text:
HANOI, Vietnam – Do Quoc Tai is an unlikely pain in the side of Vietnam's ruling Communist Party. Although the construction foreman earns just $150 per month, he and his neighbors have strong-armed the government, blocking a major ring road that's a symbol of the country's push to modernize.
Nearly four decades after Vietnam emerged from war, it now faces a make-or-break choice: build roads and subways in its sprawling cities or remain stuck in the past, allowing fear of social unrest to highjack its development.
Building a nearby 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) stretch of the road took a decade, largely because residents resisted low payoffs until authorities relented. State media reported that $39 million of the $45 million cost was compensation and dubbed it "the most expensive road in the world."
Experts and officials say inadequate roading and public transport in Hanoi and other Vietnamese cities blocks the social and economic progress of a country where widespread poverty persists despite fast growth in recent years.
As construction of Hanoi's inner ring road remains stalled, its traffic will almost certainly worsen in the coming decade as a rising middle class begins to drive cars rather than motorbikes. The World Bank says motorbikes still account for as many as four in five trips in Vietnam's major cities.
Planners warn that if Hanoi doesn't build more roads and efficient public transport while limiting car ownership, its narrow streets will begin to look as gridlocked as those of Jakarta and other notoriously congested megacities. Two-wheeled commuters already honk their way down Hanoi sidewalks during rush-hour traffic jams.
The major sticking point is the price of land: The government wants to seize urban neighborhoods for infrastructure but offers compensation far below market values. It might have some justification since there are indications property prices have gotten far ahead of reality for a developing country. Many residents refuse to budge, and widespread corruption and bureaucratic infighting only exacerbate delays.
In Tai's run-down neighborhood, residents and commercial real estate agents estimate the price of the land at roughly 100 million dong ($4,800) per square meter.
Tai, who lives with 13 family members in a house the size of a small New York City apartment, says the 55 families he informally represents have been negotiating compensation with local officials since 2008. But many have yet to accept a deal.
If residents and officials can't agree, "it's likely the government will have to force an eviction," Tai said in his cramped living room as neighbors picked through garbage in an adjacent alley. "Some families have nothing to lose, and if they were cornered, who could predict what might happen?"
Vietnamese consider land a relatively secure investment in a country that's reeling from Asia's highest inflation rate and struggling to reform faltering state-owned corporations in the wake of a major 2010 scandal that damaged the country's credit rating.
Estimated property values near Hanoi's dilapidated old quarter are incongruously high considering Vietnam, where average per capita income is about $1,400 per year, has only just emerged as a "lower-middle-income" economy. That's a World Bank classification based on reaching an average yearly income of between roughly $1,000 and $4,000 a person.
The international real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield said in a report this year that downtown Hanoi office rentals — at roughly $500 per square meter ($46 per square foot) per year — rival those of Seoul and Munich.
Urban Vietnamese hold quasi-permanent land titles, many of which were issued after 1975, when U.S.-backed South Vietnam fell to northern communists and the country was reunified.
Experts say unlike people in the countryside who typically hold 20-year leases on farmland and can be evicted for golf courses and luxury villas, residents of Hanoi and the southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City are often less willing to cede turf for development or infrastructure projects — particularly when the compensation price is well below market rate.
Site clearance for infrastructure projects is a "difficult problem" in Hanoi and other Vietnamese cities, said architect Tran Trong Hanh, a former member of the Hanoi people's legislature, a city council-like body that influences key infrastructure projects.
The government's "priority is compromise and guaranteeing the best benefit for the people, and eviction is the last resort," he said.
State media have reported that a majority of the 670,000 petitions the government has received since 2008 related to cases in which officials seized land for infrastructure and economic development projects but paid significantly less than the market rate for the plots. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was quoted in early May as saying that if 528 such pending cases are not properly resolved, they could sow "seeds of political and social instability."
Organized resistance is rare in Vietnam, where a powerful government controls the media, squashes protests and imprisons political dissents. Analysts say that unlike neighboring China, where the government razes urban neighborhoods for infrastructure projects over local opposition, Vietnam is very reluctant to seize land from city dwellers because it doesn't want to spark social unrest and risk threatening the status quo.
Officials in Vietnam's two major cities "can never finish a ring road," said Nguyen Xuan Thanh, director of public policy programs at the U.S.-funded Fulbright Economics Teaching Program in Ho Chi Minh City.
Unlike China, Vietnam "tolerates inefficiency in exchange for stability," he said. "Efforts to redevelop existing urban areas are very likely to fail."
Tai, the construction foreman, lives a few hundred meters from where the "most expensive road in the world" stops abruptly at a row of skinny houses. The success of other residents in blocking that road project has empowered landowners here and in other Hanoi neighborhoods to hold out for higher compensation rates — further delaying major infrastructure development.
Since 2008 the official compensation offer has crept from 11.2 million dong ($538) to nearly $30 million dong ($1,440) per square meter for many of Tai's neighbors, but those who cannot produce official titles have been offered just 50,000 dong ($2.50) per square meter.
Local officials plan to raze the neighborhood and extend the inner ring road later this year, "but it's unlikely they'll meet that target," Tai, 48, said. The officials could not be reached for comment.
A nascent $5 billion metro system that's scheduled to begin opening in 2015 will ease the city's traffic burden to a degree, said Robert Valkovic, a transport specialist at the Asian Development Bank in Hanoi. But he added it will be difficult for city officials to discourage car ownership and develop a coordinated road network.
"If you start building roads," he said, "then you have to start knocking down neighborhoods."


text:
James Buchanan: Life Before the Presidency
James Buchanan was the last President born in the eighteenth century, on April 23, 1791. Although he was born in a log cabin, his origins were far from humble. His father, for whom he was named, had emigrated from Ireland a decade before, married Elizabeth Speer, and became a successful merchant in rural Pennsylvania, settling near Mercersburg in the southern part of the state. The Buchanans eventually had eleven children, James being the second of them and the eldest son
James attended school in the Mercersburg area, but his father's business triumphs and his mother's interest in education dictated better opportunities for the boy. At age sixteen, he entered Dickinson College in Carlisle, seventy miles from home. A spirited presence on campus, James managed to avoid two near expulsions from the school over disciplinary matters. After two years, he graduated with honors and then promptly began law studies. In 1813, he was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar and began practicing in Lancaster. Soon after, he answered a call to arms for the War of 1812, but his regiment saw no action. Returning to the Lancaster area, he resumed his law career and displayed a legal talent that enabled him to quickly amass a substantial fortune.
Political Triumph and Personal Tragedy
Soon after the War of 1812, Buchanan—only twenty-three years old—won election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a member of the Federalist Party. Though he maintained his law practice, he served in the legislature from 1814 until 1819
the end of his time in the legislature, Buchanan fell in love with Ann Caroline Coleman. In those days, Ann's father was quite wealthy, his fortune having been built in the Pennsylvania iron trade. The young woman's family opposed the match with Buchanan, however. Some claimed that he was only interested in her money, but Buchanan's legal skills were so great that before he became thirty, he was worth over $250,000—a sizable fortune in 1819. Local gossips then claimed that Buchanan was seeing another woman, and a distraught Ann Coleman sent him a letter breaking off the engagement. A few days later she died. The Coleman family turned its grief and guilt on the young lawyer and forbade him to attend the funeral. The experience severely shook Buchanan; he vowed he would not marry another, and he never became seriously involved with any other woman for the rest of his life, though he carried on many flirtations. He would be the nation's first and only bachelor President
Ann Coleman's tragic death, Buchanan sought refuge in his work. He aimed for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and managed to overcome local ill will toward him regarding the Coleman matter to win the 1820 election for the post. He served in Congress from 1821 until 1831.
In Congress, he quickly made a name for himself as a notable constitutional lawyer, serving on the House Judiciary Committee. During this time, Buchanan's Federalist Party was dying, and the young congressman found himself drawn to the biggest political star of the day, Andrew Jackson. The charismatic hero of the Battle of New Orleans had been assembling a formidable political coalition that would evolve into the Democratic Party. Buchanan supported the fledgling movement, quickly becoming its leader in Pennsylvania. The young congressman got on Jackson's bad side in 1824, however, when "Old Hickory" thought that Buchanan was part of the "corrupt bargain" that had cost him the White House. (See Jackson biography, Campaigns and Elections section, for details.) Despite Jackson's feelings toward him, Buchanan remained a loyal supporter. In 1828, with Buchanan's strong effort, Pennsylvania helped Jackson win the presidential election. Shortly after Jackson's re-election in 1832, the President appointed Buchanan envoy to Russia.
James Buchanan was well suited to the foreign posting. The two nations had been unable to negotiate a trade treaty, and Buchanan's legal skill enabled him to push the agreement through. Returning from St. Petersburg in 1833, he won a U.S. Senate seat. Tall and distinguished in appearance, with graying hair and an odd habit of tilting his head almost sideways, Buchanan looked every bit the part of a nineteenth-century politician.
The Rise of the Slavery Issue
By the time Buchanan returned to Washington as a senator, slavery had become an important issue in American politics. He objected to slavery personally but viewed the abolitionist movement as a group of meddling troublemakers and as a greater threat to the Union than the institution of slavery. He claimed that the Constitution upheld the right of Southerners to own slaves and saw it as America's duty to protect slavery in the South. Throughout his political career, Buchanan remained largely sympathetic to Southern interests on slavery-related issues.
Chasing the Presidency
With his diplomatic experience, Buchanan also became involved with foreign policy in the Senate, eventually chairing the Foreign Relations Committee. By the end of his terms in the Senate, he was one of the most powerful senators in Congress. Buchanan fervently hoped for the White House in 1844, but the Democratic nomination went to James Knox Polk of Tennessee. After his election to the presidency, Polk named Buchanan as his secretary of state. Although Buchanan opposed Polk's demand on England for the farthest northern boundary of Oregon, he prepared the legal brief backing that claim. Buchanan advocated a compromise and worked assiduously and finally successfully to fashion an agreement between President Polk and the British. During the Mexican War, Buchanan's view of how much territory the United States should annex shifted with military fortunes, but he ultimately supported the final peace treaty. The war made heroes of its victorious generals, and one of them, Zachary Taylor, running as a Whig, won the presidential election of 1848.
With Taylor and the Whigs in charge, Buchanan returned home to Pennsylvania. He plotted to gain the 1852 Democratic nomination. Standing in his way was Senator Stephen A. Douglas, a pugnacious and extremely able young politician from Illinois. Despite looking like a character out of Dickens—five feet four in height with a stumpy body topped by a massive bulldog-like head that gave him the nickname the "Little Giant"—Douglas was a superior political talent with tremendous public speaking skills. Buchanan and Douglas fought furiously for the nomination all the way through the convention in Baltimore and, in doing so, doomed each other's cause. Thirty-four ballots resolved nothing; no candidate could amass the required two-thirds majority of the delegates. Finally, the Democrats turned to a compromise candidate, a little-known New Englander who offended no one, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire. On the forty-eighth ballot, Pierce wrapped up the nomination, denying Buchanan the White House yet again. For the rest of Douglas's life, Buchanan would despise him.
Like Polk, Pierce sought to include the stately, talented Buchanan in his administration, naming the Pennsylvanian to the critical post of minister to England. It would prove to be a lucky break for Buchanan, keeping him in politics while giving him distance from the troubled Pierce administration. Most importantly, the overseas post enabled Buchanan to be unblemished by the political bloodshed that resulted from the disastrous Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
Minister Buchanan was not completely free of controversy, however. His attempt to concoct a plan to buy or conquer Cuba in order to expand lands suitable for plantation agriculture using slaves failed when the Ostend Manifesto was made public. His part in the affair enraged antislavery forces, who felt that he wanted to perpetuate slavery and was willing to use force against Spain to do so. (See Pierce biography, Foreign Affairs section, for details.) Proslavery Southerners, however, viewed Buchanan in a favorable political light—as one of their own. Now popularly known as "Old Buck," the sixty-five-year-old Buchanan knew that 1856 would be his last chance at the presidential prize.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Formal talks on global refugee compact conclude with strong and broad agreement
Formal talks on global refugee compact conclude with strong and broad agreement
GENEVA – The international community's efforts to strengthen the response to refugees passed an important milestone this week, with the wrapping up of formal talks in Geneva and broad agreement on a final draft global compact on refugees.
The sixth and final formal consultation on the global compact on refugees on Wednesday concluded an 18-month process of meetings with UN member states and other stakeholders – including civil society, refugees, international organizations and academics.
"The vast majority of the 24 million refugees in the world today are hosted in low and middle-income countries with scant resources and their own development challenges. A fairer, more robust system to share responsibility has never been more urgent," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
The compact will strengthen the international response to large refugee situations.
Grandi will put forward the final version of the compact in his annual report to the UN General Assembly, which will consider it for adoption later in 2018. In a statement, he welcomed the conclusion of formal consultations.
Once adopted, the compact will strengthen the international response to large refugee situations, broadening the base of support for those forced to flee their homes and the communities hosting them.
It sets out concrete actions for governments and others to meet its four key objectives: ease pressures on host countries; enhance refugee self-reliance; expand refugees' access to solutions in third countries; and support conditions in countries of origin for refugees to return in safety and dignity.
The final draft compact includes a series of systems to maintain momentum and rally the support needed. These include a Global Refugee Forum every four years, situation specific 'Support Platforms', and a three-year strategy to expand access of refugees to solutions in third countries.
It has been really heartening to have such constructive engagement.
While not legally binding, the compact will represent the ambition of the international community to transform the response to refugee situations globally, with a blueprint for action to ensure refugees and host communities can count on robust support.
"Throughout this massive yet inspiring undertaking to forge international agreement on a stronger response to refugee situations, it has been really heartening to have such constructive engagement of governments and others as we have tried to build a global consensus," said UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, Volker Türk, whose closing remarks to Wednesday's meeting provide a summary of the final formal consultation and details of the next steps.
UNHCR was charged by the UN General Assembly to propose a global compact on refugees, based on the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework set out in the historic New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, of September 2016. That framework is already being applied in 14 countries.


text:
We're all multitaskers!
Via a new post by Masahble, The Rise of Digital Multitasking, "More Americans than ever are multitasking while they weatch the TV according to a new survey from Deloitte." And "Between September 10 and October 8, 2010, Deloitte polled 2,000 U.S. consumers ages 14-75 on their digital habits. Unsurprisingly, it found that Americans are plugged in. 85% own a desktop computer, yet another 68% own a laptop or a netbook and another 41% have Internet-enabled phones. Moreover, 1/3 of American households now own a smartphone, up from 22% in 2007."
Long have adults lamented the idea of chidren and students multitasking, but it now seems we're all doing it! At our Web to Classroom workshops with teachers in 2009 we found that they were starting to actually encourage and praise multitasking, as they could see it was a skill, a normal way of learning and not a hindrance.
What does this mean for museum learning? We already provide rich, sensory experiences. Perhaps now we need to think more seriously about multilayering content, with the understanding that visitors will tend to multitask as they stand in front of exhibits (just like the TV example in the post above). But, pmaybe visitors have always multitasked as they discuss the exhibits, take fotos, organise themsleves, ask questions and so on - it's just they have many more tools with them now.
Something to think about...


text:
Jason Aldean Recognizes Two-Year Anniversary of Route 91 Fest Shooting in Las Vegas
Jason Aldean and his wife Brittany started Tuesday recognizing a painful anniversary for them, thousands of fans in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017 and the nation at large. Two years ago, a gunman opened fire during the singer's set at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, killing 58 and wounding many more.
The gunman took his own life before police got to him inside the Mandalay Bay hotel across from the festival venue on the Las Vegas strip. Aldean was singing "When She Says Baby" when the gunfire started. He and his band — plus the thousands in attendance — rushed for cover when they realized what was happening.
"This will always be a tough day for us. Not a day goes by that we don't think about our @route91harvest family," Aldean says on Instagram.
Brittany Aldean shared a photo of the couple back in Las Vegas for the first time, taken just days after the shooting as they went to see victims. The hotel is in the distance and the couple is locked arm in arm.
"This day will always be a tragic memory. Always in our thoughts and prayers #route91family," she writes.
Route 91 Harvest Festival was a yearly, multi-day country music festival in Las Vegas that in 2017 also featured performances from Eric Church, Jake Owen, Sam Hunt and Lee Brice. Owen and Chris Young (who was just visiting) were among the other artists on site that day. Both men provided information to emergency crews and news outlets in real-time.
These Are the Names and Faces of the Victims of the Las Vegas Shooting


text:
What Is the Os Trigonum?
The os trigonum is an extra (accessory) bone that sometimes develops behind the ankle bone (talus). It is connected to the talus by a fibrous band. The presence of an os trigonum in one or both feet is congenital (present at birth). It becomes evident during adolescence when one area of the talus does not fuse with the rest of the bone, creating a small extra bone. Only a small number of people have this extra bone.
What Is Os Trigonum Syndrome?
Often, people do not know they have an os trigonum if it has not caused any problems. However, some people with this extra bone develop a painful condition known as os trigonum syndrome.
Os trigonum syndrome is usually triggered by an injury, such as an ankle sprain. The syndrome is also frequently caused by repeated downward pointing of the toes, which is common among ballet dancers, soccer players and other athletes.
For the person who has an os trigonum, pointing the toes downward can result in a "nutcracker injury." Like an almond in a nutcracker, the os trigonum is crunched between the ankle and heel bones. As the os trigonum pulls loose, the tissue connecting it to the talus is stretched or torn and the area becomes inflamed.
Signs & Symptoms of Os Trigonum Syndrome
The signs and symptoms of os trigonum syndrome may include:
- Deep, aching pain in the back of the ankle, occurring mostly when pushing off on the big toe (as in walking) or when pointing the toes downward
- Tenderness in the area when touched
- Swelling in the back of the ankle
Os trigonum syndrome can mimic other conditions, such as an Achilles tendon injury, ankle sprain or talus fracture. Diagnosis of os trigonum syndrome begins with questions from the doctor about the development of symptoms. After the foot and ankle are examined, x-rays or other imaging tests are often ordered to assist in making the diagnosis.
Treatment: Nonsurgical Approaches
Relief of the symptoms is often achieved through treatments that can include a combination of the following:
- Rest. It is important to stay off the injured foot to let the inflammation subside.
- Immobilization. A walking boot is often used to restrict ankle motion and to allow the injured tissue to heal.
- Ice. Swelling is decreased by applying a bag of ice covered with a thin towel to the affected area. Do not put ice directly against the skin.
- Oral medication. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, may be helpful in reducing the pain and inflammation.
- Injections. Sometimes cortisone is injected into the area to reduce the inflammation and pain.
When Is Surgery Needed?
Most patients' symptoms improve with nonsurgical treatment. However, in some patients, surgery may be required to relieve the symptoms. Surgery typically involves removal of the os trigonum, as this extra bone is not necessary for normal foot function.


text:
Project Management Professional (PMP) Preparation Program
October 1, 2016 - October 2, 2016
Venue: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Course Summary
This training helps to prepare candidates for the Project Management Institute's Project Management Professional (PMP) examination. Even experienced project managers will benefit from this workshop by learning what to expect and how to prepare. A baseline assessment (mock exam) helps students understand where they need to focus their time. The Project Management Processes and Framework puts this broad topic into perspective and each project management knowledge area is covered. This course has been updated to reflect the latest edition of PMBoK® 5.0.
This program focuses on presentation skills and techniques that will take you off the sidelines and puts you in the game. You will have power packed presentations that motivate, persuade, and hold the attention of the group.
Audience: Those interested in Project Management excellence, particularly those planning to take the PMP examination to become certified project managers.
- Introduction to Project Management in terms of PMI and PMBoK®
- Adopting vs. Adapting the Methodology
- Key Points to the Overview and Philosophy of Project Management
- Current State Needs and Shortcomings
- Facts about the Exam, the Application, and the Membership
- Project Integration
- Project, Program, Portfolio
- Types of Organization Structure
- The Project Manager and Project Team
- Scope
- Constraints
- Assumptions
- Charter
- Project Plan
- Work Breakdown Structure (Activity One)
- Scope Definition & Plan
- Time and Cost
- Estimating Methods
- Responsibility Assignment Matrix
- Estimation of Time vs. Cost
- Actual vs. Schedule
- Estimated to Complete and Estimated at Complete
- Quality, HR, and Communication
- Quality Plans (Activity Three)
- Quality Assurance
- Quality Control
- Team Selection
- Team Development
- Risk and Procurement
- Risk Plan
- Risk Identification
- Quantitative and Qualitative Tools
- Risk Register
- Risk Strategies


text:
Hidden object game review
In the northern part of the state, near the upper reaches of the Hudson River, there is a town named Sleepy Hollow.
As is often the case, small towns hide big mysteries. A chain of bloody events commenced one ordinary night. A secret marriage and a new will have inflicted a dreadful curse upon this town.
A terrible legend has become reality. The legend of a terrifying creature returned from hell. Are you ready to face it in Cursed Fates: The Headless Horseman game?


text:
I have begun the process of posting a permanent executive director position. While there will be a number of people I would like to consider, I hope to move swiftly on the identification and selection of this person.That doesn't sound to me like the current E.D. is a prime candidate for the permanent spot. Making me even more hopeful, Nedelkoff looked to outside sources, not within Texas' corrections bureaucracy, for juvenile justice experts to assist him in the short term. He wrote in the same email that he had:
contacted three people who will be "on loan" to us from their current jobs and they will be working on a variety of TYC projects during the next 30 to 60 days in a part-time capacity. I will task them to become involved in various projects, including policy analysis and operational issues that I feel are a priority. These are some people that will be assisting TYC:These are good signs. If the first several high profile appointments had come from the adult prison system like the last round of managers, it would have been very disheartening. Not only that, bringing in his own people makes him less reliant on the adult prison transplants who currently hold most of the management slots, and should help him exert greater control over the agency more quickly.Rex Uberman, Assistant Secretary, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice
Mr. Uberman has more than 30 years of experience in juvenile justice, child welfare, substance abuse and mental health services. He has expertise in developing clear public policy and operational procedures and implementing interventions that stabilized high risk operations and reformed failing programs. Mr. Uberman has provided consulting services to the District of Columbia Juvenile Justice Reform, State of New Mexico Juvenile Justice Project, the State of Florida Department of Children and Families, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and many other state, federal and private entities.
Dianne L. Gadow, Deputy Director of Operations, Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections
In her current capacity, Ms. Gadow oversees the department's secure schools and community corrections programs. These include youth on parole, medical and mental health programs, classification and assessments, education programs, and partnerships with community resources. Ms. Gadow has a history of successfully establishing major reforms and enhancing educational and mental health components in youth correctional facilities and the community. She is currently the chairperson of the American Correctional Association Juvenile Corrections Committee.
Leticia Pena Martinez, Director of Family Initiatives, Child Support Division, Office of the Attorney General
Ms. Martinez has extensive experience in juvenile justice issues, including creating a new office in the Office of the Attorney General focused on programs and initiatives that strengthen families and promote responsible parenthood. While serving as the Deputy Director/Director of Strategic Planning in the Criminal Justice Division of the Office of the Governor, she led the development and administration of innovative grants and programs that involve juvenile justice and delinquency prevention, criminal justice, law enforcement, victims services and community volunteerism programs.
Just as promising, Nedelkoff identified several key areas for "review" that also make me think he's started off in the right direction:
·The treatment and rehabilitation programming;
·The use of force/pepper spray policy;
·The security placement procedures and behavior modification program;
·The population management and facility utilization;
·The continuous assessment and evaluation of youth during their entire length of stay at TYC; and
·The institutional staffing patterns.
All of these, regular readers know, are areas where TYC administrators over the last year adopted strategies and tactics from the adult prison system to apply inappropriately to youth prisons. I still haven't heard back about the interview with Nedelkoff I requested, but his first few public acts have been cause for cautious optimism.
UPDATE: Jerome Williams replaced by Mike Davis as superintendent at Crockett, reports the Dallas News.


text:
Pilot Watches Basic
Aachen 39
39 mm Automatic
The used vintage leather makes every watch strap unique. Being a product of nature, it can present itself with color and structure variations.
Similar Articles
- product description
- Article variations
- Model matrix
product description
product description
Product.Nr. 861990
Made in Germany
- Movement:
- Automatic movement Laco 2S
Basic movement Miyota 82S0
Hacking second - Case:
- matt finished stainless steel case, diameter 39 mm, sapphire crystal, sapphire crystal caseback
- Dial:
- numbers and figures with Superluminova C3
- Hands:
- hands filled with Superluminova C3
- Strap:
- brown calf leather strap with rivets
The used vintage leather makes every watch strap unique. Being a product of nature, it can present itself with color and structure variations. - Box:
- gift box including cardboard box
- diameter:
- 39,0 mm
- height:
- 11,55 mm
- lug width:
- 18,0 mm
- lug to lug:
- 46,5 mm
- waterproof:
- up to 5 ATM
- weight:
- 81,5 g (incl. strap)
- Arm circumference:
- 14,5 - 18,5 cm
Article variations
Article variations
Model matrix
Model matrix
To be able to read all data of the model matrix completely, move within the matrix from one side of the table to the other.
Last viewed
Get inspired
Stylish accessories, reliable travel companions and much more - immerse yourself in the diverse world of Laco watches and let our customers inspire you. With our hashtag #laco1925 you too will become part of the Laco family!
From passion to legend: Pilot watches from Laco.
There are pilot watches. And then there are pilot watches from Laco. As one of a few exclusive companies the workshop in Pforzheim can look back on a long tradition. Whereas in the 1940s a Laco was an indispensable tool in the cockpit, today it is an expression of freedom. With a Laco pilot watch you are not only wearing a precise and robust watch on your wrist, but also a piece of history.
For more information see our FAQ.
The sapphire crystal installed as standard in this model is without antireflection coating.
On request, we can also supply this model with sapphire crystal that has been AR-coated on both sides.
In this case both sides of the crystal will then have an anti-reflective layer. This can be added to your order under "Watch crystal".
Please note:
The outer anti-reflective layer may become scratched when wearing the watch.
This is considered normal wear and is therefore excluded from the warranty.
For more information see our FAQ.
Please note: The first engraving is free of charge, any further engraving is possible at a surcharge of 49€/57US$. Further engravings can be added to the cart via the provided text field in the article. Unfortunately, personalised products can be neither returned nor exchanged.
Add / ChangePlease note:
The first engraving is free of charge, a further engraving is possible for an extra charge of 49€/57US$. After placing your order you can cancel it within 48 h. After that, you no longer have the right of return, as the engraving will then be applied.
For more information see our FAQ.


text: Through Arden Park Dental's commitment to happier, healthier smiles we will provide complete patient satisfaction which exceeds expectations, every time. We will provide a long-term strategy for optimum oral health and patient care which is second to none through our dedicated team of professionals, who are the foundation of our organization. By being respectful of our environmental and organizational responsibilities we will remain a leader in quality dental care throughout Ontario.


text:
Far Out Concert Ukulele
Far Out Concert Ukulele
The electric spirit of California's surf culture and the pursuit of an endless summer inspired our new Surf Series ukulele collection. Whether it's the retro-inspired surf patterns or vintage surfboard designs, there's something in this quiver for the young grom and the old guys that rule. Whether heading for the surf or cruising in town, our Surf ukes are a go-to for beach vibes all year round. Enjoy the sound of summer in style, and make waves wherever you go.
Bag and Case Information
Fits ALL Kala CONCERT sized bags and cases
SIZE: | Concert |
TOP: | Spruce |
BACK & SIDES: | Mahogany |
NECK: | Mahogany |
FINISH: | Satin |
FINGERBOARD: | Rosewood |
HEADSTOCK: | Standard |
STRINGS: | Aquila Super Nylgut® |
NUT & SADDLE: | Graph Tech NuBone® |
STRAP BUTTON: | Black x1 |
Scale Length: 14.8125 inches, Overall Instrument Length: 23.9375 inches, Body Length: 11.0625 inches, Number of Frets: 18, Width at Upper Bout: 6.0 inches, Width at Lower Bout: 8.25 inches, Width at Waist: 4.9375 inches, Body Depth: 2.75 inches, Fingerboard Width at Nut: 1.4375 inches, Fingerboard width at neck/body joint: 1.75 inches


text:
'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' First TV Spot Plays Up the Romance
It's been mentioned that 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' would focus more on the love triangle between Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) and Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth), and the first TV spot plays that up by adding a Coldplay song to the background.
The song is "Atlas," and this first TV spot showcases the growing tension between Katniss and Peeta as they pretend to be in love for the camera -- though one of them isn't crazy about the other -- while also showing Gale being moody. Where the first film had the game to focus on, there's very little action in this spot, it's more about the emotional weight being put on Lawrence's character. This seems geared at either keeping or snaring 'Twilight' fans.
'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' opens November 22. Here's the film's synopsis:
THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a "Victor's Tour" of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.


text:
See the Power Go Out During Super Bowl XLVII
A power surge at the Superdome in New Orleans knocked out a number of the lights causing play to be disrupted (sabotage by the 49ers perhaps?). The delay is expected to be up to a half hour long. Let's hope the break doesn't mess with anyone's focus.
Commentators have used the downtime to speculate about how the 49ers can come back to defeat the Ravens. Twitter predictably has exploded with jokesters suggesting that it was the work of Bane from 'The Dark Knight Rises.' Or could the power surge have been due to Beyonce reuniting with Destiny's Child? We'll have more as Super Bowl PowerOutGate 2013 continues to drag on...
Watch clips of the power outage:
And more photos:


text:
As we celebrate Black History Month, we reflect on the past and present experiences of Black Americans. This includes the path toward investing in a home of their own. And while equitable access to housing has come a long way, homeownership can be a steeper climb for households of color. It's an important experience to talk about, along with how it can make all the difference for diverse homebuyers to work with the right real estate experts.
We know it's more challenging for some to buy a home because there's still a measurable gap between the overall average U.S. homeownership rate and that of non-white groups. Today, the lowest homeownership rate persists in the Black community (see graph below):
Homeownership is an essential piece for building household wealth that can be passed down to future generations. However, there are obstacles in the homebuying process that can negatively impact certain groups. This can delay or prevent many from achieving homeownership, challenging their ability to benefit from everything owning a home offers. A recent report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) explains:
". . . not all [households] have the same opportunities to homeownership, with many of them facing more constraints in their effort to achieve the American Dream. . . . Given that homeownership contributes to wealth accumulation and the homeownership rate is lower in minority groups, data shows that the net worth for these groups is also lower."
However, with the right support and resources, there are solutions if you're part of this community and planning to buy a home. Jacob Channel, Senior Economist at LendingTree, shares:
"The problem does exist. We have data that back that up. But there are solutions, and Black homebuyers shouldn't lose faith that they'll never be able to become homeowners."
That's why it's so important for members of diverse groups to have the right team of experts on their sides throughout the homebuying process. These professionals aren't only experienced advisors who understand the local market and give the best advice. They're also compassionate allies who will advocate for your best interests every step of the way.
Bottom Line
Access to housing improves every day, but there are still equity challenges that some buyers face. Let's connect to make sure you have an advocate on your side as you walk the path to homeownership.


text:
Prevent cross-site tracking in Safari on Mac
Some websites use third-party content providers. You can stop third-party content providers from tracking you across websites to advertise products and services.
In the Safari app on your Mac, choose Safari > Settings, then click Privacy.
Select "Prevent cross-site tracking".
Unless you visit and interact with the third-party content provider as a first-party website, their cookies and website data are deleted.
Social media sites often put Share, Like or Comment buttons on other websites. These buttons can be used to track your web browsing — even if you don't use them. Safari blocks that tracking. If you still want to use the buttons, you'll be asked for your permission to allow the site to see your activities on the other websites.
For a Privacy Report that shows a list of known trackers who've been blocked from tracking you, see See who was blocked from tracking you.
Note: Every time you visit a website, it gathers data about your device — such as your system configuration — and uses that data to show you webpages that work well on your device. Some companies use this data to try to uniquely identify your device — known as fingerprinting. To prevent this, whenever you visit a website, Safari presents a simplified version of your system configuration. Your Mac looks more like everyone else's Mac, which dramatically reduces the ability of trackers to uniquely identify your device.


text: The Droog+ store in New York is a gallery, store and pioneers house. The blue house, an imaginary house handcrafted from blue foam, is the blue print for new houses to be build and new products to be developed. The blue house is meant to give context to Droogs products and can be divided into smaller parts. Each potentially being the starting point for a new house, but can also stand on its own. The store offers these blue foam installations for sale but each part can also be translated into a more 'real' material such as wood, porcelain


text:
At Blue Ridge Companies, accessible from https://blueridgecompanies.com/, one of our main priorities is the privacy of our visitors. This Privacy Policy document contains types of information that is collected and recorded by Blue Ridge Companies and how we use it.
If you have additional questions or require more information about our Privacy Policy, do not hesitate to contact us.
Log Files
Blue Ridge Companies follows a standard procedure of using log files. These files log visitors when they visit websites. All hosting companies do this and a part of hosting services' analytics. The information collected by log files include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date and time stamp, referring/exit pages, and possibly the number of clicks. These are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable. The purpose of the information is for analyzing trends, administering the site, tracking users' movement on the website, and gathering demographic information. Our Privacy Policy was created with the help of the Privacy Policy Generator.
Cookies and Web Beacons
Like any other website, Blue Ridge Companies uses 'cookies'. These cookies are used to store information including visitors' preferences, and the pages on the website that the visitor accessed or visited. The information is used to optimize the users' experience by customizing our web page content based on visitors' browser type and/or other information.
For more general information on cookies, please read the "What Are Cookies" article on Cookie Consent website.
Our Advertising Partners
Some of advertisers on our site may use cookies and web beacons. Our advertising partners are listed below. Each of our advertising partners has their own Privacy Policy for their policies on user data. For easier access, we hyperlinked to their Privacy Policies below.
Privacy Policies
You may consult this list to find the Privacy Policy for each of the advertising partners of Blue Ridge Companies.
Note that Blue Ridge Companies has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.
Third Party Privacy Policies
Blue Ridge Companies' Privacy Policy does not apply to other advertisers or websites. Thus, we are advising you to consult the respective Privacy Policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information. It may include their practices and instructions about how to opt-out of certain options.
You can choose to disable cookies through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.
Children's Information
Blue Ridge Companies does not target children under the age of 13 for the collection of information online, and our services are not designed to attract children's attention or interaction.
Online Privacy Policy Only
This Privacy Policy applies only to our online activities and is valid for visitors to our website with regards to the information that they shared and/or collect in Blue Ridge Companies. This policy is not applicable to any information collected offline or via channels other than this website.
By using our website, you hereby consent to our Privacy Policy and agree to its Terms and Conditions.


text:
$1,000.00 – $3,000.00
Minimum of 2 sessions per week
100% Math supports learners by offering tailored instructional programmes aimed at improving learners' skill, attitude, confidence, and performance in Mathematics. Our programme is structured that students explore problems, clarify their ideas, and acquire different views of concepts or ideas through meaning negotiation.
We are happy to assist in improving our students' Mathematics skills. Kindly note the terms of our service agreement:
- Makeup classes (if any) must be done in the same week (within five working days).
- Sessions are forfeited if 10 minutes late.
- Fees are prepaid and payable in full on or before the first class.
- There are eight sessions in a month for our regular tutorial packages (two one-hour sessions weekly or one double session/2 hr. session per week).
- Our refund policy for monthly sessions is 50% at the end of week one and 10 % at the end of week two. There are no refunds after the third week.
- Our staff will always adhere to the highest levels of professionalism in the teaching-learning exchange/encounter.
- Login credentials for Tutorpanel (our web-based school management application) will be sent to both parents and students by email immediately after registration.
- Online sessions will be via Zoom and the Scribblar platform.
We look forward to serving you.
Thank you for choosing 100% Math


text:
A month after moving to NYC, I found myself watching the old romantic classic comedy You've Got Mail. The opening shot shows the adorable Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks unknowingly (literally) crossing paths at Verdi Park on 72nd/Broadway. The scene cuts to that evening, at which time, Meg and Tom are emailing each other, ironically pontificating that they live worlds apart ("on the island of Manhattan that is").
In a densely populated city with millions, you would think crossing paths is an anomaly, but in actuality, it is the rule rather than the exception. Today, with the internet, Facebook and JDate, the world is smaller than we ever imagined. Whether it is Six Degrees of Bacon (or Gefilte Fish), I have heard plenty of stories of couples meeting (whether on JDate or elsewhere), where either their paths had crossed prior (and they should have met) or they had many people in common, but their connection never came to be until that "meet cute" moment. At times, our blinders and routines may keeps us from being truly open to outside stimulus. As my dear friend Amy recently told me, "just pause and take it all in, who knows what or who may enter your individual world."
Taking Amy's advice, from the background of a photo posted on JDate I detected a gentleman who worked in my office building. We spoke and I also learned that we go to the same gym and live in the same neighborhood. I'm guessing we have crossed paths many times…whether a romantic connection develops will be left to Cupid, but at a minimim, I have a new work friend and a happy reminder that life is dynamic and ever changing.


text:
I'm an averagely built guy (183cm, 85kg, 20% body fat) that's looking to build a bit of muscle, lose some fat, and generally turn some heads if I ever go running topless down a beach, but I've got a bit of a problem when it comes to constantly being tired after working out. How would I know if I'm training too hard? I'll try to (briefly!) illustrate what I'm doing at the moment:
- Mondays - off day
- Tuesdays - cardio (usually stationary bike) for 60-70min @ 160BPM heart rate
- Wednesdays - resistance training, 4 sets each exercise with max weight I can manage with 12-10-10-8 reps, doing: bench press, shoulder press, squats, pull-downs, push-ups and abs
- Thursdays - off day
- Fridays - same as Wednesdays, just with different exercises: bent-over barbell rows, single-arm rows, squats, pull-dows, push-ups and abs
- Saturday - off day
- Sunday - super-set day, 3 rounds of 10 reps of each exercise (no rest between exercises, 3 minute rest between sets) on max weight I can complete them with doing: bent-over barbell rows, bench press, squats, pull-downs and rowing machine for 400m
Each of my days at gym take about an hour, and every time I'm finished and can't function for the rest of the day as I'm so tired. I eat (honestly) 3 meals and 1 snack a day, all carbs low GI, and have a protein shake with added L-Glutamine directly after training sessions.
Is it normal to be so tired after training? Or am I just expecting too much and should decrease the weight?
Update (18 October)
Thank you everyone for your thoughts, answers and comments, and I wish I could mark them all as correct as they all share valuable information and insight. I realise that there are a few questions within this one (specifically ones on nutrition and training habits) that might deserve their own question sections, but for the purposes of this question you all have given me much needed food-for-thought that has eased my mind.
Update (24 October)
As mentioned by Adam in his very insightful answer, one of the best ways to figure this out is to realise that you need to keep learning about yourself, and with this in mind here are a few things I've learnt along the way that's helping me:
- a rest week every 5th week works great for me
- pushing myself to "failure" was a very bad idea
- if you're getting tired after working out, that's ok...if there was something seriously wrong, you'd know!
- lightening the weight / resistance slightly and adding 1 or 2 reps gave me a just as satisfying workout without the "kill my muscles to failure" way of doing things
- nutrition is important, but when I feed myself was also just as important - eating 2 hours before working out, followed by a protein shake 30 minutes before gym, then having a low-GI carb drink on hand during my workouts has helped to keep me going a lot better
- don't underestimate the effect of stress (work or otherwise) on your energy levels - a stressed mind makes a stressed body
With so many ideas and products out there, and combining it with the fact that we're all different, really gives you thousands of things to try, but when you start figuring out what works for you, that's the real reward.
Thanks again for all of your truly helpful answers guys, I wish I could mark them all correct, and I also hope this post helps someone else sometime!


text:
Rosie Emerson, born in 1981, is a contemporary artist working almost exclusively on representing the female form. Emerson's figures draw reference from archetype's old and new, from Artemis to the modern day super model, each solitary figure, becomes an allegory of her own fantasy.
Her screen-prints, using unusual materials including charcoal powder, ash and saw dust shift the focus of printmaking from precision and replication, to creation of unique, hand-finished prints with subtle texture. Her recent cyanotype works enable her to montage objects, with real size photographic negatives. Using the UV light from the sun to expose objects directly on the surface, she explores the interplay between painting, collage and photography.
Her work is widely collected and exhibited both in the UK, as well as internationally, through galleries, art fairs and museums. She has also been commissioned by brands and individuals including Sony, Triumph Underwear, Redbull, P&O Cruises, Toms, and Annoushka jewelry. Her work has also been featured in Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Another Magazine, The Financial Times Magazine and The Sunday Times Style Magazine.
In 2014 she was invited to be Artist in residence at Somerset House and was commissioned by Hackney WickED Arts Festival to create a new world record by making the world's largest Cyanotype photograph.
Courtesy of the artist's website.


text:
SEO Services In Reno NV
Advanced Search Engine Optimization Strategies
Advanced Search Engine Optimization Strategies
As per a survey 93% of today's customers begin their journeys with a Google search, and the first 5 search results receive over 70% of this traffic. When your website's at the top of the pile for a particular Google search, you're in the pound seat to generate high volumes of quality business leads through your website.
If you want a thriving business in Reno, you'll need to invest in developing your presence in Google searches with a SEO company. If you're not showing up at the top when somebody is looking for you, you'll lose that customer to the competition. That's why it's very important for your website to show up at the top of the search engine results page.
Higher Positions is a premier SEO company in Reno, and a Google Partner and SEO-Certified, with over 10 years of search engine marketing experience. We specialize in helping medium to large businesses in Reno USA and convert high-quality, high-intent traffic into important business leads.
Google understands that fact and they give priority to certain searches so that local companies show up on top.
There are certain things which we can do to increase your chances of getting ranked higher on Google searches.
When you hire a SEO company in Reno that does search engine optimization, you're investing in your local SEO presence. We understand the city area, the landmarks and search opportunities for your company that other, other SEO companies will miss.
We are justifiably proud of our unique team. You will be proud of the results we can earn for your business with professional SEO services.
If this is the question arise in your mind, you definitely confuse or stuck to hire which SEO Company near you, you just need to make a query on Google you get some website listings according to your query the top website definitely has the best practice in SEO that's why they are existed at the top if you visited our website so its mean we are there that's why you landed to our website this a simple proof of our practice what we are doing. You can try our services once and we will provide wings to your busines, brand, product or services to fly.
Generally small and medium business owners do not have a huge marketing budget. However, when you initiate a small or medium start-up, you need help in marketing your brand, product, or service in a way that attracts your target audience.
Investing in small business SEO services as part of your marketing plan is a wise thing to do. It is an effective strategy to improve your online visibility and generate profits. You do not have to break your budget to afford SEO services since we providing SEO services at very affordable prices you can check the link below to get more information for our affordable SEO plans.
Click here to check our SEO Plans
We are serving following areas in Nevada
Please contact us for seo services for your website or business
Call us +1 347 834 8786


text:
Starbucks is selling a new colour changing reusable Christmas cup that will get you a discount
Starbucks is known for its disposable festive red cups that are used throughout November and December, but now the coffee chain has launched a new colour changing reusable cup for Christmas.
Ideal for any coffee fan who wants to reduce their waste, the eye-catching cup is adorned with the Starbucks mermaid logo, and changes from holly green to a jolly red when a hot drink is poured inside.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdWhere can I buy one?
The cups are now available to purchase from £2.50 from Starbucks stores and drive through locations.
Starbucks customers who use a reusable cup will get 25p off the cost of their drink.
The cup is part of the brand's new festive range, which also includes a penguin mug, a red cup tree decoration, metallic tumblers, and a Starbucks snow globe.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdStarbucks recently introduced this year's Christmas menu, which includes the toffeenut latte, gingerbread latte, eggnog latte and a truffle deluxe hot chocolate - a twist on the original hot chocolate.


text:
Trump Versus the Venezuelan Revolution
International leftists must support Venezuelan revolutionaries' efforts to radicalize the Bolivarian process via the National Constituent Assembly, argues Shamus Cooke.
Trump's threats against Venezuela escalated recently from the economic to the military: after announcing sanctions he threatened that all military options were "on the table." Trump's actions were perfectly timed to lend support to the U.S.-backed opposition in Venezuela, whose ongoing violent rebellion aims to topple the government of democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro.
The apex of violence was focused on stopping the recent elections to the National Constituent Assembly (ANC), convened by President Maduro to rewrite Venezuela's constitution with the goal of resolving the current social-economic crisis.
The ANC was tasked to become the most powerful governmental body while in session. Part of Maduro's motivation in convening the ANC was to break the political deadlock that started when the U.S.-backed opposition gained control of the Venezuelan parliament, the National Assembly.
The wealthy opposition promised to prevent the ANC elections from taking place, while Trump promised economic sanctions if the ANC election wasn't cancelled. The other usual suspects of Latin American counter-revolution also condemned the ANC elections: Spain, the Vatican, and the Organization of American States (OAS) were among other governmental and western NGOs that denounced the ANC, since they recognized that the U.S.-backed opposition would be deflated if the ANC were successful.
The western media that condemned the ANC elections has consistently failed to condemn the ongoing street violence by the U.S.-backed opposition, who used attacks on voting centers, roadblocks, economic sabotage and "general strikes" to prevent the election from taking place.
But the elections happened, and the unexpectedly high turnout rattled the nerves of the opposition, who didn't expect the traditional base of Chavismo — the working and poor — would come out by the millions to support a broad diversity of candidates within the Chavismo Left.
The Chavismo Base Revived, For Now
The international media covering the election took zero notice of the enthusiasm from Venezuela's poorest neighborhoods. A U.S. labor delegation that travelled to Venezuela to witness the elections was impressed by the broad participation and long lines at various voting centers in poor neighborhoods. SEIU 1199 Executive Vice President Estela Vasquez made notice of the lack of western media attention:
"One thing that I did think was significant is that I didn't see any international media. No reporters from the New York Times, no cameras from CNN, no cameras from Fox Television, or any other international media… covering the poor working class neighborhoods that are the backbone of this revolutionary process in this country,"
The enthusiasm for the election that Vasquez noticed was echoed by a prominent left critic of Maduro, Stalin Perez Borges, who said:
"July 30 [the election] was also a tsunami within the ranks of Chavismo that propelled even those who are unhappy with the government to participate and send a message to the domestic and international right that we have not yet surrendered to imperialism nor are we willing to kneel before the neoliberal plans that the politicians and economists of the [opposition] have prepared for us…the [election] result has led to a recuperation of confidence as a social force, and provided a glimpse of the possibility for Chavismo to once again be able to call itself the majority."
Because the opposition boycotted the elections, the ANC consists overwhelmingly of representatives of the left, where there lives a diversity of revolutionary political opinion. A third of the ANC was specifically reserved for representatives of trade unions, communal councils, indigenous groups, farmers, students, and pensioners, all sectors that have been radicalized by their experience under Chavez and by the violent actions of the opposition.
The class basis of the Constituent Assembly — the poor and working class — provides hope that this governmental body can provide real revolutionary initiative to resolve key issues that have been demoralizing the Chavismo ranks while empowering the wealthy opposition.
The ANC will not fix every problem and it will likely not usher in a socialist economy, but radical measures can precipitate a revolutionary dynamic that carries with it a logic of its own. The left in Venezuela is more dynamic than the Stalinist images accorded to it by the western media and U.S. Left.
Ultimately, the very convening of the ANC means that Maduro has moved to the left; and it was this leftward shift that provoked enthusiasm from the Chavismo rank and file. Convening the ANC surprised everyone and carried enormous political risks, especially in the middle of an opposition uprising backed by U.S. imperialism: if the masses did not participate in the elections the government would be exposed as lacking a broad social base, and such a weakness would have been instantly exploited by the Trump-supported opposition. But Maduro proved that he has a bit of Chavez in him yet, having correctly predicted that the masses would consider the ANC as a revolutionary tool to be used against the oligarchy.
Much of the international left has either not recognized Maduro's shift to the left or not realized its significance. Their error is rooted in a misunderstanding of the Venezuelan revolution, which has always been a contradictory movement rooted in the poorest neighborhoods of Venezuela, yet reflected through a bureaucratic prism at the top; a process that under Chavez retained, at times, a call and responsive dynamic that propelled the base to take action, which, in turn resulted in more pressure on the leadership to move left. Such a fluctuating, complicated phenomenon is difficult to pigeonhole, and requires a more nuanced analysis than the intellectually lazy "pox on both houses" approach that has long-infected the U.S. left.
It's true that there are powerful sections of Maduro's bureaucracy who plan to use the ANC simply to out-maneuver the wealthy opposition and maintain their power and, if possible, to strike a deal with the opposition should the opportunity arise. Such a betrayal would, in effect, mark the end of Chavismo and prepare the ground for total victory of the opposition.
But the victory of the bureaucrats in the ANC isn't a foregone conclusion, as some cynics on the left would have you believe. Maduro doesn't command Chavez's authority; he lacks the charisma and he's been lacking in revolutionary initiative. The divisions within Chavismo's upper layers opens up further opportunities for the impatient ranks that can push the project forward against the will of even the more conservative sections of leadership.
The job of the international left is to highlight the possibilities, amplify the program of the revolutionary wing and to educate people internationally about what's at stake in order to reduce the interventionist options of Trump's imperialism.
The majority of left analysis regarding the Venezuelan crisis fails at these basic tasks, focusing wasted energy on Maduro's shortcomings while proposing nothing of substance to win the fight in progress. The ranks of Chavismo need concrete solutions not endless denunciations.
The central question is not whether one is pro-Maduro or pro-opposition, the question is "how do the revolutionary forces resolve the current crisis" and "what strategy should revolutionaries deploy?" Most of the left has nothing to say about these basic questions, while refusing to even discuss the relevance of the Constituent Assembly.
The working class in Venezuela recognizes that their fate depends on the outcome of the current struggle; they are in a fight for their lives and hope to use the Constituent Assembly as a weapon. The slogan "No Volveran" remains a revolutionary demand of Chavismo that declares the oligarchy will never return to power. But unless bold action is taken to drive the revolution forward, the victory of the opposition is inevitable, and such a nightmare is currently trying to kick in the front door.
False Solutions From the Left
The current intensified class fight cannot be wished away, it's based on the material conditions embedded in the economy: the unfulfilled needs of the working poor versus the opposition's demand to retake the state apparatus and privatize public resources. The two sides cannot "make peace" with another round of elections or negotiations, yet this is exactly what many pro-revolution analysts are promoting as "solutions" to the crisis.
One such mistake can be found in the analysis of Carlos Carcione from Marea Socialista, a grouping who until recently was in coalition with the other socialist parties inside of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
The analysis put forward by Carcione contains some important critiques of Maduro's government, but a key error is his "solution" to the crisis, which was put forward at the end of a recent interview:
"…the only democratic road, which cannot be captured by either of the two elites [Maduro's government and the opposition] that are instigating violence, is the struggle to renew the Constitution of 1999."
The demand to "renew the Constitution" is a talking point taken directly from the wealthy opposition. To renew the Constitution means to disband the Constituent Assembly and carry on with the electoral process on its normal timeline, as if a life or death crisis wasn't engulfing the nation that requires revolutionary action now. It's as if Carcione believes that erasing the ANC would be a "pause button" to the conflict.
Such a "demand" will find zero resonance in the Chavismo rank and file; they've voted more in recent decades than any other population in the world, and their voting for the Constituent Assembly was itself a showcase of democracy that Carcione oddly fails to recognize as important or legitimate.
The demand to "renew the Constitution" also fails to acknowledge that the opposition is skillfully using the elections to the National Assembly to retake power and undermine the government, by exacerbating the crisis and talking openly of overthrowing Maduro.
Elections to the National Assembly have become the path to power for the oligarchy, while a more directly democratic path has emerged with the Constituent Assembly elections, an infinitely more representative body than the National Assembly with actual capabilities of taking revolutionary action.
Ultimately one's attitude towards the situation in Venezuela shouldn't be decided by legal or so called democratic norms, but by which actions promote the interests of the working class and poor and push the revolution forward.
A similar non-solution to the crisis was put forth by Eva Golinger, a longtime promoter of Chavismo who has been an increasingly vocal critic of Maduro. Golinger's critique of Maduro is often spot on, but her solution falls into the fantasy realm, where both sides realize they're guilty of excess and thus agree to dampen the rhetoric for the good of the country:
Voices of moderation need to emerge without fear of being branded traitors or opportunists, as has been happening to anyone publicly criticizing the government or opposition. The opposition leadership and its international backers must immediately condemn all violence….The opposition must accept the legitimacy of President Maduro and his administration and allow him to fulfill his presidential term, which ends in 2019. In return, the parliament should be allowed to assume its full mandate without further obstacles. Fair elections overseen by an independent electoral council should be held within the timeframe stipulated by law instead of being manipulated by political parties or foreign pressure.
Golinger certainly has good intentions, but her "solutions" are daydreams that ignore the material interests radicalizing both sides: the ranks of Chavismo need radical solutions to the crisis and the U.S. backed opposition will continue to take radical, right-wing action to regain state power. There hasn't been a "reasonable middle ground" between these two extremes in decades, if ever, in Venezuela.
Revolutions are notoriously absent of moderation. Chavez himself was accused of being an extremist every time he took action against the oligarchy, which earned him the love and respect of the broader population in Venezuela and inspired revolutionary movements across the hemisphere.
Maduro's moderation is precisely what has demoralized his base and empowered the U.S.-backed opposition. The working class of Venezuela does not have moderate demands, they require revolutionary action against their class enemies before the wealthy regains the state power to use against them. Moderate actions cannot attack the drastic inequality that pervades Venezuela to this day.
The left "demand" to renew the Constitution is a return to a dead end: one of the limitations of Chavismo was the over reliance on representative democracy, as opposed to direct democracy. The energy of the revolution was funneled into constant electioneering, and the representative system wasn't representative enough, allowing politicians to be unaccountable to the movement that opened the door to careerism, while the slower moving legislative system allowed the demoralization to creep in.
The Constituent Assembly is a legitimate tool of revolution that can be used or wasted. Wishing for the return of the conditions that precipitated the crisis is an odd "solution." The opposition chose to boycott the ANC elections because they hoped for a U.S.-backed coup. Let their miscalculation be their undoing.
What actions should the Constituent Assembly take?
Instead of warning incessantly of authoritarianism the left should be advocating revolutionary solutions: ones that stem the power of both the oligarchy and Chavismo upper-bureaucrats, a "revolution within the revolution." Divisions among Chavismo's leadership make such a scenario possible, and it's desperately needed.
Agitational demands from the Chavismo base in a time of flux can move mountains. Economic solutions that incorporate more socialist policies at the expense of the oligarchy-controlled private sector are also crucial to advancing the revolution, since the capitalists have used their ownership over important economic sectors — like food production — to sabotage the economy.
Some of the below demands have been discussed in different sectors of the Chavismo left, and may find expression in the Constituent Assembly if left groups organize effectively. Ultimately demands that empower the working class at the expense of the oligarchy have the potential to inspire the broader population to action, keeping the revolutionary flame lit:
1. Remove the economic power of the oligarchy by nationalizing the sectors of the economy that have been used in economic sabotage, especially food production, the banking sector and international trade.
2. Strategically default on the foreign debt repayments that are bankrupting the nation, so that the money can be used for basic necessities and rebuilding the economy. The high interest debt repayments are shifting billions of dollars from the Venezuelan state into the pockets of rich foreign investors.
3. Fully fund and expand the key victories of Chavismo: education, health care, pensions, and housing while increasing the power of localities to administer these programs. Ensure that wages are rising above inflation for all wage workers. Pay for these initiatives by drastically raising taxes on capital gains, property, inheritance, and other oligarchy-targeted measures.
4. Jail the oligarchs who promote street violence and participate in economic sabotage. A longstanding demand among the Chavismo ranks is to take a firmer hand with an opposition who's grown accustomed to no consequences for violent behavior.
5. Attack corruption of black market dollar profiteering by nationalizing foreign trade.
6. No reconciliation with the oligarchy and their patron, U.S. imperialism. Any "deal" cut by the opposition will be intended to stall the revolutionary process and require economic concessions that come at the expense of the Chavismo base. The opposition has proven that they will never accept a government they don't directly control. With each new uprising they test the resolve of the government and its popular support, and when this support dissipates a successful coup — either militarily or legislative — is inevitable.
7. Use the National Constituent Assembly as a weapon of the revolution by taking the above actions while expanding direct democracy, enshrining increased constitutional power of communal councils, labor unions and other social-political bodies of the Chavismo rank and file to directly exercise state power.
If the ANC doesn't take bold actions soon, the new constitution won't survive the national referendum vote. And if the Chavismo rank and file don't see a pathway to a better, more stable life with the ANC they will abstain, and the U.S.-backed opposition will have an unobstructed path to power.
Another reason the ANC needs to take radical action immediately is the upcoming gubernatorial elections that the opposition plans to participate in. These elections can be easily won by the left if the ANC takes swift action that inspires people to the polls.
Time isshort. The ANC gave itself two years to fulfill its mission, but the enthusiasm generated by the election will fade quickly if revolutionary action isn't forthcoming, or if the masses conclude that the new legislative body is content on maintaining the current balance of power instead of smashing it. Maduro's bureaucratic/administrative maneuvers have outlived their usefulness, and projecting this strategy onto the ANC will transfer the disease of demoralization onto an otherwise healthy body.
The several co-occurring crises in Venezuela require a shift of power to the masses at the expense of the capitalists: any action that the ANC takes that promotes this while encouraging the self-activity of the working class will help refresh the cycle of bottom-up activity that flourished under Chavez but has waned under Maduro.
The street violence of the U.S.-backed opposition that has killed over 100 people and included two coup attempts will not subside on its own, especially when Trump has prioritized Venezuela for regime change. Successive U.S. presidents have understood the special "threat" to imperialism that Venezuela has posed, even if much of the left doesn't. Defeating Trump requires that Venezuelans move towards socialism, while requiring that socialists in the U.S. actively support this movement.
If the new constitution is a lifeless document it will fail the referendum vote and catapult the opposition into power. However, if the path to the constitution is full of revolutionary action the people will respond enthusiastically, and the broader hemisphere will be re-infected by the revolutionary energy that originally birthed the "pink tide."
But the pink tide politics that eschewed western imperialism and neoliberalism has reached its ideological limits, demanding deep socialist inroads against the capitalists who've frustrated the project. A "red tide" can rejuvenate the revolutionary forces across the hemisphere and easily drown out the recent victories of various counter-revolutions. Venezuela remains the focal point of hemispheric revolution, to be won or lost, supported or ignored.


text:
I'm currently living in Tokyo and grew up in South Africa. I've been interested in travel photography for a number of years and I graduated from La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, majoring in Photojournalism.
This is a selection of my favourite images. Please click on one of my portfolios to view them.
Should you be interested in purchasing one or more of my images please send me a request, either via the 'Guestbook' option featured here or directly to my e-mail; firstname.lastname@example.com Please add the code number of the image you're interested in.
Upon receipt of your e-mail, I will confirm the image and provide you with a payment option via PayPal or one I can make available on this site. On receipt of the set amount, I will send a high-resolution image to your e-mail address. Regrettably images are not available for commercial practices but for single-use only, as per standard copyright regulations.
You can contact me via the 'Guestbook' option at the end of the Portfolio list if you have any questions and I will get back to you at the earliest opportunity.
Thanks for your interest!
Eddie Coleman
eddie coleman travel photography |
These images were taken around Dubai Creek over the past few years.


text:
Reverie is the Sunday of the Mind
As many of us are chilled just now by a "deep freeze," I thought those in the cold--as well as those in warmer climes--might wish to sit a bit in the "green lap of nature":
We should be better Christians if we were more alone; we should do more if we attempted less, and spent more time in retirement, and quiet waiting upon God. The world is too much with us; we are afflicted with the idea that we are doing nothing unless we are fussily running to and fro; we do not believe in "the calm retreat, the silent shade." As a people, we are of a very practical turn of mind; "we believe," as someone has said, "in having all our irons in the fire, and consider the time not spent between the anvil and the fire as lost, or much the same as lost." Yet no time is more profitably spent than that which is set apart for quiet musing, for talking with God, for looking up to Heaven. We cannot have too many of these open spaces in life, hours in which the soul is left accessible to any sweet thought or influence it may please God to send.
"Reverie," it has been said, "is the Sunday of the mind." Let us often in these days give our mind a "Sunday," in which it will do no manner of work but simply lie still, and look upward, and spread itself out before the Lord like Gideon's fleece, to be soaked and moistened with the dews of Heaven. Let there be intervals when we shall do nothing, think nothing, plan nothing, but just lay ourselves on the green lap of nature and "rest awhile."
Time so spent is not lost time. The fisherman cannot be said to be losing time when he is mending his nets, nor the mower when he takes a few minutes to sharpen his scythe at the top of the ridge. City men cannot do better than follow the example of Isaac, and, as often as they can, get away from the fret and fever of life into fields. Wearied with the heat and din, the noise and bustle, communion with nature is very grateful; it will have a calming, healing influence. A walk through the fields, a saunter by the seashore or across the daisy-sprinkled meadows, will purge your life from sordidness, and make the heart beat with new joy and hope.
"The little cares that fretted me, I lost them yesterday. . . Out in the fields with God."
From Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman. Photos by D.F.G. Hailson.


text:
SKU: ven-163-F-314
Regular price
Rs. 635.00
Get 10% Off for Orders Above 1500 RS - Use this promo code at checkout: 'citypromo10'
An elegant bouquet of white roses with seasonal foliage and special paper packing.
White is the colour of peace. This lovely bunch is the right choice for your loved ones. white roses are wrapped beautifully in cellophane packing along with seasonal foliage. Wish your loved one's peace and prosperity by sending this beautiful bunch of peace and prosperity. The bouquet is an ideal gift for occasions like birthday, anniversary, mothers day, fathers day, rose day, propose day, valentines day and many more occasions.


text:
With more than 20 million acres of corn and soybeans, Illinois is among the top U.S. producers of both those crops. To make it all happen, the state relies on thousands of farmworkers — some who travel to the state for seasonal work and others, like 35-year-old Saraí, who call Illinois home.
Being an agricultural worker "is the most beautiful thing," Saraí says in an interview in Spanish. NPR agreed to identify her only by her first name because she's undocumented.
Saraí has spent much of the past decade cultivating crops in central Illinois, and moved to the U.S. from Mexico to find work that would allow her to better support her family; since the onset of the pandemic she's spent most of her time shepherding her three kids through their virtual school classes.
There have been tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases and hundreds of deaths reported among U.S. farmworkers and meat plant workers. Because there isn't an official tracking system in place, these figures — based largely on media reports — are likely an undercount.
And yet, agricultural workers like Saraí struggle to get access to the most basic tool to fight the spread of the coronavirus: testing.
Saraí, for example, has only been tested once since the start of the pandemic. The nearest testing site is the next town over, and without a car of her own or a public transportation option, she had to borrow a friend's vehicle to get there.
She hasn't gotten COVID-19, but Saraí knows many others who've gotten sick. She says the pandemic has made the past year a sad and difficult one.
"Many farmworkers are both working and living in sometimes isolated rural regions of the country," says Diana Tellefson Torres, executive director of the California-based United Farm Workers Foundation.
In addition to living far from testing sites, these workers often lack access to reliable information in their native language and have a general mistrust of the health care system. And missing work to get a test, or to isolate or quarantine, could be financially devastating.
While the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine provides some hope for a better future, the virus is still spreading across the U.S. and efforts to expand access to testing and build trust with communities of farmworkers are still needed, Tellefson Torres says.
She says these efforts will also be critical for ensuring that these hard-to-reach, vulnerable populations have access to the vaccine when the time comes.
Leverage long-standing community connections
Early on in the pandemic, Gilberto Rosas, an anthropologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was struck by how easy it was for him — a work-from-home professor — to get a test, compared to other workers in nearby towns who were more vulnerable to catching the virus and developing a severe case of COVID-19.
Rosas works in Champaign-Urbana, which has its own mass testing program for university students and employees. The campus is just 15 miles south of the Village of Rantoul, where outbreaks at a meat processing plant and a hotel housing migrant farmworkers were among the worst in the county last year.
"We can walk down two flights of stairs, go out the back door and we can get testing," Rosas says. "Whereas these people who are at the forefront — who work in the fields, who work in the plants — they lack that kind of access."
Rosas is part of a team atthe University of Illinois that had set out to study what was causing the virus to spread among members of the agricultural community. They decided to also do something to address the issue of testing access.
"We want to both unearth inequalities, but also mitigate them," Rosas says.
The researchers teamed up with medical professionals from clinics in the area to organize pop-up coronavirus testing events in Rantoul.
The events are advertised in English and Spanish. The group has also tried to leverage long-standing community connections to bolster turnout, reaching out to churches and organizations that cater to the area's immigrant and agricultural workforce.
Even with that outreach, they've been frustrated by low attendance at many of their testing events.
At one event held before Christmas outside a community center, for example, only 15 people came to get a test. Four of those 15 tested positive — a very high rate.
Structural barriers: Financial and immigration worries
Sofia Bolanos Robinette suspects the reason more people don't turn out for coronavirus testing, even when it's available at convenient times and locations, is because a positive test can be financially devastating.
Bolanos Robinette has worked with farmworkers for the past 10 years, most recently as an advocate for migrant students in the Illinois Migrant Education Program. She recently joined Rosas and the other University of Illinois anthropologists to study issues like barriers to testing.
She recalls helping last summer with a coronavirus testing effort aimed at farmworkers who travel to the region for seasonal work. The clinic tried to make it as easy as possible for the workers to attend by setting up a station during off-hours right outside the migrant housing area.
"But some of them said they didn't even want to take the test, because, in the case they get back [a positive result], they will have to stop working," Bolanos Robinette says. "And then that means, for them, they will not get any money for at least two weeks."
That's a big deal, she says, especially for farmworkers who earn the bulk of their yearly income doing this seasonal work.
For low-wage farmworkers, "every penny counts," says Tellefson Torres of the United Farm Workers Foundation. In the most recent National Agricultural Workers Survey, one third of farmworkers reported family incomes below the poverty line.
Simply put, they have no safety net.
"When you have to worry about putting food on your own table for your family, sometimes that is the focus, because there isn't another option," Tellefson Torres says.
For those agricultural workers who are undocumented, she says, there are even more disincentives to get tested. They may worry that seeking a coronavirus test could jeopardize their efforts to obtain a visa — which is not true, but is a common misperception. And after years of the Trump administration being more aggressive with immigration enforcement, Tellefson Torres says, there's a huge lack of trust and a real fear of deportation.
Despite lower-than-ideal turnout at the pop-up testing events in Rantoul, University of Illinois anthropologist Ellen Moodie says attempts to host "a few small-scale testing events, irregularly scheduled and located in different sites" have made a difference for the handfuls of people who might not otherwise have known they had the virus.
However, Moodie says, the U.S. needs a comprehensive strategy to address the virus and protect vulnerable workers. Many public health experts have been calling for such a strategy since the start of the pandemic.
So far, President Joe Biden has made that a priority of his administration. In a document published Jan. 20, his inaugural day in office, Biden outlined a COVID-19 strategy that focused on boosting the production and distribution of vaccines. His plan includes efforts to address supply shortfalls for testing materials, implement stronger worker safety guidelines, expand emergency paid leave and otherwise strengthen the social service safety net.
Vaccine implications: Mistrust breeds skepticism
Building trust with members of the agricultural worker community remains critical, Tellefson Torres says, not just to get more people to show up for testing — but also to show up for the vaccine as soon as they are eligible.
At a recent virtual town hall event hosted by the United Farm Workers Foundation, Tellefson Torres says she has heard from many farmworkers across the United States who are eager to get the vaccine. But others have reservations.
The biggest concern she's heard has been about the potential cost, especially for the many workers who lack health insurance. Tellefson Torres says her organization is working on getting the word out that the vaccine is free for everyone.
Others, she says, worry about vaccine safety, asking questions like: "What is this vaccine? What does it contain?... What are you putting in my body?"
Vaccine safety is something Saraí — the farmworker in Illinois — worries about too. After finding some information online, she grew concerned about the possibility of adverse reactions, so, at least for now, she isn't planning to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
However, Saraí says, if someone she trusts shows her evidence the vaccine is safe, she could change her mind.
In Illinois, food and agriculture workers are now eligible for the vaccine. Public health administrator Julie Pryde says the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District — which serves Champaign County, including the Village of Rantoul — plans to work with a federally supported migrant clinic to host mobile vaccination events targeting migrant and seasonal farmworkers.
Tellefson Torres says partnerships like that will be critical to ensure that agricultural workers, who have faced so many challenges throughout the pandemic, have equitable access to the vaccine — their best hope of staying healthy.
"The norms that we have seen prior to the pandemic — of not prioritizing worker health or just basic safety-net needs — need to be addressed both by state, local, federal governments and employers," she says. "We're literally talking about a life-and-death situation here."
This story was reported in collaboration with Side Effects Public Media, Harvest Public Media and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting — and is part of a reporting partnership that includes Illinois Public Media, NPR and Kaiser Health News.
Copyright 2021 Illinois Public Media - WILL


text:
Data Driven Print and VDP
Power your communications with variable data.
Win with advanced flexible design-to-production workflows.
Win with advanced flexible design-to-production workflows.
Supercharge your documents with relevant messages, images and graphics to grab your audience's attention. Automate the production of personalized print campaigns that will motivate recipients to respond. XMPie's open architecture lets you start anywhere, add capabilities, and protect your investment all along the way.
uDirect Classic
Produce powerful personalized print campaigns
uDirect Classic helps businesses of all sizes create and produce graphically rich documents individualized to each recipient using a single easy-to-use desktop VDP solution. uDirect Classic supports file formats that are tailored for production-grade variable data output such as PPML, PDF and PDF/VT.
uDirect Studio
Add personalized images and charts
uDirect Studio builds on uDirect Classic with the addition of our uImage and uChart creative tools to create communications with even more impact and relevance. Add memorable personalized uImages created with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator; and stylized, data-driven, personalized charts produced with uChart.
PersonalEffect Print
For high volume, high speed production workflows
PersonalEffect Print includes all the tools necessary to create and manage a large library of dynamic document templates and produce a high volume of variable data output.
PersonalEffect Print Pro
The ultimate in creative freedom
PersonalEffect Print Pro builds on PersonalEffect Print with the addition of the Adobe InDesign Server software for the production of creatively sophisticated dynamic output. If you work with variable documents that utilize all of InDesign's advanced text properties or require strict color management through ICC profiles, the InDesign Server included with PersonalEffect Print Pro will provide the ultimate in creative freedom.
Enterprise Print
Tailor your XMPie VDP solution to suit your business needs
Enterprise Print is a server-based, scalable and configurable platform focusing on VDP production. This platform includes all the fundamental components required to custom-build a cluster configuration and meet the business needs of those who require maximum flexibility and robustness. By providing a tailored platform, you can add components, as needed, to address the type of production processes they wish to support and at the level of fault tolerance required to keep their businesses running comfortably and smoothly.


text:
Top live eVENT MAGICIANS
JOIN 1000s OF EVENT PLANNERS IN HIRING THESE EVENT MAGICIANS
"Thanks again, so much! Everyone LOVED the show!😊 You guys are a GREAT Team!!!"
"We had an absolute BLAST! Amazing energy! It was mind blowing!"
"Thank you so much for the wonderful event! It was AMAZING!"
"Absolutely Fantastic!"
Viral TV Mentalist/MAGICIAN
100+ Million Views
- One of the stars of NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES: BRAINCHILD
- Performances on FOX, Discovery, TMZ, Rachael Ray and NBC's TODAY Show
- Finalist on 4 international TV shows including FOX's Showtime at the Apollo with Steve Harvey
- Performances on SyFy's Wizard Wars, TruTV's FAKE OFF, Entertainment Tonight, CW's Fool Us and many more
- Viral mentalist/magician with 100+ million views
- Hollywood consultant and performer for major celebrities like Steve Harvey, Jennifer Lopez, Neil Patrick Harris, Mark Cuban and many more.
- Clients: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, NFL, NY Apollo Theatre, Rio Casino Las Vegas
Comedy TV Magician
America's Got Talent
- Performances on NBC's America's Got Talent, CW's Fool Us and Masters of Illusion, SyFy's Wizard Wars, FOX's Hell's Kitchen and many more.
- Over 30 National and International television programs
- "I've NEVER seen anything like that! – Simon Cowell
- Performances at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood, Venetian, Rio and Tropicana Casinos, and the World-Famous Magic Castle in Hollywood
- Headliner on Disney & Celebrity Cruise Lines
International performances across 20 countries - One of a kind show with visceral multimedia and live music alongside his comedic, magical performance.
- Clients: Google, Disney, 3M, Amazon, Microsoft, Tropicana Casino, Hollywood Magic Castle, Rio Casino Las Vegas


text:
Frankie Banali's Funeral Service Can Wait, Says His Widow
Frankie Banali had planned his funeral before he was diagnosed with the cancer that killed him, his widow revealed. But she said the service would have to be postponed because coronavirus social restrictions meant his wishes couldn't be fulfilled at the moment.
The veteran Quiet Riot drummer died last week at 68, after making public his battle against the most severe form of pancreatic cancer. He'd been told about the disease in April 2019 and notified fans that October. Earlier this month he had suffered a stroke.
Speaking to Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM (via Blabbermouth), Regina Banali said her husband had organized a large-scale ceremony at a Los Angeles cemetery. "He had already bought and paid for and planned his entire services at Forest Lawn before his diagnosis," she explained. "But I don't know how we're gonna do that now with COVID. He was gonna get the same kind of funeral that Ronnie [James Dio] got and Jimmy Bain and all those funerals that we've been to many times."
She added that Frankie "was saying we're gonna rent the Rainbow [Bar and Grill] and have laminated passes and [a] send-off in the rock 'n' roll way that he arrived in L.A. He had a lot of history with the Rainbow. But I don't know how we'll do it, or when."
Still, she remained committed to the idea of a large event, even if it meant waiting. "I think it's better to go big, even if it's later," she noted. "I think people will still care. And I think he deserves the honor and recognition that he's earned."


text:
Embossed Nutella
The embossed Nutella jar has been designed to be reused for food preservation once the cream has finished. A new format of the iconic shape of the Nutella jar suitable for food preservation, with significant benefits in terms of ecological sustainable life cycle. On the front, a raised glass imprint shows the logo with the company's traditional image. The first ever Nutella jar designed and produced especially to be reused for food preservation.
Continue reading