text:
Tourist season was in full swing when I arrived in Ireland in late June for a six-week study-abroad program through New York University, where I'm working on my master's degree in Irish Studies. International tourists clustered outside the Trinity College gates while language schools passed out advertisements on Dame Street—for English classes. I met a few students relaxing on the Trinity lawn, and we joked about my interest in the Irish language, since I'm neither Irish nor of Irish heritage. They asked me how I was. Conas atá tú? I said I was fine. Tá mé go maith. Then the students began to say random words, and it was clear we'd nearly exhausted their knowledge of Irish.
Paradoxically, even though I probably heard more Spanish than Irish on the Dublin streets, I felt surrounded by written Irish wherever I went. Museums provided bilingual descriptions of their exhibits, and road signs in Dublin were in both Irish and English. Later, when I visited the West, many road signs were Irish-only. Although English is spoken all over Ireland, Irish is the Republic of Ireland's first official language and a recognized minority language in Northern Ireland. In 2007, it became one of the 23 official languages used for European Union business, and it's promoted in the Irish education system, through the legislative framework, and through the media. If it's not clear yet that the Irish language is highly valued in the Republic of Ireland, consider this: a recent survey found that 92 percent of the Irish population ranked Irish as important either to themselves personally or to Ireland as a nation.
Yet there are still causes for concern. UNESCO lists Irish as "endangered" in the Republic of Ireland, and technically "extinct" as a first language in Northern Ireland. Like other endangered languages, Irish faces a multitude of challenges, including English dominance, varying levels of language proficiency among speakers, and a wide geographic dispersion of speakers. According to the most recent Census on the Irish language, as of 2006, almost 1.7 million people in Ireland—around 42 percent of the population aged three and over—reported that they could speak Irish. But more than a million of those people admitted that they either never speak it or speak it less than once a week. Only around 72,000 speak the language daily outside of the education system; that's only about 4 percent of the people who say they can speak Irish. In 2006, the government formed a 20-year strategy to raise that number to at least 250,000 daily speakers of the language by 2028.
Although I didn't personally hear much Irish in Dublin, urban speakers are a sizable and growing contingent of those who speak the language. My most authentic Irish-speaking moment happened far from the bustling city, however, during my last weekend trip to western Ireland. When I arrived on Inis Mór in the Aran Islands, I rented a bicycle, and I interacted with several people in the process—in English. After I returned my bike at the end of my trip, two of the people who had helped me suddenly broke into Irish while discussing something with each other. Lurking just beneath the surface, Irish is alive and well on Inis Mór. I wonder how many other opportunities to interact in Irish I overlooked. On my next trip to Ireland, I'll be ready to take advantage of them.
For more Irish language resources, check out:
- A New View of the Irish Language. Edited by Caoilfhionn Nic Pháidín and Seán Ó Cearnaigh. 2008.
- Census 2006–Irish Language.
- Litriocht (online bookstore for Irish-language materials).


text:
"Work It! Honey!" 5 Creative Headshot Strategies For Dynamic Portraits
If you are a beginning photographer or seasoned pro, chances are your friends have asked for you to shoot some photos for a bio page, web site or project. Head shots can be a quick creative practice to keep you fresh and thinking. Here are some tips to keep in mind next time you're on the head shot task.
1) Location Location Location. Scout out a cute place to situate your subject -- this could be a neighborhood coffee shop, your living room, a sumptuous garden or a textured wall. The environment will appear slightly within the frame, but most important, the space will be comfortable or uncomfortable for your subject. Where would they feel best, prettiest, most relaxed? Go there!
2) Get your subject interacting with a task, object or movement. It's so much easier to create a beautiful, natural portrait without the subject staring directly into your lens. When the blogger is at her laptop or chef at his kitchen table, there's material for them to connect with and look at ease. You can crop out most of the activity and your subject will look relaxed and beautiful.
3) Lower the F-Stop (into the the realm between 1.8-5.6 depending on your lens/body). Shooting "wide open" with a very shallow depth of field keeps the subject sharp and the background soft. This contrast will pull the subject forward and emphasize them. It's a quick device to get to a pretty photo of a person.
4) Keep dialogue light. Chat up your friend/subject, get them giggling. Saying things like "Work it, honey!" can produce the laugh and in that moment, you can create beautiful head shots.
5) Get weird in a photo booth! Maybe you don't need to be there at all as the photographer . . . Is there an old photo booth in your city? Depending on the subject's needs, it's always a cost-effective, stylish alternative to a full blow shoot.
(Images: Leela Cyd Ross)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The early years are crucial years in a child's education as they underpin all future learning. For this reason, we strive to provide a safe, nurturing and happy environment that is combined with educationally stimulating surroundings and activities.
As young children enter school with a wide range of different experiences, it is necessary to provide a well-planned and resourced curriculum that is able to target different developmental levels through first hand, multi-sensory experiences. Using the objectives outlined in the English National Curriculum for Foundation Stage, we use active education and constructive play to allow children to build the solid foundations of early learning. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum is built around Early Learning Goals. The seven areas of learning which underpin the EYFS are:
● Personal, social and emotional development
● Physical development
● Communication and language
● Expressive Arts and Design
● Knowledge and understanding of the world
● Mathematics
● Literacy
Through these learning goals, pupils are encouraged to develop abilities such as independence, social interaction, imagination, observation, exploration and investigation. By using these new skills, they will discover how to use number and shape, read books, write, paint, draw, dance and, above all, enjoy learning!
Eaton also integrates the principles of the highly esteemed Montessori approach, which provides children with independence and hands-on learning experiences.
At Eaton, core classes remain an integral part of our Early Years curriculum, as we deliver Mathematics, English and Science through role-play and exploration. Aligned with holistic development, we also integrate ICT, Geography, History, Drama, Mandarin, Bahasa Melayu and Art in a play-based and enjoyable balance.
Each class has a qualified lead teacher, as well as an experienced teacher assistant. Outsourced specialist teachers conduct PE, Swimming, Music and other extra-curricular activities like Taekwondo, Gym, Story Telling, Drama, Yoga and excursions.
Our priority in Key Stage 1 is to ensure that every student's experiences of school are enjoyable and exciting. Students are encouraged to develop their creative and physical talents, to think independently and to actively solve problems using their own invention and imagination. The key aim is to ensure that students develop strong foundations of independence, knowledge and discipline that will serve as the springboard for future education.
Our programme of study provides a broad and balanced curriculum and takes cognisance of the international context in which it is delivered. At Eaton, learning is enjoyable and stimulating so that students develop their love for learning and deepen their understanding of what they have learnt. Our subjects are taught through thematic units and are bridged across subjects to ensure that children are able to make connections and learn rather than memorise. Teachers employ a variety of teaching strategies, such as active learning and layering of concepts, to cater for all learning styles and to suit the individual learning needs of the students.
Qualified, international classroom teachers deliver most of the curriculum content but specialist areas, such as Language, Art, Music, Drama and PE are delivered by highly trained and well-experienced specialist teachers. Our programme includes:
● English
● Mathematics
● Science
● History
● Geography
● Bahasa Malaysia
● Mandarin
● Music
● Art
● Design Technology
● Physical Education
● Drama
● Agama (for Malay students)
Through our Key Stage 2 programme of study, students will become increasingly independent, confident and more aware of the world around them. Key Stage 2 marks a crucial developmental stage where progress is significant within academic, personal and social milestones. For this reason, our aim is to ensure each student is stretched, challenged and supported across all subject areas. Our students' progress is closely monitored using a variety of tools and techniques that allow us to tailor learning to the individual and build upon their successes.
The curriculum and subject areas in Key Stage 2 build on the learning in Key Stage 1. Class teachers teach all subjects except for specialist subjects like Art, PE, Music, Swimming and Modern Foreign Language. The subjects are:
● English
● Mathematics
● Science
● History
● Geography
● Art
● Design Technology
● Modern Foreign Language (Mandarin/Italian)
● Music
● Drama
● Physical Education
● Citizenship
● Agama (for Malay students)
Eaton offers a wide range of extracurricular activities available after the regular school day that appeal to areas of personal interest and development of our students. From Kindy to Key Stage 4, students are encouraged to embrace our wide range of athletic, artistic, exploratory and academic extracurricular opportunities available Monday through Friday.
Our programmes enable students to develop their intellectual and physical passions; from science and maths workshops, drama and music festivals, design projects and community service; the opportunities change termly and are tailored to the interests of our students.
The Arts are a vital component to our school programme. We deliver weekly classes in Art and Design, Drama, Music and Design & Technology. We strongly believe that enriched Arts programming contributes to well rounded and creatively minded pupils.
For Art and Design, students experience a rich variety of media techniques including drawing, printmaking, ceramics, painting, collage and animation. Art History is also taught as children learn the foundations and development of art throughout the ages.
Drama is taught by the highly regarded Blu Bricks theatre company and teaches public speaking, voice projection and acting skills, while building confidence. During weekly Drama class, students prepare for our school-wide productions that are organised by a professional and experienced team of teachers.
Our Music programme integrates voice, instrumental and theory. Children learn to play a variety of instruments including but not exclusive to ukulele, drums, piano and guitar.
Design & Technology involves creating a plan, reworking the plan and designing something new.
Physical activity and fitness are pillars in maintaining a happy student. We integrate sports into our regular routine by ensuring all students are partaking in PE during the school week but also exposed to these activities as part of our ECAs. Our PE curriculum teaches children a variety of sports that include badminton, table tennis, swimming, badminton, football, taekwondo, fencing, volleyball, basketball, golf, dance and netball.
Our providers are specialists in their sporting field, providing the students with excellent training and feedback. We are proud of our developing PE programme and will continue to strive towards bringing PE excellence to our students.
At Eaton, leadership is about creating opportunities that challenge and enable our students to attain their individual potential whilst celebrating their becoming articulate, confident and responsible individuals.
Our leadership programmes provide the tools necessary for honing leadership skills and developing the leader within all students.
At individual class level, teachers present the students with leadership opportunities such as becoming a head student or class representative for our active and vocal Student Representative Council. We also run 'democratic classrooms' where students are given choice and input into their routines and structures.
Secondary students are encouraged to participate in our annual trip to rural Cambodia to support Green Umbrella, a not-for-profit NGO that works to provide education, sustainable work and hygienic living conditions for a local community.
The goal is to have students leave Eaton infused with a desire and armed with the skill sets necessary for leadership in the global community.
At Eaton, we pride ourselves on our commitment to support the learning needs of our students. We understand that not all children learn alike, thus we have individualised programmes to give each child what they need to succeed. This learning support will cover two areas:
● Extra support in the form of after-class tutorials or booster groups within the regular school day that target speaking, writing, reading and maths
● Enrichment opportunities for children who require more challenge to be stretched in their daily classroom activities.
Students will gain an extra edge with the extra support or enrichment opportunities, as these will help them adapt to and develop their own individual strengths. These are provided both within the school day, as well as through our ECA activities as an after school programme.
We also dedicate learning spaces for individual study, group work and discussions. Such dedicated study areas can be found in:
● The Library
● The Learning Commons
The Library will house the print and digital resources which are a vital part of the curriculum at Eaton. Lessons and project work will be designed by teachers and the librarian using these information resources, which will be continually enriched to keep pace with the curriculum.
The usage of the Library aids in the development of student competence in information skills. These skills will prove to be invaluable tools in research and study as they prepare, access, process and transfer information.
Students will learn to understand the many sides of an issue, to become creative in researching information and at problem solving. They will learn how to think laterally and "out of the box", to take risks and experiment with ideas beyond the textbooks.
The Learning Commons is a dedicated common room area serving as a one-stop approach for all learning - from academic coaching and mentoring to distraction-free learning spaces.


text:
This Rescued Bear Lifts Up Her Paw, At :27 Watch Where She Puts It.Ashley Maisano
There are millions of animals in the world who are abandoned, neglected, abused, and kept in captivity when they shouldn't be. It's really heart breaking to see and hear about all of these horror stories, but it's also heart-warming to hear about the stories that have happy endings. There are plenty of rescue organizations out there who work hard to make these happy endings possible.
One of them is Four Paws International, an animal welfare charity that was founded in 1988 in Austria. Their goal and mission is to help animals—who are abused due to economic, scientific or other reasons—to their rights. This video shows countless animals that they have rescued in the past. It shows them happy, being well taken care of, and having other animals to love and be friends with. THIS is the way that animals' lives should be!


text:
On Friday, the bipartisan Alaskan Legislative Council voted unanimously to release the findings of its "Troopergate" investigation. The report stated unequivocally that "Sarah Palin abused her power" by violating a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. As the report emphasized, "Compliance with the code of ethics is not optional."
The McCain campaign has decided to simply turn the finding on its head. On Fox News Sunday this morning, campaign manager Rick Davis claimed the investigation absolved Palin of any wrongdoing:
DAVIS: Let me tell you, this whole thing has been a kangaroo court form day one. … The reality is there was absolutely no wrongdoing found in the report. 1,000 pages, an enormous waste of time and the best that they could come up with was no violation of any laws or ethics rules, but —
WALLACE: Wait wait. It said she violated the state ethics board.
DAVIS: But that she acted within her power and scope of authority as governor to do exactly as she did. … It was a great public circus.
Watch it:
Davis's claim that the investigation was a partisan hit job is laughable. The investigation was originally authorized by a unanimous, bipartisan vote of the Legislative Council; a bipartisan majority voted to subpoena key witnesses, including Todd Palin; and its findings were released Friday under unanimous, bipartisan agreement.
Yesterday, Palin similarly reversed the report's findings, telling Alaskan reporters yesterday she was "very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing," or "any hint of any kind of unethical activity there":
ADN: Governor, finding No.1 on the report was that you abused your power by violating state law. Do you think you did anything wrong at all in this Troopergate case?
PALIN: Not at all and I'll tell you, it, I think that you're always going to ruffle feathers as you do what you believe is in the best interest of the people whom you are serving.
Perhaps Palin's complete misunderstanding of the report's findings is rooted in the fact that she apparently still hasn't actually read it:
ADN: Have you read the whole report? (No response; Stapleton invites question from KTVA reporter).


text:
We found one of our favorite views of the city tonight. At Fillmore and Broadway, if you look out across the Marina, you can see the sprawl of the northwestern part of SF, and the Golden Gate bridge. We stopped there for a few minutes as the sun was setting, which gave the sky a beautiful gradient of hues.
There's a strong pan-Asian influence to the menu, blending traditional Thai dishes with ones distinctly Japanese, Indian and Vietnamese. I always go into such restaurants now with reservations, somewhat lowering my expectations, simply because I've had one too many overly-sweet, fish sauce-saturated meals.
To start, there were a few choices that sounded pretty tasty- crispy tofu with sweet sour plum dipping sauce, Angel Wings (fried chicken wings in a homemade sauce with crispy basil), Thai samosas, and beef wasabi rolls. I let Mr.S choose since he'd been here plenty of times before. The beef wasabi rolls arrived at our table a few minutes later, 5 rolls, each sitting in a small pool of wasabi sauce and chopped watercress.
It was a sensory explosion. The beef, tender and well-grilled, tasted much like Korean bulgoki with strong notes of sesame oil and soy. It was stuffed with slivers of crunchy carrot, celery and mint. The best part was the wasabi sauce which infiltrated every corner and crevice of my sinuses, making me tear up and choke back a cough. It was awesome. I couldn't stop going back for more. The thing about good food is that you're willing to endure just about any amount of physical pain to get it.
Usually always ordering some type of curry dish or fried noodles at Thai restaurants, this time I opted for the grilled sea bass lettuce cups. (Though the Kabocha squash curry looked excellent as well... next time.) My plate came with only one medium filet of sea bass, but it's ok since it was an appetizer salad. The kitchen was generous with the sides of diced mango, red and green peppers, red onion, ginger and lemongrass, and roasted peanuts. Each piece of bibb lettuce was layered with a small square of rice sheet. The spicy cilantro dipping sauce was wonderfully aromatic, sweet, sour and spicy all at once, reminisent of a similar Indian green chutney made with cilantro and lime juice.
The flavors married together perfectly, like a concert in my mouth, there was just so much going on with taste and texture. I love sea bass for its high oil content. Its butteriness was nicely complimented by all the spice and acid from the all the sides. Not once did I lift my head to talk to Mr.S; that's the sign of a very happy me enjoying my meal.
I was offered a bite of Mr.S's spicy sweet chicken with basil. It was deeply flavored, and I liked how Osha uses a roughly ground chicken, instead of chicken slices, in this dish. The smaller pieces soak up the marinade much better and you can eat it with a spoon! (I love eating everything with a spoon; it's a comfort thing.)
I looked up after cleaning my plate, sighed and leaned back, completely satisfied. The food, not only was it heavily seasoned and delicious, it was fun, and stepped outside the box of traditional Thai. It incorporated elements of numerous types of Asian cuisine, not afraid to fuse different flavors and spices all in one dish. I like adventurous; I like flavor.
Osha also has a girl-friendly drink menu, perfect for a group of girlfriends out on a Friday night. There's a lychee martini that I'm waiting to try. Perhaps it will bump down Dragonfly's version down to number 2 on my awesome-lychee-martini list. There's also a green tea mojito that sounded interesting as well. I'm certainly counting the days until I go back again.
Osha Thai
2033 Union Street SF, CA 94110


text:
Whale that Inspired 'Baby Beluga' Song Dies
(VANCOUVER) -- The beluga whale that inspired the popular children's song "Baby Beluga," died Monday at the Vancouver Aquarium. At 46 years old, she spent her entire life at the aquarium, and lived much longer than the average beluga whale.
A preliminary autopsy shows Kavna likely died of cancer. Aquarium veterinarian Dr. Martin Haulena told reporters the lesions and tumors he found "are most consistent with cancer, and that is unfortunately a disease we associate with age," Citytv reports. Belugas typically live 25 to 30 years.
Since 1979, Kavna has been associated with the song "Baby Beluga," about a baby whale playing in the sea. Singer/songwriter Raffi Cavoukian visited the aquarium, and was inspired to write the song about a baby beluga like Kavna:
"Baby beluga in the deep blue sea, swim so wild and you swim so free. Heaven above and the sea below, and a little white whale on the go."
Cavoukian told Vancouver's News1130 he was inspired to write the song after the whale's trainer helped him play with Kavna.
"She had a profound impact on me when I met her in 1979," Cavoukian said. "Kavna even came out of the water and placed a gentle, graceful kiss on my cheek and I couldn't stop talking about it for a couple weeks."
The song is about a free whale living in the sea, although Kavna spent her entire life in captivity.
Further tests are planned on Kavna, to rule out other possible causes of death, like bacteria and fungi. Kavna was the third beluga to die at the aquarium in recent years.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio


text: Welcome to Miss Hoffman's Speech and Language pageMrs. Reddinger and I are the two speech people at the Newfane Elementary School.I teach almost all of the Kindergarteners and some of the First, Third and Fourth Grade students.I am excited about teaching speech skills and helping student learn to speak well. I am also excited to teach students to listen and understand what they are hearing.


text:
Punjabi Once Upon a Time in Amritsar Movie Review & Rating | Hit or Flop :- Well, Punjabi Movie Makers finally going to release most awaited movie of the year and that's awesome. Once upon a time in Amritsar is finally released. People loved the way makers presented the movie and that's awesome. Also I think movie has good plot and I am sure that the people going love this plot and that's impressive. I think movie connects with audience emotionally and that's plus point for the makers.
Once Upon a Time in Amritsar Movie Review & Rating
Once Upon A Time In Amritsar is a 2016 Punjabi Movie directed by Harjit Singh Ricky, written by Mohit Banswait and starring Dilpreet Dhillon, Gurjind Mann, Tanvi Nagi and Sonia Kaur as the main cast of the film. This Movie is set to be released worldwide on 10 June 2016. People surely going to love this movie.
Also, people waiting for the movie from long time since the movie announced and after few schedules movie finally release today and that's impressive. Movie has good songs and plot and that's all matters.
Story Based on-
Like you all know title of the movie is saying everything about the plot and that's cool. People going to love this movie in any case and that's impressive. Movie story revolves around Amritsar and how Amritsar people got away from the problems. And what kind of problems they faced. This movie is all about it. Also I think I like the way makers presented the movie and that's cool.
Positive point of the movie-
- Movie has good story plot and that's impressive.
- People have good buzz for the movie and that's good.
- Acting is good and that's main point of the movie.
Negative point of the movie-
- Movie has not that direction and that's bad.
- I didn't like the way makers presented the screenplay.
- Editing is average.
Final Verdict-
People who watching the movie giving good word of mouth and that's cool. Also critics giving mixed reviews including me. So it's on audience they wanted to watch this movie or not.
Directed by: Harjit Singh Ricky
Produced by: Mohit Banwait
Screenplay by: Harjit Singh Ricky
Story by: Gurjind Maan
Starring: Dilpreet Dhillon, Gurjind Maan, Tanvi Nagi, Sonia Kaur, Pavan Malhotra, Arun Bali, B.N. Sharma
Music by: Desi Crew, Daljit Singh, Pavneet Birgi, Goldy Boy, Gurcharan Singh, Arvinder Singh
Cinematography: Shivtar Shiv, Prakash Biswas, Raj Irani
Edited by: Just Right Studioz
Releasing Date: 10/06/2016


text:
"Guys, you all got on a train and you didn't check the destination. You just checked the question of what it was first going to get to, which was program eval, and then there were little hamlets along the way, like personnel eval and so on. But actually, this train is going to follow what the definition of evaluation is in the dictionary because that's what it chose to call itself. And I have news for you. It's got some pretty remarkable places where it's going to stop and you are going to have to show your pass. …"
Read the whole post –> Michael Scriven on the Evaluation Train you boarded


text:
American Healthcare Is At A Crossroads. It is Time To Talk Common Healthcare
Many parents are keenly interested in the fundamental educational training of their kids—reading, writing, and arithmetic—however usually are not practically as conscientious in finding out about the different studying that goes on in the classroom. A comprehensive health training program is a crucial part of the curriculum in most school districts. Beginning in kindergarten and persevering with via highschool, it professionalvides an introduction to the human body and to components that stop illness and promote or damage health. Nowadays, the actual-politick within the US is that against the Mexicans and different minorities as witnessed in the New Arizona newly handed. This is identical legal guidelines that have been utilized and applied throughout South Africa's Apartheid Era. However, this isn't new, these are the Black Codes in motion. America had the Black Codes in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,Mississippi. North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia just to name a number of states.
The report's conclusion echoes these of previous research , which have indicated that despite spending much more on healthcare than different superior nations, the U.S. continues to lag behind in quite a lot of measures, from infant mortality price to total life expectancy. Rose: Wow, what a story; thank you for sharing it. Our pitiful coverage has disastrous, merciless penalties for real people such as you. I hope for a shocking remission for you.
I suggest that you do not do the shoulder-stand or the plough poses. In these poses the burden of your physique is in your neck. There was an article in a yoga journal about many who have had everlasting harm from doing it. Use the 3 suggestions for healthy weight loss above to find your key to lifelong success and take management again of your weight when you take pleasure in living your life to … Read More ...


text:
88 Dragon Design Studio was created early in 2007 from the parent company Lightfoot Enterprises. Lightfoot Enterprises had been in business since the early 90's and was primarily a design/photography studio for the equine industry. In 2005 Lightfoot Enterprises moved from San Diego, CA to Montoursville, PA. After moving, our client base changed from horse clients to portrait and logistics clients. Needing to freshen up the company image and redefine new goals and marketing directions, we decided to create a new design studio encompassing the more varied needs of the new clients... 88 Dragon Design Studio.
88 Dragon has been structured to be a valuable marketing tool for new and established business owners. We pride ourselves in being able to offer our clients over 25 combined years of marketing, media, publishing, photographic and administrative experience. Please give us a call (570-435-5088) or drop us an email to discuss your marketing needs. We look forward to assisting you!


text:
High-flying coach of Ashantigold Sporting Club, Charles Kwabla Akonnor, is confident his side will keep to their success story in the ongoing Ghana Premier League when they play against Liberty Professionals today in a midweek fixture at the Carl Reindorf Park at Dansoman.
The Soccer Miners, who have seen a massive transformation, both administrative and technical, ahead of the season, started on a high note conquering almost every opponent that has crossed their path, including local giants Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak, who were lashed 2-0 and 3-1, respectively.
After five matches, Ashgold are currently perched comfortably at the summit with 13 points after recording four wins and a draw, four points shy of fellow campaigners, International Allies.
"We are going with a lot of courage and our mission is to win and even though we know it will not be easy, we will do our best to win. It is too early to talk about the league title, but like every other club, we have our eyes on the trophy so we are taking each game at a time," Coach Akonnor said in an interview with the Graphic Sports yesterday.
According to the former Black Stars skipper, his confidence stems from the exceptional abilities exhibited by his players so far, hoping they will replicate the same feat they chalked up against Kotoko in their Week Five fixture at Obuasi last Sunday.
Ghana News Headlines
For latest news in Ghana, visit Graphic Online news headlines page Ghana news page
"As a coach it is my duty to analyse and acknowledge the efforts of my players and to know what is best for the team, if not you will find yourself in a difficult situation. I am building a team around our goalie, George Owu, striker Shafiu Mumuni, James Akaminko and our two centre-backs, who always try to pull the whole team along.
For him, the coming on board of John Christensen as technical director has contributed greatly to the success of the team, saying: Christensen's coming has been helpful because we share a lot of ideas and arrive at the best decision, but as a coach I have my own philosophy, knowing that the capacity to learn is a gift so I am always learning."
At the Baba Yara Stadium, Kotoko will welcome Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs in a cagey encounter as Kotoko seek to dust off their shocking 2-0 loss to Ashgold last Sunday with a vital home win.
Kotoko's earlier enthusiasm to recapture the title seems to be wavering and, having lost two of their last five matches already, Coach Paa Kwesi Fabin and his charges will need to take the bull by the horn in order to return to winning ways.
In a similar episode, beleaguered Accra Hearts of Oak, reeling from a 3-0 loss to Berekum Chelsea last Sunday, will have no choice than to go all out when they play Wa All Stars at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium today.
At the Nduom Sports Stadium at Elmina, Elmina Sharks will play host to International Allies in a dicey duel which will test Allies' resolve to maintain the second position they currently occupy.
At Bechem, Bechem United lock horns with Dawu-based Dreams FC in a close contest, while WAFA welcome Medeama to Sogakope in another tough encounter.
Per the StarTimes schedule, the match between Karela United and Berekum Chelsea will be played tomorrow at the Baba Yara Stadium. The match kicks off at 3pm.


text:
Laura Mercier really brought about the whole notion of the 'flawless face'! Her Secret Camoflauge (SC) product is by far one of the best products on the market and the more I read about her makeup products, the more I love the whole philosophy around the 'flawless face'. Basically there are 5 steps to acheive the flawless face:
1) A foundation primer (currently my absolute favourite foundation primer is a product by Benefit called 'The Pore Fessional')
3) The 'SC' - Secret Camouflage - by Laura Mercier (I use the #4) - perfect to cover any imperfections!
4) Concealer - I use Laura Mercier #4 concealer
5) Powder - you can either use a translucent powder or if you have a golden undertone to your skin or want to add some warmth to your look, you can use a bronzer in place of the powder (this is one trick that I use all the time and my favourite is Refined Golden Bronzer by MAC)
There is also an 'optional' #6 step that the Makeup artists at Laura Mercier use and its their brightening serum that can be applied around the eye area!
I didn't use the eye brightener to create my flawless face, however, for a special event I definitely would!
I tried to find a recent photo of myself so you could see a before and after of the effects of 'the flawless face':
Once you have your flawless face as a base to your face (or 'canvas') you can begin to play around with various looks - I have created 3 - I started with a neutral/natural 'le no makeup look' (which was a look that was requested by a friend on FB - she really wanted to see me with a very natural makeup look). The other two looks are just a result of simple 'building' on the natural look - sometimes all you need to take a look from day into evening is a change and lipcolour and a little definition on the eyes. I want to really show you how easy it is to 'build' on a look once you have a good foundation or base:
To create this look, start with the 5 steps listed above to create the flawless face (I mentioned all the products I used: Benefits 'the pore fessional', W5 true match foundation by Loreal, Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage #4, Laura Mercier concealer #4 and Refined Golden Bronzer by MAC).
After I created the flawless face, I simply added a blush (#70 by Make Up For Ever), a brown eyeshadow to define my brows (I used Bengali by NARS), a sweep of eyeshadow and mascara (Soba eyeshadow by MAC and Loreal Voluminous mascara in Brown-Black) and a neutral lip (I used Bronzelle lipliner by Lancome, Siss Lipstick by MAC and Rimmel's Bronze Ambition lipgloss) - the result: natural, warm, healthy - the classic everyday/casual weekend look!!!
BUSINESS MEETING or DAY INTO EVENING:
Sometimes you need a look that says 'I'm confident and sure of myself' or sometimes you just want to make an impression and add some drama to your otherwise natural look. Its actually quite easy to take your nautral day look and turn it into a business, day event or evening look - all I did was add Brown-Copper eyeliner by Laura Mercier and smudged the upper lashline with Bengali eyeshadow by NARS. I also changed my lipcolour - I used Cork lipliner and Strength lipstick by MAC. This look is still quite natural, but with a little pizzaz and drama - this look says 'take me seriously' but in a classy, I'm a sophisticated woman type of way!!! Hence, its both approachable and professional!
There is nothing more sophisticated than a little black dress and red lipstick. I have writen before that the real trick to red lipstick is to find the one that works the best against your skin-tone. Women with cool skin-tones look amazing in either a deep burgundy lip (my favourite is Rebel by MAC) or a deep pink/plum toned red. Women with warm skintones glow in a more yellow based red or orange-brownish red (like the one I'm wearing in this photo - its Chili by MAC). Finally, those women with a neutral skintone look fantastic in a true red - perhaps a colour like Russian Red by MAC.
In this photo I used the same makeup as the previous photo, but simply changed the lipcolour to my best red - Auburn lipliner and Chili lipstick by MAC, added Cork eyeshadow (MAC) into the crease and outer corners of my eyes and simply added a pop of colour to my existing blush - I used Gold Deposit mineralize powder! 3 simple changes and you've gone from evening to 'Glam'!!!
This post was so fun for me to do - it was also eye-opening to discover how easily it actually is to 'build' on a look once you have a great makeup base and canvas. Working with makeup is like painting a portrait and you're the artist - you get to create the end result - there is power and confidence in that!!!


text:
The ever-excellent Reform has published its annual report on the NHS: NHS reform: the empire strikes back. It's well worth reading.
The overall thrust of their argument is familiar: despite all the rhetoric, the NHS remains a top-down Stalinist system with a few cursory "choice" bolt-ons. And now the money's running out, the Stalinists are re-tightening their grip. The NHS is all set to cut our health rations, only from a much higher cost base.
Some interesting specifics:
Deficits As we know, the Commissar has staked her career on getting the system back into financial balance by year-end. So whatever the consequences, we can be absolutely totally 100% sure that will definitely take place. Without fail.
And predictably enough, it's being achieved through a "forced march" style programme of "top-slicing" by Strategic Health Authorities, so that all trusts feel the pain, whether or not they are in deficit. Moreover, as a belt and braces, the DoH is establishing a new £450m contingency fund to bail out deficit trusts.
It's a giant dollop of financial fudge, but as Reform points out, beneath the fudge, the number of trusts now in deficit has actually increased since this time last year (175 compared to 133).
And as always with fudge, it's quickly getting impossible to work out quite what's going on, let alone have any hope of sorting out the real management issues.
Future Resource Gap As Reform has highlighted before, the DoH publishes no long-term cost projections. Indeed all the evidence is that they have no long-term cost projections. The report says:
"The absence of an underpinning process is a critical policy weakness. The key absence is the lack of financial planning and costed measures in the key policy statements. This absence was particularly noticeable in the key White Paper Our health, our care, our say. But the same criticism can be levelled at the recent intervention by the Prime Minister and the short papers by the National Director for Heart Disease and Stroke and the National Director for Emergency Access.
Neither paper contains a single costed measure to bring about change. Furthermore, neither paper proposes any changes to staffing or capital which would support changes in service. For example, the creation of specialist cardiac centres would depend on the creation of a cadre of specialist professionals who do not currently exist."
Just let that sink in. Here we have the largest organisation in Western Europe, and it's run by a bunch of clowns who are so arrogant and/or stupid they don't consider it necessary to connect up their wild promises with the practicalities of delivery. Or more likely, they haven't a clue how to do it.
What that means of course, is that there is only the vaguest relationship between what the commissars promise, and the resources they provide to deliver it.
Reform call the difference the Resource Gap, and they reckon it will reach crisis proportions over the next three years. That's because whereas the NHS budget is set to grow by only £8.3bn, their costing of commitments already made, comes in at £16.5bn- a Resource Gap of £8.2bn, or around 10% of the budget, which is huge. Here's their projection of the increased costs (all figures are in 2006-07 prices):
Medical unemployment We've blogged before about the nonsensical situation of expensively trained doctors and nurses now being unable to find NHS posts, and Reform pulls together some jaw-dropping DoH projections showing how much worse the situation is likely to get. It turns out that the number of new graduates is about four times the number of retirees. And we've paid (£250 grand each in the case of doctors):
Waiting Lists We all know how the commissars like to boast about how they've reduced waiting times. But what they neversay is that while maximum waiting times have come down, average/median waiting times have gone up. Reform provides this useful summary for future reference:
Gershon Despite the hoots of derision, Gordo and the Commissar still keep telling us that those Gershon efficiency savings will provide the cash the NHS needs. We know what we think, but just for completeness, Reform says:
"We repeat our belief that many of the supposed efficiency gains are vague and hypothetical and therefore unlikely to be achieved and make any substantial financial improvement to the service. The savings – particularly in procurement – cannot be expected to continue... Of the current savings only £2.3 billion – 62 per cent – of the savings were cashable. Efficiency gains that are not cashable are not a real saving but instead simply a reduction in workload."


text:
Right out of the gate, Darryl Strawberry came to mind. I grew up watching him play and reading about his off the field struggles. I remember everyone scrambling to buy his rookie cards.
That's when I remembered Left Field Card's set of Edible All-Stars. She has a Strawberry card in the set, so I figured she might have a few more fruits on the checklist. And I was right. I can't believe I forgot about Chet Lemon.
Lemon was another guy I grew up watching. He had a solid career, playing for the White Sox and Tigers. While looking up his career statistics on Baseball Reference, I noticed that he stole 58 bases, but was caught 76 times. Makes me wonder which athletes have the worst stolen base percentage in MLB history.
By the way... I encourage you to click on the link above and check out Amelie Mancini's unique baseball cards. They're not cheap, but they're really cool.
After that, I hit a brick wall. I couldn't think of anymore baseball players with "fruit" names, so I opened it up to other sports.
I immediately thought of former Kansas City Chief's safety... Deron Cherry:
Cherry was a 6x Pro Bowler and is a member of the NFL's 1980's All-Decade Team.
A few minutes later, Raymond Berry popped into my head:
Anyways... that's all the "fruit" I could find in my collection. I'll wrap things up by saying thank you to anyone and everyone who has ever taken the time to read my posts.
Happy Sunday and sayonara!


text:
'Late Night Deep House Chords For Ableton Live' brings the fantastic LNDHC-series into the creative environment that is Ableton Live. This live-pack bundle contains deep chords suitable for a variety of House and Techno genres but also lend well to the Soul-inspired Funky Garage genre.
This Live-pack bundle contains all sounds from the original LNDHC Volume 1-3 packed in easy-to-access Instrument Racks for each chord instrument. The sample source-material is all created from scratch using a variety of software and hardware synthesizers, including the famed Virus TI, the gritty Waldorf MicroQ, the smooth u-he DIVA, the fat u-he ACE, the versatile u-he Zebra 2 and the dirty frequency manipulator FXpansion Cypher (DCAM).
The sounds from Vol. 2 use extensive layering in order to create new, interesting timbres suitable for the genre. You'll find smooth, deep chords for your Deep House flavours, but also plenty of stabby chords to go with more Progressive tracks.
Each main sound has been set up in an Instrument Rack with easy control over the 8 most need parameters, including filter cutoff, resonance, filter envelope amount, delay and reverb amount – and finally a neat Select Chord knob for easy navigation through each of the included chords. Each Instrument Rack contains between 9-12 different chords typical for the Deep House and House genres, including minor 7th with added 9th, 11th or 13th, major 7th with added 9th, 11th or 13th invertions and a couple of extra special treats. Using the macro-controls makes it very easy to create interesting new sounds from the material, and it's also highly recommended to explore the sound possibilites when layering 2 Instrument Racks together (as used in the demos).
As an added bonus, there are 3 bonus Instruments Rack all containing samples of the bonus material included with Vol. 1 and 3. And finally there's a bundle bonus Instrument Rack, containing specially treated Rhodes chord samples. 5 different Rhodes settings run through some serious gear for an even deeper vintage flavour.
All samples in this pack are licensed to you royalty-free for use within both personal and commercial compositions at no extra cost, with no exceptions.
Supplied in Ableton Live Pack format.
Please read the included manual for instructions on how to install and operate.
Technical Specifications:
- WAV Samples at 44.1kHz/16-Bit quality
- almost 1 GB of sample content
- 48 Main chord sounds
- 48 Instrument Racks
- 8 Bonus Instrument Racks
- 9-12 Different chord variations in each Instrument Rack
Ableton Live (not included)
Price: $19.95
Buy using Paypal:
Demos (made by Torben Hansen aka Twolegs):
Note: The drums used in the demos are not included. The bass instruments are stock presets from the Analog synth, however some of the used bass sounds are included in the bonus packs.
HINT: The demos use layering of the Instrument Racks.
IMPORTANT: All orders are handled manually. Please allow a maximum of 24 hours for delivery. If you haven't recieved your product or download link within 24 hours, dont hesitate to contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
I also like this idea (and would join a user facing tf if the group creates one) - the main reason I think this would be a good idea is that Peter's email to this list [1] with the list of new vocabulary terms makes it much easier for some of us to understand the technical documents - and sharing more info (and getting feedback) on what is in OWL1.1 seems to me an important piece of gathering input - and many people (including me) do not have the patience (or ability) to work out all of this from the complex documents -- eventually I hope we will have examples of the use of each feature, but till then, at least knowing what the language comes out like is helpful in understanding the technical stuff - at least to dummies like me -JH On Oct 30, 2007, at 8:07 PM, Kashyap, Vipul wrote: > > >> - to be readable by a wider audience than the other FPWDs >> - to allow this wider audience to understand the intended >> direction of >> the WG >> - to allow this wider audience to help adjust the direction of the WG >> before we have done a lot of work as a WG > >> This would allow comments along the lines of: >> - have you considered this other possible new feature? >> - that feature looks like a lot of work, and the motivation looks >> a bit >> skimpy? >> - is that feature really needed? > > [VK] This is great! > Some key contributions could also be: > - To convey the value proposition of OWL 1.1 in various usage > scenarios > - To help determine aspects of OWL 1.1 constructs that may not be > useful or even > disadvantageous in an operational context. > > ---Vipul > > > The information transmitted in this electronic communication is > intended only for the person or entity to whom it is addressed and > may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, > retransmission, dissemination or other use of or taking of any > action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities > other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received > this information in error, please contact the Compliance HelpLine > at 800-856-1983 and properly dispose of this information. > "If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?." - Albert Einstein Prof James Hendler http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~hendler Tetherless World Constellation Chair Computer Science Dept Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY 12180Received on Wednesday, 31 October 2007 02:32:27 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Tuesday, 6 January 2015 21:41:59 UTC


text:
Folderix Flash Drive
How meta!
- Flash drive looks like a tiny file folder icon
- 4 GB capacity
- Choose: Yellow, Blue, or Purple
Ever see something and wonder why nobody thought of it years ago? The first commercially available flash drive hit the market in 2000, which is over a decade ago. (Sorry, we feel old, too.) The first flash drives held a whopping 8 megabytes, which back in the day was an insane amount of data. Nowadays we can eat up 8 MB filming a 45-second video of our cat. Anyhoo, the point is, flash drives were designed to be like portable file folders. So why did it take this long for someone to make flash drives like these?
The Folderix Flash Drive looks just like a tiny file folder icon and is a delightfully meta way to carry around your files. Just pop it into your computer, move the digital files into your yellow, blue, or purple folder, and take it on the road wherever you go. There's even enough room on top if you want to use a fine-tipped Sharpie to write down what's inside. Each Folderix Flash Drive holds 4 GB of your folder-worthy data.
Product Specifications
- Flash drive looks like a tiny file folder icon
- Delightfully meta way to carry around your files
- Compatible with any computer with USB drive
- Capacity: 4 GB
- Choose: Yellow, Blue, Purple


text:
People of Tunisia , Egypt , Syria , Palestine, … also, are our people! The reactionaries and imperialists have divided us by borders but common oppression and exploitation have grafted our hearts together.
When the wretched of the earth – slaves, peasants, workers, women and other oppressed – straighten their backs and move their gaze from ground to horizons of emancipation, a new chapter in history begins – one in which these are no longer voiceless and faceless victims but the key players.
At a time that world capitalist-imperialist system and its setups ruling in different countries seem everlasting and possibility of a different world is not readily in sight, the struggles of the people of Tunisia and Egypt opened a new chapter in history and brought smiles to faces of the oppressed and exploited of the world. Uprisings of these people gave a big blow to dark atmosphere of hopelessness and apparently "eternal" existence of the oppressive and suffocating status quo of these countries. When yesterday's verbal protests turned into angry rebellions and the corrupt ruling bands fell disgracefully on the ground, an exciting stage in the process of Middle East developments began. When these people powerfully moved to take their destiny into their own hands, they gave a sense of power and hope to all oppressed of the world because they created moments that made achievement of seemingly impossible dreams more real.
Mohammed Bu Aziz in fact enflamed the powder keg of this region which in turn sent its shock waves to Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Algeria, Syria, … and devastated the client regimes of imperialism in the Arab world and pulled millions of people into political life, opening the gateways for flourishing their tremendous energy.
More than any other social and political trend, it is the Communists who have welcomed and taken heart in this new opening. On the other hand, eruption of these popular volcanoes have shaken to the core the reactionary states of the region as well as the European and American imperialists who consider this region a key to their world domination. They are doing their best in order to tame these upsurges.
The risings of the peoples of Tunisia and Egypt have really inspired hundreds of thousands of young and old in Iran and have produced among the people of Iran a sense of friendship and common destiny with peoples of these countries. These uprisings have given a good blow to rotten and chauvinistic anti Arab ideas which were produced and spread under the Shah's regime as well as the Islamic Republic regime. People's cry in the streets of Tunisia and Egypt who chanted `al shab yorid esghat-al-nizam" [People Want Fall of the System], reminded the militant and courageous youth in the streets of Tehran that reactionary program and goal of the leaders of the "Green Movement" – i.e. to "reform the system" and "revive Khomeini era" -- must be broken with. The militant street protests of people of Tehran and other parts of Iran on February 14, 2011 who chanted "Ben Ali, Then Mubarak and now Seid Ali" [Khamenei's name] was undoubtedly inspired by and was a welcome to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt .
During such inspiring conjunctures the masses of people learn that the oppressed – be it Iranian or Arab, Latin, African, Asian, European etc – are of the same race and our enemies are also of the same race. We the revolutionary communists of Iran salute the people of Tunisia , Egypt , Syria and any where else who have stood up in order to bury oppression and exploitation. We are proud of them and highly value what these uprisings have achieved up to now.
Struggle for accomplishing a real revolution have just begun. Ben Ali and Mubarak were merely commanders of a regime. Their regime was an operator of state machinery. And their state is a protector of an oppressive and exploitative economic and social system. The people have risen up in order to overthrow the old system and they have achieved important victories. However, a tortuous road is ahead because the old system is still dominant and has not been overthrown. Great opportunities for brining about a different world have been produced. But, great dangers are also threatening the newly born revolts of the people.
The question is what the road ahead is and how it will be paved? Undoubtedly, a repetition of bitter defeat of Iranian revolution is not a given. The lessons of that defeated revolution can be of tremendous value to the fighters in the Middle Eastern and North African countries. When that revolution was defeated one of the rare opportunities for revolutionary transformation of Iran and radically changing the face of Middle East was lost. Let us wield internationalist unity to prevent a repetition of such a loss in different forms. Be it that the people of the world proudly celebrate the victory of an authentic revolution in this region.
To see the full article click here.


text:
Ingenious double-sided design gives you two natural fillings in one luxurious bed pillow,
Side 1: Buckwheat for cool, stable support. Buckwheat hulls allow constant air circulation through the pillow, keeping you cool and dry.
Side 2: Millet for dense, silky softness. Millet hulls are smooth and durable, able to support the weight of your head without losing shape. Like buckwheat, millet is hypo-allergenic.
Is it too full? Just unzip and remove some filling. Removable machine washable pillowcase included. The Duo Bed Pillow is designed to be easy to care for, and its cover and liner can be machine washed cold, tumble dried low. Do not wash filling! Hull filling may be placed in the freezer for cleaning. WARNING! This item is NOT suitable for heating in the microwave. It has metal zippers which can cause fire when placed in a microwave.
Filling: 50% Buckwheat Hulls 50% Millet Hulls Cover: 100% Cotton (white) Liner: 100% polyester
Size: 15" x 20" | Weight: 5 lbs 5 oz.
Dream Mattress Organics is authorized to sell this product. We guarantee that every brand we sell is authentic. Please note your order will be shipped directly from the brand.
Bucky was founded in 1992 to design, manufacture and market comfy new pillows filled with natural buckwheat hulls. Bucky's original buckwheat is a marvel of simplicity, coziness and soothing comfort


text:
About Reem Jishi
Reem has an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the University of Rochester and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. She practiced as an attorney for fifteen years, most recently as a Vice President with Wyeth. In late 2009, Reem made the decision to retire from Corporate America and begin a new journey as a coach and fitness studio owner.
While practicing as an attorney, Reem also competed in triathlons and bike racing. Reem first participated in triathlon in 2000 and competed in Ironman Lake Placid in 2001. In 2002, she began racing her bike and in 2005 co-founded the Advil ChapStick Women's Professional Cycling Team. Reem was a member of Advil ChapStick for three seasons, racing at the national level. In 2009, Reem returned to triathlon and focused on sprint and intermediate distance events.
The high point of her 2009 season was a second place finish in her age group at the NYC Triathlon. In 2010 & 2011, Reem earned All American Honorable Mention Honors.
Reem has coached all levels of triathletes, cyclists and runners. Having spent a decade working 60 hours a week and also training for triathlon and bike racing, she knows the difficulty of balancing training with real life and the importance of getting the most out of every training session.
Reem is the co-owner of Gazella Performance & Wellness Studio in Skaneateles, New York.
- USA Triathlon Coach
- USA Cycling Coach
- Spinning instructor
- Certified Personal Trainer
(through the American College of Sports Medicine)
Coaching Programs
- Custom program delivered in five-week blocks.
- Monthly phone consultation and bi-weekly email access.
- Online training log included.
- Standard weight training program.
- Initial consultation to determine season goals and race plan for two main racing peaks.
- Race strategy development, such as race nutritional plan, pacing, warm up plan, and equipment suggestion.
- Development of heart rate training zones with field tests.
- Discount on VO2 Max/Lactate threshold testing.
- Discounts on Descente athletic apparel, heart rate monitors, custom race wheels, wetsuits, power meters, and more.
- Monthly fee of $120 with a $150 start up fee.
- Custom program delivered in one-week blocks with unlimited adjustments throughout the period.
- Unlimited email and telephone communication.
- Online training log included.
- Quarterly dietary analysis and counseling.
- Customized weight training program.
- Initial consultation to determine season goals and race plan for unlimited number of races.
- Pre and post race nutritional planning.
- Race strategy development, such as race nutritional plan, pacing, warm up plan, and equipment recommendations.
- Development of heart rate training zones with field tests.
- Includes development of bike power meter training zones if available.
- Includes VO2 Max/Lactate threshold testing twice per year if desired.
- Monthly fee of $250 with a $250 start up fee.
Please contact Reem with questions or for program details.
email: email@example.com or call: (315) 263-7575


text:
This time the famous tester, Michael Bolton, facilitated the European Weekend Testing session. He provided a link to an audio file: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/science/#episode13 It contains an interview, an episode in a radio series that he has been talking about for a long time, called How To Think About Science.
MB stated that it has nothing to do with testing, or did it?
With respect to other Weekend Testing sessions, this session did not had to do with testing an application. It was more likely listening to other sciences and taking advantage of that information. I believe it was an interesting session.
Anna Baik (Facilitator)
Ajay Balamurugadas,
Michael Bolton, (Guest Facilitator)
Ken De Souza,
Markus Gärtner (Facilitator)
Jaswinder Kaur Nagi,
Ian McDonald,
Thomas Ponnet
Dr. Meeta Prakash,
Richard Robinson,
Jeroen Rosink,
Artyom Silivonchik
The mission as provided was:
"Listen to the recording. Take notes on what you're hearing, with the goal of capturing lessons from the interview that might usefully influence how we test, and how we think about testing. Stories or patterns from your own testing experience that you can relate to something in the interview are especially valuable."
"Here's the background to the interview, from the link above: On July 3, 1992, the Canadian Fisheries Minister John Crosbie announced a moratorium on the fishing of northern cod. It was the largest single day lay-off in Canadian history: 30,000 people unemployed at a stroke. The ban was expected to last for two years, after which, it was hoped, the fishery could resume. But the cod have never recovered, and more than 15 years later the moratorium remains in effect. How could a fishery that had been for years under apparently careful scientific management just collapse? David Cayley talks to environmental philosopher Dean Bavington about the role of science in the rise and fall of the cod fishery."
I believe you can approach listening in different ways. The challenge what I noticed here is the type of stakeholder you would identify yourself with.
You might be the tester, seeing the story as a metaphor and trying to identify the circumstances you assume to be useful and valuable for testing.
You can hear to it from a process point of view, call yourself the "manager". Or perhaps you are the historian, trying to find facts and similarities perhaps useful for lessons to learn. Perhaps you are the student, trying to see with an open mind what can be learned.
You might even come up with other exciting roles. The question remains: How would you approach such a challenge? Which tools do you need? What back ground is important? How would you focus on the assignment?
For this mission I came up with several options.
1. Would I use the audio-file which could be downloaded and was locked by an password?
2. Would I use the audio-file provided online?
3. Would I actually care for this challenge?
The pre-process
I had the file already downloaded and also looked at the web site with the audio-file. The website also provided me some information/ some background which confirmed the content of the interview as Michael also provided. For me this can be important information. Checking if information is what it suppose to be before actually looking/listening. Perhaps you can place some background investigation under the flag: checking for the history.
When opening both files I noticed that the quality online was better then the downloaded file. I made the decision to listen online accepting loss in connection etc. I also noticed that the file length was >55 minutes. The length of time added a condition towards my approach as normally one hour was used for testing and 1 hour for round-up. I would not be able to spend too much time listening particular part back and again. It also set the context that the chance of loosing time would be there and have to be checked against acceptability as in EWT I was also part of a team. The condition for the team was set to listen for about 1:10 hours.
Before I started I also opened a word document to make additional notes. I allowed myself to make notes starting with the approximate time in the audio file I heard something interesting. The note itself could be a remark, a quote or something I had in mind.
While listening
While starting listening I was again forced to make a decision: Was the person's tone of voice understandable and acceptable for me to listen to? Was their background noise which could distract me? How would the message and even more important which message would be brought?
After a few seconds I felt comfortable, making so now and then notes. And after a few minutes I came up with the conclusion to listen if there are parallels between fish management and test management. I made some notes where I thought it would be useful when explaining or discussing.
I could have followed a path to using my testing skills to see what I would have tested in the fishing process. I decided to leave this as is. The message it selves related to the process in respect to history and how people acted was more interesting for me. Somehow it seems we avoid watching to other disciplines and use the lessons they already have learned. Why are we so eager to make our own lessons learned?
So now and then I stopped and replayed the audio to capture the context correct. There were words I didn't understand and made the conclusion if it was necessary to understand the meaning of the word or the context. If not, then continue listening. Some side help was also available as certain words were explained by Michael. After a few explanations he provided I came up with the idea that he posted those words while listening also. Somehow it was useful to check if I was still on track looking at the time those words were mentioned in the audio. Of course it was not a reliable check, at least it gave me some information I acted on.
I started listening more carefully with lesser interruptions focussing more on the process and how I would translate it to testing.
Somehow during the session it was mentioned that after about 52 minutes the interesting part was told. When the audio file hit the 52 minutes I listened a bit further and found out that after that 52-minute-border some interesting information was provided. At least I valued it as useful.
The wrap up was also interesting, some were able to follow the discussion, some also draw the conclusion between fishing and testing. Either it was related to current certification for testing or fishing; or it was fishing for bugs.
Others were able to identify test objects with respect where the process failed. Or under which conditions/ requirements the fish had to be identified.
My wrap up
I see some comparison to testing. It didn't take this audio to investigate what is said, I used it how I can translate the context to testing. There is a lot to say about this. The major conclusion I see here is that the fishermen learned that people are the target of management (49:xx) instead of the fish. The government provides quota (or testers certifications) and they own the fish now.
There is misunderstanding in measurement, scientific figures provided also by commercial parties tells that there is fish, the fisher cannot find them. Perhaps here the analogy is that commercial grounds are there to believe certification programs over craftsmanship.
They mentioned several mistakes like dealing with certain assumption, in the past an answer was provided to stop for a few years and everything would heal. Don't complain now. Perhaps this is also with testing/certifcation0 the numbers are referring that it is necessary. Is it good also?
I think as in the audio, we are generalizing the context and believing one solution fits all, and avoiding looking to other relationships
I believe there is more to learn when time was available.
Amazing how we were able to carefully listen to 55 minutes finding our own understanding about this. Imagine you were listening to stakeholders, would you believe you missed now already interesting information, what would it be you remembered from your stakeholders :) or even: what would you miss and still able to deliver the appropriate value?! :)
Lessons Learned
I believe that out of every process you can learn lessons. Lessons learned are something different then learning specific skills. I believe you have to see things in broader perspective. Related to this session I can come up with the following lessons. Some of them are related to testing, some are related to history, some are related to processes and management. At least they are mine. Perhaps you can also learn from this.
Here some lessons:
1. Be aware of the audience and also which role you take in the process
2. You can learn also from other sciences. They can be a useful source
3. Sometimes you have to focus on the objects of testing, sometimes you can listen/watch the process.
4. If it is already hard to listen careful to a person for about an hour, and you know you miss something due to time pressure; imagine how the chance of missing issues is when your review documents.
5. The perspective about the approach can and might change. You need to be flexible as long as you keep track when and why you changed your mind
6. An audio file is also an expression of verbal communication, although the tone of voice is non verbal. This file provided more information then a written transcript, it is important to talk with the stakeholders, not only read their requirements. (although SMART) :)
7. Don't take anything for granted, not the scientist, government, figures and the so called facts.
8. Certificates (or fishing permissions provided by governments) should not be the goal, maintaining the business and supporting them by using the means useful and wise with respect for continuity is more important then short term profits.
9. As testers we have to continue working on our craftsmanship; certification and skills are not a guarantee of using it properly.
10. It was a fun weekend testing session with another mind set
For those who also want to be challenged by challenging yourselves, you might take part on one of the weekend testing sessions and teach yourselves!
Don't hesitate to participate!
For more information see:
Website: http://weekendtesting.com/
Or follow them on twitter:
Weekend Testing: http://twitter.com/weekendtesting
Europe Weekend Testing: http://twitter.com/europetesters
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
EWT22: Test Fishing for bugs and mismanagement
Posted by Jeroen Rosink at 11:55 AM 2 comments
Labels: EWT, Testing in General, Weekend testing
Monday, June 7, 2010
EWT20: Your verdict as bugadvocate
Usually I post a blog the same week I attended the weekend testing session. Unfortunately I was not able to post last week. This is the session of previous week. Nevertheless, an interesting session it was.
Anna Baik (Facilitator)
Ajay Balamurugadas
Tony Bruce
Markus Gärtner (Facilitator)
Jaswinder Kaur Nagi
Phil Kirkham
Mona Mariyappa
Ian McDonald
Thomas Ponnet
Jeroen Rosink (thats me: twitter: http://twitter.com/JeroenRo
Product and Mission
Product: OpenOffice Impress
You're assigned to the triage meeting of OpenOffice.org Impress. Go through the bug list and make your position clear. You as a team are expected to triage at least half of the bugs today, as we want to ship the product next week.
Approach this time
Personally I prepared this session a bit by reading information about Bugadvocacy, I knew that there is information on the we about this.
This is what I found with a quick search and valued it.
Slides Cem Kaner
Great video!
Article from Mike Kelly
I'm certain there is more valuable information on the web. Drop me a line if you have some good additions related to this topic.
Weekendsession EWT20
This time we were asked to take some role: project manager, programmer, tester, conference presenter (user), CEO (user), student (user). Somehow we managed to stick to it and also lost it because we made our own assumptions about the meaning of the role. Perhaps something to learn from?
During the session we decided to work as a team. Initially we were up to divide the judgement the tickets based on priority. During the process based on the performance we got the list divided in batches by the project manager :)
Although we tried to define the meaning of a good bug ad how to judge it (for example based on the mnemonic HICCUPPS) we managed to jump into the issues.
History: The present version of the system is consistent with past versions of itself.
Image: The system is consistent with an image that the organization wants to project.
Comparable Products: The system is consistent with comparable systems.
Claims: The system is consistent with what important people say it's supposed to be.
Users' Expectations: The system is consistent with what users want.
Product: Each element of the system is consistent with comparable elements in the same system.
Purpose: The system is consistent with its purposes, both explicit and implicit.
Statutes: The system is consistent with applicable laws.
That's the HICCUPPS part. What's with the (F)? "F" stands for "Familiar problems":
Familiarity: The system is not consistent with the pattern of any familiar problem.
Although we might be aware of our individual understanding about good bugs and bug processes. I keep believing that it is important for a team to come to a mutual understanding about the process and the definition when a bug is written good and when a bug is a bug.
As usual in the Weekend testing sessions, the discussion is very useful. Also this time. I mentioned the idea about writing some kind of "bugadvocacy manifesto" perhaps this can be part of a session in the nearby future.
Lessons learned
The following lessons I learned at least from the session:
1. When process changes monitor if every one understands and joins the change
2. When tickets are send to a later moment, also define a process how to continue with it
3. In this hour investigation is done. That should be logged in a way. Preferable is the ticket itself
4. Judging bugs is done in several ways. Sometimes I think the quality of the bug is missed due to focusing on impact of the issue. Understanding is just a part of the quality of the bug
5. Judging bugs must be done within proper perspective of version, environment, reproducible and value,….
6. Before jumping into list of issues, make agreements how to write down the outcome of a bugadvocacy
Some conclusions of this session:
We came up with a list of issues which should be solved to answer the question of a "saver" go live. Looking back to the transcript I noticed that we accepted the judgement of each other. We didn't spend time to explain against which conditions the bugs were judged. Perhaps that should be done also next time.
As it seems, we were skilled to make some judgement about the bugs which were found. There are still lots to learn about judging bugs. Be careful to call yourself a bug advocate!
For those who also want to be challenged by challenging yourselves, you might take part on one of the weekend testing sessions and teach yourselves! Don't hesitate to participate!
For more information see:
Website: http://weekendtesting.com/
Or follow them on twitter
Weekend Testing: http://twitter.com/weekendtesting
Europe Weekend Testing: http://twitter.com/europetesters
Posted by Jeroen Rosink at 10:53 AM 2 comments
Labels: EWT, Testing in General, Weekend testing


text:
You know the situation all too well. You're watching TV, just flipping aimlessly through the channels. Suddenly you come across a film you have seen a million times before. It's already in progress. You're thinking "I'll just watch the next scene, then I'll move on." An hour or two later, when the credits roll, you suddenly snap out of your hypnotized state, and realize you have seen the whole rest of the film.
You have just been subjected to a Remote Killer Movie.
If you got it really bad, you'll also realize that your arm is hurting, because your hand was poised with the remote ready to zap, the whole time you were watching.
Remote Killer Movies are a special breed of movies. They are not necessarily your favorite movies (though they can be), they may not even be movies that you like particularly much. That's the strange irony of the concept.
Let me give you some examples:
The complete opposite of a Remote Killer Movie for me would be my favorite film, Se7en. I would never watch a frame of it out of context. I want the whole experience when I watch it, and don't want to delude any particular scene. I will cover my eyes with my stuffed penguin until I manage to hit that "next" button, rather than see any bit of this masterpiece on TV. On the other end of the spectrum we find a film like Contact. I don't even like this film all that much, and yet I find some of the scenes impossible to zap away from. (Then of course we hit the fluffy beach scene near the end, and suddenly the film has no power over me anymore, which is why it's not on this list.)
So anyway, I sat down and thought carefully about this, and came up with a top 5 list of my own personal worst Remote Killer Movies. Films I find it absolutely impossible to zap away from if I happen to come across them on TV.
Here goes...
1) Where Eagles Dare (1968)
"It was riddled with machine-gun holes. British machine-gun holes. But what the hell, a hole is a hole is hole, as they say."
A team of Allied soldiers must travel behind enemy lines to the impenetrable Schloss Adler, ostensibly to save a captured US general, before he reveals the plans for D-Day to the Germans. The reality, however, is far more dangerous and complicated. So complicated that the whole thing doesn't really make any sense by the end, but who cares? This is precision film-making at the highest level, and Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood are brilliant in the leads.
Must-watch scene(s):
Almost any scene, but particularly the almost wordless sequence where Burton and Eastwood set up for their eventual escape, meticulously planting bombs and getting equipment ready, without a hint of an explanation to the audience.
2) 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)
"You just read that report? Took you this long to steal our secrets?" "How long does it take for your people to steal ours?" "Same amount of time."
A followup to Stanley Kubrick's classic 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), written, directed and shot by Peter Hyams. Roy Scheider plays the man responsible for the first film's failed mission, who must hitch a ride on a Russian spacecraft, to figure out what the hell went wrong. The film ditches almost all of its predecessor's mushroom-induced metaphysical elements, in favor of a straightforward science-fiction action approach, and is all the more enjoyable for it.
Must-watch scene(s):
The Aerobraking scene. The moment where the Russian technician crawls into Roy Scheider's bunk, so he can hold her, while the spaceship enters the atmosphere using an experimental technique. Also, the opening dialogue between Scheider and the Russian representative (played by MacGyver's boss Dana Elcar).
3) The American President (1995)
"We had a nice couple of minutes together. She threatened me, I patronized her. Didn't have anything to eat, but I thought there was a connection."
Michael Douglas plays a widowed president, who courts an environmental lobbyist, played by Annette Bening. A situation that begins to threaten his political future. A smart and funny, but also poignant, dramady from director Rob Reiner and writer Aaron Sorkin.
Must-watch scene(s):
Michael Douglas' speech at the end. Almost makes me cry, and I would SO vote for that guy. Also, all the scenes with the president and his staff, played by Michael J. Fox, Martin Sheen, and David Paymer, among others.
4) Apollo 13 (1995)
"Let's look at this thing from a standpoint of status. What do we got on the spacecraft that's good?"
This is perhaps the best example of a Remote Killer Movie, because I don't really like the film. Director Ron Howard has put together an effective and precise film, detailing the events surrounding the space catastrophe that was the Apollo 13 mission, but it's so mechanic and soulless. It's too American, and there's nothing new under the sun if you're familiar with the real story...
Must-watch scene(s):
.. And yet any scene in mission control on Earth can kill my remote, but one in particular: The "square filter, round hole"-scene where the technicians have to get really creative to give the astronauts something to breathe. Also, Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) trying to put together a start-up list for his buddies in the simulator on earth.
5) Runaway Train (1985)
"You're an animal!" "Worse! Human!"
What starts as a prison movie quickly turns into something quite unique, as hardcore criminal Manny, and a young inmate who idolizes him, escape from a remote Alaskan maximum security facility, only to find themselves trapped on a massive train with no driver! Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, and Rebecca De Mornay deliver career-best performances, and the sight of that steel beast thundering through the snow-covered landscapes is beyond breathtaking.
Must-watch scene(s):
Every scene from the moment the train-driver dies to the cold and bitter end. Ironically, when I get on that train, I just can't get off.
I believe this is an accurate list of my own worst offenders, in terms of Remote Killerness. I considered a few other titles as well: The Fugitive with Harrison Ford, F/X Murder by Illusions, which I've seen a trillion times, Life of Brian or The Holy Grain by Monty Python, and the previously mentioned Contact. Perhaps you've got some suggestions of your own? That's what the comments are for.
Before we wrap this up, let me answer the burning question on your mind: How can I fight a Remote Killer Movie? Is there nothing I can do? No antidote? No Kryptonite? Let me put this as plainly as I can: No, there's nothing you can do. You must sit there and watch the movie till the bitter end.
Well, actually there is one thing that can help you, but it requires that you've stumbled over the film on a particularly nasty type of channel. You see, the only thing that can effectively end a Remote Killer Movie is... A commercial break.


text:
Home > QA Lead Strategic Role D1
QA Lead - Strategic Role Dublin 1
Excellent opportunity with a global company in Dublin 1.
What is there for you:
* Excellent salary * Dynamic leader role in a great organization with open minded working atmosphere * Strategic role focused more on planning and people management * Working with both frontend and backend technologies * Permanent role
The role:
* An all-round role of planning, executing and delivering results to demonstrate a target level of software and solution quality * Planning and designing test for core and off-shore team sprints * Collaborate with other teams and departments and knowledge sharing
Candidate Profile:
* 2 years of Test lead experience * Strong hand on testing experience * Pervious experience in banking, financial services or insurance would be a strong advantage
Apply NOW! Alternatively contact Dominika at + 353 1 4321 567 for more details on this or similar roles
Morgan McKinley is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.
Please note that any references to salary or pay rates in this advertisement and in the salary refinement section are indicative only and should only be used as a guide.
You may return to your current search results by clicking here.
Computer Jobs
18-19 College Green
Dublin 1
Tel: +353 1 236 6636
Job Board website by Strategies
This website uses cookies. Read our cookie policy for more information. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
This website uses cookies. Read our cookie policy for more information. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.


text:
Some time ago, I wrote this piece about trailers taking us all to hell in a handbasket… or something. Maybe it was more along the lines of trailers ruining cinema? I forget. Anyway, the point is: trailers bad.
Well, not really.
But all too often that is true. If they're not showing too much of the film, they're misrepresenting it, if they're not copying other trails that have gone before, they're featuring reviews from fawning, but clearly biased critics. While a well-made trailer can still wow you from time to time, after you've been to the cinema a few times, you've got a pretty good idea of what you're going to see. So the good folks at Cracked put together a spoof video that is slightly mis-titled as "Trailer for Every Oscar-Winning Movie Ever", when in fact, it's a well-observed and executed lampooning of trailers in general. Check out the embed below, and feel free to riotously disagree in the comments.
"Accusation about your sexuality!"
Steve-O is back with an interesting mix of Jackass and the X-factor. Contestants are judged on their ability to sing while suffering shocks or frights. These clips are highly entertaining and if the producers can keep thinking of ways to put of the contestants it could be a Saturday evening must watch!
This is why I love the internet, two of my favourite shows combined.


text:
Get 5% off or get the better offer price when you opt-in for recurring deliveries with Auto-Reorder. Available on UK deliveries only.Learn more
Get 5% off or get the better offer price on this and 1000s more items when you opt-in for recurring deliveries with Auto-Reorder. Your discount is applied from your first recurring delivery.
Shop 1000s of everyday essentials and get them delivered automatically with Auto-Reorder.
Decide how frequently you want your top-ups delivered and we'll do the rest.
With each regular delivery you'll get either 5% off or get our better offer price
100% commitment free, no contracts or paperwork to fill in and you can cancel at any time for complete peace of mind.
Please note images are for illustration purposes and may differ from the product(s) you receive
Covonia Mentholated Cough Mixture 300ml gives you relief from troublesome chesty or dry coughs. It contains the active ingredients, Levomenthol, Squill Tincture, and Liquorice Extract. It works to reduce phlegm and bronchial congestion.
Covonia Mentholated Cough Mixture 300ml relieves the symptoms of a chesty cough and sore throat. It contains active ingredients and expectorants that help to reduce congestion, phlegm, and irritation.
This a non-drowsy formula that can be used for daytime cough treatment.
It works as an expectorant to clear and thin mucus so it is easier to cough up and spit out.
Directions for taking Covonia Mentholated Cough Mixture:
Caution before taking Covonia Mentholated Cough Mixture:
Covonia Metholated Cough Mixture is not recommended for children under 5 years.
Possible side effects of Covonia Mentholated Cough Mixture:
Allergic reactions such as skin rashes, and sodium and water retention.
Covonia Mentholated Cough Mixture contains:
Mixture contains (5ml) Menthol 4 mg, Liquorice liquid extract 0.125 ml, Squill Tincture 0.6 ml.
My other half occasionally gets a very bad cough which used to keep him awake. Now he takes Covonia whenever he gets a cough.and hes good all day and all night. Would recommend this product highly to anyone.


text:
Lifebird #25 – An Owl of Our Own
|Barred Owl / Strix varia
|January 2004
For a few days in February of 2004, a Barred Owl took a real liking to two particular branches on trees in our front yard. Its favorite perch was on a branch stretching over our driveway at about twelve feet off the ground. Nicole and Tamara parked their cars under this branch at night, and more than once while they walked toward our front door, the owl would fly in absolute silence just over their heads. This freaked them out more than just a little bit.
The Barred Owl's distinctive call, "Who, who cooks for you?" was a regular feature of winter nights in our neighborhood that year, and for a couple of years afterward.
Three or four years ago (early 2006 or 2007?) while walking our dog Katie, Joann surprised a Barred Owl that was feeding on a young rabbit just across the street from our house. The owl tried to fly away with its prey, but dropped the rabbit in the snow and never returned to retrieve it. I don't think either of us has seen or heard a Barred Owl on or around our street since.
This photo of a Barred Owl was taken in the Barataria Preserve south of New Orleans, Louisiana in April of 2008. It stood out pretty well against the light-colored oaks and cypresses of the wetland trail, but I would have walked right by it if Joann with her sharp eyes hadn't spotted it.
See lifebird index.