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$1,299.00 $750.00
$1,299.00 $750.00
CUSTOM THEME WEAR ORDERS for festival and Wbff shows
NEED A PAYMENT PLAN? ORDER in advance to set up!
I'm so honored you are choosing Ravish Sands to make you shine for your show! If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. <3 Jessie
1) Production time Ranges 7-9 weeks for custom bikinis, 9-14 weeks with Custom themewear/wings. NEED SOMETHING SOONER (Please text 754-900-8241 Or email email@example.com to discuss turnaround time and design :)
2)What measurements we need FOR SIZING: Make sure to type in your height, weight, hip, waist, ribcage, front coverage butt coverage, and cup size along with any special requests.
Buying Wings, Please READ****DUE TO LARGE SIZE OF WINGS AND DELICATE BUILD SHIPPING COSTS ARE STATED BELOW****
Shipping sets is $49.99 USA or $129.99 CANADA or REST OF WORLD $149.99. You must select theme wear shipping option from drop down which is located above the payment info. If you overlook this we will contact you for balance before shipping :) Thank you for choosing Ravish Sands!
Made in USA
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When a biologist or a layman tries to reason the evolutionary explanation for something, they would simply use English with some math thrown in (for a random example, pick any explanation out of "The Selfish Gene" -- for example, the reasoning why "discriminate in favor of one's own eggs" strategy is employed by Guillemots, in "Genesmanship" chapter, page 103. I won't quote it in full since it's a page worth of text).
Another example of such a wall of English is (Dawkins-inspired) Bio.SE question: " Why is 'Grudger' an evolutionary stable strategy? "
When a biologist tries to actually model evolutionary development to see which traits would win, they would need to somehow teach the computer to implement that model: what the environmental factors are, what the genotype involved is, how exactly it's expressed in different phenotypal and extended phenotypal traits, and how environment would affect an individual with that phenotype.
My question is: is there some sort of standard way to build such a model? A domain specific language (in computer science terminology) that is used by many different biologists or some standard modeling packages/software? E.g. some sort of special XML format, etc...
Or is it always just hand-built custom implementation by individual researchers for their current model?
Just to clarify:
I'm NOT asking what the models look like theoretically. I'm asking what language/format (if any standard one exists) is used to encode them to run simulations.
If there are discrepancies between the type/purposes of models, the ones I'm most interested in are game theoretical ones.

subset: commoncrawl


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ಕರ್ವಾ ಚೌಥ್ 2023
2023 ನಲ್ಲಿ ಕರ್ವಾ ಚೌಥ್ ಯಾವಾಗ ?
ನವೆಂಬರ್, 2023
Karva Chauth Muhurat For New Delhi, India
Karwa Chauth Puja Muhurat :
17:36:24 to 18:42:46
ಅವಧಿ :
1 ಗಂಟೆ 6 ನಿಮಿಷ
Karva Chauth Moonrise Time :
ಬನ್ನಿ 2023 ನಲ್ಲಿ ಕರ್ವಾ ಚೌಥ್ ಯಾವಾಗ ಇದೆ ಮತ್ತು ಕರ್ವಾ ಚೌಥ್ 2023 ರ ದಿನಾಂಕವನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಯೋಣ.
Karva Chauth is celebrated on the fourth day of the dark half in Hindu month Kartik. On this day, married women keep fast to elongate the life of their husband. Those who are unmarried, keep this fast to get a good husband in future. Festival of Karwa Chauth is celebrated with great zeal and gusto in North India.Karva Chauth Vrat Rules
1. The fast begins before the sunrise and runs till the visibility of Moon. Only after the sighting of Moon, this fast is considered complete and one can have food.
2. In the evening, 1 hour before the Moonrise, the family of Shiva (Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati, Nandi, Ganesh Ji, and Kartikeya Ji) is worshiped.
3. The idols or pictures of the gods should face west direction while worshiping; whereas, the worshiper should sit facing the east.
Karva Chauth Katha: The Legend
As per the legend of Karva Chauth Vrat Katha, a moneylender had 7 sons and 1 daughter named Karva. On the day of this festival, Karva observed fast. At night, when everyone sat for the dinner, brothers of Karva insisted her to eat as well. But, she denied because Moon had still not arisen and she could have food only after giving Arghya (offering water) to the Moon. Her brothers couldn't see the condition of their starving sister who had not even taken a single drop of water since dawn. The youngest brother planned to trick her by lighting a lamp behind the leaves of a Peepal tree, giving an illusion of the Moon. He convinced his sister that the Moon has risen and now she can have food. She got tricked and had a bite of food. As soon as she took the bite, the news of her husband's demise came. Inconsolable, she kept the body of her husband till 1 year and kept on collecting the grass growing over the dead. Next year, when Karva Chauth came again on the fourth day of the dark half in the month of Kartik, she kept the fast again following all the rituals properly; and, Karva Chauth story says, her husband came to life.
Puja Vidhi For Karva Chauth Vrat
1. Before the sunrise, wake up, get ready, and clean the worshiping place. After that, take the food given by mother-in-law. Then worship the god and take the vow of keeping a fast without water.
2. The fast should be completed only after sunset, after Moon sighting. During the fast, not even a single drop of water should be taken.
3. In the evening, place the idols or pictures of gods and goddesses over an earthen platform. Keep 10 to 13 special earthen stoups for Karva Chauth (known as "Karva" in Hindi and Punjabi) as well.
4. Take a plate for worshiping and put Dhoop (incense), Deep (wick lamp), Chandan (sandalwood paste), Roli (powder made by mixing turmeric and slaked lime), Sindoor (vermillion), etc. into it. The lamp should have enough Ghee (purified butter) that the wick can light for a longer duration of time.
5. The worship should begin 1 hour prior to the Moon sighting. It will be better if all the women of the family could worship together.
6. Recite the Karva Chauth Katha during the worship.
7. The Moon sighting should be done through sieve. Offer Arghya to the Moon and worship Him.
8. After Moon sighting, the daughter-in-law takes the blessings of the mother-in-law after offering her a decorated plate with sweets, fruits, dried fruits, money, etc. The mother-in-law blesses her with the boon of everlasting good luck.
Sargi In Karva Chauth
The Karva Chauth festival in Punjab begins with the Sargi. It is consisted of a special meal taken by the women before the dawn on the day of Karwa Chauth. The main part of the meal is Fenia (made of vermicelli). If the fast observing woman has her mother-in-law in the home, Sargi is cooked by the mother-in-law. In the evening, fasting women get together to perform the ritual of Feri. They come along with their worship plates and sit in a circle. Further, they rotate their Thalis (plates) in the circle while reciting the Karva Chauth Katha (story). In some parts of the country such as UP and Rajasthan, women worship Gaur Mata. The idol of Gaur Mata is usually created by cow dung.
If you have any query regarding this festival, please put it in the comment section below.
We, at www.AstroSage.com, wish you a very happy Karva Chauth!


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Objective, Burma!
Released by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. invited me, along with film historians Rudy Behlmer and Frank Thompson, to record a commentary track for this 1945 war-movie classic starring Errol Flynn. My job was to discuss Franz Waxman's Oscar-nominated score, which is one of his very best (and that includes a career filled with such classics as Sunset Boulevard, A Place in the Sun and The Nun's Story!). The DVD was originally released as part of a five-film package called Errol Flynn Adventures. Critic Leonard Maltin praised our work, calling it a "superlative commentary track… Rudy Behlmer, Frank Thompson and Jon Burlingame offer a master class in film appreciation, backed by careful research and a lifetime of knowledge." Can't ask for a better recommendation than that!


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All Rights Reserved: This image belongs to the photographer (Nicholas Vanberkum). If you wish to use it for any purpose, you'll need to obtain written permission from the photographer.
Campanile framed by the fall leaves, Central campus 2010
Submitted by: Nicholas Vanberkum, Sociology - Las on February 24, 2011
Tags: Campanile, Fall, Leaves
5 likes 583 views


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Saudi writer Yousef Al-Mohaimeed's prizewinning 2009 novel Where Pigeons Don't Fly is to be published on 4 December by Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing (BQFP) in Roger Moger's translation from Arabic to English. Al-Mohaimeed, who was born in Riyadh in 1964, has a reputation for provoking controversy with his novels and short stories set in Saudi Arabia. His work has sometimes been banned, and much of it has been published outside Saudi Arabia.
Where Pigeons Don't Fly continues Al-Mohaimeed's literary interrogation of Saudi society. It is uncompromising in its portrayal of the obstacles facing the younger generation, and the stultifying grip of religious extremism. And it depicts many kinds of sexual activity, from sexting and same-sex attraction, to details of passion snatched in cars or in the improvised equivalents of "love hotels".
Al-Mohaimeed's works have been translated into several languages, including Russian, Italian, Spanish and German. Two of his novels have previously been published in English translations by Anthony Calderbank. The English version of the 2003 novel Wolves of the Crescent Moon was published by the American University in Cairo (AUC) Press, and by Penguin, in 2007, and the 2004 work Munira's Bottle by AUC Press in 2010.
Where Pigeons Don't Fly was originally published in Arabic in 2009 by the Arab Cultural Centre in Beirut, under the title Alhamam La Yatiru Fi Buraida (Pigeons Don't Fly in Buraida), and became a bestseller. It won the Abu al-Qasim Ashabbi Prize for the Arabic Novel in 2011. The original title alludes to Fahd's childhood memory of "velvety" pigeons in his uncle's yard in Buraida, scuttling on red legs while pursued by his boy cousins. "They dashed about, flapping their clipped wings..." Pigeons and feathers recur as symbols in the narrative.
Yousef Al-Mohaimeed
The novel opens with its central character, Fahd al-Safeelawi, on a train travelling from London to the coastal town of Great Yarmouth in the county of Norfolk. It is July 2007 and the young Saudi has been taking a two-day break in London from his exhausting job at a print and copy shop in Great Yarmouth.
Fahd is a talented artist, whose paintings were exhibited in Saudi Arabia. The novel he has chosen to read on his train journey is Elizabeth Hickey's The Painted Kiss on the relationship between the Viennese painter Gustave Klimt and his young lover Emilie, whose name he uttered as he died.
Fahd turns his attention to his mobile phone and on a whim dials the phone number in Saudi Arabic of Saeed, his closest friend from his childhood and "shameless, wild youth" in Riyadh. He hears not a dialling tone but a song that seems to wipe away his new life in Great Yarmouth. "At the same instant he was possessed by fear, a terror of the sheikhs - the fat men with long black beards he always saw at night, advancing with sharpened lances with which they pierced his pillow and riddled it with holes, the white feathers flying out until he couldn't breathe, and he would awake in a panic, feeling that he was choking." Fahd starts to cry, his slender body shaking with a strange hysteria; the elderly Englishwoman sitting opposite him in the train touches his arm and asks if he is all right.
The sheikhs who fill Fahd with such dread are members of the Committee for Virtue and Prevention of Vice who police the lives of young unmarried Saudi men and women. In July 2006 Fahd and his divorcee lover Tarifah were detained by members of the Committee for the "sin" of being together in the family section of a coffee shop.
Robin Moger
In one memorable scene, set in an auditorium during a literary festival, extremist students mutter their disapproval during a poetry reading in front of a segregated audience of males and females. They try to mount the stage and "hand out advice to what they see as the sinning, misguided poets and guide them to the path of righteousness." During the play that follows, entitled A Moderate Without Moderation, they hurl sandals and and smash up the set. A punch-up erupts, ending only when a security guard shoots in the air. A bemused American critic, invited to the festival to speak about American poetry, records proceedings with the camera of his mobile phone.
The novel loops through time, cumulatively filling in the picture and revealing the interlocking stories of numerous characters. Meanwhile the fates of Fahd and Tarfah at the hands of the Committee hang in the balance. Fahd looks back to his childhood, and to the four-year imprisonment of his father Suleiman for distributing underground pamphlets. Suleiman had at the time been working on behalf of the Salafist movement whose adherents, led by Juhayman al-Otabibi, seized the Great Mosque in Mecca in November 1979. The novel vividly depicts the siege of the Great Mosque, which lasted for days.
Great Yarmouth
Fahd's mother is a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, and his accent, fair skin and reddish blond hair and moustache set him somewhat apart from other Saudis. After Suleiman's death Soha is married off to Suleiman's brother Saleh, who already has two wives. Saleh is a conservative-minded bully, and bans satellite TV and all pictures from the house. Fahd clashes with Saleh, and finally moves out to live with his friend Saeed after Saleh gets Fahd's sister Lulua to tear up a precious album of family photographs. When Soha falls seriously ill Saleh fails to get her the medical treatment she needs, relying instead on traditional Islamic remedies and quacks.
Freed from Saleh's efforts at control, Fahd follows his destiny as an artist. He recalls how when he was a child Suleiman had taken him to an art exhibition where a Sudanese artist had been struck by the way in which the boy responded to the works on display. The Sudanese had told Suleiman: "The soul of a great artist sleeps in his depths and it must be awoken."
While it was his relationship with Tarfah, a divorced mother who studies at the Academy for Health Scienes, that led to his detention by the Committee, Fahd also has memories of two other lovers. The first is young, mischievous Noha with whom he had a short liaison. The other is the predatory, older Thuraya, a mother of six in a now sexless marriage. She revels in her carnal adventures with Fahd. But she eventually starts to pester and virtually stalk him to the point where he wonders if she reported him and Tarfah to the Committee, precipitating their detention.
Susannah Tarbush


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United States, 13th Feb 2024, King NewsWire – 1SEO Digital Agency is thrilled to announce 1Conference, a free, one-day digital marketing summit bringing together world-class speakers, targeted learning experiences, and unparalleled networking opportunities. The event will be held at 1SEO's headquarters in Bristol, PA.
Attendees will gain valuable insights from industry leaders, including representatives from Yelp and NiceJob, as well as experts from 1SEO Digital Agency. 1Conference promises a packed schedule of sessions, covering everything from beginner-level marketing to advanced techniques, along with insightful keynote addresses designed for entrepreneurs and business leaders.
"1Conference is designed to elevate your digital marketing knowledge and strategies in a transformative way," said CJ Bachmann, CEO at 1SEO Digital Agency. "This is a unique opportunity to learn directly from the experts and connect with other like-minded professionals."
Key features of 1Conference:
Registration is required for this free event, and space is limited. Secure your spot today at www.1seo.com/1conference.
About 1SEO Digital Agency
1SEO Digital Agency is a leading digital marketing agency specializing across all industries. The company is committed to helping businesses achieve online success through cutting-edge strategies and innovative solutions.
Organization: 1SEO Digital Agency
Contact Person: CJ Bachmann
Website: http://1seo.com/
Email: Send Email
Country: United States
Release Id: 1302249704
The post 1SEO Digital Agency Hosts 1Conference: A Digital Marketing Extravaganza Featuring Yelp, NiceJob, and Industry Experts appeared first on King NewsWire. It is provided by a third-party content provider. King Newswire makes no warranties or representations in connection with it.
Disclaimer: The views, recommendations, and opinions expressed in this content belong solely to the third-party experts. This site was not involved in the writing and production of this article.
Copyright © 2024 | All rights reserved


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Sterling Silver. Oxidized. Hand made. Size 6.75, 1 3/8 long. Custom sizes available upon request. Lead time will vary.
Born and raised in Dublin Ireland, Denise draws from her fine art training to design and fabricate each piece in sterling silver, from her Bernal Heights studio. Growing up in a family where every single member had artistic skill, she was encouraged from an early age to explore ideas and materials.
Denise has an endless curiosity for exploring and discovering pattern in anything, from the structure of minerals, ancient art and contemporary architecture, to scientific experiments in sound and wave forms. In love with the process of making objects from these ideas, she weaves the patterns together. With a focus on using recycled silver and sustainable practices, each piece is cut, formed, hammered and soldered one-by-one, resulting in a completely unique and hand-made piece every time.


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Finlay Enterprises
Finlay Enterprises has origins dating back to 1787 achieving $100 billion over two centuries. By 2010, Finlay Fine Jewelers was the largest operator of leased jewelry departments in over 1200 stores in the US and France. Finlay graces red carpets at the Golden Globes, Oscars, Grammys, and Independent Spirit Awards. Our jewelry is worn by celebrities, diplomats, royalty, most notably by family of the President of France at Cannes. Finlay owns 20 of the top 50 US jewelry brands.
Grand Met CEO Vin Lee
Vin Lee is an American businessman, art collector and philanthropist. He is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Beverly Hills based luxury-goods holding company Grand Metropolitan. The company owns Lichtensteins, Finlay Enterprises, Heilig-Meyers, IMASCO Ltd., Orcofi Holdings and Dalgety PLC. The Group has raised over $10 million for charities and not-for profit organizations including Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, American Red Cross, and Hurricane & Tsunami Relief.


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The Fisher 4660 pneumatic high-low pressure pilot activates safety shutdown systems for flowlines, production vessels, and compressors.
This pilot is available with either single or dual set point capability, using switch points to maintain full output pressure when the process pressure is within the set point range. If the process pressure is outside this range, the pilot switches from full output pressure to zero output pressure. The primary switching mechanism in this pilot is a block-and-bleed relay assembly. This construction can be used in both block-and-bleed and bleed-only systems.


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MRS account holders can subscribe to MRS Newsletters and Alerts, register for meetings and workshops and access special content areas.
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New MRS Member Benefit!
All MRS memberships now include FREE electronic access to all MRS journals:
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Anyone, anywhere, can start an initiative of change by applying the words of Mahatma Gandhi: Be the change you want to see in the world. If you want to see an end to corruption, start by being scrupulously honest yourself. If you want to see peace in the world, start within your own family. If you care about the environment, start looking at your own patterns of consumption and waste.
Start, but don't stop there. Individuals are powerful. Teams even more so. Starting with yourself can inspire others to follow your example creating hope and fighting cynicism and despair. We all have times when we feel discouraged and need the support of others. Teams can give that support, along with a diversity of skills, perspectives and personal networks, enabling individual efforts to be greatly magnified.
But the driving force for change always lies with the individual. The all-too-human tendency to institutionalize, to set up rules, regulations and procedures, can sometimes get in the way of individual spontaneity and initiative.
Tools for Change
Each person's journey is unique and there is no simple mechanism which can be prescribed for helping people bring change. Nevertheless IofC offers some tools which can help in the process.
Resources for Change
IofC offers a wide range of resources to inspire and equip changemakers. Here you will find films, newsletters, writings, reports and other links.
Email us for information, or contact your nearest IofC team


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We've mentioned several times that you're probably never winning the jackpot.
Turns out, we were right, at least for Friday. The winning numbers were 7, 8, 26, 65 and 67, plus the gold Mega Ball 4 -- and no ticket matched all of them to walk away with the $444 million jackpot.
So on to the next one Tuesday night, which will be the seventh largest jackpot in Mega Millions history. An estimated $475 million ($307 million cash) awaits.
Your chances of winning? 1 in 302,575,350. We know those odds won't deter you -- so here's how many castles and Ferraris you can buy if you were a half- billionaire.
Other winners
Even with no jackpot winner, there were some prizes in Friday night's drawing . Two tickets sold in New Jersey and New York matched the five white balls for the game's second prize of $1 million.
And 38 others matched four white balls and the Mega Ball to win $10,000.


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Poll Question
Franklin County SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Working Hard Today, For A Better Tomorrow
Franklin County was created on February 4, 1818. It was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin County originally had more than 1,200 square miles. Its boundaries started at what is now Marion County and extended all the way to the Tennessee River. At that time, there were only two towns, Russellville and Big Springs (now known as Tuscumbia).
The first county seat was in Russellville, which was incorporated on November 27, 1819, three weeks before Alabama became a state. This area was first called Russell's Valley. When the town was laid out, a public square was created in the center of town. If you come to Russellville, the old square is the fourth block on the west side of Jackson Avenue. This is the block that borders Lawrence, Franklin, Washington, and Jackson streets. The courthouse square was 384 feet by 468 feet. The first courthouse and jail were built of logs. The county seat stayed in Russellville from 1818 until 1849, when an election was held to move the courthouse to a more central location. The town was named Frankfort and the county seat remained there until 1879. The courthouse and jail there were built of brick that were made in Frankfort.
During this time, a group of citizens in the northern section of the county petitioned to the state legislature to create a new county. On February 6, 1867, the creation of Colbert County was granted by an act of Alabama Constitutional Convention. It was carved from the northern portion of Franklin County. Colbert County consists of 570 square miles, with 190 square miles in the Tennessee Valley and 380 square miles of mountain land. Franklin County has 647 square miles.
After a little more than 8 months, on November 29, 1867, Colbert County was abolished and returned to Franklin County. Two years later, on December 9, 1869, it once again was organized into Colbert County.


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ARRIS X-Speed 250B Racing Quad RTF with Flysky FSI6 Radio
ARRIS X-Speed 250B Racing Quad RTF with Flysky FSI6 Radio - Mode 2(Left Hand Throttle) is backordered and will ship as soon as it is back in stock.
Couldn't load pickup availability
ARRIS X-Speed 250B V4 RTF (ready to fly)is the upgrade version of the V3. The remote controller upgrade to Radiolink AT9S, the flight controller upgrade to F4 and the camera upgrade to the aris FPV camera. It is one of the best fpv racing drone for fpv beginners. With the 4mm carbon fiber arms and resonable structure, it is super durable and consistant to crash. It is fully assembled, tuned and tested, plug the battery, it will fly.
Main Features:
1. Simple structure frame installed with tower structure ESC/PDB, easy to assemble and easy to repair.
2. Big inner space, 268mm wheeabase, 6inches propeller and other equipements is compatible
3. The tower comes with integrated OSD, no need to install it separately
4. The angle of the FPV camera is adjustable from 0 to 45 degree
5. 4mm thick arms, super strong and durable
6. Newly released high efficiency S2205 2300KV motor provides you better performance and longer working life
7. High safety 4S 1500mah 50C lipo battery
Dimension: 7.88 x 9.35 x 2.63 (inches)
Diagonal Wheelbase: 268mm (10.55inches)
Flight Controller: F4 flight controller
Frame Material: Carbon/glass fiber composited sheet
BNF weight: 400g
Radio System: RadioLink AT9S radio with Receiver
Camera: ARRIS 2.1MM video camera
FPV TX: 5.8G 200mw 32CH
Antenna: 5.8G Antenna
Flying Time: 10min hovering
Battery: ARRIS 4S 1500mah lipo battery
One of the main change on the ARRIS X-Speed 250B V4.0 is the Raptor-S tower we use. Why we choose it?
1. The two layers tower structure ESC is highly integrated design products,decreasing the interference caused by signal transmission. The factory optimized the PCB layout and the pins, connecting all the electronic components on the board,avoid soldering and wiring.On this tower,the pins connect the flight controller board and the ESC board,maximally decrease the interference caused by signal transmission,
2. The Tower structure design could protect the ESC well during the flight.ESC is one of the most easily broken parts on the drones except the propellers. According to our experience,some of the ESC were damaged by the propeller rotation or tree brunch cut after the damage when it installed on top of the motor arm.Some of the ESC were damaged due to the broken of the motor arm during the crash.For this tower, the esc integrated in the tower which installed in the middle of the quad frame, the ESC's can be protected quite well.
3. Raptor S tower makes the assembling of the fpv racing drones more and more convenient,the wires tidy and concise.Using this tower, you just need to solder the 4 motor wires to the holes, so easy. The lower board integrated the 4in1 ESC,the power port is in the center,bulge a bit over. This could not only make the connecting wires more convenient, but also avoid to interrupt the esc output port on the two sides. The upper board F4 flight controller board integrated with the OSD. There is also 5V,12V and BATV for powering the camera,video tx,LED and other equipments.
4. Small size and light weight tower fit for all sizes of the quad,and make the center of gravity of the drone lower. The weight of the raptor S tower is only 22g, with two layers tower structure, the height is only 15.1mm.
And there are two plates on the tower,one is 4in1 ESC, and the other is the FC flight controller. If some of the components on the tower damaged, you just need to change one plate of the tower. Also it integrated with the OSD on it, you do not need to install extra OSD on the F4 separately.
ARRIS X-Speed 250B comes with the latest version motor--ARRIS S2205 2300KV brushless Motor.
Main Features:
1. Knul Design: This design ensure the stability of prop installation.
2. High quality magnets: ARRIS S2205 2300KV brushless motor adopts N52SH curved magnets to ensure the motor have more power and efficiency
3. NSK bearing: ARRIS S2205 2300KV adopts 0.2mm Japan imported stators, ultra hardness aerospace aluminum and precision cnd, which make the motor more efficiency and prolong the working life.
4. Low center design: The height of the ARRIS S2205 allows a lower center of gravity closer to the mounting point, with this, the drone can fly smoothly.
5. Cooling system: The cooling system make the motor more air flow.
6. Hollowed steel prop shaft: with this, you do not need to worry of damaging threads during crashes.
The propeller we adapts on the X-Speed 250B V3.0 version is theARRIS 5045 high efficiency 3 blade propellers. It is very powerful and well balanced. It has 10% higher efficiency than normal propellers. Perfectly suitable for FPV racing.
The diagonal wheelbaseof the ARRIS X250B frame is about268mm, and the inner space between upper plate and lower plate is quite big. Customer can upgrade or do some modifications as you like. For example, you can install 6 inches propellers on it.
As all we know, the arm is easily broken part during the crash. ARRIS X-Speed 250B adopts4mm thickness arms, the arm is made of carbon and glass fiber composited plate,and there is almost no hollow design cut on the motor arm, so the weight is a little heavier than the 3mm one, but it improves the strength of the drone.
Now we upgrade the camera to ARRIS 1200 tvl, one of the most popular fpv camera on fpv racign drones.The fpv camera angle i adjustable,the angle adjustable range is 0 to 45 degree. (pitch up)This could meet the requirements in different situation.
High Brightness LED. ARRIS X-Speed 250B comes with a high brightness LED .And you can change the color of the LED light through the DIP switches. 7 color for you to choose.
ARRIS 5.8g 200mW 40-CH video TX pre-assembled.The ARRIS TS5823S transmitter packs 200mW of ultra clean 5.8GHz power in a micro sized video/audio transmitter! A must for those looking save size and weight while still getting good performance. The ARRIS TS5823S is transmitting a full range of 40 channels and only weighs 10g. It's perfect for a wide range of aircraft!With a goggle or monitor in hand, you can begin your FPV journey.
FlySky FS-i6-M2 2.4GHz 6-Channel Transmitter with FS-iA6B receiver.
Channels: 6 Channels
Model Type: fixed-wing/glider/helicopter
RF range: 2.405-2.475Ghz
Bandwidth: 500Khz
Band: 142
RF Power: Less than 20 dBm
2.4G System: AFHDS 2A and AFHDS
Code type: GFSK
Sensitivity: 1024
Low voltage warning: Less than 4.2V
DSC port: PS2; output: PPM
Charger port: No
ANT length: 26mm*2 (dual antenna)
Weight: 392g
Power: 6V 1.5AA*4
Display mode: Transflective STN positive type,128*64 dot matric VA73*39mm, white backlight
Size: 174*89*190mm
Online update: yes
Color: Black
Certificate: CE0678,FCC
ARRIS X-Speed 250B V3.0 has integrated with a remote controller battery warning buzzer, pilot can set the threshold (adjustable) according to CF parameter-adjustment software. When you turn on the SWD switch to 2 position, the buzzer will "beep beep", it is easy for you to find the quad.
Self-level mode is the easiest to fly, because when you leave the stick at the centre and not controlling it, your drone just level itself and stays there. This is good for beginners.
Manual mode is useful for acrobatics such as flips or rolls, or FPV when smooth and fast control is desired. The picture below is what we set on the Flysky radio.
High safety ARRIS 4S 1500mah Lipo Battery
ARRIS 4S 1500mAh 50C lipo battery is specially designed for FPV racer. The price of this battery is much higher than the similar batteries in the market, because we only sell top-quality batteries. As we all know, the low quality battery might have potential safety hazard, we will never tolerate such products.For ARRIS 4S 1500mah lipo battery, we have done UN38.3 test,1.2M Drop test,MDS report for it, for the test report, you can check here.
Package Includes:
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1 x Flysky FSI6 6-CH Radio with Receiver
1 x LED
1 x ARRIS 4S 1500mah Lipo Battery
Battery Charger is sold separately.
ARRIS X-speed 250B Quick Guide:
Thanks to the John Paul Francisco Frias for the video:


text:
Lemon & Lavender Hand Soap
Lemon & Lavender Hand Soap
Top | Eucalyptus, Lemon, Orange Blossom
Middle | Lavender, Apple Blossom
Base | Green Leaves, Clove
Details & Ingredients
Details & Ingredients
Our moisturizing soap cleanses your hands and smells incredible, what more could you ask for!
Our amber glass bottle will look beautiful on your bathroom counter or next to your kitchen sink. Includes an easy-to-use pump. 16.9 fl oz.
Refill our amber glass bottle or any liquid soap dispenser with our easy-to-use bag. 32 fl oz
Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamide MEA, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Methylparaben, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Citric Acid, Sodium Chloride, Phthalate-free fragrance
Wet hands with water. Rub one pump of soap between hands to create suds and bubbles. Rinse clean. A little bit goes a long way!


text:
Balanoposthitis (say: bal-ah-no-pos-THI-tis) is inflammation of the foreskin and head of the penis.
Boys are born with a foreskin, a loose fold of skin that covers the head of the penis (called the glans). The foreskin and glans can become irritated and inflamed due to poor hygiene, excessive cleaning or retracting of the foreskin, infection, diaper rash, irritants like harsh soaps, or an injury. Balanoposthitis is more common in uncircumcised boys.
Balanoposthitis can cause itching, tenderness, and pain that may interfere with the foreskin's ability to retract. Treatment usually involves warm water sitz baths to keep the area clean, avoiding potential irritants, and applying medicated creams to decrease the inflammation and treat the infection. Sometimes oral medications are prescribed.
Balanoposthitis usually responds well to simple treatment and causes no lasting complications. If it happens repeatedly or leads to prolonged difficulty urinating (peeing), it can have more complications. Most cases of balanoposthitis can be avoided by keeping the foreskin and penis clean with gentle cleansing and avoiding harsh soaps.
All A to Z dictionary entries are regularly reviewed by KidsHealth medical experts.
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text:
The trailers of the best European films available on Cineuropa, linked to their corresponding film profiles. If you search for a particular movie, we recommend using the search engine or go to the "film database".
41579 trailers/teasers/clips available in total starting from 11/07/2002. Last updated on 19/07/2024. 817 trailers/teasers/clips inserted in the last 12 months.


text:
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text:
The Zodiac Collection by Laboratorio Paravicini is inspired by astrology and the stars in the sky. This Milan based brand is famous for applying the finest traditions of Italian pottery in its designs. Every plate in the collection is unique in that they each display a different zodiac sign. The elegant design also features the name and months of each sign in Latin over a geometric drawing beautifully rendered in gold. The plate can be combined with more of the same or others in the collection for a magnificent tablescape. It is available as a dinner and dessert plate.
Expected to ship in 6 - 7 weeks
Product Details
- Dimensions: Dinner - D 9.8 in (25 cm), Dessert - D 7.9 in (20 cm)
- Composition: Ceramic
- Care: Dishwasher safe
- Origin: Handcrafted in Italy


text:
Capital | Porto-Novo |
Largest city | Cotonou |
Official languages | French |
Indigenous languages | |
Ethnic groups | |
Demonym(s) | |
Government | |
Patrice Talon | |
Louis Vlavonou[1] | |
Legislature | National Assembly |
Independence | |
1 August 1960 | |
Area | |
114,763 km (44,310 sq mi)[2](100th) | |
0.4% | |
Population | |
10,872,298[3](82nd) | |
10,008,749[4] | |
94.8/km (245.5/sq mi) (120th) | |
GDP | 2018 estimate |
$27.546 billion[5](137th) | |
$2,411[5](163rd) | |
GDP | 2018 estimate |
$10.546 billion[5](141st) | |
$923[5](163rd) | |
Gini | |
Currency | West African CFA franc(XOF) |
Time zone | (WAT) |
Driving side | right |
Calling code | +229 |
ISO 3166 code | BJ |
Internet TLD | .bj |
Benin (/bɛˈniːn/ ( listen) ben-EEN**bin-EEN Togo Nigeria Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. The majority of its population lives on the small southern coastline of the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea in the northernmost tropical portion of the Atlantic Ocean.[9] The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is in Cotonou, the country's largest city and economic capital. Benin covers an area of 114,763 square kilometres (44,310 sq mi)[2] and its population in 2016 was estimated to be approximately 10.87 million.[3] Benin is a tropical nation, highly dependent on agriculture, and is a large exporter of cotton and palm oil. Substantial employment and income arise from subsistence farming.[10]
The official language of Benin is French. However, indigenous languages such as Fon and Yoruba are commonly spoken. The largest religious group in Benin is Roman Catholicism, followed closely by Islam, Vodun and Protestantism. Benin is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie, the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, the African Petroleum Producers Association and the Niger Basin Authority.[11]
From the 17th to the 19th century, the main political entities in the area were the Kingdom of Dahomey, along with the city-state of Porto-Novo, and a large area with many different nations to the north. This region was referred to as the Slave Coast from as early as the 17th century due to the large number of enslaved people who were shipped to the New World during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. After enslavement was abolished, France took over the country and renamed it French Dahomey. In 1960, Dahomey gained full independence from France. The sovereign state has had a tumultuous history since then, with many different democratic governments, military coups, and military governments.
A Marxist–Leninist state called the People's Republic of Benin existed between 1975 and 1990. In 1991, it was replaced by the current multi-party Republic of Benin.[12]
Capital | Porto-Novo |
Largest city | Cotonou |
Official languages | French |
Indigenous languages | |
Ethnic groups | |
Demonym(s) | |
Government | |
Patrice Talon | |
Louis Vlavonou[1] | |
Legislature | National Assembly |
Independence | |
1 August 1960 | |
Area | |
114,763 km (44,310 sq mi)[2](100th) | |
0.4% | |
Population | |
10,872,298[3](82nd) | |
10,008,749[4] | |
94.8/km (245.5/sq mi) (120th) | |
GDP | 2018 estimate |
$27.546 billion[5](137th) | |
$2,411[5](163rd) | |
GDP | 2018 estimate |
$10.546 billion[5](141st) | |
$923[5](163rd) | |
Gini | |
Currency | West African CFA franc(XOF) |
Time zone | (WAT) |
Driving side | right |
Calling code | +229 |
ISO 3166 code | BJ |
Internet TLD | .bj |
During the colonial period and at independence, the country was known as Dahomey. On 30 November 1975, it was renamed to Benin,[13] after the body of water on which the country lies—the Bight of Benin. This had been named by Europeans after the Benin Empire in present-day Nigeria. The country of Benin has no connection to Benin City in modern Nigeria, nor to the Benin bronzes. The form "Benin" is the result of a Portuguese corruption of the city of Ubinu (now Benin City).
The new name, Benin, was chosen for its neutrality.
Dahomey was the name of the former Fon Kingdom of Dahomey, which was limited to most of the southern third of the present country and therefore did not represent Porto-Novo (a rival Yoruba state in the south), central Benin (which is also dominated by the Yoruba), the multi-ethnic northwestern sector Atakora, nor the Bariba Kingdom of Borgu, which covered the northeastern district.[14]
Precolonial history
The current country of Benin combines three areas which had distinctly different political systems and ethnicities prior to French colonial control.
Before 1700, there were a few important city-states along the coast (primarily of the Aja ethnic group, but also including Yoruba and Gbe peoples) and a mass of tribal regions inland (composed of Bariba, Mahi, Gedevi, and Kabye peoples). The Oyo Empire, located primarily to the east of modern Benin, was the most significant large-scale military force in the region. It regularly conducted raids and exacted tribute from the coastal kingdoms and the tribal regions.[15] The situation changed in the 1600s and early 1700s as the Kingdom of Dahomey, consisting mostly of Fon people, was founded on the Abomey plateau and began taking over areas along the coast.[16] By 1727, king Agaja of the Kingdom of Dahomey had conquered the coastal cities of Allada and Whydah, but it had become a tributary of the Oyo empire and did not directly attack the Oyo allied city-state of Porto-Novo.[17] The rise of the kingdom of Dahomey, the rivalry between the kingdom and the city of Porto-Novo, and the continued tribal politics of the northern region, persisted into the colonial and post-colonial periods.[18]
The Dahomey Kingdom was known for its culture and traditions. Young boys were often apprenticed to older soldiers, and taught the kingdom's military customs until they were old enough to join the army.[19] Dahomey was also famous for instituting an elite female soldier corps, called Ahosi, i.e. the king's wives, or Mino, "our mothers" in the Fon language Fongbe, and known by many Europeans as the Dahomean Amazons. This emphasis on military preparation and achievement earned Dahomey the nickname of "black Sparta" from European observers and 19th-century explorers such as Sir Richard Burton.[20]
Portuguese Empire
Map of the Kingdom of Dahomey, 1793.
Dahomey Amazons with the King at their head, going to war, 1793.
The kings of Dahomey sold their war captives into transatlantic slavery.[21] They also had a practice of killing war captives in a ceremony known as the Annual Customs. By about 1750, the King of Dahomey was earning an estimated £250,000 per year by selling African captives to European slave-traders.[22]
Though the leaders of Dahomey appear to have initially resisted the slave trade, it flourished in the region of Dahomey for almost three hundred years, beginning in 1472 with a trade agreement with Portuguese merchants. The area was named the "Slave Coast" because of this flourishing trade. Court protocols, which demanded that a portion of war captives from the kingdom's many battles be decapitated, decreased the number of enslaved people exported from the area. The number went from 102,000 people per decade in the 1780s to 24,000 per decade by the 1860s.[23]
The decline was partly due to the Slave Trade Act 1807 banning the trans-Atlantic slave trade by Britain and the United States following in 1808, followed by other countries.[22] This decline continued until 1885, when the last slave ship departed from the coast of the modern Benin Republic bound for Brazil in South America, which had yet to abolish slavery. The capital's name Porto-Novo is of Portuguese origin, meaning "New Port". It was originally developed as a port for the slave trade.
Colonial period (1900 until 1958)
The French conquest of Dahomey in 1893
By the middle of the nineteenth century, Dahomey had begun to weaken and lose its status as the regional power.
This enabled the French to take over the area in 1892.
In 1899, the French included the land called French Dahomey within the larger French West Africa colonial region.
Post-colonial period
The flag of the People's Republic of Benin
Yayi Boni's 2006 presidential inauguration
For the next twelve years after 1960, ethnic strife contributed to a period of turbulence.
There were several coups and regime changes, with the figures of Hubert Maga, Sourou Apithy, Justin Ahomadégbé, and Émile Derlin Zinsou dominating; the first three each represented a different area and ethnicity of the country. These three agreed to form a Presidential Council after violence marred the 1970 elections.
On 7 May 1972, Maga ceded power to Ahomadégbé.
On 26 October 1972, Lt. Col. Mathieu Kérékou overthrew the ruling triumvirate, becoming president and stating that the country would not "burden itself by copying foreign ideology, and wants neither Capitalism, Communism, nor Socialism". On 30 November 1974 however, he announced that the country was officially Marxist, under control of the Military Council of the Revolution (CMR), which nationalized the petroleum industry and banks. On 30 November 1975, he renamed the country to thePeople's Republic of Benin.[27][28]
The CMR was dissolved in 1979, and Kérékou arranged show elections in which he was the only allowed candidate. Establishing relations with China, North Korea, and Libya, he put nearly all businesses and economic activities under state control, causing foreign investment in Benin to dry up.[29] Kérékou attempted to reorganize education, pushing his own aphorisms such as "Poverty is not a fatality", resulting in a mass exodus of teachers, along with numerous other professionals.[29] The regime financed itself by contracting to take nuclear waste, first from the Soviet Union and later from France.[29]
In 1980, Kérékou converted to Islam and changed his first name to Ahmed. He changed his name back after claiming to be a born-again Christian. In 1989, riots broke out when the regime did not have enough money to pay its army. The banking system collapsed. Eventually, Kérékou renounced Marxism, and a convention forced Kérékou to release political prisoners and arrange elections.[29] Marxism–Leninism was abolished as the nation's form of government.[30]
The country's name was officially changed to theRepublic of Benin on 1 March 1990, after the newly formed government's constitution was completed.[31]
In a 1991 election, Kérékou lost to Nicéphore Soglo. Kérékou returned to power after winning the 1996 vote. In 2001, a closely fought election resulted in Kérékou winning another term, after which his opponents claimed election irregularities.
In 1999, Kérékou issued a national apology for the substantial role that Africans had played in the Atlantic slave trade.[32]
Kérékou and former president Soglo did not run in the 2006 elections, as both were barred by the constitution's restrictions on age and total terms of candidates.
On 5 March 2006, an election was held that was considered free and fair. It resulted in a runoff between Yayi Boni and Adrien Houngbédji. The runoff election was held on 19 March and was won by Boni, who assumed office on 6 April. The success of the fair multi-party elections in Benin won praise internationally. Boni was reelected in 2011, taking 53.18% of the vote in the first round—enough to avoid a runoff election. He was the first president to win an election without a runoff since the restoration of democracy in 1991.
In the March 2016 presidential elections, in which Boni Yayi was barred by the constitution from running for a third term, businessman Patrice Talon won the second round with 65.37% of the vote, defeating investment banker and former Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou. Talon was sworn in on 6 April 2016.[33] Speaking on the same day that the Constitutional Court confirmed the results, Talon said that he would "first and foremost tackle constitutional reform", discussing his plan to limit presidents to a single term of five years in order to combat "complacency". He also said that he planned to slash the size of the government from 28 to 16 members.[34]
Benin's politics take place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, in which the President of Benin is both head of state and head of government, within a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the legislature. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system is derived from the 1990 Constitution of Benin and the subsequent transition to democracy in 1991.
Benin scored highly in the 2013 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, which comprehensively measures the state of governance across the continent. Benin was ranked 18th out of 52 African countries and scored best in the categories of Safety & Rule of Law and Participation & Human Rights.[35]
In its 2007 Worldwide Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders ranked Benin 53rd out of 169 countries.
Benin has been rated equal-88th out of 159 countries in a 2005 analysis of police, business, and political corruption.[36]
Administrative divisions
Departments of Benin.
Benin is divided into twelve departments (French: départements) which, in turn, are subdivided into 77 communes. In 1999, the previous six departments were each split into two halves, forming the current twelve. The six new departments were assigned official capitals in 2008.
Map key | Department | Capital[37][38] | Population (2013) | Area (km2)[39] | FormerDepartment | Region | Sub-Region |
2 | Alibori | Kandi | 868,046 | 26,242 | Borgou | North | North East |
1 | Atakora | Natitingou | 769,337 | 20,499 | Atakora | North | North West |
10 | Atlantique | Allada | 1,396,548 | 3,233 | Atlantique | South | South Centre |
4 | Borgou | Parakou | 1,202,095 | 25,856 | Borgou | North | North East |
5 | Collines | Dassa-Zoumé | 716,558 | 13,931 | Zou | North | North Centre |
6 | Kouffo | Aplahoué | 741,895 | 2,404 | Mono | South | South West |
3 | Donga | Djougou | 542,605 | 11,126 | Atakora | North | North West |
11 | Littoral | Cotonou | 678,874 | 79 | Atlantique | South | South Centre |
9 | Mono | Lokossa | 495,307 | 1,605 | Mono | South | South West |
12 | Ouémé | Porto-Novo | 1,096,850 | 1,281 | Ouémé | South | South East |
8 | Plateau | Pobè | 624,146 | 3,264 | Ouémé | South | South East |
7 | Zou | Abomey | 851,623 | 5,243 | Zou | North | North Centre |
Children in Benin.
Population[3] | |||
Year | Million | ||
1950 | 2.2 | ||
2000 | 6.8 | ||
2016 | 10.9 |
The majority of Benin's population lives in the south.
The population is young, with a life expectancy of 62 years.[40] About 42 African ethnic groups live in this country; these various groups settled in Benin at different times and also migrated within the country. Ethnic groups include the Yoruba in the southeast (migrated from Nigeria in the 12th century); the Dendi in the north-central area (who came from Mali in the 16th century); the Bariba and the Fula in the northeast; the Betammaribe and the Somba in the Atacora Range; the Fon in the area around Abomey in the South Central and the Mina, Xueda, and Aja (who came from Togo) on the coast.[41]
Recent migrations have brought other African nationals to Benin that include Nigerians, Togolese, and Malians.
The foreign community also includes many Lebanese and Indians involved in trade and commerce.
The personnel of the many European embassies and foreign aid missions and of nongovernmental organizations and various missionary groups account for a large part of the 5500 European population.[41] A small part of the European population consists of Beninese citizens of French ancestry.
Largest cities
A Celestial Church of Christ baptism in Cotonou. Five percent of Benin's population belongs to this denomination, an African Initiated Church.
In the 2002 census, 42.8% of the population of Benin were Christian (27.1% Roman Catholic, 5% Celestial Church of Christ, 3.2% Methodist, 7.5% other Christian denominations), 24.4% were Muslim, 17.3% practiced Vodun, 6% practiced other local traditional religions, 1.9% practiced other religions, and 6.5% claimed no religious affiliation.[44] A more recent government survey conducted by the Demographic and Health Surveys Program in 2011-2012 indicated that Christianity had increased to 57.5% of the population (with Catholics making up 33.9%, Methodists 3.0%, Celestials 6.2% and other Christians 14.5%), while Muslims had declined to 22.8%.[45]
Traditional religions include local animistic religions in the Atakora (Atakora and Donga provinces), and Vodun and Orisha veneration among the Yoruba and Tado peoples in the center and south of the nation. The town of Ouidah on the central coast is the spiritual center of Beninese Vodun.
Today the two largest religions are Christianity, followed throughout the south and center of Benin and in Otammari country in the Atakora, and Islam, introduced by the Songhai Empire and Hausa merchants, and now followed throughout Alibori, Borgou and Donga provinces, as well as among the Yoruba (who also follow Christianity). Many, however, continue to hold Vodun and Orisha beliefs and have incorporated the pantheon of Vodun and Orisha into Christianity. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a sect originating in the 19th century, is also present in a significant minority.
Benin map of Köppen climate classification.
Atakora, one of Benin's two northernmost departments.
The Pendjari National Park in Benin is one of the most important reserves for the West African lion and other large animals of West Africa.
Benin, a narrow, north-south strip of land in West Africa, lies between latitudes 6° and 13°N, and longitudes 0° and 4°E. Benin is bounded by Togo to the west, Burkina Faso and Niger to the north, Nigeria to the east, and the Bight of Benin to the south. The distance from the Niger River in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south is about 650 km (404 mi). Although the coastline measures 121 km (75 mi), the country measures about 325 km (202 mi) at its widest point.
Benin shows little variation in elevation and can be divided into four areas from the south to the north, starting with the low-lying, sandy, coastal plain (highest elevation 10 m (32.8 ft)) which is, at most, 10 km (6.2 mi) wide.
It is marshy and dotted with lakes and lagoons communicating with the ocean.
Behind the coast lies the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic-covered plateaus of southern Benin (altitude between 20 and 200 m (66 and 656 ft)), which are split by valleys running north to south along the Couffo, Zou, and Ouémé Rivers.
An area of flat land dotted with rocky hills whose altitude seldom reaches 400 m (1,312 ft) extends around Nikki and Save.
A range of mountains extends along the northwest border and into Togo; these are the Atacora. The highest point, Mont Sokbaro, is at 658 m (2,159 ft). Benin has fallow fields, mangroves, and remnants of large sacred forests. In the rest of the country, the savanna is covered with thorny scrub and dotted with huge baobab trees. Some forests line the banks of rivers. In the north and the northwest of Benin, the Reserve du W du Niger and Pendjari National Park attract tourists eager to see elephants, lions, antelopes, hippos, and monkeys.[41] Pendjari National Park together with the bordering Parks Arli and W in Burkina Faso and Niger are among the most important strongholds for the endangered West African lion. With an estimated 356 (range: 246–466) lions, W-Arli-Pendjari harbors the largest remaining population of lions in West Africa.[46] Historically Benin has served as habitat for the endangered painted hunting dog, Lycaon pictus;[47] however, this canid is thought to have been locally extirpated.
Benin's climate is hot and humid.
Annual rainfall in the coastal area averages 1300 mm or about 51 inches.
Benin has two rainy and two dry seasons per year.
The principal rainy season is from April to late July, with a shorter less intense rainy period from late September to November.
The main dry season is from December to April, with a short cooler dry season from late July to early September.
Temperatures and humidity are high along the tropical coast.
In Cotonou, the average maximum temperature is 31 °C (87.8 °F); the minimum is 24 °C (75.2 °F).[41]
Variations in temperature increase when moving north through savanna and plateau toward the Sahel. A dry wind from the Sahara called the Harmattan blows from December to March, when grass dries up, other vegetation turns reddish brown, and a veil of fine dust hangs over the country, causing the skies to be overcast. It is also the season when farmers burn brush in the fields.[41]
Benin Exports by Product (2014) from Harvard Atlas of Economic Complexity [81].
Extensive agriculture in north of Benin, near Djougou.
Cotton field in northern Benin.
The economy of Benin is dependent on subsistence agriculture, cotton production, and regional trade. Cotton accounts for 40% of the GDP and roughly 80% of official export receipts.[41] Growth in real output has averaged around 5% in the past seven years, but rapid population growth has offset much of this increase. Inflation has subsided over the past several years. Benin uses the CFA franc, which is pegged to the euro.
Benin's economy has continued to strengthen over the past years, with real GDP growth estimated at 5.1 and 5.7% in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
The main driver of growth is the agricultural sector, with cotton being the country's main export, while services continue to contribute the largest part of GDP largely because of Benin's geographical location, enabling trade, transportation, transit and tourism activities with its neighboring states.[49]
In order to raise growth still further, Benin plans to attract more foreign investment, place more emphasis on tourism, facilitate the development of new food processing systems and agricultural products, and encourage new information and communication technology. Projects to improve the business climate by reforms to the land tenure system, the commercial justice system, and the financial sector were included in Benin's US$307 million Millennium Challenge Account grant signed in February 2006.[50]
The Paris Club and bilateral creditors have eased the external debt situation, with Benin benefiting from a G8 debt reduction announced in July 2005, while pressing for more rapid structural reforms.
An insufficient electrical supply continues to adversely affect Benin's economic growth though the government recently has taken steps to increase domestic power production.[40]
Although trade unions in Benin represent up to 75% of the formal workforce, the large informal economy has been noted by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITCU) to contain ongoing problems, including a lack of women's wage equality, the use of child labor, and the continuing issue of forced labor.[51]
Benin is a member of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA).[52]
Cotonou has the country's only seaport and international airport. A new port is currently under construction between Cotonou and Porto Novo. Benin is connected by two-lane asphalted roads to its neighboring countries (Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria). Mobile telephone service is available across the country through various operators. ADSL connections are available in some areas. Benin is connected to the Internet by way of satellite connections (since 1998) and a single submarine cable SAT-3/WASC (since 2001), keeping the price of data extremely high. Relief is expected with the initiation of the Africa Coast to Europe cable in 2011.
Beninese students.
The literacy rate in Benin is among the lowest in the world: in 2015 it was estimated to be 38.4% (49.9% for males and 27.3% for females).[40] Benin has achieved universal primary education and half of the children (54%) were enrolled in secondary education in 2013, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
The government has devoted more than 4% of GDP to education since 2009.
In 2015, public expenditure on education (all levels) amounted to 4.4% of GDP, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Within this expenditure, Benin devoted quite a large share to tertiary education: 0.97% of GDP.[57]
Between 2009 and 2011, the share of young people enrolled at university rose from 10% to 12% of the 18*–*25 year age cohort, one of the highest ratios in West Africa. Student enrollment in tertiary education more than doubled between 2006 and 2011 from 50,225 to 110,181. These statistics encompass not only bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. programmes but also students enrolled in non-degree post-secondary diplomas.[57]
Science and technology
National policy framework
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research is responsible for implementing science policy.
The National Directorate of Scientific and Technological Research handles planning and coordination, whereas the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research and National Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters each play an advisory role.
Financial support comes from Benin's National Fund for Scientific Research and Technological Innovation.
The Benin Agency for the Promotion of Research Results and Technological Innovation carries out technology transfer through the development and dissemination of research results.[57]
The regulatory framework has evolved since 2006 till date when the country's first science policy was prepared.
This has since been updated and complemented by new texts on science and innovation (the year of adoption is between brackets):[57]
a manual for monitoring and evaluating research structures and organizations (2013);
a manual on how to select research programmes and projects and apply to the National Fund for Scientific Research and Technological Innovation (2013) for competitive grants;
a draft act for funding scientific research and innovation and a draft code of ethics for scientific research and innovation were both submitted to the Supreme Court in 2014;
a strategic plan for scientific research and innovation (under development in 2015).
Equally important are Benin's efforts to integrate science into existing policy documents:
Benin Development Strategies 2025: Benin 2025 Alafia (2000);
Growth Strategy for Poverty Reduction 2011–2016 (2011);
Phase 3 of the Ten-year Development Plan for the Education Sector, covering 2013–2015;
Development Plan for Higher Education and Scientific Research 2013–2017 (2014).
In 2015, Benin's priority areas for scientific research were: health, education, construction and building materials, transportation and trade, culture, tourism and handicrafts, cotton/textiles, food, energy and climate change.[57]
The main challenges facing research and development in Benin are:[57]
the unfavorable organizational framework for research: weak governance, a lack of co-operation between research structures and the absence of an official document on the status of researchers;
the inadequate use of human resources and the lack of any motivational policy for researchers; and
the mismatch between research and development needs.
Human and financial investment in research
In 2007, Benin counted 1,000 researchers (in headcounts).
This corresponds to 115 researchers per million inhabitants.
The main research structures in Benin are the Centre for Scientific and Technical Research, National Institute of Agricultural Research, National Institute for Training and Research in Education, Office of Geological and Mining Research and the Centre for Entomological Research.[57]
The University of Abomey-Calavi was selected by the World Bank in 2014 to participate in its Centres of Excellence project, owing to its expertise in applied mathematics. Within this project, the World Bank has loaned $8 million to Benin. The Association of African Universities has also received funds to enable it to co-ordinate knowledge-sharing among the 19 universities in West Africa involved in the project.[57]
There are no available data on Benin's level of investment in research and development.[57]
In 2013, the government devoted 2.5% of GDP to public health.
In December 2014, 150 volunteer health professionals travelled to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone from Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria, as part of a joint initiative by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its specialized agency, the West African Health Organisation, to help combat the epidemic. The Ebola epidemic has been a tragic reminder of the chronic underinvestment in West African health systems.[57]
The Government of Benin devoted less than 5% of GDP to agricultural development in 2010, even though the members of the African Union had agreed to commit at least 10% of GDP to this area in the Maputo Declaration of 2003. They reiterated this goal in the Malabo Declaration adopted in Equatorial Guinea in 2014. In the latter declaration, they reaffirmed their 'intention to devote 10% of their national budgets to agricultural development and agreed to targets such as doubling agricultural productivity, halving post-harvest loss and bringing stunting down to 10% across Africa'. However, African leaders meeting in Equatorial Guinea failed to resolve the debate on establishing a common standard of measurement for the 10% target.[58]
Research output
Benin has the third-highest publication intensity for scientific journals in West Africa, according to Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, Science Citation Index Expanded.
There were 25.5 scientific articles per million inhabitants cataloged in this database in 2014.
This compares with 65.0 for the Gambia, 49.6 for Cape Verde, 23.2 for Senegal and 21.9 for Ghana.
The volume of publications in this database tripled in Benin between 2005 and 2014 from 86 to 270.
Between 2008 and 2014, Benin's main scientific collaborators were based in France (529 articles), United States (261), United Kingdom (254), Belgium (198) and Germany (156).[57]
Transport in Benin includes road, rail, water and air transportation. Benin possesses a total of 6,787 km of highway, of which 1,357 km are paved. Of the paved highways in the country, there are 10 expressways. This leaves 5,430 km of unpaved road. The Trans-West African Coastal Highway crosses Benin, connecting it to Nigeria to the east, and Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast to the west. When construction in Liberia and Sierra Leone is finished, the highway will continue west to seven other Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) nations. A paved highway also connects Benin northwards to Niger, and through that country to Burkina Faso and Mali to the north-west.
Rail transport in Benin consists of 578 km (359 mi) of single track, 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge railway. Benin does not, at this time, share railway links with adjacent countries, but construction work has commenced on international lines connecting Benin with Niger and Nigeria, with outline plans announced for further connections to Togo and Burkina Faso. Benin will be a participant in the AfricaRail project.
During the 1980s, less than 30% of the country's population had access to primary health care services.
Benin had one of the highest death rates for children under the age of five in the world.
Its infant mortality rate stood at 203 deaths for every 1000 live births. Only one in three mothers had access to child health care services. The Bamako Initiative changed that dramatically by introducing community-based healthcare reform, resulting in more efficient and equitable provision of services.[61] As of 2015, Benin had the 26th highest rate of maternal mortality in the world.[62] According to a 2013 UNICEF report, 13% of women had undergone female genital mutilation.[63] A comprehensive approach strategy was extended to all areas of healthcare, with subsequent improvement in the health care indicators and improvement in health care efficiency and cost.[64] Demographic and Health Surveys has completed three surveys in Benin since 1996.[65]
Traditional music group.
Beninese literature had a strong oral tradition long before French became the dominant language.[66] Félix Couchoro wrote the first Beninese novel, L'Esclave (The Slave), in 1929.
Singer Angélique Kidjo and actor Djimon Hounsou were born in Cotonou, Benin. Composer Wally Badarou and singer Gnonnas Pedro are also of Beninese descent.
Biennale Benin, continuing the projects of several organizations and artists, started in the country in 2010 as a collaborative event called "Regard Benin".
In 2012, the project became a Biennial coordinated by the Consortium, a federation of local associations.
The international exhibition and artistic program of the 2012 Biennale Benin are curated by Abdellah Karroum and the Curatorial Delegation.
A number of Beninese artists have received major international recognition, such as Georges Adéagbo, Meschac Gaba, Romuald Hazoumè, Dominique Zinkpè and Emo de Medeiros.
Customary names
Many Beninese in the south of the country have Akan-based names indicating the day of the week on which they were born. This is due to influence of the Akan people like the Akwamu and others.[67]
Local languages are used as the languages of instruction in elementary schools, with French only introduced after several years.
In wealthier cities, however, French is usually taught at an earlier age.
At the secondary School level, local language is generally forbidden and French is the sole language of instruction.
Beninese languages are generally transcribed with a separate letter for each speech sound (phoneme), rather than using diacritics as in French or digraphs as in English. This includes Beninese Yoruba, which in Nigeria is written with both diacritics and digraphs. For instance, the mid vowels are written é è, ô, o in French are written e, ɛ, o, ɔ in Beninese languages, whereas the consonants are written ng and sh or ch in English are written ŋ and c. However, digraphs are used for nasal vowels and the labial-velar consonants kp and gb, as in the name of the Fon language Fon gbe /fõ ɡ͡be/, and diacritics are used as tone marks. In French-language publications, a mixture of French and Beninese orthographies may be seen.
Acarajé is peeled black-eyed peas formed into a ball and then deep-fried.
Beninese cuisine is known in Africa for its exotic ingredients and flavorful dishes.
Beninese cuisine involves fresh meals served with a variety of key sauces.
In southern Benin cuisine, the most common ingredient is corn, often used to prepare dough which is mainly served with peanut- or tomato-based sauces. Fish and chicken are the most common meats used in southern Beninese cuisine, but beef, goat, and bush rat are also consumed. The main staple in northern Benin is yams, often served with sauces mentioned above. The population in the northern provinces use beef and pork meat which is fried in palm or peanut oil or cooked in sauces. Cheese is used in some dishes. Couscous, rice, and beans are commonly eaten, along with fruits such as mangoes, oranges, avocados, bananas, kiwi fruit, and pineapples.
Meat is usually quite expensive, and meals are generally light on meat and generous on vegetable fat. Frying in palm or peanut oil is the most common meat preparation, and smoked fish is commonly prepared in Benin. Grinders are used to prepare corn flour, which is made into a dough and served with sauces. "Chicken on the spit" is a traditional recipe in which chicken is roasted over a fire on wooden sticks. Palm roots are sometimes soaked in a jar with salt water and sliced garlic to tenderize them, then used in dishes. Many people have outdoor mud stoves for cooking.
See also
Index of Benin-related articles
Outline of Benin
Benin – Wikipedia book


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It was a dark day in September when Britain's National Pig Association broke the news that pork products—including everyone's favorite, bacon—would soon become a luxury because of dwindling pork supplies from the ongoing drought in the U.S.
Though consumers around the world were left clutching their pearls, it was much ado about nothing, as economists and commodity experts quickly debunked the theory. But the media hype did turn a lot of eyes—both consumers' and foodservice industry insiders'—to the real issue at hand: rising commodity costs.
Largely because of 2012's severe drought in the Midwest and other parts of the U.S., it's become widely accepted that wholesale price increases for animal products like meat, eggs, and dairy are unavoidable. But just how serious the problem is and how detrimental to quick serves' bottom lines it will be has yet to be seen.
Suffering through a dry spell
What started as a promising year last spring, with a record corn crop in the ground, quickly turned to devastation as Midwest farmers saw little to no rain through the summer and fall.
"We were looking at a 20–25 percent reduction in the original forecast for both [corn and soybeans last year]," says Ricky Volpe, an economist with the Economic Research Service for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). "This, of course, has an impact on prices, because it's a reduction in supply."
When natural disasters like droughts strike, corn prices skyrocket, making it more difficult for ranchers to feed their animals, experts interviewed for this story say. To stay above water financially, ranchers are forced to liquidate herds, sending them off to slaughter much sooner than usual. While this momentarily causes an increased supply and drop in prices for items like pork and beef, it's quickly followed by increased prices as supply fades.
Because it takes up to two years for farmers to raise, fatten, and send cattle and swine to slaughter, a drought can cause trouble for months and even years to come. "Until such a time that feed prices come down to a point where the producers are making money again, there's going to be no incentive for them to expand production," says John Barone, CEO of New Jersey–based Market Vision, a restaurant commodities consulting firm. "You're in a tight supply situation going forward, and that's the drought's biggest impact this year."
Since food costs are such a large burden for restaurants, rising commodity prices can directly affect a brand's bottom line in a dramatic way.
"When you think about a typical restaurant-industry sales dollar, roughly a third of that goes to cover operator-direct purchases of food and beverages," says Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the National Restaurant Association's (NRA) Research & Knowledge Group.
"When it's that large a proportion of operating costs, even modest increases can result in operators needing to reengineer not only their internal cost-operating structure, but also their menu."
Protecting the customer
Though experts expect a share of the resulting price increases to be felt by everyone along the supply chain—including producers, suppliers, operators, and even consumers—many chains are battling to keep the burden off consumers' shoulders.
"Normally the way that you deal with commodity costs in the restaurant industry is to raise prices. It's something that every restaurant has always done and it's how you keep up with inflation, it's how you keep up with increases to minimum wage, and it's how you keep up with increased commodity costs," says Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. brands. "The problem now is that the economy is in such distress that it's difficult to raise prices."
While brands need to tiptoe around price inflation to keep consumers happy, traffic counts up, and sales strong, raising prices may be a challenging but necessary evil. "In the more modest economic environment, obviously operators can't pass through on a one-to-one basis what happens with their higher input costs," the NRA's Riehle says. In fact, while wholesale food prices were up 8.1 percent in 2011, he says, menu prices were only up 2.3 percent.
Larry Reinstein, president of Charlotte, North Carolina–based Salsarita's, says the brand will try to hold the line as much as possible when it comes to price hikes, but will likely have to raise prices. "The key is to be modest and strategic, because we want to continue to deliver the best value we can for our guests," he says.
Reinstein says the lag time between when the drought took place and when the market will see its pricing effects poses an additional obstacle. "People's memories are short, and the drought happened this past summer," he says. "By the time a lot of the effects of what happened with the drought takes place, … I just wonder if the consumer is going to realize what's going on as restaurants and supermarkets and everybody else is forced to raise prices."
Locking down contracts
To help curb costs from rising commodity prices, operators are looking ahead of the market and scrambling to lock in any product contracts they can, lowering prices when possible.
"When the drought hit us, what we did was we very quickly got together with our economists and our supply partners, and we tried to put some short-term strategies in place," says Alice Le-Blanc, chief global supply chain, commercialization, and quality assurance officer for Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen.
Though the brand continues to lock in annual contracts when possible, it also considers converting some yearlong contracts to three- or six-month terms. "At the end of the day, we want to work with our supply partners to ensure that they, too, are staying profitable," LeBlanc says, "because if any of our supply partners suffer, then we won't have continued supply. If it means going on a three-month contract, then that's what we have to do."
Bruce Reinstein is the vice president of strategic development and sourcing for purchasing firm Consolidated Concepts. He says if the firm anticipates excessively higher prices over the contract period, it will opt for 90- or 180-day contracts for its clients. However, these shorter contracts can make menu planning more difficult. "The worst thing is to put together a menu for the year and then you have a three-month contract, and all of a sudden your products go up 20–25 percent," he says.
Instead, he says it may be worthwhile to lock in a 10–12 percent increase for a full-year contract, even if there's a possibility that markets may drop by the end of the year.
"At least what you did is you kind of averaged it out," Reinstein says. "You paid a little bit more at one point in the year, a little bit less at one point, but if you can get that long-term contract and you feel it's a fair contract for everybody involved, it gives you a little more peace of mind."
Capitalizing on limited-time offers
With uncertain prices and product contracts, operators are turning to limited-time offers as a more economically sound menu-planning approach.
"[Restaurants] have to be much more nimble than they used to be," Consolidated Concepts' Reinstein says. "They have to be looking at limited-time offers that they're not tied in to for real long periods of time because the markets are going to change, potentially even during that limited-time offer."
The team at Salsarita's, which has 80 stores across the East Coast, Midwest, and South, takes advantage of market movements by planning its LTOs on a short notice. "We make a point with our LTOs of not going too far out, so we're nimble enough that we can still affect what we decide to do [this] spring, summer, and fall," Larry Reinstein says. "One of the advantages of a company that's not as big is you can run different types of LTOs, you can do different things in your restaurants, and you can move a lot quicker."
Jeff Forrester, director of purchasing for Dickey's Barbecue, says that because beef prices are rising at a faster rate than those of pork or chicken, the brand developed a new Barbecue Honey Ham to build sales and maintain its cost of goods throughout the year. "We're always looking at ways to increase our breadth within the marketplace and give our customers the best products we can for the money," he says.
And though it specializes in chicken offerings, Popeyes will set itself apart while saving money by playing up its seafood offerings, LeBlanc says. The brand plans to bring back and emphasize popular limited-time seafood promotions like its Butterfly Shrimp Tackle Box and the Crawfish Festival.
Preying on poultry
Because items like beef and pork are taking the biggest beating from lower supply and higher feed prices, many brands are going down a different protein path to cut costs. Experts say poultry will remain the cheapest protein—largely because of its shorter production cycle of around six weeks—leading brands from all segments to highlight existing chicken products or develop chicken-based limited-time offers.
McDonald's and Burger King have reinvested in their chicken offerings in recent months, with items like Chicken McBites and the Chicken Parmesan Sandwich, respectively. Bruce Reinstein says brands could even think outside the box by exploring dark meat or promoting chicken legs instead of wings.
"For the past two years, all of [the] restaurant chains have pretty much bailed themselves out by promoting chicken breasts in any way possible," Market Vision's Barone says. He adds that though chicken breast prices were up 10 percent last year, 2011 was a record-low-price year. "So even if we take another increase [this] year, historically, chicken breast is still going to be relatively inexpensive," Barone says.
While CKE brands offer chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, and charbroiled chicken breasts, they also offer something many other quick-serve chains don't: turkey burgers. Puzder says the brand is introducing a jalapeño turkey burger this month in anticipation of rising prices for other proteins. "We think that we can switch to other proteins like turkey, for example, or chicken if we needed to, if beef goes too high," he says.
Searching for a turnaround
The USDA hopes major price increases will work their way through the system by the midpoint of the year. However, "We're at this new plateau of higher prices for beef and pork, and we expect them to continue to increase through 2013 and probably beyond," Volpe says.
Not only does the speed of recovery depend on weather conditions going into spring—a hefty dose of rain would likely remedy the situation—but it also hinges largely on farmers' and ranchers' actions. Barone says many of them will wait to see what kind of corn crop they plant this spring, as well as how high corn prices will be, before deciding to expand herds again. But even then, immediate relief won't be found for items like beef; after all, ranchers have to breed cattle and raise them to slaughter.
"That is a two to two-and-a-half-year process," he says. "At the very, very closest, we're not looking at expanded cattle supplies until the middle of 2015. We're talking all of 2013 and 2014 for elevated beef prices, and possible record-high prices for spring 2013."
However, some in the industry believe at least a portion of the problem's severity can be eased by operators' reactions. "Commodity prices are like oil prices. They go up for two reasons: One is an actual demand that exceeds supply, and the other is an anticipation that demand will exceed supply," CKE's Puzder says. "The anticipation itself can impact prices, even though the actual supply may be there. If people are patient and kind of look at the history of where these things go, we'll see that it may not be as bad as people think."


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Bronze Quadrant Table
The Bronze Quadrant Coffee Table is a modern table of form…. made from blackened sandblasted stainless steel and bronze banding, this table can be used both indoors and outdoors. The impressive craftsmanship makes this simple table a work of art.
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1 June 2007
1 June 2007
The development of the MetaTrader 4 Mobile SE has been completed. Using it, you can get access to financial markets and make trades worldwide. The embedded symbol charts and technical indicators, as well as financial news, will help to make a decision about whether to open or close a position. Trading via this terminal is fully confidential and absolutely safe. If it is necessary, you can find trading history in your MetaTrader 4 Mobile any time.
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These adorable bows are made from the scraps of upcycled vintage textiles, making them not only super cute, but also super environmentally friendly as this furthers my mission to reduce as much textile waste as possible! What would normally be thrown away as "scraps" have now been turned into the sweetest accessories!
This listing is for a "Sailor-style" bow. There are three Large size bows available.
Large bows measure approximately 3.5" wide and 3.25" long at their longest points.
Small bows measure approximately 2.27" wide and 2.75" long at their longest points.
Bow can be purchased with either a:
Fabric is pre-washed (in dye and perfume-free detergent), so minimal additional shrinking should occur. Due to vintage nature of the fabric and the item, it is recommended that the bow be washed by hand to maintain the integrity of the materials.
Bow will be ready-to-ship within 1-3 business days of purchase! US Domestic shipping is FREE on orders over $40.**Standard of Grace items are not intended for unsupervised sleeping. Some products may contain ties and/or small pieces that could become choking/strangulation hazards. Standard of Grace is not liable for any accidents, related or unrelated, that may occur while wearing Standard of Grace products.Please see FAQ page/contact me if you have any questions!


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Aerospace technology has been utilized to produce our TUF-LINE® XP fishing line. Tension Lock Technology TUF-LINE® XP is braided under high tension, creating more compaction of the fibers during the finishing process and a rounder profile than competitive lines. TUF-LINE® XP is more compact, smaller in diameter, packs better on reels, offers better knot performance, casts longer, reduces rod tip wraps, and boasts higher abrasion resistance. TUF-LINE® XPs state-of-the-art coating remains permanently bonded to the fibers, offering an incredibly long service life with zero shedding to become our best-selling braided superline.


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Days before a gun rights protest that is set to take place this weekend at the Virginia Capitol, Gov. Ralph Northam declared an emergency, which will ban protesters from entering the grounds around the Capitol with firearms.
The emergency, which was declared by executive order, will span Friday, January 17 at 5:00 p.m. until Tuesday, January 21 at 5:00 p.m.
"Law enforcement intelligence analysts have identified credible threats of violence surrounding the event, along with white nationalist rhetoric and plans by out-of-state militia groups to attend," said a statement from Northam's office.
Northam tweeted that the order was to protect citizens and lawmakers.
"We support citizens' rights to peacefully protest and express their views to their elected officials. But we must also keep the public, as well as those who work around Capitol Square, safe," the governor tweeted.
Northam, a Democrat elected in 2018, now enjoys partisan support from the Virginia House and Senate. Following the 2019 election, Democrats have the majority in the Virginia House of Delegates for the first time in more than two decades.
With Democrats holding the bicameral legislature, there has been a push to enact gun control.
While a bill to ban assault weapons was dropped earlier this week, other bills are still being considered. One is limiting the purchases of firearms to one a month.
Earlier this month, Northam signed legislation to prohibit firearms inside of the Capitol building and adjacent legislative office building. The law does not prohibit guns from the grounds near the Capitol, which is why Northam signed an executive order for this weekend.
The response to gun legislation in Virginia has been swift, prompting an expected protest for this weekend. Many counties in Virginia have enacted "second amendment sanctuary" laws, also in response to Democratic proposals.


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A traditional trust can sometimes create a conflict between the lifetime and remainder beneficiaries. For example, investment strategies that provide growth that benefits remainder beneficiaries can leave lifetime beneficiaries with little or no annual payouts. This makes it more difficult for your estate plan to achieve your objectives and places your trustee in a difficult position. A total return unitrust (TRU) may offer a solution.
A TRU frees the trustee to employ investment strategies that maximize growth (total return) for the remainder beneficiaries without depriving lifetime beneficiaries of income. Rather than pay out its income to the lifetime beneficiary, a TRU pays out a fixed percentage (typically between 3% and 5%) of the trust's value, recalculated annually, regardless of the trust's earnings.
Issues to consider when creating a TRU
It's important to plan a TRU carefully, such as by projecting the benefits your beneficiaries will enjoy under various scenarios, including different payout rates, investment strategies and market conditions. Keep in mind that, for a TRU to be effective, it must produce returns that outperform the payout rate, so don't set the rate too high.
Your state's trust laws also must be considered. Some states don't allow TRUs. Also, many states establish payout rates (or ranges of permissible rates) for TRUs, so your flexibility in designing a TRU may be limited. Finally, if a trust is required to pay out all of its income to a current beneficiary, be sure that unitrust payouts will satisfy the definition of "income" under applicable state and federal law.
Converting an existing trust into a TRU
If you're concerned that an existing, irrevocable, income-only trust may be unfair to certain beneficiaries, it may be possible to convert it into a TRU. To do so, such a conversion must be permitted by applicable state law.
An IRS private letter ruling clarifies that converting a trust into a TRU according to state law shouldn't have any negative federal tax implications. It doesn't cause the trust to lose its grandfathered status for generation-skipping transfer tax purposes.
Is a TRU right for you?
By aligning your beneficiaries' interests, a TRU can relieve tension among your loved ones and allow your trustee to concentrate on developing the most effective investment strategy. We can project TRU benefits for you under various scenarios, help you find out what's permitted in your state and provide additional details about TRUs.
© 2018


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The iconic horror franchise is back for new tales of terror! Shudder's new Creepshow TV series expands on the rich legacy of horror built by the original movies, and breathes new unlife into its mascot, The Creep.
Now in action figure form, The Creep stands over 7 inches tall and is fully posable, with over 25 points of articulation. The figure features synthetic hair and a fabric robe with wire armature so you can give it just the right positioning. The Creep also comes with lantern, skull and Creepshow comic book accessories.


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Bibio traditional wet fly.
Bibio traditional wet fly from the guys at fish fishing flies. Part of the traditional wet fly range from the team at fish. These flies have stood the test of time. Wet Trout flies resemble an insect under the water surface. They can imitate dead flies, aquatic insects or even an emerging insect.
They are by far some of the widest used patterns and favourites for loch and reservoir fishing. Ideal when hunting more established trout. Suitable for rainbow and brown the wet patterns have proved themselves time and time. Get the wets on to fish whether out on the boat or stood at the bank.
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Hints & Tips
If you want to learn more about how to fish using traditional wet flies check out the link below. This is from Trout Fisherman magazine and shows a great graphic on fishing from a boat using a team of wet flies.
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