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I'm at the end of my first official week doing support for 10gen. My major achievements are:
- Learning how to work the coffee machine in the Dublin office. It's taken me a week to get it, but now I can understand the machine's needs. Even if my coffee did taste a bit of cleaning fluid this morning.
- Navigating around Dublin - I led the way to the pub, followed by two people who live here. Turns out I know the most efficient routes between work venues and pubs, even in a town that I've never been to before.
- Closing all outstanding Java driver pull requests, except for the one we want to merge but needs to be updated. This is a massive win for us, now we can actually stay on top of them instead of wondering which are valid and which ones we're actively ignoring. I hope the CTO isn't peeved I closed one of his from two years ago.
- I got my highest scoring day on StackOverflow yesterday, receiving a "whopping" 67 points in one day. Be nice, I'm quite new to SO - despite being on there for over two years I'm really only just starting to feel comfortable there. One day I might actually ask a question.
In all seriousness though, I learnt a LOT this week. I've been with 10gen for about 9 months now, so although I feel like I should be a fully fledged member of the team there's still a lot I don't know about. In particular, as I hadn't used MongoDB before working here, and as I'm head-down on delivering the new Java driver (more to come on that later, I promise), I don't see a lot of how people actually use the database.
I've been lucky because this wasn't a heavy week for customer support, so I've been available to pick up "free" support - basically take a look at questions people are asking on StackOverflow and the MongoDB Google Groups and see if there's anything I can answer. Obviously I focussed on the Java side as this is the area I'm most comfortable (and there are only a few of us to answer those questions, and plenty of others to pick up more general questions).
So here are my Lessons Learnt:
Customers want to be heard
Responsiveness is almost more important to (paying) customers than detailed answers. They want to know that you've seen their problem, and you're on it. So sometimes it's best to answer a problem with a question or questions, asking for clarification on their situation and explaining any assumptions you have. It turns out that writing that long and detailed explanation of the steps they need to take isn't really necessary when you've figured out what they're really trying to do and response with "this is going to require production downtime". Suddenly it's not as urgent for them to fix this right now.
The Java Ecosystem is alive and well. In fact, it's a monster...
There really are a remarkable number of libraries/third party apps that people are using on top of our basic Java driver. This week, I've been trouble-shooting people using Morphia, Spring Data, Jongo, Grails GORM, as well as a lot of people who are using the driver directly. I've learnt a lot about installing and using all these things, as I've had to do that to reproduce people's issues and suggest solutions1. I've learnt that some of those things make life quite a lot easier, especially for the happy path of Java developers who simply want to save Java pojos into the DB and query for them afterwards.
I've also learnt that querying is quite inconsistent across all the libraries, and I'd say the main problem that users have is turning an understandable query from the shell into something that the library they're using understands.
Also, Dates get people every time, particularly in Java.
Where is the problem?
Related to the previous point, when a query returns nothing it's difficult to work out: if you're using the library incorrectly; if the Java driver doesn't support various options; or if the database isn't doing what you expect it to. More often than not the problem is not understanding how to use the tools (and the onus is on us, the library developers, to make it as easy and unsurprising as possible for developers), but sometimes it's a bug. Tracking down the root of the issue is important, because if it's a bug we should log it in the correct place, and if it's working as designed it suggests a lack of documentation or possibly a design flaw.
Having people to help you is dead important
I could have done this from home, from the London office, or even from the beach if I'd wanted to. However, I opted to come to our Dublin office where we have our EMEA support, because I knew that alone I'd try and dodge the work. Not because I don't want to do it, but because I don't know our processes, I don't know if we have a knowledge base I can use, I don't know if my answers are correct, and so on and so on. When you're uncertain, sometimes the easiest option is to run away. But when you're embedded in the team that does this every day, you can ask the stupid questions and get help rather than sit and feel stupid.
It's also nice to be part of a daily standup so you can hear what other people are up to, and it puts a (good) subtle pressure on you to do something so you have something to report.
What I like about support at 10gen
I've done support before. In fact, during my last year at LMAX I worked out I spent the same amount of time on the production support team as I did working on a team delivering new features. But since I've never worked for a product firm before, I haven't done this sort of support. 10gen makes its money by selling support contracts, so not only is it important to keep the SLAs with the paying customers, but it's also important to provide excellent quality support for them - with any luck they'll keep paying. It's also important for us to support those who don't pay - it's kinda like a teaser of the great quality they'd get if they paid us.
So the support organisation here is absolutely key to our bottom line.
The driver developers (of which I am one) are "strongly encouraged" to do a week of support every three months. We used to do days here and there, but blocking out a whole week to be part of the team, to be excused from your day job, and to leave your e-mail (and sometimes meetings) alone because you're busy doing support, works really well. I've felt very focussed on the support role during this week, and I've been motivated to do a good job. If I had been seconded to the team for a period of weeks, I would have dreaded the whole thing and have plodded along doing my time until my escape. Alternatively, doing it for a day at a time the support issues leak into the day job and the day job is hard to put down during your support hours.
I've learnt a lot this week. I have been lucky, I've had fairly straightforward issues to address and it hasn't been a busy week. But next time I see the support week looming in my calendar, I won't fear it as much. I'll probably do the next one from home, but my week here in Dublin has prepared me for what's in store. Most importantly, I've got to know the people who are part of my team here, so I'll be more comfortable asking the stupid questions.
In summary
- Doing support is so important for developers. Getting an understanding of what your users are doing and what their pain points are can really help drive your design and your architecture, and can really motivate you to fix that stupid bug or write that overdue tutorial.
- Developers and support techies can learn off each other - I've learnt a LOT off the guys here, but I've also been able to answer a few questions about Java in general and the driver in particular.
- Scheduling time in support for developers is a very tricky balance, and probably needs to be experimented with a bit before a company finds something that works for them.
Although I'm never really going to love being on support, I still like being encouraged to work on support regularly - it's been so important for my understanding of our product and of our users.
1 I found Grails BY FAR the most difficult to get started with - all I wanted was to write a unit test to prove the issue, and I had to not only create a whole application using the grails command line, but I had to install a whole host of plugins and uninstall all the stuff for hibernate that gets put in there magically. I never did find the solution to the Grails problem I was looking at.


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It's All Tech, All The Time
Whether you sell shoes or run an accounting firm, you need some type of technology to operate. Today's companies aren't just in the business of selling their own goods and services anymore. They also must master various types of digital tools.
These include software, payment systems, computers, Wi-Fi networks, mobile devices, and more. Companies also need to protect their devices and network.. If that technology isn't working, it can impact a business significantly.
98% of surveyed organizations say that just one hour of IT downtime costs more than $100,000. The reliance on technology means that every company is now a technology company.
This is the case no matter what products you sell or services you provide. Let's discuss exactly why this is the case in today's world.
What Makes Technology a Backbone of Any Business?
1. Technology Is a Critical Part of Business
Even farmers use tech to check commodity prices, sell livestock, and keep their books. Most companies couldn't operate without their software. Or without databases filled with important information.
IT downtime is so devastating for this very reason. Remember the breaches impacting global meat producer JBS and Colonial pipeline? Those companies had to halt operations because of ransomware attacks.
They both paid the ransom to their attackers so they could begin operating again. Without the technology that's become a normal part of our day, a lot of companies would close.
2. Customers Expect an Excellent Digital Experience
Customer experience came in first in a survey of top business priorities for the next 5 years. Nearly 46% of respondents said it was at the top of their list.
If a customer has just one bad experience with your company, they will likely go elsewhere. In a digital world, those experiences are often:
- Navigating your website
- Checkout experience
- Appointment scheduling ease
- Shipping notifications
- Helpfulness of online chat
- Response time from customer support
- Ability to contact your company via social media
To keep up with consumer expectations in 2023 and beyond, means you need to use technology. From your website to your payment experience, people expect a smooth digital flow.
3. Employees Need Devices to Drive Productivity
How do employees work productivity without the use of a computer, tablet, or mobile device? These devices keep staff connected to each other and your customer data. Devices enable communication and are how much of the work in offices gets done. If they don't run well, business productivity suffers.
4. AI & Automation Help Companies Stay Competitive
AI and automation help organizations move faster. AI can personalize a consumer shopping experience. Automation can help sales teams close 30% more deals and improve conversions by over 200%.
To stay competitive, companies must integrate technology tools with AI and automation capabilities. This means they need to know the best ways to use these tools. Plus, integrate them well with existing solutions.
5. Information Is Being Generated at a Rapid Pace
Companies generate information digitally at a dizzying pace. Can you imagine what it would be like if you had to go back to all the paper files? You'd need a separate building just for all the filing cabinets.
Files, documents, and customer records are largely digital now. Keeping track of all that information and making it searchable requires technology skills.
6. Vendors/Suppliers Are Leaving Legacy Systems Behind
Think of the vendors you use to run your business. Could you interact with any of them offline only? No email, no digital documents? In most cases, the answer is, "No."
The companies that you rely on for your business are also "technology companies" in the same way. Most will be leaving behind legacy systems like fax machines and paper documents. Thus, you need to use digital means to interact with them.
7. It's Difficult to Grow Without Tech Innovation
People are limited by what they can mentally and physically do in a day. Computers and technology have exponentially increased that. They do a lot of the processing and manual work.
The cloud is often touted as leveling the playing field for small businesses. It allows smaller companies to leverage technology to do more affordably.
It's hard to continue growing your business without the smart use of digital tools. This includes reviewing your technology infrastructure and looking at innovations on the horizon.
8. Business Continuity Needs
Business continuity is about keeping your company running despite any crisis events. One natural disaster could severely impact a building and everything in it. But, if you are storing your data in the cloud and using cloud software, your business can still operate.
Companies that aren't employing backup systems are at significant risk. Tech solutions create the ability to continue operating from anywhere, increasing business resiliency.
What Does Your Innovation Roadmap Look Like?
Using technology securely and to its fullest can be a full-time job. Give us a call at Reveal Technology today, we can help take that burden off your shoulders. You can reach us at (847) 665-3337 or by sending an email to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Article used with permission from The Technology Press.

subset: commoncrawl


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Minipost: You bought WHAT in Diablo III?
The Diablo III Auction House is a fascinating game element. With a little shopping savvy and patience, you can fully outfit your characters in amazing leveling gear, often for really low costs. I'm quite interested to see how the AH will behave after the initial game buzz cools down a bit.
However, sometimes when you're browsing around, you find some...interesting items.


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Guaranteed to Run™ Schedule
Planning your training in advance has never been easier or more reliable!!!
At Fast Lane, customer satisfaction is our number one priority. That is why we are happy to provide a select number of classes which are Guaranteed to Run™ regardless of the number of students in attendance. We believe this pro-active approach to IT Training offers companies a level of assurance unmatched by other training providers. With a guaranteed schedule, planning your training in advance becomes easier, more cost effective and ensures you receive the required education on your schedule.
Fast Lane will deliver all guaranteed training regardless of the number of attendees. This guarantee does not cover delays or cancellations due to circumstances beyond Fast Lane's control including but not limited to: accidents, illness, injury, or any Acts of God that prevent normal business operations. For questions regarding these courses, please see our complete description of Terms and Conditions of this guarantee.
**PLEASE NOTE** Some Guaranteed to Run™ classes may have reached the maximum number of enrollments. If this is the case, Fast Lane will work to place students in an upcoming class or on a wait list. Please contact us at 1-855-778-7246 to inquire about availability, and we will be happy to assist you.


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Vintage Air Force Clemson University T-Shirt Orange XL
80,00 kr.
Condition: 7/10
(A) Armpit to armpit: 60cm
(B) Top to bottom: 72cm
Out of stock
Please keep in mind that when you buy vintage items, you're acquiring products that have had previous use. Vintage items often exhibit signs of wear and tear, which contribute to their unique charm. We make every effort to accurately depict and describe each item's condition. If you have any questions about a specific item, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.
We make our best efforts to ensure that our photos faithfully represent the product's color. However, due to variations in monitors and lighting conditions, we cannot guarantee that the color you see on your screen precisely matches the actual color of the product.


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Black Crowes Singer Explains New Lineup, First Reunion Show Footage Surfaces
When the musical brothers who lead the Black Crowes — singer Chris Robinson and guitarist Rich Robinson — first decided to get back together, they both felt it was best to eschew their former bandmates.
Once the group hits the road for next year's Shake Your Money Maker 30th anniversary tour, the performers will front a whole new lineup, one they debuted in New York City Monday night (Nov. 11). That means frequent Black Crowes contributors such as longtime drummer Steve Gorman and mid-period bassist Sven Pipien aren't participating. It also means not a single member from either brother's solo band will appear. Watch fan-captured footage of the Black Crowes' first reunion gig and see the show's set list toward the bottom of this post.
"That was the first thing Rich and I agreed on," Chris told Rolling Stone in an interview published this week. "We don't want anyone from the solo groups. We don't want anyone from the past."
Perhaps such a dire reorganization was needed after Chris and Rich finally reconvened after avoiding conversation with each other for around five years. Shake Your Money Maker, the Black Crowes' debut, was released in 1990. But when the band broke up in 2015, each sibling went their separate way, writing and recording with respective new groups — Chris mostly with the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Rich on his solo albums and with the Magpie Salute. Still, speaking on the matter in the present, both recognize the creative power they unlock together.
"I've written hundreds of songs since the Black Crowes broke up," Chris continued, "and I put a band together and he has too. But then we get together and there's just 'a thing.' It's always been our band, and it's funny — through all the trajectory of the good and the bad, the joy and the frustrations — we were laughing, saying the one thing Rich and I can always agree on is, Shake Your Money Maker's a good record."
Rich concurred, "When that record came out, we just went for 10 years … it's so intertwined in your DNA for so long. To get away from it allows me to come back to these songs with a whole renewed appreciation."
The Black Crowes' reunion was first rumored last week before it was announced on Monday. The new lineup features drummer Raj Ojha, bassist Tim Lefebvre, guitarist Isiah Mitchell and keyboardist Joel Robinow.
The Black Crowes, "Twice as Hard" - Live (Nov. 11, 2019)
The Black Crowes, "Jealous Again" - Live (Nov. 11, 2019)
The Black Crowes, "She Talks to Angels" - Live (Nov. 11, 2019)
The Black Crowes, "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" - Live (Nov. 11, 2019)
The Black Crowes Set List - Bowery Ballroom, New York City (Nov. 11, 2019)
"Twice as Hard"
"Jealous Again"
"Sister Luck"
"Could I've Been So Blind"
"Seeing Things"
"Hard to Handle"
"Thick n' Thin"
"She Talks to Angels"
"Struttin' Blues"
"Stare It Cold"
"It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)" [Rolling Stones Cover]
Top 90 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1990s


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Original title:Vidocq Made in:France 2001 Length:98 min. Seen:on TV 15-07-2005 Review read:109260 times
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receiving free products in the mail is always fun. i couldn't wait to try out the UHU stic and UHU glue roller! first i tried the UHU stic. adam (he's 5) made some thank you cards for his teachers and a couple friends. i loved that he was able to see where the glue was on the items he was gluing down and even when he was over zealous the glue dried clear and not lumpy at all. i saved the UHU roller for my poppy ink kit this month. i loved how the tape held great, but you could reposition items easily if needed. i'm so indecisive so this is a great feature! hey if they want to send me more i wouldn't be averse. ;)
if you have a blog and would like to receive free samples, visit maria filosa's blog. look for the entry dated november 2nd. maria also has demos and other cool information about UHU on her blog. :)
more later...c.


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No matter how much they would like to, the deans at Fundy U can't get away with using corporal punishment on the students. In lieu of lashings, however, the administration has devised a litany of fiendishly clever punishments suitable to fit any crime real or imagined.
Demerits can be thought of as the currency of sin at Fundy U. Want to skip your room job? Listen to non-approved music? Miss a class?  You'll pay for each offence out of your store of demerits. Take care, however, hit 150 and you'll be on a plane back home to mom and dad faster than you can say "arbitrary rule system."  Demerits are also an easy way for the admin to gauge your spiritual health. They'll even send a helpful letter to your parents letting them know how you did the semester before.
Being "socialed" is a punishment reserved for those who have committed a crime of passion such as talking to a girl in the Library, shaking a boy's hand, or using the wrong elevator.  While enduring this punishment, you will not be able to speak to, write to, sit next to, or breath the same air as a member of the opposite sex. If you should be so unfortunate to be socialed, you'll soon learn who your real friends are — they're the ones who will leave their own significant others to come keep you company at dinner so you don't have to eat alone.
There is an odd sort of cognitive dissonance to this particular punishment. Having spent thousands of dollars in advertising to convince students that their campus is the happiest place on earth, the administration then decides that the worst punishment they can imagine short of expulsion is to confine students to that selfsame little slice of heaven. In addition to not being able to leave, no campused student may talk to or room with any other campused student. This gives the powers-that-be the ability break up groups of friends that they believe are a bad element.
When a Fundy U student has sinned unto death and is having their fate decided by the deans office they spent their time as the shadow of a floor leader.  This means that they will follow everywhere and have no communication with anybody except for the deans office and their current guardian. Being shadowed at Fundy U is the kiss of death. In a very real sense the shadowed student is dead to his classmates.  They cannot speak to him, look at him, or even acknowledge his presence.  Even attempting to say "goodbye" can result in the expulsion of any student who commits this defiant act.
Call Slips
One of the most terrifying moments at Fundy U is the moment after opening your mailbox when you spot that green square of paper that requests your presence in the Dean's office. This almost never ends well because the deans are masters of…
If you've ever been repeatedly pulled out of bed after midnight and given hours of interrogation in the freezing cold by a power hungry Fundy U Residence Manager in an attempt to make you confess, please know that you are not alone. The tactics used in attempt to get students to make a confession or turn in their friends would make any intelligence service proud. Fundy U deans will divide and conquer, attempt to use guilt and coercion, promise to cut deals, and (if all else fails) outright lie in order to extract the answers they want from a student. You don't get a judge and jury. You certainly don't get a last cigarette.
Somehow this regiment of shame and terror in enforcing the ever-changing and often unwritten body of rules never makes it into the glossy brochures or the sales pitches from traveling singing groups. At Fundy U you are always guilty until proven innocent and suspected of evil just by virtue being alive. caveat emptor.


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While countries around the globe are evolving and retooling to capitalize on innovation and the rapidly changing landscape of careers, the U.S.—burdened by bureaucracy and a century-old infrastructure—has stagnated. It's been happening for decades now, and the chasm is getting wider.
These disturbing trends prompted Jeanne Allen to establish The Center for Education Reform—the first of its kind—back in 1993. Nearly a quarter century later, CER continues to fight this all-important fight, boldly leading the charge on the street, into town halls, up the Capitol steps and across its aisles. Anywhere there are votes to be cast, stories to be told, alliances to be forged, and communities to be mobilized, CER eagerly joins the fray.
We put our experience, our network, our assets, and our passion to work for the cause. Whether we're steering media outreach to generate publicity, producing events in pivotal markets, interfacing with lawmakers, or connecting innovators and their products with investors and schools to accelerate their impact, our mission is simple: to give learners at all levels the opportunity to shape their education.
The citizens of the United States deserve freedom, and access, and input. Only by achieving that will we restore excellence to education, maximizing everyone's potential success, regardless of the circumstances into which they're born.


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While we anticipate the release of 'A Trip To The South', Erigga decides to drop a freestyle titled 'Yab Them' (Before The Trip).
Yab Them is a track reminiscent of the way and style the great Fela Anikulapo used Yabis in his songs to chastise and condemn the Oppressive government and the security agents of his time.
With the spate of Killings, maiming, orchestrated arrests and harassment of youths in the Southern part of the country by members of the dreaded Special Anti Robbery Squad Aka Sars under the guise of looking for Yahoo Boys (Internet Fraudsters).
It's imperative that someone speaks out and Erigga took it upon himself to be the voice of the streets to protest against the Government in general and Sars in particular.
Listen Up!
Erigga – Yab Them (Before The Trip)


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"n the early 1930's, nine young University of Washington students are part of the rowing crew striving to achieve the final pick to become the team to represent the USA at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as Hitler brazenly builds his Third Reich. Fiercely determined by the hard times of the Great Depression, this is an emotional story of the crew and those who put their trust in them as they put their hearts into 'sculpting"
— Carol Hicks, Bookshelf At Hooligan Rocks, Truckee, CA
Daniel James Brown's robust book tells the story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.
The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious.


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I picked up a bag of cashew pieces from the bulk bin last night got home and realized they were of the unsalted variety. Which are good but for a snack not quite what I was looking for.
Is there anyway to "salt" those cashew pieces. I googled and found ways to do it when they are still shelled but none after the fact. I may not be using the correct search paramaters though as I cannot think of any other terminology other than "make salted cashews". I don't need a recipe just a direction and if it is possible.


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Top Venezuelan leaders head to Havana, Chavez's bedside
| Caracas
Venezuela's three most powerful government figures after President Hugo Chavez were again gathered in Havana on Sunday to check on their ailing leader's condition and meet with Cuban allies.
Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, Congress head Diosdado Cabello, and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez have been shuttling to and from Cuba since the 58-year-old socialist president's fourth and most serious cancer surgery a month ago.
Chavez, who missed his own inauguration for a new, six-year term last week, has not been seen or heard from in public since the surgery. Many Venezuelans are assuming his momentous 14-year rule of the South American OPEC nation could be nearing an end.
Though acknowledging the gravity of the situation, officials are trying to stay upbeat on socialist president's prospects for recovery, and Chavez's brother on Saturday denied that Chavez was in a coma.
"We are all Chavez!" and "Chavez will return!" were among slogans sang and chanted at numerous solidarity rallies, meetings and concerts across Venezuela over the weekend drawing thousands of passionate and anxious supporters.
Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Maduro, who Chavez recently designated as his successor, informed Venezuela's leader of the support for him back home. He gave no more details of their encounter or the president's condition.
State media said Maduro, Cabello, Ramirez - who also heads the powerful state oil company PDVSA - and Attorney General Cilia Flores all met Cuban President Raul Castro over the weekend.
But there were no details of the talks.
The joint presence of top Venezuelan officials in Havana inevitably deepens rumors Chavez is at death's door - and draws opposition criticism that Raul and Fidel Castro are giving instructions behind the scenes.
But officials have been lashing "necrophilic" opponents for such speculation, and Chavez's brother said on Saturday that, on the contrary, he was improving daily.
One opposition leader, Julio Borges, said on Sunday the secrecy around Chavez's exact condition was unacceptable.
"No one is asking for details of the operation or the president's treatment, but that simply they tell the truth about his health prognosis," said Borges, a right-wing legislator who wants Chavez formally declared absent from office.
That would trigger the naming of a caretaker president, and an election within a month, but Venezuela's Supreme Court has ratified that Chavez remains president with Maduro in charge as No. 2 until his health situation is clarified.
"It's been a year-and-a-half of contradictions and announcements of his complete curing followed by relapses," Borges added, saying problems like inflation, housing shortages and power-cuts were being neglected during a political impasse.
Since the disease was discovered in mid-2011, Chavez has in fact wrongly declared himself cured twice, in an extraordinary and unsettling saga for Venezuela's 29 million people.
The stakes are high for the wider region too. Cuba and a handful of other leftist-ruled nations have for years been depending on Chavez's aid to bolster fragile economies.


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By Andrew Parkinson
Working for a day in central London, only yards away from New Cavendish Street where FOLD Gallery's summer exhibition Kaleidoscope, curated by Dominic Beattie, is on show, I get my lunch hour to go and see it. Having learned from the publicity flyer that the seven artists, Dominic Kennedy, Mali Morris, Bridget Riley, Julian Wild, James Alec Hardy, Selma Parlour and Martin Maloney, work with colour in "radically different ways" each one presenting "a unique vision of how to liberate colour to stimulate and energise the viewer" I wonder if I can discover in my short visit what it is that they are doing differently with colour.
I already know that in a work by Bridget Riley I will find a clear structure within which colour can do it's thing, where individual colours will change in relation to each other depending on the specific juxtaposition and where the overall colour sensation will change, structure being essential not for control but rather so that the colour can achieve free play. So when I see the Riley prints here, About Lilac (2009) and One Small Step (2007), I get what I expected, but the experiencing of it is, as always, surprising.
In Selma Parlour's fascinating paintings, there is also this freeing of colour by keeping the drawing precise, but with Parlour it's more minimal. In Metapainting (One for Each Eye 1) 2015, Metapainting (One for Each Eye 2) 2015, and One for Each Eye 4 (2016), two rectangles of different colours, oil on linen, in thinly painted veils allowing the white underneath to shine through as in watercolour painting, are presented to the viewer as one rectangle for each eye. I take the titles as an invitation to stare, as one might do in a visual cognition experiment. Almost immediately after-imaging and merging of the two colours begins to take place, a hazy third colour sometimes appearing. In One For Each Eye 4, I start to see a rainbow in the white space between the two rectangles. I cross my eyes slightly which enhances the perception of the rainbow down the central divide. There is no doubt that my engagement with these paintings has its own unique quality, akin to experimentation, triggered specifically by what the artist is doing with colour.
If the attention I give to Parlour's paintings has this quasi-scientific quality, that doesn't seem quite so appropriate for the Julian Wild sculptures, though here colour is also used, at least in part, to reveal aspects that might otherwise be hidden. I think it is the case that in both these sculptures the "inside" of the object is demarcated by colour and re-positioned so it is "outside". In Peeled (2015), a wonderfully polished stainless steel bar, presented horizontally on the gallery floor, is divided down the middle at one end and one half of the divided section is bent upwards and out and coloured bright red, whereas in Himalayan Balsam (2013), a bright pink colour is used to explicate the inside and outside-ness of a vertical knotted steel bar.
In Dominic Kennedy's painting Slowly Fading Forms (2016), colour perhaps does the opposite of what it does in Wild's sculptures. In the Wild sculptures colour makes explicit, along the lines of "colour coding" but with a much stronger emphasis on sensation than any code might exhibit. In the Kennedy painting colour dissolves form, rays from a summer sun dazzling rather than revealing. The sun is represented in the top left hand corner of this near seven foot canvas. In the rest of the picture the sun's rays meet dissembling forms, all held within a shallow near-cubist space that hints at deeper spatial recession in the top right hand quarter. Forms and rays of light merge so it's difficult to differentiate the two. Colour describes form only long enough to depict its dissolution, even whilst materially constructed in oil paint, oil stick, crayon and pencil, with wood, felt and pins stuck on here and there, yellow felt strips making up a slim frame around the image. Here colour represents and symbolizes, or does it go only so far as to suggest or connote that 'beneath' the illusory appearance of solid forms, all of matter is sub atomic flux?
There is perhaps more description of appearances in Martin Maloney's Studio Flowers #47, (2016), but this painting is by no means an observational study. A bowl of flowers is undoubtedly represented, but in semi symbolic style. Taking a cartoon impressionist approach to depiction, blobs of pink are flowers and red diagonal bars are stems, with green dashes for leaves, emerging from a terracotta semi circle that must be a plant pot and all against the blue/green of the studio wall that also pushes forwards spatially to interrupt the rhythm of the red bars and green dashes. The naming of colours comes to mind, how certain colours are so associated with certain objects or experiences that each is named by the other: orange, sky-blue, lime, lilac, green grass, fuchsia pink etc.
James Alec Hardy creates video installations using obsolete analogue equipment from TV studios, displaying arrangements of monitors as symbolic motifs. Here 160804 comprises eighteen VGA monitors forming an S shape that produces a negative cross above the centre, showing the same images on each screen but rotated physically in that the monitors themselves are different ways up. The images are generated by setting up feedback loops with analogue video processors. Without the use of cameras, or external input, obsolete analogue broadcast and editing devices, are connected in sequence, and manipulated in real time. Jerky changes of colour and image in the video are the result of the artist's hand manipulating the devices. A computer is used only to digitise the video for playback purposes. A progression of colour and shape presented simultaneously by each monitor, fractal like, coheres into an overall image whilst continually changing, like a kaleidoscope. As what's presented changes the overall 'mood' changes; I have the feeling that sounds are involved but I am not hearing any. I could have this completely wrong, but the sense I have is of something approaching colour/sound synesthesia.
The analogy with music is appropriate for many of the paintings here, and none more than Second Stradella (2016) by Mali Morris, even though only Hardy's video installation shares with music the quality of being played over an actual time duration. Over six foot tall, not quite square, a grid of twenty rectangular colour cells taller than they are wide, some of which are divided by a curve creating two shapes of contrasting hue and seen together suggest a large circular shape competing with the grid formation, is the visual equivalent of a multiplicity of chords being sounded together. Yet all is not strictly simultaneous. Perceptual figure/ground shifts create change, movement and depth that are specifically two-dimensional. If one shape/colour stands out way in front of the others there must be quite a deep space here, but no sooner have I perceived it than it snaps back into its flat presentation, only then to make way for another cell, shape or gestalt to project outward or to recede. All this without the slightest hint of linear perspective. Not one of the colours here is the same as another, the curving pink triangles on the top row that look similar, are not identical. The one on the left is slightly darker, more saturated and shinier than the other. The blacks and whites are never actually black or white, and again none are precisely repeated. It is difficult to show this in a photograph but the two jade green/whites in the second row up are not the same colour, nor are any of the black/greys on that row. It's difference within sameness and things never being quite as they seem that I become mindful of now.
The sameness in the exhibition is these artists involvement with colour, the differences are their particular approaches to it. The variety keeps me interested for longer than this lunch hour really allows.


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The Rum Diary by Hunter S Thompson
Begun in 1959 by a twenty-two-year-old Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary is a brilliantly tangled love story of jealousy, treachery, and violent alcoholic lust in the Caribbean boomtown that was San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the late 1950s. The narrator, freelance journalist Paul Kemp, irresistibly drawn to a sexy, mysterious woman, is soon thrust into a world where corruption and get-rich-quick schemes rule, and anything (including murder) is permissible. Exuberant and mad, youthful and energetic, this dazzling comedic romp provides a fictional excursion as riveting and outrageous as Thompson's Fear and Loathing books.


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"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded." –Obama
Are the media airbrushing Obama's speeches?
Update: Wouldn't ICE qualify?
World Net Daily does not have a great reputation for accuracy in its reporting, but Bob Unruh has pretty solid evidence for his report on a disappearing section of a speech given by Barack Obama. On July 2nd, Obama spoke in Colorado Springs and hit themes of national service, foreign policy, and national security. In that vein, Obama proposed a rather extraordinary idea — that the US should spend as much money on a civilian national security force as it does on the military. The quote comes from 16:45 in the clip below:
We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.
It's not quite clear what Obama meant by this. If he meant that the military had taken over too many functions that normally should be handled by the State Department, then that echoes what Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this week. It seems to reference the costs associated with reopening consulates and doubling the Peace Corps, but that wouldn't come close to matching what we spend at the Pentagon. The phrasing of it — a "civilian national security force" — sounds much more like a quasi-military organization operating within the US under the control of the federal government.
The media needs to ask Obama about it — but they'd have to report it first:
The stunning comments from Democrat Sen. Barack Obama that the United States needs a "civilian national security force" that would be as powerful, strong and well-funded as the half-trillion dollar United States Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force have mysteriously disappeared from published transcripts of the speech.
In the comments, Obama confirmed the U.S. "cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set."
Campaign officials have declined to return any of a series of WND telephone calls over several days requesting a comment on the situation. Nor have they posted a transcript of the speech on their website.
WND points out two newspapers that printed the supposedly complete transcript of the speech, the Wall Street Journal and the Denver Post, as examples. The New York Times didn't post a transcript, and neither did the Washington Post nor the Los Angeles Times. Most oddly, as Unruh points out, the Obama website doesn't have that speech available, either.
Obama needs to clarify what he means by "civilian national security force", and how it would be funded. After all, we have a panoply of federal security agencies already: FBI, BATF, DEA, and more, plus the National Guard on the state level. Where would Obama get the money to fund it at the same level as the Pentagon? What would its mission be, and where would it get its authority? What would be the lines of jurisdiction?
All of these questions need to be answered — but first the media has to find its objectivity and start asking about the speech and report it correctly. Obviously the Obama campaign provided them with an advance copy for the event, and just as obviously Obama deviated from it. Aren't any journalists curious as to why?
Update: Doesn't this statement conflict with Obama's statement about ICE?
When communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, when people are detained without access to legal counsel, when all that is happening, the system just isn't working, and we need to change it.
Wouldn't ICE be part of a civilian national security force? Obama sounds more and more confused by the day. (h/t HA reader Jeff D)
Update II: Note to desperate Obama apologists: the Peace Corps is not a "national security force".


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A Christmas Horror Story
There are also channel premieres for Michael Thelin's unnerving and superbly performed chiller EMELIE, and the star-studied jungle nightmare ANACONDA, with Jon Voight, Owen Wilson, Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube and Eric Stoltz. From giant snakes we move to killer sharks and vampiric post-apocalyptic creatures – as the channel is giving seasonal first-showings to fearsome fantasy adventure SHARKNADO and blood-sucking survival thriller DAYLIGHT'S END, starring Lance Henriksen.
Plus, on Sunday 23rd December, Horror Channel is broadcasting the channel premiere of the blockbuster miniseries ARABIAN NIGHTS (Parts 1 & 2), starring Dougray Scott, Alan Bates, Rufus Sewell, Andy Serkis, James Frain, Jason Scott Lee, John Leguizamo, Vanessa-Mae and Alexei Sayle.
Full film details:
Sat 8 Dec @ 21:00 - EMELIE (2015) *Channel Premiere
When their regular babysitter calls to say she's unavailable, the Thompsons find a last minute replacement to look after their three kids while they celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary. But no sooner have the parents pulled out of the driveway than it becomes clear that Anna is no ordinary babysitter. As the evening creeps along the children begin to realise they might be in serious danger from the psychologically disturbed woman who has invaded their home.
Sat 15 Dec @ 21:00 – ANACONDA (1997) – *Channel Premiere
A documentary film crew led by anthropologist Steven Cale (Eric Stoltz) and director Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) enters the mysterious world of the Amazon in search of the legendary Shirishama Indians. But when they meet Paul Sarone (Jon Voight), who is on his own dark quest to track a lethal 40-foot Anaconda, the expedition becomes a jungle nightmare and they must use every primal resource just to stay alive.
Sat 22 Dec @ 21:00 – A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY (2015) *UK TV Premiere
Four Yule-tide stories to freeze the festive soul…In the small town of Bailey Downs, High school students investigate a mysterious homicide that occurred the prior holiday season, a couple notices their young son is acting strangely after a snowy forest trip to cut down a traditional tree and one family is stalked through a Winter wonderland by Krampus, the Xmas demon. Meanwhile at the North Pole, Santa is fending off zombie elves…
Fri 28 Dec @ 21:00 – SHARKNADO (2013) * Channel Premiere
When a freak hurricane swamps Los Angeles, thousands of sharks terrorise the waterlogged populace. And with the high-speed winds forming tornadoes in the desert, nature's deadliest killer rules water, land, and air. This is the first instalment in the cult Sharknada film series and stars Tara Reid, Ian Ziering and John Heard.
Sat 29 Dec @ 21:00 – DAYLIGHT'S END (2016) *Channel Premiere
An unprecedented viral plague has nearly eradicated humanity, and In this desolate and abandoned world, Rourke, (Johnny Strong) hunts for whatever was responsible for slaughtering his family two years earlier. Teaming up with a band of survivors, led by Frank Hill (Lance Henriksen), they soon discover that they are not the only creatures that withstood the apocalypse.
Sun 23 Dec @ 15:00 – ARABIAN NIGHTS, Parts 1 & 2 (2000) *Channel Premiere
Told as five stories adapted from the medieval epic, One Thousand and One Nights, we follow the dramatic fortunes of two brothers, Schahzenan (James Frain) and Shahryar (Dougray Scott) as they fight for the right to rule the kingdom. Schahriar, the elder by a mere four minutes, must find a wife before the next full moon if he is to succeed...
Horror Channel: Be Afraid
TV: Sky 317 / Virgin 149 / Freeview 70 / Freesat 138
Website: http://www.horrorchannel.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrorchannel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/horror_channel


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Sunday, April 17, 2011
Practice makes perfect? Maybe not.
The more I write, the better I get at the craft of writing. That makes sense, right? Practice makes perfect. However, maybe it is just me, but I've also found that the more I write the harder it is for me to discern whether or not the story is any good.
I just completed my 9th manuscript. The first 4 will never see the light of day, which is a good thing. Some should never be read by anyone. Others are in genres I really have no interest in writing in again. They were great practice, but I don't really want readers to flip through the pages. Four of the other books are either published or under contract. This most recent one is not. Is it good enough to be? I really don't know.
When I started writing, I assumed that my ability to judge my skill level would improve. And on some level that is true. I am much better at judging the pacing of a scene, or crafting quick dialogue and choosing my words carefully to create the setting. But somewhere along the line I lost the ability to judge my own story. I can tell you if the individual pieces work, but no matter how much time passes, I can't seem to make a judgment on whether the overall story comes together.
I felt this way when revising my 8th manuscript – MURDER FOR CHOIR – and was terrified when I sent it to my agent. I thought I had too much going on in the book and that she was going to tell me it sucked. Every day that passed between sending it to her and hearing the verdict made me chew my nails and even more certain that the book was terrible. Turns out she loved it. Several editors felt the same way.
Yay! The book sold fast.
Crap! I learned that I no longer have a clue if what I am writing is any good.
Now here I am revising my 9th book trying not to despair at my lack of ability to see the forest through the trees. Do I think the idea for the story is good? Yes. Am I doing it justice? The hell if I know.
So, I guess my question is this – do you ever have trouble gauging the quality of your own work? If so, can you tell me how you get through it because at the moment I can use all the help I can get.
10 comments:
- Gerald So said...
Hi, Joelle.
I tend to think no one can objectively judge his/her own work. Creators are inextricably attached to what they create. They can compensate somewhat by putting the work away for a while and looking at it again later, trying to put themselves in the place of someone who's never seen the work, but ultimately, the work has to be judged by someone else (agent, editor, etc.).
We all have days we think our work-in-progress is crap. It may be helpful to discard your worst and best opinions of your work and just push on to a draft you think is worth submitting. The point when you can't think of what else to revise may be a good time to submit and let your agent/editor advise you from there.
I've heard many writers say the more they write, the harder it gets. This makes sense for writers trying to create new situations and new characters with each new novel, trying to make it seem as if their series protags are encountering new people and places. Practice only makes perfect for repetitive tasks like trying to write more or less the same book over and over. - April 17, 2011 at 4:59 AM
- Joelle Charbonneau said...
Hi Gerald! I'm glad to know I'm not alone in on the days I think what I'm writing is crap! And you're right. The minute I'm done revising this thing I'm not going to agonize. I'll send it off and see what happens.
- April 17, 2011 at 10:38 AM
- Blythe Gifford said...
Daily. Hourly. The same work is brilliant and hopeless.
I do think, when I sit back, that I have some idea about the body of work and the individual pieces in retrospect. (Which are the best, for example.) But at the time, not so much. Here's one case in which an agent really, really helps. - April 17, 2011 at 11:08 AM
- Linda Nagata said...
This is why I'm wildly jealous of those who have readily available and interested beta readers. A few words of praise and encouragement can go a long way in this business toward restoring confidence. Of course the other head-tangling reality (for those of us who have mastered self-doubt) is that just because an agent or editor loves it, that doesn't mean anyone else will! ;-)
Best of luck with the 9th book! - April 17, 2011 at 12:19 PM
- Dana King said...
I'm on the yo-yo every day. Now I write them the best I can and let others tell me if it's any good.
My previous life as a musician has served me well as a writer. I used to practice passages until they were as good as I could get them, then decide to play them just a little better. Crash and burn. With writing I've learned to write as well as I can and try to improve each sentence, but if I see I'm only re-arranging furniture, I call it done. That's as well as I can write it. It stands or falls there.
I guess what I'm saying is, I only worry whether it's as good as I can write it. Everything else is out of my control. - April 17, 2011 at 1:14 PM
- Sara J. Henry said...
If at some point you don't decide your manuscript is the most absurd, stupidest manuscript ever written and that (depending on what phase this is) your agent must have been delusional to sign you and your publisher equally or more delusional to buy it - you're not doing your job.
Or you just aren't normal. - April 17, 2011 at 1:41 PM
- Mike Dennis said...
Good post, Joelle. I think that because our writing comes from within us--from our souls, if you will--then we lose any objective sense about the piece. Especially right after we write it.
Now, you can look at something you wrote years ago and see the flaws. We all can do that, I think. But that's because our insight is boosted by the passage of time away from the piece itself. This kind of timeout gives our objective sense a chance to return.
I always think everything I write is good the minute I write it. Sometimes it'll take me anywhere from twenty minutes to three years to realize it's not going to work, but I need that time to pass to allow my reasoning to re-enter my brain.
Meanwhile, that's why God invented beta readers. - April 17, 2011 at 4:51 PM
- Sarah M. Anderson said...
I'm with you, Joelle. The farther along the learning curve I get, the worse my own perspective is.
- April 17, 2011 at 5:09 PM
- Thea said...
Hi Joelle, thanks for sharing this. I can get myself into a panic if I don't watch it. I often feel like what I'm working on is a failure, an uncomfortable feeling when under contract. :)
- April 17, 2011 at 6:52 PM
- Jon McGoran said...
I'm with the yo-yoers, but to make life easier: odd-numbered days I'm a genius; even numbered days I suck
- April 18, 2011 at 2:57 PM


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Photo: WiredBike |
His assessment -- after serving for more than a decade overseeing the industry -- is disturbing. Copps has long argued that the media in general, and TV broadcasters in particular, need to do a lot more to nourish civic discourse.
Unfortunately, the owners of the nation's television stations don't see it that way.
"The public airwaves," Copps said in a speech at the University of Delaware, "have been hijacked by those whose primary objective is to serve the special interests rather than the public interest."
We can see this in 2012 in the relentless barrage of toxic political ads. It's also apparent in the dearth of serious local news to correct the misinformation and expose the money behind the ads.
"Isn't it curious," asks Copps, "that we have an election system where candidates and their surrogates go around asking for money from us so they can turn around and give our dollars to broadcasters to spew all this campaign disinformation over airwaves that you and I actually own?"
Curious, yes, but also revolting.
In an ideal world, TV stations would provide the kind of news coverage that would serve as an antidote to the misleading messages in most political ads. But broadcasters have largely gone AWOL on this front
Pattern of Neglect
Free Press recently surveyed local political coverage in the battleground markets of Charlotte, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Milwaukee and Tampa. During the period we studied, Free Press found a consistent pattern of neglect in these cities: Viewers faced a blitz of political ads, with no local news coverage identifying the money behind the messages.
In other words, these stations provided no local stories explaining who sponsored the thousands of ads they aired, no local stories about the special interests the ads represented, and, with only one exception, no local stories about whether the ads told viewers the truth.
In Denver, we found that newscasters are doing some fact-checking -- but these efforts do not go far enough. Our report on Denver revealed that in August and September, Denver's four affiliate stations devoted only 10 minutes and 45 seconds to local reporting on ads from the five top-spending outside groups. Meanwhile, they aired 29 hours of ads from these groups. That's a ratio of one minute of news to every 162 minutes of ads.
Copps blames decades of media consolidation for stations' failure to put political reporters on the trail:
For 30 years and more, private sector media consolidation has seen broadcast outlets bought up by the hundreds as a few mega-media companies gobbled up small, local, independent outlets and created huge empires where they could realize so-called "economies" and "efficiencies." To make themselves ever more attractive to the captains of Wall Street, they cut costs wherever they could. And often the first place to go under the knife was the newsroom. Hundreds of newsrooms were dramatically downsized, thousands of reporters were laid off, news feeds were brought in from distant realms and the bottom line became the only line.Now, with Election Day just around the corner, shadowy Super PACs and "social welfare" groups are dominating local airwaves.
And rather than reinvest their ad revenues in better political coverage, TV stations are shaving time from local news programming to make more room for more political ads.
Transparency Disinfects
One light in this political darkness is disclosure. In April, the FCC ruled that stations affiliated with ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in the nation's 50 largest broadcast markets must post their political files online.
These files include some data about the organizations that purchase political ads. Stations began posting their files to the FCC's database on Aug. 2. All stations, including those in smaller markets, will be required to comply with the FCC order by 2014.
To Copps this seems like an obvious move for the agency. "Transparency is a necessary condition for good government," he said. Yet nothing in Washington is so easy. The FCC order has considerable loopholes -- giving stations too much leeway in how they chose to report on ad spending.
And no sooner had the rule been implemented than stations began abusing it. A Sunlight Foundation report released earlier this week found a "disturbing pattern of disappearing documents" in the FCC's new database. According to the report, more than half of the stations have removed data from their online political files. Altogether 2,100 entries are now missing from the database.
With the files now gone, it's hard to determine what the stations are hiding.
It's clear to Copps that more will need to be done to force transparency on broadcasters. "When so few wield so much outrageous power, sponsorship disclosure strikes me as a rather modest requirement," he said. "So I hope my friends in Congress and on the Commission will, in the wake of this campaign's woeful distortion of the democratic process, put things aright so we don't have to endure this ever again."
Democracy need for an informed public is not possible when you have a political system whose players are constantly chasing dollars -- gamed to a point of dysfunction by wealthy, undisclosed donors and media corporations that are all too content to just cash their checks.
The least we can do is force these donors into the light. Television stations are a crucial means to that end.


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Twilight organic reveals about the benefits of cold process soaps
Twilight Organic manufactures high quality organic cold process soaps along with other natural skin care products. Cold process soap has many benefits for your skin including keeping the skin healthier naturally. These are handmade soaps without having the normal chemicals added like commercial soaps. The basic ingredients include sodium hydroxide (lye), distilled water, oils (fat), butter and essential oil or natural fragrances. These soaps are often more environmentally friendly and typically biodegradable. Heat is being generated during mixing of oils, distilled water with sodium hydroxide or lye known as the gel phase, which is a normal occurrence of soap-making procedures. No external heat is needed to neutralize the lye except while melting the butters to mix in lye. After the entire procedure the soap takes 24 hours to 48 hours to get unmold and get dry. Due to the lack of external heat, curing in the cold processed soap can take between 4 to 6 weeks to produce the final product. During this entire soap-making process, the product is worth the wait as all the essential oils in the soap maintain their therapeutic properties. This is one of the best methods to have and maintain the quality in a soap. Cold processing soaps is a oldest soap-making method that is still practiced till now.
Archaeological findings of ancient Babylon, dating back to as early as 2800 BC, confirm the use of the cold processed natural soap-making method. Although the recipe used today combines lye with oils or fats, but still it has continued to help our skins since ages.
Our skin is semipermeable membrane that absorbs everything that comes in contact with even its water. Every day we use commercial soaps with so much chemicals in it. The reason handmade soaps are non-stripping and non-drying for your skin is they are made up of natural ingredients as mentioned above. Commercial soaps are manufactured with detergents, which potentially strip away the sebum (natural skin oil) from the surface of the skin. Sebum is naturally made by our body which helps to seal moisture and prevents skin from becoming overly dry. It also helps protecting our body from bacteria by fighting against infections. Unlike other chemical soaps types, cold process versions penetrate deep into the skin to help minimize dry itchy skin. Cold process soaps have natural ingredients and is ideal to preserve the benefits of plant-derived butters and oils. Our soaps are the result of a number of elements: a combination of natural ingredients, a traditional soap making method and the level of luxury that only handmade products carry.
The main oils like coconut, palm (sustainable harvest palm oil), rice bran oil, sweet almond oil, avocado oil, sunflower oil, hemp seed oil, and castor oil are many of the natural oils that maybe used in making cold process soap. As the saponification process naturally produced glycerin moisturizes and maintains the skin elasticity. The lack of external heat does not break down or alter the active ingredients, allowing the skin to absorbs the full range of benefits of all ingredients added to the soap. The oils and sodium hydroxide lye in the cold process soap allow each batch to be completely customized with the desired essential oils or fragrances to create a unique result every time. Switching to handmade soap not only makes your skin smells and feels great but also you will not come in contact with the harmful chemicals. Since the cold process soap making doesn't involve external heat, it maintains the quality of the ingredients such as oil. Butter, fragrances, other natural ingredients. Fragrances such as natural essential oils stay intact and bring together a stronger but soft feel while using the soap. Natural soaps made through cold process techniques can create rich and thick lather due to use of lots of oil and butter in it.
- Natural ingredients
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- Cure skin allergies
- Improves skin texture
If you want to experience cold process soaps then you may visit our website and order it on great discounted price
Read Full Article on Thefilmybeat And Follow us on Instagram Thefilmybeat


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Fully Customized Crating and Packaging Solutions in Denver
We specialize in custom crating and custom packaging. From designing and building a crate to meet your item's specific needs, to determining what type of cushioning material will best protect it, our in-house engineers and packaging experts at Craters & Freighters Denver take the time to do things right.
We Never Take the Easy Way
You won't find your item in an oversized crate with an excessive amount of padding struggling to keep it secured. It would be easy to pack that way, but that's not how we do things.
Our first-time clients become repeat clients because they recognize that we never settle for good enough. Our goal is to provide the best crating and packaging solutions, and that's what we deliver.
We crate and package your valuables the way we'd crate and package our own.
Custom Services
Craters & Freighters offers a wide range of custom packaging and custom crating services. Contact us at 303-393-7633 to learn more about these services, including:
Services Customized to Your Needs
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Get a fast, free, no-obligation cost estimate from Craters & Freighters Denver.
Provide some information on your needs and we'll get back to you right away with a figure you can use in your planning.


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HANAU, Germany, 4-Oct-2019 — /EPR HEALTHCARE NEWS/ — OncoBeta®, a Medical Device Company specialized in innovative epidermal radioisotope therapies for Non-Melanocytic Skin Cancers (NMSCs), announced today, that Dr. Lutz-Hendrik Holle, Medical Director of the interregional professional association for nuclear medicine in Hanau, has accomplished the first Rhenium-SCT® (Skin Cancer Therapy) treatment in Germany. This state-of-the-art technology of local radionuclide therapy offers a painless and non-invasive treatment option for patients with basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma (BCC and SCC) and the interregional professional association for nuclear medicine Hanau is the first center in Germany that offers the Rhenium-SCT®.
With approximately 50.000 outpatient examinations annually, the interregional professional association for nuclear medicine Hanau is one of the biggest nuclear medicine service providers in Hesse. The offered services include a variety of different modern treatment and diagnostic methods. The key argument for the expansion of the spectrum was that the Rhenium-SCT® is a new, painless and highly efficient treatment option that also delivers excellent cosmetic results. Besides being a painless alternative to other procedures, the Rhenium-SCT® also allows the treatment of numerous NMSC lesions consecutively in a single session, which was already realized during the first treatment in Hanau. This has also attracted international attention so that an American patient travelled to Hanau for the treatment.
"This therapy is particularly suitable for tumor localizations where good cosmetic results are to be achieved. The fact that the treatment is completely painless and can be performed in just one session is a great advantageâ€, says Dr. Lutz-Hendrik Holle, Medical Director of Nuclear Medicine in Hanau.
"We are very happy and proud to be able to offer our revolutionary treatment to patients in Germany now. The interregional professional association of nuclear medicine in Hanau is an excellent partner for NMSC patients in the fight against NMSCâ€, said Shannon D. Brown III, CEO and Managing Director of OncoBeta® GmbH. "Unfortunately, Germany is one of the countries that has experienced a drastic increase in newly diagnosed NMSC cases in recent years. Our highly qualified team strives to provide physicians and patients with a non-invasive and affordable solution to treat NMSC, while focusing on the needs of the patient.â€
The global incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers has been drastically increasing over the past decades. Depending on the source, it is estimated that there are over 5 million non-melanoma skin cancer cases reported globally each year. In certain analyzed areas of Germany there was an increase in the incidence between the year 2005 and the year 2014 by about 30%1. To serve the increasing medical need for innovative therapies in this field and to improve the quality of patients' lives, OncoBeta® GmbH has developed its innovative Rhenium-SCT® which only require a single application in most of the cases, applied in one single session with excellent aesthetic outcomes.
Via EPR Network
More Healthcare press releases


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Introducing the new and improved Stampin' Trimmer! Although paper trimmers are a common crafting tool, this trimmer was designed exclusively by paper crafters for paper crafters-and because it was made by Stampin' Up!, you know it's a cut above the rest!
Features of the All-New Stampin' Trimmer
- An extra-wide 6-1/4" cutting base and an extended 14-1/2" ruler
- The extra-wide cutting base provides a large work area and is marked in 1/4" (4 mm) increments, allowing for small measurements.
- The right-side grid helps you measure and cut very thin strips.
- The extended cutting arm has a stabilizing leg to provide a sturdy and steady cutting surface for longer cuts.
- When fully extended, the extended cutting arm sits flush with the trimmer base, providing more accurate and consistent measurements across the entire surface.
- The cutting base and track include a full ruler, incorporating measurements down to 1/16" and grid lines that mark each quarter inch.
- All rulers and measurements on the base are printed under a plastic cover so your measurements won't wear off.
- The base has nonskid feet, which keeps the Stampin' Trimmer securely in place on your work area.
- A full 12" cutting and scoring track
- The extra-long cutting track has space at the top and bottom so you don't have to take the cutting and scoring blades out when you're not using them.
- The track gives you enough space to cut or score a full 12" (30.5 cm) without having to remove or switch out handles.
- The cutting track locks in place for secure storage or transport.
- The track includes an insertion point for cutting and scoring blade handles so you can easily insert handles into the cutting track.
- Specially designed handles and cutting track to ensure straight cuts
- The hook on the scoring and cutting blade handles keeps the handles stable so the cuts are as straight as possible.
- Handles come in two colors: dark for cutting, light for scoring.
- The precision tip on the cutting blade allows you to pinpoint precisely where you're cutting.
- The point on the side of each handle shows you where the blade will cut, making it easy to see exactly where your cuts and scores will begin.
- Storage compartment under base
- The storage compartment holds scoring and cutting tools such as a Bone Folder, Simply Scored Stylus, extra scoring and cutting blades, and even business cards.
- Separate compartments within the storage compartment keep your tools organized, and the clear cover makes it easy to see what you've stored.
- Product details: item 126889; $29.95
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