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I've made my first novel, Ventus, available as a free download, as well as excerpts from two of the Virga books. I am looking forward to putting up a number of short stories in the near future.
To celebrate the August, 2007 publication of Queen of Candesce, I decided to re-release my first novel as an eBook. You can download it from this page. Ventus was first published by Tor Books in 2000, and and you can still buy it; to everyone who would just like to sample my work, I hope you enjoy this version.
I've released this book under a Creative Commons license, which means you can read it and distribute it freely, but not make derivative works or sell it.
I've made large tracts of these two Virga books available. If you want to find out what the Virga universe is all about, you can check it out here:
In spring 2005, the Directorate of Land Strategic Concepts of National Defense Canada (that is to say, the army) hired me to write a dramatized future military scenario. The book-length work, Crisis in Zefra, was set in a mythical African city-state, about 20 years in the future, and concerned a group of Canadian peacekeepers who are trying to ready the city for its first democratic vote while fighting an insurgency. The project ran to 27,000 words and was published by the army as a bound paperback book.
If you'd like to read Crisis in Zefra, you can download it in PDF form.
I had a great time at SFContario, and was honoured to be the Canvention guest
The second SFContario was a roaring success according to everybody I've talked to--and I had a great time too. Of course it was an honour to be the GOH this year, and I tried to meet and talk to everybody I could. The panels were fun, but most important for me was the opportunity to connect up with people I don't get to see too often.
There are lots of people to thank, from the con committee to the diligent volunteers. My primary contacts were Alex von Thorn and Diane Lacey, who made sure I was provided for and my weekend organized.
It was good connecting up again with the Hartwells, the Swanwicks, John Scalzi, and many other American friends who braved the November weather to come up.
I think the high point of the convention, for me, was being interviewed by Lawrence M. Schoen on Saturday morning--not for the ego-boo, but because I've known Lawrence for a few years and our conversations are always wide-ranging and surprising. This one was no exception, and it was a delight from start to finish.
I hosted the English-language Aurora Awards this year, which was also a stellar honour. I don't feel I completely lived up to the responsibility because I accidentally sent my dress clothes home with my wife Saturday night and only discovered the gaff just prior to the ceremony--so I had to host it in a T-shirt and jeans. My apologies to everyone, particularly the Aurora committee, for looking like a slob at such an important event.
The ceremony itself was packed, however, and the atmosphere was actually quite electric. I've never seen such an enthusiastic and engaged crowd at an Aurora ceremony; it was the audience and participants that brought the event back to the peak of significance it deserved. I thank you all.
I wish the convention all success next year, and the same for all my fellow writers and the winners and nominated Aurora alumni. You deserve your days in the sun.
I'm a member of the Association of Professional Futurists with my own consultancy, and am also currently Chair of the Canadian node of the Millennium Project, a private/public foresight consultancy active in 50 nations. As well, I am an award-winning author with ten published novels translated into as many languages. I write, give talks, and conduct workshops on numerous topics related to the future, including:
For a complete bio, go here. To contact me, email karl at kschroeder dot com
I use Science Fiction to communicate the results of actual futures studies. Some of my recent research relates to how we'll govern ourselves in the future. I've worked with a few clients on this and published some results.
Here are two examples--and you can read the first for free:
The Canadian army commissioned me to write Crisis in Urlia, a fictionalized study of the future of military command-and-control. You can download a PDF of the book here:
For the "optimistic Science Fiction" anthology Hieroglyph, I wrote "Degrees of Freedom," set in Haida Gwaii. "Degrees of Freedom" is about an attempt to develop new governing systems by Canadian First Nations people.
I'm continuing to research this exciting area and would be happy to share my findings.
"Science fiction at its best."
--Kim Stanley Robinson
"Lean and hugely engaging ... and highly recommended."
--Open Letters Monthly, an Arts and Literature Review
(Sun of Suns and Queen of Candesce are combined in Cities of the Air)
"An adventure-filled tale of sword
fights and naval battles... the real fun of this coming-of-age tale includes a
pirate treasure hunt and grand scale naval invasions set in the cold, far
reaches of space. "
—Kirkus Reviews (listed in top 10 SF novels for 2006)
"With Queen of Candesce, [Schroeder] has achieved a clockwork balance of deftly paced adventure and humour, set against an intriguing and unique vision of humanity's far future.
--The Globe and Mail
"[Pirate Sun] is fun in the same league as the best SF ever has had to offer, fully as exciting and full of cool science as work from the golden age of SF, but with characterization and plot layering equal to the scrutiny of critical appraisers."
"...A rollicking good read... fun, bookish, and full of insane air battles"
"A grand flying-pirate-ship-chases-and-escapes-and-meetings-with-monsters adventure, and it ends not with a debate or a seminar but with a gigantic zero-gee battle around Candesce, a climactic unmasking and showdown, just desserts, and other satisfying stuff."


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Physician-scientist Michael S. Glickman specializes in the treatment and study of infectious diseases. In the clinic he cares for cancer patients with a wide variety of infections, and in the laboratory he studies the interaction between bacterial pathogens and host cells. He holds the Catherine and Frederick R. Adler Chair for Junior Faculty.
I come from an academic medical family, with both my father and my older brother working in the field, which meant that a physician-scientist's lifestyle was familiar to me. Although I got my undergraduate degree in English literature, I had always been interested in biomedical research. I agonized over the decision of whether to pursue a dual MD/PhD degree. In the end, I decided against it, choosing instead to go to medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
When I completed medical school in 1993, I went on to do my clinical training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston. As I was becoming a clinically trained doctor, I began to develop an interest in the study of infectious diseases. I was surprised to see a tremendous disconnect between the way the subject was taught in medical school and the way it was practiced with patients. Caring for patients with infections was far more exciting and rewarding than I had ever expected. I was interested enough to do a subspecialty fellowship in infectious diseases. The first year was clinically focused, followed by two years of laboratory research.
For my postdoctoral fellowship I decided to work with William Jacobs, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. Bill is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator studying mycobacteria, a particular type of bacteria that is the common cause of many serious human infections, including tuberculosis (TB) and leprosy.
It was a seminal time in mycobacterial research, which had until then lagged behind other areas of microbiology and bacterial pathogenesis research. The reason for this was the absence of genetic tools to work with these organisms. Bill had spent ten years developing genetic tools to break down those barriers, and when I started in his lab these tools were ready to be used to answer some of the big questions. Chief among them were the molecular basis for TB, which remains a major cause of mortality worldwide, and the search for new antimicrobials that would shorten TB treatment time.
I enjoyed the research end of things so much that, by the end of my postdoctoral fellowship, I opted to work for another two years in Bill's lab. I was studying a novel family of enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of the cell walls of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other mycobacteria. Through my work, I was able to show that these enzymes were important for modifying molecules called lipids, which make up the outer surface of the bacterium, and that the enzymes played an important role in the disease-development process known as pathogenesis.
In January 2002, I joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a physician-scientist, treating patients as a member of the Infectious Diseases Service in the Department of Medicine and starting my own laboratory in the Sloan Kettering Institute's Immunology Program. As a researcher, I am a microbiologist specializing in microbial pathogenesis. This area of study is relevant to cancer because cancer patients can develop a number of infections as complications of either the cancer itself or the therapies used to treat cancer. Understanding how these infections develop and how pathogens infect host cells is important to understanding how to treat infections in cancer patients.
In my laboratory, we use a multidisciplinary approach that includes microbial genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, lipid biochemistry, and immunology. The long-term goal of our studies is to identify and understand bacterial molecules essential for M. tuberculosis pathogenesis that would be attractive therapeutic targets and to gain insight into the novel physiology of mycobacteria.
A new direction of our work involves antibiotic development. We are actively working with Memorial Sloan Kettering's High-Throughput Drug Screening Facility to try to identify and test compounds that we have isolated to kill mycobacteria. It turns out that a number of these compounds are successful at killing a wide range of bacteria, many of which are directly related to infections in cancer patients.
Six years ago, when I started at SKI, I would not have imagined that I would be doing some of this work, especially the drug screening projects. These unanticipated directions are a result of the rich scientific environment at Memorial Sloan Kettering, which encourages investigators to explore new directions. This environment is, for me, one of the most rewarding things about the clinical and research parts of my job.
In the clinic I see patients who have serious mycobacterial infections. When they learn that I also do research on infectious disease, they say, "Oh, you have a lab? Have you discovered anything new that can help me?" It's frustrating for me to have to tell them that my research will most likely not be directly and immediately available as a clinical therapy for them. It will, however, lay the groundwork for understanding the underlying strategies used by these infectious agents, which can and hopefully will lead to better therapies.

subset: commoncrawl


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Do Anti-Sex Trafficking Ads Really Need To Be This Graphic?
LatestCopyranter draws our attention to these ads out of Singapore in opposition to sex trafficking. (There's also one against exploitative domestic employment agencies). We're torn: Do the illustrations showing miserable-looking girls performing sex acts just behind the walls of daily life force you to face grim reality, or do they risk being titillating? (Click to enlarge).
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text: Mr. Getz is an internationally recognized expert on R&D and clinical trial management practices and trends, the global investigative site landscape, site management and patient recruitment and retention practices, and the worldwide market for outsourcing clinical research functions. Mr. Getz's research studies on protocol design complexity and clinical research efficiency and effectiveness, conducted over the past two decades, are considered by many in the research-based life sciences industry to be pioneering work. His 20+ years of original research benchmarking R&D management practices, global outsourcing and the investigative site landscape have contributed to industry-wide understanding of these critical markets and to improvements in management strategy and execution.


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Dan Zachs is a fun-loving college student attending the University of Connecticut. He is majoring in Biomedical Engineering and intends to follow the tract of Biomaterials. Dan currently draws a comic entitled Matt and Greg for UConn's Daily Campus newspaper. When he is not drawing comics he enjoys playing the piano, competing in croquet, and playing 'Mario Kart'. He considers himself to be one of the best 'Mario Kart' racers in the world!
Looking for a higher education job?


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Acceptable use policy
Important: to safeguard the enjoyment of our services by all of our users, we require our users (including our participating charities) to agree to and abide by the 7 rules in this code of acceptable conduct (which we refer to as the "AUP") as a condition of our provision of the services. This AUP is in addition to our terms which can be found at "Terms and conditions".
- Abide by the law. You must not use our services for any purpose that is illegal or unlawful.
- User Content. You must ensure that any information which you transmit using the services, including postings of details relating to prizes, suggestions, ideas or other material (referred to as "User Content") is legal, honest, decent and truthful. You must not use our services to copy, transmit, distribute or store User Content which is obscene, pornographic, lewd, threatening, abusive, libelous, hateful, or encourages or amounts to conduct that would constitute a criminal offence.
- Respect the property of others. You must ensure that the User Content is owned by you and that you have the right to submit the User Content to us for publication. You must not use our services to copy, transmit, distribute or store User Content where this would infringe our intellectual property rights or the intellectual property rights of any third party.
- Respect the privacy of others. You must not use our services to collect, store, transmit, transfer or publish personal data which relates to other people (whether or not they are other users of the services) unless you have their consent to do so.
- Do not harm computer systems. You must not use our services to harm or disrupt any computer device or network belonging to us or any third party, for example, by uploading or distributing content infected by a virus or other malicious code. Furthermore, you must not use our services for the purpose of obtaining unauthorised access to any computer or service. Where you use the services to send information across other networks on the Internet, you must abide by acceptable use policies which may apply to the use of such networks.
- Personal use. Where you are an individual end user of our services, you agree to use them for your personal non-commercial use only and you further agree not use the services on behalf of any other person or resupply or distribute the services to any other person.
- Emails. You must not use the services to send emails which would typically be categorised as 'spam' or 'junk' by other users. Such emails would include chain or pyramid e-mails (whether or not initiated by you), advertising or marketing emails, bulk or unsolicited e-mails (especially of a commercial nature), malicious e-mail, including, but not limited to, 'mail bombing', emails with forged headings or anonymous emails. You must not send e-mails to a person after specifically having been requested not to do so by that person, or by us (which also applies to any automated service that may have been employed) and you must not use the services to provide anonymous re-mailing facilities for others.
It is not our practice to monitor your use of our services, however; we retain the right to monitor use of the services and we may take any action we deem appropriate in relation to any breach of this AUP including removing postings of User Content (including details of prizes and user pages), suspending or terminating access to the services. To report a breach of this AUP please send an email to us at email@example.com describing the breach.


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From Fedora Project Wiki
Media Art
This page will hold various artwork for use on CD/DVD: labels, envelopes, jackets, jewel cases, etc.
- How to Print Labels for Fedora in Fedora - not sure how to get these to print out right? Try this tutorial!
- You can also use GIMP if you have Ink Jet printer with Media Print feature. Just choose "Print to CD" for "Media Source"
Legal Notice
All media should be labelled with a basic legal statement. It must appear as part of the packaging or on the media, but only needs to appear once.
Copyright (c) 2016 Red Hat, Inc. and others. All rights reserved. "Fedora" and the Fedora logo are trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. This software is provided "as-is" and without any warranty, either expressed or implied.
All of the CD/DVD sleeves must also have the following text on the back.
A complete machine-readable copy of the source code corresponding to portions of the accompanying Fedora 24 release is available upon request. This offer is valid to anyone in receipt of this information and shall expire three years following the date of the final distribution of this release by Red Hat, Inc. To obtain such source code, send a check or money order in the amount of US $10.00 to: Fedora Legal c/o Red Hat, Inc. | 100 E. Davie St. | Raleigh, NC 27601 USA Please write "source for Fedora 24" in the memo line of your payment. You may also access a copy of this source code at: http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/24/Everything/source/
You may also wish to place the address of this website (http://fedoraproject.org/) on the media for people to refer to.


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Are you an executive director who wonders why his development staff doesn't raise more money? A college president who wishes her vice president was ahead of goal? Here's a question to help answer those questions: what are you willing to do? Your nonprofit's fundraising results are a reflection of your commitment and your willingness to prioritize fundraising, and your words are a reflection of that commitment. Consider the following things we have heard nonprofit leaders say. Do you hear yourself in these comments? What can you do to change?
"Let my assistant to arrange a time for us to talk." This is a favorite because it often takes weeks to secure an appointment. "Once you have done your homework, call me and I will close the deal." Does this make any sense? How many nonprofit leaders are so sought after that their presence at the point of solicitation will "close the deal?"
"It's your job to raise the money." This belief is a luxury no executive can afford. Regardless the number of development professionals employed, you are the chief fundraiser. Your staff's ability to raise money requires your active participation.
"I want you to make at least 20 calls a week." Another favorite. Who will your staff call, who will want to talk with them, and what are they calling donors about? "I want you to chair the homecoming dance committee." There are many variations on this theme: all pull development staff away from fundraising. Unless there are clear revenue goals keep your development staff out of events.
"Have you asked the board members for their gifts?" Major red flag. Expecting staff to solicit board members is a recipe for low giving. This is the responsibility of the board chair or chair of the board development committee.
"You don't need to know my travel plans." This closes the door to fund development and fundraising opportunities. Your staff can suggest visits to current or potential major donors and influencers, help coordinate a friendraiser, or a visit to a foundation or corporation who funds nonprofits similar to yours. Other favorites include: "I want you to raise 50% more than you did last year." "I'm launching the campaign in spite of what the feasibility study says." "We don't need to be spending money on a feasibility study." And, "I underestimated: we have a short fall of 20% that you will need to raise."
Statements like these drive development professionals crazy, contributing to high turnover. If you don't know why these statements can put your organization or institution at risk ask your development staff. If you're not that brave, ask a peer who is a successful fundraiser.
Next week: things development professionals say. Visit www.FUNdraisingGoodTimes.com for a longer list.
Copyright 2014 – Mel and Pearl Shaw
Mel and Pearl Shaw position nonprofits, colleges and universities for fundraising success. For help with your campaign visit www.saadandshaw.com or call (901) 522-8727.
This is the first installment of a two-part series.


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Keystone accepts association payments online. If you have questions about this service or your login information, please contact Customer Care at (949) 833-2600.
All payments require a bank routing number in addition to a checking, savings or money market account number. Credit card payments are accepted through this online service. Payments submitted online will be processed daily.
For even more convenience, we offer an ACH program in which your monthly assessment payments are automatically deducted from your checking or savings account. You will no longer have to remember when to make your payment, write a check, or pay for any more postage! To sign up, please click here to download the ACH form.


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We are announcing the official public preview of compatibility level 140 in Azure SQL Database.
Compatibility level 140 enables the following query optimizer changes:
- A trivial plan referencing Columnstore indexes will be discarded in favor of a plan that is eligible for batch mode execution.
- The sp_execute_external_script UDX operator is eligible for batch mode execution.
- Three adaptive query processing features are being introduced:
- Batch mode memory grant feedback, which improves the performance of repeating queries that request too much or too little memory.
- Batch mode adaptive join, which is a new query operator type that allows dynamic selection of the most optimal join algorithm based on runtime row counts.
- Interleaved execution, which improves the performance of queries that reference multi-statement table valued functions by using the true row count of the function call for use during query optimization.
Please note that this list is not exhaustive. Most optimizer hotfixes released after SQL Server 2016 RTM will be on by default in compatibility level 140.
The alignment of SQL versions to default compatibility levels are as follows:
- 100: in SQL Server 2008 and Azure SQL Database
- 110: in SQL Server 2012 and Azure SQL Database
- 120: in SQL Server 2014 and Azure SQL Database
- 130: in SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL Database
- 140: in SQL Server 2017 and Azure SQL Database
To determine the current compatibility level of your database, execute the following Transact-SQL statement:
SELECT compatibility_level FROM [sys].[databases] WHERE [name] = 'Your Database Name';
Use of compatibility level 140 enables developers to benefit from query processor enhancements. To change the compatibility level of an existing database, execute ALTER DATABASE:
ALTER DATABASE database_name SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 140;
The recommended workflow for upgrading the query processor to a higher compatibility level is detailed in the article, Change the Database Compatibility Mode and Use the Query Store. Note that this article refers to compatibility level 130 and SQL Server, but the same methodology applies for moves to 140 for SQL Server and Azure SQL DB.
After SQL Server 2017 launches, the default Azure SQL Database compatibility level will change from 130 to 140 for newly created databases. Databases created before that time will not be affected and will maintain their current compatibility level. You can find more details at ALTER DATABASE Compatibility Level (Transact-SQL).


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I've been awarded an honorary doctorate from Linköping University in Sweden. I am very (!) appreciative of the award and look forward to continued collaborations with the excellent interdisciplinary research going on at LiU.
Here is the announcement our Center put up today:
Roger Pielke, Jr., has been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy from Linköping University, one of Sweden's top universities that focuses on interdisciplinary research and teaching. He will travel to Sweden in late May to attend their graduation ceremonies and receive the award.
In awarding the degree Linköping noted Roger's "outstanding achievement in interdisciplinary climate research is a bold and refreshing voice in the climate debate. You have taken on public discussions with the IPCC, environmentalists as well as climate sceptics. You are profoundly committed to both use science to critically scrutinize policies and political decisions, and to deeply engage in finding ways of enhancing dialogues between science and policy."Thanks LiU!


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Chalk Sound, Turks and Caicos Villas & Vacation Rentals
These are the 17 most popular villa rentals in Chalk Sound, Turks and Caicos. Narrow your search above.
Looking to rent a villa Chalk Sound, Turks and Caicos?
- Turks and Caicos islands are voted the best beaches with white-sand and turquoise waters
- Villa guests can find private pools, staff, concierge service, and beach access at our luxury villas
- Our Turks and Caicos villa consultants can provide guests the best personally-inspected villas on the island
If you're after a big dose of unspoiled beach, then a Turks and Caicos villa is exactly what you need. These islands (primarily Providenciales, a.k.a. Provo) are known for their beachfront beauty, making them ideal for vacationers who want peace and quiet on the sand by day, with great food in the evenings at the many fantastic restaurants. The island on the north side is dominated by Grace Bay, a 12 mile beach lovers' paradise. We have a large selection of beachfront villas along Grace Bay, from the high end Turtle Breeze villa suited to corporate retreats to the comfortable and reasonably priced Sandstone beach house. The southern side of the island has a selection of small protected beaches with no hotels to be found - or anything else really - other than the natural beauty of the beach and private homes dotted here and there. Turks and Caicos is for those that want to have a more secluded experience. Don't worry, no matter what villa you choose, you can drive the length of the island in 20 minutes so you are never too far away from anything.
What's special about Chalk Sound, Turks and Caicos?
This grouping of pristine islands and cays offers visitors a glimpse of untouched Caribbean paradise. Here, the white sand is fine, the water is warm and blue, vegetation is purely tropical, and people are sparse. Turks and Caicos is best known for its unspoiled beauty and relative seclusion among the Caribbean islands, and this is what draws the visitors that it receives each year.
Turks and Caicos is a great choice for people who enjoy outdoor activities. Because the islands are more secluded and off the radar than other Caribbean destinations, there are a lot of undeveloped areas. Hiking is a popular way to explore the islands and take in the natural beauty on land, and diving and snorkeling are huge here too due to the clarity of the water. In the late winter and early spring, whale watchers gather to see humpbacks migrate. The Conch Bar Caves are another place to visit, and touring these limestone wonders is unforgettable.
Providenciales is the most developed island in the group, where you can find incredible beaches with crystal clear water. In fact, the island is frequently voted the "best beach destination". Provo, as it is called, is best known for its superb diving opportunities, as there are miles of reefs along the coast. There are numerous villas for rent on the island, allowing visitors to make themselves at home and giving them lots of privacy. Resort hotels can also be found, and these are great for travelers who appreciate the services of hotel staff and concierge.
If you're after a great beach vacation in the Caribbean that is guaranteed to be relaxing, then Turks and Caicos is the ideal destination. Here you can enjoy life at a slower pace and in a laid-back style, whether you're lounging at the beach or island hopping and doing some sightseeing and exploring. Private villas, a hotel, or a resort are available for you to stay in, but you'll never get the sense that the islands are overcrowded or too developed. Turks and Caicos is truly one of one of the last Caribbean gems that give you a peek at untouched natural beauty.


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Students ruled ineligible:
Transfer Students
Progress Toward Graduation Requirement
Grade / Semester
6 Period day
8 Period Day
Sophomore - Fall
55 Units
75 Units
Sophomore - Spring
80 Units
105 Units
Junior - Fall
110 Units
145 Units
165 Units
180 Units
Senior - Fall
220 Units
Senior - Spring
195 Units
260 Units
Probationary Periods
A current student in grades 9-12 who does not accumulate the required number of units toward high school graduation may be placed on probation for the current semester if the following conditions are met:
A student who does not achieve the necessary number of units by the end of the probationary semester shall not be allowed to participate in extra-curricular and co- curricular activities in the following semester. For students transitioning between six- period days and right-period days, the number of credits accumulated by the student for purposes of graduation may need to be individually calculated.
If a transfer student is below the standards for accumulated units towards high school graduation, a school can implement a probationary period if the following conditions are met:
A student who does not achieve the necessary number of units by the end of the probationary 12 months shall not be allowed to participate in extra-curricular and co- curricular activities in the following semester. For students transitioning between six- period days and eight-period days, the number of credits accumulated by the student for purposes of graduation may need to be individually calculated.
The following regulations govern District students' residential, intradistrict and interdistrict transfer eligibilities for participation in District interscholastic athletics.
Residential Eligibility
If a student does not qualifyIf a student does not qualify for interdistrict transfer eligibility under the above standards, the student may seek a hardship waiver of their ineligibility as set forth in E.7. of this regulation.
All intermediate school students (grades 7-8) transferring on an interdistrict transfer into the District who intend to apply for athletic eligibility must fill out a District forms 207, 510 and Waiver to Practice. These forms are accessible at the new school's athletic office. Any student, seventh through eighth grade, and/or the student's parent/guardian should submit the completed forms to the athletic director at the student's new school.
After reviewing the completed Forms 207 and 510, the Superintendent's designee will determine whether or not an intermediate school student has athletic eligibility upon the student's interdistrict transfer into the District. The Superintendent's designee will use the transfer guidelines under AR 2505 E.2 as a criteria for and guidance for determining eligibility.
Interdistrict Transfer Eligibility (grades 9-12)The following provisions apply to any student who transfers from a school not associated with the District into the District during the student's ninth through twelfth grades. All criteria is established by CIF Bylaw 207 and all decisions regarding interdistrict transfers will be decided by CIF after reviewed by Superintendent's designee. (Refer to CIF Bylaw 207)
If a foreign exchange student can prove he/she has never previously participated in a specific or related sport or competitive extracurricular activity, said student may apply for a waiver of restricted eligibility in sports that they have not participated in prior to coming to the United States. In sports in which they have participated, they become ineligible for one (1) calendar year.
At a new school, where the school does not have a varsity level team, a transfer student or foreign exchange student may apply for restricted eligibility in sports even where the transfer or foreign exchange student has participated previously in varsity level competition for those sports, and may be granted restricted eligibility provided all other eligibility requirements/conditions are met.
All athletic eligibility and hardship waiver decisions by the Committee are final, binding, and not subject to further appeals with the District. The student will be notified of the decision from the A.D. of the school attending and the ruling will be forwarded to the CIF Central Section Commissioner.
A student may have athletic eligibility under this regulation when he/she establishes that a valid full family move took place. Athletic eligibility based upon a valid full family move is distinct from athletic eligibility based upon a waiver of ineligibility because of hardship.
A student whose family makes a valid move into a new attendance area may be immediately residentially eligible for varsity competition. A subsequent move into a different attendance area by the family (or other family members) during that same school year will result in the student being declared ineligible until cleared for competition by the District's Athletic Committee.
Proving Valid Change of Residence
Evidence must be submitted that a valid change of residence has occurred. Evidence will include all of the following that are appropriate for the situation:
The Athletic Director or other District personnel will visit and may revisit the residence to determine that the family is residing in the new residence.
The Athletic Director or other District personnel will visit the previous residence to determine that it has been abandoned and vacated.A decision will be rendered once all completed forms have been turned in to the Athletic Director at the student's new school site. Parents/Guardians and students should allow up to twenty (20) school days for this process to be completed.


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(based on shipping country: Belgium)
Bluetooth-operated Door/Window sensor
- Detects and reports opening or closing of doors/windows
- Measures tilt angle and luminosity
- Battery 1 x 3 V CR2032 - included
- Battery life - up to 5 years
- Easy control through the Shelly Smart Control app, BTHome protocol or various platforms
- Can be integrated into automation scenarios and scenes
* To use this device with the Shelly Smart Control app, a gateway is necessary. Compatible gateways are Shelly BLU Gateway, or any Shelly Plus, Pro or Gen3 device (excluding sensors).
Quicker response, longer battery life and easy inclusion
The sensor has a reaction time of less than 100ms
Battery life of up to 5 years, depending on daily usage
Shelly BLU Door/Window has integrated LUX and tilt measurement sensors
Use the scripting functionalities on your Shelly Plus and Pro devices to create complex automations
Set custom scenes by combining Shelly BLU Door/Window with your other Shelly devices
Endless use applications
Always be informed of any unwanted guests! Simply place Shelly BLU Door/Window on your front door, balconies, windows, or garage door, and receive a notification if someone opens them while you are away. But that's not all! Shelly BLU Door/Window can be used as part of your security system using automation scenarios or scenes. It could activate other devices to protect your home when unexpected activity occurs at your premises.
Give a warm welcome to your loved ones when entering your home. When placed on the front door, Shelly BLU Door/Window can turn on the lights when the door is opened.
Shelly BLU Door/Window can also contribute to your energy efficiency efforts. By connecting it to other devices, you can automate the adjustment of heating, cooling, or lighting based on the door or window open state. For example, when a window is opened, the system can automatically turn off the heating to conserve energy.
Power supply | 1x 3 V CR2032 battery (included) |
Radio protocol | Bluetooth |
Operational range | Up to 10 m indoors/up to 30 m outdoors (depends on local condition) |
Encryption | AES encryption (CCM mode) |
RF band | 2400-2483,5 MHz |
Max. RF power | < 4 dBm |
Dimensions | 35x35x7mm / 1.38x1.38x0.27 in (sensor unit) |
35x12x7mm / 1.44x0.47x0.27 in (magnet) | |
Weight | 10g / 0.35 oz (sensor unit with battery) |
8g / 0.28 oz (magnet) | |
Beacon function | Yes |
Battery life | 5 years |
Working temperature | -20°C to 40°C |
Humidity | 30% to 70% RH |


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Conference Programme
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CORP since 1996
Because of the high numbers of international audience from all over the world, there should be enough space for encouraged discussions on the special challenges, topics and results of strategies, concepts, technologies and solutions for current topics from the world of planning. International experts and decision makers from business, politics, science, research and public administration have used REAL CORP as a well-established platform for the presentation of corporations, businesses and best practises operating of past, ongoing and future projects.
During the last years, REAL CORP conferences have been supported by many corporations and institutions. Their contributions helped establish a successful exchange of knowledge and experience between scientists and business practitioners on most relevant spatial topics. Therefore, REAL CORP offers a professional place for your specific business marketing and promotion of successfully implemented solutions. Well-known international business players such as Siemens, Kapsch, Doppelmayr cable cars and many others have attended REAL CORP and contributed to a successful conference.
The REAL CORP business and marketing exhibition offers you and your business multiple ways for networking activities as well as presentation of past, ongoing, and future projects. Make new international business contacts, initiate project co-operations, and present your company or project to several hundred spatial planning experts from all around the world. For an individual guidance to customize your personal preferences, please contact the REAL CORP organising team via e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.com!
Or have a look at our Business Marketing Folder.
During the last years, REAL CORP conferences have been supported by many corporations and institutions. Their contributions helped establishing a successful exchange of knowledge and experience between scientists and business practioners on most relevant spatial topics. Do you want to share the group of donors and would like to present your business during REAL CORP? Please do not hesitate to contact the REAL CORP organizing team via e-mail to office at corp.at.


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With the rise of the Berlin Wall, twelve-year-old Gerta finds her family suddenly divided. She, her mother, and her brother Fritz live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, who had gone west in search of work, cannot return home. Gerta knows it is dangerous to watch the wall, to think forbidden thoughts of freedom, yet she can't help herself. She sees the East German soldiers with their guns trained on their own citizens; she, her family, her neighbors and friends are prisoners in their own city.
But one day, while on her way to school, Gerta spots her father on a viewing platform on the western side, pantomiming a peculiar dance. Then, when she receives a mysterious drawing, Gerta puts two and two together and concludes that her father wants Gerta and Fritz to tunnel beneath the wall, out of East Berlin. However, if they are caught, the consequences will be deadly. No one can be trusted. Will Gerta and her family find their way to freedom?


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Our Duty to God
Holding the priesthood and doing your duty to God is not only a very serious responsibility but also a remarkable privilege.
As a young man, I was impressed with the Old Testament story of Samuel, whose life had been dedicated to God by his grateful mother, Hannah. While still a lad, he went to live and serve in the temple. One night he was called three times by the Lord and each time answered, "Here am I,"1 thinking that he had been summoned by his high priest teacher, Eli. Wise Eli, knowing that little "Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him,"2 understood that the Lord had called the young boy. He, therefore, taught Samuel how to respond, and when he was next called by the Lord, Samuel answered, "Speak; for thy servant heareth."3
As we follow the life of Samuel, we recognize that he did fulfill his duty to God and that "Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground."4 As a result, Samuel himself became a great prophet and leader.
I hope that you young men of the Aaronic Priesthood today understand that, as Samuel, you also have a sacred duty to God. Samuel had a sainted mother, Hannah, and a great priesthood leader, Eli. Most of you young men, likewise, have wonderful parents and inspired priesthood leaders who care for you and stand ready to assist both you and your parents in your quest to fulfill your duty to God.
President Gordon B. Hinckley has said this of you and your generation of young people: "I have … great love for the young men and young women of this Church. … How we love you and pray constantly for the genius to help you. Your lives are filled with difficult decisions and with dreams and hopes and longings to find that which will bring you peace and happiness. …
"I make you a promise that God will not forsake you if you will walk in His paths with the guidance of His commandments."5
With this promise of the prophet in mind, let me remind you, as was mentioned by Elder Hales and the letter from the First Presidency, of Church resources that are being made available to assist you in fulfilling your duty to God. The Aaronic Priesthood purposes help you to:
Become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and live its teachings.
Serve faithfully in priesthood callings and fulfill the responsibilities of priesthood offices.
Give meaningful service.
Prepare and live worthily to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and temple ordinances.
Prepare to serve an honorable full-time mission.
Obtain as much education as possible.
Prepare to become a worthy husband and father.
Give proper respect to women, girls, and children.
The Duty to God Award program will help you achieve these purposes of the Aaronic Priesthood. To qualify for the Duty to God Award, you will need to achieve and complete Aaronic Priesthood purposes and also participate in family activities, specific quorum activities, a Duty to God service project, keeping a personal journal, and completing personal goals in each of four categories:
Spiritual Development
Physical Development
Educational, Personal, and Career Development
Citizenship and Social Development
Where Scouting is available, you will note that many of the Scouting requirements can fill necessary expectations for the Duty to God Award. Both Duty to God and Scouting activities teach us to "be prepared" in "every needful thing."6 Achieving the Duty to God and Eagle Scout Awards [or similar awards] are complementary, not competitive.
The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve love you and desire to strengthen you in these increasingly difficult times. With this love and desire, they have provided for you a revised For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God pamphlet as well as additional materials for Young Men, Young Women, parents, and leaders.
As you young men of the Aaronic Priesthood strive to achieve the Duty to God Award even as the Young Women work on their Personal Progress efforts, you will join with them in standing as witnesses of God as well. This witness is expressed by what you say and also by how you live and keep the commandments.
You know that receiving the Duty to God Award is not the ultimate goal in itself, but rather the incorporation into your lives of attributes that will help you focus more clearly on your duty to God. These characteristics will keep you on track to be worthy and able to meet the sacred tasks and opportunities before you. They will help you to be happy, clean, and strong now and also to prepare you for eternally important events such as receiving the blessings of the holy temple, serving missions, and ultimately being sealed to a worthy companion in the house of the Lord.
Alma, as he taught in the land of Gideon, made this clear in timeless language: "And now my beloved brethren, I have said these things unto you that I might awaken you to a sense of your duty to God, that ye may walk blameless before him, that ye may walk after the holy order of God, after which ye have been received."7
You who have received the priesthood will wish to walk after this "holy order" to which you have been called and ordained. You recognize that with every promised blessing there are associated responsibilities. By fulfilling these responsibilities, you are given opportunities to serve others and develop yourself spiritually. These are essential steps in your progress to become more like Jesus.
The Savior, who suffered all things for us,8 faced challenges similar to some we face in our Aaronic Priesthood years. You remember Jesus' experience at about the age when most of us become deacons. He had gone with His family and others to the temple. When it came time to return home, He was not with Mary and Joseph. They must have assumed that Jesus was with other trusted friends or extended family members. Only when His absence persisted did they become alarmed. As dutiful parents, Mary and Joseph did what your parents may have done in similar circumstances: they went looking for Him. When they located Jesus in the temple, only parents and grandparents might fully appreciate the mixed sense of relief they felt that He was safe, but they also were perhaps a little surprised by His reaction. Have any of you ever had a similar experience? We all know the dialogue that ensued: "And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"9
Jesus might have said, "Don't you know that I am doing my duty to God?"
President Harold B. Lee taught that the meaning of Jesus' question is found in section 64 of the Doctrine and Covenants.10 Said President Lee: "When one becomes a holder of the priesthood, he becomes an agent of the Lord. He should think of his calling as though he were on the Lord's errand. That is what it means to magnify the priesthood. Think of the Master asking each of you, as this young boy did of Joseph and Mary, Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? Whatever you do according to the will of the Lord is the Lord's business."11 Thus, holding the priesthood and doing your duty to God is not only a very serious responsibility but also a remarkable privilege.
Sometimes you might feel that your parents and leaders respond like Mary and Joseph did. After Jesus answered by asking His important question about His Father's business, Luke records, "They understood not the saying which he spake unto them."12
Nevertheless, please pay close attention to what Jesus did! It is an example for what we must do if we are really to fulfill our duty to God. "And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. … And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."13
You must remember that your duty to God is very clearly linked to your duties to your own family members, particularly your parents. It is not only in being properly subject or submissive to God, but also to parents and priesthood leaders, that we can truly fulfill our duty to God. May we all be as Samuel, who said to the Lord, "Speak; for thy servant heareth."14 In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.


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Attention Generals!
With today's release we introduce an adjustment to the aggressive fire mode of units. When switching to the aggressive fire mode units will open fire on any unit in range. This includes units of neutral countries and is not limited to units from countries you are currently at war with. Obviously your own units and those of your allies will be spared. There are several strategic benefits to this change. You can now setup naval blockades or prepare for intruders preemptively for example. But be careful, once you open fire on a unit of a neutral country, it will trigger war with this nation.
As part of the adjustment we limited the aggressive fire mode to range units only. To counter this limitation all units will now block other units automatically when positioned somewhere.
- Aggressive fire mode: Limited to range units. Units will bombard enemy and neutral units.
- Fire at will (standard): Blocks and attacks close by neutral or enemy units, unless they have right of way.
- Return fire /hold fire: Units pass each other without combat.
The aggressive fire mode can be activated in the fire control, which is available to members of the high command. Membership to the high command can be purchased in the shop.
We hope you can make good use of the aggressive fire mode and wish you best of luck on the battlefield!
Your Bytro Team


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SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon today introduced the all-new Kindle, making its most affordable reader thinner, lighter, and with twice the memory as the previous generation for the same price, just $79.99. Kindle is offered in your choice of black or white and is available at www.amazon.com/kindle.
"Tens of millions of readers around the world have Kindle e-readers and today, we're excited to make our most affordable Kindle even better, while keeping the same breakthrough price point," said Arthur van Rest, General Manager, Kindle. "With a thinner and lighter design, twice the memory, and all the features customers love about Kindle, it has never been a better time to be a reader."
Kindle—Thinner, Lighter, Still Only $79.99
The all-new Kindle is thinner and lighter and has twice the memory compared to the previous generation Kindle. Now available in black and white color options, the new Kindle features a more rounded design, making it easy and comfortable to hold in one hand at any angle for extended reading sessions. Unlike reflective tablet and smartphone screens, the high contrast touchscreen display on Kindle eliminates glare in any setting, even in direct sunlight. Recent studies have shown that evening exposure to blue light from backlit screens like tablets and smartphones can suppress the body's production of melatonin, a naturally occurring hormone that helps the body fall asleep. Because the Kindle display emits no light, you can read anytime without losing sleep. Like all Kindle e-readers, the all-new Kindle has a battery life that lasts for weeks and not hours.
New Reading Features
Kindle comes with Amazon's newest reading features, including:
- Export Notes—It's now easy to export notes and highlights from a book to your e-mail, so you can always have them on-hand for reference. Receive your notes both as an easily printable PDF that's ready to bring to your book club, and as a simple file you can open in your favorite spreadsheet app. This feature will be available as part of a free, over-the-air software update in the coming weeks.
- Built-in Bluetooth audio for accessibility—The first Kindle with built-in Bluetooth audio support, Kindle makes it possible for visually impaired users to use the VoiceView screen reader on Kindle to read the content of the screen—including reading books and other Kindle content—without the need for an adaptor. This is enabled through a new out-of-box experience specifically for visually-impaired customers that allows them to pair their Kindle with Bluetooth headphones or a speaker. For other recent updates in accessibility, visit our Amazon blog.
- Chinese Word Wise Hints—Choose between English and Simplified Chinese Word Wise hints by changing the language in Word Wise settings.
- Personalized Home Screen—An updated interface and navigation makes it even easier to discover your next favorite book, manage Wish Lists, and see recommendations from friends via Goodreads. To learn more, visit www.amazon.com/kindleupdate.
All the Features Readers Love about Kindle
The new Kindle includes all of the features that have made the Kindle family the most popular e-readers in the world for eight years running:
- New Fonts—Fonts like Bookerly, Ember, and OpenDyslexic provide more choice for customers on top of the world class fonts already available on Kindle.
- Weeks of battery life—Battery life is measured in weeks, not hours.
- No set-up required—Kindle arrives pre-registered so you can start reading immediately.
- Whispersync—Saves and synchronizes your last page read, bookmarks, and annotations across all of your devices and Kindle apps, so you can always pick up where you left off.
- Worry-free archive—Automatically backs up your Kindle books in the cloud, so you never need to worry about losing your books—re-download your books wirelessly anytime for free.
- Goodreads—Kindle is integrated with the world's largest site for readers and book recommendations, with over 50 million members, 1.5 billion books added, and 50 million book reviews.
- X-Ray—Explore the "Bones of the Book"—see all of the passages across a book that mention relevant ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places, or topics of interest.
- Word Wise—Available on many popular English language titles, Word Wise makes it easier to enjoy and quickly understand more challenging books. Short and simple definitions automatically appear above difficult words, so you can keep reading with fewer interruptions.
- Family Library—With Kindle and Kindle reading apps, you can access not only your own books, but also books from the Amazon account of a spouse or partner.
- Kindle FreeTime—Gives parents a simple, engaging way to encourage kids to spend more time reading. Hand-select books for your kids to read, and achievement badges are earned when they hit reading milestones.
- Time to Read—Tells you how much time it will take to finish a chapter or a book based on your personalized reading speed.
- Vocabulary Builder—Compiles words you look up in the dictionary into an easy-to-access list. Use these lists to quiz yourself with flashcards and instantly see words in context.
- Share your favorite passages—Share book recommendations, highlighted sections, and meaningful quotes with friends via Facebook and Twitter.
- Smart Lookup—Integrates a full dictionary definition with other reference information via X-Ray and Wikipedia.
- Custom-Built Typesetting Engine—Word and character spacing, with hyphenation, justification, ligatures, and kerning lays out the pages just as the author intended.
World's Best eBook Store
Kindle e-readers come with instant access to the Kindle Store, which includes:
- Massive selection—Millions of books, newspapers and magazines, including the latest best sellers, Kindle Singles, and more.
- Kindle exclusives—Over 1,000,000 books are exclusive to the Kindle Store.
- Lowest book prices—Over a million titles are $2.99 or less, over 2 million are $9.99 or less.
- Kindle Unlimited—Enjoy unlimited reading of over 1,000,000 books and unlimited listening to a selection of thousands of audiobooks for just $9.99 a month.
- Kindle First—Access new Kindle books a month in advance of their official release date. Customers can choose one of the featured books each month for $1.99, and Prime members can make their selection for free—yet another benefit of Prime membership.
The all-new Kindle is still just $79.99 and is available for pre-order around the world and will start shipping in the coming weeks. Pre-order now at www.amazon.com/kindle.
About Amazon
Amazon.com opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The company is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about.


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Whether you are a journalism student about to graduate, a freelance reporter or a journalist who recognises the important of an online presence, you have no doubt considered an online CV (or resumé) and portfolio of your work.
Before you start, make sure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date, consider a profile on about.me and sign up to add your articles to Journalisted.
Another thing to bear in mind is the Marmite of CVs, the infographic CV. If you decide to go down this route tread very, very carefully as the comments on this infographic CV suggest most hate rather than love this visual but busy and often confusing style of CV.
Here are five great examples to inspire you to create your own:
1. Freelance journalist Josephine Moulds offers this fine example an online portfolio. Moulds has opted for a simple, easy to navigate site with her articles organised into five categories that reflect her specialisms. All information is included on the home page and she uses the logos of sites and newspapers, such as the Telegraph, the Times and the Guardian, which helps the reader. She includes a photograph of herself, and links to her Journalisted profile and CV.
Moulds told Journalism.co.uk creating a site has paid off:
I didn't realise how much I needed a website until I got one. Before, I had to paste a series of links at the bottom of pitches to editors, and was probably lucky if they visited one. This way, I get to send them one link to a page that shows at least four stories, a brief biography, and a photo, which is handy if you want them to remember you from a meeting.
It is part of my email signature and on my Twitter page. I'm always surprised by how many people click through from emails and later comment on it.
Moulds' profile uses WordPress so she can easily update it whenever she has an article published. The template was created by Matthew Taylor, who creates portfolio sites for journalists, as Moulds explains:
It's custom-made for journalists so it's easy to put up new articles, and the logos appear automatically. I've got about 80 articles up there and it probably took a couple of hours to find them online and paste them in.
2. BBC freelancer and co-founder of Not on the Wires Alex Wood also uses WordPress as the CMS for his portfolio site. Wood has web design experience and opted for a paid for template costing around $30 "that I pretty much gutted".
Wood has put a great deal of effort into thinking about branding and fonts. His site design is consistent with his Twitter page.
Wood created the one-page CV in Adobe Illustrator, which he has uploaded and embedded using Scribd. It uses HTML5, which means it is both indexed by Google and easy to copy and paste if commissioning editors want to save a copy.
"I made a lot of effort to make the CV match the branding of the website," he said. The inclusion of Skills Cloud works to great effect as "so many of us are multi-skilled it's helpful for people to be able to see at a glance".
Wood's advice is to keep an online profile focused towards Journalism and to be "up front" on the landing page and transparent. He said he is aware that freelancers and recent graduates often have many skills but he found having one all encompassing site worked against him. Wood previously used his Alex Wood Creates site as his portfolio but found editors were confused as to whether he was a journalist or web designer.
I pitch stories to editors and they have very little time to check the site. Be very careful with how people perceive you.
3. Freelance journalist Ciara Leeming also uses WordPress for her site, allowing her to easily update content. She has divided her work into multimedia, print and photos and its simplicity is its strength.
Leeming explained her previous site did not have a CMS, which was a source of frustration:
So I approached a former colleague Chris Horkan, who now runs OH Digital (he was our digital editor when I worked on the North West Enquirer, which went into administration, pushing me into freelancing), to see if he could sort me out.
I told them exactly what I needed to be added to the site, and they went away and thought about how to do it. They added a multimedia section to my site, changed the way the photo slideshows worked, imported my blog onto the site from Blogger and gave me a WordPress CMS, which they showed me how to use. The design of the site is the same as it was before – it just works much better for me now.
The effort and investment has paid off for Leeming.
I've had the site in its latest incarnation since January 2010 and it's great. I really think it helps in terms of marketing.
I seem to do quite well on the SEO rankings. I get lots of hits from people who are simply interested in my content (my photos and multimedia of Appleby Horse Fair and of gypsies and travellers are drawing lots of people at the moment). I've created my business in such a way that I tend to work on a lot of self-initiated projects which I then sell on, rather than having editors approach me, but I think having a strong website gives me much more credibility when I pitch my ideas.
4. US journalist Tracy Boyer has this website that dates back to 2007.
She told Journalism.co.uk she wants to move to a WordPress site and away from Flash, as it cannot be displayed on Apple products, such as the iPad.
Don't use Flash and the portfolio itself should be a CMS that is easy to update, such as WordPress and I suggest developing a portfolio in HTML5 and CSS5. My other piece of advice is to stay consistent with naming practices, as I was unable to do so and have noticed some confusion changing from tracynboyer.com to tracyboyer on Delicious, for example. Moreover, I am getting married this month so I also have to deal with changing my name and online identity to reflect my new name while not damaging the name recognition I have already built.
5. Fashion journalist Sarah-Jane designed this website (and it is more of a website than a portfolio).
She has had positive feedback and more than 100,000 hits.
She built the site herself using Photoshop and has been through various incarnations and designs, starting off with her own online magazine, which helped her build her name and brand. "Because I did it all myself I can add stories instantly," she said.
She generates traffic and attention via social networking, particularly her public Facebook page, which has over 2,500 connections.
If you're not good at web design then it's worth investing in a good web designer as it will pay back, particularly in the fashion industry.
I don't think I could manage without my website.
Five pieces of advice from the five journalists
1. Think about branding in terms of names and design and be consistent with your profiles, such as your name and identity on Twitter and Delicious;
2. Move towards HTML5 and away from Flash;
3. Use a CMS that allows you to easily update your portfolio, such as WordPress;
4. Keep it focused and sell yourself as a journalist;
5. Keep the design simple and clean and if you are not good at web design, invest in someone who is or use a standard template.
If you are building your own portfolio website then you will find this how to build a distinctive portfolio website with ease article useful.
Update 14/01/13: Sarah-Jane's surname has been removed at her request.


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A heady, rich, utterly opulent mix of creamy, white and yellow, tropical flowers whose velvety petals are infused with syrupy fruits and sprinkled with a touch of boozy liqueur, before being dipped in dark tea and bergamot, and then nestled in a vanilla cocoon. That's the essence of Tom Ford's Champaca Absolute, a very lush eau de parfum that is part of his Private Blend line. The perfume was released in 2009, and is centered around the eponymous flower, Champaca, an Asian cousin to magnolia. Champaca has an aroma that is a mix of magnolia and ylang-ylang, but it can also have a tea-like aspect with fruited nuances. All those sides are highlighted in Champaca Absolute in a very bold, very sweet, very heavy mix that is not for the faint of heart.
Tom Ford's description for the fragrance, as quoted by most retail sites, appears to be the following:
A floral oriental composition that is pure and provocative. With its sensuous heart of champaca, the magnolia-like flower that inspired it, this intoxicating nectar heightens the senses with notes of Tokajii wine and cognac as it warms the skin with vanilla bean, amber and sandalwood.
According to Luckyscent, the notes in Champaca Absolute include:
Tokaji [plum] wine, cognac, bergamot, magnolia champaca, orchid, violet, jasmine, vanilla, amber, sandalwood and marron glacé.
Fragrantica, however, has a slightly different list which is notable for the inclusion of dyer's greenwood, a variety of the broom shrub that smells of hay. They state:
the top notes are cognac, bergamot and dyer's greenweed [or broom]; middle notes are champaca, orchid, violet and jasmine; base notes are vanilla, amber, sandalwood and marron glace.
I think the complete, total list would be a combination of the two, as I definitely detect both the broom and the plum wine.
Champaca Absolute opens on my skin with an intense, concentrated blast of fruited, plummy, liqueured wine and cognac brandy, followed by tropical champaca. The flower smells of: buttery magnolia; custardy, banana-like ylang-ylang; apricots; and a heavy, syrupy, fruited sweetness. Lurking deep below the heady, over-the-top, floral richness is an almost leathered, smoky nuance. Sticky, cooked, plum molasses swirls in the floral air from the Tokaji wine, while cognac is sprinkled all on top. You don't smell as though you were dunked in a vat of alcohol, but there is a very pronounced liqueured aspect to the fruited sweetness.
I've noted a number of times in the past how Tom Ford fragrances can smell very different depending on how much you apply, and Champaca Absolute is no exception. When I applied a lot (amounting to a little over 1/3 of the vial, or the equivalent of 2 big sprays from an actual bottle), there was a definite vein of smoky darkness underlying the heady, sensual flowers. However, when I applied a lesser quantity (about 2 big smears, amounting to a small spray from a bottle), the notes which accompanied the champaca at the opening were quite different. There was no smokiness or leather, little plum, but a lot of orchid infused with vanilla.
Orchid has a very interesting, clear, sweet, delicate smell that can vary in its aroma depending on which variety of the flower is used. Here, in Champaca Absolute, it smelled delicately dewy, liquidy, and like floral nectar that was thoroughly infused with both ylang-ylang and vanilla. The overall effect was to remind me of one of my favorite, opulent florientals, LM Parfums' Sensual Orchid. It is a scent with a couple of notes in common with the Tom Ford, namely, orchid, boozy tonalities, ylang-ylang, jasmine, vanilla, and resins.
However, the two fragrances differ quite a bit in their focal points and overall feel. Champaca Absolute is dominated by the very unctuous, magnolia-like flower, not the lighter, clearer orchid. The Tom Ford fragrance feels more oriental, ambered, heavy, syrupy sweet, and fruited. In contrast, LM Parfums' Sensual Orchid feels less flat on my skin, less potentially oppressive or weighed down, and much more purely floral. Its tropical touch comes from coconut, not from the custardy, buttery magnolia flower. It lacks bergamot, along with hay or tea tonalities, but includes mandarin orange, almonds, peony, and neroli. At the same time, its boozy note is substantially lighter and more refined. It's also much fresher and less sweet at its core, and thereby, less potentially cloying in nature. I have to be honest, I much prefer Sensual Orchid's take on the lush, over-the-top, narcotic, floriental genre.
Beyond the minor Sensual Orchid resemblance, a lower dosage of Champaca Absolute also yields other differences from the version I saw with a higher amount. The main difference is that the accompanying notes rise to the surface much sooner, particularly the bergamot, jasmine, and the broom's hay-like note. There is a more obvious, profound, and long-lasting citrus tonality to the scent, along with increased dryness from the broom. There is also a stronger touch of earthiness in the base that verges on something like mushrooms or truffles, though it is subtle, so its impact is quite relative as a whole. (Still, it's enough to make me think of Tom Ford's Black Orchid which has a truffle note in the base.) Apart from all that, and as noted above, Champaca Absolute does not feel resinous, smoky or dark at the lower dosage; and both the booziness and the fruity undertones are also much weaker. In short, if you apply less Champaca Absolute, you'll get more of a sweetly floral-magnolia scent that has very different, very altered levels for the rest of its accompanying elements.
Regardless of the amount that you apply, both versions end up at the same place, sooner or later, so I'll just stick with discussing the Champaca Absolute I experienced with the larger quantity. This version is fully centered on the magnolia-like flower, with not much interference from the orchid or anything else at first, other than the very fruity accords. The plum wine is powerful during the first 10 minutes, much more so than the boozy cognac on my skin, although both are simply different form of liqueured fruits. At the same time, there is a definite suggestion of something almost like Davana, a rich Indian flower that smells like apricot-y ylang-ylang. There is almost no fresh bergamot to lighten up the notes, no hay, and little vanilla.
10 minutes into its development, Champaca Absolute slowly shifts. The jasmine arrives on the scene, imparting an additional layer of syrupy sweetness to the bouquet. The plum wine takes a small step back, the boozy cognac softens a little, and the perfume feels even richer. There is the first hint of the champaca's tea-like facet, along with the tiniest whisper of bergamot, though both are very muted at this point. Slowly, very slowly, Champaca Absolute turns more floral in focus. The boozy elements retreat to the sidelines after 30 minutes, and the delicate nectar of the orchid arrives to coat the richer, more unctuous, buttery champaca. There is a touch of broom now as well, but its subtle dryness does little to leaven or cut through Champaca Absolute's richness.
In the base, there is a tiniest whisper of earthiness, though it never smells like marrons glacé or iced chestnuts to me. Interestingly, at the lower dosage, Champaca Absolute reflected a more noticeable, almost truffle-like, mushroomy nuance in its foundation, but it's not so apparent now. By the same token, the tea-like elements and bergamot feel much weaker at the higher dosage, too. Frankly, the lighter, more minor notes have very little chance of standing up to the power of the heavy floral cocktail. Everything but the flowers, fruits, syrupy sweetness, and the growing touch of vanilla in the base are secondary — and, in some cases, tertiary, acting as a very muffled or muted suggestions at best.
The power of the florals as the showpiece is the main reason why Champaca Absolute doesn't change much in the hours which follow. All that happens is that certain secondary notes fluctuate in their prominence, order, and clarity. Whether it is the bergamot, the tea, the darkly smoky aspect in the base, or the various fruits, they all basically reach a crescendo by the end of the 2nd hour. After that, they either lose their shape and individual distinction, melt into the base, or generally aren't a main or powerful part of the scent.
The champaca (or davana-like) facets of apricot and tea have the greatest shelf-life in weaving about the top notes, along with the bergamot to a much lesser extent, but as a whole, Champaca Absolute is really just a floral blend of lush, tropical, velvety flowers dominated by a magnolia-like richness. It is infused with vanilla which increasingly takes over from the fruited elements. They, in turn, become more abstract, feeling merely like a general fruity syrupiness that coats all the flowers.
The more obvious, significant changes to Champaca Absolute involve its projection and feel. Initially, the perfume was very potent, powerful, and intense — regardless of how much you apply. However, with a little over 1/3 of a ml or about 2 sprays from a bottle, Champaca Absolute is extremely forceful indeed. At first. In fact, it's rather a surprise how quickly the perfume turns soft and the sillage drops. I suspect Tom Ford sought to counterbalance the richness and sweetness of the notes with something that was less dense in weight. If so, then he succeeded in that goal. At the end of the first hour, Champaca Absolute turns softer and weaker. From an initial distance of about 5-6 inches, the perfume's projection now drops to around 2-3 inches. At the end of the second hour, however, Champaca Absolute hovers just above the skin. And that's at the very high dose! Granted, it remains there for hours, and only turns into a discreet skin scent at the 6.5 hour mark, but given the serious intensity of the opening moments, I was a little surprised by soft and airy the fragrance becomes later on.
By the end of the 2nd hour, Champaca Absolute is a well-blended, seamless blend of lush, tropical, buttery flowers dominated by a magnolia-like richness that is lightly flecked with jasmine syrup, hints of ylang-ylang, and a touch of Davana. Tiny streaks of apricots, dark tea, and, to a much lesser extent, fresh bergamot run through it. There is no hay, earthiness, plum, or booziness on my skin. There continues to be a definite element of fruitiness, but it becomes increasingly abstract and indistinguishable from the florals. Only the tiniest suggestion of a dark, slightly smoky, resinous amber ripples through the base. Much more prominent, however, is a smooth, custardy creaminess that has a very vanillic nature.
In the hours that follow, Champaca Absolute turns into a simple blur of rich florals with tropical creaminess. As noted above, the other notes either fade into the sidelines, or melt completely into the base. The resinous amber, smokiness, and bergamot are the first to vanish around the 5th hour. After that, the apricots and fruitiness. Late in the 6th hour, Champaca Absolute is primarily a sweet floral with a custardy, banana-like richness and sweetness. If I smell very hard with my nose right on the skin and focus intently, I can single out ylang-ylang and jasmine as the most prominent aspects, along with vanilla and a subtle hint of fruitiness. There is a brief flicker of some nebulous, vaguely woody note in the base, but it's hardly distinguishable as sandalwood. (And it's most definitely not Mysore sandalwood.)
From afar, though, Champaca Absolute is a mere haze of rich, custardy florals, and it remains that way until its very end. In its final moments, the perfume is a light smear of floral sweetness with a suggestion of something creamy, tropical and fruited about it. All in all, Champaca Absolute lasted under12 hours with a small amount, and a whopping 14.75 hours at a higher dosage. Given how my skin eats up perfumes, that says something. The sillage hovered just above the skin for a good portion of that time, and the perfume felt quite airy in weight, despite the heaviness of its notes up close.
I'm going to say this bluntly, and probably about 15 more times during the remainder of this review, but Tom Ford's Champaca Absolute is one of those love it/hate it scents that you should not go anywhere near if you don't love extremely heavy, lush, sweet florals. If you hate the richness of magnolia, stay away. If you can't bear the sweet syrupy aspects to jasmine, or the custard heaviness of ylang-ylang, stay away. If you don't like even light amounts of hay, broom, or earthy notes, you may want to pause. If you don't like intensely fruited notes, especially very unctuous, syrupy, or tropical fruited notes, then run. Same thing if you don't like fragrances with even light touches of booziness or liqueured aspects. And if you hate fragrances that explode like a heavy, powerful bomb at the start, then you may want to go to the other end of the planet than anywhere which is wafting Champaca Absolute. This is a fragrance for a very particular sort of perfume taste, and it will not be for everyone. I cannot emphasize that enough.
Now, if you happen to be someone whose taste or perfume style suits several of the aforementioned categories — ideally, all of them — then you may find Champaca Absolute to be the best thing ever. However, even if you are one of those people, there is a chance that Champaca Absolute will feel too heavily and oppressive in its flat, dense, richness. I happen to be someone who actually is in the target demographic, and I'm still a little uncertain about the perfume.
I enjoy Champaca Absolute's opulence and richness, but I really have to pause at times. For one thing, the perfume is a little too monolithic in its feel. If Champaca Absolute didn't drive over you like a Panzer unit on its way to Poland, then I might handle it better. If the linearity of "heavy florals with vanilla" had been leavened with more changes, I might not feel quite so exhausted by the end. I think it's a great scent for a "once in a while" occasion, in low quantities; I'm not sure about anything more than that, or about wearing Champaca Absolute on a frequent basis, let alone a daily one. There is something about the scent that feels as though you just ate 6 whole vanilla-frosted cakes, when you merely asked for a single, large slice. Wearing Champaca Absolute for a few days in a row would probably put me off both cake and rich florals for a while.
I suspect that some (or many) of these issues are the reason why Champaca Absolute has received mixed reviews. In fact, on MakeupAlley, the fragrance seems to be quite polarizing. Take this long (edited) assessment by "Mac789" who seemed to initially like the fragrance, before drastically changing her mind:
A wonderful, bitchy-pill white floral that completely disagreed with me. […][¶]
This is not your mother's white floral, nor is it something that is especially easy to wear. It's a ballsy scent with a lot going on and it has extreme lasting power.
The drunken spree at the top, combined with the champaca absolute, a sprig of almost mentholated green, and whatever other floral is veering around, blew my mind. Nothing smells like this. Thank you, Tom Ford, for creating a five-alarm fragrance. The florals are rich, bright, and careering towards instability.
Shortly, a strong honeyed broom note appeared. I have never liked broom, although I can't fault the fragrance for its use. […][¶] I then left the store and let the fragrance air out. Within short order, the base ripped through. This base was fanatical woods and dirt, insistently growing and engulfing, sharpening, smothering, cutting… reaching a splintering zenith from which there was no escape, not by washcloth, shower, or baby wipe…
It stayed with me until the next day, showing off. The experience left me reeling, and also realizing that sometimes the thing that stands out the most is the thing that most attracts–for the wrong reasons.
Champaca Absolute is a standout that I suspect will entrance and enchant people who adore broom, woods, and soil. It's a highly creative fragrance [… but it] was too distorted for me to wear, with both giant opener and closer and not a smooth segue from one thing to the next, or perhaps it was my perception that was distorted, since I liked it well enough when I first smelled it. As of right now, though, rather than being that overworked term "edgy," it pushed me towards the edge.
Others had a very different experience, where the problem was not any earthiness or broom at all, but rather "putrid fruit," too much tropicality, or just plain fatigue after a while. Some of the shorter responses:
- This has a problem of arrested development on my skin. No matter how much I spray, it is arrested at a preliminary stage where it is about to bloom and that is it. I also get cognac-sweet top notes but the rest is just a super humid tropical evening without much in particular. Indeed Champaca Abcolute has such a humid, moist vibe on my skin that it wouldn't surprise me if I started seeing tiny mushrooms popping up on my skin. It also turns acrid, somehow fermented on my skin after a short while. [¶] Still, even I get a meaty tropical flower smell from this. Is it champaca? […] I get something that makes me think of magnolias and other things.
- Its an alright fragrance. At first whiff this was gorgeous and I had to have it but the drydown was not something that I liked as much. Too floral for me.
- It was really perfume intensity and smelled like putrid fruit. Not like a big white floral that I was hoping for. […] The next day I could still smell it on my skin. It finally had become pleasant, but nothing special.
Others, however, love Champaca Absolute, sometimes passionately so:
- [At] the Tom Ford counter […] I tried White Musk (my least favorite), Oud Wood (too masculine), Japon Noir, Noir de Noir (not too bad), but none of them really blew me away until I smelled Champaca Absolute! This fragrance is mysterious, sensual, sweet and surprising. Everything that I was looking for. [¶] The cognac top note really makes this a special fragrance. The sweetness lasts about an hour and then comes the Jasmine, Violet, Orchid and Champaca floral notes. Very nice. The dry down is especially wonderful. The fragrance stays close to your skin all day. I really think this is a timeless fragrance that's good for any adult age.
- How lovely! TF Champaca Absolute opens with blast of champaca-scented rice in a container made of fresh-cut bamboo-stem, along with sweet ripe plum. I am a big fan of white florals and I love the real champaca flower. The name is misleading as champaca is never dominant but lingers to the end. [¶] Comparision between TF Champaca Absolute and Ormande Jayne Champaca: OJ is "browner" and denser while TF is greener and more airy. OJ is less sweet and less rice-like. Both are well-blended exotic beauties! OJ is "wilder" while TF is more lady-like. I like both.
- TF Champaca Absolute by **no means** deserves any kind of low rating or to be compared to Ormonde Jayne et al. Tom Ford went to the most ancient of gardens, where perfumiers have been harvesting for thousands of years, and has captured not just the scent, but the **soul** of champaca (hence the "absolute.") If it turns putrid as some say, then that's incompatible skin chemistry my dears, NOT the perfume. When a perfume turns putrid after being sprayed on acid-free paper or linen, then and then only can it be considered a loser. TF Champaca Absolute is EXQUISITE to the extreme, and incredibly lifting, not only for the wearer, but those who experience the waft. […] Tom Ford has nailed it. That is **exactly** what champaca is… a sacred flower that the eastern cultures maintain inspires a higher peace and joy. [Emphasis to names with bolding added by me.]
I've spent so much time on the average perfumistas' mixed responses to Champaca Absolute in order to provide a counterbalance to the bloggers who generally seem to love the fragrance and who also detect very different elements. Take, for example, Victoria at Bois de Jasmin who wrote:
Despite its name, Champaca Absolute is not a soliflore—the magnolia note is part of a bouquet. Overall, it is a quite a striking blend, full of character and dramatic presence. Like many Private Blends, Champaca Absolute has a certain vintage glamour, yet without a self-conscious retro aesthetic. The richness of the composition is evident throughout: from the top accord, with its dried fruit and candied citrus nuances, to the sugared amber and vanilla base. Set against this gourmand cornucopia is a heady, luxurious floral composition. It suggests the indolic heft of jasmine, the spicy warmth of carnation and the petally radiance of magnolia. While magnolia is only an accent, it fits so beautifully that I forget about wanting a magnolia soliflore experience.
There is a point to the development of Champaca Absolute that reminds me strongly of Tom Ford Black Orchid, or rather what I wanted Black Orchid to be—an unapologetically rich, opulent floral. The late drydown of Champaca Absolute is my favorite part. The dramatic sensuality of the composition mellows down, leaving one with an intimate, warm veil of woods, incense and violets. It is certainly worth waiting for!
Then, there is The Non-Blonde who also seems to have thoroughly enjoyed the scent:
Is Champaca Absolute the big fruity floral in Tom Ford's Private Blend line? Yes and no, I guess. The floral heart notes take center stage and they are accentuated with sweet round plums and a plum liqueur. But, really, this is not something that belongs in a pink bottle on Sephora's shelves. The first blast is very alcoholic and boozy. Something between Armagnac and a plum brandy. […] Champaca Absolute smells really really good.
The flowers (jasmine, violet, orchid, champaca) are blended into a single accord of prettiness.It leans to the tropic side, a little loud and exuberant, but after wearing it enough times and learning to listen I've begun to smell the softness that lies underneath. It feels like a layer of silk, not quite powdery and not quite sweet- I guess that's the steamed rice quality of champaca. I have yet to find it when wearing Ormonde Jayne's Champaca which I like well enough, but Tom Ford's version works better on my skin for one reason or another.
Maybe it's the base. Champaca Absolute dries down rich and sweet. After four or five hours it becomes a full blown oriental, even though the floral accord is tenacious enough to still be hover and appear here and there, especially in the heat. I can't say I get the promised marron glace note, but there is quite a bit of sweet creaminess to satisfy my sweet tooth. [Emphasis and bolding to name added by me.]
On Fragrantica, the reviews are as mixed as they are on MakeupAlley, though a substantially greater number seem to really like Champaca Absolute. Some find the perfume to be a wonderful successor to the tradition of big '80s powerhouses, or even older ones like Fracas. A handful enjoyed the beginning before being overwhelmed by too much syrupy sweetness over the course of the perfume's development, and changing their mind. Several dislike Champaca Absolute as being "too perfume-y," too much like "an old lady perfume," or too boring in its simple floral nature. Others rave about how it is "seductive," "glorious," "exceptional," their "favorite TF buy so far," or even their "favorite fragrance of all time."
Interestingly, one of the positive reviews comes from a man. Actually, I know a few men who enjoy Champaca Absolute, probably because of boozy opening, but they are exceptions as this is a fragrance that definitely skews feminine in nature. Still, you may be interested in one man's Fragrantica assessment:
Champaca Absolute is my favourite TF and in my opinion one of his best.Boozy opening,no doubt,but once the cognac has subsided to a lesser extent the glorious chestnut aroma remains right through the mid notes and drydown. I disagree with previous commentary that its a female only scent and an old womans fragrance or overtly floral. For mine the floral notes are there but take a backseat.Granted its not the most masculine scent going around but its a standout in a bland sea of citrus/aquatics/oriental/woods and can be worn by a guy who is looking for something totally unique and is confident enough to wear it. Longevity is in the vicinity of 6 hours and sillage is close to the skin.
Definitely worth a sample and pleased I have added this gem to my collection of niches 🙂
Whether or not a man can wear Champaca Absolute is definitely going to depend on his personal tastes and comfort zone. I firmly believe that if you feel good in what you're wearing, that's all that matters. So if a guy enjoys lushly opulent, boozy florals, then Champaca Absolute is definitely one to consider. If, that is, he fits within all my prior parameters or warnings about both the scent as a whole and its particular notes.
We all have different perfume tastes, and there isn't a scent in the world which is going to appeal to everyone. Tom Ford's fragrances tend to be more polarizing in general, due to their intensity, richness, often powerhouse forcefulness, and heaviness. Champaca Absolute is no different. However, it may be a little more of a love it/leave it scent than some of his others. I've noticed that people really respond at opposite ends of the spectrum to big, lush, heavy florals. Here, there is the added issue of syrupy sweetness, almost tropical fruitiness, and the other supporting notes like the cognac, broom, and the very subtle earthiness. Making matters even more complicated is that lush intensity, the heaviness, and an 80s-like powerhouse strength. If all of that sounds like your cup of tea, then you should definitely seek out Champaca Absolute. You may want to remember, however, that — just like a very rich cake — a little goes a long way.


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From the inventors of the strapless pack comes the featherlite and flexible strapless Fly glove. Simply slide the Fly glove on and stretch into place. It's like wearing gloves without wearing gloves. With the Fly glove, multiple materials combine to maximize protection, durability, breathability and second-skin fit. You'll love the unrestricted mobility and smart phone friendly finger tips. The Fly is lightweight, ultra thin and comfortable, without sacrificing function or performance.
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Time to hang up your old gloves and step into the future of paintball gloves with the Bunkerkings Fly glove. You know how it goes. Wearing gloves is great; until you need to do anything with your hands. Then you're taking the gloves off and back on again to do...well, just about anything.
Thanks to the Fly gloves stretch fit construction and an innovative combination of materials you can simply pull the Fly gloves on in one fluid motion and leave them there without needing to go through the old routine of removing them every time you actually have to do something. Unrestricted mobility, a strapless design that makes it easy to pull on and off are just a few of the features you'll love in the BK Fly Gloves.
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Cleaning / Care Instructions
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Indonesia is one of the world's largest agricultural producers, with farming contributing nearly 13% to the national economy. The sector has been in slow decline for decades, however, hurt by poor yields and falling income. In recent years, thanks to startups seeking to use technology to boost the sector, Indonesian agriculture has found a new lease of life. From our interviews with key local agritech companies and investors in smart shrimp farming, farm-to-table e-commerce and more, CompassList has produced an in-depth and insightful survey of Indonesia's agriculture sector and its prevailing challenges, complete with outlook and recommendations.
Farm Friend
Updated: 01/2018
Updated: 01/2018


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Great new review by Ian Shone. Simon Scarrow's book Sword and Scimitar takes on the little known, but historically important, Siege of Malta in 1565. Take a look at Ian's review to see if he does a good job of it.
Not a lot of activity recently on the blog for Alt Hist, but we will rectify that soon with some more book reviews and other news. Behind the scenes we have been working hard on the next issue of Alt Hist – more news to follow soon I hope.