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Retail and Hospitality
- Retail and Hospitality
Video Provides a Fresh Approach to Retail
The key to retail success is understanding the shopping journey, and video can play an important part in that process.Read More
- Retail and Hospitality
How Retailers Can Chart a Path to Digital Value
Digital disruption is here. According to a 2015 survey from the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation (DBT Center), aRead More
- Retail and Hospitality
Feb. 2: NRF16 Wrap Up at Live CiscoChat
Retail's Big Show offers ideas and insights into the ever-changing industry of retail. This year's NRF 2016 drew a largeRead More
- Retail and Hospitality
Digitization Offers Hope to Besieged Retailers
These are especially difficult times for the retail industry. For starters, several of retail's marquee names announced store closings orRead More
- Retail and Hospitality
Presenting a Roadmap for Digital Transformation at NRF 2016
Life in the Digital Vortex is challenging—especially for retailers. In an environment where averaged across industries four of the topRead More
- Retail and Hospitality
We Hear You: Retail Security Should Be Simple and SAFE
Retailers are in the business to sell, not to be stolen from. And they don't set up shop to buyRead More
- Retail and Hospitality
How to Create an Omnichannel Strategy that's Worth Celebrating
This holiday season customers have more ways to shop than ever before. Retailers are making it easier to get theRead More
- Retail and Hospitality
Security Steps to Take in the Holiday Season – and Beyond
Retail companies face a landscape filled with growing and increasingly complex threats. And the financial impact of these breaches isRead More
- Retail and Hospitality
3 Ways Santa's Store Helpers are Making Shopping Easier this Holiday Season
Holiday shopping isn't like it used to be. Retail sales associates – a.k.a Santa's helpers – are taking on moreRead More
- Retail and Hospitality
Take the Chaos Out of Holiday Shopping and Increase Sales By 50%
'Tis the season for bold and forward-thinking retailers to try new things! Excitement is building as many innovative retailers focusRead More


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All-New Captain America #4
Hydra initiates the next step in their scheme, millions of innocent souls hang in the balance.
Cap is broken and nearly dead from the gauntlet of the new Hydra, so how can he take down the combined might of Cobra and the Armadillo in time to stop the great leveling?
A mysterious woman from the past returns!
Cover Illustrator

subset: commoncrawl


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This week on The Awkward Minority: Jesus Shuttlesworth & Lady Godiva speak on the greatest artist ever new song (Moonbeam Levels), Dave Chappelle new deal with Netflix, Childish Gambino low-key genius, Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy & Pink Friday turning six, Thanksgiving, adventures in car shopping with Jesus Shuttlesworth and much more. Enjoy!
Soundcloud l ITunes l Google Play l Audio Mack l Stitcher
Follow us on our Instagram (@TheAwkwardMinority) and Twitter (@MinorityAwkward) and Facebook (TheAwkwardMinority). Be sure to use hashtag 'TheAwkwardMinority' to join the discussion about this episode.
The Awkward Minority 'Frustration and Cocoa Butter' Reviewed by JavarisIsOnMars on 2:00:00 PM Rating:


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I've installed FreeBSD on two desktops in recent times without any significant problems.
Now I wanted to see if I could get it installed on my EeePC 901 which would add to the challenge by having no optical drive and very limited SSD space AND I'm multibooting here.
The first problem meant that I needed to install from a usb-stick for which there are quite a few guides such as here, here and here (although this last is not encouraging).
In addition, Unetbootin includes a version of FreeBSD (8.0 at present) in its available distros.
Most importantly, FreeBSD actually provide a downloadable usb image which can be dd'ed to a usb key with ease. using
# dd if=FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img of=/dev/da0 bs=10240 conv=sync
The 8.2 i86 version of the image is here.
Although the memstick image itself is 914 MB in size, I found that you need a USB key at least larger than 2 GB in size to avoid running out of space. Finally I used one of 8GB in size.
Using the above image and the dd command, I ended up with an 8GB key that booted fine on my netbook.
Then came the second problem -- what minimum partition size can I get away with?


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4 Ways to Pay your Mortgage Off Faster
Last Updated on
Our mortgages (if you have one) are by far the largest investment that you will make in your lifetime. At the ripe old age of 31 (I kid, I kid) Sean Cooper will be mortgage free, according to an article in the Financial Post recently. He lives in Toronto and owns a house worth $425,000 (he has about $150,000 left before he is mortgage free). At an age where most people don't even have mortgages yet because they can't get their act together to put together a down payment, Sean Cooper will have paid off his mortgage and be that much closer to financial freedom. Pretty amazing, isn't it?
Although most of us likely can't achieve that financial success at this age or pay off the mortgage at his age, there are ways in which we can pay our mortgages off faster so we can have that burn the mortgage bonfire party sooner… and be that much closer to financial independence and our own Findependence Day.
Being mortgage free is essentially freedom. Your monthly expenses are that much more manageable and without a mortgage to pay or large amount of monthly shelter cost, you won't need to work as much.
Related: Mortgage Broker vs Bank Mortgage Specialist?
Here are 4 ways in which you can pay your mortgage off faster:
Accelerate The Payments
I currently have accelerated biweekly payments (it matches up to my paycheque every two weeks) on my mortgage and it has shaved about three to four years off the expected timeline. Instead of the usual monthly mortgage payment, if you accelerate the payment to every two weeks, or even every week, you will be able to pay down your mortgage much quicker. Alternately, some people max out the amortization (for example, a 30 year instead of 25 year) and then they pay down the principle with lump sum or extra payments, in which all of your extra dollar goes towards the principle instead of paying for interest.
Use Your Tax Refund
Instead of blowing your tax refund on a trip like most people do, you can allocate a portion of it to your mortgage. Most mortgages according to CBC.ca allow you to pay a lump sum payment of 10%, 15% or even 20% of the original principle each year without penalty. Check with your mortgage documents and plan to see how much you can pay off per year without penalty.
Related: How To Port A Mortgage
Round It Up
Another easy way to pay down the principle without feeling the budget pinch is to round up your mortgage payments. So instead of paying $1531.45 per month, round it up to $1600 per month. An extra $68.55 is not too difficult to find or scrounge up, you won't feel the pinch likely, but it makes a huge difference to your amortization and your mortgage.
Dump Anything Extra Into The Principle
Canadian Living suggests that you dump anything extra, like "found money" into the principle. If you get a raise, instead of inflating your lifestyle, put that extra money into your mortgage. If you get a bonus at work, instead of spending that money on a new bicycle, put it towards your mortgage.
Because the "anything extra" is "extra", it doesn't hurt your budget when you don't see this money. It's like a bonus. A bonus towards financial freedom, right?
Related: 4 Reasons Why You Might Not Want to Pay Down Your Mortgage ASAP
Personally, the only thing I have done so far is use accelerated payments. I should start dumping money to eliminate the principle, writing this post was a good reminder to do so. Better get on that!
If you don't believe me, check out the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Mortgage Calculator Tool. It will tell you how soon you will be mortgage free depending on certain variables or prepayments. For example, a $1000 payment on a $180,000 mortgage saves you almost $600 in interest and allows you to be mortgage free 2 months earlier on a 25 year term.
Sometimes it's easy to forget the impact that an amortized interest has on the amount you are paying. Definitely makes sense to be aggressive to pay off the mortgage faster and be that much closer to financial freedom. Even with the current low interest rates, it still makes sense to pay down as much as you can, because once they raise the rates, you will feel the pinch (if you are in a variable mortgage of course).
Readers, do you pay your mortgage off faster? Which is your preferred weapon?
Latest posts by Young (see all)
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15 Comments
We just switched our mortgage payments from $1050 a month to $600 every two weeks. That took the remaining period on the mortgage from 24 years to 17 for minimal 'hardship'. The tricky part was getting our financial house in order in other ways that we can handle the bi-weekly payments while getting paid monthly.
As far as found money etc, I don't see the value in that at the moment. My mortgage rate is 2.95%, so I'd rather put the windfalls into savings where they're making more than that.
While we're not trying to pay our current mortgage fast, we will most likely have this goal with our next home that we plan on buying somewhat soon. Our plan is to dump anything extra after we've saved for retirement into our mortgage.
I always thought a good strategy would be that if you get a raise, you bump up your payment by the percentage of your raise.
I'm a HUGE supporter of the tax refund payoff. A lot of people are totally unprepared for this refund if they have invested in their RSP's, so it's usually just bonus cash!
I have my mortgage amortization schedule in excel and it's cool to plug in a potential extra principle payment. I salivate when I see the interest savings!
All great strategies. My strategy is to work hard and apply every spare penny against my mortgage. Who wants a mortgage hanging over your head for 25 years when you can pay it off in less than 5 years? I busted my tail in university, so I might as well work hard a few more years to enjoy mortgage freedom the rest of my life.
So sorry, I forgot to say thanks so much for the mention and link to my Financial Post article. I really appreciate it!
Here are a couple more articles your readers may find interesting:
I've been putting my tax refund toward my mortgage principal – the first couple of years, I put the whole amount towards it, and this past year I kept a bit for my vacation fund. But I also pay extra principal every month – I was doing the rounding-up method, but right now I am calculating additional principal payments and adding those each month.
It makes sense now to put the money into investments now with the rates so low, and my retirement date off in the future. If rates rise, I'll kick up the contribution rate at the expense of saving then.
If I end up closer to retirement than expected through some financial windfall, that would be another reason to accelerate the payoff rate. I don't want to have to worry about the mortgage once I'm no longer working!
All I can think of is how much closer to freedom he'd be, and how much larger his net worth would be if he had taken all those extra mtg pmts and invested the proceeds…
We own a rental building and have implemented a cash flow dam to aggressively pay-off the mortgage in our primary residence.
People need to fully evaluated their situation before buying. After that the best strategy is to put everything you can towards your mortgage. Being mortgage free is a great feeling.


text: You can see just why this scene is titled 'please don't break me'- Rafael Alencar has the dick that would give even the most seasoned power bottom pause for thought. His mighty uncut missile of cock is destined to spread twink Tino Cortez's mouth and ass open, really making the lean, smooth young man moan from the overwhelming forces stretching open his ass. Crikey.


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Tagged: scenery
AAR- Mutants and Death-Ray Guns
Soon after joining the Chicago Skirmish Wargames I was introduced to Ganesha Games' Song of Blades and Heroes. I loved the fairly simple rules system. (Really simple compared to many of the G.W. rules systems.) I then looked into the other Ganesha Games products and found Mutants and Death Ray Guns. I love post-apocalyptic gaming ... Read more
Adepticon 2018 Recap: Giant Loot Pile
Adepticon 2018 has come and gone! Expect to see a bunch of new posts pertaining to all we saw and did… Starting with my giant pile of loot! I got a VIG swag bag this year, and also picked up a few treats while I was there… I picked up the Relic Blade 2 player ... Read more
2017 Hobby year in review
2017 was a big hobby year for me. I managed to play a bunch of new games that I love, and I got a bunch of projects finished: My first finished minis of the year were the Prefecture of Ryu faction starter for Bushido. I learned how to use my cutting machine to make scale ... Read more
2 More Houses From 4Ground
I finished my final 2 (for now) 4Ground houses. First up is the Woodbury Rise 1178 kit. This is one of the more complex 4Ground kits I have built. It has a 5 doors and a working garage door! The entryway has a lot of nice detailing. The garage door opens! Interestingly, it does not ... Read more
More Destroyed Mecha!
For a few years now, Tim and I have discussed building destroyed mech markers for our Mech Attack convention games. Tim got the ball rolling a couple months ago and now I've decided to follow suit. I didn't know anything about casting, so Tim came over and showed me how. We followed the method he ... Read more
Launching a Terrain Company!
After plodding around with the idea for a while I finally built my first set of on-spec terrain. It's for sale here under "Buildinginlawndale" : https://www.ebay.com/sch/buildinginlawndale/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from= Even if you're not in the market for terrain, check out the gallery below: A pair of Mining industrial buildings. Two Porcelain Repaints. These look so much better than ... Read more
More Houses- 4Ground Samuel's House and Shotgun houses
I recently finished a few more 4Ground kits to build up my suburban neighborhood. This is the Samuel's house, designed by 4Ground for The Chicago Way by Great Escape Games. It is 2 stories plus an attic, and has an accessible crawlspace as well. There are lots of nice details, including acrylic windows. Removing the ... Read more
Cheap 28mm-Suitable Terrain From "The Corps! Elite"
This is a post about 28mm terrain bits, but bear with me if you will for a bit of history… Any fan of GI Joe will be familiar with "The Corps!". Since the late 80's, Lanard Toys has been making their own line of 3.75″ military action figures that are perhaps best described as "Joe-Compatible". ... Read more
The Scenic Route: A Walking Dead Campaign- Chapter 1: Chicago, Overrun
You've been holed up in downtown Chicago trying to survive but that all changed when the dead blew through the city like a bad wind. Now you've got to keep moving if you want to stay alive; you've even been thinking of joining forces with the other survivors instead of going it alone. There's strength ... Read more
Sept 23 Brian Stuchell Cancer Benefit- Raffle Prize Preview Part 7
Here is part 7 of the raffle Prize preview. If you would like to win one of these fantastic prizes, come to Greenfire Games on September 23! Ironheart Artisans donated this cool MDF terrain kit, perfect for Shadow War Armageddon, or any other post apocalyptic game. Mantic donated this Walking Dead starter set, and 2 ... Read more


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I've had some incredibly positive experiences with the Support team - our Implementation Specialist, was phenomenal and really made the transition from our old system to Cin7 extremely smooth for us. He was able to explain things in plain English to us, and I always felt that he 'understood' what we needed. Our post-live onboarding specialist has also been wonderful, very responsive and so helpful. It's great that I get the same support specialist to work with - someone who understands our business and what we're after. We've recently had executive help us out on our account as well, and she has been so prompt to attend to my queries, and when I needed some urgent assistance, we turned it around extremely quickly, and exactly to my specifications. I could not be happier!
It's easy to use, very beginner friendly. Love that it is all available online - I can work from home or from work, or even on the go! It's also significantly cheaper that our old system, and Cin7 integrates with a lot more apps!
The Warehouse Management System is extremely lacking at this stage, which is a problem because we move stock around frequently, being a low-volume, fast-moving retailer.
While challenging to learn and deploy, it's unique feature set and capabilities mean they don't have any one direct competitor and you'd have to piece together multiple platform and cloud services to get the same level of features and functionality.
Cin7 has allowed us to integrate and resolve most of our order processing, logistics, inventory and accounting functions into one platform. The API integration into Xero is critical for our business. The reporting capabilities are very powerful and can be used to resolve a number of sales, inventory and regulatory reporting requirements. There really isn't any product on the market that rolls all these features into one package.
The price is very expensive and the learning curve is quite steep. The CRM functions are pretty light and need fleshing out. Of most concern were the surprisingly large number of bugs and errors in the reports. Support has been responsive and fixed most issues we have discovered in a timely fashion, but it has been surprising how many bugs we have identified and had to report. This left us feeling like we were paying to be a beta tester. As time goes on and the product matures, this should become less of an issue and I don't consider it a deal breaker, but Cin7 could really improve in this area.
Our company recently moved our stock in to a 40k SqFt warehouse, and had no inventory tracking system other than spreadsheets which were sporadically updated. I was tasked with solving this problem. After reviewing and testing MANY inventory packages, I found that Cin7 provided the best solution for the best cost.
The way Cin7 integrates the entire product flow, from cutting a PO for materials to final delivery to the customer has greatly increased our productivity. The warehouse and sales process runs much more smoothly, with visibility at all stages of the process. No more calling to bother the warehouse manager to ask where an order is in the process.
The inventory tracking has worked very well for us. We no longer must worry about where an item is located in the warehouse, saving us hours of picking time. We also don't have to call the warehouse manager to see if we have enough stock to complete a sale on time, as this is visible from both the product and sales order screens, and from reports.
The reporting module is great, giving visibility to both sales and inventory. Using pivot tables, you can drag & drop items to be included in to a report, and the prebuilt reports are nice as well.
The PO process has been greatly simplified using the Smart Buyer module. If you have set minimum levels and set reorder levels, you can cut POs to replenish all your stock in about 10 minutes. This has saved us many man hours per week.
Cin7 is not simple to set up. However, they assign a specialist to your account to walk you through each step of the process and to make sure you understand how everything works. They also hold webinars regularly to explain some of the more complicated topics more in depth. These webinars are also available for viewing at later dates, which is nice for review. The help system is comprehensive. If you can't find the answer to your question, the support staff is friendly, responsive and above all very competent. Cin7 really does its best as a company to make sure you succeed.
I really like the Smart Buyer module. It makes the PO creation process so easy. The reporting is really great as well
There is a learning curve, just like with any inventory and business management platform this comprehensive. Cin7 does have great support and documentation to help out to mitigate this.
Whilst there are always compromises when it comes to inventory management, Cin7 offers a comprehensive package that covers most bases (more than any other - and trust me I researched this a lot!). And they do offer customisation too if what they have doesn't quite cover your bases.
So if you have complex inventory management requirements and you are looking for loads of side benefits - POS, BOMs, B2B, 3PL etc - then definitely take a closer look at Cin7. And even if your requirements are simple definitely consider Cin7 as your company will be able to grow in to its many features.
As a comparison with the many other inventory packages and POS systems I have worked with Cin7 is by far the most comprehensive and thus I really couldn't recommend enough.
The cons are that it could be considered slightly clunky to work through some things - but I would argue this is necessary to have a slightly complex system that allows a company to grow into. One example of this, just to give an idea, is when using BOMs. They don't automatically update the cost price of the good they create (there is an extra step to set it up to do this which is not very obvious). This would seem annoying and slightly counterintuitive. AlthoughI would also argue that it does offer you the extra advantage of being able to choose whether a BOM price update will automatically update the cost price of a good. So you can see it can be clunky but also kind of necessary in terms of flexibility.
The only other two cons I would say are the slightly outdated design of the platform which aesthetically isn't the best. And not having much choice in invoice design etc. But this is really just nit picking and something that I am sure will be fixed at some point.
So overall really would have to recommend - especially if you are looking for a wide range of features and a well designed platform.
It is a comprehensive platform that offers a lot of features.
It has an outdated design and is quite expensive for small businesses to start out on.
Hi Gabriel, thank you for the overall 4 star review! It's great to hear that you researched lots of Inventory Software and Cin7 was the best fit for your company. We also are trying to grow our features for our customers you're right and we update them monthly. Thank you for your honest feedback we're always trying to improve for our customers. We look forward to the continued support and value you as a customer.
We were a loyal system based inventory software user for almost 3 years (Inflow), everything with our previous software (Inflow) was good. As we have grown, we wanted multiple users and we looked at other options and decided we have to upgrade to a cloud based software. I personally did not want to go on the path of server, VPN etc.. We were very nearly about to sign in for another cloud based system and at the last minute we realised that it is not a special software for fashion industry.. We wanted a software that can cope with Size, Colour, Fabric, Style and Fit variations..
Thank God the other software people actually recommended Cin7 which is a Fashion Industry special software. We are so glad we made the move.. It makes our business day to day operation a breeze and our sales agents in multiple locations (Some offshore as well) entering orders directly into the system..
This cut down or data entry time dramatically.. also we are now able to see or "Out of stock items" by size.. Also the Web portal B2B is a God Send... Our customers love this feature..
I also have to say that the customer service experience I had is double 2 x 5 STAR... On Boarder Jeff made the whole operation so smooth that I never felt I was all alone in this journey...
This is genuinely a good product backed by good people.. I recommend this to any business who are looking to upgrade from system based software to cloud based programme..
Thank you guys.. we are still a long way to go with implementing this software in our business, but I am confident that we will get through this..
Software specially designed for Fashion Industry.. Multiple Size, Style, Fit, Fabric etc.. No problem...
Many advanced features like B2B webportal, Xero Integration, Email Integration etc at no extra cost.
On-Board support is worth $$$$ of dollars.. They do this so well.. Thank you Jeff...
Pivot table reports - We were used to excel reports.. But this Pivot table stuff is out of this world..
At times Crashes during log-ins.. I assume a bug... It is understandable considering cloud based system.. Not a major, but it will be great if they can rectify this soon.
Automatic email reports.. for example a weekly email to our customers on stock or sales report etc would be a great feature.
Simplified data entry short cuts (like Control + D - for entering same data for all lines) would be a great feature to add.
Rather than Xero or QuickBooks, a simplified inbuilt payment system in Cin7 will be beneficial for small businesses who don't want to use accounting packages.
Single user low cost (under $ 100 per month) version would benefit some small operators..
Hi David, thank you for the overall 5 star review! It's great to hear you think the product is awesome and the staff at Cin7 have been helpful. Thank you for the great feedback especially about Jeff your on-boarder. Thank you for the honest feedback we're always looking to improve for our customers and this has been passed onto support. We look forward to the continued support and value you as a customer.
This is a review based on using Cin7 for apparel/fashion based products. I had been looking for a replacement for a highly developed in house software system and had not been able to find anything that could handle style/colour and sizes involved with apparel or for that matter most fashion products. My first evaluation gave me a glimpse of an extremely versatile piece of software but because of my attachment and familiarity to our existing system could not see the benefits of what Cin7 had to offer.
After 6 months I discovered Cin7 was available as a monthly subscription that represented excellent value for what was on offer so decided to have another look at it with a more open mind. WOW. What I discovered was an extremely well developed and powerful program that had a lot to offer anyone in the fashion business or for that matter any business. It also developed enough to accommodate the growth of your business up to a larger scale.
From the apparel perspective we not only manufacture but also have retail which most software systems struggle to deal with. Cin7 manages this very well.
I have only scratched the surface of the program and based on my initial use of Cin7 can only say how much I underestimated its capabilities.
The support to date has been excellent especially with getting set up.
The user interface once you have learnt the basics is very easy to get to grips with as there is a pattern that follows through on most of the main templates that are used.
Based on my experience with Cin7 I would recommend getting some initial training to gain a better understanding of what the system can do for you because setting it up in the beginning to meet your requirements will reward you with a software package that will help getting your team on board as well as provide you with a valuable reporting system.
Another benefit is because it is cloud based you can utilise it from anywhere you have an internet connection which has allowed me to operate from anywhere I happen to be.
My background is 40 years in the clothing industry both as a manufacturing wholesaler and a retailer with 20 years of developing a bespoke software system for our business."
We started using both Xero & CIN7 in January 2014 and so far, both systems are working extremely well for us.
We have two business units. We roast and package coffee locally here in Australia as well as import a premium finished coffee product from Europe.
Cin7's ability to produce a customised system has allowed both business units to seamlessly integrate with Xero.
Our production module within Cin7 allows us to accurately record raw materials and WIP so as to correctly transfer our stock position into Xero. Additionally, the BOM module really supports our customised selling strategy by allowing us to take different products to make up a customer specific final package. There are numerous benefits of this module which include detailed packing slips to ensure accurate picking, summarised invoices so that the customer receives a neatly finished invoice and very importantly, accurate costings.
Cin7's foreign currency and freight allocation capabilities has also allowed our imported products to be accurately record in Xero.
On the front end, our B2B module built by Cin7 has resulted in efficient order taking that integrates into Xero with the push of the data transfer function. This is extremely efficient during the bank reconciliation process.
The main area for improvement revolve around Cin7's handling of gst free products.We had some teething problems on both the purchase and sales side of things as the majority of our products are gst free. However, by working closely with the Cin7 support team, we have been able to resolve this from both a recording of revenue/purchases and reporting perspective.
I would definitely (and already have) recommend Cin7. A cost effective and efficient customer and inventory management system.
Hi, thank you for the 4 star review! It's great to hear that Cin7 and Xero have been a great asset to your business! We look forward to the continued support and value you as a customer.
I know the Cin7 for a couple of years. I can see guys are growing very fast and the management quite delays to the growing of the company. The company spending a lot of time to advertise the Cin7. In my opinion, the company does not spend enough time to develop the Cin7 and work with customers especially to make customization for them. The developers and support team quite late for the fast growing company. Simple things working very well, but if you want something special for your special business process Cin7 answer we can not do it. And at the same time, I receive the same answer for some simple things which should be done by default. The Cin7 developers develop firstly what more popular under the requests from customers, so this is just one way of communication. They do not ask all customers if they need something and do not share information what other customers ask from Cin7 to make for them. Because some of the customers just simply do not know what they could possibly have from Cin7 to make their business better they need to have a support from Cin7, otherwise, some companies will loosing money on something which Cin7 could possible automatise for them or show the short cut. So the priority of development not actually going the right way. Would like to see more options for users create their own interface, reports, etc. without asking Cin7 make it for them.
Cin7 can save a lot of time for the customers if Cin7 will work more to customization way.
I can honestly say that CIN7 has changed our business - for the better.
With only 3 staff, and I feel that CIN7 in particular, has made up for almost 1 full time staff member in terms of increased productivity.
The fact CIN7 is so customisable means that we have been able to tailor a "back end" POS and inventory management system that allows for staff (and through our website - customers) to get all the information we/ they need, in the shortest possible time frame.
Being an importer, the ability to allocate and apportion freight and customs charges in NZD directly to USD purchase orders, then import it directly to Xero, has meant I no longer have to manually enter this info and spread it across a shipment in a spreadsheet, then enter it again - manually, to our old POS system. It also means that our costs are very accurate and therefore our GP figures are too.
We have fairly complex components to some of our furniture items, but the CIN7 B.O.M builder allows us to allocate parts to make up a final product, taking away any messy guesswork with costings and stock control.
The support has been Ok, but I feel a bit understaffed at times. They have just started a new support program in August and since then the support has been great so far.
There ARE improvements to be made around the reconciliation between Xero and CIN7/ Shopify Integration/ CRM management etc, but overall a pretty good piece of software.
- Inventory management
- allocation of landed costs.
- reporting
- bank reconciliation (area for human error)
Hi Chris, thank you for the 4 star overall review! It's great to hear has changed your business for the better. We look forward to the continued support and value you as a customer.
We found their onboarding process really useful and having a post-implementation consultant has been really valuable.
We went live with both Xero and Cin7 in April this year. We've loving the insights we are now getting on product margins, the full visibility of our inventory in multiple locations and the integrations with Amazon and Shopify. We still have more work to do to implement all the features of the system but we have a plan to work with the Cin7 team on this.
We did find the EDI process quite challenging as each one needs to be customised for the legacy grocery systems - the limitations of this process could have been made more clear at the start.
Complete business overview and control in real time.
Stock inventory, warehouse controls, automatic purchasing, sales, point of sale for our retail stores, shopify and xero integration.
Managing our 9 retail stores and warehouse is becoming very easy. This software has given us the platform and ability to scale with ease and at pace.
The Laybye System is amazing and easy to track and use. Not many systems offer this purchase option.
Seemless integration to xero and shopify make life a breeze.
We are able to monitor each sales person in real time and look at their performances over past months with 1 or 2 clicks.
The reporting is great and the Smart Buyer software has made our lives easier.
Stock management and the integrated warehousing is just awesome. We track every stock movement and know exactly where it is, down to the exact shelf at any given time.
An awesome product that keeps getting better and better.
Being in South Africa some times support takes awhile.
Small things change on updates sometimes throwing the entire system out which results in a week or two of waiting for fixes. They seem to be getting better at this.
Full integration has taken awhile but that is due to our complex business and the fact that we are learning and using every function Cin7 offers. We will never look back!
Hi Greg, thank you for the overall 5 star review! It's great to hear that Cin7 has helped you be able to manage your 9 retail stores and warehouses. We look forward to the continued support and value you as a customer.
We are extremely happy with our CIN7 experience so far (about 9 months).
Previously we had found inventory management systems trying to do too much generally did nothing well. So when we decided to change we were initially looking for something simpler in the hope we could find something that would at least do the basics very well.
After trialing Cin7 we were surprised but also a little hesitant because its has a full suite of features (like our old system). BUT i am very glad we took the risk. I never expected to move so much of our business management out of the backend of our website and into our inventory/sales system. It has changed the way we run our business and vastly improved the information and reporting our staff have available, which also improves our customers experience.
The system is reliable, easy to use, has advanced features, has a fairly straight forward API, and the CIN7 support has also been very helpful. They actually want to set you up and get you using their system properly (whats the point of having all these features if you dont know how to use them).
No off the shelf system is without its flaws as each business is different. For us we would like the manufacturing module built out for more high volume manufacturing, at the moment its a bit boutique. 'Kitting' is also a bit underdeveloped.
This is a good SAS and i would recommend it!
Ecommerce and Manufacturing
The system is reliable, easy to use, has advanced features, has a fairly straight forward API, and the CIN7 support has also been very helpful. They actually want to set you up and get you using their system properly (whats the point of having all these features if you dont know how to use them).
No off the shelf system is without its flaws as each business is different. For us we would like the manufacturing module built out for more high volume manufacturing, at the moment its a bit boutique. 'Kitting' is also a bit underdeveloped.
Hi, thank you for the 5 star review! It's great to hear your experience with Cin7 continues to be great! We look forward to the continued support and value you as a customer.
service and great existing workflow
Would give service more than 5 stars if I could = these Kiwi's have their act together. I researched a solution for our retail store for months feeling my research was comprehensive and ended up with a dead horse about a year ago. Finding a native api full inventory management magento 2 solution was hard soon after that release and these guys already had one tested & working perfect! I had let down time and time again with my last system keeping up with releases so knowing their coding team was up to the task of keeping up on releases was very important to me. When I went out to do my homework round two I was even more discerning to pick a software and found these guys to be far ahead of the competition in functionality, cost and simplicity. Shipping / assemblies / recorders / Bar codes / integrations .... they have their act together! Also our experience with our on-boarding coach Joey was absolutely top notch. Aside from knowing the answer 99% of the time I very much appreciated not getting BS'd on the 1% and have a "let me get an answer for you" and he would quick!.... If you are not using or looking at these guys I would. Service was / is top notch.
Perhaps layout .... but that would only imply I could point to one that I liked better and I cannot. Just in general if "I had to" point out one thing that was on the bottom of my like list.
Thank you for a Fantastic five star for Cin7. We are glad you liked Cin7 and our service. We strive for excellence in our product offering and processes to create a seamless experience for our customers.
We are a small business with 6 employees based in Australia and working in the construction supply industry. We sell mainly to trade, via trade credit accounts, but also do some wholesale and retail sales. We have around 500 account customers and 7000 product lines. Due to the size limitation of our site we do a large number of stock turns on many items, so inventory management, ease of generating orders and stock receipting are very important to us. The competitive nature of our industry demands the capability to have multiple discounting methods which are applied at both customer and product (quantity based) levels enabling accurate and consistent pricing to customers.
We have been using another software for over two years with another cloud-based POS/inventory/CRM product and have recently switched to Cin7. In short, I wish we had swapped sooner. Though we have literally only been using Cin7 'live' for three weeks now, the experience is so superior, so 'next level' that it is clear to me we were simply using the wrong package for our business. While we are still learning and growing into the Cin7 package, we are finding that its operation is streamlining our processes, increasing our invoicing accuracy and assisting with our inventory management. Integration has been nearly flawless, with hours saved every week on automatic invoice due date production.
Despite many offers of more involved training, Cin7 is so logically constructed that we taught ourselves, with the aid of available on-line help resources and the occasional email or phone conference with our mentor. Having a dedicated project manager from Cin7 to guide us through the 'onboarding' process was brilliant, saving the usual frustration of explaining the same thing to multiple people in a standard help desk environment. Our manager really took the time to understand how we do business and then show us how our requirements could best be implemented. Staggeringly we had some customization specific to our needs built into the platform in a matter of hours during the onboarding process. The whole task of switching from old to new could not have been any more straightforward.
I look forward to becoming more adept with Cin7 and using what I learn to increase productivity while bettering the interaction between our business and our customers.
Hi Omar, thank you for the overall 5 star review! Great to hear you taught yourself how to use Cin7. Awesome to hear it has helped streamline your business process and you're still finding new features that benefit your business. We look forward to the continued support and value you as a customer.
I have been working with Cin7 for the past 5 years, working with over 100 businesses in the retail, wholesale, manufacturing, and distribution around the globe, including New Zealand, Australia, USA, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, China, Indonesia and Canada.
Cin7 has been a powerful solution that I have helped clients implement into their business to improve their inventory control and manage their business operations.
I have seen clients reduce operating costs by becoming leaner and more efficient saving in one case $150,000 annually. I have seen clients expand their business operations into new markets, new stores, new online marketplaces and new business opportunities.
Cin7 has been in some cases changed completely the way business operate and have been able to transform themselves that more aligns with the company's vision and goals.
With recent developments in automation, forecasting, multi-online platform support, multi-company (Quad Accounting) integration and planned developments. The Cin7 solution is advancing further than other solutions in the current Xero and Quickbooks apps space.
Happy to advise people how the solution could impact your business.
Cloud-based, inventory management with Sales, CRM, Retail PPOS, Warehouse RF, Barcoding, integrates with Xero and Intuit QBO
More integrations would be great
After much research, we started using Cin7 in 2015. We have a somewhat complex business, with various facets - a retail space requiring POS, holding stock of a large array of products, an online store, a commercial arm of the business that sells mainly customised furniture. This requires keeping stock of standard components, issuing multiple purchase orders, and ultimately building one-off end products.
The functionality and look of Cin7 is quite good, but as we are a design business, it's important that our paperwork and systems suit the image of our business. It's been great to be able to setup custom templates for all our documentation for a consistent look.
The expanding list of integrations is promising - we currently use Shopify and Xero, and these work well for us.
What is lacking (and hopefully possible with a future plug-in), is a scheduling aspect. We deliver projects with various stages and milestones, though we cannot use Cin7 for an easy overview / status updates.
While some aspects are customisable (pivot table reporting is great), we'd like to be able to tailor the Dashboard reports.
The customer support is sometimes amazing, other times leaves something to be desired. The hierarchy of urgency on tickets doesn't seem to bear much weight! The new 'help' website is brilliant though. Look forward to this being expanded further.
Essentially, it's a neat inventory system and POS, that can be customised to a degree.
Integrates all of our Sales Channels with our inventory management - streamlines our business - Customer Support is absolutely Outstanding.
Cin7 has transformed our small business and we could not be happier. Cin7 consolidates all of our sales channels; to include, 2 EDI sales channels. To have all sales channels integrated with inventory management in one application streamlined our business processes and reduced manual admin requirements. Truly, Cin7 is one of a few applications where technology actually reduces workload and frees up our small staff to focus on marketing, product development, and customer service.
The Cin7 customer support is OUTSTANDING. Our On-Boarding Account Manager was fantastic. The Support team made our transition to EDI smooth and they patiently trained us to automate our EDI processes. The telephone support provided is priceless. Knowing that we can reach out for help, around the clock, from an intelligent and caring "human" is absolutely essential for our small team of 8 employees. Each of us multitasks and manage many applications...we do NOT have time to be experts in any one application. We do NOT have time to read technical information, use forums, or play the back and forth never ending game of trouble tickets. With Cin7, we don't have too. We can simply pick up the phone and get help Immediately.
In the strongest term, we high Recommend Cin7 to anyone who is serious about running a successful eCommerce Business.
We did not have a way to import sales history from Stitchlabs...there might be a way..need to assess
Thank you for a Fantastic five star for Cin7. We are glad you liked Cin7 and our service. We will get in touch with you shortly about your query on importing sales history
Cin7 is an excellent inventory system, we investigated about 10-20 different top ERP solutions with our extensive requirements list (bill of materials and scanning were some of the features that were difficult to find natively supported in a lot of the offerings out there). Many of the systems that we investigated were like a mirage in the desert. They looked great and advertised great features, but once you got into them, it was like getting to the mirage and finding there was no water there. The software packages would either not be capable of what we needed them to do, or the price became so high that it would put our business under.
Cin7 was like a tall glass of refreshing water in the Sahara Desert. After many long hours of wandering in the desert, we finally found this great inventory system, which natively has all of the features we were looking for at a price that is very reasonable for our mid-sized business. So, if you want to keep your camels watered… (or your employees/and overall business happy); I recommend Cin7, where you will get to the water and not find yourself still thirsty in the desert, having only seen a mirage.
The greatest features of Cin7 are the search-ability everywhere within the system, back-end stability, existing integrations, and the great visibility and flow of the system as orders go through it. We were also very impressed with the concept of virtual stock through existing materials and bill of materials.
We had a little trouble with the importing of data as there were some nuances, however the on-boarding process helped us to resolve them so it was not a big deal.
Thanks Joel for your fantastic five star review.
We purchased Cin7 for our production and fulfillment facility and it has been an excellent tool for not only inventory tracking, but their virtual stock feature has been a life saver! Virtual stock from Cin7 looks at the ingredients sitting in our warehouse and tells me automatically how much of a particular product we can create without distracting the production team with accounting questions. We private label for multiple clients and then offer individual customer fulfillment in addition to manufacturing. I am someone with zero experience in mapping these sorts of programs, but one of the rep has been great as our client manager. He is incredibly helpful even after our initial training phase and has, on many occasions, walked us through various integrations. I can provide our clients with excellent service and accurate projections because of this. All of our meetings took place on our schedule and although my company and his are worlds away, he made himself available to us when we needed him. This is now running seamlessly and even though live assistance is over, he is really great at answering any questions we have and helping us with the little adjustments as we move forward. We are obviously very excited about this software and grateful to our client manager for all the assistance he provides.
Virtual Stock
Production Jobs
Multiple Integrations
Hi Julie, we're so glad to hear Cin7 has been able to help your business and our customer success team has been able to make things easier for you! Thank you for your wonderful review.
Recently moved to Cin7 from another inventory software. So many great features it's hard to review them all! Absolutely trumps our old software on every front. The included B2B was a surprise to us and even resulted in us leaving our old e-commerce website to use Cin7 exclusively.
The flexibility and integrations are awesome, works well to integrate our accounting software with orders via phone/email, online or in person via the included POS add-on.
The value for money with this product is excellent, offers features you would expect to pay at least twice the price for.
The best part of the whole process has been the support provided by the Cin7 team. Extremely timely responses which are critical in business and refreshing to not just receive a generic "thanks for your email" response. A big shout out to the representative who has helped us every step of the way to ensure we are using the package to it's full potential and ensuring everything is integrated and running smoothly. It's great to get your own point of contact who works hard to help where possible and actually remembers you and your business - big thumbs up!
Would certainly recommend giving Cin7 a go. It can be a little daunting at first, but the excellent Launchpad and support articles make almost any question instantly answerable.
We've spent thousands of dollars on other software, some we've kept, others we've ditched in favour of something new and none of them have provided the level of support and features you get here.
Value for money, amount of features packed into the one subscription, integration with other critical software such as accounting, support articles, support staff, flexibility, the list goes on.
User interface is not as friendly as it could be. This is likely a victim of the huge amount of features available.
Hi Judy, thank you for the overall 5 star review! It's great to hear that you also use the Cin7 B2B. It's great to hear support have solved any problems that you had. We look forward to the continued support and value you as a customer.
Cin7 is powerful software and cannot be underestimated. The previous software we used was all local network based and had very little connectivity to other platforms and was not cloud based at all which you need to be in this day and age.
We love almost everything compared to our old software and especially the fact that it is cloud based and I can access the database from anywhere. We go to a lot of tradeshows and the POS functionality is great because we can input orders straight from a tablet and make sure we have inventory in stock and reservere it. Cin7 also connects with all of the platforms we use and really stream lines the processes between Magento, Ebay, Amazon, QuickBooks it really centralizes everything and gets everyone in the company on the same page looking at the same data.
There are a few functions/features that it does lack; however, we've learned to get around this lack of function and actually found easier ways to improve our company in our workflow instead of trying to force the system to how we were used to doing it.
Thanks Rob for your review. We are glad Cin7 has worked well for your business and we look forward to extend continued support for your business
We are a jewellery manufacturing business based in Thailand. We have been operating for 38 years and have a factory, retail shops, consignments, online stores, wholesale and export customers and attend regular retail and trade fares. We produce over 1500 different products.
Because Cin7 covers so many areas there is a lot of learning to do at the start and ongoing. However I found the menu system with in Cin7 makes it straight forward to use, there are plenty of helpful articles, videos and guidance on the website and the customer service has been excellent in helping us set up.
With regards to the customer service I had an initial run through the programme via a video call and since then have been in regular email contact with our own named contact. Although we are based in Thailand and our customer services representative is in New Zealand I have not found this too much of an issue. We have a cross over of working hours in the morning here so I can email at that time and have replies with in about 10 minutes. Our Cin7 contact has been extremely helpful she will guide me on how to solve any queries I have or even, on the odd occasion, get the Cin7 team to make changes, when possible, to the programme to fit our needs which has been very helpful and unexpected.
Once you know how the system works uploading product details and photos (if needed) is straight forward.
The point of sale was straight forward to set up and use.
Summary: Over all I have had a very good experience so far with Cin7. The programme covers many areas from manufacturing to retail and can get quite complicated, however you can take or leave as much as you wish and make it as simple or complex as suits your needs. The customer service I have experienced has been excellent (Thanks Sam). Although I have not tried any other similar programmes I would definitely recommend any small to medium sized company to consider this one for manufacturers through to retailers and anywhere in between.
Hi Chris, thank you for choosing Cin7 and for the amazing review. Your feedback is appreciated and we value you as a customer. Thank you for mentioning our customer service was excellent especially Sam. Our sales support always respond as fast as possible and that's great to hear you found Cin7 easy to use. We look forward to your continued support.
Genereally very positive however you are expected to do most things yourself. It's great in one way as you obviously learn a lot, but especially when you go-live, there will always be unexpected things and it would have been nice to have more support especially during that time.
A lot of questions that we had during the changeover period the support contact didn't know the answer to there and then so there was a lot of "we'll have to wait until our next session next week". It just didn't feel like he actually knew the system himself that well.
It's online so it's a platform most people are familiar with. Navigation is easy and user-friendly and just generally makes sense. Also a lot of the info like the help articles and videos are very clear and easy to follow.
Still some things "in progress" such as the DROP SHIP which doesn't work.
MADE-TO-ORDER products don't automatically generate a new PO if you have stock (we're in the furniture business so we have a lot of furniture on display and thus showing stock, so when a new sales order gets raised for a sofa for example - no PO is generated even though it should be, as the product has been set to MADE-TO-ORDER).
Some things seem to be half-baked, for example you can bulk invoice but you can't send out invoices in bulk so that is very manual.
You can upload product images but they do not get pulled to any of the product reports. Again, as we are in a vey visual industry it would be very useful to have images along side product sales reports, or evern things like stock counts.
Thanks Lousie for your review. We're glad you have had an overall positive experience using Cin7! Our customer success team will be notified of your feedback.
Using Cin7 has been a boon to our business. We have never had a clearer understanding of our purchasing habits. Our business is different from a lot of the businesses that are likely to use Cin7 or other platforms like it. There are extra steps that we must take that many other businesses would not have to worry about. We have extra business practices that Cin7 can do, however these are time consuming and
I really enjoy the flexible nature of Cin7. You can do anything with it. Customer and supplier information is easily linked to purchasing and sales. Product information is easily linked to sales and inventory. This platform keeps your business working smoothly and lets you see metrics on how it's all going at a glance.
The only thing that I would hope Cin7 focusses on over the course of developing the platform in ease of use. There is a considerable amount of data entry that goes into Cin7. Multiple pages have to be dealt with to get from one stage of an order to another. There is an amount of complexity that is available to Cin7 that is not covered by the instructional materials. However, they are always imporiving on the sd
Thank you for your review Broderick, we are happy to hear Cin7 has been able to help your business! Your feedback will be passed to our customer success team.
Cin7 has been extremely efficient by its ability to create varies invoices and track inventory. We currently have a total of 5 furniture retail stores and a workshop, all stores create quotes, invoices, and work orders on a daily basis.
The majority of our business is custom work and we were looking for a system with the capability to store a lot of information (detailed work).
There are multiple perks to this system but I have to say two of my favorites are converting quotes into sales orders and being able to upload images onto invoices.
Converting quotes into sales orders and being able to upload images onto invoices. We had to re-write quotes and submit images separately when doing custom ordering which was time-consuming and confusing. Cin7 also allows us to submit custom orders directly to our workshop by clicking on a drop-down menu.
The majority of our clientele are designers and we have to refund taxes from time to time or refund a specific amount e.g. extra discount with Cin7 you can only refund a line item.


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This post contains affiliate links for some items below. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Let's be honest, this gift guide was so fun and easy to make because I LOVE Harry Potter and all things from the wizarding world. If you've got a witch, wizard, or muggle on your Christmas shopping list, I've got the perfect recommendations for you. Below I'm breaking Harry Potter gift ideas down by price and by house.
No matter if you're shopping for a Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw, you'll be sure to find something for the wizard on your list. And yes, I promise I didn't only focus on the Slytherin gift ideas… even though those items are all on my wish list. 🙂
Gift Ideas for Gryffindors
Are you friends brave at heart? Gift your favorite Gryffindor a scarlet and gold item that they can sport with pride. How cool would that Godric Gryffindor sword look mounted on your, I mean their, Gryffindor common room?!
Gift Ideas for Slytherins
For your cunning, perhaps slightly mischievous friends, these green and silver Slytherin gifts are likely at the top of their wish list. Trust me, I should know as a fellow Slytherin.
Gift Ideas for Hufflepuffs
If you have a just and loyal friend to buy a holiday gift for, they're likely a Hufflepuff. Help them get their badger pride on with one of these Hufflepuff gifts.
Gift Ideas for Ravenclaws
For your friends who are intelligent and smart, these blue and bronze gifts are perfect for your Ravenclaw friends. P.S. How cool is this replica Rowena Ravenclaw diadem and the purse inspired by it?!
Harry Potter Gift Ideas Under $25
Perfect for magical stocking stuffers, wizarding world fans will love all of these items. From Hogwarts House Crest Cookie Cutters from Williams Sonoma (see how I used them for Hogwarts Pie Pops!) to the Mirror of Erised and some unique Funko POP! characters, you can't go wrong with these.
Harry Potter Gift Ideas Under $50
I'm in love with all of the bangle bracelets from Alex and Ani, they're just the perfect touch of Harry Potter for an everyday outfit. And for the not-so-subtle approach, that Triwizard Cup lamp is epic! Perfect for any room, in my opinion.
Harry Potter Gift Ideas Under $75
For the witches in your life, these purses from Danielle Nicole's Harry Potter line are all so perfect. I love that most are cross-body bags or clutches, making them interchangeable for any outfit. And if your friends haven't invested in the illustrated Harry Potter book collection, it's the perfect time to get caught up by gifting them the first three! (The fourth is set to come our in 2019.)


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Online Giving for Donors
Nonprofit Central offers both credit card and donor-advised fund giving. The Orange County Community Foundation takes no fees from contributions. All fees are assessed by the credit card companies and other vendors, totaling approximately 5%. When you make a gift to a nonprofit organization through Nonprofit Central your donation will appear on your credit card statement and for IRS purposes as a gift to the Orange County Community Foundation which in turn will process your donation to the nonprofit.
View List of All Nonprofits that you can donate to.
You may also give directly to the nonprofit through the nonprofit's website, as well as through ConnectOC.


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To read the entire article at the personal blog of writer, thinker and Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Daniel Greenfield, kindly click on the link below:
Allahu Akbar
by Daniel Greenfield
Saturday, May 14, 2011
The message of Allahu Akbar is the message of the Koran 61:9. "He it is who has sent his Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to make it victorious over all religions even though the infidels may resist." His messenger is Mohammed, the religion is Islam and the infidels who resist get beheaded or have planes rammed into their buildings.


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|Feb 24, 2010, 9:45 AM
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Location: New Brunswick, Canada
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Sigma 30mm f1.4 ex dc hsm four thirds
Would this lens fit (E-xxx cameras)? It mentions four thirds (probably a way too basic way to interpret that this would fit the Oly's right?)
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|Feb 24, 2010, 10:14 AM
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the four-thirds version will fit any of the oly 4/3 cameras, e-400/e-500/510/e-620, etc etc.
|Feb 24, 2010, 11:17 AM
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There's been a lot of angst over this lens at the Olympus DSLR forum DPReview. Just search using "Sigma 30mm f1.4" and you'll see many posts and sample images. Certain users swear by it, while many others have noted focusing issues with their cameras. I would imagine most focusing problems with this lens comes down to the extremely limited depth of field at f1.4 and the AF system not precisely focusing on the exact point you place the AF sensor due to it finding contrast somewhere else around the area.
The AF points have a sensitivity slightly beyond the marked areas on the screen, and at f1.4 the system might select an area that falls on a subjects ear vs. the eyes, which can be the difference between a very nice image and one you consider out of focus. Here's one comments from a review of this lens at B&H where a user tried two copies of the lens and returned both..
"The first lens missed focus to the left of center by as much as an inch from a distance of 1.5 feet, the second lens missed focus to the upper right by as much as 1 inch at the same exact distance. As I stopped the lens down the accuracy became more in line with what I expected, so this leads me to believe the lenses had some misalignment issues wide open."
Misalignment/quality control issues are always a possibility when it comes to Sigma lenses, but so too could it have been a simple matter of the normal AF area picking up on contrast/detail outside the AF box he was using and focusing not on the exact spot, and at f1.4 you need to be focusing exactly where you want the subject to be in focus or it will not be in focus.
If I were to use this lens, I would go to the custom menu A of my E30 and change the AF sensitivity from normal to the narrower option so the AF point more precisly keeps it's AF range to the field within the AF point I was going to use to focus with.
Last edited by Greg Chappell; Feb 24, 2010 at 2:59 PM.
|Feb 25, 2010, 1:07 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
Posts: 385
Thanks for the input.
My wishlist is growing instead of shrinking... makes me angry
|Feb 25, 2010, 1:53 PM
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It's an interesting lens the Sigma and I've seen some pretty fine images from it. Not as good as the PL 2.5 F1.4 but its pretty close esp at the price and if you get a really good sample.
|Feb 25, 2010, 11:01 PM
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|Feb 26, 2010, 7:59 AM
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PS: I have the PL and I really love it. But it works particularly well on my L1 which most folks don't own.
Edit: I should also note that some folks have found that the the PL 25mm has trouble auto-focusing properly on Oly bodies. This is true for me - it front-focuses on my E-3. Works great on the L1, though.
Last edited by tkurkowski; Feb 26, 2010 at 8:18 AM.
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Wilwood Forged Narrow Superlite 4R rear disc kits provide the ultimate Big Brake solution for popular muscle car rear axles that require a parking brake. FNSL4R four piston calipers, 13" or 14" two-piece rotors, and high performance BP-10 compound pads provide optimized and balanced braking to compliment front big brake upgrades on all types of custom, show and high performance street machines. The neatly hidden internal shoe system provides a clean installation with superior static holding power for parking. Optional caliper finishes and rotor designs allow builders to personalize the style and performance for every application.
Kit Summary
- Rear End Axle: Large Chevy C10
- Axle Offset: 2.42
- Mount Type: Radial
- Caliper Type: 4 Piston - Available in Black or Red Powdercoat
- Rotor Type: Available in GT Slotted or SRP Drilled & Slotted
- Rotor Diameter: 12.88"
- Wheel Diameter: 17"
Additional Information
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|CALIFORNIA WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov


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Edna Kirkpatrick
Travel Specialist I
Edna is a South Texas Native who joined CKWRI in March 2013. She currently holds the position of Travel Coordinator. She has a background in administrative work, office management, and customer service. Her current responsibilities include all the aspects of Concur for leave/travel processing and compliance. Her responsibilities include auditing expense report claims as outlined in Federal and State guidelines and Agency/Donor funding requirements. Edna is married to Richard and has a daughter, Kayla. In her free time, Edna enjoys the outdoors and spending quality time with her family.
Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute | Texas A&M University Kingsville
700 University Blvd., MSC 218
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I just finished reading this. I picked it up on a whim in a book sale because it mentioned both the search for a book from medieval times and the character playing a computer game and how the two reflected each other. It was actually a better read than I thought - hey, it isn't science fiction! It was cheap and I thought it would be ok, but in truth it was really well written, and found it hard to put down.
The main character was a bit weak for the investment banker he was supposed to be, but that was really required for the story, and worked pretty well. The computer game was cool and he was entirely useless playing it. It is hard to discuss more without giving away more than I should, but the parallels between his real life and playing the computer game are fun to watch unfold.
Playing with Buck Converters
1 year ago


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We get it—you brunch. A lot.
Mimosas are passé, and if you have another Bellini, you'll go insane. How about something new this brunchtime?
1. Strawberry Pineapple Mimosa
The best thing about a Mimosa is not how easy it is to make (though that's definitely a plus). It's that a Mimosa is a great basepoint for experimentation. The Strawberry Pineapple Mimosa adds two additional flavors to the classic to create a more complex drink than your normal bubbly and OJ. Not a fan of pineapples or strawberries? Just use this formula to add any fruit juice. Get the recipe.
2. Orange Aperol Sun
If you like bitterness with your brunch, you need Aperol in your life. The pink aperitif is the shining star in this citrusy cocktail. The addition of orange juice and prosecco make this a refreshing bubbly drink—with just a little bitter thrown in. Get the recipe.
3. Tropical Gin Fizz
From the Ramos Gin Fizz to the French 75, gin has always been a brunch-time favorite. This recipe merges pineapple, basil and ginger for a cocktail that sounds more like a healthy cold press juice than a boozy treat. Sweet and herbal, the Tropical Gin Fizz uses seltzer to lengthen its flavor but if you ask us, some sparkling wine will work equally well. Get the recipe.
4. Coconut Creamsicle Margarita
Let's face it: A Margarita is great anytime and this variation proves the rule. Using coconut water and coconut milk along with lime and orange juices, the Coconut Creamsicle Margarita is a creamy, sweet and citrusy delight. With two ounces of Grand Marnier and an ounce-and-a-half of tequila, this drink doesn't skimp on the booze. Get the recipe.
5. Limoncello Prosecco Cooler with Raspberry Ice Cubes
Is DIY your thing? Make your own limoncello and pair it with sparkling wine for a tart, citrusy boozy treat. This recipe takes that notion a step further by using frozen raspberries in the place of ice to keep the cocktail cool and give some fruity flavor. For those who want brunch to have a personal touch, this is your cocktail. Get the recipe.
6. Spicy Maria
If sweet and bubbly cocktails aren't your cup of tea, how about a spicy tequila kick? When the standard Bloody Mary won't do, let the Spicy Maria step in with serrano chiles, cucumber and lime juices and some cherry tomatoes. A healthy two-ounce dose of tequila rounds out this spicy sipper—a drink that's not for the faint of heart. Get the recipe.


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What is Erectile Dysfunction?
Attaining puberty may bring various changes in the body of males. As they grow their reproductive organ and hormones also grow, which gives a start to sexual activities like practising masturbation and having erotic dreams while they sleep resulting into occurrence of involuntary ejaculation referred as Nocturnal Emission or Nightfall.
It is a common condition found in men of young age however today's lifestyle and modern changes of distractions has made it common in older age men also. As it is a common problem there is no need to worry until and unless it starts happening very frequently or more than 4-5 times in a month. If the number arises it is recommended to consult a doctor to pursue proper medication and treatment as having frequent night emission can bring various health problems.
What are the symptoms of Nocturnal Emission?
Following are the persistent symptoms indicating Nightfall:
- Pain in different joints and parts of the body
- Lack of concentration
- Anaemia
- Pain in Testicles
- Weakness, Dullness and Fatigue
- Indigestion and constipation
- Poor quality of sleep
What are the causes of Nightfall?
Frequent and excessive access to sexually explicit content like pornography, erotic content and clips easily available on internet has made most of the youngsters practise masturbation unconsciously without any if and but, which is making them prone to sexual disorder of wet dreams. Growing age and hormonal changes may also cause nocturnal emission as regular optimal sperm production an ejaculation takes place. Lack of sex education and negligence is another reason resulting into nightfall.
What is the best ayurvedic medicine for Nightfall?
Sexclinics ranked as one of the best centres offering 100% effective ayurvedic treatment for nightfall has become first choice of males looking for treatment worldwide. The herbal medication works on contributing factors of stress, anxiety, weakness of nerves and congested prostate gland. The medicinal herbs like ashwagandha, shilajit, safed musli, kesar, jaiphal, akhrot and talmakhana are beneficial and highly-effective to cure wet dreams and improve sperm count, quality, enhances volume of semen and helps to bring back lost virility, stamina, power and endurance.
What are the myths surrounding Nightfall?
Some of the commonest myths people believe are true are as follows:
- Nightfall occurs rarely
- Persistent nightfall may cause erection problem
- It can manifest young men only who practise excessive masturbation
- Having non vegetarian food can intensify the problem
- Nightfall can only be treated by prevention


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Work platform lift Oil & Steel on Nissan Cabstar truck 18mts
16-09-2018We inform of new received fleet, boom lift vehicles, truck-mounted platform, truck with lifting platform of personnel in good condition; we have all working heights, ask also for rental of trucks, for short or long term jobs, ideal to apply in bids throughout Spain.
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Click us like on Facebook to inform you about new machinery for sale and tenders in different provinces.


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The Rest of the Itu'a/
When you have your painting mojo fully engaged, you can churn out units almost at will!
Yesterday's post mentioned the first of the Itu'a units from the Itu'a box from the lead mountain, today's post is the rest of them: a platoon of kalat warbeasts and their supporting bio-mortars.
These are big figures for a 15mm range. Khurasan describes them as: "Massive, three-meter-tall Kalat warbeasts lumber amongst the myriads, one type providing even heavier fire support from arm cannons, another deadly close combat power with massive crab-like claws. A third type of massive Kalat deploys further to the rear, in bio-batteries of three, breeding toxic bio-mortar bombs in an egg chamber mounted on their carapace -- from these they feed the bombs into their arm mortars to launch toward enemy lines."
The figures in the picture are mounted on 2p pieces (just over 2cm across), so you can see how big they are. The bio-mortars are even taller.
So that's the Itu'a done for the moment, and so great was the impetus they provided that I've re-done my Hive gallery in the Q13 section of this website. Here's the Hive massed and ready for action:


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Maribeth Kuzmeski on Raising Kid Connectors
Maribeth Kuzmeski is the author of The Connectors: How The World's Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Life. In the following interview, Maribeth shows how the principle of building relationships in the adult world can also be applied to the world of kids.
Please tell us about yourself.
I am married and the mother of two (15 year old daughter and 13 year old son). I started my firm, Red Zone Marketing, in 1994, as a part time venture providing marketing consulting out of my house. Today I employ six people, and the firm works primarily in the financial services field with mutual fund companies, insurance firms, and financial advisory firms.
I have written a new, bestselling book, The Connectors: How The World's Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Life that is based on my observations of the successful businesspeople that we work with and interviews with hundreds of the world's most successful professionals. I gathered real secrets to success from some of the world's best business leaders - how they have better (and more) powerful business relationships.
What does the phrase kid connector mean?
A "kid connector" is a child who is socially confident, can communicate clearly, and has awareness about how others feel around them.
Why aren't kids taught how to build relationships?
Kids are taught to have relationships within their families because in order to have a good family unit, relationships must be developed. "Don't fight with your brother," "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all," "say please and thank you", etc. But, outside of the initial family unit, we often teach our children only by our example without a specific focus on improving these skills. We may say, "be nice" or "listen to Mr. Smith when he's talking to you." We tell our children how to act and behave in public, but not often how to communicate better.
What motivated you to pursue this topic?
I have two children that I very much want to be excellent communicators and connectors. When I look at successful traits of people as I did in the book, The Connectors, I found that having refined relationship skills is the number one indicator in success, not necessarily how book smart you are. But, this isn't taught in school. And as we all want for our children, I want them to be successful.
What are some tips you can offer parents and educators regarding this subject?
Give children examples about questions to ask to start a conversation or to keep it going (I really like your tie, what is your favorite book, what's the best part about your job), and how to listen for the remarkable (teach them to hear the unique or different things that a person says and focus on remembering that, and then ask a follow up question about that remarkable thing that was said). The more the child is and acts interested in the other person, the more they will truly develop a connection. The child will be remembered as exceptional because of his or her communication and social confidence.
Where can we read more about you?
You can go to Red Zone Marketing and my blog at Red Zone Marketing Blog.
Where can we purchase your book?
At any bookstore or online bookseller.


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The Paleolithic Diet Explained [infographic]
Want to know how the Paleolithic diet evolved? Check out our fun infographic and find out how it…Continue reading
Like us on Facebook for delicious recipes and a lot more!
Seriously, you're the best. If you liked that article, you'll absolutely LOVE our daily newsletter -- with more recipes, workouts, and tips and tricks to be the healthiest version of yourself.
Oh yeah, and when you sign up, we'll also give you some neat free bonuses like our Paleo for Beginners guide, with 15 extra delicious recipes!


text: In The Studio This is my favorite corner of the studio. I need more of these shelves! I've been adding my sketches and finished artwork to the walls after finding some strong sticky tack. Who says you need a frame? studio-journalNikki StarwalkerJune 2, 2017studioComment Facebook0 Twitter StumbleUpon Reddit Tumblr Pinterest0 0 Likes


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I'm turning 40 tomorrow. I figure, I'm not going to get better at anything athletically, but I still want to have some goals in life. I like fishing, but I don't get out there as much as I'd like. To motivate myself and to keep it interesting, I decided to set a goal of catching 50 different species of fish here in my home state of Wisconsin. And to add to the difficulty, I have to catch each as I'm filming it. I'm going to post each video to this thread, and I'm also going to need help as I go. Any tips on how to catch different species of fish would be greatly appreciated. Here's the first fish I caught on video, the Bigmouth Buffalo by the Hustisford Dam.
Quest to catch 50 different fish species in Wisconsin
Agreed, that kid was very polite, helpful and genuinely excited to be part of you catching that fish. Great stuff!
I've fished that spot many times when I lived in Grafton, never heard of a king getting up that far. The Milwaukee must be high? Oh, and I agree with you that below the dam is usually better fishing, but just above the dam where those people were is actually a productive smallie spot too (must be some sort of structure there).
Not a new species, but a big surprise catch for me. I caught my first king salmon from shore. I was fishing for smallmouth bass in the Milwaukee River by the dam in Grafton and hooked into a nice king salmon. I thought I snagged a carp (it felt way too big to be a smallmouth), but then I got it in and saw I caught a nice King!
I'm looking to try for shovelnose sturgeon or smallmouth buffalo maybe next weekend in the Wisconsin River.
Thanks for the tips on Warmouth SnakeSter and Mr.Bass1984. I'll see if I can get back out there with leeches. There might be some riprap by the end of Phantom Lake near the mouth of the lower Mukwonago River.
I caught another new species for me! Gar! I was super excited about this one. Here's the video.


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Composite coating of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and poly (4-vinylpyridine-co-butyl methacrylate) (PVPBM) on copper was produced by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique. The structural and morphological characterizations of the RGO-PVPBM coating were carried out using a Raman spectrometer and a field emission scanning electron microscope, respectively. The thermal stability of the coating was analyzed by thermo-gravimetric analysis, and the corrosion resistance properties were examined by potentiodynamic polarization measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in 3.5% NaCl solution. At optimal EPD conditions of operating voltage of 5 V and total deposition time of 15 min, a uniform crack-free RGO-PVPBM composite coating is obtained. The microscratch experiment has shown an enhancement in the crack propagation resistance of RGO-PVPBM composite coating up to 3.7 times and adhesive strength increased ~2 times compared to PVPBM coating, thereby making it a potential damage tolerance surface coating on Cu substrate. The potentiodynamic measurements clearly show that RGO-PVPBM acts as a protective coating for Cu in 3.5% NaCl solution. The corrosion inhibition efficiency for RGO-PVPBM coating was calculated to be 95.4% which clearly indicates that the tailored RGO-PVPBM composite is an excellent barrier coating to ion diffusion and corrosive electrolyte with considerably enhanced corrosion resistance.
Journal of Coatings Technology and Research – Springer Journals
Published: Nov 20, 2017
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Hi, I'm Amanda, and I work with strong, driven entrepreneurs and executives who are ready to up-level their businesses and transform their lives while making life better for others too.
You've done the hard part - staking your claim in the world and putting yourself out there to serve others. That takes a lot of guts and grit, my friend! Now you're ready to put yourself into someone else's hands to take you to the next level.
As a personal branding photographer and visual marketer, it's my mission to 1) help you clarify and tell your brand story the way you want it to be told, 2) guide you in presenting yourself authentically so you can be more profitable while doing what you love, and 3) give you an unforgettable experience that will leave you feeling luxuriously pampered.
whether you are:
- Starting off your business right and create your online brand with an air of professionalism from the very beginning;
- Refreshing your online images because you're still using the 2011 headshot from the office photographer (who apparently didn't know more than one pose);
- Overhauling your whole brand presentation and looking to up-level your photographs to speak directly to your potential clients in a way that will make them listen and remember you;
- Trying to show your clients that you are a real, trustworthy person behind your business - someone who knows what they're going through, understands their needs, and wants to help;
- Looking for unique ways to showcase your brand story so you can share your vision and get on with making change in the world;
...your headshots and branding images are the first things people will see when they land on your site. And since you're a savvy business guru, you know how much first impressions count.
It's time...not just to update your headshots, but for an entire online makeover!
A few secrets about me...
- I have a love of sailing from a childhood spent in Galveston Bay with my dad on the family sailboat.
- I was a gymnastics state champion in high school.
- I never leave home without a book. Or three.
- I believe in real cream in my coffee.
- I have a B.S. in Advertising (heh, heh) from the University of Texas at Austin (Hook 'Em!) and launched my career by working for one of the top worldwide advertising agencies, McCann-Erickson.
- My husband is a better cook than me - and he makes killer craft cocktails.


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So after it took me two and a half days to write an explanatory blog post, here I am returning to work. Although it has been hard to focus lately, hard to read, or to do much of anything but get lost in my own thoughts--I took steps to get story ideas down on paper. I knew that if I didn't force myself to do it, I'd give up. And this is as close to giving up on writing as I've been in the last few years (not counting all the years I just didn't). You can read a brief introduction to my alternate history / thriller / blasphemous story concept for "The Renegade Messiah" here if you haven't been following along.
April is Camp National Novel Writing Month. It's a short gauntlet (my personal goal is 25,000 words), and there are two a year in April and July (before the big gauntlet in November). I've used CampNaNoWriMo to start stories and to edit. I don't consider a 25,000 word story to be a novel (I like novella but it doesn't quite sound right). "Six Hours Remaining" was one I started during CampNaNoWriMo and I'd love to return and finish it some day.
April is an opportunity. An excuse for me to shut out all my other commitments and get back to writing. I'll take it, even if it means I'm a bit of a bastard for about 30 days.
Back to taking steps - I broke out my 3x5 cards and took them to work. I forced myself to write on my breaks and lunches (when I was alone). I pulled scenes from my deepest, darkest corners of my heart and I'm throwing them down on paper. I'm embellishing, and cutting and blending fiction until it's a mushy, bloody pulp. Then I'm going to make a story out of it.
I've been a bit of a failure lately. I don't want to fail any more. And the only way I know how to win at this game is to write: write out the pain, write out the love, write out the fire inside. Write until it stops hurting, or I don't feel it anymore.
I'd like to introduce you to Raize and Ruan (pronounced Ruin! Hell, I'll probably just spell it Ruin); a woman and a man, the modern day Eve and Adam. Sinners with an entwined past that has reintroduced them to a future on fire. Doomsday cults. Technology on the brink of time travel. A sin that won't stop following her. It's a thriller, a chase novel -- a love story, a hate story -- a story that needs to be written. And I won't finish it in 25,000 words but I'll give it a running start.
Some notes so far:
The story begins on Friday the 13th.
I'm using a prologue! About 10 years in the past, when my main character and support are in their early 20's.
I'm still choosing a setting, but my choices are:
Alternative Sci-Fi akin to another story I've written, "The Horrors of the Futuregraph." (2010) High technology, nanotech, skyscrapers, etc.
Urban Sci-Fi: set in a small town (bigger than Maple Falls from "Earth Borne"), secluded with secrets.
Dystopian / Post Apocalyptic just because the story content itself is so gritty (and maybe because I just watched Tank Girl)
E.D.E.N. is a cult and I'll come up with some witty acronym after I consult some Christian friends.
But feel free to comment your suggestions! Just remember this is a work of fiction, I'm not here to offend anyone.
I've started a playlist on Spotify for music that resonates with the story. So far it includes:
If you're a fellow Camper, you can view my progress in April here: http://campnanowrimo.org/campers/blood_gate_key/novels/the-renegade-messiah
And with any luck, I'll continue work on The Burning City. I've written a few paragraphs but nothing substantial.
See you in April!


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Bless the Food Canvas
Are you looking for Bless the Food Canvas?
Are you looking for Bless the Food Canvas?
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Spreading God's Love Thru Prayer
Life to the Full
I have come that they may life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
Lord, help us to remember there is great meaning in following You and that it is all so worth it.
Following Jesus is the way to a rich and satisfying life.
Follow Jesus's example: Rech out to others in need.
own your own busines
© 2019 Created by Guardian. Powered by


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From Last year SSC has changed a bit in Pattern of Exam and added Descriptive Section in Tier-3. Below I am sharing some tips to Follow for the Preparation of Descriptive Section.
Exam Pattern of SSC CGL Tier III
- Tier III will be a descriptive type paper of 100 marks
- Exam will be conducted in Pen and Paper mode
- Duration of Paper will be 60 minutes
- There will be questions of Essay Writing (250 Words)/ Letter Writing
- This exam will be of qualifying nature but marks are included in the preparation of final merit
- The paper will be bilingual i.e. you can write answer either in Hindi or English Language.
One thing which is favorable here is you have choice of writing descriptive in Both Hindi and English,and I am sure it will be definitely easy for lots of Aspirants to write an essay in Hindi if they are not from English background.
Essay Writing Tips for SSC CGL Tier III
- Read newspaper Editorial daily to understand the effective way of writing and topics that are important in the current period.
- Practice writing - Practice is the key, whenever you read any editorial or any article try to write it in your language, whatever you understand about topic, try to write it once.
- Before writing always formulate the Idea about Topics on which you want to write , make short points on which you will focus during your writing.
- Logical order of Essay is Important means whatever you are writing should be in a structured way, For Example you can't write Advantage and then Introduction about Topic. So keep this thing in mind also.
- Stick to word limit.
- Pay attention to correct use of grammar.
- Once you have finished writing, check for grammatical errors, repetition, spelling mistakes
- Write your essay and get it evaluated by your friends so that you can work on weak portion.
Remember These 5 Important Points for Easy Writing
- Clarity of expression
- Command over language
- Continuity of Sentence
- Content
- Suggestions
Letter/Application Writing:
- Letter writing is easy compared to easy. So focus should be maximize your marks in this section.
- The most important thing in letter writing is its format so you should know the proper format of both Letter writing and Application writing.
- Introductory paragraph, main body and closing body should be in proper place as it will play a major role.
- Practice both types of letter i.e. formal and informal.
Some of Important Current Topics on which you can Practice.
- GST and Its effects on Indian Economy
- Demonetization and Its effects on Indian Economy
- India and its relations with other countries
- Online Exams: Its merits and demerits
- Reforms needed in Indian Educational System
- Role of Judiciary in the Country Today
- The Coalition Politics
- The Fight Against Terrorism
- Should There Be Reservations?
- Role of Media
- Communal Riots
- Effect of Online System of Examinations on Cheating
- Sexual Harassment: The Hidden Truth
- Cashless economy
- Women Empowerment
Hope this Answer Helped you. You can Follow me On Below Platform for Regular Updates on Competitive Exam Preparation.
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