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Uncle Drew is back! The popular character played by Cleveland Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving has a new nemesis in the latest installment of the Pepsi commercial, Walt, another old timer player by Ray Allen.
Irving who writes and directs the commercials had the following to say about his visionary series:
"Uncle Drew has been on ice for the last year and a half. I'm excited to bring him back."
"It's awesome to get to chapter four. I just love every time when fans get to discover who else will join me. I surround myself with great people and love the freedom to come up with a new vision."
This latest commercial begins with Uncle Drew working out with his voice. It then cuts to three old guys – Uncle Drew, Louis (played by former NBA star Baron Davis) and Angelo (played by actor JB Smoove) — playing dominoes and talking hoops. Uncle Drew then finds out Walt is in town, and they head to a local outdoor basketball court for the ultimate showdown.
The Uncle Drew commercials are popular and have over 54 million YouTube views.
"When you're a kid and seeing these spots being done, you want to be a part of it," Irving said. "It's something I enjoy and want to continue to do moving forward for a long time.
"It is definitely fun. You have to have the right kind of people doing it because you have to get outside the limitations of yourself and you have to be uncomfortable at times. When people get uncomfortable on cameras, that's sometimes when the best moments come out."


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A great number of people choose to live their entire life without exploring their real area of excellence. The lack of clarity in the goal, ignorance in the right strategy and all the fears that come in exploring the unexplored, force people to live a 'safe' life. In doing so, they end up living an unbalanced and unfulfilled life causing damage to themselves and, sometimes, to those around them as well. But some move away from this conformity and try to make things big. This is for those who are determined to reach somewhere doing something meaningful for thems and feel successful but don't know WHAT and HOW. He coaches, mentors and guides people through personal sessions:
He trains CEOs and managers
On the trail of success many companies struggle to make it, some fears to lose it and some fail to feel it even after several achievements. Success of a business is marked by how loyal the internal and external public is along with the financial excellence. For many businesses 'trust' from where loyalty emerges is a daunting question. Jaison offers his expertise to those businesses that are looking for successful running over a long period of time with loyal customers and healthy working conditions. He introduces the 'reverse order' in business that results in better revenue. The sessions help to
A good communication is an inevitable quality for any leader to share, guide and inspire his supporters and to keep a strong bond with them. Jaison is a marketing communication specialist, speech writer, content developer and public speaking trainer for actors, CEOs, Marketing vice- presidents of luxury brands, architects, artists, trainers etc across US, France, Belgium, Mauritius, India etc. Sessions are offered to improve
To help people succeed in living an organised and fulfilling life and together make the world better' is the ultimate goal of Jaison.
Through personal coaching sessions he guides individuals to identify their passion, train them to overcome the different difficulties and find the best strategies to get to the aims and feel fulfilled.
He mentors aspiring entrepreneurs, CEOs and managers to be real leaders and guides their businesses. He helps businesses to define their vision, measure their actions and evaluate the communications to ensure that it is heading towards the destination. He is a TED speech writer and a trainer for public speaking. He is an advocate of powerful speaking and conscious listening to spread the message effectively and efficiently to maximise the result and minimise ambiguity. His method is simple, organic and harmonic. He has done a Post Graduate Diploma in Mass Communications from London Metropolitan University after his BA in English with Journalism.He believes that education is a continuous process marked by growth. He regularly learns new methods and tools to help people and businesses to succeed.
He is inspired by the works of Sir Ken Robinson, Simon Sinek, Julian Treasure, Simon Anholt, Dr. Susan Jeffers, Robert T. Kiyosaki and many others.
Today Jaison is an International Personal Coach, Business Consultant and Communication Specialist with clients from America, Europe, Africa and India. He works between India and Europe.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
September 1-3, 2017
Georgia State Championships
Players Billiards
Columbus, GA
February 15-18, 2018
Idaho State Championships
Elk's Lodge
Idaho Falls, ID
February 15-19, 2018
Ontario 8-Ball Championships
Holiday Inn
Sarnia, Ontario
February 16-18, 2018
Carolina State
Breaktime Billiards
Wilmington, NC
March 7-11, 2018
La Crosse Center
La Crosse, WI
May 5-6, 2018
Michigan State Juniors
Game On Sportsbar
Jackson, MI
November 9-11, 2018
Rocky Mountain Singles
Red Lion Hotel (previously Radisson)
Cheyenne, WY
November 16-18, 2018
Wyoming State 9-Ball
Ramada Inn
Casper, WY
November 17-18, 2018
8-Ball Rumble
Partners Billiards & Bowling
North Bay, Ontario
January 24-27, 2019
MOMA State
Canterbury Park
Shakopee, MN
February 7-10, 2019
Rocky Mountain Team
Greeley, CO
February 13-18, 2019
River Cree Resort and Casino
Edmonton, Alberta
February 20-24, 2019
Eastern Ontario 8-Ball Championships
Clarion Resort Pinewood Park
March 6-10, 2019
Iowa State
5 Sullivan Brothers Convention Center
Waterloo, IA
South Dakota State 8-Ball
Rushmore Plaza Civic Center
Rapid City, SD
March 7-10, 2019
Pennsylvania State
Erie Bayfront Convention Center
Erie, PA
Quebec Invitational
Convention Center of Levis
Quebec, Canada
March 13-17, 2019
Wyoming State 8-Ball
Events Center
March 27-31, 2019
IAMOA Indiana State
Wyndham Indianapolis West
Indianapolis, IN
April 11-14, 2019
MCMOA Montana State
Red Lion Hotel
Billings, MT
April 24-28, 2019
Michigan State
Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort
Mt. Pleasant, MI
May 2-5, 2019
OCMA State Team
Canton Memorial Civic Center
Canton, OH
November 7-10, 2019
Bernie Russell Memorial Pool Tr.
Grand Lucayan Ballroom
Freeport, Grand Bahama
Site Map
Printable View
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text:
I just discovered another great YouTube channel for low carb recipes: http://www.youtube.com/user/fidgetforfitness
I notice she uses soy flour which I cannot use at all, but I'm sure I can find a substitute. Her recipes look yummy! Can't wait to try some. I have a back log of recipes I am wanting to try!


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Call us
Call Today! Portland 517-647-4045
Ionia 616-775-5290
Divine Auto Body Inc. has been serving Michigan customers since 1998. We opened our second location in Ionia in 2013 to better serve our customers. Our facilities feature modern, high-tech equipment, a highly-trained and certified staff, and a clean, customer friendly environment. From the inviting, friendly reception area to the spotless back shop, you will see why our customers continue to return to us for their collision repair needs.
Your vehicle will be professionally restored to pre-accident condition, as well as cleaned before it is returned to you. Our knowledgeable, professional staff is ready to answer your questions and to help guide you through the collision repair process.
We are continuing our commitment to being a responsible member of our community by converting to Sikkens Autowave Waterborne Paint.
Protection of our environment is everyone's responsibility and we are doing our part by converting from petroleum-based paint to environmentally friendly water-based paint. This will greatly reduce VOC emissions and produce remarkable results all while using the same paint systems that are used at the factory.
At Divine Auto Body Inc., we recycle ALL of our used materials. Per year, we recycle 25 tons of sheet metal; 7,000 lbs. of aluminum; approximately 45,000 lbs. of cardboard; approximately 4,000 lbs. of plastic; more than 100 gallons of anti-freeze; and more than 200 gallons of used oil. These materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash can be turned into new products. We do all this to ensure that you, your family, and our community all have a safer and cleaner environment.


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We will be at the Thursday Night Farm to Fork Market in Owego NY tonight from 4 to 7PM.
We still have big beautiful, juicy blueberries
Intense, fresh garlic
And a few cocozelle type zucchini – some regular too!
Also beautiful rainbow chard, Adirondack All-Red Potatoes, Jade Green Beans, and whatever else looks ready by the time we leave.
Also at the market tonight: Bluegrass music from Triton Trio, offerings from local restaurants and some fun kid activities. See you there!


text:
Private lushly landscaped property on cul-de-sac. This one level home features an open floor plan with 9-foot ceilings and plantation shutters throughout. Large great room with fireplace and luxurious hardwoods with attached library with wall of shelving and cathedral ceiling. The entertaining dining room features a treyed ceiling and arched windows. Great kitchen with eat at counter and breakfast area. The large master suite features a built in study with custom built in bookshelves. The other large bedrooms share a full bath. Thereâs even a sunroom that overlooks the fantastic backyard with large Koi pond with tranquil waterfall. Large 2 car main level garage and storage area in unfinished crawlspace. A must see!
Single Family, 1 Story
2 Full/1 Half
0.6 Acres
Public Water Service
Sewer Connected
2,246 sq. ft
Yes - 2 spaces
Old Mill Run
School Information
Detailed Room Information
- Bedroom(s)
- Master BR with Closet, Split Plan, Walk-In Closet
- Laundry
- Hookups in Laundry Room
- Kitchen
- Breakfast Bar, Eat-In Kitchen, Butler Pantry
- Bath Description
- Garden Tub, Linen Closet, Full Bath, Master Bedroom Bath
Interior Features
- Appliances
- Central Heat, Gas Range/Cooktop, Dishwasher, Microwave Built-In, Electric Oven, Refrigerator
- Flooring
- Hardwood, Tile, Vinyl, Carpet
- Cooling
- Central Air, Electric, Ceiling Fan(s)
- Heating
- Gas Heat. Forced Air.
- Doors/Windows
- Double Pane, Storm Door, Bay Window(s)
- Fireplaces
- 1. Gas Starter, Marble, Great Room, Gas Burning.
- Security
- Security System
- Additional Interior Features
- Pull Down Attic Stairs, Attic Storage, Cathedral/vaulted Ceiling, Crown Molding, Smooth Ceiling
Exterior / Lot Features
- Parking
- 2 Garage Spaces.
- Patio
- Deck, Screened Porch, Patio
- Sprinkler
- Sprinkler System
- Additional Exterior/Lot Features
- Curb & Gutter. Cul-De-Sac, Subdivision, Paved Road, Public Roads, Wooded.
Financial Considerations
School Rating Out of 10
|Public Schools
|Private Schools
Data Provided by GreatSchools.org
Walk Score measures the walkability of any address, Transit Score measures access to public transit on a scale of 1-100.
Walk Score
Transit Score
Active Market Trends
Source: MLS DATA
Median list price
Days On Market
Properties For Sale
Sold Market Trends
Source: MLS DATA
Median sold price
Sales-List Price
Properties sold
Median Sq. Ft. Price
Arrows indicate 90 day trend
Source: Birmingham Area Assoc of Realtors


text:
10 Verses About Health
+ Proverbs 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
+ 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
+ Jeremiah 33:6 Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security.
+ 1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
+ Exodus 23:25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.
+ Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.
+ Proverbs 25:27 It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory.
+ Proverbs 3:1-2 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.
+ Matthew 4:4 But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
+ Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.


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Refine Your Search
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- Inclusions Features
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Manufacturers Apollo Ball Valves ASTM B16/B283 C37700 Chrome Plated Brass
Apollo Ball Valves
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Please fill out our non-stock/special order form and we'll get right back to you. Thanks!


text:
I Was Framed – "Texas Fugitive From Justice"
California State Civil Code protects those with a criminal record making a flight to California potentially advantageous for those with criminal history. Texans are not yet added to the California Endangered Species List but ex-convicts and others with a criminal history are protected by its forgiving state laws.
This comic strip "I Was Framed – Texas Fugitive From Justice" highlights the risks to employers in hiring a California resident and the advantages to procuring a residential address (even if on the couch) in Cali.
Please note this Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and any information in this blog post is not meant as legal advice. This article is not meant to act as or take the place of a professional legal consultation.
If you are an employer hiring on LinkedIn or if you hire remote, Employer Beware. Some candidates are riskier to hire than others because some states protect what can be reported on an employment background check. These states leave you in the dark with all the risk (even if your company does not have an office in the State.)
In an earlier post we framed the issue with California State law by using Charles Manson as an example. Charles Manson was up for parole April 2012. If he were released today his commercial background check report would be CLEAR. Steve Grogan, part of the Manson family and convicted of murder, was paroled in 1985; His background report will not list the murder either.
If you are shocked, we are not surprised.
Although the FCRA allows a criminal conviction to be reported indefinitely, the California Civil Code Civil Code §1786.18(b)(7) states the following:
"1786.18. (b), an investigative consumer reporting agency may not make or furnish any
investigative consumer report containing any of the following items of information:
(7) Records of arrest, indictment, information, misdemeanor complaint, or conviction of a crime that, from the date of disposition, release, or parole, antedate the report by more than seven years. …"
Manson and Grogan are California residents. The date of disposition means the date of conviction. Manson was convicted in 1971. Once 7 years passes from the conviction date, the case is no longer listed on their background report….Yes, even if they spent the last 7 years in Prison for a Felony.
So if you attempt to background check anyone with CLAIMED California address, your background check report may not be telling you the whole story on the candidate's background. Even if the candidate is not a permanent resident of the State and just claims a current residential address on the release form, your background check company has to abide by the reporting limitations of the California law.
If you have any hiring story nightmares related to this subject, we want to hear from you.
Some states like California limit the time a criminal case can be reported even if the crime is a Felony Murder.
When hiring remote and sight unseen, be aware you may not be getting the whole criminal history on a background check report [because the State Law may supersede the Federal law.]
I Was Framed : Episode 1 – "Identity Theft"
I Was Framed : Episode 2 – "Seven Year Background Check"
I Was Framed : Episode 3 – "Already in Prison"
I Was Framed : Episode 4 – "Jon Smith"
I Was Framed : Episode 5 – "Good News, Bad News"
I Was Framed : Episode 6 – "Career Criminal"
I Was Framed : Episode 7 – "Burn Pile"
I Was Framed : Episode 8 – "Dispute"
I Was Framed : Episode 9 – "Twisted Truth"
I Was Framed: Episode 10 – "Consultant Background Check"
I Was Framed: Episode 11 – "Hair Analysis"
I Was Framed: Episode 12 – "Face Lift, Fake Identity and Fingerprints"
I Was Framed: Episode 13 – "Rental Car Return Fugitive"


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Get ready to worship. Hot and heavenly American Gods on Starz is about to convert us all.
If a holy war between deities isn't thrilling enough, the all-star cast of Ian McShane (Deadwood), Ricky Whittle (The 100), Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) and Orlando Jones (Sleepy Hollow) will have you swooning.
The series adapts the novel from Neil Gaiman, exploring the brewing war between old and new gods, vying for the worship of millions of modern humans.
Whittle is Shadow Moon (not a god), an ex-con released early from prison after the death of his wife, Laura (Browning).
During his journey home, Shadow meets Mr. Wednesday (McShane), an older con man who hires Shadow as an assistant. Shadow soon realizes the jobs Mr. Wednesday has him do are more of an otherworldly nature. Divine, even.
Mr. Wednesday is a humanized Odin, the Norse god of war, who aims to wage an epic holy one between the old gods and the new. He has lived long enough to see his followers forget him and turn to new gods of progress, media and technology.
Shadow's journey with Mr. Wednesday evolves into a road trip through the heart of Americana, gathering old gods for the coming battle. They run into the least-stereotypical leprechaun (Pablo Schreiber, Orange Is the New Black); goddesses guarding from terrors in the stars; the original goddess of springtime (Kristin Chenoweth); and a bloody brute that's an ancient Slavic god.
Sprinkled between scenes of their cross-country trek are flashbacks of the old gods' journeys to America. The premiere begins with Odin's arrival amid a crew of beached Vikings slaughtering one another. Later, Jones debuts as the swaggering trickster god Anansi, who incites a fiery riot aboard a slave ship in 1697.
And though we don't see the Queen of Sheba's arrival in America, her iteration Bilquis (Yetide Badaki) is the sultry goddess of love who literally consumes her conquests with her nether regions. You'll want to pour a glass of wine for the scene that will be one of the most talked about of the year.
Mr. Wednesday's travels with Shadow don't go unnoticed. Shadow is bombarded by Media (Gillian Anderson), a new goddess who lives off binge-watchers, pop culture gluttons and social media hounds. The screen is her altar, and she has plenty of believers.
She tries to win Shadow over with sweet persuasion, but Technical Boy (Bruce Langley) takes a bloodier route when he kidnaps Shadow into his pixelated stretch limo. Technical Boy is the embodiment of our culture's obsession with technology. He's a punk who vapes and can think and respond just as fast as the highest-speed internet. His cronies are modernized droogs a la A Clockwork Orange.
On the surface, American Gods is a saturated trippy dreamscape that explores both sides of a brewing battle between deities. It's anyone's guess who has the upper hand.
What's most striking about the show is the cinematography. The series hails from Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) and Michael Green (Logan), veterans at creating beautiful gore.
The show is baptized in blood, starting with Vikings cleaving each other in half and a stunningly beautiful wall of the red stuff during the slaughter of Technical Boy's faceless bezoomny brats.
The rest of the series is blanketed in highly saturated color. The show moves across the wide-open landscape of middle America, zeroing in on road kill and rank, small-town motels, then onto Bilquis' red-drenched love palace and the hazy home of Slavic gods Czernobog (Peter Stormare) and the Zorya sisters (Cloris Leachman, Erika Kaar and Martha Kelly).
On a deeper level, the story represents society's complex notions of religion and culture, old gods clashing with the new just as traditional values and forms of belief conflict with modern norms.
Being converted to American Gods comes with plenty of blood and blasphemy, sex and symbolism, coin trick and chaos. It's an intriguing slow burn that hints of something grander and even bloodier yet to come.
Amen to that.
Contact Chelsea Tatham at [email protected] Follow @chelseatatham.


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Hello – we're Sales Engine, the UK's leading bid, sales and contract
support experts. We work alongside organisations of all sizes across
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Equally the management of the complexities of the contract once it us
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Whatever the challenge, Sales Engine is on hand to help. Our team of
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hand to shoulder some of the burden but also to make sure it all comes
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No matter what the size of the bid or business, we're here to ensure your
next bid, contract or pitch is as successful and efficient as possible...


text:
Pages 153-157
Journal of the House of Lords Volume 24, 1732-1737. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1767-1830.
This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.
In this section
June 1732
DIE Jovis, 1o Junii.
Domini tam Spirituales quam Temporales præsentes fuerunt:
Fredericus Princeps Walliæ.
Vernon & al. against Ld. Mayor of Dublin:
The House being informed, "That William McCausland attended, in order to deliver in several Pleadings and Proceedings, in the Cause wherein John Vernon Esquire and others are Appellants, and the Lord Mayor of Dublin and others are Respondents:"
Pleadings proved.
He was called in; and delivered, at the Bar, the said Pleadings and Proceedings; and attested upon Oath, "The same were true Copies, he having examined them with the Originals, in the proper Offices in Ireland."
And then he was directed to withdraw.
Sankey against Graham & al.
Also, John Bland attending, in order to deliver in several Pleadings and Proceedings, in the Cause wherein Margaret Sankey Widow is Appellant, and Sarah Graham and others are Respondents:
Pleadings proved.
He was called in; and delivered, upon Oath, the said Pleadings and Proceedings; and made the like Attestation.
And then he withdrew.
Conference on the Bankrupta Bill.
A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by Mr. Cornwallis and others:
To desire a Conference with this House, upon the Subject matter of the last Conference.
To which the House agreed.
And the Messengers were called in; and told, "That the Lords do agree to a Conference, as desired; and appoint it presently, in the Painted Chamber."
Then the Lords following were named Managers of the Conference; (videlicet,)
The House being informed, "That the Commons were ready for the Conference, in the Painted Chamber:"
The Managers Names were called over.
And the House was adjourned during Pleasure; and the Lords went to the Conference.
Which being ended, the House was resumed.
Commons agree to the Lords Amendment to the Bill.
And the Duke of Bridgewater reported, "That the Lords had met the Managers for the Commons, at the Conference; who delivered back the Bill to prevent the committing of Frauds by Bankrupts, with the Amendments; and acquainted the Managers for this House, That the Commons did not insist on their Disagreement to One of their Lordships Amendments to the said Bill."
Declaration as to the hearing of Causes next Session.
The House being moved, "To declare, that they will proceed to hear the several Causes which were appointed to be heard this Session, at the Beginning of the next Session of Parliament, immediately after that wherein Thomas Lord Bishop of Ely is Plaintiff, and Doctor Bentley Defendant:"
The same was agreed to accordingly.
Blackwood's Appeal rejected.
The Earl of Ilay reported from the Lords Committees appointed to consider of the Appeal of Robert Blackwood Esquire, presented to this House Yesterday: "That they had considered the same accordingly; and that the Committee are of Opinion, the said Appeal, by the Standing Orders of the House, cannot be received:"
Ordered, That the said Appeal be rejected.
Message from H. C. to return the Bill for Commissioners to determine Claims on the Charitable Corporation.
A Message was brought from the House of Commons, by the Lord Limerick and others:
To return the Bill, intituled, "An Act for appointing Commissioners, for taking, stating, and determining, all the Claims and Demands of the Creditors of the Charitable Corporation for Relief of industrious Poor, by assisting them with small Sums upon Pledges, at legal Interest, and of all Persons claiming any Share or Interest in the Stock or Fund of the said Corporation; and for enabling the said Corporation to name One Person to be an Assignee under the respective Commissions of Bankruptcy awarded against George Robinson and John Thomson; and for enabling the Commissioners acting under the said Commissions of Bankruptcy to proceed, and inquire of the Estates, Goods, and Effects, of the said Bankrupts, and to apply the same; and to oblige John Thomson, Father of the said John Thomson the Bankrupt, to appear before the said Commissioners of Bankruptey in England;" and to acquaint this House, that they have agreed to their Lordships Amendments made thereto.
The House was adjourned during Pleasure, to robe.
The House was resumed.
King present:
His Majesty, being seated on His Royal Throne, adorned with His Crown and Regal Ornaments, and attended with His Officers of State; the Prince of Wales, in his Robes, sitting in his Place on His Majesty's Right Hand; the Lords being also in their Robes; commanded the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod to let the Commons know, "It is His Majesty's Pleasure, they attend Him immediately, in this House."
Who being come, with their Speaker; He, after a Speech to His Majesty, in relation to some of the Bills ready to be passed, delivered the Bill touching the further Application of the Sinking Fund to the Clerk; who brought it to the Table; where the Clerk of the Crown read the Title of that, and the Titles of the several other Bills ready for the Royal Assent, as follow:
Bills passed.
"1. An Act for the further Application of the Sinking Fund, by paying off One Million of South Sea Stock; and for appropriating the Supplies granted in this Session of Parliament; and for making forth Duplicates of Exchequer Bills, Lottery Tickets, and Orders, lost, burnt, or otherwise destroyed."
To this Bill the Royal Assent was pronounced, in these Words; (videlicet,)
"Le Roy remercie ses bons Sujets, accepte leur Benevolence, et ainsi le veult."
"2. An additional Act for the Encouragement of the Woollen Manufactures of this Kingdom, by the more effectual preventing the unlawful Exportation of the Woollen Manufactures of the Kingdom of Ireland to Foreign Parts."
"3. An Act for amending and making more effectual an Act made in the First Year of the Reign of King James the Second, intituled, An additional Act for the Improvement of Tillage."
"4. An Act for encouraging the Growth of Coffee in His Majesty's Plantations in America."
"5. An Act to explain, amend, and render more effectual, an Act passed in the First Year of His present Majesty's Reign, intituled, An Act for punishing such Persons as shall wilfully and maliciously pull down or destroy Turnpikes for repairing Highways, or Locks, or other Works erected by Authority of Parliament, for making Rivers navigable."
"6. An Act for reviving an Act made in the Fifth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the First, intituled, An Act for the better securing the lawful Trade of His Majesty's Subjects to and from The East Indies; and for the more effectual preventing all His Majesty's Subjects trading thither under Foreign Commissions."
"7. An Act for encouraging the Greenland Fishery."
"8. An Act for the better Regulation and Government of Pilots licensed by the Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, in the County of Kent; and to prevent Mischiefs and Annoyances upon the River of Thames, below London Bridge."
"9. An Act for the further Qualification of Justices of the Peace."
"10. An Act to oblige the Justices of the Peace, at their General or Quarter Sessions, to determine Appeals made to them, according to the Merits of the Case, notwithstanding Defects of Form in the original Proceedings; and to oblige Persons suing forth Writs of Certiorari, to remove Orders made on such Appeals into His Majesty's Court of King's Bench, to give Security to prosecute the same with Effect."
"11. An Act for making Process in Courts of Equity effectual, against Persons who abscond, and cannot be served therewith, or who refuse to appear."
"12. An Act for making void the several Contracts for Sale of the Estate of James late Earl of Derwentwater to William Smith Esquire; and also of the Annuity of Two Hundred Pounds, during the Life of Charles Radcliffe, and the Arrears thereof, to Mathew White Esquire, and the several Conveyances made in Pursuance of the same."
"13. An Act to restrain Sir Robert Sutton Knight of the Bath, Sir Archibald Grant Baronet, Denis Bond, William Burroughs, Esquires, Richard Woolley, and Thomas Warren, from going out of this Kingdom, for the Space of One Year, and until the End of the then next Session of Parliament; and for discovering their Estates and Effects, and to prevent the transporting or alienating the same; and to oblige William Squire to surrender himself, at a Time and Place mentioned in the Act, and to give Security for his not going out of this Kingdom for the Space of One Year, and until the End of the then next Session of Parliament; and for discovering his Estate and Effects, and to prevent the transporting or alienating the same; and for committing the aforesaid William Burroughs to the Prison of The Fleet, until he shall have complied with the Directions of this Act."
"14. An Act for appointing Commissioners, for taking, stating, and determining, all the Claims and Demands of the Creditors of the Charitable Corporation for Relief of industrious Poor, by assisting them with small Sums upon Pledges, at legal Interest; and of all Persons claiming any Share or Interest in the Stock or Fund of the said Corporation; and for enabling the said Corporation to name One Person to be an Assignee under the respective Commissions of Bankruptcy awarded against George Robinson and John Thomson; and for enabling the Commissioners acting under the said Commissions of Bankruptcy to proceeed, and inquire of the Estates, Goods, and Effects, of the said Bankrupts, and to apply the same; and to oblige John Thomson, Father of the said John Thomson the Bankrupt, to appear before the said Commissioners of Bankruptcy in England."
"15. An Act to explain, amend, and render more effectual, an Act made in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the First, intituled, An Act to prevent frivolous and vexatious Arrests."
"16. An Act to prevent the committing of Frauds by Bankrupts."
"17. An Act to prevent the Exportation of Hats out of any of His Majesty's Colonies or Plantations in America; and to restrain the Number of Apprentices taken by the Hatmakers in the said Colonies or Plantations; and for the better encouraging the making of Hats in Great Britain."
"18. An Act for the better and more easy re-building of the Town of Blandford Forum, in the County of Dorset; and for determining Differences touching Houses and Buildings burnt down or demolished by reason of the late dreadful Fire there."
"19. An Act for the better and more easy re-building of the Town of Tiverton, in the County of Devon; and for determining Differences touching Houses and Buildings burnt down or demolished by reason of the late dreadful Fire there; and for the better preventing Dangers from Fire for the future."
"20. An Act for repairing and amending the Road leading from the Town of Manchester, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, through the Town of Ashton under Line, and the Parish of Mottram Longdendale; and from thence to Salter's Brook, in the County Palatine of Chester."
"21. An Act for the effectual repairing the Highways between Dunstable and Hockcliffe, in the County of Bedford, by enlarging the Term and Powers granted by Two former Acts, One of the Ninth, and the other of the Twelfth, Year of the Reign of Her late Majesty Queen Anne."
"22. An Act to enlarge the Pier and Harbour of Scarborough, in the County of York."
"23. An Act for enlarging the Term granted by an Act made in the Eleventh Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the First, for re-building the Pier and Harbour of Parton, in the County of Cumberland."
"24. An Act for rendering more effectual an Act passed in the Thirteenth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the First, intituled, "An Act for improving the Navigation of the River Ouze, in the County of York."
To these Bills the Royal Assent was pronounced, severally, in these Words; (videlicet,)
"Le Roy le veult."
"25. An Act for vesting the Conduits, Springs, and Waters, in Hyde Park, in Trustees, for the Benefit of His Majesty."
"26. An Act for the Exchange of the Right of Presentation to the Rectory of Wimborne Allhallowes and Vicarage of Loders, in the County of Dorset; and for uniting the Rectories and Parishes of Wimborne St. Giles and Wimborne Allhallowes."
"27. An Act for enlarging the Church yard of the Parish of Paddington, in the County of Middlesex."
"28. An Act for enabling Richard Lord Viscount Molesworth and his Brothers to make Leases for Lives, or Years determinable upon Lives, renewable for ever, or to make Grants in Fee Farm, of a Piece of Ground in the City of Dublin."
"29. An Act for Sale of certain Manors, Woods, Wood-lands, and other Lands and Hereditaments, in the Counties of Bucks, Hertford, and Bedford, Part of the Estate of Sir William Stanhope Knight of the Bath; and for settling other Lands, in the County of Warwick, of greater Yearly Value, to the same Uses; and for other Purposes therein mentioned."
"30. An Act for making effectual an Agreement between Sir Ralph Hare and his Brothers, for raising Money upon Part of his entailed Estate; and for settling other Lands, not entailed, of greater Value, in Lieu thereof."
"31. An Act to empower Sir Robert Furnese Baronet to transfer and pay unto Richard Edgecumbe Esquire certain Government Securities and Money therein mentioned; and for settling Lands, of equal Value, upon the same Trusts."
"32. An Act for Sale of Part of the Estate of Sir William Gerard Baronet, a Lunatic, for Payment of his Debts, and other Purposes therein mentioned."
"33. An Act for vesting Part of the Estate of John Lambe Esquire in Trustees, for raising Money, to discharge several Mortgages and other Debts and Incumbrances therein-mentioned."
"34. An Act for making Leases of the Estate late of Thomas Strangeways Esquire, and Elizabeth late Dutchess of Hamilton his Sister (both deceased); and for applying the Money arising thereby, for the Purposes therein mentioned."
"35. An Act for Sale of the Estate of Thomas Mitchell deceased, lying in the County of Warwick, for Payment of the Debts charged thereupon; and for making Provision for his Widow and Infant Children."
"36. An Act for raising Money, out of the Estate late of Surtees Swinburne Esquire, deceased, for compounding and paying the Portions charged thereon to his Younger Sons William and Robert Swinburne; and for paying the Debts of Cuthbert Swinburne Esquire, deceased."
"37. An Act for Sale of the Real Estate late of Robert Abbott Esquire, deceased, for discharging his Debts and Incumbrances; and for making a Provision for his Widow and only Son."
"38. An Act for rectifying some Mistakes in a Settlement made by John Congreve Esquire; and vesting his Seat and Estate in Stretton, in the County of Stafford, in Trustees, to be sold, for the better clearing his Debts, for which his Eldest Son stands engaged; and purchasing another Estate, more suitable to the Occasions of his Family, to be settled in Lieu thereof."
"39. An Act for vesting certain Lands and Estates, in the Counties of Stafford, Leicester, Rutland, and Northampton, late the Estates of Sir Eusebius Buswell Baronet, deceased, in Trustees, to be sold, for the Payment of his Debts."
"40. An Act for exchanging of certain Lands, between Henry Bromley Esquire, and the Master, Fellows, and Scholars, of Pembroke Hall, in the University of Cambridge."
"41. An Act to establish and confirm an Agreement made between John West Esquire, on the Behalf of his Daughters Mary West and Frances West, Infants, Sir Francis Vyvyan Baronet, and Mary Erisey; and to render the same effectual."
"42. An Act for charging the settled Estate of John Francis Clerk with the Payment of his Father's Debts and Legacies; and for settling another Estate, of greater Value, to the Uses of his Marriage Settlement."
"43. An Act for vesting Two undivided Fourth Parts of the Manor of Greatham; and of other Lands and Hereditaments, in the County of Sussex, the Estate of Barbara Mill and Frances Mill, Spinsters, in Trustees, to enable them to join in the Sale of the said entire Manor, Lands, and Hereditaments, for raising Portions for them and their Two Sisters."
"44. An Act for selling Part of the Estate of Joseph Gace Esquire, for discharging several Debts and Incumbrances affecting the same."
"45. An Act for Sale of the Estate of Sir William Morice Baronet, in Padstow, in the County of Cornwall; and for settling another Estate, of better Value, to the same Uses, in Lieu thereof."
"46. An Act to vest in Mary Hall Widow certain Copyhold Lands, in the Manors of Bedlington and Chester en le Street, in the County of Durham, to sell the same, and thereby to perform the Trusts mentioned in the Will of Anne Hancock Widow, deceased."
"47. An Act for supplying a Defect in a Conveyance lately made by Charles Lloyd Senior and Sarah his Wife; and Charles Lloyd Junior and Jane his Wife; and for the Sale of certain Lands, in the County of Montgomery, for raising Three Thousand Pounds, and Six Hundred Pounds; and for other Purposes therein mentioned."
"48. An Act for enclosing and dividing a Common Pasture Ground, called Momes Leaze, situate and lying in the Parish of Puriton, alias Pirton, in the County of Wilts."
"49. An Act for confirming the Exchanges, Enclosures, and Divisions, of the Common Fields, Common Meadows, Common Grounds, and Commons, within the Parish of Staunton, in the County of Wilts; and for other Purposes therein mentioned."
"50. An Act to enable the Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, or the Lord High Treasurer, for the Time being, to compound with Thomas Tomkyns, Cashier to the late Commissioners for licensing Hawkers, Pedlars, and Petty Chapmen, for an Arrear he stands charged with to the Crown."
"51. An Act to naturalize Nicholas Haijman."
"52. An Act to naturalize Joseph Guinand, David Dumouchell, and others."
To these Bills the Royal Assent was pronounced, severally, in these Words; (videlicet,)
"Soit fait comme il est desiré."
Then His Majesty spake as follows:
His Majesty Speech.
"My Lords, and Gentlemen,
"You having now dispatched all the Public Business that it was practicable for you to go through with at present; and the Season of the Year being so far advanced; I believe it will not be disagreeable to you, that I give you an Opportunity of retiring into the Country, by putting an End to this Session of Parliament.
"It is unnecessary for Me to represent to you the happy State and Situation of Public Affairs, both at Home and Abroad. You must all be sensible of what is universally seen and felt, in the full Enjoyment of a general Peace. The Concurrence of The States General in the late Treaty of Vienna has perfected the Establishment of the Public Tranquillity, as far as human Prudence can foresee or provide; and a faithful Observance and Execution of the Treaties and Alliances now subsisting among the several Princes and Powers of Europe, free from groundless Jealousies, and void of all ambitious Views, will be the most effectual Means to continue and preserve these Blessings to us.
"Gentlemen of the House of Commons,
"I return you My Thanks, for the Provisions you have made for the Defence and Security of the Kingdom, and for carrying on the Service of the current Year. It is a great Satisfaction to Me, to see you have turned your Thoughts towards raising the necessary Supplies by such Methods as may be the least Burthensome to My People: And as this cannot but be received in the Country as a most grateful and acceptable Service, I hope it will encourage you to pursue such Measures for the future, as may on all Occasions render the Supplies that shall be necessary as equal and easy as is possible.
"My Lords, and Gentlemen,
"It being necessary for Me to visit My German Dominions this Year; I have determined to leave the Queen Regent here during My Absence; and I doubt not but it will be your Endeavours to make the Government as easy to Her, as I am confident, it will be Her Care, by a just and prudent Administration, to deserve your Duty and Regard. I recommend to you all, in your several Stations, to study and con sult the Preservation of the Peace and Quiet of the Kingdom."
His Majesty's Speech being ended;
The Lord Chancellor received His Majesty's Commands.
And, being returned to his Place, said,
Parliament prorogued.
"My Lords, and Gentlemen,
"It is His Majesty's Royal Will and Pleasure, that this Parliament be prorogued to Thursday the Twentyseventh Day of July next, to be then here held: And this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Thursday the Twenty-seventh Day of July next."
Hitherto examined by us,
N. St. Davids.
Isa. Asaph.


text: The Crossroads at Blackbox held a best trick contest to cap off the days events. The first obstacle was the door gap. Dudes were flying everywhere and it was a miracle no one was seriously hurt. Gershon Mosley came out of nowhere and dominated this part of the contest, taking home first and the 1,000 dollar prize money.


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text:
Festive fun! Some of our favorite celebrity parents are celebrating Halloween with their cute kids.
From Pink's sweet lil' pumpkin Jameson, 10 months, to Jimmy Kimmel's festive homemade pancakes for 3-year-old daughter Jane, to Alyssa Milano and 3-year-old daughter Elizabella rocking matching Daisy Duck costumes, to Hilary Duff and her LEGO-loving Luca, 5, to Nicole Richie's funny and festive photo, the A-list parents are getting ready to go trick-or-treating with their tots tonight.
We've already seen festive family photos from Neil Patrick Harris, Pink, Jessica Simpson, Alicia Keys and Kristen Bell, to name a few.
Now, let's look through more spook-tacular family photos and creep-tastic costumes from some of our favorite high-profile parents…
The post PICS: Pink's Pumpkin, Alyssa Milano's Duck, Nicole Richie's Headless Man & More appeared first on Celebrity Baby Scoop.
Source: PICS: Pink's Pumpkin, Alyssa Milano's Duck, Nicole Richie's Headless Man & More


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There appears to be a problem with the video embed code. Until I can find the corrected information, here is a link to the video:
The Today Show – Law & Order SVU cast celebrates 400 episodes
Check out my blog home page for the latest Law & Order information, on All Things Law And Order.
Also, see my companion Law & Order site,These Are Their Stories.


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Yarmouth man who stole bottles of whisky from store hid them in female swimming suit he wore under his clothing
PUBLISHED: 09:01 23 December 2017 | UPDATED: 16:21 23 December 2017
A man used magnets to help steal bottles of whisky concealed them in a women's swimsuit he wore under his clothing, a court has heard.
Mihaita-Lilian Dinu, 21, of Howard Street, Great Yarmouth, borrowed a car to go to a supermarket in Lowestoft.
Norwich Magistrates Court heard that once inside the store Dinu selected six bottles of Jack Daniels and used a magnet he had taken with him to remove the security tags before hiding them in his clothing.
Wayne Ablett, prosecuting, said the bottles of JD were "concealed in a female swimming costume he wore under his clothing".
Dinu was arrested after leaving the store but initially gave police false details.
But when interviewed he admitted theft as well as giving a false name and address as he was frightened.
He also admitted driving a family member's Ford Focus to the store which he was not insured to drive.
Dinu appeared at Norwich Magistrates Court today (Friday, December 22) when he admitted theft on December 21 as well as going equipped, driving without insurance and obstructing police.
Natalie Myers, for Dinu, said he is a man of no previous convictions who was "extremely emotional and remorseful for his actions".
She said he had been told that magnets would be able to remove security tags so he tried it.
Miss Myers said he had intended to steal the bottles of JD, sell them and send money back to his family in Romania.
Dinu was fined £240 for going equipped, £240 for no insurance, £50 for theft with no separate penalty for obstructing police.
He was also ordered to pay £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.
In addition his licence was endorsed with six penalty points.


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Rick Pitino's lawsuit against Adidas dismissed
Rick Pitino's lawsuit against Adidas, alleging that the sports apparel giant deliberately damaged the former Louisville basketball coach's reputation, was dismissed Tuesday in Kentucky (via the Louisville Courier-Journal).
A federal judge sided with Adidas, saying the issue must be settled by arbitration rather than in court.
Pitino filed the suit October 2017 after Adidas terminated their personal services contract in the wake of his firing for his alleged involvement in the FBI's investigation into corruption in college basketball recruiting.
Claiming breach of contract, Pitino noted that Adidas also was accused of being involved in a widespread scheme to funnel money to recruits, including five-star Louisville target Brian Bowen.
On Tuesday, Judge David A. Hale of the Western District of Kentucky granted Adidas' motion to dismiss the suit, writing, in part: "The facts underlying Pitino's tort and contract claims are identical: both claims are based on Adidas's alleged bribing of a University of Louisville basketball recruit or his family. … Given this standard and the shared factual basis between the claims, the Court finds that the claim asserted here is 'at least arguably covered by' the Endorsement Agreement."
According to Pitino's agreement with Adidas, arbitration must take place in Oregon, where Adidas is headquartered, and only an Oregon district court judge can force Pitino and Adidas to enter arbitration.
However, Hale dismissed the suit without prejudice, meaning Pitino is free to file the same claims again.
As of Wednesday morning, neither Pitino nor Adidas had commented on the ruling.


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Relax in the pleasant spa relaxation area at Hotel Garni Frau Holle and get ready again for the upcoming day of skiing in Obertauern. Treat yourself to a relaxing break in the Jacuzzi. Enjoy the pleasant feeling of relaxing in the bubbling water and loosen up your muscles. Sweating in the Finnish sauna or steam room will put your body back on track.
The sauna and Jacuzzi area at the 4-star Hotel Frau Holle provides the ideal balance for winter fun on the slopes. Take it easy in the waters or stretch out for a nap on the recliner wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe, and just let your mind wander.
Relaxation and spa facilities at Hotel Garni Frau Holle
- Jacuzzi
- Finnish sauna
- Steam bath
- Cold water plunge
- Relaxation area
- Massage and beauty treatments at our sister establishment, Hotel Kesselspitze.
Relax and enjoy the spa facilities at your hotel in Obertauern, daily from 3:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.


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Political leaders failed dismally to recognise that radical political and economic changes were making their constituents increasingly uneasy, Geoff Kitney writes.
When Donald Trump delivered his landmark, first speech to the United States Congress last week, it appeared to be greeted around the world with an almost audible sigh of relief.
An unmistakable change of tone from divisive and apocalyptic to optimistic and consensual was widely received as a sign that the president's bumpy first five weeks in office had convinced Trump that the harsh tone he set in his inauguration speech needed to be changed to something more acceptable to middle America.
Trump had reached back towards the "sensible centre" of American politics, some critics suggested.
That he might have decided that the "sensible centre" was the better place to position his presidency after the disruptive impact of the snowstorm of harsh executive orders of his first weeks in the presidency was more a wish than a fact. The speech's softer rhetoric had little of policy substance on which anyone could reasonably conclude that Trump had decided to reset his agenda to a more broadly acceptable set of policies.
"Judge him by deeds, not words," cynics warned.
But the readiness to read hope into Trump's words reflects a widely held concern, in the democratic West at least, that the tilt to the populist far right of the political spectrum which delivered the Brexit vote and the Trump presidency had set the world on a dangerous new path.
This has given rise to an increasingly urgent wish for political leaders to restore solidity to the political middle ground.
This is especially so in Europe where there is a palpable fear that the upcoming elections in France, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy could result in victories – or at best major gains – for the insurgent right-wing populists which could plunge the European Union (EU) into a deep existential crisis.
Ordinary people have become increasingly disillusioned with the "sensible centre". If they have not already left it, they are finding fewer reasons to stay.
Victory for moderate politics in these elections is seen as the most important contribution Europe can make to restore a sensible balance to world affairs.
It is time, centrists argue, for a global shift back towards "the sensible centre".
Their analysis of the problem is hard to refute.
Politics almost everywhere has experienced a rapid polarisation in the period since the 2007 global financial crisis.
The evidence can be found instantly on social media, especially on Twitter which has become the main platform for political "dialogue".
Actually, dialogue is the wrong word. Volcanic eruption of extreme partisanship, nastiness and abuse would be a better description. In the Twittersphere, there is little middle ground.
The dominant users of Twitter are people of forceful and, often, extreme opinions. For many people it is a means to reinforce their own views and seek comfort in communication with like-minded people. Others simply use it as a megaphone.
The speed with which social media has taken over from the "old" media as the main medium of political expression has seen "sensible, moderate, reasoned, fact-based" political conversation evaporate.
But does this mean that ordinary people, the so-called "silent majority" have also deserted the "sensible centre"?
It is certainty the case that there is now deep confusion and unease among the ordinary voting populations in Western democracies. With the old reference points (the traditional media) shrinking and the Twitter-centered political conversation becoming so strident, it has become much more difficult for voters to find their way through the political landscape.
With so many angry and loud voices accusing and abusing the so-called "political elites", finding reasoned and balanced information about the affairs of nations has become challenging and, in many cases, impossible.
There is also, however, no doubt that ordinary people have become increasingly disillusioned with the "sensible centre". If they have not already left it, they are finding fewer reasons to stay.
The evidence is overwhelming that the process of economic reform for which political leaders and their advisers persuaded the "sensible centre" to embrace as a vital national interest has resulted in many ordinary people feeling betrayed.
The shift in wealth from ordinary wage and salary earners to the corporate elites, that has been a product of the market-reforms of the past two decades, has resulted in a widespread sense of unfairness and betrayal.
Immigration, which was one of the by-products of the increasing globalisation that has resulted from reforms that have removed barriers to trade, has turned into a lightning rod of discontent among the ordinary populations.
In Europe, where the evolution of the EU was profoundly changing the relationships between ordinary people and those who govern them, the arrogant assumption that ordinary people would come to accept the reality of a borderless, single market with shared sovereignty has created fertile ground for populists selling nostalgic, nationalistic visions.
Political leaders have failed dismally to recognise that these changes were making their constituents increasingly uneasy and less willing to accept them.
The loss of trust with the political establishment that this has led to is now obvious and dangerous.
With populists prominent everywhere you look, leaders capable of restoring confidence in the "sensible centre" are hard to find. Former British prime ministers Tony Blair and John Major have raised powerful questions about Brexit which, it could be argued, represent "sensible centre" views capable of drawing people back. But they are not the leaders for this task.
Maybe French presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron is the best hope for the beginning of a fight back for centrist ideas and policies. It certainly seems that much hope is being invested in him. So much so that if he fails in France in two months time, the hopes of those who believe in the future of the EU and in a progressive centrist future as the best future available will turn to despair.


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Walland Marsh drought21st September 2009, Monday
Many of the ditches to the south east of Rye are dry at the moment, a symptom of the run of dry weather we have had in recent months. Although water could be fed into them from the Royal Military Canal it would need to be pumped uphill, and the sandy/shingly ground means that it would be lost to the ground quite quickly. So is it better to pump water, generate carbon dioxide, and save wetland wildlife, or let nature take it's course?
The answer rather depends on the ecology of the species concerned. Some are suffering. This is soft hornwort Ceratophyllum submersum, a fairly local water weed of slightly brackish coastal grazing marshes with a whorl of leaves around a central stem that divide up to three times, to provide a plant with the appearance of a bottle brush with an often reddish-green appearance. It's commoner relative, rigid hornwort C. demersum, is a darker green colour, has leaves that divide only twice, and is more typically found in freshwater.
Both species require sections of ditch that retain water all year. If they get this they will dominate the open water next year.
Conversely the dry mud on the baked ditches is providing good germinating conditions for a different group of species. In the photo below the plant with red stems is red goosefoot Chenopodium rubrum. In brackish areas it is joined by it's rarer relative saltmarsh goosefoot C. chenopodioides, which confusingly is also a bright red colour! Both species germinate on damp mud, along with water crowfoot seedlings, whose finely divided leaves are also visible in this photo. The goosefoots will grow, flower and seed on the damp mud in late summer/autumn, whilst the crowfoots are waiting for the drought to break and will cover the surface of the ditches with pretty white flowers next year.
These are just a couple of examples of the shifting balance of fortunes on the Marshes. There are others. Water vole do better in ditches that hold water all year, and in ditches that dry up they tend to invade during wetter years, and retreat to permanent water during droughts. Another protected speces, the great crested newt tends to fare better in ditches that dry out as its larvae are very vulnerable to fish predation, and they retreat from ditches that are colonised by sticklebacks during a run of wet years.
It's easy to look at a dry ditch and think biodiversity disaster, however as long as a ditch system has enough wet and dry ditches across it's entire area conditions will be provided for a wider variety of wildlife. I'm sure the farmers are longing for wet weather when they can stop checking the ditches for trapped sheep however.


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Europa's Hidden Chemistry
The icy surface of Europa is shown strewn with cracks, ridges and "chaotic terrain," where the surface has been disrupted and ice blocks have moved around. New laboratory experiments show that water ice and frozen sulfur dioxide react even at the frigid temperatures of Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
The frigid ice of Jupiter's moon Europa may be hiding more than a presumed ocean: it is likely the scene of some unexpectedly fast chemistry between water and sulfur dioxide at extremely cold temperatures.
Although these molecules react easily as liquids—they are well-known ingredients of acid rain — Mark Loeffler and Reggie Hudson at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., now report that they react as ices with surprising speed and high yield at temperatures hundreds of degrees below freezing. Because the reaction occurs without the aid of radiation, it could take place throughout Europa's thick coating of ice — an outcome that would revamp current thinking about the chemistry and geology of this moon and perhaps others.
"When people talk about chemistry on Europa, they typically talk about reactions that are driven by radiation," says Goddard scientist Mark Loeffler, the first author on the paper being published Oct. 2 in Geophysical Research Letters. That's because the moon's temperature hovers around 86 to 130 Kelvin, or about negative 300 to negative 225 degrees F.
In this extreme cold, most chemical reactions require an infusion of energy from radiation or light. On Europa, the energy comes from particles from Jupiter's radiation belts. Because most of those particles penetrate just fractions of an inch into the surface, models of Europa's chemistry typically stop there.
"Once you get below Europa's surface, it's cold and solid, and you normally don't expect things to happen very fast under those conditions," explains co-author Reggie Hudson, the Associate Lab Chief of Goddard's Astrochemistry Laboratory.
"But with the chemistry we describe," adds Loeffler, "you could have ice 10 or 100 meters [roughly 33 or 330 feet] thick, and if it has sulfur dioxide mixed in, you're going to have a reaction."
"This is an extremely important result for understanding the chemistry and geology of Europa's icy crust," says Robert E. Johnson, who is an expert on radiation-induced chemistry on planets and is the John Lloyd Newcomb Professor of Engineering Physics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Model of Europa's interior. The moon is thought to have a metallic core surrounded by a rocky interior, and then a global ocean on top of that surrounded by a shell of water ice. Understanding chemical and geological processes on the moon is essential in determining whether or not Europa's ocean is habitable for life as we know it.
From remote observations, astronomers know that sulfur is present in Europa's ice. Sulfur originates in the volcanoes of Jupiter's moon Io, then becomes ionized and is transported to Europa, where it gets embedded in the ice. Additional sulfur might come from the ocean that's thought to lie beneath Europa's surface.
"However," says Johnson, "the fate of the implanted or any subsurface sulfur is not understood and depends on the geology and chemistry in the ice crusts."
In experiments that simulated the conditions on Europa, Loeffler and Hudson sprayed water vapor and sulfur dioxide gas onto quarter-sized mirrors in a high-vacuum chamber. Because the mirrors were kept at about 50 to 100 Kelvin (about negative 370 to negative 280 degrees F), the gases immediately condensed as ice. As the reaction proceeded, the researchers used infrared spectroscopy to watch the decrease in the concentrations of water and sulfur dioxide and the increase in the concentrations of positive and negative ions generated.
Despite the extreme cold, the molecules reacted quickly in their icy forms. "At 130 Kelvin [about negative 225 F], which represents the warm end of the expected temperatures on Europa, this reaction is essentially instantaneous," says Loeffler. "At 100 Kelvin, you can saturate the reaction after half a day to a day. If that doesn't sound fast, remember that on geologic timescales — billions of years — a day is faster than the blink of an eye."
To test the reaction, the researchers added frozen carbon dioxide, aka dry ice, which is commonly found on icy bodies, including Europa.
"If frozen carbon dioxide had blocked the reaction, we wouldn't be nearly as interested," explains Hudson, "because then the reaction probably wouldn't be relevant to Europa's chemistry. It would be a laboratory curiosity."
But the reaction continued, which means it could be significant on Europa as well as Ganymede and Callisto, two more of Jupiter's moons, and other places where both water and sulfur dioxide are present.
Sulfur on Europa actually originates in the volcanoes of Jupiter's moon Io. The sulfur becomes ionized and is transported to Europa. Credit: NASA, Voyager image
The reaction converted one-quarter to nearly one-third of the sulfur dioxide into product. "This is an unexpectedly high yield for this chemical reaction," says Loeffler. "We would have been happy with five percent."
More importantly, the positive and negative ions produced will react with other molecules. This could lead to some intriguing chemistry, especially because bisulfite (HSO3–), a type of sulfur ion, and some other products of this reaction are refractory — stable enough to stick around for a while.
Robert Carlson, who is a senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and collaborates with the two researchers, notes that earlier hints of water and sulfur dioxide reacting as solids were found but not explained.
"The Loeffler and Hudson results show that really interesting acid–base reactions are going on," he says. "I am anxious to see what might happen when other species are added and how the minor concentrations of sulfur dioxide on the satellite surfaces affect the overall chemistry."
The ultimate test of the laboratory experiments will be whether evidence of any reaction products can be found in data collected during remote observations or future visits to Europa. Johnson agrees that if subsurface sulfur dioxide on Europa "reacts to form refractory species, as [the researchers] indicate, then the picture changes completely. This not only will affect our understanding of Europa but also will affect the models used to develop instruments for the proposed Jupiter–Europa Orbiter mission."


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FEEL GOOD FRIDAY: Good Day.
It's 11:00 at night and I am currently sitting in a hotel a stone's throw away from Disneyland…the happiest place on earth. As my daughter screams at my son in an over-tired fit of psychosis, I am thinking it better be pretty damn happy tomorrow. Due to this long-overdue family vacation, I did not write a new column this week. I am, however, choosing a very nice…I think…repeat from the early FGF archives…I forgot I wrote this one… and I'm glad I did. I hope you are, too. Happy Feel Good Friday.
– Dave
On a warm and sunny, mid-September, Tuesday evening, I sat very redneckish, drinking beer in my driveway with my buddy, Dan. We had camping chairs set up and our feet on a cooler. I make no pretense about owning even a small sense of refinement. I am quite happily borderline classless and it is very natural for me. I require very little to achieve joy. I am a simple man with simple pleasures. I might add that Dan did not look too uncomfortable, either.
I have learned many things over my years and understanding where my joy lies is probably the most valuable. I am happy in little moments. I have certainly enjoyed fairly lavish vacations in exotic lands. I have traveled and seen and experienced much. I have enjoyed the adventures and new places and faces. However, I have not enjoyed them more than sitting at my picnic table in the sun with a couple of old buddies and maybe my son, playing cribbage and telling bad jokes. These days do not require much more than a couple of phone calls to occur. No months of planning or itinerary debate, merely a small effort and fun is at hand!
Muddying the waters of my simple existence is a complex world; a world filled with nuance and expectation. I am often confounded and sometimes feel a bit out of step. I care a lot about moments and lack a lot of foresight regarding consequence. I enjoy the day and figure the future will work itself out. I am sometimes wrong and sometimes right, with no clear winner either way. This may seem a bit immature, though I make no claims to maturity and would not place a bunch of dough down on me arriving there anytime soon. I'll settle for my wide-eyed, extended adolescence and, in fact, I embrace it. I have seen a lot of very mature, very miserable people. This scares me. I am in no hurry to get there, but, we'll see how it goes. Time will tell as it always does about these things. Time always tells.
One thing I am certain of is that today was a good one and I can't imagine anything that would inspire me to alter it. We are allowed a finite number of days to enjoy and we waste plenty. When the rare, beautiful ones hit, we must take them, cherish them and live them. These are the rewards. This is life. So, is life, recognizing the moments that count and counting them. We write our own ticket and have the absolute power to decide how we spend our time. Spending it with our friends and families and the people that create the easy smiles seems like time well spent and a guarantee that life will be good. I have yet to discover anything else more important to me. If it exists and I find it, I will be very excited, because it will have to be pretty awesome to beat a late summer day in the sun with a good buddy, drinking beer in the driveway!!
[EDITOR'S NOTE:"Feel Good Friday" is a regular column written by Des Moines resident Dave Markwell, who extols to all neighbors: "Enjoy where we live. Put your feet on the pavement and truly feel how great it is to live here!" Also, you can "friend" Dave on Facebook here. Or work out with him at his new exercise company Waterland CrossFit!]


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I know that quite a few of you have trouble when it comes to delegating your authority – you're just afraid to do it. I came across a tidbit of information the other day that I thought might help you. It involved distinguishing the difference between two words: abdication and delegation.
As a manager it is your job to allocate work tasks, whether you keep them for yourself or give them to your team members. When it comes to allocating that work, you can either abdicate or delegate.
When a manager participates in abdication he is giving his team members work that he should really be keeping for himself. This is not good. It doesn't benefit the team or the project and, in reality, only opens the team up for errors and problems later on down the line.
On the other hand, when a manager delegates work he is giving his team members specific projects that were deliberately designed for the team. The tasks he delegates are designed to help the team members learn about the task and do their jobs more effectively. Tasks that are delegated are meant to help employees grow.
When you look at those two terms it makes the task of delegating a little more palatable. Know the difference between the two words and if you ever find yourself questioning a task just stop and ask yourself – am I abdicating or delegating? The answers will make your task much easier!
Thanks again,
Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Training | Management Blog | Image courtesy of Big Stock Photo


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Klarineti nad Berlinom.
Less Action, Less Excitement, Less Everything (2010)
I'm on a bit of a healthy eating kick at the moment, coupled with a "stop eating snacks at all time of the day" diet. So this morning, before work I was in a shop looking at different boxes of porridge available to buy for breakfast. Of the many options on the shelves, most tried to add a new twist on good old porridge, some adding fruit, some honey, one even mixing in chocolate and banana in the same box (ugh). In the end, faced by all this choice and variation I settled for plain old Scottish porridge oats, which I will enjoy for breakfast tomorrow.
Listening to the first International Nothing album last night may well have influenced my decision in the supermarket today. Sometimes it is the simple, subtle things in life that work best. Adding extra elements often just overcomplicates things and detracts from your enjoyment of the basics when they are just done really well. For me the album Mainstream felt like the shelves of porridge today, a really lovely, deceptively simple article spoilt very slightly by the addition of extra elements. The new International Nothing album, named, ironically, (and brilliantly) Less Action, Less Excitement, Less Everything is, for want of any other ridiculously overstretched metaphor, a great example of a really well made bowl of good quality, simple porridge.
So yes, the new disc is just the two clarinets of Kai Fagaschinski and Michael Thieke, composed, played 'straight' with little use of extended technique, and entirely reliant on the creativity of the composition and the skill of the musicians to capture the attention and go somewhere interesting. The five pieces here then work with converging and diverging harmonics again, but also there feels like there is a greater sense of structure to the compositions, perhaps more definition in them, and a greater variety in the use of space and time. Perhaps the most impressive thing about this music is how in-tune with one another Fagaschinski and Thieke are. There was once a time when I wrote somewhere that I could pick Kai's playing out on any CD he appeared on, such was his own personal musical signature, but here I haven't a clue which of the two clarinetists plays which note, and as the pair cross their sounds over often mid-flow I'm not even sure I always know if the musician that started a note is the same one that ends it. The sense of mutual understanding is present throughout what is a consistently impressive album that oozes a delicate subtlety that requires careful listening to get the most out of. Notes swell out of the silence rather than just begin, and they slip away with a similar charm. The attention to detail is remarkable, not only in this kind of exit and entrance technique, but in the accuracy of the combined tonal playing. Despite there being extended use of harmonic systems here I can't find a single mistake, a single loose wavering note, a single missed entry point. In short, it is a beautiful set of five fine, compact pieces that have been executed very well indeed. Simple ingredients, well combined by very talented people. Fine music with no chocolate or bananas in sight.
by Richard Pinnell (England, September 2010)
I wondered, when I'd finished listening, why two men capable of blowing poetry through their clarinets would saddle themselves with such a seriously crap album title. But Less Action, Less Excitement, Less Everything expresses the paradox that Kai Fagaschinski and Michael Thieke – have now chosen to pursue a cause that on paper looks unlikely: composed music. Which poses the question – why attempt to write down sounds once revealed through improvisation and run the risk of killing those same sounds stone dead? Especially as these sounds are culled from free Improv's gestural heartland: distorted, breathy, overblown notes that crack on the border between sounding or not.
In the first piece, "Niedere Arbeiten", a single moment helps clarify the arguments. A trill clicking of clarinet keys against the body of the instrument registers as incidental detail until, deploying awesome technical control, the trill dips as the clicks intensify. Given these outer limit instabilities, how could that sound be notated? The mystery deepens as equally fickle slap-tongue figurations quietly 'pop' in the other clarinet.
Then both musicians inhale calmly, their breath cueing the next section. Whatever notation Fagaschinski and Thieke have devised is obviously a good one. It lends their ideas an elegant sense of order and licenses the unforeseen, as difficult-to-realise notation keeps the narrative dangerous and unsteady. After all, sound couldn't care less whether it has been written down or not.
by Philip Clark (England, August 2010)
From the family of wind instruments, I must admit that I like the clarinet the best. And here we have two of them: on the right channel Kai Fagaschinski and on the left channel Michael Thieke. They work as The International Nothing. I think we should see the title of this work as the program for this CD. The two play the clarinets with great slowness, with long sustains and decays, and action seems indeed not really apparent. Excitement, yes, that is something that is hard to escape when listening t this release. I think this very exciting music actually. Almost like sine waves humming slow and carefully, sometimes developing into a small melody, sometimes as quickly as that disappearing. Carefully playing with the silent notions. This is improvised music and the odd thing is it sounds on one hand very onkyo, but the more I think about it, I realize we hear the clarinets as they are: clarinets and not as some object with a mouthpiece. That's an interesting notion about this music. An excellent, solemn work of refined ascetic beauty. Sparse yet rich.
by Frans de Waard (Netherlands, July 2010)
I saw this pair (Kai Fagaschinski and Michael Thieke, clarinets) at Experimental Intermedia only a couple of weeks prior to this recording. I know at least one of the pieces here (they do play all composed music, btw) was played then ("Sleep!"), perhaps more. In any case, the overall feel of that evening and this recording is quite similar, albeit without the added spice of a naked fat guy. Very soft, a kind of agitated quiet where the reeds circle about each other in a fairly tight weave, tendrils escaping hear and there, always a burr in place. A couple of days later, I was walking down the street with a musician who shall remain nameless, mentioned that set and was told, "I hate that kind of stuff!" meaning: restrained, delicate, channeled. This music is certainly that but I find not a small amount of pleasure in that restraint, especially when it's combined with a subtle but tangible sensuousness as is the case with these fellows. There's an obvious joy being experienced by the clarinetists in rubbing together adjacent sonorities, bathing in the resultant overtones. Things are kept moderately tonal, though never sing-song-y, the plies of sound calmly allowed to waft over each other, to settle lightly. "Sleep!" closes the disc and is irresistibly drowsy. Good stuff.
by Brian Olewnick (U.S.A., July 2010)
No pyrotechnics here ― there isn't a staccato, fortissimo or 16th note to be heard. But Berlin-based clarinettists Michael Theike and Kai Fagaschinski have developed such sensitive awareness of one another's instrumental gestures and sonorities that their sounds become fused, creating shimmering fields of multiphonics or hovering mists of subtone dronishness that convey the woody essence of their instrument. The twosome find combinations of pitches that reveal interesting presences, sometimes of ghostly different tones. They worry a single pitch, detuning to produce throbbing beats and then finding pure unison, they depart. Lip slides, false fingerings, the entire encyclopaedia of clarinet sound resources are referenced in the Nothings' five-track explorations. The pieces share a minimalist, ambient atmosphere that gradually reveals itself at a slow, gentle pace. While moments can be somewhat intense, the disc's overall state is meditative, tranquil and, curiously for its definite "avant" aesthetic, relaxing. Light a candle, soak in a warm bath and let these guys take you on a fascinating voyage.
by Glen Hall (Canada, October 2010)
Reviewers are often tempted to use the title of a record as a description of its contents. And indeed most readers familiar with the musicians in this duo — clarinetists Kai Fagaschinski and Michael Thieke — will be likewise compelled by apparent paring down suggested by Less Action, Less Excitement, Less Everything. While the clarinet's history is deeply bound up with certain kinds of expressionism (think not just traditional, but Jimmy Giuffre, Eric Dolphy, John Carter, Marty Ehrlich, and Sclavis, just to name a few), these players are known from their participation in a bevy of projects in and around the Berlin "lowercase" improvising scene. Thieke first caught my ears on a 1998 Leo Lab disc from the Clarinet Trio, and later on several fine Creative Sources releases, the superb Roman Tics from Cathnor, and The Magic I.D. from Erstwhile, among others. Fagaschinski's duo with Bernhard Gal – Going Round in Serpentines – got him considerable attention, and he also impressed on releases from Los Glissandinos and a lovely duet with Burkhard Stangl (Musik – Ein Porträt in Sehnsucht).
The pair seemed, on all these recordings, more interested in the properties of wood, the overtone range of the B-flat, and in the extension of experiments in dynamics and silence inaugurated by Roscoe Mitchell's "TKHKE." On this second release, comprised of five compositions that may be far more scripted than they initially sound, the pair both give voice to virtues of so-called "reductionism" but also – in the woody tones, the blending of timbre and overtones, and the anxious quaver of the sound – suggest something very much like Arnold Dreyblatt's "excited" strings.
From the opening passages of "Niedere Arbeiten," what's more apparent is the flirtatious reference of the duo's moniker, as they conjure a sound that's both of place and of no place. They weave their way in and out of woody intervals that invoke The Magic I.D. and Neuschnee, but also toy with the melancholy of Mitteleuropa, playfully discarding snatches of song form here and there. The lengthy "Crystal Clear Fog" sounds the most like new music, with stacked overlapping tones, occasional bent notes, and a spare anxiousness of a sound that – as "pure" notes become harsh ones – is straining for release from within. It almost sounds like they are converting certain elements of clarinet traditions to the raw properties of the wood from which the instrument is fashioned, and from there ensconcing it in moss or lichen, the whole music like the sound of natality.
And yet it also, after the brief fragment "Dichtung und Wahrheit," can sound very instrumental and constructed. Oddly, as on the superb "Amongst Dissidents," it's in these latter moments when their sound is least clarinet-like. (On this piece I hear accordion and amplifier feedback channeling Ligeti's "Atmospheres.") After this, the lonely quaver and tonal dissolution of "Sleep!" is like a bath, a John Carter solo piece on Quaaludes. Sink in and enjoy.
by Jason Bivins (U.S.A., January 2011)
Active since 2000 as a duo, surely clarinettists Kai Fagaschinski and Michael Thieke are not interested in confrontation at all costs. Still, this CD – their second as The International Nothing – makes me wonder about that kind of attitude and vibe, despite the overall feel of detachment characterizing the music. This probably depends on the type of shrilling pitches that the two contiguous reeds typically generate, often becoming the reason of a slight loss of balance (and in distracted individuals, of nervousness: don't try to approach this recording while performing other activities). Even if the compositional architecture is essential and utterly comprehensible over the course of five episodes, the effect of adjacent tones and upper partials on the auricular membranes after half an hour of intensive treatment is quite noticeable. Quivering frequencies and split harmonics mix with the noise of the keys and the deep inhalations heard before a new figure is explored, the timbral sum akin to the superimposed waves of a humanized, if stone-hearted synthesizer. When TIN attempt a sketch of melody, they usually end scarring a linear geometry with additional helpings of grating discordance, causing the listener to immediately forget the few moments of literal charm elicited mere seconds prior. The 36 minutes revolve more or less around this basic scheme, with a couple of silent segments in between for good measure. It works in spurts, not completely in my opinion. The lingering idea is one of an album for connoisseurs – better if members of the Lucier & Niblock Oscillation Club – unlikely to involve a larger audience due to a certain degree of involuntary cynicism. Not that this is necessarily a defect, but these guts say that something is missing for elevating the disc's status to memorable. Love the title, though – an incitement to the abandonment of stereotypical EAI, maybe.
by Massimo Ricci (Italy, December 2010)
[...] A generation removed from the saxophonists, the members of The International Nothing, German clarinetists Kai Fagaschinski and Michael Thieke, are committed to pure abstraction, as well as more melody-based projects. Thieke, for instance, is a member of Dok Wallach, a Charles Mingus tribute band, and both play with singer Margareth Kammerer and electronic manipulator/vocalist Christof Kurzmann. Fagaschinski's flirtation with restrained lap-top sounds also ally him with reductionist sounds. In fact while the Twine duo appears preoccupied with the energetic output of high-pitched, fortissimo and staccato timbres, the improvising on Less Action, Less Excitement, Less Everything – true to its title – slides and sluices around enervated tones, with the doubled tessitura sometimes masked by extended silences.
Occasionally reflecting the clarinets' wooden properties, most of Fagaschinski's and Thieke's layered reed tones are solid and almost unbreakable. While chromatic and undulating, the double counterpoint is more moderato than agitato and except for bursts of forte shrilling, deftly expressed in mid-range tones. Polytonality abounds, with pitch vibrations occasionally taking on pipe-organ-like cohesion, and on every track, diminishing into near-inaudibility for a short period before a final variant bubbles to the sonic surface. Only rarely as well do the two lines separate either, with one becoming nearly mellow and the other sharply staccato.
"Crystal Clear Fog" is a fine example of this approach. Not only do the initial lines undulate in unison as they move infinitesimally up the scale, but one clarinetist manages to sound a grace note with almost trumpet-like in construction and another as if woodwind trills are refracting back from a piano's innards. Eventually it appears as if the pressurized tones are constantly spilling outwards until they reach an almost lighter-than-air stasis. Following a short interlude of air being forced through two body tubes, harmonized reed chirping is mutated into strident chromaticism as the finale. [...]
by Ken Waxman (U.S.A., January 2011)
Mainstream (2006) stream


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Posted 8/25/10 (Wed)
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
Is is possible to put a square peg in a round hole? Under normal circumstances, the answer would be 'no.' But if you keep shoving on that peg long enough, maybe you can finally get that square peg in that round hole. It may not look pretty and you may have damaged both the peg and the hole, but it is possible to do.
And that seems to be what the U.S. Forest Service is trying to do once again in trying to develop a Travel Management Plan, another U.S. Forest System policy (the square peg) for the National Grasslands (the round hole).
Under the proposed plan, which the Forest Service is now taking public comment on, upwards to 800 miles of roads on the Little Missouri National Grasslands would be closed. That means that the general public would no longer have access to much of the more than one million acres of public land for hunting and recreation, ranchers would have their access to pastures severely restricted, and energy companies would no longer be able to develop the federal, state and private minerals that they have leased.
The National Grasslands were never meant to be a roadless area. Roads are what breathes life into the National Grasslands. Without roads, the grasslands would be nothing more than a million-acre patch of ground that would be off limits to the vast majority of the public.
Unlike the bulk of U.S. Forest Service lands, which have always been owned by the government, the Little Missouri National Grasslands were all once either owned by private individuals or the State of North Dakota. And because of this non-federal government ownership pattern, when the U.S. government acquired the lands that now make up the National Grasslands, the State of North Dakota, counties like McKenzie County and private landowners retained certain rights, such as roads and minerals.
So when the U.S. Forest Service says "The roads that will be closed include all roads that are not legally owned by the Forest Service, roads that are redundant, roads that are bordered by private land, unsafe roads and roads where it is undetermined if they are Forest Service or private property, and that they are being closed due to a national Forest Service mandate," there are plenty of people in McKenzie County who take exception. It's just another example of the Forest Service's management style of trying to force a square peg into a round hole when it comes to the National Grasslands.
So what is the U.S. Forest Service proposing to take away from the citizens of McKenzie County and the public as a whole by closing these roads?
There are literally hundreds of miles of roads owned and maintained by McKenzie County across the Little Missouri Grasslands that in theory, the Forest Service wants to erase off the map. There is state and privately owned land surrounded by the grasslands that could no longer be accessible if the roads to them are closed or if roads could not be built to them to provide for development on non-federally owned property. Plus McKenzie County is entitled to 6¼ percent mineral royalties under many acres of the grasslands and if the minerals under these lands cannot be accessed, the county will lose those revenues. And finally, the Forest Service is thumbing its nose at North Dakota's Section Line Law, which states that all sections lines in the state are open for public access.
While it would seem logical that the U.S. Forest Service would have researched the ownership of the roads and rights of others before categorically closing them in the Travel Management Plan, that is not the case. Instead they are saying that once they close the roads, it is the responsibility of the owner of the roads to come forward and challenge the Forest Service's decision.
Once again, it is the Forest Service attempting to try to force the square peg into a round hole and make the National Grasslands fit into the same management plan that it uses on national forests.
North Dakotans who value their ability to travel and use the Little Missouri Grasslands as they have in the past for hunting and recreation need to be heard on this issue.


text: ZTV is a commercial television channel broadcasted by Viasat in Sweden and Norway. The programing schedule consists of music videos, sitcoms, movies and their own studio shows all of which is aimed at an audience of youth and young adult viewers. Viasat is owned by Swedish media company the Modern Times Group.


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Floral Remix
The First Lady attended two events today, first a ceremony marking Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery, followed by a ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War.
For the appearances, Mrs. O dipped into her closet to bring back two familiar floral frocks by Tracy Feith and Moschino respectively.
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!


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Career Guides >> Browse Articles >> Resume and Interview Tips
6 Illegal Interview Questions to Avoid
Hamsa Ramesha | LedgerLink
ILLEGAL: "How much do you weigh?"
LEGAL: "Are you comfortable with lifting heavy objects?"
While employers may want to make sure you're physically able to do the job, asking directly about your weight/height and general health is a major HR no-no. Not to mention potentially embarrassing for you! But rephrasing the question to ask about your ability to perform a specific task is fair game.
ILLEGAL: "Do you have any disabilities? Any recent illnesses or operations?"
LEGAL: "Are you able to perform the essential job functions?"
Discriminating against the disabled, whether wheelchair-bound or clinically depressed, is a classic example of illegal hiring practices. But the employer still has a right to make sure you can do the job you're hired for and rephrasing the question accordingly is within their rights.
ILLEGAL: "Ever been arrested?"
LEGAL: "Ever been convicted of ___?"
A general question about your (criminal) past is off topic, but a more targeted question regarding questionable behavior — as it relates to your job — is okay. For example, if you were applying for a job as a magician, it's appropriate to ask if you've ever been convicted of fraud in your line of work.
It's not so much what the question is asking, but how the question is asked. Federal and state laws prevent employers from asking interviewees about subjects unrelated to the job. However, if you feel you have been asked a question that's off-limits, you should seek legal counsel. Before you take serious action, take into consideration the nature of the job, the context of the situation, the interviewer's intent, and of course, the phrasing of the question. Good luck, and happy interviewing!


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Writers and marketing – 8 perfect ways to sell your writing
Writers and freelancers, if you aren't meeting your marketing goals with your blog, book, or website, here are tips for you. Rethink traditional ways to sell yourself and sell your writing. This information is reprinted with permission – it seems so right that sharing it with other writers is a natural. Read it, save it, re-read it, and create a forward moving plan to get yourself out there and exploit the "M"-word. Marketing. We all have to do it. It's time to sell your writing.
Reprinted with permission from the Book Marketing Expert:
1) Write and issue news releases often, but make them newsworthy. While press releases to the media may get ignored, they have a bigger chance of getting noticed by your customer. Writing direct-to-consumer press releases is a way of "speaking" to your customer through a series of announcements, advice, or trends. When you do this, hone in on keywords that make a difference to them. Don't toss out high-brow, technical terms that are meant to impress unless your market actually speaks that language. Send a release out via the Internet through sites like PRnewswire.com once a month and then, keep them archived in the newsroom of your website.
2) Forget high-profile media targets, go after plugged-in bloggers, high traffic, relevant content-rich websites: while it would be great to have Oprah call, the likelihood of that happening is pretty slim. Focus instead on where you can make a difference and make the sale. Focus on your customer. Where do they go when they're online and who do they listen to? Those are the people you should be targeting with your story. When you find these folks, offer them tips, helpful advice, story excerpts, whatever is most appropriate for your market/topic.
3) Comment on blog stories the media writes: this is a fantastic way to network with media people. Have you visited a media blog lately? You haven't? Well, start adding them to your list. Just like I recommend commenting on industry blogs (see bullet #4) you'll also want to keep an eye out for media who writes on your topic and also has a presence on the Internet. Did you know that the media will notice someone who's an active commenter on their blog before they notice a news release?
4) Comment on industry blogs: same ideas as #3 but now you're focused on blogs that matter to your reader/consumer. Go after them and start commenting on what they're blogging about. This is a great way to network and introduce yourself to folks who may be part of the "big mouth" market in your industry. (The term "big mouth" is reserved for bloggers who have a lot of clout within a particular arena). Also, while you're at it, get your own blog. If you're going to network with bloggers, become one of them.
5) Content drives action: getting a content-rich website is a must. There's no two ways about it. I don't care what you've written or what market you've written to. It's all about content, content, content. Have a resource section on your site, put a blog up there. Be helpful till it hurts. Put up lots of useful, relevant content and the world will beat a path to your door.
6) Never sell your book to your consumer: the biggest mistake authors make both on and offline is that they sell their book. No one cares that you wrote a book, they only care about what the book can do for them. Sell the benefits, sell what your book can do for your reader but never, ever, ever sell your book.
7) It's not about you: remember as you're developing your direct-to-consumer campaign that it's not about you, it's about your market, and it's about your reader. Knowing what matters to them will help you circumvent a lot of marketing snafus and directions that take you nowhere. Keep in mind the things that matter to your reader and what their hot buttons are. If you can become a channel to direct their issues, challenges, or questions to you and your website, the media will stand up and take notice.
8) Many goals lead to confusion: what's the goal for your website? I mean, seriously, what's the one goal you have for If you don't you should. Having one singular focus will help sharpen your message to your reader. Pick one thing you want your home page to accomplish and build on that. Too many messages will only confuse your reader and send them off to your competitor's website.
Selling a book, product, or business has become less about getting into your favorite newspaper, magazine, or TV show and more about making yourself so irresistible that the media comes to you. Build credibility in your market and consumers will buzz, when consumers buzz the media will surely follow.
Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques.