text:
Predictions from the asparamancer
a variety of therapeutic or preventive health-care practices that are not typically taught or practiced in traditional medical communities
theory & development of computer systems able to perform tasks that require human intelligence, i.e. speech, decision-making & translation
the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs and the natural world
used popularly as a synonym for catastrophe or a large-scale catastrophic event
a substance used to treat, cure, prevent, or diagnose a disease or to promote well-being
an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one
the planet on which we live; the world in which we exist on soil
a natural oil typically obtained by distillation and having the characteristic fragrance of the plant or other source from which it is extracted
of or from outside the earth or its atmosphere
intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest
Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent, the fifth-largest, 40% larger than Europe
a secret history which has been deliberately suppressed, forgotten, or ignored
relating to or made from a compound or preparation used for the treatment or prevention of disease derived from plants
graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge
the life, times & inventions of Nikola Tesla
esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science
A conditioning and brainwashing tool manipulated to reference planned false flags
the foretelling or prediction
of what is to come
game or mind sport in which players attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several specific topics
the practice of seeking impressions about a distant, future or past unseen target, using (ESP) or "sensing with mind"
The continuation of life or existence
vast part of Asia bounded by the Caspian Sea, Ural Mountains, Pacific Ocean, & the north of China, India and Persia
Einstein's theory of relativity, developed in 1905, shows that time passes at different rates.
The Complete & Missing Chats from the John Titor internet chat postings, including extras


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Clash of Clans Private Server
Clash of Clans Private Server is defined as the servers that are hosted privately by any small or private organization. Clash of Clans Private Server includes all private servers which have everything unlimited. That means unlimited gold, unlimited elixir, unlimited dark elixir and unlimited gems are available in Clash of clans mod apk. one of the famous game as best strategy game Clash of clans is the most downloaded game as the best strategy game so far. One Clan, One town hall and a strong army with the best defense. But in some cases, many players want to get everything in the game but they can't do that. Here we are providing a few private servers of the clash of clans to get everything in the game.
A private server is hosted by any private organization that provides their services to their users. These servers provide you with unlimited resources in the game. Every player in the clash of clans want to get unlimited gems, unlimited gold, unlimited dark elixir, and unlimited elixir but can't do this in the original server.
Clash of clans, Famous strategy game so far and top trending game on play store. Over 100 million downloads on play store and Millions of reviews make prove that its best game so far. Clash of clans mods means there is a personal server which is hosted by any private organization. Clash of clans is the best strategy game but there a problem its very time-consuming game in upgrading. From level one to level 11 of town hall everything should be upgraded for best of your town hall otherwise attackers defeat you. Many servers and games which are modded and have unlimited resources are available on Gaming World. If you think you have a good strategy maker, Make your strategy best as you can win every attack by defending yourself with your defense buildings. From the start when anyone starts the game there should be one thing that upgrades yourself fast to defend your town hall and your resources. But that's not possible so quickly because its time-consuming process to upgrade to next level. Many of servers are available to provide you unlimited resources like gold, elixir, dark elixir and gems. These privates servers are available for free anyone can download and enjoy the game and get all the things that a gamer always want in the game. So download and enjoy.

subset: commoncrawl


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No Cause to Blush
Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed. (Isaiah 54.4)
We shall not be ashamed of our faith. Carping critics may assail the Scriptures upon which we ground our belief, but every year the Lord will make it more and more clear that in His Book there is no error, no excess, and no omission. It is no discredit to be a simple believer; the faith which looks alone to Jesus is a crown of honor on any man's head and better than a star on his breast.
We shall not be ashamed of our hope. It shall be even as the Lord has said. We shall be fed, led, blest, and rested. Our Lord will come, and then the days of our mourning shall be ended. How we shall glory in the Lord who first gave us lively hope and then gave us that which we hoped for!
We shall not be ashamed of our love. Jesus is to us the altogether lovely, and never, never, shall we have to blush because we have yielded our hearts to Him. The sight of our glorious Well-beloved will justify the most enthusiastic attachment to Him. None will blame the martyrs for dying for Him. When the enemies of Christ are clothed with everlasting contempt, the lovers of Jesus shall find themselves honored by all holy beings, because they chose the reproach of Christ rather than the treasures of Egypt.


text: Good morning. I'm A Martinez. Gardening groups on Facebook are pretty wholesome, a space to talk about all things plants. But WNY Gardeners, which has over 7,000 members, was flagged for violating standards. Someone asked the group about their most loved and indispensable weeding tool. One replied push-pull hoe, but AI didn't pick up on that meaning. Another offending comment - kill them all; drown them in soapy water. Tough to be a bug. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Product Details
The e-TP60 is a sophisticated, luxuriously made power distributor that eliminates many common problems found with audio and video components caused by massively contaminated electrical power.
The AC waveform becomes severely distorted by ground noise, voltage spikes and sags, high frequency power supply noise from other components in your own system, plus radiated high frequency digital noise from processors and digital interconnects.
There are also distortion products at the top and bottom of the AC waveform created by switch-mode power supplies in electronic devices on the same circuit. Additionally, you're never alone; your residential AC mains supply is shared with other apartments, homes, and businesses on the same utility transformer. That's why many audio and video enthusiasts notice their systems are more enjoyable late at night or on weekends!
The beautifully crafted special grade aluminum chassis effectively shields against another common problem, RFI (Radio Frequency Interference), and a layer of Formula GC-303 blocks EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference). Internal wiring is FURUTECH μ-14 wire (14 AWG) that guarantees low resistance. Furutech Hyper Quality High Performance Receptacles are wired to the IEC AC input of the e-TP60. Receptacles feature 24k gold-plated phosphor bronze, non-magnetic conductors for stable, long lasting, optimized power transfer.
Furutech's Two-Stage Cryogenic and Demagnetization Alpha Process
The Final Result
The 2-Step Cryogenic and Demagnetizing Alpha Process works in tandem with other design-in features to create the most optimized AC power transfer possible. Furutech's total awareness and devotion to detail results in a greater sense of power, dynamics, and resolution, with cleaner, blacker backgrounds and a larger, more stable soundstage, vivid tonal colors and deeper extension at both ends of the frequency range. The e-TP60 will allow the delicacy, refinement and nuance of a performance through, along with micro- and macro-dynamics that will leave you breathlessly engaged. Displays of all types will exhibit greater, sharper resolution with less ghosting, color shift, "snow", or vertical and horizontal lines.


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Adjustable-speed drives
A line of adjustable-speed drives designed for use in almost all applications, the VS drive line includes two adjustable-speed alternating-current (AC) drives, three microdrives, and a pump/fan drive. The VS1SP sensorless vector drive and VS1GV closed-loop vector drive are high-performance variable-speed AC drives that are useful in difficult applications regardless of what voltage, power rating, or performance level an application requires. Their removable keypads provide help-text information in a variety of languages. Ranging from ½ to 10 hp, VS1 microdrives are compact and feature user-friendly interfaces and design elements that ensure consistent motor control throughout a variety of voltages, horsepowers, and enclosure types. The VS1PF drive, available from 5 to 700 hp, is suited for the pump and fan industry. Its energy-savings mode adjusts output automatically based on load.
— Baldor Electric Co.
Circle 100
Current sensors
A micro split-core current sensor, the Hawkeye 300 Current Switch fits in small enclosures. It takes one-third of the space that a standard split-core current sensor requires. It is useful for monitoring the status of vents, exhaust fans, recirculation pumps, and other fixed loads. The sensor provides a 100-percent solid-state design and polarity-insensitive output.
— Veris Industries
Circle 101
CFD software
Flovent Version 7 computational-fluid-dynamics software simulates heating and cooling in buildings. The software features a response-surface-optimization capability that fits a 3D surface to an entire design space.
— Flomerics Inc.
Circle 102
Heat pumps
Part of the Mr. Slim M-Series line of inverter-driven cooling-only and heat-pump products, the MSZ-A09NA indoor model has a cooling capacity of 9,000 Btuh and a heating capacity of 10,900 Btuh. It also has a seasonal energy-efficiency ratio of 17.0 and an energy-efficiency ratio of 13.0.
— Mitsubishi Electric HVAC
Circle 103
Laser smoke detectors
The 7251DH air-duct smoke detector combines a high-sensitivity laser sensor with smoke-detection capability. It is well-suited for environments with high airflow and/or several air changes per hour, such as data centers.
— System Sensor
Circle 104
Humidity/temperature transmitters
The Series RHL transmitter provides a stable, repeatable, and accurate means of measuring humidity or humidity and temperature in harsh environments. The polymer-capacitance sensor is not affected by condensation, fog, high humidity, or contaminants and is designed for years of calibration-free service.
— Dwyer Instruments Inc.
Circle 105
Gas/air system
The WhirlWind gas/air-control and safety system features two automatic-shutoff valves in series, a zero-pressure regulator, and a patented swirlplate. Its random airflow pattern reduces resonance. The system mounts directly to combustion blowers and is Canadian Standards Association-certified.
— Karl Dungs Inc.
Circle 106
Now ETL-, United States-, and Canada-listed, the Oil-Acid-Moisture Purger is designed to continually clean oil, acid, and moisture from a chiller's refrigerant charge and return the oil to the chiller's compressor lubrication circuit/oil-reservoir sump. It regains chiller capacity and can save thousands of dollars in energy costs per year.
— Redi Controls
Circle 107
Send product and literature releases to the attention of Megan White, associate editor, HPAC Engineering, The Penton Media Building, 1300 E. Ninth St., Cleveland, OH 44114-1503; e-mail: [email protected]. Electronic submissions are preferred.


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Vary in colour with the Chinese characters saying 'Kung Fu ' and double dragon logo print on it !!
It makes an impressive sound when open the fan, very great for performaing.
Very light weight idea for beginners to practice or performing their Kung Fu skills in Tai Chi style !!
This fan is available in left & right hand .
Mix purchase are welcome !!
Mix buy any Martial Art Fan products get extra discount !!
Don't miss out others great Martial Art Fans in our store !!
-More Colours Available-
33 cm long (left & right hand available)
Weight : 140 g
13 Bamboo Tangs
as picture
Nylon & Bamboo
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For Wholesale Order-
For non-quality problems refund is not accepted. In the unlikely case the item is defective, please inform us within 7 days of receipt in order for a refund or replacement to be organized. Defective items must be returned in their original and unused condition including the original packaging. The return freight shall be paid by yourself Please kindly understand and feel free to read more on our T&C page.


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I gave a presentation at Orlando PHP last night. I had a great time, and everyone there was fantastic.
I really want to improve my public speaking. I gave a very simple introduction of myself to a Google Checkout panel a few years ago and thought I was going to passout. I felt I did a horrendous job, and all I was doing was talking about myself and the company I work for.
Enough about that. Last night I was running late due to traffic on I-4 because of the rain. I got there and was very surprised to see one of the biggest turnouts we have ever had for Orlando PHP. I quickly setup my computer while David Rogers talked a little about GIT.
I sped through my slides a little bit. I really didn't want to just sit there and read what was on them. I wanted to be personable, clear spoken, and desperately wanted to avoid filler noises (ah's, umm's, like's and you know's). Overall I am very happy with the way it turned out.
Had I gotten there early, I would have setup a tripod and camera to tape it. Because I was running late, I scrapped that.
People were asking me some great questions, and I hope I took enough time to answer to the best of my ability. Some things I deferred to other members of the group that had better answers. Thank you Ketema for stepping in where you could.
I have become very passionate about using Git & Git Flow for my development. It has truly made me a better developer, rather than just a hacker.
Thank you to Vincent Driessen for sharing his git workflow originally. I used it for a couple of weeks, but ultimately did not keep up with it. At some point he released the "git flow" tools that I used in my presentation. I became aware of these tools thanks to Jeff Kreeftmeijer who wrote a blog post titles "Why Aren't You Using Git Flow?"
I have some resources at the end of the slides that you can refer to.


text: Home PR News Experts recommend heightened protocols for the healthy return of sailing Experts recommend heightened protocols for the healthy return of sailing4 years ago·5 min readShareTweetPinShare Healthy Sail Panel recommends 74 detailed steps to safeguard the health of guests, crew and communities MIAMI, Sept. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ – New recommendations from a panel of globally recognized medical and scientific experts say that by relentlessly focusing on prevention and other measures – including the testing of guests and crew members – public health risks associated with the pandemic can be mitigated in a cruise ship environment. Experience the interactive Multimedia News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8644151-royal-caribbean-group-norwegian-cruise-line-healthy-sail-panel/ The Healthy Sail Panel submitted its recommendations today to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in response to a CDC request for public comment that will be used to inform future public health guidance and preventative measures relating to travel on cruise ships. The Panel was formed in June by Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH). The Panel comprises globally recognized experts in medical practice and research, public health, infectious diseases, biosecurity, hospitality and maritime operations that have applied the best available public health, science and engineering insights to their recommendations. The Healthy Sail Panel's 65-plus-page report includes 74 detailed best practices to protect the public health and safety of guests, crew and the communities where cruise ships call. Recommendations include testing, the use of face coverings, and enhanced sanitation procedures on ships and in terminals. The Panel is chaired by Governor Mike Leavitt, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "The Healthy Sail Panel spent the last four months studying how to better protect the health and safety of guests and crew aboard cruise ships," said Dr. Gottlieb. "Taken as a comprehensive approach, we believe the Panel's robust public health recommendations will help inform strategies for a safe resumption of sailing." Gov. Leavitt said: "This Panel undertook an ambitious, cross-disciplinary, public health examination to develop standards and guidelines that create the highest level of safety in the complex environment of a cruise ship. We studied the industry's experiences combating the pandemic – and we then incorporated the many lessons learned and advances made by medicine and science over the past six months. The Panel's recommendations are grounded in the best scientific and medical information available and are intended to meaningfully mitigate public health risks to those who sail." "We understand our responsibility to act aggressively to protect the health and safety of our guests and crew, as well as the communities where we sail, and we asked the Panel to help us learn how to best live up to that responsibility," said Richard D. Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group. "We were inspired by the depth of the Panel's work and their determination to help us establish the strongest protocols in the travel industry." "The Healthy Sail Panel's recommendations are robust and comprehensive, and they reflect the intense focus the panelists brought to their work," said Frank Del Rio, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. "We know that both authorities around the globe and consumers expect cruise lines to provide the safest, healthiest vacations we can, and this work demonstrates our commitment to doing just that." Fain and Del Rio said each company will use the Panel's recommendations to inform the development of new, detailed operating protocols, which will be submitted to the CDC and other authorities around the globe for review and approval– an important milestone in the process of resuming sailing around the world. The Panel's work is open sourced for others to incorporate in their protocols as well; Governor Leavitt and Dr. Gottlieb expressed appreciation that authorities and other cruise companies had already engaged in the Panel's work as observers.See alsoPR NewsBlackberry Travel App Is Now Available In Most Caribbean Markets The Healthy Sail Panel identified five areas of focus every cruise operator should address to improve health and safety for guests and crew, and reduce the risk of infection and spread of COVID-19 on cruise ships: Testing, Screening and Exposure Reduction Sanitation and Ventilation Response, Contingency Planning and Execution Destination and Excursion Planning Mitigating Risks for Crew Members In each category, the Healthy Sail Panel created practical and actionable recommendations to address specific safety concerns. Among the recommendations are key strategies such as: Taking aggressive measures to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from entering a ship through robust education, screening and testing of both crew and guests prior to embarkation Reducing transmission via air management strategies and enhanced sanitation practices Implementing detailed plans to address positive infection on board, including contingencies for onboard treatment, isolation and rapid evacuation and repatriation Closely controlling shore excursions Enhanced protection for crew members The full Healthy Sail Panel report can be found here: Royal Caribbean Group or Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements Some of the statements contained in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this release, including, without limitation, those regarding business strategies, plans, and objectives for future operations (including those regarding efforts made by the panel and future health and safety protocols and mitigation efforts) are forward-looking statements and we cannot guarantee that our protocols and mitigation efforts will be successful. Many, but not all, of these statements can be found by looking for words like "expect," "plan," "will," "may," and similar words. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future performance and may involve risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied in those forward-looking statements. Examples of these risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to the impact of: the spread of epidemics, pandemics and viral outbreaks and specifically, the COVID-19 outbreak, including its effect on the ability or desire of people to travel (including on cruises); the ability to develop strategies to enhance health and safety protocols to adapt to the current pandemic environment's unique challenges once operations resume and to otherwise safely resume operations when conditions allow; coordination and cooperation with the CDC, the federal government and global public health authorities to take precautions to protect the health, safety and security of guests, crew and the communities visited and the implementation of any such precautions; and other factors set forth under "Risk Factors" in each respective company's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks. While we believe that the recommendations of the panel will make cruise vacations safer, we cannot guarantee or assure that our protocols and mitigation efforts will effectively eliminate the risk of contracting COVID-19. There may be additional risks that are considered immaterial or which are unknown. The above examples are not exhaustive and new risks emerge from time to time. Such forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates and projections regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which we expect to operate in the future. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change of events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement was based. Logo – https://caribbeanetroundup.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/9fdeeaef10_Royal-and-Norwegian-Logo.jpg


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GSMA Announces Digital Leaders Programme; First Speakers; INSEAD Masterclass Programme; New Exhibitors and Partners
11 April 2019, Shanghai: The GSMA today announced the newly introduced Digital Leaders Programme, the first event speakers, Masterclass Programme and new exhibitors and partners for MWC Shanghai 2019, taking place 26 – 28 June 2019 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). MWC Shanghai 2019 is set to attract more than 60,000 professionals and 550 leading companies from over 110 countries and territories across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent sectors.
GSMA Launches Digital Leaders Programme The new Digital Leaders Programme is a C-Level programme that will bring business leaders from across the broader mobile ecosystem and vertical industries to tackle common challenges in the new digital era, and to advocate the best way to deliver future services to consumers. The Digital Leaders Programme will be launched on 11 April at the Formula 1 Shanghai International Circuit, senior executives from CITIC Telecom, Foxconn, HTC, Huawei, Jones Lang Lasalle China, McKinsey Digital in China, Nokia Bell, Qualcomm, Shanghai Mobile and ZTE, among others are confirmed to attend the launch event. In addition, a series of CEO activities including close-door roundtables, keynote presentations and networking will be held on 26 June, the first day of MWC19 Shanghai. More information about the programme, visit www.mwcshanghai.com/experiences/digital-leaders-programme/
"To deliver the full potential of Intelligent Connectivity and to navigate the ever changing technology landscape, we need new digital leaders from all industries to help shape our vision of the future and to provide direction," said John Hoffman CEO GSMA Ltd. "At MWC19 Shanghai, the GSMA is committed to convening influential global executives through Digital Leaders Programme where we will work together to make a positive impact on the digital future by reaching millions of people across the world with life-enhancing services."
Global Leaders and CEOs Headline MWC19 Shanghai Conference Programme The MWC19 Shanghai conference programme is held over three days in Hall N5 of the SNIEC with global leaders and CEO speakers from more than 20 countries and regions. Topics include 5G, artificial intelligence, banking and telecoms convergence, blockchain, data trust and security, global devices, future mobility and smart cities, among others.
Returning for a second year, The Leaders Stage programme will look into wide-ranging trends that are shaping the mobile future and impacting citizens' everyday lives, including digital business, humanitarian innovation, retail, tourism and travel.
Confirmed keynote speakers:
CEOs at the Conference Summits and Leaders Stage:
Other senior leaders from prominent companies will discuss key trends in the conference programme, including ABI Research, Blackmouth Games, China Mastercard, China Telecom, Cisco, Deloitte, DOCOMO, Ericsson, Forkast, Google, Intel, Klook, McAfee, NewH3C, Niometrics, Sterlite, Strelka, Syniverse, Turk Telekom, Vodafone, Xaxis, among others. For more information on the Conference Programme at MWC19 Shanghai, visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/conference-programmes/
INSEAD Provides Masterclass Programme for Business Leaders at MWC19 Shanghai GSMA is partnering with INSEAD, one of the world's leading graduate business schools with campuses in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, to provide the first Masterclass Programme at MWC19 Shanghai. Professor Thomas Mannarelli who specialises in innovation and leadership in organizations will be the instructor for this one-day programme. The Masterclass Programme is designed for middle to senior executives with responsibility to lead and implement changes in the organisations. Professor Mannarelli will guide the attendees through the challenges and opportunities they will face in the era of Intelligent Connectivity. Participants will gain a clear set of tools to create an action plan that they can execute in the workplace. For more information and application to the Masterclass Programme, please visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/experiences/learning/
Exhibition Showcases Mobile Innovation MWC Shanghai will once again showcase innovations from the mobile industry, as well as adjacent industries. New confirmed companies including Giesecke+Devrient, IDEMIA, Imagination Technologies, Oppo, Spirent, Viavi Solutions and vivo representing devices, security, identity, testing and optical technologies. For more information on the 2019 exhibitor list, visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/exhibition/exhibitors/
New to MWC19 Shanghai, the Future Mobility Zone will demonstrate smarter, cleaner and safer intelligent vehicles and cities. Companies showcasing in the zone include Helix Technologies, Imagination Technologies and UROS, alongside Guangzhou Global International Exhibition (GIE) – one of the leading international organisers in the automotive industry which will jointly present the development of the future mobility ecosystem with a number of intelligent connected automotive enterprise partners, including Baijieteng Technology, DeePhi, MapKing International, STARCART Technology, among others.
The crowning technology showcase, the GSMA's Innovation City, will put a spotlight on how Intelligent Connectivity, the combination of 5G, IoT, AI and big data, is impacting and improving the lives of people and enterprises around the world. Visitors will experience technology from partners including BICS, Huawei, MyFC and Shanghai Ratta Electronic Technologies, among others. For more information, visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/exhibition/gsma-innovation-city/
The International Smart City Expo – Shanghai Pudong will be co-located with MWC Shanghai for the fourth consecutive year. The International Smart City Expo will examine the creation and development of smart cities, with a focus on mobile technologies, Internet of Things, smart home, smart buildings and smart education and the benefits of these technologies for Shanghai citizens. For more information on International Smart City Expo, visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/exhibition/smart-city-expo/
Register and Get Involved at MWC19 Shanghai Registration to attend MWC19 Shanghai is now open, for information on registration and pass types, please visit: www.mwcshanghai.com/attend/register/
For more information on MWC19 Shanghai, including how to attend, exhibit, partner or sponsor, visit www.mwcshanghai.com. Follow developments and updates on MWC19 Shanghai through our social media channels – follow us on Twitter at @GSMA and use #MWC19, get regular updates through our LinkedIn Showcase Page atwww.linkedin.com/showcase/mwcshanghai/, and follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mwcshanghai. In China, you can follow us on Sina Weibo http://weibo.com/mwcshanghai or search "GSMA_MWCS" in WeChat.
About the GSMA The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators with nearly 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces the industry-leading MWC events held annually in Barcelona, Los Angeles and Shanghai, as well as the Mobile 360 Series of regional conferences.
For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA.


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He was dressed impeccably, though what else did you expect? In slim navy blazer, dark pants ripped at the shins, jet black socks, and velcro sneakers so white it was if they'd been buffed, Uri Minkoff sat patiently in the passenger row of a black SUV. The midday sun was high above. The sounds of Manhattan at lunch were all around.
Traffic had put a choke on the city, but as the car inched down 9th Ave. toward his Flatiron District offices on W. 22nd St., the Rebecca Minkoff CEO and co-founder held court on tech, who's doing retail right, tariffs, China, and threats to the traditional tastemakers of fashion.
(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
Your company's advances in tech are very well-published—smart dressing rooms (pictured below), RFID chips in handbags, etc. What's your evaluation, now that your company has had a few years in, of how those initiatives are impacting your brand?
Minkoff: We like to look a couple years into the future, to predict what we think shopping behaviors or patterns or the fashion community either should be or will look like. A promise to our customers is, "How do we bring that to them now?"
So we started thinking about those things, and that led to the store of the future (in 2014). Now, today you see Farfetch doing the same. If you go to Zara's store in the U.K.—any flagship has these [smart] mirrors.
I think we did something that some people, the early people, were like, "That's amazing." Others laughed and scoffed, and then they eventually got with the program. So I think that's had an enormous impact. We were one of the first two or three brands to launch wearables. We were the first brand to launch the store of the future. We were the first brand to institute that fashion week timing should change.
All those initiatives have had a profound impact of, "Hey, we're going to be the brand that's going to tear the walls down, or change the norms of this industry." We get a lot of people that wanna work with us because of that. So, you get more consumers. You get more press. And it kind of all becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
What tech things have you found to work well? What have you found could use improvement?
Minkoff: I think the idea of the mirrors in the store is a good experience. I think it's great that whatever you took in the room, as you leave, you'll get a text message and know what you had. If you wanna go buy it later, you can just click "Buy" right there, versus taking a photo and leaving and going to find it online. Those get to be kind of annoying things. With the mirrors, it was the right technology, and it was the right partner at the time.
We launched a self-checkout solution in SoHo (pictured below), the same day as Amazon Go did (in 2016). Self-checkout's becoming all the rage. I think now we're taking a pause break to look back and go, "Well, where is this going to evolve in terms of technology? Is it the Amazon Go style? Is it what we did?" So, some things you sit there and say, "Okay, I had that. The sentiment was right." Two or three years from now, is our technology [going to be] the exact right one? I don't know.
We had this augmented reality platform we were using on our website, where people could take a picture of themselves and change the fittings and sizes and see how it would look on them.
And we used that for a while, and I still believe in that. But probably it's a little early for the consumer behavior. We pressed pause on that. Things will go in and out, but I think our promise to our customer is we're always going to try. And some will succeed, and some will fail immediately, and some will phase out over time.
These things aren't cheap to do, I imagine—your tech innovations. How do you balance taking on these kind of costly initiatives versus pumping money toward more traditional avenues of customer acquisition, whether it's a magazine spread, or advertising on Facebook, or even optimizing your Google ads?
Minkoff: We're never going to be the brand to underwrite a gigantic check for one of these things. I'm gonna have ideas, we'll spend some. But a lot of it, there are big tech companies that need and want to get into this space.
So, a lot of times, we're partnering with start-ups that are funded, or with larger tech organizations that want a piece of things. They wanna try things. They wanna get into a new industry. They wanna try a new product. They want PR. They want relevance. They want something. You would be shocked by how much money we've spent on the low side, and I'd get in trouble by the board if I spend too much.
It has to strike a balance. But fortunately there is a tech ecosystem, and because we've become known as the early leaders in some of these areas, brands are often willing to partner with us at a fraction of the cost in terms of helping to underwrite these things, knowing that once we get a pilot, it works. They're gonna be able to [show it].
That being said, I would say that 15% of our traffic in our New York store is coming there to see what we've built. So it's also an acquisition vehicle, as well.
I'm curious, from someone with your mindset: what other retail stores, when you go in them, which experiences do you like? What other stores are doing it right?
Minkoff: I think Warby Parker does a phenomenal job. The L.A. store has the green screen. The one down in Miami has kind of a pool idea (pictured below). So you have some interactive moments. They've taken what was, at least on the prescription side, a miserable experience of going to the eye doctor and sitting there waiting—going to a LensCrafters—and fully modernized that.
Now you feel like you're in a luxury space. They've connected that to the glasses. You go there, put them on, and have access to a couple hundred different SKUs. Versus at the LensCrafters, they're behind lock and key, and [you have to ask], "Can I get that one?"
Question about you and your role at the company. What's something that might surprise people about what it's like to run a top fashion company?
Minkoff: The fashion retail sector is in such a sea of change right now. I think you've gotta be able to balance, and firefight, and problem solve like never before.
You have to have a knowledge of, "What were the rules? How did people get here? And what was that space like?" I think that's important to understand history. I think it's also very important to understand, "Who are the current rising stars that are starting the last two or three years, or even today? What are they doing?" And to be able to mix that understanding to try and put down a footprint.
Every day I'm dealing with people, supply chain, wholesale sales, ecomm sales. Now, we have tariffs. An increase of 25% on tariffs. [We're looking into] changing supply chains, new factories, global stores. There's such an array of things.
I think the old mentality [in fashion] was, "The best product shot in the best way put in the best place wins." And now it's: You're shooting every day. You're A/B testing all your content. You're trying to optimize future productivity, future design around consumer search and sentiment.
Every day is about managing all those intricate things. How do you become super nimble, super fast, in an industry that's historically against that? That's what I'm obsessed with.
Your sister made some headlines last fall talking about how tariffs are impacting the company—that Rebecca Minkoff wouldn't raise its prices despite higher production costs, but that it would also search for a country other than China to manufacture its goods. What's the latest on your quest to consider other countries of origin?
Minkoff: I think it's a necessity.
What does that look like for you, timeline-wise? How hard is that to do, to pick up and move production?
Minkoff: I mean, you look at what Ford announced. They said that the cost of raw materials, of metals alone, is going to cost them a billion dollars extra. And it's gonna dent profits.
This is just a straight bottomline thing. The tough part is, the bigger companies, our competitors, have already moved out. So, they'll sit there and say that: "We only have 10% in China, anyway."
A: [To move] is impossible, but B: We're very entrepreneurial and very convincing. And so, C: We will be able to be moved fully out much sooner than one might have felt.
Is that something that will take you months? Years?
Minkoff: Generally, it would take at least a year. But we will have accomplished that in much more rapid order through … (smiles) … a fortuitous series of events.
In fashion especially, there has been no shortage of acquisitions of late. Le Tote just bought Lord & Taylor. Michael Kors famously purchased Versace last year. Under what circumstances might it make sense for your company to acquire a brand?
Minkoff: Some of those brands, those companies, have gotten to be several billion in revenue, and we're much smaller than that. I think that there's a lot of growth left for us to have.
For us, it's more about partnering in community and platform. We launched a non-profit called the Female Founder Collective, highlighting other female founders. So I think it's more for us, "What does that look like? What does that community look like? The girl in Ohio that wants to sell some soap—how do we lend her a voice? How do we partner there?"
There's still a lot of runway for our own brand, versus taking another brand and adding it in. I think you need a certain level of infrastructure and scale, and that's probably not on my next several-year radar.
Something you have talked about publicly is this concept of the democratization of fashion. And the idea there is that it used to be these editors and designers—the "ivory tower," you've said—dictating the industry. I suppose, the thinking there is that those people were the tastemakers; those were the people that set the trend. With regard to fashion, how does democratization work in terms of still delivering that great, desirable product?
Minkoff: You still have people at a luxury level, maybe a handful of people worldwide, that are really setting trends. Truly gifted designers, or truly gifted stylists or editors. Those people still exist.
Before, they had all the power. Historically, it would take two or three years from a concept before people could milk it all down to when it got to Walmart. But that's probably six months now—from the time of luxury to the time Walmart has whatever their version of it is, you've taken out 75% of the time.
So you're seeing this much more rapid cycle of things in and out. And you're seeing so much of those things that are in and out that you're over them quicker. And then it's time to move on.
Again, there are a handful of people who really are the true, gifted creatives. And I think that they're still launching those things. But now the influencers, the other designers, the whole supply chain—within six months you're hitting a saturation point. That's part of this democratization. It just happens so much faster now.
Read more
- Jungalow's Justina Blakeney on Using Social Media to Support Social Movements
- Tamara Mellon On the New Luxury, and Why the Days of Brands Staying Neutral Are Over
- Yale Economist K. Sudhir on the Future of Work, and How Retailers Survive a Recession
- Hugo Engel on Leon's COVID-19 Pivot with Feed Britain and How Restaurants Can Embrace Technology
- Daymond John on Bombas, TikTok, and the 'Shark Tank' Deal That Got Away
- Roth Martin on Sustainability, Imitators, and Taking Rothy's Deeper Into Retail
- What are the retail trends for 2023?
- 11 Ecommerce Checkout Best Practices: Improve the Checkout Experience and Increase Conversions
- What 1-Click Checkout Can Do for Your Small Business


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The decision to sell your home is a big one. Now that you're ready to sell, you must consider the method you select to sell your home. While most homeowners first thought is to call a licensed real estate agent, why not consider the alternative of selling to a professional investor, like those at H&M Realty Group.
Real estate all comes down to the numbers, so it is helpful to understand the differences in the costs between selling your Orange County house with an agent versus to an investor.
Agent –
Marketing expenses for selling your Orange County house with an agent are part of the listing contract. They outline all of the steps that the agent will take towards selling the home, which can vary significantly by property.
Listing costs will include anything you must do to prepare to sell your Orange County house with an agent. These listing costs could consist of simple cleaning so that it is in ready condition for showings, to significant updates to the home's interior, appliances, or more. Often, an agent will recommend sellers invest in renovations modernizing the features of a home to meet the demands of technology. Other amenities they may suggest space for two home offices or even the addition of a study area for school-aged children.
Repairs for any issues with the house will come out of pocket before closing. If the inspection revealed problems with your home that you were previously unaware of, you would also have to pay to complete these repairs. Otherwise, the lender will not approve the loan in many cases. Alternatively, you can expect the buyers to respond with their estimated costs for these repairs deducted from the offer. Avoiding this surprise can be achieved by hiring an inspector.
Staging expenses cover the cost to depersonalize the space, which enhances selling your Orange County house with an agent. Buyers who tour the home can easily imagine themselves occupying a home free of personal items or showing a distinct personal taste in decor. You may also encounter storage costs to clear your home of excess belongings.
Advertising expenses should be discussed and agreed to before signing the contract when selling your Orange County house with an agent. These costs include professional photography for the high-quality images buyers have come to expect as they search listings online and professional drone pilots to provide 360-degree virtual tours.
Commissions are paid for professional services provided, including marketing, paperwork, arranging for inspections, appraisals, and doing all of the footwork to bring a buyer to the door and finally the closing table when selling your Orange County house with an agent. You can expect to pay a total of around 6 percent of the sales price in commission.
Holding costs for the duration you have listed your Orange County house with an agent can quickly add up, especially if you have had to relocate. Suppose your reasons for selling are financial. In that case, the longer that the listing lingers on the market, the more monthly payments for the mortgage, insurance, and taxes, and all of the utilities you will continue to carry. The strain of this situation can cause restless nights and extreme stress for your entire family.
Investor –
An investor has none of these expenses! And because investors pay cash and buy your house as-is in most cases, you can close fast, sometimes in a matter of days!
With little closing time to worry about, it is easy to see how selling your Orange County house to an investor like the professionals at H&M Realty Group saves you time and money! Ready to sell your Orange County house? Call H&M Realty Group at 949-625-4533 or send us a message today!


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We have our first appellate case now interpreting the Alabama Parent Child Relationship Protection Act, and it permits the relocation to occur. In Clements v. Clements, Case No. 2030768 (Ala. Civ. App. February 11, 2005), the Appeals Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court in Autauga County. The trial court's opinion hadn't expressly said so, but the Appeals Court deemed the trial court to have found that the relocating mother had succeeded in overcoming the presumption against relocation. This therefore shifted the burden to the non-relocating father, who sought a transfer of custody from the mother to himself.
The court ruled that any change of custody continued to be governed by the McLendon standard and that it would not disturb the finding of the lower court on ore tenus evidence that the father had not met his burden.
The father and the mother both presented evidence regarding their relationship with the child and their fitness as parents. It is clear that both parties love the child and want the trial court to act in the child's best interest. There was ample evidence presented to the trial court from which it could have found that it was in the child's best interest to move with the mother to New York. During the time that the child has been in the mother's custody, the mother has seen to the child's medical needs and educational needs. There is little evidence that the mother's devotion to the child's needs will change after moving to New York. Also, the mother has participated in counseling, along with Dr. Teitel (the mother's new husband) and the child, to encourage a smooth transition for the child in New York.
The evidence supports the trial court's determination that the child's best interest and welfare will not be materially promoted by transferring custody of the child to the father. Ex parte McLendon, supra. There is no doubt that the mother's move to New York represents a significant transition in the child's life. However, the benefits the child will receive by moving to New York with the mother, the mother's role as the child's primary caregiver, and the mother and Dr. Teitel's willingness to support a continuing relationship between the father and the child support the trial court's judgment allowing the mother to move with the child to New York and denying the father's petition to modify. Therefore, we cannot say that the trial court erred in entering its judgment denying the father's petition to modify custody.


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18-55mm |
$153 average price |
Your purchases support this site
Buy the Sony E 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS SEL1855
SLRgear Review
January 15, 2011
by Andrew Alexander
The Sony NEX system was announced in May 2010, with three lenses: the 18-200mm zoom lens and 16mm prime lens, and the subject of this review, the 18-55mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 zoom lens.
The 18-55mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 was designed for the new Sony ''E'' mount, with the image circle filling only the APS-C sensor size (it would vignette if used with a full-frame camera, and it's not clear if that would even be possible). The lens gives an effective field of view of 27-84mm when mounted on a NEX3 or NEX5.
The 18-55mm isn't a ''constant'' lens, in that as you increase the focal length, both the maximum and minimum aperture sizes decrease. The following table reflects the change in aperture with focal length:
Focal Length | 18mm | 24mm | 35mm | 55mm |
Largest aperture | ƒ/3.5 | ƒ/4 | ƒ/4.5 | ƒ/5.6 |
Smallest aperture | ƒ/22 | ƒ/25 | ƒ/25 | ƒ/32 |
The lens takes 49mm filters, and ships with the AL C SH112 petal-shaped hood. The lens is available as part of a NEX camera kit.
The Sony 18-55mm E-mount lens produces images of average sharpness. Used wide open at wide angle (18mm @ ƒ/3.5), there's a small sweet spot of sharpness in the center, which is quickly surrounded by moderate softness out to the edges. Stopping down offers light improvement, but the best results at this focal length are only obtained at ƒ/5.6 where it's still only somewhat sharp.
Zooming in a bit offers a bit better performance for sharpness - it seems the lens is optimized for the mid-range. Between 24-35mm the lens produces images which are sharper in the corners than what we noted at 18mm. Again, stopping down to ƒ/5.6 offers an improvement, but it doesn't get that much better than what we noted at 18mm - moderately sharp images. Fully zoomed in to 55mm, there's a bit of a spike of corner softness when shot wide-open at ƒ/5.6, which can be tamed by stopping down to ƒ/11.
The lens holds its own when stopped down to an aperture smaller than ƒ/11, with diffraction limiting being apparent but not overly impairing the image sharpness. However when the lens is stopped down to its smallest aperture (ƒ/22-32) at any focal length, the resulting images become quite soft indeed.
Chromatic Aberration
Results for chromatic aberration testing were an interesting mixed bag: typical of what you'd see at the wide end for a zoom lens. At 18mm there's some slight CA when used wide open, and getting slightly worse as the lens is stopped down. At 28mm, performance is actually better as the lens is stopped down; at 35mm, maximum CA is off the chart, suggesting a deficiency of the lens at that focal length setting. It's mitigated somewhat by stopping down, and you'll only really notice the CA in the corner areas, in areas of high contrast. At 55mm the lens provides actually quite good tolerance to CA.
Shading (''Vignetting'')
It's an interesting picture for light falloff with the 18-55mm E-mount; the only focal length that will produce any corner shading of note is 18mm. At this setting, you find around 1/3 of a stop of shading when the lens is used at ƒ/3.5, or at ƒ/11 or smaller.
The 18-55mm E-mount lens produces some complicated results for distortion; some fairly strong barrel distortion less than 24mm, moving to fairly strong pincushion distortion at 28mm and longer.
Autofocus Operation
The Sony 18-55mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 E is fairly quick to autofocus - the lens takes a bit more than a second to slew through the entire range of focus. Small changes in focus are conducted extremely quickly. The ring will turn all the way around with no stops. When using manual focus as you turn the ring the central section of the LCD displays an enlarged (7X or 14X) view of the image. It makes the camera very easy to use for manual focusing with this lens.
Macro performance is above average, with a 0.3x magnification rating and a minimum close-focusing distance of 25 cm (just under 10 inches).
Build Quality and Handling
The Sony 18-55mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 E-mount lens is small on its own, but when mounted to the NEX-3 or NEX-5 bodies it actually looks fairly large by comparison. While the lens itself isn't that large or heavy (194g / 6.9 oz), the small size of the NEX bodies puts the weight of the overall combination to the right side of the system - it also pulls it forward, as well. The construction of the lens is very nice - metal focus and zoom rings with metal shell, combined with a metal lens mount and a plastic filter ring. There are no control surfaces on the lens (no switches or buttons) other than the focus rings, as all lens functions are controlled via the camera, as well, there is no distance scale or depth-of-field scale.
The focusing ring is metal, 3/4'' wide, with 1/2'' of that reserved for raised ribs. The ring will rotate forever in either direction with no hard or soft stops, and doing so brings the camera into manual focusing mode, with the 7X or 14X enlargement as previously described.
The zoom ring is also metal, about one inch wide with thin raised ribs. The ring is smooth to turn, taking only two fingers to rotate, and offers 90 degrees of turning action to run through the available range of focal lengths. There is some lens extension as the lens is zoomed in towards 55mm, about 3/4''. Zoom creep is not a factor with this lens.
The lens offers image stabilization, for which the results of our testing should be available soon. As well, autofocus is very quiet, making it quiet useful in movie mode.
The lens hood is a petal-shaped, bayonet-mounted design that is 1 1/4 inches long, adding about 1 1/8 inches when attached. The hood will reverse for storage on the lens.
At the time of writing, there's precious little in the way of alternatives for the Sony E mount. An adapter exists to allow you to mount standard alpha lenses, but the only comparable lens would be the regular Sony 18-55mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 kit lens, which wouldn't offer as many features as the E-mount version.
Sony E 16mm ƒ/2.8 ~$250
The 16mm pancake lens offers slightly sharper performance in a smaller package, with of course the fixed focal length and lack of image stabilization.
Sony 18-55mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 DT SAM ~$200
If you were possessed to mount this lens to a NEX body via an adapter, you would note a definite improvement in sharpness; CA is slightly better in some cases, but as bad or worse in others (especially at the wide angle). There's no image stabilization built-in, and you'd lose focusing functionality inherent in the NEX series.
As the kit lens for the NEX series, we don't expect it to be perfect, but the lens has a few objectionable results in our testing of it. The lens could certainly stand to be a bit sharper, and there are some odd results in our CA testing. Corner shading is good, and distortion is about what you would expect, so in the end, it's probably what you would expect for the price, but nothing to write home about. Unfortunately, from a practical point of view, the camera / lens combination is a bit too bulky to be the ''pocket camera'' many might have been expecting, but if you're fine with the idea of carrying the camera in one pocket and the lens in the other, it does make a very portable combination.
Sample Photos
The VFA target should give you a good idea of sharpness in the center and corners, as well as some idea of the extent of barrel or pincushion distortion and chromatic aberration, while the Still Life subject may help in judging contrast and color. We shoot both images using the default JPEG settings and manual white balance of our test bodies, so the images should be quite consistent from lens to lens.
As appropriate, we shoot these with both full-frame and sub-frame bodies, at a range of focal lengths, and at both maximum aperture and ƒ/8. For the ''VFA'' target (the viewfinder accuracy target from Imaging Resource), we also provide sample crops from the center and upper-left corner of each shot, so you can quickly get a sense of relative sharpness, without having to download and inspect the full-res images. To avoid space limitations with the layout of our review pages, indexes to the test shots launch in separate windows.
Sony E 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS SEL1855
Your purchases support this site
Sony E-mount - Silver
Sony E 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS SEL1855 User Reviews
stopped down fair sharpnesswhat a terrible lens full of CAs - 18 mm not to use wide open
This brand is sold by public relation and its names reputation - but the results are not fitted to the name and its over-rated standard lenses !
reviewed March 17th, 2022 (purchased for $150)
O/+ fair sharpness, stopped down
-/O this lens has a big CA problem
- - terrible CAs wide open at 18mm
It is the worst standard lens of all brands, unfortunally. Not for posters, for beginners images up to 20 x 30 cm - it's okay !
What may be the purpose of the manufactorer?
1. to buy a well known SONY camera
2.to buy a much more expensive better SONY lens afterwards - this is good marketing strategy - but not equivalent to the fine, excellent Sony bodies !!!
PS. For test images "elimination of CAs" is switched on in program. -
good finish, small & lightweightso-so performance
a decent kit lens. has a beautiful finish & comes with a hood.
reviewed November 11th, 2013 (purchased for $100)
a so-so performer, but it's ok as a kit lens. sits mostly in the drybox though.. almost never used it :-P -
solid, good hood, sharp in black versionlarge
i experienced with silver and black Versions - the black ones are by far better - optical (but only with Nex 7) - maybe selected.
reviewed December 30th, 2012
it's not very small but I like it a lot more then my new 16-50 mm pancake.
After 18 months it is better then expected and with the new AF from Nex 6 - most pics are now sharp.
Not so good with Nex 5n or Nex 3. -
Very nice aluminium design, versatile also for video and good OSSSoft, mediocre contrast,slow
I got this lense as a kit lens with my body and kept it for video and OSS functionality.
reviewed November 4th, 2012 (purchased for $200)
This is my least used nex lens, it`s practical for video shooting but foto`s show the apparent flaws of this nice kit lens.
It`s as slow as any kit so nothing special there.
It`s just not sharp enough to resolve the resolution of the nex 7 or any other nex.
It still makes nice pictures if you are not that critical and print small. The colors are nice and natural. The contrast is just good enough but nothing special.
If you postprocess good results can be had with this lens.
I use it mainly for video because of the excellent OSS which gives a steady picture, also the resolution is not such a problem with video.
As a kit lens it`s better than average and i would recommend it.
It looks and feels sturdy with it`s all aluminium barrel. It also seems a lot better made than most kit lenses. -
Metallic construction, good IQ, useful zoom range, reasonable cost, quiet/small/light, consistent with NEX small-camera motif.Somewhat lower IQ than Alpha version, MF isn't 'direct', not very fast fstop
Nice starter lens for NEX. CDAF functions VASTLY improve after NEX3 firmware 5.0 (different numbers for each NEX). Still not for fast-action photos, though. Good for basic NEX video, too.
reviewed April 11th, 2012 (purchased for $160) -
fast and silent AF, decently sharp, great build qualitypoor (but better than average in class) aperture, somewhat awkward to MF, visible distortion at 18mm
Today even the kit lenses are (mostly) decent performers and this lens is no exception. My wife has it on her NEX-3 but I'm using this camera sometimes as well - enough to make an impression.
reviewed December 9th, 2011
The build quality is very good; the only (minor) reasons that prevent me from giving it a "10" are the slightly wobbly plastic inner tube, the slippery metal of the rings that sometimes makes them difficult to turn (esp. when wearing gloves), and lack of distance scale (which, coupled with the fact that manual focusing can only be engaged from the depth of the menus, makes MF rather awkward). The AF is fast, silent and accurate - not something we're used to getting from Sony.
Optical quality is quite fine. Barrel distortion is visible at the wide end and there's some CA. The sharpness is very decent overall, especially stopped down to f/6.3 or thereabouts on the wide end where the lens is insanely sharp. f/3.5-5.6 aperture is nothing to write home about although this lens is better than most here because it maintains the f/4.5 aperture up to about 48 or 50 mm - not bad! To a point this can be offset by the ability of the NEX to go to very high ISO levels.
All in all, a very worthy representative of the kit lens category.


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Select one of the previous seven posters displayed on the site. Click here to view the candidates. The winner of Primary No. 4 will advance to the final, where it will go against other primary winners for the right to be named Wiz Readers' Choice 2009 Poster of the Year.
This is the fourth of at least eight primaries. Voting for each primary will remain open until two days after the close of the final primary.
Three rivalries are featured in Primary No. 4: Florida-Florida State, Colorado-Colorado State and Army-Navy, plus a quality entry from Louisiana Tech. Don't let your team down!
Voting continues in four other primaries. Voting has just opened in Primary No. 5. In Primary No. 3, Michigan State continues to hold off a charge from North Carolina. In Primary No. 2, Texas Tech has a sizable lead over Idaho and Northwestern.
In Primary No. 1, Iowa State has a commanding lead over a bunched group that includes New Mexico State, North Texas and West Virginia.


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Texas Tech Graduate Injured in Las Vegas Mass Shooting
A recent Texas Tech graduate was injured in the mass shooting at Las Vegas' Route 91 Harvest music festival early Monday morning.
According to Darrell Gibbs, his daughter, Danae Dawn Gibbs, was wounded during the early-morning shooting that left more than 50 people dead and more than 400 injured.
Danae was shot and had to have surgery, Mr. Gibbs wrote on Facebook. She's now recovering.
Danae graduated from Texas Tech University this May. A GoFundMe page has been created for her. No other update on her condition has been released.
You can read more about the shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival by clicking on the links below.


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Automation with highest precision
The assembly and gluing of various plastic components occurs at the beginning of every product. This preparatory work includes the assembly of three components: nut (in square or hexagon design), threaded rod and washer. The result: a highly versatile, plastic threaded bolt for various thread sizes and lengths. Since a thermoset plastic cannot be welded, a special adhesive is used to bond the components. More than anything, this work step demands the highest precision. WKT's goal was to automate this work step, reduce the defect rate to zero percent and thus increase productivity.
KUKA robot checks own work independently
A square or hexagon nut is first picked up and positioned in the holding fixture. The threaded rod that is then picked up is chamfered and turned 180 degrees in order to add adhesive to the underside in a subsequent step. This end of the threaded rod is then screwed into the nut under torque control. The two elements – nut and threaded rod – then become a single joined component. In a final step, the washer is added. For this, the robot picks up the washer and lets it slide over the threaded rod and down onto the nut. This is how, in just a few steps, the finished threaded bolt is created in the holding fixture. Thanks to camera technology, the robot is capable of independently inspecting the product. In this manner, the precision of the work can be checked and a reject or good part can be determined within seconds. The finished bolt is removed from the holding fixture in order to take up its final position in the curing device.


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Mediation Resolves Disputes
Mediation in Creedmoor NC is a very common and cost-effective way to resolve disputed issues arising out of a failed marriage. As an experienced certified Family Financial Mediator, Chris is well aware of the benefits of settling a family law case privately, without the stress, expense, and unpredictability of litigation. Chris regularly guides her own clients through the mediation process and is often asked by other family lawyers to serve as the mediator in their cases.
Mediation is a settlement option in which the parties to a dispute hire a neutral mediator to assist them in voluntarily resolving their dispute. It is not necessary for a lawsuit to be filed in order to participate in mediation. The parties meet in separate rooms at the mediator's office or other mutually agreeable location. They may or may not be represented by lawyers. An attorney cannot represent you and also act as a mediator. For this reason, it is important that you advise our office that you would like Ms. Eatmon to act as a neutral family law mediator, rather than as your lawyer, before you set a consultation to discuss your case.
Contact a Creedmoor family law mediator at Eatmon Law Firm today. To schedule your initial consultation, please fill out the online request form.


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Johns Hopkins researchers capture jumping genes
An ambitious hunt by Johns Hopkins scientists for actively "jumping genes" in humans has yielded compelling new evidence that the genome, anything but static, contains numerous pesky mobile elements that may help to explain why people have such a variety of physical traits and disease risks.
Using bioinformatics to compare the standard assembly of genetic elements as outlined in the reference human genome to raw whole-genome data from 310 individuals recently made available by the 1000 Genomes Project, the team revealed 1,016 new insertions of RIPs, or retrotransposon insertion polymorphisms, thereby expanding the catalog of insertions that are present in some individuals and absent in others. Their results appeared online October 27 in Genome Research.
Retrotransposons are travelling bits of DNA that replicate by copying and pasting themselves at new locations in the genome. Having duplicated themselves and accumulated over evolutionary history, transposable elements now make up about half of the human genome. However, only a tiny subfamily of these insertions known as LINE-1 (L1) is still active in humans. Line 1 insertions are able to mobilize not only themselves but also other pieces of DNA.
"In any individual, only between 80 to 100 retrotransposons are actively copying and inserting into new sites," says Haig Kazazian, M.D., professor of human genetics, McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "We're not only discovering where they are and who has which ones, but also finding out that they insert with a remarkable frequency: On the order of one in every 50 individuals has a brand-new insertion that wasn't in their parents."
The researchers recognized L1 retrotransposons — distinguishing them from the vast amount of fixed "fossil" transposable elements that litter the genome — because these actively jumping genes are human specific and almost exactly the same in sequence from one person to another.
"Our genome contains around half a million interspersed L1 sequences that have accumulated over evolutionary history, along with over a million more repeats, most of which were mobilized by L1 elements," explains Adam D. Ewing, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in Kazazian's lab. "Since the vast majority of these are ancestral and therefore common to all humans and even some of our primate relatives, we can ignore them and focus on L1s that contain human-specific characters in their sequences. Those are the actively mobilized elements responsible for considerable genomic diversity among human individuals."
The high frequency of these L1 insertions gives us a better idea about the extent of human diversity, according to Kazazian, whose 22-year focus on retrotransposons seeks to reveal how they alter the expression of human genes.
Just as the structural variants known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (or SNPs, pronounced "snips") serve as markers for various diseases, the hope is that RIPs — which are up to 6,000 times bigger than SNPs, and therefore may have a stronger effect on gene expression — will correlate with disease phenotypes.
"In that same way that someone had to go out and find the SNPs, this study was about finding RIPs that remain active and continue to produce new insertions," Kazazian says. "Now we have the background necessary to begin studies that may correlate these L1 insertions with everything from autism to cancer."


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Better and Different
Author: Jax Taylor
Published: Oct 27, 2019
What should a Private Process Server Service in South Carolina mean to you? Though you most likely know what a Process Server is and does, as you probably hired Process Servers in South Carolina previously and are now seeking the services of another or different process server in Richland County or elsewhere.
As you have experienced, or perhaps not, Process Servers located in South Carolina are not the same. South Carolina Process Servers offer different fees, personalize special timed services, act differently and many have different and unpredictable ways of handling your important documents. Do not hire any Process Server in South Carolina or anywhere else until you read the rest of this blog and visist our our pages on this website.
The various differences between Process Servers within South Carolina may make planning your objectives and court deadlines challenging and even questionable, as no two process servers in Richland County are alike and will perform (or not) services and generate proofs and affidavits that are usually inadequate. Unfortunately, average work and substandard work product has loomed over the South Carolina process serving industry far too long .
The difference between South Carolina Process Servers is plain and simple. Process serving within South Carolina is mainly an unsophisticated cottage industry. Most Process Servers are self-employed and work in accordance with their own timing and priorities. Many South Carolina Process Servers, unfortunately, are challenged, at times overwhelmed, by client requests requiring understanding state and or federal statutes, civil rules of procedure, short deadlines and simple directives. It's a realization that most experienced attorneys and paralegal professionals need a professional Process Server to properly serve process and that the Process Server handling your documents be more than a messenger, which most Process Servers in South Carolina are, and most NOT be.
Throughout the past twenty-three years as professional licensed Process Server's in South Carolina we learned cottage industry process servers serve an important role in the legal support services business yet they solely responsibility for and contribute to great variables with respect to reduced quality of work and inconsistent results. We are sure there are some exceptions, but they are far and few between. When you need a real and dedicated Process Server in South Carolina you just landed at the right location. Please read on an see why A.C.E. Process Servers put the "Pro" in the proces and the "US" in trusting we will perform as needed.
A.C.E Process Servers in South Carolina addressed the long time prevailing issues of process serving inconsistencies, uneducated and untimely services by creating a formalization manual of procedures, offer continuing education programs and utilize check lists to guide services as performed. Our management of process servers in South Carolina act in a consistent manner and in so doing, have contributed to a 90% + success rate. Our way of conducting process serving services in South Carolina are consistent, stable and predictable. Our South Carolina agents are not party to the old way of handling services, as most are, but are employed with real time and modern day directives and systems to better service your needs.
in South Carolina, A.C.E. Process Servers defeat the notion all process servers are the same. Since 1999 A.C.E. Process Serving Services implemented a process service monitoring data base, real time reporting system to keep our clients updated and informed. We have a systematic approach to handling your South Carolina process serving service and offer uniform procedures, guarded and secure information, and staff who are available to assist you by telephone and email on a real time basis. As we say, "no worries, we are on it!" This is a motto we live by and aspire to. We provide peace of mind to our clients. Clients who are familiar with our South Carolina services (or anywhere else) have no worries when A.C.E. is in possession of papers to serve and when their are deadlines to meet. A.C.E.'s success rate for South Carolina serving process upon defendants, respondents and witnesses are predicated upon a "We Care" attitude which you will experience each time you hire us. All South Carolina Process Servers associated with A.C.E. offer same day services, specially planned services and specialize in locating difficult to serve people in South Carolina. We will follow your directives, pay attention to rules and pride ourselves on being your modern day process server now and in the future.
When you are need of stability, consistency and guaranteed process service results, come to A.C.E. Process where our South Carolina Process Servers are like soldiers carrying out strict orders and are tasked to assure your service request is handled with care and with positive results
A.C.E. Process Servers place our clients' needs ahead of our own. When you hire us to perform process serving services in South Carolina, expect excellent follow up and results, backed by a perfect proof or affidavit.
Enjoy the change of season and know we are here for you winter, spring, summer and fall
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I don't like the really long tacky nails with a lot of baubles glued on top but rather the simple, short and sweet appeals to me. So I looked into how to keep the nails from smudging, bought the appropriate top coat and used Lily as my guinea pig. I used the head of a straight pin to make the dots. I wanted to use black but Lily wasn't buying into it. However, she loved the outcome so much she asked if I could take a picture to post on the blog (see above). I hope this will be the first of many experiments with nail art. Lily agrees. She and I went on a few nail art sites and she picked out a few favorites (see below). I'll have to make a special trip to Sally's Beauty Supply to get some new colors (all I have are aqua, hot pink, a gooey black and nude;)
Some great tips that helped the polish to keep from chipping, smudging and looking messy:
Sand down nails beforehand.
When you paint don't go all the way to the cuticle. If you look at nail art photos you'll see that many of them apply the polish just above the nail bed and it looks professional. (But I didn't do this with Lily since her fingernails are so small to begin with).
Apply two coats of polish (you don't have to wait in between coats).
Apply fast drying top coat (A MUST)!
Wait a full hour to do anything that requires you to use your fingernails (even though the topcoat says it fully dries in five minutes, it doesn't really cure for a good hour. So if you bump your fingernail it WILL push and wrinkle the polish.)
When I did these things my nails did not chip and had a crisp, smooth and shiny look. And I've always struggled in the past.
Hope I've inspired you to go out and get your color on;) Here were a few of my favorites (a little more conservative compared to the above examples).


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"The makers of our Constitution … conferred, as against the Government, the right to be let alone — the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men." — Justice Louis D. Brandeis, 1928
After the Watergate era had ended and Jimmy Carter was in the White House and the Senate's Church Committee had attempted to grasp the full extent of lawless government surveillance in America during the LBJ and Nixon years, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. FISA declared that it provided the sole source for federal surveillance in America for intelligence purposes.
FISA required that all domestic intelligence surveillance be authorized by a newly created court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Since 1978, FISC has met in secret. Its records are unavailable to the public unless it determines otherwise, and it hears only from Department of Justice lawyers and National Security Agency personnel. There are no lawyers or witnesses to challenge the DOJ or the NSA.
Notwithstanding this handy constitutional novelty, the NSA quickly grew impatient with its monitors and began crafting novel arguments that were met with no resistance. Those arguments did away with the kind of particularized probable cause about targets of surveillance that the Constitution requires in favor of warrants based on the probability that someone somewhere in a given group could provide intelligence data helpful to national security, and because the FISC bought these arguments, the entire group could be spied upon. The FISC unleashed the NSA to spy on tens of millions of Americans. The Constitution in Ex... Best Price: $1.25 Buy New $8.00 (as of 12:15 UTC - Details)
That was still not enough for the nation's spies. So beginning in 2005, then-President George W. Bush permitted the NSA to interpret President Ronald Reagan's executive order 12333 so as to allow all spying on everyone in the U.S., all the time. The NSA and Bush took the position that because the president is constitutionally the commander in chief of the military and because the NSA is in the military, both the president and the NSA are lawfully independent of FISA.
The NSA does not acknowledge any of this, but we know from the Edward Snowden revelations and from the testimony of a former high-ranking NSA official who devised many of the NSA programs that this is so.
The NSA's use of FISC-issued warrants is only one of a half-dozen tools that the NSA uses, but it is the only tool that the NSA publicly acknowledges. FISC-issued warrants do not name a person as a suspect; they name a category. For example, it could be customers of Verizon, which includes 115 million people. It could be telephones and computers located at 721-725 Fifth Ave. in New York; that's Trump Tower. It could be all electronic devices in the 10036 ZIP code; that's midtown Manhattan.
When the NSA obtains a FISA warrant and captures a communication, the participants often mention a third person. The federal "minimization" statute requires the NSA to get a warrant before surveilling that third person. Last week, we learned that last month, the FISC rebuked the NSA for failing to minimize by continuing to surveil third parties to the sixth degree without warrants. Suicide Pact: The Radi... Best Price: $0.25 Buy New $2.84 (as of 04:15 UTC - Details)
Here is an example of warrantless surveillance to the sixth degree. The NSA surveils A and B pursuant to a FISC-issued warrant; A and B discuss C; the NSA, without a warrant, surveils C talking to D; C mentions E, and D mentions F; the NSA surveils E and F without warrants, etc. This continues going out to six stops from the A-and-B conversation, even though this is prohibited by federal law. The final stop, which involves huge numbers of people, has been proved to have no connection whatsoever to the warrant issued for A and B, yet the NSA continues to spy there.
But it doesn't stop there. The Bush interpretation of EO 12333 is still followed by the NSA. Its logic — "I am the commander in chief, and I'll do what I need to do to keep us safe, and the NSA can do what I permit" — permits universal surveillance in flagrant violation of FISA and the Constitution. It was used to justify the surveillance of Donald Trump before he was inaugurated. It no doubt still is.
The availability of the information acquired by this massive spying is a serious threat to democracy. We know from the Susan Rice admissions that folks in the government can acquire intelligence-generated data — emails, text messages, recordings of telephone conversations — and use that data for political purposes. Just ask former Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. And we know from recent tragedies in San Bernardino and Orlando, even Manchester, that the NSA is suffering from information overload. It has too much data to sift through because it does not focus on the bad guys until after the tragedies. Before the tragedies, it has no focus. The Freedom Answer Boo... Best Price: $0.10 Buy New $3.70 (as of 02:50 UTC - Details)
The now public rebuke of the NSA by the FISC is extraordinary, but it is also a farce. The FISC is virtually owned by the NSA. That court has granted 99.9 percent of requests made by the NSA since the court was created. Despite all the public revelations, the FISC looks the other way at non-FISC-authorized NSA spying. The judges of the FISC have become virtual clerks for the NSA. And the FISC has become an unconstitutional joke.
Where does all this leave us? It leaves us with a public recognition that we are the most spied-upon people in world history and that the president himself has been a victim. This fall, the NSA will ask Congress to reauthorize certain spying authorities that are due to expire at the end of the year. Congress needs to know just how unconstitutional, intrusive and fruitless all this spying has become.
Perhaps then Congress will write laws that are faithful to the Constitution — and if so, maybe the folks empowered by those laws will follow them.
Reprinted with the author's permission.