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Did you catch my nice little chat with Bill Buchanan on KDRT last week? No? No worries — it's still on the website, if you're interested about my thoughts on community newspapers and their survival.
I was actually somewhat coherent, if I do say so myself, far exceeding my own expectations. I was having a wild déjà vu while I was sitting there, however. KDRT is in the same building where I was once a Diogenes Youth Services caseworker about a thousand years ago in another lifetime and universe, and we were sitting exactly in front of where my old office was. Kinda weird and creepy.
Yes, I have a Davis root or two, or as Bill said, "a foot in both communities," (better than one foot on the platform and the other on the train), so he asked me, "How do you explain Davis to Winters people?" and vice-versa. I found these questions most intriguing, because I actively resist the preconceptions and misconceptions I hear about both communities. Much like the Red-Blue partisanship bickering, the local stereotypes are also sad and tired. And hugely boring.
Ironically, "Davis vs. Winters" is what I wrote about in my first "Replace Dunning for a Day" column, also written about a thousand years ago in another lifetime and universe, and also the topic of my second contest-winner, submitted mainly because I figured the first win was a fluke. (And therein were the tender beginnings of my free-fall into an entirely different career a few years later. Were it not for the guy on A2 and sometimes C1, I'd likely still be sitting in a caseworker's office somewhere, at my second-hand military-grade desk, shaking my fist at the finicky, fickle nature of working for a grant-funded nonprofit. In other words, thank you, Bob, for saving my life.)
So. Davis vs. Winters. Has it changed much since I first wrote about it in 1986? Not really. Both have positives and negatives, and I could live happily at either end of Russell Boulevard. So, there you have it. Either town would be just fine, and neither as wonderful as Sebastopol or Mendocino, so nobody get too full of yourself. That said, there are some cherished stereotypes at both ends of Russell Boulevard that I'd like to shatter.
Let's pick on Winters first. "Oh, go back to Davis" is the mantra whenever someone makes a liberal-leaning remark over here. All the liberals are in Davis, and there is no place for Lefties in Winters! Oh, B.S. First off, there are folks right here in Winters who lean so far left, they make me look like Ann Coulter. And if you think there aren't any Republicans, let me tell you, it's simply not the case. I know this for a fact because they all email me or post comments on the Enterprise website, screaming for my immediate dismissal, and while we're at it, a public drawing and quartering would be a nice touch.
Now Davis: All the stupid people live on Far West Covell Boulevard. Not an IQ above room temperature in the bunch. Allow me to disabuse you of this notion. First off, lots of UCD professors move to Winters to escape the soap opera of academia. Here, they can simply be a member of the local theater company (yes, we have one) or one of the Friends of the Library (ditto), and only randomly do you discover that they're the head of the nuclear medicine department. Beyond the professors, we have scores of writers and musicians living in Winters, as well as the smartest person I ever met in my life — a blond gal. So let's smash all the "blond" and "female" stereotypes while we're at it, because they're also sad and tired.
Also, to Davis: No more of that "sleepy little town" nonsense. Come on over to our downtown any random Thursday or Friday night, and you'll see things hopping with music, food, activity and smiling faces. Sleepy? Sheesh, I have to leave town to get a break.
Really, Davis — Winters isn't that far. Twenty minutes tops. Even less if you're in West Davis. I don't understand the dread some Davis folks have about venturing beyond the strawberry stand on Covell Boulevard. I have a friend who was considering moving her massage business to Winters because office space is about half the price she was paying in Davis, but after speaking with her clients, she decided not to relocate because most of them recoiled in horror and said they could not, would not, drive to — gasp — Winters.
What's up with that? Somebody explain this to me. Better yet, meet me for a beer at Berryessa Brewing Co. some Sunday afternoon and see how long it takes you to forget what your reasons were.
As for Winters, we have no problem making the trip down Far East Grant Avenue. Walk into any restaurant, shop or store, and you'll find Winters people. Try making it through the Davis Co-op without running into two or three. The Cutest Man In The World and I decided to get out of town and spend New Year's Eve at the DMTC's "Cabaret" performance, so we wouldn't have to discuss Winters drama with anyone. What's the first thing we see in line? Winters people. We've totally infiltrated your community and you don't even realize it.
So. Davis. The road goes in both directions. Your move.
Last shot goes to Winters. Knock it off with the "go back to Davis" crap. I said in the KDRT interview and I'll say it again: Some of the coolest people I know live in Davis. And some of the jerkiest people I know live in Winters. Neither community has a lock on either.
So, how about we step beyond the stereotype and get to know each other at long last. Hands across the sunflower fields, and whatnot.
Beer, anyone?
— Email Debra DeAngelo at firstname.lastname@example.com; read more of her work at www.wintersexpress.com and www.ipinionsyndicate.com


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Arabic people have a very close connection with their religion and every detail is important to them. People, there has their own world view and thoughts towards religion history and legends, they treat Koran so much and believe that their God Allah lives in each of them and helps them at any part of their life. That is why they have a lot of religious and equally important holidays, which have special meaning and keep to all traditions, which are connected with any of them. One of the most important days in the year there is Lailat al Miraj. Let's decide what this day mean and when is Lailat al Miraj in 2022.
How the history of Islam influenced people
The history tells us that in early age there has lived the prophet, Muhammad – he was the person, who created Islam and taught people to treat religion and live with honesty and kindness. As he was not like a simple person and knew and experiences many things, which a simple person can't know and experience, he was thought to be a prophet. People listened to him, came to get and advice and get answers to important questions.
According to the history, one day Muhammad met an angel in the night, who took him to Jerusalem and was offered to pass an experiment. He read special prayers and passed this experiment successfully after which he was ascended to the heaven. Later he went back to people and told him this story and what he has seen and done. People didn't believe him due to some reasons. The main reason was that Jerusalem is too far from their place of living and all this is impossible. But Muhammad's teachers believed him and trusted him so much. They convinced people that his story was real.
After this story, people made this day a holiday and began spending it every year. In translation, it is called "the night journey and ascension". The holiday symbolizes the purity of our thoughts and deeds, for which we are prized by God. Also, this holiday shows, that every of us must think what he does, don't do harm to the world and people, surrounding us, mustn't keep evil in our hearts and live honestly. Also, all these stories influenced on the date of the holiday and on what day Lailat al Miraj in 2022 is.
Traditions of the holiday
The holiday is really one of the most important days for every Muslim, because when it all happened, it changed the sense and perception of their religion. Even as so much time passed since those events, people tell the story to their children and relatives and try to spread it as much as possible. Usually, they read special prayers on this day and spend time with family. In the following year, people counted, what is the date of Lailat al Miraj 2022 – it will be on Friday, the 21st of March. Actually, this date is counted on the moon calendar according to the traditions of this religion every year.
What people do during this day:
- An obligatory tradition for all Muslims is to lay the table after the sunset. This supper is very reach and full of all kind of dishes with meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit. The table is really huge and the whole family is invited to celebrate this day. Through the day people may not eat at all or eat just a little. Usually, many people also eat just the simplest food without any goodies excesses. But in the evening they are allowed to behave as the want, have fun and eat what the want and do not pinch themselves in anything.
- One of the most important things for this day is to do as many good deeds as possible. All day long people think over everything they do, try to clean up their minds from everything bad and evil, that can be. A person must have light thoughts and bring kindness to this world. Also every Muslim tries to do good deeds every minute of the day – a person can help somebody, even in small problems, can give an advice, can solve somebody's problems, etc. It is very important to watch for what you are doing. The more good deeds a person does – the more bad things will be forgiven by God.
- Also, people pray and praise Allah from the very morning till the end of the day. They try to say the words of gratitude as many times as possible. They thank God for everything they have and for the opportunity to live like they do. It is very important to remember about god every minute.
Now we have found out when is Lailat al Miraj 2022, calendar of Muslims confirms this information. Be ready, if you want to celebrate this holiday too, for 21st of March.

subset: commoncrawl


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Retail Lighting
Have you ever thought of enticing the shopping spree of your customers, by modifying the lighting arrangements of your shop? If your answer is no, then you must think of it now. And the good news is that, you can actually create a positive influence on your customers by providing them with a great shopping friendly environment and the same can easily be attained by rearranging the lighting needs of your business outlet.
Each and every kind of shop carries a unique flavour of its own depending on the business that runs in it and obviously the taste of the owner plays a pivotal role in this context. But it is Rashmi LED Lighting that can illuminate all kind of lighting needs of the business owners accordingly. No matter if one owns a small boutique or a gorgeous jewellery showroom, the branding will definitely get a new height by the ideal usage of tailor-made lighting, offered by Rashmi LED Lighting.
It has been seen that supermarkets and stores that come up with eye catching ambiences, create positive buzz among customers. No matter how cool a store looks, if the lighting is not up to the mark, then all the efforts of interior design sink deep down. Good and eye soothing lighting not only creates a business friendly environment but it also ensures highly boosted sales. Both sales executives and buyers feel good when they get to deal in an environment that effortlessly gets connected with their purpose.
It is wrong to state that, ideal retail lighting helps in creating a suitable business environment only, it also helps in image building of products. It is the perfect and professional placement of LED Lightings that makes a product look more valuable and desirable to the consumers. Perfect illumination of a product helps it in getting the public attention it deserves and eventually a shop ends up getting success in making their product reach to the mass.
The concept of lighting is constantly changing and it is the corporate class that strives to apply all the possible measures of lighting to ensure updated business. Rashmi LED Lighting has been able to offer its wide range of lighting arrangements to both the class and mass as the company understands the pulse of people and their different lighting requirements. The company puts in all its effort to maintain world class quality and always strives to offer only the best to its huge clientele. To let the people experience a wide spectacle of lighting innovation, Rashmi LED Lighting genuinely tries new levels of designing as well as technology.


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We're excited to share a series of updates on the development of our forthcoming book, Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Culture: Law, Economics, and Publishing (ACRL). More specifically, on the third and final unit, "Voices from the Field," which consists of short practical pieces by practitioners engaged in scholcomm and related work, intended to provoke reflection and discussion. "Voices" is further divided into Perspectives, Intersections, and Case Studies. This is an update on the Case Studies contributions. A similar post for Perspectives was shared on 7/20/20, and another on Intersections will be posted soon.
When we issued the CFP in November, we really had no idea what the response might be. We ended up with more great ideas than we had room for, which was both wonderful and heartbreaking. In the end, we did our best to balance various considerations and selected 26 proposals to move forward. Honestly, all of the proposals were great and deserve development. Now that we're seeing all those selected wrapping up towards final drafts, we couldn't be happier with them! It's so exciting to see all these excellent ideas come together, and to be able to provide a platform for them!
From the CFP:
Case Studies present stories and lessons learned drawn from experience. Case Studies should provide specific, contextualized examples of the kinds of tasks and questions librarians working in scholarly communication encounter and strategies for response. A case study will describe and evaluate a case, reflecting upon the issues involved and their implications for scholars and scholarship. It will suggest possible responses to the case and evaluate the effectiveness and possible challenges of those strategies. A case study grounded in actual experience might also describe the actions that were taken and reflect upon subsequent outcomes.
Examples of Case Studies might include a specific course marking project done at an institution working to support OER and textbook affordability, a digital humanities project that used interdisciplinary expertise in the libraries, or a library research data management initiative that helps researchers meet funder mandates for open data.
The Case Studies reflect a broad set of issues and practices grounded in the diverse environments where scholarly communication is practiced. From established scholcomm voices like Harvard and Simon Frasier to regional and emerging leaders, scholarly communication practitioners share successful models, first-of-a-kind projects, and strategies for building community.
While these case studies share important lessons about policies and formal structures, a core theme that appears centers around community-building. From Billings and Roh's guide to successful mentoring, to Piper's discussion of professionalization, to Keralis and Martin's call for "A Journal of One's Own", these case studies offer models for building community at every stage of the scholarly communication life cycle and beyond.
Here's the full list of Case Studies:
- Marilyn Billings from UMass Amherst and Charlotte Roh from the University of San Francisco write about strategies for successful mentoring and professional development in "Development of a Scholarly Communication Librarian Residency Program."
- Kyle Courtney and Emily Kilcer introduce a model for distributing expertise at Harvard in "Copyright First Responders: Decentralized Expertise, Cultural Institutions, and Risk."
- Josh Cromwell from the University of Southern Mississippi explores the challenges posed by promotions and tenure systems in "Mind Your Ps and Ts: Promotion, Tenure, and the Challenge for Open Access."
- Spencer Keralis from Illinois and John Martin from the University of North Texas offer a successful model for open publishing in "A Journal of One's Own: Developing an Innovative, Values-Driven Open Journal."
- Gemmicka Piper at IUPUI provides a firsthand overview of skilling up in a new position in "Professionalizing for New Performance Duties."
- Kerry Sewell and Jeanne Hoover from East Carolina University share their successes and challenges with "Navigating Open Access Initiatives in a Sea of Mixed Support."
- Jennifer Zerkee and Alison Moore from Simon Fraser offer insight into supporting open access in "So You Have an Open Access Policy – Now What? Evaluating Simon Fraser University's Open Access Policy."
Like the forthcoming companion Scholarly Communication Notebook, these case studies demonstrate that there is no one "correct" way to do this work. Instead, our understanding of scholarly communication must reflect the multiplicity of approaches and perspectives in the field as well as centering the dynamic and ongoing work being done at all sizes and types of institutions. We're so grateful that each of the contributors has shared their experiences and we hope these case studies can offer some promising models to borrow and build on.
-Will (on behalf of Maria and Josh)


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July 8, 2015
London, England – Jonathan Marks, CEO of Candy Group , and Scott Throckmorton, CEO of Humanitarian Operations Protecting Elephants (H.O.P.E.), jointly announced that Candy Group and H.O.P.E. signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support each other in the conduct of anti-poaching, anti-wildlife trafficking and associated humanitarian efforts in Africa.
Both organizations share the goal of increasing peace and prosperity in Africa through empowering communities to sustainably use their natural resources. With the authorization ofAfrican governments, H.O.P.E. provides a turnkey solution to poaching activity through professional training, advisory, assistance and procurement services to anti-poaching units. With a track record of success in 16 African nations, The Candy Group is an industry leader in transport and logistics services with proven skill in areas of disaster and war / civil unrest.
Jonathan Marks said "Candy Group and H.O.P.E.'s partnership ensures a streamlined approach to African operational implementation. The two Companies complement each other's respective strengths and are a great fusion between commercial and NGO entities. H.O.P.E. is well known for their levels of competence in the Counter Illicit Trafficking (CIT) field and Candy Group can offer strong support in the region. The partnership offers great new combined capability and enters a new exciting phase for strategic co-operation"
Candy Group and H.O.P.E. understand the importance of community-based conservation as part of larger stabilization, peace building and security strategies as well as to economic development and regional wealth creation. Community-based programs that sustainably utilize natural resources promote transparency, democracy and give people incentives to conserve wildlife.
"Community engagement, empowerment and investment are key components of successful anti-poaching strategies," said Scott Throckmorton, CEO of H.O.P.E. "Conservation based on these foundations makes it more difficult for poaching and trafficking networks to gain a foothold in rural areas where elephants are found and for violent extremist groups to benefit from the sale of illicit ivory. Candy Group is an industry leader in working in remote areas of Africa and is a natural fit for our work to end Africa's poaching crisis."
Through a mixture of empowerment, enforcement and economic development, H.O.P.E. and Candy Group will help African nation's reach their goals in countering the poaching crisis that is undermining the continent's peace and prosperity. Our organizations welcome the involvement of like-minded entities to propel our work and look forward to producing effective resolutions to poaching and wildlife trafficking activity.


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Tea Map Mini Blog:
Tags:Arcata Arts Alive! AZ Bay Area biodiesel breakdown CA CO Common Vision community Edna Elephant Revival Eugene Eureka Farmers' Market festival Friday Harbor Hollywood Hollywood Blvd. hot springs Los Angeles money Mountain Rose Herbs Nevada City North American Tea Tour OR Orange County Orcas Island police Portland Rootstalk salvage salvaged San Francisco San Juan Island San Juan Islands Seattle serving tea solar tea party transmission TX video WA WVO
Tag Archives: Camellia Sinensis
Garden! – Eureka, CA
I've been lucky to again be using the shop space in Eureka where I built much of the interior of Edna the teabus. This time I was focused on getting my garden put in. For the past few months I've … Continue reading
Posted in Bus Building Tagged Camellia Sinensis, Crimson Sage Nursery, garden, medicinal plants, NCNM, salvage Leave a comment


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When Catherine Beck's daughter, Natalie, was born with Down syndrome, she knew her expenses would be exorbitant. "She would always need support, supervision, transportation, help for work and we really did need to save as much as we could," Beck said.
Catherine and her late husband, Stephen Beck Jr., shopped around for a savings plan and with limited options they started a special-needs trust for Natalie, but were taxed at a very high rate (trusts can be taxed at the highest federal rate of 39.6 percent).
The Becks became passionate about finding a more affordable alternative and were ultimately instrumental in the creation of the federal Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, which passed in 2014.
More commonly known as ABLE accounts, they are tax-advantaged savings accounts for individuals with disabilities and their families, which are modeled after state-sponsored 529 college savings accounts, and administered by individual states.
The money in ABLE accounts grows and can be withdrawn tax-free and the funds can be used for a variety of expenses, from housing to long-term health care, all without any limitations on the number of withdrawals.
Two years later to the day, the Beck's home state of Virginia launched its own ABLE savings program, ABLEnow, administered by the state's college savings plan, Virginia529, which has $57 billion in assets under management and 2.4 million in college accounts.
Virginia, along with Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, Oregon, Florida, Kentucky and Nebraska, are among the first states in the country to offer ABLE accounts. At least a dozen more states are likely to follow by mid-2017, according to Christopher Rodriguez, the senior public policy advisor at the ABLE National Resource Center.
"Some will save for the very long term, for example a parent with a young child that will need many services in the future, but others will be more transactional, for those that need to access discretionary income every month," said Mary Morris, CEO of Virginia529, the agency that will administer the new ABLEnow program.
"The real beauty is that people can have bigger dreams for the future. Maybe they'll be able to save for a better wheelchair or something that will enhance their quality of life that Medicaid wouldn't cover," Morris said.
Beck also has long-term goals. Her daughter Natalie, now 17, aspires to be a nail technician and Beck plans to use the ABLE account to save for education and training as well as transportation to and from work down the road.
In Virginia, there is no minimum to open an account although other state's minimum amounts can vary. Contributors may also receive a state income tax deduction, depending on the plan (fees also vary).
Contributions, in general, can be made up to the annual IRS gift tax exclusion amount of $14,000 per taxpayer and qualified individuals can enroll in any state's program as long as that program accepts out-of-state residents. (To compare state plans, go to the ABLE National Resource Center.)
To be eligible, a beneficiary has to have been diagnosed with a qualifying disability by age 26. About 56 million people in America have a disability, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.


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Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena Dop
Red Label
Extra aged, minimum 24 years in casks
Yellow Label
Refined, minimum 12 years in casks
Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena (P.D.O.) is a highly-prized condiment which has ancient roots in Emilian culinary culture. It is obtained from grape must cooked over a high flame and then aged in barrels of various different types of wood for at least 10 years.
It is now recognised as a product of exceptional excellence throughout the world.


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Welcome to Literally!
Helping hundreds of authors over the past decade to achieve their long-term goals through PR, marketing & branding. Contact: email@example.com
Helping hundreds of authors over the past decade to achieve their long-term goals through PR, marketing & branding. Contact: email@example.com
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Eminem Due In Homes For The Holidays
Eminem is set to release his new album 'Encore' on November 16th, the Los Angeles Times is reporting. "His last two albums were significant sellers and each had million-plus weeks at the beginning of their store lives," Billboard charts editor Geoff Mayfield said Monday. "It will be welcome to have something with that potential joining the fourth-quarter drive."


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This afternoon.
Dublin city centre
Supporters of groups which are opposed to Covid-19 restrictions march from the Custom House, Dublin 1 to Government Buildings on Merrion Street, Dublin 2. A separate rally raising similar issues took place outside the Dáil, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
A small protest against a claimed 'right wing agenda' at the rally is confronted in Kildare Street.
Outside the Journal with my brothers & sisters. The movement is growing. pic.twitter.com/fPcVqGtbku
— John D 🇮🇪🇬🇧🇺🇸🇩🇪🇳🇿🇦🇺 (@JohnDee63999880) September 12, 2020
A protest outside the offices of The Journal.
This afternoon.
A rival, socially distanced demo in 'defence of public health' at the Spire, O'Connell Street, Dublin 1.
Friday: Competing Narratives


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Vientiane Times, 24 June 2013
A feasibility study in relation to a hydropower project on the Nam Ngeun river in Xayaboury province's Ngeun district will be undertaken following the signing of a memorandum of understanding last week.
The agreement comes as the Lao government implements its policies on hydropower development, encouraging more private investment to supply domestic power demand and also power exports.
A feasibility study will be carried out on the viability of a small-scale hydropower dam with an installed capacity of 70MW on the Nam Ngeun in Xayaboury, which would cost more than US$70 million to construct.
The agreement was signed by Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, Dr Bounthavy Sisouphanthong, and representatives of Silver Sand Group Company and Saythone Electrical Company.
According to a senior official from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the feasibility study will be carried out by contracted companies over a period of 18 months or so. The study will be focused on the economic viability of the project and its social and environmental impacts in the local area.
Work on project construction cannot begin until the feasibility study is complete, according to an official concerned. According to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Laos has the potential to develop 100 hydropower dams with an installed capacity of 28,000MW.
The Lao government is eyeing a 90 percent growth of electric usage by 2020, with the energy sector to be an essential element in national poverty eradication.


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O365 Drives Greater Value for the NSPCC
The NSPCC knew migrating to Office 365 made sense. Not only would an O365 migration help them move away from costly legacy systems, it would allow them to scale in the Cloud. And by only scaling up capacity only when needed, they could save valuable budget for vital child services. Keeping systems and highly sensitive data secure was also crucial.
With over 400,000 seats of Office 365 already deployed, we had the expertise the NSPCC needed.
In the past, access to email for NSPCC's had been patchy. For example, large numbers of remote workers such as volunteers and fundraisers found it difficult to access email.
To make sure we captured all issues and future business goals, we set up an Envisioning Workshop.
Secondly, using our Application Assessment, we got to grips with NSPCC's complex legacy systems.
Finally, we built a Proof of Concept, This made sure plans to move personal storage, shared drives and Lync to Office 365 were fully considered. Our experience proved to be invaluable. As well as flushing out potential issues it minimised impact on staff and delivered a seamless go live.
As we continue our digital transformation, cloud provides a great opportunity for increased agility and flexibility in IS service delivery. Selecting the right provider is key to help the NSPCC achieve its goals.Ray bilsby, cio †
This O365 email migration drove the savings and improved performance the NSPCC needed. Joanna Glenn, Business Analyst reports, "We've already seen significant storage savings and increased reliability."
As a result, front line staff are spending more time providing the best service possible and less time on administrative IT tasks.
By improving security with multi-factor authentication we also made sure employees can access email securely from any device.
As a charity, it is important for us to follow a well-trodden path to ensure we are getting solutions that deliver value for money. It is crucial for us to partner with organisations that provide this experience.Ray Bilsby, CIO †
In conclusion, the NSPCC minimised risk and maximised ROI with a successful O365 migration. Doing this helped to free up vital budget for frontline support services. It also helped to lay the foundation for their cloud-first strategy.
† The customer reference was provided prior to CANCOM in the UK&I becoming Telefónica Tech in the UK&I and the names have been changed for ease of reference.
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New Transformers comics and more available in the Seibertron store (September 23, 2021)
Seibertron.com is an unofficial Transformers fan site. It is not associated or endorsed by Hasbro Where Takara Tomy. Transformers® is a registered trademark of Hasbro, Inc. Visit Transformers.com to concern Hasbro's official Transformers website or visit Takara Tomy's Transformers Official Site.
In order to comply with FTC Approval Guidelines, we hereby inform viewers of this site that we occasionally receive samples of products, content or other forms of media from various companies in order to enable us to provide content of interest to our readers. Some content on this site is sponsored post for which we have been paid. Some of the links to external sites published on this site may be automatically converted into an affiliate link for which we may be compensated. We participate in several affiliate programs with retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, eBay, and other affiliate programs. These affiliate advertising programs are designed to allow us to earn fees by linking to these affiliate sites.
7,913 pages were viewed recently by 1,876 unique visitors. This page was consulted 2 times on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 10:37 a.m. CDT. © 2021 Seibertron LLC. All rights reserved. Established in June 2000. Seibertron.com is operated by Ryan Yzquierdo.


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Comparisons are never fair, but we have to admit it, to know how good or how bad our own stuff is, we usually have a look at what others are doing. But, do you know how to do a competitors analysis? It is not simple, but it will be much easier with these 5 keys.
Every company is different and not always comparing ourselves with other businesses is the answer. However, when developing our Digital Marketing and online strategy, it is imperative to know perfectly who we are competing with in the market. If we want to beat our competitors, it is essential knowing how to do a competitor analysis, understand what exactly they are doing and even copy what we detect they are doing well and we are not. Of course, we never should copy exactly their ideas, but adapt the strategies that are working, and apply them to our own business, finding our own way.
[ctt template="5″ link="Ap6Ls" via="no" ] We don't go anywhere if we don't know our industry inside out.[/ctt]
Companies usually don't take the initial market research seriously enough, where we analyse the target audience, the competitors, the alternatives of our products and the places our clients look for our services. This lack of knowledge of the situation makes us miss opportunities and, therefore, potential customers and money.
Let's have a look at some basic actions that should be taken in order to be one step ahead of our adversaries.
Keyword research
I am aware it is really complicated to do a proper competitor analysis, especially when not an expert in the online environment or marketers. Nevertheless, running a business is a big deal and, in the same way every entrepreneur should know basic concepts on taxation and economy, it is more and more important to have a basic digital knowledge when opening a business in the 21st century.
Maybe our industry looks too traditional and we are convinced on how clients are looking for our services or products. However you would be surprised as more than 86% of the Internet users actually use it for researching and 53% of them buy online. It means that many people go to Internet to gather information about what they are thinking on buying. If our company is not there to be a result for their research, we will miss the opportunity to attract potential and profitable new clients.
But the first step is finding out how people look for services and products like ours on the Internet. This requires an exercise of creativity and empathy at the time to come up with ideas on how this research is really done. An elementary online competitors analysis involves a keywords research. Too many companies overlook this step when they are creating their corporate sites. They insist on including keywords that are more related to ideal ways of naming their products than the realistic way that in fact is used by clients to look for them.
Just to give one example, our own agency was working recently for a client that wanted us to use in their Adwords campaigns a very technical word that defined their product, according to the CEO of the company. After a brief keywords research, we found out that nobody was using that word to find for their products. Actually, people usually use long tail keywords, short sentences and words related with the problem a product fixes, rather than complex or technical names. Picking that kind of keywords, we increased the impressions on their ads on Adwords dramatically in a short period of time.
But coming up with these kind of conclusions requires an in-depth keyword analysis. But, how you can do this?
1.Keyword Planner tool of Google Adwords. With this tool you will be able to check how many people are looking for a particular keyword. An acceptable figure to decide if we should go for a word in our keyword strategy will depend on the industry, the size of the market, if we target locally or globally, etc.
2.Allintitle. This may sound weird but makes a lot of sense. First of all, go to Google, type allintitle: and add a keyword like in this example:
In the first example, Google gives back all the sites indexed by them that include the keyword "windows films dublin". This phrase can be in a footer, in a post or be part of the content of the homepage. The second example just includes results that are using the keywords within the title of the page. This is relevant because it means that site has high probabilities of being one of the first results on Google. On the other hand, it often means that the person behind that site is… an SEO expert! With this information, you will know how many competitors are fighting against you on the Internet in terms of SEO.
Website analysis
If you are wondering how to know who you are challenging against, the most straight-forward way to do a competitors analysis is studying what they are doing with their own sites. Study their design, the user experience, if they have a powerful digital strategy. If we see that our competitors are weak in that sense, maybe it is time for us to fill that gap and defeat them in digital and make the difference.
Checking the user experience of a site is not difficult. All of us are users, and as such, we are able to differentiate if we are in front of a professional site or a messy site that doesn't invite us to stay for a while and, eventually, buy.
Ask these questions to yourself: it is easy to navigate? Does the site have a fashion design? Is it easy to know what the purpose of the site is? If all the answers are positive, we are in front of a good site, and therefore, high profile digital competitors who can take customers from us. If most of your competitors are standing up for good sites and SEO strategies, there is no other choice than to work hard in our own digital strategy to be at the same level. If you want to know more about this, read this post about how to do a website usability test.
Popularity and visibility depends on how many sites are pointing to your site, especially important sites for the industry of your company. This will increase your site authority (probability of ranking well in search engines). There are different references in the SEO industry to measure your site's authority. One of the most famous ones is Moz Website Authority Checker. When you detect that the authority of your competitor's sites are high, don't waste time; start doing SEO. Most probably, they are already doing it. The authority depends, among other things, on the number of links they are receiving from other sites, they will be in betters positions in Google and, of course, getting more clients than you.
A great tool to study the links of the competition is SEMrush. It is a paid professional resource for SEO experts and let you know which words are linking one site to another. This is useful information about the keywords they are targeting. Let me give you an example: in the paragraph above, when we wrote "site authority", I added a link to the Moz website. If too many sites include a link to the same domain, including similar keywords like "site authority", Google and other search engines will rank that site well when users look for something related with this topic. In the same way, if we get links from sites using strategic keywords, we will end up ranking well for them. Conclusion: study which words the sites are using to point to your competitor's sites and you will find out if they have a strong SEO strategy behind it.
Content strategy
It is a must for a competitor analysis to pay attention to their content strategy or, at least, being aware if they have one. Do they have a blog? Are there long texts within it? Are you able to detect if they are targeting a particular keyword through their content? Again, if the answer is yes, roll up your sleeves and start doing the same.
More and more companies run a corporate blog or news sections. This is not coincidental, they know that talking about their industry, giving tips, providing good and useful information for their potential clients increases their possibilities of getting new and happier clients. Besides, there are more chances to rank better in search engines as we will be offering more optimised content to be positioned according to a keyword strategy.
Google values the existence of up-to-date, relevant and high quality content to rank a site. If they find that content important for a particular keyword they will offer it in their search engine result page when someone uses that keyword in a search.
These two sites are always in the best positions for keywords related with babies and toys, guess why?
- www.babycenter.com
- www.fisher-price.com (Tab "Parenting").
Paid advertising
Everything has its price. Too many companies succumb to paid advertising to improve their rank in Google and other search engines. This is something that we should be aware of. There are tools out there to know if our competitors are paying for Google Adwords ads on the internet. SEMrush is one of them. This is a fastest way to be at the top of the result page and we need to know in order to decide our digital strategy. Know more about pros and cons about paid advertising in our post "Does Google Adwords Work?"
The simplest way to find out if the others are paying, is typing important keywords for our business and checking who are competitors are that are paying for advertising.
Social Media
An important part of a proper competitors analysis is going to their social media profiles. The first thing is knowing if they are doing social media and then, study what they are doing, which actions they are taking and check if they are effective. Copying them is pointless as we have to adapt the strategy to our own target audience and objectives. But it will be a good start to evaluate their strength. The key point is how the relationship with their clients is.
- How many social media posts are they doing?
- Which kind of content are they sharing? Is it exclusively their own content or do they share other's content?
- Are they interacting with their clients? How? How do they react to negative comments?
- Are people sharing their content?
All these elements will help you to know your competitors and, therefore, how to surpass them. An analysis of the situation, and of the competitors, is essential for the success of a business and we shouldn't overlook them. If you don't know where to start, post a comment explaining your particular case and we will give you more in detail tips.


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25 Top Classic Rock Songs is available now at the Guitar World Online Store. (opens in new tab)
This series includes performance notes and accurate tab for the greatest songs of every genre.
From the essential gear, recording techniques and historical information to the right- and left-hand techniques and other playing tips, it's all here! Learn to play 25 classics note for note.
- Addicted to Love
- After Midnight
- Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2
- Beat It
- China Grove
- Dream On
- Fortunate Son
- Go Your Own Way
- Life in the Fast Lane
- Lights
- Message in a Bottle
- Reeling in the Years
- Refugee
- Tom Sawyer
- Wild Night
Head to the Guitar World Online Store now! (opens in new tab)


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Title: Lexington Kentucky Real Estate
URL/Website: http://www.lexingtonkyrealestateonline.com/
Description: Find Lexington KY real estate for sale. Serving the metropolitan area including Georgetown, Versailles, Midway, and Nicholasville. Search the MLS to find new homes for sale in Lexington KY today.
Listing Added: 2007-11-03 20:25:22
Listed in the following Categories:
- Real Esteta
:: [Incorrect Info/Broken Link? Please Let Us Know]


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IBPS Institute of Banking Personnel Selection PO 2022 has released the Official Notification Recently by the Department of the IBPS,with this release of the IBPS PO Recruitment 2022 they will start soon the Online Application Submission soon at the Official Website of the IBPS i.e www.ibps.in. and they will release the Tentative Date that from the Date of 16th August 2022 . IBPS has released across 3562 Vacancies for the IBPS PO 2022 Examination,IBPS PO Vacancy 2022 is likely to Increase another 4 banks that have not yet been part with the IBPS and they have not mentioned wit the IBPS about the Vacancies to be Filled.There is a Major Change that has been noticed in the Mains Exams of the IBPS PO 2022 that as per the released Notification as just like the SBI PO 2022 , IBPS has released a Descriptive paper in its Mains Examination for the Selection of the Aspirants to the Post of the IBPS PO Probationary Officer Vacancies to be Filled across the Country. IBPS PO 2022 ,
|IBPS PO Official Notification 2022
|Download Here
|Click Here to Apply for IBPS PO 2022
|Apply Online
The IBPS Conducts the IBPS PO bank Examination that which is your Gateway to the Sought after the Bank Jobs,IBPS Provides its service to all the Public Sector Banks and the SBI Associates Banks of the SBI RBI NABARD SIDBI LIC and Some Other Insurance Companies and other Banks that related to the IBPS that which are regular Members of the IBPS Society. IBPS PO 2022 .
In the Year 2011 IBPS has Started the Common Written Examination CWE For the Recruitment of the Officer and the Clerks in the Indian Bank and Accepts through the Online Application through its official Website i.e www.ibps.in. IBPS PO 2022 ,The IBPS CWE as Earlier known as the IBPS Bank Po Exam and that has been Conducting the Exams Every Year Successfully that since then and is now Happening in the Year 2021 in its 7th Edition.The IBPS CWE 2022 is For the Selection of the Aspirants that to the 27 Public Sector Banks and the IBPS RRB Regional Rural Banks.It is Conducted at the Various Locations that throughout India and in Online Mode Only. IBPS CWE VII PO Pre-Examination 2022 is Scheduled to be Conducted on the Dates of 7th 8th 14th and 15th October that while the IBPS PO Mains Examination 2022 will be Held on the Date of 23rd November 2022 .
IBPS PO 2022 Recruitment Notification : IBPS PO 2022
IBPS PO 2022 Official Notification has released by the IBPS Department that on the Date of 14th August 2022 . IBPS PO 2022 ,This Recruitment Process is for the Selection of the Candidates for the Post of the Probationary Officers (PO) in the Different Public Sector Banks and the Selected Candidates are should be Talented that to be Posted anywhere in India, He/she should be Work at any Location in India.Eligible and the Interested Candidates are Required to Register through the Online for the Recruitment Process on the Official Website of the IBPS Website.The 3 Tired Selection Process that Consists of the Preliminary and the Mains Exams which will be Conducted through the Online Mode,and it is followed by the Interview Process,Candidates Must Pass the Each and Every Exam that to get the Shortlisted and the Progress to the Next Examination to Qualify,the Final Selection Will be Based on the Mains and the Interview Merit List 2022 .
IBPS PO 2022 Examination Dates Check Now
The IBPS PO Exam Dates are Actively Begins in the Month of August and in the Month of April 2017,The Important Dates for the IBPS PO/MT CWE VII 2022 Dates are as Follows. IBPS PO 2022 .
|Examination Name
|Examination Dates
|Online Registration by the Candidates
|16th August 2022 to 5th September 2022
|IBPS PO Preliminary Exam Dates
|7th 8th 14th and the 15th October 2022
|IBPS PO Mains Examination Dates
|26th November 2022
|Declaration of the IBPS PO Mains Exam Results
|December 2022
|Declaration and to Download of the IBPS PO Interview Call Letter
|January 2022
|IBPS PO Interview Dates
|January/ February 2022
|Allotment of the Provisional Location
|April 2022
IBPS PO 2017-2018 Official Recruitment Notification Download


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Then only way you can use the site is by pinch zooming in, and scrolling left and right to see everything. It's hard work, which is why this can greatly hurt your website. Because people will leave quickly to find an easier to use site, and that sends a strong signal to search engines like Google to say 'this site is not good'.
Google are fanatical about user experience – so if your site provides a bad experience for searchers then they will send less of them to you!
Things have also changed so much now, that Google actually prioritises the mobile version of your site. That's the version they now add to their vast index of websites. Mobile website users have not been an insignificant minority for years now. For most websites mobile users will tend to be at least 20%. And this can easily be 50-70% depending on the industry and demographics of your customers.
The good news is that this can all be fixed.
How Do I Make My WordPress Site Responsive?
You have a choice on how to approach making your WordPress site more mobile friendly. Ideally you hand this over to a good WordPress web design agency who properly understand how users interact with websites.
It may be enough to just update your WordPress theme. But a lot of WordPress themes just get abondoned by their developers, so there may not be any update. Even if you paid for a premium theme this may still be the case.
You can try changing your WordPress theme to a new one – something that states it is responsive or optimised for mobile. The results can be a bit unpredictable however depending on how simple your site is, and what theme you are currently using. It might take a couple of hours of tweaking to get things looking right again, or it might requier days to get everything working properly again.
But there's more to good responsive design than just making things fit on the screen. If you're using WordPress for a small business site, then you still want your website visitors to take certain actions when they use your site (call you, book an appointment, buy something etc). So those things still need to have the proper flow and prominence when your WordPress site layout changes due to smaller screen sizes.
Properly optimising your WordPress site for mobile will mean sales come from both desktop and mobile customers.
More Information


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April 2017: Texas' First Maternal Mental Health Conference
Education for Pregnancy Professionals, Parents and the Community
This week, April 27-29, The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work and Pregnancy and Postpartum Health Alliance of Texas (PPHA), will offer a multi-disciplinary learning opportunity for professionals who provide services to women and their families during pregnancy and after childbirth.
The conference is the first of its kind in the state of Texas and seeks to enhance learning and communications among mental health and community-based providers, birthing professionals, nurses and physicians.
Conference sessions will include:
- Understanding postpartum mood and anxiety disorders
- The postpartum couple
- Early infant crying and coping
- Postpartum sleep management
- Practical tools for parents during your postpartum recovery
- Self care and mother's intuition
- Postpartum depression policy in Texas
The last day of the conference is Parents' Day (April 29)
The last day of the conference is open to the public and will include a full day of learning and self-care opportunities for parents and interested community members to help women and families better understand maternal mental health issues.
Babies are welcome. There will be a comfortable feeding/changing room for all your needs.
- Parents' Day (OPEN TO ALL)
- Saturday, 4/29/17
- 830a-2p
- JJ Pickle Campus: 10000 Burnet Road, Austin, TX 78759 (across from the Domain)
- Austin Expecting http://austinexpecting.com/
- Doulas of Austin
- Pregnancy and Postpartum Health Alliance of Texas (PPHA)
Parents' Day Keynote Speakers:
Jill Krause
Jill started the blog Baby Rabies in 2007 when her baby fever got serious and became baby rabies. She experienced postpartum anxiety after the birth of each of her children, and has leveraged her platform to spread awareness of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Krause has been recognized by Time, Vogue, Buzzfeed, and Babble for her authentic voice and online influence, and was awarded Personal Blog Of The Year by the Iris Awards in 2016.
Ann Dunnewold, PhD
Ann Dunnewold is a licensed psychologist, mom and author. She has more than 25 years of experience helping clients cope with life issues. Her most recent solo title is Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box, which introduces the new paradigm of the perfectly good mother, as opposed to those who overproduce, overprotect and over-perfect.
- Cost: $25
- Registration: Online registration has closed; tickets available at the door
- Please RSVP at the Facebook event page
- Tickets include lunch, parking, access to all Saturday sessions, exhibitor giveaways
Austin Expecting is Austin's most exhaustive prenatal, birth and postpartum resource directory. Find all your pregnancy care and service providers in our comprehensive directory. Stay up to date with all the goings on for expectant moms with our events calendar. Connect with Austin moms and providers by following our blog. The advice and opinions on this website are for informational purposes only. Do not use this information against the advice of your medical practitioner. Always consult your doctor or practitioner for any health-related issues you may be experiencing.


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These are the new Rangers kits 2018/19, Rangers FC's new strips for the upcoming Scottish Premier League season. Made by Hummel, who replace Puma as kit partners (3 year deal) at Ibrox, the new Gers tops were officially unveiled on July 4, 2018. The club will also be having a new manager with former Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard at the helm of affairs for the 2018/19 season. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Glasgow Rangers
New Rangers Away Shirt 12/13- Umbro Glasgow Rangers White Jersey 2012/2013
This is the new Rangers away shirt 12/13, Scottish club Rangers' new away top for the 2012/13 Third Division season. Rangers' new away jersey has been made by Umbro and was first worn in the Glasgow outfit's recent clash against Falkirk. Continue reading
New Rangers Third Strip 12/13- Umbro Glasgow Rangers 3rd Kit 2012/13
This is the new Rangers third kit 2012/13, Glasgow Rangers' new third top for the 2012/2013 season. Rangers will be competing in the Scottish third division in the 2012/13 season after liquidation. This Rangers third jersey has been made by Umbro Continue reading


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This is the relevant reference from the Books where Possession is mentioned.
I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them.
Arrive at your own conclusions.
I wish you well,
"I was her master," I said. "It has been a long time. By now she may have fallen to another. Lapses have occurred. Who knows what collar is now on her neck. She may be a camp slave, a paga girl, a field slave, a caged brothel slut. Others may now have as much claim on her as I." Possession, particularly after a lengthy interval, is often regarded as decisive, by praetors, archons, magistrates, scribes of the law, and such. What is of most importance to the law is not so much that a particular individual owns a slave as that she is owned by someone, that she is absolutely and perfectly owned. It is the same with a kaiila, a verr, a tarsk, and such.
Swordsmen of Gor Book 29 Page 452


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AFF is happy to announce the new Capital Badge! Thank you to everyone who participated in the Twitter contest to help name the badge. There were several bold and creative choices leading to very engaging discussions amongst the AFF team to pick a winner. In the end, it was decided that the Capital Badge best represents the convergence of our festival and its wonderful host city. So a hearty congratulations to AJ DeSario for being the first person to propose the Capital Badge name.
The Capital Badge is the ideal choice for anyone wanting to take full advantage of a jam-packed weekend at the Austin Film Festival and Conference. In addition to the inclusive atmosphere that AFF is known for, where networking opportunities are as abundant as the bats at the Congress Street Bridge, the Capital Badge offers the following perks and benefits:
- Access to all panels, workshops, and roundtables Saturday, October 15th and Sunday, October 16th (over 60 sessions)
- Access to full film line-up, all eight days of the Festival, this October 13-20 (over 180 films, held all throughout the city of Austin)
- Access to the legendary AFF script readings (last year featured the unproduced teleplayGuess Who Died, written by Norman Lear)
- Ability to sign up for select advance sign-ups, exclusively offered to Capital Badges and up
- Entry into five (5) official AFF parties: AFF Wine Reception, Pitch Finale Party, Heart of Film Conference Party, Film Pass Party, and our brand new On Story Party on Sunday, October 16th!
- Access to the inaugural 2016 AFF Television Reunion on Sunday, October 16th (programming details to be released at later date)
As the namesake implies, The Capital Badge is also about our state's capital: Austin! With the whole weekend at your disposal, take advantage of some of the many things that make our city so inviting and unique. Take a break between panels to eat some world class BBQ and Tex-Mex. Stretch your legs by hiking up Lady Bird Trail in the unbeatable October weather before catching a film at the historic Paramount Theatre. Catch the largest urban bat colony fly into the sunset in the evening before heading out to the Pitch Finale Party. Test your courage and take the chilling tour of the haunted Driskill Hotel, followed by a chilled margarita in the equally infamous Driskill Bar with all your favorite screenwriters.


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You may recall that back in October I took on a challenge my employer put out to walk 8,000 steps a day for 20 days in the month in order to get a Fitbit Flex for free (normally $99). My hope was that if I could complete the challenge it would become a habit and I'd be on my way to returning to the slim figure of my youth, or at least not as fat as I was.
So the bad news is that with the arrival of winter my time spent walking has slowly dropped off to the point that I only managed to get out and walk once in January and haven't done it since (and I didn't even make it to 8,000 steps that day). We've been in the grip of a polar vortex for a few weeks now — not to mention being sick as a dog with a nasty cold two weeks ago that kept me in bed — and it's just more than I can muster the motivation to overcome.
The good news is that what little weight loss I have managed, about 10 to 15 pounds, has stuck with me. I was 300 pounds when I started and my weight is currently hovering between 281 and 285 (my last weight as of yesterday was 282.2). My fancy wi-fi scale tells me that I'm down 13.9 pounds in 9 months. I expect it has a lot to do with the healthier meals Anne and I have been eating as of late because it's sure not from exercise.
Once the temps around here start averaging above terrifyingly-ball-shrinking levels I am determined to get back to walking regularly and I hope to see the losses increase. For now, I'm slightly healthier than I was. It's nothing to celebrate, but it's better than nothing.


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The toughest degree there is
Students like to moan a fair bit. The course is too expensive, the work's too hard, the lectures are too boring, the exams are badly organised…it goes on.
But imagine trying to study in Baghdad.
Having been a student since the Iraq conflict began I'm ashamed I haven't even considered what it's like to study in one of the most dangerous country's on earth. Perhaps it's because I just assumed education has been cancelled amid the daily carnage of market bombings and kidnappings.
But it goes on. And for Iraqi students this week is the start of their mid term exams.
According to Correspondent Sahar, writing for the fascinating Inside Iraq blog, the scariest part of the exams for the students is not the pressure of the exams, the last minute revision or the panic of a topic overlooked…it's the fact that the exams have to have a fixed timetable.
That means they're effectively "sitting ducks" for the next ten days.
Usually, lecturers are forced to adopt a random timetable that's never the same for more than a week, to avoid the kidnappers, the snipers and the bombers.
As Sahar says, it's something the students are sadly used to as an unimaginable addition to the stress of study:
Snipers pick inhabitants and students walking from college to hospital or back. One car stops in front of the entrance, lets out one handcuffed young man, waits for him to take a few steps away … and then he is shot, bait, it turned out. Naïve students run to his aid only to be shot at by snipers on a rooftop of a high building in Haifa Street.
One Response
my effing goodness!!! WTF is this world coming to? Where are the US/UK interests or UN to protect these students?


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by Thomas G. Morrow
A response to corruption
In the thirteenth century many priests were involved in seeking wealth and having a pleasant life. They hardly preached at all, virtually never studied, and paid for important positions so that they could get even more money. A number of priests openly lived with women, causing great scandal. Some of the bishops lived in unbelievable wealth, and would sell Church positions to keep their rich life style. Many of the people were just as bad as their leaders.
|Alas, how sad it is that some are far more ready to judge (and criticize) priests than they are to pray for them.
As a result, many so-called prophets had appeared, some good, some not-so-good, who promised terrible punishments if people did not reform. Peter Waldo was one of the reformers who had a great beginning. He gave up his riches to live in poverty and spread the faith. He had many followers who also lived as poor men, and did penance. However, when they began to preach without permission against the lazy and sinful priests, the Archbishop of Lyons, France, excommunicated them.
The group, called the Waldensians, took their case to the pope, and he encouraged them. He praised Peter for living in poverty and gave him and his followers permission to urge the people to live moral and holy lives wherever the bishops allowed them to do so. But since they had not studied theology they were not permitted to explain the Bible or to instruct people in the faith. Unfortunately, they began to do both.
|St. Francis of Assisi
In time they got into all sorts of errors, such as placing their interpretation of the Bible over the authority of the pope, denying both purgatory, and veneration of the saints. They also refused to go to confession to immoral priests, preferring to confess to good people who were not priests. As a result, the Waldensians were excommunicated by the pope in 1184.
However, there were still a number of them going all over, spreading their errors. And, there were also the Albigensians or Cathari, as they were called in Italy, who condemned the material world as evil. As a result they denied the sacraments, and marriage in particular. Many people listened to both the leftover Waldensians and Cathari because they lived Gospel poverty, unlike the priests.
Franciscans take another approach
Despite their sincerity, and their living radical Gospel poverty, all [of the Waldensians and Cathari] fell astray. They lost the faith. But, their contemporary, Francis of Assisi did not. Why not? Because he never went anywhere to preach the Gospel without permission of the priests. Furthermore, he would never criticize the priests and bishops -- even the most lazy and immoral ones -- nor would he allow his friars to do so. (As a result, the Franciscans were always welcome just about everywhere they went.)


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St. Patrick Church is the oldest parish in the Federal City of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1794 to minister to the needs of the stonemasons building the White House and the U.S. Capitol, the parish continues to serve the needs of downtown Washington through daily Mass & confession, adult education, and cultural activities.Our History Our Mission
You can have a candle lit in our historic Church! Clicking the link will bring you to our Faith Direct Candle Lighting page where you can leave your intention and a candle will be lit for your intention.Light a Candle
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, has appointed Father Andrew Wakefield to be the Pastor of Saint Patrick Parish, effective January 13, 2021. Most recently, Father Wakefield was the Pastor of Saint Joseph Parish in Beltsville, Maryland. Monsignor Antonicelli has been appointed the Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Potomac, Maryland, to replace Father Bill Byrne, who was named the Bishop of Springfield in Massachusetts. Please keep Father Wakefield and Monsignor Antonicelli in your prayers. Thank you.


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The planet has many wonderful assets and there has been no consensus on how long this list should be. A list of seven wonders of the natural world compiled by CNN is brought to you here.
God's spectacular display of light and color, Aurora – also called the northern or southern lights – usually occur in the nighttime in the polar regions. Lights that can be see in the northern hemisphere are called the Aurora Borealis while the southern lights are called the Aurora Australis.
Though the aurora can be seen throughout the year, the greatest chances to experience this celestial show is during the months of March, April, September and October.
A massive steep sided gorge created by the Colorado river in Arizona, United States, the Grand Canyon was formed over a 5.4 million year period. The canyon is 446 kilometres long, with a width ranging from 7 to 29 kilometres with a depth of almost 2 kms.
Even with such fantastic figures, the Grand Canyon is not the steepest nor the longest canyon in the world, but is recognized as a natural wonder because of the overall scale and size combined with the beautifully colored landscape.
The largest coral reef system in the world, the Great Barrier reef is made up of 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. The reef is located off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia in the Coral sea and supports one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. The reef is visible from outer space.
Located around Rio de Janeiro, the harbour of Rio de Janerio is surrounded by unique mountains and formations. the harbour was created by erosion from the Atlantic Ocean. The Harbour is surrounded by gorgeous mountains that include Sugar Loaf at 1,296 feet, Corcovado Peak at 2,310 feet, and the hills of Tijuca at 3,350 feet.
This harbour falls in the natural wonder category because this one site looks like many different thing depending on where you see it from. Some of the first explorers thought it looked like the mouth of some giant river. The giant mountains by it deceive your eyes to make it seem like a lake. Some of the mountains are low and run straight into the water.
The name speaks for itself. Highest point on the surface of the earth (29,029 feet), located in the Himalayas.
A cinder cone volcano in Mexico, Paricutin was named one of the seven natural wonders as an active volcano. The volcano has been dormant since the last eruption in 1952.
What is remarkable about this volcano is that it is the youngest volcano in America and its birth was witness by a human being. The volcano began as a fissure in a cornfield owned by a P'urhépecha farmer, Dionisio Pulido on February 20, 1943. Pulido, his wife, and their son all witnessed the initial eruption of ash and stones first-hand as they plowed the field. The volcano grew quickly, reaching five stories tall in just a week, and it could be seen from afar in a month.
Also called the "smoke that thunders", Victoria Falls is a waterfall located in southern Africa on the borders of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Zambezi River serves as the fall's water source.
While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, it is claimed to be the largest based on a width of 1,708 metres and height of 108 meters, forming the largest sheet of falling water in the world. The falls are formed as the full width of the Zambezi river plummets in a single vertical drop into a transverse chasm 1708 meters (5604 ft) wide.
Source : India Syndicate thru msn.com, Images : Reuter


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RED appointed for Hilton's first Hotel in Sierra Leone
RED is delighted to have recently been appointed by IDEA (UK) Ltd, for the Hilton Freetown Cape Sierra Hotel project in Sierra Leone, WestAfrica, to provide detailed MEP services design for this upscale hotel which will have a unique Sierra Leonean identity and be sustainable in social, environmental and economic terms. Located in Aberdeen, on the northern tip of the western peninsula, Hilton Freetown Cape Sierra will have 200 rooms, including 60 executive standard rooms and 20 suites and feature a business centre, health club, outdoor pool and five restaurants and bars and is due to open in 2014. The site benefits from 250m of ocean frontage and excellent views across Lumley Beach, the Atlantic and across the coastline toward Freetown.
The hotel is RED's fourth project in Africa as it aims to secure further appointments in the continent.
See press release issued by Hilton Worldwide for the Hilton Freetown Cape Sierra Hotel http://www.hiltonglobalmediacenter.com/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=1570&tl=en


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The BJP on Wednesday accused former Union Minister P. Chidambaram of behaving like fugitive businessmen Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi by not cooperating with the central agencies probing alleged corruption in the INX Media case.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman G.V.L. Narasimha Rao made the comment after the Supreme Court refused to grant any immediate relief to Chidambaram while responding to his plea for protection from arrest in the case.
"Gandhi family gave free hand to Chidambaram to go ahead in the INX Media case. Chidambaram is behaving like fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya by not cooperating with the central agencies. No one will be spared," Rao said.
Chidambaram's lawyer has challenged the Delhi High Court's order rejecting his request for protection from arrest.
The Supreme Court said that Chidambaram's petition will be placed before the Chief Justice of India.
In the INX Media case, Chidambaram is accused of facilitating foreign investment in a media company when he was the Finance Minister at the instance of his son Karti Chidambaram, who is accused of receiving kickbacks. Both the father and son have denied any wrongdoing.


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Artisan Vehicles is proud to announce that Vale, one of the world's largest mining companies, has selected Artisan's 153 to be the first battery powered loader to be tested underground at its Coleman mine in Ontario Canada. The vehicle was delivered to Coleman and went underground this week.
"Artisan's technology not only assists mining companies to reduce diesel emissions underground, providing a healthier work environment for its employees, but can also increase production output." said Mike Kasaba, CEO of Artisan Vehicles. "Eliminating diesel underground is proven to reduce ventilation and cooling expenses. But it can also reduce costly production shut downs caused by high temperatures in the hot summer months. We are committed to making these benefits a reality at Coleman Mine through the delivery of their first battery powered loader. As I've said before, diesel's days underground are numbered and Artisan is committed to accelerating its demise throughout the entire mining industry".
Artisan designed the 153 around its cutting edge electric powertrain, battery, and advanced operator control system. The 153, with its streamlined modernized design, is smaller in all dimensions than a comparable diesel loader, but has 300% of the power. It loads quicker, hauls up steep grades faster, and is more precise and responsive to operator commands. Operators prefer our battery powered units over diesel because of their higher productivity, more tons moved per shift, zero diesel emissions, extremely low heat, and quiet operation. Moreover, the total cost of ownership is comparable, and in many cases lower, than diesel.
Based in California, the heart of electric vehicle technology, Artisan Vehicles is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of zero emission battery powered mining vehicles. Its core technology is its proprietary battery packs, electric motors, power electronics, software and control systems. Artisan's underground mining machines are designed from the ground up around high powered, highly reliable, field proven battery electric powertrains.


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Scenes from the event
Nearly 60 insurance producers attended the New York Young Insurance Professionals last networking event of the year on Dec. 4, at the Black Forest Brew Haus in Farmingdale, New York.
This year, NY-YIP partnered with Jocelyn's Operation Holiday Spirit, an organization that provides gifts for underprivileged children. Those who attended the NY-YIP Holiday Gathering picked up a child's Christmas letter and brought an unwrapped toy to be donated to the charity. In addition to the gifts, this year's event raised nearly $200 for the charity.
We'd like to thank Bartow Insurance, Burns & Wilcox, CMS LLC, The Main Street America Group and Western World for their generous sponsorship of this event.
Burns & Wilcox named NY-YIP Partner of the Year
During the event, Burns & Wilcox received the NY-YIP Partner of the Year award. The company was honored for its support of young insurance professionals and the association throughout the year. NY-YIP Vice President Anna Kodryanu, ARM, CPCU, of Burns & Wilcox accepted the plaque at the event. Kodryanu was featured as one of Insurance Business Magazine's Young Guns of 2018. The magazine highlights 54 bright prospects in the insurance industry under the age of 35.


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H.T. Chen & Dancers
In one variation on multicultural approaches, Asian-American choreographer H.T. Chen uses modern dance to depict the experiences of Chinese immigrants to this country over the last 150 years, conducting research and interviews to obtain his material. (Chen was born in Shanghai and raised in Taiwan, then moved to New York, where his company is based, to attend Juilliard and New York University.) The evening-length Transparent Hinges is a strange enterprise in a way, both bolstered and undermined by Zhou Long's score, which uses such traditional instruments as bamboo flutes and the Chinese opera gong. Long's Eastern-sounding music certainly sets the scene–otherwise I'm not sure we'd know that this is a dance about the Asian-American experience–but it also sits oddly with the modern choreography, which is sometimes slightly inflected by the movements of Asian dance. Well-intentioned, at times kinetically dynamic, and marked by a few images of great beauty (including one in which two dancers withstand brief showers), Transparent Hinges is quite unlike any other dance I've seen, though its multiculti intent is certainly common enough these days. Thursday, February 18, through Saturday at 8 at the Dance Center of Columbia College, 4730 N. Sheridan; $20. Call 773-989-3310 for tickets and information.
–Laura Molzahn
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Transparent Hinges photo by Carol Rosegg.


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The Australian government this week outlined plans for expanded powers to call out the armed forces to deal with domestic crises. The changes will mean that the full lethal force of the military can be mobilised to suppress protests and other civil disturbances.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the sweeping changes on the pretext of dealing with "terrorist incidents," seeking again to whip up fears of terrorist attacks. He staged his announcement at a Sydney army base, surrounded by masked commandos from an elite Tactical Assault Group, who displayed their deadly weaponry.
The proposals go far beyond combatting alleged terrorism. They will substantially extend the military call-out powers, which already can be triggered by the government declaring there is a threat of "domestic violence" or a danger to "Commonwealth interests" or "critical infrastructure."
These vague and undefined terms can cover any major outbreak of social unrest. "Domestic violence"—a formulation in the Australian Constitution—can include protests outside parliaments, clashes with police or crippling industrial action. Terrorism itself has been defined since 2002 in far-reaching terms, with the potential to cover many kinds of political opposition or dissent.
Under the Defence Act, the government must currently assert that the supposed threat is beyond the capacity of a state or territory government and its police and other security forces. A state or territory government must request the military call-out.
Those limits will now be removed, although no details of the proposed legislation have yet been released. From media reports, the states and territories will be able to request a military call-out even if their police forces have the capacity to respond themselves. "Under extraordinary circumstances," the federal government would not need to wait for an invitation from a state or territory government to send in troops.
Already, in a "sudden and extraordinary emergency," the prime minister or two other ministers can order a military call-out. In addition, standing orders can be issued for the activation of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) by the chief of the armed forces. Yet the government claims that these procedures are not "streamlined" enough.
Calling out the military onto the streets overturns a centuries-old principle, derived from the overthrow of the absolute monarchy in Britain, against the use of the armed forces to attack or kill civilians domestically. It might also be unconstitutional. Section 119 of the Constitution specifies that a state government must request a call-out to deal with "domestic violence."
Other plans outlined by Turnbull and Defence Minister Marise Payne include:
- Special Air Service (SAS) and other Special Forces commandos will provide "specialised training" to state and territory law enforcement agencies.
- ADF units will be "pre-positioned" to assist police forces.
- The Defence Act will be amended to allow troops to support police in preventing suspects "from leaving the scene of an incident."
Over the past 16 years, the Special Forces have spearheaded the Australian involvement in the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, specialising in night-time raids on homes, in which innocent civilians have been killed. During the same period, two contingents have been established for domestic interventions—Tactical Assault Group (TAG)-East, based in Sydney, and TAG-West, based in Perth.
These units were established on the pretext of fighting terrorism, just like the involvement in the predatory US-led wars in the Middle East and every previous wave of legislation overturning basic legal and democratic rights. The real aim of the "war on terrorism" has been to secure US control over the Middle East and justify the erection of a police-state apparatus at home.
Domestic call-out laws were first introduced, with no public debate, in 2000, under the guise of protecting the Sydney Olympics from terrorists. They were expanded in 2006, on the excuse of shielding the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, even though no terrorist threats were made to either event.
Once deployed, the military has authoritarian powers. Soldiers can take over buildings, detain people, search premises and confiscate possessions. Military personnel can also use lethal force, issue commands to civilians, interrogate them and seize documents. The ADF's "shoot to kill" powers can be used with legal impunity—a defence of following "superior orders" was inserted in the Defence Act in 2006.
Over the past 10 months, the government and security officials have conducted a secretive review of the military call-out powers. No report of that review has been released because it could reveal the real political calculations behind the latest changes.
To justify the measures, Turnbull and his ministers have endlessly cited the December 2014 Sydney café siege, falsely labelling it a terrorist attack and claiming it demonstrated the need for the SAS to have the capacity to intervene with lethal force. The truth is that, like many similar incidents around the world, the café hostage-taking was perpetrated by a mentally-disturbed individual, who was long under close surveillance by police and intelligence agencies.
At his Sydney media conference, flanked by defence force chief, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, Turnbull declared that his only concern was to protect the Australian people. A prominent government parliamentarian, former SAS commander Andrew Hastie, was more blunt. "The most lethal means of statecraft resides with the ADF," he told Fairfax Media.
The government has been assured of bipartisan backing by the Labor Party, which itself boosted the military-intelligence apparatus when in office from 2007 to 2013. Shadow defence minister Richard Marles said he supported the proposals, while criticising Turnbull for "politicising" the military by using commandos as "props" for a media conference. Marles's only concern was that people would "sniff" the stunt "from a mile away" and judge it accordingly.
The Australian population was last confronted by heavily-armed soldiers on the streets in 1978. The Fraser government seized upon the still-unexplained Sydney Hotel bomb incident to place 1,500 armed troops, with armoured personnel carriers and helicopters, along a major highway on Sydney's outskirts and in the nearby town of Bowral.
This week's announcement is part of an international turn. In May, the British government exploited the Manchester "terrorist" attack to deploy hundreds of soldiers, mainly in London. In 2015, the French government seized on a terrorist attack to mobilise 10,000 troops in Paris and imposed legislation to allow the military to search and detain persons without warrant, close down peaceful protests, harass people and commit assaults. Those emergency powers, since continued by President Emmanuel Macron, were used to issue 155 decrees prohibiting public assemblies between November 2015 and 5 May 2017, according to an Amnesty International report, including protests against regressive labour law measures.
Although no military call-out has occurred in Australia since 1978, major events—from the 2000 Sydney Olympics to the 2014 G20 summit in Brisbane—have been accompanied by displays of military might and huge police mobilisations.
Constant "counter-terrorism" exercises have also been conducted in major cities, featuring military helicopters and Special Forces troops. These operations have been testing grounds for methods of military repression that will be directed against mounting social and political discontent.


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Here is what you will be choosing in your personalization:
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Digital transformation has had a considerable impact on the corporate world in recent years, creating new opportunities for both startup companies and established firms alike. As technology continues to become an ever-increasing aspect of our daily lives, the devices and systems we use also develop. Technology is changing at a phenomenal rate, which is leading to significant changes in our daily lives, and affecting business at the same time.
In this blog post, we will take a closer look at IT transformation, and assess how this concept is playing an increasingly key role for business IT departments.
IT transformation takes form as a complete overhaul of an business's IT systems, and can involve changes to network architecture, hardware, software and data storage. Like any large-scale change taking place within an organisation, IT transformation has the potential to impact workflow, automation programmes and the corporate culture.
The objective of IT transformation is to change the essence of any IT department, making it less reactive and inflexible. The ideal 'transformed' IT department would respond quickly to changing business requirements.
This concept enables enterprises to reinvent and digitally transform their business to meet new challenges proposed by the increasing use of technology.
The idea of IT transformation is that, as businesses begin to evolve digitally, control over key systems and areas must be moved beyond humans, instead allowing software to run these aspects of the business.
The applications that are being developed to control aspects of the business are becoming increasingly complex. However, it is essential that these are simplified to allow companies to operate them with ease. As a result, many tech giants - including Dell - are promoting efficiency, predictability and agility within new products to provide services in real time that customers are demanding.
One of the most effective ways for driving IT transformation is by adopting a cloud model, which allows businesses to achieve that increased efficiency, predictability and agility.
The building blocks of successful cloud operations are as follows:
1) Hardware
Although the future of IT is, and will be, increasingly software-centric, it has to run on hardware that can deliver the performance and scalability that is necessary.
2) Virtualisation
This helps to abstract the physical components of an infrastructure and turns into a virtualised infrastructure that can be presented to applications as services.
3) Orchestration
This answers the question 'how do I automate the delivery of these infrastructure services in self-service fashion?'
4) Platform
This provides the link and methodology that isolates cloud-based applications from the underlying infrastructure and automation for maximum resiliency and reliability.
Business applications then operate on top of these blocks.
While adopting a cloud model is an effective way of moving closer to IT transformation, it requires additional work and initiatives across the business as a whole.
Although ownership and implementation of digital transformation can be inconsistent between businesses, responsibility for it usually lies with the chief information officer. Despite this, the IT department is not always the most likely to lead the implementation of digital projects within a business. These are usually conducted by individual business units or digital divisions.
Many executives, both in IT and across other departments, agree that IT departments should take an active role in transformation, particularly when it comes to driving innovation. So, how is this achieved?
To drive an organisation forward, the business needs to know about any new technologies that are on the horizon. Including if and how they can help to transform the business as a whole. One example of IT driving early adoption of technology is through automation, which can dramatically reduce costs and free up revenue for reinvestment in technology.
Many executives believe that a lack of digital leadership is a key barrier when it comes to improving customer experience through digital transformation. It is the responsibility of organisations to ensure digital leaders are cultivated across the workforce, particularly in marketing and IT. This will allow the brand to evolve as the world migrates to a digital mindset and consumers become increasingly tech savvy.
IT departments can drive businesses forward by harnessing the power of emerging technologies to assist key members of some departments in understanding how to transform data into plans to improve business performance.
There is a need for collaboration with other customer-facing teams within the business. In fact, marketing and customer service personnel are already taking on leadership roles within digital transformation projects alongside IT by expanding their technical knowledge and using it to assist with their strategic plans while using data trends to improve customer interaction.
Access to the right expertise, in addition to hiring the right people at the right time, is becoming a huge competitive advantage for businesses.Those businesses pursuing digital transformation initiatives are set to increase their workforces in the future, and focusing new hires on digital initiatives such as mobile app development, analytics and design.
IT transformation provides companies with the opportunity to significantly improve the effectiveness of their IT infrastructure, but due to the complexity of a transformation project of this kind, the necessary preparation and investment is often avoided. Make sure you understand how best to prepare and implement a project like this and your company can reap the rewards.