text:
In order to let users view PDF documents in an Android app, it's common practice to defer this functionality to a third-party app on the user's device. By doing so, developers won't have to build their own PDF viewer from scratch, however this isn't always the best solution. What if you want to view PDF documents directly in your app? Luckily, the Android SDK provides classes to handle PDF documents in apps running Android 5.0 or higher.
In this blog post, we'll use PdfRenderer from the
android.graphics.pdf package to create a basic PDF viewer in your Android app. Then, we'll see how easy it is to implement a document viewer using the PDFTron SDK. Here are a few steps to get you started.
For reference, the sample code for this post can be found at Github.
View a PDF using the Android SDK
To keep things simple, we're going to view a PDF file stored in the raw resource folder (i.e.
res/raw/sample.pdf). Your app will also need to set the minimum API level to 21 (Android 5.0).
PdfRenderer.Pagemember variables to your activity so that we can clean them up later. You'll also need to add an
ImageViewto your activity in order to display the PDF:
// ... private PdfRenderer mPdfRenderer; private PdfRenderer.Page mPdfPage; private ImageView mImageView; @Override protected void onDestroy() { super.onDestroy(); if (mPdfPage != null) { mPdfPage.close(); } if (mPdfRenderer != null) { mPdfRenderer.close(); } }
In order for
PdfRendererto handle PDFs from the
res/rawfolder, we'll need to copy the file and cache it locally. Add this method to your activity:
// Copies the resource PDF file locally so that PdfRenderer can handle the file void copyToLocalCache(File outputFile, @RawRes int pdfResource) throws IOException { if (!outputFile.exists()) { InputStream input = getResources().openRawResource(pdfResource); FileOutputStream output; output = new FileOutputStream(outputFile); byte[] buffer = new byte[1024]; int size; // Just copy the entire contents of the file while ((size = input.read(buffer)) != -1) { output.write(buffer, 0, size); } input.close(); output.close(); } }
Then you can display a page from your PDF by loading it to an
ImageViewas a bitmap:
// Display a page from the PDF on an ImageView void openPdfWithAndroidSDK(ImageView imageView, int pageNumber) throws IOException { // Copy sample.pdf from 'res/raw' folder into local cache so PdfRenderer can handle it File fileCopy = new File(getCacheDir(), FILE_NAME); copyToLocalCache(fileCopy, R.raw.sample); // We will get a page from the PDF file by calling openPage ParcelFileDescriptor fileDescriptor = ParcelFileDescriptor.open(fileCopy, ParcelFileDescriptor.MODE_READ_ONLY); mPdfRenderer = new PdfRenderer(fileDescriptor); mPdfPage = mPdfRenderer.openPage(pageNumber); // Create a new bitmap and render the page contents on to it Bitmap bitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(mPdfPage.getWidth(), mPdfPage.getHeight(), Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888); mPdfPage.render(bitmap, null, null, PdfRenderer.Page.RENDER_MODE_FOR_DISPLAY); // Set the bitmap in the ImageView so we can view it imageView.setImageBitmap(bitmap); }
The sample above will look something like this:
As you can see, using
PdfRenderer is an easy way to create a simple single-page PDF viewer in your Android app. However if you need users to interact with a PDF document, then I'm afraid you're out of luck. The Android SDK does not provide any basic UI controls for PDF viewing like page zooming and scrolling, and
PdfRenderer only supports opening one page at a time - you'll need to write your own UI to handle user interaction and multi-page documents.
PdfRenderer does not support password-protected or encrypted files, and uses PDFium for rendering which only works well with simple documents. You could run in to some rendering inconsistencies or failures when working with more complex or unsupported PDF documents. For a more stable and interactive viewing experience you'll have to look elsewhere for a solution.
Fortunately, PDFTron's Android PDF SDK comes with a fully-featured document viewer that includes these basic controls in addition to features such as:
- Annotation creation and editing
- Form filling
- Office file viewing and conversion (including .doc, .docx, .xlsx, .pptx formats)
- Page manipulation
- Reflow
- Custom viewing modes
- and more!
Also it's easy as pie to integrate with your Android app, here's how!
View a PDF using PDFTron
Start by adding the PDFTron Gradle dependency to you Android project .
We'll be using
DocumentActivityas our PDF viewer. Set up this activity as described in this short guide .
From your main activity, open the PDF document in
DocumentActivityby calling:
// Open the document 'res/raw/sample.pdf' in DocumentActivity DocumentActivity.openDocument(this, R.raw.sample);
That's it! You now have a fully-featured document viewer in your Android app.
Out of the box, PDFTron provides an interactive document viewer that can be easily integrated into existing Android apps with dozens of features , giving users a better document viewing experience. What's even better is that it's highly customizable, allowing for feature customization and UI theming to fit all use-cases.
To get started just download our [free trial}(/documentation/android/get-started/) and explore our guides & documentation for our Android PDF library .
If you have any questions about PDFTron's Android PDF SDK, please feel free to get in touch !
You can find the source code for this blog post at Github.


text:
Thank you to all our veterans for everything they have, and continue, to do for us. Please remember that we would not be who we are and have the liberties we have without the men and women who served for us.
Tennessee Battery continues to offer a 10% discount to our military customers. Thank you, again, for your service!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Factors for Choosing the Right Compressor parts
There is a need to make sure you know all the services that re vital for you. There are some skills that you ought to learn that will help you in making the right chicories. You should take time to ensure you get the right quality of all the products that you want to have. There are several experts that you can engage to make sure that you have the best investment. Unit is a must that you get to know the right source of income that will be reliable for you. The following guidelines will help you in choosing tie the best compressor parts .
There is a need to consider the cost for hiring the compressor parts who you want to have. You must make sure you knew the right amount which you can afford for the compressor parts you are looking for. There are various charges that you will find for the compressor parts which you want to hire. It is a must you take time to know the range of the cost of hiring such a compressor parts . There are several things that you gout to consider ensuring you have a budget for the compressor parts which you can hire.
For you to make the right chorea for a compressor parts which you are looking for, you got to get some legal credentials. There are documents which you ought to get from the coaming which you will find. You should take time to know more about the compressor parts that o find with the help of these documents. There are some skills which you require from the coaming you want to hire. This will help you to have the right qualified compressor parts for the services that you have. It is a must you be keen to have a compressor parts with the right tools for the services that you want.
For you to have the right compressor parts , you ought to ensure you consider the location. There are apples which are known for the right compressor parts that to can hire. It is a must that you take time to survey out your locality in search for a compressor parts that will help you ought. It is vital you get to know the right places which you can access with ease for the compressor parts you want to have. You must be czar elf to know the best areas that re secure for the compressor parts you should hire. This will help you to ahead reliable compressor parts that you need.
When looking for a compressor parts , you got to consult from the friends that you have. There are friends who have hired the compressor parts you want to have before. You must bet to know all the details about such a compressor parts with the help of these friends. It is vital you be careful to ensure that the compressor parts will help you to achieve the goals which you have set. Ti is important you get to know the kind of friends you are dealing with when you want to have a compressor parts that you can hire.
Questions About You Must Know the Answers To


text:
["Buy me some peanuts and crack …", can't say Eddie Vedder doesn't have his moments.]
Welcome to the first Cubs Mailbag of 2010. Fans may bitch about our No Big Moves Off-Season of 2009-2010, but how about renaming the legendary Cubs Mailbag? Meet your new Cubs' "Inbox!" How Sam Zell missed selling naming rights to it I don't know. I for one am sorry not to see the "Captain Morgan Bag 'o Mailbooty," but even Zell's eagle eye missed a nickel here and there. Nor were fans consulted. I like the Ricketts' use of Executive Power here. The Trib Cubs usually announced even the slightest of moves as a "planned change," meaning months of No Lights! style fan protests demanding they keep using the old-timey mailbag Ron Santo used. "Inbox …", it sounds strangely contemporary for anything Cub " especially for a ball club residing in a 1914 rusting hulk of a park that remains baseball™s equivalent to the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. It™s like watching a History Channel show, say on Hitler™s shoe factories (Boots of Destruction: How the Nazis Walked Across Europe, if you haven't seen it) and someone said œDrive-thru window. Well, first things first …
First, Congrats Sammy Sosa!: I'm catching up here, so I have to mention Mark McGwire's arrival at Spring Training after his emotional confession of drug use for the Cardinal payroll office on national TV. What does that mean to the Cubs? It means Sammy Sosa is the legit single season HR king, that's what. Bonds, McGwire, the Ultimate Warrior, and all other needle users aside, Sammy has admitted nothing. While it will surprise no one with eyes if he does admit it, no one can get it out of him. The New York Times last year claimed Sammy doped, but the Times was discredited when challenged by the player™s association and the paper had to admit (or as they put it, were "unclear") that they did not have an accurate list of doped players. I said last year that the NYTs Michael S. Schmidt was getting fed by the gov't, and it looks more and more like it every day. Since the gov™t returned œthe list, Schmidt, has been somewhat silent on the issue and has been reassigned as a burrough ambulance chaser writing up guys in the Bronx beating up their moms with frying pans.
Yes, I thought, if Sammy can just keep his mouth shut for four years, Cooperstown and a Bronze Ranger Cap await. You™d think Cub fans would appreciate Sammy™s unrivaled stature as baseball royalty. Instead, none other than Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks, asked Sammy to œcome clean. On the Cardinals, Tony La Russa brings McGwire back in the fold. With the Cubs, Ernie Banks plays Judge Judy. Let me offer six words never heard before in Wrigley : œHey Ernie, Shut the Fuck Up. Well, not heard since Leo Durocher managed him, anyway. If Ernie wants questions answered, he should play with kids his own age. How about Willie Mays' incredibly contemporary sounding non-denial non-admission of using amphetamines, as reported in the new James Hirsch bio of Willie? Me, I'd like to hear about how hard Ernie pushed for a decent team out of PK Wrigley. I'd like some answers from Ernie about my sitting through so many lousy Cubs seasons rather than him becoming one more self-righteous voice on steroids.
The State of the Cubs: With Milton Bradley gone, the Cubs settled into a pretty quiet off-season regarding moves. Well, they did give their usual vote of confidence to closer Carlos Marmol, who has suffered through Kerry Wood and Kevin Gregg, by offering him a wopping one-year contract. The common wisdom, as CBS blogger Danny Knobler reports here, is to write off last season to injuries and point out that the squad itself is solid. Solid, but older " I have less faith in seeing a 2008 Dempster or Zambrano in 2010 than the official Cub line allows. With Milton Bradley unavailable to wear a target on his back for all things failing, other questions will come up, like why Piniella and Hendry can't get Zambrano to work. Knobler does point out that the Cubs were tied with the Cardinals in first place through August 7, despite all distractions. The brightest news for me out of Spring Training so far is perhaps Jim Hendry's prediction of the team's new owners, the Ricketts Family, as being something like the O'Malleys and the Dodgers. Walter O'Malley … the guy who tore down Ebbetts Field? Sounds good to me. The idea of a forward thinking anything in the Cubs front office is welcome news.
So, Lou Piniella is returning in a much more optimistic mood. The Cubs finished 2008 with 97 wins and then choked in the play-offs because of their 100-years-without-a-title œstress issues. Piniella ordered some sports psychology books from Amazon to deal with such psych-outs, resulting in a 2009 83-78 finish, a Cardinal division title, and driving the volatile-but-successful Milton Bradley into an muted depression and failure. I don™t know, maybe Piniella mistakenly ordered some books o Guanatamo Bay psy-ops books on breaking men down, cuz that was the result.
As to the inbox mailbag itself, the name changed but not the rules: I answer the actual questions Carrie Muskat receives from Cub fans nationwide, or at least most of downstate, Internet-free Illinois. I simply answer the questions the way I think Carrie would, if not for contractual obligations and the common courtesy her job requires.
I see that the Cubs signed Nady. I know when he was with the Pirates, he killed us, especially in Wrigley. What are his career numbers at Wrigley? I think the Cubs could definitely use him as a backup to Kosuke Fukudome and Alfonso Soriano. — Mark A., Momence, Ill.
Hello, Mark. The Inbox has many fond memories of flying over Momence … God Bless. The good news is that Nady has a career .304 average in 28 games at Wrigley Field with two homers, eight doubles, and 15 RBIs. The bad news is that, as a Cub, he won™t be facing Cub pitching.
I'm pretty optimistic about Zambrano this year. He seems to have a better attitude and looks to be in better shape. Is there any way the Cubs could hire a shrink to work with him in the dugout between innings? Considering his $90 million contract, this could be good insurance. Are there any other options out there for keeping him sane? — James P., Naperville, Ill.
A shrink? Please see my views on Lou and psychology above. Mr.Zambrano is a near-sighted, potassium-challenged, banana-eating Gatorade-machine smashing super-talented slouch. He signed his $90 million deal and then, after his no-hitter, declared he was retiring once the contract was up because he™d missed too many Mothers Days. Can shrinks fix that? The old Lou Piniella used to do it by kicking Rob Dibble™s ass in the Reds clubhouse, and they won a World Series. Wow, thinking of that moment makes me wish Kevin Gregg had stayed at least until Opening Day.
I heard the Cubs are staying in Arizona. If this is true, how come there are still talks about moving to Florida? Also, how long would the contract be for the Cubs if they did stay in Arizona? — Justin G., McHenry, Ill.
Hello, Justin. Good ˜ol McHenry ¦ I miss seeing it™s name roll by on WGN™s Tornado Watch crawls. As the Irish like to say, may your trailer be right side up an hour before the devil knows your dead. It™s not true that the Cubs were ever moving to Florida. As Sam Zell retired from baseball, he scouted locations for a senior home down there. Within days of arriving at the Golden Age Estate, however, he began leverage-loaning residents™ cash against their walkers and scooters. He was asked to leave, but is currently too heavily anchored in resident pension funds, which he is using as collateral on the walker loans. Hard to break old habits, I guess. Updates on this situation will be provided during the season.
Any more news on whether the Cubs will retire Dawson's number? I know they said they would retire it if he went into the Hall of Fame as a Cub, but I think they should retire No. 8 anyways. Greg Maddux most likely will go into the Hall as a Brave and the Cubs retired his number. Also, I think it's garbage he's going in as an Expo. If he wants to go in as a Cub, let him go in as a Cub. It was his career and he knows which organization he benefited with and associates himself with the most. Plus, the Expos have a total of about 17 fans while there are millions of Cubs fans who would appreciate it more. — Joshua S., Elmhurst, Ill.
The Inbox agrees with you Josuha, let the Expos retire his damn number. Actually, with the Expos out of business, all their numbers were retired. There™s also the fact that Dawson™s Expos cap was not his choice, but the Hall™s. After 9 attempts to get into the Hall, he still bitched about it. You™d think Dawson wouldn™t push the issue, you know? Like, fine, put me in a Kansas City Pilots hat, just put me in the Hall already. I guess they™re building up to the next big Cub indictee inductee Mr. Cub, Sammy Sosa.
When do individual game tickets go on sale? — Gary I., Decatur, Tenn.
œIndividual game tickets? Wow, still can™t find a date, Gary?


text:
Apple defeats music rate hike
Judges rule against steep royalty increase for online music stores.
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- It looks like Apple won't be closing the iTunes store because of a dispute with music publishers over royalties on downloaded songs.
The Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, D.C., today declined a request by the National Music Publishers Association to increase royalties from 9 cents to 15 cents on songs purchased from online music stores like iTunes.
Apple adamantly opposed the proposed 66% increase and threatened to shutter iTunes if it was approved. In a statement submitted to the board last year, iTunes vice president Eddy Cue said Apple didn't want to raise its 99 cents a song price or absorb the higher royalty costs itself.
Cue's statement was first reported by Fortune on Tuesday.
PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that Apple (AAPLE) only makes about 10 cents a song in profit.
Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said the company was happy with the ruling. "We're pleased with the CRB's decision to keep royalty rates stable," he said.
The Copyright Royalty Board is a three-judge panel that oversees statutory licenses granted under federal copyright law. That includes royalty rates for music sales. The current case followed the expiration last year of a 1997 decision that had governed sales of so-called physical music products like CDs for a decade. Thursday's decision will set royalty rates for the next five years.This is the board's first ruling on the digital sale of music.
Cue's threat was greeted with disbelief by many people in the technology world Apple has artfully used the iTunes store to spur demand for iPods, its most popular product. Before Apple opened the store in 2003, there was virtually no place for iPod owners to purchase music online. And so iTunes helped grow the market for the gadget by appealing to people who didn't want to patronize illegal file-sharing services and risk a music industry lawsuit.
iTunes ended up as the largest music retailer on the Internet. Piper Jaffray estimates that Apple will sell 2.4 billion songs this year, giving it an 85% share of the digital music market.
But the company's aggressive position in this case illustrates the challenges faced by the nascent digital music industry. The Recording Industry Association of America says sales of digital songs and albums rose 46% last year, to $1.2 billion. Apple laments that its profits are still slim. Therefore, Apple argues, it would be dangerous to raise its 99-cents-a-song price.
Apple pays an estimated 70 cents on the sale of every dollar it collects per song to the record companies responsible for each track. The record companies turn over 9 cents to the music publishers who control the copyrights to these tunes.
The record companies were in no mood to pay the proposed royalty increase out of their pockets. Not when CD sales, their one-time cash cow, fell last year by 20%, to $7.4 billion. They asked the Copyright Royalty Board to abandon the fixed per-song payment in favor of 8% of wholesales revenues..
"We're pleased that this decision freezes the current rate for CDs and digital downloads for the five-year term," said RIAA chairman Mitch Bainwol in a statement."No party got everything it wanted, yet at the end of the day, the certainty provided by this ruling is beneficial."
The Digital Media Association, which represents Apple and other online music services, sought an even lower rate of 4.8 cents a track, or 6% of "applicable revenues .They didn't get what they wanted. But executive director Jonathan Potter also sounded relieved on Thursday. "During this challenging time for the music industry and digital stores and services, we are pleased with the CRB's decision to keep royalty rates stable for the next five years," he said in a statement.
The music publishers had argued that Apple was selling songs at a low price to sell iPods, which didn't benefit them. Even so, they, too sounded a conciliatory note in a statement released after the ruling was announced.
"These events will bring clarity and order to an environment that for the past decade has been hampered by litigation and uncertainty on all sides," said David Israelite, CEO of the National Music Publishers Association.
"I think, all in all, there's not a lot of drama here, just a good set of rates that will serve songwriters well and work well for the purveyors of digital music," said Roger Faxon, CEO of EMI Music Publishing, one of the world's leading music publishers.
The retail giant tops the Fortune 500 for the second year in a row. Who else made the list? More
This group of companies is all about social networking to connect with their customers. More
The fight over the cholesterol medication is keeping a generic version from hitting the market. More
Bin Laden may be dead, but the terrorist group he led doesn't need his money. More
U.S. real estate might be a mess, but in other parts of the world, home prices are jumping. More
Libya's output is a fraction of global production, but it's crucial to the nation's economy. More
Once rates start to rise, things could get ugly fast for our neighbors to the north. More


text:
Did you miss a session from GamesBeat Summit Next 2022? All sessions are now available for viewing in our on-demand library. Click here to start watching.
With some analysts predicting as many as 10 million self-driving cars will hit the road by 2030, it's no wonder the lidar market is projected to be worth $1.8 billion in just five years. Lidar — sensors that measure the distance to target objects by illuminating them with laser light and measuring the reflected pulses — form the foundation of a number of autonomous car systems, including those from Waymo and Uber.
But not all lidars are created equal — or so argues AEye, a five-year-old San Francisco startup with an innovative sensor technology it claims can exceed the range and scan rate of traditional lidar. Today the startup announced a $40 million Series B funding round led by Taiwania Capital, with participation from heavy hitters like Intel Capital, Airbus Ventures, and Tyche Partners, in addition to undisclosed "multiple global automotive OEMs, Tier 1s, and Tier 2s" to be announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. This round brings AEye's total raised to just over $61 million.
AEye cofounder and CEO Luis Dussan said the capital would be used to "scale AEye's operations" and to meet global demand for its products in Europe, North America, and Asia.
"This funding marks an inflection point for AEye, as we scale our staff, partnerships, and investments to align with our customers' roadmap to commercialization," said Dussan. "Our strategic relationship with Taiwania will serve as a gateway to Asia, with valuable manufacturing, logistics, and technology resources that will accelerate our ability to address the needs of a global market. We intend to launch our next generation product at CES, which we believe will help OEMs and Tier 1s accelerate their products and services by delivering market-leading performance at the lowest cost."
Intelligent Security Summit
Learn the critical role of AI & ML in cybersecurity and industry specific case studies on December 8. Register for your free pass today.
Alongside the funding announcement, AEye revealed that its proprietary solid-state iDar sensor was able to track a vehicle at 1,000 meters — roughly 4 times the range of most lidar systems — in a test conducted by analysts at VSI Labs. On an airport runway in Byron, California, it detected a 20-foot truck (in addition to pavement signs and markers) the length of the 914-meter runway, and in an off-runway test identified it from over 1,000 meters away.
"We … believe that with small adaptations, we can achieve range performance of 5km to 10km or more," said Dr. James Doty, a neurosurgeon and clinical professor at Stanford University who serves on AEye's advisory board. "These results have significant implications for the autonomous trucking and unmanned aircraft systems markets, where sensing distance needs to be as far as possible and potential threats identified as early as possible to achieve safe, reliable vehicle autonomy."
It's an impressive claim, but the iDar system's core innovation is its ability to merge 300 meters of 360-degree depth information with RGB camera data to create a point cloud that AEye calls True Color Lidar. It's the first on the market to combine lidar and camera data at the hardware level, AEye says.
The bulk of the research on iDar was spearheaded by Dr. Allan Steinhardt, whose career includes a stint at DARPA, where he researched space, terrestrial, and naval-based radar systems, and at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he served as a vice president and chief scientist. Steinhardt also headed radar research at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory and Cornell University.
Steinhardt and the rest of the engineering team at AEye refer to the point cloud data as "dynamic vixels" — a portmanteau of pixels and voxels. (Voxels represent a value on a grid pattern in three-dimensional space, and they're the elements that make up lidar sensor depth maps.) Dynamic vixels are the first ingredient in AEye's secret sauce, the other being artificial intelligence (AI). Once the iDar generates the point cloud, AEye's AI takes over, assessing the surroundings to track targets and flag objects of interest.
The data collected by the lidar and camera in the iDar — in addition to feedback loops at the sensor and perception layers and in path-planning software — enables AEye's technology to perceive objects with minimal structure, like a bike, brake light, or signage, and distinguish between two objects of the same color. Additionally, it's able to perceive contextual changes in the environment, like when a child turns their head before stepping into the street.
iDar also affords flexibility in environment mapping. Through a software API, car manufacturers can customize the thousands of embedded machine learning algorithms in the sensor to adjust the resolution of the point cloud on the fly, depending on which objects are within range of the sensor. They can decrease the resolution of the sky while bumping up the dynamic vixel count for a pedestrian or bicyclist, for example, or lock focus on a building as the car approaches.
Altogether, AEye claims that the iDar system has 16 times greater coverage and 10 times the frame rate — up to 100 Hz — of competing sensors, plus 8 to 10 times the power efficiency. It's also modular. Though iDar uses a custom-designed solid-state lidar system, its other components are off-the-shelf and "built for cost," LaCorte said, which helped AEye keep the price tag under $3,000. (For comparison, lidar manufacturer Velodyne's VLP-16 lidar starts at $4,000 and maxes out at a range of 100 meters.)
AEye has competition, of course. Israeli startup Innoviz Technologies raised $65 million in September 2017 for its lidar tech, following on the heels of funding rounds by Oryx and TetraVue. Luminar, which claims to have developed lidars with a range of more than 250 meters and a 120-degree field of view, recently announced a strategic partnership with Volvo. That's not to mention far-infrared pioneer AdaSky, ground-penetrating radar startup WaveSense, and velocity-measuring sensor company Aeva, all of which seek to develop technologies that complement traditional vision-based autonomous car perception systems.
But none of that's phased investors like Huang Lee, a managing partner at Taiwania.
"We see AEye as the foremost innovator in this space, whose systems deliver highly precise, actionable information at speeds and distances never seen in commercially available lidar sensors," Lee said. "We look forward to working closely with AEye's team to explore and pursue growth opportunities in this burgeoning space."
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings.


text:
Local Legends: McManus, Swick & Breit The Stars Shine Bright at Home
It sounds like a punch-line: what do you get when you cross a stage with an internationally renowned Celtic guitarist of Scottish birth; the sultry, lyrically haunting vocals of a Prairie-girl who grew up to become a singer-songwriter; and a tall, lean lad from Northern Ontario whose guitar-riffs and mind-blowing solos have generated a fan following of some of the most recognized musicians of our time?
You get the Local Legends show, one of the hottest tickets in town for this summer's Elora Festival 2011 line-up, featuring Tony McManus, Gwen Swick and Kevin Breit. And what do these three internationally acclaimed musicians all have in common? Each of them calls the Village of Elora "home."
Local audiences and visitors alike will have the rare opportunity to see these three talented artists share a stage like never before, on Friday, July 22nd at 8 pm, in the Gambrel Barn. For these three musicians, neighbours, in fact, who spend much of their time travelling to shows, this performance is a special opportunity to make music with their friends for their friends, in a venue practically in their own backyards.
The impetus for this event came from the Elora Festival organizers themselves. Marketing manager Julie Denneny started a Face Book discussion, asking patrons of the Festival which local talents they would most like to see take to the stage. The casual chat became an overwhelming momentum that inspired Elora Festival's General Manager, Jurgen Petrenko and Artistic Director, Noel Edison to approach McManus, Swick and Breit and set the wheels in motion.
"I'm so thrilled that they're all able to make it," says Denneny. "I knew this would be a great opportunity for audiences to see the outstanding internationally recognized talent we have that live right here, in our village."
It wasn't a hard sell, it was an honour, all three musicians say. "It takes a village to raise a child, and it certainly also takes one to put on a festival that is as great as the Elora Festival is in the scope and talent it presents," says Swick. "The Elora Festival has tentacles that reach all across the country and outside it as well. It's amazing that our lovely town is home to a festival that is so well known so far away. That's the result of great vision by the festival itself, like Noel, Jurgen, Julie and other organizers who have gone before them, and the great support in the community too."
It's good to be home. Summer is the season of festivals and travelling shows, and these musical minstrels spend a good part of their year on the road. This past year has been exciting for all three. McManus made two trips to Japan, the first was five days prior to the horrible earthquake that struck Japan's northeast coast, and the second trip came just four weeks afterwards. "The change of mood in Tokyo was apparent as was the almost complete absence of tourists. The final concert in the city was very emotional- people were very grateful that I'd not cancelled," tells McManus. "In between the Japan trips I was in Australia for four weeks, for my first trip back there in five years."
Most recently, McManus was in Prince Edward Island for the Festival of Small Halls, and has a summer that includes several first-time events, including visits to Croatia and Slovenia, and playing the Healdsburg Guitar Festival, in California, an opportunity to promote the McManus signature model guitar by PRS Guitars out of Maryland. Then it's returning to work with Loreena McKennitt, whose album McManus played on last year. Somewhere in there he plans to record new music for his sixth solo album.
Gwen Swick's career involves lending her unique voice to the likes of 2011 Juno nominated Canadian folk trio The Marigolds, alongside the incredible Caitlin Hanford and Suzie Vinnick, and to the legendary harmonies of Quartette, featuring Cindy Church and Sylvia Tyson, Hanford and Swick. When she isn't part of their collaborations, she is a solo performer and songwriter. "Over the past year, I've had a nice mix of solo shows, playing with the Marigolds, and Quartette. A particularly great moment for Quartette was performing at a beautiful rural church as part of the Indian River Music Festival in PEI. It's the only time we have ever listened to cows mooing during our sound check, and being served fresh oysters and champagne between shows," laughs Swick. "Quartette played a Christmas show out East too, that was truly beautiful and moving."
This fall, Swick returned to her childhood home of Manitoba, with a line-up of solo performances, enjoying her audiences as much as the scenery. "I love the prairies, being a prairie girl originally. My mum and dad both grew up in Winnipeg and lived in many parts of Manitoba, so the drives, as well as the shows, were great."
For Breit, a short stop at home is the rest he needs to rejuvenate his self after a hectic year and a summer season that seems to be equally as intense. "Last year, I recorded with The Wallin' Jennies, Oh Susanna, N'didi O, Ruth Moody, Lindi Ortega, Tomi Swick and Hugh Laurie," he explains. "As an artist, I recorded a new disc with Harry Manx, called "Strictly Whatever," and recorded the tenth Sisters Euclid disc, self-titled, and another disc with Stretch Orchestra, featuring Matt Brubeck and Jesse Stewart." Local audiences will also know Breit's work with fellow Elorians Randall Coryell and Howie Southwood, plus Jeff Bird, of the Cowboy Junkies, who have formed a band known as The Potion Kings, set to release their debut live album this fall.
This spring, Breit joined singer and famed actor Hugh Laurie, of the television-hit show House, for a four-week tour of Europe, and will pick-up the tour come fall. "This was a serious highlight of my thirty year career," says Breit. "Hugh Laurie is an unbelievable character; so much grace, talent and incredible humour."
Sisters Euclid, Breit's Toronto-based band with a cult-like following is set to tour Jazz festivals from coast to coast this summer.
Needless to say, a collaborative effort between Swick, McManus and Breit is guaranteed to be a show unlike any other in the Elora Festival's series, simply because it's unlike anything these friends have done before. Given their mutual admiration and distinct talents, it will be a fresh show in the spirit of true musicianship.
"Kevin is such a different player from me," says McManus, "a much stronger improviser for example. There's not much danger of redundancy. His playing is very angular and often the ideas are coming thick and fast."
"I'm so happy to be up there with Tony and Gwen," says Breit. "Tony and I shared a stage at the Vancouver Folk Festival. I had a great time with my neighbour. We play completely different from one another, but I think this is a charming aspect to collaboration. Celtic meets…whatever the hell I do."
For Swick, the challenge to merge the sounds is exciting. "It's a bit like walking in a different door to your own material. The approach is different, nothing I've done before. We want to have a balance of solo and collaborative performances," she says. "It does push me to try to have ready a bit of new material that might suit these two magnificent fellows," she says. "They get inside the music and play it out, performing musical feats that ought to be impossible."
These guitarists feel the same about their songstress. "I first performed with Gwen when I was eighteen years old. She is beautiful and totally original, in a book of her own," says Breit. McManus agrees, "It's taken way too long for this collaboration to happen. I hear people all over the country ask if I know Gwen Swick. We live on the same street so it's about time we did some playing together."
There is no place like home, and these three are proud of their community. "When I speak to other musicians abroad about Elora being my home, I am always met with two things: the gorge and the Elora Festival. It is a place renowned for it's diversity and beauty," says Breit. "So many incredible artists have graced the stage of the Festival and it is regarded as a great stop when touring."
"I think all three of us are very proud of the level of artistic energy in Elora and the Festival is a big part of that," says McManus. "It's a prestigious event with an international reputation so it's great to be involved."
On a summer night, the stars do shine brighter here, especially when those stars belong here. See them when they share the spotlight in the Local Legends; McManus, Swick and Breit show, on Friday, July 22nd. For tickets contact the Elora Festival at 519.846.0331, or toll free 1.888.747.7550, or online at www.elorafestival.com.
*published in the Wellington Advertiser
Related posts
About Kelly
Writing has been my passion since I learned how to hold a pencil (which I still cannot do properly). Despite my father's insistence that I would starve to death in this career, I remain well fed and eager to write more. They say you should do what you love: I love to write.


text:
This week's stories look at Facebook reporting strong earnings, royal commission outcomes, and Australia's hottest month to date. (2:48 min read)
This information does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider if the relevant investment is appropriate having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs.
1. Facebook bounces back with stellar earnings
It has been a difficult 12 months for Facebook.
Various privacy scandals have dragged down both its reputation and stock price. However, the company's recent earnings announcement indicate the social media giant might be back on track.
What does it mean if you're invested in Facebook?
Facebook reported excellent fourth quarter results that surpassed market expectations.
There was strong revenue growth despite slowing user growth, which indicates advertisers continue to spend more money on the platform.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said himself the company has started to turn the corner. Unsurprisingly, the stock price surged following the positive earnings season news.
What does it mean if you're invested with AtlasTrend?
Facebook is an investment in one of AtlasTrend's managed funds.
We took some profit on some of the position when the stock reached US$207 per share, and subsequently added back to the position when the stock was sold down – particularly following the company's privacy controversies.
We believed these issues would be addressed, and wouldn't materially impact earnings in the long term.
So far, it seems Facebook has done exactly that.
2. Royal commission report finally released
After months of reprimanding major financial services players – from banks to super funds – Kenneth Hayne (head of the banking royal commission) released the final report containing 76 recommendations for cleaning up the industry.
What does this mean if you're invested in the local financial services sector?
The big banks seem to have escaped relatively unscathed.
Royal Commission recommendations don't appear to materially threaten how the major banks make their money. However, it may take the banks some time to regain consumer trust given their alleged unethical behaviour.
Companies providing financial intermediary services such as mortgage brokers are the worst hit by the royal commission recommendations, which may effectively change the way the industry will operate moving forward.
What does this mean if you're invested with AtlasTrend?
AtlasTrend's managed funds do not have any direct investment exposure to ASX-listed financial services stocks.
As a result, the Royal Commission recommendations should not have any material impact on the value of our managed fund investments.
3. January was Australia's hottest month ever
We experienced our hottest month in history last month.
Some scientists suggest this extreme heat, prolonged bushfire seasons, and drought is consistent with climate change.
The meteorological agency also warned temperatures are potentially set to rise further in the coming years.
What does this mean if you're invested in the stock market?
59% of those surveyed in a recent Lowy Institute Poll agreed global warming is a serious and pressing problem that needs to be tackled now.
"Almost all Australians (84%) say the government should focus on renewables, even if this means we may need to invest more in infrastructure to make the system more reliable."
Investors in carbon-heavy industries may want to pay close attention to the possibility these industries may be severely curtailed, or even shut down entirely, as climate action gains momentum.
What does this mean if you're invested with AtlasTrend?
We believe the risks of climate change are real.
Companies helping address climate change present an excellent investment opportunity, and frankly, we owe it to current and future generations to consider this pressing issue when deploying capital.
It's why we created the Clean Disruption Fund; so investors could gain exposure to companies helping create a more sustainable world, solving problems like climate change in the process.
Join AtlasTrend to stay ahead of the curve, get expert investment insights and explore our managed funds by starting your 7-day free trial. Uncover all the international shares we're investing in. Cancel anytime.


text:
Is Your Physical Space Helping or Hurting Your Hiring Efforts?
Today, dozens of colleges in the Minneapolis/St Paul metropolitan area are pumping out graduates. Graduates who are eager to find jobs as well as a great company to work for. While you might believe you have the right space to attract the best candidates, it might be a good time to step back and reflect on what you have to offer and what these graduates want so that when this fresh batch of interviewees sit down to talk, you know what your company's commercial real estate space says about your company.
Research shows, the current generation of graduates expect more from the companies they work for than generations of the past. This group values freedom, independence, and creative space. They view their office as a second home and they want to enjoy going there every single day. With the unemployment rate hovering around 3% and the knowledge that the average person will likely change jobs 12 times in their careers, you better believe your employees will find the work environment they are looking for if your company doesn't have it.
Paramount recently represented a food distribution company, where the president expressed a desire for space that reflected the company's culture. After considering several spaces that would have resulted in lower occupancy costs, leadership ultimately selected space that was more expensive but had amenities including a roof top patio overlooking the city that would allow their team to gather and test their product. For this company, it was critical that employees would interact with each other and their product on a regular basis. It was worth the extra expense to have a space that could support an outdoor grill area to make it happen.
How do you make your space reflect your culture?
So how do you make your space reflect your culture? Location, architecture, physical layout, furniture design, color, work spaces, and amenities are all aspects that can reflect your company culture. Today's job seekers do consider these physical attributes when deciding where they want to work every day. So take some time and think to yourself; "does this space make me excited about working here? Does it embody the culture of the company? Is it functional? What aspects of your company's space can be changed and altered to better reflect your culture and company goals?
Some ideas you might consider: Health & sports enthusiasts might cause you to look for space close to biking trails, space with fitness facilities and showers, you might even add bike storage options. If you're a creative marketing company you might try looking for unique architecture or a visually appealing space lay out. Maybe all you need to do is add a few tap beers, an air hockey table, and a flat screen TV to up the "fun" factor. Whatever you do, make sure you are consistent with your message regarding your company culture. Make sure you appeal to the types of people you want to work for you.
Does Your Company Need New Space?
Call Paramount.
(952) 854-8290


text:
Creating an account allows you to move through the checkout process faster, store multiple shipping addresses, view and track your orders in your account and save items to your wish list.
By registering your account you are automatically registered for Whisky-Online Shop & Whisky-Online Auctions and will be able to use the same login details.
Before you can start bidding on our auction, you will need to register with Worldpay and pay a one-off registration fee of £3. This is to ensure we only receive bids from people who are genuinely interested.
If you're here to shop, there's no need to pay the registration fee, simply continue to register.


text:
SAIIA Southern Africa Record no 43
This edition contains a report on peace and security in Southern Africa as well as agreements between South Africa , Lesotho and Swaziland on monetary matters. Exerpts from press conferences and speeches with regard to Zimbabwe's attitude towards internal and external policy. The last part of the Record addresses the cross border raids from South Africa and statements made by ambassadors and representatives of countries to the UN Security Council


text:
Phelps may put 400 IM back on Olympic agenda
Michael Phelps slashed more than four seconds off his season-best time in the 400-meter individual medley on Friday at the Indianapolis Grand Prix, and said he may reverse his earlier decision to skip the event at the London Olympics.
He has repeatedly sworn off the event since the Beijing Olympics, calling it the toughest and most painful event in the pool, and earlier this week didn't seem to be giving any ground on the possibility of entering the event in London.
Now things could be changing.
"It all depends on if I'm able to swim the other events," he said. "If it's not going to mess up the over events, who knows? Yes, I know that's different than I said before.
"I'm going to have to be in a little better shape to add that into the program because I have to do that well and then climb back in and do all the other events well, too."
Phelps' time of 4:12.51, was the third fastest in the world this season and far better than the 4:16.95 he posted at Austin, Texas, in January.
One day after critiquing his prized pupil's finish in the 100 butterfly and questioned Phelps' mental preparation for the morning prelims, coach Bob Bowman watched a much more Phelps-like performance. The 14-time Olympic gold medalist earned the No. 2 qualifying spot in the morning prelims, just behind Tyler Clary.
In the final, Phelps surrendered an early lead to Clary on the backstroke, but reclaimed the lead with a strong turn when the swimmers switched to breaststroke. Phelps never trailed again, though he was wearily taking breaths on every other stroke during the final 100 and finally held off Clary in the final 15 meters, winning by half a second.
It was enough to make Bowman think twice about entering the event in London.
"I wouldn't say the door is completely closed. There's probably a crack after tonight," Bowman said. "But it is a great indication that he's made a lot of progress since January and he's in much better condition."
Phelps' biggest rival, Ryan Lochte, wasn't as happy with his results.
After missing the finals in both of his events Thursday, Lochte rebounded Friday. He made it into the finals of the 200 free and 200 back with good morning swims, but withdrew from the freestyle, the first of the two back-to-back events.
And despite leading at the first three turns in the backstroke, Lochte faded badly over the final 50 meters, dropping from first to fifth before being moved up to fourth when Clary was disqualified. Lochte's time was 1:59.34, more than eight-tenths of a second behind Germany's Yannick Lebherz, the winner.
"I knew I had to go out fast, and if I want to do well, I have to learn how to go out fast and hold on," Lochte said. "I'm happy with my time and I've got two more months (to train)."
Phelps and Lochte are expected to go head-to-head in Saturday's 200 IM, the biggest event of the three-day meet.
While most of the attention of the meet has been focused on the world's two best swimmers, Friday's most intriguing race was the women's 200 free.
Four Olympic hopefuls-Allison Schmitt, Missy Franklin, Katie Hoff and Dana Vollmer-lined up next to one another in the middle of the pool. The 21-year-old Schmitt pulled away in the final 50, beating Franklin to the wall in 1:56.79. Franklin finished in 1:57.97 with Vollmer third and Hoff fourth.


text:
Further Support
If you need assistance changing your temporary voicemail message, please email our Service Desk at firstname.lastname@example.com
Video Transcript
How to change the temporary voicemail message:
If you wish to record a temporary greeting, dial the Panasonic voicemail extension number, which is usually 500. You'll be given a list of options. You'll be selecting option 4, then option 1, and then option 5.
[Voicemail] You have zero new messages. To listen to new messages, press 1. To deliver a message, press 2. To listen to old messages, press 3. For mailbox management, press 4. *4 is pressed* To change the personal greeting, press 1. *1 is pressed* To change the no-answer greeting, press 1. To change the busy-signal greeting, press 2. To change the after-hours greeting, press 3. To change the caller ID greeting, press 4. To change the temporary greeting, press 5. *5 is pressed* Temporary greeting is not recorded. Record greeting at the tone. To end recording, press 1. To pause and restart recording, press 2.
[Sarah] Hi, you've reached Sarah. I'm on holiday today, but will return tomorrow at 8.30am. Please leave a message and I'll return your call tomorrow. Thank you.
[Voicemail] To review, press 1. To accept, press 2. *2 is pressed* Recording accepted.
This greeting will overwrite the message that you already have until you're back from leave. When you return, simply dial the voicemail extension number, and at that point, you'll be asked to remove your temporary greeting.
Just follow the prompt to remove the greeting.
[Voicemail] Temporary personal greeting is activated. To turn temporary personal greeting off, press 1. *1 is pressed* Temporary personal greeting is deleted.


text:
Harvard renegotiated terms to an agreement with a South Korean foundation yesterday that will loosen restrictions on a $13 million endowment established in 1975 for Korean studies.
The signed deal with the Sanhak Foundation—which was founded by the Korean International Traders Association to promote the nation's economic development—marks Harvard's first success in its shifting strategy to secure more flexible sources of funding, said Vice Provost for International Affairs Jorge I. Dominguez.
Under the original terms of the agreement, what Dominguez described as a "series of locking clauses" stipulated that the funds could only be used to endow a senior faculty member's position in Korean studies at Harvard.
And because there is no endowed chair at present in this field, Harvard has been unable to use the payout from this endowment for a number of years. Endowing a full professorship at the University requires about $4 million.
The funds can now be used to support tenure-track faculty, visiting scholars in the department, and students studying the economy and society of modern Korea.
"For a number of reasons, the endowment got restricted in ways not anticipated when it was signed," Dominguez said. "What is a fairly huge amount can now be deployed for other uses."
In recent months, University administrators have taken steps to ensure that past gifts—which, like the Sanhak Foundation endowment, often come with strings attached—are flexible enough to accommodate changing needs over time.
Harvard officials are currently reevaluating whether similarly restrictive agreements signed in the past can be renegotiated to match available resources with current needs.
"We now have a more systematic process, since there ought to be a mechanism to scrutinize endowments," Dominguez said of the Gift Policy Committee, which is chaired by University Provost Steven E. Hyman and has now absorbed these responsibilities.
These efforts had been underway before the financial crisis heightened the need to allocate current use of funds more efficiently, Dominguez said.
The deal with the Sanhak Foundation follows an agreement Harvard signed with the government of Chile last week that will provide enough financial support to nearly double the number of Chilean students across the University's graduate schools to a total of 50 students.
—Staff writer Athena Y. Jiang can be reached at email@example.com.
—Staff writer June Q. Wu can be reached at email@example.com.
Read more in NewsBarred Books in Dunster Draw Criticism


text:
Well… probably. Last night, when I arrived home after spending the evening with my friends I found that my Gmail had encountered "suspicious activity" and before I could access it I had to change my password. There were two attempted email sends to friends and co-workers but as far as I can tell nothing was successfully sent. That is a relief but now my Gmail Notifier isn't working which is a pain. I tried to download and install it again but it still isn't working….
Oh… and I have a feeling that I might be having a recurrence of Shingles. The back left side of my head is hurting like a bugger. At least I know what to look for this time.


text:
Our staff plays Nostradamus with BCS championship predictions
Celebrities weigh in. Talking heads on ESPN and the like also lend their two cents. We at Halifax Media Group are tracing their footsteps.
The following is a collection of BCS National Championship Game predictions from some of the staff members at The News Herald in Panama City and the Northwest Florida Daily News, which is stationed in Fort Walton Beach. We asked those who participated to have some fun with the picks and the majority went with FSU. It wouldn't be the first time we were wrong and we're not afraid to admit we are, in fact, as human as the next person.
Here are the predictions. Feel free to chime in with yours.
Brad Milner, Sportswriter, The News Herald
FSU 45, Auburn 21 — Jameis Winston and Co. have hummed along with little trouble this season and Auburn comes in with a pass defense as ugly as Brock Lesnar's cauliflower ear (seriously, Google that thing). That's not a good combination and not such a pretty sight, either.
Note: Mr. Milner has been accused of being partial to many area high schools and Florida teams. However, he's originally from Colorado and like many West coasters, didn't know the Seminoles existed until 2003. That last part was in jest, of course, as he watched FSU play in title games during its dominance while he was a student at Colorado State University, which won a bowl game this season to give him a small victory in life.
S. Brady Calhoun, Online Editor, The News Herald
Auburn 62, FSU 54 — Neither team will play a bit of defense but the Auburn magic will be too hard to overcome. Team of destiny indeed. But in all seriousness you know who will win in this game? The fans, the fans will win.
Note: Mr. Calhoun is a diehard Florida fan. That said, he has come to grips with FSU becoming the top-ranked team this season, while his Gators missed a bowl game for the first time in ages.
Skip Foster, Publisher, Northwest Florida Daily News
FSU 41, Auburn 24 — A+ offense AND A+ defense beats A+ offense and C defense.
Note: Mr. Foster might tell you he moved here for the job, but it really was to be closer to Tallahassee.
Russ Roberts, Night City Editor, The News Herald
Auburn 49, FSU 31 — Reason is that I'd rather be wrong (if FSU wins) than be humiliated (if Auburn wins and I predicted an FSU victory).
Note: Mr. Roberts doesn't like to ruffle feathers, as you can tell.
Mike Cazalas, Eastern Editor Halifax Central
FSU 38, Auburn 13 — The 'Noles are as good as they appear to be and the season has a feeling of destiny about it.
Note: Mr. Cazalas believes he is an authority, having won The News Herald's inaugural Beat the Experts pick-em competition, but don't tell him a glitch in the system gave him the victory.
Seth Stringer, Sportswriter, Northwest Florida Daily News
FSU 42, Auburn 21 — No team thus far has been able to contain Jameis Winston, and the last time I checked he plays for the Seminoles.
Note: Mr. Stringer wanted to know the feeling of a picking a winner regardless of the outcome since he's a Houston Astros fan and understands the pain of losing.
Eric Jorgensen, Copy Editor
FSU 56, Auburn 52 — The football adage that offense wins games and defense wins championships will take a beating in the BCS title contest.
Note: Mr. Jorgensen has recovered from Colorado State's defeat of his Washington State Cougars in the New Mexico Bowl and is of sound mind in making his pick.
Brandon Walker, Sports Editor, Northwest Florida Daily News
FSU 27, Auburn 10 — Admittedly, I gave Auburn no chance against Alabama, Texas A&M and others. Maybe one day I will learn…
Note: Mr. Walker has made his final prediction … at least, as of Sunday…
Jennifer Peake, Copy Editor
FSU 69, Auburn 17 — Why? Because FSU has an almost unstoppable defense, and Jameis Winston has made amazing plays, which the offensive players have connected and followed through to put points on the board. Plus, FSU is just awesome! Go Noles!
Note: Ms. Peake bleeds Garnet and Gold unabashedly and never seems to sit still during FSU games.
Roy Houpt, Copy Editor
FSU 49, Auburn 21 — No more miracles for the Tigers.
Note: Mr. Houpt really isn't pulling for anyone, per se, he simply wants to avoid overtime so the game can get in the paper before deadline.
Will Glover, Managing Editor, The News Herald
Auburn 52, FSU 51 (OT) — I'll be bold (and probably wrong)…
Note: Mr. Glover is an SEC guy all the way and he's never met a Manning he doesn't like.
Ray Glenn, Regional Copy Desk Chief
FSU 34, Auburn 24 — I believe Jameis Winston and FSU's offense will be able to move the ball through the air, while the FSU defense has had a month to prepare for Auburn's running attack. Both teams should be able to put up points, but I don't believe we will see a 50-47 shootout. If the game comes down to the kicking game, I will take FSU's record-setter, Roberto Aguayo, over Auburn's kicker.
Note: Mr. Glenn is rivaled only by Ms. Peake in FSU fandom.
Billy Findley, Copy Editor
Auburn 14, FSU 0 — Because FSU's offense has been so pitiful this year, and Auburn's defense has been so good!
Note: Mr. Findley is fluent in sarcasm.


text:
KDnuggets™ News 15:n07, Mar 4: Analytics/Data Science Salaries; Machine Learning Flaws; Strata Highlights
Analytics, Data Mining, Data Science salary survey by region and role; Strata + Hadoop World 2015 San Jose - Highlights; All Machine Learning Models Have Flaws; Interview: Ted Dunning, MapR on The Real Meaning of Real-Time in Big Data, and more.
Features | Opinions | Interviews | Reports | News | Webcasts | Courses | Meetings | Jobs | Academic | Tweets | CFP | Quote
- Analytics, Data Mining, Data Science professionals well compensated - Mar 3, 2015.
US, Canada, and Australian analytics professionals are paid the most, with US/Canada Industry Data Science Managers earning on average $177K, Industry Data Scientists $126K, Academic Researchers $119K, and Data Analysts $86K.
- All Machine Learning Models Have Flaws - Mar 3, 2015.
This classic post examines what is right and wrong with different models of machine learning, including Bayesian learning, Graphical Models, Convex Loss Optimization, Statistical Learning, and more.
- Strata + Hadoop World 2015 San Jose - Day 1 Highlights - Mar 2, 2015.
Here are the quick takeaways and valuable insights from selected talks at one of the most reputed conferences in Big Data - Strata + Hadoop World 2015, San Jose.
- IBM Big Data & Analytics Heroes - Feb 26, 2015.
IBM's Big Data & Analytics Heroes include leaders in the field that propel the industry in order to promote thought leadership and progress in Big Data Analytics.
- Interview: Ted Dunning, MapR on The Real Meaning of Real-Time in Big Data - Mar 2, 2015.
We discuss major Big Data developments in 2014, real-time processing, interactive queries, streaming systems, batch systems, MapR partnerships and challenges in scaling recommendation engines.
- The Internet of People: 4 key principles for analyzing personal data - Feb 27, 2015.
The "Internet of People" raises a host of legal and ethical questions about the ownership and use of our personal data. We all have a stake in joining and navigating this increasingly stormy debate. Here are 4 key principles.
- RE.WORK Deep Learning Summit, San Francisco, January - videos, presentations - Feb 26, 2015.
Interesting videos and presentations from January Deep Learning Summit include a Fireside Chat with Andrew Ng and Derrick Harris, presentations by Richard Socher (Founder, MetaMind), Quoc Le (Research Scientist, Google), Greg Corrado (Sr Research Scientist at Google), and more.
Opinions (see also All Opinions for this month )
- Beagli: Finding value in your personal data - Feb 25, 2015.
Personal analytics products can help users extract value from their data. This post describes our development of Beagli, a platform for mining and auctioning personal data.
Interviews (see also All Interviews for this month )
- Interview: Ted Dunning, MapR on Apache Mahout & Technology Landscape in ML - Mar 3, 2015.
We discuss Apache Mahout, its comparison with Spark and H2O, trends, advice, desired qualities in data scientists and more.
- Interview: Nicholas Marko, Geisinger on the Skills Needed for Healthcare Analytics - Feb 27, 2015.
We discuss challenges of dealing with healthcare data, trends in healthcare analytics, important skills for data scientists and more.
- Interview: Nicholas Marko, Geisinger on Building the Analytics Culture for Healthcare - Feb 26, 2015.
We discuss how to establish credibility of data analytics, recommendations for a data-driven culture, analytics challenges in healthcare and more.
- Interview: Nicholas Marko, Geisinger on the Groundwork for Big Data Success - Feb 25, 2015.
We discuss Big Data & Analytics at Geisinger Health System, CDO challenges, and impact of Big Data on decision making at executive level.
Reports (see also All Reports for this month )
- Strata + Hadoop World 2015 San Jose - report and highlights - Feb 27, 2015.
Highlights of Strata + Hadoop World San Jose, including Apache Spark vs Storm vs Samza for streaming data, Kafka as a universal message bus, what Netflix puts in front of HDFS, Parquet as a basis for ETL and analytics, DJ Patil, Internet of Things, and more.
News (see also All News )
- Top stories for Feb 22-28: Gartner 2015 MQ for Advanced Analytics: gainers and losers; History of Data Science Infographic - Mar 1, 2015.
Gartner 2015 Magic Quadrant for Advanced Analytics Platforms: who gained and who lost; History of Data Science Infographic in 5 strands; Interview: David Kasik, Boeing on Data Analysis vs Data Analytics.
- Additions to KDnuggets Directory in February - Mar 1, 2015.
Big Data Paris, Wharton Conf: Successful Applications of Customer Analytics, analytics consulting firms, Georgetown MS in Analytics, MSc in Data Science in France, and more meetings, companies, education, and solutions.
- IEEE ICDM 2015 Call for Data Mining Contest/Competition Proposals, due Mar 29 - Feb 28, 2015.
We invite proposals for the ICDM 2015 Data Mining Contest, which is an integral part of the IEEE ICDM conference and provides an opportunity for teams of scientists and domain experts to compete in order to develop data mining techniques for real-world applications.
Webcasts and Webinars (see also All Webcasts and Webinars )
- Upcoming Webcasts on Analytics, Big Data, Data Science - Mar 3 and beyond - Mar 2, 2015.
Data Wrangling and the Art of Big Data Discovery, Hadoop - A Solution for Big Data, Fast Data Meets Open Source, Real-Time Data on Hadoop with Apache Kafka, and more.
Courses (see also All Courses )
- Simplilearn Big Data, Analytics Online Certification Courses - 50% off for a limited time - Feb 26, 2015.
Get 50% off Simplilearn Big Data & Analytics Online Certification Courses, including a new course - Big Data and Hadoop Administrator. Get a new iPhone5 with Classroom Enrollment - see details.
Meetings (see also All Meetings )
- Chief Data Officer Summit, San Jose, Apr 28-29, 2015 - Mar 3, 2015.
CDO is vital in bridging the gap between the C-suite and the data team. The Chief Data Officer Summit in San Jose on April 28-29 will bring together top data leaders to discuss the growing responsibilities of the CDO. Special KDnuggets discount.
- Brandeis Analytics Symposium, Apr 8: Industry Insights into Data and Intelligence - Feb 27, 2015.
The Apr 8 Brandeis Analytics symposium will focus on promoting a discussion of the growing field of analytics and how organizations can leverage big data to make more strategic decisions.
Jobs (see also All Jobs )
- HomeUnion: Sr. Data Scientist - Mar 3, 2015.
Be fearless: include heuristics into a solution; be skeptic: self-scrutinize, able to pivot quickly; be creative: experiment with modeling techniques, invent and test features.
- Apple: Data Science Engineer - Feb 26, 2015.
Apple Data Science Engineering is building an environment to enable cutting-edge data analysis over Petabytes of data, supporting Apple Analytic Insight team responsible for mitigating fraud, waste and abuse.
- Cardinal Financial: Production Support Analyst (Marketing) - Feb 26, 2015.
Work closely with management team to drive marketing efforts and overcome marketing obstacles. Monitor and adjust volumes, criteria, and flow to production teams.
- Cardinal Financial: Data Science Analyst - Feb 26, 2015.
Apply your expertise in quantitative business analysis, data mining and visualization to see beyond the numbers, develop a deep understanding of the business, translate data into actionable insights.
- PredictionIO: Machine Learning Engineer (Evangelist) - Feb 26, 2015.
Are you passionate about machine learning and open source? Do you have the ability to engage other developers and data scientists? If yes, read on ...
- HomeUnion: Big Data Technical Project Manager - Feb 25, 2015.
Big Data TPM plays a key role in delivering all Big Data related product releases, and is familiar with Big Data technologies and Agile methodologies.
- Amazon: Research Scientist (Risk Modeling) - Feb 25, 2015.
Do you like to innovate and simplify? Join an innovative team of scientists who use machine learning and statistical techniques to keep Amazon the safest and most trusted place to shop online.
Academic and Research positions (see also All Academic positions )
- TU/e: Full Professor in Data Mining - Feb 26, 2015.
You have the opportunity to set up your own research group, complementary to 2 existing groups - one focusing on business process management and process mining, and another focusing on web engineering, data mining, and databases.
Top Tweets (see also All top tweets for this month )
- Top KDnuggets tweets, Feb 26 - Mar 1 - Mar 2, 2015.
Cute and Educational: Bayes Theorem explained with Lego;
10 Cool #BigData Cartoons #TGIF;
#DataMining Indian Recipes finds spices make negative food pairing more powerful;
Key Take-Aways from Gartner 2015 MQ for #BI &
Analytics Platforms.
- Top KDnuggets tweets, Feb 23-25 - Feb 26, 2015.
Microsoft is building fast, low-power Deep Learning networks;
5 lucrative tech careers in 2015: Data Scientist ($150K), Data Engineer ($148K);
Which SQL on Hadoop? Gartner Poll Still Says "Whatever" But DBMS Providers Gain;
10 Most-Funded #BigData #Startups;
CFP - Calls for Papers (see also All Calls for Papers )
- Due Mar 13, CIKM 2015 Tutorials proposals: The 24th ACM Int. Conf. on Information and Knowledge Management , Melbourne, Australia. 19-23 Oct 2015
- Due Mar 26, ECMLPKDD 2015 Industry, Government, NGO Track: The European Conf. on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases , Porto, Portugal. Sep 7-11, 2015
- Due Mar 26, ECMLPKDD 2015 Research Papers: The European Conf. on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases , Porto, Portugal. Sep 7-11, 2015
- Due Apr 25, IEEE Big Data 2015 Call for Workshop Proposals , Santa Clara, CA, USA. Oct 29 - Nov 1, 2015
- Due Jul 13, IEEE ICDM 2015 Call For Demos , Atlantic City, NJ, USA. Nov 14-17, 2015


text:
L.A.BARON, Los Angeles Limousine Service, invite you to explore our website and discover why LA Baron Limo
Serviceis the perfect fit for your luxury ground transportation in Los angeles. BARON, Limousine Service in Los angeles,
are licensed by California Public Utility commission bureau, TCP 25757-P. We have implement on-line Reservation System which allows our clients and our partners in : Travel agents, VIP/Planners to place the order through Computer, Smart Phone and Tablet. Also print receipt, Look up information and make change to existing Reservation and Quick Quotes Look-up and many more.
Click here to edit and tell your visitors about your virtual office services. Do you offer local mailing addresses or phone numbers? Do you do mail forwarding? What can people expect from your office services?
Click here to edit and tell your visitors about co-working opportunities. Do you offer monthly memberships? What amenities are included in those?
Limousine Service Los Angeles, LA Baron Limousine Service, luxury transportation in Los Angeles provide synonymous service with exclusivity and delivering and unbeatable VIP experience. We specialize in offering a comprehensive variety of Mercedes Benz Limousine,S 550 and Mercedes Benz E 350 . limousine service Los Angeles, We cater and specialized in Corporations, Live TV shows, Film maker Industry with our reliable fleet and staffs , stylish vehicles that deliver upon any specific vehicles make and configurations request. LA Baron limousine limousine service
LA Baron Limousine limousine service , Corporate Limousine Service in Los Angeles. We are proud to earn our clientele and your repeat business through recommendation and our proven quality, integrity and incomparably-competitive Rate. We are actually sensitive abouworking with PR vision, expectations and campaigns.
Say something interesting about your business here.
What's something exciting your business offers? Say it here.
Give customers a reason to do business with you.
Sign up to hear from us about tours and special events.
LA Baron limousine 20300 Sorrento Ln suite 304 Porter Ranch, CA 91304 US
Monday - Friday: 7am - 9pm
Saturday: 9am - 6pm
Sunday: Members Only


text:
Opinions of Treasury Secretary Geithner's economic plan seem to be split perfectly symmetrically today: The smarty-pants club (all the economists, except this one guy in Australia who uses the term "non-recourse" compulsively) all hate it. The dumb-ass club (a.k.a. the stock market) loves it. (At least for now.)
So what's a non-reflexively negative person of middling intelligence to think? That's where the Downturnaround comes in! Today, we journeyed down the dark and twisting pathways of other people's opinions about the economy, and lo and behold: At the end of the tunnel, we saw a light.
First, let us say that we are put off by the spitfire pundits who find Geithner guilty of either gross, chicken-hearted incompetence or, worse, playing Wall Street's lackey. Here's why we reject that: Because he works for Barack Obama. The president may not have much economics expertise, but he knows a moron when he meets one, and he certainly did not get himself elected in order to screw the American people on behalf of the wealthy. Sure, we have worries and doubts, and any time we see the words "trillion" and "taxpayer" in the same sentence we scream for an intern to bring us our smelling salts. But as this plan solidifies into reality, we find we have more trust in Obama's good judgment than a blogosphere full of pissed-off Monday-morning quarterbacks who each have an idea that would work perfectly if only we'd turn the government over to them.
Second, amid the madness, we found ourselves a new hero. Among the few non-Australian smart people who attempted to understand Geithner's plan, there was Berkeley economist Brad Delong, who posted an FAQ about the plan and then bravely posited that Paul Krugman — who wrote today that "the real problem with this plan is that it won't work" — might be wrong. Disagreeing with Krugman does not go over well in these circles, and thus Delong's commenters went totally Santelli on his ass. Except for one lone voice, who wrote this note, which he addressed to Krugman:
Recently you have been on the nationalization bandwagon. Frankly, what are you smoking? You nationalize one major bank, I guarantee you there will not be even one major financial institution left standing as private or quasi-private entities. The markets react with cold rationality and will drive each one in turn into the arms of the US government. Now is that showing faith in the American Way? Mr. Bernanke has indicated that he understood this dynamic very well, as does Mr. Geither [sic] and I believe so do Larry Summers and Paul Volcker. But you have turned 'shrill' instead. Why can't you see that freight train coming?
Here is what the Fed should have done (and finally is doing) — tell the Planet, the US Federal Reserve is the bid, You have assets to sell, the Fed is buying, with new printed GREENBACKS. This is BECAUSE the entire planet is betting on political economy of the United States.
He signed off as "The Saint." Whoever you are, the Downturnaround would like to buy you a drink.
I Think Paul Krugman Is Wrong [Grasping Reality with Both Hands]


text:
Get Us in Your Inbox
I accept the T&C and Privacy Policy.
The first of Holland America's Vista-class ships, Zuiderdam was the first ship to offer Internet access and e-mailing in every stateroom. Zuiderdam has had several substantial refurbishments, including the addition of a Pinnacle Bar, Screening Room movie theater, Explorations Cafe and an expanded shopping area, plus flat-screen TVs and new bedding for all cabins.


text:
Well the game in this country got the boost it so desperately needed last weekend when both our clubs won their World Club Series games against the Aussies.
In true Rugby League style, it lasted less than seven days, an all too familiar tale in a sport that has a PhD in shooting itself in the foot.
Now before we start, nobody can control the weather and Storm Doris has battered the North West, that's the North West not just Wigan.
There are three games scheduled within 15 miles of each other tonight and only the DW Stadium could not survive the weather. When the fixtures were announced, eyebrows were cast over the Wigan v Widnes game, five days after the World Club Challenge with Wigan Athletic playing 24 hours later on the same pitch.
'If Wigan win they'll be out on the ale all week, no way the football team will let them play the day before a crucial Relegation battle' they said. So now we have the situation that with no notice, the fixture is reversed and Widnes will be at home with the Vikings now travelling to the DW in July.
It lends yourself to the obvious question, why wasn't the game moved to Sunday or switched to Widnes in the first place. We must give our clubs every helping hand possible in their quest for glory against the NRL sides, so if Sky are desperate to show the game they can show it on Sunday, surely the game of the week is the one that's on now anyway!
The league could allow the Wigan players an extra two days off to get over a gruelling game against high profile opponents, and yes okay, they're allowed a day of celebration after a momentous victory.
It was handled in a way that lacks professionalism, with Widnes seemingly seething about not being consulted. They said in a statement they were tempted to try and claim a forfeiture from Wigan and be awarded the two points. As soon as Widnes were informed, efforts were made to play the fixture to avoid three games in a week later in the season, it's beyond belief that the Vikings weren't involved in the original postponement.
Now we have the crazy situation of Widnes season ticket holders who can't go tonight, missing out through no fault of their own. Wigan have compensated Widnes for loss of revenue and surely the next step is to offer their season ticket holders free admission to the return fixture in June.
Wigan are very lucky Widnes have decided to play ball over this, a forfeiture may not have cost the Warriors a place in the Super 8s, it may not even have cost them a place in the top four, but last season two points separated the top three, so it could have cost them a home semi-final and ultimately a place at Old Trafford. This would have been deserved for the arrogance shown to Widnes, the sport and most importantly their own season ticket holders.
The Rugby Football League have confirmed that they will still investigate the circumstances surrounding the postponement of the original game by Wigan and any potential breach of the RFL Operational Rules.
This whole fiasco has cost the Warriors financially, but more importantly it has damaged the reputation of the club and has once again made Rugby League in this country look very amateurish.


text:
Home » VT News » Guns N Roses New Years Eve At The Joint!
Guns N Roses New Years Eve At The Joint!
» filed under Awesome! comments: 4
Follow @vegastripping
Book your airfare, reserve your hotel rooms and start getting your liver into shape... Guns N Roses are playing at the Joint at the Hard Rock on New Years Eve.
Skeptical? Yeah you are right to be, but after hearing VT's very own Misnomer's towering praise of GNR's show in Kansas City, it appears Axl has decided to stop fucking around.
6:5 the show starts in 2012. 3-1 it ends after the sun comes up.
Tickets start at $95 and go on sale November 19th at 10am.
Comments & Discussion:
should it still be called Guns N Roses when it's only Axl and some other dudes?
Should "it" still be called Barry Manilow when it's obviously an andriod copy of Rod Stewart?
I've the seen the band... They're awsome ! most of them been together longer then the orginal Gun's line up. I'm seeing them in Vancouver and Seattle in Dec. I would love to make it to this show, but the air fare is too expensive. Anyone who goes will have a great time !
I went into the KC show with tempered expectations. I also had some reservations about it being Axl and some other dudes. But it turned out to be a great, great rock show. The band stays very faithful to the original recordings, and they have the chops to pull it off.
They've cut out a lot of the nonsense that was plaguing earlier versions of the "new" Gn'R. Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck is gone, and Axl seems to have largely abandoned the nu metal, Guns n' Nails experiment. Similarly, the freakishly talented but freakishly freakish Buckethead is also gone. For the most part, what's left is a straightforward rock band, although I could do with less Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, who insists on lugging around his French-made double neck (one neck's fretless!) guitar most of the night.
At any rate, I was stunned by how good the show is. Lots of fun. Would please any Guns fan, I think.
Comments Are Closed
The Latest:Introducing the Trippies Class of 2017
What I Did On My Summer Vacation - Part 2
Sayonara Wynn Nightlife Social Media History
Sayonara Bellagio Table Game Canopies
Trippies 2017 Webcast Live This Saturday!
Some Thoughts About Alon
Crown Pulls Out Of Alon
The Lucky Dragon Photo Safari
The Trippies 2017 Final Nominees Are...
The Trippies 2017 Nomination Phase Is Now Open
The Crown Of Macau... And Eventually Vegas
» Complete Archive
Recent Comments:
» Sayonara Bellagio Table Game Canopies...
» Introducing the Trippies Class of...
» Introducing the Trippies Class of...
» Sayonara Bellagio Table Game Canopies...
» Introducing the Trippies Class of...


text:
My boyfriend is a few years older than I am, and we've both received comments from multiple people saying that the age gap is too large. I've never thought so, and I never thought that it matters.
As long as you're both in a good place in your life, and mentally, at the same point, age shouldn't matter. It turns out though, that the majority of our country believes that a romantic relationship is ideal when it's between an older man and a younger woman.
Actually, a survey of 2,000 adults revealed that the average "ideal" age gap is four years and four months. That puts my boyfriend and I under that age gap, so HA to anyone who's hated in the past.
Why do woman prefer an older man? 55% of women said that financial stability was one of the biggest reasons women cited preferring older men.
Ally | Elite.
Photo Credit: Getty Images


text:
Singamas is one of the world's leading container manufacturers and a major logistics operator in the Asian-Pacific region.
Singamas Group operates four production factories in the PRC, distributed over Shanghai, Xiamen, Huizhou area, producing dry freight container, collapsible flatrack containers, bitutainer containers, tank containers, offshore containers, house containers, other specialized containers and container parts. Total annual production capacity is 320,000TEUS.
Depots and terminals
The Group's depots and terminals cover a total area of about 1 million square meters with a daily storage capacity of 126,300 TEUs.
With a string of depots and terminals stretching from the northern PRC to Hong Kong, Singamas has formed a "chain-store" to further enhance its comprehensive depot/terminal network that enables the Group to provide integrated services to customers. Singamas strives to maintain its leading position in the container depot and terminal industry with its strong commitment to offering quality and comprehensive services to customers.
Production Capacity
Covered Area


text:
For Whom Wealth Matters
January 24, 2013
Leave a comment
Filed under Tidbits
Tagged with Ajay Shah, Alok Aggarwal, Anand Jain, Anand M Parekh, Anil Ambani, Atul Dayal, B Srinivasan, Bijou Kurien, BK Ganguly, Brian Bade, Darshan Mehta, DN Chaturvedi, Gopalkrishnan Sankar, Harish Shah, Hital Meswani, Jyotindra Thacker, Kiran Thomas, LV Merchant, Mahendra Nahata, Manoj Modi, Matthew Oommen, Mukesh Ambani, Navin Wadhwani, Nikhil Meswani, Pankaj Pawar, Piramal Nathwani, PK Kapil, PK Verma, PMS Prasad, postaday, Rajesh chaturvedi, Rasiklal Meswani, RD Udeshi, Rob Cissell, Shalin Tandon, Shawn Grey, Tony Fountain, V Balasubramanium, V Srikanth, Vivek Paranjpe, Walter van De Vijver, Warren Wilder
About Keerthika SingaravelEngineer,Investor,Businessperson
Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:
You are commenting using your WordPress.com account.
( Log Out /
Change )
You are commenting using your Twitter account.
( Log Out /
Change )
You are commenting using your Facebook account.
( Log Out /
Change )
Connecting to %s
Notify me of new comments via email.
Notify me of new posts via email.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Email Address:
Click For Posts By E-Mail
Website Powered by WordPress.com.


text:
Steven Newton over at the National Center for Science Education's (NCSE) 'Science League of America' blog is doing a series of posts that refute some of the common arguments creationists use about the Grand Canyon to prove their silly ideas. In the post answering the claim that the rocks in the Grand Canyon were put there by Noah's Flood, Newton takes down the claim in a convincing manner. He shows the large stretch creationists have to make to push their idea that the rocks were left by the 'great' flood.
Talking about the Temple Butte Formation:
What's going on here is that the Muav Limestone was deposited in relatively deep water along the coastline of what would become North America. Then over a hundred million years later, the region was uplifted. When rocks are lifted out of the water, they tend to erode rather than deposit; this erosion planed off the top of the Muav (and maybe removed other units as well). Then sinuous rivers cut into the flat top of the Muav, twisting and turning as they undulated toward the sea. We see the remnants of these rivers in the Temple Butte Formation, which is exposed in dramatic half-moon incisions into the Muav. These incisions occur in different orientations as you find them on opposite sides; you're looking at the cross-section of a twisting fossil river changing its course, much as the Mississippi River does today.
It's pretty hard to imagine how such river channels could form if they were thousands of feet under water.
Top 5 Creationist Claims About Grand Canyon: #4 Grand Canyon Rocks Were Made By Noah's Flood (Part II)
Great information. You should check out the blog on a regular basis.
Some people think we shouldn't even be entertaining the silly ideas of creationists. The problem is if we didn't respond like Newton has then the creationists would claim they were right because no one said otherwise.


text:
Tips for Choosing a Patio contractor
You can turn a dream patio into reality if you work with the right professional. The fact that you do not have much information and knowledge about patio installation services shows the need to hire an expert and enjoy the quality that he or she has to offer. The patio contractor you choose has the necessary skills and that tends to enable him or her to do the work well, leaving no mistakes. There are so many patio contractors in the market and this makes it hard for people to choose the right one. You should have some knowledge about the industry because that will ensure that you know the questions to ask prospective providers. The tips below will help you choose the best provider for patio installation services.
There would be a need for you to choose an experienced patio contractor. It will be a good idea to choose someone who understands the field very well and knows what to do. The fact that you are hiring someone to provide the services to you means that he or she should be aware of the right procedures to follow because you do not want to have to supervise him or her. The thing with experience is that it is gained through years of consistent work, meaning that any provider who has been offering patio installation services for many years has gained enough experience and will do a good job. If possible, you should ask to see his or her past projects as that gives you the assurance that you are actually choosing the right person for the job. Such a patio contractor will not have it hard in case a challenging situation happens when doing the work.
The location of the patio contractor should be another important thing for you to consider. There is no need to waste money on trying to get a patio contractor from a different community while you can simply choose one from your local area. There is a need for you to note that it would be easier to hire patio installation services from your local community and you will love the convenience associated with such. When you hire someone close to your location, it will be easier for you to reach his or her office for a consultation. You will also spend less money; embrace this tactic and save a considerable amount of money. What you need to note about a local patio contractor is that he or she knows all the laws and codes in your area and will always follow them when offering the patio installation services.
Referrals and online reviews will be a great way for you to choose the right provider for patio installation services. If you know any person who has hired patio installation services before, it would be good to ask him or her about the provider and if the services were good. If the person can hire the patio contractor again, it shows that he or she was impressed by what the provider offered. You can also check the patio contractor's website to see reviews. A reliable provider will have many positive reviews and you should hire him or her.


text:
Queerty/GayCities New York Editor Jeffrey James Keyes stopped by Vlada in New York City to spend the day on shoot for Lucas Entertainment's latest Gentlemen film (NSFW), which explores the popular infatuation of having sex with men in power. Keyes spent the morning capturing porn models Vito Gallo, Chris Daniels, Jessie Colter, Cameron Marshall, Adam Killian and Trey Turner while they prepared for their scenes, got into character, goofed around at the craft services table and prepped to film their scenes.
The newest addition to Gentlemen depicts Lucas exclusive Gallo as a street-smart writer obsessing over a man he constantly sees in a bar. In his casual clothes, Gallo seems to go unnoticed by Daniels and his decked-out buddies but he vows to land the man he's been lusting over. "The fascination is the slick look, the polished feel, and the masculine smell and taste of an executive man wearing a tailored suit," says Lucas Entertainment owner Michael Lucas. "These commanding professionals are powerful, aggressive and fuck with a purpose."
Speaking of fucking, Lucas made it clear all the actors in his movies wrap it up before getting down to business. In a recent issue of DNA Magazine he said, "Young men are most likely to watch porn than go out of their way to search for information on safe sex. They emulate what they see in porn, so the industry has a responsibility to set a good example for them."
Photos: Jeffrey James Keyes


text:
From Chef Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering
Makes 4 generous portions
Put vinaigrette ingredients in 4 cup jug and use an immersion blender to chop the herbs and make the vinaigrette thick and creamy. You can also chop the herbs by hand and then whisk together with the oil and vinegar. This can also be made without herbs if you don't have them available.
1. Put potatoes and eggs in pan, cover with water, add salt and cook until just tender.
2. Take eggs out after about 6 minutes of cooking. Immediately plunge eggs into very cold water, which will help prevent the black ring from forming around the yolk. Peel the eggs and cut into quarters just before serving.
3. Drain cooked potatoes, and pour about ¼ cup vinaigrette over potatoes while warm and leave to cool down before refrigerating.
4. Put fresh salmon in small skillet, cover with water and slowly bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat down to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes. Turn off heat and leave to cool down in the water. Drain and refrigerate before use.
5. Cook green beans/asparagus until degree of tenderness you prefer. Drain and immediately plunge into very cold water to stop them cooking and retain bright green color.
6. To finish: Traditionally, the ingredients are arranged on a platter in segments, not mixed together. So, take a platter and cover the base with lettuce drizzled with vinaigrette. Then arrange potatoes, green beans, olives, hard boiled eggs, red peppers, tomatoes, anchovies and salmon like the segments of a wheel around the platter. Drizzle with more vinaigrette and serve.
Tips & Alternatives: I like making this with tuna canned in oil, and using that drained oil as the oil in the dressing. Simply drain the oil into a measuring cup, then use bottled olive oil to top it off to ½ cup.
To add more flavor to the fish, add wine, lemon rind, and parsley to the water before cooking. You can also grill the fish, potatoes and vegetables to avoid heating up the kitchen.
This is a great meal to plan in advance after a day at the beach or when friends or family are expected. If you cook the potatoes, green beans, fish and eggs in advance and make the vinaigrette, then the meal can be on the table within about 10 minutes of walking in the door.
Opt-in to stay up-to-date on the latest news.Yes, I want to advance research No, I'd prefer not to


text:
Stress is a serious condition that can affect your emotional, physical, and mental balance. It can lead to diseases if not treated immediately.
The daily demands of your job, your working environment, and the constant stream of problems you have to deal with everyday can leave you too tired and restless.
If you want to stay healthy, you have to be stress-free. Here are some fun ways to beat stress[Stress Relief Techniques] effectively:
1. Hit the spa
You don't need to go far away just to unwind. Pay your local spa a visit and pamper yourself.
Spas offer services like massage, manicure and pedicure, facials, and many more that guarantee rejuvenate your whole system.
2. Hangout with friends
You can beat stress by hanging out with your friends. Spend some time with your buddies talking, eating in your favorite restaurant, or go shopping together. Doing something mindless and being in the company of people you care about can relieve you from stress.
3. Travel
Going on a cruise or traveling to a place you have never been to before can energize your mind and body. Being in a new environment is helpful in keeping your mind off things that cause you stress.
Beat stress the fun way by treating yourself to a visit to the spa, hanging out with your friends, and traveling. These are relaxing and enjoyable activities that will make you feel good as new.


text:
When I bought my mini lathe, one of the first things I noticed is that there is a port on the control panel for a tachometer. Unfortunately, the official tach costs about $127 and looks like this. I decided that since the port was already there and the tach just plugged right in, the signal must already be hot on the port and I just needed to make something to read it. As I was busting out my logic analyzers and oscilloscopes and other various fun electronics tools, I decided to do a few Google searches since someone had to have already worked this out. After a few hours of searching (this was way harder than I thought it would be), I hit pay dirt. Jeffrey Nelson of macpod.net had already done exactly this for his Sieg Mini Mill. He saved me days of headaches and frustration.
It ends up being a very simple project. All you need is a 16×2 LCD available from a slew of electronics shops online, an Arduino microcontroller (retail or self-built), a project enclosure, some perf board, a 7-pin female mic connector and some bits of wire and various electronics components. I started by building the circuit on a breadboard to test it all out but unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of this process. Once I got it working on the breadboard, it was a simple matter to transfer everything to the perf board. I don't think a retail Arduino would have fit in the enclosure I bought so I'm glad I had some spare ATMega328 chips with the Arduino bootloader on them laying around. I like to lay out my components first to figure out where everything will fit, solder those in and then start wiring it up. I don't really plan on servicing or upgrading this unit so I didn't really worry about keeping it clean and just ran the wires wherever they would fit. All in all, it was a total of about 8 hours of time spread out over a week and it works perfectly. After I got it running I realized that I forgot to change the Arduino code to fix the spelling error and remove the website advertisement. I added a 6-pin header to plug a 3.3V FTDI Basic chip for programming the Arduino but it's a pain to get to. I should have mounted it to the side of the enclosure for easy access instead of soldering it to the perf board. Oh well. I took some pictures of the perf board buildup and the finished project, enjoy.