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AAAAAA-OOOOOOOOOOOOO! Watch this video of my little superstar. Listen carefully for the joy and praise in my voice as I cheer for my daughter who is diligent during her soccer practices, who plays on the sidelines of her brother's practices, and who pays attention during the game.
Yeah, silence from Mom. It's wrong.
A parent on the opposing team had just made a remark about "that girl" dominating the game. I'm sure it was a statement of admiration, but by the end of last season some of these compliments sound like criticism. I'm a little sensitive. She isn't the tallest, fastest, or most aggressive kid on the field. She just gets it. So SHUT UP! Shut up before I let my baby girl kick your ass.
YAY George!


text:
Packing for a trip is always an undertaking. Packing for a trip abroad, even more so, and packing for an extended trip—or even a move—just compounds the crazy.
Whenever people put me in touch with people they knew who had lived in Buenos Aires, I always asked them the same question: "What should I bring?" You have the basic necessities, of course, but what you really need to know is what you might not realize you need until you're there. Here is the list I compiled based on advice from other expats, as well as learning by missing. Anything I forgot? Leave it in the comments to help others with their packing lists!
You can drink tap water in Buenos Aires, it's just not particularly good tasting (chlorine) or feeling (stomach aches). So what a lot of people do, and what my roommates and I were doing, is buy jugs of water. This sucks for a number of reasons, the most salient being that it's a huge waste, both from monetary and environmental standpoints. I'm telling you, a Brita pitcher (and extra filters) should be the first thing you pack after your passport.
Work Visa Paperwork
Living abroad is all about opportunity. To be ready for any professional opportunities that might come along, get all of your paperwork in line and bring any forms required for a work visa, all signed, sealed and apostilled, with you when you move. A number of friends found jobs once moving down to Buenos Aires that are sponsoring them with a work visa, and they had to wait months for everything to pass through the necessary bureaucracy and get down here. Every country has specific requirements, so look for an expat forum in the country or city you're moving to for more information or just search online. You'll most likely need FBI apostilled fingerprints and a new version of your birth certificate (to align with laws stipulated at the Hague Conference) apostilled by the U.S. state where you were born. It might sound complicated, but it is doable. Just start the process some months before you move, because it does take a while.
Magic Jack
There's a million ways to get and keep in touch with people these days, no matter where you are in the world. Despite all that, moving abroad can make you realize how necessary basic voice-to-voice, phone communication is. Being able to pick up the phone and call right then if something is urgent, is still super important. Look into getting a Magic Jack, for which you pretty much just pay $40 USD to purchase it, and then calling is free. You have a number assigned to your Jack, which is a USB port that plugs into your computer and the other end into a phone. You dial and call on the phone as you would regularly use it, and the Internet powers it all. Magic.
ATM Card with No (or Minimal) Fees, Plus an Extra Emergency Card
The U.S. is a country of credit cards; we swipe and charge for everything, even cabs. Many other countries aren't so reliant on plastic, so expect to use cash a lot more. Even places that take credit cards, like clothing and shoe stores and many hotels, prefer cash and offer around 10 percent discounts. Look into getting an ATM card with the most minimal fees. Ask about conversion fees, ATM fees, ask if there are any random fees you might accrue for using your card abroad. If possible, open an account at a bank that will reimburse you for ATM fees, because they can get pretty steep in other countries. In Buenos Aires, most ATMs have a maximum withdrawal of $200-$250 USD and charge a $4 USD fee per transaction. If you need anything more than $250 you'll have to withdraw more than once, and you're looking at $8 USD lost right there.
On a related note, a wise idea is set up and take an additional checking card, just in case. Pickpocketing is common in Buenos Aires, and the ATM machines also hold your card throughout the entire withdrawal process and spew it back out only once you have received your money, receipt and pressed that you do not want to make another transaction. Almost every foreigner I know spending time down here in Buenos Aires has lost at least one card because of accidentally walking away from the machine still holding their card, myself included. Getting another card down can be difficult and time-consuming, and you can avoid it all by packing an extra.
Tip: If you're on the East Coast, go for TD Bank! ATM fees reimbursed (if you keep a minimum) and everything.
Unlocked Cell Phone(s)
I wrote about this in my post about saving money in Buenos Aires, and I'll repeat it here:
Of all those old cell phones you have stuffed in drawers at home in the U.S., I bet at least half of them can be unblocked and used in another country. One of the biggest money wasters that comes with setting up life in a new place is buying an overpriced cell phone in the country you are in that features technology rivaling only the Nokia you used to play Worm on. Bring an unblocked cell from home and you will save money and have a nicer phone. Just make sure it operates using a SIM card, and you can buy a new card in your country for super cheap and get it going.
Tip: This also goes for smartphones! Also, bring extras in case your phone gets stolen. It happened to me, it happened to friends.
Plugs and Cords
Why are ethernet cords that come with apartments always so short? Many friends of mine have been stuck sitting on floors or against walls to access the internet in their apartments. It's easy to pack, but also easy to forget, so jot down to throw a long ethernet cord into your suitcase. Also in the plug genre, it's easiest to come with a converter and plug adapters to avoid hassle and potentially blowing up hair styling tools.
Certain Cosmetics
Brands like Nivea, Pantene and Johnson & Johnson are sold in Buenos Aires, though the exact products offered vary slightly. Really, if you're particular about anything, bring it. If you're particular about anything like face wash, toothpaste, whatever it is, bring it! For example, I bought my favorite gum in bulk and packed it in my suitcases. Same goes for medicines. My mom does remind me, though, that part of living abroad is adapting to cultural differences, products included, and "I better find replacements here because she's not bringing all this stuff all the time." (Thanks, mom, for the recent haul!) Still, I'll never be able to give up Trident Tropical Twist.
Peanut Butter
Nowhere else in the world are people as obsessed with peanut butter as we are in the United States. If it's one of your dietary staples, bring along at least a jar or two to hold you over until you find the one of four places they sell it in your new city, that is if they do at all. Keep in mind what you'll find abroad will most likely be the natural Trader Joe's-style versions. Maybe you'll take peanut butter scarcity as an opportunity to wean yourself from it like I did. Although I did essentially just trade one gooey regional substance for another, as dulce de leche is now a part of my life.
I tried to keep these recommendations general, but some are more pertinent to Buenos Aires than other places, just as other locales will have their particulars, too. For example, (and not to get graphic, but) tampons are surprisingly hard to come by in the city of Good Airs. Thanks to friends who studied abroad in Buenos Aires for the save on that one.
If you're pining for something from your home country and the next trip a friend or family member has planned is too far away, check out The Mule Pool.

subset: commoncrawl


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Although Frank Turner stops short of embracing the term "folk-punk" as a genre, he admits that playing in punk bands since he was 16 has certainly guided the acoustic music he's making now.
"Punk rock is kind of like Catholicism," the British singer-songwriter says. "It's either in your life or it isn't, and if it is, you're probably going to spend a ridiculous amount of time thinking about it. And you'll spend half of that time loving it and half of that time hating it.
Turner, who spent four years fronting hardcore punk band Million Dead, will soon release his fourth solo album, "England Keep my Bones" and just played a show at Bottom of the Hill yesterday (May 4th).
"The thing I took away from punk was the fierce independence and self-reliance," he says. "Like, 'We don't need to be told what to do and we're going to make our own space culturally.' People did that before punk came along and people have done it since."
While such socially driven messages are weaved deeply into his songs, they're almost never delivered as complaints aimed at specific political issues in the style of, say, Anti Flag or Rage Against the Machine.
"If I wanted to do that I'd be a politician," he says, describing his views as more libertarian than anything. "And as much as I grew up with [Rage] – I think they make a great noise – I certainly don't agree with their politics. For example, Che Guavara was a murderous, homophobic thug and I wouldn't want him on my t-shirt."
On "England Keep my Bones," Turner is accompanied on most tracks by a full band, just as he was on his previous release, "Poetry of the Deed." That wasn't the case on his first two albums, "Sleep is for the Week" and "Love Ire & Song," both of which lean heavily on his thickly strummed lonesome acoustic guitar.
He's been accompanied by his band on tour in the U.K. for the past few years, but could never afford to get them across the pond until he signed with Epitaph Records last year. The full band then went on tour in support of Flogging Molly.
Turner is a nonstop globetrotter, so if you missed him at Bottom of the Hill yesterday, you'll have another chance in October. And this time he'll have his band in tow, so don't blow it.


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Free online vector converter (autotrace online)
This online vector converter is built by tying together open-source components such as Autotrace, ImageMagick, and various unix and linux image-processing components.


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SOC sponsored and attended an ISOA, Worldwide Stability Operations "Changing of the Guard " Breakfast Forum, February 1. The event hosted a lineup of speakers from U.S. Congress and the Defense and State Departments, and USAID. The group discussed the government's priorities and spending for 2017 and beyond. Speakers included:
REP. MARK MEADOWS (R-NC) - House Committees on Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Government Reform— Chairman of the Government Operations Subcommittee, and Transportation & Infrastructure
REP. HENRY CUELLAR (D-TX) - House Committees on: Appropriations for Defense and Homeland Security
DR. RONALD CLARK - Former Deputy Under Secretary at DHS for the National Protection and Programs Directorate
GARY MOTSEK - Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for AT&L/Program Support
CATHY READ - Director of Acquisition Management, Department of State
DANIEL RUNDE - Former Senior USAID Official, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies


text: The US moved quickly to support Kosovo; too quickly if you ask me. I think it was a bad mistake and can't figure out why we did it other than to back the EU. War is looking like a distinct possibility there, and I doubt the soldiers will be coming from Brussels.


text:
ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) Derek Carr hears all the talk of a possible MVP and the praise after a sterling first half to the season.
That comes with the territory, especially after winning AFC offensive player of the week and setting the franchise single-game record with 513 yards passing.
If Carr had it his way, he'd tune it all out.
''I would rather not hear anything,'' he said Wednesday. ''I would rather just go about my business and hang out with my family, to be honest. But, it's a part of this business, it's a part of this job. Trust me, I'm very honored and thankful, don't get me wrong, but at this point in the year, that stuff is cool but it's not for me.''
He better get used to it if he puts together more games like the one he had last week in Tampa Bay when he threw the game-tying TD pass to Mychal Rivera with 1:38 left in regulation and the game-winner in overtime to Seth Roberts.
He broke Cotton Davidson's franchise record of 427 yards passing in a game and joined Ben Roethlisberger and Y.A. Tittle as the only players to throw for at least 500 yards and four TDs in a game without an interception.
''That's why it's crazy to me,'' he said. ''I still think of myself as a little kid, just a fan of the game. It's still kind of surreal and I don't think it will be real to me until I'm done playing and I can kind of look back. For now, I'm not going to look back. I have too much ahead of me. But, someday I'll look back at it and it's just one of those things, it's like surreal. You can't believe it. It's like a video game. Your name's up there but is it really yours? So far, it doesn't mean anything, but I'm sure someday it will.''
The performance against the Bucs was indicative of how Carr has played for much of the first half of the season as he led comeback wins earlier against New Orleans and San Diego.
His numbers stack up well against the other top quarterbacks in the league like Matt Ryan and Drew Brees with 2,321 yards passing, 17 TDs and only three interceptions for a rating of 100.9.
''He's had glimpses. He's had little windows of greatness and he's made a lot of plays,'' Denver pass rusher Von Miller said. ''All the success that he's having this season is really not a surprise to me. I've seen it. I've seen it in him. I've seen the type of quarterback that he can be.''
Carr will get one of his toughest tests yet Sunday night when the Super Bowl champion Broncos (6-2) bring their top-notch defense to Oakland to face the Raiders (6-2) in an AFC West showdown.
Putting together a top performance against a defense like Denver's is the next step for Carr in his rapid progression from a shaky rookie season in 2014 to where he is now.
Carr has four interceptions and six TD passes in four career starts against Denver with the only win coming in a game in which he completed 12 of 29 passes for 135 yards last December.
''They're one of the best defenses in the NFL, let alone this year, but for the last however many years, they've been one of the best we've ever seen in this league,'' Carr said. ''They're always a good challenge for us, but we're definitely looking forward to it.''
This marks the second straight season Carr reached the halfway point with stellar numbers. He had a 104.3 rating through eight games last season with 19 touchdown passes, four interceptions and 7.7 yards per attempt. But he took a major step back in the second half when center Rodney Hudson and receiver Amari Cooper were slowed at times by injuries, posting a 79.2 rating in the final eight games.
But the Broncos see a much more polished passer in Carr's third season.
''Anytime you see a guy throwing it as much as they've thrown it, and yet how well he's protecting the football, and I think he's only been sacked nine times, that tells you about his growth right there,'' coach Gary Kubiak said. ''Understanding what's going on and keeping his team in good positions, so very impressed. Obviously, Derek is playing as good as anybody in football right now.''
NOTES: Among the players to miss practice were CB Sean Smith (shoulder) and DT Stacy McGee (ankle). ... DE Mario Edwards Jr. (hip) still has not been activated to practice off IR.
AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL


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Plantronics ENTERA HW111N-USB
item code: 201595-11
Selling price: $87.00
List price: $109.00 (20% off)
You Save: $22.00
price include all taxes.
Plantronics ENTERA HW111N | HW111N-USB Headset
Goheadsets.com has been adding the most flexible, reliable and comfortable headsets either corded or cordless. The company aiming to fulfill the users need focuses on storing the headsets mostly demanded, along with their selling strategies. With the increased technology, variety of leading headsets brands are focusing on the compatibility of various headset that attracts the larger targeted audience.
ENTERA Overview:
The USB Monaural Corded headset is considered as the great value of money for the office professionals. It offers great performance to the users especially to those who are looking to wear their headset for entire day. It features Noise cancelling microphone that offers the user to destroy and blocks the undesirable background noise. The headset is available in dual- earpiece and single earpiece (allowing the user to communicate with the colleagues easily). It's a USB headset which is ideally designed for working environment, therefore features Quick Disconnect. It allows the user to communicate effectively while leaving their desk.
- Manufacturer- Plantronics
- Type of headset- Call center headset
- Type of headset- Corded
- Wearing style- Monaural (On- the- ear)
- Sound output mode- Mono
- Microphone type- Boom
- Frequency response- 150 Hz- 6.80 KHz
- Remote control- Calls answer/ end, Volume, mute
- Warranty- 2 years
- Noise cancelling microphone
- Flex- boom microphones
- Monaural wearing style (Over the head)
- Remote control to handle calls, volume, mute
Start the ball rolling by posting a comment on this item!
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Customer Support
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Have Questions?


text:
How are we going to achieve this? With Jimi Hendrix , ZZ Top, and Queen! Repping each legendary artist are tremendous bands. Stonefree Experience (Jimi) , Cheap Sunglasses (ZZ), and Magnifico (Queen) are completely on top of their tribute game. Get ready to hear Bohemian Rhapsody, Sharp Dressed Man, and Purple Haze. In addition we will have Prince Klassen on the turn tables to fill in the gaps and keep the inside party bumpin.
In true Knuckle Rumbler fashion we will have Alison Narro running a rock n' roll photo booth so you can prove to your parents the next day that you saw Jimi and Freddie Mercury on the same Beauty Bar stage. And if you are super thirsty, come early and enjoy complimentary beverage or four with Adi courtesy of Birds Barbershop. Other invited but unconfirmed guests include Mama Cass, Jim Morrison, Buddy Holly, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, Brett Michaels' career, John Lennon, and the drummer of Spinal Tap.


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I've got your next seafood experiment RIGHT HERE. Except it's not really an experiment on your part because I'm here to assure you it will turn out FANTASTIC.
Prepared in a cast iron skillet, trout with capers, orange, and brown butter is a slight spin-off of the classic chicken piccata dish, however this recipe uses trout in place of chicken and fresh orange juice in place of lemon. Traditional piccata consists of lemon, capers, and butter.
Trout with capers, orange, and brown butter was inspired by a gastropub in South Boston called Local 149—a rustic restaurant with modern American cuisine. Patty ordered a very similar dish and begged me to recreate it as usual. So what do I do in these scenarios? I snap a picture of the menu of said entrée so I can remember how it was created. Seriously, could you guess I'm that guy who takes pictures of his food before devouring it? Who does that?
Wait, have I mentioned capers? If Patty is cooking dinner, nine times out of ten, it's safe to assume you'll be eating something with capers, hence Patty's major obsession with this dish. Patty puts capers on everything. She doubles the capers in every recipe. She is a caper.
I'll admit capers had to grow on me, as did chicken piccata (what choice did I have?!) Now, I crave it. I love this recipe because it's buttery, tangy, sweet, and salty all at once. The light flour coating creates a slightly seared crust that absorbs the orange and butter.
A quick note on the fish. Steelhead trout is very similar to salmon, yet more mild in taste. You've probably seen it at the fish counter without realizing it. You could also prepare this with salmon if you can't find steelhead trout.Print
Trout with Capers, Orange, and Brown Butter Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 2 1x
- 2 steelhead trout filets, skin removed
- 1/4 cup flour, for dredging
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 orange, juice squeezed
- 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
- 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
- Meanwhile, season each filet with salt and pepper and lightly dredge in flour, shaking off any excess. Sear filets two minutes, flip and sear for 2 more minutes.
- Remove trout from the skillet and place on a plate. On the same skillet add the butter and heat until the foam starts to subside and the butter starts to brown, 2-3 minutes.
- Add the juice from the orange, capers, and chopped tarragon. Let simmer for about 2 minutes, mixing by shaking the skillet.
- Return trout filets to the skillet and sear for an additional minute per side. Serve with brown butter sauce drizzled over each filet.


text:
Head of HR Operations
Waad Holding Company
- Assesses existing operations, processes, procedures and policy to drive common sense efficiency, taking into account legal requirements and ease of use by customers/departments.
- Supervises and reviews all HR transactions and record-keeping functions to ensure HR information systems and electronic records' integrity and consistency.
- Builds relationships with internal customers to ensure HR is providing appropriate customer service, ensuring business needs are met, while also understanding the business need, priority and purpose.
- Partners with human resources business partners, the leadership team, and others in a variety of capacities, such as data gathering, reporting, analysis, research, and recommendations as appropriate.
- Assist Head of HR in developing, reviewing and updating the HR strategy and the HR management policies, systems and practices that.
- Fully support in implementing the overall company strategy in operations.
- Coordinate the work of the HR department in the management of contracts of all staff, seconded, partners and consultants, and ensure compliance with the organization's policies and procedures and with the laws/regulations applicable to all company offices.
- Coordinate the work of the HR Unit in implementing decisions relating to staff movements: promotion, transfer and departure of staff including implementing an exit interview program to obtain inputs/feedback concerning the organization's operations, management and programs.
- Enhance and/or develop and implement the HR Information Systems to improve the overall operation and effectiveness of the organization.
- In particular, ensure the database provides timely and accurate information.
- Assist in ensuring that all personnel transactions follow the appropriate procedures and that all requirements are met prior to approval of transaction.


text:
We have this growing on an enclosed front porch and it have done very well all year.
Get Local
Find locations near you that offer Proven Winners products
Find locations near you that offer Proven Winners products
Colorful leaves.
Great in beds, along walkways, and on patios.
'Fireworks' is a warm-season grass. Where temperatures get colder than 20 degrees F, the plants should be treated as annuals. Once the grass turns brown it can either be removed immediately or removed in the spring. It should not be expected to live through the winter and begin growing again in the spring.
In areas where winter temperatures remain above 20 degrees it should be considered a perennial and the following information should be useful. Warm-season grasses won't start growing until mid to late spring or even early summer. Their major growth and flowering happens when the weather is hot. They will usually turn shades of brown for the winter.
Cut back warm season grasses in fall or by mid to late spring. Warm season grasses turn shades of brown as the weather turns colder. Once your warm season grasses turn brown you can trim them back at almost any time. If you like to tidy your garden in fall or if you live in an area where fire can be problematic trim warm season grasses so they are just a few inches tall.
If you live in an area where fire generally isn't a problem you can leave the dried grasses and seed heads in your garden for winter interest. Snow or ice encrusted ornamental grasses can be quite beautiful.
If you leave the trimming until spring try to make sure to cut them back to the ground (you can leave a couple of inches) by late spring, before new growth begins.
Not all ornamental grasses look good through the winter, trim back those that don't look good in the fall.
Divide warm season grasses anytime spring through mid-summer. All ornamental grasses should be divided when they are actively growing but not while they are flowering. If the plants are dormant when they are transplanted they won't establish a good root system. Warm season grasses generally start growing in late spring or early summer and have their active growth period during the heat of the summer. Warm season grasses will tend to bloom in mid to late summer.
'Fireworks' Pennisetum is a new addition to the Graceful Grasses® collection, and was chosen for its color, texture and performance. 'Fireworks' is a pink and white variegated purple fountain grass with a strong upright, arching habit that prefers full sun. This variety will reach 24—36" in height and is sure to add strong fall interest to any landscape.
We have this growing on an enclosed front porch and it have done very well all year.
|Award Year
|Plant Trial
|Top Performer
|Michigan State University
|Boerner Botanical Garden
|Classic City Award
|University of Georgia
|Classic City Award
|University of Georgia
|Classic City Award
|University of Georgia
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text:
Trending Today - Facebook Paper, another app to read about things that are Trending Today
Intrapraneurs from Facebook have released a new mobile app called Paper - an application for browsing through news items that are trending today. The news that Facebook released this app is itself currently trending.
Most of the talk is about the interface, gestures, explanation videos, blah blah blah, Flipboard. The company 53 who make the iOS app also called Paper are understandably pissed off. Facebook got some additional press for releasing "a Photoshop for application design" that turns out to be just a Quartz Composer macro.
But these tidbits are all important fodder to get talked about, and then other people will want to talk about what is being talked about.
Raised by machines
Journalists follow trends and write about them and cause those trends to trend even more. Our new Trend Detecting Machines exacerbate these hype cycles even more.
On the content production side there is a whole industry to track, quantize, re-energize and temporily elongate news items in the trendosphere.
One day a news item will be trending even though no one has ever observed it. Which happens all the time the financial markets - the machines simulate greed and fear in their little skulls and then have epic little robot battles on the trading floor.
But "trending" is only the first trench in the war for Narrative Control and the eventual establishment of Public Consensus. Which you are going to need if you expect everybody to use your trendy trend app.
It also depends which trench you are in. While some people moan that their Facebook feed is filled with either babies or self-rightous preaching to the nearest nodes in their political choir, elsewhere somebody is ranting about why everybody won't shut up about Clojure all the time.
I've simplified this discussion to the buzzword "trending", but your feeds (from various providers) are personalized and multi-variate. We live in a world of competing and inter-dependant algorithms.
"the suspicion arises that technical innovations only refer and answer to each other, and the end result of this proprietry development, which progresses completely independant of individual or even collective bodies of people, is an overwhelming impact on senses and organs in general" - Friedrich Kittler, Optical Media
We need to examine carefully the goal definitions and performance measures for the agents we build. Because we are what we consume, so by extension we are building ourselves. Then, as Kittler says, what we built impacts us. Or deeper yet, we are not really in absolute control of this building process, we are just following the inevitable paths of technlogy.
It has an impact not on just what ends up in our minds, but in how we train our bodies and senses for further interaction with the (non-internet) world.
- Are we optimizing for clicks ?
- Ad delivery ?
- Trend surfing ?
- Does a temporary rush of views indicate that the content has value or merely that it satisfies a temporary urge ?
- Which strata and timeframe of your thinking are we satisfying ?
- Which timeframe of human evolution are we optimizing for ?
Optimizing for clicks ? Maybe the subject has just entered a vacant click trance and is just trying to get their fix with little info-dopamine drips. So your increased clicks don't mean what you think they mean.
Should we hook up the bio-sensors ? (God please no) Subject has x% normal activity in right supramarginal gyrus indicating increased empathy Great, now we can optimize for empathy.
An Introduction to Friedrich Kittler
Marshall McLuhan said that our technlogies extend our senses. Friedrich Kittler says that the technologies shape our senses and change us.
"Media determine our situation." Technology extends into us, technology determines our social history.
What is the experience of browsing ?
I've discussed how the feeds are constructed. But the experience of browsing and using the app is of equal importance. That is the reality we live in, and it shapes how we react to the messages (content) we are receiving.
What is the experience we have while consuming these articles and pretty images ?
What needs are we satisfying ?
Is the beauty of the interface overwhelming the experience of reading ? (Paging through a well designed glossy magazine is a very pleasureable experience and we are searching for new visceral design experiences with our new media. Beauty of design is genuinely valuable.)
Have you ever been lulled into an information overload trance and then saw an article about some atrocity or famine … and you totally did not react ? Because your senses were overloaded.
The way we consume media affects how we internalize the information it carries.
Further Reading
"Optical Media":
and the splendid "Gramophone, Film, Typewriter":
The Yoga of doing the impossible
One thing I've learned through doing Yoga is how to do the impossible.
Bend that arm back around there and loop it through your knee and grab your chin, stand up on your other leg, bend backwards until your forehead is resting on the ground. Now breath deeply.
Your body can't even twist to get into the starting position. Can anybody balance on their knees ? What do you mean levitate to the side ?
You can sit there and get frustrated and look around the room and try to solve it with your brain, but eventually you have to learn that your brain is the first problem.
- Attachment to comfort,
- aversion to discomfort,
- attachment to your personal achievement,
- aversion to (or in some cases attachment to) failure.
At some point you release your mental construct ("it doesn't bend that way") and curiously you find that it does indeed bend that way.
Physical Yoga (Asanas) can be said to be a system to confront these mental constructs through physical activity. But the point isn't really to touch your toes - its to try to do difficult things and purify your mind of obstructing attachments and aversions. Its an exercise.
The same of course goes for the rest of your life.
Recently I learned first-order predicate calculus. The symbols were all a meaningless blur, my brain read the text but didn't want to step through the hard work, but now it seems at least knowable, and I know the basics. I've got a grasp.
Balances and inversions (standing on your head etc.) are quite interesting. If you think about what YOU are doing ("I'm going to fall over !" or "I'm so great at this !" ) then you will fall over. So as you practice headstands (Shirshasana) you should work to reduce mental chatter and self judgement.
How to Do the Impossible - a step by step guide
- When you first attempt to do something that seems impossible, start by removing or relaxing the mental state that declares it as impossible. In Yoga you don't say "I can do it!", you just do it.
- Reach in the direction of your goal. Just reach in that direction - even though you cannot actually even touch your goal. Do that every time you practice.
- Eventually you will touch the edge of your goal, just for a moment. Do that each time.
- Then you can grab onto your goal for a longer moment.
- In further practice you come to be more and more familiar with that goal with each breif visit.
- Its like a moon that you clumsily crash on; you have a brief chance to gasp at the surroundings and then you bounce off. You might notice a crevice that you can grab onto next time.
- Gradually you know the terrain, you are a regular. You have new habits.
- Then you get a good grasp, then stability, then it becomes your new ground.
So, you can touch your toes now. What next ? Choose a more difficult stretch ? The point of Yoga is not to try more and more difficult poses. Its not stretching. As you advance you find that the work is within the pose, in the subtleties within the distance of the stretch. Eventually you no longer think of Yoga as stretching or even exertion. Its balance, unification of thought and body.
Meanwhile, I've learned first-order predicate calculus. Which was only because its chapter 9 in Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (3rd Edition) and I want to get to chapter 14 (Probablistic Reasoning and Bayesian Networks). Soon I will have stretched my mind enough and can get to the work of actually doing something meaningful and subtle with it. I'm probably guilty of learning too much.
Learning a language is like brain damage
As of late I've been learning Clojure. Its a joy to use—the brevity and power of encapsulating is splendid—but the shape and flow of Lisp forms takes some getting used to. "Reading Lisp forms" is a practice that needs to be practiced.
So first my brain needs to be loaded up with all these common constructs and patterns of usage. Alien things that need to be consumed till they are taken for granted. In a way this is brain damage — your habit mind knows one pathway, and you are asking it to behave in an alien fashion.
Asking yourself to change is always a form of self-abnegation. You are often telling yourself that you are wrong, that you don't get it, that "you" are somehow deficient. This is a fallacy based on self-identifying with your knowledge and your habits. You are not your habits. You are not your memories. You are not your fucking Khakis etc. All these things are mutable — unlike Clojure data structures.
Of course its not actually brain damage. In fact learning (natural) languages has been shown to increase the size of the hippocamus, increase synapse connections leading to a "bigger brain" (will I need to purchase a new casing soon?)
The stress of writing new pathways just feels like brain damange. I can even feel the physical sensation as my brain squirms around trying to put (+ 2 2) together. Possibly its also the challenge to your self esteem. "You" don't know this, "you" are deficient.
I've found that in periods in my life where I had a very quiet non-invasive ego that I learned much faster. I felt more intelligent and I solved problems easier. Being hung up on the personal cartoon character is like having a rogue process. You need to shut it down or quiet it down, and then the system runs much smoother. Being self-judgemental is useless.
Keep the level of challenge high, keep out of overload. Don't gorge on information (I do that a lot), keep calm, keep in the REPL, keep writing, screwing up, scraping your knee; keep encountering things you don't know and working them until they feel familiar.
A few weeks ago when I first started out, this involved thinking in order to read it:
;; count the number of occurences of each letter
(def text "aabbckckekfijsleijflijseflijfzzaa")
;; my first version
(defn counter [map val]
(println val map)
(if-let [c (get map val)]
(assoc map val (inc c))
(assoc map val 1)))
(reduce counter {} text)
;; => {a 2,b 2, c 2, e 3, f 4, i 4, j 4, k 3, l 3, s 2, z 1}
Now it looks self-explanatory to me.
Which means roughly:
reduce the array "text" using the function counter and initial value empty dict {}
You'll need to know basics like if-let assoc get reduce.
if-let means let c = maybe something
and do this it is something
and if it ain't then do this
Then I learn some tricks:
;; simpler version
;; note the use of get with a default value like python
(reduce #(assoc %1 %2 (inc (get %1 %2 0))) {} text)
Then I see somebody else solving it this way:
;; merge maps using +
;; fn [val-in-result val-in-latter]
(apply merge-with + (map (fn [c] {c 1}) text))
;; this can work for streams too
This is a very clojuresque way of doing it. For this you need to know about using apply and merge-with.
The next stage is knowing the core library enough that in the real world you would just use that:
;; clojure/core function
(frequencies text)
These examples are from this post. Note that he got all embarassed when others pointed out better ways of doing it. But the post was useful, the learning process was useful and the discussion was very useful.
Shame is a rogue process. Relax and consume the alien.
Learn by writing in the REPL
Writing code is a much more effective way to learn than just reading it. I tend to gorge myself on information and reading. Then I go to write or start a project and I realize I don't know some basic syntax form.
1 hour in the REPL is worth (some made up number) reading blogs.
In the last years I've been doing a lot of Python, JavaScript and some SuperCollider. Clojure is a Lisp, and it uses a lot of functional programming idioms. Merely reading code examples doesn't really get them into the brain enough.
Common and good advice: when you are reading tutorials or example problems, start that REPL up and jack in. Try not to copy and paste, but read and retype and think about what you are typing.
Notice things like "the arguments are supplied as a vector" or "its a :keyword not a #'sharpquote or a string"
Starting a REPL in Emacs is option-x nrepl-jack-in:
This opens a terminal style call-and-response REPL, but once you have the REPL started then you can also execute forms directly off any .clj source code file.
C-x <- (control x, then backwards arrow key) will return you to the previous page you were editing. Because nrepl-jack-in just forwarded you to the call-and-response REPL. Pretty essential basic Emacs navigation skill.
Type your code out, place the cursor anywhere inside the ( ) form and control-option-x (aka
It flashes soothing deep violet and posts the results in the status area.
Writing unit tests is another great way to learn. You pose your problem, set up your test and fiddle about with your solution. The teacher grades you in milliseconds. This is using the Expectations library and Emacs expectations-mode:
(defn testme [x y]
(+ y x))
Failing tests are shown highlighted on the page in firetruck red, so you know which ones you still have to fix.
You can also run lein auto-expect which will re-run the tests whenever you save the source file. Continuous testing is a true joy.
Just a few starter notes about the setup I've started with.
After years of refusing to learn anything more about VIM other than :q! I did the unthinkable and switched to VIM. I got pretty good at it too. Now … I've switched to Emacs. I still hit control-c a lot. They are both great environments in different ways. Using both at the same time is like soy sauce in milk.
On OS X configure your option key in Terminal/iTerm so that it sends Meta and then M-x means typing option-x. C-M-x is then control-option-x
I had been using http://vim.spf13.com/ as a starter pack for VIM.
I'm now using the Emacs starter pack from:
This is from the Overtone folks, so there are some music related things in there like supercollider syntax modes which you might not want, but it will get you all configured for general Clojure development.
This gives the colorschemes, paredit, clojure mode, and the latest trendy auto completes and whatnot.
These things are great to start with. You will run into annoyances. You will have unexplainable behavior. I'm still not sure who is flashing that pink thing at me right now or how to toggle it.
But its often right, so I put up with the flashing. Gradually I will take more command of my Emacs environment.
Light Table
Light Table is another great way to learn Clojure. Its still in its early alpha days and has some bugs, but you could download it and start up a Clojure insta-REPL and be productive in minutes. Development is moving along quickly and will support plugins and I would hope a lot of innovative ways to change what an IDE can do.
The killer feature for the learning phase is that you can see the results of your functions as you type and fiddle. This virtually eliminates the code -> test -> debug cycle. Its now one single activity, not a cycle. So experimentation results in a higher density of A-ha moments per session, and that's what learning is all about.
But for real work its near impossible to beat a well set up Emacs environment.


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Every Wednesday evening Sunshine Pizza will be rocking up in the club garden with their fantastic wood fired pizza oven for our Woodfired @ The Club Night. They start cooking at 4.30 with last pizza orders at 8.30 and you can take away or eat in. Grab a table in the glorious club garden or inside and, if you fancy, order antipasti, salads, sides and desserts as well as drinks from the Italian Bar.
To celebrate our new Woodfired @ The Club events we've come up with a quiz for you pizza fiends. Are these Pizza Facts or Pizza Fiction?
- The first ever internet purchase was a pizza
- The most expensive pizza ever cost $400 and included edible gold leaf
- The Mona Lisa was originally depicted eating a slice of pizza, this was later painted over
- If you order pepperoni pizza in Italy it would just come with peppers on
- It's always a good time to have a pizza
- In 1889, Queen Margherita of Italy (shown below) was made a red, white and green pizza hence the name the Margherita
- OF COURSE, but particularly on Wednesday's from 4.30pm – 9pm at Hathersage Social Club with Sunshine Pizza
- She was made it but didn't eat it – Pizza was food for peasants in 1889. They'd clearly never had a Sunshine Pizza at The Club


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Vascular Surgery
CTVS has been leading the fight against vascular disease in Central Texas for more than 50 years. With state-of-the-art imaging diagnostics and both open and minimally-invasive surgical treatment options, our team of vascular surgeons is able to provide interventions for the full spectrum of circulatory disorders. We work directly with our patients to determine the best course of treatment to fit their condition and return them to good health as quickly as possible.
Vascular Services:
- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair (AAA)
- Carotid Disease Management and Surgery
- Complex Venous Disease
- Aortic Reconstruction for Aneurysm and Occlusive Disease
- Endovascular Aneurysm Repair (EVAR)
- Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR)
- Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) Management
- Diagnostic Angiography
- Catheter-Based Interventions and Surgical Reconstruction
- Dialysis Access
- Renal and Visceral Vascular Disease Management
- Peripheral Arterial Aneurysm and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
- Kidney Transplant
- Vascular Lab
- Vascular Screening Services
- CT Scanner
Need more information on vascular conditions, tests or treatments?
Visit the Society for Vascular Surgery's Patient Resources.


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Yes its time for the free app to get a nice little update bumping it up to v3
The change log:
*Added torrent links and Download links for 12.04 Images! and v7 script
*Complete rebuild of app
*Added built in busybox so no longer need to install it yourself! (only working with 1204 v7 boot script, will work with other distros in next update)
*New changelog viewer, not much to see but it will be much easier updating it in the future.
*Install guide updated to reflect the new Ubuntu images, and the fact that Ubuntu 12.04 is now stable
This will be one of the last 'big' updates for the free apps as it should now be very stable and includes all the stuff need to manually install and run Ubuntu. No new features will be added to the free app (Although when 12.10 hits stable this will be included) unless bugs come up and need to be fixed


text:
Mlily USA
We have moved! We are now located at 1612 Ring Road in Hometown Center! Come see us at our new location!
In our expanded showroom we are now offering a larger selection of bedding to better fit everyones comfort level. We invite you to come in and test our mattresses and see what makes your back go ahhh!
We have financing options as well. What ever your needs we can handle them. Check out our inventory page for the link to our 90 Days Same As Cash offer with NO CREDIT CHECK! We even have up to 2 yrs same as cash!!
Delivery options
You Get What You See
Savings you can sleep on
Get the mattress you desire at a price you can afford.
Proudly Serving the Commonwealth of Kentucky


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One would think that the coincidence of the horrendous bombings yesterday in Baghdad and Jerusalem would be the occasion of some soul-searching on the different approaches that we advocate against the enemies that we — the United States and Israel, the foremost targets of Islamofascists — face in Iraq and Israel.
Yet the only one I can find this morning is the Jerusalem Post's "Baghdad and Jerusalem." At least the simultaneity of the bombings momentarily forestalled the State Department from emitting its usual Chamberlain bleats toward our bereaved friends in Israel.
In order to understand the magnitude of the tragedy the Israelis face today, please take a look at the gruesome linked photos collected by Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs.
As of this moment we don't know the particular person or organization responsible for the bombing in Baghdad, but we do know the face of the man who committed yesterday's murders in Jerusalem. Here it is, taken from his suicide video — an imam holding the Koran in his right hand and a machine gun in his left.
Would I be going out on a limb to suggest that the folks who perpetrated the Baghdad murders share the essential features of this particular face of evil?
David Bedein's column for FrontPage spells out in painful detail how the current "road map" reprises the statesmanship that placed Arafat atop the terror enclave that he still rules and that still commits the kind of mayhem we saw yesterday in Baghdad and Jerusalem: "Road map to terror."
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text:
Games Support Multiple Learning Styles
When we talk about "games," that term covers a huge range. From video games to board games, from Kinect to pencil-and-paper games, all of these can contribute to student learning. There are many reasons why games can and do teach, but interestingly, they actually access the multiple learning styles we already know about. This infographic can help you review the different learning styles if you need to. We can align them to games to further justify how we might use games in the classroom.
Visual Learning
This is probably the most obvious way in which games align to a learning style. Digital games leverage visuals as integral to the process. However, it's not just about the polish and creative artwork of a game. Games use visuals to create problems that players want to solve. These visuals give clues toward the solutions. The learner playing Portal, for example, must use visual-spatial learning to effectively navigate the game. Players are interacting with the visuals of the game. Instead of simply showing passive visuals, games immerse the learner in a visual experience.
Kinesthetic Learning
Some games get us physically moving, either through whole bodies or "hands-on" experience. The Kinect is prime example of games that require a lot of kinesthetic experience. (I addressed this in a previous blog.) There are also some physical games that don't require a video game system, and even these help to engage kinesthetic-oriented learners in the learning process.
Auditory Learning
Some digital games have voice-overs and audio directions, but even more old school, when we play games together, we often coach each other or give pointers. For example, when I was playing the game Pandemic with my family and friends, I was required to collaborate by talking with other players. I collaborated to learn the instructions and also to strategize with my team to win the game. Now, while this game may not be considered a serious game that teaches content, it does teach collaboration, a critical 21st-century skill. In addition, digital games have sounds, music and other auditory elements that give hints and clues for players to incorporate while playing. Consider having students collaborate to learn and play other educational games, as well as analyze other auditory components of games.
Read/Write Learning
Some consider this to be a learning style as well. When students play World of Warcraft, they are constantly reading and writing: reading engaging stories of characters and quest directions; typing strategies for raids and writing background stories for characters. Most games include reading as a critical learning modality to be successful, but many games also leverage writing for communication or even answer purposes. Games can engage the read/write learner.
Now, not every game accesses all of the learning styles concurrently or evenly, but many games can access more than one. As you pick games to use in your classroom, consider your students' abilities through learning profiles cards (such as those offered by the Schultz Center), and use the games to scaffold learning that meets the unique needs of the children you teach.


text:
National & World Ag News Headlines
J. M. Smucker Completes Acquisition of Pet Nutrition
USAgNet - 05/16/2018
The J. M. Smucker Company announced it has completed the acquisition of Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, LLC in a transaction valued at approximately $1.7 billion, after an estimated tax benefit of $200 million. The company previously announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Ainsworth in April.
Ainsworth is a leading producer, distributor, and marketer of premium pet food and pet snacks, predominately within the United States. Approximately two-thirds of Ainsworth's sales are generated by the Rachael Ray Nutrish brand, which is driving significant growth in the premium pet food category.
"We are excited to have completed this transaction, which increases the scale and further accelerates the growth profile of our pet food and pet snacks business," said Mark Smucker, CEO. "The Ainsworth team has done a tremendous job growing this business, building Rachael Ray Nutrish into one of the most recognizable premium pet food brands in the United States. We are pleased to welcome the Ainsworth employees into the Smucker family and look forward to working with this talented team as we continue to grow our pet food business together."
As previously announced, in connection with the closing of the transaction, Jeff Watters, who served as the president and CEO of Ainsworth, has joined Smucker, assuming the role of senior vice president and general manager, Ainsworth. In this role, Watters will support the integration of Ainsworth into Smucker's pet food business as a key member of the pet leadership team.
Smuckers funded the acquisition through the combination of a $1.5 billion term loan and borrowings under the Company's commercial paper program.
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Other National Headlines
U.S. Beef Gains Full Access to Japan
Canadian Foreign Minister Ready to Move Ahead on USMCA
Dairy Industry Cheers Tariff Rollback Bolstering USMCA Chances
Another Farmer Pleads Guilty in Organic Grain Fraud Scheme
U.S. Organic Sales Reach Record $50 Billion in 2018
Bipartisan Family Farmer Relief Act to Ease Bankruptcy Rules
Food Manufacturers, MFB Applaud Lifting Steel, Aluminum Tariffs
Copyright © 2019 - USAgNet.com. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Air Berlin USA First Officer Wing
Bend, OR. and Berlin, Germany. 1979-1990
Founded by the owners of an Oregon based timber company, Air Berlin USA began operation in April 1979 offering tour charters from Berlin to the Mediterranean. On October 22, 1980 it began flying scheduled charters from Berlin to Orlando. With the reunification of Germany, the airline was sold to German interests.


text:
- Federal Relations Home
- About Federal Relations
- Legislation Action Center
- Current Federal Legislation
- Federal Legislation Archive
- Lobbying Resources
- Bright Spots in Homeschooling
|Federal Legislation
|June 17, 2002
H.R. 4633�Driver's License Modernization Act of 2002
Action Requested:
This bill will be reviewed thoroughly in committee and it is anticipated that numerous modifications will be put in place. HSLDA will issue recommendations for action as the situation evolves.
Official purpose: To amend title 23, United States Code, to establish standards for State programs for the issuance of drivers' licenses and identification cards, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 1, 2002 by Rep. James P. Moran (D-VA 8th)
|Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Science, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
|Referred to House Transportation and Infrastructure
|Referred to House Judiciary
|Referred to House Science
|Referred to the Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards.
Bill Summary and Status
HSLDA's Position:
HSLDA opposes H.R. 4633. The language of this bill would require all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia's motor vehicle administrations to implement uniform standards of procedure for easier information integration between these state agencies. H.R. 4633 includes provisions to establish a national database system and a national identification system. Over the years HSLDA has been on the front lines working with member families and legislators to defeat past proposals similar to this bill. HSLDA will again work to stop legislation that infringes upon American's freedom and privacy.
| Other Resources
H.R. 4633 (pdf)


text:
Monday morning (6/2/14) at 8:10am I will be live on WVMT-620am. Stream live or tune in as we talk 2014 trends and the latest food news. Below are some fun topics we may touch on.
Peaches Will Be Here Soon, You Want This Refreshing Recipe
What's The Country's Hottest Bar Trends?
Why is Big Dairy Is Adding This To Our Food
5 Additives In Your Food That May Concern You
What I Wish I Was Eating


text:
Published Feb 14, 2018
Which historic lighthouse is your favorite?
"It is a magical walk out from the forest to reach the North Head Lighthouse. You are on top of the world and a great..."
via Nancy81
"…It is a magical walk out from the forest to reach the North Head Lighthouse. You are on top of the world and a great place to look for whales from. …"
"…This Lighthouse has the fantastic sunsets, and the Orca whales swimming by very close. Great place for picnics and plenty of parking.…"
"…Mukilteo is a beautiful waterfront town. The ferries pass in and out of the dock and the lighthouse overlooks the entire area. A certain hours you c…"
"…Beautiful setting. If you make the 6 mile hike out to this landmark, you feel like you are in the middle of the ocean. It is breathtaking. We staye…"
"…It's the best! Unique architecture, get location, fantastic view, the best lighthouse gift shop, open every day in June, July and August, even open w…"
"…It still counts if it's the only one I've ever been close to, right?…"
"…A View that is truly Priceless: The Best time to view the sunset is when there are a few hazy clouds in the sky. The Sky lights up with colors of mag…"
"…I live here and am proud to have been a very active volunteer during the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.The hiking trails are great, as is the Lewis and…"
"…The hike through the forest to get to the lighthouse....MAGNIFICENT!!!! Never seen anything like it and I've seen a lot!!! Traveled all over USA and E…"
"…Westport's lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Washington. You can come visit Westport, tour the light & climb to the top! It used to be out next …"
"…I love to go to this lighthouse and go to the beach below. It is a great place to take visitors.…"
"…An absolutely beautiful place to visit!
Kayaking there is a great way to go too.…"
"…View from Point No Point Lighthouse is the best in the whole United States. You will see many ships coming in and out of Puget Sound. It is the olde…"
"…Very isolated. Wonderful bike ride to the lighthouse. Great summer memories...…"
"…i am a lighthouse guy, very tough to choose, they are all great, I guess it came down to which one works the hardest, 100's pass by point wilson daily…"
"…Great hike out to the lighthouse from Reed and Prevost harbors…"
"…Such a beautiful park in the middle of a big city!…"
"…LOVED IT!!! Beautiful and VERY creepy. The kids swear to this day they saw "something"…"
The 2017 Pacific Northwest A-List awards are based on more than 500 votes from local Pacific Northwest-area experts.
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Good Questions: Hotels in Mexico City?
Hello AT, I am going to Mexico City this fall for Day of the Dead and I am trying to find a comfortable space that is in a safe and convenient area of the city where I won't feel over run by other tourists (some are okay, but I'd like to stay away from the big box hotels that are so expensive and cater to people who don't come to Mexico to actually SEE Mexico, but just to hang out by the pool all day)...
...I'm throwing this out to AT because even on vacation you look for a home away from home, and I have faith that you won't steer me towards anything that is too gaudy/tacky and 70's or 80's in décor. Not super-modern is okay, I'd rather have the flavor of Mexico than the flavor of NY circa 1982.
For some reference, here is where I'm staying in Oaxaca.
Since we found the B&B we love in Puerto Vallarta via TripAdvisor, we took a quick look and found several places that sound great.
Does anyone have any other suggestions for RosesLaw?
Note: Include a picture and your question gets posted first
Image: The Red Tree House


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For the sake of their reputation, I won't mention the names. But I'll just use:
Business I worked for previously - ABC Web Dev
Hosting company they used - XYZ Hosting
I recently found out that XYZ Hosting had some sort of incident where they ended up losing a lot of their client's data - including ABC Web Dev's. ABC Web Dev was able to recover some of their customer's websites, after pulling them from their local development computers and putting them up on another hosting provider. They ended up losing a lot of clients because of it and their reputation ruined.
I'm starting my own web dev company and I don't want to run into this same issue. I'm planning on using Rackspace but, although they are a great company, according to wikipedia they still have had downtime in their past. I thought it might be a good idea to try to run two providers at once, to ensure that if anything happened in one the websites would still be live because of the other.
I know the websites would have to be pulling from one server at all times, but if there's a way to redirect requests to the second server if the first one is down that would solve my issue.
As a note, we will have a staging environment setup locally which will allow for quick recovery if a provider did have any issues, however I'd like to avoid any downtime at all if possible.
So my questions are:
Has anyone tried running two providers simultaneously?
Would this be considered good practice or am I going too far?
Is there really any way to run two simultaneously where one server acts as a backup?


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The perils of an organisational life cycle. By Leon Gettler
"The discoverer and the inventor are the bane of business. A little sand in the works is comparatively a mere nothing – you just replace the damaged parts, and go on. But the appearance of a new process, a new substance, when you are all organised and ticking nicely, is the very devil. Sometimes it is worse than that – it just cannot be allowed to occur. Too much is at stake."
John Wyndham, The Day of The Triffids
Innovation and change have always been a conundrum for business. Studies suggest that most businesses are erratic innovators because they hate seeing the new destroy the old. Few are prepared to cannibalise previous investments, brands and systems. Yet without innovation they die. It is one reason why businesses are not built to last.
The noted economist Joseph Schumpeter summed up the problem more than 60 years ago as "creative destruction". He wrote: "The problem that is usually being visualised is how capitalism administers existing structures whereas the relevant problem is how it creates and destroys them." Change through technological breakthrough, market forces and economic shifts creates a process of disequilibrium – throwing old, lumbering companies off balance and ushering in nimble entities that change the shape of the economy.
Schumpeter's creative destruction contains threats and opportunities. For example, when the personal computer replaced the mainframe in the computer industry, IBM was pushed aside by Intel and Microsoft. The corporate world is filled with examples of companies that turned away from opportunities created through disequilibrium. In the 1970s Xerox developed tools such as the mouse and graphical user interface that allowed users to navigate their way through systems. But in the end, Xerox decided not to put these on the market because it made office equipment, not computers.
In 1992, a crew of Apple and Novell programmers were working on a secret project to graft the Macintosh operating system onto an Intel chip, creating a user-friendly alternative to clunky MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 and predating Windows 95. But the project was aborted when its chief backer was poached by the competition and the Apple board got cold feet.
Professor Paul Geroski of London Business School found that growth is impossible to predict because businesses are such erratic innovators. He attributes this to their reluctance to abandon systems they have in place, even if these are not necessarily producing results. His study, The Growth of Firms in Theory and in Practice, found that growth patterns follow a "random walk". Even if they expected shocks, businesses were struggling to predict when they would happen and were at all at sea preparing for them.
Geroski attributed this to businesses having fixed costs: they could not adequately respond to a problem until they had reached some threshold of poor performance. They tended to tolerate a little deterioration in performance until they were certain the shocks were permanent and important, and would swing into action only when the problem was big enough to warrant change, attacking it in one big hit.
This resulted in large but infrequent and discrete changes in their operations. But as MIT economist Lester Thurow says in his book Creating Wealth: "Successful companies must be willing to cannibalise themselves to save themselves. They must be willing to destroy the old while it is still successful if they wish to build the new before it is successful. If they won't destroy themselves, others will destroy them."
Companies that have resisted change have gone out of business. Only a handful anywhere have stood the test of time, but they had to destroy themselves to survive. The roots of the telecommunications giant Nokia go back to Finland's forestry industry in 1865. The Swedish pulp and paper manufacturer Stora started out as a copper miner more than 700 years ago. The Japanese Sumitomo conglomerate had its origins in a copper-casting shop in 16th-century Kyoto. Only General Electric survives from the original Dow Jones Industrial Average stock index published in 1896. Of those listed on the S&P500 in 1957, only 74, or fewer than 15%, were there 40 years later. Significantly, GE is a reinvention specialist. But not every business is a GE. More significantly, the pace of change has accelerated since the Standard & Poor's index of 90 big US companies was established in the 1920s. Back then, the turnover rate in the S&P90 averaged 1.5% a year and new members could expect to be there for 65 years. By 1998, turnover in the S&P500 was almost 10% a year. Companies had an average lifespan of no more than 10 years.
A study by Port Jackson Partners found that corporate impermanence was even more marked in Australia. Of the top 100 companies by market capitalisation in 1990, only one third were on the list in March 2002. Arnott's, Commonwealth Industrial Gases, Pioneer and Normandy Resources were acquired by foreign predators. Local companies were big on acquisitions too. Howard Smith was taken over by Wesfarmers, Ampol merged with Caltex Australia, Smorgon took over ANI and Email, and Advance Bank was hitched up with St George.
Others, including Petersville Sleigh, Adelaide Steamship and IEL, simply collapsed. Then there were those that slipped out of the top100. Some, like Adelaide Brighton and George Weston Foods, seemed to be stuck in low-growth industries. Others stumbled because of poor strategic decisions or lack of imagination.
The most striking feature of the Port Jackson Partners study was the way newcomers developed stronger revenue and earnings, achieved results for shareholders and transformed the market. From 1997 to 2002, they had a shareholder return of 29% a year in dividends and capital gains. In the same time, the survivors achieved only 14%. For those that slipped out, the result was minus 9%.
The story was just as striking in terms of operations. In five years the newcomers achieved revenue growth of 15% a year and earnings before interest, tax and amortisation of 13%. For those that were just hanging in there, the figures were 7% and 6% respectively. The study also points to the way some of the newcomers have introduced innovations that reshaped their industries. Leighton, for example, turned the slim-margin construction industry on its head by competing for jobs on a total-project basis, instead of the old "bid and build". Flight Centre's innovations include treating each employee in its network as a net profit centre. Performance incentives are central, and things are kept in-house to maintain the culture.
Others are redefining their roles. Wesfarmers has morphed from a farmer co-operative into Australia's most successful conglomerate. The stevedoring company Patrick is pushing into aviation and rail.
Companies have to be three times bigger than their counterparts in 1990 to make the top 100. They have to be more robust and willing to compete on a global scale.
Australia's business-creation culture lags behind that of other countries. This has been attributed to poor links between business and education, government inertia, tax policy and the poor availability of venture capital. The study says the US has eight times Australia's level of per capita funding.
However, it is up to businesses themselves to nurture the skills and ambitions of employees. In the end, the task is about creativity from within.
August 2003: Cover story feature
What's new?
There is nothing new in the need for business to invent and adapt, so why such an emphasis on innovation now?
There are two obvious answers to the innovation question: product oversupply and disinflation. In many industry sectors there is chronic global oversupply. Productivity gains have not been balanced by rising demand, resulting in a heavy dependence on United States consumers. In the developed world, population ageing is limiting demand growth, and in the developing world, especially Asia, there has not been sufficient wealth distribution to create consumer demand (with the possible exception of China).
The second pressure is price weakness and squeezed margins. Andrew Liveris, president of Dow Performance Chemicals and an expatriate Australian manager, says disinflation (or even deflation, as in Japan) is a 20-year cycle that changes the way business is conducted. "You can't count on inflation, you have got to point yourself this way. You can do patchwork strategies in the meantime, you can find cheaper ways to make your goods, you can use 6 Sigma technology, which is a very powerful technology to make less errors. You can hit your supply/demand cycle from the right side – in some areas that gives you the ability to raise prices for a temporary period. But the generic answer is that it has to be through innovation – investing in R&D and new business models to break yourself out of the depression cycle."
Liveris says that in the 1990s Dow more than doubled its revenue with static staff levels – a sharp improvement in productivity – and management layers were cut to six. But this process is nearing its end: to go on achieving sharp improvements, new ways of doing business must be found. The lack of clarity in the debate on innovation is an inevitable side-effect of the vested interests in its pursuit. Scientists lament the lack of funding and interest from business, typically because they are more focused on discovery than creating new businesses, on funding rather than profitability.
Businesses are willing to comment publicly on the need for more collective effort in innovation, but they are unlikely to be illuminating on the detail because such detail can easily compromise their fiercely protected competitive advantage. Academics and consultants are able to make observations about the behavioral and organisational habits that foster or inhibit innovation. Toyota, in being able to implement incremental innovation and "phase shift" innovation every seven years, is an exemplar of innovative practices. But that is all it is, and by the time the methods have been studied and analysed, their relevance is often lost.
What matters is collective effort. Peter Farrell, chief executive and founder of the Australian-based sleep equipment company Resmed, which has developed global markets, is a former scientist and academic who made the transition to business leader. He says there is a much heavier emphasis in the United States on the value of innovation than in Australia. The greatest need is a sophisticated understanding of the relationship between research and development. The habit in Australia is to treat research as a choice between "practical" and "theoretical". Innovation strategy involves high-quality research and high-quality development.
Keith Williams, chief executive of Proteomics Systems and former professor of biological sciences at Macquarie University, gave up his pension and academic job to start the company. Like Farrell, his tale reveals that universities may create crucial knowledge, but entrepreneurial flair can often be stifled in the university environment.
When Williams and his colleagues left the university they did so with only their knowledge of the field, some discoveries, and research and development routines. Three years later they have a company valued at $200 million. What they had done at the university was pure research on the science of proteins (proteomics) without any obvious commercial applications. After the mapping of the human genome, the business and medical communities want to understand how DNA creates proteins. Proteomics is the most important puzzle in world commerce.
Williams has established several joint ventures and alliances – a characteristic synonymity between the "knowledge economy" and the "network economy". The list is impressive: the US computer giant IBM, the pharmaceuticals company Sigma- Aldrich, the Japanese engineering company Shimadzu Corporation, and Japan's largest trading house, Itochu Corporation. The innovation challenge is often shared, with companies choosing to compete only in some areas. This is especially noticeable with chemical, pharmaceutical and agri-science businesses, the global companies relying on outside providers for new knowledge.
For Australian companies, the innovation challenge has two main dimensions. First, it is necessary to measure a company's better practices against the best in the world. Anthony Pratt, chief executive of Visy in the United States, says this is what opened up opportunities for his company.
The second key to innovation is the sharing of resources, without any loss of competitive impetus. Ifor Ffowcs-Williams, chairman of Cluster Navigators Australia, says business should seek "co-opetition" – a constructive blend of co-operation and competition. His approach is to look for naturally occurring innovation, which is usually in one location, and to catalyse it with specific support. To be innovative it is not necessary to be a highlevel scientist, often it just requires coming from a particular part of the world.
Ffowcs-Williams says: "Biela in Italy has a population of 50,000 and about 200 textile and weaving businesses. Another place in Italy specialises in making socks: there are about 7000 people and 200 firms making over half of Europe's socks. Doltan, near Atlanta, has a population of 25,000 and makes 45% of the world's carpets."
Australia has several innovation clusters, says Michael Burke, managing director of Cluster Navigators Australia. "We have looked at food processing in the north of Melbourne, and there are signs of a successful cluster. We found a concentration of skills around food, and a food research company that no one knew about."
Ffowcs-Williams says: "All too often the local people are only seen as the delivery point. They are not the delivery point, they are the prime drivers."


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Be sure to visit IGN Tech for all the latest comprehensive hands-on reviews and best-of roundups. Note that if you click on one of these links to buy the product, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.
Samsung's Galaxy S9 line is here, and if you're adding a Galaxy S9 or Galaxy S9+ to your arsenal, you should probably take some precautions to keep your phone protected. As one of the most popular handsets on the market, there are more than a few cases to pick from, but don't just choose blindly; take a look at our list of the best options for the latest Galaxy S9 smartphone.
Best Galaxy S9 Case from Samsung – S-View Flip Case with Kickstand
Samsung is offering quite a few cases for the Galaxy S9, but the company's S View Flip Cover is easily the coolest in their lineup. The case protects both the front and back of the phone, and the front flap utilizes a semi-transparent cover that retains the same color as the rest of the case while still allowing you to still see and respond to notifications with the cover in-place. The case can also be folded into a kickstand for watching videos, making the S View Flip Cover a great combination of good looks and slick functionality.
Best Thin Galaxy S9 Case – Spigen Thin Fit
Just because you want to protect your Galaxy S9 doesn't mean you have ruin its sleek design with a big and bulky case. Spigen's Thin Fit case comes in a variety of colors and is built with scratch resistant polycarbonate material. Ports and buttons are accessible thanks to well-designed cutouts and there is even space within the case for a magnetic plate for those using car mounts. If you want to keep your new Galaxy slim and light while still protecting it from minor drops and scratches, this is the way to go.
Best Rugged Galaxy S9 Case - Zizo Bolt Series
Depending on your daily activities, a rugged case may be just the thing to help your Galaxy S9 keep up with your lifestyle. The Bolt Series Case from Zizo offers 360-degree protection, thanks to its durable rear cover and included screen protector. To complete the package, the Bolt case also comes equipped with a kickstand for viewing sessions and a holster for quick access.
Best Folio Galaxy S9 Case – GOOSPERY Canvas Diary Wallet Case
There's no denying it: phones nowadays are pretty big. Since they take up so much space, it can be a hassle to also lug around a wallet to keep your cards and cash. An excellent solution to this problem is Goospery's folio case that has slots for plastic and money, all while protecting your Galaxy behind an attractive fabric and synthetic leather design. When you aren't running around adulting, the case doubles as a kickstand so you can enjoy the Galaxy S9's 1440p Super AMOLED display while binge watching your favorite show.
Best Clear Galaxy S9 Case - ESR Slim Clear Soft TPU Cover
The Samsung Galaxy S9 is one sweet looking phone and it almost feels wrong to hide it behind a case. Fortunately, ESR's clear case lets you show off the phone's design while still adding a layer of protection and grip. For security, the case's raised edges protect the phone's screen and camera, all while remaining just 1 millimeter thick. The soft TPU material is also flexible and sticky, making it less likely to slip out of your hands.
Best Galaxy S9 Case for Your Cards – Spigen Slim Armor CS
If you often find yourself needing just a few cards and your phone to get through the day, Spigen's Slim Armor CS case for the Galaxy S9 is just for you. In addition to dual-layered TPU and polycarbonate protection, the rear of the case is built with a sliding door that reveals a compartment designed to hold some plastic. No more worrying about grabbing your wallet or purse before heading out of the house, just pick up your phone and go.
Most Hip Galaxy S9 Case – Hyperknit Case
Cases don't have to be made of the typical plastic or rubber materials. Samsung's Hyperknit case uses woven nylon to create a unique look and feel, and since it's made from the same company that created your phone, you know it'll have an absolutely perfect fit. The Hyperknit isn't just about appearance, though, this case adds necessary protection and excellent grip to help make sure you don't drop your phone and crack your phone's glass body.


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Taxi alternative in Dalian
Travel the world with our professional chauffeurs behind the wheel.
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Take your time and relax. Airport pickups include 60 minutes of free wait time, and all other pickups include a free 15 minutes.
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Have peace of mind knowing that all Blacklane chauffeurs are licensed, insured and regulated.
Free cancellation
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- Dalian Natural History Museum
- Dalian Airport
Blacklane cities
The Blacklane fleet
- Business Class
- Business Van/SUV
Explore Dalian with Blacklane
With its development stemming from Russian colonists who settled in the 1890's, the beachside metropolis of Dalian is a young city by Chinese standards. Under Russian rule, Dalian became the southernmost point of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and a major trading point for the eastern Russian empire. It's chequered history saw it subsequently ruled by a conquering Japan, before being passed back into Chinese control following the second world war. As a result of its international history, visitors to Dalian can enjoy an eclectic cityscape, with Russian, baroque and renaissance style architecture peppering its streets. In a city so packed full of hidden architectural gems, a Blacklane service is the best way to travel. Our locally knowledgeable, English speaking chauffeurs will ensure you make it to your destination safely and efficiently, and can point out the city's secrets en-route.
Your private taxi alternative in Dalian
Heralded as one of China's most modern and fashionable cities, a stylish chauffeur service from Blacklane lets you travel in a style fitting for a city of such reputation. It is said that the Russian architect that designed Dalian had Paris in mind when he drafted his plans, and as a result the city has many beautiful European-style squares filled with restaurants, bars and cafes. If you have a special evening planned, a First Class car service makes a stylish impression on arrival at one of the city's famous seafood houses; while groups of five can book a Business Van/SUV service and travel together in comfort. For simple A-B trips and airport transfers, a Business Class service will get you to your destination on time, and in a blissful state of mind. With Blacklane, you also have the option of booking a car by the hour so you can hop between business engagements, tourist spots and restaurants with no time lost in between.
To or from Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport (DLC)
Getting to or from your flight can be an anxious affair, even for the most experienced traveler. Avoid taking a gamble on local taxi lines or public transport, and Book an efficient airport transfer from Blacklane in Dalian. With only professionally licensed chauffeurs and premium vehicles, Blacklane is the safest option for those traveling into the busy CBD. Your chauffeur will be waiting at the gate with a personalized sign, ready to help you with your bags and escort you to your waiting car. Bookings are made through our easy to use website or iOS/Android apps, and include a flight tracker so your chauffeur is updated regarding any unexpected changes or delays to your arrival time. And the best part? An airport transfer from Blacklane includes a free hour of waiting time, so you can cruise through customs at your leisure. Bliss.


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Although I do not sell figures on a regular basis I still do have a limited number. This Sergeant Centurious is one of them...Priced to move at $50.00 the shipping is included in the price. Also see the first page of this section for a list of what Blisters I still have in stock...
Click on the Salamander to the right to be transported to my Painted Miniatures Pages, there you will find a gallery of figures I have painted, as well as pre-painted figures for sale and pricing for painting miniatures.
Email: email@example.com
To contact us:


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WGBH Openvault
Mystery!; Maigret, Series I: The Patience of Maigret
License Clip
More material is available from this program at the WGBH Archive. If you are a researcher interested in accessing the collection at WGBH, please email email@example.com.
Undigitized item: Request Digitization
Untranscribed item: Request Transcription
- Series
- Mystery!
- Program
- Maigret, Series I: The Patience of Maigret
- Program Number
- Series Description
Premiered in 1980 -- offshoot of MASTERPIECE THEATRE. Showcase for the best of British drama in the mystery genre. Current producer, Rebecca Eaton. See individual episode titles for more information. Host: 1980: Gene Shalit; 1981-1989: Vincent Price; 1989-present: Diana Rigg Series release date: 1980
- Program Description
Manuel Palmari is suspected of being the organizer of a series of thefts from jewelers' shops. When he is found murdered, Maigret uncovers a complex web of relationships among the inhabitants of the victim's apartment house.
- Duration
- Asset Type
Broadcast program
- Media Type
- Genres
- Drama
- Creators
- Eaton, Rebecca (Series Producer)
- Citation
- Chicago: "Mystery!; Maigret, Series I: The Patience of Maigret," 09/05/1992, WGBH Media Library & Archives, accessed May 21, 2019, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_04E11DD6C591462583FCD9DDCB354E82.
- MLA: "Mystery!; Maigret, Series I: The Patience of Maigret." 09/05/1992. WGBH Media Library & Archives. Web. May 21, 2019. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_04E11DD6C591462583FCD9DDCB354E82>.
- APA: Mystery!; Maigret, Series I: The Patience of Maigret. Boston, MA: WGBH Media Library & Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_04E11DD6C591462583FCD9DDCB354E82


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Thomas B. Passin wrote: > Statements about statements are crucial to a wide range of problems, > ones that keep popping up in this list. That's why people want quads > and contexts. I agree completely. My point is not that statements about statements are not important, but that they are likely to be of less interest than the statements themselves, and this should be taken into account. > C'mon, get serious! Every edge drawn in a graph is an individual edge. > Try it yourself with pencil and paper. What is recursive about this > (ignore picky details, please)? The recursion would arise if every edge was expected to be an individual. This must of course not be so, but if it isn't, then you need to decide in advance to which of your statements people may attach their own statements. > Edge rdf:type Property-that-can-have-instances > e1 rdf:type Edge > subject1 e1 object1 > e1 me:statedOnDate "8-31-2004" > e1 me:statedBy "T. B. Passin" If, for example, I wanted to confirm that it was indeed you who said whatever, i.e. attach data to the last statement, I would have to use reification anyway?Received on Tuesday, 31 August 2004 21:47:19 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Wednesday, 7 January 2015 15:07:52 UTC


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You can find a tutorial on how to make each one:
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Halloween Charm Swap
You can find a tutorial on how to make each one:
10 comments:
Good idea Kathy, enjoy them a little at a time. Thanks for joining. I really like the idea behind the watchful eye, they were all super neat!ReplyDelete
Thank you so much for participating in the swap, I got one of your darling mummy charms. I love its cute quirky quality and thanks so much for the tutorial links, very generous. Happy Halloween!
I like the one-at-time showcase!!!ReplyDelete
I got the Love Potion #9 ... a personal favorite! :-)
Happy Halloween....
Super cute, and love seeing what everyone has made. Cheers!ReplyDelete
I got one of your little spiders. its just adorable. I will check out your tutorial on how it was made.ReplyDelete
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween Kathy, This was a great swap! I just wanted to stop by and thank you for my charm, I love it ! I'll have to check out your tut's. Thanks for sharing:)ReplyDelete
Hugs Marilou
I got your seeing eye... love it. Couldn't have been a more perfect choice for me.. Happy halloween.ReplyDelete
I got mummy and I love it, dearest daughter wanted to keep it for herself. This was such fun, your tutorials were a great addition.ReplyDelete
Love the little potion bottle I received...perfect...thank you so very much!!! ~H♥~ReplyDelete
Thanks for sharing excellent information. Your website is very cool. This website has got really useful info on it!ReplyDelete
I look forward to reading what you have to say. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!
Have a great day!


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Double Room furnished with 2 meters long 1 meter wide beds made out of best teak. Beds are meticulously turned out by highly skilled carpenters and covered with beddings and pillows hygienically treated and providing ease and comfort.
When compared to rooms in other hotels you will be marvelled to find rooms to be fairly large and the roof extraordinarily high maintaining ancient aesthetic values and at the same time providing all necessary amenities. There is a photograph of some very special place of interest hung on the wall of every room.
For Your Comfort
- Air Conditioning
- Attached Bath
- Table
- Almirah
- Cupboard
- 6 chairs
- Hot Water
For Your Joy
- Refrigerator
- Hairdryer
- High Speed Internet Access
- Iron
For Your Confidence
- Alarms – Audible


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WVDE School Counselor Listservs - Subscribe Here
WVBE Policy 2315: Comprehensive School Counseling Programs
Addressing Mental Health in School Crisis Prevention and Response: A Resource Guide for WV Schools (2017 Revised Version)
The Mental Health Crisis Prevention and Response Plan Template is now an integrated component of the overarching WV School Crisis Prevention and Response PlanTemplate. A writable "Word" version of the Plan Template is available here.
Annual CSCP Plan - TEMPLATE
WV School Counseling Model and Implementation Tools
Personalized Education Plan (PEP) Resource Page
WV School Counselor Evaluation System Information and Resources
What is a school counselor?
"A certified, highly-qualified, [minimum] master's-level professional counselor who addresses needs of all students in the areas of academic, career, personal/social development while at the same time, working collaboratively with educators, families, and the community." State Model Task Force, June 2010
The West Virginia School Counseling Program is based on the American School Counselor Association National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs. The mission for West Virginia school counseling programs is to focus on academic, career and personal/social development to ensure that every student benefits from a program that is comprehensive in scope, preventative in design and developmental in nature. The majority of the school counselor's time is spent in direct services to students, imparting specific skills and learning opportunities in a proactive manner. School counselors will collaborate with the full education team, advocate to improve student learning, and lead efforts for systemic change.
The vision for counselors in West Virginia is that Comprehensive School Counseing Programs in West Virginia will support all students to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to reach their fullest potential and successfully manage their lives as healthy, responsible, competent and productive, global citizens who respect themselves and others. The WVDE vision is to provide all West Virginia students appropriate and quality counseling programs that are data driven and focused on continous improvement.
Transforming School Counseing in West Virginia
Collaborative work among the West Virginia Department of Education, the West Virginia School Counselor Association, the education leadership of the West Virginia Legislature, Marshall University and West Virginia University School Counselor Educators, and school counselors across the state resulted in sweeping legislation that redefined school counseling in West Virginia with state code revisions in 2002 and WVDE policy changes in 2004 andthen again in 2014. The redefinition in legislation and State Board Policy 2315 assures alignment with the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model for School Coumseling Programs© which reflects a major change in the way school counselors approach their work.
In February 2007 the state board established a full-time school counseling coordinator position to lead efforts to assist WV counselors in aligning school counseling programs with Policy 2315. Since 2007 Dr. Brady has led stakeholder development of an inaugural WV School Counseling Model, rubrics driven school counselor performance standards, a standards-based evaluation sytem, the Grade 6-12 LINKS Student Advisment Model, School Counselor Protocols, a state guide for Addressing Mental Health in School Crisis, online courses, the development of the Standards for Student Success that serve as foundational standards for school counseling programs and teacher-led advisory programs.. These resources have contributed to counselors being on task to serve students in relation to academic and learning development, career development and life planning, personal and social development, and global citizenship. We believe this work has contibuted to more students in WV graduating, with the graduation rate improving from 73% in 2007 to nearly 90% in 2016. This comprehensive website, filled with tools and resources, is designed to support counselors and school leaders in continually growing the integrated delivery of school counseling programs to better serve our students. You may contact our School Counseling Coordinator, Dr. Barbara Brady, email@example.com, with questions, to seek help locating resouces, or to request technical assistance and/or professional development.


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"Most Dazzeling Paragraph of Gatsby"
Interesting take on emotion passages from Nick Callaway's percpective.
Old Money, New Money, or was Jay Gatsby broke?
New perspective on how much money the dazzeling Jay Gatsby might of had and if he was spending within his means.
50 of the most BEAUTIFUL lines in "The Great Gatsby"
Some are witty, some talk of love, and some bring to light the insecurities of not just the characters but to Fitzgerald himself.


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UNESCO-UNEVOC celebrating International Women's Day
As part of its activities celebrating the International Women's Day 2017, UNESCO-UNEVOC endeavors to draw the attention of global TVET stakeholders towards this year's theme "Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030". Particularly in TVET, UNESCO-UNEVOC together with its global network of more than 250 centres across 167 countries, strives to mainstream gender equality in education, skills acquisition, and a dynamic labour market.
Click below button to READ THE COMPLETE NEWS.


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Creating a Professional Cover Letter
A cover letter should accompany your resume every time you apply for a position. A cover letter is your first and best chance to make a good impression. It should be specific to the position for which you are applying, relating your skills and experience to those noted in the job posting. Your cover letter should be more personable than a resume and should reflect your experience and the abilities that make you uniquely qualified for the job. The following information and format is essential to a good cover letter.
Stationery: Print your cover letter and resume in black ink on neutral colored bond paper.
Spacing: Use single space within paragraphs and double space between paragraphs. Text is not to exceed three paragraphs.
Applicant Present Address: Follow professional business protocol for address on the left margin. (See sample below.)
Date: Use the date you are writing the letter.
Employer Contact Information: Follow professional business protocol for address on left margin just above the salutation. (See sample below.)
The Salutation: For LSU, it is recommended the cover letter be addressed to "Search Committee," the persons most likely to conduct the interview for the job. Avoid using "Dear Sir/Ma'am" or "Dear Gentleman." The salutation is typed two spaces below the last line of the inside address. Leave two spaces between the salutation and the first line of the first paragraph.
The 1st Section: The first paragraph of your letter should entice your reader to read further. Because employers will make quick judgments, a good opening line is essential. Mention the position you are applying for and where you found the job posting. Also, include the name of a person you know affiliated with the company who recommended that you apply, a mutual contact.
The 2nd Section: This section may be devoted to telling the prospective employer why you are interested in the position. Explain briefly what contributions you can make and what qualifications, experiences, or personal qualities you possess that you can offer the employer. Be sure not to repeat your resume, interpret instead.
The 3rd Section: Conclude the letter by thanking them for considering you for the position. You should encourage the employer to read on noting that you are enclosing a resume and express your desire to meet in the near future to discuss your qualifications. After the closing line, skip two lines, and include a closing remark such as "Sincerely" or "Respectfully yours."
Skip four more lines, type your name, and then use a handwritten signature to sign the letter.