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The appearance of the dual system tablet PC greatly meet the demands for business. Today let's have a look at the Cube iwork10 Flagship dual os tablet review.
Cube iwork 10 Flagship tablet adopts the Intel Cherry Trail Z8300 14nm processor, with 1.84GHz main frequency, builds in 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM, and uses a 10.1 inch 1920*1200 pixels Full view angle IPS screen, and support 4K video, has rich interfaces, such Micro USB3.0, Micro HDMI port, Keyboard dock also provides a standard USB interface. 7500mAh battery support work for 6~7 hours. At the same time, it is pre-installed both Windows 10 and Android 5.1 double OS, also support Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and OTG expand functions.
The whole machine is full of design sense, including a whole dark blue body, front and back camera, no Windows power button, the main buttons and ports are mainly designed on one side of the camera, fine workmanship. Meanwhile, there are interfaces on each side of the tablet, include Micro USB3.0, Micro HDMI, USB, earphone ports and TF card slot on one side, moreover, there are two speakers on the other side.
Once matched with a metal keyboard and bluetooth mouse, it is just a small computer, which will greatly facilitate our operations in win10 systems, at the same time, you can also operate smoothly in Android OS with the mouse and keyboard.
Under the Android system, the whole system is basically native system interface, and no optimization, however, when sliding, it is very smooth, without any Caton, and the screen resolution is very delicate, you can see the video very comfortably.
Besides, it can also support 4K video playing without Caton. Here is a video screenshot. Because of the high-resolution screen, it is very clear.
AnTuTu Benchmark over 63000 scores under Android OS
Then, let's take a look at the Windows OS.
Because it has 4GB RAM, it is sure to meet our daily demand for the Win10 OS, especialy for business.
Of the 64GB ROM, there is nearly 42GB for Win10 OS, if installed large games, it may have not storage. Fortunately, it supports TF card extend.
As for the gaming performance under win10 os, some tested games can be the perfect supported. I believe that friends buy this tablet is more fancy of the win10 office performance, as the entertainment features, Android OS is sure to fully meet your demands. Moreover, through the process of testing, the temperature of the machine is controlled more appropriatly, and not very hot.
Here are some screenshots with three ways for switching between Android and Windows OS:
I personally prefer Cube iwork10 Flagship, for it can meet my business demand, also has powerful entertainment function. However, because the resolution is too high, some software will restart when running, which may require further optimization. Meanwhile, the charging time of this model is a little long, I personally usually use the USB interface to charge, which may be related with the size of the current, thus resulting in a long charging time. But the positioning of 1,000 yuan brings ultra high performance, some small shortcomings are perfectly acceptable!


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These are one of the best photo print fluxes to drop when they were dropping one after another.
These feature ocean waves throughout the upper, hence the colorway name. Touches of white strike the adidas branding, Torsion midsole and heel cage.
Check out the on feet below. Did you sleep on these when they released or did you cop?

subset: commoncrawl


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Management support is crucial for the success of L&D projects – what is the best way to demonstrate value?
Company-wide upskilling initiatives will help to empower employees who are dealing with technological changes
Experiential learning needs to be long enough to "embrace the roller coaster", according to David Walsh, clinical assistant professor in the University of Houston department of health and human performance (HHP).
Indeed, there seems to be a gap between the expectation and the reality of experiential learning opportunities, such as internships, Walsh added.
"We have to ask if we are failing to prepare and support them when the newness of the experience wears off," he said.
Walsh said interns are typically very excited and keen to begin their internships. The challenge then becomes how to negotiate the eventual routine of a professional workplace, a necessary skill to be an effective employee.
Consequently, they may be dissapointed when they reflect on what they have remembered at the end of their semester experiences.
Walsh's conclusion?
He said lengthening an experiential learning program beyond the semester and including structured support throughout the internship, may create more meaningful experiences for students.
"In learning and human development, the lows are as important as the highs," he said.
"Experiential learning has to be long enough to embrace the roller coaster, help students get over the hump. This is the role of education."
Walsh added that educators need to ensure their students have active opportunities in their internships and more support to ensure they have the tools to negotiate the highs and the lows of the experience.
Internships and experiential learning programs typically span the length of a semester, but preliminary findings of this new University of Houston study indicate that's not long enough for interns to get the full benefits.
Walsh, who studies human development and lifelong development, is investigating experiential learning in a longitudinal study of students participating in a four-semester, field-training experience.
As one of the faculty supervisors, Walsh interviewed more than half of the Super Four participants.
All were enjoying the experience and recognising its value as a preparation for professional life, but a common response was that they had "unmet assumptions," as the day-to-day routine did not sustain their initial excitement.
Walsh added that a graph of their experience might resemble a rollercoaster.
"The Super Four Experience requires four semesters to complete, but traditional internships require about 300 hours in only one semester. If an internship ends on a low, the learning opportunity is lost," he said.
"One semester may not allow the full experience of the internship to play out, denying students valuable time to work through the challenges.
"We hope we can set a new trend for teachers, practitioners and students in experiential learning pedagogy."


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Appealing against sentence to the Court of Appeal is a two step process. First, the Court of Appeal must grant leave to appeal. Second, there is the hearing of the appeal itself. Then, if you get past that first hearing you go onto a full hearing of the matter. In detail the appeal against sentence process is;
- An application for leave to appeal against sentence is made up of the appeal papers and a written case, that is a document that sets out precisely the grounds on which the appeal is brought, and the arguments which go to supporting that ground.
The Court of Appeal will not have a hearing for the leave application unless it is specifically requested. They intend to do it on the papers. The Court expect that all of the arguments will be set out in the written case. For this reason it is important that the written case is as detailed as possible and sets out the most persuasive arguments as it is the document on which the very important decision to grant leave is decided.
- If the appeal is not filed within time then an application for an extension of time to file an appeal against conviction may be granted by the Registrar of Criminal Appeals. An affidavit needs to be filed explaining in detail why the application for leave to appeal was not filed in time. Getting leave to appeal out of time becomes harder the more time passes, so it is very important to ensure that you do everything you can to have the papers filed at Court as soon as possible.
In filing the Sentence Appeal it is important that counsel have access to all of the plea transcript, and sentencing remarks. Sometimes this material is not available prior to the filing of the written case due to the long wait at the transcription service to produce the material.
- It is not something that is the fault of the Court of Appeal or the Court of Appeal Registry who are very helpful and try to get matters on as soon as they can. Unfortunately a lack of Judges and resources means that the appeal process is a very slow one.
Generally the Barrister who handled the sentence should have some notes or thoughts about what potentially went wrong in the sentencing process. This is often important to get as a starting point to see if there are good appeal points.
- This is the point at which your appeal lawyers should be reading all the hand-up brief and other material that needs to be scrutinized. There should be discussions with the appellant as to what they think went wrong in the sentencing process. Barristers should be briefed and given the information that they need to have some idea of the issues.
It is normal to use different Barristers to the ones who did the plea. The reason for this is that is hard to be objective about something you have done yourself.
It is important to start this work before the transcripts arrive as the timelines start getting closer.
Read on to learn more about appeal matters:
Doogue + George are highly experienced appeals solicitors, in every level of appeal courts. Nothing beats experience in handling appeal cases.
If you need advice, call Doogue + George on 9670 5111 and discuss your options.


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Expectations are always high among participants of competitive examinations & especially in India with majority of youth vying for govt jobs, the wait is always haunting. But aspirants looking for bank jobs in India will feel relieved as IBPS PO 2012 results have been released today by the institute.
In 2011, Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) was given the mandate to conduct common written examinations (CWE) on behalf of 19 public sector banks for Officer & Clerk positions.
IBPS PO CWE 2012 Results
Since then, tests arranged by individual banks have been abolished to bring a single testing pattern for all banking organizations.Accordingly, the 2nd common exam for probationary officers was held on June 17, 2012 by the institute.
Approximately 7.5 lakh sat for the exams of which 61,339 candidates have cleared & would proceed further.
If you are one of those who attended the event, you can now check the status (Pass or Fail) from the results page here.
When can I see my marks?
Individual scores in each paper, minimum qualifying marks & total weighted scores (TWS) can be viewed online at their website itself after 10 days.
So qualifiers can expect to receive scorecards from the 3rd or 4th week of October.
It is not only necessary to secure minimum marks totally but also in each paper. So even if you have not qualified in one paper, it amounts to complete disqualification. Infact, that is the reason for many candidates to flunk in such exams
New jobs from 2013?
As IBPS has also said that these latest scores can be used from December 12, one can expect new bank recruitments for IBPS 2012 passouts to be announced starting 2013.
With talks of common interviews for banking jobs already underway, banks have got more time to finalize & notify the exact process.(see common interviews for bank job vacancies from this year)
'The exam was tough'
What do applicants have to say on these results?We caught up with few.
Karthik from Chennai says, "I have failed to get in.I was not able to attend many interviews due to low marks in last year`s CWE but was determined to post good scores this time atleast.
From my experience, the test was tough since 7 of my friends who went for bank exams coaching have also not qualified & they also said the same.
With the IBPS results out, my hopes are pinned on SBI recruitments & other government exams as the next common test for PO jobs will happen only after 6 months" , he concluded positively.
Have you passed?Then consider reading whats next after PO exam results
Those of you who couldn't qualify – worry not as opportunities are plenty.Keep practicing & you can get hold of your dreams very soon.
Just remember – Failures are the stepping stones to success.


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Six Mistakes That Affect Your Car's Performance
Six Mistakes That Affect Your Car's Performance
Owning a car isn't a luxury any more. It is a necessity, especially if you happen to live far away from your workplace. Maintaining your car is important for its optimal performance. Here's a list of six mistakes that most people make:
1. Neglecting The "Check Engine" Light:
The Check Engine light blinks when something is wrong with the car's engine system. Ignoring the warning sign can cause engine misfire leading to severe damage and expensive repairs. This in turns affects fuel economy.
2. Not Changing the Fluids and Filters:
Oil, transmission fluid, radiator fluid, etc. help to ensure optimal performance and to protect components. Checking and replacing both the fluids and filters on a regular basis, can limit the risks of performance breakdown. It also extends engine life, protects the cooling system, and prevents damage to the transmission and brakes. Remember to pay attention to filters and fluids.
3. Not Checking Your Tires:
Your vehicle's tires ought to be often checked for swelling and tire tread depth. Properly inflated tires with the right amount of pressure can help the tires to wear out evenly. It contributes to maintaining the tires in good shape. It can, in turn, improve tire life and fuel economy. An incorrectly inflated tire causes the tires to wear unevenly leading to poor performance and bad gas mileage.
4. Not Servicing Your Vehicle:
Your car should be periodically serviced as many auto parts wear out over time. Regular maintenance guarantees performance capabilities and helps to extend the life of your vehicle. Keep a monthly maintenance schedule in your car, so that you can note down the type of service that needs to be done for the next checkup.
5. Driving A Dirty Car:
A proud owner always prefers to keep his car in good condition. Washing your car is very important to get rid of dust and other particles. Cleaning also ensures proper visibility for safe driving. The purpose of regular washing is to keep it in good condition by maintaining its appearance and securing its resale value.
6. Rash Driving:
Fleetmatics, a global speed tracking company lists harsh braking, harsh acceleration, speeding above 80 mph and hard turns as the primary cause for most accidents.
Consult a Trusted Car Repair Service
Consulting a trusted car repair service like Davis Car Care will help you recognize any issues early on and manage them before it is too late.
We strive to give our Virginia Beach customers the best experience possible. That's why with every visit to Davis we check your air pressure, reset your maintenance light, top off your washer fluid, vacuum the front of the vehicle, and place a bag of candy in your car to sweeten the ride home.


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Professor Julia O'Connell Davidson
Professor Julia O'Connell Davidson
Professor in Social Research
G.01, 10 Priory Road,
11 Priory Road, Clifton, Bristol
(See a map)
Telephone Number (0117) 331 7599
Modern Slavery and the Margins of Freedom: Debtors, Detainees and Children
Personal profile
Julia O'Connell Davidson studied Sociology with Psychology as an undergraduate at the University of Bath (1982-86) and for her PhD in the Department of Sociology at the University of Bristol (1987-90). From 1990 to 2001, she was Lecturer and then Reader in Sociology at the University of Leicester, from 2001 - 2015, she was Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham. She has held ESRC awards for projects investigating sex tourism in the Caribbean, and the markets for migrant domestic and sex workers in the UK and Spain, and currently holds a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for a project titled "Modern Slavery and the Margins of Freedom: Debtors, Detainees and Children".
Julia has a longstanding research interest in work and economic life that started from a concern with the variability of capitalist employment relations which she explored in her 1993 book, Privatization and Employment Relations: The Case of the Water Industry (Cassell) and a number of journal articles and book chapters on the restructuring of work and employment in privatised utilities and the use of franchising in milk distribution. In the mid 1990s, she started to research prostitution as a form of non-standard work and to address questions about what, precisely, is exchanged in the prostitution contract and the diversity of prostitution in terms of its social organisation and the power relations it involves (both globally and nationally). She has also undertaken research on sex tourism, and on child prostitution(Prostitution, Power and Freedom, 1998, Polity; Children in the Global Sex Trade, 2005, Polity).
In 2001, she and Bridget Anderson (COMPAS, University of Oxford) were commissioned by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to conduct multi-country pilot research on 'the demand side of trafficking'. They were asked to focus on two sectors - prostitution and domestic work - and they subsequently developed this research through an ESRC funded project examining the markets for migrant sex and domestic workers in the UK and Spain. This research has informed a number of publications that explore that definitional problems associated with the term 'trafficking', critique dominant discourse on 'trafficking as modern slavery' and challenge the framing of 'trafficking' as a problem of transnational crime as opposed to a migrants' rights issue. Julia has also been involved in research on child migration.
At a theoretical level, Julia has been concerned to link her research on prostitution, sex tourism, 'trafficking' and 'modern slavery' to critiques of dominant liberal fictions about contract, freedom, citizenship, human rights, and childhood, as well as to questions of power, especially the question of how we can critique those theoretical traditions that approach power as domination without slipping into the relativism and subjectivism of much post-modern and post-structuralist theory. These themes are further developed in her most recent book, 'Modern Slavery: The Margins of Freedom', Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Julia has teaching interests in the following areas: research methods; the ethics of social research; human rights and modern slavery; the global sex trade; citizenship; work and employment; free and unfree labour;migration; social divisions.
Fields of interest
Modern slavery, Slavery, Migration, Immigration detention, Children and childhoods
Latest publications
- Cruz, K, Davidson, JO & Taylor, JS, 2019, Tourism and sexual violence and exploitation in Jamaica: contesting the 'trafficking and modern slavery' frame. Journal of the British Academy, vol 7., pp. 189-214
- Medland, L, Anderson, B, Bales, K, Bogg, A, Novitz, T, Davidson, JO, Pitts, FH & Turnbull, P, 2018, The 'future' of work? A call for the recognition of continuities in challenges for conceptualising work and its regulation. School of Law, University of Bristol
- Brace, L & Davidson, JO, 2018, Slavery and the Revival of Anti-slavery Activism. in: Laura A Brace, Julia O'Connell-Davidson (eds) Revisiting Slavery and Antislavery: Towards a Critical Analysis. Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp. 3-34
- Davidson, JO, 2017, The right to locomotion? Trafficking, slavery and the state'. in: Prabha Kotiswaran (eds) Revisiting the Law and Governance of Trafficking, Forced Labor, and Modern Slavery. . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
- Davidson, JNO, 2017, The Presence of the Past: Lessons of History for Anti-Trafficking Work. Anti-Trafficking Review., pp. 1-12
- Davidson, JO, 2016, Treble Troubles? Marketization, Social Protection and Emancipation Considered through the Lens of Slavery. in: Christian Karner, Bernhart Weicht (eds) The Commonalities of Global Crises: Markets, Communities and Nostalgia . Palgrave Macmillan, London
- Davidson, JO, 2016, 'Things' are not what they seem: on persons, things, slaves, and the new abolitionist movement. Current Legal Problems, vol 69., pp. 227-257
- Junior, AM & Davidson, JO, 2016, Interview with Julia O'Connell Davidson on Modern Slavery. Theory, Culture & Society, vol 33., pp. 381?390
- Davidson, JNO, 2016, De-Canting 'Human Trafficking', Re-Centring the State. International Spectator, vol 51., pp. 58-73
- Davidson, JO, 2015, Citizenship, Otherness and the Legibility of Love. in: Bridget Anderson, Vanessa Hughes (eds) Citizenship and its Others. Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, pp. 145
Full publications list in the University of Bristol publications system


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Colorado will recruit more JC players, Mike MacIntyre says
BOULDER — Once Colorado's season finale at Utah ends Saturday, the coaches will concentrate on recruiting. The Buffaloes expect to sign some junior college players, before a difficult landscape for Colorado coaches to maneuver.
"We are recruiting some," coach Mike MacIntyre said at his weekly press luncheon Tuesday. "We have some coming in for a visit over the next couple weekends. So, we'll know after those weekends just how many we will sign. Well, we only have room for eight guys to come in in January. I don't think we'll get to eight but, that's all the room we have at this point because we have eight guys that are graduating in December."
It's easier for Colorado to recruit JCs, MacIntyre said, thanks to the NCAA. Before, some four-year schools could accept as many physical education credits as they wanted. Today, they can only transfer two PE credits, leveling the field for schools such as Colorado.
"That's opened up a pool for us to be able to look at a few more guys maybe than Colorado had been able to in the past because of the new NCAA rule," MacIntyre said. "It's very good for the kid. They're a lot closer to graduating and that's the main thing we bring them here for is to graduate from college and then win football games. So, that's what we're doing."


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The Courtesy Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Auto Loan Center is Proud to Serve Conyers & Atlanta, Georgia
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Sermon Series Archive Once Upon A Time
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Stories of the Kingdom
Parables of Jesus
The Generous Landowner
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
How do you respond when you feel like you've been treated unfairly? In the final installment of our summer series on parables, Josh takes a look at a vice that many of us struggle to overcome: jealousy. During this teaching, Josh shares insights from a parable Jesus tells about a landowner whose generosity brings out the worst in some of his employees.
The Unforgiving Servant
In this week's edition of our "Once Upon A Time" series, we have a two part sermon. This week, guest speaker George Stull begins the discussion of the ungrateful servant. In the parable, a servant is released of any debts that he has. However, he then condemns a fellow servant who owes him very little in comparison. The master reminds us that if have been given mercy, we should, in turn, give mercy as well. George likens this to breathing. Only when we release the air in our lungs, can we be ready to receive more air. We are left with one final thought: Forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember.
Pass The Mustard
Who knew that the Kingdom was like your favorite hot dog condiment? Pastor Josh Scott shows us how the simplest, smallest of seeds can still have a huge impact in the fifth week of our "Once Upon A Time" series at MCC. The Kingdom requires trusting that God can take a kingdom that may seem insignificant, or even inactive, and create something that will encompass the whole world.
The Pharisee And The Tax Collector
We're on week 4 of "Once Upon A Time" at MCC, and this week is a great one! Pastor Josh Scott uses the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Two people who prayed, but one who had a heart that honored God. We find that its not the action, but the heart that truly connects us to God and His Kingdom. We should desire to be tax collectors; sinful, broken people, but in total awareness of a need for a savior.
The Prodigal Father
For our Father's Day edition of "Once Upon A Time," Pastor Josh Scott uses the parable of the Prodigal son to explore the characteristics of the God the Father. Although the story is traditionally about the sons, Jesus is really telling us a story of the Father. He is a Father who gives His children the freedom to choose their directions, who never gives up on His kids, and who would go through any humiliation to try and bring His children home. We can be thankful that God is a prodigal Father; who is recklessly extravagant with His love for us, and spends everything He has to bring us home.
Sower, Seeds & Soil
This week, we continue our "Once Upon A Time" series with the parable of the soils. Our Media & Communications Pastor, John Lovell, shares how the soil of our hearts is never naturally fertile. We have places that may not be receptive to the seed of God's word. But hard soil can be broken, shallow soil can be deepened, and thorny soil can be weeded. Thankfully, even the worst soil has the potential to be fertile ground.
The New Thing God Is Up To
A parable is just a story with a meaning that its listeners would connect with. But there was an additional application for them as well. In the first week of our new series "Once Upon A Time," Pastor Josh Scott discusses the parable of the wineskins. In the story, the old wineskins are inflexible, but the wine needs somewhere else to go. Are we flexible to the new thing that God wants to do? Can we handle everything that could happen in our lives? Are we ready to live the abundant life that God wants to live through us, both individually, and as the church?


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Summer 2016 (last chapter)
Coming off a 3 day weekend full for friends and family inspires me to be better. To do better. Time is just, time and unfortunately none of us have a lot of it so making the best of the time we have is always the most fulfilling. This summer was not exactly what I wished forContinue reading


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I wonder what life will look like this year? With so much change last year, I anticipate and hope for a year of settling and stability. I hope for more of what we have with deepening relationships, strengthening bonds, greater knowledge and love for the Lord. I will turn forty years old this year and it feels like the start of a new decade.
Our holiday season was a sweet time and family feelings were real and true. Now begins the season of winter, challenging schedules, continual commitment to one another and the daily tasks necessary for family life and growth. Raising children, teenagers and nurturing a young marriage are demanding tasks. They are worth doing and investing ourselves into doing it all well. I'm gearing up for the task!


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I make no secret about my opinion of the Des Moines Library Central Branch design. Despite its green bona fides, I think it is inappropriate for a public building to be so architecturally inaccessible.
Enter the Atlanta Public Library downtown branch! I am in Atlanta for a conference (learning about the new EPA lead paint rules among other things - more on that later). After classes today, I went on a long walking tour of downtown Atlanta and stumbled upon Marcel Breuer's Bauhaus/brutalist older cousin to the Des Moines Public Library (designed by David Chipperfield).
The Atlanta downtown library has some elements in common with the Des Moines central branch. It performs better is some areas and worse in others. Fundamentally, however, they have the same approach to housing books: keep the sunlight out. I'm not an archivist, but I assume this is sound science.
Site Placement. The Atlanta public library covers an entire (small) city block. It is set up from the street level by about a half story on average. The Des Moines central branch occupies half of a large city block, and backs up to (or fronts depending on which way you approach) a grassy plaza.
Pedestrian Access. Despite its overbearing presence, the main entrance of the Atlanta library is obvious and pedestrian. The main facade was clearly designed to invite pedestrian access. However, there is only one way for a pedestrian to enter. The other three facades are blank, except for the delivery area in back). The Des Moines central branch has pedestrian entrances from every direction, yet ultimately I think, is less successful at announcing its intention as a pedestrian destination.
Cladding. The Atlanta library is clad for the most part with blank concrete and limestone(?) walls. The Des Moines library does so with a more technological glazing system, but the outside effect is the same: a pedestrian has no relationship with the interior activities.
As an urban building, the Atlanta downtown library is slightly better behaved. It should have pedestrian access from multiple sides and there should not be entire blank walls. Yet perhaps the brutal nature of the design and materiality can be accepted as a function of the era in which it was built. It is located at the transition point in downtown Atlanta between the historic section, where many older buildings remain, and the oppressive post-60's highrise section (where my conference is located). Breuer himself came out of the Bauhaus and was a pioneer in the transition between the International Style (think Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and le Corbusier) and Brutalism (of which Louis Kahn was a more sensitive practitioner in my opinion - try this library on for size).
Perhaps as well the Des Moines central branch can be evaluated as a function of the time in which it was built - the dawn of the "green" architecture era when architects were exploring technical and design features with a focus on energy efficiency to the detriment of pedestrian connection and urbanity. On the other hand, we know that encouraging pedestrian use and moderate density are integral parts of sustainable design in urban areas.


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Whether you are looking for an easy way to get by one place to another or if you are just looking for a new kind of transportation, the scooter should certainly be one of your choices.
Affordable, easy to maintain, and aesthetically appealing; these are just some of the things why people buy scooters.
If you are to buy one, here are some things to know beforehand:
What's your budget?
First and foremost, before rushing to see what choices do you have and what designs are out there, you must first assess yourself as a buyer. Assessing yourself as buyer basically means that you would need to see your available resources and find the perfect balance of how much you can spend and how much you want to spend.
Brand New or Not?
After determining your budget, the next thing to know before purchasing a scooter is whether you will be buying a brand new unit or a something in mint condition perhaps. This detail of purchasing a scooter will heavily be influenced by the previous step mentioned in here which is to determine how much money you can shed.
Brand new scooters and second hand ones have their respective pros and cons so you may want to look up into that also.
Scooter size
Small, Med Range, or Large?
The scooter size is something that will rely on your sense of style as a person. If you are the type of individual to focus on cute little things then the small scooter may be the one for you. On the other hand, the large scooters are for the ones who would want to look a bit more robust and bulky. The mid-range scooters are considered as the standard ones and if you are in for the functionality then you should definitely go for it.
Inner workings
After considering the condition, size, and style of the scooter you want to buy, one thing that you shouldn't forget to check out is the inner working of the scooter. By inner working, you would want to check to the engine and overall mechanical capacity of the scooter you are eyeing on. Considerations when checking the mechanics of your scooter would include your intended purpose for buying one.


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Visual Art & Design
Yiddish Curses for GOP Jews
That hot new website making fun of Jewish Republicans? My husband and I made it—and you're welcome.
Rachel Shukert
· August 30, 2012
United States
Talking to W's Chief of Staff
At the GOP convention, Josh Bolten reminisces about introducing President Bush to
shmurah matzo
Yair Rosenberg
· August 30, 2012
The Scroll
Tablet at the Republican National Convention
Tropical storm Isaac doesn't have anything on our man in Tampa
The Editors
· August 27, 2012
The Scroll
Sundown: Baking Art in a Matzo Factory
Plus Paul's delegates, Hitler's vices, and more
Marc Tracy
· May 3, 2012
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Cake Rusk Recipe: English – Urdu
Cake Rusk Recipe
Cake Rusk Recipe
Easy Cake Rusk Recipe: Urdu – English
- Flour – 250g
- Sugar – 250g
- Butter – 250g
- Baking powder – 2 tsp
- Vanilla essence – few drops
- Eggs – 6
- Preheat oven at 250ºC.
- Take a bowl and put eggs and beat until it becomes a little bit foamy. Take another bowl and put sugar and butter and mix with spoon.
- Then add this butter in three parts in eggs while beating. Now mix baking powder in flour and put this flour in egg mixture, gradually, and beat well.
- Also add vanilla essence and mix well. The mixture should look like thick custard.
- Now put this mixture in cake pan and put it in the oven and reduce the oven temperature from 250ºC to 200ºC and bake until the cake rises about an inch.
- Then reduce temp from 200ºC to 150ºC and bake until it is done.
- Then take it out from the oven and let it cool down for about 10 min. then cut in slices and again bake until crispy and golden brown, increase oven temp from 150ºC to 200ºC.
- Now enjoy Cake Rusk with tea.
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Sidra Reply
SIX eggs?? It seems too much.
yes dear, six egg….try this recipe then you will forget bakery's cake rusk.
I couldn't agree more. I have been looking for this recipe, I tried it and honestly it came out better than what we usually pay $5.49 for, here in florida.
Good simple receipe. We went a little easy on sugar and still came out right.
Thanks again.
My pleasure you like it! Thnx
No dear I have no idea about it.
Hi i was attracted to this recipe because it looks so simple that even a novice could handle it. The only things in my opinion need adding to the instructions are some rough time guides for how long to leave it in the oven. Also do you cream the butter and sugar untill light and fluffy? My custard like mixture was lumpy how do you avoid this? Would it work just as well if I added the egg bit by bit to the creamed butter and sugar?
My cake rusks are in the oven at the moment – they smell lovely! I'll let you know how they turn out.
no dear, in that case your cake rusk will be havier then actual.
delicious recipe of cake rusk
Hi.i wan to ask u ,what happen if i will not use vanilla essence or can we use any other flavour instead? also can i use simple cooking oil instead of butter?
hello ,,plz tell me any one that how can i make this if i hava a mocrowave oven which works according to time periods ,not with temperature setup,,is it suitable or there shoud be a gas oven. be hurry i loved these recipes
Microwave oven not ideal for baking cakes. But if you have only microwave oven, and then use half or quarter recipe of cake rusk.
Mix the batter according to the instructions. Pour the batter into microwave oven safe pan.
Place pan in the microwave, and close the door. Cook for seven minutes on low speed. Then cook for three to four minutes on high power. Test by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. It should come out clean. After five minutes cut in slices and again cook until crispy. Good Luck. 🙂
as salam o alikum… Laiba kindly muje chicken karahi , chicken keema n chicken kofta ki easy n tasty recipe bata den .. i need ur help… Its urgent.. Kal dawat hai n ye sab banaon ge main.. M waiting for ur reply … Thanx
salamz , kya hum 250gm butter ki jaga 250 mg ghee/Oil use kr sakty hain ?? & 250gm ghee kitna cup hoga?? Cake temp 150 krny k bad kitna time bake kren kitny min ?? Actually recipe main bake krny ki timing nai likhi .. plz reply me.. Thanks
salamz , plz tell me temp 150 krny k bad cake kitna time bake krna hai ??? Actually recipe main timing nai likhi.. & butter ki jaga ghee/Oli ues kr sakty hain?? & 250gm ghee/oil kitna cup hoga.. I knw kafi qs krti hun main .. Plz mind mat krye ga.. Thanks
thans Alot ghazala.. Last ki timing nai poch rahi main.. Cake slices krny sy pehly kitna time bake kren.. ?
Ahan Ok.. Bht shukria Ghazala 🙂


text:
App Empire 2.0 is the long-awaited update to the industry-changing App Empire course that Chad Mureta launched several years ago. Now Chad has joined forces with fellow app mogul Carter Thomas and Amazing.com to deliver the best, most comprehensive app business training ever.
Click Here To Join App Empire 2.0
You've probably never heard of Chad Mureta before, but chances are you've used one of his apps – Emoji [the app that gives you access to funny, smiley faces] and FingerPrint Security Pro are just some of his creations that have been downloaded, in total, 50 million times.
Chad Mureta has made millions starting and running his own successful app business, and now he explains how you can do it, too, in this non-technical, easy-to-follow guide. App Empire provides the confidence and the tools necessary for taking the next step towards financial success and freedom.
But Chad isn't the regular tech geek who slaved away in his dorm room: for one, he doesn't have the technical skills, and, he really did start his multi-million dollar app empire from his hospital bed.
While recovering from his accident in hospital and in excruciating pain, doctors told him that it was a miracle he survived, but his dominant arm would need to be amputated.
During his first few days in hospital, while in a highly medicated state, he noticed ER doctors going through his iPhone. He started to think about phone security. Later, with hours to wile away as he recovered from operation after operation to save his arm [doctors would eventually put his arm back together with a titanium rod], he passed the time by downloading apps, playing around with them, studying what worked, what didn't.
Soon, he hit upon an idea for a fingerprint security app that he sketched out on a piece of paper with much the same simplicity as a child's stick drawing (he had to use his less dominant arm), and passed it over to a developer he'd found online.
With no coding and technical experience, he recognized that his strength was being the creative and business mind behind the venture. He realized that he could be the business owner and outsource the development and design to others; that he didn't need to reinvent the wheel and teach himself these new skills."
The quote he received for development of his app idea was $1,800 – money he didn't have, so he asked his step-dad whether he could put it on his credit card.
In less than three months after conceiving his idea, the app was submitted to the App Store. He had no idea what he was doing. It was a complete surprise it did as well as it did."
In the first month Chad made $12,000, recouping his initial investment several times over.
Within six weeks, he had six more apps in development.
The Fingerprint-Security app meanwhile, would eventually go on to make $620,000 for its creator, before he sold it on.
Two months after launching his company, one of his apps averaged $30,000 a month cash flow. Later, the company's income reached $120,000 in one month. In two years, he created and sold three app companies, raking in millions.
Carter Thomas
Carter Thomas is a marketer and strategist in the mobile app space. Since 2011, Carter has published over 1,500 apps, on multiple platforms, that have generated 18M+ downloads. Since early 2013, Carter has built and sold five separate app portfolios to private buyers.
Carter's blog, Bluecloud Solutions, has reached over 2.5M visitors and is responsible for over 100 million downloads from the readers who have implemented his strategies. On the weekends, you can find Carter swimming in Hawaii, looking for new investments, and working on his next creative project.
App Empire 2.0 Detailed Overview
With App Empire 2.0 you will be able to copy the exact same strategies that Chad has used to build his own app empire. You will learn how the Apple app store really works. And, you will learn how you can set up your very own automated app business that will generate a steady stream of buyers. It doesn't matter if have never built (or even used) an app before – you will be shown exactly what you need to do to start your new business. You will learn how you can tap into some of the best app ideas – and those ideas are closer than you think. You will be building a business that you can be proud of and that can withstand any of the 'slaps' that Google may want to send your way – no more putting in the time and effort to build a business just to have Google knock it down.
You get step-by-step guidelines and easy-to-follow instructions on exactly what to do and how to do it. No stone is left unturned. Everything that you will need in order to succeed in this most profitable endeavor, is provided. I can assure that there is no one else in the world teaching this method
In addition to the video lessons, App Empire 2.0 comes with downloadable worksheets and action guides, coaching calls with the instructors, exclusive software tools to help you grow your business even faster, and many more fantastic extras!
Everything in the course is accessible online through any computer or mobile device and any web browser (no downloading required). This is a drip course, which means the first module will be available when you sign up, and the subsequent modules will be released weekly.
After the initial release of all the modules, you'll have access to everything included with App Empire 2.0 for as long as you want, so that you can go back and review everything you've learned and revisit specific lessons whenever you want.
You'll also have lifetime access to the PRIVATE App Empire 2.0 community. This is a one-of-a-kind online community of passionate entrepreneurs who are going through the course and learning how to build thriving app businesses, just like you are. This is your opportunity to meet and network with other driven, motivated entrepreneurs. You get instant community access when you purchase the course.
Click Here To Join App Empire 2.0
App empire 2.0 Lessons:
Module One – What You Need to Know to be Successful in the App Store
Lesson One: Welcome
Lesson Two: What You Will Learn
Lesson Three: The Millionaire Mindset
Lesson Four: Rewiring Your Beliefs
Lesson Five: Next Steps
Lesson Six: External App Trends
Module Two – Top Ranking App Ideas On Demand
Lesson One: Creating Hit Apps
Lesson Two: Market Research Demo
Lesson Three: The Art of Emulation
Lesson Four: The 10/30 Rule
Lesson Five: Choosing Your App Business Plan
Module Three – The App Empire "Automatic Outsourcing Method"
Lesson One: Finding Talent with Upwork
Lesson Two: Hire Slow, Fire Fast
Lesson Three: Tools Required
Lesson Four: SOPs
Lesson Five: Hiring a Developer
Lesson Six: Customizing an App Template
Module Four – Tweak Like A Freak
Lesson One: Registering As a Developer
Lesson Two: Designing Your App
Lesson Three: Testing Your App
Lesson Four: Publishing Your App
Lesson Five: Understanding the Future Market
Lesson Six: Setting Up a Developer Account
Lesson Seven: iTunes Connect
Lesson Eight: Uploading Your App
Module Five – Profitable App Organization
Lesson One: Introduction
Lesson Two: Marketing Your First App
Lesson Three: Icons & Screenshots
Lesson Four: App Descriptions & Support
Lesson Five: Keywords & ASO
Lesson Six: Marketing
Lesson Seven: Launching Your App
Module Six – Actions & Insights Done For You
Lesson One: Gathering Data
Lesson Two: Tools for Tracking
Lesson Three: Tweaking Your Apps
Lesson Four: Optimization and Moving On
Lesson Five: Beyond the 10/30: Retention
Lesson Six: Analytics
Lesson Seven: Retention
Lesson Eight: Reviews
Module Seven – Shotgun Systems – Explosive Scaling In the Mobile Experience
Lesson One: Advanced Techniques
Lesson Two: The Power of the App Network
Lesson Three: The Importance of Free
Lesson Four: Monetization Ninja Tricks
Lesson Five: Case Study: Game Strategy & Monetization
Lesson Six: Reviews
Lesson Seven: App Pricing
Lesson Eight: Your First Update
Module Eight – Monetization Monsoon – Turning Downloads Into Life-Changing Dollars
Lesson One: Monetizing Your Apps
Lesson Two: How to Sell an App Business
Lesson Three: How to Buy an App Business
Lesson Four: Monetization
Lesson Five: How to Sell Your App Business
Click Here To Join App Empire 2.0
Frequently Asked Questions:
What do I get when I sign up for App Empire 2.0?
You get access to the first module of video lessons in App Empire 2.0 as soon as you sign up; then the subsequent seven modules will be released in order, one per week. Your registration also includes access to all the tools, extra guides and worksheets, and the private community of entrepreneurs.
Can I access App Empire 2.0 from any computer or mobile device?
Yes! You can access the course from any computer or mobile device with any web browser, anywhere you can connect to the internet. No downloading is required.
I don't have any mobile app or business experience. Is this course really for me?
Absolutely! Chad and Carter will walk you through everything you need to know and do, one step at a time. You don't have to be a seasoned entrepreneur or established app developer to be successful. Amazing.com's courses are designed so that people of all backgrounds can start or grow their own businesses. That's the spirit of entrepreneurship!
What if I decide it's not for me? Can I get my money back?
You betcha! App Empire 2.0 is backed by their ironclad 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee. If at any time during the next 30 days you decide this course is not right for you, simply contact Amazing.com's Customer Experience Team and they'll give you a 100% refund. It's that simple.
What if I can't start right now? Should I sign up now or wait?
When you sign up for App Empire 2.0, you can start whenever you want. You proceed through the modules and step-by-step lessons in order; the modules are released to you on a weekly basis so that you have time to apply what you've learned in between each. Then, if you ever want to go back and review a module or lesson, you can do so at any time. You have full access to the lessons for as long as you want.
Why are all eight modules not immediately available?
This course includes a ton of great information and action steps. They release the modules over time to make sure you don't get sidetracked or overwhelmed by steps or information that you're not ready to implement. This allows you to execute the steps and build your app business in an organized and effective manner.
Is App Empire 2.0 another overhyped scam? or a real deal?
App Empire 2.0 program is not a scam or "get rich quick" scheme. It's a systematic approach to learning real skills and building a knowledge base that enables you to generate real cash that you can use to pay your bills. It goes without saying that since App Empire 2.0 is not a scam, you're gonna have to put in an honest effort to learn what Chad Mureta and Carter Thomas teach (yeah, they teaches the course themselves) and do the homework so that you can see results.
I'm able to 100% advise App Empire 2.0 for the reason that Chad Mureta is definitely a very productive internet marketer who has got a great deal of understanding to express. His App Empire 2.0 system would be the fantastic way to suit your needs to acquire began generating capital on the internet
The price of App Empire 2.0 is nothing when compared to the value that you will be receiving and that is what you should be looking at. Can this software and course really help you take your business to the next level? What will be your return on your investment and can you make your money back? I think the answer is "it's up to you". If you take action and actually use this information, I don't see how you could lose and typically in life, you get what you pay for.
When you accept to learn from Chad Mureta and Carter Thomas, you get an over the shoulder training that includes tons of video and PDF training modules that will take you from complete newbie marketer to the 6 figure marketer you have only dreamed about!
Bottom Line
After reading the App Empire 2.0 Review, I leave the verdict on you. Is it worth your purchase or not? Well, with just minutes of your investment, the product guarantees amazing amount of extra commission to you. Who would call such an investment waste! Guys, according to me, it is one of the surest ways to make some great amount of passive income even without creating a website. You cannot hope to get better than this. It is a win –win situation. With user friendly navigation, effective training system you can learn and earn a lot. It is a must buy product for novices to earn an immediate income.
Click Here To Join App Empire 2.0
I'm sure you don't need me or any other person to start listing you all of the system benefits. This is why the salesletter exists for! And call it a wild guess, but i think you'll agree with me that "Chad Mureta and Carter Thomas" is in the best position to give all of the ins and outs of the system…he wrote the darn thing !
And if you can't see the true power of this system than you're better off without it. Seriously.
I'm not going to start presurring you and lying to you that Chad Mureta and Carter Thomas's product is full of flaws, of missing parts, that it is incomplete and you simply can't live without some bonus or another.
"App Empire 2.0" has everything you need to start earning money online from the first week of aplying the techniques taught inside.
That's why I want to be clear on this: "App Empire 2.0" is by far the best package I've seen so far this entire year.
And such a great product simply deserves a great bonus package. Period. And here's where I step in.
I mean really…why in the world would you go and buy this system and not get the best possible bonus you can find with it?
But before I present to you my truly amazing bonus package for the "App Empire 2.0" system I want to ask you something.
Where do you consider yourself to be in this very moment?
I mean… are you really happy with your current state of your financial situation? Seriously. This is not a trick question and you don't have to be ashamed to answer. There's no one here beside you and me.
And you're the only one that can answer that question. Because you see…you're the only one that can change something in your life for the better.
And you know what else? It's easier than you might think when you have the kind of support you'll be getting from "Chad Mureta and Carter Thomas" and me.
The only way you could fail after buying "App Empire 2.0" and applying the techniques you'll learn inside it would be to move tomorrow in another solar system and not have access to the internet.
All jokes aside I really don't care if you're just starting out on the internet or you're allready a savvy marketer.
This product will make you money. Period. And if you'll buy it through this page I'll make sure that you succeed. That's my personal guarantee.
And after you'll be making real money online and you'll afford all of those things you've been dreaming about for so long… you'll remember this day, the day when you decided to stop letting others dictate your life and start crafting your own future.
Imagine a life where you don't have to wake up at seven o'clock in the morning to go to work and make money for somebody else.
Imagine a life without any of the common financial worries where you can live with your loved ones in a nice mansion, travel in nice locations arround the world, drive beautifull cars and so on.
If Your're Looking For The Best Complimentary Bonus Offer For" App Empire 2.0"… You've Come To The Right Place !
App Empire 2.0 is HIGHLY recommended and if you are looking to start an internet business or are simply looking for a way to make some fast cash online then it is a must. To get our amazing bonus package aswell… and for FREE, act AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
After you have done that, quickly email us your payment receipt – forward it to bestbonusever [at] gmail.com After I confirm your purchase, I will email you the download links (so make sure you use a valid email address). Due to heavy demand, please give me 24 – 48 hours to respond. Thanks!
NOTE: If you don't receive my email after 48 hours, please check your SPAM folder. Sometimes email filter tends to place emails into a SPAM folder by mistake.


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AC Repair Oro Valley Homeowners Rely On
Western States Home Services provides full-service AC repairs to business
owners and homeowners in Oro Valley, AZ. The Arizona heat makes having
an air conditioner essential and problems can happen with even the best
air conditioning system. You want to know that you have a top-quality
cooling company on your side.
Western States Home Services is that company. We are hard-working, efficient, and dedicated to customer service.
A few reasons to trust us to fix your AC system:
- 24/7 emergency service
- Over 50 years of experience in the business
- We work on all makes and models
- A+ rating with the BBB
- 100% satisfaction guaranteed
- NATE-certified technicians
At Western States Home Services, we are proud to employ only the best of the best when it comes to AC technicians. In fact, we only hire 1 out of every 100 candidates who apply to work with us. Our technicians are NATE-certified and have been fully vetted to ensure they know what they're doing and will be safe and correct while in your home or business. As such, Western States Home Services is the name to trust with your AC unit!
Oro Valley's Best Emergency Air Conditioning Service
Western States Home Services offers extensive by-appointment repair services, but when you're really in a jam and need our help on the weekends, at 2 am, or even on a holiday, we can help them too! Emergency AC service is available any time — 24/7.
Check out why folks in Oro Valley choose is for their AC repair needs:
- Serving Oro Valley homes and businesses alike
- Always respectful of you and your property
- Price match guarantee
- Flexible scheduling available to meet your needs
- Honest and reliable technicians
- Fast solutions and supreme craftsmanship
Oro Valley AC Repair Service You Can Count On
Western States Home Services is proud to be the top air conditioning service in Oro Valley. We look forward to providing you with outstanding customer care in AC repair – plus we offer great AC installation and maintenance services too.
Why call someone else when you can call the best? Contact us now!


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I used to write a lot, but then I heard other people's written words and I believed my writing couldn't come close to comparing. I haven't a written a lot since. None of my words seems to fit what I wanted to say. I wanted to write about what I would do if I weren't afraid. Discuss how I would love and trust with no fear. I wanted to write about how it's so easy to recognize and give in to the negatives of life. How easily I can see the things I fail at, and I'm afraid of instead of seeing where I excel. I wanted to write how we are all humans, and flaws and gifts are all part of that package, and we shouldn't want it any other way. That if we excelled at everything, how boring life would be. Instead, I end up just staring at my screen, not understanding what I can write that can explain these feelings or ideas.
Today was a day of high anxiety. I have a lot of stresses happening in my life, and I can't do much about them.I feel paralyzed in a world of moving parts. Lacking the ability to take hold of one stress and tackle that. Instead, I take on the world. I take on other people's burdens and made up anxieties and address those first. Mostly, though, I just lay on my couch or work on a puzzle. I pray for distractions and for things to just fall into place without me lifting a finger. I'm stuck. I don't know how to make the next move or even move forward anymore. I can't write what I want to express. Or accomplish things I need to accomplish. We all have flaws, and this current roadblock is mine.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who deals with these type of barriers at times. When it all gets too much, sometimes we retreat. We decide to hide away because maybe it would be easier. You are already feeling as if you are drowning and can't breathe, so you choose not to fight. I got to that point this weekend. I felt powerless and hopeless with a couple of things happening. But even though I'm at a roadblock, I kept doing my best to move. I grocery shopped. I cleaned my apartment. I cooked dinner. I worked on a puzzle. As you can tell, I also wrote even though I feel like it's garbage. I came up to a roadblock, but I kept going in my own way. Maybe I didn't take on what caused that roadblock in the first place, but hey at least I kept moving. I'll count that as a win.


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MP3•Episode home
Manage episode 228157594 series 1439243
By MOSO Partnership Inc. and Heather Bayer aka @CottageGuru. Discovered by Player FM and our community — copyright is owned by the publisher, not Player FM, and audio is streamed directly from their servers. Hit the Subscribe button to track updates in Player FM, or paste the feed URL into other podcast apps.
Listening to this podcast on the move? Get to the show notes here: http://www.vacationrentalformula.com/VRS274
322 episodes


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Happy Hearts Season! Today, I have some easy snack-o-gram Valentines that kiddos (and grown-ups) are sure to enjoy!
I love everything about Valentine's…the colors, the sentiment…the treats! And I also love to think a bit outside the box for my kids' Valentines that they pass out to their friends.
This first one is uses NatureBox Greek Yogurt Pretzels and Strawberry Greek Yogurt Pretzels. I also used plain sandwich baggies along with the free printable that is available to you below.
Fill your bags, cut out your bag toppers, and fold the toppers over the opening, stapling on each side. Be sure to fill out the from part, too!
This one is even easier. Take a back of your favorite pops {we love our Sea Salt Pop Pops} and attach the free printable card below.
Hope you have a LOVEly and delicious season!
Get more healthy ideas and delicious snacks. Discover over 100 snacks made with high-quality, simple ingredients at NatureBox!
Kristi Dominguez is a former event planner and part-time graphic designer. She blogs at IShouldBeMoppingTheFloor.com where she tackles projects to turn her cookie-cutter home into something more exciting. A lot more exciting.


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Our People
Norm Ruhoff
Director, Agricultural Commodity Risk Management Program; Clinical Assistant ProfessorView Profile
Ben Eborn
Extension Agricultural Economist, Professor
University of Idaho Extension, Bear Lake County
21620 US Hwy 30
Montpelier, ID 83254
M.S., University of Idaho, 2002
B.S., University of Idaho, 2001
Reed Findlay
Extension Educator, Crops and Horticulture
Bingham/Bannock, Room 412
University of Idaho Extension, Bingham County
412 W. Pacific
Blackfoot, Idaho 83221
Reed Findlay graduated from Brigham Young University with a master's degree in agronomy in 1993. He began his career as an agricultural Extension educator with Montana State University working out of Rosebud and Treasure counties. He currently serves with the University of Idaho as a crops and horticulture Extension educator and county chair in Bannock and Bingham counties.
M.S., Brigham Young University, 1993
B.S., Brigham Young University, 1990
Languages other than English spoken
- Spanish
Ken Hart
Extension Educator and Professor
University of Idaho Extension, Lewis County
510 Oak St., Rm. 6
Nezperce, ID 83543
Ken's work focuses on Lewis County 4-H and CL2N 4-H Camp, production agriculture and small acreage farming in Lewis/Idaho counties, and farm financial management education in north central Idaho.
M.S., University of Idaho, 1992
B.S., Seattle Pacific University, 1977
Steven Hines
Extension Educator, Crops
Jerome County Fairgrounds
UI Extension, Jerome County
600 2nd Ave W.
Jerome, ID 83338
Steven Hines is professor of Extension located in Jerome County. Steven has been with UI Extension since January of 2000. His areas of expertise include forages, cereals and cover crops.
M.S., University of Idaho, 1996
B.S., University of Idaho, 1992
Jon Hogge
Extension Educator, Madison County
University of Idaho Extension, Madison County
Courthouse, PO Box 580 (134 E. Main St.)
Rexburg, ID 83440-0580
M.S., University of Idaho, 2008
B.S., Utah State University, 2001
Kate Painter
Extension Educator — Agriculture, Assistant Professor
University of Idaho Extension, Boundary County
6447 Kootenai Street
PO Box 267
Bonners Ferry, ID 83805
Kate provides educational programming in farm management, cereal and forage production, livestock production, horticulture and small farm production. She also offers training for the Idaho Master Gardener program.
Ph.D., Washington State University, 1992
M.A., Washington State University, 1982
B.A., Washington State University, 1979
Joel Packham
Extension Educator
Cassia County Courthouse Room #4
University of Idaho Extension, Cassia County
1459 Overland Ave., Room 4
Burley, ID 83318-2189
I teach farm and ranch financial management in connection with estate/succession planning. I also teach farm production and financial record management using Excel spreadsheets and QuickBooks. Cover crops are important to the Magic Valley, and I do research, teach and advise the use of grazing cover crops for soil management. 4-H livestock is an area of expertise.
- M.S., University of Idaho, 1990
- B.S., Brigham Young University, 1988
Languages spoken other than English
- Italian
Norm Ruhoff
Director, Agricultural Commodity Risk Management Program; Clinical Assistant Professor
Ag Science, Room 39B
Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology
University of Idaho
875 Perimeter Drive MS 2334
Moscow, ID 83844-2334
M.S., University of Idaho, 1988
B.S., University of Idaho, 1983
- AGEC 278: Farm & Agribusiness Management
- AGEC 289: Agricultural Markets & Prices
- AGEC 468: Commodity Merchandising
- AGEC 489: Futures & Options Markets
- AGEC 489L: Applied Commodity Market Analysis
Terrell Sorensen
Extension Educator
University of Idaho Extension, Power County
500 Pocatello Ave.
American Falls, ID 83211
Terrell's focus is cereal grains, water, and water related issues, and the Farm Ranch Management team. He also coordinates the 4-H activities in the county.
M.S., Utah State University, 1978
B.S., Utah State University, 1975
R. Garth Taylor
Extension Specialist, Associate Professor
Ag Science, Room 28B
Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology
University of Idaho
875 Perimeter Drive MS 2334
Moscow, ID 83844-2334
Ph.D., Colorado State University
Hernan Tejeda
Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist
Evergreen Building, Room B48; Ag Science, Room 37
Twin Falls Research and Extension Center
315 Falls Avenue East
Twin Falls ID 83301
Ph.D., North Carolina State University, 2010
M.B.A., University of Notre Dame, 2000
B.S.I.E., Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, 1990
Ashlee Westerhold
Extension Area Economist
Evergreen Building, Room 118
Twin Falls Research and Extension Center
University of Idaho
315 Falls Avenue East
Twin Falls, ID 83301-1827
M.S., University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2017
B.S., University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2015
Languages other than English spoken
- French (elementary)
- Spanish (elementary)
Carmen Willmore
Extension Educator — Livestock and Forages
Suite A, 201 S. Beverly, Shoshone
University of Idaho Extension, Lincoln County
201 S. Beverly St.
Shoshone, ID 83352-0608
Carmen is the Extension educator in Lincoln County, located in Shoshone, ID. Her programming efforts focus on livestock and forage education for surrounding producers.
M.S., University of Nebraska — Lincoln, 2015
B.S., Iowa State University, 2013


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Explore the area
There is much to do in the areas surrounding the city of Lubumbashi.
There are some interesting historical sites such as the tomb of Chief M'siri and the Belgium Lieutenant who shot him at opposite ends of the town of Bunkeya, this is approximately 3 hour drive from Lubumbashi.
If you're into nature at it's wildest then then look no further than the Kundelungu National Park Lofoi falls, one of the tallest waterfalls in Africa are to be found in this National Park. It's possible to go and set up camp for a weekend near to the falls and enjoy the spectacular views.
The stunning waterfalls of Masansa and Lutshipuka can also be found in Kundelungu Park. Upemba National Park adjoins Kundelungu National Park's boundary to the west. This park is currently being returned to it's former glory with the support of the Frankfurt Zoological Society. Increased protection of the flora and fauna will hopefully mean that this park will once again become a destination for those seeking . There are still some zebras, various antelopes and even a few remaining elephant to be found in the park. We wish the team well with all their endeavours! If you're up for a Sunday afternoon out, then a visit to one of a number of farms and lodges closer to Lubumbashi maybe just your thing.
Many of these places provide meals in their cafes, fish ponds, quiet river walks in their grounds, children's play areas and rowing boats, some also offer accommodation which needs to be negotiated in advance.
If you prefer exploring other cities, then a weekend break in Kolwezi may take your fancy. This town is smaller than Lubumbashi and is situated at a higher altitude. It is close to the very beautiful Lualaba river one of the largest tributaries of the river Congo.
These days there are a number of guest houses where you can stay and enjoy discovering this very pleasant town whose town centre looks out on a small lake. Kolwezi can also be reached by air directly from Johannesburg.
If you prefer some more adventurous traveling then you may consider a trip to the beautifully located city of Goma a 3 hour flight from Lubumbashi. On the banks of Lake Kivu with the dramatic backdrop of the Nyiragongo Volcano. Virunga National Park is accessible from Goma where you can join organised treks with the park rangers to see the mountain gorillas.
Goma is situated close to the Rwandan border. One can enter Rwanda by road but be sure to check visa requirements before starting out on this journey.
|Where to stay
|Eating out
|Explore the area
|Education and Health


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How to Grow Your Own Plants From Cuttings
Many people would like to do a beautiful job of landscaping their yards. No doubt about it landscaping is expensive. Even small shrubs can add up quickly. If you think about it the cost is not so exorbitant when you … Continue reading →


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Here is an interesting research paper from the Journal of Marketing Research about how the prices of things we don't buy still affect the price we expect to pay for our purchases.
To test for the effect of incidental prices, the authors use a combination of laboratory and empirical studies. The results of the first study show that the price of an unrelated good (a sweatshirt that did not interest participants) can affect people's willingness-to-pay for the item that interests them (a music CD). Specifically, when a sweatshirt offered at an adjacent vendor was priced higher, consumers offered more for a CD they wanted to buy. In a separate laboratory experiment, the authors find that if participants see multiple incidental prices sequentially, the one they view most recently has the strongest effect. The third study empirically documents the influence of incidental prices in an auction, using a real-world data set provided by one of the nation's premier classic-automobile auction houses. The authors find that the closing bid for one automobile influences how much consumers are willing to pay for the next car on the block. The auction study reveals that the impact of incidental prices is powerful enough to affect knowledgeable buyers of expensive products in an information rich setting.
The results have clear, direct implications for all parties involved in an auction. The prescription for sellers is clear: Attempt to have your belongings to follow costlier items onto the selling block, the more expensive the better. The marketing implications extend beyond auctions, to online vendors and conventional retailers alike. Virtual resellers may consider which pop-up advertisements appear when Web surfers visit their site. While opening a browser with the intention of buying a book at Amazon.com, a pop-up advertisement that touts flights at Orbitz.com "starting at $124," could make shoppers less price sensitive. Are low-priced, impulse products all that should surround a checkout? Perhaps a high-priced item or two may make shoppers feel better about what they are paying for their purchases.
Maybe the next sales tactic will be to employ fake shoppers who spend all day standing in line buying expensive things so that the people in line behind them feel like they got a good deal.


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LBG Builders are residential builders based in the Hibiscus Coast, who specialise in complex architecturally designed homes in Auckland and throughout New Zealand.
The brief from the client was to showcase their work with large images. So the design of this website incorporates a full screen slideshow on the home page.


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Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Normal Service Is Resumed....
While I've been away I've spent many an hour revisiting the giallo movies that helped me get hooked on cinema in the first place, along with plenty of Eurocrime films I hadn't seen before. Top of the pile in that particular category is Fernando Di Leo's Milano Calibro 9 from the Fernando Di Leo box set volume 1. Since first seeing it around six months ago, I've watched it at least another five times so far and it's comfortably my favourite film seen this year, as a result I've developed a real case of man love for Gastone Moschin. In addition, I've equally fallen for Di Leo's Shoot First, Die Later from volume 2, both are highly recommended. Look out for some form of coverage on them soon.
What else do I have planned? Well, I've finally got my hands on the Bullet In The Head festival cut, thanks to one of my supercool readers, so it would be rude not to do something with that. I have an idea for a new occasional series, but the details need ironing out on that one, and I have loads more posters and other goodies to share with you, having finally had all of them out and taken pics of them. I'd love to know what everyone else has been doing, what have you been watching etc???
11 comments:
- Phantom of Pulp said...
Welcome back, Hero.
Your real friends never fade.
- October 1, 2013 at 5:35 PM
- A hero never dies said...
Thanks Mark, I know that but it's great of you to say!
- October 1, 2013 at 6:13 PM
- robotGEEK said...
You know how long I've been waiting to read your stuff again? ;)
Glad to have you back. Caliber 9 sounds awesome. Need to see this ASAP. Not sure if it's readily available in the states though. I'm gonna try though!
- October 1, 2013 at 6:20 PM
- A hero never dies said...
Thanks rG, Caliber 9 is available from raro video in the US. Look out for it on Amazon, during the last black friday sale they had the 4 disc set for $12.98. Crazy value!
- October 1, 2013 at 6:25 PM
- A. said...
Welcome back Hero!
I've made the first post in about a year.And catching up with the criterions for Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter.
Finally seeing Drug War this week. Have you seen it yet?
- October 1, 2013 at 6:51 PM
- A hero never dies said...
Thanks A. and welcome back yourself, I missed your post, I'll check it out as soon as I finish typing this. Would love to hear your thoughts on the two Suzuki's. As for Drug War, it's pretty clever in getting around the censorship issues, and was very solid without completely blowing me away. It has some memorable characters though and Louis Koo was great.
- October 1, 2013 at 6:57 PM
- achillesgirl said...
Glad to see you back, dear.
Gastone Moschin - I will stab any person who does not love him.
- October 1, 2013 at 7:44 PM
- A hero never dies said...
Thanks Sylvia, I'm definitely safe then as far as my man Moschin is concerned!
- October 1, 2013 at 7:46 PM
- Wes Moynihan said...
Great to see you back Mart. I'm suffering thru some downtime on my own blog at the moment so that explains my late late comment. I wanted to mail you a few times but I felt I might have been hounding you so I let it lie. But relieved and glad to see you on good form again !
- October 16, 2013 at 11:52 AM
- A hero never dies said...
Thanks Wes, you're always welcome around these parts, by email, comments or carrier pigeon if you prefer. It feels good to be back!
- October 16, 2013 at 6:28 PM
- Phantom of Pulp said...
Truly some of the great art ever.
- November 11, 2013 at 1:48 AM


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Almost 5 years ago, a gorgeous baby was born in China. [Photo removed for security.]
For unknown reasons, his biological parents could not care for him. He was eventually delivered to an orphanage. Although he was cared for, he did not have a family to love him like their own. At about the time this photo was taken, his life could have taken a very different path, with years of institutionalization ahead of him.
Yet, around the world, people were already rallying:
- In Oregon, USA, Grace and Hope for Children was working to provide him a foster family.
- A sister agency, Hope4China, located in Scotland, looked for an individual sponsor willing to cover the cost of a foster family.
- The sponsor, a Scottish woman, paid to keep him with a Chinese foster family for what she later would call, "all for the price of a daily newspaper." (She prayed for him and prayed that he would have a loving foster family and a loving adoptive family.)
The 20-day-old infant went to live with a foster family, who loved him like their own. He grew from a beautiful baby to a charming toddler to a thriving 3-year-old. That loving 3-year-old joined our family 18 months ago.
He is a happy, loving, well-adjusted child. We know that the first three years of life are absolutely crucial in a child's development, especially where attachment and relationships are concerned. The loving care he received in foster care has allowed him to go on to form bonds with us. We do not take this for granted.
I won't go on and on...or my computer might short-circuit in a puddle of tears.
Since my son arrived home, we have learned about all the earth angels who cared for him. We didn't know about them when we picked him up, but one internet connection led to another and another and another...til we've fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Angel hands around the world have carried him...physically, spiritually, emotionally, financially. (Someday we will also thank his Heavenly angels! In person, that is.)
For the last year, we have attempted to pay it forward by sponsoring another child from our son's orphanage. The list of children needing foster families continues to grow. Knowing what a huge difference that early, loving experience can make, we want to do more.
SO...that's my long-winded way of saying this...beginning in 2010, all the Amazon commissions we make here will be sent to Grace and Hope. As you probably know, when you click through this site to Amazon they give us a minimal commission at no additional cost to the buyer. That money will now go to Grace and Hope.
End of 2010: we almost covered the yearly sponsorship of one child through website commissions.
During 2011, "Selah," the little girl that we'd been sponsoring was adopted. We began sponsoring a little boy, "Ronan."
End of 2011: Amazon website commissions covered the yearly foster care sponsorship for Ronan along with a small additional donation.
End of 2012: Again, Amazon website commissions covered the yearly foster care sponsorship for Ronan along with a small additional donation.
End of 2013: who knows what is possible??? :)
I appreciate the interest you've shown in this site. It's fun for me. A hobby. And I'd like that time to go toward a worthy cause. My own selfish reasons, really. I'd like to know that somewhere, someday, another kiddo will have an expression like this. [Unfortunately, I had to remove a cute photo of my son after I found a random entry from my blog posted on a trashy site. Bloggers beware.]


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Anti-Steroids Video Campaign Doesn't Just Make You Laugh, It Makes You Think
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Did you know that nearly 3% of high school athletes have admitted to trying steroids at least once? This may not sound like a large number but it is cause for a growing concern regarding steroid usage among high school athletes. To showcase the consequences of steroid use in Teen Athletes, the Ad Council has created a new video as part of the "Don't Be an Asterisk" series. The campaign was started several years ago in partnership with the U.S. Olympic Committee, and this latest video addresses high school athletes and soccer:
Sean Sterner did things on the field of play that no high school soccer player before him ever did, defying even the laws of physics themselves. However, all of that came at a cost, and now when people look at him, all they see is an asterisk.
For more information, please visit the Don't Be An Asterisk campaign website.


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Shake up your usual ice cream outing by chilling out with one of these old-school milkshakes instead. Kids of all ages will love the cool flavours and sweet selections of these top spots for milkshakes in Toronto.
The Big Chill
With more than 30 flavours of ice cream and topping and themed kiddie parties on the menu, there's something awesome here for your whole family. PS: The retro floats will blow your four-year-old's mind.
566 College Street, Toronto
Ed's Real Scoop
The old-fashioned milkshakes made with old-fashioned ice cream are a family favourite year-end.
920 Queen Street East, Toronto
Dutch Dreams
This Wychwood ice cream institution has been making perfect shakes for 25 years. Kids will love the kitschy over-the-top ice-cream parlour decor.
36 Vaughan Road, Toronto
Find more great places for moms just like you. Download JellyBeen, the social mobile app to find the best places to shop, eat and play with kids.
Image credits: The Big Chill


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DKIT School of Informatics & Creative Arts, Dundalk Education Building, Irish Architecture
DKIT School of Informatics & Creative Arts, Ireland
Irish Education Development – design by Scott Tallon Walker Architects
30 Aug 2013
Dundalk Informatics & Creative Arts Building
Design: Scott Tallon Walker Architects
Location: Dundalk, Ireland
DKIT School of Informatics & Creative Arts Dundalk
In 2001 Dundalk Institute of Technology acquired the cigarette factory which is a protected structure designed in 1967. Their objective was to convert 10,000 sq. metres into a third-level educational facility for the departments of Informatics and Creative Arts.
The original concept of the building was very simple – the repetition of a single structural bay (20.6m by 20.6m) square steel structural unit capable of expansion in a multi-cellular way. This concept allowed us to raise three existing bays, thus creating office accommodation over two stories and organized around three atria. Due to the cruciform column design, this was achieved without interfering with the adjoining bays.
The building's new circulation routes were aligned with the gridlines of the building which gave the overall internal planning a strong discipline. These spacious corridors are one module wide (3430mm) and two modules high and are derived from the existing building's proportions. We then introduced a large social and performance space and a winter-garden as focal points. In these spaces the existing suspended ceiling was removed in order to expose the elegant two-way spanning steel truss structure.
Modification to the envelope consisted of removing only the brick panels adjacent to each column and replacing them with bespoke curtain walling. This gives a clear architectural expression to each free standing structural bay.
Renewable energy systems employed include the Institute's wind turbine being used to create ice banks at off peak times. Windcatchers on rooflights are employed to bring natural ventilation and light into the building. An air tightness of 8.2m³/m2/hr was achieved. While this may not be impressive for a new building, it was a considerable achievement as the 45mm deflection of the roof trusses required bespoke wall to ceiling details.
The building improved its energy rating from G to B1.
DKIT School of Informatics & Creative Arts images / information from Scott Tallon Walker Architects
Location:Dundalk, Ireland
Irish Architecture
Irish Architecture Designs – chronological list
Irish Architecture – Selection
Giant's Causeway Visitor Facilities, Northern Ireland
image from architects
Giant's Causeway Competition
House in Wicklow
ODOS Architects
photograph : Ros Kavanagh and ODOS architects
House in Wicklow
Wexford Festival Opera Theatre Royal, Wexford, Republic of Ireland
Keith Williams Architects
image : Ros Kavanagh
Wexford Opera House
Comments / photos for the DKIT School of Informatics & Creative Arts – Irish Architecture page welcome
DKIT School of Informatics & Creative Arts Building


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In the Footsteps of Babur: Musical Encounters from the Lands of the Mughals
Fusing cultural influences from Persia, Central Asia, and India, the Mughals created a brilliant intellectual and artistic efflorescence whose legacy remains strong today. In the Footsteps of Babur represents a modern-day encore of Mughal artistic synthesis. Inspired by visual images and literary descriptions of exuberant music-making in the Mughal courts, the Aga Khan Music Initiative brought together musicians from Afghanistan, India, and Tajikistan with the aim of merging their talents, traditions, and musical instruments to create new sounds.
Babur was born into a world in which the influence of Persian culture loomed large. His birthplace, Ferghana, now a city in the nation of Uzbekistan, was in Babur's time a principality that had once been part of the Timurid Empire. Babur traced his ancestry to the empire's founder, Timur (anglicized as Tamerlane), as well as to Genghis Khan. The Timurids, descended from Turco-Mongol stock, had cultivated a Persian sensibility in art, architecture, poetry, and music that reached its zenith in 15th-century Samarkand and Herat, and it was this sensibility that Babur absorbed in his youth.
As a teenager, Babur set off from his native Ferghana with a small army. His objective: to capture Samarkand, which he viewed as his family's ancestral homeland. His attempt failed, but in 1504, when Babur was twenty-one, he seized Kabul, and the next year took up residence there. From his base in Kabul, Babur led reconnaissance expeditions eastward into Hindustan, and in 1526, his vastly outnumbered troops won a decisive battle that gave him control of Delhi and Agra, the future site of the Taj Mahal, built by his great-great-grandson, Shah Jahan. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Babur's descendants - the Mughal rulers Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb - continued the expansion and consolidation of the Mughal Empire until it covered almost the entire subcontinent. The cultural diversity of this vast territory was reflected in the different kinds of music and musical ensembles that were patronized by the Mughal courts. Orchestras of kettledrums, cymbals, trumpets, and loud oboes whose origins were in Persia and the Middle East marked the comings and goings of the emperor. Mughal miniature paintings show a variety of long-necked lutes and spike fiddles - instruments rooted in the Persian and Turkic cultures of Central Asia. These paintings also show indigenous Indian instruments - most commonly the rudra vina, also called bin, easily identifiable by the large gourds attached to either end of a long neck.
The legions of performers in the service of the Mughal courts may well have created their own "fusion music" jam sessions, experimenting with various combinations of instruments, sonorities, melodic modes, and rhythmic structures. Another venue for musical fusions might have been the meeting places of Sufis - followers of a mystical path in Islam - where, contrary to more orthodox Islamic custom, musical instruments were sometimes used to facilitate prayer leading to a state of spiritual ecstasy.
Following the death of Aurangzeb, in 1707, the Mughal Empire began a long period of decline, which ended in 1858 with the abdication of Emperor Bahadur II and the establishment of the British Raj. As Britain faced off against its imperial rival, Russia, in what became known as "The Great Game," Afghanistan became a buffer zone between empires. Following the rise of Soviet power in Central Asia in the 1920s, the once porous border between Central Asia and the subcontinent hardened. The fluid movement of artists and musicians characteristic of Mughal times was replaced by bureaucratized cultural exchanges of state-sponsored performing troupes and artistic luminaries. The 1947 partitioning of India, decades of war and political instability in Afghanistan, and, in the post-Soviet era, a focus on strengthening national cultural identities in the newly independent "stans" of Central Asia, all impeded the reestablishment of closer links among musical descendants of the singers, drummers, and instrumentalists portrayed in Mughal miniatures. Hoping to reanimate those links, the Aga Khan Music Initiative invited a small group of cosmopolitan-minded musicians from Central Asia, Afghanistan, and India to meet and explore the living legacy of their common musical ground. These musical meetings did not take place in the historical lands of the Mughals. Rather, in the spirit of today's musically globalized world, they occurred in northern California, where Afghan rubab player Homayun Sakhi currently makes his home, and in Paris, where the commodious Studios Babel, true to its name, offered an ideal environment for a multicultural recording project.
Sakhi himself offers an exemplary case study in artistic synthesis. Born into one of the leading musical families of Kabul, he studied rubab with his father, Ustad Ghulam Sakhi, a student of Ustad Mohammad Omar (d. 1980). The music he learned included both the classical Hindustani raga tradition of North India and Afghan folk and popular music. Beginning in the mid-19th century, at the sunset of the Mughal Empire, Hindustani musicians were patronized by the local ruling family of Kabul, where they created a Kabuli tradition of raga performance whose principal instruments were Afghan rubab accompanied by tabla. The addition of sympathetic strings and drone strings increased the deep, resonant quality of the rubab's sound - ideal for the slow and meditative opening section of a raga performance. This 19th-century adaptation of the rubab, an instrument rooted in the music of Central and West Asia, reprised the adaptation of older forms of long-necked lutes by musicians in the early 17th-century Mughal court, who, as shown in miniature paintings, used them to play the steady drone pitch that was then coming into fashion as an accompaniment to classical singers.
At around the same time that Homayun Sakhi was learning rubab from his father in Kabul, Rahul Sharma was studying santur with his father, Shiv Kumar Sharma, in Mumbai. Drawn by the lively musical life of Mumbai, the elder Sharma had moved there in the 1960s from Kashmir, his native land.
The santur - a zither whose strings are struck with small wooden mallets, like a hammer dulcimer - had long been played in Kashmir as a folk instrument and as part of Sufyana Kalam, a local classical music tradition linked to Sufi practices. Musical instrument specialists place the origins of the santur in the Middle East. When it first appeared in Kashmir is unknown, but santur-like zithers are depicted in Mughal miniature paintings.
Just as Afghani rubab players learned to play Indian ragas and, in so doing, achieved a new level of virtuosity on their instrument, Shiv Kumar Sharma devoted himself to developing a way to perform raga on the santur. While the santur, with its tautly stretched strings and percussive playing technique, might seem an unlikely candidate for adaptation to the pitch-bending embellishments and sinuous melodic lines characteristic of raga performance, Shiv Kumar Sharma created a range of sophisticated santur techniques that brilliantly represent the sound and spirit of raga. This was the craft and sensibility that Rahul Sharma learned from his father.
Indian raga thus became the musical lingua franca for the meeting of Homayun Sakhi and Rahul Sharma.
Their fluency in the language of raga was in some sense a vestige of the enormous momentum of Mughal artistic synthesis, which persisted long past the cultural apogee of the empire, drawing an ever-expanding constellation of regional instruments and performance traditions into the cosmopolitan musical domain that was one of its great artistic legacies. Homayun and Rahul's magisterial rendition of raga Kirwani on In the Footsteps of Babur includes tabla player Salar Nader, a young Afghan- American disciple of the renowned tabla master Ustad Zakir Hussain. "Raga Kirwani" is followed by "Misra Kirwani," a lighter and shorter improvised piece based on the same melodic motifs and modal characteristics as raga Kirwani. Two other ragas - Bhupali and Vachaspati - are also represented on the CD, each in a solo performance, on the Afghan rubab and santur, respectively.
At the same time that instruments such as the rubab and santur from the geographical margins of the Mughal Empire became a part of the Hindustani classical music tradition, they remained popular among performers of many kinds of local folk music. Rahul Sharma drew on the folksong tradition of Jammu, in the southwest of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, for the charming melody that serves as the basis for an extemporized duet he performs with Homayun Sakhi. Rahul taught the melody to Homayun, and they quickly worked out an arrangement.
Two other pieces, "Sayr-i Badakhshan" (A Stroll in Badakhshan) and "Zuhal's Song," bring together a different configuration of instruments from Central Asia and the subcontinent. In these sprightly, folk-like pieces, Homayun Sakhi and Salar Nader, on Afghan rubab and tabla, team up with master musicians from Tajikistan, Afghanistan's neighbor to the north. In this collaboration, the tabla represents the influence of India in a sound rooted in the Persian-speaking world from which Mughal artists and musicians drew much of their inspiration.
One of the musicians from Tajikistan, Mukhtor Muborakqadomov, lives not far from the Afghan border, in the Pamir Mountains of Badakhshan, a culturally autonomous region that straddles the boundary between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Mukhtor plays the Badakhshani setar, a long-necked lute whose multiple sympathetic strings and soothing timbre call to mind the sound of the setar's near-namesake, the Indian sitar. Unlike the sitar, however, the Badakhshani setar is purely a village instrument - an artifact of the long tradition of music, poetry, and spirituality among inhabitants of the austere settlements that dot the steep alpine slopes and valleys of the Pamirs.
The second musician from Tajikistan, dutar player Sirojiddin Juraev, grew up in and around Khujand, the main city of northern Tajikistan, not far from the birthplace of Emperor Babur, in Ferghana. Sirojiddin's instrument, the dutar, has old roots in the Ferghana Valley region, which encompasses both Khujand and Ferghana. These days, the dutar, like the Afghan rubab, lives a dual musical life in which it is used both by performers of classical music and folk music. Sirojiddin studied the classical tradition of Shashmaqom - historically linked to the cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, and now proclaimed by both Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as a monument of intangible cultural heritage - but he's also fond of folk and popular music, and readily joined in the extemporaneous arranging of "Sayri Badakhshan" and "Zuhal's Song."
Between the ensemble pieces are two short instrumental duets, "Ruboyat-i Vanj" and "Bilak Uzuk," which pair the setar and tanbur with tabla - a pairing that wouldn't occur in present-day Badakhshan or northern Tajikistan, where the customary percussion instruments are frame drums. The tabla, a product of the Mughal-era fusion of Persian percussion and Indian sensibility, provides an Indian accent to the sounds of Central Asian instruments, reanimating the artistic synthesis of two great and enduring musical civilizations.
Homayun Sakhi
Since immigrating to the United States in 2002, Homayun Sakhi has established a worldwide reputation as the outstanding Afghan rubab player of his generation. His artistry demonstrates how an imaginative musician working within a traditional musical idiom can enrich and expand its expressive power, while respecting the taste and sensibility passed down from master musicians of the past. Sakhi's performance style has been shaped not only by the musical traditions to which Afghan music is geographically and historically linked but by his lively interest in contemporary music from around the world. Born in Kabul into one of Afghanistan's leading musical families, he studied rubab with his father, Ustad Ghulam Sakhi, in the traditional form of apprenticeship known as ustadshagird (Persian: "master-apprentice"). Ghulam Sakhi was heir to a musical lineage that began in the 1860s, when the ruler of Kabul, Amir Sher Ali Khan, brought classically trained musicians from India to perform at his court. Over the next hundred years, Indian musicians thrived there, and Kabul became a center for the performance of North Indian classical music. Musicians in Kabul also cultivated the art of playing the rubab, which was prominent in regional folk music. Today the people of Afghanistan regard the rubab with great pride as their national instrument. Homayun Sakhi currently resides in Fremont, California, a major cultural center of Afghan émigré life, where he opened a school to teach Afghan music to children. His busy performance schedule regularly takes him to cities around the world.
Rahul Sharma
Born in Mumbai in 1972, Rahul Sharma is heir to the Indian classical santur tradition established by his esteemed father, Shiv Kumar Sharma. "It wasn't a preconceived idea that I would become a professional musician," Rahul recounted. "I majored in economics at university, and didn't begin performing publicly on the santur until I was around 22. But once I started, it just took off. In the last dozen years, I've probably released more than 40 albums and had a lot of opportunities to collaborate with international musicians. I've always enjoyed composing. Ever since I was a kid, I played the Casio synthesizer and composed my own tunes. Composing offers freedom from the discipline of classical music. When I was growing up, I was fascinated not just by Indian classical music but by world music and rock. I listened to the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Celtic music, Sting. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's collaborations with Michael Brook inspired me. So I thought, why don't I do something like this with santur? I've always had a desire to experiment. I played with Shakti and John McLaughlin, and with percussionist Zakir Hussain and mandolin player U. Srinivas. The santur is not just a classical instrument. It has a whole different side. My father established the santur in the classical mode. Now it's ready to head off into new realms. I'm still experimenting."
Salar Nader
Salar Nader is one of his generation's leading performers on the tabla. His parents emigrated from Afghanistan to Germany, where Nader was born in 1981. At the age of three, he came to the United States, and at age seven, he began formal tabla study with renowned tabla master Ustad Zakir Hussain. Nader frequently accompanies Homayun Sakhi and other performers of Afghan and North Indian classical music. He is also active as a performer in world percussion and jazz-fusion groups. A resident of San Francisco, Nader recently appeared as an onstage musician in an American theatrical adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's bestselling novel, The Kite Runner. In addition to his performance activities, Salar is a devoted teacher of tabla.
Sirojiddin Juraev
Sirojiddin Juraev comes from a lineage of dutar players in his native region of northern Tajikistan. "Both my father and grandfather played the dutar," said Sirojiddin, "and my first ustad was my father. Later I studied at the Music College in Khujand and at Khujand University, and after that, at the Academy of Maqam, in Dushanbe, where my ustad was Abduvali Abdurashidov. I listen a lot to old recordings of the great ustads, and when I listen to their records and hear something I really like, I try to learn those tunes. Now I teach dutar in the National Conservatory in Dushanbe. When I feel inspired, I also compose my own music on the dutar. If you listen a lot to old records that are inspiring, there should be an urge to compose. You can't compose from a void. There has to be an inspiration that comes from listening to a master."
Mukhtor Muborakqadomov
Badakhshani setar player Mukhtor Muborakqadomov makes his home in a village near Khorog, the regional capital and Badakhshan's largest city, with a population of around 40,000. "I began playing the setar when I was in eighth grade. I learned by ear from my uncle," said Mukhtor. "I've never learned to read music. I like Indian music and frequently listen to it, so probably that's why my style sounds Indian." Mukhtor is a member of the Badakhshan Ensemble (featured on Music of Central Asia, vol. 5), which performs both traditional Badakhshani music and contemporary pop songs - the latter typically in the context of local wedding festivities, for which Mukhtor plays electronic keyboard in place of setar. He is also a composer who creates original melodies for song lyrics drawn from classical Persian and Badakhshani poetry.