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Tony Blair is proven wrong as productivity rises - EXPRESS COMMENT
Yet more evidence that all the scaremongering surrounding Brexit is complete nonsense.
Tony Blair has been adamant that Brexit will damage the economy, but new figures say the opposite
Just as Tony Blair takes to the airwaves to claim that leaving the EU will damage the economy it is revealed that productivity rose by 0.9 per cent in the last three months of 2017, the highest quarterly rise since 2011.
We wait to see how the Remoaners square that one – so far there has been silence.
The truth is that, shackled to the bureaucratic monolith that is the EU, Britain has been held back for decades.
Unable to forge trading partnerships with other nations other than through the EU, our economic growth has been in the hands of unelected bureaucrats rather than in our own elected governments.
And as we have seen both in our own dealings with the EU over Brexit and the punitive way that countries such as Greece have been dealt with, Brussels is not slow to attempt to punish countries that step out of line.
Brexit has boosted productivity levels to their highest since 2011
Employment is at record levels, we have everything to play for
Why should we leave the decision-making with people who might well try to harm us?
Why should we not be responsible for our own economic growth?
As it is, ever since the majority of the people of this country took the momentous decision to leave the EU, the economy has soared.
Employment is at record levels, we have everything to play for.
As for Tony Blair: is there a single person who listens to this discredited man any more?
NHS tragedy
A further tragic story has emerged from the shambles in the NHS: Josephine Smalley, aged 88, was forced to wait five hours in an ambulance and a further two on a trolley in a hospital corridor before dying of a heart attack.
How utterly devastating for her family that a frail and elderly woman should be treated in this way.
Something clearly went badly wrong at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, with more than 20 ambulances queueing for hours on New Year's Eve.
While the problem is being blamed on staff shortages and a spike in patients, surely some proper pre-planning for that night, of all nights, could have been done?
We know the NHS is under terrible pressure but Mrs Smalley died in awful circumstances. It must not happen again.
NHS failings continue as Josephine Smalley was forced to wait five hours for an ambulance
A Royal 2018
It's certainly going to be a busy year for the Royal Family: a big wedding and now another great-grandchild for the Queen on the way.
Many congratulations to the Tindalls and indeed to HM and Prince Philip.
It is heartening to see the Windsor clan grow in such a way.


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Facebook profits rocket 71% as ad revenue continues to drive growth
On Monday, Alphabet posted an increase of 21% in its revenue for the quarter, although it began the quarter with a larger base than did Facebook. The social networking company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.20.
The social network Facebook reported Q2 earnings after the bell on Wednesday, and like Google, reported impressive revenue gains.
Facebook has announced its financial results for the second quarter of this year and mobile ads are big business for the social network.
Mobile advertising revenue accounted for 87% of the firm's total ad revenue – an increase from 84% in the same three months a year ago.
Mark Zuckerberg last month stepped onstage in Chicago to talk about a nicer, gentler Facebook – one that wasn't just intent on "making the world more open and connected", as he's often said, but taking it a step further: "Bringing the world closer together".
The company's net income for the quarter was $3.9 billion, compared to $2 billion a year ago.
During the earnings call, Zuckerberg revealed that WhatsApp had grown to 1.3 billion monthly users, a billion of whom use the messaging service daily. Indeed, Zuckerberg mentioned on the call that WhatsApp Status, the app's version of Snapchat Stories, now has 250 million daily users. "Each of those has over 250m daily active users", Wehner said.
Facebook said it ended the quarter with $35.45 billion in cash and equivalents and marketable securities. Facebook will also have to learn how to better monetize video ads, since users watching videos may stay in one spot on the News Feed rather than scrolling past more ads. But it makes the vast majority of its revenue from advertising to users in the U.S. and Canada. But if the worst comes to the worst and messaging apps prove impossible to monetise, there are still five billion people without Facebook accounts to hunt down…
To that end, Facebook plans to provide more products created to meet the needs of marketers in specific verticals, Ms. Sandberg added. Executives noted Wednesday that Facebook was getting higher prices for its ads, with a 24% increase in average unit pricing, due in part to slower supply of ads, though higher-cost video ads may be playing a part as well. "It's early days and it's going to continued to be early days for a while", Sandberg said.
As far as user growth, Wehner said that product improvements for Android, the Internet.org initiative to provide low-priced, high-bandwidth Internet in developing countries, and carrier data plan promotions, are fueling user growth. The company now has a headcount of 20,658 as of June 30, 2017, according to the earnings release.
Shares went down immediately after the markets closed, but came back up and are now up 1 percent in after-hours trading.

subset: commoncrawl


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House Athletics Report
On Wednesday the 1st of June Moonee Ponds Primary School students competed in the annual Athletics House Championships. Students were in high spirts and did a wonderful job cheering each other on. A big thank you goes out to all the wonderful parents and staff who assisted with this carnival to make it a very successful day. The final results and House Champions are as follows.
House Champions Boys
Banks: Trent Lovatt
Lawson: Oliver Kal
Macarthur: Luca Christofides
Chisholm: Ty Davis
House Champions Girls
Banks: Sarah O'Toole
Lawson: Felicity Tseros
Macarthur: Florence Doherty
Chisholm: Shanice Lim
Overall Cross Country Champion Girl: SARAH O'TOOLE
Overall Cross Country Champion Boy: OLIVER KAL
Overall 3-6 House Winners
1st CHISHOLM (839 POINTS)
2nd BANKS (829 POINTS)
3rd LAWSON (725 POINTS)
4th MACARTHUR (687)
Prep-2 Scores
1st – Chisolm (87 points)
2nd – Lawson (80 points)
3rd – Macarthur (75 points)
4th – Banks (62 points)


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The ACDP, like many others, is particularly interested in the state of the SABC. This given the very important role the public broadcaster plays in providing information, news for viewers and listeners across the whole of South Africa.
It was also this reason the prompted us to participate in the ad hoc Committee on the SABC - which followed widespread concern from the public about the SABC's ability to discharge its mandate as a public broadcaster, as well as the fitness of the remaining SABC Board members to discharge their duties. There was more than sufficient evidence at that stage that the SABC's primary mandate as a national public broadcaster had been compromised by a lapse of governance and management within the SABC, which ultimately contributed to the Board's inability to discharge its fiduciary responsibilities.
We welcomed the appointment of the interim and permanent Boards and have followed with interest the progress that the new Board has made in implementing the ad hoc committee's recommendations.
Of particular interest to us is the progress that the Special Investigating Unit has made in investigating procurement, irregular, unauthorised or wasteful expenditure, maladministration and improper relationships with service providers.
While we welcome the progress report provided by the SIU as to its ongoing investigations into various controversial contracts including the Lornavision R62 million and Multichoice R460 million contracts, we are concerned that the SIU is not investigating the Gupta-related ANN7 contract. The reason given is that the Public Protector had indicated that she would be investigating this issue as part two of its state capture investigation. It appears however, that part two has not yet commenced - and may be severely compromised due to capacity constraints at the PP's office. We do however trust that the Zondo Commission of Inquiry, will also investigate the ANN7 contracts. This is important as the evidence was that the SABC came very close to being completely taken over or captured by ANN7.
We are also concerned about allegations that the NPA is reluctant to take the SIU's referral cases to court for criminal prosecutions. We share the view expressed by committee members that individuals who looted public institutions should not be allowed to resign or be dismissed without further action being taken. I would urge the Minister and committee members to consider approaching the Justice Minister and Justice Committee should concerns persist that the NPA is not pursuing these cases with sufficient vigour.
In addition, the ACDP recommends those former board members who recklessly breached their fiduciary duties be declared delinquent directors in terms of section 162 of the Companies Act. This will act as a deterrent and prevent such former directors from moving from one SOE to the next and causing further damage.
It is also important to remember that the ad hoc committee found that "Parliament may have relinquished its constitutional duty to hold the Executive and consecutive SABC boards to account. This may have rendered Parliament complicit in the gradual decline of good governance, accountability and commitment to public broadcasting at the SABC." It is crucial therefore that the Committee ensures as part of its oversight that all recommendations of the ad hoc committee are fully complied with.
Additionally, has the recommendation that MPs "should receive adequate training and support to enable them to exercise their oversight responsibility competently. Such capacity-building should include general training on legislative oversight and on ethics and corporate governance, and specific training to assist them in their respective portfolios."
Also have any amendments been proposed to the Broadcasting Act and possibly to the Companies Act to strengthen laws governing the SABC? Members will also recall the perceived uncertainty as to whether the Broadcasting Act trumped the Companies Act. Has there been any need to clarify this through a possible amendment?
Whilst the ACDP welcomes the steps taken by the Board to address most of the recommendations of the ad hoc committee, one of the pressing recommendations related to "ensuring that an environment free of fear and intimidation or abuse of power prevails at the SABC." This followed widespread allegations of victimisation at the broadcaster.
We remain concerned about these allegations. I even heard today that while Motsoeneng has been fired from the SABC, certain so-called enforcers are still there. This is unacceptable. We would urge any staff members who feel threatened or intimidated in any manner to report such incidents to the SAPS, and should no action be taken, to report it to us in Parliament.
Let us not forget that a heavy price was paid in getting rid of the rot at the SABC. One of the SABC 8 senior journalists, Suna Venter, died in June last year as a direct result of the stress induced by continued intimidation, victimisation and death threats. We cannot fail her and other journalists who have taken a stand to ensure an independent and professional public broadcaster.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEBATE: Budget Vote 3: Communications
10 May 2018
WATCH: Communication Budget Vote 3


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Please select a state for your search.
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UnityPoint Clinic uses secure patient messaging to provide a confidential and convenient way for us to communicate with you about your health care. Confidentiality is our primary concern. Secure messaging is private and secure and can only be accessed with your username and password. You may expect a response to your secure patient message within two business days (not including weekends).
You can reply to a secure message when one has been sent to you by a healthcare provider. If you would like to initiate a conversation with us using secure patient messaging, log into MyUnityPoint, and follow the steps below:
*Proxy access allows you to see health information for your children age 11 and under, and for your children age 12-18 with legal documentation of durable power of attorney.
For technical questions about MyUnityPoint, contact our support team, or call (877) 224-4430 during business hours.
MyUnityPoint should not be used for urgent medical needs. For medical emergencies, always dial 911.


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WONDERGIRLS SUNMI is coming back as a solo!
The teaser video for her new song '가시나 Gashina' has been released
SUNMI is coming back on August 22, 2017 and she will present her comeback stage on August 24, 2017 on M Count Down.
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Wow, it's hard to believe that it's been almost a week since my last post, but y'know how that goes…
See, since this post I have really been knocking out my obligations – homework, fundraising, marathon preppin' and adjusting to DST (seriously, it's an issue for me) so I am feeling like I am somewhat on the home stretch.
I mean, how couldn't I when I have these kinds of countdowns going for me:
…and that's until we CHECK IN! We'll actually be arriving in beautiful Honolulu on Sunday, November 20. Now, I am not a math whiz, but I can tell ya – 20 minus seven is an awesome (LUCKY) 13! Yes! Less than two weeks until we are in PARADISE. Relaxing…from work, school (no classes that week!) and of course…recovering from that nifty lil' 26.2 that I am running in…what…
I am so excited…watched tons of NYCM yesterday and so I am just floating with excitement…minus a little sleepiness as a result of waking up early on the day that you're SUPPOSED to sleep in/fall back/all that mumbo jumbo.
Anyway, I am hoping to get into the Bikram studio this afternoon/evening after work, assuming I am not so tired that the savasanas put me right to sleep 😉 I mean, relaxing is GREAT but I am NOT paying $15 to sleep in a hot room!
What's on your countdown radar?


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Sunday, April 26, 2015
My Wife's Trying to Kill Me After Having Sex With Two Women - John Fashanu
Abigail Onyekwelu is the wife of the retired former Wimbledon and England striker, and Fashanu says she picked up a knife and attacked him with it during a domestic dispute.
Currently, the couple are going through a bitter divorce - with his wife insisting that he cheated on her.
Meanwhile, she denies trying to kill him and accuses him of even sleeping with their maid. The drama will happen in Abuja.
The 48 year old woman said "Good riddance to bad rubbish! I've left him and washed my hands."
Posted by Leye Omole at 4:57 AM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Every one of our Systems and Server have at Least a RAID-1 Hard Drive Configuration, Some with PERC 6/i Cards Are Set For RAID-5. WWW.AXISFLIX.COM runs on a External 4TB Western Digital MyBook in a RAID-1 Configuration. (x2) 4TB Hard Drives. Also W have Two other Western Digital MyBook Raid Drives: (x2) 2Gig and (x2) 3 Gig ( Both RAID-1 Mirror) Then on top of the Fault Tolerant Storage we Back up the already backed up by RAID hard drive to a Western Digital USB Raid-1 Drive Automatically every night at 1am.
So to recap. All Drives are Backed up with Either a Raid-1 or Raid-5 setup. Then they are Backed up again On to a Raid-1 Mirrored External USB Drive.
WE have created such an amazing server setup here between the Video Game Servers, Digital Movie Servers, Our CryptoCurrency Miners, and the Retro Wildcat that I just want to make sure it is never lost for any reason.
[ Last Updated On 10/31/2019 @ 5:05pm ]


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Outsource Data Mining and Web Research services to ADS
Ace Data Soft offers data mining and web research services to global clients. As Internet contains unlimited information, we just need someone smartly search the web. We can extract images, titles, email addresses, as well as various kinds of document files.
At AceDataSoft, we provide high quality, low cost and time bound data mining and web research services. Data mining helps you to increase profitability, detecting fraud and improving risk management. We have a vast knowledge in the area of web research and data mining and can easily find details like company name, e-mail addresses, reports etc.
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WATCH: Julia Barretto Exposed Right Beside Joshua Garcia at a Jollibee Event!
Kapamilya stars Julia Barretto and Joshua Garcia were spotted at an event sponsored by Jollibee - promoting the fast-food restaurant.
The following video featuring the two actors has gone viral, but not because of the popularity of the fast-food chain.
Some sharp-eyed netizens spotted something other than the burgers in the duo's hands.
In the trending viral video, it can be observed that Julia had worn a short skirt which borders on the scandalous.
Let's just say a lot of skin was exposed while the two Star Magic talents were hosting this event.
Check out what we mean in the video shared by the YouTube channel "Ohania Updates" here:
As you can see, there isn't much to gawk at - just the thigh part.
In a somewhat related topic, many netizens seem to prefer the thigh part in Jollibee's famous Chickenjoy.
While there is no confirmation of a relationship between the two stars, they certainly look good together.
Watch the video below.
Watch the video below.
Are you hungry for more? Check out our other articles! Make sure you share this story on Facebook and leave us a comment in the comments section!
Source: LF
Source: LF


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ST. LOUIS (KTVI) - A rolling gun battle in St. Louis County leads to a police chase that ended up with an injured city police officer Monday evening.
It happened a little after 5 pm when city officers in the sixth district were alerted to a shooting that occurred off I-70 and Goodfellow Boulevard.
According to Police Chief Sam Dotson, officers heard the description of the car and matched it to a vehicle en route to city limits.
Dotson said that when city officers deployed spike strips to try and stop the fleeing car, it crashed in the 2800 block of North Florissant.
Two adults and two juveniles took off running with officers chasing after them.
"This officer who is 29-years-old with about six and a half years of service was chasing a suspect, fell, heard a noise and got up to continue the pursuit and saw that he injured his hand, he thought it was a gunshot wound," explained Dotson.
The officer was rushed to the hospital in a police car.
"Fortunately our officer is going to be ok," Dotson said, "I expect him to be treated and released from the hospital this evening."
All four suspects were arrested.
Dotson added that no shots were fired by police. Police recovered one assault rifle, two pistols and a ski mask.
County police is investigating the initial shooting off I-70 and Goodfellow.


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Bubbles Trio earrings are playful, eye-catching and lightweight. They are one of our most glamorous earrings which have often been seen on fashion runways and big festive events.
Experience the quality of luxurious Italian goat leather. Bubbles Trio earrings prove that earrings can be large, beautiful and comfortable at the same time.
Length: 16cm (including hook)
Weight: Only 7g!
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Handmade with love in Helsinki, Finland.
Recommended to wear with the stoppers, which can be found attached to the hooks.
You can also have these earrings with clip-ons.


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Take Charge of Your Health this Movember
Listen up guys, this blog is for you. Its #Movember. You know, that month where all the bros don't shave. Well it's kind of more than just that. Movember is all about bringing awareness to men's health issues, and getting men to take control of their health. The Surgery Group of Los Angeles wants to spend some time discussing the men's health issues we work to combat everyday.
Men can often neglect their health, failing to complete annual physicals, and routine blood tests. Some guys get away with it, but as we age we become more susceptible to different illnesses. Age combined with genetics can also make some men more at risk for developing serious illnesses.
Our practice focuses on a number of health issues men face. The following are just a few of them:
Inguinal Hernias
Though not life threatening, inguinal hernia do not get better with time and require surgery to fix the underlying cause.
Some men may even experience hemorrhoids if they lift heavy weights at the gym. Your chances of getting hemorrhoids increase as you get older, too.
Colorectal Cancer
Men have a 1/22 chance of developing the disease while a woman has a 1/24 chance of developing the disease.
Breast Cancer
Yes men develop breast cancer too, albeit rarely, yet and are more likely to die from the disease because the diagnosis is usually made when the cancer has already progressed.
These conditions range from mild to serious. Some are extremely uncomfortable and painful while some can be life threatening. Too many men have been conditioned to ignore pain. Complaining about an ailment or discomfort can be seen as un-masculine. This unfortunate reality causes many men to ignore the warning signs, which in turn, delays treatment.
So how do we combat this? The Surgery Group of Los Angeles recommends that men go to the doctor. Your doctor is not someone you see only when things are really bad. You need to attend routine screening exams and physicals. Furthermore, when your doctor recommends that you get a colonoscopy DO IT!
The easiest way to treat any sort of illness is when it is detected early. Early detection saves lives! When you take control of your healthcare and become an active participant in your wellbeing it is more likely that disease will be detected early.
This #Movember we ask that all men take a minute to think about their health. Schedule a visit with your doctor and take control of your health!
1 Comment
That is the correct blog for anyone who needs to find out about this topic. You realize so much its virtually arduous to argue with you (not that I really would need…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!
Comments are closed.


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The first OEM part to go into my car since purchase. I realize that there would be zero hp gain (actually I'd lose a couple) but part of me wants an anodized red air pipe with a K&N cone filter to replace the ugly black plastic. Save me from myself
Belts and valve cover gasket straight from Mazda. Unfortunately I won't have time until next weekend at the earliest for this. Booooo
But! It's not all bad news. Finally received my oil filter sandwich plate, which means.... I can change the oil that desperately needs it but most importantly I'll be able to hook up my oil pressure gauge! That means that there will be a working oil pressure gauge in the car for the first time in 23 years!
Coolant reroute showed up too. The level of attention put into this kit is rarely seen by other vendors. There's a reason I stick with 949 Racing (Supermiata). Still waiting on - Crossflow radiator, aluminum coolant overflow tank, a few hoses and possibly an anodized hardline to replace that long hose below. Totally unnecessary but come on! I'm doing a cooling system overhaul. I deserve some engine bay bling...


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Keeping the fun in maths learning. This series provides high-quality support for numeracy teaching and learning for Stages 1 to 4. The games and activities help develop related number knowledge including number identification, number sequence and order, addition and subtraction, grouping and place value, and number facts. Child-friendly instructions for games, and links between each game and activities in the No Nonsense Number and the Number Counts are provided.
Ages: 4-9 years
Jude Callaghan is an experienced, enthusiastic teacher with a passion for teaching and learning, and delivers teaching programmes that are innovative and exciting. Jude has embraced the Numeracy Development Programme wholeheartedly, and has joined the No Nonsense Number writing team to share her deep understanding and wealth of ideas.
Suzi is an enthusiastic principal of a Catholic school in Christchurch, New Zealand. She has international teaching experience and has had the pleasure of teaching in a multi-cultural environment. With over 20 years of teaching, Suzi has developed a wealth of ideas and resources to best help children with their learning.


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Upper Falls at Caney Creek
I spent the day hiking through the Sipsey Wilderness in Bankhead National Forest with BamaWester, Nailbender, and RTalley. We hiked down to the Upper Falls on Caney Creek. We continued on to the Lower Falls which can be reached from the Upper Falls in about an hour.
#13 in Explore on March 12, 2007.
19,152 views
195 faves
134 comments
Taken on January 20, 2007


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Posts Tagged recidivism
Recidivism is Expensive, Let's Try Something Else
Posted by Julia Steiny in Uncategorized on August 7, 2015
Published by EducationNews.org — Trying to punish people into compliance costs a lot, and more importantly, doesn't work.
This is our third look at how Judge Pamela Williams, in her mental health court in Nova Scotia, successfully kept offenders from further contact with police, courts, and jail. Using the CoSA model — see last week's column — she worked with experts in different fields to figure out how to "help them out of the place that they are in," as she put it.
Today's question is: CoSA works, but at what cost?
To set the stage, first conjure in your mind an Excel budget sheet. Labels at the top read: Housing, Health, Mental Health, Prison, Courts, Children Protective Services, Schools, Higher Ed, Workforce Development, and I'm sure you can think of more. Each of these state or city public services has its own mission, and not to confuse things, each has its own huge budget spreadsheet. Hierarchies, job descriptions, and business habits are baked into those budgets, leaving little flexibility. So as we consider another of Judge Williams' stories illustrating her Court's challenges, mentally map where various costs might be posted, but remember that Judge Williams herself controls only her portion of the Excel column marked "Courts."
A woman we'll call Rosalie was "a very complex case."
Rosalie had limited intelligence, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. Also, she was an unusually large woman, which added to the extent that she was hard to control at times.
Occasionally she'd sink into a depression so severe she became suicidal. She'd sneak out of her group home and head for a particular bridge where she'd threaten to end her life. Not that she did. But the police couldn't just let traffic flow by an apparent suicide in progress; they had to close the bridge. Bridges over water, such as this one, have no side streets to which traffic can be diverted.
A competent bean-counter could probably arrive at a solid estimated cost for the small platoon of police needed to get her into an ambulance or patrol car… and the emergency efforts of the Department of Transportation, her subsequent hospitalization, public defenders, and so on. However, it's impossible to monetize the inconvenienced drivers who were late to appointments, no-shows at job interviews, or charged extra for late daycare pick-up.
Yes, of course they had tried to stop her. Ferverently. Rosalie had been in court repeatedly, jailed, on probation, back in prison — caught in an expensive, vicious cycle. The Law could keep her locked up, but she was a wretched innocent, not a criminal deserving the punishment of prison. The costs of punishing her into compliance were also not cheap, but more importantly, not working.
The traditional courts sent her over to Judge Williams.
Williams assembled her CoSA team of professionals, including the directors of Rosalie's group home. Obviously the directors had talked to the police and other agencies on her behalf. But under what circumstances, other than a CoSA meeting at Williams' court, would they sit down together to get it to stop? Typically, the psychiatrist of record hardly talks to the therapist, never mind solves problems with a team that includes family and other stakeholders. Where is the Excel column for cross-agency collaboration?
In any case, the group discovered that Rosalie absolutely treasured her home. It was comfortable, with kind friends who took her back, fed and soothed her. They concluded that her love of her home could be carefully deployed as leverage. No one wants to do tough love. But they worked with Rosalie to get a deal with her — if she did her bridge thing again, she would be banned from the home and need to live somewhere else.
Predictably, in time, it happened once more. Williams didn't say where Rosalie lived or for how long after her poor choice. Wherever it was, she hated it passionately, as all had hoped. Per prior agreement, and after a painful amount of time, she was allowed back into the home and never offended again. It worked.
Williams says, "We have one mental-health court. Even that court doesn't have enough resources. It's expensive to restore broken people and relationships. The people around those offenders are broken. Victims are broken." Everyone involved in a crime needs the healing powers of restoration — or the problems linger, or worse, fester.
But only through sheer power of persuasion, and judicious use of scarce resources, did Judge Williams get experts from across the Excel spreadsheet to jump their column. Who pays for that? No group home runs on such a cushy margin, they can easily send people for team meetings. Therapists and psychiatrists don't work for free, so the entire spreadsheet would have to ease up so the resources are there to make up these teams. Think of the cost savings to Police, Health, Transportation, etc.
Recidivism is absurdly expensive. Rosalie's trips to the bridge cost a fortune. Stopping them, in a humane fashion, saved a lot of money for Police, Transportation, Emergency Medicine, and more, not to mention the taxpaying public. If the real goal of Justice is to reduce recidivism, Judge Williams has excellent answers. What we're doing now doesn't work for anyone.
Julia Steiny is a freelance columnist who also blogs about Restorative Practices and Restorative Justice. After serving on the Providence School Board, she became the Providence Journal's education columnist for 16 years, and has written for many other outlets. As the founding director of the Youth Restoration Project, she's been building demonstration projects in Rhode Island since 2008. She analyses data and provides communications consulting on Information Works! and the RIDataHUB, through The Providence Plan. For more detail, see juliasteiny.com or contact her at firstname.lastname@example.com or 24 Corliss Street #40022, Providence, RI 02904.
Reducing Recidivism Requires Strong Political Will
Posted by Julia Steiny in Uncategorized on July 30, 2015
Published by EducationNews.org — The challenge is to keep offenders from just cycling through traditional systems that don't work.
Back in the 1990s a Mennonite minister, Harry Nigh, developed a protocol for radically reducing recidivism among sex offenders. The common assumption to this day — probably even yours — is that nothing can be done about this particularly creepy form of criminal activity. Not true.
The Circle of Support and Accountability, or CoSA, works amazingly, as I first learned from expert Robin Wilson. Furthermore, CoSA works so well, it's being used to divert or re-integrate those who've committed all sorts of crimes. In fact, in a recent workshop designed to scale up Restorative Justice in Vermont, the practitioner attendees talked as if it were the go-to model for virtually all social service problems. We'll get an example in a moment.
Know first that the CoSA research data rocks:
* 83% reduction in recidivism for sexual offenses
* 73% reduction in recidivism for all types of violent offenses
* 71% overall reduction of in all types of recidivism in comparison to matched groups of offenders who did not have a CoSA.
The model is fairly simple. Picture an inner and an outer circle, with the "core member," or offender, at the center. The inner or informal circle is made up of family, friends, neighbors, fishing pals, whoever is willing to have regular, frequent contact with the person getting help. CoSA for the sex offenders mostly uses trained volunteers, but volunteers could be added to any team if the person is very isolated.
The outer circle consists of professionals who work on the more complex barriers to success — addiction, housing, psychiatry, social services. Here's a graphic of the model. Wrapping a person in structured support seems like an intuitive way of solving social problems. Think of extended families working together to raise a particularly difficult kid.
Nathan suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome.
A young man we'll call Nathan came before Judge Pamela Williams' mental health court in Nova Scotia. (Last week's column has more about her and mental health courts.) Babies born of women who drink alcohol heavily during any part of the pregnancy can be born with conditions like hyperactivity, developmental delays, speech and language delays, and low intelligence.
Nathan could not, as Judge Williams said, "connect the dots." Cause and effect meant nothing to him. Consequences were meaningless. He'd been jailed by the traditional courts for a variety of criminal charges. His drug involvement only increased his disruptiveness and irrationality. His parents were at wits' end. Lastly, it had come to light that he was being sexually exploited by an older man. The traditional court judges sent him over to Judge Williams, whose claim to fame was her remarkably low recidivism rate.
Judge Williams had become increasingly adept at using CoSA.
As she put it, in the Vermont workshop, the challenge was to build Nathan an "external brain." Parents are their children's external brain until the kids are mature enough to make good decisions on their own. Nathan would never make great decisions autonomously.
Over her years as a judge, Williams had collected expert collaborators into teams, one for health, one for job skills, homelessness, and so forth. Depending on the case, the appropriate team would help her form that professional circle of experts who understood how to keep problematic people out of the courts, prisons and hospitals. When the experts had done their assessments, Williams brought the immediate parties into her court for a restorative-justice conference — the pros, Nathan and his parents. Together they designed a plan that could work for everyone, especially Nathan.
Nathan was far more high-maintenance than Jane, the bipolar gambling addict of last week's story. Unlike Jane, Nathan's informal inner circle will always need ongoing professional support. So the first order of business was to get him into a structured living environment capable of monitoring Nathan's constant needs. That allowed his previously-oppressed parents to become his fun companions on outings and visits.
Nathan's access to the internet was supervised. But importantly, Williams' mental health team alerted the police to online sexual exploitation, and that led to a conversation about working with the cops on the problem. Restorative justice uses the crime at hand to look into the future for ways to eliminate or mitigate issues the crime has revealed. The professionals helped Nathan fill his free time with more productive activities. Through assessments, they found that Nathan could work successfully as a flagger on road projects — work that makes him so proud that he's highly motivated to cooperate.
Oh, you betcha. CoSA is labor-intensive. But it works. Williams considers it her judicial charge and challenge to keep offenders from cycling through traditional systems that don't work.
Ah, but at what cost? Next week, the last column in this series will consider costs.
Julia Steiny is a freelance columnist who also blogs about Restorative Practices and Restorative Justice. After serving on the Providence School Board, she became the Providence Journal's education columnist for 16 years, and has written for many other outlets. As the founding director of the Youth Restoration Project, she's been building demonstration projects in Rhode Island since 2008. She analyses data and provides communications consulting on Information Works! and the RIDataHUB, through The Providence Plan. For more detail, see juliasteiny.com or contact her at email@example.com or 24 Corliss Street #40022, Providence, RI 02904.
Treat Juvenile Crime as a Mental and Social Disease
Posted by Julia Steiny in Uncategorized on July 2, 2015
Published by EducationNews.org — Change the way we're having this conversation. Focus on the crime as a symptom.
Crime among juveniles is a symptom of a problem. Our system doesn't question the root cause of the issue, but asks instead: Is the kid guilty or innocent? If guilty, what's the punishment?
As a result, this scenario takes place all over the nation, daily: Bust a kid and send him to prison, which makes him worse. In time, send him back to the community that didn't know what to do with him in the first place. Repeat. And according to statistics, keep repeating.
Within 5 years, 77% of released prisoners in U.S. are re-arrested.
Recidivism rates specific to juveniles are extremely hard to come by. Some states don't track the kids as they age and cross into the adult system. Recidivism itself lacks a standard definition. A large National Institute of Justice study of 30 states, though, provided the stat above.
So let's go back to our scenario and unpack it for a closer look. A kid 17 or younger commits a crime. He — they're usually "he" — vandalizes, steals, fights. He's caught, adjudicated and sent to a Corrections facility. In my state, Rhode Island, the facility is called the Training School, which sounds like a dog obedience academy.
The offender spends a few days or months there, during which the long-range prospects for his mental state do no improve. If his sentence is long enough, he learns all sorts of cool new tricks to add to his bad-kid repertoire. Even if he only serves a few days, he still gets a reputation burnished with street cred. Prison makes him more of a man. Other students and younger siblings might look up to him.
In fact, a bit of juvenile detention is such a badge of honor that offenders I've seen wear shorts to school in zero-degree weather to show off their new fashion accessory: an electronic ankle bracelet. If parents and school staff thought he was a pain before his vacay in the can, now he's untouchable. The electronic tracker only requires him to be compliant about being in school, but he's free to strut the hallways during class as he pleases. School staff are torn between coaxing him into cooperation or just handing him back to the police and courts. Odds are that he's low-income and black or Hispanic, so Daddy's not there to lawyer up and ship him off to boarding school to hide the shame.
Nope: he's coming back to his family and community. But while the offender was gone, the community got nothing but a break from him and his behavior. While some states and counties are a bit better than others, hardly anyone does much to prepare families and communities to receive back troubled kids. No agency or public service deals with the conditions in which the trouble began, festered and grew. Almost inevitably, the cycle repeats.
The pipeline isn't the problem; the prison is.
Prisons are easy repositories for the unwanted. If crimes are symptomatic of mental and social illness, our response essentially damns the kid to a disease he's left to cure on his own. Kids who are violent might well be deranged, which is to say mentally ill, needing an intense hospital setting. Perhaps the kid got caught up in a Fight Club street culture that is the entrance requirement to gang membership or just survival. Street fighting is a social ill, and punishing individual kids isn't going to heal that situation. If anything, it makes kids meaner.
So removing the prison option and replacing it with a locked mental health facility would inevitably change the nature of the pipeline. No one swaggers home from the hospital, locked or not. If a kid's impossible behavior results not in jail time but therapy, social work, and digging into the deeper issues of home and community, the pipeline itself would also take on a therapeutic rather than punitive quality. If the pipeline focused on healing mental and social illness, it would likely keep more kids out of hospitals and prisons. If nothing else, it would be cheaper.
The RI Training School costs $186,380 per kid, per year.
RI is above the national average, which is $148,767, but less than half than New York's annual cost of $352,663. Surely we could spend the money more effectively, especially by putting a good portion of it into communities that desperately need help reducing their own crime. Parents need help long before the kid starts skipping school regularly. Families desperately need help with mental health and addiction services, with education and job training, with residential stability. So put that money where it can avoid or at least mitigate misery for the kid, family and community.
No kid was born with a "bad" gene. They live in conditions that grow social weeds. Poor kids grow up on mean streets. Rich bad kids are nurtured in entitlement and a sense that the rules don't apply to them. Rich or poor, change the conditions. Change the way we're having this conversation. Focus on the crime as a symptom. Otherwise, we are living the definition of insanity.
Julia Steiny is a freelance columnist who also blogs about Restorative Practices and Restorative Justice. After serving on the Providence School Board, she became the Providence Journal's education columnist for 16 years, and has written for many other outlets. As the founding director of the Youth Restoration Project, she's been building demonstration projects in Rhode Island since 2008. She analyses data and provides communications consulting on Information Works! and the RIDataHUB, through The Providence Plan. For more detail, see juliasteiny.com or contact her at email@example.com or 24 Corliss Street #40022, Providence, RI 02904.


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BIBLIOGRAPHY OF JAPANESE HISTORY TO 1912 -- An extensive bibliography of Japanese history from Cambridge university.
GUIDE TO JAPAN -- A interesting and all encompassing guide to Japan which has links to web sites on Japanese history, culture, tourism, and entertainment.
SENGOKU DAIMYÔ -- A.J. Bryant's information filled web page with various Japan-related articles including an informative guide to Japanese armor construction, Heian period architecture, and more.
GUIDE TO JAPANESE CASTLES -- A well-designed and informative site devoted to Japanese castles, with a history of their development and pictures and commentary on some of the more famous examples.
SHO-SHIN -- An extensive site on samurai swords which contains quite a few interesting illlustrations and historical facts.
THE JAPANESE SWORD INDEX -- Another very extensive and interesting site dedicated to Japanese swords that provides much useful information for the owner and/or collector. History, reference data, and informative articles can all be found here.
THE DOCUMENTS OF IRIKI -- A remarkable resource detailing the entire collection of Iriki-in documents, amounting to hundreds of pages of information.
WAKAGASHIRA -- A well done site about the history and production of Japanese Samurai armor.
SENGOKU -- Sengoku: Chanbara Roleplaying in Feudal Japan, the homepage of the Samurai RPG from Gold Rush Games.
JAPANESE HISTORY RESOURCES -- A page with links to various pages related to Japanese history as well as Japanese culture and other tidbits.
AICHI VOICE -- An English site from Aichi Prefecture, Japan, that has and interesting article on Oda Nobunaga.
MIYAMOTO MUSASHI - THE MAN BEHIND THE LEGEND -- An exellent and thorough site dedicated to the life of Musashi.
SHOUKAN-AN NINPOU TAIJUTSU DOJO -- A beautifully done and informative page on Japanese culture and Buddhism.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE -- An excerpt from a National Geographic article entitled 'Japan's Way of the Samurai'.
WILLIAM ADAMS: MY COMING TO JAPAN -- A letter apparently written by William Adams, the first Englishman in Japan, in 1611. The character of John Blackthorne was based on Adams.
THE SAMURAI ARCHIVES CITADEL -- The online community for Japanese history and culture, with forums that include Samurai history, arms and armor, Japanese language, Japanese entertainment, martial arts, and much more.
JAPANESE SAMURAI HISTORY FORUM -- Doing research or have a question about Japanese History? If so, head over to our Japanese History Forum, done in conjunction with this page, and post your questions!
JAPANESE SAMURAI HISTORY YAHOO GROUP -- Yahoo Group also in conjunction with this page.
JAPAN-O-RAMA -- An informal group for discussion of all things Japan - culture, language, society, food, history, and anything else you care to think up that has some sort of vague and tenuous relation to Japan.
NIHONTO YAHOO GROUP -- A list dedicated to all aspects of Japanese swords.
NE ASIAN STUDIES YAHOO GROUP -- A list devoted to the scholarly discussion of anthropology, archaeology, history and linguistics of Northeast Asia.
SAMURAI ARCHIVES GOINGS ONS -- Official blog for information on the Samurai Archives.
ODA NOBUNAGA'S BLOG -- Oda Nobunaga's official online blog.
ANCIENT JAPAN -- A blog for research on ancient Japan.
SAMURAI ARCHIVES STORE -- Merchandise inspired by the Samurai and Japanese history.
THE SAMURAI FILM -- A website for the book of the same name.
SAMURAI MOVIE REVIEWS -- A website dedicated to reviews of Samurai movies.
WHICH SAMURAI WARLORD ARE YOU? -- Take the online test and find out.
WHICH 'LAST SAMURAI' CHARACTER ARE YOU? -- Take the online test and find out.
TOTAL WAR.ORG -- The number one fansite for the Sengoku Period computer strategy game Shôgun: Total War. An indispensible resource for all STW players.
THE NINJA DOJO -- What has to be one of the most detailed sites on the internet covering Japanese Samurai and Ninja movies - movie ratings, screenshots, links to buy movies, and more.
RIDGEBACK PRESS -- Publisher focusing on Meiji restoration history.
SONSHI.COM -- the largest online resource for Sun Tzu The Art of War, and the gathering place of Sun Tzu authors, scholars, and readers around the world.
ARTELINO -- A website with information on ukiyo-e, arts, history, legends and more.
CHUU -- Fine Kimonos & Japanese Antiques.


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Blogging Buddies, let's see if we can help some newbies. I had two new bloggers email me saying they have made new blogs but they can't seem to leave comments. Of course, this is making it difficult for them to get the word out that they have new blogs. So, will you please do me a favor and hop on over to their blogs and give them a big blogging welcome?
Erica's Elementary Excitement posted this cool sentence ladder idea from Whole Brain Teaching. (You may recall my video on me using WBT?)
First Class with Mrs Mac posted free math task cards to help with 1 more/less and 10 more/less.
If you can figure out what is going on with Blogger and their comments you will be their HERO! Anyone have a guess who might figure out? My bet is on Kristen from Ladybug's Teacher Files. (No pressure Kristen, just a hunch.)


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Today marks a shocking 25 years since Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen, passed away at the age of 45. It's deeply saddening to think about, but on this (ironic) Thanksgiving Day it's important to think about the legacy Mercury was able to leave behind during his short 20 year career. A quarter-century later, listeners young and old still hear Freddie's voice, whether it's radio stations playing "Another One Bites the Dust", sports stadiums playing "We Are the Champions, parties playing "We Will Rock You", or movies playing "Bohemian Rhapsody". Scholars still mark Freddie as one of the best singers of all-time as well as the best frontman in rock history. And if all goes well, his legacy may also be encapsulated by the next big biopic movie.
In honor of Freddie's death, I've decided to resurrect a post I've been meaning to make for over two years. At the same time, this post will mark the return of a segment I haven't done in well over a year, but have missed doing. Luckily for me, this subject has managed to remain relevant two years later as we're still wondering what will become of this movie. Welcome back to SBox Analyzes where we'll be discussing the yet to be released Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. We'll round up all the rumors and facts we know about the project and use it to predict how the final product will turn out. The things we don't know, we'll simply predict.
I'm going to try a different format for this series and cover each aspect of the project individually. Hopefully that will make this messy production a bit cleaner.
The film project was first announced around 2010 by the two remaining members of Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor. The film was originally planned for filming in 2011, but has ran into several developmental issues, most of which have to do with the film's script, which must be approved by May and Taylor before continuing. Originally, Dexter Fletcher was set to direct the film while the role of Freddie was assigned to Sacha Baron Cohen and then Ben Wishaw. Peter Morgan of Frost/Nixon fame was also attached as the film's writer. All four dropped out due to creative differences or scheduling conflicts. The film had been at a stand-still for years until November 4, 2016, when the film was assigned a stable director, screenwriter, studio, producers, and lead actor.
From the beginning of this announcement, there has been a ton of debate as to this film's story; when it will take place, what events will be covered, and how close to the source material are they going. Over the years, there have been multiple perspectives on the story's timeframe, but most sources suggest that it'll cover the formative years of the band all the way up to their performance at Live Aid, considered one of the best live performances of all-time. That puts our timeframe between 1970 and 1985.
There's a lot of content to choose from in those 15 years, and it perfectly hits all the beats of a typical biopic: the formation, the rise, the fall, and the resurgence. Given Queen's history, these are the events I believe will make the film:
- Freddie attends a Smile concert and meets Brian May and Roger Taylor; Freddie joins as Tim Staffell departs
- John Deacon auditions as bass player
- Queen signs with production company and makes Queen I and II
- Queen headlining the Mott the Hoople tour and withdrawal due to May's hepatitis
- Queen splits from production company following Sheer Heart Attack
- A Night at the Opera is made, and Queen becomes a success
- Montage covering A Day at the Races, News of the World, and Jazz
- Band completed The Game and meets Michael Jackson; beginning of downfall
- Bandmates do solo projects following Hot Space
- Band comes back together to create The Works
- Bob Geldof offers Queen gig on Live Aid; Live Aid performance
From there, everything else is extra. It should be noted that this film is mostly about Freddie Mercury, which means we'll also be seeing Freddie's relationship with Mary Austin, and his other relationship with Kenny Everett. We may also see his friendship with Michael Jackson and David Bowie, and we'll definitely see the making of his solo album Mr. Bad Guy.
Interestingly, the film seems to be completely glossing over Mercury's battle with AIDS and his death. This is a decision I originally didn't like, but eventually understood.Those last 6 years of Queen's run with Freddie are incredibly interesting years with scenes that write themselves. However, there's enough content there to fill its own movie. This reminds me of Straight Outta Compton, which ironically also features a band who lost their lead member to AIDS. Unfortunately, the final act that contains Eazy-E's death was considered by many to be the weakest part of the film. I feel that in avoiding it they're avoiding the same criticism.
Does that mean there will be zero mention of Freddie's death. Hopefully not. A film about Freddie Mercury would feel weird if you just put it in text form at the end. There is a way to show it without dwelling on it (and Fox is free to take this idea if they want it). Set the last scene in the film in 1991 during the recording session for Innuendo. Freddie walks in visibly ill and weak and is preparing to record "The Show Must Go On". Despite Brian May's concern, Freddie says his famous line "I'll fucking do it, darling", knocks back the vodka, and walks into the booth. Fade to black, and the song plays through the credits. That's how I'd end the film.
Whatever direction or moments they decide to adapt for the film, I feel it will be incredibly faithful and highly entertaining. That's due to an actual fact about this project that should give fans hope. The current screenwriter is none other than Anthony McCarten, the Oscar award winning screenwriter of The Theory of Everything. If McCarten can handle the story of Queen as well as he covered the story of Stephen Hawking, we're in good hands.
After the departure of Dexter Fletcher, someone with experience directing musicals and biopics, the question arose of who could step up to the task of directing this kind of movie. The answer was finally revealed this month to be Bryan Singer… Interesting.
If you're like me and many other comic book movie fans, you'll know Singer best as director of the X-Men movies. More specifically, he's the director of the good X-Men movies (like X2 and Days of Future Past). That's great and all, but the question on most people's minds is what he can bring to the story of Freddie Mercury. It's true that Bryan Singer isn't just the X-Men guy, having directed several films since the 90's. When he's not dealing with superhero action flicks, he's directing thrillers (historical, horror, and even criminal). Sure, this will be his first real exercise in drama, but I think his background in thrillers will go really well in Bohemian Rhapsody. I can imagine the build up for that Live Aid scene or when Brian May collapsed at the Mott the Hoople tour.
It's also worth noting that Bryan Singer, like Mercury, is bisexual. I only bring that up due to how key Freddie's sexuality was to his life story, and my hope is that Singer's involvement will make those moments involving Freddie's sexuality much more personal and authentic.
Studio/Release Date
This film went a long time without a distributor, but the film finally found a home with 20th Century Fox. This becomes important in terms of this film's budget, marketing, and release date.
I looked up every biopic distributed by 20th Century Fox in the past six years and measured their budgets to give us a general idea of this film's budget. Most biopics by Fox range from $40-60 million in budget. Their lowest budget for a biopic was Eddie the Eagle at $23 million, and the highest was The Revenant at $135 million. My guess is that Bohemian Rhapsody may get around a $50 million budget, which is a fair amount. If Bridge of Spies, which has one of the most beautiful set designs of 2015, was accomplished with $60 million, and a film with less visual or geographical fidelity like Joy needed $40 million, I think Bohemian Rhapsody will do fine with an in-between price. It should be enough to film scenes at Wembley Stadium or Hyde Park.
As for marketing, I that may depend heavily on when the film is released, because bigger films could exist around Bohemian Rhapsody's release. Assuming it's a slow month with a bigger movie a couple weeks away, you could expect marketing similar to Joy and Bridge of Spies; just big enough to be noticed.
Finally, there's the issue of release date. According to Bryan Singer, filming should start in early 2017. If that's true and there's not yet another delay, that means that we could expect filming as soon as casting is complete. I predict that it will be between February and April, which would mean a potential release date of late 2018. Given the current 2018 movie schedule and Fox's upcoming film slate, I would aim for either October or December. October may be a bit hectic due to it being Halloween and it being sandwiched between a DCEU film and Disney's Mulan remake, but it would coincide with the anniversary of the actual song "Bohemian Rhapsody". December would be a more opportune spot, right after the premiere of Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them 2 and weeks before the Spider-Man animated movie.
The film will be produced by GK Films and New Regency. Towards the beginning of production, TriBeCa Productions was also tied to the project as producer, but I'm not sure if that relationship still exists. I'll assume it's not.
Both of these companies are great fits for this project. New Regency has an extensive track record with an impressive credit list including Birdman, Gone Girl, 12 Years a Slave, and The Big Short among others. GK Films has a few bumps on their track record, but for every 5th Wave they have a Departed. For every Dark Shadows they have a World War Z. GK Films also gets props for their work on Jersey Boys, the musical biopic of The Four Seasons. And they're also the ones who hired Bryan Singer. Together, they have a ton to offer this project. Hopefully, Bohemian Rhapsody will have a mix of New Regency's quality and GK Film's structure.
I'm really glad to hear that Brian May and Roger Taylor have a big hand in this movie. My hope is that they will be the Midas Touch this film needs to be something really special. Even John Deacon, while not being directly involved with the Queen since 1997 and therefore not involved with this movie, gave his blessing for the film.
It certainly helps that they're serving as musical producers for the film as well. Granted, this may just mean that Queen songs will in fact be in the movie, but I'm hoping they'll also have a hand in the film's score, too. Need we forget that Queen made the soundtracks for Flash Gordon and Highlander, plus Brian May has been involved in other film soundtracks thereafter.
Last, and certainly not least, the casting. Perhaps the biggest news surrounding this movie through the years has involved the casting. As previously stated, Sacha Baron Cohen was originally set to play Freddie to much fan appraisal. Admit it. He was the perfect choice. Unfortunately, he dropped out due to creative differences that seemed pretty substantial. Ben Wishaw was then attached to the film. A decent choice that was squandered due to this film's developmental problems running the clock. Wishaw went on to film Spectre, but now we have our third lead actor for Freddie: Mr. Robot star Rami Malek.
I don't follow Mr. Robot and can't speak much for his acting chops, but I can definitely tell you that the resemblance is there. With a mustache and the right haircut you definitely have someone who looks just like Freddie. And my hope is that he can portray the fun-loving, extroverted frontman, as well as the reclusive, artistic man that Freddie was.
Though, that leaves one aspect unanswered: the supporting cast. Who else will star in the movie? What characters will appear? Could we see any other big names?
Well we definitely know that the other three members of Queen will definitely be in the movie. These guys won't be too easy to cast, especially if they're not fresh talent. There's enough speculation for this topic to fill its own post, but for the sake of time, I'll just give you my top two choices for each member.
Brian May
- Andrew Garfield: Not a ton of resemblance, but enough similarity in height and stature to resemble May. Just put a wig on him and squint.
- Ryan Catwright: We're a little closer to the mark physically, and he can definitely sell the intelligence of Brian May.
Roger Taylor
- Rufus Tiger Taylor: Similar to O'Shea Jackson, Jr. in Straight Outta Compton, Roger Taylor's son has a striking resemblance to his father. Sure, it's a long shot if he would actually star as his father in the film (not to mention he's a lot taller than his father), but it would be cool nonetheless.
- Daniel Radcliffe: This is also a long shot, but I think this would be pretty good casting. He may not be blonde, but he is a bit closer to Taylor's height and eye color.
John Deacon
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt: This is a really popular choice around the web, and I can see why. Gordon-Levitt definitely looks a lot like John Deacon.
- If Andrew Garfield or Daniel Radcliffe can't play the above characters, they'd also be good choices for Deacon.
There are a ton of other characters to consider as well, but that'll depend on the story they plan to tell. The characters I feel are pivotal for this movie include Roy Thomas Baker, Mary Austin, Kenny Everett, Mike Stone, John Reid, and potentially the members of Mott the Hoople, Michael Jackson, David Bowie and Bob Geldof. Naming potential actors for all of them will take all day, but my hope is that they get a cast great enough to work alongside Rami Malek.
That is everything I currently can say about the Freddie Mercury biopic. I'm glad I was finally able to get it posted after all these years, and I hope to make a lot more posts like it. Let me know if you agree with my predictions or not in the comments, so the conversation can keep on going.
Have a very happy and delicious Thanksgiving!
I'm SBox180. Thanks for reading!


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J.K. Rowling just released a detail that could shake the entire Harry potter fandom.
J.K. Rowling loves giving new surprises and inputs about the wizarding world to her fans.In one of her latest posts on Pottermore , she revealed that Harry Potter wasn't the first Harry Potter. Harry's great grandfather was named Henry Potter but his closed friends called him Harry Potter.
Harry had a lot in common with his grandfather, back in his grandfather's days, "he caused a minor stir when he publicly condemned then Minister for Magic, Archer Evermonde, who had forbidden the magical community to help Muggles waging the First World War" J.K. Rowling explained. His outspokenness on behalf of Muggles was pretty much why the potters were excluded from the Sacred Twenty-Eight,the 28 families who were still pure blood by the 1930s.
So defending the defenseless runs in Harry's family.


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It is always interesting to hear veterinarians seeking to employ new graduates talk about "these young kids …" and how things are so different nowadays. I have heard in the hallways, "next time a prospective employee asks me about vacation time I will tell them …." As our colleague, Larry Firkins, stated in his 2013 Business Management AASV Seminar, "Every generation that enters the workforce causes stress, frustration, and criticism from the generation already employed.1" This is not a unique situation or something "wrong" with the current generation of new graduates. This is simply part of the usual cycle of life.
The concept of generations is based on the fact that individuals born at a particular time frame are exposed to a unique mix of factors at a particular stage in life forming their general attitudes and behaviors. As a cohort, these generational groupings help us better understand differences in strengths and weaknesses between different individuals of different ages. As with any summary, when we try to generalize behaviors, we must recognize not all individuals in a cohort will have the same values or behaviors.
What is important to recognize is that these differences between generations are real; especially when it comes to values or how they define success. Our own perspective and experience affect how we work with others. This often leads to two major mistakes. First, we assume that others define success or happiness the same way we do. We believe the best way to become successful is to work 70 to 80 hours a week, leading to more income for our clinic and thus higher profits, just like we have been doing. Millennials (born 1981 to 1997) value time off. It is not that they are lazy; their goals in life and how they define success are different.
Second, we assume that for others to achieve the same "learning" or "experience" that we have achieved they must go through the same painful process and mistakes we did. If we had to climb up a large mountain to get to the other side, we do not feel it is right for the newer generation to just be able to go through the newly constructed tunnel at the base of the mountain. If the goal is to get to the other side of the mountain, we should be happy that someone has figured out a different way to do it, or that technology today can help minimize obstacles for others rather than resent them having it "easy."
Understanding generational differences is critical in allowing us to better communicate and move forward not only with our prospective employees, but also with our clients and consumers. We have learned the value of personality testing in the workplace. Personality testing is not done to identify who is right and who is wrong. Personality testing is not done to decide whom you should hire. Personality testing is done to better understand how to better communicate and motivate others within a workplace. The same is true about different generations. It is not about one generation being better than the other, but rather simply recognizing they are different. As such, we must adapt our approaches to better connect and better stimulate them so we can all achieve our own goals. After all, since early 2015, Millennials have been the largest share of the American workforce.
1. Firkins LD. Managing generational expectations. Proc AASV Pre-Conf Sem 7. San Diego, California. 2013:3–4.
Alex Ramirez, DVM
AASV President


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Part I
Balloon Man/Woman: noun. A person that tries, at times repeatedly, to give your child something you don't want them to have.
Walking home from school with the boys. Tra-la-la-la-la. A grandmotherly woman, whom I have seen many times in my travels and never known to be anything but pleasant, stops on her way from the mailbox and watches us.
*Cue the Jaws music*
When we get to her, she asks, "Would the boys like some mechanical toys?"
"No," I politely say, "They tend to break mechanical things."
"Oh, they're just little mechanical dogs. They can't hurt them."
"Well, they're throwers, and--" (Here I was about to tell her about the remote control fire truck that broke the first day, but she interrupted by doing what happened next.)
She turned to my children and asked THEM.
Yeah, hi. Remember me? The mom? The mom that just TOLD YOU NO???
She ran off to get the dogs and brought them back to the kids and happily shows them how they work.
"I bought them for my dogs, but they know they're not real," she says.
I.am.pissed. But I am also pretty stunned and say nothing. She tries to hug me and laughs an apology. Not a real apology, mind you. A fake, "ha-ha get over it, this is no big deal" sort of apology.
Why would you do that? Why would you listen to me tell you no, but be so blatant as to disrespect me in front of my children? Especially when I DON'T KNOW YOU?
So now I have these stupid toy dogs that have long leashes on them. Did I mention my kids like to wrap things around their necks? No? Let me tell you that now. My kids like to wrap things around their necks.
I've hid them. I'm hoping they will forget about them and I can donate them at the first available moment.


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Public Speaking
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Alternatively, take a look at which Upcoming Events you may wish to attend.


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EX Gokin Getter Robot Shin Getter 1 Changing Set (Repaint Version)
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The Added benefits of Choosing Invisalign Braces and What to Anticipate from Your Invisalign Consultation. As you know, Invisalign therapy is clinically proven to be powerful to implement in the hands of an skilled Invisalign Provider. Prior to we can start with any treatment even though, you are going to have to have to see your Newport Beach orthodontist for a consultation so that we can establish the appropriate course of action. Fill out the form beneath, and a member of our team will be in touch to schedule your complimentary Invisalign® consultation.
The clear aligners draw small focus for the duration of the straightening approach and aligners can be removed at any time all through the day, allowing you to consume, floss and brush your teeth with out any brackets or wires finding in the way. Throughout a initially visit, we'll enable new patients get acquainted with our office and study about any required orthodontic therapy. Our office presents a selection of diverse financing alternatives, credit card payments, and bank drafts to support you pay for our braces and Invisalign in Newport Beach.
Read More – Minnesota Eye Consultants Maplewood
Metal braces were once the only therapy utilised to straighten teeth. Invisalign® is removable – You can drink and eat what you want during remedy. Now, Invisalign® is an orthodontic remedy option which utilizes clear aligners to correct misaligned teeth. The smooth, custom-fitted trays guide your teeth into alignment in a way that's more comfy than traditional orthodontic treatments. Invisalign is custom-made to improve your smile with a crafted move in your teeth inch by inch, each tiny shift amongst takes you a step closer to that next version of your smile.
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Kindergarten 4 years for all in Quebec as early as 2020-2021 [VIDEO]
By 2023, all four-year-olds in Quebec will have the right to attend a kindergarten classroom, but parents will retain the freedom to send or not.
The government caquiste of François Legault has laid the foundations of one of its commitments the most important Thursday in introducing the bill 5, which aims to make pre-kindergarten four-year-old a law in Quebec.
The bill requires school boards to offer enough seats to meet the demand of the little ones of four years, "commencing with the academic year that the government will decide". At a press conference at the school Without the Border of Quebec, the prime minister is committed to ensuring that this is in 2023.
Mr. Legault is aware that this is a big change and that some parents find that four years is "too young" to go to school. But he believes that this shift is essential to lower the rate of dropping out of school. "I invite all canadians to join in this great project of society."
He perceives the criticism of the project as the "resistance to change" and argues that the Ontario and New York have carried out similar projects with success. In France, children start school at three years of age.
Mr. Legault remembers that there was also resistance during the implementation of the kindergarten five years in Quebec, in the 1990s, so that today, 98% of children attend the school, even if it is not mandatory.
The prime minister deplores the fact that in Quebec, only 6% of four-year-olds have access to kindergarten, while studies show that 27% of children five years of age have a delay in one of the spheres of their development.
"If children have learning difficulties, it may be better to have a teacher, who has done four years of college, with a team of specialists. But currently, parents do not have this chance-there", nods approval.
The bill provides that as of September 2020, the classes of pre-kindergarten four years old will no longer be reserved for the underprivileged. All Québec school boards will have the opportunity to open and the deployment will then be able to accelerate.
The minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge argues that the language problems, attention or autism spectrum affect all socio-economic backgrounds.
400 to $700 million
How much will it cost this great project of society? "It will depend", says Mr. Legault. It all depends on the percentage of parents who have the taste to send a child of four years at the school.
In 2023, the government believes it will cost him between 400 and 700 million dollars per year to run these classes, which not only includes the cost of construction and development. But the prime minister argued that the money is not an issue. "We will add as and to the extent that there is demand."
If, during the election campaign, the Coalition avenir Quebec had intended that 90% of the parents were to choose a kindergarten for four years instead of the early childhood Centre or nursery, Mr. Legault is now more careful. "It is difficult at least to be clairvoyant, to know the speed at which the parents will want to have kindergarten four years ago."
For Mr. Roberge, the bill 5 is the beginning of"an ambitious project that will change the game". According to him, the implementation of these classes in Quebec, will be "gradual, but irreversible".
It acknowledges that some regions of Quebec lack of space and teachers, but he does not believe these challenges are insurmountable. "There are people that now want us to believe that one is not able to build schools, that one is not able to train teachers, that one is not able to offer kindergarten for four years. I am no longer capable of speech."
The bill 5 has provoked an outcry Thursday. The opposition parties denounce the obstinacy of the minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge in wanting to fulfill his promise, instead of listening to the environment.
"To have ambition for our toddlers, this is not to have an obsession for the nursery four years", commented the mp, pq's Véronique Hivon. According to her, the government has "a bias" taken up " to the kindergarten classes for 4 years, then it should offer "a real choice" to parents by treating equally the network of the CPE.
She asked the Coalition avenir Québec to retreat on his promise, instead of "get in the groove" this project, which "does not meet the needs neither of the parents nor of the children," she says.
The liberal mp Marwah Rizqy believes that "the priorities are elsewhere," in education, particularly in the improvement of the conditions of teachers. She deplores the fact that the minister Roberge going it alone, without a specific plan.
For the solidarity Christine Labrie, bill 5 is "not good solution" to improve academic success. It was hard to understand "persistence" of the minister in this folder. "I don't understand how is it that the minister is lance in there with his head bowed."
The Association québécoise des centres de la petite enfance (AQCPE) and the Centrale des syndicats du Québec have both denounced the implementation of "wall to wall" from kindergarten four years.
For the Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance du Québec (FIPEQ-CSQ), the prime minister, Legault has the same view of "disdainful" in respect of the educators in the child Thursday, and it requires an apology. "The prime minister has tried to lower the interveners who work with children by questioning their skills. This is unacceptable," said the president of the FIPEQ, Valérie Grenon.
"A major challenge"
Alain Fortier, president of the Fédération des commissions scolaires du Québec, believes that the introduction of kindergarten classes for four years, represents "a major challenge" in certain regions of Quebec. "The school boards, we will do everything to make sure it worked, but never at the expense of quality. […] It has not the taste to be all crooked."
Mr. Fortier explained the school boards have always been in favor of the deployment of the kindergartens four years, but they would have liked to be more consulted by the minister Roberge. "It advances, and he hopes to follow," said Mr. Fortier.


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This week the series will focus on the players that are still available on the free agent market. There are a handful of veterans that could provide depth to the Giants' roster and possibly compete for starting positions.
HB Ryan Grant
This week the series will focus on the players that are still available on the free agent market. There are a handful of veterans that could provide depth to the Giants' roster and possibly compete for starting positions.
HB Ryan Grant
OTAs will be held in between the two camps: May 23-24, May 30-June 1, June 4-5 and June 7-8.
*Clubs are permitted to hold a rookie minicamp on one of the first two weekends after the NFL Draft and conduct one mandatory minicamp for veteran players. Clubs with new head coaches, however, are permitted to conduct one additional voluntary minicamp for veteran players. There is no restriction on the number of minicamps a club may hold for rookie players.
We've been telling you about the battle at defensive end, where Osi Umenyiora is determined to get his starting job back?after he missed the 2008 season and struggled last year.
Umenyiora said the right things when asked about his role on Tuesday, but when asked what would happen if he didn't start, he said this:
Those rumors may have been true, for all we know, but Spiller was long gone by the time the Giants were ready to make their first selection.? They ended up not taking any running backs at all.
There are two theories behind that.? The first is the fact that the RB pool in the draft this year was very shallow.? The other is that the Giants were waiting to see how well second-year RB Andre Brown had progressed from Achilles' surgery.
Reese noted that Mario Manningham was a possibility as was Aaron Ross.? He also did not rule out a trade.
There have been issues with Field Turf around the league. It has to get played on and matted-down a bit for it players to feel comfortable.
The backup quarterback competition is on.? Jim Sorgi is the veteran, but Riley Skinner has been throwing well and is giving Rhett Bomar a run for his money. Skinner can put some mustard on the ball.
TE Kevin Boss was on the field but did not participate. He is on schedule for training camp, though.? RB Ahmad Bradshaw is still ambling around, but he also should be ready go by camp.
Hixon injured his knee in yesterday's open-house practice in the new stadium. The new turf is suspected to have played a part in Hixon's injury, but Tom Coughlin has said that the players were all wearing the recommended footwear.
Coughlin also said the "turf people" would be taking another look at the field, which is being used by the Jets today.
Giants' defensive ends Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora were clear about where they stand.
"Pay the man," Tuck?told ESPN New York yesterday following day one of mini-camp. "I'll tell you the truth, some people don't deserve what they're asking for, but he does."
Unfortunately, the actual head count at the afternoon practice is nowhere near the 30,000 the Giants thought were coming. Their estimates were based tickets that were applied for online.
The tickets were free, so the guess is people went in and grabbed as many as they could, and then realized they couldn't use them.
A: They did all right. One side does okay that means the other side didn't. And the other side does okay and that means the original side didn't. So it is back and forth. But there is good enthusiasm. They know what this is. It signifies the end of the offseason. And they want to get it together going into the time off. So they know exactly what they are doing and they have worked hard. And it has been a good offseason for us. So let's hope we finish strong.
Q: How do things look back there in the secondary with Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant?
SNYs' Mike Garafolo is on site today at Giants' mini camp......here are some of his observations from the morning session......they are from his Twitter feed, so scroll to the bottom and read up...
Here's a summary and some thoughts:
Middle Linebacker: Considered to be?the most watched competition in camp as Jonathan Goff, Phillip Dillard, Gerris Wilkinson, and Chase Blackburn try to convince coaches that they have what it takes to replace Antonio Pierce. Goff is said to be the early leader.
Just like the Giants, GFB is giving the fans the floor today.? Enjoy!
Thx JF
Parking lots open at noon - stadium will open at 1pm. Practice begins at 2:50pm.
Parking and seating are on a first come, first serve basis, but you will need a ticket to get in.? Go to Giants.com for more info.
Where there's "Fewell" there's fire: We start here because of how abysmal the defense was a year ago. As a result, Bill Sheridan is out and Fewell is in. The early reviews are great, from players and coaches. Safeties coach David Merritt summed it up best:
"He's getting after guys in a positive, constructive way," Merritt said about Fewell.?"I mean, it's a beautiful thing, it's infectious. That's what you need and that's what we need as an organization, especially on defense."
For my first post I thought I would try to establish a rubric, so to speak, for my own dissatisfaction with the MLB situation.? I know it seems sometimes that I (Igs) am only seeing this thing from the ?glass half empty? perspective, but in truth there are a number of important angles that inform my reservations:
How close are the Giants?
Some say GM Jerry Reese is leaving too much to chance by taking players with so little football experience.
Others believe the Giants will pay a steep price for passing on such linebackers as Sean Weatherspoon, Sean Lee, Daryl Washington and Donald Butler in favor of defensive lineman they don't need.? Now, there are the rumors of how badly the team's rookie camp went, as few players distinguished themselves.
Walk-on linebacker Micah Johnson, who was a multiple All-SEC selection at Kentucky, will reportedly sign a contract with the Giants this week.
The source is Johnson himself, who posted the news of the contract offer on his Facebook page today.? If it is true, he will go to mini camp in June and compete for a spot on the Giants' linebacker corps.
I joined a small group of media people that included the local beat reporters in observing the latest crop of youngsters chosen to don the vaunted Giant blue.
The morning session contained two influential outside forces that made everyone a bit uncomfortable.? The temperature, which rose to the mid-80's by 11am, and a ridiculously loud rock music festival being held in the parking lot.
Coach Tom Coughlin seemed generally pleased with the group of over 50 first and second-year players invited to the camp.? He mentioned a few by name.?? Tim Brown, a 5'8" free-agent wide receiver from nearby Rutgers, was one of those players.
For most of the players, they are relieved in a way that the draft is over and they are getting settled into the world of the NFL.
The 23-year-old from Holy Cross, who ended his college career as the most decorated quarterback in school history, signed a free agent contract with Big Blue earlier this week and expects to fight tooth-and-nail for a job.
"I'm definitely excited right now," Randolph told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, "but I'm going to be getting to work and showing them what I can do on the next level. I'm looking forward to being part of a great organization."
The Jets will feature four draft choices and 10 free agents among the attendees. First round selection Kyle Wilson will join Vladimir Ducasse, Joe McKnight and John Conner and scores of others at the Atlantic Health Training Center in Florham Park beginning tomorrow.
At the same time, the Giants will host their rookie mini-camp at the Timex Performance Center in East Rutherford, adjacent to the New Meadowlands Stadium.
All mini-camps and OTAs (Organized Team Activities) will take place at the Timex Performance Center adjacent to the Meadowlands Sports Complex.


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HeliX2 Swimming Pool Slide
The heliX offers Serious Fun all the way around with a 360-degree flume and patent-pending fountain feature. Its fully roto-molded construction provides strength and durability for years to come. Like the TurboTwister and Typhoon, the slide features an enclosed ladder and molded handrails to ensure maximum safety. Fewer parts mean assembly is faster and easier than slides of similar design. The heliX is fully CPSC compliant and accommodates sliders up to 250 lbs. Available in Sandstone or Gray Granite. Slide ships via truck, please allow 7-10 business days for delivery. This slide can be added to swimming pool kits sold by Pool Warehouse!
heliX2 Swimming Pool Slide Features:
- Sturdy rotomolded construction for strength and durability
- 3-Year warranty
- Fun for the whole family
- Unique fountain feature and water flume operate together or separately
- Sleek rotomolded design that combines durability and elegance
- 360 deg corkscrew flume
- Intended for In-ground residential swimming pools only
- Simple deck mounted installation using eight 8-1/2 Inch diameter stainless steel anchor studs with hardware
- Integrated ladder, enclosed stairs and molded handrail design for maximum safety
- Assembles in an hour
- The ladder is inclined 20 deg off vertical with eight (8) enclosed steps for ease of climbing
Have Questions
If you have questions about the heliX2 Swimming Pool Slide please feel free to give us a call at 1-800-515-1747 or send us an email, [email protected]
At Pool Warehouse, We Know Swimming Inground Pool Kits!


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TKWeek - What's in a Date?
How many days is it until Christmas? How many work days do I have until the holidays? And what week is it anyway?
Those are all questions that come up from time to time, but are not exactly easy to answer.
Of course, you can always count the days on a calendar with your finger, but who wants to do that in the age of apps and gadgets?
TKWeek is designed to provide quick and precise answers to people who can't wait for something to happen. We already tested this app last year, but a lot of work has been done so it's time for a new fair and balanced review!
|Reviewed version
|Latest version
Features & Use
As soon as the app starts up, you are redirected to the main screen with all of the essential features. With just one clock you can access the following functions:
- Date and week
- About a date
- Days between dates
- Date calculator
- Events
- Friday 13th
- About TKWeek
Date and week: This gives you an overview of the current week number. Using the slidebar or the +/- signs you can move the week number back and worth. This keeps you informed on how many weeks are left in a year and which dates are in which week.
About a date: Here you can see more information about any specific date, including the day of the year (e.g. 178th out of 365), the name day, the sign of the zodiac and whether it's a leap year. With a click of the button, the app can also open up a Wikipedia article about the date.
Days between two dates: As the title already mentioned, TKWeek is a date calculator that can calculate how many days there between any given dates. A good use of this function is to figure out how many work days are between you and your long-awaited vacation.
Date Calculator: You can add and subtract dates as you please.
Example: Find out what the exact date will be in exactly one year, one month, one week and one day. If you're curious, that is,
Events: Here you can access all of the events from your Google calendar.
Friday the 13th: For all you suspicious types, this feature shows you when to except the next Friday 13th in any given year.
To keep you informed on the current date, the app offers three different widgets. Two of them show you the current calendar week whereas one of them is focused on the current date.
An extra widget with a graphic countdown would've been a good addition.
I did, however, noticed one error that occurs under very specific circumstances described below: when you select "Days between two dates" and pick a date numbering between 1 and 9, the app shows only 1s if you try to adjust the date afterwards (see the 2nd screenshot). Select a number higher than 10 to undo the glitch.
In the settings you'll find display options for events, business days and turn background picture on/off.
Bottom Line: TKWeek offers a good deal of thorough functions for all your date-keeping needs.
There are still a couple of key things missing: the app lacks a time calculator and a good design. The scrolling date selection may be functional, but the app needs a whole lot more pep to make it marketable.
Screen & Controls
The developer didn't come across any genius ideas for laying out the app, opting to go for the generic Android wheel. TKWeek remains extremely conservative and boring in terms of looks.
Everything may be perfectly functional and simple, but the app has still got that typical intuitive yet depressingly Android-ish design. Look we all like apps that work, but would it really kill you to add a bit of color and shine? Selecting different background pictures would be a good place to start.
The app doesn't come with a tablet-optimized user interface.
Speed & Stability
Switching between functions and calculating dates works perfectly and is instantaneous – no pauses, no waits, no sudden crashes. So in terms of stability TKWeek does an excellent job.
Price/Performance Ratio
The app TKWeek is available from our AndroidPIT App Center for just $1.11 (€0.79). This price would be appropriate if the app had a good design in addition to great functionality.