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Nairobi, 12 August 2014 - Music, street performance and speeches by high-level officials were part of Kenya's commemoration of International Youth Day 2014, whose theme was "Youth and Mental Health: Youth Inclusion in the Post-2015 Development Agenda."
International Youth Day, which for the last 15 years has taken place annually on 12 August, aims to spotlight young people's energy, innovations, imagination and initiatives, as well their potential to drive change. This year's celebration aimed, in particular, to raise awareness of the social exclusion experienced by youth living with mental health conditions.
Events took place around the world. In Kenya, where 75 per cent of the country's adult population is below the age of 30, the commemoration was particularly vibrant, with speakers ranging from UN youth representatives to Nairobi City County Deputy Governor Jonathan Mueke to renowned Kenyan businessman and CEO of Comcraft, Manu Chandaria. A statement was read on behalf of the Deputy President of Kenya, William Ruto.
"Change starts with us, not to wait for the government or for the UN to do it - if we can do it, we must do it. It's our duty and our own responsibility," said Dr. Chandaria.
He added: "It's important to start seeing how we treat people."
According to the World Health Organization, mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.
Kenya's Vision 2030 and Second Medium Term Plan (2014-2018) comprise mechanisms to ensure that better health care becomes a priority area in the country's future. Furthermore, the Kenya Health Policy (2014-2030) outlines a long-term commitment to improve the health of all Kenyans by attaining universal health coverage, as well as by refining primary health care services.
On a wider scale, reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases - including mental illness - was cited in the UN's report on the post-2015 development agenda, and remains a prominent issue as the world looks ahead to the development of a set of global Sustainable Development Goals.
Under the auspices of the International Day of Youth, a number of goals have been identified as primary objectives over the next 12 months. Those include: raising awareness of the causes, effects, treatment opportunities and management of mental health issues; identifying gaps in mental health legislation and advocating for the enforcement and/or revision of existing legislation affecting youth; providing capacity building sessions; and sensitizing youth on the economic opportunities available to them from the Kenyan Government, among other institutions.
UNEP's Tunza Youth network held a number of sessions around these issues, including on substance abuse and violence, youth unemployment and national peace, cohesion and environment. The latter involved a cleanup activity in Nairobi's Uhuru Park, which aimed to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining a clean and healthy environment for human health and well-being.
A fourth session was held on "Post-2015 and Volunteerism", which focused on the importance of youth engagement with volunteerism for the purposes of exposure, experience building and skill building.


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Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Commissioner Kevin T. McGinniss announced that Penn State Altoona Director of Athletics Fredina M. Ingold has been named the ECAC Jostens Female Administrator of the Year. Ingold will be recognized at the 2013 ECAC Honors Dinner, part of the 25th annual ECAC Convention and Trade Show that will be held Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 in North Falmouth, Mass.
The ECAC Jostens Female Administrator of the Year is presented annually to an administrator from an ECAC member institution or conference in recognition of outstanding or meritorious service to the ECAC.
"I am deeply moved that I have been chosen to receive this recognition from the ECAC," Ingold said. "I've been blessed over the years to have had great mentors and be surrounded by talented and hardworking staff and coaches who have helped me achieve all my successes. This award is a testament to the people who have impacted my life, and I will continue to pay it forward."
Ingold has 35 years of service at Penn State Altoona, including 28 as the director of intercollegiate athletics. During her tenure in Altoona, she has successfully elevated the intercollegiate athletic program from junior college status to NCAA Division III membership, increased the number of intercollegiate sports, and led the construction of new athletic facilities and the improvement of pre-existing facilities. She has been the head coach of the Lions' women's basketball team, women's tennis team, men's club golf, men's club volleyball, and the men's and women's swim teams.
"Fredina Ingold is the consummate professional. She is a role model to her staff, her profession and the student-athletes she serves," Commissioner McGinnis said. "She is a strong, fair and hardworking leader who volunteers countless hours outside of Penn State Altoona supporting and furthering the initiatives of the ECAC."
Ingold has been committed to the students, her colleagues, and the mission of both Penn State Altoona and the ECAC. She has served in various administrative capacities throughout her career, including director of student marketing and enrollment at Altoona from 1994-99. She has also been a member of the NCAA Division III Management Council, the NCAA Olympic Committee, the NCAA Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee, the NCAA Academic Issues Subcommittee, and the NCAA Convention Planning Subcommittee, which she chaired. From 2010-12, Ingold was the president of the ECAC Board of Directors.
"On behalf of our entire Penn State Altoona community, I express heartfelt congratulations to Fredina on her selection as the ECAC Female Administrator of the Year. This honor is a testament to Fredina's commitment to intercollegiate athletics and to student-athletes," said Lori J. Bechtel-Wherry, chancellor and dean of Penn State Altoona. "Fredina takes great pride in her work with others to provide top-notch intercollegiate athletic competitions. She cares deeply about student-athletes and inspires them to achieve their full potential both in the classroom and in their athletic pursuits. Fredina is a great role model for student-athletes, and they admire her."
Ingold's commitment to intercollegiate athletics reaches far beyond her current administrative duties. She has created the Fredina M. Ingold Intercollegiate Athletics Enhancement Endowment at Penn State Altoona, which provides discretionary funds that will move intercollegiate athletics forward in new and innovative ways to enhance the extracurricular experience for student-athletes, satisfy the expectations of a cutting edge coaching staff and provide attractive entertainment options for alumni and fans in the community.
In 2009, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) presented Ingold with the Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year Award for the NCAA Division III Central Region of the United States. In 2002, she received the Robert J. Scannell Roll of Honor Award for serving the Penn State Commonwealth Education System, Athletic, Intramural and Recreation Programs with distinction. Ingold was also the first woman inductee in the Blair County (Pa.) Sports Hall of Fame.
Ingold resides in State College with her husband, Rand Allison, and daughter Taylor.

subset: commoncrawl


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December 30, 2014
Year End Sale at Pikku-Kota
Pikku-Kota is open for 2 more days only! Go and grab a bargain at www.pikkukota.com !
Image by 1kertaa2
Labels: Pikku-Kota
December 19, 2014
My Top 3 Books in 2014
One word: obsessed. For someone who barely has time to get past the first page of a magazine, let alone a whole book, managing to devour this book in just a couple of days was nothing short of a miracle. I absolutely love Erin's blog and she stays true to her style in this masterpiece as well. Not only is her book full of great advice for anyone interested in interior design and decorating, she adds a very personal touch, something you don't often find in books of this genre.
Every page of this book is swoon-worthy. Greg's style is luxurious and polished, but he offers invaluable expertise advice and inside to the sometimes seemingly glamorous world of interior design. This is a great coffee table book!
This is such a beautiful book and full of inspiring tips for successful entertaining at home. I love how achievable and welcoming Camille's style is. There are plenty of recipes, styling tips and other useful advice. Great gift even to bring along to a host or get inspiration for your own party. I love it!
December 01, 2014
It is time to start preparing for Christmas again. They say "the days are long, but the years are short" and this year that has been exactly the case. We are keeping the decorations minimal again this Christmas, tucked away from curious little hands. I doubt I'll get a chance to do much baking, but a couple of treats are still a must. Like these traditional puff pastry tarts filled with prune jam for which you can find an old recipe right here.
Labels: Baking, Christmas, Decorating, Dessert, Finnish Food, Sweet pastry
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Slowly beginning to study Runes, and I found this table on the net.
Does anyone more acquainted with Runes know how accurate these attributions are?
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kunu wrote:very nice. why Daleth - Thurisaz ? can you explain more, i very interested.
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text:
Meep release notes
From AbInitio
Revision as of 17:00, 31 March 2015; Stevenj (Talk | contribs)
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|Release notes
|Meep manual
|C++ Tutorial
|C++ Reference
|License and Copyright
Here, we describe what has changed between releases of the Meep package. You can also refer to the
NEWS file in the Meep package (or the
ChangeLog file for a more detailed listing).
Meep 1.3
31 March 2015
- New near-to-far-field functionality: given a bounding surface, automatically computes the Fourier-transformed field in any desired grid of "far-field" points arbitrarily far away (pull #18).
- Compatibility with Harminv 1.4 (fixes issue #13: ppc64 portability).
- Fix compilation with latest C++ standard (e.g. on OS X 10.9).
- Bug fix in CW solver convergence test; thanks to Filip Dominec for the bug report.
- Build fix for Fedora 21 (thanks to Dean Brettle) (issue #14).
Meep 1.2.1
2 April 2014
- Added new
absorbertype, as an alternative to PML, which simply provides a scalar conductivity gradient for cases where PML fails.
- Fixed bug which sometimes prevented dispersive materials from being used in PML regions.
- Some fixes to BLAS/LAPACK linking.
- Bug fixes in LDOS computation.
- Work around gcc bug #54498, which caused a spurious PML test failure with gcc 4.7 and 4.7.1; thanks to Brahmanand Jogai and Thorsten Alteholz for the bug reports.
Meep 1.2
20 July 2012
- Fixed to work with Guile version 2.x (older versions still work); requires libctl 3.2 or later.
- Added
epsilon-input-filefeature to read a scalar dielectric function from an HDF5 file (similar to MPB).
- Support for anisotropic dispersive materials (tensor σ parameter).
- Support for Drude dispersion model. New syntax is
make drude-susceptibility,
make lorentzian-susceptibility, etc. (old
make polarizabilityis still supported for backwards compatibility).
- Support for "thermal" dispersive materials which include noise term in the polarization.
- Added
dft-ldosfeature for efficient LDOS-spectrum computation.
- Documented stress-tensor (force) spectrum computation feature.
- Added
mean-stretchproperty of PML (defaults to 1), to support real coordinate stretching for damping evanescent modes.
- Support for eigenmode-source feature using upcoming MPB release.
- Various small bugfixes.
Meep 1.1.1
24 August 2009
- Fixed release bug preventing Casimir calculation from running.
Meep 1.1
20 August 2009
- Meep's PML is now a true PML for arbitrary anisotropic, dispersive, and conducting media. (Now uses a slightly unconventional reformulation of PML described at ab-initio.mit.edu/meep/pml-meep.pdf)
- Fixed bug which caused anisotropic non-diagonal μ to be unstable.
- Fix compilation failure with gcc 4.4 due to missing
cstdioheader (thanks to Linran Fan and Bin Shao for the bug reports).
- C++ interface:
volumewas renamed to
geometric_volumewas renamed to
volume, to better reflect their respective roles.
- Added
accurate-fields-near-cylorigin?option to have more accurate fields near the r=0 origin for large m in cylindrical coordinates, at the expense of requiring a smaller Courant factor. (Default is
false, corresponding to behavior in older Meep versions.)
- In 2d computational cells, added much more efficient support for eikz z-dependence, enabled by new
special-kz?input variable (default is
falsesince it only works in 2d and is a little subtle for real fields).
- Includes preliminary new features to aid in computation of optical forces (both classical and quantum Casimir forces); further documentation pending more testing.
- Removed obsolete
docdirectory (all documentation is on the website these days).
- Small performance improvements in Lorentzian dispersion handling.
- Fix
configurescript failure when cross-compiling.
- Fix compilation failure with MPICH.
Meep 1.0.3
5 June 2009
- Allow
GUILE_CONFIGenvironment variable to override location of
guile-configprogram in
configurescript; this is useful when cross-compiling.
Meep 1.0.2
2 June 2009
- Correct superficial
make checkfailure on 32-bit x86 machines with gcc 4.3.x, due to slight impact on floating-point rounding by automatic SSE/SSE2 vectorization; thanks to Silviu Popescu for the bug report.
- Correct superficial
make checkfailure when compiling under icc.
Meep 1.0.1
28 May 2009
- Enable correct operation and passed test suite when
MEEP_SINGLE(single-precision) mode is enabled in
meep.hpp; thanks to Seyoon Kim for the bug reports.
- Use new automake features to have less-verbose build output by default (you can build in verbose mode by
make V=1), and running all test programs then reporting which ones failed instead of stopping at the first failure.
- Fix superficial failure in
2D_convergencetest under gcc 3.4.6; thanks to Alex Prengel for the bug report.
- Fix failure in
fluxtest under gcc 4.3.1 in some cases; thanks to Alex Prengel for the bug report.
- Fix compilation problem with gcc 4.4, correcting Debian bug #505002.
Meep 1.0
28 March 2009
- New timestepping scheme for off-diagonal anisotropic epsilon and mu, based on technique by Werner and Cary [ J. Comp. Phys. 226, 1085 (2007) ], that improves FDTD stability when anisotropy is present (such as when subpixel averaging is used on isotropic media).
- Scheme user interface now supports user-specified anisotropic (real-symmetric) epsilon and mu (via
mu-diag, and
mu-offdiagparameters, similar to MPB). Accurate subpixel averaging of anisotropic media based on the method by Kottke, Farjadpour, & Johnson [ Phys. Rev. E. 77, 036611 (2008) ].
- Anisotropic dispersive materials are now supported, although currently the dispersive part of the epsilon/mu tensor must be diagonal, via the new
sigma-diagparameter of polarizability. (The corresponding C++ interface has also removed
- The
delta-epsilonparameter of polarizability has been removed; you should use
- New
fields::integrate2function (and corresponding Scheme function
integrate2-field-function) to perform integrations involving two simulations with the same computational cell (e.g. field-overlap calculations for coupled-mode theory).
- In the Scheme interface, subpixel averaging is not used for user-specified material-function types; you only get subpixel averaging for the standard shapes (blocks, cylinders, etcetera).
- Haskell code-generation is no longer used, and
hsrcdirectory is removed. Bitrotted and undocumented (hence unused) saturable-absorber feature has been removed, along with
energy-saturationparameter of polarizability.
- Some bug-fixes to test programs that made them overly sensitive to roundoff errors and possibly fail depending on the compiler. (New
meep-round-timefunctions to round times to single-precision, useful for robust time comparisons.)
Meep 0.20.4
17 March 2009
- Bug fix in cylindrical code, which caused it to blow up in some circumstances for nonzero m.
- Bug fix: non-integrated sources with conductivity are now second-order accurate, thanks to Alejandro Rodriguez.
- Bug fix in writing strings with parallel HDF5, thanks to Zheng Li for the bug report.
- Check that PML parameters are sensible (e.g. that total PML thickness is no greater than cell thickness) to avoid common mistakes.
- New
extra-materialsinput variable, so that you no longer have to use "dummy objects" to specify the existence of some materials when using
Meep 0.20.3
24 July 2008
- Fixed circular dependency in
Makefile, which caused problems with some versions of
make; thanks to Kaoru Narita for the bug report.
Meep 0.20.2
21 July 2008
- Fixed incompatibility with Guile 1.6.x or earlier; thanks to the bug report by Andreas Unger.
Meep 0.20.1
20 July 2008
- Improved handling of nested
- Bug fix: parallel builds (
make -j) should now work.
- Bug fix: pkg-config file was incorrectly installed for MPI version; thanks to Majid Sodagar for the bug report.
Meep 0.20
19 July 2008
- Support for user-specified permeability (mu). Renamed "
dielectric" to "
medium" in libctl interface, new "
mu" property and new
output-mufunctions, and new "
Permeability" and "
Bx" etc. field types.
- Support for user-specified electric and/or magnetic conductivities. These are especially useful to add a desired dissipation loss (an imaginary part of ε/μ) in a narrow bandwidth, without messing around with Lorentzian dispersive materials.
- Add predefined
perfect-magnetic-conductor(μ = −∞) material, along with
perfect-electric-conductor(ε = −∞).
- Added
synchronized-magneticstep function to allow step functions to run with the electric and magnetic fields synchronized in time to second-order accuracy. See Synchronizing the magnetic and electric fields.
- New PML implementation (UPML instead of split-field), should have lower reflection in many cases.
- User-specified PML profile and asymptotic reflection.
- Internally, all timestepping code is now handwritten (and much shorter) rather than old verbose Haskell-generated code; this should make it easier to add new features.
- Add support for non-integrated current sources, if the
is-integrated?property of the current is set to false; this is now the default, to make handling of E and H sources more similar and intuitive.
- Work with HDF5 1.8 (which previously would not compile unless you manually set a preprocessor flag, due to API changes).
- Check for
/usr/include/ctl/ctl.h(default in Fedora), and check for libctl in
/usr/share/libctl3(default in Debian & Ubuntu).
- Bug fix: fixed relative phase of E and H sources (which were off from one another by half a timestep); thanks to M. Megens for bug report.
- Bug fix: make sure h5 filenames have unique timestep for cases where Δt is very small or very large.
Meep 0.10.1
13 November 2007
- Bug fix in
flux_in_box, which accidentally returned the flux multiplied by the number of processors, instead of the flux.
- Bug fix in epsilon averaging for structures including metals (ε < 0), fixing an instability.
- Bug fix in
output-pngwhen running in parallel (removing race condition).
- Fixed bug that disabled subpixel averaging for dimensions=1 (thanks to Mischa Megens for the bug report).
- Fixed bug that caused
output-tot-pwrto stop Meep with an error message; thanks to Vyacheslav Sokolov for the bug report.
- Make
at-everystep functions less susceptible to rounding errors; thanks to L. Le Guyader for the bug report.
- Fixed bug in dispersive media that wasted memory on parallel machines (the polarization memory was not parallelized); thanks to J. L. Silva for the bug report.
- Bug fix in
output-png+h5, thanks to a report by Chad Husko.
- Fixed several deadlocks that could occur when the parallel Meep is used with a serial HDF5 library (we continue to recommend using the parallel HDF5 library with parallel Meep, however). Thanks in part to Lingling Tang for his bug report.
- For maintainer-mode, improved detection of Haskell package names; thanks to Liang Huo for the bug report.
Meep 0.10
21 August 2006
eps-averaging?is now turned on by default (in libctl interface), using much-improved algorithm by Ardavan Farjadpour. This greatly improves accuracy, and also allows continuous tuning of geometric parameters. (See our upcoming paper in Optics Lett., with a preprint at Citing Meep.) New input variables
subpixel-maxevalto control the accuracy of the subpixel averaging.
- Support for χ(2) (Pockels) as well as χ(3) (Kerr) nonlinearities.
- Symmetries no longer require the cell size to be an even number of pixels. Previously, Meep exited with an error in this case, whereas now it simply adds an extra pixel to the cell size as needed.
- New
with-prefixstep function to allow you to use a different
filename-prefixfor selected outputs.
- New feature for
output-png: built-in shell variable
$EPSthat refers to the last-output epsilon
.h5file, which you can use to easily add dielectric contours/overlays to the field output image.
- Added
output-png+h5function that outputs both
- New functions
magnetic-energy-in-box, and
field-energy-in-box(convenience wrappers around C++ functions).
- Bug fix in Kerr nonlinearity:
chi3was accidentally scaled by factor.
- Bug fix: if you specified three or more symmetries, at most two symmetries were used (ignoring the rest).
- Bug fix in
rotate2symmetry, which wasn't working correctly.
- Bug fix in
add-fluxfor multiple flux regions, thanks to K. Choi.
- Bug fix in
harminvwhere it wouldn't allow you to call
harminvmore than once for the same run loop; thanks to Aristos Karalis.
- Bug fix in
load-fluxthat prevented it from working properly without output directories, thanks to Karl Koch.
- Fixed abort that sometimes occurred due to rounding when the source was the same width as the cell (thanks to G. J. Parker).
- Fixed minor build problems on Cygwin, SGI, and other systems, thanks to Christopher Kang, Robyn Landers, Florencio Garcia, and others.
Meep 0.9
1 April 2006
- Initial public release.


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There is a growing frustration with content owners and the content world in general from telecoms and technology companies. Both operate their businesses on the basis of creating, owning and licensing intellectual property. Start-ups in particular are suffering from problems such as restrictive EU legislation and not being to even talk with rightsholders, let alone do deals with them. In turn, content owners are increasingly fed up with the constant of business development executives asking the same questions and stubbornly refusing to try to understand and meet their concerns. The will is there, but the way is not. The simple consequence of this conflict is that smaller companies are being empowered, and a young ecosystem of IPTV-friendly suppliers is taking root. Necessity is once again the mother of invention.
Of course, this could be posturing by telcos to negotiate a better deal on content. It's hard to see exactly how they would have a positive outcome by following their threats through, not that it's stopped any business doing the same before now. Some of the most powerful companies in the world fill their trousers from forcing the hand of others.
Dealing with content owners is difficult – that's a universal truth. Despite the best efforts of some of the incredibly clever people they have working for them, the decision makers inevitably don't have the same level of understanding and find it hard to accept change. They've grown used to being powerful and are part of an exclusive club that's very hard to join. They are convinced of their divine right to rule, have too many business offers to deal with and know their product is popular. They know that entertainment services need good content to survive, so wield a very big stick when it comes to upstarts who want to disrupt their comfy way of life.
Historically, they've always won because of these truths. But this fight is one they are going to lose.
For one reason, digital piracy.
ISPs alone hold the key to limiting and/or ending digital piracy. Their networks are the conduit for the illegal trade of intellectual property and they know it. It's an unwritten rule that what they sell is effectively free movies and music, with a little browsing and email thrown in. There is nothing that can beat free (as BT will find out when they launch their "a better free than free" Vision service). For as long as piracy continues, it will be the number one reason that on-demand services are not taken up. There is absolutely no reason to pay for a movie or music track when you can access it for free on a P2P network. VoD is pointless when you have DVD-quality movies ripped from screeners available via BitTorrent.
The movie studios are desperate to avoid the cataclysmic failure of the record labels. And make no mistake, it was cataclysmic. If you are foolish and arrogant enough to persecute and make example of your own customers (typically pre-pubescent children, university students and the elderly), you will suffer the consequences, as they already have. The market is leading these companies in a new direction but they are resisting and clinging on to power by a thread. Those consequences mean more (not less) piracy, new software build to circumvent controls and to a certain degree, the snubbing of your products by a frustrated and resentful audience. For every lawsuit or software system, a community will naturally adapt in kind, be it with encryption or a boycott. You cannot fight an enemy who you depend on for your very survival.
Piracy is the hidden and unmentioned competitor to all digital services. Even within pay TV markets (of which the UK is not one), people watch linear broadcast television before paying for video on-demand. iTunes may have been a runaway success in the press, but the leading alternative are the likes of Limewire, Kazaa and eMule. If you contrast their usage against legal services, there is more than a mountain to climb. It's the entire Himalayas. As long as you can get hold of a raw digital copy of the media you want for free, people will just keep using P2P. Sorry, but that the way it is. Just look at the statistics. The power of your brand won't stop anything.
The industry's solution to the problem of digital files keeping their integrity (i.e. perfect replication and no degradation over time) has been to push digital rights management (DRM). In the US, we've seen the horrendous Orwellian regulation known as the DMCA (digital millennium copyright act) and more and more laws coming out to change the very nature of copyright. What we now buy is a licence (or the rights) to access copies of a copywritten work. We are, for all intents and purposes, hiring the work and letting investment bankers decide when and where we are able to enjoy art. That's great for the entertainment business, but it's bad for consumers, their customers.


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Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 2019 Holiday Light Show! In 2019, visitors experienced over 750,000 twinkling lights!
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Located in Janesville, Wisconsin, Rotary Botanical Gardens is an award winning 20-acre, non-profit botanic showcase with over 26 different garden styles and 4,000 varieties of plants.
Sign-up for our email newsletter and keep in touch with us.
June: 9 AM to 6 PM, daily
July - August: 9 AM to 8 PM, daily
September: 9 AM to 7 PM, daily
*Please visit our hours & location page below to learn more.
Visit the Hours & Location page for a complete listing of hours.
Rotary Botanical Gardens
1455 Palmer Drive
Janesville, WI 53545
Copyright © 2020 · All Rights Reserved · Rotary Botanical Gardens
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Color-coded syringes may help emergency crews treat children for sudden heart stoppage faster and eliminate medication dosing errors.
In two simulations of pediatric cardiac arrest, emergency room nurses and doctors treated patients 28 seconds faster and paramedics and medical technicians nine seconds faster when they used color-coded, pre-filled syringes of medicine compared to manually preparing several medications.
Moreover, using color-coded syringes eliminated giving patients too much or too little medication while manual dosing had 17 percent error in the emergency room group, and 37 percent error from the pre-hospital providers..
Related Information:
- American Heart Association News Tips – RESS Abstract LBRS-358
- More information about cardiac arrest is at www.heart.org/cardiacarrest.
For more about heart rhythm disorders in children, click here.


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Agricultural and Meteorological Software
These are the maps of MIROC4h model under RCP45 period over Alaska state. The maps have been produced from 2020 to 2029 over Alaska state. This series related to CMIP5 collection for tas in Yearly scale. The fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project(CMIP5) was used in support of the 5th assessment report (AR5) of the IPCC, published in 2013 and 2014. These data are a daily average of tas. The tas data are raw data of MIROC4h without any downscaling. The MIROC4h has a grid size of 320 * 640 with a horizontal resolution 0.5616 * 0.5625 degree.
Copyright (c) 2019 AgriMetSoft. All rights reserved. Design by AgriMetSoft


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Riedhammer Secures Orders for Producing Green Energy Electrolytes in the United StatesPosted by Chris in News
Riedhammer GmbH recently secured two orders from a leading manufacturer of green energy products: A rotary calciner to produce the raw materials and a high temperature batch kiln to sinter those materials into ceramic electrolytes. Both will be operational in the second quarter of 2011. Both of the kilns will be installed at an existing facility that is being repurposed to produce green energy products.
The batch kiln has an internal volume of 12 cubic meters (425 cu. ft.) and fires to 1600°C (2900°F) using natural gas as a fuel. It includes the latest technologies for reduced emissions, energy recovery, and high volume production, while maximizing temperature uniformity and minimizing potential contaminants.
The rotary calciner can process more than 500 kg/hr (1,100 lb/hr) of the raw material. The tube is lined with special, high-purity materials to minimize silica, alkali and transition metal poisoning of the material. The calciner is direct-fired using natural gas.
Riedhammer's experience, responsiveness and ability to meet the customer's budget goals without sacrificing quality were the reasons cited by the customer for selecting Riedhammer as the supplier for this equipment. The total value of these two projects is more than US$ 5.3 million.
Riedhammer, based in Nuremberg, Germany has supplied hundreds of kilns for the manufacture of a diverse array of electronic ceramic components including advanced batteries, fuel cells, passive components and sensors. In addition to batch kilns, Riedhammer supplies tunnel, roller, pusher-slab and rotary kilns that may be fuel-fired or electrically heated in sizes from bench-top through to the largest custom-engineered kilns ever delivered. Riedhammer is a part of The Sacmi Group (www.sacmi.com), manufacturing machines and complete plants for the Ceramics, Beverage & Packaging, Processing and Plastics industries.
PilkoTech represents Riedhammer products to the technical ceramics market. If you are producing electrolytes for fuel cells, advanced batteries or other precision electronic applications, call 877-350-7382 or contact us today!green energy, high-temperature, kiln, linkedin, riedhammer, rotary calciner, technical ceramics
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GWACs provide a full range of complementary management, technical, and support services that enable government customers to tailor requirements to their unique needs. All GWACs offer a streamlined acquisition process and can be used to obtain a variety of services. Veterans Technology Services contracting opportunities are designed for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses that specialize in IT application development, computer equipment management, and information assurance offerings.
The 8(a) Streamlined Technology Acquisition Resources for Services (STARS) contract enables customer agencies to gain credit for using a small, disadvantaged business to meet the needs of the government. FAS NCR is an advocate for businesses of all sizes and works closely with industry partners to meet the needs of the federal government clients.
Our acquisition professionals work with customers to assist in procuring products and services to meet agency missions. GSA technical staff in NCR provides expertise in formulating and executing acquisition solutions. The NCR team works with agency contracting personnel, financial managers, and legal counsel to ensure the most appropriate industry partners are selected. Acquisition strategies include (but are not limited to):
- Requirements Analysis
- Market Research
- Statements of Work
- Task Order Tracking
- Review of Deliverables
- Monitor of Quality Assurance & Performance
- Payment of Invoices
- Contract Closeouts
- Recompetition Assistance
Businesses of all sizes who are interested in learning how to pre-position their company for success when bidding on federal government business opportunities may contact the individuals at the upper right to schedule a meeting.
FAS NCR serves clients located throughout Washington, DC; Maryland (Montgomery and Prince George's counties); and Virginia (the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, and Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties). Customer Account Managers can coordinate with other GSA regional offices across the country to manage requirements that cross regional boundaries or involve overseas negotiations.


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I was asked to comment on a Quora question relating to partnering with a large company. The question related to the fact that a single large company wanted to become the sole source sales and marketer of a product of a small company. In addition, the small company was to turn over all current customers to the large company. This can work, but great caution is required in the drafting and management of the deal and relationship. As with any scenario, all of the aspects of the business require review before making such a business deal.
Entering a relationship with a single customer comes allows for both positive and negative issues that may arise in the future. In drafting the deal, it is essential that the small company consider a wide range of issues that relate to the future of their business. This requires reading the tea leaves a bit since you are drafting agreements to cover potential future activities. The two key goals must be to end up with the correct financial arrangement for the small company and protect as much as possible the future of the company. You may derive some protection by ensuring:
1. The agreements making them the sole source agent carries the financial incentives you desire i.e, you make adequate money to make it worth your efforts,
2. You obtain guarantees on total annual sales or you get the product and all customers back i.e. claw-back arrangements,
3. You do not have restrictions on other possible products you can make in the future, and
4. Non-compete on products other than the one partnered are not forced on you.
These are not the only considerations there will certainly be conditions that are more specific you and your counsel require to protect your company.
On the negative side, the sole agent purchasing your product now controls all your business and potential future cash flow. This assumes you do not have many other products in the pipeline. Companies often will do a less than favorable deal to receive cash on product number 1 when many other opportunities are in the pipeline. The cash flow you receive will help you fund the development of other products in a non-dilutive manner.
The Quora question highlighted the fact that the small company did not have sales and marketing experience. This is common in many small companies. It is important to keep in mind that with cash coming in the door, the small company will be able to hire marketing and sales people and build better infrastructure. One consideration is whether the small company can arrange in the deal with the large company, the ability to share the sales and marketing for a higher percentage of the profit as the small company grows. The newly developed cash flow and developed infrastructure will allow the small company to become more independent in the future.
One issue to guard against is giving your only product to someone else. Small company can become a slave to the larger company. Many entrepreneurs strive to have ability to control their future. This does not happen when the large company controls everything. In fact, perhaps small company can structure the deal to force a acquisition of the small company. In this case, getting liquid on your equity will allow you to start a totally new company. Just a thought!
Taffy Williams is the author of: Think Agile: How Smart Entrepreneurs Adapt in Order to Succeed to via Amazon


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Amazes me that a girls game is by far most intense crowd and hustle-wise this season
— Aram Tolegian (@aramtolegian) January 29, 2013
"Imari can have a game like that every single night. That's a dream player. We have other players beside Imari, who normally all year long have been putting up 17 points a game. We don't want to call it 'The Imari Show', but sometimes the girls get caught looking. I tell the girls to stop looking like they do with Kobe (Bryant). Sometimes they just watch her play and you can't do that."— Duarte coach Mark Smith
By Aram Tolegian
DUARTE — After ending Duarte's Montview League win streak at 39 games last Friday night, the Workman High School girls basketball game was out to prove the victory was no joke … and maybe start a prolonged league winning streak of its own.
Mission accomplished on the both ends.
Freshman guard Leslie Rivera score 25 points, including several clutch 3-pointers in the second half, as Workman took another giant step toward the Montview League title with a 74-68 victory over host Duarte on Monday night.
Workman (18-4, 10-0) led 57-47 late in the third quarter, but Duarte (17-2, 7-2) rallied behind standout Imari Brown to forge a 64-63 lead with 2:50 to play. That's when things got a little too crazy in the stands as a packed house of Lobos and Falcons fans mixed it up enough to the point that the game was delayed a few minutes while sherriff's deputies calmed things down.
Continue reading "Workman beats Duarte (again) in Montview classic …" »


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Reunion Island
Right in the heart of the Indian Ocean, 800 km east of Madagascar, Réunion Island, together with Mauritius and Rodrigues, forms the Archipelago of Mascareignes.
It is like a mountain resting on the surface of the Indian Ocean, just like the Piton des Neiges, rising to 3,069 meters. An active volcano, the famous Piton de la Fournaise wakes up periodically, and you can admire the magnificence of the lava flow in total safety.
Réunion offers an infinite number of amazing sites and contrasting landscapes:
- Green Réunion, with its primitive forests and three large natural cirques: Mafate, which you can only reach by hiking along a trail; Salazie, a wonderland of waterfalls and rivers in the midst of lush vegetation; Cilaos, with an unexpected alpine village nestled on the side of the mountain.
- Blue Réunion, with the lagoons of Saint-Gilles, Saint-Leu and Saint-Pierre.
- Golden Réunion, with 30km of golden sandy beaches along the coastline cooled by the wind.
- Multicolored Réunion, with its explosions of rich colors in the gardens full of tropical flowers, and its Creole huts.
A natural stadium for sports and leisure activities, Réunion provides more than 70 activities, from 40m under the sea to more than 3,000m up in the air. You can explore the heights on horseback, mountain bike or ATV, go hiking on one of the 1,000 km of marked trails, go paragliding, take helicopter or ULM flights above the majestic mountains, go surfing on the famous spots at Saint-Gilles, or fish for blue marlin and yellow-fin tuna.
Finally, at the crossroads of several continents, Réunion will delight you with the natural, warm welcome of its population, and the variety of its Creole cuisine. The local food's spicy flavors, from curry to rougaille, will gratify even the most gourmet appetites.
Don't miss
- The Volcano and its lunar landscape on the Plaine des Sables
- Le Cirque de Cilaos, 1,200m high at the foot of the Piton des Neiges
- La Sucrerie de Bois Rouge, where you can discover how sugar is made
- The Saint Paul market, which will delight all your senses
- La Maison de la Vanille, where you can discover Bourbon Vanilla
Useful information
- Main town: Saint-Denis
- Entry formalities: If you plan to stay for less than three months, an ordinary valid passport is the only form of identity required.
- Currency: Euro
- Temperature: From 15°C in the higher parts to 25°C along the coast in the cool season (May-November), more than 30°C on the coast in the hot season (December-April).
- Climate: Tropical
Getting there
The Roland Garros International Airport on Reunion is 10 kilometers from Saint-Denis, and 51 kilometers from Saint-Gilles.


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Relationships with
Photo Credit: Kurt Russell's picture is courtesy of Film Erlebnis. Photographic illustrations of Kurt Russell are copyright © by their respective holders. The images are published with permission or as allowed by the copyright law's fair use or quotation provisions. If any copyright holder objects to an image being included, please notify us and it will be removed immediately.
Disclaimer: This information about Kurt Russell is derived from astrological interpretation of Kurt Russell's date, time, and place of birth.


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???? If this persists, ask a librarian.
Book it to your library
Books – no batteries required
Check me out tonight
Check out a librarian.
Dewey? You bet we do!
Do you have a library card, 'cause I'd like to check you out?
Don't just sit there…circulate
Fight the stupids…Read!
Follow Me To The Library
I'm a Librarian and I WILL shush your ass
I'd Rather Be Reading
I'm a librarian, don't make me shoosh your ass
If you can read…thank a teacher. If you find something to read…thank a librarian
Incunabula is not a social disease
Info to Go @ Your Library
Knowledge is a renewable resource
Librarian: the human search engine
Librarians Are Book Lovers
Librarians are infomaniacs
Librarians are loan arrangers
Librarians are Novel Lovers
Librarians do it between the covers
Librarians Do It by the Book
Librarians Do It In Stacks
Librarians don't know everything…. they just know where to find everything
Librarians Have Better Circulation
Librarians Work in a Bookie Joint
Librarians: Pharmacists For the Mind
Librarians: Travel agents for the imagination
Librarians: The Happy Bookers
Libraries: Something for every chapter of your life!
Libraries: The carbon-based user-friendly information interface
Library: an awarehouse for the imagination.
Library: the KNOWplace for KNOWbodies.
Look smart – carry a book. Be smart –carry a library book.
Militant Cataloger
My Other Car is a Bookmobile
Not your grandma's library
Old librarians never die they just lose their references
Old librarians never die they just get reshelved.
Open a book, open your mind.
Public Libraries: Something the government does right!
Public Libraries: The university of the common man/woman.
Public Libraries: We buy excellent things with your money and we want you to use them.
Read Books Not Bumper Stickers
Read Books Not T-Shirts
Readers are leaders….you're following one now
Real Men Read
Renew yourself at your library
Those who do not read are no better off than those who cannot…use your library
When you absolutely, positively HAVE to know, ask a librarian
WWYLD – What would your librarian do?
You can have my book when you pry it from my cold dead hand.
Your Library: Dewey Drop In!
Your public library – more than books


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Salaam and Greetings of Peace:
The following true incident took place years ago, when former Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammed Ali was visited by his daughters, who arrived at his home wearing clothes that were immodest. Here is the story as told by one of his daughters:
"When we arrived, the chauffer escorted my youngest sister, Laila, and me to my father's suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. And we exchanged as many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day.
"My father then took a good look at us. He sat me down in his lap and said something I will never forget. He looked me straight in the eyes and said: 'Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to. Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected. Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell. Where do you find gold? Way down and in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You've got to work hard to get them.'
"He looked at me again with serious eyes and said, 'Your body is sacred. You're far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too.'"
Taken (and slightly edited) from Rohi Padela's excellent Drunk on the Wine of the Beloved blog.
Note: It is worth noting that Muhammed Ali now follows the Sufi path of Hazrat Inayat Khan, according to Hana Yasmeen Ali. An interview with her, where she mentions that fact, can be found HERE.
Update Note: Because of the response in the comments, here are links to two previous posts on Hijab: Wearing Hijab – A Spiritual Concept and Wearing Hijab in Mecca.
The Prophet (pbuh) also said: "Faith is naked, but its clothes are modest."
Ya Haqq!


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Add Cardio to Pilates
Because cardio is the only thing missing from your Pilates routine, take your moves off the mat with this workout from June Kahn, owner of June Kahn's Bodyworks and Pilates director at Lakeshore Athletic Club in Boulder, Colorado.
Not only will you get your heart pumping and burn 420 calories per hour (about 17 percent more than in a traditional mat class), but you'll experience total-body conditioning through balance challenges and see the abs-sculpting benefits faster.
1. Standing Hundred
Fitness Focus: core, shoulders, triceps
- Stand with feet hip-width apart, arms at sides with palms facing the wall behind you.
- Keeping arms straight, vigorously pump them 10 times, back and forth about 3 to 5 inches.
- Inhale for a count of 5, then exhale for 5.
- After 3 sets of 10, raise left leg in front of your body and continue pumping arms for another set of 10.
- Switch legs and repeat.
2. Plie with Side Lift
Fitness Focus: core, quads, glutes
- Stand with feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and extend arms out to sides.
- Turn feet out 45 degrees and bend knees 90 degrees into a plie (not shown).
- Straighten right leg while lifting left leg out to side.
- Lower back to plie position and repeat on opposite side.
- Continue alternating 8 times on each leg, inhaling as you bend your knees and exhaling as you extend.
3. Crisscross Reach
Fitness Focus: core, quads, glutes
- Step your right foot about 12 inches to the right and bend your right knee 90 degrees into a side lunge.
- Reach left arm diagonally up with fingertips pointing toward the ceiling and right arm diagonally down, fingertips pointing toward the floor (not shown).
- Place left hand behind head, elbow bent to side.
- Exhaling, lift your right knee across your body toward your left hip and left elbow toward your right knee.
- Return to lunge position and repeat to complete 8 reps, then switch sides.
4a. Single-Leg Front and Back Kick
Fitness Focus: core, back, hamstrings
- Step left leg forward about 12 inches and bend knee into a lunge.
- Bend elbows 90 degrees, hands in front of face, palms in.
- Raise right leg behind you.
- Bend right knee and kick right heel toward glutes, foot flexed, then kick with toes pointed.
- Repeat 4 to 8 times.
4b. Single-Leg Front and Back Kick
- While balancing on left foot, straighten legs and kick right leg forward at hip height, arms extended out to sides, then kick leg back.
- Repeat 4 to 8 times; switch sides.
5a. Crossover Sweep
Fitness Focus: core, obliques, back, quads
- Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, arms by sides.
- Lift right leg out to side 6 inches off the floor and simultaneously sweep your arms across your body to the left.
5b. Crossover Sweep
- Step right foot 12 inches diagonally in front of your left foot.
- Sweep your arms across your body to the right as you bend both knees 90 degrees into a "curtsy" lunge. (Your left heel will come off the floor.)
- Straighten legs and return to starting position.
- Complete 8 reps on each leg.
Originally published in Fitness magazine, March 2006.


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Robert Downey Jr. can put his "Iron Man" armor in mothballs until 2012.
Jon Favreau, director of "Iron Man" and this summer's super-sequel, says Robert's Tony Stark won't be in 2011's "Thor" or "Captain America: The First Avenger."
VIEW THE PHOTOS: 'Iron Man 2' World Premiere!
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
"Tony Stark is not going to be involved in any of the movies until ['Avengers']," the director recently told Los Angeles radio station KROQ's "The Kevin and Bean Show."
Jon added that it'll be "very interesting" to see how the 2012-due team-up film ties together the growing big screen world of Marvel superhero mythology, which also includes 2008's "The Incredible Hulk."
VIEW THE PHOTOS: 'Iron Man 2's' Hollywood Photo Call
"I'm not sure where 'The Avengers' goes," Jon said. "There is no shooting draft written yet. It's gonna be a big undertaking for Marvel… All that has to inform one unified vision in 'The Avengers.' It's a very exciting prospect."
Up next for Jon is another action romp, "Cowboys and Aliens," which the director said may be shot in 3D – and could be a test-run for a 3D "Iron Man" sequel.
"We are looking at what the gear can hold up to because we are shooting in the desert, which has never been done before with this type of gear," he said. "We are discussing whether or not we want to do it on the next ['Iron Man'] film."
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Robert Downey Jr.
"The Avengers" is scheduled for a May 4, 2012 launch. "Iron Man 2" has grossed $550 million worldwide thus far, $35 million shy of "Iron Man's" global gross.
Copyright 2010 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Pumping 'Iron'! Access Sits Down With 'Iron Man 2' Stars!
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
PLAY IT NOW: Is Robert Downey Jr. Feeling The Pressure Over The 'Iron Man 2' Hype?
PLAY IT NOW: Mickey Rourke: It Was A 'Breath Of Fresh Air' To Shoot 'Iron Man 2'
More from Access: [ Jon Favreau Robert Downey Jr. Iron Man ]


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Some time ago, Brother Ali had vitality and passion. It was a time everyone hated Hip-Hop made for partying, so some did bland, unmusical Boom Bap and others decided Hip-Hop could be about things other than killing and fucking. Nowadays it's not mind-blowing anymore and that's okay, since that era gave us Atmosphere whose followers – like Grieves and Sadistik – are the future. Brother Ali had his sure of fantastic tracks.
When I say 'vitality', I don't mean that Brother Ali gone soft or any of that crap. The best song here is "Out of Here", and his best song overall is "Faheem", a heartbreaking song for his son that's arresting from the first note and the moment Ali opens his mouth. There is vulnerability in his voice, one of an everyman who struggles with everyman issues that despite being common they're still so huge we need music to deal with them. For a long time, it was one of the first songs I offered any time someone went off on 'Hip-Hop is not music' rants.
This album continues with the more introspective, less political nature. Nothing here goes hard like "Whatcha Got", and that's okay. The problem is, Ali doesn't sound like he's really into making music. Many of these songs ramble and don't go anywhere. When they do, these are messages we're familiar with and their delivary isn't interesting or adds something new.
I'm not even sure if Ali is capable anymore. Like any rapper in this style, he had a tendency to make songs that are too dense to be interesting, but "Out of Here" should've been more powerful, darker. It should've brought the same vulnerability that made "Faheem" so arresting, yet it just coasts along. If it never sends a comforting message like how life goes on, it also doesn't provide much insight into the topic. Losing someone to suicide is confusing. It shifts paradigms. We don't just realize someone is gone, but it was death by choice. Someone actively decided that this whole project called life isn't worthwhile.
According to the story, Ali took a break from music and went on a trip around the world to learn a bit about the beauty and love and life. Just look at the title. This kind of optimism leads to two things. Either there is a madness, an untamed desire to live and experience and contain everything which often leads to gender-bending music or you get dull, non-confrontational Zen bullshit. As if being complacent, or passive or placid, or whatever bastardization of Buddhism we invent is somehow profound.
Ali's new found optimism isn't mad and engrossing. All it does is make him less confrontational, with less desire to jump fully into his ideas. "Before They Called You White" reeks of tokenism, not of anger or of intelligence. Ali wants to take on the invention of whiteness. That's an interesting topic that people don't say interesting thing about. I can't even get angry at Ali missing the cases and histories of racism not done by whites. Nothing is more West-centric than pretending whiteness is the great evil, but at least the idiots who spew that are passionate about it. At his most passionate in his song Ali says 'Post-Traumatic Slavemaster Syndrom", which is kind of cool. As for the final hook, it's ironic. If the eye can't see itself and needs critique, can I do it to all cultures?
Don't get the impression that this album provides insight into the racial struggles. Nothing here is like Macklemore's "White Privilege", an abomination that was at least interesting. The second time Ali talks about race with focus is on "Dear Black Son", but since race is everywhere in contemporary discourse the song is not interesting. I don't mind songs about the Black experience, but don't expect a "The Blacker the Berry", something that shows the pain of being marginalized, of being always afraid a random cop will shoot you or that everyone still gives you funny looks despite claiming constantly they're not racist. There is genuine pain to explore here, but this song is nothing but 'you're beautiful and don't let anybody tell you otherwise'. Considering Ali experienced losing someone to suicide, I think if anyone needs this message, they are people who don't an identity to give their life meaning.
I digress. This review should talk about how dull Ali's rapping is on this album. Whatever interesting thing he has to say on "Never Learn", the best thing about is the bluesy beat. Mostly, it makes me wish I was listening to Grieves who is so talented even when the songs are about nothing he imbues them with emotion. "Never Learn" is just cookie cutter serious Hip-Hop, pleasant on the ear and nothing else. Most of the songs are like this. I don't get it. Ali is a talented rapper and the first single, "Own Light", has some life in it. In fact, it does hint that the album might be necessary, taking introspective Hip-Hop to a more optimistic direction and creating the antithesis of Sadistik.
Sadly, the end result is introspective Hip-Hop without much going for it, either in subject matter, atmosphere, tone, wit or anything. The impression is that Ali found peace, and now he doesn't have much he needs to let out in music besides some joy in "Own Light" and sorrow in "Out of Here". In the title-track which closes the song, he praises God and overall existence. Forget, for a moment, Ligotti's pessimism and how existence is always bad. Is that how the passion and love for life should sound like? Isn't happiness and love wild, untamed emotions which we just can't contain? Aren't the best smiles those we can't control? I'm happy for Ali that he's at peace, really, but if his heart isn't in music then he doesn't have to make music.
Anyone remember "Fresh Air"? Now that's a song that could cure depression.
2 out of 5 here


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Ding Stool
Furniture Design Focus: Ding Stool
A Good Furniture design example, the Ding is a creative Stool design. Ding was designed in 2010, and here is a how it is described by its designer: Ding was designed to fit the Jingdezhen table, it is a contemporary decorated ceramic stool that could be used both indoors and outdoors.
Ding Stool Images:
End of the article, click here to go back to previous page, or alternatively go back to A Design News homepage.


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You are here
Best Yoga Mats for Every Type of Yogi
Is your basic mat giving you a serious case of the blahs? Spiff up your get-fit routine with these top new additions to the yoga scene.
Courtesy of Adidas
Fashionable Flexibility
Elevate your sartorial savvy by giving your typical pad a designer upgrade. The chic Women's Adidas by Stella McCartney yoga mat features detachable handles and a deep periwinkle tone for a mat that's as fashionable as it is functional.
Courtesy of Magic Carpet
Eco-Friendly Prints
Inject a healthy dose of personality into your pigeon pose: Sophie Leininger's hand-painted Magic Carpet mats infuse your practice with color and pattern, using UV-cured and environmentally friendly inks. Take a trip back in time with this new Art Deco–inspired pad, or get closer to nature with the desert- and mountain-inspired designs.
Courtesy of Jade
Flex Your Feel-Good Muscles
A favorite of yogis, Jade's eco-friendly pads have garnered a devoted following for good reason: The US-made mats are free of PVC, EVA, or other synthetic rubbers, and the company plants a tree for every one sold. Stand out in class with the brand's best-selling Harmony mat in a bright shade: a bright and sunny fluorescent green.
Courtesy of Willey
Guaranteed Grip
If your typical pad leaves you slipping and sliding as soon as things get sweaty, swap it out for a Yoloha Cork yoga mat. The pad's waxy material becomes grippier when wet, and its naturally hypoallergenic and antimicrobial properties zap bacteria and mold.
Waj Lana Peackock Feather Mat
Proud as a Peacock
Mastering peacock pose is no easy feat, but you can add a dash of the regal bird into your practice with a Wai Lana Peacock Feather mat. Emblazoned with the Asian symbol of luck and prosperity, the pad is twice the thickness of the company's standard mat so you'll always be supported, whether you're attempting advanced postures or taking a break in child's pose.
Courtesy of Manduka
Supersized Stretching
Sometimes bigger really is better, especially where Manduka's The PRO Squared mat is concerned. This jumbo nonslip pad comes with a price tag to match its size, but splurge and you can transform a hefty chunk of your living room into a functional space for full salutations with friends. Girls' night, anyone?
Courtesy of YogaJack
Added Edge
If most mats seem a touch too girly, add some roughed-up style from YogaJack. The extra-thick ONE mat boasts muted tones and a clean-cut design. But it's not just all about looks: For added grip, the sleek pads feature a nonslip surface that feels like woven fabric, and a bottom pattern designed to thwart sliding. Pick one up for yourself, and an extra for your favorite guy so you can om side-by-side.
Courtesy of Lululemon
Road Ready Multi-Mat
If you frequently flip-flop between intense indoor Bikram sweat sessions and stretching solo in the great outdoors, take Lululemon's reversible The (Towel) Mat for a test-drive. With an absorbent microfiber top and grippy rubber bottom, you can flip the mat based on your mood and practice. Just toss it into the washing machine to erase any traces of grimier workouts.
Courtesy of Gaim
Trusty Traveler
Whether you're packing for a weekend away or crave a quickie lunchtime stretch break, Gaiam's Sol Bhakti ultra-light yoga mat won't bog you down. Weighing in at less than two pounds and measuring only a millimeter thick, the mat easily folds into a small square so you have one less bag to carry.
Yoga Direct Alignment Mat.jpg
Beginner Basics
For those new to the yoga scene, Yoga Direct's Premium Printed Alignment mat makes it easy to fall in line. The handy guides printed right on the mat make it a breeze for beginners to follow along, even as you learn new poses. With extra- thick padding and a newbie-friendly price, you're out of reasons to skip that intro class.
Originally published on FitnessMagazine.com, September 2013.


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Hello Future – The Bionic Exoskeleton
Ekso is the bionic exoskeleton that allows wheelchair users to stand and walk.
How it works
Guided by a clinician, Ekso utilizes four electromechanical motors and
an intelligent algorithm to provide patients with a smooth natural gait.
It will debut in rehabilitation centers in early 2012
and enable users to stand, walk, make turns and sit.


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It Is very important that you do thorough research before selecting a roofing repair contractor. You have to analyze most of the feedback and reviews you get from references with care before you actually hire them. We now have some excellent methods here to help you source out and secure the utmost effective contractor for your needs.
You might rely on a respectable residential roofing repair contractor to offer you a written estimate before they can begin working on your project. In cases of high urgency, your contractor should be in the position to give estimates over the phone. If you wish to ensure that the local company you select can finish your project on time and within your budget. Also, request a proposed schedule and proof of his qualifications and experience. All issues need to be handled prior to making the decision to hire a professional contractor.
When you're sure that the grade of work done is satisfactory, you can then proceed to make the final payment. You could either inspect the work and make sure it's of high quality or look for another company to do the inspection. You should make certain that all the work that has been completed and that you're satisfied with the outcome before making the final. Try to keep a paper trail of all financial transactions to use for taxes and other purposes, and know that it's not a good idea to use cash as a form of payment.
Get a Roofing Estimate
Ready for your roof inspection?
Give us a call today so we can connect you with one of our trusted roofing contractors in your area.
Roof Repair in Williamsburg, New York
Great results are what you are likely to find from our licensed roofing repair contractors. The company you require is one that keeps their promise. Be sure to give your contractor ample time to truly have the project done the right way with as little interruption as possible. It is good to know how the contractor plans to handle any liability issue that may arise.
Your commercial roof repair expert will require specific details for the assignment before he can accept the job and give you advice on how best to move forward. Provide your contractor with plenty of chances to ask about or confirm a particular item in the legal agreement. So long when you are in frequent and clear communication with your service provider, you can rest assured that the project you are paying them to do will likely be done well. Continuous communication is suggested to avoid any miscommunications.
To be able to guarantee quality work, frequent the job sites of the contractor you have hired. Be sure that you talk to previous clients so you know their feedback on your contractor. If you're finding that a lot of the commercial roofing contractor's former clients have positive things to say, then you should hire them. When you yourself have any concerns about the company's work relations, look online for reviews about the company.
Finding A Good Roofing Company in Williamsburg, New York Does Require Research
A record of great customer service is a vital quality to find when finding a local roofing repair contractor. You should look for a candidate who you feel like you could trust when you are not at the job site. While the prospective candidate is working on the project, you need to confirm that he won't take shortcuts. We've put together a set of great ideas that can help you spot the ideal qualities in a local contractor.
To be sure everything goes smoothly with your service provider and your pet, you should let the Lone Star Roofing Company {locations(city_name)} know beforehand what your pet is like. You might need to find your pet a temporary home elsewhere if it will interfere with his activities or become a distraction. It can also be dangerous to have your pets around the roofing repair company's crew.
After bringing in a licensed roofing repair contractor, frequently visit job sites to be sure that your project is being worked on effectively. Speak with clients who have worked with a licensed contractor before to learn how they feel about them. If you're comfortable with the references, then hire the contractor. There are also online reviews available if you have any other concerns.
Sometimes, you will need to sign a legally binding contract beforehand; when this is required, make sure you read every little detail in the legal agreement. You will save yourself a lot of anxiety, and ultimately money if you make sure that all the agreed-upon requirements are spelled out clearly in the legal agreement. You really shouldn't sign anything until your local roofing repair company accepts all of your requirements for the project. Many contracts use unusual legal terms; if this is really the case, consult your attorney as well before signing the legal agreement.
Providing an accurate job bid is a staple for our {locations(city_name)} roofing company. You will have the estimate once you provide the job details. Don't allow work to begin without having a written estimate, even in case you have a verbal agreement. If you have given the roofing contractor all the required details and they are still unable to offer you an estimate, you shouldn't move forward until they do.
To deliver great results, a high-end roofing repair company will always go beyond their limits. Select a contractor known for completing jobs as promised, on time and within the agreed upon budget. Ensure to give your contractor plenty of time to get the job done correctly with as little interruptions as possible. Learn how the contractor plans to manage any liability concerns.
Here Are Some Questions People Ask About Roofing
If you don't want to climb up on the roof yourself, do this. Assuming a normal composition shingle roof, find a time when you can look from the ground with the sun on the other side of the roof. Look for vertical white lines at the edges of the shingles.
The white lines are caused by the loss of the protective granules exposing the reflective substrate beneath. If you have those, the roof is nearing retirement age. If the lines extend into white patches, it's getting closer. Note, we do offer new roof installations in Williamsburg, New York.
While deciding which roofer could qualify as YOUR roofer, there are a few things to look at. First of all, I would SERIOUSLY avoid asking a realtor. Realtors can be a great resource, and they can also be the worst sense of direction in the world. Realtors build a working relationship with the contractor that is willing to do the work at the cheapest rate, not the highest quality. Also, DO NOT hire a handyman. Nothing against the jack-of-all-trades type of guys, but they are rarely (maybe 1 out of 50) qualified to touch your roof. If you're looking for a roof repair specialists in Williamsburg, New York, come to us!
If your roof is in a state of disrepair and it has deteriorated over time, it is important to at least consider having your roof replaced. There are quite a few benefits associated with replacing your roof, and you will want to take a look at some of them before making a final decision of any kind.
As your roof gets older it starts to deteriorate and it loses its ability to protect the interior of your home from the elements. Not only is your home exposed to water damage, but you are also at risk to mold growth in areas of your home that you can't see, like the inside your walls or in the attic space.
If you're looking for a full roof replacement in Williamsburg, New York, come to us. We have some to the most experienced roofing professionals.
Yes. The type of roof to be prescribed in a building completely depends upon the surroundings and climate. In a place, where there is heavy rainfall, pitched roofs are preferred. Pitched roofs are commonly known as the sloping roofs. They help the rainwater to shed out of the building. However, if you're looking for flat roofing repair in Williamsburg, New York or flat roofing installation in Williamsburg, New York come to us! We have some of the best-experienced roofing contractors when it comes to flat roofs.
By asking your contractor the right questions, you can determine his reliability, reputation, and experience, and his dedication to delivering a project to your satisfaction.
The ideal contractor already has the right answers to your problems; they already use the right products and follow the correct specifications; they already employ the right people, and the right contractor also comes at the right price.
When it comes to products, the quality, the manufacturer and the length of their warranty doesn't matter if it is installed by an incompetent contractor. Unless products are installed properly, it will never perform as intended or as you anticipated. It is not uncommon for a homeowner to pay twice for a project because they failed to carefully qualify the contractor before beginning the project.
Will your roofing investment turn out to be an expense instead? If the work is done correctly, according to established specifications and craftsmanship, then the finished project will be an investment. If the work is done incorrectly, you are simply "burning money.
If you're looking for quality commercial roofing contractors in Williamsburg, New York we're the right team.
Prepare a plastic roof cover if you can't get in the attic and have no way of determining the exact location of the leak. Use a 4-foot roll of 6-mil polyethylene plastic.
Unroll the plastic but don't unfold it. Measure enough to cover a section of the roof from the eave to the ridge, add an extra 4 feet, and cut it from the roll with a utility knife. Unfold the plastic just one fold to make a strip 8 feet wide.
Roll one end of the plastic around an 8-foot two-by-four and staple the plastic to the wood. Cut another 8-foot two-by-four and nail it to the first, with the plastic sandwiched between the two pieces of wood.
Go on the roof and place the wood along the eaves. Stretch the plastic over the ridge, covering the approximate location of the leak. Staple the other end to another two-by-four and nail a fourth two-by-four to that one. Allow that pair of two-by-fours to hang down on the opposite side of the ridge.
If you need urgent roofing services, we offer emergency roof repair in Williamsburg, New York.
A roof inspection will be best. A hail damaged roof will have pock marks where large hail has bruised the membrane and caused the chips to come loose. It takes a sizable piece of hail to damage a good roof; 1-inch diameter or larger in most cases.
The roof inspector will look at it and count the number of these pockmarks in a 5 x 5 or 10 x 10 area or whatever standard is used.
If you're looking for roof repair from hail damage in Williamsburg, New York come to us. We've dealt with hail damage roofs for years and know how to look for hidden damages.
Homeowners insurance may help cover certain causes of storm damage, including wind, hail, and lightning. However, damage caused by flood and earthquakes typically is not covered by a standard homeowners insurance policy. It's important to read your policy to learn what types of storm damage may or may not be covered.
However, if your home has been hit and needs storm damage repair in Williamsburg, New York, come to us. We would be glad to come out and perform a roof inspection.
Missing or Damaged Shingles. This is the most obvious sign. …
Damaged Flashings. Flashings are the thin strips that you'll find on your roofing's most vulnerable parts, such as the valleys and hips. …
Granules in the Gutters. Finally, check if there's an unusually large amount of granules in the gutters.
We have a team of experienced professionals that have dealt with all types of roofs. If your home has been hit with severe winds and needs roof wind damage repair in Williamsburg, New York, definitely consider us and our experienced team of roofing professionals. We'll ensure your roof get the treatment it deserves.
Unfortunately, roof leaks causing the running water on the walls are difficult to identify. Sometimes, roofs in these sections do not discolor. However, if you see rustic wall stains, it is a sign the wall is near a leak. Quick emergency roof leak repair will reduce wall moisture damage.
Therefore, if you have a leaking roof in Williamsburg, New York, give us a call and we'll come over and do a quick inspection.
Homeowners have a lot of options when looking to replace their roof. The most basic question is whether they want asphalt shingles or concrete tiles. These are the two most popular options for residential roofing, and the odds are good that the roof that's being replaced is made of one or the other. Each material has advantages and disadvantages, so consider carefully which one will better suit your home. Some points to keep in mind:
Shingles are cheaper
Concrete tile conducts less heat
Shingles are easier to install and repair
If you're looking for roof repair for an asphalt or tile roof in Williamsburg, New York. Then, definitely give us a call. We have some of the most experienced roofing professionals when it comes to asphalt roof repairs and tile roof repairs.
On average, a typical 2,000 square feet tile roof will cost between $25,000 and $45,000 to install, depending on the profile, roof difficulty, choice of material, and location. Note: higher-end clay tiles can cost significantly more than low-end and mid-range tiles.
If you have a clay tile or Spanish tile roof that needs repair in Williamsburg, New York, Have our team take a look. We've replaced clay tile roofs and have repaired clay tile roofs. The same has goes for replacing Spanish tile roofs and repairing Spanish tile roofs. We've done it all. Reach us today and we'll address your tile roofing needs.
Composite Shingles in Williamsburg – What is the minimum slope of a roof that still allows use of composite shingles?
In general, 3/12 is the minimum slope recommended for composition asphalt shingles. The final word is the shingle Manufacturer's recommendations.
Generally, the lower the slope, the shorter the shingles' lifespan will be.
Below 3/12, you're looking at common bitumen (torch-down) roofing, or you can move up to TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin). Keep in mind, though, that this type of roof covering requires specific knowledge and skills for correct installation. Make sure that your roofer is competent and experienced in the installation of TPO.
If you're looking for repair services of composite shingles in Williamsburg, New York, we have just the staff that can do that fairly quickly. Call us today.
Roofs are one of the most important structural components of any building. Whether you are constructing a residential space or a warehouse, you need to be particular about the roofing material you choose to ensure the safety of your building. While there is no dearth of different types of roofing materials, metal roofing sheets have become the material of choice for leading architects and builders today.
If you're looking for an expert in metal roofing in Williamsburg, New York, reach out to us. We have some amazing professionals that have dealt with all types of metal roofs and have repaired metal roofs.
Slate roofing tile has a long and storied history, and is generally known as one of the highest quality, longest lasting roofing materials on the market. On the other hand, the high cost, difficult installation, and relative fragility of slate roofing tile means it's not ideal for everybody. Benefits of slate roofing are mentioned below :
Requires no maintenance
Resists climatic/seasonal change
Impervious to fungus and mold
Visually appealing
If you need state roofing in Williamsburg, New York come to us. We've done numerous amounts of slate roof repair jobs and full slate replacement roofing jobs.
According to the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory, "…a good wood shingle roof will last up to thirty years under favorable conditions" (see USDA Handbook 481). Care and mainte- nance are the keys: The better care you take of your shakes and shingles, the longer you can expect your roof to last.
If you have a roof that's wood shingles in Williamsburg, New York and it needs repair or replacement, come to us. We've done a number of wood shingle roofs in Williamsburg and can do yours too.
Asphalt Roofing Shingles. The most popular by far, asphalt shingles are made of fiberglass sandwiched between asphalt and ceramic granules. Relatively light and easy to install, they are a good choice if you're looking for style at a budget price. They may last 30 years or more but can be vulnerable to high winds.
Shingle roofing in Williamsburg, New York is a common request and we have performed dozens of shingle roof repairs and shingle roof replacements in Williamsburg. Give us a call today and we'll address your roofing needs.
Vinyl siding can be installed over common wood sheathings such as plywood, oriented strand board (OSB), or other materials (e.g., foam plastic insulating sheathing). The thickness of wood sheathing counts toward the total thickness that the fasteners must penetrate into nailable material, usually 1 1/4" (32mm).
Siding installation in Williamsburg, New York should be done by a professional to ensure no leaks and longevity of weather resistance. If done by an unlicensed contractor, it could bring roofing problems later down the line. If you're looking for siding installation in Williamsburg, New York, give us a call.
It takes approximately 7 hours of labor to install 120 square foot of siding. Labor costs are usually between $40 and $50 per hour however, the price can vary depending on the city and the amount of damage. The average size of an American home is between 1,500 and 2,500 square foot depending on how new it is.
If you're looking for siding repair in Williamsburg, New York give us a call as this is our most commonly requested service. We will ensure your siding repair is done in such a way that it lasts long and is properly installed.
Vinyl siding costs on average $6,800 for a 2,200-square-foot home. Add to this cost the removal and disposal of any existing siding — $1,000 to $3,000 — and the cost of extras such as fascia, soffits, trim and crown molding.
Full siding replacement in Williamsburg, New York does take a trained eye and may need a quality inspection report for insurance claims. Don't waste your time hiring an untrained-unlicensed professional. Hire an experienced roofer how has many years of siding replacements in Williamsburg. Hire us, we'll take care of you.
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. As of the 2010 United States Census, the neighborhood's population is 78,700.
Since the late 1990s, Williamsburg has undergone gentrification characterized by a contemporary art scene, hipster culture, and vibrant nightlife that has projected its image internationally as a "Little Berlin". During the early 2000s, the neighborhood became a center for indie rock and electroclash. Numerous ethnic groups still inhabit enclaves within the neighborhood, including Italians, Jews, Hispanics, Poles, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans.
Williamsburg is part of Brooklyn Community District 1 and its primary ZIP Codes are 11211 and 11206. It is patrolled by the 90th and 94th Precincts of the New York City Police Department. Politically it is represented by the New York City Council's 33rd District, which represents the western and southern parts of the neighborhood, and the 34th District, which represents the eastern part.


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Student visa inspections
WASHINGTON — Customs officials are being ordered "effective immediately" to verify that every foreign student arriving in the U.S. has a valid student visa.
It's the first security change by the U.S. government directly related to the Boston bombings.
According to an internal memorandum obtained by The Associated Press, the Homeland Security Department says every international student holding a non-immigrant student visa must have their status verified before being allowed into the U.S. The order came one day after the Obama administration acknowledged that a student from Kazakhstan accused of hiding evidence for one of the Boston bombing suspects was allowed to return to the U.S. in January without a valid student visa.
Azamat Tazhayakov's (AHZ'-maht tuh-ZAYE'-uh-kov) terminated visa status was in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, called SEVIS.
via Customs to ramp up checks on student visas after Boston bombings – NYPOST.com.


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I've got a thriving tarragon plant in the garden. It's become a bit of a mess, as tarragon tends to do. So, I thought I would switch up my usual roast chicken routine and add a bit of tarragon to the mix. If you've never had tarragon, it's an intense herb with a slight licorice-y flavor and a bit of a tingle on the tongue. But even if you don't like licorice, try it anyway, something magical happens when you combine it into a savory dish. Tarragon is the herb used to flavor bearnaise sauce, which is my all-time favorite sauce. I plan to try to harvest the rest of my tarragon in a few weeks, chop it up, and freeze in cubes. (Or I may just make an enormous batch of tarragon butter and freeze that. That's if I don't just eat it all at once, of course.)
Roasting a whole chicken is definitely a time-consuming task, but it's well worth it, and you'll be able to get at least two to four or more meals out of it (meal 1: eat chicken with roasted potatoes; meal 2: make chicken sandwiches; meal 3: pick most of the chicken off the bones and make chicken salad for sandwiches; meal 4: save the carcass in the freezer to make stock another time).
Here's how to do it.
Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees (Fahrenheit). Butter a deep baking dish. Rinse the chicken inside and out with cold water and pat it dry with paper towels.
Step 2: Remove leaves from about three sprigs of tarragon and chop them finely. Blend the chopped leaves into about half a cup of softened, salted butter.
Step 3: Salt and pepper the chicken liberally, on both sides and inside the cavity of the chicken.
Step 4: Wash a lemon well. Squeeze out the juice and set it aside. Stuff the remaining lemon halves inside the chicken.
Step 5: Use 2-3 tablespoons of tarragon butter (set the rest aside for another use) and smear it under the skin of the chicken. (To loosen the skin, gently push fingers underneath and detach it from the meat. By the way, this is also a great technique for flavoring your Thanksgiving turkey.)
Step 6: Place the chicken in the buttered baking dish and add about two cups of water to the bottom of the dish to keep the chicken from drying out. (Feel free to pat a little more butter on top of the chicken if you are so inclined.) Slide the pan into the oven and set your timer for 30 minutes.
Step 7: After 30 minutes, take the chicken out of the oven. Sprinkle half of the reserved lemon juice over the top of the chicken. Then turn the chicken over and sprinkle the remaining lemon juice over the other side. (My only advice for turning the chicken? Use two large spoons or spatulas and be careful. It's not an elegant operation.)
Step 8: From this point on, turn the chicken every 20 minutes or so. Make sure to spend 2-3 minutes spooning the liquid in the baking dish over both sides of the chicken. The chicken will be done in about 2 hours and 15 minutes (to check for doneness, use either a thermometer or stick a fork or knife into the thickest part of the thigh, if the juices run clear, the chicken is fully cooked).
Step 9: When the chicken is fully cooked, remove it from the oven and let it rest for at least 10 minutes before serving it. In the meantime, you can make gravy with the pan drippings if you so desire.
Simple pan gravy:
- Pour the pan drippings into a separator cup and let the drippings divide into two layers. (The top layer will be the fat layer.) Spoon off about 3 Tbsps of the fat and add it to a pan.
- Add 3 Tbsps flour to the hot fat. Let the mixture cook for a couple of minutes.
- Whisking continuously, add the liquid part of the pan drippings (should be about 1 to 1.5 cups) to the fat-flour mixture in the pan. Let the gravy thicken over medium heat. If the gravy is too salty, add a little cream or half-and-half.


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WRITING Overview
Posted with permission, Joe Malley, Cheektowaga Central School District, Cheektowaga, NY
Writing teachers are familiar with the stages of writing: Brainstorming, Organizing, Creating a Draft, Proofing/Editing and Publishing. However, today, many teachers are embracing digital tools as part of the writing process. Blogs, wikis, digital storytelling, and Google docs have rapidly found their way into writing curricula. These tools do not eliminate traditional writing, but rely upon the use of good writing principals as the foundation for writing projects. Today, students embark on more collaborative projects, learn appropriate use and citation of other's work, learn how to critique and give feedback to peers and share their creation of personal accounts - all incorporating the basics of writing. This section is devoted to the tools needed for students writing in the digital world.


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BookingBook your Glen Ord Grain to Glass Tour ticket
Includes a taste of 4 different whiskies where the barley is provided by our maltings.
A unique opportunity to see a working Drum Maltings.
£5 discount voucher redeemable against a 70cl Single Malt Whisky.
10:00 – 16:00
Saturday & Sunday
11:00 - 16:00
10:00 – 17:00
09:15 – 17:00
Saturday & Sunday
10:00 - 17:00
09:15 – 18:00
Saturday & Sunday
10:00 - 17:00
10:00 – 17:00
10:00 – 16:00
Saturday & Sunday
11:00 - 16:00
Tours in other languages: we are able to offer any of the above tours in French, German, Italian or Spanish. If you would like to do a tour in one of these languages please contact us on 01463 872 004 or at email@example.com to book in advance.
If we do not have a guide available to conduct a tour in the language you require, we may be able to provide a written transcript. We have transcripts available in Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish.
For health & safety reasons, children under 8 years old are not permitted in the production areas of the distillery.
Disabled persons including those with guide dogs and other assistance dogs are welcome at our 12 distillery visitor centres.
We will make reasonable adjustments to the distillery visitor tour that we offer at each visitor centre to ensure that disabled persons including those with guide dogs or other assistance dogs have a positive visitor experience and, above all else, remain safe.
The unique layout of each distillery location and visitor centre means that the reasonable adjustments we make at each distillery may vary.
If you are a guide dog assisted person we ask you to book your visit in advance highlighting your specific requirements so that we can endeavour to deliver a positive visitor experience.
A tour of Glen Ord Distillery, finishing off with a complimentary taste of our Singleton of Glen Ord 12 year old.
Glen Ord tour, tutored tasting of the 12, 15 and 18 year old Singleton of Glen Ord and a free gift.
Extended Glen Ord tour, tutored tasting, sampling direct from two casks of Glen Ord 95 and 99 and a free gift. Advanced booking only.
A visit to exhibition, video and a complimentary dram of Singleton of Glen Ord 12 year old single malt.


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In the early morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I walked to my office in the Old Executive Office Building, part of the White House complex. It was a cool, sunny day with a crystal-blue sky. As director for NATO and Western European Affairs at the National Security Council, I was en route to a staff meeting where we planned to discuss, among other things, the agenda for the 2002 NATO Summit in Prague, Czech Republic.
Passing a television screen on the way, I saw one of the World Trade Center towers in a smoky fire, and a secretary explained it had been hit by an airplane. Strange. When I stepped out of the meeting, I stood and watched as another plane hit the second tower. This was no accident.
I went to my desk, and an e-mail from the security office blasted in red letters – "Leave the building immediately." In the stairway, colleagues talked about a plane having hit the Pentagon. The rest of the day was a mixture of shock and struggle: watching images of the collapsing buildings; realizing I was alive only due to the heroism of passengers on the fourth aircraft, which crashed in Pennsylvania; trying to communicate with my wife through jammed cellphone lines; gathering our young children.
Anger and overreach
The events of that day changed the world. Americans felt vulnerable and fought back. We showed our great patriotism, but also our susceptibility to anger and overreach.
A new Bush administration, which had hoped to focus on domestic policy and reducing America's role in the Balkans, suddenly found itself in a major war on terror. The administration dusted off underground bunkers and revived cold-war plans to assure the continuity of government in case of a major attack on Washington. The skies above America were closed to airplanes for nearly a week, and subsequent air travel would never be the same.
Sept. 11 opened a gateway to an unexpected future: The war in Afghanistan, which threw NATO's previous reluctance to go "out of area" out the window; bombings in London and Madrid; the war in Iraq, which descended into brutal sectarian warfare and divided the West; Guantánamo; the surge in violent Islamist extremism globally; and even, most recently, the democratic revolutions of the Arab Spring.
For a time in 2001-02, it looked as if the effort to defeat the terrorists would go quickly. The Afghan Taliban – who had sheltered Al Qaeda – fell from power in a matter of weeks. The siege of the caves at Tora Bora, where Osama bin Laden had fled, promised to bring about his demise and a strategic defeat for terrorism.
Instead, it turned into an extended conflict, which tore at the fabric of our own conscience as much as it made gains against the terrorists. Despite years of efforts to track Mr. bin Laden, he proved elusive. Fears that Saddam Hussein could supply terrorists with weapons of mass destruction – ultimately based on wrong intelligence – led to the war in Iraq. But miscalculations there – combined with a diminished focus on Afghanistan – meant that we were soon faced with two wars going badly. A controversial surge in Iraq turned the tide there, but a more modest surge in Afghanistan has yet to prove successful.
By late 2003, the Bush administration had learned that "killing the terrorists" was a short-term tactic, not a long-term strategy. With President Bush's November 2003 speeches to the National Endowment for Democracy and at London's Royal Banqueting House, he articulated the need to promote freedom, democracy, and human development as the means to undermine the appeal of extremism. To paraphrase his message: "For 60 years, we sacrificed freedom in the Middle East in the name of stability, and got neither. Now we know the only path to real stability and security is through freedom." This gave rise to the Broader Middle East initiative and the Forum for the Future, both launched at the 2004 Group of 8 Summit in Sea Island, Ga.
But with bin Laden at large, the war on terror was never far from consciousness. Mr. Bush had vowed never to allow a second attack on the United States as long as he was president. Terrorist scares continued to crop up over the course of years.
On top of all this, the financial crisis and recession hit America hard and sapped self-confidence. The cost of the wars – compounded by the costs of the financial bailout, economic stimulus, and new legislation – has left America with unprecedented levels of deficits and debt. Under President Obama, the near-successes of the "underwear bomber" and the "Times Square bomber" have reminded us that the terrorist threat has not receded. The toll on America's psyche was palpable.
But this brings us to May 1, 2011. It is on top of this 10-year history, and this deep sense of frustration and weariness, that news of bin Laden's death came to the American people. A long, dark chapter is at an end.
The impact of bin Laden's death
It will take months if not years before the impact of bin Laden's death is fully understood. But we can offer a few ideas for starters:
•Islamist terrorism will not end overnight. But it may no longer be seen as a monolithic menace. We may again be able to distinguish the subtleties.
•Some extremists will vow to fight on, and new terrorist attacks may occur as a result. But for the majority of Muslims in the world, bin Laden is no longer some folk hero, but a radical extremist whose violent ways ultimately led to his death. That is no inspiration.
•By contrast, the real inspiration comes in the form of peaceful protests across the Arab world, by people who do not demand an extremist Islamic caliphate – but instead demand fundamental human rights and political freedoms.
•Americans may begin to come out of their self-doubt and anxiety, and restore that quintessential American determination and optimism that in years past made it the envy of the world.
•Pakistan, which appears to have harbored bin Laden, will have to come to reckoning with its role in the world.
•And Afghanistan, already on a path to assume responsibility for its own security in 2014, must know that the reason for America's involvement there in the first place has now been eliminated. More and more voices will now say it is time to move on – so Afghanistan had better be ready.
Many more lessons have yet to be learned – from 9/11; from our long war on terror; from our involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Libya. But for the first time in years, there may be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
Kurt Volker is a former US ambassador to NATO. He is now senior fellow and managing director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, and a senior adviser at McLarty Associates. A version of this essay originally appeared in Italy's La Stampa newspaper.
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