text:
Sleek, lightweight, built to last and designed for speed. The most technically advanced handboard on the planet has more buoyancy, giving you more lift and, therefore, less drag, allowing you far more control of the wave than a smaller board. Carve, stall, you name it - this board will let you do it. Take control!
- Materials: Epoxy, urethane, fiberglass, and 2mm TPU Flak Jacket high tensile laminate for ultimate strength to weight ratio.
- Weight : 650gm / 22oz with strap.
- Dimensions: 19.8in / 50.2cm X 10.1in / 26.7cm.
- Overall: Tight rails with a single deep concave and double swallowtail with wings/ nubs for wave face grip.
- Wave Size: Designed for 1-5 ft. Handles well in most wave types.
- Skill Level: The wedge shape is another great all-round wave board pick the right conditions you feel most comfortable in, and she will do the rest.


text:
• 125 g soft unsalted butter
• 175 g sugar
• 2 large eggs
• Peel of 2 untreated lemons
• 175 g flour
• Pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 26 cm long loaf pan
For the glaze:
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 200 g icing sugar
• 1 lemon for garnish
Lemon cake
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180℃. Grease the cake tin with butter or line with baking paper.
2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Grate the lemon and fold the zest into the mixture. Add the flour, salt and baking powder, mix until the dough is smooth, then stir in the milk.
3. Pour the dough into the cake tin, level it out (e.g. using the back of a spoon) and bake for approx. 40-45 minutes until the tip of a knife inserted in the cake comes out clean.
4. In the meantime, prepare the glaze: Mix the lemon juice and icing sugar until the mixture is smooth and white. If required, add a little more lemon juice or icing sugar.
5. When the cake has completely cooled, tip it out of the tin, spread the glaze and garnish with a slice of lemon.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Unity Temple
Commissioned by the congregation of Oak Park Unity Church in 1905, Wright's Unity Temple is the greatest public building of the architect's Chicago years. Wright's family on his mother's side were Welsh Unitarians, and his uncle Jenkin Lloyd Jones was a distinguished Unitarian preacher with a parish on Chicago's south side where Wright and his wife Catherine were married. Wright identified with the rational humanism of Unitarianism, particularly as influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson's transcendentalism, uniting all beings as one with the divine presence.
Wright's father had been a Universalist preacher. With their emphasis on a loving God, Universalists were early advocates of abolitionism and were the first church to ordain women. In 1886 Universalist Augusta Chapin became minister of the Oak Park Unity Church, attracting new members to the congregation including Frank Lloyd Wright's mother Anna. Unitarian Universalist minister Rodney Johonnot succeeded Chapin when she joined the Parliament of World Religions in 1893. A lawyer and graduate of Harvard Divinity School, Johonnot was known for his liberal views, even more extreme than those of Jenkin Lloyd Jones with whom he sometimes took issue.
When Unity Church burned to the ground in June 1905, Wright was awarded the commission, and in 1906 Johonnot published a booklet titled, A New Edifice for Unity Church. He wanted a modern building that would embody the principles of "unity, truth, beauty, simplicity, freedom, and reason."
Wright was a perfect match to these requirements. The design he submitted to the congregation broke with almost every existing convention for traditional Western ecclesiastic architecture. On the novel choice of construction material Wright states, "There was only one material to choose—as church funds were $45,000. Concrete was cheap." Wright's bold concept for the building enabled a series of concrete forms to be repeated multiple times.
In harmony with Wright's philosophy of organic architecture, the concrete was left uncovered by plaster, brick, or stone. Wright's sensitive handling of materials was a defining feature of his architecture from early in his career. "Bring out the nature of the materials…" Wright insisted in his seminal essay In the Cause of Architecture, "…let their nature intimately into your scheme. Reveal the nature of wood, plaster, brick, or stone in your designs, they are all by nature friendly and beautiful. No treatment can be really a matter of fine art when those natural characteristics are, or their nature is, outraged or neglected."
Unity Temple was a significant commission in Wright's Oak Park Studio. Charles E. White, who worked as a draftsman for Wright from 1903 to 1906, details the collaborative effort of the Studio to secure the commission, "…the chief thing at Wright's is of course Unity Church, the sketches of which are at last accepted. We have all pleaded and argued with the committee, until we are well-nigh worn out. All hands are working on the drawings."
Approached from Lake Street, Unity Temple is a massive and monolithic cube of concrete, sheltered beneath an expansive flat roof. The introspective nature of the building is in part a response to its corner site situated along a busy thoroughfare. No entrance is apparent, and the building appears impenetrable, save for a band of high clerestory windows recessed behind decorative piers and shadowed by overhanging eaves.
Entry to the building is via a low hall that connects Unity Temple and Unity House. Above the bank of doors leading into the hall, an inscription in bronze declares, "For the worship of God and the service of man." The low, dimly lit hall that unites the buildings is a transitional space. To the south it opens directly onto Unity House. Designed for "the service of man," this secular space includes a central meeting hall, flanking balconies for use as open classrooms, and other special purpose rooms for daily operation. Like Wright's residential architecture, this congregational parish house is centered on a fireplace hearth.
Situated across the hall from Unity House is the temple. In contrast to the open entrance into Unity House, access to the sanctuary is complex. Wright masterfully manipulates the sequence of entrance; guiding the visitor through low dark passages he termed "cloisters," before they ascend into the open, brightly lit sanctuary.
The sanctuary is the heart and anchor of the building. At once grand yet intimate, the sanctuary is a masterful composition in light and space. Its elegant articulation and warm colors stand in bold contrast to the grey concrete exterior. Devoid of overt religious iconography, its precise geometric proportions declare a harmonious whole.
The uppermost portion of the sanctuary appears light and transparent. A continuous band of clerestory windows of Wright's signature leaded glass encircles the flat, coffered ceiling. Set in a concrete grid are twenty-five square skylights of amber tinted leaded glass The effect, Wright states, was intended "…to get a sense of a happy cloudless day into the room… daylight sifting through between the intersecting concrete beams, filtering through amber glass ceiling lights. Thus managed, the light would, rain or shine, have the warmth of sunlight."
While Wright's innovative use of concrete was chosen for its economy, the completed building ultimately cost nearly twice the contracted price due to complications encountered during construction. In September of 1909, the new building was dedicated. Because its unique design bore little resemblance to the other churches along Lake Street, it was decided to rename it Unity Temple.
The congregation's board of trustees issued a statement thanking Wright: "We extend to the architect, Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright, our most hearty congratulations upon the wonderful achievement embodied in the new edifice and further extend to him our most sincere thanks for the great service which, through the building, he has rendered to the parish and to the community. We believe the building will long endure as a monument to his artistic genius and that, so long as it endures, it will stand forth as a masterpiece of art and architecture."
Their words were prophetic.


text:
In music a cloud is a sound mass consisting of statistical clouds of microsounds and characterized first by the set of elements used in the texture, secondly density, including rhythmic and pitch density . Clouds may include ambiguity of rhythmic foreground and background or rhythmic hierarchy.
Examples include:
Clouds are created and used often in granular synthesis. Musical clouds exist on the "meso" or formal time scale. Clouds allow for the interpentration of sound masses first described by Edgard Varèse including smooth mutation (through crossfade), disintegration, and coalescence.
Curtis Roads suggests a taxonomy of cloud morphology based on atmospheric clouds: cumulus, stratocumulus, stratus, nimbostratus, and cirrus; as well as nebulae: dark or glowing, amorphus or ring-shaped, and constantly evolving.
Daniel "Cloud" Campos (born May 6, 1983) is an award-winning Los Angeles-based dancer, director, and occasional actor raised in San Diego, California and Orlando, Florida.
Cloud started dancing as a b-boy when he was 11. He learned breaking from his oldest brother Kevin "Deft-1" Campos who is also a b-boy. He spent his early life in San Diego then moved to Florida when he was 12. During his time in Florida he toured with High Voltage extreme acrobatics dance team and became a member of Skill Methodz b-boy crew, which was founded in 1995 in Tampa under the name B-Boy Connection. He described what his b-boy name means in an 2011 interview with KoreanRoc.com:
After moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the dance industry, he booked two tours with Madonna; first in 2004 on her Re-Invention World Tour and again in 2006 on her Confessions Tour. He also performed in the stage show Groovaloos. In 2009, he won first place with his crew Skill Methodz at the UK B-Boy Championships. Later the same year, he competed at Red Bull BC One and appeared in Shakira's music video "Did It Again" as the principal male dancer. In 2010, he appeared in the online series The LXD as The Illister and played the antagonist, Kid Darkness, in the film Step Up 3D. In 2011, he served as one of ten choreographers for Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour.
Cloud is a former settlement in Kings County, California. It was located 35 miles (56 km) southwest of Lemoore.
A post office operated at Cloud from 1913 to 1921.


text:
Legendary Lands: Umberto Eco on the Greatest Maps of Imaginary Places and Why They Appeal to Us
By Maria Popova
Celebrated Italian novelist, philosopher, essayist, literary critic, and list-lover Umberto Eco (January 5, 1932–February 19, 2016) has had a long fascination with the symbolic and the metaphorical, extending all the way back to his vintage semiotic children's books. Half a century later, he revisits the mesmerism of the metaphorical and the symbolic in The Book of Legendary Lands (public library) — an illustrated voyage into history's greatest imaginary places, with all their fanciful inhabitants and odd customs, on scales as large as the mythic continent Atlantis and as small as the fictional location of Sherlock Holmes's apartment. A dynamic tour guide for the human imagination, Eco sets out to illuminate the central mystery of why such utopias and dystopias appeal to us so powerfully and enduringly, what they reveal about our relationship with reality, and how they bespeak the quintessential human yearning to make sense of the world and find our place in it — after all, maps have always been one of our greatest sensemaking mechanisms for life, which we've applied to everything from the cosmos to time to emotional memory.
Eco writes in the introduction:
Legendary lands and places are of various kinds and have only one characteristic in common: whether they depend on ancient legends whose origins are lost in the mists of time or whether they are an effect of a modern invention, they have created flows of belief.
The reality of these illusions is the subject of this book.
Eco considers the allure of utopias as a tangible manifesto for the possible:
Often the object of a desire, when desire is transformed into hope, becomes more real than reality itself. Out of a hope in a possible future, many people are prepared to make enormous sacrifices, and maybe even die, led on by prophets, visionaries, charismatic preachers, and spellbinders who fire the minds of their followers with the vision of a future heaven on Earth (or elsewhere).
There is, however, an inevitable dark side to utopias, whose very presupposition of perfect happiness can itself become a burdensome form of oppression. Eco writes:
We would not always want to live in those societies recommended to us by utopias, because they often resemble dictatorships that impose happiness on their citizens at the cost of their freedom. For example, [Thomas] More's Utopia preaches freedom of speech and thought as well as religious tolerance, but limits them to believers and excludes atheists, who are barred from public office, while it warns that "if someone takes the license to wander far from his own district and is caught without the pass issued by the supreme magistrate … he is severely punished; if he dares to do so a second time, he is condemned to slavery." Moreover, utopias have the quality, as literary works, of being somewhat repetitive, because in wishing for a perfect society, we always end up by making a copy of the same model.
Above all, however, Eco sees in the imaginary a counterintuitive assurance of reality — fictional narratives, in a strange way, is the only place where we can become unmoored from our existential discomfort with uncertainty, for in fiction everything is precisely and unambiguously as it was intended:
The possible world of narrative is the only universe in which we can be absolutely certain about something, and it gives us a very strong sense of truth. The credulous believe that El Dorado and Lemuria exist or existed somewhere or other, and skeptics are convinced that they never existed, but we all know that it is undeniably certain that Superman is Clark Kent and that Dr. Watson was never Nero Wolfe's right-hand man, while it is equally certain that Anna Karenina died under a train and that she never married Prince Charming.
The Book of Legendary Lands is magnificent in its entirety. Complement it with Codex Seraphinianus, history's most beautiful encyclopedia of imaginary things, and Where You Are, a wonderful case study in cartography as wayfinding for the soul.
Published February 17, 2014


text:
In my opinion, what is needed is not so much a commission about Cast Lead. Instead, there should be an independent audit of the IDF investigation processes and procedures.
Auditors know how to check not only whether the processes and procedures are effective (in this case, for investigations) but also whether the IDF is accurately following their own procedures. If the audit comes out clean, then the IDF procedures would be "certified."
These external audits should happen regularly, perhaps annually. They can be done by a Big 4 accounting firm without compromising Israeli security. They should happen regardless of any political events like Goldstone. They should not be done to mollify the world, rather to ensure to the IDF and the GOI that IDF procedures are effective, fair and accurately followed - which should be welcomed by all.
This would solve all the problems. If the audit comes up clean, fair minded people can look at the sanitized results of the report certifying that the procedures are valid just the way that audit firms validate all sorts of procedures. If it doesn't, the IDF and the Government of Israel would be the first to want to know how to improve their procedures.
An audit procedure would address the root issue - whether IDF investigation procedures are adequately independent, effective and adhered to. Instead of spinning up a commission for every alleged war crime that some NGO screams about, this would be a reproducible, self-correcting and certified process that is used by major corporations daily.
It is entirely possible that the IDF does this already, but if not, it should.
(I briefly discussed this idea in a comment on this blog, and I sent it to a mailing list with really smart people, and no one responded. So either it is a brilliant idea or it is incredibly stupid.)


text:
Devanti Mini Video Projector Wifi USB HDMI Portable 2000 Lumens HD 1080P Home in Black
Regular price
Enjoy epic entertainment with our Devanti Video Projector. From your small screen to the big screen. Using Wi-Fi connectivity, our video projector effortlessly supports screen cast from your iPhone, iPad, smartphone, tablet and laptop, to stream contents to the projector screen without any need of a dongle, adaptor or other cables. And with its ultra-expansive colour gamut, the projector delivers crisp clear images with more brilliant colours and is fully HD 1080P compatible. It also features a built-in heavy bass speaker and a high-lumens lamp with a long lifespan of up to 50,000 hours. Best of all, you get a wide screen experience from a relatively short projection distance. Not least, you have HDMI, USB, AV and 3.5mm audio ports for fast connection to multiple devices such as external speakers, game consoles and hard disks. A remote control and bonus AV audio cable are also included.
Lamp brightness up to 2000 lumens
Bulb lifespan up to 50000 hours
Full HD 1080P compatible
Wi-Fi connection
Wide angle lens
Built-in heavy bass speaker
Supports screen cast
360° image flip
15° physical correction
USB, HDMI, AV connection
Bonus AV audio cable
Comes with remote control
Brand: Devanti
Voltage: 100-240V, 50-60Hz
Overall dimensions: 22cm x 17cm x 9.5cm
Max. brightness: 2000 lumens
Supports: 720P/1080P
Native resolution: 1280 x 720
Max resolution: 1920 x 1200
Contrast ratio: 1500:1
Aspect ratio: 16:9/4:3
Picture size: 35 to 120 inches
Image flip: 360° flip
Keystone correction: 15° physical
Focus method: Manual
Lamp: LED, 50W, 50000-hour lifespan
Lens: 3-layer glass lens
Speakers: Built-in speaker
Noise level: <25dB
Projection methods: Desktop/ceiling
Input port: HDMI, USB, AV
Output port: 3.5mm audio
Product Contents:
1 x Devanti Video Projector
1 x Remote Control
1 x Power Cable
1 x AV Audio Cable
1 x User Manual


text:
Devraaj Eco-friendly Handmade paper Bags (Pink) set of 10 bags
Handmade Paper Bags of size 16"x11"x3.75". Handmade Paper Bags made of 100% cotton pulp with the use of cotton rags. Plain pink handmade paper bags with golden design prints not only giving superb texture and look but also providing good strength to take the god amount of weight. This bags can take 5 kg load very easily. The paper used in this products are wood free and natural which makes this product most Eco-friendly. Handmade paper bags are best use for birthdays, personalize gifting, corporate gifting, gifting on festivals like Rakhi, Diwali and much more. This paper is bio-degradable so after the use of the bags if you just throw the paper then in the long run it will not harm the environment. One pack of this products consist of 10 nos of bags.
Key Product Feature :-
- Bags size 16"(W )x 11"(H )x 3.75"(D)
- Wood free and natural material
- Bio-degradable paper.
- Bag can take up to 5 kg load very easily.
- Golden design printed gives exclusive look
- Perfect for gifting and personal use.


text:
Love Beauty And Planet Lait Corps Nutrition Veloutée 400ml - 400 ml
Barcode: 8710447442296(EAN / EAN-13)
Product characteristics
Common name: Lait Corps
Quantity: 400 ml
Brands: Love Beauty and Planet
Labels, certifications, awards: Vegetarian, Vegan, European Vegetarian Union, European Vegetarian Union - Vegan
Period of time after opening: 12 months
Countries where sold: France
→Ingredients are listed in order of importance (quantity).
If this product has an ingredients list in English, please add it. Edit the page
Ingredients analysis:
→ The analysis is based solely on the ingredients listed and does not take into account processing methods.
Number | Shape | Material | Recycling |
en:bottle | |||
en:film |
Other information
Conservation conditions: À conserver dans un endroit sec et propre après utilisation.
Product added on by org-unilever-france-gms
Last edit of product page on by org-unilever-france-gms.
Product page also edited by teolemon.


text:
Behind The Glasses
Looking for some fantastically cool and nerdy blog to spark your inspiration? Here is one of the best design, geek, pop culture blog around!
No matter what you get geeked up about, there's a good chance that you'll have some face time on this blog.
This blog actually tackled nerdy things as well as topics and updates in social media, digital photography, eco-friendly living, expectant life, and many others. It is also rich with gorgeous, vibrant pictures about relevant topics. However there is an additional side to this author that you do not know. Behind this blog is a blogger who always sits in front of a computer. Can you consider that a nerd-type blogger? Yes, I guess. But proudly speaking, she's now starting to engage and gain good friends met on the net. Who know, maybe in just few months, she's no longer considered a nerd. Right? 🙂
Well, if you would like to know more about the author, you can visit the about page.
Thanks for reading!
Rose McGowan's Before and After Surgery Images Made Her Lose Her Shining Star
Rose McGowan is best remembered for her lead role in Charmed. Since then, she has not really been casted in major roles. Some people suggest that her facial surgeries have made her less attractive. Rose McGowan's before and after photos reveals just how much change have been done, and how some of them were a major fail. She even admitted that she has gone through the knife. Some people lauded her for her honesty, but more people simply saw the disastrous results.
Rose is a remarkable beauty who starred in the hit series, Charmed. Her undeniable beauty was one of the reasons why she earned a spot in Hollywood. However, her more recent appearances showed a different Rose.
A lot of people have noticed that she has undergone lip surgery. The results were not as good as one would have hoped for.
Unlike other Hollywood stars, Rose didn't deny going through the knife, although she was not really specific about everything that she has tried.
A lot of people were surprised seeing Rose photographed with what seemed like a botched lip surgery.
A car crash in 2007 left her eyelid with an ugly scar. Her glasses cut that portion of her face. She admitted that she has undergone surgery to make that area look better.
From a pretty and polished beauty, Rose looked totally different in recent years. Many people believe that if not for failed surgery, she just didn't age gracefully.
During the peak of her hit series, Charmed, Rose was one of the standards of beauty in Hollywood. A lot of men went crazy over her.
People were surprised when Rose decided to chop her hair off. She even went further by going totally bald.
Aside from facial surgeries, some people believe she also had breast surgery. Her early 2000's photos suggest some changes.
Let us pause for a moment and celebrate the time when Rose was at her finest moment in terms of facial beauty.
The Luxurious La Catedral – Pablo Escobar's House While Imprisoned
Pablo Escobar was a notorious drug lord from Colombia. Also known as El Padrino and Don Pablo, his cartel was the source of the majority of cocaine in the US. He made a deal with the Colombian government to be imprisoned for five years, but get freedom in his confinement. La Catedral served as Pablo Escobar house during those times.
The house known as La Catedral, which was built for the imprisonment of Pablo Escobar, was located at the mountains of The Honey Valley in the town of Envigado.
It was more of a vacation home or a resort rather than a detention place. Escobar was also free to do everything that he wanted, except get out of the area.
Instead of being extradited to the US where laws were strict, he chose to be detained in an island where he still enjoyed his freedom in many ways.
La Catedral was not any ordinary prison as it had luxurious features, including this gorgeously landscaped lawn. It was said that he even chose the guards that would look over the place.
The prison that he personally designed had its various luxurious feats including billiard tables, gym equipment, and many more. His family's home was within view from La Catedral so he used a telescope to see his daughter while talking to her over the phone.
This is a snap of his extravagant room that was too far from where regular prisoners would sleep on their prison cells.
Even the living room doesn't look even a single bit like a prison. It's a beautiful area that you will typically see in high end homes.
Escobar escaped in 1992 and died the following year. Although it had been years since he left the place, there are still traces of its past.
It was eventually given to a group of monks that turned it into a living quarters and chapel. A collage of images can be seen even from afar, which includes the picture of Escobar behind bars.
Today, La Catedral has been turned into an institution for the elderly around Envigado. There were rumors of Escobar's riches being buried somewhere around the area, but nothing has been found until today.


text:
Privacy Policy
Thank you for taking the time to read our privacy policy.
If you are browsing this website, we do not capture data that identifies you individually. As with any other web site we keep a record of all requests made and processed to help us maintain our server and web site efficiency and effectiveness. These log records contain no personal data of any kind.
When logging into the website as an editor or administration to add or edit data we do track user activity and store site amendments.
If you choose to make contact with us and provide personally identifiable data, we may keep a record of this information so as to serve you in a most efficient and effective way.
We may disclose personal information if we are required to do so by law or we in good faith believe that such action is necessary to:
protect and defend our rights and property;
protect the personal safety or property of others.
Our site may contain links to other web sites whose data protection and privacy practices may differ from ours. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of these web sites.
We reserve the right to amend the privacy policy from time to time, and amendments will be displayed on this web site with immediate effect.


text:
Stop the invaders in Garden Panic! Build up your defenses and stop the incoming rodents before they eat your strawberries! Plant different plants that will help you blast the bugs and stop them dead in their tracks in this fun Strategy game. Plan carefully and make sure to blow up those pesky insects before they get into your wonderful strawberry fields.☆☆☆☆☆ Features ☆☆☆☆☆
✓ Fast-paced, intuitive gameplay
✓ Exciting tower defense action
✓ Earn experience points to upgrade your defense plants
✓ Save your plants from the vermin!
☆☆☆ Discover more from Big Fish Games! ☆☆☆
We're big believers that everyone is a gamer at heart and that games are a great source of joy and relaxation. Founded in 2002, Big Fish Games is a developer, publisher and distributor of casual games. We offer a virtually endless selection of interactive games that you can enjoy anytime, anywhere — on your PC, Mac, mobile phone, or tablet. Renowned for offering A New Game Every Day!® on www.bigfishgames.com, Big Fish Games distributes more than two million games per day worldwide.
We have many other great iPad games including:
➠ Mahjong Towers Touch HD
➠ Doors of the Mind: Inner Mysteries HD
➠ Time Builders: Pyramid Rising HD
➠ Antique Road Trip: USA HD
➠ Flux Family Secrets: The Ripple Effect HD
➠ The Serpent of Isis HD
➠ A Witch's Curse: Princess Isabella HD
➠ Empress of the Deep: The Darkest Secret HD
➠ Haunted Manor: Lord of Mirrors HD
➠ PuppetShow: Mystery in Joyville HD
➠ Drawn: The Painted Tower HD
➠ Awakening: The Dreamless Castle HD
➠ Awakening 2: Moonfell Wood HD
➠ Ancient Spirits: Columbus' Legacy HD
➠ Amazon: Hidden Expedition
You can always find an updated list at www.bigfishgames.com!
Try out Big Fish Games' iSplash! newsletter and never miss a sale or new game again! Sign up at: http://bigfi.sh/isplash
Follow us on Twitter: http://bigfi.sh/BigFishTwitter
Become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BigFishGamesMobile
Genre:Puzzle, Strategy
Release:Jul 24, 2012
Updated:Nov 30, -0001
TouchArcade Rating:Unrated
User Rating:Unrated
Your Rating:unrated
Compatibility:HD Universal


text:
Business Office
The Penns Grove-Carneys Point Regional School District is the center of learning and research for our students and staff. Through the support of the parents and residents of our communities, we have been able to provide a very positive learning environment for our students. Classrooms and libraries are the hub for research, information and communication received from around the world in a matter of seconds for our staff and students. Our district consists of one high school, one middle school and three elementary schools.
Building a School Community of Leaders and Achievers
Uniting school, family and community to create a successful future for all
Goal 1: School and Community
Collaborates with families and community partners to embody a culture of trust, transparency and mutual respect while improving communication among families and all stakeholders to bring unity, support and involvement in all aspects of the students' educational experiences.
Goal 2: Curriculum and Instruction
Create a 21st century curriculum focusing on higher level thinking skills that uses data to differentiate the individual needs of our diverse learners through technology and project-based experiences.
Goal 3: Finance/Facilities
Create, maintain and update facilities to enhance safety, healthy and nurturing environments while being fiscally responsible and conducive to learning, instruction and student achievement.
Goal 4: Technology
Provide District-wide 21st century technology optimizing operations, teaching and learning while providing valuable educational experiences for all learners.
Goal 5: Students
Empower our students to become 21st century learners that are well-rounded, confident and self sufficient through instruction that is innovative, diverse and engaging in order for them to understand their role in community and society.


text:
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group raised up to $12.9 billion in a landmark listing in Hong Kong, the largest share sale in the city in nine years and a world record for a cross-border secondary share sale.
The deal will be seen as a boost to Hong Kong following more than five months of anti-government protests and its recent slide into its first recession in a decade.
Alibaba said in a statement it had priced the shares at HK$176 ($22.49) each, a discount of 2.9% to its New York closing price, confirming information earlier reported by Reuters.
The price means Alibaba will raise at least HK$88 billion ($11.3 billion) – a symbolic total because the number 8 is associated with prosperity and good fortune in Chinese culture.
Alibaba has also chosen the stock code 9988 for its listing, which for Chinese speakers combines two of the luckiest numbers, together symbolizing long-lasting prosperity.
The total raised from the deal could eventually reach $12.9 billion if a so-called 'greenshoe' over-allotment option were exercised.
Alibaba shares closed in New York on Tuesday at $185.25. One of Alibaba's New York-listed American Depositary Shares (ADS) is worth eight of its Hong Kong shares.
While the discount to Alibaba's last close was set at 2.9%, analysts noted the price represented a 3.7% discount to the Alibaba's share price on Nov. 12 – the day before the deal was launched.
"I was expecting it to be done at around 4%-5% so this is about right," said Sumeet Singh, head of research at Aequitas and who publishes on research website SmartKarma.
"The deal represents just about 4.4 days of three-month average daily value traded and hence, relatively it's not a big deal for a stock of Alibaba's size."
Alibaba's deal comes amid a late-year rush of share sales, with Saudi Arabia's state oil giant Aramco revving up to price an initial public offering so large it threatens to eclipse Alibaba's own record $25 billion float in 2014.
A deal at the top of Aramco's price range would raise $25.6 billion and value the company at $1.7 trillion – short of the $2 trillion it had originally sought.
Hong Kong's army of small investors have welcomed the Alibaba deal, subscribing for 40 times the shares they were originally allotted, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the deal.
That represents the heaviest oversubscription rate for any multi-billion dollar share sale in Hong Kong in more than four years, according to Dealogic data.
Alibaba declined to comment on retail subscriptions.
Retail investors will now take 10% of the deal, up from the 2.5% they were originally allotted. Hong Kong operates a 'clawback' system where heavy oversubscription from small investors can result in them getting a greater share.
The numbers imply retail investors collectively put up about $11 billion in the hope of getting shares in the Chinese ecommerce champion.
A float by Alibaba is seen as particularly significant to Hong Kong since it lost the company's IPO to New York in 2013 because the Asian financial hub would not then accept its unusual governance, where a self-selecting group of insiders control the majority of board seats.
That decision ultimately resulted in Hong Kong rule changes last year that have allowed Alibaba to conduct this listing.
Bankers hope other U.S.-listed Chinese tech giants will follow suit.
Alibaba's listing ceremony is due to be held at the Hong Stock Exchange next Tuesday and the event will be closely watched given the ongoing protests unfolding across the city.
China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and Credit Suisse are leading Alibaba's deal.


text:
It's been a week of wild weather for most of the country, and wild things have been happening for Ecotone folks too.
Paul Lisicky is getting RAVE reviews for his memoir, The Narrow Door, released last week, a section of which appears in our Anniversary issue. This book is about the big stuff: friendship, for sure, but also "Writing. The chaos of sexuality. Competition and envy, dying and grieving. The high (unrealistic?) expectations we have of those we love, with our needs becoming so great we drive them away." Check out the full NYT review, and then get your hands on a copy.
Ecotone's founder, David Gessner, recently hosted a one-hour episode of National Geographic's "Explorer: Call of the Wild," which discusses how "As humans become more addicted to technology and withdrawn from nature, our brains are becoming rewired." Here's a short clip of David from the show.
Awards are wild for our contributors! Hearty congrats to National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Lauren Groff, and to Wendell Berry, recipient of the Book Critics' Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award!
On a very sad note, farewell to Eva Saulitis, who died in Alaska last week. Eva was a passionate advocate for orcas, Prince William Sound, and all things wild, as well as beautiful and immensely talented writer. Eva's work appeared in Ecotone 15, but we'd like to share this podcast from Orion, in which she reads an essay that appeared in their March/April 2014 issue.
We hope your week is filled with less shoveling (we didn't get a flake here on the coast, we're sad to say!) and more of wonderful wild things. Thanks for tuning in!


text:
Blue Light Glass Screen Protector for iPhone X
NZ Post estimate: Get it between -
Click Here for Screen Protector Installation Guide
Brand new Anti Blue Light Glass Screen Protector for the iPhone X/XS.
•1 x iPhone X/XS Glass Screen Protector (Anti-Blue Light)
•1 x Microfibre cleaning cloth
•1 x Alcohol prep pad
•1 x Eco card box
•1 x Dust remover stickers
(Phone is not included)
Anti Blue Light - Getting headaches or finding it hard to sleep when using your phone? This Screen protector blocks out the harmful light in the 380-480 Nanometer range while not turning the screen into that annoying orange/brown colour like your phone settings.
HD Clarity – The Screen Protector preserves Touchscreen Vibrancy, Sharpness and Clarity
Clear coating – This Screen Protector combats against Scratches, Fingerprints and Oil
0.33mm thickness - for best balance of Thickness, Flexibility and Hardness
Premium adhesive– 3 Times stronger than a standard Screen Protector
Anti-shatter – Fortified to avoid splinters, scratches and shatters
9H hardness- Strong, flexible glass – the best Screen Protector rating you can get
Compatibility: iPhone X, iPhone XS, Please see other listings for iPhone XS Max


text:
There are only a few more contemporary re-releases left to come back out this year. None of the M/M re-releases will be out, but I'm hoping to revise them for next year.
There are also a few, older titles I'll be making available for free once I revise them and I'll keep you apprised of them here.
I know there are a lot of you waiting for the Artic Shift re-release to come out, along with some new paranormals and those will hopefully start coming out in the Fall.
For now, though… if you haven't read Slide (formerly Slide Down On Me), please pre-order now! It'll be on your Kindles on April 20th.
Pre-Order Now!
Small town mechanic and tattooed, bad boy Travis keeps his profile low, his needs satisfied, and his business running smoothly. He doesn't cause trouble and he certainly doesn't want any, only, as luck would have it, fallen from grace heiress Arabella Drake owes him money.
Bella and Travis' situation requires a creative solution, one Travis is bold enough to propose. It won't satisfy her debt to him, but it will satisfy his long-held wish to have Bella naked, writhing, and sliding down on every inch of him.
Author's Note: Slide was originally published as Slide Down on Me with Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc. It has been lightly revised.


text:
illiam James Linton, master of wood-engraving, poet, and radical republican [i.e. leftist], is today less well known than his anti-feminist ex-wife Eliza Lynn Linton. This friend of Mazzini and William Bell Scott, Carlyle and Whitman, seems to have been acquainted with most of the literary, artistic, and leftist political figures of the day. The owner of Brantwood, he sold it to Ruskin after moving to the United States, where he died near the century's end.
Brantwood on Lake Coniston from a Victorian postcard
One receives some idea of his versatility by the fact that before leaving England in 1866, this wood-engraver who did important work on the Moxon Tennyson had published a Life of Thomas Paine (1839), numerous political tracts and children's stories, The Ferns of the English Lake Country (1865), and Clairibel, and Other Poems (1865). After emigrating to the United States, where he became a member of the National Academy of Design in 1882, Linton published, among others, A History of Wood-Engraving in America (1883), Wood-Engraving: A Manual of Instruction (1882), The Life of John Greenleaf Whittier (1893), editions of English and American poetry including Rare Poems of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1883), and many political pamphlets, such as The House that Tweed Built: Dedicated to Every True Reformer (1871) and a Hudibrastic satire on the corruptions of the Grant administration, The American Odyssey: Adventures of Ulysses Exposed (1876).
At the age of 66, he founded the Appledore Press in Hamden, Connecticut, and for many years turned out limited editions whose appeal was too limited -- or which were two politically controversial -- for the publishers who handled his better known writings. In Three-Score and Ten Years, 1820-1890, which provides tantalizing snippets of fascinating life, the old Chartist paints an attractive of the man to whom he sold his English home:
Ruskin I saw but once, then by appointment in the shop of Ellis, the book-seller, in King Street, Covent-Garden; a very pleasant meeting. The purchase of Brantwood was pleasantly arranged in a couple of letters. But I knew of him not only through my admiration for his writings (admired him as The Poet, beyond all verse-makers of his time, and for the keen political insight of his at first so much misunderstood book, Unto This Last), but farther as a man of the noblest nature. I knew from W. B. Scott . . . of his great life and generosities. [p. 166]
Little is known about the relations between these two fascinating men other than Ruskin purchased Brantwood from his admirer. After having a new roof put on the house, Ruskin settled in comfortably. As he wrote to his cousin, Mrs. Arthur Severn, two days after he had first seen his home alongside Coniston Water, he found a sign of fate that he and Linton had somewhat similar enterprises:
There certainly is a special fate in my getting this house. The man from whom I buy it — Linton — — wanted to found a "republic," printed a certain number of numbers of the Republic like my Fors Clavigera! and his printing press is still in one of the outhouses, and "God and the People" scratched deep in the whitewash outside. Well, it won't be a "republican centre" now, but whether the landed men round will like my Toryism better than his Republicanism, remains to be seen. [22.xxi-xxii]
One may add as an interesting note that when E.T. Cook, Ruskin's editor and biographer, quoted some of Linton's words in praise of the man to whom he sold Brantwood, he omitted the admiring comments about Unto This Last. Perhaps he feared that the admiration of the man he described as a "political agitator" would harm Ruskin's reputation. I do not believe Ruskin would have thought so.
Cook, E. T. Homes and Haunts of John Ruskin. London, 1912. Page 207.
Landow, George P. "John Ruskin and W. J. Linton: A New Letter." English Language Notes 10 (1972): 38-41. [This brief note, which also contains Ruskin letter to Linton, is the source of this lexia. GPL]
Linton, William James. Three-Score and Ten Years, 1820-1890. New York, 1894; published in London the following year as Memories.
Ruskin, John. Works. Ed. E. T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn. 39 vols. London: Allen, 1903-1912.
Last modified 20 December 2001


text:
The ongoing and frankly undignified kerfuffle with the Dark Enlightenment/HBD types, well documented in comments to my post below, has inspired me to use my particular set of skills to do something about it. And I use "something" in what's probably the weakest sense of the word possible: a GRADUATE SEMINAR.
One thing these Dark Enlightenment/HBD people have in common -- apart from their love for the racial Thing, and apart from their men's rights movement, ethnic heritage, antidiversity, antihistoricism, genetics-as-hobby, antisemitism, &c, and apart from their certainty that my post below means I'm an enemy of "science" and "reason" -- is their admiration for the Middle Ages. Many of them are bothered that I'm a medievalist and thus treading on territory they believe theirs: I wouldn't measure up to the "real men" of the Middle Ages, etc.
So, maybe in 2015 or 2016, I plan to do a grad seminar on modern medievalism, with an emphasis on the territoriality about the so-called authentic medieval heritage.
The course might be called: Who Owns the Middle Ages? or even just Whose Middle Ages?
Not all of it can be about the more embarrassing or horrific stuff, but some of it can. The trick, which I'm sure has been done in medievalism seminars before: teach the modern culture by, say, having the students track online communities, in combination with deep readings in medieval sources.
Obviously, the neopagans would be a focus. So would various kinds of "modern chivalry." Obviously, we'd read Dinshaw's How Soon is Now in its entirety. We would need more units, though, and we'd have to keep the class from, well, chortling at nerds. That wouldn't be dignified or good, sympathetic scholarship.
How have the rest of you taught classes like these? What have you done?
update to this blog post to call attention to a new journal, The Medieval Globe, whose areas of interest will be "the modes of communication, materials of exchange, and myriad interconnections among regions, communities, and individuals in an era central to human history." Especially notable for a seminar like this, see item #3 below from its interest areas:
- the direct and indirect means by which peoples, goods, and ideas came into contact
- the deep roots of allegedly modern global developments
- the ways in which perceptions of "the medieval" have been (and are) constructed and deployed around the world.


text:
Invite friends and family to your wedding day with this modern rustic wedding invitation featuring a monogram of your initials on a kraft card background.
The text on our invitations is fully customisable, so if you would like to add your parents names, or remove/replace some of the text on our template, that's totally fine. We can also add a line onto the invite for you to write your guests names. Please supply the exact wording you'd like by either entering the text in the personalisation text box, or by sending your text to us by email quoting your order number.
1. Select daytime or evening invitations. If ordering both versions please add these to your basket separately.
2. If you would like to add guest information on the reverse of your invitations please select the corresponding quantity from the dropdown list.
3. Add matching items to your order:
Laurel Kraft RSVP cards
Laurel Kraft information cards
Laurel belly bands
4. Once your order and text has been received our designers will put together proofs of your wedding stationery which will be emailed to you within 2-3 working days. Orders will not be sent to print until the artwork has been approved.
5. Printing and delivery takes 5-7 working days once your wedding stationery has been signed off by yourself. Once dispatched you will receive a notification email to let you know that your order is on its way to you!
Minimum order requirement of 20 for personalised invitations. If you would like to order a sample, please visit our sample pack page
The invitation is sized 12.7 cm x 17.8 cm (5" x 7") and is printed on 300gsm kraft card. Supplied with green envelopes or white envlopes.
Envelope liners are an additional 80p each, please contact us if you would like to add these to your order.


text:
I walked from Narukoonsen station along Route 47 to the Kokeshi (wooden doll) museum. From there I continued up the road (bypassing the highway tunnel which is not pedestrian-accessible), rejoining Route 47 not far from the amazing viewpoint at the resthouse over Naruko Gorge. Finally, as the sun set, I made my way to Nakayamadairaonsen station, and from there back home!
Unfortunately, the hiking trail that normally runs along/inside the gorge is currently closed (2013) due to damage sustained in the 2011 earthquake, but the view from the resthouse and shorter Ofukazawa Walking Trail is still amazing.


text:
High Grade Japanese Koi Carp
We generally stock all sizes of Koi from 4-26" and pride ourselves on being able to offer high quality at affordable prices. All imported Koi are fully quarantined prior to sale, and we are able to offer advice and assistance in all aspects of husbandry.
All our Koi are hand picked by us in Japan - even where possible the babies. We DO NOT buy on consolidation.
We specialise in the more unusual varieties, such as Kumonryu, Beni Kumonryu, Koromo including Budo Goromo and Goshiki and a wide range of metallic and Doitsu varieties. You will not find a wider range of high grade Japanese Koi varieties on offer anywhere in the UK.
Trips to Japan
Each year in Spring and Autumn, we travel to Japan to choose Koi stocks for our customers and our own stocks from the very best breeders in Niigata and elsewhere. We purchase larger Koi to meet specific customer requirements relating to variety, pattern, breeder, size and budget, but also buy in stocks of many varieties and sizes to suit most budgets.
Click here for more details of stocks from our latest trips. To View the videos of all the Koi purchased on our latest trip simply click on the link!
Above: Japanese traditional costume - Golden Temple Kyoto
Above: Show grade Showa
Above: Saki Hikari Koi Food
Koi related equipment
As well as a fabulous range of Japanese Koi stocked, we also offer a wide range of Koi related dry goods, such as Pond Pumps, Filtration systems, Koi Foods, Koi health products and Pond additives, specialist medication, heating systems , a full range of plumbing components and fittings - in fact everything you would ever need to build and maintain a 'proper' Koi Pond.
But not only do we 'sell' equipment, on our site you will find a wealth of information and advice telling you 'How To' choose the right equipment, solve Koi related health problems, and how to prevent problems occurring in the first place. The equipment we offer has not been chosen and included because it maybe the cheapest, or the most expensive, but because it is the best equipment that we have used and tested, and we know it does what it says on the tin.
In addition to pages of, what we think is helpful advice, we are always happy to provide advice and information on an individual basis if required to help resolve any issues the reader may have relating to any Koi related topic whether it be help with the construction of a pond or the care and well being of Koi Carp
Dedicated to Japanese Koi Carp
Situated in the beautiful Chilterns, our facility (above and below) is set in the heart of the Buckinghamshire countryside, between High Wycombe and Henley on Thames. We are located 15 minutes from Junction 4 of the M40 and 6 miles north of Henley on Thames. You will find us here.
Above: All of our koi ponds are now undercover
We currently operate with 11 ponds ranging from 500 to 5,000 gallons capacity, mostly undercover, and always carry a substantial stock of Japanese Koi, regardless of the time of year in sizes ranging from 4 inches ( 10cm ) up to 30 inches ( 75cm ) and at prices generally ranging from £20 upwards.
If you are thinking of building a pond, and starting to keep Koi, then we stock everything you will need and can advise and assist all the way through your project so that you can be sure of using the correct materials, equipment and methods right from the start.
Above: Pond Build in Progress.
Above: Combination Filter.
Above: Show grade Yonsai Kohaku.


text:
China's frozen dumpling makers are finding there's a quick route to winning new sales—increase the vegetable content, and cut down on the meat.
This departure from traditional pork-rich dumplings is a hit with busy, young urbanites, trying to reduce the fat in diets often heavy on fast food.
"They like to try to eat more healthy products once a week or fortnight. It's a big trend for mainland China consumers, especially those aged 20 to 35," said Ellis Wang, Shanghai-based marketing manager at U.S. food giant General Mills, which owns top dumpling brand Wanchai Ferry.
For pig farmers in China and abroad, it is a difficult trend to stomach. The producers and other market experts had expected the growth to continue until at least 2026.
Chinese hog farmers are on a building spree, constructing huge modern farms to capture a bigger share of the world's biggest pork market, while leading producers overseas have been changing the way they raise their pigs to meet Chinese standards for imports. Some have, for example, stopped using growth hormones banned in China.
China still consumes a lot more meat than any other country. People here will eat about 74 million tonnes of pork, beef, and poultry this year, around twice as much as the U.S. according to USDA estimates. More than half of that is pork and for foreign producers it has been a big growth market, especially for Western-style packaged meats.
But pork demand has hit a ceiling, well ahead of most official forecasts. Sales of pork have now fallen for the past three years, according to data from research firm Euromonitor. Last year they hit three-year lows of 40.85 million tonnes from 42.49 million tonnes in 2014, and Euromonitor predicts they will also fall slightly in 2017.
Chinese hog prices are down around 25 percent since January, even though official numbers suggest supply is lower compared with last year.
Rare Luxury
Since China began opening up to the world in the late 1970s, pork demand expanded by an average 5.7 percent every year, until 2014 as the booming economy allowed hundreds of millions of people to afford to eat meat more often. During Mao Zedong's reign as Chinese leader from 1949-76 meat had, for many, been a rare luxury.
Now, growing concerns about obesity and heart health shape shopping habits too, fueling sales of everything from avocados to fruit juices and sportswear.
"Market demand remains very weak. I think one factor behind this is people believe less meat is healthier. This is a new trend," said Pan Chenjun, executive director of food and agriculture research at Rabobank in Hong Kong.
Sales of vegetable-only dumplings grew 30 percent last year, compared with around 7 percent for all frozen dumplings, Nielsen research also shows.
"Demand for vegetable products keeps rising, giving us large room for growth," said Zhou Wei, product manager at number two dumpling producer Synear Food.
Guangzhou-based Harmony Catering says health is the key to reduced servings of meat to the roughly 1 million workers eating at its 300 canteens each day.
Staff at the technology companies, banks, and oil majors that are Harmony's clients will consume about 10 percent less meat today than they did five years ago, but around 10 percent more green vegetables, according to Harmony vice president Li Huang. "It's mainly because of media, the concept of health has entered popular consciousness," he said.
For now, it's mostly urban and white-collar workers paying closer attention to their diets. There's been, for example, a sharp rise in vegetarian food stations at university campuses. But the government wants a nationwide shift in eating habits.
Childhood obesity in China is rocketing, and the country also faces an epidemic of heart disease, Harvard researchers warned last year. Among the problems, they blamed growing consumption of red meat and high salt intake.
In April, the health ministry kicked off its second 10-year healthy lifestyle campaign, urging citizens to consume less fat, salt, and sugar, and aim for a "healthy diet, healthy weight, and healthy bones."
By 2030, Beijing wants to see a marked increase in nutritional awareness, a 20 percent cut in the per capita consumption of salt, and slower growth in the rate of obesity, it said in its recently published 'Healthy China 2030' pamphlet.
Some companies have been urgently changing the mix of products they sell, going for higher-margin pork meats rather than volume. Sales of traditionally less popular lamb and beef have also been increasing.
Li of Harmony Catering says although servings of pork are down, the firm is including more beef and lamb in meals.
"People usually eat lean beef or lamb, like beef brisket, while with pork it's both fatty and lean parts, like in 'hong shao rou'," said Beijing-based nutritionist Chen Zhikun, referring to the widely consumed braised pork dish.
China's top pork producer WH Group has been going up market, selling Western-style products in China, such as sausages and ham. A lot of this is imported from Smithfield, the largest U.S. pork producer, which was acquired by WH in 2013.
Some producers say that the recent drop in pork consumption can be partly explained by sharply lower output. A prolonged period of losses during 2013 to 2015 forced farmers to cull millions of hogs, hitting supply and sending pork prices to record levels in 2016.
But for a growing portion of Chinese consumers, price tags on food items are less and less important. A spate of safety scandals in recent years, many related to meat, have made urban Chinese highly sensitive to food quality.
More than 80 percent of people in China surveyed by Nielsen last year said they were willing to pay more for foods without undesirable ingredients, much higher than the global average of 68 percent.
"China is in a new stage where consumption of pork and other foods is no longer a simple matter of 'more is better'," said Fred Gale, senior economist at the USDA.


text:
To celebrate Vertafore's 50th anniversary, Angela Adams was invited to add her story to their "50 Years, 50 Voices" campaign.
We will help you:
A graduate of Purdue University in 1982, Kevin began his insurance career at the family insurance agency, Cardinal Insurance, in 1986. His primary task was to help his father with a computer that was given to the agency by one of their carriers. Seeing the potential in the technology, Kevin implemented a comparative rating program and launched the agency into the world of agency management in 1989. He purchased the agency in 1994 and made it 100% automated and "paperless" by closing all paper files into storage. In 2000, he implemented a customer portal to meet the growing demand for self-service options.
Kevin's expertise has earned him multiple recognitions from the insurance industry, including being honored twice as the National Louie E Woodbury Jr award by the leadership of NetVU and being selected as the agent of the year twice by PIA of Indiana. He has also served on the National NetVU board of directors and was elected Chair in 1999. Kevin has worked with Vertafore on several R&D committees and beta projects, including PL Rating, CL Submissions, AMS360, Producer Plus, and more.
Extension: 701
Insurance Specialist Leader |
Senior Account Manager | Charleston, SC
Account Manager/ Wetumkpa, AL
Extension: 716
Extension: 745
Extension: 770
Extension: 785
Extension: 702
Extension: 710
Extension: 765
Extension: 763
Insurance Specialist Leader | Red Oak, TX
Brent began his insurance career helping a friend's dad, an agency owner, with a project. This short-term project turned into a job offer which turned into his career. Seventeen years later, he is passionate about developing a team atmosphere and supporting and assisting agencies. Brent joined Angela Adams Consulting in February 2021, where he began as an Insurance Specialist and is now the Central Region Insurance Specialist Leader. Brent enjoys his position because it allows him the opportunity to work with many different agencies.
Region Manager and Insurance Specialist Leader | Greenville, SC
Megan joined Angela Adams Consulting bringing over 6 years of independent agency experience. She began working in Marketing and Prospecting in 2011, then moved into Group Life & Health and servicing Commercial Lines at the same agency. In 2016, Megan moved to another independent agency working as a Producer and Account Manager for both Commercial and Personal Lines. She graduated with her B.A. Psychology in December 2014.
Insurance Specialist Leader | Summerville, SC
Since 1999, Stephanie has served the insurance industry in the fields of marketing, sales, producing, and processing. Stephanie has experience as a producer in Commercial and Personal Lines as a manager with both Captive and Independent Insurance Agencies. Stephanie started with Angela Adams Consulting in 2018 as a Customer Service Representative. She is now the Western Region Insurance Specialist Leader. She is passionate about the industry and the opportunity to learn new things.
As the last 20 years have demonstrated, Angela Adams has a knack for knowing what agency owners need to succeed. As newer owners enter the market and owner responsibilities grow, Angela Adams Consulting's expert team of Advisors has crafted a program specifically geared to tackle the challenges ahead. Angela Adams Consulting Services is renowned in the industry for our exceptional understanding of agency operations and automation. We help busy agency owners focus more time on what they do best and less time chasing problems behind the scenes. The Agency Coaches work closely with owners and senior managers to keep them out of the weeds and laser-focused on goals.
In August of 2001, Angela Adams formed Angela Adams Consulting. Her husband, Mark, and sister, Joann Horton, joined in to help with building the foundation of what is today Angela Adams Consulting Services. With a strong desire to obtain the elusive work/life balance, she embarked on her first speaking engagement with her two-month-old son in tow. This was the beginning of what would transform the lives of the many who followed!
As competition and costs rise, the independent insurance agency must adapt business operations to be as efficient and effective as possible. Compounding this growing issue, more seasoned professionals are exiting the workforce leaving gaps of knowledge and experience. Enter the services Virtual Chief Financial Officer, Virtual Operations Manager, and Virtual Human Resources. Agencies have as-needed access to experienced experts who've worked in agencies and understand what they need to succeed. These services are an alternative to hiring a full-time employee or fractionalizing your management to an outside firm or individual that doesn't have your whole strategy in mind.
"They," said agencies would never want someone in their books… But Angela knew that agencies needed expert guidance and support. She knew the agency owners who spent more time developing their team, nurturing client relationships, and growing their business were more successful. With the help of the internet and cloud computing, she revolutionized back-office operations in independent agencies, relieving them of the burden of monthly accounting, direct bill processing, reconciliation, financials, and more. Today, hundreds of agency owners are still confident in their finances due to remote Accounting Solutions by Angela Adams Consulting.
As fanfare grew for remote Accounting Solutions, so did the desire to outsource account management functions. Angela listened to the demand and developed our CSR branch, now called Insurance Specialists Solutions. The service allowed agency account managers to handle larger books of business and more responsibilities in the agency while we provide all the back office support. Today, our Insurance Specialist Division is as strong as ever as we are one of the only exclusively US-based firms offering the service with licensed, experienced professionals who understand what it is like to work in an agency!
The variety and sources of on-demand learning have grown, but organizing that content into material relevant to insurance agency operations, sourced from expert experience, and assignable and trackable was impossible before the introduction of Lighthouse Academy. Angela Adams Consulting introduced this platform to help agencies access our growing library of software-specific, on-demand, and live lessons. Then, our experts curated a large selection of Microsoft Office, leadership, and sales classes to include that are ideal for agency personnel. For more advanced agencies, a subscription option is available. The Academy can be branded and customized for subscription clients, including the addition of the agency's content, custom learning plans, and the ability for agency supervisors to assign training and track progress. Training and development with Lighthouse Academy is streamlined, focused, and geared specifically for independent agency personnel.
Account Manager | Hayden, ID
Judy Chandler has 26 years of experience in Insurance accounting and full charge bookkeeping. She has earned her degree in Accounting and Business. Judy worked for a California agency for 8 years after graduating college and advanced to Assistant to the CFO. Judy's experience also includes working as the sole accounting person for 4 divisions in an Idaho Agency after relocating to NW. She has been an Angela Adams Consulting's Account Manager since 2011.
Central Region, Trainer | Houston, TX
Miranda began her career in the insurance industry with a mid-sized independent insurance agency. Her primary focus was on accounting and system administration. She has been instrumental in assisting senior management with agency acquisitions, data migration projects, and building custom reports. She has been beneficial in creating efficiencies within agency work by developing and implementing agency workflows, procedural documentation, and training of agency employees. Miranda has more than twenty years of experience in the insurance industry, assisting agencies in achieving their goals by training and sharing knowledge about AMS360, Reference Connect, Benefit Point, Vertafore Platform, and PL Rating. Miranda was active and served on the Board in her local NetVu Chapter for many years.
Senior Accounting Manager | Panama City, FL
John graduated from Florida State University in 1996, with a BS degree in Accounting. He began his insurance career in 2002 working as the accounting/operations manager of a mid-size agency in Florida. The agency was on the AFW system for his first 4 years before converting to AMS360. John's experienced in all daily functions of the accounting department , handling HR issues, and solving problems that arise in the daily operations of the agency. John currently has a 2-20 general lines agents license in Florida.
Senior Account Manager | Virgina
Trainer | Ankeny, Iowa
Joan started in the insurance industry shortly out of high school, working in small to mid-sized independent agencies. Her primary focus has been in the customer service areas of both the Personal and Commercial Lines departments. She also has experience in agency operations which includes developing procedures and workflow processes and assisting management in retrieving necessary information from agency management systems. The part of her job she has been most passionate about is the training of new employees and sharing new features and software releases with all agency employees.
Joan has led education sessions at various NetVU events, including the annual Accelerate conferences as well as the local NetVu chapter.
Presented by: Elizabeth Rodriguez
Are you tracking your agency and producer commissions in QQCatalyst? Come join us! This session will cover how commissions function in QQCatalyst. We will be covering everything from setting up rules for how agency commissions and producer commissions should be calculated, to reconciling when commissions have been paid to the agency or its producers. Topics will also extend to how to reset commissions for existing policies, editing reconciliation statements, and reports that will be important for tracking commissions in QQCatalyst.
Presented by: Elizabeth Rodriguez | Angela Adams Consulting
Join us for this session as we review the Agency Intelligence (AI) automated marketing feature inside of QQCatalyst.
This includes setting your system preferences, automated Smartflow setup, editing Smartflow emails and tasks. We will also review how AI and the Salesroom work together to help you manage pending quotes, renewals, and employee goals.
Presented by: Elizabeth Rodriguez
How do I post payments in QQCatalyst? This session will cover topics such as creating bills, taking payments, reconciling premium sent, printing invoices/receipts, and the correct way to setup a policy based on how it is being paid and how commission is received. We will look at specific reports that will help you keep track of your billing information.
Renee has over 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. Her agency experience includes agency operations, system implementation/administration, staff training, and commercial lines/personal lines management. Renee is passionate about working with the unique variety of agencies in our industry and helping them solve challenges with creative and out-of-the-box solutions. She works with agencies of many sizes to develop customized solutions to reach agency goals of increased profitability and efficiency. She has been a regular speaker at the NetVu National Conference and NetVu Chapter meetings nationwide.
President | Charleston, SC
Angela has 30 years of experience working in all aspects of insurance agencies. Starting in agency accounting in 1985, Angela has worked as an Agency Owner, Chief Financial Officer, and Commercial and Marketing Manager. With 19 years of insurance agency consulting experience under her belt, Angela has also been a regular speaker at the AMS National Users' Group Conferences and teaches local AMS Users' Groups throughout the country.
Junior Account Manager | Mississippi
Account Manager|Ozark, Missouri
Mary began her career in insurance agency accounting in 2006. Since 2008, Mary has worked and managed accounting processes in independent insurance agencies.
[ninja_form id=13]
[ninja_form id=14]
Consultant| South Beach, Oregon
Since 1998, Kevin has spent his time building and supporting the technology infrastructure of independent insurance agencies. He is enthusiastic about the many benefits technology has in improving the overall quality of customer service and employee morale. Kevin specializes in ensuring agency employees are able to obtain, and rely on, the data needed for their jobs, and being able to use all of their software features including download, product integration, workflows, form letters, and proposals. He's well versed in the software agencies use and understands how third-party providers can integrate with primary systems for customization or increased performance. Kevin has been a NetVU speaker and board member for many years. He is active in the AMS360 and WorkSmart PM&E groups where he has particular expertise.
Account Manager | Anaheim, CA
Account Manager | Cleveland, GA
Penny has been in insurance industry for 14 years. She has worked as the front office manager as well as a sub-agent assisting customers. The last 11 years, Penny has worked with Angela Adams Consulting Services. She began first as a processor and currently as an account manager. Penny is able to assist clients with vendor and company payables, agency receivables, bank reconciliations as well as numerous other agency accounting functions.
Account Manager | Diana, TX
Melissa has worked in insurance for since 1989 spending time in three different independent insurance agencies. She has worked in various departments, starting in personal and commercial lines, and then moving to HR, payroll & accounting. Melissa has enjoyed working in independent insurance agency accounting since 2002.
Account Manager | McDonough, GA
Bridgett began her career in 1977 where she spent 8 years on the insurance company side in rating and underwriting. She was on the Independent Agency side of the business for 22 years. She was an Assistant Vice President to a regional agency for 9 years where she managed the day-to-day service of large commercial accounts. Her experience includes Commercial Lines account management, marketing, agency accounting and systems administrator. She has been an Associate at Angela Adams Consulting since 2004.
New Client Advisor | Chattanooga, TN
Debbie started her insurance career in 1978 at Blue Cross/Blue Shield in Chattanooga, Tn. She processed claims until 1979 and then became a trainer for new employees. Debbie began agency work in 1984 where she held positions from assistant bookkeeper to operations manager and system administrator. In 1995, she assisted her agency in moving from AMS/ARC's accounting batch system to Aetna's Gemini System to AFW. Debbie has 13 years experience with AMS360, specializing in accounting.
Consulting Coordinator | North Charleston, SC
Robin earned her Bachelors of Science Degree in Mathematics from The College of Charleston and is scheduled to complete her Masters in Project Management from The Citadel in 2018. She has been working in the insurance industry for over 25 years, attained AIAM and CISR designations, and has held positions in software programming, IT management, and operations management. She has insurance systems experience with Insurnet, Policy Management Systems, Applied TAM and Epic, AMS AfW Online and Sagitta. She was a founding member of the SC Insurnet Users Group and a member of the PaperWise Users Group National Advisory Committee.
Most recently, Robin oversaw agency operations for HUB International Southeast in SC and NC focusing on agency acquisition and system migrations, compliance, client services, accounting, procurement, facility management, and business continuity planning.
Trainer | New Boston, Texas
Her passion for the independent insurance agency started in 2001. Experiencing agency life in all aspects of agency operations from bookkeeping, to IT, to directing marketing and employee benefits, she truly found her passion in transforming her agency through software conversions and training/coaching employees. She is excited about the possibilities of increased efficiency by marrying smart agency processes with AMS360, BenefitPoint, and thoughtful improvement plan execution. She is looking forward to transforming agency clients with her variety of software/operational and real-life experience, creative approach to problem-solving, and enthusiasm for seeing others achieve success.
Account Manager |
Account Manager |
Advisor | Dike, TX
Margaret began her insurance career in 1978 as a policy typist at an Independent Insurance Agency. Since this time she has been involved in all aspects of the agency including Personal Lines Account Manager and System Administrator. Margaret worked in Agency Management and when the agency was purchased by a local bank in 2004, Margaret took on the role of Operations Manager of three agency locations. This position included HR, policies and procedures, compliance and training. In addition to the role of IT / System Administrator, Margaret has been involved in the implementation of several AMS system and hardware upgrades. Margaret served on several Company committees, was an active member in the Red River Users Group and a member of the AMS360 NetVU Education Committee.
Consultant | Cleveland, OH
She is an accomplished client manager/account executive with over 30 years of industry experience in various capacities including managing middle market to large national accounts. Her management experience includes overseeing a large commercial lines staff at a middle market agency. She was a successful Quality Control Manager for an Assurex E & O Program creating a 100% automated and highly efficient renewal checklist to all personal lines and small commercial clients resulting in a significantly reduced E & O exposure for the agency. Over the last 10 years, she has been project lead involved in several agency migrations and conversions. She is conversant with AMS360, PLATFORM, WORKSMART/IMAGE RIGHT, BENEFIT POINT and the integration between the systems. She has been a member of NetVu for over 10 years, attending National Conference and some power user groups. Her key to success is her thorough knowledge of the system and what it can do for you in cutting cost and improving efficiencies as well as employee satisfaction.
Processing Manager | Farnham, VA
Kristy began her career in 2001 in a independent insurance agency. She then came on board with Angela Adams Consulting in 2014 as a Direct Bill Team Leader and specializes in Direct Bill Processing.
Processing Manager |
Processing Manager | Glenwood, AL
Cary began her career in 2005 in an independent insurance agency. She has been with Angela Adams Consulting since 2006, where she specializes in Direct Bill processing and procedures in AMS360 and BenefitPoint, as well as downloads. While currently serving as a Processor Manager, she also has experience as an Account Manager and Processor.
Accounting Department Coordinator |
Marketing & Administration Manager | North Charleston, SC
CSR Coordinator & Concept Implementation | North Charleston, SC
| North Charleston, SC
Consultant | Fort Pierce, FL
Tammy has been in the insurance business since 1990, spending most of that time in the Accounting field, and also in Systems & Operations Management. She received the AAI designation in 1999. She was instrumental in forming the Sunshine State AMS Users' Group and previously served as President. Tammy has been active in National Conference AfW/AMS 360 Education, where she served on the committee as Co-Chair as well as being a presenter at National Conference for the past several years. In 2005 Tammy was awarded the Presidential Citation from the AMS National Users' Group.
Consultant | Ramseur, NC
Stephanie has over 23 years of experience in the insurance industry. She has bachelor's degrees in finance and economics, and in information technology. She began her career at Brown & Brown Insurance in 1991 gaining experience in all aspects of agency operations. During her time at Brown & Brown she completed two computer conversions – one of which was to Sagitta. During her career with Vertafore, she gained additional expertise in Sagitta, Worksmart, and the entire Vertafore product suite. She worked with large-scale agencies up to 2,000 users, assisting them with conversions, implementations, and migrations. Stephanie has a combined background in agency operations and software that can assist all types of agencies from the start-up, the growing, and the mature. She focuses beyond the software, placing her emphasis on being a true strategic partner. Stephanie is rated by attendees as a Top Speaker at NetVu for many years!
Consultant | Seattle, WA
Angela is a popular speaker at NetVU conferences whether it be a local Chapter meeting, virtual webex session or National Conference. This is due to her experience with the Insurance Industry and passion for Insurance Agency Professionals. Angela has been in the Insurance Industry since 1980. She has held various positions with Carriers including System Interaction Specialist, Personal Lines Underwriter, Commercial Lines Underwriter. In 1992 Angela became a Licensed Property & Casualty agent for a large Brokerage firm in the Washington area specializing in Financial Products before joining Vertafore in 1996. While at Vertafore Angela Painter worked primarily in Development as a Senior Business Analyst and Product Manager on AfW and the AMS360 product since its inception. As the AMS360 Product Manager Angela worked closely with Agencies, Sales, Support, Implementation, Training and Development Teams to analyze, research, prioritize, design, and implement features within the AMS360 system.


text:
Pool Fencing Stokers Siding NSW 2484, Glass pool fencing and glass balustrade Stokers Siding NSW. Absolut Custom Glass deliver a qualified professional glass pool fencing solution and service in Stokers Siding NSW and all Gold Coast suburbs. We specialize in a lot of areas covering Frameless glass pool fencing, semi-frameless glass pool fencing and glass balustrade.
Absolut Custom Glass is a Gold Coast located family run small business that has been specialising in glass pool fencing for close to 20 years. Jason Walsh began his business after discovering there was a demand out there for layout based glass pool fencing that didn't just make your pool safe and agreeable with local councils, but could easily add value to your property. Absolut Custom Glass offer a lifetime structural warranty, free quotes and will beat the written quote of all of their competitors. Absolut Custom Glass will make sure your pool enclosure meets all safety standards and make certain that your pool meets your requirements and adds value to your house.
We offer non obligation free design and quotes and guarantee certification lodged to locals council by an independent certifier on completion of all works. We pride ourselves on taking out all of the stress from the process by making sure your pool is compliant with local safety rules. This is a complete service starting from the first phone call where Jason Walsh will supply not only a free quote, but will help your pool come to life and ensure it is produced in the best possible way to match your home and budget.
We are that confident of our design and experience that we don't take deposits until you receive your certification on completion. We are proud to be the only company in Australia offering an exclusive lifetime promise on the structural integrity of our fence installations, we support every single job we do. We have been in this game for a long time and aim on being here for a lot longer, made possible by our experienced staff and contractors and over 75 years of combined experience between us. That's what you get while you use Absolut Custom Glass Systems for glass pool fencing in Stokers Siding NSW 2484.
If you are in Stokers Siding NSW contact Absolut Custom Glass today on 1300 937 902 or visit the contact page for more options. You can also contact Jason directly on 0410 534 137 If you have any Questions. After all, you would like to make sure you get the very best quality pool fence in Stokers Siding NSW at the very best price.
Our Services
Custom glass fencing
Follow us on Instagram
View some of our recently completed projects on Instagram. Keep up to date and follow us today.
Latest Google Reviews
Why Choose us
We will take care of all the paperwork and have your pool fence certified to be compliant with local council regulations.
We have our own showroom, workshop & large range of stock. Our supplier has 7 depots Australia wide with one based on the Gold Coast.
We offer a free service call after installation and a lifetime structural warranty on all our glass fencing workmanship.
Consultation, quote and design planning free of charge by one of the Gold Coasts leading pool fence and balustrade designers.
Fencing Styles
Not sure what style of glass fencing to go with? Click the button below to checkout all the different glass styles and applications.
Considering DIY? Checkout our DIY glass fencing website. A complete range of pool fencing and balustrade supplies at rock bottom prices.
If you don't get a quote from us you will pay too much!
Servicing the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Byron Bay and surrounding areas.
We off pool fencing services in the Gold Coast City including all surrounding suburbs, townships and rural localities of Advancetown, Alberton, Arundel, Ashmore, Austinville, Benowa, Biggera Waters, Bilinga, Bonogin, Broadbeach, Broadbeach Waters, Bundall, Burleigh Heads, Burleigh Waters, Carrara, Cedar Creek (part), Clagiraba, Clear Island Waters, Coolangatta, Coombabah, Coomera, Currumbin, Currumbin Valley, Currumbin Waters, Elanora, Gaven, Gilberton, Gilston, Guanaba, Helensvale, Highland Park, Hollywell, Hope Island, Jacobs Well, Kingsholme, Labrador, Lower Beechmont, Luscombe, Main Beach, Maudsland, Mermaid Beach, Mermaid Waters, Merrimac, Miami, Molendinar, Mount Nathan, Mudgeeraba, Natural Bridge, Nerang, Neranwood, Norwell, Numinbah Valley, Ormeau, Ormeau Hills, Oxenford, Pacific Pines, Palm Beach, Paradise Point, Parkwood, Pimpama, Reedy Creek, Robina, Runaway Bay, South Stradbroke, Southport, Southern Moreton Bay Islands, Springbrook, Stapylton, Steiglitz, Surfers Paradise, Tallai, Tallebudgera, Tallebudgera Valley, Tugun, Upper Coomera, Varsity Lakes, Willow Vale, Wongawallan, Woongoolba, Worongary and Yatala.


text:
Holy Lives
By Stephen
for the August 18, 2012 Sabbath School Lesson
"…make it your ambition to lead a quiet
life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we
told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders…" 1
Thessalonians 4:11-12, NIV
Several years ago, while attending church potluck after
services one Sabbath, I noticed a visitor going from table to table visiting
with the local church members. His appearance had caught my attention as most
of those in attendance were dressed in their Sabbath best from church. I had not
seen him at the service, but it was not uncommon to have locals attend potluck
without attending church. The church was in a depressed part of town and for some
who came this may have been their only balanced meal all week.
This man was a rather slender, even skinny fellow with a
long beard and suspenders to hold up his khaki pants. The suspenders clashed
with the colors in his plaid shirt, and a canvas fishing hat covered masses of light
brown, disheveled hair. I surmised he was a newer member, just arrived in the
local neighborhood, looking for a meal. However, he eventually arrived at my
table, and his purpose became clear. He began to share with those of us sitting
at the table what Ellen White had written about cheese. He quoted that "it
should never enter the stomach." Testimonies, Volume 2, page 68. Also he
recited that cheese was "wholly unfit for food." Ministry of Healing, page 302.
With further conversation, we discovered that this church
member had made it his life work to travel the country and attend potlucks at
Seventh-day Adventist churches and tell everyone that they could only find
salvation by being obedient and that obedience meant eliminating cheese from
the diet. Anyone who had attended a church potluck, Adventist or otherwise,
knows that cheese is present in many dishes from potatoes au gratin, to
macaroni and cheese casseroles. He saw this as a challenge to the perfection
that holy living required. It was a touchstone for him. If people were not
being obedient regarding cheese then they probably were not being obedient
elsewhere in their lives and probably weren't really saved. Finding few who
would stop eating their meal when he pointed out the cheese to them, he
eventually "shook the dust" off his shoes and moved on, presumably to another
church the following weekend.
Is this what holy living is all about? Is it based on an obedience checklist that we compare ourselves against to determine if we are holy enough to make it? There have been many such checklists through the ages.
Jewish converts of the 1st century tried to make circumcision the bellwether of a person's relationship to God. Sometime around the first Council of Nicaea in the early 4th century, penance became a hot topic for the early
church. Many felt that converts must demonstrate their commitment by obedient
acts of contrition. Perhaps this was because some had renounced their faith
when persecuted and then sought to re-establish their relationship with the
church. Some felt that rebaptism either should not be allowed or was not enough
and that some difficult penance must be assigned to demonstrate to the sinner
and to the church that falling away was not to be taken lightly.
As time went on, obedience came to be identified with
creeds that outlined adherence to doctrines defined by the various
denominations. For instance, you would not be seen to be obedient and striving
toward holiness in the Seventh-day Adventist church if you did not adhere to
Saturday Sabbath keeping. Conversely, other denominations such as the Southern
Baptists, the Nazarenes, and other Sunday keeping fellowships would feel that
you were not progressing in your faith if you did keep a Saturday Sabbath.
Irrespective of the perceived biblical foundations for these positions, the purpose
in citing these examples is not to proclaim doctrinal truth but merely to
illustrate how obedience may be defined.
Today, we see obedience is often more than a matter of
simple commitment to a creedal position, but rather as a commitment to a
particular interpretation of those creeds. In the case of our cheese-abstaining
friend, for instance, we find that the denominational creed known as "The 28
Fundamental Beliefs" of the Seventh-day Adventist Church contains in belief
number 22, "…we are to adopt the most healthful diet possible…," and number 18
regarding Ellen White, "As the Lord's messenger, her writings are a continuing
and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church comfort, guidance,
instruction, and correction," became, through interpretation, a mandate to
proclaim the gospel of forbidding cheese consumption in order to be saved.
Many such interpretations are made battlefields of
contention in the modern church. I have heard vegetarians proclaim that anyone
who eats meat will not be allowed to live to meet Jesus when He returns. But
even vegetarians are now looked down on by vegans who feel they are the modern
keepers of the Holy Grail. Some feel that those who listen to certain musical
compositions can never be saved as long as they do so. Others feel that dress
is the deciding issue. Still others feel that women who seek ordination as
ministers of the gospel are on the Devil's highway. Often, these tests of
obedience are more about emotion and feeling than about any real understanding
of salvation.
When we succeed in achieving the demanded outward
obedience in any of these areas, we all too often find that the next thing we
are doing is looking around to see how successful others are in the same area.
When we compare ourselves to others in this way, we stand in danger of becoming
spiritually proud and arrogant over our own imagined progress, and we begin to
look down on our brothers and sisters in Christ as not measuring up to our
self-imposed standard of obedience. We forget that "…all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23, NIV Isaiah
adds to that, "…all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…" Isaiah 64:6, NIV In spite of that,
we might still want to believe that we can do some act of obedience and enhance
our standing with God, but the Bible says otherwise. "Can an Ethiopian change
his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to
doing evil." Jeremiah 13:23, NIV
As much as we might want to believe that somehow our
works of obedience will add something to our savability, all such attempts will
only result in pride and subsequently our downfall. (See Proverbs 16:18) One
might think that if this is the case, then no one will be saved since we cannot
be righteous. Nothing is further from the truth. The righteousness, the
salvation that so easily eludes us is given to us as a gift. "the gift of God
is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23, NIV One might say
that yes, I have been justified by Jesus and that is a gift, but now I must work
on being sanctified, or made holy. After all, I must work out my own "salvation
with fear and trembling." Philippians 2:12, NIV But what does that mean? Does
it mean that we can somehow, through the exercise of our will overcome the
tendency to sin that we have inherited from Adam? Can we simply by choosing to
do the right thing overcome our fleshly desires? It seems that Isaiah and
Jeremiah don't believe that is possible. Does Paul's letter to the Philippians
then urge us to do something we cannot do? For the answer we need only look to
the next verse.
In verse 13, we find "for it is God who works in you to
will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose." Philippians 2:13,
NIV Apparently even our sanctification,
our perfection in righteousness is not our work but God's. It is even His will
that is working in our lives, not our own. What then is our part to play in
living holy lives? Perhaps James says it best, "Submit yourselves, then, to God….Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." James 4:7,10 NIV Our part then
is not to somehow accomplish our sanctification by being obedient to every perceived
standard. It is simply to surrender to God so He can work His will in our
lives. The Bible promises that He will write his law on our hearts. (See
Jeremiah 31:33) The Bible also promises that when this is the case, "The law of
their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip." Psalm 37:3, NIV Obedience then is
a matter not of any creed or belief statement but rather what God has done
within. Since it is God working internally on the human heart it is subject to
something we cannot see for only God can see the heart. (See 1 Samuel 16:7)
Sometimes we hurt others by demanding, or even just
hinting, that they come up to a standard of obedience they are not ready to
achieve. We forget the counsel "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To
their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is
able to make them stand." Romans 14:4, NIV We even push ourselves to achieve in
our own strength what we are not ready for. When we go to the doctor and the
doctor tells us that we need surgery, we trust the doctor to pick the right
time and place for the surgery. Perhaps we need to go through certain
preparations before we are ready for the surgery. Maybe we are not strong
enough for the surgery and must have our health built up first to withstand the
rigors of the operation. In the same way, God chooses the right time and place
to deal with that pernicious habit that is preventing us from advancing spiritually.
He knows when it is time to deal with the problem and how best to deal with it.
He will not leave us lacking in anything necessary for our salvation if we only
trust Him enough to let Him be in control. When we submit ourselves to Him,
obedience becomes about how perfect God is and not how sanctified we are.
This Commentary is a Service of Still
Waters Ministry
If you wish to receive these weekly commentaries direct to your e-mail inbox for free, simply send an e-mail to:
If you
want a paperback copy of the current Sabbath School Bible
Study Quarterly, you may purchase one by clicking here and typing the word
"quarterly" into the search box.


text:
Craft brewer New Belgium will build its East Coast facility in Asheville, officials announced at the Chamber of Commerce. Stay tuned for a follow-up report.
Meanwhile, here's the press release from Gov. Perdue's office, and below, live dispatches via Twitter.
Gov. Bev Perdue today announced that New Belgium Brewing, the third largest craft brewer in the country and the maker of Fat Tire Amber Ale, will build its East Coast brewery in Buncombe County. The company plans to create as many as 154 jobs and invest about $175 million over seven years. The project was made possible in part by a $1,000,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund. The state grant will be based on the company creating 130 jobs and making $115 million investment over the five years of the project.
"New Belgium looked all around and chose North Carolina as the location for the company's one brewery east of the Mississippi," Gov. Perdue said. "A big factor in sealing this deal was that company leaders knew they can find a skilled workforce, thanks to our history of investing in education and job training. New Belgium's expansion will enhance the craft brewery cluster that is growing here. The jobs and investment the company is committing will be a major boon for the region and for the state."
New Belgium Brewing, headquartered in Fort Collins, Co., sold 712,000 barrels of beer in just 28 states and the District of Columbia in 2011. Over 150,000 people visit the brewery in Fort Collins every year. As part of the project in Asheville, New Belgium will be constructing a new state-of-the-art brewery and tasting facility that will be a destination for visitors of the emerging brewery cluster in Buncombe County and the surrounding western North Carolina region.
"After several years of searching we are incredibly excited to have landed in Asheville," said Kim Jordan, CEO and co-founder of New Belgium. "From the deep sense of community to the rich natural environment and the opportunity to revitalize a brownfield site near a vibrant downtown, Asheville has everything we've been looking for in a location for our second brewery."
Salaries will vary by job function, but the average annual wage for the new jobs during the first five years of the project will be $48,222 with the average annual wage for all 154 jobs estimated at more than $50,000. The Buncombe County average annual wage is $33,800.
"New Belgium will provide a boost to Buncombe County's economy, both in jobs and the tourism the new brewery will help attract," said Sen. Martin Nesbitt, of Asheville. "This kind of major economic development is possible because we have invested in education and transportation, building a workforce and infrastructure that are second to none."
"Buncombe County is quickly becoming a hub for craft brewing," said Rep. Susan Fisher, of Asheville. "Companies like New Belgium are drawn here, not just because of our natural resources, but because of a top notch business climate created through years of forward-looking policies on education and support for business."
The One NC Fund provides financial assistance, through local governments, to attract business projects that will stimulate economic activity and create new jobs in the state. Companies receive no money up front and must meet job creation and investment performance standards to qualify for grant funds. These grants also require and are contingent upon local matches.
North Carolina continues to have a top-ranked business climate. Through Gov. Perdue's JobsNOW initiative, the state works aggressively to create jobs, train and retrain its workforce, and lay the foundation for a strong and sustainable economic future.
Through use of the One NC Fund, more than 60,000 jobs and $11 billion in investment have been created since 2001. Other partners that helped with this project include: the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community Colleges, AdvantageWest, Buncombe County, the City of Asheville, Golden LEAF Foundation and Progress Energy.
For more information about New Belgium Brewing, including job opportunities, go to www.newbelgium.com.