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Each quarter, we provide the most comprehensive review of equity ETFs and mutual funds available. We review the Best & Worst ETFs and Mutual Funds by sector and style. This article provides quick access to all our reports on Style funds.
We begin the 3Q12 Style series with our Style Roadmap report, which details the best styles for finding quality ETFs and mutual funds. Next we highlight the ETFs and mutual funds that stand out as the Best & Worst among all the styles. We follow with detailed reviews of the Best & Worst for each style (links below). Our similar series of reports for all sectors is here.
Style Series: Best & Worst ETFs and mutual funds for each style:


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Metro Tiles
How to tile with Metro Tiles
As metro tiles are relatively small, there are many possibilities for how to utilise them, whether you want to tile from floor to ceiling or just use a few to make a statement. Our handy blog post demonstrates how to tile using metro tiles in a variety of patterns and styles, and hopefully inspire you to bring some metro magic into your home.
Grout for metro tiles
When you're choosing tiles, it's always really important to consider which colour grout to opt for. This is because grout can completely change the look of your space
For a uniform look and to give the appearance that your room is larger, opt for a matching grout. This will also give the impression of tile edges flowing into one another.
For the opposite effect, pair a contrasting grout with your metro tiles to disrupt the flow and make the individual tile shape pop out. This is a great choice if you want to emphasise the pattern of your tiling, for example with a herringbone pattern.
To help you choose your tiles, we've grouped together some of our most popular ranges of metro tiles. Choose from pastel metro tiles, traditional white metro tiles or go bold with the deep colours in our Glamour and Turner ranges.
If you need samples or advice to create the perfect look with metro tiles, the Direct Tile Warehouse team will be pleased to help!

subset: commoncrawl


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When putting collectively the primary business portion of this site, I wrote an article that outlines the Six Phases of the Web Website Design & Improvement Course of As an integral part of my very own firm website online, the article is slanted to how I personally assist purchasers by way of the process of making their very own web site. Good wanting responsive designs for cell and desktop. Net design includes all the things related to the design and functioning of internet sites. You'll also learn HTML and CSS, that are the widespread code languages that every one trendy websites are built on. These are useful abilities to accumulate as they are needed by nearly each single enterprise on the planet to speak to clients.
As this has happened the know-how of the online has additionally moved on. There have additionally been vital adjustments in the way in which individuals use and access the online, and this has modified how sites are designed. Your CSS should accommodate the varied modifications in size and shape, resizing your pictures and media based on display dimensions.
From header to footer, internet page layout requires the creation of fundamental web page components that orient end customers and help them find what they're on the lookout for. When it comes to making a design that drives lots of traffic and creates loads of revenue, most companies battle.
Our philosophy has always been to create web design software and companies so you can make higher Websites. Create an interesting, mobile-pleasant design that your viewers can entry whenever they need, wherever they roam. This asynchronous code doesn't truly forestall customers from utilizing the location so it isn't thought of a part of the website load time.
This type of content material is easy to scan and much more likely to be learn by your guests. To higher serve these wants, designers must understand the easiest way to method the varied components of a web page, together with the header, navigation, content areas, sidebars, footers and backgrounds.


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Here is my completed November calendar. It's being an asshole and only wants to load sideways. On the plus side I've finally used up those stickers from 1980 something!
I did pretty good on my pile on the miles challenge. I didn't make my goal of 60 miles but I did do 46.39. More than half. I got off my schedule a little bit so I didn't get a couple longer runs in that I thought I would.
New goal for December=70 miles.
I failed at the Slimmer By December Challenge. I kind of knew I wasn't going to work out every day after doing that in October. Sometimes you just need a day off! Judging from my calendar I took 5 days off. That's not bad.
I'm still in an Ab's Challenge but not focusing on that too much. I did ONE DAY of the Killer Abs and that was all I got in.
I've been running 3 days a week, the trainer 2 and that's enough that I feel like I have to spend a day being lazy and/or doing laundry & catching up around the house.
So here is my results in pictures for the month of November. From the left is October 1st, October 31st and November 30th. Not much difference over all but my clothes are fitting differently so things are shifting around! I
Here is my December calendar
AND that Double Road Race falls in the middle there too so not sure what to do to train more for that. Just "RUN" I guess!
Here's to a thinner December!Pin It


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Poster Presentation Tips
Electronic poster (e-poster) presentations are similar to traditional poster presentations, but presented on a large computer screen. The ASA uses 42" LCD displays in the landscape position. Each e-poster presenter will be provided with a display screen and laptop for the session.
A well-constructed poster is self-explanatory, achieving both coverage and clarity. Your e-poster can consist of multiple slides or just one. Use the tips below as guidelines for formatting and making the most of your presentation. Save your poster to a USB key (thumb) drive and bring it with you the day of your presentation. Also, don't forget your business cards!
Formatting Tips
- Less is more. Be clear and concise with poster design and content. Overcrowding a poster makes it difficult to read.
- Use fonts that are large enough to read at a distance.
- Include the title and name(s) of the presenter(s) in a larger, bolder font than the rest of the poster.
- Provide clear labels or headings for each section of your presentation.
- Remember contrast. Put light-colored fonts on dark backgrounds and dark-colored fonts on light backgrounds so viewers can see your text clearly.
- Imbed high-quality graphics and videos.
- Avoid hyperlinks. Instead, incorporate a QR code into your presentation that will direct attendees to a website that contains more information about your poster and research.
- Sound is not permitted due to the open area in which posters are presented.
For single-slide e-posters:
- Set the page size to 36.5" W and 20.5" H.
- Use a minimum font size of 32 points.
- Don't overcrowd the slide.
- Single-slide presentation template, blank
- Single-slide presentation template with sample layout
- Single-slide presentation template with sample layout, including formatting tip text
For multiple-slide e-posters:
- Set the page setup or slide size to "on-screen show (16:9)" or 36.5" W x 20.5" H.
- Use bullet points.
- Use a minimum font size of 14 points if page setup is "on-screen show (16:9)." If slide size is set to 36.5" W x 20.5" H, use a minimum font size of 32 points.
- Use the slideshow mode to automatically change the display during the day, and then switch to the manual mode to move through the slides for your presentation.
- Avoid using too many slides. Past presenters have found 10 slides are about right.
- Put a footer on each slide such as "Slide 1 of 6" to let viewers walking by mid-cycle know where they are in the presentation and how long they'll wait until it begins again.
- Multiple-slide presentation template, blank
- Multiple-slide presentation template with sample layout
- Multiple-slide presentation template with sample layout, including formatting tip text
Content Tips
Coverage: In addition to title/author and abstract, most successful posters provide brief statements of introduction, method, subjects, procedure, results, and conclusions. Ask yourself the following:
- Have I provided all the obvious information?
- Will a casual observer walk away understanding my major findings after a quick perusal of my material?
- Will a more careful reader learn enough to ask informed questions?
- What would I need to know if I were viewing this material for the first time?
Clarity: People attending a poster session are free to move about from poster to poster and often must view a poster from a distance, making it difficult to read excessive text and small fonts. With this in mind, we recommend you do the following:
- Use large fonts and limit text to essential information. Place your major points in the poster and keep the nonessential, but interesting, sidelights for informal discussion.
- Keep content simple and communicate clearly.
- Consider whether the sequence of information is evident. Indicate the ordering of your material with numbers, letters, or arrows when necessary.
- "A picture's worth a thousand words." Imaginative use of captioned illustrations, photographs, graphs, video (without sound), or other types of visually appealing material is extremely effective at communicating during a poster presentation.
- Make your final conclusions or summary a concise statement of your most important findings.
Online Resources for Poster Creation and Templates
The following sites may provide other useful templates and tips for preparing your e-poster:


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Along with different mortgage types, there are also varying types of insurance policies available as protection for your mortgage. Insuring yourself against possible accidents or illnesses ensures that you do not leave your family lumbered with repayments if you are not around.
Term Assurance:
Decreasing Term Assurance Plans provide life cover which decreases roughly in line with the reduction of your outstanding mortgage. Whilst you might expect the mortgage to be repaid in the event of your death, in some cases the lump sum is not enough to repay the mortgage in full. However, these types of insurance plan means that you do not have to pay for more protection than you actually require.
Level Term Assurance Plans are simple, low cost arrangements that provide life cover for the agreed lump sum, during the agreed term.
Critical Illness Cover:
Many of us take out insurance for our mortgages in case we die, but few of us cover against if we suffered critical illness or disability.
Critical Illness cover is designed carefully to provide a lump sum on death or diagnosis of any critical condition as defined under the terms of the policy. This means that money will be available at a time when a critical condition or disability may affect your financial position or ability to earn.
Income Protection:
Income Protection Benefit provides a monthly benefit should you be unable to work due to incapacity caused by accident or illness, resulting in a loss of earnings. This allows you a degree of financial stability until you recover and return to work, no longer suffer a loss of earnings, in the event of your death or until the policy expires.
The level of weekly benefit proposed for Income Protection policy is based around your current earned income. The amount that might actually be paid in the event of claim is affected by two things. Firstly, the amount of any increase in income and secondly, your entitlement to the Incapacity Benefit paid by the State
Buildings and Contents Protection:
Our buildings and content protection is designed to cover your home and the possessions within it for almost any eventuality.
The insurance of the property against major damage such as fire and other risks will normally be a condition of your mortgage lender. In addition to your bricks and mortar, the contents on your house are extremely valuable and this type of protection ensures that, in case of any accident, you are not left paying the price for your uninsured contents.


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Cooling, not population loss, led to fewer fires after 1500 in New World
- Date:
- July 30, 2012
- Source:
- University of Utah
- Summary:
- After Columbus' voyage, burning of New World forests and fields diminished significantly – a phenomenon some have attributed to decimation of native populations. But a new study suggests global cooling resulted in fewer fires because both preceded Columbus in many regions worldwide.
- Share:
In the years after Columbus' voyage, burning of New World forests and fields diminished significantly -- a phenomenon some have attributed to decimation of native populations by European diseases. But a new University of Utah-led study suggests global cooling resulted in fewer fires because both preceded Columbus in many regions worldwide.
"The drop in fire [after about A.D. 1500] has been linked previously to the population collapse. We're saying no, there is enough independent evidence that the drop in fire was caused by cooling climate," says the study's principal author, Mitchell Power, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Utah.
"The implication is that climate is a large-scale driver of fire. That's a key finding. Climate is driving fire on global and continental scales," says Power, who also is curator of the Garrett Herbarium at the Natural History Museum of Utah, which is part of the University of Utah.
The new study analyzed worldwide charcoal samples spanning 2,000 years. It will be published online during August in the journal The Holocene, which is the name of the geological epoch covering roughly the last 11,500 years of Earth's history. It was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Natural History Museum of Utah.
The study deals with the Little Ice Age, a period when Earth's climate cooled, causing New York Harbor to freeze over in 1780, among other effects. Estimates of when the Little Ice Age started range from the 1200s to the 1500s. It ended in the early 1800s. Possible causes include some combination of increased dust from volcanic eruptions, decreased solar activity, and changes in circulation of the ocean and atmosphere.
"The decrease in fire on a very large scale -- globally and in the Americas -- was controlled by this cooling climate, which began prior to the population collapse, and climate alone is sufficient to explain large scale changes in burning," says Power.
"In a cooler atmosphere, you tend to get reduced convection, so you get reduced thunderstorms and ignition from lightning," he says. "Cooler climate also tends to maintain high levels of fuel moisture and soil moisture."
Today, warming climate and drought have been tied to increasing fires in the U.S. West and elsewhere. "In a world where climate is rapidly changing we need to pay more attention to this relationship between climate and fire," Power says
Power conducted the study with 19 other scientists, including paleoecologist Frank Mayle at the University of Edinburgh, U.K., and climatologist Patrick Bartlein at the University of Oregon. Other coauthors -- who provided charcoal data or samples -- are from University of Wisconsin, Madison and Oshkosh; Northern Arizona University; University of Gottingen, Germany; Canadian Forest Service; University of Montpellier, France; University of Bern, Switzerland; University of Calgary, Canada; University of Tennessee; Virginia Tech; University of North Carolina; University of Chile; Laval University, Quebec; Fordham College, New York; and Central Washington University.
Cooling Climate or Population Collapse?
After Columbus reached the New World in 1492, explorers brought European diseases such as smallpox that "decimated populations in the Americas -- 10 million to 100 million dead, with most estimates in the 60 million range," Power says.
"All these people died abruptly -- Mayans, Incas, Aztecs and down in Patagonia -- they were all affected," he adds. "Agriculture was sharply reduced. Landscapes that had been cleared for agriculture started a process of plants growing back and infilling those abandoned fields. In terms of greenhouse gases, when you change from maintained cropland to woodlands, plants take up more carbon dioxide and there is less in the atmosphere. This has been pointed to as one mechanism for causing the Little Ice Age."
Power agrees population collapse may have led to reduced biomass burning in some local regions of the Americas. But the new study indicates the reduction in fire was actually global and began before Columbus in most areas, suggesting the Little Ice Age triggered most of the reduction in burning -- not the other way around, Power says.
"If you look at independent climate records, cooling from the Little Ice Age was happening about 200 years before the population collapse," or about A.D. 1300, he says.
Power notes there is room for debate because the Little Ice Age varied in time and space, and didn't affect all parts of the world equally, although most places cooled.
A Record of Fire Left in Charcoal
The study used existing records and-or new samples of charcoal -- burnt wood or other biomass -- found in sediment cores from lake bottoms and bogs from some 600 sites around the world, about half in the Americas, and dated within the past 2,000 years.
"Whatever was burning, we see a record of that fire in lake sediments, from either aerial transport or erosion" of burned material, Power says.
Power manages the Global Charcoal Database that compiles data from all the existing studies that date charcoal samples and describe where they came from. The new study included 498 existing charcoal records and 93 new samples.
"We have gone back in and calculated the ages of all these charcoal samples," except for some dated independently in other recent studies, and then used recent radiocarbon dating calibrations to make sure all data are consistent, Power says.
"Greater than 80 percent of biomass burning records show a decline post-1500 in the Americas, he says. The other 20 percent may be from areas that were still fire-prone despite cooling or that simply had burning declines for which there are inadequate charcoal samples, he adds.
The study compared the charcoal records with previously published ancient climate records and population reconstructions. It found:
- Clumping all the charcoal data in two groups -- from the Americas or the Eastern Hemisphere -- shows that in the Americas, biomass burning declined between 1500 and 1650 and stayed at a minimum until 1700, the same time as the peak of the Little Ice Age. That period was the lowest level of burning in the past 6,000 years.
- In the Eastern Hemisphere, there was a prominent decline in burning that began about 1400 -- well before the population collapse in the Americas. Power says cooling also started about a century earlier in the Eastern Hemisphere than in the Americas -- more evidence cooling caused reduced burning. There was no parallel population collapse large enough to explain the reduction in burning, although a small downward blip in burning is noted in Europe around the time of the bubonic plague or Black Death.
- In tropical Middle America -- the Caribbean Basin, Mexico and Central America -- climate cooling starting around 1350, when burning also begins to decline. Population collapse didn't begin until around 1500.
- In tropical South America, climate changed around 1350 to 1400. There is debate whether it warmed or cooled. The population collapsed after 1500. Power says neither climate nor population strongly influenced post-Columbian biomass burning in that region, which declined only subtly and not until 1700. It also is possible the population that collapsed didn't use fire very much in agriculture -- something a recent study coauthored by Power found in French Guiana.
- In southern South America, ice-core and tree-ring growth studies show cooling began about 1450, well before an abrupt decline in burning in 1550. That would seem to support the theory that population collapse reduced burning -- except that the region had little population, certainly not enough for any decline to trigger a reduction in burning.
- Ice cores from Greenland show cooling started about 1450, and fire started to decline about 1500, according to charcoal for boreal Canada and the western United States. Cooling and reduced burning stopped about 1800. Despite the 50-year lag, Power says that is more evidence tying climate cooling to reduced biomass burning, particularly since the region had relatively few people at the time.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Utah. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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Rodrigo Bruna just sent in some images from Reconstruccioniepce which is showing at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes Curated by Angélica Peréz Germain - October 5 – December 3, 2007. If he sounds familiar, you are probably remembering our previous coverage of his incredible Toast "painting". Believe it or not, this too is made from toast! Here is his description of the piece:
"The first photography of a landscape was taken by Niepcé in 1826. The particularity and beauty of this image triggered my attention to work with it. In the middle of 2006 I initiated my research and creation project titled Reconstruccioniepce. Through spatial and objetual projects I developed a reflection of this image and the fragility of the reconstruction processes. The material chosen for these works was bread, and the action was toasting. It is not longer the sun which fixes the images, but the vehement fire that fixes the vestiges of a landscape on white slices of bread. This statement defines my system of work and the material and technical displacement I made of the photographic process. Reconstruccioniepce V arises from the destruction realized of a previous version of this work at the Museo de Artes Visuales of Santiago.
The remains of bread that were left from this action are selected and organized in a ornamental border that crosses two walls of the room, proposing a new version of this enigmatic landscape."


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No need to maintain a second site just for mobile devices. The BPAA Webservices websites recognize mobile devices and change to fit the screen of any device.
The BPAA has partnered with Managed.com to offer secure 24/7 managed hosting on blazing fast servers with a 99.9% service level agreement. Performance and stability has never been better.
Collecting customer data has never been easier! Our websites tightly integrate with the BPAA Customer Connect marketing database for full automation and marketing purposes.
Sign Up
This program has been bringing BPAA member centers to the world wide web since 2007. During that time we have made numerous advancements but none quite as great as what we have just released - Mobile Ready Responsive Design. That's right, the days of maintaining a second mobile site are over! With the new BPAA Webservices websites you have it all in one.
Our new sites will detect a mobile device and reformat everything to fit perfectly into view. You can even specify mobile only content as well as content you do not want to show on mobile devices.
BPAA is committed to providing exceptional service for members. We have partnered up with two premier marketing companies to help you reach more customers and boost profits.


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October 1956
Maybe Mrs. Stowe wasn't so big, after all. She fulminated against slavery, and a great many high-minded people listened and took fire, but the blaze that finally killed slavery was not really kindled that way. New England was the big center of abolitionist fervor, but slavery really died because of the Middle West, which had small use for fervor (outside of New England enclaves like Ohio's Western Reserve) but which was firmly attached to the cash-and-carry sentiments which had been built into it from the beginning. Slavery at last came to its end largely because the Middle West would not put up with it any longer. This is probably a slight overstatement, like most flat pronouncements, but there is a good deal to it. In the Civil War it was common knowledge that New England troops were hot against slavery and that the middle western troops didn't care much one way or the other and chiefly asked that people stop bothering them about it; but in the end it was the middle westerners who pronounced sentence of death and who took slavery apart, chattel by chattel, and they did this not because they had anything in particular against it but simply because it was in the way. Musings such as the above arise from a reading of a thought-provoking book entitled The Man Who Elected Lincoln , by Jay Monaghan. Mr. Monaghan—no man to understate his thesis—devotes himself to a study of Dr. Charles H. Ray, who partnered with Joseph Medill to buy the fledgling Chicago Tribune half a dozen years before the Civil War and who was largely responsible for turning it into a paper that helped line up the Middle West against the unconscionable demands of the people who lived by the peculiar institution. It is Mr. Monaghan's belief that it was chiefly Dr. Ray who brought Lincoln up from small-town obscurity, framed the Lincoln-Douglas debates, pushed Lincoln forward as a presidential candidate in 1860, and saw to it that he was nominated and elected; and he goes a long way toward proving his point. But it is neither Dr. Ray nor Lincoln himself who comes out of this book as the one memorable character. Instead it is the stolid middle westerner himself, who did not especially care about slavery but who finally came to see it as an imminent threat to himself. The Man Who Elected Lincoln , by Jay Monaghan. The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc. 334 pp. $4.50. Behold: Dr. Ray, full of New England fire and ice, edited a paper in Galena, Illinois, got into politics, and wound up by buying a piece of the Chicago Tribune . He helped Illinois Republicans turn down Stephen A. Douglas, when a move to make a Republican out of Douglas was germinating. He fired up Republican sentiment on the prairies, he had both hands elbow-deep in the involved thimble-rigging that made Lincoln the Republican nominee in 1860; and yet he was never, really, from first to last, dealing principally with citizens who wanted to kill slavery because they believed that slavery was a profound moral wrong. He was able to swing, or to help swing, the Middle West into the Republican column, in the end, mostly because the middle westerners at last came to realize that slavery was cramping them. It was cramping them because—it was always, remember, the extremely peculiar institution—it would not allow anybody to be neutral. It confronted hundreds of thousands of hard-working men who believed they could make something like a profitable human paradise out of the rich flat land between Pittsburgh and Council Bluffs, and it demanded that they adjust everything they were doing to the business of silencing people who did not believe that one group of men might properly own another group of men. It became, finally, an intolerable nuisance, not so much because it was wrong as because it was so strident and demanding. It came to its downfall, at last, at the hands of westerners, led by men like U. S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, who had never been counted among the antislavery cohorts but who finally abolished it root and branch (assisted by several hundred thousand hard-handed young men who felt the same way) just because it was getting in the way. In the end it was this group that Dr. Ray appealed to. He himself was a dedicated man—a man with a New England background, incidentally—with a first-rate flair for combining steadfast idealism with a canny appreciation of what it is that makes the workaday wheels of politics go round. He helped make the Tribune a controlling power in the Middle West (even though his partner, Joseph Medill, got most of the credit for it) and he unquestionably had a great deal to do with putting Lincoln in the White House. But he was able to do what he did, not because the flames of a great moral issue were sweeping across the prairies, but simply because slavery was a national handicap. Something immense was going on in the Middle West of the 1850's. Idealism and hard practicality went hand in hand, and men who dreamed of a new heaven and a new earth were careful to get options on all the best lots in the new towns that were being staked out ninety miles west of nowhere. The pulse of the country was beating that way; the road that had to be traveled lay across the limitless prairies, the land of limitless cash potentialities and also the land of limitless dreams. The slave power, blind as all powers whose day is finished, insisted that everything that was done out here must be framed so that the rights of the slave states were properly preserved; and in the end the Middle West simply got tired of it. The net result was the Emancipation Proclamation, the march to the sea, Appomattox, and various things that have made headlines since then. All of this is not so much explicitly stated as implicit in the background of Mr. Monaghan's book. It tells a part of the story which gives rise to the books of Messrs. Stampp and Furnas; a part equally valid and equally important, and—in this reviewer's opinion—equally necessary to a proper understanding of the story of how we got here and where we are apt to go next.


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Levi Johnston: My Future is Bleak
Levi Johnston has just fired back at his baby mama, Bristol Palin, and unlike grandma Sarah Palin, Levi didn't need to write crib notes on his hand.
Levi is responding to Bristol's demand for $1,750 a month in child support. In his opposing legal papers, Levi's lawyer, Rex Butler, says Levi's income is "erratic." Bristol claims that Levi raked in more than $105,000 in 2009. But attorney Butler says, prior to 2009, Levi never made more than $10,000 a year.
In the legal docs, Johnston agrees to pay 20% of his adjusted 2009 income -- though he doesn't say exactly how much he made. He also agrees to file quarterly income reports. In his declaration, Levi says in 2010, his only contractual guarantee for income is $25,000 plus "some contingencies based on my Playgirl shoot." He says he doesn't see how it's possible to pay $1,750 a month in child support.
And there's this. According to the docs, "Levi Johnston stands before this court as a 19-year-old with good hopeful for an entertainment career but the chances of increased income are as unknowable as it would be for any young person working his way into the entertainment industry: not particularly good."


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The Nordic Hat was Skida's first-ever product! Designed originally for cross country skiing, it's lightweight poly-blend fabric is breathable and moisture wicking, keeping you comfy and dry while exercising. Easily stashed away in a pocket, it's ideal for skiing, running, and hiking, among other outdoor activities. The thin fabric allows the hat to fit comfortably under a helmet, too. As always, made in Vermont.
• Poly-spandex jersey with MAX-Dri moisture management technology: 92% Polyester, 8% Spandex.
• UPF Rating of 50+
Please note print may vary due to scale.


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Standard replacement for Fender (tm) reverb driver transformer, also works great with DIY projects and as a general replacement. Also might be used as an output transformer for a headphone amp or impedance matching device for headphones (eg: to match newer low impedance headphones to output of tube-type ham & shortwave receivers). New unit made right here in Chicago, USA.
Matches 15K plate load to 8 ohm reverb tank input. Mounting hole centers are 1 3/4 inch (45 mm) apart. Replaces Fender part number 022921. Rated 3.5W, 5 ma DC. Typically (in Fenders) used with a 12AT7 tube with 2 sections run in parallel, but could be used with tubes such as 6BQ7, 12AU7, or 6SN7.
Fender Reverb Driver Diagram
Triode, USA
Customer Service
Email us Anytime: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Steven Nels Ekstedt
August 31, 1948 ~ September 21, 2012
Steven Nels Ekstedt, age 64, passed away on Friday, September 21 at his home in Lake Havasu City, AZ after a brave battle with cancer.
Steve was born in Lynwood, CA on August 31, 1948 to the late Woodrow and Phebe Palmer Ekstedt. He is a grandson of the late William and Rebecca Stevens Palmer. He spent most of his youth in Huntington Beach, CA, where he graduated from Huntington Beach High School in 1966.
Soon after, Steven joined the United States Army on April 18, 1067. Steven served three years in the Army, obtaining the rank of Staff Sergeant and becoming a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War.
After his military service, Steven returned to Huntington Beach where he continued his education and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Law Enforcement. In 1974 he joined the Huntington Beach Police Department and began a 30-year career as a dedicated Police Officer for the city.
Steven was passionate about teaching kids throughout the city about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, and was integral in starting the city's first D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program to help educated K-12 students on how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives.
Upon retirement, Steven moved to Lake Havasu City, where he became an active member of the Mohave County Sheriff's Department as a Boating Safety Officer, as well as a member of the department Search and Rescue team.
He loved to spend his free time traveling the country in his fifth wheel, especially throughout Utah, where he would visit family; hunt near Blue Mountain and go house boating on Lake Powell.
Steven is survived by his two sons, Erich (Jade) Ekstedt and Chris (Amber) Ekstedt; three grandchildren, Payton, Samantha and Lily; and many cousins from San Juan County and Salt Lake City. He is also survived by his beautiful dog, Lacy.
Memorial services are to be determined.
- Log in to post comments


text: For posting and critiquing avian images. The images may include hand of man elements. If your subject is captive, please disclose that fact. If you have attracted your subject or subjects into photographic range with food, water, audio, or by any other means, please let us know in your original post. If you have significantly altered your image by adding or removing elements of the composition, we ask that you let folks know that as well.


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Jasmine Navy Velvet Twin Bed
Embolden your bedroom space with this beautiful and colorful Jasmine Navy Velvet Twin Bed. A pop of stunning color and chic, sleek velvet upholstery set this bed apart as a distinctively elegant option for your bedroom sanctuary. The contemporary design meshes well with modern decor, making it the ultimate choice for the uber-modern home. Metal legs with a retro slant lend this bed a finished look. Because the bed requires no box spring or foundation, it offers a svelte, minimalist profile.
- Luxurious Navy Velvet
- Contemporary Design
- Gold and Chrome Legs Included with each bed
- Full Slats (No Box Spring Required)
- Footboard and Rails Height: 15"


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Mission Moon
Children ages 10 and up work in teams to assess environmental conditions, resources, and scientific relevance of different locations on the Moon using data collected from previous lunar missions. Each team selects the site they believe has the best potential for a future lunar outpost. The teams debate their conclusions and work together to determine which single site to recommend to NASA. This 1 –1 1/2-hour activity can be divided into parts.
The children should be familiar with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission and the lunar environment through other Explore! To the Moon and Beyond activities or through an introductory presentation (1.2 MB PowerPoint: Download free viewer).
What's the Point?
- The Moon is an extreme environment; it has no atmosphere or liquid water, its temperatures are much colder and much hotter than Earth's, radiation from the Sun poses a danger to the human body.
- Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSR) exist near the lunar poles and these regions may have water ice that can be used as a resource for water and for fuel.
- Different lunar locations contain different resources, based, in part, on the types of rocks and lunar regolith present.
- Different lunar locations offer opportunities to undertake different scientific and engineering investigations.
- Each potential future habitation site on the Moon has strengths and weaknesses; selection of a site will be a balance between risk, resources, and mission objectives.
- NASA's LRO mission is collecting data that will help scientists and engineers determine the location of resources.
For the group:
- 10 sheets of poster board or 5 large sheets of butcher paper to cover a section of the wall
- 1 copy of Site Information Sheets
- Tape or glue
- Scissors
- Poster paper for collecting ideas (or other writing space)
- Markers
For each team of 3 to 4 children:
- 1 Mission Information Packet on cardstock
- Colored dots in three different colors or colored markers or crayons
For the facilitator:
- Determine a location for each of the five lunar sites. Site locations should be large enough to be used as a discussion place by one or two teams.
- Print the Site Information Sheets. For each site, compose a colorful, playful poster displaying the information. Hang the posters in the selected locations
- Introduce the children to the challenge! We know quite a bit about the Moon.Data from previous spacecraft missions and samples and information returned by the Apollo astronauts have helped scientists and engineers build an understanding of the Moon's history and environment — and have led to more questions about how our Moon formed and evolved, what resources exist, and where we can find them. This experience will help us prepare to investigate other bodies in the Solar System.
Right now, several sites for a future outpost have been proposed by scientists and engineers. More information will be needed to make a final determination. In 2009, NASA sent a spacecraft — the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) — to orbit the Moon and collect more detailed science information that will help them learn more about the Moon. The LRO carries several instruments onboard, each designed to collect different information about the lunar environment, including temperature, topography (elevation), radiation, and resources such as the possibility of water ice in permanently shadowed regions.
For this activity, each team's mission is to gather information about different lunar locations and determine the most promising site for a future human lunar outpost. Picking one site on the Moon is a balance between the resources available, really cool science, ability to move around the site, and safety considerations. As a group, the teams will debate the pros and cons of the sites they chose — just like their NASA counterparts! — and determine one site to recommend to NASA as the location for a future base. - Divide the children into teams of three to four and provide each team with a Mission Information Packet and colored dots or colored pencils or markers. Have them select team names and review the information.
- Invite the teams to begin their investigations. Each team begins by discussing their strategy — which location should they study first? Together the team goes to the site and reviews the data. They determine if the data support a possible human lunar outpost, do not support future human activity, or if more data are needed from future missions before they can decide. The teams each mark their Moon Matrix accordingly — one color of dot if the site is a "go"; another if it is a "no," and a third for "more data needed." The LRO mission is collecting more data to help scientists and engineers make these determinations!
When finished with a particular set of information at a particular site, the team determines which site to visit next and proceeds to that location. - After the teams finish reviewing the site information, have them regroup. Allow a few minutes for individual teams to determine which site to recommend and to complete their information cards. Remind them that site determination is not solely about resources or engineering challenges; the types of science questions that can be addressed are important parts of the discussion, too!
- Invite each team to share their conclusions. On a whiteboard or poster paper, keep track of which sites are recommended by each team and why.
Remind them that they need to make one recommendation as a whole group — and that their discussion is very similar to how NASA scientists and engineers debate where robots, orbiters, and humans should go!
If there are multiple sites recommended, invite the children to debate the attributes of each and determine which one ultimately should be recommended.Looking for a bigger challenge? Invite the teams to find information about other sites for which they may want to propose a lunar base.


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Luke Bryan Tunes 'American Idol' Contestant's Guitar in Show Teaser Clip
Luke Bryan's Southern charm will be present when he sits down in his judge's chair on American Idol. In a clip posted ahead of the reality singing competition's premiere, Bryan helps a contestant who shows up to the audition with a terribly tuned guitar.
"Come here, boy," the country star tells the young man as he begins to play. "Come here. We'll get that thing tuned."
Amazed that Bryan offered his services to the contestant, fellow coach Lionel Richie is quick to chime in, saying: "We are a full-service operation, ladies and gentleman."
More Unforgettable Luke Bryan Moments
Without hesitation, Bryan straps on the instrument and begins to tune it himself as Katy Perry and Richie listen in, cringe, and advise.
"That's close," the country star remarks as he hands the guitar back to its owner.
"That'll be $50,000," Perry tells the contestant, who happened to forget his wallet and is unable to pay the fee.
Watch the video above, which Bryan so kindly captioned: "Helping wherever I can. #AmericanIdol."
American Idol premieres on ABC on March 11. Days prior to the show's return, Bryan will release his most recent No. 1 album, What Makes You Country, on vinyl. The 16-track double vinyl will include an exclusive bonus song, "I Can't Even."
Where Are Country's Idol Finalists Now?


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Columnist Ann Coulter points out that ObamaCare will force gays to buy maternity coverage, Mormons must pay for gambling addiction therapy, elderly couples must pay for pediatric dental care, and Catholic hospitals must pay for birth control and abortions. What follows is a satire going around the Internet that points out the absurdity of ObamaCare: The Affordable Boat Act:
"The U.S. government has just passed a new law called: �The Affordable Boat Act� declaring that every citizen MUST purchase a new boat, by April 2014. These �affordable� boats will cost an average of $54,000-$155,000 each. This does not include taxes, trailers, towing fees, licensing, and registration fees, fuel, docking and storage fees, maintenance or repair costs.
This law has been passed, because until now, typically only wealthy and financially responsible people have been able to purchase boats. This new law ensures that every American can now have an �affordable� boat of their own, because everyone is entitled to a new boat. If you purchase your boat before the end of the year, you will receive 4 �free� life jackets; not including monthly usage fees.
In order to make sure everyone purchases an affordable boat, the costs of owning a boat will increase on average of 250-400% per year. This way, wealthy people will pay more for something that other people don�t want or can�t afford to maintain. But to be fair, people who can�t afford to maintain their boat will be regularly fined, and children (under the age of 26) can use their parent�s boats to party on until they turn 27; then must purchase their own boat.
If you already have a boat, you can keep yours (just kidding; no you can�t). If you don�t want or don�t need a boat, you are required to buy one anyhow. If you refuse to buy one or can�t afford one, you will be regularly fined $800 until you purchase one, or face imprisonment.
Failure to use the boat will also result in fines. People living in the desert, ghettos, inner cities or areas with no access to lakes are not exempt. Neither age, motion sickness, experience, knowledge, nor lack of desire are acceptable excuses for not using your boat.
A government review board (that doesn�t know the difference between the port, starboard or stern sides of a boat) will decide everything, including: when, where, how often and for what purposes you can use your boat along with how many people can ride on your boat, and determine if one is too old or healthy enough to be able to use their boat. They will also decide if your boat has outlived its usefulness, or if you must purchase specific accessories (like a $500 compass), or a newer and more expensive boat. Those who can afford yachts will be required to do so�it�s only fair. The government will also decide the name for each boat. Failure to comply with these rules will result in fines and possible imprisonment.
Government officials are exempt from this new law. If they want a boat, they and their families can obtain boats free, at the expense of taxpayers. Unions, bankers and mega companies with large political affiliations are also exempt."
Again, this is only satire. Please do not try to sign up for an affordable boat. Besides, the web page portals are already jammed and the server crashed -- again.
Nationally syndicated columnist and retired military officer, William Hamilton, was educated at the University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University, the U.S Naval War College, the University of Nebraska, and Harvard University.
�2013. William Hamilton.
You may unsubscribe to "Central View" at any time by sending an e-mail message with the word �unsubscribe� in the subject line and addressed to email@example.com. You will receive an automated acknowledgement.
Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Smile! It's National Pet Dental Health Month
Smile! It's National Pet Dental Health Month
To promote good oral healthcare for cats and dogs, February has been designated National Pet Dental Health Month. I want to be sure pet owners are aware of some of the veterinary resources available to help keep pet mouths healthy.
Your primary care veterinarian
The first place to start to keep your pet's mouth clean and healthy is your veterinarian's office. An oral examination is part of an annual (or biannual if you have an older pet) examination. A quick look in your pet's mouth will quickly reveal how effective tooth brushing is in keeping tartar under control. Your veterinarian can recommend special food and products to keep teeth healthy and also choose the right time for a full dental cleaning. Keep in mind rabbits also have dental problems from over grown teeth. Your veterinarian needs to see those bunny choppers once or twice a year if you have an older rabbit.
Board certified veterinary dentists
The American Veterinary Dental College (AVDC) is the nationally recognized certification body for veterinary dentists. In addition to earning a doctor of veterinary medicine degree, a board certified veterinary dentist has completed specialized training in veterinary dentistry under the guidance of a board certified mentor and successfully completed a certification examination. Your neighborhood veterinarian can provide routine dental care, but for big problems of teeth and gums, these highly trained veterinarians are the experts your pet needs. The AVDC also sponsors the Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC).
Seal of approval
The Veterinary Oral Health Council exists to recognize products that meet pre-set standards of plaque and calculus (tartar) retardation in dogs and cats. The Council is recognized worldwide through endorsements by organizations such as the British Veterinary Dental Association and the Australian Veterinary Dental Society.
Manufacturers of products designed to decrease plaque and tartar on the teeth can voluntarily submit their clinical studies performed according to VOHC standards. If the products meet the requirements, the VOHC awards a seal of approval. Pet owners will be happy to know some are their favorite products are on this list, including dental chews from Friskees and Greenies, and foods from Iams, Hills, Purina and Royal Canin. Regular use of products with the VOHC seal will decrease the severity of plaque and tartar in pets. For a list of products bearing the VOHC seal, click here.
Looking for more information?
In honor of National Pet Dental Health Month, the folks at Greenies and Trone Research have teamed up to demystify common misunderstandings about pet oral health.
The AMC website also has information about dental care in pets.
A question many pet owners have about dental cleanings in pets is related to the required anesthesia, the topic of a blog last year.
And finally, WebMD also has dental information resources for the pet owner. Check them out here!
This may also be found in the "Tales from the Pet Clinic" blog on WebMD.com.
For over a century, The Animal Medical Center has been a national leader in animal health care, known for its expertise, innovation and success in providing routine, specialty and emergency medical care for companion animals. Thanks in part to the enduring generosity of donors, The AMC is also known for its outstanding teaching, research and compassionate community funds. Please help us to continue these efforts. Send your contribution to: The Animal Medical Center, 510 East 62nd Street, New York, NY 10065. For more information, visit amcny.gbtesting.us. To make an appointment, please call 212.838.7053.


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The next morning there was no hello, no hi, no good morning whatsoever. There was silence. I would love to put it all on him and say that he should have done this and he should have done that, but to be quite honest I didn't do anything either. I made no attempt to contact him, see how he was or to try and resolve anything. I sat quietly and went about my business wondering and waiting for him to make a move. It was like our relationship had become a game of chess. Each person making a move towards each other than away in order to see who was going to be the victor. Unfortunately I've never had relationships work out that way. Without open lines of communication and understanding, there wasn't much that could happen.
I resolved myself to that fact that he was stubborn and would not contact me. I knew, when I was ready, I would have to each out to him and figure out what to do next. But, what was there to do next? In my head I had already done everything I thought I could in order for us to work, to be happy, to make us a life long lasting relationship. I didn't just believe he and I were meant to be, I wanted he and I to be forever and that would take work, but this felt like too much work. This felt like week after week, I was being ignored, being left out, being pushed to the side and I wasn't sure exactly why or how this was happening. Could it really be because of all his stuff? It had to be right? I mean, we went from so in love to this in a matter of what felt like minutes.
Maybe we were in two different relationships. Maybe the one I was in was all rainbows and butterflies and the one he was in was cold and lonely. I didn't really know. I thought in my heart of hearts that I was doing and saying and being everything he had ever told me he wanted in his life. How was he being so cold all of a sudden? How could he just keep pushing me away and not expect me to react poorly? In a different lifetime, just a few years ago, this would have been the end for me. I would be screaming and yelling and telling him, in a not nice vernacular how selfish and heartless he was being. I would run circles around him with my words that would be demeaning and cutting. I was not that person anymore and I did not feel the need to point out his faults in order to make myself feel better.
I chose silence too. And now it would become, a battle of wills to who could wait out the other long enough before someone flinched. A game of chicken if you will. I was not chicken, but I was also no fool. Things with us were very wrong and I needed time to decide what I wanted to do about it. For right now, I chose to do nothing. Sometimes standing still is the best option you have.


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Her leaves are green while evening lasts.
Throughout the field where scent abound,
In shine of day she shades resound.
Against the breeze that swayed her leaves,
She glides with ease and gently breathes.
Birds have come and called her home,
I'd see them sing but they have flown.
She stood with poise and just as fair
As the moon that lights her gracious hair.
A tree whose fruits are sweet with touch,
She grants delight well sought too much.
A tree has grown against the past;
She lifts me up and it shall last.
Towards the night she fills my day,
Beneath her shade-tonight I lay.
Jan Rheinold Amoyo
January 23, 2006
January 23, 2006


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how do i play? | consignor incentives | consignor registration | becoming a worker
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How was it the last time you had a yard sale? You had a great Gymboree two-piece outfit you priced at $8 (knowing you paid over $50.00 for it in the store), just to have someone say, "I'll give you a $1.00 for this." It's not only ridiculous, but it's a waste of your time to prepare for such an event just to be insulted with such propositions. This is why YOU need consignment!
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We hope you'll join us THIS season! Register NOW!


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This was in reaction to the whole EpiPen thing:
Some people thought I was being political when instead I was simply trying to state a fact of capitalism. Here's a clarification:
This next one is the result of me becoming increasingly annoyed with politics:
This was later turned into a meme by my good friend Eric Carr:
I'm flattered by how good-looking she is, even if she looks nothing like me.
And finally, this one came from my Blazing Sword page:
If they felt safe then, they ought to feel safe now. If they don't feel safe now, then maybe they ought to realize that their previous feelings of safety were just a comfortable illusion.


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Berkeley Lab Researchers Produce First Step-by-Step Look at Transcription Initiation
Researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have achieved a major advance in understanding how genetic information is transcribed from DNA to RNA by providing the first step-by-step look at the biomolecular machinery that reads the human genome.
Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have achieved a major advance in understanding how genetic information is transcribed from DNA to RNA by providing the first step-by-step look at the biomolecular machinery that reads the human genome.
"We've provided a series of snapshots that shows how the genome is read one gene at a time," says biophysicist Eva Nogales who led this research. "For the genetic code to be transcribed into messenger RNA, the DNA double helix has to be opened and the strand of gene sequences has to be properly positioned so that RNA polymerase, the enzyme that catalyzes transcription, knows where the gene starts. The electron microscopy images we produced show how this is done."
Says Paula Flicker of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which partly funded the research, "The process of transcription is essential to all living things so understanding how it initiates is enormously important. This work is a beautiful example of integrating multiple approaches to reveal the structure of a large molecular complex and provide insight into the molecular basis of a fundamental cellular process."
Nogales, who holds joint appointments with Berkeley Lab, the University of California (UC) at Berkeley, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), is the corresponding author of a paper describing this study in the journal Nature. The paper is titled "Structural visualization of key steps in human transcription initiation." Co-authors are Yuan He, Jie Fang and Dylan Taatjes.
The fundamental process of life by which information in the genome of a living cell is used to generate biomolecules that carry out cellular activities is the so-called "central dogma of molecular biology." It states that genetic information flows from DNA to RNA to proteins. This straightforward flow of information is initiated by an elaborate system of proteins that operate in a highly choreographed fashion with machine-like precision. Understanding how this protein machinery works in the context of passing genetic information from DNA to RNA (transcription) is a must for identifying malfunctions that can turn cells cancerous or lead to a host of other problems.
Berkeley Lab researchers have produced the first step-by-step snapshots of the assembly of transcription factors and RNA polymerase into a transcription pre-initiation complex. Image courtesy of Nogales group |
Nogales and members of her research group used cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), where protein samples are flash-frozen at liquid nitrogen temperatures to preserve their structure, to carry out in vitro studies of reconstituted and purified versions of the "transcription pre-initiation complex." This complex is a large assemblage of proteins comprised of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) plus a class of proteins known as general transcription factors that includes the TATA-binding protein (TBP), TFIIA, TFIIB, TFIIF, TFIIE and TFIIH. All of the components in this complex work together to ensure the accurate loading of DNA into Pol II at the start of a gene sequence.
"There's been a lack of structural information on how the transcription pre-initiation complex complex is assembled, but with cryo-EM and our in vitro reconstituted system we've been able to provide pseudo-atomic models at various stages of transcription initiation that illuminate critical molecular interactions during this step-by-step process," Nogales says.
The in vitro reconstituted transcription pre-initiation complex was developed by Yuan He, lead author on the Nature paper and a post-doctoral student in Nogales's research group.
"This reconstituted system provided a model for the sequential assembly pathway of transcription initiation and was essential for us to get the most biochemically homogenous samples," Nogales says. "Also essential was our ability to use automated data collection and processing so that we could generate all our structures in a robust manner."
Among the new details revealed in the step-by-step cryo-EM images was how the transcription factor protein TFIIF engages Pol II and promoter DNA to stabilize both a closed DNA pre-initiation complex and an open DNA-promoter complex, and also how it regulates the selection of a transcription start-site.
"Comparing the closed versus open DNA states led us to propose a model that describes how DNA is moved during the process of promoter opening," says He. "Our studies provide insight into how THIIH uses ATP hydrolysis as a source of energy to actually open and push the DNA to the active site of Pol II."
Nogales and her colleagues plan to further investigate the process of DNA loading into Pol II, as well as to include additional transcription factors into the assembly that are required for regulation of gene expression.
"Our goal is to actually build a structural model of the entire – more than two million daltons – protein machinery that recognizes and regulates all human DNA promoters," Nogales says. "For now we have the structural framework that's been needed to integrate biochemical and structural data into a unified mechanistic understanding of transcription initiation."
This research was funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the National Cancer Institute under NIH grant numbers GM063072 and CA127364.


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Architect Wen Quek works for Edward Cullinan Architects, the London-based firm who created the Cambridge Centre for Mathematical Sciences, where Plus is based. She sees many parallels between mathematics and architecture - both are creative, problem-driven disciplines, where a strong imagination and vision are crucial.
Wen was born in Malaysia and studied there until her O-levels, coming to the UK to study for her A-levels. At O-level, she took all the science subjects - maths, physics, chemistry and biology - and she continued along a science path for her A-levels, taking chemistry, physics and maths. "There wasn't any pressure", she says, "I was just quite good at those subjects, so it was natural that I continued with them."
Although she specialised in the sciences, Wen was also keen to study art. "Even at O-level, although the class that I was in wasn't doing art as a subject, I took art as an extra, just because I enjoyed drawing and painting. And at A-level, I helped friends who were doing the subject." She was sure she wanted to do something practical - "to do mathematics, or physics, or any of those subjects, as a pure academic subject at university level, was never my intention".
A stroke of luck
Wen didn't find her school's careers guidance much help: "I kind of fell through the gaps, because I was relatively good at my subjects at school", she says. In fact, it was luck that led her to architecture: "I spoke to the right people at the right time. I was talking to some of my cousins during a holiday, and they took me around the colleges to have a look at what they were doing. They took me to the Architectural Association in Bedford Square and that attracted me. I went to the end-of-year exhibition and it was pretty exciting, and I thought: 'That's what I'd like to do'."
The new University of East London Docklands Campus designed in 1999 by Edward Cullinan Architects. Image courtesy of UEL
Wen did her A levels in 1980, and accepted an offer to study architecture from what was then the Polytechnic of East London, now the University of East London. It didn't seem to matter at interviews that she hadn't studied A-level art - in fact, no particular A-levels are required. It could be said that architecture is the true Renaissance subject - a fusion of art and science, theoretical and practical, pure and applied. As a result, the ideal education is a broad one, and it's probably best to combine arts and science subjects if you want to go on into architecture. Wen does say, though. that A-level maths is a very real advantage. It is useful to have technical drawing, and it is a good idea for students to begin with a Foundation arts year at University before doing the architecture course. The bottom line, she says, is that "it's very much what you say at the interview. I think I probably read up beforehand!"
It didn't occur to Wen at the time to study at the Architectural Association because it was - and still is - a private school. "I didn't really know very much about it so I thought maybe I should start with a university or polytechnic degree." But after a year at the East London Polytechnic, she decided to continue her education at the Architectural Association. Among other things, the flexibility of their course appealed to her. "It's not like a university where you have to finish the year or you're in a limbo. At the AA, if after one term you're not doing the coursework very well or you have to catch up, you can take a term out, provided you can find a tutor who'll take you on and monitor your progress."
A long road to travel
The Architectural Association in Bedford Square, London. Photo copyright Nicola Bailey/Architectural Association
In order to become a fully qualified architect, a student must pass three hurdles. The first - Part 1 - takes three years, and usually consists of a degree or diploma at a University. Then follows a year working in an architectural office, followed by another two years of study and another set of exams - Part 2. Then more work and on-site experience and yet another set of exams - Part 3. "It's quite strenuous", says Wen, "a bit like medicine, with a minimum of seven years".
Wen did things slightly differently. While studying for her Part 1 exams she worked part-time for tutors at the AA, and therefore didn't feel the need to take a year out before progressing to Part 2. Instead she continued straight on, spending four years in total at the AA, and finishing with her Part 2 exams.
"At Part 2 level you can't sign any legal contracts. You have to go out and work and get relevant on-site experience and then you do your Part 3 exams. You do a lot on the legal side of architecture, there's a bit about the planning stage. You're no longer examined on design and that, it's about the practice, it's things like what happens at the planning stage. You can't say you're an architect until after Part 3."
First stop after leaving the AA was a small practice run by an architect who had taught at the AA, where Wen spent one year. Then she moved to her current firm, Edward Cullinan Architects, where she spent another two years before getting her Part 3, "helping to run jobs, doing the day to day administration of a contract - that's what you have to learn".
A different way to work
Wen working in the offices of Edward Cullinan Architects in London
Wen was always very clear about the path she wanted to follow. "In architecture there is a 'star system', big-name architects like Norman Foster", she says. "When you first qualify, you make a decision, do you want to go and work for one of these star architects and train up, or do you want to have a bit more independence in what you are let to do. I made a conscious decision not to work for these big practices with star architects, because I think you just get lost in that system, and there's a lot of competition. I thought there were other ways to explore how you can work."
A major factor in attracting Wen to Edward Cullinan Architects was the unusual structure of the firm. It is a cooperative, and everyone who works for the company in any role has the opportunity to become a member of the cooperative. This means that rewards are potentially greater when business is doing well, and everyone has a stake in the way the firm is run, but it also means that in a downturn, everyone shares the pain, perhaps taking paycuts. Along with this egalitarianism of ownership goes an egalitarianism of work. "We used to think that everybody should be able to do everything, from design to managing a big project, to the admin side. But the kind of projects that we take on are getting increasingly big, and you must simply accept that you can't do everything."
For Wen, size matters too. "I always try to avoid big companies, I always work for small to medium size companies, maximum around 30. For example, every Friday we [ECA] sit together and have lunch. You can get about 25 people comfortably around the table. It used to be that you could say that that determines the size of our office, because otherwise you can't go around the table, and you start to become like factions. We are an openplan office, so we like to be able to have everybody in one big room, just so that although on any project you will be working in teams. You learn from each other, the so-called knowledge transfer is easier."
Hard times
Around 1990, things changed abruptly, both for Wen and the profession in England - a major recession set in. Commissions dried up and architects were finding themselves without any work. Wen escaped by moving up to Edinburgh. "It was great. Architecture is a small world, you know everyone, especially in a place like Edinburgh."
Checkpoint Charlie - a symbol of the old Berlin
But the recession spread and Edinburgh turned out to have been only a temporary reprieve. Fortunately for Wen, architecture travels well, and just as builders were sitting idle all over Britain, the world was witnessing one of the biggest urban building projects in history, as Berlin recreated itself after the fall of the Wall. So Wen moved to Germany, and worked for a medium-sized office in Berlin for six years, starting in 1992. "It was fantastic", she says. "I witnessed and was part of the design development stage of the city's reconstruction. I chose to go to that office because they were doing a lot of social housing. They have much more ambitious social housing programmes abroad. Standards are higher, people expect more."
Home again
Wen Quek and fellow architect Kristina Roszynski at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge for the opening of the Betty and Gordon Moore library.
Photo Johnny Winter
In 1997, after seven years away, Wen returned to London and took up where she left off with Edward Cullinan Architects. The first project she worked on was the new Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge (where Plus is housed). "It was such an involved process. It took three years from the start to getting on site, so you do need a lot of patience. These things take time because we're dealing with a lot of money, a lot of commitment from everyone. A great number of people were involved."
On such a long project - the firm worked on the Centre for Mathematical Sciences for seven years - individual architects wouldn't usually be involved for more than about two or three years. "Unless that person really wants to do it, you've got to release people when the time is right. So people came in at different stages."
Wen's next project was again for a university - this time the Singapore Management University. "That was another huge project, completely different in that it was right in the middle of the city. Again it was contentious, so there were a lot of government bodies involved, so that was very challenging." She spent nine months working in Singapore with three colleagues. "It was good experience, but I missed being part of the cooperative."
ECA's design for Singapore Management University. Image by Hayes Davidson
The philosophy of architecture
Bringing ideas to fruition.
ECA's design for Singapore Management University. Image by Hayes Davidson
As Wen talks about her work, she returns again and again to the theme of architecture as an ideas-driven discipline.
"For me it starts off with the idea of working with ideas," she says, "how to bring ideas to fruition, to reality, to fulfil social needs. Plus the fact that you're doing something with the built environment - it obviously affects lives. There is the client who commissions it but there are also the users, and they are different types of people. There's an element of creation - it's more than just drawing on paper."
The need to work with many disciplines and master many skills also appeals. Wen describes what an architect does as "bringing people together to work in a team to produce a result, rather than working on your own to produce something, like a pure artist."
Architecture and mathematics
On the subject of the relevance of mathematics to architecture, Wen makes two quite different points. The first is that quite a bit of mathematics is directly useful to architects - "measurement, the fact that we're dealing with geometry, that when you draw something you are thinking in 3-d. Similarly you do a lot of trigonometry, you're dealing with pure shapes. And when you go on site, the architect is always responsible for setting out. You have to place the building, by drawing a plan, using coordinates.
"As architects we have to look at numbers and graphs all the time - schedules, areas, costs, budgets. On small projects you can deal with the money side of things. And accuracy is important - you have to be right."
A happy marriage of architecture and mathematics - the Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge. Photo courtesy of the Faulkes Flying Foundation
But her second point is more intangible, and returns to her theme of architecture as a discipline of ideas. "It's to do with working in the abstract. When you start a project you have all these ideas floating around, and you have to grapple with them. You need a discipline to bring these things together, and the reasoning and persistence to get to the best solution for the site.
"You always start off with too many ideas. The client will come to you with a brief, so there are certain set parameters - budget, structure, services - all the things we have to incorporate to make a building work. And then you go to see the site, so that sets parameters as well. Maybe some of the parameters are assumptions - maybe wrong assumptions - so you have to test, to challenge. We have what we call 'testing the hypotheses' - the brief against the site, the budget, against what your other consultants are telling you on the structure and services side. When you're doing architecture, and you come to an appropriate solution, it's very similar to the joy we get out of solving an equation."
So is now a good time to be an architect? "It's always a good time to be an architect. The kind of skills you learn as an architect make you adaptable, flexible, and maths has a lot to do with it."
About this article
Helen Joyce is editor of Plus. For this article, she interviewed architect Wen Quek at the offices of Edward Cullinan Architects in London.


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Affordable Paternity Law Firm San Diego County
If you have been served with notice of paternity actions or need to prove that you are a child's father, contact us as soon as possible. At Law Offices of Cynthia Ann Harris, we will discuss your legal options and provide you with all the assistance you need to achieve legal victory.
We have the experience and knowledge to handle your situation. All initial consultations will be confidential, and your respect will be honored.
What is Paternity?
Paternity refers to a parent-child relationship in situations where the parties were not married.
I am the father of a child so how do I get a Child Custody and Child Visitation Order?
There are a couple different avenues to obtaining these Orders. The first one is negotiating with the other parent or the other attorney. The second one is preparing a Motion to file with the Court to request Court Orders. As part of this Motion, Family Court Services may be scheduled. Family Court Services allows both parties to sit down with a neutral Mediator to try to come to an agreement. If no agreement is reached, the Mediator will issue a Family Court Services Report and Recommendation. This Recommendation will be sent to both parties and to the Court for review.
Court Orders relating to Child Custody and Child Visitation are crucial and proscribe how the children will be shared. This can affect the children's place of residence, school, and other aspects of the child's life.
What can we do to help you?
The first step is gathering some background facts and information to relay to us. This background allows us to get to know the client on a personal level and ascertain the relationship. If you believe you may be the father of a child, we can assist in preparing the necessary documents to obtain a Court Order to determine paternity. If you have been served with documents that allege you are the father, we can also assist in responding to these allegations.
If you are deemed to the father of a child, you know can ask for Child Custody and Child Visitation Orders. We can assist with this phase as well by preparing the necessary documents to request such Orders.


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- This event has passed.
Recovery Dharma
April 11, 2022 @ 6:15 pm - 7:45 pm
About this event
- In-person Only
A weekly meeting of Recovery Dharma, a peer-led group that uses Buddhist practices and principles to find freedom from the suffering of addiction. Our program uses The Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path as a guide for our recovery. Meetings are a chance to come together to support recovery through the practice of mindfulness, self-inquiry, meditation, study of the Dharma, listening to each other, and building community.
What can I expect?
Each meeting offers short readings, a 15-20 minute meditation, and group sharing in a compassionate, non-judgemental space. Our meetings are free, relying on the generosity of members to support our meeting space where possible. We ask attendees to respect the anonymity and confidentiality of all participants.
What this is for?
Recovery Dharma welcomes anyone who is looking to heal from addiction and addictive behavior, whether it involves substance use or process addictions like gambling, compulsive use of sex or relationships, technology, codependency, eating disorders, self-harm, or any obsessive or habitual pattern that creates suffering.
You do not have to identify as a Buddhist nor have any experience of meditation to attend; this is a program of empowerment and doesn't ask us to believe in anything other than our own potential to change and heal.
About the facilitator
This meeting is facilitated by volunteers from the Recovery Dharma London Sangha.
Recovery Dharma is a Buddhist-inspired non-profit peer-led movement that is unified by our trust in the potential of each of us to heal from addiction. More information at recoverydharma.org
How to join?
No need of booking, people are welcome to just turn up.


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(written from a Production point of view)
Susan Sackett (born 18 December 1943; age 80) was the production associate on Star Trek: The Next Generation. She also served as the personal executive assistant to Gene Roddenberry on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Sackett worked with Roddenberry for more than seventeen years, until his death in October 1991.
She appeared in the Star Trek: The Motion Picture recreation deck scene as an Enterprise science division crewmember. There was also a close up of the balcony with reaction of the crew to the destruction of Epsilon IX station filmed, but later cut. Sackett was one of the four female extras who received special outfits because of their heights. She filmed her scenes on Monday 16 October 1978 and Tuesday 17 October 1978 at Paramount Stage 8. [1] Sackett also appeared as a science division ensign in the Next Generation first season episode "The Neutral Zone". In her scene Sackett wore Marina Sirtis' costume from "Encounter at Farpoint".
Furthermore, she co-wrote two episodes for the series with writing partner Fred Bronson: "Ménage à Troi" and the story for "The Game". Apart from the books she wrote (see below), she also submitted articles and interviews with Roddenberry to the Starlog magazine as well as a series of "Star Trek Reports", keeping readership appraised about the progress of the production of The Motion Picture, starting in issue 6, 1977. Sackett has noted on these reports, "Hard to believe they actually paid me to write this stuff! I think it was $300 per column, but I really don't remember, just that it wasn't a lot! Truth be told, it was really like trying to balance a ball on my nose for FOUR YEARS without dropping it! Finding things to write about and cheerlead for the "upcoming movie/TV series/whatever" month after month was a real challenge." [2] Sackett's reports ran through issue 29, 1979, and were to be the starting point, aside from already having been so for her book The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (the writing she embarked upon, directly pursuant her "Reports"), for a proposed follow-up reference book, tentatively entitled The Making of the Special Effects of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, that was however canceled due to disappointing sales of other book titles on The Motion Picture, including her own. (Enterprise Incidents: special edition on the technical side, p. 50)
Her name can be seen on the dedication plaque of the USS Enterprise-D throughout TNG where she is listed on the plaque as an Admiral.
Star Trek appearances[]
- Letters to Star Trek (Ballantine Books, 1977)
- Star Trek Speaks (with Fred and Stanley Goldstein, Pocket Books, 1979)
- The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (with Gene Roddenberry, Pocket Books, 1980)
- The Making of the Special Effects of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Pocket Books, cancelled)
- You Can Be a Game Show Contestant and Win! (with Cheryl Blythe, Dell Books, 1982)
- Say Goodnight Gracie! – The Story of Burns and Allen (with Cheryl Blythe, E.P. Dutton, 1986)
- The Hollywood Reporter Book of Box Office Hits (Billboard Publications, 1990)
- Star Trek: The First 25 Years (with Gene Roddenberry)
- Note: this book was purchased by Pocket Books but never published due to legal issues. Instead it became the basis for the 1994 book Star Trek - Where No One Has Gone Before by J.M. Dillard.
- Prime-Time Hits (Billboard Publications, 1993)
- Hollywood Sings (Billboard Publications, 1995)
- Inside Trek: My Secret Life with Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry (Hawk Publishing Group, 2002)
Star Trek interview[]
External links[]
- InsideTrek.com – official site
- Susan Sackett at the Internet Movie Database
- Susan Sackett at Wikipedia


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As of May 26, 2012 every Website available to European visitors and owned by European companies must follow the EU E-Privacy Directive passed in 2011. This means sites must notify users that tracking technology is being used, the reason for that technology. And although Quick 'n Easy Web Builder does not have any functionality that uses cookies, you may have used external advertising services (like (Google AdSense) that do use this type of cookies.
This extension was designed to show a (growl-like) notification message about the use of cookies. After the user clicks the link a cookie is stored on their computer so the message doesn't display again. You can also let the message disappear automatically after a few seconds. In that case it will be displayed each time the user visits the website.
You can download the new extension through the Extension Manager (Menu->Tools->Extension Manager->Available).
or here
Please read the help!
http://www.quickandeasywebbuilder.com/f ... 10&t=41211


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July 2019 has replaced July 2016 as the hottest month on record, with meteorologists saying that global temperatures marginally exceeded the previous record.
The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Programme, which analyzes temperature data from around the planet, said that July was around 0.56 °C warmer than the global average temperature between 1981-2010.
That's slightly hotter than July 2016, when the world was in the throes of one of the strongest El Niño events on record.
El Niño events are characterized by warming of the ocean waters in the Pacific Ocean and have a pronounced warming effect on the Earth's average temperature.
Though there was a weak El Niño in place during the first part of 2019, it is transitioning to a more neutral phase, making the extreme July temperatures even more alarming.
Jean-Noël Thépaut, head of the Copernicus program, said: "While July is usually the warmest month of the year for the globe, according to our data it also was the warmest month recorded globally by a very small margin."
"With continued greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting impact on global temperatures, records will continue to be broken in the future," he added.
According to Copernicus, 2015 through 2018 have been the four warmest years on record. April, May and July this year all ranked among the warmest on record for those months, and this June was the hottest ever.
Freja Vamborg, a senior scientist at Copernicus, told CNN last week that the data suggested we are on track for the second-hottest year ever, after 2016.
The temperature record was close to 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
This means we are rapidly approaching the crucial threshold of 1.5 degrees, which will precipitate the risk of extreme weather events and food shortages for hundreds of millions of people.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned last year that we have until 2030 to avoid such catastrophic levels of global warming and called on governments to meet their obligations under the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement.
Almost 200 countries and the European Union have pledged to keep the global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius as part of the Paris Agreement.
Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, said last week that this July has "rewritten climate history, with dozens of new temperature records at the local, national and global level."
The July record comes after a period of extremely hot weather around the world.
Intense heat waves have swept Europe this summer, breaking temperature records in at least a dozen countries. Scientists have warned that the world should expect more scorching heat waves and extreme weather due to climate change.
Europe wasn't the only region baking in July. Anchorage, Alaska, recorded its hottest month ever, and extreme heat helped facilitate "unprecedented" wildfires in the Arctic and triggered mass melting of Greenland's ice sheet.
"This is not science fiction. It is the reality of climate change. It is happening now, and it will worsen in the future without urgent climate action. Time is running out to rein in dangerous temperature increases with multiple impacts on our planet," Taalas stressed.


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NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio - It's Sunday worship at New Greater Peace Church in Canton, Ohio. Music and Faith are the cornerstone of 20-year-old Zion Clark.
"It is a really big part in what I do because God sent me through different trials to build me into the man I am today," Zion told WJW.
"I baptized him in the name of Jesus in one of our services and he's a great kid, he's a phenomenal kid, he's one of our drummers that we use during our services," Pastor Bernard Manson of New Greater Peace Church said.
Zion has always been a fan of the drums.
"He has a drum set up in his room at home, so I would hear him upstairs banging, doing his thing he would say, 'Mom I'm getting ready to practice,' and he would go upstairs and be on those drums for hours and hours," said Zion's mother, Kimberlli Hawkins
When Zion is not perfecting his love of music, he's attending class at Kent State University's Tuscarawas Campus building up his knowledge of business management.
"I definitely want to help run a sports team or something like that," Zion said.
That's not the only thing Zion is building up these days. Outside of the classroom, he's busy in the gym building up his muscles. His future relies on it.
"I'll be a junior by 2020, and that's the 2020 Olympics, and hopefully I make it out of the Trials and bring home some hardware," said Zion.
It won't be easy for Zion ... nothing is. That's why he believes in his motto, a motto now tattooed on his back.
"It says, 'No excuses,'" Zion said.
It's fitting.
Zion was born with a condition called caudal regression syndrome.
"It caused me to be born without legs," said Zion. "My arms and my chest and everything have to be insanely in shape because if it wasn't, there is no way I could do some of the stuff that I do."
What he does, is compete. Zion is a wrestler at the Kent State University Tuscarawas Campus.
"My arms are my legs and my arms so I have to figure out how to get in on their legs, still drive forward with one arm, or get the type of angle or leverage to get where they can't stop what I'm doing," said Zion.
He wrestles in the 125-pound weight class but he barely tips the scales at 100 pounds.
"It is a challenge, and quite frankly, it scares some of the guys," said Zion's wrestling coach Dave Schlarb.
"They don't care who you are, what you look like, what kind of disability you have, if you step out on the mat, you step out there as equals," Zion said.
Zion is 11-16 in his freshman season heading into the final tournament of the year. He means a lot to the Golden Eagles wrestling team.
"He's just an inspiration for all of us," said Schlarb. "Just a great guy to have on the team. If everyone is feeling down, we look at him... he brings us all up."


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Returning to her Roots and her aboriginal heritage, a performance by Canadian Artist Laura Vinson has all the ingredients. Authentic Native sound, songs and stories about North American Indians mixed in a contemporary musical show.
The ancestral spirit is audibly present when the Indigenous Dancers enter the stage and perform their traditional dances. Visually, emotionally and musically this is a glimpse into the life and history of Native North American Indians- you can feel the Spirits are there.
Laura Vinson is active in the music industry for over 45 years now. She started her career as country star, had several hits including the hit "Sweet Mountain Music". Laura Vinson and her Band Free Spirit are a regular on all the major festivals and venues in North America and is a frequent guest on many national TV shows. In 1996, after her time as a country artist, Vinson created a theater show around her highly successful album "Voices On The Wind", an album for which she has received several Aria Awards.
Her Native roots inspired Vinson to this album to take a large audience to get familiair with its culture and heritage. The show appears to be an international success, both the festival edition and the unique theatrical version. The show traveled around the globe (South Korea, United States, Australia, Denmark, Lithuania, Belgium and the Netherlands).
A colorful display of Native North American rhythms and uplifting lyrics about the wonderful life then and now with the currents of Native, Metis, western and Celtic influence tells the story of Western Canada.
"Born and raised in The Rocky Mountains"
Laura Vinson is born and raised in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains near Jasper National Park. Her Métis heritage is Cherokee, Cree English and French. The roots of her Aboriginal background are told in her songs which tell about the life of the North American Indians and their traditions. "Louisiana Purchase" is a true story about her Cherokee Great-Grandmother who was purchased by her American husband for just a "good horse and some blankets".
To be in the audience at a Laura Vinson & Free Spirit concert is to experience what it was like to be part of the spiritual and tribal rituals of a time long past. One feels the Ancestral Spirits hovering over the performers especially when the Native dancers make their proud and mysterious entrances. Their dazzling outfits, dances, songs and drumming come from centuries of spiritually and tradition. It evokes a feeling of the past and present merging in Laura's songs, the bands music and the ancient rhythms and melodies from the Native performances.
A performance from Laura Vinson combines traditional music performed in a comtemporary presentation and involves the audience in the other side of the Wild West way of life in historical and present day North America.