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This article was originally written in English. Text in other languages is provided via machine translation.
I am pleased to announce that Acrobat XI shipped earlier this month. The Acrobat development team worked hard to provide an improved level of support added for Middle East languages. Below are details of the additional ME support provided in this release and how you can test drive and use it. We welcome your input, please post any feedback in the comments.
Rob Jaworski, International Program Manager, Acrobat
There are four main areas of improvement to Acrobat's support provided to Acrobat XI: 1) minor editing, 2) Web Capture, 3) improved search functionality, and 4) Hindi/Farsi digits in Annotations.
In order to use these improvements, make sure Arabic and Hebrew language support has been installed. On Windows 7 and Mac OS 10.x, all language support has been installed by default. You can simply install Arabic and Hebrew keyboard and set the OS format and regional setting as desire. On Windows XP, if not using the localized Arabic and Hebrew OS version, you may need to install the right-to-left language support from the regional setting control panel in order to have Arabic and Hebrew font and keyboard available.
If you purchase and install the MENA version of Acrobat XI (I.e. English with Arabic support, English with Hebrew support or North African French) on the system, then Acrobat should launch with all the necessary MENA support options already enabled. However, if you purchase Acrobat XI in other application UI languages, the ME support can also be seen or tested by having the necessary options turned on manually.
Here are more details about the improved support for ME languages.
- Minor Editing– Middle East support has been added to the minor editing feature in Acrobat XI, formerly called the TouchUp Tool. You can newly add or make simple edits to Hebrew and Arabic text on a PDF. The feature is designed to handle digits, ligature and right-to-left text direction.
- Before you start adding new ME text or editing existing ME text, make sure the ME support options are enabled. Go to Edit menu (on Windows) or Acrobat menu (on Mac), select Preferences. Click 'Language' category and verify the section "Editing Text in Middle Eastern Languages" as follows:
- Main paragraph direction should be Right To Left
- Ligatures is checked, if needed
- Hindi Digits is checked, if needed
- Enable Writing Direction Switching is checked
- Open a PDF document and open the Tools pane. Select 'Add Text' under Content Editing. Switch keyboard to Arabic or Hebrew, mouse click on a PDF and start typing text.
- Open a simple Hebrew or Arabic PDF document. Open Tools pane. Select 'Edit Text & Images'. Bounding boxes will be on drawn on the editable text. Switch keyboard to Arabic or Hebrew, mouse click at the text to perform a minor edit.
- Before you start adding new ME text or editing existing ME text, make sure the ME support options are enabled. Go to Edit menu (on Windows) or Acrobat menu (on Mac), select Preferences. Click 'Language' category and verify the section "Editing Text in Middle Eastern Languages" as follows:
- Web Capture– Users can use Acrobat XI to convert web pages, HTML files, or plain text files with either Hebrew or Arabic content into PDF documents. The conversion can be performed via the plug-in buttons available within the supported browsers, i.e. Internet Explorer (Windows Only), Firefox (Windows/Mac) and Chrome (Windows Only). The text will appear in the correct script and layout, and the output PDF can then be shared for review with other users using the existing Collaboration features.
- Open an Arabic or Hebrew web page in a supported web browser. If the Adobe PDF plugin is installed properly, the 'Convert' button on the menu bar should be available. Click Convert to create a PDF from the web page.
- Alternatively, within Acrobat, select File > Create > PDF from Web Page. On the Create PDF from Web Page dialog, enter the URL and customize the settings via 'Settings…' button. Specify the file type, language encoding, font setting and page layout. Click OK to dismiss the setting dialog and click 'Create' to convert the web page to PDF documents.
- Improvement in Search– In the ME version of Acrobat X, the "Ignore Page structure" option under Search preference has to be checked in order to search for ME text on a tagged PDF. When the option is selected, it not only takes effect to bi-directional scripts but it could produce the irregular drawing for other scripts and could also produce inconsistent search index files, which results in various compatibility problems. In Acrobat XI, the issue has been addressed by having the necessary implementation that is limited to ME scripts only and having search for ME on a tagged PDF enabled all the time without having to enable any option.
- Open an ME tagged PDF. Perform search for ME text using the regular search options available.
- Hindi/Farsi digits in Annotations– In earlier releases of Acrobat, users are not able to enter Hindi or Farsi digits inside a pop-up note annotation before. In Acrobat XI, the issue has been addressed to allow an Arabic user to determine the digits used in a pop-up note by using both OS format and current keyboard setting.
- The digits used in a popup note are determined by both OS format setting and current keyboard.
Arabic Digits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Hindi Digits: ۹ ، ۸ ، ۷، ٦ ، ٥ ، ٤ ، ۳ ، ۲ ، ۱
Farsi Digits: ۹ ، ۸ ، ۷، ۶ ، ۵ ، ۴ ، ۳ ، ۲ ، ۱
1. Under Arabic format setting (e.g. Arabic (Egypt) or Arabic (Saudi Arabia)):
(On Windows 7, Control Panel > Region and Language > Format = Arabic (<region>), select Additional Settings… and choose a standard digits = either Arabic, Hindi or Farsi)
Scenario (1)
When using English keyboard, then apply Arabic digits (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) in a popup note
Scenario (2)
When using Arabic keyboard, then digits display in a popup note…
A – Follow Standard Digits settings (Arabic, Hindi, Farsi)
B – If Standard Digits NOT set to either Arabic/Hindi/Farsi, then Hindi digits apply
2. Under English format setting (e.g. English (United States)):Arabic digits (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) will always be used no matter what current keyboard or standard digits settings are. Under this environment, a user can have digits displayed in Hindi by, under Region and Language > Additional setting, select ing Standard digits = Hindi and Use native digits = National.


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Company Info
Sydney SEO Companies – Find The Best One With These Tips
Search engine optimization is very important when you own a website or a business that has a website. However, what you may not realize is just how difficult of a task it can be to get your website to rank highly in the search engines for one reason or another. This is when you should have some tips to help you in finding the best Sydney SEO companies. By knowing these tips it is easy for you to have a great time in ranking your website because you have hired a company to do this work for you.
The first tip is to make sure you look at the websites the company has helped rank in the past. Typically these companies when they are starting out will not have ranked any websites except their own. Since this is the case you need to figure out how easy they were able to rank their own website. Either way with a competitive search term like the SEO in Sydney they will have a lot of work to get their work done.
A second tip for a business or company to use is to find out how long it will take the SEO company to get the results they want to have. Typically this process if done properly is a long and drawn out affair and this can easily take several months before it is done properly. However, if a company is guaranteeing instant results, it is possible they are using methods that would be considered black hat and this could easily lead to the website ranking highly for a short time period only to fall quickly or be banished from the search results because of what the SEO company did.
The final tip that people should use is to learn about the method that the SEO company is going to be using. When the company knows about these methods they can get a better feel on what is going on with their company and how it is going to be impacting their company. Without this, people will have issues in getting the information they need about what is going on with their company and this can easily lead to them not getting the proper feel for what is happening with their companies website or marketing efforts on the Internet.
Having a business website is a great feeling, but for a lot of people it is hard for them to get the website running properly because of the competition. This is when some people will need to know what to find in the Sydney SEO companies to make sure they have found the right company. Once they know about these tips it is going to be easy for them to find the right company to help them in promoting and marketing their website. Without this information, people may fall for a salesman line and end up having their company website ranked shortly only to fall because of the methods that were used to manipulate the rankings.
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subset: commoncrawl


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The Houston Dynamo Reserves fell to the New York Red Bulls Reserves, 7-2 on Sunday in the MLS Reserve League at BBVA Compass Stadium. Andre Akpan scored four goals to lead the Red Bulls Reserves to the win.
The Dynamo Reserves are now 4-4-0 (12 points) in the Reserves League East Division. The Red Bulls Reserves improve to 4-5-2 (14 points).
Akpan scored three goals in the first 27 minutes as the Red Bulls Reserves opened an early margin.
Red Bulls midfielder Marius Obekop cracked a shot from 30 yards off the post and into the net for a goal in the 35th minute and a 4-0 lead.
Dynamo forward Calen Carr made his first appearance in a competitive game this season after suffering a torn ACL in last year's MLS Cup.
Carr scored in the 42nd minute on a diving header off a cross from midfielder Brian Ownby.
After halftime, Red Bulls midfielder Michael Bustamante added a goal from the right side of the penalty area to stretch the lead.
Dynamo forward Omar Cummings struck a shot from distance and found the net in the 72nd minute.
Akpan scored his fourth goal in the 79th minute, driving down the left flank before slotting his shot to the far post.
The Red Bulls capped the scoring in the 84th minute as Ruben Bover headed home an Akpan cross from six yards for a 7-2 win.
The next Reserve League game for the Dynamo is Saturday, Oct. 5 against the Montreal Impact at Houston Amateur Sports Park.
Houston Dynamo vs. New York Red Bulls
MLS Reserve League
September 8, 2013 — BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, Texas
Scoring Summary:
New York Red Bulls: Andre Akpan 7
New York Red Bulls: Andre Akpan 13
New York Red Bulls: Andre Akpan 27
New York Red Bulls: Marius Obekop 35
Houston Dynamo: Calen Carr (Brian Ownby) 42
New York Red Bulls: Michael Bustamante 54
Houston Dynamo: Omar Cummings 72
New York Red Bulls Andre Akpan 79
New York Red Bulls: Ruben Bover 84
Houston Dynamo Reserves: Erich Marscheider; Anthony Arena, Luis Thomas^, Brian Ownby (Irvin Ramirez 68); Alex Dixon, Daniel Ekedo*, Jose Rodriguez^, Bryan Salazar; Brian Ching (Elo Ozumba 46), Calen Carr (Omar Cummings 66)
Substitutes not used: None
New York Red Bulls Reserves: Ryan Meara; Steven Echevarria, Kevin Politz*, Chris Lema*, Matt Miazga (Ibrahim Sekagya 55); Ruben Bover Izquierdo, Michael Bustamante (Anthony Viteri), Marius Obekop, Amando Moreno; Andre Akpan, Péguy Luyindula (Arun Basuljevic* 46)
Substitutes not used: Kevin Hartman
*Guest player ^Academy player
Misconduct Summary:


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From one of the only other major militaries carrying a bullpup into the field!
The Shield series optics are used by the MOD and British Army, and are now becoming more widely available across the globe.
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Original, smallest, lightest, toughest mini day / night sight for all military, law enforcement and sporting small arms. With over 100,000 delivered to date, Shields Mini Sight has a proven track record. Over 15,000 units are in use by the British regular army and Special Forces, as well as US, Australian, New Zealand Special Forces and other NATO forces. Sold under other brand names for many years, you may know the Shield Mini Sight as the Firepoint, Tasco Optima, Trijicon RedDot or JPoint.
Shield RMS: $412 USD
The next evolution in mini red dot sights. Small enough to fit discreetly on any gun, tough enough to withstand the harshest recoil and light enough that you wont even feel its there. The RMS is machined from strong aerospace grade aluminium. It has super-fast automatic brightness adjustment to adapt to your environment allowing you to concentrate on the target and the quick release side accessible battery drawer means you can change the battery without the need to dismount.
Picatinny, Glock dovetail, or 1911 dovetail mounts are available for both the RMS and SMS. If you buy one without, you will need a mounting solution of some kind!


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Skinny Jean Movement About To Go In On Soulja Boy? New Boyz Callin On The Jerk Movement To Put A End To Him
New Boyz responds to Soulja Boy's diss
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Your branded review engine is ready for all devices, whether your customers use a desktop or laptop computer, tablet, or smartphone.
This means you could even have a tablet that you use at your office to have somebody fill out a review. However, if you do use a tablet option, you would want to focus on getting reviews on your review engine vs. asking for reviews on sites like Google. This is because Google specifically states that they don't want you to have a "kiosk" or related way of getting reviews, but instead ask for a review in a followup email. This works great with our system because you can ask for a review on Google in the autoresponder that the patient receives after leaving a positive review.


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Used Playstation 3 40Gb System - Metal Gear Solid Grey
As Its Digital Soul, The Cell Broadband Engine Represents A Tour De Force In Parallel Processing, Which Means A Gaming Experience That Is Beyond What You Know Today. Its Built-In Blu-Ray Disc Drive Delivers A Whole New Generation In High-Definition Gaming And Unmatched Digital Media Storage. Whether It's Gaming, Blu-Ray Movies, Music Or Online Services, Playstation 3 Invites You To Play Beyond.
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Thermaltake iXoft Notebook Cooling Pad: The technology world is becoming increasingly mobile-oriented these days. The Internet is present in everyone's lives. However, it's not about choosing between life and Internet anymore, it's about the integration of the web and life, and leveraging its power. Thus notebooks are growing more powerful and more mobile than ever before. Even though the days of scalding-hot laptops are gone, laptops still need cooling in order to increase its lifespan. Passive coolers have only been marginally effective. Active coolers tend to be noisy or as bulky as a second laptop. Most people try them for a while and religiously lug around a clunky plastic stand with their other laptop gear. Eventually the coolers just are stuffed in a corner to collect dust. So what does one do? Is there an effective passive cooler that doesn't take up a second laptop's space? Thermaltake seems to think it has the answer with the iXoft Notebook Cooling Pad.
Copyright © 2020 by Phoronix Media. All rights reserved.


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Table of Contents
State of Healing
Basic Healing Information
Transition Healers
Gear Can Help
What the Heck is Mastery?
Running Dungeons
User Interface Tips
Plea to non-healers
This general 5man dungeon healing guide is written class agnostic, though I may use specific class talents or spells at times as examples. The intended audience is new healers and those healers transitioning from Wrath of the Lich King healing to Cataclysm healing. The people who are transition healers will likely find this information to be more of a validation of the things they already know or experiences they are already having. New healers should finish reading this guild with a better understanding of what healing in Cataclysm is like. What you will not find in this guide is in-depth information about gearing, stat weights, spell rotations, raid healing and talent builds, though again I will provide some examples or talk about this in more general terms
The State of Healing
Let's begin by dispelling the myth that healing is broken. I have healed 5man dungeons on each healing class and can tell you that it is possible to heal each dungeon, despite what you may be reading in various forums on healing topics. Healing in cataclysm is not all roses and can be frustrating at times. I have had my share of bad healing experiences in cata dungeons, but I have also had really good experiences. A good group makes a world of difference.
If you healed in the last year or so of wrath and did not follow where healing was headed for cataclysm, then I can understand why you may think that healing is broken. Many would argue however, that wrath content was where healing was really broken. Healing in wrath was just too easy. Blizzard knew this was the case and has been preparing people for an expansion where healing was going to require planning spells and conserving mana. I am sure a fair amount of people did not really expect the extent of the changes to healing and its voracious hunger for mana. Your experience healing in cataclysm is not only going to be dictated by your understanding of your class, its spells and cooldowns, but also on the group you are healing. If you have a horrible experience healing, don't give up on it. Not only will continued attempts improve your skills as a healer, but will help you deal with the group dynamics that can make healing either really easy or really difficult. In the end, just know that there will be times where you have done all you can and the group still wipes because they cannot figure out how to step out of the fire.
Basic Healing Information
Each healing class relies on mana as its resource used to cast healing spells. The amount of mana required to cast a spell differs by spell and by your character's level. In some cases you will get one or more heals that cost zero mana, but in general if you have no mana then you are not going to be healing. Keeping this in mind, there is a balance between healing and conserving the resource you need to provide that healing. By researching specific class information, you can learn the spells and talents available to you and the strategies you can use to conserve mana. That conservation comes in a various forms:
1. Spell efficiency – knowing what spells to use at any given time so that you are not using mana needlessly. Your target may have taken a nice chunk of damage, but is not currently in danger of taking more, so you occasionally toss an inexpensive heal until you are comfortable with their health pool vs hitting them with several expensive heals.
2. Replenishment – mana returned to you from various talents that either you a providing to yourself or someone else in the group is providing.
3. Mana regen – mana gained from the spirit stat. You will need to experiment with spirit to determine how much you need to accommodate your healing style.
4. Indirect mana gains – mana gained from procs on items like trinkets.
5. Direct mana gain – mana gained from potions, trinkets or other cooldowns.
The size of your mana pool is determined by the amount of intellect you have. The more intellect you have, the larger your mana pool will be. The larger your mana pool, the more room you have for healing decisions or to recover from mistakes. Given how large the mana pool is in cataclysm, it is easy to think that the days of endless mana are still here, but that is not the case. Spells cost considerably more mana to cast than in wrath.
As you level your healer to 85 you will notice that the cost of your healing spells will increase with each level gained. Not only will the cost of your spells go up, but all your base stats will change as well. In many cases it will require more of a particular stat to maintain or to raise other stats like spell power. Healing Black Rock Caverns as level 81 may feel much like healing did in wrath, but 2 levels later at 83 you may be finding healing Stonecore significantly more difficult. That is in part because of the changes going on with your stats as you increase each level. For instance, your heals will cost roughly 40% more mana at 83 than they did at 82, but it likely that your gear did not change much between those two levels. Understanding this will go a long way to helping you weather the storm as you progress through levels and early dungeon content.
There are 4 healing classes, with one of those classes (priest) having two healing talent trees. The classes were designed to all be balanced in terms of their ability to heal just as well as the next class, while being unique enough in their design to provide a different experience while healing. While specific implementation helps create the uniqueness, generally you will find the following types of healing available to each class:
* Slow/Expensive/Large heal – this is your omg get that tank up quick spell. It is really expensive and cannot be used often without going oom (out of mana). Often times healers will reserve their cooldown that allows the next spell to be instant/free to go along with this big heal.
* Slow/Cheap/Small heal – this is the heal you spam when you have available gcds (global cooldowns). This heal will not bring a tank from 10% hp to full, but it will allow you to give back enough hp lost to allow you to feel comfortable or to allow you to top off light damage to other people in the group.
* Fast/Expensive/Moderate heal – this is the heal you go to when damage is coming in fast and you need to get someone's hp to a safer level quickly. This is another spell that will wreck your mana pool and needs to be used wisely. This is the one heal that most people will abuse and find themselves in mana trouble.
* AOE heal – each class has one or more heals that are meant to cover damage coming into more than one person at a time. These heals tend to be expensive but can provide a buffer when you may be headed to losing the group. Lots of aoe damage happening to the group needs to be analyzed quickly and addressed because your tank is probably taking both the aoe damage and the direct mob damage.
* Special/Gimmick spell – some of the classes have one ore more special gimmicky spells, which in many cases results in the aoe heal. An example of this may be the tree of life that druids have. This cooldown allows for some extra choices in healing. Another example is the Archangel ability that discipline priests have which allows for greater healing potency and some return of mana.
Understanding theses heals/spells for your class will help you know when to use them.
Healing priorities:
1. You – if you are dead, the success of the group diminishes greatly. Some would argue that the tank is the number one priority, but I disagree. Watch out for yourself.
2. Tank – seems pretty obvious, but you kinda need a tank to absorb damage and keep mobs off you.
3. DPS – these are the bottom of the totem pole. The only purpose is to kill the mob before the mob kills you. If one of these guys dies… oh well.
Transition Healers
While this information can be helpful to brand new healers, it meant to address those healers who healed in Wrath of the Lich King and are now bringing up their healer in Cataclysm.
The biggest piece of advice I can give the transition healer is… FORGET WHAT YOU DID IN WRATH. Cataclysm is a new ballgame and there are new rules. The way you healed before will not work in cata. The toughest thing for me to get over when healing in cataclysm dungeons is the need to keep everyone in the group at full health. You will be oom very fast if you try to keep everyone at full health all the time. A health bar that isn't quite full does not mean that the group is headed for a wipe. I finish many fights where people have less than full health and me nearly oom.
It is interesting to hear the frustration being spewed on the forums by healers, in that this transition period is not a new thing. Folks seems to forget that there was indeed a transition period at the beginning of wrath and there were times when healing seemed impossible. Part of that then and now are the encounters within the dungeons being difficult at first. Fairly new changes to the game are adding a new dynamic to the transition experience. The dungeon finder being one of those newish changes. At the beginning of wrath, you had to find groups on your own server to run dungeons with and doing so meant that you had to interact with those people differently than you do today with people what some other server. People in LFD groups tend to be less forgiving and more apt to heckle or kick people from the group because it is unlikely you will run into that person again. However, changes aside, there were difficult times in early wrath with healing. There is no doubt that gear played a part in that. Remember that heroics in wrath dropped epic gear. That is not the case in cata. It appears to have been easier to outgear the content back then, which undoubtedly lead to less headaches in the transition.
As I said previously in this guide, the classes are not broken. Sure there may be tweaks needed here and there. Priests were buffed a bit and paladins were nerfed a bit, but in general the classes are balanced. It is very easy and tempting however to throw up your hands and call your class broken. I understand that feeling.
As you are leveling your character to 85, continue healing through each level as it will help you see the highs and lows of healing as you go. I found levels 81 and 82 to be quite easy to heal dungeons, while 83 and 84 were more difficult. At level 85, you are getting/finishing off your 5 man gear and getting to the average iLvl 329 required for heroics. This is also the time when I felt comfortable spending mats/gold on enchants and gems and even some crafted pieces.
Gear Can Help
Your skill level and knowing what spells to use when are not the only things helping you successfully heal 5 man dungeons. The gear you acquire and what you do with that gear will contribute to your healing experience. I leveled primarily through questing, but would heal dungeons periodically each level, usually to break up the monotony of questing, but also to gauge how my gear was holding up within that level. For all healing classes you want choose pieces with more intellect than the last. It will help you greatly if you can get a hold of pieces with spirit on it, but many times I would replace a spirit piece with a new piece without spirit because of the increase in intellect. Intellect is not only increasing your mana pool, but increasing the size of your heals through spell power/healing power.
I chose not to worry about enchants or even reforging of gear until I got a piece with an item level of 333. That could happen for you as early as 83 by getting pieces of reputation gear with the various cataclysm factions. The minimum rep required for this type of gear is honored, so you will need to have done a fair amount of questing in the areas pertaining to each faction. Probably one of the earliest pieces of 333 healers will get is the Cloak of the Dryads from Guardians of Hyjal reputation in Mt Hyjal.
Regardless of when you choose to enchant/gem/reforge your gear, there is no doubt that those modifications can help your healing, provided that you made the appropriate choices in gear modification for your class. You will need to research your specific class to determine what those appropriate modifications are.
Lets take just a moment to talk about reforging. This is possibly the best change made to the game ever. Ok maybe that's pushing it a bit, but a great option now available to us anyhow. Reforging allows you to take 40% of certain stat on gear and change that to another stat that does not exist already on the gear. There are some restrictions to this, like you cannot reforge resilience to another stat. A pretty typical reforge for healers maybe something like reducing the amount of crit or mastery on a piece of gear and adding haste to that gear. Again in order to do this, haste cannot already exist on that piece of gear.
What the heck is Mastery?
Mastery is a secondary stat that was recently introduced to the game. Unlike other stats which mean pretty much the same thing regardless of class or spec, mastery changes in meaning. Mastery to an elemental shaman is completely different than the same points of mastery to a restoration shaman. When mastery was first announced and information about it started surfacing, it was a bit confusing to understand just how it would relate to each spec. When it was released at the end of wrath, people had a chance to 'play' with mastery through reforging since gear with master did not exist at that point. It was still difficult to tell at that point what benefit you may gain from mastery in practice, but on paper most of it seemed pretty impressive. If you did play with mastery back then, you were probably looking at the new gear with mastery rating on it and relating that to the mastery rating you were getting from reforging and getting really excited. However you probably didn't take into account that mastery, like other stats, would scale as you leveled, meaning that it would take more points in mastery to have the same rating that you had at the previous level. So looking at mastery at lvl 80 and applying the points being seen on lvl 85 gear, you probably though woah.. this is awesome. Fast forward a month to your lvl 85 and looking at 13% mastery, the same percentage you had at 80. Now you are wondering just how good that mastery rating is then. Well that all depends. Not the best answer, but the correct one anyway.
You will have to do some research and experimentation to determine just how meaningful mastery will be to you. For example, the benefit from mastery for a restoration shaman sounds pretty awesome. Basically the more mastery you have the bigger your heals will be one people with more hp to gain. So take a heal on someone missing 10% of their hp and then use that same heal on a person missing 80% of their hp and the heal should be bigger on that second person. The question then becomes, can you get enough mastery to make that increase in healer worth more than the same amount of points in say crit. Would that same spell with the same amount of points put this time in crit mean that the crit you get is bigger than the mastery buffed heal. It is difficult to answer that question in a general way and relies more on your individual build and gear. My opinion so far is that mastery for most classes/specs sounds better than it has turned out to be. Another problem with telling you what stats to focus on is that you are a healer and unlike a dps where raw output is usually desired and easier to model, your game play has more factors to deal with, like is your play style more mana intensive so your stats need to focus more on regen.
Running Dungeons
So our journey through this healing information brings us to actually getting into a dungeon. As indicated previously, I highly recommend that you heal dungeons at each level. At 80 you will have 2 dungeons available to you. Those 2 are Black Rock Caverns and Throne of the Tides. Now there are two other considerations beside toon lvl to gaining access to dungeons. You need to meet an average gear item level for each dungeon and more interestingly, you need to visit the entrance to each before you can use the Looking For Dungeon tool. The LFD tool will show you which dungeons you have access to and have unlocked using a lock symbol in place of a check box when the dungeon is unavailable. There have been questions about why you have to visit the entrance of a dungeon in order to unlock it in the LFD, but I believe it has to do with helping people understand where to go in the case of a wipe. If you ran 5 man dungeons in ice crown citadel, how many times where you waiting on someone to find their way back in the dungeon because they were lost. It really slowed down wipe recovery. If you have to make your way to the dungeon entrance once in a traditional manner, then you are more likely to be able to figure your way back upon a wipe.
Now I highly recommend that you heal dungeons in both a premade and pug groups. While pugging these dungeons currently (especially on heroic) can be extremely frustrating, it is a great way to practice your healing as you will mostly likely have more moments where everything goes wrong in pugs. Pugging dungeon can also give you lessons in patience and leadership. You may have to take control of the group, even marking mobs and requesting CC if the tank is not leading the group in a way that will promote a successful run. You will run into situations in pugs where you can learn what to do in a particular situation and how to adapt your healing style to deal with those situations. It stretches your healing legs so to speak and will allow you to try out other spells in your tool box that may have rusted over. I cannot tell you in a pve setting prior to cataclysm where I used hex while healing on my shaman, but I use it now for sure.
Running pugs will also help you understand how the group makeup, the speed at which the group moves and the coordination of the group makes a huge difference in your healing experience. The first time I healed the lost city, the tank ran head first into the first set of trash and we quickly found out they hit too damn hard for all of them to be on the tank with our current gear, so after we all zoned back in, some CC marks went out and it went more smoothly.
Having healed cata dungeons on each of these classes/specs I will give you my opinion/observation on them:
* Restoration Druid – no longer is the plan to keep rejuvenation hot rolling on everyone at all times, the strategy is to keep three stacks of lifebloom going on the tank and using nourish as your spammable filler spell. Use swiftmend when you need an instant good sized heal, usually on the tank. Don't rely too much on efflorescence. Use wild growth when group wide damage happens. Avoid using regrowth too often and it is up to you if you want to work in healing touch. Healing with this class appears to be a bit easier in terms of keeping the group safe, but can get hectic when lots of damage happens and you fall behind on the healing. Tree of Life is especially useful, not so much for instant regrowth as that spell is expensive, but it does allow you to apply lifebloom to multiple targets.
* Restoration Shaman – Gone are the days of spamming chain heal and healing through anything with it. I found a more efficient and effective way to heal on the shaman is to keep earth shield on the tank and hit the tank occasionally with riptide, especially when I knew the haste buff was going to be needed right away. I utilize unleash element as an instant heal and follow that up with a chain heal when there is mild raid damage. Otherwise I am using healing wave as the filler. I try heal so that I don't have to use healing surge, but if I need a bigger heal than the other tools provide, then I will use healing surge rather than greater healing wave. Lastly, I have nature swiftness macro'd to healing rain and use healing rain when I know aoe damage is coming as a buffer heal to give me time to heal with inexpensive heals. Overall, shaman healing can be very enjoyable and is one of the healing classes that I find more time to throw in damaging spells for the mana regen.
* Holy Paladin – This class is the one I have healed the least on in cata. Much of the information I have seen is they are the least challenging currently, but also retribution is just not fun right now so leveling paladin seems like a daunting task. In any case, similar to the other classes you need to use the expensive spells sparingly, rely more on holy light for your healing filler and leave flash of light or divine light for those moments where you need a big heal. However big heals and paladins go hand in hand. Use your holy shock when its off cd to keep your holy power stacked for when you need a 'free' big heal with word of glory or light of dawn for an aoe type heal.
* Holy Priest – If you can get the hang of managing your chakra, then holy priest healing could be quite satisfying. Of all the healing classes, priest seems to be the one I see the most complaints about. The buffs made recently to priests likely answered some of those complaints. My priest was the first character I got to 85 and without a doubt was the most frustrating to heal, but it is getting better and really takes more practice. Chakra may be one of the most confusing abilities in all of the healing classes and it would be best to research how it works and practice using it. Avoid expensive heals like flash heal. Use Heal as your filler, keep prayer of mending rolling and bubble when dmg on someone is likely incoming. You can also use bubbles on people to help them get out of fire faster if you have put talent points into Body and Soul which gives your bubbled target a speed boost. Holy priests also have the ability to spec into lightwell which can be placed out for people to self heal. Don't forget to use Diving Guardian if you think the tank (or someone else you want to save) is in real danger of dying. Lastly, holy priests have a really cool ability in Spirit of Redemption that allows you to continue healing for a small amount of time after you die. I have seen this save the group from a wipe.
* Discipline Priest – Still about damage mitigation rather than pure direct healing, but not quite like it was in wrath. No longer will you bubble everyone and call it a day. It can be argued that the discipline priest is in the most need of help in terms of what it appears is the intended purpose of the class. The biggest damage mitigation spell in their toolbox is a bit weak. If you played priest in wrath, you will probably be thinking to yourself the first time you throw a bubble on someone… where did my bubble go? I am sure I just put it on someone. Well you did and pretty much in one hit its gone. Yep, pretty weak. However, it's still healable class. Prayer of Mending is pretty powerful and when it has the need to bounce multiple times really does its job. With the amount of group wide damage we tend to see in dungeons, PoM gets its use. So be sure to keep that rolling. Use renew on someone who took a little bit of damage and doesn't require much healing. Use Heal rather than flash or greater heal. Pennance is also used to give a quick heal to someone taking damage. You have an aoe damage mitigation in the form of Power Word: Barrier that can provide a buffer when the melee are getting bashed. Finally, using smite against a mob will stack evangelism and allow you to pop your wings by using the archangel ability. This gives you a boost to healing output and gives back a little mana. Tough to maintain since you have to use gcds on a damage spell rather than a healing spell, so probably going to be used less unless you have a great group. I love and hate disc healing at the same time.
Dungeon healing can be very rewarding, it can give you the forum to practice your craft and even allow you to show off your ability in the form of a save when it looks like a wipe is guaranteed.
User Interface Tips
The way you have your user interface setup is very personal. It all depends on what you like to see and how you like to use the interface. You can get an idea of what others are using by going to addon sites and looking for interface or compilation categories. I cannot tell you how you should be setting up your interface, but I can give you some tips to keep in mind when configuring your UI.
Keep important information near the center of the screen. The idea here is that the less your eyes have to move or wander for information, the more likely you are to react quickly to changing events in the game. Look at the elements of information you have on your screen and decide if they are important to know while you are healing or just nice to haves. Move those nice to haves off to the sides of the screen and keep the gotta knows towards the center.
The unit frames you use for healing are personal preference and should be whatever you feel the most comfortable using. Some people swear that Grid is the best, while others use Healbot or Vuhdo or even the standard unit frames. Whatever gives you the information you need, where you need it should be the right frames for you. I use healbot and had my frames setup in the center below my character. The information on the unit frames that you should be interested in as a healer is health bars, buffs/debuffs (including heal over time) and threat. The health bar obviously alerts you to who is need heals. The buffs/debuffs allow you to see who may need to be dispelled or will be taking damage shortly. Threat of everyone in the group is important to know as well, knowing who is pulling threat will allow you to react. Some people may want to keep track of peoples mana/rage/energy.
The method of casting a heal is also personal preference. You may be someone who clicks on the target and then clicks on the spell on your spell bars. If you are that person, let me know so i can leave group though.. lol. Some people like to click on their targets bar and use keybinds to cast. Others like myself use mouseover macros with keybinds so that I just have to move my mouse over the persons unit bar (or even nameplate). Try different methods and decide what works best for you. The goal should be that you are able to cast spells without thinking about their location on a bar. If you can achieve that, then your reaction time greatly improves. There are addons out there that help with keybinds and spell casting.
I highly recommend you look into an addon called Power Auras. While this addon will take a little while to understand just how amazing it is, you can get some idea by understanding that Blizzard put some of its functionality directly into the game. While the in game functionality is rudimentary at this point, it does illustrate that even blizzard knows just how powerful power auras are. There is youtube and forum information available on how to use this addon.
Plea to non-healers
Pass along to all your non-healer friends a plea from us healers...
* Dont stand in fire or other game mechanics that are deal out constant damage to you. This seems so obvious, but time and time again we waste mana because someone didnt want to get out of fire. At some point we do choose to let you die.
* When a fight ends and you are feeling the cool dirt on your face, take a look at the healers mana pool before screaming for a rez. Resurrection spells are quite costly now and we probably dont have enough mana at the end of a fight to rez you right away.
* If you have less than full hp after the fighting has ended, sit an eat. The healer is currently drinking to restore their mana pool. It is a waste of their water to heal you before the next fight because you were too lazy to eat.
* To our warlock friends, tapping out of combat in Wrath was just annoying.. now however it is frustrating. If you are going to tap your life away out of combat, sit an eat. Also pay attention to your healers mana pool before tapping in combat.
* Can tanks please mark targets (at least one with a skull) so that the dps knows what to do. An oom healer on trash is usually because the pull was too big or lasted too long. Crowd control can help deal with the number of mobs and dps marks can help reduce the time it takes to kill the mobs.
* Tanks and dps can increase their chances of survival if they pay attention to features that will create a line of sight issue between them and the healer. Stairs are usually the biggest culprit of los issues. Remember that healers tend to hang back away from the group.
* Tanks should watch healers mana pool between pulls, you dont have to ask if we are ready before each pull if you are aware of our mana. If I got full mana, then you are free to pull.


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Posted by Nicole Miñoza
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December 20, 2013
Along with my colleagues on the Adobe Type & Adobe Typekit teams, I'd like to wish all our readers a wonderful holiday and a very happy new year.
This year we went back to our old tradition of producing a letterpress holiday card. The card, designed by Elliot Jay Stocks, Creative Director for Typekit, and printed by Norman Clayton of Classic Letterpress, is the first printed piece for the recently combined Adobe Type and Adobe Typekit teams. It is set in Garamond Premier Pro, designed by Robert Slimbach.
I've included a photo of the card below to spread our holiday greeting beyond those to whom we sent a printed copy.
Happy Holidays!


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April 4 at Nassau Community College (NY). Tom will be speaking for distributism alongside (against?) defenders of democratic socialism (Dr. Charles M.A. Clark) and democratic capitalism (Michael Novak). It should be quite an interesting evening. As readers of this blog are aware, Tom really knows this stuff. See the link for more specific info.
—Maclin Horton


text: BUSINESS The Hollywood Reporter's List of the 25 Top Drama Schools 6:00 AM PDT 5/4/2012 by Tim Appelo FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME THR polled theater insiders and top casting directors to find the best training grounds for aspiring actors. This article first appeared in the May 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. "I look at the school, and anyone who tells you they don't is lying to you," says producer Todd Black, who helped cast the Meryl Streep film Hope Springs. "I'm gonna look much faster at a kid from a top school than from the University of Southern North Dakota." To find out which schools give the most bang for the buck, The Hollywood Reporter polled Casting Society of America members and theater insiders. Some schools were chosen for their illustrious alumni or curriculum, but the bottom line is, these 25 schools offer the entree it takes to get a job. As Felicity Huffman has said of the "Tisch mafia" at her alma mater, NYU, "Without them, it is very possible I wouldn't be a working actress today." STORY: The 25 Best Film Schools Rankings ACT | San Francisco The big draw for MFA students at American Conservatory Theater is the same thing that has drawn 7 million audience members to the Tony-winning theater's shows: a resident company of top-notch professional actors. It is part of those actors' job to mentor and network for the MFA students. In turn, MFA students mentor kids in the Young Conservatory program (YC alumni include Darren Criss, Winona Ryder and Nicolas Cage). Students also audition for real-world ACT productions -- and get cast. Notable Alumni: Elizabeth Banks, Annette Bening, Delroy Lindo, Anna Deavere Smith, Denzel Washington THE ACTORS STUDIO, PACE UNIVERSITY | New York "It is a sacred place," says Actors Studio Drama School alum Bradley Cooper. Where else could he have gotten an MFA where curriculum and faculty are chosen by Actors Studio Drama School presidents Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel and Ellen Burstyn? Students sharpen their gifts with the Stanislavski Method and get into founder James Lipton's celebrated seminars. The school is immortalized in a recent conversation on Fox's Glee between Finn (Cory Monteith) and Rachel (Lea Michele). Finn: "What was that acting school on Bravo with the swear words and the cool dude that you made me watch?" Rachel: "James Lipton." Finn: "Yeah. … I want to go to Inside the Actors Studio." Rachel: "It's just 'The Actors Studio,' but that's great!" Casting directors agree. Notable Alumni: Chris Stack, Xanthe Elbrick CALARTS | Valencia, Calif. Travis Preston, dean of the California Institute of the Arts School of Theater, calls CalArts "the hub of a vast network of artistic and professional relationships that traverses the globe." Students get to work with the likes of the Wooster Group, Andre Gregory, Magnetic Fields composer Stephin Merritt and avant-garde dramatist Richard Foreman. Notable Alumni: Don Cheadle, Ed Harris, Condola Rashad, Eliza Coupe, Alison Brie, Katey Sagal CARNEGIE MELLON | Pittsburgh The most creative time in Zachary Quinto's life wasn't playing Spock; it was learning the trade at Carnegie Mellon University. "It was a four-year playground," he says. Adds alumna Holly Hunter: "I loved to be able to take a script apart in purely technical terms to learn about a character using this very pragmatic tool. That's where I learned it." CMU grads have won six Oscars and 96 Emmys. Notable Alumni: Ted Danson, Rob Marshall, Steven Bochco, Paula Wagner, Patrick Wilson, John Wells DEPAUL | Chicago DePaul University benefits from being in what some consider the nation's second-best theater town. The 6-to-1 student-faculty ratio helps, too. "There's something in the water in Chicago," says producer Laurence Mark. "It's a great place for actors, and so is DePaul." Notable Alumni: Gillian Anderson, Kevin Anderson, Judy Greer, Karl Malden, Joe Mantegna, Elizabeth Perkins, John C. Reilly FLORIDA STATE | Sarasota, Fla. Why go to Sarasota to study theater? All 12 of the Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory MFA candidates get a full tuition waiver from Florida State University, an assistantship to defray living expenses, a year's study in London, experience at the Asolo Theater and Equity actor's union eligibility. Notable Alumni: Paul Reubens GUILDHALL SCHOOL OF MUSIC & DRAMA | London In addition to living in one of the world's great theater cities, Guildhall actors rub shoulders with up-and-coming musicians (Jacqueline du Pre, James Galway). "Guildhall gives a broad training -- it's not prescriptive," says alumnus Dominic West. "We're able to be versatile." Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery says, "Getting in was like winning the lottery." Notable Alumni: Daniel Craig, Ewan McGregor, Joseph Fiennes, Rhys Ifans, Eileen Atkins, Orlando Bloom THE JUILLIARD SCHOOL | New York "Regardless of how painful, how challenging, how terrific, how confusing it is," says alumna Laura Linney, "this school will prepare you for just about anything." A major theater director says, "In language skill and script analysis, no other grads are as prepared. Juilliard actors somehow are more marketable -- the first-round draft picks." Notable Alumni: Viola Davis, Kevin Spacey, Robin Williams, Jessica Chastain, Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Kelsey Grammer LONDON ACADEMY OF MUSIC AND DRAMATIC ARTS | London Why does LAMDA look so good on your bio? Since 1861, its grads have captured four Oscars, 16 Golden Globes, 36 Olivier Awards, 19 BAFTAs and 12 Tonys. Notable Alumni: John Lithgow, Donald Sutherland, Jim Broadbent, Brian Cox, Swoosie Kurtz NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DRAMATIC ART | Kensington, Australia For the 4 percent of applicants who pass their audition for a spot at NIDA, the odds of stardom soar. "I mean, I loved NIDA and hated it," Mel Gibson says in a documentary about the school. "At times, it was very frustrating and hard and depressing and all this kind of stuff, but if you were prepared to stick with it, the rewards were really good." Notable Alumni: Cate Blanchett, Judy Davis, Baz Luhrmann, Hugo Weaving NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY | Evanston, Ill. Northwestern's vaunted undergraduate drama program puts acting in a liberal-arts context. In 2011's commencement address, alumnus Stephen Colbert said: "I loved being a theater major. It gave me an excuse to brood, to grow a beard, to wear black at people. I didn't want to play Hamlet, I wanted to be Hamlet." Notable Alumni: Warren Beatty, Zach Braff, Seth Meyers, Ann-Margret, David Schwimmer STORY: Did James Franco's Bad Grade Cost Professor His Job? NYU Calls Claims 'Ridiculous' TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS AT NYU | New York New York University's BFA and MFA programs would be great anywhere -- but because they're in New York, NYU can give its students an inside track to the big time. "When Mike Nichols revives Death of a Salesman, NYU probably knows very early and knows who's casting," says one producer. "NYU actors are incredibly intelligent," adds a regional theater director. "And my favorite physical actors are NYU MFAs. The clowning curriculum is unbeatable." Notable Alumni: Alec Baldwin, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michael C. Hall, Jeremy Piven ROYAL ACADEMY OF DRAMATIC ART | London Founded in 1904, RADA radiates a royal reputation. Some classes involve one teacher and three students. The Beatles are famous because their RADA-trained manager, Brian Epstein, taught them to be dramatic. RADA can put talented nobodies on the radar. Notable Alumni: Anthony Hopkins, Peter O'Toole, Joan Collins, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ralph Fiennes, Vivien Leigh, Mike Leigh RUTGERS | New Brunswick, N.J. The acting BFA program at Rutgers University accepts 9 percent of applicants, who spend their third year at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London. Both BFAs and MFAs do annual showcase performances in New York. Notable Alumni: Calista Flockhart, Sebastian Stan, James Tupper, Kristin Davis STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, PURCHASE | Purchase, N.Y. The Conservatory of Theatre Arts BFA acting program at SUNY's Purchase College is run by Gregory Taylor, an eminent film scholar. Notable Alumni: Edie Falco, Parker Posey, Stanley Tucci STORY: Aaron Sorkin's Commencement Speech at Syracuse University SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY | Syracuse, N.Y. In 1978, says Syracuse drama professor Gerardine Clark, the BFA program attracted 250 applicants. "Now we get 900 a year. Our grads are noted for being sui generis." Aaron Sorkin started as Clark's musical-theater student. The key to the program: student access to the Syracuse Stage, a theater enticing 90,000 playgoers a year. Notable Alumni: Frank Langella, Taye Diggs UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE | Newark, Del. Students of Delaware's Professional Theatre Training Program get tuition waivers and a $16,500 stipend. "It has only one class of students at a time, and each gets full attention," says its director, Sanford Robbins. Notable Alumni: Tom Hewitt, Linda Balgord UCLA | Los Angeles UCLA BA and BFA drama students benefit by being at a red-hot center of the study of film, TV, animation and digital media and close to Hollywood. "The opportunity to attend performances on a world-class level presented by UCLA Live [now known as the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA], Royce Hall, the Geffen Playhouse and the Film and Television Archive provides a context that is exhilarating for the study of theater," says theater department chair Michael Hackett. Notable Alumni: Tim Robbins, Eric Roth, Nicolas Cage, Jack Black UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS | Winston-Salem, N.C. Ex-New York Shakespeare Festival artistic director Gerald Freedman has created an undergrad drama program where students get guest instruction from the likes of Sam Waterston, Patrick Wilson and UNC alums Mary-Louise Parker and Chris Parnell. Notable Alumni: Joe Mantello, Tom Hulce UC SAN DIEGO | San Diego Home to the Tony-winning La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego is a launchpad into the real world. "UCSD actors are the best auditioners," says Seattle Repertory Theater artistic theater director Jerry Manning. Notable Alumni: Danny Burstein, James Avery USC SCHOOL OF DRAMATIC ARTS | Los Angeles "USC is in Hollywood's front yard," says alumnus Todd Black. "Its acting students know they have to make a living, so they're trained in TV, feature films, Internet work." Adds board member Laurence Mark, "USC gives you the skills and confidence to be bold and take informed risks." Notable Alumni: Forest Whitaker, Swoosie Kurtz, Eric Stoltz, Kyra Sedgwick UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN | Austin, Texas UT acting students get a boost from Austin's famous film festival and independent film scene. Notable Alumni: Marcia Gay Harden UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON | Seattle Half of Washington's Professional Actors program students find work within a year of graduation (e.g., Kyle MacLachlan and his first movie, Dune), and half are still performing 10 years after graduation. Notable Alumni: Jean Smart, Joel McHale, Pamela Reed, Rainn Wilson WESTERN AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS | Perth, Western Australia Actors put on 300 performances a year at WAAPA, and the experience pays off. "I am totally indebted to WAAPA for [my] career," says alum Hugh Jackman. "There is a genuine camaraderie. Acting is not a solo sport." Notable Alumni: Frances O'Connor YALE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DRAMA | New Haven, Conn. Generally considered the most prestigious U.S. drama school, founded in 1924, it was dissed by one source as "posh and uncommercial." Retorts Dean James Bundy, "The best advertisement for Yale School of Drama is the breadth of its graduates' distinguished achievement in every theatrical discipline." Also, grad Sigourney Weaver's films have grossed more than $5 billion worldwide. For art or commerce, no MFA is quite the calling card that Yale's is. Notable Alumni: Meryl Streep, Paul Giamatti, Paul Newman, Patricia Clarkson, Frances McDormand FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Tim Appelo email@example.com timappelo


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Chanda Fetter is the group ex director for the Santa Barbara region of the Spectrum Health Clubs. For samples of documentation helpful for facilitating a mentoring program, e-mail her at [email protected]
The most loyal patrons of your club are avid group exercise attendees. In light of this, it is our commitment to members to make sure that every aspect of their club experience is the best it could possibly be. Just as we cultivate our personal training and sales departments, we should do the same with group exercise. The product we offer cultivates longevity and community in ways other departments just can't.
Mentoring is the perfect way to maintain the quality of your product so that the gift of group exercise is always a unique commodity. To get everyone on board, organize a meeting for your group exercise staff and management team to get input and launch the idea.
Mapping Out Your Mentors. Every club has its popular instructors. In many cases, these individuals make for amazing mentors, but in some cases they do not. Be careful who you choose to leave their legacy on an influential talent. Make sure you select leaders who portray all the important qualities of a solid instructor. Your criteria should include an up-to-date certification and someone who airs on the side of safety and appropriate guidelines but also knows how to make the room come alive. There is nothing more flattering in a somewhat ego-based profession than offering an individual the chance to help mold your team. You can compensate them by setting aside money in the budget, trades made through the club or possibly a higher class rate. I try to reward special help with something tangible. However, due to budgetary constraints, I have found that simple recognition and status offer a much higher reward value most of the time.
Mentoring Structure. An appropriate amount of time for a mentoring program is five to six weeks. Once a new instructor has passed his or her certification exam and is ready to teach, there needs to be a practical application period. Select two optimal slots on your timetable that would culture the growth of your new instructor without compromising the integrity of the time slot. Mentor your new instructor in one program format at a time to ensure his or her maximal growth potential. Depending on the number of classes you offer on a daily or weekly basis, be careful not to offer too many internships at one time. Finally, introduce the mentor to the potential intern and make sure personalities blend before sealing the deal. At that point, sit down with each one either together or separate to explain their responsibilities and expectations. This is where a soft contract can be entered into providing guidelines for the mentoring program, access to the clubs (if not already an employee) and a structured calendar of assignments that the intern will be responsible for. Structure is key, and as the director, it is essential that you are an integral part of the entire process.
Five-Week Calendar
When putting together your intern's assignments for the week, simply take the hour workout and divide it into a five-week plan. For instance, when working with a step format: Week 1: Cool down/abs
Week 2: Last 15 minutes of cardio and cool down/abs
Week 3: Entire cardio section
Week 4: Warm-up
Week 5: Entire class
Week 6: (optional repeat of Week 5)
Within these weekly assignments, put together a grid that lists all the specific items you want to make sure the instructor covers. Look at areas such as cueing, how they build choreography, how they work with the phrase, how their body alignment and movement techniques are displayed, and whether or not they're working in the correct bpms, etc. Your mentor should be grading them on a weekly basis and providing them with immediate feedback so that the next time they meet, each necessary issue can be addressed.
To Hire or Not To Hire. Although mentoring does not always lead to employment, in most cases it does and the instructor and club as a whole are more successful for it. Your new instructor will walk away with a much higher self confidence, the members will have taken a personal interest in their growth, the mentoring instructor will take more ownership of the program and the team will be more unified and consistent with the product it delivers.


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You have heard it all before: Crash diets – the ones that promise you to shed lots of weight in no time – don't work, at least not in the long run. And yet, they continue to rank among the most popular plans because people want to see results pronto.
This year's resolution season will be no different. Advertisements for quick fixes get the most attention. For some it will do the trick. But for many, it will be another round of disappointments. Initially pounds will come off, mostly through loss of water, and then they will come back with a vengeance, and in all likelihood even more will be added. It's a vicious circle that can be devastating.
Weight loss, at least the intentional kind, is an unnatural event. Our bodies cannot readily be willed into deprivation. In evolutionary terms, we are programmed to ingest as many calories as possible when food is plentiful, so we can survive when scarcity sets in, which inevitably happened to our ancestors of yore. But those days are thankfully over for most of today's population and perpetual overeating with all its detrimental health effects is the more likely scenario.
Some experts say that instead of attempting to cheat our genetic make-up, a better approach would be to take a good look at the lifestyle we adhere to now and navigate our present food environment to the best of our ability.
For example, people like Tom Rath, bestselling author of "Eat Move Sleep – How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes" (Missionday, 2013), propose taking small steps that are within our immediate reach, rather than trying to follow some grand strategy like a complex diet plan or other regimen that interferes with our established routines and makes it thereby so much harder to maintain.
Most of us are not cut out to look at the "big picture" when we make choices concerning our diet and lifestyle habits. Instead of torturing yourself over which foods to eat and which to avoid, recognize that sitting too much and moving too little is considerably more detrimental to your health than the occasional dietary lapse, says Rath. So make inactivity your primary enemy. The same goes for chronic sleep deprivation, a serious health concern that afflicts millions.
When it comes to weight loss, most people are too fixated on counting calories. Yes, those numbers matter, especially when they stack up. But it also matters where those calories come from. Contrary to what you may have heard from some "experts," a calorie is not a calorie, regardless of its source. Some calories are loaded with important nutrients and others are empty and have little or no nutritional value. Regrettably, the latter are richly present in (mostly processed) foods that dominate the Western diet. Just by limiting your choices to more nutrient-dense items like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein sources, you can vastly improve your chances for successful weight management right away and with lasting results.
Good health is always a work in progress. You will never arrive at a point where you achieve perfection. Not even professional athletes and fitness fanatics can do that. But abiding by a few simple rules and sticking with them for the long haul can create a good foundation you can keep building on.
In my own life, I have also included other categories that go beyond the physical part of my well-being. In addition, I try to work on the emotional, intellectual, and also social and relational aspects, and check where things stand every day. It's nothing fancy or complicated. But I know that if I allow myself getting off course too far or for too long in one area, all others will suffer as well.
Most of all, I try to be as kind, gentle and patient with myself as I am (hopefully) with my clients. I know that harshness and self-flagellation won't get me anywhere. And I rather take another small but achievable step in the right direction than live in a fantasy that will never come to pass.
Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest
Timi Gustafson R.D. is a registered dietitian, newspaper columnist, blogger and author of the book "The Healthy Diner – How to Eat Right and Still Have Fun"®, which is available on her blog and at amazon.com. For more articles on nutrition, health and lifestyle, visit her blog, "Food and Health with Timi Gustafson R.D." (www.timigustafson.com).


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This hard to find silk ribbon is lovely and luxurious. It is 100% silk and has a double-sided satin weave. The 36mm width is *perfect* for accent bows on your next 18th or 19th century project.


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In the Spots FAQ you can find all info on how the Spots feature works.
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We have some great features like showing Directories and Marketplace items on a spot.
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Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Technical difficulties
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Hello folks,
Just wanted to let you coffee lovers know about my shop thats opening on Tuesday the 18th of October.
We will be serving great espresso based drinks, a range of single estate coffees brewed to order in the french press and a selection of fine teas too.
Find us here: www.frenchpresscoffee.co.uk or follow us on twitter:@frenchpressuk
Hope to see many of you there and put some faces to names!


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Images of Industry
The Centenary of the First Radio Transmission Across Water
manufacturer unknown
(We are not able to provide an image for this item at this time. This is either due to copyright restrictions, or because the item is awaiting digitisation. We apologise for any inconvenience.)
Date: 1997
Media: bone china
Size: 72 x 102 x 94 mm
Acquired: 1997; Gift
Accession Number: 1997.88
Rear has printed 'Guliemo Marconi & George Kemp / made the first radio transmission / across water on 13th May 1897. / between Lavernock Point, Vale of / Glamorgan, & Flatholm Island in / the Bristol Channel. / This event was re-enacted on 13th / May 1997 by members of the / Barry Radio Society.'


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Phoebe Snow, the singer and guitarist who scored the hit "Poetry Man" in the 1970s, the left the music business to care for her daughter, has died at age 58.
Snow was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy in 1975 with her smash signature hit, but soon after, her daughter Valerie Rose wasborn with severe brain damage. Snow devoted the next three decades years to caring for her daughter, said longtime manager Sue Cameron.
"Phoebe was one of the brightest, funniest and most talented singer-songwriters of all time and, more importantly, a magnificent mother to her late brain-damaged daughter, Valerie, for 31 years," said Cameron. "Phoebe felt that was her greatest accomplishment."
U.S. & World
Though many assumed Snow was African-American, she was born Phoebe Ann Laub to Jewish parents in Teaneck, N.J.
Snow sang the theme for the first season of NBC's "A Different World" and the jingle "Celebrate the Moments of Your Life" for General Foods International Coffees. She also sang at radio host Howard Stern's wedding to Beth Ostrosky in 2008 and for President Bill Clinton, who asked her to perform at Camp David during his presidency.
She died Tuesday morning in Edison, N.J. of complications from a brain hemorrhage suffered ayear ago.


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For the YA giveaway hop I'm giving away 1 copy of Hexbound by Chloe Neill!
They say absolute power corrupts absolutely. Turns out, even a little magic can turn you to the dark side. That's why Lily has to learn how to control her newly discovered paranormal abilities, on top of avoiding the snobs who think they run her school, nursing a crush on a cute sophomore with a big, werewolf-y secret, and fighting the good fight with her best friend Scout as they take on Chicago's nastiest nightlife—including the tainted magic users known as Reapers.
Then Lily's invited to a private meeting with Sebastian. He's hot, powerful, and offering to help her harness the magic flowing in her veins in a way no one else can. He's also a Reaper. Lily can't hide her suspicions. But she'll soon find out that the line between good and evil isn't always clear…
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The Young Adult Giveaway Hop is being hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer & Down the Rabbit Hole!


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Homemade Hemp Butter
We have been trying to make more of our favorite food items at home rather than buying processed foods that are well processed and expensive. I have been trying to make a good replacement for vegan butter and although I'm not totally there yet I have found a pretty good replacement. This spread isn't your nutty spread like peanut butter or almond butter but much more of a savory buttery spread that is perfect on pasta, steamed veggies or toast.
Makes approx 1.5 cups
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 cup shelled hemp seeds
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt
In a blender place the coconut oil, hemp seeds, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and sea salt. Process on high for 30 seconds and then slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Process until smooth. Store in the refrigerator. This will thicken up as it cools down in the refrigerator.


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Of course it says Week 6 in the title, because it is the sixth week of The Cookbook Challenge with a Christmas theme but to be perfectly fair this is my first um cameo foray into The Cookbook Challenge, having been unable to partake in the festivities prior to this week due to moving, inadequate supplies, and work, work, work!
Well no matter, here I am now and mostly because I couldn't resist showing off the three-course Christmas dinner prepared for G's extended family at the first-ever Christmas party that I (we) hosted! Oh the pressure, the pain...the trials and tribulations of suburban life!
And thus:
Course One (not technically a cookbook recipe):
Rosettes of Smoked Salmon with Brie Chesse & Crackers & Rocket Salad with Quail's Eggs
I know this is highly unprofessional, but in my excitement (nervousness and terror) over the entire dinner, I only succeeded in taking pictures of the salmon from this particular course. So I will just briefly run through the (very simple) processes that took place:
To make smoked salmon rosettes:
1. Fold a strip of smoked salmon in half length-ways (rougher edges outside, to form 'petals').
2. Roll at an angle.
3. Place on plate.
4. Use scissors (if necessary) to make little artistic cuts in the roll so as to have the 'petals' appear more palatable.
For home-made olive oil and lemon juice salad dressing:
1. Combine equal parts of fresh lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil.
2. Add crushed cloves of garlic (as many as you like depending on how much you like garlic - I love garlic, so I put in 8 cloves per cup of dressing.)
3. Add 1-2 tsp salt.
4. Add 1-2 tsp black pepper.
5. Sprinkling of parsley flakes (because it was there.)
For boiling quail's eggs for salad:
1. Put eggs in small pot, fill with water (at room temperature) to an inch above eggs.
2. Bring eggs to a small boil, cover pot with lid, simmer for 10-15 minutes (you want them hard-boiled, so it doesn't really matter as long as they're cooked through).
3. Peel. Chill.
Main Course: Garlic and Rosemary Leg of Lamb
Cookbook: The Australian Women's Weekly Great Lamb Cookbook
(Recipe adapted from the very basic garlic and rosemary lamb roast, which had no sides, and just the lamb - so I'm detailing the recipe here as I made it.)
You will need:
Basic lamb recipe:
- A leg of lamb (I used a 1.75kg/3.88pound leg)
- Fresh rosemary sprigs (2-3 minimum)
- Wild rosemary from bottle (as cost of fresh rosemary can be prohibitive)
- One bulb of garlic
- Black pepper
- Salt
- Sprinkling of mixed Italian herbs (basil, thyme, oregano) for looks
- Plenty of (extra) virgin olive oil
- Potatoes (baby ones are excellent for roasting, but you can use any size and cut them as you like)
- 3-4 Carrots (or two if they're massive)
- 4-5 Tomatoes (egg tomatoes if you can get them, but any medium or large ones will do very nicely as well)
- One onion bulb
- One garlic bulb
- Black pepper, salt, (extra) virgin olive oil as above
The Night Before
- Pierce the lamb all over with small slits about 2cm long and a 3/4 inch deep. As many as you can. Place in roasting dish (you can just use a disposable aluminium one like I did without having to buy a huge roasting pan you'll only dig out once a year, if that).
- Chop up fresh rosemary sprigs. Reserve twigs.
- Peel one bulb of garlic and slice into garlic chips (not length-wise).
- Stuff each slit with a garlic chip and a pinchful of rosemary.
- Place excess garlic and rosemary, and rosemary twigs underneath the lamb leg.
- Drizzle with copious amounts of the olive oil, and black pepper. (Do NOT salt your lamb at this stage.)
- Generously sprinkle the wild rosemary from the bottle (or use fresh rosemary if you have it obviously) all over the leg of lamb (pictures below).
- Add a sprinkling of mixed Italian herbs over the top of the lamb if you have it.
- Glad-wrap, place in fridge overnight.
On The Day of Reckoning
To Prepare Sides of Vegetables:
- Peel carrots, cut into slices.
- Peel onions, cut into slices.
- Peel garlic, chop roughly.
- Cut egg-tomatoes length wise, or if you are using normal tomatoes, cut into quarters.
- Peel potatoes, chop into required size (at least halve them). Try to make potato chunks as evenly-sized as possible. Parboil potatoes by doing the following steps.
- Place chunks of potatoes in a pot, fill with (room-temp/cold) water up to an inch-above the potatoes.
- Bring to boil.
- Cover pot with lid, simmer for 5-10 minutes depending on how huge your chunks are.
- While waiting for potatoes to boil, get your lamb leg out of the fridge (it should now be about 4:20pm) because you need to bring it to room temperature before you roast it. Transfer lamb leg temporarily from roasting tray to your chopping board.
- Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Most ovens need at least a 1/2 hour to bring it's temperature up to this point, so be prepared. If your oven is slower than most, you can begin 45 minutes before, if it's faster, then 30 minutes should do, etc.
- Make a 'bed' for the lamb leg with the onions and carrots in the roasting tray.
- Drain potatoes in colander.
- Roughen them up by shaking your colander such that you can see all the edges of the potatoes becoming 'furry', and the surface is 'broken up'. This will give you crisp roasted potatoes.
- Place potatoes and tomatoes alternately around the lamb leg.
- Drizzle entire tray and all its contents with olive oil, black pepper, and rosemary. Rub the olive oil into the lamb to make sure its really coated. Sprinkle some salt over everything now.
This is the finished 'prep' picture:
It is now ready to go into the oven.
9. Place lamb in oven (now preheated to 220) and leave for 20 minutes. This step is to crisp up the skin of the lamb, much like searing.
10. During this time, cut out a sheet of aluminum foil about the size of the roasting tray.
9. Take lamb out of the oven. Turn temperature down to 180, and place the aluminium foil sheet loosely over the top of the roasting tray. No need to press down the sides as this is just to protect the vegs from burning, and you still want some air in there so the skin doesn't get soggy.
10. Place back in oven, continue roasting at 180.
11. Start taking the temperature of the lamb from about 6:00pm, using a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the lamb. You want to avoid opening the oven too much, so you can maybe do this once at 6:00 or 6:10.
12. Whenever the temperature of the lamb reaches 63 degrees Celsius (this occurred around 6:30pm for me, which is the second time I checked), take the lamb out of the oven and rest for 15-20 minutes.
The lamb was abso-bloody-lutely perfectly cooked, with the innermost meat closest to the bone about medium rare. If you like your lamb a bit more red, take it out when it reaches 60. I would not recommend cooking lamb any more done than this!
As you can see the entire leg was as moist as moist can be, and the juices from the lamb and veg combined meant that there was no need to make any gravy. Some store-bought mint jelly was served as well but many just had the lamb as good as it was on its own! *beams proudly*
Dessert: Gordon Ramsay's Chocolate Fondants
Cookbook: Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy
You will need:
- 50g melted butter , for brushing
- cocoa powder , for dusting
- 200g good-quality dark chocolate , chopped into small pieces (I used Lindt 70%)
- 200g butter , in small pieces
- 200g golden caster sugar
- 4 eggs and 4 yolks
- 200g plain flour
The Night Before
- First get your moulds ready. Using upward strokes, heavily brush the melted butter all over the inside of the pudding mould. Place the mould in the fridge or freezer.
- Place a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, then slowly melt the chocolate and butter together. Remove bowl from the heat and stir until smooth. Leave to cool for about 10 mins.
- In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and yolks together with the sugar until thick and pale and the whisk leaves a trail; use an electric whisk if you want. Sift the flour into the eggs, then beat together.
- Pour the melted chocolate into the egg mixture in thirds, beating well between each addition, until all the chocolate is added and the mixture is completely combined to a loose cake batter.
- Take moulds out of the freezer. Brush more melted butter over the chilled butter, then add a good spoonful of cocoa powder into the mould. Tip the mould so the powder completely coats the butter. Tap any excess cocoa back into the jar, then repeat with the next mould.
- Tip the fondant batter into a jug, then evenly divide between the moulds. Chill or freeze.
Halfway Through Main Course
- Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Place the fondants on a baking tray, then cook for 10-12 mins (takes about 20 minutes from frozen) until the tops have formed a crust and they are starting to come away from the sides of their moulds. You will be able to see the butter 'bubbling' at the sides as the crust comes away. Remove from the oven, then leave to sit for 1 min before turning out.
- Loosen the fondants by moving the tops very gently so they come away from the sides, easing them out of the moulds. Tip each fondant slightly onto your hand so you know it has come away, then tip back into the mould ready to plate up.
Serve with ice-cream of course - I used Haagen Daz Macadamia Nut to great effect!
And there you go, my first dinner party and first Cookbook Challenge post! I am so proud!


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Ravens' Super Bowl run boosts morale, economy
The Ravens' Super Bowl run is having a positive effect all over town and boosting the state's economy, but one local economist said the boost isn't from fans buying up Ravens gear.
"Maryland citizens who buy Ravens paraphernalia are really just recycling money they would've spent in the state anyway. It's no new money coming in – it's just money they would've spent on buying other clothes or going out to dinner," said economist Daraius Irani.
He said the effect from the Super Bowl in Maryland is more psychological. When the Ravens win, it boosts morale around the state. He said research shows that boosted morale leads to an increase in productivity at work and fewer on-the-job accidents.
"I think the idea is that the morale is boosted. People are a little happier, a little bit more focused on work rather than just commiserating that their team lost," Irani said.
Some research also shows that there's also an increase in charitable giving.
"I think where that kind of comes in is that you've got a winning team, so you're on this high. I think that helps people say, 'Well, those that are less fortunate than me, perhaps I want to share my joy,'" Irani said.
He said having a winning football team also helps revitalize the city's image and makes it a more desirable place to live.
"As Americans, we're so wrapped up in our teams -- we take such identification with our teams -- that when they win, we feel like we have won and, therefore, we want to share our joy and happiness," he said.


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One of the fun things about working at MAKE is having access to some fun tools like laser cutters…
I have wanted a Sous-Vide supreme for a long time, but the $400 price tag has kept it out of the kitchen. Using a few common parts from around the house, and a few from Home Depot, I built a controller that works just as well, and only costs around $35. For the uninitiated, sous-vide cooking, translated is "under vacuum". Your food is placed in a vacuum sealed bag, and then cooked at a specific temperature. For a perfect medium rare, that temperature is around 130° f. So, what I built here uses a pid temperature controller regulate the power to whatever is plugged into it. In my use case, I have it hooked up to a crock pot, with the thermometer in the water. When the sensor notices a drop in the temperature, it turns the crock pot on, and turns it off again before it gets to hot.
First experiment was eggs, and they were delicious, can't wait to try the steaks tomorrow night.
If you want to build one, (and hey who doesn't!) you can get all of the details here. Probably the only difference between my project, and the one that Sean did was he used a saw/drilling to cut the holes out, and I used the laser cutter at work. (Seriously, I need one of these at home…)


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Click on image to enlarge.
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In the backyards of family homes across America, kids are jumping up and down and doing flips and other fancy gymnastics moves. Trampolines are now one of the hottest toys for kids and they're at the top of many children's holiday and birthday wish lists.
But now the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is saying that kids shouldn't be bouncing around on backyard trampolines and they're asking pediatricians to help them spread the word about their dangers.
In the past the AAP has published guidelines for safe trampoline use but yesterday the organization released revised guidelines stating that the play equipment should be entirely avoided because too many children are getting injured.
Trampoline injury rates skyrocketed in the 1990s, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's
(USCPSC) National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), and peaked in 2004. Rates have decreased ever since, yet a statement published in the Pediatrics journal cited nearly 100,000 trampoline injuries in 2009, with 3,100 of those kids going to the hospital.
Dr. Michele LaBotz, leading author of the new AAP statement and a sports medicine physician at Intermed Sports Medicine in Portland, Me., told NBC News:
I think parents see the soft springy mat and they think it's safe, like water," LaBotz said. "What they don't realize is that once you get it to bouncing, especially if there are multiple users, it can be dangerous. Bigger kids and adults like to rocket propel up the little kids, getting them to bounce higher than they would otherwise and if the kid comes down wrong, it is the same as falling 9 or 10 feet onto a hard surface.
Pediatricians need to actively discourage recreational trampoline use," said LaBotz, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics executive council on sports medicine and fitness. "This is not a toy. It's a piece of equipment. We recommend that you not provide it for your family or your neighbors to use. But if you do use one, you need to be aware of the risks.
Most trampoline accidents occur when more than one person is jumping and smaller younger kids are at a greater risk. The most common injuries include sprains, strains and contusions, and cervical spine injuries can occur when a child attempts somersaults or flips or falls off the trampoline. Trampolines now typically come with a safety net that surrounds the trampoline to prevent falls but the AAP report indicates that these are often ineffective.
What do you think? Is the AAP overreacting?
My kids recently bounced around on a trampoline with a pack of kids at a friend's house. The fun ended with two kids colliding and knocking heads. I also hurt myself when I was climbing down the tramp's ladder and fell and got my leg tangled up in the rungs. My leg was black and blue with a bruise that extended from my hip to my knee for several weeks. Nobody went to the hospital but I can understand why injuries are common. But then again kids get hurt climbing trees, riding bikes, jumping on beds, and simply running around. Are trampolines any more dangerous?