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This is a special evening featuring the up and coming soulful rhythm and blues singer, Kayla Rae. Kayla Rae is an 18 year old singer/songwriter from Lagrangeville, NY. As a soulful, jazzy-pop vocalist, with influences from Amy Winehouse, Lana Del Rey, and Lady Gaga, Kayla Rae likes to stick to her dark and mysterious side, despite the upbeat vibe of the music. She is always writing new material, recording, performing, competing, collaborating with other artists, and posting videos via social media, continuing to grow her presence.
Kayla Rae has been blessed with a variety of amazing opportunities already throughout her career. However in 2016, things began to build upon themselves. Her single, "Lullaby" is capturing the hearts of fans everywhere, and is loved by many industry elite. Also, with more than 40 performances all across the Tri-State area and beyond in just the past year, she has electrified crowds, entertaining for tens of thousands at some of the biggest festivals in NY and NJ. Her dedication earned her voice/music to be featured in several films and television shows over the past few years. 2017 is underway with a full calendar of performances, and new music soon to hit the speakers (including collaborations with a few major artists)! The singer/songwriter believes from the bottom of her heart, that the combination of her uniqueness, style, and work ethic will help her to accomplish all goals.
Live jazz music is from 7-10 pm. For the New Year we will have 2 seatings. First seating is from 6:30pm-8:30pm $10 per person for a table reservation. The second seating is from 9pm-10:30pm $5 per person for a table reservation. Dinner is served both before and during the show. Be sure to check out our delicious craft cocktail menu as well. Bar seating available on first come, first served basis.
If you have any questions please email email@example.com or call 914.861.8001


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United Arab Emirates, June 5, 2015 – The Snow Village established by the French company Eversnow during the Formula 1 Grand Pix in Bahrain, last April 2015, has attracted a large public. Several medias reported interviews with the CEO, Bertrand Lambla, who received many requests from events professionals. He seeks partner investors in order to develop its entertainment's brand in the Gulf and Asia regions. His snow garden of 2000 Sqm might be invited to the car race in Abu Dhabi and can be established for a few weeks in Saudi Arabia.
The sandstorm and the high temperatures don't affect the technical prowess of the French company Eversnow. It strengthens rightly their research on performance, especially those concerning the enhancement of the condenser's power. The acclimatized tent represents a refuge for the children and their parents. It has also attracted officials such as His Royal HighnessH.R.H Prince Salmane bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the crown prince.
Due to the big satisfaction of Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, CEO of Bahrein International Circuit and silent partner of this unusual entertainment, VIP's of F1 were also enthusiastic about this innovation: Bernie Ecclestone head of FOCA and financial responsible of Formula 1 or Niki Lauda triple world champion of formula 1 and non-executive president of the Mercedes team.
This event which has never taken place in the Middle East is a challenge from the production and achievement points of view.. The fulfillment of this concept is now planned for Dubai, Saudi Arabia and several Asian countries.
This snow amazed so many persons especially among the Bahraini children: « I had never seen the snow », « It's the first time I make a snow ball », « I was able to test the Nordic skiing ».
The flagship attraction of the Bahrein circuit has gained its fame in the region with this event. The French company Eversnow hopes to export its Know-how during specific events or to participate in events more durable for the large public. Other events lie ahead for the company in Asia since October 2015.

subset: commoncrawl


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Surviving the odds, becoming the fittest ~ Entry post for BlogAdda's WOW contest
(The below post is a part of Write over the weekend an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.)
The two brothers played around with a medium sized round smooth stone that looked like a ball. As they both ran for the coveted kick, their mother signaled them to be back home. Serabi looked fondly at her sons. A single mother that she was, she had a long way to go in preparing her sons for an uncertainty riddled future that awaited them. After all, one day they will grow up and they will have to battle the challenges of this dangerous world all by themselves.
Kumal and Sangha were oblivious to the thoughts that bothered their mother. For them, it had been just playtime and tummy time until a few months ago, when they were barely able to open their eyes. But now, Serabi felt, the sooner they learn the rules of their tribe, the better. And most importantly, she had to bring them both on the same page, considering how different the brothers were from each other. From the time they were born, both siblings were like chalk and cheese. Kumal, the first born exuded aggression. He would go looking for trouble and dabbled in unprecedented risks all the time. Sangha, on the other hand was docile. Also, he was more cautious about venturing alone. Serabi, being the practical mother spent more time with the younger one, knowing for a fact, she had less to worry about the elder one. After all, Kumal was independent. He would survive the odds, come what may. However, Serabi had one thing to do, before she had to leave her sons, a tough decision made already. She had to prepare her sons for their lives ahead. She had to train them. She had to make sure that her sons were ready to do what the members of her tribe did best. And that was, to hunt!
Marco had been observing the life of this resilient tigress for a long time and had been documenting every detail of Serabi's life ever since she became an adult. When she saw Marco for the first time, she was untrusting, scowling and roaring at the strange instruments that glared back at her. However, in the months to follow, Serabi exhibited a comfort level with Marco, probably concluding that he and his instruments were no threat. She rendered both, harmless and useless respectively. Needless to say, it had taken Marco a great deal of time, patience and grit to have been able to communicate with Serabi in untold ways. For instance, she would even pose for the camera if she was in a good mood. In other times, she would totally ignore Marco and lie down with her back facing the camera. Apparently, Serabi had realized that all humans don't poach and all men with a gun in hand do not hunt. Marco was one of those few living good men for her, as he advocated tiger protection. He worked with his team – Save the Tigers, hard to breed the endangered royal cats in captivity. And bringing Serabi under their wing was a big step towards achieving their dream of breeding more tigers. Serabi had given birth to a litter of four from which two succumbed to death because of medical complications. But Kumal and Sangha were born healthy. Once they were a few months old, Serabi and her cubs were left in the same jungle from where she was picked up and not forgetting to mention, their lives were monitored. She knew, she had to go back again, once the cubs were trained to become the tough, ruthless and able predators, that was expected of them.
Serabi, like all mothers of her kind hunted and brought the food for her cubs. Of course, Kumal and Sangha were very small then. And that time, she too had limited hunting stints as she was nursing them and it was dangerous for her to leave the cubs alone and go hunting. But now, Kumal and Sangha were almost adults and they were gradually showing a sense of self dependence. All she had to do was now teach them to hunt sans assistance. For instance, Serabi would bring a live fawn and leave it among them, to see if the brothers were fast in pinning the creature by the neck and biting it off. Kumal, being the aggressor always managed the first attack flawlessly. Whereas, Sangha still had to catch up in pace, stealth and aggression, all of which were prerequisites for a seasoned predator. The second time, Serabi had planned the attack on a herd of chitals, as she covered for Kumal and Sangha, where both had to grab the nearest prey, each. However, due to Sangha's indecisiveness and lack of time precision and, the sharp hearing sense of spotted deer, the plan failed. Serabi thought over. And this time, she was planning something big, something that would bring out the ferocity in Sangha. After a few days, she prepared the young cubs for a big guerrilla attack. And this time, she raised the bar.
Serabi was planning a hit on a herd of buffaloes that were grazing on a large patch of pastures near their hunting ground. She lay low with her sons, observing the movement of the herd and trying to figure out the weakest link in the herd. She signaled Kumal to be where he is, and ordered Sangha to charge first. Sangha was reluctant as he moved behind but, his position allowed him just one thing: Do or die! His mother had positioned him near the water patch that was inhabited by crocodiles. It was a tricky spot. A slight miss in focus would make him the hunted. And then he had looked at his brother, who looked through him, as if saying, "Now is the right time! Charge!". Sangha focused on the herd again and saw a baby buffalo drifting away from the herd towards the water patch. Yes, this was his moment. He crawled stealthily as his bright black stripes camouflaged his striking appearance midst the yellowish green grasslands. He had to take extra care as he couldn't go too near the water patch, as he had already spotted a crocodile boss also aiming at his subject. And then, that precise moment when the baby buffalo suddenly stopped drinking, alerted by rustling of leaves, Sangha charged. He grabbed the young mammal and bit his neck, bringing him down on the ground with a thud. He dragged his food away as Kumal and Serabi sprang up from their locations and made a move. The herd was alerted as they raced against time to escape the gnashing teeth of the royal cats.
The aim of the outcome was achieved. Serabi would now go back to captivity, to breed. Her sons were now ready. Kumal and Sangha looked at their mother, as she was caged in a big van and was being taken away. And then, they turned back and made their way towards the jungle. Yes, they had heard a growl. A mating call. It was time for the hunters to enter a new phase. It was time to breed more Kumals and Sanghas. It was time to balance the food chain, the right way, the only way!
P.S: Inspiration for this story is drawn from NatGeo and Animal Planet that features a lot of programs on the nature of tigers, their endangerment and their breeding in captivity. The story above is a small attempt from my side just to imply that even five sensed creatures have the going tough. They go by the rule that lets them live - Survival of the fittest! There is just no choice!
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Snowblind Terrace
|This article is a location stub. You can help expand it by editing it.
The Snowblind Terrace is situated above the Snowblind Hills and the Crystalweb Cavern, below and southeast of Sifreldar Village, and southwest of Brunnhildar Village in the southern foothills within the Storm Peaks.
It is inhabited by icemane yeti.


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Organic Dog FoodWe eat organic food all the time, and also we don't want to feed our dog, Pepe, food full of unnecessary chemicals and rubbish.So he also has a very healthy diet of only organic food. Most of the time we cook him various meats with vegetables and pasta, all organic of course.But we have been trying him, with various organic complete dog food meals from the major supermarkets as well.We can now let you know that the only meals that pass the Pepe test are the organic dog meals from Waitrose in the Lamb and Chicken varieties.We now also feed him Organipets Complete - Adult.He also has The Organic Pet, Yarrah and Pero Treats, when He's a 'Good Boy'.
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Working in technology, a field where men significantly outnumber women, these issues are particularly acute. This article about Sheryl Sandberg is a good primer on what men can do to be allies in the workplace.
"I know there's pressure not to be a dorky, try-hard male feminist stereotype; there's always a looming implication that you could lose your spot in the club; if you seem opportunistic or performative in your support, if you suck up too much oxygen and demand praise, women will yell at you for that too. But I need you to absorb that risk. I need you to get yelled at and made fun of, a lot, and if you get kicked out of the club, I need you to be relieved, and I need you to help build a new one." — Sheryl Sandberg


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I was recently offered the opportunity to review a new series by Summerside called American Tapestries and they sent two titles, Where the Trail Ends by Melanie Dobson and Queen of the Waves by Janice Thompson.
The first book, Where the Trail Ends is a story of a young woman's journey through the American West along the Oregon Trail. She, her father and brother make the arduous journey WALKING (!) the Oregon Trail from Iowa to Oregon with a company of others. Over the course of the story, she loses her father and is separated from the rest of the travelers.
In trying to escape a wolverine, she gets herself into a heap of trouble and is rescued by an employee of the Hudson Fur Trading Company. But he is no ordinary employee. He is heir to the current president and a Lord of England. And he's betrothed; and the only one who can save her brother.
The other was Queen of the Waves, a story about the sailing of the Titanic. A women of class was about to be married off to a business associate for the sake of a merger of the two companies. She is in love with the gardener and when her mother plans to send her off on the Titanic to her Grandmother in the states, she concocts a plan to send someone in her place and elope with her gardener. And then her whole plan starts to fall apart.
There were several things that I liked about this new series of historical romance novels. First, the historical detail was very rich. The second was that unlike many historical romances that are extremely easy reads and pretty predictable, these were a little meatier. I am a pretty quick reader and I could take just one of them on a trip and probably not finish the whole thing (unless I had a TON of time at my disposal which doesn't happen much with a 4.5 yr old and a 2 yr old). The other thing was that the books are very heavy in the story. They are almost more of a historical novel first, with the romance secondary.
Overall, I would highly recommend these books to any woman (they are still romances, after all) who has an interest in history or likes to read rich historical romances. They were delightful to read and had some real story to them that allowed time to savor them. And they are of the clean variety with a little God added.
In fact, I was literally up until the 11th hour to finish Queen of the Waves before today's deadline. I didn't expect them to take so much time for me to read (remember, I read/skim quickly). I can't wait to see what books are released next!
You can find out what other bloggers had to say about Where the Trail Ends and Queen of the Waves at LitFuse Publicity (click on the respective titles above to go there).
Celebrate with Janice & Melanie by entering to win a Kindle Fire!
One fortunate winner will receive:
- A Kindle Fire
- Where the Trail Ends by Melanie Dobson
- Queen of the Waves by Janice Thompson
Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on October 17th. Winner will be announced at the American Tapestries Author Chat Facebook Party on 10/18. Connect with authors Janice Thompson and Melanie Dobson for an evening of book chat, trivia and fun! There will also be gift certificates, books, and a Book Club Prize Pack to be won (10 copies for your book club or small group)!
So grab your copy of Queen of the Waves and Where the Trail Ends and join Janice Thompson and Melanie Dobson on the evening of the October 18th for a chance to connect with the authors and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the books – don't let that stop you from coming!)
Don't miss a moment of the fun, RSVP today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 18th!
Disclaimer: A copy of each book was received in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was received.


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Thinking About Parenting?
The thought of parenting can be overwhelming. We can help guide you through this important time.
We can help you talk through your personal situation and consider things such as:
I want to have the baby, but I'm afraid.
My boyfriend doesn't want the baby, but I do.
My parents will be upset if they find out I'm pregnant.
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I want a baby, but not right now.
We will listen and help you think through your personal situation and options
"The parenting classes and childbirth services from Birth Choice made this journey from pregnancy to birth easy. They even helped us during the delivery and our baby boy was born naturally."
-Maria, Birth Choice Client


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Microdosing Pays Off
Ayelet Waldman finds head space with a little LSD.
Ayelet Waldman says her "interest in drugs has always been therapeutic."
Photo by Pat Mazzera
How does a Harvard-trained lawyer, a former federal public defender and law professor, a nice Jewish girl, who rarely drinks, who has a supportive husband and four kids, age 13 to 22, decide to take LSD—an illegal drug—for a month?
"I was desperate. I felt like I had no other choice," said author Ayelet Waldman, as she sipped tea in her Berkeley Craftsman. Waldman had been dealt a triple whammy: excruciating pain from a frozen shoulder (stiffness in the tissues around the joint), hormonal depression (a mood disorder), and chronic sleeplessness (caused by the pain, which exacerbated the depression). "Traditional medications weren't working. I was destroying my marriage and I had persistent and debilitating suicidal thoughts," she added. Faced with the choice between breaking the law and killing herself, Waldman said, "I wouldn't have considered LSD if I hadn't reached this breaking point."
Waldman chronicled her LSD trial in her recently released book, A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life. The microdose, two drops of the psychedelic under her tongue every third day, was one-tenth of the typical recreational dose of LSD—too little to trip but enough, theoretically, for a measurable cellular response—maybe enough for her to feel better. She monitored her response day by day, tracking her feelings, her sleep, her productivity, her pain, and whether she picked a fight with her husband.
The book served as a frame for Waldman to explore her relationships with her mother, whose similarities she fears, and her father, with whom she shares a history of mental illness—he has bipolar disorder—plus her husband, novelist Michael Chabon, who has ridden the waves of Waldman's mood swings throughout their 23-year marriage. Add to that the extensive research Waldman did on the history, mystery, and latest studies surrounding LSD, and her experience working in the criminal justice system, the book is also, in parts, a polemic on drug policy in the United States today.
"My interest in [illegal] drugs has always been therapeutic," said the author. (In the book Waldman also described her use of medicinal marijuana for pain and MDMA as a tool in couples therapy.) She connected with Marin-based psychedelic researcher and LSD guru, James Fadiman, for guidance before embarking on her journey. She wanted to function better. She was seeking equanimity. Waldman is not alone in her exploration of the potentially beneficial effects of mini-doses of LSD. The practice has gained popularity among Silicon Valley startup types looking for a boost in productivity.
While she had mixed emotions about using an illegal drug, her reflections on regulating drug use were less ambivalent. "I do believe that there is a human impulse to alter consciousness that has existed since humans have existed and to regulate that is foolish," she said. "Why don't we have the right to do what we want with our consciousness provided that we don't harm others?"
For all the seriousness and controversy in the subject matter she covers, Waldman was remarkably light in conversation. Wearing jeans, a black shirt, booties, and no discernible makeup, the petite, 52-year-old was warm, talkative, and funny, like the neighbor you would want to hang out with. She fussed over the family dog, a 7-month-old Labradoodle, Agnes. "We like old lady names for our pets," she said. "And old Jewish names for our children," she added with her bold laugh. And she's funny on the page, too.
Did she expect any pushback on the book? "The book does not advocate the illegal use of LSD," she was quick to point out. But Waldman, who has penned a New York Times best-seller (Bad Mother), a novel adapted for the big screen (Love and Other Impossible Pursuits), a series of seven mystery novels (the Mommy Track Mysteries), plus four other novels and a slew of articles and essays, often battles with a crisis in self-confidence. "I always care too much about what people think," she said. "It's a personality flaw."
Still, she believes that any negative feedback is more likely to come with her next book, which she co-edited with Chabon, essays about the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza from writers around the world. Chabon nodded in agreement as he padded through the rooms shoeless in sweats. Kingdom of Olives and Ash is due out in May.
While taking LSD, Waldman found space. She had time think before she acted. "Feeling, thought, impulse, action. These things have always been pushed together for me, it all happens at once. The LSD allowed a little room," she said. Now that she has stopped the LSD, what's next? Waldman wasn't sure. She's trying dialectic behavioral therapy with a therapist. "And I'm really trying to meditate," then under her breadth, "but I hate it."
Published online on March 24, 2017 at 8:00 a.m.


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I've been pretty lucky with a handful of my LinkedIn posts; but I have not yet achieved the level of success that Lionel Ham has achieved. Not even close. So I was pretty interested when he decided to share his secrets in his own LinkedIn Pulse article. Mr. Ham consistently gets hundreds of thousands of … Continue Reading
Think you can attract 300,000 readers to a single LinkedIn post? Here's somebody who does it consistently — and shares his secrets with you
Posted in: leadership, professional development, Social marketing, Start ups & Early Stage Companies, Training ⋅ Tagged: advertising, articles, Linkedin, marketing, Pulse, social networking, successful


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Friday, 24 July 2015
Making a Patchwork Drawstring Bag
I made a drawstring bag out of patchwork for my daughter. She loves everything that is cute.
The fabric was a charm pack from Riley Blake called Snapshots. A charm pack is a number, in this case 32, of coordinating fabrics in squares which are 5" x 5". I cut them into quarters giving me 4 squares of each fabric which were 2.5". I then arranged them and sewed them together to make 6 squares wide and 7 squares high.
I then quilted it with a pink fabric on the reverse and quilted 0.25" from each side of a seam. This is my favourite quilting for squares. I should branch out and do more lines or something. I have done stippling but I haven't done it for ages.
My 'tube' for the drawstring on each side.
The lining fabrics.
The ribbon I sewed on by hand to hide the horrible raw edge when I sewed the tube on the quilted side.
To finish the bad I sewed the sides right sides together and made the bottom corners rounded. I cut off the excess fabric, turned it the right way out and sewed a line of stitching around the edge of the bag to wide the raw edge inside the bag and just finish it off nicely.
The inside showing the contrasting linings which are the same as the 'back'.
Lastly I used some green ribbon I had lying around to make the drawstrings. I love this bag! My daughter does too and she has suggested she uses it as her library bag at school. So she must like it!
Saturday, 18 July 2015
Visit to Liberty Of London
I got off the tube at Oxford Circus and was going to Hamleys Toy Shop when I decided to take a tiny detour off Regents Street to the iconic Liberty Department Store.
It is an absolutely stunning shop inside and out. I went to haberdashery on the 3rd floor. I stealthily took photos, risking life and limb for you dear reader.
I share with you the few I have which I hope give you a taste until you are next in the great capital.
Jars of liberty fabric covered buttons, £11.95 for not very many....
Beautiful kits!
Beautiful Fabric Display
A stags head of course!
So I had a lovely time feasting my eyes on all the goodies. I even bought some fabric! They did have some precuts but not very many. They had some hexagons and some 2.5" squares. I got 36 squares for £9.95 in a pack. Mine are pink and they appeared to have that or all different colours in one pack. The hexagons were £14.95 for 30. I nearly bought that but managed to control myself. I will let you know what I make with the squares soon!
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At long last I am actually sewing my Lady Grey Coat... very slowly, by hand and sticking myself repeatedly with a needle.
|Neat little rows of hand basting.
Although it is not specified in the pattern instructions, I decided to do all of the hand tailoring recommended by Gertie. Aside from a better end result, my ulterior motive is to become better at hand sewing. Lucky for me, my tetanus shot is up to date for this endeavor. And, I can pretty much do the hand sewing while sitting in front of the tv* (perhaps this is the cause of all the sticking?)
I'm nearly done with Part 1 - basting the hair canvas to the front side shell pieces. It looks so neat, doesn't it? I feel all sew-y and impressed with myself at the moment. Anyway, I also cut all the lining pieces out of my beautiful silk charmeuse over the weekend. I just love this fun black/white/turquoise zebra print. Plus, I definitely I have enough left over to make myself a cami or some other little dainty thing.
|Silk Charmeuse on the right.
Tonight I plan to finish basting the side pieces and then I will move on to Part 2 of tailoring the coat front, which is where things get a bit more complicated. Moving forward, I will probably intersperse the hand sewing with fits of machine sewing the other pieces of the coat. That way, when I am done with the hand sewing, I will be basically ready for assembly. More during the week...
* BTW - if you are not watching Downton Abbey on PBS, you need to get on board with it. It has intrigue, charm and great costumes! Even Phineas (who notoriously hates period dramas) was sucked in last night. With scheming servants, an inheritance crisis among the fading aristocracy, gender politics in pre-WWI Britain, and Maggie Smith, well, what more do you need??


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Markets threw in the towel on Wednesday, with just enough bad news out of Europe to push a lot of money towards the traditional safe havens – Treasury bonds and the dollar – and weigh on growth-dependent equities and energy futures.
U.S. yields established new all-time lows and the euro fell under $1.24 for the first time since June 2010.
U.S. stocks had a bad day, but not quite the same degree of capitulation, after Spanish and Italian bond yields jumped and polls out of Greece added to the uncertainty over whether it would remain in the euro zone.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3%, or 161 points, to 12,420.
The S&P 500 Index lost 1.4%, or 19 points, or 1,313.
Yields on 10-year notes , which move inversely to prices, fell 13 basis points to 1.62%, their lowest level ever.
The dollar strengthened to its highest level in almost two years. The euro fell to $1.2373, from $1.2493 in North American trade late Tuesday.
Pressured by the dollar's gains and lower demand prospects, oil futures fell to their lowest level since October.
Crude for July delivery lost $2.94, or 3.2% to $87.82 a barrel.
Gold futures managed to turn up midday thanks to technical support, following sharp losses in the previous session. The August contract , which is the most-active contract, rose $14.70, or 1%, to settle at $1,565.70 an ounce.
-- Deborah Levine
Follow The Tell blog on Twitter @thetellblog
Follow Deborah on Twitter @dlevineMW


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The risk of a bubble forming in the shopping mall business has emerged in China, after the number of malls grew by 300-400 a year in recent years, according to Shanghai's China Business News.
A report published earlier this year by organizations including the China Chain Store and Franchise Association and Deloitte showed 13 of the top 20 cities around the world that have the most shopping centers under construction between 2015 and 2016 are in China.
It has also been forecast that the number of shopping malls in China will reach 4,000 by the end of 2015 and 10,000 in 2025.
However, the market has become saturated, leading to construction delays and difficulties attracting vendors, according to the newspaper. Two shopping centers have postponed opening days, while up to 40% of some malls' space still await tenants, the report added.
The fact that shopping centers have been built by developers as a way to boost the value of their nearby housing projects led to the drop in business for the malls after the housing market cooled down, said Du Bin, director overseeing the business services department of RET.
"Finding vendors is the top challenge," said Xu Rong, general manager of Shanghai commercial operations of property company Sincere. According to Xu, the challenge is created by the fact that luxury brands, which should be the main vendors in a mall, have no plans to expand.
The Chinese government's crackdown on corruption has also hit the consumption of jewelry and luxury goods, industry insiders added. They further pointed out that affordable luxury brands and fast fashion retailers often demand mall operators to subsidize their renovation costs, adding pressure on the mall.
The profit margins of shopping centers have been impacted as a result, according to the newspaper, citing property service Cushman & Wakefield's statistics showing that the gross profit margin of malls in Shanghai dropped from 9% in 2008 to 4.9% in 2015.


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Social BenefitsGreen roofs are well known to reduce stress in an urban environment and provide a place for people to relax. They also open up opportunities to create art and improve building aesthetics.
Environmental BenefitsGreen roofs lead to increased biodiversity in insects and birds which would not otherwise live in an urban environment. Less storm water overflow due to rain harvesting results in a longer life for pipes. They help improve air quality within the urban environment.
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Green roofs can provide a wide range of public and private benefits.
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The Green Concept"As green buildings become more and more mainstream, live plants are essential in keeping true-to-the-nature of the green concept."
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What are Green Roofs?
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Tuesday, December 1, 2009
My Wife HATES Stretchy Guys!
1. Plastic Man.
The original and still best. Although Plastic Man survives 'til this day in comics, no-one has ever been able to duplicate the genius of his creator, Jack Cole. A reformed criminal, Plastic Man works as a special agent for the FBI, using his unique shape-changing talents to bring down organized crime- often his former associates. He even got his own postage stamp:
Or is this just Plas in disguise?
2. Elongated Man
Despite his naughty-sounding name, Elongated Man was a fairly innocent superhero feature from the pages of Flash. Ralph Dibny, became obsessed as a young man with the flexibility of "India Rubber Men" in carnival sideshows. He noticed over time that all of them drank a particular brand of soda-pop made with extract of "gingold". Dosing himself with a powerful concentrate of gingold, Ralph discovered he was able to stretch any part of his body (!). He then decided to fight crime as the "Ductile detective", Elongated Man.
3. Elastic Lad
After taking an "Elastic Serum", Jimmy Olsen had a short-lived career as
Elastic Lad. Since Jimmy has had too many bizarre powers and shapes to list, I don't know what else to say.
4. Mister Fantastic
Okay, this is the one stretchy guy my wife actually likes. But does she like him for his cool, stretchy power? Does she like him for his mind-numbing intellect? No. She likes him because he's a pompous ass. This explains SO much about why she married me.
10 comments:
Wow, I never made the connection before. It really does explain a lot.ReplyDelete
There's also Jigsaw, one of Harvey's lamer efforts to jump on the superhero bandwagon in 1966. I wrote about him here:ReplyDelete
Lois Lane also drank some of Jimmy Olsen's Elastic Lad serum on at least two occasions that I am aware of. In LL #23 she actually became Elastic Lass, and in LL #73, she used the serum to free herself from being manacled to Superman (by Mxyzptlk's girlfriend). And Superman himself drank the serum in Superman #172 when he temporarily lost his powers.
Wow! Thanks Pat, I was completely unaware of Harvey's Jigsaw. I wonder if it's just artistic coincidence that both Jigsaw and Ron Fortier's Mr. Jigsaw go by the handle "Man of a Thousand Parts"?ReplyDelete
What about all the robotic stretchers? Seems one can't be a robot hero without telescoping limbs of some sort. Machine Man, I think all the Metal Men, and M-11 come off the top of the old bean.ReplyDelete
Blaze- there seems to be an exception made for robotic heroes. They fall under a separate heading, despite their ability to telescope.ReplyDelete
More comic trivia pours out without my being able to stop the flow. Like Plastic Man, being a shapeshifter also seems to grant a license to stretch. Must be the ductility of one's molecules or some such.ReplyDelete
Chameleon Boy, Proty (I & II), Impossible Man, almost any Skrull, and I'd even toss in Sandman. He didn't shapeshift or stretch, per se, but he could clobber the Thing from across a room easily enough.
Also, you have to give credit for the clever creative contrast Stan and Jack did with Reed Richards. 99% of all stretchy characters are played for laughs and comic relief. They successfully coupled the silliest power with comcdom's stuffiest, most intelligent character.
You know, if you think about it, Jimmy Olsen might just be one of the most powerful characters in the DC universe, in terms of powers collected throughout his life.ReplyDelete
Yeah, Jimmy is a super team unto himself.ReplyDelete
I love love love the Plastic Man series from a few years back by Kyle Baker. Fun stuff!ReplyDelete
Jacque- I enjoyed that too- I love Kyle Baker. I especially liked how Plastic Man was the least cartoony character in the book.ReplyDelete


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Los Angeles, CA (February 1, 2011) — The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) is pleased to announce that CashX.com has become its newest Platinum Sponsor, at the highest level of sponsorship.
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"We look forward to helping ASACP expand its efforts worldwide, and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship," Kurtis added.
"We are excited to welcome CashX.com as our newest Platinum Sponsor," stated ASACP CEO Joan Irvine. "We are grateful for the company's commitment to child protection as is evidenced by its financial support of ASACP and our ongoing mission. In addition, CashX.com is discussing ways they could help support the ASACP Foundation on a continual and international basis. It is awesome when people offer their expertise in addition to their financial support."
Founded in 1996, ASACP is a non-profit organization dedicated to online child protection. ASACP battles child pornography through its CP Reporting Hotline and helps parents prevent children from viewing age-restricted material online with its Restricted To Adults (RTA) Website Label (www.rtalabel.org). ASACP is the only association in the world that coordinates the adult entertainment industry's efforts to protect children online. It has spent more than 14 years creating progressive programs to protect children and its relationship in assisting the adult industry's child protection efforts is unparalleled. For more information, visit www.asacp.org.
Report Child Exploitation |
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The Seton Hall women's basketball team were victorious Friday afternoon in Providence's Alumni Hall as they defeated the Providence Friars, 65-56. It was the same score-line that the Hall had beaten Providence by on Jan. 5 in Walsh Gymnasium, with the Hall having won four of their last five, beginning with that first Providence win.
The game was low-scoring in the first quarter, and things stay close until an 8-0 run to close the half gave the Pirates some separation. Despite JaQuan Jackson leading the team in scoring at the half with 10 points, five other Seton Hall players pitched into the scoring efforts, including Shadeen Samuels who had 6 points and 4 rebounds in the opening frame.
Towards the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth, Seton Hall showed their scoring prowess as their lead grew to the largest of the game at 51-35. Providence tried to make a late push as they narrowed the Seton Hall lead to 10 with just over a minute remaining in the game. Despite the late attempt to make things interesting by the Friars, the Pirates were able to make their shots from the stripe – where they shot 92 percent on the game – and limit mistakes.
JaQuan Jackson has embraced the increased scoring burden on her shoulders in the last two games since the departure of leading-scorer Donnaizha Fountain. The redshirt senior guard scored 22 points, made all five of her free throws and knocked down three shots from beyond the arc, shooting at a 70 percent clip from the field. Jackson is averaging 19 points per game in the last two contests.
Despite being outrebounded by Providence, the Hall still managed to coast to a nine-point win. Their perimeter defense more than made up for the rebound margin, as Inja Butina was responsible for a team-leading six steals – one of seven Pirates to record a steal – as the Pirates led in fast-break points 12-6. Seton Hall is now 10-0 when the opposing team scores under 60 points.
Seton Hall's lack of rebounding was also aided by their production in the paint, as they lead 30-20 in terms of points in the paint, with several fast break layups and inside scores.
The win evens Seton Hall's record to 5-5 in the Big East, moving them a half-game closer to sixth-place Creighton. Their next game on the conference schedule will be another away game, as the team will travel to Omaha, Neb. to face off against none other than Creighton on Jan. 28. Tip-off for that game is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Evando Thompson can be reached at email@example.com or on Twitter @Thompsev.


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"And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony." Revelation 12:11.....".....for death could not keep Him in its grip." Acts 2:24
In my prayer journal I have written down, "He is King of kings and Lord of lords." It's a truth that I want to live by and in. There are times when I don't live as if that's true. Where circumstances, needs, and the opposition of hell seek to pull me away from my standing on that truth. Yet though I forget, He never does. And when those things, and so many others try to crowd out and blind me to this fact, that still small voice that speaks so loudly and clearly, whispers in my ear anew, "I AM King of kings and Lord of lords." When death and darkness seek to choke out His Life and Light in my life, He brings to my heart again His Truth. No amount of death and darkness, and not all the power of hell can keep Him in its grip. And since my life is in Him, it cannot keep me in its grip either. So if they cannot, why do we so often fall prey to them?
By the blood of Christ we are free. By His blood, we have free and total access to the Father and to all the power, unlimited power, at His disposal. This does not mean we will not be faced with tremendous challenges and total impossibilities. It doesn't mean that we won't see situations where "everything is against us." We will. Perhaps often. But if we will truly stand in Him, not just repeating memorized truths, but actually living in those truths, we will, as Revelation says, overcome all the power of darkness, death, and hell by the blood of Christ and the power and truth of our testimony. The death grip on us is broken. His Life grip is now in effect.
Watchman Nee said, "Satan... does not mind our knowledge of the Bible or our theology, but he has to yield when, out of hearts committed to Christ, we declare that Jesus Christ is Lord." On the battlefronts of our lives today, is the enemy yielding to the truth that we serve and live in a risen Savior? Are we the overcomers, or is he the overwhelmer? Do we believe and live in His truth, and so in His grip? Or, have we bought his lies, and so live in the grip of those lies?
He is King of kings and Lord of lords. We know that. It's our theology. Is it the witness and testimony of our lives? The enemy has convinced us that victory will only come when we leave this realm. Till then, he has the upper hand and our lives will reflect that. It's a lie. Have we accepted it? What's the word of our testimony? Whose grip do we live in today? Overcoming or overwhelmed. One or the other is our witness. Which is it? One.......or the other?


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Part of FringeNYC: Three women bound by blood and tradition. One community in dire straits. Can a centuries-old rite mend the ills of a backwater Appalachian town? Potent and haunting, Kerrmoor straps you in, and you're off until the bloody end. More…
Categories: Drama, National. From Grrl Parts Productions in association with Interrobang Theatre. Written by Susan McCully. Directed by Eve Muson.
"I like to think that if William Faulkner came back as a middle-aged lesbian who transplanted to Baltimore, he would have written this play," says playwright Susan McCully. "I set out to write an Appalachian Greek Tragedy, a play that presents an intimate family portrait of isolated, white rural America. The play is about where I grew up, surrounded by people who exude nobility, strength and sacrifice, but at the same time are insular and xenophobic. It's a dangerous mix. I wanted to tell the awful truth about this racist and sexist culture that shaped me. The easy and comfortable path is to disavow these ugly traits. By writing 'Kerrmoor', I've attempted to embrace my people, not to celebrate them, but to explore the cost of glorifying a certain kind of rural American mythology."
"A stylish coproduction...Susan McCully opens a Stephen King-ish window into a forbidding world, painting a creepy portrait of 'prideful insularity.'" —Baltimore Sun
"Strange, haunting, beautiful, and moving. Kerrmoor is great theatre. I highly recommend it." —What Weekly
"Captivating…a potent, haunting play." —DC Metro Theatre Arts
"McCully's play is vivid and visceral…a colossal experience." —TheatreBloom
"Fascinating…an impressive production and a Charm City Fringe must-see show." —The Bad Oracle
"It's the sort of show where not much happens, but there's beauty in what's given. As the mother-daughter leads, Kelly and Hileman's nuanced performances give us two of the most wonderfully backwoods individuals possible…In moments of violence, we don't observe any wear to the body or any blood spilt. Choosing not to include anything makes such moments comedic and wholly unbelievable...Budgetary concerns aside, 'Kerrmoor' is a well-performed piece with an intriguing premise." Full Review
"The play treats its characters as caricatures of frenzied backwoods folk, never eliciting the empathy one should feel in this Greek-like tragedy; twanging up a storm, the actors do their best with repetitive dialogue, a confusing story line and intermittent breaks into song. At the play's contrived climax, Agatha warns young Kylie, 'Don't look back. Leave now.' One feels the same way exiting the theater." Full Review
for a previous production "All three actresses give captivating performances…McCully wears her role like a second skin. She wrote this character and knows exactly how to make Agatha and her pain real...Over the course of an hour, Agatha, Lorna, and Kylie strip themselves bare of all facades until we see them as they are. The transformations are beautiful and painful…'Kerrmoor' is a potent, haunting play; part love letter, part Dear John missive to the past and a place and to the people who remain stuck in both." Full Review
for a previous production "'Kerrmoor' is clear as a bell, aided by McCully's sturdy, authentic performance in the central role...The dialogue rings with twang and rapture as Agatha's daughter Lorna and Lorna's half-sister Kylie get as wild and wide-eyed (and manipulative) as the girls in Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible.' The old faiths and bigotries run deep in this insular setting, and the earnest 'Kerrmoor' is a kind of exorcism...The single-minded protest and rites of 'Kerrmoor' run their swift course efficiently." Full Review
for a previous production "The text, especially early on, is sparse, not to mention stingy with the exposition. Even by the end you may find yourself wanting just a little more in the way of development (and maybe a little less repetition of some details). Lots of provocative ideas are in the air; not all of them get enough focus. And the horror genre touches don't always click neatly into place. Still, the play exerts a steady pull as it unfolds, painting a creepy portrait of prideful insularity." Full Review
See it if You like plays with roots deep in history and folklore, rituals examined and revisited.
Don't see it if You don't like dark explorations of people trying to escape from the past.
See it if you like interesting stories about ritualistic people
Don't see it if you want fast paced edgy theatre
See it if you want to see a riveting modern Greek tragedy that tugs at your heart strings
Don't see it if you don't want a slow build or slightly repetitive dialogue
See it if you enjoy a slowly spun tale that drives towards an unavoidable conclusion, but you can remain hopeful that escape is possible
Don't see it if You want a fast pace or scares or action in your thrillers; you can't bear dialects
See it if you think that being confused and intelligent are one and the same.
Don't see it if Program notes say the playwright has a PhD in something or other and it shows - it's a bunch of unintelligible mumbling with no purpose.
See it if You have a taste for smart politically relevant theatre focused on female characters
Don't see it if You like to see theatre that requires little/no work from the audience. You have to "go there" with this play.
See it if For the great acting, the strong female characters and the intriguing story line.
Don't see it if You can't forgive some repetitious dialogue.
See it if you are interested in antiquated belief systems and how they can drive communities to commit unbelievable atrocities.
Don't see it if you are squeamish about backwoods accents or are offended by antiquated belief systems that are based in legend.
See it if you like interesting, thought-provoking plays about strong female relationships and American culture. You're down for some Gothic suspense.
Don't see it if it's hard for you to track a tricky play. The limp direction muffled needed plot points, and the design was too sedate for the material.
See it if You want to see great acting. And if you like shows where you don't have a half hour of exposition in the beginning, they dice right in.
Don't see it if You don't like shows with a bit of a dark side
See it if You like M. Knight Shyamalan, and stories that are suspenseful, bring you into another world and make you think.
Don't see it if You like fairy tale endings
See it if You want to see 4 strong female characters, an original story, and some really solid acting. An intense ride.
Don't see it if You're looking for something light and funny... This is a play you have to commit to.
See it if If you like suspenseful, mythic,-!; thought-provoking plots.
Don't see it if If you like happily-ever-after endings .


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Friend! How Sacred the Word.Born in the heart of God, and given to man as a treasure from the eternities - no other word in the language is so heavily freighted with meaning. With one friend I would count myself rich; to possess more than one,, I were rich beyond comparison. A friend is a priceless gem for the crown of life here and a cherished star in memory forever.
Cyrus B. Nubbaum
I though it would be nice to have a quote at the beginning of each post, and am going to work through this lovely friendship book I was given ages ago. Enjoy.
Munch Faster
The poor old caterpillars are fast depleting their food resources....we have had so many hatch and start munching that even our big plants are almost bare.
We had three big plants and numerous small self seeded ones and they are all chomped up!
We have continued to pick our beautiful big Beefsteak tomatoes and another lot have ended up in the freezer. Isn't this just so yummy...one slice fits all....
House Work!!! (Excuse the Pun)We have also been flat tack finishing off the back porch and yard of our house. This picture is the door to nowhere now looking very posh!!
We call it the door to nowhere because it is just a door that no longer opens. Our house was built in the 1920's and this was the outside storehouse. It has now been converted into the toilet that is extremely roomy and thankfully, accessed from inside! Do you remember the days of having to go out the back door to go to the bathroom....my first house when I was married had the toilet out on the porch and the bath inside.
Then I painted the back door too. Kerry did a terrific job of sanding and leveling the old door. I get all the good painting jobs....lol.
The unpainted frame to the right is going to the the window to nowhere. This is a clever disguise for the access panel of the hot water cyclinder. Amazing how you have to invent things on old houses to make it all fit. Just the scribers to be done and painting.
Saturday sees the concrete poured to make the back yard look lovely. Our friend Mike is coming to help, plus youngest son Richard will be here. Mike wanted to know what was I going to make for smoko, so cheese scones it will be!
My Special Toy!
Kerry has finished servicing and repairing my lovely old Singer Featherweight. I took it home and set it up on my table in the corner and stitched my scrappy squares on it. Oooh, it is just lovely, but takes a bit of getting used after using a Janome Horizon 8900 that has all the bells and whistles. Kerry found a small cloth guide in the accessories, so we have set that up for sewing a scant 1/4" seam. Works perfectly. So spoilt, that's what I am.
I did finish my lovely modern quilt and have entered it into Wine Country Quilts exhibition. Dopey me forgot to take some photos before it got whisked off. Never mind, I will take some of the exhibition that is on the 21st to 23rd March....if you are close enough, it is well worth the visit - it is held at Pukeora Estate. There will be about 150 quilts on display.
Well, that's the catch up for now. We have had an awesome autumn day today with temperatures reaching 30 degrees. Phwew that's hot after a very cold autumn start. Thanks for reading and see you again soon.


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"Free" blogging tools on display at John Edwards's site
John Edwards's candidacy interests me – I think he's right on a lot of the issues and has a good opportunity to be a serious contender for the Democratic nomination. I've been subscribed to some of the feeds his site's producing for a while, and the other day I took a look at their efforts to involve bloggers and to encourage folks to blog.
The site makes on-site blogs available for interested bloggers; simply sign up for an and they'll provide you with a blog or "Diary" within their community. Sensible enough, as far as it goes. I also came across this information regarding starting your own blog on their "For Blogger's" page" regarding ways to start you own blog :
Perhaps you are already a blogger on the John Edwards Blog. Maybe you already have your own diary on our site. That's fantastic. But we encourage you to do more. You should start your own independent blog.Check it out; it's easy and free.
Here's what you do (remember – it's all free):
- Go to a free blogging site. A few examples: www.blogger.com, www.typepad.com, www.wordpress.org, and follow the given instructions. It only takes a few minutes. Again, it is easy and free.
I think it's great that they're encouraging folks to start their own blogs and put their own voice on the web, out from under the umbrella of the John Edwards site. But right away I noticed some errors and misleading info there, so I sent them an email:
Hey all;
I noticed a few things that could bear a little attention on the site with respect to growing a blogging community. On the for bloggers (http://blog.johnedwards.com/bloggers) page there is an error and an "opportunity for improvement"
- Contrary to the claim that "it's all free," TypePad accounts are not free. The lowest cost plan is $4.95/month. Not a lot of money, I agree. But not free.
- While the WordPress.org blogging software is technically free, it requires a hosting account to host the software so that the blog is available on the web. Again, the lowest commonly available cost for hosting that I've seen is $4.95/month. Alternately, a WordPress.com blog is free, and requires nothing but to sign up.-- Yours; ...
The next day I got a response from David Pierucci:
Hi Cori, Thanks for writing in and thanks for the info. We are working on adding message boards to the chapter pages. Please feel free to write back with any questions or ideas that you may have. Thanks for your time. David
Nice enough, I suppose, but woefully inadequate. In fact, I get the feeling that not only do they not care that the information's inaccurate or misleading, but that David doesn't even understand what's at issue. Several days later neither of those bits have been corrected. Not an outstanding way to attract bloggers to your cause, if you ask me; I had better hopes for Edwards's "netroots" organization than that.
Scott Johnson on blogging style
FuzzyBlog – Elements of Blogging Style
I was looking forward to reading this. I'm not much, generally, for sets of rules about blogging; everyone blogs for their own reason and with their own style and no one set of rules will work for everyone, but I respect Scott, and like his writing, and this was likely to be more insightful than Guy Kawasaki's tripe about blogging evangelism.
I gave up on it, however, when the navigation overcame me. Scott seemingly realized his goal of "short, pithy guidelines," but that became a hindrance rather than a strength when I had to scroll a mile and a half down the sidebar to get the next bit of pith.
Perhaps I'll get back to it, but I can't help thinking that there's a better way.
This made me go hmmm.
Make You Go Hmm: » Wikiargument over Hacking Netflix being link-worthy and professional enough on Netflix page
I have no desire to argue with somebody who might not even be wearing pants.
Pretty rich from somebody who might not be wearing pants himself.
From TECHNOSIGHT: 7 Ways to Avoid Blogging Burnout
TECHNOSIGHT » 7 Ways to Avoid Blogging Burnout
"If there is no discovery for the writer, there is none for the reader." – Robert Frost.
Well-timed commentary for me personally, since I've been lax in blogging recently and have a number of posts in "churn-mode" where I think about them and write/edit a little bit at a time over days or weeks. Some really excellent thoughts from Ken. Every single point he makes here has validity for many (most?) bloggers.
If you're a blogger (and if you're reading this, you probably are), go read this.
Tim Berners-Lee blogs!
His first post. Some other interesting stuff (not by Tim) there as well.
Scripting News trackbacks
Dave Winer's added Technorati search to the sidebar of Scripting News. This is a nice feature, but one that I'd like to see even more would be for Dave to put a small Technorati bubble () by the permalink icon for each post that would allow a Technorati Search based on the url for that particular post. That would be as close as you could get to implementing trackbacks on Scripting News without actually hosting trackbacks. Like so:
Untrue quote of the day
Conversations worth having require beliefs that you are secure in.
Many of the most valuable conversations I've ever had are exploratory – about things I don't have a settled belief about. The conversation helps me resolve those ideas.
Having looked at Sawdust and Incense when Doc last linked to it, I find something very appealing about the gentleman's approach, especially when contrasted against that of many of the pro-life or pro-choice groups. I'd also like to hope that this fellow isn't thinking "conversation = conversion".
In addition I'd like to encourage a conversation with a few women I know, who could tell him that the first few paragraphs of this aren't necessarily the norm.
via Doc.
Stand-alone WordPress blog posting with OPML Editor fixed…
See elliptical for details. Please comment here or there with problems, concerns, or comments.
Dave Pentecost also wants to post to his WordPress.org blog…
He's getting the same message that I am, but doesn't have xmlrpc logging turned on, so we can't verify that he's having the same precise problem that I am, so I still don't know for sure that the problem I think I see in my log is caused by the interaction between OPML Editor and WP or whether it's something on my server. Anyone who's got xmlrpc logging tuned on (or can turn it on) willing to give it a whirl?
Next step is for me to make OPML Editor skip over some of the whitespace handling that it does to see if something in there is causing the munging.
No luck using OPML Editor to post to a WordPress.org blog….
See my conversation with Dave starting here.
When I step through the code I get what appears to be a valid xmlrpc method call over http, but my xmlrpc log file looks munged. If there's anyone around who uses a WordPress 1.5+ blog and the OPML Editor and woud be willing to try a post, I'm interested to see if you have the same problems or if the issue is on my server.
Results of trying the OPML Editor WordPress posting on a standalone WP blog…
I tried Dave's wordPress.root tool or the OPML Editor to create a new post at elliptical this evening, and it seems as though the inplementation of the MetaWeblog API in OPML Editor is different than that in Flock, because Flock's blogging tool works just fine while the OPML Editor's tool won't authenticate me to xmlrpc.php.
Here's what the log file records from Flock (actual post data removed for clarity):
2005-11-10 19:38:50 Input: <?xml version="1.0″?>
<param><value><struct><member><name>title</name><value><string><![CDATA[post title]]></string></value></member>
<member><name>description</name><value><string><![CDATA[post text]]></string></value></member>
<member><name>mt_tb_ping_urls</name><value><array><data><value><string><![CDATA[ping urls]]></string></value></data></array></value></member></struct></value></param>
and here's what's recorded from OPML Editor:
2005-11-24 00:28:55 Input: <?xml version="1.0″?>^M
<value><struct>^M <member>^M <name>description</name>^M <value>^Mwhat's the log say?</value>^M </member>^M <member>^M <name>title</name>^M <value>test for kinrowan.net</value>^M </member>^M </struct></value>^M
Among the oddities are the presence of the "^M" strings at the end of each line.
Also strange is that OPML Editor is able to communicate just fine with WordPress.com blogs, and so is Flock.
Here's the error message I get:
Nevertheless the wordPress.root tool is really cool – being able to use the OPML Editor to post here is boon enough!


text:
Laboratories are responsible for maintaining their own MSDS information. A minimum acceptable standard is that MSDS information can be accessed by the internet from a direct link (shortcut icon) on the desktop of laboratory computers. OHS has listed a variety of sources for MSDS information. These sources are listed at:
You may choose from the various suppliers of MSDS information listed on the OHS site for those relevant to your work. This is not an exhaustive or exclusive list, you are free to use MSDS from any other supplier for your particular chemicals.
The best practice is to keep hardcopies for the most hazardous, commonly used chemicals in the laboratory in the Laboratory Safety Documentation Binder used. Hardcopies of MSDS that are "hard to find" because the compounds are rare, specialty or otherwise unusual should be kept within the laboratory and accessible to lab workers.
List of designated substances from OHS


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SOCHI, RUSSIA - John Jahr slowly hitches up his pants, runs his fingers through his swept-back greying hair and gently crouches down, beckoning a curling stone toward him.
The skip of Germany's men's curling team isn't your average Olympian.
For starters, he's 48.
He's also a millionaire businessman.
So what is he doing in Sochi, throwing 44-pound slabs of granite rock down a 46-foot sheet of ice?
"I am here for the love of curling," Jahr told The Associated Press. "For the love of competition."
In an everyman sport full of characters with interesting backstories, Jahr — the oldest curler competing in these Winter Games — probably has one of the most captivating of the lot.
He is a major shareholder in two casinos, including one in his home town of Hamburg in northern Germany. He controls part of a huge German publishing house, Gruner + Jahr, which was co-founded by his grandfather and brought in revenues of 2.22 billion euros (now $3 billion) in the financial year of 2012. And he spends most of his time working in property development and investment management.
"I work in this and that," he says, with a smile.
For the past four years, and especially the last six months, his business interests have taken a back seat.
Curling has been his No. 1 priority.
Jahr was a successful player in the 1980s and '90s. He was a member of Rodger Gustaf Schmidt's European championship-winning team in 1985 and also won a silver medal with the same rink in the 1987 world championship. He skipped his own team for the 1996 world championship.
He hung up his broom in 2000, deciding — in his mid-30s — to focus on business. But there was an itch he still needed to scratch — he hadn't competed at an Olympic Games.
So, in 2010, he returned to the ice with a team from Curling Club Hamburg, a club his father founded.
"It was hard coming back, yes," Jahr recalled. "It was not the technique, I still had that. It was the skill of thinking strategy. I lost it. It needed half a year to come back with my head in the game.
"That was the hardest part of the thing."
Nevertheless, within a year, his team — also comprising Felix Schulze, Christopher Bartsch, Sven Goldemann and Peter Rickmers — become No. 1 in Germany, competed at two straight European championships and then secured a place at the Sochi Olympics via a qualification event in Fuessen, Germany, in December.
"I think I am a better player now," says Jahr, who is just 14 months away from turning 50.
Germany has lost its first three games in Russia but you get the sense that Jahr is just happy to be here.
He has worn a big grin throughout the first three days. He has winked into cameras and waved at spectators calling out his name. He has a somewhat aristocratic air as he walks slowly, chin up, from one end of the ice to the other.
"Sometimes I think, "Is this guy 48?'" said Goldemann, who is the other elder member of the team at 44. "Sometimes he's a small child.
"But when we come back from our tournaments, he says, 'OK guys, the curling kit stays outside — now I have to be serious again.'"
Despite his past achievements, some members of the new generation of curlers don't know much about him.
Canada skip Brad Jacobs said before the Olympics that he barely knew Germany's team.
Sweden skip Niklas Edin had a blank look when Jahr's name was mentioned. He was then informed that Jahr is a millionaire.
"Now I will get to know him!" Edin said.
With curling being one of the more sedate sports around, fitness hasn't been an issue for Jahr in Sochi.
He has been swimming 1,000 metres a day back in Germany and looks in good shape. Being the skip, though, he leaves almost all of the energy-sapping sweeping of the ice to his younger teammates.
"Sometimes I get tired mentally," Jahr said. "I have to think more than work out."
With the Germans unlikely to qualify for the semifinals, Jahr's long curling career is set to come to an end on Monday after the team's final round-robin game in the Ice Cube Curling Center against China.
"At this level, it takes too much time," he says. "I'm going back to my other life."


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Thursday, May 17, 2012
Woman's World Magazine
Woman's World Magazine to be in their May 2012 issue- to offer a great discount on our Cottage & Castle Natural Household Cleaner! BUT......it has been delayed because we needed a higher resolution picture. Hopefully the problem has been solved.
SO you can look for our Cottage & Castle Natural Household Cleaner in the August 6th issue, on news stands July 30th and subscribers copy starting about July 16th.
This is an extraordinary opportunity to our small women's biz, and we hope lots of readers take advance of the discount coupon at a great saving to try our Eco-friendly household cleaner!
Woman's World Magazine info:
-Over 24,000 followers on Facebook here
-The magazine can be found in almost every grocery store, book store, or news stand.
-This magazine has a broad interest with millions following it loaded with health articles to decorating, cooking, etc...
Again look for us in the AUGUST 6th issue, on new stands JULY 30th, and subscribers copy going out about JULY 16th...AND if you do see it....Please drop me a line!
Posted by Carrie Garvin at 1:58 PM No comments:
Friday, April 6, 2012
Just a reminder...
Posted by Carrie Garvin at 7:56 PM No comments:
Labels: suds overload
Friday, March 23, 2012
Helping our branches grow story...
|Whispering Willow Natural Laundry Soap. Natural ingredients, HE friendly, NO fabric softener needed (ever). All temperatures- AND now we can also say it's a great pre-soak too!
Recently I was contacted by Amity Hook-Sopko, Editor Green Child Magazine, and was asked if we'd be interested in a review of our Natural Laundry Soap (Whispering Willow Natural Laundry Soap), and also participate in a giveaway of one of our Natural Laundry Soaps here. (Hurry to enter- entering will close 2/24/12!)
Soon a package was sent to Amity with all kinds of Under the Willow goodies for her to try. THEN came the nail biting part- waiting to hear her thoughts/comments.
It didn't take long until she posted some comments on Facebook. I cut/paste the entry right from Amity's Facebook page.
Here's what she said, posted on Facebook:
Amity Hook-Sopko Carrie Garvin - yesterday on the way home from school, my little one's nose started bleeding. By the time I could pass napkins back, his sleeves were already covered. I rolled them up so he didn't have to look at it, but then realized last night at bath time that we had dried up blood, and I've never been able to get blood out of clothes. I soaked them overnight in the washer with your lavender detergent, and this morning, I can't find where the stains were. I think you just made me good at stain removal - LOL!
Don't miss out on learning more about Green Child Magazine and more!
Green Child Magazine on Facebook here.
Green Gifts Guide here.
Posted by Carrie Garvin at 8:50 PM No comments:
Labels: pre-soak story
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Fun way to do wash this holiday!
Under the Willow, LLC
Is there a fun way to do wash? Yes! We've had many people comment that the "fragrances" of our Whispering Willow Laundry Soaps actually make this chore--a little bit less of a chore!
Our newest fragrance for this holiday season and right through the winter season is:
Mistletoe Mountain
(Whispering Willow Natural Laundry Soap)
Scent decription: Crisp apples, balsam & pine
Offered at an introductory price:
12.95 reg. 14.85
2 for 25.00
Refill option: 10.95
(Already have a container? This is a great option for you!)
Product Description:
-1.28 lb. (581g)
-All temperatures
-He friendly
-NO fabric softener needed. Ever.
-Scoop included
-One scoop for medium load, two for larger loads
-All natural, NO detergents, NO chemicals
-Little or NO suds (Not a detergent with foaming additives!)
-Natural laundry soap tucked inside a muslin bag
-Refill option- Natural laundry soap tucked inside a plain jane bag with instructions
Please visit our shop Under the Willow, LLC for shopping!
Posted by Carrie Garvin at 10:21 AM 2 comments:
Monday, December 5, 2011
Don't forget to wash your dog toys!
And don't forget to enter a giveaway of Whispering Willow Laundry Soap or Cottage & Castle Natural Household Cleaner! Go here: Raising Our Own
Posted by Carrie Garvin at 9:48 AM 2 comments:
Labels: dog toys
Sunday, December 4, 2011
We have a winner (s)!
A little something to put under the tree for yourself!
Thank you to Monica with Soapsudations and Tabitha with Kludingbear for entering the Under the Willow giveaway! Please send me your address so I can get your giveaway gift mailed.
I appreciate that each of you took the time to comment and enter AND since there were only two of you who entered- I am happy to send both of you a giveaway gift!
I hope you enjoy your goodies. Happy Holidays!
Posted by Carrie Garvin at 9:58 PM 4 comments:
Labels: giveaway
Monday, November 28, 2011
Simply Natural...
|Whispering Willow Natural Laundry Soap
Under the Willow, LLC has been making soap for over twenty years, so it was a natural progression to add a Natural Laundry Soap to our list of Earth-Friendly & Natural products.
When Whispering Willow Natural Laundry Soap was in development we wanted a "soap" NOT a "detergent"- we wanted a packaging that would NOT fill our landfills- AND we wanted a natural laundry soap that really worked- AND would never need fabric softener...
-All temperatures
-HE Friendly
-Re-useable muslin bag
-NO fabric softener needed. Ever.
-Created with natural ingredients
Please visit our online shop at: http://underthewillowshop.com
And you still have time to win some Whispering Willow Natural Laundry Soap OR Cottage & Castle Natural Household Cleaner- by entering a Giveaway on Teresa's blog Raising Our Own.
Posted by Carrie Garvin at 9:01 PM 1 comment:
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text: This could be one of 2 things. First if your browser is not accepting cookies then our system will not keep your session active. Secondly when you go to login make sure you click the Remeber Me checkbox. This will keep your ClixSense session active for up to 90 days. If you click the logout or delete your cookies you will be required to login again.


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Cambridge, UK and Bethesda, MD – Trustonic today announces that KoolSpan, the leading provider of secure mobile communications including phone calls and text messages, has selected the Trustonic Application Protection (TAP) solution to help protect its widely successful TrustCall application. KoolSpan solutions are used by government organizations and enterprises globally in over 60 countries to safeguard sensitive information, including intellectual property and proprietary assets.
Trustonic's TAP solution offers the best possible security for every device. More than 1 billion devices are already equipped with the Trustonic Trusted Execution Environment (TEE)* to deliver hardware level security, while devices without a TEE can leverage sophisticated, white box cryptography and code protection techniques. The TAP-protected versions of TrustCall will be available to end users in the coming months. KoolSpan will expand TAP protection to new services, benefiting enterprise, government, and consumers who require the highest level of secured communications for mobile and IoT applications. Leveraging TAP, KoolSpan will protect apps and services across multiple platforms, including Apple iOS and Google Android.
KoolSpan's CTO and security teams undertook an in-depth security evaluation and found Trustonic's TAP product to be the most secure, robust and reliable solution in today's market. Uniquely, Trustonic can deliver combined hardware- and software-based security through a single development tool and GlobalPlatform-compliant API. This was a key determining factor behind KoolSpan's decision. KoolSpan Chief Technology Officer, Bill Supernor, explained "It was key for us to be able to use a single set of tools and APIs that cover security across all platforms, with minimal new integration effort. With TAP, KoolSpan customers will automatically benefit from the highest level of security available for their device. We leveraged Trustonic's TEE hardware-based protection previously and are glad that TAP now also brings market leading software-based security for any non-TEE enabled devices."
Commenting on the partnership, Ben Cade, CEO at Trustonic, concluded: "Trustonic is delighted to have KoolSpan as a partner. At a time when security has never been more imperative, KoolSpan is leading the way with a high quality secure mobile communications solution leveraged across enterprises and government organizations, enabling executives to communicate securely."
* Trusted Execution Environment (TEE)
The TEE is a secure area of the main processor in a smart phone (or any connected device) that ensures sensitive data is stored, processed and protected in an isolated, trusted environment without an extra Bill of Material (BOM) cost. The TEE's ability to offer isolated safe execution of authorised security software, known as 'trusted applications', provides end-to-end security by enforcing protection, confidentiality, integrity and data access rights and by providing means for strong user and device authentication. In particular, the TEE offers a level of protection against software attacks running in the Rich OS environment. It houses business-specific sensitive applications, which need to be isolated from the Rich OS.


text: Another day, another gem. This time a light and breezy residence high on the South Australian hills. Big land, great view and a dodgy suggestion of development is enough remind us of its place on the endangered list. But let's ignore such unpleasantness for the mo and drift off with our own fancies of just how beautiful it is and what it could be.


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Do you provide outdoor activities or work with people who do? Organisation Details Website Country of origin Association of Irish Riding Establishments (AIRE) The body that regulates standards at riding schools and equestrian centres in Ireland www.aire.ie Ireland Blue […]
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Joanna Page co-starred with James Corden in 20 episodes of Gavin & Stacey, but she failed to watch his "must-see" appearance in the hit West End comedy One Man, Two Guvnors.
"I felt awful about it," says Page, 34, who is expecting her first child with her husband, the actor James Thornton, 37. "I was going to go and see it, but we never go out anymore."
The actress was speaking to Mandrake at the premiere of the film Nativity 2, in which she plays the pregnant wife of David Tennant's character.
Radio killed the video stars
The worse things get for Newsnight, the better they are for Today. John Humphrys's grilling of George Entwistle precipitated the director-general's departure and was great broadcasting.
Jim Naughtie, who also works on the Radio 4 programme, was not, however, in a mood to carp at the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. "It's a difficult time for all of us in the BBC," Naughtie told me. "I wouldn't want to make any grand comparisons between radio and TV."
Humphrys, meanwhile, declines to comment on a tale I'd heard about how, after his encounter with Entwistle, he had sent the poor booby a note to say that it had been "nothing personal".
Tony Hall, who, as I disclosed, is Anna Ford's tip to be the next D-G, seems to be in pole position. So long as it is not Robert Peston, breaker of so many stories helpful to Rupert Murdoch, the BBC probably has a future.
Stand up comic
I have said it before and I'll doubtless say it again, but Will Gompertz is a creepy one. The sight of the BBC's arts editor watching intently, at close quarters, as Jonjo O'Neill, stark naked, jumped on top of Billie Piper during the first night of Lucy Enron Prebble's play, The Effect, at the National did not disabuse me of the notion.
Still, nothing can surprise old Gompertz. In a one-man show at the Edinburgh Fringe, he once asked members of his audience to draw penises. He kept one – "an absolutely sensational pop art penis", he said, thrilled.


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The Wire on Gilad Shalit release and Israeli kidnapping of Palestinians
There's so much blather in the mainstream press about the Gilad Shalit deal this week. Mostly written by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
I was invited onto current affairs show The Wire yesterday to offer a different perspective and argue that the press humanises one man, Shalit, while Arabs are largely invisible and faceless:


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If you have a Mercedes, you obviously care about style and class. Because of this, you wouldn't trust your vehicle with some company that doesn't specialize in Mercedes-Benz vehicles, right? We at America's Service Station care about style too; we want to make sure that get the most for your money, which is why we offer the best Mercedes service in Dacula.
Our mechanics have been certified by Mercedes-Benz as official Mercedes service professionals. They have the expertise that is needed in order to take the utmost care of your Mercedes vehicle, whether it is an A-Class or SLS. Here are some of the tasks that our Mercedes service professionals can perform for you.
Regular maintenance, including oil changes, windshield wiper replacements, and air filter replacements.
Annual inspections.
Recall and warranty repairs and replacements.
General repairs.
Body work that may be required due to the age of the vehicle and/or an accident.
All of our service and repairs are backed up by a warranty, which differs depending on the type of maintenance that we perform. We will provide you with the specific warranty information related to your maintenance and/or repairs on your service receipt.
Take a look around our webpage to learn more about our mechanics and the services that we offer. If you want more information about America's Service Station and you can't find it here, give us a call or set up an appointment online. We look forward to serving you.


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Contact Metro Fiber Bandwidth
Thank you for considering Metro Fiber Bandwidth. Please fill out the form below to contact us online. Our friendly representative will review your inquiry and contact you back at the earliest convenience. We appreciate your business and we consider your privacy our top priority! Thank you for visiting metrofiberbandwidth.com!


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Check it out, it's the Gucci Baby Carrier, "recommended for baby 3 to 9 months or up to 20 lbs." It can be yours for just $850. And since Gwen Stefani has one, I don't see how you can afford to do without. Purseblog remarks:
When I first laid eyes on the Gucci Baby Carrier, I was a fan but still a tad skeptical. It did seem a bit over the top. But now that I saw the proud new mommie, Gwen Stefani, carrying her adorable little Kingston in one, I am in love!
I think it's still over the top.