text:
I am happy to announce that I will be a part of the Fanboy Book Club. This wonderful group is hosted by Bianca @ The Ultimate Fangirl. This book club focuses on YA novels with male leads. I realized in my reading that I read so many female protagonists (which is awesome!), but I wanted to read some books where males were more than just a love interest!
If you are interested, the February book is the classic and original Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. To sign up, click the link: http://goo.gl/forms/SQqQxcmoqM. For more information, check out Bianca's post here.
Introduction Questions:
1 Tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Ali, and I am trying to read more diversely. I love fantasy which does already have a lot of male leads, but I've noticed a lot of YA fantasy is female centric.
2 How did you come up with your blog name?
To be honest, I am not the biggest fan of my blog name. I guess it's pretty accurate though; I am a book lover, and you'll find my thoughts here. 🙂
Fun part:
3 Who is your favorite male character?
Well, I love Harry Potter, but he is probably a very popular answer. I love Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, and also Kelsier from Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. They're both complex, intense male characters.
4 I'm giving you the freedom here. Who are your book husbands/book boyfriends?
Well, we will be here forever if I list all of mine out. Kaz, Jem Carstairs, and Nikolai from the Grisha trilogy are just a few.
5 Book with a male lead that really stuck to your heart?
I grew up with Harry Potter, so he definitely had a big impact on my life. But, I love The Little Prince. It's an amazing classic children's book. Plus, it's French!
6 Link to your social media accounts.
Twitter: @booklthoughts
Instagram: booklthoughts
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/booklthoughts
What is YOUR favorite book with a male lead?


text:
SACRAMENTO -- After helping Sacramento State to a perfect 4-0 record at the NorCal Challenge, sophomore outfielder Suzy Brookshire has been named the Big Sky Conference Softball Player of the Week.
In four games, Brookshire, who started every game in left field, hit .571 (8-for-14) with six runs, two doubles, four home runs, nine RBIs, a 1.571 slugging percentage, .600 on-base percentage and a massive 2.171 ops. She hit safely in all four games, which included multiple-hit contests on three occasions. Brookshire scored at least one run in three of the four games, and collected at least one RBI in three of the four contests. In the process, she extended her hitting streak to a career-high 11 straight games.
The weekly honor is the first in Brookshire's career, and marks the second consecutive week a Hornet has earned Big Sky player of the week accolades. Outfielder Nene Alas was the award's recipient a week ago.
Brookshire opened the week by going 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI in a victory over Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday. On Saturday, the Hollister, Calif., native was 2-for-3 with two runs, two homers and a career-best five RBIs in a win over Santa Clara.
She followed up that effort later in the day by going 1-for-3 with a run and a walk in a victory against Pacific. In Sunday's win over Santa Clara, she went 3-for-4 with three runs, two homers and three RBIs. During the week, she set or tied single-game career highs in runs (3), hits (3), RBIs (5), doubles (2) and homers (2).
Brookshire now leads the team in batting average (.415), runs (23), doubles (8), homers (7), RBIs (21), total bases (56), slugging percentage (.862), on-base percentage (.500) and ops (1.362). After connecting on a program-record 15 home runs a year ago, she already has seven this season. Despite being just halfway into her sophomore season, Brookshire's 22 career home runs are already the second best mark in program history.
Sacramento State has won five straight, and 10 of the last 11 games, while improving its overall record to 14-8. The Hornets will travel to 16th-ranked Cal on Wednesday before opening Big Sky Conference play on Friday and Saturday for a three-game series at Northern Colorado.
August 14, 2018 SOFTBALL SIGNS NEW MEXICO TRANSFER JENSEN MAIN
August 7, 2018 SOFTBALL'S VICKY RIOS ELEVATED TO ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH
May 17, 2018 BROOKSHIRE AND MATTHIAS NAMED ALL-PACIFIC REGION
April 18, 2018 BATS GO SILENT AS SOFTBALL DROPS TWO AGAINST SAINT MARY'S
April 11, 2018 SOFTBALL WINS FIFTH IN A ROW, BEATS SANTA CLARA, 3-1
March 30, 2018 SOFTBALL SPLITS A DOUBLEHEADER ON THE ROAD AT WEBER STATE
March 21, 2018 RAIN CANCELS SOFTBALL'S GAME AT CAL
March 15, 2018 RAIN FORCES CHANGES TO NORCAL SOFTBALL CHALLENGE SCHEDULE
March 13, 2018 ALAS NAMED THE BIG SKY SOFTBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
February 22, 2018 MATTHIAS' SHUTOUT LEADS SOFTBALL TO DOUBLEHEADER SPLIT WITH STANFORD
February 21, 2018 SOFTBALL HOSTS STANFORD THURSDAY FOR DOUBLEHEADER AT NOON
February 19, 2018 SOFTBALL FALLS TO UC RIVERSIDE, COMPLETES TOURNAMENT WITH A 2-3 RECORD
February 15, 2018 SOFTBALL TO PLAY FIVE GAMES OVER THREE DAYS NEAR PALM SPRINGS
February 10, 2018 SATURDAY'S SOFTBALL GAME AGAINST CAL CANCELLED
February 10, 2018 UC SANTA BARBARA USES LATE COMEBACK TO BEAT SOFTBALL
February 1, 2018 SOFTBALL SELECTED THIRD IN THE BIG SKY PRESEASON COACHES POLL
November 30, 2017 WINTER PROSPECT CLINIC RESCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY, JAN. 20
October 20, 2017 23 HOME GAMES HIGHLIGHT SOFTBALL'S 2018 SCHEDULE

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Marquette Gifts
Marquette Gifts feature a selection of flags, banners, pennants, and tailgating gifts! Each item page offers the recommended accessory which combined with the item results in a unique gift idea for the sports fan! These Marquette Gifts are team and league Officially Licensed which ensures top quality, authentic logos and insignia, and genuine colors.
Marquette University Two Logo Flag$45.95
Logo March Madness Banner Flag$29.95
Marquette University MU Flag$29.95
Marquette University 3x5 Flag$29.95
Marquette University House Flag$31.95
Marquette University Banner Flag$31.95
Marquette Golden Eagles Banner Flag$18.95
Marquette University New Grad Flag$19.95
Marquette Golden Eagles Garden Flag Stand Set$23.95
Marquette Garden Banner$14.95
Marquette Garden Banner$14.95
Marquette University College Pennant$5.95
March Madness College Basketball Tournament Pennant$5.95
NCAA League Logo Pennant$5.95
MU Golden Eagles College Basketball Pennant$6.95
Marquette University Team Banner$27.95
Marquette University College Basketball National Championship Banner$14.95


text:
Optimizing MySQL database performance on Linux
MySQL production environment databases need to be closely monitored and managed for performance to ensure efficiency. Learn simple changes you can make to improve your MySQL DB, including shifting from 32-bit to 64-bit versions, using InnoDB instead of the default storage engine MyISAM.
In a data-driven world, you can lose money and customers for every second a database lags. Therefore, it's absolutely vital that you keep an eye on your MySQL database performance on Linux, and consider every option available for performance improvement.
Much of the time, the biggest ways to boost performance is to throw hardware at it. However, most people don't have unlimited budgets. There are a number of configuration changes you can make to a MySQL database installation to drastically improve performance, depending on your particular use cases.
Be sure to monitor performance before you make the changes, and follow up after to get a real idea of how much things have changed. You may be surprised by the gains you have made, or may even be more surprised that things didn't change at all, or in fact got worse. A popular tool for getting benchmarks for MySQL servers is SysBench.
A simple fix: Move to 64-bit
It can be amazingly common for people to run the 32-bit version of software like MySQL (and maybe even a 32-bit operating system) on a 64-bit box. However, given the computational nature of databases, a move from 32-bit to 64-bit can give you significant performance gains. If you have 64-bit hardware, don't miss out on its potential.
Choosing your default storage engine
One of the biggest areas where you can improve performance is to use storage engines to your advantage. By default, all MySQL tables use the MyISAM storage engine. This default is perfectly acceptable in situations where one or few people or processes are accessing a table. These days, however, a database and even a single table may be accessed or changed multiple times per second.
Each time a record is changed in a table handled by MyISAM, the entire table is locked until the change is complete. For example, if you have a Web application trying to make many concurrent changes in the same table, the change queue grows and grows as the table is locked, the change is made, and then the lock is removed.
MySQL lets you set which storage engine manages each table within each database. For any table where you have this problem, or anticipate having this problem, set its storage engine to InnoDB. The InnoDB engine locks on a row by row basis, rather than by table, allowing for many more changes to be made at once. For tables that are mostly read rather than written to, you should leave them managed by MyISAM to gain other efficiencies. If your tables are entirely read-only and small enough for the available RAM, then you might even consider using the MEMORY storage engine instead to load the table into RAM.
When looking at converting a table's storage engine, keep in mind that the process can put a heavy load on your server. The table has to be locked so it can be converted as well. So be sure to make these kinds of changes during off-peak hours.
Optimizing InnoDB settings
For those tables you've configured to use the InnoDB storage engine, one of the smartest changes you can make is to adjust the innodb_buffer_pool_size setting. If MySQL is running on a dedicated database server (another way to boost performance), you can allocate as much as fifty to eighty percent of the memory to this setting. For those running MySQL on a server with other functions, you'll want to only use twenty to thirty percent of your memory.
Another change that may make a big difference for those using InnoDB is tuning the innodb_thread_concurrency parameter. Each new request launches a thread, which continues running until it has returned the result it was asked for. While a multi-threaded approach allows MySQL to handle many requests at once, you do hit a point of diminishing returns where adding more threads doesn't give you any performance gains. This is followed by a later point when adding more threads makes everything slower.
InnoDB normally stores all of its table contents in one big file. However, if the file gets corrupted, this setting can get you into a world of hurt. If you're using InnoDB, it's highly recommended to configure this storage engine to save each table's contents into separate files using the innodb_file_per_table option. Not only does this practice protect you from having a single corruption in a single file destroy your entire database, it also helps to ensure that you're using your disk space more efficiently.
To understand how you get this efficiency, imagine that you have everything in one massive data file. A process gets out of control and adds so much data that it practically fills your hard drive. You erase GBs worth of bad data from the single table file. However, as far as your operating system is concerned, that space is still in use by MySQL. When you add new data, MySQL knows that huge chunk of empty space is available, but there's no getting it back for the rest of the system without completely tearing down and restoring all of your tables. If you had used one file per table, then you can tear down and restore just the tables that were affected. Another advantage of this approach is that you can separate the database out onto different partitions if necessary.
To get an overall idea of your InnoDB engine's behavior, use the command SHOW INNODB STATUS.
Investigate your options before making changes
There are many more angles you use when improving MySQL performance, with multiple books, Web sites and blogs happy to give you suggestions. As with any change to a mission-critical application like a production database, be sure to thoroughly investigate the option before moving forward or you may do more harm than good.
Finally, if you experiment by making your changes on the MySQL command line, remember to go back and add them either to your startup script, or your configuration files. Otherwise, when you restart the database server, your configuration changes will be lost.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dee-Ann LeBlanc is a technology author and editor specializing in Linux, CMS, and open source. Her work has appeared everywhere from "Linux for Dummies" to "The Lab with Leo."


text:
Source http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/KISSmetrics/~3/uvlIlMbHwC4/
There are hundreds of ad networks that promise to run your ads with the best chance of conversion, the hottest technology, and the most efficient algorithm.
So, digital marketing managers, who hear ad network reps beating the drum in one ear and upper management expecting measurable results in the other, are plagued with one key question: does display advertising really work?
By that, I mean, is there tangible, incremental conversion lift coming from the display ads you run with Rocket Fuel, Quantcast, Chango, and the like?
This post attempts to unpack how success is measured, what red herrings often crop up, and how you can get to the bottom of display advertising's contribution to your company's top line.
Definitions of the Jargon in Display Advertising
Click-through and view-through conversions, multi-touch attribution… What does it all mean?
Let's quickly define our terms:
- Click-through conversion – Your prospect sees a display ad or banner ad, clicks on it, and converts.
- View-through conversion – Your prospect visits a page where your display ad is shown, but does not click on it. Then, later, the prospect converts.
- Viewability – Because view-throughs are measured based on whether the ad loaded on your prospect's computer, we don't really know if your prospect saw the ad, consciously or subliminally or at all. It might have loaded at the bottom of the site, while your prospect never scrolled that far. To get at this calamity, some tools attempt to measure this metric (viewability) in order to answer the question: was your ad actually viewed; or, did it just load somewhere on the page and fall on deaf ears, so to speak?
- Last-touch attribution – This is the traditional conversion path that is measured against simple click-through conversions. Whichever ad or channel had the last touch (or the last click) that led to your prospect converting is the one that gets the credit.
- Multi-touch attribution – This is the new(er) hypothesis about complex advertising programs that touch a prospect at many different points on the way to conversion. Let's say your prospect saw a banner ad but didn't click, then Googled your brand name, then searched for coupons, and finally converted on a newsletter click. This perspective considers all of these touches and gives some equity to all of them.
So, what's the right way to understand whether display ads are working? Should we spend thousands of dollars to implement multi-touch attribution technology, or apply Draconian rules that reward channels only for closing a deal on the final click?
It's a confusing problem. But, you have options for measuring what's going on in your conversion funnel.
Here are some things you can do to truly measure the impact of display:
A/B Test Your Ads against a Placebo
There is something called a Public Service Announcement (PSA) test. In this experiment, you serve your display ads to 50% of your audience – business as usual – but the other half of your audience is shown a placebo. They see a PSA. One of my clients, for example, used a "Smokey the Bear" ad about preventing forest fires.
This type of test can take some time to gather meaningful data. It can take a month or more and be quite costly. But, the results will demonstrate whether the potential customers who saw your real display ads have a higher probability of converting than those who saw Smokey the Bear.
Consider this example of a real PSA A/B test we ran on behalf of our client in the home decor ecommerce sector:
Here's what we uncovered by running this PSA test with Quantcast, an advertising partner:
The "Brand" group of ads, meaning the client's regular ads, yielded 980 conversions (these are view-throughs) while Smokey the Bear ads converted 871 of the prospects.
When you factor in the number of cookies – in other words, how many times each ad was shown – the regular ads brought in 30% more conversions than Smokey the Bear. For you marketing statisticians, the confidence level here was 95%. You can find more information on statistical significance and what it means for marketers here.
Is this a good result? On one hand, it's nice to see 30% incremental conversions. On the other hand, what should we make of the fact that almost 900 people saw Smokey the Bear and converted anyway? Is the handful of incremental conversions enough to justify the display ad spending here?
For this particular client, it wasn't.
We didn't test only IAB-standard display ads as shown above. IAB-standard is a term Quantcast uses to describe banners and display ads as we usually think of them, e.g. 300×250 and 728×90. The alternative would be FBX (Facebook exchange), mobile, etc.
We also tested ads on the Facebook Exchange. There, we found no statistically significant conversion difference between the client's real ads and PSAs.
This type of testing is one way to assess value. The key advantage is its quant-driven honesty. It's hard to argue with the numbers: if Smokey the Bear drives almost as many conversions as a real ad, that's pretty black and white. If the ads outperform Smokey by 250%, you know you're getting real value out of your display program.
Another way to think about display performance is to tease apart the different channels and their respective influence — a process called attribution. There are multi-touch attribution tools out there to help automate this method, and that's what we'll look at next.
Use Advanced Attribution Technology
If you're touching prospects on many levels and via multiple channels, some experts argue you'll benefit from an advanced attribution platform. This technology takes into account all the touches that contribute to a single conversion and algorithmically estimates how each channel fits into the larger whole.
Convertro is one such tool. It's useful for estimating how many real conversions a given channel is contributing based on all the (possibly hundreds) of touchpoints in the sales cycle.
Also, it can show you data like this:
What we found interesting was the tool's ability to show how often a given ad network played the role of Introducer (meaning the ad network served the very first ad a prospect saw in your sales funnel), Closer (the ad network showed the last ad viewed or clicked by a prospect before converting), or Influencer (the ad network participated somewhere between introduction and conversion).
This breakdown can be useful in thinking about how important each ad partner is when it comes to guiding prospects to eventually buy.
The table above tells us that the ad networks pictured here acted as influencers about 98% of the time. That means they weren't likely to be sourcing brand new prospects or "closing the deal" with soon-to-be customers, but they probably contributed awareness along the way.
Continue to Measure Last-click Attribution
The conservative play when it comes to evaluating many different channels is to give maximum weight to last-click conversions and revenue.
That's because only one lucky ad or channel can be responsible for the final click or view before a conversion. If you credit each channel with view-throughs, you might be praising multiple channels for the same conversion. But, using a tool like Google Analytics to report on conversions and revenue from a given traffic source will, in the traditional view, tell you which channel drove the last click. Revenue resulting from each channel will be counted exactly once.
Some experts argue that last-click attribution has gone out of style and that a more holistic view is in order to determine how prospects interact with your business on their journey through the conversion funnel. It's true that tracking ROI has become more complex with the advent of drip campaigns, inbound marketing, and many kinds of interactive ads. Still, a more rigid reading of the analytics can offer checks and balances against overspending.
The best thing you can do for your business is to look at attribution in more than one way. If you can afford a PSA A/B test, it's quite informative (and, in our example case, quite sobering). Otherwise, assessing ad network performance via multiple free tools will give you more insight than simply trusting the dashboard of your ad partner(s). With several perspectives at your disposal, it will be easier to make a call on which channels should be expanded and which should be cut.
About the Author: Igor Belogolovsky is Co-founder of Clever Zebo, a team of conversion rate optimization experts based in the San Francisco Bay Area.


text:
Emerging technologies. Rapidly evolving markets. Changing regulatory frameworks. Businesses around the globe are affected by these influences and intellectual property (IP) plays a central role. On 4th November, Hogan Lovells, Santa Clara University's High Tech Law Institute, and the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology are bringing together the IP industry's thought leaders to discuss these issues and start a conversation around how to turn them into IP opportunities.
As part of the event, a live video conference will connect Silicon Valley and London. This panel, featuring speakers in both locations, will provide updates on patent reform in Europe (namely, the Unitary Patent) and the U.S. (namely, patent reform legislation), and a dialogue about those reforms' impacts on international patent strategy. The conference will be held concurrently with Hogan Lovells' annual Patent Seminar in London.
For the second year, the Law in the Global Marketplace Symposium will offer an interactive, full-day CLE program and will feature four panel discussions and multiple keynote addresses on trending issues. Among the audience will be top professionals in IP, technology, and business including executives, general counsel, IP counsel, and a wide scope of technology players in global IP.
Symposium topics will include:
- Patent Office Invalidation Procedures: A Comparative Analysis
- Patent Reform in the EU and US: Impacts on International Patent Strategy
- Peering Over the Horizon: Key IP Issues for Cutting-Edge Technologies
- Technology Transfer, Licensing and Trade Secret Protection in China
- Comparative Patent Quality
- FRAND Commitments – and Obligations – for Standards-Essential Patents
- Hacking Tech's Diversity Problem: Applying Bias Interrupters
- Developments in Digital Copyright
For the inaugural Law in the Global Marketplace Symposium in 2014, more than 140 senior business executives and in-house counsel came together and talked about hot-button issues relating to intellectual property law. The event culminated with a candid and wide-ranging keynote talk by Randall Rader, then-Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
For more information about what's in store this year and to register your interest in attending, contact email@example.com
Venue: Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053


text:
per person, twin share
Looking for more cruise deals?
Take a look at our Cruise Planner
NZ Travel Brokers
22 hours ago
Is it time to start planning your next trip? See our latest travel deals here: www.nztravelbrokers.co.nz/deals/ ... See MoreSee Less
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email
2 days ago
Start planning your next island escape TODAY!Stay 5 nights at Radisson Blu Resort Fiji Denarau Island from $899*pp twin shareOR Take the family from $499*pp family share (2A 2C) in a Deluxe Courtyard Twin - and the kids STAY, PLAY & EAT For FREE!See more details here: nztravelbrokers.co.nz/nztb_deal/radisson-blu-resort-fiji-denarau-island/*Terms & Conditions and travel dates apply. Sale ends 29 February 2020 ... See MoreSee Less
© 2020 NZ Travel Brokers. New Zealand Travel Brokers


text:
This group – Salute4Harry – was started after a few serving and ex military lads started posting naked salutes to each other in support of Prince Harry!
Quote: "I suggested we start a group on facebook and went ahead thinking we would get around 75 people max in the group. This has now built to over 16k with 10k pending in less than 96hrs, we have had to ask lads we know to help admin the site, and it's now currently the fastest growing facebook group page and also we have a trending hashtag on Twitter, @Salute4Harry https://twitter.com/Salute4Harry" (End of Quote)
The creator of this group is a former soldier, 28 years old, who asked former military and current military members to support the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II.
More than 20,000 people have joined this Facebook group called,"Support Prince Harry with a naked salute!
The creator of the group, according to the British press a former soldier of 28 years, asked military or former military pose naked, maintaining a certain decorum, (please cover your "Crown Jewels" to support Harry, who as an Apache helicopter pilot in the British Army, is one of theirs.
The group is open to all users and is growing exponentially, as this initiative is also supported by the salute4harry.co.uk website and twitter account Salute4Harry.
In Facebook are literally tens of thousands of men, women, and children (and animals too) from different countries, giving a military salute, half-undressed.
Prince Harry, third in line of succession to the British throne, starred in the headlines last week by appearing naked, first to the U.S. website "TMZ" and then "The Sun", after being photographed in his suite in Las Vegas during a game of "strip pool" to which he invited two young women.
What is deemed as "history" is often determined by those who survived to write it. In other words, history is written by the victors. The Roman historian, Tacitus, left us an account of the Roman victory over Queen Boudicca in the year A.D. 60-61.
Prasutagus, the wealthy King of the Iceni tribe, had died. Upon his death, his wife, Queen Boudicca, became the new ruler of the Iceni tribe. She headed a rebellion against the occupying Romans in Britain in A.D. 60 in which more than seventy thousand Romans were killed. The rebellion was eventually crushed and Boudicca committed suicide. So, this is a neat, sweet his-story with a happy ending, if you were on the Roman side, that is.
Yet undeniably, every community has a memory of itself. Not a history, nor an archive, nor an authoritative record, but a living memory, an awareness of a collective identity woven of a thousand stories.
Now, with the help of the Roman historian Tacitus, I shall tell you Queen Boudicca's story, her-story……
Boudicca: Her Story
[Kindle Edition]
What is deemed as "his-story" is often determined by those who survived to write it. In other words, history is written by the victors. The Roman historian, Tacitus, left us an account of the Roman victory over Queen Boudicca in the year A.D. 60-61.
Yet undeniably, every community has a memory of itself. Not a history, nor an archive, nor an authoritative record, but a living memory, an awareness of a collective identity woven of a thousand stories.
Now, with the help of the Roman historian Tacitus, I shall tell you Queen Boudicca's story, her-story……
Boudicca: Her Story [Kindle Edition]
I saw my first Pecha Kucha over three years ago. It was when I was working at Universidad Andrés Bello at Campus Casona in Santiago with the students in the English Pedagogy program. I admit I've been fascinated by "Pecha Kucha" ever since that first time. I remember being very impressed by the performance I watched. There were a number of reasons for this. For now, let me share with you why I find Pecha Kucha to be so impressive and fascinating as a presentation technique.
Firstly, when we speak of our first time doing something enjoyable, it's always a good feeling. We like what we like, we know what we like, and because of that, we return often, to what we like.
As you can tell by now, I like Pecha Kucha.
Secondly, its principles are easy to understand and apply. It's fast, it's efficient, it's effective, it's collaborative, it's visual, it's easy to prepare, it's fun. However, it does require practice, lots of it, to do this really well. Practice, oh what a sweet word in the ears of any EFL teacher. Students practicing what they are going to say, again and again, going over their own words, to speak about images they themselves have selected. Volumes of practice, huge quantities of practice, helping the students to achieve the eventual automaticity that is the hallmark of mastery.
Having said that, of all the principles of the Pecha Kucha, the most important principle is this: images are powerful.
Images convey meaning and emotions. In fact, the whole range of the human experience can be conveyed by images. For example, think of the images left on the walls of caves by cave men. No one needs a cave man to verbalize what you are seeing. You feel it – through your eyes – to your brain – to your emotions. It's visual storytelling. That's what the Pecha Kucha is, visual literacy in its purest form…
The International Baccalaureate [Kindle Edition]
The International Baccalaureate [Paperback]
The global search for high-quality education, embedded in high-performing education systems, has taken on mythical proportions, almost resembling the alchemists' quest to turn common metals into gold.
It is my hope that the present day search for global education, equitable and providing equality of opportunity for all, shall not cease until the "gold" we seek, has been found.
I therefore dedicate this book to all the educators, researchers, parents and students the world over, who strive to achieve this elusive goal,high-quality education for all the citizens of the world.
In this endeavour, it is my belief that the International Baccalaureate merits a closer look, based on their more than 40 year history of delivering consistently excellent results.
I add that all of the reflections and views in this book are mine alone, unless otherwise noted, and can not be attributed to my employer or any other organization I am affiliated with, past or present. For any errors or oversights, I bear the complete responsibility.
Amazon Author Page: Thomas Jerome Baker
Thomas Baker is the Past-President of TESOL Chile (2010-2011). He is the Head of the English Department at Colegio Internacional SEK in Santiago, Chile.
He is the Co-Founder and Co-Organiser of EdCamp Santiago, free, participant-driven, democratic, conversation based professional development for teachers, by teachers. EdCamp Santiago 2012 was held at Universidad Mayor in Santiago.
Thomas is also a member of the Advisory Board for the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (HETL), where he also serves as a reviewer and as the HETL Ambassador for Chile.
Thomas enjoys writing about a wide variety of topics. Thus far, he has written the following genres: romance, historical fiction, autobiographical, sports history/biography, and English Language Teaching. He has published a total of forty four (44) books overall.
The source and inspiration for his writing comes from his family, his wife Gabriela, and his son, Thomas Jerome Baker, Jr.


text:
Wiltshire, England
The Skeletons of Stonehenge
Ancient human remains unearthed around the iconic monument.
Stonehenge is a fascinating spot to visit. Built between 3,000 and 1,600 BC (its exact date of origin is still highly contested), the enigmatic stone circle has amazed and perplexed people for centuries. Many theories, including the belief that human sacrifices occurred there, surround the legacy of the iconic monument.
Perhaps a few victims of such sacrifices are kept in the nearby visitors center. These ancient skeletons were discovered during archaeological digs in 2001. Were they actually sacrificed? No one can say for sure, but lab testing revealed they died and were buried on the site between 3,600 and 2,200 BC, possibly before the stone circle we know and love today was constructed.
The bones have been displayed since the new Stonehenge Visitor Centre opened in 2013. Their presence angered the local druids, who lobbied to have the Neolithic humans reburied with dignity rather than encased in glass displays within a hotspot of tourist traffic. The Neo-druids claim to be the descendants of these long-deceased pagans who allegedly come from a royal bloodline, even though claims that the original druids built the structure have been debunked.
The human remains are exhibited toward the back of the visitors center in the permanent artifacts collection. Whenever viewing human remains of any kind, it is important to remember that they were once living, breathing people. Please respect these ancient travelers.
- http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-25432731
- https://books.google.com/books?id=XwDGBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT125&lpg=PT125&dq=Stonehenge+visitor+center+%2B+human+remains&source=bl&ots=7hlTHetDKr&sig=oA_XOtnogtVaebRyNkcQdiGF3H4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwif7ob-tvjWAhWa0YMKHf18C6g4ChDoAQglMAA#v=onepage&q=Stonehenge%20visitor%20center%20%2B%20human%20remains&f=false
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/wiltshire/articles/Stonehenge-unveils-its-new-visitor-centre/
- http://www.cnn.com/travel/article/stonehenge-visitor-center/index.html
- http://nomosjournal.org/columns/heritage-and-the-holy/faith-and-stonehenge-to-display-or-rebury/
- http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/salisbury/salisburynews/10405240.Druid_protest_at_Stonehenge_display_plans/
- http://www.thestonehengetour.info/stonehenge-visitor-centre


text: Myles Watson schrieb: > > > > But we could check the position on the stack compared to the top of > > the stack before running LZMA, right? > > That's hideously complicated. On AMD Fam10, each AP gets its own > mini-stack at another location. The code for a stack checker is in v3 > and even for the no-SMP case it is really fragile. Add multiple stack > sizes and multiple stack locations to it and the code will have to be > marked "Do not touch even if you think you understand it". > But yes, it can be done. > > I just meant compare against the top of all stacks (or the bottom of > the heap.) Any checking is better than none. > > > >>>> Those boards with STACK_SIZE being 0x2000 or 0x8000 are > definitely > >>>> broken (and if they boot, they do by accident) > >>> So since it's broken with Kconfig and newconfig, how can we > decide what the > >>> correct stack size should be? > > Ping. 0x8000 is the minimum for all boards. I think it should be the default.


text:
The Challenge of Christian Schooling in a Secular Age
In 2006, the Foundation launched its mission to advance the strategic growth, influence and the effectiveness of Christian schooling worldwide through innovation, research, advocacy, and the stewardship of resources. At the request of ACSI's senior leadership, the Foundation's board unanimously agreed to take on the daunting task of providing visionary, innovative, research-informed leadership for global Christian schools and educators.
ACSI, as a program and service providing association, struggles to keep pace with the visionary thought leadership necessary to empower Christian schools and educators to flourish in the midst of formidable challenges, both today and tomorrow. This candid assessment engenders many questions. If the Foundation is to launch a "thought leadership" focus to guide both ACSI and the larger Christian schooling movement, issues need to be analyzed and defined. Complementary activities occurring throughout the Kingdom need to be identified and curated so that redundancies are reduced and collaborations maximized.
In February 2015, the Foundation took a strategic first step by convening a carefully selected group of subject-matter experts, not affiliated with ACSI, who care and think deeply about the education of the next generation. Their task was to assist in identifying the problems facing the Christian schooling movement in general and ACSI in particular. We wanted perspective and candid feedback from scholars, cultural critics and Christian school leaders who are thoughtfully engaged with the challenge of living faithfully in a highly secularized culture. Scholar James K.A. Smith articulated this challenge in his book How (Not) to be Secular:
Philosopher Charles Taylor not only explains unbelief in a secular age; he also emphasizes that even belief has changed in our secular age. There are still believers who believe the same things as their forebears 1,500 years ago; but how we believe has changed. Thus, faith communities need to ask: How does this change in the "conditions" of belief impact the way we proclaim and teach faith? How does this impact faith formation? How should this change the propagation of the faith for the next generation? (23)
The responses to these and other salient questions should engender reflection and inform current practice and its effectiveness in impacting present and future generations.
How do we channel this amazingly generative interaction into concrete recommendations to inform the Foundation's strategic planning process? Panel members were divided into four "consulting groups" tasked with identifying and presenting their top three to five priorities for ACSI and/or the Foundation to embrace. While each group reflected the personality and expertise of its members, common threads emerged. The sum of the recommendations provided insights into the complexities and facets of the various areas for consideration. Nearly 200 pages of transcript document the entire conversation, informing recommendations for the next step. At their February 2015, the Foundation Board of Directors tasked ACSI's senior staff to sift through the information—individually and corporately—and bring forward priorities for both ACSI and the Foundation to address. This conversation has already informed ACSI's strategic initiatives, launched research, strengthened higher education relationships and birthed partnerships. It also provides direction and priority to the Foundation's strategic plan and case for support to fulfill its transformational mission. The following initiatives are reflected in the Foundation's first strategic plan:
Repayable Grant Program
|ACSI Children Education Fund
Read the full article "The Challenge of Christian Schooling in a Secular Age," appearing in Christian School Education magazine, Volume 9, Issue 1.


text:
Karatbars VIP Package With Discount Codes
Karatbars is different to 99% of online businesses or network marketing businesses because it doesn't involve having to pay weekly, monthly or yearly fee's. Most people give up in online businesses after a month and cancel their subscription meaning they will never open another email from that company ever again.
The problem has never ever been signing people up, it is retention….. Getting people to stay in the business.
Karatbars have completely solved this issue by not charging affiliates or customers any ongoing fees, subscriptions or charges. In simple English it means that no one ever cancels because there is nothing to cancel from! Karatbars do not have autoships or forced purchases either meaning that you do not HAVE to buy any gold if you don't want to. How clever is that!
Karatbars VIP Package
If you are going to build your Karatbars business Karatbars offer a different commission level depending on which package you buy. Bronze Package holders get 5%, Silver 10%, Gold 15% and VIP is 20%.
I am a VIP Member so I know I get 20% commission every time someone I introduce buys a package. It really is that simple to understand. Someone can start on any package they like and simply pay the difference any time they want to upgrade.
The Karatbars VIP Package is a real marketing package, it is not a "tool suite" or access to some level! The package contains Karatbars 1gram Gold Cards, Brochures, discount cards etc and will be delivered to your home by Fedex.
The price reflects the value you get within the pack itself and today is 1,607.36 €(Approx. US $ 2,151.93 1€ = US $ 1.3388)
The price does fluctuate as there is actually gold bullion within the package. You buy the package depending on the price that day.
Karatbars VIP Package Summer Special
Summer Package Special
Throughout the summer of 2014 (April 28th to August 31st) we have an additional content.
For a minimum extra cost of 45€, you will receive a bonus of six (6) x 15€ discount cards.
These 15€ discount cards are valid on our Special Gold Cards.
VIP Package
3 Gram of Gold
20 Bonus Cards 100€
10 Bonus Cards 3%
Karatbars VIP Package Discount codes
If you or anyone you know is interested in buying a Karatbars VIP Package please do not do it until you get in touch with me. I always keep €100 discount cards in stock which will allow you €100 of the price of your VIP Package. This would bring the price down to €1507.36 today! This would buy you two more Karatbars so well worth saving.
Just while I am on the subject of saving…. In the past year working with Karatbars I have met some fantastic people, I am earning fantastic commissions selling the ultimate product and I am saving a lot of gold along the way. There can't be a better business where you are saving, protecting yourself against inflation and helping others do the same!
The internet is full of rubbish businesses, scams, schemes and shiny objects. Karatbars is a year business with 200,000+ customers and affiliates in 120 countries. It has been running successfully for over four years and has never missed a delivery or commission.
Many businesses have €100+ per month subscription fee's which is €1200 per year alone. With Karatbars you are making a one off payment for life and getting a huge amount of value in the package that is actually delivered to your home!
What other product could you see that is know by every person on the planet over the age of 5?
What other product do you know has been desired by millions for thousands of years?
What other product do you know that doesn't have a product life cycle?
If you are or have ever been a sales person then these should be massive factors to consider when deciding to sell anything! The problem is that governments have kept gold away from the general public for decades.
It wasn't an option to sell pure gold to the public until Karatbars came along!
Gold was something rich people sold to rich people…. well not any more… This is the opportunity you have with Karatbars… Go and tell the world that they now can own gold again!
Karatbars VIP Package Video With Discount Codes
If you want to know how quick and easy it is to buy your package and get started just watch this short tutorial.
Karatbars Support and Help
If you need any help or support or simply want to get started in Karatbars just contact me below
Telephone 00447511 650 427
Email firstname.lastname@example.com
Skype ID onlinecompanyreview


text:
Shattering the Myths of Darwinism
"The world of science faces the biggest challenge yet to one of its most basic beliefs: Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. An authoritative compilation of scientific findings."
Neville Hodgkinson, The Sunday Times
"Richard Milton's 'The Facts of Life' . . . could shake the 'religion' of evolution as much as 'Honest to God' shook popular Christianity 30 years ago."
Leader Column, The Times
"Milton . . . utters some important warnings. We ignore them at our peril."Julia Neuberger, The Sunday Times
In his popular book "The Facts of Life", journalist Richard Milton shows Darwinism as a crumbling edifice, supported only by a conservative scientific establishment."
Matthew Cockerill, The Daily Telegraph
"One of Richard Milton's chief purposes is to argue that, in the absence of sufficient scientific evidence, Darwinism should not continue to be taught in schools and universities as though it were holy writ. In this he succeeds admirably."
James Rogers, Literary Review
"The cover has a picture of a shattered Darwin, and with a passing reference to Marxism, the book attempts to consign Charles to the same dustbin as Karl. Here there is a valid point: 'Ideological Darwinism has replaced scientific Darwinism in our educational system'."
E. G. Nisbet, Nature


text:
Kate Middleton is expecting her second child with Prince William, it has been officially confirmed.
Rumours regarding the Duchess of Cambridge's second pregnancy have been doing the rounds since she gave birth to first child, Prince George, on 22 July last year.
IBTimes UK has compiled the most popular rumours surrounding the royal pregnancy.
OK! Magazine, May
The gossip magazine claimed that Kate Middleton is pregnant with twin girls, less than a year after the birth of Prince George.
The magazine then said that the second pregnancy was a "dream come true" for the couple.
InTouch, June
The tabloid came up with claims that the Duchess was expecting a baby boy and published photos of the 32-year-old royal in an unflattering dress sporting a bit of a bump.
New Idea magazine, July
Kate's childhood friend Jessica Hay told the Australian publication that she is expecting her second child with Prince William. Hay had famously predicted her first pregnancy in November 2012 just weeks before the official announcement.
However, a Kensington Palace spokesperson denied the reports and told ET Canada: "The duchess has not spoken to Jessica Hay for very many years. She is not in contact with her at all."
Globe magazine, July
The tabloid shocked royal fans with report that Kate suffered a miscarriage and lost her second baby earlier that month. The magazine went on to claim that the couple are "supporting each other through this upsetting ordeal."
Life & Style magazine, July
The gossip tabloid said that the royal couple were expecting and planning to name the baby girl after William's late mother, Princess Diana.


text:
ROCK HILL, South Carolina – December 12, 2012 – 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) announced today that its Paramount team was selected by Pennsylvania as one of the state's Research for Advanced Manufacturing in Pennsylvania, RAMP, awardees. 3D Systems has committed resources and know-how to the development of novel Nano composites to be used with its proprietary Selective Laser Sintering 3D printing technology to meet Pennsylvania's custom manufacturing vision and requirements.
3D Systems' Paramount team offers world-class AS9100C and ISO9001:2008 certified rapid product development and manufacturing. Paramount, in collaboration with Lehigh University, was chosen on competitive merit by RAMP after demonstrating technology and manufacturing readiness.
"This award represents our unwavering commitment to the research, development and commercialization of rapid manufacturing solutions," said Jim Williams, Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing, 3D Systems. "The success of this project will benefit Pennsylvania directly, as well as our nation, as the interest in 3D printing and advanced digital manufacturing continues to grow."
Learn about 3D Systems additive manufacturing solutions at 3DSystems.com.
About 3D Systems Corporation
3D Systems is a leading provider of 3D content-to-print solutions including 3D printers, print materials and on-demand custom parts services for professionals and consumers alike. The company also provides CAD, reverse engineering and inspection software tools and consumer 3D printers, apps and services. Its expertly integrated solutions replace and complement traditional methods and reduce the time and cost of designing new products by printing real parts directly from digital input. These solutions are used to rapidly design, create, communicate, prototype or produce real parts, empowering customers to create and make with confidence.
More information on the company is available at www.3DSystems.com
To experience our entire range of 3D content-to-print products and services please visit www.printin3d.com, www.production3dprinters.com, www.3dproparts.com,
www.zcorp.com, www.toptobottomdental.com, www.quickparts.com,
www.alibre.com, www.bitsfrombytes.com, www.bespokeinnovations.com,
www.rapidform.com, www.cubify.com, www.myrobotnation.com,
www.freshfiber.com, www.The3dStudio.com, www.freedomofcreation.com,
www.sycode.com, www.paramountind.com, blog.3dsystems.com, or via email at
About RAMP
The Research for Advanced Manufacturing in Pennsylvania program (RAMP) is funded through the Department of Community and Economic Development's Discovered in PA – Developed in PA (D2PA) program. The D2PA program, created by the Corbett administration, is designed to build capacity to better support Pennsylvania's businesses and to spur creativity and innovation in the allocation of economic development services.
Learn more at www.ICES.CMU.edu/RAMP


text:
Approx: 24" x 36"
I had the most lovely visit from a group from the Friends of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. A most appreciative audience!
In this piece a miniature world is revealed in the texture of tree bark, when viewed up close. Here we are looking up into the canopy of a forest of giants in Cathedral Grove, Vancouver Island.
The piece is hand dyed, textured, fused, free-motion stitched and painted.
Here is a close-up:


text:
Guaranteed Success For Magento Exams
Pass Magento Exams Fast With Our 99.6% FIRST TIME PASS RATE
Magento Training
Magento Exams
Magento is an open source web application that deals with e-commerce. It was launched on March 31 in 2008 under the brand-name Bento. Varien developed this application along with the programmers and inserted it to the open source community. Magento was developed applying the elements of the Zend Framework. It has applied the entity-attribute-value (EAV) database model to store data. W3Techs projected that Magento was applied by 0.9% internet-users in November 2013.
Magento officially started it's further development initiatives in early 2007. Magento released it's first public beta version on August 31, 2007. Later, Magneto was acquired by eBay Inc. and now Magento is operating as a division of eBay.
Magento Certification Exams intend to develop proficient IT professionals who want to advance their career with the ultimate Magento credential.
Test-King has a remarkable Candidate Success record. We're confident of our products and provide a no hassle money back guarantee.
Test-King is the world's largest certification preparation company with 99.6% Pass Rate History from 46682+ Satisfied Customers in 145 Countries.
Your purchase with Test-King is safe and fast. Your products will be available for immediate download after your payment has been received.
The Test-King website is protected by 256-bit SSL from McAfee, the leader in online security.
Need help assistance? Contact us!Customer Support
This is a ONE TIME OFFER. You will never see this Again
Enter Your Email Address to Receive Your 15% OFF Discount Code Plus... Our Exclusive Weekly Deals


text: i will be charging the machine in one room, and syncing on a daily basis in another. i dont want to have to disconnect the charging cable all the time and relocate it because itll be placed down behind a cabinet in a very awkward spot. so, where can i get a spare cable that i can connect to my pc? (i saw one advertised on amazon, but it was a mini-usb cable and im pretty certain that the tablet doesnt have a usb port on it. - so that cable is useless to me) im just getting the normal transformer without the keyboard dock.


text:
Document Type
Conference Paper
Version Deposited
Published Version
Publication Date
Conference Name
120th ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
The need of firewood in the Gambia is leading to rapid deforestation. An engineering student team in our program was funded to convert peanut shells, an abundant agricultural waste from the country, into fuel briquette. By consulting the local contacts, the students developed a series of pressing devices and processes for the purpose. Then they compared the strength, burning rate and duration of burning of the briquettes, as well the difficulties to obtain binder and process the material. They finally settled to an easy to follow recipe and a very simple device to press the loose shells to briquettes. In the January of 2012, a student team went to 8 remote villages in rural Gambia. They demonstrated the briquetting process to the local people. The team was warmly received and all villages agreed to try out the method so they could preserve the dwindling forest while supporting the growing community.
Copyright 2013 American Society for Engineering Education. Paper may be viewed at: https://peer.asee.org/22449
Recommended Citation
Zhang, Hong; Everett, Jess; and Tryner, Jessica, "Service Learning Without Borders – Turning Peanut Shells to Fuel Briquettes in the Gambia" (2013). Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Faculty Scholarship. 31.
Published Citation
Zhang, H., Everett, J. W., & Tryner, J. (2013). Service Learning Without Borders – Turning Peanut Shells to Fuel Briquettes in the Gambia Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia.


text:
Recap: Offense abounds in Nebraska
A Doc Sadler-coached team and a Bill Self-coached team match up. What do you expect to see?
Before Wednesday, I would have answered, "Defense," (capital D for emphasis!) right away. After Wednesday's 84-72 Kansas victory at Lincoln, Neb., I'm a bit confused.
The Huskers posted an above-average Effective FG% (eFG%) of 53.8 percent, the second-highest yielded by KU this season. Nebraska committed turnovers on just 14.5 percent of its possessions and posted a solid 39.6 Free Throw Rate. Those numbers helped Nebraska score 1.16 points per possession. Before Wednesday, KU's most porous defensive effort came Sunday at Tennessee (1.09 points per possession allowed).
Even compared to that of Nebraska, KU's scoring output was incredible. The Jayhawks enjoyed their best shooting night of the season (72.2 eFG%). To offer a bit of perspective, the last time KU shot as well was Dec. 1, 2003, in an 85-66 victory at Texas Christian (74.0 eFG%). KU scored a surprisingly low 1.35 points per possession, its fifth-best total of the season. The reason the Jayhawks didn't end up with a truly historic offensive performance was their habit of turning the ball over. KU coughed up the ball on 21 percent of its possessions. Sophomore guard Tyshawn Taylor and junior center Cole Aldrich each committed turnovers on more than 25 percent of their possessions used.
So what makes Wednesday's offensive explosion so special? KU is, after all, KenPom.com's No. 2 offense, and Nebraska was playing for pride in front of an excitable Devaney Center crowd.
Let's look at these coaches' defensive pedigree in terms of KenPom's Adjusted Defensive Efficiency:
Bill Self (KU):
• 2007: 1st nationally, 1st Big 12
• 2008: 1st, 1st
• 2009: 7th, 1st
• 2010: 2nd, 1st
Doc Sadler (NU):
• 2007: 89th, 9th
• 2008: 13th, 3rd
• 2009: 19th, 3rd
• 2010: 63rd, 8th
Nebraska hasn't stopped teams this season at the same rate it did in the past two seasons, but Sadler clearly has improved the Huskers' defense since his first year on the job. Self's resume speaks for itself.
M.O.J. (Most Outstanding Jayhawk)
A player who scores one point for every two minutes of playing time is generally considered an active offensive player. For example, KU guard Sherron Collins, Iowa State forward Craig Brackins and Texas Tech forward Mike Singletary are three Big 12 Conference players hovering at or near 20 points per 40 minutes played.
Marcus Morris scored 19 points in 21 minutes Wednesday. How's that for active? The sophomore forward was efficient, too, going 7-for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 on three-pointers. In sum, Morris created 1.56 points per possession used and grabbed 51 percent of possible rebounds during his minutes. His raw Efficiency of 23 was the second-best of his career.
http://worldonline.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/blogs/entry_img/2010/Jan/14/ku_bkc_neb_10.jpg KU forward Marcus Morris advances the ball against Nebraska guard Brandon Richardson.
Room for improvement
Ideally, KU would have liked to limit the Huskers' 103rd-ranked offense to less than one point per possession. Or at least make Nebraska look uncomfortable. On top of its high shooting percentage, the home team didn't have many issues running its offense against KU's esteemed defense. The Huskers posted a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio (second time KU has allowed 2-to-1 or better this season) and assisted 78.3 percent of their made field goals. Nebraska guard Lance Jeter and wing Ryan Anderson* really distributed the ball well: The pair combined for 13 assists and three turnovers.
*Is it me, or has Ryan Anderson played for Nebraska for about 13 years?
Hard luck line
The only Jayhawk who endured a worse-than-average offensive night was freshman guard Xavier Henry. Henry made two shots in 26 minutes and converted on less than half of his attempts for the third consecutive game.
The Bottom Line:
Sieve-like defense or no, Wednesday's game seemed to serve as a palate-cleanser after KU's rough weekend. When basketball fans around the country see "Kansas 84, Nebraska 72" scroll by on the bottom of their TVs this morning, they won't think anything of it. That's usually a good thing for KU.
Jesse Newell 10 years ago
It's interesting that NU coach Doc Sadler talked afterwards about how he thought his team got into a scoring match with KU. Looking at the numbers, the possessions (62 according to StatSheet.com) were really low, so NU actually did a good job of slowing down KU. The Huskers just played horrible defensively.
suttonku 10 years ago
I think both teams didnt really play well defensively but I thought KU played much better defense than the stats show. I thought Nebraska just hit shots. I thought we contested really well for the most part.
Alec White 10 years ago
I laughed at loud when I read that comment about Ryan Anderson. Me and my dad were trying to remember the last time we played a Nebraska team without that annoying 6'4 PF who always seems to show up and play well against the Hawks'. He actually has turned into a solid player but the whole Big XII should be embarrassed that he's leading the conference in steals. You guys want to know somthing else about him that will make you laugh? He actually declared for the NBA draft last year and decided to come back to college lol. I guess The League has no room for unathletic 6'4 power forwards that are headcases. Who woulda guessed???
Benjamin Piehler 10 years ago
not sure whats up with xavi, but he better snap out of it
suttonku 10 years ago
X will be back to normal hes just in a slump...I could tell before the game even started that he was going to be bad in the game at Nebraska. I think I watched him miss 13 shots in a row in warmups.
actorman 10 years ago
Thanks Asher. As a numbers geek, I always love your in-depth analyses. It's great to see things broken down so thoroughly.
I too loved the line about Ryan Anderson. Wasn't he the one who crowed and made a spectacle of himself a few years ago when he made a few shots late in a game where KU was slaughtering Nebraska by something like 30 points? He made himself look like a self-centered idiot when he did that.
I'm not too worried about X, as it seems like he's just going through a typical freshman slump. The one thing I am worried about (to paraphrase what another poster said a little while ago) is that he sometimes seems like a kinder, gentler version of J.R. Giddens in that he often just settles for the three-pointer. With his athletic ability and HCBS's usual magic, hopefully he will soon evolve into a more complete player.
nnelson 10 years ago
I'm glad people have the same Ryan Anderson deja vu going on. It's unsettling.
And yes, actorman, Ryan Anderson was the player who showboated during a 20-point Nebraska loss in 2007. The Huskers trailed, 43-8, in the first half before Anderson and his 19 points led Nebraska back (not really) into the game.
But hey, he did score more than twice as many points in that game as any one of his teammates.
AsherFusco 10 years ago
^^^^ That post up there is actually me. Logout/Login FAIL.
Commenting has been disabled for this item.


text:
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
link to muffin recipe
Here is the pumpkin cream cheese muffin recipe I used. I did not add cardamom because a) I did not have it and b) I did not know what it was. I halved the recipe and only made twelve, but now I wish I would have made the full batch. Guess I will have to make some more later this week. I will not tell you all how many I have eaten since The Hubs is not a big pumpkin fan and Bubby can only eat so much.
Posted by Amanda MacB at 1:13 PM
Labels: recipes
3 comments:
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
This study is no longer registered with the Guild,
but this profile page has been retained at the member's request. Please note that neither officers
nor members of the Guild are able to answer any questions about this study.
I was able to get a good start as my father in law's cousin had already started a Lynas study and the youngest of my 5 cousins turned out to have started a Wem study. I had recently acquired my own PC as I had started a consultancy company on retiring from employment and one of my purchases was a CD set with UK names phone numbers and addresses. That enabled me to find the 40 of so addresses at which all of the 'Wems' on England and Wales electoral rolls could be found. Until then I knew of only two other families with our surname, one called WEM and the other WHEM. After writing to each of the 40 addresses I found that there were then no more than 5 family groups ie descended from one known ancestor and had found some called WEMM also, who seem to comprise one group
However I have also received mail or found data on line where the name was written or transcribed as Wern, Webb, Wein, Wems, Mew and Hew to name just those of the 30 or more which occurred most frequently
I have ignored the names Wenn and Weymss all of which are likely to be shown when using a Soundex search. Wenn in particular appears to be an East Anglian name and the one WEM I found there is probably a mistranscription, he having been transported to Australia after being convicted in Norfolk and is probably a WENN. There are no more than 3 Wem family Groups in Australia. The descendants of my brother are the only WEM family in NSW. Another group in West Australia is descended from the same ancestors as my brother and I. They have no male descendants now living in Australia, their one male descendant family now live in California. The third Australian group appear to be descended from Marine Wem a 20 year veteran who enlisted near Shrewsbury in 1812 and later settled in the West Midlands. He has an extended family there still
The WEMS in Manchester however can be shown to have originated in Shropshire
The earliest reference I have is of someone called Thomas Wemme, alias Wykynsley, being sent down on 5 July 1520 from Oxford University, before being readmitted 17 Jan 1521. He supplicated for BCL or Bachelor in Canon Law 28 May 1528 and became a Vicar or Rector in a number of Parishes 'until death'. Died by 1550, will dated 10 Aug 1550
Ref Biographical Register of University of Oxford AD 1500-1540
I have not identified any descendants of Thomas. There is no mention of a marriage
The most complicated family group I have come across so far is one where a the father of the groom in a wedding later married the mother of the bride. I have also found what I and other relatives believe to be uncle/niece wedding
My own group has used Wem Wemm and Whem. The 15 Whem's in the 2001 Census are part of the group to which I belong, with proven descent from about 1729 in or near Atcham and probably from Richard Wem of Atcham near Shrewsbury in about 1650
Numbers from 'The Geanologist' website show that in the early part of the Victorian period more that half of all occurences were in Shropshire and more that half of the rest in adjacent counties which leads me to believe that it is derived from the town of Wem (formerly Wamm)some 10 miles North of Shrewsbury on the Shrewsbury to Crewe railway line. The name of Wamm was of Saxon origin, meaning marshland, referring to the area either side of the River Roden that passes through the town. William the Conqueror gave most of Shropshire to Roger de Montgomery who, in turn, bestowed the barony of Wem upon William Pantulph. It remained in that family for 150 years. The 1086 entry in the Doomsday Book (Folio 257 Shropshire) is short and describes the area as being wooded
A rhyme dating from the Battle of Wem says
The women of Wem, and a few musketteers Beat the lord Capel, and all his cavaliers
A more recent claim to fame for the town of Wem is that it is the Sweet Pea capital of the country. The Eckington Sweet Pea Society Show in Wem claims to be the premier Sweet Pea event of England
Those numbers 5237 apart show that there must be a lot of groups of names with only 14 or 15 members listed who were alive in 2001
I have still not yet started recording the US names but have seen it noted that they 'came from Britain by migration' One of my correspondents purchased a book of worldwide Wems about 10 years ago so I have some data to start on. A lady with the maiden name of Wem living in Canada says there are a lot of them about. Her particular branch of the family have no living male heirs. One of my related West Australian groups has one male child only and he lives in California. I have not received any reply from his parents.
You may find our other Guild websites of interest:


text:
What is your relationship like with money? Do you always have enough cash on hand? Would you like to have MORE MONEY? Do you just shove cash in your wallet? Do you hate it or love it? Several years ago I was introduced to Kirk Duncan from 3 Key Elements and have done several … [Read more...]
Clearing Limiting Beliefs About Money
Are you struggling with money? Do you find yourself thinking "There is never enough money" ? Or catch yourself saying"we can't afford it". What you think, say and believe about money is what you are going to experience with money. Are you ready change the way you think and start … [Read more...]


text:
In an event today, India's leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of their 4G services in 296 towns across India after testing the market in select cities with a promise of more coverage to come. An impressive television commercial was revealed during the event that claims Airtel 4G to be the fastest ever.
As you know, Airtel is India's largest telecom company and they launched their initial 4G services in the last quarter of 2012 in Kolkata. This launch is advertised to sport the customers across the country the ability to experience high-speed wireless broadband and get on to the digital super highway to enjoy international level HD video streaming, superfast uploading and downloading of movies, music and images. A new webpage of Airtel 4G is also launched during the event to support users understand the basics & the offering of Airtel 4G services.
Free 4G upgrade from Airtel
Airtel 4G is incredibly fast and claims to be fastest in the country among all the internet providers. If you know, 4G network has 10-times more data-transfer speed than 3G & the 4G internet packs cost more than those of 3G.
But on Airtel 4G you will get the same data benefits as your 3G pack and will be able to enjoy superfast 4G speed at no extra costs compared to 3G services. In simple words, you are upgraded to a faster & more powerful network without paying any extra penny. Airtel 4G services are available everywhere – including mobile, dongles, 4G hotspots and home Wi-Fi.
Airtel's 4G internet packs start from Rs. 25 and larger 4G packs have nearly the same price tags as 3G. That means, by choosing Airtel 4G over any 3G plans, you get ten-times better internet speed but pay nothing extra. Also you can use your existing 3G data plans to browse on 4G network seamlessly.
Get your own free Airtel 4G SIM cards
Airtel provides free 4G sim cards to the customers with existing 3G or 2G connections. Prepaid customers can individually request a free 4G SIM card from the website. You will be sent a new 4G sim card at your doorstep that is actually of no commercial use. All you can do is to use this new SIM card to move your existing number from old SIM card by sending a simple SMS. Postpaid customers will be provided free 4G upgrades at their door steps.
The free Airtel 4G SIM cards also come along with a dozen of smartphones like Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, Zenfone 2, Lenovo K3 Note, Redmi Note 4G and Yu Yureka. A detailed list of such supported devices is available at official Airtel 4G website. I own a Redmi Note 4G and that too came with a free 4G SIM thanks to Flipkart & Airtel. I am not yet using 4G services on my airtel prepaid connection but soon will be joining in. Actually, I am very excited about the internet speed I'll be clocking with my Redmi Note in nearest future.
Thanks for reading,
Gaurav Tiwari
Image source: Official Airtel 4G Website; © Bharti Airtel


text:
I simultaneously love and hate these pregnancy questionnaires so I give you full permission to skip over this post.
How far along? 17 weeks. I can't believe I'm four months pregnant already! Baby is the size of: a pear. About 5 inches long and weighs about 6 ounces. Maternity clothes? They're not really necessary yet, but I really hate any and all waistbands. I've slowly been acquiring some items from Target and PinkBlush. I have a few maternity tops that I love and I pretty much live in leggings. Sleep? I wake up a lot to change positions. I usually fall asleep pretty quickly afterwards, but it's still not extremely fun to wake up at least five times during the night just to roll over. Movement? I felt my first kick on Saturday! I usually push a little bit on my stomach when I'm laying in bed just to see if I can feel anything. As my hand was laying on my stomach, someone decided to push back! Best moment of the week? Feeling the baby kick. Crossing my fingers for more movement soon! Miss anything? Sleeping on my stomach. Food cravings? Not so much cravings, more like there's only a few things I can eat. I go through a family size bag of frozen chicken nuggets a week, and I really like pasta, rice, and potatoes. Anything make you queasy? The dishwasher! Andrew is on permanent dish duty. Showing? My stomach is starting to protrude. I'm just waiting for the day that it looks like there's an actual baby in there and not just a large meal. Weight gain/loss?
Morning all-day sickness got the best of me (and still occasional gets the best of me) and I lost 7lbs the first trimester. I'm slowly getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Hopefully I'll be able to start packing on the pounds now that I can eat a little more. Stretch marks? Not yet. Happy or moody? Happy. I haven't had too many mood swings thus far. Looking forward to: finding out the gender in two weeks! At our 12 week ultrasound, the tech told us what they thought it might be so I'm excited to either confirm or deny that.


text:
Universal Cell Phone Charger Coming Soon...At Some Point...In the Maybe-Not-Distant Future...
Photo via kalleboo via Flickr Creative Commons
A common complaint about cell phones is that there is no universal charger -- if you don't have the one that works specifically for your phone, well, you're just out of luck when your battery dies. It's not only a hassle for cell phone owners, but it's a huge problem for e-waste as the chargers become useless when the corresponding cell phones are tossed aside for newer models. But progress toward a more environmentally responsible (and plain common sense) solution for a universal charger that works will all phones continues -- and we are very close to seeing it finally arrive. Well, depending on your definition of "close" and depending on where you live.Back in 2009, we reported that the European Union was pushing hard for requiring cell phone manufacturers to design their phones around a common charger. In fact, in October of 2009, a universal charger design was approved for manufacturers to start adopting. But it's still up to manufacturers to take advantage of the opportunity to make both consumers and the planet happier.
Now, Live Science exuberantly reports that the "end of cell phone chargers is near." Well, sort of. Last year the European Commission approved a universal micro-USB charger, and signed on 10 major mobile operators and manufacturers, including Apple, Motorola, and Samsung among others. Starting next year, most cell phones in Europe will use micro-USB connectors, helping to reduce the estimated 56,000 tons of duplicate chargers sold each year.
This same progress with micro-USB connectors is moving forward in the US as well, but we'll be waiting quite a bit longer than Europeans. There are no regulators pushing the issue, and so it is up to manufacturers to make the switch. Unfortunately, they also make money selling all those different chargers.
Wired writes, "Ultimately, economics will force handset makers in the U.S. to change, say industry experts. As companies move to a universal charger in Europe, they will bring the same connectors to U.S. models."
"For the FCC, this is probably number 5,000 on their list and it is legislative priority number 10,000 at this point," says Joe Banos, chief operating officer for Wilson Electronics, which makes cellphone boosters and antennas. "We believe the U.S. will ultimately follow Europe here, but the question is when."
Follow Jaymi on Twitter for more stories like this
More on Cell Phones
Universal Phone Charger Approved, Could Save 13.6 Million Tons of CO2
The Secret Life of Cell Phones
ReCellular Spares Landfills From Over 1.6 Million Pounds of e-Wasted Cell Phones


text:
Daily Office
At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure." All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:25-30)
If you look at the words and events surrounding these two short paragraphs you will notice that these words may seem rather out of place. Jesus has talked about sheep among wolves, the betrayal among family members, the sword that he brought, delight in a cup of cold water, and judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah and worse. We learn that John the Reformed Charismatic Presbyterian had serious doubts about Jesus and Jesus' high praise of John. And we learn of the wit and wisdom of children. We learn of judgment on towns who had rejected Jesus. All of this is on one side.
On the other side we learn about Jesus who is accused of being a Sabbath scoundrel, in league with Beelzebul, more judgment, a 'small' miracle and the plot to destroy Jesus that followed, demon possession, the rejection of his family, and the simple nature of those who cannot even understand parables (!). Then John loses his head. It all makes for a great story—contains all the stuff we like: action, horror, drama, comedy, suspense. All this stuff we like, but there's that point in the middle where Jesus inexplicably prays and talks about finding rest for the soul.
There's a lot of sermon fodder in chapters 10-13, but this prayer in the middle bugs me. So does, for that matter, this business of Jesus' easy yoke and light burden. You and I know how hard that yoke is and how heavy that burden is: could it be worse on the other side? And his intense statement about knowing the Father bugs me—it's far too exclusive a club. And his thoughts about little children in the prayer bug me too—what do kids know? Jesus is saying something like, "What don't kids know?"
Ultimately, however, I think that is the point: he is talking about recognizing something, someone in our midst, isn't he? John may have been confused, but he was on the right track. Jesus says to him, "John, look what's going on! The blind can see. The lame can walk. The unclean are cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are alive. The good news is everywhere." Then he says even children can figure this bit of nonsense out for themselves, "We play a flute, but you sit still. We sing a song, but you do not weep." Jesus is shouting out: "Here I am! The One you have been waiting for and you are all missing it! You are so caught up in your own world that you cannot sing or dance or laugh or mourn. What sad people you are indeed."
He says: "I did miracles in your cities and you missed it. Twice in these verses he gives props to Sodom and Gomorrah (10:15, 11:24)—ironically, the two places most Christians nowadays point to in order to prove God's hatred of all things gay. Yet Jesus says those who lived in those places will get along better than most others. Strange. Strange that Jesus believed those who were most worthy of judgment and condemnation would most readily grasp what those who are right and good miss.
Then Jesus breaks out in praise and prayer: "Father I am glad for children. I am glad they have open eyes and see what adults do not. I am glad, happy, thrilled that you have revealed these things to those who can grasp them." This stuff is so simple that even children can get it. Or, in the childlike heart and mind—the not too uppity—God reveals his good will and good pleasure. And the wise and learned ignore it.
I sense in these verses a joy that cannot be contained and yet is only marginally loosed. You sense it in Jesus: Go back and tell! Go back and dance! Go back and Praise and Pray! And when you get done reading about all the sickness and judgment in the world, come to me for rest. When you get sick and tired of trying to figure things out using all your wisdom, all your smarts, all your disbelief in the outrageous, come to me and I'll help you figure it out; I'll show you want you are looking for but will never find. I love Jesus' short prayer here because it confirms what many of us know and believe but refuse to accept: wisdom isn't all it's cracked up to be.
"In some objectifiably verifiable and convincing way, we want God to demonstrate his own existence. Deep in our hearts, I suspect that this is what all of us want, unbelievers no less than believers. And I have wondered sometimes what would happen if God were to do just that. What would happen if God did set about demonstrating his existence in some dramatic and irrefutable way?" (Frederick Buechner, "Message in the Stars", in Secrets in the Dark, 16-17
Life, or whatever Jesus is talking about here, cannot be figured out by ignoring miracles or pretending they do not happen. It cannot be figured out by not dancing or not singing. It cannot be figured out by not eating or by not drinking. It, that is, 'these things', cannot be figured out by an appropriate ABAB single subject reversal study model. It cannot be figured out by hard work or by carrying around burdens we are not meant to carry. Jesus is saying here something to the effect of: If you want to figure out 'these things' they will only be made known as the Father reveals them in foolishness, and even then, to be sure, through me. Jesus says: I am revelation.
Something in here says to me: you cannot think your way to God. In a way, you have to embrace foolishness, wrap yourself in absurdity, traipse along with incredulity at this God who takes delight in revealing himself not to the wise and learned, but to the most foolish of the foolish: children (Gk. naypios; infants). This is God's 'good pleasure.' This is the God who does things all backward like. God reveals himself to infants; God reveals himself in Jesus; God reveals himself through things we cannot believe or understand.
Thus Jesus concludes: God reveals himself in mercy, gentleness, humbleness. Can God do that? Why does God reveal himself to us in ways the world does not understand, in ways that we can scarcely appreciate, in ways we hardly approve?
If we can reach
Beyond the wisdom of this age
Into the foolishness of God
That foolishness will save
Those who believe
–Rich Mullins, Let Mercy Lead


text:
You talk about your breasts from the moment they start changing as a preteen onward, but how often do you have the conversation about how to keep them healthy? Whether breast health is new to your radar, or you've been concerned with it for a while, there are preventative lifestyle changes you can apply today to ensure you're taking the needed steps to help protect you from developing breast cancer.
Lifestyle Changes
Eating healthy, limiting your alcohol intake, not smoking, and staying active are all great ways to reduce your chances of disease. A lot of specialists believe a healthy diet can help prevent breast cancer, although no conclusive evidence has been reported at this time to support that claim.
At Home Exams
Take time for monthly breast self-exams at home. Check out our easy 5-step guide here (insert link to article). If you spot or feel any lumps or see any changes or discoloration in your breasts, contact your doctor right away.
Visit Your OB/GYN
Stay up to date on your routine OB/GYN visits and mammograms to help spot abnormalities early on. Your specialist will also be able to determine if your family history affects your likelihood of developing breast cancer.
Remember, breast health is much more than worrying about a problem once it's been caught; it's about taking the necessary steps today to make sure you don't have to worry about potential harm down the road. Take control of your health by learning more about your breasts, your age, and lifestyle, and what this means for you and how you care for your breasts.


text:
Yesterday, (26th November) May's 'Save Me' campaign funded an 'exceptionally urgent' High Court challenge to halt the extension to the Gloucestershire -(link) pilot badger cull.
Please note Update 5.pm. Farmers Weekly interactive report that the High Court challenge has failed - (link)
But from the earlier Farmers Guardian report this morning:
John Cooper QC said: "From the material I have seen already, it is clear that appropriate procedures have not been taken in relation to this action, which will inevitably lead to the destruction of more wildlife if the Government remains unchallenged.
"In all the circumstances and for the grounds we have set out, we assert that the decisions made by Defra, the Secretary of State and Natural England, separately and or cumulatively were unreasonable and should be immediately revoked."Other quotes in the FG piece refer to the number of badgers culled out of an uncertain and moving target within a certain time frame and the subsequent effect on zTuberculosis levels in cattle. Not forgetting of course, other mammals which May's groupies and Defra would prefer to airbrush. Which is a bit bloody rich considering the disastrous launch with cage traps into grossly infected badger populations with cage traps for just 8 nights, undertaken by the
And as we predicted, the polemic widens, with poor old Monty Don having to close his Twitter account - (link) after a deluge of abuse. He mentioned that control of the badger population was probably necessary.
Responding to a request to join a march against the cull, Mr Don, who succeeded Jonathan Dimbleby as President of the Soil Association in 2008, tweeted: "Not sure whether the cull is in principle a bad thing. Probably ineffective but not necessarily wrong as a trial."
Later, as opponents of the policy questioned his comments, he added that the cull was 'an honest attempt to control TB'.
He said: "We cull many animals – don't know why badgers get special treatment."Quite. Apart from becoming a 'cult' animal for a few and a beneficial
Those statements are not the fanciful wishes of your editors: they are contained in the answers to PQs archived on this site from Owen Paterson's 2003/04 questions. Scroll down to 2004 and read them.
This is not a debate about badgers or cattle. Controlling the spread of a zoonotic Grade 3 pathogen needs no debate at all. It is by statute an undertaking Governments must adhere to, to protect human health.
But as the rift grows between the misguided people who want to 'save' all the badgers regardless of their disease status, the ambitious and unscrupulous pseudo scientists who play the 'vaccination' card as an alternative to disease control and those who want a meaningful control of zTB, the only 'winner' is the zoonotic bacteria which infected badgers share so easily.
This is a comment found on one of the few sites which still allow badgerists that sort of platform:
"The longer this sorry debate drags on, the weaker the democratic process looks. I don't think peaceful protest is working. The innocent are still dying. Until the badger killers are actually slaughtered on the job themselves by the same gunfire they are using against these defenceless creatures, we shall get nowhere. We need to put people off killing with a dose of their own medicine. It worked in World War 2. Democracy has to be fought for - it doesn't just happen."That was a comment in a Westcountry online newspaper. And from the fragrant Chris Packham, he of the
"Tonight could be the darkest for British wildlife that we have witnessed in our lives. [] ..that brutalist thugs, liars and frauds will destroy our wildlife and dishonour our nation's reputation as conservationists and animal lovers."So Merry Christmas to the zoonotic Tuberculosis bacteria of Gloucestershire. Brian May and Chris Packham love you all.
Incidentally as happened in the RBCT, we're hearing from Gloucestershire of the back up cage traps trashed, intimidation, damage and trespass. In fact complete chaos in an area where FERA's Mark Chambers told us that around 43 per cent of the badgers were infected and that this was "typical of badgers in areas on endemic zTB".
In that area (Gloucestershire) as well as sentinel tested reactor cattle, we also have reported bison, alpacas and sheep as spill over victims of this bacterium which badgerists are sooooo keen to protect.
So this latest High Court challenge proves an excellent day indeed, for zoonotic bacteria everywhere - on what should be an incontrovertible Public Health issue.


text:
Fuses and Combiner Boxes
Solar Energy System Accessories
Complete your solar energy system with essential solar components like solar combiner boxes, MC4 Connectors and Micro Float switches. Solar Solved Africa carry a complete range of solar panel accessories you will need to generate electricity reliably and cost-effectively.
Results 1 - 3 of 3
NH Fuse Swich disconnector - 2 Pole MultiblockR748 inc VAT
Orders are subject to stock and...


text:
Telford Homes
Questor says BUY
LONDON housebuilder Telford Homes [LON:TEF] doubled full-year, pre-tax profits and is so confident in the strength of the market it is aiming to double profits again by 2018, sending the shares up more than 4pc yesterday.
The Aim-listed housing group said that annual pre-tax profits were £19.2m, up from £9m a year earlier.
The reason the east London-focused housebuilder was so confident of doubling profits again was because it exchanged contracts on 515 houses in the year ended March 31.
That guarantees 98pc of the forecast sales for the year to March 2015, 70pc to March 2016 and 25pc to March 2017. The company added that all these sales were achieved without the assistance of the Government's Help to Buy scheme.
"Our long-term growth plans are underpinned by the demand for somewhere to live significantly exceeding the supply of new homes in the group's non-prime inner London locations," said Jon Di-Stefano, chief executive.
Investors were rewarded with an 83pc increase in the annual dividend to 8.8p, with the final 5.1p payment going ex-dividend on June 25 and paid July 18.
The company has a strong balance sheet with net cash of £4.8m at the end of March, up from a net debt position of £34.4m a year earlier.
The housebuilder also has a strong pipeline of housing projects. Telford Homes raised £20m in June last year to take advantage of the booming London prices. The company estimates that the pipeline was worth £875m in future revenue at the end of March, up from £627m a year earlier.
The average price of houses sold increased to £400,000, up from £353,000 a year earlier. This helped increase Telford Homes' operating profit margin to 17.1pc from 9.7pc last year.
Market consensus is for pre-tax profits of £20m next year on revenue of £165m. Earnings per share of 26.8p are expected for March 2015. That leaves the shares trading on a rather undemanding price earnings ratio of 11.4 times.
Sure, the shares are vulnerable to a bursting of the housing bubble, but that only remains a possibility, whereas these numbers are not in doubt. Buy.


text:
The Reyno of Navarra is one of those regions that is simultaneously famous and forgotten. Everyone knows about Pamplona and the San Fermin festival, but as with so many places in Spain, if you look a little deeper you can discover so much more! Navarra, like Spain itself, is filled with hidden treasures that are often overshadowed by the more well-known sites and festivals. At The Spanish Touch want to help bring both the big and small to you, because we believe that it is the combination of the universally-known and the backroads treasures that makes Spain such a unique and wonderful place.
For example, this weekend marks the 10th annual Roman Festival of Andelos, about a half hour outside of Pamplona. Parades, concerts, exhibitions and even a Roman Market will be on hand to celebrate the town's 2000 years of history, and take advantage of the time to visit the Roman Ruins and museum in the town, or the Roman Bridge in the neighboring town of Puente La Reina.
For more information or for help planning your private guided tour in Spain, contact The Spanish Touch at 888-480-0013.


text:
Front Pages
By Sarah Sabalos LaSpaluto, Editor
(page 1 of 7)
The Other Van Dam Story—Thomas K. Arnold
Talk show host Rick Roberts made headlines with his KFMB-AM radio show about Damon and Brenda van Dam's allegedly swinging lifestyle. But he wasn't the only radio personality—or media outlet—to cast a critical eye on the backstory of the Danielle van Dam kidnapping case.
John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, whose John and Ken Show airs weekdays from 3 to 7 p.m. on Los Angeles station KFI-AM, devoted three shows to the case, even traveling to San Diego to broadcast from the van Dams' Sabre Springs neighborhood. The week before that, they were the first to cast aspersions on the van Dams, a full day before the Roberts broadcast.
The Millennium Children's Fund had just announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of Danielle. Fund administrator Douglas Pierce had visited with the van Dams, and the next day he called a press conference in Los Angeles at which he voiced suspicions about the couple's behavior. For an hour, Pierce blasted the van Dams for their apparent lack of emotion and general rudeness to him.
"I don't know how much was true and how much was hysterical, but that's what made it fascinating. We tried to unravel it on the air," Kobylt says. "In retrospect, I think he did peg their personalities very well—the lack of emotion, the detachment, the obsession with the media message—and perhaps he got the vibe that they live a different life than most people."
As soon as Pierce finished on-air, John and Ken introduced their next guests: an angry Damon and Brenda van Dam, who lambasted Pierce as a nut case. "We had scheduled them in advance, but when they heard Doug was on the show, they canceled, only to change their minds right before show time," Kobylt says.
After the interview, John and Ken picked apart the conversation and spoke critically about the van Dams' lack of emotion and their defensiveness about questions pertaining to their own behavior and actions the last night Danielle was seen. The next day, the swinger story broke in The San Diego Union-Tribune—furthered that evening on San Diego radio by Rick Roberts.
"It's a very dramatic story," says Kobylt. "Everybody got obsessed with it pretty quickly... We have a pretty fair audience in San Diego—we've even made it into the top 10 on occasion—and we started getting calls from people who live in the neighborhood and know the van Dams. As a result, it might as well have been in L.A. I tend to look at the whole [Southern California] area as the same, anyway."
(By press deadline, the van Dams could not be reached for comment by San Diego Magazine.)
While the van Dam case has been duly covered by most of the mainstream media, the Star tabloid stoked the flames of controversy with a front-page banner that screamed, "The new JonBenet—what Danielle's mom and dad are hiding." Inside was a two-page story headlined, "Tragedy of little Danielle—and the dark sex secrets her parents are trying to keep hidden."
Quoting the proverbial unnamed sources "close to the probe," the Star reported that later-arrested suspect David Westerfield "was aware of the van Dams' sexual activities and had approached Brenda about hosting a sex-swap party in his house." The Star said Brenda had admitted to police "that the couple belonged to a swingers' club called Club CB" and that sources say she "flirted outrageously and danced with Westerfield" the Friday night Danielle disappeared. "He [Westerfield] knew that Brenda and her friends were sexually involved, and he wanted to be part of the action, but for whatever reason, he was not invited by Brenda to accompany her and her four friends back to her home that night for more partying and sex," the Star says it was told by a source.


text: For those who missed the earlier NASA insider on incomming objects here is the old link. I was told the Annunaki Mother Ships are here. They are aligned with the supreme council a very benevolent group which acts in accordance with universal law. When telepathically connecting what I am getting is they are very unhappy with what has happened on Earth, what the fallen ones have done and are now doing. This includes the archon network influences which would like to see the majority of humanity to be blunt, dead. They are behind Fukushima, the wars and other events harmful to humanity and the Earth. What comes next I do not know but I do know they are done with the tyranny and acts against humanity the Earth and universal law


text:
Pinhole Press has some of the cutest and most professional looking photo products, including photo books, calendars, baby books, and this personalized memory game. What a great gift idea!
Another quick and easy winter gift idea...hot chocolate mix, marshmallows, with a side of Baileys. Yum.
Want to know the 22 things you are doing wrong right now and how to fix them?
Need to de-stress for two or 10 minutes? Visit calm.com for moments when you need a break but you can't leave the office.
Was anybody else going completely stir crazy during the super storm? Next time I will be prepared to weather a storm with these ideas from the Daily Muse.
Anyone else in a relationship with a doctor or medical student? Here's a guide to help you decipher their writing and help them learn how to write like a real M.D. from Hither and Thither.
So who do you think won the First Lady Debate (that didn't happen)?
Favorite Quotes of the Week:
My favorite recipes from around the world wide web this week:
|Chocolate Chip Cookie in a Cup from No. 2 Pencil. I made this and is delicious! Seriously...make this right now!
|Creamy Caramel Apple Dip from Fake Ginger
|Chicken Pot Pie Soup from No. 2 Pencil
|Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats from The Kitchn
|Aztec Cocoa from Budget Bytes
|Roasted Pumpkin Pasta with Thyme Brown Butter Sauce from Annie's Eats
My favorite styles:
From Cupcakes for Breakfast (I am especially excited about these outfits because this photo shoot is from the GW campus. Go Colonials!) -
From Planet Blue, this BB Dakota Maya Pattern Cardigan
From Style Caster
This cozy Home Alone Hooded Sweater from Maison Scotch
Want to know the secret to kindness? Freshly baked bread according to French Researchers. Check out the story here.
Finally, enjoy heading into the weekend "Gangnam Style" :-) See you all next week!