text:
Returning Customer
I am a returning customer
Register Account
If you already have an account with us, please login at the login form.
Your Account Has Been Created!
Congratulations! Your new account has been successfully created!
You can now take advantage of member privileges to enhance your online shopping experience with us.
If you have ANY questions about the operation of this online shop, please e-mail the store owner.
A confirmation has been sent to the provided e-mail address. If you have not received it within the hour, please contact us.
Account Logout
You have been logged off your account. It is now safe to leave the computer.
Your shopping cart has been saved, the items inside it will be restored whenever you log back into your account.
- $192.00
- Brand: Bark N Boujee
- Product Code:Scarlett
- Availability:Out Of Stock
A creation made to impress! This gorgeous amazingly beautiful texture embroidery lace halter d..
A creation made to impress! This gorgeous amazingly beautiful texture embroidery lace halter dress creates a myriad of folds that drape beautifully over satin lined skirt.
Features extra strength Velcro straps at neck and girth with a D-ring.
All of Bark N Boujee designs are handcrafted to order. I design for small dog breeds ranging in size from a 10″ girth to a 22″ girth. Please check your pets measurements to make sure the item fits before ordering. If you need any assistance, please contact us. No returns/exchanges. Please allow 5 – 12 days prior to shipping.
Washing instructions:
- Do not use the washing machine.
- Gentle Hand Wash with cold water.
- Do not use Bleach.
- Rinse lightly with softener, lay flat to air dry.
- *Silk garments are Dry Clean Only!


text:
Manduka eQua Mat Towel - Earth Tie Dye
Absorbent, non-slip and quick drying, the eQua Yoga Towel spreads over your yoga mat to provide a sanitary and slip-resistant surface. Works great for all types of practices including vinyasa and power yoga.
- 72" x 26.5" (183cm x 67cm)
- Designed for light to medium perspiration
- Ultra lightweight with exceptional durability
- Tightly woven fibers produce a soft, suede-like feel
- Split microfiber technology for optimized moisture absorption, evaporation and wet-grip
use & care
To use: To enhance the slip-resistant qualities of the fabric, spray with water to dampen before each additional use. To wash: Machine wash on cold with like colors. Hang to dry (recommended) or tumble dry on low.
The eQua microfiber fabric is a recyclable synthetic material, engineered for performance and durability. We consider the product to be an eco-conscious choice when the towel is used to its fullest potential. Its versatility eliminates the need for other fitness towels that wear out quickly. The packaging is made from 100% recycled PET material.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Brainsick AirPods case
Get a two-in-one deal with these AirPods cases: an impact-absorbing protector for your earbuds and a stylish accessory you can attach to your clothes and bags with a metal carabiner. This case is made from a durable TPU material and works with both wireless and regular AirPod chargers.
• Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) material
• Impact-absorbing
• Protects AirPods from bumps, drops, and scratches
• Comes with a metal carabiner for easy carrying
• Compatible with both wireless and a regular charger
• Available for AirPods and AirPods Pro
• Blank product sourced from Korea
The AirPods Case is compatible with the 1st and 2nd generation AirPods. AirPods Pro Case is compatible with AirPods Pro.
Disclaimer: The product doesn't include AirPods or AirPods charger.
Important: This product is available in the US, Canada, Europe, UK, Australia, and New Zealand only. If your shipping address is outside these regions, please choose a different product.


text: These drawer pull knobs are individually hand-painted showing an awesome artistic work. We carry then in three different shapes: Round for small drawers, oval for medium size drawers and the long one suitable for bigger drawers. To view more details about a particular ceramic drawer knob, click on the corresponding image, detailed pictures and attributes will be shown.


text:
eLearning || Enterprise Solutions || more
moodLearning dokuWiki is a public-facing wiki of SerbizHub and moodLearning. Affiliates and partners are most welcome to use it. moodLearning is a "one-stop shop" for eLearning and technology services in the Philippines. SerbizHub is its trademark for technology services for the enterprise.
To edit a page, access credentials are needed. For questions, contact the Serbizhub Support Team ([email protected]).
Learning Management System (LMS), Media-rich eLearning Packages, Online Learning Support – these are some of the services moodLearning offers primarily to our Philippine partners. Tools relating to such services are also available.
Some of the related technology support services that moodLearning offers include the following:


text:
This is a contract with Faculty Training Institute (Pty) Ltd, whose registered office is at Block C, Inyanga Close, Sunninghill, Sandton, 2191, henceforth referred to as "FTI". Please carefully read the following terms before accessing this site or enrolling on a course. By accessing the site (which includes, visiting, registering, purchasing or accessing a course) you accept and agree to all of the covenants and conditions imposed in this agreement. If you do not agree to these terms, you may not access the site.
By using this service, you agree that you have read, understand and agree to these terms. You also agree to review this agreement periodically to be aware of modifications to the agreement, which modifications FTI may make at any time. Your continued use of this site will be deemed your conclusive acceptance of any modified agreement.
1. General
1.1. FTI reserve the right to change the content used at any time.
1.2. Students who fail to complete the eLearning course in the time available will not be eligible for a refund.
1.3. Students will receive an electronic notification 1 month prior to the course end date.
1.4. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.
1.5. If you do not agree with these Terms and Conditions, you must cease the course immediately and notify FTI of your intent not to continue.
2. Financial
2.1. FTI quotes prices and issues invoices in New Zealand Dollars (NZD) only. The client must pay in the currency shown on the invoice.
2.2. Currency conversion charges from any other currency to that of the invoice is the responsibility of the client.
2.3. The client must pay in full or provide a purchase order before the start of any training event or shipment of any product or course materials.
2.4. With purchase orders, FTI will raise an invoice for the course fees and any certification / exam fees before the start of the training. In the case of purchase orders, the client must pay any invoice within 30 days of the date on the invoice.
2.5. Online payment is the preferred method of payment. FTI Online makes use of PayGate for online payments.
2.6. Course fees include the licensing of training materials to a limited period of time to and appropriately qualified course content. Each license is valid to one person only and cannot be exchanged or shared.
2.7. FTI reserve the right to review the pricing and take appropriate action when changes to course or exam specification occur beyond our control.
2.8. All discounts, whether advertised or stated in correspondence, are mutually exclusive i.e. only one discount can be applied to any one booking.
2.9. Late payment may incur penalty charges including removal of any discounts.
2.10. FTI reserves the right to charge interest on late payments of invoices at a rate of 10% per month on the accumulating total value of the invoice.
3) Cancellation Policy
3.1. All cancellations must be received in writing.
3.2. If a student cannot access the course online via https://lms.ftionline.co.nz because they fail to meet the required system requirements given on the website, then FTI will not take responsibility or give a refund to the purchaser.
3.3. The start date of all memberships and access is deemed to be the date that the student first has access to the self-study materials. FTI will make one attempt to warn the student when this access/ membership period has ended. After this attempt FTI can no longer guarantee access to the course or that certification will be possible.
4) eLearning Materials
4.1. The training material is property of FTI and its third-party affiliates.
4.2. The use of the training material on our courses is restricted to a registered user who has been supplied with the log in details by FTI.
4.3. The registered user shall not copy, share, modify, transmit, distribute, or in any way, exploit the copyrighted materials provided by FTI other than for their own individual training. Use for any other purpose is expressly prohibited by law and any violators will be prosecuted.
4.4. The registered user shall not permit anyone else to copy, use, modify, transmit, distribute, or in any way, exploit the copyrighted materials.
4.5. The materials made available by FTI are provided "as-is" without warranties of any kind, either expressed, or implied, including, but not limited to, all implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title or non-infringement.
4.6. FTI does not warrant that the materials will be error free including technical inaccuracies, nor free of viruses, or other harmful matter. The entire cost of any necessary service, repair, or correction, is the registered user's responsibility.
4.7. FTI may make improvements, or changes, to this material at any time without prior notification.
5) Access to the courses
5.1. FTI strives to provide the course content to its students on a continuous basis. To that end, FTI will take all commercially reasonable efforts to provide uninterrupted access of the courses to its students. However, from time to time, students may be unable to access the courses due to conditions beyond FTI's control. Such conditions include, but are not limited to: force majeure, acts of God, power outages, and the acts of computer hackers and others acting outside the law. Also, from time to time, access may be unavailable due to software issues, server downtime, increased Internet traffic or downtime, programming errors, regular maintenance of the system, and other related reasons. In response to any unavailability of the courses to its students, FTI will take all commercially reasonable steps to ensure access is restored within a reasonable period of time. The term "commercially reasonable," as used in these Terms, shall mean reasonable efforts taken in good faith without an unduly or burdensome use or expenditure of time, resources, personnel or money.
5.2. FTI endeavours to provide the highest quality content to its students. To that end, FTI reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to change, modify, or discontinue any aspect or feature of this Site in whole or in part, including, without limitation, the content, availability, access and/or the Terms of this Site. Such changes, modifications, additions or deletions will be effective immediately upon notice thereof, which notice may be made by posting such changes on this Site.
5.3. Users are solely responsible for ensuring that they have sufficient and compatible hardware, software, telecommunications equipment and Internet service necessary for use of the Site.
6) Third Party Content; Hyperlinks
6.1. FTI makes no warranty, either expressed or implied, of the accuracy, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of the information provided by third parties. This includes, but is not limited to, any information found on a link located on this site that allows users to access information found on another site. Additionally, FTI does not warrant the existence or functionality of any website which can be accessed through a link located on this site.
6.2. FTI or its third-party content providers shall retain all worldwide rights in the intellectual property in and on the Site, including, but not limited to, trademarks, service marks, trade dress, inventions, ideas, trade secrets, the source code, the HTML code, the "look and feel" of the Site, its colour combinations, layout, and all other graphical elements, and the copyrights in and to its original content. You should assume that everything you read or see on the Site is copyrighted, trademarked, or otherwise protected and owned or licensed by FTI.
6.3. Except as expressly stated on the Site or in these Terms, nothing that you read or see on the Site or in the courses may be copied, reproduced, modified, distributed, transmitted, republished, displayed or performed for commercial use without the prior written consent of FTI, except as provided in these Terms. Nothing in these Terms grants you an express or implied license to use any of FTI's intellectual property.
7) Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability
7.1. Users access this site at his/her/its own risk. The site is provided on an "as is, as available" basis without warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or statutory, and any and all warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement of third parties' rights are specifically disclaimed. FTI does not warrant any particular result from use of the software or site. FTI does not warrant that the information on the site is accurate, complete or complies with any particular law or regulation, or that the operation of and your access to the site will be uninterrupted, error-free, virus-free or completely secure.
7.2. Under no circumstances and under no legal theory (tort, contract or otherwise) shall FTI or any of its affiliates, agents, employees, shareholders, directors, officers, third party content providers, successors or assigns be liable to you or any other person or entity for any indirect, special, incidental, punitive or consequential damages of any character, including without limitation, damages for loss of goodwill, work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, loss of data, loss of productivity or contract, or any and all other commercial damages or losses.
7.3. Your use of this site is at your sole risk and any content that you download is downloaded at your own discretion and risk, and you are solely responsible for any damage to your computer system in excess of the amount FTI received from students for a course, and for any loss of data that results from the downloading of any such content, including any damages resulting from computer viruses.
7.4. In no event will FTI be liable for any damages in excess of the amount being received from the student for access to a course, even if FTI have been informed of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by any other party.
7.5. In no event will warranties provided by law, if any, apply unless they are required to apply by statute notwithstanding their exclusion by contract.
7.6. This disclaimer is applicable to any damage or injury resulting from the negligence or an omission of FTI, computer virus or other similar item, telecommunications errors, or unauthorised access to or use of user information through theft or any other means. FTI is not liable for criminal, tortious, or negligent actions or omissions of third parties that affect this site.


text:
Disappearing pictures
I recently noticed our server address changed for images. Before, they used to start with http://file3.guildlaunch.net/, but now they start with https://s3.amazonaws.com/file3.guildlaunch.net/. I suspect something similar has happened to you.
We just finished updating several new news announcements for the guild, and added photos for each.
However, this morning ALL the pictures disappeared. They are simply blank, now.
Anyone experienced this before!?
I'd not noticed anything - but it looks like you might have solved the problem anyway?
As Roger mentioned above, I think possibly they're in the process of moving where our "storage" is held .. the background image of our site disappeared yesterday. I left it as I thought it might just be a glitch, but when I've looked into it this morning, the url for the image has indeed changed. Worth checking.
Most of mine seem fine, but I'm not sure if they're stored all in the same place .. the couple that I have had to change, it was a matter of changing the part of the url that said:
This may have something to do with it .. although it was posted some time ago, perhaps there was a delay in it happening: https://www.gamerlaunch.com/community/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11678127&gid=535


text:
Logos, fonts, colors, backgrounds, even layouts – we've crafted each WordPress theme to give you the most flexibility in making your perfect site.
All of our WP themes are responsive so your site will be at home if viewed on a smartphone, laptop, tablet, giant desktop or just about anything else.
Our goal is to consistently surprise you with the level of care you receive from Organized Themes. Happy customers has always been our highest priority.


text:
Bakersfield, Calif., May 3, 2017 –EtherNet/IP™, Modbus®, and PROFINET have become increasingly prevalent across the automation industry – and so has the need to connect them.
With its newest gateway solutions, ProSoft Technology is allowing companies to use their EtherNet/IP or Modbus TCP/IP-based PLCs/PACs to control their PROFINET devices.
The EtherNet/IP-PROFINET and Modbus TCP/IP-PROFINET gateways allow users to remotely view and diagnose their networks, saving time. Both gateways feature two Ethernet ports, allowing users to isolate their networks and ensure that they only pass the data they want between their devices.
In addition, the EtherNet/IP gateway enables high-speed control of large systems via multiple I/O connections.
For more information about the gateways, please go to http://psft.com/B54.
For more information:
Lauren Robeson
Global Communications Specialist
ProSoft Technology
9201 Camino Media, Suite 200
Bakersfield, CA 93311
Ph: +1 (661) 716-5287
Fax: +1 (661) 716-5101
ProSoft Technology: Where Automation Connects
ProSoft Technology specializes in the development of industrial communication solutions for automation and control applications. Our primary focus is to provide a connectivity interface that links dissimilar automation networks as seamlessly as if they were all from the same supplier. Essentially, ProSoft Technology products act as an interpreter so data can flow easily between machines that speak different languages. ProSoft Technology products include plug-in interfaces for large automation suppliers' controllers such as Rockwell Automation® and Schneider Electric®, as well as stand-alone gateways and industrial wireless solutions. ProSoft products can be found in nearly every industry that employs automation. Starting with one computer chip in 1988, ProSoft Technology now has over 400 products supporting more than 60 different industrial computer languages. Our goal is to support our customers from pre-sales through the entire life-cycle of the application. With 500 distributors in 52 countries and Regional Offices in Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and North America, ProSoft Technology is able to provide quality products with free technical support to customers worldwide.


text:
Watching, Protecting, Always On-Guard.
Crime Prevention System: Remote Monitored Surveillance Louisiana provides business owners and residents with peace of mind by offering security options that can be used to reduce the need for on-site security around the clock. Rather than traditional video surveillance systems that only allow for future playback, this live video monitoring service allows owners and off-site security personnel to remotely access their security feed any time of the day or night.
Offering real-time access and instantaneous playback, the remote monitored surveillance that Louisiana clients prefer is provided by Virtual Guard. Cost effective and reliable, this system helps to increase the effectiveness of your existing security patrol. Allowing real-time intervention when necessary, these systems provide recording storage that can be accessed at any time, providing you with a reliable live video monitoring service.
Virtual Guard's system for Remote Monitored Surveillance in Louisiana can be installed as an enhancement to your existing system, pairing high tech cameras that allow for multiple views of the property. Beneficial over traditional security guards, these systems help remove the danger of your guard falling asleep or being attacked and reduce the need for on-site personnel 24/7. Call today to learn more.
– Virtual Guard's security systems are both high-tech and high-quality. As a result, personnel at the Control and Command Center are able to efficiently identify and verify all activity in the urban area. This reduces the risks and costs of false alarms or wrong identification as well as assuring quick response times if verified alarms occur.
– The surveillance system is capable of monitoring several crime "hot spots" simultaneously. Digital signals and alerts are transmitted to the Control Center and back from any camera throughout the site, eliminating the need for personnel or guards that were once required to monitor the location. The sophisticated video monitoring equipment can be deployed over a wide area where they will provide live feeds without any technical difficulties.
– Residents of the urban community do not have to worry about job fatigue or staff illnesses of physical guards. With the Virtual Guard Security System, they will have of mind knowing their estate or town is safe, secure, and under 24-hour surveillance every day of the week. Eliminating the need for several physical guards monitoring the site will also give financial relief as the Virtual Guard system is a significantly cheaper option for the community's crime prevention needs.
The Virtual Guard video security solution will give you peace of mind because your security will be guaranteed. The cameras will be your eyes and they will watch over your property or your business at all times. They are cost-effective, reliable, and they will actively prevent crime from happening on your premises.
Automotive dealerships are designed to showcase new and pre-owned vehicles available for sale outside on the sales lot for customers to view. The main challenge is to protect these assets from being vandalized or even stolen off the lot.
Large construction sites have equipment out in the open, exposing assets to potential vandalism and theft. Compared to live guards, Virtual Guard can more effectively reduce crime on the sites while lowering the overall security cost.
Scrap yard facilities typically require around-the-clock security to prevent theft and fire to their assets. Virtual Guard provides affordable security solutions to protect all kinds of scrap yard and recycling facilities. Virtual Guard Latest News
Common Assets and services are the responsibility of the Managers and Representatives to protect and maintain. Our services leverage security technology to allow our live remote guards to provide real time detection and deterrence from unwanted behaviors and provide secure evidence that stands up in court.
Condominiums, often Multifamily buildings in Urban areas, have unique needs. Protecting access doors and entries, deterring unwanted behaviors and access to clear evidence leads to enhanced quality of life through enforcement of the condominium documents.
Our services allow property managers to do the things that maintain and enhance the property and protect the owners interests rather than spending time filling out police reports, insurance claims, searching video, cleaning up access control databases and upgrading old systems.


text:
Get the superior grade PEB Shed exclusively at the Spangle Steel Products. We are famous as the best Industrial Shed Manufacturers in Baddi that make use of the fine quality of basic material while manufacturing MS Shed along with the roofing sheet and color coated sheet for sheds.
Experienced Staff
Supported by an experienced staff, we always aim to go beyond the clients expectations and all our esteemed clients appreciate us for delivering the world-class range of Pre Engg Building System. All our sheds are quality tested on extreme conditions. We make sure to offer the durable Slotted Angle Shed.
Key Features
Our company is located in Delhi and we have also become the leading suppliers in Baddi for delivering the products which includes the following key features:
Material | Steel, FRP, PVC |
Use | House, Shop, Toilet, Kiosk |
Feature | Glass, Easily Assembled, Eco Friendly |
Built Type | Prefab, Modular, Panel Build |
Use | Toilet, Kiosk, House, Shop |
Material | FRP, PVC, Steel |
Built Type | Panel Build, Modular, Prefab |
Feature | Eco Friendly, Glass, Easily Assembled |


text:
AEM Digital Gauge - Voltage Display 30-4400
AEM's digital Voltmeter display gauge delivers unsurpassed accuracy and visibility. Each gauge includes 24 color-coded (Red, Green, Yellow) LED lights that change from green to yellow to red for immediate reference to the measured parameter, and an integrated thee-digit display that reveals real-time operating conditions.
AEM's digital display gauges feature a standard 52mm gauge housing that fits in most gauge pods and can be remotely mounted virtually anywhere. Each gauge includes interchangeable silver and black bezels and black and white faceplates to personalize the look of your gauge—it's like having four gauge designs in one!
* Gauge voltage range 8-18 Volts * Includes easy-to-install harness and sensor * Complete stand alone gauge requires no additional sensors or programs to operate * Ideal for both fuel injected and carbureted motors * LED displays provide precise reference to critical operating conditions and alert driver of potentially damaging operating conditions * Includes 0-5V analog output for routing to engine management system or data logger * Easy to read faceplates/displays are designed to complement existing AEM gauge styles * Included bezels and face plates allow you to personalize the look of your gauge
NOTE: Verbiage taken directly from AEM website.


text:
Stillwater Fishing
When it comes to the High Lakes of the Cascades, there are plenty of great choices that you can make. From chasing Bull Trout on Billy Chinook, to Brookies on Hosmer, to the world famous Cranebows of Crane Prairie - the only thing you may need is a little guidance on what to bring! Here's a collection of item's from Jeff to help you get you on your way!
Sorry, there are no products matching your search.


text:
Chuck Berry's 'Historic' Former Home Is for Sale for $400,000
A St. Louis house bought by Chuck Berry in the early days of his fame has hit the market.
The asking price for the five-bedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom home is $399,000, a $100,000 reduction from when it was first listed a year ago.
"Most walls whisper," reads a listing by Leigh Leonard at Coldwell Banker Homes, "these walls rock 'n' roll. ... Walk the halls of this historic manse and listen very carefully!" Berry bought the house, which was built in 1909, in 1958 and lived there until the '70s, when he sold it to the current owners.
During his time there, he scored hits with "Little Queenie," "Back in the U.S.A." "Memphis, Tennessee," "No Particular Place to Go" and "You Never Can Tell."
The 4,350-square-foot, three-story property sits on a little more than a quarter-acre of land. It contains a large kitchen with a butler's pantry, an "architecturally significant" dining room, two front parlors -- one of which has a beamed ceiling -- stained glass windows, leaded-glass-enclosed built-in bookshelves and a game room in the basement. The master suite contains a marble bath.
Outside is a shaded brick porch leading to the backyard and a carriage house that contains a two-car garage and a residence on the upstairs level.
Berry died in 2017 at the age of 90, and there are plans to make two movies about his life: a documentary and a biopic. Chuck! The Documentary was expected to finish filming this summer, with the biopic beginning pre-production shortly afterward. Both are being released by U.K.-based Cardinal Releasing Ltd., and have been authorized by Berry's widow Thelmetta.
You can see pictures of the house for sale below.


text:
Filter & Sort
Refine Your Results By:
Back Style
Back Size
Cool Accessories for Guys
Create your perfect look with the newest arrivals of men's accessories at Aéropostale.
From comfortable underwear and socks to trendy watches and belts, our accessories for men make sure you're
always dressed to impress.
Add the finishing touches to your overall appearance by shopping the collection of accessories for men and
boys at Aéropostale. Discover the best accessories for men that bring both function and style to any outfit.
Men's Hats and Sunglasses and More
Find the finishing touches for your casual outfits by exploring our array of fitted and adjustable hats. Express Cali vibes with a classic Aero logo hat, or pick a hat featuring a cool graphic for a unique look.
Keep your eyes protected without skimping on style with our men's sunglasses. Choose from options like
sleek aviator styles, classic rectangular frames, and a variety of tinted lenses to get the look that
suits your style.
Make sure you have the socks, underwear, sandals, belts and watches you need, and then choose the
right scent so you feel confident every time you step out. Our men's cologne is portable, so it fits
right in your gym bag or backpack.
Shop for the best accessories for men and teen guys at Aéropostale now, and stock up on casual
graphic tees
for a new go-to wardrobe for every day.


text:
Event Phone: 360-574-8861
August 11, 2020
9:00 am - 11:30 am
"Open Glass Class" – Tuesday, AUGUST 11th – 9-11:30 am- "Social Distance" Masks required Join Glass Fusing With Friends for a Glass Class where you choose your glass fusing projects. For example: Basic Packages, Small Projects, 3D Burst, Basket Weave, Scrap, Shatter-Splatter, or Maple Leaf. Please see project descriptions under the Classes tab. Note: minimum $10 per class and classes are limited to 5 attending. Register now & receive your confirmation. If you would like to work on a Maple Leaf Bowl or Circle/Round Plate, please call or email me ahead of time… Or, if you find that you cannot attend, please call me at 360-574-8861 to cancel. Thank you.
Venue: Glass Fusing with Friends
Venue Phone: 360.574.8861
Venue Website: https://glassfusingwithfriends.com/


text:
DirectBuy offers millions of products at prices so low, we can't show them here.
Disclaimer: This vendor does not have a return policy. If an item arrives damaged, defective or with missing parts, please contact our Member Care team at 219-682-2083. Image may vary depending on monitor settings.
Unit of Measure: Each


text:
Vampiracy: Crimson Savior
Hell's Guardian Chronicles
Book One
Isabella Tredway
Synopsis: Zyra Falls is a Hunter, for the L.P.V.O."Lilith Prodigy Vampire Organization," one of a group of vampires who's true objective is to capture and turn over dangerous vampires known only as "Mystics or Arcain users" to the mysterious Labyrinth. For now Zyra must attend the Ivashka Vampire Academy and protect the Lugat from the evil Varacolaci who threaten to exterminate them. But Zyra is haunted in visions to rescue a vampire who is captured by the evil Queen Velika. How will Zyra save this mysterious girl? And will she survive to complete her training and become a true Hunter?
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IsabellaTredway
Facebook Vampiracy Series Page: https://www.facebook.com/vampiracy
Book Trailer: https://animoto.com/play/uOBRUjdV6TNCtu4Y165ZsQ
Bio: Isabella Tredway is the author of NA/YA urban fantasy novels for teens. Born and raised in Colorado, she works on her two series full-time. A Gemini who became inspired to become a writer after reading novels by: Holly Black: Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, S.D. Perry: Resident Evil Series, and Richelle Mead: Vampire Academy and Bloodlines Series. A life-long reader, Isabella has always had a fascination with the supernatural and the paranormal, as well as folklore.
She enjoys watching creepy ghost shows and is obsessed with Anime. She attended college but due to her learning disabilities, she failed English and Math so she dropped out and started working on her Manga comic book and writing Anime stories.
Hosted By:


text:
Glitter Cupcake Dog Tag
Red Dingo Pet ID Dog Tags are great looking tags that include free personalised engraving. Engrave your dog's vital information on these solid stainless steel tags.
- Guaranteed readable for the lifetime of the product.
- Made in Switzerland for the coolest dogs in the world.
- Solid stainless steel tags will never rust or corrode.
These dog tags include a split ring, free engraving and delivery (please allow 2 working days for delivery - tags sent separately in your order from other item).
We recommend that you put the following onto your dog tag:
- Your Name
- Your Telephone Number (including country code)
Note: Please enter text info you would like on your tag in the comments section at check-out or contact us if you have any questions. Your Red Dingo Dog Tags will be engraved EXACTLY as you have entered your details. Red Dingo ensure that all tags are centred, for ease of reading and for aesthetic purposes.
Red Dingo Stainless Steel with Glitter Dog Tags come in three sizes:
Small - 2cm diameter (up to 3 lines of text- no more than 12 characters per line)
Medium - 3cm diameter (up to 5 lines of text -no more than 12 characters per line)
Large - 4cm diameter (up to 6 lines of text - no more than 14 characters per line)


text:
This is a series using quotes and perspectives from Cokesbury insiders as to why the official bookstore of one of the largest Protestant denominations that for decades contributed its profits to the Pension fund…chose to shut down and close its brick-and-mortar stores (including seminary stores) by May 2013.
In our last post, we talked about the problems of an automated catalog and how it diminished pastor's ability to support Cokesbury offerings unconditionally. Some commenters on here and on Facebook contended that Cokesbury local store has no control over that. They are right. While we are talking about closing the local stores, rest assured that the list of posts I have coming set their sights squarely on the upper management of United Methodist Publishing House.
Because let's be honest: brick and mortar bookstores are really tough to operate these days. A Cokesbury employee explains the difficulty in this way:
Books are not items with a large margin. Books which pastors received a 20% discount on in the store (which was a discount all received online) typically have somewhere between a 36-42% mark up. Add in shipping, costs of people, time, insurance . . . this is why online does so well. Amazon sells at a loss sometimes; sometimes Amazon is able to negotiate great deals for a large order. This is true also for Cokesbury. It's much easier to sell at loss online. It's much easier to store product in a centralized warehouse and ship out as needed than to employ people at 50 some locations. Books are considered "worthless" in system after about 2/3 years; the cost of returning unsold product builds up if each of the 50 locations are returning the product.
In short, the numbers are fiscally stacked against any destination store without an extremely loyal base.
So I really feel for local stores that need to (1) turn a profit and (2) provide resources for local churches. By any measure of accounting, the business model of bookstores is a tight one. While megastores and huge online retailers can supplement by volume discounts and by loss-leaders, local bookstores have a hard time doing that.
My difficulty is not with the local store. My difficulty is with the upper management that by many accounts centralized decision-making and removed the ability of local store managers to adequately lead.
First, Cokesbury executives removed the ability of the local stores to advertise in local sources. Neither the paper or Facebook or Google Ads or bilboards or anything…all such things were the decisions of the top executives. Indeed, the vast majority of the advertising was going to previous customers. From a former employee:
Advertising is another issue. If you won't advertise locally, other than direct mail that is only going to people who already shop in your store, how do you expect to find new customers?
Second, we talked above about the low profit margin of books. However, a former Cokesbury employee says that one of the highest profit margins in the store was often in the gift items. Not *the* highest profit margin, due to gift items' typically high discounts and junked merchandise (not to mention that curriculum/products created in-house actually have the highest profit margins…more on that in the future). Regardless, different gifts sold better in different areas, but several years ago Cokesbury removed the ability for store managers to direct buy the gifts and could only "request" gifts that may or may not be approved. That employee gives an example of a gift item popular with youth camps and children's groups:
To me one of the issues is buying of gifts and novelty Christian items, your cross necklaces, Jesus plaques, and various other Jesus stuff. It is where you can have the highest mark up on items by far. The best selling item in my store while I was there was .25 cent wooden cross key chains. They cost us 6 cents. 19 cents times 5000 is more profit than many books where the profit after discounts is probably just pennies as well. My manager was great at finding this crap but they stopped allowing store managers to purchasing gift items a few years ago. Instead Nashville decided they knew what the people would buy.
Centralizing the buys and relying on inventory requests from local stores is the industry standard. I get it. However, trusting that your employees are doing their jobs (even at minimum wage) and responding to their requests in a timely fashion is the oil that makes that industry run. By outsourcing the management of key decisions away from the local store, the Executives essentially were telling the local stores to not lead.
Let's be clear: The point of this conversation is not to point fingers but to enlighten our own struggles. Cokesbury's problems are our problems too.
The worst response an organization can make to instances of human error/greed is to make personal failings into corporate policy. In Cokesbury's past, there were bad store managers who made grievous errors in purchasing items or advertising decisions. So removing that ability became an overall policy — a few bad apples ruined the leadership abilities of the whole.
How many churches have serpentine authority processes because of bad apples or abuses of power in the past? I've served three churches and each has strange rules that removed powers that were supposed to be in one committee or entity and placed them in another…because of abuses of power in the past. I served one church that required every expenditure to be approved by the Finance committee…because a pastor previously had been brought up on charges and removed. I served another church that gave full authority to the clergy to spend up to the budget amount…but would never get a credit card for the church so expenditures had to come out of the clergy's pockets until they were reimbursed. Other clergy have similar breadth of experiences when it comes to financial decision-making.
Trust often must be earned especially as strangers work for each other. However, the trust must also be balanced with the flexibility to respond to one's environment.
I've written before about Starfish and Spider churches and Cokesbury clearly is a Spider organization: consolidating power into fewer and fewer people that made the decisions that moved the legs. It did not realize that it could operate as a Starfish organization where it could trust the collective intelligence spread throughout. As Brafman points out in The Starfish and the Spider, "open systems don't necessarily make better decisions; but they can respond more quickly because each member has access to information and can make direct use of it."
In our brave new world, organizations will do better by decentralization rather than centralization–by suffering the small consequences of trusting the lower rungs of hierarchy–rather than turning personal failures into corporate/church policies. My hope is that as more institutions of the church are threatened by lower metrics and smaller cash flow that they react as Starfishes, not Spiders. Because, in this series, we've seen what happens when you go all Spider, haven't we?
For further reading, Starfish and Spider Churches:
- Part I: To Consolidate or Decentralize?
- Part II: Starfish Culture needs Starfish Churches
- Part III: Starfish Churches are Leaderless
- Part IV: Catalytic Leadership
This is the a series of posts including comments by Cokesbury insiders, employees at the local stores and at the mothership. My goal is not the denigrate the past decisions but to help laity understand the importance of Cokesbury and what role it has played in our history.
I welcome other comments if you want to remain anonymous. Send comments to my twitter handle at gmail.com and I will respect confidentiality.
[Photo credit: "Vintage Postcard: Cokesbury" by Coltera on Flickr, shared via Creative Commons license]


text:
In my last blogpost I showed how to perform a DNSSEC KSK rollover. I did it quite slowly and carefully. This time I am looking into an emergency rollover of the KSK. That is: What to do if your KSK is compromised and you must replace it IMMEDIATELY.
I am listing the procedures and commands I used to replace the KSK of my delegated subdomain dyn.weberdns.de with BIND. And, as you might already suggested, I am showing DNSViz graphs after every step since it greatly reveals the current DNSKEYs etc.


text:
Terms and Conditions
Access to, and use of, this site and associated databases (this site) is provided by Olympus Australia Ltd ("OAS") subject to the following Terms and Conditions. If these Terms and Conditions are not accepted in full, you do not have permission to access the contents of this site and should therefore cease using it immediately.
Conditions Specific to Information Available on this Web Site
1. This web site contains information about products that may or may not be available in any particular country, and if applicable, may have received acceptance or market clearance by a governmental regulatory body for different indications and restrictions in different countries. Each country has specific laws, regulations and medical practices governing the communication of medical or other information about medical products on the Internet. Nothing herein should be construed as a solicitation or promotion for any product, or as an indication that any product has been authorized by the laws and regulations of the country where the user of this website resides. By using this site, you agree to make your own enquiries about the availability of products and the extent to which, if required, they have market clearance.
2. This web site may contain information on medical and health-related topics. This information is provided for educational purposes only and is not meant to be a substitute for the medical advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional. OAS assumes no responsibility for how this information is used. You should not use this information for diagnosing a health problem or disease but should always consult your own physician. In addition, although OAS tries to keep this web site as current as possible, please be aware that health care information, by its very nature, changes quite rapidly, so some materials may occasionally be out of date.
3. OAS makes no representations, guarantees or warranties about the suitability of any information, contained in or referred to in this web site, for any purpose. OAS assumes no responsibility for and disclaims all liability for any errors or omissions, guarantees, warranties and conditions with regard to this web site and/or the information contained in or referred to in this web site, including without limitation all implied guarantees, warranties and conditions of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain guarantees or warranties, so the above exclusions may not apply to you. However, in those circumstances, OAS has no liability beyond that implied by law. This web site may contain links to web sites controlled by parties other than OAS. OAS does not review, is not responsible for, and does not endorse the contents, policies, or use of these third-party web sites. Any links to other web sites are provided as merely a convenience to the users of this web site and your decision to view or use any of such linked web sites is entirely at your own risk.
Terms of Use
1. By using this site, you agree to these terms and conditions, which take effect immediately upon your first use of this site. OAS reserves the right to change these terms and conditions at any time by posting changes online.
2. You are responsible for reviewing information posted online to obtain timely notice of such change to these terms and conditions. Your continued use of this site after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of these terms and conditions as modified by the posted changes.
3. You may not copy, store in any medium – including other web sites – reproduce, distribute, transmit, broadcast, modify or show in public any part of this site in any way except for your own use, either personal or in connection with your employment, without prior written permission from OAS. You may not adapt, alter or create a derivative work from any of the material contained in this site or use it for any other purpose.
4. You agree to use this site only for lawful and proper purposes, and in a manner that does not infringe the rights of, or restrict or inhibit the use and enjoyment of this site by Olympus Corporation ("Olympus") or Aloka Co Ltd ("Aloka") or any third party.
5. When using this site you must, and you agree to, comply with all applicable laws including, without limitation, refraining from conduct that is contrary to any law or contributing material that is illegal, that breaches any law (including, without limitation, the privacy of any person), or that may harass or cause distress or inconvenience to any person, including by the transmission of obscene, offensive or defamatory content or by the disclosure of personal information.
6. KeyMed, OAS, Olympus and Aloka do not warrant the truth or accuracy of any material displayed on or accessed through this site. In no event will KeyMed, OAS, Olympus, Aloka or associated companies be liable for any loss or damages that you or a third party may incur or suffer including, without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or loss of profit or data arising from the use of this site, whether in contract, negligence or in any other way whatsoever. OAS does not warrant that the operation of this site will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that this site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or bugs.
7. Nothing contained within these Terms and Conditions or this site shall be construed as bestowing by implication or otherwise any licence or right of any intellectual property, including without limitation under any trademark or patent, of KeyMed, OAS, Olympus, Aloka, their associated companies, or any third party.
8. Where you submit contributions to this site (including without limitation any text, graphics, video or audio), for each submission you grant OAS a royalty-free, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play, and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to any such content worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any media now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in such content. If you do not wish to grant such rights to OAS, you should not submit your contribution to this site. By submitting your contribution to this site, you also warrant that such contribution:
- is your own original work and that you have the right to make it available to Olympus for all the purposes specified above;
- is not defamatory and does not infringe any law; and
- complies with paragraphs 4 and 5 above.
You will indemnify OAS against all actions, costs, claims, proceedings and liability arising from any breach by you of these Terms and Conditions.
1. If any of these Terms and Conditions should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable by reason of the laws of any jurisdiction in which these Terms and Conditions are intended to be effective, then to the extent and within the jurisdiction which that Term or Condition is illegal, invalid or unenforceable, it shall be severed and deleted from these Terms and Conditions and the remaining Terms and Conditions shall survive, remain in full force and effect and continue to be binding and enforceable.
2. This web site is developed and maintained by OAS from its offices in Australia. These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Victoria, Australia. Disputes arising under these Terms and Conditions or otherwise in connection with the use of this site shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of that state.


text:
"The liberal soul shall be made fat." Proverbs 11:25.
If I desire to flourish in soul, I must not hoard up my stores but must distribute to the poor. To be close and niggardly is the world's way to prosperity, but it is not God's way, for He saith, "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty." Faith's way of gaining is giving. I must try this again and again, and I may expect that as much of prosperity as will be good for me will carne to me as a gracious reward for a liberal course of action.
Of course, I may not be sure of growing rich. I shall be fat but not too fat. Too great riches might make me as unwieldy as corpulent persons usually are and cause me the dyspepsia of worldliness, and perhaps bring on a fatty degeneration of the heart. No, if I am fat enough to be healthy, I may well be satisfied; and if the Lord grants me a competence, I may be thoroughly content.
But there is a mental and spiritual fatness which I would greatly covet, and this comes as the result of generous thoughts toward my God, His church, and my fellow men. Let me not stint, lest I starve my heart. Let me be bountiful and liberal, for so shall I be like my Lord. He gave Himself for me; shall I grudge Him anything?
Charles H Spurgeon


text:
Express Cargo Packers and Movers Murshidabad
Express Cargo Packers and Movers Murshidabad, is regarded to be the most reputed and efficient packers and movers in West Bengal. We at, Packers and Movers in Murshidabad have established ourselves as the pioneer Relocation company in Murshidabad. It has some unique and unmatchable features. Besides our immense popularity in the relocation industry we hardly fail to provide our international quality Relocation services in Murshidabad to our clients. In this era of modern science and technology, everyone is enjoying an advanced lifestyle. Everybody desires a unique and hassle-free shifting and moving using sophisticated technology. The expectation of the clients has become really high. Keeping this in view, Packers and Movers Murshidabad has adopted advanced and sound technology in packing & moving to fulfill the expectations of the clients.
It is our relentless effort that we have redefined relocation services in Murshidabad. The services we offer are simply smoother and hassle-free. It has prominently placed us superior to any other moving company in Murshidabad. We movers and packers Murshidabad provide unique and flawless relocation services, far better than the others. Our technically sound professionals and the usage of modern and sophisticated technology have enabled us to gain the leading position in the relocation industry . So, we are thankful to our technicians who provide you unique relocation in a hassle-free manner up to your satisfaction.
Our technicians always discharge their responsibilities swiftly with extreme care and precautions. They are truly faithful to their jobs. Our customers always procure unique advantages from "Express Cargo Packers and Movers Murshidabad", if they avail our packers movers services in Murshidabad. Our valuable clients will surely get special offers & discounts on availing our packing moving services. Besides, there are facilities like door to door delivery, safe & secure transportation, value added services, custom clearance, insurance facility on cargo, 24 hours service * 7 days and instant quotation etc. Our customers will surely benefit from movers and packers Murshidabad's domestic relocation, industrial relocation, corporate relocation, car relocation, bike or any two wheeler shifting services. We are also pleased to provide loading and unloading facility, packing and unpacking facility, pet moving service etc with due care.
Packers Movers in Murshidabad provides you world class relocation services. Packers and Movers Murshidabad has a vast network spreading all over India. We have 60 branches nationwide. We are flourishing everyday as we are gaining many new satisfied clients. In Murshidabad, we have provided our unique packers and movers services at many locations in Murshidabad. You can rely on our faithful services. Just call us and relax. We are always at your service at any time, at any place.


text:
I want to tell you a little bit about Annika, the pink-laced lass pictured above, whom I met on a recent visit to northern New York, or where locals refer to as "the North Country."
During a period of downtime in the school library, Annika came to have her book signed. I had remembered her face from an earlier presentation. She had that kind of presence, the way she leaned in and listened. When I talk to a group, it's natural to scan the gathered faces. The bored ones, the curious ones. I'm grateful when I find a student who is fully there, like a friend, smiling, enjoying it.
So now here she stood, still smiling, asking for me to sign her book. Of course, I was honored to do so. We got to talking. About movies and books and stuff. Neither of us in a particular hurry.
I later learned that Annika happened to be the daughter of the school librarian. "Ah," I said, the pieces falling together. I was also informed that Annika was not merely an avid reader. She was a trapper, too. Like her daddy. "She earned $500 last winter," her mother told me. "Skins 'em herself, too."
Oh, yes, really.
"She's a real North Country girl," her mother said. "Here, let me show you a photo . . ."
And so she did.
That's one of the reasons why I love to do school visits. They get me out of the house, out of my small world. I see new places, try to look around if I have some time, open my eyes a bit wider. Some days I get to meet seven-grade wonders like Annika, and I am always glad for it.
Meeting Annika reminded me of a favorite song by Bob Dylan, "Girl from the North County," off the Freewheelin' LP.
The lyrics:
If you're traveling the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
Remember me to one who lives there
For she once was a true love of mine.
If you go when the snowflakes storm
When the rivers freeze and summer ends
Please see if she has a coat so warm
To keep her from the howlin' winds.
Please see if her hair hangs long
If it rolls and flows all down her breast
Please see for me if her hair's hanging long
For that's the way I remember her best.
I'm a-wonderin' if she remembers me at all
Many times I've often prayed
In the darkness of my night
In the brightness of my day.
So if you're travelin' the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was the true love of mine.
Dylan wrote this song in 1962, soon after spending time with folksinger Martin Carthy, who introduced Dylan to a great many traditional English ballads. You can hear in the syntax of the lyrics, the entire setup of the song (the instructions to the listener, "If you're traveling,"), and even in the song's closing lines, borrowed verbatim from an old ballad, "Scarborough Fair," later popularized by Simon & Garfunkel. Importantly, while the traditional lyrics of "Scarborough" call on the lost love to perform a series of impossible tasks, in Dylan's tune he wishes only for her warmth and remembrance.
I love the understatement of this lyric, the quiet poetry, the things not said. Remember me to one who lives there. He wants to know, simply, that she has a coat to keep warm from the snow and howlin' winds. He wants, only, for her to remember him, as he remembers her after all these years. Through time and absence and cold winds. Just beautiful.


text:
Debriefing on
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
Geneva Phase / Part I, Geneva, December 10-12
by Georg C. F. Greve <firstname.lastname@example.com>
European Caucus of Civil Society@WSIS, Chair
Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks (PCT) working group of Civil Society@WSIS, co-coordinator
Delegate of German Civil Society@WSIS coordination circle in German governmental delegation
FSF Europe, president
The United Nations (UN) World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is the first such a global summit held in two parts. The first part was held in Geneva, Switzerland from December 10th-12th 2003 and adopted two documents, the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action. The second phase will take place in Tunis hosted by the Government of Tunisia, from 16th to 18th November 2005. So after the first phase has finished its work, an assessment of experiences and in particular the adopted documents seems warranted.
Procedural Overview
The structures of global governance are in a process of transformation. Governance, originally the function of governments alone, is increasingly taking place in a network in which governments are one party. The other two stakeholders usually identified in this regard are Civil Society and economy.
How and in which form that network will take shape is not clear today. Ideas range from an equal participation of all sides ("tripartite") over other forms of networking with different levels of influence ("multi-stakeholder") to a pure governmental network.
Among the novelties that the WSIS claims for itself is a uniquely inclusive multi-stakeholder, even tripartite approach. After Geneva, we have to concede that positive steps have been taken in this direction, but the current situation does not warrant the label of "tripartism."
As described in more detail in other places, Civil Society was in- or excluded from working groups on a seemingly random basis throughout the whole preparatory process. But the summit itself in Geneva climaxed in a way that will make it easy for Tunisia to shine as a symbol of Civil Society involvement and freedom of speech.
While logistics provided during the preparatory process were adequate, even good, this was not true for the summit itself. Some little shacks had been assembled as temporary housing for Civil Society within the exhibition, but no rooms were reserved for civil society use, most notably the civil society plenary assembly. Lack of logistics also included printers, photocopiers and -- not without irony given the topic of the summit -- adequate network access.
This however qualified as uniquely favorable treatment in comparison with those Civil Society participants who were trying to organise alternative events outside the Palexo premises and were removed by Geneva riot police from the rooms they had rented under adaptable legal excuses. A peaceful public protest on the last day was also stopped by the police before it began.
Unnoticed by most governments remained the fact that Civil Society was not even entitled to determine who would speak in its stead at the summit ceremonies.
Although the self-organising mechanisms of Civil Society provided a list of speakers that was balanced in terms of questions such as geography, gender, topic and prior involvement, that list was largely ignored by the WSIS secretariat.
So when Civil Society was informed Dec 1st, 2003 by the secretariat who was to speak in its name during the summit, it had to realise that most of the names on that list were unbeknownst to them and even included one mayor of a city, who was apparently to speak in the name of Civil Society.
Only for questions of timing and for not wanting to undermine the message of Civil Society while playing into the hands of such divisionary tactics, did Civil Society not react to this officially. It is unlikely Civil Society would remain silent about repetition of such a demonstration of disrespect for its active members and self-organised structures.
So the way towards Tunisia and the summit in Tunis will show whether we come closer to tripartism by allowing Civil Society to choose who is speaking in its name or -- alternatively -- whether Civil Society will get to decide upon two thirds of the governmental speakers.
European perspectives
Even though the European Union and its member states share some positions of Civil Society more than others, positions are different on some critical issues. Still, they were always among the first to protest against exclusion of Civil Society in the working groups and asking for more participation and involvement.
During the PrepComs III and IIIa, coordination meetings between the European Caucus of Civil Society and the European Union took place, exploring ways of implementing active participation of Civil Society not only in theory, but in reality.
By means of strengthening this process of building and exporing cooperation and participation, the European Union and its member states are about to cover new ground in the multi-stakeholder approach, building up experience that may also help on a larger level or within other processes.
Also, some countries -- for instance Germany and Switzerland -- have taken initiative on an individual level by including Civil Society representatives in their governmental delegations to the preparatory process and the summit itself.
Civil Society will certainly seek to build upon these positive experiences in the future, a message also personally delivered to the Irish delegation to the summit in Geneva, since Ireland will take over EU presidency in January 2004.
PCT perspectives
The multitude of interesting Civil Society side events was another positive part of the summit. Personally, I enjoyed very much the opportunity to speak at the APC event on Free Software for women in Africa. Just afterwards, also on wednesday, Dec 10th, the Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks (PCT) working group of Civil Society held its "Free Software, Free Society" event.
After Prof. Lawrence Lessig, who shared his visions for a Free Society, the speakers shed light on their experience on building Free Societies with the help of Free Software in South America and Africa. This experience was complimented by the experience of the Swiss NGO Ynternet.org.
Surprising special guests were Sergio Amadeu Da Silveira and Rogerio Santanna of the Brazilian government, who told the audience about their experience building the Free Software policy for Brazil. And as the final speaker, just after his appearence at the governmental high-level round table, Richard Stallman, founding father of the GNU Project, vividly expressed the freedoms of Free Software.
Assessment of the documents
Leaving aside all problems, frustrations and obstacles that Civil Society faced, some positive influence on the governmental documents Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action adopted during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) seems evident. This is my first personal assessment for the areas that I have been following most closely.
Access to public domain of global knowledge
It is self-awareness, the possibility to reflect and our ability to develop and communicate abstract concepts that make humankind different from any other species on our planet. As a result of that process, including concepts, thoughts and experiences from all people alive and dead, we create the public domain of global knowledge. From this reservoir we learn, improve ourselves and build new knowledge.
This makes the question of access to the reservoir that is the public domain of global knowledge central to humankind in general, but information societies in particular.
Central paragraphs dealing with access to the public domain of global knowledge adopted on Dec 12th, 2003 are
- Declaration of
Principles 24: "The ability for all to access and contribute
information, ideas and knowledge is essential in an inclusive
Information Society."
- Declaration of Principles
25: "The sharing and strengthening of global knowledge for
development can be enhanced by removing barriers to equitable access
to information for economic, social, political, health, cultural,
educational, and scientific activities and by facilitating access to
public domain information, including by universal design and the use
of assistive technologies."
- Declaration of
Principles 26: "A rich public domain is an essential element
for the growth of the Information Society, creating multiple benefits
such as an educated public, new jobs, innovation, business
opportunities, and the advancement of sciences. Information in the
public domain should be easily accessible to support the Information
Society, and protected from misappropriation. Public institutions
such as libraries and archives, museums, cultural collections and
other community-based access points should be strengthened so as to
promote the preservation of documentary records and free and equitable
access to information."
The weakness of these paragraphs is their emphasis on the economic and development related aspects, which somewhat neglect the social and political issues. Also they put most of their attention on the past, not the future extension of human knowledge. But despite these weaknesses, the thrust is good. Most particular, they come before the paragraph on Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks (PCTs) in the declaration, emphasising early on the significance of the public domain of global knowledge and of access to it.
Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks (PCT)
(a.k.a. Limited Intellectual Monopolies (LIM))
Patents, Copyright and Trademarks (PCTs) centrally regulate access to the public domain of global knowledge, the reservoir of all human knowledge, from which new knowledge is in turn created. As an effect of the current system, some Northern companies have become immensely rich while the vast majority of humankind is excluded from access to that knowledge.
The lines of conflict in this area ran between the Southern and Northern countries, most particular United States, European Union and Japan. While Northern countries wish to see international treaties and organisations -- most notably the "World Intellectual Property Organization" (WIPO) -- accepted as they stand, Southern countries question the balance of the current system and wish to see the system reevaluated.
The PCT working group of Civil Society, which is working on these issues, has been giving support to the Southern countries in this area and supported them through statements (in plenary and beyond), personal discussions and drafts for compromise text.
The paragraphs dealing with the issue as they have been adopted on December 12th are:
- Declaration of Principles 42: "Intellectual Property
protection is important to encourage innovation and creativity in the
Information Society; similarly, the wide dissemination, diffusion, and
sharing of knowledge is important to encourage innovation and
creativity. Facilitating meaningful participation by all in
intellectual property issues and knowledge sharing through full
awareness and capacity building is a fundamental part of an inclusive
Information Society."
- Plan of Action C3, 10, d): "Governments, and other
stakeholders, should establish sustainable multi- purpose community
public access points, providing affordable or free-of- charge access
for their citizens to the various communication resources, notably the
Internet. These access points should, to the extent possible, have
sufficient capacity to provide assistance to users, in libraries,
educational institutions, public administrations, post offices or
other public places, with special emphasis on rural and underserved
areas, while respecting intellectual property rights (IPRs) and
encouraging the use of information and sharing of
While it can and should be criticised that the paragraphs are using the ideologically charged and misleading terminology of "intellectual property" and contain a good load of fuzzyness, it should be realised that they are a step forward, albeit a small one.
As they stand, they still neglect that all monopolisation of knowledge draws its sole justification from increasing the dissemination, diffusion and sharing of knowledge, as adequately stated in Article 1 of the United States constitution: "To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;"
But unlike other statements (and what the Northern countries were also trying to achieve in the scope of WSIS), it does not put forward the notion that ultimate monopolisation of knowledge should be the goal of humankind. Instead, it gives monopolisation, dissemination, diffusion and sharing of knowledge equal weight.
Also, it does not mention the international treaties in the area, therefore not reinforcing them. In particular, it does not mention WIPO, in essence leaving room for the interpretation that it is not the Information Society that should serve WIPO, but rather WIPO which should serve the Information Society.
This is of critical importance. Earlier in 2003, WIPO cancelled a conference on knowledge sharing because of heavy opposition by the United States. When asked why the United States had opposed the WIPO meeting, Lois Boland, director of international relations for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, told the Washington Post, "Open-source software runs counter to the mission of WIPO, which is to promote intellectual property rights." She added: "To hold a meeting, which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such rights, seems to us to be contrary to the goals of WIPO."
In short: WIPO has in the past years understood its mission as seeking ultimate monopolisation of knowledge. Every aspect of society had to serve that goal. Thanks to WSIS, there is now room to reevaluate the role of WIPO into one of readjustment instead of single-minded expansion.
It is not enough to stop here, but a door has been opened that remained closed before.
Free Software
Software shapes the digital age and access to it determines who may participate in a digital world. That is why Free Software with its freedoms of use for any purpose, studying, modification and redistribution is an essential building block for an empowering, sustainable and inclusive information society.
The paragraphs adopted for this on December 12th were
- Declaration of Principles 27: "Access to information
and knowledge can be promoted by increasing awareness among all
stakeholders of the possibilities offered by different software
models, including proprietary, open-source and free software, in order
to increase competition, access by users, diversity of choice, and to
enable all users to develop solutions which best meet their
requirements. Affordable access to software should be considered as
an important component of a truly inclusive Information
- Plan of Action C3, 10, e):
"Encourage research and promote awareness among all stakeholders
of the possibilities offered by different software models, and the
means of their creation, including proprietary, open-source and free
software, in order to increase competition, freedom of choice and
affordability, and to enable all stakeholders to evaluate which
solution best meets their requirements."
One might have hoped that governments were already more advanced in their understanding of the digital society, but these paragraphs are going further than it may seem at first glance; especially given their development over time.
During the work on the documents, especially the United States tried to declassify Free Software by means of referring to it as the "open source software development model," pretending it was a foremost technical issue, which could later disappear from the documents entirely, as there is no need to talk about all the technical models in a political document. This was stopped around the Intersessional Meeting in Paris, when Civil Society managed to get Free Software into the official documents.
Although the official documents pose the risk of further spreading the notion of "open source" as "any software with (partially) visible source code," they do avoid the most severe misunderstanding by not confusing proprietary (non-Free) and commercial software, as both Free and proprietary software can be both commercial or non-commercial.
More importantly, instead of talking about software development models, the documents speak of "software models." For the first time, a formal United Nations level takes steps to acknowledge that the choice between proprietary and Free Software is not a mainly technical issue, but a political, economical and social choice of paradigm.
One of the most fundamental tasks of the Free Software Foundation has always been to build awareness, because ubiquitous understanding of the different software paradigms and their effects is the most effective way of establishing Free Software; someone who has understood the full consequences of that choice will not freely choose proprietary software.
So while encouraging research and promoting awareness may not seem like much, it is all that is needed for Free Software to be understood and prevail as the most favorable paradigm.
In essence: on Dec 12th, 2003, all governments represented in the United Nations have committed to encourage research and promotion of awareness for the different paradigms of software and their effects, something we can support entirely, even if we hoped that the governments had understood these issues better already.
Open Standards
Open standards are the equivalent of well documented and accessible languages in a digital world, allowing communication and cooperation.
Unfortunately, the paragraphs adopted for standardisation adopted on Dec 12th were insufficient:
- Declaration of Principles
44: "Standardization is one of the essential building blocks of
the Information Society. There should be particular emphasis on the
development and adoption of international standards. The development
and use of open, interoperable, non-discriminatory and demand-driven
standards that take into account needs of users and consumers is a
basic element for the development and greater diffusion of ICTs and
more affordable access to them, particularly in developing
countries. International standards aim to create an environment where
consumers can access services worldwide regardless of underlying
- Plan of Action C6, 13,
p):"Governments, in cooperation with other stakeholders, should
promote the development and use of open, interoperable,
non-discriminatory and demand- driven standards."
While "open" and "interoperable" are important adjectives and "demand-driven" is uncritical, it is not enough to ensure open standards. Especially "non-discriminatory" has acquired sad notoriety in the standardisation discussions by at times being used in ways to make Free Software implementations impossible.
As the PCT working group has repeatedly pointed out, no standard will ever qualify as a truly open standard unless it is freely implementable and publicly documented.
In essence, the paragraphs fall short of what they seek to accomplish.
Open Access
Science is the source of the technological development that empowers the Information Society, including the World Wide Web. In the best tradition of science, scientific authors donate their work to humankind and access to that information is crucial.
The paragraphs mention this explicitly in
Declaration of Principles 28: "We strive to promote
universal access with equal opportunities for all to scientific
knowledge and the creation and dissemination of scientific and
technical information, including open access initiatives for
scientific publishing."
- Plan of Action C3, 10,
i):"Encourage initiatives to facilitate access, including free and
affordable access to open access journals and books, and open archives
for scientific information."
While "encourage initatives" is not very binding, these paragraphs do mention in particular the significance of Open Access to scientific information, a part that had disappeared for a while in all documents throughout the process.
Since Francis Muguet, co-coordinator of the PCT working group and coordinator of Scientific Information (SI) working group, was most active in this part, I'm going to leave the full assessment of this up to him.
One can say that the governmental documents fall short of the essential benchmarks of Civil Society in all considered aspects. But one can also say that they have in most cases made progress and moved in the right direction.
A fair evaluation of both the process and the adopted documents might be that they have moved into the right direction, but that we cannot be satisfied yet and will have to keep working on all aspects. Given that Civil Society has networked itself better than ever before throughout the summit, my personal outlook is positive.
So my conclusion would be that we haven't arrived and will probably not do so in Tunis, but we've made progress and now are finding ourselves in a solid starting position for the years to come.


text:
How to Raise More Empathetic Kids
Sponsored by: Hallmark®
Kids are so incredible. Spend just an hour with them, and you'll realize they're like little sponges. They soak up any information they can, including how to treat others. And when it comes to their emotional wellness—now and in the future—few things are more important than cultivating empathy.
As a parent, you want your kids to grow into caring, thoughtful people. Making sure that you treat others with respect and consideration is a great place to start. But you can also encourage kids to think actively on their own about things like kindness, empathy and caring through the use of thought exercises like the ones below.
Being Aware of Feelings
When you're talking to your child about their day, teach them to focus on being aware of other's feelings by asking them if they noticed anyone who was having a tough time, and why.
- Did someone seem lonely or sad?
- Did anyone seem angry?
- What happened to make them feel that way?
It's also good to ask them about the people who made their day better. A teacher who said something nice about them. A friend who shared with them. A loved one who sent them a card in the mail. It's a great way to help them feel gratitude toward others.
Doing Kind Things
Showing sympathy is wonderful. It's human to react with kindness when someone is upset. But grab opportunities to show kids that they can proactively brighten someone's day, too, simply because it's a nice thing to do.
At the coffee shop: "How do you think that lady behind us would feel if we bought her coffee for her?"
At home: "What if we sent Grandma a nice card? How would that make her feel?"
At the grocery store: "How do you think that boy would feel if we told him he has cool shoes?"
Then follow through with those suggestions together and talk about what happened after. Finally, ask how it made them feel to do nice things for other people!
Taking Care of Others
Sometimes children are present in situations where care is being provided to another adult, like a spouse in the hospital, or a grandparent with dementia. To see an adult who is sick, frustrated or confused can be difficult for kids—they're used to adults running the show!
You can involve kids in caregiving by helping them understand the behaviors and emotions the person you're caring for is experiencing. Ask questions like, "Remember how tired you were when you were sick?" Or, "You know how when you're embarrassed, you feel upset or angry?"
You can also help make them more comfortable in these situations by asking them to remember what they like to do best with that person. If they always loved reading with Grandma, encourage them to bring a book to read to her. Another way to involve them is by helping them pick out a card, write a nice note and give it to the person you're visiting.
Remember, not every exercise in empathy will be a solid success. Learning empathy can be confusing, humbling—even embarrassing. Help them to focus on the rewards and good feelings that empathy elicits. You're helping your children become caring, thoughtful adults, and that's always worth the effort.
If you're not sure where to start, see what a card can do! It's a simple, yet powerful way to show kids the impact a kind gesture can have.


text:
1. Introduction
This statement is made in line with our obligations under the UK's Modern Slavery Act 2015. These obligations comprise releasing a statement, signed by a Director (or corporate officer of equivalent status), which details the steps the Acushnet Group has taken to ensure that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in our supply chains or in any part of our business, and making this statement available in a prominent position on the homepage of our website.
The statement refers to our financial year 2020 – 2021.
2. Description of Acushnet Business and Supply Chain
The Acushnet Group manufactures and distributes high quality golf equipment and is a valued and established global brand. A significant part of the brand's value derives from the commitment of the business to trading ethically and in compliance with the law.
Structurally, this is a corporate group under the ultimate ownership and control of Acushnet Holdings Corp., a body corporate formed under the Laws of the State of Delaware, United States of America. The Group comprises a number of trading entities in jurisdictions across the world, notably in the European Union, North America, and Asia Pacific.
The Acushnet Group has a business presence in the UK, principally through its UK-incorporated subsidiary, Acushnet Europe Limited. The actions and policies described in this statement are applicable, however, to all Acushnet entities and businesses across the globe.
Acushnet sources components for the assembly of its products from a range of suppliers, notably within the USA and Asia Pacific. Our procurement team is primarily US-based and oversees procurement for all ball, club, shoe, glove and apparel products. It is supported by associates at our wholly-owned Thai glove factory, our joint venture Chinese shoe factory and within our Hong Kong based Acushnet Company apparel sourcing team. Our golf balls are made from various raw materials at three wholly-owned facilities in the US and one in Thailand. The majority of our golf gloves are made from various raw materials at a wholly owned facility in Thailand. In addition, gloves are sourced from factories located in Vietnam, India, and Indonesia. Our golf shoes are made from various raw materials at a joint venture in China that produces only our FootJoy products.
Generally, our golf clubs are made from sourced components that are assembled at our wholly-owned facilities around the world. All other Acushnet products (e.g., hats, gear and apparel) are sourced from third parties around the globe.
3. Policies and our approach to modern slavery and trafficking
Acushnet policies are dedicated to ensuring that we operate ethically and in a manner which respects human rights and the environment and engages positively with the communities with whom we interact.
3.1 Treatment of Acushnet employees
We ensure that all employees who work for the Group across the world benefit from the minimum employment law protections conferred by the applicable law of the jurisdiction in which they reside.
We can confirm that employment of staff abides by the following enumerated principles:
1. Employment is freely chosen: forced, bonded or trafficked labour are zero-tolerance issues;
2. No harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed: physical or verbal harassment and intimidation are zero-tolerance issues;
3. Wages and benefits meet or exceed national legal minimum wage and all applicable laws and regulations. Illegal deductions from wages shall not be permitted. Workers are paid at regular intervals, the maximum being monthly; and
4. Working hours are not excessive: working hours must comply with national laws or benchmark industry standards or relevant international standards, whichever affords greater protection to workers' health, safety and welfare. Acushnet operates pursuant to the guidelines of its Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and its Supplier Citizenship Policy, each of which prohibit the use of forced labour. Our Thai factories operate under the Thai Labour Standard (TLS 8001-2010).
Several of our US facilities are VPP Star certified by the Federal Operational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") (www.osha.gov).
3.2 Policy regarding Acushnet supply chain
The Acushnet Group has adopted and implemented a "Supplier Citizenship Policy" which describes the business practices and employment standards applicable to the Group's worldwide direct suppliers. Click to view the Supplier Citizenship Policy. All significant direct suppliers annually receive copies of this Policy and many suppliers post the Policy on site at their various locations.
The Policy requires our vendors to be compliant with eleven key elements which cover a range of important issues that are relevant to human rights, corporate social responsibility and ethical trading. These include obligations to ensure the fair and ethical treatment of workers and the prohibition of forced labour and child labour.
4.Due diligence processes in relation to slavery and human trafficking in its business and supply chains
The Group has a multi-faceted programme for auditing suppliers' compliance with the Group's Supplier Citizenship Policy.
Supplier compliance is monitored by supplier self-assessments, Group questionnaire requirements, Group personnel visits and third party audits. Many suppliers are required to report their compliance (via detailed questionnaire-based reports) with the Policy either annually or bi-annually, depending on their risk profile.
Various types of audits are conducted, including on-site visits by Group personnel. Periodic third-party on-site audits for many suppliers are conducted on each of the eleven categories listed in the Policy. If concerns are identified, suppliers must produce corrective action plans describing how they will resolve issues uncovered in audits. The Group may terminate a supplier relationship if serious non-compliance is discovered (such as child or forced labour) if it is not immediately addressed or if other instances of non-compliance continue.
These efforts are supplemented by the Group companies' purchasing agreements, which require suppliers to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including local laws regarding forced and child labour.
5.The parts of its business and supply chains where there is a risk of slavery and human trafficking taking place, and the steps it has taken to assess and manage that risk
The Group evaluates actual and potential suppliers according to a risk-based strategy. New supplier screenings are conducted by Group personnel.
Identifying and reducing the risks of slavery and forced labour in our supply chains is already part of our Supplier Citizenship Policy, which in turn forms part of our broader Corporate Responsibility programme. We believe the Modern Slavery Act presents an opportunity for progressive organizations to share the work they are doing and to encourage more action on this serious topic.
As an organisation, we are aware of the elevated risk inherent in some of the geographical areas where we operate. Those risks having been identified, the Group is satisfied that it has taken adequate steps to address them. In particular, it intensifies its due diligence and auditing efforts in relation to its facilities and suppliers in Thailand and Asia Pacific ensuring that they are fully compliant with our labour and other requirements, including those set out in our Supplier Citizenship Policy referenced above.
Our suppliers are risk evaluated based upon the following criteria:
- Location of factory (less developed countries receiving higher scrutiny)
- Type of product being supplied to Acushnet
- Size of purchasing program with supplier
- Size of Acushnet Company volumes at the factory – negligible volumes or significant
- Type of factory structure (ie. Single floor versus multiple floor)
- Past audit results
6. Steps taken to assess the effectiveness of slavery policies
A variety of measures are used to ensure the effectiveness of the Acushnet slavery policy and to verify that the principles are fully implemented.
First and foremost, the Acushnet Group Compliance Committee has worldwide responsibility to address compliance issues related to the Group's business. The Compliance Committee meets regularly and develops policies and procedures for many issues, including the inclusion of provisions in multiple compliance documents prohibiting child or forced labour (e.g. the Group's Supplier Citizenship Policy and Code of Business Conduct and Ethics), updating these where necessary. It also keeps the implementation of our policies under review.
This Committee acts swiftly to respond to any detection of modern slavery or human trafficking practices. Failures to meet any of these standards by employees, contractors or suppliers are addressed by the Committee and by the senior management of the Group. The Group will terminate employees and contractors, and it may terminate an entire supplier relationship, if serious non-compliance is discovered (such as child or forced labour), if any slavery or trafficking concern is not immediately addressed or if other instances of non-compliance continue.
As a further safeguard, Acushnet facilities are subject to annual internal compliance audits and periodic independent third party audits initiated by Acushnet and at the request of various customers and NGOs (e.g. the Fair Labour Association, for certain facilities).
7. Employee and Management Training
The Group has an extensive employee compliance training program and trains employees responsible for supply chain management regarding supply chain issues. All worldwide Group employees must comply with its Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, which addresses the principle that child, prison, or forced labour are not permitted in any Group or Group supplier operation. The Group periodically trains employees on these standards, including training for all new employees and refresher training of all Group employees and management, including those who have direct responsibility for supply chain management.
The Acushnet Group takes great pride in the integrity of its operations, including those in its direct supply chain. We strive to achieve best practices in everything that we do. Accordingly, we may periodically update this Disclosure to reflect current practices.
Thomas D. Pacheco
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer
On behalf of the Acushnet Company and on behalf of other members of the Acushnet Group (including Acushnet Europe Limited)
Still Need Help?
Our Customer Service Team is here to help you.


text:
Bulletin News
Emilio "Dee" DaBramo '48 ran 31 bombing missions during World War II and survived a crash landing behind enemy lines. He was SUNY Cortland's first All American soccer player, yet devoted most of his life and career to helping people with physical and mental disabilities, including 12 years as New York director of the Special Olympics. His innovative programs dramatically improved graduation rates in disadvantaged areas, and are still applicable today.
In short, DeBramo is an inspiring guy. So inspiring, in fact that David Hennessy '53, M.S.Ed. '62 decided to write a biography in tribute to the former longtime Mamaroneck, N.Y., school administrator after a relatively short acquaintance.
Hennessy hopes that the support of future SUNY Cortland scholarships also will be accomplished with royalties from the sale of his book, Never Give Up on a Kid — The Chronicles of the Life and Career of Emilio "Dee" DaBramo, Educator/Humanitarian Extraordinaire. "Never give up on a kid" is a phrase DaBramo used frequently, and it paraphrases his attitude toward children who faced challenges to success.
Emilio "Dee" DaBramo '48 is shown in uniform in this undated image from the College's archives. |
Hennessy first met Dee in 1998 when he stayed overnight at the hospitable DaBramo's house in the Catskills at the mid-point of a 1,000-mile fundraiser bike ride. Hennessy's cycling journey through New York state, accompanied by Arnold Rist '47, raised funds for the Dr. Ralph A. Brown Scholarship Fund, named in honor of the College's late, revered distinguished teaching professor of history.
Hennessy, who had served in the Navy — underwater in a submarine rather than in the Army Air Corps as a radio operator on a B-24 Bomber during WWII like DaBramo — was floored by DaBramo's lifelong accomplishments. During Hennessy's brief visit, he encountered many people whose lives had been positively affected by DaBramo's dedication to youth and persons with disabilities.
"In a very short time, the picture of why so many people in the community had expressed their love and respect for Dee was becoming clearer to me," said Hennessy, a SUNY Cortland Alumni Association board member. "It was his sense of community, his love of kids, especially for those with special needs, his sense of fairness, his kind and outgoing personality and his leadership ability that endeared him to all."
Hennessy also realized that DaBramo had begun slowly losing his memory and decided to find out more about the man before it was too late. His volume follows DaBramo's 45-year career, which began in 1948, as a teacher and administrator.
As a radio operator on a B-24 bomber during World War II, DaBramo earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, four Air Medals and four Battle Stars.
"He and his fellow crew members flew on 31 missions over German-occupied Europe," wrote Hennessy, who also served in the military. Hennessy returned to SUNY Cortland to pursue a master's degree, finishing in 1962 after serving five years as an officer in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service.
"The exploits of (DaBramo's) crew are well documented, including the disastrous carpet bombing raid at St. Lo, France, and the heretofore untold story of the air delivery of 700,000 gallons of fuel to General Patton's Third Army tanks in France during Operation Cobra."
DaBramo also survived being shot down over Cologne, Germany, and crash landing.
After the war, while studying at SUNY Cortland, DaBramo was the first of the College's All-American soccer players in 1948. In later years as an alumnus, he worked on the College's Admissions Council.
Hennessy's book describes a number of DaBramo's accomplishments while employed in the Mamaroneck Union Free School District.
"He solved the high school dropout problem that was endemic in the socially, culturally and economically deprived neighborhoods," Hennessy said.
Hennessy could relate to DaBramo as an educational pioneer, having himself taught elementary science, via television, from 1958 to 1962 in the Cortland City schools covering grades two through six in 90 classrooms.
"His alternative school APPLE Program, which stands for 'A Place where People Learn Excellence,' and his Summer Co-Op Program designed for the targeted neighborhoods, were a huge success," Hennessy noted. "The APPLE Program garnered a 90 percent graduation rate and a resulting college graduation rate of better than 70 percent."
During his career, DaBramo served as president of the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, and was named one of 10 honorees lauded as 1992 Healthy American Fitness Leaders (HAFL), which promotes physical fitness and health awareness in the U.S.
Emilio "Dee" DaBramo '48, left, meets with David Hennessy '53, M.S.Ed. '62 outside his home in the Catskills in 2004. Hennessy wrote a biography on DaBramo. |
DaBramo's early work with the mentally and physically challenged individuals, in the late 1940s through the 1960s, caught the attention of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Hennessy wrote. She appointed him as a volunteer member of the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation's Advisory Committee and as a clinician for the Special Olympics.
DaBramo served for 12 years as the New York state games director for Special Olympics.
Richard Keelor, a former officer of the President's Council for Physical Fitness and Sports under Presidents Nixon, Carter and Reagan, wrote very passionately of DaBramo when contacted in the course of Hennessy's research.
"The key to Dee's professional career, and what he stood for, was empathy, audacity and enthusiasm," Keelor wrote. "Yes, he knew his subject and had all sorts of academic credentials, but experts are a dime a dozen. Dee's legacy will be the extent to which he changed the lives of the people and organizations he unselfishly served."
SUNY Cortland always held a special place in DaBramo's heart. In a 1991 interview he said: "I hope to continue helping the alumni making Cortland State better."
To help make DaBramo's wish come true, Hennessy and his wife, Milly, created the Cortland Appreciation Scholarship Fund. It will be started with proceeds from the biography and managed by the Cortland College Foundation.
The scholarship will benefit students of Cortland County.
"(DaBramo's) philosophy of 'never give up on a kid' and the organizational structure of these programs are well documented and translatable to almost any school system," said Hennessy, who recommends his book to teachers and administrators.
Emilio "Dee" DaBramo'48 is shown as a young man in this undated College archival image. |
The biography also may be of interest to historians of WWII, the WWII G.I. Bill and the Special Olympics.
Never Give up on a Kid can be ordered online directly from the publisher at www.authorHouse.com and Amazon.com or from a local Barnes and Noble retail bookstore. The book also is available at the SUNY Cortland bookstore.
For more information on the author or book, contact Hennessy.