text:
A Bicycle's Echo
Cover Art & Illustrations by Adam Wagler
An illustrated linked-collection of essays on cycling and the love of dogs from Laura Madeline Wiseman. A Bicycle's Echo includes "Finding the Gap on Dead Man's Run" selected as a Finalist in the 41st New Millennium Writings 2016 Literary Awards for Nonfiction and "Seven Cities of Good" which was the Honorable Mention in the 2016 Pacifica Literary Review Creative Nonfiction Contest. When Laura Madeline Wiseman got her first part-time job washing dishes in a nursing home, her dad got her a bicycle, a Ten-Speed Olympia Huffy, and started her on a commuter's adventure. Written in clear and compelling prose, A Bicycle's Echo reflects on commuting, long-distance cycling, and refurbishing old Scwhinns. Crossing international borders by bicycle, riding through a Midwestern fog, and taking city trails where wildlife still forages, these essays consider the ways we journey, who guides our path, and the pets, friends, and family who welcomes us home.
In A Bicycle's Echo, Laura Madeline Wiseman lets us ride sidesaddle as she journeys through headwinds and heartbreak, over mountains and memories, from the Midwest to the Mojave and beyond. Tender, thoughtful, and packed with vivid, chewy prose, A Bicycle's Echo invites us all to consider what's out there and how we might go about finding it.
—Brian Benson, author of Going Somewhere
Praise for A Bicycle's Echo
Echo Whitwer
"Do objects teleport us to other times?" asks Laura Madeline Wiseman in A Bicycle's Echo a compilation of essays about cycling. The answer is a resounding "yes." Not only another place in time but "a place reachable only by bike." Places that are beautiful, painful, educational, hard, healing and sweet. Both cyclist and non-cyclists are heartily welcomed into this delightful work. Enjoy the ride. —Clint Whitwer, organizer of 7 Cities Century Ride
Echo Mason
Wiseman pries open the heart of cycling as a sport, as a diversion, and as an escape from what ails you. Few today realize that bike racing was a premier participant and spectator sport in 1920s and 30's America, and Wiseman is part of, and an author for, the rebirth of this great human pursuit in the U.S. Whether you are a rider, a racer, a parent, and/or a reader, A Bicycle's Echo will spin your wheels and widen your horizons. —Lance Mason, Race Across America (RAAM) record-holder and author of A Proficiency in Billiards
Echo Benson
In A Bicycle's Echo, Laura Madeline Wiseman lets us ride sidesaddle as she journeys through headwinds and heartbreak, over mountains and memories, from the Midwest to the Mojave and beyond. Tender, thoughtful, and packed with vivid, chewy prose, A Bicycle's Echo invites us all to consider what's out there and how we might go about finding it. —Brian Benson, author of Going Somewhere
Echo Farmer
In prose that evokes all the sensory experience that bicycling provides, Wiseman takes us along as she pedals throughout the Great Plains and the West. Along the way we are given lyrical reflections on the way cycling connects her to childhood memories, to her father and grandfather, as well as her beloved dog Echo. Ultimately, this book does what the best bicycling books do; it makes you want to get out and ride! —Daryl Farmer, author of Bicycling beyond the Divide
Echo Case
In these essays on intimacies—between bicycle and bicyclist, memory and body, body and landscape—Wiseman captures in quiet complexity those oft-sought moments when loss and beauty exist side by side and the rider "is nowhere." —Jennie Case, author of Sawbill: A Search for Place
Echo Fraterrigo
From the shifting color of the sky to polite conversations with fellow cyclists, everything in Laura Madeline Wiseman's A Bicycle's Echo means much more than its initial glance. There is a meditative depth to these essays that transcends the page and encourages all of us to consider our place in time anew. Both insightful and rich, I found in these linked essays an invitation to reflect on big questions about the human condition and what it means to hold on whether or not the wind is at my back. —Melissa Fraterrigo, author of Glory Days
Echo Montgomery
How many words are enough to speak the language of bicycles?" asks Laura Madeline Wiseman to open a collection of essays that explores the beauty of making one's way through the world by bike, human and machine working in unison. In essays at once questioning and nostalgic, Wiseman reflects on trips through the bucolic Midwest and the bike trails of the Southwest, weaving these travels with stories of her father and her steadfast canine companion. Much like the act of riding, A Bicycle's Echo asks readers to cycle through a collage of landscape and memory, undertaking a journey of space, self, and spirit. —Sarah Fawn Montgomery, author of Quite Mad: An American Pharma Memoir
Related Links
- 2016 Creative Nonfiction Honorable Mention Pacifica Literary Review
- 41st New Millennium Writings Literary Awards Nonfiction Finalist


text:
Taylor Swift Lawsuit Dismissed: Judge Uses the Artist's Lyrics to Shake Off Accusations
On Tuesday, a court rejected a lawsuit against Taylor Swift for allegedly copying the lyrics for "Shake It Off" from a lesser-known artist — and likely due to the questionable nature of the suit, the judge explained the dismissal with the most fitting Swift lyrics.
"At least for the moment, defendants have shaken off this lawsuit," United States District Court Judge Gail Standish wrote in her dismissal, quoting the song in question. On Nov. 2, R&B artist Jesse Braham (who goes by the reach of a stage name Jesse Graham) filed a lawsuit against Swift, CNN reports, claiming the single off her 2014 album, 1989, contains a 22-word phrase lifted from Braham's 2013 track "Haters Gone Hate."
The lyrics on the hot seat?
"Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play/ And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate/... And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake."
And, from "Haters Gone Hate":
"Haters gone hate, playas gone play. Watch out for them fakers, they'll fake you everyday."
Music fans can draw their own conclusions about the viability of the claim, but Braham was convinced that a breach existed, suing for $42 million in damages and songwriter credit, CNN reports.
"As currently drafted, the complaint has a blank space — one that requires Braham to do more than write his name," Standish wrote in the order, referencing Swift's second single off the album.
In the statement's dramatic denouement, Standish concluded her masterpiece with a reference to Swift's "Bad Blood."
"Braham may discover that mere pleading Band-Aids will not fix the bullet holes in his case," she wrote.
The suit was dismissed for lack of evidence, but left the door open for a future suit should that Braham strengthen the holes in his claim.
Before Braham or Swift penned their respective songs, the former girl group 3LW released "Playas Gon' Play" in 2001. Notably, the song also makes the point that "haters gon' hate."
Here's the throwback jam:
Correction: Nov. 12, 2015

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Montclair Film will screen six films this weekend, Oct. 18-20, in its first annual documentary weekend. All the screenings will take place at Cinema505, 505 Bloomfield Ave. Directors George T. Nierenberg, Martha Shane, Eric Slade, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Sandy K. Boone will appear.
The weekend opens on Friday, Oct. 18, with Linda Goldstein Knowlton's "We Are The Radical Monarchs," at 7:30 p.m., about the Radical Monarchs, an alternative to Scouts for girls of color.
Saturday's program includes "Narrowsburg," directed by Martha Shane, at 1 p.m., about a French film producer and mafioso-turned-actor launching a film festival; "Moonlight Sonata: Deafness In Three Movements," directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky, at 4 p.m., about a deaf boy learning to play "Moonlight Sonata;" the new, 4K restoration of the classic gospel music documentary "Say Amen, Somebody," directed by Georg T. Nierenberg, at 7 p.m.
Sunday's screenings include a 2 p.m. showing "J.R. 'Bob' Dobbs And The Church Of The Subgenius," directed by Sandy K. Boone, about a parody religion; and the American Masters film "Rothko: Pictures Must Be Miraculous", directed by Eric Slade, profiling the American artist Mark Rothko, at 5 p.m.
For tickets and information visit montclairfilm.org. Tickets can also be purchased, if available, at the door.


text:
In 1927, a Third Ward "political club"
was established with political, business, and social motives and
after its first year had acquired approximately 300 members. The
Ward's population at that time was heavily Jewish.
Its stated aim, in a statement of its organization, was to "unite
the voting power of the district *...the
real melting pot of the city, and to uplift conditions therein."
A side benefit of organization membership was protection by Ward-based
"musclemen" who took care of any troublemakers.
The club held its first social event in the fall of 1928--its
"First Annual Pre-Election Dance"--and published a Souvenir
Program for it in which approximately 100 neighborhood merchants
and supporters of the club placed advertisements.
In an inspection of the Souvenir Program nearly three quarters
of a century later, one can pretty much visualize what Third Ward
life was like in that era before the Great Depression, and what
goods and services the residents of the Third Ward required to sustain
their daily life.
Advertisers included a butcher, a poultry market, a fish market,
13 restaurants, two luncheonettes, five delicatessens, a bakery,
a pickle works, a seller of wholesale produce, a seltzer bottler,
and a beer wholesaler.
Advertisers included a stationer, numerous stores selling men's
hats, clothing, and furnishings, a tobacconist, a furniture store,
three jewelry stores, and a coal and fuel dealer.
A carpenter, a mason, three plumbers, a painter, three contractors,
two barbers, a shoe shine parlor, a cleaning and dying establishment,
a printer, and a horse shoer.
Five auto storage garages and repair facilities, two auto parts
dealers/wreckers, two truck dealerships, one taxi company, one horse
and wagon rental stable, and one mover.
One optometrist, one funeral director, several lawyers.
One steambath, one boxing gym.
One finance company, three insurance agents/agencies.
Mercer Baths: "Russian Turkish Baths for the Treatment of
Gout and
Rheumatism" ... "The Best Rubbers in the City"
Twentieth Century Cab Company: "Every driver an owner"
... "Look for
the diamond on the door."
Harrison's Fish Market: "Live Fish Our Specialty."
Livingston Auto Parts: "We buy old cars and trucks for wrecking
Kane's Restaurant: "Where you get your seven course dinner
for 60¢ with
beer free"
Waverly Garage: "The ideal home for your car" ... Cylinder
Grinding ...
Auto Laundry."
Joe Frucht: "Horses, Wagons, Carriages to hire by hour, day,
or week."
J. S. Gold, Wholesale Tobacconist: "Distributor of Topic 10¢,
Bold 2 for 15¢
and Recal 5¢ Cigars of Quality."
Max Meyerson: "High Class Barber."
Sam Becker: "Horse Shoer."
(Not advertising, but also doing business in the Third Ward in
1928 were numerous mom n' pop groceries, hardware stores, dry goods
stores, a kitchen appliance store, a window glass and mirror store,
a corsetiere, a Yiddish theatre, and a store selling Jewish books,
religious goods, and artifacts).
In addition to business advertisers, the Souvenir Program also
included greetings form well-wishers. Prominent among them was William
J. Brennan, "Honorary Member" who was then Newark's Commissioner
of Public Safety.
Brennan, a Newark labor leader before his election, was the father
of eight children, the second of which was William, Jr., a 22-year
old law student who would later serve 34 years on the United States
Supreme Court (1956-1990), write 1360 opinions, and earn recognition
as "One of the greatest justices of all time."
Also prominent in the Souvenir Program was Meyer C. Ellenstein,
Attorney-at-Law, who would serve as Newark's first and only Jewish
mayor (1933-1941).
* Third Ward consisted of 81 blocks
bounded by High Street (5/8 mile west of Broad Street) on the East,
Belmont Avenue on the West, Springfield and South Orange Avenues
on the North, and Clinton Avenue on the South.


text:
(a)Accounting & Bookkeeping
We offer a complete range of accounting and bookkeeping services for Sole proprietorship and (small, mid, large) businesses in GTA which have different accounting and bookkeeping needs. We prepare and maintain day to day bookkeeping and monthly or quarterly accounts and these books are prepared as per the Canadian GAAP accounting standards.
Our accounting services are offered at a market competitive rates and we provide the best quality service in Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton. We provide accurate and timely services whether its a full accounting service, financial statement preparation or a quarterly update and provide highly efficient accounting services for our clients. Apart from providing bookkeeping service in Mississauga and Toronto,
We provide following services for individuals and businesses :
- Book-Keeping (Monthly or Quarterly)
- Payroll Reconciliation / Payroll Processing
- Income statement generation
- Bank Account Reconciliation
- Capital Planning And Investment Management
- Timely Reporting
- Data Processing / Data from hard copy to soft copy and visa versa
- Filing returns for HST, Payroll, EHT, WSIB
If you are looking for an accountant in Brampton or want your accounting and bookkeeping services to be managed by the best CPA in Toronto area, just give us a call and we will be fast enough to help you with your accounts management needs.
(b) Payroll Services :
At JMD Accounting and Taxation Services Inc, CPA in Brampton, you will find the best team looking at your payroll problems and giving you the best possible solutions in a timely manner. If you are looking for a reliable payroll management service in Brampton, Mississauga or Toronto, you have reached the right place. We promise that the payroll service we will provide for your business will be the best in the market. Once you have your payroll setup through us, you will never need to look anywhere else. Our Motto is, "Provide the best of the best and keep repeating….".
We care about your business and we know that your business success means our business success. With a growing business, increase in payroll administration is bound to happen which can make things complex. Not only managing payrolls within the business firm can use a lot of resources like time and money, but can also be a complex task and can lead to an error due to lack of proper guidance. If you are looking for a better way to initiate your payroll processing in Mississauga, count on us, Let us take your load of payroll management and focus on other important tasks that can make the business reach new heights. We provide hassle-free way of processing your payroll services in Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga and handle every aspect of managing payrolls.
We handle companies of all sizes, let it be small or rather large company, we remove your burden of payroll tasks and prepare payroll tax returns in a timely manner. Depending on your needs according to the size of your business, we bring a cost friendly payroll solution for your business. Our team located in Mississauga is dedicated in providing reliable payroll solutions to companies in GTA and have always focused on client satisfaction.
Our Payroll, HST Services Include:
- Complete Payroll Service
- Standard and Analysis Reports
- Payroll, HST And Government Returns
- Government Remittance Services
- Payroll Source Deduction Remittance
- HST Return
- Employer Health Tax (EHT)
- WSIB (Workman Safety And Insurance Board)
- Year-end processing, T4′s, T4A's, T5′s
T5018 (For Construction Companies)


text:
You may already know our solution is tightly integrated with MailChimp to give our customers sophisticated email and social marketing capabilities. We explain the rationale behind selecting MailChimp in a post titled "MailChimp Integration".
Because many of you are leveraging this integration, we wanted to let you know of some enhancements MailChimp has recently released.
You probably noticed that the app looks different, but there's more to it than just a new look. With this update, they made some improvements to the app's functionality and introduced a completely responsive design. This is consistent with the Kintivo AMS Ecosystem™ design guidelines. Whether you access it from your desktop, laptop, or tablet, the layout will reflow to fit your screen.


text:
There is no single known cause. It seems that depression stems from a combination of genetic, biochemical...
Marriage Counseling
Marriage counseling helps couples of all types recognize and resolve conflicts and improve their relationships.
Family Therapist
Family therapy is a type of psychological counseling that helps family members improve communication.


text:
Diamine Ancient Copper is one of the first inks I ever truly explored and I must say, it is a beauty. Due to the orange nature of the color, it is prone to nib creep and crusting over on nibs, but don't panic: there is nothing wrong with the ink! It's just the nature of the dyes and it's perfectly safe. It shades beautifully, is intense and saturated, and is just a gorgeous ink in general. I'm a big fan of it.
Where to buy: Diamine is available at many places so please feel free to check out the sponsors and discount codes in the sidebar!
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Diamine Ancient Copper Ink
Labels: Diamine, fountain pen ink, ink, Ink Shot, inks
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Multi-Surface Antibacterial Cleaning Wipes, For Disinfecting and Cleaning, Lemon and Lime Blossom, 240 Count (Pack of 3)
Life is busy, why waste more time buying rags and using cleaning solution when you can have quick easy disposable disinfectant wipes? I have to confess I love these sweet lemon smelling Lysol wipes. I'm a germaphobe and I like everything to be super clean so I keep one in my car, in my room and one at my office. Its quick, clean and economical. At around only 9 cents a wipe.
The other great thing is Lysol has figured out how to keep every wipe equally moist down to the last wipe! These are tough little cloths too, you can pull and stretch them, and they won't change shape. And good for difficult areas to clean...you can wind up a corner and slide it through anything. Thank you Lysol!
- Disinfecting Wipes Kill 99.9% of Cold & Flu Viruses and Antibiotic resistant bacteria including Influenza A Virus H2N2, Human Corona Virus, Strep, and Staph
- Lysol Wipes Kills 99.9% of Viruses & Bacteria including Salmonella, E.Coli, Hepes Simplex Virus,
- Lysol Wipes remove more than 95% of allergens and help prevent the growth of Mold & Mildew
- This thick strong Cleaning Wipe is great at cleaning up messes in the home, bathroom, kitchen, office, and gyms
- Disinfectant Wipes are great to use on door knobs, hand rails, counter tops, tables, sinks, and anywhere where germs may be present
- 80-Count (Pack of 3)
Multi-Surface Antibacterial Cleaning Wipes, For Disinfecting and Cleaning, Lemon and Lime Blossom, 240 Count (Pack of 3)


text:
So what is the status of Arizona State's move to a new conference?
Several months ago, the College Hockey News reported in an article that the Sun Devils were finalizing their agreement to enter the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). This report came on the heels of Notre Dame leaving the Big East and joining the Big 10 Conference. Many initially thought that this move would be followed by ASU's move to the B1G. However, ultimately the Big 10 did not want to add Pac-12 member ASU to the party. So, logically, the next best second option for Arizona State is the NCHC based on league quality, geography, and fit.
With ASU's move to the NCHC, there are two barriers that come into play. First, the NCHC will look to 'balance' the conference membership (from 8 to 10) at the same time ASU enters the league by adding an additional member. Second, the league will need assurances from Arizona State that they have a firm plan in place to build a suitable arena for DI hockey. Their current facility, Oceanside Arena, is not suitable for DI play.
Within the last month, it was reported that Minnesota State had made a public plea to jump from the WCHA to the NCHC to fill the second open slot.
But not so fast Mavericks.
One of the founding schools of the NCHC is Miami of Ohio. The formation of the conference was engineered with the cooperation of head coaches Enrico Blasi and George Gwozdecky. While the Redhawks started out in the fast lane, their last several years in the NCHC have been largely mediocre. While there were a number of established rivalries in the newly formed league, the Redhawks do not have natural regional rivalries in the NCHC. As a result, even though this is unlikely, I, 5BWest, believe the league will try to mollify Miami by adding Bowling Green State University from the WCHA. Bowling Green is another quality Ohio public university, on a par with Miami of Ohio and would make for a logical regional rival for the Redhawks. Bowling Green refuses to comment on the NCHC interest but you can bet they would make the jump if they got the invitation.
That leaves the Mavericks out in the snow.
SB Nation came out with an article this summer regarding the NHL's Arizona Coyotes plans to build a new arena with several sites in close proximity to ASU. According to the article, one of the sites is actually on ASU's campus. We wrote an article about this site recently – a large parcel of land adjacent to the University which will be exclusively developed as an income engine and site for ASU athletics. However, the article warns, "Even if this deal goes through, it would likely still be some time before Arizona State had a new home. The Coyotes have one more year on their lease in Glendale, and are looking to extend for two more years beyond that to bridge the gap until an arena is done, meaning the new arena might not open until the 2019-2020 season.
This still leaves the Sun Devils without a suitable home rink until a firm plan is in place.
Like most NCHC fans, winter road trips to Arizona can't come soon enough.


text:
Robert Dallek: On Medicare's Complicated BirthRoundup: Talking About History
tags: LBJ, health care reform, Robert Dallek, Medicare
Robert Dallek, finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power (HarperCollins 2007) and winner of the 1979 Bancroft Prize for Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945 (Oxford University Press 1980), is a professor of history at Stanford University.
In 1965, after winning in a landslide against Barry Goldwater and helping to carry Democratic supermajorities into both houses of Congress, President Lyndon Johnson set out to enact a battery of Great Society reforms, including Medicare, government insurance for seniors. Despite his political mandate, 60 years of conservative opposition to such a measure meant proceeding with caution. Later, California Governor Ronald Reagan, for example, would characterize the Medicare bill as the advance wave of a socialism that would "invade every area of freedom in this country." Reagan predicted that this reform would compel Americans to spend their "sunset years telling our children and our grandchildren what it was like in America when men were free."
With 63 percent of Americans favoring passage of Medicare, Johnson believed that diehard conservative Democrats such as Wilbur Mills, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who had repeatedly blocked a Medicare bill from reaching the House floor, would be hard-pressed to maintain his opposition. Johnson had little leverage over Mills, who had a safe seat and feared that Medicare would bring fiscal disaster upon the country. Privately, Johnson complained that Mills was a "prissy, prim, and proper man . . . [who] was afraid to put his reputation behind a risky bill."...


text:
Apply a matte face and eye primer over your entire face.
Next, apply liquid black eyeliner to create a winged look. Line your waterline with white liquid eyeliner.
Create a cut crease slightly above your natural crease line with black eyeliner.
Using black paint, paint on sharp eyebrows.
Contour face shape and cheekbones using the black paint.
Apply red lipstick and outline lips in the black paint. Outline your lips and nose in black, and create a white reflection look.
Next, adhere false eyelashes onto your eye.
Outline neck lines in black paint. Dip the back of your paintbrush in white paint and dot your face in a diagonal line.
Add more dots to your neck in an even pattern.
Using blue eyeshadow, draw on tears under each eye. Outline the tears in black eyeliner.
End result
- Matte face and eye primer
- Black liquid eyeliner
- White liquid eyeliner
- White washable paint
- Black washable paint
- Chiseled paint brush
- Fake eyelashes
- Matte red lipstick
- Blue eyeshadow


text:
Cloud Data Processing Platform
Data Hygiene, Suppression and Enhancement API
Schedule a demo, request pricing or find out more
Access 450 Million Records
SwiftCore provides instant access to over 450 million premium deceased, gone-away and home mover records. Integrate your CRM, contact database or marketing systems with the broadest range of suppression and home mover data sets available without paying individual licence fees and negotiating royalty fees with each file owner.
Introducing SwiftCore
SwiftCore lets brands identify and continuously update deceased, gone-away and home mover data within an entire contact database or a single record. The secure, cloud based service makes it simple to integrate data hygiene into CRMs, contact databases and marketing systems without the need to set-up and maintain servers, worry about data security or reinvent matching logic.
Improve marketing ROI by automatically keeping contact data up to date. Use SwiftCore Single Record to validate and enrich an individual record in your CRM as it loads in real time. Use SwiftCore Batch to automatically cleanse campaign data or even periodically update an entire contact database. Developers create an account, request an API key and start building in just a few minutes.
SwiftCore Features
RESTful, Machine Readable API
Language and Platform Agnostic using Standard GET, POST and PUT Commands
GDPR Compliant Cloud Processing Infrastructure
Personally Identifiable Data Restricted Solution
Data Encryption and Pseudonymisation Throughout
Automated Subject Data Deletion
Third-Party Security Audited
450 Million UK Suppression and Home Mover Records
Proprietary Matching and Processing Logic
Who uses SwiftCore
SwiftCore can be equally beneficial for data owners looking to control access to their data assets or data bureaux seeking to reduce overheads and maximise project revenue.


text:
All aluminum tray and handles make this tray very light weight, but extremely rugged. The pistol grip hands are super comfortable to hold for extended periods of time. Adjustable extensions means this tray can fit a wide variety of housings tray is adjustable from 8″ (inside the handles) to 11.25″. Two ball mounts included to easy attach lights or strobes. Dual stainless tripod screws so you don't have to worry about your housing spinning, or plastic screws getting tired. Base tray is threaded to accept an optional tripod kit.
Click here to learn more about the Aluminum Pistol Grip Camera Tray.


text:
Football Player training Program
The start of the Willie Taggart era at Oregon has brought about some worrisome news. Per The Oregonian, at least three Ducks football players were hospitalized following strenuous offseason workouts conducted late last week.
Per The Oregonian, the workouts that hospitalized the players could be described as rigorous, to say the least ...Players this week were required to finish the same workouts, which were described by multiple sources as akin to military basic training, with one said to include up to an hour of continuous push-ups and up-downs. The sources said that some players "passed out" and others later complained of discolored urine, which is a common symptom of rhabdomyolysis. After testing, others were found to have highly elevated levels of creatine kinase, an indicator of the syndrome.
One player, Poutasi, has officially been diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a rare syndrome in which muscle tissue is broken down and leaks into the bloodstream. This can be triggered by extremely intense workouts.
Source: www.cbssports.com


text:
Friday Talking Points [42] -- Get Up, Stand Up, Barack
I have to assume if you're reading this that you're sick of the Olympics already. Wow, that was fast. Is NBC's coverage going to be twice as bad as last time around, or will they go for the gold and make it four times as bad?
Sorry, I'm in a snarky mood today. So if you're allergic to snark, I'd suggest you go back to watching the Lichtensteinian athletes walk around the field. Or whatever's currently on....
Today's Friday Talking Points column is a bit more free-form than normal. Very quickly, we will award this week's prizes, and then get on to the heart of the matter -- trying to convince Barack Obama that it's time to get up off the mat, dust yourself off, and throw a few punches. Because although Obama has a commanding lead on the state-wide level, that lead could evaporate quickly under a barrage of slime and mud from the McCain camp. Democrats across the country are holding their collective breath, waiting to see whether Obama will wind up being another Kerry, or wind up being another Bill Clinton. Kerry famously "was above" responding to August attacks. Clinton had a War Room which responded forcefully to attacks (even the true ones -- remember the phrase "bimbo eruption" from the 1992 campaign?) immediately, and within the same news cycle. Kerry, of course, lost. Clinton won.
So, very quickly here, the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award goes to... surprise!... Barack Obama. Because although he didn't get more than a few soundbites on the air, and while most of it flew under the media's (and the American public's) radar, Obama actually has been trying to fight back. He's criticized McCain all week long, in specific ways, on a daily basis. Maybe he's not very good at it, but if he gets a little better this could be a sign of a whole new Barack Obama. Personally, I'm optimistic, which is why I'm awarding Obama the coveted MIDOTW award. Not many people noticed Obama being impressive, but I have to say I did.
The Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week goes to Barack Obama's War Room. You guys have just got to get faster at this. When McCain attacks, immediately phone up all the media with your side of the story, conveniently packaged in a wowser of a soundbite that the mainstream media loves so dearly. Get up, stand up! RIGHT AWAY! Now, Obama couldn't have won MIDOTW if you folks weren't doing something right, so there is room for improvement here, I would think. But you simply have to get better -- and, much more importantly, faster -- at what you do.
Which leads right into my introduction to today's special Barack Obama Edition of talking points. Because, although Obama has shown a good deal of backbone this week, and although he is hitting back with the help of his War Room, there is a large piece missing from this puzzle -- defining your opponent by telling his story with your frame around it.
To understand this, consider the following quote from John McCain. The "he" McCain keeps referencing is Obama:
"Government is too big, he wants to grow it. Taxes are too high, he wants to raise them. Congress spends too much and he proposes more. We need more energy and he's against producing it. We're finally winning in Iraq, and he wants to forfeit."
See, that's why Democrats get beat at this "defining your opponent" stuff by Republicans so often. They know what they're doing. This should not be taken lightly. This is why Republicans win elections that everyone predicts Democrats should win. Because they know how to frame the issue to effectively resonate with the average guy or gal listening to that speech.
This is also why Democrats are so open to attacks as "elitists" and even "latte-sipping, Volvo-driving, arugula-buying liberals," who (of course) don't understand you, Mr. and Mrs. American. Especially when they don't fight back.
Because somewhere along the way, on the journey from being ordinary people to being politicians, Democrats seem to forget how to actually talk to people (the soi-disant Joe and Jane Sixpack) in their own common vernacular -- which actually communicates the basic philosophy of their message, both effectively and persuasively at the same time, while remaining eloquent and succinct throughout.
Like that whole last paragraph I just wrote, for instance.
How about this, instead: "Democrats can't shoot the breeze -- and they sure can't trash talk -- the way those Republicans can."
Now some might accuse me of cynicism (I get that a lot, actually), or of feeding into the old Washington adage: "Sincerity is crucial. Once you can fake that, you've got it made." I disagree. As Drew Westen said in his recent article at Huffington Post, you've got to tell people a story. It's got to be a compelling story. And you can't stop with just your story. You've got to tell the story of the other guy, too. You've got to define him in your terms, ones that everyone can relate to, and why you're better. You must do this in order to defeat him in an election. And Democrats have an unbelievably hard time learning this lesson.
Go back and read that quote from McCain. Other than "proposes", "produces" and "forfeit" is there a word in there that is beyond the understanding of the average second-grader? In just forty-five words, anyone listening to that speech has learned: (1) Obama wants a bigger government, (2) Obama will raise your taxes -- you, sir, that's right, you there -- he will raise your taxes, probably the first day he's in office, (3) Obama loves spending, (4) Obama is against gas prices coming down, and finally... by the way, (5) Obama wants to surrender Iraq to the terrorists -- who knows, he may be one himself.
All that -- in just forty-five words. Who cares how accurate any of these attacks are? They are all simple ideas, which tell the story: "Obama is just another liberal who hates America and wants to see you, your job, your pride, and your country fail at everything, all the time." This story has been told over and over again to America by Republicans, so it all fits in to their overarching narrative. That's why it sounds so familiar to everyone. And, more importantly, why it sounds believable.
What has Obama said about McCain that resonates with the same urgency, or the same sort of story-telling?
This is serious business, I should point out. Tony Sachs wrote an amusing (but scary) article this week, instructing Obama how he can manage to continue the Democratic streak of losing big elections which they should (by all rights) have won, by just following his five rules. Like I said, it's amusing -- but also scary. Because, as I said, this is serious business.
I personally refuse to stand by and let Barack Obama follow those five rules. There is a way to combat this type of rhetoric, and so... since Obama is on vacation for the next week... I'd like to offer the following as "summer reading" for him. This is the type of speech an ENORMOUS amount of Democrats are waiting for him to give. This is the type of speech that fights back. This is the type of thing that needs saying, not because it is "negative campaigning" (Democrats really need to get over being afraid of that term... negative campaigning does not equal mudslinging, and should be embraced responsibly), not because it is an "attack" on McCain (it is defense against McCain's mudslinging), and not only because it is effective. This needs saying if Barack Obama is going to win this election. Because otherwise he will go down in history as: "Barack Obama -- Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, who did not learn the lessons of John Kerry's swiftboating, and (as a result) lost the election to President McCain."
And that is not something I am willing to accept. Or condone. Not when I have a soapbox which could conceivably reach Barack Obama, and his campaign team.
If I had to send this to them as a telegram (boy, that's really going to date me), this is what my basic message would be, in proper telegram form:
So, anyway, this week, instead of seven discrete (but never discreet!) Friday Talking Points, I offer up instead a whole speechful of talking points, without numbers. This is a speech I would dearly love to see Obama make... perhaps on the first campaign stop after he comes back from his weeklong vacation.
Oh, and just a piece of advice, Senator Obama. While out in Hawai'i, don't get photographed windsurfing. Because we've already seen that movie, and we know how it ends.
Not again. Please... not again.
Volume 42 (8/8/08)
John McCain must think American voters are stupid. That's the only conclusion I can come up with, after seeing some of his recent campaign ads. John McCain thinks Americans are so dumb they'll believe anything.
He's trying to paint me as some sort of out-of-touch elitist, some sort of empty-headed celebrity who doesn't understand the average American's life. I have to assume he thinks the voters are dumb, because you'd have to be pretty dumb to believe that I am somehow "the elitist" in this race.
I'd like to ask Senator McCain a few questions -- starting with why he has such a low opinion of your intelligence. Does John McCain think that Americans are such idiots that they won't notice his own lavish lifestyle? Senator McCain, I'd like to ask you a few questions about your life, to see which one of us truly does live like a rock star, and which one of us knows how average Americans live.
Has John McCain or anyone in his immediate family ever had to take out a student loan to go to college? I just paid mine off, a milestone for any American who has had to work to get through college, instead of it being handed to him on a plate. How many of you know about student loans? Yeah? You do? So do I. And yet, John McCain wants you to believe he is more in touch with average Americans like you, even though he wouldn't know what a student loan form looked like if it came up and bit him on the ankle. But remember that according to John, Obama is the elitist.
I'd like to ask John just how many houses he and his wife actually own. And how much the cheapest of these houses is worth. How many average Americans own this many homes, or homes worth this much? And how many of those average Americans are struggling to pay the mortgage on just one house? I wonder how many servants the McCains have on their payroll -- just to keep all those houses looking nice. And yet, John McCain thinks he's more in touch with average Americans, as he decides every night just which of the many houses he owns he'd like to sleep in. Yet, Obama is somehow the celebrity, not this man with a such a wide choice of places to rest his head. According to John.
John's wife was recently quoted saying "in Arizona, the only way to get around the state is by small private plane." Wow. That must be nice, huh? I wonder what all of his constituents stuck in traffic would have to say about that. Maybe they can all eat some cake while sitting in their cars in Arizona. But remember, John McCain is supposed to be more in touch with those commuters than I am, because I am somehow above all that. Sounds like McCain's the one who is "above" all those people, in his wife's private plane. No wonder he can't see their needs, at that distance.
The McCains have reportedly spent over three-quarters of a million dollars -- in ONE MONTH -- on their credit cards during this campaign. Now, I don't know how many of you out there have ever spent seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars on a credit card. I certainly haven't. How many of you think you'll spend that much on your credit cards in your entire life? And yet, the McCains spent that much money in one month's time, just on their credit cards alone. But remember, Obama is the elitist in this campaign, who doesn't understand the working man and woman's problems. The McCains charge more money than most people see in their lives on plastic in one month's time... and yet somehow Obama is the one living a celebrity lifestyle. It just boggles the mind. How dumb does John McCain think you all are?
When my wife went on national television, she wore a dress she bought in a store that you folks would probably shop in. She bought it off the rack. Do you think you'd ever bump into Cindy McCain in a store where you shop? Cindy McCain is a long way from Pat Nixon's "respectable Republican cloth coat," I can tell you that. But remember, the Obamas are the ones living the celebrity lifestyle. The Obamas are the ones who live such a elite life that they can't understand average Americans. According to John. Even though you could actually meet my wife shopping in a store that you shop in -- a store Cindy McCain probably wouldn't be caught dead in.
Forgive me for talking so much about John McCain's wife. I am not attacking her here, I just want to know what John McCain's personal finances are. My wife and I have released all of our tax returns -- every single page -- for recent years. Cindy McCain files taxes separately from her husband, and to date has put out two pages of one year's worth of her taxes, because she wants to hide everything else from the American public. Somehow it's not relevant to the American people how a presidential candidate's wife makes her money, or how much money she makes. This is transparency? This is leveling with the American public? But remember, Obama is the one living a lavish celebrity lifestyle with elitist disdain for the little people, according to John.
Budweiser -- a historically American-owned business -- is getting sold to a foreign company. That's right -- crack a Bud, and from now on Belgium is going to pocket the profits. Will this profit the McCains, since Cindy's family money comes from a Budweiser beer distributor? Who knows? Because Cindy refuses to show American voters her tax returns, we just don't know how much the McCains will profit from this deal. Say what you want about my wife, but she's not going to rake in millions of dollars from selling an American icon to foreigners. Whether John McCain will or not, we just don't know, because his wife won't let you see her tax returns. And yet, according to John, I'm the one who is supposed to be elitist. Michelle and I show America our tax returns (because we have nothing to hide), and John McCain and his wife can't do the same because they want to hide how wealthy they truly are, and what possible financial influences are buried there... and yet I'm the one who is supposed to be out of touch with the common man? Just how ridiculous is that?
Now, I know what the media story is going to be after this speech. It's going to be about how Barack Obama went negative. I reject that interpretation -- I am defending my good name from negative attacks which originated from John McCain, whose "I'm John McCain and I approved this ad" line appears on all of them. That's right -- John McCain personally is approving these attacks on me and my character -- and he doesn't even care that the media has universally called his ads lies -- he still pays money to air them. This is disgusting not just because it is the usual Republican line of attack, but because John McCain himself promised America he was not going to do this, just a few months ago. That's right -- John McCain stood before America and lied. He said he would run a clean campaign. He said he didn't like ads which personally attacked his opponent. When he said that, he lied to every one of you.
And yet, Barack Obama is supposed to be lying to America about who he is. Well, you know what? I trust America knows the difference between a smear ad, and defending your good name from mudslinging. And I trust American voters know the difference between style and substance. I think Americans will trust me to keep my word, unlike John McCain, who has already broken his word to American voters in the kind of campaign he was going to run. I would have loved to have run the most high-level campaign in American history against John McCain, and I took him at his word that that's what we were going to do. But he has allowed the lobbyists, the Washington insiders, and the people trained by Karl Rove to take over his campaign. When faced with this level of falsehood from my opponent, I have to defend my good name in the only way I know how. Which is to point out the falsehood of the caricature my opponent is trying to fit me into.
While for the past month or so Americans everywhere have been paying top dollar to the oil companies to fill up their gas tanks in order to get to work, drive their kids to softball practice, and go shopping -- in this same period of time, John McCain has been snowed under by hundreds of thousands of dollars coming to his campaign from the oil companies. That's a direct connection Americans need to make -- their money, paying for gas at the pump, going into John McCain's campaign coffers, so that he can fool you into thinking that what's good for the oil companies is good for America, and especially that what's good for the oil companies is good for you. Think about that the next time you fill up for gas. Your money. Oil companies' profits. John McCain, who will protect those obscene profits. Campaign contributions. Bought and paid for. Because John McCain puts oil company profits above the pain at the pump. That's why they're paying him good money -- your good money -- to convince you that paying all that money is a good thing -- and should continue forever, instead of changing the whole equation. John McCain doesn't want to tax these oil companies and give the money back to you, as I have proposed. He's against you getting some of that money back. He's not against him getting that money in campaign contributions, he's against you getting that money. And yet somehow Barack Obama is the one who doesn't understand the way the common man sees energy prices. John McCain is somehow their champion, when he takes your money from the oil companies just to get elected. But that's the picture John wants you to believe. Call it the world according to John.
The funniest thing to me about the campaign over the last few months is that John McCain is supposed to be some sort of stand-up guy for veterans' benefits. John McCain, is (of course) a veteran himself. He gets regular checks to pay for his veterans' benefits. Also, of course, he gets checks from the federal government for his Social Security, since he's at the age when most Americans retire. And, of course, he also gets his Senate paycheck. For someone so against the big bad federal government, it's astounding how many checks John McCain gets each month from them. Triple-dipping into the taxpayer's dime... John McCain, if he truly believes his own rhetoric, shouldn't be getting so much free money from all of our taxes. Of course, I reject such Republican rhetoric. Retirees should get their full Social Security benefit, since they've paid into it over a long lifetime of work. And I can't argue with my own Senate salary. But to me, it is hypocritical of John McCain to take money as a veteran, while opposing bills that help today's veterans.
The Webb GI Bill, which Democrats passed over heavy Republican resistance -- including a veto threat from George Bush -- gives today's soldiers a chance to actually afford college, much like the original GI Bill's intent, passed after World War II. John McCain actively opposed this bill. He seemed to think it was too expensive. He said it was too generous. That's right -- John McCain and George Bush thought Democrats were being too generous to veterans. He thought that the troops on the line in Iraq and Afghanistan today didn't deserve this much money, because it might persuade them not to re-enlist. He didn't even have the courage to show up to vote against the new GI Bill, even though he publicly opposed it. I made time in my campaign schedule to show up on the Senate floor to vote for this bill, because I thought that the idea of giving too much money to our brave soldiers is ridiculous. Democrats fought for the GI Bill, against John McCain.
And yet, if you listen to the McCain campaign's ads, Barack Obama is the one who is anti-American, and anti-military. Well, you know what, Senator McCain? I am pro-veteran and I honored every veteran I represent in the state of Illinois when I showed up to vote for that bill. You told the veterans in Arizona you were against them getting more money, and then you shamefully didn't even bother to show up for the vote. So I think American voters are smart enough to know who truly does support our soldiers, and who does not. By our voting records in the Senate. Which, incidentally, is the third paycheck John McCain is supposedly "earning," even though he has been AWOL on more votes in the Senate this year than any other Senator.
But remember, according to John, Obama is the celebrity. According to John, Obama is the elitist. Well, you know what John? When you're not busy flying around in your private plane between your many houses, and when you're not busy charging hundreds of thousands of dollars on your credit cards, when you're not busy hiding your wife's money from the public, when you're not busy lying to the American people about what type of campaign you're going to run, and when you're not busy cashing checks from oil companies, when you're not too busy ducking important votes in the Senate because you don't want to pay veterans a fair amount, when you're not too busy on your campaign to convince America that Barack Obama is some elitist who wouldn't know an average American if he met one, if you're not too busy with your advisors coming up with more ads that lie about me, I'd like some answers to these questions. You can start with "how many houses do the McCains own?" and take it from there. Because I think the American people deserve some answers. I think the American people are smart enough to realize that the world according to John is a fantasy world, and they'd like to get back to the world Barack Obama and the American voter live in.
That's the difference between me and John McCain. I don't think the American public is stupid. According to John McCain, he must think you're stupid. And after all, isn't that really one definition of the word "elitist" -- thinking you're more intelligent than the public? Personally, I think the American voter is smarter than that. John McCain obviously does not.
Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground
Cross-posted at: The Huffington Post
-- Chris Weigant


text:
I want to animate various parent objects (and their children objects) appearing and disappearing in a rendered animation.
This is currently possible with single objects by keyframing the Restrict Rendering and Restrict Viewport Visibility options in the outliner. (They're the little camera and eyeball symbols next to each object.)
I want to do something similar, but with multiple objects, preferably under a single parent object. The main goal is to be able to do this without having to set the keyframes for each object in the group manually.
This has been brought up before in a previous Blender StackExchange question, but it has no confirmed answer, and the only information it does have is some extremely confusing writing about some feature called drivers.
Another option I tried to think of would be to put each group of objects on its own layer and animate the layers' render restriction, but according to this other Blender StackExchange question, keyframing layers isn't recommended.
The latter question even mentioned my problem, saying "the animation of the visibility of groups of thousands of objects (with various materials) is not easily or practically possible."
I think neither of these questions got enough exposure, and there might be someone with a simpler solution to this problem. (Or maybe even a clearer explanation of the whole "drivers" method.) This is why I am bringing this up again, despite it already being asked on here.
How can I easily animate groups of objects appearing and disappearing for a rendered animation?


text:
When Congress's recess began, the conventional wisdom was that immigration reform was most likely doomed in the House, and that August, with its throngs of anti-"amnesty" protesters coming out to harass Republican representatives, would offer the final nail in the coffin. But now the month is closing with several positive signs that reform advocates have prevailed in volume over the summer break.
First, Molly Ball at The Atlantic dispatches any worries that Gadsden flag-toting immigration opponents are haranguing conservative members of Congress in droves. Quite the opposite, she writes—immigration reformers are "winning August":
Hundreds of immigrant advocates have appeared at rallies and town halls across the country. But the other side, the opponents, have been mostly absent. …
Anti-reform groups appear to be canceling events for lack of participation. The Tea Party Patriots once boasted of summer rallies in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Dallas; and South Carolina, but they've disappeared from the calendar on the group's website. Another anti-immigration-reform group, the Black American Leadership Alliance, had planned a nine-city "We Are America Tour," but had to drop half the stops. "Dear friends, it is with deep regret that I must inform you all that we had to drop several rallies," an organizer wrote on Facebook, in a post that has since been removed but was spotted and preserved by the pro-reform group America's Voice. "We were unable to get organizers for the following: Miami, FL., Chicago, IL., Roanoke, VA., and Wisconsin."
This morning comes a New York Times story about the rare, coordinated push among Catholic umbrella organizations to send a pro-reform message to the nation's Catholic congregants—who share a faith with 130 members of Congress and constitute a giant voting bloc in their own right:
It includes advertising and phone calls directed at 60 Catholic Republican lawmakers and "prayerful marches" in Congressional districts where the issue has become a divisive topic.
"We want to try to pull out all the stops," said Kevin Appleby, the director of migration policy at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who said the immigration issue was at a now-or-never moment. "They have to hear the message that we want this done, and if you're not successful during the summer, you're not going to win by the end of the year."
Of course, no one is mistaking these signs as an indication that the future of immigration reform consists of smooth sailing in the House. There, the majority is clearly set against any bill that is comprehensive or resembles the Senate's. Just as before summer recess began, the best hope for immigration reform remains that Speaker John Boehner will be willing to break the Hastert rule and pass legislation with Democratic support—enough of it to send the whole question to conference committee. And with a potent cocktail of financial showdowns brewing—a potential government shutdown wrapped up with a fight to reverse sequester cuts—plus what Republicans see as their last, best chance to sink Obamacare looming, immigration won't be at the fore of lawmakers' minds for weeks after Congress resumes.
In that context, the best that a favorable August can do for immigration reform supporters is to maintain conditions that are as agreeable as possible for coaxing Republican representatives out of their retrenched opposition to reform. As Greg Sargent wrote last night,
The real story may be that House GOP leaders haven't decided how to proceed. They are waiting to hear from members—some of whom are genuinely taking constituents' temperature. …
If enough House Republicans privately don't mind much if reform passes for the good of the party, as long as they don't have to vote for it, Boehner can break the fictional Hastert Rule. … Only a year ago the position of the entire GOP was that any kind of provisional legalization constituted unacceptable "amnesty." For some Republicans to be moving off that position is not nothing.
For a summer that saw thousands of immigration reformers rally around the offices of hapless conservatives, that may sound like an impossibly small victory. But come late 2013, or even 2014, it may be the memory of a fairly temperate summer that buoys reform to a full-floor House vote.
Molly Redden is a New Republic staff writer. Follow her on Twitter @mtredden.
This post initially misidentified Greg Sargent as Brad Plumer.


text:
- Home
- Government
- Departments
- Public Works
- Tree Trail Project
- Tree Trail Project 19-24
Tree Trail Project 19-24
Tree Descriptions 19-24 (Eagle Scout Project by George Atkinson)
19) Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
The Flowering Dogwood is a deciduous tree that can grow to 20-40 feet that is native to eastern North America. During the Civil War dogwood bark was used as a substitute for quinine, a common treatment for malaria and babesiosis. The dogwood's nectar and flowers attract birds and butterflies. It was introduced into Europe from Virginia by the early colonists, and has a natural range from Florida to Massachusetts, including Texas and Mexico.
20) Japanese Cedar (Cryptomeria japonica)
The Japanese Cedar is an evergreen tree that can grow to 100 feet tall (under the correct conditions), and is the national tree of Japan. The timber is extremely fragrant, weather and insect resistant, soft, and has a low density. The timber is used for making staves, tubs, casks, furniture and other indoor applications. Easy to saw and season, it is favoured for light construction, boxes, veneers and plywood. Wood that has been buried turns dark green and is quite valuable. Resin from the tree contains cryptopimaric and phenolic acid.
21) Nuttall Oak (Quercus nuttallii)
The Nuttall Oak is a large and sturdy deciduous tree, and is commonly known for its clusters of acorns. This tree can be found from Alabama to Texas/Oklahoma, and even up north in Missouri and illinois. It is commonly used for squirrel food, and has a wide grey trunk with medium-sized green leaves that turn a variety of colors in the fall. Typically, the Nuttall Oak grows about 40-60 feet tall, but under the right conditions this tree can grow upwards of 80 feet tall.
22) Saucer Magnolia (Magnolia X soulangiana)
This cousin of the Southern Magnolia grows to 30 to 40 feet tall. The Magnolia is known for its pink (or occasionally purple) flower petals, and is a very beautiful evergreen shrub/small tree. It is commonly found in the deep south of the USA, and was first cultivated in the early 1800s in France.
23) Empress Tree (Paulownia tomentosa)
The Empress Tree is a deciduous tree, and is also called the Foxglove Tree, in addition to several other common names. The Empress Tree grows 40 to 50 feet tall, and is commonly used for its wood because of its fast growth rate. It is found throughout the southern and mid-western United States, though it is native to China. Asian countries (primarily the Japanese) use the timber for rice pots, bowls, spoons, furniture, coffins, air crates, and shoe soles.
24) Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis)
The Eastern Redbud is a deciduous t ree that can grow 20 to 30 feet tall and 25-35 feet wide. It is a very beautiful tree with many small pink, magenta, and purple flowers, and is related to the pea family. It has small, light green, broadly-heart shaped leaves that extend in an alternating zig-zag pattern. It is generally found between New Jersey, down south to Florida, and out west to Texas and Missouri. The Redbud's branches are commonly used in basketry and in remedies for the common cold or flu (don't try this at home!).


text:
BWI launches 5th World Congress theme and logo
As BWI moves closer to its 5th World Congress in Madrid, Spain, it launched its official Congress theme and logo to embody the urgent call for workers to take action amidst the various issues threatening the planet, peace and humankind.
BWI will carry the theme "Vamos," a Spanish term which means "let's go" to indicate the urgency of the Congress' call for action. It will be followed by the message "Organise Beyond Borders" to reiterate the principle of internationalism, particularly the need to intensify global trade union building; and underscore the imperative to break barriers that promote inequality in gender, digitalisation and work status.
To identify the various aspects of its strategic actions for the next Congress period, BWI added the message "For the People. For Peace. For the Planet" to highlight the wholistic role of trade unions in societies and the global arena.
For the logo, the five (5) lines of dots indicate the five (5) regions where BWI is present at, while the colour scheme represents trade unionism, the climate and environment, forest and wood industries, the women's movement, the building materials and construction sectors and our blue planet. The myriad of colours also pays homage to Spain, the vibrant country which will host BWI's 5th Congress.
The Congress week starts on the 3rd of October with two-day statutory meetings and parallel thematic conferences on innovative trade unionism and women in trades. They will be subsequently followed by a two-day Congress Plenary. The entire affair will be capped by a solidarity dinner on the 7th of October, Friday evening.
Vamos! See you in Madrid!


text:
There is a good constitutional reason for not allowing politicians to make decisions which result in imprisonment. It's called the separation of powers and is meant to ensure that politics does not intrude into decisions which deprive people of their liberty. That's what judges are for.
Yet the Queensland government has done just that. Attorney-general Jarrod Bleijie has taken decisions about detaining sex offenders in prison after their sentences have been served, away from the courts and into his own hands. Bleijie will now have the right to put serious offenders behind bars indefinitely.
Somewhat ironically, the release of sex offender Robert Fardon – who was the subject of the High Court case which tested the validity of the legislation and found that making these orders was part of the judicial role – is what spurred Bleijie to take this extreme step.
This may appease some sections of the media but does nothing for the promotion of community safety.
Mixing politics and justice
Court decisions are open to public scrutiny in a way that private decision-making is not. Politicians, on the other hand, are notoriously susceptible to pressure from lobby groups and the media.
One of the reasons the High Court approved the Queensland scheme (Fardon lost the appeal but was later released) was the presence of safeguards such as review and appeal. But there are no avenues for a review or to appeal the decisions under the Queensland model, and so any opportunity to improve or modify the system is lost. It remains to be seen whether the High Court will decide whether the new scheme is constitutionally palatable.
In any case, why is the Queensland government fiddling about with the method of determining detention when the real problems are a lack of vision and resources for rehabilitation?
Under this model, people can be detained forever. But for the vast majority of offenders who will be released, where is the attention to the conditions which will maximise their chances of staying offence free?
Allaying public concern
The whole dialogue about "sex offenders" increases the gap between media representations and reality. The fact remains that most people, including children, are sexually assaulted by someone they know, not the demonised "paedophile" of the popular media.
A colleague at Legal Aid once commented that the sex offenders' prison at Long Bay was the most "normal" prison. Sex offenders are the most varied group of men in the prison system, coming from all classes and backgrounds. Another colleague called it the "grandfathers' gaol". They are also among the least likely to re-offend.
In the United States and Canada, sex offenders are often detained post-sentence by way of civil commitment laws. In other words, they have been recast as mentally ill. Most sex offenders are not mentally ill, even in the popular meaning let alone the more restricted medico-legal meaning. But the word "paedophile" has taken on a popular meaning beyond the medical diagnosis.
Uncertainties about psychiatric diagnosis are magnified when the outcome is imprisonment. These orders are based on speculative evidence (the risk of future offending) and so it is near to impossible to evaluate their efficacy – as they purport to prevent potential harm.
Australian jurisdictions have chosen to bypass the strict medical model, probably due to the enormous resource implications for a mental health system already stretched beyond capacity. Western Australia and Queensland have indefinite sentences for life sentence offences. But there are also problems with labelling offenders under "dangerous predator" laws – rehabilitation becomes more difficult when a fixed deviant identity has been imposed.
The title of Deidre Greig's book sums up the dilemma: Neither Bad nor Mad.
Protecting the community
It's important to remember that the whole point of these schemes is community safety. While locking people away may allay concerns in the short term, it creates more problems than it solves, due to the criminogenic or crime-producing nature of imprisonment.
Much of the evidence from prisoners in my forthcoming study, which included several high-risk sex offenders, indicates there are systemic problems with accessing rehabilitation in prison, not to mention the poor quality of the services.
The fact is that our so-called "correctional" system provides minimal opportunities for the kind of internal, personal change which is expected of offenders. Even those who accept responsibility for their offending are often alienated and frustrated by the lack of opportunities for rehabilitation.
Putting aside concerns about the fundamental human rights shortcomings of preventive detention, the community will be sold short if these schemes do not provide a well-resourced, well-thought-out rehabilitative program. There is next to no sentence management in Australian prisons and no attention to whether the processes and procedures are in fact complying with and contributing to the aims of the sentence.
Those advocating rehabilitation do not necessarily do so from sympathy for the offender but from the knowledge that inducing them to adopt a law-abiding lifestyle is the best way to protect the community. We need an approach to intractable offenders that relies on evidence of good and successful practice.
To think that concentrating the power to make decisions about serious offenders into the hands of a politician will improve community safety is misguided. Judges are clearly in the best position to assess the evidence and make decisions in a transparent, publicly accountable manner.
The polarised, irrational and unhelpful discourse of victims versus offenders encouraged by these moves does nothing for community safety.


text:
The 8 Best Proposal Apps to Win Projects and Land New Clients
You devote hours to draft a proposal, ticking off a long list of tasks associated with it – collaborating with team members of different departments to gather assets, curate images, define the scope, create timelines, arrive at estimates, etc
Then, you email the proposal to the prospect and await a response.
The wait can be frustrating; because you don't know if the prospect went through the proposal, or worse, if he or she even opened the email until days later – maybe after many follow-up emails. And with each Request for Proposal (RFP) that your company receives, you and the rest of the sales team have to start the creation process all over again.
Considering how hurried the proposal course usually is, Businesses today understand the need and importance of proposal apps and proposal writing software.
Proposal software help reduce the non-billable hours spent in creating content for sales proposals. Proposal creators are designed to address the need to effectively create, hoard, and manage proposals, gain a better understanding of a company's sales pipeline and performance, and ultimately, win more deals.
What Makes a Great Proposal App?
The best proposal apps enable faster creation of proposals. Instead of typing out all the required information in a word processor document, proposal apps typically include form fields to quickly fill in the details—both manually and automatically with saved content blocks that you can reuse in every new proposal.
With several other options to make it aesthetically pleasing, sales executives can simply save the proposal as a presentation, PDF document, or even as a webpage, and send it to clients in just a few clicks. The best proposal software speeds up the proposal workflow so that sales professionals spend less time on paperwork.
Handling several tasks and RFPs simultaneously can lead to slip-ups and missing out important information that a proposal might need. Perhaps the important feature that makes a good proposal app is the ability to save content and provide customized fields in templates to fill the saved information. With a good proposal app, sales professionals can create accurate proposals and need not worry about forgetting important information.
As mentioned earlier, creating a proposal on a word processor document entails at least a half-dozen steps. The best proposal apps usually take just a couple of clicks to finish and send a proposal—and they also provide notifications when clients view and sign proposals online. Many good proposal apps even include integrations with CRM tools, accounting tools, etc., to manage entire sales and business cycles automatically.
While there are many more, here are 8 proposal apps that can up your proposal game – and win more business:
#1 - Zomentum
Certainly one of the best proposal apps and an intuitive one, Zomentum includes a drag-and-drop feature, Zomentum streamlines the proposal creation process, enabling the use of both external and in-built proposal templates. Zomentum enables personalization of proposals like adding videos, sending proposals in the form of microsites, and so on, and is definitely one of the best MSP proposal software!
Additional Features Include:
- Digital signature feature for the fast and convenient signing of proposals
- Document tracking – notifies sales teams when a proposal is opened, commented, or signed by a prospect
- Set and send automatic reminders to prospects who haven't signed the proposal
- Built-in MSP proposal templates
- In-built CRM and automation modules making it a complete sales platform
- Cost: $19/month
#2 - Venngage
Creating professional, persuasive proposals is easy with Venngage. It offers high-quality and polished proposal templates that can be customized easily. Sales teams can have access to stock photos, icons, and graphics to create beautiful proposals. The proposal app also lets proposal writers incorporate charts and tables to show pricing or product comparisons.
Other Features Include:
- Presentation templates
- Proposal templates for various industries
- Simple, drag-and-drop editor to customize templates quickly
- Collaboration features to allow multiple team members to make changes or comment on the proposal
- Cost: Freemium + $49 per month
#3 - Proposify
Proposify is a sales proposal software that perfectly suits general contractors who want to quickly tweak their business proposal templates for clients in different industries. Once the sections are created and saved, a bidder can simply plug them in and out as required. This proposal app also features a detailed layout editor that helps customize background colors, tables, text boxes, sidebars, etc., in line with a brand's identity.
Other Features Include:
- Branded templates that can be customized to save time
- Embed videos from YouTube, Vimeo, etc.
- Online signature tool for faster sign-offs
- Cost: $30/month
#4 - PandaDoc
The PandaDoc proposal app is available on iOS and Android and helps create customized proposals quickly with smart collaboration and integration with several CRMs. It provides a content library to save different categories of data. The software provides custom notifications when a client opens a proposal.
Additional Features Include:
- Easy contract renewals
- Simplified recruiting and onboarding
- Customized pricing based on the additional features
- Cost: $19/month per user
#5 - Bidsketch
This MSP proposal app simplifies the proposal writing process by following proven methods for landing new business. The Bidsketch proposal app is based on the research of over 25,000 proposals worth over $270 million to determine the best practices of creating proposals. The research data is available in the proposal app to help sales teams create winning proposals.
Additional Features Include:
- Proposal stats, Free samples, and MSP Proposal templates
- Reusable content
- Professional template designs
- Cost: $149/month
#6 - WebMerge
The WebMerge proposal software simplifies the proposal process with document automation. Sales teams can simply take existing files and customize them into smart new documents for the quick submission. WebMerge also helps create invoices, contract agreements, terms documents, and more.
Additional Features Include:
- Simplified document generation
- Customizable templates that are compatible with PDF, WordDoc, Excel, etc.
- HTML flexibility
- Integration with popular apps such as Salesforce, DocuSign
- Cost: $29/month
#7 - SnappyFORMS
SnappyFORMS proposal app offers a vast library of ready-made templates. This software helps create various kinds of sales documents, along with business proposal templates. The proposal software also offers professional templates for invoices, checklists, and service agreements.
Additional Features Include:
- Payment for the chosen templates
- Software package includes Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat PDF files
- Cost: Price per document ranges from $22-$65
#8 - Right-Proposal
This proposal software gives sales professionals the added feature of generating a custom bill of materials. It helps automatically pull saved lists based on the service template, creating faster proposals with accurate pricing estimates.
Additional Features Include:
- Personalization of sample proposal templates
- Create comparison-based proposals
- Create price catalogs
- Cost: $474 flat fee


text:
The 20th and 21st of September was the weekend of the Open House London event for 2014. I had been to a previous Open House event with some friends and enjoyed it, even though we'd only managed to see one property, so I thought it was about time I went back and did it again. This time I went with Monica and we planned the day a little better. We had a few different places on the list of buildings we wanted to see, most of them around Westminster. We only managed to get to three in the end but I was pleased with the selection, and there's always next year. The full set of photographs can be seen here.
The first building was the Royal Courts of Justice. It is a large Victorian Gothic style building built in the late 1800s on the Strand. Once through security you find yourself at the front of the 238 feet long Main Hall. [read more]
The year 2012 saw the Olympics heading for London for the third time in modern Olympic history. For two weeks London was taken over by the games and all the infrastructure which comes with it. Not living in London meant the games didn't affect me directly (except with the TV schedules, and knowing that the Team GB Synchronised Swimming team train the the pool just down the road), but I still felt that I wanted to at least have a little to do with it — after all I can't imagine London, or anywhere else in the UK, being awarded the games again in my lifetime. So, last Saturday, I headed into the capital with my cameras to see what I could find down on The Mall where the walk races were taking place.
I took the tube from Waterloo to Green Park and walked down through the park to the exit by Constitution Hill. I spent quite a few hours around the course, snapping away at what was going on before hand, before finally taking a place at the barrier right outside of Buckingham Palace, just in front of the misting shower, to watch the race. [read more]
Every year London celebrates St Patrick's day with a big outdoor festival. I've been to see the event before, back in 2009, but I didn't have anything else to do for the weekend this year, so on the 18th March I made my way to Trafalgar Square with my camera. These photos are the result of my afternoon out. There are more in the gallery. [read more]
Sunday 17th April saw the 2011 Virgin London Marathon. As in previous years I ventured out with my kit bag to shoot the event. This year's plan took me from Charlton to Mudchute on the Isle of Dogs, then to Poplar High Street and Limehouse, and on Westminster bridge. [read more]
On Wednesday my parents came to visit. My dad had wanted to surprise my mum for her birthday back in December and bring her on a day trip down to London, catching the early train from Halifax to London Kings Cross and then going back on the last one of the day. Unfortunately the snow we had at that time last year time played havoc with the trains that day, so the trip was postponed. [read more]
The following weekend saw the annual Chinese New Year celebrations in London and another day out with my camera. This one proved to be much more successful and significantly less painful.
I was trying to sneak this in before the end of February so as to have posted something in February, but I failed. I'll have to make do with having started it last month, even if I only managed to finish it this month. I was going to blame my lack of updates on a quiet month, but in actual fact there have been a few things I've mean to post about and just never got around to. In fact I'm still a blog post missing from Christmas: I had started writing something about Chrismas in Windows Live Writer — the offline editor I sometimes use when writing on the train — but that seems to have gone missing so I'll have to start again. I think I'll make an effort to write a load of stuff this week. But enough of excuses, let's write something worthwhile!
Phew, it's been longer than it should have been. I was going to tell you about the drinks with Dana, Tim and co. a couple of weekends ago and I also need to catch up with last week and end. So here goes. I'll try to be brief! [read more]
It may be a day later than I had planned, but I'm on my way. The penultimate train, in fact. I appreciate that for normal people, saying that would be a little strange, but given it takes me 3 trains and two tubes to get back up to my parent's house, it gives you an indication of just where abouts I am. It is, actually, the most significant train of the trip both size and time wise (although if you add up all the other trains it's less than half the total journey time). But anyway. [read more]
It's been an interesting week. Good by most counts, despite the odd complication. Up and down would be the best description, I think. I'll deal with it in a few posts to stop them being too long…


text:
Lack of confidence, gloom, distrust, and anxiety are a toxic cocktail mix. You probably wonder how one person can survive with all that inside! Yet, these negative people all around us every day.
You could have moments of despair, anxiety and discouragement too. But as a positive person, you must let not these thoughts take over your life. You must live the four-to-one ratio. Just generate four positive thoughts for every negative one, to keep situations from getting out of hand.
Why many people are unaware of their negativity? How it is ruining their lives – and everyone else's? These warning signs will teach you to be on the alert so that you avoid falling into the black hole of negativity.
- They always worry
Negative people survive on worry – a very unhealthy diet. But whatever is going to happen will happen, whether we worry or not.
- They try to tell you what to do
When people start to tell you what you should do with your life, what house to buy or whether you should change your job, you can be sure they are in the negative squad. They do not realize it but this is a sure sign that they have not sorted out their own life issues.
- They enjoy secrecy
If you meet a negative person at a party, you may find the conversation rather tedious. Fearful of revealing too much information about themselves, they live in fear that doing so would be used against them in some way.
- They complain a lot
Negative people tend to whine a lot, convinced that the whole world is against them. They are usually the victim of lousy weather, a difficult boss, bad luck, and their upbringing. They rarely step back to look at other factors – such as a lack of energy and creativity.
- They love the word 'but'
A negative person might say something positive or even compliment you. The only problem: They finish their remarks with the 'but' word. Remarks like "It looks like a great restaurant but why you didn't book a table outside" or "It's a lovely beach but there are always too many people around."


text:
Earn Rewards
Earn rewards by collecting Wisdom Coins!
Earn a Reward While You Learn Online
What if I tell you, you could earn unlimited rewards just by learning and having fun with us? 24×7 E-University was established with a goal to help potential visitors learn, develop, grow, and at the same time earn unlimited rewards and any products they want for free!
Whether you're a student, teacher, or our site visitor, we want to help you succeed, have fun, earn rewards, and build new ideas. We will not only help you learn to develop but also provide rewards and also grant you access to receive any product you like at kokoshungsan.uk including websites, eBook packages, software, courses, and much more.
24×7 E-University helps visitors hone their skills, deepen their knowledge and understanding about anything they choose to learn and at the same time get real-time rewards.
By joining 24×7 E-University, you'll gain exclusive access to any product and course for free. All you need to do is sign up to become a member then go ahead to refer your friends, create courses, share the post, make comments, create groups, make friends with other members, and also earn rewards. However, as you complete a task, you earn Points, which can be redeemed for Rewards.
The 24×7 E-University's objective is to create an online platform for learning "highly educative, fun and interactive" courses and we want to make it accessible via a smartphone, tablet or PC.
Visitors have to register to become a member to use it and once you sign up, you will gain access to resources such as video tutorials, free courses, and interesting eBooks that are curriculum-based and relevant to their grade.
At 24×7 E-University, we reward EFFORT, not existing skill. So get involved, remain active, invest little energy and watch your reward grow tremendously. Sign up today and learn at your pace!
About the 24×7 E-University
Do you desire to study your dream course but you're faced with financial challenges? Do you wonder what it's like to study like a student?
24x7 E-University offers you the opportunity to bring your dream to life. We believe that education is the best legacy so we want to help you achieve it. If you desire education, then you deserve the one that opens doors for a better future. Getting a degree from a traditional university can be overwhelming, particularly when the expenses and the low standard of education being provided are unbearable.
24x7 E-University aims to help overcome these challenges by providing a system which allows students to learn the skills they need in no time. This platform has been designed to give our students an opportunity to improve their knowledge and practical skills, helping them to develop their physical and mental life.
Our courses come in various topics including entrepreneurship, personal development, fitness, and much more. These courses will truly boost your confidence and also bring out the best in you. With our latest curriculum and further development, you're guaranteed a boost in your career.
At 24x7 E-University, our goal is to make our courses accessible to our students as possible as we can. Whether you're looking for paid or unpaid courses, you can start gaining access to top quality courses as soon as you join us. This is an exclusive opportunity for individuals to learn and develop from anywhere, at any time from across the globe, and from the comfort of their home. So, what are you waiting for? Enroll now!
How to collect Wisdom Coins & How many can I get?
Points for publishing contents
- Points for Posts: 1
- Points for Pages: 1
- Points for Courses: 10
- Points for Lessons: 5
- Points for Quizzes: 5
- Points for Questions: 5
- Points for Assignments: 5
- Points for Gradings: 5
- Points for Certificates: 10
Points for registration: 1
Points for daily visits: 1
Points for viewing contents: 1
Points for viewing Posts: 1
Points for viewing Pages: 1
Points for viewing Courses: 1
Points for viewing Lessons: 1
Points for viewing Quizzes: 1
Points for viewing Questions: 1
Points for viewing Assignments: 1
Points for logins: 1
Network: Members
- New profile activity: 1
- profile avatar: 1
- profile cover image: 1
- new friendship: 1
- Ending Friendship: -1
- new comment: 1
- Deleted Comment: -1
- Favorite activity: 1
- Removing Favorit Activity: -1
- Sending Gift: 1
Points for registration: 1
Points for daily visits: 1
Points for viewing contents: 1
Points for viewing Posts: 1
Points for viewing Pages: 1
Points for viewing Courses: 1
Points for viewing Lessons: 1
Points for viewing Quizzes: 1
Points for viewing Questions: 1
Points for viewing Assignments: 1
Points for logins: 1
- Points for Creating Groups:10
- Points for Deleting Groups: -10
- Points for New Forum Topic: 1
- Points for Editing Forum Topic: 1
- Points for New Forum Post: 1
- Points for Joining Groups: 1
- Points for Leaving Groups: -5
- Points for New Group Avatar: 1
- Points for New Cover Image: 1
- Points for New Group Comment: 1
How can I use my Wisdom Coins?
Use your wisdom coins to shop at Kokoshungsan Shopping Mall !
(Rate is 1000 wisdom coins=1 USD)
Can I convert Wisdom Coins to cash and withdraw it?
No, Wisdom Coins can only be used to purchase any product at Kokoshungsan Shopping Mall .
How does it work?
- Collect Wisdom Coins doing any activity at 24x7 E-University.
- Check your Wisdom Coins at your profile page.
- "Redeem" it to receive voucher code from us.
- Get any products you like at Kokoshungsan Shopping Mall . (P.S. You may only purchase from the FunCoins & WisdomCoins Category only.)


text:
Vienna's favorite Drag Brunch is back! Experience 2 hours of fierce performances from Europe's Best Drag Artists on Saturday at Villa Vida Cafe! Quench your thirst and fill your stomach with unlimited food and mimosas. Get your tickets now!
Hungry for more Queens Brunch events? Follow @queensbrunchvienna on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok!