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London Mayor Boris Johnson is having a tricycle made as a gift from the capital city for royal baby Prince George, the politician said today.
"We are sending Prince George a beautiful, bouncing blue tricycle to get him on a bike at the earliest possible opportunity and to acculturate him to the joy of cycling," Mr Johnson revealed during his monthly radio phone-in.
The Mayor admitted on LBC 97.3 that he was unclear about the details of the gift - which is being custom-made for the son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who was born last month.
But he said it "might well be" in the style of the blue bicycles, nicknamed "Boris Bikes", which are available for public hire in the city.
"It will be beautiful whatever it is," he told the radio station.
Prime Minister David Cameron gave Prince George a box-set of books by much-loved children's author Roald Dahl.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and his wife Miriam sent the Duke and Duchess a big bag of coffee to help them cope with sleepless nights along with a white cot cover and sheet hand-embroidered by nuns in Mrs Clegg's home village in Spain, where the Deputy Prime Minister was holidaying at the time of the royal birth.
Sources: ITN/PA


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subset: commoncrawl


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Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Thank You
Thank you for the nomination and for those who have voted for me for the photographer of Stewart County. It is just an honor to be nominated Thank You!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Alyssa & Jake
Studio Update
So happy to announce I am working hard toward my certification of the Professional Photographers Assoc. As most of you know I attend conferences and seminars every year to expand my ideas and knowledge to share with you! I have received several merits during my memberships and working to complete my certification! Yeah!! Don't forget Spring is also approaching and samples will come soon of the spring scene and bunny for this year -so stay tuned...Don't forget about the buttercup special also some have called already so call now for your appt!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Rocky is ONE!!
Here is a preview of Rocky's first birthday portraits!
He completed the "Watch Me Grow" panel at Christy's Studio!
Thanks Crystal and Mario for bringing him all year I have loved
every moment of it!
The "Watch Me Grow" program is a perfect way to capture those changing moments that occur the first year of your babies life. We begin the journey with our "new beginnings" session at-3 months, then we head to "the sweetness session" at 6 months, then to "the moment" session at 9 months and "the big freedom" session at one year! It is an ideal program designed to capture it all!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Sweet Caroline and Grace
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Adelyn & Sawyer
Two Beautiful Children Adelyn and Sawyer! Here is a preview of their session-so sweet. Thank you Julie and Nick for bringing them to the studio!!
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text:
The Airborne Public Safety Conference (APSCON) from 9 to 11 July in Louisville, KY, marks the site for the debut of Kopter's SH09 multi-mission helicopter in an advanced public safety configuration engineered for Kopter by Metro Aviation in Shreveport, LA.
Kopter is pleased to participate in Heli UK Expo from 14 to 16 June at Wycombe Air Park!
Kopter Group AG is proud to announce that the newly launched Garmin G3000H will be integrated into the SH09 single turbine helicopter from first deliveries.
Kopter is pleased to take part in the 50th anniversary of Air Zermatt with the second prototype of our SH09.
Kopter has been granted this year's Aerosuisse Award for its pioneering role in the construction of the first new and innovative light helicopter in Switzerland.
Kopter participated in the 7th edition of Bodensee Aerospace Meeting (BAM) in Zurich on 22 March as a platinum sponsor.
Kopter Group AG has experienced extensive interest from customers participating at HeliExpo 2018, held in Las Vegas, NV from 27 Feb to 1 March.
On Day 2 of HeliExpo 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Kopter Group AG is proud to announce that Safomar Aviation (PTY) LTD of South Africa has signed an order of two (2) units of the SH09 single turbine helicopter.
Kopter Group signed a memorandum of Agreement with Rainier International Inc, a subsidiary of Elling Halverson Inc, for the purchase of five (5) SH09 helicopters with options for as many as five (5) additional aircraft for delivery within the next three (3) years.
Kopter Group AG announced today the signature of a Memorandum of Agreement with Paradise Helicopters for the purchase of four (4) SH09 helicopters to be delivered after the helicopter is awarded FAA certification expected around end of 2019.
Kopter is proud to announce the signature of a firm contract for twelve units plus six options with Helitrans AS, one of Norway's largest helicopter operators.
Kopter Group AG received from EASA today the certificate granting the Design Organization Approval (DOA).
Kopter Group AG today announced the appointment of Larry D. Roberts as senior vice president, U.S. Business Development responsible for the sales, marketing of the SH09 single-engine turbine helicopter in North America. Mr. Roberts will be based in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas.
SH09 second prototype, P2, has been flying with new main rotor blades that incorporate enhancements to the blade structure and surface finish.
MSH, the Swiss helicopter manufacturer, has unveiled its new brand name.
MSH is proud to present the second prototype (P2) of its SH09 single-turbine helicopter on the occasion of the 2018 Helicopter Association International Heli-Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, to be held from 27th February to 1st March.
The Marenco Swisshelicopter HR team onboarded 112 new employees from 15 countries in 2017, with the company now reaching 250 employees.
First day in our new Headquarters in Wetzikon near Zurich
P2 is pursuing its flight test program in Mollis under the first snow falls!
Cecile Vion-Lanctuit has been appointed as Marenco Swiss Helicopter's (MSH) head of communications & marketing, effective November 1, 2017.


text: How to Reduce AC Repair Costs Using Simple, Seasonal Tests Published on March 27, 2015 Don't you love that feeling when you get to switch over the thermostat from heating to cooling? So do we! With spring in the air and winter in the rearview mirror, it's time to think about the working condition of your Dallas home's air conditioner, both in terms of AC repair or seasonal servicing. So what can you do to get the most out of your air conditioner without increasing your monthly energy costs? Levy & Son has a few insights: Turn it up – when you initially turn on your air conditioner, take a few days to test out a number of temperatures to find where you gain the most comfortable. Begin by setting your thermostat to a temperature that you might think is a little too high. Then, work on making small incremental changes until you get to a temperature where you feel comfortable. Keeping your thermostat set higher can keep your system from continually running, saving you money over the long haul. The longer your air conditioner is running, the more energy you're using—and the more money you're spending. Even a degree warmer can make a big impact in the cost of your monthly energy bills, so take time to fiddle around with it. Consider the humidity – when you realize how much you can save, it can be tempting to suck it up and deal with the heat by completely turning off your air conditioner. However, what can easily be lost is that air conditioners can help dehumidify your home in addition to cooling it. So if humidity is an issue for you, be sure to think twice before turning off your air conditioner. Keep it serviced – every time we talk about energy savings and efficiency, the importance of air conditioner service cannot be mentioned enough. Keeping your air conditioner serviced makes sure that all the pieces of your system are in working order before you begin using it all the time. Preventative maintenance is one of the most important steps to your system operating efficiently and keeping major AC repair at bay. Double team – using fans in addition to your air conditioner is a great way to keep your home cooler and keep the air circulating. Levy & Son recommends tag-teaming to allow you to keep your air conditioner from running as often, and that diminished usage can create savings. It may also potentially help keep your home comfortable enough to raise your thermostat a degree or two. Keeping your home comfortable when it gets hot in Dallas isn't as tough as it may seem. And it doesn't have to be so expensive either. Luckily for you, there are a variety of ways that you can maintain or improve your comfort while also attempting to lessen your monthly energy costs. Whether you have questions about AC repair and air conditioner service or are curious about energy efficiency, contact your local Dallas HVAC experts at Levy & Son to learn more. Back To BlogContact Us


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Our focus is to help our clients by creating a plan focused on stability and growth while providing the manpower to implement the design.
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Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Moneys Hot Rod Custom Show - 25th Anniversary!!!!!
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text: A Preoperative Guide for Adult Patients Welcome to Mass. Eye and Ear. Using a family-centered approach, you will be cared for at Mass. Eye and Ear by a team of knowledgeable and compassionate professionals. You will have access to some of the most advanced medical resources available. Mass. Eye and Ear Adult Surgical Services strives to make your experience as pleasant as possible. This section of the website offers information to help guide you through the process. Please click on the links on the left for helpful information for our surgical patients and for their loved ones for both our main campus and our Longwood Surgical Center. Contact Us Today! 617-523-7900


text:
By Roger (22 Nov 2013)
This week's 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address offered me another opportunity to add photos to my personal project about the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War. I've been chugging through a couple of other commemorations since I last wrote about this project, but it's always nice to get up to Gettysburg.
We got there early enough to park directly across from the Soldier's National Cemetery. The cloud cover meant we weren't going to make too many shots with lots of sky, but the even lighting was nice for people. We made a short circuit around the central burial fields before finding a good location near the front of the speakers' dais. Maybe because of my genealogy background, I am not bothered when walking around cemeteries. I enjoy reading the tombstones and thinking about the lives and times of those buried there. Since this cemetery was created to bury the thousands killed at the Battle of Gettysburg, the majority there lived short lives in very troubled times. But there are more recent internees, too.
By the time the ceremonies began, there were more than 4,000 people there. I counted four Lincolns, a Frederick Douglass, LTG Grant (neither Douglass nor Grant were at the real event in 1863), 75-100 anonymous Union soldiers, and countless townspeople in period dress. They were surrounded by media folks with TV cameras and microphones, driving a buzz around the country that was more intense than the original event.
The crowds got in my way for the types of photos I like to take at these events. I usually like to keep all signs of the modern world out of sight, but that wasn't always possible. I managed to work around some of it through cropping, lens blur, and when necessary, Photoshop. Some things, like President Lincoln on the podium with a microphone, I just had to accept.
The re-enactors are great resources you can use to discover additional opportunities. I always talk to these folks and try to trade business cards. As I've said before, the people who take these re-enactments seriously have dedicated lots of time and effort to make their portrayals as real as possible. They do not object to you photographing them. Just be decent about it and send them a file they can use on their websites or for their own purposes.
Quick tip – Before I begin to make photographs, I synchronize my watch with the camera clock. Then, when I make their photo and give them a card, I write the time I took the photo on my card. They can send me an email with the time, and I know right where to find them. I make so many photos of so many people at these events, it can be hard to remember who is who. This method is the easiest way to keep everyone in synch.
While we were at the ceremonies, we met some members of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Company B. They were waiting for their part of the activities, so I took a couple of photos. They are located nearby, so I hope to do more with them at some other event. They have a website with the history of the unit and events in which they'll be participating (link).
Obviously, I thought the trip was great and added a few new photos to my project. I dragged a new photographer with me from work because it's always more fun when you have someone to enjoy the event with. More trips are on the horizon, right up to April 2015, at Appomattox, Va. Leave a comment or send me an email if you'd like to join me for some of them.


text:
Butterick 6727; early 1970s; Junior Petite & Junior Dress. Dress, in three lengths, has fitted high-waisted bodice, U-neckline with self or contrast collar, gathered skirt, short puff or full length sleeves with contrast cuffs, and optional patch pockets and eyelet trim. Purchased or ribbon belts.
Links to reviews/blog posts Edit
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[insert your photos of this pattern made up]
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Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.


text:
Product Details
Specialized Butcher Grid 2BLISS Tyre 650b
Launched in autumn 2017, this version of the Specialized Butcher Grid 2BLISS mountain bike tyre is even faster, grippier and more shock-absorbing than previous versions.
- Proven on both road and off-road tyres, Specialized's Gripton rubber compound (enhanced here with sawtooth-faced tread blocks) achieves the trick of being the fastest and best gripping they have ever produced
- The tyre's Grid casing delivers enhanced sidewall stiffness for exceptional stability, durability and cut-resistance
- 2Bliss means this tyre is made to be run tubeless - why this is good
- It can also be used with a tube
Here's how Specialized describe their Butcher Grid 2BLISS Tyre
The latest generation of the World-Cup-proven intermediate tyre, the Butcher GRID 2Bliss Ready, receives sawtooth faces on the tread blocks to increase stability under load and provide additional biting edges. This in turn improves rolling speed as well as control under hard braking and cornering. Meanwhile, our proprietary GRIPTON compound improves high frequency damping, attaching the tyre to the ground better on both small bumps and rough sections. The low frequencies of the rolling tyre deflections pass through unfiltered, leaving no energy absorbed, keeping speed high. Once you ride this new Butcher, you will never want another tyre for your gravity excursions. We recommend GRID tyres for anyone seeking the utmost in flat and sidewall protection or additional stability.
- Casing: 60 TPI
- Bead: Foldable
- Butyl wrapped bead = 2Bliss Ready
- Compound: GRIPTON
- 650b x 2.3"; PSI 25-50; approximate weight 870g
- 650b x 2.6"; PSI 20-40; approximate weight 960g


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text:
Police are investigating after an attempted armed cash-in-transit robbery this morning in Lisburn.
The incident happened in a car park in the Knockmore Road area of Lisburn around 6am today when the occupants of the cash-in-transit van were approached by three masked men, "one of whom was brandishing a firearm".
The gang demanded cash - but they made off from the scene empty handed.
A PSNI spokesman said: "All three men were wearing scarves around their faces and had hoods up over their heads. It is believed they fled the scene in a silver BMW, which was found abandoned a short time later in the Windermere area.
"Police believe they then got into a second car, a grey BMW," he added.
A PSNI spokesman has appealed to anyone who may have seen either the silver BMW acting suspiciously in the Knockmore Road area or Windermere area this morning or the grey BMW leaving the Windermere area, to contact Detectives at Reactive and Organised Crime at Lisburn on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference 164 15/06/17.
Alternatively, if someone would prefer to provide information without giving their details they can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers and speak to them anonymously on 0800 555 111.


text:
Water is imperative to the brewing process. That said, "watered down" is perhaps one of the most derisive indictments that can be levied against a brewery.
With that in mind, Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B InBev) must be feeling pretty good right about now.
According to the St. Louis Dispatch, on Monday, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit, filed by consumers from across the country, that alleged the beer giant had been watering down "several of its top brands, including Budweiser and Michelob" in an effort to cut costs.
At the crux of the charges, A-B InBev is alleged to have been using Anton Paar meters to measure the alcohol content in its beers before adding water and carbon dioxide to lower the alcohol content. Subsequently, according to the suit, the company marketed its beers as having higher alcohol content than they actually did.
When the story first broke last March, Mitch Steele, the current brewmaster for Stone Brewing Co. and who worked as a brewer for Anheuser-Busch from 1992-2006, explained to Brewbound that A-B InBev uses a "high-gravity brewing" process to achieve accurate ABV levels.
"It's very normal for this to happen," he said at the time. "There are two reasons for it. First, it allows you to get your ABV totally dialed in with the specifications that are set for the beer. Second, it gives you more capacity in the brewery."
An earlier statement from A-B InBev's vice president of brewing and supply, Peter Kraemer, claimed the accusations were "completely false." To the chagrin of the collective plaintiff, Judge Donald Nugent of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio agreed wholeheartedly.
"There is no dispute that the Anheuser-Busch products at issue are malt beverages … and that the stated percentage of alcohol on the labels of these products is within 0.3 percent of the actual percentage of alcohol in the product," he wrote in his ruling.
So it seems the self-proclaimed King of Beers will retain its self-proclaimed crown.
That wasn't the only beer controversy to make waves this week. Charleston Southern University allegedly fired one of its most popular professors because the powers that be didn't like the cut of his jib, as it appeared on a beer can from Holy City Brewing.
Paul Roof, the now unemployed professor in question, happens to boast a magnificently hirsute disposition. So magnificent, in fact, is his shapely beard and moustache, that it caught the attention of Holy City. The brewery, in need of artwork for its aptly named "Chucktown Follicle Brown," approached Roof about decorating the beer cans with his image. Roof obliged and was fired as a result, according to a brief statement that he posted on his Facebook account,
"[Today] I was fired from my position as Associate Professor of Sociology because my image (which I do not own & received no compensation) based on a photograph by Greg Anderson Photography appears on a beer can," he wrote.
The university, which was initially mum on the subject, issued a lengthy statement to Live 5 News. For the sake of brevity, here's the important part:
"First, it should be clear that the matter involving Dr. Roof is, in no way, premised upon the actual consumption of alcohol. Second, the matter has nothing to do with the presence of facial hair."
In less contentious news, Golden Road Brewery will now brew the house-brand beers for Trader Joe's.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Golden Road "has stepped in to fill the gap left by Firestone Walker's discontinued Mission St. line with a new house-brand made specifically for the specialty grocery stores called Ol' Burro Brewery."
The brewery will produce three beers for Trader Joe's: Golde Brick Pale Ale, El Guero Blonde Ale and Tap 79 IPA. According to the Times, the beers will be packaged in 4-packs of 16 oz. cans and will have a price of $5-7.
"We were fortunate enough to brew the first craft canned beer for Trader Joe's," Golden Road president Meg Gill told the website. "It has been a fun project and we are proud of the beer."
Lastly, we'll leave you with a hypothetical question: would you pay $1,000 right now for unlimited beer at your favorite watering hole for the rest of your life?
That question was more than hypothetical in Minneapolis, as Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub began offering people a lifetime of free beer for an up front investment of $1,000.
It started two years ago when the brewpub's owners needed to raise $220,000 to open, but couldn't lure investors due to their lack of industry experience. So, as a way to raise the money needed to open the doors to their dream brewpub, they decided to offer friends and family a lifetime supply of beer as the reward for a $1,000 vote of confidence in the startup.
According to The Atlantic City Lab, "People could also receive 0.1 percent non-voting equity in the company for every $1,000 invested. Or for $5,000, investors get 0.5 percent equity and free in-house beer for life."
It adds that the brewpub, now a registered LLC, achieved its fundraising goals with the help of 118 people.


text:
Apprenticeship - Ag Mechanic - St George
Job No:
St George
If you are motivated, willing to learn, and are a team player, then Vanderfield St George has an exciting opportunity for you as our Agricultural Mechanical Technology Apprentice.
Certificate III in Agricultural Mechanical Technology
The apprentice undertaking this role will primarily service and repair the mechanical parts such as the engine, transmission (clutch, gearbox and differential), and the suspension systems (springs, steering, brakes, wheels and tyres). They will perform tasks including discussing problems with drivers/users to discover faults and carry out their own diagnostic procedures. They will repair and service engines, cooling systems, exhaust systems, diesel fuel systems, engine forced induction systems and clutch assemblies. In addition, they will repair and service manual and automatic transmissions, braking systems, hydraulic systems, final drive assemblies and steering and suspension systems. The repair of ignition, electronic engine and drive management systems is also encompassed in the vehicle mobile equipment mechanic's duties.
Carry out the requirements for an Apprenticeship which includes:
- Attend the training organisation to participate in off-the-job training as scheduled
- Participate and follow directions for all on-the-job training
- Maintain a Training Record Book and ensure that it is updated weekly
- You must be enthusiastic and reliable
- Your presentation must clean, neat and tidy
- You must have good communication skills
- And above all, you must be willing to learn and enjoy what you are doing
All enquiries for this position are to be directed to Jackie Doyle, HR Manager on 0427 602 005 or Alan Bessell, Service Manager on 0427 113 109


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365 Stories on type, typography and graphic design
Recently I have been asked by three students (2 female and 1 male) my opinion on how successful women are becoming in a male dominated business. And also why typography has traditionally been such a boys club?
Embarrassingly I didn't at the time (and still don't) have a good answer for these questions - Of course I respond by discussing the brilliance of Beatrice Warde and the major contribution she made to type, I have even rambled on about the role Sarah Eaves played in Baskerville's work, and talked at length about contemporary female practitioners I respect and admire. On all three occasions I made what could be - at best - described as a clumsy articulation of the important roles women play in type culture and the state of any real or perceived gender imbalance in our industry.
I have experienced sexism first hand in my career but I suspect lots of women (and men) from many different industries face some kind of sex based prejudice or assumption in their professional lives. I think that is more a commentary on the person who is being gender biased than it is on the entire profession. But I guess if gender wasn't at all relevant in practice I wouldn't have been compelled to chose TypographHer as my handle!
In the last 8 weeks there were a number of discussions (and debates) on sexism in the creative industries (and specifically type) on forums and social media. Last month Dyana Weissman published an excellent series on Womens Voices in Type which I found to be an intelligent, engaging and surprising read. Today - via Amy Papaelias - I stumbled upon this cool graduation project called Typequality by Kimberly Ihres which operates as a platform for discovering and sharing typefaces designed by women. And while reading Dyana's articles last month I also found a brilliant perspective published earlier by Verena Gerlach, which posed the question: Where are the women in type design?
So it seems there is a growing critical mass of questioning around gender and sexism in type. And as a direct response a new community called Alphabettes has formed! This week we made our first public outing in the form of Alphabettes.org a showcase for work, commentary, and research. This brand new platform of type, typography and lettering is run by 76 women in the business! I am honored to be part of this community and was a little star-stuck to see the talented line up of members in our ranks! Discover the bettes here!
The website was built by Amy Papaelias and Indra Kupferschmid, (who were the perfect choices to take on such an effort given they 'like making and breaking things on the web'). Each morning I would jump into slack to excitedly chart the ladies collaborative process which was insanely efficient. As ideas bounced back and forth between Germany and the US. (The speed at which this site was built is totally putting the redesign and build of typographHer.com to shame!) The first interview is now live and by Liron Lavi Turkenich profiling Alice Savoie - it is a great read - check out the interview here. Each week the alphabettes.org site banner will change - The current one is by Veronika Burian, featuring her Birdy typeface. But check back regularly to see new content, eye-candy, thinking and interviews and to chart what happens when these ladies of letters get together, to share knowledge, support one another and publish? I think it will be exciting, and I am thrilled to be a part of it! Thank you so much to Nina for the opportunity to be involved.


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August 30th, 2013. 11 days. One month into the mini-blog!
And the answers are (insert drumroll here)...
Scene 1: Worst Scene 5: Best
To be honest, there isn't exactly one right answer - especially when asking for a more subjective evaluation, as preferences do play a role. I typically score this question based on the "justification" my students give for their rankings. So ALL of you passed with flying colors - thanks SO much for participating. (I especially got a kick out of the comment regarding the SVU/white van in scene 1 - and wow, my fiance really has picked up a thing or two from walking the streets with me!). As a bonus, I will "score" these scenes using State of Place, which helps delineate the subtleties that many of you pointed out (that made it hard to choose a winner and loser). All streets have assets and needs - and that's what State of Place highlights so well. So stay tuned for that too!
So here's the lowdown: Scenes 1, 2, and 4 are all worthy contenders for the "worst" streetscape prize. Scenes 3 and 5 are both lovely and inviting in their own right and serve as fairly good models of mixed-use and residential urban design, respectively. I'll elaborate on the worst of these in this blog, and go over the "winners" in tomorrow's mini-blog!
Scene 2: I initially picked this scene to represent the "worst" streetscape. Right by the Chinese consulate in Hell's Kitchen, the garage-looking, blank facade of the Fed-Ex building on the right couldn't be more uninviting. The infamous "Silver Towers" on the left are cold, have a monotonous facade, and only one "active" use on the ground floor (a deli/cafe with no outdoor dining - although why would you want to sit outside on that street). The five-land road is more highway than street - and the lack of ground-floor uses encourages drivers to speed.
Scene 4: This is one of most unappealing streets in the area known as Soho Village. Right near the Holland Tunnel, it reads more thru-way than street. While the buildings themselves abut the street and have interesting architectural details, this six lane road with relatively narrow sidewalks and no street trees has less than pedestrian friendly proportions. The street is completely unactivated and the buildings themselves overpower the street, as one or two of them dominate the streetscape.
Scene 1: This street, just a few blocks away from my apartment, is one I tend to avoid. The streetscape is interrupted in several places due to the various "tower in the park" type buildings that don't "relate" to the street in any real way. The fenced-in parking lots (a rarity for New York) also make for a discontinuous streetscape, disrupting the "enclosure" of the street and making it less attractive, despite the nice street trees. The blank, red, sidewall dominates the scene. The street is too wide given its residential nature and the fact that it's a one way road.
Tune in tomorrow for the breakdown on the "good" streets!
Learn more about this blog series!
<<Read yesterday's mini blog
Read the next mini blog>>


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This month marks 10 years since a charity specifically aimed at supporting those in Lancaster's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community was set up.
Out in the Bay works with LGBT people and young adults, as well as people who misuse drugs and alcohol and those living with long-term sexual health conditions.
They aim to provide support to LGBT people in the Lancaster area, as well as raising awareness for LGBT issues and campaigns.
They also work with people struggling with drug and alcohol abuse, and provide information and support regarding sexual health.
This is done through providing one-to-one peer support, a venue for regular social events, drop-in sessions and an outreach program for outlying areas.
Here, group founder and CEO Robert Mee tells us about his life and how it resulted in him launching the OITB service on July 8 2008.
"I was born in a women's prison in 1972. I was taken away from my birth mother and fostered, then six months later my mother was released from prison and got me back – but sadly only for a short while.
"I was taken away by social services and the lovely couple who had fostered me decided to adopt me. Growing up, I knew none of this.
"When I was around seven years old my parents told me I was adopted, and they spent hours explaining how I was loved and their real child.
"But that was not what I heard. All that got through to me was that my mummy didn't want me and nor did my daddy, and I couldn't understand why.
"Obviously at that time I had no idea about safeguarding children and how it worked. I was in a lovely caring home and loved by my parents, yet inside I felt as if I didn't belong.
"It was as if a bomb had gone off in my head: why didn't my birth parents love me?
"As I got to around 11 years old I started to struggle with my sexuality, although at the time I didn't quite know what I was struggling with.
"I went to church every Sunday and that's where I learned to drink with the other altar boys – after the service, any wine left was ours.
"I also heard in church that 'man shalt not lie with another man'.
"When I started to realise that I fancied my best friend more than I fancied my girlfriend, this was quite difficult.
"Slowly I found out what and where cruising areas were – and that there were plenty of them about 20 miles away in the nearest town.
"It was probably not something that a 14-year-old should have known about.
"I didn't really know what being gay was, I just knew I liked men more than women. This made me very frightened. I couldn't really find out information or even know who to talk to, and I felt alone and quite isolated.
"My secret kind of came out at school when I was 16. I stopped doing A-levels as I was being bullied daily – how was I supposed to achieve good school results when I was fending off bullies all the time?
"When I was 18 I had a job that took me away from the village to a city, and I still had my secrets.
"On a work night out, my colleagues warned me about a street that I should not go down, as that was where all the gays went.
"I took note of the street name and knew I would be there the next night. It was a private members' club and they wouldn't let me in.
"I had developed ways of acting straight so I didn't get my head kicked in, and I couldn't even convince a gay club to let me in.
"Eventually I just pressed the buzzer and kissed the bouncer, who let me enter.
"In the club it felt like I belonged for the first time in my life and I was at ease with who I was.
"I met a guy older than me, ex-army, and we got into a relationship quite quickly. It was hard being in a relationship with a guy in public, though.
"Once we left the safety of the club we had to be very careful – no showing affection towards each other as it was illegal to be gay if you were under 21 and not very widely accepted at any age.
"You could get beaten up by anyone and the police were not exactly helpful in those days.
"Just after my 19th birthday I found out that he had kept a secret from me about himself. We had gone to the hospital for his appointment for cancer and the nurse suggested to me that I needed a test.
"A little confused I had agreed, and two weeks later I was called back. The hospital told me that I had got HIV from my partner and that I would be lucky to live another six months.
"Six months to live – God really did hate me. 'I'm only 19, what do I do, who do I ask for help?,' I thought. 'My family don't even know I'm gay yet.'
"Enter my coping strategy – my old friend alcohol, that had been there for me since I was 11. If I was going to die it was going be on my terms, dancing on tables, off my head on drink.
"My partner blackmailed me to stay with him. He said if I left him he would tell everyone what I had got. I was very scared and very lonely.
"Freddie Mercury had died of Aids, so what hope was there really for the rest of us? I saw so many of my friends die of pneumonia and many just disappeared – so many people just dying in front of me.
"For the next few years I watched my partner become very ill and slowly deteriorate in front of me. I was watching him die and in my head I struggled with pain and fear that this was going to happen to me quite soon. I would die a very slow, painful death.
"At 25 I suffered liver failure. I woke up all yellow and was told that this was my body's way of telling me I needed to stop drinking. 'Don't be so stupid,' I replied. 'I'm dying of Aids and drinking is my way of coping.'
"When I was 28, after a number of failed relationships that I realise now were all based around alcohol consumption and not love, I actually met someone who didn't drink. Maybe I would stop drinking now, I thought.
"Sadly I had fallen in love with someone who was on heroin and crack cocaine and I quite quickly became addicted. My life took a whole new downward turn. The weight fell off and I really did look like an Aids victim. I was once again overwhelmed by feeling lost and lonely.
"In March 2006 I overdosed on heroin and crack for the fourth time and I was taken to A&E and told I would be lucky to live for four hours.
"I remember the horror of people trying desperately to save my life, but thought that all the pain would be over soon – no more feeling unwanted, no more feeling that I wasn't good enough, no more being battered in relationships.
"Dying seemed the only way for the pain to stop. I had full blown Aids, pneumocystis pneumonia, and not much chance of living.
"My parents had rushed to the hospital and entered my room in masks and gowns. I heard my father say to my mother: 'No father should ever have to bury his son.' Obviously I had overlooked the fact that they loved me as their child.
"As I left the hospital some six months later, I went to detox for two months at Hafen Wen in Wales. I was allowed home for Christmas and spent time with my family – my mum and dad, my brother, his wife and their two kids, my two nephews. This time was so valuable to me.
"Then it was time to go to rehab in January, at Littledale Hall in Lancaster. I spent 12 months there and made a lot of new friends.
"I kept the fact I was HIV positive quiet, as I wanted to be able to sort my addiction problem out rather than deal with the health condition. I really didn't think I would live long enough to complete the programme.
"But complete it I did, and thought 'what do I do now?' I volunteered for a local re-use charity, Furniture Matters, then for Lancaster Advocacy.
"When I finished at Lancaster Advocacy, I realised there weren't any LGBT+ charities in the area that helped with the issues I have gone through collectively, including: drug and alcohol abuse, including issues around chem sex, dealing with HIV, LGBT+ isolation and discrimination, HEP C Awareness, just to name a few subjects.
"In July 2008, with the help of a few people, I set up an LGBT+ group called Out in the Bay. I wanted to support other people and let them know they had options, so that maybe they didn't make the same mistakes that I had made in life.
"Today I am the CEO of the charity, we are all volunteers and I am very proud of what we do and stand for.
"We work with many agencies to try and support the LGBT+ community. It can be very draining at times, as finance is limited. But we offer hope when sometimes there seems to be none, we value every single human being as an equal, and we pride ourselves on who we are, offering a safe space for people to just be themselves.
"We work with other agencies and charities to increase our reach, and we also host four groups covering a few areas of need: Trans Females, Trans Males, Family Group and Coffee Afternoons.
"We do these groups to give any one that wants to attend, a safe place to talk about themselves, meet new people, raise their confidence in an informal group setting, which differs from our usual one-to-ones.
"These groups consist of chatting, relaxing with a brew, board games etc. All these groups provide a comfortable safe place that members of the community can attend and chat to other like-minded individuals without the worry of judgment and discrimination from their peers.
"We have many success stories from our modest charity, including people we have helped along the way through their education, into university and the likes.
"Additionally, when people come to us we try to give them purposeful tasks that can aid them in building confidence and communication skills, amongst other things, sometimes they even volunteer for us which can help them in terms of job opportunities, reducing social isolation and puts them on the path of recovery.
"Out in The Bay also hosts and manages Lancaster Pride, which has been running annually for the past two years.
"May 19 2018 was the second Lancaster Pride and we wanted to make it bigger and better than its previous year, we wanted to reach and engage with more of the community.
"We feel as though we achieved this as we estimated a massive 3'000 people attended, we hosted a concert, and increased the size of the event as a whole with fairground rides, more stalls etc.
"We also were able to connect with more businesses and establish new relationships across the Lancaster and Morecambe area.
"2019 will be the first year of Morecambe Pride, which we hope will also become an annual event for the community to attend.
"We would like to request that if any businesses big or small would like to be involved they contact us at email@example.com"


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The 2017 schedule was July 30 through August 11.
We have had the joy of hosting RV Care-A-Vanner teams for several years. The Care-A-Vanners are volunteers who travel the country in RVs, stopping at Habitat affiliates along the way, working on builds or at disaster relief scenes. Care-A-Vanners sign-up through Habitat for Humanity International and then choose Sioux Falls. They may visit five affiliates, while crossing the country, or visit one affiliate, traveling between two states. It's always a new team, although we have seen several "repeat" volunteers. We love that! If you're interesting in learning more about being a Care-A-Vanner, visit Habitat International's site.
The 2017 team
The 2016 team
The 2015 team
The 2014 team
The 2013 team
We have enjoyed some media coverage during RV Care-A-Vanners visits.
KELO August 1, 2017 – An Altruistic Kind of Thing
KELO June 20, 2016 – A Working Vacation
KDLT July 13, 2015 – Care-A-Vanners Build Happiness


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The following is an excerpt from City Parks, Clean Water, a report by The Trust for Public Land's Center for City Park Excellence that examines the role of urban parks in managing stormwater. This is the second installment in a series of 19 posts.
One of the nation's most celebrated marriages of recreation and green infrastructure,
Atlanta's Historic Fourth Ward Park is a $23-million triumph of engineering over flooding and landscape design over stop-gap asphalt.
Filed under: economics, green infrastructure, maintenance/management, partnerships, planning | Tagged: atlanta, City Parks Clean Water, downtown, public-private partnerships, research | Leave a comment »


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Launching your own business or working from home can quickly become overwhelming once understanding the various industries you must tap into before "going live". Implementing graphic design into your website, photos, and illustrations that are attractive help to bring more visitors to your site while also improving your website's overall SEO, or search engine optimization. There are also various websites and resources to use in order to tap into your own creativity when moving forward with social media posts, tweets, or even infographics to share on Pinterest.
Using our course is a great way for beginners to learn everything from creating flyers and banners for your website with ease to implementing your own logo on business cards, graphics you have created, or even Facebook ads you have built to help promote goods you are selling or any service you are offering.
The course we provide not only helps with resources for creating graphic design inexpensively but also trains individuals how to properly resize images for various social media platforms and placements (Facebook ads, profiles photos and even cover photos). Understanding how to reach your targeted audience on different social media platforms with graphic design is essential to appeal to those who are currently unaware of your website, service, or the goods you offer.
Our course is ideal if you are starting a new business or if you want to level the playing field with potential competitors regardless of the industry you are working in or represent. The course is also useful for freelancers or visual designers who work from home. With our graphic design course we help to build on your current skill sets while gaining new ones, giving you a competitive edge when updating your resume or applying for additional graphic design jobs in the future.


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Scenario: Maybe you are a medium size enterprise with 25, 50, or even 100 ESXi hosts and you are really not sure when the best time to upgrade your hosts. This is always a difficult question to answer based on bug fixes in not only ESXi code but also in VMware Tools code or even new feature sets. I have personally always found that you postpone until last minute or when absolutely necessary due to the amount of work and effort in upgrading — especially if you have 3rd party plugins installed and working with your VC.
What Now?: Ultimately my suggestion is do not procrastinate based off of the work you believe it will entail. VMware has proved us with some very nifty tools such as ESXi Builder as blogged about by our very own @virtual_cj here. Additionally with the support of PowerCLI your options are endless with workflow, logic, and script automation. A good example of taking some code that you may have already used and updating it to suit your needs can be found in the Reboot Automation script that we walked through before.
Let's Get To Work!: Using the previous code as a sample and @virtual_cj's ESXi Builder tutorial we can see that we only need to make a few minor code changes before we are on our way. Let's start by taking a look at the "Reboot VMHost and Wait" portion of code as this is the code block that we will want to substitute out and replace with host remidation.
#Reboot VMHost and Wait Until it is connected to vCenter Server
$i = 0;
Get-VMHost $_.Name | Restart-VMHost -Confirm:$False;
do{sleep -s 1; Write-Host (Get-VMHost $MyHost).Name "is" (Get-VMHost $MyHost).State $i; $i++} while((Get-VMHost $MyHost).State -like "Maintenance");
Write-Host "Host changing states!" -ForegroundColor Green;
do{sleep -s 1; Write-Host (Get-VMHost $MyHost).Name "is" (Get-VMHost $MyHost).State $i; $i++} while((Get-VMHost $MyHost).State -like "NotResponding");
#VMHost connected to vCenter Server
As you can see this code block is useless is and easily replaced with a one line that will transform our script into an ESXi Host upgrading machine. The one important section to note is the contains function of the where loop. It is very important to place your baseline that you wish to remediate against your ESXi Hosts there.
#Start Remediate VMHost with ESXi_Final Baseline
Get-Baseline -TargetType HOST | ?{$_.name.contains("ESXi_Final")} | Remediate-Inventory -Entity $_.Name -ClusterDisableDistributedPowerManagement:$true -ClusterDisableFaultTolerance:$true -confirm:$false
#End Remediate VMHost with ESXi_Final Baseline
There you have it. A PowerCLI VMHost remediating machine that can be ran all via copy and paste.
Closing Thoughts: It's always hard to make the right decision based on what you need and when you need it regarding your ESXi Hosts; however, you should never let your thought process of when to upgrade be based on the amount of work that must go into your change. Instead look on the bright side and enjoy some cleaver PowerCLI scripting and let your handy work do all of the mundane tasks that you don't want too.


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Good News Baptist Church Podcast
Take Heed How You Hear (1)
Published February 12, 2018 at 1:43 PM
In this sermon we examine the parable of the Sower and the Seed (Luke 8:4-15). This is the first of three sections in this chapter that deal with the revelation from God and man's response to that revelation. The overarching theme of this section is "Take heed how you hear."
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Content Copyright Belongs to Good News Baptist Church


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James Lee* has never told friends he has more than twice his annual salary invested in a share portfolio, a paid-off apartment and an investment property.
But 37,000 strangers on an internet forum know all about it.
Sprung from a blog of the same name by Canadian-born Peter Adeney, the Mr Money Mustache forum is an online sanctuary for a growing number of people working towards the audacious goal of early retirement.
"According to my own money philosophy, the standard retirement age is already so hopelessly late that it might as well be 100," Adeney told Money from his home in the US state of Colorado.
"You can do much better, and you are in control of your life, not your government."
Adeney says the Mr Money Mustache forum "is very valuable to many people", with almost 40,000 registered users collectively writing more than 1.7 million posts since 2013.
"And even more significantly," Adeney says, "there are many millions of people who have found these conversations online, and simply lurk and read along to learn from the people who do the writing."
While the liberation of anonymity is not new, experts say it is an increasingly valuable tool when it comes to sensitive topics such as weight, mental health, and money.
Claudia Hammond, a UK psychologist and author of Mind Over Money, says financial forums connect like-minded people in the face of a persistent taboo about discussing finances.
"It is striking that online forums on money have been so popular and that people are often happy to discuss their own finances with strangers in a way they wouldn't want to do with their friends."
There is still a taboo around discussing money, from what you earn to what is considered an extravagant purchase, she adds.
"So an online forum provides somewhere to use as a sounding board without having to discuss it with your friends.
"The rise of forums like this parallels the rise we've seen in online forums discussing other topics which people don't always want to discuss openly, such as mental health."
Hammond says online forums, Facebook groups and blogs strike a balance between providing anonymity and accountability.
"Just as dieting forums do, they also give people the chance to make a commitment to behave in a certain way and we know from psychological research that people are more likely to stick to their resolutions to spend less, eat less or drink less, if they've said in front of others that this is their intention."
I wouldn't have stayed in the path if it weren't for these guys. Being part of a community of people passionate about PF is a huge help for ppl like me whose family & friends don't like money talk.
— J (@heyitsjustmoney) March 2, 2018
Australian woman Joanna Jones*, 60, retired at 51, years before the Mr Money Mustache forum started.
She says the existence of such a group when she began working towards early retirement "would have stopped me from going in circles for years, and I would have been able to retire much, much sooner".
"The community has a lot of people doing different things. Some are purely focused on getting the best from their investments. Some are into self-sufficiency, and others into minimalism," she says.
"It was great to find a group of people who are interested in the same financial things that I am."
The candour and support of her online network was a sharp contrast to the reception Jones experienced when discussing finances with family and friends.
"I tried to share things at first, but it appeared to be skiting, and it came across badly – particularly after I refused to invest in the Pyramid Building Society when the family all did," Jones says.
"After that, I'd learnt not to discuss those things."
It is the experience of those who have been there, done that, that inspires younger members of the community, says Lee, a 34-year-old Melbourne man who hopes to retire within eight years.
For him, the early retirement community means "seeing that it can be done, following the path of people who have been able to reach the finish line".
While his friends are successful and financially literate, their end goal is different, Lee says.
"They want to earn more and make more so they can spend more.
"It's quite difficult to bring this up in ordinary conversation with friends, whereas on a forum, you know that you've got a community of people who will understand."
It's much easier to reach a tough goal when there are others on the same financial journey as us. It's inspiring and keeps us going.
— Dividends Down Under (@DivsDownUnder) March 2, 2018
He says many Australians are too focused on their super preservation age, not realising they can invest outside of super and retire before that.
"You've got to make two plans: one to get you from your early retirement date to super, and another one for when you reach super preservation age," he says.
"It frustrates me that people seem to think they have limited options – either super or the aged pension. They don't understand they have other options."
Adeney agrees.
"Nationally required savings plans are a good thing in general … but they are always very mild – shaving off just a tiny percentage of your income for a distant future, which would leave you stuck in mandatory work well into your 60s," he says.
His approach is to work with that system, then do much, much more.
"Because the real value comes not in crimping a few dollars off of your existing budget, it comes from completely rethinking what it means to live a happy life, and then living that happy life starting right now.
"If you get creative and combine the happy life with the efficient use of money, you can end up saving more than half of your income, which will leave you financially free decades earlier."
*Not their real names
RELATED: Meet the Frugalwoods: the couple who retired in their 30s


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Hello everyone!
Today, I'm going to share a little personal review on some of the IPL hair removal services I've been going for this year.
I guess the whole preoccupation women the world over have with hair removal, be it shaving, plucking, waxing, epilating, electrolysis, IPL or laser, is really because we don't want to look like this, right:
And that pic is already considered modest where underarm bushes are concerned. *Ahem*
You see, I've been waxing for years. It all started with Brazilian waxing for those swimming sessions at the public pool, and lower leg waxing. If I was feeling generous, I'd throw in lower arm waxing as well.
In the early days of Secondary School, my preferred method for underarm hair removal was plucking, when a fellow netball player asked me about underarm hair removal. I mean, what do young girls know about hair removal right?
The lowdown on the "mowdown"
When I started working, I switched to underarm waxing. The lady whom I did my threading and waxing with said it was better to wax the underarms than pluck to reduce the problem of ingrown hair.
Caveat: The problem with waxing the underarms is the regrowth in between. Usually, you can't wax more often than once fortnightly, and hair starts to grow about a week later. This means I can't wear sleeveless clothes for one week, or half the month!
That's a lousy solution, and it's not even semi-permanent or long-term. But for lack of better choices (and information), I continued waxing the underarms for a few years.
This year, I jumped on the IPL bandwagon, what with all the Groupon deals going on.
Get this: I took up three IPL packages:
- Underarm IPL hair removal with One Beauty Place
- Brazilian IPL hair removal with Beyond Beauty
- Lower leg IPL hair removal with Tokyo Beauty
Review: Underarm IPL hair removal
Now, most of us women have been weaned on an endless diet of glossy magazines and celebrity photos.
We've been conditioned to think that smooth, hair-free underarms are desirable, and the standard for beauty and acceptance.
This is what I am talking about:
So the very first IPL deal I took up was for underarms, obviously because that's the first area people notice if it's *ahem* ungroomed.
Service: One Beauty Place was not a big salon, as it was tucked at the side on the second floor of Tangs Orchard, but it exuded an air of elegance and understated sophistication.
Although the staff initially told me she could not administer IPL for my right underarm as there was a lump there, unless I had a Dr's letter declaring it to be safe, I managed to convince her that it was okay.
The staff were friendly, both on the phone and in person, patiently clarifying any doubts I had about IPL, since I had never done it before. They did not try to hard-sell or make me top up for a more expensive package.
The IPL itself felt like a heat zap that was usually painful if there's hair still not properly removed. It is important to cover your eyes during IPL. One Beauty Place put a towel over my eyes. They assured me that their razors were disposable and that they cleaned their machine after every customer.
I was advised not to exercise (due to sweat), swim or expose the area to sunlight for about 24 hours after IPL.
I didn't feel any different from their regular customer, despite being on a Groupon deal (I've read all these horror stories online about Groupon customers being snubbed). They even served me tea once!
Results: I could tell hair regrowth was slower right after my first IPL session, but strangely enough, my regrowth was more on my left underarm.
After about 3 sessions (Groupon allows monthly visit for first 6 months and bimonthly for next 12 months), the lady Christine told me to come back 2 months later, to allow all the hair to grow before the next IPL session.
I thought this meant I'd be "lugi-ing" one session in the first 6 months, but she assured me they would do a good job for me. (She says this is because I naturally don't have a lot of underarm hair, unlike some women.) Apparently, it would be more effective if I came back only after all the hair has a chance to grow, so that the IPL can target all the hair roots, or something to that effect.
Overall: So far, I'm pretty happy with the choice I made to go with One Beauty Place, in terms of service and results. I paid $88 for 18 months of underarm IPL hair removal.
Review: Brazilian IPL hair removal
Why do women go for Brazilian hair removal?
For the uninitiated, Brazilian waxing or hair removal simply refers to removal of "all hair down there". The waxing version can be very painful, especially if you are a first-timer. And I find it almost impossible to handle this by yourself at home, given how messy and difficult it is.
So I figured a semi-permanent solution was in order erm, down there, as well. Beyond Beauty offered a Groupon deal for 18 months (monthly for first 6 months, bimonthly thereafter) at $145.
This is a tricky one to review, mostly because I had a good mind to trash their service in my review.
Service: Firstly, it was very hard to reach Beyond Beauty on the phone to make an appointment. When I did get through to them, my first picks were Orchard Central and Scotts Road.
The ladies who picked up the phone were either rude or sounded like they would rather be servicing someone else, especially when I mentioned "Groupon". Orchard Central even told me they were fully booked the whole month!
I managed to score an appointment with Malacca Street, after calling many times, and leaving messages that no one responded to.
During my first session, they explained to me that Brazilian IPL only included the actual triangle, and not the hair along the bikini line that bordered on the inner thigh. In the next breath, the lady tried to make me top up my package (it was like $99 for one session or something).
Imagine my fury! During my many years of Brazilian waxing, nobody, and I mean nobody ever told me that they would not wax the bikini line/inner thigh area, or that it belonged to another area of waxing.
I might have topped up if you didn't already piss me off with your intentionally flawed logic.
The lady who administered the IPL again asked me to top up, to which I said no. To be fair to them, Beyond Beauty was the only place that let me use dark glasses during the IPL sessions. The decor and ambience were actually the most luxurious of the lot, which meant they were doing well, since they have 7 locations island-wide.
The second visit, I made an appointment way ahead of time with Royal Brothers Building. This time, though, I was met with better service on and off the phone.
Nobody tried to sell me anything. The lady who administered my 2nd IPL, Jennifer, seemed nice and approachable, even allowing me to use their bathroom to wash off the cold gel after the session.
They politely reminded me that I should not miss the window period of my monthly visits for the first 6 months ("a couple of days before or after the date of first appointment"), and said goodbye to me.
Good service is very important to me, so I decided to come back to Royal Brothers next time.
It got trickier as my period had not come on time for two months, especially since my surgery.
For the third appointment, I tried to call Beyond Beauty a few days before my monthly appointment time. I asked them, "What if my period comes before the appointment? Can you shift the appointment to after my period ends, even if it misses the window period for the monthly visit?"
The lady on the phone who sounded Filipino said no. I tried to reason with her that it can't be helped, but her response was that it was stated in Groupon conditions (No, you twat, it actually wasn't.)
I called back again, and another lady who sounded local picked up. This one said it would be ok in that case. I took her word for it, said thank you, and ended the call.
Results: I didn't notice much of a difference after the first session. As hair growth tends to be thicker than other areas like underarms or legs (in my case at least), I was told by Jennifer it would be expected.
After the 2nd session, I noticed that there was less growth near the top of the triangle. Still, I would need more sessions, definitely, to see greater results.
I did notice that the number of zaps for Brazilian IPL at Beyond Beauty was less than the underarms (at One Beauty Place) or lower legs (Tokyo Beauty). They only zap once over each area, and there were not all that many zaps in total per session (I just finished my 3rd session not too long ago).
Pain-wise, the first 2 sessions I found were bearable. The 3rd time though, it seemed more painful than usual, but I am not sure if it's because they did not apply enough cold gel prior to the session.
Overall: I feel like I did not get the real deal for Brazilian IPL at Beyond Beauty. After the 1st session was my 1st session for lower legs at Tokyo Beauty, and I was hopping mad about the Brazilian IPL not including the bikini line!
This prompted me to top up my package at Tokyo Beauty to include bikini line waxing, just to remove the hair around that area. I mean, come on, isn't that the whole point of a Brazilian (for me at least)? So that you won't have embarrassing peekaboos come swim time?
As for the service, some of the outlets really need a better attitude, is all I can say.
Review: Lower leg, bikini line & lower arm IPL hair removal
Once you get started on IPL, it becomes addictive and you suddenly harbour aspirations of being hair-free, like totally.
Well, that's how it happened for me.
I mean, how can you resist this:
Right. Anyways, the lower leg IPL purchase was quite a saga, I must say. This is mainly due to the fact that Groupon almost never offers monthly IPL sessions for lower legs, and from what I gathered on the Internet, sessions need to be about a month apart for best results initially, until hair growth has slowed noticeably.
I once visited my GP who offers aesthetic services like IPL and asked him about the effectiveness of IPL on various body areas like underarm, bikini line and legs. He said that underarms and bikini line were quite effective, but not so much for legs. Moreover, he found it really difficult to administer IPL for legs, so he would normally turn those requests down!
I digress. Since Groupon only offered bimonthly sessions for a year, I thought I'd outsmart them by buying 2 such packages from 2 different places, so I could alternate them and get monthly sessions for maximum effectiveness!
In the end, Tokyo Beauty offered me an option to top up $100 for monthly lower leg IPL sessions.
I took it only because I liked their service, and thought it made more sense to use the same machine (and technology) for all my sessions.
To cut the long story short, I sold the other Groupon voucher on eBay.
Service: By the time I got to my 3rd IPL salon at Tokyo Beauty, I kinda knew how the Groupon promotions worked. The first session, the service provider would most likely extend another promotion offer to you just for that day.
Since my session with them happened right after my 1st session with Beyond Beauty, I was hopping mad and hoped to score a "first-session" promotion with Tokyo Beauty for bikini line (which is really what it's about for swimming).
The lady who did my IPL, Esther, was friendly and chatty, said I could top up $188 for monthly bikini line IPL hair removal, after putting down the deposit for $100 (monthly lower leg IPL, instead of bimonthly).
IPL here was not very painful, and they told me their machine was a good one recommended by the media (did not pay attention to what it was called exactly). The only things I didn't like were that sometimes the other female beautician would peep in to talk to Esther, and I would be like hello?? Privacy please??
On the 2nd session, I opted for lower arm IPL hair removal as well, at $288 for 12 months, once monthly. They used a razor to shave my arms and did not immediately throw it away. I did ask them if they used a disposable razor, and they assured me they did but who knows right?
They didn't cover my eyes with anything, so I had to cover them with my own hands. I also asked if it was ok to wax between sessions or exercise/swim within 24 hours, and their advice differed from others'. They said it was ok to wax between sessions and swim/exercise right after IPL.
Results: I could tell hair regrowth on my lower legs was slower right after my 1st session. It took about 2 sessions to see my bikini line regrowth slow down but the results for my lower arm were good even after 1 session.
If I had the dough, I'd go for the full leg as well, and upper lip, despite some of the pet peeves I have.
Overall: I am pretty happy with the service and results at Tokyo Beauty so far.
Although I do think $288 is a bit steep for the lower arm IPL, since I didn't know my lower arm responded so well to it! To be fair though, $288 is very cheap for 12 sessions (most places charge that amount for 1 or 2 sessions), so honestly I can't complain.
How to make smart Groupon buys
In light of the tendency of some service providers to snub their Groupon customers as evidenced by complaints on the Internet, I would suggest doing your research prior to buying a Groupon for IPL services, or any other service for that matter.
I tried to select venues that were in town (not neighbourhood outlets), so that they would have a reputation to upkeep. I also Googled reviews on them, and read about what their customers had to say.
For Tokyo Beauty, I read a lot of positive reviews from inSing.com which was why I signed up, despite it not having a website.
For Beyond Beauty, I mistakenly assumed they would have to be good as they had so many outlets, some of which were in Orchard. However, when I went to their Facebook page only after buying the Groupon, did I see a number of complaints on their Wall.
As for One Beauty Place, I figured that if it was located in Tangs, it couldn't be too shabby. Thank goodness I was right on that count!
Hope this has helped some of you who are considering doing IPL for more permanent hair removal results. I'd be doing a waxing review soon for my upper leg so stay tuned!!! 😀
Update: Read my waxing review here.


text: On Saturday evening 18th April 2009 at 7.30pm One Voice will be hosting a phenomenal evening with David Ring. Legendary songsmith and worship leader Chris Bowater will be leading worship. David Ring has cerebral palsy but talks to hundreds of thousands of people each year sharing his message of "how to be a champion in the Read MoreContinue Reading


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Tom Ross: The never-ending search for great buys on rare items resumes in Steamboat this weekend
Steamboat Springs — I was probably the cheapest customer to show up for the estate sale in the Blue Sage neighborhood Friday. I spent a total of $3 on three items including two forged iron hooks for hanging outdoor flower pots and a well-used but ultra-sturdy garden trowel that my wife may or may not fall in love with. Probably not.
This promises to be a good weekend for estate sales in Routt County despite the dicey weather. The second day of the Blue Sage sale begins at 8 a.m. Saturday with the prices of most items cut in half promised Annie Tisch, of Annie's Home Consignments. Then on Sunday, Lockhart Auction will host a mega multiestate sale on a rural property on Routt County Road 46 about 10 miles outside town.
Cookie Lockhart promises items that will appeal to guys (How about a bright red 1929 Ford pickup?) and gals (lots of dolls including a new in-the-box Princess Diana Doll and a 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers Barbie Doll). And no, all you wise guys, Barbie does not play tight end for the Huskers.
Auctions and estate sales are a great place to meet people and find out what makes them tick. Debra Kuzemchak scored a good buy at the Blue Sage sale Friday. She came to hunt for bargains on decorative Christmas items and left with a beautiful oak bookshelf with glass doors for each shelf. She paid $225. Heck, you can spend that much on a bookshelf from Ikea.
Tisch said summer 2013 brought her 10 estate sales and theorized that the pending opening of the Casey's Pond senior living campus is the reason for a number of them (though not this weekend's sales). It's reasonable to think that some local households are downsizing before moving into an apartment at Casey's Pond.
On Friday, Tisch's crew managed so sell some patio furniture even though there was a thin layer of wet snow on everything in the driveway of the home. They also sold 82 pieces of Paul Selb Bavarian China dinnerware by Belmont for $350.
Smartphones permanently have changed the experience of shopping estate sales, and I was able to confirm that a single pie plate in the same pattern was advertised at $10 on eBay. Fine China isn't my thing, but Friday's buyer, who payed an average of $4.25 for the 82-piece collection, got a genuine bargain. And as of midday, there was another set of desirable China that had not sold.
If I'm able to attend Lockhart's auction Sunday, I'll be looking for antique pulleys, a battered, old cow bell and maybe that signed Cowboy Downhill racing bib from 2004, which marked the 30th anniversary of the ski race for professional cowboys.
Don't even think about outbidding me on that one.
To reach Tom Ross, call 970-871-4205, email email@example.com or follow him on Twitter @ThomasSRoss1
Start a dialogue, stay on topic and be civil.
If you don't follow the rules, your comment may be deleted.


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We check over 450 stores daily and we last saw this product for £105 at Debenhams.Go to Debenhams
A cool update on a classic chelsea boots is Frank Wright Dutch. Featuring suede uppers and contrasting chunky rubber sole units, this is the perfect casual boots for the winter months. Practical details include black elasticised side gussets and a pull tab to the back of the boots. Colour: brown


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Someone asked me earlier today and others' before 'Did you do any volunteering in the end' referring to my wanting to volunteer for mental health, elderly or animals earlier this year.
I fostered two cats, re-homed one and adopted the second (Titus). I then fostered a sick kitten (brain damage and damaged guts) and have been caring for him for the last 2 ½ months. I have taken him to the vets constantly, fed him meals he can handle (he cannot eat cat food), cleaned his bum and washed him when he was incontinent, and gave up my bathroom for him – see photo – which is still his bedroom. But I love him dearly, he is a bright, beautiful little chap. So there is my animal volunteering and it is ongoing.
Earlier on, my dad was discharged wrongly for age discrimination, so I have been dealing with his tribunal and dealings with the solicitor when we had one secured.
Dad then was diagnosed with heart disease and needed a triple heart bypass. Mum is generally horrible to him, so I took on the whole thing of learning about it all, taking him to all his appointments, tests and hospital stays, and because mum didn't want a nurse to come round to their house, I did all that a nurse would do – change his pressure stockings and wash his legs and feet twice a week, do some cooking, shopping and other bits. It's ongoing and I am still helping once a week now, as he has no car due to losing his job.
I am not complaining, and everyone who knows me will know I never compajust explaining why I haven't done any other volunteering roles.
So, it was just volunteering for mental health left. Well, apart from writing my books, articles and campaigning for mental health and against stigma (voluntarily and without pay) I did apply to Rethink as a group co-ordinator, but they were far too busy to take me on, but I think I can tick that box anyway.
I am now going to go into group analysis as I have a lot of issues leftover, even now, and some old ones rearing their head that I have never spoken to anyone about or written about until this week. I have been in quite a state lately over some of it and am glad that no-one could see me last week. Group analysis is psychotherapy and I will be in the group for 18 months, so I do hope this will help me eradicate and deal with the last of my demons – the worst ones yet (physical, mental and possibly sexual abuse by family members). I am very nervous about the group and speaking out about my problems and memories, but I know it will help me. My depression and anxiety is at a peak, making me physically drained from panic, so it must do something.
At the same time, on Friday of next week, I begin my second year at college to learn 'counselling skills'
So, I will be counsellor and the counselled – how odd! I might even write a book about that LOL
Hope you've enjoyed my update 🙂


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Quebec's Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Parks Pierre Arcand announced on Sunday that beverage container deposits will increase to 10 cents per container by the end of this year. This includes beer cans and soft drinks, energy drinks and PET plastic containers and glass soft drinks. Currently, the deposit is at five cents.
Quebecers purchase 390 million cans per year and pay nearly $21 million in deposits on beer and other drink cans, Montreal Gazette reported.
CAW applauds this move to update Quebec's 30-year-old law. Each time California has increased their CRV (1989, 2004 and 2006), there has been a significant increase in recycling rate. As of right now, California enjoys an 82% recycling rate for beverage containers, one of the highest levels in North America.
According to Arcand in a statement: "Our goal is to ensure we maintain the best environmental performance possible. By updating the deposit system, we will improve the recovery rate of containers, and so continue our efforts towards a Quebec always greener, cleaner and sustainable. Countries and progressive states like Sweden, Australia, California and New York have already proceeded in this direction."


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Advisor Team
One of our responsibilities as venture investors is to help our portfolio companies achieve scale and success. Our advisors and extended team members share that commitment. They were specifically invited to join us, because they have played key operational roles in building businesses from the start-up phase to dominant market positions. Their role is to assist the Almaz investment team, and our entrepreneurs, with key industry contacts and strategic advice.
Duane Northcutt
Duane Northcutt was VP Technology and Co-Founder of DriveScale, where he hired the engineering team and led the development of the first two generations of products that provided mobile storage for scale-out systems and container-based applications.
Prior to this, Duane was responsible for setting corporate technical direction as Chief Technical Officer for several public technology companies. He was an SVP and the CTO of the Connected Home Division of Technicolor (where he led the initiative that has become the AllSeen IoT standard), the CTO and SVP at Trident Microsystems, the CTO and VP at Silicon Image (from 2001 to 2010, where he developed the Steelvine storage product family).
Duane was a Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems from 1990 to 2001, where he conceived and led the development of the SunRay desktop (Sun's largest selling) product, and was twice awarded the Sun President's Award for his technical contributions to the company.
Duane began his career as a member of the Research Faculty in Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science, where he developed the Alpha real-time operating system and the Archons multiprocessor test bed.
Duane holds over thirty issued US patents (with multiple foreign filings and other applications pending issue), is the author of a research monograph on real-time distributed operating systems, and has (co-)authored over a dozen articles and technical reports on time-critical computing, distributed systems, multimedia, and thin client technology.
Duane received both an MSEE and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University.
Alexander Andreev
Alexander Andreev is a Venture Partner at Almaz Capital.
Alexander is also the CEO of SoftJoys, one of the longest established Russian software development companies. He was an Associate Professor of Mathematics, working on wireless and DSP algorithms when, bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, he founded SoftJoys.
Later he co-founded SJ Labs, a company working on VoIP technologies for the international market. Under his leadership SJ Labs developed one of the first softphones in the world, which won many "Best Product" awards. It remains the best softphone in the market.
SJ Labs became world leader in VOIP software development and was sold to and is now a part of MagicJack Vocaltech (NSDQ:CALL).
Alexander is also a board member of several startups, including Kuznech and a co-founder of Excursia.
He has been a member of the Board of Russian Software Development Association, RUSSOFT, since 2000. Alexander graduated from St. Petersburg University with a degree in Physics.
Whitfield Diffie
Whitfield "Whit" Diffie is an American cryptographer and one of the pioneers of public-key cryptography.
Diffie and Martin Hellman's paper New Directions in Cryptography was published in 1976. It introduced a radically new method of distributing cryptographic keys that went far toward solving one of the fundamental problems of cryptography, key distribution. It has become known as Diffie–Hellman key exchange.
Globally recognized as a leader in public-key cryptography, encryption and network security, Diffie has a long and distinguished career as a leading force for innovative thought. He brings extensive experience in the design, development and implementation of security methods for networks.
Diffie served as Vice President, Fellow, and Chief Security Officer with Sun Microsystems from 1991 to 2009. At Sun, Diffie focused on the most fundamental security problems facing modern communications and computing with emphasis on public policy as well as technology. Prior to joining Sun, Diffie was Manager of Secure Systems Research for Northern Telecom, where he played a key role in the design of Northern's first packet security product and in developing the group that was later to become Entrust.
Diffie received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965 and a Doctorate in Technical Sciences from the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich in 1992. Diffie has received many awards throughout his career and was awarded a Degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) in 2008 by Royal Holloway College of the University of London. He received the Louis E. Levy Medal in 1997 from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and the National Computer Systems Security Award, given jointly by NIST and NSA, in 1996. Diffie is a fellow of the Marconi Foundation and a visiting fellow of the Isaac Newton Institute. He is a 2015 recipient of the A.M. Turing award presented by the Association for Computing Machinery.
With Susan Landau, he is the author of the 1998 book Privacy on the Line: The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption.
James Gosling
James Arthur Gosling, OC, is a Canadian computer scientist, best known as the father of the Java programming language.
In 1977, Gosling received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Calgary. In 1983, he earned a Ph.D in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, supervised by Bob Sproull. While working towards his doctorate, he wrote a version of Emacs called Gosling Emacs (Gosmacs).
Between 1984 and 2010, Gosling was with Sun Microsystems. He created the original design of Java in 1994 and implemented the language's original compiler and virtual machine. In the work leading to Java at Sun, he saw that architecture-neutral execution for widely distributed programs could be achieved by implementing a similar philosophy: always program for the same virtual machine.
For his achievement he was elected to Foreign Associate member of the United States National Academy of Engineering. He has also made major contributions to several other software systems, such as NeWS and Gosling Emacs. He co-wrote the "bundle" program, a utility thoroughly detailed in Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike's book The Unix Programming Environment.
Gosling was awarded The Economist Innovation Award in 2002, and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2007.
Ed Lu
Dr. Ed Lu serves as an advisor to Almaz Capital. He also works with several entrepreneurial companies in Silicon Valley including Hover Inc. and Liquid Robotics.
He served as Program Manager for Advanced Projects at Google Inc. from 2007 to 2010. He was responsible for a diverse group of projects ranging from Google Street View imaging, book scanning technology, imaging for Google Maps/Earth, and energy projects including Google PowerMeter, an online tool for monitoring home energy usage.
Prior to Google, Ed served as a NASA Astronaut for 12 years. He flew the Space Shuttle twice, the Russian Soyuz, and a 6 month tour on the International Space Station. Altogether he logged over 206 days in space and an EVA (spacewalk) totaling 6 hours and 14 minutes. Dr. Lu flew as a mission specialist on STS-84 in 1997, as a payload commander and lead spacewalker on STS-106 in 2000, as flight engineer of Soyuz TMA-2, and served as NASA ISS science officer and flight engineer on ISS Expedition-7 in 2003.
Recognitions in his twelve year NASA career include NASA's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, as well as the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, Russian Medal of Merit for Spaceflight, Gagarin Medal, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Komorov Medal, Beregovoy Medal and three (3) NASA Spaceflight medals.
Ed has also served as a scientific advisor to the White House and NASA on space technology and policy issues. He helped drive energy policy work for Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google. In this role he testified before the US Congress on energy issues, and met with officials on both the Federal and State level to ensure that consumers are granted access to their own home energy use information. In addition, he has testified before both the US Senate and House of Representatives on aerospace issues. Ed recently served as a commissioner with the Center for Strategic and International Studies Commission on US/China Relations.
He received a PhD in Applied Physics from Stanford University and a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.