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IKEA India, the Swedish home furnishings retailer, on Thursday celebrated the ground-breaking ceremony of its third India store in Nagasandra, Bengaluru.
Following the grand opening of its first IKEA India store in Hyderabad two months ago, this is yet another step to its long term commitment to India.
The 500,000 sq. ft. store, planned to open in summer 2020 is connected to the Nagasandra Metro Station. IKEA store, which is expected to attract more than 7 million visitors per year, will be built by spending Rs 2,000 crore. The store will offer a wide range of beautiful and affordable home furnishing solutions for the many people in Karnataka.
"As Karnataka is a priority for us, we are investing Rs 1,000 crore in setting up our popular store and another Rs 1,000 crore in expanding it later," IKEA India Chief Executive Peter Betzel told reporters at its ground-laying ceremony in the city's northwest suburb.
The IKEA store will have around 2,000 parking space and a 1,000 seater restaurant serving Swedish and Indian delicacies. It will also house a supervised children's play area called 'Småland'. Around 7,500 products will be on offer with solution to create a better and brighter everyday life at home.
Talking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Betzel said, "Bengaluru is a very special city for us as we have active participation from our total value chain – IKEA Foundation, IKEA suppliers, IKEA social entrepreneurs and now IKEA retail. This city is truly cosmopolitan with many people moving in to find new opportunities. With the IKEA store, we will contribute to a better everyday life for all Bengalureans with well designed, functional home-furnishing solution. We will contribute positively to the state's development by creating employment opportunities, investing in skill/competence development, growing local sourcing to meet India and global demands and bringing IKEA's global best practices to grow India's retail and manufacturing sector."
Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, Dr. G. Parameshwara said, "I welcome IKEA to our state. IKEA's entry reflects Karnataka's progressive policies for ease of doing businesses. Bangalore's mega city with improving infrastructure continues to attract investments. We see IKEA as a strong partner in increasing local manufacturing in the state and bring best practices in retail and supply chain. We also see IKEA as a great contributor in the state's sustainability efforts. IKEA will create many jobs and its commitment to employ 50 percent women will enable many more women in the state to join the workforce. We will extend full support to facilitate ease of doing business here and to be able to open the store very quickly to IKEA."
"We expect 7 million (70 lakh) people to visit the store in a year as a range of affordable and elegant home furnishings and other items will be on display for sale," asserted Betzel on the occasion.
IKEA has a very strong diversity and inclusivity agenda with a commitment to employ 50 percent women co-workers at all levels. The Bengaluru store will employ 800-1000 direct co-workers and another 1500 indirectly providing services such as assembly, delivery etc. IKEA is committed to being people and planet positive and is integrated into our business. IKEA stores will have solar panels, LED lights, rain water harvesting, water treatment plants and modern waste management systems. IKEA will use EV for deliveries and even co-worker transportation in the future.
IKEA aims is to reach out to the many people with thin wallets by offering products with everyday low prices. In the Hyderabad store, there are 1000 products priced below Rs 200. Besides its big format stores, IKEA will create a multichannel experience for its customers in India. It will launch e commerce in Mumbai next year and introduce other touch points that will bring the brand closer to customers. IKEA aims to be present in 49 cities by 2030.
IKEA has been sourcing from India for close to 35 years for its global stores. In India, IKEA currently has more than 55+ suppliers with 45,000 direct employees and 400,000 people in the extended supply chain. IKEA Purchasing organisation works with 7 suppliers and are looking to sign up many more suppliers with a strategic and value fit. In India, IKEA aims to maximize local sourcing in the long term to make the products more affordable
IKEA Foundation, its philanthropic arm has been working with the community for 18 years and currently has 7 running projects centered around livelihood and resources. IKEA Foundation is also working on DISHA, a skill development program to train 1 million women to join the workforce. The Hyderabad store has employed around 100 women from this program so far. IKEA also works with 1,500 women artisans through two social entrepreneurs, one of who is based in Karnataka.


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When we re-connected with Ryan Shelley, Founder & CGO of SMA Marketing, at Partner Day in Boston two years ago we realized that this guy not only knew his stuff, but his energy and genuine nature to help people succeed were contagious. We soon found out that we share more than a desire to help businesses grow. Our agencies are actually very similar. Even though we specialize in different aspects of inbound marketing and run our teams differently, we recognized that we could learn a great deal from each other and continued to stay in touch over the years.
Related Blog: How Long Will it Take to See Results from Inbound Marketing? (Update 2018)
Throughout this friendship, an idea grew about swapping agencies for a day to see how the other operated and share ideas about the future of inbound marketing. We have seen this work out well for other agencies in our industry and a few weeks ago our dreams of doing our own agency swap became a reality when Ryan decided to make the trip to Sarasota. This gave both our agencies an opportunity to better understand how to tackle challenges that the other was currently facing or had experienced in the past.
Being that both of our agencies are HubSpot partners and that we both test and use many different integrations, we first wanted to talk about the HubSpot ecosystem and how we manage and evaluate new integrations. We shared with Ryan that for us it really starts with researching and testing. One person on our team owns the integration and becomes the expert on that software. That person reads educational resources about the software and reaches out to support teams when needed to be able to use the tool to its full potential. After testing the integration within our own agency, we try to see if it would benefit any of our clients. For example, we are currently testing Lucky Orange. This software allows us to view dynamic heatmaps and recordings of actual visitors on a website and connect their interactions to their HubSpot lead record. Within the tool, we can see exactly how visitors interact with a website, such as what they read, clicked on, viewed, etc. This data allows us to improve user experience over time.
Next up on the docket was advanced reporting. Like us, Ryan uses Databox for his monthly reporting and wanted to better understand how we use Databox to report and track client success. We explained that Databox has helped us easily create customized reports for our clients with their own key performance indicators (KPIs) that they find most important for ROI. For example, to prove the ROI of video marketing and live chat for one of our clients, we created a simple databoard that showed that video and chat were absolutely a huge contributor to closing customers.
Related Blog: The HubSpot Ecosystem: Databox Integration (Advance Reporting and Goal Tracking)
Then we moved on to a topic that we both love, video. We shared with Ryan how we embraced video as an agency for marketing, sales, and service and how owning this addition to our strategy has truly changed the way we do business. From sending emails to optimizing websites, we have implemented video into almost everything that we do. We also shared how we empower our clients to use video in their daily activities and that video is not as difficult as it seems. Ryan shared how he uses YouTube (the second largest search engine in the world) and showed us how we can ramp up our activity on that platform. YouTube is built to be an ecosystem of its own and it is essential to maintain a consistent cadence of videos on your channel. Ryan is a natural on camera and you can check out his awesome YouTube channel, #HackMyGrowth presented by Shelley Media Arts here! Ryan's pro tip for creating videos is simple. "Make sure you have good audio and something important to say!" For YouTube videos, he advises to not be afraid to go more in-depth with the topics that you are speaking on. He also suggests engaging with the people who comment on your videos to create connections with your viewers and build your brand.
Related Blog: HubSpot Ecosystem: Increase Direct Bookings with Video and Conversational Marketing
Finally, we discussed Ryan's bread and butter -- SEO. Ryan shared a bit of the history of SEO and his approach with us. If you take anything away from this blog, read this: SEO is not dead and it works! This discussion helped our team view SEO from a different perspective and generated new thoughts and ideas on how we can improve our SEO efforts.
SEO has evolved over the past few years, but it is essentially made up of three pillars: on-page, technical, and links. On-page SEO refers to titles, meta-descriptions, and engagement. Best practices for on-page SEO include keeping titles keyword focused, using contextually based terms and LSI (latent semantic indexing) keywords in meta-descriptions. LSI keywords are all related or within the same topic family. Ryan recommends using Google Search Console to view backlink and anchor link data and then supplementing that information with the Lighthouse Chrome plugin and/or the SEO Quake plugin to see how your website is performing on specific keywords and more.
One pro tip that Ryan mentioned that resonated with us is to provide "more context in a shorter amount of words." Research the keywords and the top pages that your top 5 competitors are ranking for and then look at the related queries to determine where you have the best opportunities to gain ranking. Researching search queries that are related to those ranking keywords will help support content creation and will eventually result in improved SEO ranking.
From on-page SEO, we moved to the more technical aspects including indexing and schema. Schema is a standardized and simplified structured data process. Ryan beautifully explains schema and its importance in his video blog. In short, schema tells search engines what is what on your website. Structured data provides search engines with better information about your website, what is on the site, how it should be categorized, and how to understand what different elements on your website are about.
Ryan also discussed links and provided us with some awesome tips on link building. He reiterated the importance of utilizing directories, guest blogging, and leveraging relationships with industry thought leaders to improve your SEO ranking. Think outside the box and consider niche directories, such as business to community promotion and other co-marketing opportunities. Reach out to communities where businesses are located and see if they would be willing to partner on a blog article. For example, if you know that your customers love that coffee shop next door, why not write about it?!
Above all, when trying to improve your SEO, focus on user intent and try to match it. Find out why people are searching for specific topics. People are either looking to go somewhere, learn something, do something, or buy something online. Ryan refers to Google Cloud's natural language tool to see what people are looking at, why they are looking at it, and how it makes them feel. He also uses Google trends, which show the bolded words that come up when you enter a search query into Google for his research. This specific tool is amazing and allows you to check out what the entire world is searching for.
Hearing Ryan confirm that SEO is definitely not dead and validate that our daily activities are effective is very rewarding. If you want to dive deeper into the world of SEO, check out Ryan's video channel for more!
Related Blog: How Important Are Reviews For Your Local Google Ranking?
Wrapping up, we briefly discussed website navigation and user experience on site. Ryan recommends that every page on your website should be no more than 3 clicks away. Ensure that each page on your website has one direct purpose and action. Provide value to page viewers and this will naturally attract links. Link outward from your website to other experts' websites and create attribution by using those experts' names in your content. Ryan also spoke on repurposing older content to revive valuable information. Take an old blog that has gotten a lot of traffic, keep the original content, but make it better. Add a video, update the featured image, and add more value!
Overall, we would say that this agency swap was a success and we cannot wait until the next one! We have all learned so much and are excited to start implementing some of these new practices and tactics to better our businesses so that we can provide an even better service to our clients. We want to thank Ryan for taking the time to travel to Sarasota and share his expertise and experience with us. Here's to the next agency swap!

subset: commoncrawl


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Ways of Making the Environment Clean.
There are many ways in which the environment can be taken care of. The environment is our living place and thus it is supposed to be taken care of properly. The children rely a lot on the surroundings especially when playing requires a lot of care and attention. The best way in which the environment can be taken good care of is through ensuring that there is minimum pollution. The best way to do it is going green and reducing any pollution which could take place in the environment. It is essential to guard the future by taking good care of the environment today.
As a simple way of taking good care of the environment is through going green. In this case see to it that the chemicals which are used are natural. Many chemicals are usually used at home during cleaning. That is a simple process which could be experimented at home by a person. In this case see to it that the chemicals which are used are chemicals free. More chemicals are used at home in cleansing. The cleaning can be done simply by employing the people who are known for using the natural detergents in cleaning.
Another good style is by making sure that there is reduced wastage of the energy. This could be done by cutting down on the air pollution through the vehicles. It is in order to buy the electric run machines. Thus make sure that there are very few emissions of fumes from the vehicles. There are vehicles which use electricity to run. There are strategies to make sure that there is little energy which is consumed. The purpose of the is to cut down on the energy which is being used.
For example make sure that the papers and other wastes are reduced through recycle and reuse. In this case, the cans and the bags which are purchased from the market should be taken care of. The papers and the bags can be used much later. For instance make sure that they are used in the next time to carry the items from the market. The equipment can be used for storage and also at home.
Therefore there are a number of the ways in which the people can choose to go green at home. Thus make sure that the plan is effected and the future of the generations is taken care of. The good environment also includes the freshness of the air. The plan to go green is the way to go.


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Yashada Karandikar on Germany and the German language:
'I completed my Bachelor's in engineering, but that hardly interested me. The German language is something that kept pulling me back. Paying heed to it, I changed career paths and I'm now a German teacher. But it's not just owing to the language course I attended in Germany. The vibe of the country is simply wonderful and is something that I want to relive.'
Lives in: Pune, India
Country of origin: India
Period in Germany: June 2008, Vallendar (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Educational institution: Goethe-Institut
Occupation: Freelance teacher of German as a Foreign Language (DaF)
March 2016


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Pennsylvania music fans may have heard that pop singer Madonna and film director Guy Ritchie are involved in a custody dispute over their 15-year-old son Rocco. Madonna currently has custody of Rocco, though her son has expressed a wish to live with his father. At a recent court hearing, a Manhattan Supreme Court justice ordered Rocco to return to his mother's home in New York.
Mother of NBA star's kids seeks increase in child support
Pennsylvania residents who are considering divorce might be interested in the ongoing child support case between NBA star Lance Stephenson and the mother of his two children. The mother claims that she needs more than the $6,000 in child support she receives each month. She requested more money so her children would be able to move into a safer neighborhood and receive childcare while she returns to school. Reports indicate that she asked the Brooklyn Family Court for double the amount she has been receiving.
Woman says she is child's parent, challenges adoption
An adoption case involving a former same-sex couple may be of interest to Pennsylvania residents. A woman is challenging the adoption of a 9-year-old girl by the girl's new stepdad because the woman claims that she is the child's parent. The girl's biological mother argues that although the woman helped raise the girl for the first four years of her life, she was never actually the child's parent.
Same-sex relationships challenge legal definitions of parent
In Pennsylvania, same-sex couples that end their relationships could face significant legal hurdles when child custody disputes emerge. Courts in other states have been split on the subject of parental rights for nonbiological partners in same-sex couple families.
Sherri Shepherd accused of abandoning son
Pennsylvania residents may remember Sherri Shepherd from her seven-year stint as co-host of "The View". Now, Shepherd is making headlines for more than just her commentary on popular news stories. Shepherd has been ordered to pay child support and alimony to her ex-husband Lamar Sally. According to Sally, Shepherd abandoned the child that they had together via surrogate.


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The determination, the sweat, the tears – all are part of the game, yet each characteristic is taken to new heights when it comes to the US Youth Soccer National Championships. Some teams know that with the National Championships comes a specific feeling – a specific atmosphere – and some teams are experiencing it all for the first time.
For St. Charles-based 18U Girls Campton United 1 (IL), 2018 marks the team's third appearance at the National Championships, first competing in 2015 and again in 2016.
The Illinois side punched an early ticket to this year's Nationals through the National League, clinching the Black Division title with an undefeated record in seven games. As the team clinched a spot in January in Bradenton, Fla., the excitement and momentum has been building for quite some time now.
"To be participating in the 2018 National Championships is very exciting," head coach Scott Keena said. "Nationals is an event only a few players will experience through their youth careers. We have worked hard for this opportunity, and we will be looking to make the most of it."
Taking a look back, Campton United first earned a spot in the 2015 National Championships after qualifying as a Midwest Regional Championships representative. The team did not make it out of group play in Tulsa, Okla., but it managed to earn another shot the following year. In 2016, Campton United placed second in its group to go to the knockout rounds but fell short in the National Championships semifinal match in Frisco, Texas.
The streak of appearing at Nationals broke in 2017 when Campton United did not qualify through the National League or the Midwest Regional Championships. During the 2016-17 National League season, only two points separated Campton United and the division winner in the standings. At the Midwest Regional Championships, one goal for its opponent prevented Campton United from advancing out of group play.
"That was really hard," center defender Jenna Dombrowski said about not moving on to Nationals. "We were so close, and I think that's what was so hard about it, but I think that really motivated us. I think that really pushed us because we never wanted to feel like that again."
Campton United has avoided that feeling by bouncing back from last year's performance and doing well in National League. The early ticket to Nationals is not what the team is accustomed to, but that is exactly what the players wanted.
"This group has worked tirelessly to win every league or cup competition this year," Keena said. "We won National League, winning all games and only giving up one goal against some of the country's best teams. Winning National League was a first for this group as the previous seasons we have fallen short, so winning in such style was a fantastic achievement."
The 2017-18 season was Campton United's third season in the National League. Even though the team was not a newcomer, the season still brought out tough competition.
"All of the teams there were very competitive, so it brought out the best of our game, and we were just super lucky to be able to play against that caliber of teams," Dombrowski said. "After we found out that we qualified, we were just so happy and excited. National League was a great way to get into [Nationals] because the teams were so good, and they really prepared us for Texas."
While Campton United already had a spot at Nationals, the 2018 Midwest Regional Championships in Westfield, Ind., also served as great preparation for the team.
"We definitely still came in with the mindset to win," Dombrowski said. "We never really come into things halfway. If we're in it, we're all in. That's what I love about this team. Whatever objective we have, we show up for it. We compete."
Hungry for the win, Campton United competed in its third regional final match but fell short.
"Regionals is a tough event to win," Keena said. "Only the first-place team qualifies from the group to the semifinals, so there's very little room for error. We were a finalist again this year and were unlucky to not win, but we will be looking to push for another chance in the 2018-19 season."
Since its first Nationals debut in 2015, Campton United has maintained a few players who experienced that first National Championships run, but the team has also picked up a load of new players who will be experiencing the competition for the first time.
"I do believe that for all the girls on the team that being part of this event is a very special thing," Keena said. "We set the goal at the start of the year to win a National Championship, so now having the opportunity to fulfill that goal is very special."
Dombrowski is among the girls who will be competing at Nationals for the first time. She has heard great things about the event but won't know the exact feeling until she steps onto the field for the first time. Along with this being her first experience, Dombrowski is also one of the few girls who graduated from high school this year, so there are a number of reasons why she wants to succeed at Nationals.
"It's kind of a 'go out with a bang' type of thing," Dombrowski said. "I'm looking to go off on such a great season. I just want to win with these girls. The team has really pushed me and developed me into the player I am today, so I owe a lot of who I am as a player to them. It's going to be pretty emotional, but we're there to complete an objective, and I think we're going to show up no matter what."
After a successful soccer season, Campton United holds the confidence to do well on the big stage for round three of the National Championships.
"This year is a little different, as we will be graduating a few of our players into their college programs, so having them finish their youth careers with a National title would be a dream come true," Keena said. "This being said, we feel that we can beat anyone, and we will be setting the goal to bring a National Championship back to Chicago this year."


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The same year that Galileo died in Florence, a premature baby was born to the Newton family in Lincolnshire. Isaac, as he was named, was a sickly child and picked on in school. The school bully, who also happened to be the smartest boy in school, once kicked Newton in the stomach. Newton fought back and beat the bully. He then proceeded to complete his victory by beating the boy in school. At age 18 he entered Trinity College and earned a B.A. degree in mathematics without much distinction.
During Newton's studies in college, the Black Plague ravaged England and all students were sent home. Newton returned to Lincolnshire where the family lived in seclusion for about 18 months. During that time Newton conceived almost all of the ideas for which he is famous. These include the binomial theorem that is taught in high school algebra, the fundamentals of differential and integral calculus, which he called fluxions and inverse fluxions, a theory on color, that is, the spectrum that creates rainbows and an extension of his theory of gravity as being the force that keeps the moon in orbit around the earth.
Over the next twenty years Newton worked on his Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, natural philosophy being the term then given to the laws of nature. Newton developed a mechanistic interpretation of all physical phenomena, a point of view that dominated physics until the early years of the Twentieth Century when the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics were developed. However, Newton's laws and theories, which have come to be called Newtonian or Classical Physics, still govern the ordinary world around us. They explain why cars stay on the roads, why roller coasters can go upside down, and why there are rainbows after a rain storm. The development of his theory of gravity led to a new field of study, celestial mechanics, which in turn advanced astronomy and the study of the cosmos.
It was Newton who first conceived of a satellite orbiting the earth. He did this by observing that a stone thrown from a high point makes an arc as it drops back to earth. He then imagined throwing the stone harder and harder, so that the arc was longer and longer until eventually the stone passed the curvature of the earth before it struck ground, thereby entering into orbit around the earth.
As a person, Newton wasn't particularly pleasant and was often involved in controversy with his colleagues. He was the arch-type of the absent-minded professor, often forgetting to eat, comb his hair or even complete getting dressed in the morning. He had a cat, for whom he cut an opening in his door so the cat could come and go at her leisure. When the cat had kittens, Newton cut holes for each kitten. He was, however, aware of the achievements of those who came before him. He famously remarked "If I have seen further than others it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants."
Newton is arguably one of the best-known scientists of all time. The names Newton and Einstein are linked in physics and just as almost everyone knows E=mc2 as the formula that converts mass to energy and vice versa, almost everyone is familiar with Newton's laws of motion, particularly the Third Law, to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
It is safe to say that Newton is the giant on whose shoulders all physicists who followed stood.


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Ancient Greece is a surprisingly popular choice for developers when they're looking for a suitable setting for their games. Maybe it's the long-held tradition of telling stories about people searching for their fortunes or perhaps there's something about the imagery that lends itself to the medium. Whatever the case, it seems that epic tales bring epic betting opportunities with them.
From the moment you enter this slice of Greek mythology, you're presented with a mountainous backdrop and placed amidst a beautiful run of rosebushes, looking up at an Acropolis-like monument that's illuminated by a golden sunrise.
Golden Goddess is a 5-reel slot with 40 pay lines centred around ancient Grecian mythology. The high-value in-game symbols are represented by a white dove, a horse, a Greek hero and the goddess herself. The low-value ones are comprised of the playing cards 10, J, Q, K and A. The wild is shown as another depiction of the goddess, while the bonus symbol is displayed as a red rose. There are two main bonus features in the game, a free spins mode and stacked symbols.
If the setting alone doesn't whisk you away from modern life and into the depths of Ancient Greece, then the artwork on the reels certainly will.
The golden-haired Goddess who owns this online slot gazes into your eyes – willing you to rise up from the rosebushes and create your own historical chapter.
The game doesn't directly claim this Goddess to be Athena, but we're pretty sure it's her. Athena is the goddess of 'heroic endeavour' and is celebrated for her support to many ancient heroes (i.e. Odysseus, Jason and Heracles).
This leads us on to the heroic male in the game, who is believed to be one of the many strong mythological kings/princes. Again, it's up for discussion, but we're taking a punt for Odysseus, given Athena's friendship with him in the history books.
Bonus Features
Super Stacks Feature
You don't have to do anything to unlock this feature; they'll just pop up randomly in the base game. You will come across these stacked symbols frequently and, for those that don't know, these are symbols which are stacked high on the reels. These can combine to create massive payouts and actually your chances of a win as well.
What's more, it's not out of the realms of possibility to land three of these consecutively on the reels. If you do, and they land perfectly next to each other, a giant 3x3 version of that symbol will form and give you a tasty sum as a reward.
Free Spins
To trigger this bonus, you'll have to land nine of the red rose bonus symbols on reels two, three and four or, in other words, cover all of those reels with the bonus symbol. After this, you will be awarded seven free spins, which can obviously be very useful. There is another aspect of this mode as well. When you initially start the round, you will be asked to pick a specific red rose. Each has a symbol hidden behind it and whichever rose you chose will flip to reveal the symbol it was hiding. This will then appear stacked on the reels for the duration of your free spins.
Play It Here at Kerching
Ready to mingle with the gods? With a dramatic soundtrack and heart-pounding mechanics, this is modern gaming at its best. But don't just take our word for it, the games independent Facebook page already has thousands upon thousands of Likes! If you want a more visually instructive guide to the game, check out the official gameplay video from the developers IGT.
With stacked Wilds and one of the unique bonus features of online slots gaming, Golden Goddess definitely has the Midas touch. Will your clicks turn to gold in this mythological masterpiece? Play Golden Goddess today and don't feel bad if you never want to play another game again – the Goddess has that effect on a lot of people.
If you like the sound of that game or fancy trying out something a little different, here is a couple of games we think you'll love. First off, if you love the mythology setting of Golden Goddess, why not try the hugely popular Book of Gods series? If that isn't really your scene though, give the legendary Cleopatra a whirl; it's another slot based on the ancient world but with an entirely different locale. If you're a new user, check our promotions page for our latest welcome offer, as well as any other specials we've got at the moment.
Gamble Responsibly
We want you to enjoy our games, and the best way to do that is to play them responsibly. With that in mind, it's helpful to follow a few tips to keep you safe when playing. First off, always have a budget set and make sure never to go over it. We can set wagering restrictions to help you with this and put other restrictions in place if you feel yourself getting carried away. Don't forget that all the spins in an online slot are randomly generated, so even if a game has a high RTP, it doesn't mean you are due to win at any point. Playing for longer periods of time does not increase the chances of a payout.
Spending large, uninterrupted amounts of time on slots is unhealthy, and it's important to take regular breaks. Never gamble when under the influence either, it's just a bad idea. We offer both time limits and self-exclusion as well if you need them. If you have any lingering questions, get in touch with our support at [email protected].


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Dance Plant Collective's MEAT raises complex ethical questions, says New Review critic Georgia Mill
When I was around nine, I was playing at a friend's house when her dad bought us lunch from KFC. Because I was a vegetarian, I ate out of the shared coleslaw bucket. Everyone else ate some kind of chicken product: chicken wings, nuggets or burgers. I remember her dad and his friend laughing while I picked at the sour cabbage and asking me to justify why I was a vegetarian. My choice was obviously a hassle; but perhaps on some level it was also forcing them to think about a reality they'd rather not engage with.
This is a common occurrence: people often think your dietary choice is a direct attack on them and will launch a pre-emptive defence. I am hardly a hardcore crusader for the vegetarian cause, but I think that any opportunity to unpack the process that happens between the paddock and the packaged goods is important. Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, it seems most people feel uncomfortable about the practice of meat consumption and animal slaughter.
MEAT is a contemporary dance work from New Zealand company Dance Plant Collective that engages with the meat industry and ideas around consumption. The work is visually and spatially arresting. The clever use of heaters in the set-design (Achmed Abman) created an uncomfortable and menacing aesthetic from the moment the audience entered. Fire is used to heat our homes, but it's also used to brand and scorch, to smoke and boil.
We are in an industrial space with peeling paint, wooden crates on the ground and dim lighting. Gates and fences are turned on their sides and propped up in between archways, and eyes peer out at us from the darkness. When we hear a shuffling sound, we walk towards the fences and look through. A woman on her hands and knees is shuffling forward on a long sheet of plastic, her movements jerky and painful, both human and not-human.
She edges slowly along the plastic and the audience moves closer to the fence. We see her body move painfully forward, as if she is not in control of the direction she is being pulled. Her breaths appear staggered and cut short. The pulsing beat of the audio is like the beat of an unfamiliar heart. Slowly she rises: hands moving forward and back, chest convulsing, her feet scrunching the plastic. The pulsing noise will be carried throughout the performance of MEAT, in the movements of the performers and in the music; a soundtrack to bodies pushed, pulled and forced around the space.
There were many beautiful images throughout the show. The set, costume (Lisa McEwan, Elise Li) and lighting (Samuel Folkard) linked together to create a layered world, with dark shadows, electronic moans and a haunting vastness. There were many places to hide in the set and the world created in the performance space showed skill and consideration.
The five performers (Bella Wilson, Brittany Kohler, Natasha Kohler, Jaz Yahel and Tui Hofmann (choreographer)) are incredibly strong and talented. They perform repetitive movements, hoist other performers on the own bodies and contort themselves for long periods of time. They stuff objects in their mouths, look hungrily at other performers and attempt to eat each other.
For me the highlight of the performance was a scene involving an audio track describing the process of butchering a beef brisket while three performers repeated the same pulsing movements in unison. The choreography (Tui Hofmann) in this section accompanied by Alex Zielinski's composition builds an uncomfortable and entrancing focus: we sit and watch them move in what must be incredibly challenging positions (almost like repetitive pushups), as the casual narrator's butchering instructions are read out to the all-women cast.
With five performers there was often a lot for the audience to follow and sometimes I found myself a little confused. I wanted a scene with all five performers which attained the same focus and discomfort of the previous scene, but found the sequences with all five were incredibly busy. There were also a lot of different subjects covered – among others, animal slaughter, the fashion industry, women as meat, the human-animal connection and cannibalism.
I felt this performance could be strengthened to slip further into its absurd moments instead of pulling them back to what sometimes felt like literal interpretations of its thematic content. Often I wanted to linger with some sequences. There was the opportunity to play with the discomfort they had created – to push the audience harder. We were ready for more.
There has been a lot written and said about the consumption of meat and its ethics, yet we are still largely oblivious to the conditions of animals used for slaughter. We shy away from the reality because it involves death, gore and confrontation.
Earlier this year, footage of the Awassi Express prompted calls to ban live exports to Australia. In September a cross bench bill to ban live sheep exports passed the Senate, but is yet to make it to a vote in the House of Representatives.
These issues are definitely gaining momentum and I think a greater public understanding of the conditions means that performers have more scope to experiment with their representation of "consumption". Often consumption isn't clearly linked with pain and cruelty, and this complacency and cultural acceptance allows it to take place. It would have been interesting to see these represented in lighter moments that contrasted with the heaviness of the rest of the performance.
MEAT offers a promising insight into an ambitious young company that is dealing with complex ethical problems. I look forward to seeing what they take on next.
The New Review program is a collaboration between Witness and Footscray Community Arts Centre West Writers that nurtures and mentors new critical voices. It is part of Malthouse Theatre's Living Now resident writers program, funded through the MPA Collaborations program, and has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.
MEAT, Choreographed by Tui Hofmann. Performed by Bella Wilson, Brittany Kohler, Natasha Kohler, Jaz Yahel and Tui Hofmann. Music composition by Alex Zielinski (Riyoon). Set Design Achmed Abman. Costume Design by Lisa McEwan. Textile Design by Elise Li. AV and Lighting Design by Samuel Folkard. Produced by Zöe Nicholson. Abbotsford Convent – Industrial School, Melbourne Fringe.


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INDI Library v1.8.5 Released (19 Apr 2020)
April 2020 release of INDI Library v1.8.5 introduces new drivers while providing fixes and improvements to existing devices and core framework.
INDI distribution for macOS
I setup a new macOS 10.14 virtual machine to start clean.
Then to try the Craft build I follow manually the steps in your script github.com/rlancaste/kstars-on-osx-craft...ster/build-kstars.sh
I stop after "craft .... indiserver3rdParty"
Everything work fine and I have now a full INDI build in the craft directory.
Congratulation for your work on this Craft recipe. I like this way to build INDI and not install directly in /usr/local
Now I will skip the "Building Kstars" steps and continue at "Creating symlink", then generate-dmg with fix-libraries.
For my testing I will just try to copy everything in a dummy .app directory.
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This sounds like a good plan to me. We will keep paying a lot of attention to craft because that is the way KDE packages up their apps and the INDI project is being managed by many of the same folks that are working on KStars. I don't think the recipes are 100% done yet, but they are definitely good enough to use to distribute stuff for now. This does allow us to largely ignore home-brew. I would like to get away from it entirely but there are still a few things that I haven't perfected the recipe for.
If you want to make some revisions, we could start working on a nice package with INDI specifically for OS X that doesn't include KStars.
There's just a couple of things.
1. I spent a lot of time making sure that everything could be packaged up in an app and then distributed and moved around to different places. So a number of the drivers need environment variables to be set in order to find the appropriate firmware files and similar things, unless they are in their homebrew locations. Right now in KStars, I set those environment variables at run time when KStars launches an INDI Server. This is really great because the user doesn't have to have homebrew installed, and they can put the app bundle anywhere they want on the computer. But any time the INDI server is run, they need to be set properly. Without KStars, what is the plan for setting this information?
2. In regards to #1, it might be good to develop a new program with a GUI to run an INDI server, or to use the old one that Peter made with updates to it. Thoughts?
3. Note that they are thinking of splitting the INDI repo into two parts. This won't cause any big issues as far as I can see, except that it will require that the recipes be updated . So if you do start with my recipes and/or scripts, please note that I plan to update them as soon as this change happens.
4. I am planning to submit my craft recipes to KDE as soon as they are ready. I did a lot of work on them last year and in January, but haven't worked on them since then. I have been really busy. I plan to look at them in detail again soon. Once I submit them, the script will become a lot simpler because it won't have to copy in the recipes I wrote, it can just use the craft recipes because mine would be included in there too. So when I do that, the script and recipes will change a bit.
That should be it. None of this would cause any major issues I don't think, but it is important to keep in mind moving forward since the scripts/recipes would need to be updated later if you write them now.
I think the biggest thing is the question of whether a GUI is needed? If so, it can be done with QT so it could be cross platform, rather than just for Macs. Or we could start with a similar program to what Peter had done. Or do you have another idea?
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Thank you for all this information, this help me a lot.
It take up to this week until I find some free time to continue to work on this. But now this is almost complete and I have some binaries build with Craft that can be tested.
The scripts build and install INDI in any .app, independently of the application itself.
I put the build scripts in a github repo to make this more easy to share and correct any error.
For testing I update my IndiStarter application that can now use the embedded INDI server.
The point 1. in your last message was very useful, I find the environment variable to set in Kstars source. After I do that in my application there is no more problem with the skeleton files.
I can do only very limited test with the simulators because my only "Mac" is a virtual machine running on Linux KVM.
So I am very interested by any real test that can be done by installing the application from: sourceforge.net/projects/indistarter/files/testing/
The application documentation is here: github.com/pchev/indistarter/wiki
Be sure to set a log file in the Setup options to get any error from the INDI server or driver.
This IndiStarter application can be a temporary solution for the point 2. , provide a GUI to start INDI on Mac. This give some time to discuss what solution we prefer on the long term. As I already say I not see IndiStarter as a permanent solution because I write it using FreePascal and this is not a language know by other INDI developers.
Tell me if you change the script for the repo split or inclusion in standard KDE craft so I can update my script.
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I too have been very busy recently and have not had much time to devote to this, but now that we are getting close to summer, I should have some more time to do some development work. I will check out what you have done, probably within the next week or so.
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I tested both your scripts in GitHub and the application on source force. Both work very well! I was able to build INDI and install it into a dummy app folder by running your scripts and following your directions. I was also able to use your INDIStarter app downloaded and installed from source forge to start up an INDI server and connect to it from KStars. This is a very good starting point. The only hiccup I found was that I had to create a root folder before running the script and I didn't know that till I ran it. That might be good to put in your directions. My script automatically makes the folder if it doesn't exist. Your plan might be better in case the user has the wrong folder in the build-env file. But other than that, there were no problems running it. Note, that I did not test INDIStarter with any real equipment yet, just the simulators.
One think that I really like about what you did is that you separated the INDI build from the installation into the app. That is great for folks like you who might want the stable version and don't want to build INDI every time from source. Once INDI is built, it only takes a moment to install INDI into your app. The way I currently have it set up, it builds the latest version of INDI every time, which is fine for what I am doing since we are working on both INDI and KStars at the same time, so I'm trying to get all the latest stuff that I add/change in INDI into the latest version of KStars each time. But of course it takes longer and the latest version of INDI could potentially have bugs in it. On that same note, I did note that in your code, you are using the latest version of INDI, for your application, maybe it should be the newest stable one?
So now it is very likely that you could use these scripts as a platform to embed INDI into some of your other projects like ccd ciel, phd2, or skychart just like we did for KStars. Then users could start and control the INDIServer inside them. That would be nice. Do you plan to do that?
Your indistarter program is very nice and works very similarly to the now defunct INDIServer app by cloud makers. I think that users will like that a lot. I do like the simplicity that the clouldmakers INDIServer app has, and yours is just as nice. As you mention, this is a temporary move of course, because it would probably be best to code this in a more familiar language/platform. Maybe a cross platform QT app would be nice, or maybe something like the INDI Web Manager for Macs. For now, though, this seems to work well.
One other note is related to the CCD simulator. In order to include stars in the simulator images, it needs GSC. In KStars, I added an option that allows the installation of GSC if the user desires. I don't think it should be included in any app by default because it is so large (300 MB). When the INDI server is run, an environment variable can be set to point to the GSC folder. That is what I do in KStars. The CCD Simulator's stars in INDI are VERY nice because you can do all kinds of tests for your programs with it since they can test focus algorithms, plate solving algorithms, guiding algorithms, and imaging algorithms. They also are very nice for beginners to the software because the beginner can do a full observing run and test EVERYTHING about the program by just sitting on the couch and using the fake stars from the simulators.
This is a VERY good start. I should have a decent amount of time this summer to help you with some of this. I do have some plans for some things I would like to do to my scripts, the craft recipes, INDI, and KStars. I should also be able to work on this as well. I think this is a great project because it will really help to improve and expand INDI and its use.
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Thank you for testing and for your comments.
I have updated the readme to specify you must create the src directory in home, mkdir ~/src , cd ~/src, before to git clone. With this steps it must work without editing the environment file.
My intent is to use the stable version but I try this change because "default" still point to 1.7.6. Is it possible to change the craft file to use 1.7.8 ?
I see now I make an error about the INDI version selection, I want to try "Latest" but I write "latest" in the script, so in fact it still use 1.7.6.
At the moment I include the installation of INDI in my application in a very simple way. After I run the scripts that install in the empty test.app I make a tar file of the Contents directory, then I extract this tar in my real application part of it's "make install". This is possible for me because I am sure there is no file overlap. This way I only have to make a new build of INDI when the version change.
I not plan to include INDI in ccdciel, phd2 or skychart because the INDI server is a unique resource on the computer and I not like the idea you can get a different version of the server if you first start one application or the other. So it is probably better to use an independent way to start the server, like IndiStarter or it's future replacement.
You not have this problem with Kstars because it is a complete application, most users run only Kstars and it make sens to include the server.
I use a lot the simulator with the GSC for the application development. I not include the binary in my script because "craft gsc" is commented in your script build-kstars.sh so I not try it. Do it build the binary or also install the catalog?
A good solution will be to include the gsc binary in MacOS/indi/ but let the users that want to use it to install the catalog data out of the application directory.
I do some more testing by trying to start every driver, specifically those in 3rdparty, to look for dependency issue and I found some you can probably help me to solve.
qhy_ccd is not build at all and I not see any message about it in the build log from "craft indiserver3rdPartyLibraries" or "craft indiserver3rdParty". Is some other files, like SDK from QHY, that need to be installed first?
the SBIG driver do not load because of missing libsbig.dylib.
It is build in ~/src/indi-mac/craft/lib/ but from the script install/fix the library there is the messages:
HAVE TO COPY [libsbig.dylib] from [/usr/local/lib/libsbig.dylib] to Frameworks
cp: /usr/local/lib/libsbig.dylib: No such file or directory
Is this error because this location is set in the library?
otool -L craft/lib/libsbig.dylib
/usr/local/lib/libsbig.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 1.0.0)
indi_eqmod_telescope fail to load the svd math plugin. It look like EnumeratePlugins search at the right location and found it but dlopen try to load it from the build location.
the message is :
Driver indi_eqmod_telescope: EnumeratePlugins - cannot load plugin /Users/pch/src/indi-mac/craft/lib/indi/MathPlugins/libindi_SVD_MathPlugin.dylib error dlopen(/Users/pch/src/indi-mac/craft/lib/indi/MathPlugins/libindi_SVD_MathPlugin.dylib, 2): image not found
The library itself look right:
otool -L testapp/test.app/Contents/Resources/MathPlugins/libindi_SVD_MathPlugin.dylib
@rpath/libindi_SVD_MathPlugin.dylib (compatibility version 0.0.0, current version 0.0.0)
I appreciate any help to solve this issues.
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Yes i can update the recipe to include 1.7.8, thats not a problem.
I commented out gsc because we decided to not include gsc in the dmg with kstars due to its size, but instead to make it a separate download from a server by selecting the option inside kstars. I left in the recipe and the commented out in the script, however, because that leaves a way for people like developers to build gsc so they can install it, build it, include it, or whatever. The gsc build, builds everything gsc needs including the files and the executable and puts them in a subfolder of the craft root folder. Then you can put it wherever you like. Then when you run the indiserver, just pass the location in an environment variable called gscdat.
I will look at those 3 drivers today. All sdks and dependencies should be handled by the script. There are no installation or build envrionment requirements before running it. I know qhy has needed to be turned off a few times due to bugs in their code. It looks like the path for sbig might be off. But i will check all of them.
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I just updated the stable build to 1.7.8. One note about that though. The other things you were asking about, QHY, LIBSBIG, and EQMOD, any issues with their installation could possibly be changes in INDI, instead of in my script or recipe. So that does mean that if you use the stable build, any changes that I make to INDI now won't be in 1.7.8.
I just checked QHY. It is currently turned on. I built the latest version of KStars last night and it built QHY too.
Here is what I have in my 3rd Party Libraries build folder and in my INDI build folder (except I cut off a little from the top and bottom on the INDI build since there is so much). Is this the same as yours?
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According to professionals, it's never too late to regain control of our body and improve our lifestyle to divert back our regimen into heart-healthy ways. Although the suggestions listed below are mostly applied to young adults, many of these heart-healthy recommendations can also work well for the older population.
As a provider of home care services in Alabama, Supportive Living Home Care advises that one should start to:
- Quit cigarette smoking
- Consider medication that helps control our blood pressure
- Opt for proper dieting and healthy meals
- Increase physical activity and incorporate physical exercise every day
- Regulate and maintain a healthy weight
- Decrease the consumption of alcohol
As your home care provider, we believe that these health measures are to be followed no matter the age. All of these health tips can also help you lower the risk of getting diabetes.
Our Home Care in Huntsville, Alabama can also help you with facilitating age-appropriate exercise to maintain an active lifestyle. For more health tips, don't hesitate to contact us.


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Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first SILive.com user to add photos or videos of Danco Alarms Inc
Danco Alarms Inc is located at 4519 Westminster Rd, Great Neck, NY. This business specializes in Burglar Alarms.
Danco Alarms Inc can be found at Westminster Rd 4519. The following is offered: Burglar Alarms. The entry is present with us since Sep 8, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Great Neck there are 1 other Burglar Alarms. An overview can be found here.
Danco Alarms Inc was founded in 1980, and is located at 4519 Westminster Rd in Great Neck.


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I just found a little prog called bootsnooze.
what it does: it makes your pc restart and then goes into hibernation.
this is way better then a nornal hibernate because you get a fresh start wth cleared memory and all while you seriously reduce start up time..
would be nice as a function in XL?
the idea seems very simple.


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I have been neglecting my blog for many months now. No "real" entries. No "Weekend Wrap-Up" posts. Nothing but quiz results, video links and the occasional photo. I can think of a million reasons why and I could feel guilty about it but I'm not going to let myself fall into that trap. It simply hasn't been a priority.
There are some notable things going on in my world that are worthy of being reported on and I'm suddenly feeling the urge to share so it seemed time to pull a post together.
In 11 days I leave on an adventure with Habitat for Humanity. I will be traveling with a group through the Global Village program to work with Habitat affiliate in Kauai (Hawaii). I started the process back in December (2008) by completing my application was matched with several trips including Honduras, Argentina and Kauai. I was intrigued about the idea of traveling to central/south America and experiencing such a different culture than my own but through the application and interview process it became clear that the Kauai team was where I belonged. I clicked with the team leaders immediately and knew that my skill set would be best paired with the team they were building. It became official on January 22 when I received my invitation to the Kauai team and thus began the prepping and planning. The time has just flown by and I can't believe that it's already nearly time to leave. Is it really July already?
I am very excited about the trip and also a little bit nervous about the unknown elements as I've never done anything like this before. I am fortunate to have the love and support of a great network of friends and family members who have been unbelievably supportive. I sincerely appreciate all of your love, encouragement, prayers, emails, phone calls, talks and cards. Thank you seems inadequate, I am sincerely grateful.
I will try to post some photos and short updates from my phone while on site but I have no idea if that will be feasible. I do intend to take lots of pictures and share my experiences here after my return.
Don will be flying to Kauai to join me following my time with Habitat and we will be vacationing for a week which means that I will be gone from home for 17 days! Which is something that I am both excited and terrified about; 17 days is a long time!
My brain has been swimming with millions of little details for weeks now to the point that it was driving me mad. On Friday I created a list (actually 3 lists) that are truly "working lists" and it has put my mind at ease that I won't forget anything or forget to do anything before I go.
Work has fallen into the same space with lists and tasks and loose ends that I would like to have completed by the time I leave. I have a few deals that are just "hanging" out there and I can't seem to get them closed. I know that no matter what I do they will close after I'm gone, it always works that way, and I don't know why this time would be different. I was on the phone with a consultant today who travels for extended periods of time often and he reminded me that it will "all get done whether it happens now or later, it all gets done eventually." Oh, how right he is!


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From Dorothy McNett's Recipe Book.| Browse by Category | Browse alphabetically | Cooking Club |
See Also: Beans · Cooking Club · Main Dishes · Salads · XYZ
Quinoa and Beans
From Dorothy McNett's recipes at www.dorothymcnett.com. There are some nice already cooked and canned beans available, buy natural as much as possible.
1 cup quinoa
In a small heavy bottomed saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the rinsed quinoa, reduce to simmer. Cover and simmer gently for about 15 minutes, or until tender and water has been absorbed. Or, place quinoa and water in a glass or ceramic batter bowl. Cover. Cook in microwave 5 minutes on full power, and then 10 minutes on half power (power level 5). Set aside. Wash the squash, cook in microwave for 2-3 minutes. Allow to cool enough to handle, and then cut in half, remove the seeds and membrane. Cut into wedges, removing the peeling. Cut into small chunks. Cut the onion into chunks. Heat the oil or butter in a heavy bottomed saute pan, adding the cut up squash and onion. Cook and stir about 5-6 minutes, until tender. Add the beans, lemon zest and juice, sugar, cumin, tumeric, salt and cayenne. Combine with the cooked quinoa. Toss in the oil and pepper. Serve hot or warm as a vegetable dish, or allow to cool and serve as a salad.
Recipe created 2014-01-14.


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Lawmaker on GI Bill delays: 'A lot of people are out there struggling right now'
The delays of GI Bill housing payments is a top concern for the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and he's confident student veterans will be made whole.
In an interview with KCBS's Rebecca Carrol, Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) assured anyone who is missing their housing allowance payments can expect to be paid eventually, although he did not provide a timeline.
He began the interview by championing the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act—dubbed the Forever GI Bill.
"The Post 9/11 GI Bill was expanded for a lifetime benefit, and it is a phenomenal benefit," he said.
"Purple heart winners who maybe have not served as long a time, if you shed blood for the country, I felt, and the Committee felt, and Congress felt you should earn the GI Bill for a lifetime."
He also spoke to VA's frustrations in processing certifications.
"In August [VA ] said 'there may be a hiccup, it may be in two weeks,'" said Roe. He then appealed directly to veterans.
"Let me just cut straight to the chase, so there are veterans out there that are listening. One, probably all of you are being paid the wrong amount, the one percent increase nobody is getting."
Roe added that VA officials assured him, and the rest of the committee, that users of the GI Bill will begin to see the correct funds, once the VA gets their act together.
"The good news is, eventually, if you've been overpaid they are not going to claw back their money – you keep what you got," he said. "If you've been underpaid you will get your money."
The issue of delayed housing payments is due to a technical glitch in implementing the Forever GI Bill, which signed into law last year. Hundreds of thousands of student veterans have received incorrect amounts, while some have yet to see any money hit their bank accounts.
That's forced several GI Bill users to borrow money from family, take out emergency loans, or fall behind on their bills.
The VA contacted student veterans directly earlier this week and encouraged them to call 1-888-442-4551 if they are impacted, which Roe mentioned in his interview.
"A lot of people are out there struggling right now, and we are leaning on [ VA ] as hard as we can," he said. "The money is there, appropriated, and this bill is fully paid for."
Contact us about this or share your story at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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I am sure some may have seen the guild Method is looking to branch out and become more of a professional E-sports team. If you are unaware…… Read more "When my hobby becomes your job"
Month: October 2014
I'm sorry you did not fit in.
It really pains me to have to write this, but I guess it is necessary. I know you may never read this, or if you do will…… Read more "I'm sorry you did not fit in."
This is the dawning of the age…
of the pug group. This is just a personal observation mind you. I have only been involved with World of Warcraft for a bit less than 6…… Read more "This is the dawning of the age…"
Going forward
If you are reading this then you are one of the few people I follow or that follow me. I have not hand picked people that agree…… Read more "Going forward"
Some nostalgia
April 28th 2010, Spiritual Guidance collunmist Fox Van Allen wrote in response to an email I had sent to him. http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/04/28/spiritual-guidance-the-gearscore-is-a-lie Wow. I feel I am probably…… Read more "Some nostalgia"
Who, or rather what was Marathal
Marathal was me. He was no different than I am in real life. I created his Twitter account almost 4 years ago when not many in the…… Read more "Who, or rather what was Marathal"
This is the final entry in this blog. @Marathal is no more, and won't be back. I did not think all that I had said in the…… Read more "Fin"


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In the last two Qotient blogs we talked about the Psychology of Channel and how Telling is not Selling. Following on from this we should talk about how we align our enablement programs and campaigns to the Psychology and Behavior of a Channel and our Partners.
Anything you do needs to factor in certain attributes in the behavior of a salesperson and Channel Partners. These attributes include:
1. Sales people tend to focus on the "fun" part of their role and avoid compliancy
2. Recognition amongst their peers and on the leaderboard is important to them
3. They are competitive and like winning
4. They want to make money
5. They accept risk
6. They want to be talking to customers and provide them value
7. They want to be seen as professionals in a serious profession.
Now, when you look through this list ask yourself this:
In terms of recognition among their peers and leadership, why do we recognize our best Partner Sellers and best Partners only once a year at our Partner Conferences? Why not every month?
Competition is more than exceeding a number, it is competition with their peers, and with their personal bests and records. Why are we not finding more inventive ways to foster the competition that sales people live for each day?
Why are we not looking for innovative ways to drive compliancy in updating CRM and with Deal Registration?
Enablement and training often takes significant selling time away from sales people. Are there just-in-time enablement innovations that can result in them learning and becoming more effective while executing their craft in the field?
These are just some of the things you should be discussing in your Channel Organization. Relaunching your partner portal and deal registration system, creating more certification programs and partner benefits every year often just creates confusion, disruption and angst within your Partner Community. We understand what is compelling you to do this - you hope it will increase Partner mindshare.
It is time to think more about how your objectives for delivering pipeline and revenue growth through your Channel and how you can improve your Partner Sellers' experience in the context of the Psychology of Channel.


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Fidra set up the Cotton Bud Project in 2013 to stop marine pollution from plastic stemmed cotton buds. We used scientific research, citizen science data and best practice to establish dialogue with industry, the public and governments to influence positive environmental change at national and international levels.
For more information on this project or any of Fidra's ongoing work, please sign up to our newsletter by following this link.
Fidra is a Scottish registered charity and SCIO no.SCO43895 visit www.fidra.org.uk to find out more about our work to end chemical and plastic pollution.
About Us
email to a friend
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Weekend Results
Another great weekend for the club, with the 1st and 2nd XVs recording fine wins against tough opposition.
The 1st XV were drawing 13 all at half time in Jedburgh, our points coming from a converted try by Andy Hughes and two penalties from Seb. A try from Mike Hanning 15 minutes into the second half edged us into a 16-18 lead, then an exchange of penalties left Jed 22-21 up as the game slipped into injury time. A concerted effort from our pack then led to Willie crashing over in the corner to secure a fine 22-26 victory.
Injuries to Seb and Hughesy took the shine off the win to a certain extent, but the fact remains that we are now the only undefeated team in the top three Divisions of Scottish rugby, and sit 5 points clear of Jed at the top of Premier 2.
You can view highlights from the match on the Borders Rugby TV website.
The 2nd XV recorded a fine 18-10 win against Stirling County at Inverleith and now sit three points clear of Currie at the top of Reserve League 1.
The Mighty 3s lost for the second week in a row, going down 17-24 to Preston Lodge 2s at Inverleith.
There will be no website updates over the next week, but I'll bring things up to date week commencing 24th October.


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Catching zzz's isn't always easy whilst pregnant; perpetually bursting bladder, night sweats, a bump in the way of every comfortable position…Mission Near-Impossible.
But apart from the obvious pros of getting enough shut-eye – preggers or not – there's another reason you should be working on your R&R despite the bedtime difficulties — and it has important benefits for you and your baby.
A recent study has revealed a link between short sleep duration and the incidence of gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes brings a host of risks with it, from pre-term labour and birth trauma to high maternal blood pressure and even foetal death. According to the study, sleep can influence glucose metabolism – and it's this metabolic process which determines the risk for type 2 diabetes.
Researchers surveyed 686 pregnant women – 131 of the participants were diagnosed with gestational diabetes. The researchers then analysed the women's sleep patterns.
After factoring in variables such as age, weight, and history of gestational diabetes, the findings still showed a correlation between women who slept less than six hours a night and a higher chance of developing gestational diabetes.
"Our results raise the possibility that good sleep habits could reduce the likelihood of developing hyperglycemia and GDM," the study's senior author Joshua Gooley, PhD says. "The importance of healthy sleep habits should be emphasised to doctors and patients, in addition to initiatives that are geared toward improving other lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise."
At this point, the study's hypothesis is based on association, not direct cause and effect; however, it's never a bad idea to hit the sack whenever you can anyway…because once baby's out, sleep will be a very foggy memory..
Via fitpregnancy.com


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Kufara is a village positioned in Puraula Block of Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand. Located in rural region of Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, it is one among the 78 villages of Puraula Block of Uttarkashi district. As per the government register, the village number of Kufara is 4840153. The village has 29 families.
According to Census 2011, Kufara's population is 252. Out of this, 134 are males whereas the females count 118 here. This village has 43 children in the age group of 0-6 years. Among them 23 are boys and 20 are girls.
Literacy ratio in Kufara village is 55%. 139 out of total 252 population is educated here. In males the literacy ratio is 64% as 87 males out of total 134 are educated whereas female literacy ratio is 44% as 52 out of total 118 females are literate in this Village.
The dark part is that illiteracy rate of Kufara village is 44%. Here 113 out of total 252 individuals are illiterate. Male illiteracy rate here is 35% as 47 males out of total 134 are uneducated. Among the females the illiteracy ratio is 55% and 66 out of total 118 females are illiterate in this village.
The number of working individual of Kufara village is 123 yet 129 are un-employed. And out of 123 occupied people 121 individuals are totally reliant on agriculture.


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A small book sitting out on a table shouldn't incite fear in anyone.
But what if that book was your diary and you learned your two best friends, men you have ached for your entire life, have just read every last word? Pages and pages filled with dark fantasies and forbidden dreams so explicit they leave nothing to the imagination.
And what if those two friends were included in every last one?
This is exactly where Cyn Andrews now finds herself.
Stuck somewhere between wanting to hate Jared and Chris Kennedy for violating her privacy and just plain wanting to be stuck somewhere between them. She could never choose only one brother, so she's kept her feelings buried for more than a decade, and a past mistake has kept her silent and alone…until now.
Everything she's ever wanted may have just been handed to her in the form of an invitation to The Library. Not just a building filled with books, but a members only BDSM club the brothers own and have kept hidden from her for years.
Is it pity or desire that fueled the invitation?
What other secrets have they been keeping from her?
Can she protect her heart and face her biggest fear while discovering the art of submitting to two Doms?
It'd be a sin not to find out…
Slowly he unfolded himself from his chair, so he could tower over mine. He put his hands on the arms, caging me in, crowding in close until I could smell his cologne and a unique scent. If I could bottle it I'd label it Sex, and make millions.
"Cyn, a voyeur is someone who gets their rocks off by watching and we want to do a hell of lot more than watch. So why don't you tell me why you've nearly worn through the chain on your necklace, while chewing on lips much better suited for…other things." He ran his thumb across my lower lip to emphasize the point and my lips opened without my permission so I could lick him all over starting with the pad of his thumb.
Because I'm in love with you and your twin. Have been for almost a decade. I've got a journal at home filled with what I want you to do to me and I know I'll never be brave enough to show it to you. Plus, I want you to screw me until I can't walk for two days. Then I want you to tie me up, blindfold me and do it all again until I have no voice left from screaming out my orgasms for you.
"No reason!" I squeaked as I jerked my head away. "Hey, I'm thirsty. You thirsty? Want another beer before you close up?" Without waiting for an answer I scrambled out of my chair, ducked under his arm and darted away from our table in the back corner.
"You still have half a beer on the table, Blondie." Yeah I heard him and completely ignored the obvious as I fled…er…ah…made my way across the empty dance floor. I didn't have to glance back to know Jared stared at my backside. I could feel it, and it kicked my arousal into a level I'd never imagined was out there and made me want to pant. I was so damn close to begging. Not oh please Jared, but for the love of all that is holy Sir take me and make me yours and let me pleasure your brother, too.
Something I'm asked about quite often is my writing process in general. I'd love to say I'm a full time writer and write from the moment I wake up to sundown, but sadly that isn't the case…yet!
Oh, and I should point out I'm a morning girl. Five minutes after my alarm goes off I'm rarin' to start my day. And I'd love to be able to write in the morning, but that normally doesn't happen since I work full time with my husband and we have a little boy.
So my not-so-simple answer to when I write is—ANYTIME I CAN!
It tends to be after 9p.m. on weeknights until I can't keep my eyes open, and then I really hammer away at it on weekends. Any free moment, especially for this first book, because I had so much to learn!
Whoever said "the easy part of getting published is writing the book" was beyond accurate!
Something I'm really lucky in is where I write. I have a beautiful royal purple office with B&W accents, right off my bedroom. It looks over part of our property and the space always gets my creative juices flowing. It's beautiful outside even on a dreary day and breathtaking on a sunny summer Texas day.
I have little reminders, all around my office, which make me smile. My book cover, my first contract, even my pen name decoupaged on the wall behind me in a duplicate copy of the first erotic ménage story I ever read. Seeing these things fills me with joy and my muse takes over.
To get in the mood to write I'll turn on music and settle in. Different music can be very evocative of a certain feeling when I write, just like it is in movies for most people. I "feel" what my characters are feeling because the emotion wells inside me.
For Together in Cyn I listened to a lot of Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Javier Colon, Elle Henderson. Man, I could write a whole blog entry just on music that inspires me.
The only scenes I normally tend to write in silence are the steamy sex scenes. When it comes to writing sex, especially the BDSM ones, I need 100% of my noggin' engaged to get the power exchange correct. The dynamic in these scenes especially toward the end of the book, and with multiple partners to consider, were my favorite to write. Making all of the pieces fit together. Answering all the questions to find an HEA for people who didn't think it was possible. It's very gratifying when you can do that, even for fictional characters.
It's crazy hard for me to stop writing in the middle of a scene. I'll at least outline the rest of it before I shut off my laptop, because I know it will leak out of my ear while I sleep. Oh, and when I fall asleep at night I brainstorm scenes, and storyline to make sure I work out all of the flaws.
Several times I've fallen asleep thinking through a scene and wonder, "Man, what's gonna happen next?" Completely forgetting it's a book I'm writing, not one I'm reading by another author. That always makes me smile!
One of those moments is when I decided to knuckle down and genuinely pursue getting published. Because if even one person reads Together in Cyn and can't put it down… Or stays awake after reading part of it, wondering how it's all going to work out in the end…
Then I will truly feel like an author.
I love my life, and am overwhelmed knowing I am going to share something so special with you.
If you enjoy reading it nearly as much as I enjoyed writing it, then I'll know I'm on my way!
Please don't forget to email me and let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!!
Together in Cyn by Jennifer Kacey
Website – http://www.jenniferkacey.com/
Email – email@example.com
Book Page – http://www.jenniferkacey.com/index.php/books/together-in-cyn
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/people/Jennifer-Kacey/100002469553420
Twitter – http://twitter.com/#!/JenniferKacey
Pinterest – http://pinterest.com/jenniferkacey/
Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/16370223-jennifer-kacey
My author page on Ellora's Cave – https://www.ellorascave.com/index.php/authors/index/author/slug/jennifer-kacey


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November 8, 2016
Bainbridge Island
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- November 24, 2016 at 7:17 PM
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- December 20, 2016 at 5:36 PM
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When I was a kid I had a board game called Séance. The players are all the nieces and nephews of Old Uncle Everett who passed on and left the bulk of his estate to his parrot Zeke, kind of like Leona Helmsley, only unlike little dogs, parrots live forever and probably do need a lot of money to get by on. Weird Uncle Everett leaves his nieces and nephews some money and the chance to get more if they all come to his scary mansion for a séance where he will give further instructions from the great beyond on how to do so.
In Séance you set up a room and I think some of it glowed in the dark, but I could be making that part up since it was a long time ago and it makes it sound more interesting. There was a big plastic table you assembled that had a button you pressed in order to get Uncle Everett to speak when it was your turn to find out what your move was to be. It had a bunch of canned sayings, most of which either put you ahead or put you behind and one that essentially meant you had no turn because you got this, "Nothing is sure in life but death and taxes", it was kind of like getting the dud was supposed to be in Mystery Date, but since we all thought he was the cutest one it was not. I hated getting that saying when it was my turn. It made life and the future seem bleak and I did not get any valuable possessions to sell for more money and that was the whole point of the game. I really loved Séance and as an only child (sort of) I often times played it with my dog or the cat or by myself if neither of them were down with it. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do when you are the only person in the house under forty whose dad thinks Cribbage is fun for children. Let me tell you it's not, but Séance or Mystery Date sure were.
I did not want to imagine life to be nothing but death (duh) and taxes (how else do you pay for stuff like schools, parks and cops?). Even my ten-year-old self figured there was a lot more fun stuff in life than boring stuff. One of the best things about being an adult with your own money is you get to decide just what you want to spend it on, within reason of course since we all have bills to pay. Just like Tom Haverford and Donna Meagle from Parks and Rec, sometimes you just have to treat yo self, whether you had a bad day or a good day, or you just feel like it because life is far too short to only think about death and taxes.
Bodywork: no, we are not talking about cars here, or CrossFit or even plastic surgery, Botox on the other hand someday, maybe. Manicures (not so much my thing), pedicures (much more my thing) massage (yes please) and facials (mega yes please) are an excellent way to treat yo self. Whatever floats your proverbial boat, body work does your body good and it is not just me saying that. No less medical authorities than the Mayo Clinic and Emory University have done studies that say the very same thing. Human touch can help relieve stress and anxiety and I only wish my health insurance paid for it so I could go more often.
Now I have what could be called troublesome skin, much like a juvenile delinquent, the simplest thing can set it off down a bad path so I am not big on experimentation because once you are a grown up you can't stay home from work because a bump appeared on your chin. Nope you have to suck it up and go in and pretend that it isn't there even though you and everybody else on the planet damn well knows it is. So I tried Good Karma Skincare with more than a little bit of trepidation and am pleased to say that not only were there no awkward I-don't-see-it-if-you don't-see-it-moments with my co-workers or elevator mates but it also smelled heavenly and felt luxurious and that it precisely what treat yo self is all about.
I test drove all the products in their Lux 7 kit, using the four-in-one cream instead of the oil. Chemical-free, cruelty-free and in the grand scheme of skin care products you don't need to be an heiress or a trust fund kid to buy it. And since we are also advocating treating someone else as well as yo self, it is worth mentioning that GKS donates a portion of every purchase towards providing meals to animals in shelters awaiting their forever homes.
Leave the country: and no, spring break at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico does not count (but props to you if you have done that, Mexico is awesome), nor does any location in Canada count, except maybe Montreal or someplace in Quebec, but only if they speak French and are rude to you. The point is to go some place else and even if it is an English-speaking country and it seems pretty much the same it really isn't and the longer you stay the more that will become true. Go to the grocery store, take public transport, don't stay at an American hotel, eat KFC or only go to the usual tourist-y attractions. The point is to experience a different way of living if only for a little while.
Truth be told, I never really realized how very American I was until I went to another country, Ireland to be exact. My family heritage is seventy-five percent Irish, and that heritage was celebrated and not by getting drunk on St. Patrick's Day either. In fact we never had liquor in the house, except weirdly a bottle of Mogen David that was in our fridge for years–not exactly sure why, but I did grow up in a predominantly Jewish town and my mother probably thought she was just blending in with the neighbors.
It took spending part of a summer in college in Ireland for me to find out just how very American I was and that was not a bad thing to know. I would have figured it out no matter where I went but the fact that is was Ireland was a shocking revelation to my seventy-five person Irish-American self. I had a great time, the people were lovely, the food and the weather were meh but I would not have changed a thing except for maybe that time we chased George Michael down Grafton Street but it was the 80's and he was at his hotness peak so on second thought no, I for sure would not change a thing. Finding out you are American and what exactly that means to you is invaluable. This does not mean you all of a sudden become a cheerleader for 'Murica and start watching Fox News. Nor does it mean you get to come back and be a pretentious twat and start every conversation with "When I was in Prague ". Don't be that guy.
Great Footwear: before you leave the country it might not be a bad idea to think about some good walking shoes. Nothing ruins a vacation more than not being able to enjoy it because your feet hurt and the shoes that didn't bother you in one whit in America all of a sudden bother you big time in another country and you have blisters the size of quarters and the very thought of walking another step seems impossible. Been there, done that, don't ever want to do it again. Between bad trip experiences and my feet just not being able to take wearing the towering platforms that have been my friend since sophomore year of high school, good supportive shoes have become my saviour. Having always liked borderline ugly shoes to begin with, the transition to MBTs was pretty easy for me. I have worn these shoes and walked all over NYC, from the Upper East Side to downtown to Battery Park and I could have kept going on until Jersey as far as my feet were concerned, but for my head, not so much. The simple fact is with a pedicure and good pair of walking shoes, no matter how ugly, you can go just about anywhere you want.
Treat someone else: I am not sure I 100% agree with the saying that it is better to give than to receive, because it kind of depends on what you are getting but I understand the sentiment. Sometimes if you can make someone else very happy it does come awfully close to getting something really good yourself. Way back in the 90's there was this girl group from Britain that a certainly little someone in my life really loved. She had all the CDs and the dolls (which all looked abysmal because she thought they were bath toys) and when they came on their one and only US tour she really wanted to go. So a friend and I got up super early and went to a ticket location at a grocery store in a tiny town because we figured it would be the best way to emerge victorious with tickets for the show which was destined to sell out quickly as these things do. Months later when we went to the show and the lights came up and the Spice Girls, minus Ginger (who had to be a jerk and quit because she very mistakenly thought she could do better on her own), the look of pure joy on that cute little face made me realize that yeah, sometimes it is better to give than to receive. Despite the show starting late, the constant high-pitched screaming of thousands of 'tween girls and poor deluded Ginger not being there, it was a blast. By the way, Victoria "Posh" Beckham will always be my favorite Spice Girl. She might not sing that great, and you could practically see her counting her steps out loud as she danced her little heart out that night, but man she looked FIERCE while doing it.


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New Spanish Insurance Distribution Act (DSIDA)
The Spanish Government is in the process of drafting a new Spanish Insurance Distribution Act ('DSIDA'), which would replace the current Insurance Intermediaries Act. A first draft has been circulated within the insurance market, in order to obtain feedback from those insurance distributors who might be affected…
Shipping Focus – Autumn 2015
Welcome to the Autumn 2015 edition of Shipping Focus, the e-update from Thomas Cooper's Shipping Group, in which you can review the latest legal developments in your area of shipping and keep up to date with Thomas Cooper's news and events…
The new Spanish Law 29/2015, on international legal cooperation in civil matters
The Law 29/2015, on international legal cooperation in civil matters (henceforth referred to as the "Law") entered into force on August 20, 2015.
The purpose of this Law is to set a framework for the legal cooperation between Spanish and foreign authorities in civil and commercial matters regardless of the nature of the judicial body. The matters covered by this new Law include civil liability arising out of criminal offences and employment contracts.
Stowaways – An insight from Spain
by Victor Mata and Antonio de la Campa The Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic, 1965, as amended, (The FAL Convention), defines a stowaway as "A person who is secreted on a ship, or in cargo which is subsequently loaded on the ship, without the consent of the shipowner or the Master or any […]
Developments in Marine Insurance under the Spanish Navigation Act
On September 25 2014, the Maritime Navigation Act (hereinafter, MNA) entered into force. The newly approved Act introduces the concept of marine liability insurance (Articles 463 to 467) into Spanish legislation for the first time. Such coverage is in some ways similar and hence comparable to that offered by P&I Clubs. Article 76 of the […]
Thomas Cooper Hire Shipping and Transport Legal Team
Thomas Cooper are pleased to announce the hire of one partner and three new Abogados to our Madrid office which is headed by Juan Alegre…
Thomas Cooper Hire Shipping and Transport Legal Team
Thomas Cooper are pleased to announce the hire of one partner and three new Abogados to our Madrid office which is headed by Juan Alegre. Our new joiners include partner, Bernardo Ruiz Lima, and abogados Victor Mata, Juan José Bernardo and Antonio De La Campa Cervera whose arrival will double our Spanish Law Shipping, Transport […]


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Just like I thought, I can still be a good parent. As a matter of fact, in a lot of ways, I can now be a better parent. First of all, I have experience and confidence. I know the basics from raising my own boys; I am confident in my abilities because they turned out fine. On top of that, shows like Supernanny gave us even more knowledge and strategies for dealing with temper tantrums and bad behavior although with Big Daddy's booming voice and authoritative presence, we didn't get much of that with our little guys. Finally, I'm just so much more laid back these days. Parenting is still hard work, but it's just not so stressful anymore.
I'm happy to say that Bonus Child seems to have settled in and is actually allowing herself to enjoy living with us. She hums and smiles a lot, has had friends from school come over, and even has confided in me to having one or two schoolgirl crushes! Instead of shouting at us about how we're ruining her life and then sulking, her occasional bursts of anger now usually are followed by a contrite apology–from her–without us even asking for one. This is HUGE! Sometimes she has these fits of giggles, and I ask her if she's eaten feathers with her lunch. I can't figure out what's tickling the child so much! She sometimes even acts like she likes me!
Bonus Baby is still a piece of work–and we love every energetic ounce of her. She's got Big Daddy wrapped around her little finger. This is exactly why I was happy to have boys. I know Baby loves me, but I'm not much more than chopped liver when "Daddy" is around. Her face lights up when he comes home from work, and of course he just eats that up. "I miss my daddy," she wails, and when I tell her we'll be visiting him (her bio dad) next week, she'll cry and say, "My daddy outside," and points to where Big Daddy is working in the yard. My two younger boys confided recently that they used to feel the same way about me. Whenever they were visiting grandma, they always hoped that I'd be the one to come and pick them up. "Hope it's mom, hope it's mom," they told me they would say, although their daddy was an awesome dad and I know they loved him very much.
I can be a good parent to these children, but I can't be the same kind of parent I was with the first batch of kids. It has nothing to do with them being girls instead of boys, nor do I believe it has to do with them not being my biological kids. I just have to do things differently–for my sanity! We'll go to open houses and teacher conferences, but I'm not getting roped into PTA meetings and events. I'm not bugging the neighbors and relatives to buy the crappy overpriced fundraising junk so the kids can win some cheesy prize that falls apart in two days. I will happily find an extracurricular activity or two for the kids and will enjoy watching them participate, but I refuse to serve on any more committees. I did this all once, and I'm tired. I can't even imagine living at that pace again. It's someone else's turn, and I think the kids will be just fine.


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The World Council of Optometry (WCO) recognizes World Diabetes Day, which will take place November 14th. We encourage others to view and download the materials from the Fred Hollows Foundation to bring awareness to World Diabetes Day.
What actions are you taking this World Diabetes Day on November 14th? How has your practice or initiatives impacted patients with diabetes and ocular related diabetic complications, particularly diabetic retinopathy? Let us know by visiting http://bit.ly/2O3qNsc.