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dahab reef monitoring | clean ups | reef check | environmental education | coral project | masbat bay conservation
Masbat Bay Conservation
Dahab is a popular destination for snorkelers, divers and surfers. The Masbat Bay, which is the main bay in Dahab, is used for these types of water sports, and is often being used as a training area for dive courses and novice snorkelers. Scientists from the Red Sea Environmental Centre (RSEC) in Dahab, together with volunteering biologists and students, are presently observing a human impact on the reefs and its adjacent habitats of apparently substantial magnitude (illegal fishing, building and littering in the tidal zone, environmental unfriendly diving and snorkelling practises, reef walking, etc.).
Importance of Masbat Bay
Project description
After each topic a small report should be written (in groups). Other small group projects will also be carried out (e.g. environmental awareness for locals and tourists, underwater clean-ups, beach clean-ups, habitat mapping of the bay and habitat rehabilitation). All you have to learn will be taught in the training during the first days. The training inlcudes as well a buyoance training for all divers.
Project schedule
MBC2018-II: 30.November - 22. December 2018
MBC2019-I: 12. January - 1. February 2019
MBC2019-II: 30.November - 21. December 2019
(Date = arrival date, training starts usually one day later)
Project prerequisites
*Price is excluding diving equipment! You can rent full dive equipment (except dive computer) for 5 € (+10 % sales tax) per dive at Sinai Divers Backpackers.
Application procedure (long-term volunteers of 5 weeks or more)
Masbat Conservation Project 2013-II, weekly report 5
In our last week we made the final survey dives at Lighthouse. In addition, we even had time for some fun dives. We also made a clean-up dive, in which we collected waste underwater. Natascha gave us a presentation of her bachelor work about the behavior of cleaner wrasses. We then devoted a dive to the study of the cleaner wrasses. We even saw a turtle and a crocodile fish! While snorkeling in the lunch break we discovered Froggy, the long-lost yellow frogfish. The last days of the project we spent with the evaluation of the obtained data and pictures and writing the final report. With this, five exciting and educational weeks of the wonderful Masbat Bay Conservation project passed by. We will remember this time with very nice memories and thank Nina Milton and the team of Sinai Divers for their support and good humor.
Masbat Conservation Project 2013-II, weekly report 4
In the fourth week of the Masbat Bay Conservation project we conducted more survey dives in Mashraba and Bannerfish bay. Nina is guiding the dives in such a way, that there is always enough time to take picture underwater. The dives are great fun! The highlight of this week was our trip to Nabq, a protected area south of Dahab with many endemic plants: Acacia, legumes, succulent plants, mangroves, etc. We could even snorkel between the mangroves and admired the many juvenile fish and upside-down jellyfish. Moreover, we observed herons and osprey. Looking at the ship wreck of Maria Schroeder we got a delicious Bedouin lunch. The next day we made our first fluorescence night dive. Equipped with special lights and filters in front of the mask we discovered the bizarre life of the fluorescent creatures underwater. With this particular event an exciting week came to an end.
Masbat Conservation Project 2013-II - weekly report 2
The intensive training above and underwater showed our first results. We successfully passed the fish test, learning has paid off. As a reward, we drove to a Bedouin dinner in the desert where we enjoyed delicious food and sweet tea. On the next day we did our first calibration dive. We tried to use all our previously acquired knowledge about the fish indicators and the types of substrate during the dive. It was not as easy as we had imagined it to be. We still needed some more practice before we could start with the survey dives. But first we took a fun dive at the Blue Hole where we did not have to count fish or measure substrate. On the following day we also passed the substrate test. Now we were ready for our survey dives! They ran successfully thanks to the training and Nina´s patient explanations. On the first survey dive we also discovered the rare ornate pipefish (Halicampus macrorhynchus). In addition, we were accompanied by another turtle. On the last day of this week we again had time for a fun dive, in which we explored the dive site "Islands". The time flies by so fast here, because it's great fun to dive and collect data for such a great project.
All pictures by Jana Slamaj.
Masbat Conservation Project 2013-II - weekly report 1
Our introduction to the project was presented by Nina Milton in the RSEC field station; it informed us about all aspects of the Masbat Bay Conservation Program. We then started training to identify the indicator fish species we need to learn to quantify fish numbers in the bay. We learnt existing and added new underwater hand signals, so that we can effectively communicate whilst diving and double check our fish identification skills. We watched another presentation identifying corals; again we need to learn these to survey and assess the underwater geography of the bay. Next we went out for the day by boat to Ras Abu Galum. We made three fun dives on the pristine dive sites located north of Dahab. We watched the final presentation about the other substrates we will find in the bay, the different sorts of algae, and again learnt hand signals to check our assessments whilst underwater. We made more training dives to see how much we have learnt and practice identifying the fish and substrates, and also made some relaxing fun dives in the bay to enjoy the area and meet the turtle.
All pictures by Jana Slamaj.
Masbat Bay Conservation 2013-I - fourth week
The fourth week started with a day off and an office day to process data, which accumulated in the last few days. After another day during which we conducted two survey dives, we had another day off because of bad weather conditions. To catch up with our plan after several non-planned breaks, we did 6 survey- and 2 night dives in the next 3 days. Although this was very tiring, we were rewarded with interesting sightings, for example some octopus and sea horses. Now that all transects of the project were finished, we performed some clean-up dives at the end of the week.
EcoTrip to Nabq Protectorate on 30.01.2013
For a change to the survey dives we made a trip to the Nabq Protected Area. The recently fallen rain greened the wadis (dry riverbeds fallen) in a extend that is unusual for the desert. In addition, we explored the mangrove forests and their biodiversity which are essential for coastal protection. Maria Schröder, a cargo ship that ran aground right by the coast was another highlight of our trip. After a traditional Bedouin lunch, we explored the mangroves to look for the frequent "Upside Down Jellyfishes" and we were successful after a long search. This jellyfish is a bottom dwelling species that aligns its zooxanthellae containing tentacles in the direction of the light. On the way back we visited the adjacent Arak-dune system. These specially adapted trees stabilize themselves by accumulating sand and form an extensive root and branch system.
Masbat Bay Conservation 2013-I - third week
The third week began with 2 days off, as our supervisor was out of town. Nevertheless, this did not stop us from diving and exploring other great dive sites around Dahab, like the famous Blue Hole and the Canyon. Some volunteers even travelled to Sharm el Sheikh for a wreck dive at the SS Thistlegorm. Later in the week we did another fluorescent night dive and some Survey Dives in the bay in which we even got to face some seahorses. A relaxing end of the third week constituted a boat trip to the dive sites Gabr-El-Bint and El Shugarrat in the far south of Dahab.
Masbat Bay Conservation 2013-I - second week
At the beginning of the second week of the Masbat Bay Conservation Project, we started with another four survey dives, in one of them we even sighted a turtle. Thunderstorm and heavy rain in the night from Saturday to Sunday caused strong sediment influx in the bay, whereby the visibility became very bad and further survey dives were impossible for the moment. Because of this, we used the following days to extend our visa at El-Tur and to do a trip to the nature reserve "Nabq", which we planned anyway. To get an impression of the condition of the reefs outside of the bay, we did two fun dives at the "Islands" a breath taking, beautiful reef southward Dahab.
Masbat Bay Conservation 2013-I - first week
In the first week of Masbat Bay Conservation project, we had lectures about the current problems of the bay and about the course of the project. By identification and counting of indicator species (fish and corals) we will evaluate the current state of Masbat Bay. During identification exercises and training dives we learned to recognize species that are relevant for the health of coral reefs. A highlight was the first night dive during which we discovered a variety of sea creatures that cannot be seen during the day. Fluorescent night dives are another important part of our project. Prof. Dr. Horst Grunz provided not only the theoretical background for fluorescence under water, but also accompanied us with his self-designed and self-constructed HighTec lamps. Generally, it was a busy week during which we learned a lot about the biology of coral reefs and their protection.
Masbat Bay Conservation II – Review fifth week
In the fifth week we finished the surveys in the Masbat Bay. We had examined all areas of the bay and could start the analysis of the data.
Masbat Bay Conservation II – Review fourth week
Our fourth week in Dahab bestowed us a unique adventure. After a sunny morning a big black cloud bank appeared behind the mountains. A few minutes later it began raining cats and dogs and even hailstones fell down. After the hailstorm, Dahab was a big chaos. All houses were full of water and a lot of dirt and rubbish was washed from the wadis into the bay. In the days after we cancelled all of our survey-dives because of the bad visibility under water. A few days later most of the mud was washed away by the current and we could start again with the surveys. However we determined that a lot of corals didn´t survive the hailstorm. In spite of that disaster we continued the Masbat Bay Conservation Project and analysed the substrates and fish stocks. A few people of our group went in for a trip to the Islands and Eel Garden. After the dives we had some office work to do, for example the Nabq field guide and the analysis of the project data.
Masbat Bay Conservation II – Review third week
We started the third week with a trip to Ras Abu Galum. This diving spot is only reachable over a camel road, so after a short car drive we had to load our diving equipment on the camels. After a ride on the camels over 1,5 h we arrived the bedouin village and enjoyed two wonderful dives. On the way back we rode again on the camels.
By way of variation at the daily survey dives we went to the protected area Nabq. In the wadis (which are dried riverbeds) we learnt a lot about the life in the desert and investigated the mangroves. During a snorkel trip we observed a lot of upside down jellyfish and juvenile fish. On the beach we could marvel at the wreck of the Maria Schröder which ran aground in 1956.
Masbat Bay Conservation II – Review second week
We spent the second week of the Masbat Bay Conservation project mostly doing survey dives. Depending on weather and waves, these were carried out either in Mashraba or Bannerfish Bay. During the dives we optimized the survey methods, and the work became easier with each survey. Nina also showed us two dive sites outside of the Masbat Bay, Rick's Reef and Canyon Coral Garden, where we were lucky to encounter even two Napoleon wrasses at close range, one male and female. Besides the survey dives, we spent the time in the office to work on a report about artificial reefs.
Masbat Bay Conservation II – Review first week
During the first week of the Masbat Conservation Project we learned a lot about the methods of survey dives. We practiced recognizing indicator fishes and –substrates to determine the changes in fish population and substrate composition.
Masbat Bay Conservation - Week review 7. – 14.6.2012
In addition to the transects we started examining seagrass-quadrats. Therefore we measure the canopy height in 5 random places and estimate the percentage of seagrass in the quadrat. Macro organisms are also recorded. This data will be compared to previous years.
During our numerous dives we already saw a lot of rare organisms. For example we saw lots of seahorses, (ghost-) pipefishes and a free-swimming giant moray, which got cleaned by a cleaner wrasse on the way.
On our day off on Wednesday we did a fascinating dive in Eel Garden. We saw hundreds of Red Sea garden eels and lots of Broomtail wrasses.
Masbat Bay Conservation - Week review 31.05. – 07.06.12
As we were approaching full moon, we did a few night-dives to observe the rare coral-spawning, which happens only once a year in some coral species. Unfortunately we did not observe any spawning, but we still had a lot of fun watching the underwater nightlife.
To conclude the week, our whole crew did a dive trip by jeep, where we did wonderful dives at Canyon and the famous Blue Hole. We especially liked the entrance through "Bells" into the Blue Hole.
Trip to Nabq Managed Resource Protected Area 6.6.2012 (Masbat Bay Conservation Project)
On Wednesday we finally did our long expected fieldtrip to Nabq. We therefore got up at an unearthly hour, jumped inside the jeep and drove at what for some seemed like a tremendous pace to our first stop the Umbrella- shaped Acacia tree. Upon our arrival there we took a closer look at the tree, searched the grounds for other brushwood or turned around stones hoping to find whatever flies, creeps or crawls. Later on a few of us climbed the nearby mountain (some more successful than others) to enjoy the impressive view of the Wadi and the sea.
Masbat Bay Conservation Project - Second week 24.-31.5.2012
At the beginning of the second week Isabelle, Brigitte and Viktoria arrived! The RSEC-house is now quite busy and living there together is working great.
The volunteer group is now complete, so we started with the preparation of the Masbat Bay Conservation Project, on which we were then working on the whole week. The preparation included informative presentations from Nina about the Masbat Bay and its inhabitants and substrates, some of which we had to be able to identify. To practise this we did many interesting dives, where we worked with transects of 20 m. There we saw a lot of awesome indicator fishes and many other marine organisms like turtles, sepias, blue spotted stingray, seahorses (!!!), napoleon wrasse etc.
Beside the Masbat Bay Conservation Project we had a meeting with a school class. Corinne, Nese and Vincent made a presentation and discussed some aspects of the protection of reef ecosystems in a playful way with them. The highlight was snorkelling with the 6 to 11 years old children in the Masbat Bay. Now we are looking forward to on the transect work during the next few weeks. Because it is now the time of the year where you can observe mass coral spawning, we will do some night dives the following days and hope to be lucky enough to see it.
Masbat Bay Conservation Project - First week 18.-24.5.12
On the first day of this years' Masbat Bay Conservation Project the recently arrived volunteers passed a check-dive. After being back up on the surface, Nina introduced us to the project.
During the next week we did a few clean-up dives. There is a lot of rubbish that gets blown into the sea from the numerous restaurants on the shore. After these dives we always carried out large amounts of rubbish.
Another dive had the purpose to look for the Blue-striped Snapper and Painted Sweetlips, which are important indicators for overfishing. We came across one Painted Sweetlip and numerous Snappers.
The camel ride to Abu Galum was probably the highlight of the week. Next to enjoying very nice reef-formations, the camel riding was a unique experience.
We are now looking forward to the arrival of the last few participants to really get started with the project.
March, 4th, 2011 - UW- and Beach Clean Up
Today, the RSEC-Team, accompanied by some Sinai Divers Backpackers customers, has completed an underwater clean-up in the area of Masbat Bay (Bannerfish and Mashraba).
For the clean-up dive, we divided in buddy pairs and got large-volume bags for collecting, scissors were taken as well to cut nets around corals. The dive was about 50 minutes, while we made our way from Bannerfish Bay to Mashraba, we have collected lots of plastic bottles, cans, cigarette packages and endless butts, even big carpets and pillows were there, but too big to carry them.
Today's afternoon was Friday's big clean-up in Dahab, a big event that will take place, in different areas of Dahab, every Friday.
Then another major question came to every RSEC members' mind: what about the organization? But it appears that, though we were numerous, this event was quite well organized. People formed groups, and helped by some organizers, dispersed themselves to collect trash as efficiently as possible. People had come with gloves and some of them with plastic bags. But plastic bags were also provided for those who had none. Some people had shovels and rakes, which proved to be very much useful. There was also a loader and several camions to collect plastics bags already full. And even water, and biscuits were distributed to the participants.
Nevertheless, it was hard work with the sun heating hard, the wind blowing and throwing dust in your eyes and there were much to be done. In every corner, Dahab itself seemed to have turned into a dechetery. Somehow, one Egyptian sentence, before the beginning of the event, was not so far from reality « Instead of cleaning Dahab you should clean yourself », though I think it meant more, that we should stop taking Dahab for a bin and stop throwing everything away in the street rather than cleaning Dahab once a while.
As we had finish the clean-up and were going back to the station, I was actually surprised to see that many people were cleaning the streets and sweeping in front of their shops or restaurants… and, though much work would have been needed, the streets did look much better after the clean-up than before. As we can say, unity makes strength, so if everybody do its share of one work, everything is possible.
All in all, though it was hard work, I reckon this clean-up had to be done and I will join Friday next cleaning with pleasure and invite everybody living in Dahab to join as well.
|Masbat Bay Conservation - November 2010
Two weeks ago we started with the Masbat Bay Conservation Project. We arrived here by taxi in the new RSEC-headquarters-camp! Everything is nearly brand new. In the court we relax in the evening and we feel very cozy. During the first days ...we had some presentations about the method and aims of this project. And of course we had to learn all the fish indicators and different kinds of substrate. During several dives we had the possibility to practice a lot and even if we had some problems with our transect-line we managed some test-transects. Few days ago we had to demonstrate our ability to distinguish the different fish species and kinds of substrate. We are quite sure that we all passed the tests and hope that we can start with our surveys soon.
Masbat Bay Conservation - March 2010
Hooray! Having finished most of the substrate and fish transects, we finally started the sea grass monitoring today. For this part of our project, we constructed several one by one meter quadrates that were laid out at depths of twenty, fifteen and ten meters to the left of Bannerfish Bay. Within the quadrates we will monitor the percentage of cover, the species of sea grass, canopy height and macro fauna. The quadrates will be part of a long-term monitoring, making them a PERMANENT installation on the seagrass in Masbat Bay. We would like to ask you not to touch or move the quadrates in any way, since it would affect the accuracy of the data we collect!
take a look at our videos below as well!
Trip to Nabq protectorate on 10.3.2010 with Volunteers of this project
Normally our primary work takes place at Masbat Bay, right in front of beautiful Dahab, but after a week or so we were also eager to explore some of the surrounding area. Organized by Chris and Nina, our daytrip to Nabq, a protected reserve located a mere hour's drive to the south of Dahab, provided a great opportunity to see some more of the countryside and exceeded every expectation we might have had that day.
by Eike Steinig
Masbat Bay Conservation - Clean Ups after the storm & wadi flood this year
Coral reefs and seagrass beds are fragile ecosystems. Their delicate balance can easily be destroyed, particularly through anthropogenic influences – including rubbish and all sorts of things that just don't belong in the water. Plastic is found everywhere – unfortunately it takes a small eternity to disintegrate. The plastic constricts animals' movements or kills through starvation, exhaustion, or infection from deep wounds caused by the tightening material. The animals may starve to death, because the plastic clogs their intestines thereby preventing them from obtaining vital nutrients. When plastic film and other debris settle on the bottom, it can suffocate immobile plants and animals. In areas with some currents, such as coral reefs, debris can wrap around living coral, smothering the animals and breaking up their coralline structures. The impact on the ecosystem is terrifying, and this is only a one part of what can be found down there. Moreover, who would like to dive through a sea of trash and rubbish? Imagine coming to your favorite chill-out spot and everything is covered in filthy garbage – well, that's what it is like in some places of the bay, especially on the sea grass beds close to the main promenade.


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@ Mandan
June 2nd, 3rd & 4th
Thursday, June 2nd
G1: W1 Century def. E4 West Fargo 4-0
G2: E2 Fargo North def. W3 Jamestown 3-0
G3: E1 Fargo Davies def. W4 Bismarck St. Mary's 3-0
G4: W2 Minot def. E3 Fargo Shanley/Oak Grove/Park Christian 2-1
Friday, June 3rd
G5: W3 Jamestown def. E4 West Fargo 1-0 OT
G6: W4 Bismarck St. Mary's TIED E3 Fargo Shanley/Oak Grove/Park Christian 2-2 (BSM 2-0 F/SO)
G7: W1 Century def. E2 Fargo North 2-0
G8: E1 Fargo Davies def. W2 Minot 3-2
Saturday, June 4th
5th Place: W3 Jamestown def. W4 Bismarck St. Mary's 1-0
3rd Place: E2 Fargo North def. W2 Minot 3-1
Championship: W1 Century def. E1 Fargo Davies 1-0

subset: commoncrawl


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Over the past three weeks, we have sadly heard of five perioperative mortalities. Although I have not been directly involved with any of these cases here, the thought of a patient not surviving surgery unnerves me. I think we all know that a perioperative death, while always a possibility, is not common at our home institutions; certainly not in the operating room. When one does happen under our watch, it takes a while to recover from the experience. One can't just roll into the next case; some decompression time is needed. Yet the residents here have all for the most part been involved with at least one perioperative death. They understand that in this setting sometimes negative outcomes happen, and sometimes that negative outcome is perioperative demise. I still have a difficult time with the thought of one of my patients not surviving a surgery, as I'm sure most of my US counterparts also do with regards to their patients.
Sometimes there is nothing you can do. A 14-hour postpartum hemorrhage patient with a Hb of 3.5 and in likely DIC at presentation. An infant with massive sepsis who develops bradycardia unresponsive to atropine and epi. These types of cases are heart-wrenching. Then there are also the ones where things possibly could have gone differently. Maybe if the CT scanner were working; perhaps if a compartment syndrome had been recognized earlier at the rural health center; possibly if a different dose of a medication or a different, currently unavailable, medication could have been used upon arrival to the hospital.
At other times, some near-misses have been witnessed. Usually it is no specific person's fault. Partly, it is a systems issue or a procurement/equipment problem. Lack of communication among departments, help, blood, supplies, etc. We all work with what we have. Unfortunately what we have in developing countries sometimes is not enough. But sometimes there is a distinct action or decision that could have been taken that could have changed outcome. Once the dust settles, these actions and decisions are there for us to analyze in hindsight so that we may learn from experience. It is our duty to learn from these types of experiences. In this regard, I think the correct steps are being taken here. First, education is paramount, and a strong emphasis exists on improving anesthetic training in Rwanda. I truly and humbly hope we are helping on that front. Second, the system is changing to facilitate patient care, albeit more slowly than one would hope. Third, possibly dangerous situations that should be avoided if at all possible are being increasingly recognized and proper action taken. Prevention is key. If life-threatening events do occur, they must be recognized quickly, and acted upon even faster. As anesthesiologists and residents we need to constantly be vigilant, both of the patient and of the perioperative environment. We need to know what to do in case X happens, how to do it, and have backup plans. I believe these points are applicable globally no matter what the operative setting.
We should always be learning; we should always be reading. We cannot afford to say "that's good enough", regarding either our knowledge base or patient care. No should ever be able to say that our job is boring, inactive, or intellectually non-stimulating.
The lessons are there for us, whether Rwandan or American, to learn.


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I've been taking quite a few walks through Central Park recently, and would like to share some of those city views with you.
First of all, I wish to honor a spring tradition of showing the tulips blooming in the planted areas in the middle of Park Avenue.
These tulip photographs are specially taken for Merisi whose blog Vienna for Beginners is a treat.
Yellow cabs and yellow tulips and yellow traffic lights with luxury buildings as a background.
Walking back through the Park on my way home, I had to take some pictures of pink flowers with blue sky behind.
The brilliant green lawns looked quite good, too. Young children were perfecting their walking skills
Some trees were flowering in a deeper rose.
Here is another view of the same area, just to show you all how lush the Park can become as spring takes hold.
Pretty blue flowers have taken over from the daffodils that were flowering here last week.
Tulips were at full bloom...very large blossoms.
I came home, and baked some cookies for my former workmates at the shop.
I made simple brown sugar butter cookies, and had a bit of fun creating some tracks along the flour left after the first batch of cookies was baking in the oven.
Here's another photograph of a mid-baking session moment, and now here's a photo of the cookies ready to be carried down to the shop.
It was lovely to see my buddies and to thank them again for the swell farewell party they gave me.
Tomorrow is my cousin's birthday, and I've mailed her the following little watercolor birthday card I painted a few days ago.
Earlier today, I took another walk across the Park and made my return walk via a stretch of fashionable Madison Avenue. I do love the fanciful dresses on display at Morgane Le Fay.
In the bright midday sun shadows cast by the painting on the window repeated the window message below. I wish my photograph were more clear.
Gorgeous hellebores caught my eye as I passed by a very elegant Upper East Side townhouse. Aren't these colors subtle?
Just across the street from the subtle hellebores is another scene filled with bright light and sharp angles.
Nearing the Park again, the view of model boat pond is filled with gentle, muted colors.
I like the patterns of the sidewalks on the Central Park side of Fifth Avenue. Lots of inspiration here for some knitting.
Daffodils are still blooming in certain parts of the Park.
Park gardeners had left their tools behind while taking their lunch breaks.
Motor vehicles are allowed access to some of the Park's roadways. I imagine that the drivers of these taxis are glad to see some natural beauty.
No motor vehicles are allowed on this tranquil pathway. I wish that you could also hear the bossa nova saxophone music being played nearby.
If you look carefully in the triangular space just behind the air conditioner unit, you will see...a bird's nest. I was attracted to it by birdsong I heard walking past the building. I stood very still and waited a while, and then actually saw the singing bird pop back into the nest.
As you all can see, I'm really enjoying these early days of my retirement. Thank you all for your visits to my blog and for your kind comments. It's a pleasure to share this time of transition with you all.


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5 Proven Initiatives to Optimise Costs in IT
The global economy routinely cycles through periods of strength and weakness. Similarly, most industry verticals also wax and wane as market forces fluctuate. But through it all, good times and bad, companies continue seeking ways to cut costs. And why not? As Ben Franklin famously advised, a penny saved is a penny earned. With this in mind, here are five ways to save money that you shouldn't overlook.
#1) Standardise and Automate ProcessesMost IT departments are plagued with processes that have been cobbled together over the years and are anything but streamlined. Many of these processes incorporate wasteful steps which involve unnecessary human intervention. Even worse, many processes aren't documented and standardised, so they're performed differently each time, requiring personnel to reinvent the wheel over and over. Common processes and procedures should be analysed and reworked to eliminate wasteful steps. The processes should also be documented so that they are performed the same way each time. (Consider using the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) as a documentation tool.) Once procedures have been streamlined and documented, many of them will be good candidates for automation. The degree of automation possible, of course, will be determined by the capabilities of the technology you have implemented across your IT portfolio.
#2) Offer Enhanced IT Self-ServiceSelf-service is the Holy Grail of IT: getting users to handle many of their own problems instead of contacting the IT service desk at every turn. IT self-service also happens to be a great way to cut costs. Gartner has reported that 40 percent of help desk calls can be eliminated through self-service—and some industry experts estimate that number to be more like 60 percent. But that same Gartner report estimates that only five percent of IT issues are resolved through self-service. Enhanced self-service is a great cost-cutting opportunity that most companies are simply overlooking. The Gartner report also notes that a key to enhancing self-service is the quality and capabilities of the tools used: "The right 'companion' tools and processes are prerequisites for a successful implementation." The report also notes that if the proper tools aren't chosen, costs can be counter productively increased when trying to enhance self-service. This is where your ITSM tool comes into play. What are the most important qualities to consider when implementing self-service?
- A Community Feature: The tool should provide the ability for users to seek and receive help and advice from other users. The social aspect of this capability can be a strong driver in encouraging more self-service participation.
- Easy Customisation: A self-service portal should be easy to customise and configure. It should not require extensive development resources to build, customise, or automate—otherwise you might find yourself facing increased costs through enhanced self-service, as the Gartner report warns.
- Anytime, Anywhere Access: A tool that provides self-service portal access only via desktops will be of limited value in today's business environment. Users typically utilise multiple devices, including tablets and smartphones. The tool must provide a degree of device-independent flexibility that will serve to increase the level of utilisation by users.
#3) Evaluate Licensing and Deployment ModelsThe old model of buying a software tool outright, and then spending additional money each year in support and maintenance costs, is plummeting in popularity. Instead, more organisations are moving to a subscription model. Similarly, SaaS is gaining favor over on-premise development as a means of cutting costs. But there are many factors in pricing models that can affect TCO. And no single model is going to be a silver bullet for every company. The following is meant to be a guide to the options available, and not a recommendation of which is better. That determination will be decided by your organisation's unique circumstances.
- SaaS: SaaS environments offer the benefit of effectively renting an environment. Renting is more expensive than buying, but SaaS offers the potential for huge savings by eliminating the need to hire staff to maintain the systems.
- On-Premise: This model is often chosen to address security concerns and potential regulations. Some companies chose on-premise because they already have the necessary expertise and infrastructure in place. In these cases, on-premise can be a great fit, and can yield some serious long-term cost savings if the system is configured correctly.
- Hybrid Cloud or "Own Cloud": This option is a blend between on-premise and SaaS. If your IT department has its own Azure or AWS environments, you can offload the hardware portion of your solution to the cloud while maintaining strict control of the software environment. Again, costs will be impacted by existing expertise on staff, and the need/cost of employing new people. Evaluating your existing hardware/cloud infrastructure can provide guidance in determining where your company is most comfortable and where it will see the most savings.
LICENSING: SUBSCRIPTION VS. PERPETUALHow you license can also impact TCO—and, as with deployment models, there is no right or wrong way for every company.
- Subscription: Subscription models are great for companies that are growing quickly or that experience constantly changing IT staffing cycles. Subscription can also offset a lump sum purchase by spreading out payments into more manageable, budget-friendly amounts. But exercise caution: Some subscription model contracts are so rigid in terms and time frames that the flexibility benefits of this model can be negated.
- Perpetual: Perpetual licenses are great if you have an established IT staffing core, and if you have a great handle on what you'll need, both immediately and in the future, from your licensed software. And although the upfront cost may be more, TCO over a typical two to five year period almost always shows that perpetual will save you money.
LICENSING: CONCURRENT VS. NAMEDThis will be an easy choice for most companies. In all but the rarest of circumstances, you will save considerable money going with a concurrent licensing model.
- Named: The named license model requires you to purchase a license for each login name. Whether a user name is actively logged in or not—whether they EVER login or not—if you have a login account, then you pay for a license. For the clear majority of businesses, overspending on licenses is a certainty with this model.
- Concurrent: Concurrent licensing requires the purchase of one license for every person CURRENTLY logged in. If you have 300 technicians on staff, but only 100 are in the system at any one time, then you only pay for 100 licenses. Gartner has found that the comparison of named vs. concurrent shows the ratio of licenses needed lies somewhere between 3:1 to 7:1. So, even if a single concurrent license were two times the price of a named license, you'd still come out ahead with the concurrent license.
#4) Expand IT Service Management to Enterprise Service ManagementWhy should the benefits delivered by ITSM best practices and technology be limited to IT? Why not apply the principles of IT service management to other departments within the organisation such as human resources, finance, and marketing? The only reason you wouldn't do that is because you can't do that; most IT service management tools don't enable such broad capabilities and flexibility. But if you choose the right tool, you can streamline operations in multiple business segments while simultaneously maximising the ROI realised from your investment in the tool. And you can avoid the organisational and support chaos that can result from each department attempting to meet their needs by deploying different tools. Using a single service management tool that can capably serve many different business divisions is a wonderful cost-cutting (and headache-reducing) move that many organisations overlook.
#5) Software License ManagementHow many software licenses are you currently paying for but NOT using? At most companies, that number is likely to be quite substantial. Licensed applications commonly exist upon all or many of an organisation's computers, as part of a 'standard image' that's replicated on each machine. But that doesn't mean that every user needs that application. So the application sits idle on many machines, never used—but the license fees must still be paid. Pure waste! Often the problem swings in the other direction: Users are added, with the resulting total number of users exceeding the number of purchased licenses. And when the vendor performs an audit and discovers the extra users, the resulting fines and fees can be quite substantial. The solution is to use a tool that provides software license management capability, reliably providing you with visibility into your license inventory and usage status. And it certainly helps if the vendor you select has a demonstrated history of flexibility in negotiating terms and conditions that will conform to your changing needs. (Yes, some vendors do offer that flexibility!)
Time to Get Busy…If you haven't tapped-in to the cost-cutting initiatives listed above, you're certainly not alone. Most companies are overlooking these easy-to-implement methods of saving money. And that means that with each tick of the clock, your IT department is needlessly wasting money. That's certainly not a good thing, but it does mean that you have a great opportunity ahead of you: five ways to save money that most of your competitors are overlooking. Better get on it! If you're interested in finding out more about Cherwell, contact Leith on 011 656 0020 or email email@example.com for a live demo SOURCE: Cherwell, www.cherwell.com, https://www.cherwell.com/blog/5-proven-initiatives-to-optimize-costs-in-it [Accessed on 18th August 2017]
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Reading have splashed out an initial fee of £400,000, rising to a total of £650,0000, depending on the winger's appearances and success.
And in today's uncertain market in which very few fees are being paid in the Nationwide League, Pardew's move is a bold one.
But Royals' boss said: "I wanted a top player and for that you have to spend top money, but the board have backed me.
"Not many quality players become available and I suppose we have paid a lot of money but I think it is justified.
"We've been professional with our contracts. Players who have left have done fantastically well for us, but now I'm looking to replace them with two or three quality players.
"It is prudent budgeting and even after any more summer signings I'm hoping to break even.
"If you take into account the wages and transfer fee for Scott it's still not as much as I could have spent on a Premiership player on a Bosman, after you add up his wages, so I think we've got ourselves a bargain.
"Scott's an exciting player and I think the fans will find him exciting. The main characteristic of my team is that it is quick and he will fit into that.
"We will have some down days next season but there will be some excellent days and I can't wait for the season to start."
Despite finishing fourth and reaching the First Division play-offs last season, Royals only managed 61 goals in 46 league matches.
But Pardew is confident the signing of Murray, who rattled in 26 goals from a right-wing position for Bristol City last term, will change all that.
And Reading's goal power will again be bolstered considerably with the arrival of a new striker. Wimbledon's David Connolly is top of Pardew's list.
Royals' boss said: "I still want to add another couple of names. A striker is my next priority especially as we've lost Curo (Jamie Cureton).
"There are many reasons I signed Scott, one being his versatility. He can play a number of roles comfortably and very well.
"He will start on the right whether we play 4-4-2, 4-5-1, wing-backs or a diamond formation as I only have Andy Hughes and James Harper who can play there.
"Scott will offer us a goal threat from the flank. That is possibly the reason we didn't get promoted last season because we didn't score enough.
"That's something Luke Chadwick and Glen Little couldn't really offer us or even Sammy Igoe, but I feel with the addition of Scott, and bearing in mind the players we've lost, I've got a stronger team now than last season. It is a smaller, tighter squad though."


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The lamp is made to be clamped on any types of board. The vertical wood stick is made out of solid beech. The wood is simply perforated and allows a tube of aluminum to come thought. The luminous part is an aluminum sheet rolled and riveted inside which are placed LEDs. A polished aluminum disk polished on one side and black on the other is attached to the circle, it allows to makes the light more powerful on one side and prevent it from escaping from the other. This object allows great freedom of movement and therefore possibility of lighting. The aluminum part is easily movable through the wood stick, this allows by a simple translation to adjust the lighting depending on the needs, moreover the lamp can also rotate in the clamps for giving a greater freedom of movement.
Materials : beech wood, anodized aluminum, LED
self edited
pictures : Samy Rio
© samy rio 2018


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Took on a fun, work related assignment to create a fast, easy-to-use photo database for our research group. We work in a variety of places and many of the researchers have been at it for quite a while. As a result, they have deep, rich photo collections. We receive some photo requests from the press and fellow researchers, but often have a hard time locating appropriate photographs to share with others. The goal of the site, located here, is to let people go to the site, read an image agreement, and view and download photos related to our work.
Seems reasonably straightforward, but actually making all the pieces come together was challenging. There's the front end, which requires little user interaction and is pretty straightforward. The backend, however, requires that people be able to easily upload and edit photos. To ensure that individuals are properly credited for their shots, the backend script watermarks the image with the text input into the 'name' field and some generic text. Each photo is then processed into a thumbnail by the server to ensure that the page loads relatively quickly.
Leverages PHP5, MySQL, jQuery, and HTML/CSS.


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Welcome to The May Monster Madness Blog Party!
So, this is what I came up with.
Let me introduce you to "Vamp". He's dancing under the full moon. I love the bleeding heart!
Make sure to visit the other party goers!
Thanks for coming by.
Crow vampires are cool! My little conure is a vampire or at least she has fun biting people and making them bleed! I won't enter this one so someone else can have a chance. :)ReplyDelete
Vamp is your best Dracula-crow yet! Love his cape, the skull and the bleeding heart! And I always liked ALF too, even if he did eat cats.ReplyDelete
Wow! He looks ready to party! You know I love your crows! I think he is dancing to "Dancing With Myself" by Billy Idol! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FG1NrQYXjLUReplyDelete
Vamp is fabulous! I vote for Heads Will Roll by Yeah Yeah Yeahs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auzfTPp4moAReplyDelete
VAMP!! He's a real heartbreaker! :) I've been watching Buffy reruns when I need a "mindless" break from it all these days and Vamp would fit right in alongside the vampire slayer. . .as a "changed" vamp of course. Fighting for good. . . or is it dancing for good? Either way I love him! :)ReplyDelete
I love all your crow vampires. I really like that they are all different, so looking at them take my mind to different places. So yes, keep them biting!
Oh, and I'm pretty sure Vamp is dancing to SexyBack, by Justin Timberlake. :-D
Happiest MMM!
Lovely artwork, and a nice post...
A great weekend to you and yours...
A crow vampire is not something I've come across before! For some reason the Ultravox song came into my head - Dancing with Tears in my Eyes. Don't know why, I'm a rock chick myself!ReplyDelete
Vamp is a handsome crow, indeed.
Lovely too see you at the party 😁
OMG I love love love love love this crow vampire. Happy monster party.ReplyDelete
I was driving to my brother's house today, and at the edge of one of the retention pponds in his neighborhood, a few crows (not a full "murder," I don't believe) were eating something that looked like maybe it was once alive.
Then I came home and read this post.
Oh you can never have too many vampire crows and I love Mr. Vamp he looks very smart with his flowing cape, I reckon he's dancing to Bleed to Feed by CC Adcock & The Lafayette Marquis.ReplyDelete
Omg! Its Alf! Hahaha! This mads my dayReplyDelete
You can never have too many vampire crows!! :D I think he's dancing to 'Transylvanian Concubine' by Rasputina! Thank you so much for joining MMM, my lovely!ReplyDelete
The more vampire crows the merrier! I'd LOVE to own Vamp! I think he's dancing to Dracula's Wedding by Outkast.ReplyDelete
Oh I just adore your Vampire Crows!!!
The bleeding heart adds the perfect atmosphere to this beautiful masterpiece!
I think he is dancing to "Thriller" by Michael Jackson...I can almost see his dance moves in this gorgeous little Crow!! lol
Have a Fabulous Week, Sweetie.:)
Lots of Love & Hugs xoxoxo
Your vampire crows are so cute! I love Vamp! He looks like he is dancing disco like John Travolta to "Stayin' Alive". That would be a bit ironic. :)ReplyDelete
Love your latest vampire crow and all your past beauties too! And what a creative fun way you chose to present your post with your "friends" helping.I still see a children's book in the making for you. You could easily write and illustrate it yourself. You are multi talented and so creative! Vampire crow blessings to you my friend!ReplyDelete
I want a crow vampire painting! Your newest one is awesome.
Thank you for visiting my guest post on Sandra Cox's blog. :)
I want a crow vampire painting! Your newest one is awesome.
Thank you for visiting my guest post on Sandra Cox's blog. :)
Bohemian Rhapsody of course..."...do the Fangdango...thunder bolt and lightening...very very frightening..." Hahahaha :D XXXReplyDelete
Love the painting but my guess is he is dancing to "We got the Beat" by the Go Go's (I dont know why lol)ReplyDelete
I love him! I can't think of what song he is dancing to though, hmmm, okay I'm cheating, I found this on a top ten list of Vampire Songs, perhaps "Future Bible Heroes, 'I'm A Vampire'" I don't know though, he is a cutey though!ReplyDelete
Oh I love Vamp and I'm sure he's dancing to Monster Mash.ReplyDelete
It been a long time since I been to a blog party. Wish I knew about it early.
I would of put on my dancing shoe and party had join in the fun,
Stop in from Mr Rats..I always have a pot of coffee on, stop in when you fine the time.
No, surely he's dancing to 'Transylvanian Concubine'! :)ReplyDelete
LOVE it! I think the moon is becoming a signature for you :)ReplyDelete
He is so beautiful!! I hope you are well my friend. Brightest blessings!!ReplyDelete
Oh my gosh Deborah I forgot Alf ate cats!lol ... Stacy your vamcrow is quite spooktacular! Have a super week!ReplyDelete
Hope you've had a great Memorial Day, Stacy.
Oh my gosh Deborah I forgot Alf ate cats!lol ... Stacy your vamcrow is quite spooktacular! Have a super week!ReplyDelete
Oh my gosh Deborah I forgot Alf ate cats!lol ... Stacy your vamcrow is quite spooktacular! Have a super week!ReplyDelete
AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!! I love your crow art, so cool.ReplyDelete
Oh Stacy what a fun post!!! Hahaha :) maybe Vamp is dancing to 'Staying Alive' or ''Night Fever' or 'total Eclipse' haha LOVE THIS POST!ReplyDelete
I agree with Sunshineshelle-definitely "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees!
I am sorry I have not been around but I have been without a monitor for almost a month. And of course no monitor, no computer. Have logged some time at work, but really too busy with my job to sneak much internet time in :)
Hope you are back feeling better, I'll be in touch.
Have a wonderful evening, Stacy:)ReplyDelete
I am working my way through some of these blog issues. Still can't do some things I used to !!Good to hear from you and as always your crows are fantastic. Big hugsReplyDelete
I always am late for the monster madness posts on all blogs (as well as doing my own) XD maybe next month though!And it is amazing that you turned your post into a giveaway!ReplyDelete
Thank you for taking the time to comment! I'm very grateful! Your words are very special to me! Big Hugs!


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Parallel State Estimation
State estimator is an essential tool for power grid operation. It estimates the states of a power system by fitting the system model to a set of real-time measurement data from remote terminal units through the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. By performing weighted-least-squares state estimation (WLS-SE), the resulting states are an optimal fit with improved accuracy compared with the raw measurements. State estimation provides the current power grid status and drives other key energy management system (EMS) functions such as contingency analysis, optimal power flow, economic dispatch, and automatic generation control. The WLS-SE algorithm is an iterative Newton Raphson process, and requires solving a large and sparse linear system during each iteration. This is the most time-consuming part of the state estimation process. In today's practice, the most common time interval to run the state estimator is 30 to 90 seconds. Today's commercial EMS tool cannot perform state estimation at the SCADA scan rate of between 2 and 4 seconds. As a result, the system status presented to operators is a past status, which could potentially cause reliability problems. With the help of suitable algorithms and high performance computing techniques, state estimation can be solved at the SCADA rate or faster, which allows operators to know system status much faster compared against today's practice.
Figure 1. Parallel PCG compared to MTSuperLU on the SGI Altix 3000: execution time of one iteration in seconds in relationship to the number of processors for a 1177-bus system. Click for a larger image.
At Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, we have studied and implemented different algorithms to parallelize and speed up state estimation on both the shared memory and distributed memory architectures, including parallel preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) based iterative method algorithms and orthogonal decomposition-based direct method algorithms. For example, Figure 1 shows the comparison results between a multithreaded version of SuperLU 3.0 and parallel PCG with Jacobian preconditioner on SGI Altix 3000 (a shared memory computer) for a 1177-bus system in one iteration of the Newton-Raphson procedure. This result shows that parallel CG method is better in both scalability and absolute execution time.
To further reduce the overall computational time, a cluster-based PCG algorithm has been implemented on a cluster-based NWICEB machine using the Hypre library package. The results of different preconditioners are shown in Figure 2, where the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) 14,084-bus system is studied. As can be seen, with Eulicd and ParaSails preconditioners, less than 5-second solution time can be achieved for the full state estimation problem of the WECC 14,084-bus system, which is comparable with today's SCADA cycles.
Figure 2. PCG execution time comparison with different preconditioners on the NWICEB for the WECC 14084-bus system (first iteration). Click for a larger image.
PNNL has tested the PCG method with a ParaSails preconditioner and QR orthogonal decomposition-based approaches using real-world data with weighting measurement equations incorporated. It has been found that while the PCG algorithm can solve the SE problem faster with the help of parallel computing techniques, it might not be good for real-world data because of the large condition number of its gain matrix introduced by the wide range of measurement weights. On the other hand, with the help of the PETSc package, the orthogonal decomposition-based SE algorithm can achieve between 5 and 20 times speedup compared to the commercial EMS tool. Table 1 shows the average computational time for solving the first iteration matrix for the real-world system with 7,500 buses and 9,300 branches on the PNNL Institutional Computing (PIC) Olympus computer, which contains19,200 cores; each core contains a 2.1-GHz AMD Opteron 6272. We expect to see if the parallel state estimation code can run a full-cycle state estimation as fast as the SCADA cycle rate for large systems, which will provide significant help for grid reliability and efficiency.
Table 1. Average computational time for solving the first iteration matrix using PETSc
# of Rows
# of Columns
# of Non-zeros
Average time(s)
Notable Publications
Z. Huang and J. Nieplocha, "Transforming power grid operations via high performance computing," in Proceeding IEEE Power Energy Society General Meeting, 2008.
Y. Chen, Z. Huang, and N. Zhou. 2011. "An advanced framework for improving situational awareness in electric power grid operation." In Proceeding 18th IFAC World Congress (on-line), pp. 12162–12170.
Y. Chen, Z. Huang, and M. Elizondo. 2012. "Value of faster computation for power grid operation." In Proceeding 8th Power Plants Power System Control Symposium., pp. 242–247.
Y. Chen, Z. Huang, Y. Liu, M. Rice, and S. Jin. 2012. "Computational challenges for power system operation." In Proceeding of the 45th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. (HICSS-45), Jan. , pp. 2141–2150. IEEE Computer Society Press, Washington, D.C.
M. A. Elizondo, Y. Chen, and Z. Huang. "Reliability value of fast state estimation on power systems," in Proceeding IEEE Power Energy Society Transmission and Distribution Conference and Exposition., May 2012.
Y. Chen, M. Rice, S. Jin, and Z. Huang, "Parallel state estimation assessment with practical data," in Proceeding IEEE Power Energy Society General Meeting, 2013, to appear.
Book Chapters
Z. Huang and Y. Chen. 2012. "High-performance computing for advanced smart grid applications." In Smart Grids: Infrastructure, Technology, and Solutions. Editor-in-Chief Stuart Borlase. CRC Press Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton, Florida. Jan.
Z. Huang and Y. Chen. 2013. "High-performance computing for smart grid analysis and operation." In High-Performance Computing for Real-Time Grid Analysis and Operation, editors S. K. Khaitan, A. G. S. Aluru, and K. Gopalakrishnan. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.


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Vintage YSL Gold Tassel Clutch
Choose a Way to Rent
|True to Size
The bag was the first thing I added to my cart when shopping on RTR. I was very exciting to have a YSL bag on my shoulder for the Beyonce concert. Once the bag arrived I was very disappointed. The strap of the bag was very short. I couldn't wear it as a crossbody because it looked very awkward and when I wore it on my shoulder it would instantly roll off so I ended up tucking it under the strap of my dress. I was also disappointed by the size of the bag. It was only big enough to fit my phone lipstick and two credit cards. It also didn't have a latch so every time i would start dancing it would pop open and I would be scrambling to pick everything up. I ended not even using the bag by the end of the night. The only reason I gave the bag two stars is because its a vinatge ysl....so beautiful...but so unrealistic for a concert.
LOVE the 70's vintage vibe. Big enough for a lipstick powder compact and cell phone. It really gave some pizzaz to my chic but plain black halter gown. Almost a piece of jewelry!
such an amazing statement bag! Super dramatic and art deco inspired, with a silk cord strap and huge tassels! This bag is a little on the smaller side and can still fit a lot. Love this for any going out or super formal look where you want a bag that will earn you millions of compliments!


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On Tuesday, tens of millions of us will vote in what has been a tumultuous election season. No matter, I vote in every election because I love to vote.
Every insurance agent and advisor should vote too.
The reason I love to vote is that 1) I've traveled enough to know that many people never get that kind of opportunity; and 2) It's the only time I'm as important as Bill Gates, a sitting or former president, every member of Congress, billionaires, K-Street lobbyists, and every registered voter in this blessed land. I'm their equals, in the eyes of the voting booth.
Leading up to Election Day, the day I and thousands of financial advisors have their say, I feel particularly special.
I'm an Independent, which means – in theory – that my vote is up for grabs. That means people should be paying lots of attention to folks like me who live in a "swing" state.
Born in 1966, I turned 50 this year and that means folks like me want to hear about what our leaders plan to do about health care costs, Social Security, Medicare, college financing, global warming, rogue states, alternative energy, habitat destruction and a host of other issues.
Our candidates have pages and pages of position papers on their websites for public view about dozens of issues, but for some reason these carefully thought out positions never seem to quite get across on the TV stage, where this election cycle's debates have devolved into farce.
I can't recall the word "annuity" uttered in any debate at any level in this election cycle, though there is always plenty of discussion about Social Security, the largest annuity program in the country, and that's a good thing.
Give the candidates credit on that one.
Life insurance, long-term care, annuities, fiduciary rules – even if these terms rarely make it onto the public stage – don't despair. Your vote matters.
Every year some people refuse to vote. It's a protest, they say, but what it really is is a cop out. There's no excuse not to vote and not to cast a vote in every race – federal, state and local – on the ballot. If you don't like your choices, write one in.
It doesn't matter for whom you vote, it matters more that you exercise your right to be heard. That's the best advice we here at InsuranceNewsNet can offer you.
InsuranceNewsNet Senior Writer Cyril Tuohy has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. Cyril may be reached at [email protected]
© Entire contents copyright 2016 by InsuranceNewsNet.com Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted without the expressed written consent from InsuranceNewsNet.com.


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Video: Justin Bieber Leaving Miley Cyrus's House in Toluca Lake, LA
Justin Bieber and his entourage were spotted leaving Miley Cyrus's Toluca Lake house in Los Angeles on weekend. He was escorted by two escalades as he drove away in his Leopard printed Audi R8 — and heading to a hookah lounge in Hollywood.
UPDATE: It wasn't Miley's house, it's P.Diddy's son house. Read here.
Watch video:


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Coausphs News
Award Nominations Due 12/31
The Awards Committee will accept nominations for COA awards until midnight on December 31 each year. Nominate your colleagues for these awards: Health Leader of the Year, Local Branch of the Year (small and large branches), Congressional Public Health Leadership, and a new award titled Civilian Outstanding Support of the USPHS Commissioned Corps. The web page for each award mentions the scope, eligibility, and criteria used for selection of winners.


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Whether you're looking to buy, sell or rent, our useful guides below will give you all the information you need to start your journey with us.
If you're selling a property, have a read through our home preparation guide for some quick steps you can take to get the best price for your home. For buyers and sellers, this guide also contains top tips on moving house and decluttering, planning permission information and home energy efficiency advice.
Our tenant fees guide sets out the fees you'll need to pay before you move in, during your tenancy and when you move out of one of our rented properties.
Our handy buyers' guide will walk you through the process of buying a new home, from working our your budget right through to collecting the keys.
Our landlord fees guide sets out the fees you'll need to pay if you want to let a property through us.
< Back
Start again?


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We all know about Google Adsense. We've all seen the ads from Google everywhere. You can also be part of this by registering with them. It's easy and it's free.
There are many services to display ads on your blog or website. Adsense is the best of them all! You need to consider quality over quantity when displaying ads. You may have found another ad provider that will pay more but have you consider the quality of the ads displayed?
The main issue when displaying ads is not to drive away your traffic. Some ad-providers will generate popups or redirection meaning that your readers will get annoyed by your website. Your visitors won't make the difference between your website and the ads displayed. If a popup do occur too often, they will assume that "your website" is generating this annoying behaviour.
Another issue is the content of the ads displayed. If your blog is discussing the latest technology and the ads displayed are about dating websites (even worse, porn sites), you will lose credibility in the eye of your readers.
Google Adsense is ensuring that ads displayed are related with your content or at least with your visitor's traffic. There is no porn, no annoying popups, no nothing. Just plain-clean ads that should not annoy your fans.
Of course, you have to balance the amount of content with the amount of ads displayed. Too much and you will annoy your visitors. Not enough and you won't make a dime.
Adsense can easily integrate in your blog, you website and even your Youtube channel. Thus, you can maximise your exposure on the web and hope for a bit of money each month.
And you, what's your experience is Adsense or other services?
Have a great day!


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Located in the stunning atrium garden at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in central Dubai, Wox is one of the most popular Asian restaurants in the city and a must for all foodies visiting the Middle East.
Though the concept behind Wox is based on typical South East Asian street food stands, the food that the kitchen dishes up is anything but ordinary.
Using a careful blend of spices and flavours, as well as the freshest ingredients in Dubai, Wox manages to elevate humble noodle dishes to the next level. Though most dishes are based on traditional recipes, the chefs at Wox use their culinary skills to give each plate a twist, helping to bring out its flavours and give the diner a real treat.
As the restaurant uses fresh ingredients and traditional street food recipes, many of the dishes at Wox are ready in moments. This fast paced atmosphere and quick service makes the restaurant the perfect choice for business lunches as well as groups looking to fill up on delicious cuisine before heading out to explore Dubai.
Though the dishes at Wox all derives from South East Asia, the restaurant's use of Singaporean, Malaysian, Cambodian, Chinese and Vietnamese flavours and culinary traditions means the food never gets boring.
By using ingredients, ideas and flavour combinations from these diverse and exciting nations, Wox is able to keep their menu fresh, exciting and surprising, ensuring there's always something new to taste, no matter how many times you've been there already.
As Wox is located within the Grand Hyatt, it's the perfect choice for guests staying in the hotel as well as those booked into accommodation nearby. However, as the Grand Hyatt is easy to reach from across the city, all holidaymakers and residents of Dubai will be able to find their way to this extraordinary eatery.
Boasting a string of impressive awards and nominations and a fantastic reputation across the Middle East, Wox is a Culinary institution in the city and a must for everyone visiting Dubai.
Get InspirationAll about where to go and what you can do
360° Restaurant and Nightspot
Perched on the very end of the Jumeira Beach Hotel's Marina walkway, gazing magisterially out into the Arabian Gulf, 360° serves up an ambience as delicious as the beautifully crafted pan-Asian cuisine. Luxury is offered a chic twist here, with only the most contemporary food and entertainment on offer.
Al Hadheerah
Set in a uniquely recreated oasis fort village in the heart of the desert, Al Hadheerah is not just a restaurant - it's much, much more. Located within the Bab Al Shams resort, guests can enjoy fine, traditional cuisine alongside a sensory spectacle of dancing, music and culture under the stars.
Al Makan
Al Makan welcome you with open arms to sample the delights of traditional Arabian fare whilst you soak up the atmosphere of Madinat Jumeirah. The friendly environment is bound to make you feel right at home as you relax with a traditional Shisha and some delectable classic dishes which will warm your heart and soul.
Explore dubai your wayTailor made dubai holidays
For those who prefer to travel at their own pace or to explore places not included in the brochure itineraries, we have years of experience at organising tailor-made holidays.
Create the perfect trip with the help of our specialists
Our expert tour consultants will be pleased to suggest ideas to complement your own and to organise the most appropiate programme to suit your interests, time and budget.
Call 020 3823 7400
to speak with our award-winning travel consultants.
If you would like a member of our team to contact you back, please click here


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Home-Start volunteers visit families at home each week, supporting parents in situations as diverse as isolation, bereavement, multiple births, illness, disability or who are just finding life a struggle.
We have a team of fully trained and supported volunteers. Volunteers are carefully matched with a family depending on their skills and the family's needs. They provide non-judgemental practical and emotional support for families.
On average a volunteer will stay with a family for nine months. If you would like support from Home-Start you can read more here.
We also run two family groups and arrange social events to give parents the chance to meet other parents in a friendly and non-judgemental group environment.
Registered Charity No. 1123768
Companies House No. 6552088


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Monday, July 10, 2006
Lastimosa Interviews The President
"I think, what I have to say is that the Philippine government is strong enough to overcome this. I mean, in fact we've done what should be done as indicated by the arrest (of the Magdalo soldiers), and we will continue to do what should be done," she said in a one-on-one interview by Leo Lastimosa of ABS-CBN 3 Friday night at Hilton Hotel in Mactan. (Details)
4 comments:
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is just lucky enough that the Magdalo rebel soldiers do not have a powerful leadership and logistics to finance the destabilization to overthrow the goverment. And neither have any support from the masses.
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text:
I fully charge the speaker and a couple days later if at that, it won't stay on. I got it last summer. I want to ask on the forum to see if anyone else has this problem.
Hi @Isaac_Schloss,Sorry to hear the SoundCore Spot XL is giving you trouble and won't stay charged. If you fully charge, does it stay on most of the day immediately afterwards? Or is the issue that it is losing power after a few days of being off? At any rate, feel free to reach out to firstname.lastname@example.com for further assistance to see if a warranty replacement is needed.
I have the speaker off after charging and the power level diminishes
Your product should still within our warranty period, you can contact firstname.lastname@example.com, my colleague will glad to help you.
That's definitely not normal behavior. Send it in for warranty repair.


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This week we are writing about famous people: here, elsewhere, past or present. But there's a special condition: write what you like, but don't mention the person's name!
And don't make it too easy, either. If you are writing about someone really famous, be "economical with the truth", as somebody once said.
The idea: write about your famous person. Our readers will then reply with a comment to guess who he or she is or was.
The contributor who attracts the most comments will get an Honourable Mention – and maybe a prize.
Surf over now to the 'Famous People' page!


text:
Micah: The XMLP WG has decided to close issue 358 [1] without taking any action. This was a duplicate of issue 336 [2], the resolution text was: <_336> The XML Protocol WG considered issue 336 today, an issue that you raised on the SOAP spec's statements about the length of URIs. Rather than having some statement containing overlapping SHOULDs (SHOULD support URIs of arbitrary length and SHOULD support URIs of length 2048), it was felt that the existing text already provided appropriate motivation for handling URIs of arbitrary length. Therefore, no change is being made to the specification. </_336> Quoting directly from an email[3] on the xml-dist-app email: <furtherReasoning> ...a MUST requirement hard to enforce: 1) We don't enforce any max number of URIs to be used in a SOAP message which could then be interpreted as saying that we require infinite buffering on a SOAP node. 2) Related to 1), we don't enforce any max size on a SOAP message itself 3) The current text makes it clear that "Any SOAP node MUST be able to handle the length of any URI that it publishes" so we do have a MUST requirement for any given SOAP node. </furtherReasoning> Regards, Don Mullen (on behalf of the XML Protocol WG) [1] http://www.w3.org/2000/xp/Group/xmlp-lc-issues.html#x358 [2] http://www.w3.org/2000/xp/Group/xmlp-lc-issues.html#x336 [3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/xml-dist-app/2002Sep/0118.htmlReceived on Wednesday, 2 October 2002 17:00:01 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Tuesday, 6 January 2015 20:16:59 UTC


text: Mike and I are going away for 10 days from November 26th, returning December 4th. We are looking for someone to come in to our home, twice a day, to feed our two cats, Ben and Grace, and scoop every other day. Price can be negotiable, but we are willing to pay a lump some of up to $150 for the 10 days. We live central, on Avenue Road. My email address is firstname.lastname@example.com, should you be interested or could refer me to someone. Thank-you.


text:
I got tired of waiting for the bases I ordered to come in, so I canceled that order and decided to work with those that came with the minis.
To add some weight to them I added washers and then filled with up with resin. Overall it was pretty quick and lends a lot of balance to the figs as they're now so bottom heavy.
My plans to add some rocks to a few of them as well using a Woodland Scenics rubber rock mold and the resin. That's why some are still unsanded.
I also finished up puttying the Raverscar, Iron Eyes, Lord Hob and a pack of skirmishers. I also did a bit of the work on my Scourge Hound alternate, she got her arms, weapons and head puttied. I still need to finish the back of the hood and the armor plate areas.


text:
This a truly fabulous kit by
The name of the kit is "Gothic Swan".
It is available at
Layouts by CT member
I loved this kit for the beautiful roses.
You will find some Gothic as well as
pretty elements in this kit. There is
pretty prints, solid and the wonderful
scenery papers that Lins puts in her kits.


text:
There's a news story all over the place about a Sudanese woman who was sentenced to hanging for marrying a christian. The only photo of the couple looks very odd. Could her wrist really be positioned that way? The blue background reminds me of 9/11 vicsims or Lanza or the Boston bombers.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014 ... -Christian


text:
Appearance Is Near
Iran's Prosecutor General, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, had previously announced
that the film's producers are under investigation.
Hojjatoleslam Amirifar is one of the figures closest to Ahmadinejad and a staunch supporter of his much maligned chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai. He also leads a series of groups and councils in support of Ahmadinejad's government. Amirifar has been quoted by Fars news agency saying Esfanidar Rahim Mashai would certainly be elected if he ran for president.
Esfanidiar Rahim Mashai has been condemned and criticized by numerous conservative members of the clergy and parliament for his promotion of the so-called "Iranian School of Islam" which they view as a way of spreading nationalist sentiment as opposed to religious ones.
Amirifar has been quoted as saying that the Islamic Republic conservatives are a spent force that will be defeated in future elections by Ahmadinejad and his supporters.
He most recently stated that, despite what conservatives would have everyone believe, the Supreme Leader also supports Esfanidiar Rahim Mashai.
Amirifar's arrest comes on the heels of Ahmadinejad's return to cabinet meetings, following his nine-day boycott of official duties. The boycott began when the Supreme Leader overruled the president's decision to accept the resignation of his intelligence minister.
... Payvand News - 05/03/11 ... --


text:
The Wandering Jeweler
My Story So Far…
I travel worldwide and have done since my first trip to India where I turned 30. I was 'chasing God', exploring both Hinduism & Buddhism. After immersing myself in Hinduism and learning meditation as the Buddha taught, I followed my passion for stones and started chasing gems.
Having a backpack full of stones I traded my way through South East Asia hopping borders and trading semi precious gemstones, in search of precious red rocks and color stones, funds from which paved the way along my route to Indonesia.
Bali captivated me in light of my alignment with Hindu Buddhism and before I knew it I was calling it home.
These days the travel bug is alive and thriving, having almost completely taken over it's host. Latter day travels I'm venturing into that other mysterious continent, South America, chasing Spirit – exploring shamanism & the spirit molecule in ceremonies with my teacher, Don Francisco, in Peru.
So is it any wonder that my jewelry passion is expressed in this line of interesting molecules that we find in the healing & teacher plants and that I embellish the models with gems?


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|DMB Hub
Download the new app from antsmarching.org: DMB Hub. The Hub, News, Tour Central, Live Show Updates, Push Notifications and the Setlist Game.
|Similar News Stories
Away From The World Is Here!Posted by Jake Vigliotti in Album News at 4:32am on Tuesday, Sep 11th, 2012
Of course if you ordered the Super Deluxe version, you have 29 different songs to listen to (counting the CD, bonus Summer Sampler, and the DVD), so you've got a lot of listening to do. But we want to hear your reactions. Hit us up on the ole Twitter or post on our always sanguine message boards and sound off. Albums pretty darn good, ain't it?


text:
A Doula is a valuable asset to your labor team
Professionally trained and certified. Through educational, physical and emotional support, the Doula offers non-medical assistance to you during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum. She is compassionate, knowledgeable, encouraging, and strong.
A little about me
My passion, as your doula, is to help you achieve your best possible birth. In the process, help you feel confident throughout your pregnancy and birthing experience. While you labor, you can depend on me to continually support you physically, comfort and encourage you emotionally while keeping you well informed about your progress; reminding you that you CAN do it.
Everything in my life has brought me here. Here to benefit you.
Becoming a doula is a natural flow of who I have been shaping into since childhood. Honestly, it is who God created to be. Supporting and serving women is my earthly passion. For several years, I have been mentoring girls from adolescence to young adults; from various backgrounds. Consequently, I've had the honor of accompanying some of them childbirth. What a privilege to walk with a woman into motherhood!
My back story:
Since childhood, being a wife and mother is who I longed to be. In the meantime, I had this infinity toward nurturing and caring for a variety of animals. Everything needed a mother. Of course, that mother was me. Finally, by the age of 19 my longing became reality. For over 31 years I have enjoyed the title of wife and mother. And now the most precious title, "Grammy".
Health and Fitness are important to me. My quest for healthy living became my goal when one of my children showed signs of what would have been labeled "ADD". Medication was not the route I thought best for our family. For this reason, I devoured (no pun intended) books on nutrition and natural medicine. I researched many topics for many hours which thankfully led to successfully helping my child.
Through the years, I have tried many forms of exercise. Recently, I added cross-fit to the list. While I still enjoy hiking and peaceful nature trails, there is something satisfying about an intense workout!
In Conclusion, how can my life experience benefit you in labor and birth?
You will have my loyalty and compassionate care. I can provide you with evidence based information from research. You can have a peace-filled room with steadfast strength as you need it.
Enough about me, I'd rather learn about you!


text:
Email Newsletter
Join thousands receiving hot new sex related articles, goodies, and great deals.
A forced orgasm occurs even when a person is trying not to orgasm. This is a common element during BDSM play, particularly dominant/submissive scenes. In order for a forced orgasm to occur, a submissive partner must attempt to delay orgasm while the dominant partner stimulates their genitals and other erogenous zones in an attempt to bring on an orgasm. This can be done by performing vaginal, oral, or anal sex, but it usually occurs with the help of vibrating sex toys. A submissive partner is also usually restrained with rope or other bondage equipment while a dominant is attempting to give them a forced orgasm.
Forced orgasm is typically a very stimulating and erotic experience and has advantages for both submissives and dominants. For the submissives, it is a way to feel a great deal of pleasure at the hands of the dominant. The feeling of helplessness can heighten the experience and make the practice even more pleasurable. A dominant partner can use forced orgasm as a way to punisher control a submissive's orgasms or punish naughty behavior, while still giving the submissive a great deal of pleasure.
Join thousands receiving hot new sex related articles, goodies, and great deals.


text:
Monday, May 6, 2013
July 2012 Leftovers
Posted by Dana at 7:37 PM 0 comments
Grandma and Papa's July 2012
|Once Danica used this toy, she was walking like a pro!
|Grandma and Papa have a lot of critters running about.
|Loading up the materials to make a teepee.
|This is serious business, People.
|Teaching Cole and Vance to make bread.
|BB time!
|Papa found and fixed up his old Daisy BB gun.
|My first time shooting- ever. This picture is so patriotic, no?
|Two beautiful girls
Posted by Dana at 7:32 PM 0 comments
Outdoor Education Center July 2012
I was not impressed with how this camp was run, and Caden didn't like it either. However, he did get to go on a zip-line, shoot BB guns, and do other fun activities.
Posted by Dana at 7:10 PM 0 comments
Fullerton Stake 4th of July 2012
Annual party with the Fullerton Stake at Tri-City park. Nothing like pancake breakfast with a side of ice cream.
|This looks like a lot of people, but there were many more not pictured here.
Posted by Dana at 7:05 PM 0 comments
Calee's Birthday July 2012
Posted by Dana at 6:50 PM 0 comments
June 2012 Leftovers
Posted by Dana at 2:46 PM 0 comments
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text:
October 21, 2013 – Chairman Park Jong Soo of the Korea Financial Investment Association and the International Council of Securities Associations addresses Korea's growing investments in America and opportunities for Americans in Korea. The U.S. is Korea's number-one investment destination at over $17 billion a year, and growing through new partnerships and across diverse areas, including financial markets. Chairman Park speaks to cross-investment opportunities in the financial sector and regulatory challenges.
For more information, please visit the link below:
출처: Korea Society – http://feeds.koreasociety.org/~r/TKSPodcasts/~3/rKLhs8-sESE/2013-10-21_KoreaUSCrossInvestmentOpportunities.mp3


text:
Green Curry Chicken Noodle Stir-Fry
Amber and I had a lot of fun cooking this recipe 'Huey' style with a gas wok cooker while on our Sydney Holiday. I actually made it twice while we were...
corn, coriander, +beans, +brown sugar, +chicken, +chicken broth, +coconut milk, +fish sauce, +curry paste, +noodles, +lime juice, +onions, +vegetable oil
Coco-Banana's Thai Green Vegetable Curry
A healthy, tasty way to eat mixed vegetables! I have it over brown rice. You could use any vegetable you want, but I have listed the combination that I...
corn, coriander, +basil, +broccoli, +coconut milk, +garlic, +ginger, +green beans, +green chilies, +lemongrass, +onions, +salt, +peas, +sweet potato, +zucchini
Green chicken curry
corn, coriander, +chicken, +basil, +chiles, +fish sauce, +cream of coconut, +julienne, +coconut milk, +salt, +white pepper, +coriander seed, +cumin, +shrimp paste, +galangal, +lime zest, +lemongrass, +shallot, +turmeric, +garlic
www.bbc.co.uk - Similiar recipes
Thai Green Chicken Curry Recipe
The name "green" curry derives from the color of the dish. This mild curry can be made with meat, duck, chicken, fish or vegetables and is usually eaten...
coriander, +evaporated milk, +peppercorn, +basil, +eggplant, +galangal, +green chilies, +lemon grass, +kaffir lime leaves, +curry paste, +fish sauce, +curry powder, +vegetable oil, +black pepper
www.grouprecipes.com - Similiar recipes
Green Curry Chicken Meatballs
Nice fingerfood. Yummy with sweet chilli sauce or (my favourite) a mix of soy, rice wine vinegar and chili/sesame oil.
coriander, +bread crumbs, +eggs, +curry paste, +chicken, +onions, +salt, +vegetable oil
Thai Green Curry Recipe
Easy Thai Green Curry Prep:20m
coriander, +chicken, +garlic, +green chilies, +green pepper, +lime, +coconut milk, +soy sauce, +spring onion, +ginger
www.grouprecipes.com - Similiar recipes
Green Curry (Vegetarian)
Green because of all the green vegetables in it, not because it uses green curry paste. An Indian-style curry from Anna Thomas' "The Vegetarian Epicure...
coriander, +cayenne, +rice, +garlic, +ghee, +ginger, +green beans, +green chilies, +black pepper, +cinnamon, +cumin, +turmeric, +hot paprika, +lemon juice, +onions, +potato, +salt, +spinach, +water, +zucchini
Green Curry Sauce (Light)
A green curry sauce made with "fake" coconut milk. From Diabetic Living July/August 2007 page 112.
coriander, +black pepper, +brown onions, +garlic, +ginger, +green chilies, +cumin, +lemongrass, +coconut milk, +water
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text:
"Yanks Don't Need to Give More Stadium Documents" NY Times 7/31/9
Yanks Don't Need to Give More Stadium Documents
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Published: July 31, 2009
An Albany judge has quashed a subpoena demanding that the Yankees provide two Assembly committees with far more documents about the financing of the new Yankee Stadium than the team has provided.
The subpoena was a central part of the contentious exchanges between Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky and Randy Levine, the Yankees' president, over more than $1 billion in city-issued, tax-exempt financing for the stadium, and new jobs creation, ticket prices and the appraised value of the stadium's real estate.
State Supreme Court Justice John C. Egan Jr. rejected the Yankees' argument that Brodsky lacked the legislative authority to issue the subpoena. But in an opinion dated Wednesday, he wrote, "I do believe the Yankees have made a good-faith effort to comply with the subpoena, culling through and producing a great deal of documents for inspection by the Corporations Committee," which Brodsky chairs.
Egan called it "unreasonable" for the Yankees to go through more than 2,000 boxes of documents and more than one million e-mails to comply with the "overly broad" subpoena.
"Subpoenas should not be used as fishing expeditions," he wrote. He added that the more appropriate target of Brodsky's investigation into public financing of stadiums for privately-owned businesses like the Yankees should be the city and not the team.
Jonathan D. Schiller, of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, who represented the Yankees, said: "Brodsky lost big time. His subpoena was quashed after an evidentiary hearing."
"It would have been better had we gotten the documents," Brodsky said from Montana.


text:
June 9, 2008
Recently, I've heard some talk about whether at this point in his career Kobe Bryant is comparable to Michael Jordan.
I would have to say, yes.
Comparing the two, Jordan has six NBA championship rings, five MVP awards and was a 14-time all-star. At the age of 29, Kobe has three NBA championship rings, one MVP award, is a 10-time all-star, and he was the youngest player to score 20,000 points in the NBA when he reached the mark Dec. 23 of last year.
Jordan is thought of as the NBA's greatest player ever, and why not? He could take over a game, but at the same time he was a true team leader, who made his teammates better by his own play.
Kobe surely can take over a game (remember the 81 points Jan. 22, 2006 against the Raptors?), but the latter of the two points may have been hard to argue for Bryant in past years. He didn't seem to make his teammates better, but that may have changed this year when guys like Lamar Odem and Pau Gasol had and are still having their best seasons as a pro.
There are a couple of things that may keep Kobe from being known as a better basketball player than Jordan, and, unfortunately, none of them have to do with actually playing basketball.
The first is Kobe's reputation. More specifically, having the reputation as an unfaithful spouse.
Even though all charges accusing him of raping a woman in Eagle, Colo. in the summer of 2003 were dropped, charges like those tend to stay with a person, especially a person of Bryant's fame.
It doesn't matter where Bryant goes for the rest of his career, idiot fans who are just looking for a reason to ride a guy will pull out the rape card usually because they can't think of anything else to harass Bryant with.
Jordan was never accused of raping a woman during his NBA career, and, instead, was looked at as the ultimate role model for kids. I mean, the guy played basketball with Daffy Duck in Space Jam. That ranks him with Santa Claus.
That Space Jam movie is a small part of the real reason I think Jordan is looked at as a god. A lot of Jordan's aura has to do with what he accomplished on the basketball court, but I also think him becoming a walking billboard for dozens of products played a big factor in his Elvis-like status.
Nike put Jordan at a level where no other athlete, and I'm not sure anyone else, had been at when they named a high-top shoe after him and put him in a commercial with Spike Lee.
Nike started the Jordan craze, and then fueling it even more was McDonalds, Gatorade, Wheaties, Ball Park hot dogs and Rayovac batteries, to name a few.
Bryant has or had endorsement deals with Reebok, Nike, Sprite, McDonalds, and I'm sure several more, but he will never become the icon Jordan became. In fact nobody will. When Jordan first started pimping products, nobody else was doing it to that extreme. He started the athlete-endorsement craze, and I don't think anybody else will be able to match the popularity he has gained from all the attention.
So, basically, even though Kobe may be as good of a basketball player as Jordan, he will probably never be as popular, by default.
Look at the Celtics' great Bill Russell. He won 11 NBA rings, but was not a product pitchman the way Jordan was and is.
Although some old-timers regard Russell as the greatest player, he is often forgotten because he is not seen drinking Gatorade during Super Bowl commercial breaks.
The Kobe vs. Jordan debate will probably live on for a long-long time, and maybe forever, but I would guess in 20 years, when both are retired, Jordan will still get the nod as the NBA's greatest player.
Then again, if Kobe wins the NBA title this month, then adds two more rings, and does a movie with Woody Woodpecker, maybe he will take over the throne from His Airness.