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The Miracle of the Obvious/
By Bill Maher
According to the Washington Post, Republican candidates are beginning to retreat from their hardline "repeal Obamacare" stance. Michigan Senate candidate Terri Land "applauds" the expansion of Medicaid into her state, and Oregon's Monica Wehby talks about all the provisions she'd like to keep. Scott Brown hates it, but acknowledges that it has allowed his 23 year-old daughter to stay on his plan. Even Mitch McConnell's new campaign spot talks about "fixing" the law.
Part of the reason for the retreat is that fewer than 40% of voters now favor repeal. But Republicans are also backing away from their direst predictions because they have turned out to be 100% wrong. The moving goalposts of "No one will sign up" and "No one will pay" are dead and buried, again without apology. But the website "California Healthline" detailed all the other myriad ways the scaremongers have turned out to be full of shit.
They said a wave of seriously ill patients would swamp the system – but when you think of it, shouldn't sick people get to go to doctors? In reality, it's been a trickle of new patients – roughly the same number in first quarter of 2014 as there were in 2013. Also, the predictions that hospitals would see a skyrocketing of uncompensated care costs turns out to be wrong. Quite the opposite – as the CEO of the University of Arkansas Medical Center put it, "We have seen a steady decline in our uninsured visits. We did not anticipate this big a drop this quickly."
What? Insuring millions of uninsured people has led to a decline in the number of uninsured people? Who could've seen that coming? Sadly, a lot of people didn't, thanks to four years of relentless and nonsensical propaganda.


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Flexcut KN28 Upsweep Knife
Key Features
- All Flexcut knives are supplied razor sharp and ready for use
- Excellent choice for making concave, convex and shaving cuts
- Comfortable handle for prolonged use
By purchasing this product, you are confirming that you are AGED 18 or over and that the person receiving the delivery is also over 18. Please note that we do occasionally ask for proof of age.
Options and Pricing
|Product Code
|Product Description
|Flexcut Carving Knife - Upsweep Knife KN28
The Flexcut Upsweep Knife is designed for incising and carving detailed designs. A versatile knife, the curved blade makes it easier for both carving and shaving type cuts.
|Specification for Flexcut KN28 Upsweep Knife:
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subset: commoncrawl


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Hart Health Strategies provides a comprehensive policy briefing on a weekly basis. This in-depth health policy briefing is sent out at the beginning of each week. The health policy briefing recaps the previous week and previews the week ahead. It alerts clients to upcoming congressional hearings, newly introduced bills, regulatory announcements, and implementation activity related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and other health laws.
- Republicans Finalize Party Platform
- Administration to Support Rural Areas Fight Addiction
- PCORI Approves $153 Million in Comparative Effectiveness Research
- Health Care at the Republican National Convention
- Zika Update
- Democrats Release Party Platform
- Recently Introduced Health Legislation
Republicans Finalize Party Platform
The Republican Party formally approved their policy platform at the GOP convention last week. Much of the platform focuses on well-known social conservative issues, such as repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The party pushes for medical liability reform and regulatory changes at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to speed drugs from development to market. Republicans also call for the criminalization of acquiring, transferring, or selling fetal tissue donations. The platform supports the use of block grants in the Medicaid program, as well as the use of a premium support option for future Medicare enrollees under the age of 55. On other issues relating to health care, there are some notable gaps between party leadership and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Trump has promised to defend Medicare against future cuts, which is at odds with some principles included in the final platform. Additionally, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices was not included in the platform, despite support from Trump throughout his campaign. When he was questioned about this proposal at the Convention, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) decisively denied that he would back the idea, citing data that indicates that government negotiation of drug prices would not save money.
Administration to Support Rural Areas Fight Addiction
The Obama Administration has announced $9 million in grants to rural health officials in Oklahoma, Colorado, and Pennsylvania over the next three years to help combat recent increases in overdose deaths. The money will allow the states to use a telemedicine-style training program to expand addiction treatment in areas that are underserved by health care providers. Known as Project ECHO, this model allows rural primary care doctors to watch videos by specialists trained in anti-addiction treatment. Project ECHO has previously been proven successful in teaching providers how to treat hepatitis C.
PCORI Approves $153 Million in Comparative Effectiveness Research
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has approved $153 million to support 28 patientcentered comparative clinical effectiveness research studies. PCORI also approved seven projects related to improving comparative effectiveness research methods. The funds will support work on a range of conditions and problems posing high burdens on patients, caregivers, and the health care system, including chronic pain, multiple sclerosis (MS), and treatment-resistant depression. Other projects will focus on the effectiveness of blood-thinning medications to treat blood clots in the veins and lungs, as well as low-molecular-weight heparins and aspirin to prevent clots in patients with broken bones. PCORI has approved more 549 studies and related projects since 2012, totaling more than $1.4 billion.
December 31, 1969: | Page 1 Page 2
- Strategy & Planning
- Information & Counsel
- Washington Presence & Influence
- Materials Development
- Grassroots Advocacy
- Partnership & Coalition Building
- Communications
- 2019
- - May 2019
- + April 2019
- + March 2019
- + February 2019
- + January 2019


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Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes has fuelled speculation linking him with a move to Liverpool after revealing that a move to the Premier League would be a "very good option" for him.
The 32-year-old will end his 12 year career at the Nou Camp in search of a fresh challenge at the end of the season when his contract expires.
After spending over €100m last summer in their first step to establish themselves among the European elite Monaco are hoping to entice Valdes into a move to the principality, but the shot stopper is likely to have no shortage of suitors.
Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool have all been credited with interest in the 32-year-old, who admits the draw of Premier League football is something that interests him.
"I've always identified with your football, the way the supporters live the game and the respect they show the players," Valdes told the Daily Mail.
"It is one of the biggest leagues in the world, with the best clubs in the world and, without a doubt it's a very good option for me."
Catalan daily Sport suggested last month that negotiations between Valdes and Liverpool were underway, despite the club spending £10m on bringing Simon Mignolet to the club just last summer.
Meanwhile, Mundo Deportivo believe Manchester City are still mulling over a possible offer with the view of making the Spaniard their number one choice in goal over Joe Hart.
Ahead of his summer exit, Valdes still has the opportunity to conclude his Barcelona career in stunning fashion. Gerado Martino's side are still in the La Liga title race despite currently sitting four points off leaders Real Madrid while a Copa del Rey final against their old enemy awaits next month.
Barca can also seal their place in the quarter finals of the Champions League should they retain their advantage against Manchester City at the Nou Camp on Wednesday. The reigning La Liga champions lead 2-0 from the first leg but Valdes is wary of the threat posed by his former teammate Yaya Toure.
"Here, Yaya started as a holding midfielder and he had a way of playing that suited what Pep (Guardiola, Barca's former coach) wanted from a central defender, so he played there, too.
"But his strength is carrying the ball forward and that ultimately means you have to be playing further forward. He protects the ball so well and now you are all discovering something that I already knew only too well: he has some shot on him. I learned about that in training a long time ago!"
The Barcelona goalkeeper also admitted he has also been doing his homework on Sergio Aguero in order to keep the Argentine goal scorer at bay.
"He moves intelligently to get the wrong side of defenders and he gets his shot away very quickly," Valdes continued.
"I watched Wayne Rooney before Champions League finals, Ronaldo before El Clasicos. I don't like surprises; familiarity guards against that.
"You get in a one-on-one situation and you only have tenths of a second to decide, so it comes down to your intuition, but also the fact that you have analysed how the forward usually reacts comes into that."


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FTC Cracking Down On Mortgage Loan Modifiers:
Filed under: Mortgage
Homeowners under water on their mortgage have been scrambling to find the best financial relief option to help them stay out of foreclosure. A mortgage loan modification is one alternative that has provided many struggling homeowners with the help they need during tough times. However, as many have been fighting to stay out of bankruptcy and foreclosure; some mortgage loan modifiers have taken advantage of their desperate situation.
Predators Lending Practices
Problems have been surfacing in the mortgage loan modification industry causing more financial hardship for homeowners already working to maintain their finances. Some loan modification companies have been charging enormous up-front fees for services, over stating their ability to reduce the mortgage payments and failing to inform the lenders about the modification. These companies have been claiming a full money back guarantee, if the homeowner was unsuccessful in the program, and failing to follow through on the guarantee for homeowners. Even worse, some homeowners were never granted a refund of their deposits and found out their loan modification documents were fraudulent and, therefore, not valid. Consumers haven't taken the situation lightly and have stepped up complaints and solution efforts against such scrupulous lenders, and the FTC is taking note.
The Next Level
The Federal Trade Commission has been increasing their efforts in regulating scrupulous mortgage loan modification practices. Several companies have been shut down and ordered to pay restitution to effected consumers. The FTC has banned these companies from marketing, joining other loan modification companies or providing any mortgage modification or foreclosure relief services.
In the past, the FTC has maintained strict regulations for such companies, but enforcing these regulations as been a problem. With the advancement technology, many of the non-reputable web-based companies are easier to police. As the FTC continues to improve their regulatory practices, consumers are encouraged to continue to report any violations.


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It is an assumption we always make when we read bible passages about loving our enemies, turning the other cheek and blessing those who persecute us. We assume that we are always the victims. When we read such passages, we tend to see ourselves as the innocent target to the slap or the accusation or the insult.
But the truth is that more often than not, we deserve it. At least I know I do. For instance, not so long ago I lied to a friend, and through that lie, made her an enemy. She "found me out" and I paid the price by not only losing her trust, but also her friendship.
Now, of course I asked for her forgiveness and repented of my sin before God. Ideally, that would be the end of that. But reconciliation is much more complicated, and much less Utopian.
Chesterton once said that "we choose our friends and we make our enemies". While it is easy to see how this happens, there is something we deliberately make ourselves blind to — the fact that having an enemy does not always mean we are the innocent party. This victim mentality is a product of our sinful, self-preserving tendencies.
We don't like to look at ourselves as the guilty ones. Continue reading Loving the Enemies We Make


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Booted and suited in their Sunday best, jacket and tie was the BBC dress code for Alan Hansen's passing-out parade.
Hansen, Alan Shearer, Rio Ferdinand and anchorman Gary Lineker looked like Ray Liotta's cast of Goodfellas on their way to a christening.
The last man to wear an orange tie like Ferdinand's on live TV was conducting the safety briefing on an easyJet flight taking off from Luton.
In fairness, the Beeb's smart guys – the best-dressed men on the Copacabana – knocked spots off the rival line-up on the "other" side, where the fashionistas went for Alan Partridge's sports casual look on the decking of ITV's beach hut.
If ever there was an excuse for glad rags, it was Hansen's farewell appearance, after 22 years as a pundit, on World Cup Final day.
The high priest of defensive organisation began his final shift by looking over his shoulder at the waves breaking behind him and said: "It's not a bad place to go, is it?"
We shall miss Hansen's scolding of centre-backs pulled out of position, full-backs going absent without leave and zonal marking when he flies home to spend more time with his golf clubs.
Social inadequates and keyboard warriors, who were not even born before the ex-Liverpool defender reinvented the art of studio analysis, do not have a clue how fortunate their generation has been to be educated by a great communicator.
The Scot's art was not to tell us what was happening, but why it was happening and who was responsible.
And the man reminded ad nauseam about his first impressions of Manchester United's Class of '92 - "You can't win anything with kids" - was not afraid to put self-deprecation above schmaltz on the menu. Discussing Brazil's meltdown, before the main course arrived, he managed to crack a joke at his own expense: "You can't win anything with Fred."
It remains to be seen who takes over the emperor's clothes, including that sharp suit, on Match of the Day next season. Give us Danny Murphy's insight over Danny Mills' B-League propaganda any day, but as the sun set over the Copacabana last night, Hansen's legacy was assured.
On Saturday nights, only Michael Parkinson's chat show has brought the nation more forensic enlightenment from a sofa or swivel chair in a BBC studio.
But Hansen's gift for dissecting football matches was not the game's only carriage clock and pension pot changing hands last night.
Listeners following events on Radio 5 Live were serenaded for the last time, in live commentary, by the dulcet tones of broadcast legend Mike Ingham.
BBC Radio's football correspondent, who never resorted to noise pollution where quiet authority was an option, was on top of his game as ever.
Ingham was on the air when Sheffield United's Brian Deane scored the first-ever goal in the Premier League, the revolution invented by Richard Keys and Andy Gray, and remained a class act down to his last lines.
Always an avid researcher, Ingham's career highlights include the story, which he tells against himself without a trace of self-pity, of a trip to time-warp Albania to see England's 2-0 win in a World Cup qualifier 25-years ago.
Pausing to buy a sports paper from a kiosk in Tirana as a souvenir, he later discovered it was four years out of date.
First Alan Hansen, now Mike Ingham. One by one, voices on the soundtrack to our fading youth are falling silent.
But at least the Beeb's good fellas went out in a blaze of sharp suits and pocket handkerchiefs. Suits you, chaps.


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This blog is a project by the two of us, but we welcome the voices and experiences of other faculty colleagues as well.
We are especially interested in two kinds of
(1) Experiences you have had during office visits
from union organizers. We have heard anecdotally about repeated visits,
harassment, and pressure on individuals, but we don't want to post anything
based on hearsay. If you have experiences you want to share, we will post them – with your name or anonymously, as you choose.
(2) The perspectives of faculty who have come here
from unionized campuses and want to share their views about the contrast
between the academic life and atmosphere on a unionized campus and life here at
Illinois. Union advocates, not surprisingly, regularly bring in guests to tell
faculty how wonderful life is on a unionized campus. We know that isn't always
true, but we would prefer personal accounts from people who have experienced
both worlds – again, with your name or anonymously, as you choose.
We will review what comes in and post entries as
part of our normal cycle of topics (perhaps a "Special Issue" on each
of these, depending on what comes in).
Please join us!
*** This
blog is a jointly authored project by two people who believe that the campaign for tenure-track
faculty unionization has damaged morale and divided our campus, and that a
faculty union, if ever established, would erode academic quality and undermine
our highly successful system of campus shared governance, which has earned
nationwide praise.
We speak for
ourselves. We have no organization behind us, we don't ask for funding, we
don't pay national hired guns to come in and make the case for us.
We want to
start a different campus conversation about faculty unionization, which we
believe will be more thoughtful and substantive when people have all the facts.
welcome and will consider postings from others expressing issues and concerns
about faculty unionization. We know that many faculty are very upset about the
possibility of working on a unionized campus.
If you see
any information here that is inaccurate, please tell us and we will correct it.
If you share
our concerns and want to help, please forward these postings to your friends
and colleagues, and urge them to do the same. ***


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I saw a video on FaceBook the other day. It was one of those recipe/food videos that speaks directly to your stomach. It was tomato soup bread bowls. I watched it and promptly forgot about it. Until the next day when I was thinking about what to make for dinner. And I remembered it and realized I had everything I needed to make it already.
The video didn't have recipes for all the components, so I looked around and found a couple that I liked.
Then I changed them around to make them how I wanted them. (Cause why just follow a recipe?) And now I'm sharing it here because I wrote it up for a friend, and that turned out to be a lot of damn work. So, I'm making it worth the effort. And sharing it with more than just the one friend.
Everyone deserves to have access to this soup.
Also, I took a few pictures of the bread as I was making it, cause it was looking freakin' awesome. I wasn't, however, intending to make a blog post, so while I'm adding in the pics, they're definitely missing steps, and other prep work (like cleaning up spills on the counter).
So without further
BS ado:
Creamy Italian Tomato Soup Bread Bowls
2 pckges (.5 oz) active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water ~110 degrees
2 tbsp sugar or honey
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
7-9 cups flour (all purpose will work, mixing in bread flour or adding gluten will make softer bread)
1 tbsp cornmeal
1 egg white
1 tbsp water
Dislolve yeast and sugar in large bowl until creamy/foamy, about 10 minutes. Add oil, salt and half flour to mixture and mix well. Mix in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough is no longer sticky. Knead for ~10 minutes (low setting on a stand mixer works.) Let rest for 10 minutes, then knead again for another 5-10 minutes.
After kneading, lightly coat the bowl with oil and make a ball with the dough. Roll the dough in the bowl, coating it in oil. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 30-40 minutes. Punch down and divide into 6-8 equal portions. Form into round loaf and place on lightly greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. About 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, beat the egg white with the tbsp of water. Lightly brush the loaves with half the wash.
Bake in heated oven for 15 minutes. Brush with remaining egg mixture and bake 10-15 more minutes (add ~5 minutes for a batch of 6 loaves) or until golden. Cool on wire racks.
Creamy Italian Tomato Soup:
1lb sausage (optional- I used Jimmy Dean's Country Mild)
1 tsp dried onion
2 15oz cans tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2tsp brown sugar
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
dash of hot pepper sauce
In heavy saucepan, add sausage and onion. Brown sausage. Drain if needed. Add remaining ingredients in saucepan and cook until heated through. Ready to serve when reaches proper temp.
Combining soup and loaves:
6-8 round loaves
enough sliced cheese to cover the insides of the bowls, ~3-4 slices per bowl
1in x 1in bread cubes (cut from the centers and tops of the loaves)
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
grated cheese to top bowls
To make bowls, cut top 1/2 inch off top of loaf. Cut around the edge of the loaf, just inside the crust, without scoring the bottom. Use a fork or spoon to scoop out the center of the loaf, leaving it as in tact as you can. Set aside, do not discard.
Line the inside of the bowls with cheese slices. Place back in oven, @ 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Set to the side.
Take the tops and soft loaf centers and cut into 1in x 1in cubes. Place in large bowl. Drizzle melted butter over cubes while stirring/tossing until all the bread is evenly coated. Add in the basil, oregano, and garlic powder and stir again, until spices are evenly dispersed.
In frying pan over med-low heat, fry the bread cubes, in small batches, turning to brown each side. (I'm gonna be honest, I only fried enough to top the bowls. This is tedious as shit. But they're freaking delicious.. so, your choice. I just ate the rest of the cubes. Well, what my helpers didn't demolish when I gave them the green light on them.)
When ready to serve: Fill each bowl with soup, sprinkle some cheese on top, add a few croutons and enjoy. Serve those bitches immediately.


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I am endlessly fascinated by the average person's belief in his or her own abilities. Most of us are filled with doubt about who we are and why we are here. Most of us, in fact, question our success at the very responsibilities we carry out everyday - parenting, career, and relationships.
But that doesn't stop us from being 100% sure we can accomplish great things, given the opportunity. Despite little experience or inherent talent, we bravely assert our competency. The telling example is when you're watching a profile of someone on television, or skimming the classifieds, and you say, "I could do that if I wanted."
And the person sitting next to you says, "No, really, you couldn't."
Top 10 Things Everyone Thinks They Can Do
10. Write song lyrics
She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
How hard can it be?
9. Design a website
Every person who works on the web has received detailed design instruction from someone without a great deal of web experience. Usually the phrase Comic Sans is involved.
8. Write a children's book
The fact that celebrities manage to do this on a regular basis causes much of the confusion.
7. Write movie reviews
We all enjoy movies. We all enjoy talking about movies afterword. How difficult can it be to write your opinion down on a piece of paper?
6. Be a comedian
I think deep down, we all think we're funny. And I think most of us believe that if we were able to spend our entire day working at it, we could be really funny.
Some of us would never want to be onstage, though. We just imagine being a writer for SNL or a late-night talk show instead.
5. Design a church service
Everyone? Maybe not, but everyone who has ever been to church has left thinking, "I would've used a better opening story. I didn't like that song. The drama was too long. Why does it have to be so cold?"
4. Work in sports
Mostly a guy thing, but in addition to the ones who were just an injury or lucky break away from stardom, there are those who think they would make a terrific broadcaster, coach, or sportswriter.
3. Write Top 10 lists
Want proof? Look here, here, and here.
2. Write a book
Fiction or non-fiction, I think most people think they have at least one book in them, just waiting for the right opportunity. And since very few of us know anyone who has actually written a book, the only examples we have to work with are found on television or in the movies. I must say, it looks like writing is a wonderful way to live.
1. Name anything
It can be a child, book, website, product, or band, but I've never met someone who would pass up a chance to name something. And once you offer your opinion, any other choice is clearly a mistake. I still think I had a better name for my sister's own child!
Some of these things aren't very hard to do, they're just hard to do well. Not only am I guilty of just about all of these conceits, I actually admire the seemingly ingrained American confidence that anything is possible.
But that doesn't stop it from being funny. Really, really funny.
Man, I have got to send this one to Letterman.


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The IFACCA board member, Staffan Forssell, Director General of the Swedish Arts Council made the following statement about the need for an increased number of Cities of Refuge, at IFACCA's European Chapter meeting in Oslo, Norway, on 9-11 September 2015, hosted by Arts Council Norway.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my concern about the silencing of artistic voices that is taking place around the world. Protecting the possibility for artists under threat to be able to express their art is an ever more essential part of an open, democratic society.
Freedom of expression is at the core of Swedish cultural policy objectives, reading:
To be able to obtain these goals, it is crucial that the freedom of artistic expression and creativity is protected. Doing this by offering safe havens for threatened artists can also generate a diversity of artistic expression and creativity.
Writers and artists are especially vulnerable to censorship, harassment, imprisonment and even death, because of what they do. The thoughts, ideas, debate and critique that they express and bring to a wider audience constitute a prerequisite for a democratic society. They are also found among those who speak out and resist when freedom of expression is threatened.
The member states of the European Union have reason to be proud that our ministers of culture have come together to express their unanimous belief that artistic freedom and freedom of expression stand firm and unflinching at the heart of our common European values. But we should also reflect upon what this statement means for our own practice.
Arts councils and culture agencies in Europe - and around the world - have an important role to play in protecting the right to freedom of artistic expression and creativity. Joint efforts to protect the rights of artistic practitioners, who constitute the backbone of the arts and culture, could decrease the number of writers, artists, human rights defenders, musicians, actors, filmmakers, journalists, bloggers, cartoonists, translators and others working within the artistic field, who are censored, harassed, threatened, imprisoned, and killed.
One way of protecting writers and artists that are no longer able to express themselves safely in their own environment is promoting an increased number of Cities of Refuge around the world. Europe has and will keep playing an important part in this. Since 1994 a network of European cities offering shelter to writers in need of protection has been active in different shapes. In 2006 the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) was founded, and has its base here in Norway, in Stavanger. The organisation draws up a list of persecuted writers and artists who may be offered a safe haven in any of the connected cities. ICORN consist of its member cities. Today more than 50 cities around the globe offer a safe space where writers and artists at risk can live and work through the ICORN programme. Most of these cities are in Europe, but there are also Cities of Refuge in Mexico and the Unites States of America. Artists who are given shelter in a City of Refuge, for a period of up to two years, are able to continue working and spreading their message, without an immediate threat of harassment, imprisonment or death.
The Swedish Arts Council has, since 2011, been assigned by the Government to promote an increased number of Cities of Refuge in Sweden. As part of this we have published a digital manual for Cities of Refuge on our website, we have organised conferences and meetings on the topic and brought up the need for an increased number of Cities of Refuge in dialogue with key stakeholders from local authorities and organisations. The mission also includes promoting the possibilities for the writers and artists in the cities of refuge to gain publicity and take part in public events. The Swedish Arts Council has a special grant to this end, distributed twice yearly. Recently this grant was awarded for the national coordination of the Cities of Refuge in Sweden.
ICORN was initially a network for threatened writers. They cooperate successfully with PEN international and other organisations to identify writers at risk. The Swedish Arts Council has advocated opening up the ICORN system to include other artists and we are pleased that as of 2014, the system has been opened up to include other artists, such as visual artists and musicians, for a trial period of four years. Thus far the main number of applications for safe havens within the ICORN system has come from writers, and this trend continues.
There may be a need to identify or create international systems to identify and reach out with information to threatened practitioners within other artistic fields. Perhaps this is an area in which we who are present at this meeting and IFACCA at large could find ways to cooperate? An exchange of knowledge between arts councils and culture agencies internationally could possibly promote practitioners in other art forms to be reached by the ICORN system and be protected from abuse. Ultimately, this is also likely to encourage artists in other fields to express themselves – even in the face of repressive regimes, which can only benefit the democratic values that are at the core of the European Union.
It has been noted in a bill to Parliament in Sweden that increasing the number of cities of refuge could also generate synergies between cultural policy and aid policy. Promoting democratisation and human rights is an integral part of Swedish international development cooperation. With the possibilities that the Internet offers, writers or artists in safe havens can, in many cases, reach an audience in their country of origin, to which they were denied access before they left. There is a need for cities of refuge - to protect threatened writers and artists and allow for them to continue their practice. This is their main purpose. But they can also bring diversity of expression, inspiration and courage to people living in the city and country that offers protection.
I would like to believe that the Swedish Arts Council has been partially responsible for the increased number of Cities of Refuge in Sweden over the past couple of years. I am pleased to announce that as of June this year, Sweden is the country with most cities of refuge in the world, with 16 cities or, in some cases, regions, connected to the ICORN system. In June this year, the Swedish Parliament called on the Government to act to further increase the number of Cities of Refuge in Sweden. The Swedish Arts Council can be expected to be given an expanded role in this work by the Government as early as next year. We also have a government mission to promote the role of culture in freedom of expression and democratisation in international affairs. Thus, this presentation can be seen as an offer to all present to cooperate with us to promote an increased number of Cities of Refuge internationally.
Offering protection to those who are under threat is a basic condition of humanity. Simply questioning this has consequences for one's own society and one's own freedom of movement. So let us join forces and offer protection to those who are threatened around the world because of what they express or how they express it. Firstly and most importantly because the need is great, and being democratic societies requires us to protect democracy. But also to experience and learn from the diversity of artistic expression and creativity that comes with offering this protection. Enhancing the freedom of expression, offering safe havens to threatened artists will also contribute to a cultural climate that enriches us all.
Swedish Arts Council is a government authority whose principal task is to implement national cultural policy determined by the Parliament.
P.O. Box 27215SE-102 53 StockholmSweden
All information © 2015 Swedish Arts Council


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We continue our blogger spotlight series, part of our Blogger Beach Bash giveaway. Please be sure to visit Chana at the Adventures in Fluff for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to Kelly's Closet.
Blog Name: Adventures in Fluff
How long have you been blogging? I've been blogging for a little over a year when I decided that I wanted to cloth diaper my son. I started the blog to document my "Adventures In Fluff".
How long have you been using cloth diapers? 9mo. (since my son was 1 week old)
Favorite cloth diaper? Ack!!! Do I really have to choose a favorite??? I have wayyyyy too many. Right now I'm really loving AIO's and AI2's. I'm really loving GroVia AI2's, SoftBums Echos, and Thirsties Duo AIO's when it comes to mainstream diaper lines. My favorite WAHM diapers are Ragababe and Chelory.
Funniest cloth diaper experience? Maybe not sooooo funny, but I had my husband change Lincoln into his nighttime diaper for the first time. In the morning I picked up Lincoln and noticed he was pooping so I decided to wait till he finished to change him. Very quickly I realized that he started feeling squishy gooey. Hmmmm… That's weird. I peeked inside his jammies to find that his diaper was around his ankles and poop going everywhere. Ack!!! Guess my hubby didn't get that diaper on quite right. Ooops!
About Chana: My name is Chana and I'm a cloth diaper addict. Haha! Not that bad, but pretty close. On my blog, Adventures In Fluff, you'll find The Good, The Bad, and The Poopy of cloth diapering, not to mention lots of other stuff about raising my two crazy girls and my fluffy butt boy. I started my blog in the spring of 2011 while pregnant with my son. At first I just wanted to document my crazy cloth diapering adventure, but it slowly blossomed into a strong passion (some would call obsession) that I wanted to share with others. Check out my blog for tons of reviews, tips, DIY projects, & just plain fluffy fun.
Thank you Chana for sharing your story with us for sharing your tips on how to travel like a pro with cloth diapers.


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An interview with the author of Midi Me, a blog about midimalism.
Who are you? My name is Patty, that's with a 'y'.
How old are you? I am just over five feet tall, thanks so much for asking.
Where do you live? I have lived near Gettysburg Pennsylvania for 24 years. Before that I lived in New York, New Hampshire, and Illinois. I was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado.
Can you share a little about your family? I have been married to the same man for 38 years. We have two amazingly awesome children who live at opposite ends of the country. Happily, my world revolves around Dad. He is 95. I'm the luckiest daughter alive.
What is the meaning behind the title of your blog, Midi Me? I tend to think in extremes, but I don't live there. Finding happiness some place in the middle is my goal.
What will you write about on this blog? Anything I find interesting, sad, funny, or perplexing. I write a lot. I am using this blog to free up some space in the file cabinet.
Have you published any of your work? Yes, two books. The first is a memoir, Grace on the Ledge, the second is a children's book, Grammy's Eyes.
Have you been a writer your whole life? No, I began writing chapter books when I was eight. The Girl Who Loved Adventures was the series title. I still have one, complete with illustrations. I took 50 years off to grow up, go to school and teach sociology courses to undergrads.
Do you have any other interests? Should I list them in alphabetical order or by major heading?
How do you spend time when you are not writing? Lately I plan yoga classes I teach, practice yoga, ride my bike to and from yoga. Oh, and I read, a lot. I may have an attachment issue there, so I am trying to cut back.
Have any pets? The cat population is steady at two. Bear, retrieved from a farmer's woodpile, all black. Cricket, abandoned by her mother at the age of four days, all fluff. I miss our dog Wilson who passed away in 2015. He was my best friend.
Favorite food? Lately I love anything green and garlic humus. I don't eat meat, probably a yoga thing.
Do you have any goals? Do you want me to start with those I have for the next five minutes, for this week, this month, or the next ten years?
Do you have any fears? Running over a slow moving mean black snake on a bike trail. Typing this pretend conversation causes me some concern. Sharing my writing on this blog would be first on that list.
Thanks for your time. We look forward to reading more on this re-titled blog of yours called Midi Me.
So do I!


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TBI Media's relationship with Magic Radio continues in 2017 as we returned to the Royal Albert Hall for this year's Magic at the Musicals. The evening was hosted by TV's Mel Giedroyc and Westend legend Ruthie Henshall as we welcomed cast members of some of London's most exciting shows.
A 60-piece orchestra supported performances from shows including; Disney's The Lion King, SCHOOL OF ROCK!, Jesus Christ Superstar and MAMMA MIA! (full list below).
The Royal Albert Hall was sold out on the night with the show being broadcast on Mellow Magic for a radio audience just a few days later.
Magic at the Musicals 2017 Performances:
Blood Brothers
Disney's The Lion King
Disney's Aladdin
Jesus Christ Superstar
Kinky Boots
La Cage Aux Folles
On The Town
The Wind in the Willows
The Wedding Singer


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When logged in, you can choose up to 8 games that will be displayed as favourites in this menu.
DYNAVISION 3 provides a dynamic depth-of-field and auto-focus effect similar to a camera and a host of other visual enhancements and effects such as film grain and moods.
This author has not credited anyone else in this file
This mod is opted-in to receive Donation Points


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Filter By:
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The 5' saw folds to just over 12", detaches for and secures to extension handle. The 10' folds down to just 28," extends to a full 9'7". MegaBite high carbon steel blade features four-edge tooth design for unmatched cutting performance. I-beam aluminum construction, In-line design and the positive locking extension system combine to give you incredible cutting stability - even at full extension. The lock-back blade folds down with a touch of a finger. Both saws easily fits into your day pack.
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Wicked Hand Saw / Tree Pack Combo. Tree pack is made of heavy-duty canvas, it features: Built-in plastic scabbard or easy open-saw access during long trim jobs; Additional neoprene pocket for storing bow hanger, hooks, or cell phone; Standard belt loop style mounting with additional fully adjustable pack strap to secure pack to harness, backpack or treestand.
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Since the historic passage of Roe vs. Wade in 1973, pro-life advocates have actively fought against the growing number of elective abortions in the U.S. through vigils, counseling, violence, protests, picketing, sit-ins, prayer and more. The belief that life is sacred and ordained by God is a predominantly religious concept based on traditional and scriptural principles, so it would seem natural to draw a connection between religion or faith-based tenants and the idea of being pro-life. Prayer, a fundamental tenant of most faiths, is typically thought of as being directed toward God, whom many faiths believe to be pro-life. However, the Planned Parenthood in Humboldt County, Calif., a chapter of the nation's largest abortion provider, has turned the traditional definition of prayer on its ear.
The Washington Post reported that the Planned Parenthood chapter has copied the pro-life movement's "40 day prayer vigils" with their own "40 days of prayer," focusing their prayers on abortion — but taking a decidedly different direction than the pro-life prayers previously uttered. A prayer guide is available from the Planned Parenthood website and walks pro-abortion supporters through specific, directed prayers to give thanks that abortion is legal, to pray for increased access to abortion services, and to thank God for their power of choice, among other things. The writer of these prayers, Faith Aloud, personally acknowledges that aborted babies are "our children — even those we decide not to bring into the world."
Faith Aloud points out that abortion prayers aren't a new concept, although there may be an increased focus on the struggle between abortion rights advocates and the pro-life side due to emerging opinions on a so-called GOP "War on Women."


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I'm a proud woman that has always made her own way in life. Asking for help has always been hard for me. I'm 59 years old and I have been a caregiver all of my adult life. I enjoy my job and think I make a difference in others lives.
My income has been cut by almost half of what my monthly pay was due to clients passing away. Now my car has given up on me. I'm asking for a little help to get a new one so I can transport my clients and do what I love.
Thank You for any help you can offer!


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Wordpress Little Task
Rozpočet $10-30 USD
[login to view URL] this is my wordpress mulitsite network website. I have installed [login to view URL] theme and all plugins. Now just need upload demo content and should look like the same as demo theme.
Please let me know now. I need very urgent.
39 freelanceů na tento projekt zveřejnilo nabídku v průměrné hodnotě $29
I am a skilled wordpress developer, I can install the theme and demo content for you. let discuss more via private message, thanks.
HI! I estimate one hour to complete this project please contact me I will be online within the next hour, thank you
Hello Greeting!!! I have read your requirements and I would to design and develop your website. I have experienced (3+ years) programmers of this fields. I have expert in wordpress website and currently we are worki Další
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Hello, woo pro here I go get your stuff done for you professionally. Please visit our work: [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] looking forward to more details, let things roll now. Michael
Hi there, my name is Marta. I work with Wordpress for 5 years. I can instal the demo data right away. Please share the website access data
Hello I am itnerested to work on this project. inbox me to start working on this thank you waiting for your response.
Hello I can complete your task! I just need to talk to you to know if you have the demo (files on your .zip of the theme) I cans tart now and should not take too long. Best Regards
Hi, i can import demo content for you on your website in next 20 minutes. Feel free to contact me...
our sample sites include [login to view URL], [login to view URL] and many more web based applications like college/school management portal, financial management applications for saccos and banks, POS systems, Hotel Management Syste Další
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I was wondering about what makes the primary Java compiler (javac by sun) so fast at compilation?
..as well as the C# .NET compiler from Microsoft.
I am comparing them with C++ compilers (such as G++), so maybe my question should have been, what makes C++ compilers so slow :)


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Description of 1900 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN DRIVE 104ARL, SARASOTA, FL 34236
SEASONAL: Stunning views! Just steps to the beach! Come discover Lido Harbour, a rare beach side treasure located at the south end of Lido Key, Enjoy all that Lido has to offer from this wonderful pool side ground floor unit. From the front entrance you'll feel welcome with the light, well-maintained and appointed interior. This lovely 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo, features Gulf views from most rooms. The kitchen overlooks the dining and living room. An extra special feature is the lovely enclosed lanai overlooking the pristine sand beach. The spacious master bedroom features Gulf views, sliders and private bath. Imagine waking up and having coffee while looking at waves crashing against the surf. Private guest room features comfortable twin accommodations. Amenities include: wifi, large heated pool with open deck, Club room, Covered parking and guest parking, BBQ grill and laundry facility. Looking to explore…World famous St. Armand's restaurants and shops and South Lido Park is just a short stroll with exercise trails, kayak launch and mangrove tunnels to explore. AVAILABLE for 2020 Season. No pets and No smoking permitted.
Directions to 1900 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN DRIVE 104ARL, SARASOTA, FL 34236
From St. Armands Circle, head south on Ben Franklin Drive to 1900. Community is Gulfside.
Features of 1900 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN DRIVE 104ARL, SARASOTA, FL 34236
- Foyer
- Dishwasher
- Microwave oven
- Range
- Refrigerator
- Ceiling fan(s)
- Central air
- Central heat
- One car carport
- Deck
- Inground pool
- Patio
- Porch
- Improvement: sidewalks
- Subdivision: FIRST LIDO
- Carpet
- Ceramic tile flooring
- Garbage disposal
- Living and dining room combo
- Tile flooring
- Walk-in closet(s)
- Window coverings
- Total square feet: 918.00
- Community clubhouse(s)
- Community laundry
- Community swimming pool(s)
- Tax year: 2017


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Hello to all
I've been on here a while but still yet to post something & now got a whopper 4 ya.
Currently i ride a 10 RSV4 & as far as im concerned this bike is the dogs bollocks.
I've had 3 rsvr's in the past & never really had any major issues with any of them..... Until i got the RSV4!!
The bike currently has 5300 mile & bought it last year in Oct with 400 on the clock.
Fitted is Akrapovic Titanium system, Power commander 5 & secondary fuel module, shortie levers, screen & crash musrooms etc etc the normal stuff. I've had the bike into the dealers X 2 for an oil leak which was fixed under warranty no issues there.. but after just getting the bike back now i have a coolant leak from the water pump & looks like its coming from the weep hole in the casing for the shaft of the pump its self. I pulled the pump & the o'ring looks ok. Contacted a dealer over this issue to get this sorted arghhhhhhhhhhh.... Just wanted to know if any one else out there has come across this problem?
I've taken a video of the leak & would upload to here if i knew how to lol lol as me & computers dont get on to well!!!!! ( hence the reason i haven't uploaded a pic for my profile!!!)
Any input on this problem would be great..
Keeper her between the hedges & not in them :P


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DISCLAIMER: Tracy and Screed aren't my characters. They belong to TPTB. However, the Ratsie Wot Kilt Screed *is* mine. Even if it doesn't appear in this story, I love to point the truth of ownership out. Special thanks to me droog McLisa McDavis for helping me with some of the historical comments made by Screed. Comments and constructive-like criticism are welcome at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Permission to archive at www.fkfanfic.com and Screed's webpage only. All others need to ask first since it is the polite thing to do.
The frigid wind cut through Tracy Vetter's coat and gloves as she lifted the hood of her car. "Start, damn it!" she said out loud though the fierce winter storm had cleared the streets of traffic and the sidewalks of pedestrians. "Start!" Using her useless cellular phone, she banged on the battery a few times.
Not honestly believing the tactic had worked but willing to trust in miracles, Tracy grabbed the car for support, making her way around to the open driver's side door. She turned the ignition key. Nothing happened. Drawing in a deep breath she muttered, "If there's a God in Heaven, this lousy piece of automotive crap will start...."
"Dew ya really think the Almight-a-mongo cares wot yar putt-putt duz?"
Instinctively, Tracy jumped out of the still-open door, fumbling with gloved hands through her coat for her gun. Her feet hit ice. She slid. The last thing she heard before her head hit the pavement was, "Wot? Did ol' Screed shake ya up a bit?"
Tracy recognized the musty, damp smell. Though not her first choice of shelter, at least the cellar protected her from the wind and snow. In fact, the temperature seemed quite tolerable no doubt due, in part, to her heavy coat. Silently, she slowly sat up, rubbing the sizeable knot on the back of her head. Hearing a suspicious rustling, Tracy slowly opened her eyes. Two Screeds appeared through the candlelight, then crept together into one.
"Hey! Get out of my suitcase!" Tracy ordered. A wave of dizziness swept through her as she started to rise. Deciding to play it safe, she immediately sat back down.
Screed chuckled, dramatically lowering a brassiere back into the luggage. "Aye pegged ya more az a B cup, meself. H'ain't this un a bit baggy on ya?"
"That sweater you're wearing ... it... it's my nephew's Christmas present!" Tracy protested. "Don't tell me you opened the packages."
"'Kay, I won't, Baby Cakes," Screed shrugged smugly. "'Sides, 'cordin' ta me way o' markin' time, Christmas iz over with. Done. Vamoosh. H'it's New Year's Eve-time now. Too late fer deckin' the 'alls an' gimme gimme gimme."
Ignoring the tilting room, Tracy rose to her feet, then lifted Screed to his by the sweater's collar. "I had to work Christmas so I'm spending New Year's with my uncle and his family! We're exchanging gifts then."
Screed's eyes narrowed dangerously as he placed a hand on each of her wrists. "Lewkie 'ere, don't squeeze the Prince Charmin'."
Realizing she was dealing with a vampire and not your average street urchin, Tracy let go and mouthed an sarcastic, "Sorry."
Screed stepped backwards, smoothing out the sweater. All hostility disappeared from his face as he titled his head slightly. "Ol' Screed wuz jest thinkin' ya might want to be rewardin' 'im fer draggin' yar sorry h'arse h'in 'ere 'stead o' leavin' ya out h'in the cold, eh? Not like Aye wuz ex-pectoratin' drop-in, how-do-ya-do com-pan-ionship this eve."
Sighing, Tracy nodded. The blue sweater would be slightly too big for her nephew, who'd be more interested in the action figures any way. A perfect fit on Screed, the sweater actually looked decent on him - certainly better than the oversized, stained, hole-filled tan-colored one he usually wore. "Okay, you can have it."
The carouche grinned. "'Sides, ya only 'ad a fiver an' a couple o' Loonies in yar bag. Plus tha' bottle o' the expensive-like bubbly booze. Not much use-fulness ta me, 'course the squeakers might like a nip n' sip o' h'it."
As the heat of anger rushed up her body, Tracy yanked off her knit hat and slammed it into the room's only chair, stifling a scream of aggravation. Reaching out, she grabbed the suitcase, sliding it next to the chair. "Listen, Screed, let's get one thing straight - stay OUT of my belongings! It's bad enough I have to spend New Year's Eve in this rat infested sewer...."
Screed interrupted her with an indignant snort. "Ain't no sewer. More like a cellar. Aye've got me stand-n-guards."
"...Rat infested SEWER!" Tracy countered. "No heater, no running water, no washroom...."
"'Ey, lookie 'ere, missy o' me matie," Screed sniffed. "Aye may be a carouche-type, but ol' Screed iz civilization-ized. Obtained me one o' them..." he paused as he wiggled the fingers on each hand "...port-o-do-yar-bizness jest last May."
Almost afraid to look, Tracy followed Screed's gaze to a dark corner of his home. "You stole a port-a-potty?!?"
"Wot?" Screed said, his eyes wide with shock. "Ol' Screed may be many o' mischief-maker, but 'e h'ain't no thief. The contra-trap-a-thingee wuz roight there linin' the street wit' a bunch o' others durin' some sort o' 'Pride Week' evenin'vent. Someone, h'in a state o' not bein' sober, might o' tripped over h'it o' sumpthin', so Aye took h'it upon meselfishness to remove this 'un. Good citizen Screed, tha's me ta the end. Which puts a 'minder h'in me noggin. Az long az we's exchangin' giftees, Aye got me Baby Jane sumpthin'" Screed started digging through a trunk, tossing aluminum cans, pieces of worn clothing, and even a dead-looking stuffed animal or two onto the floor. "Eur-EEP-ka-doodle!" he cried, standing triumphantly, dangling a sparsely black feathered boa from his right hand. "Found this in tha' wash-yar-room. Someone must've left h'it there."
Or at least Tracy hoped it was a boa and not the roadkill remains of a large raven.
"Go a'ead, take it," Screed urged with almost child-like pleasure. "Try h'it h'on fer size."
"Take it? You've GOT to be kidding!" Tracy protested. "I can't believe this is happening!" She sat down hard in the chair, then stood long enough to remove her hat from the seat. She started to toss it to the floor. Thinking about the rat-droppings, she settled for holding it in her lap.
"Wot?" Screed asked. "Don'tcha loik the giftee?"
"What's to like about it, huh?" Tracy snapped. "Some piece of discard you found in a portable john?!? Spending every Christmas with family hasn't exactly been an option as a cop, not that I mind at all. Shoot, there's so many officers in my family that being together is a novelty! But I finally get a chance to at least spend New Year's with a few relatives, celebrate a late Christmas, and looks what happens!"
"H'at least ya 'ave a family wot to fa-la-la-la-la wit!" Screed glared at her, wrapping the boa around his own neck.
Tracy glared back, looking the vampire straight in his pale green eyes. Despite the anger of his tone, she noticed a sadness there. Perhaps even loneliness. "What about Vachon. I thought...."
"Yeah, Vacho-netti, 'e's a mate o' the best kind," Screed admitted. "Still, h'it h'ain't the same, ya know. Bein' a carouche-type, ol' Screed h'ain't alwayz welcome ta play vampire games. The V- man, 'e don't care 'bout tha', but the others, they do."
"Is he ... with others tonight then?"
Screed remained silent as he lowered himself to a squatting position. He didn't bow his head, but Tracy noticed his eyes shifted to look at the floor.
"I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have asked that," she said softly. Screed remained motionless. She recognized the look since Vachon often wore a similar expression when memories overtook his thoughts. Her own mind drifted back to childhood Christmases filled with dolls, toy police cars, caroling, trees, and harsh words exchanged when her father missed yet another Christmas morning. She wondered if her parents realized the tears she'd shed sitting beside a pile of gifts as they fought in the kitchen. Shaking her head, she tried to force away the bad turn her memories had taken. "Screed, if you don't mind me asking, what about when you were mortal? A kid? Didn't you have family then?"
"Don't remember me sire h'at h'all," he admitted matter-of-factly. "Lost at sea when Aye wuz but a wee babe h'in nappies." Screed laughed, looking again at Tracy. "Kind o' 'ard ta imagine tha', ain't h'it?"
"Yeah," Tracy said, smiling at the thought.
"Seems loik now h'all Aye kin remember o' me Mum h'iz 'er tears when Aye left. Wuz barely out o' nappies then, but Aye 'ad ta. Wuzn't enuff vic-tu-als fer me an' me lil' twin sissies." Screed reached out to grab a passing rat. Tracy feared he was going to have a snack. Instead, he merely scratched between the animal's ears.
"Did you celebrate Christmas back then?"
Screed grinned, chuckling. "Da ya really think Aye'm tha' h'ancient-old?"
Tracy shrugged. "You don't exactly look your age."
"H'ain't tha' a bit o' the truth!" Screed's entire body relaxed. His face softened. "Aye did a bit o' sailin' h'in me youth. A cabin boy, ta start h'out wit'. Not 'xactly the Love Boat, lux-ur-ree-us speakin'. But come Christmas-tide, we'd sing some carols, maybe play some games h'if we weren't on duty. We'd 'ave a bit o' preserves on real bread, maybe gingerbread h'if the fixin's were 'andy-like. Now me fav' thing ta sink me teeth h'in wuz fruit, h'if we'd been h'at a fruit-'avin' port. One year, me first on the seas, me thinks, Aye nibbled so much fruit tha' Aye spent the good part o' the next day h'on a bucket gettin' rid o' the evidence, ta put it delo-kite-speakin'. Even h'in these mod-ular times, Aye think h'it wuz worth h'it h'in the end."
"Sounds ... interesting," Tracy said. "Like a true old fashioned Christmas."
"H'it WUZ a h'old, fastened-h'in-me-mem-o-ries, Chrissy- mass-tide," Screed huffed. The rat squealed loudly. "Didja 'ear tha', Baby Jane? The lil' ratsie a-firm-a-tives me point."
Tracy joined Screed's hearty laughter as she pushed up her coat's sleeve to peek at her watch. "Hey, it's only a few minutes until the New Year!"
"Blimey! Got things to do, eh?!" Screed stood. "Where's yar bubbly bottle?"
Tracy dug the champagne out of her suitcase and unwrapped the seal. "Here, but my uncle was going to supply the cork screw."
Still holding the rat, Screed used his free hand to grab the bottle from her. Before she could protest, the carouche became fully fanged and used his canines to yank out the cork. As he thrust the still spewing bottle back into her grasp, he spat the cork and champagne from his mouth.
"Thanks," Tracy managed to force out. As soon as the liquid settled, she wiped the mouth on her coat sleeve. The last thing she wanted to taste was Screed spit.
"Nasty stuff, tha'!" Screed shuddered.
"I suppose...."
"Hush yar lips!" Screed interrupted. "Kin ya 'ear h'it through the wind? Kin ya 'ear h'it? Kin ya?"
"Hear what?"
"The sound o' a brand new year! H'it's midnight, Baby Jane!"
Tracy thrust out the bottle. "To the New Year."
When Screed met her toast with his rat, Tracy managed not to grimace. "Who'd have ever thought I'd be bringing in a new year with a vampire?" she asked.
"This world h'is full o' wonders an' may we both put h'our peepers on many more."
"Many more," Tracy echoed energetically. She took a deep drink of her champagne, partially to divert her attention from Screed noisily draining the rat. "Many, MANY more...."


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Vanessa Hudgens would have been eagerly looking forward to the debut of Fox's TV musical Grease Live in which she plays the role of Betty Rizzo, portrayed by Stockard Channing in the 1978 film. However, the singer's big night was overshadowed by her father's death on Saturday, a day before the 31 January performance.
Hudgens posted a message on Twitter saying: "I am so sad to say that last night my daddy, Greg passed away from stage 4 cancer. Thank you to everyone who kept him in your prayers." She also dedicated her Grease Live performance to him.
In July, the actress revealed that her dad Greg, a former firefighter, had been sick with an Instagram picture of the two of them. In the post's caption she asked her fans to "pray for his healing". She later announced the severity of his illness during her acceptance speech for the breakthrough performer award at the 2015 Industry Dance Awards in August 2015.
Audiences were impressed with the 27 year old's ability to perform in the live TV musical in the wake of her loss. They praised her professionalism as well as her strength through numerous posts on Twitter.


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Giselle Long Sleeve
or 4 interest-free payments of $28.75
learn more
The boxy, slightly cropped fit perfectly balances out the 3/4 kimono-sleeved silhouette on this modern wardrobe essential, while extra wide hems add just the right amount of polish.
ADDITIONAL DETAILSRelaxed fit, slightly cropped/ Model is 5'10.5" and is wearing size Small. See Size Chart for additional sizing details.
Reverse Slub/ 100% Pima Cotton
Machine wash
Made in Peru


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It was all very well to say 'Drink me', but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry. 'No, I'll look first,' she said, 'and see whether it's marked 'poison' or not'; for she had read several nice little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they would not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your finger very deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison', it is almost certain to disagree with you sooner or later.
No such compunction when she encounters the cake, though, you'll notice. Little Alice just gobbles it up. No poison here, although it does make her grow inconveniently large, as cake is wont to do.
The thing about giving up alcohol is that it's very simple. It's not at all easy. But it's simple. The KPIs are very straightforward: have you tipped alcoholic liquid down your throat today, yes/no. And that is hard at first, to tick the 'no' box, and then easier, and then easier. I'm three months in now, which is no time at all but does mean that on a day to day basis, staying sober is now easy.
So I decided the time was right to tackle the food issue. I thought this was going to be easy. I've never had a food issue; no eating disorders, no addictive behaviours that I know about, just a tendency towards snacking, being a bit lazy and always being 10 pounds or so over where I wanted to be. You know. Bog standard normal. I enjoy cooking, I enjoy eating, I care about the quality of my food but I resist fads; it's all sunshine and rainbows over here in Eating Land.
Except that suddenly, it's not.
Turns out that actually I don't really know how to eat properly. I don't know how hungry one should be when dieting. I'm good at being hungry, when I'm not hungover or drunk. In the past, when I dieted, I would always allocate in a generous calorie allowance for wine (or points, or colours, or whatever the hell scheme someone had most recently combined with a two-book publishing deal) which means that I was eating maybe 700, 800 calories a day. Last year I did the 5:2 diet for a while, which I also turned out to be very good at; except that of course it required two alcohol-free nights a week, so that only lasted for about three months.
Being hungry is not an issue. Eating properly without anxiety, is. As it turns out.
When I first stopped drinking, I was terrified that I would Do It Wrong. If I didn't allow myself enough treats, I'd slip. If I didn't blog every day, I'd slip. Did I have to examine my inner self, or was it fine if I just didn't? It took a while to realise that if I wasn't drinking, then I was doing fine. But of course, you can't just stop eating food. And to eat beautifully healthy, clean, organic whole-foods takes time and effort I don't have. So I'm calorie counting, which is an inexact science at the best of times, and here is what is happening:
I am significantly under-eating on at least a couple of days a week (800 calories or so) which is very satisfying in one way but then also I worry that I will throw myself into 'starvation mode' whatever that really is, and eventually put it all back on and more, and then DIE OF FAT
I am often not eating until dinnertime because the idea of deciding what to eat gives me anxiety, because what if I get it wrong and IMMEDIATELY DIE OF FAT
On days where I do eat to my calorie goal, which is a whole 1300, I start feeling guilty and anxious that I'm about to lose control and if I eat 1300 calories today then what's to stop me eating 1800 calories tomorrow and then 2500 the day after until I DIE OF FAT
Now, some of this is not quite as irrational as it sounds. For one thing, diets are scientifically proven not to work (I feel like everybody knows this, but here's a link if you need convincing). For another, I've watched my mother spend her entire adult life, post-thirty, on one diet after another to the point where she now eats basically green salad and exercises daily, as well as eschews caffeine, alcohol, dairy, gluten, animal products and joy, and is obese – exactly the cause and effect that I worry about.
But the other aspect of it is, I guess, that I'm rolling all my failed diets up in a little ball along with my failed attempts at moderation.
Because a diet is always moderation by another name; whether you're giving up a food group ("I'll only drink beer!") or limiting intake every day ("two glasses a night is my limit"), you can't give up food altogether so you have to moderate. I have no reason to think that I can't moderate food. And if I get it wrong, well, so what I'm not going to drive in a blacked-out state, scream abuse at my husband, drop my baby, lose my job, sustain permanent fatal liver damage. I'm just going to have tighter waistbands. Logically, this is misplaced anxiety.
Logically, in fact, I shouldn't diet. I should just examine my eating habits and try and eat clean and trust my body. But just as there's a satisfaction in pouring a glass of wine for LH and not having one myself, there's a satisfaction in not eating. Augusten Burroughs says, in Dry,that if he can't have alcohol then going without everything else is easy. And after all, if I can't drink, I might as well try and be thin.
I don't really have a point, or an epiphany here. I think it's a new journey.


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Today, I'm proud to announce that the Conductant team has joined Docker. You probably haven't heard of Conductant before because we have been operating in stealth mode for some time. We are Bill Farner, David Chung and John Sirois, and we come from places like Google, Twitter, and Zynga to join Docker on this amazing journey to change how people build, ship, and run code everywhere. In doing so, we expand the expertise at Docker in building and operating large-scale, mission critical systems. Expect great things in the future with our combined teams!
The Quest for an Open Borg
In 2009, I left Google to join Twitter and quickly noticed a dearth of infrastructure and tools for delivering and running microservices. I particularly missed Google's Borg, the software used to manage massive clusters of computers and make them easily accessible by engineers building systems and services. Recognizing Twitter would greatly benefit from such a system, I spent the next six years serving as the technical lead of a group of excellent engineers building similar infrastructure.
When we started, we learned of a fledgling software project, known as Mesos, from Berkeley that provided an infrastructure framework for building distributed applications, with facilities for task execution on remote hosts and resource accounting. To build the platform we wanted, we needed a layer capable of making complex decisions in scheduling and orchestration, from where to place workloads to supporting complex requirements like jobs (from services to batches and cron), deploys, quotas, preemption, and latency sensitive workloads. Our idea was to focus on ops-driven development by leveraging Mesos for resource accounting and task execution as plumbing and build a high-level orchestration system that would solve for Twitter the problems Borg solved for Google. The result of our efforts is Aurora – a system for running Twitter-scale workloads on large clusters. Aurora is responsible for management and scaling of microservices at Twitter and is used daily by over a thousand engineers across the company. Twitter shared this work as open source software in 2013 under the Apache Software Foundation as Apache Aurora, of which I am the Program Management Committee (PMC) chair, and Apache Mesos. I'm proud to say both projects are still very active and continue to move forward.
In building Aurora, we focused on technical as well as organizational scalability. Technical metrics (e.g. number of nodes, number of containers in a cluster) are often used exclusively to judge the scalability of an orchestration system. On the other hand, organizational scalability refers to the manageability of the system as the number of users and workloads grow. Organizational scalability is more difficult to assess but has a larger impact on productivity. At Twitter, we needed Aurora to excel at both. Today, Aurora manages clusters with tens of thousands of machines used by hundreds of engineers to develop and deploy hundreds of services. It accomplishes this feat with an operations team of just three engineers. With Aurora, Twitter engineers have massive computational resources at their disposal; and they are free to experiment and explore new ideas without worrying about system capacity and risks of impacting the performance and stability of other critical services. Aurora not only improved operational efficiency but became a platform for innovation as well.
In 2015, David Chung and I co-founded Conductant with the mission to make this technology accessible to organizations large and small. David had previously spent a year consulting companies on bridging the infrastructure gap between developers and production, drawing from his prior experience at Google and Zynga. John Sirois completed the founding team: John also came from Google; and was one of the original Aurora engineers at Twitter before embarking on his own journey to create the Pants open source build system. Together we saw an opportunity to help organizations ship code rapidly and improve developer productivity, without requiring an operations team that would balloon in size when the infrastructure and services scale up.
All Roads Lead to Docker
We formed Conductant with the mission of empowering teams everywhere to deploy and scale microservices with the kind of ease and efficiency that for a long time have been privy to only a handful of large Internet companies. Instead of building this again for the sole use of a single company, we want to help all application teams overcome the hurdles from explorations all the way through deployment to scaling to millions of users. To achieve this, we couldn't ignore the impact and adoption of a game-changing technology that is Docker. As a platform, Docker has solved many of the problems we had to overcome when building Aurora on Mesos. As a tool for developers, Docker has made infrastructure approachable. The ubiquity of Docker Engine means anything that runs Docker can be orchestrated – from bare-metal servers to VMs in the cloud, or even a Raspberry Pi!
With this observation, and much excitement, we set out to reimagine an orchestration engine on top of this modern platform. One capable of managing microservices composed of Docker containers at massive scale. Docker technologies provide us with key building blocks for a system that would share the same guiding principles as Google's Borg in terms of scalability, productivity, and operational efficiency. Yet, the reach can go far beyond that of any single cloud provider.
As we began talking with various partners, we had an opportunity to meet with Ben Golub and Solomon Hykes from Docker to share our vision of a world where developers can deploy and manage countless microservices with ease. It was immediately clear that Docker wanted to do the same. Docker's vision to make the entire Internet programmable not only fascinates but also challenges us. We envision a world where code can come to life as soon as it is conceived and written, and we see a group of dreamers, just like us, in the Docker team. We are excited to bring the lessons we have learned over the years to the Docker platform so together, we can empower every developer and operations team to easily build, ship, and run code anywhere, at any scale.
Learn More about Docker
- New to Docker? Try our 10 min online tutorial
- Share images, automate builds, and more with a free Docker Hub account
- Read the Docker 1.10 Release Notes
- Subscribe to Docker Weekly
- Sign up for upcoming Docker Online Meetups
- Attend upcoming Docker Meetups
- Register for DockerCon 2016
- Watch DockerCon EU 2015 videos
- Start contributing to Docker


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Make Trouble Films is an independent film production company based in
Melbourne committed to making films with broad international appeal.
MAKE TROUBLE FILMS was founded by Mia'kate Russell in 2011.
The companies first film AUDITIONING FANNY (a self funded musical black comedy) was completed in late 2012. Fanny showed in festivals worldwide and won multiple awards, including Best Short Film, Best Musical & Best Actor.
SWALLOW (a gay, western werewolf tale) was Make Troubles follow up short. With 95% of the Auditioning Fanny cast & crew, it was shot over four days in Victoria, and had it's 2013 World Premiere at Sitges in Spain. The film received nominations for Best Film, Best Director & Best Screenplay.
Mia'kate's third film DEATH BY MUFF was for for the ABC's of Death 2 film competition. The film was successful and won it's place in the Top 12 DVD ABC's of Death 1.5, to be released mid 2015.
Mia'Kate Russell
Mia'kate has over fifteen years experience working behind the camera, predominantly as a Make-up and Special Effect artist, which has given her a broad understanding of the film and television industry.
With a love of all things horror, she has happily splashed her blood and guts around such films as 'Zombieworld' (2015), 'Pawno" (2015), 'Crawlspace' (2012), 'Red Hill' (2010) and most recently, The Cairns Brothers, 'Scare Campaign' (2015).
The personal and professional relationships she has formed over the years have helped her to develop a strong network of collaborators.


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A blog about travel, art, writing, and great reads. (Posts and photos are copyrighted, except for icons or pictures that are in the public domain.)
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Liebster Award
Here's how it works:
Liebster Award Rules:
1. Thank the blogger who gave you the award and link back to his or her blog.
2. Answer 11 questions from the presenter; list 11 random facts about you and create 11 questions for your nominees. (Whew, this part is a lot of work, which is why it's taking me awhile to complete.)
3. Present the Liebster Award to 11 bloggers whose blogs have 200 followers or less and whom you feel deserve to be noticed. Leave a comment on their blog notifying them of your nomination.
4. Upload the Liebster Award to your own blog.
Murees's Questions for Me:
1. What is the worst job you ever had? A laundry I worked in, once. The biggest problem was boredom.
2. What is your favorite snack? Cookies. Any kind. I love them.
3. What is your favorite TV series? Downton Abbey. I confess, I'm hooked.
4. Who would you like to meet? (Person could be dead or alive.) Hmm. Perhaps Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Then I could ask him why he felt his Holmes stories weren't literary.
5. If you could be any animal, what would it be? A dog. They are such noble creatures.
6. What are you most grateful for? My marriage, my extended family, and my friends.
7. What do you hate? I don't hate.
8. Do you include exercise into your daily routine? I should, shouldn't I . . . Does gardening count?
9. Do you like animals? Dogs, cats, horses, for sure. Maybe not octopi.
10.What is your favorite season? Fall, but Spring runs a close second.
11.What is your favorite food? South Indian cuisine. So many delicious dishes. So much variety.
Eleven Random Facts About Me:
1. I love to read a good mystery, whether for adults or for children.
2. I love poetry, both reading it and writing it.
3. So, it follows that I hang out at book stores and libraries, right?
4. I love the French Impressionist painters.
5. I'm hooked on the Victorian Era. So much so, that I'm starting a second blog, called, Victorian Scribbles. It's still in construction, but it should be ready for visits by next week. Take a peek.
6. I love opera. Especially Puccini's operas. Especially La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, and Tosca.
7. I once nibbled a dog biscuit just to see what the appeal was for my dog. I don't recommend it; not my kind of cookie. Probably not yours, either.
8. One of my ambitions in life is to walk a part of the pilgrimage road in Galicia that leads to Santiago. To get a certificate, you have to walk 100 kilometers on it. (Hmm, maybe I should start exercising. See Murees's question #8.)
9. I drink a cup of hot chocolate every morning. It's a great way to start the day.
10.That said, I'm not particularly keen on chocolate per se. I mean, I enjoy a piece now and then, but I can have a gift box of chocolates on the shelf for a good six months before its contents are finally gone.
11.Some day I would like to go to Ireland. It's a land that seems (to me) both haunting and haunted.
Here's My List of Questions for My Award Recipients:
1. Who is your favorite artist?
2. Favorite author?
3. Have you ever interviewed someone? If so, who? and about what?
4. What is your favorite genre in literature?
5. Do you speak any languages other than English?
6. If you were 19, what career would you choose—the one you did choose, or another?
7. Which deceased author would you most like to meet, and why?
8. Which living author would you most like to meet, and why?
9. What is number one on your bucket list?
10. Do you believe in Hobbits?
11. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
And Here Are My Picks for the Liebster Award:
(Go check out their sites; they write good stuff!)
1. Rosi Hollinbeck - The Write Stuff
2. JaNay Brown - JaNay With Words
3. Richard Hughes - Writing and Living by Richard P. Hughes
4. Victoria Lindstrom - Writ of Whimsy
5. Julia Hones - My Writing Life
6. Catherine Winn - The Writing Room
7. Julie Luek - A Thought Grows
8. Joanna Marple - Miss Marple's Musings
9. Linda Jackson - Writers Do Laundry Too
10.Shannon Lawrence - Writing from the Peak
11.Kenda Turner - Words and Such
Ciao for now . . .
14 comments:
Thank you, Elizabeth, for this wonderful award! Such a nice surprise. You have some good questions, answers, and personal reveals :)
- March 13, 2013 at 12:34 PM
Thanks for the award, Elizabeth. I always thought working in a laundry would bore me to death. And my daughter ate some doggy treats once to see why the dog liked them. Obviously people and dogs have different tastes in food. :)
- March 13, 2013 at 1:10 PM
- Victoria Lindstrom said...
Thanks for the award, dear Elizabeth! You have grouped me with some writers whom I truly admire, and some others whom I'll have to get to know. All the best ~ Victoria
- March 13, 2013 at 1:25 PM
- Murees Dupé said...
Those are some fantastic answers! I love the fact that you start your day off with hot chocolate. I always wanted to know how edible the dog biscuit truly was, but I never had the guts to actually try it. Thank you for participating and congratulations with the award.
- March 13, 2013 at 1:32 PM
- Richard Hughes said...
Thank you, Elizabeth. It is an honor.
- March 13, 2013 at 2:25 PM
- Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...
Catherine, glad you liked the questions and reveals. I'm looking forward to reading your answers.
Linda, thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the award. I'll be over to read your answers.
Hi Victoria, I am sure they will enjoy getting to know you and your blog as well.
Murees, thanks again for the award. It was a little bit of work, but it was fun.
Hi, Richard, glad you are pleased with the award. I'll look forward to reading your answers and seeing what questions you ask.
- March 13, 2013 at 2:33 PM
- Julie Luek said...
I'm so very honored and flattered you thought of me. Thank you very much. The appreciation for blogs and content is mutual and your award is well-deserved. Congratulations.
- March 13, 2013 at 4:23 PM
- Julia Hones said...
Thanks, Elizabeth. I had fun reading your answers. I learned a lot about you. We DO have a lot in common by the way. The questions are also good... I'll have to think about the answers.
- March 13, 2013 at 4:43 PM
- Kenda Turner said...
Thanks so much, Elizabeth, for this fun award. Appreciate you thinking of me :-)
- March 14, 2013 at 8:30 AM
- Optimistic Existentialist said...
Congrats on your well-deserved award Elizabeth!!
"Maybe not octopi" made me laugh :)
- March 14, 2013 at 9:18 AM
- Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...
Julie, thanks for stopping by. I hope others will check out your blog.
Julia, I'm looking forward to reading your answers!
Kenda, I agree, it's a fun award. It's really thought provoking.
Thanks for stopping by, Optimistic. Glad I made you laugh! :-)
- March 14, 2013 at 9:59 AM
- Optimistic Existentialist said...
I hope you had a good St. Patrick's Day Elizabeth!!
- March 18, 2013 at 5:42 AM
- Joanna said...
Sorry, I am so slow in getting over here to thank you for this kind award, Elizabeth. And, yes, south Indian cuisine is just awesome!
You love opera too. I am off tonight to see Placido Domingo in la Traviata at the Met - wow, a free ticket from someone I met last week.What luck!
- March 18, 2013 at 2:06 PM
- Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...
Optimistic, I did. Thanks for the good wishes!
Joanna, yes, I SAW on FB that you get to hear this glorious tenor. Traviata is one of my favorite operas, too.
- March 18, 2013 at 2:11 PM


text:
Demos to Get Work For Your Act
The summer festival season is coming up quickly and there are many opportunities for musicians and performers including:
Organizers for these events are often looking for performers. Styles can range from jazz, country, singer-songwriter, high energy rock, to fusion of almost any style. The main criteria is performance quality and matching what you do with what the event is looking for - no point chasing folk festival gigs with your grunge act!
Greg Dixon and Shared Visions Unlimited can help provide some advice and record audio and video demos of your act to submit to appropriate events.
Please contact Greg Dixon at email@example.com or 604-985-8261 to discuss promoting your act. Artists too!


text:
Stories about "international relations"
Trustee Lisa Barry '77 brings deep experience in international government relations
Tuesday, April 8, 2014 2:54 pm
Lisa Barry '77, a veteran of 35 years of international government relations work, has joined the Bates Board of Trustees.
Tahirih Justice Center director speaks
Friday, November 9, 2001 1:32 pm
Layli Miller, who argued a landmark legal case establishing female genital mutilation (FGM) as a basis for U.S. asylum, discusses violence against women Wednesday, Nov. 28, in Bates College's Chase Hall Lounge, 56 Campus Avenue.
Democratic House candidate to speak
Thursday, November 8, 2001 2:01 pm
Democratic Congressional candidate David Costello presents a lecture titled "Afghanistan After the Taliban: Lessons Learned from International Interventions in Cambodia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo" Tuesday, Nov. 13, in Hirasawa Lounge, Chase Hall, 56 Campus Ave.
Renowned peace activist to speak
Monday, October 1, 2001 8:41 am
Nobel Peace Prize nominee Elise Bjorn-Hansen Boulding will discuss how the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks might affect prospects for world peace in a lecture at Bates College Thursday, Oct. 11, in Chase Hall at Bates.


text:
During the first week of December, the trial preparation was concluded against the comrades Nataly, Juan and Enrique who are accused of various explosive attacks against police stations and metro stations.
In this bureaucratic / judicial instance it is sought to establish what evidence will be presented in the oral trial.
We must remember that these comrades are being held in the former penitentiary, the maximum security section and San Miguel Prison while the prosecution for their part raises accusations that seek to sentence them for decades and decades of imprisonment.
It is expected that they will soon set a date for the completion of the trial as a culmination of the democratic inquisition to punish the rebellious insurrectionists.
All our solidarity with Juan Flores, Nataly Casanova and Enrique Guzman!
(via Publicacion Refractario, translated by Insurrection News)


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Modular Preamplifier with battery power supply.
My ´professional´career started with the ´Calvin & Hobbes´ as part of my thesis.
Calvin, the preamplifier itself, is a modular concept, featuring 7 input channels, 2 independent tape-loops, as well as highlevel-outputs and one headphone output.
Hobbes is a battery power supply, which powers Calvin. Rechargeable lead-acid batteries are used as power source.
Calvin makes extensive use of OP-amps throughout.
The highevel inputs run into Pots to trim to similar volume levels to avoid large volume steps when switching channels and to supply for constant imput impedance values of 47kOhms. Simple gain-stages with a gain of 2 (+6dB) follow, which also guarantee a very low output impedance. This keeps interchannel crosstalk low even with long PCB-traces and reduces emf-sensitivity of the traces.
The Tape-loops feature buffer stages with low output impedance and a gain of 0.5 (-6dB), so that Input- and output-levels are equal.
Input channel 1 is the only one without a input buffer stage. Its intended for useage with sources that have a high enough signal voltage level and already low enough output impedance, e.g. a external Phono-stage.
The input switching matrix follows, using relais. Here the audio signal splits in two paths. The first runs into the volumecontrol-, then the Balance-Pot (each 10kOhm-types) and finally a gain-of-3 amplifying stage. This gain stage is also capable to produce a balanced output signal and works with a discrete transistor booster stage.
The second parallel path is on-switchable on demand. It runs into a volumecontrol-Pot and a headphone amplifier featuring a discrete transistor booster, with a gain of 7.
The term operational amplifier describes a certain amplifier topolgy, that typically features two input pins, a output pin and two power supply pins.
Other than that the OP is regarded as a ´black box´. The parameters specified in the Datasheet characterize the behaviour of the ´black box´.
Over time one began to understand OP-amp as an integrated circuit in general, so that other integrated circuits like instrumentational amplifiers (INA) are now also regarded as
Characteristic parameters of an ideal OP-amp are:
- infinitely high openloop-gain (OL-gain)
- infinitetly high input impedance
- infinitely large bandwidth
- infinitely small output impedance
In praxis the real OP-amp misses these goals by far.
Especially the OL-gain and the OL-bandwidth are grossly limited and frequency dependent.
Without the corrective and linearising function of the feedback-loop the OP-amp is a integrating, not an amplifying device.
The concept of feedback works -within certain limits- so well that very good behaviour can be measured.
This is the schematics of the buffer stage:
The Pot P1 defines the input resistance and allows to trim the input volume level.
The audio signal runs into the non-inverting pin of the OP-amp K1 and is amplified with a gain of 2 (+6dB). The formula to calculate the gain is: A=1+R2/R1.
The bandwidth is limited with the small capacitor C1 in parallel to R2.
The capacitors C2-C5 help to clean up and to stabilize the power supply voltages.
The schematics of the actual amplifier stage is more complex.
For one are the OP-amp outputs boosted by discrete transistors, and for second, a almost identical but inverting amplifier stage is implemented by U2, which allows to drive balanced audio signal after professional standards.
The gain of the noninverting branch around U1 calculates after the formula A=1+R3/R2=7 (+9.5dB/0°). For the inverting branch the formula reads A=R12/R11=7 (+9.5dB/180°).
The signal current through R8, resp. R17 into the load, is also routed via the trimmable capacitors C1, resp. C4 to the inputs of the OP-amps.
Capacitive loads like different cables and cable lengths, could in the extreme lead to oscillations. This is easily detectable with an oscilloscope and feeding a rectangular signal of 10kHz frequency. One can trim and optimize the behaviour to the rectangular signal by varying the value of capacitors C1, C4. This technique reduces the bandwidth of the amplifier, but a bandwidth limit between 300-500kHz is more than sufficient in this case.
The possibilty to tune-in on a optimal, load-independent behaviour of the amplifier renders any discussion about cable-sound obsolete.
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text:
Over the years I've taken pride in having eaten many a food items but never did I think a day would come when I'd say, I survived drinking kerosene. When the highlight of the trip is such, it deserves a few words on this blog.
On a glorious Saturday when the sun was dim and the clouds in full glory, a bunch of us decided to drive down to the valleys of Western Ghats for a little camping. Gathering our gear not only meant tents, torch, shoes and the likes but also enough food to feed the village and a bottle full of kerosene for the fire at night. About 230 km south east of Mumbai, the ghats are beautiful and the drive full of picturesque corners. Punctuated by our love for chai and pakoras, (and the occasional pee breaks) we finally made it to Varandha Ghats after 6 hours. Deep gorges, beautiful waterfalls and fresh greens made up for the gruelling journey up the hill in a cramped SUV. A short trek up the hill and we had found our camping site with breathtaking panoramic views of the valley. A tiny little temple replete with red sindoor smeared walls and eerie bells set the mood right for a midnight sojourn of ghost stories. Dark was descending and we needed to set up our camp for our big party. Rookie campers gathered rocks and dry sticks while the pros hammered down the pins to the tents.
Amidst this bevy of activities, a group soon huddled to start the fire. And this is where kerosene starts to play an important role. Parched from the hike and the biscuits I consumed on my way up, I was desperately seeking my water bottle (heck! any water bottle…). It is then, in this twilight zone that I spotted a plastic bottle quietly kept on the side, sticker still intact indicating the mineral contents of spring water. One swig and a gulp later, I was burping kerosene and the fire starters desperately looking for fuel substitutes.
"Oh! You can be the flame thrower now!" "Dragon lady" "Sayanee, light my cigarette please" "Are you burning inside?"
It is safe to say, none of these phrases sounded remotely funny to me as my next few hours were dedicated to getting kerosene out of my system. After multiple trials and a lot of staring into the blankness, I was finally able to rid my body of the poison. What followed were days of faint kerosene smelling breath and this innate feeling of being a mobile fuel container.
Takeaway: Must this happen ever, (let's hope it doesn't) keep a box full of salt or a burnt toast ready. Fibrous food items and generous amount of water can help dispel any poisonous alien items out of our system. And no that doesn't apply for when you consume a whole bottle. It's best you see a doctor then.
That apart, this trip turned out to be a pretty fun adventure. First we lost a bunch of our comarades to a faulty Zoomcar and then our search party to the dark. If anything, this trip has reinstated my belief in miracles. Nestled between the valleys, Bhor was a beautiful little village with fresh produce market and a penchant for unusually big jackfruits. Hidden in a nook is a dispensary that could serve as a girl's best friend if you're not used to exposing yourself to nature. The views breathtaking and the weather conducive, I would recommend this place to anyone with a few days to spare. Special ups to the boys for arranging this trip and making this quite the success.