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Seattle is one of my all-time favorite cities to visit for three key reasons: family, food and music. If you are searching for both an exceptional meal and a memorable experience, look no further. Rover's and Luc, two of Emerald City's finest restaurants, deserve your visit. Rover's serves cuisine defined as "Pacific Northwest refined by a French accent" while Luc "is a French-American café and bar." A staple in both these establishments, Thierry Rautureau (The Chef in the Hat), a James Beard Award-winning chef, who is as warm and as inviting as his humming establishments. So go see what everyone is raving about and while you are there say hello to Thierry, you can't miss his signature hat and smile.
Pea Soup with Dungeness Crab & Chervil Cream
|Prep time
|30 hours
|Cook time
|30 hours
|Total time
|60 hours
|Meal type
|Chives, Crab, Lobster, Peas
- 4 cups lobster stock or vegetable stock
- 3 cups freshly shelled English peas (from about 3 pounds whole pods)
- 6 ounces Dungeness crabmeat, plus 4 nice leg pieces
- 1 teaspoon minced shallot
- 1 teaspoon minced chives
- 1 teaspoon hazelnut oil or olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
- Salt and freshly ground white pepper
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons minced chervil
- 1/4 teaspoon hazelnut oil
- Carrot oil
- Chervil sprigs
|Bring the stock to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
|Add the peas with a pinch of salt and cook until bright green and tender, 2 to 3 minutes.
|Strain the peas, putting the stock back in the saucepan, and set the pan aside.
|Purée the peas in a blender or food processor with about 1 cup of the stock until very smooth.
|Pass the mixture through a fine sieve into a medium bowl, pressing on the skins to remove as much flavorful purée as possible.
|Return the remaining stock to a boil and boil until reduced by one-third, 3 to 5 minutes. Take the pan from the heat and stir in the pea purée; set aside.
|Set aside 4 whole leg pieces from the Dungeness crab to use for garnish.
|Put the remaining crab in a medium bowl, using your fingers to break up any large pieces and remove any bits of shell or cartilage.
|Add the shallot, chives, hazelnut oil, and garlic and season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss well to evenly mix.
|For the chervil cream, whip the cream in a small bowl until soft peaks form. Whisk in the chervil and hazelnut oil with salt and pepper to taste.
|To serve, gently reheat the pea soup over medium heat and taste for seasoning, adding salt or pepper to taste.
|Form the seasoned crabmeat into 2-inch mounds in the center of warmed shallow soup bowls, using a ring mold if you have one.
|Set the reserved crab leg portions on top. Ladle the warm soup around the crab.
|Spoon the chervil cream over the crab. Add a drizzle of carrot oil on the soup.


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Personal Review
I found a pattern in my behavior that had been repeating itself for years, decades even. Bad choices were my specialty, and if something honest and decent came along, I would shun it or run the other way.
– Eric Clapton, in Clapton: The Autobiography
I wanted to wait until I had an entire life to write about. And though I don't think I'm quite done yet, my memory was starting to play tricks on me. I realized that if I didn't do it now, I might have to rely on other people's memories, and it might start to lose some of the accuracy.
To write this book, I had to be comfortable with my day-to-day existence. I like that I can look back and feel comfortable with my life.
– Eric Clapton, NY Times interview, October 7, 2007
First off – if you buy it to find out more about Clapton's guitar playing, you'll be disappointed. No real details about his guitars, amps or settings, nothing about his playing technique. If you want to know why the Nothing But The Blues Tour wasn't released you'll get no information, just a few words about this tour. No details about his gigs with Hendrix during Cream other than we used to crash random bars, walk up onto to the stage and wipe everyone out. So if you're not interested about the man and his life himself, skip it.
However, although I was disappointed of finding no answers to my questions about the music, I've read the book within a few days. I've read the original release in English, and although it's not my native language I found it easy to read.
EC first tried to work with a ghostwriter: Christopher Sykes, a longtime friend. But being unhappy with this version (It looked very defensive, judgmental, full of self-justification) he took over the writing himself. According to an NY Times article He put himself on a disciplined schedule, working in self-imposed exile in his hotel room every morning and afternoon. I found that I couldn't wait to pick up the thread each time. I really enjoyed doing it; it was really fun to learn how to put a sentence and a paragraph together."
With brutal honesty EC writes about his life and all his "bad choices". In detail he describes his childhood, his love life and his addiction. That's what it's above all: the life of a drug and alcohol addict and the painful process of getting sober. He quit being drunk all the time not because he couldn't play guitar anymore, it was because "I lost my balance [while fishing] and I fell over and I broke one of the rods in half. And something in me just died.".
So although there's not much about his songs in detail, one can easily say that his best playing was when he was in deep trouble – unfulfilled love (Pattie aka Layla), loss of his son Conor (Tears in heaven), friends (Jimi, Duane, Stevie,…) and ancestors (grandma Ruth, during the Nothing but the Blues tour) and trouble with his various girlfriends.
The first part of the book is the best: growing up, getting into the Blues, the Yardbirds, Cream. Then the drugs take over: from heroin to alcohol, one can wonder that he's still alive. The book now concentrates on his addiction and the process of getting sober, first from heroin, then from alcohol, finally he even quit smoking. In the end he's happy with his family, he mastered what only a few people with his "career" mastered: getting sober and having a family. Even more, he founded his Crossroads rehab center, which is also a main theme on the last pages of the book. He also defends his love for fishing and hunting (I am a hunter; it is in my genes, and I'm quite comfortable with that), and he's bothering people wo are against hunting by assuming they've watched too many Disney movies.
The books ends with a prophetic view on music industry:
The music scene as I look at it today is little different from when I was growing up. The percentages are roughly the same – 95 percent rubbish, 5 percent pure. However, the systems of marketing and distribution are in the middle of a huge shift, and by then end of this decade I think it's unlikely that any of the existing record companies will still be in business. With the greatest respect to all involved, that would be no great loss. Music will always find its way to us, with or without business, politics, or any other bullshit attached. Music survives everything, and like God is always present. It needs no help, and suffers no hindrance. It has always found me, and with God's blessing and permission, it always will.
– Eric Clapton, in Clapton: The Autobiography
After all, critics must be allowed. I've already mentioned the lack of details about his guitar playing, so an Autobiography, Vol. 2: The Music would be nice. Imagine this with a DVD containing previously unreleased material and amateur recordings like EC and Jimi in NYC…
More and better photos would also be nice. And finally, a usable index. The index provided is a joke – just computer generated. If you want to check out what he has written about his From the Cradle album and look simply at "F", you'll find nothing. Instead, you have to look at:
C: Clapton, Eric -> Clapton, Eric, musical career of, -> From the Cradle.
My recommendation is: read it, it's great if you want to know more about his life, but also read other biographies. Some recommendations are:
- M. Roberty: Eric Clapton (Omnibus Press 1986, 1990). Great visual documentary.
- M. Roberty: Eric Clapton – Day by Day: The Early Years. Every day up to 1982.
- H. Shapiro: Lost In The Blues (Guiness Publishing, 1993). Great EC biography.
- Michael Schumacher: Crossroads: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton (2003)
- C. Sandford: Eric Clapton – Edge Of Darkness (1994/96). Very critical but detailed biography.
- Pattie Boyd: Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me (2007). The other point of view.
- Dave Thompson: Cream: The World's First Supergroup (2005). The reference.
- Chris Welch:Cream: The Legendary Sixties Supergroup (2000)
- Christopher Hjort: Strange Brew: Eric Clapton and the British Blues Boom: 1965-1970 (2007)
- Alan Clayson: The Yardbirds: The Band That Launched Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page (2002)
His Cream bandmates also released their biographies:
- Jack Bruce: Composing Himself – The Authorized Biography
- Ginger Baker: Hellraiser – The Autobiography of the World's Greatest Drummer
Press Reviews
An inspiring story of struggle, setback and redemption, The early chapters bring vividly alive the mood and music of the times, and the young Clapton cuts a deceptively sympathetic figure: an idealist, dedicated to maintaining the 'purity' of his music; modest about his talents, candid about his professional jealousies, his shyness, his sexual insecurities.
Clapton bares his soul. Fascinating. It's an absorbing read, like you've been granted access to a mind finally coming to terms with itself.
The Sunday Tribune (Ireland)
A powerfully honest and very moving insight into the life of a rock legend
The Herald (Glasgow)
Clapton provides an orderly account of life in which all other considerations are secondary to the frequently selfish needs of The Artist'
Clapton reveals all in this unflinching confessional.
Clapton relates what happened with painful honesty. In other rock stars, such plump contentment might seem hypocritical, even vulgar. But with Eric Clapton, you feel that a little comfort is the least he deserves.
Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday (4 star review)
Eric Clapton has produced a gem of a rock memoir, in which he lays bare the painful roots of his music. Clapton speaks honestly and touchingly not only about the external course of his life but of what music has meant to him. That makes it much the best of this season's rock memoirs. Clapton delivers himself profoundly. It's extremely moving.
Evening Standard
Difficult to put down
Sunday Times
It is a pity more autobiographers don't have Clapton's grounding in the blues.
Sunday Times
His story is certainly deserving of telling. What sets this book apart is Clapton's sheer stature. His tale is frank, witty and engaging. Worth a read.
News of the World
This is a gripping read
It's a raw and remarkable piece of self-exposure
Daily Telegraph

subset: commoncrawl


text: Fathers have become fat & sad jokes of society - become the solution to this problem. So you know where I'm coming from I'm married and have an 8 year old son and a 5 year old daughter (Updated February 2018). I've come across way too many obese, entitled, spoiled yet victimized kids in my life for it to be...Read More


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Character Drawing Prompt Generator
A simple character drawing prompt generator.
A simple character drawing prompt generator.
A brief project used to evaluate Blazor Web Apps.
A devious Christmas present that I created using an Arduino microcontroller and a handheld electric fly swatter.
Web Tools is a set of software I created used for web analysis, reconnaissance, and testing.
An android application I designed and developed that helps with phone addiction
Mythic Servers was a gaming community I founded in May of 2012


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This week on Security Weekly News, Dr. Doug White covers the following stories: Tesla Goes Pwn2Own Again This Year, GRU "hacks" a Ukranian Gas Company at the Heart of Scandals in DC, Is Iran Shutting Down Social Media to Prevent Protests?, The US Government Issues Phones to the Poor Which Contain Chinese Malware. Oh, and the phones were Chinese too, Cloudflare Expands Into VPN and Firewalling, Microsoft has Officially Ended Support for Win 7 and Server 2008, A Nasty Bug in Firefox, Citrix Exploits are Being Well... Exploited, Can We Just Go Ahead and Read the Patterns in Encryption?, Cisco Data Center Vulnerabilities, More Lawsuits in Georgia, The Return of Emotet, Never Give the Victim a Break if You Want Them to Pay, and Is the US Better Than Anyone in the World at Cyber? In the expert commentary segment, Jason Wood covers the State of 5G Security.
Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/swn for all the latest episodes!
Show Notes: https://wiki.securityweekly.com/SWNEpisode3


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Highland Hospital: wayfinding to grow with.
Throughout its history, Highland Hospital (Highland) has grown to meet its community needs. However, continuous expansion, additions and renovations result in a complex facility that risks being far from patient friendly. Ongoing growth and changes can create a maze of corridors which connect a labyrinth of buildings, putting the facility at risk of becoming a source of patient confusion and stress. To alleviate this risk, Highland Hospital and Takeform have developed a proactive approach to ensure effective wayfinding through every stage of change.
Over our nine-year relationship, we've proven that a long-term alliance is the best wayfinding therapy for growing hospitals. Think of it in terms of your personal health: a trusted physician builds his value to you over the long-term. Your doctor gets to know you personally, understanding your health history, evaluating your current state, and providing prognosis for the future. By building a long-term relationship with a wayfinding consultant, hospitals like Highland realize the same value on an organizational level. The alternative is to have your needs met by an ever-changing stream of sources who only know your organization superficially; each of whom brings their own set of conflicting recommendations and implementations.
CLIENT: Highland Hospital, URMC
WHAT: Wayfinding masterplan, interior and exterior signage
WHERE: Rochester, NY
ARCHITECT/ INTERIORS: Clark Patterson Lee
You need to start somewhere, and for Highland, the solution was sparked by the anticipation of major renovations. This involved key departments being moved across the building and to different floors. Such changes cause long-term patients, familiar with a specific destination(s), to need considerable guidance until they become familiar with the new arrangement.
Through its history, the hospital had gone through many additions and renovations. These past experiences yielded important realizations: "Inconsistency in sign format and placement was a big issue for Highland. Every project had its own format and each design team made wayfinding decisions. The wayfinding experience was confusing for people visiting the hospital" explains Mike Zanghi, Highland Hospital's Director of Facilities.
Highland wanted a better answer. That's when we began a collaborative process to tame the complexity of the past, current and future facility changes. Through an in-depth analysis of the current facility and its upcoming renovations, Takeform created Highland's wayfinding masterplan, which standardized the design and placement specifications for all signage. The plan provided zone-based navigation, progressive disclosure, and incorporated existing visual identifiers which allowed for a minimalist approach to signage.
Mastering complexity.
Highland's wayfinding update and an Emergency Department renovation proved the effectiveness of the newly adopted approach. Working with architect, Clark Patterson Lee, Highland had developed a hospitality-inspired aesthetic. Our masterplan defined a sign standard which delivered a warm aesthetic through complimentary line, rich finishes and refined brand elements. The effectiveness of the new plan and the success of these important renovations marked the beginning of a productive partnership.
With clients like Highland, understanding expectations of the organization and identifying the nuances of the facility is a significant investment. The value is most appreciated over the long term, when the wayfinding consultant has become part of the hospital's team, getting involved early and often, resulting in streamlined projects and more importantly, improved patient experience.
"Takeform is part of our facilities team, from concept through installation, they provide guidance – both practical and aesthetic."
- Mike Zanghi
Director of Facilities, Highland Hospital
A year into the partnership, the Highland/Takeform team demonstrated its value on a new level. Thanks to the close collaboration, requirements for the wayfinding in Highland's new off-site parking facility were addressed early in the planning process. This advanced consideration provided a more effective solution that was implemented with greater efficiency and lower cost.
Two additional milestones, came soon after: our consultants guided Highland through wayfinding development for their Physician Office Building as well as their offsite Family Practice. These projects demonstrated how a consistent brand voice and wayfinding logic could be implemented across Highland's entire footprint.
The demands of managing a facility can be made even more complex when wayfinding is sourced through a variety of suppliers. Does this sound familiar? …the wayfinding system is designed by one company, signage is built by another and, possibly, installed by a third. When a project is executed in this manner, who is ultimately responsible? The hospital – having to oversee coordination and act as their own arbiter if a project falls short.
We brought Highland a better solution. Wayfinding projects involve three interdependent phases, design, manufacture and installation. Each phase has its own unique demands. This reality drove the development of our strategy as a single source provider. We provide every phase leaving you a single point of contact, one that holds ultimate responsibility, and is there for you well beyond the initial installation. The onus is on us to assure consistency of standards, including: sign type, color, finish, font, layout and graphic treatment – regardless of who initiates the order. Our goal is to free the client of distracting details, allowing them to confidently focus on the bigger picture.
"Having the support of our design, wayfinding and engineering experts in-house has been key to our success. Projects run smoothly because our team collaborates in real-time – providing solutions right when they're needed. It ensures our clients' requirements are met quickly."
- Anthony Fearby
Manager, Project Management, Takeform
Highland Hospital's growing affiliation with URMC brought an exciting challenge in 2014. Highland was to adopt new brand standards throughout the organization, and our team approach greatly simplified, what could have been, a far more demanding process.
The masterplan design specs for Highland's interior wayfinding seemed predestined to convey the new brand standards. The specified, "Camber" collection from our Fusion line was the ideal compliment to URMC's curve graphic – a defining secondary element of their brand standards.
The affiliation also drove demand for a complete update to Highland's exterior wayfinding. The project involved new installations as well as exacting retrofits to existing structures. We adapted a design from our Signify line that proved to be so "on-brand", it would soon be adopted as the sign standard for other URMC campuses.
"The improved wayfinding has helped countless patients and visitors get to their destinations quicker and with less stress."
Mike Zanghi
Director of Facilities, Highland Hospital
Most recently, Highland constructed a significant two-level addition. The undertaking dictated major changes in traffic and people flow. During the most demanding phases for the project, weekly consultation meetings kept wayfinding and patient experience in focus as a key priority. The masterplan again acted as the reference point to provide continuity and clarity.
Beyond signage.
Effective wayfinding is a multi-touch solution. To supplement the system, we designed and produced visitor handouts with custom maps of each floor which could be marked up to provide personalized directions for each visitor. We also offered environmental graphic concepts for elevator corridors and other key spaces. Further value was brought to the relationship through organizational support by providing masterplan and system training during staff additions and transitions.
Clarity through change.
Hospitals are in a state of constant, or perhaps, "chronic" change. Technological advances, regulatory modifications, and changing financial models – not to mention the pressures of the competitive landscape – all drive continuous renovation and reorganization.
To keep pace with change, while ensuring optimal patient experience, wayfinding must be addressed early. A long-term partnership makes this type of advanced consideration a natural part of the process. Regularly scheduled consultation builds a synergy that encourages productive communication and planning. Likewise, a masterplan ensures an approved reference point now and into the future, whether addressing the latest major renovation or the day-to-day modifications.
With patient experience being a vital measure of quality, don't leave wayfinding effectiveness to chance. Start a consultative partnership with a proven wayfinding provider now. You'll improve the state of your current facility and be well prepared for every change to come.
Complimentary wayfinding consultation.
Consult with one of our wayfinding experts and we'll share valuable insight that will enhance the way people experience your space.
Tell your brand story: Solutions for every market
Healthcare | Education | Corporate | Libraries | Senior Living | Government | Architects & Designers


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Synth1 Software Synthesizer
- Synth1 Software Synthesizer
- Musical Instruments by Daichi Laboratory
GET YOUR HANDS ON THE BEST SAMPLE PACKS IN THE GAME WITH A 10% DISCOUNT BY CLICKING THIS LINK ! The coupon WHATGEAR10 will be automatically applied at checkout.
Synth1 is a VST & Audio Unit software synthesizer designed by Ichiro Toda – (戸田一郎). It is modeled after the iconic "Clavia Nord Lead 2". Synth1 combines the common sound synthesis method of Subtractive & FM synthesis. It's one of the most downloaded soft synth in the world, some say it sounds amazing, and it's totally free !
Synth1 combines the common sound synthesis method of subtractive synthesis with FM synthesis, (the first oscillator have a parameter for frequency modulation). Structurally, the software behaves as though it were a modular analog synthesizer.
synth1 success is so huge that it is now the most downloaded software synthesizer of all times, attracting computer musicians all around the world and gathering a massive community around it. It is therefore easy to find many sound banks, skins, tutorials and helpful advices for Synth1.
- Win 32 VST V 1.13 beta3 (0.6 Mb) Release: Fri, 11 Jul 2014
- Win 64 VST V 1.13 beta3 (0.6 Mb) Release: Fri, 11 Jul 2014
- Mac OSX VST V 1.13 beta8 (0.6 Mb) Release: Fri, 15 May 2015
- Mac OSX AU V 1.13 beta8 (1.2 Mb) Release: Fri, 15 May 2015
- 3 oscillators, 1 FM modulation, 1 ring modulation and synchronization, and 1 sub-oscillator. Osc 1 can operate as detuned supersaw.
- One filter section, with distortion. Four filter types: two high-pass, one low-pass, and a band-pass filter.
- Two assignable LFOs, which can be synchronized to a host tempo.
- An arpeggiator which can be synchronized to a host tempo.
- Several built-in effects, including a tempo delay, distortion, phaser, and chorus/flanger.
- Polyphony, monophony, and legato voices.
- Unison and portamento modes
- 32 notes polyphony
- Automation
- Low CPU usage[12]
Operating environment / restrictions
- Supported CPU: X86 / x64 CPU that supports SSE2.
- Supported OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista 32Bit, Windows7 (developed with Windows Vista HP sp2) Not confirmed except left.
- Plug-in format: VSTi2.0
- Supported host: Reaper, Abelton Live, SONAR 6 LE, other than the left


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Laurie McPherson found this. The link to it is below, but the photographer wasn't credited.
4-H advertisement animal animals art Australia Avebury background Barrow bench boat Bolivia Brazil broken business California Canada candid cartoon cat chair child children China clothing collection color Colorado competition Connecticut connections cooking costume crime dining elsewhere England event family film/tv fire Florida food fountain France friend fun furniture game garden grouping handcart handtruck history holiday Hollycombe home Honduras human transport humor ideas India indonesia inside invention Iran Ireland Kenya Korea Lego Malaysia Massachusetts matching meme memory Mexico Minnesota Mississippi money motorized movie museum Netherlands new New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York New Zealand North Korea Northern Ireland odd use old Oregon painting performance planter play playing poetry Pokemon Pokemon Go politics portrait Portugal posed powered pub puzzle reference resting riding rivetted ruined sales Saudi Arabia schematics science Scotland sculpture shadow sign song South Africa Spain stables story stylized Sweden teapot technology Texas theatre tipping toy transit truck Tudor Turkey unschoolers unschooling upright video Vietnam Wales Washington wooden working
Friday, March 29, 2019
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Spooky Korean Drama Set Dressing
I don't know how set up it was, or how somewhat-candid, but in a dark and tense scene, portraying a dangerous construction area, it helps show that, and there's a bit of color in an otherwise way-dark scene.
Very often in cinema a wheelbarrow is used to represent lots of work, or quickly abandoned work, or to-be-continued work.
Probably in real-life, too. :-)
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While soft contact lenses are most common, another less familiar kind of contact lens materials exists: rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses, sometimes known as oxygen permeable lenses.
In reality, GP lenses involve more modern technology than soft lenses, which last longer, offer better vision quality, and provide enhanced deposit resistance. Further they may also be cheaper in the long term than soft lenses. Of course, its advised to first discuss with your optometrist to determine if RGPs suit your lifestyle. Our optometry practice can assist you in determining if GP lenses are suitable for you.
Since an RGP is constructed from stiff material, it retains its form well when you blink, which can afford sharper vision than the average soft lens. Additionally RGPs are particularly durable. Though they will crack if stepped on, they don't tear easily like soft lenses. Also, because they consist of substances that don't include water, proteins or lipids from your tears don't adhere to GPs as readily as they do to soft lenses. People that are extra particular about quality of vision will most likely opt for RGPs.
On the downside, RGPs must be worn consistently in order to achieve maximum comfort. Additionally, there are some who experience "spectacle blur" with hard lenses, which is when vision is unclear when contact lenses are removed even while still wearing glasses. Although the effect is only temporary, it can demand constant GP usage.
If you're looking into hard lenses, be sure to first speak to your optometrist to ascertain if you really are a candidate. You never know…hard lenses could be the perfect match for you!


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Hey girls,
I love transitional outfits that are perfect for both work and dinner dates. I keep hunting for the outfits which give a smart look for my meetings and an edgy look for my dinners. Along with the hunt of perfect outfit, I even pay close attention to my shoes. Being a shoe lover, actually high heel lover, I love picking shoes that compliment my outfits and to my great luck, I got introduced to the online footwear store- La Briza.
Have you checked them? Name any style of footwear and they have everything. I am in love with their stilettos and flats collection and would definitely recommend my readers look their collection here
I got two pairs of shoes from La Briza and I would like to show you how you can wear them for your work as well as a date. I hope you like my look 🙂
Work Look:
As the army, green shade is in the trend I picked a casual printed tee which is perfect for the casual Friday look. I teamed my tee with my favorite black leggings that aren't just comfortable but even super chic. What I liked about my casual work look is that they are nonchalant and even right for the Friday night movie date. I then styled my outfit with androgynous brown Oxfords from La Briza. I love everything about my lace shoes and they are just right for the work look.
How to style Oxford shoes: You can wear these appealing shoes with jeans, shorts and even midi skirts and I bet you will look gorgeous.
Casual Look:
For a casual look, like when I am traveling or having a fun time with my friends, I style these Oxford shoes with my shorts. The shoes take all the attention when I pair them with my shorts and tee.
Also, they are super comfortable and perfect for both work and casual look. Apart from shorts and tee, I even styled these super lovely shoes with my off shoulder top and jeans- aren't they just perfect?
Date Look:
This is my favorite look and as its dinner date I take my own sweet time in styling myself :P. For the date look, I wore my favorite hot red dress which is adorned with a golden belt, which adds a neat dimension to my dress. My dress has a zigzag neck pattern decorated with white embellishments and to complete the look I wore my current favorite strappy nude heels. The heels just stole the show and I can't stop gushing over my favorite La Briza heels.
How to style strappy heels: If you are going to buy these babies, you can pair them with both ethnic wear, jeans, short skirts, shorts and look hot for the day.
My Makeup look: As it is dinner date look, I dolled myself with Lakme CC cream and foundation. For my eyes, I chose Sugar eyeliner (current favorite) and Maybelline eye studio lasting drama gel eyeliner which I used as my Kajal. Read the review here and here. For my lips, I chose a complementing red shade from Chambor.
Outfit Details:
Red Dress: Essence
Off Shoulder Top: Faballey
Jeans: Jabong
This was my look from work to date. I hope you liked my look, do share your fav look in the comments below.
More of my OOTD Posts –
How I Rocked My Favorite Black Top In Five Different Ways
#BudgetShopping – A look under 1000INR from Lajpat Market
What to Wear While Traveling – Travel Fashion


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Modern Chic Holiday Decor – The goal for this holiday décor scheme was to incorporate a holiday tree without compromising space – namely, seating space and traffic flow, and to include some kitchen décor.
We focused on using space around the windows. The design of the rooms is traditional with modern lines, and the palette pairs sophisticated black and white tones with gold metals, so we chose a heavily flocked pencil tree to blend well with the white interior to create a modern chic holiday decor.
We also used some blackened manzanita and artificial branches with snow in traditional planters/vases to add a natural but dramatic display.
We chose Chanel for our inspiration with black, white and gold ornaments, black shopping bags and wrapped boxes, and white faux fur under the tree. We used the homeowner's Chanel black boxes and white satin ribbon, along with any other black boxes we could find.
We loved repeating the black and white theme with fur, feathers, flocking black boxes, ribbon and ornaments in black and white. Adding snow with natural elements of greenery and branches brings the outside in and really made everything look fresh!
Homeowners tend to be too heavy-handed with holiday décor, and pieces are often disconnected. When things flow, the look is much more spectacular! Incorporating natural elements is always a good idea. Fresh greenery, pinecones, real branches and snow that looks real always works.
Design By Jillian Straky, www.housewears.ca
For more great ideas, click here.
For more unique decor items for your home, click shopCHT.com.
Latest posts by Canadian Home Trends (see all)
- Transforming Julliette's Place - December 8, 2023
- Performance with Personality - December 8, 2023
- The Perfect Collaboration - December 8, 2023


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The fourth "goodie" for September is program 18 in the Duke Ellington series broadcasted by the Danish Radio in the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.
As usual, it is available in the "Goodies of the Month" section of the DESS Lobby (DESS-rummet).
The program was broadcasted on March 29, 1985 and the presenter is Erik Wiedeman. It is – like the broadcast on March 22, 1985 – entirely devoted to the music of the ballett "The River". Together, the two programs includes all the movements of "The River" in different stages of development.
The program starts with the piano version of "The River" from May 25, 1970. It is followed by "The Meander" – also a piano version – from May 11, 1970. It was meant to be played in Program 17 but because of a mix-up "The Lake" was played instead. "The Meander" is the third movement
The orchestral version of "The Lake" (May 25, 1970) comes next. It is the fifth movement of the suite.
Wiedeman then let us hear "The Falls" and "Flute from June 8, 1970. "The Falls is the sixth movement of the suite, while "Flute" was never included in it.
After these two selections, the broadcast continues with two from June 3, 1970. The first one is "Vortex" (aka "The Whirlpool") and the other one is "The River" (aka) "Ribe". They are the seventh and eighth movements of the suite.
Then follows two movements (the ninth and the tenth) , which describes two very different villages on each side of the river. First Busk plays two versions of "The Neo-Hip-Hot-Cool-Kiddies-Community" (aka "Stud") – one piano from May 11, 1970 and one orchestral one from June 3, 1970 and then "The Village Of The Virgins" (aka "Vivi"), which only exists in an orchestral version.
The program ends with "The Mother, Her Majesty, The Sea", which is the eleventh movement of the suite, followed by "Soft", which – Wiedeman says – Ellington might have meant to be the twelfth movement. Both only exists in orchestral versions.


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Topic: site moved to new server
The server that has been hosting litestep.info was old and smelly. The new server is more fresh, updated more easily, etc. I moved the site to the new server today. If you see the site at all then DNS has updated for you (I stopped apache on the old server). Please let me know if you notice any errors anywhere on the site.
State of the Step 2011


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Nina Ricci launches a new fragrance for Spring/Summer 2013 – Mademoiselle Ricci L'Eau, a follow up to theit youthful feminine fragrance Mademoiselle Ricci . The fragrance keeps the flame of a modern romance and writes a new love declaration with Mademoiselle Ricci L'Eau.
"The scent is fresh and impetuous, deliciously Parisian. Airy and scintillating, the new fragrance is an invitation to spend each day with passion and attentiveness, a gracious and radiant caress with a beating heart."
The refreshing and lightly acidulated notes of rose petals, peony and litchi are radiant under the morning sun. This new bouquet has been imagined by perfumer Alberto Morillas, master perfumer and creator of the previous Mademoiselle Ricci. The suave bottle design takes the softness of a kiss, reflecting the romantic character of the perfume it contains, with the tied ribbon a symbol of a promise, a declaration and a gift of love. Mademoiselle Ricci L'Eau will be available as a 30 ml and 50 ml Eau de Toilette.


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2009 Whitewater Valley Art Competition
This year's competition is juried by Corin Hewitt who holds a BA from Oberlin College and an MFA from The Milton-Avery School of the Arts at Bard College. He also attended the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Kunste Karlsruhe in Germany and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine.
Hewitt's work has displayed in exhibitions in the United States and Europe, including the Seattle Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Astrup Fearnley Museum for Moderne Kunst in Oslo, Norway.
Hewitt has been an artist-in-residence, an adjunct instructor, and a visiting lecturer and critic across the United States.


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After yesterday's excellent post from Aaron Preine, Checking the tires on Tim Duncan, I couldn't resist writing something about the man that the Whirlwide Liter ranked as the worst player in the NBA. Yes, the 7 foot tall Illinoisan from Harvey who shunned DePaul University to jump straight to the NBA. The same Thornwood High School graduate that, in the 2002-2003 season, became the first Chicago Bull since Michael Jordan to lead the league (58.5% field goal percentage) in a major statistical category. The gentleman who played a total of 83 minutes for the Miami Heat last year, and was buried so deep on the bench that he logged nary a minute in the postseason.
Yes, that Eddy Curry.
Now, it's not like the Spurs have been a franchise to shun the occasional reclamation project. From Nick Van Excel to Glenn Robinson (who even won a ring in SA in 2005) and beyond, it's been a normal occurrence for a semi-random league malcontent to be snagged off the association's scrap heap and slotted into the rotation in San Antonio. In fact, it was March of this year, at last season's trade deadline, that PATFO added Boris Diaw and Stephen Jackson: a couple of players who had already worn out their welcomes with multiple teams.
So, when R.C. Buford agrees to sign someone whose reputation doesn't quite mesh with the template of the prototypical Spur, the franchise has earned a good amount of leeway from its fans. Enough for us to at least take a breath before overreacting.
He's the poster boy for NBA underachievers. After showing early promise, he's settled in, and for his career, he has averaged more turnovers per game (2.2) than blocks (.7), steals (.3) and assists (.5) COMBINED. He has, and this is putting it kindly, struggled with his weight for years; with the highlight being in 2009 when his own personal trainer stated that it would be "delusional" for then coach Mike D'Antoni to think Curry could get down to 285lbs, which was the weight at which the Knicks listed him. At that time, he tilted the scales at 328. Today, he's noticeably slimmer, but the question remains as to whether that's sustainable for him.
Since the end of the 2007-2008 season, he has played 24 games. No, that's not a per-year stat, that's a total. He's struggled with irregular heartbeat. He's tangled with his coaches at multiple stops. He's been bought out, passed over, and declared washed up.
I'm not known for doing hatchet-jobs on players, and I don't mean this to be one either. Everything I've referred to was pretty well documented long before the first time Curry donned the silver and black. The truth is that I prefer a comeback story to almost any other kind, and what would be a bigger headline than Eddy turning things around in the Alamo city? For me, that would be a LINSANITY-level shocker.
Sure, the odds are against him, but a success of his wouldn't be much of a feel-good story without him being a long shot. Chances are that he will only be with the team through training camp, where he'll be a (hopefully) active body for Tim Duncan, Tiago Splitter, DeJuan Blair and Matt Bonner to practice against. But who knows what could happen? I'm not much of a betting man, but the last time I checked, it's the underdogs that pay off the best. And since everyone with a pulse is constantly mentioning the Spurs' need for another big, it would be pretty serendipitous if Curry has a renaissance this year and returns to relevance.
(h/t to Matthew Tynan and Jesus Gomez for the stats work)


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The world of professional sports has long grappled with criticism of the stark pay differences between male and female athletes – think Billie Jean King's "equal pay for equal play" push. A recent case brought by twenty-eight players on the United States Women's National Soccer team (WNT) against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) launched the issue back to the forefront of the pay equity arena earlier this month.
The suit – filed on March 8, 2019, which is International Women's Day – follows on the heels of a March 2016 gender discrimination complaint filed by several WNT players with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and a subsequent action by well-known goalkeeper Hope Solo. This most recent suit is a proposed class and collective action in California federal court: it aims to certify a class under Title VII and a collective action under the federal Equal Pay Act. In either event, the proposed class would include all members of the WNT since Feb. 4, 2015.
At its core, the suit alleges that elite female soccer players are paid less than their male counterparts for each of a multitude of accomplishments, including making the national team and winning games. The plaintiffs claim that the work performed by members of the men's and women's teams is comparable because it requires both sets of athletes to "maintain competitive soccer skills, physical conditioning, and overall health by undergoing rigorous training routines (endurance running, weight training, etc.) and by adhering to certain nutrition, physical therapy and other regimens," as well as "attend[ing] training camps and practices, participat[ing] in skills drills and play scrimmages and other practice events." The lawsuit also claims that the women's team has been more profitable for USSF, citing larger viewing audiences, more competitive matches, and accolades unmatched by the men's team, including three World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals. Importantly, this suit alleges a pattern of "institutionalized gender discrimination" manifested through where WNT games are held, their frequency, discrepancies in training and other resources such as medical treatment and coaching, different methods of transportation to matches, and other factors. Ultimately, the lawsuit seeks injunctive relief to compel the USSF to pay male and female players equally moving forward, along with compensatory and punitive damages.
A week after this suit was filed, USSF President Carlos Cordeiro released a public letter broadly stating that USSF "agreed to a fair and equitable collective bargaining agreement with the [WNT], which included a contract structure that the players specifically requested to provide them with a guaranteed salary and benefits." It further stated that "[a]t no point since that time have players raised concerns about the [Collective Bargaining Agreement] itself, and we continue to work with them in good faith." The letter did not reference any specific claims, but its message aligned with previous statements by USSF, namely in response to the March 2016 EEOC charge, when it expressed "substantial support for women's soccer and WNT players over the last quarter century." USSF has also previously explained that direct comparisons between male and female teams may be misleading on their face, because male players are compensated with higher bonuses only when they satisfy certain goals, such as qualifying for the team, whereas female players negotiated for a higher base pay and better benefits.
California may well have been seen as a hospitable venue for the suit in part because of the state's unprecedented stance on compensating female athletes. Last year, California's State Lands Commission – a state agency that issues permits for the famous Maverick's surfing competition in Half Moon Bay, California – required equal pay in terms of prize money for men and women as a condition of granting the necessary permit for the event. Subsequently, members of the California legislature introduced a bill that, if signed into law, could require equal prize money for male and female athletes at any sporting event on state-owned property.
Some professional sports have reached full pay equity for male and female athletes. For example, in Alpine World Cup Skiing, the International Ski Federation (FIS) which operates the World Cup tour has offered equal prize money to men and women skiers for the last 15 years. This year, phenom Mikaela Shiffrin set a record for 17 victories and won 1.6 times as much prize money as the best male skier on the World Cup tour. She was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying, "I'm very proud to be part of a sport where there is no gender pay gap."
The results of this new suit remain to be seen, but the fact that WNT is favored to win this year's World Cup in June may propel the case forward, at least in the news. For instance, Adidas has already announced that it will award the same performance bonus payout to female players if they win the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup as it would award to their male peers. And the lawsuit may generate rulings about the scope of Equal Pay Act and compensation discrimination claims and defenses that could have application far beyond the parameters of competitive athletics. Stay tuned for updates on this blog as this case progresses.


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Self-proclaimed Christian numerologist David Meade has been the hottest figure among conspiracy theorists for the past couple of years; all credit goes to the wild claims he made about Nibiru, the rogue planet which is lurking on the edge of our solar system.
In 2017, Meade claimed that the rogue planet Nibiru will hit the earth on September 23, causing confusion everywhere. However, his predictions went wrong, as the day went uneventfully. An adamant Meade once again predicted the world end and made it clear that the rapture will begin on October 15, 2017.
Meade assured that Nibiru would be visible in the skies on October 15, but this day too passed just like any other ordinary day.
Meade continues his outlandish claims
Around a couple of weeks back, many online news portals including Daily Star reported that David Meade has once again predicted the day of rapture. This time, he argued that Nibiru will appear in the skies on April 23, 2018, resulting in catastrophes in all nooks of the globe. As the video went viral, skeptics started criticising Meade for making such outlandish claims without any evidence.
Now, when the predicted doomsday is just 48 hours away, Meade has once again come out and has made it clear that the Armageddon will happen only between May and December 2018.
The numerologist added that after the appearance of Planet X in the sky, the world would go through a seven-year tribulation period in which the humankind will witness all kinds of natural disasters including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and giant Tsunamis.
According to Meade, after this tribulation period, the world will go through thousand years of peace, and finally, the world will end forever.
Is Meade a publicity seeker?
As David Meade once again became the hottest point of debate among doomsday mongers, skeptics have now started lashing him stating that he is a publicity seeker. Many people strongly say that Meade is doing all these gimmicks to enhance the sale of his new book ''Planet X and Beyond.''
NASA, the world's most prominent space agency has also debunked Meade's claims and has several times clarified that there is no such thing as Nibiru in this solar system.
According to experts in NASA, if Nibiru is real, then it could have already been visible to our naked eyes. The space agency has previously said that all the news surrounding Nibiru is nothing but an Internet hoax.


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I'm not usually one to hand out free marketing advice, but given Microsoft's recent announcement of significant cuts in its labor force I'm not sure that they'll be hiring any new marketing people anytime soon. I'd hate for good marketing ideas (in my opinion, anyways) to go to waste, and so here you go, Microsoft. Something to think about…
A Little Background
Since beginning my little odyssey of transitioning to all Microsoft products, I've been taking a hard look not only at the company's products but also at how they're marketing them. After all, my investment will be wasted if Microsoft can't make headway and ultimately fails in the market. While I definitely believe that Microsoft has a powerful strategy, I have to say that their marketing–specifically their product positioning–is a bit of a jumbled mess right now.
I won't delve into why Microsoft is in this position; that's fodder for another post. Suffice it to say that I think their business model as a software company providing a wide range of products and services to consumers, small and midsized businesses, and the enterprise has afforded them less flexibility in reacting to the sweeping changes in the industry over the past five years or so. Combined with poor execution in some areas, particularly in the mobile devices space, this inflexibility has resulted in a company that's a mishmash of the old and the new, and it shows in the products they're offering and how they're positioning those products to the market.
One glaring example is Microsoft's subscription music service, Xbox Music. It seems wrong to me that they're tying the service to the Xbox when they're striving to expand it onto other platforms.
It's not that Xbox is a bad brand. In fact, it's probably Microsoft's strongest consumer brand. However, it's also still tightly connected with the Xbox as a gaming console, and while I don't believe Microsoft will completely abandon Xbox as its entryway into the living room, they've definitely taken a step back from Xbox as purely (or primarily) an entertainment play by cancelling plans to develop original Xbox content. It seems that Xbox will return to its roots as a gaming platform while serving as an incubator for new technologies like Kinect.
Therefore, "Xbox Music" and its cousin, "Xbox Video," makes little sense to me. Far fewer people own Xbox consoles than own all of the devices for which Microsoft is writing music (and video) clients, specifically the various Windows platforms, iOS, and Android. To be blunt, I don't see the typical iPad owner being all too impressed with "Xbox" Music. Even as a Microsoft fan, I've felt the switch from Google Music to Xbox Music to be a bit jarring, not because I see anything seriously wrong with the service, but because the name simply doesn't feel, well, cohesive with everything else I'm doing.
As part of my Microsoft transition, I've also been looking hard at migrating from Evernote to OneNote. During my Tablet PC days, I was an avid OneNote user, and I switched to Evernote only because I branched out and started looking at platforms that didn't support OneNote. Today, however, OneNote runs on every platform I use, and therefore I've made it a project to copy my thousands of Evernote notes into OneNote and to start using the latter again as my primary note taking solution.
I'm doing the same with OneDrive, which is also now available for all of my platforms. I've not been as dedicated to a single cloud storage solution, but if I would have had to choose one over the last couple of years, it would have been Dropbox. Because OneDrive is an integral part of the Microsoft ecosystem, being tightly integrated with Windows, Office and particularly OneNote, I also have a project to start using OneDrive exclusively.
All of which got me to thinking. OneNote is the one place where I keep all of my notes, and OneDrive is the one place where I keep all of my files. And since it's the one place where I keep all of my music, why shouldn't Microsoft's music service be called "OneMusic"?
Consider as well that Microsoft has invested significant time and money in their "One Microsoft" initiative, which is the attempt to create a single, unified company out of something that has historically been comprised of disjointed silos. The strategy outlined by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is s significant step in this transformation; some consider the strategy as a departure from Balmer's efforts, but I see it more as a progression–one that's made necessary by the company's complexity.
Regardless, the number "One" seems to come up over and over.
With that said, let's look at Microsoft's operating systems. We have the full-featured Windows on the desktop and notebook, the ill-fated Windows RT for tablets, and Windows Phone for smartphones. With Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft is pulling their operating systems together, using one kernel (Windows NT), one programming API (Universal Apps), and one design theme (the modern UI, or what used to be called Metro) to create what is essentially a single OS. Windows 8.1's desktop mode is the only outlier (and a necessary one, given the millions of legacy Windows applications). There's even a rumor that this shared framework will be called OneCore.
And so, consider: we have "One Microsoft," OneNote, OneDrive, Xbox One, and possibly OneCore. We should have OneMusic and OneVideo. And we could even have OneOffice and OneCloud (a.k.a. Azure) if Microsoft wanted to be entirely consistent (possibly to a fault).
Thus, and wait for it… Why shouldn't we have Microsoft OneOS?
Think about it for a minute. Apple has OS X and iOS. Google has Chrome OS and Android.
Microsoft could have OneOS. Kind of rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it?
There's already been a great deal of talk about how Microsoft should use something other than "Windows 8.X" to designate the next version of their OS, because the current version has joined Windows Vista in suffering from negative connotations. Indeed, I would submit that the Windows brand in general has been sullied, with Windows RT being perceived as an abject failure and, though it's well-respected in most circles, Windows Phone not exactly being synonymous with market success.
Why keep "Windows" at all, then? Especially "Windows 9", which reeks of the ancient. Instead, how about a real break with the past? In addition to being completely fresh and new, Microsoft OneOS would immediately communicate Microsoft's central strategy, that is, "one operating system, many devices." You'd have desktops and notebooks running OneOS, tablets and hybrids running OneOS, and smartphones running OneOS. Developers would write their applications for OneOs, and users would download apps for OneOS, no matter which device they're using. From a branding perspective, any decent copywriter should already be salivating at the possibilities.
Even from a statistical perspective, OneOS makes sense. Today, by their own admission, Microsoft owns roughly 14% of the overall market if you consider every type of device. Going forward, Microsoft could account for OneOS market share in exactly the same way, marking their progress in capturing an increasing share of the larger market. Or, if they like, they can continue to break out market share by device type to accentuate their strengths (e.g., OneOS runs on 90% of full-featured desktops and notebooks).
As I started writing this post, I expected it to be longer and to cover more ground. However, as it turns out, it's really pretty obvious to me just how much sense this makes.
Microsoft, if you're listening, give it some thought (if you haven't already). You'd have to figure out how to fit Xbox into the equation, because it, too, will eventually be running the same OS as every other Microsoft platform. Maybe you keep the Xbox name, because it's the one that still has the most value, although given Xbox One sales vs. the PS4, maybe even that brand has lost some of its appeal. Maybe your hardware simply has its own branding, with Xbox for the console, Surface for tablets and hybrids, and Lumia for smartphones. OneOS simply ties it all together–Xbox One running OneOS, Surface running OneOS, and Lumia running OneOS.
There you have it, then. Microsoft OneOS.
Version One, of course.


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Discover more from Wonkette
Who likes white people?Uhh, everybody except for black people and brown people and yellow people, we guess? Also, many actual white people don't much like white people, having read a history book or two. But Michele Bachmann is here to praise Jesus and His Own Special People, even though he was an Arab. UPDATE: Michele Bachmann actually said she " hates white people" because they're "subhuman." YouTube regrets the error.
What is happening here? The Wonkette editorial board just had a meeting and your editor Kirsten Boyd Johnson said, "She's obviously referring to the dumb band that played before her but forgot to mention the rest of the band's name, because she's an idiot."
So the band is called "White People and ...."what? We don't know. Just elect Michele Bachmann. Let's get this country back on track! The apocalypse is barely a year away and we sure don't want ablackperson as president when God sends the Crazy Train. [YouTube via Wonkette Operative "Smashaduck"]


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LOCATION: Bonn
A leading global challenge today centers on the capacity to make appropriate decisions that will navigate countries and communities towards a safe, sustainable future. Uncertainty about future risk trends plays a central role in whether or not policy makers and practitioners can make decisions that help society adapt to climate risks and capture the opportunities ahead. To overcome that gap we initiated the Summer Academy on World Risk and Adaptation Futures and invite experts to discuss this challenge and find solutions.
Who is invited and what are we aiming for
The Academy strives for a balance of participants from different parts of the world and with different thematic backgrounds. The Academy will bring together a group of young professionals, including academic scholars (at PhD, post-doc and professorial level), policy makers and practitioners. Different perspectives are important to foster a common understanding.
Teachers and Facilitators: Participants will play an important role in setting the agenda of the Academy and providing content. To complement the expertise of the group, we will invite key resource persons, such as IPCC authors. The agenda will be shaped in consultation with the UNFCCC secretariat.
Special focus 2018:
Urbanization is one of the core factors shaping future exposure and vulnerability to environmental and climatic hazards. The growth of cities at coasts or in river deltas, for example, significantly increases the exposure of humans and infrastructure to floods, storms and other hazards. At the same time, urbanization can have manifold positive as well as negative implications for vulnerability, for instance, through its feedbacks with economic growth, socio-economic disparity trends or institutional changes to govern cross-scale adaptation measures. The 2018 Summer Academy will therefore concentrate on novel approaches to assess the relationships with urbanization and future trends in exposure and vulnerability. It will convene contributions from different conceptual and methodological directions, including, for example, backcasting, quantitative modelling and participatory scenario approaches.
Dates and venue:
The Summer Academy 2018 will take place in the hotel Rheinhotel Schulz near Bonn, Germany from 24 to 28 September. Accommodation, food and local travel during the academy will be provided in full by the organizers. Arrival and departure have to be organized by the participants themselves.
Your hosts:
The Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) is one of 15 worldwide operating research and training centres and programmes of the United Nations University (UNU). Its mission is to contribute to efforts to resolve the pressing global problems that are the concern of the United Nations and its member states. UNU's current activities regarding research and training are mainly focused on the environment and sustainable development on the one hand and peace and governance on the other. UNU disseminates the knowledge gained in its activities to the United Nations and its agencies, to scholars and to the public, in order to increase dynamic interactions in the world-wide community of learning and research.
Munich Re Foundation (MRF) is a non-profit foundation established by the Münchener Rückversicherungsgesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft in Munich ("Munich Re") on the occasion of its 125th anniversary in 2005. People are ultimately at the core of what MRF's work is all about. MRF's task is to minimise the risks to which they are exposed. It supports science and provides support, also in developing countries. MRF's aim is to prepare people to cope with risk and to improve their living conditions in relation to water as a resource and risk factor, population development, poverty, urbanization and megacities, disaster prevention, environmental and climate change.
Academy partner:
The UNFCCC secretariat (UN Climate Change) was established in 1992 when countries adopted the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The secretariat to the Convention, located in Bonn, Germany, is the United Nations entity tasked with supporting the global response to the threat of climate change. The UNFCCC secretariat supports a complex architecture of bodies that serve to advance the implementation of the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. The secretariat provides technical expertise and assists in the analysis and review of climate change information reported by Parties and in the implementation of the Kyoto mechanisms. It also maintains the registry for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) established under the Paris Agreement, a key aspect of implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Read more about the Summer Academy.


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From photography to agriculture, drones are conquering every aspect of our daily lives. Now with the prospect of a coffee drone by IBM, drones could soon be seen predicting and handing you your daily cup of coffee. The coffee drone is a concept idea patented by IBM. Nevertheless, the entire concept of the drone awes us, an aerial coffee machine flying right above your head. The patent describes the drone as smart and intelligent which can predict your caffeine need at the right time.
It could have some of the best AI capabilities which allow it to identify whether a person requires coffee by studying their facial expressions, body language, etc. The drone can not only predict the requirement but also delivers you your brewed drink. The patent was filed in the United states, and it claims that the drone would be equipped with the technology which can detect blood pressure, pupil dilation along with the aforementioned bodily gestures and tiredness to correctly identify when a person is drowsy or sleepy and then hand them their energizing drink.
The patent has put forth a number of ways in which the drone can dispense the coffee to the person. One of the ways was by directly pouring the coffee into an employee's mug or dropping off the coffee in a sealed container or bag to prevent spillage.The drone can otherwise be called like a waiter via hand gestures and it would carry out the same task of delivering coffee to you.
Apart from coffee, IBM is also considering to use the drone (if released) for alcohol delivery. Yes, inside of bars and restaurants where the drone could be effectively used with some modifications which would enable the drone to identify slurred speech, unsteady movements, drooping eyes or downward tilted head alerting the drone to cease delivering alcohol and it would possibly stop over-consumption of the drink as well. The drone, apart from limited alcohol delivery could also monitor its customer to prevent delivering alcohol to the under-aged/minors.
This sure seems unreal and it could be, as the company has only patented the idea and has not claimed to possess such a technology or produced a prototype of any sort. The drone may be a long way from now but you never know when you might find yourself waving to a drone for a cup of coffee in the future.


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The Avant-Garde of Presence(1)
[...] The dialectic of history is such that the Situationist Internationals theoretical victory is already forcing its adversaries to disguise themselves as situationists. Two main tendencies can now be distinguished in the impending struggle against us: those who proclaim themselves situationists without having any idea what theyre talking about (the varieties of Nashism) and those who, conversely, decide to adopt a few situationist ideas minus the situationists and without mentioning the SI. The increasing likelihood of the confirmation of some of the simplest and least recent of our theses leads many people to appropriate aspects of one or another of them without acknowledgment. We are not, of course, concerned here with obtaining recognition and personal credit for priority. The only interest in pointing out this tendency is in order to denounce one crucial aspect of it: When these people draw on our theses in order to finally talk about some new problem (after having suppressed it as long as they could), they inevitably banalize it, eradicating its violence and its connection with the general subversion, defusing it and subjecting it to academic dissection or worse. This is the reason they have to suppress any mention of the SI. [...]
Free play confined within the terrain of artistic dissolution is only the cooption of free play. In spring 1962 the press began reporting on the happenings produced by the some of the avant-garde artists of New York. The happening is a sort of spectacle pushed to the extreme state of dissolution, a vaguely dadaist-style improvisation of gestures performed by a gathering of people within a confined space. Drugs, alcohol and eroticism are often involved. The gestures of the actors strive toward a melange of poetry, painting, dance and jazz. This form of social encounter can be considered as an instance of the old artistic spectacle pushed to the extreme, a hash produced by throwing together all the old artistic leftovers; or as a too aesthetically encumbered attempt to renovate the ordinary surprise party or the classic orgy. In its naïve striving to make something happen, its absence of separate spectators and its desire to liven up (however feebly) the impoverished range of present human relations, the happening can even be considered as an attempt to construct a situation in isolation, on a foundation of poverty (material poverty, the poverty of encounters, the poverty inherited from the artistic spectacle, and the poverty of the philosophy that has to considerably ideologize the reality of these events). In contrast, the situations defined by the SI can be constructed only on a foundation of material and spiritual richness. This amounts to saying that the first ventures in constructing situations must be the work/play of the revolutionary avant-garde; people who are resigned in one way or another to political passivity, to metaphysical despair, or even to being subjected to an art of total noncreativity, are incapable of participating in them. [...]
People urge us to present trivial projects that would be useful and convincing. But why should we be interested in convincing them? In any case, if we were to oblige them, they would immediately turn these projects against us, either by holding them up as proofs of our utopianism or by rushing to disseminate watered-down versions of them. In fact, those who are interested in and satisfied by such partial projects can solicit them from almost anyone else, but not from us. We contend that a fundamental cultural renewal will not be brought about by an accumulation of changes of details, but only as a whole. We are obviously in a good position to discover, a few years ahead of other people, all the potential gimmicks of the present extreme cultural decomposition. Since they are useful only in our enemies' spectacle, we merely make a few notes on them and file them away. Many of them are eventually discovered independently by someone or other and ostentatiously launched on the market. History has not yet "caught up" with the majority of them, however. Perhaps it never will with some of them. This is not simply a game, it is one more experimental verification of our perspectives.
We believe that modern art, wherever it was truly critical and innovative in the very conditions of its appearance, has fulfilled its role, a role of great importance; and that, despite the speculation on its products, it is still detested by the enemies of freedom. It suffices to note the fear it inspires even now among the cautiously de-Stalinizing rulers, how they panic at the slightest sign of its reappearance in their dominion after years of total repression. They denounce it as a leak in their ideology, because their power depends on that ideologys monopoly of information at every level. But the people in the West who profit from respectful prolongations and artificial revivals of the cultural ventures that were blocked long ago are the real enemies of modern art. We are its sole heirs.
We are against the conventional forms of culture, even in its most modern state; but not, obviously, in preferring ignorance, neoprimitivism or petty-bourgeois common sense. There is an anticultural attitude that favors an impossible return to the old myths. Against such a current we are of course for culture. We take our stand on the other side of culture. Not before it, but after it. We contend that it is necessary to realize culture by superseding it as a separate sphere; not only as a domain reserved for specialists, but above all as a domain of a specialized production that does not directly affect the construction of life not even the life of its own specialists.
We are not completely lacking in humor; but our humor is of a rather new kind. If someone wants to know how to approach our theses, without going into the fine points and subtleties, the simplest and most appropriate attitude is to take us completely seriously and literally.
How are we going to bankrupt the dominant culture? Two ways. Gradually at first, and then suddenly.(2) [...]
1. The Avant-Garde of Presence: The article opens with a response to the critic Lucien Goldmann, who had referred to various more or less nihilistic artists (Beckett, Ionesco, etc.) as an "avant-garde of absence."
2. This line is adapted from a passage in Hemingways The Sun Also Rises (Chapter 13).
Lavant-garde de la présence originally appeared in Internationale Situationniste #8 (Paris, January 1963). This translation by Ken Knabb is from the Situationist International Anthology (Revised and Expanded Edition, 2006). No copyright.


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A mission in transformation
When the Books and Beyond Reading Club (B&B) was founded in 2014, it was not an action made in haste or confusion. To founder Barbara Kwok, it was the realisation of a life's dream and purpose. We sat down to chat with Barbara Kwok about her dream organisation, what teaching children meant to her and why she feels social and emotional learning go hand in hand.
How did Books And Beyond (B&B) Start?
I had always wanted to work with children, and the establishment of B&B was a way to fulfil that desire. However, I was equally clear in my desire to create something more than just another English-teaching organisation. The key to the puzzle was transformation; a mission to provide B&B students not just tools, but to also teach them how to use them effectively. This focus on social & emotional learning (SEL) is B&B's calling card, dedicated to teaching not just the ABC's, but how such knowledge could be applied with regards to compassion, gratitude, decision-making, and strength in their everyday lives, in and out of the classroom.
It may be cliché to claim as such, but there is a sense that every student of B&B is much more than that. They are seen not as numbers or names on a page, but as individuals with potential to be unleashed. It's a strength in belief that manifests itself best not only when students are willing and able to learn, but especially when they are reluctant or sceptical at first contact.
Give us an example of how B&B works
Just a year ago, [one of our students,] Matthew was content with spending B&B lessons sprawled across the floor with no regard for the lesson material or the volunteer. In another time, in another place, he may have been scratched off as a hopeless cause and left to his own devices, but thankfully, he was in this place, in this moment.
I found that Matthew's attention would pick up during storytelling presentations, when students would devise their own scripts based on the day's lesson. So, I decided that I would ramp the activity up, surmising that he would eventually be curious enough to try it himself. One day in class, the staunch holdout raised his hand, and never looked back.
A year later, and Matthew has been entirely transformed. Before, his English test scores would often hover around the 20 to 30-point mark. Today, he is first in his class, consistently scoring in the high 80's and 90's. Matthew has also become one of B&B's most dedicated student volunteers, energetically passing the passion he has found onto his fellow classmates.
Are all B&B kids success stories?
Matthew's story is one of undeniable success, but not every student may immediately skyrocket to stellar results so quickly and clearly. Every child walks a different path, and it is B&B's mission that they are accompanied every step of the way. However, this journey is not one done alone, but is aided by the guiding hand of volunteers dedicated to helping them succeed. The meaningful work can only be done with their ongoing support. When the results crystallise before their eyes, it all becomes worth it, and pushes all members of B&B to continue.
What are the biggest challenges being a charitable organisation dedicated to learning?
Our biggest challenge is recruiting volunteers who can dedicate their time and effort on an on-going basis. Children progress so much faster when volunteers build a rapport with them.
How can others get involved?
By signing up through our website www.booksnbeyondreading.com as a volunteer and share their experience with their company and peer. The more people get involved in the initiative, the more children will get the benefit of the program.
What age are the volunteers? Do they need special qualifications?
Our volunteers range from age 18 to 50. They need to love children, have patience, be energetic and most importantly see learning as fun. Volunteers are the ones who set the tone, energy and vibes in the classroom. They are the creators of a fun learning experience for the children.
What do you see for B&B in the future?
B&B has grown rapidly in the last four year in Hong Kong. We are working on developing the program in other countries like Ukraine, Zambia and Nicaragua. The acquired SEL skills, knowledge and disposition will help children manage self and relationships effectively. In the long run, the greater social and emotional competence will lead them to become responsible citizens.
Do children need to attend classes at B&B? Or do you offer one-on-one help in their homes as well?
Our two-year program offers 12 "In-the-classroom" sessions in each of our partner schools together with several outings in the first year. A sustaining online reading program in second year will help children consolidate what they have learned. We do not offer one-on-one help in their home as such. However, the B&B graduates are invited to join us as Book Bear Assistants, our Student Leadership Program. By being the student leaders, they will be able to contribute their passion to their younger peers and will be trained as future leaders in the community.
Books & Beyond Reading Club, Rm 801 Chinacham Johnston Plaza, No. 176-186 Johnson Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong, 9805 4336, www.booksnbeyondreading.com


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From my experiences of being homeless & dependant on drugs & alcohol, I found it to be stressful, fearful & challenging most days out there on the streets. Every 24hours that passed felt like a huge struggle & battle with depression & destruction. No one in their right mind would want to live a life as a homeless drug addict, but then I wasn't in my own mind. I felt powerless, like I had no other choice, heroin simply had to come first & the fear of possibly going without this drug I so desperately needed physically, mentally & emotionally. My first waking thought was heroin & my need for it was stronger than any of my other basic needs, without this drug I would suffer from withdrawals, feel so sick & completely exhausted. I was neglecting myself & my health, I wasn't eating much & within a short space of time I was losing everything & everyone around me.
In order to raise the much needed money to fund & feed my habit within the first 4-6months I turned to shoplifting which consequently resulted in 2 court appearances, I was edging closer to a return to prison after having not reoffended for the previous 5years. I would see other homeless people sitting down begging for money I presumed then was towards drugs & or alcohol maybe. I was part of the homeless community in Luton & after hearing how much money could be made from begging, I simply needed the money for my own addiction so I began sitting & begging myself. I would spend up to 16hours begging each day to get the money I needed. When I look back, reminding myself of that vicious cycle I was stuck in for 3years of my life it seemed as if it was a job 2 me back then. I continued to self-medicate with heroin as it was what I needed & was my everyday routine, it was simply all I had known, I was living everyday like a hustle & struggle. I would use heroin to drown out & numb all the intense & all consuming thoughts, feelings & fears I had kept hidden inside for so long. In reality I was traumatised & would seek solace in using this powerful & damaging drug!
After nearly 2years of being homeless, I felt I had to get away & go somewhere else. I left Luton for St Albans City in search of more money I could make from the generous St Albans community. I would chat with many people & the first thing I would say to them is that i wasn't a drug user, although I was well aware of the problems I had, I guess i was still in denial with myself. Through begging I would make up to £100-£150 a day, which contributed hugely towards my heroin addiction. I was using & spending more money on heroin as my habit was gradually getting a lot worse & becoming more problematic, my life was totally unmanageable. I had no self-respect for myself at all & some of the looks I would get from members of the public were beginning to hit me more & more as time went by. This would really hurt me as what right did anyone have to feel the need to judge me when they didn't know anything about me or my life. Nobody knew the struggles & problems I had to face & endure from the past & present on a day to day basis.
Everyday I would be approached by local outreach workers who would ask me why I was still choosing to live rough & I would tell them it was best I stayed out on the streets as I didn't really have much choice, my habit was too strong. As time went by, I was more aware of my addiction & had gained more acceptance around it. I was completely broken & felt now was the time something had to happen, I needed to implement changes in my life. I was approached by a local lady in St Albans City whilst I was sitting begging for money, we spoke about my situation & how I could begin treatment for my addiction by going on a methadone script. This kind lady wanted to help me, I felt I could trust her & she invited me into her home as I began attending appointments at a local drug/alcohol support centre & at this point I was waiting for a phone call to move into a nightshelter. I felt a strong connection with this lady & now I think of her like a mum.
I am now almost 1year into my sobriety & I'm looking forward to starting college in September. I am now actively involved in a fantastic group ST ALBANS ACTION FOR HOMELESS.
Wayne Odell


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Making introductions
Robyn Marsh, Content & Engagement Manager
Welcome to the second episode of our Culture Clinic with TCM consultant and coaching expert Anup Ravi. We like to think of Anup as our resident adventurer; his coaching and mediating experience is quite rare, befitting the character of a protagonist in a great epic novel. He's managed teams in natural disaster, sea expeditions and evacuations from armed robbery. He's also lived and worked in over 50 countries from India to Europe, Asia, Africa and at sea. Who better to ask for coaching advice? This session explored different types of coaching, the coaching services offered at TCM and an interactive advice segment.
Anup Ravi, Transformation Consultant
Picture this. It was around 8 o'clock on Saturday morning, January 28th 2014, in South Sudan. My radio crackles and the voice says, "Come to the gate. Come to the gate right now. Emergency fast." The Emergency Coordinator and I were sitting having breakfast at the time. We immediately dashed to the gate where we can see a group of South Sudanese army guys stood there in flip flops with AK47s, pointing the guns at us over our heads. We didn't understand the language they were shouting, but it didn't matter – the message was clear. We knew we had to stand back and look alert, awaiting command. The Emergency Coordinator took a couple of steps forward and asked, "Hey, have you spoken to your boss? What's going on here?" It was a brave mistake. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Four shots over my head. They wanted our car keys. I threw them at the ground, towards the men, and they took the car and sped away. Immediately, we rush back to our team, waiting in the wings shocked to hear these bullets ricochet within this enclosed compound. Usually, you can hear the shots outside, but this time it happened so close. The emergency coordinators told us to evacuate: this was an armed robbery evacuation. We immediately started to coordinate evacuations by talking to the pilots and dismantling communications. Everyone in the team was from different cultural backgrounds but we worked like clockwork. It was just in flow state, continuing to move to save ourselves from the situation at hand. Within two and a half hours, we evacuated the compound and moved to locate. Upon reflection on that particular experience, what dawned on me was the clear vision for that particular team to get out. Everyone had their buy in, working as a collective, with each individual contributing to work towards that singular mission. It worked brilliantly and I had the amazing opportunity to witness that first-hand.
About Anup
I'm from India and I've had an amazing, lucky, opportunistic career. In the past, I started off as an engineering officer working on oil tankers; I then moved on to becoming a rescue diver. I met my then English girlfriend, who's now my wife, in India. Since meeting, we've set up an NGO with livelihood projects for tribal communities in southern India, including schools for children in these communities. Today, there's about 12 schools and more than 400 children studying there, and some of them have graduated to become nurses and civil engineers. We still go there and work every year for one or two months. We also work with Doctors Without Borders, MSF, with previous opportunities to work in war zones, natural disasters, the outbreak response in Nepal, emergencies in Ethiopia, refugee camps, and in South Sudan in multiple projects where there were conflicts across the country. My job role in opportunities that I've had there was to set up hospitals, bomb shelters, air strips in the middle of nowhere, negotiate with rebel groups to gain access, and opportunities to work with multiple multicultural teams, with different cultural backgrounds, coming with different approaches, perspectives and challenges. But with language and culture, it was a great opportunity to work with these sort of teams; that's been a consistent thing throughout my career.
This webinar is for organisations who are looking to grow, develop and transform themselves in new avenues and areas, but especially for those middle managers, to senior managers or senior leadership teams who are really the key players in any organization. We'll talk about where these individuals or teams are present currently, where the journey begins, and then visualise what their destination is going to look like. Coaching is that vehicle to take you through the journey of seeing how we can get from where they are now, which could be overworked staff with very low performance and demotivation, to where they could be, which would be a highly engaged team, working sensibly in a smart way with high performance.
The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as:
"A partnership between a coach and a client in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership. Coaching is not advice given; it's partnership in its true sense."
Coaching styles
Individual coaching:
- The coach works one to one
- Goal-setting focus
- Collaboration to form a strategic action plan
Relationship coaching
- The coach partners with two individuals
- History of strained relationship or a new match to work on a project
- Enables growth, proactively challenges and boosts collective performance
Systemic team coaching
- The team coach works with a whole team
- Tool to effectively engage in wider business and increase cohesiveness of workforce teams
- Improves collective performance, develops collective leadership, teaches active engagement with key stakeholder groups
Group coaching
- The team coach works with a specific group
- Involves recipients discovering new skills and enhancing professional performance
- Enables growth
Coaching transforms workplaces by working through problem solving, encouraging proactive and non-judgmental collaboration, and defining clarity of vision, purpose and strategy of the organisation. At Engage Leadership, TCM's sister organisation, three types of coaching are currently available: Leadership Coaching for Management, Coaching for Career Development and Conflict Coaching.
Questions from the audience
Robyn Marsh 27:17
Is relationship coaching similar to mediation, and possibly an intervention used when one or both parties are reluctant to enter into mediation?
Anup Ravi 27:33
It is very similar to mediation, but it's one of those things where it could be either used prior to mediation or post mediation. So, when people reach an agreement from mediation, it can become very difficult for them to carry that resolution forward. Sometimes they end up in another conflict. In this case, coaching could be an aftercare service to continue to take them through that journey to become more collaborative. It shifts mindsets from conflict between each other to safely challenging each other and proactively moving forward. Prior to mediation, it could be used for individual coaching, for instance, to bring about personal change and growth. It can really help to resolve an issue that somebody has without ever having to get to a state of mediation. In this way, coaching is both preventative and proactive.
Robyn Marsh 29:29
If I had a business that was already performing well, with a lack of issues between colleagues, no signs of conflict, and great turnover, what would be the business benefit of coaching? Why would that be a useful tool to have in an organisation that already seems to be achieving optimal success?
Anup Ravi 30:00
Every coach would like to work with organisations and teams who are already thriving and wanting to do more, and grapple with new, interesting and intellectual challenges. It's great to be able to stretch their thinking; it enables organisations to consider stakeholders' needs. Coaching can bring the change in thinking and, in effect, transform the culture of the organisation.
Robyn Marsh 35:45
How do coaches actively support, rather than tell, when working with clients?
Anup Ravi 36:12
People misunderstand that coaching is about giving advice. In actual fact, a coach is there to actively listen and enable the person to be able to reflect and speak on their challenges or ideas. If a coach can listen, rather than talk, then they understand the difference.
Robyn Marsh 38:50
What kind of key questions do you think would be best to ask when coaching?
Anup Ravi 39:16
There is no real trick to coaching and there are no golden questions that you can ask to reach a quick solution. The key question often arises when you're actively listening to the speaker, summarising and reflecting back to enable the thinker. Sometimes, being curious can be the most powerful tool: "Did I understand that right? What do you mean by that?" Focus first on creating a space for your coachee to feel safe and secure to be able to open up and tell you exactly what is going on with them.
Robyn Marsh 40:41
A participant just wrote that coaching helps the thinker to do their thinking at the speed of speech.
Participant 49:48
This session has made me reevaluate my understanding and definition of coaching. I always considered it to be a one-to-one model, but clearly it goes further than that. I've realised it can be used to improve current skills, to reflect on practices, and to view how to move forward. This new perspective, when thinking about group coaching, can be extended to developing team skills.
Anup Ravi 50:28
Absolutely. Team coaching enables the team, the organisation and the whole system to thrive and evolve in a very mindful way to consider the impact, development and positivity that it could bring. Coaching is about bringing that transformation of organisational culture.
If you missed Anup's Culture Clinic and you'd like to catch up, you can watch the full video below.
Alternatively, if we've piqued your interest, please feel free to book in a free consultation with Anup to further discuss coaching by emailing us here.


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William Kamkwamba has become the first African Leadership Academy student to have a book published. The book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, recounts his trials and tribulations as he tried to bring electricity to his poor Malawian village.
Struck by severe drought and poverty, William's village had a lot of hunger and little in the way of hope. William, the only son among eight siblings, had been denied access to secondary school because his family could not afford the school fees. So he started reading the science books in his local library.
One book, Using Energy, described how to make a windmill. William realized that if he could build a windmill, he could give his family the ability to pump water. They could feed themselves. They would have hope.
Working with an old bicycle and scrap from a local scrap yard, and working against the public perception that he was either crazy or possessed, William figured out how to make not just one but three windmills.
William's remarkable story has led him to be a guest speaker at two TED conferences. Recently, he was profiled on CNN. Touring to support his book, William has also made appearances on Good Morning America with Diane Sawyer and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
William's book has placed as high as 7 on Amazon's bestseller list.


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Sunday, November 8, 2015
Six years later I'm still counting...
13 comments:
You amaze me. Such an inspiration.ReplyDelete
Six years! Amazing. Isn't God amazing?ReplyDelete
I hope there is sunshine there for your friends from SC!
- AnonymousNovember 9, 2015 at 6:54 AM
You are such an inspiration! Thank you for always "looking to the Sunnyside of life!"ReplyDelete
Your new home is looking amazing. I love the new floors!
Miss you and Pastor!!
What an inspiration you are, Elizabeth! And such a testimony to the power of gratitude. Love everything about this post, but most especially the verses you write on the subfloor. How wonderful that they will always remain, *undergirding* the rooms of your home with His Word!ReplyDelete
Love these words you shared...Thanksgiving is not just a day in November, it's a habit worth developing. Words that I want to live by every single day!ReplyDelete
This post is just beautiful! So grateful you shared your gratitude as you spoke deeply into my heart something which I needed this morning. Blessings to you!ReplyDelete
I adore that I happen to be one of your blessings. You are certainly a great gift to me. I'm still praying for you.ReplyDelete
The best thing about blogging is hearing from you!
I'd love for you to leave a comment! Click subscribe by email if you want me to be able to reply to you.


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Hello there and welcome to day two of the May 2019 Clearly Besotted teasers. Today I have a card to share with you using the new Wise Owl set. This is a wonderful set for the book lovers in your life, as well as academics and students.
I started off by stamping the owl, mortar board and scroll from the Wise Owl set on to white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. I stamped the scroll and mortar board first, masked them off and then stamped the owl that is standing on books, so that he is holding the scroll and wearing the mortar board. The image was coloured using Copic Markers (the colours that I used are listed below the supplies area) and then fussy cut with scissors (but there are dies available if you didn't want to fussy cut).
I took a piece of watercolour paper and added Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay Ink in Teal, Blue and Violet to it, blending between the colours as best as I could with water and a paintbrush. I set the piece aside to dry and once dry, cut it in to a circle. I then ran it through my die cutting machine with the Seeing Stars Stencil to create some texture. This was added to a white 4" x 5.5" card base with tape runner. I then added the owl on top with foam tape. I took the sentiments from the Full Of Sentiment set and stamped them on to black cardstock with Versamark ink. I applied white embossing powder and heat set. They were cut in to strips and added to the card with more foam tape.
Here are the links to what I have used on the card. Affiliate links are used on some products. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking on my link, I receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support when using these links. Please click on the logo below the product to shop at your favourite store. All products were personally purchased except those from Clearly Besotted, Hero Arts or those marked with an asterisk (*) which were kindly sent to me to use. You can read my full disclosure here.
COPIC MARKERS: Owl - W7, W5, W4, W3, W1, W0, YR27, Y28, Y26. Mortar Board - N9, N7, N6, N5. Scroll - C4, C1, C0, V17, V15, V12. Books (top to bottom) - B24, B23, B12. B69, B66, B63. V17, V15, V12.
I think this set would be perfect to use on bookmarks too. Oh and I must use my Bombay Inks more often, I love how they blended together! For more inspiration using the new release, please do head over to the Clearly Besotted Blog, Keren and Lisa. Thanks so much for visiting me today, I hope you have a great day!


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Water loss control starts with the ability to quickly and economically pinpoint the sources of residential and distribution main leaks, tank spillage, theft and unbilled usage. Three recent additions to BEACON together with our leak detection algorithms help you find and minimize such losses.
Identifying Residential Leaks
The new Analytics Overview page, for example, gives you enhanced visibility into residential leaks. BEACON's leak detection algorithm looks for >1 gph flow for 24 consecutive hours from the time the meter last communicated with the system. The Analytics Overview page targets networked meters that are 1.5" and smaller in size—meters most likely to be installed at single family residences. The page displays a running count of those leaks and ranks them by flow rate and duration, displaying that data via easy-to-read bar graphs.
In addition, Take Action controls make it simple to select and jump to the Monitor page to get a more detailed view or export the contact information for:
- All your customers with leaks,
- Customers with "critical" leaks (leaks of 60 gph or more),
- Customers whose leaks have persisted for 10 or more weeks.
When viewing details on the Monitor page cards, you can easily see which customers signed up for EyeOnWater and which ones set Leak Alerts. You can even review Leak Alerts and when appropriate advise customers on how to set a Leak Threshold.
To quickly get a list of customers with leaks, the Take Action controls let you export a CSV file with their contact information so you can reach out and encourage them stop the leak.
If your customers use EyeOnWater, the Analytics Overview page also lets you quickly see how many people are signed up for the service, their recent activity level and new signup stats. What does EyeOnWater have to do with water loss control? EyeOnWater gives your customers direct access to their water usage data, including leak detection and alert tools that have been proven to help reduce residential leaks at their source. For example, recent studies by the California State University at San Marcos demonstrated that EyeOnWater is an effective tool for reducing real water loss. For details, see "Smart Water Meters and Data Analytics Decrease Wasted Water Due to Leaks" (Journal of the American Water Works Association, 2018).
Spotting Distribution Level Water Loss
At a water distribution level, BEACON support for District Metering Areas lets you identify real water loss from supply tank spillage and leaks in the water mains that feed your Demand Meters, as well as apparent water loss in the form of mis-sized meters that aren't measuring all of the water being consumed by your customers.
By simply looking at a line graph on the Monitor page, you can spot apparent water loss when Demand Meter consumption is greater than Supply Meter output. This condition typically means that your Supply Meters either are not or cannot accurately measure the water flowing through them.
Conversely, when Supply Meter consumption is greater than that being reported by your Demand Meters, you're seeing evidence of real water loss in the form of leaks on the distribution side of your water system.
For more information, see Tracking Non-Revenue Water with District Metering Areas.
Tracking Unauthorized Water Usage
The other form of apparent water loss is from unauthorized usage/theft. The new Vacant Properties feature lets you keep an eye on usage at places where you expect there to be little or no water use. With the Account>Vacant Properties>Yes filter selected, any usage displayed in the Monitor page Consumption Graph is potentially unauthorized usage that should be investigated.
When used in concert, the new Analytics Overview page, DMA support and the ability to monitor usage at Vacant Properties let you easily identify water loss and take action to minimize it.