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TORNESS powers 2.1 million homes so plans to keep it in operation until 2030 are very welcome, writes Tom Greatrex
The announcement this week of plans to extend the lifetime of Torness nuclear power station on the east coast to 2030 was obviously a welcome move for the workforce and local supply chain, but also for our security of supply and mission to minimise carbon emissions. As the Scottish government made clear when they welcomed the lifetime extension, it is a tribute to the expertise of the operational staff at Torness. It also underpins the 75 per cent of power generated in Scotland last year which comes from low carbon sources.
One-third of the power generated in Scotland comes from the two nuclear power stations – Torness in the east and Hunterston in the west – enabling excess electricity produced when onshore wind farms are reaping the benefit of our climate, to feed into the Britain-wide electricity grid. While it remains the case that, through grid connections linking Scotland to England, on part of one day in four power flows from south to north when the wind is calmer, the existence of baseload nuclear power in Scotland's generation mix helps to ensure the electricity is there when demand is highest. In that context, the importance of the lifetime extension at Torness can not be overstated.
The station, which powers 2.1 million homes, supports 700 jobs and pays £40 million in wages each year, makes a significant economic contribution to the economy in and around East Lothian. The extended lifetime will safeguard high quality and skilled jobs at a time when economic confidence is uncertain. Last year, the power generated across Britain's nuclear fleet was 60.6TWh (terawatt hours) – 8.7Twh of this was from Torness alone – with output reaching the highest level for a decade and 50 per cent higher than in 2008. While the second reactor was offline for part of 2015, reactor 1 has been running continuously for almost a year, maintaining a dependable and consistent output of electricity generation in Scotland.
Iberdrola's decision not to invest in making Longannet compliant with European air quality regulations, and the difficult economics of much thermal generation also leading to other closure dates having been announced, mean that both in Scotland and across the whole of Britain, renewables and nuclear will have to work harder, and work together, to maintain security of supply.
Together nuclear, along with new wind and solar and long-standing hydro power make up three-quarters of the power generated in Scotland. These low-carbon technologies combined make a significant contribution to reducing emissions from homegrown energy sources. Extending the life of Torness means the avoidance of seven million tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent of taking 3.3 million cars off the road – that's more than all of the cars currently on the road in Scotland.
The additional running time for Torness will help maintain that position, and will continue to contribute to the ambitious carbon emissions reduction targets until 2030. That is important in the medium term, but the longer term challenges for our energy mix beyond the next decade remain.
Too often, it seems it is also too easy to indulge in endless and circular arguments about the merits of different technologies set up in opposition to each other, without acknowledging that the prize is in achieving the optimum mix between the best features of ways of generating, storing, distributing and saving power at a time when decarbonisation of heating, transport, industry and power will increase the overall levels of demand for electricity. Electrification of train lines and more people using electric cars is undoubtedly good for the environment, but increases demand for power as a consequence. Nuclear-generated electricity has an important part to play in providing the bedrock of low carbon, baseload power which complements other forms of generation in a balanced mix.
While industry and investors will look to government to set the policy framework, it is also the responsibility of the energy sector as a whole to encourage a joined up and inclusive approach. The nuclear expertise in Scotland is already significant – as well as stations currently operating, and those being decommissioned – there is manufacturing and supply chain expertise too. For example, Weir Group's technology is found in new and existing nuclear power stations around the world. Strathclyde University's recently established Advanced Nuclear Research Centre underlines the cutting edge academic and technical expertise we already have.
That is just one aspect of the longstanding energy expertise that is available in Scotland. It is an enviable resource that should be utilised to help make a contribution to addressing the enduring energy challenges, both in Scotland specifically but also as part of the integrated energy system which serves all of Britain. While different sources of generation may be best sited in different locations, it is through a balanced generation mix that those challenge can best be met.
If we are serious about security of supply while reducing emissions in power generation at a time when demand for power will increase from heat and transport, nuclear will need to be part of the energy landscape in the future as much as it has been for the past 40 years.
• Tom Greatrex is the chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, the trade body for the civil nuclear industry


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Kendall Jenner and A$AP Rocky grabbed sushi at Nobu Malibu Sunday night, making it seem like whatever fling they've got going on might be turning into something more serious.
The two were first spotted together this summer, then again in Miami at Art Basel last week.
Sunday's dinner seemed pretty casual, which could be a sign of how they're keeping things.

subset: commoncrawl


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Lassoed, knocked down, face planted in the dirt -- best thing to happen to Frank Bowen in years. When wife Liz went missing in the wilds of Belize, the constables of San Ignacio could find no trace. Years later, on a pilgrimage to her remote 'grave,' Frank is abducted and whisked away to a place he can't identify, by people whose motives and origins baffle him. Could this be what happened to Liz?
My Review:
Ok. So I reviewed Peregrin, the second book in this series, earlier this month as part of the A to Z Challenge. If I had realized that I had picked Xenolith as my X letter I would have read the books in order.
I liked this one about as much as I liked Peregrin and pretty much for the same reasons.
I liked the characters. This time around I got to know Tezhay and Frank better and I have to admit out of the two books Tezhay has been my favorite character. He's a good person and funny as well. Seeing what led the characters to do what they did in the next book did help me to understand some of them better, and why they made the choices that they did in the second book. However there was very little background on Liz. I had been hoping that in this novel, the first one in the series, that it would maybe tell a little more of what happened to her. How she got abducted, how she got her injury, what actually happened to Father Leo, all things that I would really like to know.
I enjoyed the world that the author created. Having read the first book finally it did clear up some questions that I had about it from the second one. Overall I think that the author did an amazing job with the world they created.
Again, as with Peregrin, my biggest issue with the book was the writing style. It only happens in the beginning of the novel, but the author does a lot of skipping back and forth from the past to the present. I liked that the author gave background on the characters, but the way it was done became frustrating. First you would go back into one characters history then come forward in another characters, then go back in another's. It annoyed me in Peregrin and it annoyed me in this one as well. At least in the second book the all the stories eventually met up and then the timeline stabilized from there. In this one I assume that the present timeline for one group of characters is the same as the time for the second, but I'm not sure. It just left the book feeling like it was jumping all over the place.
Also, as with the second book, there were some minor editing issues. I didn't bring them up with Peregrin because while I noticed them they really didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the book. However seeing that there were similar issues in the first book that basically carried over in the second and they were never corrected does kinda irritate me. It's something that an editor or a beta reader should have picked up on and then been corrected before it went to be released.
Overall I enjoyed Xenolith as much as I enjoyed Peregrin. The main issue I had with Peregrin, the jumping back and forth between past and present, was the same that I had with Xenolith. I would be interested in reading a third book in the series if there was one, especially if it meant finding out more about some of my favorite characters from the first two novels. The series is interesting and I would definitely recommend it, with the exception that it be read in order. (Which I unfortunately didn't do! Bad me!) In fact the first book is currently free for Kindle so why not pick it up.
This post is part of the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2013.


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D65-Industrial Products - Overview
Colors in both graphic prints and industrial product samples appear differently under different light sources containing various spectral distributions. Accurate reproduction of products without standardized lighting is just not possible. Standard viewing products save you valuable time and money!
Our color viewing stations are critical in making informed, accurate decisions about color. Of course natural daylight is the best possible light source, but is impractical for production due to the fact that it is constantly changing and not always readily available. This is why the industry complied to an international standard, setting requirements for viewing conditions. D65 meets the strict requirements for color temperature, target color, and spectral distribution of simulated daylight. ASTM D1729 not only stipulates what defines D65, but also specifies light intesity, and evenness of illumination in the viewing area when evaluating color. Other light sources currently being used include Store/office TL84 lighting (CWF) and Homelight A.
This lightsources are also used to detect metamerism. UV light is predominantly used to evaluate fluorescence of optical brightners .
GTI Color Viewing Stations are currently employed in the surface, ink, color/paint/coating, plastics, textile, leather, and paper products (for example; prints and packaging) markets.
|CMB-3064 with color samples
Viewing Area
(Width x Depth
|163 x 76 x 75 cm
CMB brochure,
CMB configuration document,
CMB user manual and setup instructions
MM-MiniMatcher Systeme
|Affordable MiniMatcher Series for the critical color viewing and comparing of all materials and surfaces.
GLE-M Color Matching Lamps
|Lamps in various sizes, with 2 to 5 different light types designed for rooms utilizing large color samples up to whole cars. Perfect for situations where a viewing booth just isnt enough! […more]
GTI CM65 Lamps
|GTI CM65 lamps were specially developed to meet the CIE standards in color reproduction.
|CM65 Lamps
|Small, portable color viewing system with 4 lightsources. Whether your visiting a client, on the go, or in your office, this device is perfect for any situation.
|PDV-2e/M mit color samples
CHIS Color Harmony Inspection System
|This product was specially designed with intensive duel lighting for the automobile industry.
EN SCV Simultane Farbbeurteilung
Farbmuster unter 4 verschiedenen Lichtarten mit völlig unterschiedlichen spektralen Energieverteilungen miteinander zu vergleichen… bisher nicht dagewesen! [...mehr]
Other GTI-Products
|Vom CRD Farbwiedergabe Demonstrator über GLX Durchlichtbetrachter bis zur neutral grauen Wandfarbe und praktischem Zubehör…. GTI hat alle große Auswahl an Farbbeurteilungsprodukten!


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Biographical Description
Areas of Interest:
Associate Professor Leslie Hasche focuses on clinical social work practice related to aging and mental health. Her research aims to understand how community-based services may best promote older adults' mental health, independence, safety, quality of life and overall wellness. She enjoys integrating her research and previous mental health practice experience into teaching theory-based and contemporary issue courses related to social work, aging, and intergenerational justice. Hasche serves as the coordinator for the Aging Services and Policy concentration at the Graduate School of Social Work and is an advisory group member of University of Denver's Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging. Current research projects involve partnering with Colorado's Adult Protective Service agency on how to assess and intervene on issues of elder abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. Her scholarship has been funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Justice, and the John A Hartford Foundation. With over 20 publications, her research has been shared through journals, such as The Gerontologist, The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatric, and the Journal of Gerontological Social Work. In 2015, the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work recognized Hasche's early career accomplishments with the Faculty Achievement Award.
- Gerontology
- Mental health care for older adults
- Elder Justice (prevention and response to abuse, neglect, and exploitation)
- Community-based aging services
- Implementation of evidence-based practices
Curriculum Vitae
DU Hasche Photo.jpg


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Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry
Chemistry or Chemistry Honors and Science Department Approval
Grade Level:
11, 12
AP Chemistry is designed to be a rigorous course that is the equivalent to a first year college course. This class will include topics such as atomic structure/theory, chemical bonding, nuclear chemistry, states of matter, reaction types, equilibrium, kinetics, and thermodynamics. Students who enroll in this course are encouraged to take the AP Chemistry Exam in May.


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Okay, four things, if you count "don't get a tattoo that says 'RELENTLESS' in a third grader's print going down the back of your arm" as a thing.
As regular readers know, one of our favorite commenters (and people in the world) is Jessica, aka Lobster Mobster. She runs an MMA site called Leg Kick TKO and is sometimes gracious enough to send along a video or two to With Leather before she posts it. This morning, I woke up to a tip e-mail (cough email@example.com cough) featuring three very different videos with one thing in common: they are fantastic examples of what not to do if your job is "MMA Fighter".
So, if you're a Warrior In Training, own more than one Affliction shirt or just like watching people get royally f**ked up in every definition of the term, I present to you the Lobster Mobster-flavored MMA Walk of Shame videos of the day.
Thing 1: Don't Try To Use Jeet Kune Do (Or At Least Be Good At It Before You Try It)
If you're a fan of Bruce Lee (or Spike Spiegel) you know about Jeet Kune Do, a martial art Lee created as a sort-of martial arts mix tape and called "the art of expressing the human body". It asks you to "be like water," moving fluidly without hesitation, babbling along peacefully or crashing down hard like a waterfall. I don't know enough about mixed martial arts to flatly say, "don't do Jeet Kune Do in a fight," but before you try it out in the octagon, make sure you're Bruce Lee.
An example of someone who is not Bruce Lee: This guy from last weekend getting rolling German suplexes from fighter Greg Styles at Yonkers Elite Cage Fighting. Don't bring that shit in here! This is YONKERS! This is ELITE~!
Thing 2: Don't Eat A Huge Breakfast Before Fighting, Because, Uh
You'd think I'd go with "don't dress up as a banana" as my thing, but the banana guy won handily. The thing you want to avoid in video 2 is filling up your stomach before someone punches you in the face, because the combination can only lead to one thing: you bent over and throwing up everywhere while the referee stops the fight.
Yes, a "TKO by vomit" happened at AXS TV.
Thing 3: If You're Going To Be A Good Sport, Don't Fake It, Because KARMA
Karma can't be doled out by the cosmos until the next lifetime, but we're going to pretend it had everything to do with this Absolute Adrenaline Platinum fight. One fighter steps into the middle of the ring to touch gloves and used it as an opening for a sucker punch. Because God exists and pays attention to stuff like this, that same guy gets K'd the F O a few seconds later. If you're going to evoke pretend sportsmanship, have the decency to see it through.
So, to recap:
1. Don't try to be Bruce Lee, because you are not Bruce Lee.
2. Don't eat or drink if you're gonna let somebody punch you in the mouth.
3. Be a good sport, because God (or whoever) is watching.
We'll go ahead and tack "don't dress like a banana" onto the end, there.


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9950 Sw 57th Ave, Miami, FL 33156
Toll Free: 800-736-0346 Local: 305-667-6877Email Us
- 9950 Sw 57th Ave, Miami, FL 33156
Bouquet of Mixed Cut FlowersIntercat-1204
A hand-tied bouquet of seasonal flowers filled with assorted flowers such as lilies, ranunculus and more accented with greenery. (Vase not included).
All items featured on this site represent the types of arrangements we offer and may vary depending upon availability in certain regions. Substitution Policy


text: Just the sort of bitter-sweet repertoire for a snowy day in February, this CD opens a window on the full gamut of Elizabethan and Jacobean musical sensitivity. From the heroic to the genial, from the hilarious to the tragic, from the deeply sonorous to the lightly deft, the range of Gibbons' writing is unparalleled, and Phantasm capture the every nuance in a simply superb account of this powerfully evocative music. In addition to the three- and six-part Fantasies, we are also given two lovely In Nomines as well as adaptations of madrigals ('The Silver Swan' has never sounded more poignant), anthems and keyboard music. Contrary to expectation the intricate divisions in the latter come off extremely well on the viols, a testimony to the great skill of the members of Phantasm. But ultimately it is the carefully wrought rich musical tapestry of the six-part Fantasies which impresses most. Highly recommended.


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The Life Coach School
Brooke Castillo is a Master Certified Instructor, the author of five books, If I am So Smart, Why Can't I Lose Weight?, Self Coaching 101, Life Coach: How to do it, Life Coach: How to Sell It, and The 42 Day Jumpstart. She is the creator of The Self Coaching Model and The 12 Best Tools of Coaching Program. She has dedicated her life's work to training coaches to be highly effective with their clients and extremely successful in their businesses.
Items Crafted
- Website Design
- Website Development
- Brand Revitlization
- Print Design
- Social Media
- Photography
- Video Production
- Motion Graphics


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The distro is up and running! Check it out: orcawolf.storenvy.com
New items added:
Against Empire - Thieves and Leeches LP
Alpinist/Masakari - Split LP
Black Hole of Calcutta - S/T LP
Black Hole of Calcutta - Defeat/Fucking Mess 7"
Burials - S/T LP
Caulfield - S/T LP
Dresden - Final Hour LP
Enth - S/T LP
In Defence - Party Lines and Politics LP
The Makai - Embracing the Shroud of a Blackened Sky LP
Northless - Clandestine Abuse DLP
The Makai/Nux Vomica - Split 10"
Police Bastard/War//Plague - Split LP
This Runs on Blood - The Ocean in Black and White LP
Wyrd - Heathen LP
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Amarok S/T LP
To order multiple copies and other items check out the distro: orcawolf.storenvy.com
Download the entire album for free! Please consider making a donation, unless you're ordering the vinyl. Suggested price: $6.
Amarok S/T LP (high quality 320k MP3 - 60 MB)
Amarok - I
Amarok - II
Some more reviews/write-ups:
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Royalcliff's Story
For over 50 years Royalcliff Homes has earned the enviable reputation of uncompromising quality and outstanding service.
Stay Informed
Sharing is Caring
Let all your friends and family know about Royalcliff Homes
October 2018
Register Now: The Sandalwood
Conestoga & Sandalwood
Stunning lakeside townhomes!
November 2016
Coming Soon! The Sandalwood.
to Conestoga & Sandalwood
Stunning lakeside townhomes!
Anticipated release: Fall of 2018
November 2015
Aurora Wildgreen Grand Opening: Saturday November 14th at 12pm
15480 Bayview Ave, Unit 105 Aurora
(located in the GoodLife Fitness plaza)
View Map
Register today to secure a priority appointment
October 2015
Coming soon! Aurora Wildgreen, a boutique community in Aurora.
A boutique community of only 38 beautiful homes, coming soon to alluring Aurora.
email a sales representative for more information.
September 2015
Ravines of Creditview Crossing: SOLD OUT!
All homes in our Ravines of Creditview Crossing community have now been sold.
August 2015
Townhouses SOLD OUT at Ravines of Creditview Crossing!
All our amazing luxury townhouses in the Ravines of Creditview Crossing community have now SOLD OUT!
March 2015
Model home sold
This beautiful model home has been purchased and is now someone's dream home!
December 2014
New Townhouses Now Available at Ravines of Creditview Crossing
The ultimate in luxurious townhome living, now available in two unique styles The Brant and The Merlin.
October 2014
Sold out of Towns & Semis
We've just sold out of our towns and semis at Ravines of Creditview Crossing,
Still available: Detached homes from $540 up to 3,800 sq.ft.
Click here to learn more about these unique designs.
August 2014
Sold out of all homes at Gates of Countryside
It's official! We're completely sold out of all homes at our Gates of Countryside site.
May 2012
Gates of Countryside Final Phase is Now Open!
The very last phase of this popular development is open for business. We have a beautiful selection of 38′ and 47′ Single Detatched homes, as well as exclusive 50′ lots! Contact us today for more information, Call +1 905.265.1611 or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com
May 2012
Royalcliff Homes Launches Their New Website
Royalcliff homes is happy to announce that we finally have a new look online. Just like a brand new home, we've moved in and everything smells fresh and wonderful. We think we're going to be quite happy here and there's room to grow. Do let us know what you think!
March 2012
Royalcliff Homes Has a New Look!
Royalcliff starts the year off right with a refreshed logo, new website, and new sales offices on the way! It's going to be a great year!
February 2012
Ravines of Creditview Crossing Opens!
Our gorgeous Sales Office for the Ravines of Creditview Crossing opens for business! With an incredibly successful launch, our towns, semis and singles are flying off the shelves! Come have a look for yourself!


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#ChicksNKicks Chick Of The Day: @tracymae_ in Nike Huarache x Llulo Africa Love Sweatshirt. Around The Web:
Joint U.S.-Italy raids net mafia big fish (CBS)
Chicago to Pay $5.5 Million in Reparations for Police Torture Victims (Rollingstone)
Highlands woman held hostage asks for help in online pizza order (WFLA)
Tesla is finally making a car you can afford – here's when it will be released (BGR)
Whole Foods to launch lower-cost chain (CNNMoney)
Rap's Impact Outweighs Influence of The Beatles, Says Scientific Study (Billboard)
BAIT Opens The Vault For Nepal Relief (BAIT)
Watch The Trailer For Kanye West And Dame Dash's 'Too Honorable' (Highsnobiety)
All You Need To Do To Impress Lil Wayne Is Rap Your McDonald's Order Really, Really Well (TSS)
Pharrell Unveils Three New Stan Smith Sneaks In Jacquard Collection Preview (SneakerNews)
Pats employees' texts suggest Brady was aware of deflated balls (Yardbarker)
What Will Happen To New Girl Without Zooey Deschanel? (Refinery29)
Beyoncé's Trainer Spills About Her Vegan Diet — Including Her Fave Pizza Recipe! (People)
Bonta And Eddie: Why Stephen Curry's MVP Matters And We Relive The #MayPac Experience (TSFJ)
I wish I'd known sooner that success isn't defined by who goes the longest without vacation (Linkedin)
A Menu for a Mother's Day Picnic (TheKitchn)
Watch Anna Wintour Destroy Seth Meyers In This Late Night Sketch (Youtube)
Meet The Women Who Could Change Your Career For Good (Refinery29)
As Vice Moves More to TV, It Tries to Keep Brash Voice (NYTimes)
Feuding One Direction Finally Enters Oasis Phase of British Boy-Band Development (Vulture)


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|Jul 28, 2017
Building a virtual organelle
|(Nanowerk News) Every time a mammalian cell divides, it must deconstruct and then rebuild the complex protein-processing machinery of the Golgi apparatus. Computational simulations have allowed two RIKEN scientists to identify critical factors that govern this process (PNAS, "Golgi apparatus self-organizes into the characteristic shape via postmitotic reassembly dynamics").
|The Golgi consists of a stack of interconnected membrane-bound structures, which act as an assembly line that uses enzymes to convert newly made proteins into their fully functional, mature forms. Scientists have struggled to understand both how this organelle breaks down during cell division and how it re-forms in the resulting daughter cells.
|A computer simulation of the Golgi apparatus allowed researchers to recreate the assembly process for this complex organelle. (Image: RIKEN Theoretical Biology Laboratory)
|Masashi Tachikawa, a researcher in Atsushi Mochizukis Theoretical Biology Laboratory, found this a daunting question to tackle. It seemed too complicated to simulate, he recalls.
|But the researchers learned of experimental findings suggesting that this process is primarily self-governed by physical forces, rather than actively stage-managed by the cell. This meant the process could realistically be modeled if one could identify the essential rules.
|Tachikawa developed a simulation that accounted for the physical and thermodynamic features of the Golgi membrane, as well as the effects of proteins that bind to and reshape the membrane. The calculations were computationally demanding, requiring a week to complete a full simulation, but they were ultimately successful.
|We first constructed a physical model of the Golgi based on its stationary state (Fig. 1), before cell division, says Tachikawa. This model also reproduced the highly dynamic reassembly process of the mitotic Golgino additional assumptions were necessary.
|Through their simulation, the pair could home in on physical factors that determine whether the fragmented vesicles of the disassembled Golgi form a properly organized structure or give rise to warped and distorted structures.
|Their results provide strong additional support for the self-assembly model of Golgi organization. They also demonstrate the power of using models to recreate dynamic biological processes that occur at a scale too tiny to observe with standard microscopes.
|Our simulation visualized membrane dynamics based on physical laws, helping us to image the details of the process and test hypothetical mechanisms, says Tachikawa. He and Mochizuki are now collaborating with cell biologists to conduct experiments that could validate their computational model.
|Tachikawa also hopes to extend such modeling approaches to even more complex cellular systems, through collaborations with RIKENs Interdisciplinary Theoretical Science and Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Science programs. We think there are lots of possibilities of updating cell biology using physical, mathematical and theoretical sciences, he says.
|Source: RIKEN
Nanowerk Newsletter Email Digests
with a compilation of all of the day's news.
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How To Solve The Biggest Challenges With Brand Solutions
When you are starting a small business it's natural to struggle with building a brand and there are key obstacles to overcome. Let's take a look at how to solve the biggest branding challenges.
I'm not sure what my brand stands for.
The saying goes, "if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything". The same holds true for your personal brand. Saying "I don't know what my brand stands for" is synonymous with saying "I don't know what I stand for". Not knowing what your brand stands for leaves you open to exploitation and burn out and this will lead to low productivity and frustration in your business.
The way to combat this is to view your brand as an extension of yourself. Your brand is your mirror image. It likes what you like, goes where you go, does what you do. So, grab a piece of paper and ask yourself these questions. Don't be afraid to dig deep.
1. Who am I?
2. What do I believe in?
3. What are my priorities in life?
4. What am I willing to do or not do?
5. How do I want the world to see me?
6. What legacy do I want to leave?
Once you have answered the above questions honestly, you can begin to formulate how your brand can project these truths about you. That is what your brand stands for. Now develop a mantra based on your answers, that you can repeat to yourself everyday to remind you of who you are and what you want to achieve. Keep it short, simple and memorable. Once ingrained in your mind, you can begin to share it with the world.
I know what my brand is, but I don't know how to create a brand identity.
Brand identity is about creating recognition of your brand through different outreach avenues. Start by evaluating what platforms are realistically available to you. TV ads? Radio? Magazines? Grocery store, bulletin boards? Then establish how you plan to use these platforms. Business cards? Social media profiles? Word of mouth? Google? The more places you can present yourself the better.
I have a brand, website and social media accounts, but I don't know what to do to manage them all.
There is a Southern African proverb that says a child who does not cry will die on its mother's back. Morbid as this may be, the idea is that silence can prevent those who should be taking care of you from knowing that you have a need.
Your business will die in your hands if you keep silent for too long. Having a brand, brand identity and online presence is pointless if you are not actively reminding people of your presence. Eventually people will forget about you. It's a cold world.
The first thing you'll want to do is some spring cleaning. Clear out the cyber-clutter by determining what you can handle and ditch the rest. There is no point having 20 social media profiles if you can only stay active on 3 of them. Invest in the areas that will give you the most output and grow from there. If I were to pick just 4 places to focus my initial attention, I would pick:
1. A great website
2. A Facebook account
3. A Twitter account
4. A Linkedin account (B2B businesses)
Once you have decided on the vehicles for your voice, start shouting. You do this by creating compelling content that tells your brand story, your purpose, your approach and your goals. Blogging is an excellent way of expressing yourself and giving the public access to your thoughts, passions and values. Share your blogs on multiple platforms and direct readers to your website.
I just don't have the money to really brand.
Large companies have a huge marketing budget, making brand building a lot easier. A bigger budget provides a wider reach through a larger database of resources, like TV ads, newspapers, magazines etc. They also have the option to commission specialist agencies and brand strategists to build their brand and lay out the branding process.
Let me guess, as a small business owner, you do not have the luxury of an unlimited budget. Never fear, even on a limited budget, you can build and maintain a quality brand. And before you think of completely ignoring the need for a brand, remember that a product without a brand is just a product. It has very little to draw in and keep the consumer. Make use of a plethora of cheap/free online tools that help you build your brand.
More Brand Problem Solutions
Often business challenges can be mitigated with brand coaching. The solution may require a special project to address the specific issues and to insure the stability and future growth of the business. Here are additional examples of issues that arise and can be solved with branding solutions (Click highlighted problems for articles about solutions, or contact BranWorks):
- Lack of Budget
- Lack of Time
- No Market Awareness
- Lack of Market Knowledge
- Value Proposition Out of Date
- inconsistent Use of Brand ID
- inconsistent Brand Messaging
- Lack of Brand ID
- Need to Standout From Competition
- Brand Story Isn't Getting Out
- Trying to Emulate Apple or Nike
- TouchPoints Not Managed consistently
- Products/Services Not measuring Up
- Always Competing on Price
- Lacking Clarity or Focus
- Not As Proud of the Company These Days
What makes you better than the next guy? Depending on your unique situation, we have several approaches and solutions for answering that question and then telling your story to the world. Our purpose is to help small local businesses solve problems, knock their customer's socks off and change their market's landscape forever. Check out our many options to help you pull it off.
Click here to find out how to rebrand your business.
From Our Blog
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They're fast, they're cheap, and you can easily get larger sample sizes, but are they worth it? There is controversy over the accuracy of automated polls, also known as Interactive Voice Response (IVR) polls. Traditional pollsters are still skeptical, while IVR proponents claim they're the wave of the future. More unsettling, however, is new research that suggests some IVR polls may have been biased to conform to traditional polls.
Whether or not those concerns are accurate, there are certainly advantages that come with IVR polls. In addition to being cost-effective, they ensure that questions are asked the same way every time. You also don't have to worry about issues with accents from the interviewers. And since there isn't a real person talking, the respondents may feel less pressure and express their honest opinions.
A 2009 Pew Research Center study found that telephone polls "did very well in forecasting the outcome of the election in 2008." The American Association for Public Opinion Research produced a paper in 2009 on presidential primary polling which concluded that the use of IVR polls "made no difference to the accuracy of estimates."
Of course, automated polls aren't without their own drawbacks. The main problem is that auto-dialed calls have a bad reputation, largely due to the annoying commercial calls that people get in the evening. Respondents may hang up before even listening to the purpose of the call. Questions have to be short and you can only ask so many questions to retain respondent interest.
Perhaps, a greater cause for concern was raised by Dr. Joshua Clinton and Steve Rodgers, political scientists at Vanderbilt and Princeton, respectively, who published a paper in 2013 which suggested that IVR polls from the 2012 GOP primary […]


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Asian Development Bank is inviting applications for Internship Program for graduates to work in a major international development organizations. Applicants must be enrolled in a Master's- or PhD-level program at a school in one of the ADB member nations, both prior to and after the internship assignment. Internship candidates have to be nationals of ADB members. The duration should be a minimum of eight (8) weeks (56 days) and a maximum of 26 weeks or six (6) months for one internship assignment.
Application period for the 2015 Internship Program: 1st batch: 24 October – 19 November, 2nd batch: 16 January – 11 February, 3rd batch: 13 March – 8 April.
Google is offering Software Developer Internship for PhD students in summer session 2015. Applicants must be currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science or related technical discipline. International students can apply for this internship. As a Software Developer, applicants will work on Google's caore products and services as well as those who support critical functions of Google engineering operations. Depending on applicant's background and experience, they will be working in one of the areas: Product and Systems Development, Engineering Productivity, Site Reliability etc.
The internship application deadline is March 13, 2015.
International Internships attract the students most all round the world. These are the perfect way out to make the best use of our time. These provide an opportunity to earn while learning. Foreign countries are the dream destinations for various students. Internships for International Students provide a platform to acquire practical knowledge of an area in a short span of time and to have experience of a different cultures and different countries. Internships are of both types paid and unpaid.
Foreign internships are available for all study levels' students undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate and even simply for the students who earn work experience for any level.
Explore the list below to get familiar with the recent international internships available.
Applications are invited for academic scholarships for Oakland University available to incoming freshmen and transfer students. The Oakland University Alumni Association (OUAA) also offers the scholarships to entering freshmen who are "legacy students" (individuals whose parent, grandparent, sibling, aunt or uncle received a degree or academic certificate from OU). Awards are based on academic record, including GPA and ACT score at the time of application.
The applications deadlines are December 1, 2014 for entering winter 2015 transfer students, August 1, 2015 for entering fall 2015 transfer students and March 1, 2015 for entering fall freshmen students.
University of Sussex is inviting applications for Chancellor's international research scholarships. Total 10 international research scholars will be awarded for 2015. Scholarship will normally be tenable for one year in the first instance, renewable annually for a maximum of three years (36 months) for full-time doctoral students. The scholarship will cover international fees and provide a stipend which will match that provided for UK doctoral students by the UK Research Council.
Scholarship application deadline is 30th January 2015
Asian Development Bank is inviting…
Google is offering Software Developer…
International Internships attract the students…
Applications are invited for academic…
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The Carter G. Woodson Institute…
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Temporary visitors, returning students/exchange visitors, temporary workers and intra-company tra
In education, dual enrollment (DE) involves students being enrolled in two separate, academically
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With Jeremy Moskowitz
To consult about an on-site (Private) Group Policy class or the Group Policy Health Check, please call Laura Rubinstein at 215-391-0096 or email laura[[att]]policypak.com
To purchase seats in a LIVE or ONLINE training class, contact Laura Rubinstein at 215-391-0096 or email laura[[att]]policypak.com
Get serious, and perform "Best Practices" around Group Policy management. Take back control and get your IT life back!
|04 / 09 / 2019
|Learn More
Co-Management Today with SCCM and Intune
While we used to actively block devices from registering with Intune and SCCM or Group Policy at the same time, we more than welcome this duality of management capabilities today. Outside of cloud-only enterprises, Microsoft not only allows, but encourages the practice of allowing settings management from multiple sources. Microsoft refers to this current practice as co-management.
The advantage of Hybrid MDM was that it allowed you to manage SCCM exclusive and MDM exclusive devices from a single console. Essentially it was a a product of convenience more than anything. With co-management, the two work in cohesion. Clients can now have the Configuration Manager client installed and be enrolled in Intune. For those organizations that have a considerable investment in time and resources in SCCM, Co-management adds greater functionality to your SCCM structure by incorporating cloud functionality.
Co-management requires version 1710 or later and requires all involved Windows 10 devices to be Azure AD-joined or joined to on-premise AD and registered with Azure AD. For new Windows 10 devices, you can simply join them to Azure AD, enroll them in Intune and install the Configuration Manager client for co-management ability. When it comes to Windows 10 devices that already have the Configuration Manager client installed the path is more complex, but basically requires you to setup hybrid Azure AD and enrolling them into Intune. Whichever way you get there; the end result is that you get the best of both worlds.
Co-management is about more than just increased functionality however. It gives IT administrators the flexibility to choose which management solution works best for their organization, devices and workloads they have to manage. This facility of choice is exemplified in the screenshot below that shows the workloads tab of the SCCM admin screen. As you can see, with co-ecomanagement you can switch the authority from Configuration Manager to Intune for select workloads. This puts the SCCM admin in charge of which tool will manage what policies by simply moving the slider to the selected choice.
Note the presence of the "Pilot Intune" option. As MDM is relatively new to most admins, Pilot Intune gives you the ability to pilot things first in order to ensure everything operates as expected. Once results are confirmed, you can throw the switch all the way. Eventually, Microsoft hopes that all the siders will be moved to the right, with everything hosted and managed in the cloud. Those who are intimidated by SCCM might say that's not a bad thing.
Solving the Mystery of MDMWinsOverGP Basics with Intune
Surprises are great when you are engrossed in a captivating movie. A good novel always has multiple twists that you don't see coming. For the most part though, the world prefers predictability, especially when it comes to managing corporate enterprises. The whole purpose of deploying settings is to ensure conformity to your enterprise client devices. Group Policy and MDM were made to deliver a level of certainty to the enterprise.
So what happens when Group Policy Settings and MDM settings collide with one another? Because Windows 10 can potentially be a member of an on-prem active directory domain and be MDM enrolled as well, that is a distinct possibility. Starting with the 1709 release, Microsoft unveiled a GPO setting that allows hybrid joined devices to be automatically MDM enrolled. So let's say we have a hybrid environment of Windows 10 laptops and just for grins we disabled Cortana using an MDM policy setting and enabled it using a Group Policy Setting. Which policy do you would win out?
If you had to guess, you would probably say Group Policy since it is the elder of the two. If you did, you would be sort of wrong. You would also be sort of wrong if you said MDM.
How can you be sort of wrong you ask?
Because when MDM and GP settings conflict, we honestly have no idea which one is going to win out.
In fact, that is the default, expected behavior. Yes, the default behavior is uncertainty. Just like the stock market doesn't like uncertainty, neither do network admins.
So in order to add some stability to these conflicting scenarios, Microsoft introduced a Policy CSP called ControlPolicyConflict/MDMWinsOverGP. It uses an integer based data type for which there are two supported values:
- 0 (default state of uncertainty)
- 1 - The MDM policy is used and the GP policy is blocked.
To enable this policy, we have to create a custom OMA-URI setting as shown in the screenshot below.
So if MDM and the same Group Policy setting are contending to assign the SAME value to the SAME setting .. then you can use MDMWinsOverGP to force the MDM to always regardless of what GP is trying to do.
If you are managing a hybrid environment with MDM and GPO, it may in fact be good practice to enable this CSP for good measure just to ensure that certainty will always prevail. In the IT world, certainty is a good thing.
The Original Co-Management Model of SCCM and Intune Hybrid
Long, long ago, well, actually not so long ago, there were two worlds. There was the on-prem world and the mobile world, and the two would never become one, until of course they did one day. Up until Windows 10 version 1607, a device could either be on premise AD or Azure AD. This made sense at the time. Back then, MDM enrolled machines was pretty much restricted to mobile devices as administrators wanted the extensive management control that Group Policy or SCCM provided them for enterprise desktops. Mobile devices were better served in the cloud and outside of device resets and remote wipe capabilities, there wasn't much you could do with MDM early on.
It wasn't thought a good idea at the time to have settings delivered from multiple sources. In order to prevent that from happening, devices were blocked from the ability to simultaneously register with SCCM and Intune at the same time. In fact, the activation of the SCCM client on a Windows device automatically disabled any built-in MDM capabilities. Devices were segregated to one or the other.
If your company's IT staff had separated SCCM administrators and mobile device administrators, then everything was fine. But if you had to manage both desktops and tablets, you had to switch back and forth between the Configuration Manager console and the MDM console. So Microsoft set about to integrate Configuration Manager with Intune with what was called "hybrid configuration" so that both on-prem and mobile devices could be managed from the same console. Co-management between the two was born. Note that Intune was the only MDM supported in this scenario. The merging of these two platforms is illustrated below.
But as in everything, things change. Microsoft put more focus into MDM as time went on, and as a result, more setting capabilities and features were built into Intune. Organizations also started recognizing the value of migrating more computers to the cloud than just mobile devices. Microsoft also began figuring out that it was in their interest to encourage customers to move to the cloud. Because of these and other factors, the usefulness of allowing devices to co-exist in both on-prem AD and Azure AD was realized. Starting with 1607, computers could be a part of both at the same time. Then came 1709 in which the SCCM client could now run on a device without its MDM capabilities being disabled. This made it possible for a computer to receive setting input from both sources. This signaled the end of Hybrid MDM. In August of 2018, Hybrid MDM became a deprecated feature and Microsoft began blocking the registering of new Hybrid MDM customers in November of the same year.
Creating ADMX-backed policies is hard in Intune. Here's some guides to help you.
I have to admit... making a simple registry change in Intune can be ... difficult.
The Administrative Templates function is nice, for those (under 300 settings) that support them.
But for the rest of the simple settings ... you might have hand-create custom OMA-URIs and usin ADMX backed policies to do it.
Here are some others' great guides to help you "follow the leaders" and convert your ADMX and/or use an ADMX-backed policy:
Those resources, show how to tear into an ADMX and ADML file and create a more complex ADMX-backed policy:
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/mdm/understanding-admx-backed-policies
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/mdm/enable-admx-backed-policies-in-mdm
- https://www.petervanderwoude.nl/post/allow-users-to-connect-remotely-to-this-computer-via-windows-10-mdm-admx-style/
- https://www.petervanderwoude.nl/post/deep-dive-configuring-windows-10-admx-backed-policies/
- http://carlbarrett.uk/admx-backed-policies-quickish-reference-guide
- http://thesccm.com/use-intune-policy-csp-manage-windows-10-settings-internet-explorer-site-to-zone-assignment-list/
After taking Jeremy's Group Policy Class, my staff and I were able to reduce the number of help desk calls dramatically! Thank you Jeremy!
Scott Iver
MCSE Systems Administrator, Royal Canin USA, Inc
If you want to learn everything about Group Policy, then you need to attend Jeremy's training class, I came in as a novice and left an expert. Jeremy speaks to you, not above you.
John Shorey
Desktop Computing Specialist, Princeton University
Jeremy is absolutely the best presenter and instructor I have seen. I really would like to get the same type of instruction for other IT courses. He has a wonderful way of sharing his knowledge in a simple, effective way that leaves you thinking "Wow! That makes so much sense. " After taking his "Group Policy Online University" courses and reading his books I feel like a pro — truly understanding Group Policy. And whenever I have a question, Jeremy is always there to help. I really liked the fact you can review the online course TWICE. It's almost like getting TWO courses in one. Add in his weekly tips and simply you can't go wrong. Thanks Jeremy — and your staff for creating a great learning experience that I benefit from every day.
Glen Morris
Network Administrator, Mondial Assistance
I used the tools he demonstrated and those tools saved me a lot of time and money.
Will Fahim
Senior Network Engineer, County of Orange, CA
After hearing Jeremy speak, I was immediately able to confidently use GPMC, and successfully deploy many GPO's which have saved my sanity and added years to my life. Having a copy of Jeremy's Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror book on hand has given me instant access to many of those "How does this work in the real world?" questions. Thanks Jeremy, You are awesome!
Tad Johnson
Lead Systems Administrator
After taking Jeremy's class, I was able to create and troubleshoot Group Policy in our environment. Others tried to convince me that the "Microsoft Standard" is to have one huge policy, but troubleshooting that policy for them was a nightmare. After they saw how easy it was to create smaller, less complicated policies, troubleshooting became a piece of cake.
David Nietrzeba
Server Administrator, University of Toledo
I was able to apply some of the Group Policy best practices that I had not already implemented. I am also looking forward to implementing the many new Vista/W2K8 GPOs.
Anthony White
Sr. Systems Administrator, Adventist Health Systems
I sincerely enjoyed the class in Boston and I learned a lot. Within two work days of coming back I had a major update to a core product piece of software that, because of your class, I knew to ask for an MSI file for the update and how to properly create a GPO to distribute to the appropriate users and make it do an install without interaction or granting them administrator rights. When they logged in this morning the update applied beautifully. This one process alone has made the whole class worth it to me. With the many other things I learned and will also put to use in the near future and I am extremely happy. Thanks again for coming to Boston.
Richard DiNardo
Tech Support Specialist, Fidelity Bank
After listening to Jeremy, I felt much more confident in working with Group Policy and using it for many benefits in our Organization. The book was a great supplement, too.
Mark Flannery
Manager, IT Operations, Miller-Valentine Group
Jeremy has a way of explaining things that are down to earth. He takes a potentially dry subject and makes it more fun. These Group Policy courses are invaluable to help me in my job. As we transition to new machines and new operating systems, I can use the information and tools learned in class immediately. The pre-built virtual lab machines made it so I could focus on the labs right away. The hands-on labs are awesome! I am really glad I signed up for Jeremy's online courses–even though I ended up taking them on my own after work. It was a really good investment.
Deborah Adam
ATK Launch Systems


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Yearbook Photos for Sale
February 08, 2016
The Yearbook staff at NC are now selling photos!
At SmugMug, you are able to see all the pictures they have taken at every event from athletic events to dances.
School photos are available by download and formal photos are available in print. New pictures will be added regularly, so be sure to check them out!


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Home | Join/Donate | Current Voices | Liturgical Calendar | What's New | Affirmation | James Hitchcock's Column | Church Documents | Search
Voices Online Edition
Vol. XIX No. 1 Eastertide 2004
The Passion for Christ
by Sheila Gribben Liaugminas
During Lent, I attended a parish mission and arrived late. I missed the priest's opening remarks. As I came in, he was grasping the podium with both hands, elbows out, leaning over it and challenging the congregation with a question: "Do you have a passion for Jesus?"
His voice was commanding and imposing. After a long moment, he repeated: "Do you have a PASSION for JESUS?!"
He held the "s" to let its sound linger, and to focus the mind on the sacred name. Though the priest didn't expect verbal answers, it was not just a rhetorical question.
There has been a lot of talk about "passion" in recent weeks, most of it generated by and focusing on the film The Passion of the Christ: There's been talk about the authenticity of the Gospel accounts of the Passion and about Mel Gibson's rendering of them, about the historical Christ and scholars' and artists' rendering of Him. But that can be a diversion from the reality the film presents.
Facing Jesus Christ, in the awesomely complex simplicity of who He is, can be terrifying and shattering. Why? Because when you face Him, it is a decisive moment. And when you really encounter Him, you can never be the same.
"Who do you say that I am?"
As I write, today is the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis (Redeemer of Mankind), in which he wrote:
"Christ the Redeemer fully reveals man to himself. The person who wishes to understand himself thoroughly must draw near to Christ. The Redemption that took place through the cross has definitively restored to man his dignity and given back meaning to his life in the world". (RH 3)
A quarter of a century later, we are still struggling with legal battles over upholding human dignity from conception to natural death -- and we are faced with an unprecedented film that makes us witnesses to the Passion of Christ as it no doubt happened. And it forces us to see His redemptive mission: what it took, how He undertook it; and to realize the meaning this gave our lives in the world.
Father Augustine Di Noia, Undersecretary of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, put it this way: "If this is the remedy, what must the harm have been?" The answer to that, he says, is "almost beyond our comprehension" and cannot ultimately be known "until the hour of our death". He credits the film experience of Christ's Passion with giving us "a powerful sense of the cosmic drama of which we are all a part. There is no possibility of neutrality here, and no one can remain simply an onlooker in these events".
That means we have to take part. The Passion of the Christ very effectively ends with the briefest scene of the Resurrection, with a glowing and living Christ moving forward with purpose, and then... what? When you are able to breathe again, the question sets in: "now, what will you do?"
On a Mission
The pope has been telling us -- exhorting us -- what we must do for a long time, now. In fact, from the beginning of his pontificate. He needed to remind us of this more than a dozen years ago when he wrote the encyclical Redemptoris Missio (The Mission of the Redeemer) and he got right to the point from the first line:
"The mission of Christ the Redeemer, which is entrusted to the Church, is still very far from completion... an overall view of the human race shows that this mission is still only beginning... I sense that the moment has come to commit all of the Church's energies to a new evangelization... No believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples".
The Holy Father reminds us that this mandate comes from Christ Himself: "All the Evangelists, when they describe the risen Christ's meeting with His apostles, conclude with the 'missionary mandate': 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age'". (RH 22)
This work is the inheritance of all the Church. "Those who are incorporated in the Catholic Church ought to sense their privilege and for that very reason their greater obligation of bearing witness to the faith and to the Christian life as a service to their brothers and sisters and as a fitting response to God", the Holy Father declares. Then he recalls the strong language of Vatican II's Lumen Gentium (14), as he reminds members of the Church that they cannot keep the faith to themselves. "They should be ever mindful that 'they owe their distinguished status not to their own merits but to Christ's special grace; and if they fail to respond to this grace in thought, word and deed, not only will they not be saved, they will be judged more severely'". (RM 11)
Not responding is not an option. So what will we do?
From Saints Peter and Paul to Pope John Paul II, we are told to be good Christians first. "Saint Peter expressed this well when he held up the example of a reverent and chaste life that wins over even without a word those who refuse to obey the word", wrote Pope Paul VI in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi. (41) "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses".
Then, as the priest at my parish mission emphasized, proclaim. (This loses a lot in the written word, because his commanding voice challenged everyone to go out there and passionately talk about Jesus. So it was more like: "PROCLAIM!!!")
The priest said he has great admiration for the evangelist Billy Graham, who reveals his passion for Jesus just in the way he always pronounces the sacred. Graham's preaching is so powerful, our mission preacher said, because "it's proclamatory, not therapeutic!" The effectiveness of Archbishop Fulton Sheen's preaching, he said, was probably because he made a holy hour every day of his priesthood, no matter what. Archbishop Sheen may be one of the best role models for today's new evangelization mission, because he spoke to the modern world.
After the Encounter
On the second night of our parish mission, another priest recalled that in The Passion of the Christ, everyone who came into personal contact with Jesus was changed. And it was often not by anything He said, or even did, but by eye contact with that piercing gaze -- by who He is.
"Since the 'Good News' is Christ", the Holy Father says in Redemptoris Missio, "there is an identity between the message and the messenger, between saying, doing and being. His power, the secret of the effectiveness of His actions, lies in His total identification with the message He announces: He proclaims the 'Good News' not just by what He says or does, but by what He is... The disciples recognize that the kingdom is already present in the person of Jesus and is slowly being established within humanity and the world through a mysterious connection with Him". (RM 16)
All connections with Him are mysterious, since He is the essence of mystery.
"We know nothing", wrote Jody Dean, a CBS news anchor from Dallas, in a column after experiencing The Passion of the Christ. "We've gone 2,000 years -- used to the idea of a pleasant story, and a sanitized Christ. We expect the ending, because we've heard it so many times. God forgive us. This film tears that all away. It is as close as any of us will ever get to knowing, until we fully know... For the first time, one gets a heart-stopping idea of the sense of madness that must have enveloped Jesus -- a sense of the evil that was at His very elbow. The physical punishment is relentless -- but it's the sense of psychological torture that is most overwhelming.
"He should have quit. He should have opened His mouth. He should have called 10,000 angels. No one would have blamed Him. What we deserve is obvious. But He couldn't do that. He wouldn't do that... He was obedient, all the way to the cross -- and you feel the real meaning of that phrase in a place the human heart usually doesn't dare to go. You understand that we are called to that same level of obedience. With Jesus' humanity so irresistibly on display, you understand that we have no excuse. There is no place to hide". (original emphases)
But there is no desire to hide, either. It's more like a coming out of hiding to see an altogether new light, a truth that our deepest longings, in this culture of pop psychology and theology, have vainly sought elsewhere. This Lent, many of us have collectively experienced the person of Jesus in a crushing encounter. Our sensibilities have been shattered -- about Him and the Gospel story and our snug lives.
That's what happened after the original Pentecost, when Peter explained to the crowd just who they had crucified: "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?'" (Acts 2:37)
That's what we are left asking after encountering the real Jesus Christ. It seals a relationship, involves responsibilities, shakes your world.
"Encountering the Person of God is exactly like encountering the man or woman who will be your spouse - it changes everything", stated Archbishop Charles Chaput in an address delivered at the 1998 Mile-Hi Catechetical Congress in Denver (The Task of Evangelization in Secular America).
"It gives you a purpose. It orders everything else about your life. It's why the novelist Francois Mauriac wrote that 'Anyone who has truly known God can never be cured of Him'".
A Passion for ... ?
The word "passion" today is strongly evocative of deeply held love or desire or joy and goes further in describing your feelings than to say "I love doing what I do". At a business dinner once, I told someone that I have a "passion for writing". At that moment a man seated at my left spun around and said, "You just used my favorite word. Having passion for something says a lot about someone".
The word is often cheapened or trivialized by consumerism -- like a jewelry ad on the radio around Valentine's Day that suggested, "nothing says you're passionate about her like a diamond". A current commercial for a popular multi-vitamin shows athletes and recreation enthusiasts with a voice-over saying 'When you're passionate about something, you never let up".
That caught my attention. I thought about the priest's question: "Do you have a passion for Jesus?!" I thought about all the messages we succumb to regularly, like those images on the screen. After touting the merits of the vitamin, the commercial ended with this advice: "Put your heart into what you love."
Good message, I thought, as long as your heart -- your love -- is rightly ordered.
I still have a passion for writing, and it works well with the passion for Christ, because He is present in all issues and people, with forgiveness and healing and hope. It's a mission to see that and speak of that in writing. We don't have to be Mother Teresa or Padre Pio to live the love of Jesus in all things.
When Pope John Paul II wrote Redemptoris Missio, he suggested many ways to evangelize, beyond becoming missionaries. "Among the laity who become evangelizers, catechists have a place of honor", he stated. (RM 73) But the new evangelization also needs "leaders of prayer, song and Liturgy leaders in the various forms of apostolate; religion teachers in schools. All the members of the laity ought to devote a part of their time to the Church, living their faith authentically". (RM 74)
That's a challenge. So is "Proclaim Jesus Christ!", which the priest at the mission punctuated with arm raised high, finger stabbing the air of the sanctuary, voice firm and commanding. The message was: get out there right now and get started, no matter who or where you are.
The Summons to Christ's Mission
At the end of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, at the dawn of this new millennium, Pope John Paul II renewed the urgency of his reminder that the Redeemer's mission has continued in each member of the Church. In his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineuente (As the New Millennium Draws Near), in a section subtitled "Proclaiming the Word", the Holy Father states that in some countries, the reality of a Christian society is now gone, and that globalization makes new demands on Christians:
Over the years, I have often repeated the summons to the new evangelization. I do so again now, especially in order to insist that we must rekindle in ourselves the impetus of the beginnings and allow ourselves to be filled with the ardor of the apostolic preaching which followed Pentecost. We must revive in ourselves the burning conviction of Paul, who cried out: "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel". (I Cor 9:16)
This passion will not fail to stir in the Church a new sense of mission, which cannot be left to a group of "specialists" but must involve the responsibility of all the members of the People of God. Those who have come into genuine contact with Christ cannot keep Him for themselves, they must proclaim Him. (NMI 40)
The Holy Father points out that special commitment and sensitivity will be required as we address different groups of people in our diverse culture. But everyone notices sanctity, generosity and charity, and that at least gets people's attention, as Archbishop Giuseppe Chiaretti of Perugia observed in his Pastoral Letter for Lent 2001:
It is with holiness of life that the Christian becomes "interesting"; even for a distracted public opinion. Interesting not because he works "miracles" but because he has the courage to go against the tide, he is not ashamed of his faith, rather he speaks of it with joy and enthusiasm, he shows consistency in all of his choices, he knows the personal price of the social marginalization to which he may be condemned, forgiving and loving those who place him upon the cross.
To take up this mission -- "to preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mk 16:15) -- requires that we speak clearly and directly, be focused, and on fire for the truth. Archbishop Chaput emphasized this in his 1998 address:
The good news is not a message of niceness. It is a revolutionary message of new life in Christ through death to the self and the world usually doesn't want to hear it, and will often resist it with violence. I ask you to pray for me - as I will pray for you - to have the same courage which the apostles found at Pentecost: to preach Jesus Christ with passion and conviction, in season and out, so that others may hear and believe.
Sheila Gribben Liaugminas, a member of the Voices editorial board, was a writer for Time magazine for many years. She lives in Chicago with her husband and two sons.
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Websites can be fun and informative and we use websites in school to support our learning. For example, the BBC 'Newsround' website is used by some of our children for guided reading. Here are some suggestions that children and parents might like to visit:
BBC Newsround
BBC KS1 Bitesize
BBC KS2 Bitesize
Skarlett (Chestnut) - for always being kind, thoughtful and caring towards everyone. She is a supportive and encouraging learning partner who is always polite and helpful.
Georgia (Fir) - for the kindness she shows to others. She has a thoughtful nature, beautiful manners and is friendly to everyone. Georgia displays an excellent attitude towards learning and takes pride and care with all aspects of her work.
Hannah (Oak) - who has been recognised for being consistently hard working, polite, helpful and kind. She is an excellent role model and a delight to have in Oak class!
Ollie (Fir) - who demonstrates an excellent attitude to learning. He is a kind and thoughtful learning patner who stays focussed and on task.
Amy M (Elm) - who treats everyone with respect. She is thoughtful and consistently kind to others. Amy always endeavours to produce her best work and should be incredibly proud of the standard of work she achieves. She is a real delight to have in class and all adults who have been teaching her have noticed her for her efforts!
Keeley-Rose (Fir) - has been recognised for being an excellent learning partner and showing kindness to all. She is a thoughtful friend and is an excellent role model in the way that she follows the school rules. Keeley-Rose always completes tasks to the best of her ability.
Molly (Beech) - is a great asset to her class. She is always enthusiastic and keen to learn and puts 100% effort into all of her work. Molly is always kind and caring towards her peers, is a supportive learning partner and is helpful around the classroom.
Ella (Fir) - has been recognised for being an excellent role model in the classroom. She is caring, thoughtful and always ready to help when needed. Ella takes her learning seriously and applies a hard working approach.
Ellie-Mae (Elm) - has been recognised for the support she offered during the girls football tournament last week. She was such an encouragement to others, picking up players who were down and reassuring them if they had not scored or not saved a goal. This thoughtfulness to others was a pleasure to see, thank you Ellie-Mae.


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Deep Sea Corals - http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/protection/corals/deepseacorals.html
Healthy coral reefs, among the world's most valuable ecosystems, depend on healthy corals. Coral reefs are among the largest and oldest communities of life on Earth. Corals are animals, although they exhibit some of the characteristics of plants and are often mistaken for rocks. These animals are relatives of jellyfish and anemones.Mapping Coral Reefs - http://www.noaa.gov/stories/how-to-map-caribbean-coral-reefs-in-21st-century-style
Shallow and Deep Habitats
Did you know that corals live in habitats across the ocean–from tropical shallows to the darkness of the deep sea? NOAA is discovering and documenting many new coral habitats and the species living there. While we know about thousands of hard and soft coral species, scientists estimate another one to nine million undiscovered species may be living in and around reefs. They are full of diversity.
Valuable Shallow Reefs
Shallow reefs exist in warm waters and provide habitat for nearly one-quarter of all ocean species. They are often closely connected with seagrass and mangrove habitats. U.S. coral reef ecosystems provide an estimated $375 billion a year in economic and environmental services, such as food, protection for coasts, and tourism. Reef-supported tourism alone generates an estimated $30 billion a year.
Ancient Deep-Sea Communities
New technology is searching the darkness of the deep sea and revealing many surprises. Like their shallow-water counterparts, deep-sea corals and sponges form habitats that attract many other species. Much about them remains unknown, because only 5 percent of the deep sea has been explored. Deep-sea corals are exceptional animals that can live for thousands of years and at depths of more than 10,000 feet.
Threats to Corals
Both shallow and deep-sea coral communities face increasing threats from humans. Climate change, pollution, and certain fishing practices are destroying corals faster than they can recover.
The complex, combined threats facing corals pose a huge problem. NOAA is working to conserve corals and their habitats through research, restoration, preservation, and collaboration from local to international levels.\
Aquatic Ecosystems >


text: At the beginning of July, Dr. Laskus participated in the elite training organized for a small group of dentists from around the world. Course on plastic surgery and regenerative run professors Rasperini, Pagni, Acunzo. It was the essence not only of the current knowledge, but also of good Italian taste. Pictures: Dr. Laskus and Prof. Giulio Rasperini at the inspirational training at the Department of Surgery maxillo-facciale ed odontostomatologica University of Milan.


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PDF Report (470Kb)
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This research report provides information on the oral health of Aboriginal children and adults in 1999-2001. Data were collected from a number of different sources, including two remote communities, a metropolitan Aboriginal clinic, and public dental services in metropolitan and regional areas. These data have been compared with earlier data to give an indication of trends in oral health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons.
We'd love to know any feedback that you have about the AIHW website, its contents or reports.
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Featured, Fight Songs, Hip Hop/Rap/R&B »
One of the most controversial songs yet from American rapper Eminem, Mosh was a song released as a protest song in 2004, barely before the US presidential elections were to take place that year. Apart from achieving commercial success, the song and the video (which encouraged young voters to eject George W. Bush from office) became a huge hit among fans.PLAY NOW »
Featured, Fight Songs, Hip Hop/Rap/R&B »
Hate Me now is possibly one of the most notorious song from rap artist Nas, from his album I Am…, released in 1999. The song was a hit both in US and European charts, charting as high as #62 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, the song, especially, its music video, whipped up a storm of controversy due to its depiction of Nas and later Puff Daddy as being crucified (as Jesus).PLAY NOW »
Featured, Fight Songs, Rock & Alternative »
Remember the Name is the second track and the first single of hip-hop group Fort Minor's debut album – The Rising Tied. Released in 2005, this 3 minutes and 49 seconds long track has become universally popular, especially, among sports teams and groups as a possible anthem. The song's lyrics deals with the toil and hard work required to make it big in the entertainment (read music) industry.PLAY NOW »
Featured, Fight Songs, Hip Hop/Rap/R&B »
Popular hip-hop group D12 released their second single, "Fight Music" from their first album "Devil's Night" in 2001. The song is famous for sampling the even more renowned Led Zeppelin track "Kashmir". The lyrical content of the song deals with street violence and rival fights, except for the verses of Bizarre and Eminem. Produced by Dr. Dre the song charted at #11 on the UK Singles Chart in the same year.PLAY NOW »


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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Charles Ledray
Charles Ledray is a Seattle-born artist I became interested in while working at the Textile Museum last summer. I've been bogged down with school stuff for the past week and haven't posted anything in a while, so here is a little piece I wrote for an assignment about the work pictured above entitled workworkworkworkwork, first exhibited in 1991. FYI: I will be building a "fantasy exhibition" of sorts around this work for a curating class.
Charles Ledray
workworkworkworkwork, 1991
588 objects: Fabric, thread, cotton batting, yarn, embroidery floss, nylon cord, carpet, leather, wood, metal, foil, metal chain, wire, nails, porcelain, pumice, beads, buttons, cardboard, corrugated cardboard, paper, magic marker, paint
Approximately 13.7 m x 25.4 cm x 5 cm
Private Collection, Houston, TX
Charles Ledray is an artist working primarily in the area of fibre-base sculpture and installation. His work is characterized by labour-intensive and somewhat obsessive tendencies towards hand making. A compelling blend of high-art and craft, his best-known works are installations comprised of handmade men's suits, hats, fantastical garments and ceramic vessels that play with multiplicity and scale. In his installation workworkworkworkwork (1991), 588 miniature objects-- among them garments, magazines, housewares and multiple pieces of art-- were displayed in New York's Astor Place in the form of an impromptu street sale. Each of the objects was painstakingly hand-crafted by Ledray, and their presentation on a busy sidewalk-- often splayed across shrunken replicas of flattened cardboard boxes and rumpled raincoats-- cleverly blurred the lines between art and mass-produced object. The individual objects themselves are an enigmatic combination of abjection and whimsy, like a half-inch dildo in a dollhouse.
Both the presentation and objects of workworkworkworkwork evoke a number of responses in the viewer. The lack of human presence in the installation causes the objects to convey a sense of melancholy and loneliness, imploring one to piece together biographical details of the hypothetical owners of each cluster of tiny belongings for sale. The objects are reminiscent of toys or props-- accessories for a Ken doll whose dream house was foreclosed and who is drifting from fleabag hotel to fleabag hotel. Each object straddles the line between precious and imprecious, with grasshopper-sized hardcover novels standing spine up as if tossed aside among real cigarette butts on the sidewalk. The centrality of labour is evident in the work, from Ledray's labour to the title of the work to the work of people who labour to make mass-produced objects in sweatshops that move from multi-national chain store to church sale to sidewalk vendor to landfill. Finally, the piece's presentation on a public sidewalk is dependent on the presence of the pedestrian to complete the work. This brings to mind how members of dominant society-- in the case of workworkworkworkwork, the Manhattan white-collar worker, socialite, window shopper, or tourist-- view people on the margins of society. The homeless, street vendors and people performing menial jobs are relegated as background players against an urban backdrop, always viewed peripherally. The miniaturization of the objects in workworkworkworkwork poignantly reflects this.
While it is easy to get completely caught up in the sense of wonder and delightful seediness of Ledray's tiny sculptural stand-ins, a key to the work's success lies in its presentation in public, on a sidewalk in a huge metropolis that dwarfs everything it contains. Situated in Manhattan-- an iconic American city which has long been seen as a centre of commerce, immigration, power and consumption-- workworkworkworkwork interacts with its site's impressive web of history, from deadly industrial disasters in garment factories and riots fuelled by class resentment to the economic and social conditions of New York City in 1991 when workworkworkworkwork was first exhibited. The relationship between the objects-- which despite their scale evoke personal histories that feel very real-- and the site activate something much larger than the diminutive objects laboured over by Ledray: a greater social history of a city that lies deeper than a sidelong glance during a brisk walk across a crowded intersection.
Photos courtesy of the Whitney's website: http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/CharlesLeDray/Images
Posted by Tara Bursey at 9:48 PM No comments:
Labels: art heros, fibre art, installation, labour, public art, sculpture
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
I completed my latest zine exactly a week ago, making my collective zine output total a whopping four zines-- two were collaborations, and two were my own-- in 2011, the official year of the Revenge of Print. Looking back, I feel that I did well...I did my part for the revenge! Print was one of my first loves. Needless to say, I hope it is here to stay.
While this zine came to fruition mere days into 2012, I consider it a '2011' zine because so much of its research and construction was done in 2011. In a nutshell, Museozine is a zine of interviews with friends of mine-- all wonderfully creative young people who craft, make music and make art on their own terms-- about their museum experiences. These interviews started off as casual research I was doing for my job at a small Toronto museum last summer. The interviews were, in some cases, so honest and joyful and surprising that I felt like I just had to publish them in zine form as a way of honoring and preserving them.
Some of my favourite moments in the zine include the following quotes:
"When I was a young kid I loved to sit upside down on the couch (legs up the wall, head hanging down over the end of the seat) and look at the living room/kitchen upside down and fantasize about how cool it would be to be able to walk around in a house that was upside down. Really upside down, but defying gravity so everything would stay in its place, and to walk in the front door and try to navigate around the house that way and see all the familiar objects in this whole new way. I did this a lot. It was a bit of an obsession. There's my dream museum-- my childhood home upside down." --Elaine B.
"If I could create my own museum it would be quite a bit like my own apartment, except much, much bigger...everything from old print (magazines, comic books, fanzines, old books) to old toys, various pop culture items, guitars and music gear, and-- probably most importantly-- vinyl records." --Matt H.
"I think a hobo museum would be cool. It would have a riding the rails simulator, and a hobo camp staffed with historical re-enactors like Black Creek Pioneer Village, and maybe a folk singer from the 20s or 30s. Although this is changing, museums tend not to represent the lives of people on the margins of history." --Patrick M.
Today, headlines about millions of dollars in funding for culture and research being cut from both the municipal and the provincial budget over the next year were splashed across Toronto papers. Sad when you consider how much museums have captured the imaginations of the people I interviewed. Most of these interviews referred to childhood museum experiences, which, for the case of many, happened in the 1980s, before the massive culture funding slashes and economic recession of the very late 1980s and early 1990s. There is currently an accessibility problem among Toronto's museums. I hate to think that the current economic climate and recent cuts will make the current problem (or crisis, even) of local museum accessibility--and not to mention cultural funding-- even worse.
For lots of impassioned writing on the topic of public access to museums and cultural institutions, check out Toronto critic and arts writer Leah Sandals' always engaging blog, Unedit My Heart.
Posted by Tara Bursey at 6:29 PM 1 comment:
Monday, January 09, 2012
Danville Community Encyclopedia
A few days ago, I finished my latest zine, Museozine. This got me thinking about how artists have used the interview format in both performance and printed matter. Tonight in my Publications class I was introduced to a really awesome example of this (somewhat minor) tradition called the Danville Community Encyclopedia by artist Anna Callahan. For this project, Callahan hung out in a public library in Danville, Illinois interviewing members of the public of all ages about their respective areas of expertise. She eventually filled an entire book with transcriptions of the interviews she collected-- the encyclopedia entries as diverse as Ghostbusters, Gospel Songs, Attention Deficit Disorder, Protest, Chicago Illinois, Canada and Tupac.
This was an uber-limited edition. I wish I could buy this!
For more on Anna Callahan and her community projects, check out her website.
(P.S: This is my 300th post!)
Posted by Tara Bursey at 9:38 PM No comments:
Labels: art heros, books, community, journalism, multiples, performance, printed matter
Monday, January 02, 2012
16 Museums
For a zine that I'm working on which should be done later on today, hopefully! More on this later...
Posted by Tara Bursey at 1:46 PM No comments:
Labels: architecture, drawing, museums, zines
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Winter Texture Blowout
To celebrate the fact that winter approaches (at least it's supposed to be approaching, but those of us in St. Louis might not know it), I'm giving away some of my favorite textures. These are super easy to make yourself, just a fast shutter and a flash in a snowstorm and you're in business... but what's interesting to me is to experiment with the colors and textures going on around the snow. Enjoy these in high resolution... and try to keep warm... unless you're in St. Louis, in which case you might want to keep your shorts out of storage a little bit longer.


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If there's no other reason you can think of to vote against Dennis Rehberg for the US Senate at this point, how about just voting against him because he seems to think that the electorate in Montana is so breathtakingly stupid that he can say whatever he wants to them and get away with it. I think Rehberg's terrible policy positions, serial hypocrisy, embarrassing personal habits, and total disconnection from the lives of ordinary Montanans are more than sufficient reasons to vote against him, but if you want to vote against him simply because he treats you like a moron, go ahead.
In the wake of the Supreme Court's Citizens' United decision, Rehberg (financially backed and endorsed by Citizens United) claimed that he believed that disclosure of political spending would solve any ills from excessive outside spending:
"Instead of trying to silence political dissent, let's focus on improving transparency and creating stricter reporting requirements. There's no excuse for letting powerful special interest groups exert influence on our elections from behind a veil of secrecy and anonymity."
Of course, Mr. Rehberg did falsify an initial campaign report, hiding thousands of dollars from registered lobbyists. And then he failed to file his last campaign report on time with the FEC.
Even if one were tempted to overlook these errors as simple mistakes, Rehberg solidified his opposition to political disclosure, voting against a the Disclose Act in 2010, an act which would have mandated reporting of political spending. What controversial elements of the bill does Rehberg oppose? It's hard to imagine.
What does Rehberg want? The broken status quo, in which donations are unregulated and unreported, with corporations, even from foreign countries, able to influence the outcome of American elections.
The only thing Representative Rehberg has disclosed is his utter contempt for the voters of Montana, voters he simply can't—or won't—tell the truth.


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A few weeks ago now, Xplorer announce they/he would be making his own blaster. From the ground up, scratch, drawn on a napkin while at a pub, blaster. Then, not to be out done, Orange Mod Works announces that they're doing the same. My head almost split in two from the giant grin on my face. But, then I started to think seriously about this, and I probably shouldn't have.
More after boing.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Friday, 21 February 2014
"Elite" Longstrike mod.
This was a fun mod. The pay off was a Longstrike with the performance of a Retaliator with an Orange Mod Works 5kg spring :)
Feel like Sniping your tablet?
Today I was contacted by a company called X N Touch that have made something called SNIPE. And it looks... interesting.
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
New Nerf at New York (part two)
So in this part. It's not really Nerf, but, items being marketed as "From the makers of Nerf" and a Tek Recon as well.
New Nerf at New York (part one)
Since the abrupt halt of information from Baidu and Taobao, there has been not much for us bloggers to go on. Then the big toy fair starts and then we're all flooded with more information than what we know what to do with. So. Instead of covering all the blasters that have yet to grace store shelves. I'll just give you my opinion of the ones we've not seen before.
Here comes the boing.
Here comes the boing.
Friday, 14 February 2014
K-Mart Australia Removes Vortex From Website
After a redo of the Nerf search results on their website, Vortex has vanished from K-Mart's website.
More after Boing.
More after Boing.
Monday, 10 February 2014
REVIEW: Zombiestrike Crossfire Bow and Fusefire
I'm too lazy to write up two separate reviews, so here's two in one.
More after jump.
More after jump.
Friday, 7 February 2014
Direct Plunger Centurion
Urgh. Centurion... I will curse that word till the day I die. But, at the very least, I've made it suck less.
More after boing.
More after boing.
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The link between tornadoes and climate change is currently unclear. It's difficult to identify long-term trends in tornado records, which only date back to 1950 in the United States. Also, the population in many areas affected by tornadoes has grown, so it's possible that tornadoes in the early part of the 20th century occurred without anyone seeing them. Improved technology, such as advanced radar, also helps us "see" tornadoes that may not have been detected decades ago.
Another problem lies with the physics associated with tornadoes. Researchers are working to better understand how the building blocks for tornadoes – atmospheric instability and wind shear – will respond to global warming. It is likely that a warmer, moister world would allow for more frequent instability. However, it is also likely that a warmer world would lessen chances for wind shear. Climate change also could shift the timing of tornadoes or the regions that are most likely to be hit, with less of an impact on the total number of tornadoes.
Adding to the difficulty, tornadoes are too geographically small to be well simulated by climate models. Models can simulate some of the conditions that contribute to forming severe thunderstorms that often spawn tornadoes. Multiple studies (see here and here) find the conditions that produce the most severe thunderstorms are likely to occur more often in a warmer world, even if the total number of thunderstorms decreases (because of fewer weak storms). However, this work does not conclusively tell us whether tornadoes should follow the same trend as their parent thunderstorms.
It will remain challenging to estimate any climate change influence on tornadoes until scientists can improve their physical understanding of the processes that cause tornadoes and the observational record of tornado frequency.


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"Here Comes the S.U.N."S.U.N. = Sign Up Night, the sunrise of the Scouting experience
Sign Up Night Plan – Fall 2018What is a Sign-Up Night?A Sign-Up Night is a Council activity, in which volunteers and staff work together to create a fantastic customer service experience for new families, so that they 1) join Scouting 2) feel welcome and 3) are connected to something organized and worthwhile.
Where are Sign-Up Nights?Sign-Up Nights are to be hosted at the location in which the youth were recruited. Examples: a school classroom visit from staff is followed by a Sign-Up Night in that school's cafeteria. Or a presentation at church on Sunday is followed by a Sign-Up Night at that church's fellowship hall. This ensures a level of comfort for new families and reinforces the implied endorsement from the school or church. We have seen – when families are asked to go to a different location for a Sign-Up Night, turnout is down.
When are Sign Up Nights?Staff, in consultation with District Membership Chairs, set the calendar for Sign-Up Nights. Staff drafts a calendar in April and works together with volunteers in May, June and July to set 100% of available schools for fall visits. It is imperative staff are involved in leading this part of the process because 1) School District Superintendents expect us to have one point of contact and 2) staff must manage their time to ensure proper service at all schools and for all Packs and Troops.
How do Sign Up Nights happen?The process of the Sign-Up Night has evolved in recent years. The North Florida Council hosted focus group studies in 2013 that resulted in an overhauled Sign Up Night process that was utilized for three years. A new focus group study of millennial parents, and Scout volunteers, was conducted in 2016. That data, research, along with the results and feedback, helped create a new plan that launched in 2017. In 2018, minor tweaks have been made based on what was learned – and adjustments have been made to welcome the full family.
Final thoughtSign Up Nights should be simple, fun, interactive, informative, organized and effective. Effective means families 1) join Scouting 2) feel welcome and 3) are connected to something organized and worthwhile.
Sign Up Night KickoffsAll District Sign Up Night Kickoffs will be held at your District's August Roundtable.
Tools to Prepare for Sign Up Night Season


text: By 1973 Woody Allen was a firm favourite with Cinema going audiences. Although not yet feted as a master by the critical community his films were highly successful at the box office. That's not to say that he was simply pandering to the masses for financial gain. In retrospect you can see him developing his film making style over the course of these early comedies. Each new film showed that Allen was spending a great deal of time honing his craft. His Direction, writing skills and acting all improved over a hand full of very well received movies giving him the confidence to try new things and more importantly produce an interesting end product. When Sleeper was released it was seen as a new high in Allen's career. Continue reading


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Got a question that the wiki doesn't answer? Ask on the forum (preferred), or join us on IRC.
WorldEditSuper pickaxe
The super pickaxe feature in WorldEdit makes all pickaxes have super powers!
Super pickaxe
The super pickaxe features give your pickaxe the ability to destroy and mine blocks very quickly. To toggle your super pickaxe, use the
// command. By default, the selected mode is the single block mode.
If you switch mode with one of the commands below, the super pickaxe will be enabled.
Instant mining
//(to turn off)
Single block mode only destroys one block. By default, using this mode will drop mined blocks, but this behavior can be changed with the super-pickaxe.drop-items configuration option.
Destroying areas instantly
/recur <radius>
/area <radius>
//(to turn off)
As of WorldEdit v4 the commands are now:
/sp area <radius>
These two modes destroy an entire area, but they only destroy blocks of the same type as the one that you hit. The difference between the two modes, however, is that recursive mode destroys blocks adjacent to the original block, continuing until it reaches the radius. Area mode just destroys all blocks inside a cuboid area of radius * 2 + 1 width and length from the first block you hit.
By default, using these modes will not drop mined blocks, but this behavior can be changed with the super-pickaxe.many-drop-items configuration option.


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Karaoke is back for 25th Annual Ribtoberfest on Saturday Nights!
Starting Saturday, October 6th from 8pm to midnight
A message from Big Ed:
Thank you all for a great 26 years. We have been family owned and operated during that entire time. But please no sharing on all you can eat dinners and no doggie bags on all-u-can-eat meals. There is a $2.99 reorder charge to go.
Thank you, Big Ed
Save Time, Order Online!
Save 10% off ALL online orders for a limited time only!
*Not to be combined with ANY other offers, coupons or gift certificates.
Text "BigEds" to 33733 to download our online ordering app for android (iPhone app coming soon).