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Fergie is one spoiled mom-to-be! On Sunday (Aug. 11), she enjoyed a second baby shower with a small group of friends and family. "#UncleLove @iamwill & @apldeap. Miss u@tabooexperience," the singer captioned a photo of herself on Instagram showing of… [Continue Reading]
The Gender of Fergie & Josh Duhamel's Baby Accidentally Revealed?
Fergie and husband Josh Duhamel have stayed mum on the gender of their baby, but one of Fergie's Black Eyed Peas bandmates may have let the cat out of the bag. While taking about Fergie's… [Continue Reading]


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subset: commoncrawl


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Customer Success Story: McDonalds India
McDonald's India is paying careful attention to its water use given its status in a country with severe water challenges. An examination of water risks within restaurants identified the heavily used washrooms as a significant source of water consumption. In looking to address this challenge, McDonald's asked Diversey for a solution to help reduce water consumption in public and staff amenities.
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And the Winner is...
Alec Nelson with HB Custom Brutality: No Money For You!! Edition
"My first thought was that this would be the perfect opportunity to test my new "Jank Machine": the Android: Netrunner ICE Bucket Challenge!
The idea behind the ICE Bucket Challenge is that you are given a randomly generated list of a certain number of ICE within a certain amount of influence and you have to build a deck around it! To accomplish this, I wrote up a little computer program that spits out your results, as well as a handy recommendation on which faction would be best with the cards chosen based on the amount of influence.
So needless to say I hopped on my computer and loaded the program, made some quick changes for a "custom" version, and started running the Bucket! After a few series of results, I started to see a pattern of ICE abilities that intrigued me. I booted up my deck builder and a little while later, out popped:
Agenda (10)
3x Accelerated Beta Test (Core Set)
1x Eden Fragment (The Spaces Between)
2x Mandatory Upgrades (What Lies Ahead)
3x NAPD Contract (Double Time)
1x Utopia Fragment (The Source)
Asset (14)
3x Adonis Campaign (Core Set)
1x Aggressive Secretary (Core Set)
3x Eve Campaign (Humanity's Shadow)
1x Executive Boot Camp (All That Remains) •
2x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves) ••
1x Melange Mining Corp. (Core Set)
3x Reversed Accounts (Up and Over) •••
Upgrade (4)
2x Ash 2X3ZB9CY (What Lies Ahead)
2x Heinlein Grid (The Spaces Between)
Operation (5)
1x Closed Accounts (Core Set) •
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
1x Snatch and Grab (All That Remains)
Barrier (5)
3x Eli 1.0 (Future Proof)
2x Heimdall 1.0 (Core Set)
Code Gate (9)
2x Enigma (Core Set)
3x Pop-up Window (Cyber Exodus) •••
2x Tollbooth (Core Set) ••••
2x Viper (Cyber Exodus)
Sentry (5)
2x Architect (Up and Over)
2x Caduceus (What Lies Ahead) ••••
1x Data Raven (Core Set) ••
Other (2)
2x Universal Connectivity Fee (Up and Over) ••
The idea behind the deck is this:
Take all of the Runner's money. All of it. If the runner has more than 10 credits, you've failed. They shouldn't have it, they shouldn't be able to make it, you must make them stone-cold broke.
In an age where players bemoan the lack of player interaction, particularly by the Corp, this deck seeks to, at every turn, wrench every last hard-earned credit from those dastardly hackers. With the Runner totally broke, scoring agendas behind taxing Ice or with the lovely Ash is a quite sensible affair. Likewise, forget about them trashing your assets, or indeed stealing many of your agendas, particularly if Utopia Fragment is scored! Just brutal!
Get out your taxing Ice early and set up situations in which your assets spew onto the table, both making you money, and robbing the Runner of theirs. Draw for cards such as Reversed Accounts and advance that bad boy out. "Sorry, I think you just lost 16 credits… No, I'm serious." Snatch and Grab their Kati Jones or Professional Contacts or hit them with a tag and watch them groan in disgust as they have to pay the Universal Connectivity Fee. Aggressive Secretary to say goodbye to Magnum Opus. Install an upgrade in a server with a facedown card and ice it with an Enigma, Viper, or Heimdall. Heinlein Grid is now your best friend.
All in all, the deck is a total bastard and anyone foolish enough to try to build up a long-term economy will soon find their money whisked away like it was never really there."
The First Runner Up is...
Tom Roberts with Feeding the Hand that Bites
"The aim of the deck is to Psychographics a Project Vitruvius so that it's overscored by 3 or more counters. Then you can recur Psychographics as much as you like for insta-Agenda scoring!
How I like/try to play it:
- Collect money like it's going out of fashion. You'll need at least 10 credits for an effective Midseasons. Then you'll want at least another 7 for Project Vitruvius/Psychographics.
- When you have the money, pop a Domestic Sleepers on the table or an NAPD if the runner is looking a little wealthy.
- Let them take it and strike with the Midseasons. I'm not sure of the sweet spot for tags, but with more than 5 people tend to give up and just play out the game with the tags.
- Psychographics the Vitruvius, then on subsequent turns use the tokens for Hedge Funds/Agenda scoring.
Fun things:
- Scoring a 5/3 out of hand is so much fun.
- People expect Sea Scorched coming out of Custom Biotics, so taunt their fears throughout the game and watch as they needlessly install Plascretes.
- Watch as people shrug when they take a Domestic Sleepers, then recoil in horror as they get Midseason'd having scored 0 points! And they can be Fast Track-scored later on.
The bad:
- So much money required. I used to play Asset Economy in this deck, but in the London meta at least, everyone just trashes Adonis and Eve, so I switched to Operations. The Green and Blue Levels help you draw into Midseasons/Psycho quicker too.
- Rubbish weak ICE. It's cheap. The aim is to stop them enough to build money. Inevitably they get through and start stealing. I used to have Data Raven which played on "Scorch Fear" by discouraging runs, but the influence meant dropping Jackson or Midseasons. Not so good... This is where most work is needed. More tax might be good at the expense of a few early steals.
Without further adue, the deck in its current form:
Agenda (12)
1 Accelerated Beta Test
3 Domestic Sleepers
1 Eden Fragment
1 Hades Fragment
3 NAPD Contract
3 Project Vitruvius
Asset (3)
3 Jackson Howard
Operation (19)
3 Blue Level Clearance
1 Closed Accounts
2 Fast Track
3 Green Level Clearance
3 Hedge Fund
3 Midseason Replacements
2 Psychographics
2 Successful Demonstration
Barrier (6)
3 Eli 1.0
3 NEXT Silver
Code Gate (6)
2 Enigma
3 NEXT Bronze
1 Viper
Sentry (3)
1 Architect
1 Ichi 1.0
1 Ichi 2.0
The Second Runner Up is...
Gabriel Forster with Jinteki? We don't need no stinkin' Jinteki!
"The adventure I've had trying to make this work has been the reward. However, there is definitely something to it. Reset the board with an over-advanced Ares. Endless turns with an over-advanced Vitruvius/Biotic. Can be quite fun. Still, a weak ID, but there has to be some magic card out there that may change it in the future."
Agenda (10)
1x Mandatory Upgrades (What Lies Ahead)
3x NAPD Contract (Double Time)
3x Project Ares (Opening Moves)
3x Project Vitruvius (Cyber Exodus)
Asset (8)
2x Adonis Campaign (Core Set)
1x Eliza's Toybox (First Contact)
2x Eve Campaign (Humanity's Shadow)
1x GRNDL Refinery (Fear and Loathing) ••
2x Jackson Howard (Opening Moves) ••
Upgrade (2)
2x Shell Corporation (All That Remains)
Operation (12)
3x Biotic Labor (Core Set)
2x Commercialization (Cyber Exodus) ••
3x Hedge Fund (Core Set)
2x Midseason Replacements (Future Proof) ••••• •••
2x Psychographics (Core Set) ••••• •
Barrier (7)
2x Eli 1.0 (Future Proof)
2x Ice Wall (Core Set) ••
3x NEXT Silver (Upstalk)
Code Gate (7)
2x Datapike (Creation and Control)
3x NEXT Bronze (Opening Moves)
2x Viktor 2.0 (Creation and Control)
Sentry (3)
2x Architect (Up and Over)
1x Janus 1.0 (What Lies Ahead)


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Apartments Trogir Stars
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Gradska 21
Apartments Trogir Stars is a self-catering accommodation located in Trogir center. The property is 100 meters from Trogir Green Market as well as from The Cathedral of St. Lawrence.
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Moab Area. A relatively new climbing area is known as Culvert Canyon It is located ten miles down the Potash Road (State Highway 313) just beyond the trailhead for Corona Arch. At the right corner of the canyon, up Wingate sandstone walls, are Finger Food (5.9) and El Nacho (5.9), both climbed by Todd Marder and Millie Birdwell; Corner (5.11), Power Cosmic (5.11c) and Round Head Ruckus (5.9), all three climbed by Tom Gilje and Bob Novellino. Numerous other routes have been established on both the east and west walls. In Long Canyon, 14 miles down the Potash Road, Craig Luebben and Lisa Grenard climbed a prominent three-tiered crack corner (5.11) on the south side of the canyon. On the right side of a pillar on the prow of rock on the left side of the entrance to Long Canyon, Done Loubin (5.11, 4 pitches) was climbed by Jimmy Dunn and Luebben. This is perhaps the first route in Long Canyon that reaches the rim. Off (5.12b) was put up by Luebben and Topfer Donahue. It is on the left side of the pillar on the left wall just inside the canyon. The route climbs Off Fists, then Off Width and finally Off Fingers. On the opposite (north) side of the entrance, 150 yards beyond Jug Handle Arch, Porcupine Flake (5.10) was climbed via its left side by Dunn, Luebben, Donahue and Doug McQueen. Further up the canyon on its north wall, Lisa Hathaway and Luebben put up Blood on the Tracks (5.12). The Dragon's Lear (5.11), up Long Canyon between Nacro Dancer and Nacro Line, was climbed by Luebben and Greg Murphy. Galen Rowell and John Laurtig ascended Mustang Man (5.11d-5.12a), a finger crack. This route is 100 yards left of Hot Toddy and Tequila Sunrise. In the Cirque of the Climbables, down Kain Creek, Luebben, Dunn and Novellino climbed Leave Your Purse At Home (II, 5.11a, OW, 3 Pitches). Surface Tension (5.11+, 1 pitch) was climbed by Linus Platt. Moonlight Spire (II, 5.9, A2, 3 pitches) was climbed by Steve Anderson and Bill Duncan. This tower is within the Horseshoe Rincon, across from the Potash Mine and was reached via Hurrah Pass down Kain Creek, southwest of Moab.
Eric BjØrnstad


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Monitors: How do I change the screen resolution in Windows 8 (for XP users)
If you are new to Windows and don't know how to properly change the screen resolution you better read this
You might have noticed that changing the screen resolution in Windows 8 works similar to previous Windows versions, but if you are not familiar with Windows 7 and you come from Windows XP here is a little guide for you
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Windows 8 is a robust user friendly operating system. Although many features are new, changing the screen resolution still works similarly
- Cheers!


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Humans (人間 Ningen?), also known as Miclones, are a species introduced in Super Dimension Fortress Macross. They have been featured in all works of the Macross Timeline since. They are native to and are the dominant species of the planet Earth which is ruled by the United Nations Government.
They are one of the Children of Protoculture.
History Edit
Compared to other races of the galaxy, humans were relatively primitive, that is until a Supervision Army cruiser that they designated ASS-1 (Alien Starship One) crashed on their planet, resulting in not only scientific technological change but also political as ASS-1 was also evidence that conflict also beyond Earth and thus many humans believed humanity should be united, resulting in the formation of United Nations Government. The humans eventually rebuilt the cruiser and renamed it SDF-1 Macross, but over the course of its reconstruction, many nations opposed the United Nations Government began fighting a series of wars known as the Unification Wars and after they had ended, the intended launch for the Macross did not go a plan and instead a disastrous first contact with the Zentradi who were tracking the ship occurred, beginning Space War I. (SDFM: "Boobytrap")
Space War I Edit
The catastrophic conflict caused the loss of about 3 billion out of 7 billion people of their population. Nevertheless, Humans eventually achieved peace, becoming a prominent civilization among the stars. [citation needed]
External Links Edit
For the Robotech equivalent, visit Humans.
All items (35)


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Beachside Villa & Penthouse Cape Town
General Description With its central location, Beachside Villa & Penthouse Hotel is within easy reach of most tourist attractions and business addresses in Camps Bay. The Beachside Villa & Penthouse Hotel boasts a convenient location with modern amenities in every guestroom and superb service. Room amenities include non smoking rooms, air conditioning, hair dryer, in room safe, television, bathtub. Guests staying at this Camps Bay accommodation can enjoy a wide range of hotel facilities such as room service 24hr, elevator, laundry service/dry cleaning, safety deposit boxes, hotel/airport transfer. For guests to unwind, the hotel offers a variety of facilities and services including massage, jacuzzi, golf course (on site), outdoor pool , garden. These top-class facilities are complemented to excellent services to meet the needs of visitors to Camps Bay. For your reservation at the Beachside Villa & Penthouse Hotel, simply submit your dates and complete our secure online booking form.
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text:
Family of Thomas Jerry WOOD (167) & Rosemary Ethel JOHNSON
On 3 Apr 1982 when Gordon Timothy was 21, he married Lorrie Lynn ROGERS, in Sayers, Texas. Born on 4 Jan 1961 in Sevilla, Spain.
They had the following children:
277. Bradley Scott WOOD.
Bradley Scott married Wendy ?.
They had the following children:
278. Samuel Ray WOOD. Born on 6 Aug 1962.
279. Regina WOOD. Born on 31 May 1957.
Regina first married Les ?.
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On 12 Apr 1979 when Regina was 21, she second married Van KIDDY. Born on 26 May 1956.
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280. Tina Gale WOOD. Born in Sep 1966. At the age of 29, Tina Gale died in Boonesville, Mississippi in Jul 1996. Buried in Jul 1966 in Adamsville, McNairy County, Tennessee.
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text:
We found two crafts we just had to share! After all, toothbrushes are as great at creating art as they are for cleaning those pearly whites! Plus, look how cute our Patriotic Tooth Girl came out!
Patriotic Tooth Cutout
Let your little firecrackers get creative with this adorable and patriotic cutout. You may need to assist with cutting, but then the sky is the limit on how they can decorate with red, white, and blue. Once their done, they make great BBQ decorations, table centerpieces, or a pennant pinned on a 4th of July celebration streamer!
What you need:
1 piece of white cardstock
1 piece of red, white, or blue cardstock
Construction paper in red or blue
Various decorating supplies such as paint, markers, glitter glue, and sequins.
Cut out the tooth and glue to cardstock. Cut out bow tie and decorate with red, white and blue glitter glue, pens or crayons; glue onto the head for a girl or at the top of the roots as a bow-tie for a boy.
Cut two 1 x 4 inch strips from blue construction paper. Accordion the strips to make two arms.
Cut out hands; fold left hand at the dotted line.
Cut out the flag and color if desired.
Glue flag "pole" to the inside of the folded hand; glue hand shut.
Color hands if desired and glue to arms.
Glue arms to the tooth.
Voila! You're done!
Here's your link to the PDF: Patriotic Tooth Cutout 4th of July
~ ~ ~
Toothbrush Firework Painting
Toothbrushes best job is cleaning your teeth, but they have a myriad of other uses too! From cleaning small, tight spots to polishing silver, they are the small but mighty versitile brush. By far our favorite summertime use is in arts and crafts! We found this fun painting project by Crafty Morning on Pinterest (surprise, surprise!). It's the perfect thing to keep the kiddos busy while they're waiting for the grill to finish cooking dinner or squirming in excitement about going to see fireworks!
What You'll Need:
Blue and red paint
White paper
Silver glitter or glitter glue
Directions from Crafty Morning Blog:
Have your kids dip their toothbrush into paint and making outward motions, make a firework shape! The less paint you have the better so you will get the little wispy lines on the outsides. Finish off the fireworks by adding silver glitter.
Do you have a fun craft you do with toothbrushes or other oral health products? Please share with us in the comments!


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Fishing spot
Albany, about five hours' drive south of Perth, is most famous for being the home of the last Australian whaling station. But talk to tackle store owner Jim Allen and you soon realise there is more to Albany than whales – like a salmon run where the fish average 5–6 kg and are up to 10 kg!
Top salmon spots include the Sand Patch, Cable Beach and the Salmon Holes. Some of these take some effort to reach, in particular the Salmon Holes and the Sand Patch. A WA friend, Mark Griffin, returned from the Sand Patch with a wonderful anecdote: 'The Sand Patch is well known for its salmon and the 506 stairs you need to climb at the end of the day. When you are really tired [climbing the stairs] and start to lower your gaze, you can still see under the staircase traces of the old trail anglers used to climb. One old angler told me that blokes would start climbing with half a dozen big greenbacks and drop them one by one as they became more and more exhausted. He reckoned it all got a bit fragrant towards the end of the season.'
There are multiple bays around Albany. In Oyster Harbour, Princess Royal Harbour and King George Sound you can expect to catch King George whiting, herring, silver trevally and salmon. Middleton Beach produces salmon, tailor, herring, whiting, leatherjacket and silver trevally. The King and Kalgan rivers that flow into Oyster Harbour will produce bream.
Anglers fishing offshore do not need to travel far to find productive reef systems. Coral reefs at the back of Michelmas and Breaksea islands are productive for snapper, blue morwong, dhufish, Samson fish, yellowtail kingfish and, for those willing to fish close to the rocks, blue groper. The Continental Shelf is about 26 miles out, but yellowfin tuna are often caught in close to King George Sound.
Boat ramps are located at Emu Point in Oyster Harbour and Princess Royal Harbour. Small boats can be launched at the Elizabeth St ramp and there is beach launching at Parry Beach and off Murray Rd in Frenchman Bay. Some anglers launch their boats with tractors from Cheynes Beach.
Another spot that can produce a few nice fish is Waychinicup, about 40 km east of Albany. The Waychinicup River widens into a beautiful inlet surrounded by granite hills and enters the sea through a narrow opening. The inlet is sheltered from the worst of the sea and wind. Expect whiting, flathead, trevally and leatherjacket. There is no defined boat ramp, so kayaks, canoes or small tinnies that you can manhandle easily are best.


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Addressing: 1} Valid Environmental Necessities, as opposed to political non-realities: 2) Economic Justice and investment mechanisms, aka monetary fairness, written by an Econ student who did earn academic honors and who was taught by a JFK man: 3} Military History & Science. 4} Photos, personal info, and whatever comes to mind.
April 4, 2016
Petroleum Products: Rose 300% in 2013: Was #1 US Export in 2012: Yet, US Trade Balance Deficit remains massive.
to learn that the United States became a NET
EXPORTER of petroleum products for the
first time since 1949. This included the ex-
portation of diesel and jet fuels, as well as
petrol additives. More important was the
news that America's demand for oil was
at its lowest since 1997. American oil de-
mand shifted from 96 million barrels per
day in 2007 to 88 million daily barrels at
the end of 2011.
The bottom line is that the gasoline and
diesel price hike of the Winter of 2012
had nothing to do with supply & demand
factors. Do not let yourself be deceived.
Greed is an addiction for unconscionable
folk in modern Corporate America.
Yet, the bottom line to a corporate exec is the price of his company's stock, per share.
Such corporate executives proved that they are willing to sell out America for the sake
of obtaining a stock's desired price.
In 2012, the price of gasoline and the price of diesel were at their highest ever for any
month of February, as oil was over $100 per barrel. One of the assumed co-suspects
of the 2012 price hike was that which caused the 2008 fuel price hikes: Oil Futures
Speculation. However, there were two other co-suspects to the high pricing, for 2012.
Another suspect in the American fuel price hike was the exporter. Petroleum products
were being shipped to the highest bidders, and the highest bidders were not Americans.
In fact, the United States exported more petroleum products last year than at any other
time in its history. In fact, total exports for the first half of 2012 rose 7%, compared to
exports for the first half of 2011. This means that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan were
lying to America.
Stated for the record, America's top five exports for 2011 were as follows:
1. Fuel: $73.4 billion
2. Aircraft: $70.8 billion
3. Motor Vehicles: $39.6 billion
4. Vacuum Tubes: $37.1 billion
5. Telecommunications Equipment: $33.2 billion
The trend continued in the following year:
Of course, even in 2012, America still suffers from a chronic Trade Balance Deficit, to
the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars per year, largely due to sweatshop and slave
labor product importation.
Incidentally, the third co-suspect in the gasoline price hike of 2012 was the false rum-
or about Iranian oil exports being cut off from Iran's customers. Refer to: Oil & Gas
Journal, International Petroleum News and Technology: MARKET WATCH: False
tale of Iran cutting exports lifts oil prices. It is found at
In Review
In case you've missed the point, there was NOT any shortage of petroleum products in
the States. Rather, there was decreased American demand, coupled with an increase
in American production. This means that the prices of gasoline and diesel fuel should
have dropped throughout the United States. However, the opposite has occurred.
As a statistical average, 117 million GALLONS of fuel and other petrol products were
exported from the United States per DAY, in the Year 2011. For the first ten months
of 2011, the U.S. exported 848 million barrels of petrol products, at an total price tag
of $73.4 billion. The bottom line is that the sky wasn't falling in America, as FoxNews
made it seem to be, as far back as 2008. Rather, Chicken Little, it has been raining
petrol here.
At this point, we all need to be familiarized with oil futures speculation. The follow-
ing article was written so that even a junior high school student could understand it.
Then, at the very very very least, gloss over the following texts of mainstream news
media quality and professional journal quality:
USA Today: In a first, gas and other fuels are top U.S. export
The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Nears Milestone: Net Fuel Exporter
USA Today, Money: Oil boomlet sweeps U.S. as exports and production rise
Bloomberg: Rising Gas Prices: Not Demand Driven
Ktar Talk & News, Phoenix:
Don't blame oil companies for skyrocketing gas prices, blame speculators
The Washington Post's Ezra Klein: America's top export in 2011 was . . . fuel?
CNN Money: Gasoline: The new big U.S. export
Econbrowser: U.S. net exports of petroleum products
Anchorage Daily News: Fuel top US export for first time in 60 years
Americans Gaining Energy Independence With U.S. as Top Producer
The much more technical Futuresmag.com: The crude business of crude oil
Stacy Curtin of the Daily Ticker, through Yahoo Finance:
What Energy Problem? U.S. Oil Exports Are on the Rise
from Patrick Pontillo on 4/04/2016
Labels: American Petroleum Exports, Gasoline Prices, Oil Speculators, the false rumor of Iran cutting oil exports


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Now, you may fall on one side or the other or somewhere in the middle, on the global warming debate. Put that aside for now, because I think that no matter what our various differences regarding that matter, we can all agree on a few things:
- We need jobs, as a state and as a country.
- Building those turbines and using them to create and maintain renewable energy would create jobs.
- NOT building them means that we lose out on those jobs.
So why in the world aren't we doing it?
Let me restate that: WHY IN THE WORLD AREN'T WE DOING IT???????!!!!!!!
Remember ALEC - the American Legislative Exchange Bureau? That organization has an agenda for our state and nation - all one needs to do is look to their own web site to see that; they don't hide that fact (though they DO hide a LOT - you will not be able to access much of their information without being a member. Odds are, if you are reading this humble blog, you would not qualify for membership - reserved for legislators and VERY big business).
Remember the Koch brothers? They certainly qualify as heavy investors in big business, and much of their wealth derives from NON-renewable energy sources.
ALEC members include many businesses that are based, in whole or in part, upon non-renewable energy sources - oil, coal, nuclear energy (okay, nuclear energy is kinda sorta "clean", but the situation in Japan should give all of us pause regarding building more nukie plants). Big businesses. Household names.
They do NOT profit from wind-generated energy. Not the oil companies, not the automakers, not those involved in coal, not those who build the pipelines.
This article says some things about the subject much better than I can. You may or may not approve of the source, but again, just focus on the facts, setting aside your political bent for now:
We in Wisconsin, and we as a nation, are about to get some legislation passed that will greatly reduce our current standards for slowing down (I won't say preventing; don't know if that is possible) the pollution of our natural resources - land, water, air. Future generations will have to clean up whatever messes we leave in our wake. The likes of the Koch brothers will profit - we and our children and grandchildren and... will not, at least insofar as we have to foot the bill for this cleanup, eventually, or suffer dire consequences.
It doesn't take a genius to follow the money on this 'un.
So we won't get those jobs. We won't get that source of renewable energy. We will continue our reliance on fossil fuels. We will accelerate the destruction of our natural resources. We will pay for the privilege of doing so - whenever we pay our Excel Energy bill, pump liquid gold into our SUV's.
Thanks for reading. If you're interested in more, here are some further resources - some directly from the horse's mouth, even.
(Nice that they are commending our very own Governor Walker for his promotion of their agenda, dontcha think? And I'd encourage you to, at the very least, scan the subject included in this document.)
And the biggie, in case you REALLY want to know what's behind all of this "cookie cutter" legislation being introduced and passed in many states of our nation:
Of course, you won't be able to find many specifics on this site. Likely, you are not a member and could not afford to be a member. They are fairly secretive about their membership rolls, as well.
I hope that the entire agenda of the ALEC organization comes to light - sooner, rather than later.
Knowledge is power, folks.


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BELLA VISTA -- Cheryl Hall will lead a hike through the forest to identify beautiful wildflowers found in bloom during the Arkansas autumn. The hike will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29, and begins at the Buckingham Trailhead.
Hall is a certified master naturalist. As a student, her studies at Arkansas Tech University and the University of Arkansas in Little Rock centered around the natural world. Now she is a nature artist and photographer, birder, mushroom hunter, avid fly fisher and seeker of rare and endangered wildflowers in Benton County. Her work with the state botanist and local officials has offered her the opportunities to deepen her interest in nature.
This hike will be approximately 2.5 miles round trip and is moderately strenuous. Appropriate clothing and shoes are required. Participants should also bring insect repellent, sunscreen and water. The Back 40 Trails are single-track, which means they are dirt, narrow and sometimes rocky or have exposed tree roots. The trails are not appropriate for strollers. Friendly dogs are welcome on a leash.
There is no cost for these hikes, presented by the city of Bella Vista. The Buckingham Trailhead is located off Trafalgar Road on Buckingham Drive. Limited parking is available at the trailhead, and participants can park along Buckingham Drive as long as they are not blocking emergency vehicle traffic or residences.
Please do not park in the right of way along Trafalgar Road. A shuttle service will be available from the Church of Latter-day Saints (1 Lambeth Drive) to the Buckingham Trailhead, starting at 8:30 a.m.Community on 09/19/2018
Print Headline: Back 40 September hike features fall wildflowers


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MEDIHONEY® Paste
MEDIHONEY® Paste is a 100% Leptospermum honey dressing for use on acute and chronic wounds. Supports the removal of necrotic tissue and aids in wound healing. Can be used on superficial to full-thickness wounds, including tunneling wounds. Sterile.
• Maintains effectiveness even in the presence of wound fluid, blood and tissue
• Promotes a moisture-balanced environment conducive to wound healing
• Can be used safely in tunneled wounds or wounds with undermining
• Helps wounds that stalled progress toward healing
• High osmolarity promotes autolytic debridement
• Helps lower overall wound pH
• Non-toxic, natural, and safe
MEDIHONEY® Paste is indicated for lightly to moderately exuding wounds such as: diabetic foot ulcers, leg ulcers (venous insufficiency ulcers, arterial ulcers and leg ulcers of mixed etiology), pressure ulcers (partial- and full-thickness), first- and second-degree partial-thickness burns, donor sites, and traumatic or surgical wounds.
Contraindicated for use on individuals with an allergy to honey or on third-degree burns.
Some patients may notice slight transient stinging. If sting does not stop or cannot be managed with analgesic, remove dressing and cleanse area. An increase in exudate may occur due to the high osmolarity. Manage with an absorptive cover dressing.
|Adhesive border
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|Compatible w/ topicals
|Foam dressing format
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|Intact when saturated
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|Variety of sizes
|Educational Material Available
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Acute Wounds
Cavity Wounds
Chronic Wounds
Dehisced Wounds
Diabetic Ulcers
Granulating/Epithelializing Wounds
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Pressure Ulcers
Sloughy Wounds
Surgical Wounds
Venous Ulcers
Integra LifeSciences, a worldwide leader in regenerative medicine, is dedicated to improving the quality of life for patients through the development of cost-effective solutions used to treat millions of patients every year. With over two decades of clinical efficacy and a reputation for delivering quality, Integra's advanced wound care products are a premiere solution for clinicians.


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When Jack McCauley walks up to the pasture gate on his farm, the mooing stops and every head turns in his direction.
"Here girls," he yells as he swings open the gate. "Let's go."
Almost as if he were a pied piper, 22 cows follow McCauley through two gates and into another small pasture covered in almost waist-high native switchgrass. It took McCauley almost two years to get the pasture looking like that.
But it was worth it, he said. Two of his calves recently sold for more than he expected.
Authorities say a Buford High School student did the right thing this week, but was still arrested and will be held accountable for mistakenly having two hunting rifles in his truck in the school parking lot on Monday, Aug. 20.
Joshua Aaron Horne, 17, 1084 Tryon St., was arrested on a charge of possession of a firearm on school property, according to a Lancaster County Sheriff's Office incident report.
Lancaster County saw a drop in its unemployment rate last month, though state and national numbers went in the opposite direction.
The county's July jobless rate was 12.7 percent, a drop from the 12.9 percent it posted in June. The county's July 2011 rate was 13.9.
Last month, of the 30,593 people in Lancaster County's workforce, 3,874 of them were unemployed, according to figures recently released by the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce.
The United Way of Lancaster County (UWLC) is seeking participants for the Lancaster County Community Garden.
Now in its fourth year, the community garden is near the Lancaster Parks and Recreation Department at 260 Plantation Road.
Garden sites will be provided free for participants to grow their own produce. Free seeds and plants will be provided.
Applications are available at the United Way of Lancaster County office, 109 S. Wylie St. For more information, call (803) 283-8923 or email firstname.lastname@example.com.
Nancy Parsons
Landmark News Service
GREAT FALLS – It has been six months since Ashley Whittle was seriously injured in an industrial accident, and for 24-year-old Whittle, it's a day she'll never forget.
Whittle had worked at Morcon, a manufacturer of paper products, for almost four months when the unexpected happened. She was still in training and her job was to pack and box products made at the facility.
Whittle's long, dark hair fell to the middle of her back so she kept it pulled up in a ponytail at work.
It is a proven fact that children who are exposed to the arts perform at a higher level on standardized academic tests. Further, children and adults who have participated in, studied and/or enjoyed the arts in their lives become more creative thinkers and problemsolvers.
Music, in particular, affects performance. There are teachers who report that the responsiveness of their classes is greater when (intentionally selected) music is included in their learning
Lancaster Motor Speedway will host the M&M Muffler & Tire Stock 4/Extreme 4 Fest with $500 to win in both the Stock 4 Division and FWD/UCAR Division.
M&M Muffler & Tire Stock 4/Extreme 4 Fest details:
Stock 4 is 10 laps with four heat laps.
The annual Lancaster High School volleyball scrimmage is Saturday, Aug. 25 in the LHS gym.
The varsity field includes Andrew Jackson, Buford, Central of Pageland and host Lancaster on court one.
The Dirt Diamonds travel softball team went 5-0 and captured the CSA 14U national championship Aug. 11-12 in Florence.
The Diamonds, in pool play, defeated the Sumter Shockers 5-4 (win Haley Vincent) and Carolina Reign 8-0 (win Haley Vincent).
BUFORD – Buford High School star defensive player Marcus Brown is no longer part of the Jackets' football program, but BHS senior offensive right tackle Andrew Plyler still appreciates Brown's play.
Copyright © 2019
The Lancaster News is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Lancaster County and Lancaster, South Carolina, and the surrounding area..


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The Dean's office on the 4th floor of the Pless Building recently underwent the installation of digital signage. The signage is currently being used to showcase Steinhardt faculty authors and their most recent publications.
The signage is displayed on an 80 inch Sharp Television, and is powered via a small compact computer called, a MediaDroid developed by Android. Over 50 Steinhardt Author's and their Book Covers are displayed digitally in the Dean's Lobby.
Please feel free to stop by, and check out the work our Steinhardt faculty are doing! To learn more about the digital signage project or to have your publication showcased, please contact Melissa Lucas-Ludwig, firstname.lastname@example.com


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Climb aboard at the Streetlife Museum of Transport and enjoy all the sights, sounds and smells of the past. Step back in time with 200 years of transport history as you walk down a 1940s high street, board a tram or enjoy the pleasures of a carriage ride.
There are six galleries at the Streetlife Museum -
- The Bicycle Gallery explores the history and development of the bicycle and its links to Hull's history. It has an excellent collection of early bicycles including an 1818 Hobby Horse.
- The Carriage Gallery has one of the finest carriage collections in public ownership in Britain. Make sure you enjoy the smells of the stable as you step from the Hull-York Mail Coach ride.
- The Motor Car Gallery takes you to the 1900 Motor Show, with rare veteran motor cars dating from 1897 onwards.
- The Streetscene Gallery is where you find yourself on a busy street of reconstructed shops. There is a cycle shop, a Yorkshire chemist shop and a Hull Co-operative shop from the 1930s.
- The Railway Gallery is a reconstructed 1930s goods shed containing several items of interest, including the Cottingham North signal box, transported brick-by-brick from its original location and re-assembled here.
- The Joseph Rank Gallery looks at the life, career and legacy of Joseph Rank, the industrial revolution in flour milling and Hull's ideal location as the catalyst for this to happen. On display are replicas of Joseph Rank's freedom of the city scroll and the silver commemorative windmill commissioned to house it. You'll also find an interactive feature which shows how roller milling produces flour and a digital picture frame showing views of the River Hull which was dominated by Joseph Ranks' massive Clarence Mills complex.
Admission is free
Opening times:
- Monday to Saturday: 10am - 4.30pm
- Sunday: 11am - 4pm
Last admission 30 minutes before closing.
Open bank holidays (excluding Good Friday) and closed 24th to 28th December inclusive, and 1st January


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Dhaka Market, Scene of Protests, Recovers
An eventful day for Asian frontier markets Tuesday, as Laos became the latest country to open a stock exchange (with only two stocks trading), and Bangladesh shares soared after the worst stock market crash in the country's history prompted riots.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange's benchmark General Index was up 15% Tuesday, after a 7.8% drop Sunday and a 9% plunge Monday morning forced the exchange to suspend trading and sparked protests by angry investors. The index rose 80% last year.


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Included in your booking
Don't see an amenity you're looking for? Ask the host, Duane
Don't see an amenity you're looking for? Ask the host, Duane
Architecturally stunning, this artfully curated, brand new modern home provides an extraordinary opportunity to experience the Bay Area at its very best. Four distinctive, private lounge areas with of city lights beyond the SF Bay. Original artwork and exquisite, custom designed furnishings complement high end finishes throughout. Flowing multi-level open plan is perfect for corporate retreats and photo shoots. Brand new: Super clean and sharp lines. Large gas fireplace in living area adjacent well appointed chef's kitchen, custom furniture, art and beautiful finishes throughout. A sheltered private deck off the main floor stays warm and cozy if the wind is blowing. An expansive roof deck upstairs features concrete, glass and stone hardscape with a succulent garden, modern deep seated lounge furniture, a sleek gas firepit and stunning views of the Bay Bridge and the City. Three bedrooms, each with with beautiful sheets and pillows Dimmable Halogen lighting, Several full length mirrors Large, fully mirrored master vanity, great for make-up
The space is brand new, so please expect to give lots of care about not placing dirty or greasy items around the house. There is a large kitchen which can be used, for shooting or food prep for the crews if necessary.
All ages
Senior Producer
Duane was super nice and accommodating. Space was per advertised. We shot a branded commercial there with a pretty large crew.


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Hundreds of jobs at Telecom are being cut, as the company posts a half year profit to December 2012 of $163 million, up by around 58 percent from the previous year.
Telecom's current staff count sits just over 7000, the company says job losses will be felt in IT, retail, and some other departments.
"Without sugar coating this, it's apparent it will be well into the hundreds," says Telecom chief exec Simon Moutter.
Moutter says Telecom's cost base, including its employees, is higher than competing technology companies.
While job losses were expected as a part of . Chairman Mark Verbeist, says Telecom is in the midst of a "strategic shift" away from traditional fixed line infrastructure, to becoming more mobile and data services orientated.
In its half year report, Telecom says its mobile customer base has fallen since shutting down its CDMA network July last year. At the time Telecom said most of its CDMA customers were low-return customers with old phones in their dashboards. Since then telecom has added 100,000 new mobile connections, with key growth in prepaid services and the Skinny brand.
More as this story develops.


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(The weekly GPS Small Group Guide can be downloaded in .PDF format from the individual sermon page, found at http://www.cor.org/worship in Sermon Archives)
13 Years a Slave and a Prisoner
A Grow-Pray-Study guide for small groups
This guide uses the Scripture readings from the daily "GPS" study guide. Group members may read the daily readings before the group meeting, or read the verses aloud when the group meets. The group may subdivide into two or three smaller groups, each discussing a set of the daily readings and the matching questions on page 2, or the entire group may discuss those questions together. We pray that, whatever pattern of study you choose, the Holy Spirit will weave God's Word into the life and heart of each group member.
Genesis 30:22-24, 33:1-7, 37:1-11
From his birth, Joseph occupied a special place in his family. He was the family's eleventh child—but the first one born to Rachel, Jacob's favorite wife. When Jacob felt afraid that his brother Esau might do something violent when they met, he put all his other children out front, and placed the favored Joseph and his mother safely at the rear. Later, he gave him a highly distinctive garment—perhaps the most famous coat in history.
Genesis 37:18-28, 39:1-6
Joseph's jealous brothers sold him to traders going through the wilderness to Egypt. He became a slave to Potiphar, a powerful royal official, and his reliability and hard work won him Potiphar's complete trust. Joseph's dramatic story is one of betrayal and providence, of God accomplishing his purposes despite the worst that our broken world can do.
Genesis 39:7-22
Potiphar's wife wanted Joseph to have an affair with her. The text tells us nothing else about her, but it must have been clear to Joseph, a Hebrew slave, that this woman could cause him problems. Nevertheless, he refused to betray his master's trust, and rebuffed her advances. Doing the right thing left her holding the garment he abandoned to escape her, and she used it to back up her lying accusations, and convinced her furious husband to put Joseph in jail.
Genesis 41:14-44
Genesis 40 told of Joseph interpreting dreams in prison for two servants of Pharaoh, and asking for help in winning release. When Pharaoh restored the wine steward, he forgot about Joseph, adding two years to Joseph's time in custody. The unjust detention finally ended when the steward recalled that Joseph could interpret troubling dreams. Joseph clearly hadn't blamed God for all that had gone wrong, and gave God full credit for the explanation. And, astonishingly, Pharaoh abruptly made him second-in-command in all of Egypt!
Genesis 45:1-15, 50:15-21
An even greater character test awaited Joseph. With no idea that he was the brother they'd sold, Jacob's sons sought to buy food from Egypt's powerful "famine czar." Joseph first put them through some challenging situations (cf. Genesis 42-44), probably to test whether they had grown morally in the years since they sold him. He let go of any ideas of revenge he might have had, and reunited his family with generosity and grace.
Matthew 5:10-12
Jesus had personal experience with being falsely accused (see, for example, Luke 11:14-18). All of his "beatitudes" in his Sermon on the Mount, defining what constitutes happiness or "blessedness" in his Kingdom, challenged our assumptions. But Joseph's life stood as a remarkable demonstration of his final declaration: "Happy are you when people insult you and harass you and speak all kinds of bad and false things about you, all because of me."
To access the Family Activity suggested in this week's GPS, download the printable GPS from http://www.cor.org/guide.
Lord Jesus, we pray that we might find solace and trust in your promise. Make us people of reconciliation, patience, integrity and character. Remind us that you are with us, guiding us every step of the way, no matter how grim our lives might seem. Amen.
CONNECT (5-10 minute discussion, at most)
Who are the best known people today who are also the strongest examples of integrity and character? Do integrity and character usually translate into people becoming well known?
Read Genesis 30:22-24, 33:1-7, 37:1-11. Joseph was a "son of privilege." How can your "position" as a child within your family affect you as a person? Do you feel that, as a child, you were a "favored child," or less valued and privileged? How has this belief affected you? What kind of position do you feel you have in your heavenly father's family? How does this affect you as a person? How can your feelings about yourself and your self-worth cause others to feel about you?
Read Genesis 37:18-28, 39:1-6. Joseph was betrayed by his own brothers. Have you ever felt terrible betrayal by someone you trusted? Did that experience have any effect on your faith? How has that experience affected you as a person? What effect did the betrayal seem to have on Joseph? Was this experience part of God's plan, or did God simply find a way to use it to further his overall plan? Does making this distinction matter for the completeness of our faith? How do you feel about the statement that "God works in mysterious ways"? Have you personally experienced this?
Read Genesis 39:7-22. Was the fact that Joseph had felt personal betrayal the reason he then refused to betray the trust of Potiphar? Joseph's loyalty cost him. How have you felt pain caused by your loyalty to another? The wrongdoing of Potiphar's wife caused Joseph suffering. How have you suffered from the wrongdoing of others? How does what we can "get away with" enter into our decision process? How would you describe "integrity? Did integrity win out in this story?
Read Genesis 41:14-44. Did Joseph seem to blame God for all that had gone wrong in his life? Joseph was obviously a man of strong character. What gave him this character? Is character and integrity valued in today's world? How can we go about building our own character and integrity? Will this please God? Peter wrote, "God's strong hand is on you; he'll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you" (1 Peter 5:6-7, The Message). What helps you to trust that God is "careful" with your life? When things aren't going as you would wish, how can you be as patient as Joseph was?
Read Genesis 45:1-15, 50:15-21. How might history have been different if Joseph had allowed anger and revenge to drive the way he reacted toward his brothers? Did God influence the way Joseph reacted? Did Joseph invite God's influence? Do we choose whether we want God to influence our life and our reactions to life's "bumps in the road"? Can we expect God's influence to be as dramatic as was his influence in Joseph's life?
Read Matthew 5:10-12. Did Joseph's life adequately reflect the truth of these words of Jesus, or are Christ's words a reflection of his kingdom that was to come? Do we always feel the truth of Christ's words while we are going through life's troubling times of suffering, or are these words the good news of God's ultimate promise? How can we, in good times and bad, remind ourselves of Christ's promise?
From last week: Did you pray daily for God's guidance and strength as you reordered your priorities in life? Did you look around your house and see what it said about who you are and what tends to direct your life? Did you commit to taking the first steps toward changes that would put you closer to the mark God has set for you? Please share with the group any insight you might have been provided.
From Pastor Adam Hamilton's sermon, October 27, 2013:
Today we begin a five-week focus entitled Sermons from the Wilderness in which we will study five Old Testament characters who spent time in the wilderness. In the Bible the wilderness is both a literal place known by all who lived in the Holy Land, and a metaphor for our life experiences….The wilderness is not just a place. It is also a metaphor for the barren and difficult places in life when we're rejected, overcome with grief, or where we're alone or in despair. Most of the great biblical characters had their times in the wilderness. Most of us will as well….
Joseph's story begins in Genesis chapter 37. Joseph is 17 years old. He is the second youngest in a family of 12 sons and one daughter. The conflict in the story is introduced right at the beginning, in verses 3-4 of Genesis 37: "Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him."
Joseph's tendency to tell on his brothers when they did wrong did not help matters. Then we learn that Joseph dreamt dreams – dreams that one day his brothers would bow down to him. When you have dreams like that, it's best not to share them with your brothers! But Joseph was immature, arrogant and lacked wisdom. After sharing the dreams with his brothers we read: "His brothers said to him, 'Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?' So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words."
One day, Joseph went to meet up with his brothers as they were grazing the flocks. Seeing him coming, his brothers said to one another: "Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams." Just then a caravan of Midianite slave traders came along, and his brothers decided that instead of killing Joseph, they would sell him as a slave to the Midianites for twenty pieces of silver—about 20 days wages. They return home and tell their father, Jacob, that Joseph was eaten by a wild animal.
Meanwhile, down in Egypt, a man named Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, purchased Joseph from the Midianites. The writer of Genesis tells us that God was with Joseph and Joseph, despite his circumstances, did the next right thing. He was found to be trustworthy, he served Potiphar well and consequently Joseph prospered, even as Potiphar's slave. But then the story takes another interesting plot twist. Listen: "Now Joseph was handsome and good- looking. And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, 'Lie with me.' But he refused."
Potiphar's wife continued this for days, weeks, perhaps months. One day she grabbed Joseph by the garments and pulled him towards her bed. He pulled away and ran from the house. She, feeling spurned, cried out to the servants outside saying that Joseph had attempted to rape her. When Potiphar came home, his wife showed him the cloak, and Potiphar was angry. He had Joseph thrown in prison where, presumably, he would live out his days. Joseph's wilderness experience went from bad to worse. Sold by his brothers into slavery, then thrown into prison, a life sentence, for a crime he did not commit. This is the wilderness….
An interesting thing happened to Joseph during his time in slavery and in prison. The 17 year-old who was a bit arrogant and insensitive was changed by the wilderness. He could have become bitter and resentful and he might have turned away from God altogether. Instead he becomes humble, trustworthy and faithful. He continually does the next right thing that earns him the respect of his fellow slaves and prisoners. And though he's not yet been delivered he trusts that God is with him, and that somehow God will see him through. This is what the writer of Hebrews describes as faith: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Joseph lives by faith.
Joseph becomes known in prison as someone who can interpret dreams. One day Pharaoh begins having disturbing dreams, and no one can interpret them. But a former prisoner tells Pharaoh about Joseph. Pharaoh asks that Joseph be brought to him from prison. He tells Joseph his dreams, and Joseph interprets them: the dreams foretell that, after, seven great years of crops, there will come a seven-year period of famine which will threaten the entire region. Crops must be stored and saved during the years of plenty, and everything will be okay. Pharaoh asks Joseph to take charge of preparing Egypt for the famine. At the age of 30 this former slave and prisoner becomes Pharaoh's second in command!
We're meant to notice here the strange and hidden ways of God. Joseph, the young shepherd, becomes a slave, then falsely accused, a prisoner, and now Egypt's second in command. Notice that God didn't stop his brothers, nor Potiphar's wife, from doing evil. But God was with Joseph, Joseph trusted in God, and 13 years later, Joseph finds himself saving Egypt from disaster and appointed prince over the land. The writer of Genesis says, "This is how God works. Not instantly delivering us from hardship, but walking with us through it, then working discreetly through it, and finally redeeming it and accomplishing his purposes through it!"
This is still how God works in our lives. To us he seems slow to deliver. He doesn't instantly fix all our problems. He walks with us through them. But somehow, in ways we cannot see sometimes until years later, he uses even the evil we experience for his purposes. Evil will not have the final word. Paul notes this in a famous passage in Romans 8:28: "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." That means that whatever it is you are going through, God can redeem it, will walk with you through it, and can bring something beautiful from it.
What others have said about reconciliation
Reconciliation—the restoration of friendly relations.
• "The number one problem in our world is alienation, rich versus poor, black versus white, labor versus management, conservative versus liberal, East versus West…But Christ came to bring about reconciliation and peace." – Billy Graham
• "In a quarrel, leave room for reconciliation" – Russian Proverb
• "The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions." – Thich Nhat Hanh
• "Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace it shouldn't be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice."- Corazon Aquino
• "The pattern of the prodigal is: rebellion, ruin, repentance, reconciliation, restoration." – Edwin Louis Cole
• "We are all one – or at least we should be – and it is our job, our duty, and our great challenge to fight the voices of division and seek the salve of reconciliation." – Roy Barnes
• "Before Nelson Mandela was arrested in 1962, he was an angry, relatively young man. He founded the ANC's military wing. When he was released, he surprised everyone because he was talking about reconciliation and forgiveness and not about revenge." – Desmond Tutu
• "Israel is no longer a people that dwells alone, and has to join the global journey toward peace, reconciliation and international cooperation." – Yitzhak Rabin
• "Christian faith is… basically about love and being loved and reconciliation. These things are so important, they're foundational and they can transform individuals, families." – Philip Yancey
• "The work of community, love, reconciliation, restoration is the work we cannot leave up to politicians. This is the work we are all called to do." – Shane Claiborne
• "The overall purpose of human communication is – or should be – reconciliation. It should ultimately serve to lower or remove the walls of misunderstanding which unduly separate us human beings, one from another." – M. Scott Peck
• "The church is not a theological classroom. It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification center, where flawed people place their faith in Christ, gather to know and love him better, and learn to love others as he designed." – Paul David Tripp
• "If there is to be reconciliation, first there must be truth." – Timothy B. Tyson
• "We do believe that the church has a visionary role for reconciliation, beyond that of any government." – Richard Harris
Final application:
This week, make your own, personal and private list of hurtful things others have done to you that you still harbor hard feelings about. Pray for these people and ask for God's help as you let go and forgive them. If possible and appropriate, seek these people out and make every effort to reach reconciliation. Next week, if you can, share with the group whatever you learned about yourself in the process.


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Happy Monday! Here's an easy question to start off your week: do you believe in giving to those less fortunate?
My guess is that almost everyone reading this would answer "yes" to that question (which is one reason why I love you all!). I certainly do, but unfortunately, I don't have the unlimited financial means to donate as much or as often as I would like. But I got to thinking…
It was just over two months ago: I found myself getting caught up in planning for the upcoming holiday season (and all the social events that go with it). The holidays are so magical, and I love getting to spend time all of people I love so dearly. Even though we all complain about being so "busy", I think we could all admit that having so many people in our lives worth running around to see is truly a blessing. So, why not make giving to those less fortunate a part of all the festivities? Why not help others while spending time with those we love? Why not party with a purpose?
My idea was simple: pick a charity and request that party-goers bring an item to donate. Since my sister was the first to host a holiday get-together, I brought up the idea to her. Thankfully, she was on board (which didn't surprise me even a little bit – my sister has the biggest heart in the world). For her party, Kendall asked guests to bring an item that would be shipped to a child in a third-world country, as part of a program at her church. With all the items people brought, she was able to send care packages for TEN children. Even though the individual items in the packages weren't overly expensive (pencils, toothpaste, small toys, etc.), it would have been a substantial financial investment for one person to buy all that. But as a group, each individual didn't have to spend much to make a big impact.
The success at Kendall's party got me really excited to try this out at my book exchange party. I asked my guests to bring one item for a homeless shelter in Akron (for example, canned food, clothing, personal hygiene products). I must have extremely caring people in my life because these ladies not only brought one item for the shelter, they brought enough that I had EIGHT TIMES more items than people who came to the party. In addition, I gave them the option to leave their un-exchanged books as a donation. It shouldn't come as a shock that every single person opted to donate their leftover books. Together, these wonderful woman donated over 50 books to another non-profit organization near and dear to my heart: the Akron Public Library system. Both the Haven of Rest and the library were so thankful for these generous donations.
I truly believe that the vast majority of people in this world want to help others. So my ask of you is this: when planning your next party, please consider partying with a purpose. You really would be amazed at how much good can be done while enjoying the company of your friends and family. What may seem like a big deal to one person is much more doable for a group of people. So spread some love and generosity this holiday season (and beyond)! That warm, fuzzy feeling you'll get is sure to stay with you longer than the cold winter weather.


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Guide to Renting a Car in New Zealand
For many locals and travellers around the world, it is a dream to rent a car in New Zealand and explore some of the beautiful scenery. However, if you are new to the process of renting a car it can be quite confusing. VroomVroomVroom has put together a comprehensive guide to introduce you to the basics: from getting a rental car, travel tips and road trip advice.
What is the best type of vehicle to rent in New Zealand?
Think where you want to go, and who you are travelling with. While New Zealand has plenty of mountainous roads, a fuel-efficient modern vehicle will be able to handle most of them. Petrol is expensive here, so don't take a larger vehicle than you need. Four wheel drive SUVs may be useful in the depths of winter. Read our Should You Rent a Car in New Zealand to know more about the benefits of renting a car.
In addition, you may consider if renting a campervan would be better suited. Should you decide to go with a campervan, think about where you will stay. If you plan to stay in commercial campgrounds, you don't need to pay extra for a fully self-contained van. If there is any chance that you would like to 'freedom camp', basically sleeping on the side of the road, you must have a self-contained vehicle. But keep in mind that many tourist towns have strict laws, and fines for freedom camping.
What information do I need to rent a car?
Renting with VroomVroomVroom is fast and easy. You'll only need to get these things ready: the pick-up location (date and time), the return location (date and time), the type of vehicle you want to hire, your personal contact details and a valid credit card to be used for the rental.
How much is it to rent a car in New Zealand?
Generally, rates differ depending on the length of rental and the type of vehicle you choose. Whether you are looking for a smaller car to cruise around the city, or a larger vehicle to take to the highway, VroomVroomVroom can help you compare the costs. We partnered with trusted car rental providers in New Zealand such as Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz. Enterprise and Thrifty. Save time by comparing all their rates on our website.
What is the minimum age to rent a car in New Zealand?
25 is the usual minimum age requirement to rent and drive a car hire in New Zealand. However, there are some car rental agencies that allow drivers below 25 as long as they pay for the underage surcharge fee. A customer must be at least 21 to be eligible to hire a car and must carry a full driver's licence for a minimum of one year. Some suppliers like Jucy offer car rental for renters aged 18 but an underage surcharge will apply.
What driving licence do I need to drive a rental car?
Renters with a full driver's licence held for a minimum of 12 months can legally drive in New Zealand. Non-English licence need to present an International Driving Permit written in English or translation document. If you hold a Provisional or Learner's licence you may not be permitted to rent a car with certain companies.
Can I drive in New Zealand on a UK or US licence?
Rental car companies usually accept English-language driving licences. They often do not accept provisional licences. If your driving licence is not in English, you will need an International Driving Permit. If you do not have a current and valid international driver licence or IDP then you cannot drive in New Zealand.
Where is the ideal place to pick up a rental car?
Car rental companies have depots in cities, airports and regional towns across New Zealand. For international visitors, airport locations can be convenient but remember they may incur a higher surcharge. If you are visiting the North Island, we offer car hire comparison in cities such as Auckland and Wellington. Check out our pages on Queenstown and Christchurch if you are headed to the South Island. If you are planning to travel between the two islands, note that most car rental companies do not permit their vehicles to be taken on the Interislander Ferry. Click here to get more information.
What do I need when I collect my hire car?
When you arrive at the depot to pick up your rental car, you will need a valid driver's licence and a credit card to sign the Rental Agreement when collecting the vehicle. The terms and conditions on the booking page will display the rental requirements of your supplier - remember each vary slightly. For a full list of Car Rental Terms and Conditions, go here.
Can I rent a car if I do not have a credit card?
Only Avis and Hertz will accept debit cards (not pre-paid cards) with the Visa/Mastercard emblem. This excludes any luxury fleet bookings.
How does car rental insurance work in New Zealand?
Your rental car will have an excess amount that you can be charged for any damage caused to the vehicle while it is in your possession. You can purchase excess reduction products at the car rental counter to reduce or liability, or pre-purchase optional insurance. Rental car companies in New Zealand are likely to offer these four optional types of hire car insurance coverage when you pick up your vehicle: the collision damage waiver, liability insurance, personal accident insurance and personal effects coverage. Click here for further details.
Can I make a reservation for a one way
Yes. All of our suppliers allow one way rentals through the VroomVroomVroom website. Please note, however that one way rentals may incur a one way fee, though this fee will always be included in the quote for your vehicle.
What happens if I receive a speeding fine in my hire car?
Your car hire company will either charge your credit card for the amount detailed on the fine, or supply your information to law enforcement agencies, who will in turn issue a fine to your postal address. It is advisable to pay any fines you receive before leaving the country. Failure to pay fines received in New Zealand may result in refusal of a hire car, refusal of entry or cancellation of a visa on a return visit. If you want to know more about the local road rules in New Zealand, go to our Travel Tips.
Our friendly customer care experts are more than happy to assist you with your car rental booking. Contact us via phone, email or live chat today!


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we watched the movie "The Young Victoria" tonight, and it struck my 1800's England heartstrings. yes: I enjoyed every moment.
fun fact: did you know that Queen Victoria herself proposed to Prince Albert? I supposed a queen would have to take it by the horns like that; she might behead an unsavory suitor who dared pose the question otherwise.


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The Screenwriter's Column
PLOTTING A STORY NOT JUST TELLING ONEby Linda
Plot encompasses three important factors that when understood will improve every
aspect of a story.
For most people, the terms 'story' and 'plot' are synonymous. People read a book or go
to a movie and come away saying, 'What a great story!' But the reason the book or film is so affecting is
generally because the story has a great plot. (Don't think I'm forgetting about character and its
importance to a great story. I'm including it in plot as part of a well-told story.)
So What Exactly Is Plot?
In literature or drama, plot encompasses three important factors.
We might say this: plot is a series of interrelated actions that progresses through a
struggle of opposing forces to a climax and resolution that defines the meaning of the work.
Plot Is Building To An Emotional Payoff
Plotting is the art of bringing your story to life. Let's say you've worked out the
perfect act one climax to your story. A young man, Bernie, takes revenge on the man, Harry, who killed his
father. In scene nine Bernie goes to kill Harry but stops when he sees Harry give five bucks to a street
kid. That gets Bernie thinking maybe murder isn't the way. Now your hero Bernie is conflicted by guilt
("Am I a coward for not avenging dad's death?") and relief ("I didn't want to kill a man anyway!"). Now
you've created an internal obstacle that heightens the drama. But your first act break calls for Harry's
So in scene ten Bernie goes to his dad's trailer in the country and finds a dog his
father owned dead. Bernie sees another aspect of his dad's murder is how an innocent animal died of thirst
or hunger. Harry's murder of Bernie's dad is replayed in an emotional sense. The pain of his father's
death registers again with Bernie and he's now more motivated to go and kill Harry. Not because a dog
died, but because the magnitude of Bernie's dad's death isn't really felt until Bernie has seen, not
merely learned, the ramifications of losing his father.
The point is that even a first act curtain needs to be plotted for maximum emotional
payoff. In a pitch meeting you might say, 'Bernie comes home from the army and avenges his dad's death by
killing Harry, which in turn gets Harry's gang to go after him.' But when it comes to plotting the script,
you can't use your turning point, the structural point of the first act break, as an effective guide by
itself. Story points are the intermediate goals; plotting is what takes you there.
Plotting Is Tying Actions To Emotions
Extending one scene into several allows the emotional weight hinted at in your outline
to come to the foreground. We want the audience to understand fully Bernie's pain. But it's also more
realistic to have Bernie cope with many feelings before deciding to act.
When characters demonstrate feelings the audience shares in similar situations, the
audience feels empathy for the characters. We might not agree with or even like the character, but the
'common' reaction binds us at a human level. Nothing says we have to like Bernie or agree with what he
decides. But for us to believe what Bernie does, we have to understand his feelings. Plots keep stories
relatable. We genuinely feel King Lear's pain and loss at the end of Shakespeare's play without liking him
one bit.
Not allowing for separate 'emotion-reaction' scenes is a common mistake writers make
in moving from outlines to scripts. In real life, people need TIME to assess life-changing events.
Reactions, feelings can deluge us until a 'plan' emerges for how we'll deal with the 'event.' In art, we
must make sense of the emotional chaos that ensues when dramatic episodes develop, but too often we just
want to get on with the action of the story. (Steven Sonderberg did this to great affect in his direction
of Erin Brokovich. He added small scenes where the heroine reflects on what's just happened to her and her
family. These brief moments, often only seconds in duration, significantly added depth to what might have
been a more routine, MOW-style story.)
Plot Is The Ordering Of Emotions
Plot is more than an outline of events; it is also the ordering of emotions.
Emotions make stories more compelling, illustrate motivations by creating emotional stakes, and make
characters appear more authentic. When the emotional side of a story is left out, or only hinted at,
characters feel less true and the story loses dimension. "Real characters must be given a chance to reveal
themselves, and we (the audience) must be given a chance to observe the significant changes which take
place in them," Lajos Egri wrote in The Art of Dramatic Writing seventy years ago. Plots pushed by action
and not characters' emotions manipulate the characters like puppets, making the audience less likely to
embrace them.
The best writers understand and use this in their plotting to make their stories more
gripping. They find the balance between event and consequence and are able to weave the tapestry of action
and emotion, the elements of plot and character, to tell page-turning stories.
We've all seen those maps of mountain ranges of the Rockies or Himalayas with
elevation points outlined for the highest peaks. Think of those peaks as the main story points in your
outline, the major turning points you want to build to. But what those maps may not show are the windy,
harsh, wind-, snow- and ice-slapped paths that carry you up to the precipice and down into the next valley
of complications. Those paths are the plot of your story, the route you must cover step-by-step to get to
your goals. Forging those paths is the only way you're getting to the summit and back down again. And the
goal really is making the trip, not just looking down from the top -- that you can do from an airplane.
Plotting your story is really 'plodding' your story ('to work slowly and steadily'). Story structure is a
map, plotting is taking the trip. Nightfall, avalanches, weather, and animals real and fanciful will try
to distract you, so set out well prepared. You can use a guru for story; for plot, find a Gurkha.
back to top
creating characters who work for you, not
against you
conflict: a writer's best friend!
five tips for new screenwriters
incorporating emotion into your plot:
preparations & consequences
ensemble films: the gang's all
the principles of drama
the essence of character
the sequence of story
the art of plotting
plotting a story not just telling one
non-linear narratives: the ultimate in time
linda's key rules for writing
the emotional pattern of plot
ten ways to strengthen your plot
recommended films
q & a
Copyright 2003 Linda Cowgill and Plots Inc. Productions. All Rights Reserved.


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Preview: World Final 2015
It's time for the biggest race in the F1 stock car season – the World Final. It's the biggest prize in the sport, the one that all the drivers want to win. The driver who takes the chequered flag at the end of the race will carry the gold roof for the next twelve months and cement his place in the history books.
Drivers collected World Championship qualifying points over fifteen meetings. Their total points designated their position on a World Semi-Final grid, from which the top ten qualifiers progressed to the World Final. Two more lucky drivers – Ed Neachell and John Lund – earned last-chance places in the Consolation Semi-Final. They will be joined by twelve drivers from the Netherlands and New Zealand to make a truly international grid – the foreign entrants will be seeded onto every third row, the drivers' positions chosen by time trial on World Final day.
It will be the fourth time that the World Championship is decided on the shale of King's Lynn. Previous winners there have been Stuart Smith Junior, Andy Smith and Tom Harris. All three won from the outside line of the grid, something the drivers nearest the fence on the rolling lap might take comfort in.
The defending champion:
Craig Finnikin is the master of shale, but like many champions, he's found it a little tougher racing from the back of the grid – he has only three race wins so far this season. But remember, Finnikin isn't starting from the back this time – he'll line up on row 5, three rows forward compared to when he won it last year.
The front rows:
It might be a surprise to some, but Rob Speak is making his first start in a F1 World Final from pole position. He started plenty of F2 World Finals from there though, so shouldn't have too many nerves on the rolling lap. Speak's position makes him vulnerable to being a passenger on the front of a train of cars into the first corner, and his driving style suits coming from behind rather than leading from the front, but he'll still start this race as many people's favourite to take the crown.
To the side of Speak, on the outside of the front row, is Stuart Smith Junior. He has fond memories of King's Lynn, having won his sole World Final victory there in 2007. If conditions are tricky – if the track is wet, for example – Smith might well pull clear of the field and prove uncatchable. Smith is certainly keen for the win – as he admits himself, one World Final win isn't really seen as enough in the Smith family!
Another driver who hasn't won as many World Finals as you might expect is Frankie Wainman Junior. Frankie is having a late-career revival, winning the European and Grand National Championships in 2014 and adding the UK Open and World Cup titles in 2015. Can he win the World Final for the third time too? Wainman is always one to watch, and he's starting from the position that most drivers would consider to be the best, the inside of the second row.
The final member of the potentially explosive front row club is Mick Sworder. He's the only driver of that group who hasn't won the World Final, but was a Formula 2 World Champion in 2007. Only two others have won both F1 and F2 gold roofs – Dave Chisholm and Rob Speak – and Sworder will grasp the opportunity to join them if it presents itself. Expect him to look for an opportunity to get on the inside line as they approach the first corner. If a gap opens up, all well and good. If it doesn't, he might need to create one with his bumper.
The middle of the pack:
On the inside of the fourth row, ready to take advantage if the front rows self-destruct, is Dan Johnson. Dan The Nearly Man led last year's World Final until Craig Finnikin dumped him into a parked car. He led the 2012 World Final before Lee Fairhurst completed his charge from last to first. He led the 2011 World Final until Paul Harrison dumped him into the fence. Will it be fourth time lucky in 2015?
Dylan-Williams Maynard started the season like a greyhound out of the traps with six race wins during the first two months of the season, but things have gone a little quiet since then. Has he been saving up for the big race? Keep an eye on him during the parade lap, last year he donned a kilt – but forgot the underpants…
Tom Harris has spent much of the last couple of months racing sprint cars in the USA. It's a great opportunity to further his racing career, but it must raise a few questions ahead of the World Final. Has he been able to spend as much time on car prep as he'd like? He hasn't raced at King's Lynn since the end of April – is he as familiar with track conditions as the rest? Nevertheless, Harris drove to an easy victory two years ago, the last time the World Final was held at King's Lynn. Row 11 is a long way back, but Harris would be a decent bet to make the podium.
Charging from the back:
Those who start near the back have the most to gain by giving a big push into the first corner, and the most likely candidate for a big heave on this grid is Mark Gilbank, a shale specialist who is not shy to use the front bumper. Of current drivers, Gilbank has won most finals without taking a major championship. He'll hope to break his duck with the biggest championship of them all.
John Lund sneaked onto the grid as the second-place finisher in the Consolation Semi-Final and will start last among the UK qualifiers. Nobody has started more World Finals than Lund – this will be his 31st – and he'll try and make full use of all his experience. If he make his way past 30 other cars to win, you'll be able to hear the cheers from Belle Vue.
Did you know?
Frankie Junior will own the bragging rights in the Wainman household after this race. He and his father have both started 25 World Finals – Frankie Junior will make it to 26 this year.
Words: Scott Reeves
Photos: Colin Casserley


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My order from last night, the Heathered Black Groove II Pants haven't shipped yet and since they sold out online on both the US and Canada side I decided to head to the bigger lulu store nearby to see if they had them. I was bummed out to see they did not get them in at all although they got the other colors in. I really hope my order ships. I also tried on the Namaskar II Pants and liked them but they didn't have the Heathered Slate color that I like so if my Groove Pants get cancelled I may order those. The material was so light weight and silky that I think they will be perfect for Spring/Summer.
Fatigue Chevron Ebb To Street Pant
Clear Mint Reversible Wunder Under Crops
Varsity Short, Weekend Long Sleeve, Runaway Retreat Duffel
Heathered Speckled Black Scuba Hoodie, Namaskar II Pant


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Search Engine Optimsation
Thats the website sorted are Google Qualified Professionals, this means we are experts with Google Adwards (PPC), Google Analytics and basically everything you need to get a good ranking on Google.
Please note that no one can guarantee you appear in the 1st position on Google search results, this simply isn't something that can be guaranteed. We can however use our knowledge and experience and the wealth of tips and advice from the world wide web to get you a very good listing.
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Home Portfolio Services Sitemap Request a quote Contact us SEO


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The spring started from today on Japanese calendar. However, it is still cold and we had light snow falls this morning.
Yesterday we had another tea lesson. One new thing I learned was an angle of the tea whisk when you hold it. Before and after making tea, we raise the tea whisk and check it for breakage of splines in temae. I used to raise the tea whisk horizontally (left picture). But our muster advised me that it looks more beautiful if I hold it with its head down little. (right picture) I agreed with it. The movement with tilted tea whisk looks more natural and beautiful. I know this little thing is nothing related to the taste of tea. You might think why Japanese care so much detail just for preparing tea. But, this is The Way of Tea, and preparing tea gracefully is one part of it. I'm proud of this highly developed culture matured around tea. I was glad learning something to make my temae better.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The angle of the tea whisk when checking it
at 12:39 PM
Labels: Tea lessons
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The goal of SPHHP IT in technical support is to enable and sustain the school's teaching, research, administrative and outreach functions. Sometimes this may require that technical support be provided for computing equipment at a staff or faculty member's home (off campus).
SPHHP IT refers faculty, staff and students to UBIT's pages for both software and hardware purchases. For repair and maintenance of personal computers we recommend VITEC Solutions (http://vitecsolutions.com/ub/).
SPHHP IT's policies on service requests are:
If a faculty/staff member is required to work from home or has special arrangements to work off campus, the individual should work with his/her supervisor to ensure purchase of a UB system (laptop in most cases) that can be used on and off campus.