working on in my lab or the new ideas I'm introducing in my courses.
I have a really envious job as a Professor, I get paid to think about things. Therefore, it isn't too much to ask that if you pay someone to think about things, they should tell others about what they are learning. So, in these pages, you can expect me to talk about statistics and geography, spatial SQL, enterprise GIS, parallel processing and GIS, and programming GIS solutions. Also, my undergraduate students are doing fantastic work in the previously mentioned areas – I will certainly spend time bragging about them as I think their work will be an inspiration to you all.


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All Communities in Madagascar living with dignity, free from poverty, in harmony with the environment.
Our Mission
To enable Malagasy people to reduce poverty and protect the environment through sustainable, community-led initiatives.
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The competition will be held at the Tehvandi Skiing Area in Otepää, South-Estonia.
Tehvandi Sport center is located in the Otepää rural municipality, Valga Country, Estonia. The center was founded in 1978 by an order of the former Sports Committee of the Soviet Union primarily as a training center for the winter sports Olympic team.. In 2005 the Estonian Ski Association founded the Tehvandi Sport Center Foundation.
Tehvandi can be presumed as a "groundsel" for Estonian top skiers and Olympic winners, but also we are more and more, additionally to professionals, targeted to hobby sportsmen, different companies and those people, who wish to spend an active and sporty vacation or just spend some leisure time.
In wintertime there are for sport friends lighted skiing tracks covered with artificial snow, also a fitness hall, sledge hill and snowmobile track. Tehvandi offers a full complex of sport constructions meant for professionals (shooting range, K90 ski jumping hill, stadium complex etc.), which allows to organize here different sport competitions.


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The best ways to find second-hand cars
Many people have had their fingers burned after buying second-hand cars, but there are steps you can take to reduce the chances of this happening to you. It's wise to buy a used car from a dealer rather than a private seller in order to be protected by the Sale of Goods Act. It's generally… Read More »


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An exchange traded fund (ETF) is a pool of stocks split into units which can be bought and sold on the exchange just like individual stocks. It is very similar to a mutual fund, the difference being that mutual funds cannot be traded on the exchange. Apart from stock ETFs, there are exchange traded funds which invest in other asset classes like commodities, currencies and so on.
The stock market allows leveraged transactions. This means that investing is done using borrowed funds. This happens mostly in derivatives trading that is, when buying and selling futures and options. When buying a futures contract of a stock, the trader / investor does not have to pay the actual cost of the entire contract but only a part of it known as margin. Though he is not actually borrowing money, it is still a leveraged trade.
A retail investor / trader does not generally indulge in leveraged derivatives trading either due to ignorance, unwillingness to take leveraged risks or due to restrictions placed by the broker. Leveraged ETFs (exchange traded funds) provide him the perfect opportunity to benefit from derivative trades.
A leveraged ETF offers the retail investor a simple way to buy a broad index or a particular sector with double or triple the exposure of the underlying index. Fund managers of leveraged ETFs strive to provide additional returns to investors by using borrowed money. The borrowed money here does not indicate any loan. Rather, it means the use of financial derivatives like options, futures and swaps.
The leverage is usually in the ratio of 2:1, in this case it is called a 2x leveraged ETF. Sometimes, the ratio is even 3:1 in this case it is referred to as a 3x leveraged ETF. A 2x leveraged ETF means that every dollar of the investor's capital is matched with a dollar of debt by the fund management.
The returns of leveraged ETFs (exchange traded funds) are calculated on a daily basis. So if the underlying index gives a return of 1%, theoretically the leveraged ETF which tracks this index will give a 2% return. However, costs like management fees and transaction costs will prevent the investor from getting the full benefit of leveraging. It should be noted that a 1% fall in the index would result in a loss of 2%.
An exchange traded fund can take a leveraged bet in either direction of the market which means that the fund manager can go long or short. Accordingly, the ETF may be a 2x Bullish ETF or a 2x Bearish ETF. The latter is also called 'Inverse Leveraged ETF' which gives good returns when the market moves downward.
Leveraged ETFs are best suited for day traders who want to fully exploit even small daily market movements.
Leveraged ETFs (exchange traded funds) have to maintain their leverage ratios at all times. But daily market movements result in prices moving upward or downward altering the ratio. So the fund manager will have to keep buying and selling shares. When the market moves upward, shares would have to be sold, reducing the assets of the ETF. This is the constant leverage trap and may result in a fund doing badly.
An investor in a leveraged ETF should remember that a 10% annual appreciation of the underlying index will not give him a return of 20%. It is the daily return of the index that will determine his profits.


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CHAPTER FOUR: In the courtroom
The DA questions Paul Lear. According to Paul, the girls went for a walk. They were gone for around 10 minutes when they heard Ann yell 'don't'. When they got to the cliff edge they saw Sharon crouched down staring over the side of the cliff. Ann was no where to be seen. He says he doesn't remember whose idea it was to go for a walk. Ann was not suicidal and that Ann and Sharon had been friends.
Johns turn to question the witness. Paul tells the court when John questions him about his past that he dropped out of high school and joined the Navy. He only served 1.5 years before getting an honourable discharge because he had asthma. He didn't know why his asthma didn't show up on his physical when he joined. Afterwards he did odd jobs before moving to Utah to live with his father. That was when he met Ann. Chad introduced them. John asks how much money Ann left him in her will and he said he didn't know. John said it was a small fortune. He asks if he saw Sharon push Ann off the cliff. He said no.
Awesome foreshadowing at the end of this chapter. John says to Sharon,
" You five made an interesting group. I wonder if you know who loved who. Or who loved what." pg 71
I think reality is hitting Ann right now. She is sitting staring at the fire going over and over in her head what she is about to do. It is becoming very real to her now. Ann is a master manipulator indirectly getting Chad to choose a spot to camp exactly where Ann needed them to be. They were all sitting around the fire drinking beers and singing songs. Sharon was playing the guitar while Fred (who must have had enough to drink to let loose a bit) was singing. Getting antsy, Ann comments that the fire is so bright it was hard to see the milky way. As if on cue Sharon suggests that they go for a walk. It seems Ann is trying to fake her death around the same time her brother died.
The talk for a few minutes at the cliff edge and Ann comments it's cold and Sharon suggests going back. Ann agrees but asks Sharon to leave her the flashlight and she would follow along in a second. She wanted to be alone for a few minutes. Sharon agrees reluctantly.
Ann waits a full minute before moving to the bush to find the rope. While she is attaching it to the harness she has under her sweater she realizes that the wind might actually swing her into the wall after she jumps. She decides to take a running jump to compensate for it. She misjudged how far she needed to jump and realizes when she stops falling that she has fallen 100 feet away from the edge and is being whipped back towards it quickly. She hits it hard with her right elbow shattering it and also cracks her head pretty hard. It drips blood and she suffers a concussion but doesn't pass out. She is dazed hanging from the bottom of her rope for a few minutes when she realizes that someone is messing with her rope. PAUL! She freaks out and rushes to get down only her injuries are making that difficult. She manages to hook the second rope to her harness but can't unattached the first rope. She is still swinging out over the river. Paul is definitely trying to free her pin even though she knows he must feel the tension on the rope still.
Wow this is getting nail biting intense! I mean Ann just jumped off the cliff! What a nut! Sucks that she almost got reefed in two when she ran out of rope and that she slammed into the side of the cliff. I know what it feels like to hit your funny bone, I couldn't imagine the pain of shattering that bone! I don't think she thought her plan as through as she thought. She probably should have done a practice run or something. But then again I guess while she was going over her plan in her mind she forgot that it might be possible that she could injure herself.
"Ann only regretted she couldn't push him off the cliff before she jumped. She still didn't understand what Sharon saw in the guy." pg 75
I'm surprised at this point that she cares what Sharon thinks about anything, let alone Fred. I mean she is after all trying to frame her for murder. I think Ann is swinging back and forth between super hatred for Sharon and super caring for her best friend. (haha see what I did there? Singing back and forth? Yeah nevermind lol)
"Sharon slipped the light into Ann's hand. The Sharon reached around with both hands and hugged her. "you are so important to me," Sharon whispered in her ear.
"Do you need me?"
Sharon let go. "Yes."
"That's good," Ann Said. Pg 80
Oh Ann just when you make me sort of feel all warm and fuzzy about you, you do this. Well maybe warm and fuzzy is taking it to far. She did make me question again what her real motivation was and if it really was about Sharon. Then she turns around and does this. It's like Sharon telling her how much she needs Ann in her life made her want to take that jump even more. This part actually made me pretty sad but maybe it was because I knew that Sharons world was about to do a 180.
"That night, she had learned in a way that she would never forget what it was like to fall into darkness." Pg 82
I love this quote. It's so true in more ways then one.
Sharon hears Ann scream and tries to run back thinking a mountain lion was attacking her. But because she has no light she has to take her time. She finds it strange that Ann's scream didn't just stop but seemed to fade away. She screams Ann's name and realizes that she must have fell off the edge of the cliff. The three boys reach Sharon and they are all panicked. Paul asks Sharon what happened. She says that Ann wanted to be alone and that she heard Ann scream after she had already started back. Fred asked her if they fought and she said no that she wasn't even with her when she screamed out. Paul says he is going over the edge to look. Chad insists that he should go over to look since he has more experience Paul says no that Chad is to emotional right now. One last ditch effort Chad suggests they hike to the bottom. Paul says that will take to long and that she might have landed on the ledge part way down. Fred is sure that if she went over the edge then she is dead. Sharon feels that Fred is blaming her but then she scolds herself saying she is just being paranoid. How can anyone think that she could have pushed Ann?
Paul is eventually hauled back up and asks what Ann shouted before she screamed. Fred Says 'Don't'. Both Paul and Fred are looking at Sharon like the believe she did it. She is horrified. Chad tells them to stop wasting time that they need to hike to the bottom to look around. They get to the bottom and no body. Fred figures the body was swept down the river towards the lake. Paul uses the flashlight to inspect the rocks at the bottom and leans over by a rock. Chad asks what he sees and he quickly gets up and says nothing. He walks back to the others asking what they should do. Fred wanted them all to go back to the truck and get help. Paul wanted to stay to look for the body. Chad says he will hike to a campsite close by and try and call the police from there. Fred will hike back to the truck and go get help by himself. Sharon says she will stay and at first Paul doesn't want her to but eventually gives in. Fred starts for the truck when he bends over. Paul asks him what he sees and he straightens and says nothing and goes on his way. Paul leads Sharon to a small cave so she can build a fire and warm up. He leaves for 10 mins to gather some fire wood and comes back. Then heads out to go look for Ann's body.
Interesting things going on here. Paul tells Chad that he is emotional and that he shouldn't go over the edge yet Paul is like super calm? It was his fiance that just went over the cliff. I'm surprised none of them questioned that more. I know some people react to things differently and one could argue that maybe he is in shock (even though we as the reader know he was in on it so he knows she is safe...well thinks she is safe) but still, it was your fiance! At least fake some freaking out or something. We know though he has to be the one to go over because Chad will see the pin and rope if he doesn't.
Also what did Paul see on the rocks and what did Fred lean over to inspect? Gawd they are all acting suspicious at this point. Way to work together to find out what happened. Although I think that Fred really believed that Sharon did it. Whatever, he seemed rather boring and dull anyways.
CONTINUE ON WITH: Fall Into Darkness Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.
CONTINUE ON WITH: Fall Into Darkness Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.


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He watches her through the camera, and all he sees is shapes. Shadows. Darkness, and a sickly moonlight. She starts to lick at the lens, slobbering on it, and now she's howling as she pulls back…"
by jason jackson
One night, he's just lying there, watching her, and when she looks at him, tries to speak, love begins to drip like honey from her mouth. So he jumps from the bed, grabs his camera from his bag, and begins to snap away as she slithers, smiling, dripping, over the sheets towards him.
They're both naked, and he's hard. Ridiculous. Bobbing about as he dances around her. Around the bed. Click-click-clicking at her. The love-sticky mess is coating her lips. Dribbling down her chin. Pooling on the sheets below her. Golden. Clear. Slow-moving and fragrant. The smell of it fills the room. Fills him. Rich. Sickly. Like sugary sweets. For a second he's a dizzy child.
Now her hands are in it. Now her breasts. She is writhing. Ecstatic. As she pulls herself up onto all fours, the stuff makes sticky strings from her nipples to the bed-sheets. She twists and turns, following him as he dances around the bed. She's laughing. Smearing the stuff on her face. On her hard stomach. On her thighs.
'Christ, what is it?' he whispers, more to the room than to her, and he's still dancing. Still bobbing. Still hard. Still ridiculous. Click, click, click.
Through the window the moon is an unchanging white, but its stolen light is enough for him. Enough for the camera. There are deep shadows. The sharp white of her body, and the somehow luminescent liquid that is now seeping over the sides of the bed. Now sliding down the sheets. Now drip, drip, dripping to the carpet below. It is all more than enough.
She cups a hand under her chin, and the stuff pools in her palm. She lifts it towards her lips, lapping at it even as more and more comes drooling out of her. She savours it. A fine brandy. 'Taste it,' she whispers. 'Jesus Christ, you have to taste it!'
But he's too busy with the camera, on the floor now, kneeling at the foot of the bed. She crawls across the bed towards him, grinning as the love-like-honey coils and oozes from her mouth. She fingers it. Reaches out to him. Smears the stuff across the lens.
His world becomes blurred. He watches her through the camera, and all he sees is shapes. Shadows. Darkness, and a sickly moonlight. She starts to lick at the lens, slobbering on it, and now she's howling as she pulls back, long strings of it hanging from her jaws. He's click-click-clicking away, the smeared image all the more beautiful.
She stands, her head thrown back, and the stuff is a fountain now. Arcing upwards. A kind of clear, slow, golden blood, pulsing from a heavy wound in perfect time with her heartbeat. It splashes the walls. The window. The ceiling. It drips from the lampshades and the bookcase. His bare soles are in it, are covered with it, and he's slipping. Sticking. Stumbling. Gobs of it have spattered him. His chest. His thighs. His face.
The air in the room is thick with the smell of the stuff, and she is utterly cocooned in it now. It's twisting itself around her. Coating her in its radiance. Wrapping her like a gift. He holds the camera in one hand, and he reaches out to her, touching her thigh. His fingers sink in. An inch. Two. She's become one with it. It's more than just a skin. More than just a sugar coating. It's her. The essence of her.
He pulls out. Pulls away. Holds his hand to his mouth. Slowly, carefully, he licks the stuff from his fingertips, and the taste of it lies somewhere beyond imagining.
She stands high above him now, looking down, and the love-like-honey which surrounds her, which has become her, glistens. There are swirls deep within her. She is a confectionery. A treat. She is a fairytale. A Hansel-and-Gretel thing. A promise and a miracle. From below her, he feels the distance between them like a slap in the face, and he drops the camera to the floor where it sinks into a pool of the stuff. Ruined.
Smiling, he climbs onto the bed, and she reaches out for him. The stuff is still flowing from her mouth. She pulses with it. A slow, constant stream of love-like-honey. Endless. Unstoppable. Unimaginable. He moves towards her now, and slowly, sweetly, without a word, takes her in his arms. In the moonlit grey of the room, he presses his naked self against her. And there he stays. Stuck fast.
Originally published:
Issue Sixty-Six
April 2013
Jason Jackson recently returned to writing after a four-year hiatus.


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A Helpful Guide to Moving
If you plan to move, planning ahead can save you time and money. Things like packing and finding a reliable moving company are just some of the ways you can avoid problems. And, depending on your situation, you may be able to deduct moving expenses from your federal tax return.
When you're ready to move, make sure to keep these tips in mind:
Choosing a moving company
When filing your taxes
Source: USA.gov and GobiernoUSA.gov


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Pray for Us
One of the most important ways to support Generations Christian Education is with your prayers. We have witnessed God's answer to prayer and his guidance time and time again, so we would love if you would take the time to pray for us. Please include the items below in your prayers:
- For families who are looking for school spaces for their children in Hong Kong, that the Generations family of schools will provide timely answers to meet their needs within their communities of choice.
|For students Health and safety; an open mind and heart to learn; to play and work in harmony with other students; positive relationships with teachers and parents
|For staff Wisdom and patience to teach; love and care for students and other staff; strength and energy each day; teamwork and cooperation; quick adjustment of teachers new to Generations Christian Education
|For parents Prepare a warm and loving home; time to spend with children; to take an interest in what children learn and do at school
|For schools Pray for sufficient finances to meet our needs across all our schools' campuses.


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14 Jan Snowmobile Trail Update
There is groomed riding from the Capital Road heading north on ITS 87 to Parlin Pond and on ITS 89 north to Jackman. Jackman has reported that they have groomed toward Pittston Farms, and Pittston Farms have groomed their trails. Rockwood trails (ITS 88) are reportedly not groomed.
There is an updated map available at the front desk at the lodge. The highlighted sections are mostly logging roads, and have been packed by the groomers. Riding on these roads is pretty good, considering the minimal snow. The short sections through the woods that connect these logging roads are very rough, but passable.
There are rideable trails (with trailering) for those who want to get out on their machines. Remember it is early season and the base is just being established, so conditions are not prime. You can't go 70 mph, but if you want to get out, enjoy the scenery and put on a few miles, there is enjoyable riding.
How to trailer to get to the riding
Set your odometer to zero at Northern Outdoors. Drive north on Route 201 for 13 miles. Take a right on the Capital Road. This is a plowed logging road. Always yield to logging trucks. Follow the Capital Road for 0.9 miles where you will cross a small bridge over Cold Stream. As you are crossing the bridge, you can see the snowmobile bridge just upstream (north). About 100 yards after crossing the bridge, there is a large parking area plowed out on the left. There is also a smaller parking area plowed out on the right. Park off to the sides of these plowed areas as best as possible, to allow others in there. Unload and head north on ITS 87, toward Parlin Pond. Gas and food are available at Lake Parlin Lodge, and in Jackman and Pittston Farms.


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Welcome to a new year full of possibility. It's hard to believe that we're already marking the beginning of 2017, as 2016 seemed to fly by at lightning speed.
For this roundup, we have included a few "coming soon" features of note to mark on your calendars.
Save the Date
Please plan to join us at the Advancing Building Estimation 2017conference (formerly known as Estimation Technology for Construction conference), scheduled for May 24-25 in Houston, Texas, at the Westin Houston, Memorial City.
Beck Technology will host a complimentary, half-day preconference workshop for conference attendees and invitees, in conjunction with the conference. Filled with client speakers, technology insights, and panel discussions, this event will walk through ways to enhance your estimation process with technology. Look for a focus on the need for industry change, as well as a keynote speaker and a panel of owners sharing their ideas of what ideal estimates would look like.
This workshop format will replace our typical spring Beck Technology Roundtable program, allowing attendees to learn from and network with more peers, as well as streamline their travel budgets.
DESTINI in Action
Release of DESTINI Estimator 2017 1.0 Set for Q1
The powerful, flexible new DESTINI Estimator 2017 1.0 is set for release in February, with more than 20 fresh features that make construction estimating faster, easier, and more intelligent than ever.
Focused on improvements in core estimating functionality, the new features and streamlined user interface are based on feedback from Beck Technology's Industry Advisory Board and our clients, whose practical ideas guided our development team at every step.
To see the new features in action, check out our series of webinar demos for DESTINI Estimator 2017 1.0, presented by Beck Technology's Chief Technical Officer Michael Boren.
Super User Q&A – Brian Parker with Sundt
When Sundt Construction decided to move on from its increasingly outdated estimating software platform, it made sense to choose a system that integrated with modeling and estimating software that was already being successfully used at the firm.
Seeing the firm's success using Beck Technology's DESTINI Profiler 3D modeling and estimating software to impress clients and win work, Lead Estimator Brian Parker understood how Profiler and DESTINI Estimator could work together to take the company's estimating capabilities to the next level. Brian was selected to be the company's DESTINI Estimator implementer. As a DESTINI "power user," he is now training others within Sundt to make the most of the DESTINI suite of products.
Read this Q&A profile to find out why DESTINI Estimator is his preferred choice.
Case Study – Real-Time Modeling & Estimating Builds Relationships, Wins Work
When clients need to know the cost impact of a change to their building design, they don't want to wait hours or days for an answer. The Korte Company uses DESTINI Profiler as a communication tool during the business development stage, making changes to their building models in real time to give owners immediate answers.
When Korte uses DESTINI Profiler in presentations, says Craig Mulliniks, CPE, LEED GA and Korte's director of virtual construction, "Those meetings are typically inquisitive, interactive and high-energy."
Read our Korte case study to learn why DESTINI Profiler has become the firm's go-to daily modeling and estimating software for all design-build and construction management pursuits.
In the News
How 5D Macro BIM Saves Time, Money in Preconstruction and Early Design
By Todd Imming, Director of Marketing, Korte
5D macro BIM is the real-time display of fully valued parametric building components within a virtual model, allowing estimators to model facilities at the earliest stages of design.
In a recent article published at ForConstructionPros.com, Korte's Director of Marketing Todd Imming explains how DESTINI Profiler 5D BIM software allows construction firms to make faster and smarter decisions, offer a wider range of cost options, and use fewer personnel during the early business assessment and design stages.
Read the original article on the Korte blog to learn why Todd believes that 5D BIM delivers real value for clients.
Beck Technology's Writings
The Beck Technology team has been busy expanding the base of industry knowledge, blogging on LinkedIn Pulse about the things they know best: customer success, client service, and of course, cutting-edge software for the construction industry. Read their recent blogs, and click "follow" to stay updated:
Adventures in Exploration
By Tyler Barron, Account Executive, Beck Technology
Introducing Customer Success at Beck Technology
By Sandy Damasco, Account Manager, Beck Technology
How Do You Value Client Service When Evaluating Software?
By Nicholas Johnson, Account Executive, Beck Technology
Happy New Year
From all of us at Beck Technology, we wish you and yours a happy and prosperous 2017!


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A most curious thing happened this Tuesday, my favorite nonpolitical podcast abruptly died. They didn't pod-fade, they just made an enigmatic announcement, then yanked their website, their feed and all other evidence of their existence off the web. The deletion occurred so fast that several fans of the show did not even have time to download the last episode. This show was particularly important to me because it was the first podcast that I regularly interacted with. To those who might be reading this who were fans of the show I am also known as Myles, the Yeah It's That Bad gun expert.
I like to think that my writing improved quite a bit in the course of my advisory to this podcast. Early on I decided that whatever I sent them would be backed up with empirical evidence. The way I figured it if I was making an absurd or erroneous claim all by myself then it would just be me who looked like a fool. But if anyone on this podcast made a bad claim then we would all look bad.
I find this troubling, the inflection and tone of the final episode was downright scary. If something like this happened to the freedom feens we would all be crying fowl play. I wish I knew more about what was happening myself but Joel, Kevin and Martin, the triumvirate of said show were an enigmatic bunch who took considerable pains to conceal their identities, even from me.
However the odds of this happening to the Feens are not just slim, they are downright impossible. Their efforts in backing up their work through mirror sites and Torrenting must be acknowledged as a wise course of action. Not just because of threats of government crackdown but because of the possibility of technical problems.
I have seen as a result of this that I should probably have several backups of my own work, I would hate to see a large chunk of any persons work suddenly vanish into the digital ether.
Also for those who listened to the show who want evidence of my claim to be who I say I am. Here is my point by point deconstruction of the Taurus Judge public defender polymer, Joel commented on it but left it out of the show, probably due to time constraints.
Hey everyone, always good to hear from you, I was not expecting to have my firearms knowledge challenged, I do love stimulating arguments, but first things first.
Do police officers have specialty devices for blowing doors off? Yes, several, the one I am most familiar with are shotgun breacher rounds, a 12 gauge shell filled with powdered metal designed to blow the lock clean off a door without harming anyone inside. But what you guys described sounds more like a dedicated charge, I am not too familiar with these, all I know about them is that they are extremely dangerous and are only to be used by highly trained professionals. However even when you are trained in their use, sometimes accidents happen. Anytime you are blowing an armored door off it's hinges then running through said doorway, death is always a possibility.
I will attempt to answer Jordan's criticisms as well as I can.
First of all the Taurus Judge I was using was the polymer public defender, it has the shortest barrel of all the Judges and is built on a plastic frame. When I wrote in last time I forgot to mention that the recoil out of this creature was extremely unpleasant. Not as bad as a lightweight 44 magnum, but still pretty bad.
I requested birdshot shells because I have fired 45 colt in a revolver before and I wanted to see what kind of a difference firing a shot load in a revolver would make compared to firing a single bullet. From what I understand the loads that are the most effective in the judge are 45 colt rounds and buckshot loads. Consisting of a collection of either 30 caliber lead round balls or 40 caliber discs stacked on top of each other. However my hosts did not have anything like that on hand. I know birdshot can be ineffective in a self defense scenario, but I was shooting at clay pigeons. I was giving serious thought to having someone throw said clay pigeons and shooting them out of the air, but after my first shot when I saw the shot spray all over the place I decided that this was impractical. Out of my benelli Nova 12 gauge a load of no.8 birdshot comes out as an almost solid mass at close range. However this gets into the done to death debate on birdshot as a viable personal defense round which is the subject of numerous flame wars on Internet gun forums.
I remain convinced that there is nothing a Judge can do that other weapons cannot do better except perhaps killing snakes about to strike when you are hiking in the wilderness. Or perhaps deterring a carjacker.
As for why I shot at a range of 20 meters, shooting at any range less than that holds no challenge to me anymore. With my CZ-75 I can easily hit a bowling ball sized target out to 50 meters and a man sized target out to 100 meters. I demand superb performance from my weapons, if they do not live up to my standards I sell them. I figure that if I can hit a watermelon at 20 meters then hitting a large angry man, or bear at 7 meters is comparatively easy.
I also wanted to say about all the C4 use, in The Last Boy-scout, C4 is one of the most stable explosives I have ever heard of. You can leave it buried for decades and it will be just as stable and effective as they day you buried it. The myth busters did some work with C4 where they demonstrated that one can light it on fire, then drop big solid objects on it or even shoot it and it will not explode. Only a blasting cap will set it off.
I would also like to say, you don't have to read this on air if you don't want to walk into this particular hornets nest. I really appreciate that you guys haven't joined in on the chorus of people demanding gun control.
Postscript, one final episode was released, please follow the link in the comments below if you would like a final "explanation" of what ultimately happened. Still enigmatic but it's good to find out that no harm came to the YITB crew.


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I have been wanting to join in the Sticky Fingers' Gallery fun for quite a while now, and finally I have found the time. I love Tara's idea to come up with a photograph prompt every week!
Anyway, so here I am and I wanted to share this photo with you today:
I snapped this with my iPhone on Monday. We have this fantastic chandelier – unfortunately not very visible on the photo! – hanging above our dining table and when the sun shines on it through the kitchen window, this is the result…
It symbolises for me my sparkling new life. I moved to Germany a year and a half ago with my children to be with the love of my life and I have never been so happy. I am truly grateful to have been given this opportunity.


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Tiny Camels / Jonathan Gibbs
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December 8, 2015
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I'm Starting To Forgive
Love this!
For the times you've said yes but meant no.
For when you stayed longer than you should have.
For using your time to think about how much time you've wasted.
For what you could and should have done but never did.
For all you've started, and never ever finished.
Dear Self, please know, I am learning to forgive you.
For all of the above.


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content tagged with:
By Philip Ferrato / 04/13/18 at 11:00 am / 0 comments
Besides the incredible views, it has a place in architectural history. Open Saturday and Sunday, April 14 and 15 from 2:00pm-4:00pm.
By Philip Ferrato / 09/01/17 at 8:33 am / 0 comments
Completely contemporary but with a glance back to Mid-Century design, this new 3-level home on a small lot is fresh, private and bright.
By Philip Ferrato / 11/22/16 at 12:05 pm / 0 comments
Two of the ten planned freestanding homes in this long-awaited new development project are finished, just steps from Piedmont Avenue and BART.
By Michelle Konsta... / 04/21/15 at 8:33 am / 0 comments
With Earth Day right around the corner, conservation should be at the top of everyone's minds, but if doing good for Mother Nature isn't incentive enough, imagine getting rewarded for your everyday ecofriendly deeds.Imagine no more.
By Sarah Lynch / 07/14/10 at 4:30 pm / 2 comments
With mortgage rates so low, it's time to check out some homes I could actually buy... or not.


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Can Your Teen Tell Time Using an Analog Clock or Watch?
Like many things falling to the age of technology, such as cursive handwriting, home economics and how to count back how much change a person should get back after making a purchase, analog watches and clocks have faced the battle as well. Some schools have already stopped teaching analog time or making it a requirement. Many people, not just the younger generations have come to rely on their smartphone for the time, in most cases displayed digitally as opposed to with a virtual analog clock (although some smartphones have this feature). So, is learning to tell analog time still important today?
One would think most teens have learned how to read an analog clock (either from school or out of necessity at some point) but there is a trend today, that many cannot, and will rely on their phone. I once walked into one of my old workplaces and there was a digital alarm clock displayed under the analog clock and when I asked the owner why I was told that "The teen employees can't read the clock". I was completely shocked as most of the "teen employees" were 16 or older, able to drive a car, but not able to read an analog clock, and this was in 2013… It was also mentioned at that time that kids frequently ask what time it is, even though they are staring at the clock, when told the clock is right there, they respond "I can't read it" yet, they need to know what time it is for when their parents are coming to pick them up.
Most businesses, schools and public places still use analog clocks on the wall to display the time. There aren't many digital "wall" clocks on the market that are easy to read from a distance unless the displays are fairly large and well lit.
Many employers won't allow workers (especially teens) to keep their phones on them while working as they are a distraction. Of course, they will still have to know when it is time to clock in, take a break or head out for the day – or if their job requires it for timing such as with food preparation. If they don't have a digital watch, cash register or computer in front of them, they probably have to rely on an analog wall clock for this… or at least know how to set a timer.
Although we understand that schools may not be making it a requirement, digital clocks and watches have not completely replaced the analog timepiece, and probably won't any time soon. Analog timepieces are still the most popular worn timepieces as well as home decor – if they weren't, companies like Bulova, Seiko and Citizen would be making digital watches exclusively. Even Casio, most well known for their digital pieces have recently been producing more analog/digital timepieces whether it be for functionality or design, they have become quite popular.
Time Teacher watches have tried to pick up where schools left off by producing a watch with labeled hour and minute hands for youngsters. These watches are available in fun character designs as well as with military emblems and are a great way to give younger children a helping hand when it comes to learning to tell time with a traditional analog watch.
Can your teen tell time using an analog clock? Do you think that it is still a valuable skill today? Comment below!


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The Blessing Foundation was founded in 2012 on the core values of leadership, collaboration, integrity and diversity.
At The Blessing Foundation, we thrive to be one of the leading empowerment foundations for women entrepreneurs in Lebanon, and very soon in all MENA and Gulf area.
Therefore, we came up with the idea of building a comprehensive virtual site to gather talent in one place and connect women entrepreneurs in all Arab countries, equally.
The Blessing Foundation website is a trade platform: the home of each woman entrepreneur to advertise and relate with other women entrepreneurs.
It is a user-friendly platform where the user can easily browse the listed products and services, by category, service or brand and connect with the provider.
In just few steps, any woman entrepreneur can open in our platform her own online store and advertise with us, with absolutely no cost. We just need her talent and we do the rest.
In few other easy steps, she will be able to subscribe to our Mentorship Programs too, and get in touch with our mentors to start her journey to success.
Our mission in The Blessing Foundation is to:
1. Connect and promote women entrepreneurs in Lebanon and
MENA area
2. Create access and opportunity in underserved communities
At The Blessing Foundation we work to create opportunities, have community impact, foster institutional transformation, and promote environmental growth.
When Women Work, Communities Thrive.


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Wellington Country House
Accommodation in Wellington, near Paarl.
Only 45 minutes from Cape Town International Airport. Luxury rooms in the Cape Winelands
Welcome to Wellington Guest House
Quiet setting with stunning mountain, vineyard and orchard views
Set in the picturesque farming village of Wellington. At the foot of the Limitberg Mountains. The Berg River flows through the town. Centrally located between Paarl and Riebeek Kasteel to the north and Ceres to the east. Here we offer a personal service that only a small, privately owned and managed, country house villa and getaway can provide. Wellington Country House is the perfect destination for small groups of friends and family wishing to visit South Africa's Cape Winelands region, the R301 route and enjoy the many adventure activities available in the immediate area. The house only caters to private groups (between 2 and 8 people) on an exclusive-use basis offering a choice of rates to include dinner, bed, and breakfast, fully inclusive or self-catering.


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Live Longer by Owning a Dog
A study that included more than 3.4 million people found that owning a dog is linked to living longer. The study was published in Scientific Reports and was conducted by researchers in Sweden at Uppsala University. The study included both men and women who were between 40 and 80 years old, and who did not have a history of cardiovascular disease. Researchers followed their health records and found whether or not they owned a dog from registries.
The study found that there was a lower risk of death by cardiovascular disease, as well as a lower risk of death from other causes. This was most prominent for people who lived alone. The design of the study was not to show a cause and effect relationship of owning a dog. However, they believe that those who owned dogs tended to be more active and in better health. They also believe that the dog's effect on the owner's microbiome could be a factor by providing immune benefits for adults. Other studies have shown that growing up with a dog can reduce allergies and asthma in children.


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QNAP intros "budget-friendly" Turbo NAS solutions
QNAP release three new Turbo NAS "budget-friendly" storage solutions
QNAP have announced three new Turbo NAS models, with a four-bay, dual-bay and single-bay solution available. The models are TS-419P II, TS219P II and TS-119P II which are all aimed at corporate workgroups, SOHO and home users who are after a budget-friendly solution for backup and file sharing. No pricing has been announced from QNAP, so we don't know how "budget-friendly" they really are. But, the models closest to them (which sport 1.2GHz chips instead of the included 2GHz chips) are very decently priced.
The new models look virtually identical to the predecessors, but they sport upgraded chips tech. QNAP have used a 2.0GHz Marvell CPU and also included 512MB of DDR3 memory which is a bit quicker than the 1.2 and 1.6GHz Marvell CPUs used in previous models. QNAP also say the added speed will enable Windows-based file transfers of up to 109MB/sec. QNAP claim idle power consumption is as low as four watts.
All three models support 2.5 and 3.5-inch HDDs, Gigabit Ethernet, up to four USB 2.0 ports and eSATA. The best bit about QNAP NAS solutions is the software features. Built-in UPnP media server, back up solutions, iTunes support, Time Machine support, power consumption, Bit Torrent and Usenet clients and of course the very powerful QPKG system.
- >> NEXT STORY: ASUS announce Ivy Bridge, PCI-Express 3.0 enabled motherboards
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Tuesday, September 29, 2015
FUZZ TRACK CITY -- Movie Review by Porfle
(NOTE: I viewed a barebones screener for this film and thus can't comment on any DVD particulars.)
"It was Tuesday. Or...Wednesday." A helpful intertitle reads: Friday. "Anyway," the voiceover continues, "it was late June."
This is the kind of off-kilter private eye narration we get in the cockeyed mystery thriller FUZZ TRACK CITY (2013), because that's just the kind of non-traditional, slightly dazed detective yarn this is.
It's one of those low-budget productions that starts out underwhelming me until I get caught up in it and settle into its slightly spoofy and, as it turns out, endlessly inventive style, and then it ends up knocking my socks off. So just when I was starting to think "This movie isn't quite as clever or cute as it wants to be", it turned out to be exactly as clever and cute as it wanted to be.
The rumpled hero, Murphy Dunn (Todd Robert Anderson, BLAST FROM THE PAST), is a P.I. whose partner and mentor, Stan, recently died and left him to run their detective agency by himself. When his former high school guidance counselor and secret crush Miss Dawn Lockwood (Dee Wallace) comes to him for help finding her missing son, it's his first solo case.
When a couple of rival dicks try to strongarm him away from the case, one of them describes him as "a hard rock gumshoe from the valley who still uses pay phones and sweats Cutty Sark." (Dunn does acquire his first cell phone during the story, which is a source of several good gags.) More comically hardboiled dialogue includes the line "Is that the dirtiest look you got, you brick-top honky bitch?" Not exactly poetry, but it'll do.
After two more street thugs hired by someone else turn up and start twisting and breaking parts of his body, Dunn realizes that he's stumbled onto something big. In fact, it all has to do with a missing rare 45 rpm record that the country's current number one rock god, Zack Lee (Sean Wing, FORGET ME NOT), is desperate to get his hands on along with various other shadowy figures.
It's this desperation that gets Dunn into a series of tight situations that he must either use his wits or his fists to squeeze his way out of. With his shaggy hair and porn stache, Anderson plays the part with just the right amount of hangdog, world-weary cool, reminding me of a cross between Brendan Fraser and Tom Hanks who's kind of a living time capsule from the 80s.
Along the way Dunn encounters several interesting characters such as Ziggy, the agoraphobic record collector (Josh Adell, LOST ON PURPOSE), Greg, the resentful over-the-hill musician who actually played on the mystery 45 and knows its secret (Dave Florek, GHOSTBUSTERS II), and Jo (Abby Miller), an aspiring smalltown singer who waitresses at the diner Dunn hangs out in for coffee and Monte Cristo sandwiches.
His ex-wife Al (Tarina Pouncy, MINDGAME), whom he caught in bed with Stan shortly before his death and is pregnant with his baby, comes back as Dunn's secretary and stakeout companion, a touchy arrangement to be sure. (Especially since she's ready to pop at any moment.) As Miss Lockwood, Dee Wallace is as lovable as ever and we can't help rooting for Dunn to have a fling with her despite the fact that she's old enough to be his way-older sister.
Writer-director Steve Hicks is a definite talent and seems to have put everything he's got into this sprightly, pitch-perfect blend of satire, deadpan drama, and classic detective fiction. It reminded me at times, in spirit anyway, of Robert Altman's THE LONG GOODBYE, although Dunn isn't nearly as ruthless or cynical as Elliott Gould's Phillip Marlowe.
Despite all the breezily funny touches intertwined throughout the entire script, FUZZ TRACK CITY is never less than a gripping, suspenseful detective story with a corker of a mystery at its heart. It's the kind of surehanded musical comedy-thriller that THE ADVENTURES OF FORD FAIRLANE wanted to be but with a tinier budget and a way better screenplay. And it's the kind of pleasant surprise that only comes when low expectations turn into big fun.
Buy it at Amazon.com
Tech Specs
Studio: Indican Pictures
Runtime: 90 minutes
Format: 1:85 Flat (HD)
Sound: Dolby SR
Rating: NR
Genre: Urban/Action
Language: English
Country: USA
Posted by Porfle Popnecker at 8:34 PM
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text: If you're getting ready to take your first trip down the aisle, getting your beauty look done could seem overwhelming. One of the first things you need to do (about nine months before) is get laser hair removal. Laser machines are very effective at removing unwanted hair permanently, but you have to start early to get through all six sessions. Three months before the big day, start your microhydrabrasion treatments, which is like steam cleaning your skin and will make your skin glow. If you're planning to get hair extensions, do so about a week in advance, but you can wait until about four days before the wedding to get your eyebrows shaped. Two days before the wedding is when you want to get your lash extensions, as this way you don't have to fuss with falsies on the big day, and you'll look glamorous every morning on your honeymoon. If you want to get a gel manicure then do so two days before the wedding. A spray tan should be done the day before your wedding to add that extra glow.


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Tagged: Truth
Isn't it ironic… don't you think.
"When that is out of the way."
"Once we get through it."
"It will soon be over."
"When it's done we can then get back on track."
How many times do we hear these statements in schools. Wishing to be doing something else. Galloping along to get to something else, even if we don't know what that something else is. We all know in schools there is something to be done. We are always doing things, most of the time without knowing the purpose or meaning of it.
As we all know, accreditation is a big deal and we do know the meaning and purpose of it. Being authorized means you are a good school, doing good things and it's a good place to work and learn – essentially, that is what it all comes down to in its simplest terms.
A self-study is an opportunity to take a look at the school you teach at and students learn in. A school should invest about 12 months in the Self-study process. That's plenty of time to collect evidence, look at the previous evaluation report, make some self-study groups, make judgments against the standards and practices, write a summary and go through a team visit. This is an opportunity to learn more about what you do well, where the holes are and find ways to plug those holes to be an even better place for parents, teachers and students. The self-study is a time to celebrate, keep schools accountable and mostly focus on Section C (2,3,4) – the quality of teaching and learning and how people work together towards a common goal.
This is the right time to now introduce the word irony in this situation. If a Self-study is meant to be an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of how far you've come, why does it bring so much displeasure and angst?
We have dedicated and committed teachers doing their best to put a robust, detailed and accurate Self-study report together… yet I have to say, I've caught myself saying the above statements. I should be fist pumping teachers in the corridor and giving high fives for the work we've done. The reality is we are tired. After a good day of teaching and learning, getting up in front of the staff and saying those words Self-study, just sucks the enthusiasm out of the room. But, this is important and we have to do it. The Self-study is mostly about collaboration, teaching and learning. This is the business we are in. This is what we offer. I find this incredibly ironic and vexing.
Half of me feels like I am going to get a rap over the knuckles for sharing this much with you.
Am I saying what everyone else is thinking and feeling, or is it just me?
Maybe I am suffering from Self-study fatigue….
1944 Report Card
Schools have come a long way when it comes to reporting/assessing student learning. There are so many good things about what we do in this profession, writing report cards are not one of them. Why is that?
It is time? Is it timing? Is it the amount of in-put vs out-put? Is it the fact that report cards say so much, but really say nothing at the same time?
I personally have not seen a school get this right yet. I am very interested in what other schools do out there. Can we share some examples? It is time to simplify the report card process. Not only for teachers, but for parents and students too.
What do your report cards say about your school?
Are you really valuing real learning? Do they reflect the 5 essential elements of the PYP? Are they truly representing who they are as learners and as people? Do you review the report card process? Is reporting just a formality?
What does your report card say about you?
A lot of us copy and paste comments. We know it, administration knows it, parents know it, and even kids know it. If this is what we do then should we just not do them? Or do you write 100% personalized comments that truly reveal who each kids are? How can we get it right when we think about the time it takes to write them, proofread, edit and revise them?
There seems to be a shift from writing long narratives (full of teacher jargon) to more concise and pointed comments focusing on strengths and learning targets. I actually find it more challenging to write a specific comment than a long-winded one.
This got me thinking…. do we actually need reports? Why can't we just write them for students who are leaving the school? Don't we have enough assessments already that speak so much louder than a written report? Something to consider and think about. A move like that would take a lot of guts. There would have to be a very supportive school community that gets it. There are parents out there that do get it. Let's educate the others.
Our school wants to inquire into report cards. What does good look like and sound like? Please let us know if you would like to share what you do. Add to this conversation. This is an SOS call to look at different approaches. Together, I am sure we can adapt and change what we currently do to reflect what we want our reports to say about student learning.


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Tips to Beat Dry Hair, Hair Lose, Thinning Hair and Brassy Blonde Tones
3 Common Hair Dilemmas Solved
Tabatha Coffey, the star of Tabatha Takes Over, is known giving the most spot-on hair advice around. And over the next few months the talented hairstylist is sharing her top tips and tricks right here on BellaSugar. We're thrilled to present to you her first post! Take it away, Tabatha.
Hi everyone, I got so many emails and questions on the below topics after I appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, I thought it would be great to write about them in my first blog. Here are some of my favourite products and tips for combating the hair-problem blues. See more after the jump.
The problem: thinning hair In many cases, thinning hair is due to hormonal changes experienced during pregnancy and menopause, or caused by stress-related events in a person's life, such as final exams, moving, death or divorce. Oftentimes, hair-thinning is hereditary, or just part of the natural ageing process.
The solution: In addition to caring for and protecting hair on the outside with a haircare regimen that's right for your hair (along with eating healthily), I recommend taking Viviscal, which is an all-natural dietary supplement that's clinically proven to promote existing hair growth. I feel completely confident recommending it because it doesn't contain anything harmful (just good-for-you vitamins and minerals that strengthen and nourish hair from within). And because I personally have used it after I experienced hair loss due to stress, I can attest to its effectiveness. In fact, I even recommend taking it if you're not experiencing hair thinning and just want to maintain thicker-looking and -feeling hair. It also makes your nails grow more quickly, so it's a win-win!
The problem: dry, brittle hair Few things can be more frustrating than trying to get moisture into dry, brittle hair. It can become stubborn, frizzy — and pardon the pun — lacklustre, particularly during the arid Winter months. In the Winter months, your hair and skin can dry out a lot more than normal between the cold and heat. In addition, those of us in cooler climates often blow-dry more frequently.
The solution: The best way to combat the brittleness is to target the root of the problem with an intensive conditioning treatment. I've used a lot, but a great one I have found is the new K-Pak RevitaLuxe Bio-Advanced Restorative Treatment. This breakthrough deep conditioner features a patent-pending technology called keratin peptide complex, which actually creates a molecular "bandage" on the hair cuticle, protecting hair against damage and dehydration. What that means is it keeps protecting the hair, keeps the moisture locked in and is accumulative, so the more consistently you use it, the better your hair becomes. Depending on how dry and damaged your hair is, I recommend using it between one to three times a week.
The problem: blonde (or grey) hair maintenance Unlike other hair colours, blonde and grey hair's light colour makes it extremely susceptible to environmental factors in air and water that can discolour it and create that yellow or brassy tone.
The solution: Whether you're a natural or bottle blonde, a violet toning shampoo that helps to neutralise those pesky unwanted brassy and yellow tones is a must to help keep your colour fresh and bright. The shampoo's bright violet colour can be frightening, but don't worry: your hair won't turn purple. The violet pigments will just counteract the yellow tones in your hair, then rinse out clean. I recommend using a violet shampoo between one to two times a week, depending on your individual blonde and/or the environmental factors that affect your area.
I hope you all enjoy the tips, and I will see you here next month for more ways to get gorgeous hair. — Tabatha xo