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Carnival celebrations take place around the world, but when we think of elegant masks and beautiful costumes, we think of Venice. So in 2014 my husband and I decided to go and see for ourselves what the Venice Carnival was like. We weren't disappointed.
People come from everywhere to see and be seen at the Venice carnival. Many spend countless hours making their extravagant costumes, then they patiently pose in the piazzas to be admired and photographed.
You don't have to wear a costume, of course. There are plenty people in street clothes, with and without masks. If you would like to wear a fancy costume but don't have the time or sewing skills required to make your own, no worries! You can buy or rent costumes in Venice and you will find thousands of masks to choose from. But if you wear glasses, like me, your selection is very limited.
Couples, families, and groups come in matching costumes and some bring the dog along in his own little carnival cape. Even a lion standing outside a hotel wears a disguise.
Mask wearing in Venice goes back at least to the 1200s. During the Middle Ages in Venice, masks gained popularity and could be worn most of the year. They concealed the identity so a person was free to do things that he might not do otherwise. Masks were even mandatory for certain things like gambling and voting.
In the late 1700s Austria conquered Venice and the Venetian Republic came to an end. The new government outlawed the carnival and mask wearing. In fact, the Venice Carnival only regained its glory fairly recently. In 1979, a group of art students decided to revive the craft of papier mâché mask-making which had been such a part of Venice's past. This was a great success and now these beautiful masks are inextricably linked with Venice, where they are still handmade and reasonably priced.
So, if you go, make sure you have extra room in your suitcase for the mask (or masks) that you will want to take home. I had to buy a new suitcase to get mine home.
*Don't Miss Anything – If you would like to receive an email every time I post an article (2-3 times per month), sign up to follow The Curious Rambler. You'll find the button just above my photo. And, of course, you can always leave a comment below. Thank you for reading.
- A Puritanical Christmas - 2 December 2023
- Truffles, Truffles Everywhere - 12 November 2023
- A Donkey Race in Italy: What's Not to Love? - 15 October 2023


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As school communities embrace distance learning, districts are now trying to figure out how to fairly grade students for the rest of the semester while their campuses are closed and they get instruction online.
The state has issued detailed guidance, telling districts they can revamp their grading systems, but leaving the details up to local educators to decide.
But the state is advising that students be "held harmless" for their spring grades — in other words, they should not receive worse grades than those they were were already on track to receive before the coronavirus pandemic shut down schools for the rest of the school year.
Of the six largest California public school districts, five have changed their grading systems to hold students harmless for their spring grades. Elk Grove Unified, south of Sacramento, is the only one to continue with a traditional grading system.
Los Angeles Unified, San Diego Unified and Fresno Unified have all adopted policies ensuring that students' grades don't drop lower than they were before distance learning began. Long Beach Unified is switching to a pass/fail and credit/no credit system, and San Francisco Unified is considering giving all students A's for the spring semester.
One of educators' top concerns is that, for a range of reasons, not all students will have equal access to distance learning; low-income students in particular will be disadvantaged, especially those students who lack computers or internet access. Some educators argue that it therefore wouldn't be fair to award regular grades to all students.
Long Beach Unified — the fourth largest district — emphasizes teachers giving students feedback in its plan for distance learning. Like many districts, Long Beach is implementing different grading systems depending on the grade level of the students. The district's distance learning plan says there will be no report cards for the second quarter. For sixth-eighth grades, the district suspended grades for the third quarter saying it embraces a "do no harm" philosophy using pass/fail grades "but also incentivizes the completion of home learning assignments." For ninth-12th grades, the district adopted a credit/no credit approach with the same values of no harm and giving students incentives to work at their assignments.
"High schools traditionally have used the credit system, but the elementary and middle grades have not," said Chris Eftychiou, district spokesperson. "Moving to credit/no credit grading will benefit high school students who have college aspirations. All CSUs/UCs and many Ivy League schools and other universities nationally are accepting credit/no credit grades during this pandemic."
CSU and UC
The California State University and University of California systems have both agreed to accept pass/fail or credit/no credit grades for winter, spring and summer 2020 in lieu of letter grades for all courses, including the A-G course sequence required for admission to the university systems.
For others, such as Elk Grove Unified, grading will remain the same: students will receive letter grades on their report cards, and run the risk of getting an "F" if they fail to complete their online course requirements.
Los Angeles Unified declared that no student will receive a grade that is lower than their grade as of March 13, and promised that no failing grades would be issued this semester. San Francisco Unified could be taking that concept a step further: At a meeting April 14, board members discussed not only refraining from giving out "F's" this semester, but giving every high school and middle school student an A. They are expected to vote on the proposal on April 28.
"It really is not a time to impose grading," San Francisco Unified school board member Alison Collins said in an interview. "We need to focus on student well-being, and students' basic needs like food and device employment."
Though Collins said learning is still important during this time, she said she doesn't think students should be held to the same standards they were held to at the start of the semester — especially since students have different computer resources and varied internet access. She also believes many educators and college admissions officers will consider this semester a wash.
Education Trust-West, an Oakland-based advocacy organization, has called on all districts to move toward a pass/fail system in order to minimize the impact that the closures could have on students' academic careers. The San Francisco proposal is "one way to do it," Executive Director Elisha Smith Arrellaga said via email.
The organization conducted a survey of parents statewide and found that disproportionate numbers of low-income, Latino and African American families lack the technology needed for remote learning. Rather than worsen those disparities, districts should focus on making sure all students have the materials they need to continue learning at home, Arrillaga said.
"We should all be looking towards how to reduce the slide in student learning and provide resources to students who are the most in need now, through the summer and for the next school year," Smith Arrillaga said.
Collins said she doesn't think giving all students A's will discourage them from participating. Students are motivated to participate in distance learning, not because of a grade, but because they want to learn, she said.
"Kids want to learn, and I think that we get in the way as adults, but especially when they're at home on their own they want to see their friends, there's community and they love their teachers too …" Collins said at the school board meeting. "They want to learn and it's on us as educators to use this time to say, 'it''s weird now, let's use this in a new way. What do you want to learn, what books do you want to talk about?'"
San Francisco's grading proposal stands out among Bay Area districts. Like most districts, Oakland plans a credit/no credit approach and West Contra Costa is poised to adopt a similar plan. Some districts have yet to decide how they will handle the complex issue.
Elk Grove Unified stays the course
Elk Grove Unified is sticking with its traditional letter grading system in an effort to "maintain some normalcy" during these uncertain times, district spokeswoman Xanthi Pinkerton said.
"By staying with a traditional grading system that everyone understands, that means everyone understands what the expectations are," Pinkerton said.
Elk Grove teachers are still expected to consider students' circumstances when grading their work. Teachers will be adjusting the curriculum to work for distance learning. The school district has also gone to great lengths to make sure all students are equipped with the educational resources they need, and that students who don't have a computer at home are provided a Chromebook, she said. Counselors are regularly reaching out to juniors and seniors to make sure they are on track, Pinkerton said.
"It's a matter of looking at what students can achieve and making sure they can still attain mastery and get what they need for those courses," Pinkerton said.

subset: commoncrawl


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By Ben Saul
The Attorney-General George Brandis is waging an ideological war on human rights while pretending to defend them. His view that human rights have blown off course in Australia is not based on evidence or a coherent understanding of rights. It is also an attempt to divert attention from the government's own serious rights violations.
Brandis wishes to ''restore the balance'' because ''traditional rights, freedoms and privileges'' have been ''unnecessarily compromised''. Already he has announced a law reform inquiry and made an unusual appointment as Human Rights Commissioner, by installing Tim Wilson, a former policy director of the free market think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs.
Among Brandis' highest priorities are defending an absolutist idea of free speech (so as even to protect hate speech against minorities) and loosening corporate, environmental and industrial regulations that impair rights.
It is inevitable, and right, that those concerned about human rights should focus on the most harmful abuses. Usually this means speaking out for the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalised, and the powerless. This is why Brandis shows exceptionally poor judgment, and little grasp of the real world of human rights abuses, when he prioritises the right of powerful commentators to be able to say hurtful things about indigenous people, or attacks regulations that impinge on corporate interests. If the government is serious about improving rights, it should focus on eliminating many violations of classic civil and political rights that it created or perpetuates.
Since the Magna Carta 800 years ago, the most important civil right has been freedom from arbitrary executive detention, without charge or effective judicial control. For 20 years, Australian governments have violated this freedom tens of thousands of times. Mandatory immigration detention is a grave human rights abuse, all the more so when it is inflicted on refugees seeking our protection.
It is worse still when detention is indefinite, as for more than 50 refugees detained for four years because of ASIO security assessments. Just a few months ago, the United Nations found that this violates Australia's civil and political rights treaty obligations.
If the Attorney-General was genuinely concerned about civil rights, he would phone the Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to release all asylum seekers detained for, say, more than 30 days. In seconds, he could stop thousands of serious rights violations.
But the Attorney-General allows them to languish. He is more worried about the suffering of columnist Andrew Bolt, who was found guilty of breaching the Racial Discrimination Act over two articles he wrote in 2009.
Brandis is wrong to suggest that civil and political rights have been neglected. They have been deliberately violated. Australia periodically reports to the UN about its implementation of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Australia is often criticised by the UN experts for many violations, yet perpetually complains that it should not have to follow a treaty to which it agreed.
If Brandis is serious about protecting rights, he could start by immediately implementing the UN's recommendations. He could also listen to his own Human Rights Commission.
For example, the government could wind back the counter-terrorism laws that the Howard government adopted. It could guarantee civil and political rights to marginalised indigenous people, including those who were racially discriminated against by Howard's intervention and whose representative bodies were abolished.
It could stop violating the right to life, and freedom from torture, by summarily returning Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka. It could refrain from abolishing the ''complementary protection'' laws. It could stop disappearing refugees into squalor offshore, dehumanising them.
It could stop driving refugees in indefinite detention to suicide, treatment that the UN has found to be unlawfully cruel, inhuman or degrading. In a century's time, our refugee gulags will be looked upon like we now look on the Stolen Generations: with disbelief at our cruelty.
If Brandis were serious about rights, his government could adopt a bill of rights. Why allow your rights-trampling colleagues, or future Labor governments, to abuse rights if you can entrust the independent courts to safeguard them?
The government has done none of these things. These are human rights abuses in the real world, not the terrifying perils of regulation in the corporate boardroom. ''Restoring the balance'' is another way of saying the government wants to pick and choose whose rights it respects and whose it violates with impunity. This is not a democratic ''rebalancing''. It just gives more power to the powerful, and leaves the powerless with even less. It is perverse, facile and fanatical.
Brandis' ideological war on human rights is also corroding the institutions set up to protect them. The Human Rights Commission is being shamelessly attacked and politicised. The point of creating a statutory body is to guarantee its independence from politics. This is all the more important where governments threaten rights but there is no bill of rights, the courts lack jurisdiction, the UN is pilloried, and international law is ignored.
It is an obvious point, but the Human Rights Commissioner should be a human rights expert, not an ideological appointee. Why not appoint one of the many Australians who have spent their careers working at the coalface, with victims of violations, in human rights organisations? Or a world-renowned human rights specialist like Professor Hilary Charlesworth or Professor Sarah Joseph? Why wasn't the position publicly advertised and competitively selected based on merit?
The commission should also be free to expose rights violations and hold governments accountable without constantly fearing political interference. It should not be tamed as the lapdog of an ideologically obsessed government determined to protect its privileged mates, and stamp out criticism of its own extreme policies.
Ben Saul is Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney, an international human rights barrister, and an author of the Oxford Commentary on the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.


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Based in Christchurch, The Ranch is an online radio station dedicated to the best of the Country Music. It features music, but also news, lyrics, history and a lot more information related to the country music.
For real country music!
- Doug Stone - I'd Be Better Off
- Waylon Jennings - Rose In Paradise
- Merle Haggard - Always Wanting You
- Waylon Jennings - Rose In Paradise
- George Jones & Tammy Wynette - Southern California
ContactOnline Entertainment Corporation Ltd, PO Box 1603, Christchurch, New Zealand 8140
- Tel.: 64 3 354 5494


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Queen Visits Tee - Side Aka Queen On Teesside (1956)
Related Pages
DescriptionMiddlesbrough. CU. Queen talking to a person. TV. Queen walking towards Landrover. TV. Troops lined up. LV. & SV. Landrover passing between ranks, Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are in it. CV. Spectators in stand. SV. Queen standing on dais. LV. Troops giving three cheers (natural sound). LV. Royal yacht Britannia. CV. Royal standard. GV. Queen walking up gangway with pipes blowing throughout scene. LV. Royal yacht with bunting being lowered. SV. Royal Marines lined up on deck. LV. Queen and Prince Philip on the bridge. LV. Royal yacht steaming out of harbour. (Lav.) (Orig.C.) 90,000 historic films, all SEARCHABLE on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/britishpathe Join us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/britishpathe Tweet us @britishpathe FILM ID:591.09
SourceNewcastle University (Youtube)
LicenseWhat does this mean? Unknown license check permission to reuse
Further informationLink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gHYm5SXSsg
Resource type: Video
Added by: Simon Cotterill
Last modified: 9 years, 5 months ago
Viewed: 1471 times
Picture Taken: Unknown
Co-Curate tags


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Schedule a time with Erin between 9:00am-3:30pm on Mondays to discuss any questions you have in regards to your device. We can help you with iphones, ipads, android phones and tablets. Please bring your device with you and know your passwords to any accounts you may want help with. Call 433-1886 ext. 109 to schedule your appointment!
Event Calendar
Browse our complete calendar of community events and classes below; we offer activities to interest every individual!
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An event every week that begins at 2:00 pm on Monday, repeating indefinitely
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© The Dale Association


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About Us
We are a volunteer group that manages 500 hectares of native forest in the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park, between Tauranga and Katikati. The Project is a joint venture between Forest and Bird and the Aongatete Forest Restoration Trust.
Our Trust was established in 2006 by Tauranga Forest and Bird and the Katikati Rotary Club and is supported by local volunteers, Forest and Bird members, landowners and Ngai Tamawhariua who have the kaitiaki (guardianship) role over this forest.
Our Forest
Our Forest
Aongatete has a very special forest ecosystem and it's right on the back doorstep of the Western BOP. Check out the area our project looks after and the variety of amazing walks on offer for all to enjoy.
Our Work
Our Work
Our incredible volunteers and supporters are focused on restoring forest, birds and invertebrates in the Kaimai ranges. To do this we have an extensive network of traps and bait stations that are maintained year-round to target most of the introduced pest species.
Our History
Our History
The project has its origins in a 2001 search to locate the last surviving kokako in the Kaimai range. Sadly, they'd all gone. It was also revealed how badly degraded the bush had become. Since then we've collaborated with many fantastic people and organisations to positively influence the health of our forest.
Our Trustees
Our Trustees
As a registered charitable trust, we have a dedicated group of people who oversee the direction of the project as well as manage all of the elements that make the project tick, from finance to operations to education and more.


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Infrared Flashlight Video Recorder is the only one of its kind flashlight with built-in video recorder capable of illuminating movements up to 13 feet while recording it all at the same time.
Infrared Flashlight Video Recorder features 17 infrared LEDs capable of producing up to 3 levels of brightness, a CMOS sensor with 66†field view, a built-in 128MB memory expandable to 2GB, a USB port for connecting the flashlight to a PC and an LCD screen so you can monitor the remaining battery life and other information such as the recording format, the time and date the video was captured and the storage capacity status. Infrared Flashlight Video Recorder uses 3 C batteries and plays at 30 fps with 640×480 resolutions.
– $399.95 at hammacher


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Teleopti AB – Sep 03, 2013 12:58 BST
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — September, 3, 2013 — Teleopti, a global provider of solutions for strategic Workforce Management (WFM) and Telecom Expense Management (TEM), today announced it has attained a Gold Application Development competency, demonstrating a "best-in-class" ability and commitment to meet Microsoft Corp. customers' evolving needs in today's dynamic business environment and distinguishing itself within the top 1 percent of Microsoft's partner ecosystem.
To earn a Microsoft gold competency, partners must successfully complete exams (resulting in Microsoft Certified Professionals) to prove their level of technology expertise, and then designate these certified professionals uniquely to one Microsoft competency, ensuring a certain level of staffing capacity. They also must submit customer references that demonstrate successful projects (along with implementing a yearly customer satisfaction study), meet a revenue commitment (for most gold competencies), and pass technology and/or sales assessments.
Teleopti's strategy has always been to develop solutions based on Microsoft's leading and latest platforms, and Teleopti was one of the first companies to deploy its technology in the Windows Azure cloud platform. Teleopti has been a Microsoft Partner since 2004. By integrating Teleopti's open system with platforms from Microsoft, we can provide core contact centre technology and extend our reach and deliver innovative and high value solutions to our end customers.
"This Microsoft Gold Application Development competency showcases our expertise in and commitment to today's technology market and demonstrates our deep knowledge of Microsoft and its products," said Olle Düring, CEO of Teleopti AB. "We plan to accelerate our customers' success by serving as technology advisors for their business demands."
"By achieving a gold competency, partners have demonstrated the highest, most consistent capability and commitment to the latest Microsoft technology," said Jon Roskill, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft Corp. "These partners have a deep expertise that puts them in the top 1 percent of our partner ecosystem, and their proficiency will help customers drive innovative solutions on the latest Microsoft technology."
Earning the Application Development competency helps partners differentiate themselves as a trusted expert to their customers through development and deployment of commercial or custom applications built using core Microsoft technologies like Windows Server and Windows 8 operating systems, the Windows Azure platform, Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 development system, Microsoft BizTalk Server and emerging cloud-based and web business models. By gaining access to a comprehensive set of benefits through the Application Development competency, partners can acquire new customers and help them be more productive and profitable through deployment of business applications, advanced web portals or rich client user interfaces that run on premises or in the cloud.
The Microsoft Partner Network helps partners strengthen their capabilities to showcase leadership in the marketplace on the latest technology, to better serve customers and, with 640,000 Microsoft partners in their ecosystem, to easily connect with one of the most active, diverse networks in the world.
TELEOPTI is the leading provider of solutions for strategic Workforce Management (WFM) as well as Telecom Expense Management (TEM).
The company is renowned for developing advanced and user-friendly solutions based on clients' requirements. Hundreds of enterprises around the world rely on solutions from Teleopti to attain optimal operational efficiency and provide the highest levels of service.
Teleopti, established in Stockholm, Sweden in 1992 operates through a comprehensive network of partners. Visit our website www.teleopti.com to find out more.
www.teleopti.com firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone: Nordics (HQ) +46 8 568 95 000
For more information, press only:
Camilla Arneving, Teleopti AB, +46 72 222 81 04 , firstname.lastname@example.com


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A Very Merry Christmas to You!!
Friday, December 24, 2010
10 comments:
The same to you and your family!ReplyDelete
Merry Christmas, Joan.ReplyDelete
Susan & GG
Merry Christmas to you and yours!ReplyDelete
...and to you Joan!ReplyDelete
Lovely Nativity Scene. The reason for the season. Thank you for sharing.ReplyDelete
Merry Christmas Joan!ReplyDelete
Have fun!
And a Huge Merry Merry Christmas to you, love that nativity scene...ReplyDelete
Merry Christmas to you & yours Joan!ReplyDelete
Merry Christmas to you and your family. Thanks for all you do in blog land all year. Blessings, VickyReplyDelete
Merry Christmas Joan.ReplyDelete
Have a wonderful holiday
~ Tina
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Eric Alterman / @Eric_Alterman
CUNY Distinguished Professor, Brooklyn College.
CUNY Distinguished Professor, Brooklyn College.
Eric Alterman is a Distinguished Professor of English and Journalism, Brooklyn College, City University of New York. He is also the "Liberal Media" columnist for The Nation, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC, and the Nation Institute and the World Policy Institute in New York, as well as a former columnist for The Daily Beast, The Forward, Moment, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, the Sunday Express (London) etc. Alterman is the author of 10 books, including the national bestseller "What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News."


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Chicago, IL-(ENEWSPF)- Two former road test examiners for the Illinois Secretary of State were indicted for allegedly accepting cash bribes to pass customers who were unqualified or never took the road test, federal law enforcement officials announced November 14. The charges stem from an investigation that was unveiled in 2009 when members and associates of an alleged crime ring were accused of selling fraudulent identification documents in Chinatown on the city's near south side. The new defendants allegedly conspired between 2005 and 2007 with several of the defendants charged previously to accept cash bribes in return for guaranteeing that an unspecified number of customers would pass the road test, enabling them to obtain an Illinois driver's license.
One defendant, Christopher Wardlaw, 36, was arrested today, while the other defendant, Alanda Jackson, 31, both of Chicago, will be ordered to appear for arraignment at a later date in U.S. District Court. Both were road test examiners at the Secretary of State's Chicago South Facility, located at 9901 South Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. They were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit extortion in an indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury last Thursday and unsealed today following Wardlaw's arrest. Wardlaw was released on his own recognizance after appearing this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffery T. Gilbert.
The indictment seeks forfeiture of $40,000, representing alleged illegal proceeds.
The charges were announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the FBI; Chicago Police Superintendent Garry F. McCarthy; and Illinois Secretary of State Inspector General James B. Burns. The charges are part of Operation Paper Mountain, which has resulted in federal charges against approximately three dozen defendants since 2009.
According to the indictment, Wardlaw and Jackson conspired with another former SOS employee, Timothy Johnson, as well as with Jun Yun Zhang, Lili Liu, Tiansheng Zhang, and others, who were indicted in 2009. Each of those defendants has pleaded guilty to related federal charges. The Zhangs and other defendants routinely escorted customers to Secretary of State driver's license facilities to fraudulently obtain state identification cards or driver's licenses, typically using counterfeit or altered authentic Chinese passports and legitimate social security account numbers with the prefix "586" that were assigned to other people. The 586 prefix is unusual because it is assigned to individuals in the Northern Mariana Islands, including Saipan, Guam and American Samoa.
When co-conspirators accompanied customers to the Chicago South facility, Wardlaw and Jackson allegedly guaranteed passing results on the road test either by serving as the examiner and passing the customer even if he or she failed the road test, or by obtaining the customer's road test paperwork from a co-conspirator and indicating that the customer passed when, in fact, the customer never took the test.
The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Madden, Steven J. Dollear and Yasmin Best.
Extortion conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, the court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.


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I put together some of my favorite fitness products that would a great gift to your friends and family members. All these products can also be found on Amazon which makes shopping super easy. These are all products I already use and love so I know you will love them too!
- Athleema Resistance Bands– These bands are amazing if you watch my YouTube videos you see me use these bands all the time! I have had them for over 3 years and they have not broken once! Resistance bands can provide a killer workout and they are great to travel with!
- Wake Up Waffles– Wake Up Waffles is a great way to start your day off right with 23 grams of protein per serving, gluten-free, and all you have to do is just add water! Also, they have 8 different flavors to choose from plus they have a keto and vegan mix.
- Athleema Jump Rope– This jump rope is great because it's adjustable for all heights, lightweight and a great way to keep your heart rate up during all your workouts.
- 90 Degree By Reflex High Waisted Leggings– I love 90 Degree by Reflex clothes! They are great quality and affordable. They offer lots of different styles and colored leggings but my favorite is the high waisted tummy control leggings!
- Basic Workout Tanks– You can't go wrong with a couple of solid color workout tanks. The material is very soft and great to workout in. I personally have blue and white tanks. If you get the white tank I would suggest sizing up so that it isn't too sheer.
- Walden Farms Syrup– I definitely would suggest getting Walden Farms 0 zero calories if you want some delicious syrup for your waffles! I also will mix in Walden Farms into my oatmeal! You can also find Walden Farms at Sprouts or Fry's.
- Saffron Road Organic Crunchy Chickpea's– This is a great healthy and delicious snack to gift someone. These chickpeas come in 6 different flavors, are packed with 6 grams of protein per serving and have no artificial flavors or colors!
- The Good Chocolate– This chocolate has zero sugar, vegan and very low carb! This is a great healthy treat that will help anyone stay on track with their fitness goals. There are six flavors to choose but mint is my favorite!
*This article contains affiliate links*


text: At LUANAR there is a full range of clubs, societies and organizations. Clubs have been offering sporting opportunities for student cohort for many years. Membership is open to students, staff and alumni. Sporting clubs compete in local, regional, and international competitions; recreational clubs conduct adventure activities in unique and exciting environments; Clubs cater for the novice and the experienced, and foster new friendships that can last a lifetime. They also organize social Clubs and Societies activities that you will talk about for years to come. The association's main objectives are to develop a sporting culture amongst students, to enhance sporting competition among student members, to promote high standards of sporting achievements among members and to develop skills and values such as team work, co-operation, fair play, sharing, self-esteem, respect for rules, leadership, discipline, self-respect and confidence.slot deposit pulsa


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The soft-focus technique is a way of photographing things so that the edges of the objects in the photograph are relatively not sharp or clear. Soft focus technique is used for reducing the local contrast in an image, and also for adding a kind of dreamy glow. this technique is used in portrait photography to reduces the appearance of fine detail such as skin pores, giving a smoother effect.
The effect is not the same as just blurring an image. A good quality soft-focus technique reduces the contrast of fine detail rather than blurring it away.
Technically speaking, the Soft focus is a lens flaw, in which the lens forms images that are blurred due to spherical aberration. (Via Wikipedia)
A soft focus lens deliberately introduces spherical aberration in order to give the appearance of blurring the image while retaining sharp edges; it is not the same as an out-of-focus image, and the effect cannot be achieved simply by defocusing a sharp lens. Soft focus is also the name of the style of photograph produced by such a lens.
What is Spherical Aberration?
Spherical aberration is a type of optical aberration that may occur in camera lenses. It results from the difference in refraction at the edges of a lens compared to the center, resulting in an improper convergence of light rather than convergence into a focal point. Spherical aberration generally results in softer focus, rather than a clear and sharp focus.
Some lenses, such as soft-focus portrait lenses, intentionally leave a certain amount of spherical aberration in place to produce more pleasing shots. In these cases, spherical aberration is a desirable effect, one which you may explicitly look for in a lens.
When to use soft focus technique
Depending on your subject, there are times when you'll want a soft, warm feel to your photos and times when you don't. But generally, the soft-focus technique is usually used in portrait, fine art nature, fashion, and advertising photography. Conversely, soft-focus effects are not that common or popular for landscapes. That's not to say, though, that these effects can't help a landscape. Sometimes, landscapes can benefit from these effects, especially if there are backlit subjects as well.
Without a doubt, soft-looking photos are most commonly used when taking portrait photos of people. People's faces typically do not look appealing when they are crisply focused and taken in harsh light. This creates unpleasant shadows and exposes flaws and imperfections on your subject. Using soft, warm light and a slightly soft-focus give portrait photos a calm, serene, and almost angelic quality.
Nature Shots
Sometimes, you might want your outdoor shots to be bright, crisp and full of sharp details. However, some of the most beautiful nature shots are often much softer. Morning or evening landscape shots turn out great with a longer exposure. Mother Nature takes care of the soft light, and the long exposure will soften the focus just enough to give the shot a dreamy quality.
How to achieve soft-focus photos
There are many ways to achieve soft-focus photos, here are some methods:
Use a soft-focus lens
There are various soft focus lenses available that can give you soft images without the use of a soft-focus filter. Many of these lenses allow you to control the degree of softness in an image.
There are a variety of designs, but typically these lenses allow you to undercorrect or overcorrect for spherical aberration. This also affects how the out of focus areas behind and in front of the subject appear.
The Canon EF 135mm f/2.8 With Softfocus Lens is a relatively small, light, and inexpensive 135mm lens. The unusual feature of this lens is its soft-focus capability. The 135 L has a ring that allows continuous soft focus settings ranging from locked at 0 (none) to 2 with detents at settings 1 and 2.
Canon EF 135mm f/2.8 with Softfocus Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
Set at 0 (no effect), the 135 soft-focus lens is somewhat soft open (f/2.8) and, like many other lenses, becomes sharper as it is stopped down. Canon carefully denotes this lens as being "With Softfocus", a soft-focus setting of 0 allows this lens to function as a standard 135mm lens.
Turning the soft-focus ring past 0 dials in spherical aberration produces a dreamy glow. The amount of effect is determined in part by the aperture and soft-focus settings – and can easily be overdone. At f/2.8, a soft-focus setting above 1 will probably be too strong for most tastes. Below f/4, a soft-focus setting of 2 will likely be too strong for most people. Like many other aspects of photography, mastering this 135mm lens's soft-focus effect takes time.
Yasuhara MO100EF 43-43mm f/6.4-22 Fixed Prime MoMo 100 Soft Focus Lens
the Momo 100 from Yasuhara is a 43mm f/6.4 lens designed for Canon-EF DSLRs. Characterized by its simple doublet optical design, this lens relies on spherical aberration to produce a soft and glowing image quality, while still delivering in-focus results, for an ethereal look. Softness can be adjusted by manually adjusting the aperture setting, and manual focus control is also available for working with subjects as close as 1.6′ away.
Use a Soft Focus Filter
Probably the easiest and most obvious way to achieve this effect is to purchase a soft-focus filter. You may find these filters marketed as Soft, Diffusion, Mist, or Hollywood filters. Like other filters, you place them in front of your camera's lens. They are Ideal portrait photography, they soften unwanted details. They are available from a range of manufacturers and in both screw-in and square (e.g. for the Cokin P filter system) varieties.
Here are examples of these filters:
Hoya 58mm Diffuser Soft Focus Filter
Tiffen 52BPM12 52mm Black Pro-Mist 1/2 Filter
Tiffen 52SFX3 52mm Soft/FX 3 Filter
The strength of softening the focus depends on the focal length of the lens that you are using. A Shorter focal length will typically require stronger diffusion to give the same effect as weaker diffusion on a longer lens. If you use a specific soft-focus filter that gives just the right amount of softness and glow on your 35mm lens, you might find that effect is too strong on your 85mm lens and not strong enough on your 24mm lens.
Use Camera creative filters
Introduced in the Canon EOS 60D DSLR in 2010 Creative Filters provide a range of in-camera processing options to help to expand the creative options of photography. The EOS 60D DSLR had four built-in Creative Filters – Soft Focus, Grainy B/W (Black & White), Miniature Effect, and Toy Camera Effect. For some types of images, most notably beauty portraits, a soft-focus look can be desirable to soften skin tones and create a dreamy effect. The soft-focus filter helps achieve this without having to resort to using a soft-focus filter on your lens, or the Canon EF135mm f/2.8 Soft Focus lens. The level of the soft-focus effect can be adjusted in the settings.
Use a Clear filter plus Vaseline
You can use a clear glass filter and then smear Vaseline (petroleum jelly) on it. For the glass filter, I would suggest using a cheap UV filter. The optical quality won't be great, but as you're going to be smearing Vaseline all over the filter, that doesn't really matter too much.
One of the pros of this technique is that you can easily control what area of the frame will have the softening effect applied, and also how much softness you want (By controlling the thickness of the Vaseline layer)
The following are some UV filters.
AmazonBasics UV Protection Lens Filter – 52 mm
Tiffen 52mm UV Protection Filter
Use an online service
There is an amazing website that offers an online service of adding a soft-focus effect to an existing photo. The owner of the website which is called Softfocus.me said "I build this website because there is no simple way for people to play with a soft-focus effect. I want to allow everybody to use it without any photo editing skills, online, and for free. It's a fun effect a lot of people ignore which makes your photos look dreamier. It also works well removing jpeg noise."
You may try it! It is free.
Add the soft-focus effect in post-processing
The important thing about creating the soft-focus effect in post-processing software rather than with an actual soft-focus lens or a soft filter is that the editing program gives you complete control over the final result. If you want to add the soft-focus effect to your image, the following is a quick tutorial using Adobe Photoshop:
- Open your image in Photoshop
- Duplicate your background layer
- Choose the blur filter (The Gaussian Blur Filter)
- Apply this filter on the new layer
- Adjust the amount of blurring (by changing the radius)
- Adjust the opacity of the layer
- Add a layer mask
- Select the brush tool
- Lower the opacity of the layer
- Make sure that the foreground color is black
- Paint over the areas where you want to increase the focus
Here is the final result: Photo by Ehab Amin
And another example: Photo by Ehab Amin
Related posts
Bokeh Photography – What Is Bokeh Effect
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Americas bloc takes UK threats to Ecuador for international discussion• http://rt.com
British threats to invade Ecuador's embassy will be discussed at international-level talks between the foreign ministers of the Organization of American States.
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British threats to invade Ecuador's embassy will be discussed at international-level talks between the foreign ministers of the Organization of American States.
A powerful 6.3-magnitude quake shook Indonesia's central Sulawesi province on Saturday, damaging buildings and injuring at least three people.
Families of workers missing from a mine where 34 people were shot dead in the worst police violence since apartheid on Saturday struggled to discover the fate of their loved ones as the nation sought answers.
Masked gunmen burst into a mosque in the troubled Russian Caucasus region of Dagestan, wounding eight, the regional interior ministry said in a statement Saturday.
The once proud British government, now reduced to Washington's servile whore, put on its Gestapo Jackboots and declared that if the Ecuadorean Embassy in London did not hand over WikiLeaks' Julian Assange, British storm troopers would invade the emba
Julian Assange faces long stay in Ecuador's London embassy ...
Three women from the Russian punk band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in jail on Friday for staging a protest against President Vladimir Putin in a church, a ruling supporters described as his "personal revenge".
Police in Australia are investigating a breach of half a million credit card numbers that reports say was conducted by the same gang that struck the Subway restaurant chain in the United States.
Shell said Thursday it had shut down an oil processing facility in southern Nigeria over a pump failure, but denied reports that a significant amount of oil had spilled in the area.
The United States said Thursday it held "serious" talks with Russia about Syria and renewed its call for a political transition after months of disagreement over the bloodshed.
North Korea could build an arsenal of up to 48 nuclear weapons, several times more than it has now, if the communist state were able to step up its program unchecked, a US think tank said Thursday.
Dozens of people were killed after South African police opened fire on hundreds of workers on a wildcat strike at a platinum mine, in the deadliest day of protest since apartheid.
Saburo Shochi has been recognised by Guinness World Records for his feat, which saw him travel through North America, Europe and Africa, the Mainichi daily said.
Ecuador's foreign minister announced on Thursday that the country would grant asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, defying threats by the British government to storm the Ecuadorean Embassy and extradite Assange to Sweden....
Microsoft co-founder turned global philanthropist Bill Gates on Tuesday launched a search for a new toilet better suited to developing countries.
The United States said Friday that it did not believe in "diplomatic asylum" after Ecuador offered to let WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stay indefinitely in its embassy in London.
Aides to Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu launched a stinging rebuke to the country's president, Shimon Peres, after he said that Israel should not act alone in launching military action against Iran's nuclear programme.
Assange's lawyer says Swedish prosecutors should question him in London as Britain says he will not get safe exit.
Within the next 18-months, India will commission it's first self-built nuclear submarine, complete with ballistics missiles fitted for nuclear warheads.
HMRC publishes mugshots of 20 most wanted tax fugitives for first time ...
A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles operated undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks and its travel in strategic U.S. waters was only confirmed after it left the region, the Washington Free Beac
Ecuador has granted asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange two months after he took refuge in its London embassy while fighting extradition from the UK.
A sprawling underground marijuana farm was discovered on Monday in an abandoned line of Rome's subway.
Hundreds of French youths torched buildings and cars and clashed with police, injuring 16 officers during an overnight riot in the northern French city of Amiens.
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa took to Twitter to dispel rumors that his government had granted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange political asylum.
Brazilian judge rules environmental and rights activists' concerns regarding massive $11bn project must be addressed.
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi made waves on Sunday by ordering the removal of several figures in Egypt's military and revoking a military-declared constitutional amendment that had granted the military far reaching powers over the country.
Lebanese are protesting in Beirut against the use of anal examinations on men suspected of homosexuality and "virginity tests" for women.
Just think, one week ago I was saying that 2012 was a relatively quiet year for volcanic eruptions. We haven't made up all the ground of the more active years like 2010-11, however New Zealand had one of its more exciting volcanic weeks in a century
President Hugo Chavez announced Thursday that security forces arrested a U.S. citizen and suspect he is a mercenary who could be involved in an alleged plot to destabilize Venezuela if the opposition's candidate loses the upcoming presidential elect


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I was at a café today for coffee. When you order this particular shop hands you a cup and you self-serve coffee from the coffee urns lined up on a counter. As I drained the last of the decaf (Yes, I drink decaf. Don't judge me! LOL) I let one of the workers know that it was empty. After an audible sigh (and without any audible sounds like "Thanks for letting me know. I'll go get some.") she disappeared into the back. I wasn't sure if she was getting the coffee refilled or maybe just escaping me. A minute or two later she shows up with the coffee. Almost without looking she shoves it on the counter at an angle, almost sideways, nearly impossible for a customer to reach and walks away. What's a customer to think? How's would a customer feel? Well, I'll tell you how this customer felt. Like I was a bother. Like she didn't really care a bit about my needs. And then I looked around. Not one. Not ONE, employee had a smile on their face. Even when someone made eye contact a blank stare or a frown was what you got in return.
I know you may be thinking that this all seems like small potatoes doesn't it? And in some ways it might be. However, it got me to thinking about whether this was how this café operated. Are customers a bother – or a valued guest? Does this business pay attention to the small details or not? If they don't care about details, how likely are they to get my order correct if I order food? Do I feel welcomed by this employee's grunt and then silence? Is this really the atmosphere they were trying to create? And, perhaps, most importantly, will I return or will I stop at one of the four very nearby coffee shops (yes, I counted them) the next time I want a coffee? Will I tell others about my experience – and maybe guide them to another place?
I am a believer that small things are often indicative of larger ones. And if I were the café's owner or manager, I would be on the lookout for these behaviors. Often it's the small things that make that critical difference. Especially as a small business. Our pleasant, personal, attentive service is one critical way that a small business can win out over the big ones.
So, you Mr. or Ms. Small Biz Leader, I highly suggest that you take a few simple actions that can help you win:
- Hire the Right People – ones that will show your customers some love. Focusing on bringing in the people that will treat your customers the way you want them to will pay off in spades. Find people who actually like what it is your business does and like the customers it attracts.
- Train Your Team – and drill customer delight into their heads. Every day. Every day you need to model the behaviors and attitudes you want your employees to have. Let them know how to act in different situations. Help them understand (and appreciate) what those small, seemingly unimportant things are. Recognize those employees who live up to these standards.
- Closely watch what they do and how they do it. Consider including having someone else come in a "mystery shop". There's no feedback quite like honest, first-hand observation.
- Nip problems in the bud. Catch them. Coach them. Release them if you have to. Go with your gut. If you see or hear something that looks little wrong it probably is. Don't let it fester. Really. Give them the chance to improve, but then cut them loose quickly if they don't. You'll be happy you did. Your small business doesn't have the luxury of driving away good customers.
So there you go. A few thoughts on how your small business can conquer the marketplace. The goal is to make your place of business attractive and welcoming. And sometimes the seemingly small things can make all the difference. All along the way you'll be building a positive customer-centered culture. A winning strategy.
Please feel free to reach out and get in touch and let's explore how I can help you and your business succeed. No pressure. Just an informal discussion to explore some ideas. You can reach me at (713) 907-8429 or email@example.com hope you are enjoying these blog posts. If so, please help spread the word. Tell others about IDiscover Consulting Group and my blog. Share these posts. Comment on them. I'd really love to hear your ideas!


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I'm a sucker for the underdog. Always have been. Maybe it's a product of being a long-time fan of the Boston Red Sox, waiting hopefully each year for the potential locked inside to play itself out. And there's the operative word: potential. Over the years, I've always been attracted to the potential a particular down-and-out city clearly has, the great old "bones" of buildings that could potentially come to life again, the turn-around potential of a business scratching to make it in a super-competitive environment. My guess is that same instinct is in most of us, the instinct to want to take something and make it better, more vibrant.
By and large, we gravitate to clients that fit this general profile. But over the years, we've learned that potential, in and of itself, isn't sufficient to ensure success for a sustainability program. Nope. Four conditions are necessary:
HAVING THE WILLINGNESS TO DEVELOP A BOLD VISION. This sounds easy. After all, what's so difficult about being willing to imagine a new future for a business or community? Over time, however, we've realized that a significant number of entities have a hard time getting beyond the "we've tried that," and "that won't work here," type of thinking. The mindset here is risk-aversion rather than reward-seeking, despite the fact that continuing the status quo in the face of changing market conditions is the true risky strategy. So having the willingness to be bold and visionary is critical.
HAVING COMMITTED LEADERSHIP. In the context of a municipality this means committed leadership from elected officials, government heads, and business and community leaders. In the context of a business, this means a similar across-the-board commitment from those in charge of managing aspects of the enterprise. Typically, a systemic-wide sustainability program will take a lengthy period of time to implement (I'd say around a decade). And for such a program to be successful, it must be embedded in a culture that can weather changes in personnel.
HAVING DEVOTED RESOURCES. To state the obvious, a sustainability mandate that is insufficiently funded is asking for trouble. Committed, sustained underwriting—even if it is seed funding—is critical. But money is not the only issue here. A sustainability program needs devoted intellectual capital, with the knowledge (institutional, technical, etc.) to get things accomplished. A sustainability program also needs devoted human capital. This doesn't mean simply the hiring of a full-time sustainability manager (although that helps), but freeing up time to enable staff to work on initiatives. Ultimately, a successful sustainability program is a program touched by all.
HAVING INTERNAL CAPACITY. Visioning is easy. Getting the commitment of leadership and devoted resources are also quite do-able. But having the talent within a culture (business or community) to implement a sustainability program is not to be underestimated. You can generate all the great ideas in the world, but if you lack the troops to get it done, forget about it.
It's important to note that it is very rare for a business or a community to have all four of these ingredients at the outset. In fact, we often start working with businesses or communities that have only two of these necessary conditions in place. Our first job often is to shore up a third point of contact – and then work diligently on the weakest of the four.
I like to think of it by way of a rock-climbing metaphor. This sport boils down to having four points of contact on the rock-face (two hands, two feet). It is often said that three points of contact offer stability; less than three and you are simply unstable. The same is true here. In fact, it gives me a bit of pause to remember that my mentor, Ray Anderson, founder of Interface, Inc., always referred to his journey as one of climbing Mt. Sustainability, one step, one person, at a time.


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Article Text
Objective To correct the historical notion that permeates throughout the neurointerventional surgical literature that Dr Barney Brooks was the founder of the specialty.
Material and methods Both articles written by Dr B Brooks and all pertinent literature dealing with neurointerventional treatment of the carotid–cavernous sinus fistula (CCSF) were reviewed.
Results The notion that Dr B Brooks was the first to use the embolization method to treat the CCSF was based on misinterpretation of his papers published in 1930 and on 'second generation' references used by subsequent authors.
Conclusion Dr B Brooks never described embolization of the CCSF by a 'free' piece of muscle introduced into the internal carotid artery (ICA).
- Carotid–cavernous sinus fistula
- therapeutic embolization
- endovascular surgery
- artery
- brain
- trauma
- intervention
- history
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Name: Crab, Mud
Classification: Crustacean
Place first seen: Barra, Mozambique
Date spotted: January 2012
Hid under the Landrover.
Hid under the Landrover.
One huge claw. These are the first really asymmetric animals we have ever seen. They were on the beach.
We saw thousands of them in the Pomene mangroves. One claw is much bigger than the other – useful for fiddling!


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New Domain Names (.trade, .webcam, .bid) Now available on Web4Africa
If you are looking for new domain names to use for your business blog, you will be glad to know that you can now get and register a domain name with the extension .trade, .webcam or .bid. These new domain names are good for niche business blogs in the area of a particular trade or webcam shows or a bidding site. You should register one for yourself immediately before someone else takes the name you find valuable.
This domain extension acts as a magnet to all businesses interested in growing their business on an international level. As a short, clear, and globally understood term for commerce, it is a natural home for start-up businesses, high-growth industries and emergent international trade. By owning a .TRADE name, you are sending a clear message to prospective customers, suppliers, and resellers of the commercial nature of your website.
Personal online broadcasting (webcamming) is more popular now than it has ever been. The Internet allows anyone the opportunity to be a "star" in their own right. Whether you are looking for love online or late night entertainment; whether you are checking out potential vacation spots or the weather at your favourite skiing resort; if you want share your life online or show your latest movie creation. The answer is simple, add .WEBCAM to the end of your domain name and what else could be hosted there than your unique broadcasting talent.
.BID is undoubtedly the TLD of choice for online auctions and market place sites online. An intuitive generic Top Level Domain (TLD) name makes .BID distinguishable from the broad auction-related content found across the Internet, and there are clear benefits to auctioneers, buyers and sellers .BID Top Level Domain (TLD) owners include a spectrum of online auctioneers running various types of auctions from English auctions to penny auctions, across a range of general markets and niche genres, and more traditional auction houses wishing to strengthen their online identity.
Web4Africa is accredited for all the three new domain names. You can register any of these domains with Web4Africa today.


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Our treatment programs are designed for you. Visit one of our clinics to make an appointment.
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