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Monomeric VinylThe Vinyl Corporation have been supplying Sign Making Vinyl to the Sign Trade for over 30 years, one of the prime considerations is the price point that the Vinyl Materials must meet, depending on the purpose that the Vinyl Graphics are going to be used for will determine whether a Monomeric Vinyl will fulfil the desired criteria, this vinyl is available in a Gloss or Matt finish, making it the ideal choice for Vinyl Wall Art.
Monomeric Vinyl is POLYVINYLCHLORIDE (PVC) Polymer which is quite a hard material that is not very pliable so Plasticisers are added as well as Colour Pigments, UV and heat stabilisers as well as fillers and processing aids, then this whole Chemistry set is mixed up, heated up until pliable, but not mouton and fed through high pressure rollers, then stretched and re-rolled, this process is known as "Calendering", similar to the system that steel goes through as it is rolled out, by rolling this small piece of PVC out and putting it under so much pressure and stretching it - there is a lot of retained" memory "and tensile strength remaining within the resulting roll of Calendered Monomeric Vinyl, the net result of this is that unlike Polymeric vinyl and even more so CAST vinyl, this product will always try to reconfigure to it's original size and shape, as it is NOT dimensionally stable, this will generally manifest itself in shrinkage.
So even though the more economical ingredients are used to produce Monomeric Calendered Vinyl and the process is quicker and easier than casting film, it will not perform to the same level as a Polymeric or Cast film will, for example even with heat and physically working it into a recess or over a rivet the Monomeric Calendered Vinyl will probably conform to that position initially, but it will try to resume it's original size and shape and when this happens, usually over night after fitting, the Vinyl will "Tent out" of the recess it has been forced into, as it shrinks back, and the rivets will have air pockets formed around them as the vinyl shrinks back and tents off the surface of the vehicle. These can be re- heated and reworked, but they will always fail, as it is not the correct vinyl for the job, it is not stable enough to adopt the new positioning it has been given and the tensile strength within this vinyl will keep on shrinking, this is exaggerated even more with temperature variation, and shrinkage can even be so severe that a black adhesive line is left around the edge of the graphic, where the Monomeric Vinyl Film has shrunk and pulled back from the adhesive that it was coated with. It is also worth noting that some pigments and colour ways perform even more dramatically - an extreme example would be to place a Black Vinyl Graphic on a bonnet of a vehicle in a hot climate, the heat will be absorbed and accelerated the rate of shrinkage also with it being at a Horizontal attitude to the Sun it will absorb the UVA/UVB rays more easily and this will cause an increased degradation of this Monomeric Vinyl Film
The main difference between Monomeric Vinyl and Polymeric Vinyl is that the Monomeric Vinyl has a double bond between two carbon atoms, whereas the Polymeric Vinyl has no double bonds in their Carbon backbone!
The Vinyl Corporation supply Monomeric Calendered vinyl film because it is a cost effective option, giving a very good Price: Performance ratio and for certain applications including short term promotions and recovering Kitchen Doors and cupboards or VINYL WALL ART it is thicker and so easier to handle and tougher when scuffed or scratched.


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This year, it might not even be close in the SEC.
Tennessee has one of their most inconsistent nights on offense this year, with Meighan Simmons and Angie Bjorklund both failing to score any points in the entire first half, and Simmons scoring only when the game was already out of hand. No matter: Stricklen scored on multiple fast breaks and Cain supplied several paint points (despite missing an astonishing number of easy looks from up close) to give the Lady Vols the points they needed. Meanwhile, back at the farm, Tennessee just demolished Auburn on defense, forcing 19 turnovers and 35% shooting to keep the Lady Tigers from posing any real threat.
The cold streaks of Tennessee didn't matter; despite a 6-minute field goal-less spell in the first and multiple cold spells in the second, Auburn had it worse, scoring only twice in the final ten minutes of the first half and giving away multiple double-digit streaks to Tennessee after halftime. It was the kind of defensive effort that everybody knew the Lady Vols were capable of producing, but that we had waited all year to see.
But perhaps the most exciting news was that both Baugh and Brewer got to play several minutes in the game.
With about 15 minutes left in the second half, Vicki Baugh made her entrance and made her presence felt in a big way. She promptly scored as soon as she entered the game and posted 9 points, 2 rebounds (both offensive), and a block with only 1 turnover and 1 foul against her. The Baugh we remembered from yesteryear was back, moving through the interior as if the defenders weren't even there. Any questions about her injury appeared to be dismissed, making her appear to be a viable option to spell Cain in upcoming games.
If Baugh's appearance weren't enough, Brewer also logged several minutes to close out the contest. She wasn't able to score (and is still waiting to get points this season), but having both her and Baugh return will give a lot of relief to Johnson and especially Cain in the interior.
Despite the sputtering on offense, there were times when points just came in bunches. The 12-point tear in the first three minutes of the second half put the game out of reach, even when Auburn scored 9 in a row later on. Perhaps the most important story on offense was the lack of Bjorklund and Simmons; with both three-bombers experiencing droughts, Tennessee simply went inside and buried Auburn among the trees. And that was despite Cain's odd tendency to miss easy lay-ins.
The offense may need some work, but shooters do have cold nights on occasion. Perhaps that was just a bizarre occurrence of two cold shooters on the perimeter, but now the Lady Vols (and the rest of the SEC) know that they don't need to rely on the three-ball to win going away. Tenacious defense, transition points, rebounding, and paint points were the keys to the game today.
Classic Lady Vols basketball.

subset: commoncrawl


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Exploring Jug Bay, a gem of biodiversity
Photos and text by Kim Hairston
An hour south of Baltimore, at the mid-point of the Patuxent River is the ecological gem Jug Bay. The Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary in Anne Arundel County and the Jug Bay Natural Area in Prince George's County provide a safe haven for a diversity of birds, fish and wildlife.
Several miles of hiking trails wind through forest and freshwater tidal marsh, with lots to see overhead and underfoot. Visitors are likely to see osprey, wood ducks or any of the 100+ reported species of breeding birds in the area as well as muskrat, turtles and deer.


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Nite Ize SpotLit Disco Select Pet Light
This robust little LED light is equipped with a carabiner clip, making it extremely versatile and useful to clip anywhere. With Disc-O Select, you can chose one of six colors or leave it cycling through color-changing Disc-O mode. The long-lasting LED provides an ambient glow bright enough for everything from reading, to finding your keys, to keeping you and your pets visible at night.
- Weather resistant
- Secure stainless steel carabiner clip easily clips anywhere you need a little light
- Push button on/off
- New Disc-O Select has six selectable colors and Disc-O color changing mode
- Battery run time: 20 hours
- Easily replaceable 2 x 2016 3V lithium batteries included
- Sizing: One Size
- Color: Opaque - 5 Strobe Colors
- Easily replaceable 2 x 2016 3V lithium batteries included
- Dimensions: 1.3" x 2.1" x .8" [32mm x 53mm x 21mm]


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Who's afraid of "metal mouth" and the appearance of braces? Not adults, apparently. Recently, our staff at the orthodontic office of Drs. Cassinelli and Shanker read a fascinating statistic: the number of adults getting braces has actually climbed 24 percent since 1996! Yes, braces help make your pearly whites strong, healthy and perfectly-aligned, but perhaps another reason for the spike in adult braces is this: people want to look and feel great. In an age—and society—where looks matter as much as anything, and at a time when evenly-aligned and sparkling teeth might be the difference between getting a job or a promotion, adults are choosing—wisely, we might add—to invest in orthodontics. Orthodontic treatment with Drs. Cassinelli and Shanker can be successful at any age, and adults especially appreciate the benefits of a beautiful smile.
If you've been thinking about getting that perfect smile, we would love to have you visit for a consultation. Please give us a call to set one up!


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Kalamazoo Gazette Article
Tomorow, in the Friday section of the Kalamazoo Gazette, there is going to be a feature story on the Moped Army. If you live in Kalamazoo be sure to pick up the paper. In case you don't live in Kazoo, I'll be posting a scan of it on the site next week.


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Monday, January 7, 2008
Free Crocus Bud Sock Pattern (Guidelines really)
Well, I tinkered and piddled, and this is what I came up with. I had a hank of Colinette Jitterbug in Mardi Gras. I tried 3 different patterns and had a problem with pooling of the reds (always on the top of the foot...go figure) so I decided to do a prototype pattern that would hopefully break up the pooling. This is what I got. Now, while I have written patterns in the past, this is really just more of a guideline for those that have knit socks before. While it is an easy pattern, if you are new to knitting toe up socks, it might seem a little daunting. If you find any errors, please let me know!
Crocus Bud Socks
Yarn: 2 balls Colinette Jitterbug in Mardi Gras was used. It is a fingering weight sock yarn, but I didn't use all the yarn.
Needles: Addi Turbos US Size 0 (I used 2 needles)
Construction: Toe Up with Short Row Heel
Made for a US Size 9 Ladies Shoe
Abbreviations used: K (knit), M1 (Make 1), YO (Yarn Over), P3SO (Pass 3rd Stitch Over), W&T (Wrap & Turn), P (Purl)
Cast on 13 stitches to each needle using your favorite cast on method. I prefer Judy's Magic Cast on (instructions can be found on Knitty)
Row 1-Knit around both needles.
Row 2-K1 stitch, M1 by picking up the strand between the stitch you just knit and the next stitch. Knit to last stitch, M1, K1. Repeat for second needle. You now have 15 stitches on each needle.
Row 3-Knit around both needles.
Repeat Rows 2 & 3 until you have 29 stitches on each needle.
Knit 10 Rows without increasing.
When working pattern for the foot, only work the pattern on the top of the foot, continue in stockinette stitch for the sole.
Row 1 of Pattern: K1, *YO, K2* Repeat from * across needle. Needle 2 Knit.
Row 2 of Pattern: *K3, pass the first stitch you knit over the other two. From now on this will be a P3SO. Repeat from * to last stitch. K1.
Row 3 of Pattern: *K2, YO. Repeat from * to last stitch, K1.
Row 4 of Pattern: K1, *K3, P3SO, repeat from * to end.
Tips: If you have 1 stitch with a space then 2 stitches, you are ready for a Row 1. If you have 2 stitches with a space and then 2 stitches, you are ready for a Row 3. When working your K3's, your second stitch (middle stitch) will be in the YO's of the previous row.....so if you have 1 stitch & a YO, you are ready for Row 2, If you have 2 stitches and then a YO you are ready for Row 4.
Now, work your sock until you are about 1.5 inches from the heel. I happened to work 17 rounds of the 4 row pattern. I ended by working Row 4 and pausing using Needle 1.
Time for the heel ! (Work on Needle 2 only)
Row 1: K to last stitch, W&T
Row 2: P to last stitch, W&T
Row 3: K to stitch before last wrapped stitch, W&T
Row 4: P to stitch before last wrapped stitch, W&T
Repeat Rows 4 & 5 until you have 7 unwrapped stitches between wraps, ready to work a knit row.
Row 1: K to first wrapped stitch, knit along with wrap (unwrap it), W&T next stitch.
Row 2: S1, P to first wrapped stitch, purl along with wrap, W&T next stitch.
Row 3: S1, K to first double wrapped stitch, knit along with both wraps, W&T
Row 4: S1, P to first double wrapped stitch, purl along with both wraps, W&T
Repeat Rows 3 & 4 until you have 1 wrapped stitch on one side. You will work the wraps on the first round when you work that stitch.
Resume working in the round starting with the row you left off at (mine was I had finished a Row 4 so I was ready for a Row 1 of the pattern).
On both needles work pattern stitch as written. This gives you a K1 at the sides to reduce the chance of ladders, while still keeping the pattern (mostly) intact. I worked 20 of the 4 row repeat.
Cuff: Work in K1, P1 ribbing for 10 rows (on Needle 1 it is K1, P1, on Needle 2 it is P1, K1)
Picot Bind Off: *Insert right needle into first stitch, YO, pull through and place on left needle. Repeat. (You have just casted on or added on 2 stitches).
Cast off/Bind off 4 stitches.
Place the one stitch from the right needle back onto the left needle and repeat from * around.
Weave in yarn end.
Note: My sock ended up being a little too big in the ankle, but fits the calf nicely and I think that it will probably shrink a little w/ washing and blocking, but I don't know for sure since I haven't even finished with the second sock yet and therefore haven't washed or blocked them yet. Please let me know what you think and if you notice any errors in the pattern. Thank you!
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Turkey Roast Dip with Melted Gruyere
December 13, 2017
Turkey Roast Dip with Melted Gruyere
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 (3–5 pound) bone-in turkey breast
- 6 demi French baguettes, sliced in half
- 12 slices Gruyere cheese
For the turkey: In a small mixing bowl, mix together the softened butter and fresh herbs. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Spread the chopped onions over the bottom of a slow cooker. Pour the chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce into the slow cooker. Sprinkle the turkey with salt and pepper. Slather the turkey breast with herb butter, spreading half under the turkey skin. Place the turkey on top of the onions, breast side up. Cover and cook on high for 4 to 6 hours, checking it after 4 hours to see if the internal temperature has reached 170 degree F. Once the turkey reaches 170 degrees F, remove it from the slow cooker, transfer to a cutting board, tent with aluminum foil and allow to rest 10 minutes before slicing. Reserve any juices from the slow cooker. After the breast has rested, remove the skin and slice very thinly using a sharp knife.
For the sandwich: Preheat the broiler. Brush each side of the sliced bread with the softened butter and place on a baking sheet, buttered side up. Top each buttered baguette with sliced cheese. Place under the broiler until the cheese melts and begins to turn golden brown.
Carefully remove from the oven. Pile the sliced turkey on the bottom half of each sandwich before topping it with the cheesy top. Serve the turkey au jus left over in the slow cooker for dipping.


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Disclaimer – this is not an authentic Punjabi butter chicken but it's so yum that I can say cross my heart and hope to die if u don't like it. It's a mish mash of recipes that ensures the burst of flavours a good mix usually brings. I hate sweet butter chicken that u get …
March 2017 archive
Mar 13
Butter Chicken
Mar 13
Meat Hirwa Masala
It's been a while since I have cooked something to post on my blog. There are actually quite a few dishes that are saved but have been too lazy to post. I keep getting side tracked. And now with no maid my hands are full. My friend Sahana kept telling me post something Mughlai or …


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The Best AC Condenser Repair in San Luis Obispo
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If you are driving down the road in San Luis Obispo and your AC fails, it may be your condenser. The condenser looks like a large black square and is usually mounted in front of the radiator. Like radiators and evaporators, condensers are constructed as a series of tubes with fins around them. But unlike an evaporator, whose job is to absorb heat, the condenser's job is to release the heat your refrigerant absorbed while it was flowing through the evaporator, very much the same way the radiator releases the heat from engine coolant that the coolant absorbed while it was flowing through the engine. A car's condenser also removes unwanted debris from the cooling system.Depend on Absolute Auto Tech, Inc. to Replace Your Car's AC Condenser
- Absolute Auto Tech, Inc. uses parts specifically for your car's original air conditioning system
- We calibrate performance multi-flow systems and subcooling
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Jan Lethers, 09/12/2023
I have used Absolute Auto for about a decade and they are awesome! They are fair and honest with their pricing and the mechanics do outstanding work, even on 30 year old cars! I highly recommend them!


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Smoother than premium tequila; los Mexicanos fabulosos, stars Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, and director Carlos Cuarón chatted with us about Rudo y Cursi, their latest film about two brothers locked in sibling rivalry on and off the football field. Along the way they chatted about their friendship, creating an unexpected wedding dance sensation and the magic of Cheap Trick.
Dig it!
Rudo Y Cursi
Director Carlos Cuarón
The Lady Miz Diva: Where did the story for Rudo y Cursi come from?
Carlos Cuarón: I originally wanted to make a fake documentary about a soccer player that came from a humble background who made it big, and when he was at the peak of his success, he mysteriously disappeared. So, I had told this idea to Diego {Luna} and Gael {García Bernal} separately and they both said, "I want to be that guy." So, it was great, a beautiful ego rub for me because I had two actors, but I only had one character and I realised at that point that I wanted to work with both, so I made up a brother. I told them that it was going to be a sibling rivalry story. I told Gael that I wanted him to play Cursi and Diego to play Rudo, and their first reaction was, "no." They wanted play the other guy. I told them that I didn't want to repeat myself, that I didn't want to make Y Tu Mama Tambien 2, that I wanted to cast them against their type. They got it immediately and they started to throw ideas, they are very proactive.
LMD: I need to understand the music video.
CC: Yeah, you need translation? {Laughs}
LMD: Where did the idea for the cheesy video come from and did it have to be that song {I Want You to Want Me by Cheap Trick}?
CC: Well, I knew that I needed a hit song for the character. My brother {director Alfonso Cuarón} as a producer felt that we needed to create our own song and I was always repeating that I needed a rock or pop hit from the past that I could cover and make it a Norteño song. He thought I was crazy. I was flirting with the idea of different songs; one of them was Lips Like Sugar by Echo and the Bunnymen, and Urgent by Foreigner, and the thing all these songs share is pretty stupid lyrics. And then one day I was driving my kids to school and playing a CD and Cheap Trick's I Want You to Want Me - Live at Budokan version just started playing and I started singing along with Robin Zander, but to my surprise and to my kids' surprise, I started to sing it in Spanish. And after the first time I said, "This is it, I nailed it." My kids were like, "Why dad? What are you talking about?" This song, someone who sings I Want You to Want Me has some affection and attention problems and that is Cursi. That was the character. I worked that with Gael, I told him that song defines the character.
LMD: Did Gael push against singing that song?
CC: No, he liked it. He also thought I was crazy. He didn't know that song because he was born that year. And then the video I spent a whole year watching this TV channel in Mexico called Bandamax. Bandamax is the Norteño original music MTV in Mexico. Instead of trying to copy one of the videos, I sort of took the elements from the kind of videos they make. So, they always have a kitschy style. For some reason the backgrounds are always countrysides and of horses. Why? I don't get it. It is like that. Sometimes there's green screen, sometimes there is choreography and beautiful women around, and the kind of suit that Gael is wearing is the kind of suit that they would wear, I just overdid it a little bit in terms of the colours, the kind of blue and the kind of pink I chose. And we had a lot of fun shooting it; it was the first thing we did. We shot it in MiniDV because I wanted a shitty quality and it became a success. At some point, when we start to choreograph the thing, the choreographer asked me what I wanted from her, and I said, "Just illustrate the song and I want your choreography to be danced in the future in weddings." She was like, "What?" And I said, "Yes, something that is danceable. I have two left feet; so if I can dance it, if I can do your choreography, then it will happen in weddings." And that's what's happening right now in Mexico.
LMD: Can you talk about working with Gael and Diego? We hear about how close they are as friends, was that helpful to you as a director?
CC: Absolutely. The thing is that very strange chemistry that is between the two of them, that complicity is something that you cannot get with years of rehearsal. It's just something that they have together. It's great because they have these dynamics that help create the brotherly dynamic. It's not that they behave like Rudo y Cursi – sometimes they do, I mean they're pretty silly when they're together, and so it helps a lot that they know each other. It helped a lot that we know each other so well, because we know our strengths and our weaknesses and we know how to read our moods, which is very important on a set. We know that if that guy is in a bad mood you have to approach him some way.
The thing is that they are both very respectful and besides the fact that we are friends, that they knew that I was the director and we had to fulfill my vision, and we shared that vision, we agreed on that. I mean, yeah, at some points, you know, exactly like what happens with brothers, we would have an argument or a discussion and at the end it would be, "Okay, I'm shooting it my way," "Okay, no problem." No feelings hurt or anything and we could say things just like that on our faces and not get offended because that's what you do if you're siblings.
Gael García Bernal & Diego Luna
The Lady Miz Diva: What was it like to work together again?
Gael García Bernal: It was very nice to work together again as actors, because before the film, we had been putting up a production company called Canana. We'd been helping films get made, and also we have a documentary film festival in Mexico that's actually pretty nice, I invite you to see and check out the webpage. It's very original, it's called Ambulante, it travels around several cities in Mexico. We've been ping-ponging projects; for example, when Diego's gonna be in a film or I'm gonna be in a film, we talk about that.
Diego Luna: It was nice to be actors again, just actors. I remember the first week we were in the coast; we decided to be there for a week before we started shooting so we could rehearse the accent, we could see the places we were going to shoot. We could meet all the family and do a lot of rehearsal. It was nice just to be thinking about our characters, about the scenes and the relation of the characters and not to think about money or what was going to happen or what was not going to happen. It's like when you're an actor, they protect you from every bad news, as much as they can. It's kinda nice just to think about that; just to create, to think about stuff that you're gonna use. When we were shooting, it was interesting because we saw Alfonso on the set. Alfonso this time was the producer, so he was there to fix things and he had two days and he had seen dailies and he said, "Well, this is going wrong, this is going right," and he was there to fix stuff. So suddenly, our director was not a director anymore and was that kinda guy saying, "Too much, too many," and talking to everyone. Then as actors, you know you're gonna be there for another two months, and that's the day you have to change things. And it was fun to find a relation with Carlos, cos in Y Tu Mama Tambien he was the writer, so in rehearsal, he was sitting with us writing all the new stuff that was coming and he was part of that process, but as soon as the shooting started, Carlos was just back there looking, hearing, talking to Alfonso, and that was it. This time, Carlos was on our side complaining about the producers and saying terrible stuff about them, and how much pressure they were putting on us. So, it was fun to be back creating these kind of relations that started in Y Tu Mama Tambien.
LMD: You guys know each other so well did you even have to work at creating these characters? Carlos said at the beginning of the project there was a little dust up about who would play which character?
GGB: That's a mythology that he wants to believe. He already convinced himself that that's a reality. But actually, yeah, we had to work a lot to get the characters going, just in the sense of building the world of the characters, because you can notice that the characters have a certain accent and a certain physicality. You can notice that there is a little colour that is very different than from the people from the big city. And what we wanted to play was to build up, to characterise the characters; give them a strong accent, give them a sense of being from the same family, and for that we rehearsed a lot. And we rehearsed with most of the actors; most of the members of the family are from the town that we shot.
DL: Our sister, the twins, and the little boy, Kike.
GGB: They were from the town and they did a wonderful job. They would come up to rehearse with us and they would say, "Are they gonna talk like that?"
DL: The little one, Kike, we would say, "Let's rehearse this scene," and at the end he would be like, "That accent is not the one we're gonna do, right?"
{Gael laughs}
And so we're like, "No, we're preparing, man. We're getting ready, we're getting there." "That's too much from the North," he would tell me.
GGB: Yeah. And so we were taking different aspects for the characters and we rehearsed a lot for that. Also football, we had to train a little bit. There's not much football in the film, but mainly it was not to see the fat that we had accumulated and the beer belly that we had. We made our best effort to take it out. {Laughs}
~ The Lady Miz Diva
April 21st, 2009
© 2006-2022 The Diva Review.com


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RMS Faces Heat in Florida
As any meteorologist likely would affirm, weather forecasting can be a hazardous occupation. Catastrophe modeling solutions provider Risk Management Solutions (RMS; Newark, Calif.) has gotten a taste of those hazards as it finds itself in the midst of a heated public controversy over the validity of its new predictive model. The model has been associated by Florida politicians and journalists with rising insurance rates following a quiet season that raised questions about the need for higher rates.
Stories published by the Tampa Tribune in January quoted a researcher as saying the new RMS CAT model relied on assumptions that were "unscientific," and quoted Florida Governor Charlie Crist accusing RMS of "apparent misrepresentations." Crist also was quoted as saying, "This industry has been taking remarkable advantage of our people. Big insurance is about to face a new day in Florida."
'Medium-Term' Model
The new RMS model has been referred to as a "near-term" or "medium-term" model because it departs from the standard model, which was established in the wake of 1992's Hurricane Andrew and is based on more than a century's worth of storm record. The new model also takes into account the increased hurricane activity from 1995 to the present.
To some extent, RMS' new model is a response to the failure of the standard model to predict the consecutive record hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005, according to an industry observer who requested anonymity. However, the vendor's attempt to arrive at a more precise model has been characterized as favoring insurers. Critics charge that it suited insurers to shift from a seven-year to a 100-year-plus model in the wake of Andrew, and now they are seeking to have it both ways by increasing rates based on a shorter-term model. By providing carriers with a methodological rationale, critics imply, RMS is in collusion with the insurers.
Such charges influenced the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Marco Rubio, to request on Jan. 9, 2007 that the four companies that develop models — RMS, ISO (Jersey City, N.J.) subsidiary AIR Worldwide, Applied Research Associates (ARA; Raleigh, N.C.) and EQECAT (Oakland) — submit their models, "including the assumptions and factors used in developing the models, including any proprietary information," for review. That information, according to a letter from Rubio, was intended to inform a Jan.16 special session of the House to further its "investigation into the best methods to lower insurance rates."
However, in a detailed rebuttal to the criticisms of RMS in the press, the company's chief research officer, Robert Muir-Wood, insists that RMS is not involved in decisions clients make about rates, and notes that the new model incorporates the long-term data and accounts for the 1995-to-present period, which he says produced more than twice the number of top-intensity storms than the previous 25 years.
Still, the model likely has played a role in carriers' reevaluation of their exposure, which likely will lead them to seek more reinsurance, thus driving up their costs — and consequently policy rates — according to Don Griffin, VP of personal lines for Des Plaines, Ill.-based P&C industry trade association and lobbying group Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). While the model is scheduled to be reviewed by the Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology (FCHLPM) for certification purposes in February, carriers have had access to the model since last May. However, according to Florida law, no insurance rates can be based on the model until it is certified.
In the meantime, the special session of the House has come and gone without any of the models being reviewed, according to Bob Lotane, a spokesman for Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation. Rubio's office says that he has called upon FCHLPM to evaluate and compare Florida's public model along with the four private models. Lotane says the agenda of the special legislative session was too busy and the time between Rubio's request for the models and the session was too short for review to be possible. He says he agrees that it would be fair to say that Rubio's request was more in reaction to the furor triggered by the press coverage than by any existing concern about the model on the part of the legislature. "Those press reports opened a lot of eyes and raised some questions amongst policy makers," he says.
Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio


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Keep your trucks moving with these simple tips for truckers.
What Spare Parts Should a Trucker Carry With Them?
Experienced truckers undoubtedly know what kind of challenges they may face when on the road. Especially the long haul truck drivers. New drivers may not have this valuable experience as yet. What is essential to know is what spare parts they should carry with them in the event of a breakdown.
Every truck has some differences to it, and a newer vehicle is less likely to cause problems than an older one. Also, each trucker has their own level of expertise that would allow them to replace a part if necessary. So, there is not one specific list, but many lists that each individual trucker may feel is essential.
- Parts: Some of the everyday items that many truckers will carry are a spare alternator, an extra fuel filter, additional heater hose, electrical wire and connectors, baling wire, tandem hose spring, brake line kit and various nuts and bolts.
- Consumables: These types of trucks rely on different kinds of products that need to be replaced continuously. If the trucker is travelling in the middle of the night and runs out of these, they cannot just pull over and wait till morning to get what they need. They will often carry some of these items which are antifreeze, washer fluid, brake cleaners and some spray lubricator.
- Tools: Some standard tools can really come in handy during a breakdown. It can mean that the trucker can fix a small problem themselves and not have to wait for roadside assistance. Some of the standard tools are a wrench set, screwdrivers, small sledgehammer, crowbar, impact gun, perhaps a propane torch and a variety of small hand tools.
What tools and supplies are carried are going to depend on the expertise of the driver of the trucks and what they are willing to do.


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Landscape Products Manufacturers:
Local Landscape Vendors:
Landscape Specialty Associates:
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Basalite Pavers & Walls
Manufacturer of interlocking walls and paved walkways. www.basalite.com
Deep Roost Tree Care Products
Manufacturer of tree root control products. www.deeproot.com
Fogco Systems
Manufacturer of outdoor cooling and artistic misting systems. www.fogco.com
Gro-Power Products
Manufacturer of organic based fertilizers and garden pest control products. www.gropower.com
Humboldt Redwood
Humboldt Redwood offers a unique mix of dimensional lumber for timber frame, post-and-beam, industrial, commercial, residential, and outdoor living construction projects.
Proven Winners
Industry leader in producing reliable & beautiful plants. www.provenwinners.com
Rain Bird Irrigation Inc.
World-wide leader in irrigation products and technology. www.rainbird.com
Stone Deck West
Manufacturer & distributor of structurally advanced slate decking for roof decks. www.stonedeckwest.com
Superdeck Products
Manufacturer of wood and concrete protective finishes. www.superdeck.com
Vista Outdoor Lighting
Manufacturer of professional grade outdoor lighting. www.vistapro.com
Creative Energy
Provider and installer of Hot Spring Spas www.creativeenergy.com
Dolan's Lumber
The only lumber supplier I have used for the last 20 years. Excellent quality, selection, and service at prices unseen by peninsula lumber yards. www.dolanlumber.com
Lyngso Garden Materials
Distributor of a vast variety of natural stone and soil products. www.lyngsogarden.com
Geoforensics Inc.
Geoforensics Inc. My go-to source for engineering solutions. Over fifty engineering collaborations between our two firms over the years. His attention to detail has saved my clients tens of thousands of dollars by finds different ways to construct projects more efficiently. firstname.lastname@example.com
JLC Landscape Maintenance
My maintenance of choice. He has over twenty of my patron level clients and the projects look like my firm never left. firstname.lastname@example.com
Tree Movers
Industry leader in providing, installing, and relocating specimen trees www.treemovers.com


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That sentence says a lot about the sad state of the global School Information System (SIS) market. The CEO of the company that produces the world's largest SIS (70 countries 13m students; $97m revenues; $20m operating income, according to Edsurge) doesn't see his product as something that can shape student outcomes. Think about that for a second. The SIS is, after all, the home of student data. It's where you store attendance, assessment, exam, behaviour and other contextual data. You know, the things that, umm, shape student outcomes."After careful consideration, we decided that these systems do not align with Pearson's stated commitment to focus on products and services that shape student outcomes in a way we can directly measure and improve."
I want to stress: I'm not in any way criticising Fallon. His rationale for describing Powerschool as non-core for Pearson does make sense to me. (Mind you, the FT and the Economist are not obviously school improvement products, but that hasn't prompted Pearson to sell their stake in either just yet.) What I'm saying is that his comment points to a terrible truth: the education sector sees the SIS primarily as an administrative tool, rather than as a school improvement system.
It doesn't have to be like this. After all, most school leaders now understand that if you use any half-decent SIS properly, you'll improve outcomes. Strong schools take time to decide what inputs to record. They then use the SIS to store and track those inputs: things like attainment, progress, attendance and behaviour. And most importantly, they analyse the data and take appropriate action based on what it tells them. So the problem is not that the SIS can't improve outcomes; it's that vendors haven't worked out how to give themselves an edge in this area.
Vendors who understand this have an opportunity to disrupt the sector by making it their mission to do exactly what Fallon things is not possible: measure and improve how the SIS can impact student outcomes. Here are some approaches they could consider:
- Make it much, much easier to track assessment. Anyone who's set up assessment templates in an SIS will know that it is often a bit of a mission to get a progress tracking system set up in a school. It's harder still if you want to use the same assessment model across multiple schools. There's just way too much manual, non-intuitive work involved. And there's no reason why an SIS couldn't include tools to make data collection and moderation easier, like online tests and past papers.
- Set the data free with open APIs. If you've read my blog before, you'll know that sooner or later I shoehorn in a reference to open APIs. That's partly because I'm by nature a boringly repetitive person. But it's also because I'm right. Indulge me for a second while I rehearse the argument: in any industry, anywhere, ever, innovation in sector-spanning data systems requires agreement on how to share data (think BACS, for example). But way too often, SIS vendors make it hard or expensive to interoperate with other systems. So if you want to build a great testing tool, or parent portal, or analytics system, you have to work really hard to make your system talk to the different SIS out there, let alone integrate with other systems (e.g. HR, finance). That's holding everyone back. So SIS vendors need to start believing in open APIs. Even better, they could converge around common standards and principles. SIF 3.0, anyone?
- Think about how to track the effectiveness and cost of interventions. I've not yet seen any school really nail how they track initiatives (new curricula; one-to-one interventions; pupil premium spend) in a way that properly interrogates their value for money and impact on progress. That's in no small part because I'm not aware of any software that really makes this easy to do. SIS vendors might want to get on that.
- Be more global. Powerschool is a rarity, in that it is a global SIS. Most vendors make a system for their home market, and in doing so, they keep their horizons - and development budgets - small.
- Integrate the SIS more tightly with the learning platform. To move this along, one of the big platform vendors, like Blackboard, could buy one of the big SIS, like Powerschool. Oh, hang on...


text: OssK Posted June 18, 2009 OK, but that's different than smashing a shop up. Perhaps your retaliation was justified, perhaps not, but it was in response to actual violence and the threat of further violence. I'm not a pacifist; I won't claim that war is always avoidable, but that shop wasn't about to beat anyone up. More generally, I don't think violence at protests is justified unless very strongly provoked (who provoked who is, of course, a very difficult matter to untangle, butthere has to be an element of self-defence for it to be at all legitimate, and even then I think it should be as restrained as possible while remaining effective). No, it's not really a different thing, to me at least, it's a millennium old topic : is violence in itself to be justified, once you say that you can use it, it's a matter of threshold because there's not really a systematic (oh man, GD speaking there) way to make a model on which you can justify violence or not. There is a comedy in France that's called OSS117, I loved the first one, and the second one was a bit too much for me but it had the merit to ask, although probably not conscientiously , through shocking jokes the question : "Don't shoot, listen, I know it sounds crazy but I know people in high places, we could arrange a deal, just like jews, nazis could have a country of their own". So do we have to say nazis are all the same and throw them bricks ? And they used a very similar joke at the end of the movie the Nazi general is trapped and goes "When you cut us, do we not bleed ? Are we less human blablabla" which as a friend pointed out "is a quote from the good samaritan parabola in the bible, but in the original one, it's a jew that is talking"... Where is the limit ? Where is the rule that justifies violence on certain occasions and not in others ? I just want to state, for the record, that I think Nazis are totally uncool. That's because you never raped a Nazi... Wait... What did I just said ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Logistics providers are cheering a possible solution to skyrocketing container-detention fees they say have spiked in recent weeks, following news today that the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has opened an investigation into the enforcement of ocean carrier and marine terminal practices.
For months, both shippers and carriers have complained of knots and tangles in the international fabric of trade, as boxes have piled up in U.S. warehouses and the shipping lanes that reach them, leading to a related shortage of containers in Asia.
For example, the Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday reported that container traffic for October marked the busiest month in the facility's 114-year history, but that sunny statistic hid a troubling detail. According to the port, for every three and a half containers that are imported into Los Angeles from abroad, only one container leaves American shores filled with U.S. exports.
Reasons for the imbalance include pandemic impacts such as hot U.S. demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) manufactured in Asia and a simultaneous shutdown of many North American manufacturing plants during Covid-19 shutdowns. Many containers are also tied up in the annual peak season surge of imports to the U.S. market, which was concentrated into a shorter period than usual in 2020 due to coronavirus disruptions. That flood of imports has stranded many containers at crowded maritime ports awaiting drayage to trucks and rail cars, according to Container xChange, a German firm that helps forwarders get access to third party container equipment while avoiding demurrage and detention charges.
Federal officials will now open a fact finding mission intended to investigate ocean carriers operating in alliances and calling the Port of Long Beach, the Port of Los Angeles, or the Port of New York and New Jersey, FMC said. The commission is the independent federal agency responsible for regulating the U.S. international ocean transportation system for the benefit of U.S. exporters, importers, and the U.S. consumer.
"The Commission has a compelling responsibility to investigate the situations that currently exist in our major port gateways. The Commission is concerned that certain practices of ocean carriers and their marine terminals may be amplifying the negative effect of bottlenecks at these ports and may be contrary to provisions in the Shipping Act of 1984," FMC Commissioner Rebecca F. Dye said in a release. "The potentially unreasonable practices of carriers and marine terminals regarding container return, export containers, and demurrage and detention charges in the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and New York/New Jersey present a serious risk to the ability of the United States to handle trade growth."
Shipper industry groups cheered the move, with the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) saying the investigation was "terrific news" for U.S. exporters, importers, forwarders, and truckers. In a release, the AgTC said its members have provided information to the commission on "current supply chain dysfunction" caused by carrier and terminal practices including: refusal to carry export cargo, cancelling export bookings/refusing new bookings, lack of appointments, changing earliest return dates (ERDs), lack of free time, and lack of notice.
The group has complained for weeks about the rising costs faced by exporters when carriers make "unpredictable, last minute" changes to ERDs, which mark the earliest date that exporters can bring a container into a terminal. Without that knowledge, exports face additional demurrage, storage, chassis, and trucking costs, the AgTC said.
In similar statements, groups such as the British International Freight Association (BIFA) and the FIATA (International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations) also backed the FMC, saying that freight forwarders and the shippers they work for are reeling from unjust demurrage fees linked to congestion in ports around the world, according to published reports.
Commission Approves Supplemental Order Expanding Fact Finding 29 Authority https://t.co/6YlXAVuwGY— FMC (@FMC_gov) November 20, 2020
Copyright ©2023. All Rights ReservedDesign, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing


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If you ride Metro to work, your morning commute may have been punctuated by disturbing images of a ransacked Peacock Room. Freer not! No art was destroyed in making Peacock Room REMIX, an exhibition centered on Filthy Lucre, contemporary artist Darren Waterston's imaginative reenvisioning of the iconic interior. It's perhaps a tribute to Waterston's artistry that we've worried a few people who think we've gone all rock star on the Peacock Room and deliberately destroyed its contents. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is the Smithsonian, people! The room is one of our treasures.
"I wanted to create my piece as a great homage, a contemporary artist's response to Whistler," Waterston has said. "At the same time I wanted to interrogate the ideas, aesthetics, and intentions behind the original Peacock Room."
The Peacock Room was famously decorated by James McNeill Whistler for his friend and erstwhile patron, Frederick Leyland. Leyland didn't like the surprise home makeover, causing a painful, permanent rupture between the two men. Though Whistler had made good on his promise of a "gorgeous surprise," transforming the room with brilliant hues of blue, green, and gold, Leyland felt that Whistler went too far; he refused to pay the artist his full fee. Whistler, shocked and insulted, took revenge by painting a pair of fighting peacocks on the room's south wall to represent the artist and patron. He titled this bit of retribution Art and Money. The break between Whistler and Leyland inspired Waterston's Filthy Lucre, as did the story behind Whistler's painting The Gold Scab: An Eruption in Frilthy Lucre (The Creditor), currently on loan to the Sackler from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Why "Frilthy"? In one of his last letters to Leyland, Whistler wrote, "Whom the gods intend to be ridiculous, they furnish with a frill." In addition to poking fun at Leyland's dress, the term refers to the biblical phrase "filthy lucre" as well as to Leyland's initials, FL. In The Gold Scab, Whistler depicts Leyland, an amateur pianist, as a hideous miser—half human, half peacock—perched uncomfortably on the roof of the White House, the studio-residence that Whistler lost as a result of his mounting debts.
Created in London, the Peacock Room eventually was installed in Charles Lang Freer's Detroit home before he willed his collection to the United States and the museum that would bear his name. In Detroit, Freer used the Peacock Room as a staging area to make connections between world cultures. It was a place of visual harmony. In deconstructing the Peacock Room, Darren Waterston has created a staged area of deliberate destruction to make connections between a centuries-old gilded age and our own world—as he says, "[altering] the appearance of visual harmony by disfiguring it." Waterston's breakages are rife with symbolism: The dramatic tensions between art, money, and aesthetics are still relevant to our culture today. With the REMIX, we have a clearer lens into that earlier world and, consequently, our own.
Peacock Room REMIX: Darren Waterston's Filthy Lucre is on view to January 2, 2017.


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Hello Everyone
Firstly a big thank you for the overwhelming response to the new miniature kits the orders just poured in, but if you didn't get to see them there are still some available from the Etsy shop. Its great to see that they have been so well received! Fortunately I have found a good source of old vintage postcards and Victorian Images from Victoria Rose Cottage who kindly put together a CD of 1500 gorgeous images so you will definately be seeing more vintage miniatures in the near future.
For those of you who expressed interest in the Vintage Pansies you will be pleased to know that they are now available from Country Bumpkin in Australia. The Victorian Pansies, Vintage Rose and some of my other kits designed exclusively for Country Bumpkin will be on sale at the National Seminar Santa Fe USA which is TODAY! Stocks were shipped over especially for the event so if you live in the area and are able to get to the fair I am sure it will be worth the visit.
If you do get to visit the Fair please report back to me and let me know all the inside info:) – wish I could be there! Meantime wherever you are have a great week and many happy stitching hours. Trish


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Classroom Tables
Versatile tables that accommodate the needs of today's active learning environments.
A height adjustable table that incorporates healthy movement into your workday.
A multi-purpose table that adapts to changing configurations for flexible spaces.
Traditional style meets modern performance in a collection of desks, lecterns, and study carrels.
Easy to configure, stack, and store tables, that easily turn any space into an effective learning environment.
Multi-purpose tables with an optional flip-top surface that can be nested for easy storage.
Choose from freestanding or shared leg configurations for boardroom, classroom or presentation applications.
A flexible modular system of linking and freestanding tables for evolving educational and office needs.
Bungee cords allow for quick and easy configuration of table tops shapes and legs without the use of tools.
The versatility of Bungee, now available with power and data management for semi-permanent applications.


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Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - Mark Teixeira hit a go-ahead two-run homer with two outs in the sixth and the Yankees beat the Mets, 4-2, on Saturday to win the first two games of the Subway Series.
Curtis Granderson led off the eighth inning with a homer for some cushion and Phil Hughes remained unbeaten in his last four starts after pitching into the seventh.
Rafael Soriano gave up a walk and a single in the ninth, but closed the door for his ninth save and the Yankees' seventh win in nine games.
David Wright and Omar Quintanilla hit solo homers for the Mets, who have lost five of six, including the opener of this three-game set Friday when Johan Santana gave up four homers in his first post no-hitter start on the way to a 9-1 blowout.
Hughes (6-5) struck out six and gave up two runs on six hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings to go 3-0 in his last four outings.
Dillon Gee (4-4) lost for the first time in five starts after allowing three runs on five hits and three walks in seven innings. He struck out five.
Derek Jeter led off the first inning with a single, went to second on a balk and scored on Alex Rodriguez's base hit to pass Ted Williams for 17th place on the all-time runs list with No. 1,800.
Robinson Cano also singled and Teixeira was hit on the foot by a pitch but Gee escaped the bases-loaded jam when Raul Ibanez grounded into a double play.
Quintanilla hit his first homer since 2008 in the third inning and Wright led off the sixth with his eighth of the season, driving a changeup into the visitors' bullpen in left field to make it 2-1.
But Teixeira gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth with his 11th homer, a two-run shot over the right field wall that scored Granderson.
Hughes exited after giving up a one-out single to Josh Thole and Boone Logan and Cory Wade finished the seventh, with Wade getting out of a second-and- third jam to preserve the 3-2 lead.
Granderson hammered Bobby Parnell's third pitch in the eighth inning over the right field wall for his 18th homer to make it 4-2. Soriano gave up a leadoff walk to Ike Davis and a two-out single to Quintanilla in the ninth before he got pinch-hitter Jordany Valdespin on a fly out to end the game.
Current Series
Yankees lead the series 2-0
|Fri 06/08
WP: Hiroki Kuroda (5 - 6)
LP: Johan Santana (3 - 3)
|9 - 1 win
|Sat 06/09
WP: Phil Hughes (6 - 5)
SV: Rafael Soriano
LP: Dillon Gee (4 - 4)
|4 - 2 win
New York Mets
Sunday, Jun 10, 2012, 1:05 PM EDT
Jon Niese vs Andy Pettitte
Partly cloudy,rain. Winds blowing in from right field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 80.
Complete Coverage >


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SummerWood of Plymouth Presbyterian Homes & Services
16205 36th Avenue N, Plymouth MN 55446
SummerWood of Plymouth Presbyterian Homes & Services
Premiere Senior Housing in Plymouth
Independent Living – The Terrace
Overlooking the tranquility of native wetlands or a vibrant community scene, your home promises to be equal to none. Our senior apartments offer maintenance-free living and comfortable floor plans with the added benefits of value and convenience.
Life need never be ordinary. From card games and coffees to book clubs and billiards, socializing in any of the charming gathering spots guarantees a good time. Nicely appointed common areas are well-suited for group events and casual gatherings. Social, recreational and volunteer opportunities help create a sense of community.
Assisted Living – The Commons
For a setting that offers freedom combined with the comfort of knowing supportive services are available, choose The Commons assisted living. These thoughtfully designed homes are accompanied by supportive services like housekeeping, meals and personal care. Nicely appointed common areas are well-suited for group events and casual gatherings, while social and recreational opportunities create a sense of community.
Memory Care – The Arbor
The Arbor memory care provides a vibrant neighborhood setting where dedicated staff serve the unique needs of each individual with warmth and compassion. An inviting and aesthetically pleasing setting greets you at the memory care residence, where design elements cater to the specific needs of those with memory loss.
Property Features
- Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care
- Activities
- Chapel
- Convenience Store
- Emergency Response Pendant
- Exercise Classes
- On-Site Beauty & Barber
- Pets Welcome
- Theater
Services Offered
- Respite Care
Available Services (Call for Detail)
- Nursing
- Meal Program
- Laundry
- Housekeeping
- Transportation
- Response System
Payment Option
- Market Rate
- Elderly Waiver
Additional Property Details
SummerWood of Plymouth is nestled in the heart of Plymouth, a thriving west Minneapolis suburb. This convenient location provides easy access to Highways 55 & 494, and is within minutes of retail shopping, neighborhood restaurants, public library, churches and the local community center.
- Satellite
- Nearby Healthcare
- Nearby Hospitals
- Nearby Parks
- Senior Housing
- Public Transportation
- Dining
Fast Facts about Plymouth Senior Housing
- 7th largest city in the U.S. State of Minnesota
- 3rd largest suburb of Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Senior Housing in Plymouth
Get Your Copy of the Move Manual
Move on your own terms while reducing the stress
Have a Question About This Listing?
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Contact Detail
Riad hossain
Mobile: 0088-01675651753
Working hour: 12:00 to 24:00 Bangladesh time.
How Does VoipTopReseller.com Work?
VoipTopReseller.com is connected to Dellmont TOP Reseller Accounts. So with an account in VoipTopReseller you will have the functionality of a Dellmont/Betamax Top Reseller. Thatmeans you can sell 5 Euro/dollar to your customers and you can sell credit to all dellmont/Betamax resellers. To make an Account in VoipTopReseller click Register and make your account yourself so its 100% secure. VoipTopReseller is dedicated to those Dellmont/Betamax reseller who are waiting for long time to be a Dellmont/Betamax Top Reseller. If you are a Dellmont reseller then you must know the value of a Dellmont Top Reseller. So register yourself in VoipTopReseller and be a Dellmont Top reseller and start selling credit to all Dellmont Reseller.


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The iNSPIRE iP2000 active modular column speaker system from Turbosound delivers powerful, high-quality sound and optimized dispersion in a lightweight, easy-to-use package. Perfect for houses of worship, boardroom presentations, nightclubs, or any other medium-sized performance space, the 1000W iNSPIRE iP2000's 12" subwoofer and 17x drivers fill every room with rich, beautiful sound of uncompromising quality. Plus, the iNSPIRE iP2000 is packed with industry-leading Klark Teknik DSP, Class D amplifier, and Spatial Sound technology, as well as convenient Bluetooth stereo audio streaming and iPhone/iPad remote control. The iNSPIRE iP2000 column PA system from Turbosound won the coveted Queen's Award for a reason; despite its unremarkable appearance, it delivers an incredibly high-grade sound quality for small to medium sized events.
Even the transportation of this system is unbeatable. The column can be split into 2x parts, keeping one hand free for the subwoofer and the other to open doors. The assembly of this system is also very uncomplicated: simply attach both tops to each other and then connect the 2x to the subwoofer. Now all you have to do is plug in the power supply and connect to the mixer via XLR/Jack and the sound check can begin. Naturally this system can also be connected to other speakers via the Link Outputs.
The iP2000 comes equipped with one 12" subwoofer and 16x 2.75" drivers, delivering up to 1000W, ideal for night clubs, for presentations and much more. Worth mentioning is the Klark Teknik and its Spatial Sound Technology (SST).
This achieves a wide emission angle of 120° with and exact spatial positioning on stage of the performer. This delivers a huge coverage area, similarly to the performance of a line-array system. Plus, this technology also delivers another advantage: the wide sound coverage makes monitors redundant because the artist can hear the side speakers.
Bluetooth Connectivity
The integrated 24-bit DSP (Digital Signal Processor) analyses the incoming signal and works automatically to improve the sound quality. EQ, Crossover and compressor/limiter are constantly adjusted as if you had your own engineer with you. The pre-sets are adjusted to the location of the event and position of the speakers. Naturally the user can access all functions and make your own settings with the controls on the rear of the subs. The interface consists of 4x buttons and an encoder, displaying all of the features on the screen.
Those who want complete access to the mix and settings of the EQ etc. from various locations, without having to stand next to the system or mixer, you can take advantage of the Bluetooth connectivity with your smart-phones and tablets. This makes the technicians job much easier and more efficient when working with the iNSPIRE series from Turbosound. Naturally you can also stream audio from your mobile device via Bluetooth.
The main features of the Turbosound iNSPIRE iP2000 include:
Takes about two minutes to set-up (a pair of these). Bluetooth pairing is really straightforward and easy, takes about 20 seconds.
What I like about the ip2000 is the quality of sound and the dispersion.
I use them for DJing (I'm a mobile DJ) and they're working great, volume is not a problem.
Bass is tight and punchy and the tweeters just sound awesome.
I highly recommend it.


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2 Corinthians 9:7 "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
For regular attenders committed to Faith Church, giving cheerfully and sacrificially of our finances is part of how we worship. Because everything we have was given to us by God, we see giving as an opportunity to be good stewards of what God has given us.
We thank those who have helped us meet the needs of our church body and pray that those coming and remaining would join in faithful, consistent, generous, godly giving.
There are many ways to submit your gifts to Faith Church:
- Many find automatic payments through online banking to be an easy way to commit to regular payments.
- Checks may also be mailed or hand-delivered to the church office at 1201 N. Beneva Rd., Sarasota, FL 34232.
- For those who prefer to give in the context of worship, we pass collection plates during our Sunday morning Worship Celebration and we have a collection box located in the lobby.
- For those that enjoy using the latest technology, you can give to Faith Church through the Givelify App! Just go to the App Store or Google Play to download it to your phone. If you want to take a look at how it works, you can take a test drive at their website.
The Deacons collect special offerings to be used to meet the needs of individuals and families in our church family and community who find themselves in need. Baskets are located inside each of the sanctuary doors to collect these special gifts. You may also use online banking or mail checks marked "Deacon's Fund" to the church office.


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Sciatica Pain?
Sciatica is something I see in clinical practice regularly. Clients have this pain that runs down the posterior of their leg and nine times out of ten their piriformis has clamped down on their sciatic nerve. They don't have a clinical case of sciatica or nerve degeneration they just has a case of what I jokingly tell students is, "tight ass."
Use this simple video and see if it helps. If it reduces your symptoms and pain imagine what I can do with fourteen years of clinical experience in a session with you. It's not uncommon to remedy the bulk of the issue in a single session.
Sciatica is like many other issues I see with client where soft tissue is somehow stimulating nerves and causing pain in this cascade that won't shut down. It's so simple to reduce symptoms just try the video above. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Tense muscles that won't go back to neutral seem to cause a huge range of pain issues I see in clients. I just find the tense areas, help release them and clients feel like it's magic. I'm still learning about the science behind how it works but it's the same techniques I've used to work no myself and my own chronic issues over the years. See you in session soon.


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The mulmul cecilia kurta is a graceful straight kurta, exhibiting the classic Mulmul style. Adorned with elegant and sophisticated embroidery all over the kurta, this style is accentuated with trendy bell-sleeves. The kurta is an epitome of comfort, from the pure cotton mulmul fabric to the user-friendly pocket. Cecilia is available in a subdued beige and a fresh green. Pair it up with our floral embroidered pants in the same colours to make it a complete outfit.
- Delivery in 5-6 working days
- Free shipping across USA


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Could You Sustain Through a Financial Emergency?
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Finances and Disability Tip: Business Interest. Businesses may purchase disability insurance to protect a business or dissolve its assets if an important employee or owner becomes disabled. The Social Security Disability Insurance...Read More
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Women and Financial Strategies Forty-four percent of American women are the primary breadwinner in their house.1 Yet only 10% of women feel very confident in their ability to fully retire with a comfortable lifestyle.2 Although more...Read More


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Weddings and Social Events
Hors D'oeuvres
A great start for any event! From light to hearty, B&A's hors d'oeuvres are a tasty treat for any event!
Attended Stations
This is only a small assortment of the many different Chef Attended Food Stations that we offer. We are always creating new and exciting stations and displays!
Non-Attended Stations
Create your favorite station from selecting a combination from the many items available for total customization on each station!
Finding vendors for your wedding is crucial. After all, would there even be a wedding without them? But sifting through the seemingly endless options of vendors can be exhausting. So here are a few quick tips on choosing your vendor.
Bridal Shows are your friend.
I know that going to a bridal show can be overwhelming for some. There are so many people and you feel like there is too much to take in. But since the vendors are there to get your business, this is an excellent time to see them at their best, and truly see what they are capable of. And as an added bonus, vendors will have bridal show deals that will save you tons of money!
Find a vendor that speaks your style language.
It is easy to love every wedding style you see on Pinterest or Instagram. The photos look stylish and timeless and you can't help but fall in love. But once you do settle on a style for your wedding then look for a vendor that does that style well. Seeing their work at bridal shows or in a meeting with them can give you an idea of if what they are doing is for you. If it isn't that's ok! Just move on to the next vendor until you find one that speaks to you.
Stick with your budget.
You can always narrow down vendors by those who can offer what you want within your budget. But you will have to be realistic as well. If they are promising the moon, but your budget won't even cover the trip there on the rocket ship then beware.
Now that I know what vendors I want, when should I book them?
Finding vendors can be stressful, but knowing when to book that vendor can be confusing which adds to your stress. Thankfully Wedding Wire has created an incredibly helpful timeline to help you know when is the best time to book your vendors.


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Park Avenue Historic District Approved with Major Modifications, Extell's New Tower May Soon Rise as a Result
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has just approved the creation of the Park Avenue Historic District, but with major modifications that could mean big changes for the neighborhood.
The boundaries of the district were proposed to run from 79th to 96th Street, but the final version passed today excludes the blocks north of 94th Street, which encompasses the Morris Ketchum Jr.-designed Hunter College School as well as The Loyola Grammar School at 48 East 84th Street.
More importantly, today's ruling would appear to give Extell Development the green light to replace a Park Avenue church rectory with a condominium tower.
Church members, preservationists, and residents of the area requested that the commission rule on whether the rectory of the Park Avenue Christian Church, located on the southwest corner of 85th Street and Park Avenue, be listed on a city landmark report as "Gothic Revival", "contributing" or with "no specific style". (A "no style" designation means that a structure can be demolished or altered.) It was determined at today's meeting to be of "no style" and was retained in the district. This ruling means that Extell Development's hopes of constructing an apartment building on the annex site can now move ahead.
Extell's original cantilever plan for 85th Street
Extell originally planned to erect a 210-foot-high apartment building that would cantilever partially over the very handsome, "Gothic Revival"-style church structure that was designed by Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson. Extell subsequently revised its plan and decided against cantilevering a new structure. Paul D. Selver, a land-use attorney representing the church, also at hearing, said in an interview that a new Extell plan designed by architects Beyer Blinder Belle would be announced soon.
The church was originally erected as the South Dutch Reformed Church in 1911. Its sanctuary was inspired by St. Chapelle in Paris, which is noted for its stained glass. The church's parish hall was built later and, according to a report by Andrew Dolkart, the architectural historian, was "partially altered in a surprisingly sensitive manner in 1962." The existing annex structures were rebuilt in a style compatible with the church's original design, which is visible in the pointed roof that mirrors, on a smaller scale, the avenue façade of the church.
The church was sold three years after it was built to a Presbyterian congregation, only to be sold again in 1945 to its present congregation, which is affiliated with the Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ.
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If it isn't grown, it has to be mined. You've probably heard some variation of this saying. It is used by people concerned about the environmental effects of mineral depletion, as well as people bullish on mining stocks.
Although these two groups have a very different emphasis when they speak it, they are both right; mining is big business. Almost every commercial product has elements that started off buried beneath the earth.
Here are a few things that you should know before adding mining stocks to your portfolio.
Key Takeaways
- The mining sector is popular among investors as it produces a steady stream of both precious and industrial-use metals and other raw materials.
- Investors split the sector into two main groups: majors and juniors.
- Juniors are riskier ventures, most likely found in commodity exploration, such as oil, minerals, and natural gas.
- Majors are less volatile and more mature, with a large portfolio of claims and a capital cushion used to finance further exploration.
- Mining companies are exposed to several unique risks including fluctuations in commodities prices, geopolitical factors where mines are located, and finding lucrative geological areas to stake a claim.
Two Groups, One Sector
Mining stocks are truly two distinct groups: majors and juniors.
The majors are well-capitalized companies with decades of history, world-spanning operations, and slow and steady cash flow. Major mining companies are no different from large oil companies, and many of the same metrics apply with a mining twist.
Both have proven and probable reserves, except mining companies break down profit and cost on a given deposit by the ton, instead of the barrel. In short, a mining major is easy to evaluate and easy to invest in.
The junior mining stocks are very nearly the exact opposite of mining majors. They tend to have little capital, short histories, and high hopes for huge returns in the future. A junior company is essentially a smaller or newer company that is developing or seeking to develop a natural resource deposit or field.
For the juniors, there are three possible fates.
- Most common is a failure, which leaves a hole in everyone's pocket, including that of the banks and investors.
- The second fate occurs when a junior has enough success to justify a major paying a decent premium to gobble it up, leading to decent returns all around.
- In the third and most rare fate, a junior finds a large deposit of a mineral that the market wants a lot of; it is a magical combination of the right deposit at the right time. When this happens, juniors can return more in a few days than a major will return in years.
Valuing Major and Junior Mining Stocks
Although majors and juniors are very different, they are united by the one fact that makes all mining stocks unique: their business model is based on using up all the assets they have in the ground. The catch is that mining companies don't know exactly how much is in a given deposit until it is all dug up.
The largest mining company in the world by market cap is BHP, with a market cap of $180 billion in 2021.
Therefore, the value of a mining stock roughly follows the market value of its reserves, with a premium paid to companies with long histories of successfully bringing those reserves to market.
Reserves are evaluated through feasibility studies. These studies independently verify the worth of a deposit. A feasibility study takes the estimated size and grade of the deposit and balances it against the costs and difficulties of extracting it all. If the deposit will fetch more money on the market than it costs to dig up, then it is feasible.
Different Risks, Different Rewards
If a mining major has hundreds of deposits staked or being mined, the contents of any single deposit aren't likely to shake the stock value too much. A major is the sum of all the deposits with the aforementioned goodwill tied to history.
A change in the market value of a mineral that makes up a larger percentage of the deposits will have a much larger effect than a new deposit or a failed deposit. A junior mining stock lives or dies on the results of its feasibility studies.
A junior mining stock typically sees the most action leading up to, and immediately after, a feasibility study. If the study is positive, then the value of the company may shoot up. The opposite, of course, is also true. Often, a junior miner won't mine a feasible deposit to the end.
Instead, they sell the deposit (or themselves) to a larger miner and move on to search for another one. In this sense, junior mining stocks form an exploration pipeline that feeds the major miners in the end. In this view, the big risks and rewards mostly reside at the junior mining level.
Choosing How to Invest
As an aspiring mining investor, you're probably wondering whether you should invest in junior mining stocks or major mining stocks. The answer depends on what you are looking for. Juniors have the potential to offer a lot of appreciation in the right market.
This makes them an ideal destination for risk capital, but hardly the best place to put your Social Security checks. If you are looking for a lower-risk stock with the potential for dividends and some decent appreciation, then major mining stocks may be for you.
How Do I Buy Gold Mining Shares?
To purchase gold mining shares, you can invest in the stocks of gold mining companies, or the royalties, as well as gold mining exchange traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds. As with any investment, carefully evaluate the instrument, such as the financials of a gold mining company and the prospectus and fees of a fund.
Are Mining Stocks Considered Growth or Value Stocks?
Mining stocks can be either growth or value stocks. Junior mining stocks are considered growth stocks because they are in the beginning stage of mining, where they need to discover a specific commodity in the ground, mine it, refine it for sale, and sell it. These are higher-risk stocks but the upside potential can be great. Major mining stocks are value stocks as they are companies that are firmly established in the sector.
Do Mining Companies Pay Dividends?
Yes, some mining companies pay dividends. Not all mining companies pay them, however. Typically, the larger more established mining companies, known as the majors, pay dividends. The smaller, less-established mining companies, known as the juniors, do not pay dividends. These companies reinvest earnings back into the company to fund growth.
The Bottom Line
This is a primer and as such, suffers from being overly broad and simplistic. Before you invest in the mining sector, you should probably know what greenfield exploration is, as well as how to estimate the impact of pricing risk and be able to hold forth on the dangers of buying on a single positive assay.
If you are interested enough in mining to do some research, then there is probably room in your portfolio for both mining majors and juniors. For those who would prefer to get investing exposure to the greater mining sector (rather than pick individual stocks), there are several mining-related ETFs and mutual funds available that could be added to your portfolio.


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Macky 2 – "Biography" | Artist On The Block |
Mulaza Kaila ( , better known by his stage name Macky 2, is a Zambian hip hop recording artist and producer. He rose to fame after releasing "We Stand Out", one of Zambia's most remixed songs of all time.
You may also like: Macky 2 Dandy Krazy and JK have Really affected Zambian music
His achievements include one Zambia Born Bred Video of The Year, Song of the year, Kwacha Music Music Award and many more. He is currently not signed to any studio because he is the current CEO for alpha Ent.
Also Check Out : Top 10 Songs For 2017
Macky 2 has released a numerous number of Albums which have been supported by the singles "Mama Rabecca", "Beautiful", " So Much More" and " Bwankoko".
Also Read : Richest Zambian Musicians


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Manitoba Housing
Tenant Services
Tenant Services Coordinators | Tenant Associations | Funding Opportunities
Tenant Services Coordinators (Manitoba Housing representatives) assist tenants in accessing resources and information to support a safe and healthy living environment. In rural communities, a Property Manager may also provide similar support services to tenants.
Manitoba Housing Tenant Service Coordinators and Property Managers have a unique understanding of, and sensitivity to, the needs of their tenants. They are also available to help promote independent living in the community as long as possible by:
- providing information and/referrals to health, financial, social services and community programs and service providers
- providing information and referrals to education, training and employment programs and services
- providing assistance and/or referrals to help with tenancy related topics and issues
- providing information about access to Food Service's Meal Program where available
- guiding and assisting tenants or Tenant Associations in coordinating on-site support services
Contact your Tenant Services Coordinator and/or Property Manager for assistance with accessing services such as:
- Adult Day Care
- Age & Opportunity
- Creative Retirement
- Community Home Services
- Education, Training and Employment
- Foot Care Clinics
- Flu Clinics
- Filling Out Forms
- Financial Counseling & Budgeting
- Homecare
- Handi-Transit
- Health and Wellness Support including recreational and enrichment activities
- Income Tax Clinics
- Income Assistance Programs (e.g. Old Age Security, Canada Pension Plan, Employment & Income Assistance)
- Public Trustee
Tenant Associations
Tenant Association's are made up of tenants who live in the same neighbourhood and are interested in their community's interests and overall well being. Tenant Associations are meant to give tenants independence and a stronger voice in the operation of their community.
A Tenant Associations do this by:
- representing tenants' interests
- voicing community-related concerns
- organizing recreational activities
- organizing fundraising events
- developing and providing community programs (e.g. safety initiatives, children's programs).
If you are interested in starting a Tenant Association in your community, you may begin by following these steps:
- Informally talk to tenants to establish interest in your community (for example: get-togethers, posters in common areas, door-to-door canvassing).
- When enough interest has been generated, forward a written request to Manitoba Housing stating your intentions of starting a Tenant Association.
- In Winnipeg, a Tenant Services Coordinator is available to provide resources and support to the Tenant Association so recreational, educational and social needs can be organized within the community. In rural communities, either a Tenant Services Coordinator or a Property Manager can assist Tenant Associations with these needs.
- Once a Tenant Association is formally registered with Manitoba Housing, the Tenant Association is eligible to receive annual funding through Manitoba Housing.
Manitoba Housing Home | Our Programs | Find Housing | Tenant Resources | Our Communities | About Us | Working with Manitoba Housing | Job Opportunities | Contact Manitoba Housing


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Albany Area Murder Plot Had Justin Bieber On The Hit List – No Kidding
WOW! I know that some parents may have jokingly said they wished Justin Bieber would go on a vacation for about a year, but this is crazy!Two Alberquerqe, New Mexico men were arrested in Rotterdam last month, they were inmates with a Vermont man serving a double life sentence that recruited them to come back to the are when they were released and murder some people for him. The mastermind Dana Martin is still behind bars, but put together the murder list from his cell. Martin killed a 15 year-old girl in Vermont in 2000.
The two men he sent up here to carry out the murders for him were 41 year-old Mark Staake and Staake's 23 year-old nephew Tanner Ruane. Luckily these 2 disturbed and dangerous people were caught before they could kill Justin Bieber or anyone else they had on their hit list.All the crazy details are here.


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All news (26)
Closing Conference of the Croatian-Swiss Research Programme in Zagreb
Schweizer Beitrag
On 19 October, the closing conference of the Croatian-Swiss Research Programme (CSRP), organised by the Croatian Science Foundation HRZZ, took place in Zagreb. The CSRP initiative aims to promote scientific cooperation between Switzerland and Croatia and is in implementation from 2017 until the end of 2023.
All implementation agreements signed, first projects launched
Schweizer Beitrag
Switzerland and Slovakia have signed the bilateral agreement on 19 September 2023 on the implementation of the second Swiss contribution to selected EU member states. Switzerland has thus signed the bilateral implementation agreements for the cohesion part with all partner countries of the second Swiss contribution. The implementation phase now follows.
Greater cooperation with Slovakia
Press releases
Switzerland and Slovakia have signed a bilateral agreement on 19 September 2023 on the implementation of the second Swiss contribution to selected EU member states. Switzerland will support programmes in Slovakia in the areas of vocational training, sustainable tourism and healthcare amounting to CHF 44.2 million. This means that all 13 bilateral implementation agreements for the second Swiss contribution to strengthen cohesion are under wraps.
Delegations from four EU countries find inspiration for sustainable tourism on visit to Swiss National Park
Schweizer Beitrag
Switzerland has gained valuable experience with national parks, sustainable tourism and biodiversity conservation. It is now sharing this knowledge with partner states as part of the second Swiss contribution, including the recent study trip that SECO and its partners organised for experts from Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Estonia.
Ignazio Cassis signs agreement in Slovenia on implementation of second Swiss contribution
Press releases
During a visit to Slovenia, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), today signed an agreement on the implementation of Switzerland's second contribution in Ljubljana. The agreement provides for the financing of projects aimed at improving Slovenia's energy efficiency and developing its renewable energy resources. Mr Cassis also attended the Bled Strategic Forum, where he took part in a panel discussion on the future of multilateralism.
Cultural mediators to support the Italian police and migration authorities
Local news
Schweizer Beitrag
In 2023, Italy has been facing a high number of disembarkations. In order to facilitate communication between migrants, police and migration authorities, Italy works together with cultural mediators. Switzerland finances the deployment of cultural mediators with the Rapid Response Fund of the Second Swiss Contribution.
Procurement information: Advance notification of backstopping tender in the environmental and climate protection sector
Schweizer Beitrag
Switzerland is allocating CHF 1.302 billion towards projects under its Second Contribution to selected EU member states. The bulk of Switzerland's Second Contribution (CHF 1.102 billion) is earmarked for projects aimed at reducing economic and social disparities in the 13 states that have joined the EU since 2004. Of this amount, around CHF 400 million is reserved for projects in the field of environmental and climate protection for the benefit of Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.
Elisabeth Baume-Schneider to visit aid projects in Poland and Slovakia for people who have fled the war in Ukraine
Press releases
On 5 and 6 July, Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider will be on a working visit to Poland and Slovakia, two countries neighbouring Ukraine that have taken in large numbers of refugees. Ms Baume-Schneider will visit several aid projects for Ukrainian refugees that are co-financed by Switzerland. She will also meet her counterparts in both countries for bilateral exchanges.
Launch of new cooperation programme between Switzerland and the Czech Republic
Press releases
State Secretary Helene Budliger Artieda and Czech Minister of Finance Zbynêk Stanjura signed a bilateral agreement in Prague implementing Switzerland's second contribution to selected EU Member States. Switzerland is allocating CHF 76.9 million towards a programme in the Czech Republic. This visit underlines Switzerland's interest in further enhancing its already very good bilateral relations with the Czech Republic.
Launch of new cooperation programme between Switzerland and Latvia
Press releases
Switzerland and Latvia have signed a bilateral agreement implementing the second Swiss contribution to selected EU member states. Under the agreement Switzerland will allocate CHF 40.4 million towards programmes in Latvia in the fields of polluted site remediation, applied research, vocational education and training and healthcare.
Swiss-Lithuanian Cooperation Programme launched
Press releases
On 22 May 2023, the Ambassador of Switzerland and the Lithuanian Minister of Finance signed the implementation agreement for the Swiss-Lithuanian Cooperation Programme under the second Swiss contribution to selected EU member states. The contribution to Lithuania amounts to 45.2 million Swiss francs and will support programmes in Lithuania in the fields of health, civic participation and vocational education.
Switzerland and Cyprus sign Implementation Agreement for second Swiss contribution
Schweizer Beitrag
The Swiss Ambassador in Nicosia and the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Cyprus signed an Implementation Agreement for Switzerland's cohesion support under the second Swiss contribution to selected EU member States. Switzerland will co-finance three projects to prevent domestic violence, to provide comprehensive care for people living with rare diseases and to support the Committee on Missing Persons.


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Conversational Commerce
The most natural way of communication for people is spoken language. Nothing is faster, and accompanying to other activities easier to use than an oral exchange. It is therefore not surprising that ComScore estimates that as early as 2020, up to 50% of all searches will be carried out by Conversational Search. What challenges and opportunities does this provoke for the e-commerce sector?
How does the topic of Conversational Commerce fit into the current trends in e-commerce?
AD: Conversational Commerce is a big trend. It covers all forms of conversation, i. e. bidirectional communication with technical systems such as chat, messaging services or other interfaces such as natural language. Personally, I think that the last one is the most promising, because it is the most natural way for a person to communicate by spoken language.
The technologies required for this have been massively advanced in recent years. Many large and small platforms now offer interfaces: Siri, Cortana, Alexa or Google now are our daily companions. Language-based services are therefore easy to develop, because basic research is no longer necessary.
Who will benefit from Conversational Commerce?
AD: Several scenarios are imaginable here. The basis connecting them: The smartphone has become a "second personality", - or at least the main interface of most people in the digital world. This intensive use has become the driver for services and interaction of all kinds.
Combined with speech as the most natural means of communication, it is not surprising that speech recognition systems are also integrated by default into all common smartphone operating systems. However, language wasn't developed for its use by technology. It is fuzzy, and the understanding of a person's intentions still requires a degree of communicative intelligence.
Here, the provision of artificial intelligence within technical systems is required. On a morning run or during the daily commute, there are often transfer times when people are on the move, making language-based control of apps more convenient. Entering speech into a device also attracts people with physical disabilities who may not have been able to operate generally available devices, too.
But also in the B2B area, voice control and natural language conversation is helpful, for example in the field services or for craftsmen. One can easily imagine they don't have their hands free to operate apps, e. g. to draw up a list of missing work equipment or to reorder them on site.
How does Intershop deal with the trend?
AD: It has been a topic for some time now, especially in the research area. We are working on chatbots, and have also developed a language-based use case for e-commerce. The first point of contact here was entering a shop and searching for a product which has not been specified yet.
The wording is naturally blurred here, so the intelligence of speech recognition can score points: By interpreting terms such as "large", "small", "much" or "little", value ranges can be correctly restricted and applied to product attributes.
At the same time, the intelligence used can anticipate product wishes very well and clearly distinguish them from similar products. With regard to hits in a quantity of product data, the most suitable products can be pre-sorted in the correct order, so that only the relevant search results are presented to the user, which ultimately increases the conversion rate due to a lower user termination rate.
Our showcase uses the voice control for a product search, which can be used in every commerce touchpoint. Technically, this is a speech-to-text and vice versa implementation in a mobile shopping app via Microsoft Bing-API, which is part of the Microsoft Cognitive Services. It enables 2-way communication:
1) The search phrase is entered as a language and further processed as text.
2) The search results are displayed on the display as a product list, and an explanation is also given by voice of what the search has found and how it has arranged the products so that the communication channel is maintained.
How does it work?
The "magic" in the background is a semantic search, which was implemented with a solution of our partner Semknox from Dresden. It enables "semantic storage" of product data in an ontology. The solution enables precise search results even though the natural language was blurred, as it can interpret fuzzy search entries and accurately filter out understood product requests. A traditional search can't do that.
Do product data have to meet special requirements for this?
As recommended for any good commerce application, the product attributes should be well maintained. The better the data quality, the better the search result. However, special properties or attributes are not necessary.
This all makes sense. How can I get this for my business?
Our research team has developed a prototype for an Android app that works with our Commerce Solution, together with our Synaptic Partner Semknox. Their semantic processing of product data sets is necessary to use our Conversational Commerce functionality. All functionalities used are integrated via REST interfaces. Please contact Nils Breitmann for more information, we will be happy to advise you.


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Something special and historic took place here on February 11th, 2020. Hansen, a home grown, blue collar distillery, has inspired an entire city by releasing the first Whisky ever distilled, bottled and labeled in Edmonton, Alberta. Prior to the doors opening, they held a VIP event to which we were humbly invited to take part in. Attendees of the event included family, friends, Mayor – Don Iveson, Media, local business owners, and members of the local whisky community which in retrospect, didn't really matter. We were all just Edmontonians, anxiously nosing their whisky, soaking in the moment and admiring all the hard work and genuine passion present on Kris and Shayna Hansen's faces. After a great presentation which included, honouring the City of Edmonton and Don Iveson with a couple of the first bottles filled, it was time to taste the goods but as everyone proudly held up their Hansen inscribed glencairn in an inaugurating cheers, you couldn't help but notice a common look of trepidation across the room while everyone lowered their glasses from the air and slowly to their lips for that first sip. It didn't take long to turn the anxiousness into excitement though because simply put… it was delicious.
Honestly though, I was already fairly confident the juice was going to be good as Kris seriously didn't show a glance of nervousness during the entire presentation leading up to that point. If it was at all a question in his mind, I am confident he would have shown it. Now, I should have prefaced this though, it's a 3 year old whisky, 100% rye, aged in new American charred oak barrels so it's important to always judge according to its weight class. Because of this, I purposefully didn't set my expectations too high. In fact, I kind of expected an edgy, unpolished young rye smelling like shoe polish and tasting of dry cereals, banana, unbalance spice and tannic oaky bitterness. Okay so, I probably set my expectations a little too low and should have given them a bit more credit than that but truth be told, I didn't want it to disappoint considering the significance and what it represented.
Anyways, back to the first sip. It was surprisingly clean and carried a nice body for a young rye. It's youthfulness didn't present itself rigidly but rather in a spry and energetic way. I was very pleasantly surprised.
The nose is soft and youthful accompanied by some light fruity and caramel characteristics. After nosing off and on for like 20 minutes, a slight hint of the leather came through which is part of the profile Kris is going for.
Upfront, savoury rye spiciness, banana forward (typical of a young whisky), burnt sugar and a decent amount of sweet vanilla coming through which is a nice surprise as it usually takes a few more years of aging to really infuse the whisky with the oak's vanillins.
A little sharp at the height of the finish but it calms down nicely with a fruity and peppery notes. Once the whisky is completely down, the char from the barrel and some very subtle tobacco slightly lingers. The finish is medium in length.
Overall, I enjoyed it. Not overly complex, but can you really expect that of a young, proofed down whisky? No, you can't. The important thing here is, the profile Kris is aiming for is evident and the foundation is built. His vision is create "a real cowboy-style whisky" which I believe his on the path to creating. That hearty, spicy rye with the boldness to add some hair to your chest and the complexity to keep you continually appreciating its layers. It's going to be an exciting ride for them and I am stoked to follow along.
Lastly, if you live in the area or ever visiting Edmonton, please go check out their distillery and take the tour to hear all about their heritage which ultimately led them to this destiny. Their family history is quintessentially Albertan and full of distilling tradition dating back before prohibition.
- Review by Steven Shaw
Check out their website for their story and a ton of other great products.