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California is set for a major debate on the death penalty following qualification Monday of a November ballot measure that would replace capital punishment with a life term without possibility of parole.
If passed, the measure would make California the 18th state in the nation without a death penalty. During the last five years, four states have replaced the death penalty and Connecticut is soon to follow.
Growing numbers of conservatives in California have joined the effort to repeal the state's capital punishment law, expressing frustration with its price tag and the rarity of executions. California has executed 13 inmates in 23 years, and prisoners are far more likely to die of old age on death row than by the executioner's needle.
November's ballot measure would commute the sentences of more than 700 people on death row to life without possibility of parole, a term that would then become the state's most severe form of criminal punishment.


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|Product Videos
|Related Products
Your braids are a big investment in both time and money, so keep them looking great with the Dream Satin Braid Bonnet Black #074! This braid bonnet is the perfect solution because it's made from superior quality satin to give you silky smooth comfort while you sleep or play. Simply scoop your braids into the bonnet and they're out of the way, so your tangled braids are a thing of the past! The Dream Satin Braid Bonnet Black #074 is a must-have accessory when you have braids, because you don't want them to get snagged or damaged. Here's a tip: order extras, and keep one in your travel bag and another in your gym locker. That way you'll never have to worry about forgetting to pack it!

subset: commoncrawl


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Glamour 1st London team did a magnificent job! Finally, first album is now available for members to download! 66 high resolution original photos were selected out of 200 photos. If you are already a member, please enjoy the high resolution glamour now :). Not a member yet, join now to download this album and all my original private videos and photos!
Download original photo album (66 high resolution photos)


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Published: 1st March 2008
Number Of Pages: 444
"[The authors] are pioneers. . . . Few in our industry have their breadth of knowledge and experience."<br> —From the Foreword by Dave Thomas, Bedarra Labs <p> Domain-Specific Modeling (DSM) is the latest approach to software development, promising to greatly increase the speed and ease of software creation. Early adopters of DSM have been enjoying productivity increases of 500–1000% in production for over a decade. This book introduces DSM and offers examples from various fields to illustrate to experienced developers how DSM can improve software development in their teams. <p> Two authorities in the field explain what DSM is, why it works, and how to successfully create and use a DSM solution to improve productivity and quality. Divided into four parts, the book covers: background and motivation; fundamentals; in-depth examples; and creating DSM solutions. There is an emphasis throughout the book on practical guidelines for implementing DSM, including how to identify the necessary language constructs, how to generate full code from models, and how to provide tool support for a new DSM language. The example cases described in the book are available the book's Website, www.dsmbook.com, along with, an evaluation copy of the MetaEdit+ tool (for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux), which allows readers to examine and try out the modeling languages and code generators. <p> Domain-Specific Modeling is an essential reference for lead developers, software engineers, architects, methodologists, and technical managers who want to learn how to create a DSM solution and successfully put it into practice.
"This very clearly written text contains useful detailed explanations inside text boxes and tables, nicely designed, diagrams, and generated software code samples. This is very practical and highly recommended." (Computing Reviews, September 9, 2008)
1. Introduction.
1.1 Seeking the better level of abstraction.
1.2 Code-driven and model-driven development.
1.3 An example: modeling with a general-purpose language and with a domain-specific language.
1.4 What is DSM?
1.5 When to use DSM?
1.6 Summary.
2. Business value.
2.1 Productivity.
2.2 Quality.
2.3 Leverage expertise.
2.4 The economics of DSM.
2.5 Summary.
3. DSM defined.
3.1 DSM characteristics.
3.2 Implications of DSM for users.
3.3 Difference to other modeling approaches.
3.4 Tooling for DSM.
3.5 Summary.
4. Architecture of DSM.
4.1 Introduction.
4.2 Language.
4.3 Models.
4.4 Code generator.
4.5 Domain framework and target environment.
4.6 DSM organization and process.
4.7 Summary.
5. IP telephony and call processing.
5.1 Introduction and objectives.
5.2 Development process.
5.3 Language for modeling call processing services.
5.4 Modeling IP telephony service.
5.5 Generator for XML.
5.6 Framework support.
5.7 Main results.
5.8 Summary.
6. Insurance products.
6.1 Introduction and objectives.
6.2 Development process.
6.3 Language for modeling insurances.
6.4 Modeling insurance products.
6.5 Generator for Java.
6.6 Framework support.
6.7 Main results.
6.8 Summary.
7. Home Automation.
7.1 Introduction and objectives.
7.2 Development process.
7.3 Home automation modeling language.
7.4 Home automation modeling language in use.
7.5 Generator.
7.6 Main results.
7.7 Summary.
8. Mobile phone applications using Python framework.
8.1 Introduction and objectives.
8.2 Development process.
8.3 Language for application modeling.
8.4 Modeling phone applications.
8.5 Generator for Python.
8.6 Framework support.
8.7 Main results.
8.8 Extending the solution to native S60 C++.
8.9 Summary.
9. Digital Wristwatch.
9.1 Introduction and Objectives.
9.2 Development Process.
9.3 Modeling Language.
9.4 Models.
9.5 Code Generation for Watch Models.
9.6 The Domain Framework.
9.7 Main Results.
9.8 Summary.
10 DSM language definition.
10.1 Introduction and objectives.
10.2 Identifying and defining modeling concepts.
10.3 Formalizing languages with metamodeling.
10.4 Defining language rules.
10.5 Integrating multiple languages.
10.6 Notation for the language.
10.7 Testing the languages.
10.8 Maintaining the languages.
10.9 Summary.
11. Generator definition.
11.1 "Here's one I made earlier".
11.2 Types of generator facilities.
11.3 Generator output patterns.
11.4 Generator structure.
11.5 Process.
11.6 Summary.
12. Domain Framework.
12.1 Removing duplication from generated code.
12.2 Hiding platform details.
12.3 Providing an interface for the generator.
12.4 Summary.
13. DSM definition process.
13.1 Choosing among possible candidate domains.
13.2 Organizing for DSM.
13.3 Proof of concept.
13.4 Defining the DSM solution.
13.5 Pilot project.
13.6 DSM deployment.
13.7 DSM as a continuous process in the real world.
13.8 Summary.
14. Tools for DSM.
14.1 Different approaches to building tool support.
14.2 A Brief History of Tools.
14.3 What is needed in a DSM environment.
14.4 Current tools.
14.5 Summary.
15. DSM in use.
15.1 Model reuse.
15.2 Model sharing and splitting.
15.3 Model versioning.
15.4 Summary.
16. Conclusion.
16.1 No sweat shops--But no Fritz Lang's Metropolis either.
16.2 The onward march of DSM.
Appendix A: Metamodeling Language.
Series: Wiley - IEEE
Audience: Professional
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 444
Published: 1st March 2008
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Country of Publication: US
Dimensions (cm): 23.39 x 15.59 x 2.26
Weight (kg): 0.61
Edition Number: 1


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Shared Energy is an umbrella
for activity and ideas mainly around climate change and energy descent
This section is a kind of gallery of different
groups, projects and ideas that we particularly like and think
will be inspiring to other people. There is a vast amount
of activity, so this could be overwhelming. On the other hand
people don't realise how much there positive activity
there is, and far more depressing things dominate the mainstream
media. We hope our choices will inspire you.
The main pressure group in the UK specifically devoted to
campaigning to reduce airport growth, as well as aviation
growth. See www.airportwatch.org.uk
Be counted!
There are lots of schemes where you can be counted as you
make changes. For example The Carbon Account enables you to enter meter readings and vehicle mileage, calculates emissions and shows progress on a graph. Carbon Independent is a clear, simple footprint measuring website with full references.
Carbon Independent
Just one return flight from London to New York produces a greater carbon footprint than a whole year's personal allowance needed to keep the climate safe. Our carbon footprint is the estimated amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) given out as we travel, buy food, heat our homes and enjoy our usual lifestyles. See www.carbonindependent.org
CoaST (Cornwall
Sustainable Tourism Project) benefits the environment
Cornwall by developing sustainable tourism. It offers public
training and a network for members who can be tourism providers
and every
other kind of group wanting a sustainable Cornwall. As well
as offering
practical advice on waste, energy, transport, building and
local food, they
aim to make tourism accessible to all those who have been
excluded, for example by disabilities. They want to spread
their example to
the whole of the UK. See www.cstn.org.uk
Climate Change Action Groups
Climate Outreach and Information Network
(COIN) in Oxford is setting up groups for people who want
to come together to share thoughts, ideas, feelings and concerns
on climate change. COIN aims not only to achieve sustained
and concerted Oxford action on climate change, but also to
use the Oxford experience as a "test bed" for expanding
COIN activities out nationally.
Conventional approaches to climate change
prescribe set activities, targets, and result areas and provide
a rigid "check list" for activities. Motivational
theory shows that a more flexible approach based on self-directed
learning is likely to be more effective and easier to replicate.
The Action Groups adopt a more flexible method, using a "learning
set" or "Study Action Group" (SAG) model based
on self-directed learning.
Action Groups themselves can be composed of individuals, friends,
acquaintances, neighbours or work colleagues. Action groups
can grow out of already existing organisations or larger groups.
The group collectively decides whether an Action Group exists
for a limited time or for a single purpose or is allowed to
do other things and continue on a permanent basis. In similar
fashion, Action Groups can be formal or informal, have a coordinator,
a leader or none at all. Their shape, form and size will vary
tremendously but they are best kept small. See www.coinet.org.uk
Climate porn a
The two most prominent media messages on climate are "we
are all doomed" and "I'm doing my bit for
the planet". People put these together and conclude
that the small actions on offer cannot possibly help, and
probably nothing will. In its report Warm Words, the IPPR
said that the doom and gloom message is prominent because
it is secretly thrilling, they called it "climate porn".
The small actions include kettles, car journeys and light
switches. In fact there are accessible, substantial actions
that will help if a minority actually do them. The focus should
be on big actions like installing cavity wall insulation or
solar power, and these must be seen as "things people
like us do".
Link to press release: www.ippr.org/pressreleases/?id=2240
Link to full report: www.ippr.org/publicationsandreports/publication.asp?id=485
Energy Beyond Oil; Paul Mobbs,
2005; Matador Publishing, published under the Creative Commons
Non-commercial Share Alike Licence. £15.99
Paul Mobbs talks about giving people
the confidence to change the way society operates. "A
low energy lifestyle, powered by renewable energy and some
manufactured energy (like biofuels), is entirely possible
using existing technologies". There will be a range
of options depending on how people would like to work in a
future low energy society. I prefer to think of this as being
high energy in many ways, in the sense of being more alive,
working harder but more healthily, and putting out far less
carbon to destabilise the world. This book is a useful textbook
about how we get our energy now, and how it needs to change
in the next 40 to 50 years. I have kept reading it ever since
I got it, because it requires time to take in all the implications
of peak oil. See www.fraw.org.uk
Green burial: the Eternal Forest
A small charity restoring a wood on the beautiful Llyn Peninsula
in North Wales. "We are managing it organically, as
a nature reserve where we can provide burials. We plan to
nurture and protect many more areas of woodland, and will
do our utmost to ensure that they will be natural woodland
in perpetuity. Our woods will never be sold or clear-felled."
See www.eternalforest.org
Energy descent
The town of Kinsale in Ireland has started
planning its descent from oil dependency. A Permaculture lecturer
at the local college organised a meeting involving most sections
of the community; students put the plan together and it will
be revised every year to monitor progress. See transitionculture.org
Heat: How to stop the planet burning,
George Monbiot, 2006
Click for Ann's book
review and plan
for action on climate change.
Love Watts
We and our pets are energy sources too!
A cat's power is about 11 watts. An average human at
rest is 60 Watts but this increases to 500 Watts if we are
dancing. What better excuse for a party?
local industrial and provident society in Lewes, an offshoot of the Transition Town. It is run on a shoestring with a half-time worker and support from the voluntary directors but has the contract for the council's grant scheme and energy advice, and is raising a share issue for PV on the local brewery. OVESCo stands for Ouse Valley Energy Services Company. See: www.ovesco.co.uk
TEQs: tradable energy quotas
Each of us would be given carbon credit
cards to spend on transport, home energy, food and other goods.
If we chose to fly everywhere, we would then find it difficult
to have enough hot water. See www.teqs.net
Transition Towns
There are now thousands of Transition Towns all over the world. See www.transitiontowns.org.
Victorian/Edwardian houses
Russell Smith took the worst possible east-west facing Victorian house and made it low energy with internal wall insulation and windows that lose less heat than most people's walls. See www.parityprojects.com for much more that the project now does.
The Wasteless Society
This has given rise to a multitude of low carbon, low waste cooperatives and projects in the Bishop's Castle area of Shropshire.
For more information and up to date news see www.wasteless.co.uk
Women's Environmental Network
For local food, growing your own, local groups, and a women's perspective on climate change and much more. WEN is a unique, vital and innovative campaigning organisation which educates, empowers and informs women and men who care about environmental issues. Visit www.wen.org.uk and join.


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Pak Idrus's Blog...
A Malaysian sharing his thoughts with the world...
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
A place call ChinaHouse in Penang...
While in Penang recently I came across this building with a huge banner hung in front of the entrance. I read it and since I love animals I decided to give a donation to the charity. I enter the building and saw a Bar. I ask the person there where I can give a donation for the Cat's Charity. She said I had to walk to the Cashier and hand it there. I thank her and with the camera dangling I walk and soon found that the shop is long and that it consist of many kind of eateries. I got to the other end where the cashier is and hand her my cash donation. She give me a receipt for the donation. I then ask their permission to take photo of the place and they say to just go ahead.
I explore the shop and took picture of what I thought were interesting. I felt for the whole concept and love the place but did not sit to enjoy those tempting cakes. Telling myself that I have to come again to sample the cakes or perhaps have lunch here with friends. Those folks who had planned this joint were real creative in that they have taken the food outlet to another level; a blend of so many eateries under one roof. There is a Bar at one end where one could enjoy the music and whatever drink, there is a long dinning area where one could enjoy dinning in an ambiance of tranquillity. Then that row and row of cakes that looking at it alone would want you to sit and enjoy it with a cup of coffee or tea. There is a garden of sort that turn the ambiance into an atmosphere of coolness; taking away that hot and humid weather of the outside. I soon found out that this place is call
. One can enter the building either from Lebuh Pantai or Lebuh Victoria. Below are some scenes of the interior of the place.
Have a nice day.
Posted by
Pak Idrus
11:28 pm
Fine dine
foods and drinks
Personal thoughts
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I was looking in the bottom of my old guitar-making toolbox (oh, for the days where one tool box could hold them)
and I found this tool.
- the photo appears to be rotated to the left 90 degrees in the preview, but not when I click on it. Hunh? -
Does anyone recognize it? I'd love to know what it does. Maybe I could actually use it, you know, instead of hoarding it in the bottom of a tool box.
Thanks for any advice or guesses you can give.


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The Young Communist League of South Africa is a Marxist-Leninist youth wing of the SACP.
The YCL stands for:
27 October 2014
South Africa is poorer this morning after receiving with shock the death Senzo Meyiwa the senior national team captain and Orlando Pirates goalkeeper. The country is still reeling from the passing away of another legend in the form of Mbulaeni Mulaudzi who passed away last week.
The Young Communist League of South Africa [uFasimba] is devastated and mourns the passing away of Senzo. He was dastardly murdered by three killers in Vosloorus, in Ekurhuleni, last night.
He was an exceptional player who served both his country and team with diligence. He was outstanding in captaining Bafana Bafana in the qualifying matches for next year's edition of the African Cup of Nations in Morocco. Both the country and his team has been robbed of such a prodigious player.
We call on police to act swiftly to apprehend those who are responsible for taking his life. We also call on anyone who may have information on the killers to come forward with the information to ensure that the killers are apprehended.
We send our most sincere condolences to his family especially his children, his soccer team Orlando Pirates and soccer lovers across tbd continent.
uFasimba luthi lala ngoxolo qhawe lamaqhawe.
Issued by the YCLSA Head Office
For more information please contact:
Khaya Xaba
YCLSA National Spokesperson
Cell: 071 115 4619
Click here for more ...
The Young Communist League of South Africa supports and calls for the complete ban of labour brokers, join us as we heed this call to government.
The Bottomline is an exclusively electronic publication of the Young Communist League.
Click here to subscribe.
... more


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|They Said It Couldn't Be Done, R.Tomens 2015
anything you really want to do, that is..............trying to do anything you don't want to do is really hard....like shopping for food which, when you think about it, should be something you want to do but I find today's supermarket climate difficult to face...........the feeling that I'm being ripped off impossible to avoid......'Only £1' Yes? Is that a bargain? I don't think so............
blah, blah, blah
listening to Stockhausen, that's something I wanted to do half an hour ago
so I am
inspired by his forthcoming appearance as Composer Of The Week on Radio 3
starting Mon Jan 4 & tomorrow, New Year's Day, they're broadcasting Hymnen at 20.30 so that'll be a fun way to celebrate the start of 2016, won't it? well, not everyone's idea of fun, true.............
............................some of my old school friends are dead & so is Lemmy................you may have heard..........his mush has been all over the social network as everyone mourns...............including the mainstream press, who have to get in on the act as if they spend the rest of their time celebrating the wayward, hedonistic, individualistic FUCK YOU lifestyle rather than constantly telling us what we should & should not eat, smoke, drink whilst generally promoting the bourgeois values & material things that chain half the nation to working more than is good for them & making the other half feel inferior because they don't own perfect teeth, houses, nice cars etc or go on fancy holidays........................but Lemmy's dead! Oh no! what a rascal he was! we abhor his lifestyle in reality & would hate to be stuck in a bar with him because he actually stands for everything we hate as a lifestyle but.................Lemmy's dead......(sniff, sob).......................arseholes.............


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I wrote about Blue Buoy Barnacles last year, so I'll refer you to those posts to learn more about this fascinating species (see below):
- Introduction to Blue Buoy Barnacles on 31 August 2014.
- More details about Blue Buoy Barnacles on 23 September 2014.
And here are a few more pictures from 28 May 2015.
We noticed a few differences this spring compared to last summer/fall, some of which might have to do with the time of year.
Some of these barnacles were on Velella that were fairly complete, while last year the barnacles were attached to only small pieces of Velella and many of the barnacles had made their own floats.
Here's one that was starting to produce its float material — the white foamy mass at the base of the blue stalk:
Some of the Blue Buoy Barnacles we encountered tonight were quite small. The largest were 15 mm long (the length of the plates that enclose the body, not including the stalk), while the smallest were only ~5 mm long.
We don't know how long these wonderful, pelagic blue barnacles will be visible in this area, but it's worth watching for them if you're walking local beaches. Let me know if you find some!
P.S. Don't miss this video featuring Blue Buoy Barnacles:


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Thursday 20 April 2017, 7.30pm
"One of the strongest avant-garde bands in New York." – Ben Sisario, New York Times on ZS
Two of the most exciting bands currently playing in the US, we're very pleased to host New York's ZS and Baltimore's Horse Lords (Thursday only) in April. Both strain at the edges of a thrillingly unquantifiable number of genres in a trance-inducing mash of prepared tuning and polyrhythms that absolutely has to be experienced live.
"This is a band that believes that experimental music has the potential to be more than merely aesthetic, and every one of their choices—like taking apart their instruments and rebuilding them according to an alternate musical logic—speaks to a desire to upend the status quo." – Pitchfork on Horse Lords
Zs was founded in 2000 and has existed as a trio, sextet, and quartet, now solidifying into the trio formation of Sam Hillmer, Patrick Higgins, and Greg Fox. While our music has been variously categorized as no-wave, brutal-prog, and post-minimalist, Zs is primarily concerned with making music that challenges the physical and mental limitations of both performer and listener. Manipulating extended technique, unique instrumental synthesis, and near telepathic communication, Zs aims to create works that envelop the listener and unfold sonically over time, evoking unspoken past, present, and future rites and ritual.
"Within an hour it was all over and done with, but in that span Zs managed to cover more ground than a less ambitious band might approach over the course of its entire career. Their sound is unlike just about any other band out there today, and they played one of the most outright fascinating sets I've seen this " – Noise Floor
West African rhythms collide with just intonation guitars, art-fire saxophone, minimalist grooves, and collaged zapdowns on Interventions, the powerful third full-length from Baltimore's Horse Lords. The band's Northern Spy debut is also the first Horse Lords album to explore the classic studio-as-weaponry strategies of yore, mapping the quartet's raw Baltimore lightning onto the experimental musique concrète territory surveyed by elder heads like Faust and This Heat.
"Far from residing in some sort of rarefied liminal space between the guitar/bass/drums band format and an array of seemingly juxtaposed musical traditions (the avant-garde, minimalism, American folk, African percussion), Horse Lords stand upright with one hoof confidently planted in the thick of each of these camps and insist that they can have it all if they (and we) damn-well please." – Tiny Mix Tapes


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Sprint is rolling out Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The update will be delivered over the air, includes Jelly Bean and various improvements. The update also adds Google Now, and removes support for Adobe Flash Player.
Sprint has also revealed that Samsung Galaxy Nexus S will get Jelly Bean update but it may take little over a week.


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Chicken Mash Farms
The sents of Spring! Before you know it the Cherry Blossoms will be out, so I'm strting early at Chicken Mash Farms! Cherry Sundae Goat Milk Soap, smell of cherries with a hint of vanilla. Hand wrapped in red calico fabric. Contains fragrance oil. Cherry Sundae Soy Wax Candle, a smell of cherries with a hint of vanilla. One of my favorites! Cherry Sundae Body Spray, smell of cherries with a hint of vanilla in this moisturizing body spray with lotion. I love Spring! You can't go wrong at Chicken Mash Farms with any of their lotions, body sprays, or soaps!


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Robert Mondavi
Robert Mondavi is legendary in the development of the California wine industry. In 1966, he established the Robert Mondavi Winery in the Napa Valley with the goal of producing wines that would rival the finest European wines. It was the first major winery built in Napa Valley following the repeal of the Prohibition Act in 1933.
In the late 1960s, Mr. Mondavi pioneered many fine winemaking techniques, including cold fermentation, stainless steel tanks, and the use of French oak barrels. He also initiated blind tastings in the Napa Valley, allowing consumers and the trade to evaluate wine quality.
Mr. Mondavi has long believed that great wines should be recognized internationally. In the 1970s, the Robert Mondavi Winery was among the first to export premium California wine. This international outlook also led to partnerships with prominent wine families of the world, embracing the belief that great wines result from the quality of the soil, climate, and the people who create them.
"The idea was to take our different cultures and traditions, along with the best materials and know-how from Bordeaux and California, to create a wine with its own style, character, and breeding," said Mondavi. Opus One was the result of this partnership with Baron Philippe de Rothschild.
An uncompromising perfectionist, Mr. Mondavi has been guided by the belief that, "If you wish to succeed, you must listen to yourself, to your own heart, and have the courage to go your own way."
In 2001, Mr. Mondavi made a $25 million gift to UC Davis for the establishment of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science.
"UC Davis has been a true partner in building the international reputation of the California wine industry," Mondavi said. "California wines are equal to the world's best in quality, diversity, and excitement. We are now leading the way with UC Davis graduates at the helm of many of our finest wineries, Robert Mondavi Winery included. We are greatly honored to support UC Davis with new facilities that ensure its position as the world's leading educational center for viticulture, enology, and food science."
Robert's wife, Margrit Biever Mondavi, who joined the winery in 1967, was vice president of cultural affairs and shared her husband's passion for uniting wine with fine art, music, and culinary artistry.
Interim Executive Director
Jean-Xavier Guinard, a professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology, is serving as the Interim Director of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science. "Robert and Margrit Mondavi have gifted UC Davis, California and the world with so much that it is quite humbling and yet truly inspiring to embrace their vision of wine, food and the arts for quality of life," said Professor Guinard.
Professor Guinard is a world-renowned sensory scientist and consumer researcher who has made key discoveries in the field of food preferences, choice and intake. Trained as an agricultural and food engineer in France, he then earned a Master's Degree in Enology and a PhD in microbiology from UC Davis. Professor Guinard was the Associate Vice Provost for International Programs at UC Davis from 2007 to 2010 and then served as Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director of the System-wide UC Education Abroad Program from 2010 to 2015, and he has been a faculty member at UC Davis since 1994.
Dr. Clare Hasler-Lewis, founding executive director of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, retired on June 30, 2017. Dr. Hasler-Lewis's leadership as the founding director of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, and her many contributions of 13 years will be appreciated for years to come. She created an extensive network of partners and friends for the institute and has been a champion of the Centers of Excellence within the institute. She made the institute a premiere venue for outreach events related to food and wine on campus, and worked closely with industry partners to support student education through grants and scholarships. "It has truly been an honor to support and promote Robert Mondavi's vision for UC Davis over the past 13 years," remarked Dr. Hasler-Lewis.


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Open Positions
Want to join our team? Below you will find the positions that we are hiring for.
Classes and Services
Lifeguard | Open Until Filled
Personal Trainer | Open until filled
Applications for Employment
Application for Student Assistant Employment
Application for Casual Worker Employment
Employee Payroll
Campus Rec Work Student Assistant Timesheet- used for regular student assts (1870), international student assts (1868), Work Study students (1871), Bridge/Summer student assts (1874)
Campus Rec Casual Worker Timesheet
Any employee who has been with Campus Recreation for at least one year is eligible for a merit increase. Please review the merit increase criteria for your performance review.


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June 28, 2015 – Sunday
ON SUNDAY JUNE 28 we will have a ride starting from the Mobil gas station just south of 69 on Lapeer Road at 9.30 am. This ride started out for vintage bikes with vintage riders but people have expressed interest in coming along. So I am inviting all of you to come along. We are going to Caseville and then around the thumb to the Port Hope Hotel for lunch and then down to Port Huron and then to Algonac. This is a ride for everyone. Maps and routes will be given out at the gas station. This starting point was chosen for all people on the west side and northern riders. Hope to see you there.
Ride Organizer – Chip Ashton
Contact – email@example.com


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Each bungalow is tastefully furnished and decorated, and equipped with fans,en-suite western style bathrooms ( with shower and flush-type toilet), and has a magnificent verandah with an incomparable sea view.
Free Wifi is available at our restaurant. Safety deposit boxes are located at our reception. Electric power is supplied 24 hrs per day, partly by solar power, partly by a silent generating set, far away from the complex, to give you the maximum relax during your stay with us.


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Based in England's Lake District, the âttic is inspired by nostalgia. Its two stores are home to a mix of gift ideas and home accessories, some unique to us, that will help evoke wonderful childhood memories.
Browse through our website and you'll discover our favourite 'finds' from Europe, wonderful collections handmade locally and fabulous individual items that we simply had to have. All with a fabulous attention to detail & craftsmanship that we seldom see any more.
If you have any questions about shopping over the internet or have a query about any of our products and our personalisation service, just call us on 015394 35827 during opening hours.


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TTC Karen Stintz got even more support than bargained for: city council passed her motion to unbury key light-rail lines by a final vote of 25-18, defeating Mayor Rob Ford's plan to put them underground.
On the second part of her motion, calling for an expert panel to study transit options for Sheppard, passed 28-15, with an amendment that leaves the door open for a subway.
The vote to unbury the eastern leg of the Eglinton Crosstown had to be taken three times, after councillors said they pushed the wrong button (the first vote was 26-17, then a second tally was 27-16). The final and third vote passed the motion, 25-18. Two councillors were absent: Ron Moeser and Gloria Lindsay Luby.
At a news conference right after the vote, the mayor's ire was on display.
"Technically speaking that whole meeting was irrelevant,' he said.
"It's a provincial project and I'm quite confident that the Premier is going to continue building subways. He's starting with subways and he'll end with subways," the mayor said.
The debate over the future of Toronto transit turned into a battle over expert panels Wednesday, with the mayor and Ms. Stintz lining up competing proposals to study the issue.
Their focus: how best to spend $8.4-billion in provincial funding for transit in the city.
However, Mr. Ford lost his motion to delay council's decision on transit for 30 days so that an expert panel could be appointed to examine the issue. Mr. Ford's panel, which would look at options for the proposed Eglinton Crosstown line east from Laird Avenue, would be chaired by a "prominent, trusted and neutral leader" selected by the mayor, TTC chair and head of the planning committee. It would also include staff from Metrolinx, the TTC and the city and two other members selected by the chair who are not current or former elected officials. The mayor's motion was defeated 19-24.
A letter from Ms. Stintz, circulated just moments before the start of a special council meeting, includes a recommendation that a different expert panel look at transit options for Sheppard Avenue. That panel would include former mayor David Crombie, University of Toronto professor Eric Miller and Gordon Chong, Mr. Ford's hand-picked adviser on his Sheppard subway plan.
It would also include senior representatives from Metrolinx, the TTC, the Toronto Board of Trade and the CivicAction Alliance.
Mayor Ford told the meeting that more facts and figures are needed before councillors can debate the issue. He also repeated his argument that the public wants underground rapid transit. "The people of Toronto have spoken loud and clear," he said. "People do not want streetcar city. They want a subway city."
The plan presented by Ms. Stintz puts aside Mr. Ford's controversial Sheppard subway plan for the moment. It calls for the panel to report back to a special meeting of council. The original plan asked for a report no later than Feb. 21, but that date will be pushed back to the end of March, Ms. Stintz told reporters.
Ms. Stintz, who as recently as Tuesday met with Mr. Ford to try to reach a solution he would support, said her proposal acknowledges the importance of the mayor's pledge to extend the Sheppard subway. "Council should give him the opportunity to honour that campaign commitment," she said.
Wednesday's special meeting was requested by Ms. Stintz and a majority of councillors who argue that an agreement reached last year between the province and Mr. Ford is not the best use of transit dollars. That deal calls for the province to bury the Eglinton Crosstown line, with the city responsible for finding private sector partners to help fund a subway line on Sheppard.
That deal has yet to receive council's approval and Wednesday's meeting was called in response to a letter from the province's transit agency asking council to make a decision on transit.
In addition to the expert panel, the motion from Ms. Stintz proposes:
Council affirm support for a light rail plan and the early implementation of three projects – an LRT on Finch from the Spadina subway extension to Humber College, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT from Jane Street to Kennedy Station, and conversion of the Scarborough RT to an LRT with an extension to Malvern Town Centre as funds become available.
Continued discussions between Metrolinx and the TTC on the operation and delivery of light rail projects
Authorize the TTC to enter discussions with Metrolinx to study the future of five other transit projects
An extension of the Sheppard subway west to Downsview station
An extension of Sheppard LRT to the Toronto Zoo
An extension of the Bloor-Danforth subway line east to Scarborough Town Centre
An extension of the Eglinton Crosstown from Jane to Pearson Airport
Construction of the downtown relief line.


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Happy New Year Everyone!!
I have been wanting to read Big Magic since it was released this Fall. I listened to Elizabeth Gilbert's podcast called Magic Lessons and adored it and since I got this book for Christmas from my mom and my husband (yes I got two copies), I figured I should dive into Big Magic. Plus I love the title and I hope I experience some Big Magic in 2016.
My first Big Magic creative living announcement is that one of my poems is going to be published through The Fem, an online literary magazine. I'm so excited.
I'm ready to start living a creative life.
Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:
Readers of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration and empowerment from Elizabeth Gilbert's books for years. Now this beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity. With profound empathy and radiant generosity, she offers potent insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives. Balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism, Gilbert encourages us to uncover the "strange jewels" that are hidden within each of us. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work, embark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.
Sheila over at BookJouney is holding an event regarding the first book of the year. She has created a book collage and a linky for everyone to hop around and see who is reading what. Visit her at www.bookjourney.net
What is the first book you are reading this year?


text:
Nate Parker's passion project about Nat Turner's rebellion is a slow slog of a historical retelling of slavery. The movie moves at a plodding pace and spends more time on the lives of slaves than it does on the rebellion that made this historical figure memorable. Parker as a director makes some poor decisions and puts more focus on the tortures of slaves though pulls the camera away when it could make the most impact and rests too long on other scenes and characters that don't serve the story well. The characters only receive a shallow treatment and has some confusing plot developments.
Parker stars on top of directing as the rebellious preacher who leads the uprising in murdering slave owners. His performance is decent and possibly the best part of the film though a lackluster ending and controversy will most likely cost him awards. his owner Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer) is shown as a drunkard and careless though often ruthless when he does not get his way. I would have preferred this character take up less time of the film and receive less character development than the leading women. There is no emotional resonance when he finally receives his due. Jackie Earle Haley plays a generic slave hunter villain that had no depth of character as the main evil and felt too much like a stock bad guy.
Colman Domingo is painfully underutilized as another slave on the plantation named Hark. He does not have many lines and only receives a small amount of camera time during the uprising though I've enjoyed his acting on television. Aja Naomi King plays Nat's wife Cherry and though she has a romance with the lead, she too is taken out of the plot and not given much character development. Mark Boone Junior plays a racist preacher that recruit Nat into visiting other plantations.
The story does not progress naturally as there is only Nat's guilt and not a steady sense of rebellion until much later in the film. The plot takes so long to get going that it will lead viewers bored and checking the time to see how much longer they have to sit through. With plenty of violent scenes, there is no shortage of sickening display of the atrocities of the past but the emotional resonance is not there. Most disappointing of all was the minuscule amount of time given to the rebellion. Details were lost and great scenes seemed to be cut or never filmed and the final product felt weak.
Nate Parker has experienced a fair amount of controversy due to allegations in his past and this will not help his film as it has not performed in its first weekend at the box office. With bad reviews and poor word of mouth, The Birth of a Nation will be a forgettable film that tried to compete in early awards season but has generated little buzz. I had expected much more considering the hype after controversy struck the Oscars last year and this movie was touted as a change, but that is not the case as this movie fails at what it tried to do.


text:
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Oh boy. It's that time of year again. Welcome welcome welcome to the 2015 live conference blog. Straight outta Melbourne. Crazy copywriter named Cat Wall from a gang called Sex, Drugs & Helvetica. Three coffees deep and we're ready to roll. Stay tuned for the ins, outs, Who Wore It Best, and all your live update needs.
0955 Testing… 1… 2…
1015 Doors are open, punters are piling in and we've got a bit of Jamie xx to set the mood. What a lovely day.
1022 Keeping up-to-date with us on social media? Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Periscope, Snapchat. We got it all. Questions, comments and selfies: @sdhelvetica, #SDHmel2015
1030 It's on. The beautiful Andy Murray has taken the stage for our fifth year. We've got a little bit of housekeeping before we get down to business.
Ben Miles (@BenMiles9) – Interbrand, Sydney
1035 Mr Ben Miles. The man, the mystery, the Creative Director at Interbrand Australia. He says it's a very exciting time to be a designer in Australia. People are starting to notice the incredible work coming out of this country. When Interbrand look to hire people, they don't just want designers, they want people who look at the world differently. This is where we start to change the conversation, and it's an important part of paving the way forward.
1040 There are three important factors to successful, effective design: Collaboration. Ingenuity. Imagination. Leave a company or person better than when you started. Design is an emotional journey. It's never straightforward. It's okay to feel shit one day and great the next day.
1042 Today Ben will be talking about Interbrand's work with Sky – New Zealand's equivalent to Foxtel.
1044 First problem: they weren't allowed to change the logo. Second problem: people didn't really like Sky. All these problems they discovered along the way helped Interbrand to work out what they were solving. They began to educate Sky about the importance of understanding your customers' needs.
1050 "A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved." Unless you understand the problem you're trying to solve, you're just making things look pretty. They needed to make New Zealand fall in love with Sky. They came up with the strategic idea of "the expedition" – that Sky would be the guiding force for its consumers.
1055 Their first concept was based on using the sky to explore and express the brand. They presented it. They were completely challenged – rejected – by the client. Defeated, they had seven days left to go back to the drawing board and get a solution. The pressure brought out the best in the studio. How do you bring New Zealand together? They realised the triangles in the original logo – the things they'd been trying desperately to get rid of – were actually the solution. The arrows not only represented both islands, but also created a method of navigation and direction. A journey.
1102 They transformed the brand from their initial, aggressive position of "you need us" and took it in a strategic direction that is inclusive and welcoming – "Come with us". They presented it to the client via a from-there-to-now video titled "The next episode starts now." Ben shows the video. Goosebumps.
1105 Ben talks about the importance of brave clients. They're just as much a part of the team as your team. The client took a chance on something fun, fanatical – they let their brand become something their employees wanted to be part of. The re-brand is an incredible example of the power of good copy. Once the staff were on board it was time to take it above the line.
1112 He talks about the power of good. About helping a company do good things – giving something back to and helping the community. They created Sky Next – putting some of the ad spend into creating the next generation of New Zealand athletes. He shows another very powerful video. This further emphasises the idea that Interbrand wanted to establish Sky as a platform, not a uniform. The initiative was an incredible display of Sky's transformation into a celebrated, evolved and authentic brand. Brands should constantly be learning and changing the conversation. It's about creating brilliant content to shape a journey.
1115 Q&A time. How important was collaboration to this project? So important. Interbrand will always bring in other areas of expertise to help enhance and bring out the best in a project. They're always looking for someone who can bring something special to the table.
1119 Was it a tough sell for an Aussie studio to re-brand something so iconically kiwi? Absolutely. It was incredibly difficult for a bunch of Aussies to tell a New Zealand brand that they needed to be more New Zealand-y. It came down to making the client understand that it's about being human – and speaking to their audience as humans, not customers.
1121 The power of conversations is so important. Give people a platform to tell you what they hate about a brand. If you give people a platform, they might give you the solution.
1124 Ben's a big believer of giving a client two routes. You often know what the solution is, or at least you think you do. By presenting two options, you provide choices. You need to believe in both equally, even if you prefer one over another. Always strive to think about two ways of approaching a project.
1126 What's Ben's superpower? Collaboration. You're never bigger than anyone else. There's no hierarchy. Let's all have a conversation and see where we can go. Creating environments where people feel empowered to say and do what they want.
Nick Cox – Projects of Imagination, Melbourne
1128 Straight into the next speaker. Nick Cox from Projects of Imagination will be speaking about their work for Melbourne's award-winning restaurant, Supernormal. Side note: POI are hiring. Fire those folios away.
1131 Their foray into hospitality began in 2007, when they took on Trunk. Since then they've branded CODA, Chin Chin and made their mark as the hospitality branding icons they are.
1134 The branding for Supernormal began in Tokyo. How else can you brand a Japanese-inspired restaurant? Nick takes us through his happy snaps from their initial research trips and where their immersion in the brand and the intricacies of Japanese culture began. They then moved onto Kyoto. Nick has been inspired by Japanese graphic design for a long time, so this project was very exciting.
1137 It's important not to get too emotionally attached to clients. Friendly, but not friends. Keep an arm's length. It saves for awkwardness later, especially if there's a lot of money in a project.
1140 Read good books. Nick can't emphasise that enough. It's so easy to get caught up on the web, but books are king. His Number One recommendation? G1. It's the book that opened Nick's eyes to graphic design and changed his world.
1145 Nick always starts with a name. They won't start a project unless it has a name. It can make things difficult for clients, but that's how they work. Their clients ask them to name most of their restaurants. It's an incredibly difficult part of the process. For this project, it was a bit easier. The name already existed. It'd been kept up their sleeves for a long time. And by sleeves, Nick means "vault" of information and names. And by "vault" he means a file on his desktop… that he should probably back up.
1148 Supernormal had to work. It wasn't about being overly special or noticeable. It needed to remain as unnoticeable as possible. That way it would just work. When they were presenting they showed the client three things: a book called Designing Design, the brand Muji, and the Mooneyes surf brand from California. This was the pop culture feel they wanted to incorporate into the brand, which was incorporated into the cherries used in the restaurant's branding.
1153 It began with a change of plan. Supernormal Canteen – a three-month pop up and intense installation turnaround time. A lot of paper lanterns. A bit of neon. Some fresh hand-painted signage. The canteen was the launchpad. The testing place for the restaurant – the look, feel and food. It was packed every night.
1159 They faced a few budget cuts. The night before opening the restaurant was far from ready. The collateral was all developed, but it was definitely a late one. The rollout is stunning. A simple map that no one understands, clean folded menus, a lot of white canvas. Everything was custom-made to suit the restaurant – the lightboxes, the signage, the furniture. Very pared back and neutral, based on the Japanese aesthetic wabi-sabi – an idea that encourages people to exercise restraint and not get caught up on imperfections.
1205 Q&A time. What's your Number One Tokyo recommendation? There's a place you can eat raw chicken… by choice. Deal with the consequences later. "If you're drunk enough you'll do anything". Salmonella nightmare? Potentially. Nick Cox recommended? Absolutely.
1210 There are restaurants everywhere. Too many. What does that mean for a studio like POI who specialise in hospitality? It means they go offshore. Overseas. There is too much happening in the city. A lot of restaurants go broke very quickly because there is simply too much competition in this town. Nick also believes there's a lot of visual pollution in restaurants. POI really try to pare things back these days. Everything needs to slow down, be more considered, and a little bit quieter.
1212 It was never POI's intention to fall into hospitality. They're currently expanding and working on a lot of non-hospitality projects. This is deliberate. They're trying to get back to their branding roots – including clients from the arts, retail etc. Again – they're currently hiring. GO GO GO.
1214 And Nick's stance on the re-attribution of the mooneyes? Borrowing is fine. There's no shame in it. But borrow, be inspired, don't replicate.
1215 Lunch. We out. Catch you at 1315, keen readers.
1330 A big thank you to all our sponsors and we're back into full swing for the afternoon's speakers. How many NWA references is too many in one live blog stream? Trick question.
Zoe Pollitt (@snowyzoe) – Eskimo, Sydney
1335 Eskimo began 17 years ago in the confines of Zoe's parents' garage. They're now a 20-person strong studio, bursting with talent and creativity. She remembers thinking that the day she had a neon sign and reception desk would be the indicator of "making it". She now works out of her dream studio in Sydney's Surrey Hills. There's a sausage dog, and there's a neon sign. But even with these telltale signs of success, she doesn't feel "made" – it's a constant journey.
1338 Good design is nothing if you can't translate it beautifully into ideas. Today Zoe will be talking about Eskimo's work on Eastland Shopping Centre. The project has taken two years to date and officially launches at the end of October. It presents both some of the most extreme challenges Zoe has faced in her career, but also the most exciting opportunities.
1341 Zoe says that if there's anything you need to take away from her presentation, it's that Eskimo didn't pitch for this job. It was as much about the relationship Zoe had with the client as it was their creative talent. Nurture your professional relationships. The better the relationships you have with your clients, the better the work you will do.
1346 The brief: do an entire brand revolution for Eastland. Zoe has a love-hate relationship with shopping centres. She loves shopping, but sometimes these centres – particularly the regional ones – are the most uninspiring places in the world. Love them or hate them, they've become community hubs. She likens the experience to a clip from 1970s horror film Dawn of the Dead. So the team took it upon themselves to get rid of another concrete box. They wanted to create something with soul, depth and a sense of community.
1348 It began with research, as all the best projects do. A site inspection saw the team fly down to Melbourne and a gentle warning from the site manager to "hold onto your handbag". Ringwood reprezent.
1350 The team set out with trying to get a sense of the brand. Lots of imagery, lots of words, all contributing to getting an essence of what the brand and its personality is going to be. They keep going until they hit a "goosebump moment" – when they know they've hit something special. It involves the whole team – not just designers but all staff. Together, they pull together ideas. In this instance, the notion of "luxury and heart", which began to drive the creative, came from an intern.
1354 Uh oh. Spanner. The client wanted to rename the centre. There was too much negative sentiment in the name. So they began brainstorming names, before realising it was a wholly inauthentic process. So the challenge became about changing the sentiment associated with the title "Eastland" to something exciting and aspirational. To turn it into "a place where connections are formed and memories are made". To represent the idea of "coming together".
1355 Then came the design. The main shape – "the Eastland weave" – came together from the name itself and rolled out beautifully into the idea of creating a "fabric".
1358 Then everything that could go wrong went wrong. Integral team members had to leave. A key account manager. A senior designer. An art director. All essential people to the projects Eskimo were working on. Add the team's creative director to that list, and Zoe was left with a multi-million dollar account… and no staff.
1402 Enter freelancers. The studio had never used freelancers to such an extent, but they ended up saving the day. Zoe called the client to explain the staff-exodus situation, worried the account would fold. But, testament to the strength of their relationship, the client had complete faith in Zoe's ability to get the job done.
1407 Getting the brand together took an intense year of work. A lot of late night phone calls, a trip to London to meet with key stakeholders, trying to hire an entirely new team. But it came together an began to permeate the studio naturally. They beat on.
1412 As designers there are some key principles we abide by – human centricity, search for beauty, order in chaos, intuition and creativity. These all contribute to bringing ideas – both creative and business – to life. A year on and the studio is at an entirely new, advanced level, producing their best work yet.
1415 One of the most important lessons Zoe has learnt throughout her career is that we need to stay open to change. We need to remain fluid. It's vital to both our success and sanity. Change is the only constant and once we embrace it, it leads to the best work we can produce.
1418 Q&A time. How has Eskimo evolved? How do you go from being an editorial studio to a studio that rebrands Eastland? It's about evolving. It's about incredible staff. It's about trust from your clients. They've evolved, they've grown up. They're no longer working with marketing managers, but directly with MDs. They have the power to influence and make a real difference, while creating work at a much higher level with a more sophisticated approach.
1421 Is luxury universal? It's become a really dirty word. It's not about wealth and jewels and riches. It really speaks to different things for different people, so creating "luxury" in Ringwood is more about creating ideas around ritual and special times and memories. It's about creating something aspirational and making people want to hang out there.
Daniel Banik (@danielbanik) – August, Melbourne
1425 Ooh interactivity time. Straight into it. Daniel gets the audience up on their feet. Phones out. Everyone has to retweet his latest tweet. Aw. Thanks, Daniel. Today is also his birthday. Aw. Happy birthday, Daniel. He also wants to confess that he's a muggle, not a designer. But some of the best witches and wizards we know are muggle-born, so that's okay.
1428 A bit about August. They're a digital agency. They're 10-years-old on Monday. They picked a terrible colour for a brand via opening Photoshop and having a flick through the colour wheel. Science. Today Daniel will be talking about SWEP (the Schools Water Efficiency Program) – a project they've been working on since 2012. It's a collaboration between the Department of Education, Yarra Valley Water and the August team.
1434 The education sector consumes about 10 per cent of all water in Victoria. The brief: take the national curriculum and put it online. They didn't think this was a great idea. The real idea that needed pushing was to give school students a way to interact with the curriculum they were studying. There was a fair bit of stuff out there already, but it was boring. It needed to be engaging. It needed to get students to change their behaviour. It needed to make a difference.
1438 They began by presenting the students with data. But it needed to be beautiful. They ran a sequence of workshops with some of the leading names in water conservation and sustainable education. Then they put it together and put it in front of kids. They went into schools and presented to students. It led to the realisation that one of the big challenges was bandwidth. It needed to happen quickly – minimal load time.
1441 They also needed to do the exercises in the curriculum themselves – a lot of it was centred around looking at data and interpreting it. But the August team realised they didn't just need to use the data coming out of schools, but also information from the Bureau of Meteorology etc. By building an application that an eight-year-old could use, they also ended up building an application that a 48-year-old could use. The platform has come a long way in three years.
1445 What's really exciting for Daniel is the results. The impact. The behaviour. They were given very broad goals – the aim of signing up 500 schools, saving 700 million litres of water, and maybe winning some awards. They've got 750 schools signed up and growing. They've saved 1.5 billion litres of water. That's the equivalent of filling up the MCG. And they've put $3.5 million back into the education sector – money that would have otherwise been spent on water bills. Real and positive changes.
1451 Q&A time. August are working on a new job with the Queensland Ambulance Service. They've been engaged to design and develop and app that will assist paramedics with logging their reports – a process that is currently done, very slowly, on anvil-style laptops. August is all about the business of eliminating unnecessary processes to get the same information. Simplifying. What the August team get excited about is doing work on processes that people don't normally notice or want to do. If they can make the process of engaging with things like government sectors a little bit more "delightful", then that's a great job well done.
1453 What's the difference between a "right" decision and a "good" decision? It's not always productive to try to make the "right" decision. If everyone is interested in making a "good" decision, then a team should be working towards that. Making "right" decisions is arbitrary. There are too many different variables that dictate what's "right".
1456 Why does the data need to be beautiful? You need to put the audience ahead of yourself. The idea of the data being beautiful needed to reflect what the students wanted to see. Nothing too "Disney". If we're going to convey a message and induce people to be more aware of themselves, the way we convey that message needs to be consumable. It needs to be aesthetically pleasing. If you want people to listen – if you want them to be engaged with a project – then aesthetic is definitely a big consideration.
1459 What do you look for in a graduate? August are big on culture – how people engage with a team, with a client and with a project. They want someone open-minded. They want someone who listens.
1527 Bit of a dance party happening in this little afternoon break. Jamiroquai delivering.
1530 Ladies and gentlemen. The moment we've all been waiting for. The annual suit change. It's here. It's beautiful. It's glorious. Phenomenal branding by our friends at Build.
James Greenfield (@gradiate) – Studio Koto, London
1533 The man behind the Airbnb rebrand. Here we go. On the day of launch, the Airbnb rebrand was the #1 global trending topic for eight hours. Just to clarify: you have to have 30,000 mentions a minute to be a global trending topic. 30,000. A minute.
1537 How did it happen? DesignStudio received an email asking if they'd like to pitch. Yes. They said they'd meet the client on Skype. They didn't. They flew to San Fran and walked into the office at the time of the Skype meeting. "It's called making an impact."
1541 They won the pitch. They executed the project. Between five of them, it took 13,000 hours. James shows a video documenting the research process they took – a completely immersive, international travel experience… documented quickly, thoroughly and completely captivatingly.
1548 The point of the video was to show Airbnb what they really looked like at the time. Four people, flying economy, and filming on $100 cameras. Nothing fancy, nothing flash. At the time, Airbnb were talking about what they did, not why they did it. DesignStudio wanted to make something that people need – to execute the idea of belonging somewhere. Belong, anywhere.
1550 They took three key learnings from their research process: Express emotion, engage the community, accelerate disruption. So they took that away and spent 10 days sketching, thumbnailing and coming up with initial concepts. They didn't get there. They didn't make the mark initially. How do you represent "belonging"? So they went back to the drawing board with this quote in mind: "A logo is a good one if you can draw it in the sand with your big toe."
1553 Another few days of exploration, they came up with the Airbnb logo as we now know it. A brandmark which James' mum, not a very creative person, was able to draw in the sand at the beach near her house. A brandmark which represents four key things: people, places, love and "A" – for Airbnb. A symbol of belonging.
1557 The most difficult thing was changing the colour. Silicon Valley own the cold blue that Airbnb used at the time. It was harsh and unwelcoming. DesignStudio asked what the colour of coming back from a great holiday was, and that's where the "rausch" came from. Warm, welcoming.
1559 When they first began the project, it was only meant to be the re-brand. But as they kept working away at it, it became clear that DesignStudio would need to be involved in the digital process, too. The digital rollout was incredibly extensive. It had to be easy, simple and globally intuitive. After all of that, they needed to launch it. So they made a film. James shows it. It all gets a little bit warm and fuzzy up in here.
1602 What sort of response do you want from a re-brand? You want the client to be happy. Check. So happy they name their dog after the brandmark – Belo. Check check.
1605 Q&A time. Were they taking on other work during this time? Yes. DesignStudio were spending 51 hours a week – each– on the Airbnb rebrand. They were also working on other projects. Madness. So how did they manage it? "When you believe in something and you say, 'You know what? We've got to make this as good as it can be'."
1608 Can you embellish authenticity? No. People can see through it. We've reached saturation point for messages and PR and the ability to spin. Companies can't hide behind advertising anymore. If you're branding something that is authentic and real and you're connecting that with an audience, then what you're doing is always going to power on above anything else.
1611 Did it ever go off the rails? It was good at the beginning. In the middle there was a really difficult point where the DesignStudio team worked in a glass box in the middle of the San Fran office. It was an incredible amount of pressure with hundreds of people watching them work. James went into the kitchen to take a break and make a cup of tea and the CEO of Airbnb came into the kitchen and said, "I'm off for the weekend. When I come back in two weeks I want a 'wow' moment or we're in trouble." Cool. No worries. So they took themselves out of that position and went back to London to knuckle down and get shit done. And get shit done they done did.
Cheryl Heller (@cherylheller) – SVA Design for Social Innovation, NY
1615 Cheryl begins by noting that it's September 11. Life is fragile, we are all very lucky to be here.
1616 She's had a long life of designing things. She feels like she's designed almost everything. Her secret is to never crack a smile. If the client doesn't think you're serious, they won't take you seriously. That's how you end up convincing clients to do ridiculous, wonderful, exciting things. Like photoshoots in Paris.
1621 And then she hit a wall. And design lost meaning. And she was tired of meaningless conversations. And then she discovered a book by Professor David Orr, where she learnt that humans are not a sustainable species. We use 1.6 times the resources the world can regenerate. These statistics are getting worse. Cheryl decided she didn't want to propel that boat anymore and underwent three years of painful self-reinvention.
1624 She created the Ideas That Matter program – a company that give money to designers who want to design for the public good. And then the "education" conversation happened, where Cheryl first forayed into teaching. The class was called "Design For Good", and it was a way for Cheryl to explore the ideas she was wrestling with. She began using what she's learned in helping big companies to help other people do good.
1629 In 2008, the president of SVA asked what that class would look like as a graduate program. What we now know as the Design for Social Innovation program.
She asked herself some questions that she couldn't answer. How do you design a graduate program that makes it possible for people to become real leaders of change? It would take a new definition of design. It had to be systems-based. It had to be about creating something new, not just problem solving things that have existed for centuries. And it would need business skills – entrepreneurship, leadership, mapping, change models, data visualisation, prototyping, communication and facilitation.
And most of all, it would take a new belief in the power of designers. It was and is the most difficult thing Cheryl has ever done.
1630 "It was like planning the world's most expensive party and having no idea if anyone would turn up."
1631 So the program made a promise – the designer that emerges will not just be a product designer or film maker etc. They will be all of those things, mastering all of those skills and how to apply them with a greater creative purpose.
1632 "The impact will be measured not by the program itself, but by what our students do out in the world."
1637 Cheryl talks through some of their graduates' projects. Salvage Supperclub – a sustainable, no-waste restaurant program. A way to minimise unnecessary waiting times and confusions in third-world health clinics. A way to bring together Israeli and Palestinian people by focusing on their similarities, not differences.
1647 Cheryl closes with another quote by David Orr:
"The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it."
1651 Q&A time. How have you changed as a designer? The biggest difference is in what you're measuring and how you define success. Once you become aware of the impact of what you're doing on other people and the planet, you start to think about success differently. We need to challenge this idea of capitalist success. It's a really entrenched system and there's part of our culture that keeps driving us further and further away from nature. We've set up a system based on hierarchy and expertise. We view our species as having the planet here for us as our resource and money drives the system everywhere. We've constructed an industrial model of society that is really toxic and incredibly difficult to get out of. That's why we need designers for social innovation.
1654 We need to be present in the world and pay attention instead of just getting a hammer and trying to make everything a nail. We have a model of nature that's worked for thousands of years that we now ignore. We need to work out how to align behind a vision that isn't a toxic one.
1655 At your funeral, what do you want to be remembered for? Cheryl's big heartbreak is other species and what we're doing to them. We are failing miserably at making a difference there. If she could really accomplish something it would be to make humans aware of the precious lives around them that they're destroying all the time.
1656 Is this possible? Maybe not. We are pretty fucked. But we have a shot. And we always need to have hope.
1700 And that's a wrap. Year Five is over. A huge thank you to our six incredible speakers for another hugely inspiring conference. Thank you to our sponsors. Thank you to our wonderful audience. And thank you to you, wherever you are, for whatever reason, reading this. See you next year.


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Our League Schedule
Request More Information And Join A League Today. Click on the icon to get the form... Request League Form.
We offer a wide variety of leagues at Ten Pin and we are sure that we can find a place for you amoung them. Check below to see our list and start times. If you have any questions contact us for more information. We also host LXC (League of Xtrodinary Coeds) leagues throughout the year and have room for new leagues as well. Leagues dont have to be serious or bowl forever we have some that bowl just 4-6 weeks.
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Thursday, April 25, 2013
Boxy pink dress
I have to write up this post as quickly as possible, as I need to make a cup of tea and sit to watch the last episode of The Great British Sewing Bee. I know ALL of you but me have already watched it on TV or on youtube! I NEED to watch too!
I made a pink dress for everyday use. I used a dolman sleeved dress pattern named Fran from Annee-Patterns. For the dress, I applied a slash at the front center neckline, a pair of pockets with flaps on chest, and side seam pockets in the skirt. I shortened the sleeves, lengthened the bodice, and widened the skirt at the same time I omitted the waist shirring and the patch pockets on the skirt. Fairly big redecoration, don't you think?
I am so happy with the dress!
I think the color and shape suit me well. This is the moment of sewing joy.
Happy sewing to you, friends!
Pattern: Fran from Annee-Patterns
Fabric: Linen.
Pink, plain woven, fairly heavy, flowy, crease much, and soft.
Can be worn as a single layer.
OK, so, who left the bike here?!! This is trespassing. This. is. my. photo. location. I curse you until you remove it out of the way!!
...well... enough unjustly domineered. I shall go and ask my husband to move his bike. This space is communal and is not my territory anyway...
9 comments:
- Beth (SunnyGal Studio)April 26, 2013 at 12:05 AM
What a pretty dress, a very nice choice of fabric for that style. And I thought you that with the bicycle you were emulating the Vogue pattern website and their crazy photos with props. I like it!ReplyDelete
Your dress looks so comfortable and feminine. That colour is absolutely beautiful on you :)ReplyDelete
- Cocos LoftApril 26, 2013 at 5:10 AM
I love your dress! Your changes to 'Fran' made it ever so much prettier and much more interesting. Beautiful design and sewing work on your part.ReplyDelete
- Ripple DandelionApril 26, 2013 at 5:45 AM
I just love it, and the perfectly-spaced tiny gathers at the top of the skirt are so wonderfully executed. Beautiful color, style, fit...everything.ReplyDelete
- Rebecca HowardApril 26, 2013 at 6:35 AM
A great dress and so much nicer than the original Fran dress. Your changes make it perfect.ReplyDelete
What a flattering color on you, and a beautifully executed dress....very nice and spring-like. We are at the end of the cherry blossoms here and that is what this dress makes me think of.ReplyDelete
Dear Beth, you made me laugh with the idea of emulating their website. I could be very so!ReplyDelete
- JeannieApril 26, 2013 at 12:42 PM
This is one of the favorites of the many nice things you have made Yoshimi, and shared with us. It does seem to suit you so. Also, I love the man's shirts you used in the grainline pattern, and the fringy bag from last summer.ReplyDelete
Jeannie in Seattle
so cute and perfect! great job.ReplyDelete


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Following last year's sell-out success, book early for Steve's 2018 Brighton Fringe show 'Steve Lee performs An Indecent Act'
Where: The Werks (Venue 18), 15-17 Middle Street BN1 1AL, next door to the Hop Poles and opposite the Hippodrome
When: Friday 11th - Sunday 13th May, 7.30 p.m.
Why? Who can live on an old age pension when one has so much bile to share?
Second Fringe outing for Steve, who still has a range of lurid and sordid stories from his 48 years in showbiz, his alcohol, sex and drug addictions.
Broadway* cabaret with live musician - if we can sober one up in time - comes to Brighton. Parental Guidance advised.
What else could anyone want for 7 quid? (£6 concessions)
Tickets from www.sweetvenues.com
*Ealing Broadway
© 2019
Sit Down Standup


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The Freeh Report was released on Thursday morning, and as expected, it was pretty ugly for some of the once-powerful members of the Penn State community.
The results of the internal private investigation into the university's involvement surrounding the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case lay heavy blame on former head football coach Joe Paterno and others for not doing enough to stop Sandusky.
In addition to Paterno, athletic director Tim Curley, former president Graham Spanier and vice president Gary Schultz were all mentioned together in the report for their roles. The report concluded that they did not do nearly enough to bring Sandusky to justice and put a stop to the crimes that were committed by Sandusky, some of which took place on campus.
The report also states that the four men of power — Paterno, Curley, Spanier and Schultz — all knew about a 1998 criminal investigation looking at an incident of sexual misconduct in one of the Penn State locker room showers.
"The evidence shows," the report writes, "that Mr. Paterno was made aware of the 1998 investigation of Sandusky, followed it closely, but failed to take any action, even though Sandusky had been a key member of his coaching staff for almost 30 years, and had an office just steps away from Mr. Paterno's"
The release regarding the report can be read here.
Here are some of the highlights from the release's findings.
"Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State. The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized."
"Taking into account the available witness statements and evidence, it is more reasonable to conclude that, in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at Penn State University –- Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley -– repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky's child abuse from the authorities, the Board of Trustees, Penn State community, and the public at large. Although concern to treat the child abuser humanely was expressly stated, no such sentiments were ever expressed by them for Sandusky's victims"
"The release of our report today marks the beginning of a process for Penn State, and not the end. It is critical that Old Main, the Board and the Penn State community never forget these failures and commit themselves to strengthening an open, compliant and victim sensitive environment –- where everyone has the duty to 'blow the whistle' on anyone who breaks this trust, no matter how powerful or prominent they may appear to be."
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Rochester Institute of Technology professor Roy Berns is being recognized with one of the most prestigious awards in the field of color science.
The Inter-Society Color Council, the professional association of the field of color science, has named Berns the recipient of the 2009 Godlove Award for his contributions, through research and education, in color and imaging science and for his leadership in the color community.
Berns is the Richard S. Hunter Professor of Color Science, Appearance and Technology and director of the Munsell Color Science Laboratory in RIT's Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science.
The biennial Godlove Award, established in 1956, honors Berns' advancements in fundamental and applied color science and color imaging. Berns is especially known for his work in color difference perception and formula development, modeling color-imaging systems, and spectral imaging, including capture and printing. His spectral imaging systems are currently in use by museums and archivists to document, conserve and reproduce works of art and other cultural heritage.
"The Godlove Award is a very fitting recognition for the breadth and depth of Roy Berns' sustained and significant contributions to the field of color and imaging science," states the ISCC's award announcement. "His endeavors have empowered numerous students and advanced many areas of understanding in color and imaging science, both directly through his own research and indirectly through the many researchers that he has trained."
"I am so excited to be joining the ranks of many of my color-science idols who have received this prestigious award in the past," Berns says. "My success is due, in no small part, to the talents of my colleagues and students. This award will serve as inspiration as we continue to advance color science education and research at RIT."
Berns is the author of more than 200 journal publications and the third edition of Billmeyer and Saltzman's Principles of Color Technology. He is a member of the International Commission on Illumination, a fellow of the Society for Imaging Science and Technology, an executive board member of the International Association of Colour and the Inter-Society Color Council. He is a past recipient of the color council's MacBeth Award.
Berns will receive the Godlove Award at the annual meeting of the Inter-Society Color Council, held at RIT June 7, and in conjunction with the Munsell Color Science Laboratory 25th Anniversary Symposium featuring several past recipients of the Godlove Award.
Rochester Institute of Technology is internationally recognized for academic leadership in computing, engineering, imaging technology, and fine and applied arts, in addition to unparalleled support services for students with hearing loss. Nearly 16,450 full- and part-time students are enrolled in more than 200 career-oriented and professional programs at RIT, and its cooperative education program is one of the oldest and largest in the nation.
For two decades, U.S. News & World Report has ranked RIT among the nation's leading comprehensive universities. RIT is featured in The Princeton Review's 2009 edition of The Best 368 Colleges and in Barron's Best Buys in Education. The Chronicle of Higher Education recognizes RIT as a "Great College to Work For."


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Dr Richard Wiseman and Professor Chris French recently tested Mrs. Patricia Putts, a proported medium in the U.K. This was a prepatory test in an attempt to win the JREF million dollar prize. Mrs. Putts sat with 10 sitter subjects. She wrote her impressions for each; no verbal communication was allowed. The medium was unable to see details about the subjects.
After she wrote all 10 readings consisting of some number of statements each, all readings were shown to all sitters in the blind. No sitter was successful in picking their respective actual reading.The experiment was declared a failure by Wiseman and French.
Analytical Technique
But this was more of a test of the sitters' ability to guess their readings than a test of Mrs. Putts' mediumship. It is unclear why Wiseman and French decided to pass on the more common statement analysis technique used in modern mediumship research. Given the subtle nature of the phenomena, it would seem that the statement analysis approach would be more meaningful. There are too many rater bias opportunities to consider the protocol used as fair.
As an alternative, it would have made more sense to ask the sitters to review a list of 100 statements (presuming 10 statements per reading) and have the sitters mark those statements which applied to them. Those would count as 'hits' and the remainder as 'misses'. Scores for each reading would then be rank-ordered for each sitter.
If the highest scoring reading for each sitter were in fact the reading associated with that sitter, the test would be a success, otherwise the test would be a failure. Given ten sitters and ten readings, there is a 1 in 10 chance that any single sitter would be associated with their test. This is below acceptable levels of chance outcomes for small effect sizes according to conventional statistics. Associating 2 out of 10 readings with the correct sitters would occur at the 1 in 100 probability level. Three out of 10 would be at the 1 in 1000 probability level and so on. In fact the chances of all ten readings associating with their correct sitters is 1 in 1 billion. So this technique is capable of measuring incredibly small probabilities.
The original protocol measured a large effect size phenomenon, namely the ability of 10 sitters to each select their respective readings. No special equipment, abilities or knowledge required except that each sitter supposedly had the personal knowledge required to complete the task. In contrast, the method described above supports a far smaller effect size, which is consistent with anomalous psi phenomena (which includes mediumship). Therefore the described procedure would seem to be more correct for the purpose as well as being a far more objective a measure. The chosen protocol for example does not provide a way to know why the sitters selected the readings as they did. So there is no way to know if any influences occurred that might explain the outcomes.
Experimenter Effect
There is also the issue with respect to Experimenter Effect. This was conclusively demonstrated when the same Dr. Richard Wiseman failed to replicate a staring experiment by Dr. Marilyn Schlitz in the United States. When his objections were published, Schlitz exchanged places with Dr. Wiseman in an attempt at replication. Surprisingly replication occurred consistently with Dr. Schlitz and failed consistently with Dr. Wiseman, even when they exchanged test subjects. From this it was mutually concluded that the failure to replicate was something to do with Wiseman and might well have to do with his skeptical belief system. Subsequently, the Experimenter Effect has been noted in parapsychology experiments and in more mainstream research involving small effect sizes and subtle phenomena including medical research.
There was no attempt to counter this bias by using a skeptical and a non-skeptical investigator for example. This despite the fact that both Wiseman and French know and understand the implications of experimenter effect. If the test were truly unbiased they should have objected and at minimum recommended appropriate controls.
Wiseman and French seem to have followed a protocol that is contrary to modern best practice in mediumship research. It certainly appears they both are well aware of the shortcomings and pitfalls involved based on their published papers. One wonders why they would endorse such a protocol.
It was unwise to have paired Dr. Wiseman, of Schlitz/Wiseman staring experiment fame, with another skeptic like Professor French. The lack of balance not only calls into question the objectivity of the design, apparently supported by the protocol executed, but also suggests that ad hoc there was little opportunity for success. Perhaps Mrs. Putts' surprise at her complete failure was in fact warrented.
The acceptance by Wiseman and French of biased analytical techniques and their lack of attempt to control for well-known Experimenter Effect calls the basis of the entire test and their findings into question. It would be most interesting to reanalyze the data from a statement analysis perspective to see if the score changed.


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goder wrote:You need to use old level editor.
Civil-Lite wrote:Here's what you can do:
- Go into Advanced Level Editor then open your map. Select the weapon, then change the guns Upgrade Level and change it to Level 3.
- You can also use Timers to activate a Trigger. Select the trigger action tha says 'Change projectile power for gun A' or something like that.
Hope this helps (honestly guys you could of tried).
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Whatever this Grouse and that Grump may say (all carrying language and/or class chips on their shoulders) the Galle Literary Festival is fine in every sense of the word. Menika makes her annual literary pilgrimage to this quaint maritime port city now bustling and alive with tourists and resident expats.
She gets pleasantly satiated with authors and their writing; she is rejuvenated by the camaraderie in the garden of the Hall de Galle and the crowd bunching for free Dilma tea and even in the queue to use a toilet with just two available. This year some portable ones were set up across the road, but Menika stuck to the long grumbling queue in the Hall de Galle. Too obvious for shyfy Meniks to cross the road and show all and sundry she needed to ease herself — natural like breathing though it be.
Fine to watch fashions and gimmicks – this middle aged one showing off her thighs and gnarling knees in a mini; that one in a cross between a very full skirt and an Afghan trouser (both locals) and another (foreign) sporting a huge head decoration with puffs and feathers and sitting right in front obscuring all from those behind her. But it's fun and a respite from home drudgery (metaphoric since Dingiri tackles all the housework and in the rush keeps Meniks firmly on the straight and narrow). So Menika took an extra heavenly gulp of G&T, back in her couch after four days of literature and so much more.
Stunning news snippet of the week in a daily on Tuesday was that Kumaran Pathmanathan, aka KP, top brass and master arms procurer for the LTTE (whatever else he procured is left to the imagination) is in active politics though you and I believe he is incarcerated and paying for his sins. He seems to be flying free and meeting people and even planning active politics while Sarath Fonseka, who helped win the war and has no like sins to pay for except contest the incumbent in the presidential race, is severely behind bars like a common criminal.
KP is reported to be playing a behind-the-scenes-role to form a new Tamil political party. Sources in Jaffna aver that it is initially a neutral party, initially being the operative word. KP held meetings with civil society activists in Jaffna on Sunday with a few members of the foreign Tamil Diaspora in attendance; the meeting conducted under tight security, provided by the government of course. He had meetings with senior military officers based in the area about the security situation. When he arms-procured and made big money through ships, smuggling and even drugs they say, and kept the LTTE confident and destructive, did he give a thought to the killing of young persons on both sides of the divide that he was instrumental in causing? No! But now in peace time, he needs to get back into power so he is concerned about the Jaffna man's safety.
During the meeting he had vowed to work for the people in the North. He is supposed to have got emotional and shed tears when he addressed the meeting. There's a crass example of crocodile tears. How come he is allowed and probably given escorts and a luxury vehicle to go to Jaffna with security to guard his precious self and his meetings while one of the triumvirate who won the war and saved the country from the likes of KP and the monster Prabhakaran languishes in jail, showing obvious signs of being unwell though he tries to project true grit on his several visits to the courts of law?
It really is difficult to fathom how the collective mind of the government works. That is erroneous. It is only two minds that work and one is more powerful, though second to the first. No wonder the opposition, ragged as it is, asks weakly: "Where is all the looted gold that was in KP's possession, the millions in cash?" Ask them another! People who know, know.
Lanka eNews Editor, Bennet Rupasinghe, says arson it was that burned his media office and destroyed all equipment and records and library at 1.30 am on Sunday morning – deliberate, premeditated, done with absolutely no obstructions. Media organisations protested on Tuesday but to what purpose? H.E.The President ordered an urgent inquiry. Again to what purpose? We thought media bashing was a thing of the past, at least obvious, outright bashing. But it suddenly occurs and it's like an achievement thrown in the face of those most affected and the public. Habits do not die; they lie quiescent and erupt periodically. No red paint this time. Torching and scorching done with no fear of discovery.
"Government launches joint plan for North-East rehabilitation in 2011; a one year plan in partnership with UN & NGOs. More investment will be made towards full development until they have similar standards found in the rest of the country". So many questions swirled around Menika's brain, no bird brain hers and entirely unfuddled by her G&T. The newspaper report quoted above gave the impression that all rehabilitation work was still in the planning stage even though one royal brother and royal son crow over how much has been done for Jaffna and its people.
Second thought: UN is good and welcome, so also NGOs, when money is pumped in. Of course Menika hooted with laughter and got thrown off her couch and rolled around. The aim is to bring Jaffna to enjoy similar standards as the rest of the country. God forbid, Menika prays. 'Suffer' would be an appropriate word to substitute for 'enjoy'. What are our standards that we bear with, not enjoy them? We get thrown out of our houses and willed property for the sake of city development; we face defeated sky rocketing prices of common commodities; we suffer the preliminaries of making our cities miracles, selling off the best pieces of land in them.
Will the Casuarina beach front up north be sold to foreigners? The strongest thought was, will the money all go to the North and its people or…. You fill in that blank. This thought sobered Menika so she got back on her couch and offered a silent prayer: Please gods, do see that the donating UN and NGOs (usually unpopular but welcome when they talk money) have control over the till. Do not let the money be given to the government or whoever represents it, and we know who is deeply concerned about Jaffna and loves money too. Let the development be for the people of the country so they have safety, a sense of security, education, well equipped hospitals etc. Let standards over there be higher than in the South. They suffered most in the war.
And so our independence of 63 years unfortunately resembles a 63 year old's face — scarred, wrinkled, pitted, ravaged, hopeless in its look of disappointment, fear, lack of trust and confidence. Of course there is grooming and covering up the wages of age. But to what purpose look miraculous if the heart is heavy and sad. The eyes are lack luster, the mind depressed and shackled and democracy slowly being killed while it is celebrated at great expense with pomp and show. Aney appoi, apata vechchi vedai !! On that note Menika rests her word processing fingers and curls them round her glass that softens the outlook for her.
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