text:
I went the entire weekend without drinking a cup of tea. How horrible! Let me assure you, it was not by design as I have been thinking about tea all weekend long. I was simply too busy to stop and brew a cup. Whenever, I don't have a cup of tea, I realize that I need to better manage my responsibilities. Somehow, my life is "Topsy-Turvy" to steal a line from Dr. Seuss… or was it Amelia Bedelia.
Tea requires that one stop what they are doing and take a moment to relax. Brewing a cup of tea can take me at least 30 minutes, sometimes longer. I contemplate my mood. Determine the tea I want to drink that best suits my mood. Boil the water then let it cool a breath. Steep the tea leaves. Then drink while reflecting on all the wonderful flavors I'm discovering within my cup of tea. And then… I normally opt for at least one more infusion.
When I don't have a cup of tea, I haven't taken time for me. I haven't relaxed my mind, my body, or my spirit. When I don't have a cup of tea I am usually overwhelmed by too many demands. Monday… I will have a cup of tea. That is my promise to myself.


text:
Posted by Editor on 10/29/04
Symmetrics Signs More Riders
Courtesy Team Symmetrics
Symmetrics Cycling's mission statement is to provide support through leadership, guidance and development within a professional infrastructure to foster the personal and athletic growth of the next generation of Canadian Olympic cyclists. Brad Fairall, Christian Meier, and Jeff Sherstobitoff have all signed with Symmetrics and will be a huge part of this next generation.
Fairall, 19 from West Vancouver, BC, Meier, 19 from Sussex, NB, and Sherstobitoff, 22 of Kelowna, BC have all proved their worth in 2004. All three riders spent time in Europe with the National Espoir program and raced domestically as well. Sherstobitoff placed third at Nationals in the Espoir Time Trial Championships and then was selected to race the World Espoir Championships for Canada after some impressive European results. Meier and Fairall were both part of the spring Espoir project and returned to Canada in late May. Both riders had strong late seasons with Meier winning the opening time trial at the Tobago Cycling Classic against some top US professionals and was consistently in the top 20 at Green Mountain Stage Race. Fairall placed a brilliant second in the BC Espoir Time Trial Championships and third overall behind Svein Tuft and Sherstobitoff.
Returning to the team for his third year will be Scott Goguen of Coquitlam, BC. It will be Goguen's years of experience that will help to shape Symmetrics' young riders into a formidable unit. Goguen, a 1990 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist in the road race, will primarily race a BC and Pacific NW race schedule.
Symmetrics Cycling Director Jeremy Storie says, "With our roster pretty much complete we have a team that will be suited for the long term. Adding Jeff, Christian, and Brad to our current young riders Cam Evans, Mash Cooper, and Will Routley will only solidify our presence at the top for many years to come. Our program is here to develop these riders and rather than every year having a huge turnover of personnel we can continue to groom riders from within and gain more consistency in this manner"
New Signings at Jet Fuel
Courtesy Dave Butler
The Jet Fuel Coffee team will be back on the road in 2005 entering its 7th year as a UCI registered team. As Canada's longest running trade team, Jet Fuel Coffee has applied for the new Continental team status. The team will continue its successful domestic and international campaigns next season.
Two new young riders will be racing with the squad in 2005. One of Canada's top Espoir aged talents, Mark Pozniak, has joined the team. Mark's 2004 season was highlighted by some strong performances that highlighted his potential to everyone involved with the team.
Looking westward the team is excited to add Zach Bell to the squad. Zach's ability to race on the road and the track makes him one of Canada's newest cycling talents. Zach won the 2004 Canadian Pursuit title and won various road events this season.
The team will again be supported by some of the best companies involved in the cycling industry. Cervelo Cycles, Louis Garneau Sports, Alex A-Class wheels and Truvativ have already renewed their support for the upcoming season.
The team's final roster and the complete list of sponsors will be finalized in the upcoming weeks.
Trek/Powerbar/Broadway Station Dental Announces Preliminary Roster
Courtesy James Neil
Confirmed at this time for the 2005 season are returning riders Sean Dawson, 2nd overall in the BC Cup Series, Israelie National Champion, Leah Goldstein, Brian Green, BC Junior Champion, Josh James, Master A National Road Race Champion, James Neil, and Chris White. A final team roster and sponsors will be announced in the near future. Steve Engh and James Neil will co-manage the team. For more information please visit the team website at www.trekvwracing.com.
Michael Barry to Attend Cycling Celebration
Courtesy OCA
This morning, Michael Barry confirmed his attendance at the OCA's Cycling Celebration. Michael finished an incredible 7th at the World Road Cycling Championships in Hamilton last year. Michael's wife, Dede Barry, will also be attending. Dede, racing for Team USA, won a silver medal in the woman's time trial in Athens this past summer.
This makes for a star studded cast showing up for the 5th annual Cycling Celebration November 20th at the Olympic Spirit in Toronto.
Other special Olympian guests include:
Marie-Hélène Prémont
Curt Harnett (MC)
Steve Bauer
Sue Palmer-Komar
Chrissy Redden
This event celebrates the achievements garnered by our cyclists in 2004. Don't miss the opportunity to attend this event - call the OCA ticket hotline for more information: 416.426.7416. We are now 60% sold out!
Lori-Ann Muenzer to Race in Burnaby
On Friday November 26, Lori-Ann Muenzer, Athens Olympic Gold medalist, will compete against all of the top track racers in Canada as well as top talent from the United States. This will be Muenzer's first competition since capturing the gold medal in the Sprint event this past August in Greece. Also racing will be the World Silver medalist in the Scratch Race, Mandy Poitras, and reigning National men's and women's Keirin Champions Matt Chater and Breanna Loster. See the best track racers in Canada as they prepare for World Cup selections standards.
Among the races featured are:
* Mass start, sprint and timed events
* Points races ˆ100 laps, point sprints every 10 laps
* Miss-n-outs ˆsprints every 2nd lap, last place rider eliminated
* Keirins ˆJapanese style racing behind a pace bike
Date: Nov 26, 27, 28 2004
Time: Nov 26: 7:00 PM
Nov 27/28: 9:00 AM ˆ4:30 PM
Location: Harry Jerome Sports Centre
7564 Barnet Highway
For more information, visit www.burnabyvelodrome.ca. Registration available on www.karelo.com starting November 1.
|Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited today the southern city of Hyderabad, the scene of a double bombing on Thursday. The deadly attacks echoed another double blast six year ago here, as well as a long string of terrorist incidents around the country, most of which remain unresolved and have upended the lives of ordinary people.
Thursday's bombs ripped through the crowded Dilsukhnagar area in quick succession killing 16 people and injuring more than 120. The city, including the volatile Old City area, has been peaceful since the blasts.
"I am happy that people of Hyderabad have refused to be provoked by this nefarious incident," said Prime Minister Singh while speaking to the media.
The plaudits, however, are not flowing as freely in the other direction, with Indian citizens and the media expressing weariness with the repetitive urban bombings over the years and the government's inability to solve and stop them.
While in Hyderabad, Singh visited a hospital to meet with survivors of the blasts. He had announced earlier a compensation of 200,000 rupees ($3,700) to relatives of the deceased and 50,000 rupees ($900) to those severely injured in the attacks from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund. The chief minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh, where Hyderabad is located, also announced additional compensation of 600,000 rupees ($11,900) each for the families of those killed in the blast, and assured that the government would bear the expense of the treatment of those who were injured.
This is déjà vu for Suleman Sultan, a victim of one of the 2007 bombs that went off in a snack bar in Hyderabad.
"They gave me 200,000 rupees [$3,700] and took care of my treatment for five months in a hospital," says Mr. Sultan. "I guess, that is all the Indian state can offer its citizen, right?" he smiled a painful smile. Sultan's lower body is paralyzed after shrapnel from the bomb damaged his spinal cord. He had returned from Australia a few days before the 2007 blast and was very happy to have landed a job as a telecom engineer. He could not take that job and the mostly immobilized 28-year-old now must be supported by his father and younger brother.
Sultan used to be edgy and irritable immediately after his surgery, he snapped at many a reporter, he confesses. He has mellowed down, says his mother. "So much so, that my talkative child remains silent most of the time," she adds.
It is customary for Indian authorities to offer compensation to high-profile victims of crime, disasters, or terrorism. But the money often cannot repair the damage done, and attention to victims and their cases wanes quickly.
Like Thursday's attacks, the two bombs in 2007 ripped through crowded civilian areas – an amusement park and a snack bar – within a span of five minutes. The explosive materials (ammonium nitrate and RDX ) used were the same in 2007 as the recent blasts.
Even though several people were arrested immediately after the blasts in 2007, no one has been convicted yet. The slow pace of investigation has frustrated the victims.
"Now you will hear the police saying similar things they did at that point. The conspiracy theories, the arrests, the acquittals will all take place and there will be more blasts again in a few years," Sultan says.
Sultan's prediction saw some truth on Sunday as newspaper reports pointed fingers at several possible suspected terrorist groups, notably the Indian Mujahideen, a banned terrorist organization. According to unnamed investigators in several newspapers, Indian Mujahideen's co-founder, Yasin Bhaktal, is the main suspect. Mr. Bhaktal has been named almost every year in a terror attack in the country since 2007, but has always managed to escape.
"We have footage from the camera [at the blast site] which we are analyzing," said Hyderabad Commissioner of Police Anurag Sharma while speaking to media on Saturday. "We have not arrested anyone in this case. We are examining all types of evidences," he added.
"We are all Muslims, why don't they understand that?" asked Sultan, as the group that is suspected of planting the bombs in 2007 was a Bangladesh-based militant group. As for the government, he asks: "We want to live peacefully, and if we expect that from our elected representatives what is wrong in that?"


text:
- Prayer and Worship
- Beliefs and Teachings
- Issues and Action
- Media
- Bible
- Catholic Giving
- About USCCB
The Shibboleth Incident. 1The men of Ephraim were called out, and they crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, "Why did you go to fight with the Ammonites without calling us to go with you?a We will burn your house on top of you." 2Jephthah answered them, "My soldiers and I were engaged in a contest with the Ammonites. They were pressing us hard, and I cried out to you, but you did not come to save me from their power. 3When I saw that you were not coming to save me, I took my life in my own hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the LORD delivered them into my power. Why, then, should you come up against me this day to fight with me?"
4Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, 5and Gilead seized the fords of the Jordan against Ephraim. When any of the fleeing Ephraimites said, "Let me pass," the men of Gilead would say to him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he answered, "No!" 6they would ask him to say "Shibboleth."* If he said "Sibboleth," not pronouncing it exactly right, they would seize him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell at that time.
7Jephthah judged Israel for six years, and Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.b
Ibzan. 8After him Ibzan* of Bethlehem judged Israel. 9c He had thirty sons and thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage outside the family, while bringing in thirty wives for his sons from outside the family. He judged Israel for seven years. 10Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.
Elon. 11After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; he judged Israel for ten years. 12Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
Abdon. 13After him Abdon, son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, judged Israel. 14d He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged Israel for eight years. 15Abdon, son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim in the mountain region of the Amalekites.
* [12:6] Shibboleth: Hebrew meaning "ear of grain" or "torrent of water." Though the Ephraimites probably spoke the same dialect of Hebrew as their Gileadite neighbors, there was enough regional variation in their pronunciation of the initial sound of this word to betray them to their enemies.
* [12:8–15] Ibzan…Elon…Abdon: three more of the so-called "minor judges"; see Introduction.
b. [12:7] Jgs 10:2, 5; 12:10, 12, 15; 15:20.
c. [12:9] Jgs 8:30; 9:2, 5; 10:4; 12:14.
By accepting this message, you will be leaving the website of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This link is provided
solely for the user's convenience. By providing this link, the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops assumes no responsibility for,
nor does it necessarily endorse, the website, its content, or
sponsoring organizations.


text:
Sign up to receive updates from Vaccine Ambassadors!
Recent Posts
In the News
- After the Hurricane: Recovery of Primary Care and Immunization Services – Vaccines Today
- NC State University Philanthropy Journal News – NC Nonprofit News
- Meet the World Adult Vaccination Coalition – Vaccines Today
- Vaccines a Perfect Give to Give and Receive – Generations United
- BoardVitals Announces #GiveVax Initiative to Combat Vaccine-Preventable Diseases – BoardVitals
- Vaccines: Still Our Best Shot Against Communicable Diseases – Vaccines Today
- Champion Adult Immunization Advocacy Summit Report – International Federation on Aging
- International Federation on Aging – World Coalition on Adult Vaccination
- United We Stand – International Federation on Aging Newsletter
- A New Conversation: Vaccines Change the World – MHA@GW Blog
- The Greatest Gift a Parent Can Give Another – What to Expect
- Disneyland Measles Outbreak: California's Vaccination Campaign Falling Flat As More Parents Turn To Internet – International Business Times
- Supplemental Health Care Teams Up With Vaccine Ambassadors – Supplemental Health Care
- Would You Like to Be a Vaccine Ambassador? – Passport Health
- Parents like you can become Vaccine Ambassadors – Vaccines Today
- Forward Fellows Spring Selection – Bull City Forward
- VaccinatioNCelebration Highlights Flu Shot's Future – Global NC
- Non-Profit Spotlight: Vaccine Ambassadors – MomInChapelHill Blog
- PAHO partners with Vaccine Ambassadors to increase the availability of life saving vaccines in Haiti – World Health Organization Global Immunization News
- Vaccine Ambassadors Embrace A Shared Responsibility – A Shot of Prevention


text:
VIDEO DOWNLOAD - Craig Pittman Shoot Interview
Running Time 1 hr 33 mins
He's proudly served his country in the United States Marine Corp; won world championships as an amateur wrestler; wrestled in front of millions on WCW television and survived life on the road with the Nasty Boys. He's Craig "Pitbull" Pittman and in his first ever sitdown interview, Pittman opens up about his life experiences and wrestling career.
Hear his memories from the 1989 Greco World Finals where he faced off against the world-renowned Alexander Karelin. Find out what motivated him to serve his country and what comparisons can we draw between his two careers. How did boot camp match up with the grueling WCW Power Plant? What did his fellow Marines think of his new career choice? Learn how the 16-time former World Champion Ric Flair opened the door for Pittman to pursue a WCW contract.
Of course, no discussion of WCW would be complete without talking about the backstage politics. Who was in what clique? How did things change when Bischoff took control? What was morale like for the WCW crew when Hogan, Savage, Hall and Nash were brought in? Hear a truthful, forthcoming, first hand account of what it was like to break into WCW just as it started gaining steam. Just at Pittman began to develop as a seasoned pro, WCW exploded in popularity. With Nitro a booming success and new wrestlers being signed virtually every day, the rich talent pool and stiff competition for spots left virtually no room for rookie mistakes. "Sarge" is honest and forthcoming about his strengths and his weaknesses during his formulative years in the business.
Pittman traveled extensively with Teddy Long and we ask if he is surprised by how well Teddy has done for himself in WWE since WCW's demise. He opens up about racism in the business detailing what he saw first hand at WCW and if it was or was not a problem there. We ask him about being one of the first wrestlers to popularize rappelling into the ring from the rafters and he speaks solemnly about his feelings when he first heard Owen Hart had died performing a stunt that he had done dozens of times. Hear how Pittman almost had a WWE run against fellow amateur wrestling great Kurt Angle, and hear what the Sarge is up to these days. Benoit, Guerrero, Sting, Hogan, Flair and every top name from WCW at the time is brought up as Sarge speaks candidly about the outrageous experiences of working for one of wrestling's largest companies at the time of its most rapid growth.
Average Customer Review: Not yet rated
Write an online review and share your thoughts with others.


text:
CPA(redirected from certified public accountant)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Financial, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
An abbreviation for certified public accountant. A CPA is a trained accountant who has been examined and licensed by the state. He or she is permitted to perform all the tasks of an ordinary accountant in addition to examining the books and records of various business organizations, such as corporations.


text:
Light and pain.
Bharath Upendra Blog Roll 1 Minute
Published by Bharath Upendra
I'm that cynical, sarcastic, hypocritical self loathing masochist you rarely cross paths with. View all posts by Bharath Upendra
I'm that cynical, sarcastic, hypocritical self loathing masochist you rarely cross paths with. View all posts by Bharath Upendra
Already am.
These lines feel like they can fit into some lonely vibes wala song. 😃 So musical and melodious! Achha likhe ho ye wala ekdum. 👊
Ye tagline me bhi daal sakte, "words are my savior and pain makes me write". 😼
Pain is part of the bumps of life, words come from your heart, Light is written on the Hearts of Man. Some people just don't realize it yet. You are a very smart young man. Strong words speak truth.
Rightly said.
By the time we realize, it's too late.
It is never, ever to late. Trust me, I speak from experience. Wisdom comes from experience, experience comes from trials and bumps in the road. We are to learn from them. Trust me on that one also. I have had plenty of trials, and probably more to come.
I'm afraid so. More to come.
I'd love to hear your stories.
Well, this is a link to the how it all begin. A snippet of history from my childhood. And as bad as it might sound. The one thing my friend Ron told me, is there are others out there who had it even worse than I did. Those memories haunted me right up until last year. When I found my way out of the darkness of the world. But what I gained from it all is strength, enough to help me get through what ever comes next. https://mychristianity2017.blog/. If you ever have questions, you can write to me from the contact form. I am not a doctor, I am not a religion. I only speak from experience.
I'll email you right away, ma'am! Thank you for the link.
email@example.com. I will have to fix the contact form.
We are never perfect. We should however strive for 100 per cent. As a Wise man once said, "Then, I would tell you, that is not good enough. You never stop trying, life is full of mistakes. If we did not have mistakes we would not learn". Failure is not an option is what he told me. And I tell anyone before me.
Failure is nobody's option, ma'am. It's a result. I don't think it has to be the finale.
I hear you, it does not have to be the finale. The guilt I put on myself for the trials in my life is what crushed me. No one ever said it was not my fault. Now I realize it wasn't my fault. I didn't know at the time, you don't see it all when you are in the middle of trials. You will come out of it, stronger than before. Talking helps, writing helps.
But of what use is knowing it when it's too late?
Because you will learn from it, that is the whole process of life. I made the mistake once, I made similar mistakes again. Because I listened to the lies around me, saying how I should act, how I should live. It took me a long time to see my mistakes. Hopefully my stories and other peoples experiences will help those to see the light. It doesn't mean you won't make more mistakes. but you will grow in strength and wisdom to understand it better.
Looks like the contact page is not working, I will have to fix that. here it is; intothelightadventures.com. try that.


text:
Terms & Conditions
Welcome to Optimo Financial Pty Ltd, an online Financial Planning Strategy Optimisation Service designed especially for Financial Advisers and Paraplanners. These Terms and Conditions are intended to explain our obligations as a service provider and your obligations as a customer. Please read them carefully. These Terms and Conditions are binding on any use of the services and apply to you from the time that Optimo Financial provides you with access to the services. The services Optimo Financial provides will evolve over time based on user feedback. These Terms and Conditions are not intended to answer every question or address every issue raised by the use of the services Optimo Financial offers. Optimo Financial reserves the right to change these terms at any time, effective upon the posting of modified terms and Optimo Financial will make every effort to communicate these changes to you via email or notification via the website. It is likely the terms of use will change over time. It is your obligation to ensure that you have read, understood and agree to the most recent terms available on the website. By registering to use the services you acknowledge that you have read and understood these Terms and Conditions and have the authority to act on behalf of any person for whom you are using the services. you are deemed to have agreed to these Terms and Conditions on behalf of any entity for whom you use the services.
These Terms were issued on June 18, 2019
1 Definitions
Means these Terms and Conditions.
"Case Fee"
Means the pre-paid fee (excluding any taxes and duties) payable by you in accordance with the fee schedule set out on the website (which Optimo Financial may change from time to time on notice to you).
"Confidential Information"
Includes all information exchanged between the parties to this agreement, whether in writing, electronically or orally, including the service but does not include information which is, or becomes, publicly available other than through unauthorised disclosure by the other party.
Means any data inputted by you or with your authority into the website.
"Intellectual Property Right"
Means any patent, trade mark, service mark, copyright, moral right, right in a design, know- how and any other intellectual or industrial property rights, anywhere in the world whether or not registered.
Means the financial optimisation services made available (as may be changed or updated from time to time by Optimo Financial) via the website.
Means the internet site at the domain www.optimofinancial.com.au or any other site operated by Optimo Financial.
"Optimo Financial"
Means Optimo Financial Propriety Limited which is a private Australian company domiciled in Crows Nest, New South Wales.
"Invited User"
Means any person or entity, other than the subscriber, that uses the services with the authorisation of the subscriber from time to time.
Means the person who registers to use the services, and, where the context permits, includes any entity on whose behalf that person registers to use the service.
Means any data inputted by you or with your authority into the website.
2 General Advice Warning
Any advice on this website is of a general nature only and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before you act on any advice on this website, please consider whether the advice is appropriate for you having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs. It may be prudent for you to seek appropriate licensed financial advice before making any decision. Unless otherwise stated the content on this website is provided by Optimo Financial Pty Ltd.
Optimo Financial Pty Ltd is not a financial adviser. Optimo Pathfinder is a modelling and optimisation software and is available for you to model and illustrate various scenarios. The results should not be taken as a substitute for professional advice and should be the start of a conversation between you (the Financial Adviser) and your client.
You should consider seeking independent legal, taxation or other advice to check how the results using our software information relates to the unique circumstances of your client(s).
Optimo Financial is not liable for any loss caused, whether due to negligence or otherwise arising from the use of, or reliance on, the information provided directly or indirectly, by use of our website/software.
All reasonable care has been taken in preparing and designing Optimo Pathfinder; however, Optimo Financial provides no warranties and makes no representation that the information provided by Optimo Pathfinder software is appropriate for your client's particular circumstances or indicates you should follow a particular course of action.
3 Use of Software - Including (Free) Trial Cases
Optimo Financial grants you the right to access and use the services via the website with the particular user roles available to you according to our agreements. This right is non-exclusive, non-transferable, and limited by and subject to this agreement. you acknowledge and agree that, subject to any applicable written agreement the user, or any other applicable laws:
- Optimo Pathfinder is developed for, and only be used by, financial services professionals (financial planners, paraplanners etc),
- Optimo Financial reserves the right to deactivate or suspend an account if it's of the assumption an account has been setup by anyone other than a financial services professional,
- The registered user is responsible for all use of the services provided through our website,
- The Optimo Pathfinder Trial includes one free case, which if not used, will expire 30 days after registration,
- Free trial cases expire after 30 days - after you started on the case - and are limited to one case per organisation,
- Purchased cases, (including the bonus cases) have a 90 days expiry. After expiry, you will still be able to see the case details, the results, download and use the Strategy Paper and SoA Foundation Document, however, you will no longer be able to re-run the case or edit the data,
- In exceptional situations Optimo Financial can grant an extension on the use date, if you feel you need more time, please request an extension at email@example.com,
- We will maintain the right to refuse a request for extension at any time and without any given reason,
- Optimo Financial reserves the right to deactivate logins if we believe multiple logins have been made,
- Optimo financial reserves the right to suspend or deactivate an account if we believe our platform has been used in an inappropriate way,
- All advice (including scenarios) prepared through our website remains the responsibility of the financial professional,
- Optimo Pathfinder is an online financial modelling and projection software. The results produced by Optimo Pathfinder should be taken as a guidance in the financial planning process and should not be taken as a substitute for financial advice,
- All reasonable care has been taken in designing and testing Optimo Pathfinder, however, Optimo Financial is not liable for any loss caused, whether due to negligence or otherwise, arising from the use of, or reliance on, the information provided directly or indirectly, by use of our software,
- You should always check and consider seeking independent legal, taxation or other advice to ensure the projections are appropriate for your client's particular circumstances.
4 Using Our Services (Paraplanning - Strategy Advice Services)
Optimo Financial warrants that all services to be provided under this agreement will be performed in accordance with good industry practice so as to exercise that degree of skill, diligence, prudence, foresight and operating practice which would reasonably and ordinarily be expected from a skilled and experienced service provider seeking in good faith to comply with its contractual obligations.
4.1 Subject to the Terms and Conditions of this agreement Optimo Financial will provide you the following services:
a. Production of the financial strategy for your client using the Optimo Financial Pathfinder software developed and owned by Optimo Financial, hereinafter called Pathfinder, that:
i. Satisfies the requirement for 'a reasonable basis of advice' because of the optimisation process it uses;
ii. Uses assumptions about rates of return etc. that are specified in a technical database that is maintained by Optimo Financial; these are called 'default' assumptions; If you wish to use non-standard assumptions, additional charges may apply.
iii. Takes into account only current government legislation with a few notable exceptions e.g. indexed tax rates, i.e. it does not include proposed government changes that have not yet been legislated; If you wish to include any non-legislated proposed government changes in development of the strategy, additional charges may apply.
b. Production of a document incorporating the strategy where the document is called a Strategy Paper which will be provided in Microsoft Word format.
4.2 The services provided are subject to you providing Optimo Financial with a request for a client or clients that includes the following information:
- Client details;
- Any investments you would like to recommend;
- Any further special information about your client;
- Any non-standard assumptions about rates of return, any non-legislated proposed government changes and other technical details that you would like taken into account in development of the strategy.
4.3 The information required under 4.2 will be provided by you to Optimo Financial using our web-based software application called Optimo Pathfinder that is developed and owned by Optimo Financial.
a. You complete all the relevant fields in Pathfinder Online application for a particular request (case) for a client;
b. You review the entries (an input report is available to assist in checking the data entered)
c. You press a 'Submit' button which signifies that you have checked all the entries and have accepted responsibility for the completeness and accuracy of the information you have entered into Pathfinder. At this point:
- A unique identifier is assigned to the case;
- The status is set to 'Submitted'; and
- The information is passed through to Optimo Financial.
(Whilst the status remains as 'Submitted' Optimo Financial has not commenced work on the case and you can re-submit as many times as required without further charges applying. However, once the status of the case changes from 'Submitted' further charges apply for each additional submission.)
4.4 Optimo Financial responds to the submission by;
- Providing a quotation;
- Strategy viewable over the web;
- Preparing a strategy document
At each stage in clause 4 you are asked to carry out whichever of the following steps is appropriate:
- Accept or decline the quote or ask for clarification of the quote;
- Review and accept the financial strategy or ask for changes to the strategy.
In each case if changes are necessary due to error or omission by you, usually requiring the case to be re-submitted, additional charges apply.
- You request a different quotation; or
- You need to supply more information either at its own instigation or at Optimo Financial's request because the original information supplied was incomplete; or
- You request changes to the strategy. Further charges apply for each further submission.
5 Your Obligations
5.1 Payment obligations for online access:
You agree to pay all fees in accordance with each order. Unless otherwise specified in your order, you will pay all amounts in Australian dollars at the time you place your order. All amounts are non-refundable, non-cancellable and non-creditable. In making payments, you acknowledge that you are not relying on future availability of any products beyond the current license term of 90 days per case or any upgrades or feature enhancements.
5.2 Payment obligations for SDS Services:
An invoice will be issued after the case has been completed which will need to be paid within 30 days. If you fail to pay the invoice by the due date, Optimo Financial may take the following steps:
- Charge a $50 fee per outstanding invoice,
- Suspend work on any other cases until all outstanding invoices are paid. If you consistently fail to pay invoices on time, Optimo Financial reserves the right to request payment upfront and before Optimo Financial starts working on any case.
5.3 General obligations:
You must only use the service and website for your own lawful internal business purposes, in accordance with these Terms and any notice sent by Optimo Financial or condition posted on the website. You may use the service and website on behalf of others or in order to provide services to others but if you do so you must ensure that you are authorised to do so and that all persons for whom or to whom services are provided comply with and accept all terms of this Agreement that apply to you.
5.4 Access conditions:
- You must ensure that all usernames and passwords required to access the service are kept secure and confidential. you must immediately notify Optimo Financial of any unauthorised use of your passwords or any other breach of security and Optimo Financial will reset your password and you must take all other actions that Optimo Financial reasonably deems necessary to maintain or enhance the security of Optimo Financial's computing systems and networks and your access to the services.
- As a condition of these Terms, when accessing and using the services, you must:
- i. Not attempt to undermine the security or integrity of Optimo Financial's computing systems or networks or, where the services are hosted by a third party, that third party's computing systems and networks.
- ii. Not use, or misuse, the services in any way which may impair the functionality of the services or website, or other systems used to deliver the services or impair the ability of any other user to use the services or website;
- iii. Not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any materials other than those to which you have been given express permission to access or to the computer system on which the services are hosted;
- iv. Not transmit, or input into the website, any: files that may damage any other person's computing devices or software, content that may be offensive, or material or Data in violation of any law (including data or other material protected by copyright or trade secrets which you do not have the right to use); and
- v. Not attempt to modify, copy, adapt, reproduce, disassemble, decompile or reverse engineer any computer programs used to deliver the services or to operate the website except as is strictly necessary to use either of them for normal operation.
5.5 Usage limitations:
Use of the service may be subject to limitations, including but not limited to monthly transaction volumes and the number of calls you are permitted to make against Optimo Financial's application programming interface. Any such limitations will be specified within the service.
5.6 Communication Conditions:
As a condition of these Terms, if you use any communication tools available through the website (such as any forum, chat room or message centre), you agree only to use such communication tools for lawful and legitimate purposes. you must not use any such communication tool for posting or disseminating any material unrelated to the use of the services, including (but not limited to): offers of goods or services for sale, unsolicited commercial email, files that may damage any other person's computing devices or software, content that may be offensive to any other users of the services or the website, or material in violation of any law (including material that is protected by copyright or trade secrets which you do not have the right to use). When you make any communication on the website, you represent that you are permitted to make such communication. Optimo Financial is under no obligation to ensure that the communications on the website are legitimate or that they are related only to the use of the services. As with any other web-based forum, you must exercise caution when using the communication tools available on the website. However, Optimo Financial does reserve the right to remove any communication at any time in its sole discretion.
5.7 Indemnity.
You indemnify Optimo Financial against: all claims, costs, damage and loss arising from your breach of any of these Terms or any obligation you may have to Optimo Financial, including (but not limited to) any costs relating to the recovery of any access fees that are due but have not been paid by you.
6 Confidentiality and Privacy
6.1 Confidentiality:
Unless the relevant party has the prior written consent of the other or unless required to do so by law:
- Each party will preserve the confidentiality of all confidential Information of the other obtained in connection with these Terms. Neither party will, without the prior written consent of the other, disclose or make any confidential Information available to any person, or use the same for its own benefit, other than as contemplated by these Terms.
- Each party's obligations under this clause will survive termination of these Terms.
- The provisions of clauses 4.1 and 4.2 shall not apply to any information which:
- i. Is or becomes public knowledge other than by a breach of this clause;
- ii. Is received from a third party who lawfully acquired it and who is under no obligation restricting its disclosure;
- iii. Is in the possession of the receiving party without restriction in relation to disclosure before the date of receipt from the disclosing party; or
- iv. Is independently developed without access to the Confidential Information.
6.2 Privacy
Optimo Financial maintains a privacy policy that sets out the parties' obligations in respect of personal information you should read that policy at Privacy policy and you will be taken to have accepted that policy when you accept these Terms.
7 Intellectual Property
Title to, and all intellectual property rights in the services, the website and any documentation relating to the wervices remain the property of Optimo Financial.
7.1 Ownership of data:
Title to, and all intellectual property rights in, the data remain your property. However, your access to the data is contingent on full payment of the Optimo Financial access fee when due. you grant Optimo Financial a licence to use, copy, transmit, store, and back-up your information and data for the purposes of enabling you to access and use the services and for any other purpose related to provision of services to you.
7.2 Backup of data:
You must maintain copies of all data inputted into the service. Optimo Financial adheres to its best practice policies and procedures to prevent data loss, including a daily system data back-up regime, but does not make any guarantees that there will be no loss of data. Optimo Financial expressly excludes liability for any loss of data no matter how caused.
7.3 Third-party applications and your data
If you enable third-party applications for use in conjunction with the services, you acknowledge that Optimo Financial may allow the providers of those third-party applications to access your data as required for the interoperation of such third-party applications with the services. Optimo Financial shall not be responsible for any disclosure, modification or deletion of your data resulting from any such access by third-party application providers.
8 Warranties and Acknowledgements
You warrant that where you have registered to use the service on behalf of another person, you have the authority to agree to these Terms on behalf of that person and agree that by registering to use the service you bind the person on whose behalf you act to the performance of any and all obligations that you become subject to by virtue of these Terms, without limiting your own personal obligations under these Terms.
You acknowledge that:
- You are authorised to use the services and the website and to access the information and data that you input into the website, including any information or data input into the website by any person you have authorised to use the service. you are also authorised to access the processed information and data that is made available to you through your use of the website and the services (whether that information and data is your own or that of anyone else).
- Optimo Financial has no responsibility to any person other than you and nothing in this Agreement confers, or purports to confer, a benefit on any person other than you. If you use the services or access the website on behalf of or for the benefit of anyone other than yourself (whether a body corporate or otherwise) you agree that:
- i. You are responsible for ensuring that you have the right to do so;
- ii. You are responsible for authorising any person who is given access to information or data, and you agree that Optimo Financial has no obligation to provide any person access to such information or data without your authorisation and may refer any requests for information to you to address; and
- iii. You will indemnify Optimo Financial against any claims or loss relating to:
- a. Optimo Financial's refusal to provide any person access to your information or data in accordance with these Terms,
- b. Optimo Financial's making available information or data to any person with your authorisation.
- The provision of, access to, and use of, the services is on an "as is " basis and at your own risk.
- Optimo Financial does not warrant that the use of the service will be uninterrupted or error free. Among other things, the operation and availability of the systems used for accessing the service, including public telephone services, computer networks and the internet, can be unpredictable and may from time to time interfere with or prevent access to the services. Optimo Financial is not in any way responsible for any such interference or prevention of your access or use of the services.
- Optimo Financial is not your financial advisor and use of the services does not constitute the receipt of financial advice.
- It is your sole responsibility to determine that the services meet your and your client's needs and are suitable for the purposes for which they are used.
8.1 No warranties:
Optimo Financial gives no warranty about the services. Without limiting the foregoing, Optimo Financial does not warrant that the services will meet your requirements or that it will be suitable for any particular purpose. To avoid doubt, all implied conditions or warranties are excluded in so far as is permitted by law, including (without limitation) warranties of merchantability, fitness for purpose, title and non-infringement.
8.2 Consumer guarantees:
You warrant and represent that you are acquiring the right to access and use the services for the purposes of a business and that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, any statutory consumer guarantees or legislation intended to protect non-business consumers in any jurisdiction does not apply to the supply of the services, the website or these Terms.
9 Limitation of Warranty
9.1 To the maximum extent permitted by law, Optimo Financial excludes all liability and responsibility to you (or any other person) in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, for any loss (including loss of information, data, profits and savings) or damage resulting, directly or indirectly, from any use of, or reliance on, the service or website.
9.2 If you suffer loss or damage as a result of Optimo Financial's negligence or failure to comply with these Terms, any claim by you against Optimo Financial arising from Optimo Financial's negligence or failure will be limited in respect of any one incident, or series of connected incidents, to the access fees paid by you in the previous 12 months.
9.3 If you are not satisfied with the service, your sole and exclusive remedy is to terminate these Terms in accordance with Clause 8.
10 Termination
10.1 Trial policy
When you first sign up for access to the services you can evaluate the services under the defined trial usage conditions, with no obligation to continue to use the services. If you choose to continue using the services thereafter, you will be billed and charged up front per case (or you can pre-purchase a bundle of cases). If you choose not to continue using the services, you may request Optimo Financial to delete your organisation details including your cases.
10.2 Prepaid cases
Optimo Financial will not provide any refund for any remaining pre-paid cases.
10.3 Breach:
If you:
- Breach any of these Terms (including, without limitation, by non-payment of any fees or outstanding invoices) and do not remedy the breach within 14 days after receiving notice of the breach if the breach is capable of being remedied;
- Breach any of these Terms and the breach is not capable of being remedied (which includes (without limitation) any breach of any payment of fees and charges that are more than 30 days overdue); or Optimo Financial may take any or all of the following actions, at its sole discretion:
- Terminate this Agreement and your use of the services and the sebsite;
- Suspend for any definite or indefinite period of time, your use of the services and the website;
- Suspend or terminate access to all or any data.
- Take actions in respect of any or all other persons whom you have authorised to have access to your information or data.
For the avoidance of doubt, if payment of any invoice due in relation to any of your billing contacts, billing plans or any of your organisations is not made in full by the relevant due date, Optimo Financial may: suspend or terminate your use of the service, the authority for all or any of your organisations to use the service, or your rights of access to all or any data.
10.4 Accrued rights:
Termination of these Terms is without prejudice to any rights and obligations of the parties accrued up to and including the date of termination. On termination of this Agreement you will remain liable for any accrued charges and amounts which become due for payment before or after termination and immediately cease to use the services and the website.
11 Help Desk
11.1 Technical problems:
In the case of technical problems you must make all reasonable efforts to investigate and diagnose problems before contacting Optimo Financial. If you still need technical help, please check the support provided online by Optimo Financial on the website or failing that email us at email@example.com.
11.2 Service availability:
Whilst Optimo Financial intends that the services should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it is possible that on occasions the services or website may be unavailable to permit maintenance or other development activity to take place. If for any reason Optimo Financial has to interrupt the services for longer periods than Optimo Financial would normally expect, Optimo Financial will use reasonable endeavours to publish in advance details of such activity on the website.
12 General
12.1 Entire agreement:
These Terms, together with the Optimo Financial Privacy Policy and the terms of any other notices or instructions given to you under these Terms of Use, supersede and extinguish all prior agreements, representations (whether oral or written), and understandings and constitute the entire agreement between you and Optimo Financial relating to the services and the other matters dealt with in these Terms.
12.2 Waiver:
If either party waives any breach of these Terms, this will not constitute a waiver of any other breach. No waiver will be effective unless made in writing.
12.3 Delays:
Neither party will be liable for any delay or failure in performance of its obligations under these Terms if the delay or failure is due to any cause outside its reasonable control. This clause does not apply to any obligation to pay money.
12.4 No Assignment:
You may not assign or transfer any rights to any other person without Optimo Financial's prior written consent.
12.5 Governing law and jurisdiction:
The information or data you are accessing using the services and the website is solely that of a person who is tax resident in Australia at the time that you accept these terms then Australian law governs this Agreement and you submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Australia for all disputes arising out of or in connection with this Agreement severability: If any part or provision of these Terms is invalid, unenforceable or in conflict with the law, that part or provision is replaced with a provision which, as far as possible, accomplishes the original purpose of that part or provision. The remainder of this Agreement will be binding on the parties.
12.6 Notices:
Any notice given under these Terms by either party to the other must be in writing by email and will be deemed to have been given on transmission. Notices to Optimo Financial must be sent to email@example.com or to any other email address notified by email to you by Optimo Financial. Notices to you will be sent to the email address which you provided when setting up your access to the service.
12.7 Rights of third parties:
A person who is not a party to these Terms has no right to benefit under or to enforce any term of these Terms.


text:
From any of you lucky enough to be in Boone this week!
From any of you lucky enough to be in Boone this week!
Classes are great!
Campus on the side of a mountain. Be prepared to hike.
Got ran out of the vendor area this morning. 5 minutes too early. I didn't take it as bad as some others. Was kind of rude.
Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
Thomas A. Edison
This was my first EAS meeting. A good time but I would have liked to see a little more variety in the classes for those of us who were only there for a few days.. and the walk from the parking area was a killer !
My first EAS meeting as well but I did attend the full week. The walk from the parking lot to the Student union building was a challenge but I was getting in shape by the end of the week. They started a shuttle by mid week but I stuck to walking. Once you got to the Student Union building you could pretty much stay there if you wanted. It is a large building with large quantity of seating, rest rooms, small restaurant, vendors, registration desk that was maned with helpful folks just about all the time. I did not get a meal ticket but did eat at the cafeteria a couple of days and the food was very good, also ate at restaurants which were a short walk to down town.
The vendors started noontime on Tuesday or Wednesday I forget but they held everyone out until they were set up.
The short course was good being a 4th year beekeeper I went back and forth between the two levels but there was still a lot of good information.
The conference was great with most of the presenters keeping things at a level we could understand with not too many complicated charts and graphs. Saw the movie "Vanishing Of The bees" with David Mendes and Dave Hackenburg. Both guys were at the conference.
The latest research on Nosema and pesticides, studies on feral bees, a great dissecting class, the bee rodeo was fun (we took first place in the hive carry). I have attended a few of the North Carolina State beekeeping meetings and found the same thing to be true at this conference you cannot get to all of the talks and workshops, with 4 going on at one time some repeated some not.
Next years EAS will be in Rhode Island.
Overall I had a great time met some interesting people learned a lot and had FUN!
Just some thoughts.
Heard some complaints from On-campus (workers) non-beekeeper folks that the people at the conference were rude, unhappy, full of complaints. Unfortunatly these people will come away thinking all bee keepers are this way. Got this from 3 different unrelated ASU employees. I will say I heard some attendees talking about how rude EAS folks were and how hard they were to deal with.
Did anyone else expereince this or am I living in a vaccum?
Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
Thomas A. Edison
rude, unhappy, full of complaints
WOW that is sad to hear, we (EAS) were guests on the campus and any complaints should have been taken to the EAS folks, they were not hard to find.
I did not hear any comments that but the workers / students that I encountered were helpful and I was glad they were there to help or point us in the right direction.
IF you get between 500 and 600 people from all over the east coast and then some there are bound to be come complainers in there somewhere.
IF IF you wanted to complain:
The walk was long from the parking lot to the Student Union building down hill up hill steps downhill steps uphill and then you walk back.( in hardship cases there was parking at the parking deck behind the Student Union building)
Some folks did not get parking passes and they were strict about parking.
IF you were picking up items from vendors the road got blocked by construction and I heard they still would not let you down the road to pick stuff up.
If you stayed in the college dorms I heard they were like college dorms lol.
We got rain one afternoon.
I had a great time!!!
Just some thoughts.
You cant please everybody and the more somebodys you get together..the more unpleased somebody's you will have
I didnt encounter any rude folks in either group. I met some nice beekeepers and the campus folks I encountered were nice and helpful too.
However, I did hear alot of folks grumping about the walk from the parking lot. It was quite a hike, if you were not able to stay in one area all day and had to go back and forth it was a problem. For those of us over 50 but not ready for a special parking pass yet, a location with easier access parking would have been a plus.
Overall, it was an event that required alot of work by the organizers and they deserve a thank you and it is a very worthwhile event to attend if you ever get the chance .
My takeaway thought is: go if you ever get the chance, but if you dont get the chance - dont despair- , there is enough info out there on the web, forums, books, to help you be the best beekeeper you can be !
Just cuirious what the $100 went towards. This is what kept me away plus the extra $25 to be a member.
Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
Thomas A. Edison
I went to another conference (which cost more than EAS) and the organizer mentioned that it cost over 10 grand out of pocket to cover expenses. To me, the knowledge I gained there was worth every penny I paid and then some.
1. my understanding is that not all EAS speakers are paid (at least in some cases, speakers are expected to pay their own travel and lodging as well).
2. our conference was more expensive (all speakers were paid/lodging provided with a couple of last minute exceptions, all speakers that were not selling products had their travel expenses paid), but 3 meals a day were included in the price.


text:
We apologise but it appears that the page you were looking for cannot be found. If this was a job listing you were looking for then that particular job has been marked as filled by our consultants. Please use the search box below to find an active job listing or alternatively use the menus on the right hand side of this page or the main navigational menus above to navigate.
Please note that Servisource.ie is now focused purely on healthcare related jobs. For all other jobs please click the following link to visit our brand new job board Recruitisland.ie
Search for a Job
Apply for a Job
If you would like to submit your CV to the team in Servisource please fill in your details below and a member of staff will contact you.


text:
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Shot List: The Kitchen
Here's a lighting exercise for everyone. How do you make a basic kitchen look more interesting? What if you only had some cheap lights to make it look better? The above video is my answer to these pressing questions. This is just an experiment, as I'm no expert gaffer, but some interesting results can be had with simple light placement.
So, point your camera at your kitchen, jazz it up with some lights and attach your video to mine via YouTube. I'd love to see what everyone comes up with.
"Starburst Dreams" courtesy Danosongs.com
Budget Light Kit
$1 Budget: Dollar Tree Lights!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Recap Q&A: Best Glass for under $50?
RSS Readers: Click on title above to reveal the hidden video.
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/thefrugalfilmmaker
Twitter Feed: http://www.twitter.com/frugalfilmmaker
"The Web Has No Standards"
DIY shockmount for your boom pole
How to make a chill box for controlling smoke
Adding a flange to PVC pipe
Magic Lantern finally cracks the Canon 7D
Chris Bleasdale's Frugal Crane
Aputure V-Remote to start/stop video
Better manual focus Tenpa 1.36x magnifier
Frugal Feeding (Craft Service)
Canon kit lens EF-S 18-55mm review
Introducing Vimeo tip jar
Glidecam: how to be awesome
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Frugal Feeding (Craft Service)
Everyone has to eat, so even if you have no budget, don't skimp on feeding your cast and crew. Nothing will torpedo your reputation faster than a shoot with no food. While this is very important, it doesn't have to be very expensive. Today I team up with Hilah from Hilah Cooking as she shares some great tips on how to give everyone nourishment without busting your budget.
Hilah's hummus recipe
Coleman 5 gallon beverage cooler
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Chris Bleasdale's Frugal Crane
I can' t remember how I found your YouTube channel but I wished I had found it sooner, I would have saved myself a bundle of cash!
Initially I started to collect the parts for the first version of the Frugal Crane and while searching I was not really satisfied with the selection of wheels or fishing line that I looked at. Luckily for me, I found your updated version 2.0. I had just updated my garage door and had the parts sitting in the garage.
As for additional parts, the only changes from your initial parts list was the use of a bracket that held the garage door rail to the wall of the garage, 3/8" nylon lock nut for use on the top pulley, 1/2" end caps instead of plugs, a rubber 1/2" washer for a garden hose, used between the top pulley, and a flat washer which when tightened creates enough tension to alleviate the touchiness.
The construction doesn't differ much with the exceptions of using 1" PVC spacers between the boom pole and pulleys (slightly flattening the top of the pole), exchanging the plugs for end caps (not available in store when I bought the rest of the piping products ) and lengthening the PVC lever allowing for smoother tilts.
Having a HD 7" field monitor I have the ability to use an HDMI cable ($14) and an HDMI to mini plug ($5). The cable was then permanently taped onto the top section of pipe to stop it from rolling and then tie strapped on the bottom section allowing for movement for folding of boom pipe upon takedown.
The dumbell handle I bought at the Canadian Walmart was chromed, so instead of cutting it, I ground down the stop collar on one side just enough to get it to be banged into the end of the pipe. I then used a hammer and large flat screwdriver to crimp the end of the pipe to stop it from backing out.
The camera is mounted to the plate with a bracket that came with a spring loaded shoulder stabilizer I purchased, unfortunately I paid too much again. Fortunately, it was the wrong bracket that they shipped so when the proper one came with a quick release this one was obsolete, until now!
Although the final product cost around $70 Canadian, it nowhere near compares to the price of the Cobra Crane I was salivating over.
Scott sez: Nice job, Christopher! This is exactly what The Frugal Filmmaker is all about. Taking an idea, tweaking it, and sharing the results. The Frugal Crane is probably the toughest of all my builds, but I'm glad Chris was able to make it work. Now let's see some footage!
Monday, September 17, 2012
Recap Q&A: What Lens Would You Recommend?
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/thefrugalfilmmaker
Twitter Feed: http://www.twitter.com/frugalfilmmaker
Frugal Filmmaker T-shirts!
Sony NEX-5n (body only) - $400
aPad, attenuation pad for Rode Videomic
DIY Zoom/Telephoto lens
How to light your video on a budget
$1 Budget: Clip Lamp, Jumbo Clips, Wall Adapter!
How to fill an audio channel in Premiere Pro CS6
Cheap aluminum camera case
Magic Lantern 2.3 for T2i walkthrough (part 2)
Protect travelling lenses with a beer cozy
Camera bag insert made from camera box
$1 camera mount for head rest
Thursday, September 13, 2012
$1 Budget: Clip Lamp, Jumbo Clips, Wall Adapter!
I've got some more goodies to share and none of them cost very much. This time out I look at a little AC adapter made to connect to an iPod USB cube (but also does other things), some very large clothespins (thanks TurtleDudeProd!), and a "clip lamp". The last one is the best news (thank you Athena!) and could be a replacement for the hardware store clamp light.
The clip lamp is cheaper, easier to position, and comes with built in diffusion. The clamp light breaks down into a smaller package and is easier to store. Both should use spring clamps to reinforce the clip/clamp that attaches to your light stand. Just to be safe.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Recap Q&A: What Promotion Tactics?
RSS Readers: Click on the title above to reveal the hidden video.
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/thefrugalfilmmaker
Twitter Feed: http://www.twitter.com/frugalfilmmaker
Frugal Filmmaker T-shirts!
6.5' Tripod Speaker Stand
Awesome multi-tool for filmmakers and photographers
How to get noise free DSLR footage
Kubrick: one point perspective
Sima Quickonnect for $6.04
Tip: External SD monitor battery
lens pen mini-review
Cheap DSLR prime lens shootout
Bubble level
DIY slider
Building a shoulderpad for 15mm rods on the cheap
Glide steady stabilizer shoulder monopod
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Tip: External SD Monitor Battery
After getting a cheap 7" SD monitor to use as an external screen for my camcorder, I had a problem. The internal battery died quickly (is that why it was on clearance?) and I could only power the thing when I was near a wall outlet. As I mostly use this with The Frugal Crane, I needed a way to use the monitor even when wall power was unavailable. I remember Deejay over at DSLR Film Noob using these 10-12v eBay rechargeable batteries and a power cord adapter that was a perfect fit.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Recap Q&A: What Camera on a $1000 Budget?
RSS Readers: Click on the title above to reveal the hidden video.
Frugal Filmmaker T-shirts!
Midnyte (the web series)
Sony NEX 5n camera (body only)
canon Rebel EOS T3i camera (body only)
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 camera (body only)
Canon EOS 60d camera (body only)
Booking mug booth is a good headshot studio
Zalman ZM-MIC1 as a lav mic
Easiest DIY slider I've ever seen
$1 Cell phone camera macro lens
Vimeo adds custom thumbnails and Dropbox integration
The Frugal Filmmaker FAQ
DIY A/B hard stops for follow focus
Cheap neoprene camera cases
New Sony Action Cam with HD and Wi-Fi
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text:
It's a good time to be a Beaniac—or whatever fans of ruggedly British actor Sean Bean are calling themselves. The man who famously (four-season-old spoiler alert!) lost his head on "Game of Thrones" owns TNT's spy drama "Legends" (8 p.m. Aug. 13, TNT; 2.5 stars out of 4)
Bean likely will not suffer the same fate on his new show. He's nearly the only reason to watch this retread mashup of team-based crime/spy shows and the "Bourne" films.
Bean plays Martin Odum, an agent for the FBI's Deep Cover Operations unit who gets completely lost in his "legends"—the invented personalities he adopts for operations. In the premiere, he slips back into the stuttering legend called Lincoln Dittman while meeting with his FBI team.
But, according to DCO Director Nelson Gates (Steve Harris), Martin is the best at his job. That's why Nelson's pairing him with his top team leader, Crystal McGuire (Ali Larter). Crystal and Martin once had a fling—of course—and don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues, including Martin's reckless "cowboy" ways in the field.
"Veronica Mars" alum Tina Majorino plays Maggie Harris, the tech-savvy team member who can whip up a legend on the Internet in no time flat. "24" fans will recognize her as Martin's Chloe O'Brian—she's just friendlier.
"Legends" is based on Robert Littell's book and comes to us from "24" and "Homeland" producer Howard Gordon (and screenwriters Jeffrey Nachmanoff and Mark Bomback). But it's not Gordon's best work. Despite Bean's amazing transformations and quality work from the strong supporting cast, the writing often feels lazy. I don't doubt Crystal's ability to go undercover as a men's club dancer, but I bet she doesn't just happen to pack stripper clothes in her purse every day.
Gordon and Co. also seem to be giving "Legends" a lame case-of-the-week structure over a much more intriguing long-term story about Martin's real identity.
"You don't know where your life begins and your legend ends," a mysterious stalker tells Martin in the premiere. "There is no Martin Odum."
Episode 2 picks up considerably by fleshing out that serialized plot and adding Morris Chestnut as nosy FBI Agent Tony Rice, who begins a rogue investigation of Martin.
These improvements suggest that, over time, "Legends" may grow a bit more legendary.
Want more? Discuss this article and others on Show Patrol's Facebook page.


text:
A Tribute to Freedom and Memory: Tom O'Connor '80, Jason Tirri '00 Help Rebuild the World Trade Center
Tom O'Connor knows he's making history, from 105 floors above Manhattan to deep into the earth, on this hallowed ground that once held the Twin Towers.
On a perfect July morning, O'Connor '80, M.Eng. '82, and colleague Jason Tirri '00 offered a tour of their job of a lifetime — the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site.
O'Connor, a 27-year veteran of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is Assistant Director of the PA's World Trade Center Construction Department. Tirri works as a program manager with the Louis Berger Group, a major contractor that provides program management services.
O'Connor is the man on the ground responsible for the site's five major projects, the 105-floor One World Trade Center its crowning jewel and the National 9/11 Memorial Plaza and Museum its soul.
It's an enormous job, with up to 3,500 workers from 60 unions on site daily and the world watching. But O'Connor, a married father of three from Rockaway Beach in Queens, N.Y., who's funny, talkative, thoughtful, and Tirri, who lives with his wife and toddler daughter in Hoboken and is quieter and more serious, have endured challenging callings before.
Looking down from One WTC's 64th floor toward the future transportation hub, O'Connor recalls the 18-hour days he worked to reopen the PATH after the 9/11 terrorist attack. Reminders are everywhere. O'Connor worked at Ground Zero starting on Sept. 13, 2001, and has been the PA's lead on reconstruction ever since. He rescued people after the '93 bombing and also led that reconstruction. Many of his colleagues who worked alongside him during the '93 reconstruction died on 9/11.
During the 9/11 recovery, O'Connor arrived at Ground Zero by 4 a.m. and worked until 10 p.m. – seven days a week.
"I spent everything on that, I gave it my all," he says.
Around Christmas 2001, O'Connor took a break from Ground Zero. Soon, he returned.
"I don't know why I came back," O'Connor says, pausing.
"Yes I do. I came back – I'm an American. I'm a patriot."
He also knew that the chance to work on such a challenging job happens once in a lifetime.
"Read the books. The Hoover Dam, the Brooklyn Bridge — the World Trade Center is right up there," he says.
This July 9, 2012, tour included several floors of One WTC, the ground-level construction near the Memorial Plaza and the Museum. The museum is underground and will display artifacts and the very few remains of the original Trade Center.
Tirri has spent three years working at the site for Berger and also worked on the 9/11 clean-up from 2001 to 2005 with Tishman Construction, which built the Twin Towers.
"Being part of such an historic project with so much global significance has truly been an honor," he says.
Tirri credits O'Connor for the Memorial Plaza opening in time for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
"Tom was the driving force in getting the Memorial Plaza open on Sept. 11," he says. "He delivered on that."
People flow through the Memorial Plaza, an 8-acre park with scattered oak trees that will become a small forest. Two giant reflecting pools rest on the footprints of where the Twin Towers stood. Water flows constantly as people pray among the 2,981 names of those who died here on 9/11 and on Feb. 26, 1993, all inscribed in bronze.
"That's why we're here," O'Connor says of the Memorial. "People fought for that."
O'Connor can point toward many accomplishments. The Memorial is open. They're seeing real progress on One WTC and expect to complete construction by 2013. The major projects right now are the transportation hub, which will serve more than 100,000 commuters daily, and the Vehicle Security Center, the police and security screening area for vehicles. O'Connor is also leading the new expansion of Greenwich Street and Fulton Street through the WTC site.
Erecting One WTC's antenna is full of challenges, O'Connor says; his team is still planning exactly how they will do it. The 408-ft. antenna will be brought by barge from Canada and will allow the tower to reach 1,776 feet, making it the world's third tallest building. To erect the antenna, O'Connor's team may build platforms off of the building to set the cranes on.
O'Connor and Tirri lead the way toward One WTC's concrete building core, constructed to help the tower withstand an airplane's impact. Lessons learned on 9/11 are included in this design, including wider stairwells and landings at the core, increased sprinkler systems that are buried behind concrete and pressurized stairs to combat smoky conditions. A separate stairwell has been built solely for emergency responders.
"We have good survivability," O'Connor says.
The Museum is the tour's last stop. Upon entering, two "tridents"— two huge steel structures from the original Trade Center — are visible. The entrance also includes the "Survivor's Staircase," the staircase leading to Vesey Street that was a pathway to safety for so many on 9/11. This day, it is shrouded in a protective covering, as are all of the artifacts, among them a fire truck, a smashed taxi and the last steel beam removed from Ground Zero, carrying messages from rescue and recovery workers. Here also is the St. Peter's Cross, twisted beams in the shape of a cross that workers found in the debris. O'Connor helped recover this and other WTC artifacts.
The museum's completion date is unclear during a July 2012 visit, as funding issues are unresolved. This quiet space will be a place of reflection and remembrance. Corridors will display nearly 3,000 images of the victims as loved ones share their oral histories.
O'Connor and Tirri have their own 9/11 stories. O'Connor had a meeting that day in the North Tower. But the babysitter was on vacation and his wife needed a day in the office at the World Financial Center. So he stayed home.
Walking his youngest son to preschool, he saw the Towers burning. His wife left a message on their answering machine, telling him that something was happening at the Trade Center, then her voice cut off. He worried like crazy until she made it home around 5 p.m., covered in gray dust.
Tirri was working at Tishman in Midtown when he learned of the attacks. He and his co-workers scrambled to find the plans for the Trade Center, to get a sense of which floors were affected. As they searched, the first Tower fell.
These days, O'Connor, after years of personal sacrifices to work the Trade Center site, is usually home by about 5 p.m. His Blackberry is always with him.
O'Connor announces with a big smile that his daughter Rebecca will attend Stevens in the fall to study biomedical engineering. Both he and Tirri praised their Stevens education.
"If it wasn't for Stevens, I wouldn't be here," O'Connor says.
When asked why they love their job, Tirri mentions the dynamic nature of construction and development work.
"The fact that we do it in New York City, in one of the most complex and intense atmospheres, only adds to the excitement," he says.
O'Connor makes it a point to "walk the job" every day and has engineering in his blood, like his mechanical engineer father.
But his perspective has changed.
"After two terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, I love the end of the work day, just so I can go home to my wife and kids," he says.


text:
". THREE-DIMENSIONAL SIMULATION OF THE TEMPERATURE AND RESDIENCE TIME DISTRIBUTION DYNAMICS OF A CONSTRUCTED AGRICULTURAL TREATMENT WETLAND", Environmental factors affecting the residence time distribution dynamics of constructed agricultural wetlands, vol. 1001, p. 140, 2016.,
"THE EFFECTS OF TRACER RESPONSE CURVE SCALING ON ESTIMATION OF RESIDENT TIME DISTRIBUTION MOMENTS OF GENERIC FLOW DOMAINS", Environmental factors affecting the residence time distribution dynamics of constructed agricultural wetlands, vol. 1001, p. 211, 2016.,
"Genome size and the phenotype", in Plant Genome Diversity Volume 2, Springer Vienna, 2013, pp. 323-344.,
Plant Genome Diversity: Vol. 1: Plant Genomes, Their Residents, and Their Evolutionary Dynamics. Springer, 2012.,
"Incongruent patterns of local and global genome size evolution in cotton", Genome research, vol. 14, no. 8, pp. 1474-1482, 2004.,
"Microcolinearity and genome evolution in the AdhA region of diploid and polyploid cotton (Gossypium)", The Plant Journal, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 995-1006, 2007.,
"Molecular confirmation of species status for the allopolyploid cotton species, Gossypium ekmanianum Wittmack", Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 103-114, 2014.,
"Tobacco genomes quickly go up in smoke", New Phytologist, vol. 175, no. 4, pp. 599-602, 2007.,
"Insights into the evolution of the New World diploid cottons (Gossypium, subgenus Houzingenia) based on genome sequencing", Genome Biology and Evolution, 2018.,
"Re-evaluating the phylogeny of allopolyploid Gossypium L", Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 2015.,
"Homoeolog expression bias and expression level dominance in allopolyploids", New Phytologist, vol. 196, no. 4, pp. 966-971, 2012.,
"Candidate Gene Identification of Flowering Time Genes in Cotton", The Plant Genome, 2015.,
"Assessing the monophyly of polyploid Gossypium species", Plant systematics and evolution, vol. 298, no. 6, pp. 1177-1183, 2012.,
"Re-evaluating the phylogeny of allopolyploid Gossypium L.", Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, vol. 92, pp. 45-52, 2015.,
"Recent insights into mechanisms of genome size change in plants", Journal of Botany, vol. 2010, 2010.,
"A phylogenetic analysis of indel dynamics in the cotton genus", Molecular Biology and Evolution, vol. 25, no. 7, pp. 1415-1428, 2008.,
"Targeted sequence capture as a powerful tool for evolutionary analysis1", American journal of botany, vol. 99, no. 2, pp. 312-319, 2012.,
"Microcolinearity in the Allotetraploid Gossypium hirsutum", Genome Exploitation: Data Mining the Genome, p. 231, 2007.,
"Diversity and mega-targets of selection from the characterization of a barley collection", Crop science, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 483-497, 2009.,
"An optical method for carbon dioxide isotopes and mole fractions in small gas samples: Tracing microbial respiration from soil, litter, and lignin", Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 2017.,
"Scale-dependent linkages between nitrate isotopes and denitrification in surface soils: implications for isotope measurements and models", Oecologia, pp. 1-11, 2016.,
"Valuing energy futures; a comparative analysis of value pools across UK energy system scenarios", Applied Energy, 2017.,
"Iron addition to soil specifically stabilized lignin", Soil Biology and Biochemistry, vol. 98, pp. 95-98, 2016.,
"Lignin lags, leads, or limits the decomposition of litter and soil organic carbon", Ecology, p. e03113, 2020.,
"Do corn-soybean rotations enhance decomposition of soil organic matter?", Plant and Soil, pp. 1-16, 2019.,
"Wet Spots as Hotspots: Moisture Responses of Nitric and Nitrous Oxide Emissions From Poorly Drained Agricultural Soils", Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 2018.,
"Origins, distribution, and local co-occurrence of polyploid cytotypes in Solidago altissima (Asteraceae)", American Journal of Botany, vol. 95, no. 1, pp. 50-58, 2008.,
"Differential attack on diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid Solidago altissima L. by five insect gallmakers", Oecologia, vol. 154, no. 4, pp. 755-761, 2008.,
"Gene flow in forest trees.", Forest conservation genetics: principles and practice, pp. 81-90, 2000.,
"Consequences of dispersal in plants", Population dynamics in ecological space and time, vol. 1, p. 203, 1996.,
"The influence of seed dispersal mechanisms on the genetic structure of tropical tree populations", in Frugivory and seed dispersal: ecological and evolutionary aspects, Springer Netherlands, 1993, pp. 281-297.,
"Genetic diversity in columnar cacti", Columnar cacti and their mutualists: Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ, pp. 122-133, 2002.,
"Rapid proliferationand nucleolar organizer targeting centromeric retrotransposonsin cotton", The Plant Journal, 2016.,
"Targeting Investments to Cost Effectively Restore andn Protect Wetland Ecosystems: Some Economic Insights", United States Department of Agriculture, 2015.,
"Ty1-copia-retrotransposon behavior in a polyploid cotton", Chromosome Research, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 73-76, 2000.,
"ARE CHANGING ENVIRONMENTS REFLECTED IN THE MORPHOLOGICAL DISPARITY OF FOSSIL AND RECENT SCALLOPS FROM THE TROPICAL AMERICAS?", 2014 GSA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, 2014.,
"Landowners' perceptions of risk in grassland management: woody plant encroachment and prescribed fire", Ecology and Society, vol. 19, no. 2, p. 41, 2014.,
"Extensive ribosomal DNA genic variation in the columnar cactus Lophocereus", Journal of Molecular Evolution, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 124-134, 2001.,
"Phylogenetic origins of Lophocereus (Cactaceae) and the senita cactus–senita moth pollination mutualism", American Journal of Botany, vol. 89, no. 7, pp. 1085-1092, 2002.,
"Differential lineage-specific amplification of transposable elements is responsible for genome size variation in Gossypium", Genome research, vol. 16, no. 10, pp. 1252-1261, 2006.,
"Repeated big bangs and the expanding universe: Directionality in plant genome size evolution", Plant Science, vol. 174, no. 6, pp. 557-562, 2008.,
"Rapid DNA loss as a counterbalance to retrotransposon proliferation in plant genome size evolution", Transposable Elements and Genome Size Dynamics in Gossypium, p. 61, 2007.,
"Rapid DNA loss as a counterbalance to genome expansion through retrotransposon proliferation in plants", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 106, no. 42, pp. 17811-17816, 2009.,
"Identification of AFLP markers that discriminate between cultivated cotton and the Hawaiian island endemic, Gossypium tomentosumNuttall ex Seeman", Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, vol. 52, no. 8, pp. 1069-1078, 2005.,
"On the elusiveness of enemy-free space: spatial, temporal, and host-plant-related variation in parasitoid attack rates on three gallmakers of goldenrods", Oecologia, vol. 150, no. 3, pp. 421-434, 2006.,
"The evolution of California's wild radish has resulted in the extinction of its progenitors", Evolution, vol. 60, no. 6, pp. 1187-1197, 2006.,
"Isolation and characterization of nine microsatellite markers for the endangered winged-mapleleaf mussel, Quadrula fragosa (Bivalvia, Unionidae)", Mol Ecol Resour, vol. 9, pp. 1460-1466, 2009.,
Butterflies in Your Pocket: A Guide to the Butterflies of the Upper Midwest. University of Iowa Press, 2003.,
"Molecular phylogenies of figs and their pollinator wasps", Journal of Biogeography, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 521-530, 1996.,


text:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Singapore is well-known for its efficiency and order, but during a visit to Washington the city-state's prime minister displayed a less advertised attribute — humor.
In an after-dinner speech Tuesday to U.S. businessmen, Lee Hsien Loong made a couple of jokes that could pass for stand-up comedy.
He drew laughs — and some groans — with his quips, including one about China's environmental problems.
"Beijing residents joke that to get a free smoke all they have to do is open their windows!" Lee said.
He then alluded to thousands of pig carcasses recently fished from Chinese rivers.
"(In) Shanghai, if you want some pork soup, you just turn on the tap," he said.
His audience appeared doubtful if that was good taste, until he added, "That's their joke, not mine!"
Lee, who met earlier in the day with President Barack Obama, had serious messages in his speech too.
He spoke about the challenges facing China as it emerges from its once-in-a-decade leadership transition, and on the need for the two global powers, the U.S. and China, to get along.
Singapore gets on well with both, and Lee said China, which remains cautious about political reform, looks at his prosperous city-state to try to understand how to balance its economic and social goals as it develops.
With a little deprecation, Lee described Singapore as a "tiny bonsai model" for China to learn from.
Lee is the son of Singapore's founding prime minister, Lee Kwan Yew, who steered the Southeast Asian nation's development for many years while keeping a firm grip on power.
The same party has ruled for the past 50 years, although the political opposition gained ground in national elections in 2011.


text:
My annual Passover post, updated for 2014
An antisemitic Jew I know, rather than seeing the Passover ceremony as the celebration of freedom (the world's first and for a long time only successful slave revolt), and of justice and morality (the Ten Commandments), derides the whole ceremony as the unconscionable and immoral celebration of the genocide of the Egyptian people. What troubles him so much is the fact that, after each plague, when Pharaoh seems about to soften and let the Jews go, God hardens Pharaoh's heart, leading to the necessity of yet another plague, culminating in the death of the first born. God, he says, is a serial killer, because he unilaterally escalated a situation to the point where thousands had to die.
Some people have tried to explain away this part of the Passover narrative by saying that it is simply dramatic license, meant to increase the tension and danger of the Jew's escape from Egypt. After all, if it had been easy, it wouldn't have been much of a story. No one will get spiritually or intellectually excited if Moses asks, "Hey, Pharaoh, can we go?" and Pharaoh answers "Sure." That's a narrative without much punch or heroism, and God's involvement is minimal or, at least, unexciting. Narrative tension, according to this explanation, demands an escalating series of plagues, with the audience on tenterhooks as to whether those pesky Jewish slaves will actually be able to make a break for it.
This reasoning is silly. There's a much more profound purpose behind God's approach to the ten plagues, and that is to remind us of the tyrant's capacity for tolerating others' suffering, as long as his power remains in place.
What Pharaoh discovered with the first nine plagues is that life can go on, at least for the ruler, despite an increase in the burdens placed upon his people. A blood-filled Nile River may, at first, have seemed appalling, but the red receded and life went on. Pharaoh still held together his government. The same held true for each subsequent plague, whether lice or boils or wild animals or frogs, or whatever: there was surely consternation at Pharaoh's court, which led Pharaoh to think about freeing the pesky Jewish slaves, but once life returned to normal, Pharaoh's tyrannical instincts again kicked in. As long as Pharaoh could maintain his power base, he was okay with the incremental decimation visited upon those he ruled.
Sheltered in his lavish palace, Pharaoh might worry about the risk to him from a populace starving and frightened, but that possible risk was immediately irrelevant as long as that same populace still proved willing to fear and worship him. The people's suffering, ultimately, was irrelevant to his power over the land and his ability to maintain that power. It was only when the price became too high to Pharaoh personally — when Pharaoh's laborers, and money men, and soldiers, and slaves, and courtiers, and perhaps even his own family members died — that Pharaoh was convinced, even temporarily, that his own survival required that he alter his evil ways.
Human nature hasn't changed much in 3,000 years. Think, for example, of both the Nazis and the Japanese at the end of WWII. For the Nazis, it was apparent by December 1944 (the Battle of the Bulge) that the war was over. Hitler, however, was a megalomaniac in the pharaonic mold, and his high command, either from fear of Hitler's reprisal or because its members were caught in the grip of their own insanity, would not gainsay him. Rather than surrendering, the Nazi high command was willing to see Germany country overrun and her Aryan citizens killed. Only when the death toll became too high, when it was apparent that nothing could be salvaged from the ashes, and when the guns were aimed directly at their own heads, did the German high command surrender.
The same held true for the Japanese. Truman did not decide to drop the bomb just for the hell of it. Even the fact that it would impress the Soviets was an insufficient reason for doing so. What swayed Truman was the fact that his advisers told him (credibly as it turned out) that the Japanese Bushido culture would not allow Japan to surrender even when surrender had become the only reasonable option. Instead, the military warned Truman that, although the Americans would inevitably win the war, if Truman didn't take drastic action, victory would take another year, and cost up to 100,000 American lives and at least that many Japanese lives (including Japanese civilians).
Truman therefore had two choices: another year of war, with the loss of 100,000 Americans and many more than 100,000 Japanese; or an immediate end to the war, with no more American casualties and at least 100,000 Japanese casualties. Put that way, the choice was a no-brainer. The outcome would be the same for the Japanese, but Truman would save the lives of more than 100,000 Americans, British, Australians and Dutch. (One of those Dutch, incidentally, was my Mom, who was on the verge of starving to death in a Japanese concentration camp.) The Japanese high command was Pharaoh. No amount of smaller plagues could stop the command from its chosen path. Only a large plague would swiftly lead to the inevitable conclusion.
But what about the innocent lives lost as a result of Pharaoh's, the Nazi's, and the Japanese high command's intransigence? As the Japanese tale shows only too well, the innocents were always going to die, with the only question being whether they would die quickly or slowly. The same holds true for ordinary Germans (among whom was my dear cousin from the goyishe side of my family), whom the Nazis had long ago designated as cannon fodder to support their intensely evil regime.
The German and Japanese examples make manifest the problem with an evil regime. If you're unlucky enough to live under that regime, whether or not you support it, you're going to be cannon fodder. Pharaoh will let you die of plagues, and the Nazi and Japanese leadership will let you be bombed and burned — as long as they can retain their power.
I wrote the above words several years ago during Iran's green revolution, when Iranian citizens took to the streets to rebel against their brutish, oppressive regime. Aided in part by our own President Obama's tight-lipped silence, the mullahs were unmoved by their own people's suffering. As long as the mullahs could retain power, their people's suffering was irrelevant and, indeed, had to increased to reinforce the idea that the only return on rebellion is pain, not freedom.
Iran may be quiet now (although people are pushing at the regime more and more, not by suffering, but through joy, which is anathema to sharia's overwrought puritanism), but we have so many other examples of tyrannical leaders who are willing to preside over a growing mountain of bodies as long as the leadership remains isolated from the physical and emotional consequences of its action. Syria's Assad doesn't care that more than 100,000 of his people have died or that polio is killing a generation. He still lives in his palace. North Korea's Kim Jong-Un will commit any atrocities against his own people provided that he can retain his power. They are the modern-day Pharaohs.
Even here at home, one can argue in less apocalyptic tones that our president, who is one of the wealthiest men in America, doesn't care that his actions have ensured the longest recession since the Carter years, the highest unemployment since the Carter years, the most unstable world in terms of national security since the Carter years or even the 1930s, the most serious divisiveness amongst the American people since the Civil War, etc. Sheltered in the White House, listening to the adulation of the glitterati in Hollywood and the New York/D.C. media, he is unaffected by the plagues affecting ordinary Americans. And as long as he is unaffected, he will harden his heart to the cries of his people begging for relief from perpetually failed economic policies, weak national leadership, porous borders, socialized medicine, militarized government agencies, etc. If Obama seems as if he doesn't care about the people's suffering . . . it's because he doesn't.
When power doesn't reside in the people, but resides, instead, in a single group that is insulated from all but the most terrible strikes, small plagues are utterly useless. These small plagues, no matter how much they affect the ordinary citizen, do not affect the decision-making process in which a tyrant engages. The only thing that will move the tyrant is to destroy his power base. Everything else is theater.
With that, I'd like to wish all of you a Happy Passover. Whether Jewish or not, I hope that the Pesach celebration serves as an occasion for all of us to remember that, though the price may sometimes be high, both for slave and master, our goal as just and moral human beings must be freedom. So please join with me in saying, as all Jews do at this time of year, "Next Year in Jerusalem."


text:
While it may seem hard for many people to believe, that kind individual who gives you a haircut or style each month is not your average "plain Jane" that walked in off the street and found employment. Many individuals working in the beauty industry first attend various beauty schools in order to provide better services to customers and make themselves more attractive to potential employers.
Beauty schools may be unknown to some, but for many they are a lifeline that provides individuals with an education and the opportunity to find employment in a unique career field. The world can be a very stressful place and the graduates of the nation's beauty schools play a crucial role in providing millions with a source of relaxation. Beauty school graduates are not just stylists in a salon; in fact they can be found in a wide variety of locations including but not limited to the following:
- Hair Salons
- Spas
- Theater
- Feature Films
- Television
The spa and salon industry in the United States is a $56 billion industry that is rapidly growing. The need for beauty school graduates at over 300,000 locations across the country often exceeds the number of qualified individuals produced by beauty schools. Individuals interested in working in the beauty industry will find a career awaiting them upon graduation that offers a chance for solid pay and flexible hours, something few jobs can offer in one package. The following are just a few of the specific career fields beauty school graduates can expect to find:
- Hair Stylist
- Hair Color Specialist
- Nail Artist/Manicurist
- Esthetician
- Makeup Artist
- Salon/Spa Manager
- Platform Artist/Educator
- Photo & Movie Stylist
- Image Consultant
- Medical Esthetician
Before attending a beauty school, individuals need to have some idea of what they might like to do during the course of their career. While it is not necessary to know up front which specific career you might like, it is important to have some idea so that you choose a school that can provide the appropriate specialized program for you. That being said, gaining an all-around education from a beauty school can also prove beneficial to individuals, in addition to more specialized training.
The first step in finding a good beauty school is to assess your needs and desires now, and in the future. Choosing the right school with the right programs will be vital in achieving your career goals. One of the most important things to pay attention to is accreditation. Attending an accredited school means you are attending a beauty school that has been nationally recognized for meeting standards of education set forth by governing bodies. For beauty schools, these governing bodies include the following:
- The National Accrediting Commission for Cosmetology Arts & Sciences (NACCAS)
- The Council for Occupational Education (COE)
Attending an accredited school also means that the beauty schools can offer students affordable financial aid options such as federal grants and low-cost loans. Other things to consider when choosing a beauty school include whether or not they participate in national placement programs, their reputation within the industry, and the nature of their educational programs.
There are various beauty school programs that individuals can consider, but not all of them provide the same degree of education that others do. The following are examples of specific programs that are in demand in the beauty industry currently:
- Nail Technician: Students learn nail anatomy, growth, and structure in addition to learning how to work with artificial nails.
- Esthetician: Students in this program learn how to rejuvenate and cleanse the skin.
- Teacher Training: Students in this field are aiming to share their current education with future generations by becoming beauty school instructors.
- Theatrical Make-Up: Students in this program learn how to work with make-up and skin tones to create make-up covering for theatrical performances.
Beauty school graduates will find an ever growing and flexible career path awaiting them upon graduation. There are an estimated 1.7 million employees in the beauty industry across the U.S. One of the selling points of a career in beauty is that individuals can easily transition from one career to another in the field with little effort. If you think a career in beauty is right for you, then let Beautybuzz.com help you find the right accredited program to build your future!