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For many years of my service as a priest — more than half a century, in fact — I have been regularly available for several hours each week to people who come to the sacrament of reconciliation, or, because many of them are anabaptised or nonpracticing Catholics, for a "spiritual chat". I have thus lent an ear to several thousand people. It is likely that some of them confided to me things they had never spoken about even with their nearest and dearest.
I realise that this experience has shaped my perception of the world maybe more than my years of study, my professional activity, or my travels around the seven continents of our planet. It has been my lot to have worked in a number of occupations. Every profession involves seeing the world from a different viewpoint. Surgeons, painters, judges, journalists, businesspeople, or contemplative monks, all view the world with a different focus and from a particular perspective.
Confessors, too, have their own way of viewing the world and perceiving reality. I believe that nowadays, after hours of confession, every priest who is no longer naïve and yet not cynical must be tired by the often difficult task of helping people seek the narrow, conscientious path between the Scylla of the harsh and uncompromising "thou must and thou shalt not" that cuts heartlessly like cold steel into the flesh of painful, complex, and unique life stories, and the Charybdis of the wishy-washy, speciously soft-hearted "everything's OK so long as you love God".
Saint Augustine's dictum "Love and do what you will" is truly the royal road to Christian freedom, but it is feasible only for those who know the difficulties, risks. and responsibility involved in truly loving.
The art of accompanying people on a spiritual journey is "maieutical" — that is, of the nature of the art of the midwife, as "care of the soul" was described by Socrates in honour of his mother (Kierkegaard adopted the term also). It is necessary, without any manipulation, to help specific individuals, in their unique situations, to find their way and arrive at a solution for which they are capable of accepting responsibility. "The law is clear", but life is complex and multivalent; sometimes the right answer is to have the courage and patience to keep asking the question.
The night of the confessor
It is usually late at night by the time I get home after hearing the last of those waiting for me in the church. I have never entirely managed to do what people in the "caring professions" are advised to do — that is, not to bring their clients' problems home with them. On occasions it can take me a long time to get to sleep. At such moments, as one might expect from a priest, I also pray for those who have put their trust in me.
Sometimes, however, in order to "retune" myself, I reach for the newspaper or the book on my bedside table, or I listen to the late-night news broadcast. And it is at those very moments that I realise that I perceive what I am reading or listening to — all those testimonies to what is happening in our world — in much the same manner as when listening to those people over the previous hours in church. I perceive them from a confessor's perspective, in a manner that I learned over many years both in my previous profession of clinical psychologist and even more so in my service as a priest hearing confessions.
In other words, I endeavour to listen patiently and attentively, to discriminate and do my best to understand, so as to obviate the risk of asking seemingly prying questions that might be wounding. I try also to "read between the lines" and understand what people are unable (and slightly unwilling) to say in so many words, for reasons of shame, shyness, or embarrassment, or because the matter is so delicate and complicated, a matter that they are unaccustomed to speaking about, and they are therefore "lost for words".
By then I am also searching for the right words to comfort or encourage them, or, if necessary, to show it is possible to look at the matter from a different angle and appraise things differently from how they perceive them and evaluate them at that particular moment. My questions are aimed at bringing them to reflect on whether they are concealing something fundamental from themselves.
Confessors are neither interrogators nor judges; nor are they psychotherapists — and they have only a limited amount in common with psychologists. People come to confessors in the expectation and hope that they will provide them with more than is implicit in their human skills, their specialist education, or their practical experience, both "clinical" and personal, that they have at their disposal words whose sense and healing power emanate from those depths we call the sacrament: mysterion — the sacral mystery.
A confessional conversation without a "sacral dimension" would be mere psychotherapy (and often amateurish and superficial to boot). On the other hand, a mechanically performed "sacrament" and nothing more, without any context of human encounter, in the sense of conversation and keeping company in the spirit of the Gospel (as Christ did when he accompanied his sad and confused disciples on the road to Emmaus), could degenerate into something akin to mere magic.
People sometimes come to a confessor in situations in which their entire "religious system" — their thinking, their experience, their behaviour — is in a greater or lesser state of crisis. They feel themselves to be in a "blind alley" and are often unaware whether it happened as the result of some more or less conscious or self-confessed moral failing or "sin", or whether it is to do with some other changes in their personal life and relationships, or whether they have only now realised the outcome of some long and unperceived process during which their faith dwindled and guttered out. Sometimes they feel a void, because in spite of their sincere endeavours and often long years of spiritual search they have not found a sufficiently convincing answer in the places they have looked so far, or what had so far been their spiritual home has started to seem constricted or spurious.
The dangers of optimism, secular and pious
Despite the uniqueness of individual human stories, after years of practice as a confessor one discovers certain recurrent themes. Through the multitude of individual confessions, which are protected by the seal of absolute discretion, the confessor comes into contact with something that is more general and common to all, something that lies beneath the surface of individual lives and belongs to a kind of "hidden face of the times", to their "inner tuning".
It is particularly when you accompany young people on their spiritual journey that you have access to a kind of seismograph enabling you to gauge to a certain extent impending tremors and changes in the world, or a Geiger counter recognising the level of spiritual and moral contamination within the society in which we live. It sometimes strikes me — even though I'm very rationally minded and have a powerful aversion to the fashionable shady world of occult premonitions and spiritualist table-tapping — that the events that subsequently erupt onto the surface and shake the world, such as wars, terrorist attacks, or even natural disasters, have some kind of analogy or even augury in people's inner world and are presaged long in advance by changes in the spiritual lives of many individuals and the "mood of the times".
In that sense, therefore, my extensive "confessional experience" colours my view of contemporary society. I constantly compare it with what is written by my professional colleagues: philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, and theologians, as well as by historians and journalists. At a time when evil is becoming globalised in a striking fashion and our human intellect is incapable of sufficiently grasping these phenomena, let alone averting them, there seems little chance of resuscitating the optimism of the modern era. Our epoch is definitely a post-optimistic one.
Optimism, as I understand it, is the conviction that "everything is OK", and a naïve tendency to trust that something will ensure that things will get better and better — that if, at this moment, we don't happen to be living in "the best of all possible worlds", we shall soon achieve that optimum. That redemptive "something" that optimism relies on can be scientific and technological progress, the power of the human intellect, revolution, social engineering, various schemes dreamt up by "engineers of human souls", or pedagogical and social experiments in social reform — this is the secular version of optimism. But there also exists a religious version of optimism, which consists of reliance on a consecrated stage director who extricates us from our problems like a deus ex machina, because, after all, we have reliable tools (all we need is to "believe with all our strength" and hold "prayer crusades") whereby we can induce Him to satisfy our requests infallibly.
I reject secular and "pious" optimism alike, on account of both their naïveté and their superficiality, and because of their unavowed striving to make the future (and possibly God) fit into our limited visions, plans, and perceptions about what is good and right. Whereas Christian hope is openness and a readiness to search for meaning in what is to come, I sense at the back of this caricature a cockeyed assumption that we always know in advance, after all, what is best for us.
Much has already been written about the naïveté of secular optimism (an Enlightenment faith in "progress" as the panacea) and its failure. However, I would like to take a stand against "religious optimism" — facile belief, making use of people's anxiety and suggestibility for a manipulatory "bargain with God", and providing simplistic "pious" answers to complex questions. It is my deeply held belief that we must not conceal our crises. We must not evade or elude them. And we must not let them scare us. Only when we have passed through them can we be "remoulded" into a state of greater maturity and wisdom.
Living the "Easter paradox"
The crisis of the world around us, including the "crises of religion" (whether that is taken to mean the decline in the influence and stability of traditional religious institutions, the dwindling persuasiveness of existing systems of religious interpretations of the world and faith, or personal crises in "spiritual life") are enormous windows of opportunity opened to us by God. These are challenges for us "to put out into the deep". I regard the awakening of just such an attitude to life — not avoiding crises but taking up one's cross — to be one of Christianity's most valuable contributions.
Christianity is not primarily "a system of dogmatic texts", but instead a method, a way, a route. Following the way of the one who did not evade the darkness of Gethsemane, Good Friday, or the "descent into hell" of Holy Saturday.
Every Christian has heard plenty of reflections and sermons on the theme of the Easter events, but has Easter really become the key to understanding our life and the present situation of the Church? For many of us "the cross" tends to evoke purely personal problems, such as illness and old age. I fear that the notion that a great deal within ourselves, within the Church, within our faith, and within our certainties has to "die off", to be crucified, in order to make room for the Resurrected one is quite alien to many Christians.
When we confess the Easter faith, at whose centre is the paradox of victory through an absurd defeat, why are we so afraid of our own defeats — including the demonstrable weaknesses of Christianity in the world of today? Isn't God speaking to us through these realities, much like He did when He spoke through the events that we commemorate when we read the story of Easter? Yes, the form of religion that we are accustomed to is truly "dying off". The history of religion and the history of Christianity consist of periods of crisis and periods of renewal; the only religion that is truly dead is one that does not undergo change, the one that has dropped out of that rhythm of life.
It is not by chance that the Christian thinkers whom we might term "theologians of paradox" — such as Saint Paul, Augustine, Pascal, or Kierkegaard — all lived at crucial moments in the history of faith, and through their interpretations they were able to indicate "the signs of the times" and open up new scope for the life of faith: Paul at the moment when early Christianity parted ways with Judaism; Augustine amid the turbulence after the fall of Rome; Pascal in the upheavals that gave rise to the modern world: and Kierkegaard when this world of mass civic Christianity of modern times was finally beginning to fall apart.
At the present time, we are witnessing the withering away of a type of religion (and Christianity) that came into existence at the time of the Enlightenment — partly under its influence and partly in reaction to it. It is withering away with its epoch: "modern times". As on many occasions in history, this situation of faith can be interpreted "optimistically" or "catastrophically": the "optimistic" interpretation offers various "technical solutions" (a return to premodern religion or a facile "modernisation of religion"); the catastrophic vision speaks (yet again) of Christianity's final demise. But I am arguing that we must interpret our present crisis as "an Easter paradox". The mystery of Easter forms the very nub of Christianity, and precisely within that I see a method of dealing with the present "problems of Christianity", religion and the world in which we live.
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In a manner analogous to "deep psychology" and "deep ecology", I want to propose a deep theology — that is, the kind that emphasises "the hiddenness of God". But the paradox of faith is not simply a topic for theological speculation; it can also be "lived" and become the key to understanding the spiritual situation and challenges of our times.
The "Paschal Mystery" is the source of the power that has been entrusted to confessors, the power to "bind and loose", and heal the wounds caused in the world by evil and guilt. Whenever I use the words of the absolution, the ones I find of greatest substance are: "through the death and resurrection of his Son". Without this "power of Easter", confession (and the entire sacrament of reconciliation) would really be no more than what it is imagined to be by outsiders — an opportunity to "unburden oneself", to get things off one's chest, let off steam, seek advice — in other words, something for which one could easily substitute a wise woman or a psychoanalyst's couch.
In reality, the sacrament of reconciliation is something else entirely, something much deeper: the healing fruits of the Easter events. It is news of the resurrection that marks the moment when the gospels become "good news" (euangelion), a liberating message of salvation — the resurrection that even the disciples initially found unbelievable and impossible. It is not surprising; it definitely is "impossible", in the sense, at least, that something of the kind is beyond the possibilities of human action or human understanding. It is radically different from anything that we or any other human being has experienced.
Jesus's resurrection in the biblical and theological sense is not the "resuscitation of a corpse", a return to a former state, to this world, and to this life that once more ends in death. The New Testament authors, and particularly the profoundest of them, Paul, were at pains to ensure that we do not confuse these things. The resurrection of Christ is not another miracle such as the marvels familiar to every reader of the Bible. This concept (image or metaphor, if you wish, because all attempts to speak about God rely on images and metaphor) means much more.
That is why this message — the gospel about the resurrection — demands a much more radical response from us than simply forming an opinion about what happened to Jesus's corpse. First and foremost, it is necessary to do something about our own lives: we, too, must undergo a profound change, in Paul's words "to die with Christ and rise from the dead". Belief in the resurrection implies the courage to "take up one's cross" and the determination to "live a new life". Only when the event, of which the Easter story speaks, transforms our existence does it become "good news" for us, words "full of life and strength".
Two readings of the resurrection
The Easter story can be read in two quite different ways. Either as a drama in two acts — in the first act a just and innocent man is sentenced to death and executed, and then, in the second act, is resurrected and accepted by God; or as a drama in one act, in which both versions of the story take place at the same time. In the first interpretation the "resurrection" is the happy ending, and the entire story is a typical myth or optimistic fairy tale. I can hear a story like that and think to myself that that was more or less the way it happened (which people confuse with "faith"), or I can conclude that it didn't happen like that, or at all (which people confuse with "lack of faith").
Nevertheless, it is the second interpretation, the "parallel" one, that is actually reading with the eyes of faith. "Faith" here means two things, however: on the one hand, the realisation that the story is paradoxical (that the other aspect of the story, "the resurrection", is a reinterpretation of the first, not its subsequent happy outcome); and on the other, the determination to link that story to the story of one's own life — that means "to enter into the story" and in the light of it to understand and live one's life afresh, to be capable of bearing its paradoxical character, and not to fear the paradoxes that life presents. The second interpretation of the Easter story does not involve "optimism" (the opinion that everything will somehow turn out all right), but hope — the ability to "reinterpret" even things that "don't turn out all right" (after all, life as a whole can be regarded as "an incurable disease necessarily ending in death") so that we may accept reality and its burden, persist in this situation, and stand the test, and where possible be useful to others also.
The mystery of the resurrection is not a feel-good happy ending, cancelling and annulling the mystery of the cross. One of the great theologians of the twentieth century, Johann Baptist Metz, emphasised that when we proclaim the message of resurrection "we must not silence the cry of the Crucified" — otherwise, instead of a Christian theology of resurrection, we offer a shallow "myth of victory".
Belief in the resurrection is not intended to make light of the tragic aspects of human life; it does not enable us to avoid the burden of mystery (including the mystery of suffering and death), or not to take seriously those who wrestle strenuously with hope, who "bear the burden and the heat of the day" of the external and internal deserts of our world. It does not assert some "religious ideology" and facile belief in place of following in the path of the crucified Christ.
Indeed, the facile belief that we are offered on every side these days is, in my view, the most dangerous infectious disease from which we should protect Christianity and our own individual spiritual journeys. A failure to comprehend the paradoxical nature of Christianity leads either to inane "scientific atheism" (proving that all of it "isn't true") or to the no-less-inane religious apologetics (would-be rational and unconflictual) that it is all true (such as booklets with such titles as The Bible as History), without either of them asking questions about how things are or are not true and what is the nature of that truth that is revealed here and also remains hidden. Understanding the paradoxical nature of Christianity can mean more than just getting inspiration for writing interesting texts — although this it certainly does, because literature, philosophy, and theology are only interesting if they tackle paradoxes and do not censor either one aspect or another of reality; this reading can be "inspiration for life".
Lived faith
My experience, including my experience as a confessor, has taught me to differentiate between explicit and implicit faith. Explicit faith is the fruit of reflection; it is conscious and expressed in words. Yet even people who do not espouse a faith sometimes display in their behaviour "implicit" present values that are fundamental to an attitude of faith. In various places the New Testament states that the only faith that will stand the test with God is lived faith. God values attitudes, behaviour, and deeds that accord with the truths of faith — even when they are not explicitly the outcome of "conscious religious motivations". On the other hand, mere "conviction", if it is not embodied in life, is simply hypocrisy in His eyes — a "dead faith".
In short, what people do in and with their lives is not a mechanical reflection of their opinions (including religious opinions); on occasion we can sometimes be surprised, both agreeably and otherwise. One of Sigmund Freud's loyal friends and pupils, the protestant theologian Oskar Pfister, gave his teacher the following answer when asked if a believing Christian can be tolerant of atheism: "When I reflect that you are much better and deeper than your disbelief, and that I am much worse and more superficial than my faith, I conclude that the abyss between us cannot yawn so grimly".
None of this means that I wish to belittle in any way the formal aspects of explicit Christianness. The relationship between "implicit" and "explicit" faith is a complex one. I would simply like to point out that we should eschew too black-and-white a vision and the simplistic drawing of boundaries. For indeed, a certain attitude to the world that indicates that the person truly perceives it as a gift in trust can be designated an attitude of faith. By the same token certain "lifestyles" indicating that people are "their own god" or that they have deified some partial value are both "idolatry" and the opposite of an attitude of faith.
The kingdom of the impossible
I consider piety to be openness to the unmanipulated mystery of life. The God to whom I refer — and I am convinced that it is the God spoken of by Scripture and the Christian tradition (and he calls as witness many great thinkers in that tradition) — is not a "supernatural being" somewhere in the wings of the visible world, but a mystery that is the depths and foundation of all reality. It is for this reason that, instead of speaking of the "Kingdom of God", I refer to as the "kingdom of the impossible", because it consists of much that rightly appears to human intellect, human imagination and everyday experience as impossible and unimaginable.
In many life situations Jesus wants us to act "impossibly" in terms of the logic "of this world", which is a world of cunning, selfishness, and violence. He wants us to forgive where we could take vengeance, to give where we could keep for ourselves, to love those who do not love us and are not "lovable", to take action in favour of the poor who cannot pay us back, when we could, calmly and unperturbed, continue to lounge around in our pleasantly cosy indifference and detachment. Jesus is not content with dazzling us with "impossible feats," spectacular miracles, fascinating visions, and unprecedented theorems, as others have done and continue to do. He wants us to imitate Him, to be agents of the impossible: "whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father".
Only faith, love, and hope, which are the heart of the Christian existence, can offer this new opportunity where, with human eyes, we have ceased to expect it: hope in the Christian sense, says the apostle Paul in one of his many paradoxical statements, means "hoping against hope". This is because they are based on a great paradox preached by Jesus of Nazareth (and which permeates the entire Bible): what is impossible with people is possible with God.
Tomáš Halík is a Czech Roman Catholic priest, philosopher, theologian, and scholar. He is a Professor of Sociology at Charles University in Prague, pastor of the Academic Parish by St. Salvator Church in Prague, president of the Czech Christian Academy, and a winner of the Templeton Prize. He is the author of numerous books, including From the Underground Church to Freedom, I Want You to Be: On the God of Love, Patience with God: The Story of Zacchaeus Continuing in Us, and Night of the Confessor: Christian Faith in an Age of Uncertainty, from which with article is adapted.

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You all know the famous story of when the guy gets to heaven and he looks back over his life and sees a beach with two sets of footprints in the sand, him and God. Then, at the very worst and hardest parts of his life, there is only one set of footprints. The guy is bewildered, because it seems God abandoned him at those times. God responds that no, the single footsteps were God's and he was carrying the man through those hard times.
That sounds all well and good when you are young. Very comforting. But here's the deal. Now that I am an adult, and have this perspective that we become free and inherit heaven when we become actualized and realize we are Gods ourselves, I actually prefer to think of those single footsteps as mine alone. It gives me greater comfort to know that I alone brought me through the tough times. That I was made of tough stuff, that I was resilient and relied on myself to survive. That when all is lost, when I am lost, when God seems to have left me, I have me. Me alone. And that is so much more empowering than thinking God was carrying me. Sure, as Christians believe, God may have given me the gifts and confidence to know how to walk on my own two feet and sustain and survive when all seems lost, but at that hour, God lets Go and trusts and believes in me.
It's not a one way street. It's not all about me believing in and trusting and having faith in God. The reverse is true too. We are so strong when we know God trusts and believes in us. Think about how it feels when your parents finally let you stay home alone or take the car by yourself or go off to college or move away, half a world away from them. Knowing they trust you enough to let you go is a huge confidence builder. At that time, they confer adulthood on us, they anoint us as our own kings. God anoints us and then steps away. Into the shadows. What is that line from the bible when God says "Where you are going I cannot come.." The Bible prophesies our graduation from "God". God has told us exactly what is going to happen. We will graduate from what we have always thought about God. Our conception of him as crafted by religion falls away. We assume his mantle, we take the reins. And we are standing firm and tall and proud and powerful and actualized. And God is proud. He rests....for once, he rests.
God has given me the strength and skills and love to carry myself. If he is a worthy God, truly our Father, he does not want us to perpetually depend on him for everything. He does not want to carry us on his back all the time. He would want to nurture and strengthen and teach and feed us so that we can eventually take care of ourselves. "Teaching us to fish." It's what any parent wants. The best parents inspire us to be the best we can be on our own. Yall, we are ready. We can take care of ourselves and each other.


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Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was told I had asked too many questions at a meeting. In order to keep the status quo, I learnt to keep my questions inside me, unanswered or answered at a later time when the moment of learning had passed. It wasn't the best strategy for me.
Since blossoming into the person I am now, I know different. It was all about joyful curiosity. Someone I respect who has helped me on my journey once explained to me that curiosity is what gets you moving away from the past and toward your future (well maybe not exactly what they said, though it was along those lines). Curiosity can be the key to unlocking someone's potential.
If you're afraid of insects for example, it could be that you did not have the joyful experience (see the picture) of being encouraged to love butterflies and all the other insects around you. Perhaps a wasp sting as a toddler put you off because your curiosity was without any fear at the time. What if that insect fear had developed into an irrational fear that stops you from enjoying time outside in the fresh air though? If you are still fearful of insects, consider how it would be to not have that irrational fear any more. What would that be like? What would it be like for those who have seen how scared you were now hearing and seeing you be fear-free? How liberating! I used to dislike moths, I can now have them flying above my head without the irrational part of my brain kicking in.
What about an uncertain career or life path? What if you are going through redundancy or facing personal upheaval? The necessity of keeping a roof over your head and regular commitments might push you towards fear. Fear can lead to paralysing inactivity, taking a hasty decision that you later regret and worst of all... panic. Instead, what if you were able to take a breath (literally and metaphorically) and take a different view of the situation? To float above it and feel differently. Perhaps viewing it as the time to make a new start and find how it flows into the next exciting part of your journey. It can be done with joyful curiosity! I have been through redundancy and come through the other side myself.
Whether you are facing an uncertain future, or you have been held back by fear of something there's always a time to develop curiosity, to make a change and if you want, to get the help you may need to do it. I offer a free initial consultation so you can find out what support I can give you too. Good luck on your journey of joyful curiosity!
Email email@example.com
Twitter: angie_therapist
Facebook: Angie Giles Hypnotherapy
About the Author: Angie works as a hypnotherapist, counsellor and coach at the Norfolk Clinic Complementary Healthcare Clinic, 38-40 Magdalen Road, Norwich. Norfolk Clinic reception on 01603 660792 or directly on 07773 610816. She loves helping other people achieve their potential at work and in life and achieving happiness using a range of therapeutic techniques.


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The NSA has uploaded source code to GitHub to help IT admins lock down their networks of Linux machines. The open source code is called SIMP
From: Linus Torvalds <firstname.lastname@example.com>
Thu, 20 Oct 2016
The underlying bug was patched this week by the maintainers of the official Linux kernel. Downstream distributors are in the process of releasing updates that incorporate the fix. Red Hat has classified the vulnerability as "important."
Information Assurance Directorate
Confidence in Cyberspace
2015 Tips and Tricks Securing Linux Servers - Best Practices & Troubleshooting
Q: What's the deal with Linux?
A: Okay, I give up! Please talk Linux to me, Is this a new word for you? THINK Operating System.
It's about the brains in your computer that tells all the software what to do. It is about the operating system and all the software programs that work with the operating system you have installed on your computer.
and FREE CLASSROOM COURSEWARE TOOLS
DEFINITION of Open Source
Linux = their operating system is free.
History of Open Software - CopyLeft
Nobody owns the code with "open source" software. You can still find the original kernal for download. The complete source code of many Linux kernel versions dating back to 1991 is freely downloadable from www.kernel.org; you can download the very first release (or view the release notes), the first semi-stable version (release notes), or the 1.0 release.
Free software movement started in 1983 by Richard Stallman. Freedom and community are the moral goals of software freedom.
Schools Use Linux
What do Schools need to know in order to evaluate changing to using Linux. This is the tricky
. . .
Are you going to focus on the product?
Are you going to focus on the process?
Schools are leaving Microsoft products and going for Linux Products. It's all about what kind of brains you want inside the box you call a computer. Do you want scary Microsoft brains or wonderful Linux Brains?
It's about what kind of software you use to make your computer work. Do you want to be able to fuss with the code and make the software do what you want or do you always want to have to "buy" it from microsoft and find out that you are really only licensing it and what the MS procedures are.
This decision about which operating system that is in your box ---- decides . . .
- how much money you are spending for everything from now on
- if you own the software you bought or really only rent it
- if you can make your computer software do what you want it to for your needs, or if you are stuck with using the software the way it is
- how many security problems you have or don't have
- how many security fixes you need to get or never need to worry about again
- how secure your system is or isn't
- Microsoft Office 98, 2000, and XP pay licensing fees
- Microsoft licensing terms for volume license purchasing with Microsoft is like you are renting,not buying the software.
- Plan on paying for the rental use of Office every year from now on, and your fees will be based on the
TOTAL number of computers you have. Old or new, it doesn't matter. And if you decide after
renting to ditch microsoft, you end up with NOTHING.
- When you stop paying your Office rental bill, you have NO RIGHTS to any of the software, no matter how much money you've sunk into the software up to that point.
- Example - a school district can spend over $400,000 on MS Office products in every upgrade cycle. If you can save $35,000-$45,000 THE FIRST YEAR this money could pay for professional staff development.
- In short, it can cost you more to STAY with Microsoft Office than it will cost you to MOVE off Microsoft Office to another package.
- Another Way A School Can Save Money is To Go Wireless
- Is your focus on using the tools for yourself (your own office) or what you teach others to do with the tools (getting them ready for the workplace)?
- Tip - Use Wine (Windows emulator) for compatibility for Windows program you have to have.
- Setting up HPC system from scratch The Rocks clustering package from the University of California at San Diego makes it easy to build and maintain a high-performance compute cluster with off-the-shelf hardware.
Technology | teachers | open source | linux
Teaching Teachers to Make Web Pages
Vendor eBoard.com charges $29 a year for a site.
Assumption: You think eBoard.com is reasonable cause of the amount of man hours and web space at your local site will be used up.
Reality: Let's say my school has 20 teachers in it. That's almost $500 a year going out the window to eBoard.com (don't forget to investigate if there are any privacy issues)
Reality: We're talking about something that's extremely simple to do and once done will need little or no maintenance. Disk space isn't going to be an issue, these novice teachers are going to be writing megabytes worth of homework assignments.
Reality: There are many free software solutions to allow computer novices to create web pages (we'll ignore similar packages which implement such things as a full-blown online school) -- the only thing the teachers will have to know how to do is to cut-and-paste and/or type.
Reality: Most schools have a 24/7 Internet line and have a 386 or better computer they can spare. Toss a copy of GNU/Linux on that machine along with the school software and for far less than $500 a school could set their own site up.
Worse Case Scenerio:
Let's say that it'll take the tech a full day to set the OS and school web site up. Techs might be paid $20 an hour (about ~$40K/year). That's $160. Let's say it takes 1/2 hour per month to do maintenance on that machine (the only thing that would need to be done is to install GNU/Linux security updates and perhaps to run an occasional backup), so that's $120/year. So far we've got a total of $280/year to support an unlimited amount of teachers versus $480/year to support 20 teachers on eBoard.com. In addition, you have complete control over your in-house GNU/Linux solution -- it's owned by the taxpayers so there's no worrying about eBoard.com going bankrupt, being bought up by a larger company, or changing their privacy policy.
School System
Ed Tech's
Content Management Systems - What to do about school websites. Technology facilitator impliments Content Management Systems - database backed websites used by school systems - 56,000 kids and 3,600 teachers. Includes no cost solutions for school district. Advantages (school employees don't need to know anything) vs disadvantages (open source software knowledge, sql, training, server php, mambo, security, restictive templates, Technology has made it easier to do things than to do them right)
- A free UPnP A/V Media Server for Linux Universal Plug and Play UPnP-enabled audio/video network The goals of UPnP are to allow devices to connect seamlessly and to simplify the implementation of networks in the home and corporate environments. would be expected to comprise one or more media servers, for example, a central multimedia archive for movies, photographs, music etc, media renderers through which the media is played and a control point or universal remote-control unit that automatically sets up the data streaming connection between the media server and media renderer. A complete home network would require a control point in every room or preferably a portable control point (like the Philips iPronto universal remote-control unit) that can be carried between rooms. If the media renderer is a portable player (for example an MP3 player), it could be automatically configured into the network anywhere in the home.
is a community for women who like Linux, and for women and men who
to support women in computing. The membership ranges from novices to experienced users, and includes
professional and amateur programmers, system administrators and technical writers.
Wikichix Founded in response to discussions of systemic gender bias in Wikipedia and the inability of a number of women to contribute to those discussions, WikiChix is a wiki and mailing list for female wiki editors to discuss issues of gender bias in wikis, to promote wikis to potential female editors, and for general discussion of wikis in a friendly female-only environment.
MetConnect, New York City's Free Internet Service Provider
The Internet Society discussion list: email@example.com
Description of list: "Discussions on software as a public good. Free software and open source software applications on third world development and Internet access. Open standards for interfaces and communications."
LWN.net - Linux Weekly News
PIONEER - ERIC RAYMOND Author, Philosopher, President Open Source Initiative
What is the difference between Napster, Gnutella, and GNUnet?
GNUnet was designed with security in mind as the highest priority.
Defense Department Issues Open Source Policy By Thor Olavsrud June 3, 2003
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) last week distributed a memo putting open source software on a level playing field with proprietary software when it comes to use within the department, though the memo also warned that those using open source software (OSS) must comply with "lawful licensing requirements" and be aware of what those licenses entail.


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World's Best Fashion Painters Named By America's 25 Best Galleries: LI, SUVOROVA, BROGI, ZHANG, ZHAO, ZHAI, HWANG, BRUTCHER, DRAYO & MENDYAYEV/ 2021 AMERICAN ART AWARDS
Each May the American Art Awards organization selects the 25 Best Galleries and Museums in America, then in autumn these revered art institutions vote on online art to decide the world's best contemporary artists.
America's Best Galleries scored almost 2,000 works in 50 categories from 64 countries.
Winners in this category are from CHINA, RUSSIA, ITALY, KOREA, SPAIN, USA, FRANCE & KAZAKHSTAN.
Photo of 1st Place artist: ZEQING LI
Category 15. FASHION
1st Place ZEQING LI CHINA firstname.lastname@example.com
"Command Time" 50x60cm Oil.
2nd Place OLGA SUVOROVA RUSSIA https://olga-suvorova.com/en "The Walk" 180x150cm Oil on canvas.
3rd Place-Tie RONNIE BROGI ITALY email@example.com
"Virus Venus" 70x100cm Dry pastels on cardboard.
3rd Place-Tie QINGQUAN ZHANG CHINA firstname.lastname@example.com
"Warm Sun" 63x53cm Soft pastel on paper.
3rd Place-Tie QINGQUAN ZHANG CHINA firstname.lastname@example.com
"Old Tajik Man" 63x53cm Soft pastel on paper.
3rd Place-Tie YANG ZHAO CHINA firstname.lastname@example.com
"Dream World" 60x90cm Soft pastel on paper.
4th Place-Tie YANQI ZHAI CHINA www.yqzart.com
"My Son" 50x40cm Pastel.
4th Place-Tie MASON HWANG KOREA email@example.com
"Memories Of October" 90x85.5cm Oil on canvas.
5th Place-Tie TERESA BRUTCHER SPAIN www.teresabrutcher.com 23.5x23.5th Place-Tie "Nep Tuna´s Jewelry Box" Oil on canvas.
5th Place-Tie XUEPING ZHANG USA https://xueping-zhang.pixels.com "Taking A Break" 11x14" Pen and ink.
6th Place-Tie DRAYO FRANCE www.drayo.fr email@example.com
"Portrait of Emy" 70x70cm Dry pastel on pastelmat paper.
6th Place-Tie KANAT MENDYAYEV KAZAKHSTAN email@example.com
"An African Child-Girl" 40x30cm Acrylic painting on cardboard.
Click below to see the relaxing hour-long movie revealing 2021's hundreds of winning artworks:
Artworks from 59 countries won among the 50 categories: paintings, drawings, photography, digital and sculpture. (Americans won more because Americans entered more since the competition is better known here.)
Number of winners per country: Argentina 1, Australia 12, Belarus 2, Belgium 2, Brazil 3, Bulgaria 2, Canada 30, China 85, Croatia 2, Cyprus 1, Denmark 2, England 2, Finland 1, France 7, Georgia 3, Germany 18, Ghana 1, Greece 3, Hungary 2, Japan 1, India 10, Iran 1, Ireland 1, Israel 1, Italy 14, Kazakhstan 1, Kuwait 2, Latvia 6, Lithuania 27, Macedonia 5, Malaysia 2, Mexico 2, Moldova 1, Morocco 1, Netherlands 3, New Zealand 1, Nigeria 8, Norway 1, Oman 1, Pakistan 1, Philippines 5, Poland 8, Republic Of Korea 12, Romania 2, Russia 45, Serbia 1, South Africa 8, Spain 11, Sweden 3, Taiwan 7, Thailand 1, Turkey 3, Uganda 1, UK 10, Ukraine 5, USA 264, Uzbekistan 1, Zambia 1, Zimbabwe 2.
ART COLLECTORS: all winning images and corresponding contact info of all the artists will soon be uploaded to this page:
2021 Winning Artists — American Art AwardsAmerican Art Awards
America's 25 Best Galleries & Museums were asked to score about 2,000 works from 64 countries.
This year's 25 Best Galleries & Museums asked to vote on art were:
BEST IN ARIZONA: Exposures International Gallery of Fine Art
BEST IN CALIFORNIA: Revolver Gallery
BEST IN COLORADO: Mirada Fine Art
BEST IN FLORIDA: Art Fusion Galleries
BEST IN HAWAII: Sunshine Arts
BEST IN ILLINOIS: Trickster Cultural Center
BEST IN IOWA: Moberg Gallery
BEST IN KANSAS: Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery
BEST IN KENTUCKY: E&S Gallery
BEST IN LOUISIANA: Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
BEST IN MASSACHUSETTS: Boston Sculptors Gallery
BEST IN MISSOURI: Hilliard Gallery
BEST IN MONTANA: Dana Gallery
BEST IN NEBRASKA: Kiechel Fine Art
BEST IN NEVADA: Metropolitan Gallery Las Vegas Art Museum
BEST IN NEW JERSEY: Evalyn Dunn Gallery
BEST IN NEW MEXICO: GF Contemporary
BEST IN NORTH CAROLINA: The Arts Council of Fayetteville| Cumberland County
BEST IN SOUTH CAROLINA: Mary Martin Galleries Of Fine Art
BEST IN SOUTH DAKOTA: South Dakota Art Museum
BEST IN TENNESSEE: Stanford Fine Art
BEST IN TEXAS: Ao5
BEST IN WASHINGTON: Maryhill Museum of Art
BEST IN WEST VIRGINIA: Parkersburg Art Center


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Cointelegraph has been monitoring the ongoing BlockShow Asia conference, and several announcements have been made by Blockchain specialists around the world. One such announcement comes from one of the smallest dependent territories in the world, Gibraltar.
The Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) is now offering the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX), a new and way for crypto investors to take part in the rapidly growing cryptocurrency markets. With passport rights throughout Europe, and already having the approval of European regulators, Gibraltar is uniquely poised to create just such a platform.
The system provides a platform where traditional investors may be more comfortable - a stock exchange model - and GBX will actively vet new offerings in hopes of ensuring the safety of its investors. The plan, according to the company, is to create a harbor for investors who are too nervous to brave the uncharted waters of the crypto markets:
"Centered on the solid foundations of Gibraltar's emerging regulations, the GBX seeks to become the world's first nationally regulated digital asset marketplace and ecosystem, building towards a new era of certainty and stability for the world of Blockchain technology. Members of the fintech community will find their home for a secure, supported and vibrant crypto community."
As BlockShow Asia continues, undoubtedly more will come. Keep your eyes on Cointelegraph to hear about all the announcements first-hand, as our team enjoys the conference live.


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2019 Thank You Video
Here Are Our Favorite Moments from the Season.
What Are Yours?
Thank you for playing a role in our 2019 Season. Hear from our dancers as they share their favorite moments of the 2019 Season in this video. What were your favorite moments of the Season? Let us know by sharing your Season highlights on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #mysfbseason.
Header Image: San Francisco Ballet in Ratmansky's Piano Concerto #1 // © Erik Tomasson


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UK HealthCare Media Contact
New Room
Media Questions?
News media seeking patient conditions or interviews, please call UK Public Relations at 859-327-1040, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
After hours and on weekends, please call the PR staff member on call at 859-230-9086. For additional assistance, call the UK HealthCare paging operator at 859-323-5321.
For expert interviews or topical stories, please contact our PR staff members.


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Software updates are critical for every Android device. It's a bit of a shame that most of these don't receive even basic security updates, forget Android OS updates. How to update Android is a common question that many people ask. There is no singular answer to that question as the exact steps vary by manufacturer, Android version, and sometimes even from one device to another even if both were made by the same company. If you are wondering how to update Android on your device, this guide will show you the basic steps, but the exact method may vary slightly.
How to update Android
Follow these steps to update Android on your device. We have verified these steps on some phones from Samsung, OnePlus, Nokia, and Google, but if your phone uses a different UI on top of Android then these steps may vary.
- Open Settings
- Most Android devices have a search option at the top. Search for Update. This will show you the System update or its equivalent setting.
- Tap System Update.
- Tap Check now or Check for updates.
- Now you will see an update, if there is any. Tap Download and Install.
This will update Android on your device, once the download is complete. Your device may restart multiple times during the update process, so don't panic. If nothing happens after step 4, it means that your device is most probably on the latest version of Android released by the manufacturer.
For more tutorials visit our How To section.


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Sky Views: The British high street isn't dying it's becoming more relevant
Friday 12 April 2019 03:01, UK
By Adam Parsons, business correspondent
There is a riddle that asks what is being described here: "Often talked about, never seen; ever coming, never been; daily looked for, never here"...and so on. What is it?
Well - spoiler alert - the answer is "tomorrow".
But it might as well be "the death of the high street".
I don't think there has ever been a story that has lingered quite as long, but so stubbornly refused to happen.
So let's be clear. The high street isn't dying. It's changing, morphing in ways we wouldn't have predicted a decade or so back.
But dying? No.
We have more shops now than we did 20 years ago, when it was just about impossible to buy anything online.
Back then, Amazon had only just started selling books and music to British customers and Tesco's web offering was so clunky that you had to phone up the call centre to alter an online order.
These days you can buy just about anything from the comfort of your living room. Or, for that matter, from your phone, from your mate's PC or from the computer at work.
Frankly, it's never been easier to not go to the high street. If you don't like shopping or don't want to visit a supermarket, then congratulations on being alive now.
I rarely need to go to a bank, because I can do my banking online. Some of our most innovative retailers are now fashion companies - ASOS, Boohoo, Missguided - that exist purely online, serving a growing army of customers who have no memory of a world where online shopping wasn't a thing.
With all that stacked against it, you'd imagine the high street would be collapsing at unseemly haste. But, somehow, it isn't.
Primark opens its biggest store in the world
It is the biggest of the high street retailer's 365 stores across Europe and the US, spanning 160,000 square feet.
Sure, it's going through pain and upheaval, and coming to the realisation that we simply don't need as many shops as we have at the moment. But it's not disintegrating. It's changing.
And that's probably because we're beginning to work out that a high street is about more than just a collection of shops and shoppers.
The profound mistake that hit Britain's retailers was not about the way it embraced the internet - we are global leaders in online shopping - but instead our brief but passionate affair with the idea that the future of shopping revolved around retail parks on the edge of towns.
It was an obsession fuelled by the government, which relaxed planning laws in the hope that we all wanted to spend our weekends at characterless retail parks full of giant branches of PC World, Toys R Us or Homebase.
Supermarkets wanted to go to cheaper land, with bigger car parks, and the retail pack decided that we, the customers, would love to join the exodus.
It turned out that we didn't - that most people didn't enjoy fighting their way through a ring road in order to look at armchairs - but by the time that epiphany came, investment had been taken from traditional town centres.
Cruelly, none of the inducement that went the way of those shopping centres - the new roads, the planning deals and tax breaks - had been offered to the high streets shops, and so many did wither.
But those empty units were often filled by things that, it turned out, we really did like - coffee shops.
Our appetite for out-of-town retail parks was limited, but our enthusiasm for a double-shot skinny latte was boundless. People rediscovered their enthusiasm for being in the heart of the action.
And that's the key to the future, surely.
Town centres don't need to be full of traditional outlets, but rather a combination of good shops and interesting experiences - retailers that know their customers (Primark, John Lewis and Lush, for example) and a blend of coffee shops, fast-food outlets, gyms, galleries and whatever else works.
Outdoor markets, cinemas, climbing walls, bowling alleys, family restaurants. The sort of things that bring people together and which cannot be replicated online.
A couple of things are needed from the government.
One is to encourage people to live in town centres, perhaps by using retail units, and the space above them, as the basis for new homes. That helps to keep these areas loved, and lively, and in turn makes shops a better business proposition.
The second is to rethink business rates, an arcane system that is completely out of step with the modern digital economy. If you want to encourage artisan bakers, don't tax them out of existence.
These are the challenges, but the prize is worth the fight. The British high street has survived everything, and it'll cope with online competition. Our old view of the high street may die, but something more relevant will emerge.
And that's a good thing.
Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Sky News editors and correspondents, published every morning.
Previously on Sky Views: Tom Cheshire - China's foreign investment tactics will keep everyone on their toes


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A popular fragrance which smells like the real expensive perfume.
Customers say they receive more comments using this than the real thing!
Perfect for day-to-day use at work and leave the real expensive one for special occasions.
Other fragrances and perfumes available within our website.
A perfect gift.
50ml PDT (parfum de toilette) spray.


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I had plans to make Charlie a different hat, from my Charmed Knits book... and I still might (after I try again for Matt, of course). But for Christmas, Charlie got this little hat:
I think he liked it! It was almost too small for him too! (I really had my gauge off!) I think he liked the box of ginger chews better ;)
|Cutie Pie!


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Safeguarding Customer Information under the FTC
Everyone not purposely ignoring the news recently, has read the headlines about Facebook's breach of privacy rules with its release of personal information to Cambridge Analytica and the subsequent potential impacts on election results.
Facebook's chief information security officer recently tendered his resignation after unsuccessfully advocating for greater disclosure about foreign government misuse of Facebook to influence elections. Sandy Parakilas, a former Facebook privacy expert added, "The people whose job it is to protect the user always are fighting an uphill battle against the people whose job it is to make money for the company."
Security and privacy will always be on the expense side of the ledger, never the revenue side. Until organizations accurately evaluate the potential impact of breaches, security will not get the attention it deserves. One result of Facebook's breach of trust is an ongoing Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation, with fines almost certain to follow. As a result, Facebook has lost over $40 billion dollars in stock value over the past few days – loses generally agreed to be a direct result of the data breach headlines.
The Facebook investigation is just the latest in a series of investigations, many of which have resulted in FTC suits against numerous defendants. Over the years, the FTC has grown more active in investigating security and privacy breaches.
Originally, 16CFR Part 314: Standards for Safe-Guarding Customer Information was poorly understood and not rigorously enforced. Since 2015 though, the FTC has significantly ramped up its guidance efforts. In November 2015, the FTC published Start with Security: A Guide for Business. This handy Guide focuses on how to avoid a breach and also provides a list of 10 best practices. Then in late 2016, after having previously provided breach avoidance guidance, the FTC published a data breach response guide, Data Breach Response: A Guide for Business.
While providing enhanced guidance, the FTC has also been busily investigating and fining organizations for lacking preparedness. Just a few of the organizations who've settled with the FTC include: Target, RadioShack, Oracle, Snapchat, LifeLock and many, many more.
If your organization deals with personal data, you could be next on the FTC's investigation list due to a breach. To stay compliant under 16CFR Part 314, at the very least, you should consider the five following steps:
- Designate a security officer and grant them the authority to get the job done
- Perform a risk assessment that identifies reasonable threats
- Test systems and personnel to ensure they're securing information as expected
- Manage service providers to minimize threats to your organization
- Harden systems to secure vulnerabilities revealed as a result of the above steps
By starting with these basics, your organization can reduce the risk from hackers and demonstrate due diligence in the unfortunate event a breach occurs. The cost of a data breach is almost always more than many organizations think. Penalties for violating the FTC agreement can go as high as $40,000 per day per violation. Can you afford that risk?
It is important to address the breach registration now. BPM's Information Security Assessment practice helps organizations protect against threats before it's too late. Contact us today to learn how we can help.


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Remake America: Income Inequality
In this critical election year, a time of enormous challenge, Yahoo! News is putting citizens at the forefront by following the personal stories of real Americans.
From jobs to healthcare to taxes, we will capture the national debate over our biggest challenges by following the experiences of regular families who are striving to achieve the American Dream. By including the insight of experts and seasoned journalists, we will identify the new ideas which can provide solutions to these issues.
We want to hear your story. Stay tuned at Remake America.


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Karen Pinker
Creative Director
Karen has been an idea factory since she was 9 years old. On her final report card in elementary school, her Grade 6 teacher commented that "Karen is going to lead a very interesting life". So true!
She's enjoyed a career as a director/writer/producer of documentaries and factual television and current affairs for major broadcasters such as: Discovery Channel, ARTE, CBC, TVO, A&E, CTV and Global. Karen's curiosity for video storytelling has seen her travel the world to locations as varied as China, Australia, Ethiopia, Cambodia and Haiti.
If you've watched shows such as Mighty Ships, Intervention, Studio 2, Nerve Centre, Who Do You Think You Are?, then you've seen the quality of Karen's writing and directing skills.
Sherry Lawr
Production Executive
Sherry has a special knack for spotting young talent and guiding career paths of young professionals as they negotiate the fluid media landscape. As a professor of journalism and media at Sheridan College, she is committed to staying on top of technological advances and the demands of new content delivery methods.
Prior to Sheridan, Sherry held roles as Head of Production at TVOntario; Senior Producer/ at TVOntario, and Coordinating Producer at CBC Television (The Journal, the Fifth Estate).
You can't sit still in this rapidly changing industry; Sherry recently obtained a Masters of Media Production at Ryerson University where she completed a thesis examining game based learning in education.


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Kogan Mobile bundles more data for its prepaid plans
Kogan's prepaid offering is now even better value for money with extra data added at no extra cost.
The prepaid mobile plan market is already an extremely competitive marketplace, but Kogan Mobile today made it even more competitive, boosting data across the bulk of its prepaid plans at no extra cost to the customer.
While the Small plan remains at 1GB of data, the Medium plan has been given an extra 2GB, jumping from 3GB to 5GB. The Large plan now includes 10GB, up from 8GB, while the Extra Large plan has been boosted to 14GB from 12GB.
There's no change to the recharge cost for customers, and the extra data is applicable to all of Kogan's 90-day and 365-day expiry plans as well. Both new customers and existing customers are eligible for the data boost. Kogan is applying it automatically as well, so there's no need for customers to do anything.
These boosts come just six months after it last increased its data allowances for larger plan sizes. To think that the Kogan Large plan allowance has doubled in six months, while the Extra Large has increased by 4GB, goes to show how data inclusions have become the predominant battle ground for low-cost prepaid plans to compete on. All of Kogan's prepaid plans include unlimited talk and text to standard Australian numbers.
Latest mobile plans headlines
- Kogan Mobile iPhone plans: How they compare + what to watch out for
- Vodafone 5G trial: Get faster mobile speeds with Lebara, Kogan, TPG and iiNet
- Kogan Mobile vs Catch Connect: Whose dollar deal is better?
- Data-lovers rejoice, Kogan Mobile's massive 23GB for $4.90 deal is back
- Kogan Mobile's dirt-cheap prepaid plans are back with up to 23GB of data for just $7.90


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By Kamal Varma
January 28, 2016
Kenya offers the wildlife enthusiast an endless supply of photographic opportunities. Whether it's the thunderous roar of hundreds of thousands of wildebeest leaping the banks of the Mara River, the majestic beauty of the Cheetah, or the raw primal ferocity of the mighty lion, Kenya seems to offer it all.
Click to view Map showing migration route
The river crossing is a spectacle to behold. Thousands of wildebeest and zebras line the banks of the river until one brave soul takes the plunge. It can be hours or even days of waiting until the actual crossing takes place. Once the crossing takes place, it can last for several hours. On my most recent trip, I had the privilege of seeing two crossings.
While many people visit the Mara solely for the purpose of seeing a river crossing, there are endless other photographic opportunities that are equally awe inspiring. On my most recent trip, I had the opportunity to spend two mornings and one evening with the elusive leopards. These magnificent cats are not nearly as plentiful as the cheetah's or the lions. And in fact, of the three times I've been to Kenya, this is only the second time that I've actually seen a leopard. The leopards blend in beautifully with their landscape.
One morning, I had the opportunity to watch a leopard and her cub slowly walk along the rivers bank. Out of necessity, I was forced to shoot at very high ISO's (8000 and above)
After 15 minutes of watching the leopards, my guide advised me to hold on to my gear as he proceeded to drive quickly for a quarter mile before driving across the river. I was a little surprised (and truth be known, a little upset thinking I'd missed photo op's). He then told me to grab my gear and wait. And wait I did. What happened a few minutes later was surreal. ….
Leopards were not the only cats I had the opportunity of photographing. On my first afternoon game drive, I heard thunder in the distance and a pride of lions in the foreground. I turned around and was greeted to this.
The very next day I spent hours just watching a lion and her three cubs.
While I've always had a soft spot for the big cats, the sheer number of other animals is almost hard to imagine.
And of course, no trip would be complete without the postcard sunrise shot.
I have been to Kenya three times, and each time I have used the services of Gamewatchers Safaris. They are simply outstanding.
When flying out of Nairobi to any of the Safari camps, you are limited to 30 lbs. This includes your camera gear. I highly suggest you get a camera vest. They are relatively inexpensive and offer a great way to carry such things as batteries, chargers, lenses, filters, memory cards etc. This will help keep you within your weight limit.
If you are a serious photographer, take two camera bodies. The last thing you want is to have something go wrong with your camera.
As for lenses, I took a 17-40, a 70-200 and a 100-400. This was perfect. You get very close to the animals so you likely won't need anything more than 400mm (on a crop body). Take time to put your camera down and see what's happening. At times, you can be overwhelmed by all of the action and get a little trigger happy.
Bio: Kamal is an avid photographer living in Calgary, AB his photography passion includes travel, wildlife and landscape. Kamal also likes to play guitar when he can't get out to shoot.
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Should I Buy G4S?
LONDON -- It's time to go shopping for shares again, but where to start? There are loads of great stocks to choose from, and I've got my wallet out. So should I buy G4S ?
Olympics loser
To the public, G4S is a running joke. It was the biggest loser of last year's London Olympics due to the security recruitment debacle. Being publicly condemned as "incompetent, amateurish and irresponsible" is a hard tag to shake off. The tabloids still love to unearth fresh examples of G4S security guard uselessness. Yet the G4S share price tells a different story: It is up 25% since November. Should I buy it?
Group 4 Securicor was formed in 2004 when Securicor and Group 4 merged. It's a massive operation with 657,000 employees in 125 countries, making it one of the world's largest employers. The security of the nation is in its hands. But is it secure enough for your portfolio?
Play the Games
G4S has just published its preliminary results, and the instant market reaction was mild disappointment: As I write, the share price is down 2.9%. Yet it shrugged off its Olympic stumble to post a rise in 2012 revenue, with total turnover up a healthy 10.4% to 7.5 billion pounds, or 8.1%, excluding the Olympics. Organic growth, ex-Olympics, was 6.9%. PBITA profits, ex-Games, rose 6% to 516 million pounds. Adjusted earnings per share rose 3.4%, and the group increased its full-year dividend by 5% to 8.86 pence per share. Its Olympics blunder cost it 70 million pounds, plus another 18 million pounds in related costs. On the plus side, it generated 35 million pounds' worth of savings through structural reorganization. Separately, G4S announced that chief financial officer Trevor Dighton will retire at the end of April.
CEO Nick Buckles praised the group's solid organic turnover growth and margins, which both topped 7%, helped by new contract wins with U.S. companies and the U.K. government (the latter a triumph of hope over experience). Like many FTSE 100 companies, G4S is also growing strongly in developing markets, which now account for one-third of group revenue. Buckles also hailed the group's broad customer base and the steady income stream from its 3.5 billion pound annual contract pipeline. Who's laughing now?
Joking aside...
The market would have liked more, but the numbers don't look too bad to me. I'm particularly impressed by its emerging-markets expansion. With the West halfway through its first "lost decade," the growth has to come from somewhere. Recent share-price growth means the stock isn't cheap, however, trading at 14.5 times earnings. Its dividend isn't spectacular either, yielding 2.9% and covered 2.4 times (giving it scope for further hikes). EPS growth looks promising at a forecast 18% this year and 10% next year, and the stock trades at an undemanding PEG ratio of 0.7. G4S may remain a national joke, but investors can afford to see the funny side. If it were a little bit cheaper, that would really put a smile on my face.
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The article Should I Buy G4S? originally appeared on Fool.com.
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Ebonite Lining
The upper joint body is drilled out slightly larger, where a thin ebonite pipe with an oboe bore is adhered. Ebonite is an excellent material for wind instruments, as is proven with top-grade mouthpieces for saxophones and clarinets as well as bassoon liners. Much knowledge was derived from our own bassoon manufacturing, and with further engineering, Yamaha successfully developed oboes with reliability and the warmth of wood.
High bore precision and stability are essential in an oboe. The Duet+ model takes those characteristics to unprecedented levels, effectively compensating for the natural limitations of the granadilla wood used and achieving outstanding overall performance and reliability. An ebonite inner pipe that extends throughout the upper joint and a brass tenon contribute to strength as well as warm tone.
Straubinger pads
Every tone-hole (except metal octave vents) is lined with POM resin for air-tight, stable contact between each pad. In the rare event that the wood should crack, the damage to the tone-hole profile and intonation would be minimal thanks to the inserts.
The trademark logo is engraved on the back of the upper joint.
Reed Receiver (Solid Nickel Silver)
The reed receiver features a new design that has more volume and weight than current models, contributing to richer overall resonance. The socket has a slightly looser internal diameter that makes reed insertion easy.
Nytt klokkedesign
The bell's exterior contour, internal diameter, and flare have been carefully redesigned, and the bell ring omitted to create a new, thicker bell design. The new bell delivers a powerful tone that is rich in overtones, with a big, round quality that is suitable for symphonies.
Revised B Key Pad Cup
The B key pad cup has a significant influence on the overall tone of an oboe, and in this model has extra thickness while the slit has been located on the underside of the pad. This not only reduces C# noise, but also improves high-range playability and tone in general. The B-A# trill lever has been matched to the height of the B key for enhanced playability.
Philadelphia D Key Adjustment Screw
This adjustment screw allows fine adjustment of high D playability.
* A "Philadelphia D key" is linked to the low C key and allows adjustment of the D double ring key opening (in current models only the low C and E keys are linked with opening adjustment).
B Resonance Key
B resonance key has been included to improve the low B sound. The key can be disengaged via the adjustment screw if desired, but the mechanism is designed so that the resonance key always opens when the lowest Bb is played.
Forked F Resonance Key Adjustment Screw
This adjustment screw allows adjustment of the opening as well as complete disengagement of the auxiliary key if desired.
New Adjustable Thumb Rest
In addition to vertical adjustment, the angle of this thumb rest can be adjusted to achieve the most comfortable thumb fit and position. A strap ring is also included for optimum playing position, so the performer can concentrate more fully on the music.
New Tone Hole Design
Tone hole design has been completely reassessed and updated to provide ideal breath resistance and luxurious resonance. The revised tone holes also make conservatoire fingering easier.
Deluxe multi-functional case bag (YOB-830L)
Oboists must always carry all kinds of reed adjustment tools and accessories. The newly designed pockets pack almost everything you need for a rehearsal. The A4-sized holder on the reverse side will carry a B4 music file vertically. The shoulder strap and handles offer a choice between carrying it vertically or horizontally.


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Ron Barone of Barone's Lead Paint Removal Company shared this link with me today and I want to share it with you. Barone's Lead Paint Removal is a full service and certified lead paint removal company based in Boston MA… Read More ›
Lead Paint Disclosure
Lead Paint is a serious health risk. Know what to do when buying or selling or renting a home in Massachusetts.


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1985 Topps
Cards for nothing (and your chicks for free)
Thursday, May 23, 2019
This blog is a tribute to the 1985 Topps set, one of the last sets released before the baseball card boom of the late 1980s/early 1990s.
Whether you're a fan of the blocky, geometric shapes that make up the '85 design or the Olympic subset that produced the famed Mark McGwire card, or the popular rookies that dot this set, I hope you enjoy what you find here.
This set arrived in the middle of one of the most interesting sports and pop culture years of the '80s and it's all contained in this one, little blog.
Hope you like it.
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Midas Fall's album release UK tour starts tomorrow!
Midas Fall will be touring the UK for the next couple of weeks to promote their gorgeous debut album, 'Eleven. Return And Revert'.
Here are the dates:
May 11 TIGERFEST @ Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh
May 12 Greenside Hotel, Leslie
May 13 Dirty Hearts Club @ Snafu, Aberdeen
May 14 Dukes Corner, Dundee
May 15 Nice n' Sleazy (w/ A Sunny Day In Glasgow), Glasgow
May 16 Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh
May 18 Ruby Lounge, Manchester
May 19 Mad Ferret (w/ Six Gallery) Preston
May 20 Canteen Media and Arts Centre, Barrow in Furness
May 22 The Blue Room (w/ Goonies Never Say Die), Blackpool
May 23 The Actress, Birmingham
May 24 Spanky Van Dykes, Nottingham
May 26 Buffalo Bar, London
And here is a new video of the song '17' from their album for you to enjoy: