text:
- Research Article
- Open Access
Improved Side Information Generation for Distributed Video Coding by Exploiting Spatial and Temporal Correlations
- Shuiming Ye1Email author,
- Mourad Ouaret1,
- Frederic Dufaux1 and
- Touradj Ebrahimi1
© Shuiming Ye et al. 2009
- Received: 22 May 2008
- Accepted: 14 December 2008
- Published: 1 March 2009
Distributed video coding (DVC) is a video coding paradigm allowing low complexity encoding for emerging applications such as wireless video surveillance. Side information (SI) generation is a key function in the DVC decoder, and plays a key-role in determining the performance of the codec. This paper proposes an improved SI generation for DVC, which exploits both spatial and temporal correlations in the sequences. Partially decoded Wyner-Ziv (WZ) frames, based on initial SI by motion compensated temporal interpolation, are exploited to improve the performance of the whole SI generation. More specifically, an enhanced temporal frame interpolation is proposed, including motion vector refinement and smoothing, optimal compensation mode selection, and a new matching criterion for motion estimation. The improved SI technique is also applied to a new hybrid spatial and temporal error concealment scheme to conceal errors in WZ frames. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve up to 1.0 dB improvement in rate distortion performance in WZ frames for video with high motion, when compared to state-of-the-art DVC. In addition, both the objective and perceptual qualities of the corrupted sequences are significantly improved by the proposed hybrid error concealment scheme, outperforming both spatial and temporal concealments alone.
- Motion Vector
- Motion Estimation
- Side Information
- Mean Absolute Difference
- Error Concealment
1. Introduction
Nowadays, the most popular digital video coding solutions are represented by the ISO/IEC MPEG and ITU-T H.26x standards [1], which rely on a highly complex encoder. However, in some emerging applications, such as wireless low-power video surveillance, multimedia sensor networks, wireless PC cameras, and mobile camera phone, low complexity encoding is required. Distributed video coding (DVC) [2], a new paradigm in coding which allows for very low complexity encoding, is well suited for these applications.
In DVC, the complex task of exploiting the source statistics, that is, the motion estimation can be moved from the encoder to the decoder. The Slepian-Wolf theorem on lossless distributed source coding states that the optimal rate of joint encoding and decoding of two statistically dependent discrete signals can be achieved by using two independent encoders and a joint decoder [3]. Wyner-Ziv coding extends this result to lossy coding with side information (SI) in the case of Gaussian memoryless sources and mean-squared error distortion [4]. DVC generally divides a video sequence into key frames and WZ frames. The key task to exploit source statistics is carried out in SI generation process to produce an estimation of the WZ frame being decoded. SI has a significant influence on the rate distortion (RD) performance of DVC. Indeed, more accurate SI at the decoder implies that fewer bits are requested from the encoder through a feedback channel, so that the bitrate is reduced for the same quality. In common DVC codecs, the SI is obtained by motion compensated temporal interpolation (MCTI) from the previous and next key frames and utilizes the block matching algorithm (BMA) for motion estimation. However, motion vectors from BMA are often not faithful to true object motions. Unlike classical video compression, it is more important to find true motion vectors for SI generation in DVC. Therefore, it is important to improve the SI generation in DVC in order to achieve better RD performance.
Another appealing property of DVC is its good resilience to transmission errors due to its intrinsic joint source-channel coding framework. A thorough analysis of its performance in the presence of transmission errors has been presented in [5], showing its good error resilience properties. This results from the fact that DVC is based on a statistical framework rather than the closed-loop prediction used in conventional video coding. Recently, the rapid growth of Internet and wireless communications has led to increased interest for robust transmission of compressed video. However, transmission errors may severely impact video quality as compressed data is very sensitive to these errors [6]. Thus, error control techniques are necessary for efficient video transmission over error prone channels.
This paper proposes a new SI generation scheme by exploiting spatio-temporal correlations at the decoder. It uses partially decoded WZ frames generated by the WZ decoder to improve SI generation. In other words, the proposed scheme is not only based on the key frames, but also on the WZ bits already decoded. Furthermore, enhanced temporal frame interpolation is applied, including motion vector refinement and smoothing to re-estimate and filter the motion vectors, and optimal compensation mode selection to select the mode with minimum matching distortion. Based on these techniques, we also propose a new hybrid spatial and temporal error concealment (EC) scheme for WZ frames in DVC. It uses the error-concealed results from spatial EC to improve the performance of the temporal EC, instead of simply switching between spatial and temporal EC. Spatial EC based on the edge-directed filter [7] is firstly applied to the corrupted blocks, and the results are used as partially decoded WZ frames to improve the performance of temporal EC. In other words, the temporal EC is not only based on the key frames, but also on the WZ bits already decoded. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme significantly improves the quality of the SI and RD performance of DVC, and the performance of the proposed hybrid scheme is superior to spatial EC and temporal EC alone.
This paper is organized as follows. First, the DVC architecture and other related work are introduced in Section 2. Then, the proposed SI generation scheme is presented in Section 3. Section 4 introduces a new hybrid spatio-temporal EC based on the improved SI generation technique. Simulation results are presented in Section 5. Finally, Section 6 concludes the paper.
2. Related Work
2.1. DVC Architecture
2.2. Motion-Compensated Temporal Interpolation
Motion-compensated temporal interpolation (MCTI) has been used in almost the all DVC codecs to generate SI by interpolating the current frame from key frames. The purpose of MCTI is to create an interpolation of a particular frame by using blocks from previous and next reference frames. This problem is similar to video frame rate upconversion interpolation to improve temporal resolution at the decoder [9, 10]. In contrast to the motion compensation (MC) technique used in conventional codecs, MCTI has no knowledge about the frame being decoded. To estimate frame k, bidirectional motion estimation is generally used in MCTI using a bidirectional motion estimation scheme similar to the B-frames coding mode used in current video standards. For every block in frame the most similar block in frame is found, and its motion vector is calculated. Once the motion vector is obtained, the interpolated frame can be filled by simply using bidirectional motion compensation. Due to block-matching techniques not being ideal, forward and backward searches usually do not produce the same results, and they need to be averaged. This scheme holds as long as the block has constant velocity. However, when there is large or asymmetric motion, MCTI fails to generate a good SI estimate.
Spatial motion vector smoothing was proposed to improve the performance of bidirectional MCTI in [8, 11]. It is observed that the motion vectors have sometimes low spatial coherence [11]. Therefore, spatial smoothing filter was proposed to improve motion estimation by reducing the number of false motion vectors, that is, incorrect motion vectors when compared to the true motion field. This scheme uses weighted vector median filters, which maintains the motion field spatial coherence by looking, at each block, for candidate motion vectors at neighboring blocks. This filter is also adjusted by a set of weights controlling the filter smoothing strength depending on the prediction mean square error of the block for each candidate motion vector. However, spatial motion smoothing is only effective at removing false vectors that occur as isolated pulse spikes.
Subpixel interpolation is also proposed to improve motion estimation for SI generation [12]. The subpixel interpolation method of H.264 is used to generate the pixel value at subpixel position. At the decoder, the side information is motion-compensated refined according to the chosen multiestimation mode from backward, forward, and bidirectional modes. This motion refinement procedure uses subpixel interpolation to improve the precision of search. The subpixel interpolation is effective at improving the generated SI, but it also fails in the presence of large or asymmetric motion. Moreover, it increases the decoder complexity.
2.3. Encoder Aided Motion Estimation for SI Generation
Encoder aided motion estimation to improve SI generation was proposed to conduct more accurate motion estimation at the decoder with the help of auxiliary information sent by the encoder, such as the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) [13] and hash bits [14]. In [13], CRC bits for every block are calculated at the encoder and transmitted for the decoder to perform motion search and choose the candidate block that produces the same CRC. The encoder transmits a CRC check of the quantized sequence. Motion estimation is carried out at the decoder by searching over the space of candidate predictors one-by-one to decode a sequence from the set labeled by the syndrome. When the decoded sequence matches the CRC check, decoding is declared to be successful. However, the way to generate and exploit CRC is complicated, and it increases the complexity not only at the decoder, but also at the encoder. In [14], it is proposed to send robust hash codewords from the encoder, in addition to the Wyner-Ziv bits, to aid the decoder in estimating the motion and generating the SI. These hash bits carry the motion information to the decoder without actually estimating the motion at the encoder. The robust hash code for a block simply consists of a very coarsely subsampled and quantized version of the block. The decoder performs a motion search based on the hash to generate the best SI block from the previous frame. In this scheme, the encoder is no longer an intraframe coder because of the hash store. The hash bits do help in motion estimation, but they increase the encoder complexity and transmission payload. In addition, in [14], the SI is generated only based on the previous key frame, which is not as good as bidirectional motion estimation.
It was also proposed to split the Wyner-Ziv frame into two subsets at the encoder based on a checkerboard pattern, in order to exploit spatial correlations between these subsets at the decoder [15]. Each subset is encoded independently. At the decoder, the first subset is decoded using the SI obtained by MCTI, thus exploiting only temporal correlation. Then, the second subset is decoded by MCTI based on key frames, or by interpolating the first decoded subset. When the estimated temporal correlation is high, the temporal SI is used. Otherwise, the spatial SI is used. However, this approach can only achieve a modest improvement, and the encoder must be modified accordingly.
2.4. Iterative Decoding and Motion Estimation for SI Generation
The idea of iterative decoding and motion estimation has also been proposed to improve SI, such as motion vector refinement via bitplane refinement [16] and iterative MCTI techniques [17, 18], but with a high cost of several iterations of motion estimation and decoding. In [16], the reconstructed image and the adjacent key frames are used in order to refine the motion vectors and, thus, obtain a new and improved version of the decoded and SI frames, including matching criteria function to perform motion estimation and three decoding interpolation modes to select the best reference frame. This scheme is based on bitplane refinement for pixel-domain DVC, and only minor improvements have been achieved. In [17], the first outcome of the distributed decoder is called partially decoded picture. A second motion-compensated interpolation is applied, which uses the partially decoded picture as well as the previous and next key frames. For each aligned block in the partially decoded picture, the most similar block is searched in the previous frame, the next key frames, the motion-compensated average of the previous and the next frames, and the result from the MCTI previously performed. However, only minor improvement has been achieved. In this paper, we use the same idea of using partially decoded picture, but it is further augmented with suspicious vector detection, new matching criteria for motion estimation, and motion vector filtering, resulting in much better improvements. An iterative approach based on multiple SI with motion refinement has also been proposed in [18]. Multiple SI streams are used at the decoder: the first SI stream is predicted by motion extrapolating the previous two closest key frames and the second SI stream is predicted using the immediate key frame and the closest Wyner-Ziv frame. Based on the error probability, the turbo decoder decides which SI stream is used for decoding a given block.
2.5. Error Concealment
EC consists in estimating or interpolating corrupted data at the decoder from the correctly received information. It can improve the quality of decoded video corrupted by transmission errors, without any additional payload on the encoder or channel. EC can be classified into three categories: spatial concealment [19–21], temporal concealment [22–24], and hybrid spatial and temporal concealments [25–27].
Spatial EC is used to interpolate the lost block from its spatially neighboring available blocks or coefficients in the current frame. It relies on the inherent spatial smoothness of the data. For example, the technique proposed in [19] exploits the smoothness property of image signals and recovers the damaged blocks by a smoothness measure based on second-order derivatives. However, this smoothness measure would lead to blurred edges in the recovered frame due to the simple second-order derivative-based measure to represent the edges. In [28], through benchmarking results on the existing error concealment approaches, it was observed that none of the existing approaches is an all time champion. A classification-based concealment approach was proposed which can combine the better performance of different spatial approaches [29].
Temporal EC techniques use the temporally neighboring frames to estimate the lost blocks in the current frame, based on the assumption that the video content is smooth and continuous in the temporal domain. A very simple scheme for temporal error concealment is used to just copy the block at the same spatial location in the previous frame to conceal the lost block. A bidirectional temporal error concealment algorithm that can recover loss of a whole frame was proposed in [23]. However, the accuracy of the motion estimation may affect the results significantly.
Temporal EC usually leads to better results when compared to spatial concealment, given the typically high temporal correlation in video. However, for video with scene changes or with very large or irregular motion, spatial EC is preferred. Some attempts have been made to combine both spatial and temporal ECs to improve performance [26, 27]. These schemes use some mode selection methods to decide whether to use spatial or temporal EC. For example, temporal activity (measured as the prediction error in the surrounding blocks) and spatial activity (measured as the variance of the same surrounding blocks) are used to decide which concealment mode to use [26]. In general, however, these methods have achieved very limited success, mostly due to the simple mode selection mechanisms at the decoder to merge the results from both spatial and temporal ECs.
In [30], a forward error correcting coding scheme is proposed for traditional video coding, where an auxiliary redundant bitstream generated at the encoder using Wyner-Ziv coding is sent to the decoder for error concealment. However, in the literature, few error concealment schemes for DVC can be found.
3. Proposed SI Generation Scheme
Common MCTI techniques use only the previous and next key frames to generate the SI. In comparison, the proposed SI generation scheme appears to perform much better than common MCTI, since it has additional information (from WZ bits) about the frame it is trying to estimate. Moreover, the spatio-temporal correlations are exploited based on the PDWZ frame using the SI refinement procedure. The decoded frame obtained here could then be used again as PDWZ frame for a subsequent iteration. However, our experiments show that extra iterations do not provide a significant performance improvement. In other words, the additional information carried by parity bits is fully exploited in a single run of our SI generation scheme. Therefore, only one iteration is used in the proposed scheme, avoiding additional complexity at the decoder.
3.1. Matching Criterion
where is the coordinate of the top left point of the original block in the current frame is the reference frame, is the candidate motion vector MV, and are the dimensions of the block. However, when there are changes in pixel intensity and noises, minimizing MAD often leads to false motion vectors.
Unfortunately, BAD is not efficient at picking out bad motion vectors when local variation is large [9].
where α is a weighting factor, and MV is the candidate motion vector. MAD is utilized to measure how well the candidate MV can keep temporal continuity. The smaller MAD is, the better the candidate MV keeps temporal continuity. On the other hand, BAD is used to measure how well the candidate MV can keep spatial continuity. The smaller BAD is, the better the candidate MV keeps spatial continuity.
This matching criterion is exploited in suspicious vector detection, motion vector refinement and smoothing, and optimal motion compensation mode selection in the proposed SI generation pipeline.
3.2. Suspicious Vector Detection
where and are the previous and next decoded key frames, respectively, and is the PDWZ frame.
3.3. Motion Vector Refinement and Smoothing
The spatio-temporal correlations between the PDWZ frame and the reference key frames are exploited to refine and smooth the estimated motion vectors. More specifically, the motion vectors are re-estimated by bidirectional motion estimation using the matching criterion defined in (3) and the PDWZ frame. They are then filtered using a spatial smoothing filter. This process generates a new estimation of the motion vector for the block to be interpolated.
3.4. Optimal Motion Compensation Mode Selection
The objective of this step is to generate an optimal motion-compensated estimate. In most DVC schemes, while bidirectional prediction is shown to be effective, it is limited to motion-compensated average of the previous and the next key frames.
- (i)
Backward mode: the block in the SI is interpolated using only one block from the previous key frame.
- (ii)
Forward mode: the block in the SI is interpolated using only one block from the next key frame.
- (iii)
Bidirectional mode: the block in the SI is interpolated using the average of one block in the next key frame and another block in the previous key frame, at arbitrary positions.
Among these modes, the decision is performed according to the matching criterion defined in (3), and the one with the minimum matching error is retained.
Based on the refined motion vectors and the selected interpolation mode, motion compensation is applied to generate the final SI. Based on this SI, the final decoded frame is got after running the WZ decoder again.
4. Application of Improved SI Generation Technique to EC
4.1. Spatial Concealment Based on Edge Directed Filter
where is the pixels blocks where the corrupted pixel belongs to, is the gradient operator, and is the magnitude of is the Laplacian of the frame I, a second-order derivative of I.
where is the recovered frame after iterations, is the corrupted frame, and is the anisotropic diffusion step. For each pixel ( ), the filtering is carried out on the neighboring N ( ) pixels.
4.2. Enhanced Temporal Error Concealment
The techniques used in the improved SI generation scheme, as described in Section 3, are exploited to improve the performance of the temporal EC. The approach is based on MCTI and motion vector filtering as proposed in [11]. One of the key novelties is that the partially error-concealed frame is used to improve the temporal EC, unlike [11], where MCTI is based on the previous and next key frames. Indeed, the reconstructed frame by spatial concealment contains additional information about the current frame carried by the correctly received WZ bits. Therefore, by using the partially error-concealed frame resulting from spatial EC, the spatio-temporal correlations between this frame and the reference key frames can be better exploited. Hence, the performance of the temporal EC is improved.
The matching criterion in (3) is used to evaluate the error in motion estimation based on the partially error-concealed frame and the reference key frames. The spatio-temporal correlations between the partially error-concealed frames and the key frames are then exploited to refine and smooth the estimated motion vectors using the technique presented in Section 3.3. The block most similar to the corrupted block is selected from a number of sources: the previous frame, the next frame, the bidirectional motion-compensated average of the previous and the next frames, as presented in Section 3.4. Based on the estimated motion vectors and the interpolation modes, motion compensation is applied to generate the reconstructed blocks as the result of temporal concealment.
5. Results and Discussions
The TDWZ DVC codec proposed in [8] is used in our experiments, and only luminance data is coded. The video sequences Foreman, Soccer, Coastguard, and Hallmonitor are used in QCIF format and at 15 fps. The DVC codec is run for the first 149 frames. Eight RD points are computed per sequence. The results are compared to the TDWZ codec [8]. The quantization parameters of the key frames in our experiments were selected in such a way that the qualities of the output key frames are kept similar with those of the WZ frames. The weight α in (3) and the threshold T in (4) are empirically set to 0.3 and 10, respectively.
5.1. Performance Improvement by the Proposed SI Generation Method
Effect of the weight α (Foreman, QCIF, 15 fps, ).
PSNR (dB)
α = 0.0
α = 0.3
α = 0.7
α = 1.0
Bitrate (kbps)
Effect of the threshold T (Foreman, QCIF, 15 fps, ).
Bitrate (kbps)
PSNR (dB)
PSNR (dB)
PSNR (dB)
PSNR (dB)
5.2. Error Concealment Simulations
In simulations on error concealment for DVC, a communication channel, characterized by the error pattern files provided in [31] with different Packet Loss Ratios (PLRs), is used. The test sequences are corrupted with packet loss rates of 3%, 5%, 10%, and 20%. For the various test conditions in terms of PLR and Quantization Parameters (QPs), the average PSNR is measured. Results are obtained by averaging over ten runs using different error patterns. In video streaming, due to the tight delay constraint, a feedback channel is not preferred since it will cause additional delay, and the received retransmitted bits beyond time constraint will be useless. In this case, no feedback channel is used when errors occurred during the transmission. However, the rate control of the DVC architecture (Figure 1) used in this paper uses a feedback channel driven rate control. Therefore, in this section, we suppose that the encoder performs ideal rate control, that is, the number of requested bits for each bitplane for the error-free case is determined a priori and used for decoding the corresponding corrupted bitstream. Furthermore, as used in [8], if the bit error probability of the decoded bitplane in WZ decoder is higher than the decoder uses the corresponding bitplane of the SI. The header of the WZ bitstream, which contains critical information such as frame size, quantization parameters, and intraperiod, is assumed as correctly received.
6. Conclusions
A new side information generation scheme is proposed to improve the performance of DVC. The use of the partially decoded WZ frame, which is exploited in motion vector refinement, smoothing, and optimal compensation mode selection improves the performance of SI generation. Simulation results show that a large improvement of performance has been achieved by the proposed approach, compared to the-state-of-the-art DVC. The proposed approach achieves better RD performances than TDWZ for all test sequences. For sequences with large motion, such as Soccer, the proposed method improves the objective quality (up to 1.0 dB), compared with TDWZ. These results were obtained with no additional complexity or modification to the DVC encoder.
The new SI generation technique is also very helpful in the proposed hybrid EC scheme for WZ frames. Simulation results on the proposed error concealment method also show that the proposed method can bring significant improvements in terms of both objective and perceptual qualities for corrupted sequences. The proposed hybrid EC scheme is only applied at the decoder, without any modification to the DVC encoder or transmission channels.
This work was partially supported by the European Network of Excellence VISNET II (http://www.visnet-noe.org) IST Contract 1-038398, funded under the European Commission IST 6th Framework Program.
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Left ~ poles can be placed closer together in this 2-frequency design, or skylights can form star, with deck.


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I am probably my hardest critic with my photography(aren't we all our worst critic though?). I always come away from a shoot thinking, oh man why didn't I get that one shot?! Or, what was I thinking doing that?! But, I've never yet had pictures that didn't still turn out really well. I love these. Brandon & Nikki are getting married in less than two months! I am so excited! Here's to forever you two! (Now tell me, what are your favorites of these?)
Brandon & Nikki {Engagement shoot}
Labels: engagement pictures , photoshoots
2 comments :
- AnonymousJuly 20, 2011 at 3:37 AM
Beautiful pics!ReplyDelete
Hey what's up with post it notes?
Thank you!ReplyDelete
The Post-it notes are part of a project I'm doing to leave my hubs appreciative notes from day to day, as a measure to actively show more appreciation for him. After 30 days I'm going to leave notes for random strangers- bank teller, barista at starbucks, cashier at the store, etc. It's a fun way to leave some cheer and it doesn't take much to do! You can follow me on the Facebook page for it http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Post-It-Note-Project/136973913050581
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my question is does it have to be a public baptism? Could it not be by a Christian, family member, friend, or anyone in a back yard pool? Does it have to be by a minister and in a church?
Once again you are led astray by your insistence in reading only the KJV, a translation from the Greek into archaic English. Thayer says:G1906ἐπερώτημαeperōtēmaThayer Definition:1) an enquiry, a question2) a demand3) earnestly seeking3a) craving, an intense desireThose all interpret best as an appeal not an answer.1Pe 3:21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
Does a baby have a conscience that is in operation?~Of course not, so they can not be baptized.
The thing that sets man apart from other parts of creation is the ability to make a choice "decisions". Do you think that God would give us that unique ability, then, void it by making "for" us, the most important decision we can make? I don't think so. I don't believe God made that decision "for" us, but gave us the ability to choose the option of eternal life. Remember, Jesus was with God in the beginning, before creation, and time doesn't exist in God's economy anyhow. Choosing to be a Christ follower is "our" decision, God gave us the option. IMO.
You, if I recall, believe a person must have faith in Jesus to be saved; RB does not believe this.
So are you saying one can have it done in private?
In RB's defense, I think you are misrepresenting what RB believes.
A baby has no conscience, but can be held accountable for the sins of an ancestor and be condemned for it.
Romans 5:14~"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
2nd Kings 2:23,24~"And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
Baptism is not into a religion. It is into Christ Himself, and it is a union together with Him in His crucifixion and resurrection (Romans 6:3-11). God heard Cornelius although He was not saved (Acts 10:1-4). The blind man who said that about God not hearing sinners was not speaking for God. He was speaking for himself regarding his opinion of Jesus during his defense in front of the Sanhedrin (John 9:24-34).
The jailer and his family were baptized in the middle of the night with no doubt little to no audience otherwise (Acts 16:25-34).
Quote from: soterion on Tue Aug 21, 2018 - 19:08:38A baby has no conscience, but can be held accountable for the sins of an ancestor and be condemned for it. Absouletly.
Who is "even over THEM" that had not sinned after Adam's transgression?
Again you had your chance when we went through Romans 5:12-21 just a few weeks ago verse by verse.
All that is needed to repute your verse by verse treatment of Romans 5:12-21 is to point out that total depravity and unconditional election are false doctrines.
What about John the Baptist? He leaped for joy in his mother's womb at the presence of Jesus, and he did so by the Holy Ghost (Luke 1:15, 44).
What about Lot? He loved Sodom more than righteousness, and he ended up incestuously with his daughters in a cave (Genesis 13:12; Genesis 19:14, 16, 20, 36). Yet we are taught by the Spirit Lot was a just and righteous man, saved by the glorious grace of God by Christ's obedience (2nd Peter 2:7-9). The ONLY ground upon which he was righteous and the only ground upon which he would inherit eternal life in the world to come.
What about the rich young ruler? Though he chose his riches over Christ, Jesus loved him; and he went away sorrowful~two marks of a man with eternal life (Mark 10:17-27). Jesus hates the wicked (Psalm 5:5; Matthew 7:23); and only spiritual men desire to follow Christ. Riches are a strong obstacle to obedience, but salvation by an omnipotent God is easy even in such cases.
What about Israel in the wilderness? They ate and drank spiritually of Jesus Christ, which is to have eternal life (Ist Corinthians 10:1-4); but they were disobedient and rebellious (Ist Corinthians 10:5). Yet God chose them, chastened them, called them children, and loved them (Deuteronomy 7:6-8; 8:5; 14:1; 33:1-3).
What about infants? There is no doctrine of salvation on earth that consistently and Scripturally provides for infants (and idiots, and the heathen) , except the truth of unconditional salvation.
What about Cornelius?
Absouletly. Who is "even over THEM" that had not sinned after Adam's transgression? INFANTS, feebleminded, etc. We have just dealt with this very point in another thread where you could have said something there if you had a desire to do on this points. Do you believe any infants died in the flood? What goes through your mind when you read scriptures where God commanded Israel to kill ALL including suckling children? It happened more than once in the OT. About here: Again you had your chance when we went through Romans 5:12-21 just a few weeks ago verse by verse. By the doctrine of IMPUTATION, the same doctrine that is the ONLY ground of FREE Justification for God's people.
Red, please address or speak of each poster individually by their names. We don't refer to those that agree with you as "those people" or your gang of marauders. We are people that have a difference of opinion. I would ask all of us (including myself) to respond to each other more calmly. If for no other reason than to set an example for the "heathen marauding gang of opponents". I have asked at least one question that no one has answered. "Paul's sins had to be washed away in baptism according to Ananias. Why? if that isn't where sins are washed away. And what was he to be calling on the Lord for if not for a clear conscience. Please let's all respond with no more than a smidgeon of evil condescension. Or at least for the real Christians. Also if this question is only worthy of a child's answer, please ask one to respond to me if you prefer not to. I have pledged to never again bring up baptism if Paul didn't have a sin problem that needed to be addressed with God's prescription of baptism just as we do. Where HE chose to apply the blood of Christ.If we can all agree baptism has something to do with salvation or at least Paul's sin problem, I have no reason to bring up baptism again. Think of it!
Infants and idiots have not sinned and therefore need no salvation. They are not dead in their trespasses and sins, since they are incapable to committing any trespasses and sins.
Baptism IS a faith response. I don't believe I have parsed it from faith. As with Paul, he had a sin problem that urgently needed attention IN baptism. Did Ananias also parse baptism from faith or is it just part of God's plan? I might have considered the possibility that Ananias was mistaken, but he was God's chosen vessel in Paul's transition from his Damascus road experience. And I assume he heard God's will to convey to Paul. Sins are washed by the blood of Christ as we all know. In Acts 22, Ananias said washing of sins occurs IN baptism. To me somehow God applies the blood IN baptism. I don't consider that separate from faith, but one continuum unless I am misunderstanding your concern. I appreciate the input.
It is the physical marker of salvation. Baptism is intrinsically tied to Faith, as evidenced by "calling on His name" which mirrors 1 Peter 3:20-21.God's prescription is not baptism, but faith, which is immediately followed by baptism. The push to tie down the absolute minutia of the contact with the blood of Christ, with nary a word about faith leads many to believe that you are teaching baptismal regeneration. I know that is not true of you Jaime, but your explanation will not gain you any converts in thought from the "evangelicals."You have said before that scripture should be taken in a cumulative fashion, and I agree, but I don't believe the quoted post does that. I think it parses baptism from faith.
If the blood is applied in baptism, or can only be applied in baptism, we can agree that those who are not baptized cannot be saved.Romans 10:9-10 then seems to give us only part of the story, and would therefore be incorrect."If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."
1 Peter 2:24.who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might die unto sins and live unto righteousness.Romans 6:1-7.What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him , that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin.Baptism is how a person is crucified together with Christ that the body of sin might be done away and the person dies to sin.Colossians 2:11-13.in whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say , did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses;Baptism is a person putting his faith in the power/working of God. People who separate baptism from faith do err greatly. Also, if it is not on the cross of Christ that a person comes into contact with His cleansing blood, then do tell where it is.
...but one does not get baptised in order to become a believer. One is baptised because one is a believer (Acts 2.41).
Still waiting for someone to address this request
Acts 2:38-41.And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him. And with many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. They then that received his word were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls.So, those who received Peter's word were baptized. Why they should be baptized was told them earlier in verse 38. Those who were baptized were added to the number of those being saved (verse 47).Of course, if a person did not believe Peter's message, that person would not bother receiving baptism according to what Peter preached. Those who did receive Peter's message submitted to baptism out of faith in God's power/working that what Peter said would be granted in verse 38 would take place.
Also, if it is not on the cross of Christ that a person comes into contact with His cleansing blood, then do tell where it is.
Ephesians 2:4-9~"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; (CHRIST'S) and that not of yourselves:(WHICH PROVES THAT IT WAS CHRIST'S FAITH!) it is the gift of God: (GIVEN TO US ON THE BEHALF OF CHRIST!) Not of works, lest any man should boast. (HOW CAN WE BOAST IF IT WAS CHRIST'S AND NOT OURS?) "
The saving faith is exercised when one trusts in the Lord's work at the Cross. The faith is not in the baptism.
Dear sir, there is NO such thing as saving faith unless you are speaking of Christ's perfect faith, which alone has saving virtue and God accepts!
Ephesians 2.8: 'by grace are ye saved through faith...'
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The Rhode Island Rams defeated VCU in the Atlantic 10 tournament to punch their ticket to the big dance earlier today. The Rams were a bubble team but they wanted to make sure there wasn't any question that they would get in tonight. This will be their 9th tournament appearance and their first since 1999. Rhode Island is 6-8 overall in the NCAA Tournament.
Strength: Defense
Hassan Martin was the defensive player of the year in the A10. Rhode Island ranks 3rd in the country in blocks per game with 6.1 and Martin is the biggest reason for this. Individually, Martin ranks 16th in the country in blocks per game with 2.56. The Rams average a block on 11.5% of possessions which leads the nation. Opponents will struggle to drive to the rim on the Rams because of their effectiveness inside. Rhode Island only allows 64.9 points a game which is good for 28th nationally. Their opponent effective field goal percentage is 45.2% and ranks 14th in the nation. Another thing that makes the Rams defense so good is that they don't let teams shoot the 3 against them. Opponents only shoot 29% from deep which ranks 2nd nationally. Opponents only make 4.6 a game (also 2nd nationally).
Weaknesses: Scoring/Foul Trouble/3 Games in 3 Days
The Rams are a below average shooting team. They obviously make this up with defense, but if the defense isn't playing well, the Rams will struggle to beat anyone. They only shoot 33.7% from three (229 in the country) and 50.6% from two (114 in the country). Rhode Island also struggles mightily from the free throw line. They only shoot 65.5% which is 315th nationally. That is one of the worst percentages in the country.
Rhode Island is going to have to do their best to stay out of foul trouble in their tournament games if they want to advance. This is a fact for every team out there, but the Rams commit over 20 fouls per game which is good for 311th in the country. They also commit a foul on 27% of possessions which ranks 331st in the country.
3 games in 3 days can always be an issue during the conference tournament. Some teams use it to their advantage, but some teams, especially if they aren't very deep, can struggle with it. The Rams play 10 guys at least 10 minutes a game so they can easily go 10 deep. It will be interesting to see how/if this affects them during the tournament.


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Places > France > Île-de-France > Paris Hotel
Le Citizen Hotel
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Corporate Audio Visual Services Develops Innovative In-House Training to Increase Customer Satisfaction and Staff Expertise
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK – 1 Jun, 2017 – In order to remain competitive and retain the best employees, Corporate Audio Visual Services (Corporate AV) is committed to unique staff training programs that are designed to enhance the technical and customer relations skills of its employees.
"Small businesses constantly demand more from their staff, but routinely neglect to spend time and money on them," said Joe Guilderson, President of Corporate AV. "This is shortsighted because in today's economy, we have to stand out in a crowded field. To remain competitive, the best long-term strategy is to deliver a seamless, professional experience to our customers. This begins with our employees, the most valuable asset of any business."
To that end, Corporate AV sets aside company time each year to provide an informative, entertaining curriculum designed to enhance the skill sets of its 80-member team of audio, video and lighting professionals. The goal is to deliver a high level of customer, technical and creative services.
Guilderson delegates formal mentoring duties to senior staff. Younger techs are rarely taught how to set, strike and troubleshoot equipment, so the series of basic to advanced level seminars fill in those gaps. In addition, the training program stresses safety and provides a detailed overview of how to deliver audio-visual solutions in a professional, competent manner. Workshops range from technical issues, including mixing techniques, camera setup and advice about the best way to load a truck, to practical leadership and customer service training.
Enlisting key team members and special guests to train junior staff is a wise long-term investment, said Guilderson. The company held a symposium featuring two clients, Robert Sanders, President of Hospitality Resource Group, and Tom Conklin, President of Make-A-Wish Hudson Valley. Presented along with two lead engineers at Corporate AV, the session, entitled "Creating Value," viewed the company's services from the client's perspective. Guilderson called it the "highlight" of the conference.
"This type of training is important to maintaining the level of service we have come to expect from Corporate AV," said Conklin. "Our fundraising events are critical for us to help make wishes happen, and Joe and his team have been crucial to the success of those events. One of the reasons is their focus on detail and customer satisfaction."
Guilderson added that "for us, providing top-tier client services is the ultimate goal and this is a way to ensure that even our least experienced techs bring their 'A game' all the time. The key is communication, since our client contacts are usually under a lot of stress before and during large-scale events. By mastering our trade and operating in a reassuring manner, we put our clients and their guests at ease, create a better work environment for our staff and allow everyone to enjoy a positive overall experience that saves time and money."
To further enhance the skills of their employees, Corporate AV also sponsored a training session led by Seth Teates, Regional Sales Manager at Analog Way, which supplies sophisticated video switching equipment. Corporate AV has seven Analog Way switchers in inventory, including two new Pulse 2 models. The first audiovisual production company in the New York City region to adopt the Eikos Switcher by Analog Way, Corporate AV cross-trains part-time and full-time engineers to master both audio and video so they are able to offer seamless client services in the field.
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I have wanted an arbor for years. I knew just where I would put it if I ever got one. I recently spied one in the garden center near my home with a hefty price tag on it.. sigh... But today, there she was, in all her glory of chippy paint (probably lead) and a nice patina to boot. I love it more than the one at the garden center.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
A Bad Idea Turned Good
I have wanted an arbor for years. I knew just where I would put it if I ever got one. I recently spied one in the garden center near my home with a hefty price tag on it.. sigh... But today, there she was, in all her glory of chippy paint (probably lead) and a nice patina to boot. I love it more than the one at the garden center.
22 comments:
- Fishtail Cottage said...
Love this!!!!
- June 26, 2011 at 10:35 PM
- Barbara F. said...
Great find. I love the pale green with the rusty accents! xo,
- June 26, 2011 at 10:46 PM
- Babs said...
Wow! You hit the jackpot. What a good deal. Can't wait to see where you put it.
- June 26, 2011 at 11:09 PM
- Sharon (Roses and Rust) said...
What a wonderful find! The rust and pale green colour is perfect. That is exactly the look I would want to achieve if I bought a brand new one! x Sharon
- June 27, 2011 at 1:16 AM
- Becca said...
What a beautiful "score" ... truly, it was meant to be !!
- June 27, 2011 at 7:14 AM
- Miss Char said...
Looks like a great piece Beverly and I'm sure it will give you years of pleasure in your garden. Question???? Where is the picture of the other piece?
- June 27, 2011 at 3:02 PM
- elizabeth said...
What an amazing find!!!!
- June 27, 2011 at 9:53 PM
- Dianne said...
What a score! It's wonderful. Dianne
- June 27, 2011 at 10:31 PM
- Michele Alger said...
YAY!!! I would love it too, but alas, nowhere in my yard for something so wonderful as that! I hope you put it somewhere you can just sit and stare and enjoy it while sipping your nice cool lemonaid this summer!! ;)
- June 28, 2011 at 2:13 AM
- Sherry @ No Minimalist Here said...
Oh, This is wonderful! What a great find
- June 28, 2011 at 10:24 AM
- the cape on the corner said...
that is a fantastic find! it is so different than any arbor i've seen. perfect!
- June 28, 2011 at 1:13 PM
- Jane@Cottage at the Crossroads said...
Your arbor is so beautiful. What a deal you got! We just put up a post about our new arbor. It's not nearly as pretty as yours, but we like it.
- June 28, 2011 at 6:14 PM
- mississippi artist said...
What a find, love it.It will be beautiful wherever you put it.Maybe if you tell hubby he needs curtains for his shed, he will buy you something else!HA!!
- June 28, 2011 at 11:52 PM
- Linda said...
Your new arbor is a real beauty! Looks wonderful in your yard!
- June 29, 2011 at 12:54 AM
- Maggie said...
Beverly, this is an amazing piece...
I am inviting you to our weekly party every Wednesday, would luv for you to join us, you will get more visitors to discover your blog :)
Have a great week,
- June 29, 2011 at 2:17 AM
- Janette - The2Seasons said...
That looks like it could make the perfect setting for a wedding. We were married under a rustic gazebo 39 years ago!! It's nice that they were cook then and are still cool!!!
- June 29, 2011 at 7:26 AM
- Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...
It's very beautiful, Beverly! I love all the detail work on it. That is going to look great in your garden. I can just see it surrounded by flowers! What a nice hubby you have. Either that or he figured it would keep you from prettying up his shed. : )
Visiting from WUW!
- June 29, 2011 at 9:26 AM
- Amanda said...
What a beautiful arbor!!! And I just love the story that goes along with it! Your hubby sounds like such a dear! Wish mine was as generous and understanding when it came to pretty purchases! I have really enjoyed my visit here today!
Best Wishes and Blessings,
- June 29, 2011 at 2:43 PM
- Amy @MaisonDecor said...
That is a special arbor. I am trying to build one for myself right now as we speak!! I am so jealous that you lucked out with that. I have two salvaged pillars and I want hubs to weld me a metal arch over the top to connect them. I love the shape of your top. Patina is perfect too! Following you now.
- June 29, 2011 at 3:08 PM
- Brandi said...
Wow! What a great deal. It's beautiful, Beverly and your husband sounds like a sweetheart! glad you got your arbor.
- June 29, 2011 at 9:18 PM
- once in a blue moon said...
beautiful arch!
- June 29, 2011 at 11:51 PM
- Beverly said...
Wowzers! You did good. This is gorgeous!!!
- June 30, 2011 at 11:46 AM


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Features of the Best GPS Fleet Tracking Software
GPS is one of the most advanced technological improvements in the recent years. It is known as Global Position system that helps the user track the location. Due to its enormous advantages, this system has been adopted by almost all industry types. People even use this system for their personal use and the security of their family. A lot of[Read More…]


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This event is now over and took place on Wed 02 Nov 2016
Event Summary
BWB is hosting The Social Investment Academy event on the 2nd November. The Social Investment Academy is the largest gathering of financial advisers and wealth managers focused on social investment in the UK.
It offers a unique, CPD accredited forum where you can gain insight and learn from leaders who are bringing social investment to the mainstream amongst private investors.
This event is being held during Good Money Week and by attending, we believe you will gather the market intelligence and contacts you need to help move social investment forward in your business, in addition to gaining insight into why signing up for the Adviser Competency Training might be your next step along this journey.
For the agenda of the day and for more information please click here.
Bates Wells Braithwaite at 10 Queen Street Place, EC4R 1BE


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AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is one of the most popular products on CNET Download.com, with 61 million downloads. On Thursday, publisher AVG Technologies, formerly known as Grisoft, plans to introduce the full version of AVG Anti-Virus 8.0. This upgrade will feature significant changes to the program, integrating the previously stand-alone tools of AVG Anti-Spyware, AVG Anti-Rootkit, and recent AVG purchase LinkScanner as well as showcasing an entirely new interface.
According to Larry Bridwell, AVG's Global Security Strategist, the guts of the program have been overhauled, too. The code rewrite, he stressed, addresses several deficiencies including system slowdowns caused by real-time shields. The integration of LinkScanner, he said, will help warn users of unsafe links, search results, and downloads before they clicked on them. On-demand definition file updates will be made available to users of the free edition for the first time, as will instant messaging protection for users of MSN and ICQ.
LinkScanner's publisher, Exploit Prevention Labs, was purchased at the end of last year. CNET's Rob Vamosi pointed out that while other safe-surfing applications tend to rely on databases, LinkScanner rated higher for using technology that determines on the fly whether a currently-loading page is tainted with malware. Previous versions have not been able to detect fraudulent pages, though, and it is unclear if that concern will be addressed in the integrated LinkScanner.
Bridwell points out that LinkScanner will be available both in the newly integrated AVG Anti-Virus and as a stand-alone download, at least in the short-term. The publisher will continue to promote an enhanced feature set in the paid edition, including tech support, more robust scheduling capabilities, and support for newer multiprocessor core chips. A trial version will still be available, although at the time of writing AVG had not yet determined how many days that trial will be.


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Securely request appointments, prescription refills, referrals, review your test results, health history and more.
Medical Associates
These are the hours that Quaker Medical Providers see patients by appointment.
Monday - Thursday: 6:45am to 8:00pm
Friday: 6:45am to 5:00pm
Saturday: Open at 8:30am (Sick Visits Only)
(Hours are subject to change)
In case of an emergency, call 911
If you have an urgent medical concern or issue, call our office and leave a message. You will be called back by our on-call physician.
The doctor will respond with medical advice, and direct you to follow up with our office or go for emergency medical care, when applicable.
In the event the office closes unexpectedly and you have a scheduled appointment, we will reach out to you on the next open business day to reschedule.
Please feel free to contact a member of our staff directly with any questions, comments, or scheduling inquiries which you may have. We strive to respond to all messages and inquiries as promptly as possible and return the messages in the order they are received. Thank you in advance for your time, patience, and interest in Quaker Medical Associates.
If you have an emergency, dial 911.
If our office is closed, and your issue cannot wait until we open, follow the phone prompts to leave a message for the doctor on-call.
These are the hours that Quaker Medical staff are available by phone.
Monday - Thursday: 7:30am to 5:00pm
Friday: 7:30am to 4:00pm
Saturday: 8:00am -10:30am
Closed daily for lunch hour 11:45-12:45
(Hours are subject to change)


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A summer of fun, learning is within easy reach
Across the Bay Area, there are summer camps for just about everything, from tennis and golf to swimming and science. There is a camp for filmmaking and a camp dedicated to art. There are fort-building camps, superhero camps and nature camps. And, there are those well-organized parents who months ago had their spreadsheets for each child for each week of camp for the 10-plus weeks of summer.
If you are not that type of parent, or your family is interested in alternatives to the daily drop-off and pick-up, and would like to forgo the cost of camps, which range from $300 to $500 per week, we have ideas for some great low-cost and no-cost things to do with your kids during the summer. Many of the ideas are in the spirit of the YouTube video sensation called "Caine's Arcade," where a boy in East Los Angeles spent his summer at his dad's used auto parts store. With no toys and no set agenda, the young boy created an intricate arcade out of cardboard boxes. The video has had nearly 3 million views. (See the video here: links.sfgate.com/ZLKH.)
We asked two of the Bay Area's leading experts on family fun to come up with a range of ideas.
Chris Giorni
Giorni is the founder of the science education program Tree Frog Treks, which delivers nature to classrooms and gets kids outdoors.
"The first time you turn it off, shut it down, and get outside, it might take a little getting used to," said Giorni, who has two young kids of his own. "It's a different type of thinking. A ranger in Yosemite once told me that going outside at first was like walking into a dark movie theater. No show. No sounds. No music. Then you get settled in and start to learn to read the landscape and the movie starts: the show, the sound, the music, and more. You need to practice going outside. Give it a few tries. It will pay back a thousandfold in fun times and will be a lifelong sanctuary to recharge you when you need it most."
Build something outside
Build a bridge or a fort using bark, twigs, leaf litter. Dam a creek, make a daisy chain, or stack some rocks into sculpture.
Go on a "Green 15"
Go outside every day for at least 15 minutes, focusing on all things green - grass, trees, caterpillars, bugs.
Go on a weed walk (right here in San Francisco!)
Collect foxtails, cattails, English plantains, sour grass, radish, mustard and study them. Throw them, squeeze them, pull them apart, drop them in a glass of water. Try going for a walk in an old pair of socks in a dry field or vacant lot. You will pick up a lot of weed seeds. Then take off your socks, lay them on a platter and water them. You have just made your very own sock garden!
Find some worms and bugs
Give worms names and race them on a dirt track near some grass or other objects. See which worms are the fastest. Remember to cheer for your favorite wacky worm racer. Make a bug jar habitat. Go bug collecting in your neighborhood and study the creatures overnight. Remember to release them in a day or two right where you found them. Flip a log and find a beetle, roly-poly or other creepy-crawly. See if you can muster the gusto to let it crawl over your hand.
Create a treasure hunt
Bury some treasure, get a compass, and make a map with directions. Give the map to a friend to see if he or she can find it.
Experiment with a spray bottle
Bring a spray water bottle out into the park and spray away. What happens when you spray it on redwood leaves? On oak leaves? On nasturtium? Spray a spider web to reveal its intricate designs. Make a mini mud pie. Spray rocks and minerals to see their true colors.
Get to the beach
Look for cool shells, sea glass and rocks of all shapes and sizes. Set up a rock pile on the edge of the beach. Try to feed it or knock it down. Dig for sand crabs just below the surface of the sand at the tide line. They are completely harmless to hold.
Be good to nature
Adopt a tree, and visit it often to see what is happening there. Find a place you like and care for it. Pull some weeds. Clean up some litter.
Go on a scavenger hunt
Look for all the colors in nature that match the colors of your crayons.
Create collections, classify and communicate
Collect seeds, leaves and rocks. Put them into categories or groups that make sense to you (use a field guide if you like). Then share your collection with friends. Make a summer binder full of what you collect and press.
Get a different point of view
Put your head in a bush and lean and look. Get up in a tree and look around. Lie on the ground and gaze up. Stare at the clouds and find dragons in the sky. Go to a neighborhood park and stay off the pavement. Have a picnic under your favorite tree and just relax with the cell phone turned off.
Dale Dougherty
Dougherty is founder and publisher of Make Magazine, which started in 2005 and gave rise to the Maker Faire.
"For kids, time spent outside of school is as important, if not more so, than time in school," Dougherty said. "Some kids have perfect summers filled with engaging activities and family trips. They even get to spend weeks at incredible summer camps. Other kids don't have enough to do. Experts believe summer is when disadvantaged kids give up some gains made during the school year. They start the next year behind. Making things is messy, creative, and fun. It's one of the things kids love about summer camp. But, there's no reason you can't make the same things (or better) right at home.
Here are a number of inexpensive projects kids can make this summer, from silk-screening T-shirts to building their own robots. You can find all these and dozens more in Make's new School's Out Summer Fun Guide, available on newsstands or from maker shed.com. And we've made all these projects available for free at make projects.com."
Shoot high-speed marshmallows
This marshmallow shooter will completely surprise you with its accuracy, range and ease of construction. It's tons of fun and requires no glue, so it's ready for combat in minutes.
Extra credit: Build goggles from a 2-liter soda bottle to shield your eyes from gooey projectiles. All ages; adult supervision
Silk-screen T-shirts
Print your own designs on anything you can hang, wear or tote. It's easy. All you need are a few inexpensive materials and a sink, a lamp and an open work space.
All ages; adult supervision
Launch air rockets
Building this rocket launcher is a breeze, and folks are amazed when it shoots reusable paper rockets 200 to 300 feet high. Just pump it up with a bike pump and prepare to launch.
All ages; adult supervision
Launch potatoes
Older kids will love the see-through potato cannon. It's like the grenade launcher of any kid's arsenal. Get a view of exploding gases through the clear PVC pipe, and develop your range-finding skills by experimenting with trajectory and combustive power.
Age 12 and older; adult supervision
3-D-print your head
3-D printers are amazing devices that build up 3-D objects one layer at a time. Using free software from Autodesk, you can convert digital photos of yourself (or just about anything else) into a 3-D computer model, then print it out in solid plastic on a 3-D printer. No printer? Just send your 3-D model to a service that will print and mail it right to you.
Age 12 and older
Build cheap guitars and amplifiers
Build a great-sounding traditional cigar box guitar using mostly scrounged materials and simple woodworking skills.
Then plug it into a cracker box amp that uses a modern microchip. Requires simple soldering and about $30 in parts (not counting the Ritz crackers). Then rock out!
12 & up
Make 3-D movies
Want to make your own "Avatar"? Rig two cheap webcams side by side to record twin video streams, and then use free software to create 3-D movies in classic red-blue anaglyphic 3-D.
12 & up
short URL: makeprojects.com/project/3/2183
Cook fluorescent Kryptonite Kandy
This sweet treat glows an eerie green under ultraviolet (UV) light. The secret ingredient? Vitamin B-2! Great for Halloween or anytime.
All ages; adult supervision
Build a robot!
The Tiny Wanderer Robot is perfect for beginning roboticists. You'll learn to program a microcontroller chip and modify the robot chassis for three autonomous behaviors: line following, object avoidance and edge detection (which saves Tiny from driving off the edge of the kitchen table).
Age 12 and older
For younger kids, the BeetleBot is one of the simplest robots you can make. It avoids obstacles using only switches and motors - no programming required!
All ages; adult supervision
Julian Guthrie is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


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OBS Business School was set up in 2006 as the first 100% online business school in Spanish. It was founded along with the Planeta Group, the world leader in publishing for the Spanish-speaking market with remarkable e-learning know-how.
The online MBAs offered by OBS Business School respond to the current need for professional profiles with management specialisations. Our training offer for executives includes: Executive MBA Spanish, Executive MBA Bilingual (Spanish and English), Executive MBA English and Global MBA, which were ranked as the best programmes in the global business field by the 2015 Ranking of Online MBAs by Mundo Posgrado.
OBS Business School collaborates with over a thousand companies from a variety of sectors, and many of them have strengthened their collaborations through the "Collaborating Companies and Entities" agreement.
This relationship between OBS and the very fabric of business allows us to continuously update our academic programmes to ensure that they will respond to the diverse needs of corporations.
Students at OBS have access to the Management Digital Library, with over 13,000 volumes and subscriptions to magazines such as Times.
Together with the ISIC Association and British Council IELTS, Studyportals offers you the chance to receive up to £10000 to expand your horizon and study abroad. We want to ultimately encourage you to study abroad in order to experience and explore new countries, cultures and languages.
El mejor sin lugar a dudas.


text: Am 30.10.09 10:00, schrieb Billy Vierra: > On 10/30/2009 1:22 AM, J.H. wrote: >> I dunno, I run Apache quite successfully and I would argue I'm a high >> volume content provider. >> > Oh I am sure that you do and that you are :). However in my past > experience for static files, there tend to be better options than apache. We were not talking about static files here, but some module which generates isos on the fly. Ralph


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Recap of the IBS (International Beauty Show) in New York City
This week, I attended the prestigious International Beauty Show at the Jacob Javits Center! I hosted two sessions with over 200 stylists attending each session – it was wonderful. We talked about the importance of being knowledgeable about hair loss and hair thinning, and how to handle the taboo of it all.
Shelly was there too, whom you may remember from my youtube videos! My team made her a redhead that day – check out any of the 3 videos below:
If you're a hair stylist and you want to learn more about how to deal with customers who have balding, or thinning issues, then visit my site, lemetric.com, for regular updates on my stylist workshops!
Thanks to everyone who came out there and supported me.


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NORTH DARTMOUTH, MA-Host Keene State limited the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's softball team to five hits-all in the first game-and swept their Little East Conference doubleheader at the Owl Sports Complex Saturday. The Owls took the opener, 7-2, and won the nightcap, 10-0 in five innings, with Emily Albin pitching a no-hitter for KSC in second game.
Keene State took a 2-0- lead after two innings in the opener, and the Corsairs tied it with a pair in the third. Freshman second baseman Sam Gregoire (Dartmouth, MA/Dartmouth HS) singled home one run, and senior pitcher Brittany Eldridge (Raynham, MA/Bridgewater-Raynham HS) drove in the other. But the Owls scored three times in the fourth to take a lead that they would not relinquish. Sophomore shortstop Emily Pontes (Tewksbury, MA/Essex Agricultural Tech HS), while designated hitter Samantha Nitso had two hits and two RBIs for the Owls. Sara Stocklinski earned the victory for Keene State and improved to 9-3, while Eldridge took the loss and fell to 9-12.
In the nightcap, only two hitters reached base for UMass Dartmouth. Junior first baseman Breanna Marcyoniak (Westfield, MA/Westfield HS) walked in the fourth inning, and senior designated hitter Diane Barry (Norwood, MA/Norwood HS) was hit by a pitch in the fifth. The Owls scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning, and the game ended after five innings due to the eight-run rule. Albin improved her record to 9-3, while Eldridge took the loss again and fell to 9-13.
UMass Dartmouth dropped to 12-28 and 3-11 in the Little East Conference with the defeat, while Keene State improved to 22-7-1 and 9-3 in the Little East. The doubleheader was the final action of the season for the Corsairs.


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Peterborough Jazz Club at The Great Northern Hotel, Peterborough welcomes Greg Abate and His Quartet on Sunday.
It is a very welcome return to the club for the great American saxophonist and flautist Greg, who is on a short tour of the UK.
Greg Abate's career spans over 35 years, starting with Ray Charles and Artie Shaw bands and then following this experience Greg ventured out as post hard bop soloist playing jazz festivals and jazz clubs throughout the USA, Canada and abroad, including most of Europe, Moscow and Georgia.
In 1991, Greg recorded his first CD as leader 'Live at Birdland', New York and has gone on to record over 15 CDs under his own name, the last with the great altoist Phil Woods.
In addition to his playing, Greg is a highly respected teacher, being associate Professor of Jazz Studies at Rhode Island College and is also a composer of many great tunes.
Backing Greg Abate is the superb young pianist John Turville, with highly regarded Dave Whitford (double bass) and Nick Smalley on drums.
Music starts at 7.30pm Tickets £14 at the door


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The Detroit Tigers brought this upon themselves months ago when they didn't seriously shop for a new bullpen. There are about a million guys playing in the majors these days who carry the tag "middle relievers" and an entire platoon of them strut around with earned run averages in the 1.00s.
None of them play for Detroit, however. It is impossible to win a World Series championship these days without a lights-out closer. The Tigers don't have one. Even worse, they don't have reliable middle men to get the ball to a closer.
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That's why the Baltimore Orioles (who realistically may be a team of destiny, anyway) swiped two games from Detroit in the best-of-five American League Division Series Thursday and Friday. Although they would like to think it, the 48,000-or-so orange-clad fans at Oriole Park-at-Camden Yards didn't win the game on their own.
Everyone on earth who follows baseball knows the Tigers have tremendous starting pitching to accompany their great hitting as a side dish, but those same people all know (though apparently not president and general manager Dave Dombrowski and manager Brad Ausmus) that the bullpen is useless.
A lot of the concern during the regular season was about whether closer Joe Nathan could handle the pressure in the post-season. But Nathan was not to blame in either loss since he didn't get a sniff of the ball.
Someone please send Ausmus a telegram and inform him that Max Scherzer, 18-5, won the Cy Young Award last year and that Justin Verlander has also won it. Since everyone knows that nobody in the Detroit bullpen can live up to them, why yank them out so quickly. All of the damage in both losses, the 12-3 wipeout Thursday, and the 7-6 killer Friday, occurred after both hurlers had been exiled from the game.
Why so early?
Ausmus is a rookie manager and maybe not brave enough to break the current-day mold of quick hooks. Still, Scherzer was not imploding. He was at-risk, granted. Perhaps. Same thing with Verlander. He wasn't getting batted around the ball park.
Alas, Jaba Chamberlain was involved in the carnage both nights and so far this post-season his ERA is 108.00. No exaggeration.
Months ago the Tigers did seek a new closer. They were on the telephone just before Jonathan Papelbon asked Philadelphia Phillies' management to set him free. Did Detroit even ask about Papelbon?
Rather than go after the premium model, the Tigers brought home a discount brand in Joakim Soria, who only has an ERA of 45.00 after taking Friday's loss.
Orioles in control
The Tigers are still feared hitters and they have excellent starting pitching, but if you get to them by the sixth, they are going to be dead.
Baltimore, playing like it belongs after capturing the AL East Division, is playing with a lot of confidence, and patience. Maybe the Tigers will pick off a game Sunday, but this series is playing out exactly how the Orioles wanted it to and they are in command.


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So the week of 4-19 I was at an owner's house taking some paint off a chain link fence that I had accidentally over-sprayed on to it while painting some of the interior doors. Now mind you this house is in a subdivision and surrounded by a built environment and not out in some wooded area. There were several brushy, viney, planty growths on the fence that I took no mind of when I decided to wire brush the fence. Well I should have thought twice about my actions and attitude because the largest plant with no leaves turn out to be a large poison ivy vine. I spent at least an hour to an hour and a half working on the fence while in the mean time being touch and slapped in the face by the vine. Then I went home and worked the rest of the time on the fence posts for our chicken coop yard and as luck would have it decided not to wash my hands or shower all day except for at meals where I quickly washed my hands.
Saturday came around and I noticed my eye itched and I had a small itch on my arm but I didn't think much about it. Later Sat night I felt terrible, my throat felt swollen, I had the shivers, was dizzy, nauseous and just felt terrible. I called my parents to talk with them to see if they had any thoughts on what it could be since mom has some previous EMT training and both mom and dad have experience with blood sugar issues. After talking with them a while it was decided that I should eat an apple and go to bed to see if it was low blood sugar. When I woke up Sunday morning it was obvious that I had a larger case of poison ivy than I thought. My eye was swelling shut and areas with other rashes were starting to swell up as well. I skipped church and stayed home to soak in the tub and then nap which helped a little.
Once the family got home I went to Walgreen to get something for the itch, the pharmacists recommended I go to a family doctor to get a steroid shot. However we don't have a family doctor and didn't know of any place to go that wouldn't treat it as urgent care which costs us $100 instead of $30 on our insurance. Finally after some research I found a St Mercy's clinic in Washington MO that does both urgent and casual care visits at the same office. I went to the office and was given a steroid shot and a prescription for Prednisone to keep the ivy rash at bay. On the way home all the surface rashes went down and my eye unswelled and I got my prescription at Walgreen feeling pretty good. The rest of the day past uneventfully and at the end of the day I could see why I had such a bad night on Sat. Both my forearms, part of my biceps, some of my inner thigh and left side of my face were covered in red rashes where I should have been oozing out poison ivy gunk.
It has been over a week now since the incident and I am mostly better, a couple of days ago the Prednisone really started messing with me, I wasn't digesting well and I was starting to have anxiety and depression attacks at night. On Monday the 29th I decided to stop taking the Prednisone and I have felt better ever since. My throat still swells when I get real tired and am under hydrated but I am hoping that will pass in a few more days. Normally I recover from this in a month, but hopefully I will be fully functional again in a total of 2 or 3 weeks. Now I just have to wash everything and stay away from anything may looks remotely like poison ivy!
Two Sun-soaked Tombstones
5 weeks ago


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Toro's Multicycler is a green machine - that's red
Toro can't get away from their trademark red even when their new Mutlicycler range of push mowers is so - green.
The green mower is based on its revolutionary recycler technology that chops the grass blades into tiny particles and then returns it deep into the lawn, hidden from view. Now, this isn't the first mower that's mulched lawns with its own cuttings but it is the first mower that can achieve this without the unsightly two-day old brown clippings.
Toro claims that these cuttings are not seen and as they're fed back to the root source, they mulch the grass and decrease the lawns need for watering.
The Multicycler range, due out before Easter in the UK, has three models each sporting a not-so-green 190cc Briggs & Stratton petrol engine and a sturdy 48cm (19in) cutting deck. And while most operators will choose to use the recyler option it's good to know that you also have the ability to beg your clippings if you desire.
Selling for GBP399 including VAT for the base model, they're not the cheapest lawn mowing option. However, with the environmental benefits and the structural quality we've come to expect of Toro they're still a good deal.
Source: PR NewsWire