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I've been toying around with TrueCrypt full disk encryption on my desktop, and I am considering deploying it to the rest of the users in the company. However, there is one big stumbling block.
Many of the staff have trouble remembering just their AD password, and I don't think that forcing them to remember two passwords would go over very well. I imagine that each workstation should be encrypted with a different password, but we frequently migrate users between machines as we purchase faster equipment. I think that this might just be too much to ask of the users.
Has anybody else had the same problem, and what did you do to get around it?
2 Replies
Jul 30, 2008 at 1:01 UTC
I'm in a similar boat. I am looking into different types fo encryption as well and I know that many of my users will consider it a "pain" to remember two passwords to log in. However, I don't really consider it "to much to ask" and neither do the owners.
I'm not sure where you are (what State) or what kind of a company you work at. But where I'm at, if a laptop were to get lost or stolen, by law we need to let all of our clients (that may be affected) know that we lost that laptop with their information on it.
Again, not sure about you, but if I have to tell a client, I would rather tell them that the laptop had full encryption instead of we did nothing because I didn't want to ask to much of my users.
Jul 31, 2008 at 11:19 UTC
You're absolutely right - I don't want to be in a position where I have to tell a client that we have lost their data, and did nothing to prevent it.
Our firm provides chartered accounting services in BC, Canada. I'm not currently aware of any laws regarding disclosure. If if that exists in Canada, I'd like to know where I can find more information on it.
Apparently BitLocker has a "transparent" mode where the encryption key is stored in the TPM chip, so the harddrive is encrypted without intervention from the user. That seems interesting and potentially risky. It also has a mode where a USB flash drive is used as a "key" to the computer, which is something to think about.
This discussion has been inactive for over a year.
You may get a better answer to your question by starting a new discussion.


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Antwerp designer & maker on a mission to do more
The mission
I'm on a mission to do more. I truly feel alive when I'm creating something new every single day. It's not about the destination, all about the exciting journey. The unseen challenges you endeavor to succeed, the joy & the struggle, self daupth, always moving forward — I'm in love.

subset: commoncrawl


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On this page:
Definition of the noun Alphestes
What does Alphestes mean as a name of something?
Alphestes is a genus of Serranidae, described by Bloch & Schneider in 1801.
- synonyms: genus Alphestes / Prospinus / genus Prospinus
- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Actinopterygii
- order: Perciformes
- family: Serranidae
- members:
- species Alphestes afer
- species Alphestes immaculatus
- species Alphestes multiguttatus
- observational distribution: specimen and observational data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Network (not necessarily true occurrence density gradients)
Count per one degree cell 1 - 9 10 - 99 100 - 999 1000 - 9999 10000 - 99999 100000+
Alphestes is a genus of Epinephelini.
- kingdom: Metazoa
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Actinopteri
- order: Perciformes
- family: Serranidae
Phrases with Alphestes
Phrases starting with the word Alphestes:
- Alphestes afer
- Alphestes Sambra
- Alphestes Fasciatus
- Alphestes immaculatus
- Alphestes Scholanderi
- Alphestes Galapagensis
- Alphestes multiguttatus
Phrase ending with the word Alphestes:
Other phrases containing the word Alphestes:
- species Alphestes afer
- Species Alphestes Gembra
- Species Alphestes Sambra
- Species Alphestes Fasciatus
- species Alphestes immaculatus
- Species Alphestes Scholanderi
- Species Alphestes Galapagensis
- species Alphestes multiguttatus
Printed dictionaries and other books with definitions for Alphestes
Click on a title to look inside that book (if available):
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA; Or, A DICTIONARY of Arts and Sciences, Compiled Upon a New Plan. In Wich the Different Science and Arts are Digested Into Distinct Treatises Or Systems; and The Various Technical Terms, ... are Explained as They Occur in the Order of the Alphabet. Illustrated with One Hundred and Sixty Copperplates, by a Society of Gentlemen in Scotland. IN THREE VOLUMES. Edinburgh: Printed for A. Bell and C. Macfarquhar; and Fold by Colin Macfarquhar, at this Printing-office, Nicolson Street. M.D.CC.LXXI. (1771)
ALPHESTES, in ichthyology, an obsolete name os a species oslabrus. See Lnsaus. ALPHETA, in astronomy, the same withlucida coroncc. See LUCIDA Can -owe. ALPHlTlDlON. a term sor a sracture, wherein the bone is croshed to pieces.
Encyclopaedia perthensis, or, Universal dictionary of the arts, sciences, literature, etc. : intended to supersede the use of other books of reference (1816)
ALPHESTES, in ichthyology, the name of a fish, called by others cinxduj, seeming to approach very much to the turdui or nurajse kind, but having the rays of its back-tin prickly all the way to the tail ; whereas the turJi have only the anterior rays ...
Encyclopaedia Britannica or a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences [...] (1771)
ALPHESTES, in ichthyology, an obsolete name of a species of labrus. See Laikus. ALPHETA, in astronomy, the fame wiihlncida coronx. See Lucida Cor- onæ.
Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, Or, Universal Dictionary of Knowledge (1845)
Comprising the Twofold Advantage of a Philosophical and an Alphabetical Arrangement, with Appropriate Engravings by Edward Smedley, Hugh James Rose, Henry John Rose
Alphestes, Cuv. ; Alphestes Gambra, Schn. Body broad, back arched ; upper lip deeply notched within ; pectoral and ventral fins pointed ; caudal semilunar ; interstices of the rays of the dorsal and the base of it, of the anal and caudal, scaly.
The Century Dictionary: The Century dictionary (1911)
A small sea-bass, Alphestes afer, of the family Serranidae. [Cuba.] Guastalline (gwā'sta-lin), n. [It. Guastalla, name of the foundress.] ...
Encyclopaedia Britannica0 (1771)
Or, a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Compiled Upon a New Plan. In which the Different Sciences and Arts are Digested Into Distinct Treaties Or Systems ... : in Three Volumes. A-B
ALPHESTES, in ichthyology, an obfolete name of a fpecies of labrus. See La s Rus.
Encyclopaedia Britannica (1771)
Or, A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences
ALPHESTES, in ichthyology, an obsolete name of a specie' oslabrus. See LAsKus. ALPHETA, in astronomy, the same withlucida coronx. See LUCIDA COR 'ONlI-Z. ALPHlTIDION, a term sor a Fracture, wherein the bone is crushed to pieces.
The Century dictionary and cyclopedia (1914)
with a new atlas of the world : a work of general reference in all departments of knowledge
A small sea-bass, Alphestes afer, of the family Serranidae. [Cuba.] lline (gwä'sta- lin), n. [It. Guastalla, name of the foundress.] A member of a female religious order founded in 1534 by Coun: Guastalla, and known as Angelicals (which See ).
A New and Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1754)
Comprehending All the Branches of Useful Knowledge, with Accurate Descriptions as Well of the Various Machines, Instruments, Tools, Figures, and Schemes Necessary for Illustrating Them, as of the Classes, Kinds, Preparations, and Uses of Natural Productions, Whether Animals, Vegetables, Minerals, Fossils, Or Fluids; Together with the Kingdoms, Provinces, Cities, Towns, and Other Remarkable Places Throughout the World by Society of Arts (Great Britain). Society of Gentlemen, Thomas Jefferys
ALPHESTES, in ichthyology, a name by which some call a species- of labrus. _ See the article LABRUS. ALPHETA, in astronomy, the same with lricida coronce. See LUCIDA Corone, ALPHlTIDION, award-w, from akþr'lq', flour', a kind os ...
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: Supplement (1910)
by William Dwight Whitney
A small sea-bass, Alphestes afer, of the family Serranidse. [Cuba.] Guastalline (gwa'sta-Un), n. [It. Guastalla, name of the foundress.] ...
Online dictionaries and encyclopedias with entries for Alphestes
Click on a label to prioritize search results according to that topic:
Scrabble value of A1L1P3H4E1S1T1E1S1
The value of this 9-letter word is 14 points, but it's not an accepted word in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.
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Go to the thesaurus of Alphestes to find many related words and phrases!


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avatar wiki's community newsletter
Discussion report
Announcements and discussion results:
- Usergroup "Coding Squad" was deleted.
- Usergroups policy was changes such that War Room consensus is now required to establish need prior to founding.
- News blogs will now need to have at least 300 words about the new information, with no fluff, in order to be considered a "news blog".
- News blogs will now need to have at least 300 words about the new information, with no fluff, in order to be considered a "news blog".
- The page "Verick" was be renamed to "Varrick" due to the lack of sources for the former's spelling.
- The fanon portal wordmark link was changed such that it will now redirect into the fanon portal main page.
User rights report
- Dcasawang1 is no longer a rollback user.
| Avatar Wiki turns eight!
My, my... Today, Avatar Wiki turns eight! To those of us still here, the occasion seems almost insignificant given the massive turnover Internet communities experience after a year or two - but this is how the wiki looked like back then:
- Founded by Howabout1, Avatar Wiki was one of the first 1,000 pioneer projects started on a fledgling eight month old Wikia.
- The latest incarnation of the main page in December 2005 was this... Minus, of course, a lot of the UI and backgrounds.
- A typical article looked like this - horrifying, eh?
- There were four registered editors on site until February 2007.
- Prior to this, uploaded image count was in single digits.
- Likewise, the no. of articles struggled above one-hundred.
- In the beginning, there was only one bureaucrat, and no other serving administrators until March of 2007.
- The Ba Sing Se Times did not exist. Neither did the Standards Council, or any semblance of usergroups, before 2009.
- The old War Room forum was also absent before 2009.
- It was not possible to upload videos, much less working .GIFs
- By December 2005, Book 1 of ATLA had stunningly concluded with "The Siege of the North, Part 2".
|Click "show" to continue reading!
So, as we record another milestone, allow me to thank all those, past and present, who took part in this splendid community! It is truly due to all of our combined efforts that Avatar Wiki is now one of the most collaborative and professional encyclopedic wikis on the Internet. Until the same time next year... Have a happy birthday, Avatar Wiki!
|~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Katarafanboy takes a serious blow from the victorious SIFU HOTMAN *sound effects of booing and cheering*. And now please welcome, the person who captured this beautiful moment. Please welcome, CHAKRASANDWICH!
Dramatic music plays: I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones. 'nough to make my systems blow. Welcome to the new age, to the new age. Welcome to the new age, to the new age...
Quite a suitable song for welcoming me. Wazzah peeps, it's yo girl Chakras here. Here to present another Chakomic! For those of you who don't know from my previous article, Chakomics is a new section of artsy pieces entirely devoted to make fun of other users, or just my interpretation of a user's profile image in a humorous or "inside joke" kinda way.
For today, we have a cheerleader who will explain everything she witnessed that is expressed by this picture. Greetings cheerleader. What did you witness at this football game?
Cheerleader: Oh my God. Like, Sifu Hotman *gasp* he is so HOT! He is absolutely gorgeous and stunning! Like who is this ugly Katarafanboy, ew I'd never date him. No wonder Hotman beat KFB. His hotness over took him *squeal gasp* AHHH *waves pom poms*.
Okay never mind *Chakras glares in disgust at cheerleader, pushes her into a polluted river, and then does the Asian flip off with her pinky fingers* Ahem cough *dusts herself off* I think I'll just explain it myself...so, often on IRC, many of the people online talk about recent sports games and exclaim at victories or defeats. They debate about which team is the best, which team member is the best, which sport is the best, etc. Most notable members who partake in this are KFB and SifuHotman (whom KFB calls "htoman"). So I decided to express their feuding in a picture in which Sifu is "straight arming" KFB while they curse at each other. And to KFB and Sifu: if you're reading this, that cheerleader's opinions are not at all shared by me *insert creepy emoticon here*.
Because of the fact that KFB is a fan of Katara, who is a waterbender, he is the one in blue. And because Sifu Hotman is, well, a hot man, he is the one in red. All right folks, I hope you enjoyed reading this issue of Chakomics. Thank you and have a wonderful ride to the land of Oz!
Dramatic music plays: I'm waking up to ash and dust. I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust. I'm breathing in the chemicals. I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus. This is it, the apocalypse. Whoa. (Radioactive by Imagine Dragons).
When it's someone's birthday, that person receives a cake and a party and lots of presents. Basically, when it's someone's birthday, it is their day –although there is something to be said about celebrating the mother rather than the born person, because she did all the work that day. So hold that thought, it'll become important later on.
We all know that awkward moment when everyone starts singing "happy birthday" and you really don't know what to do with yourself. Really, what are you supposed to do then? You can't sing along, cause that's just weird, wishing yourself a happy birthday, so you just stand there with this goofy smile on your face, laughing like an idiot. You can't clap along to the melody, cause then you're the conceited one who's cheering on the other persons to continue singing for you, so then you just twiddle around with your hands. You can't start eating the cake, because that's considered rude. And at that point, it's likely still on fire, and I hope that I do not have to explain the dangers of eating something that's on fire. So you just stare at the delectable with the big puppy eyes, practically drooling in anticipating. While you do that, you become aware of what you're doing, so you look away frantically at the singing people and laugh at the awkwardness of it all, but since you were already laughing like an idiot, it becomes even more idiotic.
So really, in the end, no one wants to be serenaded to like that. Going all John Cusack on someone and holding up a boombox, sure, that's cool, cause then, actual music is playing –and, you know, John Cusack is at your birthday party. When you're getting a birthday serenade, on the other hand, it are just a bunch of people who can't sing, but who are doing it anyway in the hopes that if they do it all together, no one would notice that they can't song –which, really, doesn't work at all. Two negatives don't necessarily make a plus. Especially not when they're a bunch of negatives.
Anyway, to cut myself off right there: we are not going to that. We are not going to scream our lungs out to our screens and try to shove cake down our computer's portals. Cause not only will you look incredibly stupid and have likely ruined your computer, but most importantly, you will have wasted perfectly good cake and that's just the abomination of abominations! And well, you know, the other community members wouldn't have heard you, so it will have been all for not anyway. Since the traditional birthday-protocol is out, we will just have to be creative about this. And by "be creative", I obviously mean "recycle an award that has been fun for two years already", obviously.
So without further ado, I am proud to remind everyone of an upcoming birthday of something that connects us all: Avatar Wiki celebrates its 8th birthday Monday July 15!
For eight years now, this community, although ever changing, has managed to keep this wiki going, and by doing so, we have transformed it into something that none of us could have ever done alone. Avatar Wiki has been a great home to many of us, allowing us to have conversations with people literally on the other side of the world. So basically, one could say that we're all sort of the mothers (and fathers if you will, but considering what I said in the first paragraph, you really want to be a mother at the moment) of this wiki: thanks to the collaborative efforts of users over the year, the Avatar Wiki is still going.
So, to celebrate that fact, we are going to celebrate the community who made this all possible by hosting for the third year in a row the Avatar Wiki User Awards! So forget the awkward singing, forget possible qualms you might have (had) with other users, and come around to celebrate this awesome community and awesome wiki with your fellow editor!
For those who have been around since July 15th 2012, you already know the drill, so you can stop reading here. For those who don't, sorry, you're stuck a few paragraphs longer.
The Avatar Wiki User Awards, or the User Awards for short, is an award ceremony that Rassilon of Old came up with to first celebrate the wiki's 6th birthday. The goal of the User Awards is to say thank you to and acknowledge the many hard-working, sung and unsung editors and contributors of the wiki. It's sort of like the Oscars of the Avatar Wiki if you will.
So get out your evening dresses and find those tuxes, and get ready for the Avatar Wiki User Awards.
I figured this might be an appropriate article for around now, since we've got th soundtrack coming out, as well as TSP2 and the LoK DVD/Blu ray. So, I figured that many people who are a fans of the Avatar comics or the LoK music, the above question you're probably asking yourself. If you can get all of the material online for free, why bother purchasing it? Well, hopefully now you'll have some good reasons to! Obviously there is nothing forcing you to buy anything, but if you really enjoyed the material and have some extra change to spare, it's definitely worth the purchase!
The first reason I think it's valuable to get the physical merchandise is for the value of owning a copy and being able to treat it as you please. With online scans or music, sometimes it can be a hassle to find them or they could not be as high quality as purchasing the actual things. A physical copy allows you to enjoy something in high quality, and fairly hassle-free.
Another one is portability. If you have comic books cans, sometimes it can be a hassle to find them when you need them, or to search through them. The same can apply for finding copies of episodes online, and especially for music.
|from the fanon portal
Fruipy here, with an actual news article! I know, what a surprise! Well, it's still relating to the fanon portal, so that's a plus.
Now, as most of you writers and readers would know, there are several categories that must be added to the mainpage of any fanfiction, namely being the name of the story, the author and the genre (where applicable). Now, there is one more; the character genre.
Okay, lemme explain. A while ago, a War Room forum decided that three new categories would be made and added to the story pages and discontinued fanons. These were the Original character (fanon), Avatar: The Last Airbender (fanon) and Legend of Korra (fanon). Pretty much, the idea is to be able to sort through specific types of stories regarding the characters in them.
It also makes for some interesting statistics. You realise that we have almost 500 OC stories, with less than 300 ATLA based ones, and not even 60 LoK stories? We also have 485 discontinued stories, with 31 marked as inactive and only 60 complete? And all the stories in the "comics (fanon)" cat are discontinued? With 852 fanons in the portal, it makes you think....
Well, even if it doesn't, I have one more article to mention.
In another, more recent forum, the {{Discontinued}} tag for fanons was updated. Okay, the way it works is, if a fanon hasn't been updated in 3 months, it is marked "inactive". Three months after that, it is added the the "discontinued" category and the "story pages (fanon)" cat is removed. Now, the recent change pretty much says that any discontinued story that hasn't any chapters will be moved the the author's userpage. This is just to make classification and categorisation a little easier, and to keep the fanon portal nice and neat and tidy.
Wooh. All that serious talk has tired me out *wipes brow*. I hope to see all of you giving writing a go, and if not, at least use the new cats to find something to read! This is Fruipit, signing off~!
Well, well, well. This is more like it. A fanon article about actually writing fanon.
So, unless you've been living under a rock, everyone should know (or at least have heard about) the upcoming fanon awards. For those who have been making said rock their home, it's basically a time of year where other readers and writers get together and say, "Hey. That writer? They're pretty awesome. And this story by this other user... just wow," and we give out awards for it. Simple, really.
What isn't simple is actually writing the stories. Despite my own proclivity for shooting them out of my a- ahh fingertips, writing is actually one of the hardest things to do. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done, and probably will be until I die. The ability to take a character - to create a character - and a world to put them in is one of the most difficult things. I can't even do it (there's a reason I write one-shots). Particularly OC stories, I will forever have respect and awe for the authors able to create such wonderful fanfics that they shouldn't even be classed as such. They are, in my opinion, just as good as (if not better than) some of the published literature I pay to read.
However, this isn't an article going on about OC stories (for which there are many). The actual intention of this is to help those who hadn't yet written anything, or who felt they wanted some more pointers - particularly regarding one-shots. I find it surreal that only 14 months ago, I had never written a single story, and if someone had told me then and there that I would be as invested in the fanon portal as I am now, I would have raised an eyebrow, and then said, "Seeing as how you can see into the future, who is Lin's father?"
I actually remember the first person I asked how to write a one-shot. It was Vulmen who explained to me that I needed to "...decide upon one key element / interaction that would be the entire focal point to build around ... let the characters shape the "why" and "how" that major event happens - leading up to both before and after the event as necessary. Sometimes the 'before' or 'after' would take away from the impression to leave the reader with; so it's better not to cover it."
I took his words to heart, although I didn't write anything. I pondered what I should write about - my first thought was the death of Aang. That idea was almost immediately scrapped for two reasons. The first was because I felt the idea was over done. The second was lack of faith in my abilities. I wasn't a very good writer at that stage (at least I thought so). My stories were getting nowhere and I was unhappy with them. Writing became a task. I had never written a one-shot, and I had never written using the characters of the series. I decided to rewatch it, hoping for inspiration. Luckily for me, it struck.
It was during The Chase, actually. Toph had just joined the Gaang (she wasn't yet my favourite character. I know, surprising, eh?) and Katara said something that I had previously overlooked. I ended up rewinding it and listening to it over and over again. Those 13 little words absolutely broke my heart, to be honest, and I think it was at that stage I ceased focussing on the deuteragonist, and began looking more at the blind earthbender: "The stars sure are beautiful tonight; too bad you can't see them, Toph."
What? I mean, really. What? Our loveable waterbender, the mother hen of the group, the chick that will "never turn her back on people who need her" (yes, I know that happened after this incident, but whatever). That girl openly mocked Toph for being blind, purely because she was in a bad mood? That really got my engine revving. It was at that moment that Katara ceased to be perfect in my eyes, and I started flogging her off to Zuko because Aang didn't deserve her.
It was also around this time that an idea began forming; how would I explain things to people who can't see? Like glass. I wondered how you would explain to a blind person that there is something in front of them, something solid, that people can see through. Soon, my fantasising moved onto colours. I didn't write anything down, instead preferring to let it stew in my head for several weeks over my Christmas holidays. The idea developed, and I realised (belatedly) that it would be an excellent story. But, how to go about it?
I wrote. That's it, plain and simple. I went through probably six or seven drafts, just of them sitting in different places, Aang explaining in different ways the concept of "colour" to Toph. The original draft actually had him use other colours as a base in which to explain them (thank goodness I threw that one out). I didn't have a beta-reader at that stage, and so I had to do my own editing.
There were a couple of reasons why I was so pedantic about this story. The first was that I still had very little faith in my ability. I think the only reason I actually continued with it was because the subject absolutely fascinated me, and I didn't want anyone else to steal it. The second was that I wanted to do the idea justice. To me, this was the pinnacle of my creativity; the first one-shot I had ever written, the most emotional, most unique story. I didn't want to waste my chance. Even though I still revise it, I don't feel I have.
As we all know, to some more sadly than others, as of July 1st, anonymous users can no longer edit on Avatar Wiki due to COPPA laws. I could go on for a very long time about why it will hurt us, or why it was unfair - but all that's already been said, and if you wan't to hear that, go to the recent forum. Today I simply want to say a tribute to one anonymous user who really influenced me and helped my wiki career, and now along with the thousands of anonymous among him, can no longer edit here.
On April 30th, 2011, over two years ago, Anonymous User 126.96.36.199 wrote the first comment on the second chapter of my fanon. It was a simple word of praise; "…your awesome! and why isnt anyone commenting?"
And although he probably didn't think twice about it - that comment may have changed my life.
Because it didn't stop there. On the third chapter, he wrote "awesome! im the same guy from the last chapter" And it continued like that, on every chapter I wrote he would leave a little compliment or question and I would write my chapters to see what he thought and hear his praise. My only fan was this anonymous user, but it was because of him and his dedication to my story that I continued to write it, because I knew that he would always have something good to say about me and my writing. From "OH MY GOD!!!" to "cant wait for book 2", his words were the reason I could push myself to keep writing.
It wasn't until I was around 13 or 14 chapters in that I began to get a bigger fanbase besides the one anon. As I attracted more readers and he started to comment on my chapters less and less, at times I forget about this anonymous user. But looking back, I think credit is due to him for helping me through Rhythm's first few months of unpopularity. Without him, I may not have even gone through with my fanon at all.
I never got the chance to sincerely recognize him, but I think now with the disabling of anonymous users here, its a very appropriate time to do so. So thank you, 188.8.131.52, for motivating me to write The Avatar Rhythm.
And to all the users who are saying stuff like, "Aw, thank god anons are gone," as annoying as they may be, its an anonymous user's efforts who gave me the inspiration to write a fanon over 135,000 words long. And if this new COPPA rule was commissioned back then, not only wouldn't I have finished it, but I might not even be here now. I owe my successes (and even some losses) to him.
I'm hoping that other users will follow suit and describe an anonymous user who made a mark on their wiki career, maybe in another column, a blog, or even just a comment. Although wikia has given them a bad name, there have been some really helpful anons here on Avatar Wiki and definitely not just in the fanon portal. I want the community to realize some of the great work they've done here.
BM, signing out.
Random polls
How will you (yes YOU!) be celebrating the Wiki's 8th birthday?
If you had a time-machine, laptop, and actual Internet, when would you have chosen to be an AW user?
Please stay civil. You should not harass other users or their views.


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3 Things You Need on a Family Florida Beach Vacation
When you dream of a Florida beach vacation you are you usually don't think about the small details and things you might really need consider. Here are three things you want to remember.
Sand Key has many miles of great beaches, the intercostal, in addition to just setting up camp on the beach in front of your hotel, we also have plenty of other things to do in and around Sand Key, Florida.
If you want to live like the locals when you are on A beach vacation, you have to do what the locals do, eat where locals eat, play where the locals play.
When you dream of a Florida beach vacation you are you usually don't think about the small details and things you might really need consider. Here are three things you want to remember.
It's time again for the Bay Area Renaissance Festival. Journey back in time as more than 100 merchants contribute to the atmosphere of this charming 16th century village.
Experience live armored jousting, 12 stages of entertainment, 7 theme weekends, and fun and food for the whole family!
Weekly Mini Food Festivals The festival will host mini food festivals.
Tickets are available inside the festival for $10. Patrons will enjoy a new and unique sampling event each week.
If you are looking for something to do on Sand Key Beach, FL, that's a little unusual, try a ghost tour of John's Pass Village.
You love your dog and your dog loves a vacation as much as you do. Sand Key Park has a great place to give your pet a vacation.
Just three miles from Sand Key, FL lives a true story of inspiration. For those of you who are already fans of Winter the Dolphin, you will be thrilled to see this movie star live.
Wouldn't it be nice to enjoy your Florida vacation without a car rental?
The Greenlight Pinellas Plan has recently been endorsed by the Belleair Bluffs city commission.
The Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary is their best bet for a safe recovery.
According to the University of Florida never cut the fishing line!


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Predictors of condom use and refusal among the population of Free State province in South Africa
This study investigated the extent and predictors of condom use and condom refusal in the Free State province in South Africa.
Through a household survey conducted in the Free Sate province of South Africa, 5,837 adults were interviewed. Univariate and multivariate survey logistic regressions and classification trees (CT) were used for analysing two response variables 'ever used condom' and 'ever refused condom'.
Eighty-three per cent of the respondents had ever used condoms, of which 38% always used them; 61% used them during the last sexual intercourse and 9% had ever refused to use them. The univariate logistic regression models and CT analysis indicated that a strong predictor of condom use was its perceived need. In the CT analysis, this variable was followed in importance by 'knowledge of correct use of condom', condom availability, young age, being single and higher education. 'Perceived need' for condoms did not remain significant in the multivariate analysis after controlling for other variables. The strongest predictor of condom refusal, as shown by the CT, was shame associated with condoms followed by the presence of sexual risk behaviour, knowing one's HIV status, older age and lacking knowledge of condoms (i.e., ability to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, availability, correct and consistent use and existence of female condoms). In the multivariate logistic regression, age was not significant for condom refusal while affordability and perceived need were additional significant variables.
The use of complementary modelling techniques such as CT in addition to logistic regressions adds to a better understanding of condom use and refusal. Further improvement in correct and consistent use of condoms will require targeted interventions. In addition to existing social marketing campaigns, tailored approaches should focus on establishing the perceived need for condom-use and improving skills for correct use. They should also incorporate interventions to reduce the shame associated with condoms and individual counselling of those likely to refuse condoms.
Globally, the number of people living with HIV and AIDS has been increasing, while the number of new infections and AIDS related deaths has declined slightly
Recognizing the multifaceted nature of behavioural outcomes
In spite of a recent increase in condom use of about 65%, estimates of HIV incidence in South Africa remain between 1% and 2% (new infections per year) among young people aged 15–20 years
The aim of this study was to investigate the extent and predictors of condom use and condom refusal in the Free State province. We investigate the question as to whether or not the predictors are the same or different for these two outcome variables, by employing and comparing two different and complementary statistical models. Exploring condom refusal in more detail may lead to the development of more nuanced prevention messages and may be used to inform region-specific and nationwide prevention policies.
Study setting
The Free State with nearly 3 million inhabitants is one of the nine provinces in South Africa with a high HIV prevalence, estimated at 12.6% among the population above two years of age in the 2005 and 2008 South African National HIV Prevalence Surveys. As in other provinces, awareness campaigns and condom promotion programs were introduced in 1995 and reported condom use increased from 35% in 2002 to 65% in 2008.
Sampling method
Data used in this paper were from a cross-sectional study conducted during the first half of 2009 in the Free State province of South Africa, commissioned by the Provincial Department of Health. The Free State is divided geographically into 20 Local Municipalities (LM). A cluster sampling method was used with LM as the primary sampling unit. Each LM was divided into enumeration areas based on the 2001 census
To assess predictors of condom use and condom refusal, a questionnaire was developed using Epi-Info version 3.5.1. The development of the questionnaire was guided by a simplified theoretical framework, considering predictors of condoms use shared by relevant behavioural theories such as knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, and socio-cultural norms. The questionnaire containing 110 mostly closed questions was translated from English into Northern Sotho and Afrikaans; the translations were tested in a pilot study and validated. In addition to the two main outcome variables, 19 predictor variables were included in the questionnaire based on the empirical evidence available on factors influencing condom use versus condom refusal. The predictor variables consisted of demographic information (age, gender, ethnic group, marital status, education, employment and type of residence, own and partner's HIV status), intrapersonal variables (e.g. knowledge, attitudes towards condoms) and contextual variables such as availability, affordability and whether condoms were obtained from public or private sources. Other independent variables were related to health behaviour.
Knowledge of HIV and condoms
'Knowledge of HIV' was measured by four statements with 'Agree', 'Disagree' and 'Don't know' responses concerning the curability of HIV, unsafe sex as its cause, treatment of opportunistic infections and benefit of knowing one's HIV status. Since the assessment of HIV-related knowledge had to remain brief, statements were selected that typically cut across the many areas relevant to HIV-related knowledge. An incorrect or 'don't know' response to any one of these statements was considered as inadequate knowledge.
'Knowledge about condoms' was assessed by four statements about the extent to which condoms to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, their free availability in hospitals and clinics, their correct and consistent use and awareness about the existence of female condoms. A wrong response to any of these statements was considered inadequate knowledge.
Beliefs and attitudes related to condoms
The belief that condoms can prevent HIV was assessed by the question "Do you believe that the use of condoms can prevent HIV?" The perceived need for condoms was assessed by asking the Yes/No question "Are you in need of a condom to prevent HIV nowadays?"
Socio-cultural norms
Stigma or shame related to HIV may also be expressed through socially and culturally grounded attitudes towards condoms. The degree to which participants' felt that there was shame associated with condom (referred to as condom stigma) was evaluated by five 'Yes/No' questions. Participants were asked whether or not they were ashamed of using condoms, to purchase condoms, taking condoms from free distribution points and talking about condoms in general and with their partner. A 'Yes'-response was considered to exhibit shame associated with condom, which in a social context may be related to 'condom stigma'.
Contextual variables
The questions used to measure contextual variables were: "Are condoms available to you if you need one?" with 'Yes/No' response for 'availability', "Are condoms affordable to you if you want to buy one?" with 'Yes/No' responses for 'affordability' and "What is your usual source of condom?" with a 'Free/Paid source' response for 'usual source of condom'.
Sexual risk behaviour
Sexual risk behaviour other than not using condoms was assessed using four questions: sexual debut before the age of 15, multiple concurrent sexual partners, frequent change of sexual partners and ever having been forced into sexual intercourse. Any one of these risky behaviours was considered sufficient to categorize a participant as having sexual risk behaviour.
Outcome variables
The analyses were conducted with two outcome variables: 'ever used condom' and 'ever refused condom'.
The analysis plan included two complementary statistical models in order to help explore the complexity and interplay between explanatory variables: multivariate logistic regressions and classification trees which is a non-parametric data-mining technique.
Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were conducted with two dependent variables: 'ever used condom' and 'ever refused condom' using a survey logistic regression in Stata
Classification Trees (CT) were used to explore the influence of the specified predictors on the use or refusal of condoms. CT models are useful tools to explore the relationship between a desired outcome and its determinants
The building of a classification tree begins with a root (parent) node, containing the entire set of observations, and then through a process of yes/no questions, generates descendant nodes. Beginning with the first node, containing the complete sample, CT finds the best possible variable to split the node into two child nodes. In order to find a best variable, the software checks all possible splitting variables, as well as all possible values of the variable to be used to split the node, seeking to maximize the average "purity" of the two child nodes. In other words, the child nodes will be as homogeneous as possible with respect to the outcome variables (i.e. condom use and refusal). The splitting is repeated along the child nodes until a terminal node is reached.
In our study, CT may provide additional insights to those obtained from a logistic regression, for a number of reasons. Firstly, as CT works with (non-predefined) interactions in a flexible way it makes it possible to deal with a large number of explanatory variables, as is the case in this study. Standard regression analyses rapidly become unreliable when the dimensionality is very high while CT handles multiple interactions in a more flexible way based on decision trees. In a decision tree analysis, subgroups are obtained by splitting the entire data set by finding the best splitting variables, and they are considered new starting populations, resulting in a natural creation of interactions. For example, the total sample (starting node) may be split in two subgroups according to for instance, income. It is possible that other variables only play a subsidiary role and are thus used as further splitters, in the low income group. This means that an interaction between two variables may be detected in a natural and non-predetermined way as is the case in standard regression techniques.
A second advantage of CT is that it deals with multi-collinearity in an intuitively correct way. Two approximately collinear variables in a logistic regression model can influence their significance levels and may change their association with the outcome variable. In a decision tree the more important of two collinear variables will be selected but the improvement measure attributable to each variable in its role as a either a primary or a surrogate splitter is also computed. Surrogate variables closely mimic and predict the action of primary splitting variables. The values of all these improvements are summed over each node and totalled, and are then scaled relative to the best performing variable. The importance score measures a variable's ability to perform either as a primary splitter or as a surrogate splitter. If one variable is not selected at several splits because it is the second most important variable each time it may not appear in the tree, but it will appear in the variable importance table, ranking the variables based on their contribution in the construction of the tree. In addition, a tree is comprehensible to a wide audience and results in a clear division of the original sample in groups of high and low risk making it useful to policy makers.
It is still the case that the construction of trees is sometimes unstable. The method of cross-validation can then be used, which consists of dividing the entire sample randomly into N (usually 10) sub-samples, stratified by the response variable. One sub-sample is then used as the test sample and the other N-1 (e.g., nine) are used to construct a large tree. The entire model-building procedure is repeated N times, with a different subset of the data reserved for use as the test dataset each time. Thus, N different models are produced, each one of which can be tested against an independent subset of the data.
The strength of a tree can be indicated by its sensitivity and its specificity. The sensitivity for condom use for example, is calculated to indicate how many of the users are classified as users, meaning that they fall in a terminal node with a proportion of users higher than the average use in the population. The specificity is calculated to indicate how many of the non-users are classified as non-users.
Using different analytical tools (i.e., parametric and non-parametric) can result in interesting insights. For example, in a classical logistic regression, linear combinations are the primary method of expressing the relationships between variables, while in classification trees this relationship does not need to be linear or additive. A classical regression may be more appropriate to quantify linear relationships. A further advantage of a classical regression is the probability level or confidence interval associated with the coefficients in the model. By using the results obtained through CT in a complementary way to those of the parametric models, we combine the strengths of the two methodologies.
Ethical approval
Ethical approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Free State, Bloemfontein.(Address: The Chairperson: Ethics Committee, Faculty of health sciences, PO Box 339 (g40), Bloemfontein, South Africa).
Our sample (n = 5837) consisted of 76% urban and 24% rural residents. There were 57% women and 91% Africans compared to 52% and 87% respectively in the population of the Free State province. Most study participants were young (57% in the age group 18 to 29 years; 27% between 30–39 years, 12% between 40 to 49 years, and 4% were above 50 years). Almost 34% of the participants were married or living together. Most participants were unemployed or students. Seven per cent of the participants had completed higher education (Table
Condom use and refusal
About 17% (935 out of 5,563 sample) of the participants never used condoms. Among those who ever used condoms, 38.5% used them always, 29% used them most of the time and 15.5% used them occasionally. Out of 5,764 participants 2,165 (37.6%) refused to use condom in the past. This finding indicates that participants using a condom with some partner had refused its use with other partners.
Knowledge of HIV, condom and HIV status
Forty one percent had adequate knowledge of HIV, defined as a correct response to all four HIV knowledge related items as shown in Table
Beliefs and attitudes related to condoms
The questionnaire revealed that 89% believed that condoms prevent HIV transmission. The perceived need of condoms among the participants was 86% (Table
Socio-cultural norms
The 'Yes' responses to five different questions, related to 'shame associated with condoms' (referred to as condom stigma) ranged between 9% and 13%, but overall 26% responded positively to at least one condom stigma associated question. The Cronbach's alpha (=0.79) for this measure indicated good internal consistency and reliability of this scale.
Availability and affordability
As shown in Table
Sexual risk behaviour
The proportion of participants who reported at least one "sexual risk behaviour" was 48% (Table1). Twenty-three per cent of the participants had their sexual debut before the age of 15 years, 30% reported having more than one partner at the same time, 13% indicated frequent change of partners and 10% reported having been forced into sexual intercourse.
Predictors of condom use through logistic regression
The univariate analysis revealed that participants who were more likely to use condoms were young compared to elderly, unmarried compared to married, Africans compared to White or Asians, male compared to female, urban compared to rural residents and with grade 12 or higher education compared to below 12 grade. Being a student was also strongly associated with condom use with an odds ratio (OR) = 3.2. Other predictors of condom use were the perceived need for condoms (OR = 14.9), knowledge about correct condom use (OR = 9.1), availability (OR = 5.1), belief in condom as an effective HIV prevention method (OR = 3.0), affordability (OR = 2.9) and purchasing condoms compared to getting them for free (OR = 2.1) (Table
The multivariate logistic regression analysis reported in Table
Predictors of condom refusal through logistic regression
The univariate analysis revealed that individuals with condom stigma compared to those without (OR = 2.56), elderly compared to young participants, participants who were divorced or widowed (OR = 1.96) compared to unmarried and those who had low education compared to high education were more likely to refuse condoms. Belief in condoms as effective HIV prevention method showed a significant negative relation with condom refusal (Table
Predictors of condom use through classification trees
Figure 1
Classification Tree with 'ever used condom' as a response variable.
Classification Tree with 'ever used condom' as a response variable. Note: Each node is characterised by the number of individuals (N) in a subgroup and the proportion of these N individuals using condoms (within the subgroup).
Note that importance of a particular variable expresses how important it is relative to the most important variable (getting a score of 100). Figure
Among study participants living in a couple, 88% reported that they used condoms. The perceived availability of condoms was related to condom use (90% if condoms were available and 73% if not). Younger age predicted condom use for the subclass 'without correct knowledge' (88% against 39%). Marital status or living single (88% against 70%) was significant in the sub-group of younger age (Figure
The sensitivity and the specificity of the "condom use" tree were 94% and 57% respectively.
Predictors of condom refusal through classification trees
The CT analysis showed that condom stigma was the strongest predictor of those that said that they had ever refused to use a condom (Figure
Figure 2
Classification Tree with 'refusing condom' as a response variable.
Classification Tree with 'refusing condom' as a response variable. Note: Each node is characterised by the number of individuals (N) in a subgroup and the proportion of these N individuals refusing condoms (within the subgroup).
The sensitivity and the specificity of the "condom refusal" tree were 47% and 70% respectively.
This study analysed the extent and the determinants of both condom use and condom refusal. The overall rates of condom use we found in this study among the Free State population - i.e., 61.3% used condom during last sexual intercourse - compare well with the findings (64.8%) of the 2008 National HIV Prevalence Survey. The geographic and socio-economic features of people who were more likely than others to use condoms were similar to those reported in other studies
The two different analytical techniques, logistic regressions and classification trees, used in this paper, make different assumptions about data and have different strengths. The logistic regression models are useful in determining factors that are associated with the response variable, in the whole population. On the other hand, the classification trees divide the sample in two according to a cut-off value and then further analyses these two sub-populations. Splitting a sample in two results in two specific subsamples and in each of the segments or sub-samples, determinants can play a different role than in the general, initial population. The results of the two logistic regressions and CT are therefore not always the same.
Results of both methods indicate that different underlying constructs may partially influence condom use and condom refusal. As shown, only the variables knowledge about correct condoms use and sexual risk behaviour were associated with the respective outcome variable (condom use versus condom refusal) in the multivariate model, whereas the CT suggested that perceived need for a condom and knowledge of correct condom use were most influential for condom use, compared to condom stigma and sexual risk behaviour for condom refusal. This indicates that contextual factors such as societal norms should be considered more important in explaining condom refusal, whereas individual factors account for actual condom use. This has implications for developing prevention messages.
The regression results indicate that this research like much research in Africa (and elsewhere) finds that condom use and refusal responds to many determinants at multiple levels. The non-parametric classification tree allows further exploring the complexity related to condom use and refusal. To our knowledge this is the first time that such a model is adopted for studying condom use.
The multivariate models reveals factors that predict the behavioural outcome in the whole population, while the CT help detecting segments in the population that have specific prevention needs. Segmenting populations supports decision makers in targeting their efforts to specific subgroups.
While we do not claim that one technique is superior over the other, the strength of this study lies in reporting results using two methodologies, thereby increasing the study's rigour and achieving a more comprehensive assessment of condom use and condom refusal determinants.
The CT results for example show that in the specific subgroup that knows about condom use and lives as a couple, condoms are not available, condom use is 73% compared to a 90% use when condoms are available. Furthermore, when individuals do not know how to correctly use condoms this leads to lower use (39%) in especially the group older than 33.5 years of age and less in the younger group (88%).
The CT model also provides the relative importance of the variables. The following five variables had the highest discriminatory power in relation to condom use: perceived need for condom, knowledge about correct use of condom, availability, age and marital status. All these variables were also significant in the multivariate logistic regression, with the exception of "perceived need" for condoms, which was significant only in the univariate analysis.
The CT, at the first split, revealed indeed a strong difference in condom use between those with and without a perceived need for condoms. Of the respondents with a perceived need, 39% used condoms, while of the respondents without a perceived need, 90% used condoms. The univariate logistic regression models also indicated that a strong predictor of condom use was its perceived need. However, when controlling for other variables in the multivariate analysis this variable did not remain significant. This may indicate one of the characteristics of the CT, i.e., if a variable on its own explains a high degree of the variability, it will be used as a first split and appear as a strong univariate predictor. The multivariate analysis allows for assessing the effect, while controlling for other variables.
Using the CT results to assess the relative importance of a predictor, indicated that knowledge of correct condom use was shown to be the second strongest predictor. This knowledge may result in additional condom user confidence.
Our findings show that especially older people, and those who are married or living together do not use condoms, which concur with earlier research finding that couples with stable relations are less likely to use condoms
The CT also allows segmenting the population in terms of the condom refusal. It indicates that refusal is especially high when stigma is present; half of this group refusing the use of a condom, while one in three refused the use when stigma was not present. When this stigma is not present, refusal is higher in those with sexual risk behaviour and especially when knowledge of condoms is absent (42% with adequate knowledge versus 34% with low knowledge refused condoms). Such segmentations through interactions are a natural outcome of CT and complement the aforementioned multivariate models. It suggests that knowledge about condoms and sexual risk behaviour are important, but mainly in the group that does not report shame associated to condoms.
In the CT analysis the following top five variables were related to condom refusal: shame associated with condoms, sexual risk behaviour, knowledge about own HIV status, knowledge about condoms, and older age. Shame associated with condoms, sexual risk behaviour and knowledge about condoms as influencing factors were corroborated by the multivariate parametric logistic regression. Affordability of condoms did not turn out to be significantly related to condom refusal in the univariate model and the CT model. However, this variable is significant with an odds ratio greater than one in the multivariate analysis. This finding can be explained by a strong relation between affordability and availability. Controlling for variables such as availability in particular but also stigma and knowledge of correct use makes affordability significant. The significant effect of affordability may indicate that where there is considerable ambivalence about condoms (affordability but also availability) there will be more opportunities for refusal when condoms are affordable than when they are not affordable.
The importance of condom stigma for condom refusal may be explained by its association with HIV stigma. A body of literature shows that HIV-related stigma acts as a strong barrier to actual condom use
Understanding the reasons behind the refusal to use condoms is particularly important in South Africa because further improvement from its current level of use require innovative and targeted interventions.
The strongest predictor of condom refusal observed in this study, i.e. shame associated with condoms in interaction with other variables stresses the need for changing socio-cultural norms. The strong association of condom refusal with sexual risk behaviour, especially in the group where shame was not expressed, reporting multiple partners, and frequent partner change may require effective counselling.
The social norms and cultural values expressed as shame associated with condom use that may link using condoms to taboo behaviours such as promiscuous sex may lead to condom refusal even in the presence of other factors facilitating condom use (e.g., knowledge of HIV and condom, its availability and affordability and belief that condom can prevent HIV). Additionally, the in-depth exploration of 'condom refusal' identified sexual relationships where condom use may be perceived as less important because partners know their HIV status and live in stable relationships. Since heterosexual HIV transmission for both men and women often takes place within marriage or cohabitation, carefully tailored messages would also be needed here
The tree sensitivity and specificity for condom refusal are lower than the tree sensitivity and specificity for condom use, indicating that the variables used assist better in detecting condom users than condom refusers.
This study is subject to some limitations: Data on sexual behaviour were self-reported, thus a social desirability bias may apply, as is generally the case in studies using self-reported data to assess sexual risk behaviour. Another limitation is the issue of causality, as the study uses life time outcome measures with predictors measured at the time of study. Moreover, we did not ask how frequently respondents changed partners and this could have provided further useful insights.
The importance of the perceived need for condoms found in this study stresses the need for tailored approaches delivered in addition to broadly based social marketing campaigns for condoms
As identified through the CT those respondents already practicing safer sex and currently not perceiving the need for condoms (mostly older couples) should be motivated to know their status and stay safe. There is also a need for promotion of social acceptance of condoms among married couples, which has been absent from most campaigns so far
While findings in our study refer mainly to individual level factors, it is clear that in order to change social and cultural norms in relation to condom stigma, comprehensive social interventions based on social-ecological models are useful
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors' contributions
TMC prepared the research protocol, procured funding from Free State Department of Health for the study, conducted the household survey, prepared data for the analysis, and participated in writing and reviewing the manuscript. PC participated in conducting the research, analysed the data and participated in the report writing. NS was the supervising investigator, conducted the data analyses, wrote the first draft and was the lead in the reviewing process. DB, RC, CN, and BGW substantially contributed to the interpretation of data, drafting the article critically for important intellectual content, and approved of the final version. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
The research was fully funded by the Department of Health, Free State, South Africa and the Head of the department and the HIV and AIDS directorate are acknowledged for their contribution, and so are the study participants. We would like to express our thanks to the Reviewers for their constructive and interesting comments. Thanks to K. Degryse for some insightful comments.
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Pre-publication history
The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:


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It only takes a minute to get started. Fill out our uncomplicated sign up form and login to the website.
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Nude photographs of Radhika Apte have gone viral on the internet. The 'Badlapur' actress is shocked that someone is misusing her name.
Radhika Apte
Says Radhika, "Anyone with a sane mind will know that it's not me. They are not my photographs. There is nothing more that I have to say."
Apart from 'Badlapur', Radhika Apte is busy gearing up for her next film 'Hunterrr' with co-stars Gulshan Devaiah and Sai Tamhankar.
Also read: Sai Tamhankar and Radhika Apte bond at 'Hunterrr' music launch


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Popular Now
Popular Now
Popular Now
Popular Now
01803 865913
+44 1803 865913
Edited By: P Max Wade and Chris B Joyce
340 pages, B/w photos, illus, figs, tabs, maps
There is growing scientific and political concern over the loss of, and damage to, biodiverse lowland wet grassland on a European scale. This book examines the status and biodiversity of European lowland wet grasslands, giving information on their hydrology and management, especially for conservation objectives, and investigations concerning the restoration of these endangered habitats. A balance is struck between the different elements of the wet grassland landscape, with contributions dealing with flora, fauna (invertebrates and birds), and the physical and chemical elements.
...well written and edited and is an interesting and useful publication. --Wildfowl Wetlands, November 2000 "...a valuable contribution to the understanding of wet grassland ecology and to knowledge necessary for the conservation of this important semi-natural habitat." --Flora, No. 195, 2000
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T Post Safety Cap
Protection for the jagged edges at top of steel T posts. Makes post visible at night.
- Vinyl
- Made in the USA
- 2" tall
- Packaged in bags of 100, but sold individually
How to Use
Listed below are recommended optional components or related items. Your particular situation may require alternative recommendations. Please call and talk to our consultants if there are any questions at 800-282-6631.
Posts and Accessories
Steel T Posts, 6 ft.Item #327600 -
For end, corner and curve posts for temporary and semi-permanent fences. Excellent line posts because they ground uninsulated wires and without causing rust. (Rust from painted T posts will cause high-carbon HT wire to rust much faster.)$12.90
Fence Connectors and Accessories
PowerLink™ 4.0, 30" longItem #335500 -
For instant in-the-field connections.$4.50
Fence Connectors and Accessories
Warning SignItem #346000 -
Attaches to an electric fence to warn people that the fence is electrified.$0.97
Reverse Offset Steel T Post InsulatorItem #391510 -
For attaching and insulating low-tension conductors to an in-line steel T post off back side of post (side without the studs).$0.57
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Robert C from Idaho
T posts caps are a must to protect your livestock from injury and this company was reasonably priced and provided fast shipping. Overall I was very pleased with this transaction and would highly recommend them.
Fritz M
Didn't think I would need them, bought them because they made sense, thry protect both me and the horses! Would absolutely recommend the product.!
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They fit nice and tight on the T-Post and great protection to keep from getting cut on the sharp edges of T-Post.
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Great, secure covers for more than just T-posts. They fit on U-posts, as well! Less likely to harbor bee nests than the big plastic caps, too. Thanks Premier1!
Nancy L from Kentucky
Well made and easy to put on the t posts.


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Happiness in High Def (4 of 5) by James Merritt
This content is part of a series.Happiness in High Def (4 of 5)
Series: Life in HD
James Merritt
Psalm 1
1. With each passing day, I find myself wishing that I could get to do life twice. I wish I could live a second life knowing all that I've learned in the first one. About the time you think you have this thing called ''life'' figured out, it is over.
2. If I could live a second-life, knowing what I know now, I would go into it wanting (if possible) to live a happy man and die a happy man, but with this qualifier. I would want to make sure it is the kind of happiness that is eternal, the kind of happiness I could take with me after I die. I believe there are a lot of people who ''live happy'' and ''die happy'', but their happiness dies the moment they do.
3. On the other hand, I do believe there is a way to live ''truly happy'' and die ''truly happy'' only to find out after you die, that real eternal, permanent, happiness has just begun.
4. Do you want to be happy? I know that is a dumb question, because everybody wants to be happy. The founding fathers of our country recognized this for they even put in the constitution the right to ''life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.''
5. The bigger question is, ''are you happy? Are you happy with your life? Are you happy with your marriage? Are you happy with your job? Are you happy with your finances? Are you happy with your relationships? Are you happy with your singleness if you are not married? Are you happy with who you are, where you are and what you are accomplishing with your life?''
6. We are in a series called ''life in high-def.'' if you have ever seen anything in high-definition, you know how super clear and how sharp it is. What would a super-clear, super sharp life look like? More specifically today, what would true happiness look like in high-def?
7. Contrary to what some people, god is not some cosmic kill-joy that can't stand it when we are happy and loves it when we are not. God wants you ...
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Purchase this Product and Earn 55 Reward Points ($0.55)
Origin: Copertino, Monteroni, Arnesano, San Pietro in Lama, Carmiano (Salento, Puglia) [ View Region ]
Map of Italy
Grape(s) variety: Negroamaro 70% and Montepulciano 30%
Colour: Deep ruby-red with garnet reflections.
Bouquet: Stylish, with a very particular bouquet.
Palate: Medium to full tannins and dark berry fruity flavours
Gastronomic Recommendation: Roasted or grilled red meat, meat pies, oven-baked lamb, savoury and mature cheeses
Volume: 750ml
Alcohol By Volume: 14%
Quality Assurance Label: DOC (Denominazione di origine controllata)
Wine Ratings: Vivino (Number 1 Wine App) = Ranks top 20% in the world. It won Gold in the International Wine Challenge.
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LOVE NEST stands out by virtue of his recent win here. He followed that up with a close-up fourth in a handicap over C&D three weeks ago and gets the vote. Qaraqum wasn't far behind the selection last month and should make a race of it once again, but Yellow Printer looks stuck on his current mark and will probably find at least a couple too good. Princess Willow has scope for improvement and could figure on the evidence of her earlier second at Lingfield.
Qaraqum (USA) 9-2 (8-13) Always towards rear, 9th of 14, 14l behind Caldermud (9-7) at Salisbury 7f hcp 0-60 (6) gd.
Shaws Diamond (USA) 13-2 (8-12) Chased leader far side, ridden and kept on inside final furlong, 4th of 14, 1 1/2l behind Dixie Gwalia (8-10) at Yarmouth 6f hcp 0-60 (6) gd.
Yellow Printer 4-1fav (9-3) Chased leaders, ridden over 1f out, kept on inside final furlong, 3rd of 12, 4 1/2l behind Valley Tiger (8-12) at Wolverhampton 1m 1f hcp (6) pol.
Anrheg 15-2 (8-13) Close up, pushed along halfway, stayed on final furlong, 4th of 14, 9l behind Caldermud (9-7) at Salisbury 7f hcp 0-60 (6) gd.
Demoiselle Bond 40-1 (8-5) Raced wide close up, ridden halfway, soon weakened, last of 8, 12l behind Micky P (9-2) at Kempton 6f hcp (0-65) (6) pol in Sep.
Emerald Royal 33-1 (8-9) Dwelt mid-division, ridden halfway, weaked 2f out, soon eased, last of 14, 40l behind Titan Diamond (8-3) at Lingfield 7f hcp 0-60 (6) pol in Feb.
Harvest Mist (IRE) 16-1 (9-1) Dwelt, in rear, ridden over 2f out, kept on and no impression, 8th of 17, 6l behind El Dececy (8-13) at Bath 6f hcp 0-58 (6) gd.
Khaki (IRE) 16-1 (9-0) Mid-division on inside, effort and ridden over 2f out, chased leaders over 1f out, stayed on on same pace inside final furlong,, 4th of 13, 4l behind Makyaal (9-0) at Kempton 1m stks 0-55 (6) pol.
Love Nest 3-1fav (9-1) Tracked leaders early, mid-division, headway over 1f out, not much room inside final furlong, stayed on, 4th of 12, 2 3/4l behind Fedora (9-0) at Kempton 7f hcp (6) pol.
Miss Villefranche 17-2 (9-1) Held up in touch, headway over 2f out, chased leaders approaching final furlong, never able to challenge, 4th of 15, 4 1/2l behind Ippi N Tombi (8-5) at Yarmouth 1m hcp 0-60 (6) sft in Aug.
Princess Willow 14-1 (9-1) Reared and went left start, took keen hold, soon in mid-division, weakened approaching final 2f, 9th of 12, 8l behind Vhujon (9-1) at Kempton 7f hcp 0-58 (6) pol.
Queen's Choice (IRE) 20-1 (8-3) Dwelt always in rear, last of 13, 27l behind Without Prejudice (9-5) at Leicester 7f hcp 0-70 (5) gf in Sep.
Sylas Ings 11-1 (8-11) Mid-division, under pressure over 2f out, soon beaten, 9th of 11, 23l behind Saskia's Dream (9-7) at Lingfield 7f 3yo hcp 0-70 (5) gd in Jul.
Treasure Act 10-1 (8-12) Led, headed 4f out, chased winner until over 3f out, weakened over 2f out, 5th of 7, 19l behind Indian Mist (8-12) at Windsor 1m mdn stks (5) gf.


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OUTFIT dresses you for success
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3 x Whitefish and Potato Dog Biscuits
By Billy + Margot
Part of a truly scrumptious and always healthy range of dog treats and dog food from the fabulous Billy + Margot.
You'd never guess it now but the deserved success of the Billy + Margot brand started just a few years back when founder, Marie Sawle, appeared on Dragon's Den with her business pitch. After winning the backing of Deborah Meaden, who recognised the huge potential and market for alternative, healthy dog treats, Billy + Margot quickly went from strength to strength and today they offer a wide variety of nutritious, healthy and delicious treats and food for dogs. As well as keeping our consciences pleasantly clear every time we treat our beloved four-legged bestie, Billy + Margot also ensure some serious tail-wagging and chop licking from said bestie himself!
Additional information and key product features:
Whitefish and Potato Dog Biscuits (3 bags of 100g),
Wheat and gluten free,
Produced in England by Defra approved factory,
Fish is carefully selected from sustainable sources with full traceability from EU waters,
Made from whitefish and potato (nothing else), these crunchy, tasty treats are packed with natural goodness to promote health and wellbeing,
Hypo-allergenic and naturally low in calories - so ideal for dogs who have allergies/intolerances and dogs on a diet!
Created with the help of Billy + Margot's resident pet nutritionist, they have carefully selected each ingredient for its nutritional properties,
A far more rewarding way to treat your good boys and girls!
Product code: BLM-00018
- UK Delivery (Mainland) - UK Standard Delivery - £2.80 (Free for orders over £20.00) - Delivery Time: 2 to 3 days
- UK Delivery (Mainland) - UK Next Working Day Guaranteed - £4.50 - Delivery Time: 0 to 1 days
This item will be dispatched to you direct by our partner seller Billy and Margot and has the following specific returns policy
Please note that that perishable items (such as food) are non-returnable and non-refundable. Please make sure you understand the relevant partner sellers' returns policies whenever you buy.
Please check your items on delivery. For damaged/faulty items, you must contact PetsPyjamas within 48 hours through the "My Orders" link for the relevant item in your PetsPyjamas customer account. You will then be issued with return guidance. You should use a 'signed for' delivery method and obtain proof of postage.
Please click here for full PetsPyjamas general returns information.
Our friendly team are always happy to help and only a phone call away. Call us on 0203 642 3161.
Earn PetPoints every time you shop & book to redeem on gorgeous gifts & holidays.
We want to hear all about your purchase once it arrives.
Hand selected and tested by our in-house pet stylists.


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The US stock market yesterday showed strong growth after a reduction of the previous days amid growing optimism about the Chinese crisis. At the same time statistics on the US labor market proved to be weaker than was previously forecasted. The number of jobs in the US private sector grew in August, according to the ADP report by 170 thousand against the expected growth of 204 thousand. At the same time, factory inventories increased in July by only 0.4%, which is 0.4% less than the expected figure. Today, active actions of investors would be deterred by the expectation of tomorrow's report on the US labor market. We expect growth in the US equity markets in the medium term, the trend will be uncertain until the Fed's statement on monetary policy after the meeting on 16-17 September.
European stocks showed moderate growth before the press conference of the ECB President Mario Draghi (12:30 GMT), in which he will point to the impact of the crisis on China's economy in the Eurozone. Today was published statistics on Eurozone's service PMI, which rose by 0.1 to 54.4. At the same time, that in the UK in August fell to 0.8 to 55.6. Tomorrow will be published important statistics for the euro area GDP for the second quarter. We expect growth on the stock markets in the region in the medium term due to the positive influence of the quantitative easing program and the improvement of macroeconomic indicators of the monetary union.
Major stock indexes in the Asia-Pacific region today showed different dynamics. The Japanese market rose slightly. Chinese markets were closed due to celebration of 70 years of the end of World War II. Australian investors were disappointed by weak data on retail sales, which fell by 0.1% against the expected growth of 0.4%. This negative was not able to be reversed by the trade balance deficit of the country which was 2.46 billion, compared with an expected increase to 3.10 billion. We expect increased volatility in the markets of the region in the near future.


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Blending a call for increased aid to developing nations, support for a world government with "real teeth," alarm at the "unregulated exploitation" of the environment, and staunch opposition to population control programs, Pope Benedict XVI today sketched what he called a "Christian humanism" for the globalized age in his long-awaited social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate ("Charity in Truth").
To be sustainable, Benedict argues, economic policies must be rooted in a comprehensive vision of human welfare, including spirituality – as opposed to a "technocratic" approach, or one driven by "private interests and the logic of power."
Read the full story here: Pope proposes a 'Christian humanism' for the global economy
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God has so blessed us in our lives. No matter where he lands us whether it be for a short season or for a long time he always blesses us with wonderful people. I truly believe that God created us to be in relationship with others continually and I love to be able to watch that happen in my children. What a fun weekend!! Matthew (the one in the middle) was blessed this weekend by having some of his friends over to play and sleepover. This is Nicodemus and Barouk. They are two very sweet little boys. As you can see all three of them went through costumes, constantly switching roles and laughing all the way. I do not even think yoda could keep up with all three of these boys. They all enjoyed playing star wars, and they had lightsaber battles and then at one point I saw the dinosaurs out and then of course their was the clammer of little feet all over the house. Up and then down and then repeat!!! One of the cutiest moments was when Nicodemus had bumped his head on our little table in the kitchen and he started to cry a little like it hurt and I told him to let me look at it and he came over and told me that he was scared because it hit his lucky brain parts!!! I have never heard that before!! I had him count to ten and then I kissed him on the head. He turned and looked at me and said " Oh my lucky brain part doesn't hurt anymore!!"
Bed time of course had some comical value of it own. As we tucked them all in for the night we told them that they could watch some of Planet 51 to help them wind down. As we were doing this my son Matthew looks over at Kevin and I and says " It feels so good to have my friends with me spending the night." Well of course my heart just melted for that and it made me want to have his friends over all of the time. Then they all wanted to pray. As each of them prayed they really lifted up their little hearts to God and then when Nicodemus was finishing his prayer, Kevin and I could not help but laugh. He wanted to thank God for Kevin and I letting him stay at our home but he could not remember Kevin's name. It went something like this... " Lord in heaven I thank you for Mr. and Mrs. Crystal " Oh it was so funny. Thank You Lord for the hearts of these 5 and 6 yr old boys that all three of them will grow to live their lives for you God. Thanks for reading!!!!


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With more and more of the world being connected to the internet and more and more portability in the devices used, the internet consumes a large part of our lives. On the other hand, daily stresses and lack of time mean that we are able to spend less and less free time in our offline lives. I hesitate to use the word real instead of offline, because I am not certain that online life is any less real.
And with this time spent online, we meet new people and influence them, absorb new influences, we amuse ourselves with their antics or we enjoy the attention of others on what we do. With each interaction, relationships are mushrooming all over our virtual lifes and adding vibrant color to what would otherwise be the dull gray of information.
As I became more and more active in the virtual social world, I made many unexpected discoveries, which got me thinking about the nature of relationships online. Not much work has been done exploring these. And I found myself curious as to how things were for others.
This project looks at various aspects of internet relationships and attempts to provide insights about them that would be useful to anyone with an online life.
I have an ongoing interest in people. In another sense, I continue my study of people into a different environment and study the impact of its unique features on the participants in the survey.
Unless otherwise stated, all observations are mine. Any references to the physical world as "real" must not be taken as an inference that the online world is opposite.
There is no specific structure. Rather, I am taking my guides from what people want do discover based on their choices of words, the kinds of subjects they respond readily to and stated opinions.
A diversity of views is invited through twittersations (twitter conversations :P) – largely because they happen very fast and are easily archived. I am seeing these as a kind of feedback and insights about the handling of the interviews and information. Opinions in these tweets belong to the Tweep making them. I don't make any claims to have collected absolutely every view either.
I am going to try and run some polls/surveys for more reliable data that can be referenced. Let's see.
Lastly, the playground is the internet – specifically, its social aspect – social networking sites, blogs, forums, etc. Where interaction is involved.
Here is to hoping this turns out to be a useful effort.


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Let us know when your receive great advice so we can thank our lawyers and point others with similar questions in the right direction.Got it!
Gave notice to employer 7 months ago I'll be taking bonding leave when my fiancée and I have our child. After the birth, employer was upset I wanted leave. Said he is short staffed/leaving out of state for a week long company meeting. Told him I would work w/ him & take a reduced schedule of 2-3 days/week. He said he couldn't guarantee this so I contacted HR and told them what he said and that I want to take leave. HR never responded. My employer then said that a nearby store would need a manager (which would be a promotion for me) & I should apply. After I applied he said if I take FMLA it will hurt my chance of getting the promotion. Seeing what he was doing to me, I contacted HR again & demanded my leave. They gave it finally, but now I've missed the 1st 2 weeks home w/ my daughter.A Side Note: this company has a history of promising promotions and 'carrot dangling' to get their employees to do whatever they want. I moved almost 3 hours away from my family for this job. When I arrived I was put in a lower position than what I was offered. For the next year the company pulled my strings every moment they needed me to do something big for them. Each time promising the promotion that they know means so much to me. When they told me to apply for the promotion, and then after I did said if I go out on FMLA it will hurt my chances, I knew exactly what he was doing and that to me was the final straw. I truly am very upset with the company and saddened that I've missed the first couple weeks with my child. I know that the company dragged their feet while all the store managers went to an out of state company meeting. I know that my boss tried keeping me from taking the leave by using the promotion gimmick on me again.
Your best remedy is to start looking for another job. You may also want to contact the US Department of Labor' Wage and Hour Division concerning this company's approach to FMLA. Keep in mind that if you file a complaint and are the only one with this issue, the company will in all likelihood identify you as one who complained and retaliate. Even though such retaliation is unlawful, if the employer has another legitimate ground for its action outside of retaliation, you will have a difficult time maintaining an action against the employer.
This is meant as general legal information and is not to be construed as legal advice in an attorney client relationship.Ask a similar question
See also: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs77b.pdf
This certainly sounds like impermissible interference under the FMLA. Question is what damages you are entitled to, as the FMLA does not provide for emotional distress, and it does not sound like you have lost wages. If you do not receive the promotion because of taking leave, then you likely can receive damages for that, which would be the difference between your current salary and the salary of the new position. I also wonder if there is impermissible gender stereotyping going on here - e.g., a belief that a woman can take leave, but a man is not supposed to. That would be a violation of the Civil Rights Act - Title VII, enforced by the EEOC. You can, but are not required to, report an FMLA violation to the Department of Labor. Often that agency will not take action. You are required to report a violation of the Civil Rights Act to the EEOC, usually with 180 days of the wrongdoing. Note that the EEOC does not have jurisdiction over the FMLA. Complicated, right! Though I am biased in this respect, I think it worth your time to contact a lawyer. Best of luck with what is a difficult situation.
Note that this is not legal advice and this does not establish an attorney client relationship. You should review your issue with an attorney for the best possible answer to your question.Ask a similar question
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Did you know that armed robbers now disguise themselves as taxi drivers to rob Port Harcourt residents who are on their way to work early in the morning? In this iWitness report sent by Barr Precious Wachikwu, she recounts how she was robbed in the early hours of Tuesday, October 27th, 2015.
(Image Credit: Bruno Zanzottera/Parallelozero)
Licence : All Rights Reserved


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Direct marketing company
Salmat, advised by Macquarie Capital and Clayton Utz, said there was no certainty a deal would proceed but it was considering the approach.
The company's earnings were hit in the 2011 financial year after it lost the contract to run Telstra's call centres.
It embarked on a cost-cutting and restructuring that was expected to improve this year's financial results.
The Australian Financial Review